Think and let think...

Drop Like Stars

Today was a great day. My much anticipated package arrived. Drop Like Stars, the new book by Rob Bell, teaching pastor of Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For more information about Rob you can visit his site here. I of course immediately dropped (huh interesting choice of word) everything that I had on me and ripped open the package and eagerly opened the huge hardcover book. 

No, I haven't finished it yet. Are you crazy? 

I have started reading it and im only a couple of pages in and already have fallen in love with it and had to put it down when I read his little blurb about the "Prodigal Son." I stopped because I just had to share. Here is what it says in the text. I'll be starting with the older sons response the whole village party of his little brother returning. 

"This celebration infuriates the older brother. He refuses to join the party and instead argues the injustice of it all to their father, who responds, 'My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive; he was lost and is found.' 

The older then has a moment of profound enlightenment. He puts his arm around his father and says, 'You're right, Dad. I'm sorry I've been such an ass. Can I get you a beer?' 

Uh...actually, that's not how the story ends. The story ends with the father's words about how everything he has belongs to his son and how they have to celebrate because his son 'was dead and is alive again.'" 

What an odd way to finish a story? It begs the question, "Why doesn't God give us a little bit more closure on this story? We don't know what the elder brother decides to do. He could've pulled a Cain and killed the younger brother or could have done what is right and welcomed his brother back with open arms. We don't know. 

Where is the Hollywood ending? 

Well, Rob provides the scene that is already in your head I'm sure. 

"The older brother enters the party and the younger brother is surrounded by people who want to talk to him but he sees his brother and so he says to them, 'just a minute, please' as he starts walking toward his brother and the orchestra music in the background gets louder and louder as they get closer and closer until they embrace and everybody at the party circles around them and starts clapping and then the camera pans over to that one last shot - the one of the father holding a glass of champagne with a smile on his face and a tear in his eye." 

Some elder brothers never join the party
Some fathers never throw one.
Some brothers never come back.
Some things never get resolved.

In the midst of tragedy people affected by it want answers and it would wise of us to just be present with them. Don't say anything, but just be present. Sometimes we dont do that. We say things like, "this is just how God planned it," which makes us think, "The god who planned THAT is not a god I want anything to do with." 

Life hurts. We have times of laughter, suffering, joy, and pain. During these times we desire answers from God but we are met with silence. I think the silence in the midst of pain is brilliant. God wired us to be relational, creative, emotional beings. He knows we want answers, but time and time again He meets our questions with silence because there is a time and place for words. 

Sometimes even though we think we want answers, who's to say we're gonna like the answers that we get? Just having people present and there because they can be speaks more than words do. Even in 1 Corinthians we learn in the "love chapter" what love really is and in that section of passage everything that describes love is not using words. It's action. 

Actions speak louder than words. God teaches us in this moment that in life there are things that wont be resolved. They wont have a definite absolute answer. 

Not everything in life has a hollywood ending, but God is always present. 

Daily Bible Verse (Hebrews 10:35-36)

I'm going to be starting a daily blogging series today with sharing my thoughts and reflections on the "Daily Bible Verse" that I have listed on the main page of my blog. So, let's start this series off today with the scripture Hebrews 10:35-36

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

Hebrews was written by an unknown author in an unknown time at an unknown place, but we know who it was written to. It was written to the Hebrew Christians who were at that time considering a return to Judaism. They have come to a point where they are starting to doubt. They were taught their entire lives the Law of the Prophets through commandments, rituals, and even the prophets themselves describing the promises of God. The Law was the way to forgiveness and salvation. That is what they have been taught up until Jesus came and died for the world and now there is the old (Judaism) and the new (Christianity), but the book of Hebrews is about realizing that both of those of religions revealed by God. 

The Law of the Prophets was fulfilled by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Have you ever felt that your faith is stagnant? 

We have all had times of doubt and feel that our faith is not where it was. It's feeling more stale, and lacking growth and going nowhere. So, creeps in the doubt. 

I present to you Hebrews 10:35-36

Be persistent. Don't give up. 

Life in the essence of everything that it is will get hard. It will beat you down, but God will always be by your side, giving you the guidance and strength that is required of you in every situation of your life. You know for the longest time I have had this pet peeve. I absolutely detest the word, "can't" I just dont like, it bothers me when people use it too. 

God doesn't like that either. Us using the word can't im sure is not one of God's favorite things we do, because with God's help we can do all things. 

In the midst of their lives and doubt the Hebrew Christians were looking for answers and wanted God to assure them of their doubts. We want that too. We want answers, but God doesn't give them all the time. Sometimes God is silent and doesn't give an answer. 

The end of the book of Job 

The end of the prodigal son

He tells the writers heart that as God's children we persevere and be confident in what Jesus did for all of mankind. Don't lose heart. Have confidence in Christ. He will supply what we need, but we have to have an openness as well. We must open our hearts, minds, and very souls. God will supply the strength and courage to persevere, but maybe not in the way we expect. 

Thoughts from Today.

"The Affirmessy Process – The postmodern thought that life is a journey, or process, that affirms the multiple realities of all people and allows for messy conversations, messy theology, messy questions, and messy understanding. The journey in the affirmessy process is not about having all the answers, but rather the answer is enjoying/allowing/affirming each other’s asking of the messy, unsolvable questions." 

-Russell Clark, 2009-

Lately I have been encountering from different perspectives in my life that there is a certain amount of feeling the need to be clean before coming to God. Let me explain. How many times have you heard this: 

"I can't pray to God and accept Jesus into my heart until I get my life fixed." 

"I can't come to God like me!? Are you nuts?" 

Well, maybe I am, but that's another discussion all together. :-) However, that thought that we have to be perfect to be "allowed" to talk to the Lord is....well, it seems to me to contradict who God is, what he represents, and who He has a passion for. It's very true in fact that God has given us a gift of his grace and love through the sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ and that is very difficult, sometimes it seems impossible, to accept.  There is something that doesn't fit with "free gift" for us as human beings, but that's exactly what a gift is. It's free, you don't have to pay a down payment, or a monthly charge. It's free. We are ok with this idea when it comes to getting a gift from say your mom, dad, brother, sister, or even your best friend, but when it comes to God's free gift of grace and love? 

We struggle with that. We can't wrap our mind around..that. 

With presents from your mom, dad, etc. you can return the favor. With God we feel unworthy. There's a reason for that. 

We are.

(Just a little side-note: What if it stopped there? Praise God that it doesn't)

But.

(That one word makes the sentence take a 180. We go from fallen to forgiven. Just one word.)

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." -Romans 5:8

I present to you Exhibit A. Jesus Christ was sent for the sole purpose of giving the world redemption through His blood. Period. God knows that your messy. You got junk. Baggage. Things have happened in our lives that have damaged us. hurt us to the core, and what is God's response? 

He wants you and I to come to Him with ALL our junk, baggage, and everything that makes our lives messy. God says, "Bring it. I can take care of this. I got this." 

"The Affirmessy Process – The postmodern thought that life is a journey, or process, that affirms the multiple realities of all people and allows for messy conversations, messy theology, messy questions, and messy understanding. The journey in the affirmessy process is not about having all the answers, but rather the answer is enjoying/allowing/affirming each other’s asking of the messy, unsolvable questions." 

Point is this. We don't have all the answers, but we do have God and He tells us that we are loved and its ok to not know everything. He says its ok to not have it all "together," and its ok because of what He tells us through Paul in Philippians 1:6: 

"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." 

It's a journey, filled with mistakes and joys and tears and laughter and love. We will all understand fully when we see Jesus' face to face.

Faith based on Lifestyle and Transparency Christians

Faith- believing in things you cannot see or cannot prove. (my definition) 

Living your faith that is based on Lifestyle is dangerous. So very dangerous for the message that Jesus Christ has entrusted his believers with. As the Apostle Paul stated in Galatians 3:3, "Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?" It's impossible to succeed at such a notion of living your faith out by morals. 

Now, don't get me wrong morals are crucially important, but it seems that there is this belief that if you aren't a Christian then you just can't hack it. You don't have what it takes to be holy. These types of thoughts and statements are what the new generations feel about Christianity today. Very scary and dangerous indeed. They feel repelled by Christians, but even more intriguing than that is that they don't feel rejected by Jesus, but rejected by Christians. 

See, the mere fact is that we are fallen and we need God...everyday. That we cannot do it alone. Only one person could and he did it so well that we named the entire thing after him, but he was and will always be God. 

"There is darkness in our skin; our cover is wearing thin." -David Crowder, from the song "Rescue is Coming"

"We should have an honest estimation of ourselves, measuring our worth by God's purposes for our life." -Romans 12:3

We have to as Christians be Transparent and be merely trying to act right but being honest with who we are. Yes we are believers in Jesus Christ and we believe that he is our savior. That does not exclude the fact that we are fallen and we need Him every single day of life on this earth! Without Him we are nothing. 

Let us move forward as believers in Jesus Christ and be honest with who we are. Have an open mind and realize that some of the ways that we live is not a good witness and not representative of the life that Jesus taught us to live. Thank God for what you have today. It is a gift because He is gracious and loving.  

Onto something? No not so much

Do you ever get that feeling when your studying your bible that you are onto something? Well, I did. Yesterday. If you read my previous post about Genesis and God creating light then you know full well what I'm referring to. I was correct i think in a sense, however I would like to clear up that God did not create evil but that Adam and Eve's choice to eat of the fruit brought sin into the world and so from then on we were a fallen people who needed a savior. When it comes to the light, yes God did create Light twice, sort of. In Genesis 1:3, God does in fact create Light by saying, "Let there be light," and so light existed, then in Genesis 1:5 God seperates the light from the dark. And finally in Genesis 1:14-19 God gives the world the Sun to govern the light of the day and the Moon and stars to govern the night. Point being this: God's creation is beyond comprehension and its vast and amazing and glorious and magnificent and beautiful and overwhelming and I could go on and on. God has done an amazing work here in this world, not because he needed to but because He wanted to. God's love for us is unquenchable. He gave us the world, to care for, and to love Him. He desires so much a personal relationship with all of us. And I do mean ALL. Genesis is a book that has been debated on for thousands of years, and we will never truly know how God did it. That doesn't really matter anyway. He did it. End of story and end of statement. That is all that matters. Because God is Love.

Creation Story Thought Throwdown...

So, this week in the sunday school class i teach for the 7th graders we are talking about the Creation story in Genesis 1:1-2:4 this week and I was reading it today a couple of thoughts were running through my head so i need get some feedback on this. See what you all think. Look at Genesis 1:5. Done? No, seriously get a bible and look it up. Or go to www.youversion.com and look it up there. (Awesome site btw) Now look at Genesis 1:14. Seeing anything? In verse five this happens: "God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. " Verse 14 reads this way: "And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years," God creates "light" twice. Or does he? Where do we get the "light" during the day? From what source? The sun, and what about the night, well of course its the moon. So the creating of the sun and the moon and the stars happens in verse 14, right? But in verse 5 God still creates some form of "light." Ok go with me on this. Could this be God creating good and evil? Because one is light and one is dark. Thoughts? Please get back to me on this. I'm really intrigued about the responses on this one.

Rain

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYKa9E1xzao&hl=en&fs=1&] "When the rain come. It's not like they might. They do. It rains in our lives....a lot." - Rob Bell I love that line from this video and actually the main reason that I feel the need to blog about this. Rain will come. Storms will come in our lives. You can't stop them from happening, they just do. The last couple weeks in the sunday school class that I teach we have talked about this every now and then. We talked about it in the story of David and Goliath and this past sunday when we talked about Samson. You see in life there is a path that we are on. Everyone has a path, and sometimes roadblocks get in the way. So, if you can't stop something from happening. What do you do about it? In life your gonna make mistakes. Just like rain, they are going to happen. So, what do you do when you make mistakes? Give up? No, when it rains do you stay inside all day everyday that it rains? No, you get an umbrella. Mistakes are gonna happen. In life we are going to fail. That's not the point though. The point is that we were created by a God that is all knowing and knows everything little you and I are going to make, but He still loves us and has a future for us! "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11 When it rains you get an umbrella and and when you fail you realize that you are still loved by God. You always will be. Always. Here's a thought to chew on. No matter what mistakes you make in life or how many you fail, God will ALWAYS be there for you waiting to support as you go on. He is always with you and He will always love you. Always. You can fail everyday of your life and yet He will still love you!

Something to think about today...

Acts 1:8 says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." God has an agenda for the world because God truly loves everyone on the face of the planet, he has always had an agenda, but now the question is, where do we fit in God's agenda? If you go by Acts 1:8, we are the ones that carry out God's agenda by loving, teaching, and embracing in the way Jesus taught us to. So, where do we fit? Right in the smack dab middle. We are the voice. We matter. Even in the worse of times in your lives you will always matter to God, always, and he believes in you and me and that is why he has entrusted us with the care of his creation. People need love. We desire to have love and there is no love like the love that God provides and we have to share it. I believe it was Francis Asbury that once said, "Offer them Christ." Cause that is an offer that may be refused but never fades and never disappears. God is always there. Always. One of the most beautiful moments in the Gospels is when Peter walks on water and then gets scrared and drowns, but what does Jesus do? He extends his hand and pulls Peter up. No matter what you are going through in your life today, tomorrow, or ever you will always have the hand of Christ extended to you. He loves us and we are His voice. Just some thoughts on an early Sunday morning.

Enough Said.

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.

5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to [b] me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.

19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

20 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you?

22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

"The Word of God.

For the People of God.

Thanks be to God."

The Nearness of God

So, on the way back to work from my lunch break today I was listening to music from my iPhone and "Be Near" came on and I really really like this song. 

Your fullness is mine (Your fullness is mine) Revelation divine (Revelation divine) But oh to taste,  to know much more than a page To feel your embrace...

To feel your embrace, oh to taste. Yes! there is nothing in the world that compares to then overwhelming sweet taste of God;s love and the nearness of his presence. When I feel God close to me, a flood of inspiration, and courage just shoots through my body and my heart is lifted and oh to see the world through his eyes and with his presence right with you. There is nothing. Nothing better than that.  Father I pray that as we go about our daily routines at work and at home that we would embrace you and your presence because it is so near to us always. Thank you Lord for always being present with us through the good times and the bad and God help us to confront the things we struggle with and let us confront with the strength only you can give. We love you Lord! In Jesus Name, Amen.  May God Bless you with his sweet sweet presence!

That ' s it.

I was just hit with something. No, not in the literal sense..:) but all the same, something in my head just clicked. God loves us and yes that is something that is very evident to us believers, but is it really? Do we at all times believe that He really loves us and if so then what about those really bad days when we feel like the dirt under the dirt under the dirt under the....(you get the point), but God loves us. I couldn't get past this thought. I don't know why. The thought is that no matter what we think about ourselves and how many mistakes we make God loves us so much that we cannot even comprehend it, it is no possible to put into words how much we mean to Him. Seriously. There aren't words. They don't exist. How friggin' crazy is that!? God created us in HIS IMAGE, so we are like God. Our beat and feel how God feels. The way we think and do things is somehow connected to him and his essence of who he is. We are His voice to the world, to tell who God is, what God is like and what God cares about. This thought is just so overwhelming to me. Love that can't be describe because the words don't exist, they can't exist but the Love is too big! It's beyond us and our logical understanding of Love. I dont even know how to end this post but Im so overwhelmed with this Love that is beyond my understanding. God knows what we are thinking, before we think it. What we say before we even think about saying it. How many hairs that are on our heads, and man....that is just overwhelming. All I can say to end this post is..... Thank You God for seeing more in us than we could ever begin to see in ourselves. Thank you God. God Loves us. That's it.

Saints

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,  "To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers^[a] and deacons." Philippians 1:1 I mean let's be honest when you look at yourself or even people in the community of faith do you think saints? So, this begs the question do we really know what we are capable of? or who we are? In God's eyes we are a lot of things that we dont see that we are, but God sees us as those things. Saints is just one of the many things that God wants to do with our lives. He sees us as his children whom he loves so much that he would die for us, and he believes in us as the people that help bring the kingdom of God to earth, i mean that's the point isnt it. To make life better. God is so beyond our own "rational understanding." I mean he is three in one, that just doesnt make sense, and neither does calling us saints. No one ever said that being a child of God would make sense all the time. A lot of the time its not going to make sense because God is so beyond us, but its the truth. Even though at times it doesnt make a lick of sense. God made us His voice, and asked us to be faithful and loving in response to His gracious gift of love and faithfulness in us. God believes in His voice.

Following while Confused.

So, here in the last couple of weeks I have been hit with a thought that is disturbing at the same very humbling. As I follow Jesus through my life and learn of his teachings, I find myself confused with a paradoxical and unreasonable being that is God. Now, that statement in and of itself may confuse you, but just think about it for a minute. How reasonable is our faith? It's not a reasonable notion, but somehow in the inner core of being of who we are tells us that its a part of us. Take the word faith. It means to believe in things that you cannot see or touch, which is not a reasonable thought. Even in the scriptures it says that people saw Jesus and still didnt believe....and today I believe in Jesus but I cant see him. Or can I? Seeing the confusion yet? Im learning that not understanding everything is an ok notion to have. There are some things that we will never understand about God, creation, Jesus, and etc. But God tells us that the only thing that matters really is Love your neighbor as yourself and Love the Lord your God with your heart, mind, and soul. So, really its all about love. Who knew the Beatles were theologians when they sang, "All you need is Love?" At the inner core of every human being is God. You are made in God's image which means that if God is Love then you are Love. The Greatest Commandment of loving your neighbor and loving God is just God saying be yourself, be who I created you to be. Be Love. That is a humbling and awesome feeling. Be Love. So its ok to be follow while your confused, just be love.

My Cup Overflows

Disclaimer: this blog entry is completely random and very jumbled together. It has not theme except for my cup overflows. You'll see.. Have you ever been just living your life just normal and then out of nowhere God just surprises you with....umm...EVERYTHING!? Just recently I have been helping out a lot at my church with the Student Ministries program, Junior High-College age and God has really spoken to my heart throughout. I have always believed in God but I am approaching a new development in my faith. God believes in me. Yes I know that sounds like a duh statement, but seriously think about that. God believes in me? Are you friggin kidding me? The creator of the friggin universe believes in me and has a plan for my life, and it surpasses any miniscule plan that i have for my life. This new development completely boggles my mind and im still floored by it. Praise God for his blessings of grace that is given to us freely. I feel so useless sometimes when it comes to witnessing and be a christian, but i think that's the point we see ourselves as who we think we are. We dont realize that there is a part of us that is extraordinary! What does it mean to be created in God's image? My Cup Overflows with the blessings that God has revealed to me. I dont even know where to begin to understand why God has spoken to me like this lately, but there is one thing that I know. I cant get enough of Him! Im at worship and a desperate part of my heart cries out for the worship to continue! I dont want it to stop! I want to scream and shout because I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good and I want more and more and more! Praise God!

Fountain of Youth

The Fountain of Youth

Suggested Bible Reading

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." And the child's father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed--and a sword will pierce your own soul too." There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

-Luke 2:25-38 (NRSV)

Today's Scripture Joshua was old and advanced in years; and the Lord said to him, "You are old and advanced in years, and very much of the land still remains to be possessed." -Joshua 13:1 (NRSV)

WE older folks can learn from the message that the Lord spoke to Joshua: Yes, you are old, but you have much to do yet. Often what we need to do is obvious, right in front of us.

It may also be obvious to others. Why don't we older people take on these tasks? Hasn't God planned something for us? The Bible shows us more than once that God uses older people. When God revealed that Isaac would be born, Sarah was 90 and Abraham 100 years old. Moses was 80 when he led the Israelites out of Egypt. Anna, in the New Testament, was 84 when she witnessed to others that the newborn Jesus was the Messiah.

God is the source of the courage and strength we need for the tasks that lie before us, even though we may think we are too old or too young or "too" something else. God sees us and is the Lord of all our years. Is God not permitted to count our years differently than we count them? God sees in us much ability to serve, no matter what our age.

Ugo Gastaldi (Lombardia, Italy)

Prayer

Teach us, Lord, not to fear our age but to look to you for strength to serve no matter how old or how young we are. Amen.

Thought for the Day Whether we are young or old, God is the Lord of all our days.