Injuries…

Another rewrite..More added/changed thoughts..

One Sunday afternoon, a few years ago, on exactly January 13th I was pumped because I was about to play the coolest game ever with some of the coolest guys ever. A game called Berzerker. It's a combination between football, rugby, soccer, and basketball. Awesome! Right!? YA! It was the first play of the game, I got the ball, took one step, and POP!! I was down. I tore a calf muscle and the next 2 weeks of life were the most agonizingly dreadful, exhausting experience ever...crutches. Now some of you may think, "oh, crutches, those look easy." or "I've been on crutches before and they weren't that bad" well I hated them! But of course, I learned something as we all should from each experience. Crutches really made it difficult to get around, especially since I had to get around UAB. For the most part, I just tried as much as I could to suck it up and be tough about traveling multiple blocks. I think what helped out a lot was the fact that people were very thoughtful. They held open doors and were always offering to help carry things for me; however, I nicely rejected the help. I’m not sure why, I just wanted to do everything for myself, even something as simple as carry something up stairs. So I did. I never fell down the stairs or was unable to perform my day to day tasks. I made it! While I crutched from place to place I did have a lot of time to just think. I thought mostly about how tired and sore I was, and I often asked myself what the root of my hard headedness was in not accepting help. But mostly I thought of how all of us want to do everything ourselves when it comes to Christianity. Let’s take a poll (raise your hand if this applies, I will too)....How many of you want to do everything you can each day to ensure a spot in Heaven? How many of you spend time each day reading the Bible and praying because you want to be saved? How many of you think that you will be saved because of your deeds, faith, or because you have committed less sin then someone else? I’m pretty sure we all know that we can’t earn our way to heaven, but don’t we usually revert back to that kind of lifestyle? Things begin to get a little rocky and all the sudden we are at church 24/7, we are constantly praying, looking up scriptures, and trying our hardest to walk the straight and narrow as if our works and efforts are going to save us, or bring us back to a comfortable place. These are things we should be striving to do always, not to earn a spot in heaven, but because we already have obtained that spot and are beginning the heavenly lifestyle here on earth. Jesus prayed “Your will be done, on EARTH as it IS IN HEAVEN.” For the duration of my injury, I had a very hard time moving around. Without my crutches, I would have never been able to move. I couldn’t do it by myself. We can’t do it by ourselves. We need the aid of Jesus and his blood, we need the grace of God, and we need to give up and surrender to Him. Sometimes we need that “injury” to bring us down before God so that we can view Him in the right perspective and see that there’s nothing we can possibly do to get where He sits. All we can do is accept His invitation. It took months to recover from that injury, and I still have a deformation in that muscle. But I’m physically back to full speed thanks to the doctors and therapists. Most of all thanks be to God. I’m imperfect, unworthy, and injured, but His gift of grace allows me to run full speed after Him. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast” Ephesians 2:8-9. 

Where is God? Part 1.5

Another article based on a past post..rewritten with new thoughts.

Many people like to ask the question, "Where is God?" There are so many times in which we hurt and suffer. There are other times in which life seems so unfair. God has promised us many things, but He has not promised us that life would always be fair, pain free, or conflict free; however, many people still get the illusion that because they become a Christian life is all downhill from there. Well, yes and no. No, just because you become a Christian doesn't mean that you get one of those "easy buttons" from staples. There’s no button you can just push to speed past conflict and find another comfortable area. You will go through a hard time whether it be struggling with sin or the various trials in life that kick you in the butt and you wonder "God where are you in all of this?" Then there's the "yes" aspect of this. Because you become a Christian and accept Jesus into your life, you no longer have to let sin run your life. You now have a savior who rescued you from death, from eternal suffering. The bible says in 2 Corinthians 5 that God has given us his Spirit as a deposit to guarantee that eternal life, our heavenly dwelling is coming. We receive a God who loves us, who has loved us, and will love us forever. With a God of this magnitude comes an all knowing God who knows your every need, thought, passion, struggle, and pain.     O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. 5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. Psalm139:1-18   I love this psalm, especially vs 17 because it shows the psalmists surrender to the wisdom and knowledge of God. Instead of taking a stand of pride and self-reliance, he acknowledges God’s thoughts, plans, and will as being supreme to anything we could ever think of. So where is God? From what we have read, He is everywhere and in everything. To feel His presence you must first be aware of His presence. My challenge for you is to go out and find Him. Where in the world is He? But most importantly, is He in you?  ¹ Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.² Why do the nations say, “Where is their God?” ³ Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. Psalm 115:1-3           

Thoughts on Eternity: Ephesians 2:1-10

These thoughts often had to be short due to the limited amount of space I had to print them on. Each article also was directed to the church I was working for. We were full steam ahead on starting over and putting on a new face. Our old ways had set us back and the journey to becoming a bit more open minded as a church was in the forefront. These articles were meant to educate as well as push us as a church to take a step towards living as the Bible has instructed us.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 Most all of us should have been able to finish this verse without having to read it. If you’ve spent any time in church, spent time around people who go to church, or watch sporting events on tv hopefully you know about “John 3:16.” I remember when I first read this verse I thought, “how easy is that?! Just believe and gain eternal life!” It kind of makes you wonder why other people don’t believe. I mean we are talking about eternal life here! God has given us a gift, we simply take that gift, and then boom; eternal life! Now, we do know that eternal life is a gift. We did nothing at all to receive it. Well, ok, we did confess our belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that he died for our sins and that he conquered death by raising himself from the grave 3 days after entering. We then put Christ on in baptism, spiritually demonstrating our own death, burial, and resurrection. We then rose from the water as a new creation with no condemnation having received the Holy Spirit and the gift of eternal life. Not that these are works to be done by us to gain entrance into the Kingdom, but acts of faith. You see, no one is cut out to live righteously. No one can stand alone before God and say, “I’m good enough, I make the cut.” We are all broken and incomplete before entering into God’s grace. Even upon entering that grace we sometimes fall short, but the atoning blood of Jesus covers our sins, and God’s grace is made new in us. So why is it that more people are not making a decision to accept God’s grace and live for him? Logically and spiritually it makes so much sense! Live for the world and die to God reaps eternal death. Live for God and die to the world reaps eternal life. I think if more people knew the pure gospel message, they’d make a positive eternity changing decision. But many churches have clouded up that message, and so many “church goers” have missed their important missions to evangelize to the lost. So now what? How do we teach this message? What can we do as “church goers” to change this? I believe God is calling for us to step out of the title of “church goer,” and put on the clothes of “Christ follower.” Then people will be able to see Christ outside the walls of the church and witness the grace of God. The thing about eternity is that we think of it as something far off in the future when we die or when time ends. I believe it begins the moment you confess with your lips, believe with your heart that Jesus is the Son of God, and then put on Christ in baptism. That is when your eternity begins; an eternal walk with God.   

GREATER > THAN

Palisades article...

 

This week’s message is going to be very simple; Greater Than.  “More of you and less of me, oh my Father, I want to be”, these lyrics I’ve heard sung by an a capella worship group called “Glad”. How simple are those words? We sing similar songs such as; “More Precious Than Silver”, “More Love to Thee, O Christ”, and “More Like Jesus”. What’s the theme here? More, more, more! Sound familiar? More is the world we currently live in. I don’t have to go into much detail about how much the world salivates over new stuff, more stuff, and better stuff. I don’t need to elaborate on how much people of the world run after the world and seek more for their own wealth and self-satisfaction. It’s unnecessary to spend much time expounding upon the darkness of this world and those who choose to stay in that darkness, because we all know of that pain, loneliness, shame, and defeat. You see, we view that dark place as such because as followers of our Lord Jesus Christ we have stepped into His eternal light. We can look back and see the darkness in which we once treaded all alone. We can even go as far as seeing how enticing and pleasurable that place once was. But there was still something missing, out of order…empty. I heard a man on tv the other night say that the world is an intense place, its message is intense, its people are intense, and Christianity is falling behind because Christians are losing their intensity for the message of the cross. Is that true? Are we falling behind? Is it impossible to keep our same soul saving gospel message and communicate it in a way the world understands? Speaking to Nicodemus in John 3, Jesus says, “we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen but still you people do not accept our testimony.” Why doesn’t he accept Jesus’ message? I think he had a “more” problem. In fact I think most of the people who came face to face with Jesus had a “more” problem. But all of those who came face down to Jesus, they were on to something. You know, those people who recognized who Jesus was. It’s like they got the answers to the test, the tip on how to get their promotion, the extra bonus, the secret to life… they got more. They simply stood before Jesus with their hearts bowed. They reached out only to touch his cloak. They exclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”; “He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me”; “He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”They had it, and John the Baptist really knew his place. He goes on to say in John 3:30, “he must become greater; I must become less.” How different is that? How intense? When the whole world is running to increase itself, to bring honor to itself, and glory to itself, there were people like John who lived out a message exclaiming that “He is greater.” Is it time to take a step back and examine who is greater in your life? Do you live as if God is greater than…everything? John 3:31a- “The one who comes from above is above all…”

A Glimpse at Love: 1 John 4:7-12

Another installment of the articles I wrote for the bulletin at Palisades. This is very similar to a previous post, but does contain new thoughts...

I made a book once. Well, it was already a book, a thesaurus actually. It was a large book, until I ripped out some pages and cut out the center of it. It's called an altered book. I took a book already made and altered it. I painted the outside of it gold, got some supplies from Hobby Lobby, and a week later, I had a finished product. It was called, “…” well it didn't have a name, but on the inside cover it asked the question, 'What is love?' I guess you could call it something creative like, "The Love Book", yeah, very creative. It was a gift. I thought it was a great gift myself. I spent a week on it, and the girl who got it also really liked it. But I thought I had really done a good job of defining love through this book. Each page had its own idea or focus with sweet, cheesy quotes and song lyrics, even some stuff I had made up. I meant every word of it, but did I really define what love was? Did I answer the question wholeheartedly knowing what it actually was?  I seriously doubt it; I was 19 when I made this book. I’m sure if I took a poll today and asked everyone to define love in one word, 9 out of 10 answers would be different. I would hear things like; trust, sacrifice, eternal, action, perfection, God, or Jesus. Whereas all of these answers are honest acceptable answers in the context of a random people simply defining love, we as followers of Jesus having experienced the greatest love of all cannot simply confine love into a single word definition other than “God”. You see we as Christians all know that “God is Love.” We sing it in four part harmonies, we read it all over the bible, and sometimes we even talk about it. But do we truly know that God is love? “Oh, yeah Jesus died for us, so He loves us!” or “God sent his Son, so He loves us!” I know our understanding of God’s love goes much deeper than that. But do we actually see it in everything that He does? I believe one of the most obvious times that people begin to forget about God’s love is during a conflict or change, especially when something is taken away. It’s one of the hardest things to cope with when we’ve been used to having something like an ability, freedom, possessions, or a lifestyle taken away from us. “Everything was fine one minute, then chaos the next!” Do we remember God’s love in these times? Do we remember His hand being at work? Do we feel forgotten? When the Renaissance artist Michelangelo began sculpting the famous statue of David, he started with just a block of marble. Then slowly and carefully he began to chip away at all of the pieces he didn’t want. He performed this process of chipping away what he didn’t want for more than 2 years before the perfected masterpiece was complete. When I made my altered book, I took a normal book and ripped out some pages, added new ones, cut holes, and gave it an entirely new look and name. Do you get it yet? When we are facing our seasons of change and conflict we are given an opportunity to become closer to God by catching just a glimpse of his wonderful power as he works in our lives. His love becomes so evident during these times of need, hunger, and thirst. Why? Because he provides. As he chisels away at our imperfections to make us into his perfect being, his grace and love fill the newly created void. Nothing on earth, in the earth, or under the earth has the ability to fill us like God’s love (Romans 8). I wish I could go back and rewrite my “love book” because I’d have so many changes to make and things to add. But I know as far as God’s gift to us, He wouldn’t change a thing. His love has already been made perfect through the blood of his own Son whom he loved. And this beloved son of God still was sacrificed because of God’s perfect love for us.

"Well, it's bigger than a breadbox.."

The last ten weeks that I spent with the Palisades Church in Birmingham, I submitted an article per week to be printed in the Sunday bulletin. This is one of those articles. In fact, I will be posting each of the articles....

 

When I was a child, I remember my mother and I used travel up to Maryland every holiday to visit our family. We would see my grandma, Grammy, and aunts, uncles, and cousins. They were some of the best times of the year. I always looked forward to going up there. The biggest and most exciting of these trips each year was of course Christmas. Christmas was different because not only did the entire family meet, but neighbors and close friends would also come and pack the house celebrating this joyous occasion of fellowship. I think that’s why I liked that trip the most. I remember one year, before the grueling 11 hour car ride, I talked to my Grammy on the phone and told her how excited I was to be coming to see her again. But what I really wanted to know was what she got me for Christmas. I was about 8 or 9, so sucking up was still in my arsenal and I was willing to use it in order to get the information I needed. Needless to say, it didn’t work. However, she did tell me, “It’s bigger than a breadbox.” And then we left. The entire drive to Maryland all I did was bug my mom about “What’s a breadbox mommy? How big is a breadbox mommy? Is it big? Do you actually put bread in it? What’s it look like?” I went on and on. I still to this day have no idea what a breadbox is. But aren’t there boxes for pretty much everything? When we move, we pack things in boxes. When we buy stuff at the store, most of it comes in boxes. When we click things on our computer screen, most of the things we click are boxes. Even when someone comes up with a profound idea we say they are thinking outside the box. Boxes are important because they store things, provide structure, and form boundaries so that things can’t escape. They come big or small, cubed or oblong. They enclose diamonds, and they keep my cereal fresh. But they cannot, and will not ever be able to form a boundary around our God.  It’s common for us to take God out of our box on Sunday mornings between the hours of 9:30 and 11:30. It’s common even during weddings and funerals to let God out of our box. How strange does this sound? It’s true. I know most all of us have a belief in God. But do we sometimes become our own god? We make our own decisions. We do what we think is right without first seeking God’s council and guidance. We walk into so many situations and after the fact remember God and ask Him to bless it. “Well, some things just aren’t a big deal and I’ve got it under control so I don’t see a need in seeking God in prayer about this situation.” When and where did we forget that God is the ruler and maker of all that exists? At What point did we forget that ‘it’s no longer I that live, but Christ who lives in me?’ (Gal 2:20) We sometimes let it slip our mind that God is the great I AM. You see we put limits on God. We take what we know, and apply it to our infinite, majestic, all powerful, glorious, sovereign, and holy God.  Our own knowledge and wisdom boxes God up and says “you can’t come past this boundary, you can’t cross this line.” Then God does something in our lives that is so outside the box that humbles us down to our knees before the great King. We can no longer limit His ability to guide us and bless us. The smallest part of God is so much larger than a box that can store the planets and stars of this universe. Have you been limiting God in your life? Do you realize the size and real true glory that sits on the throne of heaven? I don’t remember what it was I got that year for Christmas, if it was bigger than a breadbox. But I do know that God is. And that’s just big enough to save you and me from whatever hinders our relationship with Him.  

Camp Wetoga

I was blessed to have been involved as a counselor at a youth camp a month ago at Camp Wetoga in Blue Ridge, Georgia. Having already been a part of many youth conferences, week-long retreats, mission trips, and camps, I knew mostly what to expect; late nights with rowdy teens, early mornings with tired teens, and a couple of nights with powerful worship and confessions of faith followed by baptisms. You could say I knew what to expect for the most part. It wasn’t my first youth trip. So I entered ready to serve thinking I knew exactly everything I was going to face. God had different plans. As a young adult attending a youth camp, you think that the youth camp is generally designed for the spiritual growth of the teens. You see, my job is simply to plant seeds, offer support, prayer, and insight. But why does it stop there? Because of my age, am I now done with learning and growing? Is my purpose now only to help foster growth in younger people? By no means! There’s never a day that God doesn’t work in your life, so why do we believe there’s an expiration date on our spiritual growth? God brought me to this place for a purpose that I was thirsting to know. His message was clear; “Stop everything you are doing and pay attention. The next couple of days I want all of your praise, all of your worship, all of your thoughts, all of your worries, all of your burdens, all of your baggage, all of your guilt, your friends, your relationships, your family, all of your love, and all of your trust. Through these things I will show you just a mere glimpse of my infinite, majestic glory.” I gave my life to God a little over 6 years ago, all of these things I put into His hands the evening of February 20, 2005. Isn’t it funny, how He asked for all of that…again? As if I took it back. There’s a point where we become comfortable in our lives. The day-to-day schedule doesn’t vary and we begin to expect the things of today to remain for tomorrow. With this mentality, we grow farther and farther away. God is here today, so of course he’ll be here tomorrow, so I’ll just pray then. Church is in a couple of days, so I’ll just worship then. I don’t feel like dealing with my struggles this week, but next week, that’ll be when I really get after it! Do your expectations ever dictate your plans? When was the last time you let God’s plan intercede? Each day we should expect to have God’s love and grace consume us as we continuously seek Him. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 2 Corinthians 5:15