Monday, August 20, 2018

Fully Restored

I'm in the middle of trying to wipe and restore a phone. It's so much fun...

But, it reminds me of how we misunderstand forgiveness. In talking with people over the years it seems many see forgiveness from God as simply wiping the slate clean. The problem is, it's so much more.

Imagine I gave you a brand new phone. But not just any phone. It was personally set up by me. I put hundreds of dollars of the best apps possible on it. I went and put your pictures and videos on the phone. I downloaded (legally) all your favorite songs and movies onto the phone.

Then it gets a virus.

Your phone needs to be wiped. So you wipe the phone. It's back to factory settings.

Yes, the virus is gone, but that's not true forgiveness. The phone needs to be restored.

After the virus I restore your phone back to all it's former glory. It has all the apps, videos, pictures, songs, everything back on it that it once had. That's proper restoration.

When we are forgiven by Christ we are not set back to zero. We are not factory restored. We are put back to where God views us, as His child, His spirit living within us, all the perks that come with being His favorite. We are restored back to where we were before sin entered.

If we understood that better, we'd probably live differently, even after we've been forgiven. This is why we need to know Jesus and love God so much more every day. It helps us realize just what we have been restored to, and how we can grow even more in our relationship with Christ.

Christ isn't just offering forgiveness, He wants to restore you.

Now to do the same to this phone...

T

Monday, August 06, 2018

Silence...

You know what drives me crazy (and in turn drives my family crazy)? When I ask a question and there's no response. Why don't you answer?

My wife and I have had discussions about this and now I'm starting to do this with my daughter. And usually they think I'm being annoying because I think they aren't listening to me. Usually, that's not it. I don't know if they heard me. So if I ask something and there's no answer or a blank look (or sometimes they don't even look my way) my gut response is to think they didn't hear me and ask again louder (and sometimes more annoyingly).

Do we think that of God too? When we ask and don't hear an answer do we think He can't hear us? Except we know He can, so is He choosing not to hear us?

Except God chooses to be silent. And sometimes that can make us (me) even more aggravated. But that doesn't mean He's wrong. Sometimes He needs us to wait or even ask again.

Maybe God's silent for a reason. If only we knew what it was at the time...

T

Monday, July 30, 2018

Back To Reality

Last week we had all sorts of wonderful mission trip stories. And it was a great trip and Jesus did lots of amazing things.

But it's back to reality.

There are ways to serve Jesus every day, even at home with your family. There are ways to give to Jesus, love Him, share Him, all the things we did on the mission trip we can do at home.

So will we?

What will you do to have a mission trip at home...?

T

Saturday, July 21, 2018

Eastern Shore - Day 5/6


Our apologies these blogs are a day late. The footwashing ceremony went over two hours last night and our decompression of the trip tonight was about 2.5 hours. This has been a great trip and we thank you for all your support and prayers.



On Thursday, our group went out to Manna Café to take part in the biannual deep cleaning of the kitchen and main serving area. While the place was kept in relatively good shape, there was plenty of dust, corrosion, and all sorts of gunk that had to be cleaned off the equipment and the general area. Afterwards, our group had time to visit the NASA research facility at Wallops, VA which is home to many rocket and aircraft tests for the climate and atmosphere that have been done for a good amount of time. This fall I plan to attend Purdue for engineering so the only reaction I had at that visitor center was me obsessing and nerding out over the large history of rocket development and tests the Wallops center had. There was a radar plane (I believe an E-2 Hawkeye) that kept on doing touch offs on the runway on the main base. I was even more impressed when I learned that Project Nike from the 50’s to the 70’s was based at the Wallops center. To my knowledge my grandfather, as an electrical engineer, worked on some of the technologies involved, and a member of the church worked at the base during the lifetime of the project. I’m not for certain that I plan for an aerospace degree, but I can’t deny being impressed by the massive development of planes and aircraft in the last century and a half from simple hot air balloons to missions in outer space. God’s people are capable of incredible things and I want to harness the sciences and details that God put into this world to make technologies that can better the lives of many whether in a small town or the entire globe. This entire week has been an interesting transition, but I am ready to move on and use the gifts God gave to pursue my passions to help further Christ.
-Connor


On Thursday the 19th my group consisting of multiple people, worked at Una Familia and at the Youthworks kids club. Una Familia is a program dedicated to tutoring kids. I hanged out with some middle schooler who told me a lot about geography and countries they would like to visit. After they learned they got a snack and could play games like connect 4 where we had a big tournament that got really close. Afterwards we worked the Kids Club I worked specifically with a kid that had a special need just to be supervised constantly and he wore me out. I resumed my role as “the king of pb & Js.” And worked on water day where we cooled off the kids while having a little fun. After work we had our final gathering where we did the foot washing ceremony and I prayed for my brother and started balling since he is leaving for college soon. Also after the footwashing ceremony we seemed to bond all together in our faith and become a big group of friends instead of loosely connected associates. Friday was much easier as we traveled to Uniontown, PN to stop and debrief for the trip and we all had a lot of fun and laughs and we talked about the highs of the trip and we all took some time to remember on the lows and the amazing work that was going on in Eastern Shores and how the community there really is close and works together. They freely trust strangers with their children knowing they are with Youthworks and they trust their neighbors to help with their kids. After we were done remembering we had some more laughs as the newest member of the youth group talked about how much they have grown into the group over the week.
-Carson


Today we started the drive back home. The hours in the car and time spent talking at the church allowed for me to reflect on this past week. Working with kids the entire time was an unique experience, and one I enjoyed. One memory that stuck out to me in particular happened yesterday at Kid’s Club. There was this girl named Carly who sat down at the table I was at and didn’t speak. She seemed very shy and was just watching us play cards, but I noticed the ends of her hair were pink. I struck up a conversation and pointed out that my hair was also pink, and her face lit up. The rest of the day she stuck with her ‘pink twin’, and it was wonderful to see God use that to help me connect with a kid that otherwise might not have opened up to me. My friends also know that I tell really cheesy jokes, a lot, and I was able to use them as ice breakers this week to get to know the other kids in the community and from the other church. Some people even told me afterwards that though they may have groaned at the jokes, they brightened their day. I’m glad I can help spread the joy and love of Christ in all these ways and so many more. As someone who just graduated, this mission trip reminded me of the joys and advantages of getting to know people and serving them, and I look forward to seeing where He will take me next.
-Sabrina

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Eastern Shore - Day 4

Hey everyone, here are the stories from Wednesday. We have only one more day of serving, keep praying for us please!

Troy



Today, I went to Agape to help with preschool age kids. The theme there was the Shipwrecked vacation Bible school we had at our church. When we arrived, the kids were sitting to begin watching their video, however, we did not stay inside for a long time. We headed outside and did some yard work. Delaney, Liz, Jacob, Morgan, and I pulled weeds and broke off dead trees around the sign in front of the place. When we finished, the kids were outside playing and we went to play with them. They were all joyful and loved playing with us. Afterwards, the kids went inside for lunch and we helped the volunteers there to serve the kids. As the kids ate lunch, we went upstairs to eat our own lunch and had an extended break because the kids were taking a nap. Once the nap was over, we went back downstairs to talk to the kids while they ate snack then headed outside so they could have their boat race with the boats they made during crafts. We then left to have dinner and showers and have an early gathering. Later we went to the beach and I didn’t get in the water, but I watched everyone else enjoy the water and watched the sunset with Emma. We then returned to the church to conclude our day.
-Rachael


Today my group went to Agape, which is a free preschool childcare place. We spent the day playing with the kids and helping in the yard as much as possible. After that, we went to the showers and went back to the church to eat dinner early so we could have as much time at the beach as possible. We spent a couple of hours at the beach for our evening activity, and then our church went and got ice cream. To end the night, we came back to the church to rest up for our last day of service tomorrow.
-Morgan


This mission trip so far has been interesting. I have so far worked exclusively with kids, the first 2 days I worked at kids club. Working with kids was nice because they are full of energy and these kids were pretty well mannered. Today and tomorrow I will have also been working with kids at Agape, a church camp, and also helping them out with yard work. It has been pretty interesting because like I said I enjoy working with kids and it has been a good experience all around.

My experience on this mission trip has not just been limited to my worksite I have had fun and learned a lot during other parts of the mission trip. On Monday we had a cookout with the locals and it was fun to connect to the community through playing soccer matches and eating food. I also learned a lot on Tuesday Veronica, an immigrant herself, talked to us about some of the challenges community members on the eastern shore face. As it turns out a lot of the eastern shores population consists of migrant workers or immigrants and so it is a pretty tight nit Hispanic community.

Over all it has been a good time and I do enjoy helping out at the eastern shore. I’d like to thank the people who helped us get here, the church, my parents, and of course Liz and Troy. I feel as if I have made an impact on my faith and in the lives of others.
-Jacob




Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Eastern Shore - Day 3

Our apologies this blog was posted a little late, but Troy and the internet are not playing nice and things just didn't work out. But it was our second day of worksites and here are some stories.

T



Hi my name is Noah Lipscomb. I am here to tell you about my fantastic day! The first thing I did today was go to a church and paint the walls. The second thing I did today was I went to the lighthouse shelter and I helped paint furniture. Thanks for reading!
-Noah


I had an amazing day today. We started the day to go to a summer school type program. I met this girl. She demanded me call her princess. So, Princess started to work on her work book. She zoomed right through it. We probably did 20 pages in an hour. After the first hour, he had a snack. After snack, we all played games. I played matching / memory with princess. After the fun game of memory, (Princess won)   we said goodbye. I hated saying goodbye. Although, I knew I would be able to see her at Kids Club.

After we got back, we ate lunch. When we finished lunch, kids started rolling in. I kept on looking for princess. When princess arrived I was not playing attention. I was playing Uno with the kids that already arrived. When she arrived she tapped me on the back and scared me half to death. We played Bananagrams and had gotten bored real quick. So, we got out Apples to Apples. Princess is 4 years old. She was on my team. We played and played until snack started. When snack started, Princess was very picky. Well, after snack we started stations. When we did stations, I was put on Games. The outside, sweaty, humid games. We were going to play Capture the Flag / Cone, but the kids thought otherwise. So, I played on the playground with the kids. We played out dies for a good hour and then went in.

When we went inside, we did more choice time. We played some Uno and said bye to princess. She started tearing up and said goodbye. After Kids Club, we went to the showers.

After showers, we talked to this person and she talked about immigrants since she is one. After that we had Free Choice time. We walked around town and I got cheese fries and Pepsi. A little taste of home although I prefer Coke. Anyway, we went to the playground. We played and brought out our inner 5 year old. After that, we had our prayer meeting. We sang songs and learned lessons about Jesus. We had hearts to write down what we cared about and I wrote Princess. I will miss her. At the end of the prayer meeting we had or church group. We invited the Greenlee family (coincidence) over to our group. We talked and had a good time. To end the night, Troy asked us to write a story for the Blog and I volunteered. And that is basically it.

Anyway, that is Trevor Greenlee signing off.
-Trevor


These past two days I’ve had the opportunity to volunteer at the Agape Community Christian Preschool. They were doing a VBS program that they had stretched out to last 6 weeks. I was able to perform all kinds of activities with the kids, such as singing songs, making crafts, and playing zombie tag around the playground. One of the highlights of my week was seeing the adult workers at the preschool and witnessing how much they cared about the kids. I later learned that several of these children had absentee fathers and unstable home lives. The women working there explained that their goal was to be the strong parental figure that these children need. This led me to reflect on the impact I could be making back home. I thought back to how much of an impact my parents had on me and how without their support I would not be the person I am today. This helped me to realize how much of an impact these women could be having on the children I had played with today. I currently work at the Fishers YMCA as a child care aide and knowing these children’s situations helped remind me that I’ll never know how stable a child’s home life is. Witnessing these women’s love has made me strive to make a conscious effort to show love to the children that I work with every day because I’ll never know the difference that it can make.
-Hannah

Monday, July 16, 2018

Eastern Shore - Day 2

Today was our first full day of serving, followed by a community cookout at a Spanish church and a time of decompressing all together and as a church. Enjoy the stories!

Troy



Wassup world,

I woke up this morning, went to brush my teeth, and managed to explode an entire tube of tooth paste all over my shirt and hair. However the day got better as I walked downstairs and was greeted with Liz singing Happy Birthday to me, which was the first time of many today. After the mini celebration we went out to serve for the day, which was our first time getting to go out and serve in the Eastern Shores community, and my group, the Wonder Woman crew, was assigned to serve at a site called Manna Café. The way it works is everyone in the community is invited to come and eat a free hot lunch every Monday in the year. Even if it happens to be a holiday. The organization stands to provide a place for many people who are food insecure, to be able to get a fresh hot meal, while still being able to maintain their pride and not feel as though they are a part of some charity. The organization runs entirely on donations and feeds 400-600 mouths every week. Not only does Manna Café provide hot meals for many, but it also provides a place for fellowship. When we first arrived at Manna Café, we were greeted by Fran, the woman who started the operation, and she explained to us everything we would be doing, and what stations we would be manning. I was lucky enough to get to hop around and work at every station which included working drinks, the take table, busing tables, holding doors open, and washing dishes. This allowed for me to get to not only meet, and serve so many community members, but also made it so I could get to know the other volunteers at the café and learn more about why they choose to volunteer each week. It was amazing to get to see a community come together and share a meal today, as we ended up serving 469 guests. If you want to check out more about Manna Café their Facebook is @MannacafeCI #plug. After a day of serving we went to showers, and then to prep the community picnic. When arriving to the church where the cookout was being hosted I was greeted by many of the people from our church handing me balloons and singing me happy birthday, for the about the 20th time, which was a really fun surprise, but sadly we didn’t have quite enough balloons to make me fly, although we were close. Overall it was an excellent first day and it was clear to see God working through so many smiling faces all day! #mintyfresh
-Kaili


Hey.

First day is done. YAY. So yesterday we got to the worksite and met the other church and work people. I was surprised at first because the other churched looked way younger than us. They told is the age group was 11-18 and I was shook. I can defiantly tell who is younger and who isn’t. The kids from the other group created a Squad and they don’t let anyone in which I don’t care cuz I’m original but they wouldn’t let people in their own church in their group. So God moment. One girl from the other group was crying when I went down stair to get a drink I asked if she was ok. She then said that she was so thankful of me being nice and inviting to her. Then she told me that she was surprised that our Church group was so close and friendly to each other. Then she proceeded to tell me about her worries and troubles about her group. I told her that let it go cuz your time on this mission trip is short and by being angry and annoyed with these people she might miss God’s signs. I told her some other things but oh well. Today We went to children ministry. They were doing VBS which was the same as our theme “Shipwrecked” Since I have a broken ankle I couldn’t do most of the things they did but I did swing a lot and help with activities.  It was Kaili’s Birthday today so yay. 1 more year till she can do adult things.
-Emily


Buenos noches familia!

Para la primera dia yo tuve la oportunidad para trabajar con los ninos de la comunidad. Esos ninos hablan ingles y espanol. Una famila que ir a el clubo de ninos prefieren hablar en espanol. Cuando yo no hable en espanol los ninos no escucharon los instrucciones y causaron muchos problemas. Porque yo puedo hablar espanol, los ninos escucharia a mi. Porque de este habilidad, yo forme relaciones con este ninos. Fue una experiencia increible y unica.

So back to the English you were probs expecting, I was basically saying that for my first day of service I was able to work with a Kids Club with a majority of the participants being of Hispanic descent. Five years of Spanish classes actually paid off and I was able to connect with a family of 2 girls and 1 boy who spoke primarily Spanish. This experience was so incredible because I was able to work with a young boy who had been causing troubles all day and speak to him in a way that made him feel more comfortable. It was awesome to see God using an ability of mine to connect with this family and help brighten their experience at Kids Club!

After working at Kids Club we had a cookout with the community. I was a bit skeptical of having the cookout on the first day of the trip because in my experience the cookout was always the last day, however having the cookout today ending up being a blessing for me! I spent my time at the cookout with a 9 year old girls and her 11 year old brother. I was able to just hang out with them and chill for the whole time (I gave her my snapchat so you know it was real). By the end of the night they were hugging me goodbye and were sad to see me go, and I was sad that I only had this short time with them. However, this gave me the opportunity to invite them to kids club tomorrow, which they excitedly agreed to! So, after talking to their mom we were able to figure out a way to get them to Kids Club to hang out with me tomorrow! I am so pumped to hang out with all of these great kids tomorrow!! Adios!!
-Katie

Sunday, July 15, 2018

Eastern Shore - Day 1

Hey everyone, I apologize that we have been a little quiet but internet and cell service have been a little spotty. But, we will try to get the blogs up every night (if they're not up we will do our best for the next morning). But here are some stories from our trip today. Thanks for your prayers and support!

Troy



I am super exited for the things we will be doing for this mission trip this year about learning to move forward is God’s journey for us.  I can’t wait to meet with kids this week and have fun with all the other people in my group.  In this time we will be spending together as a group I hope to get closer to everyone around me and learn to work will them and make so friends.  I am so happy to help with the people that need my help this week and allow God to lead me though the week.  I hope that we also not just get to help with people but to have fun with them at the same time and change them with the light is shine.  I can’t help but look forward to the beach and the activities we will be doing this week and I wish all of the people around me a happy week.  I think that everyone around me also has a great time this week, I thank everyone for this week and all the fun I am looking forward to this week.
-Elizabeth


We are currently in Onancock, VA. It took 2 vans, 4 adults, a plethora of snacks, and a lot of patience to make it through the 14-hour car ride to get here. We left at 3 am, which is an early start already, but a majority of us stayed up all night. I slept for most of the car ride, but others *cough cough* Troy, had to stay up and drive. Let’s just say, I’m very grateful to say the least.

We got to the church, and were welcomed with open arms by the site coordinators (they are the representatives with Youth Works). We haven’t done any direct service work yet, but I’m excited for when we start yard work and child care tomorrow. I am silently concerned because the youth works staff informed us that most of the kids only speak Spanish. Let’s see if my mediocre grades in Spanish for the past 3 years will get me through!! Please pray for me because I don’t remember anything from Spanish class…L
-Delaney


As my last mission trip is starting it is bittersweet. I am very excited to serve the community here in Onancock, VA and I look forward to these trips all year. Time spent with my church family on these trips is always some of the best moments to think back on throughout the year and hopefully many memories will be made on this final trip.

We arrived safely and got all set up in the United Methodist Church we’re staying in and I am very excited to start serving the community tomorrow. I’ve been preparing for this week for quite a bit and am hopeful to serve this community to the best of my ability. I am luckily in a group which is serving the community in ways other than kids clubs as frequently as others which is very appealing to me as I am called to serve in other ways. I am very hopeful to see what ways God touches me and those around me on this trip.
-Rachel

Monday, July 02, 2018

I Judged the Cover

I have a CD that has been on my desk for about six months.

It sat there because I judged what it would be like.

I finally opened it.

It's fantastic.

Why didn't I do this six months ago?

Oh yeah, I was judgy.

Don't be judgy.

T

Monday, June 25, 2018

It's Always Easier to Destroy

Sorry I've been MIA, it's been VBS week, and apparently acronym week...

Vacation Bible School takes up a lot of my time and effort because of the decorations. It all looks amazing for the week, but here's my realization. It's an obvious one, but here it is.

It's always easier to destroy.

It took us two weeks and about fifteen people to set up all the decor. It took three people about six hours to get it all down and either toss or pack it away (if we had tossed it all it probably would have taken us half the time).

I think sometimes we like to destroy things because it is so easy. I'll be honest, remodeling is fun when you get to swing a sledge hammer and knock everything down. But really, we need builders. We need people who will do the hard work of building people up, of creating and making things sustainable.

Before you knock something down, make sure you have a plan, the time, the expense, everything you need to build what's next.

T

Monday, June 04, 2018

Making Disciples

It's not the church's job.

It's not the marketing team's job.

It's not the website.

It's not the sign out front of the church.

It's not the pastor's job.

It's not the person next to you's job.


Jesus asked each of us to go out and make disciples. Not when we feel ready or we've completed the discipleship course, we are all to go out and make disciples.

We're not supposed to outsource sharing the love of Jesus...

T

Monday, May 28, 2018

A Vacation From Faith?

That seems kind of dumb, doesn't it? You suspend what you believe or how you live and take a vacation from it.

But if we didn't do it, the slogan "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" wouldn't apply.

The reality is we do this, more often than we'd like to admit. We suspend our daily faith rituals or devotions or prayers or whatever you want to call it all the time. And one of the big ones is coming up.

Summer.

For some reason when summer comes people don't go to church as often, serve as often, pray as often, give as often, the list goes on and on and on. I see it so much working with teenagers, even though most of them have more time on their hands now. They're on vacation and everything changes, including spiritual habits.

So as summer vacation has officially started (at least here in my school district) let's do our best to not just leave God on the shelf for the summer. Don't take a vacation from your beliefs, your relationships, your spiritual practices. If anything, take this opportunity to give them a little more time and effort.

T

Monday, May 21, 2018

"You Have Flies Because You Want Them"

This is a quote I heard the other day from Bill Marriott (of Marriott hotels). He was visiting a hotel that had flies in the dining room and he asked for answers. The staff explained how the dumpster outside had flies and they would creep in when they took the trash out or went out back. There were a number of reasons why the flies were in the hotel. Bill simply answered, "You have flies because you want them."

What he meant is, if you didn't really want flies you would do something about it. And the staff took it to heart. They added fly strips in the back room, they improved the doors so flies couldn't get it, they added fans near the back door so the flies couldn't make it past the rushing air.

And guess what? No flies.

Sometimes if you really want something you have to take the steps to get there. Too often I see this when people talk about Jesus. They want to know God more and live more as a reflection of Christ, but there's all these reasons why it can't be done. But if they would take the steps necessary, like the staff at the Marriott hotel did to get rid of the flies, suddenly Jesus won't be so far away.

You could change the expression.
"You see Jesus more because you're looking for Him."
"Jesus is more real because you take the steps to live like He's real."
"I am more service minded and compassionate because I chose to serve."
"I hear Jesus because I do what I can to listen for Him."

Get rid of spiritual flies. Do what you need to do to make it happen.

T

Monday, May 14, 2018

How Busy Are We? - Mother's Day Edition

Just an interesting observation of the world around me. I've asked a few moms how their mother's day was and you know what seems to be the most popular answer of what made a good mother's day?

We did nothing.

Not "we didn't do anything for mother's day", no, we chose to do nothing for mother's day.

If doing nothing is what we want as a reward or recognition, maybe we need to be doing nothing a little more...

T

Monday, May 07, 2018

How Awesome It Must Have Felt To Reverse Direction

The other day I was reading about Matthew, the guy who wrote the Gospel of Matthew, disciples of Jesus, all-around nice guy.

At least that's what we think. We don't know a ton about him but we know two things. He was a tax collector. His job was to get taxes for the Roman government from his fellow Jews. We also know that Jesus chose him to be a disciple, so it's likely he wasn't a corrupt tax collector. It's likely he was a really good guy, but still doing a job no one really wanted him to do.

But here's where I got stuck. Matthew is a tax collector. His job is to get money from his friends for a government they all hate. And there's no wiggle room. If his neighbor owes money Matthew has to get it. How do you think he felt having to do that to his friends?

Then Jesus walks up. Leave it all and be My disciple. Help Me free people from the bondage of sin and be forgiven.

Here's what hit me: How do you think Matthew felt going from the person who was forced to collect debts to being able to forgive them? How much did it weigh on Matthew to have to get money from people even when they couldn't afford it, hurting them in the process? Then how did it feel to completely reverse direction, to now talk about spiritual debts but instead of forcing people to pay, instead telling them how Jesus can forgive them?

Imagine the weight that was lifted. How awesome that must have been.

And we can still do that for people today...

T

Monday, April 30, 2018

Are You Famous?

I read a great quote the other day:

If you have to tell people you're famous, then you’re technically not that famous. - David Spade

First off, that made me laugh. Especially since I heard it in my head with David Spade's voice. But then I really got to think about it. It's like when someone has to explain to you that they are cool or they are nice. My initial reaction is always, "Are you sure?" Usually if you are a nice person I can figure it out on my own, I don't need to you to tell me.

Is this true of out faith too? It hurts to read, but put your relationship with Jesus into that statement. "If you have to tell people you're a follower of Christ, then you're not technically that much of a follower of Christ." That sounds painful and wrong, but is it? I'm not saying anyone who sees you from a distance should know what you believe by what you wear or something crazy like that, but if you are so dedicated to Jesus it emanates from you do you need to explain it?

One of my favorite verses: But we Christians have no veil over our faces; we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him. ~ II Corinthians 3:18 (TLB)

Generally if people see a reflection in a mirror, no one needs to explain it...

T

Monday, April 23, 2018

"Can Anything Good Come From Nazareth?"

I've heard this quote before. It's from a man named Nathanael talking about Jesus. A friend had told Nathan they had found the Messiah, but when Nathan heard He was from Nazareth he didn't believe it.

For so long I've heard this told from a hoity-toity point of view. From a "better than you" type mindset" but something I read the other day challenged that. Nathan was from Galilee, an area also considered by the rich and religious to be the armpit of Israel.

The question is, when Nathan said this was he thinking he was better than Jesus? Or was it more of a, "we're all from the slums, how can anything good come from us?"

How often has the second idea stopped us? I'm not good enough, smart enough, people don't like me, whatever it may be, we wear that badge and see God through our circumstances. We don't see God working in our lives because we see ourselves as in the slums and God can't work here.

Maybe this is also why Jesus praised Nathanael the first time He met him. Jesus gave Nathan a huge compliment and built him up. Called him a man of complete integrity (wouldn't you like Jesus to say that about you?).

Now, after knowing the whole story we who are thousands of miles and thousands of years have no problem saying God can do something amazing in Nazareth. But are we able to say God can do that where you live too?

T

Monday, April 16, 2018

When Was the Last Time You Were Excited About Something?

Did you talk about it a lot?

So how do we get ourselves to feel that way about Jesus?

Monday, April 09, 2018

We're Being Taught Not To Wait

I'm learning this more and more with my daughter. Not because she's an impatient toddler or anything, but more because of how we live today.

She has no idea what it means to wait for a television show to be on. Or a specific episode. Everything is instant. Need food? We have so much of it. It only takes a few seconds to warm up, if you need it hot.

So now she has this mindset that we are constantly trying to help her with. Everything is the way I want it now. Again, not in a bad way, it's just the world she is being brought up in. As she has told us many times now, "It's hard to wait."

But Jesus is different.

There are hundreds of verses that follow the themes of patience, waiting, God's timing, etc. God is not about the microwave, He is all about slow roasting. Even now I'm reading a book about how Jesus shared the Gospel and although we may be fooled into thinking it was quickly to crowds Jesus more commonly shared His Gospel message slowly to individuals.

So now in our smartphone society we are trying to teach our daughter about waiting. Not just because she will need it later in life, but my bigger fear is her missing what God has for her because He doesn't move as fast as she thinks He should. As is often found in the Gospels: Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” (John 2:4b)

We need to learn to wait. It's that simple.

T

Monday, April 02, 2018

How Offended Were You On Easter?

You should have been...

We try too hard to make sure people aren't offended these days. I was reading about a new position at publishing companies, sensitivity editor. They read your manuscript and edit it to make sure you don't offend a certain group, target demographic, etc. They change the story to make sure it's nice and palatable.

The problem is, that doesn't work. If you have a story that will truly resonate with someone at some level they will be offended. If you love someone with your whole heart at some point you will offend them. The story of Jesus offends, it has to. If I'm not offended by it something is wrong. I am a sinner, I am in need of a Savior, death was the only way to make me whole, God loves me so much He would do this all for me, all of these statements are offensive. I'm not as good as I think I am, I'm not as self-sufficient as I want to me, I don't like Someone had to die, I don't deserve this love.

It's a fine line we need to walk as those who love Jesus and others. We need to lovingly offend people. We can't back away from sharing Jesus with others because they might be offended. We just can't.

Paul couldn't.
"If I were no longer preaching salvation through the cross of Christ, no one would be offended." (Galatians 5:11b, NLT)

Jesus couldn't. After teaching:
Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you?" (John 6:61 NLT)

I am offended by the Easter story. And that's not a problem with the story, that's a problem with me. And I will offend others with the same story. I'm okay with that, are you?

T


Monday, March 26, 2018

FOMO

It is quickly becoming the biggest fear, overtaking public speaking. The Fear Of Missing Out.

Nobody wants to be left out. Nobody wants to miss the next big thing. But if you had something no one should miss out on, would you share it?

Btw, Easter is Sunday. You could invite someone and/or share the story of Easter with them. I'd hate for someone to miss out on Jesus...

T

Monday, March 19, 2018

Why Just For Lent?

I have run across a couple of people who are giving up things and/or doing something more for Lent. That's fantastic, but I have a question...

Why just for Lent?

Have you ever noticed we have put rhythms in our lives to start or try new things, but we also put times for them to end? We come up with resolutions for the new year, we do things at Lent, some people do things at Advent too. But why do we put ourselves in a box and only better ourselves for that period of time?

Here's my challenge. Start praying more. Start today. What's the significance of today? Nothing, other than it's today and you can start today. And end... well, never if you can help it.

What's one thing you can do to grow closer to God that doesn't start and end by a calendar date?

T

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Why We Ate Dinner at 8:30 Tonight

Because of the time change.

Changing our clocks is a great idea. Daylight at times we are awake, saving energy, it's all great stuff. But there's one big problem.

Just because I change my clocks doesn't mean I have adjusted. I'm still tired, hungry, etc. at the same time I have been for the past few days (or weeks, or months). The number on the clock doesn't change that.

Until I make a conscious effort to change my rhythms to those numbers.

When I force myself to eat at the new time repeatedly, then my body will adjust and I will get hungry at that time. If I go to sleep at the new time over and over and over again then I will start to get tired when I should (or even better, if I wake up at the new time over and over and over then I will get tired when I should). The only way to adjust is continually follow the new time zone.

The same is true for our souls. It's amazing how often people want to go deeper with Christ so they start to attend church or try a Bible Study or whatever and we expect to feel holy and changed overnight. But that's not how it works. Our souls are still conditioned to our old lives. The only way change happens is by continual effort and conditioning to our new plan.

If you want to start going to church, you can't expect that going once (or twice) and not "feeling" anything is the fault of the church or God so you give up on church. You haven't given your soul enough time to start to grow into this new life. If you try serving once, hate it, and give up, of course it didn't work. A life of self-sacrifice doesn't happen with a half-hour service project. It takes serving over and over and over and over and over until it becomes second nature.

I now have two choices. Adjust to the new time and eat when the numbers say 6:00 or keep eating dinner at 8:30. Whether I like it or not, it's up to me.

T

Monday, March 05, 2018

The Long Game

The other day I saw a book entitled "30 Days to Understanding the Bible". Sounds great, right? Wouldn't that be a good book?

It's a lie.

Sorry to the authors and I admire what they are trying to do with helping people understand the Bible. That's all well and good. But people spend their entire lives trying to understand the Bible. And they still don't get there. But I'm supposed to believe that in one month I will understand the entirety of God's Word?

I want to understand the Bible. I really do. But I know I can't do it in 30 days. Will books like this help? Of course. But will they deliver on the promise in the title, that I will understand the Bible in the 30 days? Nope. I don't think I could even read the entire Bible in 30 days, let alone add in more time to understand what I'm reading.

Play the long game. Look to understand the Bible but not in a quick fix. Every day growing a little more in your understanding of God's Word, of who Jesus is, of who you are in Christ. That will bring about real understanding, and hopefully real life change.

T

Monday, February 26, 2018

Bravery

My daughter is incredibly brave. I mean, life-threatening brave. The highest slide, the fastest car ride, there is absolutely nothing she will not do.

As long as daddy is holding her.

Without daddy, forget it. She won't even watch a new TV show or try a new food. But the second she knows I will do it with her, watch out.

What if we had that attitude with our Heavenly Father? What do you think we would be brave enough to accomplish...?

T

Monday, February 19, 2018

Sifting For Jesus

The other night our daughter asked me to help her find a few of her Disney toys. Of course, the ones she wanted were about an inch high and were in a huge tub of other toys. So I did the only thing I could; I started sifting.

At first I found three toys. But I kept going, after all I had no idea how many of these toys were in there. And after a few more minutes of sifting I found two more. So I kept going, and as I continued sifting I kept finding more and more toys. After about ten minutes we have a whole handful of tiny little toys.

But as I was doing this I thought about how sifting through a toy bin is like finding Jesus. It takes continual concentrated searching for Him. Sometimes we get frustrated because He's hard to see. Sometimes we find a little bit and are satisfied and stop. But to really, really find Jesus it takes sifting through a toy bin over and over and over.

Many people know the "I know the plans I have for you" verse in Jeremiah, but do you know what comes after it? In Jeremiah 29:13 God says If we look for Him wholeheartedly we will find Him. That's not a casual "stumble upon" Jesus. We need to actually focus and search for Jesus to find Him.

In this Lenten season, as we give up or take on things may we use that time and that effort to search for God wholeheartedly. If we continue, even as we grow a little closer to God we press on for more, we may be surprised how little we know about Jesus, and how much He wants to love us.

T

Monday, February 12, 2018

Why Do We Always Give Something Up?

Lent begins this week. On Valentine's Day (which seems kind of fitting). So here's my question. Why do we always give something up?

Seriously, I had someone ask what Lent was this week and before I could answer a student chimed in, "It's where you give stuff up." They seemed to have forgotten why you give something up, to replace that thing/time/whatever it is with Jesus.

Instead, I have a novel idea for this year. Why not try doing something different? I will serve someone each day. I will read a little more of God's Word each day. I will do something that will help me grow closer to God each day, or even better, do something that will help someone else grow closer to God each day.

Because really, has giving up chocolate for a few weeks helped your faith? (for those of you to whom it has, great! For me, not so much...)

T

Monday, February 05, 2018

Could You Answer?

Yesterday before the Superbowl I had a student ask to meet with me and interview me for a class. She asked me what I believe, why I believe it, how it affects my ministry, things like that.

Here's my question: Could you answer that? These are all scary questions that I had no preparation for. But I answered them in part because I push students all the time to think about what they believe and why, and I can't ask them to do that if I'm not constantly doing it myself.

I Peter 3:15 says, "If someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it." The truth is, rarely are people going to bring up in conversation, "Hey, why do you believe in Jesus? Think about it and get back to me in two weeks." We should be ready to talk about our faith at the drop of a hat.

So, can you answer those questions? If you're looking for help in defining your answer maybe it's time to join a Bible Study and start talking with other disciples of Christ.

T

Monday, January 29, 2018

Why Do We Complain So Much?

I realize I do this too, this is definitely not finger pointing. But something happened this week that made me realize this more than normal. I saw "The Last Jedi".

I know, I'm the last person to see it. But with being sick over Christmas and trying to catch up with everything this past weekend was the first "break" I've had in a while so we I got to see the movie. And then I got to do something else, go back on the internet...

And the amount of complaining about the movie is astounding. But that's not what hit me.

It was the amount of complaining by people who really have nothing to do with the product. I started thinking, you didn't take the time to write a story, develop it, get funding, hire actors, make costumes, etc. etc. and this got me thinking how often do we complain about things that we have absolutely nothing to do with. We're quick to complain but incredibly slow to actually do something, especially something so significant it will touch someone else so deeply they would want to complain about it.

Instead of complaining, let's try doing something about it.

T

Monday, January 01, 2018

You Can't Rush Growth

Sorry it's been a while, but there's a reason. I was sick. Actually, I am sick. Pneumonia. It's been awesome.

But there's something about being sick that I have learned over the years. There's nothing you can do. Literally nothing. You can take a few meds and rest, and that's it. There is no way to rush back into being healthy.

I think often we'd like that to happen when it comes to growth, we'd like to be able to rush it. I heard today about a woman who knew some people who were not acting as they should and her reaction was, "Well, they just should do it!" She's right, but that's not how it works. Personal growth, spiritual growth, whatever it is takes time. Rushing never helps, as much as it hurts.

So I'm still sick, and I'm okay with that. It means I'm tired and can't do as much. Yup. I know there's no way to rush this, and that realization helps me do the healthy thing every day and get a little bit better as slowly as it takes.

As you start your New Year's Resolutions today, take your time. Don't do crazy crash diets or plan to read 14 hours a day. Small, incremental growth is always healthier and more sustainable than wild jumps and bounds.

What are some small, consistent ways you can get to know Jesus better in 2018?

T