Keeper of the Hymnal

Please read this book today.

2010-08-17T20:20:00.001-05:00

Ron Hall and Denver Moore’s book “ The same kind of different as me” has to be one of the most heart touching books I have ever read. I was amazed as I saw myself in this book thorough the eyes of Ron Hall and for the most part I was saddened. This book gives an amazing look at the lives and world of the homeless. It shows the attitudes the homeless have for those who have homes and seem to act better than others because of that fact. You cannot read this book and not have it change your worldview and even your life. This is one book that I will recommend to every person I know…and it will show up as a great gift item this year too. I cannot encourage you enough to get this book and read it. Once I started reading it I had a hard time putting it down. The story is so engaging. Both of these men show how the power of God can not only change the individual but has the potential to change the world. Go buy this book today.

Is Jesus in the running?

2010-07-18T21:06:00.000-05:00

I have been noticing these signs all over my town and think that they are a great way to let people see and think about the name of Jesus everyday. I really don't know what church or group of people are responsible but what a great idea to just put the name of Jesus out there everyday ...for everyone to see. But just as I was enjoying seeing these signs everyday pop up in different locations I noticed a yard in my neighborhood that had one of these signs in it for a long time, only now it had others as well.

It had political signs in the yard as well. Vote for this person for county commission, vote for this person as Governor, vote for this person as congressman, and in the middle of all these political signs was this simple sign that had the name of Jesus on it. I was really sad and troubled.

There must have been 6 to 7 signs in the yard...and in the middle was Jesus. Is Jesus a political figure? That's what the disciples thought and look how wrong they were. Jesus is not a Republican or a Democrat and I HATE it when people try to make God one political party or the other. BOTH parties are screwed up and nobody has the market cornered on goodness and justice. No party can offer hope for the world...no party has what people need...only JESUS.

No wonder that people that don't know Jesus simply think that Christians are just the weird political right....we put political signs in our yards and a sign with the name of Jesus like he is endorsing those candidates.

We need to endorse Jesus as the answer... I understand that some people are concerned about who holds office and that they think one party is better than the other...I can understand and appreciate that.... but the answer to all questions is Jesus...

May we see the world as Jesus does....may we see people for what they are...children of God...and may we show each other the answer to every issue... The name of JESUS there is no other name.

Peace.

Jesus Manifesto...

2010-07-09T19:03:00.000-05:00

Colossians 1:18 says “ So that in everything He might have the supremacy.” And that is exactly what Lenard Sweet & Frank Viola speak to in their book Jesus Manifesto. This book shows how Jesus is at the center of everything and this theme is carried out throughout the whole book. What a refreshing reminder of who is the center of everything. This book is one my must read list that I give my friends, you can’t go wrong spending time in this book. We need to refocus on the things that really matter in our religious world and the Jesus Manifesto does exactly that. This book was a true blessing to me in many ways. I hope these two authors have more to come regarding this subject…thank you so much for writing this book and I know that it will bless many lives and bring us back to the center of everything….JESUS.

Read this and be blessed...

Peace.

CHANGE

2010-07-06T18:15:00.001-05:00

I just finished my Master's degree in Organizational Communication and I am finally able to write not for a grade but for fun. While I was working full time and going back to Grad school this phrase keep my mind busy...Are you ready for it? Ready for work, ready for family, ready for whatever is being required at school, ready to serve my church family, ready to use my gifts...are you ready?

Now I ask myself are you ready to change and be changed? One thing I learned in Grad school was that to change any organization you must change yourself first. I love the quote from Peter Senge that said, "People are not afraid of change, they are afraid to be changed." I think he is exactly right. I see it in my work life and in my relationship with my wife and children, and I see it in a lot of church's today as well.

In the old denomination that I was apart of for years there was a joke that went like this..How many Elders does it take to change the church?...answer...CHANGE?? it was funny at the time but then I realized that people are afraid of being changed, and that was sad to me. When I read the bible I see Jesus being the leader of change in His day and time. Today Jesus would be labeled a "Change Agent..." how sad that we don't see change the way Jesus did.

I read something today that said change is the only constant....think about that for a while..I have. I hope that you are in a place that you are looking for change. Change in your relationship with your co-workers, change in your way of handling stress and change in the way that you spend time with your family and friends. But most of all I hope that you are embracing the change that God is trying to show you in your life...change from an old Christian way of thinking and looking at things to a fresh and inspiring look at God. May you seek God and find Him and join Him as He changes that world one person at a time.

Peace.

Sweet Fellowship

2010-06-08T22:02:00.000-05:00

I love the group of people we worship with every Sunday. God has blessed my family with a church family that really understands why we are here, and what God wants us to be about. I had become frustrated with Sunday after Sunday being about what the church should be or look like. Sermon upon sermon about how the church should do this or that. I am at a church home now that focuses on what a christian should be about every day of their lives.

I am beginning to look at the world as a place that God wants to redeem and not as a place that is just waiting to get to heaven or to a better life. Jesus is redeeming the world His new creation is now... not in the distant future. God wants us to play a part in what He is doing now not in the future. I am so thankful to have left a church world where it was all about what you can and can't do in the worship service and more about what you need to be doing in the world to reflect Jesus.

I pray that God will lead you away from the denominational and institutional religious world to the world's that He is moving in... and He is looking for people to join him as He brings new creation to this world, and as He redeems this world to Jesus.

May God show you the path to Him through a church that is about what He is about....transforming the world... not trying to transform itself.

Peace.

Everyone communicates , few connect

2010-05-12T21:13:00.004-05:00

John C. Maxwell's book titled "Everyone communicates few connect" is not what you would expect from Maxwell. His other leadership books hit the mark and are worth the read. This attempt at the communication field is not what you might think it is by the title of the book. Maxwell tries to take on communication and blend it with his leadership style message and in doing so the book ends up not really speaking to the communication idea at all. As someone who has studied communication for years I was expecting a book about the aspects of communication and how to look at and alter my communication so others might "connect" better. It is an average book that really speaks little to communication as a whole. I was disappointed and really think that Maxwell could have hit a home run with the book based on the title. It does go to show that you should not judge a book by the cover. I will say that I have always enjoyed other of Maxwell's books and think that he is a fine author. This is just not the book that I expected based on what the cover notes and the title suggested. It is still an average read just don't expect to get a lot of communication application from the book.

It's gonna rain...

2010-05-09T20:19:00.004-05:00

You might have heard people talk about the 100 year flood...you know you are in a 100 year flood plain. That means that you have a chance of a flood every 100 years. What about a 500 year flood...well in Jackson Tennessee and Nashville Tennessee that is exactly what we had this past weekend. I am sure you have heard about it or seen pictures on the news..it was a terrible tragedy.

I could not help but think of Noah as we got over 13 inches of rain at my house and saw the damage done on our town...I could not even imagine if it had kept on raining for 40 days and nights. There is an old spiritual that says "It's gonna rain, it's gonna rain you better get ready and bear this in mind" what a great song. Thinking about flooding we think about the negative things...destruction. What about the positive... the cleansing...the newness that comes from washing away the current things.

I think about the scene from O'Brother where art thou...at the end when Delmar, Pete and Everette are about to be hung...and then the flood comes and saves them...what a great movie. There are things that are good about a flood.

Have you had any floods in your life? I have. Have you had any spiritual floods? I have and they were so hard during the initial flooding , but after the flood had gone what a wonderful blessing God gave me in the newness of the things He brought into my life.

Father I pray that you will always be gentle with us and bring the floods when you must but keep us safe to see the beauty that the newness a flood of Your Spirit can bring in our lives.

Peace.

Are you going to Heaven?

2010-04-29T20:01:00.006-05:00

I love that question. As a child I was told that was the question you should ask yourself. Even now if you ask people they will often say "I hope so" or "Lord willing". Well the truth is the Lord is willing and hope has nothing to do with it. John in his gospel says that the things he writes are so you will know....that's always interested me. Knowing. I know people who think they know a lot...then there are people who claim not to know anything...John says we can know. I like knowing.

I also love the different ideas that people have about heaven. Some think it is up in the sky somewhere, or that we will all be floating in the skies, better yet that we will be some spirit floating about. But my favorite is that people think it's going to be one eternal church service. If that's the case which church service will it be...they all seem pretty different to me.

I love to read the book and really see what God has in store for us. To read about God restoring the earth and bringing the new Jerusalem down to earth and that we will have our perfect resurrected bodies here. It really make me want to work with God to help restore this creation that he made and called it good... until we messed it up.

I hope you will peal back the layers of scripture and really see what God has for us. In one of his latest works N.T.Wright does a great job of doing this. It is a great read. The title of the book is "Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church" It is an amazing book.

Father I pray that you will heal us from our own understanding of your word and show us your understanding...

Peace.

God's great gift of Music

2010-04-13T20:41:00.001-05:00

What an amazing video....I thank God that he gave people the amzaing gift of music. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Peace.

Holy Week.

2010-04-01T19:45:00.003-05:00

What an amazing week. Holy week. And today is Maundy Thursday. I love this week. I wish more of us would live by the Christian calender through out the year. God has given us some amazing days during the year to remember what He has done throughout history.

I have been blessed this week to attend the Holy week services in my town. There are several church's in my town that each day a different church has held a service with a Pastor from another church preaching that service and another church supplying the noon meal. What an incredible way to show the unity of the church.

I have been blessed each day to hear the word of God made fresh during this amazing week in history. I am thankful for a christian community that can put aside their different denominational beliefs and distinctions to come together to celebrate this Holy week as the family of God.

I pray that as you get ready to celebrate Easter with your church family that you will remember that God so loved the world....the whole world...everybody...that He gave us Jesus. He did not give Jesus to your brand of church, he gave Jesus to the world. May God richly bless you during this time of year, and may we share the good news of Jesus with the world.

Peace.

God's Grace...

2010-03-25T14:47:00.003-05:00

Well today is my birthday. And as I have sat around today just trying to take the day in I have been struck by several things as of late. First being how blessed I truly am. On my birthday I think of all the gifts God has already blessed me with. The best gift on earth has been my wife, what an amazing women, followed by my incredibly fantastic two daughters. God has blessed me with good friends and is seeing fit to allow me to make new ones too. I have the best job in the world and work with some amazing people.

But I also could not escape the gift of all gifts, God's endless and everlasting grace. As the official Keeper of the Hymnal, I was reminded of that old hymn grace grace God's grace...remember the chorus?

"Grace, grace, God's grace,
grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
grace, grace, God's grace,
grace that is greater than all our sin!"

What an incredible thought..the grace of the creator of everything and His unconditional love for me and you. We get so side tracked at times with who is right about this interpretation of scripture, and who has the right view of this or that...and I stop and think...NONE of us have it ALL right...so if you expect God to pour out His grace on you in the things that you have wrong, even if you know it or not, then why do you think He will not pour out His grace on me and others in the areas that we have missed it too.

I know people say "well there are absolutes that are truth..." I would agree and if we look at the Bible closely we will find them... Paul said the most important things are that you believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God , He came to this earth and was killed for you as an atoning sacrifice to God, and that he rose again and now is with God the Father at His right hand. There are a lot of other things not mentioned...

So as you ponder the Grace of God I pray that you will pour out God's grace to others in the same way you want God to pour out His grace on you...

Peace.

Blue Parakeet...

2010-03-16T16:41:00.005-05:00

Have you ever read one of those books and thought "Man I wish I had read this years ago..." Scot McKnight's Blue Parakeet was that way for me. This is one of the greatest books about challenging you to rethink how you read the bible. It has really changed the way that I see and search the word of God. I have always been amazed at how different people can read the same verse of the bible and come away with polar opposite interpretations. McKnight's book answers a lot of those questions. People tend to read the bible one of several ways and with in each of those ways there are different ways they begin to interpret the bible.

Some read the bible as "rule book", or a bunch of laws to be obeyed. Others read it as a love letter from God, while others read it through tradition, and others read it as narrative or story. No matter which way you read it we just need to understand that the way we read it will be the way that we interpret it. I will not spoil it for you just in case you want to get the book and read it.

I am thankful to have had the chance to read a book that has blessed me. I had an opportunity to meet Scot at Woodmont Hills church of Christ in Nashville a couple of years ago, and had a wonderful time doing that. McKnight has also written a book called the Jesus creed that is certainly worth the read as well.

I pray that God will allow us all to realize that His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts...we need to understand that we do not have God "figured out"...he is to awesome for that...and would you really serve a God that you knew everything that he did??

Peace.

Crowd Pleaser.

2010-03-08T20:32:00.003-06:00

The good old crowd pleaser. What do you think of when you hear that word..crowd pleaser? Who do you know that fits that term...crowd pleaser? I love the picture to the left, now that's what I think of when I think crowd pleaser...someone that is out front above the masses, using their talent to please the crowd. Using their gift for the good of the people.

Have you ever been a crowd pleaser? I have. It was great as long as the crowd was with you....but lose the focus and attention of the crowd, or do something the crowd does not like..they turn on you in a minute. Ouch. Funny how just getting a little off center can send your support on a death spiral.

Have you ever had this happen in the most unlikely place...church? Now the stakes get high. Once you get off track from the "crowd" and you can define that a number of ways...congregants...members..leadership...whoever you have to "please" to keep using your gift, then you are sure to be dismissed. What's funny is when the crowd dismisses you and thinks it is for your benefit that they are doing so...oh to be so knowledgeable...

I pray that as you worship at your place of worship you will focus on the one we are to please...And I am so thankful that I am not among a crowd I have to please.

Peace.

You say goodbye I say Hello...

2010-02-27T18:11:00.005-06:00

"You say stop and I say go, go, go
Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello....."

I love that song. What a great use of lyrics. One persons perspective in the song is that you are leaving and the other persons perspective is thinking that they are arriving...I really like this song. This always makes me think of changes in life. Some changes are easy, simple and people hardly notice. Then there is CHANGE, the hard decisions, sleepless nights and the ones where everyone is watching.

I am amazed at how our own perspectives of a situation can "color" how we see the situation and the people involved. Just as the song suggest, some people will see the situation as a farewell, while the person in the situation may see it as a new arrival. Have you ever experienced this? I have lately and it is both a wonderful feeling and a feeling of confusion.

How can one person look at something as a loss and the other see it as a gain. God is amazing in what he can put in our hearts if we let Him. He can take a situation that looks like it is a departure and turn it into a wonderful and exciting arrival.

Father thank you for the times that I say goodbye and You say Hello....

Peace.

The Hole in Our Gospel

2010-02-22T18:32:00.002-06:00

Have you ever wondered about what this life is all about? Are we really here just to go to church and tell people about Jesus? Doesn’t it feel like we need to be doing something to help the people around us and the world? Well Richard Stearns “The hole in Our Gospel “ is a must read if you have those questions. Stearns walks you through his journey to understand that Jesus was here to help the fallen of the world as well as bring salvation, and now Jesus has left his church here to continue the work he started.

Stearns does an amazing job at letting you see the world and the hungry children in it in a light that is sure to leave you wondering how to get involved. If you have ever wondered what Jesus would be doing in our world today if he walked upon this earth, I think this book gives you a glance of just that. You can’t read this book and not be changed…try it and see.

A healing place..

2010-02-17T22:56:00.002-06:00

I have always thought that church should be a place of healing. But for most of my life I have found church to be a place of strife and ongoing arguments on what can be done and what can't be done. Jesus was about healing and helping people move forward in their faith. I am so thankful that God has shown me a church that is a safe place and a place to let people heal.

Church should be a place to where people who have been hurt by passed church experiences and for those who are unchurched and hurt by the "institutionalized christian church" can come and find healing. Church needs to be a safe place not a place of bitterness and people fighting for their agendas. Paul speaks to this in Corinthians when the people have chosen "camps". Some said I am of Paul, while others I am of Apollos...church's do not need inter strife.

I am sad about churches like this, and unfortunately that has been my experience most of my life. I now realize that there are churches out there that do not act that way and I am blessed beyond what I can express that God has lead me to just such a church...a church of healing...Thank you Father because, I need healing. A safe church...Thank you Father for I need your safety... A place to belong...Thank you Father for I need to be lead by you.

I pray that God will open your heart so you may see that there are safe churches out there that will let you heal from your wounds...May God lead you to such a place as this.

Peace.

FREEDOM

2010-02-12T11:17:00.003-06:00

Have you ever just felt free? I mean really free, no cares, worries, burdens, you were excited about what life has in store...God gives us that kind of freedom but do we take it or better yet can you even see it?

I have a feeling of great freedom in my life right now. God has blessed my family and for the first time in years I feel free. What's funny about this to me is as I saw this "freedom" coming it look like everything but freedom. It looked like conflict, it looked like chaos, it looked like trouble and it looked like something I was not willing to work through.

Isn't that just like our amazing God, he turns what we see as conflict, chaos, trouble, and anger into Freedom. God's system is truly upside down to what we see in this world. God I thank you that your ways are not my ways and your thoughts are not my thoughts....

I pray that God will show you that what you are going through right now is something that he has great plans to use in your life and I pray that it brings you ....
FREEDOM.

Peace.

2010-02-04T21:04:00.002-06:00

I love this word. Motives are some of the most difficult things in life to deal with...as well as to try to assign to someone else. I once heard a man that was teaching to a large group of people give a strong warning about trying to know the motives or rather assume the motives of others he said,"You can't tell me what the dog is thinking but you are positive that you can tell me what another human means or intends to do or the motives behind their actions..." I never have forgot that.

I am sure that we all have experienced this before. We say or do something and someone jumps to some wild conclusion that we meant one thing or that our comment was aimed at one person or a group of people. I have recently experienced this myself. You can say something on a website like facebook and people from every corner of the earth seem to "know" what you meant...it is truly an amazing thing.

I am so glad that God sees us for what and who we really are and for what we really mean. God says that men look at the outward appearance and actions and that God alone looks at the heart. We are so quick to judge and assume that we are in full understanding of what is going on...

So lets stop assuming that everything we read or hear is in the imaginary context that we want or think that it is in.

God may we see others as you see others and may we see ourselves the way you see us.

Peace.

Community* some restrictions may apply

2010-01-29T11:17:00.003-06:00

Community is defined as a group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists. OK I can live with that. Community represents togetherness, sharing, joint participation. So when we use this word and associate it with a church body some things change. For example, within the church there is Love, Forgiveness, Grace, Mercy. You might not find these things in another type community but in a church community you would....or I should say you should.

Here is the problem. When a group of people want you to belong to the "community", yet they lay burdens and restrictions on you that are not realistic or are a double standard. Jesus talked about how the religious leaders of the day would bind heavy burdens and unrealistic expectations on the people and NEVER do anything THEMSELVES to help the people. Does this still happen today? My experiences say YES it does...sadly but it does.

Leaders seem to want to limit the way and when you share what God has given you...really is that what church is about? I heard a sermon the other week that talked about using your gift for the whole body. That you were given a gift from God to help the body, lift it up and even that the body suffers when you do not use that God given gift. And yet I have seen Leaders tell people that their gift is not to be used "right now" that there are restrictions and conditions that need to be meet before they can use that gift "for the body"....Really?? Does that even sound right...or realistic or does that even sound like a community that you would want to be a part of?

May God forgive use when we have higher standards for others than he has for us.

Peace.

All things New...

2010-01-06T12:33:00.003-06:00

A new year..a new month..a new week..a new day..and a new chance. I like new things. I have grown to like older things as well, but there is something about something when it is new. As I had some time off from work the last week of December I started to think about the new year and all the opportunities and challenges that it will bring.

There will be several things that will need to be finished and resolved, but there will also be several things that will be new. There will be new opportunities to do things that I have never done, there will be new people to meet, and new relationships to form and to grow. I am excited about this "new" year.

I am so thankful for a God that makes everything new every day. His mercy and love are fresh and new with the beginning of every day never before lived. I want this year to be "new". I want it to be a year that I live out the things I claim to believe. I want it to be a year that every day is lived to the fullest.

I hope that you will join me in this New year with a prayer that God remind us that all things are new and for us to enjoy life and be the blessing that God wants us to be.

Peace.

Tis the Season

2009-12-20T19:48:00.002-06:00

This is not about Christmas...I just thought the title would be something to catch the eye. This entry is more about the picture. What do you see when you look at the tree? Is it funny? Does it look sad? Or maybe even like something you have seen or experienced before? For me the answer is yes to all of those questions.

That poor little tree started off like every other tree, with a seed. Then it began to grow, it might even at one time been the straightest and tallest of the other trees its age. Then something happened or didn't happen. Something changed for the tree, not necessarily bad or good something just changed.

Such is life. We all go through different "seasons" of our life. I think I am in a new one myself, not good or bad just a new one. Things look different to me, people look different, priorities are changing. What I though was important is just becoming something of interest and things that were an interest are becoming important.

Its hard to say for sure what the out come is going to be with several decisions that are needing to be made but this one thing I know....its just a season, God will lead me through and will lead me to the next season as well. So from my heart to yours...Tis the season...Merry Christmas.

Peace.

Excuse me can you help me over here??

2009-12-03T18:46:00.003-06:00

Shopping can be fun or it can be frustrating. You either have a sales person worrying you to death or you can't find one that has any interest at all. We seem to have that problem as a society as well. Places of business seem to lack the people that really care about the customer or the company. There are school systems that don't have administrators that really care about the faculty or the students for that matter. Every where we turn we see people with little Personal Accountability anymore...I wonder why..I see it in a lot of places, places you would never even imagine. I sat in a meeting the other night and heard someone say, " well we just thought that if you needed something you would tell us..." and continued to say " we didn't know that you were feeling that way..." You know why?? Nobody ASKED!

We have got to get a grip on how to deal with people. I mean what happened to the.."hey have you seen or noticed Joe is not himself? Maybe we should see what is going on?" Now there is an interesting thought...what if we actually engaged Joe? Amazing.

To see this in business is one thing to see it in church is something else. Personal accountability is job number one. We.. whoever we are.. whatever our position or place...we have to take an interest in seeking out and helping others who may be in a difficult place. I have failed at this myself, and now I realize how damaging that can be for the hurting person.

Don't wait for someone else to do it....Personal Accountability says..."What can I do to to help." Lets all try it and see what a difference it makes not only in someone else's life but in our own....I'm ready to go..are you?

Peace.

Say what you need to say...

2009-12-01T23:26:00.003-06:00

I think I will. A popular song has the lyrics.." say what you need to say..." OK I will take you up on that. Very few people may ever read this post, but it is going to be a cleansing of the soul for me. I am thankful for the people God has put in my life. But I am amazed at how people will stay with you as long as the hard times don't include them having to roll up their sleeves and getting dirty with you.

The church really seems to know how to pray for you if you have some kind of physical problem or disease. But have a spiritual problem and my experience is that the church becomes deaf and dumb. What a shame. I know that I have done the same things to people that are struggling ...I have not known what to say..well I can tell you one thing..not saying anything is the wrong answer.

It really makes me sad and angry that people..leaders...even friends will just stop all communications in the name of giving you space. I used to hear that from a girlfriend that was trying to break up with me... I thought those days were over... well I guess not.

Please if you see someone hurting spiritually ..just be there to hear their thoughts and frustrations..just be there. That will mean more than you will ever know..

Peace.

A church without signs...

2009-10-23T17:41:00.004-05:00

I thought about this the other day. How great would it be to have a church with no signs. People might say "Well what kind of church is it" and the answer would be...Yes. That's just it, it should be church...period. It should be a place that has only one brand...the brand of Jesus. It's to be Jesus church, not a Baptist, Methodist, or church of Christ..Just a church where followers of Jesus get together. For far to long we have been to worried about the brand and not the power or person behind it. No wonder Jesus prayed for unity knowing that we would do this to his church.

I recently remembered the old definition of insanity...doing the same things over and over and expecting different results...we need to wake the church up....we need to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit not what is the gripe of the moment. I am weary with church leaders who say they want change and they want a new fresh direction for the church and yet continue to lead or not lead in many ways. Why are we so afraid of leading instead of reacting to the latest compliant.

Our days are getting shorter and I am tired of a church that is like a record that is skipping...same thing over and over...we need to just STOP!! We need to be honest with ourselves and other people..we need leaders... not people who try to manage constant conflict..

As the old saying goes..Follow...Lead...or get out of the way. And lets just take the signs down...

Peace.

Fervent prayer....

2009-10-12T19:43:00.003-05:00

Please take a moment to see this ...It will be worth it...I promise. I wish we prayed this passionately in Church today. Just press the link on the title Fervent prayer...

Peace.

When did Church become emotionless?

2009-09-17T16:40:00.003-05:00

What has happened from the Psalms to 2009? Church seems more like a civic club gathering where people feel like they have to be there because if they are not they might get kicked out of the club. What has happened to " Shout to the LORD...or Clap your hands all you people..." those are in the bible you know..yet we sit in church with a dazed look like we are trying to understand another language.

I am really getting to the point where I just don't get it any more. I thought we were to celebrate God and the things he has done...remember.." The LORD gives and takes away , and I will still bless the name of the LORD" what happened to that? We wonder why people don't want to come to a worship gathering. Have you ever really looked at our gatherings...there are days I don't want to be there either...they are DEAD.

I am not saying that a gathering has to be happy clappy all the time but we have striped emotion out of our gatherings and I think that has taken away one of the greatest gifts God has ever given us...Worship is to be with the whole person...Love the LORD your God with your HEART...MIND...SOUL...STRENGTH. That's your whole person, everything. Not just your ears as you listen...

Where I go to church ( a church of Christ) we have harped for years that church is a place where people "participate" well from what I have seen we need to drop that line..most folks set there and look like..well the picture above.

Lets go to our worship gatherings Sunday and smile, share our emotion and rejoice...God just might show up to.

Peace.

Let's just admit it.

2009-09-09T15:14:00.002-05:00

It's time. It's time that we finally come to the confession booth and say what we need to say. Come on now we ALL need to go. And our confession should be.." Lord we are so sorry that we have messed church up." It's time to admit it, we have taken an idea of community and turned it into a mess of institution.

You may think this is only a "rant" but I have come to believe that we have really messed this all up. Church, a community of believers, being Jesus to the community around them and sharing what God has given them with others that don't have it. Church, a community of Christ followers that are blessed to be a blessing to the entire world. Yet we have messed up even the community part.

I don't see church as a community, it is more a gathering of people who confess the "TYPE" of community they are..their Brand if you will. We focus on the worship rules, we are in endless discussions on why the church office does not run the way we think it should, we don't like the message on the answering machine or that we even get the answering machine. Community is about Jesus. Period.

We function, if we function at all, based on what we do during a worship gathering instead of what we have done prior to the gathering...you know the other 6 days of the week.

I really want us to rethink what we are doing and what it looks like to those who really need our help and the message we have. I want us to look at why we are doing what we are doing. I am ready. If you are angry, then maybe you are ready to. If you don't see a problem...well that speaks for itself.

It's time...really it is. We just need to admit it.

Peace.

God's to do list

2009-09-01T11:01:00.005-05:00

I can remember when I first realized that I either could not do or could not remember all the things that I had to do. I needed a way to be reminded. I really don't know who first introduced me to the "to do " list, but my world changed instantly.

I remember getting out the yellow pad, writing " to do list " at the top and beginning to write down those important and even urgent things that had to be done. WOW now I know exactly what I need to do, and the fun was after completion you get to put the coveted check mark beside the completed item.

When did church get that way? We act like God has a big "to do list" for us each Sunday and we proudly come in sit down and begin the task of checking things off the list.

Announcements...check

Opening prayer...check

Singing...check ( not that we really enjoyed the songs or understand what they are saying to God...And we certainly do not want to get emotionally involved..)

Another prayer...check

Scripture reading...check

Sermon...check (hope it was not to long or one that I have heard before...And it would be nice if it dealt with my life and not what my life would have been like in Rome 2000+ years ago.)

More singing...check

Communion...check

Giving...check (even if we don't know or understand the needs of the church or why we are doing it.)

Closing prayer...BIG CHECK.

I have heard that one reason that preachers do not give the "fill in the blank" outlines much any more is because it limits the imagination of people. Well what if we quit printing orders of worship so people would not have a written check list of things to complete each Sunday. I am ready to get rid of the "to do list" and get back to being Spirit lead in our worship to God.

Next time you go to a worship gathering...will you take your list or leave it at home?

Peace.

Welcome Back....

2009-08-22T14:27:00.003-05:00

My it has been a long time. Please forgive me and I hope you have not given up on me. I have had a very long sabbatical so to speak from my blog...and other things for that matter. Life has a way of make time stand still and at times it goes by like a flash of lighting. Most of my time has been at work and connecting with a few old friends I have not heard from in 20 plus years. Also it has been a time to wonder about God and what are those few things that really seem to matter to Him.

My family has experienced a lot of transition lately. Both of my girls are attending a new school and my wife has changed jobs as well....and with both friendships have changed and some seem to be fading away. Its funny how things seem so inter connected, and you don't even realize it most of the time. I never would have thought that one event would effect the relationship at another "location".

Seems to be true with church as well. I am finding more people seem to be interested in their " brand" of church than relationships or even what we are doing at church. I have GOOD friends that will be friends no mater what, but I am also realizing that their are some people that are really focused on their brand.

Its like the movie the Firm...people seem to think that because you may not have the same beliefs any more that you have "forsaken the path". Oh well. I am convinced that I am better being lead by God than I am trying to make people happy.

I have missed sharing. I just hope you have not given up on me...come back I have a few more things to share.

Peace.

Read that again.

2009-03-01T20:08:00.003-06:00

I have been thinking lately and I can not figure out why we seem to make things harder than they really are. We seem determined to read more than there really is into a lot of situations and then continue to repeat that little exercise until we get to a point that we can not really explain why we believe what we say we do.

Our explanations are usually something along the lines of...its always been that way...or we have been told that's what something means so many times, that we just believe it without any "real" study or understanding. I am frustrated with the whole debate over Women's roles in churches.

We seem to read the Bible through what ever "tradition" that we were raised with and hardly ever seem to read the Bible as it is really written...as a story. There I said it. It is not a rule book, sorry to all my church of Christ folks, it is not a puzzle where you find the verse you need to solve a problem. It is the Story of God through History. I think we need to read the Bible along side of tradition not through it.

There is a difference. When we read it along side of tradition the Bible will remain the source of truth...and at times traditions must change. If we continue to read it "through" our tradition we tend to make the Bible say what we want it to say.

Let me offer a great book to you if you are interested in this idea. Scot McKnight wrote a book titled " Blue Parakeet" it is a great book that deals with this subject of rethinking the way we read the Bible. We need to rethink our out dated interpretations of some issues. It is really not as hard as we make it...Remember it is GOD'S story, not ours.

Peace.

Meg at her best

2009-01-31T16:17:00.003-06:00

I could not help but post this. This is my sweet little 9 year old, Meg performing at the Jackson Theatre awards....Oh yeah she won best actress that night for her role as Mary Lennox in Secret garden. I hope you enjoy...

Peace.

Oh the smell of Popcorn..

2009-01-31T13:06:00.005-06:00

The smell of popcorn brings back so many different memories. I remember when my grandma would make it, she would make it on the stove in a little pan with oil...can you remember that? Then I remember when "jiffy pop" came out. You still made it on the stove but it was in a little pan and as it heated up the foil would grow into a big popcorn looking ball...remember. Then there were the popcorn poppers....what a great invention. But the greatest....microwave popcorn in only a matter of a few minutes..BANG you had a bag of popcorn.

Everyone of those ways could get you the same results...cook it to long and it burned. Oh, I can still remember that smell...what an awful smell. It seem to stay with you a long time. And no matter how you cooked it not every kernel would pop. No matter if you used oil, jiffy pop, the popcorn popper, or even in the microwave...not every kernel would pop....I have always wondered why. Oh and it always amazed me that several kernels would pop almost instantly...others it would be a few more seconds..others longer..and still some would wait until it was going to burn to pop..then finally some just would not pop.

By now you know I am trying to get to a point...I see church the same way as making popcorn. We try so many different ways..and each congregation settles on its own way to " pop the corn"...and no matter what you will always have some that will never pop. So why get upset when people don't like one thing or another, and decide to try another way to grow..or get popped...by going to another congregation? We spend to much time worrying on why people leave..The Christian Chronicle had a big article on the decline of the "churches of Christ." that people are leaving..well maybe they just need another way to grow... and some that complain about everything and hate any change and are always concerned about the old paths...they may be the kernels that will never pop.

Peace.

I don't like that.

2009-01-23T17:33:00.002-06:00

Now there is an interesting Church sign. Do you believe it? Is criticism really a sign of guilt and shame? I have been pondering that thought and the more I think about it the more interesting the question becomes...I think it might be right.

That might help explain why people get all worked up at church when something happens during a worship gathering that does not appeal to them ( or as they say it .."I didn't like that.") I have often wondered what people really meant with that comment. How can you like or dislike worship that is intended for God? I must confess that at times the thought has gone through my mind to offer that person an apology..." I'm sorry _________ I didn't realize that we were worshipping you today, I thought we were worshiping God."

What makes us criticize others and especially others as they worship God? Is it really because they themselves may feel ashamed or guilty about some thing and cannot worship with the freedom that they have seen by others? I wonder...

Father free us from guilt and shame so we may be able to offer you the praise and worship that you alone desire. Holy Spirit place in our hearts the desire to worship you with praise that is new every morning like the love that you have for us. Jesus may you come and fill us the compassion for others as we worship together that you had for people when you walked among your creation....

Peace.

Slow down..take it easy..What's your HURRY

2009-01-15T09:42:00.002-06:00

I love this. Thanks to Joel for having posted this on Facebook. It reminds me of a lot of things...that can and do happen at church. PLEASE spend 4 minutes watching and enjoying this...and you have to see the end, its great. I do wonder if the music set the tone of this service...let me now what you think.

Peace.

When friends are over 50

2009-01-07T20:58:00.003-06:00

These last few months and the start of this new year has made me think...a lot....about getting older. Several of my friends have either just turned 50 or are going to turn 50 very soon. 50 that just sounds like a lot. I mean I know its not, but it just sounds like a lot.

I think about the 45 years I have had and think.."man 45 years...and I am still_____" I look at my relationships and wonder why they are a little shallow, why my goals are not reached or why they have not grown by now. I wonder why I keep having the same issues to deal with, and why church seems to be the same with it's same issues...45 years is a lot too. It is a lot when it seems that very little has been accomplished.

I know that there are things in my life that have been accomplished and goals that have been reached. I do understand that, however if you really think about the amount of time I have spent and the amount of time that I realistically have left I realize that 45 years is both a lot and a little.

It is a lot that has gone by but a little that is left. I really want to enjoy and use up every minute of every day this year. I hope my friends have 50 more years of joy and excitement in their lives. And I hope that we can all look at each day that God gives us as a true gift, and understand that it is for Him that we are here and that we are to be about His kingdom.

Will you join me...let's live each moment of each day to the Glory of the one who gave us the day.... "For yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory, forever and ever....Amen."

Peace.

New year ...New look

2009-01-01T10:20:00.003-06:00

I thought it was time to change the look of the blog. It was hard trying to decide which one I liked best...you know I have had the old look since I first started blogging. I had never changed the look before. It was exciting, but then it became frustrating because I would like one look but the colors were all wrong, or I liked the colors but the layout was not to my liking.

Does any of this sound familiar?? We do this all the time. If it's not about a blog, what about the furniture in your house, the color of your walls, the window treatments. Oh what about the new styles of clothing, the colors, the fit and design of the clothes...it is in every part of our lives..change is exciting and hard.

Is our relationship with God any different. I believe that God is calling us to change, don't you? Then why are we so surprised when church changes as well? Can people change without the church changing? Some would say yes...I hope the answer is no.

Why could people change and it not effect the way that we worship and the way that we interact with the people around us and the people that are not even with us.

Father with this new year...change us..change our minds, change our attitudes, change our hearts, change our lives and please..please..change the way we worship and honor you. For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever and ever...Amen.

Peace.

Your Kingdom...

2008-12-27T11:25:00.003-06:00

I have been reading a book titled "Living the Lord's prayer" by David Timms. What a great book on a powerful and timely prayer that I think we need to recite everyday. But in reciting it the meaning of each phrase begins to come to life with its own deep and rich meaning. I have always been struck by the phrase in the prayer" Your kingdom come, your will be done..."

Lately that has meant a lot of different things to me...the kingdom has not been the church (even tho that can be seen in the prayer but I think it is deeper than that) God's kingdom...that means He is in control. He is the one who decides. He is the one that approves or disapproves. He is the one to judge. He is the one to forgive. He is the one that blesses. His kingdom means that I don't get to make those decisions anymore he does and I am to follow what he has already planned for me to do.

What he has planned for me to do...not worry about what He has planned for others to do..I am not the keeper of the score card to see if everyone is doing their job right or if they are even doing it the way I think they should.

There was one phrase in the book that I just can't shake. The idea that most people worship God or do ministry for God to seek security in Him. The author suggest that we should worship and do ministry out of our security in God. I like that.

2009, that's my plan. I am not going to do what I do and hope that I find security in it. I am going to have security in God and just do what I do for Him...His kingdom. So now I don't have to worry anymore about other people not liking something about worship, or judging the intentions of my heart...because I am worshiping and serving out of my security in Him...and His kingdom

Peace.

Freedom

2008-12-23T19:15:00.004-06:00

Have you ever looked at someone and thought.."I don't believe that they are being real...look at them they are so fake.." I am sure that we have all done this at some point in time with regards to someone.
I don't know the situation or the circumstance ...but let me ask you have you ever done it at church or a Worship gathering of any kind? I have.

I remember a time when I was exposed to a very excited and free worship environment for the first time and saw people worshiping in ways that I had never worshiped before...hands raised..shouts of joy..clapping and applauding..tears and silent reverence..and I thought to myself is that real. Then I realized who am I to judge another persons heart or motives? Can I know the heart of another person?

God says that we look at the outside of a person but only God looks at the heart..then why do we judge another persons motives or another persons response to God in worship? What a dangerous thing.

Perhaps we are unsure of something that we ourselves are uncomfortable with..perhaps we are not mature enough to enjoy the freedom of worship that others feel and experience..but who are we to judge?

Father forgive us when we judge others based on our insecurity. Forgive us as we have forgiven others. And may we always worship you out of our security in you and not for security in you.

Peace.

A powerful prayer.

2008-12-21T10:40:00.003-06:00

The most powerful prayer that I have ever read is the one that Jesus taught His disciples to pray. In my religious heritage we have all but discarded this prayer and I don't know why. Oh I know the reasons people say it but that makes no sense to me at all. Listen to the words of Jesus:

Our Father who lives in the Heavens hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in the heavens.

Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors.

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

For yours is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory forever and ever.

It starts Our Father...that would be all of us..no some or a little ALL of us. And he is called Father, not Master, King, Ruler...but Our Father. Just stopping here makes me think why in the world to we get angry at each other about silly things.

I know of an incident that happened at a church where several people got all tore up about some music that was sang during a gathering....How can you sit in a gathering to worship Jesus and get mad??? who are you to get mad..and what in the world is going on in your heart if you can get mad during worship. Who are these people that are keeping the spiritual score cards and who gave them that job...I don't' think it was "OUR FATHER..."

I am sad and getting a bit tired of people thinking that church is all about them, that they should be able to complain about any thing they don't like...The prayer ask for Our Fathers Kingdom...not our kingdom...His will not our will...

So please if you feel like you are not getting your way and need to complain about it...take it to Our Father not to me or your other Brothers and Sisters..this Brother is getting sick of hearing your little I don't like this or that complaints.

Peace.

Jesus is better than Santa

2008-12-12T08:40:00.000-06:00

Thanks so much to a friend of mine that sent me this I hope you enjoy it..

Santa lives at the North Pole. JESUS is everywhere.
Santa rides in a sleigh, JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.
Santa comes but once a year, JESUS is an ever- present help.
Santa fills your stockings with goodies,JESUS supplies all your needs.
Santa comes down your chimney uninvited, JESUS stands at your door and knocks.. and then enters your heart.
You have to stand in line to see Santa, JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.
Santa lets you sit on his lap, JESUS lets you rest in His arms. Santa doesn't know your name, all he can say is "Hi little boy or girl, What's your name?" JESUS knew our name before we did. Not only does He know our name, He knows our address too . He knows our history and future and He even knows how many hairs are on our heads.
JESUS has a heart full of love.
JESUS offers health, help and hope.
Santa says "You better not cry" JESUS says "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you.
Santa's little helpers make toys, JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs broken homes and builds mansions.
Santa may make you chuckle but JESUS gives you joy that is your strength.
While Santa puts gifts under your tree, JESUS became our gift and died on the tree.
It's obvious there is really no comparison. We need to remember WHO Christmas is all about. We need to put Christ back in Christmas.

Jesus is still the reason for the season.

May the Lord Bless and Watch over you and your loved ones this Christmas

Peace.

WOW!

2008-12-11T09:21:00.002-06:00

I have posted this before but it is so good I had to post it one more time, I hope this brings you as much joy as it has me. Merry Christmas.

I think the Skyline praise team is working on this arragement..

Peace.

Reaping what you sow.!?.

2008-12-10T14:09:00.000-06:00

Have you ever thought about planting a church? Ever wonder about the excitement and the feeling of faith and hopefulness that would be in that adventure? I often think about what it would be like to experience planting a church...

I often think about what it would look like and how it would function, how worship would be and how it would all fit together. How does this sound. What if when you first come in you are greeted by people who act like they really don't even care if you are there or not..then the service will start and someone gets up and talks about a lot of sick people that you don't even know..then the music begins and they are singing songs that you have never heard unless you were born in say 1635..so far so good?? Then the majority of the time is spent with someone lecturing and using words that you can't spell or understand. You almost can't wait to come back right??

WRONG!

I have always loved the definition of insanity. Doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results. But that is the way we do church at times right? We think that if we take our old worn out 1940's system of church and recreated it somewhere else that people will flock to the place....I don't believe that. I think we need a fresh and exciting way to share the story of Jesus with people in a culture that they can actually relate to. But to many times we face the opposition with their battle cry of we need to be sensitive to the older(and I don't' always use this term referring to age) congregants. We need to be sensitive to their needs...WHAT??

It seems we spend most of our energy and time worrying about what the people in the pew think more than we do reaching out in new ways to the people who are not even in the pew. We need to wake up and realize that there is a world of people out there that need and what to hear the story of Jesus, but we are to often worried about what someone might think or that they will get there feelings hurt.

May God forgive us when we are more interested in our own well being than that of the world. May He forgive us when we are more concerned with what we like that reaching others for Jesus...

Peace.

Can you cheer for God?

2008-12-06T11:29:00.004-06:00

Oh the excitement of a Church gathering....let me start by saying that the church that I attend now is really learning to experience worship in a joyful and meaningful way. It has taken a long time but we are truly worshiping in the Joy of the Lord. I am amazed that the Bible speaks of worship gatherings with words like...SHOUT to the LORD, come let us sing for JOY to the LORD, PROCLAIM the word of the LORD among the people, CLAP your hands ALL the nations, and yet most of my heritage fail to see that worshiping the God of heaven and earth is to be a time of joy and excitement and wonder.

I know of places that if you clapped during the gathering the worship police would have a long conversation with you and tell you why that is not appropriate. Or better yet if they were in one of your gatherings and joy and celebration for Jesus actually broke out they would just get up and leave the gathering...that's nice. Here's my rant..there is a Church in a town near me that is known for not allowing the clapping excited worship environment (thinking that it is wrong to do such things)

But the funny thing is that they just had a big pep rally for their local football team at the church, (of course I am sure it was not in the 'official' place of worship) does that seem a little odd, or backwards? I am not against local fans or support for our kids...But we will stand up cheer and go crazy over 15 to 18 year olds playing a game and we will not even show any signs of life before the God of heaven and earth...I'm puzzled.

Could this be part of the draw to Jesus in our society and yet such a pushing away of the church?? people are looking for Jesus, but they are not looking in the churches...I wonder why?

Father, forgive us when we worship the creation more than the Creator, forgive us when our Joy for other things leaves us with little or no Joy for you. May our worship gatherings truly be full of Joy. Jesus you said that you wanted our Joy to be complete and may it be complete in you and in our worship to you.

Are you going to show God some Joy Sunday??

Peace.

Giving thanks? or Thankful giving?

2008-11-28T11:48:00.004-06:00

This is a post that I posted either last year or the year before..It still makes me think. I hope that it will make you think during this time of year as well. Enjoy.

I Love this time of year. Thanksgiving starts my favorite season. I love the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This was always a special time when I was growing up. Anticipating going to my grandmas house all the Aunts and Uncles, cousin everywhere, the food...Oh the food. We always had great music and great fun. And then Christmas was on the way. Christmas was an interesting time when I was a child.

You see my Mothers family was church of Christ (the ones that knew for some reason that Jesus was NOT born on December 25Th) my Dads family was split between Baptist and Assembly of God. So Christmas went like this, c of C (church of Christ) family talked about Santa, Baptist family talked about the birth if Jesus, and my Assembly of God family was just excited to be there. Oh, did I mention I went to a Catholic High school? But no matter what we were happy to be together. We were "thankful". That's what Thanksgiving is all about right? Let me challenge your perspective for a moment.

What if Thanksgiving was not as much about us giving "thanks" for what we had but was a time for us to be "thankful" that God has given us the ability to Give!? I have been struck as of late at the fact that if we will truly open up and be available to God that he will give us opportunities beyond our imagination to be a giving people. Gods heart is all about giving. He gave us the world, the emotions to express our selves, family, and most importantly his Son. God is all about giving.
We are called to be in His likeness...that means giving. Giving of our money, time, relationships, experiences...everything. God does not withhold any good thing, and neither should His children. Lets be thankful for the opportunity to Give.

So as you share time with family and loved ones, be thankful for what you have been given, yes. But I challenge you to be thankful for the ability to Give.

Peace.

It's not over...yet

2008-11-08T10:26:00.002-06:00

First, my apologies for not blogging in such a long time. Second because it has been so long many things have taken place since then, my spiritual journey continues to twist and turn down unfamiliar roads and at times down paths I thought I had traveled for the last time. I am dealing with the whole idea of worry and being anxious about things that I have no control over in this life. We have an economy that is in a mess and people are looking for who is to blame. We have just had a historic election and a new President will take office soon.

So many things have happened since my last entry. I know things have happened in your life as well....some good and some not so good. Some exciting and some every troubling. And yet God is still on His throne and we are still where we are.

I have learned a lot dealing with anxiety and worry...first there are things that we must always remember, there are things that are True, there are Facts, and there are Suspicions. All three have a major role in how I and we deal with things in our lives. If the Suspicions rule we are like Chicken little. You remember him right? Always worrying about the worst happening and it never did. I have had the Chicken little complex for a while. Have you? Be honest now.....what about the economy? What about the election...I have friends that think the world is coming to an end because of our economy and not knowing what our new President will do.

I have news for you... the world is coming to an end. Everyday we are closer to eternity that we have ever been before, But God is in control. Not you, not me (we should all be thankful), not the President, not your Elders, not your preacher. GOD IS. So for those of us who are struggling at times with being chicken little may the rest of you in love remind us as I remind you today.

" Be still and know that I am God"

Peace.

The front fell off

2008-09-25T20:11:00.002-05:00

If you want a good laugh and like Monty Python type humor you will enjoy this clip...I hope you like it.

Peace.

Why is that important??

2008-09-06T10:32:00.003-05:00

Have you ever wondered why we do some of the things we do. No I don't mean those crazy things that make us wonder about our judgement. I mean the things that become habit, the things that we do almost in an unconscious state, I mean the things that are rituals, I mean how we do church.

In my journey, I am at a place of questioning. I am wondering why we put all of our energy into our worship service or gathering.(I really don't like the word service, it reminds me of a service station where we go to get things done for us...that's another post for another time)WE spend so much energy and time for something that really has minimal effect on the hurting people of this world.

I believe that there are great reasons to have the weekly gathering, but it just seems that it is the most important thing we focus on. I am beginning to think that the gathering should be more like a witnessing time or reporting time on what God has done through us during the week, to be encouraged and to build each other up. I believe it should be a time to thank God for his provision during the week and a time to ask Him to show us where he wants us to be working in the up coming week.

But, it seems to me that we have become comfortable with the gathering together. And with the gathering having very little effect on the hurting or hungry of the world. Yet we continue to say that this is a way to bring others to Christ..When is the last time we invited someone to go with us to the soup kitchen rather than to a church service. I get a feeling that people need to see that Jesus is working in us to serve people, the same way Jesus did. Not simply do church the way the religious leaders of the day did...what do you think?

Peace.

TURN!!!!

2008-08-05T20:48:00.000-05:00

That scares me. It scares me when I am driving and all of a sudden the passenger (those of you that know me know that it is not my wife Melissa because she drives everywhere we go) yells TURN. I always feel startled and then the panic hits..you know the whole noodley leg feeling. I feel like I have missed something or that I have not been paying attention.

John Ortberg in his book " The life you've always wanted" talks about transformation and how transformation never happens without the "turn". When Moses saw the burning bush he "turned" to look at it. It was a bush he might have passed a hungered times before, but this time it was different and he "turned" to look at it. What are the "turns" in your life? Do you remember them?

God puts things in our lives and in our paths to make us "turn" and look and in most cases to "turn" to Him. That is how God transforms us...we have to make the "turn". I pray that God will continue to be gracious and merciful to us and give us the spiritual vision to see the signs and make the "turn".

Peace.

There is Hope??

2008-08-03T21:03:00.002-05:00

Please take 1 minute and 44 seconds to watch this video. I promise it will challenge you and I pray that it will bless you. Then ask yourself this question. Is there hope?? Will the next generation have hope? I think there is and I think they will.

Peace.

And finally, if you are here today and need....

2008-07-23T17:43:00.005-05:00

I LOVE this picture!! My favorite part is the 'Hymn board" in the background. Do you remember those things? It was bad enough to get a songleader who would say, " please turn to number 578...5..7..8." Or my all time favorite the guy who would say the number two to three times and then the name of the song, " Number 578..5..7..8..'walking alone at eve'..578." That drove me CRAZY!! But I am sure that my kids will get older and say Do you remember when daddy used to always have the same background for every song for the entire service??

Something else that I remember that always seemed a little odd, and I had forgotten all about it until I read Keith's blog and he reminded me of it. (yes I have borrowed this from someone else.) Remember when , and most preachers still do this today, how the preacher at the end of the sermon would say," And if you are hear today and needed the prayers of the church..." WHAT?? If you are here today?? who is he talking to? Everybody that he is talking to is here, right? Or are they not here?

That has always been a phrase that has made me think and made me laugh. What are some of the things that you remember or still happens that makes you think the same things...come on share...it will be a fun trip down memory lane. So I invite you that if you are here right now reading this please let me know with your comments...

Peace.

Don't judge in your underwear..

2008-07-09T21:32:00.002-05:00

I was listening to the radio today as I was driving to an appointment. Most of the time as of late I simply try to enjoy the quite and talk to God and let go of my worries and anxiety, but today for some reason the radio was to be my solace. The guy on the radio was talking about how when he would speak before a large crowd he would get extremely nervous. Almost to the point that he could not speak. A friend of his gave him the old suggestion that you should just try to view everyone in their underwear and that will make you relax and forget about the nervousness. The point was that everyone out there is just like you.

As I pondered that I thought what if we all just walked around in our underwear. I am not suggesting that is a good idea or that it is even appealing. I would not want anyone to see me in my underwear and I am SURE that you would not want to either. But the thought remains the same. It is hard to be judgemental when you are in your underwear. It is hard to be critical and harsh with others if we were all in our underwear if everyone saw what we saw.

I think that is what God had in mind...not the underwear part...but that we are all equal. We are all sinners, but we do a good job of "covering" it up and sometimes others don't cover theirs up as well...that's when we judge...what if everybody saw what we know about our selves. What if everyone saw you in your "spiritual" underwear? Seems to me it would be a little difficult to be so bitter and judgemental.

So just for fun the next time you really start to be that person who has it all together and are ready to share your wisdom with the world...remember...You should be careful judging in your underwear.

Peace.

The pool...

2008-07-01T09:41:00.003-05:00

I don't know where you are as you read this. You might be out West around the wild fires or up East, or even in the Midwest with all the flooding. I do know one thing if you are in the South then you are familiar with the heat. I realize it gets hot out West as well but there is something about the Southern heat and humidity.

There is nothing better than a cool refreshing dip in a pool in the heat of the summer here in the good old South. You know the kind when you first get in it may seem a little cool and then your body just seems to accept the coolness of the water....AH! Then if you get out of the water after being in for a while it is cold and hard to adjust, you fell like you need to wrap up in a towel to get warm?

But that is why you got in the pool because you were warm, or even hot right?.

I am fortunate enough to have a pool. I have experienced what we have just described the freshness of the water and the struggle once you have left the pool.
I also like looking at the pool, it has such a settling effect. I love the way God uses water to show us different things in the Bible. He delivered people by water, Noah, the Israelites and the Red sea, also the crossing of the Jordan, He healed people by water, John baptised with water, Jesus turned water into wine, water has a unique place in Gods plans.

Jesus tells the woman at the well that he is the living water...so let me ask, have you had God's water lately or are you dry and hot? Do you need to be refreshed? Remember that Jesus is the living water, he is the water of life. So if you need to get refreshed or something to quench your spiritual thirst...why don't you get into God's pool....Jesus is refreshing.

Peace.

That Smell...

2008-06-10T21:27:00.002-05:00

I am fascinated by smells. Even after sinus surgery, my sense of smell is strong. Many times after surgery they tell you that you can lose your sense of smell to some degree, but not me, I'm good to go. There are some smells that I just can't be around. You know like the fragrance counter at Macy's in the mall....just to many different smells at one time is over whelming to the senses. But I love the smell of of our kitchen when Melissa is baking something..really anything.

Have you ever really thought about God smelling? The Bible talks about sacrifices being a "sweet smelling" fragrance to God. What about our sacrifices today? Ever wonder what they smell like to God?

Does God have a smell? You know we all have our own "smell" if you will, our own distinct aroma. So I wonder does God have a smell? I think He does.

I think he has the aroma of love and compassion. The sweet smell of forgiveness, mercy and grace, but do we have that smell too? Or do we walk around with the stench of selfishness and greed, power and pride. I wonder can others smell this too. I am afraid they can. Maybe that is what they smell in our church's. When they visit and never return, oh we can "act" concerned for them but our "odor" tells another story. Something can look really good and still stink like crazy.

So maybe we should think in the morning when we get ready...how do I look, but we should also ask how do I smell to the rest of the world..

Peace.

And then there was one...

2008-06-01T14:18:00.003-05:00

As I have gotten older and really started to look at how short this life really is, and wonder what in the world am I here for and what am I to accomplish, it makes me realize that I have gotten it all wrong. I have gotten it wrong when I think about..will I have enough money to send the girls to college...that my mom and dad are really getting older and that their time here is growing really short day by day....I have gotten it wrong when I think about...how much I will need in my 401K to retire...about the crazy gas prices..or about worrying about my health to the point of being consumed with it...I have gotten it all wrong.

Maybe you can relate to this feeling...maybe you can't...YET. I have really been blessed by God as of late. He has given me a very special gift. I call it the gift of the moment. In this gift He has given me the ability to realize that what I really have is this moment. No more and no less. Yesterdays gone and tomorrow may never come...I have now. I realize that this seems so simple, but do we really live it...I have not until just in the last few days.

Which brings me to the other realization that God has given me....we only exist because he exist. We are not capable of living one minute longer that we are given to live. God has planned and purposed our days, and I have right now. If I don't get tomorrow then I get to be with Him, if I do get tomorrow then I have another opportunity to be with you. There is really only one person in control...it's not me....it's God. I have given up on being in charge, it's Gods job and he is better than I am. So today I say...and then there was one...how about you??

Peace.

God of this City - Chris Tomlin

2008-05-26T15:37:00.002-05:00

Invest 5 minutes and watch this video. Watch it to the end, and pray that God will make the words to this song a reality in your city as well as mine.

Father, please prepare our hearts for you to do mighty things in our city...

Peace.

A.A.R.A.P.

2008-05-24T11:24:00.006-05:00

Sorry for the absence from posting but I just got back from Greece with my lovely wife Melissa. What an incredible place of beauty and wonder. I am not big on posting personal pictures but I will share a couple of them with you in this post. I hope you enjoy. I have never been to Europe, the only time I have been out of the United States was when I traveled to Puerto Rico and Mexico. I was just amazed at the beauty of the Greek Islands and the surrounding country. If this is what the creation looks like after the fall I can't imagine what it looked like before it and have no idea what it will look like in the new heaven and the new earth.

One thing that shocked me the most were the people and the life style they lived. They were very at ease and laid back. They seemed to really live in the moment and soak up each opportunity to enjoy their surroundings and friends. And then there were the Americans. You could spot an American a mile away or in a crowd of hundreds. The first indicator was that they were the ones that were over weight, and rude.
They truly would act like they ruled the world...no wonder many of the other countries don't like us. It was also easy to spot one because of how arrogant they were as well, always right and talking down to whoever was in their presence. Even on the tours as the guide would point out a fact about the area you would hear the rude ones spout off, " well in America..." WHO CARES we were not in America....

Then it hit me...do we do the say in our churches....are we rude and arrogant and always right when it comes to visitors...new comers...foreigners?? Are we so quick to tell them "Now around here you need to know that we do it like this and you need to..." Are we not able to hear from someone else that comes from a "different" perspective or from another land?? How sad it will be if we continue to support the Association of Arrogant & Rude American People (A.A.R.A.P)

Father let us remember that everything is yours...including all the people.

Peace.

Do you believe in Ghost?

2008-05-05T20:46:00.008-05:00

Have you ever really thought about Ghost? If you have do you believe in Ghost? If you have not though about it ...let me ask, do you believe in Ghost? Be careful with your answer. I can remember as a kid every adult I knew would be quick to reassure you that "there are no such things as Ghost." The supernatural and mystic part of the world we are very uncomfortable with most of the time. Why do you think that is the case, at our very core we are spiritual beings, yet we don't deal with the spirit world very well.

I wonder if that is why we struggle with the workings of the Holy Spirit. I can remember when the Spirit was referred to as the Holy Ghost...do you remember? Most people I knew at that time did not like the name Holy Ghost, because if represented something that no one could understand or explain. And there were some denominations that used this name and all people could think of was uncontrolled worship.

Now explain to me again why that is a bad description. The Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts is constantly moving from one place to the other and moving with in people and places. We can look and read that and think "that's OK for back then but the Holy Spirit does not work that way any more..." Really?? why? who said that? and better yet how do they know..

I am at a point in my Journey that I am wanting a deeper relationship with the Spirit. I want to know the Spirit and to have a relationship with the Spirit in a way that allows the Spirit to move and work in my life with total freedom and control. I want that. I want mystic. I want Supernatural. I want to learn to be more like my true self (a spirit). I want to see with spiritual eyes......I want a relationship with the Holy Ghost..

Peace.

The Shack

2008-04-30T20:47:00.002-05:00

I try to be careful with the books that I recommend to people to read. You never know what others will like or if they will even read the type of books that you might like. That being said I can say that "The Shack" by William P. Young is a definite must read. Now consider the fact that, it is Fiction, please remember that and I don't fully agree with everything in the book.

The thing that makes it a must read was the way that it characterized who God is. Here is a small example of what I am talking about. In the book the main character, Mack, meets God and God explains to Mack that God is more interested in relationship than performance. Most of us would agree, but the point continues in that God has no expectations of me. WHAT!! think about it. Can God expect something from you? He already knows what you will and will not do. If there are expectations then I must "perform" either a task of a life style or something. If I must meet an expectation then I am earning something from God...wait that seems wrong...God wants relationship.

Now that I might have peeked your interest go get the book. You my not agree with everything but I promise you will not put it down with out your view of God being challenged. So beware if you are content with your picture of God please run from this book. If not go get it TODAY... Let me know what you think....

Peace.

All dressed up...Part III

2008-04-23T13:01:00.002-05:00

Thanks so much to a dear friend of mine who sent me this in an email. This is a great example of what these last two post have been about. I hope you enjoy and I hope it will cause you so stop and think about what is really important to God. It is not what you have on but how you treat people.

One Sunday morning, an old cowboy entered a church just before services were to begin. Although the old man and his clothes were spotlessly clean, he wore jeans, a denim shirt, and boots that were very worn and ragged.

In his hand he carried a worn out old hat and an equally well-worn, dog-eared Bible.

The church he entered was in a very upscale and exclusive part of the city. It was the largest and most beautiful church the old cowboy had ever seen.
The people of the congregation were all dressed with expensive clothes and fine jewelry.

As the cowboy took a seat, the others moved away from him. No one greeted, spoke to, or welcomed him.

They were all appalled by his appearance and did not attempt to hide it.

As the old cowboy was leaving the church, the preacher approached him and asked the cowboy to do him a favor.
"Before you come back in here again, have a talk with God and ask him what he thinks would be appropriate attire for worship in church." The old cowboy assured the preacher he would.

The next Sunday, he showed back up for the services wearing the same ragged jeans, shirt, boots, and hat. Once again he was completely shunned and ignored. The preacher approached the cowboy and said, "I thought I asked you to speak to God before you came back to our church."

"I did," replied the old cowboy.

"If you spoke to God, what did he tell you the proper attire should be for worshiping in here?" asked the preacher.

"Well, sir, God told me that He didn't have a clue what I should wear. He said He'd never been in this church."

Peace.

All dressed up...Part II

2008-04-16T21:31:00.011-05:00

1 Samuel 16:7 (New Living Translation)
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Remember old Samuel....wanting to look at the outside and make the judgement on who was to be excepted....but God "saw" it a little differently. We are so fixed on the out ward appearance.

This is part 2 of this post, you can read part one below by the same title "All Dressed Up." I was asked by a dear lady at church to post this and I wanted to share with you the comments she shared with me. Her comments were along the lines of this: Does it really matter if you wear your "best" clothes to church, I thought we all were to put on Christ. Now that certainly makes you rethink this whole discussion. We are told that we are to put on Christ...to wear Him. People should not see us as wearing jeans and an untucked shirt. People should not see us as wearing a nice suit and pretty tie. People should not just see us as wearing a new dress. People should see us wearing Jesus.

What does it look like when you wear Jesus? What do people see when they see us wearing Jesus? Do they see the compassion that Christ had, or do they see the arguing that we do? Do they see the love for the hurting and poor, or do they see the materialistic consumer in each of us.

What does it mean to wear Jesus?

When I wear clothes I wear them so they will cover up my body. And some of the types of clothes I wear to cover parts of my body that are ugly to me or I don't want others to see. Jesus covers the ugliness of or sinful nature. Jesus covers our scares and wounds, he protects us and makes us look beautiful to the Father. SO to me if I am in my traditional attire of jeans and an untucked shirt or if I wore my tuxedo, all I hope that you see is that I am wearing Christ.

I pray that each morning when you get up and get ready...and yes as you think about what to wear. Don't think about "what Jesus would wear." think about wearing Jesus....

Peace.

Cavere Clamator ( Latin for "Speaker beware")

2008-04-16T20:57:00.003-05:00

Do you remember the little children's song " Be careful little hands what you do."? How about the verse that says "Be careful little mouth what you say."? I need one that says"Be careful little hands what you blog.." It seems that there are people that do not like what I write about on my blog...they don't like what I seem to think about issues or what I think about certain topics. I guess that is really no surprise. We all don't agree on everything do we? Would you even want to be around someone who agreed with everything you did..I like diversity. Now before you start saying "...well if you like diversity so much why do you always disagree or go off on other ideas..." I said I like diversity not that I agree with everything or don't have my own "OPINIONS". And that is just what most are OPINIONS.

So to most this post will mean very little, but for the record, I wanted to let everyone know that we all need to to careful with what we say and in my case what you blog. You never know who may be listening and who might blog about it. In my case you never know who reads your blog. My blog was never designed to hurt anyone's feelings it was created to share my thoughts and reflections on what is happening on my faith journey. And sometimes it can get messy...we are messy people, all of us. So please take no offense to my rants, simply allow them to engage you to think about the subject matter.

So in honor of all our great Latin teachers out there I leave you with this....Cavere Blogator...Latin for Blogger beware.

Peace.

Acts of the Holy Spirit

2008-04-14T10:48:00.003-05:00

We are reading through the book of Acts in our CORE groups at church (a.k.a. small groups). Several thoughts continue to run through my mind as we get together every week and look at this incredible book. As noted by a good friend of mine the name of the book might be better if it was called the Book of the acts of the Holy Spirit. I encourage you to re-read the book and look at how many times it is talked about that the Spirit did this or the Spirit did that or did not allow this or that. DO we really let or believe that the Spirit can be active in our lives today? What would happen if we truly surrendered and let the Spirit guide our coming and going? That is a little scary...what if we were called to...that would mean we would have to...but what about all of our...Yes, that is a little scary.

You need to meet a new friend of mine, Shawn Griffith, (see his blog to the right) he and his family are missionaries that Skyline will be supporting for the next several years. I have been truly blessed by him given the short amount of time I have had to spend with him and his family, but I truly believe that they are Spirit lead. God is blessing me and challenging me right now with the people he is allowing in my life and the with the conviction to truly surrender.

The words of the music we sing in the songs "Let your Spirit Come" and "If you say go" are words that are digging a hole in my spirit and little by little they are emptying me of myself. I really wonder what the church would look like if we were overflowing with the Holy Spirit and if we really did not make it difficult for people to see or follow Jesus.

What do you think it would look like??

Father I pray that you will be merciful and patient with me and give me an "overdose" of your Holy Spirit..

Peace.

I have some...

2008-04-04T18:13:00.004-05:00

Good news. I love that phrase. Good news. You always perk up when someone says "Hey, I have got some good news." You are always eager to hear and share good news. Have you ever had to break something to someone and you start the sentence with " I have some good news and some bad news." Nobody likes bad news. Give me the good news. I love the way God saw it fit in His wisdom to use this phrase Good news; Good news = Jesus.

I have been thinking do we really live the "Good news" that we "preach" to others? Do people hear our good news message and then look at us and wonder why we look and act the way we do if this is really good news? I think for a long time we have thought that people are just looking at our life with regards to our moral code of living. I believe that is a part of it, but think about all the "moral" people you know that may not know or have accepted the Good news yet.

I have come to believe that more and more people look at how we worship to really see if we believe this Good news we "preach" about to them. Does it really look like good news when people see us worship in a emotionless, stoic, bored, legalistic, or less than a holistic worship offering. When people see us get more excited about our 401K balance, our promotion, our new house, our latest golf score, our favorite sports team, our academic achievement, our new this or that.....

Why do we wonder why people are not excited about the Good news? If it really is what we say it is then how can it not effect our lives and worship in a way that people are drawn to?

I read about the early Christians and how everyone around them were amazed at them and their love for each other and the way they worshipped every day..they lived the Good news.

Father I pray that you will let us worship you like we believe that Jesus is truly the best news that we have ever heard and that we are totally given to sharing the Good news with others. Let Jesus excite us more than the earthly things that we poor our time and attention into. Let us praise Jesus with the same all out energy that we give to our favorite ball team... let us live the Good news.

Peace.

Come on In...

2008-03-30T19:04:00.005-05:00

I love this cartoon. Look at the look on the visitors face..confusion, amazement, concern, totally overwhelmed. I am thankful that this is not a picture of my church family. At Skyline we just went through an incredible remodel of our sanctuary. We had our first 2 service Sunday today and what a blessing it was for me and our whole church family. God has truly blessed us with a group of leaders that want to grow and share the "Good news" in ways that are meaningful and connects with our culture and our surroundings.

I am so thankful that we are becoming intentional in what we do and how we try to meet people where they are in their faith journey. Bob Clark (see his blog to the right) has blessed our church family with incredible vision and passion for growing and connecting to our community. Thanks Bob. I wish that everyone could have been at Skyline today to share in this remarkable day of blessing and new beginnings. I pray that God will continue to use us to be a blessing to people that we know and people that we have not even met yet.

One thing that struck me today was the idea that we need to speak to people in ways that they can understand and hear us. To many times we get caught up in our "church" talk and don't realize how that can make people feel like outsiders. We need to speak to them in the loving voice of Jesus that says Come All who are weary....I pray that we will continue to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit as we say to those among us....Come on in....we are not perfect, Come on in....we don't have it all figured out, Come on in....lets take this journey together...Come on in.

Peace.

All dressed up.

2008-03-24T17:59:00.000-05:00

I had a sad encounter the other day. I was getting ready to lead worship, I was meeting and greeting people and one of our older couples ( a mother and her adult daughter) stopped me to scold me for my attire. Now before I go on you must understand a few minor details. We have made an effort where I lead worship to be intentional about making people feel comfortable and welcome. We have an outreach to the homeless people in our town and participate in a program called "Room at the Inn" where homeless people spend the night in our facilities. You also need to know that I don't "dress" like most others who are "going" to church. I wear blue jeans and a shirt that normally is untucked.

Yes, I do it on purpose, no it is not to draw attention or to make others mad, however it seemed to do both the other day. I simply feel that I want to make people feel comfortable and I feel that this attire is the best way to let people see someone in an active leadership role that is wearing something that they are or would wear. I want people to know that they can come as they are. My two lady friends did not see it that way. I was told that I should tuck my shirt in and get rid of the jeans and "wear my best" in church.

There are several things that I don't agree with in that little statement " wear your best in church". But the thing that really set me off was the response I got to a statement that I made to them as I was trying to make a difficult situation better. My statement was that I just wanted to make others feel welcome even the homeless. The ladies response, " I'm not homeless your not homeless, I don't care. You need to dress right and wear your best and not dress like you are homeless." Now besides that being a bigoted comment to me, there were 3 or 4 homeless people within listening distance from our conversation....and it was Easter. Just didn't remind me of the risen Christ.

I was sad. Not only for these ladies who thought that their world was the world but for the possibility of the homeless people hearing such a statement. Jesus didn't die for us to have a chance to "go to church and show off our newest and nicest apparel." I am sad and angry when we continue to miss the point of what we are doing and why we do what we do. How sad to live thinking that God is concerned with what we wear more than what we do for others....

Father, forgive us when we make your Good news more about us than about your Son.

Peace.

Gather together

2008-03-22T09:24:00.000-05:00

It has been a while, God seems to be working something in my life that I am not sure exactly where it is leading. It is wonderful for me to think that God continues to pursue us at all stages of our life. Just when we think we are settled or have it figured out...there is God....calling...waiting...looking...asking...

I just finished reading through the book of Acts, our small groups are all reading Acts. The thing that really got my attention this time through the book was in regards to what the Christians did. Go back and look carefully. They still met in the Synagogue. Why...because that was there custom. It was still where people went to worship. They did not start there own worship they did not just meet in there homes but they continued to meet in the Synagogue. That is so interesting to me.

It seems to me sometimes we isolate ourselves from people instead of going to where the people are, even if it is at another worship gathering....interesting. We think people are just going to flock to where we are. I don't anymore. We either go to the people or we won't ever encounter the people.

So as you celebrate your Easter weekend with the traditions your family has remember that meeting people where they are will allow them to meet you where you are and you both can walk with each other from there.

Peace.

I don't want to grow any more!?

2008-03-08T10:14:00.001-06:00

Do you remember what it was like when you hit your first "growth spurt"? How excited you felt, maybe a little scared, and of course there was some pain. But you knew it was coming and you were anticipating it...you were excited, you had never gone through that before but you were still excited. Remember the next one? Maybe you were not as excited the second time. Clothes did not fit right, and you were just getting use to the last growth experience and were finally "settling in". Then BANG, it starts again, this time not as much progress or maybe even more this time, you might even begin to grow tired of it and weary. Finally you realize that you can not continue to physically grow forever...good.

I think you know where I am going. Remember the "big spiritual growth spurt'? You were excited, others were excited to see you grow, and then questions came, more growth came but this time not as many were as happy with you as before. Why?... Then you grew some more, now the folks around you might even be a little discouraging." You know you might want to talk to someone about that. We think you are headed down a slippery path." Or my ALL TIME FAVORITE that we continue to give respectability to " Where is this going to lead us? What is going to happen next?" I don't know where and whatever God wants it to is my answer. Or maybe we should just stop growing.

Maybe that is the answer...just stop growing. I am as grown up as I want to be and I don't want to grow anymore. Last check if your are not growing your dying...Rest in peace.

Peace.

Sweet Harmony

2008-03-05T12:34:00.000-06:00

I want to encourage you to take a minute and watch this video. I normally don't like having a link in the blog, I would rather have the video embedded but this video is not available in that format. So you will be taken to youtube to watch this. I promise it will be worth your time. These young ladies ranging in age from 8-13 and will bless you with the tightest harmony I have heard in a long time. Please take a minute and enjoy and let me know what you think. Sweet harmony...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKCVS57j284

Peace.

Think on these things...

2008-03-02T19:35:00.000-06:00

Again, I am sorry. I know it has been a long time since my last post. It has been a long process in recovering from sinus surgery, but that is another story for another time. I have had plenty of time to "ponder" a few questions. So I thought I would share them with you so you could "ponder" as well.

1. Why do we think what we do at church is one of the most important things we do?

2. What part of Gods character shows us he is more concerned about what we do in worship than us living a life of worship?

3. How does what we do on Sunday effect other peoples life on Monday-Saturday?

4. Why is it about winning or losing ( be a soul winner for Jesus)

5. Why is it about some one being wrong?

6. Why can't it be about someone knowing Jesus?

7. Why do we convert people to our brand of religion and not to Jesus?

8. Why do we think we are the ones that have it right?

9. Why is it so hard to get people to be excited, joyful, why do we think it is about being somber and stoic?

10.Why did you choose the church you attend or are you there because it is where I was taught to go or else?

Just a few things to think about...let me know how you are doing on them and I will do the same. I confess I don't have the answers and God keeps showing me that the answers are not as important as the questions.

Peace.

The economy, Instrumental music and Roger Clemens

2008-02-13T15:13:00.000-06:00

First let me say I am sorry for not blogging in a while. Last Friday I had sinus surgery and have been out of sorts the last week. I go tomorrow and get the final procedure done, with the hopes of feeling 1000% better. Since I have been laid up the last week I have had time to catch up on what was happening in the world around me and I wanted to share a few interesting thoughts.

As I have sat and watched endless cable news stations a few things have seemed a little out of place. First with the national election coming up and the fears of a recession looming, I was struck that the focus on the economy and the real effects it is having on the average person seems to be less than news worthy. No one seems to really care what effects the economy is having on the average Joe. Instead they seem interested in how that is going to make old average Joe VOTE. I can't help but notice that the focus is on the wrong thing. The focus seems to be on how it is going to effect me not how is that affecting my fellow man..interesting.

Then today I watched, yes I confess, 3 or 4 hours of testimony before congress trying to figure out if Roger Clemens, the baseball player, was telling the truth about ever using steroids or HGH between the years of 1998 and 2001. That was 6 to 10 years ago...and my question is does it matter? Congress, not thinking about what really matters or how things are effecting the average citizen, wastes all that time, energy, and money when they could have used all those resources in better ways...interesting.

I know you have been waiting to see how I am going to pull this together. And in the last few weeks, Freed-Hardeman University, had its annual "let us tell you what you are doing wrong" conference. And in that conference a gentleman asked the question about why would you choose one area as an area of debate of "fellowship" when we seem to have bigger and more pressing problems, like feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless...(remember all those things Jesus talked about). Instead even church falls into the trap of focusing on the things that really don't seem to matter. By that I mean that instrumental music is not feeding any one is it? It is not providing shelter is it? No matter what "side" of the discussion you land on neither side is getting you closer to taking care of those people.

So my question today is simple. When will we realize that God is interested in the things that effect people, not things that effect our institution. We need to wake up and see the world as it really is..hurting, hungry and looking for Jesus. The world is not looking to see if you have an instrument or not, only the institution is.

Peace.

Church and Walmart

2008-02-02T20:47:00.000-06:00

What do church and Walmart have in common? Well they are both saving places...Ok so that was not as funny as I thought it would be. Really what do you think they have in common. They may not have many physical attributes in common but we expect them to have more in common than we may think. Do you have a Walmart in your town? Ok, then when you go to Walmart you are familiar with where things are right? Now lets say you go out of town on vacation or to visit a relative or something. You need to pick a few things up so you go to the local Walmart, you walk in and you go to the isle that has what you need then you go to the check out and pay for what you got and off you go.

We expect the same from church don't we? Come on now...be honest, sure we do. Let me tell you why I know that. Because we expect everything to be the same (uniformity) at the church we go to that is "out of town" because it has the same name on it that the one we go to back home has on it. Every Walmart is set up the same. They are uniform so people can come in and know exactly where things are and what to expect. And for the most part we expect church to be that way because it has the same name on the building. The church of Christ is one example of many I am sure. I will mention this one because it is the one I am most familiar with.

Just because it says "church of Christ" on the building we expect everything to be in the right place and have a familiar look, feel and flavor. My question is why? Why would you think that a living body of believers are going to be just like (uniformity...see previous post or Mark Hawks blog..)every other one just because of the name on the sign. We have made the church into an institution and not the "body of Christ". The body has DIFFERENT MEMBERS, not all members that look alike, act alike or even function in the sme way. What about the different locations within the world? Not every city or culture is the same, yet we expect the church to be the same.

What a sad commentary on the roots of our movement that we have gotten so side tracked by the fact that we think you have to do it this way, or just like we do it. And if you don't your not the "Lord's church" or you are wrong. Please someone out there that has it ALL right leave me a way to contact you, I would love to visit with you about several questions that I have had for years.

I pray that God will continue to draw people away from institutionalized religion and churches (even church's of Christ) and bring us back to the united Body of Christ.

Peace.

Autonomy VS. Uniformity

2008-01-28T10:32:00.000-06:00

Ok,I try not to post things that can be considered "negative" but with a couple of things going on in my life right now this subject is quickly moving to the forefront. I love my heritage and history of the church of Christ.Just like everyone else in any other denomination there are things that drive me crazy, because I just can not understand or get a handle on them. This discussion is one that keeps coming up and it seems that I can't get an understanding of it.

For years my heritage has been the leading entity that has been very...I mean very out spoken for the idea of church autonomy. That is that each church in each different location or each different gathering of people, would be autonomous and "governed" if you will by the elders of that gathering. Sounds like a plan to me and a good one. If you look at the church's around in the time of the apostles you will find the same kind of make up there as well.

BUT, as soon as one of these church's that have the same name (church's of Christ) do something a little different or the local Elders decide to do something that they believe that God is calling them to do, yet there are some others that are not doing that, We (meaning our church of Christ denomination) stops the cry for Autonomy and begins an even louder cry for Uniformity. Yes uniformity, not UNITY. Uniformity, we want it all to look the same, sound the same, I have heard people brag that they like it when they can go into any church of Christ in the country and know what to expect and what it will be like....that sounds like uniformity, not unity. I don't believe that the church at Ephesus was the same as the church at Corinth. Unity in Jesus, and autonomy in following what God is calling each separate Gathering to do or to be in their communities.

And even as I write this I know some will want to concentrate on some of the terms I use like denomination, and say Oh, no we are not a denomination, but yes we are if they all look alike we are. Take out a one dollar bill. Now take out another. They look a like? You bet because they are the same denomination. Some will hate the word gathering rather than congregation. Why must we want everything to look the same. God says we are all different parts of the body, not all of my body parts look the same...and I am thankful for that. Why must every gathered people of God look the same?

I pray that as we watch another generation grow up and look and search for God that we can be a people of God that shows them that God is a great God and that we should always find ourselves listening to Him and following His leading even if it does not look like Uniformity. I pray that we can break down the walls of our community and let them see that God is interested in them and not some form of man made institutionalized religion.

Peace.

2008-01-20T23:14:00.000-06:00

This is your "official" invitation to come join us at our area wide worship gathering Life on Purpose. It starts January the 27th 28th and 29th at the Carl Perkins civic center in Jackson, TN. Each night starts at 7:00, it's free and child care is provided. I promise it will be a wonderful time of worship and you will be challenged in your walk with God.

Last year there were about 2400 people each night with over 150 different Church's represented. I hope you get a chance to come and be with us during this exciting time. I am praying that God will continue to break down walls and barriers as we try to come together as the people of God and worship him as a community. If you are not going to be able to come I ask that you pray for this event and that God will be praised and that Jesus will be lifted up in our worship and in our community. Hope to see you there.

Peace.

Right on Time.

2008-01-13T20:47:00.000-06:00

I hate to be late. I get a crazy feeling every time I even think that I am going to be late or have a slim chance of being late. In my career being late to an appointment is the worst thing you could do, and sadly enough I have been late before. We have all been late at times. Either we did not plan very well, or something came up that made our plans or lack of them, get all messed up. I hate to be late. And even worse I hate it when other people are late. Just ask my lovely wife or the praise team...(sorry guys I am trying to get better.)

Over the past few months God has been gracious enough to me to show me one thing about being late. That is that God is always on time. He is never early and He is never late. God gives us what we need just when we need it. He is never early so that we won't think that it was really our own doing that our need was met. He is never late so we won't lose hope and so we can be a witness to His faithfulness.

Oh, there have been times when I "thought" God was late, when I thought I could not hang on one more minute. But then just at the right time when I was totally humbled and dead to myself, God was right on time.

As you continue on your journey this week, may you remember that God is time less, He is everlasting, He is now, He was then, and He is already ahead of us. No matter what, God is always on time.

Peace.

Communicate

2008-01-05T15:16:00.000-06:00

I love this photo. when I was first sent this photo it had a caption below it that read" Thank you God for sending me to Timmy's house and not to Micheal Vick's." I understand why the dog is thankful. But the thing I like most is the earnest look on both petitioner's faces. They look full and deep with emotion. Prayer has always been a mystery to me. I understand what prayer is and why we are called to be a people of prayer. I understand that it is a communication with God. I get the fact that it is a way that we express our faith that God is in control and that He loves it when His children ask Him and thank Him for all He has done and will do. I get that. But prayer is still a mystery to me.

It is a mystery because I don't understand why I do so little of it or only in times that seem "out of my control". Why would I not want to jump out of bed every morning and the first thing I do is say good morning to the creator of the universe, who by the way is my Dad. Why at every turn of my day do I not look for chances to "slip" in a little conversation with the one who loves me more than anyone ever has or will.
Prayer is a mystery to me. Is it a mystery because even tho I "think" I know what it means and all the knowledge stuff about it, I fail to understand the true mean of prayer.

I am learning that prayer is a means of Grace. That prayer is a way that God continues to show and shower His grace upon my life. I am so undeserving. It is more than a way to ask God for stuff, even if it is good stuff. Even if the stuff is for other people like healing or protection, or comfort or peace. Prayer is a way to share my life with God. It is a way to invite Him into my day, and every aspect of my life. Why should I consult Google more than I consult God?

I hope that you will join me on my journey this year. My journey of growing in prayer. I won't say "prayer life" because I am finding that prayer should be my life not a separate part of it. So come lets explore the rich mysteries of what prayer can really be. Are you ready to?

You'll shoot your eye out!!

2007-12-28T20:52:00.000-06:00

Christmas is over and New Years is right around the corner. As I reflect on another year, I can't help but see how blessed I truly am and how blessed all my friends are as well as my church family at Skyline. This year has truly been a growth year for me personally and for a lot of people in our church family and in our worship ministry. I am always amazed by the things we think we need or want and yet God knows what we need and when we need it.

I always remember how our wants and the way we can idolize things seem so empty when we finally "get" those things that we think will matter so much or have a great impact on our lives. "A Christmas Story" is on of my ALL time favorite Holiday movies. I love that the last couple of years it has been on for 24 hours. I will watch it over and over...I love it.

You remember little Ralphie Parker, all he wanted was a Red Rider BB Gun. But to his dismay everyone of the grown up persuasion would tell him that he would " shot your eye out" if his wish was granted. All Ralphie wanted was the BB gun, every young boy has and wants a BB gun. He should be able to have that item as well, and share in the experience that all of his peers have...right?

What is that one thing that you really want, the one that everyone else has...you know the thing that will give you all the joy you think it will...come on what is it? Is that thing you want the exact thing that God may be telling you that if you get that you will " shoot your eye out". But everyone else has one, and they have not shot their eye out. If I only had...my way at church, if the Preacher would only, if we could go back to the way it was, if we could only get out of this worship rut, ...If If If.

I pray that God will allow us to reflect on this past year and show us that His grace was and is sufficient for ALL our needs. Besides do you remember what happened in the movie? Ralphie got his Red Rider BB Gun and what happened when he took it out side for the first time? He shot at his target it ricocheted and hit him right under his eye...in other words He almost "shot his eye out". After that little experience he never went back to get his gun. I am sure he did latter on but not during the rest of the movie he didn't...that is interesting to me.

I pray that everyone has a great New Year..give God the thanks and the praise for what He has done and will do in 2008. Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord give you His peace.

Peace.

Scrooge and Bob....who are you?

2007-12-22T10:32:00.000-06:00

My Christmas tradition began last night with the watching of "A Christmas Carol" one of my all time favorites and must see movies at Christmas. No matter what version of the movie I watch or find I am always struck at the relationship or lack of one between Scrooge and the ever faithful Bob Cratchit. Scrooge treats Bob like less of a man. His wages are insulting for the time he gives to his work. Bob is a pleasant person even though he is surrounded with trouble and trails on every front. He is poor, has a terrible working environment, a dieing child with no means to be able to help him and other children as well. Yet he is in the very presence of someone who can change his situation with just the decision to do so.

Scrooge's redemption was in being reminded of his past, being awaken to the present and cast into the future to see what will be if things do not change. I need a scrooge experience sometimes. I need to be reminded that the past has a great deal to say about what has made us the people we are today, good or bad. I need to see the present as it is, again one quote that I can't forget is "do not ever think that your world is THE world". I so bad need to realize that what is done today will have a great deal to do with what happens tomorrow and the day after that.

How many Bob Cratchit's are in my little world, how many do I work with, how many wait on me in a restaurant, how many will I see Sunday as I lead worship? Have you ever been Cratchit? How many of us have been Scrooge...just not at work, but worse at church? We come in and have the attitude and demeanor of Scrooge. Nothing seems to give us joy except being left alone and maybe a little joy in looking at the world or church and passing judgement on what the problems are and what needs to be done to "fix" those problems.

During this time when we realize the greatest gift that was ever given, Jesus, may God show us mercy and bring us to understand our past, open our eyes to the present, and fill us up with anticipation for changing the future. May we pray for many Cratchit's to come into our lives and the life of our church. I have a pretty good idea Jesus would have hung out with Bob and Mrs. Cratchit. Will we?

Peace.

12 days of Christmas?....You bet

2007-12-14T20:11:00.000-06:00

I hope this brings you as much joy as it has me. Merry Christmas. Hey praise team anybody want to try this next Sunday?

Peace.

Overflow

2007-12-09T19:25:00.000-06:00

This time of year makes me think of being full. Full of excitement, about the up coming events and getting together with others. Full of anticipation, of how everyone will respond to the gifts they will receive. Full of joy, celebration, wonder, full of awe of what God really did by sending Jesus to be born of a virgin. I'm just full. I remember being a child and being at my grandma's house and eating Christmas dinner, how full I would feel. I would also be remind during the meal to be careful when helping my self. I can still hear my grandma, aunt and especially my mom, " be careful don't spill that..." I always seemed to spill something once and a while. My milk, tea, plate, something would spill out. Even when I got older I would be cautioned, " don't fill that glass up so much it might spill over." I have said the same thing to my girls as well.

As I reflect on that cautionary plea, I think how opposite that is to God's desire for our lives. God wants us to be so full of His Spirit that it overflows.That it just pours out of us to the people we are around everyday. Do we find ourselves being careful not to get "to much" of God? We don't want to spill do we? What would people think if we just spilled out God everywhere we go? A better question would be what would God think? You know some people may not want to get God all over them. So we should be careful right? I don't think that is God's plan.

The word overflow means a continuing flow, it does not stop. It is not like an occasional leak. It is a constant spilling, a continuing stream. Are we allowing God to fill us so full that we can't help but overflow? Overflowing with the witness of his Son? Overflowing with the grace of our Father? Overflowing with praise and worship? Overflowing with the compassion of Jesus? It is so filling for me when I am around others who are so filled with God they can't help but overflow in worship. A worship that is a pouring out of thankfulness and joy. One of celebration and one that gives God glory in what we do.

So as you read this, may you ask God to fill you to the point that you overflow. May you spill out God where ever you go this week. May the people you are with this week be soaked with God. And may you be so full you can't help but Overflow.

Peace.

Committed!?

2007-12-02T19:58:00.000-06:00

What an interesting word. Committed. Are you committed?, do you need to be committed?, do you know some one that needs to be committed? Webster has a couple of interesting definitions I want to share with you.
1. to put into charge or trust
2. to place in a prison or mental institution
3. to consign or record for preservation
4. to put into a place for disposal or safekeeping
5. to pledge or assign to some particular course or use

Which one of these are you most familiar with? Which one do you use the most? I want to challenge your thinking to look at each of these from your spiritual "commitment." Are you committed to the point that you have put God in charge or trust of everything you have? Your time, money, attitude, family, job.... Have you committed everything to God?
Have you "been" committed? Has your life been so filled with the Holy Spirit and the mind of Christ that people see you as someone whose mind is controlled by something else and you need to be "watched?"
Are you committed to the degree that your life is a record of the goodness and love of God to be seen by all? Has your life been committed, and given to God to be used up for Him? Are you wasting your life with God?
And lastly are you committed? Have you pledged your life to the Holy other for His particular purpose and not your own?

A lot of things to ponder. We "commit" to so many things in this world. Our jobs, friendships, marriage, church, sports, kids, all our kids activities, on and on it goes. We say Yes so many times with out realizing what we have "committed" to. You may be committed to your church, but are you committed to Jesus? I know someone is saying " oh, that is the same thing.." Is it? I know people that are more worried about what the church ;looks like, acts like, does or does not do, that it seems they are more committed to the institution that the instituter.I sadly know people that are more committed to the preacher than to what God may be calling them or the local church to be doing. May God open our eyes to what we are truly committed to.

I pray for you today as you read this that God will put it on your heart to let Him be in charge, to let Him control your thoughts, that you will let Him use your life as an open journal to the world, that He will waste your life in what ever way He chooses, and that He will show you the divine purpose he has chosen for your life....That God will bless you and show you what it looks like to be committed.

Peace.

Do you hear what I hear?

2007-11-25T20:11:00.000-06:00

Can I remind you that this is my absolute favorite time of year?! I love Christmas time, the time that builds from Thanks-Giving (see previous blog) to Christmas is a wonderful time of joy, love, giving, reflection and a time to listen. Yes a time to listen. Remember the old carol, "Do you hear what I hear?" I love that song and it has so many things to teach us. The verse about "said the night wind to the little lamb." God has blessed us with nature and it still is amazing to me how God speaks to us through the smallest things like a night wind or a small animal. But My favorites of all are the following lyrics. " Do you hear what I hear? A song, a song high above the trees with a voice as big as the sea, with a voice as big as the sea."
Can you imagine a song that high and sung with a voice that big? So the question becomes are you listening?? Do you hear what I hear? God talks to us so many ways and so many times each day. Do you hear Him?

And lastly, "Do you know what I know? In your palace warm mighty King." " A child a child shivers in the cold, let us bring him silver and gold, let us bring him silver and gold." WOW! so many ways to view this one, are we the king? The child that shivers is that the homeless and the helpless? Do we need to take them silver and gold? Means to help them survive? Is God calling us to bring our riches and place them before the feet of His Son? Are we even listening to the cries of the world? Do we know what others in the world know yet we can't conceive it because we are in our palace warm?

I hope and pray that God will bless you this season. I pray that God will give us the eyes to see. I pray that God will give us the ears to hear His songs...and I pray that God will give us the willingness to hear what the cries of this world really are.

Do you hear what I hear?

Peace.

Thanks-Giving

2007-11-20T23:00:00.000-06:00

I Love this time of year. Thanksgiving starts my favorite season. I love the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This was always a special time when I was growing up. Anticipating going to my grandmas house all the Aunts and Uncles, cousin everywhere, the food...Oh the food. We always had great music and great fun. And then Christmas was on the way. Christmas was an interesting time when I was a child.

You see my Mothers family was church of Christ (the ones that knew for some reason that Jesus was NOT born on December 25Th) my Dads family was split between Baptist and Assembly of God. So Christmas went like this, c of C (church of Christ) family talked about Santa, Baptist family talked about the birth if Jesus, and my Assembly of God family was just excited to be there. Oh, did I mention I went to a Catholic High school? But no matter what we were happy to be together. We were "thankful". That's what Thanksgiving is all about right? Let me challenge your perspective for a moment.

What if Thanksgiving was not as much about us giving "thanks" for what we had but was a time for us to be "thankful" that God has given us the ability to Give!? I have been struck as of late at the fact that if we will truly open up and be available to God that he will give us opportunities beyond our imagination to be a giving people. Gods heart is all about giving. He gave us the world, the emotions to express our selves, family, and most importantly his Son. God is all about giving.
We are called to be in His likeness...that means giving. Giving of our money, time, relationships, experiences...everything. God does not withhold any good thing, and neither should His children. Lets be thankful for the opportunity to Give.

So as you share time with family and loved ones, be thankful for what you have been given, yes. But I challenge you to be thankful for the ability to Give.

Peace.

Glory stealer

2007-11-17T16:07:00.000-06:00

As keeper of the Hymnal let me ask you, how many of you remeber the old song," Why do you keep robbing God?" There is a verse that talks about "life is swift and then the sod, why do you keep robbing God?"

Have you ever taken something that was not yours? Come on...anything? Sometimes we think of stealing as taking that money or product that is not ours or that we have not paid for. You know something that does not belong to us. Lately I have been struck by the idea that stealing does not only come by taking something that is not ours but also can happen when we don't give something we should. I know what you are probably thinking, " Jeff is still on this giving to the poor thing and being missional...." well you would be partly correct.

The thing that has struck me the most as of late is the idea that God has blessed us (and you are blessed if you compare yourself to the rest of the world and not your socioeconomic peers.) so that we in turn can be a blessing. I think for the most part we get that. Do we? When we become so self dependant that we can not or will not ask for help when we are struggling that we may indeed be stealing. The first thing we think about is money, right? When there are those times when we may need a
little financial help we don't like to ask or even let others know, I believe that we are stealing Gods Glory by not letting others whom God has blessed to use that blessing God has provided them as a blessing to the one in need of help. Confused?

Example, I need a little help. I don't tell anyone, which in turn does not allow anyone to use the blessings that God has given them as a blessing to me. God blesses people so that they will use what God has given them as a blessing to others. God tells Abraham, I will bless you that YOU may BE a blessing. But it does not always involve money. How about the times that I may need some one to help carry the load of family problems, work issues, do I dare say it CHURCH issues and struggles. By not sharing these things are we not allowing God to use some one he has blessed for this purpose to fulfill what they are to be doing? Something to think about.

So the next time you try to "handle" it yourself, be it emotional, spiritual or financial and you know that you need to be asking for someone to come along side of you and help with the burden, but you decide I can make it....think for a moment....I am stealing God's Glory by not allowing HIM to work through someone else to meet my need....

Peace.

I wonder.?!

2007-11-14T21:07:00.000-06:00

First let me start by saying I am sorry. I have not posted in forever. Please don't think that I will fall into that routine. It has been a little crazy in my life and I was out of town for a week last week. Any way I wanted to let you know that I am not becoming a slackered.
Do you ever wonder? I mean really sit back and be silent and wonder. Wonder how you got to this place in your life, why you went down a certain path over another choice you could have made. Ever wonder about something that you wish would or would not have happened? I wonder. Have you ever wondered why God created all the things he did. Why in the world would he have created all this stuff? Why so many animals, insects, plants, trees, grasses, on and on...( I wonder how cats evolved, because there is no way God would have created those little creatures.)

I wonder, why do we have poor people. How does someone become homeless. If they would just get a job surely they could get a place to stay. How could someone in this country of plenty go hungry? I wonder. Have you ever wondered what the people do with the money you give them after you leave. Do they rush to McDonald's? Do they save it until they can go to a nicer place? Do they invest it? Do they go to the convenient store and buy chips and candy? Do they do the unthinkable...do they buy cigarettes or beer, some wine a little Jack Daniels? Do you care? Should you care? I wonder.

You worked hard for that money, right? Or the truth be known that's Gods money, so we need to know what they are doing with it. I wonder. I wonder what we do with the rest of the money that we don't "give" away to the poor and homeless. I wonder. Hear is an interesting thought. You can check this out on Mark Hawk's blog ( a must read blog) and Bob Clark's blog as well. A little passage in Proverbs 31: 6-7. Come on you have to read it I am not going to tell you what it says. You read it in your version, so you have to deal with it. If I just told you what it said that would take away the impact. Go read it..... and don't try to justify it away, read it and try to deal with it in the context of the poor...

Why do we think that we should have some kind of say over what these people do with the money? Come on I don't want to hear that good stewardship stuff either, unless we will open the check book and look at ALL the money and where it is spent. We feel some how that we are better than these people don't we. We should be able to spend "our" money any way we want.
I wonder. The next time you give some money to the poor or homeless, stop and think what if you were on the receiving end and........ wonder.

Peace.

Preparation does matter.

2007-10-31T20:25:00.000-05:00

I love this. I don't know what is funnier, the guys voice or facial expressions. I hope you enjoy this one. I guess the point is obvious, be prepared. To all the praise team members out there remember, we rehearse for a reason.....

Peace.

What to believe or How to believe

2007-10-26T18:18:00.000-05:00

In Brian McLaern's book "Church on the other side" he tells a story about when he spoke at a conference of scholars from the Peoples Republic of China. He was to speak about the existence of God. Instead of arguing for the existence of God he simply spoke about how to think about God. After his lecture a gentleman approached him and told him "You have helped us a great deal. Instead of telling us what to believe, you have told us how to believe, and this is very good for us." What a response!

How often have we "TOLD" people what to believe instead of showing them "HOW" to believe. This has become a big cross roads for me in my spiritual journey. Who am I to know the full and complete mind of God and have the authority to tell people what to believe. I am to be a living sacrifice, not some religious police officer correcting people on what to believe or what not to believe. OK, I understand that there are core beliefs that are important and full of truth, but am I more interested in telling those to people or living them out to them?

I get the feeling that people are tried of being told how wrong they are by a bunch of people who can't show them authentic Christ like living. You know what I mean don't you? People who live by a bunch of do and don't do rules but neglect the poor and hungry. They neglect the marginalized and don't seek justice for the people who can't help them selves. Living out your faith has little to do with what rules you keep and more about the people you help. I can't remember Jesus for the life of me telling the religious leaders of his day what a poor job they were doing at following "the rules." He did however on a continual basis tell them how they neglected the important things of God....PEOPLE.

We have made following Jesus so hard. We have made big burdens for people to carry around with them. We have over sized yokes (rules, test for fellowship, sound doctrine, hermeneutics, worship do's and don'ts, who can do this or that, role of women, on and on it goes). But Jesus said his burden was easy and his yoke was small. Remember, Love God and love people. WOW, we make things so hard. I am ready to start trying to show people how to believe, want to join me?

Peace.

The gospel Jewel & the Casket of the church

2007-10-22T17:46:00.000-05:00

I get a little book from RBC ministries each month some times each quarter called
"Our daily Bread". It has little daily thoughts and Scriptures for the day. Here is the one from today. It is the sad story of an episode in the life of Isaac Watts, great theologian and song writer. He fell in love with a beautiful young women named Elizabeth Singer. She admired his poetry, mind, and his spirit, but for all of that admiration she could not overcome the revulsion she had at his appearance.

Isaac was short, had mere slits of gray eyes, hook nose and large cheekbones. When he proposed to Elizabeth she hurtfully replied, "Mr. Watts, if only I could say that I admired the casket (jewelry box) as much as I admire the jewel it contains." What an admission. I love the jewel but the container is repulsive to me. I wonder how many people see the "jewel" of the gospel, Jesus himself and yet the "casket" of the church has made them repulsed.

Are we unknowingly repulsive and unloving? Is the beauty of Jesus not seen in us as the church, his body on earth? As the old hymn reminds us, " Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me , All his wonderful passion and purity; Oh, Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me." -Osborn

2 Corinthians 4:7 says " We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not us." Are we showing people Jesus? Do they love the message we bring, the Good News but are overcome by the inconsistencies of the vessel? I know that the focus should all be on the message of Jesus. But I can't help but think that there may be something to how people see the church and their decision to receive the Good News of Jesus. Dan Kimball wrote a book entitled "They like Jesus, but they don't the church."

His research was amazing. As he asked people what they thought about Jesus that all of the comments were positive. But when asked about the church, the majority of the comments were negative. No wonder people have such a disconnect with God. They see Jesus on one side and the church on the other. I pray that people will see the beauty of Jesus in me and in the church I attend. I pray that God's church everywhere will reflect the masters image. I pray that a hurting world can see the church as the body of Christ on earth.

Father forgive us when we look like us and not like Jesus.

Peace.

I have decided to follow Jesus

2007-10-19T22:33:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the ones that showed me this. It will be 5 minutes that can change your life...or someone elses. Gives new meaning to the old hymn " I have decided to follow Jesus." So the question becomes simple, not about practices or styles or preferences or what we think God wants. The question is will you decide now to follow Jesus?

Peace.

If Jesus goes with me I'll go....unless he brings a guitar

2007-10-16T19:33:00.000-05:00

Do you remember this old hymn "If Jesus goes with me" by, C. Austin Miles in 1908. Sure you do " If Jesus goes with me I'll go, anywhere. 'Tis heaven to me, where e'er I may be, if he is there." One small problem, what if Jesus is in places we don't think he should be. Big problem. Well I know he would not be with those people...don't be so sure of yourself. Jesus said to the apostles regarding the man casting out demons, don't stop him because he is not with us. Big problem. I got reminded about this little song from a dear friend of mine in a state not to far from where I live (I am trying to protect his identity....for now) We were discussing the tragic and continuing battle among some of the churches that want to keep bringing up the tired and meaningless debate over instrumental music in the churches of Christ.

I'm 43 and as long as I have been alive this has been going on. OK, my turn to weigh in on this matter as the "Keeper of the Hymnal." That old hymn really gets to the bottom line. Will you really go with Jesus anywhere, or only where you feel comfortable. Will you go with Jesus to the streets of your community, to the homeless, the poor, the hungry, the messed up. Or do you just want to hang out with Jesus in your idea of the "1st century church." Where by your standard they neglected these things to go across town and argue over these little matters of the faith.

Jesus said the most important things were to Love God and people, right? I am tired of my denomination being so well known for this argument rather than being Jesus to a hurting world. The more we talk about this it goes to prove that no matter what we say it is ALL ABOUT US! Who is right, and who needs to change. Give me a break. If you love the tradition of our heritage then by all means hold on to that. But, making this a point of "fellowship" (which I think we really don't know what that word means)that is reaching. How radical did Jesus must seem, when he told the Jewish leaders the things he told them. We really can not imagine what that was like. Hundreds of years of teaching and tradition, sometimes those getting confused. Jesus pointed to the matters that were at the heart of God, but the leaders of that day wanted nothing to do with it. Don't be to hard on them, they were just "protecting" what they knew God wanted, and to them it was not Jesus. Big Problem.

We don't sing that old hymn much. Maybe it is time to sing it a new. Could you really sing it? Really? My friend always used the line of that song to joke about no matter what if Jesus goes with me everything will be OK. I pray that we all really have the faith to sing that song with all it's meaning. Thanks, buddy for giving me a way to look at this subject in a funny way ,but with a sad truth.

Lord, I pray that no matter where you go or lead that you will give us the faith IN YOU that you are faithful to take care of us. Father your Grace is enough. Please let us be Jesus to this world and not a religious leader of the day.

Peace.

To the least of these

2007-10-15T20:02:00.000-05:00

This concept has been haunting me since I returned from the Zoe worship conference this last weekend. Randy Gill wrote a wonderful song that talks about " to the last, to the lost, to the least of these let us be Jesus today." I don't know if I really know what that means or what I need to be doing. Jesus had such compassion on the people of his day. I think a big part of that is that Jesus was with the people. There is my problem. I am not with the people. Oh, I am with people just not the people Jesus was with or would be with today.

I am not trying to be hard on myself or us. (us is plural for you and me. Unless you are doing a lot better at this than I am, and in that case please help me.)But society has sold us a bunch of bologna. We think that if we give away clothes we don't want, or write a check to an organization that we are getting involved. I know that organizations need the money, but are we changing lives. Are we feeling good about what we do and the "poor" are having their needs met, and neither one of us is being transformed because we never engage or are in relationship.

At Skyline (my home church family) we are having a day this Saturday called Dorcas Day. Where we open the church and try to meet the needs of people in town by giving away cloths and other things they may need. I hope that we give more than things this weekend. I pray that we give them what we have....The greatest gift, Jesus. My prayer is that we will be Jesus to these people, that we will have a heart for these people that God loves so much. I pray that we can see there heartache, and the pain they are in, so we can have the compassion of Jesus. I pray that we reach out to the broken, may we be a comfort to them, loving and forgiving, and offering Grace in the name in Jesus.

"To the last, to the lost, to the least of these, let us be Jesus today."

"Do not be afraid"

2007-10-13T10:53:00.000-05:00

It has always amazed me how many times in the Bible that when some one had an encounter with God, or one of his angelic representatives this was the first greeting most received. Even when Jesus would be gone for a while often he would show up again and he would say this to his disciples. What were they afraid of any way? I often wonder about the answer to that question.

Did they have a view of God as a terrible vengeful God? A God who was out to get them? Or did they realize that they were in such a sinful state that they were afraid to be in the holy presence. I often wonder. Are we afraid today. I think we are. But I don't think we are afraid in the same ways they were afraid in the Bible days.

They did see the power and awesomeness of God several times in the Hebrew bible ( we call it the old testament, that is another blog for another day.) God on mountains always turn out to be a little frighting. Jesus walking on the water, risen from the dead. That can be a little frightening. But I sense that we are afraid in other ways. We are not "afraid" of God or his presence, we are afraid of what others will say or think. We are afraid that if some one does not see eye to eye with us that they are going to try to take us down a wrong path.

One of the few times I can remember someone being afraid of another person in the bible was the Pharisee's being afraid of...Jesus. Not the other way around. Even after the resurrection, the disciples were bold with their message of the risen Christ. Why are we afraid? Does it really matter what some Bible faculty says about you or the church you attend? What about the church down the road? Or even what about people in your own church.

Jesus was plain in letting others know that you are not to judge another mans servant. I know that there are a lot of people out there right now that are going through this battle, my prayers are with you and the church every where. I pray that we can all hear the voice of God saying be strong, don't grow weary. Strength will rise when we wait upon the Lord.

Now may God whisper to your heart today. "Do not be afraid"

Peace.

See all the people

2007-10-08T10:33:00.000-05:00

What a blessed weekend I had at the Zoe worship conference in Nashville this weekend. I am so thankful for people like Brandon, Randy, and all of the people at Zoe for allowing God to move about his people through the gifts that he has given this ministry. If you are not familiar with Zoe please take a minute (after you finish reading this..) to go to their website it is located under my links to the right.

While I was at the conference I was blessed to sit in a discussion group with John Mark Hicks who talked about "The Gathered people" ( you can find this book in the Zoe bookstore.) What the topic was on was the Worship service..you know Church. Remember the little saying we all learned. This is the church and this is the steeple open the doors and see all the people.

The thing about it is we treat the "service" in one or two ways. All about what we do for God, you know the ACTS of worship, or about what we do for each other, MUTUAL edification. The first thing I notice is the word "service", a worship service. It sounds like we are coming in for a routine check, you know check the oil top off any fluids. But being in the presence of God is anything but routine. Maybe that is where the rest of it gets a little messed up for us. The presence of God. He is there right? We say he is. What is he doing?

Is God just a spectator? Is God just the audience? Or is God a participant in our worship. If the worship is about the acts of worship then it can become ritualistic and legalistic and it is all about what WE do. If it is all about mutual edification then it becomes consumerism, what we like and want. I need you to do this or that to edify me. I think we need to reconstruct in our minds and hearts what is really going on, or should be going on in our gathered time to gather.

I feel that some times we get so worked up about the acts of worship and the edification that we don't allow God to move in His people. We get in the way. Have you ever been to a gathering and left saying something like I could really feel the presence of God today. And on other occasions say nothing? What happened God not there that day? Or did we just come in for a "service" because the check light was on.

My prayer for me and God's church is that we can get out of God's way and allow him to use the gifts that he has given each one of us to praise him and help others as he moves through us. May God use these gifts as we give them back to him in worship. May he be present with us, may we remember he is present with us and may we remember that he wants to participate with us in worship.

Peace.

Behold the Mirror

2007-10-02T20:09:00.000-05:00

What did you see when you looked in the mirror this morning? Was it the same after you got ready and before you left the house? Did you look a little different? I bet you did. Have you ever wondered what some one looked like before they got ready? We all would prefer that as few people as possible would see that. I know I would. A mirror is an interesting thing. It shows you a perfect reflection of what is in front of it. How is it that we may see one thing and yet someone else can look at us and see something different.

I think about the Pharisees'. How they looked in the spiritual mirror and saw something that did not look to bad to them, but it made Jesus sick. Yet when the Pharisees' looked at others they saw things that they thought were horrible yet Jesus saw the opposite. That makes me feel a little uneasy. Do I have the Pharisees' mirror or do I have Jesus' mirror? I am afraid a lot of time we "think" we have the Jesus mirror, but other people can see that we are proudly carrying the Pharisee's mirror of institutionalized religion. I think about the things my denomination( As I previously have stated I believe my heritage of the church of Christ has turned into a denomination. Here comes the reason)seems to fixate on. Not the things of Jesus, like the poor, the sick, the homeless, the people who have not heard the good news about Jesus. We have lost the Good news for the Bad news. The Bad news being that God Forgave ALL your sins through Jesus, but now that you have accepted that you better make sure that you follow " the tradition of our of fathers..." or you will no longer be saved. What?

We see how foolish the Pharisee's looked but miss the fact that we often have filled their shoes as we forget about the Good news and focus on you can't do this or that, things that are not even closely related to what Jesus said was of most importance...Loving God and loving people. Why do we worry about things like instruments, praise teams, worship styles, what women can or can not do in a service and miss ALL the people looking for Jesus. We are to busy to tell them about Jesus but we can tell them all they want and don't want to know about all of those things just mentioned. What mirror are we carrying again? Would Jesus really focus on what we seem to spend most of our time on or would we find him in places that we are not?? I have a feeling that I may know this one.

Why do we think that we can know what the Creator of the universe wants on some of these subjects that are rarely mentioned, and yet you can't tell me what your pet is thinking right now. But we know that God does not like instrumental music in worship. What? I want the mirror Jesus had. Funny how people flocked to Jesus and his teaching. I don't mean to be ugly. When was the last time people "flocked" to your place of worship. Not other members from across town that like your worship style or praise team better, I mean the same type people that hung out with Jesus. They are still with us you know.

Jesus prayed for unity not uniformity. Uniformity is impossible. Unity is possible.
I pray that today, and the tomorrows to come that we carry the Jesus Mirror and not the Pharisee's. So now comes the question. Be honest..behold your mirror.

Peace.

Listen to HIM

2007-09-30T14:14:00.001-05:00

It has been a crazy week for me and for a lot of people I know, from friends like Joel and Tracy who continue to deal with her illness and recovery to Brandon who was half way around the world a week before the Zoe conference (what were you doing?) And for some just the daily going ons of life, work, kids, family, church, on and on. So many times we get an idea of how something will be or what we want something to be, an expectation only to find out it is nothing like what we had envisioned. Ever been there. It could be at work, a promotion, or another position at another company. It could be something in your family. Or it could be something at church, that you thought was going to turn out a certain way...and, well it didn't.

I was reminded today about what God said to the disciples as they were on the mountain with Jesus. ( Crazy things happen on a mountain with God..see Moses and Elijah for more details, and this passage, Mark 9:7-8 with Peter.) The disciples were so sure that they KNEW what the Messiah was going to be yet, Jesus kept trying to tell them that's not what it is about. Then on the mountain after Peters wonderful idea, God speaks and tells them, "this is my Son, Listen to HIM"

Listen to Jesus, even when his economics are not mine. Listen to Jesus, even when he calls us to do something we don't understand. Listen to Jesus, even when it is something we do not want to do. Listen to Jesus, when he ask us to follow him even when the world and our culture says that's crazy. Listen to HIM.

I don't do a good job of that. I listen when I agree with what God wants or is asking from me. I Listen as long as it fits into what my plans are, I listen real good. But, God asking me to do something that will upset my plans for my life and my family or make me less favorable to the people and culture around me...wait a minute God surely I heard you wrong. You did not mean for me to really...( feed the poor, care for the sick, sell my possessions? all of that is just figurative right?)

Listen to HIM, Father I pray that you will give all of us the Faith in YOU, to allow us to Listen to your Son. And Father as Jesus prayed we want to pray not our will but your will be done. Father help our unbelief.

Peace.

Enjoy.

2007-09-23T16:32:00.001-05:00

May God remind us everyday of the title of this song. "Who am I?" with the answer....I am yours, God Almighty. enjoy the video.

Peace

A message from Institutionalized Religion

2007-09-23T14:15:00.000-05:00

I'm sad today. Everywhere I turn today I am faced with the sobering fact that we are like the disciple's in Mark 8 where Jesus ask "do you STILL not get it". After all they had seen and heard from Jesus they were fixed on the wrong things, they were fixed on the feedings the miracle's, show us a sign, and Jesus asks over and over do you not understand? are your hearts hard?. I'm sad today.

An old friend came to town today and over lunch we were talking about church growth. He shared a conversation that went on in the class he was in at the church he attends. They were talking about church growth and how to "attract" other people of their denomination ( Yes I believe churches of Christs are denominations...see Mark Hawks Blog to the right I agree a 100%) to their church. My friend spoke up and said that is not growth getting members from one church to come to yours!! What about the people in our towns that don't have a church home or a home period.

We may think "I don't know anyone that does not go to church" then we may need new friends. Let me share with you the definition that my online dictionary gives to the term institutional: characterized by the blandness, drabness, uniformity, and lack of individualized attention attributed to large institutions that serve many people. I'm sad today. That sounds like what we "call" church in so many ways.

We try to legislate how people should worship, which style is "decently and in order", What the environment should look like, must have stain glass, must have a formal look, or we don't need a cross that might upset some one. And we all know what happens in institutionalized religion when you upset someone. They get mad and complain, find an Elder and continue to murmur until they give in and out goes_____________. (what ever is at the center of their discomfort)

I'm sad. Why would worship ever be bland, drab, uniform, and lack attention or love for other people. Why would our building be any different. Our ministries. I'm sad today because we have become what the Restoration movement was trying to change in my opinion. We have become the institution. We point to the institution. Man created the institution, God created family, community, one another, not the institutionalized religion that most people see.

God, forgive us when we just don't get it, and our hearts become hard. Continue to make us sad the same way it makes you sad.

Peace

Comfort

2007-09-18T20:10:00.000-05:00

What does that word mean to you? Comfort. What pictures come to mind when you hear that word? Comfort. Something you do to some one who is sad? Is it a feeling of relief you get? Comfort. I know sometimes I think it is all about the things I have that give me pleasure or that keep me from pain. No, that just does not sound right. Comfort.

What do you think it means to the hungry in your town. Does it mean having a meal today? Does it matter what the meal is? Comfort. Part of that word makes me feel at Peace, in God's care. I think we have forgot about comfort from that viewpoint because our world is so busy and fast.

Even look at our language to see how this quick pace of life has made it's home even in the words we say and the things we consume. How about these examples:

We need a quick shave so we can get the day started with a bowl of
Instant oatmeal and a cup of instant coffee. Then we get in the car to go to the 1 hour cleaners and the 1 hour photo shop to get things started. We don't have time for lunch so we think about getting some fast food, but instead we settle for a slim fast and a fast break candy bar. We are running a little late now but we need to drop the car off at speedy lube. After all this we are still "running" late so we get in the fast lane so we can get home and start supper which includes Minute rice.

OK, maybe that was a little over the top, but that seems to be my days way more than I would like. Comfort. I need to find that word in my life more and try to be that word in other peoples lives more. May God give us a chance today to experience HIS comfort and to be HIS comfort to the hurting world.

Peace.

The World

2007-09-16T14:12:00.000-05:00

What an interesting word and concept. The world. Reminds me of the planet Earth, different continents, countries, cities, places, people, oh the people. The World, it sounds so big, far away out of reach. But Jesus talked about the world. "Go into all the world..." I am afraid that I have lost what the true meaning of the World really is.

My World. Is it really The World? Are our concerns and worries the concerns and worries of the real world? Are they the concerns of the world that Jesus had. Lets take a look.

(For the most part and I know this is not true for everyone but I would say this is true for the people that are in my world)

We worry about where we are going out to eat..the world worries will we eat.
We worry about our job, 401k, benefits, vacations..the world worries about can we find a job, will some one give us a chance.
We worry about our house, lawn and getting a good nights sleep..the world worries where will we sleep.
We worry about the cost of health care..the world worries about caring for their children's health.
We worry about our worship styles and our hermeneutic..the world worries does God hear us, or worse, what God.

Rob Bell once said in one of his challenging videos, " Don't ever confuse your world as being THE World.." I need to be reminded daily that there are others in" the World" that need things I have and take for granted. If you have 2 coats share with the one that has none..

May God forgive me when I see the world through my eyes and not his.

Peace.

What are you doing over there?!

2007-09-13T17:55:00.001-05:00

Remember Gladys? Not a show went by that she was not " wondering" what was going on at Darrin and Samantha's house. If you don't remember Gladys she was the pesky little neighbor on the TV show Bewitched. She always was looking out the window trying to spy on her neighbors because she " knew" something was going on. She was the self proclaimed watch dog.

Did you ever think "Hey, Gladys why don't you worry about what is going on in your own house" But for Gladys she was oblivious to everything in her house or thought it was perfect, but she "knew" something was wrong next door and she needed to fix it.

Ever find yourself being a spiritual Gladys Kravitz? Always wanting or needing to know what is going on in the house (church) next door. Have you ever found yourself more concerned that you checked up on what was happening at "the other church" and not really knowing or worse thinking your church has it all figured out? I need to be reminded not to be a spiritual Gladys Kravitz.

I got that reminder last night when someone called my house to "check" on what they were told was going on where I attend. I thought " How does the fact of you knowing or not do anything for the marginalized people in our community, or that homeless guy who is still on the street corner?" The flesh is so unlike God that we feel the need to know or worse have the savior complex that we must save everyone from their wrong thinking...I just don't see that with Jesus.

Jesus had plenty of opportunity to shine the light on things like that but instead he was interested in sharing the good news.

Next time you or someone begins asking those inquiring Gladys questions, think out loud why is that important again??

Peace.

I'm Right

2007-09-11T22:40:00.000-05:00

What a sobering thought. If I am right, then someone must be wrong. Wrong, that's not a word that most of us handle very well. As kids that was the word that could shrink ambition or wound little spirits. Wrong. As we got older it became a word that would make us feel good about our efforts if the word was directed to someone else, or it gave us more energy at times to do better, prove ourselves.

My problem as of late is that we use that word and call it the "good news" of Jesus the world calls it Christianity. Lets be honest, or vocabulary is filled with words that are exclusive. We have to "win" souls...what in the world does that really mean. Jesus did not leave telling the disciples that it was a matter of keeping score. Go out in to all the world and WIN souls...But still we have this mindset at times that we need to prove one thing right and one thing wrong. I think we have missed it.

I struggle with the idea that if one group is "right" which one, and can you really be right about everything. If you are not right about everything what are you wrong about and are you sure you are right about that being the thing you are wrong about.
Did you get that. Over and over I see Jesus being concern about things that we for the most part think very little about. I just don't see Jesus getting worked up about the things we get worked up about.

When is the last time you or your church really got "worked up" over the homeless guy that is always on the same street corner in your town and his well being. Or do we get more "worked up" about the church across town that shares the same name on the sign and how they worship. How sad it is that we love the institution more than we love the instituter.

Next time you are around someone questioning or complaining about some worship style or some particular speaker lets ask the question, hey what do we need to do to help that homeless guy.

Peace.