Held

I was making my way around some of my recent blog-buddies posts and ran across another amazing individual. (I hope she does not mind, but I am going to link to her blog because she has an amazing testimony - Thank you Tracy for being so honest).

After reading some of her posts, it brought back the feeling that my wife and I had when we lost a pregnancy. (To this day we always tell people that we have four children when they ask, but we both know that we mean five...one is waiting for us at home). Then this song came to mind. It is talking about losing a child, but it truly reaches beyond just that point and touches all of our hearts at whatever pain we may have. So, I give this song to all of you out there today. Never forget that we are always HELD. God Bless



"Held"
Natalie Grant

Two months is too little.
They let him go.
They had no sudden healing.
To think that providence would
Take a child from his mother while she prays
Is appalling.

Who told us we’d be rescued?
What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares?
We’re asking why this happens
To us who have died to live?
It’s unfair.

Chorus:
This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we’d be held.

This hand is bitterness.
We want to taste it, let the hatred numb our sorrow.
The wise hands opens slowly to Lilly's of the valley and tomorrow.

(Chorus)
This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we’d be held.

Bridge:
If hope is born of suffering.
If this is only the beginning.
Can we not wait for one hour watching for our Savior?

(Chorus)
This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we’d be held.

They're Just Rocks....Lets Get Dirty

This has been a very amazing morning for me. God has reached down and touched my heart because of two different blog posts that I think are linked in a very special way. Before we go any further, please read "They're Just Rocks" and "Make Them Care".

After reading those, you may be thinking that I have lost my mind. "How could these two things be related?", you ask. Well, I'm glad you did.

As I have written on this blog (and the more I read others, I am finding out that I am not alone in my thinking), a shift in thinking of the "Church" today is needing to take hold. Just look at the statistics that are out there, and you will find that church attendance on a weekly basis is down all across this country. My church is facing it, and I am sure we are not alone. Of course, you have your "mega-churches" out there that seem to continue to grow and prosper (but are they growing in new converts, or do they just have a better marketing approach than the church down the road) but then you read thing like "50 small churches a week are closing their doors". Why is this happening? I believe that it could be from several different issues, but two of them were discussed by John Paul and Adam.

1. We must begin to understand that the "younger people" in the church have something important to say and contribute.

I remember when I was working with youth on a regular basis, I was always caught up with the latest "lingo" that was being used. It has only been five years since I was a youth minister, and you put me around a group of students today, and it sounds like I have crossed into another dimension. That is how fast our world is changing. Now after saying that, who do you think would be the best people to go to if we wanted to find out what the culture today is thinking about church and Christianity. Don't give me a church committee, give me a group of twenties and teens for a town hall meeting. We want to grow our churches (again, not for numbers sake, but for Christ sake) , then we must listen to the youth, and allow them to lead. I remember when I was still twentysomething, I use to look forward to turning 30 just because I thought others may finally begin to listen to what I have to say. It still didn't happen, but isn't that sad to have to think. A Barna Research article stated, "One of the reasons that many twentysomethings struggle to find their place in churches is that many young people may feel overlooked as potential leaders." As I sit in our churches committee meetings, I hear things like, "What are we going to do to bring in more younger adults into our church?" I want to stand up and scream at the top of my lungs, "Listen to them! Let them lead! If you do, you just might be surprised what they can do."

2. Another reason our churches are beginning to wither on the vine is because of...FEAR.

This is where John Paul's and Adam's posts really collide.

A. We are afraid to get dirty

This is where I am probably going to step on a lot of toes (mine included)...but here I go. I CAN'T STAND SPIRITUAL GIFT INVENTORIES!!! If you are reading this post and saying to yourself, "What is that?" God bless you and continue down the post to the next point. We now live in an era where we essentially say to the people in our church, "we are not going to ever ask you to do anything that you do not feel comfortable, or at least well trained, to do." We have these spiritual gift inventories that we complete and after doing so find out that we have the "gift" of teaching, prayer, missions, and so on, and so on, and so on. Can I let everybody in on a little secret....are you ready.....WE ARE ALL CALLED TO DO WHATEVER CHRIST LEADS US TO DO!!!! How can we ever see the miracles of God take place if we are never placing ourselves in situations that we can truly look at and say, "Man, there is no way I just did that....It had to be God, because I could never do such a thing!" You want to know why I believe in miracles, because time and again I am able to get up in front of a group of people and preach. That is not something that I could ever do without Christ standing right next to me each time I go out. Don't believe me....Meme if you are reading this.....leave a comment and let everyone know that I would have rather taken a Zero on a book report in school than ever get up and present it in front of the class...am I lying. :) Another little secret, I feel that way EVERYTIME I get up to speak to this day. It is not I, but Christ in me, that allows me to do what I do. And, if you ever liked even one of my sermons, let me say for the record....It is not I, but Christ in me, that developed that sermon. (Man, I think I'm getting worked up)

The last part of the post was just about getting out of our comfort zones....Don't get me started about getting out and working with people we don't feel comfortable around, but I'm going to let Adams post speak on that issue (I think he stated it very well).

B. We are afraid of not being popular (both outside the church and inside)

Outside the Church:
I have to agree with John Paul, I am tired of feeling that I have to stand in the shadows just because I say that I am a Christian. You want to try to change my mind about my political views...go right ahead...I'll will agree that each view has about the same % of a chance of being right. You want to try to change my mind about being a Cowboys fan...go right ahead (you may not get far)...I'll will agree that there are other great football teams in the NFL. But, you try to convince me that the faith that has grown inside of me (with fear and trembling..but that is another post) is on the same level with some of the other garbage that this world is trying to teach is truth.....I promise you will not get very far. You see, I have come to the faith that I have because of a lot of work on my part and a lot of love on Christ's part. I could no more live without the faith that is inside of me, than I could live without the blood that flows through my veins. We (as Christians) come from a long line of people that have given their lives for their faith. If you haven't...take a look at Jesus Freaks by DC Talk Volumes 1 & 2. John Paul wrote, "I encourage you all to check yourself over the next week. Are you keeping your faith private? Let it out, what’s the worst that could happen? I think Stephen (from the Bible) is up in Heaven yelling down, 'They’re just rocks!'" THEY'RE JUST ROCKS, man that is great (I wish I had written that). Some of you are saying right now, hey man their rocks...they can do some damage. I would agree, but the point that John Paul is making is this: If killing us is the worst that they can do (and it is pretty bad) then who has REALLY won. (Pay special attention to vv 54-60)

Inside the church:
Through the leadership (Adam spoke well on this issue), we have been taught from a very young age: sit down, be quite, do your job (worship) and leave...we (the leadership) will take care of the day to day stuff.
Isn't this exactly what Jesus went through. Adam made a very good comment on a fiends blog recently about the culture that Jesus was born into.

"In Jesus' times children would grow up following the school of religious thought in Jewish culture. The students would learn and memorize, then when they got older they would move to the harder schooling and some would get kicked out, then to an even harder school and more would get kicked out and rejected, then when they were adults, the elite would study with a rabbi, and follow him around all day long just trying to learn form him. If the rabbi told you to follow him, it meant you were good enough and you could do what he does. The rabbi may reject most as say to them to go follow their family business and they would end their schooling, they were not good enough. So Jesus comes, and He is a rabbi and he approaches some of the rejected people, the fishermen, the tax collectors, the people that were not good enough to follow a human rabbi with faults. Jesus tells them. "Come and follow me," It was amazing. I used to wonder why the disciples would just leave everything behind for a guy that just said follow me, but it was more than that, they were being told they were good enough. Finally told they were good enough to follow God."

Do a little study about the Jewish leadership of Christ's time and you find that His teaching threatened them not just spiritually, but also politically. Can I ask a very hard question: Is it any different in the church today? "Be careful what you say, you don't want to offend Deacon so-and-so." Can I ask another very hard question: What exactly can Deacon so-and-so do to me? And another: Would Deacon so-and-so even be offended if Christ Himself came down and said the same thing? Again, it all goes back to making the changes in the church that need to be made. I'm not saying that I have the answers, I'm just saying we need to start looking really hard for them...from The One that does have the answers.

I really don't know if any of my ramblings have made any sense...but after reading Adam's and John Paul's posts, I really felt moved to write. Thank you guys for your words. Thank you God for loving us. Jesus, give us all the strength to be able to say, "They're just Rocks...Lets Get Dirty!"

Love

Today I was driving my two youngest (my little blond haired angel - 4; my little brunette angle - 2) to their Bitsy's (Wife's Mom) on my way to work. I have a custom with the girls, whenever we get going in the car we listen to some of the music that we all have fallen in love with from movies that we have seen (I really love downloading music...sometimes too much). I have a disk that has become our favorite. It has the "Little Wonders" song from Meet the Robinsons, and a few songs from the most recent Curious George movie. They are really great songs for an early morning drive...soft, sweet, and brings a smile to your face.

Well, this morning I was in a hurry and forgot to turn the music on for us all to enjoy. My little two year old, in her cute little broken language, stated a desire for some "mufic". Realizing that I had forgotten to turn it on, I slip in our favorite disk and the music began to fill the air. This is the time during the post that I wish I could have recorded the next sounds I heard, because I will never be able to amply describe the beauty that came next. To hear a two and four year old sing a song is one of the cutest things in the world. To hear them sing words like,
" Let it slide, let your troubles fall behind you, let it shine,
Till you feel it all around you,
And I don't mind, if it's me you need to turn to, we'll get by,
It's the heart that really matters in the end."
will melt your heart.
While they were singing these words, I could not help but to begin to say in my head....I love these kids. Now, I was not saying the word love like the world today throws the word around. I really LOVE these kids. I would die before I would ever want to see something bad happen to them, but bad things still do happen. It kills me whenever I see them fall and scuff a knee. I HURT when my 8 year old comes home from school and feels she has been mistreated by friends. I go to bed at night praying for God to give me the strength to be the father they need. I LOVE MY FAMILY, and will do all I can to always let them know that I am here for them.

With this, I began to feel a warm feeling, almost like a hug, come over me. I can not say that I heard God say, "I love you", but what I felt made me believe that God was essentially saying to me, "You love those kids that I have given you, imagine how much more I love them and you."

John 1:11-13 says:
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

Romans 8:38-39 says:
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Side note: The word use here "convinced" - the word used in the Greek New Testament - has a sense of great work put behind what he now believes. You almost get a sense that Paul is saying, I have not come to this conclusion just because I want to, because it's convenient and it's something I want to believe...I have had to be "convinced" of this...I have had to be shown this to be true)

You see, we can not begin to understand the love that God has for us. I believe that the love that we are capable of is just a drop in the bucket to the perfected love that God has within Him. But for discussion sake, lets say that God can only equal the amount of love that I have for my own children, then I am thinking we are going to be alright.

Everyone

This is a video that was suggested by another one out there in the blogosphere. (Thanks Dragonflysoul) I am a huge Kirk Franklin fan, so I was surprised that I had missed this.

For me, one of the greatest parts of the video is when Kirk says, "This song is dedicated to people like me." That one phrase speaks volumes to me. You see, everyone has baggage that we are carrying. Everyone has pain in our past (and maybe present) that we are still struggling to let go. Everyone....Everyone....Everyone. Yet, we live in a world where honesty about our weaknesses is mocked, ridiculed, emotionally beaten, and laughed at. Therefore, Everyone hides their pain and does one of two things: 1. Puts on the "Everything is alright" face. OR 2. (Because of all the others that put on the "Everything is alright" face) There are those that hold on to the pain and wonder if they are all alone on this ship that is caught in a hurricane. If you expose your weakness at any given moment, then you hear things like, "Are you sure your cut out to do this job?" Yes, I am speaking of my own pain. I'll tell the story, to open myself to you. There was a season in my life where God graced me with an opportunity to speak from His pulpit. One day I was so moved by my study of the Word of God during the week, that when I brought myself to the pulpit to deliver the message...I wept. I wept for myself, the congregation, Christianity, and the world. After the message, I went to take my usual place on the front pew. When church was over, I did not have too many people come to me (I think they did not know what to say). Later on that day, a member of the congregation came to my house...sat in my living room...looked me in the eye (now I have to be honest, this is where I thought a moment of encouragement was going to take place)...and said, "Are you sure your cut out to do this job?" Oh, the pain that I still feel over that moment. After hearing this song, I now have a way to verbalize how I have been able to move forward everyday after what was said....I try to imagine me. Am I the only one with this kind of story, NO! Everyone has this kind of story. That is why this song is so powerful, because it is saying that no matter what any"one" has done to you, "The One" still loves you and will always be there for you and bring others into your life to help. May God bless you with this song, and may we all find the strength inside to except that we are "Everyone".

"Imagine Me"

Kirk Franklin

(Thank you...For allowing me to see myself the way You see me...Thank you)

Imagine me loving what I see when the mirror looks at me cause I, I imagine me.

In a place, of no insecurities and I'm finally happy cause I imagine me.

Letting go of all of the ones who hurt me cause they never did deserve me, can you imagine me.

Saying no to thoughts that try to control me, remembering all you told me, Lord can you imagine me?

Over what my momma said, and healed from what my daddy did and I wanna live and not read that page again.

(Chorus)
Imagine me, being free, trusting you totally, finally I can imagine me, I admit it was hard to see you being in love with someone like me, finally I can imagine me.

Imagine me

Being strong and not letting people break me down, you won't get that joy this time around. Can you imagine me?

In a world, in a world nobody has to live afraid, because of your love, fear's gone away, can you imagine me.

Letting go of my past and glad I have another chance and my heart will dance cause I don't have to read that page again.

(Repeat Chorus 2x’s)

Kirk talks:
This song is dedicated to people like me, those that struggle with insecurities, acceptance and even self esteem, you never felt good enough, you never felt pretty enough but imagine God whispering in your ear letting you know that everything that has happened is now.

Gone, Gone, Its’ Gone, All Gone
Repeat 8

Kirk’s remarks
( Oh It’s All Gone. Every Sin, Every Mistake, Every Failure Its’ All Gone!
Depression Gone By Faith It’s Gone
Low Self Esteem, Hallelujah Its Gone, All Gone,
It’s Gone All My Scars All My Pain It’s In The Past , Its’ Yesterday Its’ All Gone( Can’t Believe Its’ Gone) What Your Mother Did, What your Father Did, Hallelujah (Its’ Gone All Gone Oh Whoa))

Oh na-na-na-na
Oh na-na-na-na-na-na
Repeat 3 X’s
Oh na-na-na-na-na-na

Which one are you? ;)

I tried to convince myself that I was the one on the left.....but the voices in my head started laughing!

One of "Those" Days

This is one of those, "Man that's just how I feel" pictures.

Side note: What do you pray during this situation?

"Lord, I want down"? - Could be a long fall

"Lord, don't let the wire snap"? - Could be up there a while

How would you pray?

Stained Glass

There are some amazing churches out there that have some of the most beautiful stained glass I have ever seen. I would have to say, my church (pictured <--- right there) is one of those churches. You can not tell from the photo, but both side walls of the sanctuary are lined with massive panes of beautiful stained glass retelling important stories of the Old and New Testament. Every time I walk into our sanctuary, I have to catch my breath (not because I just walked into the balcony) because of the beauty.

Yesterday, my family attended our Easter services at the church. The room was filled to capacity, the music seemed to be a little stronger than usual, the sermon was one of our Pastor's best, but the one thing that still grabbed my heart was the the way the light was pouring into the room through that beautiful glass. Once again, I began to lose myself in it. I began to still my soul and take in the beautiful picture God was painting for us. I began to think a lot about that glass. Not the usual things like, where did it come from or how did they design such a thing? No, the thought that kept racing through my mind was, "Where is this beauty needed the most?"

I began to think how these beautiful structures were built so that everyone that walked into the sanctuary would not just see a beautiful work of art, but would actually FEEL the presence of God. There is nothing wrong with anyone striving for that end, but is that all the stained glass is meant to do? Is it only meant to reach the ones that step foot within these sacred walls, or could God use it in a different way? My spirit was touched and I began to ask the question, what if? You see, the ones that actually benefit from the work of art the most are the ones that have already found the greatest gift of all, our Lord Jesus. What if, during the day we let the stained glass sing its beautiful hymns of God's presence onto the pews and those sitting in them, but at night when the world is dark we leave the lights of the sanctuary on so that the same works of art can sing the hymns of forgiveness and grace to a cold world in need of warmth. Just imagine, cars driving by with the shadows of night all around them. Suddenly they pass a church, and its beautiful stained glass begins to remind them that there is a God that loves them and will provide light to the shadows of night that sometimes encompass their souls.

I know that the first thing any "Building and Grounds" Committee will say is (can you tell I'm a good Baptist, we are the ones with all the committees), "We can not afford to do such a thing." To such a statement I would have to reply, "Can we afford not to?"

We must begin to look within ourselves as believers (and the Church) and try to turn all that we know upside-down. I am not asking us to change everything about the church and how we do things, only the things that that we see (after our upside-down assignment) that need to be changed. It is time for us to look at the gifts that God has given us (our buildings, our finances, our time) and stop asking ourselves what else do we need to make "us" more comfortable. Instead we need to ask ourselves, what would make those outside the walls more comfortable.

Matthew 9:9-13 (The Message) says:
Passing along, Jesus saw a man at his work collecting taxes. His name was Matthew. Jesus said, "Come along with me." Matthew stood up and followed him.
Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew's house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus' followers. "What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riffraff?"
Jesus, overhearing, shot back, "Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: 'I'm after mercy, not religion.' I'm here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders."

Lets share our Stained Glass :)

Stacking Cups

Last night my wife and I attended our church's "Maundy Thursday" services. Now, I did not grow up under the liturgical calendar, so for those like me that do not know what "Maundy Thursday" is all about here is the Wikipedia definition:
"In the Christian liturgical calendar, Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday is the feast or holy day falling on the Thursday before Easter that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles. It is the fifth day of Holy Week, and is preceded by Holy Wednesday and followed by Good Friday."
During the service everyone that follows Christ was invited to come forward and participate in communion. My wife and I were on the front row, because she had a small speaking part in the service :), and were one of the first ones to go forward. While I sat there watching all the others come forward for this very special moment, I began to notice that the communion cups (as seen in the picture above) began to be stacked one on top of another. After a while, the cups began to look like a sky line of a major city with some stacks towering high and others only having two or three.

At first, I was a little upset that people just placed the cups on the table. Don't they know they should have taken the cup with them, like the good person that I am. No, they just took their drink and then placed the cup on the table. How could they! How could they dirty the Lord's Table that way. (I really hate to admit this, but these were things that were running through my mind)

After spending some time focusing on those cups, God began to speak to my spirit. I began to feel a shift in my mindset toward the scene that was playing out before me. I began to see those cups as a representation of the lives of the people that drank from them. Just think about the stories behind those cups. Each of these people have come to this place in time on a path that God has placed before them. From the child that was 12 and could have been taking their first communion in this service to the older gentlemen that almost tripped on a cord laying across the floor because time has made it harder for him to pick up his feet, they all have a story. They all have their good days and their bad days. They all have moments in their lives that they know the presence of God is with them and then they have those moments where they cry out to Him wondering where He has gone. "The Stories" began to intrigue me. I began to picture the individual ways that Christ has worked in each of their lives. I began to see the freshness of faith through the eyes of the children and the roots of faith through the elderly. I began to understand that Christ does love us individually. He is there for us through the ups and the downs, the joys and the tears. Those stacking cups began to be much more to me than just a few used drinking cups. And if that is the case, then why shouldn't those used cups be place at Christ's table. Isn't that were they should be? When we are going through our greatest success in life or our greatest struggle, where would Christ want us to bring our cups? To His Table. If we have questions about life that we can not find any answers to, where would Christ want us to bring our cups? To His Table.

The rest of the service went on, but I could not get those cups out of my mind. Now that I think about it, I may never get those cups out of my mind. We are all on a journey. A journey that has so many twists and turns, ups and downs that it may make us sick at times, but all of that is part of our cup. And because of the gift that Christ has given us on this Easter weekend, He now looks at us and says, "You don't have to carry that cup anymore. Just put it on My table."

How do you live?

If my "video madness" is driving you crazy, I am truly sorry. God has been ministering to me through song lately, and I am wanting to share that with you. May this song touch your heart as much as it does mine.



How You Live
Point of Grace

Wake up to the sunlight with your windows open
Don't hold in your anger or leave things unspoken
Wear your red dress use your good dishes
Make a big mess and make lots of wishes
Have what you want, but want what you have
And don't spend you life looking back

Turn up the music Turn it up Loud
Take a few chances Let it all out
Because you won't regret it
Looking back from where you have been
Because it's not who you knew and it's not what you did
It's how you Live

So go to the ballgames and go to the ballet
And go see your folks more than just on the holidays
Kiss all your children Dance with your wife
Tell your husband you love him every night
Don't run from the truth cause you can't get away
Oh no
Just face it and you'll be ok

Turn up the music Turn it up Loud
Take a few chances Let it all out
Because you won't regret it
Looking back from where you have been
Because it's not who you knew and it's not what you did
It's how you Live

Where ever you are and wherever you've been
Now is a time to begin

So give to the needy and Pray for the grieving
Even when you don't think that you can
Cause all that you do is bound to come back to you
So think of your fellow man
And make peace with God and Make peace with yourself
Oh yeah
Cause in the end there's nobody else

Turn up the music Turn it up Loud
Take a few chances Let it all out
Because you won't regret it
Looking back from where you have been
Because it's not who you knew and it's not what you did
It's how you Live

Because it's not who you knew and it's not what you did
It's how you Live

Jesus, help us all to remember what is really important in life. Lord, give us the strength to let the things that we think are so important,but aren't, find the appropriate place on our priority list. Let us truly find that "Child-like" faith. That faith that allows us to see that it is alright to be silly and play, knowing that if we fall (and we will) we have a Father that will allow us to crawl up in His lap with His arms wrapped around us and be comforted. Oh Jesus, I pray. Amen.

New Movie!

This is a movie that Ben Stein is bringing to theaters very soon. I will be going to see this film to support the making of more like it. Just sending it out for information sake, and maybe change a few minds. God Bless.

Must Read!!!

Quick note: Before anyone decides to burn me at the stake as a heretic for talking about the church, please read this post and the link in their entirety. Thank you :)
Whoever is reading this blog, must read the post I linked below. Then, email that link to every other Christian you know. This is an issue that is very important to all that say they love Christ and His Church.
PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE POST!!!! At the bottom of the first page you will see a link that takes you to part two of the post. Please go there and read that one also.

Just yesterday Emily and I were talking about "church work". Anyone that knows me, knows that I was once a full time minister within the church. My loving wife consistently brings it up to see if that is something I am feeling a need to go back to at this point in my life. Yesterday, while "checking in" with my heart, she asked me if I was in a need to "do" church work. Very surprisingly, I looked at her and said, "I am not sure how much longer our 'church' has to it." (I know. I'm sure she wondered where that came from also) Now, I was not talking about our church that we are at present attending. I was talking about what I like to call the "Big C" church. And to clarify even more, I am talking the the "Big C" church in this country. The longer that I am out of "church work", the more my loving God is allowing me to learn about the culture and the people that live around me everyday. The more I learn, the more I see a large (and growing) amount of people that are dissatisfied with the "institutional" church. The more I learn, the more I see that there is going to have to be a fundamental shift in mindset about the "Church" in Christ-followers today. This shift, will be one that I believe will change the way we "do" church for next few generations, until the next shift must take place or our Lord comes back to takes us home. I could go on and on, but read the link below. (just click on the link below) Then, lets discuss this a little more. Leave a comment and lets make this an active conversation. Let me know what you think. I am actively inviting you to invite other people to this blog. If I can get enough people that are interested, I may even start an entirely different blog space for this one specific issue (that is how important I believe this topic is). If no one is interested, then I will continue to talk to myself about this very important issue. :) It is time for us to look beyond the question, what can we do to bring more people into our churches? It is time for us to say, what do we need to do as a church to go out to the people? God Bless you and Keep Looking Up!

The Title of the post is:
They Love the Church but Not the Institution
Have we confused the community of God’s people with the structures that support it?

This is a very well thought out article. Please read and if God leads you to pass it on, please do.

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2008/03/they_love_the_c.html

P.S. I was looking for pictures of churches when I happened across the one I used at this website http://amandalara.blogspot.com - I had to recognize this photographer because I took a look at her stuff on this site and her flickr (which there is a link to on her blog) site - she is really good

Are you kidding me!!!???!!!

Gotta Watch!!!!!


http://view.break.com/469591 - Watch more free videos

One thing: HE FINISHED THE REPORT!!!!
This guy is dedicated to his craft.

We need more Mondays!

I watch this video with patriotism rolling from my eyes, and have a question come to mind. Do we live in a country today that would still applaud Monday for what he did? I want to think we do. I want to believe we do. I want to hope we do. We need more Mondays. :)
God Bless you all and God Bless the United States of America

Where are we going?

I was reading my daily scripture that pops up on my Facebook page this morning and this is what it said:

You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
Romans 2:21-23

This verse is very relevant on many different fronts, but in the light of our current political landscape it screams to be heard. But, what is God really trying to tell us through this verse. For me (and those that know me are going to smile when they read this)it is about consistency. God is saying that leaders (whether they are political, spiritual, educational, or familial) must send a consistent message to those they are trying to lead. Essentially, God is blowing out of the water the entire "Do as say, not as I do" mentality. This brings me to some questions that are actually beginning to keep me up at night:
1. Where are our spiritual leaders?
Whether it is the Pope in the Vatican or our illustrious leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention, we are being told that the most pressing issue to Christians today is Global Warming. What!!!???? With the news that 1 in 4 teenage girls has some kind of sexually transmitted disease, you guys are trying to tell me that the issue that should be concerning my soul is GLOBAL WARMING!!! Are you out of your mind? Where is the leadership?
2. Where are our political leaders?
We have politicians that were elected on the platform of "Integrity" and "Justice" that are being caught spending over 80 Grand on prostitutes. And, don't try to tell me that it is just the Democrats that have this problem. On the other side of the isle we have guys that plead guilty to trying to proposition homosexual sex in a men's bathroom and then trys to reverse his plea to the court when he sees that nobody is asking him to leave office. Where is the leadership?
3. Where are our educational leaders?
We have story after story of teachers having inappropriate relationships with students. We are not talking about teachers "falling in love" (yeah right!) with a soon to be 18 year old senior in high school. We are talking about teachers going after late elementary and junior high students. Look up predator in the dictionary and you will probably find one of their faces. And, don't try to say that this is a "dirty old man" issue, when the majority of the stories coming out have to do with women teachers stalking our young boys. Where is the leadership?
4. Where are our familial leaders?
Now, this is an issue that I could really begin to build a soap box on (wait maybe I already have with this post) due to the sad situation the state of the "American Family" is in. We have families being torn apart due to immorality, money, and secrets (and that is just the "same old story"). You also hear of parents that are killing their children for all kinds of off the wall issues. You hear of children killing their parents because they would not let them on the computer. Where is the leadership?

There is no consistent message being sent anymore. We have no one to lead us. The trust is gone. You know what is proving to me that people are screaming out for a leader, the campaign that Barak Obama is running. This man is riding high on the political landscape not because of his ideas about how to run this country (because frankly you start to study those and your eyes begin to widen), but because he stands on the platforms and has leadership oozing from his pours. When there is a void in leadership, people will begin to follow anyone just to keep from roaming around with no where to go. Don't believe me, study the history of Germany. How could a people allow a man like Hitler to ever gain control? They gave it to him!!!!! They were a people that needed consistency in their lives and he promised it to them.

Inconsistency = Confusion = Anxiety = Fear = "We'll take anything" mentality
Is this were we are. Have we as a society been fed an inconsistent message for so long that we will now accept whatever is out there just as long as it "looks" like leadership? I wonder? So, I end this post with a question: Where are we going? The only answer that I have right now is: God only knows.

Are You A Freak?

Joy Behar of "The View" said these words a few months ago:
“I have a theory that you can’t find any saints anymore because of psychotropic medication. I think that [in] the old days, the saints were hearing voices and they didn’t have any Thorazine to calm them down. Now that we have all of this medication available to us, you can’t find a saint anymore. In the old days it used to be you heard voices. You can’t do that anymore.”





We're Still Out There Joy!
God Bless and Keep Looking Up :)