FRUIT!

In the last couple of weeks I am humbled by how God has used me in the ministry here.

Last week on wednesday night we had our normal night of competition in our gym and worship and lesson up in our Youth center. The lesson was about how we were created to serve, to be involved in the lives of others. I ended with a pretty clear Gospel presentation. Then a girl comes up to me afterwards. She had never been in a church before. One our girls met her in the hospital and invited her to youth group. The both of them had attempted suicide recently and met while in the hospital together. This girl asks me if she can have a bible. I was obviously excited and zipped off to get her one.

When I came back I asked her if she knew where to start reading. She gave me this wierd look and said, "I don't know, I was thinking I would start on page one." I had to laugh. Why do we have to complicate everything. Page 1 is the best place to start.

Several days later i hear through the girl who had invited the guest that they had talked on the phone recenlty and our new bible owner was all excited and said, "Genesis is Awesome. I just read it!" She has had her bible for 3 days and already had read more than some of our churched kids will have read in half a year. then she shows up again to youth group and is taking notes and signing up for our trips and stuff. Amazing.

then last night one of our regular guys invites his friend who he hangs out with all the time and he shows up. He is listening pretty intensly as I talk about how God has created us for a mission and that is to tell others that God wants a relationship with us. Not to talk about religion but relationship. This new kid writes on his form that he would like to hear more about how to begin a relationship with Jesus. HE WANTS TO BE A CHRISTIAN. this is why we do church!

So i know that these two guys are going on a trip to Colorado for a ski weekend so i call the dad this morning who is on the way to the airport to drop them off. I tell him what was on the card. He then takes it from there as they drive. The son (the regular guy here) is sitting in the passenger seat and is hearing all this as dad talks to the friend in the back seat. Then he tells his son that he can tell his story about how and why he is a Christian while they are on this trip. The son says, "yes, I can do that."

So, now one of our sophmores is now on a ski trip with his friend with the mission of telling him how to meet Jesus.

FRUIT!

One girl who knows Jesus but is having some tough issues meets a girl in the hospital and is helping her to find Jesus.

One guy who knows Jesus and is about to share with his friend over a ski weekend and will be helping him find Jesus.

Ordinary, uncomplicated, sincere, this is how it is supposed to be done.

Thanks God for using my talents and words to equip and challenge these students to share you with their friends as they live their life.

Another rambling

Yes, it has been nearly two months since i updated this. I don't blog much. Maybe it is because I don't think much, but i have to think to function or maybe I don't. What if life is all automatic and we could just coast through it. Then there would be no challenge, no purpose, no fun, no responsibility. Would that make our emotions automatic as well? If we did not think could we truly love?

But contrary to all that we, most of us, can think and love because we were made in God's image. Some of us think and love more than others, but we all at some level both think and love. I think therefore I am is only part of it. And that I love is still only part of it. I am loved is a major part of life. I am loved. Loved by my creator. Loved enough to die for.

So, if I am loved, and I can think and express love, why don't I? Or maybe I do, I just think about and love me more than I think about and love my creator. The more I dwell on, love on, think on Him, the more alive I truly am.

bitter sweet

today we said goodbye to our guests from Ecuador that had been staying with us for the Samaritan's Purse Children's Heart Project. Little Ariana who is two years old came to the Mayo Clinic to have heart surgery. Her mother and a translator came as well. They arrived back in Nov. for the surgery. We got to know each other real well and our family grew as we adopted these new friends from another country. they will be greatly missed by my wife and I, but especially by my kids. they became really close over the last several weeks. Now as they are on the plane to go home to their actual family we pray that Ariana will stay healthy and that the reunion with her daddy will be sweet. Sad to see them go, but glad to know they are going home.

Always go fishing with a buddy!

Great movie

You gotta check this movie out. I was at a pre screening of this film and it is a great story. Very moving. Find out how you can support this movie.

The 2:10 to Nowhere

As I was reading through Judges recently I kept thinking back to a verse that almost haunted me with the weight of responsibility and the ball that was dropped by the Israelites lead by Joshua. They went through so much in the years leading up to the conquering of the land. They were taught many things and saw God do amazing and miraculous acts. Things that would be talked about for centuries. Once they were confronted and set back on course after stumbling a bit we read that they served the Lord until they Died (Judges 2:7). Then they bury their great leader which must have been a sad and difficult thing to do. But what follows next is what haunted me.

In Judges 2:10 it says this, “ After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.” How could this be? How could this young generation grow up around parents and grand parents who had seen the great acts of God and not know about them? How could they not know or hear about or be taught how awesome God is and how He helped them conquer lands, win battles, throw down kingdoms. How could this be!?!

Then it hit me. As I looked at the generation of kids around me I asked, “how am I doing at making sure that they know the greatness of our God? Am I living out my faith in front of them so that they will see by my life that God is worth serving? That this thing called the church, the bride of Christ, is truly the hope for the world.”

It is our responsibility as Christ Followers to put it upon ourselves to be sure that this generation follows the God creator not the godless world around them.

In James 2:10 there is another verse that my son recently memorized for AWANA and it speaks about the importance of obedience. “ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” Another great 2:10 that we as a generation need to communicate to the youth of our day.

It matters not if you are a parent. If you are a Christ follower it is your responsibility, as it says in Titus, to help bring up the young ones in the ways of the Lord so that they will be fit for doing good.

Don’t take the 2:10 to nowhere.

Talk to our Daughters

Saw You At The Pole

This last week was see you at the pole. The worldwide proclamation for prayer around school flagpoles. I Saw God moving in lives of youth all around our city. It all came together when nearly 500 students showed up at our church for a see you at the pole rally / party that night. They were eager to share what had happened and how God used the day to spark many conversations. I had no idea that many would show up. On top of that several stood up to recieve Christ as their savior. What a night. I was impressed, humbled, convicted.

Thanks God. Saw you at the pole. I pray that I will continue to see you in the lives of the youth of Rochester.

It has been one year

It has been one year since I was asked to leave my position of Youth Pastor that I held for 11 years. It sure has been a wild ride. So much has happened to me and for me. I have grown a lot and my family has been cared for in a great way during the process. It was hard to leave a place where we had such deep roots planted but God has a plan. I have been released to do ministry in new ways I didn't know. I have been cared for as a church leader in ways I had not experienced before. I have been invested in, trusted, turned to, sought out and built up this last year, though the first few months were depressing and dark. Thank you God for pushing me and picking me up.

Purge

What drives us? What keeps us fueled up to face the challenges that Life throws at us? How are we growing ourselves? Do we expect others to feed us? Do we expect our bible reading once a month to feed us for the whole month? What do we need and are we willing to go get what we need? Maybe what we need is to PURGE some evil from our lives.

This last month I have been reading through Deuteronomy (Yes, the Old Testament) and I noticed the frequency of the use of the phrase, “Purge the Evil from among you.” This phrase occurs 10 times and one additional time in a different phrasing, “purge from yourselves…” This shows how much God desires his chosen people to be pure and free from Evil. Deuteronomy ends with Moses describing the rewards for obedience and the curses for disobedience. This is a big deal to God. So, how do we do it? How do we keep our way pure? Psalm 119:9-16 says it pretty plainly. The NIV Translation says it this way:

“ 9 How can a young man keep his way pure?    By living according to your word.
 10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.
 11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

It really comes down to spiritual disciplines. Have we been taught to feed ourselves? Do we know how to feed ourselves? Have you tasted the Word of God and found it to be good? What we need is to fill ourselves with the fuel that is the Word of God. To know His standard. To know and implement God’s word and commands.

LEARN SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES

God's desire is for His Chosen people to Purge the Evil from among them. How can we do this if we don’t know how? We can clean our houses but if we don’t know how to keep it clean, it will just get all muddied up again and possibly even worse. We need to be taught to keep it clean and then we can and will be a blessing to others.

my old journal

I was looking through an old journal of mine and came across this quote that I wrote down on Dec. 25, 1989.

"Scripture is not a matter of one's interpretation because scripture was not made by an act of human will."

I didn't know I thought so deeply as a 17 year old kid. If you read 2 Peter 1:20-21 you will see the context of this thought. Any reactions?

Be Prosperous

As I read this passage in Deut. chapter 8 I was reminded to be careful not to get so full of myself in the Pursuit if Happiness.

11-16 Make sure you don't forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up—make sure you don't become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God,

the God who delivered you from Egyptian slavery;
the God who led you through that huge and fearsome wilderness, those desolate, arid badlands crawling with fiery snakes and scorpions;
the God who gave you water gushing from hard rock;
the God who gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never heard of, in order to give you a taste of the hard life, to test you so that you would be prepared to live well in the days ahead of you.

17-18 If you start thinking to yourselves, "I did all this. And all by myself. I'm rich. It's all mine!"—well, think again. Remember that God, your God, gave you the strength to produce all this wealth so as to confirm the covenant that he promised to your ancestors—as it is today.

19-20 If you forget, forget God, your God, and start taking up with other gods, serving and worshiping them, I'm on record right now as giving you firm warning: that will be the end of you; I mean it—destruction. You'll go to your doom—the same as the nations God is destroying before you; doom because you wouldn't obey the Voice of God, your God. (Deut. Chapter 8 Message Translation)

Looking at those last couple of verses and then looking at all of the gods that are pursued in our world and especially our country i realize once again that we were warned. We are supposed to learn from the mistakes of those who went before us, not repeat them. But we, like the Israelites, simply see what is right in front of us and we are a fickle people. My lawn is never good enough to suit me.

Thank you God for the lifestyle that you have blessed me with. I know that others have it better and many seem to have it worse. Yet those who have it worse seem to love you more. I am sorry for valuing the things more than I should.

Inspirational!

from the file

Found this in a file and laughed out loud:
Tell a man that there are 400 billion stars and he will believe you.
Tell a man a bench has wet paint on it and he has to touch it.

or

If superman could stop a bullet with his chest, why does he always duck when a gun is thrown at him.

there you go... from the file

Production of Rain

Something that I forgot since I lived in the midwest was the manner in which storms introduce themselves to the world. Nothing quiet or average about the rain. It is such a production. Back in Yakima we were used to rain being a novelty and very subtle, but not here. It is like a full body experience complete with dark clouds, rolling thunder, lightning, torrential downpour, wind, and whatever else God can come up with. Such amazing creativity. The sky such a beautiful canvas of blues and grays. Amazing. God's Production of Rain.

Need accountability?

What did you think?

What did you think of the video?

Love this ministry

There is a ministry that seeks to minister to folks who have bought the lie of the Mormon church. I saw a preview for their latest video and the last little testimonial makes my choke up. The lady gets so excited that her little boy does not know who Joseph smith is. Amazing!

check out the preview for Living Hope Ministries.


Online Videos by Veoh.com

oops, where is spring

today it was HOT in the midwest. Mid 80's i think. I mowed my lawn for the first time and it was nice. I love mowing. There is something about doing something and then turning around to see the immediate result right there. The grass is shorter and you can see the product instantly. No waiting, no planning just mowing. Very satisfying.

Today Pastor Todd hit another home run with a great sermon on Hell. Third in the series. first, end times, then Heaven and now Hell. Check out the church website to hear it. Very good stuff. www.calvaryefc.org

Thanks to all who are still praying for us. WE miss so much about the Northwest. Mostly the people. We are getting our NW People fix this weekend with Pam and Katie visiting. Nice to have them here.

Spring is finally here!

Well, today was great. After one last snow storm last week, we hit the low 70's today and it was nice. The birds are chirping and the grass is turning green. One thing is for sure, though the winters are harsh, the Spring is amazing here in the midwest. Now we are looking forward to fireflies in the summer.

Easter was amazing. I have not experienced such an amazing service in such a long time. Full Orchestra and choir with an incredible celebration of the risen savior. Then to cap it off we had another great sunday yesterday as Pastor Todd spoke on the return of christ. WOW!

Next weekend I will be attending a districts retreat in Duluth. We are taking two bus loads of kids and we are occupying at least 20 hotel rooms. There will be about 3000 other students attending and the theme is all about us becoming less so Jesus can become greater. Love that!

More later.