Never be the one to follow a legend.

Care to be the coach who had to follow Vince Lombardi? Or Bear Bryant? Or Brett Favre? Dan Marino? Paul McCartney?

Of course, the title says follow a "legend" though the person I am referring to isn't a "legend" because of his greatness. Quite the opposite actually. His name is Judas. Or Judas Iscariot to be exact. The betrayer of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Yea, that guy.

I don't actually want to focus of Judas but more the guy picked to replace him among the 12 Apostles.

In Acts 1:21-26, it describes how he was replaced following his death (he killed himself because of guilt for giving up Jesus to the Romans.) I was amazed when I read the story of how he was replaced and by whom.

First, they reference the book of Psalms that tells them that he (Judas) needs to be replaced and they do so from the group of men who followed Jesus the whole time. They narrow it down to two (Joseph/Justus/Barsabbas and Matthias). Then they prayed. Then they cast lots, which means they put both names on two stones, placed them in a container and the person whose name came out first was selected. Kind of like spiritual Yahtzee. The bible is filled with references of casting lots. The majority of those verses (70) are in the Old Testament with only a handful (7) in the New Testament.

DETOUR ALERT: Some of you may be asking why it was OK to use
that method of decision-making back then but not now in our day and age...Well,
now that believers have the Holy Spirit inside, relying on a decision from a
stone or die would amount to turning your back on God.

Now, back to the original point I was trying to make. After the bible references Matthias being "added among the 11," he is never mentioned again in the scriptures. Maybe, it's just me, but I find that odd.

Can you imagine the enormity of his selection at the time? Put yourself in Mattias' shoes. To put that in perspective in the secular world, that would be like being chosen to replace the Beatle's John Lennon when he was killed in 1980. Except with this new Apostle, we have no recollection of his work from that point on.

Of course there is no true answer to what it all means or what we can learn from it but here are some possibilities:

1. Be humble: Just when you think you've "made it" or "arrived" there is no way of knowing what tomorrow may bring.

2. Be "Use able": His lack of being notated could simply be that his work from that point on was not as "noteworthy". Sometimes the biggest impact is made by those who work behind the scenes and receive little, if any, notoriety.

3. Location. location, location...AND be careful what you wish for: As they began to build the church, several of the apostles had more notable positions or jobs. For example Peter was the apostle to the Jews while Paul was apostle to the gentiles. While records aren't completely clear, it is believed he wasn't sent to the glitz and glamor of someplace like Rome or Athens. On the contrary, accounts do have him preaching to the barbarians in the interior of Ethiopia.

4. X-Factor: Maybe we aren't supposed to know until we meet him...

Perfection or bust...Father's Day edition

I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be a dad. When I came home last night from our Adult Basketball League games, I went in to look at each of them sound asleep in their beds. With out fail, every time I look at them asleep in their bed, I feel that same deep love for them as I did the day I first held them in my arms. Precious is the only word I can use to describe them. I can't think of any thing else I would rather do than to hold them and spend time loving them with all my being. I also tell myself that I need to see them everyday in that same light and with that same mindset. That child who becomes a little monster sometimes is still that same PRECIOUS being I was watching sleep. Yet I tend to deal with her as if she was an entirely different person. But it's not. (I must include that this same point holds true with our spouse. That same picture of grace and beauty that stood beside you on your wedding day, should be loved and cherished the same way today.) And I must continually remind myself to strive for loving and raising them like I am commanded. And before I or anyone else tries to chalk failure up to "life" or being "realistic", I must point out that is not acceptable. For some of you, I hope this next example is all you need to read to get my point. Until I am up in Heaven, I will never be as perfect as Jesus but that in no way let’s me off the hook for trying. Does it?

(If you wish to read the continuation of this, part 2 is below)