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. :-)

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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

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

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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
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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!