Perspective

We all have goals, dreams, and visions for our lives.  Well, at least you should have those things.  Let's be honest, for some of us those goals and dreams are a little out of focus.  We live in an age where competition reigns supreme and it truly is the survival of the fittest.  We must get bigger, stronger, faster, smarter, and greater.  We are at times willing to sacrifice important relationships with family and friends to get where we think we need to be.  We push and shove our way to the front like it's Black Friday and Walmart has 42" Samsung's for $199.  This attitude is shown by both Christians and non-Christians and even worse by some churches.
I wish I could have been born in the 40's. Life was much simpler. Sure, it may not have been as convenient but they had something in the 40's that we don't have now. Rest.  Rest, as simple four letter word that some of us don't like to hear.  We fear rest like we fear cancer.  If we sit and rest someone else will climb to the top of the mountain and our dreams will be crushed.
Allow me to throw some perspective your way and introduce you to perhaps a new life goal.
Genesis 26:28
"They replied, "We can plainly see that the Lord is with you."
This passage refers to how some disgruntled men viewed Isaac.  I know that in our society it may not "pay" to be Holy, but I assure you in God's society it does.  What if we all shifted our perspective to this way of life. To live in such a way that even our enemies can plainly see that the Lord is with you.  I am sure it would cause you to adjust some of those goals, dreams, and visions.  

Cheap Hot Dogs, Spray Cheese, and Loving People

One of my favorite foods of all time is a loaded hot dog with sweet relish.  But I can't have just any hot dog wiener.  I can't stand cheap hot dogs, and it's not because I am too refined for them.  It's because they are gross and give you gas.  Have you ever read the ingredient list on a hot dog package.  Things like "mechanically separated pork and chicken, red dye #76, and sodium nitrite," should not be a part of your dinner.  Have you ever had the ones that turn your water red when you boil them-they are my mom's favorites. Ugh!  I like an all natural/all beef hot dog.  Yes, they cost at least twice as much as their mechanically separated counterparts.  But at least I know that I am eating real food that God made.

Now about the Spray Cheese.  Just say that with me...
"Spray Cheese"
Kinda rolls of the the tongue like..."Stomach Cramps"
There is nothing good or wholesome about Spray Cheese.  If I am gonna eat cheese, I want the real stuff not some aerosol concoction.  If there is any Spray Cheese in your home, stop reading this, run to the pantry and throw it away...NOW!  Trust me you are a better person for it.

So what do Cheap Hot Dogs and Spray Cheese have anything to do with loving people.
A Great Deal.
Odds are if you were to the President come over for dinner you would not feed them cheap hot dogs, saltines with spray cheese, and Kool-Aid. For that matter you shouldn't feed those things to anyone unless you wanted them to have stomach cramps.  But the truth is we are figuratively feeding people cheap hot dogs and spray cheese with the way we love them every day.  There is a huge difference between pure, natural, organic love for people and man-made, forced, fake love.  Fake, cheap love leaves people poisoned much like a bad hot dog or aerosol cheese.  Sure natural, organic love cost more, takes more time to prepare, and can be messy.  But natural, organic love also tastes much better and leaves our spirits unclogged.  Love is not something that can be forced in us or out of us.  Loving people must come out of a natural progression in our relationship with Christ.  God will give us the heart and the ability to love people in a beautifully organic way.  He commands us to love our neighbor of the love He has poured out onto us.  He doesn't expect us to manufacture some artificial love to love people with.  That's what the world does.  This world gives out cheap hot dogs and spray cheese in the form of entertainment, bad relationships, and addictions.  We can't allow ourselves as Christ followers to hand out the same love this world is handing out.  Our love must be His love.

Bigger Cup Please!

This morning I began to pray and ask God for something which isn't at all abnormal for me.  I am going to be a little transparent if it is ok.  I began to ask God for a bigger cup. You know, kinda like the Prayer of Jabez..."Oh Sovereign Lord, enlarge my boundaries, broaden my tent pegs."  I thought it was a pretty good prayer, but mine went like this..."Hey God, I think I need a bigger cup, mine is kinda like a sippy cup and I want a BIG cup."  Before I could even finish my eloquent prayer, the Holy Spirit stopped me and said, "Hey Josh, you haven't filled your cup up yet. You gotta fill yours up first."  Then I stopped praying and moped for a while like a little kid.
You see my son Will is 5, and he drinks out of little cups.  Not only does he drink out of little cups, but we don't even fill his little cup up all the way.  The reason we don't fill it all the way is because we don't trust him enough yet with a full cup.  He will end up spilling the whole thing everywhere, and we would be the ones cleaning up.  So essentially the Holy Spirit was telling me that I am too much like my son Will, and I can't handle a big cup yet.  But man I really want a bigger cup.  Maybe if I quit spilling what God gives me things would be different.  I want to note that there is a BIG difference between spilling and pouring.  If I pour out what God gives out, God will give me more. If I spill out what God gives out, God will hold out.  I am gonna get my big cup...

Reflection

"I always begin my prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks. God is the friend of silence-we need to listen to God because it's not what we say but what He says to us and through us that matters"   -Mother Theresa

This year more than any other I have learned how to reflect on God.  I have learned how to be silent and allow everything to slow down and recognize God.  I have always been told that I am a quiet person.  I believe silence is underrated.  I think if more people would shut up more often the world would be in better shape.  We must learn how to harness our thoughts, shut our mouths, and let God speak.  I love to go fishing, and it's not because I am a great fisherman.  I love to just sit and stare out at the water and imagine God.  I love to sit in silence and dream.  My dad was a great fisherman. He would sit in a boat for hours perfectly content without saying a word.  For the 3 months he lived for Christ, I bet he was a great prayer.
The more I am able to sit in silence and reflect on God, the more I am able to see God's reflection in all of creation.  This world needs silence desperately.  We need to turn off our lives and tune into Him.  Elisha learned the beauty of a whisper from God.  Sometimes my son Will tries to talk to me from the backseat of the car.  He speaks so softly that I have to turn the radio down to hear Him.  Why does God speak so softly?  He would like to know if we are willing to turn down the radio to hear Him speak.  Is His voice important enough to you that you would be willing to stop the madness and sit in silence?  Reflect on Him and see His reflection.

The Harvest

As a boy, my dad always kept a garden in our backyard and at my grandparents' house. I would always have to help with every phase of the garden from working the ground, to plowing, to planting, watering, and then harvesting. Now my favorite part in the whole process was watering because it took the least amount of effort and what kid doesn't like playing with the water hose. My least favorite part in the art of gardening was the harvesting. Don't get me wrong its exciting to get to the point where you can actually enjoy the fruits of your labor. But harvesting was hard work, and you had to have a keen sense for knowing what was ready and what wasn't. My dad plucked the easy stuff like the tomatoes and peppers. He left the joy of picking peas, beans, squash, blueberries, carrots, and potatoes to me. It was back-breaking, agonizing, tedious, hard work, but someone had to do it. In all the stages of a garden you would think that harvesting would be the one everyone would line up to do. Jesus states that there is a severe shortage of harvesters, but there was no shortage of planters or waterers. Planting is fun, watering is fun, but harvesting is hard selfless work. As Christian we are called to a very selfless lifestyle. It is a lifestyle of You and not I, Him and not me. In order to be a harvester you have to notice things that planters and waterers don't. You can't just go into a garden and pick peas prematurely (how do you like that alliteration?!). They have to be ready to pick. You have to be in tune with you garden (now I'm starting to sound like a hippie) You have to watch that garden which also means you have to keep it free from bugs and rodents who would try to destroy the crop and limit the harvest. Most of us tend to want the easiest jobs in the Kingdom. It would be great if the harvest was like the Jubilee that happens on the shores of Mobile Bay every year where people just walk up and gather oxygen deprived fish without much work. I would love to have someone walk up to me randomly at Walmart, fall on their knees, and beg to know Christ. Unfortunately the spiritual harvest rarely works like that. In order to be a harvester in God's kingdom I have got to get down to where His crops are, notice them, keep watch over them, and gently pull them into the Kingdom when they are ready.

Love Doesn't Mean Tolerance

I was listening to one of those radio preacher guys this morning on the way to the office which I do not normally do.  What caused me to listen to him was his fervent passion against homosexual lifestyles, specifically same sex marriage.  Recently President Obama has announced that he is learning toward changing is opposition of same sex marriage.  Mr. Radio Preacher was citing the quote from the President when he began his own rant against same sex marriage.  Let me make this clear before I continue this blog: I am totally against same sex marriage and homosexual behavior because of reasons that are related to my relationship with Jesus Christ.  I probably don't hate all sin as much as God does because not all sin directly affects me.  There is nobody in my immediate family or circle of friends that is homosexual.  I usually hate sin more when it directly affects me (i.e. family members that suffer from drug/alcohol addiction).  Like Mr. Radio Preacher, I too could go on my own rant about what the Bible says about homosexuality and in his defense he was right on target.  We need more Truth to be spoken from our pulpits.  But let me also say this: I love gay people.  There I said it! I love gay people!

"What?!"
"You love gay people?!"
"Yes, I love gay people?!"
"Well, you are just the same as them. You tolerate their sinful behavior. You are no Christian, and you call yourself a pastor.  I'm telling God on you!"

That was my conversation with a traditional, conservative close minded Christian.  Love does not mean tolerance. I love gay people because God loves gay people.

"What?! God doesn't love gay people!"
Yes, He does!
"No he doesn't!"
"Read the Bible!"

"For God so LOVED the WORLD that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life"
The last time I checked, the world had gay people in it.  Amazing isn't it, God loves gay people.  But his love doesn't mean he tolerates their behavior.  My 5yr old son peed in his closet a few months ago.  I love my son but I don't love him using his closet as a toilet.  God's love for people doesn't stop because of their sinful behavior.  

I think sometimes we use our passionate intolerance for sin as an excuse not to love the sinner.  God hates sin yet He loves people.  People are imperfect, flawed, and separated from their Creator.  Every time I look at Scripture the only time I see Christ going on passionate, rage filled rants are when He had to deal with religious people.  The more I look at the life of Christ, the more I see how He loved people out of sin.  Could it be that one of the main reasons why homosexual lifestyles are such a problem today are because of our failure to Love People.  God help us.

Church Part 1
I feel that we are a long way from where the church first started. Give me a moment to explain this. I love the church (God's gift of community to the world), but the church of 2010 is far from the church of Acts 3. I am not talking about specific church locations but the all-encompassing body of Christ. Now let's keep in mind that the New Testament church wasn't confined to a building. The New Testament church was found in people and is still found in people. In 2010 we are so focused on how to do church and do church better, but God never intended for us to do church. He wants us to be the church. In Acts the church was built around a simple process. They were the church (extending God's hands of love and life) everywhere they went and then they met together and celebrated the life of Christ.
We treat Sunday mornings as a pep rally. We get together, sing and dance, jump and rejoice. But pep rallys make no sense if there is no game to being played afterwards. Let me make a suggestion. If you are not being the church daily and participating in Kingdom building, you should stop having pep rallies if you are not gonna play the game.