Knowing God

God has really been working on me this week. He has hit me with some huge realizations about the Christian life, and even more about a life as a pastor. I have been convicted about my lack of passion for the Word. If I'm going to be a pastor, I have to be as awesome pastor. By awesome, I mean that I have to know the Bible because I will be held accountable for how I teach it. If I am to be an awesome pastor and really know the Word, I must dig into it with a ferocity I have not yet grasped. This week, through a couple different things, God confronted my laziness in regards to digging into his Word, and has renewed my mind through his Word. He showed me just how important knowing him is. "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" (Jn 17:3). I guess it's good that right now I'm reading "Knowing God" by J.I. Packer. Hopefully God will continue to pull me closer and closer to him as I begin to dig into his word and get to know him better

Co-Labourers

Last week I went to Canada with my church planting class. We went to the baptist seminary in Cochrane which is just outside of Calgary in the province of Alberta. The purpose of the trip was to learn about church planting in Canada, and to learn more about God's grace. I think the mission was accomplished.
We arrived at the seminary late Saturday night and went to sleep pretty quickly. Early Sunday morning, James Hoskins and I left for Lethbridge, a city of 80,000 people 3 hours southeast of Cochrane. We attended A Place Called Hope (http://www.aplacecalledhope.ca), which is a southern baptist church. The church meets in the gymnasium of an elementary school there in Lethbridge. In Lethbridge, about 40% of the people attend some sort of religious service on Sunday mornings, and about half of those are Mormans. The percentage of born-again evangelical Christians is estimated between 7 and 10%. The church is about 3 years old. Having been born and raised in bible belt Texas, I have developed a very small world view, and have a hard time believing the numbers that people claim about Christianity in the world. I don't understand how there are parts of America that don't have very many Christian churches, and that there are places in America where the name of Jesus isn't proclaimed out of love. Going to Canada gave me a fresh glimpse of the difficulties of planting a Jesus-loving church in a place where so few other Christ-followers live. Pastor Scott Dollar left his job here in the States to move to a city where I believe he is the only Baptist church, and one of the few evangelical churches in the city. He moved to a city where he knew the Gospel would meet resistance. He chose to move his family to a different country with a different culture because he believes that Canadians need Jesus just as much as Americans do. He left behind everything he knew to proclaim the Gospel in a place where, at many times, he would be the only one doing so. I thank God that there are people out there that are willing to say, "Yes!" to God. People who are willing to go no matter where He sends them, and proclaim the Gospel to the dark parts of the world. I pray that my life will be reflective of my Saviour, and that all I will know in this life is Christ and him crucified. "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." There are workers out there, loving Jesus in the darkest places of the globe.

On a different topic, one of the highlights of the trip for me was when James and I drove down a rocky road that was heading towards the rocky mountains and a snow storm. While we were driving down this road, we spotted a moose grazing. It was beautiful.

An Ode to Chris

26 years ago today, a little squirt of a boy was born, and his parents named him Christopher.
He wasn't anything special right out of the gates, just a normal, homeschooled boy.
As he grew,
Some people knew
That he might be different.
Some people laughed while others got on board.
Soon he had a fan club, even though it never got bigger than 4 people.
He kept on growing,
the world not knowing
that he might be different.
As he entered the strange land of high school/college/home school, things started changing.
His hair started falling out, his guitar skills got crazy mad, and he fell in love.
People started to see a man forming out of mushy stuff and muckyness.
Those around him began to admire the great words of wisdom that came out of his mouth.
He would say things like, "What's that over there?" and, "If God were a pretzel, what shape would he be?"
We didn't understand, but we thought it was funny, so we laughed.
Then, only a few days shy of his 26th birthday, that's right, just a few days ago, he had a son.

I know this ode to Chris is not all encompassing for the man many of us know and the rest wish they knew, but he means a ton to me and so I wanted to show him some love with an ode.

Chris. I love you, and will be walking right beside you for the rest of your life, even though we probably won't live on the same continent and we'll never see each other except when we iChat. You've been there for me when I needed you and I will do my best to always be there for you.

Happy Birthday!!

The Joys of Life

I learned something today!! Actually, I think I re-learned something. But we'll pretend.

I read through the first half of Matthew 7. Jesus was not at all like I tend to picture him. He was a call-it-like-it-is kinda guy. He presented truth in a way that I haven't heard truth presented very often, plainly. In my church planting class this week, we had a guy who works for the Baptist General Convention of Texas. He is heading up the organic church movement in Texas. I think that means he goes around and educates people on what the organic church is and why it is necessary. One of the things he talked about was how we always want to jazz-up everything. We see stories of people, like Jesus, who simply present truth plainly to those who will hear, and leave the rest in the dark. We state in out doctrine this idea that God is the only one who can initiate change in the hearts of men, then we beg and plead with men to change. We say that God's truth is the only thing that can penetrate the hearts of men, then we power point the crap out of things trying to make it appealing for anyone who might possibly be listening. Jesus wasn't about that stuff at all. He just went out and told it like it is to people who would never have had a chance to hear it from anyone else. He went places he wasn't supposed to go, and did things he wasn't supposed to do, and didn't care about what anyone else thought about it. He knew the truth, was the truth, and knew his purpose in life. We look at the disciples and at the 1st century church and wonder how is Christianity supposed to look in our lives today. We look at real discipleship, which involves spending every day with a younger Christian and teaching him everything you know and showing him everything you do as a Christian, and then wonder why our weekly meetings don't go so well and we aren't seeing the results we had hoped for. We have lost our joy in God and replaced it with joy in doing things for God.
Anyways, I just thought I'd share what I got from spending a little time with God this evening. I do love how God is bigger than my circumstances. No matter what's going on in my life, God is still working.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Granddad

Yesterday my 86 year old granddad went home to God. I've been trying to figure out how I feel and how I'm supposed to feel, if there is even such a thing. I genuinely prayed that God would take him home because he wasn't living anymore, but I really miss him. He was truly an awesome man. The chaplain came in and was talking to my grammy and asked what the secret is to being together for 62 years, and she said, "There needs to be more men like my husband." Wow! What a testament to his life. Sure, he wasn't perfect, but he did a lot of things better than most people. He loved his family. Getting the fam together at holidays or random days gave me some of my best childhood memories because my family is amazingly wonderful. I credit most of that to Granddad. He knew how to love people. I have heard story after story these past couple of weeks about people whose lives were touched many years ago by Granddad, and they will never forget him. That blew me away. I knew that he was an awesome man, but I didn't know how far his influence reached.
All in all, I really miss him, but I think I'm more excited for him and where he is. He knows what Jesus looks like! I can't wait to see him again!

Also, I would really appreciate your prayers for Grammy. This is the first time in 62 years she's been without a husband. Pray that she would still find joy in this life, and that this whole thing will pull her even closer to God.

A Litle Pick-me-up

Psalm 118:1
"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His love endures forever."
Psalm 107:1
"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His love endures forever."
Psalm 106:1
"Praise the LORD.
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His love endures forever."

Why do so many of the psalms start out this way?

We forget over and over again that God loves us, and we live our lives in such a way that fails to show others the love of God. The psalmists wrote this as a praise to God, and for others to remember that we can always rejoice and we can always give thanks to the LORD because He loves us and always will. I am beginning to understand how Paul found joy in all situations. Paul understood one simple truth: God is love. He knew that whatever mess he found himself in, whatever beating he took, that God still loved him and that's how he had joy that surpassed all understanding.

Remember today that God loves you. Let this fact shine so brightly through life that it touches someone else today.

What is Love?

Webster's defines love as an affection or feeling towards someone or something.
The Bible defines love as laying down one's life for another.

What does this mean to us? Even if we do figure out some way to define love, how do we do it? How can I love another person? How do I love God?

I am a prideful person. I think of myself as someone who has things pretty much figured out. I am smart, athletic, tall, and posses many qualities seen by the world as good qualities to posses. At the same time, I know that by myself, I am nothing. I am not bad, good, or anywhere in between, I am just nothing. Without the saving knowledge of Christ and Him crucified I am absolutely nothing. Without Christ, nothing I ever do will ever mean anything, nor will it amount to anything of any significance or importance. On the flip side, with Christ everything I do is meant to have eternal significance and importance. I am centering my life and career around this fact and hope that God will use me in some manner for His glory and for the furthering of His kingdom here on Earth.

All that to say that I find myself at times looking at other people who have such a skewed view of God and judging them. I think somehow that I am better than them because God chose me, when in reality, I did nothing to earn this salvation, and I am no better than anyone else ever. God chose me because He wanted to. I did nothing to earn His favor or His grace, He simply loves me and called me to be His son. I am writing to confess my pride and ask that you will pray that somehow I get it through my head that God is everything and I am nothing. I am asked to do things for God and that is what I do. He tells me to love, not judge, so that I what I need to be doing.

That being said, how do I love someone who has such a skewed view of God? Do I simply love them and live my life out in front of them hoping that they will see the truths about God lived out in my life? Do I talk to them in a kind and understanding way about why they believe what they believe? Do I, like Jesus, turn over the tables of their wicked ways and call sin what it is?

In talking this out, I see my pride coming through and have discovered what I need to do. I need to throw myself on the grace and mercy of Christ and pray that God will pull me closer and closer to Him, and that through my getting closer to Him, He will shine through me in ways I can't quite comprehend.

What is love? Love is submitting my life to Christ who called me out of the ashes and letting Him love through me.