Blog.

I ran across this post and the follow-up post and was deeply moved by her story. Here is a young woman (mid 20′s, I think, with a young child) that lost her husband in a tragic accident when his boat capsized in frigid waters in Oregon.  Looking back on the day when they were still searching for his body, she wrote these words:

my main prayer was, “Lord, help me to be okay with whatever you are giving me right now. Whether he is alive or with You, You are still good.” People were calling me all day long for updated information, and they would say things like, “Nate’s so strong. Strong men like him don’t just drown. He probably swam to shore and passed out or something…” And they would wait for me to agree with them, like I was going to give them the hope that the worst was not true. But instead, God completely flipped my heart to where I was just telling them, “Whether Nate is alive or dead right now, God is still good. God is still good.”

That, my friends, is what a genuine relationship with Christ looks like.

My previous post seems to be generating traffic, so I thought I would post the outlines of his talks and a few notes that I have taken when listening to his lessons. All of the following comes straight from part 1 from his series at the Focus on The Family Institute. I will list these in bulleted notes form, please do not take what is listed here out of context, listen to the actual talk and study the Word before you start making conclusions for yourself.

-Strong evidence suggests that Jesus’ disciples were all younger than 15, with John possibly being as young as 7-9.

-The olive tree is the picture of God’s people. It “never dies” in that the Farmer cuts it down to a stump approximately every 400 years, and new shoots grow the next year. In this context, Jesus was a shoot from the ‘stump’ of Jesse. Israel is God’s olive tree, who is cut down several times due to failures, the last time being the Babylon captivity. The Jews grew from Jesse’s stump, and the Gentiles, shoots from wild olive trees that never produced any fruit, were grafted onto the stump of Jesse. Note: Non-Jews can’t exist without their Jewish roots! The Christian world has forgotten this, and obscured their Jewish roots, and in the process, it’s not that western translations are wrong, they have just lost a significant part of what it “says and demands”.

-There are 2 ways of explaining truth: the Eastern way, and the Western way. Western thought is akin to the Greek philosophy, where the mind and logical thought was elevated to high importance. They were abstract thinkers and they valued definition, proposition, and organization. Eastern thought is very different. Seemingly unorganized (try to outline Jesus’ teachings) and very concrete. If you ask a westerner “who or what is God?”, they will mainly reply with abstract words like “almighty, holy, just, love, truth, honesty, and eternity”. On the contrary, an Easterner (Jew) will answer concretely, with ‘picture words’ such as “my shepherd, my rock, my bread, my living water, my father, my brother…” and it’s always my.  The devil knows and can say God is almighty, holy, just, etc, but he can’t say God is his shepherd, rock, bread, etc.  What difference is there in the devil’s knowledge of God and ours?  It’s true that God is love, truth and holy.  It is good information, but we don’t have to believe anything!  It’s all head knowledge!

-The book of Mark contains many Hebrew expressions, and is written with very poor grammar in Greek.  Evidence suggests it was at least passed down orally in Hebrew and later translated to Greek.

-Mark 4:24 “Consider carefully what you hear”.  The Greek = “look at carefully what you hear”.  How do you look at what you hear?  You can if it’s a picture! (you can see a shepherd)

-The Hebrew word for bread is lahem.  The Hebrew word for a place or a house is beth.  Where was Jesus born? Beth-lahem, or Bethlehem.  What is a house of bread? A bakery!  The Bread of Life (Jesus) was born in a bakery!  It’s very probable that the Light of the world was conceived on the Feast of Lights.  The Living Water was laid in a manger, which traditionally for Jews was carved from stone and was for water, not hay.  It’s all about the picture, you can see this stuff!

-Learn to think Hebrew, or in pictures.  Jesus used pictures and stories to teach… The Bible in Jewish context will grab the heart, not only the head.

more to come…

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about purpose, specifically, my purpose. I have wrestled with it, trying to figure out what really matters in life, what I am living for. I’m 26, have a great job, am married to the most wonderful woman anyone could ever ask for, have an incredible family and an awesome set of in-laws, but I keep asking myself: what is it that drives me to get up in the morning? What are my short term goals? What are my long term goals? Does any of it really matter?

I look around me at the culture that I live in here in Northern Virginia and see a variety of people with varying purposes. Unfortunately, there are an overwhelming number of people that are living for “stuff”. That “stuff” takes many different forms: bigger houses, new cars, bigger TV’s, promotions so they can afford all the aforementioned…

There is a second group that stands out, but only a few people fit in this category comparatively to the “stuff” group. These people are those that live to help other people. This can be manifested in several ways: non-profit organizations, charities, volunteer’s at charity events, etc. The people in this group go out of their way to meet the needs of those around them: to feed the homeless, counsel and befriend the battered and abused, or provide families for orphaned or homeless children, etc. This second group of “givers” tend to find fulfillment in alleviating the pain and suffering of others, instead of attempting to find happiness in material possessions. While this group has a much nobler purpose than the first group, there is still a lack of eternal purpose.

The last group consists of Christ followers. These people are really a subset of group two, as they truly love their fellow man and do everything they can to help others, but the driving force behind their actions has eternal purpose. These “followers of The Way” actively seek to lavish love on the world in an effort to ensure everyone they come in contact with has a relationship with Jesus Christ. This last group understands Christ’s mission, and in striving to be like Christ they share the heart-aching desire for everyone around them to know the all-encompassing, unconditional love of almighty God.

I want to be in the third group. In fact, I believe I am in the third group, although I don’t always act like it. I still exhibit characteristics of the “stuff” group. I am at a point in my life where I know the importance of purpose, and I know that my purpose is to love those around me like Jesus loves me, but how does that affect me on a smaller scale? What needs to change in my life to help me look less and less like the “stuff” group, and more like a true Christ follower?

These questions continually haunt me, and I believe the Holy Spirit is knocking on my heart, attempting to get my attention, though I stubbornly don’t listen. Honestly, I’m scared of what God could do through me. My faith is big enough to know what He’s capable of, but not large enough to want to unleash that kind of power in my life. It is an odd kind of fear, because one would think the idea of wielding the power of the Holy Spirit would be very desirable, but that’s how I feel. I want to take that next step, jump off the cliff and dive deep, to let go and wholly trust in God to allow Him to do whatever it is He wants to do with me.

“The righteous will live by faith…” (Rom 1:17) Lord, increase my faith…

This is another article linked by Jeff that truly saddened me. The Washington Post set up a 40 min “concert” by world renown violinist Joshua Bell (and his 3.5 million dollar violin) disguised as a street performer at a subway stop in downtown DC. Over 1,000 people rushed by on their way to whatever they were doing with only a small handful ever acknowledging his presence. Read it here.

How often do we rush through life without stopping to soak up the beauty that God has placed around us? Whether it be music, mountains, art, or the simple laughter of a child, most of us are too caught up in our lives to notice the things in life that connect with our soul, those God given moments that inspire awe and wonder. Unlike a promotion, a good grade on a test, or that new car/plasma TV we all work for, it is those moments that make a lasting impression on us, an impression that will linger in the memory long after all the other things fade away. May we all learn to stop and hear the whispers of God…

Last weekend, I attended a men’s retreat with the guys from my church, where I had the opportunity to play in the worship band, and to get to know many people that I had only briefly met before. The weekend was wholesome, relaxed, and a lot of fun. It was held at a resort in northwestern Maryland, if you’re wondering where the pictures are from…

The theme for the weekend was Discipleship. Real Discipleship. A term that the Western church has tamed, watered down, and a concept that is mostly ignored in practice. We talk about it, but we have lost the passion and devotion to carry out perhaps one of the most important commandments Jesus ever gave. The typical church today tends to “bring in” people, make sure they are saved, Baptize them, and then forget about them. Most new Christ followers are left eating baby food, hungering for substance, with no one to feed them.

To grasp the magnitude of the Great Commission, there must be some understanding of what a disciple is. A disciple is so much more than a student. A student just wants to know what the teacher knows. A Talmid, or disciple, wants to be “what the teacher IS“. If a believer in Christ just wants to know what God knows, or just wants to know what Jesus says about certain subjects, he / she is just a student. If that believer says “I want more than anything in the world to be JUST LIKE JESUS“, then he / she is a disciple. (see Ray Vander Laan Downloads for more on this) It is so much more than church on Sunday or a Bible study on Tuesday night; Being a disciple demands a passionate seeking to know everything possible about the life of Jesus, and a radical change of lifestyle where every breath taken is an effort to emulate the Savior.

So where do you stand? Are you a believer? A student? Or a disciple? Are you actively pouring your life into someone else, teaching them what it means to be a disciple of Christ? Do you have someone that’s pouring their life into you?

I haven’t written in almost two weeks, but there really hasn’t been much to write about. It’s the same old story day after day. Work, eat, practice music, sleep. Repeat. We haven’t taken any photos lately, but I hope that will change soon.

Yesterday, Heather and I went to see “Bodies… The Exhibition” in DC. In short, it is a museum about the human body, and the exhibits are genuine cadavers that have been preserved and presented in a masterful way. Although it sounds a bit disturbing and creepy, we were amazed and completely entranced in the complexity of God’s finest creation. There were skeletons, muscles, bones, skin (probably the strangest thing we saw), abnormalities (lungs with emphysema, cancer, pneumonia, tumors, etc), a section where they showed the development of a fetus from conception to almost birth (complete with how the bones develop during those 9 months), and probably the most amazing section: the circulatory system. They invented a way to preserve the veins and arteries within a body, while removing all other parts, creating a beautiful network of the blood transport system. Parts of it strongly resembled a fine coral reef. You can view a couple videos of the exhibit here. (Click “About the Exhibition” => “video”)

The exhibit really caused me to wonder how someone could view the incredible “machine” that is the human body and not believe in a creator. National Geographic is starting a new series called the “Incredible Human Machine” where it will showcase the complexity of the human body. I don’t receive the National Geographic channel, but if you do, check it out and let me know how it is.

On a separate note, I uploaded a talk by Gregg Matte that he presented at a worship conference in 2003. If you have anything to do with worship planning in any way, I highly recommend this talk. Find it here, or check out the downloads tab at the top of the page.

I added a new page to the site that will feature downloads that I think you should download. I will be adding to this section in time…

Currently, I have posted a series of talks by Ray Vander Laan, a teacher who spent considerable time (measured in years) living in Isreal studying in the traditional Rabbinic schools, learning what it was like to live as a Jew. Currently, His ministry is to teach people how to think “Eastern” (listen to first talk for an explanation), how to approach the Bible from a Jewish context, and to explore a facet of Christ often ignored in Western culture (aka, the United States), Jesus the Rabbi. You can find his website here: Follow The Rabbi. The talks can be found by following the downloads tab at the top of the page, or clicking here.

I was reading up on a friend of mine who leads worship at a little church in College Station, TX, where I moved from. He’s a singer/songwriter and truly has a gift for lyrics and an unbelievable heart for the Lord. I found this post by Ross, and was overwhelmed when I read it. That is what a family looks like.

By the way, check out his music here: www.rosskingmusic.com and here: Ross’ myspace

I ran across a blog a few days ago that solidified several of my thoughts and feelings over the past few years, and with the author’s permission, I would like to share that with you.  (Matt’s blog here)

“I’m with Shane Claiborne. Forget all the stories about how Jesus made life better – by solving a debt problem or helping someone overcome some relatively mild vice. Truth is, Jesus is totally messing up my life.

If I had gotten my way 15+ years ago, I would be a wealthy, big-city litigator right now, wiling away the years in an expensive office building during the weeks and at every Cowboys game on the weekends. I’d have a big house worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. I’d go to a nice, clean-cut church where I’d check in every Sunday morning and otherwise do all of the things that good Christians do to make sure they can punch their ticket into heaven. And I’d listen to conservative talk radio, just to remind myself that there is no need to change the order of things: everyone is making their own choices and getting just what they deserve.

Life would be good.

But the more I read the gospels; the more I try to understand what Jesus was really all about, the more he has the audacity to come into my life and totally screw it up. He makes me think about every dollar I spend – who is benefiting from it and how? He makes me reflect on the kind of car I drive and how it affects God’s creation. He challenges me to make my children into risk-taking disciples, instead of neat, middle-class carbon copies of myself. He asks me to go places where I am uncomfortable, and to invite people into my house when I’d much rather have a quiet night alone. He intrudes on my free time and tells me to invest it the things that matter to him. He tells me that the politics that seemingly support my interests aren’t necessarily the ones that support his.

Far from being a cosmic Mr. Fix-it, Jesus is taking every priority and ambition that I ever held and – without so much as asking – turning it over like he did the tables in the temple.

But the truth is – having come to know the Jesus who messes with me at every turn – I would never go back to the old one. For all his annoying qualities, this is the Jesus that feels authentic to me. I feel like I finally am coming to know him for who he is. And in spite of all of the discomfort and downright inconvenience that he causes, I’m coming to see that the things that he is about are the things that really matter in this world.”

So, which Jesus do you know? the Sunday-make-you-feel-good Jesus that doesn’t intrude with life as you know it, or the in-your-face-always-there-whether-you-want-Him-to-be-or-not Jesus that truly changes how you live your life?