Archive for January, 2007

I’ve started a guys group called Xn Fight Club, that meets in my home Thursdays. It’s comprised of mainly non-believers and no-longer-believers with some not-sure-what-I-believers. I want to share part of a conversation we delved into this week.

Well let me also let it be known, that this is not a bible study or anything of that nature. I’m looking to wake up this group of 7 young men (ages 16-19). And my goal isn’t to make them good, because I was reminded this week that “Jesus did not come to make bad people good, but came to make the dead alive (Ravi Zacharias).” Life is what I’m seeking and it’s what these boys need.

Back to the conversation.

This was something I take no credit in, I was just blessed to be apart of this. We began to talk about what their thought about God were. Brian (not his real name), one of the young men said that, “I don’t want to be a Christian because I’ve never seen a good one. And besides every time I go to church I either fall asleep or get an endless list of rules I have to do. I’ve tired it and there’s nothing there for me.” I love openings like that one.

I discussed with the rest of the group about their opinions on the subject. Most agreed inpart to what he was saying.

Then it came to me (meaning, not my own thoughts) and I asked them: ”What if we’ve missed the point of Christianity. What if all you see is wrong! What if you’re right. But would it piss you off if these people were standing between you and finding true life in Christ?”

Brian rebutted, ”You mean, like, someone’s got my million dollars in this room and they won’t let me get to it? Well I’d do anything to push past them and get what is mine! Da*n them, they need to get out of my way!”

Then I asked them if they’d be willing to forget what they’ve seen, heard, or been through and embark upon a journey into finding out who Christ really was. And remarkably they said, “yes.” These young men don’t want to hear what they’re doing wrong. They aren’t looking to follow any rules or conform. But what they do want is a journey, an adventure and someone to walk it out with. They want a Savior King, but just haven’t seen Him yet. Pray that their eyes are opened to the Lord as we continue on. It’s going to get interesting.

[to be continued...]

Do your best to tag up this picture!

I’ll start it it with: “Senior Pastor’s now got a covered parking spot!” 

[Courtesy of Kevin Bussey]

This is in response to a blog I wrote last week about living the Kingdom life. While that is all true, the analogy isn’t complete. So I’m here to add another story.

There is an idea that exists; a grand sweeping idea that lives, moves, and breathes. It has the power to give life and take it. It possesses the hope of something more. Then there is us. We are a people living without a home. We are strangers and aliens in a land foreign to us. Because we don’t belong, the world around us hates us. But we live with the idea buried deep within our hearts. The idea gives us a hope that we have a home somewhere. We know it exists, but only within our hearts. It has the power to change us and those around us; even those that hate us – especially those that hate us!

The idea that I speak of is Christ. He was much, much more than simply a man. He was also a divine being that loved us beyond anything we can comprehend. This idea, this love, is what is meant to fuel us as Christians. But something has been lost.

“The weakness of so many modern Christians is that they feel too much at home in the world. In their effort to achieve restful “adjustment” to unregenerate society they have lost their pilgrim character and become an essential part of the very moral order against which they are sent to protest. The world recognizes them and accepts them for what they are. And this is the saddest thing that can be said about them. They are not lonely, but neither are they saints.”

AW Tozer

We are apart of a Kingdom, yes, but we are pilgrims who are living far from our home. We must not lose our identity and become something we are not. But we are also not called to shrink away and hide. We are called to missional living.

“Jesus comes with saving love for the world. He creates the church as a missional community to join Him in His mission of saving the world. He invites me to be part of the community to experience His saving love and participate in it.”

Brian McLaren

We are meant to live open (Missional) and yet also closed existences (Kingdom). Just as Christ was both man and God, we must remember that we are called to be both Missional (man) and Kingdom (God) minded. At times they may seem to contradict each other, but it is that tension that keeps us in check.

Wikipedia [in describing Missional livng] puts it best, “All believers are missionaries who are sent to be a blessing to the culture around them through a lifestyle that mimics God’s kingdom here on earth.”

Do we ever truly escape High School? For some reason, it’s such an awkward, yet influential time in our lives. It’s one that really scars and embeds itself upon us. So why do those 4 years hold such weight upon us?

 When I think back and look at who I was, I’m amazed at who I have become. I used to look at that teenage boy with such horrible disdain. But over the years I’ve begun to realized I was just a kid trying to get by the best way I could.

I see that in the kids I work with. They’re just trying to get by, to survive. 

So when you see teenagers on the street, with their piercings and baggy pants. Don’t scoff at them, just realize that they’re trying to survive the best way they know. And also remember that behind the exterior was the same scared soul that you were years back.

I’m out of town today, so here’s a chance to check out a really great blog.

 http://myderbe.wordpress.com/

It’s got great writings about family and life. I always enjoy reading this blog.