Taking Off the Mask

Halloween is officially over. Sad day. Growing up, Halloween was always one of my favorite times of the year. For one day, I didn't have to be Charlie Landis. I could be Count Dracula, Superman, and ,regrettably so, a woman. I finally had a good reason to wear my mom's dress out of the house.....please see the sarcasm. But I really did enjoy dressing up in a costume, not to mention the free candy. I have inherited a lot of things from dad: large calves, brown eyes, a receding hair line, and a sweet tooth. Now you can understand why Halloween was so dear to my heart growing up.

Someone once said, "Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional." This year I went back to my roots of my childhood...I wore a costume for Halloween! There were many suggestions on the table of what I should be, but I ended up on being Tweety bird.



This isn't one of my proudest moments. I didn't even win "Best Costume." As you can see, I had a big Tweety Bird headpiece that engulfed my entire head. It would get really hot in there, so I would take it off and put it back on. As I was doing so, it got me to start thinking about something profound (and you know that doesn't happen very often).

The Greek word for "hypocrite" in the New Testament is hupokrites. During the 1st Century, this was a term used for an actor in a play. These people would put on masks to show their role in the production. They would often play multiple parts in the play, so they would have to switch out masks in order to convey another character. This is where we get the meaning of this word today. A hypocrite is simply a person who pretends to have a virtuous character. Basically, this kind of person pretends to have it all together, when in actuality he doesn't.

Jesus rebuked the Pharisees in Matthew 23:27-28. He says,

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."

Wow! Jesus unloads on the "virtuous" people of His day. The Pharisees were men who strictly followed the Law given by God, and they sought after righteousness. However, Jesus calls them out and calls them graves! Some graves nowadays are pretty nice. If you go to the cemetery in Topeka, Kansas, there is a fairly good size building that pretty marble. It has designs on the side, and the overall appearance of the grave is beautiful. Jesus says, "Yea...you guys look pretty on the outside, but on the inside you are like rotting corpses!" Ouch!

My last post I talked about the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting I attended, and I came to the conclusion that we all need to understand that we all do not have it right. This post is just piggy-backing off of the same idea. I know i can come off as if i have everything together, but the truth is I don't. I struggle with temptation. I sin. I fall time and time again in the daily struggle of overcoming my selfishness and pride. So what do I do? I put on this mask. My mask has a pretty smile to cover up my mistakes and a halo on the top to distract from my imperfection.

But its time to take of my mask and live an honest life that depicts the real Charlie Landis. I'm not saying that now I need to just let everyone know that I am this horrible guy, but I need to start living up to what my mask is showing. I must try to live a virtuous life, so that one day I will not have a need for any dumb mask to cover up my mistakes and selfishness.

All I Need to Know I Learned from AA.

Looking across the room, Jim looked like an average guy. Sure, his beard was a little untrimmed, and he was missing a couple of teeth. But Jim has a disease, and he isn’t afraid to admit it. As soon as he sat down, he exclaimed, “Hello. I’m Jim…and I’m an alcoholic.”

I attended an alcoholic anonymous group called “2nd Chance Group” to fulfill a requirement for my Crisis Counseling class. Before attending the meeting, I felt very tense and worried. I was not sure how they would accept my presence at their meeting. However, a man named Jim, the leader of the group, offered me his hand and a hot cup of coffee as soon as I had walked in the door. Soon, I had met almost the entire group before the meeting even began. The people in the group were very inviting and welcoming. It was very interesting to observe the members of the group interact with each other as they walked in the room. Everyone was greeted with a smile, hug, and a pat on the back. Even first time visitors, who were nervous and felt out of place, were welcomed the same. I would say that the overall atmosphere of the group was that of acceptance, love, and community.

There was a very large difference in age between the members of the group. There was an 87-year-old man who had been sober for over 40 years, a 49-year-old man who was drunk at the meeting, a 30-year-old man who used to be involved in church leadership and several women in their fifties. There were about 15 people in the entire group who were dealing with alcoholism.

Going to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting was a real eye-opener. It was amazing to see the acceptance and love found in the 2nd Chance AA group. Their willingness to come forward and admit that they have a disease that they cannot deal with by themselves was truly extraordinary. Sometimes in the church, people try to pretend that they are perfect Christians, and they ignore the fact that they are messed-up people in need of a Messiah. I think that is were AA gets it right. They know they need help, because they have a problem they can’t seem to shake.

The MESSiah came to enter into our MESSES and bring us hope and healing. To even suggest we aren't a mess really implies we have no need for a MESSiah, and you are slapping Jesus in the face and spitting on his sacrifice.

If Christians began to mimic Jim, as mentioned at the beginning, great things would happen. I think we all need to join with Jim in saying, “Hello. My name is _______…and I’m a sinner.”

Darn You, Kink in the Neck!

Have you ever seen a shooting star? If I had to guess, I bet 99.995% of people have seen one. Unfortunately, I am a part of that .005% that has never witnessed the awesomeness of a shooting star. This past Sunday the college group I am a part of had a bonfire where we ate some hotdogs and had a worship time around the fire. During the singing, I leaned back in my chair, and I just stared into the dark sky. As I continued to just gaze into the expanse of darkness, stars began to appear. One after another, they popped up. First they were dim, but over time they began to get brighter and brighter until it seemed like the entire night sky was stringed with constellations made from tiny beautiful balls of light.

It was awesome in its purest since of the definition. I don't know if you have ever taken the time to just sit back and look at the night sky, but I strongly encourage you to. If you live in the city, take a road trip 20 minutes outside the city. Park and lay down on the roof of your car and just stare at the sky on a cloudless night. It is truly indescribable. Sunday night after staring into the sky for about 5 minutes, it seemed like the stars were literally lowered enough that I could reach out and grab a cluster of them. I even found myself reaching out to try and grab one, but some girl started staring at me so I played it off like I was stretching.

When the girl finally quit staring at me, I went back to star gazing. While I was looking up in the sky, the guy doing worship started playing a song with the lyrics,

I want to know you, I want to hear your voice,
I want to know you more.
I want to touch you, I want to see your face,
I want to know you more.

When I was singing those words, I feld like God was answering my prayer right in front of me. I could see his artistic masterpiece, and in turn, I felt like I knew him better. It is really good to be reminded of God's creativity and his creation. I'll be the first to tell you that I am not an "outdoors man." I know that is contradictory to every book ever written about manliness, but I really enjoy the comforts of air conditioning and accessible toilet paper. But I really enjoyed seeing this side of God. It was beautiful.

Oh, and by the way, I never saw a shooting star that night. There were several of them, but everytime one shot across the sky I was trying to get the kink out of my neck from staring straight up in the sky. Bum deal if you ask me.

Jim the Golfer

Today I went golfing with my good buddy Ryan Hicks, and he ended up beating me by one stroke! It came down to the last hole, and I totally blew it.

I love golfing, but at the same time I freakin' hate the sport! It is one of the most frustrating things to do in life. Think about it...you are trying to a hit a small white ball that is 1.6 inches in diameter into a small hole that is only about 4 inches wide. And you are doing this with a stick. From about 120 yards away, you are supposed to make this tiny ball fall into the small cup with a stick in just 3 shots!! I think this is Preposterous.....but I'll still pay an outrageous amount of money to play the sport.

About a month ago, I was golfing with my brother, Jim, at a place in Topeka. We started off playing with just the two of us, but around the fourth hole a forty-year-old man behind us asked if he could join us. He was quite a bit better than me and my brother, but we said if he was willing to put up with our poor play we would be glad to let him play with us. We came to find out his name was Jim as well and he too was a big Kansas Jayhawk fan.

After talking a lot about Jayhawk football and basketball and playing nine holes, my brother decdied to call it day. He had to get home and take care of some stuff, but I still wanted to play. So I asked Jim if it was okay if I joined him on the final 9 holes while my brother quit. He was fine with it, and chuckling he asked if we were going to play for money. Knowing he was way better at golf, I smartly declined.

We continued to play, and he continued to kick my butt (as you can tell, everyone beats me). I found out that Jim worked at the local casino. He also had a girlfriend with whom he had 2 children, and he planned on marrying her in the spring sometime. As we were nearing the end of the golf course, he opened up to me about his past relationships and how unhealthy they were. I felt the Holy Spirit urging me to talk to him about Christ and how much He loves him no matter where he had been. At first I just ignored the Spirit's tugging, but it began to grow stronger and stronger. But I never said a thing. All I could do was shake my head in acknowledgment of how crappy his life had been. A nod? Is that all I could offer Jim?

I totally wasted my chance to share the good news with Jim. Instead I apathetically took the easy way out and chose to ignore the Spirit's tugging.

Jim, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for basically spitting in your face and telling you that you weren't worthy my time or my pride. I was too afraid of what you would think of me if I brought up my Savior and my Lord. I want him to be your Lord too. I know I probably won't see you again, but if I run into you again on the golf course, I pray that I love you enough to tell you about my Jesus. I'm sorry Jim the golfer.

Am I being to harsh on myself? I don't think so. I shouldn't have wasted my opportunity to talk to Jim. Ephesians 5:15-16 says, "Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." Who is your Jim?

Awkward.

I am going to come right out and say it...no clever introduction, no joke, not even an illustration to try and prove my point.........I am an awkward guy.

For some reason, the word "awkward" has always been associated with me. I really haven't thought about it very much, but it is true. Awkward and Charlie go together like Cookies and Cream, like Doug Funny and Patty Mayonnaise, like Kansas City professional sport teams and losing. There is no escaping that I'm awkward. I just got a sermon back from my expository preaching class and what do you know...the letters "A-W-K-W-A-R-D" written out on the front page about one of my main points. I really don't like being an awkward guy, but i guess i can't escape it!

Ever since I can remember, awkwardness has followed me wherever I went. I'm sure there are many stories from my early childhood about me being awkward, but I have a terrible memory.

In middle school I was dating a girl named Amy Cortez. She was in the 8th grade; I was in the 7th grade....enough said. I would probably consider Amy my first "real" girlfriend, not that I had a bunch of imaginary girlfriends running around, but she was the first girl I liked. My 5th grade girlfriend, Candace Pahmamie, was more like a friend. I think the reason I asked her to be my girlfriend was because my best friend liked her, so I did what was noble....I asked her to by my lady via a note with a "check-yes-or-no-box." Back to Amy, I had not previously had a "real" girlfriend, so that means I have never hugged a girlfriend...simple logic. One day when school had just let out, I was standing by her locker and we were planning what we were going to do that Friday night, so we finally agreed to go to the cornmaze with some of her friends. As she was leaving, she leaned in the for the hug. We embraced, and I gave her three pats on her back. Quickly she moved away from me exclaiming, "Am I your grandpa or something? Do you not know how to hug a girl?!" Embarrassed I shrugged and told her I would see her that night.

When it was coming close to the time Amy was going to pick me up to go to the cornmaze, I decided to go down the hill to my friend Alex's house. Luckily, Jonathan was at his house too. You see, Jonathan was and still is a ladies man. Actually, he is A lady man...he is married to a Godly woman named Kylee. But the reason I went down to Alex's house was to learn how to hug before the cornmaze which would inevitably end up with a good-night-hug. As I was walking back up to my house, I finally worked up the nerve to ask Jonathan how to hug a girl. By this time it was dark outside, and we were standing in the middle of the street. He told me how to hug a girl (which is still a mystery to this day for me), and finally he told me practice with him. We embraced and right in the middle of our hug, a car pulls up the road with its lights shining right on us. We both sprinted in opposite directions embarrassed that it might have been someone we knew. Unfortunately, I don't remember if I ever hugged Amy that night, but I do know that it was awkward learning how to hug in the middle of the street.

Another awkward moment in my life was about a year ago...remember there are many awkward moments in my life. I dated a girl for a while. It started in my high school years and it bled into my college years. Well, we both thought it would probably be for the best if we were no longer together. I was sitting in her car, and we just got done talking about the break-up. We decided to have one last hug. As I went in the for the hug, I let the loudest and stinkiest fart rip right in the middle of our hug. That....was awkward!

Seeing how these two stories of my awkwardness are both related to hugging, I think it is necessary to bring up my philosophy on the awkwardness of all hugging. Did you know that there are 5 different possible options when hugging a person. Your arms can be either on top, on the bottom, diagonal (2 ways), or a side hug. Besides this, you both have to decide what position each of your arms are going to be in. And you can't ask this question..you both have to basically read the other person's mind in order to execute a perfect hug. I don't know...this might not make sense to anybody else. Hugging is just an awkward process.

Well I don't know if i will ever be able to escape the awkwardness that is Charlie Landis. I really hope I do because I don't know many ladies out there looking for an awkward guy.

Redemp(adop)tion

I really haven't been writing much in my blog this semester...I'm not sure if it's because I don't have enough time to or if I don't really have anything to write about. Either way, my blog has been practically non-existent so I apologize!

This past weekend I went home for my church's annual golf tournament. My team consisted of a 70-year-old man (my step-grandfather), and two other 20-something-year-olds. When we finished our round of golf, our team was sitting at (-4). Basically, we were four strokes better than the average score of that golf course, and I was almost positive we were going win. Well, it ended up that the minister's team "won." He always seems to end up with the best players on his team......coincidence? I think not.

Besides play golf, I also had a chance to watch my little brother win his first football game of the season. For those of you who don't know me, I am always bragging about my brother, Sam. I practically live through him, but he is a really good guy and I love him to death! He is the starting middle linebacker for the school and is a beast on defense. He ended up with like 15 tackles, a forced fumble, and a sack! My parents and I watched the game together, and it was just great to spend time with my family. I love my family!!!

I just finished writing a sermon for my preaching class over a passage in Ephesians. In this passage, the Apostle Paul is talking about our Spiritual family. Ephesians 1:5 says, "In love He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will." A lot of people get all tangled up on the word predestined, but for this blog posts sake, I won't even begin a discussion on that. But the word that really jumped out at me was the term "adoption." When I was younger, I was never big on the whole adoption idea for a family. I told myself that I would have a family of all boys that had the same DNA as me cause thats how I roll. However, I totally realize how ignorant and stupid that sounds.

In light of Ephesians 1:5, Paul is writing to several churches in Asia Minor. In this area, and especially Ephesus, there was a custom among the people for families who did not want to keep their children. If a child was born to a family that was either unwanted or disabled or defected in someway, the parents could take the children outside of the city gates and leave them there to die. In Ephesus, the people would walk up the mountain right outside of the city and place these "defected" children in a certain spot (can be called the "Circle of Infants") where all these kinds of kids were to be left. The Ephesians knew where this spot was, and very often, people would go up to that spot on the mountain and "adopt" or take one of the children for themselves. Under Roman law, these adults were given full custody of the child. Unfortunately, more times than not, people would go up to pick up a girl to raise up so they could fill the brothels in Ephesus. Other times, infant boys were taken to be raised as slaves. Heck, why not? It was cheaper than paying for a slave. But there were those times, when a Godly person would choose a little kid who had been left and abandoned. These kids were "adopted" into their new loving family.

This is the exact same kind of adoption we find in Ephesians 1:5, "In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ." In the previous verse, Paul says that God, "chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless." The Greek word for "blameless" means to be without defect. God has chosen us who were defected to become blameless and holy! God has redeemed us from the so-called "circle of infants." Redemption is ours. We are God's adopted family. Because in the middle of redemption, you will find adoption.

Caked-up in Make-up

Does anyone else think its interesting that we usually don't do any "labor" on Labor Day? I guess I did labor a little bit when i put coals in the grill, so my family could have our annual Labor Day cookout, but for the most part....I was Labor-free. My mom on the other hand didn't have to go into work today because it was Labor day, but she still labored over my laundry (I love my momma!)

This Labor Day weekend I went home to watch my little brother's high school football game and hang out with my parents. It was a great weekend! My little brother scored a touchdown, but he also separated his shoulder twice in the game so he will be out of football for a couple of weeks. Also, when I got home I found out that one of our neighbors had mysteriously left. A couple days before I got home, I guess a huge moving van and policemen were at her house making sure she left unharmed. My family was clueless as to what was happening, but we got a letter the next day in the mail detailing the situation.

Inside the letter contained 3 pictures of this lady. She had a cut underneath her eye running down to the corner of her mouth. Her bottom lip was swollen and was bruised black and purple. It appeared that her nose had been broken in several places, and blood was stained all over her white shirt. Besides the 3 pictures, a two-paged letter was included describing an incident that happened between her and her husband. The letter was addressed to her husband, and it was a "Good-Bye" letter. Strewn through the entire letter were four-letter-words, and her attempts at telling him how much she loved him. She was leaving him because he was a drunk. One night he came home drunk as usual and sat down in his recliner, and he began to get even more plastered. A fight broke out between them, and he ends up smashing her face with a vase.

As I read this letter, my heart broke. I couldn't put into words what my heart was feeling...I have had several days to think about the letter and the pictures and my neighbors. I still can't quite explain the feeling of brokenness I have for them. But to be perfectly honest, I didn't know them that well. I guess you could say my heart broke not just for my neighbors for all of those people in the world who are afflicted by the weight and crap of this world.

Going to school at Ozark Christian College, I am in a perfect-Christian-bubble. Everything is rainbows and butterflies. I'm getting ready to graduate in a year, and I think my view of the world has been distorted. Don't get me wrong...I know the world is messed up, but I haven't had something so disgusting and messed-up hit so close to me. My world is caked-up in make-up. Everything is so pretty, and there are no blemishes. But the world outside of my pretty little perfect bubble is not pretty. Its real. It is hurting.

This time next year I am not sure what I'll be doing, but I know that I will be in a world that isn't masked with Bible College Classes, small groups, youth groups, and 20 guys on a dorm floor that will do anything for me. I'll see the "real" world and what she really looks like. I just got a piece of it in a couple of pictures and a letter. I guess my purpose in writing this is just to ask you if your world is covered in make-up?