So grateful for all I have in this life…
- Family
- Friends
- Abundant provision
- Things that have, and have not worked out as planned
- Jesus
- and so much more…
HAPPY THANKSGIVING Everyone!
A few of my favorite quotes on being Thankful:
“Thank you, dear God
For all You have given me,
For all You have taken away from me,
For all You have left me.”
(unknown)“Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion. Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception. Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude.
Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road.”
[John Henry Jowett]“Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings than for those we once enjoyed
or those we enjoy now.”
[A. W. Tozer]“O Lord, who lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.”
[Shakespeare]“You say, ‘If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.’ You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled.”
[Charles Haddon Spurgeon]
While at the Broncos vs. Lions game yesterday, my wife snapped a picture of a guy from behind dressed as Jesus (robe, sandals, long hair and even a crown of thorns - with a Tebow jersey and a wooden cross underneath to complete the ensemble).
I wondered if he did it to make fun of, or to be respectful. I doubt most people’s initial reaction would be the thought of respect. Sure enough, they showed him on screen and it his antics pretty much proved lack of respect and then tried to do a Catholic Cross that failed miserably.
I wonder, if this was making fun of any other God (you know which ones bring the most fury) - would mainstream society be ”outraged” and calling ”for an apology” or ”demanding this fan be banned from games forever”? But because it’s Jesus, is it ok because it’s held in large pockets of society that “Christians are oppressive and mean” (a far cry from how Jesus really was - but that’s a different post). Or what if it wasn’t a God, but making fun of someone or something marginalized in society today?
What should the response be? What should Christians response be?
It takes a lot to offend me, but even I wasn’t sure what I thought of it…
My buddy Brandon reminded me that when we are told to “turn the other cheek”, it is actually in response to being offended, not necessarily getting beat up.
Thoughts?
It’s been a few weeks since the end of our big conference, General Assembly 2011, for Youth for Christ International.
I wanted to take a minute to reflect on this great and special week for me.
If you’re on my mailing list for YFC, you know that my role at GA was to coordinate the Pastoral Care/Counseling Team and the Medical Team for the week. Not only is this something that is so close to my heart, but it was an honor to help serve our YFC Family in this way. The people that served on both teams were absolutely awesome and pleasure to work with. Professionals through and through.
I loved getting to meet so many people who either I correspond with through email, phone, etc…, but never get to face to face; or those who knew my wife Corrie when she was a Missionary in Ghana with YFC. It was fun to spend time with former bosses, who remain friends, who have shaped my ministry experience through the years.
There are three things I took away from GA that has really furthered my gratefulness to be a part of YFC right now…
- Realizing I am a part of something so much bigger than what I just do in the International Office. There are amazing people all over the world doing great things for Jesus. Many without much funding (or at all), some even fearing for their lives as they do their work.
- I was impressed how the speakers and teachers handled controversial issues. We talked throughout the week about Truth, Mission Drift, Universalism, Hell, Pluralism, Evangelism, Discipleship, etc… Despite many varied ideas and thoughts on how to do ministry, theology, styles and personalities… we seem to be moving together in the same direction for the most part. Differences were listened to and discussed, and fellowship still happened after the discussions! :) The “making an enemy of everyone who thinks different” spirit wasn’t there. There seemed to be respect for others, and truth in love, not really truth in fear. It was really cool to see the difficult things in our faith be stood for, without needing to publicly bash other people. It was very impactful.
- Lastly, I truly felt valued and was given a lot of responsibility for the week. From the top down, I felt useful and wanted. That goes a long way in all of our lives when that happens. To serve the YFC Family in a manner that is so close to my heart, was a tremendous boost.
Thank you all for your prayers, and for any financial gifts you gave to help my conference costs.
Very grateful!
- Image by theunabonger via Flickr
On my way home yesterday, saw a SUV sporting a “JESUS SAVES” on one side, and “Acts 2:38” on the other.
And they used the - “please give me massive letters so people could see it from space” version. Obviously, it is not new to see these kinds of things on cars, or bumper stickers like it. (but it still got me thinking about it - and I guess it worked on me huh!) :)
My honest question(s) is: Does this really work overall, and is it good - whether it works or not?
What if in a ratio of perhaps 1 to 30 (just a range, not scientific here), it pisses off 30 people who want nothing to do with God and further alienates them from wanting to know anything about God or Christianity; or it truly leads 1 person to read that verse and decide that they really do want to follow Jesus and His life? Do we take that 1, and just count the 30 as bitter and not caring anyway? What if the 1 only “prays the prayer” but doesn’t do anything with their faith, was it good enough to do just to get someone some “fire-insurance” (if that happens)? [ref]1. I’m not knocking praying a real prayer of wanting to follow Jesus, I’m responding to not doing anything with your faith after that, that how someone lives doesn’t change at all from that point on - if it is the starting point.[/ref]
Or is it whatever gets the message out, and that’s for God to deal with in how others respond (and He thinks “Chris” should just shut up and not ask questions about it?) ;)
Thanks for your civil and respectful thoughts (on both sides) :)
Look forward to the chats we have on these types of things!
- Cover of Stuff Christians Like
While leading Communion last week, we wanted to emphasize a little about community and what it takes in relation to church - with our group.
So I had been reading the book - “Stuff Christians Like” (yes, it’s satire) and I came across a little section on “how metrosexual is your worship leader?” (see below)
Here are a sample of what I read (from the book) of the scoring system, to see how you worship leaders scores:
Book caption: “When you tell someone about your church, there’s unfortunately not a standard system to describe the degree of metrosexuality your worship leader posses. Wouldn’t it be awesome to say, “You’ll love my church and the music. We have a 78-point metro-sexual worship leader”? Or if you were driving by a church and you saw a hip-looking “42” in the corner of the sign, you’d know instantly how metro the worship experience was going to be…”
7. Owns white Puma, Vans, Asics or Diesel sneakers… +2 for each pair
9. Wears designer jeans on stage… +2
10. Wears designer ladies jeans on stage… +4
11. Wears Wrangler or Rustler jeans on stage… -3
12. Has a goatee… +2
14. Drinks coffee on stage… +1
15. Drinks some kind of coffee you did not know existed… +2
16. Brings a French press on stage and makes his own coffee during service… +5
18. Good at Frisbee but hates getting all “sweaty”… +1
23. Wears a winter knit hat even in the summer… +2
24. Reads quotes from the Bible between songs using his iPhone or Kindle… +3
27. Cringes a little when people say the “H word” (Hymnal)… +3
31. Wears a tie… -1
32. Wears a tie as a belt… +2
36. Has a tattoo… +2
37. Has a visible tattoo… +4
45. Twitters and updates his blog while leading worship… +2
46. Read the last line and laughed at how outdated twitter is because he’s already using some sort of hologram technology the rest of the world won’t find out about for three years… +4
Although very funny, there is some truth to how many of us do church. We pick churches based on our needs, or leave if they aren’t fulfilling our needs enough (I admit I’ve been guilty of this before, how about you?). It’s hard to stay in community and commit to a place… or more, a people. So we look at things like:
- Is the Pastor funny enough or a good enough speaker/teacher?
- Is the music just my style, is it what I prefer?
- Do I get enough out of this church - are my needs fulfilled (or my families needs fulfilled)?
- Do they have a nice enough building? Are the carpets, bathrooms or foyer clean enough?
- Do they provide good enough coffee and doughnuts?
- Is there someone to make/cater food for our class, or set up our tables and chairs - or do we really have to do that?
- Do they teach and talk enough about being happy and how to get all I want in life and stay away from that controversial stuff; like having to change things in my life, taking Jesus and His words seriously, or sacrificing things for others, or getting involved with others (including worst of all, spending time with people not like me… yikes)?
- Does the pastor/church make sure we all feel good by pointing out how every other Christian congregation/minister and people group is inferior to our group/church, and make sure we know that, “yup, we are the stuff” and “every other christian not associated with us is jacked-up and away from the truth”?
This list could go on and on… and on. And not that there aren’t important questions in there or places we just don’t fit.
But do we ever ask…
“Hey, how can I give here? How can I serve the body? Is this a place where I/we think God could use us at right now? Can we be real here? Can we walk this life together with these people? Is there an emphasis in taking the “Good News” to others, where they are at (and is it truly Good News and not just strict morality)? Is there kindness, respect, authenticity, accountability, truth, love and grace among this group of people? Is Jesus the center here, and the Bible modeled and taught as our source for truth and life?”
I hope I ask some of those questions… not just to find what is best for me and my family, but to find a place and a people that we can commit to for however long we are given, and who are truly a community who looks after those within and constantly meets and sits with those who are not yet within and around the fringes.
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