Hey...I just wanted to post before we leave for The Gathering in Orlando next week....
Here are a few thoughts about the last few weeks:
1. I told you previously that we had 7 different Christmas events to go to...I counted the mileage...and we traveled 1006 miles! I feel a bit car lagged!
2. This past Friday, seeing that the District Ski Trip got cancelled and our ski trip got cancelled...I was stupid and decided to have an all day event...we started Friday morning at 730am and went to Pokagon and Ft. Wayne and back for an overnighter and I left the Oasis at 930 am on Saturday! 26 hours of fun... :)
3. We are getting ready to head to Orlando for a wesleyan pastors gathering...our church is sending both Pastor John and Beth and Sarah and I paying for flight and the conference! Amazing...
4. I am glad that 2006 is over...it has been a challenging year...filled with change and growth
5. This was my first full year of marriage and I am falling in love with my wife it seems every day...God truly has blessed me with Sarah...
6. Christmas was busy but we were so thankful that we could spend time with our family and friends...living so far away makes that hard to do for us...
7. I hope that God blesses you this new year...
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
Some christmas time updates
Hey...sorry I haven't updated in a while..I have been a little busy...so here is a quick bullel laden update.
1. Sarah has strep throat...pray for her...she isnt feeling well.
2. Christmas shopping is all done! A salesperson laughed at me at a store where I was shopping out of pity (how do I know it was pity? Because right after she laughed, she went awwww)
3. First, the District Ski Trip got cancelled. Then I made plans for our own ski trip/ overnighter next Friday and now I am not sure if it is going to be cold enough for them to make snow! So pray that it will be colder than what they think.
4. We are half way through our Christmas Tour...4 down 3 to go.
5. I started my first pre-marital counseling sessions this week for the wedding in February...it will be the first one for me!
6. I want cold weather...and I want it NOW!!!
7. Sarah and I went and seen The Pursuit of Happyness with Will Smith and his son...it was one of the saddest, best, inspirational, and amazing movie I have seen in a long time...I would recommend it!
8. Christmas is different this year...even when you try and slow down and enjoy the season...those around you aren't slowing down and they are just going through the motions...frustrating...very frustrating!
9. Last, Merry Christmas...and slow down these last few days
1. Sarah has strep throat...pray for her...she isnt feeling well.
2. Christmas shopping is all done! A salesperson laughed at me at a store where I was shopping out of pity (how do I know it was pity? Because right after she laughed, she went awwww)
3. First, the District Ski Trip got cancelled. Then I made plans for our own ski trip/ overnighter next Friday and now I am not sure if it is going to be cold enough for them to make snow! So pray that it will be colder than what they think.
4. We are half way through our Christmas Tour...4 down 3 to go.
5. I started my first pre-marital counseling sessions this week for the wedding in February...it will be the first one for me!
6. I want cold weather...and I want it NOW!!!
7. Sarah and I went and seen The Pursuit of Happyness with Will Smith and his son...it was one of the saddest, best, inspirational, and amazing movie I have seen in a long time...I would recommend it!
8. Christmas is different this year...even when you try and slow down and enjoy the season...those around you aren't slowing down and they are just going through the motions...frustrating...very frustrating!
9. Last, Merry Christmas...and slow down these last few days
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Selling on Sunday...
Here I go again...
I am going to start with my two favorite words it seems for this blog...Growing up, Sunday was a no-nonsense kind of day. We never thought about eating out on Sunday. No getting gas (unless the sun went down??? explain that one to me?), no watching T.V., no playing outside, and definitely no fun!!! (just a joke) Anyways, we never ate out until after the divorce...I mean NEVER! There wasn't a time I can remember ever doing this. I think my Dad would have rathered starved us kids than to buy something on a Sunday. Strict. Stern. Unmoving. I can remember always trying to slip past my parents bedroom without getting noticed just to try to have some of that one f word (fun that is). I remember one Super Bowl sneaking upstair, during service mind you, and watching a little of the SB! Now, when the sun went down, the TV came on, and all bets were off. Interesting. Very, very interesting.
So being a small, old-fashioned church, this is still an issue. I was reemed last April for selling things at a youth group chili cook off on a Sunday night...harshly. Scripturally speaking, The Wesleyan discipline is vague (imagine that). I had to do some searching and found that in Nehemiah there is a passage where he kept the selling merchants out of the city and scolded the people for buying on the sabbath. That's it. So here are my questions/points:
1. If we are going to follow a Levitical law, why are we not following them all? Why are we just picking and choosing which ones have relavence in our lives and churches?
2. The church I grew up in was legalistic and that is putting it mildly. However, the people of that church may have looked on the outside like holiness people but I know for a fact that they are doing some "illegal" things. Not wrong from a biblical stance per se, but definitely from a legal one. Picking and choosing, eh?
3. A majority (90%?) of the church I am at now go out and eat on Sunday. Enough said...picking and choosing!
4. I could get technical about it and say that the sabbath was on a saturday and sunday is the lords day but I won't. However, I just want to give you this verse to chew on...this was after Jesus and his disciples had...(gasp)...picked some grain on the sabbath...and was questioned by the Pharisees...Mark 2:27 "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
5. What is the real reason behind the Sabbath or the Lord's day? In that passage the NIV study bible puts it like this, "Jewish tradition had so multiplied the requirements and the restrictions for keeping the Sabbath that the burden had become intolerable. Jesus cut across these traditions and emphasized the God-given purpose of the Sabbath-a day intended for man (for spiritual, mental and physical renewal)". Does buying dinner so that I don't have to cook fall into that category? :)
6. I don't think this is an issue for larger churches. It seems to be a small church type of thing that gives them something to talk about. I may be wrong but I have a hunch that I am not.
My final assessment on the issue: Wesleyans and protestant-holiness types are picking and choosing from the Bible to placate their own traditions.
What do you think?
I am going to start with my two favorite words it seems for this blog...Growing up, Sunday was a no-nonsense kind of day. We never thought about eating out on Sunday. No getting gas (unless the sun went down??? explain that one to me?), no watching T.V., no playing outside, and definitely no fun!!! (just a joke) Anyways, we never ate out until after the divorce...I mean NEVER! There wasn't a time I can remember ever doing this. I think my Dad would have rathered starved us kids than to buy something on a Sunday. Strict. Stern. Unmoving. I can remember always trying to slip past my parents bedroom without getting noticed just to try to have some of that one f word (fun that is). I remember one Super Bowl sneaking upstair, during service mind you, and watching a little of the SB! Now, when the sun went down, the TV came on, and all bets were off. Interesting. Very, very interesting.
So being a small, old-fashioned church, this is still an issue. I was reemed last April for selling things at a youth group chili cook off on a Sunday night...harshly. Scripturally speaking, The Wesleyan discipline is vague (imagine that). I had to do some searching and found that in Nehemiah there is a passage where he kept the selling merchants out of the city and scolded the people for buying on the sabbath. That's it. So here are my questions/points:
1. If we are going to follow a Levitical law, why are we not following them all? Why are we just picking and choosing which ones have relavence in our lives and churches?
2. The church I grew up in was legalistic and that is putting it mildly. However, the people of that church may have looked on the outside like holiness people but I know for a fact that they are doing some "illegal" things. Not wrong from a biblical stance per se, but definitely from a legal one. Picking and choosing, eh?
3. A majority (90%?) of the church I am at now go out and eat on Sunday. Enough said...picking and choosing!
4. I could get technical about it and say that the sabbath was on a saturday and sunday is the lords day but I won't. However, I just want to give you this verse to chew on...this was after Jesus and his disciples had...(gasp)...picked some grain on the sabbath...and was questioned by the Pharisees...Mark 2:27 "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
5. What is the real reason behind the Sabbath or the Lord's day? In that passage the NIV study bible puts it like this, "Jewish tradition had so multiplied the requirements and the restrictions for keeping the Sabbath that the burden had become intolerable. Jesus cut across these traditions and emphasized the God-given purpose of the Sabbath-a day intended for man (for spiritual, mental and physical renewal)". Does buying dinner so that I don't have to cook fall into that category? :)
6. I don't think this is an issue for larger churches. It seems to be a small church type of thing that gives them something to talk about. I may be wrong but I have a hunch that I am not.
My final assessment on the issue: Wesleyans and protestant-holiness types are picking and choosing from the Bible to placate their own traditions.
What do you think?
Monday, December 04, 2006
December newsletter article
December newsletter article
The wonder of it all
Most kids want to grow up. They want their freedom to do whatever it is that they want to do and whenever they want to do it. They can't wait to be able to date and drive and the list goes on and on. It is as if they wish away their lives. Being an adult does bring some things that are very nice to have however, during Christmas time, I have found myself wishing more and more that I was that pre-teen kid all over again.
You see, I can barely remember the feeling I had waking up those Christmas's when I was young. Going to bed the night before and hardly being able to sleep with anticipation. The weeks leading up to that brought tree decorating and light hangings. I caught myself remembering even last night the trips that we would take to neighboring towns to see their Christmas lights. As I got older and life happened, those things slowly had less and less excitement and awe to them. Why has that happened? It is because of the responsibilities of growing up? Or is it because we are moving way too fast to even notice those little things that used to make our stomach's tingle in anticipation? As for me, I am going to try and take this Christmas a little bit slower this year because I want that tingle back in my stomach. I want that feeling of snuggling up under a blanket and feeling that everything in the world is content for at least that moment. I want to slow down and remember the wonder of it all. Jesus has come and that is enough to make anyone's Christmas bright!
Christ has come,
Pastor Andy
The wonder of it all
Most kids want to grow up. They want their freedom to do whatever it is that they want to do and whenever they want to do it. They can't wait to be able to date and drive and the list goes on and on. It is as if they wish away their lives. Being an adult does bring some things that are very nice to have however, during Christmas time, I have found myself wishing more and more that I was that pre-teen kid all over again.
You see, I can barely remember the feeling I had waking up those Christmas's when I was young. Going to bed the night before and hardly being able to sleep with anticipation. The weeks leading up to that brought tree decorating and light hangings. I caught myself remembering even last night the trips that we would take to neighboring towns to see their Christmas lights. As I got older and life happened, those things slowly had less and less excitement and awe to them. Why has that happened? It is because of the responsibilities of growing up? Or is it because we are moving way too fast to even notice those little things that used to make our stomach's tingle in anticipation? As for me, I am going to try and take this Christmas a little bit slower this year because I want that tingle back in my stomach. I want that feeling of snuggling up under a blanket and feeling that everything in the world is content for at least that moment. I want to slow down and remember the wonder of it all. Jesus has come and that is enough to make anyone's Christmas bright!
Christ has come,
Pastor Andy
Too much fun part 2
For the third time in about 2 months I have heard from someone who’s child goes to the youth group that they don’t think that their child is getting much from the group and all they do is have fun. What do I have to say about that? UGGGGHHHHH!!! Here are some observations:
1. I don’t think that we have too much fun. However, I do feel that we do more activities that could be construed as just having fun. Such as, an overnighter almost every other month. Most of the youth pastors that I know and have told this to have said that I was crazy but heres the thing: My teens LOVE overnighters! They eat them up. What else? Well we have had game nights the past few months. Simple times just to hang out and “be” together.
2. I think the issue is that parents think that the activities that I would call “extra” are what they perceive to be “everything”. You see, if you were an outsider looking in, you might look at a list of things that the youth group has done the past month and think wow, they are all activity and no substance. Take for instance October…here is a list of what our YG did: We had around 5 game nights, we had an overnighter, and we had a pumpkin carving night. Here is what you don’t see in the headlines: At that overnighter, we had around 10-15 teens praying around the altar…then some of them gave testimonies after they prayed (how many of our church attendees do that?). Before we went to carve pumpkins we talked about how we must be a light to the world around us or they will stay in the dark and not know Jesus. The Wednesday night services where we have fun and eat some food but are growing stronger each week as a group. The Sunday night discussions during the month where the girls talked about self esteem and the guys talked about lust. Those things never make the headlines of what the students tell their parents. Never!
3. Maybe I do have too many activities. Maybe we do have too much fun. Maybe our activities are too fun. Maybe I need to make them boring and then the number of kids would cut in half. Maybe, just maybe, because I have the time and freedom to do so many EXTRA things with the kids the relationships that we are building will help them in their walk with Christ. Even if it doesn’t…does our world need less fun? Are there too many things at church that make you laugh and WANT to come back? Are there things that are making your WANT to wake up on Sunday morning to go to “REAL” church? I didn’t think so…and I won’t stop doing what I am doing. Most of what these people are calling fun is simply what I choose to do in my free time with the teens. I don’t have to plan all these activities. I want to and if that makes me wrong and a fun only kind of I guy, I don’t ever want to be right!
1. I don’t think that we have too much fun. However, I do feel that we do more activities that could be construed as just having fun. Such as, an overnighter almost every other month. Most of the youth pastors that I know and have told this to have said that I was crazy but heres the thing: My teens LOVE overnighters! They eat them up. What else? Well we have had game nights the past few months. Simple times just to hang out and “be” together.
2. I think the issue is that parents think that the activities that I would call “extra” are what they perceive to be “everything”. You see, if you were an outsider looking in, you might look at a list of things that the youth group has done the past month and think wow, they are all activity and no substance. Take for instance October…here is a list of what our YG did: We had around 5 game nights, we had an overnighter, and we had a pumpkin carving night. Here is what you don’t see in the headlines: At that overnighter, we had around 10-15 teens praying around the altar…then some of them gave testimonies after they prayed (how many of our church attendees do that?). Before we went to carve pumpkins we talked about how we must be a light to the world around us or they will stay in the dark and not know Jesus. The Wednesday night services where we have fun and eat some food but are growing stronger each week as a group. The Sunday night discussions during the month where the girls talked about self esteem and the guys talked about lust. Those things never make the headlines of what the students tell their parents. Never!
3. Maybe I do have too many activities. Maybe we do have too much fun. Maybe our activities are too fun. Maybe I need to make them boring and then the number of kids would cut in half. Maybe, just maybe, because I have the time and freedom to do so many EXTRA things with the kids the relationships that we are building will help them in their walk with Christ. Even if it doesn’t…does our world need less fun? Are there too many things at church that make you laugh and WANT to come back? Are there things that are making your WANT to wake up on Sunday morning to go to “REAL” church? I didn’t think so…and I won’t stop doing what I am doing. Most of what these people are calling fun is simply what I choose to do in my free time with the teens. I don’t have to plan all these activities. I want to and if that makes me wrong and a fun only kind of I guy, I don’t ever want to be right!
Saturday, December 02, 2006
A better time of year?
Is there a better time of year than right now? I don't think so...
We just got done with Thanksgiving...I think we still have some turkey!!!
A cold front has ended the ridiculously warm final week of November...I love it.
Monday starts the annual Christmas things...I think I have at least 7 different Christmas celebrations this year!
Indiana basketball is in full swing and they are doing pretty well.
We put up our tree last weekend and we found out that Lex likes to eat icicles...Sarah tells me that they could strangle his intestines or something...
I love Christmas lights...they make me feel warm and fuzzy..unless they are those crazy greenish blue and those for some wierd reason make me physically ill.
It is hot chocolate season again
So here's to another post-thanksgiving pre-christmas happy wish for you...
We just got done with Thanksgiving...I think we still have some turkey!!!
A cold front has ended the ridiculously warm final week of November...I love it.
Monday starts the annual Christmas things...I think I have at least 7 different Christmas celebrations this year!
Indiana basketball is in full swing and they are doing pretty well.
We put up our tree last weekend and we found out that Lex likes to eat icicles...Sarah tells me that they could strangle his intestines or something...
I love Christmas lights...they make me feel warm and fuzzy..unless they are those crazy greenish blue and those for some wierd reason make me physically ill.
It is hot chocolate season again
So here's to another post-thanksgiving pre-christmas happy wish for you...
Monday, November 20, 2006
2006
This year has just flown by. I cannot believe that this Friday is Thanksgiving! It is incredible how fast time goes as you move on in life. Growing up....specifically in school...time seemed to crawl like a snail. Now, there is never enough time. Or is it that there is still enough time but we have found ways to fill up the "down time" of the past?
I know that I am busy most every day with something...either personal, church related or the everyday interruptions of life. So...just in case life becomes too busy between now and Thursday...here's my Top 10 list of things that I am most thankful for:
10. My church. I was telling Sarah the other day that Shiloh just feels like home. It feels that I have not missed a beat being at Shiloh. Sure, every church has it's problems...but the people at Shiloh are incredible!
9. My youth group. Around my junior year at IWU, I felt like God was leading me into youth ministry. I didn't take a ton of classes on ym but I knew that was were God wanted me. It wasn't a "stepping stone" to get to, what most people consider a real pastor job, it was and is my place in ministry. The youth group here has challenged me and changed me nearly as much as I have done for them. What an ecclectic group of kids! I will never forget them as long as I live.
8. The youth sponsors. When I came here I didnt know what to expect. I was quickly surprised to find that there were people in place that made my life a lot easier. Janet with her skill in graphic design is any youth pastor's dream and Dave, with his ability to relate to pretty much any teen are both gifts from God. Dave has been the person that I go to when I need to blow off some steam. I couldn't do this without their help.
7. Indiana basketball. Everyone needs an out. Something that just gets you away from everything and something that you really enjoy. For me, this is it. I love it and it loves me! I love sports in general and am thankful that God gave someone somewhere the knowledge to invent such sports.
6. The future. I am thankful that I know what my future holds. I know that if Christ doesn't return in the next few years that I will be a father. I know that if he does, I will be in Heaven. So I am very thankful about both futures...either way it is a win win situation!
5. My health. I know...I know...if you ask Sarah she will tell you that I am not that healthy. I weigh too much and ...either way...I am thankful that God has given me health up to this point and I have faith in him that he will continue to watch over me and help me to make better choices in the future.
4. My mom. We hold a special bond because of what we have been through together. We have been the ringer and back through a couple times! I wouldn't trade our relationship for anything and what we went through defines us and is still defining who we are today. I love you mom.
3. My family all of them...the Christian side...the Jellison side...the Ellenberger side and the Thrasher side. I have been absolutely blessed to have an amazing group of family members that have stood by me through every thing and continue to do so.
2.My faith. Being a christian at times is smooth...at times it is hard and at times it is even harder. Still, I am so thankful that God sent Jesus to die on the cross so that there would be no condemnation for the mistakes I've made!
1. My wife. She will never know just how much she means to me. She makes me laugh, snarl and above all...content in the fact that I married the most amazing woman on planet earth!
I know that I am busy most every day with something...either personal, church related or the everyday interruptions of life. So...just in case life becomes too busy between now and Thursday...here's my Top 10 list of things that I am most thankful for:
10. My church. I was telling Sarah the other day that Shiloh just feels like home. It feels that I have not missed a beat being at Shiloh. Sure, every church has it's problems...but the people at Shiloh are incredible!
9. My youth group. Around my junior year at IWU, I felt like God was leading me into youth ministry. I didn't take a ton of classes on ym but I knew that was were God wanted me. It wasn't a "stepping stone" to get to, what most people consider a real pastor job, it was and is my place in ministry. The youth group here has challenged me and changed me nearly as much as I have done for them. What an ecclectic group of kids! I will never forget them as long as I live.
8. The youth sponsors. When I came here I didnt know what to expect. I was quickly surprised to find that there were people in place that made my life a lot easier. Janet with her skill in graphic design is any youth pastor's dream and Dave, with his ability to relate to pretty much any teen are both gifts from God. Dave has been the person that I go to when I need to blow off some steam. I couldn't do this without their help.
7. Indiana basketball. Everyone needs an out. Something that just gets you away from everything and something that you really enjoy. For me, this is it. I love it and it loves me! I love sports in general and am thankful that God gave someone somewhere the knowledge to invent such sports.
6. The future. I am thankful that I know what my future holds. I know that if Christ doesn't return in the next few years that I will be a father. I know that if he does, I will be in Heaven. So I am very thankful about both futures...either way it is a win win situation!
5. My health. I know...I know...if you ask Sarah she will tell you that I am not that healthy. I weigh too much and ...either way...I am thankful that God has given me health up to this point and I have faith in him that he will continue to watch over me and help me to make better choices in the future.
4. My mom. We hold a special bond because of what we have been through together. We have been the ringer and back through a couple times! I wouldn't trade our relationship for anything and what we went through defines us and is still defining who we are today. I love you mom.
3. My family all of them...the Christian side...the Jellison side...the Ellenberger side and the Thrasher side. I have been absolutely blessed to have an amazing group of family members that have stood by me through every thing and continue to do so.
2.My faith. Being a christian at times is smooth...at times it is hard and at times it is even harder. Still, I am so thankful that God sent Jesus to die on the cross so that there would be no condemnation for the mistakes I've made!
1. My wife. She will never know just how much she means to me. She makes me laugh, snarl and above all...content in the fact that I married the most amazing woman on planet earth!
Monday, November 13, 2006
It's all about Jesus
This morning on my way to work, after having been on vacation from all things ministry for four days, I felt that slight twinge of dryness and spiritual emptiness that has dogged me for the past few months. I was hoping that getting away and taking some time off would refresh me and the waters of christendom would once again wash over me and saturate me for the upcoming busy-crazy-insane holiday season. When that didn't happen with the hot tub and cozy rooms and good food and time with my wife, I sat there in my truck on the same drive that I take every morning, dejected. Then, I started singing this song out of the blue. It was as if God had sent an angel into my truck and it had opened my mouth and shoved the words in and they were now coming out without me even knowing it. I was thinking before I left for the trip that maybe I wasn't cut out for ministry and the drain it takes on you spiritually. Maybe I wasn't strong enough as a Christian myself because I was having such a dry season and couldn't for the life of me feel refreshed and good. This morning, that refreshing came quick and swift and just in time. I let church get in the way of my relationship with Jesus. I let order of worships, criticism, pastoral prayers, messages, themes, meetings, driving the vans, essentially everything come before the real reason I live...Jesus! We can do nothing if he is not in it. I can plan the biggest event, get the most students here and have the biggest bands around but if Jesus isn't in it, it is all as Paul called it, poo!
I hope this means something to someone else. If you are dry and thirsty, don't look for something to refresh you...look for someONE...JESUS!
Heart of Worship by Matt Redman
When the music fades, All is stripped away, And I simply come; Longing just to bring something that´s of worth That will bless Your heart. I´ll bring You more than a song, For a song in itself Is not what You have required. You search much deeper within Through the way things appear; You´re looking into my heart.I´m coming back to the heart of worship, And it´s all about You, All about You, Jesus. I´m sorry, Lord, for the thing I´ve made it, When its all about You, All about You, Jesus.(Matt Redman, Kingsway´s Thankyou Music)
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Ten things I have learned during my almost one year of marriage...
This Sunday will mark the one year anniversary of my marriage to the beautiful Sarah. It has been a year marked with joy, newness, happiness on one side and sorrow, emptiness and sadness on the other. I suppose most years will be like that huh? So here is my Top Ten list for my first year of marriage and the things that happened:
10. It is amazing to have someone with you, beside you and behind you in everything that you do. Going through the divorce of two of our good friends with Sarah really solidified just how important it was to simply be there for each other. This situation marks most of the bad things that have happened over this past year.
9. Sarah loves details and stories. She could tell you the shirt someone had on and if it was wrinkled. She loves giving out too much info and loves to do it often! It makes me laugh when we are somewhere and she starts going on and on about little things that this person has no earthly need of knowing! It's all in the little stuff!
8. Marriage is give and take. There were expectations coming into the marriage that have been missed and some that have been exceeded. Part of marriage is just learning that you do have expectations and when they are met it isn't always the other persons fault.
7. Sarah is a fierce animal (wolverine, badger, etc) when someone messes with me. It even scares me a little. She so "has my back" that after I talk with her about something that someone has done I usually have to calm her down! Arrrgggghhh!
6. Men and women are more different than what I had already known. I will just never understand things like the Oxygen network, Hallmark movies, Lifetime network or why women are so fixated on what other people are doing! Almost every time we go through a checkout line, I am putting the food on the belt while my wife is reading about this celeb and what they did and whose gown they wore! This leaves me scratching my head...
5. True love is about how you feel, it is about how you make the other person feel. I have felt no greater love for Sarah than after I had done something that just made her day. I absolutely love making her smile and seeing her happy. That is true love.
4. I couldn't have married any other woman in the world. Without a doubt, I know that God put us together and let me tell ya...he knew what he was doing! Sarah is amazing, beautiful, compassionate, caring, understanding, hardworking, and did I mention beautiful?!
3. I wouldn't be half the Youth Pastor I am today without Sarah. She has done so much in this respect that I can't choose just a few things to talk about. The conversations about how I felt and my insecurities and how she has built me up truly is a God thing.
2. Married life is busy. Having what,...5-6 different families to try and get to their events and spend time with them is a havoc especially around hte holidays. On top of that, ministry is a constant thing. Sarah has so graciously adapted to this over this year and we are still trying to put this in balance as we look ahead over the next few years and the possibility of children. Not soon, but over the next few years, and stop asking! :)
The number one thing I've learned over my first year of marriage...
1. Communication is the key to any relationship. Included in this is: tone of voice, saying things a certain way, not saying things, and the ability to state a problem you have without starting an argument. Communication is something that every couple needs to work on. I think that for the most part we do a good job of communicating with each other and it has gotten better over the last 4-6 months.
I love my wife. My wife loves me. Here's to 50 more years of love and marriage!
10. It is amazing to have someone with you, beside you and behind you in everything that you do. Going through the divorce of two of our good friends with Sarah really solidified just how important it was to simply be there for each other. This situation marks most of the bad things that have happened over this past year.
9. Sarah loves details and stories. She could tell you the shirt someone had on and if it was wrinkled. She loves giving out too much info and loves to do it often! It makes me laugh when we are somewhere and she starts going on and on about little things that this person has no earthly need of knowing! It's all in the little stuff!
8. Marriage is give and take. There were expectations coming into the marriage that have been missed and some that have been exceeded. Part of marriage is just learning that you do have expectations and when they are met it isn't always the other persons fault.
7. Sarah is a fierce animal (wolverine, badger, etc) when someone messes with me. It even scares me a little. She so "has my back" that after I talk with her about something that someone has done I usually have to calm her down! Arrrgggghhh!
6. Men and women are more different than what I had already known. I will just never understand things like the Oxygen network, Hallmark movies, Lifetime network or why women are so fixated on what other people are doing! Almost every time we go through a checkout line, I am putting the food on the belt while my wife is reading about this celeb and what they did and whose gown they wore! This leaves me scratching my head...
5. True love is about how you feel, it is about how you make the other person feel. I have felt no greater love for Sarah than after I had done something that just made her day. I absolutely love making her smile and seeing her happy. That is true love.
4. I couldn't have married any other woman in the world. Without a doubt, I know that God put us together and let me tell ya...he knew what he was doing! Sarah is amazing, beautiful, compassionate, caring, understanding, hardworking, and did I mention beautiful?!
3. I wouldn't be half the Youth Pastor I am today without Sarah. She has done so much in this respect that I can't choose just a few things to talk about. The conversations about how I felt and my insecurities and how she has built me up truly is a God thing.
2. Married life is busy. Having what,...5-6 different families to try and get to their events and spend time with them is a havoc especially around hte holidays. On top of that, ministry is a constant thing. Sarah has so graciously adapted to this over this year and we are still trying to put this in balance as we look ahead over the next few years and the possibility of children. Not soon, but over the next few years, and stop asking! :)
The number one thing I've learned over my first year of marriage...
1. Communication is the key to any relationship. Included in this is: tone of voice, saying things a certain way, not saying things, and the ability to state a problem you have without starting an argument. Communication is something that every couple needs to work on. I think that for the most part we do a good job of communicating with each other and it has gotten better over the last 4-6 months.
I love my wife. My wife loves me. Here's to 50 more years of love and marriage!
Monday, November 06, 2006
Criticism
Off the top, just let me say...I don't do well with criticism. If you have been around me for very long, you know this. I hate being wrong. Being a pastor, the line between right and wrong is sometimes shaded. I don't mean that I don't know the difference between the two...I mean that people, sometimes other than myself and sometimes myself, view right and wrong differently. The expectations of a pastor at my church are different from those at a larger church say of 200 or even 500. I am expected to different things. People think that they know things and sometimes have no clue as to what is going on. Still, they like to be right and so that is the way it is. For instance, worship. I heard a person say that the new songs that we are singing are, and I quote, "Bringing devil music into the church"! Another person I overheard recently thought that our youth group doesn't do anything relating to God...we only have fun and they didnt want someone in their family coming to the youth group because they just smoke and have fun out there. See what I mean? People have a different scale of right and wrong when it comes to the church. People have left churches because of the lights, carpets, or how they built the church.
If you have read my recent posts, you would know that I had been critized a little recently and I admittedly don't and haven't done well with it. I have yet to find the place where you don't take it personally. After all, it is something that I put my heart and soul into and then only to have someone bash it into the ground. This past weekend our district had a youth pastor and sponsor event at which the speaker spoke about this very thing. He really gave me the needed release valve for the pressure that I was feeling. I will leave you with the two simple things he told us:
1. Every youth pastor/ sponsor will get criticized, and it will happen often.
2. Jesus was criticized for pretty much everything he did and by whom? The religious leaders of his day. I think that is what hurts the most is that the criticism comes from the people who I am trying to help and their families!
If Jesus had it done to him, that means that he knows what I am going through and that right there makes me feel much better!
SMYG
If you have read my recent posts, you would know that I had been critized a little recently and I admittedly don't and haven't done well with it. I have yet to find the place where you don't take it personally. After all, it is something that I put my heart and soul into and then only to have someone bash it into the ground. This past weekend our district had a youth pastor and sponsor event at which the speaker spoke about this very thing. He really gave me the needed release valve for the pressure that I was feeling. I will leave you with the two simple things he told us:
1. Every youth pastor/ sponsor will get criticized, and it will happen often.
2. Jesus was criticized for pretty much everything he did and by whom? The religious leaders of his day. I think that is what hurts the most is that the criticism comes from the people who I am trying to help and their families!
If Jesus had it done to him, that means that he knows what I am going through and that right there makes me feel much better!
SMYG
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
What matters most to you?
This is the November newsletter article I wrote, I dare you to make a list and try to stick with it! Enjoy:
What matters most?
Expectations are a funny thing. Many times, what we expect of others is not what we expect of ourselves. We want others to always be thoughtful and for everyone to use their turn signals and such. However, I catch myself sometimes forgetting to use the signal as I am turning. Growing up, we never really talked about what was expected or what our priorities where. We simply knew because of what we did. In my life growing up, church was numbers one through four. Our lives revolved around church, everything church and nothing but church. Needless to say, that is not the case now or has it been for some time.
Gone are the expectations of members of the church to be at the church on Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday nights. Most people, I suppose, feel it is okay for them to just go to service once that week. Are people sinning if they aren’t here “every time the doors are open?” No. Does it mean that people’s priorities have shifted from what they used to be? I think so.
What matters most to you? As a Pastor, expectations are high of me. There are things that I am expected to do that I didn’t even know I was supposed to do. We live in a fast paced society and I don’t see that slowing any time soon. We are flooded with events, meetings, sports, 4-H, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, band contests, recitals, rehearsals…do I need to go on? We have more options than a McDonald’s dollar menu. Do we go to church on Sunday night or stay at home and watch the race or the game? Do we go to Sunday school or catch that extra thirty minutes in bed? Do we volunteer to help with the Van Ministry or use that extra hour per week watching another news program? Do we attend church functions or just stay at home because…well, you get the point.
We all can come up with excuses to not do something. Our culture has helped us out with that one. My point is this: What matters MOST to you? My list includes, in no particular order after number one: My relationship with God, my marriage, my ministry, my family, my health, my church, and my relationship with the sponsors among many other things. You have to come up with your own list. What matters most to you? Whatever it is, your relationship with God is the number one thing or should be. How that plays out is really up to you. Make a list and try to live your life intentionally fulfilling your list of what matters most.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What matters most?
Expectations are a funny thing. Many times, what we expect of others is not what we expect of ourselves. We want others to always be thoughtful and for everyone to use their turn signals and such. However, I catch myself sometimes forgetting to use the signal as I am turning. Growing up, we never really talked about what was expected or what our priorities where. We simply knew because of what we did. In my life growing up, church was numbers one through four. Our lives revolved around church, everything church and nothing but church. Needless to say, that is not the case now or has it been for some time.
Gone are the expectations of members of the church to be at the church on Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday nights. Most people, I suppose, feel it is okay for them to just go to service once that week. Are people sinning if they aren’t here “every time the doors are open?” No. Does it mean that people’s priorities have shifted from what they used to be? I think so.
What matters most to you? As a Pastor, expectations are high of me. There are things that I am expected to do that I didn’t even know I was supposed to do. We live in a fast paced society and I don’t see that slowing any time soon. We are flooded with events, meetings, sports, 4-H, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, band contests, recitals, rehearsals…do I need to go on? We have more options than a McDonald’s dollar menu. Do we go to church on Sunday night or stay at home and watch the race or the game? Do we go to Sunday school or catch that extra thirty minutes in bed? Do we volunteer to help with the Van Ministry or use that extra hour per week watching another news program? Do we attend church functions or just stay at home because…well, you get the point.
We all can come up with excuses to not do something. Our culture has helped us out with that one. My point is this: What matters MOST to you? My list includes, in no particular order after number one: My relationship with God, my marriage, my ministry, my family, my health, my church, and my relationship with the sponsors among many other things. You have to come up with your own list. What matters most to you? Whatever it is, your relationship with God is the number one thing or should be. How that plays out is really up to you. Make a list and try to live your life intentionally fulfilling your list of what matters most.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Having fun yet?
Last week, I was confronted about the youth group and the perception that we have too much fun. The person said that we don’t do enough service projects and that our teens need to understand that life is not all about having fun. Point taken. It could stop there if that were the first person to talk about the youth group and the perception that we are just out in the O having fun. I have heard rumblings before, but never heard the words uttered. So what can I say? This…
1. Youth ministry has changed in the last 5 years and morphed over the last 10-20 years into something that someone who isn’t working with teens would understand. There are so many options and things pulling for the attention of these kids that you MUST have a pull. You MUST have something that causes them to make Youth Group a priority. It isn’t like it used to be when the YG was made up of church kids. Half of our kids their parents don’t even come to church! On Sunday nights, that is all the God they know throughout their week. No bible study, no small group, no Sunday school, nothing. You have to have something that gets them here. I pray that God will guide and direct me to find things that will bring these kids in and keep them coming. You have to build relationships with the kids before you can do anything else. That is part of where Youth ministry has gone. Plain and simple.
2. Kids usually only talk about the fun stuff. We did a promo for the youth conference last December and almost all of the kids said they wanted to go because it was fun. Now, think back to when you were a teenager…I’ll wait…ok…now when someone asked you why you wanted to go to an event that didn’t include your parents or sitting with relatives, what would your first answer be? Honestly, these kids are still becoming who they will be for the rest of their lives. Cut them some slack…and me too.
3. I try to make everything I do intentional. I want our kids to go do mission work. I would love it for our teens to go on a missions trip and we are trying to plan one. Still, don’t say that all we do out at the O is fun and that they need to know life isn’t all about having fun. We are trying to instill in these kids character and integrity and trying to help them build a foundation for the rest of their lives. You are right, we do have a lot of fun…that is intentional too. But don’t you think for one minute that that is all we are doing out here. I could go over the number of students who are growing and maturing into what God has called them to.
With all of that said…point taken, we do need to reach out to the community more and I will accept blame for that.
1. Youth ministry has changed in the last 5 years and morphed over the last 10-20 years into something that someone who isn’t working with teens would understand. There are so many options and things pulling for the attention of these kids that you MUST have a pull. You MUST have something that causes them to make Youth Group a priority. It isn’t like it used to be when the YG was made up of church kids. Half of our kids their parents don’t even come to church! On Sunday nights, that is all the God they know throughout their week. No bible study, no small group, no Sunday school, nothing. You have to have something that gets them here. I pray that God will guide and direct me to find things that will bring these kids in and keep them coming. You have to build relationships with the kids before you can do anything else. That is part of where Youth ministry has gone. Plain and simple.
2. Kids usually only talk about the fun stuff. We did a promo for the youth conference last December and almost all of the kids said they wanted to go because it was fun. Now, think back to when you were a teenager…I’ll wait…ok…now when someone asked you why you wanted to go to an event that didn’t include your parents or sitting with relatives, what would your first answer be? Honestly, these kids are still becoming who they will be for the rest of their lives. Cut them some slack…and me too.
3. I try to make everything I do intentional. I want our kids to go do mission work. I would love it for our teens to go on a missions trip and we are trying to plan one. Still, don’t say that all we do out at the O is fun and that they need to know life isn’t all about having fun. We are trying to instill in these kids character and integrity and trying to help them build a foundation for the rest of their lives. You are right, we do have a lot of fun…that is intentional too. But don’t you think for one minute that that is all we are doing out here. I could go over the number of students who are growing and maturing into what God has called them to.
With all of that said…point taken, we do need to reach out to the community more and I will accept blame for that.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Last week...
Last week was a rough week for me. I always get stressed out before overnighters wondering who will show up and if we will have enough of everything etc. This overnighter was on a different scale though. We invited Bryant Wesleyan and Lone Oak Wesleyan Churches to the event. We had a total of around 55 students and around 70 total with sponsors and the band. It was an amazing time of fellowship and worship. God showed up and really met with us that night! It was needed. Because…
Earlier in the week, we lost our van director. Now to put this into perspective for you, we average around 25 kids…around 10-15 come in on the vans. About 50% of our youth group comes on the vans. That was a serious burden because we still don’t know what is going to happen or who is going to be driving from week to week. I feel like that old song, under P-R-E-S-S-U-R-E…
Then at a meeting, out of the blue there were some things that were brought up about the youth group. I won’t go into detail but just enough to let you know that it really caught me off guard. Why you ask? 1. Because our board never says ANYTHING! Yet this night there were several comments made directed at me and different portions of the YG. 2. The way most of them were done. The tone that they were spoken in was cynical at best. 3. All that on top of the van issue, which in reality, puts more stress on myself right now than anyone else was just too much for one day.
Last October was when someone in the church complained to Pastor John about the music that I was leading…so I will be prepared next October for this sort of thing.
So to say the least, last week was a rough one for me. I am ready for God to lead me beside the still waters…I am just not sure when that will happen!
Earlier in the week, we lost our van director. Now to put this into perspective for you, we average around 25 kids…around 10-15 come in on the vans. About 50% of our youth group comes on the vans. That was a serious burden because we still don’t know what is going to happen or who is going to be driving from week to week. I feel like that old song, under P-R-E-S-S-U-R-E…
Then at a meeting, out of the blue there were some things that were brought up about the youth group. I won’t go into detail but just enough to let you know that it really caught me off guard. Why you ask? 1. Because our board never says ANYTHING! Yet this night there were several comments made directed at me and different portions of the YG. 2. The way most of them were done. The tone that they were spoken in was cynical at best. 3. All that on top of the van issue, which in reality, puts more stress on myself right now than anyone else was just too much for one day.
Last October was when someone in the church complained to Pastor John about the music that I was leading…so I will be prepared next October for this sort of thing.
So to say the least, last week was a rough one for me. I am ready for God to lead me beside the still waters…I am just not sure when that will happen!
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Long Week
Hey...just wanted to update everyone...
Things are going well. There have been some struggles with church and different things over the past few days so if you would keep me in your prayers.
We are having an overnighter tomorrow night...with what looks like to be around 50-55 kids from our youth group, and a couple other groups...should be a great night.
We have rejoined Ace Fitness last week. I have been working out the last three days and feel pretty sore. It is worth it though...
Other than that, just keep Sarah and myself in your prayers...and our church and our youth group and the van ministry...as you might be able to tell, there is a lot on my heart and swirling around in my head.
SMYG.
Things are going well. There have been some struggles with church and different things over the past few days so if you would keep me in your prayers.
We are having an overnighter tomorrow night...with what looks like to be around 50-55 kids from our youth group, and a couple other groups...should be a great night.
We have rejoined Ace Fitness last week. I have been working out the last three days and feel pretty sore. It is worth it though...
Other than that, just keep Sarah and myself in your prayers...and our church and our youth group and the van ministry...as you might be able to tell, there is a lot on my heart and swirling around in my head.
SMYG.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Holiness and Salvation ( long)
Recently, a friend called me and we started talking about a meeting they were in. They were asked if they had any issues with the church and were asked to be completely honest (unlike most people who go through this process?). The issue is one that I find myself wondering about as well.
The opening statement of the Wesleyan Church's discipline states:
The opening statement of the Wesleyan Church's discipline states:
"The Wesleyan Church has grown out of a revival movement which has
historically given itself to one mission- the spreading of scriptural
holiness througout every land. The message which ignited the
Wesleyan revival was the announcement that God through Christ can
forgive men and women of their sins, transform them, free them from
inbred sin, enable them to live a holy life, and bear witness to their hearts that they are indeed children of God. "I agree with everything that is stated above. I 100% believe that we are called to holiness through the transforming power of Jesus Christ. I believe that you be freed from inbred (the sin nature) sin and that God enables us to live a holy life. I support that wholeheartedly, that is the reason I became a Wesleyan.
However, after having gone through the ordination process and hearing this story from a friend, I can't help but wonder, Are we as Wesleyans putting the cart before the horse? Are we calling people to live holy lives that haven't even experienced the first work of grace- SALVATION?! I will grant that most of the people that attend our churches have had some sort of salvation experience. However, it seems to me that our mission as a church has shifted so dramatically inward that we are more concerned about getting people sanctified rather than saved! You don't hear many holiness messages, I have never preached one, still...our discipline says that it is our one mission, " the spreading of spiritual holiness". Shouldn't our one mission be to share the GOSPEL!?
This friend was told that they needed to find a mentor and essentially needed to get things straightened out in their head before they came back for their exit interview for ordination. So I wonder, do you think that I am just blowing smoke or is there something behind all of this that we can learn from?
I will finish with this: For the assignment that I had to do for my ordination, I had to: list 20 books that I had on holiness, write a reflection paper on holiness, write a sermon based around a passage on holiness and what did they talk most about when I was there? Holiness.
I love the Wesleyan church. The leaders truly are men and women of God. However, I fear for the church when we start focusing on Church Growth and give awards to pastors who had an increase in attendance and persons sanctified among other stats. We are so concerned about growing our churches from the inside out that we are forgetting those on the outside looking in. Holiness unto the LORD...we must live holy...but as Jesus said in his final commission: "Go and make disciples"...he didn't tell them to sit around and become more holy and live more holy lives. He told them to go and make others aware of what he has done...still, salvation comes first. Then, as we mature, holiness falls into place as it should. What gets us eternal life? Is it holiness? Or is it salvation?
Monday, October 02, 2006
Poke yourself
As I am preparing for my sermon this sunday...something keeps nagging at me...something that is there every sunday...some say that worship shouldnt determine who comes to church or whatever the case. Still, let's get real...it does! I grew up with the hymns and choruses from that little yellow chorus book and the ones that had been passed down and there weren't even words any where...I have been there and sang those songs. While that was good enough for me growing up, as an adult now it simply is not good enough. The problem is two part:
1.) The music we have today is all about us...take yesterday for instance, we sang "When we all get to heaven", "it will be worth it all", and the special was 'I can only imagine'. What do all these have in common? They are all about me me me...I I I. I have a hunger to sing to God not about me and my thoughts but about him and about him... It is a cycle I know, we go through different times in music...still, I think it is time for this cycle to be over with because of what this is doing to me and I fear to the whole of my church and denomination...that leads us to number two
2.) We have become numb. We cant feel anymore without feeling out of place. Sure, people cry and the like. Question though: When was the last time someone really shouted in church? Not the courtesy amen or hallelujah...but really shouted because they couldn't hold it back? I realize I sound like an old fogie to those of you who have never experienced this and that in college prof's told me that it was a thing of the past. Even I have dumbed myself down on this. After going to different conferences and meetings where the worship led us and it felt we were being emotionally stimulated and it wasn't really the Spirit...I told myself that I wasn't going to get into it because it would just fizzle out like pop rocks. Now that I have become a pastor, I long for those emotional highs. Between the planning and running service after service, I long for God to break on the scene and mess things up real good! I want to feel God...not feel warm or grateful for that song or sermon that I just heard. I want to feel like I am drowning in something that is so much more than I can handle. I long for someone to "get blessed". I miss crying in service not because I was hurting or needed something but because God was on the scene.
I know I am an old soul. People my age weren't exposed much to this kind of thing. After the boomers are gone, no one will know what I am talking about except reading it from books. The move in my church is all about holiness and church planting. I think those things are great...but I want to see God break in and refresh us as a community, restore those who have fallen as a community...we have made everything about personal faith and doing things your own way that we have neglected the communal gathering where God met with his people for thousands of years. Now, I wonder if he still does even show up for some of the services we have. Are they just a tradition that we do or are they times where we are coming to experience God and his Spirit? I think we are leaning to the first one.
SMYG.
1.) The music we have today is all about us...take yesterday for instance, we sang "When we all get to heaven", "it will be worth it all", and the special was 'I can only imagine'. What do all these have in common? They are all about me me me...I I I. I have a hunger to sing to God not about me and my thoughts but about him and about him... It is a cycle I know, we go through different times in music...still, I think it is time for this cycle to be over with because of what this is doing to me and I fear to the whole of my church and denomination...that leads us to number two
2.) We have become numb. We cant feel anymore without feeling out of place. Sure, people cry and the like. Question though: When was the last time someone really shouted in church? Not the courtesy amen or hallelujah...but really shouted because they couldn't hold it back? I realize I sound like an old fogie to those of you who have never experienced this and that in college prof's told me that it was a thing of the past. Even I have dumbed myself down on this. After going to different conferences and meetings where the worship led us and it felt we were being emotionally stimulated and it wasn't really the Spirit...I told myself that I wasn't going to get into it because it would just fizzle out like pop rocks. Now that I have become a pastor, I long for those emotional highs. Between the planning and running service after service, I long for God to break on the scene and mess things up real good! I want to feel God...not feel warm or grateful for that song or sermon that I just heard. I want to feel like I am drowning in something that is so much more than I can handle. I long for someone to "get blessed". I miss crying in service not because I was hurting or needed something but because God was on the scene.
I know I am an old soul. People my age weren't exposed much to this kind of thing. After the boomers are gone, no one will know what I am talking about except reading it from books. The move in my church is all about holiness and church planting. I think those things are great...but I want to see God break in and refresh us as a community, restore those who have fallen as a community...we have made everything about personal faith and doing things your own way that we have neglected the communal gathering where God met with his people for thousands of years. Now, I wonder if he still does even show up for some of the services we have. Are they just a tradition that we do or are they times where we are coming to experience God and his Spirit? I think we are leaning to the first one.
SMYG.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Life is short
Yesterday, I was working on thing in my office and the computer starting going through old pictures of the youth group. I started looking at the kids and it hit me, in a few years, all of the kids that are in the group now will be gone. I know that that is just the way it goes but I have really lost a ton of students yet from one class that graduated. However, this years juniors will be gone after next year. There are like 5-6 people we are going to lose and it really just hit me. I wish things could always stay the same...same people...same job...same lifestyle...but things always change. For instance, our friendship with some friends up here. When they went through their divorce and all we really didn't know what to do. We were heart broken. So, we really didn't have contact with either of them for about 5-6 months. No calls, hardly anything. Then, last Sunday he came the the Kick-off...then we went to his house on Friday...then today Sarah and Gwen are going to Shipshewana...out of the blue...I just text message her like I felt God was telling me to do months ago and bam! No contact for 6 months and now they are off.
Life is too short to really judge people. God really opened my eyes when I was studying this past week. He showed me that I don't know what the person who has slipped had gone through. I didn't know how much they were tempted...how hard they had tried to stay the course...and ultimately what I would have done had I been in that situation. Stop living a life of worry and judging others. Stop worrying about what this person is doing or what that person is doing. It is really not worth it in the end. Life is short...we are like grass and vapors and clouds...we are always on the move. Just don't get so caught up on one little thing that you forget to live the rest of your life.
SMYG
Monday, September 25, 2006
Some pics of the past few weeks...
Hey,
It has been a hectic few weeks. With Labor day through Street Fair...time flew but it was awesome...enjoy.
The pic is of Zach White...he was the other end of the mohawk deal...poor kid...huh?! NOT!!!
This is Sarah right after she faced planted into the ground.
That is Terry and Me...I don't have a suit on...and I won :)
Friday, September 22, 2006
The most troubling thing about my church is...
I am becoming more and more bothered by this one thing in my church. At first, I didn't see a lot of it. Growing up, there was hardly any of it because there was no need for it. However, over the past few months, I am having a full blown, outraged, teeth clinched pit in the stomach battle with...GOSSIP!
I can't tell you how many things that I have "heard" are circulating in our church of around 125 people. There are talks about this person doing that, that maybe this person is a little fruity or that maybe this person should be doing this and they are wrong...wrong...wrong. It is a bunch of dung. I am really tired of it. I just want to jump all over that person and tell them a thing or two. Jesus told the Jewish leaders that if they didnt have any sin that they should throw the first stone! Still, we think that we are so high and mighty, or maybe we are just too full of ourselves to subject our lives to that kind of rule. Everything is relative so that means that I can say whatever I want because it really isn't gossiping it is just letting someone else know so that they can pray for that person! Bullhocky...liars!
We have people in our church that think some other people the church might be different than they are because they do this or that...we have people in our church who are doing this activity or that and you hear "someone should really talk with them about that". They never do, they only talk amongst themselves.
All that to say this, I am really tired of it. I hate when people but their biases into words and start speading them around like spoiled bile from a ruptured organ! So don't let gossip into your lives...it only leaves you with a nasty taste in your mouth!
SMYG.
I can't tell you how many things that I have "heard" are circulating in our church of around 125 people. There are talks about this person doing that, that maybe this person is a little fruity or that maybe this person should be doing this and they are wrong...wrong...wrong. It is a bunch of dung. I am really tired of it. I just want to jump all over that person and tell them a thing or two. Jesus told the Jewish leaders that if they didnt have any sin that they should throw the first stone! Still, we think that we are so high and mighty, or maybe we are just too full of ourselves to subject our lives to that kind of rule. Everything is relative so that means that I can say whatever I want because it really isn't gossiping it is just letting someone else know so that they can pray for that person! Bullhocky...liars!
We have people in our church that think some other people the church might be different than they are because they do this or that...we have people in our church who are doing this activity or that and you hear "someone should really talk with them about that". They never do, they only talk amongst themselves.
All that to say this, I am really tired of it. I hate when people but their biases into words and start speading them around like spoiled bile from a ruptured organ! So don't let gossip into your lives...it only leaves you with a nasty taste in your mouth!
SMYG.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Kick-off
Sorry for no posts...the internet was down and it was too busy before that to post anything.
The kick-off went really well. We didnt get 50 kids but our kids were there. The ones that are there every week...most without fail. It is amazing to have such a committed bunch.
Thanks to Terry and Matt for coming up and doing the worship.
We rented sumo suits and they were fun. I faced Terry, I didn't have a suit on, and I won.
Sarah was the only one that got hurt in them. She went after a girl and the girl moved and Sarah went crashing to the ground. She hurt her lip and chin...her neck was hurting but she still has all of her teeth.
I made the kids eat cloves of garlic and one of them threw up. I didn't know that raw garlic is really hot!
Seth and Missy were there...it was really good seeing him. She seemed really nice and something that Seth deserves.
So...praise God for the things he has done and thank Him for what is ahead!
No mohawk...
SMYG.
The kick-off went really well. We didnt get 50 kids but our kids were there. The ones that are there every week...most without fail. It is amazing to have such a committed bunch.
Thanks to Terry and Matt for coming up and doing the worship.
We rented sumo suits and they were fun. I faced Terry, I didn't have a suit on, and I won.
Sarah was the only one that got hurt in them. She went after a girl and the girl moved and Sarah went crashing to the ground. She hurt her lip and chin...her neck was hurting but she still has all of her teeth.
I made the kids eat cloves of garlic and one of them threw up. I didn't know that raw garlic is really hot!
Seth and Missy were there...it was really good seeing him. She seemed really nice and something that Seth deserves.
So...praise God for the things he has done and thank Him for what is ahead!
No mohawk...
SMYG.
Friday, September 08, 2006
A note from a dummy...
Hey...so how did your day start? Good I hope. Nothing too bad or no one in your family sick and ill or anything like that. Those things really are things that make a day bad. I am being petty today. I have had a bad day simply because one thing went wrong. I failed to let it roll off my back. What happened you asked...well
When you are driving down a road and see really brightly, fresh looking yellow paint in the middle of the road indicating where you should be in the road...never...I repeat...never drive your vehicle over it.
Yes, I am the idoit who drove my truck over the line and got BRIGHT YELLOW PAINT on my truck. Thankfully, after some scrubing and a good high power washing it is back to its old self.
So whats the moral of the story? I don't know, just don't drive over fresh paint.
SMYG
When you are driving down a road and see really brightly, fresh looking yellow paint in the middle of the road indicating where you should be in the road...never...I repeat...never drive your vehicle over it.
Yes, I am the idoit who drove my truck over the line and got BRIGHT YELLOW PAINT on my truck. Thankfully, after some scrubing and a good high power washing it is back to its old self.
So whats the moral of the story? I don't know, just don't drive over fresh paint.
SMYG
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Hurray!!!
It is that time of year again. Fall is around the corner. Blueberry Festival is here. Football is getting ready to start and basketball will soon follow. I am more excited this year than I have been in years past. I don't know why. I feel almost giddy because I know that Thanksgiving is coming up and Christmas and so many things between now and then that I am really looking forward to. I really hope that our youth group gets 50 people so that they can shave my head...I think it would be cool. I can feel the cool air coming. I love wearing fleeces and I love not sweating all the time! Boy oh boy....I can't wait for Fall! Bring on the cold...
This is what I could look like come September!
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Marriage life...
I love being married. There is just something about knowing you are going to have someone backing you up and someone to tell you they love you everyday that is such a God thing. Sarah and I have increasingly become aware of the fact that we are a lot alike. We are both stubborn. Most young couples have fights and I have heard that the first year is the hardest yada yada yada...I have been pleasantly surprised at just how little we really have "actual" fights. The number one thing we argue over? It is what we are going to have for dinner. Food. At least it isn't over something petty! :)
Still, there are some things that still bug me. So I am going to list them here:
1. I get that "you did it again" look every time I see Sarah after we have woke up because I unswervingly will steal the covers...no matter what! I don't do this maliciously. I am just a wild sleeper.
2. I HATE Lifetime/Hallmark/ Oxygen / any other stupid after school special movie that Sarah is so drawn to every flippin' time she has the remote! I am not kidding. I go to get a drink of water...bam...she is watching a movie about some woman who is in some plight that is just emotional enough to hook my wife in. Annoying to say the least.
3. I have yet to realize that whenever I say something to my wife, I always have a tone. Now, if I have a good tone or semi-good tone I am good. But, if she asks me something and I have the wrong tone for a second...we are going to be talking about whatever it was she asked me for the next 10 minutes. Somebody should have mentioned this one to me.
4. Finally, my competitive nature. I hate to lose. Simply, losing is not an option. This is something that I have been aware for some time now. I try to win at everything. BUT, if there were a time when I would say, lose something on purpose and she found out that I let her win? Watch out!
Now that I've said all of that let me say this:
1. I don't like making my wife cold. It does me no good, because what does she do to warm up? Yep, put her now freezing toes on my warm leg.
2. I bet she hate sports just as equally as I hate those awful movies.
3. Every word we say has some tone to it. So I guess I am learning that words just are not words, it is how you say them.
4. I don't like making my wife lose. So this one is still up in the air. I hate losing, I don't want her to lose...dilemma of dilemmas.
SMYG.
Still, there are some things that still bug me. So I am going to list them here:
1. I get that "you did it again" look every time I see Sarah after we have woke up because I unswervingly will steal the covers...no matter what! I don't do this maliciously. I am just a wild sleeper.
2. I HATE Lifetime/Hallmark/ Oxygen / any other stupid after school special movie that Sarah is so drawn to every flippin' time she has the remote! I am not kidding. I go to get a drink of water...bam...she is watching a movie about some woman who is in some plight that is just emotional enough to hook my wife in. Annoying to say the least.
3. I have yet to realize that whenever I say something to my wife, I always have a tone. Now, if I have a good tone or semi-good tone I am good. But, if she asks me something and I have the wrong tone for a second...we are going to be talking about whatever it was she asked me for the next 10 minutes. Somebody should have mentioned this one to me.
4. Finally, my competitive nature. I hate to lose. Simply, losing is not an option. This is something that I have been aware for some time now. I try to win at everything. BUT, if there were a time when I would say, lose something on purpose and she found out that I let her win? Watch out!
Now that I've said all of that let me say this:
1. I don't like making my wife cold. It does me no good, because what does she do to warm up? Yep, put her now freezing toes on my warm leg.
2. I bet she hate sports just as equally as I hate those awful movies.
3. Every word we say has some tone to it. So I guess I am learning that words just are not words, it is how you say them.
4. I don't like making my wife lose. So this one is still up in the air. I hate losing, I don't want her to lose...dilemma of dilemmas.
SMYG.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Missing the point...
I was reading the book, "Adventures in missing the point" and I came across the chapter on culture. It was an interesting chapter for a young man now, that grew up being isolated from much of the culture (save my uncle taping the Price is Right and Wheel of Fortune). I was not exposed at all to much of anything that wasn't "Christian". I was born in 1981 and other than the occasional country music that my mom (I think secretly) would listen to, the first music that I really heard was Bryan Adams and Bon Jovi (thanks Kerry). We were allowed to watch some sports...not all that much and some cartoons, on Saturday mornings. I played Little League baseball, went to the Boys Club some days, but other than that...I didn't come into contact with anyone or anything that wasn't "Christian". I fear that, as the author puts it in the book, that has made me too much of an isolationist. I understand what my parents were trying to do, protect me and keep me from "worldly" things. I can still remember my grandma giving a lesson on the flannel graph with all these things you shouldn't do, like go to the bowling alley or to the movie theatre. "Sinful", she would say. The devil is just trying to lead you down a path you don't want to go to. I can almost hear her say this one line that, unbelievably I have said since becoming a pastor..."Sin will take you farther than you'll ever want to go". While that is true...I feel that I have become close-minded on some things and that is one thing I swore I would never do.
Christians should be in the world. Does that mean that they shouldn't stay away from places that might cause them to slip? Of course not. But as the author puts it, Christians can go to these places and still be on a mission. A Christian is to go into the world and show God's love to those who don't know Him. How are we to do that if we are being bigots standing outside those
places with tracts and judgemental glances and all? Is that true love? I don't think so. Am I saying that we should go wherever or see anything we want to? Heavens NO! As the other author of the book states,
SMYG.
Christians should be in the world. Does that mean that they shouldn't stay away from places that might cause them to slip? Of course not. But as the author puts it, Christians can go to these places and still be on a mission. A Christian is to go into the world and show God's love to those who don't know Him. How are we to do that if we are being bigots standing outside those
places with tracts and judgemental glances and all? Is that true love? I don't think so. Am I saying that we should go wherever or see anything we want to? Heavens NO! As the other author of the book states,
"To act as though there is some profound truth waiting to be uncovered inMost of the entertainment out there is garbage...useless things that are just fluff. Still, that doesn't mean that we should remove ourselves so far from the world that we become no longer relavent to their needs and hurts. If we go too far the other way, we are in danger of falling into things that equally as bad as what we are trying to get away from. If we go too far either to protect ourselves from "worldly" things or we become so into world that no one can tell us apart, we are breaking a command either way. My prayer is that God would help me stay in the middle. A middle that is full of love, grace, understanding but also discernment, passion and convictions. I believe there is such a place, it is called being a Christian. Now we just have to work on living that out.
cheap and tawdry stuff is hardly Christian."
SMYG.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Fall Kick-off 06
Last year I challenged our teens to get a certain number of teens to the fall kick off. They failed. I told them I would dye my hair if they were successful. They failed. This year, I think that our youth group is much healthier than it was a year ago. So I lowered the challenge to get 50 teens here on September 17th. 50...that is about double of where we run. So if everyone brings one friend, they will have their number. IF...and that is a big IF...they get 50 I am going to have my head shaved into a mohawk...yes, a mohawk...my wife and I thought this up about a month ago and I thought we were just joking until she announced it to the group one night and now there is no backing down.
50 or Bust!
September 17th...we will see. We will see.
50 or Bust!
September 17th...we will see. We will see.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Pulse Fest fun and the night before
Last Saturday, Sarah and I went with the SPEDS and Roger and Brandy Blair and their youth group to Pulse Fest in South Bend. It was a blast. The night before, they all came up. The girls came to the house and stayed while the guys stayed at the Oasis. We played ball and some wiffle ball and nobody wanted to sleep. So...I only got 1 hour of sleep. I think the day would have been better if I would have had more sleep. Nonetheless...it was still awesome. Here are some pics. The lines to get into the port-a-poo's were really long. Good thing I only had to use them once.
The spooning speaks for itself. I think the order was Terry, Jon, Matt and then a guy named Andrew (not me).
Fun times...fun times.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Pic update
I got three of these pics ...My brother/sister" , Aaron and myself, Sarah and the angry man, my mom singing kareoke and Nate Beals and myself at Family Camp 06.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Fantasy Football
Hey...I have set up a league and I need a few more people to fill it out. So if you are interested leave a comment with your email address and I will send you an invite that you just click on. This is a head to head league and the draft is automatic. Just let me know ASAP so we can get the league set up before the season starts.
Monday, August 07, 2006
The latest test...
Last Tuesday, we took the youth group to Six Flags Great America. You have to go through traffic because there is always construction in/around/by Chicago. We were going good. Then we seen a sign that said major delays ahead. I was driving one van and another sponsor was driving the other and he decided to take the alternate route while I stayed on the road we were supposed to be on. We get about 30-40 minutes from Six Flags and we get the call. The other van had broken down and they were somewhere in Chicago's north side. We took the kids we had to the park and drove roughly another 45 minutes to find the rest of the group. They were in Chicago! On top of all that, it was 101 degrees. Fun times.
However, I struggled with my feelings. I felt very, very, very frustrated and most of all just down right grumpy. It is cool to see how God gives us a test every once in a while to see how we are doing. Sometimes we pass, and on some days, sometimes we fail. Still, those times show us that we need to just slow down and always try (at least) to reflect him at all times...even when you want to pull your hair out and just fall down on the ground and throw a fit!
God is good. He kept us all safe and we ended up having a pretty decent day.
SMYG.
However, I struggled with my feelings. I felt very, very, very frustrated and most of all just down right grumpy. It is cool to see how God gives us a test every once in a while to see how we are doing. Sometimes we pass, and on some days, sometimes we fail. Still, those times show us that we need to just slow down and always try (at least) to reflect him at all times...even when you want to pull your hair out and just fall down on the ground and throw a fit!
God is good. He kept us all safe and we ended up having a pretty decent day.
SMYG.
Friday, July 21, 2006
Old School ...rantings that have been a long time coming(LONG)
Times have changed. Things that once were just the norm are now being tabbed as old school or worse yet for my generation, "tradition". I know that I grew up different. I have known for about 5-6 years that I grew up in a time capsule. It was like my parents, family and church that I went to throughout my adolescent years was put in a box by Doc Brown as he fired up the flux capacitor. As I went to church, there was no missing church for sporting events. Not even Wednesday nights. We didn't have "other responsibilities" that trumped church. I wasn't involved in 4-H or anything else that would have stopped me from being at church Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. That is not even counting another thing that seems lost among this generation, revival. We have had one since I have been here at Shiloh. Why don't we have more? Because the people don't come! We have the same people that were not stuck in a time capsule that always went "whenever the church doors were open".
Now, there are some things that bother me with this whole thing. I will list them in bullet form so you won't get bored.
Now, there are some things that bother me with this whole thing. I will list them in bullet form so you won't get bored.
- I don't understand how someone puts extra curricular activities above the church. I know I know...I have been told that I don't understand. Times are different now and that's just the way it is. I don't like it and I never will. Am I saying that you need to be in church every time the doors open? No, but church SHOULD BE HIGH ON YOUR PRIORITY LIST!!! It is not optional for a Christian. Why? Because Christ ordained it...it is his bride, who he is coming back for.
- We never went on too many vacations growing up. We never had family reunions because every sunday was a family reunion at church. So I can't say much about things like that because we never had them.
- My grandpa is 80+ years old. He worked in the coal mines in West Virginia. The best word that would describe him is solid. He is a rock. However, time and age has caught up with him and sometimes seems to pass him. Whenever I visit him he talks about how much it upsets him to not be able to go to church. He can't sit there for very long or else he would be in pain for the rest of the week. I call that dedication! What is going to happen when all of the people that are dedicated to church like that are gone? I'll tell you what...it has already begun: sunday morning church only lasting 1 hour or else people get irrated because they have places to go, sunday night services are vanishing like Jimmy Hoffa and I don't know if they will ever be found again...revivals are a thing of the past it seems...soon, sunday morning services will be just done through podcasts and the person never has to step foot in a sanctuary again.
- Oh for more people in my generation that call themselves missional, and all of the rest of the emergent gooblygook...would step up and realize that relevance is not important as they think. We are, in my opinion, too caught up in trying to be relevant to all people. What ever happened to preparing and letting God make it relevant to the people? It seems that sometimes we try to become the Holy Spirit and spoon feed our congregations.
- Two more things and I will be done. One, the Wesleyan Church and holiness or rather entire sanctification. When I went through my ordination meetings with the different pastors from the district, I had to fill out all this paperwork and then I came to this assignment page. Here is what it said that I needed to do: Write a reflection paper on entire sanctification, and list 20 books that I had on the topic. I am all for preaching a second work of grace. I am all for living a holy life. I am all for people striving for entire sanctification. However, are we so focused on the second work that the first one isn't something we are interested in anymore in America? It seems to me that we have relegated that to "missions" work. Pastor John read a quote a few months ago and I adapted it: " We have become so worried about the second work of grace while half of the world hasn't heard of the first one yet!" Preach holiness, live holiness, just don't forget salvation.
- Lastly, church planting or church growth. This is a thing that probably is old school in me so skip it if you want. The Wesleyan church is all about church planting. I think it is great...peoples lives have been changed and people have been reached that otherwise wouldn't have. I realize that. However, I feel that we put more energy, money and time into church planting than church regrowth. Like the church that recently closed in Wabash, Indiana. I think it might have been the church that my dad and mom pastored in the late 70's. We need to do CPR on some of these churches instead of essentially throwing them away and having more "children". Have more church plants but don't forget about the struggling churches in the district while you are at it.
SMYG.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Cliques
I know that some people might read this blog that are part of who I am talking about but oh well...it needs to be out of my heart and head...
I love the Indiana North District...I love my church...but there is this one huge pimple that keep coming to a head in my mind and heart when the youth pastors of the district get together. There is definitely some things that are rough in our IND youth leaders. There are a group of youth pastors that have formed a clique. They know who they are. I know who they are. Any one who spends one day in the group at an event knows who they are. The group sometimes feels like an alliance from a reality show that you know they are working together and they know it too but there is nothing you can do about it. I could care less about being in a position of leadership in the district...that is not my heart. My biggest issue with this whole thing is this: how can I preach and talk to my youth group and tell them not to be in cliques and include everyone if the Youth Pastors of our district are doing that very thing? It is incredible. They only want their group working together and thats the way it is. Why did I write this? Because my best pastor friend has a hint of apathy in his voice when we talk about the district...and I guess I do to. It is tough to sit around and watch that and try to fit in...my first year, I wanted people to like me and think I was a good pastor. I wanted that. Now, God has shifted my vision to only worrying about making a difference in the lives of the teens that he has entrusted to me. I can't help with, fix or change things that I am not privileged to. So why bellyache about them? So all that to say, well, just that...we have a clique of youth pastors in our district and I think that it is not right and dare I say sinful. Again, just for clarification, I did not write this because I want to be in leadership...I wrote it because I see it. No hidden agenda. If you don't like it, stop reading...
The End.
I love the Indiana North District...I love my church...but there is this one huge pimple that keep coming to a head in my mind and heart when the youth pastors of the district get together. There is definitely some things that are rough in our IND youth leaders. There are a group of youth pastors that have formed a clique. They know who they are. I know who they are. Any one who spends one day in the group at an event knows who they are. The group sometimes feels like an alliance from a reality show that you know they are working together and they know it too but there is nothing you can do about it. I could care less about being in a position of leadership in the district...that is not my heart. My biggest issue with this whole thing is this: how can I preach and talk to my youth group and tell them not to be in cliques and include everyone if the Youth Pastors of our district are doing that very thing? It is incredible. They only want their group working together and thats the way it is. Why did I write this? Because my best pastor friend has a hint of apathy in his voice when we talk about the district...and I guess I do to. It is tough to sit around and watch that and try to fit in...my first year, I wanted people to like me and think I was a good pastor. I wanted that. Now, God has shifted my vision to only worrying about making a difference in the lives of the teens that he has entrusted to me. I can't help with, fix or change things that I am not privileged to. So why bellyache about them? So all that to say, well, just that...we have a clique of youth pastors in our district and I think that it is not right and dare I say sinful. Again, just for clarification, I did not write this because I want to be in leadership...I wrote it because I see it. No hidden agenda. If you don't like it, stop reading...
The End.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Living life...
I have found that it is hard to keep posting. I don't have an overly exciting life and I don't have kids so that means I don't have a lot to post.
Here is what has been going on in my life:
1. 3 kids that went to Sr. High camp made committments to Christ! One did for the first time...
2. Our students are busy...doing a ton of things so it is a campaign every week it seems to try and get them to church
3. I am getting ready for Family Camp...July 23-30 and to get ordained the 23rd
4. We are having an overnighter this Friday...I really love overnighters...I know I am nuts but...
5. My Dad and the family is coming to Shiloh this Sunday to sing and preach. I am really looking forward to that
6. Sarah is working today(July 4th)...that stinks but that is life.
7. Sarah and I have started to try to eat better...overall...we went on the 2 week South Beach purge and it was horrible! Still, I have lost 15+ pounds since we started it so I suppose it is worth it
8. The summer being a pastor has made me feel disconnected with the church. I know that that is when people are on vacations and spending time with family etc etc...still I can't help but feel a little disconnected when people are not here.
9. Lex doesn't like fireworks...he shakes like a cell phone on vibrate!
10. I am in love with chocolate milk and I don't know why. I have just been craving it a lot lately. Weird because I don't drink milk. I do now...
11. People in churches have some interesting expectations of the youth pastor...(I still get that, "in a few weeks he will be an official pastor" lol)
12. I love my wife...she is brilliant, smart, amazing, beautiful, loving, hard-working, kind, thoughtful, sweet, caring and beautiful...I couldn't be who I am without her, PERIOD.
SMYG.
Here is what has been going on in my life:
1. 3 kids that went to Sr. High camp made committments to Christ! One did for the first time...
2. Our students are busy...doing a ton of things so it is a campaign every week it seems to try and get them to church
3. I am getting ready for Family Camp...July 23-30 and to get ordained the 23rd
4. We are having an overnighter this Friday...I really love overnighters...I know I am nuts but...
5. My Dad and the family is coming to Shiloh this Sunday to sing and preach. I am really looking forward to that
6. Sarah is working today(July 4th)...that stinks but that is life.
7. Sarah and I have started to try to eat better...overall...we went on the 2 week South Beach purge and it was horrible! Still, I have lost 15+ pounds since we started it so I suppose it is worth it
8. The summer being a pastor has made me feel disconnected with the church. I know that that is when people are on vacations and spending time with family etc etc...still I can't help but feel a little disconnected when people are not here.
9. Lex doesn't like fireworks...he shakes like a cell phone on vibrate!
10. I am in love with chocolate milk and I don't know why. I have just been craving it a lot lately. Weird because I don't drink milk. I do now...
11. People in churches have some interesting expectations of the youth pastor...(I still get that, "in a few weeks he will be an official pastor" lol)
12. I love my wife...she is brilliant, smart, amazing, beautiful, loving, hard-working, kind, thoughtful, sweet, caring and beautiful...I couldn't be who I am without her, PERIOD.SMYG.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
free-dumb
Growing up through the 80’s, 90’s and finally graduating in 2000, I didn’t know what it was like to have the country in a war. Sure, we had Desert Storm but I was like 10 so I didn’t get it. First, I want to thank the men and women who have fought and died and those that fought and came home. You are the reason we live where we live and we do what we do. You fought for your country and yes, freedom. Going deeper, what does it mean to be a Christian and to have freedom in Christ? I grew up in a Pastors home and could probably win many a bible trivia game. I know the Bible. Not all of it, but I got a good chunk down. Still, I struggled with what freedom meant.
I was listening to WFRN this week, which I usually don’t but because PULSE was oddly off the air, I had turned to that channel. The verse they were talking about was John 8:36 which says, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!” They went on to talk about how as a Christian we can be free from financial strain, free from worry about this or that; simply, if we are in Christ we are free. I have no doubt that God loves me and has the best for me in mind. However, on a daily basis that is hard for me to live out sometimes. I guess I didn’t get it. Freedom releases you from one of the devils greatest tools: worry. I know, I know. You are thinking that Christians are not supposed to worry and every time someone tells me that I agree but when I get going during my week and things start to pile up the worry comes rushing back and I don’t have the strength to push it away. I know.
Freedom means that we are free from fear, doubt, worry, guilt, shame, and all of the other things that cause God’s children to spend more time looking at their check books than the Bible. If Jesus has set you free, you are free. If you have been freed and are still dealing with these issues you are like a caged bird that longs to fly and the cage door is open. A lot of us are free-dumb. We don’t get it. We cannot understand that we don’t have to doubt and be bound by earthly things. Sure, not everything in our lives are going to work out, God never promised that. He did say that whoever Jesus set free, they are FREE!!! So this month as we celebrate our freedom and liberty remember that you don’t have to worry anymore. Jesus died on the cross for our sins and he has given us the greatest freedom we could ever ask for. Now use it!
Who the Son sets free is free indeed!
I was listening to WFRN this week, which I usually don’t but because PULSE was oddly off the air, I had turned to that channel. The verse they were talking about was John 8:36 which says, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!” They went on to talk about how as a Christian we can be free from financial strain, free from worry about this or that; simply, if we are in Christ we are free. I have no doubt that God loves me and has the best for me in mind. However, on a daily basis that is hard for me to live out sometimes. I guess I didn’t get it. Freedom releases you from one of the devils greatest tools: worry. I know, I know. You are thinking that Christians are not supposed to worry and every time someone tells me that I agree but when I get going during my week and things start to pile up the worry comes rushing back and I don’t have the strength to push it away. I know.
Freedom means that we are free from fear, doubt, worry, guilt, shame, and all of the other things that cause God’s children to spend more time looking at their check books than the Bible. If Jesus has set you free, you are free. If you have been freed and are still dealing with these issues you are like a caged bird that longs to fly and the cage door is open. A lot of us are free-dumb. We don’t get it. We cannot understand that we don’t have to doubt and be bound by earthly things. Sure, not everything in our lives are going to work out, God never promised that. He did say that whoever Jesus set free, they are FREE!!! So this month as we celebrate our freedom and liberty remember that you don’t have to worry anymore. Jesus died on the cross for our sins and he has given us the greatest freedom we could ever ask for. Now use it!
Who the Son sets free is free indeed!
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
South Carolina PIc update...
Sarah was enjoying some ice cream...We went to Planet Hollywood
And is that a great pose or what? My wife is beautiful...
What a great, amazing wife I have. This vacation has just magnified how great she really is. I am so blessed to be married to my best friend and the most beautiful woman in the world!!!
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Myrtle Beach
Hey...we are at MB, South Carolina...we hit the beach yesterday and I already got a little toasty. It is around 95 degrees down here. The 12 1/2 hour trip with my wife, brother and mother was quite the lesson in patience :)
Myrtle Beach is beautiful and I am so glad that I will be able to relax for this entire week! Talk at you later
SMYG.
Myrtle Beach is beautiful and I am so glad that I will be able to relax for this entire week! Talk at you later
SMYG.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
My Jesus by Todd Agnew
Which Jesus do you follow?
Which Jesus do you serve?
If Ephesians says to imitate Christ
Then why do you look so much like the world?...
Blessed are the poor in spirit
Or do we pray to be blessed with the wealth of this land
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness
Or do we ache for another taste of this world of shifting sand
Cause my Jesus bled and died for my sins
He spent His time with thieves and sluts and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the rich
So which one do you want to be?
Who is this that you follow
This picture of the American dream
If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side or fall down and worship at His holy feet
Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion
Is how you see Him as He dies for Your sins
But the Word says He was battered and scarred
Or did you miss that part
Sometimes I doubt we'd recognize Him
Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and the least of these
He loved the poor and accosted the comfortable
So which one do you want to be?
Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church
The blood and dirt on His feet would stain the carpet
But He reaches for the hurting and despised the proud
I think He'd prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd
And I know that He can hear me if I cry out loud
I want to be like my Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!
Not a posterchild for American prosperity, but like my Jesus
You see I'm tired of living for success and popularity
I want to be like my Jesus but I'm not sure what that means to be like You Jesus
Cause You said to live like You, love like You but then You died for me
Can I be like You Jesus?
I want to be like my Jesus
| Artist: | Todd Agnew |
| Album: | Reflection Of Something |
| Song: | My Jesus |
As I heard this song on the radio this week I had to question my thinking and relationship with Christ. The line that I bolded "Sometimes I doubt we'd recognize Him" really hit me. Do we have a vision of Jesus that is so dry, clean and pretty that if he were really in our church we would fail to recognize him? I wonder...we get so moved by the movie "The Passion of the Christ" to see all of the brutality and blood and pain that Jesus went through. Funny isn't it. We have candy-coated the real Jesus. The real Jesus didn't wasn't a carpenter. He wasn't as we see him working in a nice home and making tables for rich people. He was a handyman...doing odd jobs throughout his region. But being a Jewish Carpenter sounds a lot better than being a Jewish Handyman, doesn't it?
Next, over the past few weeks I have spent an enormous time thinking about Sarah and myselfs budget and financial situation. Worrying about money and thinking about how to get more. The American Dream...peace...prosperity...freedom...all things of this world. My mindset is wrong and has been wrong for a while. I want God to work in my ministry but for what reasons? Do I want to be able to tell fellow youth pastors or people that ask that we have such and such a number of teens every week...or to tell them the big things that we have planned because I want to be in the "In crowd" (of which I am definitely not in)? Over the past two years I have had the wrong attitude about district things and even things at Shiloh. I have felt slighted a few times because this happened or this didn't happen. Even over the past few months I have had a few of these feelings. I have been in search, in my heart and head (not verbally) for success and popularity and that has left me empty and dry spiritually. I have said all of that to say this...I need forgiveness...it has been all about me...not on purpose but it has slowly crept in. Enough for now but I am definitely not done talking about this...
SMYG.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Youth Pastor vs other Pastor
Hey, I was just wondering...do you think of youth pastors different from other Staff or Senior Pastors? It is interesting because most of the church calls Pastor John...Pastor John. While most of them call me Andy...it doesnt make a difference to me I was just wondering.
I know some people think of Youth Pastors as just doing that and getting some experience to become a "real pastor". I don't think of Youth ministry as a stepping stone to something else. It is where my heart is and I love every minute of it.
So what do you think?
SMYG
I know some people think of Youth Pastors as just doing that and getting some experience to become a "real pastor". I don't think of Youth ministry as a stepping stone to something else. It is where my heart is and I love every minute of it.
So what do you think?
SMYG
Friday, April 28, 2006
Now that is what I call a fish!
This fish was around 15 pounds! It was a carp that I caught in the Yellow River in Plymouth...Sarah had one but it got away after it broke her hook off in its mouth...it was fun to catch
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
My fish story...
Things have quieted down here in Plymouth (for now)...it seems like everything is swarming to May for some reason...
So here are a few pics of the people and fish that I caught last week! Sarah was there but she took the picture!
SMYG.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Worried Christians...
Sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it? Christ told us not to worry but yet I know a lot of Christians who are professional worriers (instead of prayer warriors). They see this happening or listened to Van Impe and he said something was going to happen soon...most likely June 6th of this year (6/6/06)...Oh MY GOODNESS!!! We had all better get some extra food and water because something is going to happen and we need to be ready.
You think I sound crazy?
The Christian world is worried about the Da Vinci Code movie and book that are causing such a stir. C' mon...Jesus had a relationship with Mary Magdelene? They had a child and the line lives on today?
The book/movie is not about rewriting the history book for crying out loud. It is about one thing and one thing only... $$$$$$$$$$!
Oh, and don't even go there with the Gospel of Thomas...as if it were something new that National Geographic just found in some Aboriginal tribes burial grounds! That info, along with many...many...many other pseudo gospels can be found on the internet...nothing new to those who know...look it up...www.goggle.com...19,800,000 hits in .17 seconds...really, come on.
All that to say this...I think that we need to stop worrying and fretting over things that first of all, we no control over...second that are not going to shake the foundations of our faith. It is like we are scared that something is going to come along and rip the rug from beneath our faith. Archeologist have never found anything that contradicts what the Bible says.
So as a song that I sang when I was just a wee little tot goes...
" The B-I-B-L-E, yes that's the book for me...I stand upon the Word of God...the B-I-B-L-E...BIBLE!"
SMYG.
You think I sound crazy?
The Christian world is worried about the Da Vinci Code movie and book that are causing such a stir. C' mon...Jesus had a relationship with Mary Magdelene? They had a child and the line lives on today?
The book/movie is not about rewriting the history book for crying out loud. It is about one thing and one thing only... $$$$$$$$$$!
Oh, and don't even go there with the Gospel of Thomas...as if it were something new that National Geographic just found in some Aboriginal tribes burial grounds! That info, along with many...many...many other pseudo gospels can be found on the internet...nothing new to those who know...look it up...www.goggle.com...19,800,000 hits in .17 seconds...really, come on.
All that to say this...I think that we need to stop worrying and fretting over things that first of all, we no control over...second that are not going to shake the foundations of our faith. It is like we are scared that something is going to come along and rip the rug from beneath our faith. Archeologist have never found anything that contradicts what the Bible says.
So as a song that I sang when I was just a wee little tot goes...
" The B-I-B-L-E, yes that's the book for me...I stand upon the Word of God...the B-I-B-L-E...BIBLE!"
SMYG.
Dreams
Last night, I talked to the teens about dreaming and their own dreams. I went around the room and asked each of them what they wanted to do when the grew up and then bashed them and pretty much told them that they couldn't do that. It got some mixed reviews and I think it really opened some of their eyes. I told them that if they thought what I did was rough, just wait until they graduate and see what the outside world does and says to them about their dream.
This was a tough topic for me to talk about because it has been hard for me to dream. I am not sure what I am supposed to dream about being a pastor and all. I have absolutely no dreams of becoming a D.S. or G.S. or anything close to that. I don't dream of being the pastor at a Mega church. I don't know what a pastor is supposed to dream about.
I don't think it is right for me to dream about the youth group to grow in faith, that should be a goal and something that I am working on.
I am not a very strong dreamer. I guess that shows me where I am at in my life. I mean, there are things that I want to see happen. I want to feel hunger for something big! I want to thirst for something bigger than me...larger than what I have the ability to do. So many times, it seems, that people (myself included) don't try something or do something that seems larger or bigger than what they think their skill set allows them to accomplish. Failure causes more action (or lack thereof) than does faith from what I have seen. People don't want to fail and so they don't even try.
I am no scholar and I don't want to be. You will never see a post from me about the missional church or social holiness or the emergent church. I am a pastor that is trying to dream big for his kids. They aren't doing it for themselves!
Pray that God helps me to dream big!
SMYG.
This was a tough topic for me to talk about because it has been hard for me to dream. I am not sure what I am supposed to dream about being a pastor and all. I have absolutely no dreams of becoming a D.S. or G.S. or anything close to that. I don't dream of being the pastor at a Mega church. I don't know what a pastor is supposed to dream about.
I don't think it is right for me to dream about the youth group to grow in faith, that should be a goal and something that I am working on.
I am not a very strong dreamer. I guess that shows me where I am at in my life. I mean, there are things that I want to see happen. I want to feel hunger for something big! I want to thirst for something bigger than me...larger than what I have the ability to do. So many times, it seems, that people (myself included) don't try something or do something that seems larger or bigger than what they think their skill set allows them to accomplish. Failure causes more action (or lack thereof) than does faith from what I have seen. People don't want to fail and so they don't even try.
I am no scholar and I don't want to be. You will never see a post from me about the missional church or social holiness or the emergent church. I am a pastor that is trying to dream big for his kids. They aren't doing it for themselves!
Pray that God helps me to dream big!
SMYG.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
The God of the OT vs. the God of the NT
I am diligently trying to read through the One Year Bible this year...I am up to date with the reading...I just came through the section where God "gives" the land of Canaan to the Israelites. It talked about how God helped the people essentially wipe out a whole region of people, their towns and their existance. If that would happen now, we would think it a catastrophic event and wonder what God was thinking or even doing. We don't have to worry about that in this situation. God was there, helping the Israelites destroy men, women and children without a second thought. Now I get that God told Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses that he would give them that land. It was his word and he cannot go back on it. Still, as I finished the reading I thought to myself, "Did those people ever have a chance at redemption?" Did they know that what they were doing was wrong? Did God try to give them an opportunity to follow him and maybe just move instead of totally being killed? I don't know....that is why I am asking the questions I guess. I find it hard to relate this God who is seemingly blindly in love with a people who turn their back just as much as the rest of the nations did, to the one that Jesus and the NT books talk about being a loving, merciful God. The Bible even says that it is not God's will that anyone should die and go to hell. So how do you relate these two?
SMYG
SMYG
Friday, April 14, 2006
Truck and dog...what more could a guy ask for?!
I am so content with my truck no matter how weird people might think it looks...it is different...but then so am I!!! That is our crazy dog Lex...yes, he always has those bug eyes!Happy Easter everyone...He is Risen!
Update...
Things seem to be going...they are good and kind of seem to be moving in slow motion. With Easter this Sunday, it is bound to pick up.
Other news: with the purchase of new vehicles, Sarah and I have begun a budget program. At first, I was a little worried about it...you know having to document EVERY dollar that you spend and having limits and stuff...then, God really spoke to me and showed me that I need more discipline in my life. I need more discipline financially and spiritually. I asked a few weeks ago about leadership and stuff and I think that God has really answered me with one word: Discipline. I am not a very organized person and I don't think that that helps my ministry. I have gotten frustrated with Sarah because she keeps pushing me towards that and I didn't want to hear it. (that whole woman intuition thingy is creepy!)
I am just working on organization and discipline so that God can use me as much as possible.
I will try to take some pics this afternoon of the truck and dog maybe and the washer and dryer and such to get you caught up on the "new" stuff in our life!
SMYG.
Other news: with the purchase of new vehicles, Sarah and I have begun a budget program. At first, I was a little worried about it...you know having to document EVERY dollar that you spend and having limits and stuff...then, God really spoke to me and showed me that I need more discipline in my life. I need more discipline financially and spiritually. I asked a few weeks ago about leadership and stuff and I think that God has really answered me with one word: Discipline. I am not a very organized person and I don't think that that helps my ministry. I have gotten frustrated with Sarah because she keeps pushing me towards that and I didn't want to hear it. (that whole woman intuition thingy is creepy!)
I am just working on organization and discipline so that God can use me as much as possible.
I will try to take some pics this afternoon of the truck and dog maybe and the washer and dryer and such to get you caught up on the "new" stuff in our life!
SMYG.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
New vehicles...yeah...
This is going to my first new vehicle, vehicle with 4 doors, my first TRUCK
(now I get to be a real man!)
Sarah is getting a new vehicle too, one that won't send her in the ditch! Pictures sure to come...
Monday, April 03, 2006
Am I thankful...
I am thankful that it is Monday and that last week is over!!! Actually, its been a couple of rough weeks. As I wrote the last time, it seemed like people were "jumping ship" and leaving and the sort. It has been a couple of character building weeks as Zig Zigler likes to call them. Last week I was an assistant pastor/ youth pastor/ van driver/ secretary. So am I glad that it is a monday? You bet! Last night we had a good chili cook off...we made about $300 dollars...I had some family at the event...and we had 89 people there! Those are the good things. It was a rough night for Sarah because it was her first night acting as the "I am the wife of the youth pastor so that means you can gripe at me if you want" position. I am used to getting critized and I feel that I deal with it pretty well. I vent and then move on. However, mess with my wife and it isn't that easy to deal with. I can handle someone coming up and griping that we are selling on Sunday and how could I preach from the pulpit and yet sell on Sunday! You can tell me anything, complain about whatever, but if you make my wife cry...it makes me want to protect her. Still, it is over...lesson learned...lump taken...stress felt...and the only thing that comes into my mind? NEXT!
SMYG.
SMYG.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Surreal
It seems like I am waiting for something to happen. I am not sure what it is, but something. I am not anxious or worried about it. Still, it feels in my soul that something is coming. Maybe it is because of what I posted about yesterday (so much change happening). It is not a bad feeling. Just a feeling that something big/bad/good/small is going to happen. I guess it has to doesn't it? Things are always changing and I would be nieve to think that they wouldn't. I mean when you think about it, don't we usually get surprised by things that are just part of life? Changing jobs, getting pregnant, someone getting sick, family members or friends making decisions that affect many others. Things always will happen that way.
Lately, with the whole divorce thing with our friends, Sarah and I have been kind of discouraged because they were our closest friends up here or over here (depending on where you are when you read this). I miss my friends from time to time that are in Anderson and my family...I recently got on myspace.com and they are all on there talking about how they are doing things together and going here and there and it has really affected me. I miss having friends that come over and do nothing really. I get that every once in a while when the SPEDS come up but I am usually doing an overnighter so I dont get much QT with them. So in reality, I don't really have many friends like that anymore. Sarah is in the same boat. She was working a lot with orientation but now that that is over she is feeling that same thing. Her friends all live together in Indy and she really has no friends here. Well, thats that. I have now said whats been on my heart for a while.
SMYG.
Lately, with the whole divorce thing with our friends, Sarah and I have been kind of discouraged because they were our closest friends up here or over here (depending on where you are when you read this). I miss my friends from time to time that are in Anderson and my family...I recently got on myspace.com and they are all on there talking about how they are doing things together and going here and there and it has really affected me. I miss having friends that come over and do nothing really. I get that every once in a while when the SPEDS come up but I am usually doing an overnighter so I dont get much QT with them. So in reality, I don't really have many friends like that anymore. Sarah is in the same boat. She was working a lot with orientation but now that that is over she is feeling that same thing. Her friends all live together in Indy and she really has no friends here. Well, thats that. I have now said whats been on my heart for a while.
SMYG.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Punched in the gut...
I guess my posts come slower and slower now. Things are going really good. I am feeling a little of those summer time blues...in the spring...I guess it is because of all the drama around me. I am ready for no drama and some time where we can just be... I ordered a new computer today so it should be coming soon.
Some things I have learned recently:
1. St. Patrick's Day is huge for Catholics!
2. Dogs like their own puke
3. My dog is stupid
4. Marriage is fun
5. I don't like change as much as I thought I did...explain: it seems that a lot of people are jumping ship on the things that they have been doing (church secretary, treasurer, one of the youth sponsors leaving...etc etc etc)
6. Most of the friends of my teenage years have websites on myspace.com
7. Working together with people is so much easier than working against them
SMYG.
Some things I have learned recently:
1. St. Patrick's Day is huge for Catholics!
2. Dogs like their own puke
3. My dog is stupid
4. Marriage is fun
5. I don't like change as much as I thought I did...explain: it seems that a lot of people are jumping ship on the things that they have been doing (church secretary, treasurer, one of the youth sponsors leaving...etc etc etc)
6. Most of the friends of my teenage years have websites on myspace.com
7. Working together with people is so much easier than working against them
SMYG.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Computer issues...
Hey, sorry for the lack of posting! My computer or modem one of the two, got zapped over the weekend and I have been too busy at work to post anything. Sorry.
So here are some nuggets of my week:
1. Last week was fun, and refreshing. Spending time with Kerry was great.
2. We (Kerry and I) had an amazing discussion Friday night on the way home about God and salvation and stuff...it was a long time coming.
3. Indiana about gave me a heart attack last night
4. Our best friends up here in Plymouth, who were in our wedding, are and have been over the past month getting divorced. So pray that God would send Sarah especially, a woman friend that is much needed.
5. Sarah is done with orientation, finally! Good and bad...
6. I have no motivation to work out anymore
7. We got a new washer and dryer
8. We are looking at getting me a newer car (maybe a truck or suv)
9. I love my wife!
10. I am so thankful for family. My mom made it through her surgery and is on the road to recovery.
11. I am rooting for Taylor Hicks (yes, the old lookin' guy) on American Idol!
So there you have it...my life in a nut shell.
SMYG.
So here are some nuggets of my week:
1. Last week was fun, and refreshing. Spending time with Kerry was great.
2. We (Kerry and I) had an amazing discussion Friday night on the way home about God and salvation and stuff...it was a long time coming.
3. Indiana about gave me a heart attack last night
4. Our best friends up here in Plymouth, who were in our wedding, are and have been over the past month getting divorced. So pray that God would send Sarah especially, a woman friend that is much needed.
5. Sarah is done with orientation, finally! Good and bad...
6. I have no motivation to work out anymore
7. We got a new washer and dryer
8. We are looking at getting me a newer car (maybe a truck or suv)
9. I love my wife!
10. I am so thankful for family. My mom made it through her surgery and is on the road to recovery.
11. I am rooting for Taylor Hicks (yes, the old lookin' guy) on American Idol!
So there you have it...my life in a nut shell.
SMYG.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Leadership
Back at IWU, one of my professors asked a question that recently has been haunting me, daily. It is a question that could and probably will affect the outcome of my entire life. It is a question that people in leadership should ask themselves often at the beginning of their careers. So here's the question:
Are great leaders born or are they made?
You see, I don't consider myself to be a GREAT pastor. I don't see myself as being someone that leads a mega-church some day. Right now, I am not sure where the ceiling is for me in this respect.
Sarah and I recently had a LONG discussion about this and she really hit the issue home with me. I realized that I really don't have goals in my life. Not only in my life, but as a Pastor. I thought in my head, "Should Pastors have goals"? I mean, the two pastors that I have been around the longest were my dad (he stayed at one church for 30+ years) and Dick Gregg who has been at Central for 15+ years and counting. Neither church is a "big" church. They maintain and keep mostly the same people. Some people come and go. The church that I grew up in and that my Dad was at is dead with only about 10-15 left if that! Did they have goals? I guess that it was subconsciously put in my head that you just maintain. Until recently, I was really ok with that. However, now I am not sure how to get out of the maintaining stage and become a pastor that is...well I don't even know what to call it. Maybe that's the problem...
So, are leaders (GREAT pastors) born or are they made?
SMYG
Are great leaders born or are they made?
You see, I don't consider myself to be a GREAT pastor. I don't see myself as being someone that leads a mega-church some day. Right now, I am not sure where the ceiling is for me in this respect.
Sarah and I recently had a LONG discussion about this and she really hit the issue home with me. I realized that I really don't have goals in my life. Not only in my life, but as a Pastor. I thought in my head, "Should Pastors have goals"? I mean, the two pastors that I have been around the longest were my dad (he stayed at one church for 30+ years) and Dick Gregg who has been at Central for 15+ years and counting. Neither church is a "big" church. They maintain and keep mostly the same people. Some people come and go. The church that I grew up in and that my Dad was at is dead with only about 10-15 left if that! Did they have goals? I guess that it was subconsciously put in my head that you just maintain. Until recently, I was really ok with that. However, now I am not sure how to get out of the maintaining stage and become a pastor that is...well I don't even know what to call it. Maybe that's the problem...
So, are leaders (GREAT pastors) born or are they made?
SMYG
Thursday, March 02, 2006
busy busy busy
Man, things get busier and busier when you get older. Heres what my 10 day outlook looks like:
Today: Worked in the office, worked out, going to the tax office to get taxes done, praise team practice
Tomorrow: Work in the office, decorate the Oasis for the month of March, clean up the house for company, take a nap (HA), entertain friends
Saturday: wake up early and spend the day in Chicago
Sunday: I wont even get started with Sundays
M onday: Going to be in Anderson for my momma surgery (Pray for her will ya)
Tuesday: Back in Plymouth, must get everything done for the week and weekend because...
Wednesday-Saturday: VACATION...I am going to be spending time with my brother at the Big Ten Tourney (GO IU) and then who else knows what
So yeah, busy times. It should be a fun 10 days though!
SMYG.
Today: Worked in the office, worked out, going to the tax office to get taxes done, praise team practice
Tomorrow: Work in the office, decorate the Oasis for the month of March, clean up the house for company, take a nap (HA), entertain friends
Saturday: wake up early and spend the day in Chicago
Sunday: I wont even get started with Sundays
M onday: Going to be in Anderson for my momma surgery (Pray for her will ya)
Tuesday: Back in Plymouth, must get everything done for the week and weekend because...
Wednesday-Saturday: VACATION...I am going to be spending time with my brother at the Big Ten Tourney (GO IU) and then who else knows what
So yeah, busy times. It should be a fun 10 days though!
SMYG.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Thankful
As I have been reading my bible, (yes I am still up to date with my reading!) I am just now getting out of the book of Leviticus and boy am I thankful. I am thankful for many things after reading through this:
Things I have become thankful for:
1. That Jesus was crucified one time for sins committed.
Things I have become thankful for:
1. That Jesus was crucified one time for sins committed.
2. That Jesus' death is still enough to pay for the sins of the world
3. That we are under a new covenant and that we dont have to offer a sacrifice every time we mess up (that could get expensive)
4. That God is merciful and gracious to those who love him and are seeking after him
5. That God cared enough about us to help us get closer to Him
6. That I am a friend of God
7. That God forgives AND forgets
In a culture that teaches us to remember what other did to us so you can get them back, Christ lived a life that was in stark constrast. Not only does God cancel our debt to him, he cannot even remember the times we messed up.
SMYG.
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