Friday, December 25, 2009

shhhhhhhh




“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.” - Acts 17:24 (NIV)

Turns out God doesn’t live at the church after all. By the very logic of His immensity. He refuses to be contained by any temple or structure.

What a shame. I guess we have to say good-bye to the admonition we often give kids who get too rowdy at church – “SHHHhhhhhh! You’re in God’s house.” Do we really believe that, or is it just a clever threat, a last resort after we’ve long since counted to three and still can’t get the kids to settle down?

It does make for a nice image, though. Can you see Him at the door after the service, greeting everyone? “Thanks for coming, appreciate you coming, thanks for being here, glad you made it, hope you enjoyed it. Was everything okay? God bless. Oh yeah, I’m God – so, just…bless! Come back to see Me! Have a nice week!”

Is that God? Watching all the cars drive away, turning the church lights off, settling in for a long and quiet week, maybe playing a little on the organ, only to fling wide the doors again in seven days. “Hey! Glad you’re back. Good to see you. Come on in!”

I don’t think so. God doesn’t have a church fetish. He probably cares less about the carpet color there than we think. Why? Because He’s huge. Creator, Initiator of all things. Way too vast to be stuck in some building all week. Far too interested in our lives to simply watch us drive away from Him. Much more worthy of our time than just one hour of just one day.

thoughts?

Merry Christmas




this says it all... MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone!!!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

2009 in review

Wow its crazy to think that in a short week 2009 will be over. It’s been a great yeah, filled with many firsts for me as well as a lot of transition. I have moved three times this year, had two jobs and started a ministry. 2009 has really been a year where I learned to trust God more and with everything I have. It’s been a year where I figured out what it’s like to have God number one in my life. It’s been a year where my priorities have finally been put in place. It’s been a growing year; this summer was a real maturation process. I took my first ministry job in 2009, its been amazing…

- I turned a quarter century old
- moved back to BU to finish my last semester at college
- God back from an awesome mission’s trip
- received my license to preach from the AG
- was able to preach from time to time at revolution one80
- graduated from college
- had to say goodbye to a lot of amazing people at Bethany
- Finally put God number one in my life
- moved to Sacramento
- Had the greatest summer ever getting to do ministry
- God placed a great deal of amazing leadership in my life at the DRC
- started a youth ministry in Fairfield!
- moved to Fairfield
- my son got married
- finally got a blackberry! Small thing to some but I have wanted one for a long time
- fell more in love with coffee than ever before thanks to free wifi at starbucks

Crazy year eh?

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Hello my name is...



Hello, my name is…I AM NOT.

Let me explain…

In Exodus 3, Moses has a conversation with God through the burning bush. After God tells Moses that he is going to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery, Moses asks Him to say who is sending him. God answers with His name, “I AM.”

As God’s name, it declares that He is unchanging, constant, unending, always present, always God.

God was telling Moses:

I AM the center of everything.
I AM running the show.
I AM the same every day, forever.
I AM the owner of everything.
I AM the Lord.
I AM the Creator and Sustainer of life.
I AM the Savior.
I AM more than enough.
I AM inexhaustible and immeasurable.
I AM God.

In a heartbeat, Moses knew God’s name – and something more. He finally knew his. For if God’s name is I AM, Moses’ name must be I AM NOT.

I AM NOT the center of everything.
I AM NOT in control.
I AM NOT the solution.
I AM NOT all-powerful.
I AM NOT calling the shots.
I AM NOT the owner of anything.
I AM NOT the Lord.

That’s my name, too. And yours. I AM NOT. Just try it under your breath, “My name is I AM NOT.”

I AM NOT running anything.
I AM NOT the head of anything.
I AM NOT in charge of anything.
I AM NOT the maker.
I AM NOT the savior.
I AM NOT holding it all together.
I AM NOT all-knowing.
I AM NOT God.

Sure, people might call you Tommy or Eddie or Amanda or Scott or Michelle or Erin or Kyle. But, let’s face it, when you get right down to it, all of our names are I AM NOT.

And God’s name is still I AM.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

the measure of a man



Am I a real man? That is the comical question I am bringing up for you to ponder. The online urban dictionary defines a real man as “a true man can be best described as rugged and that does not have any fears. A man has a good deal amount of knowledge about tools, cars, the outdoors, knows how to act around women by being a gentleman, but is not always serious and can have fun with them. Men financially provide for others and themselves and are overall responsible. Men are clean, well groomed, and can have a very short beard to portray that image of ruggedness. True men do not think about themselves. They do not always think about sex. They stand up for what they believe, take responsibility for their actions, help others, they are self confident, physically strong and in shape, have a sense of humor, generous, honest, and are considerate. They provide a sense of security. Men are brave and do not need to show off for their friends nor do they sway their opinions because of their friends. Now even if you are biologically a man, this does not mean you fit my definition of all the components of what a real man is.”

It follows that hilarious definition by saying, “A ‘Real Man’ would be like the Brawny paper towel mascot. He has that image of outdoors, strength, confidence, and ruggedness, but what about his character?”

Hilarious. Nothing screams strength, confidence, and ruggedness like a cartoon man plastered all over paper towels. Honestly what man can live up to “cartoon-paper towel-guy”? Well, here are some reasons why my manhood would be in question and then some reasons why my manhood is completely intact:

REASONS FOR ME NOT BEING A “REAL” MAN:

My lack of tools. If you looked around my house for tools, you would be lucky to find a tiny screwdriver, a pathetic hammer, and well…that’s pretty much it. I do have a power drill, but I think it is still in its original box. Every tool I own was bought for me by my dad when he was fixing something at my house and I obviously didn’t have what they needed.

I know nothing about cars. I don’t change my own oil. I don’t rotate my own tires. I couldn’t fix anything on my car if it broke. My check engine light is on right now in my car and I have no clue why. I basically know how to put gas in, take it somewhere for oil changes and repairs, and how to use my iPod hook up.

I don’t do the outdoors well. I’ll be honest, I am kind of a divo (the guy equivalent of a girl who is a diva). I don’t like to camp. I like to shower and be clean. I like to sleep in beds. I don’t like getting bit by bugs.

I shave my armpits. There is great logic to this though: it keeps me from having an obscene amount of underarm sweat. Think about this, guys in the summer shave their heads to stay cool. The same principle applies to your armpits. You will have less sweat and heat bald rather than an afro down there. No lady wants to feel a swamp whenever you put your arm around them. Underarm hair is gross anyways.

I enjoy watching chick flicks more than other movies. say what you want but they are great movies. and I cry sometimes at the end.

I use a loofah. I got hooked on using them a few years ago.

REASONS FOR ME BEING A “REAL” MAN:

I can grow a good beard. Yes, currently I am growing a mean beard for the first time. That’s manly right?

I know a lot and can figure out most technology. Where I can’t fix cars and house stuff, I do know technology. I can now work on both PCs and Macs. I’ve got lots of toys.

Good at Madden. Enough said on this one

I know a lot about sports. ESPN can be found on my televisions a good percentage of the day. I can tell you too much about most every sport. It’s pathetic really. I also have played a lot of sports in my life too, including making an actual 3 pointer in a basketball game and hitting a homerun.

I treat women right. I’ve got to really because my dad taught us well.

I carry a wallet. No man-purse or (for those Seinfeld fans) European Carry-all.

I have a “man-room” in my house. This room includes a border of framed memorable such as a sandy koufax autographed lineup card, a manny Ramirez autographed photo, old news paper clippings of great moments in sports, and sports teams flags.

I can belch really loud. I used to embarrass my mom even when nobody was around.

I use Brawny paper towels.
So what do you think? Real man or not?


(By the way, this was entirely written for entertainment. I am not questioning my manhood. I am have enough self confidence to laugh at myself. Please don’t take this too seriously. It was purely fun. However, all the contents of this post are completely – and sadly – true.)

Friday, December 11, 2009

what I love about scripture

I love that when you read scripture it comes alive to us. I love how scripture rejuvenates us, how we can be going through a situation and the bible covers it. Scriptures teach the Godly way to do things. I love that the Bible is a big book that is essentially a love story from God to us.

Here are some of the scriptures I have been reading and some of my favorite I have.

Proverbs 10:17- the message
The road to life is a disciplined life;
ignore correction and you're lost for good.

I love how it teaches us very plainly to be disciplined, and what happens if you are not disciplined in your life.

Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

This is one of my favorite of all time, this proverb passage teaches us how to live life. If we trust God he will be with us at all times.

Ephesians 5: 1-2
1Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Besides this scripture having a great impact on my life, I love how God says to imitate him, and for us to live a life full of love, just like Jesus did.

2 Samuel 14:14
14 Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.

I really just like this scripture and how God tell us we are not banished from him.


let me just say I love many scriptures but these few are what is really hitting me hard right now and I love to dig deeper and deeper in scripture.

Monday, December 7, 2009

sitting here thinking...

The saying is hindsite is always 20/20 vision. What would this world look like if at say age 25 we could go back and change one thing about the past? What would someone go back and change? When they decided there major? When they chose one job over another? How they acted in a situation? What would I change? I would have listened to the leadership in college more and followed the leadership God put in my life alot differently and better. I would have asked more questions to my leadership. questions like I see how to get the money together to do an event but help me understand the planning and how you decided what amount to charge? how did you budget that? There is still one thing that bugs me to this day that I would want to do differently but I know I cannot change it, and even if I could Im not sure I would. I learned alot about myself through it and grew stronger because of it. this probably doesnt make sense to anyone but me.