I find it fascinating how people who have no concept of God or evil are trying to make sense of the shootings in Newtown. There are many elements at work here (as there normally are in a tragedy like this one) but the evil and the Spiritual motivations behind it is all the same. The Bible is very clear about the intentions of the devil and his desire for the people of this earth. His objective is to “steal, kill and destroy.” (John 10:10) He doesn’t just want to steal from us in this life nor does just he want to even kill us. He wants to destroy us. Now destroy to me is different than the other two because it has to do with not just harming the target but including repercussions that will affect everyone around. I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but there is not a quick solution to where we are as a society. The current government wants to make people feel temporarily better by suggesting that portions of the 2nd amendment be taken away from law abiding citizens but not many are talking about the importance of putting mental health and violent movies and video games into the mix. It has been floated as ideas but all the talk is about “get the evil guns.” The answer to all these problems can be found in a devil that wants to “steal, kill and destroy.” As a pastor, these are wonderful times to take inventory and see if I am doing everything I can to reach out to those “different” people in our world that fit the profile of all the killers in recent memory. I always like to think that I am a friendly person but if I am not offering Jesus as much as my humor to a hurting person then I am just becoming part of the noise in that persons life. If you are a follower of Christ you need to temper everything you are hearing on the news and on the Internet with the compassion of Christ. Flesh will never be able to explain the fruit of the spiritual especially in a situation like the one unfolding in front of us. Prayer is the only solution to what ails America and thoughtful conversation, not knee jerk guns laws and stirring people’s emotions for a political agenda. I don’t know about you, but i have NEVER made a good decision about ANYTHING while thinking with my emotions. Everyone in this conversation needs to step back and have a thoughtful conversation about what is best for the country but all people who know Jesus and know how to pray need to be interceding on behalf of the families of this tragedy and the lawmakers who are making decisions that will affect us all. If you are not praying for this situation in our country as much as your are “preparing for the worst” then stop calling yourself a follower of Christ. I have learned in life that I can’t complain and be worried as well as praying and focusing on Christ. It’s just the way God has wired us all. God bless America and God bless the families affected by this tragedy.
What if the world ends on 12.21.12?
Had to get your attention. 🙂 So I do not think the world will end on the 21st of this month but it does give us some interesting social interaction in America and around the world. If I had not become a pastor so many years ago I would have been a sociologist. I am fascinated with the interaction of people and people groups. The internet is replete with “doomsday” projections and people moving to small towns in distant countries based on who knows what. As a follower of Christ, it makes me think about my personal belief system that promises a return of Christ someday to earth in what is called the rapture. I think the church has done a lot of straying from preaching the return of Christ in the place of “living right” messages. I am not against helping people understand the importance of living right lives, but if I don’t help people focus on their eternal existence as much as their temporal activity on earth then I am doing them a huge disservice. If you are a believer in Christ and you knew the world would end (like people who think 12.21.12 is the end) then what would you be doing differently than you are now? Would you be loving your family more? Telling more people about Jesus? Moving to some obscure country town to “wait it out”? I remember when I was really sick with my eye and was thinking about what the end of my life would look like. I definitely acted different back then. Now that I am “out of the woods” with my health I don’t think some of the same things which is not necessarily a good thing. Jesus says in Mark 13:35 to “keep watch because you do not know when the master of the house (Jesus) is going to return”. Do we really live each day in a place of expectation? The funny and weird thing is that a “doomsday prophecy” needs to be a personal inventory about how we are each living our lives and if they are focused on the right things and not the wrong ones like status, pride, looks, money and basically everything that Hollywood and the world’s marketing system tells us we need. I know that my focus needs to be less on me and more on the world around me looking for answers to tough questions that need more than an emotional validation but true healing. So THANK YOU doomsday Mayan calendar. You have helped me remember what is important in my life and give me a desire to act better in the world I live in.
Living a Facebook-less Life in December
If you are reading this blog then you really like me more than just to follow me on Facebook or Twitter. That is because I have taken a break from social media in general for the rest of the month to quiet my life down. I felt like I was investing too much of my emotional and physical energy observing the digital lives of my friends online. Now i am a social person anyways so social media for me was just an extension of my natural personality of enjoying the company of others. But I noticed myself becoming addicted to Facebook and checking my “likes, comments and messages” on a non-normal frequency. I feel like the break has been good for me in that I deleted the app off of my phone, logged out on all my computers so I would not click into it in a time of casual web surfing and generally unplugged. It has only been 10 days, but it feels like I have been off of it for a longer time than that timeframe. I never want my physical interaction with people to be superseded by my digital life online. One thing I have reflected on while being away from Facebook and Twitter is knowing that I need to stay more disciplined in not trying to get into online disagreements when I know I am not going to convince someone of my point of view. I want to focus on things that will help people consider where they are in life and to make changes, even if they are incremental, to begin to see good change in their lives. If we would all see our importance to the world wide web, even if it’s small, we would act differently and probably look to make investments in the lives of others. All of this to say that I think its good for people to take breaks from social media so you don’t lose yourself and think about the investment or withdrawal you are making in the digital world. This Christmas season, be thinking of ways to take breaks from things that are becoming habits and recalibrate your life before the end of the year. Even when Jesus was on this earth it says in scripture that “He went away to a quiet place to pray.” Don’t wait to make a “new years resolution” to start changes in your life. You can get a jump start on everyone else by making healthy choices now!
Quietness; the lost art of many Christians
This morning I was really struck with the power and importance of Jesus and his example he showed during the crucifixion process of not talking to his accusers and directing all his comments to God his father. Now anyone who knows me knows that quietness is not one of my hallmarks or traits as a Christian and, in fact, it has gotten me into more trouble through the years than soliciting laughs. All through my school career as a kid my teachers would all say, “Brian is such a wonderful boy, but he just has a problem with talking…” Even to this day, my mind works so fast that when anyone says anything I normally have four to five quick witted things I could say at any given moment. I say this because God was really pushing me this am to not be “reactionary with my words” and to really think before I speak or not to speak at all especially when someone around me is getting mad at me for some reason. Jesus was such a perfect example of quietness to us as believers when we feel like we are being accused or taken advantage of. Even though everything they were saying about Jesus was false, He still continued to be quiet. I really want to work on this trait as a follower of Christ. To me, quietness is proof that your justification is not in defending your position but it is truly in Christ and the work He is doing in you and through you. Let Jesus and the work he has done in you be enough to silence your critics when you are being accused and just mentally rest in God and the peace only he can give. Literally, a peace that passes all understanding. (Philippians 4:7) Have a great week.
The Most Effective People I Know
The followers of Christ who make the greatest difference in the world are ones who are not “doers” of the Word but are “be-ers” of the Word. Oswald Chambers stated it this way about helping others find Christ; “soul winning should not be something we do, but something we are.
I believe this thinking applies to all disciplines of the Christian faith.” I want to be someone who influences others based on my relationship to God and not primarily my relationship with them. The only way I can do that is by knowing God and spending time with Him. For the rest of this weekend, focus your attention on knowing/hearing from God and letting the things you “do” for God be an overflow of that time well spent.
Proverbs Devotion with Dad
My dad and I just had a great discussion and devotion about Proverbs 8 and Wisdom this am. I love how this chapter really “gets going” towards the end and talks about Wisdom being there before the earth and was with the planning process for the world and all of us. Proverbs 8:17 is an awesome little verse “I love those who love me. Those who look for me find me.”
I am so happy that the God I serve and all the good things about him are not elusive and hidden from me. The only times in my life when I felt like he was not there or hidden from me was just that; when I THOUGHT.” Don’t let your circumstances keep you from knowing that God loves you and that wisdom is attainable for you to have and walk in. According to Proverbs, Wisdom is like the glue that holds everything else together and is worthy of being sought and can be obtained by ordinary people like you and me. Have a great day!!
If you are changing, others will notice
This morning I was thinking about the word “change” and what quantifies change in a persons life. As a follower of Christ, if I am not changing each day than I know I am not becoming the person God needs me to be. I slip into a stagnant relationship with Jesus that becomes less relevant to a hurting world and makes my life meaningless. There is already a great work that Jesus did in me when i first accepted him but my flesh always will want to stay stagnant not change. The key thing that separates a successful and valuable person from everyone else is the ability to change. If I think I am changing then the people I come in contact with, especially those closest to me, should notice something different about me. More patient, listening better, smiling more, etc. A great litmus test in your life can be the reaction of others to you, positive or negative. One thing my dad always told me was that you can learn something from anyone, even something negative and seeing what you don’t want to do or be like. I really don’t believe there is anyone on the face of the earth who wants to be the personal illustration for a dad telling his son, “now THAT, my boy, is what you do NOT want to do/be in this life.” Yet, we can all recognize people in the course of our lives that we would consider “bad examples.” Change is a beautiful thing but not automatic. The only way we can truly change into the person we need to be for this world is by submitting ourselves to God but also to those who we trust and want to see us succeed. None of us have all the qualities in this life to finish up living just the way we are. If I call myself a follower of Jesus, I need to be asking God to help my actions line up with the change Christ has already brought inside of me. Maybe there is something to the verses in the Bible that talk about iron sharpening iron and that I am being changed from glory to glory. The thing I will work on today is my will lining up with those promises of change. 🙂 Have a great weekend.
The end of the world…or is it?
I was reading 2 Thessalonians 2 for my devotions this am and was thinking about all the “end times” talk that we hear from time to time. There is a billboard on Broadway that has a self proclaimed prophet who says that he knows when the end of the world will be and that the tribulation has already started. This blog is not to talk about whether I think he is wrong or not (although I do believe differently) but more the fascination with trying to predict when Jesus will return. First, I think trying to predict the end of it all is a waste of time. 2 Thessalonians and even other sections of the Bible says that no one will know the exact day but can see the seasons changing. I do agree that there are many things pointing towards a one world government for example. Look at the disaster in Japan and the effect it is having on the global market including Toyota car production even here in the US which says it will have to cut back or suspend some cars for now. Look at the debt we operate in around the globe and our gas prices that are so connected to the oil production of countries experiencing unrest right now.
The bigger question to me is what is the motivation of people who claim to know the end of the world? Some are just plain crazy. That has been proved over time and has had some disastrous consequences. Some people are possibly so dissatisfied with life that they want to know the end of it all just to get it over with. I know when I went through my eye stuff and had thoughts of suicide I really didn’t care about living anymore. Other people use it as spiritual manipulation to get people to convert to Christianity which I think is also wrong. The people who follow God the best and make the best spiritual decisions are the ones who have come to the end of themselves and have no more answers inside and have to look to a loving God who wants to fill that God shaped hole in their heart. Not ones who are motivated or operate in fear and just “don’t want to go to hell.”
I want to live my life everyday to the fullest whether I live to be 100 or I die tomorrow or the world ends in 2012 🙂 I want my life to be a reflection of the love of Christ and I want to see people through God lenses. So don’t waste your time on this earth looking to see when it will all end. There are going to be “wars and rumors of wars” like it says in the bible but we need to be focused on Christ and who he can be in our lives. If you don’t have a real relationship with Jesus I encourage you to find a good bible believing church this Easter and listen to the message about how a loving God sent his son to die for your sins. Let the “end” be to the things you used to do to gratify your flesh and start living for a higher purpose. God created you, he loves you and you have the ability to be everything this world needs you to be for the glory of God. Have a great day and God bless.
Vitamins, Fasting and Your Life
I love Saturdays because I get to read and today was pretty cool because I had a revelation from a small line I read in a book on my Kindle. It was talking about a vitamin called B2+ found in a certain type of food and if it was good for you or not and it had a side remark about what a true Vitamin is; it must be something that is essential to a healthy life. I don’t know why that short statement struck me but it did. I thought about my walk with God and what would I consider “vitamins” in my relationship with Jesus and what are things that are not essential? I also considered all the “things” I have in life, such as regular TV programs DVR’d and ready to watch, a passion for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team, a love for technology (including my iPhone and Apple products), etc. You know…just stuff. I really want the coming fast that I will be starting with my church tomorrow for 21 days to be a time of evaluating what things in my life are “vitamins”, things that are OK for me but not essential, and things that are not good for me and are just time wasters. I truly believe that we need to be mindful of what we physically put in our bodies that are essential for life but also the things that consume our lives and if they have a “vitamin” quality to them or if they are just things that need to be discarded for the good of the whole emotionally and/or physically. I can say that fasting is one of my LEAST favorite disciplines as a Christian but know that it is something that needs to happen in my life and really in the life of every believer. I believe it is a time of evaluating the “vitamins” (or lack of) in your life and if you are as healthy as you think you are. I want to challenge you to really spend time in 2011 taking deliberate pauses to evaluate your life and see just how healthy or unhealthy you really are. To me, regular evaluation of your life is a “vitamin” in itself and critically essential for living the life that you will be proud of this year.
What I learned from my Free Ski Lesson
I had a great day skiing at Copper Mountain yesterday and thought I would write a little blog about what I learned from a free ski lesson I got from a guy I met on the hill.
I would classify myself as a great non-mogul skier. I am not afraid to go down anything but it just may take me a little longer than some. I can ski anything very well as long as it doesn’t include trees or those little white devils known as moguls. I was trying to ski a Black Diamond at Copper (actually, I was more “surviving the run” and not really skiing it) when I came up behind a guy and struck up a conversation about how great the day was the condition of the snow. He noticed I was doing my “survival routine” and asked if I wanted any pointers.
Lesson number one learned: I had the option to be prideful and tell him “no, I’ve got this” when I knew in my mind and the obvious show of my lack of mogul skiing, that I needed all the pointers I could get. I said, “definitely” and he proceeded to help me for about four hours teaching me some of the fundamentals about skiing bumps as well as jump turning and skiing in the trees. Pride is THE #1 obstacle to growth in life. When we think we have it all figured out or don’t want to admit to being insufficient in something, no matter what it is, we have just put a limit on our learning and stunted our growth in life.
The second thing I learned from my ski lesson was that I could hear the instructions being told but if I didn’t apply what was being said to my actions it was pretty much useless information. The same is true with a follower of Christ and the Bible. I can read the Bible, see and even believe what it says but if I don’t apply what it is telling me I am never going to get “better” with my walk with God. Always remember that our walk with God is organic and is either growing or dying. That is an important element of life that we sometimes forget and really is the foundation of a mediocre walk with God. The third thing I learned was that the more comfortable I got with how I was skiing the more adventurous I was willing to be. The same is true with knowing and following Christ. I have heard people say that they think a life following Christ sounds like a bunch of boring rules. Skiing a groomed run and skiing moguls have some “rules” you need to follow but once you learn them the sky is the limit! When I read in the Bible about what the boundaries are for my life and live by those rules set out for me, my relationship with Jesus takes on a whole new level and I can enjoy listening to God and doing what he says. I feel even after a one day lesson that I want to go back up to the hill to practice what I learned so I can get even better and enjoy myself even more on the hill and skiing even more terrain. A life with Christ can be the same thing. A hunger to know God even more so I can go out in the “terrain” of the world and “tear it up” for Christ!
I know my meeting Howard was not a coincidence and I have a new ski buddy and a foundation to hopefully lead him to Christ someday which is super cool and as an added bonus, I feel more confident than ever about my skiing ability and can enjoy my days off when I hit the slopes which is a great feeling as well!
Holy Crap 