Filed under: Uncategorized
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, Uncategorized | 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.
Filed under: Uncategorized
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?
Filed under: my faith journey, youth ministry | Tags: christianity, passion, wednesday, youth ministry
We have been in a weird place lately with our Wednesday Night Program. It seems to be loosing steam. Some of it stems from busy schedules and football season, and some of it results from having a huge group of seniors who tend to find reasons to slow their attendance during their last year of high school. I have actually lost sleep about the changes, but tonight, I am actually heading towards peace. Here are a couple of reasons why…
First, the kids who are coming are engaged and love it. That’s a win. I have to admit that I have fallen into numbers watching. I know that the saying is true that healthy things grow, but I also know that there is often pruning (shrinking) before growth. I also know, to quote Dallas Willard, that “Christians ought to be weighed, not counted.” It isn’t just numerical growth that suggests health, it is spiritual health, and there is a very healthy percentage of our kids who are growing spiritually. I never want to discount that for the sake of numbers. Shame on me. Don’t get me wrong, I am not ignoring our decline or speaking against large programs. Quite the opposite. We have had meetings at length abut the program… what’s wrong and how do we fix it. But what I have finally come to is that my primary job is to make student disciples who love God, love others and serve their world. I have to pray about whether or not I am hitting the mark in those areas, and if I am, then numbers don’t matter. My call is to disciple those who God leads to me. If I feel that I am missing the mark, then beating myself up doesn’t lead to gain, either. Repent, and then hit the ground running. I am passionate about students. I want to see them reached for the glory of Christ. I recommit myself to making sure that every young person God brings to me knows they are loved.
Secondly, I feel good because it has solidified in my mind some changes that need to be made. I am not ready to roll them out in this setting, but just know that I have had a lot in my head about the way we do ministry and the why we hold onto certain programs, and I feel like we may be in a season when our students are looking for depth that can’t necessarily be found in a huge group. I love where we are at, and I love where we are headed next.
God has been good to me. I, on the other hand, often take God’s credit, while letting him shoulder all the blame. For that, I am sorry. Today, I surrender myself FULLY to the almighty. God, I want what you want, and I want you to destroy the places in my heart and mind where that statement isn’t true. I desire intimacy with you like I have never felt, even aware of the sacrifice that this will require. Let me not just make disciples, but first be one. I love you, and I thank you for loving me.
Filed under: family life, my faith journey, randomness and miscellany | Tags: Dallas Cowboys, pancakes, weddings
I have actually missed blogging. I was in a part of the world that I didn’t even know still existed… a place where the internet has not yet found it’s way. I have to be honest, it was refreshing. But I’m glad to be back.
I got do something really cool this weekend… I got to perform the wedding ceremony for my sister-in-law (who is like the little sister I’ve never had) and her new husband. It was awesome. it was hard to look at Val and not see the pancake eating 15 year old I first met, but there she was, exchanging vows and starting the next chapter of her life. It was surreal and cool all at the same time. My head is swimming with reflection and insight, but none of it is organized enough to drop down here on the blog. I’ll get it down as soon as it makes sense in my own head.
In other news, how ’bout them Cowboys? It’s nice to be a fan of a team who can play like GARBAGE and wtill win convincingly. Time to pray against injury. Oh, and while I’m at it, Jerry Jones, will you please wuit having plastic surgery? You are scaring my kids.
And speaking of scaring my kids, found this little video nugget on another blog and I thought I would share it. These guys also thought that church can still be cool, unfortunately, they can not be, and therein lies the problem…
Filed under: my faith journey, youth ministry | Tags: Christ, Rob Bell, spiritual growth, youth
Thursday mornings are always tough for me as I wake up after a late night at youth and try to get ready so I can take the kids to school. My wife does the hard work of getting them ready because it is all I can do to stumble my way blindly to the coffee pot and throw some joe down my throat.
But this morning is a little different, if only because the weather outside is BEAUTIFUL!! It puts a little spring in my step and a smile on my face.
Last night at youth we watched a Rob Bell NOOMA video called Sunday and then had an awesome discussion about it. It was really challenging. One thing stuck out with me. He reminded us that God isn’t intereseted in rituals or ceremony or faking our way through the right thing. He wants our hearts. As we discussed it, that thought came up and so I asked, “How can you tell if God has your whole heart? How can you tell if you are wholly His?” The kids did a great job of explaining things like integrity and where your thought life goes and the amount of time spent caring for / after the people God has called us to reach. It was awesome to see that they get it, even if we all fall short of hitting it. It was an encouraging time, as we all sort of just said, “Hey, we can do this… we can be wholly His.”
But as we were talking, a thought cme to my mind. One kid said you can tell if you are His by how much time you spend thinking about him over the course of given day. At first, I felt relief as I could point to big chunks of my day where my vocation leads me to think on my Savior. He was in my thoughts a lot. But then I felt that conviction that only comes when God reveals some truth that only He could. The question I felt I was being asked was, “How much time do you spend talking to me just for the sake of your own personal growth and so you can know me more?” The answer to that question was a little less encouraging.
I spend time thinking about what God wants for the youth and how we can better connect them to Him. I spend time praying that God provide for my needs and take care of my children. I think about how to measure what he is doing in the lives of students, but rarely do I stop to ask him what He is or wants to be doing in me.
I think as parents or leaders we spend time thinking about what God wants for our families or ministries, but we don’t often just sit and hang out with the one who loves us more than anyone ever could. The result? We feel burnt out, distant, and abandoned. And then we stumble into this strange paradox… our spiritual coolness affects the way we function in our parental and / or leadership rolls.
I’m not even sure if I am making sense, but here is what I came to last night. I’ve got to, no, we all have to, set aside time to spend with God without an agenda. Without a list of things i need him to do or solve, but just to hang out with him because He loves me, and i love Him. My dry flesh and thirsty soul need to be connected with the well that never runs dry. There is nothing more important than that pursuit.
I know it isn’t going to be easy to carve out time and set out lists, but if my suspicions are true, the fruit will be worth it.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Never has there been a career that celebrates wrongness like the meteorologists. Here is what i mean…
1) 20′ swells predicted in Galveston, swallowing the sea wall and making Houston the new barrier island. Early reports are 9′ swells, lots of damage, but not near the catastrophic impact they expected.
2) San Antonio was told that we will have 35 to 45 mph winds with all day thunderstorms were a certainty. Make plans to settle in and not get out much. As I type this, it is beautiful and sunny and now I have to mow. Dang them.
3) I listened as they said Houston should get 6-8 inches of rain from the storm, only to see current totals already cappping 10 inches.
Here’s the thing, I am glad the sea wall held and that San Antonio isn’t inundated by the storm of the century and I am also heart broken by the damage in Houston. I just don’t get why these ya-who’s are allowed to report this stuff as absolute, unquestionable fact. The truth is, and they should report, “Truth is, guys, it is gonna be bad. How bad, we just don’t know because we are just weathermen and all weather is controlled… well, controlled by God, so rather than look like complete idiots, were gonna tell you that if you’re in the path of the storm, it’s gonna be wet and windy. Wish I could tell you more, but the truth is, I value things like integrity and honesty, so I’m just gonna keep my pie-whole shut. We will let you know after the storm how it turned out because that’s really the only time we will ever be able to report to you with any accuracy. Back to you guys in the studio.”
Wouldn’t that be refreshing?
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So long Galveston… been nice knowing you.
To hear the weather channel today is like hearing a memorial service for Galveston. Water already at the sea wall and still expecting a 15-20 foot swell. That can’t be good.
I love the image of the weather person standing on the shore line with the wind blowing livestock by in the background, rain so hard it is piercing their skin, and yet they hold still. Committed to bringing you the most accurate, up to date information possible. The hurricane center today said, and I quote, “If you don not evacuate Galveston, you will die.” And yet the weather channel, apparently impervious to weather, stands strong, riding out the worst of it.
Who do you have to tick off to get that assignment?
In other news, I am feverishly working on ideas for upcoming Winter Camp (January 2-4, 2009) and have come up with a shirt idea that I like, but I would love your feed back. It’s edgy, but it will start discussion, no doubt. The idea is that the church has begun to hate the very people God called us to reach to. We only want to deal with the healthy people, so we judge then avoid the lost. The shirt also has a double meaning, b/c it is what Christ said about us in Romans 5:8. Anyway, here is the shirt idea…
So, what do you think? Vote now and let me know. i like it, but then, I am not normal, so I was curious.
I will blog tomorrow if the hurricane doesn’t kill me first.
Filed under: Uncategorized
So, I am a self confessed over eater. i love food. The whole experience. The smell, the taste, the texture, the gratifying feeling of that near ache in your belly when you have consumed enough food for a small country in one sitting and now settle in on the couch for some football. My mouth is watering.
I have been known to enter and win various eating contests at camps and events, typically consisting of pizza, or an entire McDonald’s value meal blended up into a shake or… well anything you can consume mass quantities of. But a planet? That’s too bizarre even for me.
But not for France.
France, in collaboration with Switzerland has erected a 17 mile tunnel deep below their border and built a machine that will fire protons along the length of the circular track. The idea is that it will recreate the conditions necessary for the big bang to have happen. I the coming months, they plan to fire protons in opposite directions around the tunnel thereby hopefully allowing the protons to slam into each other causing a, you guessed it, big bang.
Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself at ; http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/09/10/lhc.collider/index.html
Opponents tried to step in and have the courts stop the effort fearing that the project would “create a black hole large enough to swallow the planet.” How’s that for an undesired side effect? I guess we shouldn’t be too worried, though. History suggests that France will surrender long before there is any real danger.
But here’s another problem I haven’t heard of yet… scientists discount God and say the universe was created by the last big bang. Assuming that’s true (and it isn’t, but let’s assume) has no one taken time to consider the ramifications of creating another planet INSIDE OF OUR CURRENT PLANET???!!! I am no scientist, but that sounds less than desirable. Embarrassing that no where in the process did someone stop and say, “Wait a tick… what are we to do if this thing works? Where are we going to put another planet?”
France, please stick to things you know and do well… cooking, smelling bad, surrendering and being snobby to the rest of the world, namely.
And please, for the love of all that’s holy, please don’t swallow my planet.
Church Can Still Be Cool 