The "Other" Pastor

What Do You See?

2012-02-08T15:37:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine pointed this puzzle out to me today. What do you think when you come across a puzzle in this state of completeness? Some people see chaos and immediately get stressed out. Some people see a challenge and get excited about it. Some people are apathetic and just leave it to someone else.

Life is kind of like a puzzle. There are lots of pieces, some of which are in place, some are backwards, upside down or jammed where they don't fit. Like with a puzzle, there are many responses/feelings when we look at life. We may get overwhelmed by all that is unknown, or we may be comforted feeling that all the pieces will get put in the right spot at some point.

Whatever your response is, know that God has a plan. What may look or feel like chaos to you is known to God. He chooses to reveal where the pieces go in His time and when each piece gets placed you can look back and see how perfectly it fits. Instead of feeling stressed, overwhelmed, chaotic or even apathetic, look at the puzzle of life and know that the one who made the puzzle is putting it together.

When Passion is a Problem

2012-02-01T10:25:00.000-08:00

If you have spent much time with me, you have probably discovered that I am a huge fan of the University of Washington. While I think it is a great university, I am really talking mostly about their football team and to a slightly lesser extent their basketball team. As a huge fan, today, February 1st, is pretty much a holiday for me. Why, because today is National Letter of Intent day. This is the day where high school seniors can officially commit to attend a school to play football. For many this is the end of what has been a year or even longer process of coaches, friends, family, strangers trying to "help" decide where to go to school. For fans of these schools it is a day of being hopeful of the future of the program or being disappointed about the direction.

In other words, I am a geek. I have been reading articles, checking tweets and looking for hints of where 18 year old kids are going to go to school. I don't know how much time I have spent doing all of this, not really a lot (depending on how you define "a lot"). But even though it hasn't been a lot, I have been increasingly convicted as today's "holiday" has come closer, about how much time, energy and passion has been expended on such a thing.

Do I have as much passion for Jesus and spending time with Him as I have for Husky football? I would honestly say that the answer is...sometimes. I don't follow Husky football because I have to. There was no requirement when I graduated that I had to take an interest in the program for the rest of my life or risk losing my degree. No, I follow Husky football because I am passionate about it. However, my passion for Jesus should be much greater. And, if it is much greater, it should my life should look like it.

What are you passionate about? Is it taking the place of Jesus in your life? If you say you are passionate about Jesus, is that apparent to those who see your life? I am really excited about the Huskies but I am in love with Jesus and want my life to look like it. I have some work to do!

Removal of a Sabbatical Beard

2011-12-27T12:39:00.000-08:00

I must start off with an apology that I haven't had posts of a more meaningful nature lately. I will try in 2012 to have more significant posts. That being said, the post regarding my sabbatical beard has been my 3rd most viewed blog post so maybe you all just want me to do posts that make me look goofy. Well, here's another in that category...the removal of the sabbatical beard.

This is the final full beard picture before removal

Here is the beard combed out

1st partial removal picture

Pretty sweet sideburns

The goatee

Bit of a Fu-Man

Long Stache with some soul

Just the dirty stache

Not sure how much of an improvement this is but here I am with it all gone after about 10 weeks of having the "Sabbatical Beard"

Judging from the many comments that I have received, it seems the majority of people are quite glad that Aaron is back from his sabbatical and therefore my beard is gone. My face is quite a bit more cold now. Perhaps I should start a new beard....

Sabbatical Beard

2011-12-14T15:45:00.001-08:00

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you probably know that Crosswater's Lead Pastor, Aaron Day, is currently out on sabbatical. What you may not know is that I was encouraged to grow out my facial hair until he returns. This challenge came a couple of weeks into his sabbatical but I already had some stubble going so I am currently at about 10 weeks of growth (Aaron has been gone for just over 11 weeks). The plan is to shave once he gets back but I am currently debating just when shave day will be. Here is a pictorial timeline of beard growth for your enjoyment/disgust.

That's it, no other point for this blog than this update on my sabbatical beard. Since the beard is most likely coming off soon, keep your eyes open for a post on the removal of said sabbatical beard. Don't fall off the edge of your seat waiting though.

Running on Empty

2011-11-30T09:05:00.000-08:00

I think it is pretty safe to say that you are like me. No, I'm not saying that you are bald and growing a beard. What I am assuming is that you are like me because you are busy. Life gets pretty crazy with all of the stuff that we are doing, especially this time of the year as we celebrate the holidays by doing even more than we usually do. We don't have to work very hard at filling up our calendar, often times it fills itself up with all sorts of activities, games, meetings, events, gatherings, projects, etc. On the rare day/night that we don't have anything going on, we tend to either fill it up with things we have been meaning to do but haven't gotten around to or perhaps we plop down and veg out. At least that's what I do, between all of the things filling up my schedule, I tend to do a lot of nothing.

With all of that, I have come to realize that lately I have had to make time for God. I am doing it backwards! I shouldn't be making time for God, I should be taking time with God. It sounds pretty similar but really is quite different.

Remember when you were a teenager and the last thing you wanted to spend money on was gas for your car or you simply just didn't have very much money for gas? So what happened? If you were like me, you would put $5 - $10 in the tank (back when that would get you close to 5-10 gallons) and that would last you a few days. The problem was, you would be back at the gas station every couple of days getting gas again. As a teenager you didn't really think about or even care that you would also get less mileage out of the gas you were buying. A car gets better mileage when the gas tank is full.

We often have the same mentality with our spiritual life. We get just enough of God to get us through the next thing. But, I don't want to get just little bits of God that get me through the next thing, instead I want to be filled up. Like my gas mileage, my heart improves when I am filled up. Going through life with the needle constantly hovering around "E" is not what God wants or offers. He offers so much more. If you had the opportunity to have a gas card that had never ending money on it, wouldn't you fill up every time you went to the gas station? You also probably wouldn't wait until you were empty to get more. We have that opportunity with God but we have to stop making time for God and instead, take time with God.

We're #107

2011-11-16T16:39:00.001-08:00

Can't you just hear the chants now? "We're number one hundred and seven, we're number one hundred and seven". Ok, so it doesn't really flow all that well and isn't what we typically strive for but that is where we find ourselves. No, I'm not talking about my favorite college football team's defensive ranking, I'm talking about where my wife and I find ourselves on the adoption waiting list with our agency.

Last week we officially finished the paperwork phase of the process when our Dossier was reviewed and deemed to be complete. That act placed us on the waiting list for a boy between 0 and 12 months from Ethiopia. Even though the process of getting to this point wasn't exactly easy (or cheap) it was easy compared to what lies ahead....waiting. We now are faced with the long process of watching our number decrease over the next months and potentially years.

Neither my wife nor I are very patient with waiting, once we know we want or need something, we tend to go for it. So we know that God will use this as a teaching moment for us and we will look to grow through this process. We also know that God already knows the little boy that he has for us and He will bring Him to us in His time. Please join us in praying for this little boy (we are naming him Malachi) as well as for his parents and for us. Even though he probably hasn't been born yet, we love him and are excited to add him to our family.

Help a Brother Out

2011-11-02T14:36:00.000-07:00

Have you ever held your arms up for an extended period of time? What if you had to hold your arms up as long as you could, how long would that be? The first few minutes are pretty easy but what about five minutes or ten minutes? Maybe if it was really important you could muster enough strength and determination to do fifteen minutes. Most of us couldn't do more than that without some help.

A few thousand years ago, Moses (you know, the guy who as a baby was placed in a basket and found by the Pharaoh's daughter) was given just such a challenge. Joshua was leading the Israelites to war against the Amalekites and as long as Moses kept his arms up, the Israelites were winning. When he dropped his arms, the Amalekites would start to take control. Fortunately for Moses and the Israelites, he had his brother and another guy there to help keep his arms up and the Israelites ended up winning the war.

Moses needed help if the Israelites were going to be victorious and we need help too. My tendency is do things on my own, depend on myself, not ask for help even when I need it. That mindset leads to fatigue, isolation, and mistakes. It is also poor leadership and a poor example. I don't think I am alone in this tendency however.

What about you, do you allow people to help you? Let me put it this way, who knows when you are struggling? Or how about this, are you someone that other people seek help from? God did not design us to be alone. First and foremost He wants us to have relationship with Him and next he wants us to be in relationship with others. If nobody knows when you are struggling and/or you don't know when others are struggling, there is a problem.

Stop holding your arms up by yourself, get support from others and be a support to others, we can only hold our arms up for a few minutes without help.

I'm Pretty Much a Communication Expert

2011-10-27T13:44:00.000-07:00

If you are married, you will probably relate to what happened with my wife and me today. We had to drive about 45 miles (one way) during rush hour traffic to an appointment to get our fingerprints taken for our adoption. Without traffic, this drive would have taken approximately 50 minutes but since we were supposed to be there at 8:00am, we anticipated the drive to be about 1 hour and 20 minutes, which it was but as we were sitting in traffic, we were certain that we were going to be late. We ended up getting to the facility about 8 minutes early only to discover that we needed $7 cash to park. Unfortunately neither of us had any cash, nor was there anywhere else obvious to park. My thought was that we should look for somewhere to get cash, her thought was that we should look for somewhere else to park. The problem was that neither of us really communicated what we were thinking yet we were each trying to solve the problem. As you can imagine, this led to some frustration and bickering (as well as a half mile jog/walk once we finally parked).

I don't really have any profound point to make other than the obvious comment that communication is important in pretty much anything we do. So with that amazing nugget, I encourage you to follow the advice of Jesus' brother James who said in James 1:19 "...Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry..." Being quick to offer grace and forgiveness is probably a good idea in these situations as well.

My wife and I quickly got over the situation but it is quite safe to say that we won't be competing on "The Amazing Race" together, though we probably would be entertaining to watch.

Life Lessons From a Sandwich Shop II: When is More Enough?

2011-10-06T12:31:00.000-07:00

Awhile ago I did a blog post on a sign that I saw at Jimmy Johns (Jimmy Johns is a really good sandwich shop) and when I was there again recently, I saw the sign above and thought that it warranted a post. So, it looks like we have a series now; Lessons From a Sandwich Shop. Here is part 2.

It is human nature to want more than we have or at least different than we have. In America, that mindset really fuels the economy. Madison Avenue works diligently to convince us that what we have is not enough, that we must have the next, the bigger, the better. I am no different than most people. I have an iPod Touch and an iPhone, yet, I would really like an iPad2. I have a 42" HDTV but a bigger TV would be really cool. The possibilities for how this plays out are pretty much endless and unfortunately for many people includes spouses/families, don't like the one you've got, just get a new one.

That's where the wisdom of a sign at a sandwich shop comes in. When do we stop wanting more? When is the more that we already have enough? As the sign in the picture says; "the gap...never closes." If our focus is on stuff or money, we will never be satisfied because we can always have more than what we currently have.

Matthew 6:19-21 says this "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Store up things that matter, "treasures in heaven", and stop buying in to the lies that Madison Avenue tells us. Let God be enough and instead of striving for latest and greatest maybe you can help the millions for people around the world who don't even have food or water.

Isn't it amazing what you can get with a sandwich?

Steppin' Up

2011-09-22T14:51:00.000-07:00

Well in just a few more days I will officially be the T.H.M.I.C. (Temporary Head Man In Charge) at Crosswater (under Jesus of course) as our lead pastor Aaron Day goes on a three month sabbatical. As the day gets closer, I feel the potential burden more and more. While I am a little freaked out about all this 3-month period will bring, I am also excited to see what God will do in Aaron, in me and in His church, Crosswater.

One of my many issues, is the tendency to rely on my own abilities to get the job done. Fortunately, I am being made more aware of that tendency heading in to this period where that tendency could be even more detrimental than usual. Please be praying for me to rely on God first and foremost and to put aside my efforts because it will take God to come out of this having grown and led well.

Please also be praying for Aaron as he spends time with God and his family. Pray for wisdom and discernment as he seeks God's will for himself, his family and for Crosswater.

Finally, please pray that this would be a time of spiritual growth for the people of Crosswater.

In Awe of God

2011-09-01T09:53:00.000-07:00

Have you ever just sat and marveled at the power and majesty of God? Last week I was able to have a few days with my wife's family on the Oregon Coast. The house we stayed in was a block or two away from the beach, yet, we were able to hear the waves from the house. Of course as we got closer to the beach and then on the beach, the sound of the waves was even louder. One morning I just sat on the beach and listened to the waves and looked out at the Pacific Ocean and was in awe of God. There is such power in those waves and the Pacific Ocean is so huge, that you can't help but notice how big God is.

All around us, we can see the hand of God in His creation. Sure, many people have come up with other thoughts and theories on how we all got here but make no mistake, God is revealed by His creation. Far too often, I just do my thing, live my life and I don't recognize or acknowledge the hand of God all around me. If you haven't taken time to marvel at the power and majesty of God lately (or ever), I encourage you to take time this week to find a place where you can just sit and see God's creation around you. We are fortunate in Washington to have beautiful mountains, lakes, waterfalls, beaches, forests, rivers, etc. that all point to God. Wherever you are, take a look around you at what God has done and know that the God who created all of these amazing and beautiful things, loves you and sent His son to die for you! For that, I am truly in awe of God.

If a Tree Falls In the Woods...

2011-08-11T14:35:00.000-07:00

You've probably all heard the question "If a tree falls in the woods when nobody is around, does it still make a sound?". I think the same question or attitude exists regarding the world's problems. Because we can so easily change the channel and choose which news stories to read, we have the ability to essentially ignore the issues in our world. Now, I will admit that I am not one to typically watch the news (unless you call SportsCenter news) nor do I read the newspaper (except the sports section) so I suppose I am one of those who ignores what is going on. So the question is; if we don't know that billions of people are starving, don't have clean water or are dying from treatable diseases, does that mean it isn't really happening? Of course not!

The truth is, this really is happening all across the world. We could debate forever on the reasons why people are starving and why they don't have clean water as well as how to keep them from starving or the best way to provide clean water, but that's not the point of this post. The point is that it is happening whether we choose to acknowledge it or not.

There was recently a tragedy in the Seattle area where a little 9-year-old girl died as a result of a traffic accident. What has been amazing about this tragedy is that since the accident happened, nearly $1,000,000 has been raised towards clean water projects around the world (here is a good article from the NY Times about her story and here is a link to her page at charity:water if you would like to donate) because of this little girl's selfless attitude and desire to help. There have been a little over 25,000 donations made on her page making the average donation roughly $38. That doesn't even cover 1/2 of a monthly Starbucks tab for many people in the Seattle area. I am ecstatic about the response of people to this tragedy and about the countless people who will benefit, but I can't help wondering why it took the death of this little girl for this to happen.

If you are reading this blog, it means that you have Internet access which probably makes you more wealthy than at least 90% of the world. "With great power comes great responsibility". I encourage you to ask yourself what you can do to help the other 90%. Then I encourage you to do it. Pretending that problems don't exist doesn't mean that they don't, it actually ensures that they will continue to.

What Can You Not Live Without?

2011-07-25T15:37:00.000-07:00

I was on my way in to work this morning and on the radio they were having a discussion about a statistic they had reported. This statistic claimed that 53% of people said they would not be able to last one whole day without the Internet. Really? People are so reliant on the Internet that they couldn't go 24 hours without it? Doesn't anyone go camping or go on vacation where you don't have Internet access? With smart phones nowadays, the answer to that question is probably more and more that people do go camping or do go on vacation but if there isn't a computer with Internet, they just use their phone.

Besides thinking that it is totally ridiculous for someone to think they can't go 24 hours without the Internet, I also started to think about what thing or things are in my life that I can't do without. Upon evaluation, I thought of several things that take up far more of my time than they should but I'm not sure there is anything that I couldn't put aside for 24 hours. But what about 48 hours, or a week, or a month? Now the list starts to get pretty convicting and full of the necessities of life such as; ESPN, Football, TV and my DVD player.

What about you? Are there things in your life that are consuming your time? Things that you can't live without? Would you consider giving any of those up for a day, maybe two, maybe even a week or more or possibly even completely?

I know that I need to make some changes in how I spend my time. Will you join me?

$1,000,000

2011-06-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

Lots of people dream of winning $1,000,000 (or more). These people also have lots of ideas for what to do with the money should they get it. Some people would pay off debt, buy a new house, share with family and friends, go on a dream vacation, help those in need or countless other ideas. 1 million dollars is a lot of money but what would it actually get you assuming you could spend the entire million and not have to worry about taxes? How about:

A Patek Philippe watch for a mere $716,288

A 1965 Ferrari 500 Superfast Series 1 - $935,000

A 3 bedroom, 5 bathroom house on Lake Stevens (WA) - $999,950

184,162 $5 foot long sandwiches at Subway (including tax)

At this point you may be wondering why I am talking about 1 million dollars. Well, it's because yesterday I discovered that Crosswater (the church where I am one of the pastors) passed the $1,000,000 mark of giving received sometime in the middle of October last year. While many churches have annual budgets far exceeding this amount, this "milestone" struck me as significant. Crosswater is in the small town of Sultan, WA and will be 4 years old in September, yet we have been entrusted with now over $1.2 million. This realization caused me to pause and think about what we have done with that money which is not always easy to quantify.

As a church we have seen people come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. We have been able to offer free events such as movie nights, parent's night out, VBS and others to our Community. We have been able to help support the local schools. We have taught the word of God on over 200 Sundays. We have provided counseling. We have given over $175,000 towards missions/outreach locally and globally. Most of all we have seen the power and the grace of God as he has used the people of Crosswater to reach a community.

$1.2 million isn't significant because it is money and that's what makes the world go round. It is significant because of the lives it represents and the reminder that it brings of God's amazing power, grace and faithfulness. Thank you to all who have given faithfully from what God has provided.

Our vision is to transform our community and the world with the love and life of Jesus Christ. We are only getting started, come join us for the ride!

A Good Soldier

2011-06-15T09:35:00.000-07:00

This morning I read a verse in 2 Timothy that I have probably read at least a dozen times before but had never really noticed in the past. Verse 3 says to "endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus". Before I go any further, I want to admit that my knowledge of soldiers comes primarily from stories and movies which means that I am not the best source on what makes a good soldier. That being said, as I read that verse this morning, I took a few minutes to think about what makes a good soldier. Here is the list that I came up with (certainly not exhaustive)

Courageous

Loyal/Committed

Hard-working

Dependable

Risk Taker

Calm under pressure

Leader

Self-Sacrificing

Discipline

After thinking through this list, I looked at Paul's analogy of being a soldier of Christ Jesus and asked myself if I am these things when it comes to following Jesus. The answer was sometimes. Unfortunately, if I was a soldier in the U.S. military and acted the way that I do as a soldier of Jesus, I would be in a lot of trouble, maybe even dead.

As I continued to think through this analogy, I thought that it should be even easier to be a soldier for Jesus because He is the only "General" that is 100% trustworthy. No matter how good an officer in the military is, he/she will make mistakes, they will do things that they shouldn't do. Jesus isn't like that, so, shouldn't it be even easier to follow Him? Shouldn't I be able to live out the qualities listed above without fear and without restraint?

For some people the idea of being a soldier for Jesus is why they don't want to follow Him. They don't want to be told what to do, they want to do things their way and be in control. But, when you are in a battle, like we are, doing things on your own gets you killed. I'm not so sure that I would make a good soldier in the U.S. military, but I am going to strive to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. After all, He has already won the war.

I Love My Wife

2011-06-02T09:27:00.000-07:00

Today is my wife's 36th birthday (I know, I'm probably not supposed to say how old she is) so I want to take a minute to express just how blessed I am. My wife is an amazing woman who loves God, loves me and loves our kids. She is a perfect balance to my uptight, linear, black and white personality. She supports me but also challenges me. She encourages me and gives me grace. She works hard but knows how to have fun. She sees things that I don't see and feels things that I don't feel.

Kristina, I love you very much and am fortunate to have you as my wife. Thank you for all that you do (most of which goes unnoticed and unappreciated, at least verbally) and for who you are.

Happy Birthday

Life Lessons

2011-05-16T09:22:00.001-07:00

It's interesting where you can gain insight for life. The above pictures are signs at "Jimmy John's" (an incredibly yummy sandwich place) that actually have some really good advice. Take this one for example "Offer your seat to senior citizens, pregnant women, and people with firearms", I mean that is pretty darn good advice. There are lots of other good lessons on these signs (if you can't read them, I highly recommend that you go to Jimmy John's. I order the Gargantuan in case you need help deciding what to order).

It just so happens that today, I read some additional lessons that are even better than the ones above. These lessons come from 1 Thessalonians 5 and were the "Final Instructions" from Paul to the church in Thessalonica in his first letter to them.

"...respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you."

"Live in peace with each other."

"Warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone."

"Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else."

"Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances..."

Imagine for a minute what your life would look like if you followed these instructions. While the two signs from Jimmy John's are somewhat humorous and provide some good tips, in a world where we can get life lessons from just about anywhere, I encourage you to look to God's word. The bible is not just a good guide for moral living. The bible reveals to us true life because it points us to Jesus. Let Him be your source of not only life lessons but of life itself.

How do you love?

2011-05-05T12:37:00.000-07:00

Our society uses the word love a lot. We love pizza, cheeseburgers, the Huskies, our wife, our kids, baseball, football, etc. (OK, so this is my list, but not exactly in order). The point is, we throw the word love around for just about anything. Unfortunately, by doing that, we water down the significance of the word. We lose the meaning as we quickly and easily fall in and out of love with things.

Even though our society uses the word so frequently, we actually have a hard time showing real love. What is even more unfortunate for me as a pastor and a Christian, is that the lack of love is just as prevalent among Christians (sometimes even more so) than among non-Christians. That shouldn't be the case, after all, the word says that the world will know us by our love for one another, yet, far too often, people within the church can't seem to get along. If that is the case, why would anyone outside the church ever want to be like those inside the church?

I have recently been convicted about my lack of love for others. Simply put, I need to do a better job of loving people. While it can be easy to say we love certain things or people, it is a whole lot different to actually show it. This is why 1 John 3:18 stood out to me this week - "Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth." In other words, don't just say you love someone, show them!

Adoption Moves Forward

2011-04-28T12:05:00.000-07:00

It has been 3 months since I wrote about my family's decision to adopt so I thought I would give a little update on where things stand.

After a little bit of a delay trying to get the proper paperwork from my wife's doctor to the adoption agency, we were finally approved to adopt through All Gods Children. Since then, the pace has picked up a little and we have completed our orientation call (where they go through the paperwork, timeline, what to expect, etc.), turned in our paperwork and sent the first chunk of money (about 1/3 of what the total cost will be).

This week we are having a garage sale to help defray some of the costs and soon we will have shirts to help with costs as well.

It is kind of strange to be in this situation as we are doing lots of things to prepare for our future while also living in the present. I am getting less and less freaked out by this idea as it becomes more and more a reality (I'm sure as it gets closer I will revert back to being freaked out). We are excited to meet the little boy that God has for us.

Through all that has happened so far we have felt very loved and cared for by God, our family and our friends. As we continue forward, please continue to pray for us. Some specific things include; the process itself (that it would go smoothly), finances, the adjustment of adding another child to our family, for our kids as they walk through this process with us, our little boy in Ethiopia as well as his family.

This is all only possible because of God and we desire more than anything to be faithful and obedient to Him and His will for our lives.

How Much is Enough?

2011-04-18T15:20:00.001-07:00

I was reading in 2 Corinthians 8 last week and couldn't help but wonder how much is enough? In other words, when do I have enough so that I can then start helping others who don't have as much. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be some magic formula where you enter how much you make, where you live, the number of kids you have, and out pops a score or an amount that gives me the answer. So, I am left to figure all of that out on my own. On my good days, I realize that the truth is, I have already passed "enough" and am in the too much category. Problem is that I am usually so focused on my needs, wants, and must haves that I tend not to see the abundance in what I already have. It is easy in America to miss the blessings that we have because we are constantly bombarded with messages about what we don't have. Our mentality is to strive for the latest and the greatest and contentment is usually a good idea for the people who have more than us. The problem is that there is always someone who has more and that becomes our focus instead of all of the people who have less (particularly the rest of the world). I am in no way saying that I have this all dialed in. Every month, I spend money on things that I don't need. Don't we all! Look at our country and the amount of money that we spend on fancy flavored coffee and movies and video games, and potato chips and TVs, etc. We now live in a society where cell phones are a necessity (even for 4th grade kids who are at school). People managed to live for thousands of years without cell phones and now if an adult (or even kids 12 and older) don't have one, it seems crazy. Families are spending $100/month on cell phone plans or cable TV plans without thinking twice, yet much of the world lives on less than one of those bills. Something is out of whack which leads me to wonder, how much is enough?

Personal Responsibility

2011-03-31T11:36:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or does it seem like there is a lack of personal responsibility in society these days? Perhaps this has always been the case and I have just been oblivious to it. Either way, I seem to be seeing it all around as I have conversations with people or hear people's comments about things anywhere from facebook or twitter to the news media. It seems like nothing is ever any one's fault, it's always somebody else's fault. Get caught rolling a joint and it is the fault of the police for targeting certain people. Aren't being fed enough in your spiritual life, it is because the pastor doesn't go deep enough. Having marriage problems, it's because your spouse doesn't treat you properly. Get a bad grade on your test, well the teacher didn't properly prepare you. You get the idea. Now, I'm not saying that there aren't factors outside of ourselves that play a role in what happens in our lives. What I am saying is that we need to own our actions and behavior. It can't ALWAYS be someone else's fault. Can it? I certainly have done this myself (I seldom hesitated to throw my brother or sister under the bus growing up) so I get the idea of self-preservation. However, my desire now is to be who God wants me to be and to follow Him the best that I can. That means I need to own my actions to have personal responsibility.

Consumerism

2011-03-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

Do you keep up with all the news and information on the economy? For some people, the economy is the most pressing issue that we are facing today in the U.S. (pretty sure that I don't agree with that assessment, but some are very concerned/interested) and it certainly has an impact on all of our lives. While I am not an expert in economics or finance, it is not too hard to see that part of the problem in the U.S. is that we are mostly a consumer society. Take a look at the products that you buy and you will see; "Made in China", "Made in Vietnam", "Made in India", etc, etc. We don't make anything any more!

Unfortunately, that same mentality is prevalent in our churches. Many church-goers are consumers, they come to a church because they like what they receive whether it is concert quality worship, dynamic preaching, great children's ministry, etc. While I do believe that churches should be attractional and that whatever a church decides to do, they should do well, the hard part is when people hop from church to church because they don't like what they are receiving. Far too often, churches grow in the U.S. not due to new people giving their lives to Jesus (what we in the church call conversion growth) but instead by people coming from another church because they like what a new or different church offers that their current church doesn't.

That being said, part of my motivation for writing this post, is to make you aware of a cool web-based animation software that allows anyone to make animated movies. The site is called Xtranormal and to show off what can be done, I made a video that kind of mocks the consumer mentality of some church-goers (hoping that you would really like it and think that Crosswater is really cool and that you would want to come to Crosswater).

Thanks to whoever made the video "My Coach Sucks" as that was my inspiration for this movie.

I do understand that some (probably more like all) churches can be frustrating and certainly won't be able to meet every need. However, I encourage you to get involved, have discussions with the staff/leadership and if necessary help come up with solutions rather than just go somewhere else.

As always, feel free to let me know your thoughts. Oh, and if you have ideas for videos, let me know those too.

Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

2011-03-03T14:53:00.000-08:00

This may shock some of you who know me, but, I can be somewhat pessimistic. In case you need an example, here you go. A couple of weeks ago I felt that the 5th/6th grade boys basketball team that I help coach could have played better. As a result, after the game I was a little frustrated and down and was thinking of some of the things we need to work on in practice the upcoming week. Did I mention yet that we won the game by roughly 20 points?

For me it is easy to see the things that need fixing or that are done incorrectly. I don't necessarily set out to look for those things, I am just really good at noticing them (not one of the traits that my wife is excited about). That's why when participating in our weekly staff devotional, I was convicted by a pretty uplifting passage. The passage was Zephaniah 3:14-17 and the line that convicted me was "Be glad and rejoice with all your heart".

For me, even when things are going pretty well, this is hard for me to do. But, no matter how bad things are, we all have good things around us and we can choose in good times or bad times to see the glass half full or to see the glass half empty, to Be glad and rejoice or not to. From now on I am going to try to see the good things. and if I'm not please help me (gently)!

Transformers

2011-02-23T11:50:00.000-08:00

While I was a big fan of Transformers the cartoon, the toys and aspects of the recent movies, this post is not about alien mechanical creatures that can change from one thing to another. Instead the transforming that I want to talk about is the one found in Romans 12:2 which says; "Do not be conformed any longer to the the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will."

At times there can be a fine line between conforming to the world and being relevant in an unbelieving world. I think the hard part is that fine line doesn't stay put, it can move around depending on the circumstance. Far too often, Christians tend to error on one side or the other. If you go too far to the side of the world, you risk compromising your faith and looking just like the world. If you go too far the other way, you risk not being able to reach the lost.

Unfortunately, I don't think there is any magic formula or answer for how you stay at just the right spot. What I encourage you to ask yourself though is, "am I conforming to the world around me, or am I helping to transform the world around me?" Let's remember the two greatest commandments, to love God with everything and to love our neighbor as ourself. If we do that, we should have no problem staying on that fine line.

Helpful Tool vs. Produced Show

2011-02-16T09:31:00.000-08:00

There is a tough balance between trying to help a congregation enter into worship and get the most out of a sermon and a production that potentially helps feed the idea of consumerism and entertainment. I think this is a struggle for many churches with some erring on one side and some on the other. We at Crosswater are currently trying to figure out what we should do. Do we keep the current PowerPoint system which has several inherent issues, or do we upgrade to something else.

We are currently evaluating some different options and I was recently made aware of one called Proclaim that we will hopefully be able to evaluate soon.

Please let me know what you think. Do things like motion backgrounds, seamlessly integrated videos and just a nicer overall look and feel help you enter in to worship and get more out of the sermon or are all of those things unnecessary?

Stretching

2011-01-27T16:23:00.000-08:00

I am not the most flexible man in the world (flexible as in limber although I am not super flexible in convictions/stubbornness either) and I am certainly not an expert on the subject, however, one thing I do know is that the more time I spend stretching the more flexible I become. If I were to never exercise or stretch, i would become much more stiff and inflexible and I wouldn't be able to do the same things that I could when I am consistently stretching and improving my flexibility. In fact, I would probably hurt myself if I tried to do something to suddenly without gradually working up to it.

Have you noticed that our spiritual lives work the same way. I have found the God works us up to many of the more challenging things that he wants us to do. This has played out over and over again in my life. One such time was the time leading up to and including being laid off from a job. When I look back at that time now, I see how God was gradually preparing me for that difficult time. The path God took me to my current job as a pastor was one of gradual stretching which ultimately led to me being able to get to the point of becoming a pastor at a church plant.

I bring all of this up because I now find myself in yet another time of stretching. Over the last several months, I have been arguing and fighting God on my openness to adoption. My wife has wanted to adopt since before I even met her and once we started having kids, I never really considered it or wanted it. But God has been telling me, for at least the last few months, that he wants me to pursue adoption. THIS IDEA FREAKS ME OUT. I have no idea how it's going to work in many different respects. What I do know is that I have seen God come through time and time again and every single time it has involved me being stretched and even if somewhat reluctantly, I am going to be obedient to Him and do what He asks.

God is gracious with me and never asks me to do something unless he has already prepared me or is preparing me for whatever it is. Muscles grow better when they are properly stretched. So do Christ followers. Are you allowing Him to stretch you?

15 Years

2011-01-20T13:51:00.000-08:00

What sparks moments of reflection and/or recognition of blessings for you? For me, it usually takes some sort of a break in my daily routine; something like a significant holiday or event. Last week I had just such a thing happen, my 15th wedding anniversary. Now a wedding anniversary should spark a few things in a husband's head every year, things like; telling your wife "Happy Anniversary", getting some sort of gift, you know, recognising the fact that she has put up with you for 1 more year.

But, whenever there is a 5 or a 0 at the end of the number of years, the significance of the anniversary increases. That was the case for me this year, not only in the gifts/recognition but also in the reflection. Like all couples, we have had some rough times and we have had good times. In fact, I would say that right now, our marriage is as strong or even stronger as it has ever been. The thing I realized most during my time of reflection and celebration, however, is just how amazing my wife is, how much I love her and how important she is to me.

Thank you Kristina for saying "I do" 15 years ago, for putting up with my faults and for loving me so well. I love you!

The Entire Bible in 90 Days

2011-01-13T13:21:00.000-08:00

Just like the end of every year brings top-10 lists and reviews of the year coming to a close, a new year brings resolutions and/or goals for the year to come. I don't really get too much into resolutions, but, like everyone else, I have made many of them, some of which lasted for a week or two, some of which lasted longer. What I am more a fan of and have had to do in some form or another for most of my work life is goals. I am not really sure what the technical difference is between resolutions and goals, but I think that goals are more concrete and therefore more likely to be accomplished.

This year, one of the things that I am trying to do is to read the entire Bible in 90 days. Fortunately, I am not doing this on my own, we are doing together as a church body which will likely help me stick with it. While I have read the entire Bible in a year a couple of different times, it wasn't that long ago where reading my bible 90 days in an entire year was a stretch for me. It wasn't that I didn't love Jesus and didn't believe that His word was important, I believed it was, I just didn't let it direct my life like I should have.

One of the dangers of reading through the Bible at this pace is that it can become just a task to check off of a list so I have to be diligent about taking in God's Word and letting Him speak to me through it. So far, I am on schedule and 13.6% of the way through the Bible. I have had new things stick out to me and familiar stories have become fresh again.

God's Word is amazing and I am falling more and more in love with it every day. Even if you don't try to read the entire Bible in 90 days, I encourage you to get into God's Word every day. Spend time with Him, apply what you learn, and go back for more. While many books can be enjoyable and helpful, this is the only one that is living and active and the only one written by the God who created us. What an amazing gift!

10 Applications from 2010

2010-12-29T09:02:00.000-08:00

2010 is coming to a close which means you have probably seen countless lists this last week or so. You know what I'm talking about, right? The top whatever songs, movies, videos, sports highlights, etc, of 2010. Well, I would like to add one more list to the, um....list.

Since May, I have been using the acronym SOAP for my devotional/quiet times. The way this works is you record the Scripture that you read, write down any Observations, determine the Application for yourself and then write out a Prayer. I did this, on average, 3-5 times per week and I would like to share with you 10 Personal Applications from 2010:

There are times when it feels like nobody else is following God, that I am alone. The fact is that I am not alone. (based on Romans 11:1-10)
My job is to be obedient to Jesus, to glorify Him and to point people to Him. I can't judge other people for their actions or try to make them follow in the exact way that I do. (based on Romans 14:1-12)
If Christ, who is God, can come to serve, then shouldn't I, a mere man, who owes my life to God, be able and willing to serve? I mostly serve myself right now - that needs to change! I look to many things, other than God, for hope, joy, peace, satisfaction, etc. None of them work for long, if at all. I must look to God, I must dwell in Him. (based on Romans 15:8-13)
If God takes sin seriously, so should I. I need to not mess around with it, not look past or dismiss it and not justify it. (based on Ezra 10)
I have received more grace than I can really even understand, yet, so often I don't extend grace to others. Grace isn't just to be received but also to be given. (based on Matthew 18:21-35)
How often I am more concerned with how I appear to others instead of my heart. I need to be right in my heart with God and not pretend to be right for others to see. (based on Matthew 23)
Jesus deserved better. He was on the cross literally dying for those who were mocking and chastising Him. He didn't have to, he chose to! I often lose sight of the fact that my sin placed Him on that cross too. I have just as much responsibility for His death as everyone else. Jesus still deserves better. Better from me! (based on Matthew 27:27-44)
I am not one to make hasty decisions, but I don't think anyone is truly able to count the cost of following Jesus before choosing to do so as the costs change. It is kind of like being "ready" for marriage or children. I must daily pay the price. When I do, I get a bargain. When I don't, I go broke. In other words, it is far more costly not to follow Jesus. (based on Luke 14:28-33)
What do I smell like? Do I smell like manure, do I smell like nothing? Which is worse? People should be attracted to Jesus by the way I live, I should have the aroma of Christ. When I yell at referees and umpires, I smell like the polluted world I live in. I need to put aside my ideas of right and wrong and my desire for "justice" and I need to give off the aroma of Christ. (based on 2 Corinthians 2)
Far too often I depend on myself and doing so makes me like a bush in the wasteland, on my own, desperately trying to survive. I need to draw from the spring of life where I will never struggle for life no matter what may happen around me, as I will always be connected to life giving water. (based on Jeremiah 17-18)

Well, there you go, 10 personal application from my devotions in 2010. I hope that these are beneficial for you and maybe even encourage you to record your time with God in 2011.

Happy New Year. May it be a year that brings you closer to the one who made you.

Turn Lemons into Lemonade

2010-12-16T15:07:00.000-08:00

I heard a story this morning on the radio about a woman who was planning a wedding which ended up being called off. Unfortunately, she had already paid a $4500 deposit for the reception at a restaurant and it was too late to get the money refunded. Since she had already paid for it, she decided to go ahead and have a party anyway. Instead of this party being a wedding reception, she turned it into a fundraiser to help the poor of her community. This woman was able to raise over $10,000 at this fundraiser, all of which she gave to a local church for their feeding program. She didn't even pull out the original $4500 that she spent.

Usually I don't pay very much attention to "The Good News Story of the Day" on this particular radio station. In fact, many times I change the station because I don't want to hear the story. This one made me think though. What would I do if faced with a situation like this? Would I take on the role of the victim and whine and complain about the $4500 that I couldn't get back? Would I boycott the restaurant for being so insensitive in keeping my money? Would I just invite people to dinner so it wasn't a total waste? I can pretty much guarantee that I would do one or all of these. I am also pretty sure that even if I did come up with a great idea to bless others like this lady did, I probably would withhold the initial $4500.

What do you do when things don't go as expected or as planned? My initial instinct is to worry about myself, to feel bad for myself and for self preservation. What is less instinctive is to trust God, to lean in to Him and to realize that He can take the hard and difficult things and use them for good. I am trying more and more to get to that spot more quickly and to look for what God may want to do in me and through me in those situations. Imagine how we can change ourselves, our communities and our world if we would choose to let God turn our lemons into lemonade.

Season of Reason?

2010-12-09T15:11:00.000-08:00

Does anything about this time of year seem reasonable to you? This time of year is known (at least in our culture) as a crazy and expensive time of year and if you look around you, there probably isn't anything reasonable about it. This year, more than most, I seem to be hearing about scaling back or cutting back and getting back to what Christmas really means. One commercial and one TV show that I have seen recently both seem to be trying to give this message.

In the commercial that I am thinking of, you see a few different people celebrating Christmas in extreme, over-the-top ways (having an actual reindeer instead of a fake light up one, creating an expertly designed gingerbread house, super exquisite stockings, etc.) while the voice over talks about how extravagant Christmas has become. Then you proceed to hear about a reasonable Christmas event, the Season of Reason event at your local Acura car dealership. Seriously? Like buying an Acura for Christmas is much more reasonable than a crazy detailed gingerbread house.

The TV show I saw was the Christmas episode of "The Middle" (side note, this is a hilarious show which is more like real life than probably any other sitcom that I have seen) where the parents decided that they needed to scale back on activities and gifts and focus on what really matters. After pitching the idea to the kids and carrying it out, they come out Christmas morning to see that the grandparents had no such intention of scaling back and have filled the living room with tons of presents.

It is hard to get past all of the ads, parties, presents, commercialization, etc. to really make this time of the year reasonable. My hope, though, is that you can take time to look beyond all of the stuff and spend time with your family but mostly I hope that you take time to spend with Jesus. While Christmas largely has become something different than celebrating His birth, the truth is that is why we have Christmas. Jesus coming to earth as a baby changed everything, yet for so many people nothing is different. My encouragement to you is allow the single greatest gift ever, Jesus, to change you this Christmas and for the rest of your life.

Just Another Day at the Office

2010-12-02T13:33:00.000-08:00

As I write this, things are pretty quiet at the church office, but today is not your typical day. Most days the church office is quite a hub of activity and discussion. While I and the other staff do work in the office and have various meetings and discussions, the flurry of activity is not from us. In fact, when just the staff is in the office it is really pretty quiet and calm, even tranquil (compared to the average day anyway). Instead, the bustle usually emanating from the lobby is from our frequent visitors who are here for a variety of reasons. These reasons include;

Getting a cup of coffee, cocoa or hot cider
Using the bathroom
Grabbing some cookies, candy or other snacks that may be available
Taking a shower
Having someplace warm and dry to sit
Saying hi and visiting with us and others
Getting the latest 411 on what is going on in town
Spreading the latest 411 on what is (if true) going on in town

We do get a fair share of more "normal" church office activity as well; appointments with the pastors or other staff, people with questions about the church or events, people dropping stuff off or picking stuff up, etc. However, most of the activity is related to the above list. For that reason, things can get pretty interesting here at the office. Sometimes interesting equals funny, sometimes it equates to frustrating and maybe even sometimes angering or disappointing. One thing we can always count on though, is we never really know what to expect.

Preaching

2010-11-18T15:40:00.001-08:00

As one of two pastors at Crosswater, part of my job is to occasionally preach. If you know me at all, though, you know that I am not really a big fan of preaching. I'm not talking about preaching in general, I am a fan of that. What I am referring to is me preaching. While I do get nervous as "gametime" approaches, it is not speaking in front of 200ish people that causes me to avoid preaching whenever possible. The main factors are probably a combination of how serious I take the responsibility and the idea that I would much rather hear Aaron (or many other preachers) than myself, so why would anyone else want to hear me (this is not an attempt to fish for compliments).

What I do enjoy about preaching is the opportunity to learn and to grow. I don't always like what God wants to tell me through my preparation as I am usually quite convicted as I prepare to teach. But whether I like it or not, God always has something for me personally and something for me to share. I am pretty sure, though, that I get more out of the whole process than anyone who may hear the sermon.

Unexpected Rest

2010-11-11T15:28:00.000-08:00

Most of the time, I consider my schedule to be only marginally busy, however, lately I have been feeling like things are pretty crazy. My schedule hasn't changed a lot, it really is just the amount of things that I have been thinking about and through that has increased the time where my brain has to be engaged. Between church membership, completion of By-laws, reading Crazy Love for small group, going to a 2-day conference and just all the normal things of life, my mind is swimming with thoughts, ideas, conviction, etc.

Throughout all of these things, I have actually found rest via a torn tendon in my shoulder. My shoulder has been bothering me for about 14 months and I finally decided to get it checked out. Doing so has so far led to approximately 20 minutes in an MRI tube and today 15 minutes on a training table receiving electric stimulation for my shoulder. Who would have thought that both of those things would be so relaxing?

My mind has been on overload with all that I have been thinking, hearing, reading and preparing, which as forced me to go to the Word, where I have found true rest. I am learning more and more that Jesus is enough and He alone is my reward. I hope that you too can rest in that.

Do Christians Positively Impact Marriage in America?

2010-10-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

I am a numbers guy. Whether it is sports stats, surveys, financial, etc., I like numbers. To show you just how much of a geek I am, I receive regular emails from the Barna Group, a Christian research company, about recent survey findings. Today I received just such an email.

The research that they highlighted in today's email was regarding positive and negative contributions made by Christians in America. While there were many interesting findings, the one that I wanted to focus on today is this; "just 6% (of respondents) mentioned positive contributions by the Christian faith that related to marriage." Now we must keep in mind that survey respondents were asked an open ended question about positive contributions of the Christian faith. I hope that if they had been asked specifically about marriage that more people would have responded favorably.

However, looking at "Christian marriages" in our churches today, is it really much of a surprise that people don't feel that Christianity has had a positive contribution on marriage? After all, Christian marriages have essentially the same divorce rate as non-Christian marriages and Christian marriages seem to be just as susceptible to infidelity. Where are we going wrong?

Well, first of all, marriage is hard. You put two people together that are inherently selfish and you are bound to have some problems. So we just need to work harder, right? Well, yes, I think we do need to work hard, however, that doesn't resolve the issue. This is going to sound cliche from a pastor, but the answer to making marriage work is trusting and following Jesus. Have to love Jesus with all that we have and all that we are and if we do that, we will love our spouse like we are supposed to as well.

For our faith to make a positive contribution to marriage in America, it must first make a difference in our own marriages. If we submit to Jesus, we will be able to have the marriage that Christ wants for us and then we will make a positive contribution to marriage in America.

Is Social Media a Good Thing?

2010-10-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

I recently re-entered the world of Facebook after about a 6 month hiatus. I think most all of us use some form of social media whether it's Facebook, My Space, Twitter or some other thing. But are these things good for us? This question has been around for as long as social media has been around and a strong case can be made for both sides of the question.

On one hand, Facebook, Twitter, etc. can be great tools for staying in touch with people that you don't see anymore (friends that have moved, old high school buddies, etc.). On the other hand, I have heard about many marriages that are on the rocks because a spouse used Facebook to get in touch with old flames.

On one hand, you can stay up to date with what your friends and family are up to by seeing their status updates and pictures from the fun thing they did over the weekend. On the other hand, sometimes those status updates are negative comments about you or someone you love and those pictures are of some event that you weren't invited to.

Do all these social media options really keep us connected with each other or are they actually doing the opposite? Just today I read an editorial in the USA Today about this exact question. The writer said, "Welcome to life in 2010. We've never been more connected to people around us. We've never been more disconnected either." Is connecting even the point? If it's not, what is?

I am not here to condemn or promote social media, these are just some questions that I am pondering and thought I would share them with you. What do you think?

What's the Hurry?

2010-10-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite shows is the "reality" show, "The Amazing Race". If you are unfamiliar with it, it is a show where two-person teams race around the world completing tasks/challenges while trying to avoid last place in each leg of the race as the last place team usually gets eliminated. The team that can survive all the way to the end and cross the finish line first wins $1 million. In one of the tasks this week, teams were to decode a series of phrases they had been given which had matching symbols and then find and circle those symbols all in a row among a huge wall of matching and non-matching symbols. In other words, a large word search but using symbols/characters instead of English letters. The task wasn't very hard as long as you were able to determine which symbols you were looking for and were methodical in finding the right string of symbols. Only one team was able to complete this task!

Why are we in such a hurry all the time? Everything has to be right now. Remember back when the Internet was first getting started and dial-up was amazing? Now we get upset if our phone doesn't pull up a web page immediately. And who wants to bother with making a phone call on their cell phone anymore when you can just send a text in the amount of time it would take to dial the phone in the first place. Life is moving at light speed these days and we seldom stop long enough to do much of anything other than move on to the next thing.

The teams on the show were doing some silly, even stupid, things because they didn't stop long enough to figure out what they needed to do. What are you missing from being in such a hurry? Time with your spouse or kids, details falling through the cracks, connection with friends and family, connection to God. This week, I encourage you to stop for a little bit, talk to God and even more importantly listen to Him.

Keeping Up

2010-10-05T13:10:00.000-07:00

I watched a movie last night about a pretend family that was placed into an affluent neighborhood in order to influence those they come in contact with to purchase various items. This "family" has all the latest and greatest items (given to them by their clients) from cars, clothes, golf clubs, and watches to frozen appetizers, drinks, and more. All of these items are designed to make their new "friends", neighbors and social contacts jealous so they will then go out and buy the items themselves.

On the surface this "family" is happy and has it all and those they are around want to be like them. Reality though, is that they aren't even friends, let alone a real family and none of the products they have are actually theirs. They are leading empty, lonely lives and are manipulating others down that same path of futility.

While this is a movie and obviously not real, I don't think we are that far off from companies doing advertising in this way. In America we already struggle with coveting and with "keeping up with the Joneses" so it is not too much of a leap to think that this could happen as companies try to find new ways to gain customers. What we also have a problem with in America is buying things we can't afford, getting the new "must have" thing and then wanting something bigger or better. In this movie, the family is very successful at influencing those around them and taking advantage of these two struggles I just mentioned. Their next door neighbor buys all of the things that his new "friend" introduces him to despite the fact that he can't afford it. Eventually the facade that this neighbor puts up by buying these things comes crashing down and he ends up killing himself to escape all the pressure.

While I think we all experience some of this in one way or another, some are far deeper into this trap. The only way out of the trap is not to finally have it all (because you can never have it all), it is to realize that no amount of money, stuff, fame, etc. will ever satisfy and know that they only thing that will is JESUS. Don't follow the world, follow the one who made it!

Amazing Story

2010-09-30T15:18:00.001-07:00

Last week I challenged all of you who may read this blog to come up with the topics. I must admit, I was somewhat disappointed with the response, however, I did get a suggestion that I will incorporate this week. That suggestion was to point people to valuable/important things that I come across in order to help people wade through the vast amount of content that we have access to. It turns out, that very day I was shown a video of one of the most amazing stories I have ever heard.

Monday night, I came home from a long day at the office as I had stayed all the way through a meeting that night. I hadn't really been feeling well and all I really wanted to do was go to bed. My wife, however, really wanted me to check out this video that she saw on Facebook. I was not very excited to do this as the last video that she wanted me to watch was of a couple doing various beats, claps, clicks, etc. to a song. While this couple did their thing in perfect unison and had obviously spent a lot of time on their routine, I was not looking forward to another such video. But, since I hadn't seen her all day and she really wanted me to watch this new video, I agreed to take a few minutes and watch it.

What followed was an amazing story, unlike any I had ever heard. For the next 16 or so minutes, I was encouraged, convicted, amazed and wowed, by this young woman and by my God. Take a look for yourself here

Taking Requests

2010-09-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

I am a fairly opinionated guy, but, lots of times I really have a hard time figuring out what to write about in my blog. Sometimes it's because not much is going on, sometimes I just forget and lots of times I just don't know what would be interesting to others who may be reading the blog. So, in order to get some ideas and to hear what you would like me to talk about, I am presenting you with a challenge; tell me what I should write about. You can send me topics, questions, statements, opinions, or whatever you think will help motivate interesting blog topics. I will do my best to incorporate your ideas and suggestions into future blog posts as well as do my best to answer questions via the blog. Feel free to be creative and to challenge me, just keep it appropriate.

Suggestions can be emailed to me at jonm@crosswaterchurch.org

Right and Wrong

2010-09-16T14:05:00.000-07:00

Due to the generosity of a friend, I am fortunate to be able to go to the Husky game on Saturday against Nebraska. Once I get there, if I were to do a poll asking fans who is going to win the game, I am pretty sure that the majority would say the Huskies (true fans through out logic and always believe their team has a chance). But does being in the majority mean that you are right? Of course not (although this time they would be), we can all think of instances where the majority was wrong.

I was reading in Matthew 27 today and it caused me to think about group think, standing up for convictions, etc. In Matthew 27, Pilate finds no basis for any charges against Jesus and is trying to release him by giving the crowd a choice between Jesus or Barabbas, a known criminal and in Pilate's mind surely less deserving of release then Jesus. The crowd surprises him though by demanding that he release Barabbas and to crucify Jesus. Pilate knows that there is no reason to crucify Jesus and even "washes his hands of the matter" trying to absolve himself of any guilt in killing him, but ultimately gives in to their demands and hands Jesus over to be killed. Presumably, the majority of the people in that crowd wanted Jesus killed, but, obviously that doesn't make their desire right. So why did Pilate give in to them?

We see situations like this all the time (not this extreme but the same principles). Every day we are faced with decisions of right or wrong. Unfortunately, much of the time in our society, right and wrong are determined by what "most" people think and not by what is actually right or wrong. Just like Pilate knew that Jesus didn't deserve to die but went along with the majority, we too disregard what we know to be right and go along with the crowd. We see it in the workplace, we see it in schools, we see it in churches and we see it in homes. Sure, there are lots of ways to excuse or justify our behavior, but the bottom line is that too often we are not standing up for what is right.

I have read this passage in Matthew 27 several times (as well as the parallel accounts in the other gospels) and was newly and deeply convicted this time to stand up for what is right. I challenge you to do the same. If you don't know what is right, spend time reading the Bible and let the Holy Spirit work in you to reveal truth to you. If you do know what is right, stand up for it. Speak the truth in love!

Who Needs a Doctor?

2010-08-25T11:07:00.000-07:00

Some people are really good about going to the doctor regularly for checkups but most of us only go when something is wrong, when we are sick or injured. Jesus makes this same observation in yet another confrontation with the Pharisees in Matthew 9 when he says, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick."

Jesus is hanging out with sinners and tax collectors and the Pharisees are not too happy about it. But think about it, who needs Jesus? Obviously we all do, but those that haven't given their lives to Him yet need to be introduced to Him. How can we introduce people to Jesus without spending time with them, without going where they are? Yet so often churches are more like a country club with exclusive membership and we make people who don't fit in with our standards and our appearance feel like outsiders.

Jesus didn't just hang out at the synagogue and hope that people would find Him, He went and ate with the worst of the worst. I am not saying that we should go hang out at strip clubs so we can reach the people that are there. In fact, I am not really sure what I am saying, I certainly don't have all of the answers. What I do know is that as Christ followers we are called to go out and make disciples of all nations. What does that look like? What are the implications of Matthew 9:9-13? Let me know what you think?

35 Things

2010-08-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

I'm turning 35 in a couple of days so I thought I would come up with 35 things I have learned in my 35 years of life.

There is a God and I am not Him
Before you drink from a water fountain, make sure there is not a bee on it that will ride the water stream into your mouth and sting you
When running a race in a confined area, be sure to note how far away the brick wall is when you turn to look back to see how badly you are beating everyone else
When your mom tells you to stop running around in a store you should listen to her, otherwise you may just come around a clothing rack the same time your brother comes around the same clothing rack (from the opposite side) and collides with you
My dad can make a hook shot from anywhere on the court
Trying to do a one-handed hand stand with a skateboard in your other hand can lead to the need for dental work
When you are 16, driving a mini-van with "Merwins" on the license plate is not cool
When you are 17, driving a mini-van with "Merwins" on the license plate still isn't cool
Having smart and responsible friends is really helpful when your homework is due in a few minutes
When your wife is pregnant and needs to back up in order to turn around, you shouldn't make a "beep beep" sound like a truck that is backing up
Children are a blessing
Children are also God's way of teaching patience and anger management
No matter how many times you yell at your favorite team while watching them on TV, they can't hear you
No matter how many times you yell at the officials while watching a game on TV, they can't hear you
Atmospheric Sciences 101 is NOT an easy A at the University of Washington
"i" before "e" except after "c" or when pronounced "ei" as in neighbor and weigh
When you are a kid, you want to be a grown up, when you are a grown up you realize that it wasn't so bad being a kid
Most people will not need to know how to graph a sine curve
The fact that someone smells or is dirty doesn't make them less human than someone who smells nice and is clean
When preaching to an audience that is at least 60% female, don't put down your wife in a sermon illustration
The important thing about learning is not what you know but what you do with what you know
I don't deserve the wife that God has blessed me with
Having the attitude of "you can't fail if you don't try it in the first place" ensures that you won't fail at much, but also ensures that you won't succeed at much (it is also kind of boring)
Striving for the latest and the greatest stuff means you will never have what you want
The 1991 Huskies were better than the 1991 Miami Hurricanes (that's really more of an opinion)
Sin has consequences
It is far better to be humble than to be humbled
Right and wrong isn't based on what we can get away with or who will find out
Often times we learn the most from the things that are the hardest
You appreciate something more when you work for it rather than have it given to you
My kids are amazing and I had very little, if anything, to do with it
My wife is a beautiful, supportive, forgiving, funny, loving, caring, amazing woman that I am completely in love with (even though I don't do a very good job of showing her that I think all of these things)
I am a sinner saved by grace, GOD's grace through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
I am not who I want to be
God is making me into who I am supposed to be

Well, there you have it, 35 things that I have learned in the last 35 years (in case you are wondering I have learned more than just these 35 things). Hopefully, I will learn even more valuable things in the next 35 years.

Hiking as a Source of Leadership Lessons?

2010-08-11T12:36:00.000-07:00

Last week I had the opportunity to go hiking with my family. While we don't hike very often, it is something that all 5 of us enjoy and since it was a nice day, we took off for the hills. I expected some peacefulness being out in nature, some non-peacefulness having 3 kids bickering, nice views/scenery and a little exercise. What I didn't expect, however, was the opportunity to teach my kids about leadership. This unexpected opportunity came about (and continued to present itself) because my two oldest kids were both interested in "leading" the hike and proceeded to try to pass each other back and forth for this privileged position.

As these struggles for perceived power ensued, I found myself throwing out some truths about leadership which were only meant to stop the power struggle and not necessarily to teach about leadership. Statements like;

"You're not a leader if nobody is following you"

"Being in the front doesn't mean you are a leader"

"If you have to announce that you are a leader, you probably aren't"

I am pretty sure these thoughts on leadership were lost on my kids, but it did cause me to think about leadership. After all, as a pastor, as a boss, as a husband and as a father, I am supposed to lead. But what does that look like? We all can identify bad leadership or rather non-leadership but what about good leadership? I would love to give all of the right answers but instead I will have to ponder that question with you.

Ambitions

2010-07-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

Do you ever sit back and contemplate what you want to be like? I usually do this when I do or say something stupid and I realize that I am not the person that I want to be. So what qualities do you aspire to have, what are your ambitions?

I was reading Matthew 5:1-12 this week and I have to admit, my ambitions don't typically look like those found in the Beatitudes. I am pretty sure that I have never sat and thought, "I sure would like to be poor in spirit, I would like to mourn, I want to be meek, I would like to be persecuted." Yet, these are the things that Jesus talks about in beginning of his Sermon on the Mount.

Why is it that I don't desire these things for myself? I was thinking about that question this week as thought about the passage. I determined that it is because those things are contrary to what the world teaches us about successful people. These things are also contrary to the selfishness inside of me. As a Christ follower though, I am not called to be like the world, I am called to be a new creation and to put aside my flesh. That is why my ambition, my desire is now to be like the qualities in the Beatitudes. As I pursue those qualities, I can't help becoming more like Jesus as well as a better husband, father, friend and pastor.

Rebuild

2010-07-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

Have you ever watched Extreme Makeover Home Edition? It used to be one of my favorite shows and in it, a crew of designers and a huge team of builders show up at someone's house and completely rebuild the house. The first thing they have to do (other than getting the family packed up and out of the house) is to demolish the existing house. The team brings in the heavy equipment and literally rips out the house all the way down to the foundation. It is only after that very important first step that they are then able to build the beautiful house that is presented to the owners at the end. Most of the time, the existing houses are in such bad shape that simply adding on or renovating wouldn't work.

I think that God works this way too. In order to be close to Him, we must let Him come in and destroy and remove the things that weren't built by him. We need to allow Him to get down to the foundation and then rebuild. The things that we have built are rotten and are not suitable to build on. But, if we allow God to come in and build, the results are far more amazing and beautiful than any house you have seen on Extreme Makeover Home Edition.

Ask God to show you the areas of your life that need to be cleaned out and destroyed so He can come in and build you back up.

Doormat?

2010-07-03T09:50:00.000-07:00

Have you read the book of Hosea lately (or ever)? I have read it before but usually as part of a bible reading plan where I read a little Old Testament and a little New Testament each day, I've never really spent much time in the book or given it a whole lot of thought. I am spending some time in Hosea right now though; thinking about it, trying to draw application from it and praying about what God may be showing me.

Hosea had it rough! God asked him to marry a woman that would cheat on him (multiple times) and have kids with other dudes. I don't know about you, but if I knew prior to getting married that my wife would be unfaithful, I highly doubt that I would get married. Hosea obeyed God and married Gomer anyway. Do you know what happened? Yep, she cheated on him and had kids with other guys. Then God asked him to take her back and Hosea did.

In our society, Hosea would be considered a doormat, he would be considered stupid or foolish. But, if that is the criteria, we would have to consider God to be stupid or foolish too. Hosea's life is a picture of God's relationship with His people. We, like Gomer (Hosea's wife), cheat on God, we turn our backs on Him, we leave Him for others. God, on the other hand, remains faithful. He loves us so much that He takes us back over and over again.

I have only read through chapter 3 of Hosea so far, but so far, I have found a few applications.

God may ask me to do something that is hard or even seems impossible. When He does, I need to be obedient to Him, trust Him and rely on His strength.
I need to stop being like Gomer and Israel. I need to stop cheating and let God be enough for me.
God never stops loving me even though I continually turn my back on Him through my actions, yet, how often do I limit my love for others because they hurt me. I need to be like Hosea who was willing to take his wife back and even literally paid to do so because that was what God called him to do. I need to obey God and love others, even if it means I will be opening myself up to more pain and hurt.

Identity

2010-06-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

Most posts I try to talk about something that happened or that I read about and then apply it to scripture somehow as essentially a devotional. Today, however, I am going to do something a little different, I am going to share part of my prayer journal.

"I can't stop thinking about the tongue lashing I received last night about playing time. I woke up at 3:30 in the morning and the first thing on my mind was what was said and how I could have or should have responded. Obviously too much of my identity is wrapped up in coaching. I enjoy having parents tell me how much they appreciate me as a coach or thinking that I do a good job with the kids. Conversely, it bothers me when they don't like how I coach. I never set out to coach in order to gain recognition or accolades, or identity but I fear that maybe that has now become a quiet, hidden objective."

I love to coach, but this morning in my prayer I had to lay it before God and ask Him if I should continue doing it. My desires, even if they are good desires, such as spending time with my kids, pouring into other kids and trying to be a godly example, must fit within God's will for my life. I don't want to quit because one parent was upset about how things were going, but I did need to recognize that some of my identity has been wrapped up in coaching. When our identity is found in anything other that Jesus Christ, it will self destruct. While I love coaching and want to continue doing it, if it is getting in the way of my relationship with Jesus or making Him look bad, I need to give it up. Please pray for me as I seek clarity.

Rule Follower

2010-06-03T13:14:00.000-07:00

If you don't know me or don't know me very well, let me give you a little information about me; I am a rule follower. I am not really one to blaze a new trail, to go against authority or blatantly rebel (at least not publicly). Parents, teachers, and governments seem to really like the people they have authority over to be rule followers. Churches like rule followers too and unfortunately that can often get in the way of truly pointing people to Jesus.

I have been personally feeling convicted by this tendency in my life lately. Through our current series in Galatians, my personal time in Romans and a look at a couple of parables that Jesus told, I have seen in myself a tendency to focus on my rule following as an indication of my spiritual health. Now don't get me wrong there is some validity in that as if we are truly following Jesus, we will have good fruit or evidence of that. The problem lies in seeing the rule following as the means of our value or merit instead of the grace of God. Take a look at Luke 18:9-14 for an example of what I am talking about.

I don't like to compare myself to the Pharisees (the religious people of Jesus' time) but the truth is that sometimes my rule following leads me to think of myself as better than others or at least further along. Churches are good at this too. How often have you heard people say that they need to get their life straightened out and then they will go to church. Or, how often have you felt or seen a church give the impression that they have "arrived" and you are welcome to come as long as you have "arrived" too. The truth is that I am just like the tax collector in Luke 18, I am in need of God's grace and mercy. If you see or feel this attitude from me and/or from Crosswater, please let us know. Fact is, we are all sinners saved by grace.

No More Jack

2010-05-27T09:56:00.000-07:00

"Jack is back", these three words have evoked feelings of anticipation and excitement in thousands of people for the last several years. But, after 8 seasons, "24" has now come to an end. As someone who has seen every single episode (OK maybe I missed 1 or 2) I will miss "24" but feel that it was indeed time for it to end as the story lines had gotten tired and rehashed and Jack was forced to go to even greater lengths in his pursuit of justice (at least his idea of justice).

Jack Bauer was a hero to many, even if only imaginary, but what was it that made him so appealing to thousands, even millions, of people? Well, Jack was resilient, tenacious, persistent, self-sacrificing and always ready to fight for freedom and bring bad guys to justice. As a fan of "24" and of Jack Bauer, here are some things that I learned over the last 8 years:

Jack Bauer can hunt down and kill terrorists around the country and the world but he can't seem to find them when they work at CTU
If you have answers to Jack's questions, you might as well just tell him up front
If Jack Bauer loves you, you're in trouble - but don't worry he won't rest until he brings the people responsible for your death to justice
There is no obstacle too great for Jack to overcome, even death
When you are confident that you have Jack right where you want him, he's got you right where he wants you
Jack does more by 9:00am than the Army does all day

Jack Bauer was one tough dude and had certainly had some good qualities and by way of analogy, some people have even compared him to Jesus Christ. While Jack was willing to sacrifice himself and he did save people and the country from the bad guys, he did so on his terms and for his own reasons. While "24" was an entertaining show, the thing that bothered me season after season was that Jack wanted everyone brought to justice and held accountable for their actions, except for him. Time after time, Jack would go out on his own, making his own rules all in the name of justice and time after time, Jack would not have to face any consequences for his actions. Even in the last episode of the last season when Jack had gone further across any kind of moral line than ever before, Jack avoided accountability.

While there certainly are a few comparisons between Jack Bauer and Jesus, there are a couple of major differences;

Jesus was held accountable for something he never even did, sin. Jesus was the only perfect person to ever walk this earth, yet He allowed himself to be killed for our sin. We crossed lines and made mistakes that separate us from God, yet Jesus paid the price.
Jesus saved us from far more than terrorists and cover ups, He saved us from eternal separation from God.

Now obviously "24" and Jack Bauer are not real but the show did present a world view, primarily that the end justifies the means. Season after season we were told through the story of Jack Bauer that it doesn't really matter what you do as long as the result is good. We live in the real world though and there are consequences for our actions. For every single one of us, our actions cause us to fall short (we sin) but unlike Jack we must be held accountable for those actions and unlike Jack we can't escape that accountability. Our efforts don't get us there, it is only through the grace of Jesus that we are saved.

Routine

2010-05-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

I am a bit of a pattern or routine kind of guy. I don't really like new or different, instead, I like to know what to expect, know what is coming. That probably explains why I was somewhat convicted by the video I saw today called "Sunday's Coming" while also finding it funny.

Too often churches try to copy the big ideas or formulas that seem to have worked for other churches or worked in the past. This video goes even further and pokes fun at what I see as manipulation of emotions or feelings. I think the video would be even more funny if it weren't also so true. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think there is anything wrong with have a plan for a service and coordinating what is going to happen when. I think the problem arises when it is so scripted or manipulated that it doesn't allow for God to work.

My life can get like that too. I can get so used to my plan or routine that I don't seek God's plan, I don't allow Him to work like He may want to in my life. I am working on changing that, on finding the areas in my life where I am on autopilot and need to let God work and stopping the routine.

Focus

2010-05-07T10:27:00.000-07:00

Have you ever tried to do something while focusing on something else? It is pretty hard, if not impossible to do this. Take baseball for instance. If you are the batter, you are taught to pick up the ball as soon as you can (ideally right as it leaves the pitcher's hand). Doing so and staying focused on the ball will give you the best chance of hitting it well. However, if you are distracted by other things and don't focus on the ball, your chances of hitting it (especially hitting it well) are greatly reduced. The longer you play baseball the more important this becomes as the pitchers start throwing harder and throwing with more movement.

Baseball is just one example of where a lack of focus becomes a problem. You can also look at driving, homework, reading comprehension, or just about anything else. If you are focusing on the wrong thing, you will have a hard time accomplishing whatever it is that you are trying to do.

I was reminded of this reality in my spiritual life through a story that Jesus told in Luke 12:13-21. When I focus on things other than God, my relationship with God is not what it could be. There are many many things that pull my focus off of God and not all of them are bad by themselves. The problem isn't that I am involved in things or spend time doing things, the problem is when those things become my focus. You've probably heard that when you're driving, wherever you are looking is where you tend to steer and therefore where the car goes. The same goes for life, where you are focusing is where you will go.

The challenge for me is not to get rid of all these things (although some I need to) that distract me or take my attention, the challenge is not to let them be my focus. So what are you focusing on? Let God be your focus.

Making Me Look Good

2010-04-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

Did you know that it is Administrative Professionals Week this week? I like to make sure that people are appreciated for what they do but I don't always do a good job of remember to show appreciation myself, that's why I am thankful that my trusty UW calendar informed me that Wednesday was Administrative Professionals Day. I then heard that we are supposed to celebrate and appreciate Administrative Professionals for the entire week (which I am sure is an attempt by card and candy companies to increase sales).

The truth is though, that these administrative professionals have a hard job and they deserve to be appreciated all the time and not just for one day or one week in April. That's why, I have decided to use my blog this week to express my thanks to those people around me that make me look a lot better than I possibly could on my own. So here we go.

Karen is my assistant as well as the Financial Director at Crosswater and while I may be more administratively minded than a certain other Pastor at Crosswater, Karen is instrumental in making sure I have the information that I need in order to track where Crosswater is at and to plan where we are able to go in the future. Karen, thank you for all of your hard work.

Amy is technically Aaron's assistant but she is also the Office Manager, tech guru and graphic designer for Crosswater. As such she and I work together a lot. Without Amy thinking about how, when and why we do things, I have no doubt I would forget many things and/or think about them too late. Thank you Amy for your support.

Crosswater is also blessed to have 3 amazing ladies that volunteer to greet and serve people that come in to our office. Denise, Jane and Emma do an amazing job of loving people and taking care of people, including those of us in the office. Thank you ladies for giving up your time to come in and serve and allowing us to serve.

Finally the hardest working person at making me look better is my wife. While it would be an insult to call her my assistant or my administrative professional, she is my helper and my rock. I received advice from my favorite candy store owner recently saying that every day is wife appreciation day and it certainly should be. Kristina, I am sorry that I don't show my appreciation as much as I should (if I even do at all). I love you very much and appreciate all that you do for me and our family.

If you have people in your life that help you look good, whether they are paid to do so or do it because they love you, let them know that you appreciate them this week. Don't wait until it is too late.

Paid in Full

2010-04-15T12:13:00.000-07:00

Today is one of the most dreaded days of the year here in the U.S., Tax Day. If you were "owed" a refund then you probably filed your tax return weeks ago so you could get your money sooner. However, if you owe money you probably waited until just recently (maybe even today) to file your taxes, after all you don't want to give your money any sooner than you have to, right? That's my philosophy anyway.

Something you may not associate with Tax Day is that our debt has already been paid. Not our tax debt mind you, but rather something even more important. Almost 2000 years ago, Jesus died on the cross in our place. He didn't do anything to deserve death and he certainly didn't do anything to deserve having to take on God's wrath. He chose to do both.

We have racked up quite a bit of debt with our sin. But, unlike our tax debt, someone has paid off our sin debt because we never could by ourselves. There is no amount of extensions or deductions that could eliminate what we have earned from God and that is eternal separation from Him. Similarly, there is no amount of work or effort that allows us to earn Jesus' sacrifice for us.

While it would be nice to only have to pay taxes once and never have to again, that isn't our reality. Fortunately enough for us though, our sin debt has already been paid once and for all, all we need to do is accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and Follow Him!

What's the Difference?

2010-04-01T15:39:00.000-07:00

"it's abundantly clear in the so-called Christian nations of the Western world that professing belief in God and allowing that belief to make any discernible difference in your life are two entirely different things."
- Jan Hettinga, "Follow Me"

Like me, you've probably heard the statistics that say as many as 75-80% of Americans are Christians. Most of America claims belief in Jesus Christ and this weekend millions of people in this country will attend church services celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Easter Sunday). Hopefully you will be one of those millions in church this week.

There are moments in my life where the truth of Jesus Christ makes significant difference in my life. Unfortunately there are many moments where it doesn't. I too frequently get so involved in living my life that I take for granted what Jesus did for me, or even worse I completely disregard it. I get easily frustrated and/or angered and I snap at people. I lose my patience and let my attitude take over. I try to do things on my own instead of relying on the strength of Jesus. I lose sight of Jesus. I believe in Him but I don't always follow Him.

Easter is a celebration! Jesus didn't stay in the grave, he rose, he defeated death. Easter is also a reminder for me to put my focus back on Jesus and to allow the truth of the gospel to make a discernible difference in my life.

Application

2010-03-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

I had the chance to go to a ministry conference last week with some of the other staff and an elder from Crosswater. In fact, in my short time as a pastor I have been fortunate enough to attend several conferences (of varying quality). Do you know what the worst thing is about these conferences? Time away from the office? Time away from the people we are supposed to minister to? The time it takes to get there and back? The amount of money it costs to attend? No. For me, the worst thing about these conferences is the application of what I have learned, or should I say lack of application. I do a pretty good job of paying attention and a pretty good job of taking notes, but, I don't usually do a very good job of applying what I learned.

I have the same problem with books that I read. I don't particularly enjoy reading but I try to make it a point to read in order to learn new things and to expand my skills. In fact, last year, I had a goal of reading an average of 1 book per month. I was successful in meeting that goal because the goal was to read 12 books, nothing more. You might have guessed that I frequently have the same problem with books that I have with conferences. While I am pretty diligent in highlighting the books (if they are mine) and my assistant does a great job of writing up the highlighted portions to make it easier for me to reference the things that stood out, applying what I read does not happen naturally for me.

I can attend all of the best conferences and read all of the best books, but without application, am I really learning anything? It is good to have the knowledge but unless I am going on a game show or playing board games, the knowledge by itself isn't enough.

Why do I talk about all of this? First, it is a reminder to myself to apply what I learned at last week's conference. Second, I think that reading the Bible is a lot like this for many people (including me sometimes). Reading God's word is always a good thing, but sometimes that's all we do with it. There are a ton of people in the world that can tell you all sorts of things about the Bible. They can quote scripture, tell you the stories, give you context/background, yet they are far from God. I do a pretty good job of reading God's word, but lately I have had some moments where I have struggled to apply it. What about you? Let's work together this week to read God's word and then to live it out!

Wanna Trade?

2010-03-18T15:11:00.000-07:00

If you know me at all, you know that I am a big sports fan. As a sports fan there isn't a lot that matches the excitement, worry, hope, frustration, or at least the possibility of those things (all rolled into one) like trade rumors or an actual trade. Trades can be a quick fix or hope for things to come in the future. Sometimes trades work out for both teams, but, usually one team gets the better end of the deal. If you are a fan of the Mariners you probably feel that the M's seem to be on the short side most of the time.

Did you know that the Bible talks about the worst trade ever made? Romans 1:21-23 talks about trading the biggest superstar ever for a flash in the pan minor leaguer that never even made it to the show, it says; "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles."

The best was available, yet it was traded for something less. The creator of the universe was available, yet He was traded for created things. We still do this today! We have the opportunity to have a relationship with the God of the universe, the one who created each of us, the one who sent His son to die for us because He loves us so much, yet, we trade Him for lesser things.

What are you trading God for? We all do it in various ways and at various times. We trade Him for fame, for money, for power, for our kids, for our spouse, for stuff, for our career, etc., etc. Like the minor leaguer with lots of potential, we think these things are going to pan out and lead to our ultimate success, happiness, fulfillment, or whatever else we are looking for. The difference is that in baseball, sometimes the minor leaguer does end up doing what the executives thought he would or even more. In life, all of these things that we trade God for end up failing, disappointing, or otherwise leave us unfulfilled. Don't be fooled by the empty promises of more or better from anything other than God, He's untradeable.

The Real Life

2010-03-11T09:16:00.000-08:00

You have probably all seen bumper stickers, buttons, signs, t-shirts, etc. that have the saying; "No Jesus, No Peace, Know Jesus, Know Peace". I remember seeing a church reader board that had that written on it many, many years ago and thought that it was pretty clever and over the years have certainly found it to be true. Now, like I said before, that saying is on all sorts of things and has probably lost some of it's impact because people have seen it so many times and in so many places.

I bring this saying up because I thought of it this week as I was reading 1 John 5:1-12. Actually, I thought of a revised version of it made from verse 12, it is; No Jesus, No Life, Know Jesus, Know Life. Everyone that is alive obviously has a physical life but as William Wallace says in the movie Braveheart "all men die, few ever truly live".

Life is hard, there is a lot of pain, a lot of disappointment a lot of hurt. I think most people just try to get by the best they can, they try to endure. Most people are trying to make the most of this life, after all, it's the only one we've got, right? But, if we are just living for now, for this world for the 0-80ish years we have on this planet, we are missing out. What most people are missing is verse 12 of 1 John 5. Without Jesus, we never truly live because it is through Him that we have real life, abundant life. Following Jesus has a negative reputation in some circles as something that limits us or puts restrictions on us. The opposite is true. If we are living for Him, that is when we truly have life, life now and life beyond what we know and can see here, eternal life.

Who or what are you living for? Are you living for this world and what it has to offer, or are you living for Jesus who offers you real life? To quote another movie, The Shawshank Redemption, "Get busy living, or get busy dying".

In God We Trust

2010-03-04T13:43:00.000-08:00

The phrase "In God We Trust" is printed on our money, does that make it true? Of course not! At some point in our history this may have been true, we as a country may have trusted in God (obviously not every single person literally but generally as a nation). I think you would probably agree, however, that this is no longer the case. Now a days it is hard to even get a consensus on who or what God even is, let alone all trust in the same God. The reality though, is that we all trust in something or many somethings whether it is a person (or people), things, ideas, organizations or institutions. Every time you sit down you trust that the seat you are going to sit in can support you. When you climb the stairs, you trust that you won't fall through. When you jump, you trust that you will not float away because gravity will bring you back down.

Over and over we make seemingly little and/or subconscious decisions that require us to trust in someone or something beyond ourselves. The big decisions/choices in our lives also require us to trust, yet, we seem to do a poor job of choosing what we are going to trust in. We put our trust in money, our job, our government leaders, ourselves, our family, our pastor, our kids, etc., etc. The problem with ALL of these things is that they will fail us, they will let us down.

As a pastor it is easy for me to tell you that you should trust in God, THE God, the creator of heaven and earth, after all, that is what I am supposed to say. It's true, but I don't always live like it myself. I struggle with putting my trust in the wrong place(s). Mostly I struggle with trying to do things on my own, in my own strength. This may come as a shock to those of you who know me, but, I am not able to do everything. I am not able to do all that I want to do or even all that I have the ability to do (which kind of sounds like an oxymoron). I, like everything else (other than God), fall short. The good thing about my failure is that it causes me to look back to God and adjust where I put my trust. We have it right on our money now it's time to make that reality in our lives - IN GOD WE TRUST

"I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever." - Psalm 52:8

Connection

2010-02-25T14:24:00.001-08:00

I have been thinking about connection this week as I was made aware of a family that has decided to leave our church because they didn't feel connected. It is almost always sad to see a family leave and when they do, I almost always wonder what we could have done differently or what we can do differently going forward.

When it comes to feeling or being connected, how much is up the church and how much is up to the individual or family? That's the question that I have been thinking about this week and I am not sure there really is an answer, at least not a good one. The church can provide all sorts of programs or opportunities for people to connect with others (small groups, softball teams, potlucks, service opportunities, church-wide events, etc.) but we can't force people to actually take part in those things or force connections when the do. Perhaps you have some insight into this, if so, please let me know.

As I continue to ponder the conundrum of church vs individual responsibility for connection, God reminded me that our most important connection is with Him. I was reading in 1 John 2 this morning which says (verse 28) "And now, dear children, continue in Him, so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming." The Greek word for "continue" here is the word meno which means; to stay, remain, live, dwell, abide. In other words, stay connected with Him. Life is busy and I don't do as good of a job as I should or even as good as I want to in staying connected with God. As you try to connect (or perhaps you try to avoid connecting) with family, friends, neighbors, etc., don't forget the most important connection of all, God!

Life Giving

2010-02-18T15:40:00.000-08:00

I am fortunate as a pastor to be part of a network of other pastors that meet regularly to discuss different topics and ideas as well as to encourage each other and pray for one another. Honestly though, when the third Thursday comes around each month, I usually am not so excited about going to our monthly network gathering except for the free lunch that I will get if I go. Today wasn't really any different but I agreed to go, mostly because it was in Monroe and at a restaurant that I hadn't been to but wanted to try. Although I wasn't super excited to go, by the time I left the meeting, I was glad I had been there (and not just because I liked my lunch).

A couple of things at this meeting got me thinking. The first was the question, "what are you involved in (outside of church) that is life giving?" This question was asked of each of us and we went around the room sharing our answers (never a favorite of mine). I shared about coaching baseball (and now softball) in the local Little League and how much I enjoyed pouring into the kids, getting to know families and developing those relationships. While there is certainly a lot about coaching that is draining and hard, I really do enjoy teaching these kids how to play a game that I love and trying to shape them and mold them into young men that work hard, persevere, respect others and have fun. I try to model to them what it looks like to be a man of integrity and humility and show them who Jesus is by the way I live my life.

This resonated with me for a couple of reasons. First, I was reminded how important it is to do things that are life giving, to be filled up so you can pour back out. Coaching does both for me. Second, as I heard others talk about the life giving things in their lives, I thought of how often churches come up with programs and events trying to get people to come to us rather than going out and being the church. Now don't get me wrong, I think that we should have programs and events, I just think that we need to be careful not to rely on programs and events at the expense of living out our faith in our daily lives.

Jesus is the ultimate life giver (literally) and it is through Him that we have true life. Look for ways that you can be filled up (given life) AND for places where you can pour out (giving life). GO AND BE THE CHURCH.

"We'll Leave the Light on for You"

2010-02-11T08:51:00.000-08:00

Do you recognize the slogan, "We'll leave the light on for you"? This is the slogan used by Motel 6 in their advertisements. I know, most people when they think of Motel 6 think YUK, so why am I talking about the Motel 6 advertising campaign? Because I think Jesus had this same idea in mind for his followers when he talked about light in Matthew 5:14-16 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven."

Jesus is THE light and as His followers we are supposed to reflect His light so others will see Him and praise Him. Lately as I have been spending time in the word, I have recognized many areas of my life where my light is at best hidden and at worst completely out. For instance, I was reading James 3 a couple of weeks ago which talks about "Taming the Tongue" and I was deeply convicted by how frequently my tongue is not tame. Reading that passage forced me to stop and think about how often my tongue is used inappropriately; to express anger or frustration, sarcasm, verbal jabs or shots in an attempt to be funny (most always at someone's expense). These things are not a reflection of Jesus' light.

A similar thing happened last week as I was spending time in 1 Peter 4 which tells us to; be clear minded and self-controlled, love each other deeply, offer hospitality to one another without grumbling, use whatever gift I have received to serve others..."so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ." Once again I was convicted about the times when I am not like this and therefore not reflecting the light of Jesus to others.

The slogan "We'll leave the light on for you" is intended to make people feel welcome at Motel 6, like they are part of the family, to show that Motel 6 is waiting for us to come. If you are travelling and it is dark and you see a "light on for you", you will be attracted to that light. Being the "light of the world" works the same way. As Christ followers, we are intended to attract people to Jesus, to make them part of the family, to show people that THE light loves them and wants them to come to Him.

Is your light off or hidden, or do you leave the light on for others?

Finish the Race

2010-02-02T09:04:00.000-08:00

My wife recently completed what I feel is an amazing accomplishment. Just over a week ago she ran a 1/2 marathon. That's 13.1 MILES! I am very proud of her while at the same time feeling like a bit of a wimp myself. I have always been fairly athletic and have participated in some sort of sport and/or physical activity on a pretty regular basis most of my life, but running has never been my thing. I am much more of a sprinter (not a fast sprinter mind you) than a long distance guy. After all, baseball, football and basketball (the sports I primarily play) require relatively short bursts of running and not long distances.

I thought about my wife's accomplishment versus my lack of long distance running as I reviewed some notes that I had written on Hebrews chapter 12. If you are unfamiliar with that chapter here is verse 1 from the NIV; "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us RUN WITH PERSEVERANCE the race marked out for us." (emphasis added) The ESV uses the word endurance instead of perseverance and both are required to run a long race but are not as important in a sprint. As I read this passage a couple of weeks ago and reviewed my notes on it last week, I saw how my spiritual life and physical life are pretty similar. In fact, I think many of us fail to see our relationship with Jesus as a marathon. I think intellectually we understand that it is, but, as we live our lives we want it to be much more like a sprint. We want answers NOW. We want the fruit (the benefit) of our hard work NOW. We want the change or transformation in our lives or in the world around us to happen NOW.

The reality is that it often takes many lessons or walking through something for awhile before we are changed or transformed by it. We often times have to seek God and wait patiently for His answers in His timing. If you are a Christ follower, you are in a process of becoming more and more like Him. Sometimes progress happens quickly and sometimes it happens more gradually. Either way, we need to remember that we are not in a sprint, we need to strengthen ourselves spiritually by spending time in the Word, by spending time talking to our Father, by allowing Him to work in us and through us so we can build up our endurance and complete the race that He has marked out for us.

When training for her 1/2 marathon, if my wife had only worked on her sprinting, she would not have been able to finish the race, she wouldn't have been able to get up the hill that was at the end of the course. Similarly, if we only get little bits of God (i.e. attend church Sunday but that's it) we will not be able to withstand the trials, the "hills" that we come across. Where are you at with God right now? Are you watching others run the race? Are you running sprints but are unable to run the distance? Or, are you enduring, persevering and working to finish the race?

What is Helpful?

2010-01-20T14:46:00.000-08:00

When you see someone in need do you ever ask yourself what you can do to truly help them? We are faced with lots of needs all around us. We have needs, our immediate family has needs, our extended family and our friends have needs, those we work with have needs, those in our community have needs, people all across the world have needs. No matter how far or how close you extend the "circle" of influence, you will see or encounter needs. While these needs can be easy to spot (although sometimes we confuse wants for needs) how to truly help eliminate the needs is not always so clear cut. Many times rather than really meeting the need, we simply put a band aid over it, we treat the symptoms. How do we get to the root, how do we truly help? Should we even help? Are we actually helping or are we just enabling? Obviously the answer is different depending on the need, the individual(s) and the resources that we have.

While many of the variables change from situation to situation, I believe that it is clear in the Bible that we are to help those in need. James 1:27 says that; "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress...". Matthew 25:40 says; 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers or mine, you did for me.' Jesus gave specific examples just before this of what "doing for the least of these looked like". It looked like; giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, hospitality to the stranger, clothes to the clothes less, care for the sick and visitation to the prisoner.

I think everybody would want these things lived out if they were in the situation of being hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, etc. For some reason though, the opposite is not always (or even frequently) true. Many people feel that by giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, hospitality to the stranger, clothes to the naked, care for the sick and visitation to the prisoner, that we are simply enabling them to stay that way. Unfortunately, they are right. Sometimes! I don't pretend to know where that line is. All I know is that I don't want to be face to face with Jesus someday and hear what he said in Matthew 25:45, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

A good friend of mine once said to me that if he is going to make a mistake, he wants to make it on the side of God. I agree! In other words, I would rather live out Matthew 25:40 so much that I actually end up enabling people to stay needy than to do the opposite and not help them. This week I would like to challenge you to Live 25:40.

I'm Third

2010-01-13T16:48:00.000-08:00

I was talking with a friend of mine recently and she mentioned that she has been reading part of Philippians 2 every day so I thought I would take a look at it to remind myself what it says. Go ahead, take a minute right now and read it.

Did anything stand out to you? Verses 3-6 stood out to me;

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus..."

Say what? When I look at the choices I make, it is amazing how many I make that are about what's best for me. Can you imagine doing NOTHING out of selfish ambition? What would that look like?

"Consider others better than yourselves." Who exactly is "others"? I don't consider myself to have a large ego most of the time but how often do I put "others" above ME? I struggle much of the time putting my own family above myself. I struggle putting my friends above myself. Am I supposed to put even people I don't know above myself? Look to the interests of others?

I am so good at thinking about myself, where will this end? It ends with verse 5 which tells us to have the same attitude as Jesus. While this is not possible for us here on earth, we can submit to the process of becoming more like Jesus by putting our desires, our needs after the desires/needs of others. I more than a little convicted thinking of Jesus leaving his place next to God to come here as a man, live as a man, experience all that we experience and then die in our place. If anyone had the right to think of himself above others, it was Jesus. Instead, Jesus gave up EVERYTHING, He did "nothing out of selfish ambition", He considered others better than himself, He looked to the interests of others.

I went to a youth rally several years ago and heard the phrase "I'm third". Jesus is first, others are second and I am third. That is the perspective that I want. I am not even close to 100% successful with that but I am trying creep that percentage closer and closer.

Who Can Show Us Any Good?

2010-01-04T09:12:00.000-08:00

In Psalm 4:6 David says, "Many are asking, 'Who can show us any good?' ". I think there are many people wondering that today as well. If you look at our world this question can seem to not have an answer, at least not an easy one. Things are messed up in our world, just watch the evening news if you need confirmation of that. The problem is, when we look at the world, we are looking in the wrong place. In Mark 10 the rich young man calls Jesus "good teacher" and Jesus responds saying "Why do you call me good? No one is good - except God alone." Only God is good and "every good and perfect gift comes from above" as it says in James 1. God has blessed us in so many ways but we often times don't recognize or we even ignore His blessings. Choose to look for God's blessings in your life. No matter what is going on or what you are going through, you have been given many blessings, choose to see them.

While God alone is good, He has called His people to be salt and light in this world. Because we are to be like Christ as believers, we too can show this world good as we reflect His image. We are not good on our own but as we lean in to Him, trust Him and follow Him, we too can show good. The problem is I get in the way. That's why right here in my blog, for all of you to see and to hold me accountable I want to give up to God my; anger, frustration, selfishness, language, desire for more stuff, need/desire to be right, pessimism, and comfort seeking. In 2010 I want to focus on "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable..." because "...if anything is excellent or praiseworthy..." I want to "...think about such things." If I am able to replace the list of struggles with this list from Philippians 4 then I too will be able to show the world good because Christ will shine through me.

Messages

2009-12-22T16:22:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the GAP commercial that has been running recently for the "holiday" season, not the one with the girls singing about boots, but the one with adults singing and dancing? Maybe it is just the prude coming out in me again (see my post from 2 weeks ago) but I don't think so, I have seen it several times now and it really bothers me.

If you are not familiar with the commercial, here are a couple of lines in the "song" that are sung after they list just about every possible winter holiday and/or celebration (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Solstice);

"You 86 the rules, you do what just feels right, you do whatever you want and to all a good night"

Does that rub you the wrong way like it does me? Do we really need to be encouraged to forget about the rules and just do whatever we want, whatever feels right? Don't we do that enough as it is? Isn't that what has caused EVERY problem we have in this world? We do our own thing too much and it leads to; hurt, pain, frustration, anger, sadness, etc.

I was a marketing major in college, so I understand not wanting to limit advertising just to people who celebrate Christmas. In fact, I have no problem whatsoever with Target, WalMart, Macys, etc. advertising holiday sales instead of Christmas sales and with them instructing their employees to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. These retailers exist to sell things and it is legitimate business to not exclude portions of the population. What does bother me are the messages that are put out like the one above from the GAP in an attempt to be inclusive of everyone (at least I think that is what they are trying to do).

We receive hundreds, even thousands of messages a day all trying to tell us something, trying to impact how we see things. I think most people are oblivious to these messages, they take them in and it shapes their thinking without even knowing it. I am trying to be more sensitive to God and what He wants for me and often times it is a struggle to choose what He wants instead of what I want or have been told I should want or should have. The Bible says that we are to be in the world but not of the world. That means that we are to live here, have relationships here, be salt and light here, but, we are not to think like the world thinks or act like the world acts. Pay attention to the messages that are being given to you and filter them through what the Bible says.

Anticipation

2009-12-15T16:33:00.000-08:00

There has been some anticipation, some cautious optimism in my house recently. These feelings aren't all that uncommon this time of year being the Christmas season and all. However, the anticipation and the optimism had nothing to do with Christmas but instead had to do with the decision of 21 or 22 year old college student. My son and I were eagerly awaiting the announcement of whether Jake Locker would return to school for his senior season on the Husky football team or if he would enter the NFL draft where he would make millions of dollars. I know that this seems really silly to many (if not all) of you but we were waiting much like kids (and even adults) wait to see what they are getting for Christmas. We got what we wanted in this instance which was that he would return to the team. The problem is that next year that choice will no longer be available, he will have to move on to the NFL or somewhere else.

That's the problem with anticipating things like whether Jake Locker returns or not or most of the other things that we anticipate. What are you anticipating, what are you hoping for? Is it gifts under the tree, the departure of your latest illness, the return home of a loved one, kids, grand kids, a spouse - what is it that you are looking forward to? All of these things can be great, but, they all fall short of what we should ultimately anticipate. I am as guilty as anyone of fixing my eyes on things that don't last but my desire is to fix my eyes on what does last, what I can always count on and that is Jesus.

The Christmas season and end of the year is a common time for people to reflect on what is important, what we want to do differently, what our hopes and dreams are. As such, I encourage you to spend some time this year reflecting on these things, then ask yourself "where am I focused?" or "what am I focused on?". If you are like me, you may notice that your focus needs frequent adjustment, it needs to be refined. I am constantly needing to remind myself to adjust my focus and put it back on Jesus, I encourage you to do the same.

Viewpoints

2009-12-08T10:44:00.000-08:00

Maybe I'm becoming a prude in my old age. I went to a movie this past weekend and was bothered by it. Now usually when I am bothered by a movie it is because it has nudity or sexual activity or perhaps if the violence is over the top. That wasn't the case with this movie, I don't think there was even one woman in the movie and although there was violence it wasn't over the top. What bothered me about this movie was the message that it sends to those that watch it (of the other 10 or so people in the theater many of them were young which makes it even more disappointing). The message was essentially that you don't have to be completely good or righteous you just need to be more good than bad. Now this is certainly not the only movie that gives this sort of message, there are and have been over the years, many such movies.

I think that it may have bothered me so much because I see hints of it in my own life. Comparison and justification are tools that I use to make myself feel better or look better to others. I am sure that you have heard people justify their behavior before or excuse their behavior by comparing it with others who are worse. The problem with those comparisons and justification is that we are using our own standards when we do that, we are trying to categorize our sins. God doesn't have a sin scale where as long as you don't do any of the sins in the top 5 you are OK. All sin separates us from God and nothing that we DO can earn us favor with Him. Our only comparison should be Jesus Christ. He lived the PERFECT life that we can't live and because we can't live that perfect life, HE died for us so we would no longer be separated from God if we choose to accept what Jesus did and give Him control of our lives.

The main character in this movie was willing to help steal 42 million dollars as long as nobody got hurt, after all, he needed it, he maybe even deserved it (according to his thinking). Then when things went bad and people started getting hurt, he fought against his buddies, his cohorts and became the good guy. While many of his actions were admirable and courageous, HE WAS STILL WILLING TO STEAL $42,000,000. What are you justifying, what are you excusing by comparing it with other people who are worse on the "sin scale"? On our own we fall short, no matter how "good" we are. My desire is to stop justifying my sin and stop minimizing my sin and to truly follow Jesus, will you join me in this challenge?

Looking Back

2009-11-30T09:07:00.000-08:00

I got an email last week from someone that I was introduced to through a mutual friend. This guy is feeling that God has something different in store for him and is trying to figure out what it might be and how to know if it is really God putting these things on his heart or not. We were introduced because our mutual friend knew my story of becoming a pastor and felt that the journey started in a similar fashion and thought that I might be able to help this other friend of his. I agreed to help in whatever way I could so that resulted in the email I received last week.

Do you ever look back over your life or periods of your life and see the areas where God has been working? Some of those areas are probably fairly easy to spot and some are probably a little more hidden. Often times though, you don't really see what God is doing as he is doing it but instead you see if when you look back at it later on. That's kind of what happened for me as I tried to answer the questions in the email. I had to look back over the last several years as I explained the process of how I went from a guy in the corporate world to an Associate Pastor. As I looked back I could see the times and places where God was preparing me for His plan. There were various points along the way where I thought I knew His plan but it turns out what He wanted was something different. That is pretty common in my life, I think I know the plan but soon find out that I was wrong. God is never wrong! He never wastes anything!

I don't know how helpful I was in my response to the questions I received, afterall, everyone's journey is different, but, I'd like to end this post the same way I ended my email, hopefully it will be helpful to you; "Listen to what God is saying to you and pursue Him and whatever He is calling you to as best as you can, especially if it is pulling you out of your comfort zone. It is only when we are stretched that we can truly grow and only when we give up control that we can truly follow."

All or Nothing

2009-11-24T14:19:00.000-08:00

I had a brief conversation about the Word of God (the Bible) a couple of days ago and the topic of whether it is without error. It is my belief that the Bible, in it's original form, is in fact without error - it is infallible or inerrant. Many people throughout the world do not believe that the Bible is inerrant so they choose not to believe it, not to follow it. What I find strange is the people that profess to be Christians (followers of Jesus) yet don't believe that the Bible is 100% true. If any of the Bible is untrue, how can the rest of it be believed or followed? If we can't trust the word of God how can we follow Him? If the Bible is not 100% true it becomes simply a book with some good morals or suggestions.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that "all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." The Bible came from God Himself and is necessary for us to be "thoroughly equipped". 2 Peter 1:20-21 says; "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." God wrote His word through man, much like I have written these words through a computer keyboard. Man was just the tool that was used and had no more impact on what was written than the keys on my keyboard had on what I have written.

I think we all like to pick and choose which parts of the Bible we choose to follow and which we deliberately disregard or perhaps just ignore. But, if you believe that the entire Bible is inerrant, like I do, you don't have the luxury of disregarding or ignoring it. The Bible is the 100% true word of God please join me in trying to live it out and share it with others.

Don't Miss the Present

2009-11-18T08:56:00.000-08:00

There are times in my life where I have been so focused or concerned about what is going to happen or what I wanted to happen that I didn't really pay a whole lot of attention to what was actually happening. After watching the movie "Up" with my kids last night, I realized that the main character, Carl, did the same thing. He wanted so badly to go on an adventure with his wife to Paradise Falls that it became his focus. Near the end of the movie we see Carl looking at his wife's "adventure book" feeling like a failure because he wasn't able to take her to their dream place so she could complete the "things I'm going to do section" of her book. As he is closing the book, he realizes that there are pictures in that section that he didn't know about. His wife had put pictures of their life in that section, her adventure had been their life together. He was so focused on his idea or dream of what their adventure would be that he missed the actual adventure of living life with his wife.

The apostle Paul struggled through this problem of being so focused on the future that you miss the present with the church in Thessalonica. Some of the people were so focused on Jesus' return that they stopped working so they could wait for the second coming of Jesus. These people were so excited and eager for the future to come that they stopped living in the present. We do this too. We get so focused on finishing school, getting a new job, etc. that we miss what God would have for us right now.

I have been watching a new show this fall called "Flashforward" in which most everyone on the planet saw a vision of the future during a global blackout. Since waking up from this blackout people are either trying to ensure that the future happens as they saw it or are trying to prevent it from happening. Everyone in the show is living based on these visions of the future which is causing them to change how they live in the present. Only God knows what will happen in the future, only God knows when Jesus will return. While it is good to think ahead or to plan ahead, it is not good to do it at the expense of NOW. Since we do not know when Jesus will return we are to live as if it could happen at any moment, we are to be ready. It is impossible for us to be ready if we are so focused on the future that we miss the present. God has a plan for you for however long you are here or until he comes back, that plan includes today. Don't miss it!

Comfortable

2009-11-10T13:02:00.000-08:00

I have wanted chairs like these for quite some time. They aren't all that practical for a family (especially if you only have 3 chairs and 5 people in your family) but they sure are comfortable. Look how far that middle chair is reclining. These would be great for me as I watch football, watch movies (I do more of both of those things than I should admit), or just take a snooze on a blustery fall day. The best ones are the ones with the power buttons to bring up the leg rest and to recline. And look at the cup holders, 4 cup holders for 3 chairs, I could have my diet coke right there ready for me and wouldn't even have to lean over to grab it off a table.

Last night I was deeply challenged by Luke 9:57-62 during a devotional time at our Elder Board Meeting. This passage is about the cost of following Jesus and it reminded me that my life is essentially symbolized by these chairs. I love to be comfortable. Not sitting on a soft seat in a warm house comfortable, but rather, living life without really risking anything comfortable. Most of my life has been lived that way. I tend to avoid things that I think I will fail at or look silly doing. It is hard to risk and avoid failure and/or embarrassment, so, I typically choose the avoidance of failure/embarrassment.

That's not what Jesus calls us to however. Instead, he calls us to step out of the comfort of the boat onto the water. Even when we feel like we have been stretched and gone beyond where we thought we could go, Jesus doesn't leave us there. That's a hard thing and an amazing thing about following Jesus. It can be hard, at first, to see the reward in the "risk vs. reward" equation. But, look back at your life at the times where you have truly followed Jesus into something that felt risky, uncomfortable or even dangerous and what do you see? While it may have been all of those things, it was probably also one of the most rewarding and/or life shaping things you have experienced, right? I look back at my life and I am doing things now that I would never have done 10 years ago, 5 years ago or even 2 years ago. I mean seriously, 10 years ago I never would have guessed that I could or would be a pastor and what on a national level would be considered a medium to large sized church. 2 years ago, I never would have guessed that I would be comfortable driving in to a homeless "encampment" (by myself) to drop someone off after taking them grocery shopping and then sticking around even longer to visit with their "neighbors".

I am an admitted "chicken", but I am also someone that wants to be more like Christ and my hope is that I am willing to trust Him enough to be obedient to His call no matter the potential risk or lack of comfort. I pray that for you as well.

Giving Thanks

2009-11-03T15:08:00.000-08:00

We (Crosswater) will be doing a series on Gratitude in a couple of weeks and because I am preaching the first sermon, I have been doing some reading and thinking in order to prepare. Doing so has helped me to realize a few things;

I don't do a great job of recognizing my blessings

Even when recognized I don't do a good job of expressing my thankfulness for my blessings

In order to say Thank You, there must be a you to thank and the ultimate object of Thanks should be Jesus

Because of these 3 things, I have been trying to do a better job of recognizing things I am thankful for, expressing that thankfulness and acknowledging who I should thank.

Today I am particularly thankful for my kids. Don't get me wrong, I am always thankful for my kids but today I have thought about it even more due to a phone call (actually 3 phone calls) from my youngest, Halle. Tonight is Dads and Kids pizza night at school and Halle called me (with help from mom) to ask me to take her. I had known about this event for awhile but wasn't planning on attending, after all I don't really need more things taking up my time. But when your 5 year old little sweetie calls you up and asks you to take her and nothing else is going on to prevent us going, how can I say no. After telling her that yes we can go I got to thinking how great it is that she (and my other two kids) wants to spend time with me. 10 years from now I may not be able to say that as she will be 15 and spending time with dad probably won't be high on her list of things she would like to do. But it is not 10 years from it is today, pizza day, and I get to spend the evening with my kids, for that I am very grateful. Thank you God for my kids, for blessing me with them and for loving them so much more than even I do.

Throw Away People

2009-10-26T12:56:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the movie "The Dark Knight", the second in the "new" series of Batman movies? In it there are two ferries rigged with explosives, one is filled with convicted criminals (and guards), the other is filled with "normal" people. Each ferry is given a time limit to decide whether to blow up the other ferry or if time expires have both ferries blow up. Some of the discussion on the "normal" ferry essentially revolved around the fact that the criminals on the other ferry don't deserve to live as much as the "normal" people so they should go ahead and blow up the other ferry before they get killed themselves.

I think we as a society have a tendency to treat certain people or groups as throw away people. Whether they are drug addicts, alcoholics, criminals, homeless, etc. we don't really see them as being on the same level as us normal people. Many consider these "throw away people" as beyond help or worse not even worth helping. Jesus experienced that mindset too. Mark 2:15-17 tells of a time when Jesus was eating with the tax collectors and "sinners" (side note - whenever Jesus ate with anyone he was eating with sinners) and the Pharisees were quite upset that Jesus would have the nerve to eat with these throw away people. Jesus actually made a habit of hanging out with sick people, tax collectors, prostitutes, yet the religious leaders of his time thought that he was wrong for doing so. Many people today feel the same way.

On Friday I had the honor of officiating the funeral service of one of these "throw away people", only she wasn't throw away. Her name was Paula Stierns and she lived in Sultan with her husband Sterno and her dog Bubba-Do. Most people who saw Paula the last several years of her life probably didn't look beyond her homelessness and her alcoholism. Many probably saw her as a throw away person, or worse yet didn't even see her because it wasn't worth it to them to even acknowledge that she was there. Someone hit and killed Paula a couple of weeks ago as she was crossing a bridge in Sultan no more than a couple of hundred feet from where she "lived". That person has still not been caught and has not come forward. The story has received some news coverage but I can't help but think that if a "normal" mom, wife, sister had been killed in a hit and run it would have received much more coverage. Although we only knew Paula as a homeless person that struggled with alcohol and almost died at least twice largely because of the lifestyle she chose to live, we didn't see her as throw away. Paula was a real person with real problems but Paula was also someone who loved others, who wanted to help, who would share what little she had so others didn't go with out. Paula was someone that Jesus loved as much as he loves any of us. Paula was someone that we loved too.

Surprise!

2009-10-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

I went to a surprise birthday party this weekend for a friend of mine. You've experienced this before right - either as one of the surprisers or as the surprisee (perhaps both sides). Some people really love surprises like that and some people really don't like surprises. How about you? A lot of work goes in to a surprise party. People have to be invited, a location chosen, food, decorations, etc. The two critical components are keeping all of the guests from ruining the surprise ahead of time and getting the guest of honor to the party without them figuring out what is going on. From what I could tell, the party on Saturday was genuinely a surprise to the birthday girl.

This morning I was coincidentally reading in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 about another surprise that is coming . Paul is talking to the Thessalonian church about Jesus returning and says it will be "like a thief in the night". That imagery doesn't quite give us the nice feeling of a surprise party though does it? None of us look forward to a thief coming in the night, there is no sense of anticipation or excitement with that. However, Paul goes on to tell the church "But you brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief." None of us know when Jesus is returning, we just know from His word that He is. If you are a follower of Jesus however, this event should be seen like a surprise party - people need to be invited (they must choose whether to accept), preparations should be made (we should follow Christ with all that we have) and we should anticipate the guest of honor arriving. Unlike our version of a surprise party where we have a reasonable idea of when the guest of honor is arriving, Jesus' arrival time is unknown to us. Rather than being an excuse to do our own thing until we figure it out, I encourage you to live a life of readiness, live for Him today and every day.

God Doesn't Give Up

2009-10-12T09:23:00.000-07:00

I am ashamed to admit that I didn't see the amazing comeback by my favorite team Saturday night. The Huskies were down by 12 with about four and a half minutes to go and they came back to win in dramatic fashion. Some of you that know me would assume that I must have been gone, had other obligations to deal with, after all, that is the only reason I ever miss a Husky game. Nope! Where was I? I was in bed. I had given up with about nine and half minutes to go with the Huskies down by 9 and Arizona driving for more points. I was too frustrated, angry even, to keep watching my team mess up. I just couldn't handle any more mistakes, any more deficiencies. Now in my defense, I mostly left because I didn't want to say anything stupid in front of my son, nor did I want to throw anything at my television, but I also doubted my team's ability to come back. I did check on the game once after I gave up, it was when our linebacker made the "immaculate interception" and ran it back for a TD giving us the lead. Surely I kept watching after that. Nope! I figured no additional good could happen (we already had the lead) but lots of bad could still happen. So, I turned off the TV and proceeded to hear my wife and my son cheer as the defense held and the Huskies won. They got to see a great comeback, they got to experience the joy that came after so much frustration, even despair. I just got to hear about it, to watch the highlights and later the last 9 minutes that I had walked out on. I gave up!

There are so many lessons that can be pulled from this story, but, the one that I have been thinking about the last couple of days is how glad I am that God is not like me. God does not give up on us. For an example of this, read the parable of the Lost Son in Luke 15:11-31. Now obviously this passage in Luke is about far more than a football team but I think we can all think of other things in our life where we have given up on someone or something. But God is not like that. If anyone has a reason to give up it would be God, right? I mean, He created us and we are constantly turning our back on Him. God has given us so much, yet, we squander it, ignore it, don't think it is enough, etc. Even though we do all of those things, God always wants us, He is always there for us, God does not give up on us. Please don't use this as justification for doing your own thing - "I can just do whatever I want and then come to God later because He always takes us back". Instead, let this encourage you to come to God NOW, seek forgiveness for all the times you have messed up, recognize that you need Him and let Him lead your life. God doesn't give up on you!

The Devil's in the Details

2009-10-05T12:09:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get so wrapped up in the details of something that you can't really see the big picture? This happens to me quite frequently. Many times this happens to me in my walk with God and in ministry. Because of my job, I do need to pay attention to details, afterall, I am the person that is in charge of implementation, operations, the day-to-day affairs of the church. I wouldn't likely be very good at my job if I didn't pay attention to details. However, many times I get so focused on the details (giving, attendance, events, budgets, etc.) that all I see is what is wrong or what didn't go as planned. I have a hard time seeing what is going right, what God is doing in and through me or in and through Crosswater.

Yesterday my perspective was changed as I had two brief conversations at church separated by about 20 minutes. In the first conversation a friend of mine pointed to the bulletin and asked if I ever get discouraged by the amount that we are behind budget for the year. I responded that I am weekly discouraged by this information (it is not literally weekly but certainly frequently). Approximately 20 minutes later he came back after being one of the counters of the morning offering and told me that he was humbled as he had just counted the most money that he had ever counted for our morning offering. Our current budget deficit was not completely erased by this offering, but it did certainly humble me and change my perspective.

I think satan uses my tendency to focus on the details and my need to focus on details to distract me from God. This week God has shown me that there is more going on than what I typically look at. He is working all around me, He is working all around you too. The challenge for me this week and going forward is to look up from the details, from the bad or negative things around me and see what God is doing because He is working, I just don't always see it. How about you, are you willing to take this challenge too?

"Customer Service"

2009-09-28T16:06:00.001-07:00

Do you ever laugh when you think of the phrase "Customer Service"? Perhaps it's not really all that funny to you depending on how long it has been since you experienced "customer service" first hand. Well, I had the opportunity to experience that oxymoron (at least sometimes it is) today when I called my DSL provider. Now I don't know about you, but I typically don't place a call to a provider like this unless there is some sort of an issue or at least a question that has caused me to call. Admittedly that usually starts the call off with me already a little frustrated. My favorite (that should be read sarcastically) is when I call and get the fun voice prompts that give you instruction. I particularly like (again read that sarcastically) the ones that give you the option of pushing a button or just saying your selection. I often find myself eventually yelling my selections because the phone system just doesn't seem to be understanding what I am trying to say. How about this one; the phone system asks you to enter your phone number or account number, which you do, then when you finally get to a real person, what is the first thing they ask for - yep, your phone number or account number. C'mon, really? Why did I just enter it if I am just going to have to give it to you again anyway?

As you may have noticed, I have some passion around the subject of "customer service". However, the point of today's blog is not to rant about "customer service" (although I do feel a little better now that I have gotten some of that off of my chest) but rather to express how different GOD is than even the best "customer service" we experience. God is always available! We never get a busy signal, we never get a voice prompt system that seems to take us in circles, we never get put on hold.

1 John 5:14 gives me encouragement, it says: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us."

God knows our desires, our frustrations, our joys, etc. before we even bring them to Him. Yet, He still wants us to come to Him, to bring these things to Him. Now this doesn't mean that we will always get what we want or that the resolution to our "problem" will be what we want it to be. But be encouraged that God wants to talk to you, He won't give you the run-a-round, He won't put you on hold. God loves you and wants relationship with you. Connect with Him!

Devine Vending Machine?

2009-09-21T12:14:00.000-07:00

I've been reading a book called "Shattered Dreams" and a few days ago I came to a part of the book where the author, Larry Crabb, claimed that some people worship God as a "divine vending machine." We are all familiar with how vending machines work, stick in the right amount and form of money push a button and out comes whatever we selected. As I read this analogy I thought, "yep, some people really do treat God that way, this is a great analogy."

Let me take the analogy a little further and see if you recognize any of the behavior. "Insert the correct spiritual change, punch the right button, and God delivers. What do you want? A new zest for life? Godly kids? Coming right up. Just stick in the right coins - daily devotions, disciplined prayer, determined obedience, faithful church attendance. God will do whatever you ask." (Shattered Dreams p. 91)

Problem is, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I too treat God this way at times - I'm a good guy, I read my bible, I try to be obedient, now I would like. . . Or what about when you put in the "correct spiritual change", make your selection and something you didn't want comes out? When that happens with a real vending machine, we may kick or hit the machine or figure out how we can get our money back. Sometimes we do the same thing with God. We stop talking to him, we get angry with him, we blame him, etc.

On my good days, I know that God is not a vending machine. I know that I cannot earn or pay for good things that I want from God. I know that just because I didn't get what I "selected" it doesn't mean that God is broken or that I didn't put in the right amount of spiritual change. But on my bad days, I get frustrated that I don't get what I want, I get upset with God for not giving me what I "deserve" (lucky for me that I don't get what I really deserve). Fortunately I am at a point in my journey where I have more good days than bad. What about you? How do you see God? Is he merely your "devine vending machine" where sometimes you get what you want and other times the "machine" breaks, or is He more than that?

Peanut Jelly and Butter

2009-09-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

Peanut Jelly and Butter? Isn't that backwards? Nope, I actually meant to write it like that. Life is kind of like that too. What seems backwards to us is actually the way God meant for it to be. God does not do things our way even though we may want him to, even beg him to. Fortunately for us, God's way is better than our way (even if it doesn't always feel like it). Only he can see the entire picture yet we look at our little piece of the picture and try to tell Him how things should be.
This is a lesson that I am constantly learning and as I continue to learn this lesson (and many others) I will attempt to share my thoughts with you here on The "Other" Pastor. I will probably also share some ramblings, things going on in my life and at Crosswater and hopefully some encouragement.
So what's with the title Peanut Jelly and Butter? Probably not all that interesting but I will tell you anyway. A few people call me PJ (Pastor Jon) and as we were talking about the idea of me doing a blog the title Pastor Jon's Blog came up which then turned into PJ's Blog which turned into PJB which kind of sounds like PB&J which of course is Peanut Butter and Jelly so then that got turned into Peanut Jelly and Butter so the acronym PJB would work. Got it? Hey, you asked!