The Own Goal

The game of soccer is quite obscure to me. I've watched many times but rarely, have I come to totally comprehend the sport. It's a curious game to me. So much is determined on spacing and timing. More coordination than maybe even Sychronized Swimming (which I'm not sure I'm ready to call a sport).

At any rate, while much planning and coordination goes into this sport, there is always a very specific moment where a goal requires absolutely no coordination and sychronization at all. A moment when the chance of someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time, doing a specific action with a result that usually changes the game's feel, pace and momentum.

The Own Goal.

Hardly ever a purposeful action, it produces the worst feeling in the world. Never feels good, always makes the doubt inside of you rise to levels never felt before and typically gives the other team a spark they might not have experienced otherwise.

Reminds me of the battle we face, as followers of Christ. Those moments in our lives when we score a goal for the other team. The moments when we simply choose to ignore the guidelines we have been given to help us live lives that are holy and set apart.

The crazy thing is that when we commit these moments of unforeseen disobedience, it makes us feel unwanted, unworthy and unqualified, and most times these are our own applications of shame.
So, today, when you tally that Own Goal, remember He saw it coming. He died for all of it. And no matter what, you are wanted, you have been made worthy, and you are qualified to do the work He has set before you.

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? - Romans 6:1-3

GC

What is Jesus to You?

A couple of weeks ago, Kenny McIntyre, a fantastic guy with a great big heart for students, shared in our AWAKE service about his life and some of the things that he's working through. Kenny challenged us through his story to recognize Who is Jesus to us; What role does Jesus play in our lives?

I read this passage:

For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? - Romans 8:23

It's crazy to me and yet still a struggle for me is the need to "feel" blessed by what God can provide for me. I have recently moved from needing "things" to just needing "signs" and "feelings" that God's presence was around. But really, is that what I want? Do I really want everything that God is encapsulated into one moment or being?

God is so much more than just a "good feeling" or a moment of joy.
God is so much more than a new car or a girlfriend.
God is so much more than ________________.

Got me thinking about who Jesus is in my life. I can say that He is everything, but is He truly everything? I mean come on. Do I really think that God is going to provide the lasagna from Fazoli's that I really want right now? Do I really think that God is going to usher a very nice female figure into my life right now? See both of these things can display God's power and maybe at some point, Jesus, through His Spirit will bless me with these things. But, there comes a point at which I want the blessings of Jesus more than I want Jesus.

What about you? If you were truly honest with yourself, what things do you want God to bless you with and you would be content? Is Jesus truly The Blessing? The Hope? The Reward?

GC

Leading by Example?

I attended Pastor's Prayer Partners a.k.a. Men's Prayer Breakfast a.k.a. Freaking Early Prayer & Free Food Time today and a couple things came out of that time.

1.) I need to be a part of that a lot more often. It was so refreshing to be with older guys that have been in so many different places and seasons of life. In addition it was awesome to spend focused prayer times with those guys.

2.) The theme of "example" came out of the morning. As a group we were celebrating Pastor Dave's Birthday and speaking words of encouragement and prayers over him. Through this time, it was clear that his example was one of the critical, if not the entire origin, of Dave's leadership. And, truthfully, I am extremely blessed to work in an environment that allows for me to follow the example of the men and women I serve alongside.

This got me thinking about this idea of "example." We have many different examples that are thrust to the forefront of our lives because of social status, public office and popularity. These people have assumed the call to lead in some way and have been given a sphere of influence. They are examples to some sort of following and, in some cases, that is really scary. But in others, that is extremely good and a very positive thing.

Paul gave us a perspective in 1 Corinthians 11:1 that sets the need for leaders and those with influence to lead by example: "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." The NIV states it more directly, "Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ." The hard part about all this is thinking that Paul wants us to be like him. See, we have to get over the fact that Christ wants us to be like him, not do the things that Christ did, but to be like him. Follow His example and live lives that resemble the life that he might have lived.

In this society, it can be so hard to follow people. We have recently seen a number of "failures" by people who were supposed to be examples because of the influence that they had over people. Whether it is Floyd Landis, Lawrence Taylor or Mark Souder, situations like these make it very difficult to follow people in this world.

In addition to these, we have a crazy inability to actually imitate and not try to recreate the people that we take as examples. We try to carbon copy the people that are imitating instead of trying to live by their example. I'm guilty of this in many situations. Instead of taking from Dave's example or Derry's example or Louie's example or Francis' example, I try to recreate the things that they did. I wouldn't try to "imitate" them at all. And this isn't healthy.

So, today, I commit myself to imitating the examples in my life. I dedicate to following the Godly men and women in my life by taking notes and applying them, within reason, to the situations in my life.

Who are you taking your example from?
How are you trying to imitate them?

Monday Morning Musings: Do you have a Pressure Release Valve? How's it working?

Today, I have already had a thought pop into my head that might be worth sharing. I know, crazy... I credit the Main Street Quad Cafe Mocha with Caramel for the thought and the Gloria Martin batch of Maxwell House Coffee from the Main Office for the ability to stay focused enough to write this post.

This morning, I woke up to a received text asking the question, "How do you get rid of unwanted pressure?" So now you know why I couldn't just respond via SMS. I'm not even sure that I could accomplish that in 1000 characters in a MMS and thanks to Blackberry, I don't have XMS like some LG users. No comment.

My initial response was, "Do you have a pressure valve?" Of course my cryptic response needed some detailing (as do most of my explanations). So this is me detailing some of what I am talking about.

We all get ticked at some level. Whether we show it (like me) or hide it (like you), we all get frustrated at some level. You can try to deny it, but I won't believe you. Sometimes, it is repeated frustration from the same source that drives us up the wall, or grinds our gears. When this happens we can begin to have the unwanted pressure towards someone we love or someone that we have to like. In either of these cases, nothing about the situation is comfortable or desirable. So what do we do?

Enter the Pressure Release Valve (PRV). Interestingly enough, we all have these as well. Why? Because we are all humans and at some point, we just can't take the pressure that some people try to heap on us, intentionally or unintentionally. This valve is the thing that protects us from having too much stress in our lives and, ultimately, protects our heart and the relationships that we have in our lives. Think of it as God's way to keep us in relationship with some of those "Sandpaper People" that we need to remain in connection with whatever reason.

The thing about the PRV is that it can release in any direction, release towards the source, or re-route the pressure to a place that is safe and disperse the pressure safely. As it stands in relationships, it is pretty clear that there are some better options here than others. Releasing in any direction, spewing the pressure can be very unhealthy for you and the people around you. People get hurt, relationships are destroyed, never to be mended for a long time. Releasing back towards the source can have its advantages and disadvantages. It gets your point across to that person, letting them know how you really feel about the situation. It gives them a real warning about how much pressure you were harboring. But, it also allows them to feel the brunt force of the pressure, adding pressure to their life and building the pressure up against their PRV.

It is pretty clear that the best kind of PRV is the one that re-routes the pressure to a different place in order to truly relieve the pressure in the lines. Routes it through a filter perhaps and collects the stuff that is still able to be used, giving you the opportunity to utilize the good things that can come out of relieved pressure; like a filter. This can be someone or something that you do that allows you to release the pressure and still hold on to the thoughts and desires that will benefit both you and the person or situation that is building this pressure in your life.

The critical thing with PRVs is to realize that they are not the last stop. In any re-routing process, the good things, the things that need to be re-used, must make it back to the source. In order for things to be truly relieved, you have to help the source recognize what's going on in the "system," or relationship. If this part of the re-routing isn't properly administered, there is no way for the source to be adequately altered to relieve the pressure and this whole process will take place again.

So who or what is your Healthy Pressure Release Valve?
How does yours release the pressure in your heart?
Does it just explode in any direction?
Does it point back towards the source of the problem?
Does it re-route the pressure in your life?
What changes do you need to make in your pressure relief system that will allow you to live more healthy?

Sexual Impurity vs. Sexual Health

Lately, I haven't prioritized blogging. That's clearly evident as I had trouble writing that first sentence. The thing about blogging, is it makes me think critically about my world and the things that I am experiencing. Ironically, I haven't been thinking too critically about, well, anything. That ends today folks!

I want to revisit a thought that was rattling around my head the other day. It's the idea of Sexual Health vs. Sexual Purity.

I am not Sexually Pure. It's not even something that has really even been on the radar for most of my adult life (I'm not really sure when that started... adult life, that is). And as much as I would like to blame this on culture and its ability to "sexualize" just about anything, I have no one to blame but myself, because I have a choice. Every time. I have a choice. Do I align myself with God's Will to overcome sin and my sinful nature, or do I choose to give into the chains and weights of that sinful nature? But the thing is, for many of us, this question doesn't come up early enough in the process of experiencing something that could lead us to impurity. We ask that question either, right before, or during the "act" that we would rather not partake in. And for many, the barricades, are no where near far enough from the cliff of sin as they should be.

In many senses, we have, over time, allowed the term "Sexually Pure" to define those of us who have remained free from the act of sexual intercourse and from anything else that would not allow us to be "pure." But that seems to be quite the problem when it comes to sexual purity. Pure, by its very nature is without fault; without blemish; containing nothing but the original, most purest form of whatever you are describing as pure. So, in essence, my question is not to inquire about how to be sexually pure, rather, can you be sexually pure. Biblically, it seems almost impossible to be "pure" in any sense (Rom. 3:23).

It seems ironic to me that Christians are the biggest proponent of being sexually pure, yet we (and I say we because I have lived most of my life inside this school of thought) define "Sexual Purity" in terms probably better defined by celibacy. We "save" ourselves for our husbands and wives, yet the only thing that we have been saving is our "first time" of having intercourse. We settle for this being sexual purity because we have made something that, even in our own terms, is unattainable by any human being, save for the God-Man, Jesus. We need to come to terms with the fact that we are most likely not going to be "Sexually Pure," ever.

I am beginning to define myself as striving to be Sexually Healthy. Of course, I'm not sure that I could even describe this idea without being convicted of my own short-comings to such an expectation that I am about to outline, but, if He can speak through a donkey, I should hope to be "usable."

I'm convinced that in no way will we ever attain "Sexual Purity." Sorry folks, just don't see it happening. In no way am I licensing anyone to throw out standards either. As a matter of fact, the point to which I am making has more to do with striving for Sexual Health in our thought life and allowing that to translate into your ability to glorify God through a more pure lifestyle. Jesus talked about this in Matthew 5 and specifically in verse 28.

Sexual Health is a way for me to put the guardrails in my mind close enough to the road that I have a very hard time falling off of the cliff. To be sexually healthy is to push away anything that could lead us to the thoughts, acts and urges that bring on the chains and shame that is accompanied with sexually damaging thoughts and actions.

So for now, our goal should not be to avoid sex. Our goal should not be to avoid any act that reflects the sinful nature that we all possess. Our goal should become striving for thoughts that glorify God. Our goal should be to see sex as the gift from God that it is and see it in its unadulterated state.

Together, let's avoid the movies, or the parts in movies, that don't allow us to do any of the above. Turn off the tunes that reference sex as some kind of service that is expected of either party in a relationship. Shield our eyes, ears and ultimately our hearts from the perversion of this beautiful gift that has been given to those who unite under covenant before God.

TalkBack:
What is your definition of Sexual Purity? How do you attain it?
Do your boundaries hold when they are under the intense pressure of temptation?

I'm sure that this conversation will continue as I process through this. Join me in the journey!

It's been a pretty good time since I have written lately...

With Derry being gone and so many other things seeming to take place, my nights have really been a time of recovery through the medium of the television. Not exactly the healthiest thing in the world, but that's changing.

Anyways, lately, this is where I have been living...

I'm finding myself coming back to a place of desperation.
I am hard-pressed to find enough praise in this world to be worth anything in my spiritual bank account.
I have discovered that there is nothing that compares to being at a place of utter brokenness and peace in the arms of my Father.

I can't find the source of this newly discovered understanding of scarcity, however, I remain confident of one thing, The One thing, The Only Thing.

I am dedicate myself to a steadfast, continuous and unwavering journey towards the Cross.
I apply myself to a tenacious undertaking that will require only the whole of my life and my being...

I think this describes where I find myself lately...

Clearly this is a terrible technique to counseling... or is it?

As stupid as it may sound to some people, sometimes I think we just need someone to tell us to "Stop it." Even when it doesn't seem like it is the best way to go about it.

If you want to continually see the Greatness of God, you have to get stuck on the Grace of God and not the greatness of our Sin.

On Wednesday, Derry talked about being in the awe of God and recognizing His greatness and awesomeness. All of this comes out of Isaiah 6 and the beginning of that chapter. I find it interesting where we can easily find ourselves and even where we can think we see Isaiah in this passage.

In Isaiah 6, Isaiah exclaims, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;..." This statement is huge at this moment because it shows Isaiah's recognition of how Great God is. But, I fear that we can have a reaction to this comment that is not what the point of the scripture, at all.

See, when Isaiah cries out how "unclean" he is and the people he is with in comparison to God, we can get on the mentality, quite quickly, that Isaiah was having a moment of recognition of the sin in his life. I think we find it easier to identify with that mentality rather than identifying with the truth of the scripture, which is much more important than the recognition of our sin.

If you look back to the beginning of the chapter, Isaiah describes how Great God is through the things that he sees.

"High and lifted up..."
"The train of his robe filled the temple."

These two statements are huge in understanding what God wants to express through this passage. Do we not recognize that Isaiah is AMAZED, AWESTRUCK and COMPLETELY WRECKED because of what he saw. Isaiah does not give us a laundry list of the things that he was being convicted of in his own life. But he recognizes the Huge-ness of God, the Power of God and the recognition of all of this compacted into this one encounter. Sure, Isaiah says that he is man of unclean lips and that the people of the earth are a people of unclean lips. But, there is a huge thing that we miss in most cases when we read this passage.

Does Isaiah recognize that he is a sinner. Absolutely.
Is he probably running through the list of things that makes him unclean. Most likely.

But, if you look in verses 6 and 7 we have a huge lesson to learn. The seraph touches Isaiah's lips with the burning coal and says, "your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for." This is HUGE and my main point!

We have the tendency to recognize God's Greatness, move towards recognizing how unclean we are and how insignificant our lives actually are, but we take so long looking at ourselves that we forget to go back to the messages that God wants to send to us. We get so focused on ourselves and the things that we can think about and comprehend that we forget to go back to the Grace that we can't even come close to comprehending or understanding. We get stuck on ourselves and not stuck on the Greatness of God.

If you want to continually see the Greatness of God, you have to get stuck on the Grace of God and not the greatness of our Sin.

Tonight and a number of things...

Tonight we continue to venture into the depths of salvation and the aspect of GRACE. What does GRACE do in our lives? I'm really excited about tonight and the freedom that I feel God is calling us to experience.

Along the same lines, yesterday, I took a quick, informal poll of the people who happened to be in the Student Ministries Office at the time on how they would describe GRACE in one word or phrase. I was struck by one of the responses that came from a number of people; FREE. I think that it is interesting that we call it a free thing. I guess as I continue to study GRACE, I am struck by the cost that it took to make it free for me. As my former economics teacher used to say, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." Of course he was referencing the Law of Scarcity in Economics, however, I see a law of scarcity evident in the economics of grace. Grace isn't free. It's incredibly deep cost was paid for by a being that was completely and utterly perfect in character and nature. It was a debt that was covered by the One who had no debt. Have we forgotten that cost as we consider Grace? Have we forgotten the price that had to be paid, in order for us to recognize a true, redemptive relationship with Jesus Christ and God our Father that includes a connection with the Holy Spirit?

I realize that I am on a bit of a soapbox with that, but even the interchangeable words of "free" and "gift" completely change the context of Grace. Reasons for why we don't see a gift as something more profound can be explained in many ways, but I am convinced that we need to begin to see Grace as something that is given to us. Paul explained to Timothy that "the grace of our Lord was poured out on me..." and that it came from his faith and love in Jesus Christ. This grace is given to us because of a cost. I pray that I continue to see that revelation in my life.

In other news, a friend of mine just recently found out that her dad is going to be entering a battle for his life as he is going up against cancer. He went in today for biopsies to see how advanced the cancer is and where to go from here. As my mom marks one year of clean tests and no cancer, would you lift up my friend's dad? As we celebrate a year of victory over this dreaded disease, would you celebrate in prayer? Thanks.

See you tonight!

New Perspective on an Old Story

The past few days have been a bit of an interesting twist as I have been discovering what I need to do in order to establish some spiritual disciplines in my life as well as other disciplines that help me be closer with Jesus. So, to that end, last night, I began by turning off the Bears game for the last 4:30 to read from Forgotten God, Francis Chan's latest offering to the world. More on that later. Then this morning, I was getting myself to an awakened state and I was just convicted to read the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So I turned to Daniel 3 and began to re-read the story of these three friends that were contemporaries of Daniel, even friends of Daniel, yet were at a much different place King Nebuchadnezzar than that of the writer of the story.

This week I am prepping a message for Wednesday that includes challenging to students to walk the halls of their schools while actually living out their faith; giving thought to the reason that they live while they interact with those that may not have the same hope in eternity. Why, you may ask, does this connect to these three guys? Well, I'm glad you asked because I don't think that it applies to these three guys. I think that there are many lessons to be taken from this story that apply to the message that will come on Wednesday. However, The biggest thing that I took from my reading today hit me like a ton of bricks.

Youth, as a term, has begun to define a period in our lives in which we are released from responsibility (besides regular chores PERHAPS) and rarely face the fact that these are probably the most important years to be making decisions about life and priorities in life. I experienced this in my own life. I never really had to make difficult decisions or take much responsibility for myself when I was a teen. As a matter of fact, I lived a pretty carefree life. I biggest concern was making sure that Mom and Dad were happy and that the people around me liked me enough to invtie me over to their house for the next big gathering. Then college came around and I was quickly faced with decisions about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, who I would marry, what I would do to repay the institutions of my education and what political party I would affiliate myself with for the rest of my life.

So here are four guys, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah who are your typical popular person. Not because they wanted to be, but because of their parents' position in the nation of Israel that get selected by a chief of the court. But these guys make a decision, early in their lives to live out their faith; to be real people of God. And because they decided to do that, they learned what their God was about, what He had done and what He promised to do. They were solid in what they believed. And then, society (Ashpenaz, the chief of the King's court) names them something different than their original names; their original purpose. The Society that these four friends are thrust into tries to define them and give them different roles than what God had a plan for; change their stance and give them little responsibility (they were made servants of the King).

What I have taken from this is the need for students of this generation to rise up and fight the lack of challenge that they have been faced with; the lack of responsibility and trust to do great things. I was thinking this morning that I live so vicariously through my students. And generally, I would say that is a bad thing; whether it is a dad who is trying to relive his days as a stud, or not so stud, quarterback through his son, or any other type of situation. I want to see these students break free of the seemingly unbreakable chains that bottle students up and jade them into thinking that they aren't able to accomplish much of anything. I guess you can consider me a hypocrite.

It's time to break the twine that is holding us all from doing great things! This world has no power over me becaue of the power that lives in me and you. May you see Him alive in your life today.

¹⁶Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? -1 Corinthians 3:16

Living for Tomorrow...

This video was posted on YouTube a while ago. I saw it as I was searching for something else. But this message has hit me square in the face. I think that it is because of where God has placed me and how He is showing me what it means to be at a place that I can be used completely; without any hindrance. This video is just a snippet of the entire thing that can be viewed here.

I wanna be that guy that counts my life of no value to me. I want to suffer for Christ. That's right, I said it and I believe it. I want to be a true Son of God. I want my life to be the testament. I want to be closer to Him than the food that I eat, the water I drink, and the strength that I have.

I wanna see my ticket as the only thing that I desire. I want a bloodstained ticket that I never let go of because that ticket is the only thing that I prize.

Lord, I give myself to you EVERYDAY. That I might finish the work that you have given to me in this day. God allow me to be faithful to you in my job; my calling; my vocation. Allow me to be radical in how I sacrifice my life for you. Give me strength and give me wisdom to follow YOU! Not the World! Not my Desires! Follow after you!

Amen.

Thank you Brother John.