Against the Flow

A couple of weeks ago I was at my son Will's K-5 graduation.  It was a proud moment for me as a dad.  I don't know if I was more proud of him graduating or of him not picking his nose while on stage.  Will has a history of doing embarassing things at big events. Like the time he laid down and started spinning while on stage at his aunt Sarah's wedding, or the time he was crawling up the steps during a children's Christmas production.  So, I held my breath while he walked across to get his diploma in case he decided to slap the principal on the butt.  After the ceremony there was a mad rush to retrieve children and make it to the stage to take pictures.  As I battled through the crowd, pushing and shoving older men and women on my way to parental glory, a man was going in the opposite direction and said, "It's probably safer to go in the opposite direction".  He probably didn't mean to but that man said something very profound.
In life we may think the best, safest way is to go the way of the crowd.  Spare me for a moment while I give my paragraph speech about "going against the flow". All of Jesus' teachings are based around the thought that the way of the crowd is wrong.  It may be easy to go in the same direction as everyone else (have sex, drink, do drugs, get in debt, get divorced) but it certainly isn't the safest way.  Jesus was different, his teachings were different and if we want to attain true abundant life we must live different.  The safest way is against the flow

What To Do When You Don't Want To

I like that new song by Bruno Mars. You know the one..."Today, I don't feel like doing anything...I just wanna stay in my bed".  That is how I feel some days.  I don't feel like getting up, getting dressed, going to work, writing, or doing anything that takes more effort than changing the TV channel.  There are days where I don't feel like reading or praying or being a Christian for that matter.  You can try to act holy but you probably have days where you feel the same way. These days don't come very often for me but they come often enough.  I am sure you have the same type days in your life.  Leave the PJ's on, eat Ramen Noodles, watch re-runs, and let the gross bodily functions flow.  Those days where you don't have to dress to impress or please everyone can be refreshing.  So what do you do when you don't feel like doing what you need to do?  Do you just fake it? Do you just smile and go through the motions? Do you send God a few courtesy prayers and read a one verse devotional?  What do you do on those days where the inspiration and motivation to be great just aren't there?
Maybe you can just take the day off and forget about Jesus for a while? Or you could just ignore your life's purpose for a day?
No!!
Here's what you do.  Suck it Up! Push past it all and live the life God intended.  Find inspiration in the Word. Get motivation from God's whisper.  People depend on you. They need you to be great. They need you to help be the light in a dark world.  There is no time to flop around in the world of mediocrity.  Be great!

Don't Play Alone

My son Will doesn't like playing by himself even when we are at Chuck E Cheese or one of those other play places.  He would rather sit and wait until another kid showed up to play with than play by himself.  At first it kind of annoyed me because I wanted him to be creative and play and ... well, leave me alone for a while (if you are a parent of two young apache indians you won't judge me).  But then I decided that I didn't want my kid being the one with an imaginary friend named Carl that he played in the bath tub with (cause that's just weird...right?)  I want my son to experience life with other kids, having fun, laughing, and learning.  I don't want him to become the "Lone Ranger" I was in school.  I want him to learn teamwork, lean on others, and share the joys and defeats of life with other people (not Carl).  Sadly, many of us don't share this trait with Will.  We are content with settling for doing life all by ourselves.  We mope, complain, and groan about why nobody loves and cares for us but we don't make any steps towards sharing life with other people.  We put up walls and guard against letting people in.  We would never dare to be transparent or real because that would mean the possibility of being hurt. God said, "It is not good for man to be alone..." So find a friend (not named Carl) and begin to do life with others. Don't play alone

Night Light

Recently I was driving through a fairly desolate part of Florida after leaving a youth event I spoke at.  The only thing open in the area was a bar and lounge and it was quite busy.  I began to think about why the only place open at that point was a place that only brought more pain and hurt to people who were probably already experiencing alot of pain and hurt.  It's no different from where I live where everyone retreats downtown to have a good time when all they are really doing is escaping their lives of hurt, depression, or just plain boredom.  The only places open 24 hours a day are Wal-Mart, Waffle House, and other greasy food joints that leave you feeling like you just laid down in a tub of lard.  So why is that at the point where most people are examining their lives and trying to escape, the only places they have to go to are the ones that will only take more from them.  What if beside every bar, club, or lounge there was a church, counseling center, or prayer center.  While most Christians are sleeping the enemy is doing his best work.  God has recently put a ministry on my heart called Night Light (yes, the name needs some work) where we will engage believers to step out of their place of comfort and offer solace to those who are searching for life beyond what they know.  Instead of people going to drink away their pain, we will introduce them to a Savior who will heal away their pain.  We probably won't be able to shut down the bar, club, lounge industry but why did we stop trying.  Who waved the white flag and gave up.  Instead of just praying that they will show up in a semi-sober state to our Sunday morning service, why not send out a loving group of people to rescue them on Saturday night.  Just saying.

Church vs. church

When I was 15 I gave my heart and life to Jesus Christ.  I surrendered my life to receive His and to help advance His Kingdom.  I have been in full-time  for 9 years and have seen the good and bad of the inner workings of churches.  Christ's death on the cross and the Upper Room event in Acts 2 launched a new force in the world, the Church. Jesus didn't die for many churches.  He died for one Church, one universal, Christ centered, people loving Church.  But from the beginning of the Church different factions and divisions of the Church began to spring up and now in 2011 we have so many churches that we don't even know who is legit anymore. The Church was designed to be a community of believers who work together to love the world into God's grace and mercy.  The Church was designed to be a community of people who were so in love with their Creator and Savior that opinions took the backseat.  The Church was designed to be a community of people who had a variety of personalities that were embraced as a tool for God's kingdom.  The Church was designed to be a community of people who believed the entire word of God and stood on it unwaveringly.  Instead in 2011 new churches spring up every time someone disagrees with a portion of scripture (who gave anyone the authority to disagree with Jesus anyway).  In 2011 churches seldom work together for the cause of Christ, they work alone for their own personal cause.  We have become so territorial by taking the scripture out of context.  God isn't interested in building our church.  He is interested in building His Church.  Preachers talk about other preachers the way day-time talk shows gossip about celebrities.  This all grieves the heart of God.  We have forgotten who is on our team and who we are supposed to be up against.  It's not about my church or your church but His church.

Perfect Candidate

Recently I spoke with a teenage girl named Jessica and heard Jessica's heart ripping life story. Jessica has been abused, molested, raped, abandoned, made fun of, labelled, hurt, and broken.  Unfortunately, Jessica's story is very similar to the stories of many teenage girls in America.  Jessica expressed to me how she wanted to share her story with other girls like her but she didn't know how or if she even could.  I told her that not only could she be used of God to comfort other young girls but that she was a perfect candidate to be used of God. When I read the Bible and I listen to the stories of how God changes people's lives He always seems to use the least likely people to do the most damage to Satan's plan.  He humbles the exalted and exalts the humble.  His glory shines brighter when He uses people that the world has thrown out.  To the world Jessica is just a statistic, another horrible teenage story that will no doubt end badly.  To God Jessica is triumph waiting to happen, an incredible story of grace and mercy.  God's perfect candidate is not the person who has it all together, dresses nicely, and comes from a great family.  God's perfect candidate is the person who has reached their end and is in desperate need of a Savior.  He likes using the messed up and broken because they don't take the credit.  Don't try to dress to impress Him.  Simply be available and open and you are His "Perfect Candidate"

Simply Obey

Obedience sounds simple, it does.  Just do what the Lord says. Easy enough, right? But why is it so hard.  Yeah, I know we live in a fallen world and have hearts filled with sin at birth. I know disobedience enter the Garden very early and it is something that man has dealt with since the beginning.  I know that disobedience is as the sin of witchcraft.  But you think if we had the technology to control a satellite in space and find a mass murder hiding in a compound in Pakistan, we should be able to simply obey.  My son has recently shed some light on this subject for me.  Yes, my 5yr old son has given me insight on a significant sin issue. 

Will has a big problem with obeying me.  In fact, he rarely listens to anything me or my wife says to him.  He is caught up in his own 5yr old world doing his 5yr old things and it messes up things  when the big people try to intervene in his 5yr old world.  “Rules are boring Daddy…I don’t want to listen Mommy”.  Instead of putting his toys up, he will rearrange his brother’s toys.  He will say “I’m just trying to help you out”.   He will try to go above the obedience and try to impress me or get on my good side much like I try to do with God. I am so much like my son and my son is so much like me.  I am the 5yr old kid who doesn’t want the rules and listen to the stuff that big, enormous God says sometimes.  I want to keep playing in my 27yr old world.  Saul gives the greatest example of attempting to impress God with his disobedience.  Sometimes I try, we try to impress God with our cool abilities, talents, skills instead of simply obeying Him and saying “Yes Sir”.  The Bible makes it very clear that God blesses those who obey. I think sometimes I forget that I am little 27yr old Josh, and He is giant God.  It doesn’t take creative thinking, planning, schemes, or tactics to obey.  Let’s complicate this thing as we have done with most things in the church.  It’s simple.  Say, “Yes Sir”.