Self Examination

Posted on April 26th, 2011

Let me begin by saying that this is NOT a post about me touching myself in private places (sorry, I know that may be crass but I figured I’d get that cleared up for anyone that found this post from a Google search).

If you’ve been reading my sporadic updates over the last few months you know that I have been going through a Bible study focusing on John 15. One of the big aspects of this study has been an honest look at myself in terms of where I am spiritually, emotionally, physically and mentally. It’s been interesting and enlightening as I can’t say I’ve really done that before.

Another thing I’ve started lately is reading a book by Dan Miller called “48 Days to the Work You Love:Preparing for the New Normal”. This book challenges you to look at what you do from 8-5 Monday through Friday and asking really yourself how it aligns with what it is that God created you for. It is NOT a book about how to get a job in a church, doing missionary work in a foreign country or anything else that you may equate with “God’s Work”. Rather, it is a book that challenges you to honestly look at your skills, your abilities, your personality, your passions and your dreams and figure out how to align them all so that what you do 40-50 hours a week isn’t a job but a calling from God – a vocation (which comes from that Latin word vocare, which means “to call”).

It has a schedule for the 48 days in the front of the book for you to follow. Some days you read a chapter, some you answer questions at the end of the chapter and some involve processing everything and a lot of honest searching.

This has been a really interesting (and tough) read for me. As I read some of this I go from excited agreement with some ideas to a sad agreement with other things. It has me really looking at how I’ve gotten to where I am and wondering how I get to where it is God wants me – and what that may look like (or if I’m already there). It’s not always easy – but I can say it’s definitely been good for me and has already shown me some interesting things.

Here are just a few take-aways from the reading so far:

St. Augustine is quoted as saying, “To work is to pray.” Dan Miller then asks, “Is that how you feel about your work – that it’s a prayer offering to God?”
Everyone has a vocation or calling. We fulfill our calling by being excellent at whatever God created us to be. Your job will ideally be one part of that.
We must have goals in life and a plan to achieve them. “If you don’t have a written plan for your life, it may feel like your driving a car without having your hands on the wheel.”
“Why would God have created us to think imaginatively and to have vivid dreams only to then squelch those dreams for practicality.”

Finally there was this in today’s reading, “Any skill God has given you can be used for ministry. Jesus was a stone mason/carpenter. Paul worked with leather goods, and the disciples were fishermen. Never separate your work from your worship…Remember, if you’re not in full-time service doing what God has called you to do, for whom are you working?” I wish I could say that I see my work as worship but if I’m being honest I’m not sure I can.

So that’s what I’m doing now – looking at the skills, abilities, passions and dreams that God has given me and trying to figure out what that means for me. More importantly, how can I use these things that God has given me and find a vocation that turns a job into a vocation. I’m not sure where it will land but it’s an interesting ride so far (and I’ve got a long way to go…I’m only on day 10 & Chapter 5).

I would LOVE to hear from you if you feel as if you are fulfilling God’s call on your life in your daily “work”. Please leave me a comment or drop me an e-mail as I would love to talk with you about how you got there and what that means for you.

Posted in Books, Reflections | Leave a comment

Reassuring…But Frightening

Posted on April 15th, 2011

Reading through Francis Chan’s book “Forgotten God” today at lunch I was drawn to these verses:

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

- John 14:16-17 (NIV)

This was such a good reminder to me that as someone that has accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior that God, the Holy Spirit, is living in me RIGHT NOW.

How reassuring it is to know that!

But then I thought about how I’ve been living my life lately – the way I’ve treated a few people lately, sins that I’ve struggled with and this same thought frightens me to no end!

Thankfully, I know that it is because Christ paid for MY sins with his sacrifice that the Spirit is here and lives in me and that I am forgiven.

For that fact I am eternally grateful and ultimately reassured.

How about you? Which side do you fall on?

Posted in Books, Reflections | Leave a comment

Be Still

Posted on April 11th, 2011

My wife spent last week at her parent’s house in Tennessee with the kids. While down there she spent a lot of time hiking through the Smoky Mountains, reading God’s Word and taking pictures. The shots she took are absolutely gorgeous – from waterfalls to snow covered trees to the sun shining over the lake.

Last night she took a bunch of the pictures and put together the following video set to Stephen Curtis Chapman’s song, “Be Still and Know”.

Spend a few minutes enjoying the beauty of God’s creation.

Enjoy.

Posted in Family, Media | 1 Comment

Self Assessment

Posted on March 21st, 2011

Wow. It’s been a month since I’ve updated this blog. I suppose I should apologize to those of you that may stop by on a regular basis (Hi Mom & Dad). The truth is I haven’t really been sure what to write about. I love this blog and having it. I love the opportunity to pour out my thoughts someplace. You see – this blog is really my opportunity to express in writing what’s on my heart, what’s going on in my life and the lives of those around me and what it is that I feel that God is speaking to me. I hope that when I write and what I write will inspire you, make you think, make you laugh or make you wonder what in the world is rattling around in that skull of mine.

So, with that being said let me just share one thing that I’ve got “rattling around”. I’ve mentioned my Thursday morning group before. When I agreed to this group I really didn’t know what I was getting into (and to be honest, I’m still not 100% sure what I signed up for). One thing we’re doing right now though is to take a “self-assessment” of where we are Physically, Spiritually, Mentally & Emotionally. One of the purposes (I think) is to look at our lives and try and figure out if we are spending our energy in the right places.

The problem is I’m having a heck of a time doing this. You see, we have to grade ourselves on a scale of 1-10 in each area and then dive into each area in more detail and for some reason I just don’t know where to begin. Maybe I’m afraid of what I’ll find. Maybe I’ll be too hard on myself? Too easy? Maybe I just don’t like homework and am looking for an excuse to do something else so I can avoid doing it (like writing this blog).

Perhaps I should just take heart in Paul’s comment to the church in Corinth:

Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. 1 Cor 3:18 (NIV)

I’m thinking I’ve got the fool part down pretty well, so bring on the wisdom!

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If You Smell….

Posted on February 17th, 2011

Ok, confession time.

I grew up as a teenager in the 80′s. This was at the infancy of the pay-per-view event. I can remember going to friends houses and watching Mike Tyson’s championship fights (all 30+ seconds of most of them). I wasn’t a big boxing fan but it was still a good time.

I also remember another big pay-per-view event that I watched with a lot more anticipation. There was a group of us that got together at a friend’s house from the youth group on March 29th, 1987 to watch two titans go at each other. No, I’m not talking about Tyson or Holyfield or Lewis.

I’m talking about the big one – Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant at the Pontiac Silverdome at Wrestlemania III.

I was a wrestling fan. I loved watching it Sunday mornings and Saturday nights. My brother and I would pretend to be our favorite wrestlers and go at it in the family room. My personal favorite was (and still is) Randy “The Macho Man” Savage and the lovely Miss Elizabeth. My cousin was a huge Hogan fan and could a spot on impression of his famous, “Whatcha gonna do” quote. I remember seeing it live at the Richfield Coliseum where we had floor seats. There were so many other great characters including Rowdy Roddy Piper, The Ultimate Warrior, The Bushwackers, Hacksaw Jim Dugan (and his 2×4), Brett “The Hitman” Heart, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, and one of my personal favorites – George “The Animal” Steele.

As I went to college and grew older I watched less and less wrestling. However, if I’m being honest – if I’m just flipping through the channels and it’s on I probably will stop and watch (at least until Beth comes down and asks me why in the world I’m watching it).

I was familiar with some of the bigger names like HHH, Stone Cold Steve Austin and of course, The Rock. What I wasn’t a fan of is how it’s turned into a much less kid friendly entertainment. When I grew up watching it you had the matches, the screaming interviews with Mean Gene Okerlund and that was about it.

I became a fan of “The Rock”, aka Dwayne Johnson when I saw the movie “The Rundown”. I still enjoy his fight in the jungle with the local. My kids enjoy his movies and probably know nothing about his career before them.

So when I saw the below video trending on YouTube announcing “The Rock” as the host and a wrestler at the next Wrestlemania I just had to click it. Two things I thought of after watching it (and you can find the full version on YouTube but it does contain some language so I won’t link it here)

1) The WWE definitely knows how to create excitement and make an entrance and
2) I wonder if I can get the old youth group gang back together.

Posted in Confession, Just for fun | Leave a comment

Living The Branch Life

Posted on February 16th, 2011

Two weeks ago I began a Thursday morning study with four other guys that has already been challenging me in ways I’m not sure I’ve been challenged before – and I am loving it.

We are currently working through John 15 one verse at a time. Now, I’ve done Bible studies before but never to this depth – spending this much focused time on a single verse at a time. This week we are looking at verse 2:

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

- John 15:2 (NIV)

As we do this study we are reading Andrew Murray’s book, “The True Vine” that helps us to dig into this. My reading today was looking just at the word “fruit”. Here’s what Murray writes with regards to the purpose of the existence of a vine is to bear fruit for it’s owner:

It is because Christians do not understand or accept this truth that they so fail in their efforts and prayers to live the branch life. They often desire it earnestly; they read and meditate and pray, and yet they fail, and the wonder why. The reason is very simple: They do not know that fruitbearing is the one thing they have been saved for. (emphasis Murray)

I just keep re-reading this section. As I read that I look at my own life and I keep asking myself, “Am I truly living the branch life”?

As if that weren’t enough to chew on he then goes on to say this:

The one object God had in making you a branch is the Christ may through you bring life to men. Your personal salvation, your business and care for your family, are entirely subordinate to this. (emphasis Murray)

Wow. Put those two together and I keep asking myself how much time to I spend trying to care for myself as the branch and not worry or even think about the fruit.

How about you? Does this hit anyone else hard?

Posted in Food for thought, Questions | 1 Comment

This Is How You Grow A Church?

Posted on February 10th, 2011

I was left almost speechless after watching the below video. I have some thoughts that I’ve shared before (click here for a previous post on this subject) and I’ll share more after the video. Take a look:

It truly saddens me that the Methodist church is producing this video. What I hear when I watch this is the church saying that if you can entertain people, be a great speaker (“an engaging experience”) and give people a hug then they’ll come back and your church will grow. The title of the video is “Rasmus’ Church Growth Tips”! Is this really how a church should be grown? A country club or social club maybe, but a church?

What about creating an environment where someone can feel like they met God, where they feel like they have spent time in the presence of the Almighty? What about fostering a community where it’s not about what happens inside the walls – but outside (and yes I know, some of these things are highlighted in this video which I am grateful for and I hope that is the REAL reason for the growth). What about developing small groups ministries that encourage accountability, Biblical discipleship and growth? What about ensuring that the Gospel is preached and people are people are making Jesus Christ the Lord of their life? It just seems to me like the focus is in the wrong place.

Please understand that this is not meant as a knock on just this church or the Methodist denomination as a whole because I believe that it is a problem shared by MANY churches these days. It just saddens me that it this is being promoted like this by that denomination (I first saw this posted on the East Ohio Conference Facebook page which links to the denomination’s official page).

This just saddens my heart. What do you think?

Posted in Questions | Leave a comment

Giving a Double Portion

Posted on February 9th, 2011

I’m currently reading through 1 Samuel in my yearly reading plan (which was supposed to end in January). The opening of 1 Samuel struck a chord with me. It reads:

1 There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphitet from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.2 He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

3 Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord.4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters.5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb.- 1 Samuel 1:1-5 (NIV)

What struck me was that last verse and the fact that he gave Hannah a double portion. The thing that struck me about this was the fact that he did this in spite of the fact that she was unable to bear children. Rather than be upset at this, perhaps even blame her for it (which I believe would not have been a surprise in this time period) he choose to bless her doubly. Scripture tells us that not only did he give her a double portion but he loved her. It doesn’t say that about his other wife, Peninnah who had bore children.

I’ve written in the past about marriage and how I believe what I first learned in the Gary Chapman book, “The 5 Love Languages” that there is no such thing as a 50-50 relationship in a marriage – that it’s a 100-100 relationship. But if we’re being honest with ourselves (or if I am) that isn’t always easy…especially if we don’t feel like we’re getting what we “deserve” from the other person or if we feel like we are owed something (which often times is really just us being selfish – at least for me it can be – we’re not owed anything).

Yet right here God shows us once again that when you love someone there is no such thing as giving too much. Love is a decision. Love is not a feeling. Love is something that takes work and effort and most of all sacrifice (another thing from the Chapman book). After all, remember “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” – 1 John 3:16 (NIV) I’m thankful that I have a God that loves me that much and that I have an amazing wife who I truly love so that I can try and always make sure I’m giving double to…though I know I often fall well short.

So, how are you doing? Are you giving double to the one you love? It’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it!

Posted in Food for thought, Reflections | Leave a comment

A Call to Get Un.

Posted on February 7th, 2011

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Dare2Share Un.Tour in Columbus with the youth group from Freshwater as a leader. This is my second opportunity to attend a Dare2Share conference and each time I left the events thanking God for the passion, heart and love that Greg Stier and the team at Dare2Share pours into these events and into the youth and leaders of the world.

This year’s theme was all about being Un. Through the story of a young shepherd boy named David the youth heard a number of messages about how they can be Un.

First up was a message that we are called to be Un.Cool people (like David) on an Un.Cool mission (Lucky for me I’ve been perfecting Un.Cool for YEARS).

The next message was that with the power of the Trinity we are Un.Alone. God is always with us.

Third was a message to be Un.Afraid of whatever giants may be in our paths. God is bigger than them all.

Next they were taught that the message of the GOSPEL is Un.Stoppable. D2S uses a really cool (or should I say un.cool) way to remember this:

G – God created us to be with Him.
O – Our sins separate us from God.
S – Sins cannot be removed by good deeds.
P – Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again.
E – Everyone who trusts in Him alone has eternal life.
L – Life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever.

After this they were taught that just like David had an unrivaled style of fighting, they each are unique and that they each have an Un.Rivaled style of sharing the Gospel with their friends and family and were encouraged to figure out what their style was and embrace it.

Finally they were Un.Leashed. Unleashed to share the Gospel with everyone and anyone. And the biggest thing here was that they were reminded that they aren’t doing it alone. Just as David had Jonathan they have each other. They’ve even set-up a cool new website to network with like minded students at their schools called Every Student.Every School.

In addition to the messages we were led in worship by Shane & Shane. These were some really powerful times of worshiping God through song. If you’re interested in hearing it you can pick up the album with all of the music they did in the same simple style as they did it here. We also witnessed a powerful drama both nights about the life of Jim Tingen and of a guy named Doug that really packed a punch.

In addition to all of that, the youth were challenged to actually make phone calls and send texts to share the Gospel with their friends back home. Here is where it got really cool to see the youth respond. Talking with them at dinner we heard stories from being shut down to other stories where they were actually able to pray with their friends as they put their trust in Christ right there – and let me tell you to see the excitement in a kid’s eyes after they’ve done that…there is nothing cooler. One member of our group actually left during one of the sessions as he felt that he needed to call his 68 year old neighbor and share the gospel with him and was able to pray with him over the phone as he put his faith in Christ.

It was an incredible weekend of transformation in some of these youths lives and I look forward to seeing where God takes it from here. Having been to different conferences myself I know that many times the biggest challenge coming out of these is to not let the world dampen the fire that God has placed in you. My prayer is that each of the youth (and adults) that attended this weekend continues to work to spread the message of the Gospel for it truly is a life changing message for all that hear and believe it. I’m excited that starting this week at Reality 139 (the Freshwater youth group) we are going to be starting Dare2Share’s Gospel Journey Maui which will reinforce and build on a lot of what we heard this weekend.

In addition to going as a youth leader I also got the privilege to observe my own son as he attended this event. To see the impact that this weekend made in him is something that I can not even put into words…but my wife did last night. She just looked at me right after he went up to bed and said “What happened to him? It’s like a whole different kid came back from this weekend”. To God be the Glory!

After the event I posted the following update on my Facebook page that really summed it all up for me:

I’ve been at conferences with thousand of worship leaders and thousands of men but there’s nothing better than seeing thousands of youth get on fire for God like this weekend!

May we ALL be on fire for God!

Posted in dare2share, Freshwater, Youth | 4 Comments

Feeding and Caring for Lambs and Sheep

Posted on February 2nd, 2011

As I was reading through the book of John today I reached chapter 21. Now, I’ve read this passage plenty of times before but the great thing about re-reading the Bible is that there are many times when God draws you to something new.

Here’s what I read, starting in verse 15:

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.

- John 21:15-17 (NIV)

As I said, I’ve read that before and most of the time it’s the repetition of Jesus’ question that I notice and that’s about it but today was different.

You see, each time Jesus asks that and Simon Peter responds with a yes Jesus says something slightly different:

Feed my lambs
Take care of my sheep
Feed my sheep

Each of these is different and the fact that Jesus is very deliberate about saying this to Peter – even to the point of making Peter hurt by the repeated questioning – tells me that there is something important here.

When I read this today I felt as if God were pointing this out to me to tell me that caring for others is an ongoing process.

The lambs are those young in their faith. We are to walk along side of one another and help each other with the journey by answering questions and pointing each other to God’s Word for their spiritual nourishment.

As a lamb grows older it becomes a sheep. As we mature and grow in our faith we must continue to care for one another. We can’t just assume that just because we’ve accepted Christ we can do it on our own. I see the phrase “take care of” as a reminder that we are continue to walk along side one another, hold each other accountable, pour into one another’s lives, love another, care for one another, serve one another – do life together.

Then there was the final “feed my sheep”. If I continue on the growth timeline I see this as a reminder that as we get older we still need the Word of God to live. We still need to be fed, to be taught and to feed and teach one another. I see this as a reminder that no matter where we are in life’s journey that we have to continue to share God’s Word with one another. We will never know or understand it all while we are on this Earth but that doesn’t mean we should stop trying.

I realize that I may be way off on this – I am not saying that this is what Jesus was saying here – just what I feel that God was saying to me about it today.

What do you think? I would love to hear your thoughts on this one in the comments section.

Posted in Food for thought, Reflections | 2 Comments