I just looked at some pictures of this crazy winter storm that came through the midwest, and up into the Northeast. When I see stuff like this I am blown away by the power of God. The beauty of the things built by men pails in comparison to the beauty of creation. God takes the most plain color, which is in fact made by the removal of all color so it is not a color at all, and covers up all of our mess and creates as beautiful a sight as I have ever seen.

It is almost as if God said “Let’s cover up the mess that these people make out of my creation. Why don’t we show them what beauty really is?!”

The sad part (whether God thinks stuff like that or not) is that we miss it every day. We whine and complain about this beautiful piece of creation that serves as an example. An example of what Jesus did. We are washed as white as snow! What do the nasty dirty roads and buildings look like when it snows (at least until the plows come along)? You can tell no difference in a freshly covered road and a freshly covered field. Because they have both been covered by the same snow. How great an example of the forgiveness that God has given us, because of His Son. 

I am not saying that the snow is easy to live with, on the contrary it can be a pain in the rear. But maybe we need to slow down and look at what it shows us.

*pictures courtesy of a Yahoo article

God Works in Strange Ways (to us anyway)

This past week has been a stretching week for me. I took a vacation that somehow has not felt like much of a vacation. I flew to Atlanta on Wednesday and for me flying commercially is never a good start to vacation..lol. I bought a truck on Thursday morning that proceeded to break down within a few hours and change all of my plans for the day. The man who sold me that truck also had his plans totally messed up so that he could try to help me get it running. It did not work, so he had it towed to the mechanic and after 3 days even he didn’t have it fixed. I managed to get a vehicle and relax and hang out with friends Thursday night and during the day Friday. 

That is just the physical, worldly ways God worked on me. Starting on the first I joined 22,000+ college students for 4 days of worshiping God and studying Him. While I was stretched every day of Passion 2011, never so much as when John Piper talked about what should be at the bottom of my joy. Now at first I was confused as to what he meant but he explained himself and it struck me hard. He used an example that said: I make an “A” on an exam. This makes me happy, why? I say that well I want to make as many “A’s” as possible so that I can get into grad school. Why do I want to get into grad school? I want to get into grad school so that I can be a clinical psychologist. Why do you want to be a clinical psychologist? Because I had a bad experience as a child and I want to help people get through such experiences. 

So the bottom of that person’s joy is to help people and make himself feel better. This is not how it should be, the bottom of our joy should be in Christ. The root reason for everything we do should be to love Christ and to bring Him Glory. This truth really struck me hard. I really had to spend the next while struggling through whether or not I do the things I do for His joy or mine. Do I make much of Him or do I seek to be made much of? These words and the scriptures used (combined with all of the other teaching from the week), really stretched me.

As I was wrapping up those days at Passion I get the news that the truck I had bought was not fixable in time for me to get home as needed. This really stressed me out because I had no clue how I was going to get home. I spent that afternoon trying to find another truck, finally resigning myself to dropping a small fortune (in my broke life) on a plane ticket home. I do not know why the truck plan did not work out, or what reason God would have for stretching the fella that sold me the truck and myself; but, I do know that god is in control and there is a reason.

Despite all of the stress and frustration (and probably overreaction) I would not change the first week of 2011. I have learned, once again, to simply role with the punches and turn with the curves. Even though I do not do well in crowds, I cannot think of a better way to have spent the first 4 days of 2011 than with 22,000 other college students worshiping Christ. On the last night of Passion 2011 there were 15,000+ students in Phillips Arena singing “God of This City” so loud that Chris Tomlin and the band could not be heard clearly. Though most of us could not sing it was a beautiful sound! That does not count the 6-7,000 in the other building! To hear God speak through men like Francis Chan, Louis Giglio, and John Piper was just amazing. I wish I could write down everything that touched me while I was there, but nobody would want to read it. lol. 

As the scripture says “in the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” I praise God for His gifts of patience and even the trials and troubles (however small my problems may be in the grand scheme of things). 

In what ways has God stretched you lately? What aspect of your life has God gone to work on?

Psalms 2

There are times when you read a passage of the bible and something really jumps out to you. Then there are the times when you read a passage and you think “how does that mean anything to me?” This morning I had one of the later moments. I was reading Psalm number 2. Now when you go read this you are going to say, “how dense is this goober?” I must have been having an off morning or something, but on the third or fourth read the first few verses really struck me. The first 4 verses read:

Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,“Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. 

In the first part of this passage the civilizations of the world are conspiring against God, and His Messiah (sound familiar?). They “take counsel together” against God. They seek to cast him away. The second or third time I read this I started to see the modern world. I almost heard the same words that people use today. Do we not here people openly saying that they want to get rid of God? People in our world want to remove all traces of God. 

The next part of the passage took even longer to sink in. I had to read it several more times to really get it. God sits in the heavens and laughs at the governments of the world that are trying to throw him out. He finds our worlds delusion of power comedic. This is rather comforting. When we worry about the direction the leaders of our country are taking us, we need to remember that the all powerful Lord of the universe is laughing!

I have to be honest here though, I had to look up the word derision to be sure I knew what it meant. My dictionary says that derision is: “contemptuous ridicule or mockery.” Not only is God laughing at the pitiful effort of our countries to remove him, he is mocking them. I am reminded of the child that says “nanny nanny boo boo” when playing tag and he is sure that he can’t be caught! This is a pitiful example because God does not have to run, but you get my point.

We can hear this scripture and take peace. God is sovereign! He knows all things! Thoughts and other scriptures please! That is what this blog is for!

The Last Decade

The title of this may lead you to believe that I am going to talk about the last decade of my life, but I cannot do that. If I did it would take several pages and nobody would want to read it. So, I will simply try to write one paragraph about the last year, my last year with the word “teen” at the end of my age. I am not sure if I will be able to keep it to a paragraph or not (remember, I am a baptist at my roots and we baptists tend to get pretty wordy) but I will try.

In the last year I have had 5 jobs, lived in two different states and made more friends all over this country than I thought a guy could have. God has revealed more of himself to me than I thought I would learn before I was 30. I have seen him work in my life, and the lives of people around me. I have seen his love in more ways that I can describe. In the last year I have seen God provide my family with a job and a new home. I have seen him revive a love for him in the heart of my family! He has, lovingly, shown (or begun to show me) what a church ought to be. He has lead me to meet people that have pushed me (and really only begun to) in directions that I needed pushing. I have met people that have encouraged me spiritually! Not only all of these new things, but when we moved he taught me to cherish the friends that he had given me over the years. I learned to hold old friends tightly! (ok this is getting long so it will be more than one paragraph!)

In the last year I have learned to prepare for my future physically -money- but more importantly spiritually. I have loved and been loved! I have lost love only to be lead to cling to a love without which I cannot truly love anybody. In the past year I have made friends that will last a lifetime. I have seen the firstfruits of revival in myself and my country. And, I have learned to trust that he who gave those firstfruits will complete the good work. I have heard preaching from the word that has forever change my life, because it was truly of the Word! Through the encouragement of new friends I have begun to learn Greek, when less than a year ago I hated the idea of studying foreign languages. The Lord is good! I praise him for the last decade, and for any decades to come! 

I thank God for each of you, and the parts you have all played in the last year and decade! I love you all!!!!!

Hebrews 13:11-14

I wrote this a few months ago after listening to a sermon by John Piper. This sermon left me with so much on my mind that I had to write it down, and this is the product. I highly recommend this sermon by John Piper. It is called "How the Supremecy of Christ Creates Radical Christian Sacrifice". I think that it was preached at a conference of pastors, but it applies to all of us. What are ways that the principles laid out in this scripture can be applied in daily live? Share it as a comment!

Hebrews 13:11-14

¹¹ For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. ¹² Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. ¹³ Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. ¹⁴ For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come

I listened to a sermon, by John Piper, in which this passage was used to support a point that he was making. The point was very powerful to me, so I decided to make a few points of my own. Some of what I will say was alluded to by Bro. Piper but much of it was shown to me as I read the passage (and accidentally ignored a few minutes of a sermon, good thing I could rewind.).

From verse 11 we learn that the bodies of the animals that were used to make sacrifices were carried outside of the boundaries of the camp. This concept is very simple and easy to understand from this text. The thing that we need to remember is that the blood of these animals was used for the cleansing of sins. This is a powerful reminder as we go into the next verse.

Verse 12:  Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

When you put this together with verse 11 it is a beautiful picture of the sacrifice made by our Lord Jesus. The way this passage puts it Jesus literally became the blood sacrifice for our sins! Rev 1:5, 1Jn 1:7, Heb 12:24 and Eph 2:13 all talk about Jesus’ blood as what has saved us. It is also talked about as what has allowed us to draw near to God. Jesus took up his cross and went outside the camp, outside of safety to suffer and die for us! Can there be a more beautiful thing than a friend that lays down his life for his friends?!?! Even the Bible talks about that (John 15:13), but I say YES there is something more beautiful. Jesus did not die that we may live a few more years on this earth! He died so that we may live in the presence of his Glory for all eternity! That is the most beautiful act of Love that has ever been committed!

But wait! This passage continues and it gets more amazing (if that is possible). Verse 14 asks us to go outside the camp too. Now we may say at first “Wait, u can’t expect me to go out there! That is where the persecution and pain happens it is much more comfortable here, and after all I can serve God from right here.” We often tell ourselves that if we just go to church and volunteer a little bit of our time there then we are doing what he has asked us too. After all it is safe and easy to just go to church. However, I do not think that is the case. We are called to spread the word to all peoples no matter what the cost. After all that is the cause that Jesus himself died for. How do we do that from the church? Can it be done if we simply sit on our comfortable pews in the church?

In part it can. We can give our money to missionaries but there is more to it than that. There are people here at home that are dying and going to hell. Probably as many of them here as there are in the countries that we give money to. And yet we are content to sit on the pews. NO! Jesus sends us outside of the camp, outside of comfort! But he does not send us alone! He is there waiting, he calls us to him. He does not send us anywhere that he is not, nor to anywhere that he won’t use you because he has been there already! This is one of the most amazing things to me. God has not told us to do anything that he has not already done.

Verse 13: Therefore let us go FORTH to Him, OUTSIDE the camp, bearing His REPROACH.

Does that mean that we will never be persecuted? NO! It means the exact opposite. We will be persecuted, spat on, put in jail, killed. Whatever the world deems necessary. That is what verse 13 means. That is what waits outside the camp for us. That is what Jesus received when he left the camp. He was scorned, beaten, and physically and mentally abused until he died. I do not think that the last part of the verse “bearing his reproach” means that we are being reproached by Jesus. It means that we are bearing the same reproach that he bore. Oh how would it be if all of the Christians in America adopted this mentality? This mentality of no matter what comes my way on this earth I will serve the Lord! I think if Christians in America started thinking like this it would solve a lot of problems in the world today. Washington DC would not know what to do. People would be receiving Christ left and right because they would see a people that are willing to die for the One they serve. They will see Christians with a Love for each other that they cannot understand.

But wait it’s still not done! Verse 14: For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.

This is the reason that we do these things. We are willing (if we adopt this attitude) to die for Jesus because we understand that the reward in not here. The reward is in Heaven. It is in the everlasting city to come. Oh that we would stop worrying about stuff here on earth and would start serving! We cannot imagine the work that God would do if we started witnessing biblically. Oh it would be beautiful! I am having a hard time finding the right words to describe what we would see. To me, just the sight of a person completely sold out and willing to do anything for Christ is one of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring things on this earth!

I do not write this so that we can all go out and become missionaries. I write this as a reminder for myself to give up my life. We do not (unless God calls you in that) need to become foreign missionaries or even give up our jobs and homes to be missionaries here in the states. We simply (it is simple to say but hard to do) need to start living the radical, self-sacrificing, Christ-Exalting lives that make non-Christians uncomfortable. 

Religious people, you white washed tombs. You’re beautiful on the outside, but you’re full of bones. You look very religious; you follow all your little rules. But you don’t follow Jesus. You just talk like you should. Woe to you.

-Matt Papa “Woe to You”

Lord, Thank you for sending this passage of scripture into my life. Help me to not just be religious, or comfortable. Help me to become more and more as I have written here. Help me to become so self-sacrificing and Christ-exalting that even Christians ask me where it comes from. Thank you for what you have done and will continue to do!

The Karate Kid

A little over a week ago I watched the original Karate Kid all the way through for the first time. It was a very thought provoking movie. In it I saw many good things, a boy learning how to adjust to the changes of life and an old man taking a boy with no male guidance under his wing. But, I also saw a lot of not-so-good things. I saw a boy treat his mother (and Mr.Miyagi) with total disrespect. I heard a boy of 16 cuss like a sailor. I want to look at the pros and cons of this movie. I want to break down what attributes were encouraged, both the good and bad attributes.

Cons-
I will start with the cons so that we end on a good note.
 
1. Disrespect- Daniel is a boy that gets moved from his hometown in New Jersey all the way to the other side of the country to California. This, understandably, causes him frustration. It is not the frustration that I want to look at, it is how he handled this frustration. From the very beginning of the movie he is extraordinarily disrespectful towards his mother. This behavior is in no way punished or disciplined anywhere in the movie. In fact his mother just seems to expect it. The disrespect is not just limited to his mother, other times in the movie he shows disrespect to others when he gets frustrated. Throughout the movie he is disrespectful towards his love interest Ali. It does not end here he shows the same disrespect to Mr.Miyagi, his teacher and mentor. After 4 days of doing what Daniel sees as pointless grunt work for Miyagi he blows up at him. He yells, cusses him out and tells him that he is done. Are all of these attitudes and behaviors that should go without discipline? I think not.

2. Language- Daniel's language throughout the entire movie is not what I would call clean. Several times I heard him use the God's name to condemn something, a bold act. More often than that he was continually using language that I do not think is of any benefit to the viewers. Is this an attribute that we should see as desirable in a 16 year old boy (or anybody for that matter)? 

3. Dating- Now I do not want this to turn into a thing against dating, that is not my point. My point is the mental and physical closeness that comes up between Daniel and Ali in such a short time. Less than 20 minutes into the movie Daniel's new "friends" are encouraging him to "make a move" on Ali. That is just plain wrong. Daniel and Ali plan 2 dates without the knowledge of her parents, the second one against the wishes of her father. This not only violates Scripture, it is blatant disrespect (yes more). Even non-Christians taught and expected respect not so long ago.

Ok, now for the good!

1.Surrogate father- We do not know why but Daniel does not have a father. From the very beginning of the movie we see the effect that this has on Daniel. A boy needs a father to talk to, somebody who thinks like he does. One of the beautiful things in this movie is the way Mr.Miyagi steps in and helps Daniel. Even before he starts teaching him karate Miyagi has fixed his bike and spent time with him. It is obvious before the Halloween dance when Daniel says "I'm not alone, I'm with you" that they have spent a lot of time hanging out. When Daniel has a problem with the bullies at school Miyagi helps him. He goes to the karate studio, with Daniel, and talks to the teacher. He then proceeds to teach Daniel karate. But he does not teach it so that Daniel can use it to win a fight at school. He is very clear that karate is for defense only. He uses his karate training to teach Daniel about life. He talks about balance and the way Daniel needs to have a balance of the things in His life. He teaches Daniel that the little things all put together is what makes it happen. He teaches Daniel self discipline, to keep going even when he doesn't want to. The relationship that is built is a wonderful picture of the effect a man can have in a boy's life.

2. Wax on, Wax off- When Miyagi starts training Daniel in the art of karate he uses an approach that Daniel cannot understand. He makes Daniel do all different kinds of physical labor. Not only does he make him work, but he makes him do it a certain way, sometimes this way seems more difficult than other ways of doing the work. Daniel must wax Miyagi's cars in a certain way, he must paint the fence the way Miyagi says to. These things take a very long time. But, throughout Daniel is learning what he needs to be able to do karate. The best part is that he doesn't even know that he is learning anything. I think this is the way God works on us sometimes. He asks things of us that we do not completely understand. He uses the same kind of repetition that Miyagi used to teach us things. Miyagi made Daniel do those things so that when it was time to teach him how to fight his muscles were read for it. God uses repetition to teach and prepare our spiritual muscles to be used. If Daniel had only learned how to move his arms and legs without ever training and working out the muscles then he would have been in no shape to fight. He might would have known what to do, but he would have been incapable of fighting because his muscles would have been too soft. It is the same with us, God uses things in our lives to train us so that when we need them out spiritual muscles are ready. 


3. Self discipline- Throughout his karate training Daniel learns self discipline. He learns that he must do the things that he does not want to. He has to paint the house even though he does not understand why, and does not want to. This is something that we deal with everyday. Self discipline is to do the things that are hard to do, that have no immediate payoff. 1 Corinthians 9:27 says "But I discipline my body and keep it under control". Literally translated the Greek says "I pummel my body and make it a slave." This is how we should not only live in the earthly things we have to do, but how we need to look at God. We must discipline ourselves to do the things of the Lord.

There are many things in this movie that I have not talked about. I think that overall it is a wonderful movie. It has a great story of a boy who has to adjust to a new life. It shows how he faces opposition (the bullies) in this new place. I think with the help he got from Mr.Miyagi he did a pretty good job of handling that opposition. It also shows how the bullies learn that it is not right to constantly berate somebody who seems weaker. This movie portrays and old man who never had a son, and now he has a chance to change a boy's life forever. Despite the things I pointed out that I don't like about it, I think it is a great movie that I will definitely watch again.

What Started all of This!

I want to start this off by giving something of a testimony. I want to share what God has taught me in the past few years. He has been showing me things for the past few years and I have been blessed with parents and friends that knock me in the head and tell me to listen. God has shown me where I had not been living my life for Him in all things. Sure I gave him some things, I gave Him Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. I gave Him lots of things, but I did not give Him everything. I did not give Him my time like He deserves it; I did not give him my music, my books, or my desires. I was picking and choosing what I gave God and I did not even know I was doing it.

About a year and a half ago and very good friend of mine told me to listen to a sermon by Paul Washer called the "Shocking Youth Message." He told me that it was a sermon that challenged the salvation of many teenagers. In it Brother Washer used biblical truths to ask his listeners if they were really saved. He asked them to inspect their hearts according to Scripture. I don't even think the man who told me to listen to this knew how it would challenge me. I had to listen to it 2 or 3 times in a two day period. It was so life altering for me, and it was not the preaching of Brother Washer, but it was the Scriptures. I had never meditated on those Scriptures until that time. I had never considered what it might mean for my life if I actually lived by those words.

After that I said I was going to make some changes in my life, and live by the Scriptures and dwell on them everyday. I was going to study them, and find new ways to apply them to my life. Did I do all of that? Well for a while I did pretty well, but only with the help of the Lord. When I got complacent and proud of where I was and what I was doing, I fell back and I stopped giving Him all of the time that he deserved. It was during this time that I learned one of the basic pieces of being a Christian (once again Paul Washer pointed me to the scriptures in a sermon). I found this truth in 1 Corinthians 10:31, which says, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the Glory of God." That rocked my little world! If I truly worked to do that, would the other things not start to fall into place? Would my heart for God not be rekindled if I gave Him the glory when I drank a glass of water, or ate a sandwich?

I started asking myself what I was defined by. When I drive down the road and somebody cuts me off, are my actions so defined by Christ that I just slow down and go with the flow? Anybody that has ever ridden with me knows the answer to that, no! When I get up in the morning what do I do first? Do I spend time with the Lord so that he can define my day? Or do I eat breakfast and sit at the computer so that those things and desires define my day? It didn't take me long to realize that I was defined by my desires. I was defined by the things I wanted. Be it a desire to be liked, to be right, or even just to play football. These were not God's desires, and it didn't take me long to realize that I had to change my desires. I had to let some things in my life go. I asked God to change my heart towards some of these things, and overtime he did. Some things he changed in me quickly, while other things he took his time on. Or maybe I was more stubborn about those things (probably the case).

I think (as I look back at all of this) that the most amazing thing about it all is that he never gave up on me. He never left me to my own devices. We serve a god that, once we give our life over to Him, will do anything to make us like His son. He does not forget us. When you look at Jacob and Esau scripture says "Jacob I have loved and Esau I have hated" why does he say this? Jacob is the one that went through all kinds of junk. Esau was rich and had all kinds of stuff, he was the one we would call blessed. Jacob had to work for 14 years just so he could marry the girl he loved. Esau was allowed to do whatever he wanted and he prospered, but he did not have the love of the Lord. Jacob, who had that love, was disciplined. He was constantly disciplined to stay on the path with the Lord. This is a beautiful thing; if we are saved then god will discipline us to bring us back into his will. Yes it is hard discipline, yes it hurts, but it is only because of God's love that we go through it at all.

Now that is not my entire story, there is so much more that God has shown me in the past couple of years (which you will probably read about at some point). But I think that these are the things that shape who I am now. These are the foundations for everywhere else that God has taken me. I know this post seems to go from one place to another, but I hope it is not too hard to read. God bless and I love you all!