This is a great time of year, 65 teams with visions of a national championship!! Fighting to be called the best and greatest team this year. Tons of games, tons of brackets, tons of upsets... love it! Its a time where people cheer for the underdog, cheer for their favorite team, cheer for the team they picked to win it all so they can win their office pool... it boils down to Passion. Passion for the game of basketball & seeing the classic David vs. Goliath battle and the little guy winning. We love being passionate about things, its in our DNA, its how we were made.
God created us passionate, he wants the same passion we show to March Madness/NFL/MLB/Music/Clothing/Shoes/Friendships/College Football/Texting/Facebook/Twitter/Status/Success/wealth/cars/houses!! Not a piece of it, the whole thing. In Romans 12:1 Paul is challenging us to be living sacrifices, it's our act of worship!!
We Become what we worship...
Monday, March 22, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Staying In Front
With technology the way it is today its more important than ever to stay in front of students any way possible. There are so many negative influences out there in media, something positive is a breath of fresh air. Twitter, Facebook, Texting, Blogs, Youtube... etc are ways that you can stay in front of your students and present positive messages that encourage them in their walk with Christ. There are a lot of people who don't get into these things for various reasons... I believe that these are tools that we can use to make an impact...
The story of the Prodigal son is a great display of unconditional love but it also shows us a reality of the elder brother... In that story the younger brother goes off to live wildly... a true elder brother would have gone after him and rescue him from destroying his life... the elder brother in the story doesn't do this because he is to concerned with his share of the estate, what people think about him and doing the things he was "supposed" to do. He missed the point... we miss the point a lot of times... We shouldnt be sitting back letting students come to us... we need to be going after them... encouraging them, challenging them to live for something bigger than themselves...
Stay in Front of them, Go after them, show them Jesus!
The story of the Prodigal son is a great display of unconditional love but it also shows us a reality of the elder brother... In that story the younger brother goes off to live wildly... a true elder brother would have gone after him and rescue him from destroying his life... the elder brother in the story doesn't do this because he is to concerned with his share of the estate, what people think about him and doing the things he was "supposed" to do. He missed the point... we miss the point a lot of times... We shouldnt be sitting back letting students come to us... we need to be going after them... encouraging them, challenging them to live for something bigger than themselves...
Stay in Front of them, Go after them, show them Jesus!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Great Conversation
Ministry gets hectic, crazy, overwhelming, trying etc... on and on sometimes... Its amazing that God can be working in so many areas and you get to see Him at work daily in tons of positive ways and yet those couple things that are negative seem to floor you...
I almost missed a moment with some students the other night that was profound and should have hit me the minute it happened... I had the privilege of joining one of our student LifeGroups Sunday night. We were in a discussion talking about how people in America get complacent in our faith, get to comfortable with where we are at and we take for granted our freedom to worship God and meet in small groups like this without any repercussions... then one student spoke up "it drives me crazy that there are so many hurting people in the world and we do nothing about it... we play video games and think about what we are going to do on friday night and we do nothing about the people who are in need..." WOW... pondering that later I realized I have been way to focused on me, myself and I and almost missed out on a few of our students who's heart is passionate about "the least of these" and helping out people in need...
Dont lose sight of what God is calling you to do... do let yourself get in the way...
I almost missed a moment with some students the other night that was profound and should have hit me the minute it happened... I had the privilege of joining one of our student LifeGroups Sunday night. We were in a discussion talking about how people in America get complacent in our faith, get to comfortable with where we are at and we take for granted our freedom to worship God and meet in small groups like this without any repercussions... then one student spoke up "it drives me crazy that there are so many hurting people in the world and we do nothing about it... we play video games and think about what we are going to do on friday night and we do nothing about the people who are in need..." WOW... pondering that later I realized I have been way to focused on me, myself and I and almost missed out on a few of our students who's heart is passionate about "the least of these" and helping out people in need...
Dont lose sight of what God is calling you to do... do let yourself get in the way...
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Not About Me...
Lately I have found myself thinking to much into certain aspects of students lives, beating myself up about things that I cant control, worrying about certain students who have so much potential but just dont get it yet. I have came to the realization that my attitude here was that of control and "what am I doing about it" instead of relying on the Holy Spirit to guide the situations and let God work. How arrogant am I? This hit me like a ton of bricks this week... I haven't blogged in some time because I think I have been to wrapped up in what I am doing, whats going on at Crossfire because of what I programmed, said, did.
Dear God, forgive me for my pride, selfishness, arrogance... take control, do what you will in my life, use me but not for my glory God for YOURS!!!
Are you in the same boat?? Do you go through your week and not give God a second thought?? God wants 100% of you... not just a little piece... that means our status, career, family, friends, church... everything...
God is obsessed with us and we dont give him the time of day most of the time and we arent even sorry about it...
Obsession = Unashamed, Unbridled, Overwhelming LOVE
or in other words... what we OWE Him because of what He's done for us...
Dear God, forgive me for my pride, selfishness, arrogance... take control, do what you will in my life, use me but not for my glory God for YOURS!!!
Are you in the same boat?? Do you go through your week and not give God a second thought?? God wants 100% of you... not just a little piece... that means our status, career, family, friends, church... everything...
God is obsessed with us and we dont give him the time of day most of the time and we arent even sorry about it...
Obsession = Unashamed, Unbridled, Overwhelming LOVE
or in other words... what we OWE Him because of what He's done for us...
Monday, November 2, 2009
Sunday @ SGC
This past Sunday @ SGC is something that most of the people that attended wont soon forget... not because of the flashy lighting used by Imagination Pro Media, Not from the incredible Sound System that was set up by the same people, not for the amazing musicians and staff that put everything together... This was an unforgettable Sunday because of people being vulnerable and letting GOD work...
This past Sunday @ SGC we made our attempt at Cardboard Testimonies. If you havent seen this before its when someone writes on one side of the cardboard what their life was like, or something bad that has directly affected them... then on the other side is how God provides, heals, how Gods grace is bigger than our circumstances... There were over 30 people who agreed to share their Cardboard testimony with the congregation... there were worries of what people would think of them afterwards, fears that they might even lose some relationships because of the first side of their cardboard... This fear was totally shattred when we began the song "Healer" and the testimonies began to unfold. I watched as a congregation celebrated victories and cried with those that had gone through pain and suffering and at the end of it all looked up to God and praised His name for everything that he has and is doing in the lives of the people at this church. Because those 30+ people allowed God to use them we saw people come to know Christ, ask Him to be their personal Lord and Savior! Glory to God forever...
This past Sunday @ SGC was something that I and those who were there will not soon forget!! God showed up, used imperfect people to show others how much HE LOVES us!!
This past Sunday @ SGC we made our attempt at Cardboard Testimonies. If you havent seen this before its when someone writes on one side of the cardboard what their life was like, or something bad that has directly affected them... then on the other side is how God provides, heals, how Gods grace is bigger than our circumstances... There were over 30 people who agreed to share their Cardboard testimony with the congregation... there were worries of what people would think of them afterwards, fears that they might even lose some relationships because of the first side of their cardboard... This fear was totally shattred when we began the song "Healer" and the testimonies began to unfold. I watched as a congregation celebrated victories and cried with those that had gone through pain and suffering and at the end of it all looked up to God and praised His name for everything that he has and is doing in the lives of the people at this church. Because those 30+ people allowed God to use them we saw people come to know Christ, ask Him to be their personal Lord and Savior! Glory to God forever...
This past Sunday @ SGC was something that I and those who were there will not soon forget!! God showed up, used imperfect people to show others how much HE LOVES us!!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Glory to God
I had the priviledge of going down to Atlanta, GA a few weeks ago to the Catalyst Conference! What an amazing time of worship and hearing from some of the greatest minds this country has... I left there renewed and over whelmed because of everything that we covered and heard. So much to process in such a short amount of time left me on info overload!! Loved every second of it but needed some time to process!
Now that I have had some time to think through everything we heard it really all boils down into a few points...
1. God has you where you are for a reason - look for that reason instead of looking for a reason to leave
2. Make time for yourself(time for you and God, time for you and family, time for you)... dont give more of yourself than you have to give
3. God gets it all... done!!
Glory to God, Glory to God, Glory to God forever
such simple lyrics but ones that will stick with me for a long time... Our God is amazing, mighty, powerful, loving and merciful... he desires us... HE desires us
Now that I have had some time to think through everything we heard it really all boils down into a few points...
1. God has you where you are for a reason - look for that reason instead of looking for a reason to leave
2. Make time for yourself(time for you and God, time for you and family, time for you)... dont give more of yourself than you have to give
3. God gets it all... done!!
Glory to God, Glory to God, Glory to God forever
such simple lyrics but ones that will stick with me for a long time... Our God is amazing, mighty, powerful, loving and merciful... he desires us... HE desires us
Monday, June 8, 2009
Hmmm...
So there is a lot going on around me the past couple months and it looks like there is no end in sight... Always something to do, people to meet and develop relationships with, students to hang out with and get to know, events to go watch and support those individuals and teams, friends to continue to go deep with... so much to do but so little time.
God gave us time, gave us the choice to do what we think we need to do with that time. Sometimes I think I miss the boat on what God wants me to focus my time and energy on... Sometimes I am so focused on others that I miss the mark in giving time for myself to recoop, refuel, re-energize and reconnect with God. In the hustle and bustle of life my relationship with God gets tossed on the back burner... that is not right... it says to "Seek first the kingdom of God."
Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." ---
We all need time to spend with God and really come back to the basics of this life's purpose, which is to know God more and then reach out to others and share that with them. Reach out!!!
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