SHIFT HAPPENS

My friend Greg just sent me a link to a you tube video entitled "Shift Happens." It is about the globalization of the world we know. It invites people to a discussion. My 70+ mom got a computer for Christmas. Last week she got invited by her congressman to be a part of a group discussing how her region can be more competitve technologically. Mom can email, surf and write a letter and probably print it. Go figure. She gets a congressional appointment!! 33 days ago she did not know how to turn it on. Which brings me to my SHIFT HAPPENS response. We live in a shrinking world, so tuned to the future, that it doesn't have a clue that it needs the ancient. How will we show the world Jesus? Will we live our lives so they notice? Truth? It is God's job to draw them to him, but we are tools in His hand. Be Sharp, alert, tuned in. The world is watching.

WHERE I WORSHIP

I was challenged by a blog last week. As a person who ministers to youth, the challenge was laid out by a person with the same calling as he questioned "big" ministries. One of the questions he posed was "What happens when the kids of your ministry grow up move to another church that is 'technologically retarded', will they be able to worship?" It is a good question. But to me worship is not about computers, screens, projectors, bands, themes or even sermons. Worship is giving something worth. Granted, singing will open your heart to God. It can bring you to a place where you are able to listen without distraction. Videos and messages may teach me God's word or the history of a passage. But as I grow and try to give God all of me, by confessing and asking God to show me my sin, repenting and walking in the spirit, I have learned that worship happens when I leave the church service. It is there, in the living of life in a world that is set against my God and his ways, that I learn what I give worth. What I value most. Is it stuff of the world or love and calling of my shepherd? There are no bands, or videos there. Just me and my God who I value most, walking together. That is worship, bowing to your king, no matter where you are.

TWO FACE BOOK

I don't have a face book account, there I've admitted it! But as I was browsing with my wonderful and gorgeous wife, who has one, I came away with feelings of disappointment. You see we were looking at profiles of students present and past, who were or are deeply involved in our ministry and I saw content that made me wonder...do they really get it? I'm not the judge and I have to remember that, but I have to wonder why we as humans have so many faces. My thought is, if you don't have it all together then don't act like it on Sundays. Be yourself and soak up the grace and mercy God wants to give. Hopefully the body of Christ will extend that to you. I believe the kingdom is better served when we are transparent. It sure makes it easier to mourn with those who mourn and laugh with those who laugh! Don't say one thing in your profile and another with the content on your page. Scripture lays it out, you are for God or your not. To be honest, a lot of days I'm stuck somewhere in between, but I know the goal is to be for Him and I cherish the grace when I have two faces.

King of Bling

My wife and I are doing a study of David together, and the other day I noticed something I had never noticed. In reading about Goliath, I realized the he was the King of Bling. Go to the story and check it out. (1 Sam. 17) The description tells us that he was bronzed and shekeled so much that I'm sure he had a rhinestone belt buckle that said something dumb like "Tall drink of Water" (He was 9 feet tall) Of course we know how the story plays out, but in our world don't we see a lot of shiny stuff that really isn't that good? Temptation draws us in with things that look cool or fun. They're shiny and blingy. But the consequence of their allure is hurt, pain, and separation. Goliath was there to take on any Israelite who would dare. He struck so much fear into opponents that he probably never through a spear. If the stuff that tempted us looked like crap, then Satan would never entrap any of us, instead he makes the sin look so cool. Like everyone else is doing it. Or maybe he makes us feel entitled. Like we have the right to complain or gossip behind someones back. Peter warned us long ago that the lion was waiting to devour us. But the lion is hiding, none of us would walk down the trail if we saw the danger. The danger, the lie, the hurt... their all out of view, so we better look through the lens of Christ who has our best interest in mind. Don't let the bling fool you or worse yet impress you, it wants your life. GO fight some giants, and remember your battle is already won in Christ.

Clean Your Room

We had a great night at our church last night. A night of parent and youth interaction, where not once did I here the phrase "clean your room." Truthfully, though, I probably implied that when I talked about avoiding sin. God, through his grace and mercy, has provided us with this new live (or room) and now it is our task to submit to Christ and let the Holy Spirit work so it stays clean. The key is not trying to do it on our own. I have learned recently that there are a lot of things I can do in my own strength. My profession is one of them. My dad coached football and my mom was a piano teacher. I'm a people person. I can be goofy. Natural progression to youth ministry for me, right? But when I try to do this ministry deal in my own power, by relying on my talents or abilities, then the ministry suffers. But when I am weak and let God be strong, I notice a huge difference in my life and my work. My devotion this morning pointed me to the fact that struggle, disappointment and hurt help us grow. They show us we are weak and that we need God. Too often things get going well and I get complacent and I fail to spend the time with God that I should. My days are blessed when I clean my room!

Agony of Defeet

If you know me and see the date of this post, I'm sure you are expecting an expression of agony concerning my beloved Buckeyes! While that may be good therapy today, I don't believe it has much eternal consequence at all. Actually my foot is in agony. I had a callous on my toe and last week I decided it had bugged me enough, so I started to pick at it to remove it, unfortunately I removed too much and now my left and only big toe is real sore and is healing too slow!

The wound is not that big, but the discomfort is. It is kind of like what James wrote about the tongue. It is small but has great power. Like a rudder that steers a ship or a spark that starts a fire. Small stuff can have huge influence on us. Think back to grade school when someone teased you...you may still carry a scar from that. But the truth is that we can decide what we let bother us. We do have a choice! So why do we choose what we choose? Because every one of us, whether we sense it or not has a sort of compass; a value system that determines our reaction to what life throws at us. It may be a sore toe, a bad job, a recent break up, a bad diagnosis, or a BCS loss, but I propose that we respond based on what we value most. When what we value most is all powerful, all loving, and everlasting it puts everything into the proper perspective. Knowing who I am and what I mean to the God of the universe trumps anything this world can dish out. God didn't write it but I think he dwells in this phrase: "Don't sweat the small stuff!"

If I think about, I brought my sore toe on myself. How often is our hurt brought on by ourselves? When our value system is not based on TRUTH, I'd say 100% of the time. Because, when someone hurts our feelings, it is because we value their opinion or acceptance more than God's. No one can choose a value system for you. And the beauty of it is, there is a God who loves you more than you know, even when you get side tracked and value Him less than you should.

THE POWER OF THE UNEXPECTED

If you are a fan of college football then you have no doubt heard the word heard the word "parity" a great deal this year. Webster calls it "the quality or state of being equal or equivalent." Parity has been has been used to describe the indescribable. Upsets abounding every week beginning with Appalachian State beating Michigan and ending with Pittsburgh defeating West Virginia. (Pitts' quarterback is my sisters next door neighbor by the way- like you care) There is a power in words. When we use a word like "parity" every week, then we write off the power of the unexpected. It is probably a part of our human condition, to want things to be equal. It may be a reason tolerance is such huge deal right now. But I have to wonder I when we expect the unexpected every day what is left to blow our minds? Like skin becoming calloused from daily toil, so is our mind or spirit when parity is the norm. The beauty of the season just passed is that we celebrate a miraculous thing. God in human form, not as expected... a military leader or emancipatory rebel...but in the most humble and inhumane to us. Imagine our social service response if we had babes being born in cow crap today. There is power in the unexpected. It is the extraordinary that jolts us from complacency. May your life never suffer from parity.

NEW YEAR CHANGE

Happy New Year
So what marked '07 for you? Think with me for a minute. Are you more in love and in deeper relationship with your maker than you were last January? How long will it take you to write 08? It usually takes me a week or two, which means that something inside me wants to hold on to the past. You may say that is it is just a mere habit, to keep writing '07, but maybe there is more to it. I know many don't embrace change. Some of us fight it with much resolve, but without change there could be no growth. Time itself is continual change. I was listening to an mp3 mix that I created for our holiday travels, when I was reminded by a Russ Taff song that say that God is always here and now. The irony is that we must change to be in deeper relationship with a God who is unchanging. The God whose love for us all is so great and His power unfathomable that He exists beyond our understanding to be Emmanuel (God with Us here and now) no matter where we are in life. Less of us more of Him. We are expected to change and grow, so at the minute of our belief in Him, he planted himself through the Holy Spirit in us to be the Change agent. We change through his power and our surrender to it. May '08 find you open to the change God wants to accomplish in you.