The Present

The smell of “grandma’s” house, the sight of a previously owned home, the voice of an old friend. These things can bring a person back to a place in the distant past and rip it open like a present (no pun intended).

Now that “present of past” could be wanted such as the new iPhone or unwanted like finding out you just experienced identity theft for the third time. When the emotional floodgates open though, how will you fare? Will it sweep you away or will you be grounded with a strong foundation?

Today I had a chance to look back over the past year. I realized I am essentially in the same place that I was one year ago... sort of. Let me explain…

One year ago…
I lived in Kansas City, I was making plans to move, house was for sale, and I was on the verge of starting a church as soon as we moved.

Today….
I live in Chicago, I moved from Kansas City when our home sold, and the church opened its’ doors in January 2007 through a home bible study we began.

Although time has past and much has transpired, and things have changed - I find myself anxious at the gate again, waiting on God. You see, a year ago things were not going as planned. Our house was on the market for over two years. Two separate times we had contracts fall through (not on our side). Once the house sold, I couldn’t seem to find employment in Chicago. I think the distance made it difficult to interview. After a few months of living with someone else, I secured a job and was whisked off without having a chance to officially say goodbye to any friends because we were under the assumption that we would shortly return for a weekend that never happened for one reason or another. Having arrived a few months later than anticipated in Chicago, the weather was extremely cold which made church planting efforts really slow. The contacts that we had previously made prior to moving (you know, the “call me when you get there” people) never came through. About half of the mailer we sent out to people in the community came back a few months later as undeliverable (I’ve heard Chicago mail is the worst in the nation). We, by the grace of God, have some really great college students that have joined our church community, but have gone back to their homes for the summer leaving our living room quite empty. We recently started an outreach campaign and are anxiously awaiting the fruit.

So here I am. Waiting on God. Depending on God. Maybe things haven’t always gone as planned, but I know God is with me. Maybe the point is not what God is going to do, but what is God doing. I know he’s building the man I am to be, a man of patience and endurance, a man that can trust God when things don’t go according to plan, a man after God’s heart not his own, a man God can use.

Maybe waiting is actually “the present” from God (no pun intended) and “the present” is something I should enjoy because it’s from God. Enjoy the wait… the payoff is worth it.

Carpe Diem

Fear is a strange thing. It can often motivate an otherwise rational person to things that could be considered, well …irrational. It can keep a person from experiencing things that are otherwise thrilling, eye opening or things that just make life a bit easier.

Consider Joe. Joe got invited to a all expense paid trip overseas, but he afraid to fly. Now he could take a boat, but he is afraid of those. Swimming is out of the question - sharks. Not to mention Joe can't even get to the airport anyways because he is afraid to drive. He might be able to walk except he is afraid of getting sunburn. Joe would order sunscreen online, but he is afraid of identity theft. He could have his wife order it, if he hadn't been so scared of committment that he chickened out and never got married. Heck joe never even asked her out because he was afraid of rejection. I guess Joe will have to pass on the vacation.

If we allow the fear of anything to dominate our thinking, we will never experience the freedom, beauty and life that God intended for us. We will always stay where it is comfortable. We will never see breathtaking views from an airplane. We will never travel anywhere new. We might not even drive. We might never ask someone to marry us. We possibly will never have kids. We probably will never pour out our hearts to someone we love. We will never take risks. We will never commit to anything. We will never really live life to the fullest.

Jesus said in John 10:10 (NIV), “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

Don't let your life be robbed by fear... trust in Jesus and seize the day!

Carpe Diem.

The Devil Lives There: Part 2

I want you to imagine for a moment a set of parents. Now these parents have an only child and because of this they are super protective. They are so protective that they refuse to have an oven in the house for fear of their child getting burned.

This child will grow up never knowing the joy of coming home to freshly baked cookies, a hot meal, or even a home-made open-faced turkey sandwich (I’m hungry, can you tell?). The child will also never learn to interact with an oven correctly. He will either become scared of the oven completely and never get near it (evil oven), burn himself until he learns how to use it correctly, or read on the Internet or ask a friend how to use an oven without getting burned. If the latter, he could then start an adventure that could lead to a wonderful relationship between himself and the “hot” oven. He doesn’t have to worship the oven, but it sure would help get some good hot food.

A major problem in Christianity today is we tend to shelter ourselves into a “Christian” lifestyle. We find ourselves listening to Christian music as we read our Christian book as we sit in our Christian bookstore. We try on different Christian shirts and buy Christian music and only go to Christian events. We stick a Jesus fish on our car that we will only take to the mechanic with the Jesus fish on his sign and get a bill with a Jesus fish on it as well.

We just avoid the “evil oven” all together because we have been told many times that it will burn us and we are scared or maybe we’ve been told “the devil lives there”.

It is important for a follower of Christ to be exposed to certain things in culture in order to learn to discern. If a disciple is always told not to listen to do something because it might “defile” them, then that disciple will never learn to hear the voice and conviction of God on his own. There is timing and maturity involved, but eventually we need to grow in our faith enough to know what it means to be IN the world but not OF it.

Like the girl mentioned in part 1, she was able to recognize her area of temptation and avoid it because of her love for God and desire to stay pure. She didn’t call a boycott of basements. She didn’t have people picket near the door. She didn’t tell everyone else they couldn’t go into their basements. She simple lived life in response to her love for God and that inspired girls around her to make wise decisions following in her example.

There are some good hot meals out there to enjoy, but make sure you use an oven-mitt before taking some of them out of the oven and definitely don’t go near the oven with a gas leak because the devil might live there.

The Devil Lives There: Part 1

While I was working as manager of Homer's Coffeehouse a few years back, one of my co-workers told me a story about her friend. Apparently, her friend was in a dating relationship and trying to stay pure despite her own temptations. She came to the conclusion that to intentionally go to a place where it would be easy to give into temptation was a bad idea. Smart teenager. Therefore, she decided she would not go into her basement room to watch TV alone with her boyfriend because in her words, “The devil lives there!”

Obviously she doesn't mean that the devil literally chose to kick it in her basement rather than yours or mine. She was just recognizing her areas of weakness reflecting the thought that when we put ourselves in a place of temptation the devil can get a foothold through our own fleshly desires.

Pride comes before a fall, and to think we can put ourselves in areas of weakness because “it's not a sin” is usually a precursor to what we affectionately call FAMOUS LAST WORDS.

Of course it's not a sin to go in to a dark basement room and watch TV with someone you love. But if we are wanting to live a life of purity then it stands to reason that maybe we need to set aside our own rights at times in order to help protect us from ourselves. I mean, how long can an ex-alcoholic hang out in a bar without the temptation getting the best of him?

“I'm justa try-un to reach peoples heres in the tavuuuurn.” - sure you are buddy, but how easy is it to blow your testimony and give people more ammo to call Christians hypocrites. If you know that place is your area of temptation for you, maybe you should try to reach people elsewhere.

Situations vary for individuals, but the key is to be honest before God and heed the warnings and convictions of the Holy Spirit working in your life.

Proverbs 6:27 says, “Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?”

Lesson#1: Putting yourself in a place of temptation is basically getting a lap-dance from the devil.

Remember this next time you find yourself standing up for your rights to be in tempting situations and think twice remembering that “the devil lives there” and he might just be waiting for you!

< You are Worth Dying For >

This week we opened up our new outreach campaign: www.youareworthdyingfor.com

Consider it the Good News of the Gospel.

As followers of Jesus, we don't want to be "salesmen/women" of our faith, but rather representatives of a loving God to this broken world.

As we hand out business card sized flyers to others that say [ you are worth dying for ] on the front and [ find out why ] with our logo and website on the back it helps change our perspective. No longer can we just hand out a flyer without thinking about what it means to be a servant to others. The card itself forces us to identify with Christ by loving others to the point of our own personal discomfort and understand more of what that means to really be the church Jesus had in mind.

It's not a marketing campaign or slogan. It's more of a manifesto for each person who truly wants to follow Christ in every part of their lives. It's a call to action. It's a Revolution of Love!

ADVISORY: Not for the lukewarm.