I Heard That

It’s really hard to have a favorite band isn’t it? When someone asks me that question my brain locks up and it’s almost impossible for me to pick one. I find it pretty common to be able to name your top 5 favorite bands, but rarely can someone come up with their consensus number one.
How about a favorite song? That’s a hard one to pick too. It usually changes. I do have a favorite song though. It is Coldplay’s “Fix You.” I haven’t listened to it for a long time because I’m honestly kind of tired of it, but it’s still my favorite. I like it because of what it does to me. I’m the farthest thing from an expert when it comes to all the technical things about music, I’ll leave that to all of you tight jean wearing guys who seem to speak in another language when it comes to the music you listen to. But “Fix You” has this way of changing me. I can’t tell you how, or why, but it just does. Every song that I know has a “my favorite part.” My favorite part of “Fix You” is probably everyone’s favorite part of that song. You know, when the guitar comes racing in and then the drums drop in and suddenly life just seems really big. That song is so…epic. For some reason it gives me hope.
Music is an interesting…thing. I’ve heard it said that music builds a bridge between heaven and earth. I can understand that. Humans, all of us, respond to music in very powerful ways. It’s everywhere. Music isn’t only found in one culture or people group, but it’s everywhere. How did that happen? How did every group of people, in every part of the world, separated from each other, develop their own type of music? I have an idea.
My biggest question is why do we respond to music the way that we do? Seriously. I went to this show a few weeks ago at a little coffee shop by where I live. There was a band playing called Sleeping at Last, they are incredible by the way. A bunch of my friends were going to be there so I decided to stop by. I saw something incredible there. Now before this show I really didn’t know much about Sleeping at Last, but the people there did. I don’t know if you’re like me, but before a show I usually listen to the artist’s CD a lot, just to somehow get me even more excited about seeing them live. What’s funny is that whenever the band started playing a song that the crowd recognized everyone got really excited like they hadn’t heard the song in years, but I’m thinking to myself, “you probably just listened to this song on the way over here.” During one of their songs I decided to look around at the people, just to see what was going on. It was incredible. People had their eyes closed, singing the words with real passion. Almost all of them. They were feeling something, experiencing something. I turned back around to listen to the music with a smile on my face as long as the east coast. I wondered how someone could experience something like that and question the existence of God.
My question is why. Why do we respond to music the way we do? Particularly at a live concert. I have a few ideas I thought I would share.

1. I think it has a lot to do with the connection you feel between people at a concert. You are united with a group of people, singing the same music, experiencing the same moment. It really is a powerful thing. Whether it’s a worship band, or Jimmy Eat World, when I’m singing the same song with a group of people I’m somewhat overwhelmed.
2. As human beings we are created in the image of a Creator God. I think that this has a lot to do with it. People respond to created things. Whether it’s art, music, literature, nature, or origami we have this way of appreciating something that has been created. We appreciate beauty. All of us are creative in some way or another. Some people are gifted musically; some girls are really good with their make-up. Creativity is something that we all share. I think the response we have to music has a lot to do with the image we were created in.

Just some stuff to think about. Here’s a really beautiful Psalm that helps me to somewhat understand this.

“My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and make music.
Awake my soul!
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.”
-Psalm 57:7-8

John Mayer and Deuteronomy

So, I was driving the other day and listening to John Mayer dominate all that is the guitar, and life was good. There’s this song on his CD, Continuum, called “The Heart of Life”; it’s a very endearing song and the chorus goes likes this, “Pain throws your heart to the ground. Love turns the whole thing around. No, it won’t all go the way it should, but I know the heart of life is good.” This threw my mind into a tailspin, in a good way of course.
There seems to be this understanding amongst the human race, at least the part of the human race that I’m familiar with, that the way things are aren’t the way things are supposed to be. People, no matter what they believe about God or don’t’ believe about God, can take an honest look at the state of the world and how people behave and interact with one another, and say to some extent that it’s not exactly right. For instance, people are becoming more and more interested in social justice. You can buy clothes and etc. that go towards a beautiful cause, you can watch television shows about fixing up a house for a family who desperately needs it, or you can wear a rubber bracelet around your wrist letting everyone know what you stand for. Those bracelets rip the hair off my arms. All that to be said it seems that people can recognize that the state of the world is not the state that it should be, or the state that it could be. You can’t watch the news, or read the paper and not hear about some horrible thing happening to some undeserving person and have something well up inside of you and scream, “That’s not right!” Again, this understanding is not limited to Bible believing Christians. I was at a music festival last December, it was not a Christian music festival, I promise. I remember this one band who after talking about some incredible vulgar things described with an impressive assortment of cuss words say, “This song is for all you out there who recognize that the world is not the way its supposed to be and who want to see it different.” I remember thinking, “hey, that’s me too.”
So, if we can recognize that the world is not the way its supposed to be, then does that mean that somewhere deep down inside of us we know in some way that there is a way it’s…supposed to be? It seems that is what John is getting at in his song. I don’t think he would mind if I called him John. Maybe he’s saying, “This world is painful, but behind it all there is good that can be discovered.” See, by recognizing that the state of the world isn’t the state that it was intended to be means that there is something we have to be comparing it to. Perhaps, the way it…was intended to be?
This all makes me wonder if John was reading Deuteronomy while writing this song. I doubt it, but check this out. Concerning the law that was given to the people, the Ten Commandments, God says, “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not in heaven, so that you have to ask, ‘who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask ‘Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” The way we were supposed to live isn’t something that is out of reach or beyond our understanding; it’s there inside of us.
See God’s law wasn’t intended to be something that enslaved us, or kept us from life. No, it was meant to show us how life was truly meant to be. Later in chapter 32, Deuteronomy says, “They are not just idle words for you-they are your life.”
There is no doubt in my mind that this world is not the way it was meant to be. It is a dark place and horrible things do happen. But just imagine. Imagine what it would be like if we did live the way it was intended to be. That’s what Jesus came to do. He came to forgive, but not only to forgive, but to also enable us to live the life that God intended his people to live and to escape the slavery of sin. Check out 2nd Peter chapter 1:3-4. “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them YOU MAY PARTICIPATE IN THE DIVINE NATURE AND ESCAPE THE CORRUPTION IN THE WORLD CAUSED BY EVIL DESIRES.” The divine nature. That sounds something like the way life should be. That sounds like something I would like to be a part of.
Do you see what could happen? What this world could be like? What life could be like? Jesus came to redeem us, forgive us, and then enable us to live life the way it was meant to be. This world is dark, but I don’t think it has to be. Here are some words of hope found later in 2nd Peter chapter one. Peter is speaking of God’s word, and of the truth given to us in it. It’s beautiful for people who understand that the world is not the way it should be, but who also believe and have hope that God has not only forgiven us, but has also enabled us to live the way we were intended to live. Enjoy. “And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, AS TO A LIGHT SHINNING IN A DARK PLACE, UNTIL THE DAY DAWNS AND THE MORNING STAR RISES IN YOUR HEARTS.”

Always the Bride, Never a Bridesmaid

Did you know that the pineapple is the symbol of hospitality? They grace the entrance to many driveways throughout the state of South Carolina and for some reason they are supposed to be our way of saying welcome. I’ve never understood this. Take a look at the pineapple. It looks like a barbed hand grenade. The spiky little fruit doesn’t necessarily scream hospitality to me.
Anyway. I’ve bee thinking a lot about the church lately. Not a specific church, but the church in general, all of us. In 1 Timothy 2:15 Paul describes it as, “…God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” This portion of a verse has had my mind spinning for a few weeks now. When I set what the church currently seems to look like, what it stands for, next to the words, “the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth”, I can’t help but feel a little foolish.
First of all, these are just my thoughts. I am in no way an expert on the church, I’m 24 years old for crying out loud, these are just observation, mostly questions.
I’m not a big fan of bashing the church. I’ve heard people say, and even myself at one time, “I love Jesus, I’m just not down with the church.” I’ve learned that this is a contradiction. Whatever you do in the name of Jesus you do as the church, whether you call it church or not. When I read through Scripture I find that Jesus seems to be quite fond of the church, even despite its weaknesses and failures. He refers to it as His bride. Most grooms are pretty fond of their brides and probably would take offense at people bashing them. Girls can be very critical of other girl’s weddings, even if it is one of their closest friends. After its over you can hear them talking about what they liked and what they didn’t like, that sort of thing. It seems to be the liberty of the bridesmaid to be critical of the brides wedding. Here’s the thing, we’re always the bride in this story and never the bridesmaid. The church should be something fought for and not against. There is only one hope for this world and it’s not the republicans. It’s not the democrats. It’s not liberals, or conservatives, or even the United States. Nope, it’s not Oprah either. It’s God’s household, the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. It seems to me that either you’re just adding to the noise, or you’re doing something about it.
With all that being said when I look at the church right now after reading Paul’s words in 1Timothy, I have to wonder if we have it right. Is this the pillar and foundation of the truth? We’re approaching Easter and I saw on the news a local church getting ready for their Passion play and I couldn’t help but ask, “Is this the best way to communicate what happened at Easter?” I don’t know. It just seems that we so often do a little dance, sing a little song and hope people pay attention. Or there are other churches who are definitely cutting edge, who know how to put on a good show that is very appealing, and very creative, but it sometimes feels like a corporation, or just a good show.
I just see one of two tendencies, both in myself and in others. Either we whore the church out in order to build a kingdom for ourselves, or we enslave it to dusty traditions that really aren’t effective anymore.
Its when I read those words, “the pillar and foundation of the truth”, it just really makes me want to be sure my heart is right. How much of what I’m doing is about me? How much of it is about communicating the realest of realities, the deepest of truths, something that is supposed to change everything?
Church isn’t about buildings, strategies, methods, or rock shows. It’s about people. My little experience with church planting here in the states makes me wonder about a lot of church planter’s motives. A lot of times people plant a church because they are unhappy with the church they’re in. It’s not the way they think church should be done, the music’s not loud enough, or whatever. So they decide to go plant a church where they can do things the way they want to. Then what happens is the church seems to attract other people who are unhappy with their church and how loud the music is and there you have it, a church is planted. Really? I wonder if it starts with a heart for a group of people. I hope to plant a church that reaches those who haven’t been reached. Who have never had the opportunity to complain about how loud the music is.
We have to be careful with how important our identity is to us as a church. I get a little nervous when things are said like, “This is who we are”, or, “This is what we do.” Are we supposed to have an identity? Doesn’t Paul say, “I become all things to all people?” If we’re to have an identity, there it is. Compromise the Gospel? Never. Do what it takes to reach those who haven’t been reached? Yes.
One more thing and I’m done. I promise. I can’t help but wonder, “what if the church was united?” I get really excited when I think about that. What if we weren’t so isolated? What if we understood the idea of the universal church? What if we were organized? We could honestly change the world. Our differences are pretty lame aren’t they? I mean compared to a bleeding world that is looking for something to put their hope in.
I’ll close with this beautiful passage of scripture from Romans 15 and then I’ll be done. “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.”

The Heart of the Matter

There’s really no cute way to start this, no interesting way to capture your attention. This is just it. This is what I’ve been steamrolled with for the past four months. I can’t escape it, I can’t avoid it, I can’t live without it. God is real and He loves me.

Christianity isn’t a religion, it’s a relationship. Go ahead, pull out the t-shrt. We’ve all heard it before, we’ve probably said it numerous times, but it’s so profoundly true. To follow Jesus isn’t about submitting yourself to a religion, it’s about entering into a relationship. We say this though as if it were something that makes it easier to follow Jesus. Almost as if all we have to do is say that and “poof” we have a relationship with God and nothing has to change. It’s our answer for everything. “Why do you Christians do this, or don’t do that?” “Well it’s because it’s not a religion, it’s a relationship.” Booyah. Now who can I high five on my team? It seems that we’re so comfortable saying this, but do we really know what it means? Has it impacted the way our lives are lived?

There’s this rich young guy that has an encounter with Jesus. I can’t help but picture him as a Tom Brady-like character. You know, the kind of guy who seems to have everything and all you want to do is mess his really cool hair up and make some crack about his shoes. Maybe that’s just me. But in Mark chapter 10 this guy whom we all would assume has it all together runs up and…falls at the feet of Jesus. He doesn’t tug Jesus’ shirt and ask if he has a few minutes to spare, he doesn’t send him an e-mail, or say, “So, I have this friend who has this problem.” This man runs up to Jesus and he falls at his feet and he asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Do you see what I see here? This is a guy that’s tired, worn out, broken, defeated. Whatever he’s been doing isn’t enough. We learn later that supposedly he’s been keeping the rules like a good Jewish rock star should his whole life, but its not working. In the words of Bono, “he still hasn’t found what he’s looking for.”

After asking him about his obedience to the rules, it says that Jesus looked at him and loved him and then told him to go sell everything he had, give it to the poor, and then to come follow him. This was basically Jesus telling this guy to put the commandments into practice. The two greatest commandments were to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. This would have been demonstrated by giving what he had to the poor and then to go follow Jesus. Normally I would read this and be like, “Woah Jesus, settle down, can’t you tell that this guy is broken. Aren’t you being a little harsh?” That’s before I read Jesus’ command through what he says in verse 21. “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” What Jesus was doing was in no way harsh. He was offering him a way out. He was attempting to rescue him from religion.

He was trying to earn eternal life. Not live in it. Jesus would later say that eternal life is to know the Father. This was the most compassionate thing Jesus could do. Stop trying to earn it. Quit subscribing to a list of do’s and don’t’s, quit trying to present yourself as ok, quit following a set of rules, and…follow me.

The commandments that God gave to His people Israel were never meant to be just a set of rules that they were supposed to follow because God wanted them to. It was how they would actually be able to know God, how they would enter into a relationship with him. Read Deuteronomy 6:4-9, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

These commandments should find there home in our hearts, not our minds. They are a way of life, a way of communication. Rob Bell points out that what is really going on here is God is entering into a marriage contract with His people. This is what is expected of you, and this is what you can expect of me.

His commandments are not meant to restrict or suffocate us. They are meant to guide us into life, the way it was meant to be. God says in Deuteronomy 30, “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.” He says later in the chapter, “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life…” It almost seems as if God is pleading is chapter 5 of Deuteronomy, “Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever.” God desires us to obey so that we can experience life abundantly, as Christ would put it, the way life was meant to be. Life filled with love, joy, peace, compassion, forgiveness, grace, and truth. God is real, and He loves me.

This is where obedience is born. What I do and what I don’t do is not just about me following the rules, but it’s about me communicating to God that I love Him, and that His way is right. My disobedience is betrayal. Let that word sink in. It’s not necessarily God’s rules that are broken, but it’s His heart.

Think about it. We find the resurrected Jesus standing with Peter on a beach only a few days after Peter has denied Jesus three times. What is the question Jesus asks Peter? It’s not, “Are you sorry?”, or “How are you going to fix this, make this right?” He asks, “Do you love me?” And that’s always the question we are presented with. Do we love God?

Why do I say all of this? I think its because we miss out on so much, everything really, when our faith is nothing more than a bunch of stuff we know. 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 says, “We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God.” What we… know? What can we know about a God that has no limits? You finish right where you started with Him, infinitely behind. But we can love Him. We can be in a relationship with Him.

So right now. Stop. Be devastated by the fact that there is a God and that He loves you. Right now He fills up the space in the room you are sitting in. He is there. He is in the air you just breathed. He holds you together. Be quiet. Listen. He’s there. Right now. Acts 17 says that in Him we live and move and have our being. God is real, and He loves you.

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.