"Follow me." A Call to Action.

Jesus said, "Follow me."

This is a call to action.

"Follow."

To follow, we must DO...yet more often than not we DON'T.

Sure, we might think we are following Jesus, IE we GO to church, we GIVE to charities and the church we READ our Bibles. etc.

And while those are all well and good - are they really examples of FOLLOWING Jesus?

Certainly they are disciplines that we as Christian's work on...but how are they "following" Jesus.

They aren't.  And maybe that's why we like them!

Now, I'm not saying that we are AGAINST Jesus and don't want to follow him - we do!  However, the list above most times is EASIER than following Jesus.

Oh, it's not complicated, it's not a heavy burden to follow Jesus - even he promises us that - but change is hard at times and THAT'S what Jesus is calling us to do, via Following Him.

The rest of the world follows itself.

It doesn't take much study to see this.

The western world runs and works differently than the Kingdom of God.

Money is a god in the western world - as I've pointed out before, there are people who are celebrities and deemed IMPORTANT simply because they have money!  They are popular and people watch shows on them and the only reason they are known is because of their MONEY.

Is this a Kingdom philosophy?  Of course not.

God calls us to something different - "Follow ME"

Not follow your friends, family, culture, church (yes), society, the next fad, the hottest celebrity, but "ME."

This is tricky too, because it's quite abstract - exactly WHAT does it look like, feel, seem, appear, etc. to Follow Jesus?  Can any of use truly put a finger on it?  If we can, I doubt we are correct.

And Lord knows we like things CONCRETE, black and white, straight-down-the-middle, up front and clearly defined.

God doesn't always, in fact rarely, works this way - for a very good reason too: we are to TRUST Him.  Trust is easy when you know all the facts...it's quite different when you can't see two feet in front of you.

What's worse about following Jesus? Well, like many of His teachings: He gives us NO EXCEPTIONS.  No way to back out - yet we still try to figure out ways around this.

Thus, we read our Bibles MORE.

We DO more "Christian" THINGS - of which I am a culprit of doing!  Sure, we might be doing good - but WHY are we doing good?  Because Jesus called us to it or because WE chose to do it?

The problem with following Jesus is that he doesn't call us to comfort.  He IS comfort, and we will find such IN HIM - but he doesn't call us to do that.  No, he calls us to follow him into areas of our lives we'd rather not go.  He calls us to do things (or not do things) we'd rather not.

Instead, we get more pious - as if THAT will be a fine replacement for what Jesus is calling us to.

Sadly, it's not.

While it's a lot of ACTION at time - it's more or less just spinning our wheels.  Waiting to see if Jesus forgets that he asked something of us...of course that's silly.

He NEVER forgets...and that calling will haunt us until we finally do, put EVERYTHING down and follow.

Yes this means we will have to give some things up that we love.  However, this also means that we will be expected to do MORE of what we love also - which oddly, is just as "bad."  As with doing, comes responsibility and cost: time, money, etc.

But if we truly trust Jesus, as we claim to, then we must trust that Jesus is leading us to where WE should be.  By "we" I mean, individually.

For where Jesus is calling ME is not the same place to where Jesus is calling YOU - and sometimes that is hard to accept.  There are things I am called to do, that (if I am honest) I sometimes feel others should be as passionate about - however, just because I am being called to it, doesn't mean that others are being called to something else.  And because I am passionate about it, doesn't mean others have to as well.

Jesus calls us each onto our OWN path as well - and that's another reason we might not follow as often as we should: sometimes that path is lonely...often times it is...and it's supposed to be!

Those lonely times on that path are to help us get closer to Jesus, depend on Him more, so he can call us into deeper and more challenging places.

While reading the Bible, attending church, giving to the poor, even helping the poor, are great things to do - they can never, NEVER get in the way of the most important thing we are called to do:

Follow Jesus.

The Lord's Prayer - Part One (B)

In reading back, I noticed I failed to point out another, very key, piece to our prayer as well.

The FIRST WORDS!

Duh!

"Our Father..."

Very key words.

They are not, "Our God" or "Our master" or "Our Leader" or "Our Judge" or "Our Supervisor" or "Our Spiritual Police Officer" or "Our ANYTHING."

"Our Father."

Just those words denote something special, something different.  A Father.  A GOD as a FATHER.  This could be a whole different post (and maybe should be) as to what this truly means for us as believers.

A GOD as a FATHER.

No, A GOD as OUR FATHER.

I think this needs to be look at in more depth...

Seriously, what IS prayer?

Given what my family has recently gone through, I have done a lot of praying.

Now, that isn't to say I don't pray everyday; I do!  But during the time of my father's illness, I prayed more than I usually did.  Heck, I think some days I was in nothing BUT prayer, just to get through the day!

Now that my father has passed, and things are "relatively" getting back to normal - or as I tell my clients: there is no normal, only average.

But back to prayer.

At first, I was praying that my Dad would be healed.  That he would gain his strength, be able to have surgery, and get to have him with us for a few more years.  Eventually, my prayers were not so....grand.  They were down to the point of just asking that my Dad have a good night sleep.

As the days passed, after Dad died...I continued to pray...but I didn't know exactly what to pray for.

After all, God knows what's going on.  I'm not telling him anything new.  I'm not giving him any information that he isn't privy to.

Given this, I reverted back to what I do in real times of stress and worry: I pray the prayer Jesus taught us.

"Our Father, who art in heaven..."

You know the rest.

I figure, if Jesus said to pray it - there must be a reason!

But what is that reason?

What is the reason for prayer in the first place?

I know we are supposed to - but why?  Because God wants to hear a bunch of us complain about our lives and ask for help?

I hope not!

I'm sure he'll hear any prayer that we offer to him, but is that truly the purpose?

According to the words of the Lord's prayer that doesn't seem to be the case.

I have heard other teachers say that the Lord's prayer isn't so much a word-by-word prayer we should say, but a guide to prayer.

I believe this to be true - however, I don't see a problem with the word-by-word part.  If it was good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for me! And it usually is.

But what is the breakdown of the prayer?  How is it a guide?

I don't exactly know, I have forgotten the sermons I listened to that spoke about it, but I have some ideas of my own.

In the next post I'll take a look at the first part of the prayer.

"Our Father, who art in Heaven.....on earth as it is in Heaven."

If you have any ideas, or opinions or beliefs, or input on how you pray, please share!

Ministry Today - the magazine

First, did you even know there was a magazine called "Ministry Today?"

You can check them out HERE!

But let me back up a second...

I am a sucker for kids selling stuff.  Maybe because I had to sell ads and wreaths growing up and hated every second of it - I am NOT a salesman.  Whatever the reason, if I answer the door - you'll probably make a sale!

The long/short of it: I subscribed to Ministry Today...as I was starting (still working on) my ministry and thought maybe this mag could help.

My thoughts?

It's just another magazine.

Articles to sell ads.

The cover looks no different than what you'd expect for any other magazine - a list of articles promising the latest fad or "technique" to do __________ (whatever you are looking to do).

Really?

Sure the "content" is different, yet the style and execution is exactly the same.  My current issue states the following on the cover:  "Discover IHOP-KC'S Strategy for: Keeping platform ministry pure, spirit-led children's ministry, fasting more effectively...

What?

Fasting more effectively?

How is that different than when Men's Health has an article on: More effective push-ups?

I hate to be cynical (okay, maybe I don't) but what the he(xx)?

Effective fasting?

Have we reduced following Christ to "effective fasting?"

Want to know how your music can "go beyond worship?"  (also in this edition)

I'm not sure what I expected, but I know it WASN'T this.

But before I get tooooooooo cynical, I take the words of Jesus to heart: Those who aren't against us, are for us.

So, while I may disagree with their methods (as I'm sure they would certainly disagree with mine) I leave it to God to decide.  If he is cool with it, than I will be as well - though I don't have to support them by renewing my subscription, which I won't.

Are nuggets of gold to be found?

I'm sure...in fact, I found an article written by a friend's pastor (which I gave him the issue).  If even for that fact, alone, the magazine is worth it.

When it all comes down to it - who am I to knock them down?

If this magazine might possibly influence the new Billy Graham, than I shall humbly step out of the way....

New Podcast! - Don't Follow Jesus

Title almost speaks for itself...almost!

Don't Follow Jesus Podcast

Thoughts or questions please share them here.

In your Father's arms...

One of my favorite memories as a kid was water skiing with my dad around the lake.

What was special about it was it was before I could ski, so the only way the two of us could water ski was with him holding me in his arms - while holding the rope and maintaining balance.

Out there on the lake it was just the two of us skiing.

If we talked, I don't recall - we didn't need to, the moment was special enough.

If we ever fell, I don't remember.

If we did, it must not have ever bothered me because I remember it being such a thrill!

Sure it was "dangerous", sure I could have gotten hurt...but I had COMPLETE trust in my dad.  He was Dad, and I was in his arms - in his arms I truly believed no matter what, I would be okay.

If I hadn't have trusted Dad, I would have never had that the opportunity to ski with him like that.  I would have missed out on something special.

Can we say the same when it comes to God?  Do we trust him the same way?  Completely...willing to give complete control over to him?

I know I don't.  Not as often as I would like to.

God calls us into many situations that, at first glance, may appear "dangerous" or "scary."  We might get hurt: emotionally, financially (how we view money), spiritually (we might lose a deeply held belief), etc.

We may even "lose" something: friends, comfort, our perceived "safety", status, religion...

Yet, we must trust that despite what we see with OUR eyes, God is calling us into a special experience meant just for us to share with Him.

Sometimes I believe we know EXACTLY what God is calling us into, we just hope that he'll offer us something a bit more safe.

If we just hold out long enough.

Yet, it has been my experience that God is far more patient that us, and while he will offer us other experiences: they aren't necessarily "safer."

I trusted my Dad completely, and still do - God?  eh...that, I must admit, needs (quite) a bit of work.

But I am learning, and growing to trust God...and it only happens when we take that first leap of faith.  God's arms are waiting, ready to catch you and take you on an experience that you will never regret and never forget...you just need to JUMP!

And when God let's go of the rope and you both ski gently close to the dock, you'll never be the same..

"...Our daily bread."

When you pray the Lord's prayer and get to "give us this day, our daily bread" do you really believe that?  Are you really asking for ONLY your daily bread.

I haven't and I don't.

We certainly don't as a culture.  We are a culture of "more" rather than a culture of "enough."

We want more.  I want more.

I don't want my daily bread, I want my weekly bread, my monthly bread, yearly bread, enough bread that I can tuck some away, bread to fall back on, bread insurance to replace my bread if I lose my bread in a fire or if it's stolen, I'll even gamble some of my bread if it means that I might be able to win MORE bread, I'm jealous if others have more bread than I do, or if their bread smells better, or is better looking, or makes better sandwiches, I've left jobs I have loved to ones I tolerate for more bread, I even have a couple of cards that allow me to act AS IF I have bread - for a nominal interest charge, I trade my bread for junk, for crap, for stuff  that within a year after purchase I'll wonder why I bought it in the first place, I have a garage sale to sell said stuff for small amounts of bread so I can make room for more stuff that I buy with my bread, if someone asks me for bread sometimes I pretend I don't have any on me - they might use my bread to buy something I don't think they should have, after all...it's MY bread right?

Next time I pray "give us this day, our daily bread" I'm going to wonder: do I really mean it?

Red Meat a Sin?

Sad but true...no, not that red meat is a sin, wait...let me back up.

The other day I was listening to my "favorite" radio program. Yes, I am being sarcastic. (aside: I think God draws me to the program to help me work on my acceptance of other peoples way of "preaching" and "ministering" to certain people)

Back to the "meat" of the subject - bad pun.

So, while listening to the program, a caller asks if eating meat that is cooked rare (or any other way but well-done) meat is a sin.

It saddened me. Honestly, I felt for the caller. I wondered, what teacher, pastor, friend, leader, you name it, must she have that she would worry about such a thing?

The cynical part of me begins to bubble inside, and sometimes I want to...I don't know what. I get angry, though. I really do.

No doubt, the devil has his hand in some of these things.

A diluted Gospel.

Scaring people about whether or not things are "sinful" or whether or not they are really, truly saved, making them fear that maybe, just maybe they might be "backsliding."

How would they know?

Scolding people because they don't feel that they are getting anything out of church. Hey, maybe the church IS to blame. Maybe the church has it's prior ties wrong. Maybe we do. Maybe it's both.

Most likely it's both.

Worshipping God...I don't think anybody did it better than Jesus...and how did he do it?

I know, we want a comfortable, safe God...I want that too...but that's NOT how God is.

We must get our hands dirty, we must become vulnerable, we must become open, we must LOVE.

Oh, it'll hurt.
We'll be made fun of.
People might take advantage of us.
People will_____hey, put anything you'd like, they'll do it.

But you want to praise God? You want to feel him? You want to get close to God?

He's in the trenches. He's in the muck. He's that homeless guy on the corner. He's that lady you think is fat, ugly, and a terrible parent. He's the person you gossip about. He's the family down the street that you wish would move. He's the guy that hopes today he will get a smile, rather than nasty looks. He's the person who would just like one person to give them a hug rather than accusations. He's the person breaking into a car, to get whatever he can to sell so he can buy drugs/sex/whatever. The person that cut you off in traffic? Guess who that is. That lady with all the coupons in the check out line?

Or as we sometimes like to call them: THOSE people.

It isn't US vs. THEM.

It's just US. All of us. We are in this together. We are all going to fail, do something wrong, cheat, lie, steal, get angry, and on and on.

I'm no better than you, you're no better than me.

God gave you talents and dreams and means...use them. Can you help someone today?

Do it.

Can you help them tomorrow? Or someone else?

Believe me, I am not the best at this either...in fact, I'm still resisting God in many many ways...and while I have my reasons (God knows them, we've talked about it), I also know that my frustrations that I am feeling and anger will only grow...and to be honest - I am scared to take that step of faith, because it sure feels like a leap across a canyon.

(This post is as much if not more FOR and AT me than it is by me)

James 2

I've been mulling over and praying about this passage...it is an interesting one as it spurs much debate.

Because where Paul in his letter talks about justification through faith alone, James seems to be speaking about faith AND works.

Example being the well known verse: "v26For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

AND

v22 "Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?"

Some say James is writing TO the Jews, who being set apart, were still under law in part if not in full.

Others say this is still the same message, just spoken to the Jew so they understand it better - as they WERE under the law.

One thing for sure...it was not written TO the gentile, which begs another quetion: if isn't TO the gentile, is it still FOR the gentile?

Nothing complicated...

A struggle even for me is to NOT make faith so complicated. It shouldn't be; isn't meant to be.

We each may do things that help us grow in our faith, but we should be watchful that they don't become the "rule."

When I started writing, I wrote for fun, and I wrote often. Then I did something stupid: I bought books on writing.

My writing died, for quite some time.

So many books told me HOW to write, but they differed from each other (because each of us write in our own way). So after reading these HOW TO books, I began to question my writing, to think it of it in terms of the newest book I was reading.

Some skills need a HOW TO. Pottery, knitting, carpentry, cooking, etc...

But the writing books were not about HOW to actually write a sentence, but crafting a story...there's something you can't teach, not really.

Crafting is an experience.

Don't kill your faith with complicated ideas and notions and rules and rituals. You will stumble, you will doubt, you will get mad at God, you will be sad...faith is an experience...might as well enjoy it.

Rise and Shine! (part one)

I don't usually like series messages, but in this case it'll be nice, as it would be one long post that would be boring and hard to read!


How much we learn at Sunday School that as we get older we toss to the side, or throw it in a box.


There's a children's song called: Rise and Shine, and Give God Your Glory.


The first line of this song is: Rise and Shine, and Give God your glory, glory.

If that wasn't enough, that also is the second line of the song. And if that wasn't still enough, that's the 3rd line of the song!


Three times we have children singing that they need to 1) Rise and Shine! and 2) Give God their Glory, Glory!


When's the last time you Rose and Shone? I don't think I did today, if I am honest. I think I got up, and shuffled to the coffee maker first.


As for giving God my Glory? What's that?


Aren't we supposed to give him our "obedience" and "submit" to him?


Perhaps our problem is we don't know what our glory is. Do you? Or are you confused at the lyrics too? Give God MY glory? I thought I'm supposed to give HIM glory...


Ah, but there it is: we give God Glory, by shining and giving him OUR GLORY.


What is our glory?


It's your desires (the healthy ones), it's your gifts (your talents), it's your heart...


How do you give those to God? By using them, by following them, by opening them. We all have gifts from God.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

These gifts come in a variety of ways through our talents and interests. Yes, those dreams we have for ourselves are from God. We are to pursue those dreams. To do so, gives God our glory.


Now, that isn't to say by going after our dreams we are going to reap rewards, riches, and fame...we very well might not.

But somewhere down the line we, as Christians, have decided that going after our dreams is somehow wrong...That our dreams, wishes, hopes couldn't possibly be anything God would want me to strive for...No God has a plan that I must "submit" to.

Who do you think gave you those dreams?

The secular world has no problems going after their dreams (look at Hollywood) why should we? Because we are Christians? Christians can't have dreams, want to succeed, have a goal?

Being "humble" or "mild" or whatever is NOT the same as putting aside your dream. Being humble means you do not think yourself better than anyone. Being humble means if you are able, put others first. It does NOT mean that we toss aside our ambitions, our desires, our dreams, to be pious, Bible reading, church going, "nice" religious robots.

Submitting, doesn't mean that we shove our dreams away and wait for what God "really" wants us to do...

That is NOT abundant life. That is NOT the plan God has for us.

That dream IS God's plan, or at least a large part of it.

Now, please, do not think that I am saying if we all follow our dreams we will all be rich and famous. Most of us won't. But that's not the point. The point is, our dream, our aspirations are an invitation from God...in a word: a path.

Our path.

Our own, special path designed just for us...my path is not the same as yours, your path is not the same as mine. Some similarities might exist, but to compare the two paths is futile and worthless.

It is to follow God down this path is truly submitting.

I do believe that if we all followed our dreams "submit" to walking with God along our path, we will experience a life we have never known.

A life that we would deem worth living...a life that not only gives God our glory, but gives Him glory as well.

Faith and Risk

I was reading a book on creativity (Julia Cameron’s “Vein of Gold”).

I have been hunting and pecking at this book, of the series it is admittedly not my favorite – but it still has nuggets of information.

One such nugget came under the chapter “Courage.”

The chapter was dealing with the courage to embark on creative endeavor, especially when we do not know the outcome. Such as writing a book and not knowing if it will ever be published.

We tend to wait until we are comfortable and “sure” before we attempt to do something that will take up a good part of our time and energy…feeling of course that if it doesn’t pan out the way we want it to, we have wasted our time.

Julia went on to say: “without the freedom to fail real creative success is impossible. The work that avoids failure, avoids risk, and safe work is dull by definition.”

It dawned on me: this too, works with faith.

The faith that avoids failure, stumbling, hurt, etc. avoids risk…and “safe” faith, is dull faith.

If it’s new to us, it might be exciting at first…as all new things usually are, but then it becomes comfortable and safe.

Safe is comforting, but it also runs the risk of becoming boring.

Sure, we need our safety and comfort from time to time, but if our faith is to grow, to increase, to get closer to God, we need to step out of that safe zone…

We need to take a risk of faith…