So here I am. Another night where I can’t sleep. So I do what any other person would do at 2:30 am when they can’t sleep… browse YouTube. I came across this video and I haven’t stopped laughing since. Perhaps you have seen this because it has like 45 million views or something. But this was perfect to ease my mind nicely as I hit the sack. Enjoy!
1… 2… 3… The crack of the whip sent a chilling noise about the room. It sent an equally unpleasant feeling on the backs of the apostles as they took hit after hit, 39 to be exact.
Acts brings us to a moment where the Apostles are being persecuted as much as possible for teaching in the name of Christ. They have already gone to jail once for the teachings, and threatened again and again if they did it again. The last time there, it is nearly decided that all of the Apostles should be killed for this blasphemy. Then out of nowhere, the pharisee, Gamaliel, ordered the men to stand down and let them go with a flogging.
Now this is now your average warning for speeding that you might get by a police officer. 39 Lashes on your back, I can’t imagine the pain. I’m talking straight up Indiana Jones style, 39 times! But here is where things get really crazy. Let’s check out 5:41…
41The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name (of Christ).
In case you didn’t catch on, these men rejoiced after being whipped 39 times because they had been counted “worthy of suffering.” This is why this is so important.
Being an “all in” Christian really sucks sometimes.
You may not be persecuted to the point of being whipped, but we have our own daily suffering that we’ll have to deal with. When opposing someone gossiping, you are most likely not the most popular person on the block. When you really want to be at that party, or have that drink, or go to that girls house, or not buy that thing you don’t need, or give all that money away you are joining in on a suffering that you need to count as worthy.
See when our perspective begins to be one that is upset that we miss out on certain things, we miss out on the joy of being found worthy of suffering in the name of Jesus.
I just thought it was some interesting food for thought. No one ever said this world was going to be easy trying to follow Jesus. But when things are at its worst, follow in the feet of the apostles and find joy, even in suffering.
Posted in Teaching Moments
For a long time I always viewed life as a series of stones that you jump from one to another in order to make it to the other side of the lake. With every stone you jump off, you are hopefully landing on a larger and more smooth stone. When you are done, you can look back at all those stones, and just go “wow.” Well I want to tell you something else about that perspective.
It’s stupid.
Let me explain. Currently I am a full-time employee of the one and only Olive Garden. Yes I am in constant company with those weight watcher challenging pasta dishes, delicious salads and you can’t forget those simply irresistible, mouth-watering bread sticks… yum. There is also something else in that equation. I am also in the company of some of the most unique, funny and friendly people I have ever met.
Over the past three months of opening a brand new restaurant with these people I have thoroughly enjoyed their company. I have seen some of them outside work, and had some really awesome conversation and plenty of laughs.
If I had continued to simply view this job as just another very small stone in my pond of life, then I would have completely missed all the people who God had intended for me to meet.
Although Jesus’ disciples had very clear instruction on where they were to be sent at times, you can bet that they loved on every person they met along the way. I don’t go in to work thinking,” hey, who can I convert today?” I go in to work hoping that I can show at least someone joy.
Joy is not like contentment. Joy can’t be taken away
because you are in a bad mood. Joy is something you need to bring everywhere all
Collegeville Olive Garden Grand Opening. (I'm on the left)
the time. Especially because at that time, it may be exactly where you’re supposed to be. So instead of waiting for that last stone to look back on the others. Enjoy the stone you’re on, because you only get that view once…”
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Oh what a crazy day. Here is just a little bit of the footage I put together from the day!
Enjoy!
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I was talking to a close friend yesterday who recently became an “all in” Christian. I use that term for two reasons. First, because I love playing poker, and it works for me. But more importantly, I believe that if someone is a Christian, they can’t be a partial Christian.
For example, I am an avid believer in Gravity.
I live my entire life as though I believe gravity exists. If I didn’t, I would certainly reconsider jumping too high in fear of never returning! Now that same type of faith needs to exist in God if you believe he exists. I know a lot of people who believe in God, BUT It doesn’t necessarily change anything about their life. This is what makes us… well… different.
Back to the conversation with my friend. He is so pumped about his faith, and is going a little “superchristian” on us. We all know those weird Christians. I even wrote another blog about them a little bit ago, I called it being “oversaved.” The problem is, he is running in to some animosity from some family members who want the old person back. I really wanted him to just be a little more normal around his family so he doesn’t freak them out. I really want to be a little more normal around my friends who aren’t big in to their faiths. But then I realized that there is nothing normal about being a Christian. If you are an “all in” Christian, then to the outside world, you should almost seem a little weird… (note: I didn’t way annoying) “All In” Christians ask for nothing for Christmas because they think they have more than they need. “All in” Christians don’t follow what the crowd is doing all the time. “All In” Christians don’t party like most others do. (usually) And “All In” Christians are CALLED to live a life that is SET APART. As for me, I’m ALL IN. If that makes me weird, that’s cool, I will do some things that don’t make sense to everyone all the time. That’s okay. I know there is a lot of us out there.
The only thing worse than no faith, is having one and not doing anything about it.
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. – Romans 12:1-2
Posted in Teaching Moments
Please Ring...
I have no idea where I am being “called” to go. That is the precise statement you may have heard from me in the past month or two. The problem is there isn’t a calling problem. There is a hearing problem, more specifically, my hearing problem. In many moments of impatience, I was quick to assume that either I missed hearing my call or even more likely that one hasn’t come yet.
I was wrong.
There were some more important callings that I simply have not heard. I have been looking so hard for my divine calling to point me in the right direction, that I haven’t paid enough attention to my first calling, the call to be a Christian.
See back in my first year at Eastern University, I took these Youth Min 101 and 102 courses that were full of information that I ignored when I was a freshman. It’s not that I thought it was useless, it just seemed to me like it was at the time. I remember we used to talk about the different levels of “calling.” And the first, and most important was the call to be Christian. The calls that follow are the “secret call,” the one where God answers you through prayer, other people etc… There is also the Ecclesiastical call, this is the churches affirmation that you should go in to ministry. There are all these different callings I was searching for. When in reality, I should have just been listening to my call to be Christian. When I think back at the last two months I think about the countless opportunities I have missed to touch someones life. I think about the hugs that could have changed someones day, the money I could have given to help someone in need and ears that could have listened to someone who was hurting. When push comes to shove, Christ is the entire reason I am even considering doing ministry anywhere. I think I’ll start with Him.
If you are a Christian, and you are currently at a fork in your life (job, college, ministry) … Listen first to the call to be Christian, and the rest will be taken care of … Even if it is a 47 pronged fork.
OK, so this post is going to be a lighter one. I don’t know what it is about Beyonce’s music that just makes people want to dance! If you don’t laugh at these, something is wrong with you…
The first one is personally my favorite, what do you think?
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This is my official resignation from attempting to figure out what God is doing in my life. A wise professor of mine told us in our first class this semester, “Kids, You want to truly make God laugh? Well just go ahead and tell him your plans.”
I mean initially I laughed it off. But there is some real truth to that one.
This last week I signed a contract that binded me in to buying my honeymoon. I was so excited, it is going to be an amazing trip. However, the day after that, my car got a cracked engine block. That is a $3500 problem. I have been trying to get Honda to make an exception, so I have been praying all this week that the case manager who is dealing with my case will have a softened heart. I told everyone I could to pray along with me. I was really looking forward to what God would do with the whole situation…
God’s Answer: Take away my job.
Hah, I’m not going to lie, when it happened today I laughed it off, because for a second there I thought I pinned down how God does things. Things were real slow at work so they took away all of the morning hours and Fridays. (aka, all my hours) So I prayed more then ever this week, and assumed that how much I prayed will sway God to do what I (think I) need him to do.
So these last couple of days I have been stuck using my brother’s car. (who is currently in boot camp in Georgia) I threw on the radio (because of no MP3 input) and of course it started playing my brothers programmed channels… COUNTRY MUSIC.
I thought, “Hey, let’s see how this goes.” To my awesome surprise a song came on that spoke right in to my situation. I can just picture God singing some of these words to all of us. I feel as if every situation is a new opportunity to grow, so I’ve learned some new things this week. You can’t always view the worst circumstances as a bad thing. Some of the words from this song really spoke. (who knew God could speak through country music)
He may not give me fancy things, but “that don’t mean he don’t love me.” Check out the video:
Posted in Funny, Personal, Teaching Moments
“If your friend buys you a vaccum cleaner… and you rebuke it because it’s a dirt devil… you might be oversaved.
That was one of the many jokes I listened to from comedian Michael Jr. last year when he joined us at a CCV outreach event last year. This concept of being oversaved isn’t new, but it always gets a good laugh or two. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this “oversaved” talk, I will attempt a quick explaination. Someone who is oversaved is someone who attempts to “over spiritualize” everything. Perhaps you know this person… and if you don’t, well, maybe you are that person.
CHECK OUT THE CLIP
Of course you can say,” well, being overspiritual isn’t possible. You want to get as close to God as you can.” Well yes, but when you function in a way that is constantly uncomfortable for non-Christians (in a bad way), or even partially for show, this being oversaved concept can be really counterproductive.
I look back at my first years of Christianity, and I realize now that I was definitely oversaved. I remember my first party after God “ruined” my life. I’m pretty sure I told one of my best friends that they should think about their actions because I would love to see them in heaven when I die. Yeah. I told you I was oversaved. So we see the problem there. However, recently I have been witnessing a problem that is completely the opposite, “underdsaved” people. Now I am not talking about people who haven’t accepted Jesus as their savior. I am talking about complastency. The Christian norm seems to be shying away from a constant state of submission and service. It seems to be shying away from living every moment with the joy of knowing you have the Spirit within you. It seemd to ultimately be shying away from passion.
Last night I stumbled upon an old journal I started back in my “oversaved days”, and something stuck out to me. As ignorant and annoying as I may have been… I was passionate. I felt God in my life. I tried to love people with a genuine concern for them.
It’s funny, I think if you were to ask me today, I think I rather be oversaved. Of course we all need to find a happy medium and it’s something we can can do together. Are you oversaved or undersaved?
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If you are like me, then you can find a million and one reasons to justify just about everything you do, or more importantly don’t do. For example, a couple weeks back, I remember Melissa and I had planned a trip to Sedona, Arizona for the day. I told her that we will talk about what we want to do that morning because I had been very busy that whole week. That morning came, and I remember telling her I should catch up on some homework that I had instead. Luckily Melissa knows me so well she heard exactly what I was saying, “I just don’t feel like going!” Granted she got pretty ticked, because she hates hearing excuses, she rather me just tell it like it is. I think most people are like that, people like to just get to the bottom of things. That is a real shame, because I feel like we are all pretty full of excuses. Christians are definitely not excluded from this pandemic, in fact I think they give some of the best. I just want to talk about one big excuse that I know I’ve given:
The Excuse
I remember this cool quote from that movie “Crash” that came out a couple of years ago that describes this problem, it says, “It’s the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We’re always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.”
Last night I was in the town of Pecos, Texas finding a place to sleep. I ended up at this Best Western and I walked in to something unexpected. The lady behind the counter sensed I was from the northeast real quick, and just started giving me this attitude. I didn’t get mad, I just figured she had some past experiences that lead to her not being kind to me. Any idiot can get mad and be rude, but I thought instead I would ask more questions. It turned out it wasn’t that long ago that her husband has passed away, and he had some people who were bad influences from the Philly area. By the time I had left I had her laughing. Who knows what that may have done for her.
On top of that, I had this class yesterday on personal evangelism where I was challenged with tough questions about who I had told about Jesus. I could think of one person in specific who I am scared to death to share with. I’m sure that he would recieve it quite well though (yes Melissa, you were right). I think most people are interested in talking about what goes on in their heart. Yet we are so scared to talk about it. If we truly believe in this whole God thing, then we should have a strong desire to share it with everyone! If we truly believe what the Bible says, then we would almost have to hate someone to not share the good news with them!
Even if you don’t want to spend hours talking theology with someone, you can always just make them smile and ask them any simple question about thier faith, I think it will go a long way. We can’t let fear get in the way. I think this verse in Romans talks about this very clearly. Verse 10:14 says, “14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”
It almost seems like common sense. Imagine you are in a classroom, and you are the teacher. The whole year comes down to this last test that the students take, and they all absolutely bomb it. You get incredibly frustrated, because you want the students to pass to badly. You end up going to the smartest child in the class, and with a red face and temper flaring you ask the child why they did so poorly, why they failed. The child looks back at you with a questioning face, “but teacher, you never taught us any of this.” OOPS. Seems kind of odd, but how many people have you told? If you are a Christian, there are students everywhere, who have you taught?
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