Going, Going, Gone

In the past year Renee and I have had a hard decision to make when we had to leave a church. I am not trying to say that this church is doing things wrong or unscriptural, but we did leave because of personal reasons and burnout.
Burnout is one of those things that doesn't just happen all at once, but it happens over a period of time. We helped to plant this particular church and we had a very hard time leaving, but we simply couldn't continue on with what we were going through. I loved the people at this church and still love them, but burnout is so potent that is effects every part of your life.
Around this time my wife and started fighting more and more, and we thought it was simply because we were newlyweds, but it turns out it was the burnout talking.

We finally stepped down from everything that we were doing in the church and still felt like we couldn't breathe. We finally left and took a brake from church altogether. Once we took this step we finally felt like we could breathe again.

So, how can we prevent burnout in our lives? The best way that Renee and I found was simply saying NO to some things that we didn't have time to do. The word NO sometimes can make some people upset or angry, but people should respect your "yes" just as much as they respect your "no". Also spending time with the Creator of the universe on a daily basis will help to stay burnout free.

So, to prevent burnout, just say "no" to some things.

The Crazy Life

You all may have seen the hit TLC show Jon & Kate Plus 8. Well, for the past year and a half this is what my life has felt like. In 2007 Renee and I made the choice to send me back to school. However, not just school, but also working full time. For the past year and a half I have been able to deal with the stressfulness of the work load of working full time and going to school full time. Add to the mix that we recently left one church that we helped to plant and moved to a new town with a new church and add even more to the story I am also a part time worship leader at the new church (Imagine This LLC).

Don't get me wrong I love learning and I love leading worship, but work is just one of those things that I could do without. As I have been studying the Psalms with the worship team I have found great joy in the busyness of all of this. Not because I love to be busy, but rather because I know that God is sustaining me through it.

There are some days when I want to throw in the towel on everything, but there is something that keeps saying inside me "keep going, you can do it, just a little longer". I find myself wondering what God has in store for my life. I find myself asking God on a weekly basis "is this all there is to serving you, or is there more?" and I am beginning to think there is so much more that God wants from me.

I would like to think that God finds my feeble attempts to worship Him pleasing (and I know He does), however there is another part of me that thinks "maybe I am doing it all wrong". Somewhere in the craziness of life, love, and the pursuit of happiness there is something more to live for. Maybe this is not all there is. Maybe God wants not just my praise and worship, but maybe he wants all of me; the good and the bad, the happy and the sad, the light and the dark.

See I think God loves me for who I am and not who I should be. So if I come to Him in all of my brokenness He will meet me there. How awesome would it be if we could do the same for other people we come in contact with. In essence "Love them like Jesus".

So I challenge you to go out and be Jesus to someone because you may be the only Jesus they ever meet.

Don't Mess With David!

Does any body remember a guy named David? David was this pee-wee kind of a kid who spent his time watching sheep eat grass. How could anyone stand that job? Anyway, David is not only this scrawny little 13 year old kid, but he is a boy after God’s own heart.
Imagine with me for a moment that you are David. Your out in the field watching your flock by night, and low… oh, wait, wrong story. Your out in the field watching the sheep one day and one of your father’s servants comes to you. He tells you that your father wants you to go to Socoh and see how your brothers are doing in the war. I’m sure David jumped at the chance to see a battle in action. I mean come on, who kills a bear with their bare hands anyway, really. So, you hop on your four wheel drive “donkey” and head for the battle field. When you get there everyone is standing around listening to this crazy tall guy slam your God all over the place. What would be your first reaction?
I’m afraid I would probably do what everyone else was doing, sitting around listening to this moron talk smack about my God. But, here’s the cool part, David steps up to the plate and says, “Isn’t anyone gonna shut this guy up?” I can imagine that the group of men standing around this little boy were just standing there looking at each other. I’m afraid that this is what I would be doing, aren’t you? I mean here is this 9 foot talk, got muscles in his ear-lobes bigger than me, guy, I don’t want to fight him. But David says, “bring it on dirt bag. I’ll show you what my God can really do”.
So, Saul, being the pansy that he was, calls David into his tent and had David put on his armor. David is like, “Dude, I know your king and all, but you have got to be joking me if you think I’m going out there in this. All I need is a couple of stones and my sling-shot and I’m all good.” This is where the story gets really good.
David walks onto the battle field ready to fight with the whole Israeli army watching. The bible says that David ran out to meet Goliath. David wanted to shut this guy’s mouth so bad that he couldn’t wait to meet him. David launches a single stone right at Goliath’s face and hits him dead in the forehead. Goliath had no clue what just happened, all he knew was that he was dead, and the Philistines were in some serious trouble. In an act of sheer strength David picks up Goliath’s sword and cuts his head off.
Man this David guy was wild! How could this little 13 year old kid take out a guy 8 times his size? Man, I tell you, David had something that I wish I had. He had faith that God would come through. He had faith that his God would not let him down if he stood up for Him. David walked away for that battle field that day a hero. He obliterated his enemies and gave God the glory.
What if we were to stand up like David did? What if we lived life as if nothing else matter accept serving our God? What would happen? I think I know what would happen; I think the enemy would be defeated in our lives. I think that if we rose up to every battle that the evil one brought on us we would fight and we would live because if you don’t fight you will die spiritually. One of my favorite quotes from any movie is from Brave Heart when William Wallis is talking to his country men and he says, “All men die, few men ever truly live”. If you fight you may die, at least you tried, but if all you do is load yourself down with heavy armor, by the time the battle comes you’ll be too tired to fight because you’ve been carrying that heavy load. We have got to get rid of the sin that weighs us down. The first step toward the battle is getting rid of the heavy armor, so that when the battle is on, you can run out and meet your enemies, and take them out with just a stone and a sling. To let the whole world know that if you mess with me, and your messing with my God.

Stand Firm!

Do you ever wonder where all the men have gone? I once wrote a song about men and the battles that they face, but when the battle comes the men sit cowering in fear. Oh sure us men, we'll drive one hundred miles an hour down a dirt road, but when the real battle gets up in our face we turn tale and run. If we look at the life of Jesus we see the total opposite. Time after time the Pharisees get up in Jesus' face and every time Jesus puts the smack down.
There are times when I want to be William Wallas in Brave Heart or Tristan from Legends of the Fall, but something holds me back. I find myself wishing that I would have stood up and fought off the evil one, but it seems that every time I fail. I'm sure you feel it too.
Somewhere, us men have lost our way. Some time along the way the world told us to be nice guys and we bought into it. The last thing this world needs is a bunch of nut less men walking around letting our women fight our battles for us.
Men we have got to grow a pair and step onto the battle field. The evil one sure as hell isn't going to back and we can't either, or we and our families will be slaughtered. Jesus didn't back down ever! Ever when Satan was in his face after fasting for forty days, Jesus didn't blink. (Matt. 4:1-11) In the book of Revelation it says that Jesus is going to lead a great battle against evil and Jesus is going to show up with his robe dipped in blood. (Rev. 19:11-13)
We have got to stand up and fight like men. There have been many times in my life where I let my wife take on the battle because I was to much of a wuss to fight for myself. It is time for men to rise up and take a stand, get tough, and let nothing move us. The Apostle Paul says, "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." (1 Cor. 15:58)
Stand firm, don't let anything push you down. When I read this verse I can picture in my head a scene from Brave Heart when English army is charging on their horses and William Wallas keeps tell his men to hold. What he is saying is stand firm, don't let them move you and Paul is saying the same.
I see this verse as a speech given to the army to pump them up just before the battle ensues. "Stand firm men, stand firm. Don't evil move you. Give your life to serve your King. You can trust the King, your service will not be in vain. STAND FIRM!!!"

Don't Count Me Out...

Don't count me out, when from birth I struggle to survive.

Don't count me out, when my life is growing thin.

Don't count me out, when I defy all the odds.

Don't count me out, when I make the team.

Don't count me out, when I drop a pass, fumbule the ball, or trip and fall on my face.

Don't count me out, when I lose instead of win.

Don't count me out, when I hang with the wrong crowd.

Don't count me out, when I drink to wipe away my frown.

Don't count me out, when I finally find my way.

Don't count me out, when you say I can't sing.

Don't count me out, when you think I'm good for nothing.

Don't count me out, when my dreams finally come true.

Don't count me out, cause when you do,

Who your really counting out...

Is you.

I wrote this little poem when I was feeling down and out; as though no one cared to see me succeed. I hope this poem finds a place in your life as well. When ever I feel like someone has writen me off, told me I wasn't good enough, or put me in a box, I think about this poem and how much Jesus wants me to succeed. In my mind I can see Jesus jumping up and down in the stands at my basketball game, or rock'in with me as I play guitar. Jesus wants to see me win; He knows I can. When all the world jumps up in my face and tells me that I'm worthless, I know that Jesus is standing right behind me yelling at the top of His lungs, YOU ARE WORTH EVERYTHING! So don't count me out... count me in.

The Puppy and His Boy

There was once a small puppy and a young boy who were inseparable. They did everything together. They went swimming, played at the park and even went down the slide together. The boy and his dog spent all the time they could together. One day the dog and his family took a trip to a park that had a suspension bridge that they had to cross. The little boy went across first and tried to get the puppy to follow, but the puppy was to scared. To the suprise of the boy's parents, he returned and did something that was very unussual. The little boy layed down on his belly and began to encourage the puppy to come across the bridge. To everyone's suprise the little puppy slowly started to cross the bridge. When they reach the other side, the little boy wrapped his arms around the puppy, kissed him and said, great job buddy! After that, the puppy followed that little boy anywhere and everywhere.

This story is a great picture of how God walks us through hard times in our lives. He gets down in the dirt with us and simply keeps encouraging us to keep going forward through what ever our scary times might be. When we get to the other side of the bridge, He gives us a great big hug and lets us know that He is proud. In turn, we start to follow Him anywhere and everywhere because we know that He loves us enough to get down in the dirt and help us across the unstable bridges in our lives.

First Grade Flash Back

I have come up with a new name for those of us who struggle with sin in our lives. Before I go any further I need to explain what sin really is. Sin is an archery term for "missing the target." Now in the west we us it in a much different context. Christians, for example, talk about sin as being something that you have done to ensue God's angry. The bible defines sin as lying, cheating, braking the law, murder, lust, ect.
However, this whole list of sins brings me directly to the new name that I have come up with to explain the sin disposition that we all have. "Stupid sinner face"! I know it sound a little childish, however, if you can look back to your grade school years, you will find that it was these kind of names that hurt us the most as small children.
The other day my wife and I were making dinner together (which doesn't happen nearly enough) and as we were cooking I blurted out "stupid face", to which she responded "dodo- head". As we continued to call each other these names, I realize that if I was a little kid, I would have been in tears by now. Can you remember those days? The days when you would come home from school, sobbing because someone called you a "bad breath, poo-poo face".
That is my intention with this knew name for sin. To bring reality back into life when it seems like I have totally missed the target. To bring myself back to a place of thinking that says, "your not all that, you need something more, you can't live this life on your own." And that is our thought pattern right? That we can live this life on our own? That we no longer need God, we can handle it?
To many times have I tried and failed to live this life on my own. To many time have I tried to dig up my old self from the grave. To often we try to play God and control the out comes of life, but when we try to make our own lives work, the only thing we get out of it is the realization that we're just a bunch of "stupid sinner faces" who need a real God to take away our sins.

Change

I remember the days when I first started doing ministry. I was nineteen years old and I had a fire that seems to be almost unquenchable. I started in ministry as a small group leader at a local youth ministry. My passion for youth grew into a passion for worshiping God. At age twenty I became the worship leader at the Lakewood Youth Center. God had brought me out of the darkest of pits to put me in front of eighty wound up, angry, and broken students. Time went on and I began to work more and more along side the youth pastor, and I soon learned that ministry is not all fun and games. I learned that ministry can be very messy, even ugly at times. However, there was an heir of oneness with the ministry team that we had.
Now that I am the leader of a youth ministry I want that same heir around this ministry. I want people to look at Xplode Student Ministries and see one of the strongest youth ministries ever. In order to get to that place we first need to lay down our pride and self want and let God form this ministry into what He wants it to be.
Youth ministry is constantly shifting and being transformed and I know our ministry will continually have to change. There are times when I find myself wishing that everything could stay the same, however, I know that not changing could mean death to a youth ministry. Change is the only thing that keeps youth ministry relevant. However, the core never changes.
God, help me to continually find new ways to keep our youth ministry on the cutting edge. Don't let my enemies triumph over me as I fight to minister to the youth in our world and when it seems that the evil one is trying to crush me on every side; oh God be my strength. Help me to speak only graciously of others and to be an encouragement to those who are down and out.

Face of a Man, Heart of a King

The other day I was at work in the small bookstore I like to call "The Old Lady Store". I was operating the cash register when an elderly man rolled up in one of those Huveround chairs. He was slower than most and it was hard to understand him. I first noticed him as he was waiting out side the store for someone to let him in. I went out the front door and asked him if he wanted to come in. He gave me the biggest smile and through what sounded like a grunt said "yes". I held the door for him as he maneuvered his chair through the doorway. He had a smell about him that was less than pleasant, but nonetheless, he seemed happy.
It seemed like an eternity that he shopped in our little store. Looking at everything and anything. Then I saw him looking at something that I thought was unusual. He stop in front of the wind chimes. He just sat there looking at them. I went over and ask he want to hear any of them and he gave my another grunt. I grabbed the first one and gave it a lite jingle. His eyes lit up like some one had just opened up a whole new world. He gave out a quick laugh and then proceeded to have me jingle every single wind chime we had. It was an awesome sight to see a man so broken and frail to be enjoying himself so much. He couldn't use his hands or his feet, they were too stiff with arthritis, but he still had his laughter, and laugh he did. I must have spent a good half hour showing him all the wind chimes. I know that if I were in his condition I would want someone to help me. He looked around for a bit longer and them came to checkout counter with a broken smile, but a smile nonetheless. He was so excited to be purchasing this set of wind chimes. This man, made in the image of God rolled into the "Old Lady Store" a broken old man, but he rolled out (in my eyes) a mighty warrior with passion and fire in his eyes. As he left I thought to myself, "I wonder what happened to him to put him in that chair", I guess I'll never know. Of course all that really matters is that he is an image bearer of the King of Kings.

I'm Back

Man, it has been a long time since I wrote any thing in my blog. I've been crazy busy with epic youth. I am also working on going to school this fall(a little scary). However, I wouldn't change anything about my crazy life. A couple weeks ago on fathers day I called my dad to wish him a happy father's day, but this was not my normal father's day call. It was one of the most emotional father's day calls I have ever made. I love my dad and I tried to make it very clear to him. When I say emotional I don't mean sobbing on the phone or anything like that. It was that type of thing where you get a lump in your throat. I couldn't be with my dad on father's day but I think he knew that I meant what I said.
My father is my hero. He has put up with allot of hard things in his life so that I, as his child, could have a great life. I never thought about it when I was at home, but now that I am married, I realize that he is a great man. Getting to know him has been a real joy the last few years. I can see his heart more clearly now than before. He doesn't always wear it on his sleeve or cry at the drop of a hat, but his heart shows right through his button up shirt. I love you dad and I hope you know that every day is father's day in my heart.