Illusions are very powerful, and shape our lives more than we think. They come in many shapes and sizes, and form our view of the world. They can dictate where we eat (Illusion of the choice of meat at a Chinese restaurant or false confidence in the “meat” White Castle serves in a slider), what brand we buy, who we date or get into relationships with, and influence our relationship with God. In fact, we are so comfortable with our illusions we don’t even think to question them or wonder why things are the way they are.
One of the illusions that frustrates me greatly is: Jesus is the most important thing to me. Any atheists, agnostics, or various other beliefs get off the hook for this one, it’s just for my fellow Christians. Usually this comes out at precisely the wrong time to prove it. This illusion comes out when it’s time to picket abortion clinics, to save “prayer in school”, to keep “in God we trust” in the pledge of allegiance, or just call people “enemies” because they have different beliefs than us. How do I know this is a comforting illusion to many Christ-followers? It shows up in several different ways: How well do people really understand their “important” faith? How many read the Bible daily, or even weekly, other than church? How many families make a point to talk about Jesus at home, provide a safe place for learning faith? How many people grumble about prayer being kicked out of school, but don’t bother praying while in school? How many people actually go “out on a limb” to discuss Jesus and their faith in everyday discussions? Maybe the greatest litmus test is the one given by Jesus, the only one we should really be concerned with: being known by our love. I’m sorry to say too often we are known by our judgment, by our picketing, by our bumper stickers, by our rules, or even by our ignorance of the world.
We have one test by which we will be held accountable for: love. Jesus said the two greatest commandments were to love God and love each other. Everything else is just window dressing, and a chasing after things that won’t last.
This was going to be a single post, but I haven’t even got the point I originally wanted.
This survey is by another youth pastor I know. It is completely anonymous (which means we don’t know who filled it out), and will help us understand more of what’s actually going on in your life. It may also turn into some interesting messages at Youth Group. Thanks for considering it, but even more for taking it. Remember it is for ages 12-19 only.
The fall is happening. I know, the official day of autumn hasn’t happened yet, but still our fall schedules have hit. Football is several weeks started (Go Mounties!), school is now in full swing, and the leaves have been turning for a few weeks here in Jackson, MI. It also happens to be when our sixth graders move up into Youth Group. So here are some pictures of the fun we had welcoming them. It involved flour, Cheerio’s shooting out of nostrils, buns shuffling, and a few other things.
One thing I’ve noticed being a youth pastor is how teens enjoy putting song lyrics everywhere. I would have done it, had facebook or myspace existed in my teen years. So, I’ll put a song up that struck me this week. This particular song is from Charlie Peacock, someone who’s challenged and stretched me since my teen years. This song is from his Strangelanguage album, and a great song.
No, it’s not time to Fall Back. Instead our youth group times are changing. Middle Schoolers (6-8 grades) will be meeting at 6:30-7:30, and Senior High is 7:30-8:30. The first time happened yesterday, and it went pretty well.
Some of you may be interested in know how this decision came to be. It was clear our ages needed to be separated. Last year we tried a simultaneous meeting, but it never worked right. So this time we’re going to just move the time a little bit. My ultra-scientific method of choosing time slots went something like this: “Would it be better for you (senior highers) to meet earlier (7-8) or later (7:30-8:30)?” Answers: “It depends of if I have my homework done. It doesn’t matter” So I picked one out myself.
So there you go, the answer to a question you probably didn’t really care to know.
“The experience of the race is clear that some things God never can do until he finds a man who prays.” (The Meaning Of Prayer by Harry Emerson Fosdick) Prayer is meant to be like breathing to a follower of Jesus, our life depending on it constantly. Too often, from what I’ve seen, it’s become expensive jewelry, only pulled out for special occasions. We pray when we are in an emergency, when we have a ceremony, when we need to show people we’re Christians, when we want someone to fall in love with us, when we need to pass a test, all big and intense times in our lives. What we really need are people committed to praying consistently.
Maybe we need to take a look at what prayer is for anyway. Here is a video clip (although it is really just sound only) of a man named Ravi Zacharias talking about prayer. It’s only three minutes, so don’t worry about losing an entire afternoon to listen. Prayer is about hearing from God & letting Him change, transform us. But there is a reason for that as well.
“And God himself cannot do some things unless men work. Will a man say that when God wants bridges and tunnels, wants the lightnings harnessed and cathedrals built, will he do the work himself? That is an absurd and idle fatalism.” (The Meaning Of Prayer by Harry Emerson Fosdick). God is looking for the impact of His children, His followers, the hands of His Body to make the changes in the world. To work towards justice, food for the poor, friendship for the lonely, and love for the unlovable is the job of God’s children. In essence, to become like Jesus, and live a life concerned about others rather than selfishness.
Are you willing to tackle this part of following Jesus? It takes courage, time, commitment, desire and effort. We can’t make a God-sized impact of love and tenderness in this world without being shaped by His love and having access to His power. Please take this call seriously. The needs are great, the hurts to be healed are overwhelming, and our attention is too scattered.
The point of blogging is to share thoughts and ideas with the world. It can be private, anonymous, public, popular, ignored, misleading, or heartfelt. At the heart of blogging is giving yourself a voice in the world. Last night I was walking and a thought came to me, what is God doing in YOUR life? People come to this blog for many reasons, a few are looking for it, others hit tags (a popular one was Gene Simmons), or just hitting a random blog. Why don’t you share with me (and maybe others who come by this post) what God is doing (or not doing) in your life? I approve all comments and posts, so it may or may not show up, but I will read them all. You could ask questions or me or others that you are wrestling with, but just please be honest. I would love to hear what God is doing around the world.
Many of us don’t have to worry about some of the darkness that happens in this world. Thankfully, there are people who are choosing to fight the darkness, and try to bring light and healing to awful circumstances, such as human trafficking, forced prostitution, slavery, and legal rights for women & children. The need is great for justice and compassion, and we can ignore it here in the US while living our blessed lives. An organization that fights these battles on many different fronts is the International Justice Mission. Today, I received an update concerning these battles, and thought it would be good to share with others what is happening. Here is that update, I’ll post more information you can follow-up on at the end of this blog.
By: Bethany Hoang
Double success!
I am thrilled to bring you this report today from yesterday’s operations – significant rescues were secured in two nations last evening:
• Last night (July 28), IJM Cambodia and local police conducted a successful rescue operation at a remote brothel: 20 girls and young women were removed from the building in the coordinated operation, and all perpetrators were arrested. The brothel owner, formerly an officer in the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, initially attempted to escape by jumping from a second floor balcony over a brick wall, but was pursued by police and ultimately found hiding in a shed. The brothel was particularly cruel; the girls and women there were never free to leave alone and were sent to service customers at local casinos each night. One of the girls said to IJM staff, “Now we’re out of hell and going to paradise!” The victims are receiving care from IJM social workers as they share their stories with local authorities. IJM will ensure that each victim is equipped with the aftercare services she needs in collaboration with local partners. The accused perpetrators are in police custody.
• Additionally, last night, one of IJM’s South Asia teams conducted an operation in collaboration with local police at a brothel – the operation, a result of IJM investigative work, brought freedom to seven trafficking victims. Six suspected perpetrators were taken into police custody duing the rescue operation. The freed women and girls are being cared for by IJM social workers as they share their stories with authorities.
Praise God for his great love and rescue!
As always, any comments you leave will certainly be shared with the team who fought so hard to bring this victory. And please continue to pray for them, as the rescue operation is only the beginning in the justice journey.
You can follow the International Justice Mission at:
There is evil that hurts the minds and souls of children and kills the souls of the people participating in them. You can be involved, this problem is only too big to tackle when people sit back and do nothing.
Just picture this, a 40 year old moves into a new home. Everything is going well, but after a few months, people stop seeing him and start getting concerned. The police break into the house and find this person laying on the kitchen floor, literally starving and unable to move. When the police look through the cupboards and fridge, they find all sorts of food. As this 40 year old is taken to the hospital, they tell police that they didn’t know how to feed themselves. Would that person seem normal to you? Would this seem like a reasonable situation to find a 40 year old person in? Would you think of them as a mature person?
The reason I tell this story, is that often church goers give a complaint about “not being fed” (which means not feeling like you’re making progress), and yes, I’ve heard it from teens as well. There are many similarities between your physical and spiritual life, and one of the characteristics of a mature person is the ability to feed yourself. That means learning how to listen to God, how to read your Bible, how to pray, and serve on your own, without depending solely upon what happens in the church building, or what the leaders feed you.
The question is, who’s ultimately responsible for your spiritual journey? Is it the pastor, the church leaders, small group leaders, President Obama, your parents, or yourself? The right answer is: Yourself. You are the only one who will have to answer for the path your life took, and be held responsible for what you’ve done, or not done.
With that in mind, there are several place you can go to help you learn how to do some important things online, such as Bible study and pray. Here are some links that would be worth your while to check out.
Youversion is a Bible study website where you can choose the best version for you. It has a reading plan, comments by other users, a place for you to journal privately, and a place for you to share thoughts publicly. You will need to register (for free) to gain access to some of the features.
Sacred Space is a website run by Irish Monks that take you step by step through a daily prayer, around a theme. It takes a little bit of time to do properly, like all prayers can when done well. There can be some big words to work through, so be prepared for that. This is a free site as well.
Deeperdevotion.com is a website that offers articles, daily devotions, music reviews, and other resources to help you mature in your walk with God.
Steelroots.com is a website for skaters, snowboarders, and surfers primarily. It has videos, daily devotionals, prayer board, and some giveaways.
These are just a few of the web resources you can use to further your spiritual walk. If you have any questions, go ahead and ask them, either of me or someone you trust. Take responsibility, life isn’t what happens TO you, it is what you DO.
OK…so from time to time I am accused of being a little too transparent when I communicate…the following post will give evidence of that…and many of you may scream “TMI,” nonetheless…here we go…
Buying Preparation H is embarrassing.
How do I know? I did it the other day…and not because I wanted to play a joke on someone…but because I needed it!
I was intimidated walking into the drug store…and didn’t know where to look for it. BUT…(ha ha…”but”) I wasn’t about to ask where the hemorrhoid medicine was located…I guess I could find it myself.
After I located it I had to walk it up front and pay for it. For a brief second I thought about shoplifting…seriously…because I knew that the person who was going to ring me up was going to know what I was dealing with!
BUT…I decided to go ahead and get it over with. SO…I walked up to the cash register and a lady was standing there (GREAT…if it would have been a dude I could have at least cracked off a joke or something!) I handed her the box of Preparation H and she looked at it, sort of smiled and then rang it up.
I wanted to tell her it wasn’t for me…that is was for a friend…that I was getting a gag gift for someone. BUT…reality is this–I was in pain and wanted relief…and thus had to face a pretty embarrassing situation in order to get my problem solved. (Yes, things are MUCH better–thanks for asking!)
I just KNOW that after I left the store that people probably referred to me as “butt boy” or “pastor preparation h!” BUT (ha-ha)…pain and discomfort will either produce desperation or denial…and I simply could not accept things the way they were.
WHICH brings me to how we do life (yes…this does have a point!)
I know a lot of people who are miserable right now…not sad, not disheartened…but MISERABLE. The reason = there is something going on inside of them that is painful…their marriage is struggling, they can’t stop looking at porn, they are WAY overextended financially or maybe they are involved in an affair.
AND…they are being tormented on the inside…seriously, the level of discomfort that they are going through is, at times, overwhelming…and they want relief…however,
What they must go through to get relief is not worth the price of relief in their minds (confession and repentance)…and so they just keep pretending that things are fine…not realizing that to deny the voice of God is to venture down a path of destruction.
The Bible says in James 5:16 that we should confess our sins to one another and pray for one another…in other words…we NEED one another.
It is embarrassing to confess sin? YES! It it tough to admit that sin is dominating your life? YES! Will people talk about you and quite possibly make fun or you? YES!!! It’s NOT EASY…but…
To remain in a situation that Jesus is calling you out of will lead to more embarrassment than we could even imagine. I once heard someone say, “The consequences of concealment are far more damaging than the consequences of confession!”
So…do you have people in your life to whom you can talk with…REALLY talk with…about what is going on in your life?
Is there anything about you that, if it became known, would destroy your marriage? You reputation? Your relationship with your children?
You CAN’T live in that discomfort…b/c like I said earlier…to remain in discomfort will lead to destruction.
The conviction of the Holy Spirit is NOT God judging you…but rather Him being merciful!!! Why would we resist God trying to refine us? Answer–it MAY be embarassing…
When in actuality to remain where some of us are will be FAR more embarrassing…
