If you only knew

I remember when I was a kid I used to wish that I lived in a place where it snowed. The movies always made it look like snow was so much fun and I could just picture myself having snow days and playing all day. Well I have now moved to a place where it snows Wichita Kansas. I have only been here a few days and I love it. I had my first snow storm last night well it snowed today it was more like an ice storm last night. When I went to get in the car this morning there was a layer of ice all over the windows. It took me about 20min to scrape all the windows so that I could see out of the car and drive to work.

It’s funny how when I was a kid I thought about all the fun that I could have in the snow, I never thought about the work that is related to snow or the dangers of snow. The same principle is true for life. We always look at other people’s jobs, or houses, or ministries and think, if I could only have what they have then everything would be so much better. We don’t know the price that has to be paid to have what they have though. If we would sit down and talk to them they would probably say “if you only knew”.

My prayer for many years has been this “God I want all that you have for me and I don’t want to miss out on anything”. I want all the He has for ME. I want God’s plan for my life. I don’t want what somebody else has.

Think about this there is probably somebody looking at you right now wanting what you have, or wanting to be in your position. I wonder if we would say if you only knew…..

Inauguration Day

It doesn’t matter if your guy won or lost the fact that we can transfer power without a gun being fired is simply amazing. Think about it, how many countries in our world can say that? There are so many wonderful things about this great country that we take for granted every single day. We need to take moments just to realize how blessed we really are to live in a country where we are truly free and we don’t have to fear a dictator or an oppressive regime.

On days like today I am reminded why this great country was birthed. One of the biggest reasons why America became a country was for religious freedom.

My question today is this, what good is freedom if we don’t take advantage of it? It is always amazing to me how many people died to give us the right to vote, then how many American’s don’t. It is amazing to me how religious freedom was so important to our founders, and yet God has seemed to fall so fast on our list of priorities.

I guess the question goes back even further though. God created this beautiful earth and the stars in the sky. He created every creature on the land and in the sea and He created us, His prize creation. He created us to have a relationship with Him. He did not create us as robots though he gave us freedom to choose Him or reject Him. Think about it for a second the creator of everything in this world desires to have a relationship with us. There is not some rule or law that says that He has too, He desires to. Now we live in a country where people chase after the popular or powerful and yet so many reject the most powerful being that ever was or will ever be. So many of us in this great country claim to be Christians and yet we reject a daily relationship with God because we do not have the time or have yet to realize the importance of it.

I guess that is what freedom is all about. Freedom to choose what we want, freedom to direct our lives in the way we desire it to go. I just hope that, that freedom is not taken advantage of or just forgotten about because we have always had it. Today is a great day no matter who you voted for, America has taken another step to understanding that all were created equal in the image of God. It doesn’t matter the color of your skin or where you grew up. We were created in God’s image.

The Good Old Days

It’s funny how every time there is a huge transition in our lives we begin to reflect on what used to be. My family and I are about to make a huge transition. Now in the scheme of things, in context of the rest of the world and what transitions other people make, it might not be that big. But for Candice, Joshua and I moving out of state away from family and friends to a place where we don’t know anybody is a big transition. So I spent some time reminiscing this morning. I went to Harry Griffin Park to read and study for a while. Harry Griffin Park is the park I grew up going to and where our church used to have its picnics. After studying I found myself driving around the old neighborhood and thinking about what used to be.

There is noting wrong with reminiscing but you can’t live in the past. It’s funny how the older we get the cooler we were in high school. We always have a way of only remembering the best of times, and not how things really were.

Dare to Dream

I might be the only one like this but I love to dream about what life might be. I remember when I was a kid I used to dream about playing 3rd base for the San Diego Padres and of course I was a stud in my dreams. I took this dream a little farther once baseball games came out for Playstation. I always created myself and put me on the Padres and of course if I created Scott Parks then he was going to have almost super human abilities. Hey why not if I am going to dream, why not dream bigJ.

Now I know I am having a little fun with this but dreaming is something that we all do, from having a bigger house, a nicer car, more money, etc… There is nothing wrong with dreaming big; here is my question though, why does it seem like big dreams are designated to material things? It seems like we spend more time dreaming about things then we do dreaming about what we could do for God. What would happen if we would actually dream about reaching our communities, and actually seeing a revival in this great country? What would happen if when we thought about being used by God we didn’t put the restraints of our own personal gifts?

Think about it, when I created Scott Parks in the Playstation game I didn’t put the restraints of my own physical abilities on him. When I dream about a house I don’t put the restraints of my current bank account on it. But when I dream about what I could do for God it seems like I always say well I am not that gifted in this area, or I could never do that. Why is that? Is it that I care more about money, or fame, then I do about lost souls? I hope not. I believe it is a view problem. Not how I view myself but how I view my God. If my own personal limitations stopped God from using me then nobody would ever get saved and nobody’s life would ever be changed. One thing we have to remember about God is this; God’s plan for our lives are bigger then us. Remember what His desire is, to have a relationship with us, and His plan for our lives will always bring us back to Him asking for His help.

I want to dare you to dream this year. Don’t put any limitations to the dream. Spend some time with God then set out some goals. Not goals for your house, or job, but goals for God to use you to change peoples lives. Remember our view of God will determine what we dream. I have told this story before but when I felt called to the ministry I told God no because I am not a good speaker. He didn’t take no for an answer though and eventually I said yes under one condition. I told God if He ever didn’t show up, if there was ever a time when I got up to speak and He doesn’t show up then I am done. I can honestly tell you today He has never not shown up. Now I get asked to speak all the time and I just laugh because it is not me it is God in me. I know my limitations but I also know there is no limitations to my God, and now He gets all the glory because I can do nothing apart from Him.
Matthew 9:37-38 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

Essential God

I have been reading a book since last week called essential church, by Thom and Sam Rainer. I have really enjoyed the book and I recommend it to anyone who works in the ministry. This book in a nut shell is talking about how the church has become non essential to people’s lives in particular the young adult generation. They give some staggering statistics and I will share just one of them with you today.

“With more the 80% of North American churches stagnant or declining, the church is quickly becoming nonessential to society. With nearly 4,000 churches closing their doors permanently each year, a turnaround is imperative.”

I believe the church as a whole does need to take a real look at itself because we are definitely losing ground. The reason for my post this morning however is not to talk about the declining church, but the declining God in our church and lives.

George Barna did a study did a study a few years back and found that over 80% of church goers (that is people who attend church) have seldom or never experienced the presence of God.

God has become nothing more then fire insurance or something that we believe in. Let me ask you a question has God been an essential part of your day today? Essential to me means very simply I need Him.

It is crazy how after something awful our churches are filled and everyone is willing to pray. Remember 9/11 churches were filled after that day. You could drive down the streets and see churches with signs saying prayer here, and if you stopped and went in you would actually see people praying. What happened? How does God all of a sudden jump to the top of everybody’s list? He was essential. We realized we were not as in control or as safe as we thought we were so we ran to God. Now the reason people did not stay in the church I will save for another time and another post.

This year might be a tuff year for people in America. Our economy is in trouble, people or losing their jobs, homes, cars, etc… They are losing control. People will be looking to God for help. Let’s make sure that when they step into our churches that they get God. Lets do our best to ensure that they can have an experience with their creator that loves them and desires nothing more then to have a relationship with them. Lets not get so caught up in the program that we program God right out of church. What if in 2009 we all decided to let God be essential in our own lives every single day no matter if things are great or bad, that we realize we need God? I believe that would change the way we lead, love and serve. I believe we would truly be light and salt and people would find what they were looking for something real something genuine they would see God through us.

No talking during the test

The past few months have been a very trying time for me personally. I had something unexpected happen to me from somebody that I trusted within the church. Now when something like this happens we are faced with 2 options. The first option is to defend ourselves and talk to everyone we can and get our story out. Option 1 will make you feel a lot better in that moment it will rally people to your side. This option however hurts people. I had a conversation a number of years back with a colleague of mine who felt like he was hurt by the church and wanted everyone to know how much he was wronged. I told him that you have to care about people more then your own personal pain. You see whether we agree with leadership or not people look to the leadership of the church to help them in there own personal walks with God. When we engage in the mudslinging it only blurs people’s vision of who God is. I had to put my own words to the test the past few months. Let me tell you it is easier to say the words then to walk them out.

I remember right after everything happened I was so mad and so hurt that I couldn’t even sleep. I remember going down stairs at about 2:00am and just telling God how unfair I thought all of this was, and how could He allow this to happen to me. His response to me rocked me to my core. “No talking during the test”, what are you serious God that’s all you have to say? No comforting word, no Psalm 91 moment, that’s it “no talking during the test”? I spent the remainder of that night trying to rap my head around those 5 words. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks, when you are in school and you are taking a test, who are the only people who want to talk to you? The ones who don’t know the answers, the students that know the answers are busy writing them down. You see when you are taking the test you have to relay on what has already been deposited. You have to relay on what you have studied. The same is true in life. When something unexpected happens what is deposited in you already will guide your response. The depth of the deposit determines the depth of the response. The great thing about God is he always makes a contingency plan. Tests in life are always open book. So instead of talking to everybody and trying to get everyone on my side I must talk to the teacher and read the text book.

That is option 2, be silent and let God protect. That’s a hard thing to do but I can tell you from experience He is a lot better at protecting then I am. You see because what I really want is not to protect myself but to hurt. I want the person or persons to know what I am feeling. That response is never from God.

The reason for me writing this blog is because I have had a number of my friends recently go through the same thing that I did. The response of my generation has typically been 3 fold. One to quite ministry altogether; two to be bitter youth pastors who never trust again; three to plant our own church because we are so fed up with leadership and after all we can do better. The great thing about my friends is that they have not chosen any of these 3 options they are putting it in God’s hands. But I know that if so many in my circle are going through this there must be more. Remember we are only responsible for our response, and our job is always to protect the people that we have had the privilege to serve.

Real Life

I had forgotten I even had this blog. It started as a blog for the Young Adult Ministry I over saw called REAL. Well REAL no longer exists but I decided to use this blog and this name for my personal blog.

Real Life I think explains the way I feel about church, family, work, and culture. So many times we find ourselves putting up fronts or trying to be something that we aren’t. In relationships we play games, at church we act holy, at work we act perfect, and at home because life is just so busy we act disinterested. Would life be better or worse if we were just real? Maybe that would open us up to more hurt, or maybe if people could see the real us then we could make real friends and have real relationships that will pass the test of time.

The problem with not being real is it becomes a habit and we aren’t even real with God (like we could hide anything from him anyways). But we pretend and trick ourselves that giving God the leftovers is enough. Or because I go to church, or serve, or am a Pastor that's enough. His desire has always been the same he wants a relationship with us. The real you and the real me.

Hopefully in the blogs to come you get a glimpse of the real me and I you.