Tag Archives: life

Summer on the Brain

Posted on
Reply

Hi friends,

First, I have to apologize for the lack of posts lately, it seems as though I have summer on the brain. This of course is making me think of the outdoors, swimming, vacation and pretty much everything but writing. Excuses. Excuses. So today I thought I would touch base with all of you to hear how your summer is going. Are you doing anything exciting? Going anywhere exotic? Any short term mission trips? Let us know.

As I told you in my last post my family and I had a great vacation in Colorado Springs a few weeks ago. We had a wonderful time seeing the beautiful sights. If you have ever been to this part of the country you know what I am talking about. Two of my favorite spots were the Air Force Academy Chapel and the Garden of the gods. Both beautiful in their own right.

Garden of the Gods

Garden of the gods

Air Force Academy Chapel

Air Force Academy Chapel

We also celebrated three birthdays and our anniversary and had a family visit to the house so you can imagine why the posts have been scarce. No need to worry. I will be getting back into the routine soon. So here is a bit of what I’ve been doing. How about you?

Community Questions:

Where are you going/have gone this summer?

Any exciting stories you want to share with us?

Moved to Tears

Posted on
Reply

I will never forget the very first movie that made the waterworks start flowing…for me it was Back Draft. It was so sad in the end that he lost his brother. I cried and I cried. (Guys are allowed to cry to and I was only 10!). Do you remember the last great movie that made you bawl? If we’re honest with ourselves, even us guys, we could probably write out a long list of movies that have made us cry over the years. A good story can really move us.

So why is it that we can cry for fictional stories but when it comes to lost people, those who do not know Jesus Christ, we never seem to be truly moved by their condition? Why is it that most times we shed more tears during a silly Nicolas Sparks movie than we ever do that lost people are dying and going to hell?

When Jesus calls us to follow Him, He calls us to take on His views, values, and to follow His commands. So how did He respond to the lost? Luke 19:42 “Jesus saw Jerusalem and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace!”. Jesus said this before He was crucified. He knew the people of the city would reject Him and it broke His heart.

Jesus has the same heart as the Father. Ezekiel 33:11 “As I live! declares the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die”. The Father is equally heart broken for the lost.

What about the people we meet in the Bible? Look at Paul: “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.” (Romans 9:1-2) Paul wanted nothing more than for his fellow Jews to believe Jesus.

When Jesus saves us he takes from us the burden and weight of our sin, of our shame, of our past. He replaces all of this with peace and hope for the future. We like this. Yet he also asks us to shoulder a new kind of burden. A heart that aches for those who are lost. One that is never satisfied here on earth but longs for the time when Christ returns. This new burden is completely different than the old burden. The old burden of sin we once carried was not optional. It weighted us down to death. We were not strong enough to shoulder it. But this new burden is one that is shared. It is shared with Jesus himself. It is also shared with the community of those who follow Jesus. But this burden can also be laid aside but Jesus followers. Forgotten about and passed by.

To take on a burden for the lost is not an easy task, but if you are serious about following Jesus I challenge you to shoulder this burden. You will invite heartbreak and tears at times it’s true. But friends you will also walk side by side with Jesus as you help carry His message of grace to a lost and dying world. You will find a new closeness to the one you call Savior. You will experience grace all over again.

May we be those who shed our tears for the things of God.

Silver Bullets Part 1

Posted on
1

While you may not find any mention of werewolves in the Bible, there is something we can learn from the mythical creatures that can help us in our everyday Christian life.

Werewolves are mythical monsters which are notoriously difficult to dispatch. In fact, the only real way to kill a werewolf is with a silver bullet. Shoot with any other kind of bullet, trap it, drown it, burn it, nothing else works, silver bullets are your only hope against werewolves. 300 years ago when people believed these monsters lurked the woods hunting innocent people the silver bullet was their only hope for victory.

As Christians we face a daunting foe too, the world. It may seem as though the world is harmless enough but the Apostle John told us that the world is all those who have set themselves against Jesus Christ and His followers (1 John 5:19). That is a large foe, a powerful foe, a foe which at first glance seems difficult to overcome. But John didn’t think so. He said those born of God overcome the world. (1 John 5:4). So how can we overcome the world? Is it social justice? Is it Christian leadership in places of influence? Is it Biblically literate Christians? Perhaps. But not one of these, as important as they all are, act as a silver bullet. A single source for victory. So is there a simple solution to overcoming our enemies?

YES! John said: and this is the victory that overcomes the world our faith! (1 John 5:4). Faith is the Christians silver bullet. The one thing that will stop the world every time. So let me ask you…are you using silver bullets? What is the one thing you fall back on when things get tough. When the world comes at you with all it’s got how do you respond? It’s tempting to think escaping or hiding from the world is just as good as victory, but in truth there absolutely different. The best way to find out whether or not your using silver bullets is to understand how you cope with challenges the world throws your way. Some of us turn to food, some to cigarettes, some to television, some to our i pod. We try and escape the fear and the challenge. But why escape when you can have victory.

Jesus went to great lengths to give us a weapon for victory. When we exercise faith, we can overcome any challenge the world throws our way.

Community Questions:

What are some things that you turn to when the pressure is on in order to escape the world’s attack?

How can faith help us overcome the daily challenges we face?

Refelctions on Cleveland

Posted on
5

Weddings (and funerals for the matter) are the perfect place to run into people who have known you “forever”.

While I now reside in the great state of Wisconsin, I recently found myself back in my hometown in the suburbs of Cleveland OH for my little sisters wedding. Without a doubt, be it for a day or for a week, when I come home for a visit I hear the same thing from these “forever friends”.

They tell me how much I have changed.

They tell me how they are surprised and proud of the way I turned out.

They expound some embarrassing story of my past. We all have a laugh and then move on.

But as I was in Cleveland for my sisters wedding something new struck me, something profound (I suppose).

It is far harder to serve Jesus Christ where you’re from than it is to serve him where you’re going.

Let me explain. In Wisconsin I am simply known as Pastor Steve. The only thing people know about my childhood is what I tell them. Yet whenever I am home I seem to always come face to face with someone who knows a little more about my past than I wish they did (and I was a pretty decent kid!). For me, to serve God in Cleveland, would require a strong dose of humility, for I would have to own my every failure. I would constantly come up against those who could throw my past into my face and decry hippocrite!

So why on earth would Jesus ever make someone stay in there hometown and serve in ministry like he did to the formerly possessed man he freed from bondage in Luke 8? I think the key is transformation. Sure, my friends and family knew who I was…but they can also see who I am. Where did the change come from? Jesus. That is what he said to the man he sent home: “Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you.” It’s gritty letting those who know you best see the new you because they know the old you. But what an opportunity.

Some of us are called to new places and new people. We go without regret. Yet others of us are called to live out loud the new life that Jesus has given us right in front of those who knew us before Jesus got His hands on our lives.

To my friends and family in Cleveland who are living out loud where we grew up, may God continue to use you to change our hometown for His glory.

To my friends and family who have been scattered for His glory world wide, never forget your past, it is part of who you are.

To those of my forever friends who are reading: yeah, I know…you never thought you would see me doing what I’m doing, but I guess it’s just one more proof that God is God. Who else could have made me what I am today.

Here’s to your own hometown aha! moment