What Can You Not Live Without?

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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.