New Year, New Me?

We are in the awkward time of year between Christmas and New Years where no one truly knows what day it is and what to do with themselves. So we reflect. We look back at the previous year and ask "Was it good enough?" Which leads us to the next question: "Was I good enough?"

If we answer.... yes 

We boast. Saying I am Awesome! Look at what I DID! Its all about ME ME ME. 

If we answer... no. 

We fall into self-pity. I suck. I need to do better. Look at What I DID! and its still about ME ME ME. 

Is Change bad?

Of course not! That is silly. I am 100% in favor of reflecting back on my previous year and trying to put into practice good habits like running more often and reading more often into my daily life. 

But.....

Our identity, who we are, can not be tied to what we do. At least, as a Christian, that is how I view the world. If who I am is based on my feelings, my ability to be disciplined, and my self improvement I am in trouble. Some days I am killing it. I am awesome. I am motivated! I want to run. I want to read. I want to contribute to my family. I want to be all that God has created me to be. But.... other days I don't want to get out of bed. But I do. Because well, I have to. 

So who am I?

Who are you?

Our identity must be tied to who we belong to. Just like my son does not need to do anything to receive my praise (Though I enjoy watching him learn and grow) we do not need to do anything to "earn" the praise of our eternal Father. 

You ARE A CHILD OF GOD! AND as a Child He LOVES YOU! He ACCEPTS YOU!

He loves you just like you are!

New Year, New Me?

I love that my son is starting to develop his words. When he says, "dad" it makes my heart melt. His newest word is "Blue" but he cant get the "L" so it sounds more like "Boo." It is incredible watching the development of a child. 

And I think God looks at us the same way. He sees each step of our journey with joy. He loves to see us develop, to change, to grow. 

So as you make your resolutions remember 3 things. 

1) God loves you just the way you are! You don't need to change to be loved.

2) Change is good but quick fixes are not. Make good habits that will last past Feb 1st. 

3) Dont just look at the physical. What are spiritual changes you can make? Are there ways you can improve your emotional and spiritual well-being? How can you focus on God's presence this new year! 

Finally.....

Wishing each and every one of you a happy and safe New Year in 2019. Its a chance to start a fresh. Don't take it day for granted but enjoy each moment as a gift from God. 

 

Mary vs Zechariah

Is God okay with your questions?

Today I want to look at 2 questions both found early on in Luke's Gospel. Both of these questions involve child birth. 

You see, 2000 years ago having a baby was a big deal. Well, i guess it still is but people believed if you didnt have a child it meant you were cursed by God. Maybe you did something wrong or maybe God just didn't like you. Regardless, it was not okay. 

First----Zechariah. 

Zechariah and Elizabeth wanted a baby. Elizabeth was past child-bearing age but still wanted an offspring. It came time for Zechariah to serve the Lord in the temple. 

Here are the words that Gabriel brings to Zechariah- 

"But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John.You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth."

Yet Zechariah wasn't so sure.....“How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.”

Second- Mary 

Mary was a teenager. We don't know her exact age but we know she was old enough to be engaged in the her First Century Jewish Culture. 

To Mary Gabriel said, "Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David.33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”

Yet Mary also had a question-  “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”



Mary vs Zechariah 

Both Mary and Zechariah had questions. 

But They were very different questions- Look closer. 

Zechariah wanted certainty. Certainty according to Peter Enns is a Sin. If we are certain of something we no longer need God because we have it all figured out. Because certainty breeds pride. 

Because Zechariah wanted certainty Gabriel made it so he could no longer talk until his son would be born. 

Mary's question was not filled with doubt. She was a virgin. Virigin's cant give birth. It's impossible. It would take a miracle. 

The angel declares to her.... "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you."  

In other words God is going to do something big he just needs you to trust......

We can tell Mary's question was about searching more because she responded in faith, "I am the Lord's servant. May everything you have said about me come true."


Conclusion 

Questions are good. Jesus asked many questions. God can handle our questions.

But Questions must be asked in a child-like manner and not in a way that we seek to figure it all out.

I pray you can come to God with all your questions and pain. I pray you can come to him as a child comes to his/her father to not get something but to get someone.

May you know that God loves you and wants to hear from you today. Seek him in prayer. Amen.

Jesus Glasses

There is a strange miracle found in the Gospel of Mark.

"So He (Jesus) took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then He spit on the man’s eyes and placed His hands on him. “Can you see anything?” He asked. 24The man looked up and said, “I can see the people, but they look like trees walking around.” 25Once again Jesus placed His hands on the man’s eyes, and when he opened them his sight was restored, and he could see everything clearly."


What a strange little story. 

Why Spit?

Some scholars actually believe that people of the 1st Century held a belief that healing could happen through spit. Weird? So Jesus plays along. He takes this blind man by the hand and leads him away from the crowd. Jesus often did this. He was not doing a miracle for self-promotion. 

Yet when he prayed it only worked 50% of the way.... C'mon Jesus!

Have you ever wondered why? Did Jesus do something wrong? Did this man lack faith?

No.

I think Jesus is trying to teach us something about spiritual blindness. We like to talk about transformation with Jesus but the truth is it is a long slow process. We think about believing, we start to believe, and then we go even deeper. And to be honest growth is far from linear. Work with kids for more than a week and you learn that lesson. 

As Jesus heals this man, imagine what might be going through his mind. One question he might ask..... "What do people look like?"


Like Trees, right?

How did he even know what trees looked like if he was blind?


So what can we learn from this story?

I wonder if Jesus wants to heal your/our eyes today. I wonder if he wants to take us to a remote location for a touch from his spirit? You see, we like to have a tribe mentality. This person is in MY GROUP and that person IS NOT! This person is on MY TEAM and that person is NOT! This person is a GOOD PERSON and that person is NOT!

I wonder if people are more complicated than that. Anne Frank said/wrote it like this: 

"In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart." 


The problem the Christian must encounter daily is to love everyone. Yes, sounds easy. But it is a problem because we cannot claim to know God and not love. Because as ST John says, "God is love."

I believe God wants to heal our eyes. To look at those that we think are our enemies and welcome them into our presence.

St Paul said it this way: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."

So today, put on your "Jesus glasses." Try to see people the way He saw them. Because when we see people how He saw them we will treat people the way he treated them. 

Do It Again

Have you ever noticed, kids can watch the same movie, read the same book, or play the same game every day and not get tired of it? We say: "Ugh, baby shark, again????!???"

They rejoice: "Do it again!"

I wonder if God is "child-like."

Each morning he declares to the sun, "Do it again!"

And when the sun sets he declares, "Do it AGAIN!" Oh, I just love the sunset.

Jesus told Nicodemus we must be "Born again" to enter the Kingdom of God. In other words we must learn to let go of control. We must give up our right to have everything figured out and trust in God.

Yet, we worry about so many things. Meanwhile God is smiling. As He speaks the wind and waves obey. Chaos is a result of us thinking control is necessary.

Jesus said it this way: "If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it."

May you have the faith of a child today. May you find peace in the journey and freedom in the surrender.

The Gospel of Cleaning

I want to tell you two stories.
I want to tell you two miracles.

The first happened 2,000 years ago the second 2 mins (probably long now) ago.

Story One: Dead Man lives!

The first story is the recorded in John's Gospel Chapter 11.
It is the story with the shortest Bible verse, "Jesus wept"

But why was Jesus crying? Was he prophesying the pain I would have as a pirates fan? No! Though, I believe He feels my pain.

His tears were a result of his friend dying. His name was Lazarus.

Jesus is greeted in the town of Bethany by Lazarus' two sisters: Mary and Martha. They individually tell him of the death and individually blame Jesus for not showing up in time.

"If you would have been here my brother would not have died!"

Jesus then tells them how 'He is the Resurrection and the life."

You see, this death thing is only temporary. It does not have the final say.

He walks over to the grave of his dear friend and declares, "Lazarus, come out."

This man was dead for 4 days! Yet when Jesus called he returned to life.

Story Two: Garage is cleaned!  (mostly)

We have a garage where we park Jasmine's car.

It was last cleaned (probably) in late 2013. We bought the house in April of 2018. Since buying the house we made this outdoor garage dirtier.

Im talking leaves, grass (which is now hay, is that how that works?), pizza boxes, dirt, dirt, and more dirt. Oh yea, rat turds.

I hate cleaning but when Jasmine told me she and Neil were going over to a friend's tonight I decided to tackle it. Hours later it is much better.

But I couldn't help but think of the story of Lazarus.  And I couldn't help but think about Jesus.

Because when I look at my life I see dirt. 

I mean you don't see it (or maybe you are polite and overlook my shortcomings) but we all have rat crap in our hearts. 

Yet Jesus loves us. And He wants to save us.

And when I say "save us" I don't mean "say a prayer" and I don't mean "send us to heaven."

I literally mean "save us"

He wants to change us and restore us. But why?

I mean if I'm a better person what difference does it make? If my character is developed and I act like Jesus and love those around me does it matter?

I mean in 100 years no one will remember me. I mean probably not.

But Jesus still wants to restore

So Jesus is kinda acting interesting.

Did Jesus know he was going to raise Lazarus from the grave? Yes.

So why did he cry?

Did Jesus know Lazarus would die years later? Yes

So why bother raising him from the grave if he would die years later?

Wrap it up!

The Gospel is Good News. The Gospel is restorative.

And more than that its a preview of Heaven.

The more hope I release to those around me the more I am living in heaven now!
The more joy I release to those around me the more I am living in heaven now!
The more forgiveness/love/kindness I release the more I am living in heaven now!


So why care? Because I believe ever act makes a difference.

So let Jesus clean the Rat Crap of your heart daily so you can in turn love others!

Confidence

Does Faith= belief?

or maybe Faith= trust?

Hebrews 11:1 (in the NIV) says, "Now Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."

I like this definition but I must wrestle with this word "Confidence"   

When I was younger I knew a lot more than I know now. Or maybe I didn't know what I didn't know. Life happens and you realize you don't have all the answers. But at the same time we can understand that we don't need to have all the answers. 

I don't like a Christianity that has all the answers. It's too weak. It's too problematic. It's too watered down. 

What do you mean you don't believe in credo-baptism? "It is clearly the argument we receive in the Bible." 

While others can argue from the other side.... "infant baptism is the way to go..."

So who's right? 

Does it matter?

Maybe.

What does this have to do with faith?

I think we can have our faith wrapped up in the wrong things. We can have our faith wrapped up in how the world works (ie our belief system) and totally miss God. 

I think the cool thing about Christianity is Jesus rocked the boat of the religious folk of the day. 

They loved being "confident" in their belief system yet they did not know God. 

We can do the same thing. We can be so confident this is how "God works" That we miss what he is trying to teach us. 

Instead of faith being in our belief system (because if you have been wrong before how do you know you will not be wrong in the future?) we should have our faith in God revealed to us in Jesus. 

I believe God is good. Now my understanding of God's goodness may be different than yours. (And that's okay!!!!) There is still room for both of us at the table! Hooray!

"You fathers--- if your children asks for a fish do you give them a snake? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion?"

Can you hear the sarcastic voice of Jesus? 

He continues, "OF COURSE NOT!!!!!"

"So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him."\

God is good. He created you. He sent his son Jesus to die for you. And He sent His Holy Spirit to live in you. 

So be confident. Not in yourself. Not in your belief system. Or whatever else. But in God. 

He is the One we can confide. He is the Father that gives good gifts to us. 

So, Anyhow I pray you will know you are loved by God and can have confidence in His love toward you. 

Like Dad

Kids are like their parents. We refuse to admit this! We deny this! We refuse to accept this as reality when we are in our teen years.... But it's true.

It's funny how you can look at a child and see some combination of their mother and father in them. I have seen this play out in my own life and in those around me....

So I was wondering.... Who is Jesus like?

You see we can pit The Father against the Son. Right?

We can believe that God is the bad guy. We can believe He is angry and the only reason why He doesn't.... is Jesus. Jesus shields us from the angry of God.

But this is silly and you know it!!!!

St Paul reminds us that "Jesus is the image of the invisible God."

He is God's "Selfie."

God looks like Jesus... Of course He does. Sons look like their father's!!!!

If you see God "do" something in the Old Testament that is confusion.... it's because you don't have your "Jesus glasses" on. We have Jesus so we can view everything through those lenses.

God is not mad at you. He doesn't tolerate you. He loves you. And He likes you.

He wants to me around you! He calls you up and wants you to hang out with him in his presence.

You matter to him!

How do I know this????

I know this to be true because of how inclusive Jesus was! He welcomed sinners, tax collectors, women that slept around.... the rejected.... He welcomed them all...freely!

Jesus is like his Father. And because we know a lot about Jesus through the written revealed word we can know a lot of our eternal Father.

Now... the question we must ask is.... are we becoming more like our Heavenly father?

If we are children of God we can't help but become more like our Father. We become more like our father....

or to word it a different way.... You become what or who you worship!

This is a no shame game.. Maybe you feel a million miles from God right now. He still loves you. And He is so happy to have you back. He is not mad. He is the father in the parable of the prodigal son that welcomes his rebel of a son back in 1 second! And throws a party! Hey come back to God and He parties with you! Pretty cool, huh!

Jesus is like his Dad!
We can become like our eternal Father!

Have a great day!

Joe the fish (You + God = Change the World)

Today I met a dead fish. His name was Joe.

Context: Camp.
Further Context: Middle School Boy.

Do you really want to know more?

Long story short..... the kids buried the fish in the pond where he belongs.

But this fish, as many things do at FLYING DOVE RANCH, reminds me of the Bible. It reminds me of the account in John's Gospel of Jesus feeding 5,000 men and their families with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.

Have you heard this story?

Long from town. Late in the day. Everyone was hungry. Everyone was cranky.

Yet one boy was prepared. Yet some doubted, "But what good is that with this huge crowd?"

Many times we look at our lives and we see "Not enough." We think "Why bother?" My actions and my prayers will surely not make an impact in this world....


Ye of little faith.

If God is in you when you speak the world is changed.

In fact, the world is different because of you. Each moment you are shaping it for better or for worst. Jesus took 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish and feed 5000 (plus).

Did he literally feed 5000 people.... I think we miss the point if we get so concerned with the details of the story. I've heard one person claim the "miracle" is the fact that once the young boy shared his food it inspired thousands to do the same... whatever. I don't know? I wasnt there!

The point is God wants to use you to make a positive impact on this world. You have everything you need if you have God in you.

May you know you are enough. May you know you are loved and treasured by God. And may you know that as you demonstrate God's love in this world it DOES make a difference.

Peace out, fam.

A Son or a Slave?

I want to start blogging about music. I cant sing (unless you count the shower). I cant play any instruments (unless you count the air guitar) but I love to worship. There is something about music that connects us with God. So for the next few days? weeks? IDK? However long this lasts, I will be looking at different lyrics from inspired song writers. 

Today. 

"No longer slaves" by Bethel Music. 

I am not going to write down the entire song.... you can look it up on Google or Youtube.

I am going to share what I believe God is saying to me through the song. 

The part of the song I want to look at is 

1) "I am no longer a slave to fear... I am a child of God."

+

2) "My fears were drowned in perfect love."

+

3) "There's no shadow you won't light up; coming after me" (okay this is from another song but I felt it fit well here!!!!!!)

3 Main Points

1) I cannot be both a son and a slave.

Let's take a stroll down memory lane. Imagine you are a young African-American boy. Your dad is a slave. Your mom is slave. Your brother.... is a slave. And you.... are a slave. 

You were born into it. 

You work hours in the field... meanwhile.... there is another boy. 

This boy is white. He is your age. But he is sitting at the dinner table. He is eating. He is resting. He is a son. 

You see the son of the property and the slave are different. 

Slavery can bind us. We can become a slave to anything. Where do you run when you are hurt? Maybe you run to drugs? Beer? FaceBook? Snapchat? Other people?

If we knew we are Son (or a daughter!!!!!) we will not run to other things. We will not be afraid. Because our Dad owns the property. 

What would the Father of the property think if his son put on slave clothing and started working in the field? He would assume his son was mad. He would run into the field and plead with his boy to come inside. Yet many of us choose being a slave to fear over sonship. 

2) Don't give CPR to your fears. 

In the OT (Old Testament) God split the Red Sea so his chosen nation could escape slavery in Egypt. After they crossed the Red Sea, the Egyptians who were chasing them down were drowned. 

Our fear chase us down but God in his perfect love can drowned our fear in perfect love. 

How silly would it be for you to jump into the water to give CPR to your fears! But we do. After they are almost dead.... we go all baywatch on them and try to give them new birth! How silly! How stupid. LET THEM DIE. 

FLEE from Fear and let God destroy them in perfect love. 

3) Light causes shadows. 

I stole this last one from "Reckless Love" 

David said it this way, "Even though I walk through the valley of death I shall fear no evil.... 

Why? 

....For you are with me!"

You see when we go through tough times God is with us. 

I believe the light of God shines brightest in the darkness. You can't have a true shadow without light. God is light. And His love will always shine in the darkness. 

Conclusion

This blog post feels very scattered tonight. It was probably that Mexican food I had for dinner. But I know that FEAR IS BAD. And if you are afraid I don't want you to be ashamed. 

I want you to admit it so can can equip you to overcome it. 

You cant be fearless without God but with God you can! When you know God is your Daddy and you are his son/daughter you can walk in true freedom. 

 

Are you David or Goliath?

Happy Sunday Friends! I want to use this morning to challenge and encourage you with a few verses from the Holy Bible. I pray that God will speak to you to love Him and love others more through this blog.

It is easy to preach "Be like David." Be an underdog champion. When challenges come your way, you just need to dig deep and overcome! You are the HERO! And I love to be the hero. And you probably do too! Have you ever noticed when we tell stories we do so in a manner that always makes us look better than we actually are..... Just saying.

Back to David.....We often forget that he was imperfect. After defeating Goliath and becoming King his motives went south. He allowed his arrogance/pride/power to lead him to adultery and murder.

It is difficult to get American Christians to want to be like Goliath.

After all he is the "villain" in the story. He is....wait for it....an uncircumcised Philistine!!!!!

He was not part of God's chosen people. But not only that he mocked the God of Israel.

But.... Spoiler alert!!!!!!

David overcomes the odds and slays the Giant.

So Who are you in the story? Are you the hero? Or.... perhaps we are meant to identify with the Goliath.

In fact, most days I feel more like Goliath. I feel 10 (or was it 9) feet tall. I feel like I can do anything until I cant. I feel like everything is awesome, until it isn't. You know. When my pride gets in the way.

We like to quote verses like Philippians 4:13, saying "I CAN DO ALL THINGS!" but we forget that "Apart of me (Jesus) we can do nothing" (John 15).

Maybe we do not have to choice one or the other, but I do know life is a series of choices. I can make a plan for my life and then get upset when things don't go according to my plan or I can lay myself down (Surrender) and allow God to direct my steps. I can allow the detour to upset me or I can see it as an opportunity to learn and grow and be used by God.

Are you a slave?

July fourth!

Independence Day!

Freedom!

We shoot works of fire into the air to remember our independence from England. We were second class. We had taxes but no representation. We still pay taxes but we have at least the right to vote for those that make decisions in DC, in our state govt, and local.

We feel like we are free. Many men and women have fought for us to be free. But I want to make an argument that if we are not careful we can find ourselves slaves.


There is a story in Luke's Gospel entitled, "The rich young ruler" (See Luke 18 for the full story). In the story a rich man approaches Jesusk with a question.

"What must I do to inherit eternal life?"

That's a great question! If you believe in "god" or sometime of afterlife you better make sure you are going to the good place and not the bad place..... right?

So Jesus is straight up with him...... follow the commandments.

I often wonder how sarcastic Jesus says these things. This man led an upright life and in a way he was building him for his fall in a few mins.

Yes. Check. I've done it.

No. Never murdered.
Never coveted my neighbor's donkey.
etc etc etc


This man replies with "Ive done all these since I was a young boy"

As Jesus prepares to walk away he says one more thing.....“You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

That's the only requirement to follow me. Leave it all behind.


This is a sad story. Luke wrote these words next, "When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy." 


What a tragic story. He couldn't/wouldn't give up his money to follow Jesus. 

The point

So what's the point. Sell everything you have. Be poor. Don't work hard. Give it all away.... right?

Kinda.


You see the irony of this story is that man who held the title of "Ruler" was a "slave"

He was a slave to his material possessions. That is why Jesus said, "Sell it all"

We can worship God or we can worship money but not both.
We can love God or we can love things but not both.
We can praise God or praise nationalism.


Each moment of our lives are filled with choices. We can chose to make wise or unwise decisions with those choices.

We can own our things or we can let our things own us....

Once again its a choice.


Conclusion

So....what?

I want to pose a question to see if you are slave to your things.... where do you run when you are sad? When you are disappointed? When you are upset?

Do you run to God or do you run to something else that promises to met your need but never will. Do you run to Facebook for love? Sorry honey that wont work. Do you run to another person? They will let you down....

We have become a nation addicted to instant gratification, addicted to our smart phones, addicted to oneself.

But there is hope.... lay it down. That thing that we are a enslave to.... dont wait for lent to give it up. Give it up now... for good.

And I pray by the power of the Holy Spirit you will learn you cannot be both a slave and free.

To All Fathers

Jesus called God His Father. Actually He came Him, "Our Father."

This was new revelation. A good Jewish boy would have never made God so familiar. But Jesus wanted us to know He is not only our Father but He is a Good Father. Later in Paul's letter to the Romans, he refers to God as our "daddy."


Fathers.... I think in order to be good father we first must learn what it means to be a good son. We can't father sons if we don't know how to be a son of our Father.

There is an amazing illustration given by Jesus of the fatherhood of God. This parable (or story) is called the parable of the prodigal son.

There is a younger son and an older son. The younger son rebels against his father. He asks for his share of the inhertiance and moves to a far country. Meanwhile, back of the ranch, the older son is working hard. "Earning his right as a son." Years go by and the younger son runs out of money. He decides to return home. Not as a son. But as a slave, as a servant. But while the son was a long way off the Father saw him. He ran to the son, not to kick his butt but to welcome him back into the family. The Father then procedded to throw him a party.

Yet the Older Son, in his pride, remains outside the party. The Father goes out to the Son and begs him to return to the party to celebrate his brother who was "Dead and blind" but is now "Alive and can see"

We are left at the end of the story with a big fat QUESTION MARK. What will the older son do? Will he be stubborn or will he enter into relationship?


So Friends, fellow Fathers (and mothers) how then shall we live?


Main Points 

1) Do you know you are a son?

Do you see God has your heavenly father?
Do you see God as the best possible father?

We cannot love our sons and daughters well if we do not know we are loved beyond measure by God himself.

2) Do we know we are welcomed home?

When we screw up, when we sin, etc

Do we know we have a place in our families? Or do we think we are failures? Do we think we need to "earn back" our families and God's approval?

If we are trying to earn approval from God and from others it will never come.


3) And Finally do we allow grace for others.

Or are we like the older brother?

The older brother did the "right thing for the wrong reasons" He did the right things because he wanted to earn favor from the father. He had no room for grace toward his brother because he didn't know he needed grace and forgiveness.


Fathers, I pray this Father's Day weekend you spent time with your families, I pray you ate a steak (or at least hamburger), I pray you played some cornhole.

But most of I pray you will know you are a son. I pray you will know that God can be your Father and as you embrace the Father's heart He will teach you how to father your children.

Try Harder

When I was in Youth Group, Brian and I had an inside joke going for years. When we played hockey or basketball and one of us made a hustle play we would say, "Dude, You try too hard."

We love rooting for the underdog that tried really hard and is where he/she is not because of natural talent but effort. And Effort is important. If you don't try you are not going to be successful at the majority of life.

But what happens when I try so hard that I don't take care of myself.....

Back Pack?!???

Imagine you are wearing a backpack. There is nothing inside the backpack. Just air. It's easy to carry.....

But then someone asks you do them a favor or two... okay... so you add a rock.

Each time someone asks you to do something for them you add a rock.

Not a problem! You are strong person. Until you start placing unrealistic expectations on yourself. And then that ONE PERSON. You know your co-dependent friend. Lay all of their burdens on YOU!

They take their backpack and ask, "Can you carry this for me?"

And of course, you do! You are such a nice person. But being nice can be tiring. And you continue to add more rocks and more responsibility and then.......you have a really heavy backpack.

You get the picture..right?


Back on track.

So what advice do I offer?

Two simple two of advice today for you.

1) Learn to say No.

I have learned I better if I can give 100% at the thing I am doing. If I cant give my all I try to say No. I am not perfect at this and I am still learning but as we pray and discern and think about our prioritises we can say Yes to important things and no to the less important.


2) Lean on Jesus

"Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."- Matthew 11:28


As we learn to say "No" I believe Jesus walks besides us and will take those dirty rocks out of our backpack. He will give us peace and rest in his presence.


Conclusion

We are steep in American Culture. Try Harder. Do More. Than you will be happy. But why be happy? Happiness is limited. It is short lived. Instead learn to be content. Content with your life. Content with what he is doing in your life and what He wants to do with you.

Yes, following Jesus, but not striving but relying. Not reaching but resting.

I pray that as you read this blog you are experiencing the peace of Jesus this summer. And if not I pray that He will teach you what it means to epxerence his goodness this summer! Amen.

"Who You Say I Am"

Hillsong wrote a song called, "Who You Say I Am"


My favorite part of the song is the bridge.....

"I am chosen. Not forsaken.
I am who you say I am.
You are for me.
Not against me.
I am who you say I am.
I am who you say I am."


But this is hard to believe right? As humans we make mistakes. We fall short of the expectations of others and of our own expectations.

But God values you. He doesn't just love you He likes everything about you.

I can be confident in who I am because I know who my heavenly Father is.

To look at this a little deeper we need to look at an amazing Old Testament Story: The story of Gideon.

The Story of Gideon 

In Judges 6, we find the Israelites doing evil in the Lord's sight. This phrase usually means they forget the goodness of God. They find their significance in things outside of God. We continue to do this today. Many find their worth in their relationships while others find their worth in their job. But these things can change in a moment.

That person you love could cheat on you, could divorce you, could die.
That job you love so much... well you might get fired, you might not love it any more, or it might get replace with technology.

That thing you love so much can and might let you down. Im not saying this to be a "downer" or say I don't do the same exact thing but to warn us to lean into the presence of God as our sole treasure and worship Him instead of false idols that promise to bring life but leave us empty.


After almost dying of starvation, God's people return to Him. SAVE US!!!! We are sorry. Like a child that is only sorry after they are caught Israel returns to her mother. But God is soooooo Good! Even when our motives are impure He welcomes us back 100%. Yes! You have always been my child.


But God works through people. And He chose Gideon. Gideon doesn't think he is worthy.

"How can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!"

He said, "I cant do it!"

And to that the Angel says AMEN! But God can do it through you!


Listen to what the Angel says to Gideon, "Mighty Hero, the Lord is with you!"


I think you have the wrong person. Mary, the Mother of our Lord, probably thought a similar thing years later. "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee." Excuse me. I am a virgin. I am poor. I am 12 years old..... I am not ready!!!!!!!!


Can God use you? Yes! Can God chose you to do amazing things? Yes


The first step is to remember who He calls you to be!

We look at our past failures or future worries to define who we are. But God doesn't do that. He defines you by who you truly are: A child. His child. His beloved Child.

And He declared Gideon a "Mighty Warrior"
And told Mary she was "Highly favored"

He looks at you and says, "Don't be a worrier, be a warrior."

Who does God call you? Ask Him. Spend 5 mins in silence. Ask him to reveal his love toward you. What does his face look like when he looks at you. Do you think he is disappointed or proud?

Conclusion

St Paul wrote, "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16)

Does this verse mean if I sin God is disappointed in me? No.

My son is learning to walk. He has not mastered it yet but he desires to run so badly. But He needs to learn to walk first. He will take a step and a half and fall down. But I am right there when he falls. Helping him up. Allowing him to grab onto my pant leg as we walk.

I believe this is a perfect picture for our Christian Walk. God has given us his spirit because He knew if we try to walk on our strength we would fall flat on our face and get discouraged.

But God says, "Child, I love you. Follow me. Believe in me. But also believe in yourself. Believe that me in you is enough to change everything."



Side Bar: I don't think I made it far enough through Gideon so there might be a part 2 to this blog.

How to be a better person (4 steps!)

What a catchy title!

Hopefully, if you are reading this, you want to be a better person. However, there are no secrets to becoming this "better person." It often is a long journey with hills and valleys. And as a poster in a high school guidance office might say, "a journey of a thousand miles begin with a single step." 

As a Christ-follower, I believe it is ultimately the work of the divine, Holy Spirit, that enables me to become a better person. With that being said there are plenty of ways we can partner with Him to grow and be transformed. As you will see in my first step (below) just reading this blog will not change you. You have to actually live life and be willing to be introspective. 

So lets begin.... with a parable.  Parable of the Good Samaritan30 Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.31 “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32 A Temple assistant[a] walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.33 “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. 34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins,[b] telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’36 “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.37 The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

If you've heard this story before I urge you to re-read it. We tend to gloss over the details if you have heard a story multiple times. Why was Jesus telling this story? His story, and most of his parables, are in response to questions....

An expert in the Jewish law approached Jesus and asked him which law he must follow in order to have eternal life. The average Jew observed 616 Old Testament laws. So which one is important? Jesus tells him it is simple... 1) Love God and 2) Love your neighbor as yourself. 

To a Jew loving God was easy. He was part of a chosen nation. He was circumcised. He went to temple. He studied Torah. He was set.

But love my neighbor? What does that even mean? You want me to love "outsiders?"

So the "expert" asks a question. "Who is my neighbor?" Who is this person I am obligated to love? This is where this story comes into action. 

This might be a good time for a sidebar. In the First Century there was a group of people known as the Samaritans. Jews did not like Samaritans. They viewed the Samaritans as "half-breeds." They treated them in this manner because they inter-married with non-Jews. This was a big "no-no." There is a lot more backstory but for the purpose of this blog just know that no Jew would ever want help from a Samaritan. As an American, imagine it is 2002. How are you feeling toward Muslims? 

This is such a dramatic story as the people that the Jewish expert would expect to help do not. Yet the Samaritan does. Jesus wanted to teach us that when we believe destructive things, like I'm better than someone else, it is as if we are left dead by the side of the road. 

The only saving grace for the Jewish expert, who is suppose to be the man on the side of the road, in the story, is to be saved by a Samaritan. Be saved by the person you hate or die. Ouch! 

So how do we grow? How can we be transformed into the person God wants us to be?

Step 1: Experience!

Nothing shapes us more than experiencing life. On Easter Weekend, My wife, son, and I went to Detroit for Opening Weekend of the Baseball season. Pirates were in town and we wanted to experience a new ballpark. 

On Saturday we went to the mall. A very urban mall. We were the only white people in the mall (besides the 20 or so police officers). 

And on Easter Sunday, we sat down next to a Muslim family in the hotel and ate breakfast. The woman were wearing head-covers. 

It's easy to look at someone of a different skin color or religion and be fearful. But why live life in fear? 

In the story, the man had to learn that even though some Samaritans are bad, making generalizations are harmful. Would he (or we) like people to make generalizations about us? Oh you are...... so you must be..... 

But as we experience life, as we experience new things, we should let those new experiences impact how we see life and other people. 

Step 2: Cognitive Dissonance 

Cognitive Dissonance is when your experience does not match your belief. One of two things happen. Either we change what we believe or we remain in cognitive dissonance (which leads to stress).  

Growth does not happen when we remain in cognitive dissonance however it is a good sign that you are growing when you experience differences between belief and practice. 

Is what I believe true? Have I been lied to? Or is my experience and understanding of the world limited? 

After the Samaritan helped the man and He was healed how would he respond? 

Could he go back to believing ALL Samaritans are unworthy of love and respect? 

How are your life experiences changing you? Or is everything black and white? "Of course, the ______ (political party) are evil.... they ___________ (action)."

"Of course, all ________ (religion) are evil... they ______________ (action)."

People do this with churches. My church experience was bad. I was judged. Therefore all church is bad. Or.... you just had a bad experience. 

People do this with relationships.... "My ______ (gf/bf/husband/wife) was a jerk/abused me.... therefore I will not get close to people again. 

Im not saying we should blindly trust people but I hope you experience some type of cognitive dissonance that leads to belief in people again. 

Step 3: Empathy 

The first two steps leads to deconstruction but now we must learn to reconstruct. 

This begins by showing empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. 

Am I able to 1) Forgive myself for the harmful things I believed? and 2) Treat other people as human. 

This second one sounds really simple. But do I respect what they feel? Do I believe they have something to teach me? Or do I know it all? Can I learn from a child? Can I learn from someone with less education than me? Can I learn from someone of a different race or political party?

Step 4: Growth 

This is the hard part. Actually choosing to not repeat harmful thought patterns. In sports, we call this "Muscle memory." Can you train your mind to think correctly? I believe you can. When you think a harmful thought replace it with the truth. 

You are judgmental because you see a poor person on a busy street in Pittsburgh. You think "They are not really poor, they are just trying to take my money." 

Replace that thought with "They may or may not be poor, that is not my job."

If you want to give them money fine... if not fine.. But judging them is only hurting you. 

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Final Thoughts 

The Journey to becoming a better person is a journey that will last your entire life! Being passive will not change you. Take action. Be willing to re-examine how you view your life and those around you.

Take a step today. Just do one thing. Listen. Learn. Rinse. Repeat. You got this! I'm rooting for you!!