Great Cartoon Illustration.

I think this cartoon hits the nail on the head. It amazes me how blind we are to our own issues. We all carry baggage – it may be invisible but it’s there and we carry it. And…I think this is why we aren’t running around like lunatics sharing the grace of Christ because we haven’t been unhinged from the baggage in our own lives.

What’s the baggage in your life that you haven’t turned over? What’s keeping you from laying it at the cross? Why do you keeping picking it back up after laying it down?

Filed under: Church

10 Things I Love about My Wife

I love my wife a lot.

I’ve been thinking about how much I love her a lot lately.

Awhile back there was a facebook trend of “top 25 things about you” going on – I never did it, though I loved reading other peoples stuff.

Thought I would change it a little bit and tell you about 10 things I love about Michelle.

1. She loves Christ A LOT. She pushes me a lot in my relationship with Him and I always feel like she is one step ahead of me. It’s great to get to be challenged by her for the rest of my life!
2. She has an amazing voice. She won’t admit to it but she does. I love hearing her sing.
3. When she cries – I melt. She is the sweetest, most fragile crier there is out there. You have to hold her one she cries because everything within you breaks when you see her.
4. She loves underprivileged children of an african american nature. She truly has a heart for changing their lives.
5. She can connect to just about anyone. She’s one of those people who can carry on a conversation with anyone who comes through the door – they can be singled, married, old, or a little baby – Michelle can hold a conversation with them all.
6. She is EXTREMELY intelligent. She blows me out of the water. She doesn’t flaunt it but you don’t want to mess with her in a game of scrabble. Sometimes when we fight – I have to ask her to use highschool words and not SAT prep words…
7. She is a great cook and she loves cooking for people. Fortunately I love eating and eating with people so that’s a good match!
8. She’s an optimist and she has helped my pessimism greatly – we are a great counter balance for each other.
9. She loves barefeet and soft grass. I love being outside with her and because she loves soft grass she lets me do whatever it takes to keep our lawn that way…
10. She loves me. I mean, she really loves me.

Just thought I would share!

Filed under: Personal

Tozer Gut-Punch

Saw this quote the other day and it’s been hounding me since…

Tozer says this in his book Whatever Happened to Worship, Tozer writes:

“Oh, brother or sister, God calls us to worship, but in many instances we are in entertainment, just running a poor second to the theaters. That is where we are, even in the evangelical churches, and I don’t mind telling you that most of the people we say we are trying to reach will never come to a church to see a lot of amateur actors putting on a home talent show.”

Ouch.

Filed under: Quotes

Jesus Wants the Rose!

Matt Chandler once gave this illustration at a Desiring God conference and it has been rocking my world every time I think about it. It truly communicates the gospel in all it’s beauty.

During my freshman year of college, I sat next to a 26-year-old single mother trying to get her degree. We began a dialogue about the grace and mercy of Christ in the cross. Some other guys and I would go over and babysit her child and try to talk with her. A friend of mine was in a band playing in the area and we invited her to hear him. She agreed. She thought it would be a concert. I knew better. It was shady and she agreed to come.

The minister got up and said, “Today I want to talk to you about sex.” And I immediately thought, Uh oh. He took a red rose, smelled it, showed how pretty it was. Then, threw it out in the crowd and told them to smell the rose. “I want you to smell it and touch it and feel the texture in it.” (There were about 1000 people there.) He then began one of the worst, most horrific handlings of what sex is and isn’t that I ever sat through. It was fear-mongering at its best.

I’m thinking, with Kim beside me, What are you doing? As he wrapped up, he asked, “Where’s my rose?”

Some kid brought the rose back and it was broken. The petals were broken. And he lifts it up. And his big crescendo is to lift up that broken rose and say, “Now who would want this?”

Anger welled up within me and I wanted to say, “JESUS WANTS THE ROSE! That’s the point of the gospel! That Jesus wants the rose. That he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Filed under: Quotes

Don’t pray enough? Have a web service pray for you!

I’m a little late rolling this guy out – he caught caught behind some other blog posts but…

I came across this article first covered over at TechCrunch and essentially it is a website for “digital prayers”

You essentially pay informationageprayer.com to pray for you.

Here’s the info from their site:

Information Age Prayer is a subscription service utilizing a computer with text-to-speech capability to incant your prayers each day. It gives you the satisfaction of knowing that your prayers will always be said even if you wake up late, or forget.

We use state of the art text to speech synthesizers to voice each prayer at a volume and speed equivalent to typical person praying. Each prayer is voiced individually, with the name of the subscriber displayed on screen.

At Information Age Prayer we think our service should be used like a prayer supplement, to extend and strengthen a subscriber’s connection with God. Traditional prayer is an integral part of this connection and should never be forgone, even after signing up.

You can subscribe for yourself, or you can purchase a subscription as a gift to friends or family.

And don’t forget to check out their plug for children:

If your children don’t pray anymore sign them up for one of the many daily prayers available for each religion (click categories at the left). You may also want to have a prayer said for them directly. The prayer for children is the cheapest Information Age Prayer service at only $1.99 a Month. Pray for a child here.

Please tell me that I am dreaming – why do we do this to ourselves????

Filed under: Church, Random, Religous

Christianity in America?

Unfortunately – I think this is true for more Americans than not…

At some point you are going to have to wake up and realize that church is not about you – it’s about being connected to the body of believers – the bridegroom of Jesus Christ.

Filed under: Church

Significant marks in my journey.

Been visiting my past journals over the last couple of days – been great reflecting on how God worked in my life and how he continually is shaping me along the way.

During my trip down memory lane – a couple of significant light bulbs have happened for me that I thought I would share…

Here we go:

• I can’t do it alone…and neither can you. We need each other. Why do we consistently put ourselves through the ringer trying to do things ourselves when God has expressed His love for us through the church?
• People need us. Our story is not unique and needs to be shared. Your greatest source of pain could very well be someone else’s source of healing.
• Growth, unfortunately, can never happen without pain. And now for the worse news – it’s often the most painful things that you endure that bring the most growth. Don’t hate the growth – embrace the growth and ask God for the strength to persevere well and to grow in the midst of the pains
• Community is worth fighting for. Fight for it.
• You get out of community what you put into it. You want to be known – make yourself known. You want to develop deep relationships – seek people out to develop those relationships. If you put in the effort, your rewards will be great!
• Hold on tight to what you know is true – even when your not even sure you believe it. Remember that faith is hoping in what is unseen – hold tightly to that hope.
• Just be real, honest, and who God made you to be. Life’s too short to waste it on being a superficial person that you are not – be you.

Just some things that God has been teaching me.

Filed under: Leadership, Personal, Reflection

Pocket God

I generally try to stay away from the lists that can be found in the iTunes store because I always end up buying stuff that I don’t really want or need but I do because it is sitting next to that number 1 on a list.

But…

Today I was looking a the top paid apps and one caught my attention – it’s called “Pocket God.”

Here’s what the creators have to say about the app:

“What kind of god would you be? Benevolent or vengeful? Play Pocket God and discover the answer within yourself. On a remote island, you are the all-powerful god that rules over the primitive islanders. You can bring new life, and then take it away just as quickly. Exercise your powers on the islanders. Lift them in the air, alter gravity, hit them with lightning, the possibilities are endless.”

Obviously I had to keep some of my typical gag reflexes in check as I got past the first sentence of the games explanation but in the end – one question stuck in my head. If an app like this is on a top ten list of apps then it shows us that the culture is fascinated with the “concept” of God but aren’t really interested in following Him.

Filed under: Culture, Random, Religous

Give me a leader who leads.

I will openly admit that I am not an advanced leadership coach or have any great sayings on leadership but today I was reflecting over the last 5 years of leading various leadership teams for ministry and made some great observations as I brainstormed some thoughts out.

Just thought that I would share a couple of thoughts from my notes:

• I believe that most naturally gifted leaders don’t like to hold hands. This is great for most leaders because empowering someone else to lead who doesn’t know how to let go of your hand and lead creates a slow painful death inside of you.
• Leaders love to create path. Point leaders in the right direction and off they go.
• They are energized by challenge. The love trying to make things work.
• They think people. They are includers and they know that in order to pull things off they need people and they figure out what networks work best for whatever task needs to take place

I’m sure there are other aspects of leaders that I could include here but these are some of my thoughts over the last couple of years. I try to build these aspects into our college life leadership team where essentially over the course of a year I gradually hand over the entire ministry to them – a give it away mentality. I think this will benefit them in the future and some church in the future if I can train students up well. Plus it promotes ownership of the ministry.

Just some thoughts.

Filed under: Leadership

Need a major?

Still trying to find the right major for you? Having a tough time? Want some help?

Maybe the mental floss blog can help you out…

Not to long ago they wrote a post on “11 Unusual Majors” – maybe this could be the answer to your saga!!

Here they are:

1. Bowling Industry Management
2. Piano Pedagogy
3. Family & Consumer Sciences
4. EcoGastronomy
5. Turf and Golf Course Management
6. Packaging
7. Equine Studies
8. Jazz Studies
9. Canadian Studies
10. Bakery Science
11. Blacksmithing

Hope it helps – you can read about each of the majors HERE

Filed under: Uncategorized

Creating Communities of Grace

Just saw this over at the resurgence blog and I thought it was well put…

1. Make the connections



We need to teach, speak, sing, and pray grace. But we also need to make connections for people. We can believe in justification by faith for the final day, but doubt justification by faith for the next day. On a Monday morning in the workplace we are still trying to prove ourselves, to find identity in our achievements.

2. Welcome the mess



Welcome messy people. Don’t suppress conflict. Don’t hide problems.

3. Stop pretending



Don’t hide your own problems. You’ll need to exercise some discretion: let everyone know you struggle and let some people know what you struggle with.

4. Stop performing



Don’t put on a show. Don’t push people to perform, to produce results, to get it right all the time. Give people permission to fail. We’ve realized, for example, that polished Bible studies and articulate prayers disenfranchise semi-literate people.

5. Eat and drink with broken people



Jesus eats and drinks with sinners. It’s a powerful expression of community. We think we’re enacting grace if we run projects for the poor, but we’re only halfway there. We still act from a position of superiority, proclaiming that we are able and they are unable. The dynamic is totally different when we eat together. We meet as equals, share together, affirm one another, enjoy one another.

6. Give people time to change



How long did it take for you to become perfectly like Jesus? Of course, you’re still changing. There seem to be some sins we’re prepared to work on over a lifetime, but others where we demand instant change. Why is this? The answer, of course, is that we want people to be respectable. We don’t want a messy community.

7. Focus on the heart



All too often we focus on the behaviors we would like someone to stop or start. But Jesus says our behavior comes from the heart (Mark 7:20-23). Our focus needs to be on the heart. Our job is help people find joy in Christ.

_____________________

I really loved the parts on “making connections,” “welcoming people,” and “stop pretending” for several reasons:

I love being intentional about making connections – I really believe that we all long to be part of something – especially in the younger generation – why do you think social networking is skyrocketing the way it is – people want to connect and hopefully they will find opportunity to connect within Christian community.

I loved the part on welcoming the mess because these are the people that if we are honest – we kinda cringe when they show up but God loves them and we should love them and stop thinking about how different they are for us! Instead – focus on how God has uniquely created each of us differently to fulfill different roles in the body – what role do they potentially have in the future?

And lastly – I loved the stop pretending part. We have issues and hopefully if it is truly authentic Christian community we can share and be encouraged and supported through those various issues.

Though – I will say with caution that living by the “stop performing” and “stop pretending” mantras that this is not a license to continual sin with no intention of getting past it. We should be honest and we should be walking, growing, and living the grace of Christ through our lives instead of scripted lives and we can do this by not pretending and by not performing – it is a heart issue.

Good things – the post came from HERE if you are curious.

Filed under: Church, Religous

Set Apart?

I’ve been having some conversations lately with a couple of good friends and people I really admire and respect who have been living life beside me for awhile and I have to confess – I’m troubled.

Lately God has been doing a lot of moving and shaking in my heart – dust is flying off and new doors are being opened and it is a lot to be taking in.

I’ve been struggling with Romans 12 where Paul calls Christians to “not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” What does that mean? How do I apply this to my life?

What does it mean to live in todays world – be a part of a community yet also be a Christian who is “set apart.”

What distinguishes us from everyone else?

I think essentially it all revolves around humility and forgiveness. Humility and forgiveness…

I mean think about it, humility and forgiveness is totally countercultural. They are things that go against every grain of our nature because we are fundamentally driven by pride – we are – lets just openly confess it to each other. The stink of it is – pride is the original sin – wanting to be like God.

Everything we are taught in the states from the second we leave our mother’s womb is to embrace our pride – “go for it” and “be all you can be” – you will accomplish anything you set your mind on! Parents and teachers and tv and internet tells us that we are important and that we can make something of ourselves. Even our economy is structured in such a way that we want more – we want more wealth, more prestige, more respect, more significance – more more more!

Pretty much everything we do is for the bettering of our lives and leaving a legacy behind.

Yet Christ’s example was self-denying and an other focused existence.

Think about what Christianity could look like if we stopped being so self-obsessed. What would the world do if every Christian stopped trying to make themselves look good or sound smart, humbled themselves to a place where they realized it’s not about them?

What if we decided to live simpler lives and consume less – instead we give more resources away instead of spending money on useless stuff.

What if we stopped obsessing over twitter updates (myself included), facebook wall posts, and having that new outfit for next weeks party and took a step back and said to ourselves, “its really not about me”?

And I realize its hard and I openly confess that I have a hard time going here. I do – I like stuff. If I could check myself into a “stuffanynonomous” program I would! But…what if I just started walking with God. What if I started opening the scriptures every day and just immersing myself in the story of God – His revelation to mankind about who He is and His intentions for those who love and follow Him.

What if by doing that – I would truly be set apart because the Word was impacting my life.

What if I started following Christ’s example of self denial and being focused on others first?

What if…

Filed under: Personal, Reflection, Religous

Caught Sleeping on the Job??

Ever got caught sleeping during the job and needed something to say but had nothing on hand? Me too…

These are for those occasions where you take a trip with the college group or youth group and give it your all and then you are due back in class or work that next Monday and your boss, who already thinks your a slacker, comes strolling by…

Figured I would lend a helping hand!

But…I didn’t come up with these – I jotted them down once and forgot where I got them so feel free to use!

7. “They told me at the blood bank this might happen.”

6. “Whew! Guess I left the top off the dry erase board marker.”

5. “This is one of the seven habits of highly effective people!”

4. “Rats! Why did you interrupt me? I had almost figured out a solution to our biggest problem.”

3. “Boy, that cold medicine I took last night just won’t wear off!”

2. “I wasn’t sleeping…I was trying to pick up my contact lens without using my hands.”

And the last but not least, though it is my favorite:

1. “Amen”

Have fun – stay awake – I mean errr…nevermind…

Filed under: Random

You HAVE strengths!

Here’s what I know…

You have strengths and you have weaknesses and I am constantly learning that focusing on my weaknesses is like trying to breathe without oxygen. I may not die immediately but sooner or later…I will die.

But…

Focusing on my strengths really lets me fly – it’s like getting a breath of fresh air!

Here at Wildwood Community Church we are big fans of the Servants by Design strength testing. Granted – there are tons of strength testers out there, and while interviewing with many churches I had my shot at most of them, but this one I found the most helpful.

Servants by Design is unique in that it approaches your personality in an all positive way – kinda makes you feel good about yourself. This test approaches your personality as a house – your foundation is what makes you stand up and your attic is part of the house, though, you don’t spend a lot of time in the attic. This means that whatever your foundation is is where your core strength is and what’s in your attic doesn’t mean it’s a weaknesses because you have access to the attic – it just means you don’t go there often.

This has helped me instrumentally in leadership. Knowing what my foundation is and building people around me that have the gifts that I store in my attic makes leading TONS more easier – plus – those that are strong with my attic area – it’s their foundation – so they are happy too!

In the years to come, the College Life leadership team is going to take this test together at the beginning of each year because I think it will be great to understand the giftedness of everyone on the team – I’m really looking forward to this!!

Out of this test – here’s my strength / weaknesses or better put my foundation and my attic space – the first is my foundation and the last is my attic:

1. Achiever – At the bedrock of my personality is an organized, logical, and analytical achiever part. I love to gather data, sort facts, categorize and solve problems in a clear-thinking manner – I love the question, “Does it make sense?”
2. Persister – This kinda goes hand in hand with my achiever – I firmly believe if you spend enough time and effort setting the course then you should not hesitate in the direction you are heading – you should persevere. It also means that I maintain a high standard and I am motivated to influence others leadership abilities to impact others.
3. Dreamer – the dreamer is my attic space. I can access it but I access it very rarely. This may be a surprise to people because I am a brainstormer but I am a brainstormer primarily because I just like writing things on the board (think data intake) while others are really doing the “brainstorming.” I like taking dreamers “dreams” and putting them into action. Therefore – I know that for certain events and activities I rely a lot on dreamers who can shoot the moon and then I get to be a part of building the rocket that gets us there…

That’s a little bit about me. What are some of your strengths and weaknesses??

Filed under: Leadership, Personal

How to Change.

How to Change

“If you want to conquer a besetting sin, you need to stop loving it.”

-Matthew Elliott

Filed under: Religous

A Different Sort of 10 Commandments

Recently I stumbled across a book titled, “Anyway” by Kent M. Keith.

This book is one of those books that as you are reading it you find yourself saying, “yes” out loud – it’s that good.

In his book he talked about his 10 commandments of leading a Christ like life in the midst of a fast paced crazy world.

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self centered. Love them anyway.
2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
3. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
8. What you spend years building my be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
10. Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the best you have anyway.

I think these are good rules to live by. They help remind me to continually be looking to Christ in all things I do and not to others or situations around me.

“When people realize it is the living God you are presenting and not some idol that makes them feel good, they are going to turn on you, even people in your own family. 22 There is a great irony (a paradox) here: proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate! But don’t quit. Don’t cave in. It is all well worth it in the end. 23 It is not success you are after in such times but survival. Be survivors! Before you’ve run out of options, the Son of Man will have arrived.” Matthew 10:21-23

And no – these 10 should not replace the original 10 commandments of the Bible.

Filed under: Book Review, Personal, Reflection

Thicken our Skin.

Lord, thicken our skin.

Not that we be less tender, but that we be less easily offended.

Take away our bent to self-pity.

Give us a passion for the truth that is stronger

than our inborn passion for being praised.

Forgive us, Father, for calling words unloving just because they were tough.

Forgive us for attributing malicious motives

to people when we don’t know their motives.

Help us to learn from Jesus

when to be tough and when to be tender.

Guard us from justifying merely human anger with the hard sayings of Jesus.

But don’t let us become so mushy that we can’t speak a firm word in season.

We marvel at the words of our Lord Jesus.

How unpredictable He was!

No one ever spoke like He did.

He is in a class by Himself.

We bow before Him and shut our mouths.

We are eager for Him to speak – and to speak any way He pleases.

We are the silent learners.

He is the sinless teacher.

We put our hands upon our mouths and take our place at His feet.

Do with us as You please, Father.

We are not Your judge, nor the judge of how Your Son speaks.

Have mercy on us – tough or tender – and lead us to Your everlasting joy.

In the name of Your Son, our Lord Jesus,

Amen.

- John Piper, from Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ

Filed under: Church, Culture, Quotes, Reflection

Blind to all but Christ.

O Father, make known to us the glory of your Son!

O Spirit, shine the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ Jesus into our hearts!

Blind us to all but him.

Captivate us with his splendor,

that we, like Moses, might say not to the passing pleasures of sin.

Help us to rest in Christ alone

as the treasure greater than all earthly rewards.

- Sam Storms, The Hope of Glory: 100 Daily Meditations on Colossians

Amen.

Filed under: Quotes