I've Been in Rehab All Week...

Sorry for the blog silence...I've been in Rehab since last Sunday. Seriously. But it may not be the kind of rehab that you're thinking at the moment. I got the great opportunity to spend the past week as a part of POJO Community Rehab in Springtown, TX. Basically, this is a week of mission work led by the students and adults of Hilltop Family Church in Springtown. It is a part of their youth ministry but so many of their adults help out as well. Basically, the take on projects where they rehabiltate houses for people in need. These students roofed houses, built decks, painted homes, and loved on children all week long...and because of their service to the King and the Kingdom, Springtown is a better place, more filled with the love and grace of Jesus. My part in the weekend was as the speaker for the week. I got to share the Word of God with these students and adults each night in their worship services. It was a great week and I had a blast being a part of it. We got to see God move in the community and we got to see him move in the lives of the people of Springtown and the participants of POJO Rehab...All in all, God showed up and it was good...Like it could be anything different when God shows up, right? I got home this morning, am washing clothes right now, will preach at my home church in the morning, and head out at lunch on another mission trip with the students of my own church...Gotta' love the life of student ministry in the summers...But it is absolutely great to be home spending time with my wife...Luckily, she gets to go with me for part of this next week...Life and ministry is just better when we're together so I am totally stoked about that...Hopefully, I'll be able to post some pics and posts over the next week from our hotel...Until then...

One of those "Wow" Videos...

I know that two posts in one day is really out of the ordinary here lately, especially this late at night, but I just came across this video and had to post it...A great sattirical look at how spoiled so many teenagers and adults are and how great our lives are...This is filmed from an Austalian teen perspective, but it can easily be applied to American teens and Americans in general...The next time you think you have it bad, actually consider what else is going on in the world...Then be thankful for what you have...And then use what you have to actually do something about what is going on in the world around you...Anyway, here is the video...Check it out...

Some Venting and A Prayer Request...

So allow me to vent if you will...And even if you won't I guess I am going to anyway because I am the only one sitting at this laptop typing right now...So here we go. Today Jaron and I went to Austin to run some errands for the church. While we were there we went into the Family Christian Store and looked around for some things. As we were looking we begin to talk about how grossly materialized our Christian faith has become. We have our own little subculture of Christianity. As we looked around the store we saw "Christian" (and I use that term tongue in cheek here) candy, kaliediscopes, caps, wristbands, t-shirts, action figures (including Jesus and the empty tomb and Moses and the burning bush), cartoons, movies, music, ties, wallets, breathmints, bumber stickers, key chains, frames, stuffed animals, coffe mugs, headbands, and more toys than one could ever imagine...In fact, we even saw these two...I think the "Run The Race - Victory In Jesus Monster Truck" and the "Praise Ponies" took the award for the most useless Jesus Junk, a.k.a crap, that we saw...




For some reason I do not think that this is what Jesus had in mind when he called us to be in the world and not of it. I don't think that this is what God had in mind when he called us to follow him. I don't think this is what the early church had in mind when they begin to call themselves "Christians", meaning "little Christ." And I certainly don't think that this is what Christ had in mind when he hung on the cross and shed his blood to redeem a lost and dying world. Surely he wasn't thinking, "I lay down my life so that they might have their own Jesus ties and Jesus toys." In fact, I think that this sickens the heart of God. I think that as I sat in that bookstore today and looked around that I felt the sickness that God feels when he looks down on people who claim to follow him and have somehow bought into all this crap. First of all, just imagine how much money believers spend on this junk that could be used to show love, mercy, grace, and compassion to people in need. Instead of helping people with AIDS, feeding hungry children, giving to church ministries, and sending missionaries into unreached lands, we spend our money on overpriced monster trucks, action figures, and corny t-shirts...And God weeps. Second of all, when did God get into the t-shirt and toy making business. I thought we were called to live out our faith while living among our culture, not to create our own little culture that no one understands...Didn't Jesus do it by living among the people, in their culture? And finally, most of the junk that the so-called "Christian" marketers are selling is non-creative, copied crap. If I see one more t-shirt or cap that has simply stolen a concept of the world and tried to spin the logo or the phrase to make a "Jesus t-shirt" I am going to vomit! If you are going to create your own little sub-culture at least be creative with the abilities and gifts and creativeness of God that he has placed in you. Don't just copy other people's ideas and put a Jesus spin on them! Not only does it make us (Christians) look a little shady in the integrity department, it also portrays that we serve a God who is not creative and imaginative, which could not be further from the truth...I have had my limit and I almost had a "turn over the money changers tables in the temple" moment today...And I think I would be in good company...In fact, I think I read somewhere that that was exactly how my Jesus reacted when he was faced with a similar problem...

On a completely different note, I am leaving this weekend to preach a youth missions camp in Springtown, TX. Pray for me as I will be speaking A LOT this week. Pray that God would speak through me and would work in students lives in spite of my insufficiencies and weaknesses. Pray for my wife as we will be away from each other for the week. Pray that God might be glorified through this. I'll be blogging about the week if I have internet access...not sure how that will go, so I'll keep ya' posted...

Home Sweet Home...

So we got back from the beach late yesterday afternoon. We had a great week of camp. Other than a few sunburns, the week went off without a hitch. I think that our students were challenged and a few of them really opened up to what God wants to do in their lives. It looks like we will even baptize a student as a result of the week. Scott Venable was the camp speaker and he did a great job teaching the word of God to our students. Lindsey Kane was our camp worship leader. I have talked a little about LK before but the more I have the privilege to be around her in ministry the more impressed I am. She is an incredibly gifted and talented singer and songwriter that is definitely using her talents and abilities to bring glory to Christ and make him known. Both Scott and Lindsey are the real deal and I consider them both friends. It was awesome for me to be able to give our students a chance to be around them and their leadership this past week...The beach at South Padre was great. We had tons of fun and the condos we stayed at were pretty cool too. We even spent a good part of one day at Schlitterbahn Beach Park, which was pretty cool. Overall it was a really good week. Our students had a great time at the beach and can't wait to go back next year, but more importantly I feel that a good number of them really experienced more than the sun and the sand and the sea...I think some of them really experienced God and that makes it all worth it.

As a side note, we got back from camp exhausted and were looking forward to a good nights sleep on Friday, but that was not to be...Johanna got sunburned pretty bad while we were gone and her legs/feet/ankles started to swell late Friday night, so we ended up at the emergency room just to be on the safe side until 4:30 AM on Saturday morning. It was nothing big, just a side effect of the sunburn so we are super thankful for that...We had a wedding today and the now we are just resting at home...The dr. wanted Johanna to stay off her feet for a couple days to let the fluid drain...We were planning to head to a concert in Austin tonight with the guys, but after being on her feet at the wedding helping with makeup and programs, we decided it probably was the wise thing to just rest...

I've got a busy week this week, which includes a trip to Schlitterbahn with our Junior High group and getting everything ready for our mission trip which is the first week in July. The week after next (right before our mission trip) I'll be speaking at a missions camp near Ft. Worth, so we have some busy days ahead...Gotta' love the summers in student ministry...

Busy...

The old saying goes "If the devil can't make ya' bad, he'll make ya' busy." Well, not that he has any problem making me bad, but he sure has piled on the busy lately too...Actually, most of the busy has been piled on by the joys of summer in youth ministry. This week has been our VBS for the children of our community...Lots of little kids with lots of energy running around the church for most of the day. It's also been a week filled with getting ready for youth camp. We leave on Monday for South Padre Island for our High School Youth Camp...It's gonna be a week of fun, friends, and faith...Our students have signed up for a week at the beach and hopefully, they'll get more than just a sunburn...Hopefully their lives will intersect with the incredible life-changing, plan-altering, crazy, inconceivable, uncomparable love of a Savior who gave himself for them...That's our prayer. That is why we put so much work and planning and effort into a week like the one that is coming up...So pray for us. Pray for our students. Pray that students who are after a good time at the beach might get more than they ever imagined. Until next time...

All I Need...

In light of recent experiences Johanna and I have had, we have been evaluating, struggling, journeying, learning, and growing in our understanding of what we really need in life. We have been challenged by messages we have heard from godly speakers who are seeking to live simply in order that others may simply live. We have been challenged by sharing life with people who live on so much less than we do and are so grateful and blessed to do so. That has got us, and me individually, looking at what I really need in life versus what I want - and only really think I need. There is a big difference in what we want and what we need, but so many of us in America, specifically in the American church, have confused the too. God never promised to give us what we want but rather to provide for all our needs. There is a difference. But so many times when we can't get what we want - that new car like the neighbors got, the new house that we really wanted, that new pair of shoes or that summer vacation, then we act like the spoiled little brat in the aisle of the toy store who has just been told by his parents that he cannot have the toy he wants. And he responds by screaming, "But I need it! I have to have it!" So many times that is how we approach life. We, even sadly so and especially so in the church, have become consumers. We have confused the promise from God to supply all our needs to be a guarantee by God to be our Giant Santa Clause in the Sky and give us all that we want and ask for...And then we get mad or upset or jealous of others when we don't get that thing that we want, but don't really need...We even bring that attitude to church...Our country is filled with churches full of people who are nothing more than church shoppers...They go from church to church looking for what they can get. What can you do for my children? What can you do for my teenagers? What can you do to give me that warm fuzzy feeling on Sunday mornings? What can you do for me? And we become nothing more than consumers of a spiritual experience, instead of worshippers of God and missionaries for the gospel of Christ. Unfortunately, God does not seek consumers. He seeks true worshippers. And God is not impressed by us seeking the perfect worship experience that makes us feel all good inside, but instead desires for us to seek the souls of men and women who do not know the love, grace, and truth of Jesus.

We all need to examine our needs and our wants. We need to closely examine how we spend our money. Is it bringing glory to God and good to others? Is it benefiting his kingdom or our comfort? We need to closely examine how we spend our time. Is it bringing comfort to us and our own desires or are we using it to comfort those who are hurting and serve those who are in need? We need to closely examine how we are using our talents. Are we seeking to find a place that suits us and fulfills all of our wants or are we spending of ourselves so that others might see the glory of God, finding places to use our talents and gifts to serve the kingdom? Just something to think about over the weekend...What do we want and what do we need?

Here's a cool song by Shawn McDonald called All I Need that examines this topic in a similar light: