Archive for June, 2008

my portion

Published June 30, 2008 Life , Worship 2 Comments
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The Bible draws a picture of the Lord as our portion. It’s an interesting thought: God is completely and totally all you need.

So many times in my life, God is not my portion, He plays a part of what I need, mixed in with everything else.

What would it look like if God was our portion? If everything we needed came from Him? Could it be we would go through a week without the empty longings for things in the world? Could it be we would feel freedom like never before from the things that hold us back? Could it be the guilt we carry from our past no longer crushes our spirit?

The problem we have when God is not our portion is that He cannot shape and bless our lives to the fullest because we have pushed Him out of so many places.

Living with God as our portion is all about pushing everything out we have come dependent on for our life, outside of God, to make room for our dependance on Him. It is finding the things we are dependent on and asking God to refocus our dependance on Him. It is finding the areas we are captive to and praying our hearts out for redemption. Living with God as our portion is about taking our focus off the small time we live here on earth and moving it to the greatness of God and the story of His kingdom.

For more see Psalm 119:57 and Psalm 142:5.

funny stuff

Published June 27, 2008 Vodcast 3 Comments
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Been kind of a heavy week on the blog - I want to end on a light note. These are seriously some of the funniest videos I’ve seen in a while. Check them out!

You can check out the full You Tube Channel.

reconnecting

Published June 26, 2008 Ancient Near East , Scripture 2 Comments
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It is so easy to become disconnected from other people in the world. After reading Arlan’s post on the nations, I remembered an email someone sent that challenged my thinking and prayer patterns for one nation in particular.

Right behind the nation Israel, the second most mentioned nation in the Bible is the nation of Iraq. You may not recognize it at first, because in the Ancient Near East it was called a number of things (including Babylon, Land of Shinar, and Mesopotamia).

Some Biblical events involving Iraq:

  • Likely the location of garden of Eden 
  • The Tower of Babel was in Iraq
  • Abraham was from Ur (southern Iraq)
  • Jacob met Rachel in Iraq
  • Jonah preached in Nineveh (jut of the Tigris)
  • Daniel was in the lion’s den in Iraq
  • Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were throne into the furnace in Iraq
  • Belshazzar, the King of Babylon saw the “writing on the wall” in Iraq
  • Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, carried the Jews captive into Iraq
  • Peter preached in Iraq
We are all so connected to each other. “Their” story is our story. Our story is about God creating a people to know and love Him.
Do you find yourself disconnected from our story as a people? Does it change anything for you to reconnect?

more than you dream of

Published June 24, 2008 Life 1 Comment
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I’m working on a talk for our student ministry right now. One of the key thoughts in the talk is a statement that helps me focus my life:

You can’t out-dream God.

God dreams for you. He has brilliant plans for your life. Some of them He weaves into the fabric of your being from the very beginning. Other’s He presents to you as you journey with Him.

Yet so many people try to out-dream the Dream-Giver. The danger is two-fold:

  • If you accomplish all of your dreams in life, but aren’t focused on God, you will find your dreams empty and meaningless. 
  • If all you do is accomplish only the dreams you have at this moment, you will miss out on so many of the massive things God dreams for you. 

We must stay focused on God, above our dreams - so the dreams He has entrusted to us from the beginning can come to life in ways we could never imagine. We must also stay flexible to the opportunities He will present to us on our journey - so the dreams God has for us, that are so much bigger than us, can redefine both the story of our lives and the legacy we will leave.

the glass

Published June 24, 2008 Ancient Near East , Scripture 3 Comments
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“God treats his most faithful servants like crap. They suffer all the time. Go down the line:  Joseph (unjustly accused and thrown into prison), Moses (banished by God for 40 years into the desert for some “character development”), Samuel gives his life for his people and they never really listen to him, David constantly running for his life from a King God appointed, Solomon like his father had kids who hated him and hated each other, Jeremiah quite possibly a sufferer of clinical depression, Hosea is told to marry a whore so that Israel has a picture of God’s love, Ezekiel’s wife dies in the middle of his ministry.” (author withheld)

So the glass is half empty?

Never mind that Joseph, because of God’s desire to interpret dreams through him, rose to a level of power and authority in the world that no Hebrew could dream of.

Let’s not talk about how the creator and guider of the waters lead Moses’ basket into the arms of a Pharaoh’s daughter, split the waters at the touch of his staff or brought the entire Jewish legal system into existence through his relationship.

Don’t look at how Samuel’s entire life was anointed by God - that such a simple boy, from such an unlikely past, would become one of God’s most powerful voices in a dark and unjust time.

And David - you mean the Hebrew hillbilly who became the namesake king in the lineage of our Savior? His son Solomon, the wisest man ever to live - given his wisdom as a gift from God, unparallel to any other gift in Scripture.

Then, Jeremiah came along, the one man in all of time that God entrusted with His vision - not only for generations to come, but for all of humanity.

And Hosea, the man to whom God gave such a vivid and powerful message of His will that generations today are still gasping at his clarity, integrity and resolve.

But all these things are but waste compared to the unmachless reward these men receive because of their faith. It wasn’t the earthly rewards, the accolades of man or the promotion of self that drove any of these men - therefore the earthy struggles, insults from men and demotion of self did not deter them from their faith in God.

If the glass is half empty, it is only for the brief time these men served their God on earth. Now the glass is full - even overflowing.

——-

How we view things impacts how people around us view things. How we talk about God changes the way people who listen to our voice interact with God. It is critical we do not get caught up in negativity, but focus our lives on the greatness of God and the name of Jesus as the only truly good thing in life and the promise for all of creation’s restoration.

What are your thoughts? What would you change or add?

different kinds of poverty

Published June 18, 2008 Church , Community 0 Comments
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Extreme poverty seems to float to the top of the list when you think about the massive needs in our world today. What is most interesting to me is to realize you don’t have to go over seas to find cases of extreme poverty.

Right here in America there is a poverty so extreme it has left many in our country dreaming of a life they cannot have. The poverty is spiritual poverty. It is common across all walks of life. It even jumps the labels we put on people. There are people who affiliate with no religion that are struggling spiritual poverty - there are also those who call themselves Christians who are wrestling with spiritual poverty.

Spiritual poverty is deceiving because those living in the deepest poverty feel like they are rich.

Jesus talked a lot about having a rich spirit. In many ways, you could call spiritual fullness one of His life messages - a message He delivered to those in spiritual poverty. The irreligious. The religious elite. Spiritual poverty was just as rampant then as it is now.

The question for us today is two fold. First, are we following Jesus and allowing Him to lift us from our spiritual poverty and fill our spirit? And second, have we joined Him in fighting against spiritual poverty?


 

power in numbers

Published June 17, 2008 Church , Community 2 Comments
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Reflections on the One Prayer Fast

Last week we did a communal fast at Fellowship Church. It was a week full of listening to God and caffeine headaches.

Honestly, Friday was my most difficult day. Friday’s are my day off and I spend most of the day at home, disconnected from the folks I normally do life with. One of the biggest things I learned through the week was the power of strong Christian community.

Isolation primes us for attack. In my case, the cravings were stronger and the reasons to quit were more clear than ever - I lacked focus because I lacked friendship.

Fortunately my awesome wife was there to help - coming up with creative dinner ideas and helping us make it through the home stretch.

Lesson of the week: Community is the context for growth.

mentors and models

Published June 16, 2008 Life 0 Comments
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One of the keys to living life successfully is having a mentor to help you grow, and a strong base of models to challenge your thinking.

There is a difference between the two.

A mentor is a close friend, someone who has gone before you, who is strategically pouring into your life as you forge your journey. For me, I have had a couple different kinds of mentors.

  • My dad - the first, and most significant spiritual mentor on my life. My dad taught me what it means to be a Christian. He challenged me to memorize verses that were key to our faith, trained me to live as a Christian and helped me tame a wild tongue.
  • Scott - my first professional mentor, Scott was a former Dallas cop and a seasoned Paramedic, he taught me to be an aggressive paramedic - “There’s nothing you can do to someone you can’t undo with what’s in this box (ambulance), get to work and don’t second guess your training.” His carefully training made me a stronger paramedic than I ever could have been on my own.
Mentors are close, personal and (most of the time) in your grill whether you asked them to get there or not.
Models are a little different.
Because we live in a culture where we have access to people and information more than ever, we have the opportunity of sitting under some of the greatest teachers and leaders of all time. Models give us the opportunity, outside of relationship, to have our lives challenged and stretched by someone else. Many of my models are pastors who have shaped how I live as a Christian or how I pursue ministry.
  • Ed Young - Be yourself. Live creative. (Without Ed’s example I would probably have never considered full time ministry.)
  • Louie Giglio - Passion is the lost value of our culture. Light yourself on fire.
  • Craig Groeschel - Have a laser-sharp vision that God has placed on your life and pursue it with reckless abandon.
  • Rob Bell - Church can be revolutionary without a revolt. Don’t waste time consumed with what’s wrong with church, just go do it right.
It is essential our lives are filled with both mentors and models. For me following the right people is the difference between mediocrity and full on, passionate living.

fast - what has God shown you?

Published June 13, 2008 Church , Community 2 Comments
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(One Prayer Fast Day 5)

I would love to hear some of the things God has shown you over the fast. Post your journey!

fast food

Published June 12, 2008 Community 2 Comments
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(One Prayer Fast Day 4)

There are so many people doing this fast - it’s been incredible to be a small part in something so big. The first time our church fasted like this, I was a little taken back by some of the things people ate or didn’t eat on the fast. 

Things that, by my interpretation of the guidelines, had no place in the fast were common place with a couple of people and families. On the other hand, things I felt were 100% okay, others abstained from.

This time is no different. A friend of mine walked into a meeting the other day with an Izze. For Emily and I, we drink these all the time and we’re not doing carbonated beverages during the fast - so an Izze would be off the list (and highly tempting). But for my friend, an Izze is a huge sacrifice from the normal cuisine.

Ultimately I’ve come to realize that fasting is about sacrifice. And everyone is sacrificing right now.

What we’re doing  has so little to do with what you eat and what you do not eat - it has everything to do with the focus you hold, the sacrifice you make and the discipline you build.

The community is fasting. But that means different things for different people, because we are all at different places in our walk with God (not to mention our diet!). The important thing is that we build each other up, help one another and don’t get caught up in legalistic judging.

When the community fasts, it is just as much about community as it is about fasting.

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You wont find much here. There is no product to buy, no club to join and no reason to send your money. This blog gives glimpses of my journey.
Pieces of my walk with God.
Echoes of redemption.
Hopefully my journey will help you on your journey.

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