Filed under: Uncategorized
This Sunday starts our new “Do Hard Things” series at Real Life Student Ministries. BE THERE!
Filed under: Uncategorized
I have given the last 20 years of my life to a love that has made me the man that I am. We have laughed together, cried together, worked together, played together… they know my secrets, my ambitions, my fears… to say that they have been merely a friend would be to insult the depth of what we have had.
And yet, today, it’s time to say good bye, dear Reese’s Peanutbutter Cup.
It’s not you, it’s me.
See, the other day, you weren’t around, and as ashamed as I am to admit it, I tasted another candy. I didn’t want to. I meant to just look at the Nutritional Facts label when one thing lead to another. Before I knew it, I had taken a bite. In the days that followed, I tried to hide my feelings. To pretend like it wasn’t happening, I tried to say that I still loved you, Reese’s, but in the end, I have been smitten by this beauty.
What can I say? The heart wants what the heart wants.
Goodbye is never easy, but it appears to be all that is left. I hope that we can still be friends, but I understand if this is too difficult for you, Reese’s. I will cherish the goodtimes that we have, and may even mix you into a blizzard every now and again, you know, for old times sake.
Don’t let this tarnish what we had. Our love was real, and was as much as I knew. In the end, time moves on. I hope you understand and that we can pass in the hall without the awkwardness that always follows a failed love.
I wish you happiness, Reese’s. I pray that you will find the one who fills you with joy as Heath Bar has for me.
Enough is enough. I have come up with excuse after excuse for being lazy and tired and letting my passion slip away moment by moment. I’m done with that. I get to choose how I will respond to life, and guess what life? I’m done letting you kick my behind.
I know that it has been so long since I blogged that no one really reads this anymore, but no matter. If to one other than myself I make a declaration that from this moment on, there are changes coming. Time to smile more, laugh more, accept more, criticize less, pray more, read more, focus more, take time for the “small stuff” more, love more, gossip less, give more, take less, worship harder (even when I don’t feel like it), make a difference more, write more, think more, expect less, desire more…
Life is always full of things to use as excuses, but at the end of the day, the only thing to blame is my own self. So, let’s get back in the game. Life is too short, and I want to live it for all it’s worth.
Heavenly Father, thank you for your patience with me, and I confess to you that I have settled for less… less than your best for me, less than you created me for… less. Today, I desire more… more of you, more joy, more purpose… more. Thank you that you are always willing to be found when I seek you with all of my heart (jer 29:13). Forgive me for the times when I have barely sought you at all. May today be the beginning of something amazing. I give it all to you. You rock.
Filed under: family life, my faith journey, randomness and miscellany | Tags: chili, christianity, cold weather, faith, family, God, love
It’s cold here tonight. Well, at least South Texas Cold. i was excited, because that meant chili night. Chili night is not something taken lightly in the Powers family. Think more, rite of passage, primal man thing. Growing up, some of my fondest memories are of my dad wearing a flannel shirt and cooking chili and corn bread in his gigantic harvest gold pot as we sat around and talked and hung out by the fire… I love those memories.
Fast forward 25 years or so, and I find myself pleasurably on the other side of the chili pot so to speak. Tonight, I felt like a dad. i know that sounds silly seeing as how I am a dad, but this was one of those moments where I found myself being like my old man, and I loved it. I saw my wife and two kids sitting by the fire and laughing as I sat in the kitchen with my pot (sorry, dad… I’ve passed on harvest gold and settled instead on a sleeker stainless steel model) making a pot of red, and loving every second of this pretty sweet life I’ve got. And I hope that someday Carson will remember tonight as fondly as I remember those nights with my dad, and then I hope it will spur him on to continue the tradition with his little ones. LIke I said, it’s a big deal in the Powers family.
But this all got me to wondering… what are the moments when the Father looks down on us, smiles, and says, “tonight I feel like a dad!”? What things will he someday tell us of with a fondness in His eyes?
And maybe more importantly, what are they so I can be sure to pass them on to my little guy and gal? Family is a big deal to the Almighty.
No answers, but the tought made me smile, so I thought I would share it. Life’s short… love your family.
Filed under: family life, my faith journey, youth ministry | Tags: busyness, christianity, faith, life lessons
Seven years ago I began my journey into youth ministry by teaching a 5th grade class. Eventually, my volunteer role morphed into my life’s calling and full time vocation. The first several months left me working a full time job that i didn’t really like, pouring into a full time ministry that I was passionate about, and planning a wedding to the woman of my dreams. It was insane, but I convince myself it was just a “busy season”. Seven years, 1 wedding, 2 children, countless camps and retreats and events and football games later, I find that season never ended.
Busyness isn’t unique to ministry, we are all busy, all the time. I have found that even in full time, vocational church work (I often tell my students that I am a professional Christian) my personal spiritual development takes a back seat to the tasks at hand. The problem is that there is always a task at hand. Lately I have been thinking alot about what to make of all this. If busyness is the norm (we could debate whether that should or shouldn’t be the case, but that’s not for here or now) than how do i find Christ in the midst of the norm? Today, I write not as one winning, but rather as one losing but who desperately wants to find a better way. To that end, I offer a couple of suggestions for finding faith in the frantic…
1. Make the most of moments that aren’t crazy
There are moments of calm even in the craziest of days… turn the radio off in the car, take the long way to the copier, heck, put the magazine down in the bathroom and instead talk to Him. Don’t worry about the way it sounds, just tell Him what’s going on in your day. Vent, confess, listen… connect. A couple of minutes won’t kill you or set you behind. Be willing to let your mind slow down and focus only on Him, even if just for a couple of minutes at a time. I promise, it will change the way you look at the world around you.
2. Realize who God really is, and who really isn’t God
Start each day reminding yourself that you aren’t God, and He is. There is nothing you face today that God can help walk you through. he created you, your boss, the person who invented the industry you are employed in… In Colossians 1 we are told that in him everything is help together and finds it’s purpose. I laugh at myself when I say I am too busy to stop and pray… isn’t it at those times i should stop the most? Martin Luther once said, “My life is too busy not to spend the first three hours of it in prayer.”
Show off.
But seriously… you aren’t God. I’m not either. We can’t make it perfect in our own strength. Sure, we could finish the task, but at what cost? What we can do is connect to the one who is perfect. And more than completing the task, we will find ourselves feeling more completed. We were designed to be dependant… not on pay checks or approval, but on Him.
Again, I ain’t there yet, but I want to be. Next month will be busier than this month, and then, well… let’s just say it looks like this season is going to be a long one. If I can’t change the pace, I can at least change who I follow. Here’s hoping.
Filed under: my faith journey | Tags: christianity, election, faith, hope, mccain, obama, prayer
Last night our country changed direction. As I sat and watched the returns roll in my emotion changed from hope, to shock, to disappointment… heck, there was even a little fear mixed in. As the night wore on, a strange thing took the place of all of that… I became resolved.
This may come as a surprise, but there are actually a few things that I am thankful for after last night. First, I am thankful that while last night we elected a new president, we still serve the same King. The country changed direction and perhaps ideologies, but Christ didn’t, for He is the Lord, and He does not change. It is easy to get wrapped up in a situation that seems hopeless, but our God is a God of hope, and God who promises that ALL things work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. God was not surprised by the election results last night. His plan is still to give me hope and a future, I now have the task of walking in obedience to Him.
Second, I am thankful for a renewed passion to pray for our country and the man who will be leading it. We can no longer be Red Elephants or Blue Donkeys, we, the body of Christ, must now make our second most important affiliation simply Americans, united under one cause, which is to see America again become, “one nation, under God, indivisible…” My hope is that those who voted for Senator McCain will now pray for Barack Obama to become intimately intune with voice of God even harder than they prayed that he wouldn’t win the election. More than most, this man need the wisdom of Solomon, and the guidance of a just and merciful God. I am thankful that God is up to that challenge. But we have to step up, church. There is no place anymore for partisanship, at least not until 2012. We are all in this together, and as for me, I choose to stand on the promise that “if My people who are called by name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” The charge isn’t to pray that another be convicted of his sin, though we certainly can, the charge is to admit where WE have fallen short of God’s glorious standard, and then pray. Pray for our country, pray for President-Elect Obama, and pray that God heal our land. The truth is that God desires that even this man would come to an intimate, passionate, life-changing closeness with Him. It’s our job to stand in the gap for him until he does.
Finally, I am thankful for the privilege of being called a son of God, for I know that any Father worth his salt looks out for his kids, even in the most trying of times. I am thankful that there is a God more trustworthy than the nation in which I live, and I am thankful for the grace and mercy He has showered on me. The next four years are going to be interesting to say the least, but I KNOW THAT GOD IS IN THIS WITH US!! And, in the end, that brings me back to hope. After all, if He is for us, whom then shall we fear?
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So, I am podcastable. That’s not even a word, but I am. Apple sent me an approval email and everything. you have no idea how it makes one feel to be approved by Apple. Wow.
But seriously, we have begun putting the audio from our weekly sermons on line at this cool hosting site. From there, you can subscribe, and it will download weekly. Pretty cool for if you miss a week or if your just surious about what we’ve been talking about. Subscribe today!!
In other news, I like southwestern egg rolls, and you should vote tomorrow. those two thoughts have nothing in common, but they both popped into my head at the same time, so I wrote them. Hope your night is awesome!!
Filed under: family life, my faith journey, randomness and miscellany | Tags: blah, brother, david crowder, grace, marriage, tractor
I’m having a melancholy day. Now real reason, just sort feel down a little bit. Things are going pretty well, I just feel… well, blah I guess would be the word for it.
I am disatisfied with my spiritual place right now. I feel lazy. I don’t feel far from God. This is different. Like, I know he’s in the room, but I’m too apathetic to get up and talk to Him. Does that make sense? How do you fight that? I would be happy to take any suggestions. The funny thing is I could probably teach on it, but I am having trouble taking what I know and transforming it into what I live. David Crowder says, “I’m so bored of little gods while standing on the edge of something large.” I think that sums it up nicely.
You know what is convicting? I will wake up early to go play golf, a game I suck at… a game which hates me and makes fun of me and makes me question my manhood. I’ll wake up before dawn, pound some coffee, and hit the links and never even think twice. But wake up early for a consistent quiet time? Where’s the snooze bar? It’s not that i don’t have time with God, but I have to ask is this what He intended our relationship to be. I think that if i gave my wife the same amount of time I did my Savior, my marriage would fail. Guess I take grace for granted.
Maybe that’s it. I heard my brother once talk about the difference between cheap grace and costly grace. He quoted a really smart sounding guy named Dietrich Bonhoeffer and I was moved and challenged, but if I’m honest, cheap grace is easier.
A couple of weeks ago I went with my Mother-in-law to buy Carson a toy for doing such a good job being ring bear at aunt wowies wedding. (that’s ring bearer at aunt valerie’s wedding for those of you who don’t speak two year old). Anyway, we went to Dollar General to look for a prize, and Carson found the $2 tractor everyboy dreams of. It wasn’t fisher price, or even close to one of the expensive models, but it was a tractor. And he loved playing with it for the 7 minutes lasted. Cheap tractors are more accesible, but they break.
And that’s what I’m feeling about grace. I always feel like it is broken… like it won’t work for me or isn’t enough. Cheap grace is easy to come by, like a get out of jail free card in Monopoly, but, as I am learning, it often breaks. Costly grace, on the other hand, grace that came at a great price and asks more of the reciever (it’s not an in case of emergency, it demands a way of life) lasts. It’s forever… it’s a legacy.
When we were in Iowa, my father-in-law showed carson a tractor of his from when he was a kid. Carson was fascinated… he loved it. No doubt Steve’s tractor cost more than Dollar General imitation, but it remains as a tractor loving legacy that now impacts generations.
As it is with grace. Costly grace changes you… it leaves it’s mark and affects the way you view and relate to your whole world, but from my seat, it’s worth it if lasts, if it refuses to break. That’s the grace God wants us to wash ourselves in… grace that is forever. There is much that stands between me and it, namely self because this type of grace will demand I lay down my life and my wants and my desires, but it also promises to replace them with new ones… ones that fulfill.
So, as for the blah’s, they are still hanging around, but hopefully not for long. I want to find ways to press in… ways beyond a quiet time and a token prayer at dinner. It seems like a lot of work. Hard work. Painful work. But as I type, I realize that cheap grace isn’t any less work. The cheap grace I settle for demands that I work to fix it, a work I’ll never be able to complete. Costly grace simply suggests I work to enjoy it.
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Saturday was a day of emotional extremes. On one hand, I was awakened at 2:30 in the morning with the AMAZING news that my BEAUTIFUL niece, Regan Elizabeth was beginning her trek towards the outside world. We sat at the hospital and visited, then spent hours amazed at the newness of this life and the limitless possibilites that await her. She is amazing. Don’t believe me? Check out the picture…
See? I told you so. She is incredible. It was an awesome day, and she is an awesome kid.
Then, Saturday night, we get home to find our street baracaded off by police and fire trucks. A house four down from me burned badly. A 72 year old man and his wife lost almost everything. What a mess. I was encouraged briefly to see the neighbors rally around them and encourage and pitch in, but then Monday morning came. My wife found a story on line on the woai.com site that told of their horrible situation and how they family didn’t have insurance and the tough place they found themselves in. The comments on the story broke my heart. To a man, they ridculed the family for not having insurance, even calling them stupid.
Is this the world we live in? Is compassion totally gone? Not a single word about how heartbreaking the ordeal was. Not a single comment on how important it was that we rally around our neighbors who are hurting. I’m not saying that there isn’t validity to the comment that says it was ill-advised to cancel your insurance policy, but where does that get us? Will that put a roof over this poor families head? Will this turn back the clock and prevent the house from catching fire? I doubt it.
Pointing out mistakes and criticizing poor decisions do nothing to solve the problem. We try to remove any sense of civic responsibility by tricking ourselves into thinking that it is all their fault and they deserve what they got.
I long for a day when we will seek a solution first, and someone to blame second. I pray that I will sometime see a world in which people really do care beyond what is easiest for them. Not even sure what else to say. Today, I am discouraged with the world I live in.
Filed under: youth ministry | Tags: high school, junior high, real life, sex, teaching, truth, youth ministry
I am really excited about two new series we are starting. With high school, we are starting a series called “Untouchables” which we got from Saddleback. It takes a look at 4 things the church is slow to speak on… too slow some times. Topics include homosexuality, death, disability, and prejudice. I hope that this series will help us learn the difference between hating sin and hating sinners. Our Father is passionate about lost people and those struggling with these issues… even though it breaks His heart to see them struggling or overcome with sin. Too often, Christians get the hate sin part, but forget the love sinners. Where else do we find healing of all of our sins but in the presence of the almighty, and what better example of that is there than in the local church? Here is the graphic that I think is pretty cool…
And in junior high, we are doing a new series called EXPOSED! The Truth About Sex, which is another Saddleback resource. We are takinga three week look at sex, and it is the first time we have done this specifically for junior high students. We want to show the kids what God intended sex to be, where it got off track and what they can do to reclaim the true intention in their own lives. I am super excited. We had to re-work the artwork a little bit, but I think it looks great. I am really excited about both series. Will you pray for us?
