Highly productive

Today was highly productive.  Not only did the meeting this morning go well, but I was also able to go to Westside High School for lunch today and see some of the students I haven’t seen in quite some time.  It is pretty awesome getting out and meeting people who can potentially be impacted by the ministry that I am involved in leading.

At lunch, the real one where we ate real food, Brad, Tyler and I talked about ministry and picked up on the previous conversation about how important it is as staff members to be in students’ lives.  This is something that cannot be over-stressed.  If we are not ministering to students, what are we doing calling ourselves a student ministry?  I am going to try and attend three school lunches every week for as long as I am part of NewSpring Student Ministry.

I also was able to help do some office work for Syd, and make a few phone calls.

Kids are so intriguing

I had the privilege of hanging out with one of my best friends’ nephews.  It was awesome.  He had more energy that any kid should be aloud to have.  I think if the entire Eastern seaboard lost power, they could put James on a bike and he could keep things running for at least a fortnight.  Jon and I were trying to get James ready for school and James was being a typical pre-k kid by doing anything but what he needed to be doing.  Right in the middle of eating his “Cheer-ohs,” he said “Uncle Jon, look, my pants have pockets!”  What? they have always had pockets, did he just now notice?  Was he just proud because he was old enough to have pockets?  I don’t know what went on in James’ mind, but I did have to marvel at the wonder of small things in the life of a child.

How often do I overlook wonderful things because I am a “grown-up?”  Look, I can breathe today!  Look, I have a job today!  Look, my family loves me!

Father, keep me from being to caught up in everyday rigmarole so that I can appreciate the wonderful things you have given me.

Responsible for love

Yesterday, while I was participating in worshiping God at NewSpring, I was praying whatever came to mind and the phrase “make me responsible for the love you have given me,” came out of my lips.  It hit me as soon as I said it.  That was not just some easy, no big deal sentence.  That was a conviction and a call to reality.  Unlike what we are taught about money, God’s love is to be spent in a very “irresponsible” way.  We are to invest in people that can in no way compensate us for our time or effort.  We are to chose to love people who haven’t earned it already.  We are to lavish the love like a gift instead of finding a place to hide it away with interest so that it will be bigger when we need it on a rainy day.  If we hold onto the love of God like a savings account, it dies.  If we spend it freely, without a plan or budget, it increases its effect.

Who have I shown love to today that did nothing to deserve it?

In what ways am I holding back God’s love so that I can feel good later?

Who have I invested in recently with no intention to collect?

How can I be more “careless” with God’s love?

How is being stingy with love adversely affecting my ministry?

Who is my next investment going to be?

I cannot sit and let this love deteriorate, waste away inside of me.  I am going to be held responsible for what I have done with it when my Master returns.

It means so much more when you are in the moment

Last night I was able to attend the championship game of the 15 & Under guys basketball game in the ACAA.  It was a great game.  Fantastic by some standards.  There were so many ridiculous plays and steals and bad calls going both directions.  It is so easy as a spectator to not be that emotionally involved in the game.  Sure, you can feel like part of the action by being there, but you aren’t leaving anything out on the court.  Your reputation, your heart, your talent, your best is not being examined by strangers and friends.  The game ended and the team that I was cheering for lost by 2 points in the last second of regulation.  The reactions of the players on both teams was really quite interesting.  Some of the guys that I have known for a while and some that I have just met recently displayed a sort of anguish that I thought would only appear when a loved one dies.

I thought about how the loss won’t matter in a year, it won’t keep them out of college, it won’t keep them from being gainfully employed in the future, it won’t even matter in a week.  There is no call for that sort of reaction.  Then, I remembered when I played Y-ball in high school for two years.  When we lost everyone took it really personally.  Everyone except me.  It wasn’t fun, but it also wasn’t gonna keep me from enjoying Subway from across the street after every game.  When you are in the moment, your current emotions are the only thing that matters.  That is part of being a child.  When you can separate yourself from the emotions during the loss, that is being a robot.  When you experience the emotions without suppressing them, but not allowing them to rule your entire day, then you are becoming a mature human.

One of the things that I find highly admirable about David from his writings in the Psalms is that he was not afraid to experience humanity.  We are made to emote.  Even though David was one of the manliest men in history, and he is the standard by which all giant stories are told, he cried.  He wept.  He loved and lost.  He was truly an earthy (not earthly) human.

Stuff to think about when going into dating

I was talking with a friend on Monday night about the possibility of getting into a relationship in the future. We talked about what the circumstances were and how to finish a conversation that was left hanging when they left. So, here is some of the stuff we talked about:

The number 1 priority of a man in a dating relationship is to love and serve God. This is absolutely essential. If this part of your life is out of control, the relationship will be out of control as well.

Treat your girlfriend like your sister. This is not only a spiritual thing, but also a respect thing. I have a sister who is about to finish high school and who has already dated a guy. I love and care for her a lot. (I would probably go to jail if someone did anything to hurt her.) When I hang out with a girl/woman, am I treating her like I would want someone to treat my sister? Would I punch a guy in the throat for touching my sister like I am touching my girlfriend? That is a really good gut check/intentions check for me. Of course, this is based on a desire to be pure, not a desire to stifle all fun. There still needs to be fun and flirting and relational warmth displayed, just be careful that it doesn’t lead to any sort of sinful action or thought process.

Know your boundaries before you have to institute them. If you have thought through, prayed about and are confident in your convictions, then there are no questions when the situation arises to think about what you are doing. This is not to say that once you think about a boundary, whether physical, emotional, mental, spiritual or relational, that you cannot change them once in the relationship. I think it is good to talk about boundaries and expectations of any kind at the very beginning of the dating experience. This keeps you both in a place where you don’t wonder what is acceptable behavior and what is a potential stumbling block. I would say that a good policy is to go with whoever has a stronger conviction, take the tougher route. Don’t make your boy/girlfriend compromise because you feel a greater freedom in Christ. It is your job to guard their heart, especially if you are the male in the relationship. That is one of the most important things that you can do.

On that note, it is the duty and privilege of any man to be intentional and God-fearing in everything that we say and do to our girlfriend/wife. When you leave room for doubt about your intentions in your actions and attitudes, you allow them to doubt your interest in them and the relationship. WE MUST NOT PLAY GAMES WITH GOD’S DAUGHTERS! It takes a man to stand up, regardless of reciprocation and tell a female that he intends to pursue her. Let me clarify this by saying that it should not be a creepy thing where you stalk a girl. I only aim to say that it takes guts to be the leader and put the ball in her court after you have declared your intention. Also, don’t force a guilt trip or awkward situation on a lady hoping that you can get an “I like you, too” right on the spot. Women often need time to think about appropriate responses because everything in their life effects everything.

That is enough for now.

What does it mean to follow Jesus?

Here are some thoughts that I found about being a disciple. I gathered them from various sites by Jewish and Christian communities. Here they go:

Talmid is the Hebrew word for disciple, it means student.

Talmid’s job is to learn everything that his master had to teach.

The disciples of the first century Judaism learned everything from their teacher, and they learned to be just like their teacher. They learned the stories that the teacher told. They learned the lessons that their teacher taught. They learned to eat the foods that their teachers ate, the way their teacher ate them. They learned to keep the Sabbath the way their teacher kept Sabbath and to give charity the way their teacher gave charity. They learned to pray the way their teacher prayed and fast the way their teacher fasted. They learned how to keep God’s commands the way their teacher kept them. The disciples followed their teacher everywhere he went, and the teacher taught his disciples everything he could.

Then, after a disciple was fully trained, he would become a teacher and teach disciples of his own.

Every disciple fully trained will be like his teacher. – Luke 6:40

Disciples regarded their teachers higher than their own fathers. This was a servant to master relationship.

There are 4 jobs of a disciple: memorize their teacher’s words, learn their teacher’s traditions and interpretations, imitate their teacher’s actions and raise up disciples.

Matthew 28:19-20 shows that what we are to do is nothing more than what disciples are supposed to do anyway, make more disciples.

The disciples of Jesus were never to take the role of master, because unlike the masters of the Pharisees or the men of the Great Assembly or sages like Hillel or Shammai, Jesus is still alive. Followers or Jesus are forbidden to make their own disciples because their job is to raise up more disciples of Jesus.

Jesus was the kind of rabbi that had authority to teach new interpretations of the scriptures. Sermon on the mount is full of examples of this kind of teaching.

The purpose of the talmidim was to totally duplicate the lifestyle of their Teacher.

Hebrews 13:7

It is a daily effort to deny self, know the Savior’s way of life, and live accordingly.

John 13:34-35

Luke 14:26

These thoughts came from here, here and here.

Jesus aka Joshua aka Yashuah

This is one of the coolest moments in the Bible and we hit our students with this passage last Wednesday. We did not take this approach, but we did hit them with the truth of who God is in Jesus and did address that by appearing with Moses and Elijah that he was fulfilling the law and the prophets.

One of the things that I enjoy the most in the Bible is when everything points to how well God has planned/orchestrated history to bring himself glory. The Transfiguration is probably one of the clearest points in the Bible. There are many levels of clarity to be appreciated.

The first is that God pulled two guys onto the scene that had been dead for no less than 700 years. Incredible. One of them, Moses, represented the Law. He is the person through whom God chose to bring the Law to his people. The other, Elijah, was considered the quintessential prophet. What God was doing in that moment was making it clear that the Law and Prophets all point to Jesus as Messiah.

The second is that Jesus not only was the object of attention as the Messiah, but that he fulfilled what was left lacking in the Law and Prophets. Not to say that the Law and Prophets were marred, incomplete or erroneous, but that they were just a transitional period for the family of God. God was able to allow his people to become co-heirs with Jesus because of the price paid on the cross.

The third layer is that the person who fulfilled the work of Moses was Joshua. This is the same Hebrew name as Jesus (the Greek version). Joshua was the governing, military leader that was required to usher in the new kingdom/inheritance that God had lead his people to in Canaan. He fulfilled the work of Moses and lead the people into the promised land. Jesus ushered in his new kingdom with a new covenant that brought about an end to the Passover tradition. He was the acceptable sacrifice that Isaac was not and that the lamb was not. Elijah was followed by Elisha, whose name in Hebrew means the same thing as Joshua, “God saves.” Elisha had a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, and went on to do greater miracles. Jesus, in his early ministry performed a version of the greatest miracles of Elisha to point to the connection and show fulfillment. There were a lot of people who lived in Jesus’ time who referred to John the Baptist as Elijah, which would make sense that he would not survive to see the fulfillment of the ministry of repentance which he had begun. Jesus fulfilled the ministry that his cousin started by proving himself the Messiah.

How amazing is that. God put so much planning and thought into the whole story which he is still weaving. I know that I can serve a god like that.