Nothing says “I Love You” like a ski mask!

I heard this story on the radio this morning. Here is the overview, but if you want to read it all, here is the link from the Chicagobama Sun Times.

Apparently a security guard at the University of Chicago Hospital named Donquila Butler had his eye on a 19 year old female co-worker. She wouldn’t really have anything to do with him but he was definitely after her. So he derived a planned.

He put on a ski mask and grabbed her by the throat threatening her life. Then he ran off, and responded to the security call that followed, as if to save the day. It would have a been a good plan if it wasn’t such a bad plan… Unfortunately for Donny boy she recognized him as the guy in the ski mask and he was arrested. I’m guessing he didn’t even bother to change his clothes. Maybe that would have worked. Needless to say there was nothing he could do to earn her love.

Makes me think of God. No, not the ski mask thing, the whole “you can’t earn God’s love” thing. He is love. He has loved you from the beginning of time. He has loved you from before you were even dreamed of by your parents. He has loved you from birth, and He will love you till death. He will love you after you die and enter eternity. He will rejoice if that eternity is in Heaven with Him and mourn if it is eternity in Hell.

The point is, God is madly in love with you, regardless of your actions, your good deeds or your lousy sins. The coolest part is His love is in no way a response to the things you do! He loves you unconditionally. In fact, His love for you runs so deep He came in human form (Jesus) and died for you just so you could be in relationship with Him.

So nothing you try to pull will make God love you more or less. He is however seeking a personal relationship with you! All that takes is realizing that the death Jesus died to forgive your sins is all you will ever need to connect you with God and ensure you of eternal life. Pray for forgiveness, trust in Jesus, and follow Him, worshiping and pursuing Him alone! Then go live your NEW LIFE as God intended, experiencing His love in FULL!!! (Leave the ski mask at home…)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” ~John 3:16-21

“Jesus said to him (Thomas) ‘I Am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’ ” ~John 14:6

Stand Firm

One of my favorite passages of Scripture is Jeremiah 1. For the sake of length (or lack thereof…) I’m only going to throw part of it up here. I encourage you to read it all on your own.

“Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.’ Then I said, Alas, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, because I am a youth. But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, ‘I am a youth.’ Because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you,’ declares the Lord.” ~Jeremiah 1:4-8

” ‘Now, gird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them. Now behold, I have made you today as a fortified city and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,’ declares the Lord.” ~vs. 17-19

This passage has so much to it, but my favorite part is how God is trying to convince Jeremiah that He’s got his back. He has charged him with a crazy job, and is giving him His word that whatever happens, he has God on his side. Jeremiah’s call was to go into the land of God’s people as one man, telling them how evil and dysfunctional they are, and how God is sending a new nation to wipe them out. Plus, he had to do it as a pretty young guy, which I’m sure lost him a lot of credibility. He was sent to stand up in the middle of a religious, yet completely lost, screwed up bunch of people who thought they were cool with God, and tell them what God really thought about them.

Not so different from our call. We are here in America, a nation called “Christian” but anything but it. Let’s face it, we are a jacked up culture that has no clue who Jesus is, largely because of a religious system that has added to and taken away from His Gospel. Our mission is to stand up in the middle of a religious and anti-religious nation and tell them the truth about Jesus, through action and word.

This is a huge order, but remembering God’s message to Jeremiah: He is with YOU in your call. He’s got all the strength and endurance YOU will need. No matter what happens, stand firm, because HE is behind YOU.

Coolest thing ever! pt. 2

(first things first-if you didn’t read the first part, you MUST click HERE and read it!!!)

Hopefully nobody will read the prior post and think I’m trying to puff us up for giving money. That is not the case at all. I don’t seek after people’s approval via good works, and I don’t think giving to a family in Africa makes me better than you (that’s something religious people think). Believe me, I wish it DID make me a better person like liberals buying carbon offsets to make themselves feel better for flying around in private jets instead of going with Delta (again, another topic altogether…).

I wanted to share this with you to show what a profound impact a little money can have on other people. I know this is getting long, but stick with me. Most people think they can’t do anything to solve poverty in the world (some people think it can be solved with Socialism, but that’s another story…).

What if the millions and millions of people in this world who claim to follow Christ would sponsor a child and/or send a little cash to a needy family abroad or in our own communities? We give $35 dollars a month to Helena. That’s it! $35 covers her basic needs and gives us a chance to communicate with her how much we love her, how much God loves her, and how special she really is!

How many people could scrape together 35 dollars? Here are a few things that cost about 35 bucks:

• 1 family dinner at a restaurant (and that’s eating pretty light…)
• 5 or 6 combo meals (super-sized)
• a pair of jeans
• a shirt and tie (you know you already have enough of these)
• about 7 lattes
• a haircut for some ladies
• the phone bill
• a couple of hard-back books
• 2 cd’s (3 and a half if you use iTunes)

Let’s face it, if we all stood back and looked at our spending, we would see just how much money we waste. We would see just how easy it is to serve someone living in poverty on the other side of the globe by sacrificing a few luxuries.

Here’s my challenge: look at your money situation and consider sponsoring a child. That’s it. Your call. Here’s where to go to do it: Worldvision. I completely trust and believe in these guys. They do a lot of great things (they are also the 40 hour famine people that a lot of churches are familiar with). You can even pick your child’s gender and geographical location if you’d like. You’ll get reports and letters from the child. You;ll get the opportunity to send him/her birthday, Easter, Christmas cards, etc.

I think Jesus said something about whatever we do to those in need we do for Him…something like that…right? If you decide to sponsor a child, I’d love to hear about it. Drop me a comment!

Laminin

Please, take 8 minutes and 44 seconds to watch THIS VIDEO.  It left me speechless but for one word: WOW!

Click HERE

snack-tastic!

If you have turned on a TV in the past year you have undoubtedly seen an advertisement for a snack sandwich from one of our many great cholesterol-friendly fast food joints.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe it all started with KFC and their 99 cent chicken snacker.  After that came the competition with chicken wraps at McDonalds, Burger King, and Wendy’s, and boosted dollar menus everywhere!  KFC even has like 5 or 6 different snackers now, one of which is fish.  I too found that a bit nebulous from Kentucky Fried CHICKEN, but, oh well.

What makes me laugh is watching the commercials.  Let’s break them down, shall we?

• semi-hungry person between meal
• 99 cent snack advertised
• semi-hungry person receives snack with much glee!
• semi-hungry person holds very tiny snack in such a way to make it look like a 2 lb steak burger
• semi-hungry person takes extremely over-exaggerated bites followed by chewing drenched in hyperbole
• semi-hungry person is no longer semi-hungry: he/she is very happy and satisfied

They do their advertising to make you think you get some great big snack, but if you order one it comes out looking like it was made for Oompa Loompas.  They clearly don’t advertise what they sell (but who does in life?)

If anybody better be selling what they advertise is should be Christians.  (‘Selling’ and ‘advertising’ are simply metaphors here.  Don’t start throwing Jesus clearing the Temple Scripture at me or anything…)  We are advertising the One true God, and the story of how He saved all humanity from death by becoming human and dying Himself.  2 Corinthians 5:20 says: “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, through God were making an appeal through us.”  We represent Jesus once we receive His payment of our debt. 

Jesus expects us to advertise AND sell love, genuineness, kindness, and service.  The question though is do we do a better job advertising than selling?  If we put up a lot of signs about love, and do a lot of teaching about service, and where lots of Christian t-shirts to let people know who we are, but don’t put these into action, we have reduced ourselves to master billboard designers with our sales charts in the tank.  Have we reduced ourselves to noisy gongs and clanging cymbals? (1 Cor. 13)

What Christ taught He ALWAYS lived.  We must do a better job mirroring Him. 

So, are we being the love we sing about?  Are we reaching out with our hands and feet, or do we let our Jesus fish do the talking?  Does what we are advertising match what we are selling?

“But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”  -John 3:21

“I Am Legend” review

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

If you have NEVER seen I Am Legend, starring Will Smith, DO NOT READ THIS!!! It will spoil it for you. Do yourself a favor, go rent and watch it, then come read this.

• A borrowed copy of I Am Legend: 0 Dollars
• 1 foot long sub to split: 7 Dollars
• original and kettle cooked popcorn: 3 Dollars
• Date night for 10 Bucks: Priceless

For some people Red Lobster and theatres are a regular thing, but for everyone else, there are personal finance budgets.

Well, date night came with no money left, so we had a casual slash lazy date night (I think its funny to type out slash rather then use the “/” key…not sure why…). We got comfy on the couch and watched I Am Legend. I must admit, it has been a long time since I saw a really good movie; one of those movies that leaves you thinking; one of those movies you could immediately watch again.

This was definitely one of those movies. Ironically enough, probably the last great movie I saw also starred Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness. Will Smith is one of my favorite actors because he is so versatile and convincing. He knocked this one way out!

In addition to great acting, great action, a great plot and a great ending, the movie really had an awesome Christian theme. Now while they may have thought about the similarity, I very seriously doubt the producers, directors and writers actually meant for this to happen. It was also rather ironic that the dvd was released on Easter weekend.

Since you are reading this ONLY because you have actually watched the movie, I don’t have to go into detail. What a profound picture of Christ his character, Robert Nevell was. The entire human race is on the verge of extinction and basically the walking dead. He sacrifices his life for the cure that will restore mankind.

Well the entire human race WAS walking around dead in sin. Jesus had the only cure, His blood, and He gave it all up so humankind could be redeemed. There was no other way. This human race, like Nevell, was also out to kill Jesus. He sacrificed Himself anyway out of love. I hope I never get to the point that I’m not blown away by Jesus’ sacrifice. He gave it ALL up, just for us.

Well if you read this and ruined the ending to the movie, go watch it anyway. It will still be awesome! Here’s the movie trailer just to recap or in case you cheated and read first…

Smaller Bites

Saturday I caught my first bass of the spring. It was the biggest of 3 I caught on a buzz bait, if that means anything to you. When I started to leave the ponds I was fishing in, I noticed a rather large dead fish in the water up on the bank.

Like any good pseudo-redneck I took a stick (not my hands) and pulled the bass out of the water. Judging by the head, size of mouth, and remaining flesh (most was eaten away) it was probably a 4-6 pounder (pre-chewage of course).

Upon further inspection, because it looked healthy (no diseased spots), I noticed the crazy part. Inside of its mouth, lodged sideways was a fully intact brim. Apparently this fish (wish I really wish I had caught, pre-chewed of course) choked to death on this little fish. A healthy fish that size doesn’t just die mid-meal. And it isn’t like there are sharks in the water to snatch him like he snatched that brim. Diagnosis: bit off more than he could chew.

(the fish on the right, also dead, is the one that choked the big fella)

Being in ministry, I immediately related this to church ministry. Way too often Full time, part time, and volunteer church leaders bite off more than they can chew in ministry, get it lodged sideways in their lives and spiritually choke to death on it. That is exactly what happens when

• pastors burn-out
• wives give up on their ministerial husbands
• children look for leadership/guidance/love from others who aren’t as busy as their mom or dad
• great volunteers step aside because ministry is taking over life
• all sorts of relationships suffer

When you are in ministry in ANY CAPACITY you have to limit how much you will take on, even if this ticks people off because they think you should be doing more. One thing I resolved to do before ever starting full-time ministry was always focus on my marriage before the church. To always make sure what would be a great ministry decision would also be great for my family. Awesome ministry CAN be a hindrance to a family that wishes you would pay as much attention to it.

My relationship to my wife and future kids is more important to me than any church or ministry I ever serve. Eventually relationships in ministry will fade due to time or leaving a position; students will graduate away form ministry; my own kids someday will marry and move away. After ALL is said and done, I have 2 things: my relationship with Jesus and my relationship with Jennifer. I am never going to be willing to sacrifice either of these for any degree of ministry.

I am not willing to bite off more than I can chew to the detriment of my family. Sadly, too many in ministry have not thought about this, ignore this, or are heading innocently in this direction. I claim to have about 1% of 1% of the answers in life, but one thing I know I did right was to make this resolve after reading this book: Choosing to Cheat, by Andy Stanley. It addresses the fact that, serving in ministry, either your family or your ministry is going to get cheated of your time (actually it is appropriate for ANYONE who has a job and family, not just those in ministry. the 2 WILL collide). There is NO even ground. Both sides will ALWAYS want and expect more of you. Therefore, you better cheat the ministry, because the most important role you will ever hold is that of husband, wife, mother or father. If you fail at those yet succeed in ministry, you are fooling yourself. To fail your family is to fail everything.

Nothing impresses me more than to see/hear someone in ministry use a church members most dreaded word: NO! for the sake of his/her family. You have won me over if you resolve to do less and quit biting off more and more so your family doesn’t suffer.

By the way, if you can’t appreciate the fact that a pastor turned down your ministry idea/request because he didn’t want to be away from his family more than he already is, get over it! You are WRONG! If you get ticked off at him for that you don’t deserve a leader like that. Anyways, quit being lazy and go head up that ministry idea yourself! You must realize that while cramming more and more fish in his mouth you are choking him spiritually and choking his family as well.

If you love those who serve you in ministry, I would heavily recommend buying this book for them, even if they have a great balance between the two. It could never hurt to read this book. PLUS it is a tiny book that you could read in a day or two. I could read it in a day or two and I have the attention span of a 10 year old on the verge of a Halloween candy coma. Anyone can read this and learn from it. Just spend a few bucks, buying your leader(s) a used copy, hand it over and say “I love and appreciate you!” Just tell them a very skilled angler told you to…

Since this blog is already WAAAAAYYYYYYYYY too long, I’ll hold off on the fact that the fish the big bass tried to eat and choked on also didn’t make it….hmmmmmm…..maybe later we’ll discuss that….hmmmmmm…..

20K

The blog hit 20,000 views today! I thought I would celebrate with my 225th post.  I feel much more special today than I did yesterday.

An enormous thanks to all of my regulars for making this day possible. My mom, my mother-in-law, my wife, Pam Jones, all the people who keep up with me in case I say something controversial, … , … well that’s pretty much everybody. There are more of course and I appreciate you all!  Thanks everybody!

Abby informed me that my blog has sucked over the past week, and I agree, so here’s to another 20,000 and an even better next week!

On a much more joyous and serious note, today is Easter, and I think I’m more in awe today of the fact Jesus came to die for me than ever before.  He died to save me from myself, dead in sin, and called me not to excellence (because too many people just strive for excellence which leads to stopping short) but to obedience.  I owe Him absolutely nothing less than pure obedience.  Happy Easter!

No Matter What

(I KNOW its long, but please read!)

Jennifer and I were hanging out with my grandparents a couple weeks back, and Papa, my grandfather shared one of his Army stories. I was really surprised that after all of these years I had never heard this story.

From the Army base he was stationed at, 3 companies, his included, got shipped across the globe. One was shipped to the Philippines, another to Japan, and his to…Wisconsin?

Yes, Wisconsin. I thought maybe he was confused and meant someplace crazy like Cambodia, The Congo, or Ukraine. No, he was shipped to freezing cold Wisconsin, the coldest place he’s ever been.

He went on to say that each day his company had certain clothes they had to wear. This was not optional. They would be in a serious mess if they were caught out of dress code for the day. For months they wore different layers of clothing each day. Some days they were told to wear rather light clothes in that bitter cold. He couldn’t understand why they were sent there of all places on the map, especially with the other companies going to such exotic places. BUT it was his job so he did it anyway.

Shortly after his time freezing his tail off in cheeseville, the Korean War began. All the while, the seemingly useless time he spent trying on different outfits was to prepare troops for the equally cold Korean weather. Papa’s company constantly had to report which clothes kept them the warmest and which did not; which they preferred over the others. The Army took this data and sent the perfect clothes for harsh cold with our troops.

My grandfather had no idea what purpose he was serving, but he went on serving anyway. He could have whined and complained about where he got shipped or about his boring assignment, but he only did what was expected of him. He realized it wasn’t all about what he wanted; it wasn’t about him at all! It was ALL about serving his country in whatever capacity it so chose.

Following Jesus is absolutely NO different:

• It is NOT about us (Christians)
• We CAN’T worry about the lives other Christians have, but rather what we can do for God
• We shouldn’t whine or complain about the spot we’re in
• Selfishness is not an option
• Disobeying orders is NOT acceptable and WILL be accounted for
• We are called to SERVE regardless, no matter WHAT
• It might take a long time to see God’s purpose behind the way He uses us
• We might NEVER know why we served God and others the way we did
• Just shut up and do your job, Christian!

“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

~Mark 10: 43-44

New Translation

Did you hear that archaeologists unearthed what they believe to be the original record of the book of Acts that Luke wrote for Theophilus?  This is huge news!  Thanks Matt for the info.  One of the biggest differences in translation they have found is chapter 2, verses 42-47.  Here is the translation we are used to if you would like to re-cap. 

Here is what they believe to be a more correct translation.  It just so happens to be more fitting with today’s church too! Even better.

“All the believers were divided; they didn’t have much of anything in common, and they didn’t really want more out of their pastor than a warm body. Hoarding their possessions and goods they kept as much as they could for themselves. Every now and then, if it wasn’t football season and they weren’t tired, they would come to church for an hour (and leave early to beat the traffic). They loved Jesus when it was convenient for them. Yet they were despised by people for their hypocrisy and very few people got saved.”

***(If you failed to pick up on the sarcasm in this post, please do not call or email me insisting I am a heretic.  Simply re-read the above with said sarcastic humor in mind.  Also, please read the actual text as well, for added effect.  Thank you.  )