Recovering Prodigal

If

2009-10-25T19:53:00.001-06:00

Rudyard Kipling
If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Pray

2009-09-28T14:06:00.002-06:00

I will pray for you now, for you have been my faithful friends
While the road we walk is difficult indeed
I could not ask for more than what you've already been
Only that you would say these prayers for me
May your heart break enough that compassion enters in
May your strenght all be spent upon the weak
All the castles and crowns you build and place upon your head
May they all fall, come crashing down around your feet
May you find every step to be harder than the last
So your character grows greater every stride
May your company be of humble insignificance
May your weakness be your only source of pride
What you do unto others may it all be done to you
May you meet the One who made us
And see Him smile when life is through
May your blessings be many but not what you hoped they'd be
And when you look upon the broken
May mercy show you what you could not see
May you never be sure of any plans you desire
But you'd learn to trust the plan He has for you
May your passions be tried and tested in the holy fire
May you fight with all your life for what is true
I have prayed for you now all my dear and faithful friends
But what I wish is more than I could ever speak
As the way wanders on I'll long to see you once again
Until then, would you pray these prayers for me?
Oh, that you would pray for me

Pictures say a thousand words.

2009-07-16T20:25:00.003-06:00

Don't think I need to say anything more.

BlackBerry Bible Software

2009-03-27T02:38:00.010-06:00

When I first heard that Olive Tree had their bible reader available for BlackBerry devices, I immediately got on olivetree.com and downloaded the beta version.

I was already a huge fan of Olive Tree because I used it on my devices with the palm platform and was always very impressed with the user friendly setup which in my opinion was far better than any other bible software available for palm.

First impression of the initial beta install was not pleasant. Somewhat involved and might be

above the average person; however the install guides were great and very detailed.

After a few weeks of use I was somewhat disappointed with the beta version. It was slow and lacking in many of the features that I had loved so much in the palm versions.

After a few months I got notice that the BibleReader 4.0 was available. I honestly probably

wouldn't have upgraded because I was so disappointed with the beta but the saving grace was that I could download it right from the BlackBerry browser. The new version downloaded very quickly and install was a snap.

I opened the application and was pleasantly surprised to see a much faster running and cleaner interface with a host of new features. Now with the ease of accessing the olive tree store right from within the BibleReader, it makes it so much easier to download new bible versions as well as a host of free goodies and other bible resources.

Navigation is amazing and simple and you can set your preferences for font type, color, size, background color, and a plethora of other customizable options.

Overall my expectations have been far exceeded and I couldn't be happier, but that I what I have come to expect from the folks at Olive Tree. They have one of the best products on the market for blackberry and I give it two thumbs up.

I now have three different bible versions, a commentary, and many other resources right at my fingertips at all times.

I highly recommend all Olive Tree Products. They even have an IPhone BibleReader.

For more information go to www.olivetree.com

I hate the "American Dream"

2008-08-27T10:21:00.008-06:00

"Jesus looked at him and said, How hard is it for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed; it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." Matt 19:23-24

I Always thought the story of the rich young ruler was good, but I never really thought that it applied much to me. I never considered myself rich. I grew up lower middle class and still am in that category as an adult.
However my perception changed last week with the realization that in fact I am the rich man spoken of in this section of scripture. The thing is, by American standards I am not rich, but compared to the rest of the world I am extremely wealthy.
I remember when we built a house in Mexico. The ministry we were with hired a local man to come in and serve as job foreman and teach all the "gringo Americans" how to lay brick. They paid him $75 for the whole week. I was a little upset at first when I found this out until I found out that the average weekly income there is half that. He was paid very well by their standards.
I make his weekly wage in three hours of work.
Yes I am the rich man spoken of in the passage.

I see what Jesus was talking about now.

I see how all my "stuff" holds me back from following Christ.

I can't just quite my job and work for free at my church because I have that car payment, and a cell phone bill, and that new mountain bike I wanted. I never realized before just how much the "American Dream" holds you back from serving Christ.

So that is my new challenge as I realize that I am the "rich young man"
"Jesus answered, if you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. THEN COME FOLLOW ME." Matt 19:21

A few thoughts

2008-08-14T11:02:00.006-06:00

The last few weeks have been crazy. I really have not been able to just sit and think very much. A few thoughts have formed in my mind. Some challenges from God. I thought I would share them.

First God convicted me that I use him as a good luck charm a lot. I use him as the ace up my sleeve. Having a really consistent prayer life is something that is hard for me. I do good for a while and then I let life's distractions get in the way. This last week I was really busy working for God at the church office and with my worship responsibilities, but I had not really personally just taken the time for Him to connect one on one. He convicted me two nights ago when I was laying in bed. I had two be up for work at 4:30am. I was laying in bed at 2:00am and I was having a hard time getting to sleep so I started praying that God would clear my mind and help me get to sleep and feel rested even on a few hours of sleep. Then in my mind I hear, "You have not talked to me all day and now you want me to help you go to sleep. I am not a good luck charm." I felt sick for a second at the realization of how I have cheapened my prayer life and relationship with God in general. I looked back over the week and found that almost all the prayers were last minute requests for a supernatural intervention to "help me pass this test" " help me get to work on time" They were all focused on me.
I felt so convicted of my small view of God. Like I have any right to go before the God of the universe in all its majesty, knowing who He is, knowing He is all powerful, knowing how much honor He deserves and after pretty much ignoring him I come to him like a whining baby and ask him to give me a good nights sleep or help me pass this test.
This comes from a small view of God, and a big view of self.
I read a quote this week that ties into this. It is by A.W Tozer from his book "The knowledge of the Holy"

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like."

The more I study the old testament and the old way that God set up for his worship with the tabernacle, the more I think that Christians today have got it all wrong. You know what happened back then if you had a small view of God. You would die. We have lost the fear of the Lord. We have cheapened Him so much. No wonder he isn't present in most of our church services.
In Malachi God gets in their face about their cheap view of him because they have been bringing defiled animals to sacrifice and saving the best for themselves. In chapter one verse eleven he says,
"My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations says the Lord almighty."

God is not sitting in heaven just waiting and hoping for our worship. His worth is not defined by our worship. He is worthy whether or not we worship. If we are not giving Him the worship he deserves, He will leave us and find people who are.

One last thing that I have been thinking about that ties into all this is from the book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan.
"Isn't it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate"

How awesome is that. No matter what we can come up with in our minds about God, it still is no match for who He really is. Our minds are not capable of exaggerating God because He is so much better than we can even understand.
Wow!

National Worship Leader Conference Day 4

2008-07-25T11:40:00.010-06:00

What a journey this week has been. I feel almost overwhelmed with all I have experienced and learned this week. What a blessing from God this conference has been.
I am now back in Colorado trying to decompress. I am so glad that I took good notes because the whole week has molded into one blob of information.
Some Highlights.
Best Workshop: Steve Berger. I took two of his workshops. One for worship leaders and one specifically for pastors on day four. It was called Above and Beyond the Common: Pastoring with Guts in the 21st Century. Once again Steve laid it all out. He is one of the most gifted and challenging teachers of the word I have ever heard.

Best Worship: This would be three way tie between Matt Redman, Paul Baloche, and Matt Maher. All of them were awesome and there is no way that I could choose one over the other.

Over all Highlight from the trip was the sign language interpreters and deaf worshipers. Sign Language is such a beautiful language and in the context of worship brings you to tears. It was a husband and wife team named Bob and Denise Pfaff. They did such a great job. what an awesome ministry.

On to Thursday:

Worship was awesome for the morning and afternoon sessions We had a guy named Johnathan Butler in the morning and a favorite of mine, Daniel Doss Band in the afternoon.

That was the highlight for the general sessions. Steve Berger's was the only workshop I attended because me and Dan took the afternoon session off to process information and get some thoughts together for Sunday and to get another quick fix from Maudie's before the awesome Texas BBQ provided by one of the members of Riverbend Church. Prime Angus beef briskets, slow smoked all week, slow smoked sausage, and some of the best smoked BBQ chicken I have ever had with all the "fixins" on the side. I would post pictures but I don't want to cause anyone to struggle because of "food lust"

Tommy Walker kicked off the night with some awesome worship.

Me and Dan cut out early because of idol worship that started when Israel Houghton entered the scene.

This is when the real trouble began. Two Coloradans semi lost in Texas, late at night looking for souvenirs. The following is a tour of the chaos in pictures.

National Worship Leader Conference Day 3

2008-07-23T22:58:00.016-06:00

This is where my day started. Five hours of blissful sofa sleeper comfort. God provides but never said he would provide a five start hotel. The AC works good so I guess that is all that matters, heck what more can you expect for $30 a night for two people.
Wake up around seven and get ready to go to the "continental breakfast" and grab the two bagels that look most likely to be mold free and the coldest cream cheese package and an apple and I am on my way.

Fast forward 40 minutes and I am sitting in Riverbend enjoying some awesome worship from Drew Cline, Calvin Nowell, and Nia Allen followed by an awesome message from Bishop Joseph Garlington that took us on a journey through Luke 1:26-45. The Bishop is a great story teller who is also able to really get some truth in there. It is said a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down. In This case it was an awesome guy who accompanied Bishop on the keys with sound effects and musical emphasis that drove home the bishops points.

After the General Session it was off to my first workshop. Shepharding and training of volunteers - loving our lay musicians for who they are, not just what they can do for us
This was an awesome workshop lead by worship leader Laura Story who wrote Indescribable. This was an amazing time of learning how to handle many of the dynamics you encounter with volunteers. So Much good advice.

Lunch was provided by Jason's Deli, Turkey sandwiches. Very tasty. No me and Dan didn't eat all those box lunches. The real number of box lunches we ate is confidential. Dan wanted to show off a picture of his butt for all the world to see. I told him it was going on the blog. Don't think he believed me. He sure does now!

After Lunch it was time for the last workshop of the day. Freedom from the flesh: how to really walk in the spirit Led by Steve Berger. Steve is one of my favorite speakers of all time. He was at the conference last year as a keynote speaker and this year he is leading several different workshops. What I love about him is that he isn't afraid to "bring it" He speaks truths strait from the bible. He uses scripture, not his own words to make all of his points. This is getting more and more rare these days, many "pastors" give their opinion on something and than twist some scripture to back up their opinion. Thank God for guys like Steve Berger who will tell you what you need to hear.

Man this blog is getting long, but if I don't unpack my mind tonight I won't have any room tomorrow to take in more.

After a short break it is back to the main sanctuary for another general session With worship by Rita Springer and a message from Gordon Macdonald that really challenged me on how I approach the people and age groups that I am leading in worship on a weekly basis. It was the kind of advice that you can only get from a man like him 69 with 40 years in ministry. So Much wisdom.

Then it was off for round two at Maudie's Milagro for some more sweet heat courtesy of the Jalapeño Ranch dressing on my fajita taco Salad. Dan has a new addiction called maudie's. Maybe when God calls him to serve full time in Austin he will get to enjoy it much more often.
We Finished the evening with an awesome worship Concert with Don Moen, Kathryn Scott, Gateway Worship, and Lincoln Brewster. What an amazing time to worship and lift up an amazing God.

We finished the night by getting some crack cocaine AKA KrispyKreme. Don't believe me about the crack? just look at that picture of Dan, that should remove all doubt. There are a few more pictures of them producing the KrispyKremes for mass distribution. Got to keep those addicts happy. If you still don't believe me about the drugs, take this into consideration, when we walked up to the counter they gave us each a hot fresh doughnut right of the conveyor belt for free. They say its always free the first time. that is how you get them hooked. Long story short we now purchased a dozen doughnuts which we will consume for breakfast.

It has been a long day and I'm ready for bed.

National Worship Leader Conference Day 2

2008-07-22T21:47:00.003-06:00

It is the end of day 2. I am trying to decompress all the information I have taken in today. 12 hours of intense connection with God.

The Tabernacle Experience leaves me feeling humbled and thankful for what Christ did for me. To see how things were done under the old law and to know that only one man was able to approach God only once a year leaves me feeling ashamed that I have taken such a sweet gift for granted.
We really do have it good. Old Testament worship and sacrifice was a messy business.

The Words to the Song Hallelujah your love is amazing have been running through my mind all day

Your love is amazing Steady and unchanging
Your love is mountain firm beneath my feet
Your love is a mystery how you gently lift me
When I am surrounded your love carries me.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Your Love makes me sing
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Your Love makes me sing

Your love is surprising and I can feel it rising
All the joy thats growing deep inside of me
Every time I see You all Your goodness shines through
And I can feel this God song rising up in me.

This is one of my favorite songs. It brings to mind the song I could sing of your love forever. Even if we had nothing to sing about but Gods love. We would never run out of fresh content to sing about. What an amazing God we serve.

On Another note we got to eat dinner at the amazing Maudie's Milagro What I love about it is they are not afraid to add some heat. No Gringos allowed.

National Worship Leader Conference Day 1

2008-07-21T17:06:00.003-06:00

Sitting in the beautiful, green rolling hills of Austin Texas, I feel that I am on the edge of something amazing. God is in this place, I can already feel him. I am at the National Worship Leader Conference. It is an amazing example of God's provision that I am here, and not only me but my pastor also. All the things that God has moved into place in the lives of so many to make this trip a possibility blows my mind. I know he wants me here for a reason. I feel that my life will be changed.
I think the main catalyst of that change will be "The Tabernacle Experience"
A Life size replica of Gods temple. Just seeing it from the outside and not even experiencing it yet has me feeling incredibly thankful. Thankful for what Christ did for me. Thankful that I am able to approach God. Thankful that a one time sacrifice was made for me. Humbled by that sacrifice.

I'm ready to meet with God and spend the week worshiping him with no responsibilities, without having to listen to the team in the back of my mind, without having to worry about technical problems, without having to mentally prepare for any other part of the service.

This is going to be sweet.

Thanks dad for helping make this trip a reality, it would not have come together if it wasn't for you.

Random Thoughts on Worship

2008-07-09T01:58:00.004-06:00

Worship = Sacrifice and Obedience.

Worship Comes from Perspective

Excellent worship = Knowing who God is, Fear of God, Awe of God.

1 Sam 15:22 Obedience is better than sacrifice.

Why is that?

2008-06-03T00:03:00.003-06:00

"If we value comfort more than character, then trials will upset us. If we value the material and physical more than the spiritual, we will not be able to count it joy! If we live only for the present and forget the future, the trials will make us bitter and not better."
Warren W. Wiersbe

Just a Speck

2008-05-06T01:56:00.004-06:00

Physically I am a big guy; I stand over a lot of people. Tonight however I feel microscopic. I spent a good hour sitting in my back yard tonight just staring up into the star filled sky, as my eyes adjusted, more and more stars came into view. A shooting star flashed across the sky, the sound of coyotes howling to each other, a gentle breeze caresses my face.

I just sit there taking it all in, feeling pretty good about myself, but then I start to think about my place in this universe. I want to think in my mind that the stars are tiny little specks but in reality they are massive in size. The sun is the closest star to the earth, but by no means is the largest.

Let me give you an idea of the earth compared to the universe.

The circumference of the Earth at the Equator is 24,902.4 miles

If the sun was hollow, it would take 1,300,000 earths to fill it.

If the star Anteries were hollow it would take 64,000,000 suns to fill it.

In the Hercules constellation there is a star, that if it were hollow it could hold 100,000,000 Anteries.

The Largest star known is epsilon. If it were hollow it could hold 27,000,000,000 suns.

That is 35.1 Quadrillion Earths that can fit in that star.

They estimate that there is somewhere around 10 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy alone. They also estimate that there is somewhere around 10 billion galaxies in space. That is 100 Quintillion stars. Give or take a few trillion. I don’t know if we as humans can even truly grasp how large and vast the universe is.

That is 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars.

Are you starting to feel small? I sure do.

What comes to mind as I sit under the stars is Psalms 8:4-9. David sums up my feelings so beautifully. This is from The Message translation.

“I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your hand made sky-jewelry, Moon and stars mounted in their settings. Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way? Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods, bright with Eden’s dawn light. Yet you put us in charge of your hand crafted world, repeated to us your genesis-charge, made us lords of sheep and cattle, even animal's out in the wild, birds flying and fish swimming, whales singing in the ocean deeps. God, brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the world.”

I am so humbled by that. Not only has God created this amazing place for us to enjoy, but he also loves us enough to trust us with it.

I am a speck, who the very God of the universe calls friend.

Mysterious

2008-04-01T02:54:00.003-06:00

"Suggests a quality that excites wonder, curiosity, or surmise yet baffles attempts to explain it."

That is the definition of the word Mysterious.

I was thinking tonight about some of my favorite attributes of God, and trying to answer the question "what do I love about God"
One thing I put down was that I love Gods mystery. After I wrote it, it really stood out to me and I had to answer the question why do I love God’s mystery?
There is no doubt that God is a mystery. Why he does what he does. Why he chooses to love us. Why he does anything. It is all beyond me. But I think the reason that I love his mystery is that it always keeps things new and fresh, I never know what new amazing thing I will learn about God as I read his very words written to me.
If I was able to understand him, I would lose that wonder and amazement of him.
I think back to when I was in college. I was learning so many new things. I was gaining understanding about stuff, now when I talk about those very same things that once sparked interest and excitement, they are now common and every day. Boring is one way to describe them.
I think this is how we are as humans. We get tired of things really quickly. So we keep buying new houses and new cars and new toys. The excitement wears off.
God knows this about us and that is why he chooses not to totally reveal himself to us. We would just take him for granted. I also think we just couldn't handle seeing him in all his glory. Talk about a deer in the headlights. Even with the little I understand about God right now, when I try to think about it and put Him into words I am speechless. We don't have words in our language that even come close to doing Him justice.

God I love Your Mystery

Worship

2008-03-27T02:28:00.008-06:00

"As worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience. Holy obedience saves worship from becoming an opiate, an escape from pressing needs of modern life." Richard Foster

As a worship leader I have thought about this many times. I know how to select just the right songs to create an intense emotional moment, to get people "high" on God. I believe that this is a gift he has given me. But at the same time I have to be very careful. It is possible for people (Myself included) to start chasing after that spiritual high that comes from true worship rather than chasing the creator of that high.
I believe that as humans we were created from the beginning of time to worship God, and when we align ourselves in that perfect place of worship we feel a true sense of fulfillment. We get a buzz from it because that is how it is supposed to be.
The danger is when you just chase that high. When there are no actions to your words. I have always thought and tried my best to convey it to those worshiping with me that words without action is useless. It means nothing to God when you get up and sing "I surrender all" with all your heart and then not truly surrender it to Him. God can see right through that. He knows when you sing "here I am to worship" if in fact you truly are.
Without actions our worship is dead, useless, and pointless. True worship is when your actions are a mirror image to the words you sing.
To often worship is put in a box. "Worship" is the 3 or 4 songs you sing before the sermon. When I read the Old Testament, I get a totally different view of worship than what I see around me today. In the Old Testament worship and sacrifice go hand in hand. You never have one without the other. Sacrifice was the proof of your worship, and not just any old sacrifice, you had to give the best you had to offer. God would not accept anything less and if you didn't give him your best, often you would die because of it. Thank God for the new covenant in Christ because I know I don't usually give God my best.
God is not any less worthy of the same worship expected in the old testament, but we now have grace through Christ with our worship.

I serve an amazing God, a God who is worth my absolute best all the time. He can see right through my fake worship. I pray that I will truly worship him as he deserves and that I would back up the words I sing with the actions of my life.

Humor

2008-03-09T01:56:00.000-07:00

Don't let your worries get the best of you; remember, Moses started out as a basket case.

Some people are kind, polite, and sweet-spirited until you try to sit in their pews.

Many folks want to serve God, but only as advisors.

It is easier to preach ten sermons than it is to live one.

The good Lord didn't create anything without a purpose, but mosquitoes come close.

When you get to your wit's end, you'll find God lives there.

People are funny; they want the front of the bus, the middle of the road, and the back of the church.

Opportunity may knock once, but temptation bangs on your front door forever.

Quit griping about your church; if it was perfect, you couldn't belong.

If the church wants a better preacher, it only needs to pray for the one it has.

A quick thought

2008-01-26T23:12:00.000-07:00

God does not call the qualified, but rather, qualifies the called.

Republican Debate

2008-01-24T19:40:00.000-07:00

I watched the last hour of the republican debate tonight.
At this point I still have not settled on anyone, but I really like Ron Paul with what I have read and heard. I don't agree with him on everything, but he is a very intelligent man and has some compelling arguments.

From what I saw I think Romney stole the night. He had some amazing answers and made some great points. I loved his answer on if Hillary becomes the democratic front runner with slick willy running as copilot. I won't go into details because you can probably see it on YOUTUBE tomorrow.

Romney is a very smart man. A brilliant business man, I like a lot of his economic policies. He really seemed to stress his belief in small government and his distaste for anything “Washington" which I can't say I really heard from him before. I think he sees that Ron Paul is having a great deal of success from that stance. The fact that he tends to flip flop bothers me. I also have to wonder why such an intelligent man could be a Mormon. I'm not a Mormon expert but some of the stuff they believe is just plain crazy.
Setting his religious beliefs aside, I do think I could vote for him.

Ron Paul is definitely a favorite. Some of his arguments against abortion are bullet proof. I think the fact that he is a doctor gives him a special angle on the subject and a deeper understanding of what is at stake. I will have to investigate him some more, but with what I know about him know he is probably my #1 choice.

Huckabee was also good. I like a man with a sense of humor. I don't know a lot about him but he made some good points.

Overall it is still very up in the air in my opinion. There is a lot of potential in all of the candidates; we will just have to see how it pans out in the future.

Roe v Wade

2008-01-22T02:12:00.000-07:00

Today marks 35 years since the Roe v Wade descision.
To this day there have been almost 50,000,000 abortions. This is only the united states. I don't even want to think of the number killed across the world.
I have to think, who has been killed. Maybe one of those babies killed if given the chance to live would have grown up to discover the cure for cancer. How many great minds have been lost? I look at so many of the worlds problems and can't help but think that we have killed the solution to many of them.

Before I proceed, I'm going to ask you all to take a short mental quiz.

Simply answer yes or no to the following situations:

A. The mother of a family of 14 is pregnant again. Her husband — the father of all 14 of these children — has a history of alcohol abuse and mental disorders which frequently causes him to abuse his other children. The mother herself is already worn out from trying to care single-handedly for her large family and doesn't feel she can care for another child at this point. On top of all this, two sons in the family also have a history of alcohol abuse, one of the children is in a mental institution, and none of the other children have steady, dependable jobs with which to support mom and dad. Abortion or Not?

B. A poor black family in the South is expecting a fifth child. This family, because of its skin color, already has difficulty receiving help and are already at the bare minimum poverty level. The outlook for their present children does not look bright. Abortion or Not?

C. A woman is engaged to a man some years older than she; she finds out that she is facing an unplanned pregnancy. The child she is carrying is definitely not the son of her fiancé, and he is worried for her sake and for their repution in their community. This child could put a serious strain on their relationship and on any future children. Abortion or Not?

Okay, everybody finished? Here are the results:

A. If you answered Abortion for A, congradulations! You just aborted Ludwig Van Beethoven!

B. If you answered Abortion for B, again, congradulations! You just aborted Martin Luther King, Jr.

C. If you answered Abortion for C, YOU WIN THE GRAND PRIZE! You, my friend, have just aborted Jesus of Nazareth.

Some facts about abortion:

For every 3 babies born 1 is aborted.

One third of all women in the U.S. will have had an abortion by the time they are 45.

Only 1% of abortions are done for cases if rape.

Only 1/2 of one percent of abortions are from incest.

Abortion is legal until the moment of birth in all 50 states.

where is your treasure

2008-01-14T03:24:00.000-07:00

I was at my friend’s house the other night and he is looking into doing some investing. Me and some other guys were going over the risks and talking to him about his different options, CDs, Mutual Funds, Etc.
He asked me what I would do in his situation. I didn't have a clear answer for him because I have some unanswered questions in my mind about investing.
I feel very strongly that where your treasure is, that is where your heart is also.
I got caught up in the financial success crap after high school. All I cared about was making lots of money so that I could buy lots of nice things that I could show off to my friends. But when I started making money and getting nice things, I realized that they only provide temporary happiness. I would usually regret spending so much on something weeks later anyway.

During this same time I started studying economics. I really enjoyed it. It is fascinating stuff to me. I started looking into some investments. The thought of making some easy money without much work was exciting. I started getting somewhat obsessed with it. I had all the latest financial news sent to my cell phone so I would always know what was going on.

Then something changed. I don't even know what brought it on. I realized that there was zero fulfillment in money and things. I knew that I would never be satisfied if my only goal in life was to make money, I knew that I would never have enough, big enough house, nice enough car, cool enough toys. I know it was a God thing, he was changing my heart. He had a different plan in mind for me. I realized that the only time I truly feel peace and fulfillment is when I am serving other people. He has turned that obsession of financial investments into investing in people.

So this is my background up to the question posed to me. I told him that to me the best investment that I can personally make is in other people. I know that the return for my investment will blow any return I can get here on earth out of the water when I get to heaven.

But where is the middle ground? Is it ok to build wealth so to speak on earth?
As Christians shouldn't we give back to God with the extra blessings he has given to us?
This is the struggle going on in my mind.

Immersed in Love

2007-12-27T16:45:00.000-07:00

My old youth pastor taught me that when we read God’s word we need to always look for the commands and promises.
I always have tried to do this in my study of God’s word and it has always enhanced it.

I was reading in mark 12. Jesus is asked by a scribe what the most important commandment is. And Jesus answers in verse 30 “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”

That is a massively broad statement. The more I dwell on it the deeper I realize it is.

You have to break it down to really grasp all that is there.

1. Love God.
2. Love God with ALL your heart.
3. Love God with ALL your soul.
4. Love God with ALL your mind.
5. Love God with ALL your strength.

So what does it mean to Love God? I look up love in the dictionary. Love can be both a noun and a verb so I think we have to look at it and apply it in both ways.

As a noun love means: a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties

As a verb love means: to like or desire actively, take pleasure in

I have also read that Love is giving someone the chance to destroy you and trusting them not to.

So love is both an emotional feeling and an active seeking of him.

So what does it mean to love God with all our Heart?
One commentary says this means to love him with sincerity of both thoughts and feelings.

I think it means to love God with all of our emotions. When we think of him and his greatness we should get butterflies, we should desire to continually have conversations with him, to always desire to be in his presence, to learn to lean on him, to be in awe of his creation.

So then what does it mean to love God with all our soul?

Our soul is the very thing that makes us human. It is our connection point to God; it allows us to have feelings and emotions. It takes the love that our heart can give to another level. It brings it beyond mere emotional feelings, to real tangible connection to God.

Love God with all our mind.

I believe that this means to love God through our intellect, to use our God given mental abilities to further his kingdom, through study and investigation.
We don’t have to live a blind faith. There is evidence out there that supports what we believe. We are also commanded in scripture to always be ready to give a defense of what we believe. We need to have total confidence in what we believe.

Love God with all out Strength.

This obviously means our physical body. To put legs to what we believe. The bible says faith without works is dead. When we read that we are commanded to take care of the widows and orphans, that is a physical command, An Action command.

What I love about this is that in all these areas we are commanded to love him, he doesn’t say to love him with part of our hearts. We have to love him with all of our hearts.

Every Part of us needs to be immersed in Loving Him. And from that true, pure love, comes actions.

Jesus said that this is the most important thing we can do as Christians. Second is to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves, but that is a post for anther time.

Matthew J. Murray

2007-12-11T01:04:00.000-07:00

I knew Matt.
I went to Sunday school with him when I was younger. I played with him at a friends house on a number of occasions. I had Spanish with him in high school.

The last time I talked to him was maybe six years ago at the graduation party of a mutual friend.

I never understood Matt, there was always something different about him. Some would call it dark, I'm not sure I would use that word. I don't believe that he was dark or evil, just different.

When we would play together as kids, I always new that he was in a different place mentally, there was always so much more going on in his mind then just the here and now. I always wished that I could somehow connect with him and find out what was really going on behind those wire rimed glasses.

As I have thought about him and this whole situation today, I am having a hard time knowing exactly how I feel about it. I feel sadness, Sadness because I didn't know him that well. I feel terrible for his family, I played basketball with his brother Chris a few times. I remember his mom and thinking that she had such a sweet personality.
I think Matt didn't really have any true friends, I know that I was never able to bridge the gap between the Matt I thought I knew and the real guy below the surface.

I never really thought of him as a violent person, he did things that all little boys do, I know I did them. I know many adults around him often were exasperated with him, they just didn't know how to handle him, and he just had a way about pushing adults buttons, I remember him doing it to our Spanish teacher. I never thought that it was malicious though. I guess Matthew has really changed in the gap of time that it has been since I last talked to him, I find myself wishing that I knew him better so that maybe this whole tragedy could have been avoided.
Really makes you think about the people in your life.

My prayers are with the Murray family, and the family's of those hurt and killed.

Church Marketing

2007-10-26T05:01:00.000-06:00

So I was surfing the website of I guy I know from a long time ago. He started a marketing and promotions business a few years back and I was just checking out his website.
They have a fancy animated "what we can do for you" presentation. When you start the presentation it asks you if you are with a for-profit business, non-profit, or a church. It is pretty much the same presentation for each option except for the introduction.
To be honest, the church presentation really torques me off. I’m pretty angry right now.
They have completely missed the mark. At the beginning of the presentation they state that what is important to churches is to get more people in the seats of your church.
Sorry but from what I read in the bible and specifically the book of acts, I see no teaching on how a slick website and well thought out marketing campaign are what the church needs to grow. Last time I checked there wasn't a "thou shalt have full color advertisements with a glossy UV coatings" commandment.

This is one of the biggest problems with the church today. This is why there are so many shallow Christians. We have turned church into nothing more then entertainment.
One church here in town markets there services as "experiences"

We have fancy lighting, and live bands that rival any Broadway production on the market today, and fancy video productions, followed up with a Tony Robbins like sermon delivered with just the right amount of humor and heartfelt stories, and just a little bit of twisted biblical truth so that we can feel good about ourselves and say that we were well fed after service.

The problem is, if a church has to resort to full color mailers, and a slick website to get people in the seats then they are doing something wrong.
The Formula for church growth is simple. Just look at Acts chapter 2:

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
(Acts 2:42-47)

There is the marketing plan for the church. No website, no million dollar sound system, and no feel good self help motivational sermon, just caring for one another, following all of God’s commands, and reaching out to the Lost.

But there is also another break down. Because it is not about God adding to our numbers day by day that is the key to all that. It is the very last word, SAVED
He didn’t add day by day people who needed entertainment, or an experience. He added people who had been saved from the depths of hell.

The churches today are all competing with each other to steal “Christians” from each other. I see very little outreach to the unsaved. Instead of churches saying “what can we do to reach those who are going to burn for eternity”, they are saying “well what is that church down the road doing that we’re not, why are they packing out three services a week”
Just because you have large numbers attending doesn’t mean you are preaching the gospel and doing God’s work. Case in point: Joel Osteen’s church. Over 30,000 attend in person and broadcast to millions a week, but his is a message of selfish Christianity. He preaches salvation so that you can get in on all the blessing that God is just waiting to dump on you, not to get saved so you don’t burn in hell.

The success of a church is not measured by the number of people who attend each week; it is measured by the number of new saved souls each week.

Well it is after 5 am, I’m tired of rating and raving. I’m going to bed

Not Right

2007-10-15T09:28:00.000-06:00

Please tell me this is some horrible joke.
Wrong on so many levels. I Don't know where to start.

Living, Breathing, Human

2007-10-11T22:28:00.000-06:00

I got my support package from Food for the Hungry today for my new little girl maria.
I opened it and was so surprised to find a picture that she drew for me along with all the other information. This is what I love about these types of ministries. You are helping another human. Your not giving to some faceless, nameless ministry. You are actually changing the life of one particular person. How awesome is that. I get to provide a better life for someone and watch them grow up and become a better person because of it.
This child sponsorship thing can be addictive. I find myself perusing the available children on the website and doing the mental math to find a way to sponsor another.
A lesson I learned from my grandfather is that it is truly better to give then to receive. He gave away probably somewhere in the millions of dollars in his life time. I hope that I am blessed to have the opportunity to do the same in my life.