Wednesday, November 26, 2008

NSN UPDATE

Hey here is the update at 11-26-08
NO SHAVE NOVEMBER!!!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Butt Woopin'





















The Packers handed it to the Bears on Sunday. And yes, I was there. Angelo (Brittney's Dad) and I went to Green Bay to sit in our seats that were 18 rows off of the field behind Packers sideline. Brittney and I got him the ticket for his 50th Birthday. It was a ton of fun hanging out with him and watching Bears fan put there heads down in disappointment.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

NSN UPDATE

NO SHAVE NOVEMBER UPDATE


Finished 1st Thessalonians

A few things:

1) "labor prompted by love." The love the church sees they work and labor for. This is a great reminder that we need to be willing to work hard for the things we love. Whether it is physical or emotional.

2) "not looking for praise from men" I certainly struggle with looking for the approval of those around me. It has got me into trouble and even caused me to place my convictions aside and take on the convictions of someone else all because I wanted approval.

3) Lead a quite life, work with your hands, and don't be dependent on anybody. That is pretty much what chapter 4 verses 11-12 say. Don't be dependent on anybody. Are we dependent on people and things. FOR SURE. I can't turn on the news without hearing how dependent on oil we are. I am dependent on money. I don't know about you, but I have bills. How can we be less dependent on others and more dependent on God? Sure we can be dependent on God to provide us with money, but I think Paul is preaching this idea of freedom from bondage to others.

4) "Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong." How do Christians argue wars like Iraq? I have really come to an understanding that the New Testament might very well be the most passive and peaceful collection of books ever written. This is a mandate from Paul. When someone hurts you, you don't hurt them back. We hear this as small children growing up. Our parents teach us not to hit someone just because they hit us. Then somewhere we forget it. Somewhere we loose faith in love. We think that violence will accomplish more than love and our motto becomes, "peace through war" much like the Roman empires motto, "peace through victory." It is sad that the Christian community does not take passages like this seriously. It is sad that I have become so desensitized to redemptive violence that it's a struggle for me to take it seriously.

5) "Test Everything." We don't. We don't truly test everything. I don't. I know there are many Christians who never open their Bibles. They don't test what they hear on Sunday morning, partially because it takes work to test something. Paul understood the importance of testing things. I think we grow when we test things.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Finished Colossians

A ton of things. What a great letter. I love how it ends, "Remember my chains. Grace be with you."

1) Just simply this passage, "Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things."

2) "Wrestling in prayer." This is a weird term to use for prayer. I have heard wrestling with your faith or working out your salvation, but wrestling in prayer is new. The full verse reads, "Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, send greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured." Wrestling in prayer for a church. Wow. How many of us can say we wrestle in prayer, i mean, what does that even mean? How do you even wrestle in prayer? Anyway, this is one that will stick with me for a while.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

NSN UPDATE

NO SHAVE NOVEMBER UPDATE


Finished Leviticus

Boring at times, but there was a lot of stuff that hit me.

1) In Chapter 4, they sprinkled blood 7 times for the sin offering. I am sure you could argue this is somewhat intertwined with Peter asking Jesus in Matthew 18:21-22 about how many times we should forgive.

2) In Chapter 13-15, God gave specific medical advice to the people. It was kind of weird to hear God talk about rashes for what seemed to be a whole chapter, but it shows that he cared about the people enough to give them medical advice.

3) Chapter 19:33-34, "When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt, I am the LORD your God." I was talking with my mom a couple of days ago and she was telling me about the growing bigotry toward Hispanics in Indiana. This is a problem that I have seen in every part of the country I have lived. The political problem is complex and there surely needs to be some changes made on that front, but how does this verse influence how we are suppose to view immigrants (aliens)? I don't think every command in chapter 19 is something we must follow, such as: no shaving of the beard, no tattoos, and not to wear clothes woven of two kinds of material. Times have changed. What I will argue is that we are mandated to love our neighbors as ourselves. Could it be argued that our neighbors might be those who enter our communities as aliens? If so, I think God is laying the foundation for how you and I should handle those aliens.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Fans of The Shack

Check this blog out. It is from the writer of The Shack and it is much like an extra chapter to the book.

THE SHACK EXTENDED

Monday, November 3, 2008

FOCUS ON THE BULL!!!

Wow, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse. I heard on the radio about Focus on the Family coming out with what some are calling "The Obama Apocalypse." Pretty much a letter from a Christian in 2012 looking back at the absolute destruction and terror caused by voting Obama into the Presidency. The letter shows how the world has changed and we as a country have changed. Many of these changes are values based but the letter holds back no punches when it says the US had 4 terrorist attacks in Obamas first 4 years and the people live in fear. It also shares how Israel suffered a severe nuclear attack.

I don't know whether to be pissed or in tears over this. It is so frustrating to see this continued hatred toward one candidate from the Christian community. I don't understand why I even want to be labeled a Christian when I am immediately going to have my name attached to James Dobson of Focus on the Family.

To look into the future and give such a bold possibility of what things could become, does focus on the family consider this ministry?

I just find it hard to believe that these are the same people who support the President in office right now, not that I don't. Let's be honest though. I could've wrote a prophesy about 2008 and what it would look like after 8 years of Bush and it would look pretty terrible with 9/11, a war, the economy, and so on. I mean a Presidents responsibilities are hard and the circumstances surround every decision are enormous. Do we think the world will be perfect if Obama isn't elected?

To me this is unfortunate and it is not bring light into a dark world but instead it is bringing more darkness into a dark world. If you dare I have attached a link to the pdf file that is the letter. Be warned it is 16 pages of painful reading.

The Obama Apocalypse

Finished Philippians

Great Book. What stood out to me was in Chapter 4, Verse 12, where Paul says, "I have learned the secret of being content." I hear how he explains being content and I remember going to Nicaragua and seeing kids who have nothing that are much more content then I. Is it really a secret? Because that is how Paul explains being content. If it is, then how do we find it? Could it be that we must have needs to be content? Is it possible for you and I to have needs and be content? I think it is our view of the needs that surround us everyday. The way we perceive needs. I think we feel we have earned the right to need more and this has influenced are ability to be content.

Finished Exodus

Wow, Exodus is an awesome book. I am not gonna lie, the end was a bit boring with all the tabernacle furnishings, but the book was pretty sweet overall. Obviously there are many famous stories in this book. There are two big things I got out of this book.

One: The Sabbath is very important. It is mentioned over and over again. You can tell God is reminding the people they are no longer slaves and they have the privilege to rest. This lead me to question whether or not I am a slave. I know that having a Sabbath is important, but I am often too busy to really take a day and enter into turbo chill mode. I now understand that this pattern will remove my humanity and make me a slave, even if it is church work that I am a slave too. I am reminded that God made this amazing earth in 6 days and rested on the 7th day. I am sure the earth could have been cooler if God took the extra day to continue creating, but he didn't. For that reason I need to realize that Church things could always be better with more time, but not at the expense of taking a day to chill.

Two: Delegation. I know it sounds weird to read through Exodus and come out with a story about delegation hitting you when the book is loaded with so much more. In Chapter 18 Jethro visits Moses and tells him that what he is doing is not good and that he will wear himself out if he doesn't start to delegate. The scripture says, "The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone." So Moses chose capable men and made them leaders and judges. The easier cases were brought to the new judges and the more complex brought to Moses. This is a Biblical foundation for the need to delegate. I think this principal goes hand in hand with having a Sabbath. We cannot take things on by ourselves and neglect the gifting of the people around us and expect to have time for a Sabbath. We must use the resources God has given us. Often times I want things done a certain way, so I do them. This scripture has shown me that I must identify what is important and needs to be done a certain way (difficult cases in Moses story) and take care of those tasks. I must be willing to delegate the rest of the tasks to my leaders and let them do it. It is important that I don't feel the need to be involved every step of the way. If I follow them every step of the way then is it really delegation?

There were many other things about this book that hit me, but those were the main two things I got out of the book.

Threatened Miscarriage

Well yesterday God tested Brittney and I. We had to go to the Emergency Room and found out that Brittney had a threatened miscarriage. It was pretty scary for her and I. We are so excited to be parents in July. Yesterday's event felt like going over the middle for a catch and getting drilled by the defender and not being able to breath, move, or think. But we got up and it is looking positive for Brittney and the baby. Thank you for your prayers. She has a follow up on Wednesday and we will know more after that, but for now it is looking positive. Thanks, we love you guys.