challenging...

john lindell has been teaching through the book of luke for a while now, i dont know how long...but a long, long time!  the last few months or so has been really good to dig into luke 19 through 23 or so.  something keeps bothering me, it keeps challenging me, so...i decided to do a little digging on my own.  let me just tell you the part that has been bothering me...Jesus rides in to jerusalem, on a donkey, to the praises of almost everyone in the city.  they sing praise to Him, they shout Hosanna to the highest!  then, not a week goes by, NOT A WEEK! and the jewish leaders have Jesus arrested, pull a sham of a trial, take him to pilate, who takes him to herod, who sends him back to pilate...both find no guilt in anything he has done, BUT the jewish leaders still demand to crucify him.  so, where are all the people that were shouting Hosanna in the highest?  there are crowds yelling to crucify him, but where are all the people who were praising him not even a week earlier?  had the religious leaders convinced all of them that Jesus was not who he claimed to be and needed to be crucified?  

here is what i am finding.  i dont know exactly.  i dont find all the specific answers.  to be honest with you, it hacks me off, i get very angry when i think about where in the world could these people have been?  i mean seriously, Jesus had just healed some people, he was teaching in the temple and the people were amazed...so where in the h-e double hockey sticks were they? why didnt they come to at least stand up for Jesus?  i dont know.

here is what i do know.  my anger towards them, it can be directed towards myself a large part of the time.  this is what i am learning...  Jesus healed me, i have stood in awe of Jesus...and when there are people who are living lives for so much less than Jesus, it is very rarely, if ever, that i speak up and tell them why my life matters now, why my life has purpose, who it was that saved my soul and gave me purpose!  so my challenge is to take some of that anger and some of the frustration towards people that i dont know, nor do i have much of an idea of what the circumstances were, the people, who i don't know where they were when the mobs were yelling to crucify.  i am going to take some of that frustration and anger to fuel my fire.  to love people who are not so lovable, and to say something!  our faith has to have action ... otherwise, how much can we say that we really believe what we believe?  that is my challenge to myself...to not be like the people that didnt speak up...

would you join me?  in not being like the crowds...not in some judgmental, hypocritical way...but with love.  would you join me?

another busy week...great weekend

i had a great, busy, long week!  a lot of traveling, i was in oklahoma on tuesday, home that evening. local on wed., oklahoma again on thursday, local on friday.  thurs was a long day, i left here at 5:45 or so, was back home around 4:30, upwards b-ball training @ 6:30, spoke at icthus at MSU @ 9, potter's afterwards, home around 1:00 am. 

icthus was really cool, short notice deal.  i was at potter's house on tuesday night and a girl, i found out later named carrie, said... "hey daniel, what are you doing thursday night?"  kinda weird...i did not know who she was or what she wanted.  she, carrie, is on the leadership at icthus..they needed someone to speak at their weekly gathering.  i had plenty of excuses...but she convinced me to come and hang out with them.  i have gotten the opportunity to hang out with them the last 3 years...GREAT group of young people.  

this weekend has been fun.  we got to hang out with our cousin lane, barb, schawo and claire (a friend from kim's work) .  we went downtown to eat at nona's, great place, then we went to big momma's for an improv comedy show...it was ok, then we went to a couple of clubs.  the girls wanted to go dancing.  so...after much debate...we did, or... they danced we watched.  what a great time to go and people watch!  i was reminded that i dont miss that life.  that used to be my life...and i dont miss it at all.  but man, my heart goes out to the people who live their life in that way.  the promise of a lesser life, the part in a smaller story, an empty promise.  

one really funny story...well, if you know schawo, you should ask him about it...

thanksgiving day is tomorrow!  at meme and grumps (kim's mom and dad) thanksgiving day meal!  i love it!!!  happy thanksgiving day!  i am thankful for the life i have now!

more pics and thoughts...

a great picture from one of "the crazy" guys from the FBC youth group.  you know the ones...the "funny ones".  this group of guys are different though, they have a real sense of what it is to live spiritually and have fun. they love Jesus and they love to goof off... it really is very cool.

well, i had to laugh when i drove up on these guys...this is the adopt-a-stream group.  that is fort st behind jim, fort and sunset...they apparently found this shopping cart along the stream clean up, along with the stick in jim's hand.  he proceeded to go underneath the waterway and emerged victoriously on this side...all the while staying upright.  i didnt want to see him get hurt, but i secretly did want to see him fall and get soaked!  it was only 30 degrees outside!!  

i was beat last night!  it has been a while since i have tried to hang with HS and JHS students...i still can, it just takes longer to re-cooperate!  as i sat vegging out last night, watching seinfeld, it was the episode where the restaurant goes in across from jerry's apt.  he wants him to succeed, but no one has ever stayed in that particular location for more than a couple of months.  you know that place right?  anyway, jerry decides to go and help the guy out.  babu, the owner, is so thankful for jerry's input that he decides to take his advice and close down for renovation and re-open serving only pakistani food.  jerry has this conversation in his head, praising himself for how much he cares for the un-cared for.  he pats himself on the back for taking the "effort" to go and reach out to this poor foreigner and give him some unsolicited advice/help.  if you have seen this episode you know how it ends...the restaurant goes out of business!

i think i am like that sometimes, and this weekend reminded me why we help out and why we serve.  it really has very little to do with us.  oh, we get the benefit of feeling good about accomplishing something.  but thanks be to God, that we don't do it for that...but to shine the light back on the One who has given us everything we could ever dream of and more! 

one last pic from the weekend...the fools who urged jim on!  these are your fearless volunteer leaders!  some of the greatest hearts...future church/mission/ministry leaders!!  pretty cool...

 

d-now weekend

what a weekend!  i had the privilege of teaching at a disciple now this weekend at first baptist church in springfield.  i have done a couple of different things over the past couple of years with this group.  i love hanging out with this group of students...they're some great kids in this group!  

the pic is of one of the service projects they did on saturday. this particular group went to the campbell-gray homestead at nathaniel green park.  another group was cleaning up an adopted section of south creek.  i will show a pretty funny pic from that later...  and yet another group was helping to put a community garden, that they started, to bed for the winter.  pulling weeds, preparing the soil, putting down weed barrier, etc...  

consumerism part two...one isnt enough. lol

not long after i posted my last thoughts on consumerism, i saw this video on the Q blog.  check it out here.  it is an 18 minute talk from chris seay, a pastor from the houston area.  i hadnt ever heard him talk before...it is good and worth the time.

you can find more info to the advent conspiracy that he mentions at the end of his talk here .

consumerism

whith christmas right around the corner...the question of consumerism has been rattling around my head. i dont know if you remember the video i posted a while back, but it was on the story of stuff pretty powerful video...so if you havent watched, go now and then come back and finish this.

here is why it has me thinking...we (kim, the kids and i) have been searching for a church. (i use the word searching pretty lightly) we have been looking for a church and really enjoy jra. i have come to grips with the fact that it is a mega-church. you know the thing about it though, is the pastor TEACHES the word of God. he isnt a preacher, he is a teacher...that is huge for us. we love the kids programs, the music is really good...but if i am not careful, i will (and sometimes do) become a consumer of God. the great services have effect on me, but then i look for another to lift me back up. i enjoy this guy, but not the other guy. i like when someone leads worship more than someone else and i become a shopper to the things of God.

instead of being consumed by God, i become a consumer... HUGE difference in the economy of God. God is not looking for consumers, He is looking for those who are willing to be consumed by Him for His glory! the greatest part for you and me? we get God and we get to play a supporting role in His-story! that to me, seems much more invigorating, much more vital, much more appealing than just sitting idly by and shopping the things of God and consuming what we want...

just a little monday morning rant for you! lol i have to get it all out here before this weekend. i am speaking at a d-now in springfield this weekend. so, lots of thoughts and ideas going through my little brain.

be consumed!

election post...funny

this is a pretty funny story!   eric has been asking quite a few questions lately about the election.  who you voting for daddy?  what does it mean when someone says he is too liberal? stuff like that...

well, he stayed at meme's last night and went to the polling center with her to vote today.  meme's neighbor has an obama sign...eric thought he ought to make his own sign.  ON HIS OWN...he came up with the idea to make this sign!  he took it to the polling place with him, after they finished up, they decided to go have a picnic.  eric wanted to take his sign with him...that's fine...but they had to park in front of the taney county democratic headquarters!  they noticed eric's sign and had to come out and visit with him.  i am not sure how that conversation went...but i would have liked to been able to listen in.  

so, we had no idea of any of this until late this afternoon...we had arranged to pick eric up at the hwy EE and hwy 65 intersection at 5 PM.  we had heard of the sign...but were not prepared to see what we saw as we exited off of the highway!  this picture was taken at 5:00 PM on the side of the hwy EE....  kim and i died laughing!!

eric's grumps (grandfather) had asked him...who are your parent's voting for?  eric answered... i don't know.  he made his own decision.  he based it on an ad he saw on tv...something barack obama had said that eric thought sounded ugly.  another funny thing about the sign was where it found it's home.  papa (my dad) is an obama supporter... so, he got the sign in his yard!!!!

i hope you voted.  i can not believe how great of a nation we live in that we are allowed to pick who will lead our nation.  i can not fathom the sacrifices of those who have went before me and my son, those who gave their life for our right to cast a ballot.  i hope you teach your kids not to trash anyone because of what they believe, but you teach them to stand up for what they believe. i hope you can agree to disagree and pray for all of our leaders.

what is up with this?!

i had to mow the yard yesterday!  november 1st and i was mowing the stinking yard!  i thought there was some kind of deal with God that we are cursed and have to mow, BUT he was going to give us, who live in the midwest, some grace and not make us mow after the middle of september.

i think eric barb got me to thinking about this in this post about hair...

what other kind of unwritten deals do we have?