Daily Bombardments

You know, I always seem to have questions that need answers - either I have the question, or someone has a question for me that they are looking for the answer to... Last week when I was speaking at MAC2012 people would ask me questions hoping I would know the answer simply because my Dad was heading the camp up... 

Normally I get asked questions because well that's my job right?

What is my job really? Now that is a very good question... One in which I am always struggling to find an adequate answer for....  A simple answer would be I am a youth pastor, I mean that is how I get paid twice a month. But life is never really that simple is it?

Another simple answer would be that my job is as a father and a husband, after all the dictionary definition of "job" is anything a person is expected or obliged to do; duty; responsibility... 

But I don't consider any of these things a job... Father, Husband, Youth Pastor they are all titles I carry but I don't consider them jobs... I know other people might feel that I am "expected or obligated" to these titles but I feel like I am privileged to hold these titles and at that point I see them ceasing to be "jobs" and becoming "roles" that I play in the lives of those around me. Those that I am privileged to meet, know, care for... 

I've held many jobs over the years... Worked for Chick-fil-a, UPS, FPL, Ductz, Genesis, and various landscaping companies to name a few... Those would all qualify to me in my life as a job - (maybe not to you because you are called to that and it is more than a paycheck)

Being a youth pastor is not a job to me - it is everything to me - it is part of how I define who I am in Christ. As much as the role of Husband and Father are parts of that definition.

So what then is my job... That is a very good question to ask... wish I knew the answer.

New Ponderings

So I have never been very good at this, writing out what is going inside my mind but I am going to try it again - there are so many things that run through my mind every day, so many questions, so little time to ponder them.

I'm back...

After years of absence I've returned to the blogging world... I've cleaned up my previous posts left the ones that seemed relevant and started fresh...

Each week I will post the discussion from our Wed Evening Bible study here for further discussion...

So Tune in, Weigh in, and Lets see what God has in Store...

Why Does God Love Us

This past week I had a question dropped in my box downstairs at church of why does God love us? A question that has been asked for centuries. It is a very good question to ask I mean because if you really stop and take a look at yourself you should have to wonder the same thing... Why does God love me and all my screw ups?

While I know the answer to that question stretches far beyond the scope of this answer I think that it can be simplified down to this... 1st John 4:8 simplifies it down to a 3 word answer... God is Love. That is why He loves us... Because it is who He is. The rest of the passage displays how He loves us but that verse lays it out there so simply, so beautifully, God IS Love. Not so sappy, romantic feeling or gesture like to attempted in to impress upon your 4th grade crush but a true agape love that is never ending, perfect, pure, and very personal...

Now you are wondering again well if God is love and his love is this perfect type of love then how can He love me in this mess that I'm in?

Romans 5:8 tells us "But God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us."

That means that before we came to the point of placing our faith and trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior Christ died for us. Before we began living for God Christ died for us. Before we knew God existed Christ died for us.

That means you don't have to clean up your life or do anything else for that matter before coming to Christ. He loves you right where you are.... Right in the middle of the stink pit of the flesh where your sitting reading this... He loves you with that perfect, pure, selfless love that is beyond all human understanding or comprehension.

Does that mean that you will never change your life after placing faith in God? No. His love is such that He will change you from the inside out. That's how he works. He starts on the inside... If you were sick and you knew what was wrong with you and the Doctor knew what was wrong with you however all they ever treated was the symptoms and never the source of the sickness do you think that you would ever get better? No. The same is true with your spiritual life. You cannot just treat the outward symptoms and expect to get better. You have to allow God to remove the cancer from your soul. YOU have to allow HIM to change you from the INSIDE out. Why does he want to heal you, change you, or use you? Because He loves us.

Why does God Love Us? Because God is Love.

Why is the world so Christophobic?

what has changed in the last couple of years to cause the world to hate everything about Christ?