Defining who we are

Eve and I have had many opportunities of the last 9 years of being married to define ourselves. What are we? Are we Pentecostals? Are we self Righteous? Are we Emergent? Are we Home Churchers? Are we Christians? Are we of Apollos or of Paul? What we figured out is that all of these are very silly questions. Why we do spend so much time trying to define ourselves when God already has. He has called us His children. We are sons and daughters of the most High God. We are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and set free. We are free, eternal, joyful creatures that have been set loose upon the earth. The enemy would like us to define ourselves so that he could keep us in a box. A BOX! A BOX! WAKE UP................ You don't have to live like this anymore. Stop trying to put yourself in a box. You have been set free to soar to heights unimaginable! The word doesn't restrict our flying space, it takes us higher and is the vehicle that allows us to go where no man had gone before (before Christ, that is). We are not under the law (although its possible to fill it now through Christ) but we are under a different law called the law of Grace. The spirit of death has flowed past our door because of the blood of the lamb around the doorpost of our hearts. Enjoy the freedom.

Turning 30

Today, I am 30. Interesting. My wife asked me what I am going to do now that I'm 30. So here we go.....
1. I want to live a christian life, a life of freedom, soaring above the clouds of dispair and chains of slavery to the heights of joy and the light of the eternal Son, Jesus Christ
2. I want to love the Lord God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and my neighbor as myself.
3 I want to have real friendships, where there isn't a lesson to learn or agenda behind each meeting but fellowship that uplifts, understands and encourages.
4 I want to love my wife as Christ loves the Church
5 I want to have a ernest expectation of heaven.

May the Lord bless you this day, may He cause His face to shine upon you, May you be blessed on your going in and your going out. May you feel his presence in every step you make in your life, the wrong ones and the right ones. May you feel His strength when you are weak for this is truly where our strength comes from.
The Lord Bless You.

The position of pastors

I will start this blog out stating that I respect the people in the position of pastor very much, but I do not respect the position of pastor.

The position itself puts to much pressure on one individual. Putting aside the fact that 40% drop out of ministry because they burn out, those that stay in are those that adapt. Adapt what you might ask. In order to survive in a continual demanding situation, pastors take a economical approach to ministry. Capitalism!

It is much easier to look at people and their demands from a capitilistic view point then from a ministerial one. I would go as far to say that the 40% that dropped out were actually doing it right.

One cannot sustain an approach that says that you must have it all together in order to lead the flock, because were human, unless they look at it from a business perspective.

1st - It's not personal, its business. Continually say this to yourself when people decide to leave your church. You did what you had to do, you told them the truth and if they can't handle the truth then they can go shopping somewhere else.

2nd - Hang you personnal problems on the personal problem coat rack before you enter work. Do not, and I say it again, DO NOT tell people your personnal problems. These are to be discussed at home and at home only. After all, how could you effectively direct people in their own lives if they knew of the problems in yours.

3rd - Make sure to take YTO time. It can be very stressful and alot of work to be spiritual for everyone else in the church. I know they pay you for this but you still need your time. Some important times to take are after the major rushes you get in the year, like Christmas, Easter and VBS.

Have a nice day.

I once was a pastor

I once was a pastor. Working my way up the ladder of success. Starting with children, then to assistant and in the end, Senior. I can't say I ever thought about the statistics. How long a pastor stays with one flock. On average of about 4 years. For some reason I thought I was different. For some reason I thought that people would not grow tired of my message. I thought that people would welcome me every week with open arms and you know, for the most part they did but I didn't. I grew tired of the same, every week. I grew tired of the message. I grew tired of the ME every week. I never did make it to senior. THAT'S OK.

I am not tired of living every day for Him. Living a freedom that I thought of but just didn't seem to get the hang of before. You could probably say that it was my fault but THAT'S OK.

verse of the day

The verse of the Day on Biblegateway is:
"Sanctify them by the Truth; Your word is Truth" John 17:17

Something Eve and I have been learning, especially as of late. What are our eyes seeing? What are we listening to?

On my way home the other day from the coffee house, when I usually just listen to the radio, I decided not to turn it on. I decided to just pray and meditate on the Lord. What a wonderful feeling. The last couple of days, instead of watching tv, Eve and I have been filling our evenings with praise and scripture. A Sharpening of our minds and of our spirits. It is all so wonderful.

Thank you Lord

Church at Home

Eve and I just worshiped the Lord in our home. We will be going over to worship the Lord at her brothers in a little while. I have been contemplating my view of the word 'church' lately and wondering how my view effects the way I live my christian life. In the word it says that we are the church. In the light of that "go to church", "had church" and "church building" just don't make any sense. Is it possible that I have been to caught up in the latter that it has kept me from being the former. I think I might try this, "be the church", "am the church" and "are the church" from now on. Till next time "be the church".

Pew

So I am sitting in our coffee house this morning, contemplating the meaning of life and I start to admire a pew that we use for one of our seats at a table. A solid piece of furniture with a ox blood color cushioned seat. Built to be sturdy and to last, with a cross engraged on the edge of the seat. Behind the pew there is a compartment that is meant to hold bibles or hymnals for those who would no doubt be sitting behind in another pew.

I started to wonder where it came from. What church was it in? Does it have a story? The most you can pick out from it is that at one time it was a pew in a church and now it is not. Sounds so simple doesn't. If it could talk, what does it like better, do you think?

Before it was used once a week. The people that sat in it, didn't say a word. There were sometimes where those who sat in it were lulled to sleep from the cushion. Been there, done that. Only for a couple of ours and then empty. Maybe it might get some attention during the week for cleaning.

Now it is used every day. Kids climbing all over it and instead of a bible or a hymnal, there is a torah and cribbage board (don't ask). Crumbs are constantly all over the cushion and the people that are sitting in it are in a deep conversation, or not.

Of course, we all know that a pew can't talk, doesn't have any emotions and absulately no brain power. A cute little allegory. Allegory of what you might say? An allegory of our Christian life. Think about it!