Education of Pain

God has an interesting way of teaching doesn't He? Most people miss the opportunity and we don't always like the lessons, but almost everyday God gives you the opportunity to grow. My wife has a quote on our fridge by C.S.Lewis. "We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be." God being the creator knows His creation and that we can be a little slow and a bit stubborn from time to time. With that knowledge He doesn't miss the opportunity to help us grow that our choices provide us. Please hear me clearly on this point, I am not saying God sends bad things to happen to us; I am saying He doesn't miss the leaning moment. Think about it like this; all of you parents out there should understand this clearly. I was at a friends house one day watching him with his 18 month old daughter and I was amazed as I watched. Under his watchful eye he allowed her to learn. I motioned to him because she was pulling a piece of paper off his desk, it had a paperback novel like I used to carry for flights on it. To my surprise all he did was tell her no, apparently they had stopped this from happening several times. The book fell a massive 2 inches and hit her square on the top of the head. Now understand, I could have thrown the book across the room at someone and not hurt them; but my nature is to protect children so I was really freaked out. She let out a half hearted sob and ran to daddy who picked her up and told her she was fine. Then it happened, he said "see when daddy tells you no you should listen because daddy loves you." This I have learned is considered wisdom and apparently it worked because she stopped pulling on things when she was told "no" after that. Now where did that wisdom that says sometimes you have to let them learn on their own and just pick up the pieces come from? That is a wisdom that started with God, don't believe me ask the Israelites in the Old Testament. God told them the right way and what would happen if they did it some other way; then had to sit there and watch as they took a shot to the head because they didn't listen. You ever wonder if God just shook His head as He watched it coming like other parents do sometimes? That's my image of it when I think on it, God shaking His head with the disbelief knowing that we'll make the wrong choice sometimes and then come crying to Him. I don't think I'm stretching too far, how often have you done it with your own children. When I was a youth minster I did it all the time. There were times when all that could be done was to laugh because I knew the lessons in store for a young person when they told me what they were doing. I could tell them it was the wrong choice, but my job most of the time consisted of helping pick up the pieces and then helping them find the answers to the lessons presented. If we do it and as humans we're not wiser then God then I have to say I believe God uses the opportunities we present Him with. Sometimes love means not saving us from ourselves which any parent can tell you is hard. What about the things out of our control, do you believe God uses those too? I do and those are the hard ones to get through because we understand them least. We think God should prevent struggles from coming that we don't bring on ourselves. Some of them we could have prevented, some we couldn't for whatever reason. Do you recognize the learning opportunity or just see the problem? For example, I know a couple who have despite the loss of one of their jobs has managed to pay their bills and keep their heads above water so far. Their combined income right now is from one job and unemployment, recently they had to start a new unemployment claim and it caused a one week lapse in their income. One check not coming in sent their fragile world that was barely working into chaos and now they have no idea what to do. It caused a chain reaction and they are going to be short this month for the first time to pay everything including a personal loan from a friend that they got to cover the one week initially. They are both stressed out which will flow into their relationship if they aren't careful, so where is the learning opportunity here. They are still not bad off compared to a lot of struggling people, but for them the world has been shaken. What do we learn in these moments, do we learn to trust God more or do we learn how fragile we are and that God is our only true foundation? I am not sure what to tell my friends, I believe that God offers things they can learn in this and every situation. They didn't cause this or even bring it on themselves, but their world can either grow or shatter from this. I guess it falls to our focus, like Peter coming to Jesus on the water we are only strong in the storm when we see the master of the storm. We grow weak when we see the storm and not the one who controls it. Even then Jesus taught once Peter was safe in His arms. When the storms come and you feel the chaos will you learn or get angry, will you be taught or fall into despair, will you grow or simply be bowled over by the waves. We trust God to do His best, we just wonder how painful that will be. Paul rejoiced in being persecuted because he saw a bigger picture, can we learn to see the opportunity to grow instead of our struggles? I think so, how about you?

Friends

For a little over two years now my wife and I have been sharing dinner with our close friends on Thursday nights. It is our weekly tradition and a high point in our week. It started as a good night to go out because most of us had gotten our pay check for the week by then and Thursday nights are less crowded the Friday nights. A small group of us went out and decided we enjoyed it so much that we should do it regularly. for the next several months we ate dinner at our favorite Italian Restaurant in town every Thursday night. Granted some weeks that was a stretch financially, but we decided it was worth the expenditure. We became such regulars that our waitress knew our orders by heart and would just bring out our drinks while we were still sitting down. She the double checked our orders just in case we wanted something new then sent our order to the kitchen. We often talked and laughed at our table until well after closing. The owners would let us sit there and laugh and joke with the staff as they cleaned up for the night. Eventually as times got tighter my wife and I decided we could feed everyone in our group much cheaper at our home. Most weeks we provide the main dish and get phone calls all afternoon about what people should bring like side dishes and such. It has been stressful at times, and a little over whelming from time to time. Some days it's my wife myself and one or two people other days it's 12 to 14 people in our home. The laughter and conversation we share fills our house with warmth, sometimes we play card games, sometimes movies and some days people just sit and visit till the wee hours of the morning. My wife and I were not very social the first few years we were married, we wanted to be but just weren't comfortable being social it was awkward as we worked to discover who we were together. We decided we both needed that time with friends and have filled our house with those we care about. No regrets no matter how stressful it has been sometimes. Friends are jewels that God gives us in our lives, they make the hard days better and the good days fantastic. I had this discussion with one of my friends the other day, he was very busy getting ready for some things and wasn't sure he would make it. I told him what I believe, that life looses something if you don't make the time to be with the people who care about you. All that work means nothing at the end of the day without those people who love you whether you do all that work or not because the just love you for you. He ended up coming that night and felt better about the task ahead because of it. What you do with friends is up to you, but I encourage you make some time with them a priority in your life. God uses friends to pull you through some of the worst times in your life; Christian or not, friends are sometimes the very hands of God to help carry you when your weary. Thank God for each one of your friends, God's little jewels in life to get you through. Tell your friends how much you appreciate them today while there is still time for only God knows what tomorrow may bring.

Change of Season

Wow, fall has come so fast this year or at least it seems that way. Here it is already October and I already feel way behind on everything! I was going through my list of things to get done for this summer and I have some catching up to do. The weather has changed drastically in a very short time. We went from upper 80's and lower 90's to 50 and 60 degree days literally overnight. The nights are already dipping into the 30's and I am left wondering where my beautiful sunny days went. With the onset of fall weather I examine my list and wonder where the time went. Do you ever feel that way? Too many things to do and never enough time to get it all done. Then life throws in the unexpected changes; economic, financial, schedule, vehicle (one of my personal favorites wink wink nod nod) and of course lifestyle changes brought about by any of these things. The storm of life can get pretty over whelming some times, it's hard to see the light thought the storm. The light house beams but is obscured by the crashing waves and it seems like we only ever get a passing glimpse of the light that guides us home. Are the storms raging in your life? Divorce, money problems, work crisis, porn, lying, problems with you children, fighting with your spouse? All these things cause us to lose site of the shore in the storm and can sweep us farther out to sea. There are to many possible storms to list, all of them capable of sinking ships. It's likely your storm isn't listed on here, but whatever the storm the answer is still the same. In Matt 14:22-33 we see Jesus calm a storm, but Peter gives us the key to surviving the storm. After he get's out of the boat and starts toward Jesus on the water in versus 30 it says, But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, and cried out, "Lord, save me!"NIV We know the story, Jesus Saves him, but we also can see what sunk him. "When He saw", he took his eyes off Jesus. When the storms come remember to see the Master of the storm and not the storm, who knows you might get a chance to walk on water.

Gratitude

I must confess, I am a computer nerd or geek, pick your preferred term of endearment. Like most guys I am a gadget guy of all general categories. My favorite these days is my iPhone, I love all the things I can do from one little device. It's the perfect marriage of gadget meets nerd for some of us. Now for all those out there scratching your head I am not by any means saying they are not super cool. I think they're awesome, and for a guy like me they are digital poetry. For instance, if you read the last post you know it was written from my phone while I was at the gym. To me it allows for more efficiency in some aspects of my life. One of the great things about them is the literally thousands of applications availible for them. My most recent favorite application is called the Gratitude Journal, this application is designed to help you to be grateful for everything. Let me explain, you record 5 things you are grateful for everyday in the journal you include a picture that means something to you then rate your day on a 1 to 5 star scale. You can record more then 5, but that is the goal and like any journal it's there for you to go back to.I thought this an interesting application so I got it out of curiostity and have been suprised by it. The process is contagious in a way, the first 2 weeks I had to really work to remember to do it. Night before last I had to convince myself it would hold for the morrow when I reliazed I had forgot to do it. I had been in bed for half an hour or so and couldn't figure out why I felt like something I was suppost to do was not taken care of. I've had it for close to a month now and some days it's easy to do more then 5 and some days I'm streching for that 5. It has been a learning experiance for me and I'm thrilled someone designed a program like it for the most popular phone in America. You don't need a phone to do this though, a regular note pad or spiral notebook will do just nicely. I recommend trying this little experiment to everyone, it has a extraordinary effect on you as time progresses. When you get used to recording everyday 5 things you are grateful for (which really most days isn't hard) then it starts to affect you. I lost sleep the other night because without stopping to remember what I was grateful for that day I just didn't feel complete. So I did the better thing, since I hadn't written them down I thanked God directly and told Him what I was particularly grateful for that day. Pretty sure I fell asleep still praying, not a bad way to fall asleep, slept like a rock. Taking time to be grateful everyday has helped me take notice of the many things in my life I have to be grateful for. If your married you should know that this process has made me more grateful to God for my wife. She is the best part of my day anyway, but when I stop and look at all my entries and what I'm most grateful for by my own records it just makes her all that more special to me. I notice this trend that she is in a lot of my daily entries, it helps me apprieciate the blessing God put in my life in the form of my wife. Single or married we all have a lot to be grateful for and I promise if you make a habit of taking time to be grateful you will see a difference in you daily life and more importantly you daily walk with God.

A Beautiful Start

It's morning again, just keeps happening that way. If your not naturely a morning person like I'm not this is the hard part of the day. I'm a gym person so I'm there paying to ride a bike that never moves before I do weights. Thought this was a great time to work on this. Got my music, Casting Crowns is playing in my ear buds. Got my gym cloths so I can work out right, drank water and a protien bar before I came. I even streched before I started. I know it takes planning to start the day right and it makes a beautiful start, I'll drink coffee when I get home and my day will be beautiful. We all have routines to start our day, so here is the question. Do you start the day with God? Is prayer or time in your Bible part of your day? If it means changing your routine or starting earlier it doesn't matter. I dare you to try it for two weeks solid, I promise it is always a beautiful start to your day, and you'll love the change you feel inside.

Catch the Fire!

If you missed 2009 you missed out! It's never too late though, 2010 is in process already. This year's theme is Christians on Fire and will be a fantastic event. Also being introduced this year is the new Youth Rally Live Out Loud for teens that will take place during Renewal. We've always tried to offer something for the teens but it's time, we're kicking it up a notch. A lot of people seem to be worried about location since Cascade closed. Don't worry, while we're not ready to announce a new location yet it's not that far off. Renewal will go on and God will find us a great place to do it. The website got a face lift and the long announced weekly Bible studies are about to start. Sorry there was a hang up, but we're about through the difficulties. If you Facebook then check us out, become a fan of Renewal. Get updates more often and straight to your page. Be sure and watch for new audio files to become availible on the site as the year progresses. Blessings to you all.
Renewal

Research

Want to get involved? I'm doing some research for an upcoming camp session. One of the big topics is the relevance of God in today's world. How do you convince a young, or old for that matter, non-believer that God is relevant in todays world? Let's go on from there, how about the relevance of the Church today? What example do I give of the "Church" being relevant in our current society? Now understand, I do not need convinced of these things. I work with young people and this is a difficult subject for non-believers so I thought I could pool our collective minds about this topic. I am offering you an opportunity to practice evangelism for the benefit of young people you may never know. You don't have to face to face with anyone or even leave home. Just another useful piece of technology, you can help by posting comments and in the process participate in youth ministry. Post your thoughts on this issue, I could use the help. Thanks