Sunday, September 30, 2007

step up, step out

I'm not talking about some dance move here. I'm talking about things surrounding Jesus' life.

I hadn't had any one on one time with God lately, It was a long, stressful week with getting over a sinus infection, work, church. No time to stop and think really. So I was kind of angry, bitter, tired, frustrated, annoyed with life.

I got in church and there were hardly any people there. It is kind of disheartening because this service has been going on for a year and instead of seeing any kind of growth, we're seeing all kinds of atrophy. When you're seeing atrophy you have to stop and wonder, what the heck is going on. Is there something being done wrong, for the wrong reasons? Why is God not blessing this outreach.

Then it hit me...this is an outreach and we're not out there reaching to people. that is why there is atrophy in this service that is geared towards singles and college students. The same people show up week after week and most of the time extremely late. They come in sit down, 'soak' and leave. They don't bring anyone with them, they don't try and initiate any type of growth opportunities. (I'll inject, I can't say I'm completely on top of this either, but I do invite people occasionally, and I have a desire to see this ministry grow since I was 'there at the conception'). Atrophy is a do nothing disease and this is where the first "Step up, step out" principle hit me. Christ talked a lot about service, he lived out service. Christ and his disciples said, either you step up to the challenge and the commission I have given you or step out of the way so that other people can get it done. Start building that muscle, start giving it opportunities to grow otherwise it will atrophy and you won't be able to do anything.

So do I think that something needs done? yes, I think people need to get off their butts and stop thinking of this service as a ministry for them and start realizing it is a ministry for them to participate in. You wonder why there is so much drama, angst, bickering, and bitterness within a group of people. It is because these people are looking for chances where they can be served, filled, babied, uplifted, gorged, and become downright selfish. Instead these people need to be jumping in along side those who are working, and lend a hand. They need to stop gorging themselves and put into practice what Jesus lived, service.


Second principle that I think comes more out of Jesus' lifestyle rather than teachings is that of "Step up, then step out". Jesus came to this earth, started his ministry, gathered followers, poured himself into the followers and then stepped out of the scene. While there are more reasons than just this. He did this in order that his followers would be able to grow, learn and understand on their own, rather than leaning and relying on Jesus to always take over a situation when they did something stupid. That doesn't mean that you stop being involved, but once you have helped/fed a person spiritually you have to take away the bottle and let them go on their own. The it cycles back around to "Step up or step out". That person then becomes responsible to reach out and begin pouring themselves out into other people.

Unfortunately the church, my church, our church, the body of Christ takes neither of these principles to the road.
Atrophy sets in.
People complain, become bitter, get annoyed, bicker, pick fights.
Numbers dwindle.
Christ is not glorified.
God finds someone/somewhere else to move.


Saturday, September 29, 2007

Responsibility, What's that. Responsibility, Not quite yet. -MXPX



New Music to check

Matchbox Twenty: Exile On Mainstream -













Turn Off The Stars (self titled)















This Beautiful Republic: Even Hero's Need a Parachute
















Paramore: Riot















Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Oh praise the one














"Oh praise the One, Who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead."
"what a privilidge it is to carry, everything to God in prayer."

The power of worship. To lay stripped bare before God, worshiping Him because of who he is and what he has done. To sit your burndens down at the feet of Jesus. To look like a fool in front of all others in order to have holy communion with the one who created the universe.

Oh how sweet it is.

How sweet it is as well, to share in part the same spirit with other believers. To share excitement in the movement of the holy spirit. To share the same anguish over the same spiritual road blocks and blinders.

As Iron Sharpens Iron.

I've said it before,
Get ready. God's moving. Are you ready for this?

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

What would you do

If God told you to get up and move?

I'm not talking about across the state. I'm talking Africa, the other side of the continent, Some remote part of Cambodia? Somewhere far away from your family and friends. Somewhere outside of your comfort zone. This may not be a completely logical move either, just a movement because God said Go.

Would you go?

Would you be willing enough to give up everything and go somewhere different, do something different, be something different?

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Love God, love people, and be willing to let God show up.

Psalm 31 (the message)
23 Love God, all you saints;
God takes care of all who stay close to him,
But he pays back in full
those arrogant enough to go it alone.

24 Be brave. Be strong. Don't give up.
Expect God to get here soon.

Churches today skirt the fact that God is a righteously vengeful God. It isn't politically correct to tell people that if you do not serve God, ultimately it will come back around to bite you. So pastors will preach the fact that God will take care of his saints, but will brush by the fact that it says, the saints who are close to him, and skip the fact that it says he pays back in full those who are arrogant enough to leave God alone.

The questions that present themselves in this single verse is, are you loving God and staying close to him? and, In your willing ignorance are you being being arrogant, and self-centric in your worship/life-style/person?

It isn't an easy question to ask yourself, because you've gotta dig deep. You've got to get some of that dirty laundry out before God. You've got to be honest with yourself on how much you really go to church, serve people and live your life selfishly. You may say you're doing it for God but how often do you do it just because it makes you feel better about yourself, or you're worried about what other people think.

God is righteous, all-knowing, all-powerful. Perfect. He alone has the right to speak the truth, condemn us to hell, love unconditionally, forget and forgive, punish, and call each and every one of us arrogant fools.

Whom are you seeking?

The next question. While you are seeking, do you expect God to show up?

Or because you can't see, touch, taste, feel, smell God, do you only partially think he might find the time to show up if his schedule is not to busy.

I think so many times we place our mortal concepts of time and place upon God, and say since he is not here physically, I do not expect him to be present in my every day life. God is at church and I leave him there, God only helps those who help themselves (how often do you hear that one), God only comes in times of trouble (and here you can ask, why the pain, suffering and death). People think you cannot expect anything of God because he is so distant.

This is not the case, we're the ones distancing ourselves from God. Once again this is because of our own foolish arrogance.

If you would just take a second to sit down, shut up and expect God to show up, expect Him to do something, expect the creator of the universe to be there when we call (and even when we don't). Something might actually happen.

Put some practical shoes on and start walking your faith, you might be surprised what happens when you're willing to let your arrogance go. Decide you don't know anything about everything.

Love God, love people, and be willing to let God show up.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

A START

time to get the creative juices flowing...boy is this rough...

this is a first pass...gotta come up with a couple design variations.

I'm happy with how it's going though

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Goal-Set-Match

I took a body fat percentage test today at the gym and found out I reached my goal of getting around/under 10% body fat.

Pretty cool.
I want to say I started a year ago at 20% or more. (whatever the high end of average for my height/weight/age was)

Sunday, September 9, 2007

so that we may serve the living God - Hebrews 9:14

To be honest God has really got me unsettled. I cannot get ministry off of my mind for anything, it's unsettling and exciting at the same time. I know that God has placed this on my heart, and I am resigning myself to the fact that I'm gonna have to get ready to go wherever he decides he needs me.

I've been struggling with this for a week now, and really feel like it's time to take my thoughts beyond my thick skull and this keyboard. I mentioned it briefly to my mom, who at the thought of me moving anywhere outside of Cincinnati usually has a stroke, kind of lit up and said "I always knew you'd go into ministry".

Like I said, I've got no direct calling yet. Just an urge, a very strong urge that has left me restless to serve my living God.

I struggle to read my Bible daily (heck, most of the time weekly or monthly), something that I need to get back into, and skimmed through Hebrews looking for a word. Why Hebrews I don't know, but I came across chapter 9. Verse 14 begins talking about Christ's sacrifice and his blood covering all of our shame and sin, so that we may serve the living God.

Yeah, I struggle, daily. I'm glad that God never said that being a follower of Christ resulted in an ease of life, because I'd have quit a long time ago. That would be an out right lie. We have struggles, but because of something miraculous 2,000 years ago, we can have a relationship with, and serve the living God.

Serving the living God.

I don't get to serve a dead God, a distant God or a disillousioned God. I serve the living, life giving, awe-inspiring God. This service that I have been enveloped into is what has my spirit restless.

A year ago I was not the same man I am today. I was burned out, resistant, and angry with a lot of Christianity. At the end of my four years of college I was pretty sick of the church establishment and the way that Christians treated eachother. I was never to the point of denouncing Christ, but I deffinately distanced myself from him, and others. Over the last year God has worked on my heart, stuck me in a Christian organization that has allowed me to grow. He's placed me in a church were my spirit has been refreshed. Where he is moving and I was able to jump right in. To Serve.

That is what this verse is talking about, Christ's blood, the same living and life giving God that created our universe ex-nilo, covered my guilt, my shame, my burned out mentality, my bitter spirit, my brokeness, my dissappointement. Now he has placed in me a desire and passion to serve him. His refreshing spirit has lifted me up out of the pit of dispair and I praise him for that.

Does that mean I don't struggle, no. Does that mean I don't get dissappointed from time to time with myself or others, no. Does that mean that I don't get burned out from pushing myself to hard (heck no, after all of this I learned I thrive on pushing my limits).

It just means I have something to go after, a drive to keep myself going when I feel like I'm going to drop. A reason to keep looking up day after day. A reason to serve my living God.

I know that things are going to happen because satan is attacking at all sides. I don't ever think I've seen so many attacks at once, and frankly I'm starting to realize where some of them are as I type this. Satan doesn't want you to serve. The complacent, lazy, gourged, self-righteous, pious Christian that I used to be is right where he wants you. Doing absolutely nothing to further the kingdom. It excites me that these attacks are taking place because I know God's about ready to drop a freaking bomb. It also scares the crap outta me because that means stuff has got to change. Change in me, and for me.

I need to be changed from the inside out. Praise God he's doing a new work in me!

I love change as much as I love habit. The thing that scares me is what kind of change this is gonna be. Africa? I'll go. North Dakota? (as boring as that would be) I'll go. Get married? (as far off as that may seem in my singleness) I'll go. Poverty? (hey, if I don't have any money what can the creditors do?) I'll go. Seminary? (as much as I don't feel called in a full pastoral position) I'll go.

Now that I've poured out a little I think I can settle down some. It's hard to keep all of these thoughts inside. It's like a pressure cooker, it's gonna come out sooner or later (whatever it is that you've stored up). I'm just grateful for what is pouring out of me. It has seriously come up a lot in some conversations I've had recently and I really need to sit down with some of my leaders now and let them know the impact they've had in my life lately and get some guidance on where to go now.

thanks for listening


Thursday, September 6, 2007

Bathroom Pet Peeve

Most guys know and abide by certain rules. Among those rules are certain bathroom etiquette. I.E. if there is a row of urinals and they're all empty but one, pick the farthest away from the other guy.

I'll be honest with you, bathroom etiquette is a pet peeve of mine. I notice if you didn't wash your hands, or if you picked the stall right next to me, and if I'm in a predicament where I'm supposed to shake your hand (even if I haven't seen you near the bathroom recently) I'm gonna be reluctant to touch you.


So you will be understanding when I say that things like...talking in the bathroom is a no brainer. Don't frackin' do it. Seriously, if I'm standing at the urinal taking a piss and even though your washing your hands, I don't want to hold a conversation. I'm there to mind my own business. No I don't want to shoot the breeze with you while you're outside my stall and I'm taking a crap, I don't care if I work with you. It even comes down to, we're both washing our hands, and you want to start up a conversation. A quick hi or how's it going will suffice. Going on to tell me how your weekend went with the in-laws, or what you had for lunch (which apparently didn't agree with your stomach) is not kosher at all. I think it's even more annoying when you walk in on a conversation like this in progress. You're clogging up the entry/exit to the bathroom with your conversation. Leave.


The kicker is when you're standing at a urinal, and someone walks up next to you and insists on having a full out conversation with you whilst peeing. This in and of itself is bad enough but when your co-working/whoever turns toward you because they're an 'eye contact' person is worse. This makes me want to zip up mid-stream and walk out. Who taught these people bathroom etiquette? It's down right disgusting how many guys, break these simple man-laws...


In public I've had someone walk up at the sink and strike up a conversation about the shoes I was wearing. I don't care if you're a fag or not, don't talk to me in a bathroom, ESPECIALLY IF I DON'T KNOW YOU (and knowing me still doesn't give you the right).


Yes, that's right, all of these things happen to me...and it seems to be the rule rather than the exception. It is my hopes someone reads this and makes a bathroom etiquette sign that will be posted in male restrooms across the world. That way there is a simple reminder that in the bathroom no contact is good contact.


happy peeing

Monday, September 3, 2007

prayer

I really wish there were masters programs out there in church media. The longer i go along I feel a stronger calling to this, and I'd really like to get my masters too.

Hearing our singles pastor's testimony Sunday on how he was called in to ministry, really resonated with me. How usually when you say you're not going to ever be called to something God usually calls you there. I would deny ever feeling a calling into ministry until lately. I'm not 100% sure about it, but I've been drifting in that direction. I would even be ok with going to Africa if lead there.

So if you think about it, pray as I continue to work with this. I want God's will for my life, I'm not sure where this is going yet, I'm not even sure what I want in life.

thanks

Saturday, September 1, 2007