Neil James slattery

What a crazy 24 hours.

At 8pm Tuesday night, jasmine started having contractions just a few minutes apart. So we rush down to Dubois to the hospital. Long story (which are better told in person) short. Our little miracle baby was born at 6:18am on Wednesday April 19th, 2017.


I say miracle because how else could a baby fit through that hole! But seriously after two miscarriages we decided late spring of 2016 to try a third time for a baby.

When we found out jasmine was pregnant, I was so scared. Could it happen again? Would we have to deal with another miscarriage. And I understand, I know some people have more difficulty than us but it was still hard because we knew God promised us a child.

But God came through. Because he's awesome. 


But I wanted to talk about his name. 

We chose the name Neil James slattery

James is a tribute to my grandfather. That is his name. It's also my brothers middle name. And my dad's saint name. 

But Neil? Why? Well, it's normal. In a world with people naming their kids crazy things it's nice to have an old fashion name.

But what does Neil mean?

The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", or "champion".

Most authorities cite the meaning of Neil in the context of a surname as meaning champion.

One of favorite bible verses is romans 8:37, "we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

I also saw this picture of my son kneeing at the cross where Christ was killed and defeated death. 

This idea of being a champion makes sense to me. I wrestled. Who doesn't want to be the champion?

But I have been ppraying/declaring that as my son grows he will know he is loved. Love by God. Loved by his community. And loved by his family.

I pray that as he knows he is loved and fully accepted just for being who he is.... a child of God.... that  he will be able to overcome anything Life brings his way. 

After all he is our champion. 

I think there is more to upload here but it will have to wait. It's time for my nap! 


We love you Neil! Thanks for gracing us with your presence. 

You will never let me down

 

I love Easter. I have started to realize that my favorite holidays are more weather related. It's wonderful having Easter this late this year. The sun was bright and baseball games were being played. 

 

And most of all its an important holiday (which means Holy Day). Sidebar: Don't get offended when someone tells you "Happy Holidays" in 8 months from now. Because Holiday really does mean "Holy Day"

 

Anyhow, as we wait for the arrival of my son this Monday after Resurrection Sunday I wanted to go back and read the "end of the story" from St John's Perspective.  

 

So This morning I read John Chapter 21. 

Jesus is alive. He already appeared to his disciples twice but had some unfinished business before His ascension into Heaven. 

So he goes down to the lake and He sees His friends doing a thing they loved to do. FISH

We think to ourselves? How could they go back to fishing? Their world was changed forever. Didn't they understand what was going on?

 

But the truth is we do the same thing! When something traumatic occurs in our lives it is actually healthy to run to a thing that brings us a sense of security. Something that makes sense.  This does not mean we are meant to stay in that place forever but it's good to have your place of safety and refuge. 

It is here that Jesus eats fish and bread with them and forgives Peter for his denial of Him. It is here that Jesus forgives him not once, but three times (one time for each denial).

 

 Do you remember the sequence? 

Quick review!

Jesus: Peter you will deny me.
Peter: Never, Lord.
Jesus: You will deny me three times before the rooster crows.
Peter: No, you are wrong.

Peter then proves Jesus right by denying him three times. 

This was a pretty traumatic three days from Peter's perspective. Not only did he deny his relationship with his Lord but also his best friend. Peter must have felt like he let down God. 

 

 

Have you ever felt like you let God down? Maybe you felt God calling you to do something for Him and you didn't deliver. Or maybe you had a situation similar to Peter where you denied knowing Jesus because it would not benefit you. 

The good news of the Gospel is two things.

1) We can never let God down because it wasn't about us earning his love in the first place. 

This idea of letting God down is rooted in pride and honestly a little bit of narcissism. I earned this. We need to be very careful in America. We tend to be people that value earning things. You know like the American Dream. 

The issue is God doesn't work like that. He is better than the American Dream. He gives of Himself freely to us. Our salvation was a gift. Our daily walking with him was a gift. 

If you think you have to earn a gift, then it was never a gift to begin with. 

We can't let God down, because He knows everything that is going to happen. He knew Peter would deny Jesus. In the same way, He knows our shortcomings. He knows when we are going to make a mistake. 

The amazing thing is: He takes our failures and "let downs" to bring glory Himself glory and works the bad things in our lives (collectively) for our good.

2) The Story of the Resurrection reminds us that God is willing to meet us right were we are.

The first disciples were not the "A" team. They were not the scholars. And many of them had troubling pasts. But God chose them. 

 

God chose Mary Magdalene to be the first person to witness the Resurrection. She was said to have been demon possessed at one point in her life. Talk about baggage.   

The disciples themselves ran back to the familar. When they faced the tragedy, they went to fishing. And we do the same. 

When we feel like we let God down we return to "old life" we once lived before we understood how amazing life could be with Him. But the amazing thing is God came running after them and He comes running after me.

 

 This story brings me hope because in my brain I know I can't let God down, but in my heart there are times when it feels like I did. Yet, I believe Jesus asks us the same question He asked Peter, "Do you love me?"

 

 

Then we can declare with a resounding: "YES, LORD, YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU." 

The Journey to the cross

The Message Bible Does a good job of describing Jesus' Journey to the cross. This is a selection I chose from Isaiah 53 (MSG)

• He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
  
  
• One look at him and people would turn away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
  
  
•  But the fact is, it was our pains he carried- our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
•  We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures.
  
  
• But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him- our sins!
  
  
•   He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
  
  
•  Through his bruises we get healed.
  
  
•  We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
  
  
•  We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
  
  
•    And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him.
  
  
•    He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn’t say a word.
  

•   Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence. 

To identify with Christ is to bear his burden. To look inside at our own lives and ask "how am I being selfish?" "How am I being self-centered." 

Jesus told his followers almost two thousand years ago, the way in which we can idenify with Jesus. 

"Then he said to the crowd, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me."- Luke 9:23


I hate verses like this. I sometimes wish I could find some white-out and not think about certain commands from Jesus. But it's there. 

And this verse forces me to trust God. Instead of me putting my faith in myself to be a better person, and trying to advance myself in this world, I have to trust in God. 

The way of self-denial is the way we were created to be. Think of your life. When are you most happy? Is it when things come easily? No. It's when you put others before yourself. When you see others succeed and grow.

When we lay down our lives and trust in God we know that He will work all things for our good. 

It might not be "good" in the way we see it but to be honest sometimes we are more like 3 year old toddlers than we would like to admit. 

Which toddler (or teenager) or anyone wouldn't want to eat a whole package of Oreos? 

Which parent would be insane to give those to their child?

Or would a parent be a good parent if they let their child have unlimited access to the internet? Of course not. Or just a few cigarettes (what could it hurt, right?)


Yet, we look at God when something doesn't go exactly according to our plan and get upset. We think, "God hates me."  or "God let me down."

Could God have something better in store for you? You may not be ready. You might think this is the best thing for you in the moment but it's not. 

Remember, Jesus, tells us to pray to who? Our Father. 

He is a Good Father. 

Jesus went to the cross. And it seemed like the end. 

Think about Mary, his mother. She was promised that her son would be the Messiah. But now? He is on the cross. I wonder what was going in her mind. Fear? Doubt? Grief? Depression? Who knows?

Jesus died on Friday and rose on Sunday. 3 days. A long long three days for those closest to Jesus. We know the story, we know he rose again. But they missed it. 

And sometimes we do too. We see our struggle. We see our pain. We see our disappointment. 

Good Friday can last a long time. Yet God is there with us through it all. 

And he says, "When you get to the other side of this, you are going to be happy that you had to go through it because you are stronger now."

But this becoming stronger in the kingdom of God does not come by trying and persisting. It comes by surrendering. By laying down our lives so God can work through us. This isn't a popular way of saying it in 21st Century Western Culture but by "Dying." 

Jesus, who was and is God, had to physically say, "Not my will, but yours be done." We, who are not God, need to echo this same phrase.So when days are shinning and bright, we can praise God for his goodness. And when days feel like hell, we can praise God because we know He is on the move. And we know Sunday is just around the corner.

Happy Holy Week everyone!

Remember, you are loved!

The Offensvie Gospel

We live in a world that is more polarizing than ever. We have people that are incredibly offensive and set in their ways and on the far end we have those that are offended by almost anything.

And I do want to throw out a disclaimer, because I don't want to offend anyone. I can only see life from my vantage point. As much as I want to see life from another's point of view, I do not know fully what you are going through or what is causing you to respond in hurtful ways. I heard once that "hurt people hurt people."

Okay, now that I have my disclaimer.....let's talk. What is offense? Well, in sports it's our scoring!
I shoot, I score"- said evgeni malkin. A football player might pass a ball, a baseball player hit a ball, basketball player shoot a ball, or a wrestler shoots a double leg take down.

Being offensive is attacking someone. A quick google search says, offense is.."causing someone to feel deeply hurt, upset, or angry."

The problem with most offensive people is they either don't realize they are hurting people or they don't care. Because they know the "Truth." 

But in same ways, the Gospel is incredibly offensive. It is offensive because it causes us to deeply challenge everything we have ever believed. Not only once, but it is so offensive that it causes us to examine our lives daily to this God that would become man and die for us.

The words, "For God so loved the world..." in 2017 is offensive. Shouldn't we just love those like us? When you look at sports, especially high school, its crazy the amount of hatred there are for other schools. I don't like you because you live 7 miles down the road.

Or Jesus' words from the Lord prayer: "forgive those who sin against us." 

No, no, no. I deserve to be mad. You don't know how badly they hurt me. 

So the point: Jesus wasn't afraid to offend people as long as it's motivated by Love. 

How about this story told by Jesus found in Matthew 20:1-16

This is the Parable of the Vineyard Workers.

In the story, a landowner is looking to hire people to work his vineyard for one day. He goes out looking at 6am for people to work the full day and promises them 1 day wage. He apparently does not find enough help because he goes out again at 9am, noon, 3pm, and once more at 5pm. 

The end of the day comes at 6pm. He calls those who were only working an hour and gives them a full day's wage. Of course seeing this, those that worked the full day, were so excited. If THEY got a full day's wage, how much more money will he give to us. 

Unfortunately for them, that's not what happened. One by one, they each relieved a full day's wage. Those that worked 12 hours looked at those who worked 1 hour with angry and greed. They turned to the land owner and said, "THIS ISN'T FAIR."

But the vineyard owner didn't break any promises. He didn't lie. He didn't deceive. He was well....generous. In fact that is what Jesus says directly, ""Don't I have the right to do what I want with my money? Or are you envious because I am so generous?"- Matthew 20:15

You see, God isn't offensive in the ways of man. 

He is offensive in his goodness. 


You see, God is so good. It's sometimes hard to believe. 

But we look at stories like this and think, "Well God isn't good because he isn't like me. He isn't a capitalist, making us work for our wage." (It certainly isn't communist or socialist. He is well better than any economic system we have).

He doesn't make us work for our salvation. He gives it freely. And that my friend is offensive to a world that wants you to work your way up a religious ladder. 

So what do we do when we feel offended?

1) Acknowledge your feelings are valid. You are really hurt. We do not stuff in it. Talk to someone. Then, when you are calm,talk to the person, and let them know you were hurt and let them know why. 

2) Don't let one little fight ruin your friendship with someone. If this fight is online or in person sometimes people have off days or we misunderstand what they are saying. Have some grace. 

3) Look inside your heart. Ask yourself, "Why was I offended?" 

This takes it a step further than our world wants to go. We either say, "I'm hurt, so they need to validate me" or "Feelings don't matter stuff stuff stuff."

Was this person being a jerk? Am I not getting enough sleep and that's why I was offended?

Or maybe there is a deeper issue?

Bill Vanderbush says, "God often offends our mind to reveal our heart."

When we are feeling offended, more times than not, something is going on in my heart. 

Ask God, "What do you want to teach me?"

I am sometimes, to be honest, offense is a good thing. It reminds us what matters. 

We should be offended when women are treated poorly. But then what do we do about it. I don't think its just enough to be offended and then hold it in. 

But other times we should ask ourselves, was it really that big a deal to be hurt by?

4) Look to Jesus. 

Okay, so probably not everyone reading here is a Christian. But Jesus, man He is awesome! Look to him. Sometimes he was offended. Look at the Scriptures, when was he offended? By injustice. May we too!

But did Jesus lose sleep over those that called him bad names? No. Im sure he just laughed in his spirit. 

The Gospel is offensive.
God is offensive. 

He is so much better than we deserve. In fact, he wanted to take on our sin so we could be forgiven.

Here's our charge for worship: May we be offensive in how we love one another.

But God....

This morning as I was preparing my youth message for Sunday I was amazed at a phrase that I believe God highlighted to me.

Maybe I should share some context. We have been doing a series on "Prayer."

We began by looking at what is known as the "ACTS prayer". You focus on praying for 4 things in this prayer.

Adoration
Confession
Thanksgiving
Supplication

It is intended to pray all at once but I have been taking it slow and teaching it part by part. Looking at different prayers of adoration in the Bible or prayers of confession.

This week we are on Thanksgiving and Supplication.

Thanksgiving is pretty clear but what are prayers of Supplication? They are simply making our requests known to God. "God I neeed......."

As I was researching and praying about this subject God gave me a phrase...... "But God....."

It is throughout the scriptures. Here are three! 

"My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."- Psalm 73:26

"You intended to harm me, But God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."- Genesis 50:20

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

A story of trusting in God

A story demonstrating this is Hannah's prayer for a son in 1 Samuel 1.

Hannah was conceive a child. She was even mocked for it. But God saw her.

Hannah declared a prayer of supplication. "O Lord of Heaven's Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut."- 1 Samuel 1:11

She couldn't have a son, she was having trouble. She could have given up. Even her husband wasn't helpful, he said: "Why be downhearted just because you have no children? You have ME- isn't that better than having ten sons?"

No, Hannah wanted a son. She could have been discouraged after hearing these words.

And many times we give up. When something isn't working we say "Well, it wasn't Gods' will." or "I can't do it."

And maybe you can't do it! Isn't that encouraging?

But God can.

And God did!

The Lord remembered her plea, and in due time she gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, "I asked the Lord for him."- 1 Samuel1:20


What about you?

 What problem are you facing today?

I want love that person but I can't stand them.
I want to control my angry but they are a jerk.
I want to interview for that job but I'm afraid.
I want ....... but I cant.......

When I (we) replace "But I cant" with "But God can" we transfer our hope from ourselves to God.

I WANT you to know that no matter the mountain you are facing it is not too big for God to change and transform.

This is the overarching theme of the Bible. Things are going horribly But God steps in and saves the day.

Do you need this kind of God? I do.  And that is what God does for each one of us!

Remember, Jesus died.......But God raised Him to life.

NO PROBLEM IS TOO BIG! Not death, not sickness, not mental illness, not financial issues, not my lack of faith! Nothing is too big for God to come in and save the day!


Let's declare:

Abba Father, I dealing with this problem ___________________________________. This problem feels overwhelming But God YOU ARE GOOD. There is no mountain too big for you. Give me the power to transfer my trust to YOU.

The need to belong (The 3 B's of Youth Ministry)

Youth Ministry is tough.

Not to say other fields are not but there is some unique challenges facing Youth today. If you work with Youth in any way (a teacher, a pastor, a coach, or even a parent) you understand.

Some days we see teens (and pre-teens) act wise beyond their years. We may think things like "wow, you are really growing up!" While other days they make you want to jump in your car and just start driving for miles and miles and miles.

Okay! Maybe its not that bad. But with kids, teens, and even adults (yes, you!) we take two steps forward and one step back. I think part of the problem is we assume growth is linear. We assume (which we should never do as my 8th grade math teacher would say "because it makes a you know what out of "U" and "ME.") that we mature after one teaching, or one experience. But that simply is not the case. Some experiences are life-changing while others need to be taught over and over and over again.

Its why I love sports. You learn how to do something in sports by doing what? Practice! Practice? (in my horrible Alan Iverson voice). Yes, practice.

As athletes practice the drill, the play, the move something incredible is happening. Its called: Muscle memory. I had a coach who once told me: "Practice does not make perfect, practice makes permanent. In other words, the more you practice something the more it becomes second nature to you. You can hit a sweet "high crotch single to a fade-away" on the wrestling mat without thinking. Why? Practice.

Okay, enough of sports. Back to ministry. Back to life. What do we all have in common?

The "thing" that we all have in common is the need to belong. But I think the problem is we make belonging hard to do. Especially in the church. If you believe this.... then you can join and become a member.

We model (many times) it like this: 1) Believe, 2) Behave, and then you may 3) Belong. 

Its the Roman style. And we eat it up in the WEST. But what if this isn't the best model. It's not the best model because it causes someone to completely change what they think in order to belong to something. I mean that doesn't sound good. That sounds like a cult to be honest with you. (DO NOT DRINK THE KOOL-ADE)

The Celtics change it up: They Say: 1) Belong, 2) Believe, and then you will start to 3) Behave.

They saw belonging as the foundation for changing one's beliefs and behaviors. It's a pretty cool model. But I think we can do even better!

 I want to keep the first two actions the same and change the third.

First we 1) Belong, then we 2) Believe, and finally we 3) Become. 

Become what?

Become who God has called us to be. Belief is a good thing in this context. Belonging is important when we understand we are apart of a community that loves us, that cares about us, and wants to see us grow.

If this is the case, then we can start to challenge our preconceived notions of the world around us. What does it mean to be a Christian in a world that loves to hate, in a world that loves to separate, in a world that loves to exclude?



As our beliefs are challenged (remember within a community) we are then able to become. We are able to know we are loved (belong) and we will not fear being excluded for challenging the status quo.

But It has to start with belonging.

I urge you brother and sister to seek belonging. Seek a place of refuge where you can grow. I desire to do this greater in my context with Youth in Ministry. Create a place of belonging, so they can believe the truth (that God loves them and has a plan for their life), and so they ultimately can become who God has made them to be.

Peace and Love as we journey together.

Reflections from Rudolph

Rudolph the red nose reindeer was a victim of bullying!

 Do you remember that Red-nose savior of Christmas? Rudolph.

What a story of triumph!

What a story of over coming the odds!

But should we teach this story to our children?

In this story, or song, our main character is bullied. He is called names and is not allowed to play in any reindeer games.

Santa Claus, who apparently, is able to  know the merits of every little child on planet earth, neglects to step in when the misfit Rudolph gets bullied and neglected.

It is only in a dash of desperation that they include Rudolph. It was a foggy Christmas Eve and Santa came and said, "Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you lead our sleigh tonight?"

What if Rudolph declined? No! You picked on me for all these years, I am not helping you! Seems more likely, right?

Instead, Rudolph, not only joins the other reindeer in the journey but is put in the front!

So, am I making too much of this story?

Ya. Probably.


Yet, we need to be careful what we teach our children through story.

As we have arrived in the season of ADVENT, we prepare for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

A misfit if you will. He was born in a manger, without a legit father. He was called a bastard child. He grew up in the backwater town of Nazareth. But this underdog (by the world's standard) was no underdog at all. He held the whole world in His hands and allowed Himself to become a baby, who needed a diaper change. But that infant would grow up and die on a cross so we could be saved.

So, Jesus is a little more important than Rudolph. But in their stories they are both the victor, the champion, and the Savior (if you will!)

How should we approach Christmas with our children! Giving gifts right? Maybe.

But what about those who are being bullied? What about those who are being forgotten? What if we teach our children (by modeling it ourselves) to include others in our "Reindeer games"?

What if we use this story to illustrate how the characters could have acted differently? Santa should not have neglected Rudolph all these years and could have used this as a teaching moment to include everyone!

So maybe you need to learn how to include others or......

Maybe you are the outcast. You can identify with Rudolph. No one wants you till they can use you for their own goal. And I'm sorry you feel that way.

But, according to Jesus, you are more valuable than you think.   Your value was determined on the cross. You were (and are) worth dying for.

I don't care if you have a mole, you have a disability, or even have a shinny red nose. God loves you just the way He created you to be.

This Christmas: may you know you are loved by God. May you know that when others treat you unfairly that He is with you and He is for you! But May you also have the courage to stand up for those that are being mistreated. May you look for the treasure in others and this can only come by friendship.

Merry "very early" Christmas!