Rainbows and Promises

Here is a "God Moment" for you.

On the evening Simon (my new son) was born, Andrew (my oldest son, 9) and I were on our way home from the hospital. I was very anxious and a little leary leaving my wife and new son, but the hospital had a rule about under aged visitors staying over night, so we had to head home for the evening. The weather was a bit stormy and it had been raining most of the day. Andrew and I were talking about the days events as we drove home. I had just mentioned that I was still very nervous that something would go wrong and Andrew had this reply - He said, "Dad I'm not worried at all. I have been praying to God and he would not let anything happen." As he said that we came around a bluff and there in front of us was the most beautiful rainbow we had ever seen. It had the deepest of colors and was the first full rainbow I had seen. You could see the start and the finish and it arched perfectly over the road we were driving. As soon as I saw it, I knew that Andrew was right and this was a sign from God that everything was going to be ok. We pulled off the road and grabed the camera. We both stood in the rain to what and I took some pictures. We got back in the car and continued our journey home and the Rainbow stayed with us until we reached our destination. It was almost as amazing as witnesing the birth that had just occured earlier that day. I will never forget that conversation and that view. (The picture doesn't do it justice)

Amazing!

They always say that if you want to see God's work up close and in person, be there for the birth of a child. This was my second and I have to say that it was just as powerful as the first. When you see something like that, to me there is no question that there has to be some intelligence involved and it all just didn't start from a big bang in the middle of no where. Don't get me wrong, I believe that there is some truth to evolution as well, but some how it all must work together.

After the birth my older son, got to hold his new brother and it hit me more then ever that these kids are really God's children and he is entrusting us with them for a short period of time. It is our job to instill in them a desire to know more about God and to follow Jesus. This is the only way we can prepare them for the world and the perils that free will, will bring. What an amazing and awesome responsibility.

Where'd you go?

Wow, that was a long unintended break. For those of you who don't know we just had our second son (a month ago). There was a lot going on for the build up and of coarse after the birth everything goes back on hold until you find your groove back.

I am not sure that I am fully back in the groove, but I can feel the beat. Stay tuned for some new posts coming right up.

Breath of God

Here is another trick for starting a habit of being with God. I got this from a pastor friend and it does add some inspiration. For this, you need to be a coffee lover or some other hot drink.

Here we go:
Start your day by grabbing a hot cup of coffee. Find a nice comfortable chair in a quiet spot and bring your Bible or devotional book or maybe just your imagination. Get yourself comfortable and hold your hot beverage in your hands and breath in the steam. Pretend that this is the Breath of God and soak it in. Once you are calm and ready read from the Bible, do a devotional, or just meditate. End by breathing in the breath of God.

I find that this is a great way to spend some time building my relationship with God and just get some time to reflect.

Let me know what little habits you get into.

Reading by Research

Here is a habit that I have started and stuck with for the past few weeks. I try to start every morning by reading the Bible. I have tried this in the past and have not been very successful. I have tried daily devotions and they just don't work for me. They don't hold my attention. So, what I have done is actually started READING the Bible. Not just reading little tidbits here and there, but actually ready the whole story. Here is what I do. I start by thinking of something that I want to know more about. I got started after I heard a lesson about David and Goliath at a Council Meeting. So the first thing I did was re-read the account of David and Goliath. That peaked an interest in me to learn more about Saul, which has now lead me to starting with 1st Samuel and reading through Second Kings. In my daily life if something happens that peaks some curiosity, I write it down in a research list. Then, when I am through with my current romp, I go to my list and pick a new subject. For me this is working out great. I actually look forward to reading every morning and miss it when I am unable to do it for some reason. In addition, I am finally learning something.

Via de Cristo

Now that I have had some time to reflect, I think I should preface this post a little. I had just returned from the Via De Cristo weekend and was a little confused and frankly upset. I was upset that I was not as impacted by the weekend as my fellow pilgrims were. I still feel that the original post is relevant, however, I would temper it a little. First, I would now say that I was impacted in that I started reading the bible more, and I have started to put my faith in action. I still believe that Via de Cristo may not be for everyone, but I think it is good for you to experience it along your journey. For me I was much more impacted by the Willow Creek Arts Conference. It contained all the elements that move me and make me think. Here is the original post:

I just returned from a Via de Cristo weekend. For those of you who do not know what this is, it is a 72 hour retreat from your daily life to learn and grow closer to Christ and learn about God's unconditional love for you.

This event got a lot of build up from others around me and I have to say that in my opinion it did not live up to all the hype. Having said that, it was a good experience. I think it really depends on the type of person you are. I am not a very touchy feely kind of guy ( I know you are thinking that most guy's aren't, but after this weekend I am not sure I would agree with you). I also do not believe that to show your love to God you have to sing hokey songs while hugging grown men and swaying. This was a good 20 to 30 percent of this weekend. I personally was hoping for more alone time with God, but most of what you do, you do it with six other men. There is some alone time, but not a lot.

They have a teen version called Teens Encounter Christ (TEC), why can't there be a version for the 20-30 year old crowd that uses more relevant music and focuses more on your habits and building a relationship with Christ?

Having said all of that, there were some very inspiring times over the weekend. And I loved the teachings, especially those from the clergy. I did get a lot out of the trip and would recommend it to others. Would I do it again? I don't think so. It was a little too long, too singy, and too huggy for me. But hey, if you are in to that or just need to jump start your faith, it is probably the best thing out there until someone comes up with a three day two night teaching weekend with lots of time for reflection and a band.

I'm back!

Sorry for the long pause between post over the last couple of months. I am in one of those periods in your life when you know you have too many commitments, but you are not sure how to focus on the most important things. What are the most important things? What I have discovered is that you can convince yourself that just about anything is important and is part of your mission. As an example as a volunteer fire fighter I am convinced that being a trained responder is important. I think that is really true. However, being part of the political climate of the Fire Department is very time consuming and draining. I convince myself that the two duties, the action side and the political side are one in the same. But, are they really? The world doesn't need more talk about rescue, they need to count on rescue when it is needed. In my case the Fire department in my town existed for 150 years before I came and will probably be here long after I am gone. Can I make a difference? By responding to calls and knowing what to do when somebody needs help - Most definitely. By getting into the middle of political situations - maybe, today, but what about in 10, 20 or 50 years again maybe.

I think the same can happen in the church. I convince myself that being on the church council is key to my faith development, but is it? I am starting to think that it is not. At least it is not a key success factor. It may be a help with the added Bible Study and Discussions on church growth. But, being on council on it's own will not get me any closer to being a Disciple of Christ. In fact, if it can become an obstical to that goal if it takes time away from doing things that get me closer to the goal.

So this is why I have not written in awhile. I have been struggling with what is important and what is not. I have to say that I have not answered the question but I am getting a little closer. I think you will see in some of the upcoming posts that I am at least getting closer to finding a direction. Then I will have to prune my schedule and many of my commitments.

Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Is money our god?

So the other day I was in a conversation at my church over what some of the perceptions are over some new technology that was installed and we are in the process of implementing. The conversation was all over the map and at one point it was explained to me that the people that have the negative perceptions are the ones who give the most to the church and the reality of the situation is that those are the ones we have to listen to. Now in this case I know that "give the most" did not mean time or talent it meant money. It was at that moment that I had a feeling like I have had at no other time. It was as if Jesus was right there in the room telling me something different. He was telling me that reality is about him, not money. At the time I just bit my tongue and moved on.

After thinking about it for awhile it occurs to me that what they were really saying is that the god of this church is money and everything has to revolve around how we get more.

Why is it so hard for us to focus on Jesus? Why is it that when a church member lodges a complaint we jump write into customer service mode. Why don't we simply ask the person if they have prayed about the complaint and if so what was the response? Why don't we explain that when we are doing God's work it can be messy and we would love their help? Now I am not just making excuses. There were some things that could be improved, but there always will be. And the correct reaction would be to ask what is being done to correct the issues and is there anything I can do to help. But to just say, wow this person is complaining and they give a lot of money so they must be right, is nowhere near what it means to be living in the Kingdom.

Rob Bell on Church

The Wittenburg Door has an interview with Rob Bell on their website. As usual with Rob there are some great quotes, but here is one of the best I have seen in a while.

BELL: Seven years ago, a group of friends were just dreaming of something better. I guess the natural evolution of each generation is to explore what it means. How to live the way of Jesus here and now. So we started and it now feels like fifty years packed into seven. Mars Hill is an old mall. Our "architect"—I say that as a joke—says everything about the church should scream "Welcome to our church service! Now get the hell out of here." We say, "This isn't the church, this is a church service. It's just an hour where we have some teaching, some singing and you'll hear about things in the community." If there are 43 "one anothers" in the New Testament—serve one another, carry one another's burden's, confess to one another—you can only do a couple of those in a church service. Until you have a community that you are journeying with, please don't say you are a part of this church. You just come to a gathering. We are very intentional about that. The question is, "Who do you call when your brother ODs on cocaine? If your mom is in the hospital, who comes and sits in the waiting room with you? When you cannot pay your rent, who do you go to and say please help me out?" That's your church.

You can find the entire interview at The Wittenburg Door.

This paints a really clear picture for me of what church should be. This is the type of church that I want to be a part of. This is the type of church that I want to help build.

Survey of the Unchurched

USA Today has published a poll taken by Lifeway, the research arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, of US adults who do not attend church. This survey mimics many of those taken over the last few years that in essence say that most unchurched have a high view of Jesus and a low view of Christians and the church. Below are some of the highlights from this particular survey and here is a link to the USA Today Page.

Most of the unchurched (86%) say they believe they can have a "good relationship with God without belonging to a church." And 79% say "Christianity today is more about organized religion than loving God and loving people."

"These outsiders are making a clear comment that churches are not getting through on the two greatest commandments," to love God and love your neighbor, says Scott McConnell, associate director of LifeWay Research. "When they look at churches … they don't see people living out the faith."

But despite respondents' critical views of organized religion, Stetzer is optimistic. He cites the finding that 78% would "be willing to listen" to someone tell "what he or she believed about Christianity."

They already know believers — 89% of the unchurched have at least one close friend who is Christian, Stetzer noted.

And 71% agreed that "believing in Jesus makes a positive difference in a person's life."

Could this be because in most cases the people going to church are more worried about the process and not the relationships? Why do we spend so many hours in committees planning changes and discussing carpet color and who went to communion down the isle? Why don't we spend more time building our relationship with God and then our neighbors? I bet if we did, the results of this survey would be different.

Stuff

Here is a great website on the Story of Stuff. I have seen or read various versions of this story, but none are put together so well or go to this level of detail. This is a must see if you are a follower of Christ. We need to be much better stewards of our planet and each other.

More on Don Miller

The more I read from Don and the more I read about him, the more I like him. So here are several links to more information on him. Incidentally, I ran out today to buy one of his books and ended up getting three for the price of one all in a single hard cover. Be sure to check out his website below, he has several sample chapters from his books.

Don Miller
An Article about Don in Christianity Today magazine
The Belmont Foundation A foundation that Don started to help kids without a father.
Don Miller - Greatest Hits This is how to get three of his books for the price of one.

Enjoy!

What does Success look like?

As I said in an earlier post, I am big on goals. Over the last few days I have tried to figure our what is my goal for following Christ? Why do I or should I want this so bad? Why am I working so hard to figure out the path when I don't even really know what the goal is?

I was listening to a Mars Hill Podcast with guest speaker Don Miller who has a book out called Blue Like Jazz. He was describing his view that our lives are like movie scripts that God is writing. He said that screen writers like to start with the climatic scene in the movie (the goal) and then go back and write how the characters got their. So what we need to do is figure out what our climactic scene is and then write how we get there. He says that for some the scene is not one that God would appreciate, like getting a new Volvo. But for him, and he believes, for most of us the climactic scene in our lives should be when we meet God and he says to us "Job well Done, Good and Faithful Servant." I like that. I think that is what I want for my climatic scene. In other words this is what success looks like. Now I just have to figure out how to get there.

Extra-Curricular Activities

Here is a question for you - Would you take your son or daughter out of school for one week to go on a mission trip? Most peoples first reaction is, can't it be done on a weekend or during the summer? Most of us feel that school is very important and should not be messed with. But, how important is Jesus and should we be messing with him? Don't get me wrong I don't mean running off every other week to do mission work, but if an opportunity came up would you consider it or just say it can't be done.

What about if the coach of your son's baseball team tells you that he is moving practice to Sunday morning? Do you find a way to make it happen even if it means missing church or do you tell the coach he can't make because he has church?

I have to admit that this is an area where I have trouble. I would have a hard time pulling my son out of school. And I have on occasion missed church because of some extra-curricular activity.

I believe that God gives us opportunities and that we should take them even if it means missing church or school on occasion. Like everything else it should be all things in moderation. But I do think that our culture is such that Jesus is the extra-curricular activity and everything else is the important stuff. How do we change it, how do we make Jesus the most important thing? Because if we don't as parents, then our kids won't and we will just continue the culture as it is or it might even get worse..

New Year, New Start, and New Goals

Ok, I am not big on New Years Resolutions, but I am big on goals. I have a had a goal for a while to start a blog where I can discuss the thoughts I have as I attempt to find out what it means to Follow Jesus in our day and time. I have attempted to start several times and always stopped because something wasn't just right. I was hoping for perfection. I guess that I am realizing that if I keep waiting for perfection, I will never start. So, it is a new year and here in Wisconsin every thing is white and clean with fresh new snow cover. So I guess it is time for a new start. I can't, and won't, promise perfection, but hopefully you will find some interest in what I will write in this blog and hopefully we can provide each other some incite, inspiration, and encouragement on this journey. So here's to a New Year and a New Start, enjoy!