Caught the Garter...Again

I caught the garter…again. I’m two for two this year in my wedding to garter ratio. I know what a lot of you are thinking. I am supposed to get married within a year. Since I caught a second garter…does that buy me more time? I digress. The fact is I love going to weddings. This wedding was my best friend’s little sister. I have the deepest appreciation for their family and was delighted when it worked out that I got to be there to see this momentous event take place. She was glowing. He kept winking at her. Tears filled many of our eyes at the beautiful sight that was taking place before us. I hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, told her how beautiful she looked, and congratulated her. She was happy I could be there since I live so far away. I was happy I could be there.

I was sharing this event with a brother of mine who is a spiritual warrior that I respect so much. I was cracking jokes about catching the garter again when he said, “Ryan, I remember you saying a while ago that you’re the Bride of Christ.” He often exposes the spiritual side of the jokes that I am making. I appreciate him for that. Our conversation shifted directions. I’ve been pondering his comments. He’s helped me grow a little bit more.

I was at a wedding of two people that I care a lot about and I didn’t think I would be able to make it. Not only did I get to go to the wedding but I caught the garter. I got to participate in one of the great rituals of marriage with this wonderful couple. I wasn’t even supposed to be there because I live so far away.

I was reminded of the wedding banquet that we’ll have with Jesus. We aren’t worthy of being there. Not because of distance in miles but because of the distance of sin. Jesus doesn’t just invite us as guests but He invites us to be His Holy Bride. What an honor! What delight! He brought us such a great distance so we could take part in this wedding with Him.

If you we are the Bride of Christ, what does our dress look like? Does your life reflect what you want your dress to look like? By the Grace of God, He makes it white for us if we’ll let Him.

Open Their Eyes

Have you ever sat in front of someone and they weren’t sitting in front of you? You’re talking to them; they are nodding their head, giving the occasional, “mmhmm,” but it is obvious they really aren’t with you. I’ve talked to people from New York City and they tell me about how lonely it can be. I find it hard to believe that in a city booming with so many people that you can stand alone in a crowd. They are right there next to you but you’re miles apart.

A lot of people have this view of God. You talk to Him but He just doesn’t seem to be there. You tell them that He’s standing right in front of them…all around them…but they see Him as a distant God. God created this whole shindig and then stepped away. Most people live out their lives with this view of a distant God. Why? I think it is because they have never really opened their eyes to His presence…or no one has opened their eyes to His presence.

I really love the story of Elisha and his servant in II Kings 6. Verse 17 grabs me…“And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” Elisha prayed this for his servant because he himself could see the Glory of God all around him. He then shared it.

We are the people who are in intimate relationship with God. We are the ones who see His face. We are the ones marked with His Holy Spirit. We are the temple He dwells in. We are the people who open the eyes of those around us to see God standing in front of them. How will you open someone’s eyes this week so they see that God is standing right there in front of them?

Life

We’ve been studying the book of Acts on Sunday mornings in the Youth Ministry. Acts has been a fun study for me as I’ve taught it over the past few months. There are a number of different themes that you’ll find but one that comes back more than any other. “The Message of Life” is a theme found just about on every page as you thumb through this book. This has really spoken to me as I examine my own life. Every message preached was this Message of Life. Death is involved in this Life but it isn’t the focal point.

This is where I started to examine my life and the message that I present each person I encounter. Are they hearing the Message of Life or the Message of Death when they see my reactions to daily life? What do they see when they experience my life? Death? Life?

We are the people who are the Temple. The people where Heaven meets Earth. The people who are marked by the Holy Spirit. If Heaven is the reality of the presence of God, and we have Him inside of us, do our lives reflect this Message of Life? When people experience us, they need to catch a small glimpse of Heaven. The reality of God’s Presence needs to flow out of us into the people around us. We should look different from this world because of this mark we have, the Holy Spirit.

Paul spent a lot of his time going back to the churches he had visited or planted, encouraging them. I think his encouragement would have been centered on bringing the reality of Heaven into your daily life. To live Life. To live the Message of Life.

If you were to encourage someone today what would you encourage them to do? What would you encourage them to be? How would you encourage them? What would you say? What would you do?

God, What Do You Want?

For the first time in my life I have had the ability to accumulate “stuff.” I’ve never had this ability before and I’ve been struggling with it. On one side of the stuff I see a Gospel being preached in Christendom that God blesses us with stuff when we are good followers of Him. On the other side of the stuff I’ve read a number of authors that more or less preach “God wants your stuff.” If you don’t give all of your stuff to Him then you are not really one of His disciples…you really aren’t following Him. I have some respect for this second group because I’ve actually seen many of them live it out in powerful ways…but I’m still not sure if that is what the Gospel really teaches…I’m not sure if that is what Jesus really says.

In Luke’s Gospel we find Jesus in conversation with a “Rich Young Ruler.” He asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responds with a list from the Law but the Rich Guy had kept all of those since he was a boy. Jesus then says something that I have heard people throw around a lot in terms of “Stuff.” He says in 18:22, “Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me.” It is this verse along with, “You cannot serve both God and money” found in Matt 6:27, which have been used to say that it is wrong for followers of Jesus to have stuff.

I have been struggling with this teaching for some time, and I know how controversial it can be, so I want to share a conviction and a challenge to you. Take it or leave it…I won’t judge. I don’t think Jesus wants our stuff. Somewhere in the middle of these two extreme teachings of Poverty vs Plenty we find what Jesus was really saying. In I Sam 16:7, God tells Samuel, “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

All throughout Jesus’ teachings I feel like He is echoing what God told Samuel. If you can get past what Jesus said to the Rich Guy, He then says, “I tell you the truth…no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.” It isn’t just about the stuff. It is about anything that takes your heart away from God. Go read Luke 9:57-62. Jesus encounters different people who want to follow Him but first want to take care of their stuff. He tells them at the end to focus on what is important…He wants their hearts.

Here we ask the question in Luke 18:26, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus’ answer is basically this. “If you try and be saved on your own…you’re arrogant. Give it to God. It is only possible with Him.” Here is the challenge…examine your life on a regular basis. What can you give up for a time to make sure God has your heart? Make the practice of sacrifice and depend on God…be reminded the He is God and you are not. He wants nothing more than your heart. Find ways to make sure He has it!

Chocolate Pie

I was thinking the other day about chocolate pie…not that it consumes my thoughts often…but this time of year I have to prepare myself for it. My Mother and Grandmother both make incredible chocolate pies. I have to eat a few slices of each holiday and I never reveal which chocolate pie is better…when the other is in the room. I always kiss Grandma on the cheek and tell her that hers is the best…then go and do the same thing to my mom. They get their lovin…I get my pie…we’re all happy.

Grandma still isn’t doing very well so I don’t guess I get to play my usual game with her and mom. It isn’t about the pie at all. I really look forward to seeing her but things are going to be different this year…again.

Over the past 5-6 years it seems as though my family has looked different at each Thanksgiving meal that has passed. Close family has passed on and others just cannot be with us anymore. Grandbabies have been born. I’ve moved away and everything seems to change a little bit each year. It can be hard at times and I can see where people have a hard time finding what there is to be thankful for. I know these probably aren’t the thoughts you were expecting right here before Thanksgiving but they are the thoughts I am having.

I believe life is about choices. I right now choose to be happy and thankful. My Grandmother is a Saint…a Woman of God. My brother is growing in his relationship with God. I am a Child of God which makes me part of an incredible Family that I love spending time with. I have a lot of people in my life that I am very thankful for. God has blessed me with amazing relationships.

I see where it can be hard to look at all the bad things going on in life but I am going to make the choice to look at the good. We are the people who know what is Good about everything going on in the world. We are the people who know Who is the Good that is going on in this world. Make the choice to be happy, to be thankful, and to share the Good with others so they can be happy and thankful too.

Letter From Paul

As you look through the New Testament, you see a lot of letters written from Paul, Peter, John, or one of the other Apostles to some church or some individual. Most of the time they are helping them get back to what is important. They are helping them get back to Jesus. To get back to a relationship with God…and what that really means. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says He didn’t come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. That is because everyone was missing the point.

According to the Law…I’m doing pretty good…I haven’t killed anyone all day. Jesus brings everyone back to what is important. You say you haven’t killed anyone all day…how are you doing with your anger problem? There is something deeper that Jesus is calling us to in the Sermon on the Mount. There is something deeper that the Apostles tried to call the church to than simply “doing church.” They were encouraging when they needed to be encouraging. They were blunt when they needed to be blunt. They didn’t hold back if you needed to hear what they needed to say. And they did it all out of love for God’s people.

I’ve been asking myself a question that I want to challenge you to ask as well. If Paul were to write me a letter…what would he say? If a letter were written to Northview…what would it say? Would it look like a letter in Revelation? A letter to Corinth? Philippi? Berea? What would the letter say to you/us about how we need to get back to Jesus…to what is really important?

Eye for an Eye...Really?

Good events happen in the world every day. Bad events take place in this world each day as well. Some events are good for one person and bad for another. Sporting events can be this way. Championships in particular. Elections. Vacations. Just about every kind of activity comes down to what your attitude is. I’ve been on a hiking trip where most of our time we were hiking in the rain. I loved it but one of the other guys thought it was the worst experience of his life. We react to everything that happens in life. That reaction often shows who we really are.

Whatever your reaction is to events in this world either makes this world sicker or healthier. This can either be a personal reaction to something someone says or a mass reaction to a major event that affects everyone. Sometimes a small group of loud obnoxious people react in very sick ways and poorly represent the rest of people who are also classified in their group. Many reactions in history have been done under the flag of Christianity that have made the world sicker.

There are things that Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount that annoy me at times…mostly because I know He’s right and I simply don’t want to do it. For instance in Matt 5:38-42, “You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”

When the world says, “Hit!” Jesus says, “Don’t react maliciously!” When the world says, “Steal!” Jesus says, “Make a gift out of it!” I think Jesus would even go on to say that if someone says something bad to you, tell them thank you for your opinion. As Followers of Christ we have to be careful what kind of reaction we have to everything that happens in this world. I’ve watched many of my fellow Brothers and Sisters make this world a sicker place because they did not get what they wanted and I know I’ve been there with them from time to time. A challenge to all of us…let’s let the Light of Christ shine through each of us no matter what happens in this world and let’s make this world healthier each and every day.

Spunky Little Irishman

I was walking through the streets of Dundee, Scotland one day, on my way to a Bible Study with a spunky Irishman named Arthur, when I realized that I was walking alone in one of the most dangerous parts of the city. Even though I stood out because I was an American I calmed myself because it was the middle of the day and surly bad things only happen at night right? I looked down a street as I trudged onward and saw a guy walking a few blocks away. It was at this point that I saw a mob of guys come out of the alley and beat him with bats, take his wallet and leave him for dead. I hurried my pace fearing for my life and eventually made it safely to my Bible Study with Arthur.

Studies with Arthur were always interesting. When I walked in he could tell I was troubled and asked if everything was ok. I simply told him I had a headache to which he offered me a beer. Like I said…meetings with Arthur were always interesting. We always studied what he wanted to study and this particular day he wanted to read Luke 10:25-37…The Parable of the Good Samaritan. I started to feel sick as we read through it in our group. My mind was racing. What could I have done for that guy? I even justified to myself while I walked on that I was late for a Bible Study with a spunky Irishman named Arthur. I’m thousands of miles away from my family. What if they jumped me and I died? I’ve got a long life to live. I just walked on hoping to make it to Arthurs soon.

This ate at me all day and still brings me to tears. For the first time in my life, one of Jesus’ parables played out in a very real way and I failed miserably. I remember hearing these stories in youth group and being asked which character I would be. I would always answer the correct answer because that is what an “expert in the law” does.

When Jesus said the things that He said, did He really mean them? The expert in the law in this passage answered Jesus correctly but did he walk away thinking, “I don’t think Jesus really meant that.” Jesus calls us to be the Samaritan who cared. He calls us to be the Prostitute who washes his feet. He calls us to pick up our cross and follow Him. He doesn’t really mean to make us uncomfortable does He? Does He really want our lives to be in danger in order to show Him in very real ways to the people of this world? God spoke to me through a spunky little Irishman named Arthur that day…and I think He said, “Yes!”

Who Are You?

At a Youth Ministry conference I was at back in January, one of the speakers said something that has been very challenging for me. “You need to know who you are outside of being a minister,” is the comment that I’ve been struggling with for the past seven months. Ministry is my life. There isn’t much more to it than that. I began to have a better understanding when I was hiking on the Appalachian Trail. When you’re on the trail you are just a hiker. No one asks you who you are or what your vocation is. It isn’t often that I get to set “who I am” aside and just be Ryan.

We consume ourselves with identity and live accordingly. We are…doctors, nurses, teachers, students, retired, salesmen, etc. We get to a point that we cannot really see ourselves as anything else. What we do becomes our identity. There is a great need in our lives to be recognized as Children of God…to find our identity as Children. I can only speculate what life would be like if we were to fully embrace our identity as Children as our full identity…and then find ourselves working our jobs within the realm of this identity.

One of my favorite stories in British history is the story of King Canute the Great. His Nobles and Officers often praised how great he was. They showered him with praise so much that Canute grew tired of their foolish speeches. One day he was by the seashore, and his officers and nobles were with him…continuing to shower him with praise. He had them bring his throne to the waters edge. As he sat down he asked them, “Am I the greatest man in the world?” They called out, “Yes! There is no one as mighty as you.” He did this for a while to the point where he looked out at the water and cried out, “Sea, I command you to come no farther! Waves, stop your rolling, and do not dare to touch my feet!"

The tide came in as it always did. Water rising higher and higher till it came up around King Canute’s throne…wetting not only his feet but his robe as well. He then stood up, taking off his crown, he walked over to the sanctuary and laid it at the feet of Jesus on the cross. He turned to his nobles and officers and said, “I will never wear this crown again. There is only one King who is all-powerful. He is who shall be praised above all others.”

In order to know who I am outside of being a minister, I must lay that crown down at the feet of Jesus. Jesus challenges us to take up our cross and die to ourselves. Ultimately we must remove the crown of our identity and be identified as Children of God. We then look to God and say, “Where do you need me in your Kingdom?” He will make you whatever He needs you to be.

Walk This Way

Growing up I’m sure we’ve all looked at the Bible and said, “Why all the rules?” The reality is...a lot of us still ask this question. It is the basic question the world asks us. Does Jesus simply not want us to have any fun? Is the grumpy old man in the sky upset by us feeling good and enjoying life? The questions could get worse I guess…but we’ll leave it where it is. I feel like there is something more than just an exchange of Old Testament Rules for New Testament Rules.

In Matthew 5:17 Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” He then spends the next bit of time turning the world of Jewish thought on its head and calls us not to be rule followers but to be Salt and Light in this bland and broken world. He says, “Walk This Way.”

Before Jesus ever says anything about “Walk This Way” He gives a quick glimpse of what it looks like to be Children of God in this broken world. He gives us the Beatitudes. This past weekend, eight Youth Ministers and 250 teens from all over the Carolinas explored what it means to “Walk This Way” in terms of what Jesus calls us to through the Beatitudes. The weekend retreat at the beach was incredible…even if it was in the 60’s and rainy. One of the greatest things in youth ministry is to see this many teens get together to worship God. His Spirit filled the whole weekend. The teens were challenged to the deeper life that Jesus calls us to through the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount…simply…they were challenged to “Walk This Way!”

Talk to someone who was there. Find out where they were encouraged to grow. Ask where God spurred them in their Walk. The challenge for you now is to pick up Matthew 5-7 and let Jesus’ Words mold you into a deeper way of living. Let Jesus teach you to be Salt and Light. Let Jesus show you how to “Walk This Way!”

Where Is Your Stone

I am a fan of rocks…let’s face it…they rock! Ok…I know…really bad joke. Hear me out anyway. I never really like learning about them in school but I am fascinated by them. How can a huge bolder just sit there the way it is? How does it then become a tiny pebble? Some are jagged. Some are made for kids with short attention spans…they sparkle! Some are smooth…these are the ones that intrigue me the most. How does a coarse stone become pure smooth like that?

At our “Walk This Way” Beatitudes retreat this weekend I was given the topic “Blessed are the pure in heart” to speak about Saturday night. I started looking at the heart as if it were a stone that needed to be made smooth. What would it be like to try and smooth a rock with your hands? Would it be possible? Even if you were able to get one area smooth would you accomplish pure smoothness?

The Pharisees constantly tried to smooth themselves out through “Righteous Living” and completely missed the point of why the Law was put in place in the first place. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls His followers to a deeper way of living. The way of a transformed heart. When you might pat yourself on the back and say, “Look at how righteous I am…I haven’t killed anyone all day,” Jesus says, “How is your anger?” He makes you go deeper into your existence and look at the heart of the matter in all things. “You say don’t commit adultery. I say don’t look lustfully on a woman.” It isn’t just about your action but about the center of your being…your heart!

Time for reality…YOU CAN’T DO IT! That is hard to swallow but you can’t. Paul in Romans 7 talks about his struggle with the Law and cries out in verse 24, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” Then answers in the next verse, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” It is Jesus who transforms our jagged hearts into the pure heart that we’ve been called to. But how does this happen? (Stop and read Roman 8:1-17…it’ll change your life)

Jesus promises the woman at the well, in John 4, “Living Water” and then a few chapters later in John 7:38 He says, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” And again in Revelation 7:17 “For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water.”

Jesus calls us to take our stones and throw them in the river of Living Water to let His current run over them every day. He calls us to immerse our stones…to baptize our hearts in His Living Water and let His Word, His Spirit, His current smooth out and make pure our rough hearts. Where is your stone? In your hand or in the River?

GPS

All throughout the Bible…especially in the Jewish mindset…God is never explained by who He is but by what He does or what He is like. From time to time we see something and it makes us think about God. We see a father throwing his kid in the air with joy. A mother consoling her child. In an old woman’s eyes. In nature. The stars. The ocean. His reminder is all around us.

One of my favorite things is when God reveals Himself in the oddest of places. I’ve had a GPS (Global Positioning System) in my car for almost a year now and it has been an interesting trip figuring it out. When you set your destination, the GPS provides you a map with a purple line that you simply follow. What happens often is that you get distracted and miss a turn. What the GPS then does is changes your course giving you new direction to get to your destination. Sometimes it simply tells you to turn around and get back on the right path.

What I love so much about God is that when you take a wrong turn in your life He says, “I can work with this” and then gives us new direction to get from where we are to our Destination. When you look through the story of Israel you see this happen over and over again. God has a destination for them but they always want to go another direction. Abraham and Sarah were promised a son but they were tired of waiting so Abraham had Ishmael with Hagar. God said He would work with it. All through the story of Israel you find mess up after mess up and God continued to work with them to bring them to their destination.

“Make a U-Turn as soon as possible…” my GPS will shout at me over and over and over again. There is simply no other way but to turn around and go back to the last turn you missed. Sometimes we make such a bad turn that God has to simply turn us around. Israel spent so much time in the wilderness learning a relationship with God and when they finally made it to the Promise Land…they made a wrong turn. God’s response? “Make a U-Turn as soon as possible!” They had to go back to the wilderness to find their direction again.

Listen to God and see where He is guiding you where you are right now. Follow Him. When you miss a turn…look for the next one He brings you to. He’ll take you to your destination…Heaven.

Jesus Be My Guide

Every year we do a Family White Water Rafting Trip on the Nantahala River (this year being my third since I’ve been here). With my love for adventure and the outdoors, I look forward to this trip each year. It is a great weekend of family, fellowship, fun, adventure…and as always…“injuries make memories” which has more or less become an unspoken motto for the Nantahala Trip. This year we had a great time with record numbers and many visitors (110 total I believe with 86 rafting).

The two rafts I took down the river were two of the best rafts I have ever had the pleasure of guiding. I was thinking back as to why those rafts…at the average age of 13…did so well. Unity. Unity was key in those rafts doing well. Before ever getting in the water they were given one simple instruction…paddle together.

Every once in a while someone would ask, “Are we going right or left?” and the response from Philip Travis and I would be, “You paddle…we will guide.” I heard another guide talk about their group and he said that when he said that they were going to the right someone said they wanted to go left and started paddling against everyone else. Needless to say…they got stuck on a rock. Sunday morning we talked a lot about fellowship, unity, and Jerry challenged us to let Jesus be our River Guide.

The more I thought about that the more I thought about the boats I had the privilege to guide. Life is a lot easier when we just keep paddling with everyone else and let Jesus be our guide. We may not all look the same in the way we paddle but we can all paddle in the same direction.
Hebrews 10:23-25 says, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Why We Gather

While at home, a good friend gave me the book, "Evil and the Justice of God" by N.T. Wright. He said I’d like it so he wanted me to have it. After a few weeks I finally picked it up and read it in about six days because I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend picking it up and reading it for yourself. There are a number of things I could share from this book but I want to focus on one thought that really has hit me this week while reading…

The Gospels do not offer any kind of philosophical explanation of evil, what it is or why it is there, nor do they give any suggestion for how we might change our lives so that evil might mysteriously disappear from the world. What the Gospels give us is the story of an event in which the Living God deals with evil. The cross is God’s eternal “no” to the problem of sin. Often we look at the world in terms of Good and Evil…us being “Good” and them being “Evil” but what one must realize is that the line between good and evil runs through the middle of me…of every one of us…and it is in this that the Gospels proclaim that the death of Jesus is “for me,” in my place and on my behalf. This is where the personal meaning of the cross becomes very clear…that there will be a time when I, the greatest of sinners, will be totally sinless, when God has completed the work of grace within me!

When we gather around the LORD’s Table we are reminded of this. At the supper the King shares His life with His friends, more particularly, solemnly makes them the beneficiaries of His kingdom-bringing death. What was accomplished in His death and resurrection, according to the early Christians, is the foundation, the model, and the guarantee of God’s ultimate purpose…which is to rid the world of evil altogether and to establish His new creation of justice, beauty, and peace. Every time we come together around the table we are reminded of what we are here for. That we are taking part in the death that must take place for us to stand sinless before God and that our purpose is to rid the world of sin through introducing them to the Creator who wants them back.

Focus on the Light

I was sitting in a little office with my cute little blue hairnet on answering questions and cracking jokes about the possibility of my eyes getting bigger after my surgery when I was called into the next room. The nurse looked up at me, smiled and said, “Just look at the light” and handed me a little blue pill. Looking at a little light seemed like a simple thing to do so I went on with things.

After some tests I walked into a room filled with white-masked people whose eyes were smiling as they told me to lie down. The doctor kept repeating those same words to me as he informed me everything that was going on. “Just keep looking at the light” was all I had to do…what is this tape their putting on me…no just look at the light. This liquid feels funny…I can’t feel anything but I’m looking at the light…Is this sucking on my eye…its ok…focus on the light…that sure is an interesting brush touching my eye ball…then the light got dim…that’s when the lightning show started inside my eye…here comes the cold fluid and now I can see the light more clearly again…That wasn’t all that bad…Just kept looking at the light.

That was the first eye…then the valium kicked in and it was even harder to focus on the light. It really seemed like the light kept moving around on me the second time and I had to be reminded more often to keep focusing on the light. The reality is that the light stayed in the same place…I just kept getting distracted by all the little things coming into my view…and it didn’t help that I was a little more relaxed the second time.

The truth is that I find this to be true in my life on a regular basis. It seems so easy…Just look at the light. Nothing about getting distracted by all the things that come into view seem to have any benefit to my life at all yet distraction comes easily. Jesus said in John 8:12, “I AM the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” As distraction comes easily to each of us, let us encourage one another to “Just look at the Light” and everything will come out clear in the end.

Let's Be Conservative!

One of the hottest topics in the Bible Department back in College was the topic of whom or which group was deemed “Liberal.” I didn’t like it…it irritated me. When asked, I’d give a smartelic response like, “I’m a conservative liberal” or “I’m liberally conservative.” I’ve never liked the game much…the finger pointing that is. I was once called a liberal because my hair was long and I’ve been called a conservative because I didn’t clap (mostly because I can’t ever find the beat). I could never figure out what the guidelines were for my Christianity. From what I could see through experiences with people in college, you were labeled one way or the other based on an individuals “centering view.”

I don’t know why but this topic has been on my mind a lot over the past month. The hot topic in American churches are whether or not you are liberal or conservative so I thought I’d try and define it for myself so I can better answer people when they ask. I decided to look up the definition of “Liberal” to give me a good starting point. The best definition I could find for being liberal means, “to give less emphasis on the literal interpretation of Scripture.”

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment in the Law was, He replied, “Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And the second greatest is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:36-40). In a way…Jesus would define conservative and liberal based on this command. We’ve been called to Love God and Love Others. If you are fulfilling that…consider yourself a conservative. If you are not…you are a liberal.

Youth Groups are often slapped with a big “L” in the brotherhood. A close eye is kept on Youth Ministries and their liberal antics. In the last month I’ve seen the teens I’ve been blessed to work with, act more conservatively than many Christian groups I’ve encountered. In the last month these teens have: built three houses, distributed 10 soccer balls to kids who have nothing, give out enough food to feed 1800 people for 2-3 weeks in Honduras, sort clothes in Charlotte that will clothe families for years to come, organize food that will feed the starving in the Charlotte area, hug the lonely, play with needy children, and much much more. I am proud of how conservative your teens are. They have taught me a lot about what is means to Love God and Love others.

It is easy to be conservative when you are on a mission trip or at workcamp. My fear is that we will become liberals when we run into someone on the street, when one of our own gets pregnant out of wedlock, or do nothing but slander our brothers and sisters because they have a different ideal than we do. Let’s be conservative in whatever we do for the least of these brothers of mine.

Grin Like Jesus

The bus took us as far as it could up the hill. We had to walk the rest of the way. Zigzagging between make shift huts we found ourselves in a small opening where a pile of lumber rested. There were many small huts built with scrap wood left over from logs being cut down into lumber. Almost every hut was accompanied by a small house (about 3 times bigger than the hut) of nicer wood that looked much like the lumber we had in the pile before us.

In this area of the little community of Mogote, almost every family had a new home built by teenagers like ours. The family standing before us had torn down part of their old house and were living in a very small space with a curtain for a door, anticipating the arrival of God’s Hands to build them a new home. We were warmly welcomed as if we were family. The kids wanted to do nothing but hug on us. All of these scenes on our first building day are etched in my memory very clearly.

Sylvia, from the Mogote Church of Christ, is a joy filled woman who was excited about us being there to build this family a house. She was excited because God’s Hands from Oklahoma built her house. God’s Hands from somewhere else built her neighbors house. And the house after that. And so on. She was joy filled that her friend was now finally going to get to experience the joy that they had been feeling for some time now.

Sylvia taught me something that day. I saw Jesus in her. I saw in her the excitement the Jesus gets when someone finally gets a new house. I don’t feel like I get excited enough when I find out that someone just got a New House from the Hand of God. These people were ready to celebrate with this family because of their new found joy. At some congregations all you find are some hearty amen’s and if the congregation is gutsy enough…clapping. I’ve been rethinking the whole baptism/giving your life to Jesus thing. Why not throw a party? Celebrate it every year as a bigger deal than your physical birth? Would it mean more to us later in life if we acted like it is as big of a deal as we believe it is? I want to be more excited like Sylvia. I want to grin like Jesus.

Minor Prophet in Major Ways

From time to time Dan and I will have a recurring conversation. We’re both glad the God doesn’t have His prophets today do the things they used to do to get His message across to His people. It is nice being able to provide examples of what God is doing rather than have to live them out. Go back and read some of the things God had His prophets do and you’ll understand.

Prophets also weren’t terribly liked by too many people. Mostly they brought news of everything bad going to happen because of their corrupt lives. You never really heard anyone from ancient Israel say, “Hey Zephaniah! How about you join me and my family after Synagogue for a bite to eat…if we hurry we can beat the Pharisees to lunch.” Most of their time was spent alone.

I was reading through the book of Daniel and I ran across an event that I had never read before. According to Daniel 5:1-31, during a drunken feast, King Belshazzar of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar’s successor) takes sacred golden and silver vessels, which came from the Jewish Temple, and worshiped the gods of gold with them, blaspheming Yahweh. Suddenly the King became very frightened, and sobered I’m sure, by the sight of a human hand suddenly appearing and writing on the wall.

The phrase “Writing On the Wall” came from this story (I didn’t know that before). Daniel, being that he was a prophet, was called to explain the Writing On the Wall which basically said, “God has numbered your days…you don’t measure up…and your kingdom will be divided.” So much for the party.

The king could have asked Daniel earlier if there was something that he should know and Daniel could have told him these things before he made a drunken scene that finally put him over the edge a bit. The reality is…people don’t go to the prophet and ask for a synopsis of everything that is wrong with them.

We’re called, as a family, to spur one another on (Heb 10:24) but we often don’t want to play the role of the prophet. All of us can think back to sins of our childhood that we got caught doing. I am thankful for my parents stepping in on the things that could have been life altering and caused the Writing to be on the Wall in my life. We’re called to be prophets to one another from time to time, even if it makes us unpopular with those who are closest to us. “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.” – Matthew 18:15

Big D little d

We just got back from an amazing week at Senior IMPACT on Saturday. I wasn’t sure what to expect from a theme like “The Day of Reckoning” but lives were changed and I pray that our family will be blessed because of it. The worship was simply incredible this past week and I am blessed so much by getting to worship with young people. God did amazing things this week.

The Day of Reckoning is mentioned often through scripture. You will find days of Reckoning with a small “d” and then there is the Day of Reckoning with the BIG “D.” Jesus often challenges us with the small “d” days of Reckoning to prepare us for the BIG “D” Day. My views on Judgment Day have changed so much this past week as we were challenged to dig deep into its meaning. My understanding of different passages has changed as well.

In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus has a run in with the Pharisees (as He often does) and they claim that He is casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub. Jesus goes on to preach to them about the words they use in regards to God’s work through the Holy Spirit. Matthew 12:30-32, Jesus speaks about blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, that it is forgivable for them to speak against the Son of Man but not against the Holy Spirit. Jesus then challenges them to look deep within themselves, “…for a tree is recognized by its fruit.” How can a bad tree produce good fruit? Search deep within yourself and see if your roots are good for producing fruit for the Day of Judgment is coming. Out of the heart the mouth speaks Truth in this world.

The last speaker this week spoke about being a light in this dark world. He stood in a spotlight and kept sweeping the area where the light was to keep up his Christian cosmetics. His challenge to us, and my challenge to you, is to find the areas where you are simply maintaining your Christian cosmetics and see how you can become the light that illuminates this world and isn’t simply maintained. Hide it under a bushel? NO! I’m gonna let it shine! Go deep to your roots and take care of the deeper parts of the tree and become healthy and fruitful.

Clean House

It isn’t any kind of rumor that I allow clutter to well…clutter. I have an amazing ability to set something down and not pick it up again till sometime closer to the Eschaton. I also have developed the ability, through rigorous training mind you, to look past the clutter and sit at my desk to get my work done. For those of you that have seen my office over the past month or so are probably wondering how I can ignore the calamity. I don’t like it. As much as I don’t want to admit it, the ability to clutter is one of my worst attributes (can I get an Amen from my Mom?).

I didn’t say all that to simply point out something that many of you have probably been pointing out for a while. I just wanted to come out and say that I do actually come to a point where I finally look up, see the clutter, and desire to do something about it. I’m at that point now and I think Haggai got me there this past week.

In my last post as we looked into the Minor Prophet Haggai, we found God was a bit upset that His house wasn’t built because everyone was too concerned with everything but Him. The challenge from this is that God wants to sit on the Throne of your Heart but often we try to put the wrong blocks in the wrong holes, things get all messed up and we’ve left Him have left no room to sit. The God’s House image carries on to my clutter problem. Most of you don’t share my clutter problem as far as stuff goes but do you share the problem that most of us have of a cluttered schedule? I would venture to say that we all have a few things that we could cut out to de-clutter our schedules. Think about some things that you could quit for this month in order to de-clutter the Throne Room and put God back in His place in your heart.

The few times I have watched T.V. in the last year I’ve watched the show “Clean House.” I think I enjoyed the show because it made me feel good. I’m not nearly as bad as the people they get to be on this show. Some of the things these people hold on to are unbelievable. They plead, beg, yell, scream, and even from time to time they bribe these people into getting rid of their junk. Five years from now you won’t be missing that bellybutton lint collection…just give it up! At the end…it all works out. The house looks amazing. The turning point in the show is when they make the people get out of the house so they can actually get their work done (insert spiritual metaphor here).

Sometimes we need someone to come in and convince us to get rid of the junk. Not just in our houses or offices but in our schedules. We need to de-clutter all areas of our lives so that God can move back into His house. Summer is a great time to make changes in schedules. Get up thirty minutes earlier and have a cup of beverage of choice with God. Cut out one of your TV shows and go for a walk with God. As a family, go off for quiet time and get together to talk about what you read. Do it for a month and see how your life changes. I wonder if we stepped out of our “house” for a time and let God do His thing…would He help us get rid of our clutter? Let’s clean house!

Whose House Is This?

I had a cool little game as a kid that I remember playing at my Grandparent’s house. I’m sure they have some updated version of this game with flashing lights and sound effects but I guess I was on the cutting edge of awesome games since my blocks weren’t black and white. Anywho…this game was a simple one. The game consisted of a box with different shaped holes and inside the box there were shapes that would fit inside each hole. The object of the game was to be able to figure out which block went inside which hole. It was rather complicated. From time to time I’ll still drag it out and see if I can finish it.

I remember my old youth minister talking about how there is a “God shaped hole in your heart that can only be filled by God.” It always reminded me of that game I used to play with the blocks. Every once in a while I’d see if I could fit the round block into the star hole just to see if the tables had turned…you never know about those things…but it never worked. We spend so much time trying to fill ourselves with things that are not God and no matter how much we push, the blocks just don’t fit.

I think C.S. Lewis said it best in Mere Christianity, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” We are constantly chasing desire after looking for things that do not measure up to God only to find out that He is what we need. God wants to be seated on the Throne of Your Heart but the problem is when He gets there He usually finds it already occupied.

I decided this week to pick a Minor Prophet and camp out there for a while. Haggai has been my focus in my reading this week and has spoken so loudly things I needed to hear. The LORD spoke in 1:5-6, “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."

Israel has been trying to put the wrong blocks in the wrong holes for a while now. They can’t figure out why things won’t add up so God goes on to explain it to them in verses 7-9, “Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored. You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why? Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.”

God used to meet His people in His house, the Temple. Now His house is inside of us through the Holy Spirit. The challenge question is when you break down your day to day activities, how much time is spent building God’s house?

Did God Get Bored?

Did God get bored? This question has come up from time to time in regards to God creating us. If God is eternal…what was he doing before He created us? Did He get bored one day and decide to start a new project? There are a lot of things that are assumed when questions like this are asked. Last week I talked about God being the Creator…creating from nothing and how this sheds some light on the mystery of God. My hope is that through unpacking these questions (or mullinating on them as Dan would call it) we will catch another glimpse of the mystery of God.

What is eternity? Some would say that eternity is a limitless amount of time. With this definition there is a lot of room for boredom within the realms of eternity. This definition also opens the door for questions about our eternity. Another way of defining eternity is: Timelessness, without time, outside of time. I feel like this is a better definition because it is something that we cannot fully comprehend.

What would it be like to simply exist? To have no tomorrow? No yesterday? To live in the eternal now? Boredom couldn’t be defined because it would not exist. I don’t know if this helps explain why God created us but it helps us see that we weren’t created out of boredom. If God did create us because He was bored one day then He probably wouldn’t care much about what happened to us. We would just be another 2nd grade school project thrown together with colored tissue paper and some Elmer’s Glue and tossed after it started falling apart three and a half weeks after creation.

When the world started falling apart, because of us running away from our creator, God didn’t cast us off. He wrote His story all around us. He made things beautiful for us. He provided for us. He loved us. When we did everything we could to run from Him, He kept on loving us. He even went as far to make Himself as one of us to show us how to live. We repaid Him by killing Him in our deep refusal to have true life. He didn’t create us out of boredom…if He did we wouldn’t still be here.

I’m not sure if this opens up any windows into the mystery of God…maybe it makes Him more mysterious. I am not real sure why a God so amazing and powerful, who lives in the ever present now, would create time for us to live in, provide so much for us, when we’re going to turn around and throw it back in His face. That, to me, makes a mysterious God even more amazing…and I’m glad He did it all for me, not because He was bored but because He is love.

Dependence

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” – Genesis 1:1. This verse has been on my mind over this past week. Though the mystery of God is something that we’ll never fully understand, it is amazing how, through His Word, we are given glimpses of His face to better understand who He is…and in turn, better understand who we are and even why we are.

So…this verse has been on my mind a lot this week. I memorized Genesis 1:1 as a child. I’ve reverted back to it when asked if I had any scripture memorized. I’ve even used it as a joke to clarify that baseball is in the Bible because “In the Big Inning…God created.” As I was reading the Confessions of Augustine earlier in the week his musings about the mystery of God found in this verse stirred thoughts in me.

I can’t say I know much about building but I’m going to take a shot in the dark and assume that you probably start with a foundation. Maybe you need to even start before the foundation and pick out a good location for the foundation. Before doing that maybe there are other things to put in place first. What amazes me about the mystery of God is that Genesis didn’t say, “In the beginning God checked out the best universal real estate and then got to work.” What does that have to do with the mystery of God?

There are a number of questions that surround this verse: If God created from nothing, who created God? Did God get bored one day and then decided to create us…making us objects of His boredom rather than objects of His affection? These are questions often asked by those who are searching and should be treated carefully. I would like to go into these at a later time but not right now. What I would like to focus on is the mystery of God as THE Creator.

With no foundation, God laid the foundation of the heavens and the earth. All things were then created within the realms of that which was first created as a foundation. Nothing can be created that has not been created. God created me. God created you. The very air I breathe is because God created.

The first breath of God’s Word found in Genesis 1:1 paints the picture of dependence on God. From the very beginning, God has wanted us to understand that we were created in dependence on He who created. We find ourselves sprinting in the direction of deep independence...only going to God when we cannot do it ourselves. We try to create ourselves delving deeper into dependence on what our own hands bring to the table. The better we understand God as Creator the better understanding we’ll have of what God created us for…a relationship of dependence.

Little White Box

This past Thursday Night was the kickoff of our Thursday Night for the Master. Great things are going to happen. Lives will be touched. People will grow. And the family at Northview will be changed. Jim started us off with a challenge from Isaiah 42:18, “Forget the former things” and followed it up with, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” – Ephesians 3:20-21. With these two passages, the mood for outreach was set at Thursday Night for the Master.

Have you ever gotten a song stuck in your head that simply drives you up a wall? I get one from time to time. There for a while I was walking around with arms up singing, “If I were a rich man.” Over the past day or so I’ve had an old Vacation Bible School song stuck in my head. You probably remember it. “If I had a little white box to put my Jesus in, I’d take Him out and *Kiss*Kiss*Kiss* and share Him with a friend.”

I used to love that song as a kid…I think because I got to say “Bash his face” when I talked about taking the Devil out of his box. As I’ve thought more and more about this song I’ve began to wonder how big my “Little White Box” is. Ten years ago, my box wasn’t as big as it was five years ago and my box has grown even larger since. As Brothers and Sisters around tables Thursday night, ideas started to flow concerning how we would reach those around us who do not know the Relationship with God that we cherish so much.

The Jesus I began to see wasn’t coming from any kind of box. The Jesus generating the thoughts of evangelism Thursday night couldn’t be contained in a box. The Jesus that was being talked about Thursday night was a Jesus that can do immeasurably more than all we can imagine. The “Little White Box” is beginning to disappear and we’re going to start seeing imaginable things.

Here’s the question. How big is your box right now? What will it take to get you out of it and experience the “power that is at work within us?” Plant your seed and let God’s power make it grow into something immeasurably more than all we imagine.

Intentional Potential

Last weekend I had the awesome opportunity to walk among great people in our nation’s Capitol. Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Washington, the signers of the Declaration of Independence, the Heroes of WWI, WWII, and Vietnam, and many others. What amazes me about these great people is their incredible potential lived out in amazing ways. How does one come to live out this kind of potential?

When in his late 20’s, Benjamin Franklin made a list of thirteen virtues that he would dedicate his life to live by. Franklin was a leading author and printer, comedian, political theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman and diplomat. It is quite evident that the acorn of Franklin’s potential developed him into an oak of a man. What we take from a man like him is not only did his define his potential through his list of virtues but he then lived them out. Some may say he was destined to do great things. Who am I that I’ll become like him?

That very question is what amazes me about The Greatest Generation (WWII Veterans). They were all simple people who saw what needed to be done and did it. They defined their potential was defined in different ways through their upbringing. What really gets me when I watch interviews of “Heroes of WWII” is that they do not see themselves as “Heroes.” They saw what needed to be done and they did it.

Jim Smith, glad he’s back in the office, keeps running around, talking about being intentional. He keeps trying to convince me, and anyone who will listen, that we have to be “Intentional Christians.” I think he might be on to something. Dan and I were talking about the idea of potential and I brought Jim up and almost simultaneously we came out with “Intentional Potential.” Not that we would give Jim any credit to a great idea, but we need to be intentional with the potential that is going to drive us as Christians.

How do we define it? A good list is found in Colossians 4:2-6: Devoted to Prayer, Watchful, Thankful, Be Wise in Action, Be Opportunists, and be Gracefully Salted Conversationalists. Let these be your Six Virtues for the Intentional Potential of a Christian. No matter what your age is, let’s define the greatness God has called us to and live up to this Intentional Potential.

Evangelistic Like a Dog

It has been three weeks since I've posted anything...some of you have been asking where I've been. Well...I guess you could say that my blogging voice had gone mute for a time. I couldn't find the words to share some of the things on my mind so I simply went mute. I wouldn't say that my voice has fully come back but here it is.

- Ryan




I have a dog…his name is Zeus. There are speculations as to how I came to own him but he’s been with me for about seven months now. I have only lived in my house for about nine months so Zeus has been with me for most of my time there. From time to time I’ve let him run loose in the neighborhood because it seems to be the thing to do where I live…and he was chewing through everything I put around his neck and running loose anyway. In the past nine months, I’ve only been able to get to know my next door neighbors just a little bit. Relationships weren’t really coming along that quickly till Zeus joined my household.

As I’ve ran into people around the neighborhood I’ve come to find out that they had already met Zeus and had fallen in love with him. A lot of my neighbors even have nicknames for him. I was contemplating finding a new home for Zeus because of how little I am home but my neighbor talked me out of it because their family loves him so much. I’ve met more of my neighbors and they all seem to already have a good relationship with Zeus.

We’ve been talking about evangelism a lot around the office in preparation for the things Jim is going to be doing with the congregation here. One of the major aspects of evangelism is relationships…genuine relationships…with people. It seems to be a lot easier to travel around the world, across the country, or even across town to tell others about a relationship with God. We often find it difficult to walk across the lawn or street and build a relationship with our neighbor.

Though I don’t agree with many of his methods, Zeus has quickly gotten to know many of the families in my neighborhood. The good side off all of this is that he’s been my foot in the door to getting to know everyone. Last Sunday evening, Jim challenged us to be “intentional” with our lives…to be “Intentional Christians.”

Take a moment to sit down, think of all the good relationships you have. How many of them are Christians? What percentage of them are not Christians? The reality is we tend to stick close to the people that make us feel comfortable. Be intentional. When you go outside to get the paper and your neighbor is standing there doing the same…don’t simply say “morning” and then head back inside the house. Strike up conversation. Start walking your neighborhood with your spouse and meet people. If your kids play in the backyard…cast your nets on the other side…and go play with them in the front yard.

I may not do all the things that Zeus does when he meets people but it is completely obvious that he wants to meet people. Let’s start being Intentional Christians. Let’s build relationships. Let’s bring them home to meet our Master.

Make Like a Tree

I love the theater! There is something about going to a play that ignites your imagination in a way that a movie simply cannot. When a play is done well…you find yourself in the middle of it…living it…becoming one with the characters. They capture you…almost like being a child again. This weekend has been full of plays for me. Thursday night I was taken into the Land of Oz by Amy Vannoy and the cast from the North Iredell Drama Department.

I am proud of my Amy. She had one of the most important parts in the play. When she first appeared on stage she was a tree…the best tree in the forest. Later the Land of Oz was brought to life with her dancing. I don’t know who the leads were…they did a good job…but you can’t have a forest without trees…you can’t have Oz without the dancers. Amy did a great job in her play…and was one of the most important parts.

To put on any kind of production is a lot of work. Everyone has to play their part. If there weren’t trees we might think the Cowardly Lion was in the desert. If no one made the props and there were no Oz Dancers…we might find Oz to be a boring place. Life is found, not in the main characters, but in the people and things surrounding the main characters. They give them setting. They bring them character. They provide them…life.

There is a Shakespeare quote I like from As You Like It, “All the world's a stage. And all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances. And one man in his time plays many parts.” If this quote is true, I personally think we should have more special effects, theme music, and dance numbers but there is a good point to be made from this quote. In the Church, everyone must play his/her part. Everyone has different gifts…or roles…according to Romans 12:6-8.

Some people’s roles are more up front. Others are off to the side. There are people that are never seen but really are the ones that keep everything going. The important thing is that we all have to play the Role God has given us. In your church I am sure there are plenty of ministries for you to be a part of. If you are not sure what your role is find a ministry leader and they can help you find your role is this production of life. We need to be people of purpose. We need to do are part as best we can to bring life to this production. I guess I’ll end this with a quote from the great theologian, my Secratary, Liane Mullins, “Know your role!”

Transformers

This past week I went on a Prayer Retreat at a Monastery outside of Charleston, where they allow ministers to get away for a time and get revived, refocused, and refilled. My prayer life has been lacking for some time so I wanted to put my major focus for the week on my communication with God. I came back with a number of things from my time there but I quickly want to share some thoughts about relationship with God.

We were created for a relationship with God. There is no denying that. The hard part…at times…is figuring out how that relationship is going to grow. Throughout the week I kept coming back to John 4:23 where the “…true worshipers will worship in spirit and in truth.” As I sat around sitting and thinking on that verse I began to realize that I spend a lot of my time living in the “truth side of God.” What I mean by this is that, if you asked me to write a paper about “Who God is,” I could write a lot of great stuff for you. I’ve got the information side of God down.

I am setting out on the journey to figure out how to connect my head with my spirit…to where my spirit and the truth I possess both are in the relationship with God. I feel like Augustine captures this pretty well in his reflections on the Lord’s Supper. He talks about how Jesus is Bread that, no matter how much you eat, will never vanish. As you eat of this Bread, Augustine says, you continue to eat to the point where you are so filled with Jesus that you no longer exist but that Christ has transformed in you. I find these thoughts amazing since we are constantly being called to be like Christ.

So what does this have to do with the spirit side of the relationship with God? When you take the truth of God, i.e. “…your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36b), and apply it to your life, i.e. “Be merciful…” (Luke 6:36a), you are then transformed by the merciful nature of God…to where you are merciful. This causes the truth of God to then be lived out through your spirit. Here is my challenge for all of us: Make a list of the characteristics of God/Jesus. Look at the list and see where you need to be transformed (do not help your neighbor decipher this unless they ask for your help).

God will continue to call us to a deeper relationship with Him. As you grow with Him, you’ll grow to be more like Him. I’m not sure which comes first…will we understand God’s love first when we begin to love others like He loves or will we better love others when we find God’s love inside of us first? Let’s continue to be transformed by Him in this relationship so we can be better worshipers of Him in spirit and in truth…then we can tackle Luke 10:27, “Love the Lord your God with all your…heart…soul…strength…mind,” and go deeper and deeper into a transforming relationship with our Father.

Purpose?

Winterfest was incredible this year! I encourage you to talk to our teens about The Mission. They were challenged to: Know, Be, See, and Share…Jesus. Sounds familiar really…and I’m ecstatic about the excitement that our teens will bring to The Mission here at Northview. I’ve even heard from one of our teens who has already talked to a neighbor about God. “It was easy…I just did it,” was a part of the phone call I got. I’ve also talked to Dudley and they are getting all kinds of stories from all over the country of teens doing the same thing!! What an incredible challenge for us who sometimes find ourselves calling them the “Church of tomorrow.”

An interesting thing happened this morning before I sat down to write this blog. I regularly have breakfast with a mentor of mine…almost every Friday morning. Today was about the same as always…we had a variety of discussion because that is what good friends do. Because most people end up talking about that they are passionate about…we found ourselves talking about the Church. We don’t bog ourselves down in debating…most of the time we’re just simply talking about ministry…about purpose of the Church.

While sitting and talking, I noticed a young girl slowly walk in. Very timid. Probably no older than 18. She got her cup of coffee. Never said anything. Then slowly walked out and on down the street. You’re probably thinking she stole the coffee but the reality is…this coffee shop has kind of taken her in. They will often hand her a bag of food which one of them will slip a $5 bill in the bag because of the compassion they have for her. Neither of us knew her story but found out later by the workers at the coffee shop.

Why is this so interesting? It didn’t hit me till later. At Northview, we do a lot of good for a lot of people. I am amazed at the workers we have in our family here. There are a ton of people who work so hard without being seen by others. I had to wonder though, how many times we…the Churches scattered around the World…sit around and debate, talk about ministry, dwelling on what the purpose is for the Church, and looking for God’s guidance for what we should be doing with our lives…when there are people in need all around us.

Not all of us get to sit in a coffee shop on a Friday morning and watch something like this take place. The reality is that there a lots of hurting people in our lives that all we have to do is open our eyes to see. Take some time to think of the people you come into contact with daily. Where are they hurting? Do you look at them and SEE Jesus? What could you do to BE Jesus to them?

For all of you who are already working so hard in this world to help the hurting…I applaud you. One of the reasons I love working with teens is because of the way I am challenged by them to get up and do something that has purpose. Though they can scare us sometimes…sometimes we don’t understand their thought processes…or their language…they are a group of people that are filled with passion and desire to have purpose. I hope to extend this challenge to you from the passion and purpose of our teens. Let’s stop letting the world lead the way in helping the hurting when we are the ones who are called to do “Whatever we do for the least of these.”

Spiritual Trekking

Trekking. To trek. To hike. To trudge. To make a slow or arduous journey. As you have probably figured out by now…I like to hike. There is something about it that is freeing to me…and also rewarding. For me, it is one thing to see a beautiful view of the mountains from the side of the road, but another to get intimate with them and to see the mountain views from somewhere that I walked to.

Clint Ulmer and I continued our SB6K (South Beyond 6000) journey this past weekend. We started at the top of Mount Mitchell and ventured off along the Black Mountain Crest Trail in hopes of conquering six more peaks on our list. Apparently this 12 mile trek was going to be one of our hardest that we would have to do but we felt up to it.

I won’t lie that I was not adequately prepared for this trek. I could blame it on my age…but most of you would laugh at me. I’ve been in better shape in my life…but I’m not quite there anymore. No matter what the excuse may be…my legs just weren’t used to walking that far, especially with the uphill and downhill grades that we had to go over with 40lb packs on. When on a trek like this you might come to a point where you want to just quit but the reality is…you’re in the middle of nowhere and quitting would mean simply deciding to live where you are.

“The Spiritual Race is not a sprint, it’s a marathon,” is something I heard often growing up and I’m sure you’ve heard it too. I’ve changed that slogan in my life to, “Our Spiritual Walk aint no walk in the park, it’s a Trek.” There are a lot of ups and downs. It is really hard at times. There are times where the view is breathtaking. Times where your next step is completely because of the power and grace of God. This Spiritual Trek is something that we have to constantly work at, prepare for, and encourage one another on…or we simply choose to settle where we are, in the middle of nowhere.

T.R.E.K. (True Religion for the Eternal Kingdom) Bible Study is starting up this Thursday Night for the teens. It is a Bible Study that is going to be focused on going deeper into the Spiritual Trek we call life. We’ll be focusing on habitual practices of Spirituality to prepare and encourage one another in this Trek. I look forward to this time during the weeks because of what our teens will teach me about spirituality. They have so much to tell with their lives and I can’t wait to see how God works through them in each other’s lives.

Cycle of Stupidity

“The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD…They forgot the LORD… The anger of the LORD burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of…they cried out to the LORD…He raised up for them a deliverer…So the land had peace for forty years…deliverer died…The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD…They forgot the LORD………” – Cycle of Judges

We (the youth group) are taking a break from the Old Testament for a time…but my favorite quote that came out in almost every class is “Israel is SOOOO STUPID!!!” I like this quote because we surely aren’t as bad as Israel was…right? I’m not going to go there but you can talk amongst yourselves about it. What I’ve been mulling over for the past few weeks is this “cycle of stupidity” that is found in Judges. Why would something like this ever happen? I think the answer is found in Joshua before the famous verse “But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

“So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant. Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers…But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:14-15

We’re called to be in a Relationship with God. With relationship comes dependence. In the Wilderness, Israel learned dependence on God. In the Promise Land, Israel “forgot the LORD.” Think hard about our lives. Where do we live? I live in a house I didn’t build. When I am hungry I go get something to eat. If I’m sick…I don’t call Dan…I call the doctor.

Where do I depend on God? This is a hard question…the first thing that comes to mind is…I depend on God when something bad happens…and most of the time I come to that point when I can fix it myself. Do you wrestle with this? I don’t want to fall into the “Stupid Cycle” with Israel. So…where do I find dependence on God in a country that provides for my every need?

We all have something that we struggle with…or people we struggle with…that we cannot handle on our own strength. Paul calls this his “Thorn in the Flesh.” I realized a long time ago that I have a sarcastic tongue. I have hurt people in my life because of it…never intending to. Though I have constantly struggled with it…and continue to struggle…I constantly have to ask God to help me be “slow to speak.” Though I don’t like it…I find hope in it…because I realize that I am not perfect. The only way I can find perfection is in Christ…and it’ll come sometime after I stop breathing. Let’s work as a family to find our dependence on God in a country that provides our every need.

“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.” – II Cor 12:7-9

Let's Talk About Nothing

I’d like to take a moment and talk to you about nothing. You’re probably saying to yourself that I normally talk about nothing…but I want you to consider the subject just for a few moments. When was the last time you did nothing? I don’t mean, “Tried to do something and ended up doing nothing.” What I am saying is…when was the last time you took time to do nothing? The next thing you are saying to yourself is…“Ryan, I don’t have time for nothing.” I am doing my best to add nothing to my schedule from time to time (you’re thinking that this is easy for me since I’m a youth minister and nothing is the majority of what I do.)

We live in a world that is constantly improving our electronics…causing life to become more and more hectic. You can check your e-mail and talk on the phone while watching two channels at the same time on the same TV. With each advance in technology life simply becomes more complex because we are expected to do more with our minute than our ancient forefathers of 10 years ago. So…before you throw away the idea of nothing I want you to try it on for a moment.

I am convinced that if we took a moment to do nothing before taking on major tasks, we would find ourselves working with more efficiency than one iota of technology can give us. Your mind becomes more focused. You will be opened to the direction you may need to go with what you are doing.

Here is how it works…Set aside a few minutes, sit in a relaxed position, close your eyes, breathe deep and allow everything to exit from your mind, then just simply sit there doing nothing. The idea is that you begin to silence the noise that is going on inside of you. The noise that our culture presses on us leads us into crazy ways of living. This noise also keeps us from hearing God speak into our lives. Allotting for times of nothing into your schedule will help keep you sane and help you listen more clearly to God.

I have heard a lot of people say, “When I do actually read my Bible, I often don’t get anything out of it.” I challenged the teens on Wednesday night to try this before entering into times of reading or times of prayer and to see how their experiences change. I’d like to extend this challenge on to you as well. Take time this week for nothing. Sit in the presence of God and be still.

I'm in, You're in, I'm in

It was around 4 in the morning. I had just finished Morning Vigils with the Brothers at Mepkin Abbey and set out for some solitude. As I focused on scripture that early morning I began to notice how God seemed to work through people in the Bible…not people doing amazing things for God. That was mulling around in my head as I had another cup of coffee.

I walked in the dark for some time simply repeating the words of Jesus found in John 14:20, “I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” I kept repeating what Jesus said…letting them work on me as I prepared to meditate and to listen to God’s voice through these words. We are interwoven with God…the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What an amazing thing! But…what does this have to do with God working through people…not people doing amazing things for God?

As I sat in the middle of nowhere in this retreat center I did everything I could to empty all distractions from within me so that I might clearly listen to God. “You will never be a great Youth Minister” is what I felt God was pressing on my heart…among other things that I will never be great at. Some of you are probably agreeing with God at this point…but I still love you. “You only need to be concerned with being the best Child of Mine that you can be. I will make you what I need you to be.”

As I look back on the wisdom in scripture that had been poking at me all week, “He must become greater, I must become less,” and “whoever loses his life for me will find it,” I began to understand what God wanted me to hear. I shouldn’t be concerned about being and doing great things for God but be concerned with being the best Child of His I can be…He’ll make me exactly what He needs me to be.

When I start looking at people, seeing how God is already working in their lives, I will no longer be concerned about changing the world…but be concerned with working side by side with God as He changes it. I want to challenge you to find presence: Presence of God in your life and your presence in the lives of those around you…those whom God loves. Because, He is in the Father, He is in us, and we are in Him.

Inside...Out

The National Conference on Youth Ministry was a great conference this year. It isn’t a week of a bunch of youth ministers getting together to compare shorts and sandal combinations and to talk about different approaches to wearing a new style of facial hair. It is an amazing week to get filled, see some old friends, and sit at the feet of veterans who have been in the trenches for 15 and 20+ years. The unbridled worship that takes place there, when hundreds and hundreds of youth ministers get together, is incredibly uplifting.

One of the greatest things about going to this conference is the reminder of why we do what we do. I feel like, at times, that I’ve done my ministry out of commitment to the church rather than something much deeper. Commitment is not a bad thing but it can be shallow. It is something that I have to keep in check from time to time. What I continue to strive for, and this week was a constant reminder of this, is to do my ministry from the inside out, to be so filled with God so that I am working from the overflow of God in my life, and not the outside in.

The world wants us to be crazy…Believe it or not, ministers even get crazy…We are called to step into the peace of Christ…where craziness ceases to be. Take a moment and look at your life. How often do you stop and sit in the presence of God? Would you consider your life to be crazy? We live in a world where we get frustrated when the microwave takes too long…or the fast food isn’t as fast as we would like. We live crazy kind of lives…and as a minister I find myself ministering out of this craziness. Something has to change and I have to keep this in check.

I know this is a little late but here is one of my New Years Resolutions for my ministry in 2008:

- Find my Song – that will drive this year
- Find my Passage – that will motivate this year
- Find my Literature – that will keep it all in perspective
- As I continue in my personal Bible study I want to look for how God is already working in people’s lives and see what He wants me to do