One Son’s Desire…

   I was in the shower this morning with Tyler…  (sorry about the visual) and I looked down at him and he had a small bottle of shower gel in his hand and was pretending to put soap in his hand and then rubbing it on his body…  The other day, I was brushing my teeth, and he got his toothbrush and started brushing his teeth like I was doing, a couple of nights ago we were sitting at the table eating dinner and I crossed my arms while I was talking to Jessica and he crossed his little arms, and then I put my hands on the table and he put his hands on the table, and there has been several times where we would catch him with my hair gel and he would be pretending to put it in his hands just like I do and then rubbing it in his hair just like I do…  So as he was doing that this morning It took me back to when I was a little boy…  All I ever wanted to do was to be just like my dad…  I tried to walk and talk like him, I tried to write like him, I used to try and sign his name like he did, I wanted to play ball like him, and work on stuff like he did…  I wanted to be just like him because he’s the best!!  And I was challenged this morning by that thought, I tell God all the time that I want to be like Him, I pray God make me like you, I want to be like you…  I love that song “Just Like You” by Jason Upton…(Chorus) I desire, to be like you, like any son or daughter, I want to be like my father, I desire, to be like you, you promised to never forsake me, so I’ll risk it all if you’ll make me, like you…  I think about those words, and that is definitely my prayer, and I’m sure that’s how a lot of people pray…  But do we take it into action like Tyler does with me, do we pick up the hair gel and put it on, do we take our desire to be like Him to actual action where we are LIKE HIM…  In the way that we talk, with the choices we make, with the way that we treat people, that are like us or not like us, and with our priorities…  If I truly want to be LIKE HIM, then I will be about the things that He is about…  This is just One Son’s Desire…  Maybe it’s yours too…  Let me know!! 

Cool Video…

Check this out…  Very Interesting!!  

An Easter Blog…

I was thinking today about Easter…  And of the week prior to the supper, the garden, the court, the whipping post, the cross, and the tomb…  How heavy Christ’s heart must have been…  I can’t even begin to pretend to imagine how he must have been feeling…  And I think about how easy it is for me to take what Jesus did for me for granted, and how often I do it…  Whether it be a decision I make, or something I say that I shouldn’t say, or think something I shouldn’t think…  I feel crappy, about how often I take for granted the love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness that Christ has so freely given to me…  God forgive me…  And may I do more so that people who have not yet experienced Your love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness can experience it like I have…

An Interesting Night…

A few nights ago, I had a really rough night, one like I have never had before.  I went to bed about 10:30 which is really early for me, I was actually in bed before my wife which is very rare.  I am laying there Dreaming about Scarlett Johansson…  j/k, I wasn’t dreaming about anything, and all of a sudden about 12:30 I woke up feeling very anxious… almost scarred and nervous…  It was really wierd!!  I didn’t know why I was feeling this way, and I can’t remember ever feeling that way before.  So I wake up and I am feeling very anxious, and nervous, maybe even scarred, (are you picking up on my hesitation to say that I was scarred)…  And all of a sudden I convince myself that someone is in my house…  So I get up and I go on this search for the person who was brave enough to break into my house, the first place I go is in to my sons room, where he is sprawled out and sound asleep…  So I go through the house and there’s nothing…  I lay back down go back to sleep, and 15 minutes later I wake up again with the same anxious, nervous, scarred feeling…  My night went on like this most of the night, I would wake up and walk through the house, check on Tyler, and then lay back down and then do it all over again…  I was thinking about that today, which lead me to think about all the times I have walked in Tyler’s room to check on him, or all the times I would walk next to him to try and keep him from falling, and all the times we will be walking and holding hands, and he will trip and fall but I will grab him before he skins his knees…  And while thinking about that, I wondered if God watches over me like I watch over my son…  watching so closely to help him up if he falls, or to discipline him if he does something that is wrong, or to hold him if he is crying and scarred…  I often wonder if God is attentive to what is going on with me as I am to what is going on with Tyler…  I think maybe He is, or maybe even more so… 

thirsty…

Ever been thirsty?  Not like…  ”I want something to drink…” thirsty!  But like, “My mouth is so stinkin dry, I can’t stand it anymore…” thirsty!  That’s how I feel…  I am at a place where I feel almost “dumb”…  I know that sounds silly, well those who know me would be like, “you are dumb…”  But really, I am so thirsty right now for knowledge and wisdom and not like trivia knowledge but like…  Theory developing, System Creating, Innovation type knowledge…  I don’t want to be normal!!!  I am not really sure what normal would be defined as in our culture today, because it’s so relative, but whatever normal is, I don’t want to be it…  I am thirsty… and I am thirsty to the point of actually doing something about it!!

the church that’s getting left behind…

Ok, if you know me or if you have read anything about me, you probably pick up on the vibe that I am very much against church as usual, or traditional ways of thinking.  I went and ate lunch with our staff today at a place called Mighty Joes…  It’s a pizza place…  And it has a nice little feel to it, the front of the place is all windows, and the walls are brick, it’s right on the downtown square…  And I began to think, how our culture is so bent toward creativity, and ambience…  And in my mind  I thought… “Man, the church is getting left behind, and we are missing it.”  And I know there’s a progressive movement, and you have the emerging church, and the emergent church, and you can pretty much find churches that are creative and progressive, and really grabbing hold of that mindset…  But there are so many that are not…  And I almost get the feel from people that I meet that many would say are “unsaved” or “lost” or “unchurched”, that they feel that the church is just not meeting them where they are…  And I struggle with that…  Because isn’t that what Jesus was all about?  When I read John 4, it seems to me that Jesus was not going to miss this moment with this woman.  Like He was so sensitive to the Holy Spirit that he knew this woman needed this encounter with Him, and He was not going to miss it, instead He was very intentional…  God help me to be intentional and sensitive to those woman at the well moments, help me not to miss them because I am to busy doing ministry, help me to be intentional about reaching our culture, help me to be intentional about reversing the negative stereotypes that people have about the church and Christians, help me to be intentional about the things you were intentional about… 

TOTAL ABANDONMENT…

I am preaching a message tonight called, Total Abandonment…  I have been challenged over the last few days that what we lack a lot of times as Christians is Total Abandonment… Abandonment of … selfish tendencies, perception of others, our fears and insecurities, all of our haters…I think alot of times we allow these types of things to really keep us from accomplishing what God expects of us…I am going to speak, you know what’s great, I still get nervous, and I wouldn’t have it any other way…  

challenged…

I am feeling challenged today…  I read a blog yesterday that really challenged some thoughts and feelings I have had for a long time…  Not sure where I stand, just know that maybe it’s not as black and white as I first thought.

first blog…

Well…  Obviously by the title you can see that this is my first blog.  I have never had a blog before, so I am sure this will be interesting, for me and I hope for those who read as well.  Presently, I am working and pondering the amazing blessings of God.  I think about how unworthy and inadequate I am, and how continuously faithful He is.  Like what Paul said he had learned, in Philippians 4:12, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”  I am trying to begin learning on being content in every situation knowing God has me in His hand, because… It’s Not My Story… It’s HIS!