What's This All About?

Welcome to our blog! If you’re reading this, you may be wondering, “What does ‘Three-Two-One’ mean?" I’d like to explain the meaning and I would invite you to share any related thoughts or comments.

First, the “Three” stands for three strands, a reference to Ecclesiastes 4:12. Two of the strands are for my wife, Sarah, and myself. The third strand is the Lord Jesus Christ. I know you may be already thinking “He’s one of those religious guys, I’m out of here” – please, before you click off this website, hear me out. Sarah and I are not “religious,” in the sense that it has come to mean in many societies, including ours. We’re sick and tired (as are many of you) of so many “Christians” going to church with plastic smiles on their faces, then coming home and yelling at the kids, kicking the dog, cheating on their spouses and cutting shady business deals. We’re tired of people who say they are “Christians” and then use the worst kind of hateful language imaginable when talking with (or about) people with whom they disagree. You might be interested to know that the writers of the Bible had a problem with those people, too (James 1:26-27).

OK, so if we’re not “religious,” then what are we, right? Well, as I said earlier, the “Three” in our name stands for three strands, and all three are in relationship with each other – myself, my wife, and Jesus. When I talk about a relationship with Jesus, I’m not talking about a mystical, superspiritual, hokey kind of thing. I mean a real relationship like you would have with a really good friend. See, here’s the thing about a good friend – a good friend will encourage you. A good friend will let you know if you’re messing your life up, even if it costs him/her your friendship. A good friend will stick close to you no matter what happens. A good friend will have wonderful, meaningful, fun, and constructive conversations with you. And a good friend – a really, really good friend – would even give his life for you. Jesus fits all those characteristics perfectly.

Wherever I look these days I see Jesus characterized in many ways, many of which are absolutely unfounded. I’ll tell you what Jesus is not: He’s not stuck in a stuffy church with stained glass windows boring everyone to death with stale songs and staler preaching. He’s not looking down, scowling, waiting for a chance to send you to hell for slipping up. He is, instead, compassionate to the outcasts (John 4:1-42). He is passionate about what is important to Him, about things that matter (John 2:13-16). He hates hypocrisy about as bad as anything (Matthew 23:1-36). He loves everyone (John 3:16) and doesn’t want anyone to die not knowing Him (2 Peter 3:9). He isn’t a boring stick-in-the-mud; He likes to go to parties (Matthew 9:9-11, John 2:1-2) and likes to have fun. He not only can make wine (John 2:6-10), He’s a connoisseur and can make some really amazing wine (John 2:9-10)!

So what’s it like to have a relationship with Jesus? Well, it’s like any relationship with a good friend – there’s going to be ups and downs. The ups and downs aren’t His fault; they are ours. We’re human, and we make plenty of mistakes. But the closer my wife and I get to each other and to Jesus, the more we realize how much more freeing and fulfilling life can be. Jesus, through His friendship and through our bonding together, teaches us what it’s like to be, well, a true human being – what we were made to be like. Are we great at it? No. We’ll never be as good at that as we’d like to be. But it’s the striving, the growing, the constant maturing that matters to God. And, since we know Jesus*, like a true friend He keeps gently nudging us to be better

Okay, so I’ve talked about the three strands. The “Two” part is next – that’s easy. We have two kids, a son, Thomas, and a daughter, Catherine. They are incredible. It is an indescribable privilege to be their parents and to have the awesome opportunity and responsibility to raise them. Our hope for them is that they will see the bond Sarah, Jesus, and I have made together and they will want the same for themselves. We know they have to make their own minds up about this. We want our lives to plainly be set before them and show them what it’s like to know God and walk with Him as best as we can. We do and will make mistakes, but we always tell them we’re sorry and we strive to do better the next time.

Lastly, “One” – for one purpose. This ties in with what I said earlier with the relationship we have with Jesus but goes a little further. Our sole purpose is to walk with Jesus and to follow Him. See, when you have a friend who is such a good friend that he or she encourages – no, compels – you to greater things, you want to spend a lot of time with that person, right? You want to do things to help that person. You want to please that person. You want to serve that person. That’s what our goal is, our purpose – to serve the Lord Jesus with our lives and to bless others along the way. Are we perfect at it? Of course not. Do we fail at it? Yes. But we never expect to be perfect at it – we’re human, after all – we just get back up, say we’re sorry, and keep moving forward.

More to come. Thanks for reading.

Joe

* To find out more about being a friend to Jesus, please ask us or click here. One of the main aspects to this friendship is to first recognize that you cannot be God’s friend and have a close walk with Him on your own, and that you need His help to do that. It’s not a natural thing for anyone, to be friends with Jesus and to walk with Him through life. You have to recognize your need for Him first.