Walk A Mile In My Shoes

Getting at the heart of a student's dreams and passions, and funneling them towards a greater desire to use them for the kingdom takes more than just a phone call or card. It takes your life. And sometimes, that gets messy.

More than letting students know how much I care, my desire is to take a few along the journey God has created for me, and let them see my life fleshed out: My successes, my failures; my good moods, my crazy moods; and oh yes my bad moods. Why go to all this effort? Because Jesus called us to go make disciples, not statistics. Some students I'm mentoring, while others I'm teaching how to mentor. Everyone needs to be in a mentoring relationship, because it's an investment that has returns long after the relationship comes to an end.

So throughout the next few weeks you'll see some posts on my progress, and posts from the students I'm mentoring. How will success be defined? If they're walking with Jesus more so than they were before, then that's awesome! If they've seen faith fleshed out in my life and all the baggage that comes with me, then that's incredible!

I'll walk a mile in their shoes. They'll walk two in mine. We'll walk together towards His Kingdom.

Jazz, Sushi, and Jesus

This week I took my wife on a lunch date of sorts, and we ate Sushi. Now it was very nice of me to go there right? There are two things that I enjoy a lot and my wife just doesn’t care for. She’s cool with it, but it’s not her style. I like Jazz music, and I like Sushi. As we sat and talked and I ate my sushi and she enjoyed a salad. She made the suggestion that we go there. I asked her to try the sushi, and she politely declined. My wife’s just not a sushi eater. But I was sharing the experience with her. She invited me to eat sushi, and she had the experience with me. My wife’s eaten sushi before and I bet you’re wondering where I’m going with the sushi thing. Sushi is a lot like walking with God. You don’t know until you tried. My wife tried sushi, and she tried God and God won out. My wife at one point said she didn’t like sushi. Then she tried it and she agreed. I said the same thing. I don’t like sushi. I tried it about 10 years ago and I love good sushi. I love jazz, but you have to experience jazz. You can’t just listen to jazz. To hear the musician modulate a scale, or take off on an improv and actually see him playing the instrument either in person or in your head, that’s jazz. Sushi, Jazz, and Jesus, have to be experienced.

There are a lot of people that believe in God. There are a lot of students that claim to follow Christ. There are a lot who claim to know God, but they don’t try him out, for real. They don’t experience God by putting their faith in Christ.

So base your experience in Christ through the Word he reveals to us. That Word is truth!

This is from Steve Furtick's blog...I found myself saying this statement too often to my son as well...and in regards to my relationship with God, see below for my added statements...

Not Right Now

I realized the other day that I use this line on my son a little too often.
“Daddy, can we please go play on my pirate ship?”
“Not right now…”
“Daddy, can I have some juice please?”
“Not right now…”
“Daddy, will you read this book to me?”
“Not right now…”

Now it’s not that I think I should jump every time my kid says jump…or oblige his every whim.
But I miss a lot of opportunities for good interaction because of my procrastination. Because “I’ll get to it later”. And usually, later never comes.

Of course, this same scenario plays out in my relationship with God. And yours.

Speak a word of encouragement to your kids…
Not right now…
Turn off the TV and spend some time in the Word…
Not right now…
Tell somebody what you’re struggling with so you can get some help…
Not right now…

It may be trite but it’s true:
Delayed obedience is disobedience.
And most of our regrets won’t be about the things we did…
But the things we didn’t do.

My statements...

Daddy can my friend come over to play? Not right now

Daddy can you take me to the park? Not right now

Daddy can we go get a comic book? Not right now

Spend some time riding bikes with your family...Not right now

Get up an hour earlier to bring your family's

needs before Jesus...Not right now

Spend time with students who need an adult to say "I Care About You", and not just use words...Not right now

What would you do or have you not done and said, "Not Right Now"?

Jesus and the Pirates

Hat's off to the U.S. Navy and the SEALs for rescuing the captain of the cargo ship in the Indian Ocean. Way beyond heroic. But the actions of the United States point to a defining moment for the other 200 plus hostages being held captive by other pirates around the world: Who will fight for us when we cannot?

The U.S. took a stand when no one else was. That's the U.S. I know. Although I don't agree with our president mostly, on this one issue I am proud of our military responding to our commander-in-chief.

Jesus took a stand against the religious establishment of the day when no one else would. There were pirates of sorts preying on the vulnerable and defenseless in the form of Pharisees creating laws which were guilt forming and bondage creating among those who tried to do good.

Jesus stepped up, because he alone could. No one could come to our defense. Certainly not us because we try in vain to earn God's favor. No one else could provide the freedom from the laws and traditions of men--even religious men. Like a snap rescue from pirates, Jesus fired the shot that put to death the law of sin, that we might be rescued and radically saved.

I can only imagine how many times the story will be recounted among the rescued Captain and his family, for generations to come.

How many times will our own rescue be recounted by us, and even change us inwardly as well as outwardly? They should be the same. One can't be without the other. Radical rescue. Radical change.

"For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death." Romans 8:2

Can You Hear Me Now?

"So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” 9 They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

--Luke 22:8-13

Jesus spoke to Peter and John, and they listened and went and did as he said. But did they hear him? There's a difference between being listened to and being heard. We go about our lives living before God and obeying and listening to his Word, and when God shows up we seem surprised! Luke noted that there may have been some surprise or low expectations for such a specific request to happen just as Jesus had said.

I find that in student ministry, sometimes there's a great chasm in families between being listened to versus being heard. What do parents say to their kids all the time? "Listen to me!" or "You're not listening to me!" I see teens crying out for the opposite from their parents as their hearts cry "Please hear me!". And teens who aren't heard act out their rejection through turning inward or becoming more rebellious in order to oppose the parent out of spite for not "hearing."

Parents want to be listened to=authority. Teens want to be heard=recognition/respect.

We have a lot to learn in listening to God's revelation to us versus hearing. We listen through obedience. We hear through faith and move in response to seeing God moving in our world. When God doesn't move, we think it's God that's moved. Instead, I believe that we've stopped hearing His heart, and we've settled for merely listening to the Word in the form of ritual and tradition. It makes us feel like we're doing something for God, when the heart of the law is faith in Christ, not faith in the law.

Listen to God. Hear God. Be moved.

10 Ways Jesus Changed The World

1. He split our calendar in two: B.C. and A.D.

2. He showed us God is love.

3. He refused a crown to bear a cross.

4. He occupies no grave.

5. His sermon on the Mount set forth the highest standard for how we should live.

6. He modeled forgiveness in a world of stone throwers.

7. He transformed fishermen and tax collectors into world changers.

8. He healed the sick and raised the dead…enough said.

9. He challenged religion devoid of compassion.

10. He willingly accepted a cruel death so that we might have life.

As we enter Holy Week we contemplate Jesus’ death and that first Easter morning. The week started with betrayal, confusion and sorrow only to end in celebration. The scriptures tell us that God “showed his love among us — He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.” --Pastor Shuler, Capitol Life Church