Giving and Getting

It is the week of Thanksgiving and I can happily say that I have not listened to a single Christmas song yet! I always try to put it off as long as possible because I know by the end of December I'll be so sick of those songs that I can't stand it. I'm still sick from last year of that song about the boy who wants to buy shoes for his dying mom. WHAT ARE YOU DOING SHOPPING WHEN YOUR MOM IS ON HER DEATH BED?!?!?

I digress...

Have you made your Christmas list yet? Have you had your kids make their list yet? I have always hated Christmas lists and I never could figure out why until today. I saw a bunch of ads for the sales going on this Friday and I kept thinking, "I'd like to have that! OH and that! Oh that would be nice!"

Last year, I went shopping on black Friday. Know what I came home with? A new TomTom GPS... for myself! Ok, I also got some gifts for Megan, but my main goal for getting up so early was to get the unlimited maps edition TomTom for myself.

So today it hit me... I'm REALLY selfish. How did I get this selfish? Why am I so concerned about what I'M going to get for Christmas? And I think I had a revelation.

I think we do our kids a disservice when we have them sit down and write out a list of things they want for Christmas. We are basically enabling our kids to think of their wants and desires and by doing so, we are ingraining in them this idea that Christmas is all about what you got for Christmas. It's usually not till later in life when we try to come back and say, "Oh by the way Christmas is not about getting, it's about giving!" But by the time we try to teach our kids that, we've already told them, by our actions, that it is all about getting. Kids learn much more through observation than they do through instruction.

So I'm proposing a twist on how we normally handle our kids Christmas lists. Instead of having them sort through the online store or the news paper ads to come up with a list of stuff they want, have them sort through all that stuff and come up with a list of things they think each of their family members and friends would most enjoy. If you have two kids, have them come up with a list of items they think their brother or sister would appreciate.

And you do the same thing! As you see the ads this season, resist the temptation to think about how much you would enjoy it, and instead, try to decide which one of your family members, co-workers, or friends could benefit from that the most.

If everyone in your family does this, you will have a list of presents to buy all of them. Then watch your kids on Christmas day and see how they react to one another. Hopefully, they'll still get really excited to open up their gifts. But my guess is that they might get equally excited to see the joy on their siblings face as they watch their sibling open up a gift that they picked out.

Like most of my ideas, I'm sure there are lots of problems with this one. Feel free to pick it apart and point out the realities of what might happen if we did this. Maybe this is a dumb idea. But if you don't like this idea, then reply to this blog and give me your own ideas for how we can bring back the true spirit of Christmas... which is giving.

Thanks

Since this is Thanksgiving Month and I'm way behind on the daily thankfulness facebook and twitter posts, I figured I'd spend some time talking about who and what I am thankful for.

I am most thankful, today, for God. I know that's such a typical Christian thing to do... to put God first in the list. But it's the truth. We are going through a study in youth group right now called GodView. The study is an attempt to help the teens realize that God is more than just someone who wants you to be good and happy. We subconsciously limit God to this little box and think that he can't act in any way other than how we think he can act. We live our lives on our own and then expect God to show up when we need him to. Then we get upset with him when he doesn't show up in the ways we expect him to. But God is bigger than our expectations. God's ways are not like our ways. God's understanding of what's going on is so much greater than ours. And God is in control, no matter how out of control our lives feel. Some people are scared of that idea but for me, I am thankful.

I am thankful for freedom. I have actually thought about this a lot lately. God must place a very high value on freedom. Think about it... when God, who knows everything, chose to create humans, he wanted us to have freedom to do what we want. So he had to design a system to place us in, where we could somehow HAVE the freedom to make choices on our own, even though he would know what those choices would be, before we ever made them. Some say if God already knows how I will choose, then I'm not actually making a choice. But the genius of God shines through with how he created the dimension of time that we are subject to, (and he is not). Without time, free will is taken away because everyone's decisions are made and we lose our ability to change them. But inside of time, we cannot see the future and therefore we have freedom to make those choices without knowing exactly how those choices will effect the future. Freedom exists because God created it. Some might say it is a false sense of freedom. I say, you are free to believe that if you want and I am free to believe what I believe. :-)

I am thankful for loving people who truly consider others greater than themselves. These people are few and far between, and I confess that I am not one of them. But how refreshing is it to come across someone who truly has a heart of a servant? I am thinking of several in my life who have had demonstrated this at times in their lives, and I know of several others who seem to demonstrate this all the time.

I am thankful for people who value honesty and integrity over self-preservation. These are values that are not taught in our culture anymore. These are values that should be praised and rewarded much more than what they are.

I am thankful for people who do their best to seek unity and not division among all people. Whether it be in religion, politics, ethnic/race, gender, age, opinions, or any other differences, unity is of utmost importance. I saw an astronaut interviewed on TV who said that when he looked down on the earth, he didn't see any differences, he just saw one earth and we are all in it together.

Finally, I am thankful for specific people in my life. I actually typed out all the people I am thankful for and there were way too many. And then I realized how many people I would be forgetting if I tried to name them all. So instead of listing them all, I'll just say that I am a blessed man to have so many friends and family. I will try my best to express my gratitude in person sometime this month. :-)

Celebrating God's Work

I’ve been reading through Genesis and Exodus lately and
something came to my attention today.
Anytime God would do something for the Israelites, he would have them
pick a special way to mark that event so that they would never forget. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all made alters at
specific places so that they could give a sacrifice to God out of gratitude for
his provision. They would leave those
alters up to stand as a witness that God had provided for them so that whoever
passed by would see and be reminded.

When God prepared the Israelites for the Passover, he gave
Moses instructions to celebrate that event every year as a way to always
remember that God rescued Israel from the Egyptians.

After Moses led Israel out of Egypt, God told them to mark
the day on their calendars and celebrate it every year so that they would always
remember the day that they left Egypt.

Then, when God provided manna, God gave Moses instructions
to collect several quarts of it and place it in a sacred spot so that the
Israelites could always have it with them as a remembrance of how God provided
for them in the wilderness. This
eventually became one of the items in the arc of the covenant.

It seems to me that God finds it very important for us to
mark special occurrences in our life that remind us of him. One of the most common things that Christians
do today is communion. We take communion
in “remembrance” of Jesus Christ. We
also celebrate Christmas and Easter for this same reason.

What are some other things that you do in order to remember
how God has come through for you? Do you
have any special days of the year that you celebrate to remind yourself of a
past event in your life where God provided for you? Do you ever set anything aside as a reminder
of God’s provision? Do you ever mark
down specific events in your life that are significant in your walk with
God?

This is something I want to start doing. I write in a prayer journal periodically, but
that’s about as close as I come to this type of thing. But celebration is an important part of the
Christian walk. We celebrate birthdays
and national holidays, as we should. But
I want to start celebrating spiritual holidays as well! Want to join me? Respond to this and give me your best ideas
of what we can celebrate!

Current Events

I don’t usually share my opinions about politics on a public
forum. I try to stay out of it as much
as I can because I believe the message of the Gospel is far more important and
worthy of discussion. However, I seem to
be ok talking about college football way more than it should be talked about,
so I don’t think it’s terrible to give my 2-cents every now and then about
politics.

Recently, the protests across the nation have intrigued
me. It was all started by a group called
“Occupy Wall Street” and they have a website you can go to if you want to find
out more about who they are and what their beef is. But this group is growing very rapidly and
more and more groups are popping up across the nation. I’ve even heard that a similar protest has
popped up in my home town of Columbus, OH.

I’ve looked into this group a little bit to see exactly what
it is that they are protesting. What I’ve
found is that they are basically protesting against big corporations who think
they can rule over our country and government at the expense of the
people. They are sick and tired of the
decisions our government has made over the past several decades and they seem
to be protesting our entire system of capitalism.

Fox News and other conservative publications are tossing
this group out as a bunch of pot smoking hippies. But that is just fueling the fire for these hippies
because it looks like Fox News and the entire right wing is just backing the
big corporations… which proves to them that the big corporations are behind the
scenes controlling the media (and everything else).

This whole thing is a mess and I believe it’s going to get
worse before it gets better. The problem
is that both sides are entrenched so deeply that they won’t budge for
anything. Each side believes that they
are right and the other side is wrong, and so neither side will listen to the
other. And every time one side says or
does something, it just proves to the other side that they are that much more
wrong.

Conservatives are painted as being corrupted by money and
having no heart for the poor and marginalized.
Liberals are painted as being morally corrupted and having no respect
for justice.

And then there are people like me. We are so disgusted by it all that we just
want to pull away, dive into pessimism, and believe that all sides are totally
messed up. We don’t trust anybody when
it comes to government or politics. We
see through the talking points of both sides and we are just sick of it. We value honesty but that word does not exist
in our media or in our politics or in our corporations.

I actually think that these protestors are on to
something. I don’t think capitalism is
the answer. Capitalism is not scriptural
at all. I believe we are reaping what we
have sown for the past fifty years. The
rich control way too much and the poor are mistreated way too much. Corporations have worked their way into our
legal system and into our governments so much that they are getting away with
almost anything they want.

But it’s not just corporations and capitalism that have
screwed up our society. The moral
failure of our culture is just as guilty.
When we can’t tell right from wrong or when we teach our children to
believe that truth is relative, we can’t expect to succeed. The fact that people clap on national tv when
they hear that Mexico City is offering a 2-year marriage agreement is sad. The fact that the majority of people in
America admit to lying on their resume is sad.
The fact that saving yourself for marriage is considered weird is a sad,
sad reality of our culture.

Republicans and Democrats are both wrong. But they are also both right. Republicans need to stop fighting harder for
the rich than they do for the poor. That
is anti-Christ! Democrats need to stop
ignoring moral boundaries as if they serve no purpose. That is anti-Christ! Corporations need to be shut down if they get
to a point where they are harming the people more than they are helping the
people. And 24-hour news companies
should be shut down immediately because they are more concerned with
entertainment and making money than they are with helping America.

The reality is that we need both conservatives and liberals in this country. Looking out for the poor is considered pure religion in the Bible... (orphans and widows). Being rich is considered one of the best ways to sure up your ticket to hell according to Jesus. But Jesus also says, "If you love me, you will obey my commands." We need to hold our public servants, our corporations, and our people accountable both morally and socially. Social justice is considered moral justice to Jesus. He doesn't allow for one or the other. Neither should we.

Blog Picture

So I decided to post a picture of my family at the top of my blog. I thought it would help anyone who comes across this page and doesn't know me help put a face to who's talking.

I picked this picture especially because I like the way Megan and I look. The kids have hundreds of pictures where they look better than in this one, but I figured this picture was the most fitting of any because it portrays reality for us. :-)

This pic was taken at lunch on a Sunday afternoon. Our kids were exhausted and had been screaming their heads off at church all morning. They just wanted to go home and take a nap, but we forced them to take a picture. haha

Combat Training

Have you ever been able to just feel that you were under spiritual attack? As if the evil forces in this world have given up the element of surprise and are just coming at you head-on?

This past couple weeks have been very long!

We are preparing for RESTORE 2011, which is our fall retreat to Myrtle Beach, SC. This is my favorite retreat. Part of that is because I get to play such a major role in putting it on. I've been meeting with youth ministers from across the Carolinas since last October in order to put this thing together. Lots of time and prayer have gone into this weekend.

When you put so much energy into a single event, you are really putting yourself out there. If the event does well, it's a great feeling. But of it tanks, you have to live with that burden for an entire year.

So basically, I have set myself up as a prime target for Satan. And he has been hitting me hard. For me, it always starts with lust. He has hit me harder than usual by tempting me to lust. Everywhere I turn, there's an image of a beautiful woman who doesn't have much on.

Then his next blow comes with laziness. He tempts me to watch tv all night long instead of go to bed and read my Bible or other spiritual book. He tempts me to feel too busy to pray. He fills up my week so that I don't have time to fast. He basically has done his best to block every spiritual discipline I've tried in the past couple weeks. And he's been quite effective at this one.

Then he moved on to my self esteem. This has taken place in several different ways but the biggest is that almost all of our youth group has backed out of the fall retreat. We normally bring around 25-35 people. This year, only 14 signed up. Out of that 14, we are now down to just 6. And one of those 6 wouldn't be coming if I would have let him have a refund, but his parents won't let him back out without a refund.

As a youth minister, it is always discouraging when you put effort into an event and no one shows. But this event is my baby! Like I said, I've worked long and hard at putting this thing together and only 6 people (2 of which are myself and my wife) are coming from our group!

It has taken me till just now... a day before the event... to realize that Satan is coming at me head on, full blow. And now that I realize that, I can fight back.

The best way to fight back is to realize that if Satan has given up the element of surprise and is attacking in obvious ways, it is because something big is about to happen that he wants to prevent. That is encouraging to me. I can't wait to see what God has in store.

The next way to fight back is to push through the dull, boring times of spiritual disciplines. I'm fasting today. It is 10:00 AM and I'm starving already. But I need to push through this day in order to fight the evil in my life. My prayer life has been very stale lately, but I need to keep praying and push through the distractions. My personal study times have felt more like a boring waste of time than a time of growth, but I need to do them anyways in order to get through this attack.

Finally, I can fight these attacks by once again, coming to a dependence on God. The past couple weeks, I've struggled so much because I've tried to depend on myself. But when I am weak, He is strong... I need the power of God to rescue me from these attacks. I need to call upon God's spirit, who is living in me, for strength to stand firm.

I want to close with a prayer. If you've felt these attacks lately, please join me in this prayer:

Father,

I come to you weak and broken. My enemy is attacking me from all sides and I have no strength left to fight on my own. I call upon your holy spirit to take over this poor soul and rescue me from the hands of evil. Make me aware of these attacks and where they are coming from. Shield me from the blows of Satan's sword. Push back the battle lines of evil. Take me off the front line and bring me into fellowship with my allies. Grant me a time to rest and recover.

And then, Father, fill me with your strength and might so that I will be prepared to fight once again for your kingdom. Make me stronger than I was before.

Stand behind me so that the enemy will tremble in my presence. Stand in front of me so that I will know where to go. Stand beside me so I can lean on you for comfort. And stand within me so that I will be righteous as you are righteous and holy as you are holy.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

I am NOT a Preacher

Well, yesterday I had an
opportunity to preach a sermon at church.
I get this opportunity about once each year. I used to avoid it at all costs, but over the
past four years, I’ve been able to get a little more used to it. Part of that, I believe is personal growth
and part of that I believe is the Holy Spirit convicting me of the messages that
I have had a chance to give. If I teach
or preach on a message I am convicted by, it’s easier to have confidence in it.

But let me give you a little taste
of the experience that I went through yesterday. I woke up early and got myself ready for
Church as usual. On the way, Megan
shared a verse with me that I frankly can’t remember right now. It was very encouraging at the time and I
appreciated it. In fact, it helped me a
lot! But my mind was so distracted that
I didn’t have much time to reflect on it for very long.

When I got to church, I made a few changes to
the PowerPoint and then locked myself in my office. During class time, I went through the sermon
one last time to make sure I had all of my thoughts collected. Then I began to pray for the Holy Spirit to
take over. When I walked to the auditorium,
my parents met me and pulled me to the back of the room, placed their hands on
me, and prayed over me.

Then church began. Maybe it was just my nerves, but it seemed
like everything took FOREVER. The
announcements were really long, the part where we honored our children was very
long, and communion was very long.

In our church, the last few things
we do before the sermon are communion, scripture reading and prayer, and the
offering. Those three things were taking
forever and I could feel a knot building in my stomach. It seemed to get larger and larger as the
time went by. Just before I got up to
preach, Megan whispered the verse to me again.
It was once again, reassuring and encouraging but once again I can’t
remember what it said or where it was from exactly.

Finally, I got up and delivered
what I had prepared to say. I felt like I
did a pretty good job. I felt like the
Holy Spirit was at work. I noticed on several
occasions that it seemed like the congregation was fixed on what I was saying. When I finished, I went back to my seat where
Megan met me and whispered, “That was AMAZING!”
Then after it was over, I was bombarded with compliments. Lots of people told me what a great job I had
done. I had several conversations about
specific points I had made and how those points impacted certain individuals. I felt great.
What’s more, my father-in-law showed up to church for the first time
since his childhood and he really enjoyed it.

But what stood out to me was how
many people came up to me afterwards and said something like, “I’m so glad you
said what you said, these people really needed to hear that!” Someone even told me about a specific person
who needed to hear what I said. By FAR,
I got more people who told me that someone else needed to hear what I said than
I did people that told me “I really needed to hear that”. Now, a lot of people told me that also. But the ones who were thinking about how
others needed to hear it outnumbered those ones.

I don’t like that. Don’t ever let that be you!

But anyway, here’s my real point
for this post. The first thing I did
when I came into the office this morning was watch the video of my sermon. Know what I found? I stuttered throughout the sermon. I said “umm” and other vocal pauses a LOT
more than I remember. At the beginning,
I took lots of deep breaths, showing my nervousness. The parts where I wanted to talk much faster
and much louder to emphasize my points… I talked a tiny bit faster and a tiny
bit louder. The parts where I wanted to
talk slower and softer… I talked a hint slower and a hint softer. The big finale where I wanted to end with one
last impact was anti-climactic. I also
discovered that I’m not very animated on the stage, I read way too much, and I
even have a weird way that I say my “S” sounds which can get obnoxious at
times.

I am NOT a preacher. I would have gotten a “C” at the very best in
a public speaking class.

But I am convinced that the
experience we had in that room yesterday was powerful and impacted lives. I believe that the Holy Spirit was at work in
a supernatural way yesterday morning. I
believe God was able to use my willingness combined with his ability to convict
people to further his kingdom yesterday.

God can use you. You may not be the most talented person in
the world. You may have a lot of
insecurities about certain areas of life.
But God doesn’t require you to have abilities or confidence in
yourself. God just requires willingness
and confidence in him!

Are you willing to place your confidence in
him? Will you join me in this fight for
God’s Kingdom?

That was fast!

Well the teens are back in school this week and summer break is officially over! It was a crazy summer that flew by so fast! We crammed a lot of stuff into the past three months. I felt like I was going non-stop. But I think it was all very good. We were able to serve a lot of different people and I believe God was at work in my life as well as the lives of those around me.
Unfortunately, there is no rest for the weary in this land. There's a lot coming up to plan and get ready for. Our Men's Retreat is in a week and a half and I am preaching that Sunday, which is also the day we have selected to recognize our Children's Ministry and honor our teachers and life group leaders.
I am also in major planning mode to get ready for Restore 2011, our fall retreat to the beach on September 23-25th. It is lining up to be a great weekend again, as we are bringing back David Skidmore and Jordan House for the third year.
On top of all that, my family is getting pumped up for our "Celebration Week". That's the week of our anniversary (9/29) and three birthdays (9/30, 10/1, and 10/5).
With all of this going on, I will try harder to keep this blog updated. I didn't expect to be able to in the summer months because my office hours were very limited. However, even with the busy schedule this time of year, I should be putting more office hours in now so I will have time to post.

God Bless,
JD

Penn Gillette gets a gift of a Bible

I came across this video today. I think it's about a year old. I typically don't like to listen to Athiests because they usually have a lot of negative things to say about Christians and take low blows, take scripture out of context, and use other tactics to say them.

But I really respect Penn for the point that he makes here and I like his tone. I think we as Christians could learn from not only the man who gave Penn the Bible, but also Penn himself. We often get so caught up in dividing ourselves into sides. We do this in every part of life. Do you drink Coke or Pepsi? Are you a Ford or Chevy person? Republican or Democrat? American or non-American? Christian or non-Christian? NSYNC or Backstreet Boys? NBC or ABC? Apple or Microsoft? Need I go on? Big Ten or SEC? Ohio State or Michigan?

Sometimes our divisions get so polarized that we start to think things like, "How could ANYONE be on THAT side?" That's what many Christians do when they think about Athiests and that's what many Athiests do when they think about Christians. So you have Christians looking down on Athiests for being blind and Athiests looking down on Christians for being stupid or uneducated.

As Christians, we should be leading the way in breaking this way of thinking. We should humble ourselves and approach Athiests as if they are higher than us. We should actually love them... not just say we love them. And we should humbly approach them with the message that we believe will save their souls. When they lash back at us with hateful questions that we know are pointless to try and answer, we should respond to them in love.

I respect Penn for his appreciation of that Christian business man and for recognizing that that man approached him out of love. I also respect that man for approaching Penn out of love and complimenting his show even though I'm sure there were some pretty non-Christian things said and done in that show. It's about time a sane Christian be pointed out in the media as opposed to the Quran burning, armageddon predicting, Haiti condemning, money stealing examples we see all the time. We should all (Christians and Athiests alike) learn from this interaction.

Trip to Isle of Palms

We took a trip to Isle of Palms and Charleston this past weekend. It was just a quick trip to get away as a family before summer hits and things get really busy. Let me point out that it was NOT a vacation! I've determined that you can't take a vacation with kids, you can only take trips with kids. Vacations are restful, relaxing, peaceful, and when you come back you feel better than when you left. This was none of that. However, we did have a great time. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our trip. :-)

_____________________________________________

This one is by far my favorite! I feel like I should be able to submit this picture somewhere and win a cash prize! It's amazing! lol

__________________________________________

Our best family shot all weekend. This was near Fort Moultrie.

______________________________________________

This was a cool shot Megan took of me and the kids walking on the beach. I just like it. Braden and I are walking in step. lol
___________________________________________

Mini-Me!

It's All About God

As I look back through my previous posts, I realize that they are all pretty much confessional in nature. They are all about me trying to work out the struggles that I have in my life. They are all about me and my faith and my battles with sin. ME ME ME! I have taken Christianity, something that is intended to be communal and focused on God, and turned it into something that is very personal and private and focused on me. Even this first paragraph is that way.
So this post is going to be an attempt at a different focus. Let us spend some time focusing on God and his greatness. But let's not focus on the things that we think make him great because they benefit us. Let's try to focus on things that make him great whether we benefit from them or not.
For example: God is in control. At first glance, this sounds like something that benefits us, but most of us like to have control of situations. We like for our plans to succeed. Try telling someone whose loved one was killed at an early age that God is in control. Try telling anyone in the northern parts of Japan that God is in control. Some of them might take comfort at that thought but most of them, I imagine, would go straight into questioning and blaming God if you tell them that. But God really is in control and whether we benefit from his control or whether we suffer from it, he is great and deserving of our honor, respect and submission because of that.
God knows everything and created everything. Once again, our first instinct is to try to praise him for how these facts benefit us. But these facts alone, whether they benefit us or not, are deserving of our respect, honor and praise. God, in his infinite knowledge of everything created everything that we see, hear, taste, smell, feel, and think. He did not just sneeze and accidentally created things. He thought through every tiny detail of how things work in order to create a universe that is so far beyond our comprehension that the best we can do is just sit speechless as we reflect on it. There's no point in trying to understand all of it because whenever we think we do understand it all, something comes up that puts us right back in our place as a limited, uneducated, small part of something much bigger. We would be better off just to understand part of it as best as we can so that we can marvel at the details of just that one part.
God is everywhere. Sure this brings us great comfort to think about. God is with us no matter what we are going through. He is experiencing everything along with us. But again, if we take our selfish hearts out of this experience, and just marvel on the idea that God is everywhere, for better or worse as far as it concerns us, this is an amazing feat. Nothing else in all of creating is everywhere... not air, not matter, not even time. But God is.
God is love. The best feeling our human bodies can ever experience is true love. There is nothing else that tops it. That emotion or feeling or action or however you might describe it... that is God! God didn't just create it. He IS love. This fact has limitless implications that affect our selfish lives and give us hope for the future, even in times of heartache. But all selfishness aside, the reality that God IS love, when you simply reflect on it, is something that should bring a smile to your face. The fact that God is love should call you to a state of worship. A creation without love is unimaginable. There would be no hope. There would be no reason to exist. We wouldn't even be able to be selfish. Because selfishness is caused by seeking after things that you love without considering how your actions might impact anyone or anything else. My mind hurts when I try to think about the depth of meaning that this simple statement has: God is love.
God is worthy and deserving of our praise regardless of what he has done for us lately. And it is important for us to realize that Christianity is more about God's greatness and holiness than it is about what God has done, is doing, or will do for us. Let's keep that in mind. :-)

What other aspects or characteristics of God can we reflect on that may or may not have any benefit to us?

New Motorcycle

Well I finally did it. I finally got a motorcycle. And not just any motorcycle, I got the one I’ve wanted since I was a little boy. I got a red 2007 Kawasaki Ninja 650r. When I was a little boy, I used to see the Kawasaki Ninjas riding around and I wanted one so bad. In college I remember very distinctly seeing Josh Belville riding to Lipscomb on a motorcycle and I thought he was the coolest guy on campus! Then when I got out of college and got a full-time job, I started saving my money to buy one. I had around $3000 saved up and I was just about ready to pull the trigger on a bike right around the time I met Megan. So I quickly made the decision to purchase a ring instead. I willingly gave up on my dreams of ever owning a motorcycle in order to fulfill my stronger dreams of becoming a husband and a father.

But recently we sold our truck and went back down to one vehicle. As Megan and I talked about what we could possibly do so that she could have the car during the day while I was at work, we agreed that the most economical thing to do would be get a motorcycle. So four years after getting engaged, eight years after seeing Josh in college, and ten years after high school, I finally got one! God is good!

This past month has taught me something very valuable. When we place “things” before God in our lives, we will get more excitement and joy out of the anticipation and hope of those things than we will get after we actually acquire them. (This thought is not original; I read it in a book by CS Lewis one time. It has just been made real in my life recently.) As much as I tried not to, I obsessed over getting a motorcycle. I couldn’t wait! Once Megan agreed to let me get one, my mind started racing and I was consumed with getting one. Nothing else seemed to matter as much. I placed getting a bike as the number one priority in my life. God quickly slid to the back seat. Even during my study times, my mind would slip away from what I was reading and dream about what bike I would get.

Then I got a bike. Now don’t get me wrong. So far, riding a motorcycle has been everything I envisioned it being. I love it. I do not regret getting a bike at all. But as I was riding home the first time, I remember feeling a sense of emptiness in me. I remember thinking, “So this is it?” Or maybe I was thinking, “Now what?” There was a part of me that was not satisfied. Riding a motorcycle was not the one thing that would finally bring me complete happiness and I had subconsciously made it out to be just that during my anticipation of getting one.

That’s what happens when you place anything before God. When you fill the “God-sized hole in your heart” with something else, it doesn’t fit right and there will still be a hole there. I have experienced that at a whole new level this month. I don’t think getting a motorcycle was wrong and I have no plans to get rid of it now that I realize that it became an idol for me. However, I do have plans of putting it back in its proper place.

Dear God, you are my Lord and Savior and there truly is nothing else in my life that can possibly replace you. Please forgive me for temporarily searching after something else instead of you and please help me to control the instinct in me to move on to the next “hit” of happiness. Please help me to realize, not just in my head but in my heart that you are all I need and there is nothing that can replace you. Please mold my dreams into whatever your dreams are for my life. Amen!

Living in the Light

⁵ This is the message we heard from Jesus^[c] and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. ⁶ So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. ⁷ But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

⁸ If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. ⁹ But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

– 1 John 1:5-10

This morning, I opened to 1 John and began to read. The section above really stood out to me. It stood out because I have always assumed that “living in the light” meant that I was living within God’s will… or in other words, I was not sinning. Conversely, I have always believed that “living in the darkness” meant that I was living outside of God’s will… or I was living sinfully.

But with that understanding, this section of scripture contradicts itself REAL fast! Because verse eight clearly points out that we are all sinners. If we claim to not be sinners, we are fooling ourselves. Verse six says that there’s no way we can live in fellowship with God if we have sin in our lives (or if we are living in the darkness).

So then, if it is absolutely impossible to live without sin, and it is absolutely impossible to have fellowship with God if there is sin in our lives, then there’s no way we can possibly have fellowship with God. And with that logic, it is impossible to live in the light. But verse seven says if we possibly could somehow live a sin-free life (live in the light), then the blood of Jesus would cleanse us from all of our sins. HUH???

The entire passage began to confuse me! If I’m living sin-free then I don’t need the blood of Jesus to wash away my sins because I don’t have any sins to be washed away! But if I am living a sinful life, then it is impossible for me to fellowship with God and it is impossible for me to receive the cleansing that is promised to those who live sin-free lives.

I say all that confusing stuff to get to this point. My interpretation of living in light/darkness is obviously wrong! So what does it mean to live in the light or live in the darkness? I think verse nine explains all of this mumbo-jumbo very well and sheds some light (no pun intended) on my question:

⁹ But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins

and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

Confession is something that we like to pass over when we read through scripture. We like grace and mercy. We like faith and we even like baptism. But when it comes to confession, we like to pretend like all it means is just saying with your mouth, “Jesus is the lord of my life.” That might be a confession of faith, but this passage isn’t talking about confessing our faith. It is talking about confessing our sins.

John says everything in verses 5-8 about living in the light and having fellowship with God and each other and we are all sinners… he says it all to get to this point. We are all sinners and there’s nothing we can do to change that… “BUT if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us” so that we can be in the light as he is in the light. So what is living in the light all about? It’s all about confession of who we are! It’s all about being true and honest! It’s about breaking down our walls of pride and stepping out from behind our curtains of putting on a good face. Living in the light is being real! Living in the light is breaking down and humbly saying, “I am a sinner! I sin… a lot… each day. And there’s nothing I can do about that so I need you, Jesus, to cleanse me so that I can have fellowship with God.”

How freeing is that for you? I don’t have to hide who I really am. I can be honest with myself and with others. I can be honest with God! I can confess to him that I have a problem with patience, pride, lust, materialism, coveting, envy, anger, gossiping, controlling my thoughts, and chasing after things that this world has to offer. These are all real struggles of mine that, on a good day, I will struggle with and on a normal day, I will freely, willingly give in to.

It’s time we get back into the habit of confessing our sins to God and also to one another (James 5) so that we can freely live in the light as He is in the light!

Sell Your Posessions

Mark 10:17-27 is the story of the Rich Young Ruler. It’s probably the most popular story outside of the Sermon on the Mount for the new movement of Christianity that has been titled “The Emergent Church”. This movement emphasizes a deep commitment to God that is lived out by loving others… especially others who are less fortunate. In my opinion, it’s a great thing! I’m not sure when Christianity and social justice parted ways, but those words should be synonymous with one another and the Emergent Church is leading the way in reuniting the two.

Within the past ten years or so, this movement has crept into the Evangelical circles as well. Guys like Francis Chan and, more recently, David Platt, are now teaching these values. I think they are doing a fine job of merging the Evangelical emphasis on obedience to God’s laws and the Emergent emphasis on social justice. The stereotype usually goes that people who obey God’s law are legalistic, demanding, and inconsiderate, while people who want to love others are wishy-washy, willing to bend the rules, and not too concerned about God’s wrath/judgment.

Anyway, back to the Rich Young Ruler. I’ve read this story a lot. Almost every book I’ve read recently has mentioned it at some point. The preacher at my church has even referenced it several times in the past year. So recently, I was very challenged by the idea of actually selling everything I own to help others. Couple that idea with the idea that God will provide for your needs if you seek his kingdom first, and my mind was going nuts about how I could apply this to my life.

Right now, we are in the midst of raising money for a mission trip to Arizona to serve the Apache Indians in Whiteriver, AZ. We have a yard sale coming up where all of the proceeds will go toward this trip. So I’ve been trying to decide what I could sell at this sale in order to donate money toward the trip. My mind started thinking big… sell the living room furniture, sell my awesome TV, sell my lawn mower, sell my truck (which I am trying to do anyway, but not for the purpose of donating to the trip). I even thought about selling my entire wardrobe and starting from scratch.

The idea of unloading all of this junk started to really sound appealing to me! It almost seemed like I would be free from a lot of responsibility and pressure. Pressure to watch my TV in order to justify spending so much money on it. Pressure to wear all of my nice shirts instead of wearing the same ones every week. Pressure to play my video games, use my paintball equipment, keep our lawn looking immaculate… all of these things felt real. The more I read scripture the more I began to think that my life is way out of balance. After all, my mind doesn’t start to slip into worship of God when I’m watching my favorite sports team, play XBox, or building relationships with people. However, when I worship God, my mind will often slide into what’s going on with all of those things.

So I finally made a decision. I decided that I would sell my Xbox on craigslist, buy a cheap DVD player, and donate the rest of the money to the mission trip. And that is what I have done. But instead of feeling free, this is what happened to me…

As soon as that money hit my hand, I automatically began to think about what I could use it for! I starting realizing all of the “needs” I have. I starting dreaming about what a new Blue Ray DVD player would look like on my awesome TV instead of the cheapest one I could find. I had every dime of that money spent in my mind within a matter of seconds! And then it became a temptation to buy all of those things and rationalize a way out of donating it to the trip. I even thought at one point, “It’s my money, it wouldn’t be wrong to spend it on myself.”

Selling my Xbox was one of the smallest things I could have done, and it was SO HARD! Buying the cheapest DVD player at Walmart was SO HARD when all of those fancy ones were staring at me. I was even tempted to buy the next level up, which was about $10 more, just because it looked cooler… it didn’t have anything to do with how it functioned… it just looked cooler!

This experience has made it very obvious to me that consuming things has become an addiction to me and probably to our entire society! We are constantly looking to upgrade our lives! We need the newer car, the bigger house, the nicer DVD player, the better looking sofa… we NEED them! We ARE ADDICTED!

Here’s the saddest part of this story. I am actually somewhat proud of myself for following through with my decision to buy the cheapest DVD player. That was a major step for me! Isn’t that sad? I feel like I’m a better person because I sold one of my possessions and I took part of the money from that possession to give toward God’s mission and then kept part of it for myself to get another possession.

In other words, if I were the rich young ruler who approached Jesus, and Jesus said, “Go sell a possession of yours that you value but haven’t really used that much in the past two years. Then buy a new possession and give the rest of the money to the poor. Then you will be saved.” If Jesus said those words, I would have struggled with it! AAAHHHH!!! GOD HELP ME!!!! Who of you can blame the rich young ruler for walking away sad?!?!?!? Someone, in reference to this passage, said the other day, “Jesus doesn’t expect EVERYONE to sell all of their possessions and give the money to the poor. But chances are, if you are thinking that Jesus isn’t talking about you, he probably is.”

I'm going to jail!

With all of the evil and hate going on in our world, I want to give you an opportunity to do something worth your time and money. Tomorrow, i will be going to jail in support of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, or Jerry's Kids. My goal is to raise bail money to get out of jail. Anything I raise will go straight to MDA and sending a child to one of their well-run summer camps.

If you would like to help support this effort, you can donate moeny at: https://www.joinmda.org/spartanburglockup2011/JD

Thanks in advance for your support.

The Devil Works in Obvious Ways

Recently, I've been trying to stay more intune to the Spirit at work in my life. I've been reading the Bible and other books a LOT, I've been praying, I've been trying to meditate, and I've practiced other spiritual disciplines that help me stay in touch with God.

Because of this attempt to stay in touch with the Spirit, I've been able to see God's work in my life. For example, my wife and I were having a discussion the other day about where we were going to get the money to buy spring and summer clothes for our children becuase they are both a lot bigger this year than they were last year. We talked about Matthew 6 where Jesus says to seek first God's kingdom and things like food and clothing will be provided for us. So we agreed to do this. That same day, a friend of ours called Megan to tell her they had lots of clothes that their son had grown out of that would fit our son. That Sunday, they brought us four boxes full of clothes... way more than our son will ever need! God is at work in our lives.

However, staying in touch wit the Spirit has also allowed me to see Satan at work in my life as well. Last week, I made a commitment to give up all caffein for Lent. It is a daily struggle not to drink coffee or Dr Pepper. I crave it all day long! Sunday night, at our youth group meeting, we had a cookout, and the only thing that was provided was 2-liters of soda. Satan at work. Then yesterday, I received THREE separate coupons in the mail from Coke offering me a free 20-ounce coke. They came from playing McDonald's Monopoly last October, but they just happened to arrive right in the middle of my fast from caffein. Once again, Satan is tempting me.

I've seen Satan tempt me in lots of ways recently. I've come to the conclusion that Satan works in obvious ways! He really doesn't have much variety to his attacks on us. He finds a weakness that we have and the hammers it over and over again till we give in. If he hits on something that we aren't tempted by, he will give up on that and move to something that we are tempted by. Once we give in to that temptation, it gives him an anchor and he will continue to attack us there till our walls cave in and we become consumed in our sins.

The only reason we don't see this happen regularly is because Satan has convinced most people in our culture that he doesn't do this sort of stuff. We don't like to think about it. It scares us. So we live our lives either completely oblivious or completely ignoring what he's doing. This just makes him that much more successful at what he does.

It's time we wake up to what Satan is doing! I've found the best way to recognize his work in our lives is by staying in tune with the Holy Spirit. If I am praying constantly or practicing other disciplines such as study, fasting, meditation, service, worship, etc, then I all of a sudden become very aware of what Satan is doing in my life and I am that much more prepared to resist him.

Empty Your Life

This morning I was driving to work and a strange thought came into my mind. If Jesus came down and took over my body, what would he do first? In other words, if Jesus were to actually start living in my body, with my life the way it is currently set up right now, what would be the first thing he would do?

I’ve been thinking about this all morning now and I came to one answer that I believe he would do first. I believe he would start emptying my life of all the stuff in it that’s getting in the way of me connecting to God. In fact, I think he would probably do something similar to what he did to start off his ministry on earth. He would probably go to the wilderness and fast for 40 days. Because I don’t think Jesus would be able to survive in this world as the Son of God if he were this disconnected to God and SO connected to so many other things that he would probably call gods in my life.

So my next step of thinking was to ask the question, “If I were to go to the wilderness today for a 40-day fast from not just food but from my entire life, what would I have the hardest time being away from?”

Once I asked that question, I automatically started coming up with all the excuses why I can’t possibly do something like that in my life. Here is a taste of my inner thoughts about this:

“Well I certainly can’t do that in my life right now because I have too much responsibility at home with Megan and the kids. Megan would kill me if I were to leave her for 40 days to be with God. And I would DEFINITELY miss food the most! My body isn’t ready for a 40-day fast. I would need some time to prepare my body for something like that. I would probably pass out after the first 24 hours. And how on earth would I be able to do my ministry at Central? I would get fired if I tried to abandon my responsibilities at Central or at the Children’s Home for 40 days! And if I got fired, how on earth would I be able to pay all of my bills? I have a mortgage, a car payment, loads of student loans, and all sorts of other bills. I would be late on all my payments. And anyway, what would I do for 40 days by myself? That would be miserable! I would be bored stiff after the first day or two and then I’d probably go crazy. Could I at least bring my laptop and find a retreat center that has Wi-Fi? What about my I-Pod or a few books to read? It’s March… I would miss all of March Madness! Ohio State is ranked number 1 right now. I can’t miss watching them in the post season!”

I imagine if you were to go through this same mind exercise, you would probably have a similar monologue about all of the things you would be missing out on. But did you notice one thing missing that never really went through my mind as I went into a panic attack? I never once thought anything about God in all of that. I never thought, “Will I at least get to bring my Bible?” or “That would really be nice to spend so much time in prayer and meditation. I would probably get really close to God.”

What does all of this say about me and where I’m at right now? Is God optional for me? Could I go 40-days without reading or praying to God and not really notice it? I don’t ever think of my family, food, my job, my money, or my electronics as idols. I do think of Ohio State athletics as an idol in my life and it is something I’ve fought for years. But the rest I don’t ever see as idols. But when there is a threat of emptying my life of things, those are the first things I worry about.

Today starts an important part of the year for Catholics and some Protestants. Today is Ash Wednesday and the start of Lint. The idea of it is to empty ourselves from something in our lives that we normally can’t live without. I challenge you to join me and millions of other people in participation of this ritual in an effort to move God up the list of necessities in your life. For me, I am going to give up all caffeine. I stopped drinking coffee a few weeks ago but now I am going to cut out all caffeine in my life and whenever I get a craving for it, I will seek God instead.

If our goal is to be like Jesus, then our goal should be to cut out everything in our life that keeps us from being close to God so that if Jesus were to take over our bodies today, he wouldn’t need to change much about our lives in order to be close to his Father in heaven.

Resident Aliens

Carson Palmer has recently requested to be traded from the Cincinnati Bengals. He has expressed his distaste for the Bengals organization to the point that he said he is willing to retire before he puts on a Bengals jersey or steps foot into Paul Brown stadium again. He hates it there!

This is not the first time Palmer has expressed his disgust for Cincinnati or the entire state of Ohio. In fact, a few years ago when Ohio State played Southern California, Palmer bashed not just Ohio State fans, but Ohio in general.

As an Ohio native, this drives me crazy. I want the Bengals owner to force him into retirement and never let him play football another day of his life. I want other bad things to happen to him as well. I want him to be walking into a restaurant in Cincinnati and the manager refuses to serve him. I want people to refuse to buy his mansion so that he is forced to live there, or at least own that property for the rest of his life. In my heart, I dislike Carson Palmer VERY much.

However, recently, this dislike of Carson Palmer (and his mutual dislike of me) has stirred up other thoughts and emotions within me. I have begun to wonder why it is that I feel so strongly about where I’m from. Why am I so passionate about Ohio, and specifically Ohio State? I’ve lived in other places and I like living in other places. I am currently living in South Carolina and I love that. In fact, the only time I don’t love living here is when I meet people who were born and raised here and have to listen to them talk about “The South” as if it were God’s gift to the world. But seriously, why do I take offense when people bash Ohio? Am I that egotistical?

This random wondering of mine has led to another question that I think is more significant. Will I like heaven even though it is not Ohio? In heaven, will I feel like it is my home or will I feel homesick for Ohio the way I get homesick for Ohio now every once in a while?

I hear people down here all the time who say, “I could never leave the South.” Really? Do you understand that heaven is not going to be the South? Do you understand that heaven will be made up of people who are from all parts of the world? Do you understand that Jesus himself was not southern?

I hear other people talk about America as if it is God’s gift to the world. We pledge allegiance to America as if it is OUR HOME! We sing songs about America as if this plot of land were something special. We try to keep immigrants out of this land because we feel like they aren’t good enough to exist here (even though most of us come from families who used to be immigrants). We take pride in the fact that lots of people from other countries want to come here!

We sing an old song in our churches every once in a while. It goes like this:

“Oh Lord, you know I have no friend like you.

If heaven’s not my home then Lord what will I do?

The angels beckoned me from heaven’s open door

And I can’t feel at home in the world anymore!”

Do we really mean that? Do we really feel a loyalty to heaven more so than we do to the place that we grew up or the country that we live in? Do we feel completely homesick for heaven? Do we feel helpless at the thought of having to make our home somewhere else?

I don’t. I can’t sing that song honestly right now. I have too much pride built up in where I was born and raised. I despise people like Carson Palmer for trash-talking my home state. It makes me want to take cheap-shots at his home state of California. I get genuinely offended at southerners who talk about the South as if is so much greater than the North. And they get even more offended when I even hint at making fun of their home.

This needs to change. If we are Christians, we are aliens in this world and we should act that way. We should sing songs like the one above and we should stop singing songs about a place that we don’t even belong to and shouldn’t be able to relate to.

I want to be homesick for heaven. I want to understand what it means to be “in this world but not of this world.” I want to know what the culture in Heaven is like so that I can model my life in that way instead of modeling my life to fit the culture of America or the culture of South Carolina or the culture of someone who was born and raised in Ohio and now lives in South Carolina.

What would that look like?

My First Post

Welcome to my first ever blog site. I don't really know how much I will use this or what it will turn out to be. I don't typically feel like I have a lot to say to people that is worth posting on the internet. However, sometimes I get an idea in my head and I feel like I need to share it with others, but I don't have a great forum to do that. So that's what I will probably use this for the most.

Thanks for checking me out and I hope that this site can be of use to you in your search for God.

God Bless,
JD