Why I Need You

One of the best things to happen to me in a while is getting to be a part of what we at Midtown call a life group.  It’s basically a group of guys who don’t pretend to have it all together, but who genuinely want to be more like Christ.  You guys are amazing.

 

God has taught me a lot through this group, namely, the power of sharing life together.  We were talking a few weeks ago about what to do when you feel apathetic.  You know, those times when you know how much Christ loves you, but you just aren’t experiencing it.  You can’t really get excited about anything, you feel somewhat numb.  What do you do?  I’d hate to say it, but this is a place that those of us who follow Christ will find ourselves more often than we would like.

 

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”  Ephesians 3:16-19

 

I’ve read this passage so many times, but the last time I read it something jumped out at me that I’ve never really paid much attention to before.  It’s the “together with all the saints” part.  Here’s what I got to thinking; maybe the only way we can experience the width, length, height, and depth of Christ is by being in community with all the saints.  What do you think?  Paul says this love surpasses knowledge.  It’s not just knowing it, its experiencing it, its encountering it…together.  Are we the primary vessel by which God communicates His love to us?   I think so.

 

Romans 15: 5-6 says, “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

Endurance and encouragement seem to be good remedies for apathy. How do we receive that?  Unity perhaps?  I’m seeing this trend everywhere in Scripture.  Jesus says the two greatest commandments are to love the Lord, your God with all your heart, mind, and strength and then to love your neighbor as yourself.

 

Here’s why this is important.  When we are apathetic, when we are depressed, when we find ourselves backsliding, or something devastating happens we have a tendency to withdraw and to isolate, don’t we?  When we aren’t experiencing God’s love we pull away from the primary vessel by which God show’s His love, people.

 

We were talking in my life group about how energizing our times together are.  If I’m honest, on my way to life group I’m not exactly looking forward to it. I’m tired from work, I feel sucked dry from trying to motivate people all day, and I’m not really sure I feel all that excited about doing the whole spiritual thing.  On my way home from life group that couldn’t be farther from the truth.  I feel like I could conquer the world.  I feel inspired, I feel refreshed, I feel…loved.

 

A few weeks ago I was about to go into work and I was worn out, and a bit grumpy.  My roommate Heathe, and I started catching up on what God was up to in our lives.  After about a 15 minute conversation my work wasn’t ready for me.  I was a different person.  From a 15 minute conversation?

 

In fact some of the moments when I’ve felt the closest to God are moments spent in my kitchen.  For some reason that’s where all the good conversation takes place.  Sitting on the countertops, telling stories, laughing until my throat is sore.  Or like this summer when we had a college Bible study in my living room.  People, just talking about life and God, saw a group grow from about 5 to over 30 in a few weeks.  Talking about God is pretty appealing. 

 

So maybe you’re feeling apathetic, lethargic, un-inspired.  Maybe you’re backsliding, forgetting your first love.  Maybe you’re battling depression or maybe something has totally destroyed the world you live in.  Stop trying to sort it out on your own.  You can’t.  Try this.  Try starting a conversation with someone with these words, “God is…” or “God isn’t…” and see what happens from there.  Rob Bell says that two of the most powerful words in the universe are, “me too.” 

 

You need people.  I need people.  People need us.  Who are we making ourselves available to?  Who are we sharing life with?  It seems to me that in order to not just know that God loves us, but to actually experience it, feel it, we need each other.  This is why I need you, and this is why you need me.

Easy

My favorite part of a song has to be the part where all the other instruments drop out except the drums and vocals. I think I like it because it draws your attention to what’s being said and it offers an opportunity for the audience to participate by singing the lyrics back as loud and as bad as they can. I don’t know what musicians call this part, but I call it my favorite part. That’s what everyone should call it from here on out, Nick’s favorite part. That would be awesome.

I know I used this in my last blog, but I want to use it again.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give rest for your souls. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

I’m about to do something that I normally don’t like doing. I’m about to use a dry dusty word that is going to require me to explain what I mean. I feel as though we Christians operate with far too many presuppositions in how we present Christ to people. Did you catch the word? Presuppositions; what we already assume to be true. For instance, trying to get someone to believe that they should trust Jesus because the Bible says he is the Son of God. When we say that we are assuming that the Bible is true, and that is has authority to tell us what we should believe. Do you see the problem? What if someone says, “Well I don’t think the Bible is true, I think its made up.” I do think that the Bible is the word of God and I do think that you can believe and trust Jesus because the Bible tells us to, but maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves in terms of communicating the person of Jesus to others.

I was listening to some Jacky J (Jack Johnson) this morning and there’s a line in a song that almost made me label him as a prophet. “Love is the answer for at least most of the questions in my heart. Like why are we here? And where do we go? And how come it’s so hard?” I found myself saying, “Yeah Jack, me too.” I don’t know what Jack Johnson believes about the world we live in, but I do think that we can agree on what people long for and how we should be treated. Maybe in a general way, maybe not even specifically, but there’s bound to be a connection there.

I think that the most appealing thing about Christianity is…Jesus. No, seriously. The way that Jesus lived and the way he taught us to live is probably something most people can agree on as being a beautiful way to live. A life spent loving people, forgiving people, giving yourself to what’s right, compassion, humility, integrity. These are things that people can generally agree on as being things that make this world…better.

That’s what Jesus is saying in Matthew. He is saying, come follow me, learn from me, live the way I live. A yoke was understood to be the teachings of a Rabbi. When you took their yoke upon you, you held to their teachings. Holding to the teachings of Jesus will bring rest for our souls.

Maybe how we convince people to trust Jesus is to show them Jesus. Groundbreaking. Maybe less time reading books that prove historicity of Christ and more time spent reading the Gospels would do our world some good.

“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.” 1 John 4:16-17

Hey You, Chin Up

"REEEEEEE...MIIIIIXXXX." When I used to hear this at the beginning of a song I would roll my eyes because I thought it was somewhat ridiculous. Most of the time the remixed version of a song wasn't all that different from the original version, they'd add like a synthesized clap or a baby crying or something like that. But have you ever belted out the word remix? Its fantastic. Honestly. Its a bit empowering. It could even be one of my new favorite things to do. I now understand why the remixers get so into it. Give it a shot, its great.

"As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fisherman. 'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed him." Mark 1:16-18

I used to read this passage and see Andrew and Simon leave their nets in some sort of hypnotic trance and follow this strange glowing Jesus, like he was some sort of martian or something. A lot of us have debated why they were so quick to follow Jesus. Some people say its because there was something about Jesus, something attractive, and I'm sure that's definitely part of the reason, but I feel like there's a whole lot more going on here.

I've heard this passage preached on a lot and you can learn a bunch of really interesting things if you do a little digging into the Jewish culture. The position of Rabbi wasn't something that kids decided to be, it was something they earned, see they were chosen. I've heard it said that every Jewish boy dreamed about being a Rabbi. They were the most respected people around. You were mandated to greet them with a kiss for crying out loud. Every boy began the journey to become a Rabbi together and as the process continued those that couldn't cut it were weeded out and left behind. Now if someone didn't have what it took to be a Rabbi he would return home to take on the trade of their father. Here's where we find Simon and Andrew...fishing. They were fisherman. Their dream wasn't being realized.

This is why I think they were so quick to follow Jesus. He was a Rabbi, a mysterious one at that. At his baptisim a few verses before, God Himself spoke about him, and John the Baptist seemed to think he was someone important. This Rabbi has offered our dream back to us. "Come follow me" was an invitation to these boys to do what Jesus was doing, it was a invitation to remember their dream.

Do you ever feel like you're just trying to get by? I know that the first year out of college for a lot of graduates is hard. You find yourself stuck in a cycle. You repeat what you did the day before. You wake up, go to work, come home, go to bed just to wake up the next day to repeat yourself. You begin to ask, what happened to the dreams I used to have? They've met head first with reality and now they seem almost silly and embarassing. I'm just working for the weekend. Trust me, this is a horrible way to live, but I think it describes most of America. Idealists and dreamers are looked down upon. People say they've lost touch with reality, their heads are in the clouds, things like that. When we live this way life is no longer life...its merely existence.

This why the invitation by Jesus is so great. His invitation is for you to remember your dream. The dream and the hope that your life actually counts for something. That there's more out there than this cyclical lifestyle that repeates itself day after day. There's a kingdom to advance, their is adventure to be had, right now, right here. Seriously. Think about what must be going on around you, in you, and about you if what we say we believe is actually...true. That there is a God that has created everything we see, touch, smell, think, and hear. That this God holds everything together, He holds the oceans in the palm of His hands, but He is also as close as to you as the very air you breathe, that He actually lives inside of you. That how we live actually impacts how things are and how things will be. That we are involved in a battle against darkness and the darkness is fading. See...the dream is alive, the dream is real and at every second of our day eternity dances at our fingertips.

You don't just go to work everyday. You aren't just finishing up college. You don't just go to high school. You're not just a parent, son, daughter, husband, wife, boyfriend, or girlfriend. You are God's workmanship...God's fiction, God's dream come true, created to do what He's dreamed about you doing. You were designed to encounter the devine, the eternal. All the time. Right now. It doesn't start later, or when you're ready...its happening now. The dream is still alive, and more than that...its real. You were designed to do more than exist, you were created to be alive.

Here's the invitation offered to us by Jesus, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" Matthew 11:28-30.

Here's to having the courage to dream again and the faith to believe that we have our dreams for a reason.

Real

I had to have an examination done a few days ago becauese I'm getting a new life insurance policy. The company sent a nurse to the house to give me my examination. Anyone else think this sounds kind of shady? Yeah, me too. Thats why I found it totally necessary to set the mood before she got there. You know, put on my bathrobe, close the blinds, light all the candles in the house and make sure some Kenny G was playing in the background. Alright, that didn't happen, but it really should have.

I've had some really interesting things happen to me lately. I've been a bit frustrated because I heard myself talking about how I have a heart for the homeless and how I want to "change the world", but I really didn't see myself doing anything about it. It really started to bother me. I really wanted a relationship with someone that I could...love, someone I could serve. The frustrating thing is that my schedule, probably like everyone elses, is a bit crazy. I was having a hard time trying to figure out how I was going to be able to go downtown through the week and see this happen. So, one day I was driving home from class and praying about this. I was very frustrated. I knew God had put this desire on my heart, but I didn't know how it was going to happen. So I prayed that God would make it happen. I'm home from class for ten minutes, TEN MINUTES, and I hear a knock on my door...in Lexington, South Carolina. I go to my door and there is standing, at my front door, a homeless woman named Deborah. She wanted a piece of furniture that we were throwing out. We spent some time together that day and we have been hanging out quite a bit since then. I tell you this not to pat myself on the back, but to share with you how real our God is. It blew my mind. Its still blowing my mind.

Here's where I'm at right now. I've heard myself talk about wanting to make the world a better place, about how I want to love people, grow the kingdom and all of that hoopla, but if I'm honest, most of the time I'm just trying to sound interesting. Truthfully, its cool to be involved in social action right now, people are all fired up about being involved in the next great cause, but do we mean it? Are we just looking for t-shirts? Are we just trying to sound interesting? We love to go to church and worship with our hands raised, but what are our hands doing after the service is over? Who are they serving? We join facebook groups, read the popular books, quote the revolutionaries, but who are we loving? What makes this movement real and not just a fad? Its people who are eager to do good to others. I'll leave you with this, some Scripture, the real Word of God.

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9

"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, paitent in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; morn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited." Romans 12:9-16

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us no love with with words or tongue, but with actions, and in truth." 1 John 3:16-18

This Is What Happens

I have no idea what I'm about to say, I've just been thinking some lately...

I bought a bowling glove when I was a kid, and I'm struggling to remember why. I didn't bowl that often and I wasn't really good at it. But I do remember convincing myself that I had to have this bowling glove. I think I even spent my own money on it. I remember wearing it in my bedroom, but never to a bowling alley. I must have thought it either looked somewhat "cool" or was I hoping it would give me magic powers.

For anyone that knows me, I somehow manage to quote a line from either Hook, Mrs. Doubtfire, or The Sandlot almost everyday. This isn't something that I try to do, it just happens. I found out that there's a sequel to The Sandlot and it features a girl on the team. This bothers me. A lot actually. Men...how do you feel about this? That was our movie! You know, "you play ball like a girl", that sort of thing. There can't be a girl on the team. Can't we have anything anymore? Honestly. You have Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants or whatever. How about we make a movie, The Brotherhood of the Traveling Slacks? Alright so that was a bit much.

Do you ever stop and think about how complicated a single moment in time is? Well if you haven't, try it sometime. Every moment involves so much. It all depends upon where you are, how you feel, what is going on, etc, etc. They are so intricate and complicated it almost makes my head hurt. The thing that really gets my head spinning is that everyone is sharing the same moment in time, but doing incredibly diverse things with it. Like right now, what is an Amish guy doing with this moment in time...not blogging thats for sure. What's he thinking about? What is important to him? Ah whatever, now this is getting weird. It just makes me feel small. There are so many stories out there that have nothing to do with me. Its actually kind of comforting.

And this is what happens when my brain gets to have recess.

This Is It

God loves you. Read it again. Again. At least one more time. This is it. This is where everything starts. This is how it finishes. This has to be the message the church, us, those that follow Jesus, will scream at the top of our lungs. This is what we have to be saying with a fierceness in our eyes that proves we believe it. This is where we find life, this is where we die. God's love. Its real. Its everything.

Why are people...people? Why are we here? Whats our "purpose?" All of those stuffy intellectual questions we ask around expensive cups of coffee find there answer somewhere in this truth. God loves you. I recently had a discussion with some people, fellow believers, about why we are here. The favored explanation was for God's glory. To bring glory to God. This is so true, but I don't think it satisfies my question. Put down your rock, and let me explain. When asked why we are here, why God created us I have a hard time believing that the answer is "for God's glory", because that sounds to me like before God created us He was lacking in something, glory perhaps? Was God sitting around in the cosmos and thinking, "I'm just not getting enough glory up here, what to do about that..." Now don't get me wrong, I do think everything, including us, exists for the sole purpose of bringing God glory, but I don't think its "why" we are here. I wonder if why God created us is more about what God would give then what He would get.

I think its because God loves us. Think about it. God, the best thing there is, who is not lacking in anything decided to create something that could share how good He is. I've heard it said that the most selfless thing a perfect being could offer would be Himself. So why did God create us? To give Himself. The best thing He could give. Because He loves us. The reason we were brought into existence is because God loves us. God loved us so much that we were created in a way that when we give God glory, enjoy just how good He is, we are most satisfied.

We have to understand this. We have to communicate this. Because this is where everything starts and ends. When we experience God's love, all that is required of us is to respond to it. That's what this is all about. Responding to the love of our Creator. Obedience isn't just obedience, its a response of love. Its the product of a relationship. Its not just following rules for the sake of following rules, its living in a way that allows you to have a relationship with God, who loves you. I've heard it said that your head will let you get away with a lot more than your heart will.

My friend told me about a conversation he had with a family member who is struggling to understand his position with God. The family member asked, "I just don't know where I stand. What am I supposed to do?" My friend responded with, "Its not about what you do." Its about realizing you're loved by God and then responding to that love.

Some of us claim to love God, to follow Him, but do we though? Really? I would like to think that to be loved by God means to find my satisfaction, my identity, my security, my worth, in Him, how He feels about me. To love Him back would be to live like a person who finds my satisfaction, identity, security and worth in Him. What are we wanting to love us?

We...love because God first...loved...us. This is it.

Charleston

Over the past few weeks I've had a lot of people ask me about the possible church plant in Charleston so I thought I'd share briefly with whats in the mix. I'm not going to be overly detailed here on the world wide web, buuuut here's what I'm thinking. For those of you who want to know more e-mail me at nicholas.charles1010@gmail.com and maybe we could arrange a time where we could all get together and chat.

Here's the deal. God has given me a passion for church planting. Duh. I've been somewhat crazy about the city of Charleston since I moved to South Carolina. I get really excited when I think about what could happen if you took something similar to what is going on at Midtown and offered it to the city of Charleston. It would have to be different in some respects, but you get my drift.
Charleston is a city of extremes. I'm no expert, but from what I've seen and from the people I've talked to that have and do live there, that seems to be case. The economy is incredibly lopsided, you can find some of the most wealthy people in South Carlolina living right next to some of the poorest. The social/racial realtions don't look a whole lot different from how they probably were 50 years ago, and even if they do look different, they're nowhere near healthy. The city has so much potential. Just imagine what could happen there if a group of people shared with them the love of Christ, lived the way Jesus did. What would happen if one group of people started to care about another group of people and decided to make it different. There's a lot more, but we can save that for later. If you're interested in hearing more, send me an e-mail and maybe we can all get together. Peace!

Snooze You Lose

Rock Band. It brings people together. Maybe we should play it after communion. What's up with me and communion? Rock Band, you should play it, and hug someone, or just figh five them, but like you mean it.

So I'm feeling a little convicted. Go figure. That seems to happen quite a bit when I'm reading Scripture. The good thing about conviction though is that it brings hope, not guilt. Anyway. I owe the conviction to this little diddy of Scripture;

"And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light."
Romans 13:11-12

I'm a little tired of compromising. Of putting this relationship with God and the purpose He has for my life on hold. It's almost like I hit the snooze button on what I'm going to do with my life. Don't we all kind of do that though? We're not ready to give Him all that we have, we're not ready to love Him with our entire being. I've heard myself and others say things like, "I'm young, I'm just enjoying myself." It's as if we believe that we're allowed a certain number of our years to live how we want to with no consequence then once we're out of college, have a job, maybe thirty or something, we will live our lives in love with God.

I just feel like we're waisting our time. I mean if we really believe that loving God is what we were created to do and if obeying Him is how we demonstrate that love, then why don't we do it? Its not a matter of being moral for the sake of just being good. Or trying to make yourself "ok", or being better than someboyd else, or holy-er than thoug, its a matter of loving God, and being loved by Him. Its like we're cheating on Him with all the crap this world has to offer.
I guess I just feel like its time to wake up. I don't want to find myself twenty years down the road saying things like, "I never thought I'd end up here."

I like what Donald Miller says, "Time, which was God’s friend, is now His enemy, and you and I are going to end with it soon. If you will lift a glass of wine with me, I would like to remember Him: Here’s to Christ for making us, to Christ for rescuing us, and to Christ, who gives hope for tomorrow.”

Here's to being awake. Here's to loving God and finding our purpose and meaning from being loved by Him. Here's to living life to the fullest, all that it could be, all that it should be. I'm tired of waiting.

I'm Screaming It

Conversations with people dressed in ski gear are quite refreshing. You really have no idea what they look like and you talk to them with no preconcieved notion about who they are or what they are like. Plus everyone looks fluffy, perhaps a bit jolly even. I kind of just want to push them down and watch them try to get up. I mean that in the nicest way.

Read this, its the Bible, you have to.
"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."
Romans 12:9-12

Nothing gets under my skin more than when those of us who follow Jesus live in despair. I don't understand. Its almost like we have given up, as if the fights over. The world is not beyond reach. I don't know if you know this or not, but in the end God wins. Its almost like we see the darkness of the world we live in and ask, "Why bother?" This is what I'm screaming, "BE JOYFUL IN HOPE, PATIENT IN AFFLICTION, FAITHFUL IN PRAYER!" Yes, the world is often a dark place, full of despair, but check out 1 John 2: 8, "the darkness is passing and the true light is already shinning." The end of the Romans 12 passage says this, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

What if? What if we believed that what Jesus came to start, the dream and intention God had for His creation could actually be a reality? What if in those moments of despair when the question, "Why bother?" shows up, we instead asked, "How can I not bother?" That would be something. That would be everything.

You

Communion breath smells bad. The combination of grape juice and bread does not produce a pleasant aroma. Maybe I just have a case of halitosis.

Lately I've been blown away by the power of community. I went on the "Family Vacation" with my church, Midtown, last weekend. Something like 75 people went to Gatlinburg and packed into two cabins to share our stories with each other. It was incredible. Its nice to be a part of something you can believe in, something you can give your life to.

It just got me thinking about how important it is for us, human beings, to be in community with one another. Its not just a good idea, its essential. I was reading the creation account in Genesis, and most of us are familiar with what God said after creating something, "It is good." Kind of like me after I finish eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Especially a sandwich made with cold bread, grape jelly, and crunch peanut butter. Its nice to if the sandwich has actually been in existence for a while so the jelly is coming through the outside of the bread, all smooshed up like somebody sat on it. Anyway...

Did you know that there is actually one time before the fall of man that God actually says "It is not good..." Really He does. Genesis chapter 3 God says, "It is not good for man to be alone." I find this very compelling. God looks at Adam, the perfect creation, without flaw, someone who finds their worth entirely in his Creator, and sees that he's lonely. I mean this guy is perfect, with out insecurity and he's lonely, and God recognizes that. This is before sin, all the bad stuff, is introduced into creation so nothing is "wrong" at this point, but God still says its not good for man to be alone. So its ok that I don't like to be alone? Its ok that I need companionship? Absolutely.

In John 17 Jesus prays for this. He prays that we, you and me, will be united, be one as the Father and Son are one. Unity. Companionship. We need each other. Its funny though because whenever we are struggling with something we have a tendency to retreat. We become recluses. We even advice people to do this. "All you need is God right now, focus on Him." Or we find ourselves saying things like "I just need to get away from everybody, I need some just me and God time." I do think that we need solitude, times of intimacy with God, but here's Adam, perfect without flaw and God see's him alone and says its not good.
God works through people. Always has, always will. We need each other. We need to share our burdens, our accomplishments, our joys, our sorrows. Not for fulfilment, not for worth, but for companionship. I need that. I need you.

Mud In Your Eyes

New Years, as fun as it was, is always a bit of a let down. It never lives up to its expectations. I did however enjoy my New Years Eve. Rock Band is simply amazing.

So I ran out of coffee filters the other day. How does that happen? I feel like that's something that you should see coming. Thanks to good friends that are gracious enough to give me some coffee filters.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and encouragements, it really does mean a lot. God is big, really big.

John chapter 9 has become one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. Its the story of when Jesus heals a man born blind. The chapter starts off with the disciples asking the question, "who sinned, this man or his parents? that he was born blind?" Interesting question. Jesus lets them know that it was neither, but it was so that work of God could be displayed in his life. Back to the question though. They are asking essential what is the source of this imperfection. I was trying to think why I would ask this question, why I would want to know how this man ended up being born blind. I came to conclusion that I would probably ask this question to know how to avoid this happening to me.
I think this lets us in on how humans view sin and how it affects our lives. Our view of sin is far to small. We think of it only as the actions that we do, things we do wrong. Its much bigger than that. Sometimes I feel like we look at sin as something, for some unknown reason, God chose to hate and the only reason we're not supposed to do it is because God just doesn't like it. God doesn't like sin because God can't like sin. Its the complete opposite of God. Sin is rebellion to God. Sin is what has broken and destroyed God's creation. Its more than just what we do, its what we're born into. This man's blindness wasn't the result of some one's individual sin, but it was the result of being born into a war-torn creation that has been devastated by sin. A bit of helplessness creeps in.
I feel like they're asking the question in hopes of discovering some sort of formula. What must I do/not do, what steps do I have to take in order to prevent this from happening to me? We can't, we're broken. We need to be fixed. We need the work of God, we need to be restored. That's what Jesus does...
Its bizarre actually. Jesus spit in the dirt, made a mud pie and smeared it on the man's eyes. This is how Jesus heals him. Interesting. The debate is over the the cause of the blindness. Jesus somewhat answers the question with the method of the healing. See in Genesis chapter 2 it says that God formed man from the dust, from the dirt. He breathed into it. Jesus heals the man with what he's made out of.
We're broken versions of what we were meant to be. We need the work of God in our lives. We need to be restored. The hope though is that Jesus doesn't want to make us into something we're not, but instead to restore us to what we were always meant to be.

Tragedy

I recently discovered my passion for splitting logs. It is so much fun. I honestly don't think I've experienced an emotional roller coaster quite like it. There's nothing better than seeing a log split under the power of my swing, aaand nothing more disheartening than watching the axe bounce off the top of top of the log, leaving the piece of wood in tact, and mocking me.

I have this suspicion that while creating their beloved masterpieces many artists had their audinece in mind. I don't think they created their work thinking, "I wonder what they'll like." I think it was probably more like a desperate attempt to get something that was internally consuming them, out. Much like giving birth. Gross.

So here's what I was thinking about during Christmas. I was confronted with the tragedy of Christmas. Seriously. Read this..."Through him all things were made; with out him nothing was made that has been made.....He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not recieve him." John 1:3, 10-11.

There's something terribly wrong with this picture. God, our source, our origin, our purpose comes to us, and what should be the most easily recognizable thing, the most anticipated arrival wasn't recieved at all. Tragedy. I can look in our world though and I can see this. Can't you? Its suprisingly easy to look and see a world that's not the way it was intended to be. It seems somewhat lacking, something is missing, things are damaged. That's a truth most people can agree on whether they believe in God or not.

Is there anything more painful to watch than someone trying to be somebody they're not? Ah, it's almost unbearable! I think thats why I have such a hard time watching Meet the Parents...Focker...you're so akward. I love The Office, but goodness Michael can drive me nuts. Maybe you've been that guy who has butted in on a conversation and pretended to know what they were talking about when you really didn't. My skin is crawling just thinking about it. Is this what we look like? A bunch of people standing around the preverbial water cooler all pretending to know what's going on? There's a good chance.

This is the tragedy of Christmas to me. God, what defines us, presents Himself to us and we don't even recogize Him. Ouch. The pain He must have felt, and still feels. Donald Miller says it like this, "I don't think we can understand the pain a pure love would feel after being betrayed by the focus of its love."

But there is hope to be found in Christmas, one verse down actually. "Yet to all who recieve him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-children born not of a natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." John 1:12-13

There is a hope out there. You do have a defenition, an origin, a purpose and He came here to rescue us. Merry Christmas.

Do You See What I See...?

I've never experienced a time in my life where God has answered so many prayers, done so much, or been so evident. Yesterday I felt the urge to thank Him individually for all the things He has done and so I wrote them down. As I went down the list expressing my gratitude for each "blessing" I began to feel rather foolish. I found that the response that I wanted to express wasn't necessarily gratitude for the things God had given me, but it was something deeper. It was the mind blowing truth that He is...real, and if God is real, then by definition He is worthy of my gratitude. I don't think the benefit of answered prayer is found in the answers themselves, but its in the face to face encounter with a real, powerful God that knows you.

Something else I've noticed is this; the more obedient I've become the more liberal I think. Hear me out. Not liberal in a political sense, not loose on my morals, or on the truths that I believe in, but on the way that I choose to let these truths flesh out. Its like when I actually have an "aha" moment about something that has to do with God and what He's about I can't stand to put it in a box and look at it one way. The Gospel and Jesus Christ are bigger than myself and my pea sized brain. Why do we have to do things the way we have always done them? I'm not sure all of these great men who we've started our beloved denominations after ever intended for us to be reaching people the same way they did hundreds of years ago. They saw the lost and they discovered a way to reach them, a way that was probably a little liberal for their time. Wesley took bar songs and wrote lyrics for them that taught theology. Here's to being a little liberal.

Along those lines I've also started to discover another interesting relationship. It seems the more obedient I've become the more compassion I have for the broken, for sinners. I'm not going to lie, I've seen a decrease of personal sin in my life and I take absolutely no credit for it, I am far from perfect, I'm still wretched, no good, and all the sorts of things that people who are filled with humility tend to say :), but I am more Christlike than I was a few months ago. That being the case I can honestly say that I look at people who are drenched in sin, held captive by it and my first reaction isn't to judge them, but it is to have compassion on them. Don't mistake this for tolerance, but I want more and more for them to have a encounter with Jesus. I know what its like to live a life along side of Him, and its great. I don't want to make them feel like they can't do it because they're so "wicked", but its my hope that they can understand that Jesus believes that they don't have to live that way anymore. It really is an interesting relationship.

Please disregard anything you could take offense at, this is my blogg and I can ramble as much as I'd like. Other than that...God bless us, every one.

Murky Waters

I wish I could play the drums. I've decided that is my favorite instrument. I thought it was the piano for a while, but its not. The piano is now second. I want to be a drummer. Don't go and get any ideas and buy me a set of drums, or they'll do exactly what my bass and keyboard is doing right now...collect dust.

I get to be a part of this life group with my church, Midtown, and it is by far the best thing that's happened to me in a long time. These guys are so authentic and genuine, not to mention unbelievably attractive. I think that's why they put us all together, to have the best looking life group ever.

Ok, so here's what I'm thinking about right now. Christianity today is so clouded. I find myself tired of sorting through agendas in order to hear truth. It shouldn't be this way. I'm thinking its like this, there's Jesus and this incredible truth He embodied, this way of living He demonstrated, and then for the past 2000 years we've piled on layer after layer of man made crap. I said crap, could have said something else. The even scarier thing is that we've convinced ourselves that some, and maybe even a lot, of this crap is necessary. I just want to peel back these layers and immerse myself in the raw and original truth of the Gospel, but whats sad is that more often than not when someone starts to do this, peel back the layers of man made religion, they are labeled as a heretic, and that's an ugly word.

Here's whats really scary. I did a bunch of research a while ago about Elijah and why what he did was so important. He's labeled as the greatest prophet ever in the Old Testament, but honestly when you read his story compared to the rest of the prophets, it really doesn't seem like he did as much as the rest of them, but anyway. So Ahab was king while he was a prophet and his wife was Jezebel, major witch. It says that Ahab angered God more than any of the kings before him. Why you might ask...let me tell you. Before Ahab, all the kings allowed, encouraged, and embraced the worshiping of idols. I found out that the worshiping of idols wasn't necessarily replacing God with a different deity, but they were often seen as something that allowed worship God. It was like, hey, here's this golden object...worship it and it will help you reach God. Ahab on the other hand replaced God with Baal, and I mean what jealous one true God wouldn't get peeved about this?

But back to the idol thing. A lot of times they weren't attempts to replace God, but things that were seen as necessary aides in order to reach God...hmmm. Could some of these "layers" we've piled on our faith, that we've made a part of this thing we called Christianity actually be idols? Things that we've labeled as necessities in order to understand Jesus, that actually... aren't? I'm just asking, maybe you should to.

I just want to let Jesus breathe. I know He doesn't need my help, but He's pretty incredible on His own.

It's Not Always, Always

When driving, why does it take some people so long to turn right? It's almost as if they picture themselves in the Olympics, "here we go, the approach is good, now oh, oh, oh, yessss, stuck it." Shut up and turn already, your blinker's going to burn out.

The fact that lost love hurts as much as it does proves to me its worth living for. If it is that noticeable when it's gone, then honestly, what is it?

Trevor and I were talking the other day, you know discussing how to change the world from the kitchen counter-top, and he said something that has been bouncing around in my head for a while. He said in one way or another that the older we get the less we buy into absolutes. Absolutes are things that we label as "always", or "all the time." I totally agree. There really are very, very few absolutes in this life. People aren't always like this, things don't always turn out like that.

But there really is beauty in this. It seems to me that life pushes us towards a relational way of living. Things don't fit into formulas. People don't fit into equations. God doesn't exist inside of a method. It is though how we seem to approach these things. If I treat this person this way, say these certain things, follow these steps, then this will happen. I haven't found this to be true very often. God is the same way. I find myself thinking, if I read this much scripture, say these prayers, have this attitude, this behavior then God will respond the way I want Him to. Is He God, or is He a video game? When I think this way I'm not relating to a living God, I'm relating to a method, a equation, a formula, and not a divine being.

What God wants is for us to know Him. To ask Him, "Why did you do that?" Things aren't always so black and white, but that's ok, we tend to enjoy the colors anyway.

I think something incredible happens when we approach people this way as well. We very good at trying to wrap somebody up in a single moment based on first impressions or stereotypes. We see them behaving a certain way and we sum them up instantly. An entire life defined in a moment.

Jesus didn't do this. I heard a really good sermon last night on Luke chapter 7 by my friend Dustin Willis. It's the story of the woman, a prostitute, that washed Jesus' feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and covered them with expensive perfume. I was thinking about how differently the religious guys looked at her compared to how Jesus looked at her. The religious guys saw her as a prostitute, a horrible person living a horrible life, they summed her up in an instant. Jesus didn't do that. He looked at her in love, with compassion. Jesus looked at her and not only saw her in her current condition, but also her whole life, everything that brought her to that moment. He knew, because He is God, that this woman's dream from the time she was a child wasn't to grow up and become a prostitute, but that a lot of things happened to get her there. Jesus' compassion on this woman not only forgave her of her sins, but it set her free from a life controlled by them. She knew after that moment that Jesus understood, but also that she didn't have to live that way anymore.

Life is relational. With God and with each other. It can be painful, but even then it still shows itself to be beautiful.

The one-eyed critic

Thanks to everyone who reads this and double thanks to those of you who have sent me messages about what I think about. It really means a lot!

I like the way rain on hot pavement smells, but I don't like the dead worms scattered all over the place.

I'm going to Tampa, Fla this weekend for The Next Big Thing music festival. Jimmy Eat World, Angels and Airwaves, Mute Math, Paramore, Sum 41, Shiny Toy Guns and a whole lot more. Not to mention Michael, Matt, and Rob. Its going to be great.

I don't like it when someone slaps you on the lower back, even if its on accident, it hurts, and the kind of hurt that makes me angry. Its kind of funny actually.

Do you have any idea how many half read books I have sitting around my room? Probably not. Well there's like 5. Half read books...is that grammatically correct?

One thing I'm getting tired of doing is critiquing other people. It really is getting old. People who like to communicate scripture also like to listen to other people that like to communicate scripture on podcasts and things like that. But we also like to decide who is better than who and who is legit and who preaches the Word better and on and on and on. I don't mind having preferences and favorites, but I'm tired of calling someone right and another person wrong. Its too close to the whole judging thing.

It seems that we humans love to sit back and judge the world according to our standards our rules and we really have no idea about their world, or their rules. I think perhaps why Jesus had such a problem with judging has to do with the fact that good ole Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That sounds like the knowledge to be able to determine whats right and whats wrong...the knowledge that enables one to judge perhaps? That right is reserved for Mr. Almighty Himself and I'm quite alright with letting Him do it. Judgement looks an awful lot like the first rebellion, but then again so do a lot of other things that I find myself doing.

Thinking

I saw August Rush last night. Pretty good movie. Although I think it was the cheesy version of what it should have been. That makes since to me. Dialogue was a little weak, but it was a great story. It touches on the truth that music is powerful. Robin Williams who played a crazy street musician named Wizard said, "Music is God's little reminder that there's more than this, more than us out there." Well put.

Girls smell so much better than boys.

You should listen to the podcast Story by Donald Miller when he spoke at Mars Hill. Its interesting. Here's to telling a good story.

"To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice." Proverbs 21:3
-You could talk about this from many different angles, but it seems we're quicker to give something up or deprive ourselves from something for God than we are to do what is right. Is this easier?

"The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is, ' because the kingdom of God is within you." Luke 17:20-21
-I often look for the kingdom of God outside or separate from myself, as if something else will usher it in. God has chosen to reveal it through us and the way we live. Privilege and responsibility. I'm feelin ya Spiderman.

Hope (part deux)

Should I be bothered that no one comments on my blogg? That is a shameless attempt to get your comments :).

One of my favorite things to watch is milk or cream being poured into coffee...gorgeous.

Mike and Ikes might be the best road trip candy.

Rachel is on her way home. Yay!

Hope. Our world doesn't have much. We live during a time when you don't have to convince people that this world is messed up, that its not the way its supposed to be. Believer's, non-believers alike, we can all admit it. Watch the news, read the paper, look at the world around you. Horrible things happen. Hope is what people need.

Thats what I love about Jesus. He brings so much hope. He is hope incarnate. I read through the gospels and time and time again before Jesus heals someone He lets them know that it is according to their faith that they are healed. Interesting. He really doesn't have to say it that way, but He...does. It's according to YOUR faith. Its like Jesus doesn't just want to heal their sickness, but He wants them to know that there is something incredibly powerful living inside of them that can accomplish unbelievable things.

Often it seems that our goal as "Christians" is for people on the outside to look at our lives and feel bad about how they are living. Its almost as if we want people to walk away from us feeling like garbage because somehow thats going to make them change. Conviction is part of the process, but its not the end that we're working for. People walked away from an ecounter with Jesus knowing that it was according to THEIR faith, they walked away believing that they didn't have to live this way anymore, they walked away with hope that there was a better way to live. Hope.

Hope

I believe in God. That's not something I change my mind about that much, well ever. I do have doubts sometimes, but they never lead me to give up my belief in God. I say this because I think its funny that I have these moments where I'm so confronted by the fact that there is a God that I almost lose my mind.

There are these events, realizations, or encounters that stop me where I'm at and almost completely shut me down. Its like everything we've heard about is true. How good He is. How big He is. How much He loves us. Its all true. This God whose dream is responsible for all that we see and know is real.

It reminds me of the Santa days of Christmas. Going to bed on the 24th so excited, so anxious. Waking up in the morning and tip toeing my way to the living room, holding my breath. Hoping that everything I believed about Christmas and Santa would somehow find its way to my living room and then seeing the evidence that he was actually here. I know there are plenty of reasons why this is a bad analogy for my belief in God, but one thing I do understand is that there is hope involved. God is hope realized. Hope that there is something out there that makes this worth it, makes it right. God is like everything we've heard about. God is our hope.

Inspiration

Q-tips have to be one of the greatest inventions of all time. The after shower version is my favorite.

Fall=chapped lips and I like that.

Angels and Airwaves makes me think of God. No, really. I'm not even sure if these guys are followers of Christ, or if they meant for their cd to inspire me to worship, but seriously. This is what gets me a little frustrated. Of all people who should be inspired shouldn't it be followers of Jesus? We have so much to be inspired by! I get tired of Christian garbage. Here's the formula for the majority of Christian music, or atleast the way I see it; how many nice things can i say about God in three minutes+a cheap melody+pop's latest flavor of the month= a 14.95 worship cd.

God is worthy of so much more than that. I listen to things like Angels and Airwaves, wether they're followers of Christ or not, Sigur Ros, Mute Math, Coldplay, and I reminded of the fact that we are created in the image of a creative God.

The other night I sat and watched a friend of mine, Aaron Robertson, do what God created him to do, make music. Thats how I define inspiration. Its coming in contact with the infinite that is buried inside of us. When it happens its beautiful, powerful, and right. Be inspired today.

Aaron Robertson...keep making that music!