Matt’s Response

I left a challenge for Matt Crosslin in the comments of one of my recent blog series.  He has posted a response to my challenge on his blog at grandeped.wordpress.com.  Read it and join in on the convo.

At YWAM

I am spending part of this week at Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Tyler, Texas. I was invited by The Thorstad family, who moved here to work with YWAM from our church. I am going to be blogging (both text and video) about my experience. As always, I blog for me, and any of you who’d like to come along are welcome to.

Yesterday was awesome. I got to spend some great time with Dean and Cecilia (and their girls) both hanging out and talking about things related to our relationships, both with people and with God. It was a great time.

But just as great was the worship service last night. Dr. Lee spoke. He is a Korean who is the Vice President at Mongolia University in (you guessed it) Mongolia.

This soft spoken man told many stories that were very powerful. One in particular told of how he was really seeking the Lord on what to do about a situation. He heard a sound like a terrible groaning and weeping. He said, “God, you are too great and powerful to weep, why would you do this?” (He said this in a raised accusatory fashion)

He heard the Lord’s answer, “Weep with me.” That was his answer. That is all God wanted him to do. Weep. If he could get the Lord’s heart for these people and their brokenness, then he would understand. It was very powerful to me.

The whole thing was really about following the will of God. He asked the question, which was very impacting to me, “Is there anything in your life which seems bigger than the will of God?” Hmmm. He also talked about how the American Church seems so fat and happy, and yet, we are often missing the true will of God. He told about a church in Indonesia that is praying 24/7 (literally) for revival in the American Church.

I was really left with the feeling that we (myself included) miss the will of God so often. We don’t see Him do powerful things because we are not truly looking, not truly seeking.

Here is some video from the day

A Sermon I Preached in October

This definitely was not the best message I ever gave.  Some people said that it really impacted them, and it does mark an important part of my life.  If you have time, enjoy.  Maybe God will move in your heart.

The Free Information Age -part 2

In a previous post, I discussed the beginning of what I have dubbed the Free Information Age.  This post was not meant as simply a parenthetical comment to the current zeitgeist, but as an introduction to a discussion of both the cultural waters that the Church must swim in, and a means of strategy for [...]

The Gratitude Project

The Gratitude Project is an attempt to shake loose the bonds of a consumer-driven, entitled life, and become a more thankful and centered person.  During the next 365 days I will be intentionally transforming myself (with lots of help) by finding new ways each day to be less self-centered and thankful.  Each month I am going to take on a bigger project to challenge myself.  I’ll be blogging about it the whole way.

Day 10

One thing about thankfulness: One might think that it would make you more aware of yourself than ever, and in a way it does.  But even more than that, it makes you more aware of others.  One quickly tires of thinking about the stuff there is to be thankful for, and then it isn’t a short hop until you’re thinking about the people in your life who matter a lot more than the “stuff.”  Once you are focused on being thankful for people, you start finding yourself trying on a whole lot of proverbial moccasins.  Sometimes, that gets sticky.  Some peoples moccasins are filled with stuff that hurts your feet.

I wrote a thank you card today to my manager at the store.  I feel really badly for her with the upcoming changes that are happening at our little business (I can’t say much more now).  It is pretty sad that for many of my co-workers there, that store is a gigantic part of their life, and now all of that is about to change.  In some ways I empathize with them.  But it is also sometimes a kick in the butt that we need in order to make changes that might be good for us in the long run.

I have found that one side effect of trying to be more thankful toward people is that I have more natural empathy toward them.  I am not really naturally that empathetic a person.  Although, I really debate back and forth on that.  On the one hand, I tend to be more of a “lift yourself up by your bootstraps” thinker.  I try not to be too much like that, but it is always in the background.  But on the other hand, if someone tells me that I have hurt them, or that they are upset about something (even if it has nothing to do with me) I will think about it continually in the back of my mind.

I know several of my teens are having sexual identity issues.  I hate that.  I hate that they are in a world that has made sexuality such an in-your-face issue, and yet more confusing than ever.  I also hate the fact that God has somehow been invited out of the dialogue.  It must seem like I am digressing, but after a conversation tonight with one of them, that is all I can think about.  I don’t know if “The Gratitude Project” has made me more empathetic this way, or just made me more aware of being this way.  I am confusing even myself now.

In other news, I’m really mulling over what to do about my monthly project for September.  I have an idea, but I don’t know if it will work, and I don’t want to jinx myself.

The Fall and Rise of Barbarism Part 7

Exactly what to expect for America itself in this future, is very difficult to say. Possibilities include a weakened America existing in its same form but having less world influence, to America’s basic destruction by both outside, and internal fighting, or America existing more as a pre-Civil War loose collection of states. There is no way to predict what the American future will look like at this time.

The Fall and Rise of Barbarism Part 6

We have gone past a point in America where we can turn this clock back. Many experts believe that the American century is over, and the next century most certainly won’t be a repeat. I believe that the evidence backs this up, both historically and in terms of current events. This doesn’t mean we will fall into the sea. It does mean that things will be different. A look at history should shed light on what may be to come.

The Fall and Rise of Barbarism Part 5

There is another cycle at work within America that we need to be aware of. Just as revivals in the early 1900′s brought about the Pharisee-ism of the early 20′s, which led to crime in the 30′s, we are in a part of our own cycle now. The Bush years seemed to be a revival without revival, and a triumph of moral legalism (at least as far as the mainstream media and far left would have us believe). The public responded with a “Yes we can believe in change.” But now crime is seriously on the rise and healthy society markers are on the decline.

The Fall and Rise of Barbarism Part 3

It does seem clear that there is a direction in history, with certain undeniable rules: Power always corrupts, always. When Europe unites, there will be a war. When major empires crumble, they leave vacuums of power that create a period of chaos. Scientific advances both tend to extend our lives, but also often ultimately get appropriated into more exciting ways of ending lives. And, as I can’t bring myself to be any form of existentialist, I must assume that these rules somehow relate to a macro being played out that with some eventual finish line. There is an end to the game, somewhere, at some time. Just as the rhyming stanzas of a poem progress the story, and lead to its conclusion, and ultimate point, so does human history.

Asking End-User Questions in a Post Christian America

…In fact, my inner dialogue during that time goes like this:

“Wow, it is pretty with all these candles. I hope Peichi doesn’t spill wax on my pants when she tilts her cnadle…”
“Please don’t spill the wax…”
“Uh-oh…there is little drip of wax. I hope it doesn’t go past the little star cutout thingy in the little paper disk…”
“Dang it…It made it past the paper disk. I’m going to hold it at the bottom. Maybe it will cool by then…”
“Ouch, it didn’t cool down.”