New series coming soon!

I promise I will post something worthwhile here soon, I have been trying to work on a series, and actually finish it or get close to finishing it before I start posting them.  That way when I say I am going to start a series I actually do it, instead of starting and then not finishing.  The series is going to be on The American Dream and my struggles with that idea and the progression of that idea on our society and in our lives.  Until then I will re-post some things that I love to read.  Hope you enjoy these things!

One of the better posts I have read in a while.

Just like the farmers

In James, the author (James) tells the twelve Jewish-Christian nations to “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand” (5: 7-8 ESV)

‘Who am I that you are mindful of me?’

I want to share one of my most recent journal entries with you. I am not doing this to say ‘look at me I get it’ or ‘look at me I am such a good christian’ because If I am honest, I am not and don’t get it all. I am wicked to my core, I want to think, say and do wicked things, and it’s only through the grace of Christ that I don’t sometimes.
This is a look into my life, and the things I am struggling with, because deep down I know that I am not the only one who thinks like this or who struggles with certain things. I want to present this to you in the most humble way as possible. I think that this could be useful to someone, so if you think you know someone point them this way.
Like I say mid way through the entry, these things I talk about struggling with are not new concepts, people have struggled with this since the time that our Lord walked this earth, and people will struggle with this until He returns again. So I hope there is something to learn from this;

writers block? am i even considered a writer?

Today I attempted to write two blogs, neither of them came to fruition. I am trying too hard I think, I am trying to force myself to write something, when my mind is perfectly content with just thinking about things. I have tried to view this blog as a resource and tool for my ministry and a way to dialogue with people about topics, issues, concerns, and life. I have failed for the past few weeks on even coming up with an idea to spark a whole blog post.
So for now I am going to just accept that, as much as I don’t want to, I am. I want to write some blog posts that make me and others think hard about the things we do in life, but right now that just isn’t going to happen. Maybe this is because I was convicted by my sub-par writing of before, and want to make things better and just can’t satisfy my minds idea of what a good blog post should look like. Until I figure out this little dilemma expect nothing too great. I will at least try and post some good resources and such. I really hope thats not what my blog is coming too.

My qualms with e-readers finally put to words

As most of my friends would testify I haven’t jumped on board with this whole e-reader movement yet. I have been hesitant to say the least. Which is a far turn from the person I was a year ago, I would have bought one without hesitation and probably without the ‘real’ money to buy one. A lot has changed in me over the years, praise God. To illustrate how ‘unmoved’ I have been by the e-reader movement we are currently in I will recap a conversation I had with a really good friend of mine, whom has already purchased a Nook and his fiance.

Me: “Friend, how do you like your Nook?”
Friend: “I love me Nook, it has been a great tool for me, and it works well.”
Fiance: ” He loves it” everyone chuckles
Me: ” I’m just weary of this movement, I’m not sure I will be getting an e-reader anytime soon, I love books too much”
Friend: “Yeah but it’s so great! You’ll get one, I know you”

Abide in me, and I in you

There are many themes that run through the Bible, and there are many different things that God is calling his children and faithful followers to, but lately one theme has shone brighter to me than all the rest.

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15: 4-5 ESV

This is just a brief glimpse into this post. I have really enjoyed reading through, praying about, and learning from God about this section of scripture this past year. It has really helped shape me and my mindset for doing ministry and living my life for Christ amongst many other life circumstances. To read the rest of this post, visit the Veritas blog here, and while there maybe take a peak at some of the other posts my peers have been writing.

I’m back, I won’t leave for that long again…

So it’s been a while since I blogged, life has been busy and trust me I have wanted to blog for the past few weeks just haven’t been able to get around to it. God has been still working in lives none the less and I am super excited about this blog post, it is a re-post of a blog I just read in trying to catch up with my google reader posted on July 20th.
When I was saved about 4 years ago now I really grabbed onto some artists that I thought were doing some great things. My friends never let me hear the end of it! Any time they would ride with me I would blast these songs and they would just laugh it off and tell me to stop listening to it, but I never did, well tell about a few months ago. However after reading this post by Josh Patterson, a pastor at The Village Church in Dallas TX I’m going to put them all back on my playlist. I think what these guys are doing is so important, and until now I haven’t really been able to put it to words in a way that made sense to other people. Josh does that for me here in this post. I hope you enjoy.

“It is interesting how movements begin. I love looking back and seeing how history unfolds. Opportunities arise for people to step up and call their generation to see things differently, to believe accurately and live passionately. Some movements are short-lived while others have a lasting impact. You have micro-movements of subcultures—smaller cultures within the greater culture. You also see macro movements that can change nations or potentially the world. They are led by imperfect people who oftentimes did not necessarily desire to start a movement. God, in His sovereign plan, weaves people into His story to play roles that bring about His purposes. They are bit players in a bigger drama.
I have been thinking about a specific group of guys for a long time. I have watched their lives and considered the impact they are having. I have wondered how far reaching their scope potentially could be and marveled at how God has orchestrated their lives for such a time as this. I have often thought about how powerful the gospel is to transform and redeem as I have considered their ways. In short, this group has been an encouragement to me in a way that has caught me off guard. This group consists of four front-line artists who simply don’t want to waste their lives: Lecrae, Tedashii, Trip Lee and Sho Baraka.
They are Christian rappers who formed ReachRecords and 116 Clique with a passion to reach this generation with the gospel. It’s not gimmickry. It’s not ego. It’s not hype. They are cultural missionaries who use the medium of rap to share the message of Christ. It’s not unlike a medical missionary using the medium of surgery to win the opportunity to share the message of Christ. They are preachers without a pulpit, teachers without a podium. They are slowly infiltrating the hip-hop culture with turntables and microphones, seizing the opportunity to share the gospel by utilizing their gift as a platform.
I found their calling significant for several reasons. First, they are unashamedly preaching the gospel of Christ. Their music is Christocentric and culturally decipherable. Every song and every lyric points to the Savior in some form or fashion. Every event is a crusade. Every medium is an opportunity to preach.
Second, rap and hip-hop is far reaching in scope. Rap music appeals to the inner-city teenager as much as it does to the upper-middle class yuppie. This style of music draws from a diverse group of people. It is hard to profile; therefore, their reach is wide.
Third, they are African-American role models. The fatherless epidemic has plagued the inner-city and contributes to many of the cycles that continue to bind this segment of society. Here is a group of men being faithful husbands and faithful fathers. Here is a group upholding the worth of marriage and esteeming the role of a father. Here is a group deflecting fame and fortune to show that Christ is better. As they live faithful lives, a generation is watching.
Fourth, they are doctrinally solid. On the whole, the African-American church has been strong in faith but weak in doctrine. These men espouse the need for both. They are not watering down lyrics to make them palatable; instead, their lyrics are rich with sound doctrine that teaches the deep truths of God’s worth. They are Christ-centered, not man-centered. They call a generation to forsake worldly pleasures and seek prosperity in Christ alone.
Fifth and finally, their calling reminds me that mine is no different. We certainly have different mediums and spheres of influence, but I am called to unashamedly preach the gospel of Christ. God has placed me in an arena of influence in which I am to be faithful. I am a role model to the next generation. Even if I impact no one else, I will impact my family. I want my wife to marvel at the love of God because of how I love her. I want my children to see a marriage saturated with grace, godliness and goodness. I want to pass on to my little ones the beautiful reality of the Savior and watch them, by God’s grace, pass it along to their own. I want to see chains broken and new branches of a family tree begin. I desire to see our little home play its part well in the drama of God’s unfolding, redemptive story. I want to teach them the rich and deep truths of Scripture. I want our home to be free in the Lord and bound in His love. Regardless of musical taste, we have a lot more in common through Christ. It is stronger than beats or rhythms. It’s a family called the Church and each member is faithfully playing their part.
I hope this is much bigger than a movement. I hope it’s a revolution, a gospel-centered revolution. Rap it. Preach it. Live it. Don’t waste your life.
jp”

Learning from the rest

I read a really terrifying blog post this morning. It requires a little context in order to understand why it is so scary.

As most of you know I feel like God is calling me to work for the Church (notice the big C here), more specifically I feel like God is calling me to teach in the church (notice the little c here), therefore probably becoming a pastor. I understand that I’m still young, I still have decisions to make in my life and lots of hard work ahead of me to get to that point, but I really feel like the Lord is calling me to a life of vocational ministry in the church. I also have some really good friends who fall into two categories, either a) they are already an ordained teaching pastor at a church, or b) they are working towards that as a goal, some closer than others. So the culture and ideology of being a pastor is a very big part of my life, at least in this season of life it is.

So with that context lets get to the story I read about. The blog post I read came from Micheal McKinley, who is a pastor for Guilford Baptist Church in Sterling VA, and a blogger for 9 Marks, a ministry and resource for pastors. Recently Mike posted on a man whom you might have read about in the news recently, Gary Lamb. Gary was a church planter, blogger and the pastor of a huge church in Georgia where he ended up having an affair and divorcing his wife. Since his divorce he has recently remarried and is planting another church, which is another story and post for another day, I’m onto something else here. And just for the record, I don’t agree with what Gary is doing, any of it really.

Mike writes;
“Since his story has broken, Lamb has been receiving emails from many (italics are mine) men in ministry who are cheating on their wives, and so he is uniquely positioned to speak to the question of why pastors have affairs. Even if you don’t agree with him on a lot of things, there’s a lot to be gained from his insights on this matter (as someone once said, wisdom isn’t learning from your mistakes, it’s learning from the mistakes of others). His four observations:

Most pastors struggle with some sort of insecurity.
Most pastors have no accountability.
Most pastors live their lives serving everyone except their wife.
The church has made pastors into rock stars rather than regular men called by God.”

Wow, those four points are really scary to me, especially since I am pursuing a career in pastoral ministry and as statics go, I’m 90% sure I’ll be married at some point (of course if you asked me that percentage is probably a little higher right now) The fact that Mike said, many men in ministry are cheating on their wives has whole heartedly scared me. I want to, in subsequent blog posts, attack these four observations and give some biblical ground as to how some of these can be avoided, how the power of the gospel should be enough for pastors (and everyone else), what Christ has done for us addressing these issues specifically, and if you are a pastor or on your way there that these observations shouldn’t discourage you from wanting to follow that path.

The point is that there is hope, we shouldn’t feel lost or doomed if we are currently on the path of pastoral ministry or in it right now, Christ spilled his blood for instances like this, and we have to remember that we are broken, even the “rock-star” pastors are broken, and if we look into their lives long enough we will find a sin (not that we should always be looking for someone’s sin, just know its there).

Here is the link for the McKinley post

The allure of technology and the power of control

I originally submitted this post for another blog, but after a few days it hasn’t been posted so no reason to let it lay to waste, hope you enjoy!

There is no doubt in my mind, and probably none in yours, that our culture and society have been changed, and will continue to change due to technology. Technology, by definition, is simply the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes; and can be found in machinery and equipment like cell phones, computers, cars, video cameras, etc. I think we are all in agreement that technology is something we think we couldn’t live without. Most of us own computers (or have access to one), most of us have cell phones, most of us drive a car, most of us listen to music (with any of the hundreds of music playing devices) and all of us are reading this blog which is communicated through technology (gotcha!). The popularity of technology and its billion-dollar industry in our culture makes me scratch my head and ponder, why are we so interested in technology, and what about technology is so appealing to humans, at the root of it what is it about technology that has got us going nuts over it? I think Mike Pohlman, writer and editor of The Gospel Coalition blog site, sums it up real nicely in his article on technology and its shortcomings when he says “humans don’t do well when not in control”. Technology, amongst many other enticing features, gives humans the mirage of being in control, and we like that.

Now a disclaimer, I love technology, and I suppose I always will. At its fundamental level, technology is like everything else God has gifted us with, great. As fallen beings we are especially inept at taking something that should, in its essence, glorify God and speak of His amazing creativity and beauty in the world, and turn it into its own god. We take something that is only a shadow of the real true thing (which is God) and worship it, instead of looking for what is creating the shadow, God. Technologies, and the various instruments of it, are easily some of the most worshipped items on our planet, besides our selves of course. Why do we love technology so much? Well I would argue, and Pohlman would probably agree, it’s because technology can give us so much control, and we love that!

Technology is just one of many things in our lives that we can manipulate and control however we want. We can’t change the weather, we can’t change politics, we can’t change how fast our vegetables grow, we can’t change the color of the sky and we can’t change the way meat tastes. These things are just out of our hands, and should be, because if we got a hold of the power to do these things, we would screw it up! Oh but technology gives us that power, it gives us that ability to change our background picture, to decide who are friends really are (thanks Facebook), it gives us the ability to tell the whole world what we are doing (though you only have 78 followers!?) and it gives us the ability to take a picture of the sky and then change the color of it to our liking, lets say red.

I was amazed at the pictures and videos I was seeing on June 24th, I couldn’t believe it. I was reading tweets, Facebook messages and statuses, blog posts, newspaper articles and television news pieces all just raving about the big event of the day. For those of you who don’t know what happened that day, it was the illustrious release of the iPhone 4. The ultimate tool to control your life, it does everything you want to do and more! Now most of you know I have an iPhone and I love it, and thank God for Steve Jobs because it has been a great tool in many ways, but I think things have gotten a bit out of control. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets everywhere in America to get their hands on this new gadget, the gadget that will make everything easier and rule our lives. I know there are some people out there, who can wisely use the new iPhone and other great gadgets, but it seems to me like our culture and society has decided to put technology on a pedestal where it doesn’t belong.

I know that this isn’t new to any of you, you know just as much as I do that there are always going to be things that we misuse and that we idolize, but lets not conform to culture. This becomes an issue of the heart, we no longer take technology for what it is, a great gift from God, but we turn it into something that controls our lives and becomes our God. I just look at people who have all these gadgets, iPod’s, iPhone’s, iPads, laptops, desktops, projectors, blue-ray dvd players, 3-D tv’s and wonder if they will ever realize that these gadgets, these plastic and metal devices that were created to aid is in life, not take over our lives, will never fill them up. We have fallen in love with technology because we can control it, but what we aren’t looking at is how much technology and gadgets are actually controlling our lives.

So what then do we put ourselves in, what then do we focus on, what should be controlling our life? I think that Paul here helps us realize what it is we need to be doing, and where we need to be putting our hope and focus.

[3:1] If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. [2] Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. [3] For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. [4] When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. [5] Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

(Colossians 3:1-5; ESV)

And be thankful that we don’t have to control or don’t get to control many things. Just look at what we have done already with that control, and trust me you don’t have to look far to see what it has done to us, BP oil spill is just one example of hundreds. If we were in control, mankind as we know it would be in peril, but God has thought this through and thankfully he is in control.

CRAFT NIGHT AND THE RESULTS!

So to top off a wonderful weekend spent with my girlfriend visiting I was able to make some crafts. I went simple this time seeing as it was the first, of hopefully many craft nights over at Molly’s house this summer! At craft night we drank some wine, had some great snacks, visited and caught up with each others lives and then played some nerts. I was able to squeeze in a little crafts at the beginning and am very happy with the results!

Vinyl record book ends! They are super easy to make, anyone can do it and they are cheap and really cool! I found these records in my parents basement, that would be my first recommended place to look, then next is garage sales this summer, people might even give them to you, then check your local record store, thrift store, or the garbage dump (dont really check that).
Next I just boiled some water, put it in a pyrex dish and then stuck the record in there until the plastic got soft and shaped them to an L, set them out to cool and BOOM! New book ends!

So if you want a really quick craft and an even quicker slash inexpensive fix that looks cool to hold up all your sweet books, here you go!
PS, Molly and Jeff won nerts by only 2 points! We almost had them, well get them next time!