There is a popular bumper sticker that reads “NOTW” or not of this world.  For those of us with a relationship with Christ, this is true!  We are no longer of this world!  He has made us something else.  But it seems like a lot of the time I forget that we are still in this world.  I am a firm believer that we are called to be not of this world BUT still affect it while we are still in this world.  That is a difficult thing to do when we don’t get outside of our little church bubble.

I am as guilty as any.  I like to be selfish with my time and spend it with my family or doing things I like.  It is far too easy to cruise through life doing the safe thing.  For me the safe thing is basketball with my church friends, TV with the wife, date nights, blogging, church, etc.  Recently I have found myself caught up in this world and doing nothing for the rest of my community at all!  Ouch. That’s a tough thing to realize.  I like to justify it and say that it’s just hard to make friends you don’t spend time with.

Many times as Christians we are just like me.  We find it easy and safe to never leave the “walls of our church” to affect our surroundings at all.  We don’t make time to still be in the world.  Jesus did this!  He made time. He gave time for the Hookers and Robbers.  He did it so much that it pissed off the religious people around Him.

The Pharisees and their religion scholars came to his disciples greatly offended. “What is he doing eating and drinking with crooks and ‘sinners’?” Jesus heard about it and spoke up, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders—an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.

Luke 5:30-32

When was the last time you invited over for dinner someone you know doesn’t know Christ or at least are unsure if they do?  It’s been way too long for me.  We are called to live our lives different.  The safe, comfortable life isn’t it!  That is why Christ came.  And I’m pretty sure He didn’t take the easy way.

He came for the hookers and thieves…

…the Enron bigwigs and the Wall Street suits…

…the Buddhists and the Relativists…

…the Democrats and Republicans…

…Communists and Socialists…

…you…

…me.

Last week I had something on my mind and wrote a post called I Work Out Therefore I Am.  I don’t know why, but God brought up the issue of image and what others think.  Living in Orange County, people think that they are different than the rest of the world.  We aren’t any different here than anywhere else.  We still have issues. We still have money problems.  We still don’t understand the concept of using credit in our favor (and how that doesn’t mean to go buy a Lotus because the bank upped the limit).  But one of the biggest issues that I continue to see here is that of image.

I have seen in all over the place.  There is a constant need to be prettier or better dressed or have nicer stuff or write better, speak better, sing better, surf better than the next person.  But then as God put this on my heart last week, I came across a couple verses in my YouVersion reading plan that to me really nail it down.

“Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you?

Matthew 6:27-30

“There’s trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them.

Luke 6:26

I love it.  Has fussing in the mirror ever made you taller?  No!  If He gives so much attention to some random flowers that no one ever sees, how much pride and love and thought did He pour into you?!  Be you!  That’s who you were made to be!  And for those of us that only live and breathe and do because we want the approval of others, we have a rough road ahead.  If those don’t smack you across the face either you either don’t have any issues with this at all or you didn’t read it!

Recently I was reading some blogs and I came across this post from a friend’s blog, ScottRodgers.tv.  He brings up a great point of view and big things to think about for those of us in church leadership to keep in mind.  Thanks for being my guest blogger, Scott!

Dear Unbeliever,

I’m sorry if your recent trip to church met your expectations.

I’m sorry if we assumed you already believed in God.  I’m sorry if the message was only for those who believe and excluded those who aren’t sure.  I’m sorry if your worldview was rejected before it was respected.  I’m sorry if all you heard was what Christians are against.  I’m sorry for inhaling God’s love and grace then exhaling self righteousness sprinkled with politics and ethics.

I’m sorry if we make Jesus look like someone He probably is not.  He is so much more.  He is the author and giver of life, the Son of God.  He is the fulfillment of grace, the completion of forgiveness.  He is our Savior and wants to be your Lord – the center of everything in your life.  He loves you.  I hope that someday you consider surrendering your life to him.  He will not let you down.   And, for distorting the message and image of Christ, I’m sorry.

The Church

This is officially the 100th day in a row for me to write here.  I actually made it that far!  I decided back in October it was time to step it up and take this blogging thing to the next level.  I would say that blogging for 100 straight days is doing that.  I didn’t think I would actually write every day for this long, but I have loved seeing God do some cool stuff all over (including my own head) through this.

I have no intention of letting up.  I believe that God has more in store for me and I believe that this site will be a tool for that.  I don’t know what that will look like in the future.  I have lots of ideas and thoughts.  But we will see.  God knows what’s up.  So, here’s to 100 straight days.  Thank you all for being a part by reading and adding your thoughts!  From here, God, it’s all Yours!

Yeah.  You read that right.  The world is all as it should be again!  FINALLY!  Jack is back and I couldn’t be more excited!  Yesterday my wife and I headed out to Indian Wells to finish out our babymoon/anniversary trip.  We stayed at a pretty sweet resort.  There were about 5 pools (a few of them heated and one of which had a water slide for kids…which I used a bunch), a badminton net, ping pong and croquet!  Our room was great and big and all that good stuff, but the TV was WEAK SAUCE!  We left our big screen HDTV and came to this awesome place to watch Jack Bauer return in small SD form.  Good thing 24 can make up for that!

So, for all of you that think you are better than watching 24, you are soooooo wrong.  You are missing out on the best show EVER.  I’m just saying.  It’s good for the family to bond with Jack and company.  Deep down inside you know it’s true.  Ooo, ooo, ooo.  Jack, I love you.

I don’t know about you (well, I probably do), but what others think of me and what I think of me makes its way into my mind often.  I’m not a freak about it, but I know people who are.  But just because I’m not overly sensitive about it doesn’t mean it’s all good.  I still deal with it FAR more than I should.  Think about how much it dominates our thinking.  Makeup, working out, dieting, mirrors, fashion, etc.  These things are not bad, but that all comes down to why we use them.  Are you putting on makeup in hopes that others will think more of you?  Do you workout so that your muscles will be noticed?  Are you dieting so you can attempt to look like Britney Spears pre-breakdown?  Are you doing any of these things because you don’t feel good enough as you?

All week the People Of The Second Chance proposed an idea to change our online self portraits to ones of us looking like the #realme to drive home the truth that the best you is the you that God created.  The Bible says in Genesis that when we were created, we were done so in God’s image.  We were made to look like Him.  We were made to resemble Him.  That is pretty freakin’ cool.  If we are made to look like Him as we already are, then why is it that we try so hard to look like someone else?  Yes, be healthy.  Yes, workout.  Yes, wear clothes that you enjoy and check yourself in the mirror before you leave because you just might have toilet paper stuck to your pants (as my grandma always worries).  Just don’t do those things for the wrong reasons.  God already created you to be the best you there is!  Finding your identity in Him and not what others think or worse sometimes, what you think, is the way to go!

I don’t know how many times I have not been happy with something about myself.  But what am I saying about God’s creation?  Does God suck at creating?  Did He have a food coma after lunch the day He picked my thyroid?  Was He leaning because of a hangover the day He made my legs and now one is longer than the other?  The answer is no.  He put thought, effort and love into creating your face, your nose, your big toe, and your cowlicks.  He made you you on purpose.

Image is a big deal.  We live in a society that is completely wrapped up in it.  But there is only one image we should be wrapped up in.  God’s.  After all, that’s how we were created.

Ok so I didn’t win an actual money jackpot.  But I might as well have.  I’m just sitting here thinking about all the things that I am blessed with.  Seriously though.  If you sit back and think about all the things you have, how blessed are you?  I have a beautiful wife with a healthy baby on the way.  We have an ornery dog that loves us lots.  We live in an awesome town with a gorgeous view.  We have a roof over our heads and cars to drive.  We have food to eat and friends and family.  We have a TON of stuff for our baby girl.  We can afford to pay all our bills.  We have iPhones and the ability to blog or check our email.  Yes there are plenty of difficult things as well, but I am so rich.  And even more than all that, I am loved by a God who does more than tolerates me.  He wants me.  He loves me.

I don’t talk about this to brag about anything because it could all (except for God’s love) be taken away so quickly.  I bring it up because I take it for granted FAR TOO OFTEN.  I don’t thank God nearly enough for all the amazing things He has given me and how He has taken care of me.  I could be homeless.  I could be single.  I could have divorced parents.  I could struggle to pay bills.  I could eat Ramen every day.  But I am not and I don’t.  I am loved more than I can comprehend.  I pray that I don’t take all that for granted.  I pray the Lord gives me the wisdom to be a good manager of all His gifts.

Even in our hardest, most difficult times, we are blessed far beyond what we truly deserve.  Take a minute to thank God for the things you do have.

The second week of the new year is already upon us.  Crazy I know!  After a great first week, it’s time to move on to the next!  I think this week should be a pretty good one.  It’s nice to finally start getting back into the flow of things and out of the madness of Christmas (just my opinion).  Here is what I am looking forward to this week.

• The launching of the all new blog didn’t happen last week as I expected it to.  The week got busier than I originally thought it would.  So, I am looking forward to that for this week.
• Monday has a blog post that was “birthed” out of a very interesting day in Saturday’s childbirth class.  I’m excited about that.
• Sunday we are launching into a new series going through the book of John.  It should be good stuff!
• We also have a guest worship leader this week.  I expect that Sunday will be quite a different angle from which to view what we do.
• The nursery is almost finished.  Only another coat of paint or two and we will be good to go!  We are almost ready for our baby girl to arrive!  (Only have to figure out how to install the car seat.)

Gonna be a good week.  I’m sure God has great things in store.  Bring it on!

I have had a One Year Bible for a couple years now.  I still haven’t made it all the way through.  I did really great for a while and it seemed like I was really making some headway and then I got an iPhone.  Along with the iPhone was the YouVersion app which had daily readings.  Well with the new update for the YouVersion app there are several different daily reading plans.  I don’t know what they all mean yet, but it would be pretty cool to read them all.  Don’t know.  We’ll see.

Since my wife and I both love this app and it is super convenient with all these plans, we decided that we would do a reading plan together through it.  So we are embarking on reading through the Gospels.  I believe you are supposed to complete it in 30 days, but I’m a pretty slow reader so we may have to stretch that out a little bit.  But I’m really excited to dive into a new reading plan and even more excited to read though it with my wife!

Do you do some sort of daily reading plan?  What is it?  What do you like?

Every time I come to a place where the future is unknown I tend to think to myself, I wish I knew what God had in store for me.  If He would just give me a map to follow or a list of places or whatever.  I don’t know how many times I have thought that.  I wish I knew where He wanted us to live.  I wish I knew when He would give us babies.  I wish I knew where He wanted me to work.  If only I knew I would feel safe.  I wouldn’t feel vulnerable.  I would know what was ahead.  I could prepare for it.  But that’s not how life is.  The more I think about this, the more I realize that there is reason for us to not know what is coming up.

If we had this roadmap or knew what was coming ahead, we wouldn’t have to rely on God.  He might be orchestrating things in the background but we wouldn’t realize how in need of Him we are.  We have to trust Him.  We have to trust that He is our Jehovah-Jireh or our Provider.  We have to trust that He is our Jehovah-Nissi or our Protector.  If we knew what was coming up next, how would we ever be able to focus on what God is teaching us now?  I know that if I had known what was coming in many occasions in my life, I would never have been able to learn what it was that God was teaching me by going through the situation I was so desperately looking past.

For those of you going through one of those times when it seems like all you pray for is to move on to the next season or you just can’t stop looking to what is next, trust Him.  Trust that what it says in Jeremiah is true.

I know what I’m doing.
I have it all planned out—
plans to take care of you, not abandon you,
plans to give you the future you hope for.

- Jeremiah 29:11 (MSG)

Know that in these times, the people that love you are there with you, but more than that, you have a God who is ALWAYS there with you.  Sometimes we just need to be reminded of that.  Put your trust in Him and stop looking for the “TV Guide channel of life” to find out what is coming up next!  He already knows.  Learn from your current situation.  He won’t let you down.