Guatemala Pictures 1

 
 
 
 

Some work projects

 
 
 
 

We Are Here!!

Hey everyone,

We are here, and we have no internet access. There is internet on campus, but no one knows the code to get us on. So I am here at a coffee house letting everyone at home know that we are all okay, and having the time of our lives!

Here are a few pictures to let you know what we are doing:

We leave in one day!

Are you nervous yet? Are you anxious yet? Are you fearful yet?
Take a minute and write out what you are nervous, anxious, and fearful of.

Is it flying?
Is it disease?
Is it the different culture?
Is it being far away from home?
Is it leaving someone behind?

What do these fears communicate to you? What do they tell you about your perception of God? What does it tell you about your perception of your faith?

Guatemala seems scary because it is foreign and far away. We tend to fear unknown because we have become accustomed to the dangers we face everyday. We feel as though we have some kind of control over the ordinary and familiar, when in reality we don't. I have not heard anyone communicate that they are afraid of the bus ride to the airport. Why not? It is just as dangerous as anything else we are doing! But we are familiar with bus rides.

It all boils down to one thing: SAFE IS A MYTH! I am not talking about recklessness, and unwise choices, like balancing on a rope . That is not so much dangerous as it is stupid and reckless. The Bible places much weight on making wise choices and acting prayerfully and wise in our choices.

But there is something that I have learned this past week. Safe is a myth. You are either doing what god wants, or you are not. You are either in God's will or you are not.

God can use your fears to teach you about yourself and what your faith is made of. It is easy to put on the mask of a strong faith and pretend we are fine. But God sees through our masks and sees our actual condition. So God can use a trip like Guatemala to teach you things about yourself.

In reality, God runs the universe and is looking out for us, even during tough times. A simple sentence that takes a lifetime to live out. God can watch over your loved ones better than you. God can keep a bus safer than you. God can keep a plane saffer than you can. God can keep us safe as we work on our projects better than you can. God is FULLY CAPABLE to protect you and keep you. He is stronger, wiser, more caring, more loving, more capable than you or me.

It is okay to feel fear. It is okay to cry over leaving loved ones behind for 8 days. It is okay to be a bit nervous. It is even okay to be scared out of your mind! But it is not okay to let fear dictate your life and decisions. That is idol worship.

Listen to this song and make the lyrics a prayer in preparation for our trip. Ask god to communicate what your fears reveal about your faith and perception of Him, your God. Do you trust Him? Why or why not?

Aaron Shust: Stillness (speak to me)

The Quiet Before the Storm

We have a few days left before we go to Guatemala. I am getting excited, but I also feel a sensation in the pit of my stomach when I think of the trip. The best way to describe it is the feeling that you get during the climb of the first hill on a roller coaster. I am referring to this feeling as "the quiet before the storm".

I do not have any apprehensions or fears about going. I am very excited to go. I think that God is preparing my heart to do some transformation. This quiet preparation before the storm of transformation is a weird feeling. I have confidence that our team is going to have a face to face encounter with God. I believe that we will come back changed.

Looking God in the face is a scary thing. No one can see God and live. When you look God in the face you have to die to your self. It is much easier to keep God at arms length, to be a fan of Jesus rather than a follower of Jesus as my friend Ben puts it.

The challenge for me is to experience the trip with my team and not be the "leader" who is outside of the experience (at a safe distance). I am still the leader, and I will lead this team, but from the inside. So don't be surprised if you see me quiet, prayerful, or in tears. I am giving God full permission to work in my heart as he sees fit. I need work done in me just as all of you do. I am letting down my guard for this trip, and I pray you all do the same.

Be vulnerable. Be honest. Be prayerful. Be still. Immerse yourself into the experience of this trip. Give God full permission to engage your heart and transform you. Stare your ugliness, neediness, fearfulness, insecure self in the face and grieve over your sin. Stare your God in the face and worship Him for his goodness. He loves you despite the previous list of attributes we default to.

God Showed Up

In church this past Sunday we heard a message on 2 Chronicles 7 and the completion of the Temple:

"When Solomon finished praying, a bolt of lightning out of heaven struck the Whole-Burnt-Offering and sacrifices and the Glory of God filled The Temple. The Glory was so dense that the priests couldn't get in—God so filled The Temple that there was no room for the priests! When all Israel saw the fire fall from heaven and the Glory of God fill The Temple, they fell on their knees, bowed their heads, and worshiped, thanking God: Yes! God is good! His love never quits!"

It is easy to read over this passage and say, wow I wished God moved like that still today. But if you read into the context of the passage a bit more, you find out that God only showed up after the 20 years of building and preparation. The fireworks came after the preparation and work.

We are going on a missions trip here in 5 days to Guatemala. We have 6 months of preparation, meetings, fundraisers, prayers, conversations, and even confrontations. God is going to show up in our lives in a big way. I do believe that the more you immerse yourself into the experience, the more that you will take away from it. If you stand far off at a safe distance, you will merely have a good tourist experience.

So 5 days away. I say we surrender our fears of encountering God, surrender our tendency to keep God at arms length, surrender our expectations, surrender our will as one big offering and sacrifice to God. Let's see what kind of bolt of lightning will come from heaven and consume that sacrifice. Let's see the glory of God fill this "Temple" which in the New Testament is his people.

12 days until Guatemala

Only 12 days left. We have been working on this trip since December and now it is upon us.

We have raised $21,989.52 and we have $3,017.48 to go.
We have 23 people going on this trip

I can't wait... more to come

the Jesus Manifesto by Frank Viola and Leanord Sweet

"Jesus Christ cannot be separated from his teachings.
Aristotle says to his disciples, ―Follow my teachings.
Socrates says to his disciples, ―Follow my teachings.
Buddha says to his disciples, ―Follow my meditations.
Confucius says to his disciples, ―Follow my sayings.
Muhammad says to his disciples, ―Follow my noble pillars.
Jesus says to his disciples, ―Follow me.

In all other religions, a follower can follow the teachings of its founder without having a relationship with that founder. Not so with Jesus Christ. The teachings of Jesus cannot be separated from Jesus himself. Jesus Christ is still alive and he embodies his teachings. It is a profound mistake, therefore, to treat Christ as simply the founder of a set of moral, ethical, or social teaching. The Lord Jesus and his teaching are one. The Medium and the Message are One. Christ is the incarnation of the Kingdom of God and the Sermon on the Mount."

Read the full manifesto here [click here]

Quote of the Day:

"Walter Brueggemann says the job of the prophet is to free people from their numbness. That is also the task of the church. It is to wake people up, to bring them to consciousness, and not just to comfort them in their unconscious state. I am afraid a lot of soft piety and too quick religious comfort does precisely that. The giveaway is when one finds no attitude of service, volunteerism, or compassion for the outsider emerging from one’s attendance at church services.

True prophetic religion allows us to hold, suffer, and also enjoy all that God holds, suffers, and enjoys—which is everything—the good and the bad of our histories."
-Richard Rohr

How He Loves - David Crowder Band / John Mark McMillan

September 22nd is the release date for "Church Music" the newest release from David Crowder*Band. Can't wait. Here is the video of one of the newest releases.

I love the lyrics.

Love Song to the Dark Lord

Ouch. HT James McGrath

Hmmmmmmm.

Quote of the Day: George Bernard Shaw

One True Joy in Life

"This is the one true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one;the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish clod of ailments and grievances,complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die. For the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake.

Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I've got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to the future generations."

Brueggemann on Preaching

What a thought provoking video.

HT Mark Riddle

Budget and Finances

I have recently kicked our finances in the butt and started to take them seriously. I made a budget and have stuck to it since January without fail! It is a win in my corner. I have never been really good with money. I always thought that living on a budget would be so stressful and constricting, it is not! It is freeing and liberating! Just imagine being in the store and holding your debit card and knowing exactly how much you are allowed to spend, or checking our savings account, and seeing money in there, or seeing a large bill come in like propane, medical, car or house repair, and knowing that there is money set aside for this purpose! It is a great feeling.

A recent post on Bargaineering.com inspired me to make a cash flow chart of how my finances work so that I can see where my money is going in a picture. I left amounts out, but would like to share the map with you all.



A bit of explanation is required to navigate our flowchart. Workplace is where my funds are generated and thus it all starts there. They take care of my IRA and Health Insurance and then give me a paycheck (thank you!) But taxes are removed from there. After that I deposit my check into our Credit Union Checking Account. From there it goes four places

1. We support children through worldvision and the funds are automatically withdrawn.

2. I setup on our billpay site at the beginning of each month to pay all of our utilities and debts on the dates that they are due.

3. Our ING Direct account withdraws 5 withdraws each week.
a. Emergency Fund: for emergencies only!
b. Expense Account: We added up all the big bills (propane, car repair, house repair, medical, car registration etc...) we pay each year and divided by 52, that number is withdrawn each week.
c. Gifts/Giving: We added up Christmas, birthdays, vacation, outings, and what we would like to give away to people who need help and divided by 52. That number is withdrawn each week.
d. Tithe: self explanatory
e. 10 year trip: Kara and I are going on a missions trip for our 10 year anniversary. We took the price of the trip, the weeks left to the date, and divided to get a number and have that tiny amount withdrawn each week.

4. Weekly Expenses:
a. Our gasoline, food/supplies, are either left in our account (with a concrete number ascribed to them) or is withdrawn in cash each week. When the number is reached, or the cash is gone, we are done spending.
b. Flex Bucks: we have a few dollars left in our account each week to allow for flexibility and unforeseen expenses. This is the key to having a working budget, flexibility. If it cannot bend, it breaks.

You may be thinking, wow, he must make a fortune to have finances work so well. I don't. We are on one income that is about as much as a low end manager at McDonalds. I found that the key is to SAVE money, GIVE money, and PAY bills first thing, then see how much you can spend on yourself. Live under what you make and you can make any budget work. Give every dollar a place to go and a job to do, and you won't overspend.

That is what we are doing, and it is working. Love to hear any thoughts.

Books, Books, Books

Books read last quarter:
1. Chronicles of Narnia, Magicians Nephew 4/5
2. Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe 4/5
3. Chronicles of Narnia, A Horse and his Boy 3.5/5
4. Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian 4/5
5. Chronicles of Narnia, Voyage of the Dawntreader 5/5

I am reading the Narnia series for the first time and loving it.

6. Inferno; Dante 3/5

A very tough read, and very freaky. Imagine Greek Mythology meets Roman Catholicism. It had some pretty freaky images. I kept sayinng to myself, if this was made into a movie, it would have to be seriously edited to come down to R rating.

7. Black, Ted Dekker 5/5
8. Red, Ted Dekker 3.5/5
9. White, Ted Dekker 4/5

I read the Circle. I am NOT a big fan of Christian fiction (by the way why are all womens Christian fiction in the setting of the 1800's?) BUT this was an exception. When asked to describe it to others I said, "Imagine the show 24, meets 12 Monkeys, meets Narnia, meets Matrix, and then is turned into Christian Fiction." Black was the best by far of the series, and it seemed to go downhill in RED and then White pretty much redeemed the series.

10. The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture, Shane Hipps 4/5

Eye opening and educational

11. Hold on to you N.U.T.s, a Relational Guide for Men, Wayne Levine 5/5

Love the title! And this was a great book for guys to read.

12. The Way of the Heart, Henri Nouwen 5/5

If its Nouwen, its going to be great, and this was.

13. Jesus’ Plan for the New World: The Sermon on the Mount; Richard Rohr 5/5
14. Prayer Finding your Heart’s True Home; Richard Foster 3/5
15. Andromeda Strain; Michael Crichton 3.5/5
16. The Eyes of the Dragon; Stephen King 4/5

Books to read this quarter:
1. Jesus wants to save Christians, Rob Bell
2. The New Man; Thomas Merton
3. No Man is an Island; Thomas Merton
4. Meeting Jesus Again, for the First Time; Marcus Borg
5. Book of Letters; Lawrence Kushner
6. Coming Home to your True Self, Leaving the Emptiness of False Attractions; Albert Haase
7. The Freedom of Simplicity; Richard Foster
8. The Promise of Paradox, Parker Palmer
9. Christless Christianity, Michael Horton
10. Purgatory; Dante
11. Chronicles of Narnia, The Silver Chair
12. Chronicles of Narnia, The Last Battle
13. The Prodigal God; Timothy Keller
14. How to Read the Bible or All its Worth; Gordon D. Fee
15. Hermenutics;

Turkey Hunt 09

 

I decided this year, to give turkey hunting a shot. I am very glad I did. I asked my friend Steve to show me the ropes, and he was a great teacher. I learned a whole lot about turkey hunting in a period of a few weeks.

 

Thursday morning at 4am I woke up and got ready and was in place on our site by 5:15am. We sat and waited for the woods to wake up. Then we heard the gobbling from the trees. A large turkey decended from the tree and took position behind a bush roughly 30 yards from our location. I could not get a shot in, and he fled once he realized that we were there. We tried a few other spots, but to no avail.

 

Friday morning we decided to wake up and get to our site by 4:30am instead. We did so, but when the forest awoke, the gobbling was far away at a different roost spot. We quickly packed up and headed through the swamp towards the turkeys. We took position on the outside of the swamp and started to call. They were far away and I thought that we were not going to see a turkey at all. Then we heard a gobble within 50 yards and closing! I put my mask on and raised my gun. Two turkeys came into the clearing and Steve said, "take it." My heart was puonding so hard I could hardly hold the gun steady, but I pulled the trigger and shot a perfect head shot on the turkey.

My first turkey:
weight: 17 pounds 2 ounces
beard: 10 1/2 inches AND 1 1/2 inches. (I shot a double beard, which is rare!)

who needs labels?

HT Marko

thought of the day:

Am I more concerned about changing others or myself?

Jesus took away the sin of the world by exposing it first of all as different than we imagined, and letting us know that our pattern of ignorant killing, attacking and blaming is in fact history’s primary illusion, its primary lie.

Then he shared with us a Great Participative Love, which would make it possible for us not to hate at all. The game was over after Jesus, at least for those who gazed long enough.

We all had to face the embarrassing truth that we ourselves are our primary problem. Our greatest temptation is to try to change other people instead of ourselves. Jesus allowed himself to be transformed and thus transformed others!

Richard Rohr: Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, p.195

Prayer of Examen using fruits of the Spirit

Prayer of Examen is an ancient prayer exercise in which you ask God to explore your life, attitude and action, and do the proper adjustments. I wrote this specific exercise using the fruit of the spirit as a guideline to weigh our attitudes and actions against. Its nice to do about once a week to get your bearings straight.

Start by praying Psalms 139:23-24
“Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I'm about; See for yourself whether I've done anything wrong— then guide me on the road to eternal life.”

Read Galatians 5:22-23 answering the below questions concerning each fruit. For the failures you see, ask forgiveness and repent without justification. For the successes you see, thank God for the strength to do what is right.

…when the Spirit controls our life, He will produce this kind of fruit in us…

LOVE
This week have you lived with an awareness of others hurts, needs, dreams or have you lived with a developed callousness to anything but your own hurts, needs, dreams.

JOY
This week have you lived with an awareness of God’s constant and continual blessing in your life, right down to each breath you take being a gift from God, or have you lived with an over awareness of things you don’t possess or circumstances that would be better. (also called envy)

PEACE
This week have you lived with an inner quietness, peace, and assurance that God is in control and has you in mind as He runs the universe, or have you lived with anxiety, fear, and a sense that it is you against the world.

PATIENCE
This week have you lived with a patience for others faults, failings, let downs, or have you lived life with an attitude of entitlement and superiority.

KINDNESS/GOODNESS
This week have you let love, joy, peace, and patience outwardly express itself to those you encounter, from stranger to family, with an attitude of kindness and goodness, or have you let the absence of love, joy, peace, and patience express itself in rudeness, feelings of entitlement, seeking your own agenda at the expense of others well being, inconsiderate of others, or feelings of fear of being taken advantage of.

FAITHFULLNESS
This week have you lived with a steady assurance that you can rely upon God, and expressed that assurance by being reliable to your family, friends, and strangers, or have you been more like a ship in a storm at the mercy of the wind and waves, ad expressed dount by being wavering and unreliable.

GENTLENESS
This week have you lived with an attitude of humility and gentleness and mildness or have you lived with a feeling of being right, superior, or better than those you meet. Have you acted in angry, oppressive, manipulating, or violent ways.

SELF CONTROL
Have you lived with gratitude for the blessings you have, moderating and controlling the good experiences, in full control of life, or have you over indulged in things letting them take control of your life; food, drink, money, work, shopping, entertainment, hobbies, vices.

Matthew 8:28-34

 

Have you ever begged Jesus to go away and leave you alone?

Quote of the Day

"A person consciously filling a vase with water—out of a union and love of God—is giving more glory to God than a priest at the altar who is standing there in a state of anger or separateness."
-Mother Teresa

"It’s all about the who (God), not the what (works), and we spend all of our time concentrating on what “I” should do."
-Richard Rohr

Religious for Religious sake?

Zechariah 7 study: A Call to Justice and Mercy.

I was reading Zechariah today and I came across this passage. The people of God are in exile from their homeland, their promised land that God had blessed them with, and had lost favor with God because of their breaking the contract they made with God. They have a question for God.

“Should we continue to mourn and fast each summer on the anniversary of the Temple’s destruction, as we have done for so many years?”

In essence they are asking, God are you still mad at us, are you going to be mad forever because if so, we want to know if we need to continue on with all this religious stuff that seems to be giving us no progress in our life whatsoever. It all seems pointless God.

I know that I have been there. God, do I really need to (fill in the blank with spiritual exercise) is it going to get me anywhere, is it going to advance me in anything, will I make any progress? I love God’s answer. He seems to be able to see to the heart of human selfishness and call us on it.

“During these seventy years of exile, when you fasted and mourned in the summer and in early autumn, was it really for me that you were fasting? And even now in your holy festivals, aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourselves?’”

I love how God answers questions with questions. God stares our selfishness in the face and says, “Are you serious? You really think this way?” We ask God, “What’s in it for me?” and God responds, “What if it’s not about you?” This response leaves us speechless. “But it has to be about me, what else is there?”

This leads me to a question that God is asking, “Are you religious for religious sake?” God has always asked one thing from His people and he restates it over and over in the Old Testament, and Jesus echoes it again and again in the New.

“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other.”

But it can’t be that easy, it can’t be all about that. It has to be some big complex religious theology that we must wrap our minds around. But the response of the Israelites is the same response we give today in most cases:

“Your ancestors refused to listen to this message. They stubbornly turned away and put their fingers in their ears to keep from hearing. They made their hearts as hard as stone, so they could not hear the instructions or the messages that the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had sent them by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. That is why the LORD of Heaven’s Armies was so angry with them. “Since they refused to listen when I called to them, I would not listen when they called to me, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. As with a whirlwind, I scattered them among the distant nations, where they lived as strangers. Their land became so desolate that no one even traveled through it. They turned their pleasant land into a desert.”

Our response is to keep on being religious for religious sake so that we do not have to confront our own selfishness and ugliness. We wish to take a mask and hide it from others and ourselves. But the truth is still there, we are selfish, we are sinful, we are ugly. The gospel is so transforming because God opens our eyes to our own ugliness and says, let’s heal this. Then we become conduits for that same transformation that God has brought in us!

We are a people who need to be born again and again and again… We need multiple conversions, not from a salvation standpoint but a refining one, because our sinfulness, and ugliness, and selfishness runs deep into our DNA and God takes us along a path called sanctification, a process of being made holy and like God. God is in constant refining mode on us.

When God transforms us we then become the people who fulfill His purpose, being a people who are concerned with bringing justice, mercy, and grace into a world that is in desperate need of it.

So, why are you religious?

Quotes of the Day

If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it.
-Richard Rohr

No problem can be solved with the same consciousness that caused it.
-Albert Einstein

N.T. Wright is my Hero (kinda)

I know that N.T. can be a bit wordy, a bit stuffy, and a bit overwhelming informationally, but I love to listen to his messages. I have to listen to them 3 times just to figure out what he is saying, and then I have to listen to them 5 times to sort out all the information, but I love it. One of my spiritual disciplines that connect me to God is the study, in depth, get into the Greek, get into the History, get into the Theology study.

One of the reasons is the fact that I love angles. I love to look at the gems of scripture at a different angle and see how it reflects the light in a new way. Same light, same gem, different angle. N.T. provides some historical perspectives that really get me looking at the scriptures from some more angles.

When I deliver a message, I try to have as much information on the subject as I can fit into my head, and then communicate one idea at 3 or 4 angles. Having the information in my head gives me the confidence to speak. One of the dangers of being too informational is losing people, people who don't care about history or Greek or Theology. But if you can provide many angles on the same subject, a subject that matters to real people in real life, in one sermon, the chances of losing people diminish, and you get to communicate to the differing levels of maturity in the room. Someone may have heard a sermon on this parable thirty times already and immediately shut it down with, "Oh, I've heard this before." Even if they are not practicing or applying the parable. Love your neighbor. We've heard that fifty billion times, but sometimes it takes a different angle to get us to think about it again and then re-apply the message.

You can check out some of his MP3's here

Being Born Again and again and again and ...

Shane Hipps gave one of the best messages I have heard in some time

[click here]

Rob Bell and Shane Hipps Interview

Is American Individualism Killing the Church?

Interesting Article over at Mark Riddle's Blog

"I saw this article this evening. It states that America is less Christian than 20 years ago. I'm not sure this is news. It was interesting that the article pointed to a rise in individualism as part of the cause. Again, not really news.

Here's my take.

The article is extremely generous. It's worse than this.

Why?
Because in growing segments of the evangelical church there is fundamentally no difference between the individualism of those who deny being Christian, and the individualism that many evangelical churches preach. This will not last because it is empty. An individualism, me first mentality, wrapped in the language and ideas of Jesus, isn't the way of Christ, because it makes Jesus an accessory and the programs of the church a way to keep my kids out of trouble and help me become a better educated individual. So Bible Studies and programs fill our calendars, and we sit in pews of large churches, and maybe watch our pastor on a screen, while we learn more about Jesus, then we walk out as isolated and alone as we were before."

Brilliant Parable!

Absolutely Brilliant parable from my friend Joe.

"Once there was a kingdom with a King who owned many horses. A certain man worked hard every day from sun up until sun down carrying bags of food for the kings horses to eat. It was an important task as the horses were the Kings prize possession. He did this every day, pulling the heavy cart through the streets. Everyone thought he was a hard worker, and eventually he became the most famous horse food carrier in all of the land. Finally he died. And the next day someone else carried the food."

Are you awake?

 

I Love Jesus!

 

Quote of the Day:
"We have not built a church capable of welcoming the manifest presence of God. We have built a church for our ministry, not His." Graham Cooke

Cause a Ruckus?

 

-should we go in and cause a ruckus?
-They're doing fine on their own. We're not needed there.

My Alphabet Blocks

 

Perception is Reality

 

Dialogue:
-What are you building?
-God
-You mean your perception of God?
-perception is reality

40 - A Video Of Jesus In The Wilderness

Amazing Video. I have been thinking a lot about the 40 days in the wilderness lately. I am going to dive into it after the Sermon on the Mount series is over with this weekend.

HT> Mark Riddle

Blessed are the Peacemakers

 

This is the last week of the series on the Sermon on the Mount. I wrote this comic today while I was studying to illustrate our views of harmony and peace.

Tita And The People Of La Limonada

This is where we will be in Guatemala this summer. We will be visiting Tita and the community there in La Limonada. The squatter village is in a ravine of 60,000 people.

About 13 years ago, sister Tita went to minister a family there and knew that it was God’s calling, without even knowing where she was or the plans God had for her.

Some time later, God provided, miraculously, the land in which today she has a three story building. She has a daily program for children there; this place has become a hope, refuge and solution for the needy. It is a spiritual, physical and moral oasis.

Quote of the Day:

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says there are three basic obstacles to the coming of the Kingdom. These are the three P’s: power, prestige and possessions. Nine-tenths of his teaching can be aligned under one of those three categories.

I’m all for sexual morality, but Jesus does not say that’s the issue. In fact, he says the prostitutes are getting into the Kingdom of God before some of us who have made bedfellows with power, prestige and possessions (see Matthew 21:31-32). Those three numb the heart and deaden the spirit, says Jesus.

Read Luke’s Gospel. Read the Sermon on the Mount. Read Matthew’s Gospel and tell me if Jesus is not saying that power, prestige and possessions are the barriers to truth and are the barriers to the Kingdom.

I’m not pointing to Church leadership, I’m pointing to us as the Church. The Church has been comfortable with power, prestige and possessions for centuries and has not called that heresy. You can’t see your own sin.

Richard Rohr
from Radical Grace: Daily Meditations, p.18

Seank Preview

 

Here is a sneak preview of this weeks message: Blessed are the Pure in Heart/Merciful

Refusing To Lead

Love this thought.

New Favorite Website

I have been loving the Resurgence Greek project.

www.zhubert.com

It is a great Greek study sight for those of us who know very little about Greek.

Who has say in your church?

Thanks to ASBO for this gem

Jon Foreman - Your Love Is Strong

My New Favorite Song

Sarah McLachlan - World On Fire

I love this video. Sarah did a cheap recording of her song world on fire and showed where the money she would have spent on the production was put to use in other areas of the world.

David After Dentist

This kid is still buzzing from the "happy gas" at the dentist. I believe that I felt the same way a few times after the dentist. Being a redhead, it takes a bit more to "juice me up" according to my dentist.

Thanks to Keely for this video

A Good Day

Today has been a good day.

First off, I got this letter:

Dear Pastor Tom,

In the spirit of all the negativity lately
and your sermon last Sunday - I felt
perhaps it is time to step up to the plate
and commend you on your sermon.
-We are so quick to criticize and/or forget
1.) I was taken aback with the
quote on Blessed are those who mourn
for they will be comforted.
As I mentioned at coffee
I never got that - It does make
much more sense with the vast
impact of the Sermon on the Mt.
2.) The words "Salt & Light" have
been plauging me all week -what
a simple reminder of truth with
a (little) spice!
I just mentioned to my boss the
above & wonder if I should put a
salt shaker on my desk as a
reminder!
Tom, things change minute
by minute, all we can do is
keep moving forward step by
little step & be sure our motives
are pure- we all have a part
of ourselves that wants to be
puffed up or recognized- I do as well
but unless I'm mistaken that takes
away somewhat from the love one
anotehr and humility clause in
the Bible
If you wish, share this w/
Kendall & keep your chin
up- I always have a hug
available!

That was a great pick me up. As you may remember from my last letter I received, I am a little hesitant to read letters sent to me. But I am glad I opened this one.

Then I got another letter donating $200 to a member of our Guatemala team annonymously.

Then I got an e-mail letting me know that I won a $50 gift card to Home Depot from Barganeering.com He e-mailed me:

"1 out of 664 chance... you got it. :)
Thanks for the kind words, I hope you keep reading!
Cheers,
Jim"

Man what a day today!

Guatemala City -zone 18

Ellen DeGeneres ~ I Love Jesus But I Drink A Little (HQ)

Don't watch this if you are eating or drinking anything! It's messy.

Awesome Post

My friend Josh started blogging, and I laughed out loud at this recent post of Demotivators:

Guatemala Trip 2009

If the world had 100 people in it. from John Chow on Vimeo.

This video really makes you think about how blessed we are.
The part that struck me was "If you keep your food in a fridge, clothes in a closet and sleep in a bed and have a roof over your head, you are richer than 75% of the rest of the world.

I did a message this past week on blessed are the poor, and there were people saying, "Well I must be blessed, because I am poor." Not when you place things in proper perspective.

We are going to Guatemala this year for a missions trip, we will see people who have no fridge, bed, or closet, and the roof over their head is corrugated tin. The house that they live in is as big as my kitchen, and 15 people live there.

We go down not to stoop down and help out the poor little people in Guatemala, but we are going down to take part in the HOLY privilege of serving the people that Jesus identified himself with.

"If you do it for the least of these, you do it for me." Working with the poor is a privilege that we get to do and by serving the poor in this way, somehow, we are serving Christ himself. When we build a home, we are sheltering Christ. When we give a family a dozen eggs, we are feeding Christ.

Read Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon on the Mount: stick figure style

I have been reading and reflecting the Sermon on the Mount, and I made this little pencil sketch to sum it all up. I am not an artist, I know, but I do draw a mean stick figure.

If you can't see it, click on it and make it bigger.

Quote of the Day

"a [biblical] text without a context is just a pretext for whatever you want it to mean." -Ben Witherington

meaning, you can make the Bible say just about anything you want it to, and justify anything you need it to. But as I state all the time...

"The Bible can never mean what it never meant." -Gordon Fee

Weekend Wrap Up

We went up to SpringHill this past weekend with our Sr. High students. It was amazing!

I find it hard to sum up what exactly happened. Let's start with fun:

1. We all tubed until we froze. SpringHill has an amazing tubing hill that is open most of the time.
2. Some people went horseback riding. Lots of fun.
3. We got to hangout in the game room and gym and have plenty of fun.
4. Morgan sang at open mic night and was amazing.
5. The sessions were amazing.

Spiritual

1. A few of our students surrendered their life over to Christ for the first time!
2. The rest of us were moved as the speaker presnted Forgiveness is a powerful way.
3. Eric Timm was our speaker, and what an amazing job he did. He had us laughing one minute, and intently listening the next. Very talented individual.
4. Red Umbrella led worship, and they did a spectacular job.

Overall:
one of the best and most powerful retreats I have been on. If you get a chance to go to SpringHill, go. If you get a chance to see Eric Timm, go. If you can go to both, stop everything and go.

HELL!!

I pray that this is not me this weekend!

Why do Freeways (Chruches) come to an annoying hault?

I read this interesting article, and then applied it to church.

1. Someone in front slows to 50mph (i.e. to avoid a car swerving in front of him)
2. The next driver slows to 45 to keep a safe distance away.
3. Drivers farther back see brake lights and begin to slow down
4. The pattern continues and more drivers apply their brakes until traffic is at a crawl.
5. By the time the rear drivers catch up to the source of the shockwave, the offending parties are long gone, and there is no sign of what started the problem.

What if we applied this to churches...

Rick Warren's Inaugural Prayer

There are two types of Christians out there today. The type who can pray like this:



And the type who write garbage like this:

[Click Here]

The Jesus Manifesto: Part One: Class Systems

I have been reading Richard Rohr's Jesus' Plan for a New World. This book really contributed to me wanting to explore the Sermon on the Mount. We love to take little pieces of the Sermon on the Mount out of its context, slap it on a t-shirt, and say, "Look, this is what Jesus said!" But if you don't read the individual teachings within the whole teaching of the sermon on the mount, you can easily become lost, confused, and misinformed on Jesus' intentions.

One of the first questions I asked was, "who is Jesus talking to?" Once I had the answer to this question, the Sermon took on an all new light, I could see it from a perspective of a first century peasant Jew instead of a middle class white American male of the 21st century.

Class Systems:
In our society, we divide up the population by class. The Gilbert-Kahl system, we see that America is divided into six classes:
1. Executive Class: Top politicians, corporate executives, and heirs of large buisnesses reside here
2. Upper Class: Doctors, Lawyers, Medium sized buisness owners
3. Middle Class: Proffessional laborers (electricians, plumbers) non retail sales, lower management positions
4. Working class: factory workers, lower skilled manual labor, clerical, retail sales
5. Working Poor: minimum wage workers
6. Underclass: part-time workers, unemployed. etc...

We can add a bottom class to this system. Your worth is based upon what you can consume and produce, so those who are not able or willing to consume or produce are not even classified here.
7. Expendable: criminals, welfare recipients, nursing home occupants, mental institution occupants, mentally handicapped, and the seriously disabled, the unborn.

This is not a knock on the bottom class, if you know someone who would be classified there. You will see.

The class system of Jesus' day had nine class systems, the top five ran society, and the bottom four were peasant classes.
1. Caesar: received 50% of the GNP, in Jesus' day it would be Tiberius
2. Governor: recieved 25% of the GNP, in Jesus' area this is Pilate
3. Retainers (maintain the system): military officers, lower bureaucrats (Herod), The High Preist (Caiaphas) pharisees and scribes (worked like H&R Block, helping you wade through all the red tape of religion for a fee)
4. Merchants: Lower on the scales than in our Consumer based society
5. Land Owners: Owned all the land
6. Farmers: Rented the land from land owners
7. Artisians: Fisherman, carpenters, masons
8. the "unclean" Lepers, tax collectors, pig farmers, gentiles (non Jews), and pig farmers (see story of Lost Son from Luke)
9. The Expendable: criminals, beggars, cripples, lame, blind, handicapped

When Jesus opens the Sermon on the Mount he says, blessed are the poor (ptochi) which means destitute, those who are crouching, he is referring to the bottom two classes.

New Series: The Jesus Manifesto (title still in the works)

I am taking on a message series the whole month of February that I am really excited about. I love the opportunity to speak and teach. When I am not teaching, I am thinking about teaching. I am messed up that way I guess.

BUT... I am working on a series about the Sermon on the Mount. We went through the Advent and prepared for the coming of Christ, we are in the middle of the Jesus is the bridge series, and next we are looking into What did Jesus actually say and teach?

I will be sharing tid bits here and there on this site so you can get a sneak peak of it.

My Wife

my wife is blogging again!
http://www.kararundel.blogspot.com/

i think my wife's a calvinist.mov

good stuff
HT: Noel H

40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes

Thank You to Marko for this one.

Chimpanzee Riding A Segway

HT: Crowder
Awesome!

Penn Says: A Gift of a Bible

God's Inaudible Voice

It has been a week that has taught me much about the state of my soul. I worry. I have been reading a book by Richard Rohr, Jesus' Plan for a New World, and it has been kicking my butt! He says:

"You can formally be a Christian...and go through all the rites of services. but if the grace of God hasn't moved into the conscious and unconscious levels and really touched you...you can keep the divine formulas in your head and have no real awareness of the divine. That's the malaise of Western Christianity today. People keep up the external observances of reliance upon God; underneath they depend only upon themselves...There is no active trust in the presence of the reality of God, or that God makes any difference."

I am finding out that I have been worrying about my house. So as I am reading this book God has been setting little "tests" in front of me, not for Him to see what I am made of, but to show me what I am made of, and what needs work. I think that is the whole point of crisis in our lives, to stir up areas of our subconscious that are not fully surrendered to Him and then let him teach us and change us through them.

He writes again:
"For Jesus, faith is not opposed to not believing in God, it doesn't mean you go to church, or that you're into religion or that you say "Lord, Lord!" (see Matthew 7:21). Faith for Jesus is the opposite of anxiety. If you're anxious, if you;re trying to control everything, if you are worried about many things, you don't have faith, according to Jesus. You do not trust that God is good and on your side. You're trying to do it all yourself, lift yourself up by your own bootstraps."

Again, I have been trying to control too much, and the end result has been anxiety. Let me give you a rundown of my week:

Day One: Insurance dude rejects the wood stove project, I freak out. have to make some tweaks.

Day Two: high winds hit the house, wood stove chimney fails I freak out. Gary Groom comes to the rescue.

Day Three: Calm.

Day Four: Saturday Service happens: I am taking them through the Prayer of Examen: will it work or totally fall apart? Sermon comes together, prayer works great.

Day Four: High winds hit again, chimney is tested, and passes BUT the Well pump stops working at 9pm, call Rob, call Well service. Be out in the morning. No water.

Day five: Well dude comes out, looks at the well and says, "you're pipes are frozen, turn on the furnace down here and thaw it out, that'll be $80.00." Attempt to turn on furnace, feels more like central air, call furnace guy, furnace guys shows up and says, "you're condensation drain is frozen, he fixes it, that'll be $147.00. In the end the water and furnace are working again. But my "well planned out" budget is tossed out the window.

Each step I see how God worked things out and built up my faith in the process, he also showed me areas that I have weak faith in. I am addressing them. And today as I went through the well and furnace ordeal, I kept reminding myself of how God came through all the other times this week.

I didn't freak out. I could have. I would have had I not been aware of what God was up to in my soul. I have been trying to live more with an awareness of what God is trying to say through circumstances, his inaudible voice: "You are not trusting me here. Let me show you how I can come through for you." This means that I have to go through circumstances where I need God to come through for me, and then not have so much anxiety during the process.

Off to the hardware to buy some heat tape for the water pipes. I will try to be more aware of God's inaudible voice.

Christmas Party

Last night for youth we made up 54 Christmas baskets to give to the needy in our area, then we ate some dinner and did our annual Dollar Store gift exchange. Everyone brought 3 items for our food pantry, and a dollar store gift to put under the tree. First person picks a gift and opens it in front of everyone, then the next person can steal it or pick from the pile. It is always a lot of fun.

Some of the best gifts:
1. a set of franks and beans, fiber pills, and air freshener
2. a gift bag with 4 potatoes in it
3. the rubber chicken
4. a prosthetic grill with bling
5. Hannah Montana note pad
6. Mr. Potato Head
7. A Horse head on a stick
8. The Whoopie Cushion (every year one shows up)

One of the most fun nights of the year.

Black Cab Sessions: Death Cab

Tropfest NY 2008 winner,

Habitat for Humanity Day

 
 
 
 

We went and helped build at the Habitat for Humanity a few weeks ago. It was cold, but lots of fun.

My Family

 

Let It Snow

 

I can't believe that it is snowing in November and December so much.

On thanksgiving vacation we went to visit family and take a break from our crazy schedule. So we decided to make a snow man. We had fun.

John Piper and the Prosperity Gospel

Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Pastors

My Year Without Television: Part Three

I have some friends, Gary and Charity, and they have a great strong family of three kids and they have taken in Uncle Spencer as well. They have a television. They LOVE Monday night football. They are still a great and strong family. With this series of posts, I am not trying to throw a guilt trip on people who watch TV. That is not the goal of this post. I am trying to wake up people who use television to fill a void of story within their own life.

Gary and Charity use television in their home to spark conversations, and even the spontaneous wrestling match. They get to take sides on who they want to see win and banter back and forth as a family. When they are watching television, they are not disconnected with each other. Television can be a BAD thing when everyone in the house has one in their room and everyone is separate watching their own shows and not interacting.

There is the BIG difference between a family like Gary and Charity, that uses television for interaction and family time, and a family that uses television for distraction and scattering out. So take a look at what television is inspiring you to do. Does it draw together the family and spark conversation and interaction? Or does it cause scattering, fighting, bickering, or disconnection.

What I guess my challenge to any reader I have, is to look at your time spent in front of the television and ask
1. is it used to build and sustain relationships with my family?
2. how much is used to inspire me to live out God's adventure for my family?
3. is my family comfortable with silence once in a while?
4. can I turn off the television without going into withdrawal?

Quote of the Day

"Let people feel the weight of who you are, and let them deal with it."
-John Eldredge

Everything's Amazing, and Nobody's Happy

Great Stuff!
HT MMI

Andrew Peterson - Family Man

A Real Bail Out

Click Here to see the CNN story of a "foreclosure angel"

My Year Without Television: Part Two

Putting the television in the garage has caused a change in how we run our family. We were not avid TV watchers before this. The boys watched PBS in the morning, and Kara and I watched 24 one night, and PBS’s cooking shows Saturday morning.

So what do we do to fill the time that we used to use television for? I get asked the question much when people hear that we have no television, “Well, what do you do then?”

I have found that the people who ask a question like this are the ones who should probably look into an addict program. If you have no idea what to do with yourself without something, it is usually called an addiction. Dictionary.com defines addiction as: the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming.

If you are lost and confused and go into withdrawal symptoms without the stimuli of something, that something is an addiction. Father Rolheiser says in his book Holy Longing, “We are entertaining ourselves to death.” It is true. When I hear a statistic like: 20% of an average American’s life is spent in front of the television, that scares me. There is too much to do, too many people who need connection and community, and too much work for the kingdom of God to accomplish to simply sit and stare at a box and be entertained for one fifth of your life.

Father Rolheiser also says in the same book, that we are the first culture who does not have to ask the tough questions in life, because we have enough to entertain us and occupy us until we die. That scares me too. The truth behind this statement is that we are shaping a culture with no depth.

I am NOT saying that all people with a television are hollow shallow people. What I am saying is that people who are addicted to television have the same INTERNAL issues as someone addicted to other forms of stimuli. We use it as an escape, a comfort, and a crutch. We get to pretend that we are not the bored, lonely, workaholic people that we are. We get to live out vicariously through our favorite television show what we wish was true in our own life.

What I am saying with this is that some movies and television shows can really inspire us to be better, that is the power of a story. But when we refuse to take the inspiration of that story and deposit what we have received into some adventure that God has for us, and we just redeposit it back into another show or movie, we get caught into an addiction cycle. This is where many people of our day get caught.

TV is good for communicating story and inspiring us to do something with our life. That is the power of story. God uses story to inspire us. But we have to do something with that. We have to give that inspiration a direction other than back into another story to entertain and occupy us.

Jimmy Doyle on the election

Here is a great statement by Jimmy Doyle. He really puts the results of the election in perspective.

1. For all the "losers" who are followers of Jesus: Remember that the Scripture tells us to pray for our leaders and seek their welfare. Don't let your anger, frustration, or whatever over this election remove you from your obligation to love others (including politicians). Remember that it is only four years, only 1460 days. Despite the statements of many emails and outspoken "conservative" leaders, our country is founded upon a system built to ensure that one man can't do unmanageable damage. In light of that, relax and be glad that you have that system. it should also be said that a lot of angry, ignorant, fear-mongered, and religiously intolerant things have been said during this campaign season. If you are guilty or responsible for any of this, it also may be good if you apologized to someone or at least admitted that you have behaved in a manner that did not increase Christ's honor in the eyes of others.

2. For all the "winners" who are followers of Jesus: Remember that only Obama is just a man and a politician. He is not going to bring about the change that only people by taking action in their own lives can bring. He's not going to put food on your table. He's not going to make you healthy. He's not going to make you happy or bring peace to the world. He may accomplish a few good things, but probably not most of what he talked about during his campaign The reality is that if you want change, you will have to act on the kind of change you want to see. My friend Mark Riddle expresses this pretty clearly here. As I reminded those in point #1, you also should remember that our country was not built to run on the desires or influence of one man. Be a pragmatist not an idealist is probably a safe call. And don't forget, as I posted on earlier this year , the more that someone tells you that they are "not the politician" this should only confirm that they are.

My Year Without Television: Part One

After Kara and I moved into our house in October of 2007, we decided to move most of our stuff into the garage and slowly move everything into the house. First we moved in all of the essentials, Kitchen appliances, furniture, toys for the kids etc…, then we would move in the non-essentials slowly.

As time moved on, the television was not moved in, and we noticed that we didn’t notice it so much, and we really didn’t miss it much either, so we thought we would leave the television in the garage. It is still there after a year, and it is still not missed, by Kara, myself, or the boys.

What this year of television is NOT
Many Christians who get rid of their television get all self-righteous about it and talk about how the peons who still have a television are unintelligent couch potatoes, but I find that this is not true of many television watchers. So us ridding ourselves of our TV is not an attempt to raise our intelligence level or holiness status above any other person.

Many Christians who rid themselves of their television do so out of fear of culture and out of wanting to bubble themselves into their homes and stay far away from the negative effects of media. While I agree that there is a lot of junk on the television, this is not our attempt to hide from evil or culture.

We are not on a television “fast” either. If we are at someone’s house and the TV is on, we don’t run and hide, or anything like that.

We simply wanted more simplicity and silence as a family, and this is our choice on how to do so. And it has certainly worked. We love life after TV, and we have no plans to go back any time soon. We love the simplicity and silence that it brings to our home.

Quote of the Day:

I only have so much energy. And, I want it to go to my family, my church, my community, and those who need Jesus. So, stick to your boycotts, your silly battles that feed your identity, and majoring in ineffectiveness.

Don’t waste my time. It is a precious commodity and I am not letting you rob me any longer.

God, please bring unity to your church. Remind us what matters. Give us energy and purpose and vision and creativity and resources to incite change. Make us lovers. And, for those who want to stall the process of being Jesus to a world that needs hope—please shut them up and move them out of the way. If WE ever are that people, shut us up and move us out of the way. Then, break us and rebuild us and set us right again.

-John Voelz, Worship Pastor Westwinds Community Church

What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church? A Parable.

Terry Tate: Get Out The Vote