Christians Are Losers

Changes

2009-01-28T15:50:00.000-08:00

We are planning our next leg of this journey in ministry as we leave the church I have served at with my family as Pastor of student ministry and media for about a year and a half. It's a bitter sweet kind of thing. We're very excited to follow the call God has put on our lives, but at the same time we have made so many amazing relationships during our time here that are so difficult to leave.

I've told our students many times in the past that as we follow God, it's rarely easy. The life of a Christian is not a comfortable one. We should never be comfortable as Christians. God gives us peace, joy, and comfort when we need it most, but as Christians we should allow God to take us to the next level, the next place, the new leg of the journey, and that is generally not a comfy process. It takes us stepping out into unknown territory, it takes us putting control into God's hands and out of ours, it takes us trusting in God even when it may not make sense, or seem possible to us.

This is where we are at, in a place of uncertainty. We know God called has called us, but we don't know what that will actually look like. We are in a place of total dependency on God, which is exactly where we need to be, it's where he wants us to be, which is exactly why as Christians we shouldn't get comfortable. When we're comfortable in our life as a Christian, we tend to depend on ourselves, we don't have to rely on God as much, we don't have to pray for the next step, because we don't want that next step, we like where we're at.

God always has another step waiting for us; it's up to us to take it. It takes dependency on God while taking that step. It doesn't take long after we've taken it however that the next one is there waiting for us. The life as a follower of Christ is one of numerous steps that lead us down the life God created us to live. Some take only one or two of those steps, they end their life never coming close to the full potential God had for them.

I want to be one who takes every step presented to me from God. I don't want to wait to long, over think or over analyze the next step in front of me. Christianity works best under fire, under persecution, under trial, and in the waiting for answers. It's in those times we are faced with two options, seek God out whole heartedly in a way we never would under comfortable circumstances, or look inward at ourselves. I know from experience that looking inward for answers usually messes things up more, if not in the now then in the later.

It's been awhile

2009-01-26T20:28:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last posting. Life has been pretty crazy preparing to move into this new leg of our journey. With my little brain God just seems so nuts sometimes. The idea of calling us into a SR pastor position doesn't make sense to me. God has a track record however of doing things that to us seem simply ridiculous. He has a knack for using seemingly insignificant people and places to do uncommonly phenomenal things. He used Abraham at an age none of us will every reach. He used a little tattle-tale brother to become second in command for a global super power. He used as many believe a group of teens and young adult failures to carry on his saving message to the world. He was born in a hick little town that no one of power or prestige ever came from.

And here we are, little people who God has called to do something that to us doesn't make sense, and seems nuts. We're committed to follow him, ridiculous or not, as long as we have breath. God is remarkable, He so misunderstood, so common, so many things to so many people, and yet the more I get to understand the real him, the more I found myself dumbfounded.

Jesus Loves Mrs. Robison

2009-01-11T20:58:00.000-08:00

Jesus loves Mrs. Robinson, Simon and Garfunkel told her that. As Christians were really good at telling people that Jesus loves them. The whole gospel message screams out "I love you!". You don't have to look very deep into the Bible to see God's love. He loved us so much that he created us with the purpose of having a loving relationship with him. He gave us freewill so we could choose his love, he sent his only son to this planet to have his little baby butt wiped by his creation, and he was born to die for us. We tend to focus much time and energy explaining how much God loves us, and how he showed us his love. This is great and of course on of the most important messages ever, but when someone comes to Christ it doesn't take much for them to see and experience this love first hand.

I think we should really focus more time and speech on our love toward God. We know how God showed us his love, and how vast his love is for us, but how are we showing God our love for him? We know God was willing to put everything on the line for us, but are we willing to do the same? I think it's great that Mrs. Robinson knows now much Jesus loves her, actually Simon and his friend tell her that she doesn't understand how much Jesus loves her. But I wonder if Jesus knows how much she loves him? Actually, who is Mrs. Robinson anyway?

Anyhow, we will never understand the amount of love God has for us, it's bigger then we can understand. We can't wrap our minds around it, but I bet all to often it's pretty easy for anyone around us to know exactly the extent of our love toward God. I'll bet it wouldn't take long to say, "you love God this much". All to often it's because we generally are not willing to sacrifice our comfort out of our vast love for God because, if we we're honest, our love isn't that vast for him to begin with.

I love talking about Gods love for us, you can go on and on about it, but if I we were to talk about my love for God, the conversation may end pretty quick. It's pretty sad really, we're good at talking and singing about how much we love God, but Jesus took it further than words or a song for us, he proved it by giving up everything he had. I want to live a life that does the same, one that does more then show my love in words, I want to show my love with my life.

Out of Shape

2009-01-06T20:27:00.000-08:00

I played racquet ball tonight. I play at least once per week. Tonight though I played one on one which I normally do not do. I think I left one of my lunges on the court. I know my heart exploded six times with little pieces of it all over. Anyway, it's amazing how fast your body can get out of shape. When I raced MTB I would ride for up to 7 hours straight. I was the hight I am now but only weighed 150, had like no body fat, and had legs the size of a average California Coastal Redwoods trunk.

The more crud I eat and put into my body the worse I feel. The less I work out, the weaker and fatter I become. The more I slack off from taking care of myself, the more worse I get. It just doesn't end, I'll continue to grow more and more unhealthy until I get some self control and discipline and work to get in better health. It's amazing how closely related our physical condition is to our Spiritual lives. When you neglect it, you become weaker, you are more prone to so many early death causes, you feel bad about yourself, you can't do as much as you used to, and in the end, you could lose it all.

Something that bugs me.

2009-01-05T00:23:00.000-08:00

I thought I would take a short side road tonight just to mix it up a bit and tell you about something that really bugs me. I like movies quite a lot. My favorites are classic films from the 40s and 5os, I enjoy new films also, but there is something that almost every new movie that involves a computer does that makes me want to instantly turn it off. Maybe you've noticed this, but without fail almost any computer, whether it's a mac, a PC, or a futuristic computer that only the government apparently has seems to make beeps, bops, and techie computer sounds anytime anything happens on the computer does anything. Someone can be typing a letter and the computer makes little beeping type sounds, the computer zooms in on a photo and there is another computer sound that I've never heard any computer make in the real world.

For some reason the higher end, and more futuristic the computers seem to be in the move, the more annoying little computer sounds they seem to make. Now, with my computer I have the ability to have it make little sounds for my enjoyment if I'd like, but I can also have it make no sounds at all - my personal preference for most items - however it seems that this feature is not available on high end futuristic computers that only the government and bad guys have, they have to make little sounds to work properly apparently.

This is true also even with Dells, macs or HPs in movies. For some reason these computers in the movies come loaded with computer sounds that no other computer in the real world has. Anyway, that just really bugs me and ruins movies for me all the time. Why do sound engineers in movies do this? Why do directors think this adds to the scene? Have they just never used a real computer? Anyway, just another side road note about something that bothers me. Why you read this I don't know, but I'm sorry to waist your time.

Jesus' car

2009-01-04T00:03:00.000-08:00

My wife and I went to a youth ministry conference a couple months ago. One of the speakers asked the questions "if Jesus were here today, what kind of car would he drive?". Jesus spent all of his time giving to others, he wasn't a wealthy guy, and he taught that we should give and share what we have with others. Could you see Jesus driving an Audi or an Infinity? Or really, any new car for that matter? I'm not sure.

Recently my wife and I were looking to trade-in our current family-mobile which we have outgrown for a larger car. We decided that this time we wanted to get a car with everything we always wanted in it. In the past we would settle for a car that didn't have all the options we really wanted to save a couple bucks in our monthly payment, but we would always regret it in some way. We figured with this new car, if we're going to pay every month on this car till were 80 years old anyway, and this car we really want with all the options will only cost a minimal amount extra per month, why not get this one we really want this time? This lead us to a car we could not realistically afford, and one that had more gadgets and sweet technology then we would ever need... but we wanted it so bad. Even still today we want this car, even after rationalizing it and realizing it would be a financial avalanche for us to purchase it, we still want it - really really bad.

I wonder what Jesus really thinks about how we spend our money, or the cars we drive, the amount of money we spend on eating out, on Starbucks, or on another pair of pants we don't need, but only want because they'd go great with that new scarf. Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell everything he had, give it to the poor, and follow him. I read this and think, "man, some rich people just have so much and couldn't live without it, I'm glad I'm not like that. But realistically, compared to the world as a whole, if you live in America you are rich. For most of us who are reading this, we're some of the richest people in the world.

I wonder how easy it would be for us to give up everything we have? Our comfy pillow top mattress's, our down pillows, our TV programs, our cushy heated seats in our GPS driven cars. I think many of us would find that it would be tougher then we'd like to think. Am I a rich young ruler? Are we Americans rich young rulers? To much of the world we are. Do we have more then we really need? Are we giving to others as much as we can? The rich young ruler didn't make out so well, are we really that much different?

It's something that God has been showing me lately; how much I really have, how much I really need, and how attached I really am to my stuff. Even as I write this, my HD TV is playing a classic Fred Astair film, my beautiful mac LED backlit screen is lighting the way as I listen to Sondre Lerche through my headphones that cost more then my parents first car must have and I'm a poor youth pastor! I love my mac, I love my TV and my phone, but I'm more attached to them then I think I've ever realized, and more then I'd like to admit.

Jesus had nothing, he gave everything away down to his own life. As I sit here I think about kids around the world who have gone to bed tonight hungry while I sit here a bit sick in the stomach from to much dinner. There are people out in the freezing cold tonight while my legs are burning up under our heating blanket. I'm not saying these things are bad, I am saying however that as Americans we often have so much stuff, and spend so much on more and more when in the scheme of things - why? If Jesus were to be next to us in his physical body as we shopped for another pair of shoes we don't need, or bought another Grande Iced non fat white Mocha at 165 from the Starbucks that sits in front of that homeless guy, would we feel OK about it? Would Jesus be right there with us doing the same thing?

Jesus said not to store up for ourselves treasure in this world, but rather in Heaven. I look at my treasure here now, and wonder if the money I've spent on them could have been used for something more eternal, something that could have made an eternal impact instead of making my life more comfortable. It's again not that God is against that you buying that new 72 inch LCD, but, well I'm not sure Jesus himself would have the same one. It just is making me more and more sick with myself, and my lifestyle. This is maybe just a late night rant, but it's something that God is making me more and more aware of.

A Disneyland moment

2008-12-31T08:22:00.000-08:00

I thought it appropriate to include a Disneyland moment from time to time on this blog, just so that I can keep my Disney points standing high. I think once in a while I'll just throw in one of these DL moments with a piece of Disneyland trivia for everyone who doesn't care. My mind is full of more Disneyland trivia and facts then anything else, so here it goes.

Pointless DL fact:

When you first walk onto Main Street USA, look to your left and you'll see the Disneyland Firehouse. Above this is a window, inside this window is a light. The light you'll notice is always on, this is because this area was Walt's personal apartment. Back in the day, when Walt was in the park, he would have his light burning. Today it is left burning 24-7 in remembrance of Mr. Disney.

Bedtime Stories

2008-12-30T21:38:00.000-08:00

Tonight my wife and three kids went to see Disney's newest film Bedtime Stories. We all really liked it, my 4 year old especially. I left the theatre looking like I peed my pants from my 2 year old dumping his drink on me, but thats about typical. The movie is about a guy who discovers that the bedtime stories he tells his niece and nephew at night are coming true in his everyday real life. He begins altering his real life with the stories he tells to them. How cool would that be if we could dream up our tomorrow, and have it come true? I know my life would be so different, I'd be driving an 03 Cobra Mustang, while my car wash guy washes my fleet in the 30 car garage. I would have every Mac product on the market, my home 4th home in the Matterhorn at DL would be our weekend getaway, and my kids would serve me daily as God intended them to - at least I think that was Gods purpose in kids right? Anyway, I wonder how different other peoples lives would look if they were able to control their tomorrows.

I met with a band today we have playing for our youth New Years Eve party we have going on tomorrow. Their an amazing screemo band called "The Waiting Ends".

http://www.myspace.com/thewaitingends

One of the guys in the band was telling me about a friend of his who is leaving for Mexico tomorrow for about six months to do some missions work. He explained how his friend felt God calling him there less then a month ago, but that his friend didn't hesitate a moment and immediately began making plans to follow this call God placed on his life.

My favorite verse in the Bible is only a couple words long but to me has huge impact; it's Acts 3:12. The NLT says "Peter saw his opportunity, and addressed the crowd". In this we see that Peter was first looking for an opportunity to be used, but then he did something so many including myself seem to struggle with, he took action. He saw his opportunity, and went for it.

I wonder how many of us are like Peter, or like this guy who is leaving for Mexico. How many of us would just uproot and leave the comforts of home if God called us to tomorrow? It's easy to say, "I would," but I think if that were true, we'd see many people living totally different lives then the one's they live now.

If we could control our lives like in this Disney movie, most of would be living a different life then the one we're living now. But the thing is, God can alter our tomorrows, the issue is that we generally don't give him the control he needs to do so. If we did, I believe our lives might look quite a bit different. It's my goal to give God every aspect of my life, holding nothing to myself, not my job, not my hobbies, not my spare time, because I can't control my tomorrow, but giving my life over to someone who can is pretty cool. He may not always - or ever do what we would do, but I've found that it generally works out better that way in the end. God seems to know what he's doing!

I wonder what our lives would look like if we gave God every single piece of it, how would it be different, what would we be doing, where would we be living if we allowed God to tell the bedtime story of our life? Wow that was pretty deep eh? Ok maybe not, but it makes me think.

Jeremiah 29:11

Pistachios and Aspens

2008-12-28T15:57:00.000-08:00

I have three kids, one 4, one 2, and one 5 months. There are some things I've learned that are difficult to teach you kids as a Christian, and especially as a pastor. Peoples expectations and level of offensiveness are so different from person to person. My son who is two is speaking quite a lot now, however his speech is that of a two year old. Spaghetti is pronounced by him as spsgeffi. Car is pronounced far and so on. As parents we try to teach him the proper way to pronounce words. We normally do this by breaking longer words down for him. If he is trying to say grandma, which he pronounces fama, we will break it down into grand - ma. He loves Dora the explorer, however his version of explorer is more like, fora (he like the letter f is seems)

If have recently learned however that there are some words which are difficult to break down for him.

I like pistachios from time to time as does he. The other day I tried breaking down this word

and realized it didn't sound that great. At least I could see some people getting offended over it.

There are only a couple of ways to break this word down piss- tachio, or pist- achio. Either way

you can see the problem. This is the same with many words I've discovered. Like that little dog

with the funny name, what's it called, a Shitsu? Or that beautiful tree the Aspen.

It's funny how things affect people differently. Some people would think this is humorous, while

others would be offended by the simple thought. As Christians it seems we often let small issues

separate us. Differences in doctrine between denominations for example, not the big issues,

but often it's the small differences, like the way the other church takes the offering, or the

songs they sing in their worship. I am not a big fan of the numerous groups, denominations,

and levels we have built around Christianity that we must fall into.

I often myself get caught up in the stereotypes we have for each other who serve the same God,

and will spend eternity in the same place. I'd like to get to a place where I can see other Christ

followers as just that, people who have decided to follow Christ, same in purpose, in passion,

and in faith. We can do so much more working together in unity then apart.

Anyway, this has simply been a thought on my mind this evening.

The Christian World

2008-12-27T20:07:00.000-08:00

Today I was flipping - well I guess we don't flip through channels anymore, we skim, or scroll. Anyway, I was scanning through our channels on Direct TV and came upon TBN. Their current program that was being aired was simply labeled "Christian News". I've never watched Christian news, but it caused me to roll my eyes and shake my head a bit as it reminded me of this trend in the Christian world so many live in. Take this Christian news for example, ss this simply Christian related news stories? Maybe about how Pastor Gorge in Ohio got a new Bible for Christmas? Or is it simply a Christian take on world news? Either way, news is news right? I know many people complain about how negative the news is, how they only seem to focus on crime, and murders, and the scummy parts of our society. And I agree, but Christian news? What is that exactly, and what is it's purpose?

Many Christians like to surround themselves in a Christian world thats safe, protected, and isolated from the rest of the world, or the "secular" world. But do we really need our own version of everything? We have our own television networks, (which only Christians watch) 0ur own Christian radio stations (which only Christians listen to) our own fictional novels, our own stores, our own cloths, our own breath mints, even our own version of YouTube. The Bible tells us to be in the world, just not of the world. It seems however that our Christian culture as a whole is doing allot of work to take us out the world we were created and called to live as witnesses of Christ in.

Many people don't have normal TV and programming the rest of the world has, they have their own Christian TV. Some Christians listen to nothing but Christian music. It seems like there has been a pull in the Christian world that tells us to separate our lives from the world around us. Don't listen to secular music, don't watch secular TV, don't go into that store, its not a place Christians should be. Jesus called us to go be witnesses in all the world. He set the example for us that teaches; in order to reach those we are called to reach, we must live in the same world they do. The more we as Christians separate ourselves from the world, the less effective we become in reaching those we are called to reach.

I am in no way suggestion we should fill our minds with a bunch of garbage, I am simply saying that we should take a look at our lives, are we in the world, or are we pulling ourselves out the world and into a Christian isolation camp? The ones we are called to reach don't live in our Christian world, they don't watch our christian TV, or listen to our Christian radio, or suck on our Christian mints, nor would they want to. If we are going to be effective in reaching those outside our comfy protected Christian compounds, we need to be in their world. We should have our music on their radio, our programs on their channels, and maybe even suck on their mints. Crazy? Yeah maybe, but Jesus did it, so maybe we should to.

Anyway, when Jesus came to this earth he didn't push the world away, he didn't separate himself from it, he surrounded himself with it. I think we could learn from him and the way he lived in this world we live in. It's quite a concept, living the way Jesus did, but maybe we should try it. Maybe we'd have better results. I don't know thoough, the Christian mints are pretty swell.

Christmas

2008-12-26T21:36:00.001-08:00

Today is the day after Christmas. We had a great time with family, got some great new things we really didn't need but love anyway. My wife and I really tried to help our kids realize how much they have. Not just the loads of packages they opened, but in general. The food they eat but never think about, the cloths they have, even their health. About a week before I drove one of the students in our youth ministry home. He told me about how him and his dad moved to Susanville after they were evicted from their apartment and how his dad had lost numerous jobs. We drove by a rout he walked everyday to school at around 7am. I am usually out the door around 8ish, in Dec-Feb the temperature in Susanville at those times in the morning averages out in the teens and can drop into the negative double digits.

His walk takes him about 10 minutes. The snow this night was about 12 inches. I could see his footprints between two homes up a steep hill. I asked him about the cold how his boots did in the freezing snow. He told me that the boots he was wearing he got from a friend of his at school a day or two earlier and that before that he only had some hightop converse. This kid had in the past come to the church acting as if he was starving, complaining that he hadn't eaten in days. Teens are full of drama and exaggerate frequently, because of this I would normally just blow him off and tell him to go grab whatever he found in the youth refrigerator. I wonder now how much truth there was to his drama, it made me wonder about some of the other teens I have worked with over the past 2 years. It made me so sad for him to realize the poverty in which he lived everyday.

Our kids have no concept of skipping a meal, or getting nothing under the tree. Often even us as adults don't clearly grasp the reality of life that so many around us live everyday. It makes me so sad to think of other kids like the one I drove home who live in a world that we often think only exists in other parts of the world, or the country, or only in that other part of town. Depressing situations for people young and old exist right down the street. I really only realized it when it was right in front of me.

Church Vocab.

2008-12-15T14:32:00.000-08:00

Church words. Ever notice how there are certain words we only use in church? Have you ever heard the pastor say something like "I covet your prayers over this or that", or after someone tells another a story about how God did something in their life you hear,"hallelujah. I don't know why many of us feel that we must use a different

vocabulary when were at church or talking to fellow Christians then we do with the

rest of the world. Anyway, just wondering who does that, and why.

Oh Brother

2008-12-15T01:14:00.000-08:00

Ever been to church, or heard Christians refer to each other as brother or sister? You'll hear maybe the pastor introduce a special speaker as Brother Brad, or Sister Sue. I don't really get that? I have a brother and sister, I rarely - actually I've never referred to either of them as Brother Ricky, or Sister Rachel. Why do Christians do this? "Because were brothers and sister in Christ". Were also all humans, and creations of God. We don't call each other fellow human, or creation person. I guess it just makes the special guest feel better. Anyway brothers and sisters in Christ... I'll never call any of you this in person.

Christians Are Losers

2008-12-15T00:49:00.000-08:00

Huh? Christians are losers said from a Christian? Yeah, it's true. See, Christians have to lose something to gain all that God has for them. I know, you don't want to here about God, well, God is so much more than you probably could ever imagine, but that I'll save for a later time. As far as being a Christian loser, as I said before it's true. Before you're a Christian, you are away from God. God is perfect, we are not. To be made perfect we have to give everything to God. That doesn't mean we have to give him our personality, and the things that make you, you. God created your personality, he made you, you, and He loves you.

We as Christians give Him what keeps us from Him, all our bad stuff, AKA: SIN. Sin is basically selfishness. It's wanting to do whatever we want whether it's good for us or not, and whether it hurts others around us or not. God wants to take all that away, and hence, Christians are losers. We in a sense lose that old nasty way of living in exchange for God and all the Hope of having way more than this world can ever offer. Let me know if you want to here more, I'd love to talk more about how you can become a loser too!