The Christian Ninjate

Showing Love

2012-02-12T15:15:00.000-08:00

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:34-40 (NIV)

How have you shown love recently? Okay, this isn't a condemnation to anyone, but merely a reminder. Jesus himself said that everything in the Bible and the words of God's prophets boils down to only two things: love God, love each other. We are called to love God with everything that we have in us. And because we love God so much, we are supposed to love each other at least as much as we love ourself.

For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 1 John 3:11 (NIV)

How far does this love go? Pretty far!

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 1 John 3:16 (NIV)

How do we do this? How do we actually love each other? By acting in the right way.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (ESB)

I want everyone to take these words to heart. Love God more than you love anyone or anything else! And love each other by not being rude, not being arrogant or boastful, acting patient, not being irritable, and treating each other as we want to be treated. Such is God-like love, and this is how God looks at us.

Obsession With The Christian

2012-02-03T08:46:00.000-08:00

Recently on the Facebook group for Fans For Christ there was a discussion about preachers condemning the "evils" of Pokemon. The thread was pretty long, and I'm not going to repeat it here (join the group if you want to see that and more). But one of my good friends posted a comment that really struck me and I thought it was worth repeating. Here are his words...

Of course, one could turn it around, and say that what we are defining as "too much God" or "obsession with the Bible" is better expressed as "not enough God" and "obsession with the Christian".

For these sorts of things seeks to answer the question "What must I do, that will make God love me?". And a second question, like the first, "What must I do, that Satan shall not conquer me?". And so preachers and teachers, most times out of compassion and care for their flock**, will search the scriptures, seeking to find The Answer which will calm the conscience.

But we tend to seek that answer solely in terms of "what I must do", or "what must I avoid", and under such terms we miss the Cross, and what Christ Himself has won for us. In our religion, we miss God and His Christ, because we tend to seek only ourselves.

"What must I do, that will make God love me?"

Nothing; he already loves you to the point of death and beyond. "Believe in Him whom He has sent." He has called you and redeemed you out of death's shadow, for His sake, for love's sake (but now I speak redundantly). So act without fear, in the perfect love already given to you.

"What must I do, that Satan shall not conquer me?"

Remember that your Lord has already conquered him; he is in great wrath, for he is a defeated enemy. "I saw Satan fall from Heaven like lightning." "And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, 'Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!'" "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

This is what we should find, when we seek after God and search the scriptures: the Christ who saves us and keeps us. Who loves us in spite of ourselves, and who gives that love freely.

Silence

2012-01-16T13:20:00.000-08:00

I was given this poem today, and it made me think of Psalm 46:10. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;

Silence is not a lack of words.
Silence is not a lack of music.
Silence is not a lack of curses.
Silence is not a lack of screams.
Silence is not a lack of colors
or voices or bodies or whistling wind.
Silence is not a lack of anything.

Silence is resting, nestling
in every leaf of every tree,
in every root and branch.
Silence is the flower sprouting
upon the branch.

Silence is the mother singing
to her newborn babe.
Silence is the mother crying
for her stillborn babe.
Silence is the life of all
these babes, whose breath
is a breath of God.

Silence is seeing and singing praises.
Silence is the roar of ocean waves.
Silence is the sandpiper dancing
on the shore.
Silence is the vastness of a whale.
Silence is a blade of grass.

Silence is sound
And silence is silence.
Silence is love, even
the love that hides in hate.

Silence is the pompous queen
and the harlot and the pimp
hugging his purse on a crowded street.

Silence is the healer dreaming
the plant, the drummer drumming
the dream. It is the lover's
exhausted fall into sleep.
It is the call of morning birds.

Silence is God's beat tapping all hearts.

Silence is the star kissing a flower.

Silence is a word, a hope, a candle
lighting the window of home.

Silence is everything --the renewing sleep
of Earth, the purifying dream of Water,
the purifying rage of Fire, the soaring
and spiraling flight of Air. It is all
things dissolved into no-thing--Silence
is with you always.....the Presence
of I AM

Elaine Maria Upton

Pastor Or Shepherd?

2012-01-13T14:04:00.000-08:00

My favorite TV series of all time is the tragically short-lived Firefly. It should be no surprise that one of my favorite characters in that show was Shepherd Darius Book. In fact, I created a sermon around this character.

However, the reason for writing today has more to do with terminology than the theology of Book. One of the things that was unique to the series was the use of "Shepherd" rather than "Pastor" as the title for religious leaders. At first I thought it was a very odd change. But the more I've thought about it the more it makes sense and I really like it.

There is actually a lot of Biblical basis for the title of Shepherd.

Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. Jeremiah 3:15

Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
John 21:16

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
Acts 20:28

Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve;
1 Peter 5:2

Now the word pastor is actually used in the New Testament, in Ephesians 4:11: So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers. The word itself actually does mean "shepherd", originating from the Latin pastorem. So in essence and reality, Pastor and Shepherd mean the same thing.

The reason I prefer the title of Shepherd is because of the imagery. When you use the word Pastor you conjure an idea of a religious leader and often a specific person. The title is so ingrained in church history and even bureaucracy that it can seem more of an administrative term than anything else. I have a lot of respect for many pastors I know, and many people with this designation do amazing work to help people. But to me "pastor" has lost a little of its original meaning and impact. It's so common that its essence has been diluted and it is often merely a word and not a source of inspiration.

Which brings me back to "shepherd". When I hear the word I get a specific mental image of someone guiding and protecting their flock. Combine that with the verses related to shepherds, sheep, and flocks, and I get a good idea of someone who should be leading a church or a group of believers. I think I'd prefer to be led by a Shepherd rather than a Pastor because of what the first word seems to mean or imply. And yes, I know that the effectiveness of the position lies in the person and not the title. Even so, I think it might be good to change things up a bit and go back to the idea of a Shepherd. I really doubt most church-goers know where "pastor" originates.

As a leader of Fans For Christ I have become a sort of pastor for the group. I help organize the group, give sermons, and am looked to as a spiritual leader. However, I don't want to be called pastor. Instead, refer to me as "Shepherd Bern."

Define "Christian"

2012-01-06T21:28:00.000-08:00

Here's a question for the couple of people reading this blog...what is a "Christian"? That's something that has been puzzling me lately. I've seen the title of Christian be used to describe plenty of people that I think are only marginally Christian as well as those who may give lip-service to the Bible but don't actually live according to the teachings of Jesus. So what does it really mean?

It's not as easy as many might think. Some of my friends have defined Christian as someone who has accepted Jesus as their savior, and as the intercessor for their sins. Technically, that is correct. However, that rather simplistic definition includes many people that are outside of mainstream Christianity and who hold beliefs contrary to the Bible, such as Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons. So do we need a stricter definition? Well, that makes sense, but who is going to write it? The New Covenant that came with Jesus' death is supposed to free us from laws and regulations, not put us under more. Christianity is supposed to be about freedom, not a checklist of do's and don'ts to "qualify" for heaven.

I'm still struggling with figuring it out, but I think that we should go back to the original meaning. "Christian" was used in an almost derogatory manner and very simply means "little Christ". To me this means that we should act like Christ. We should be little examples of Jesus. When someone looks at us they should be able to see Christ in us and through our actions.

So how do we become miniatures of Jesus? Reading and studying the Bible, especially the New Testament. I've started a personal Bible study where I'm going through the Gospels and looking at how Jesus acted. Not what he said, but what he did. How he treated people, when he prayed, who he hung around, and so on. My goal is to be a little Christ, to figure out how to act like Him. Once I learn that, then maybe I'll start to truly earn the title of Christian.

What Christmas Is All About

2011-12-23T14:39:00.001-08:00

It's just a few days until Christmas, and of course this means many things to many people. Presents, parties, family gatherings, shopping, Santa Claus, the birth of Jesus.... But what does it really mean? What is Christmas really about?

The answer is rather simple, actually. Simple enough for children to understand it and simple enough to be put in a short segment of a cartoon. So in celebration of the season, and if you're wondering what it's all about, I give you the answer....

A Christian Defense Of Halloween

2011-10-28T19:50:00.000-07:00

I am a born-again, conservative, evangelical Christian. And I love Halloween.

Not exactly the common perspective and comment among such Christians, but frankly I get a little tired of hearing churches and Christians come down on the holiday. I know there are plenty of sites and emails touting the horrible, pagan events surrounding Halloween and why Christians should run as far away as possible from these events. But let me give some of my reasons why I hold a different opinion.

First, let's look at the origins of Halloween. The name itself originates from "All-Hallow-E'en", or the evening before All Hallows Day. Also called All Saints Day, this is a solemn holiday on November 1st celebrated by many Christian denominations. The day commemorates all who have attained sainthood and hold a special place in Heaven. The name Halloween was first used in the 16th century.

The events around Halloween are mostly attributed to the Celtic celebration of Samhain, though older origins have been suspected. Samhain was seen as an end to the "light" part of the year and the beginning of the "dark" part of the year. The day was not a celebration of the darkness, but a recognition of the transition from one part of the year to the other and usually involved bonfires to ward away the darkness and evil spirits. Yes, modern Wiccans do still recognize the holiday, but as a way to honor and pay respect to people who have passed on, not to perform evil ceremonies.

Most of the traditions we now associate with Halloween were actually used to trick or ward off evil spirits, not encourage them! Costumes and masks were used by the Gaels to trick ghosts and other evil beings into thinking that the people were actually some of their own kind, and therefore not anyone to try and harass or possess. Pumpkin-carving originated with large turnips that were hollowed out and placed in windows with lit candles inside as a way to repel evil spirits (while turnips were common in Scotland and Ireland, where the practice began, immigrants to America used the larger and more common pumpkins as an alternative). The practice of carving pumpkins was a harvest-time tradition in America and didn't become specifically associated with Halloween until the late 1800s.

So as you can see, the day of Halloween stems from a belief that evil and ghosts more easily walked the earth on this night of transition from light to darkness, and the desire of the people to protect themselves against such horrible things. As Christians, we should very much support such ideas and traditions, as we also should seek to prevent and ward off evil influences. Costumes, pumpkins, and other things associated with Halloween are supported by our fight against Satan and his minions. There is NOTHING inherently evil about these things, and nothing against God.

What about all of the pagan symbols associated with Halloween? Shouldn't we avoid it because of such things? Yes, we should not support anything that is going to promote a view other than that the Bible is true, Jesus is the messiah, and God is the supreme power in the world. We should worship only God, and nothing or no one else. But is participating in Halloween supporting pagan rituals? I hardly think so. Anyone who can't discern between worshiping Gaia, casting a spell in a circle of candles, and dressing in a costume among friends needs to get a big dose of reality-check.

Okay, so what about the pagan origins of the holiday? Yes, Samhain started among the pre-Christian Celts and Gaels. So? If we ignore or lambast Halloween because it has a few traditions that started among non-Christians and pagans, then we also need to get rid of our two big Christian celebrations: Easter and Christmas. Don't believe me? Let's look at a few things very briefly.

One of the biggest symbols of Easter in modern culture is the Easter egg. Painted eggs date back to the ancient Zoroastrians many centuries before Christ was born. Christians have looked at the egg as a symbol of new life, renewal, and resurrection. However, similar beliefs of the symbolism of eggs were also held by ancient Egyptians, Persians, Romans, Gauls, and Chinese. A rabbit associated with the date can have origins with the goddess Eostre. Notice her name? The monk Bede wrote that Easter derives its name from this diety, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of Spring.

Christmas has even more pagan influences! First of all, the date is nowhere near when Jesus would have been born. If you read and analyze the Biblical accounts, Christ was born in the Spring. So why do we celebrate it in December? Around that time of year the Winter solstice occurs, which was a major pagan holiday as the longest night of the year. There are various debates as to why this time was chosen to celebrate Christ's birth, but many believe that it was a method of the church to entice pagans to celebrate Christ by associating their existing holidays with Christian ones. The church couldn't get rid of the celebrations already established during this time, so they provided alternate ones. The Roman holiday of Saturnalia is most commonly associated as the source of the date, and involved gift-giving and celebration. The colors of red and green traditionally represent the fertility of males and incubation of females, a rather pagan viewpoint. Red berries, mistletoe, holly, and wreaths all have pre-Christian origins among pagan beliefs. Christmas trees were first used as such in the mid-15th century. However, pagans commonly looked at evergreens as a symbol of everlasting life, and would use them in their celebrations.

Many traditional, conservative Christians are against Halloween because of the pagan origins and images. Yet if we applied the same analysis and criticisms in the same way to other holidays we wouldn't be able to say "Easter", have Easter eggs, Christmas trees, Christmas presents, and a host of other things that we as Christians hold dear. If we can adopt and use pagan traditions in other holidays, or even ignore where our "Christian" traditions come from, why can't we do this with Halloween?

What does Halloween mean to us in the 21st century? Ask a child about the holiday and they'll say that it's all about dressing in costumes and getting free candy. They have no idea at all about anything "evil". Yes, some of the decorations and costumes have monsters, ghouls, ghosts, and other scary things. But such images are not inherently evil, nor are spooky stories. The Bible has numerous stories involving ghosts, witches, demons, and the dead coming back to life. As long as we are not holding Frankenstein and vampires above God, it's merely harmless fun.

Let's be real, folks. Halloween is harmless fun and even its origins are about repelling evil, not celebrating it or succumbing to it. There is nothing wrong with a Christian participating.

Christianity Is Not A Religion

2011-10-17T16:58:00.000-07:00

Recently I bought a new t-shirt. The front says "Christianity is not a religion." Now that alone caught my attention, and me look more closely. I have a bit of a non-traditional background, having come to faith in Christ when I was 28 years old. Raised Lutheran, I was an agnostic for many years and looked into other religions. When I was "saved" it was very personal to me. I was down on my knees by myself in my one-bedroom apartment and nobody knew anything for quite some time. So I've always seen my relationship with Jesus as just that....a relationship.

The back of the shirt gives more detail. "Religion is humans trying to work their way to God. Christianity is God coming to men and women through a relationship with Jesus Christ."

I see so many "religious" people who live by rules and laws set down in their religious creeds. Even many Christians worry more about the "dos" and "don'ts" of the Bible than they do about actually seeking time with God. We can do nothing in our deeds that will make God like us more or earn us a place in Heaven. The Bible is very clear that we have a place next to God through Christ and how we know Him, not because of any other actions.

There's the old trope that "it's not what you know but who you know." This is especially true with Christianity.

“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven." Matthew 10:32-33

Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
2 Timothy 2:11-12

God's Dog

2011-10-02T13:57:00.000-07:00

We have a very sweet yellow lab named Yvaine (from the movie Stardust) who is my wife's baby. She was picked out when only one and a half weeks old and my wife eagerly anticipated her joining our family. Since then Yvaine has been babied and spoiled to the point where she thinks she's a 61 pound lap dog.

One of the things we love is that she really wants to be with us. She's content to curl up on the couch or bed next to us (well, mostly my wife), just being close. When my wife leaves the room, she gets up and follows. When we come home she jumps up an down, happy to see us whether we've been gone for an hour or a week. It's really a very simple relationship. She loves us (again, mostly my wife) so much and without reservation, and wants to be as close to us as possible.

Why does our relationship with God have to be complicated? He desires nothing more than to be close to us, and wants us to be close to Him. Yet we run away, resist, decide that we don't have time, and a million other excuses. I think that a dog's relationship with their owner is a good example of what our relationship with God should be. Like Yvaine with us, we should want to follow Him around, stay close to Him, and simply be in His presence. It's not that hard to understand, yet few of us do it.

If you're a good dog owner, you completely care for them. Our pets don't have to worry about food, shelter, medical care, or really anything. God is certainly better than we are, so he will take care of us as well.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:25-33)

Let's take time to be with God. Let's follow Him around, seek His presence, and let Him take care of us. All he wants is our attention and love, and He will take care of us in return. Pretty simple.

Geek Preachin'!

2011-09-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

As a part of Fans For Christ I organize and lead church services at cons, usually giving the message. The first time I did it I had a sermon that included some Star Wars references, but was that was not really my main focus. In fact, I only used it because I had given the sermon in a traditional church once and had it handy. However, I realized the benefit of people being able to relate to the message illustrations.

Jesus and His Apostles (sounds like a boy-band, doesn't it?...no disrespect meant, Lord) used illustrations and analogies that their audiences could understand. Look at the parables and stories in the Bible and you'll see that they mostly include references to farming, winemaking, soldiers, and athletics...all things that the people of that day and age understood and could relate to. That's really my inspiration for my sermons. I want to talk about the Bible in ways that makes sense to my audience, yet still is teaching God's Word.

Preachers do this all of the time in modern churches. And what is one of the biggest topics for illustrations? Sports. Football, basketball, baseball, hunting, fishing, and so on. Personally I could care less about any of these things and my friends are often of a similar mindset. When I go to places like Dragon*Con and ConNooga, the interests of the audience are even more shifted to Star Trek and Harry Potter and away from the Dallas Cowboys or deer season. So why shouldn't I use those things in my sermons?

Want to see what this is like? Fans For Christ now has a YouTube channel. Some of the videos we've linked and are uploading are taken from services. Others are me recreating messages that I've given in the past but didn't have recorded. Take a look and see some geek preachin'!

Dragon*Con 2011

2011-09-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

Wow. God really blessed Fans For Christ this year. Some amazing things happened at Dragon*Con, and it's all due to the Spirit of God working through people.

Rather than repeating verbatim, here's a link to the events this year. Dragon*Con 2011 Report

Setting Things In Motion

2011-09-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

So it's another year and another Dragon*Con. We just arrived today, met with many of our Fans For Christ members, and had a great time of prayer for the weekend to come. This is our biggest event of the year, and we want Christ's presence to really shine.

Going to cons is an important ministry to me and my wife. God has has graciously allowed us to use our hobbies and interests to serve Him. Each time we come to a con we plant seeds, showing people how Christ can be a part of their lives and really central to their lives, yet they still can have fun and pursue their interests. We can't make anyone change their hearts or their lives, but we can give them opportunities to learn about God and His grace. Really we just set things in motion and let God do the rest.

So anyone reading this (both of you), pray for us this weekend, that we will be safe, have fun, and focus on God moving in people's lives.

Faith Precedes The Miracle

2011-08-02T18:23:00.000-07:00

My family recently watched a fantasy movie, Voyage Of The Unicorn. It was a fun, light-hearted family adventure that we tend to enjoy, involving faeries, elves, trolls, unicorns, dragons, and other fantastic creatures. One of the points behind the movie was that believing is seeing. You have to believe in something before you can really see it.

Isn't that true with God?

One of the main lines repeated by one of the characters is "Faith precedes the miracle." This is really a strong Biblical truth, isn't it? If you look throughout the Bible you'll see that each time a miracle is performed, someone has to have faith and believe in it first. From the parting of the Red Sea to Paul escaping from prison, the power of God requires a measure of faith before it can work.

Does this mean that God needs us in order for Him to work miracles? No. He can do it just fine without us and isn't beholden to any "power" we may seem to possess. He wants to see whether or not we really believe in Him and His power. Once we have faith, then we'll see His hand.

Remember that the next time you're looking for something special to happen in your life. Have you had faith first?

Vanity, Thy Name Is Church

2011-06-22T18:44:00.000-07:00

"Come to our church. We have a beautiful building!"
"Oh, our praise band is great. They really rock."
"You should hear how wonderfully our praise leader sings."
"We have Christmas trees all over the place during the holiday season."
"Yeah, our VBS is really cool this year."
"I just love the multimedia the pastor uses in his sermons. The video clips are really neat."

How many times do we hear these things, or similar phrases? How many times have we said them ourselves? There is nothing wrong with being proud of our church, enjoying the praise and singing, and being engaged by the PowerPoint. However, I think that many people get to focused on these things to the exclusion of God.

How many times do you hear things like, "Come to our church. God is really moving there." "The Holy Spirit really filled our church this week." "Our praise group sings songs with a really Godly spirit."

We need to get away from the vanity of how our churches look and sound. We need to get back to God! Concentrating on whether or not God is working in the people of the church. If we don't focus on Christ, and if we don't really pay attention as to whether or not He is present, it doesn't matter what the appearance of the building is.

Remembering Where God Is

2011-06-10T19:34:00.000-07:00

Today was a really bad day. For details see my other blog. But in summary both of our cars went kaput within a couple of hours of each other for unrelated reasons. This hit us pretty hard, and will end up with us having only one vehicle. We also very much believe that this was no coincidence, but was Satan's attack.

All of this got me really down, as I struggled with the frustrations. My wife, son and I prayed, seeking God's guidance and protection. Then my son brought in his Bible. This week he had been in vacation Bible school, where the theme was Psalms 139. He didn't remember all of it, so we read it aloud together.

It was pretty profound to me, and really showed me something about God. No matter what we do, where we are, or what's going on, He knows and He's right there with us. It's such a simple truth, but one that we often forget. I've read this Psalm several times before, but hadn't remembered exactly which one it was. Reading the words I became teary-eyed, realizing that through all of this God is there. God was there before it happened and knew it was going to happen. He knew about all of this before I was ever born!

When you need some encouragement, and need to remember where God is, read Psalms 139.

Easter Every Day

2011-04-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

Most Christians were active on the internet this past Sunday because it was Easter. I saw blog entries, emails, and a whole bunch of comments and posts on Facebook. But my wife said something that made me think, and made me hold off on posting about Easter until now. She wondered why people get so excited about Easter and then go back to putting God second the rest of the year. And she has a great point.

Now please don't get me wrong. Christ's resurrection is the keystone of Christianity. If Jesus has not risen from the dead then all of our other beliefs are false as He wasn't actually the son of God and everything he said can be called into question. Easter is the celebration of this resurrection, and so should be a big celebration for us as Christians. But how many people focus on Easter and ignore the other 363 days of the year (I'm not counting Christmas, which is also usually a big focus)?

Think about it for a minute. We sing, celebrate, and praise God on Easter above all other days. And well we should! But if we put Jesus on the back burner the rest of the year, how much does Easter really mean to us? What significance is His sacrifice if we go around practically ignoring it most of the year? And how much of a miracle is a risen savior if we're not remembering that every day?

I'm as guilty of sin and forgetting God as any other person. But I'm hoping that I'll keep the Easter spirit alive in my heart all year long. Try it yourself. Live Easter every day.

Go Where The Rain Is

2011-03-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

Let's say that you're thirsty. I mean, spending-a-month-in-the-desert-and-dehydrated thirsty. You haven't seen any rain to quench your thirst and cool you down. You look up and see some rain on the top of a mountain. You could sit there where you are and wait for the rain to come to you, or you could make the difficult climb and go up the mountain and to the rain clouds.

What do you do?

If you sit there and wait, it's easy and little effort, but the rain may or may not actually come down to where you are. If you climb the mountain it will be difficult and exhausting, but you know that you'll get the rain. You're dying of thirst, so do you sit there or climb?

Faith and our relationship with God are like this. Sometimes it seems like we're in a drought and wonder where the spiritual rain is. Where are the blessings? Where is God? We can see others being blessed, so why not us?

Well, why are you sitting there waiting for it to happen? Make the difficult journey and go to where the rain and the blessings are. Walk closer to God and climb the spiritual mountain. Sitting around won't do anything, so you have to change what you're doing.

Anyone up for some mountain climbing?

Rubber Band

2011-03-27T06:33:00.000-07:00

I heard this on the radio as I was getting ready for church and thought that it was worth sharing.

"Faith is like a rubber band. It's only useful when it's stretched."

Think about that! It's very true.

Consequences Of Sin

2011-03-21T21:04:00.000-07:00

I think everyone realizes that sin is bad, and we all know passages such as "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). But I wonder if people really and truly understand how far-reaching the consequences of sin can be. In my own extended family I've had the unfortunate "pleasure" of seeing this for real.

In my wife's family there is a married couple who have four young children. Over the last couple of years the wife has had multiple affairs and has lied to cover her indiscretions. Yes, this is bad, and an obvious breaking of God's commandment against adultery. Even simply the lies are against God's Word. She has been very selfish in her actions, and though her husband hasn't always been the best of people and the most attentive spouse or father, he hasn't gone to the extent that she has. But let's look at the spiral this has caused.

Her children are being pulled between the parents and are being affected by those stresses.
Her mother and father have had their jobs affected by the stress of dealing with her.
Her hidden sin has affected the church around her.
Her Christian witness has been ruined and she cannot effectively serve in church.
Her family doesn't trust her at all.
Her sister doesn't want to be around her.
And that's just the beginning. At a quick count I can think of at least 13 people in her immediate family alone that have been directly impacted by her poor choices and sinful actions.

God has set up "rules" and guidelines, defining certain actions as sinful. This isn't because He wants to be a dictator and run our lives. It's because He knows that these actions have far-reaching consequences and can destroy not only us but those we know and the lives we touch.

Before you act selfishly and act against God, really think hard about who you are really affecting. It's more than just yourself.

Christians Unfit Foster Parents?

2011-03-03T18:41:00.000-08:00

Recently a court in England denied a couple the right to foster a child because of their Christian beliefs. Seriously! Read about it here.

But Lord Justice Munby and Mr Justice Beatson ruled that laws protecting people from discrimination because of their sexual orientation "should take precedence" over the right not to be discriminated against on religious grounds.
They said that if children were placed with carers who objected to homosexuality and same-sex relationships, "there may well be a conflict with the local authority's duty to 'safeguard and promote the welfare' of looked-after children".

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall, the lesbian, gay and bisexual charity, said: "Thankfully, Mr and Mrs Johns' out-dated views aren't just out of step with the majority of people in modern Britain, but those of many Christians too.

But the Christian Legal Centre reacted to the ruling with dismay and warned that "fostering by Christians is now in doubt".
The organisation said the judgment "sends out the clear message that orthodox Christian ethical beliefs are potentially harmful to children and that Christian parents with mainstream Christian views are not suitable to be considered as potential foster parents".

You know, I realize that Christianity is under attack and more and more people discriminate against Christians. But this is getting ridiculous and rather frightening. Basically this case was looking at religious rights versus homosexual rights. And the judges were rather firm in saying that homosexuality trumps religious rights.

We need to pray and pray hard. Stories like this are becoming more common as the teachings of the Bible are called into question and considered intolerant and hateful. If we're not careful we are certainly on the road to Christian views being against the law and considered hate crimes. Christians need to stick together, seek God, and pray for our world.

Lust Or Love?

2011-02-24T19:38:00.000-08:00

Here's a weird question. Do you love God, or do you lust for him? Bear with me for a second on this one.

Let's look at what the two things are. Think about lust first. That's usually used in a sexual connotation, but can be used for any strong, overwhelming desire. Related to God, that's good, right? But how long does lust last? Normally it's something intense but brief. You lust, have the feeling fulfilled, then move on. Lust isn't lasting, and won't sustain a relationship. Eventually the lust fades and then you find other desires. Lust implies primal feelings that are beyond your control and don't involve a lot of thought.

Love can be passionate and deep, but it's also thoughtful and long-lasting. True love is something that grows with time, not fades (as lust does). When you lust for something you usually feel for it with a specific part of you (mental or physical). When you love something you do it with all of yourself. Love sustains you for years or a lifetime, and becomes something that you build your life around.

Now look at your relationship with Jesus. Do you strongly desire Him, pray and have the prayer answered, and then get distracted by other interests? That's lust. Do you want to spend time with Him and get to know Him better? Do you want Him in your life in both good and bad times? That's love.

Which is it with you?

Astromechs For Jesus!

2011-02-21T09:28:00.000-08:00

This past weekend my family and I were at ConNooga in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We were there mainly to represent our group, Fans For Christ. But of course with us being geeks we had fun looking around and talking to people.

One of the groups I've talked to for a few years is the R2 Builders Club. These are people who as a hobby build their own astromechs as seen in the Star Wars movies. I've been fascinated by them and thought it would be so incredibly cool to have one of my own. Because one droid can cost a few thousand dollars or more (depending on materials and complexity), my wife has said I couldn't do it. But this year our FFC table was right next to the R2 Builders, so I got to talk to them even more and get to know them personally as well. My wife met some of their wives, and she finally gave me the okay to join.

Woo-hoo! So now I'm going to slowly start the process of working to build my own droid, specifically R2-B1 (briefly seen in The Phantom Menace).

This is going to involve work, time, and money, but I'm really looking forward to it. When I'm done, I'll have a functional, mobile R2 unit.

However, I was also thinking "why am I doing this?" What is the ultimate purpose? And most of all, how can I use this to glorify God? Yeah, that seems a bit odd, but I want to use this hobby to witness to people for Jesus or somehow draw attention to our group, Fans For Christ. One way I can do this is have the droid at our FFC table, which will of course bring people over to us out of curiosity. But I also plan to look for other ways to use R2-B1 as a witnessing tool. How? Haven't figured that out yet as this only came to me yesterday, but I don't plan on giving up on it. If God has allowed me to meet other Christians doing this and has softened my wife's heart (thanks, darlin'!), then I need to give back to Him and find a way to use it for His glory.

Faith In The Chair

2011-02-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

If you're reading this, odds are that you are sitting down on something. Even if you're standing, at some point you sit down on something. When you did, did you think about the seat? Did you look down at it and wonder if it would hold you? Did you worry that it wouldn't support you? Did you consider that it might break and you would fall down?

Chances are that you answered no to all of these questions. You had complete confidence in the chair and faith that it would do what it was supposed to do. Because that chair had supported you before or even looked like it would, you believed in it's ability.

Why do we doubt God? How many times to we wonder "Is He going to take care of me?" "Will he actually help me out of this?" "Can I really count on Him?" Despite all evidence to the contrary we doubt God's ability to do what He says He will do. Despite all of the times that He has helped us in the past, we wrestle with whether or not He will help us in the future.

So tell me, which do you have more faith in. God or your chair?

Why Are We Surprised?

2011-02-11T10:50:00.000-08:00

You know it's happened to you. You really want or need something, so you pray and ask God to bless you with the request. Then He answers it and you stand amazed. Wow! He actually did it! He actually listened to you and he was actually able to accomplish it! Something that seemed impossible, and now it's done! You can't believe it!

Why not? Why so surprised?

The Bible contains numerous promises that God makes to us. Why are we astounded when He actually does what He said He was going to do?

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak. (Isaiah 40:29)

These are only a small sampling of the dozens of things God says He will do for us, to us, and through us. When we pray we should do so with confidence and security that as long as we are in His will and praying according to His teachings, the prayers WILL be answered. Yet we are often surprised and shake our head in almost disbelief.

Why do we doubt? We're the ones who break promises, not God. When our prayers are answered we should smile, praise Him, and just nod knowingly. We should end each prayer with assurance, wondering not "if" but rather "when". Answers to prayers may not be in the way that we want, but we should have confidence that they are a foregone conclusion. If they aren't, then God is a liar and not worthy of our faith. But we know that isn't true, so we should take great strength in that knowledge.

God love us. He always fulfills His promises. And though we should be grateful, we should never be surprised when He does this.

Nothing Without Prayer

2011-02-07T12:19:00.000-08:00

At my monthly pastor's prayer meeting one of the other pastors brought up a point that I had never really considered. God never acts without prayer being done first. James was talking about the fact that prayer is so vitally important to how God works, and how we need to really stress prayer as a godly act. When God's people pray, things happen, and happen in a big way. As we want and desire to see God work and perform miracles, we need to start the process with prayer.

And this line of thinking had me reviewing what I know of in the Bible. I cannot think of a single time that God acted or performed a miracle in the Bible where prayer did not happen first. Eve's creation? Started with Adam seeking God. Moses saving the Israelites? He prayed first. Any of Jesus' actions? Even He prayed. It's not that God can't do things without us, and it's not that we "convince" God to act. But He wants to see that we really do want Him. God wants to know that we are seeking and looking for Him to work. Sometimes He withholds His blessings, favor, and actions until we ask Him for them.

Think about that the next time you are waiting on God to do something in your life. Have you prayed first? And the next time something unexpected happens that can only come from God, think about who has been praying for you.

Harmonious Prayer

2011-02-04T16:42:00.000-08:00

On the first Friday of every month pastors from all over my county gather together for prayer. Because of my involvement as a minister through Fans For Christ and my own church, I attend these meetings. We have black, white, and Asian pastors. They include Baptists, Methodists, Messianic Jews, traditionalists, charismatics, and just about every other type of Protestant you can think of. At these meetings we spend an our together simply praying.

Everyone prays in their own way and style. Some are quite and kneel. Some raise hands up and are shouting to the Lord. Some speak in tongues. Some walk around and physically touch others as they pray for them. There are loud voices, soft voices, crying, begging, praising...you name it!

Today we had that meeting and in the middle of it I stopped my own prayers and simply listened to the prayers around me. I heard all of those voices, tones, and styles surrounding me, and I began to hear them blend together. The tongues merged with the traditional prayers. The lamentations merged with the praise. And it reminded me of a chorus of singers, where the altos, tenors, baritones, sopranos and all other ranges blend together to make a harmonious sound. This variety of voices comes together to make a beautiful harmony that they couldn't produce alone.

I believe that's how God sees these prayers. He doesn't care what our church affiliation or backgrounds are. To Him it just matters that all of these different voices are lifted up to Him for a single purpose and a single worship. The differences begin to vanish as the sounds change from cacophony to harmony. That is the true glory of the Kingdom of God. When believers from all faiths put aside their differences and focus on their similarities. When they realize that they all serve Jesus and can come together as one single body to do His will. That's when God is fully glorified and when His desires can be done.

I pray that such unity can spread across this country and the world. What could Christians really do if we all prayed as one and lifted our voices to God in harmony?

God--The Adventure Hero!

2011-01-16T10:16:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook today:

"Life is an adventure. And you know, the adventure never really begins until everything goes wrong...And then you get to watch the Lord work." -Pastor Jay Stark

I love this quote and it got me thinking about adventure stories and heroes. For example, let's look at that classic adventurer, Indiana Jones. We know that he's pretty amazing and can do some spectacular things: running away from huge boulders, climbing along the underside of a truck while it's moving, falling out of a crashing plane with a rubber raft as a parachute, guiding a runaway mine cart along broken tracks, racing speedboats through the canals of Venice, defeating ancient death-traps...and let's not forget the whip! Indy accomplishes things that no normal person could ever do and pulls victory out of certain defeat.

But all of these great feats come when he's in danger and when things seem to be going wrong. Remember that Indy is also a college professor. How many amazing things do you think he performs in front of his students? Now this isn't a comment against teachers. I've taught college Biology, so I count myself as one. But I can't recall anything happening in a class or lab that would be beyond the capabilities of just about anyone to handle. I also never faced danger in the classroom. If Dr. Jones had stayed in his classroom, he would have been much safer but we also wouldn't be telling stories about him.

God is the same way. If everything is going smoothly and there are no challenges, there is no way for His miracles to show. What kind of miracle can happen when everyone is well, there is plenty of money in the bank, and the car is working fine? But when things start to fall apart and everything seems hopeless...that's when our Heavenly Adventure Hero can show what He's made of! So the next time things seem bleak, remember that those times are there so that God can show how awesome He is!

Rearranging Your House

2011-01-14T07:26:00.000-08:00

Over the last week my wife and I have been rearranging our house. About 4 years ago when we moved we went for a relatively large house to a smaller one, losing several hundred square feet. We've always been a little unhappy with the space, even though it's a nice house, and often have talked about wishing for a new home. This is also the longest we've lived in one home in the 13 years we've been together, so we're feeling a little antsy and kind of wanting to move. But there is no real chance of that happening soon, so we're trying to make the best of it.

As we started rearranging the house, switching furniture from one room to another, moving pictures, and so on, we discovered that we have a lot more open space. What once seemed like a cramped home has suddenly opened up and feels roomy. We look around and are amazed at what some new paint, slipcovers on the furniture, and a different arrangement can do to make us like our home. We really haven't added or taken away things in the house, just changed where they were placed. And that has made a world of difference in feeling content in our home.

This morning when I was praying God spoke to me about this issue. I've also been struggling with being content in my job and our life. I often wish that God has something else in store for me. That he would help me find a different job, more money, and so on. But for whatever reasons (and only He knows what they are), God wants us here at this time. Since my desires don't seem to be in line with His, I've been struggling with personal contentment. This morning He spoke to me and made me realize that it was no different than contentment with our house.

As I said, we really didn't add or take away from our home. We used what we had and rearranged where we put them. And that made a huge difference, increasing our satisfaction in our home. So what if I did that internally? What if I slapped a coat of spiritual paint on my heart and rearranged my priorities and activities? By re-evaluating and rearranging my spiritual house, perhaps I could be content where God has me placed.

I'm not saying that suddenly everything is copacetic in my heart. But it was a great awakening to me, and I'm glad that God spoke to me. I don't necessarily have to add or take away from myself to be content. God has already placed the things in our life we need to be happy. When we're struggling with finding that contentment, we should look at rearranging things in our life. We don't need to add things or even get rid of things (though we may need to get rid of sinful behaviors or add spiritual ones). Like it took with my home, just looking at things in our life in a different way may help us find that peace that God wants for us.

Wal-Mart Wins

2010-12-30T11:19:00.000-08:00

Over Christmas there was an unusual snowfall in Georgia (where I live). It was the first White Christmas since 1882. I won't get started on a "global warming" rant here....The snow fell on Saturday, and by Sunday morning many churches in our town had put out notices that they were cancelling service. My own church was open, but we had only about 30% of our normal attendance. I know it's the South and schools get closed for flurries (not kidding!), but the roads were clear and not dangerous, even on the side-streets.

As we were sitting in church my wife leaned over to me and said "I'll bet Wal-Mart's parking lot isn't empty." And you know, she was right. We did go to Wal-Mart that afternoon and there didn't seem to be any lack of people there.

What does it say when people think it's too icy to attend church but not too bad to go to Wal-Mart? When did it start being okay to risk bad weather for after-Christmas sales but not for worshiping God? Our priorities are pretty messed up when Wal-Mart wins out over Christ.

Inspiration from Tron

2010-12-24T11:58:00.000-08:00

I have gotten to know Christian novelist and blogger M.B. Weston through Dragon*Con and my involvement with Fans For Christ. She recently posted some ideas of spiritual truths from the new movie, Tron: Legacy.

I love the concept Kevin Flynn taught to his apprentice, Quorra. He taught that as a means of preventing yourself from being selfish, take yourself out of the equation. Instead of worrying how the outcome of a certain choice might effect you, think instead of how it will effect others. Only then can you make an objective choice.

We all have a choice:

We can choose to wake up, get our coffee, go to work, come home, and sleep--taking no interest in the world around us. Quite mundane, and very safe, but wouldn't you like to be part of something bigger?
We can choose to participate in the adventure, to take ourselves out of the equation and actively seek to play a role in God's story. (Note: This looks different for everyone, as we all have different talents and life circumstances. No judging allowed here!)

I encourage everyone to go to her blog and read more of the details. It's a great concept and I love getting inspiration from geek-related pop culture.

Thanks #5: The Bible

2010-12-03T08:41:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't noticed, my thanks aren't in any particular order.

Yes, I'm thankful for God and Christ for some obvious reasons. But I'm very thankful that God gave us the Bible. This collection of writings has been with us for thousands of years and is available for anyone to read. We can talk to God but we don't always quickly and easily hear an answer. With the Bible we can go to God's words any time and anywhere. We have advice, stories, comforting words, and anything we need. It's also not just for us, but for pretty much anyone. It's been translated into most languages and has been spread around the world. Though Jesus is our intercessor, the Bible is the real way to getting to know God properly. And despite many attempts over the centuries to suppress or discredit it, God has made sure that it's always around. I give thanks that God gives us this book to understand Him better, and therefore ourselves better.

Thanks #4: My Kids

2010-12-02T17:33:00.000-08:00

Like any children, my kids can sometimes get on my nerves. My wife and I have also pondered what our lives would be like without the kids....more money, more freedom, less stress... But both our son and daughter were wanted, and they still are. Despite any hardships, I really do love them.

My son is a very sweet child, always asking for and giving hugs. For the most part he's kind, considerate, and helpful. There's nothing quite like him coming up simply to give a big hug. Plus, he has as many geeky interests as I do, and he's someone I can share movies with.

My daughter is such a study in contradictions. She's all about girly clothes and anything pink, yet she likes lizards and bugs, is rarely scared, and doesn't get grossed out. Her food tastes are almost identical to mine, which is nice since my wife doesn't have to fix certain foods for just me. She has a special interest in her Swedish heritage (though my father), which is nice to share.

God has given me great kids that are healthy and well-behaved (most of the time). I'm truly blessed and thankful.

Thanks #3: My Wife

2010-12-01T20:08:00.000-08:00

This may be a pretty obvious thanks, but it's very much worth mentioning. I am so incredibly thankful for my wife. And we met under uncommon circumstances, so I know God had a hand. We were both living in Nashville and were single but searching. As part of that search, we found a singles line on a local secular pop music station. This was the kind of program where you could leave messages and browse profiles for free, but you had to pay a 1-900 number to retrieve messages left for you. I had just started looking, and she had been doing it for a while but was about to give up. She was a Christian all of her life and I had found faith in Christ for only a month. We were from very different backgrounds and interests, yet over the last 12 years we have merged and blended until we are each others' perfect match. Only God could bring together people of such dissimilar origins in such a unique way.

My wife is my best friend and biggest supporter who I rely on heavily. I am so thankful to God that He brought her into my life.

Thanks #2: Job

2010-11-30T18:50:00.000-08:00

Continuing my theme of thanking God all week, let's talk about my job. Anyone who knows me well would be surprised for me to be thankful for my job. It's a source of stress and not something I enjoy many days. If I went back in time I'd choose another career. So it's not exactly a happy thing for me to think about.

However, my job is flexible enough that I can have time off when I need it. I make a good salary that allows me to completely provide for my family. I have the respect of people I work with and a good client base. And most importantly, I have a steady job with great job security. In today's international economy that's a very important thing for me to be able to say. As much as I don't like my job, I would hate being unemployed even more.

So thanks to God for my job!

Week Of Thanks

2010-11-29T18:17:00.000-08:00

Last week was Thanksgiving here in the US. This is a time when we're supposed to get together with family, eat lots of food, and be thankful for what we have. But why do we have to wait until the third Thursday in November to give thanks? God does so much for us that we should be thanking him all of the time. As my wife has said many times recently, we should be coming to church and to God with our hands up, not hands out.

So for this entire week I'm going to blog about my personal thanks to God. I did that with family last week, but I wanted to wait until after the "official" Thanksgiving holiday to do this publicly. Maybe this will inspire more people to thank God for all He does.

Today's thanks? The same thing that I said before the family last Thursday. I'm thankful for forgiveness. I'm not a hardened criminal or mass murderer, but I've done some bad things in my life. Things that have been against God and against other people. I'm so thankful that no matter what I have done, God forgives. If it wasn't for His forgiveness, I wouldn't be able to have a place with Him in Heaven, and I wouldn't be who I am today. Thank you, Lord.

God's French Fries

2010-11-14T10:39:00.000-08:00

We all know the following scenario, whether we've been in it or simply seen it.

A father is with his son/daughter at McDonald's or another fast food restaurant. He orders a Happy Meal for his child and they sit there eating. The father reaches over to take a french fry from the kid's meal, and the child slaps the father's hand. Wait, a minute! Didn't the dad just buy that meal? Sure, it's in front of the child, and the dad gave it to the child to eat, but where did that meal come from and who does it really belong to?

How often do we do this to God?

God gives us things. He provides for us by allowing us to have a job (or unemployment), food, places to live, friends to rely on, and so on. Then He wants to get a little back, say, oh, tithe maybe? He's given us all of this and asks for only a little back. Then we slap his hand and say "no, that's mine!" Is it really ours? Where did that come from in the first place?

The next time you hear about giving of your time, heart, or paycheck, remember the story of the father and the child's happy meal. When we have a full meal in front of us, let's not get selfish when the one who bought it wants a french fry.

Important Or Essential?

2010-10-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

My pastor sends out devotional emails, and I thought this one was certainly worth sharing. Just how important is God to us? Is He important in our lives, or is He essential? A car is important, but air and food are essential. Which is Christ? Here's Pastor Bill Crank's words...

It is 4 AM and I have been awake for over an hour. Amazing that if I needed to get up at this time, I might have struggled to wake up but not needing to, I find myself awake and unable to sleep. I have been praying during this time. That is a good use of my time. Talking to the Father is never a waste of time. After all, God hears and answers prayer.

For over a week now, I have been mulling over a question in my mind. It was posed by a writer for some internet publication. The question is this, is prayer important or is it essential? There is a difference.

To be important, something must be a high priority. It is also something that can be a daily choice. To be essential, there is less of a choice by our choice and more of a must do. To be essential, it is like the air we breathe. To be essential, it is like needing to have water to survive. To be essential is to believe that there are things in our lives that cannot happen apart from prayer.

I have taken this a step further. Is God important in my life or is He essential. We have often sang the praise chorus stating that God is the very air we breathe, that He is our daily bread. Every notice how we can sing words without stopping to think about what we are singing? For a lot of folks both prayer and a relationship with God are important but by the lives they live, He is not essential.

When He is essential, everyone knows about it. Our schedule and calendar are planned around Him. Our daily lives are His. We wake up with Him and carry Him all day long. We go to bed at night with Him on our mind.

Colossians 2: 2 I want You to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want You to have complete confidence that You understand God's mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. 3 In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

In chapter 3 verse 11, Paul tells us that Christ is our everything.

Revival

2010-10-10T10:44:00.000-07:00

When we think of "revival" in a church setting we normally think of a special event where a preacher spends time trying to get people fired up for God. In very traditional settings this may involved services by a traveling minister in a large tent, or a visiting preacher spending several days in a church. In any case the event is normally outside of the typical church time and services.

Why?

Revival can certainly be defined as this kind of religious service. However, the definition is also as follows:
1. the act or an instance of reviving or the state of being revived

2. an instance of returning to life or consciousness; restoration of vigour or vitality

Which set of definitions more closely approaches what the Bible says? Let's look at some verses.

For this is what the high and lofty One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isaiah 57:15)

Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
       the son of man you have raised up for yourself. Then we will not turn away from you;
       revive us, and we will call on your name.
Restore us, O LORD God Almighty;
       make your face shine upon us,
       that we may be saved.
(Psalm 80:17-19)

Will you not revive us again,
       that your people may rejoice in you?
(Psalm 85:6)

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16)

It seems to me that God is talking about renewing and refreshing someone when He talks about reviving people. The implication isn't that we should have a special religious ceremony, but that God himself can revive our faltering spirit whenever we ask for it. So why don't we ask for it? Why do we have to have special times of bringing God to the forefront?

Are you wasted and drawn out? Are you burned out and tired? God can revive you from this state. All you have to do is ask and then let Him.

God's Disney World

2010-10-08T17:21:00.000-07:00

Last week my wife and I took our children to Disney World for the first time. We have been talking about doing this for several years, and the kids have been really looking forward to it. However, it took a long time for us to save up enough money to do it, so they thought it wasn't really going to happen. We actually surprised them with the trip, not telling them where we were going and arriving late at night when they had fallen asleep in the van. The next morning we woke them up and told them where we were.

The joy and excitement on their faces was incredible. Finally their dreams were coming true and they were getting to experience the magic of Disney. As we walked up to the Magic Kingdom my daughter made a comment that epitomized their anticipation.
Elena: Come on, come ON!
Stacey (my wife): We're coming!
Elena: Can you come a little faster?!

Are we ever like that with God? How many times do we hurry up to spend time with God? I know that God wants us to run to him like children. Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19:14) He wants us to have the glee and excitement of a child. Have you ever seen a kid get excited about getting to see Mickey and Minnie Mouse? That's how we should feel about God.

And what about Heaven? Disney World is one of the best places I've ever visited, and I'm excited to go back some day. But Heaven will be even better! As great as Disney's Imagineers are, God is better at designing amazing and wonderful things. He has made a place for each of us that will be more wonderful than anything we can experience here on Earth. So why don't we get excited about it?

Remember that this week. Let's treat coming to God like going to Disney!

A Blood Donor

2010-09-06T18:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry for a lack of activity on this blog lately, but I haven't abandoned it. Now it's time to get back to talking about God.

This weekend I did something that I've always wanted to do, but have been to scared of. I donated blood. Believe it or not, I have a bit of a problem with needles when I'm on the receiving end. Even though I do surgery almost every day and handle needles throughout a work day, it bothers me to be poked or have blood collected. In fact, I've passed out when having blood taken. So it was a big step for me to do it.

So why now? Well, I was at Dragon*Con and every year they have been asking for blood donations. This year it really struck me how important blood donation is, and how we need regular blood supplies. But it also came to my mind how Jesus donated his blood for us. Any pain or discomfort I might endure is nothing compared to what He went through for me. I was only giving a pint, while Jesus gave all of His blood. And like a donation of blood being able to save lives, Jesus' "donation" has allowed anyone to have their eternal lives saved. He was the ultimate blood donor.

With Christ's example, I was able to work up the courage to face my fears and donate blood. Though my donation was nothing compared to His, I am glad to have been able to help out. And I plan to do so again next year.

Expelled For Being A Christian

2010-07-30T12:27:00.000-07:00

This week I read a story about a woman who was expelled from a graduate program in counseling because of her Christian beliefs. Sound unlikely? Read that article at this link, because not only is it true, but a federal judge upheld the expulsion after a lawsuit was filed. To summarize the situation, the student had previously stated that homosexuality was a lifestyle choice, and not something innate. She also stated that she felt that according to her Christian beliefs that homosexuality was immoral. According to the university officials and the judge, the expulsion was a rational decision.

“Furthermore, the university had a rational basis for requiring students to counsel clients without imposing their personal values,” he wrote in a portion of his ruling posted by The Detroit News. “In the case of Ms. Ward, the university determined that she would never change her behavior and would consistently refuse to counsel clients on matters with which she was personally opposed due to her religious beliefs – including homosexual relationships.”

Apparently her opposition to homosexuals violated the American Counseling Association's code of ethics, even though there is never any mention that she specifically acted against homosexuals or condemned them. Merely that her beliefs found this lifestyle objectionable. Then, she was apparently told that she could stay in the program if she changed her beliefs.

Ward’s attorneys claim the university told her she would only be allowed to remain in the program if she went through a “remediation” program so that she could “see the error of her ways” and change her belief system about homosexuality.

I find this whole story very disturbing. Here we have a woman who is trying to pursue a career that will let her help people in difficult situations. Because she happened to have a belief system that was opposed to a particular behavior, officials and a judge have acted against her. All of this merely because she held to her Christian beliefs. And unfortunately, this sort of thing is becoming more common. It seems that we in modern society are expected to accept all ways of life except Christianity. Muslim sharia law is being adopted in many non-Muslim countries because we're supposed to accept Islamic beliefs; some Muslims are trying to do this in the US. Homosexuality is now merely another lifestyle, and one as acceptable as heterosexuality. Promiscuity and premarital sex are a routine and accepted part of daily life. Adultery is used as a common device in many TV shows and few consequences come of it. All of these activities and beliefs are "normal" for society. Criticizing these sorts of things is becoming less and less acceptable. In fact, if you talk against homosexuality, Islam, or other things, you are labeled as insensitive and a bigot.

Yet Christianity is fair game for criticism. If we are supposed to accept "alternate" beliefs and lifestyles, why can't they accept ours? If everyone's beliefs are supposed to be treated equally and respectfully, why can't anyone respect Biblical beliefs? Supposedly "open minded" and liberal people are only accepting of teachings and beliefs that agree with theirs. Start paying attention to when they talk. They speak a lot of "acceptance", "equality", and "tolerance". Yet the minute you disagree with them their tolerance suddenly goes away.

If we're not careful, Christian beliefs will continue to erode. We have to make a stand and not back down from our beliefs. Yet we also have to understand that what is happening was already spoken of in the Bible. Jesus warned us that we would be persecuted like He was. But if we are firm in our beliefs and don't compromise, we can delay the complete degradation of our society.

Ms. Julea Ward, my prayers are with you.

Being Effective And Productive

2010-07-29T12:19:00.000-07:00

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:5-8

As I was reading my Bible today this passage stuck out to me. I've been reading Peter's epistles because I really relate to him and find him my favorite Biblical figure. I've been seeking ways to become closer to God and to handle certain disappointments in my life. I've been wanting stronger faith in trusting what God wants of me. Then I read this passage. So let's break it down.

"Make every effort." God knows that we're not perfect and we will fail at times. However, He also expects us to strive to do our best. We're not supposed to give a half-hearted try, but are expected to make EVERY effort. Every single way we can think of to accomplish what He wants.

"Add to your faith goodness..." We start with faith. That is the basis for everything else. Faith in God and what He can do. Faith in Christ and what He did. Once we have that faith we should add "goodness". The exact definition of this can be open to interpretation, but I take it to mean being good. Doing good deeds, treating people nice, and so on. No, we're not saved by our works. But our faith is shown by our works, and God calls us to treat others with love.

"And to goodness, knowledge..." We need to know God and know the Bible. We need to study His Word and understand it. By having knowledge of God, we increase our ability to know Him and defend ourselves against Satan.

"And to knowledge, self-control..." Now I find this an interesting addition. Self-control against what? Anger. Lust. Envy. Hatred. Just pick your sin. Whenever we find ourselves in situations that go against God's wishes, we need to control our own urges. Following sinful impulses can lead us into big trouble, and that's not what God wants.

"And to self-control, perseverance..." Tough times are going to happen, and we're going to have struggles. We need to keep trudging on and persevere in these times. When hardships hit them the Apostles didn't give up. We shouldn't either, no matter how difficult things may get.

"And to perseverance, godliness..." Godliness. Acting like God. We're imperfect and unholy and we can't be God. We're only human, and can't reach the perfection of the human Christ. However, that doesn't mean that we can't strive for these characteristics, practicing love, patience, forgiveness, understanding, and so on. Jesus was on this Earth to be an example for us, and we should follow that example.

"And to godliness, brotherly kindness..." We are to love and be kind to other people. We are expected to treat them like brothers. Even when people aren't being kind to us (or maybe especially when this happens) we are to treat them like beloved family members. When we see someone in need, we are to reach out to them and give them kindness.

"And to brotherly kindness, love." I don't think it's insignificant that this is the final thing in the list. God calls us to love each other and all that implies. The other characteristics in this list all boil down to love...loving God and loving others.

So if we have all of these qualities (faith, goodness, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love) we can be productive and effective. By knowing more about Christ we can emulate Him better. When we're more like Christ, we can do amazing things in our own lives and the lives of others. Let's all strive to have these characteristics and be more effective for Christ.

Strength And Joy

2010-07-18T14:42:00.000-07:00

One of the songs we sing in church is Chris Tomlin's "Holy Is The Lord God Almighty." I love Chris Tomlin's songs, and think that he really is blessed by God for the kinds of lyrics he sings. There is one part of this song that stood out to us this morning.

We stand and lift up our hands
For the joy of the Lord is our strength
We bow down and worship Him now
How great, how awesome is He

One of the principles behind this song comes from chapter 8 of the book of Nehemiah.

Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10)

One of our congregation pointed out that we are weak, and we have nothing by ourselves. We feel downtrodden and discouraged, often unable to make it through our days. I know that I feel like that many days. My work and the trials of life wear me down and I feel like just laying down and pulling a blanket over my head. What can help me overcome that?

The joy of the Lord. THAT is MY strength!

So what is the "joy of the Lord?" If you read this passage of Nehemiah in context, you'll see that the Israelites are told to be joyful after they have heard God's word and had the meaning explained to them. In other words, they read their equivalent of the Bible, understood it, and took all of those things into their hearts. When they were sad and weak, those words would come back to them and give them strength. The stories and laws of God helped them when they felt they had nothing else.

Look at Jesus' words...

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:11-13)

I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. (John 17:13)

Jesus' words are the source of Joy. And since the Bible calls Jesus "the Word" (John 1:1), we can say that Jesus himself is the source of Joy. Jesus and the Bible are the "joy of the Lord". When we need strength, where do we go? To these sources.

Know the Bible. Know Jesus. Then you will have Strength.

God LOVES Nerds!

2010-07-16T17:10:00.000-07:00

Today I came across this little doozy. Apparently a church is protesting the San Diego ComiCon by having signs that read "God Hates Nerds". This is the same group that has their home page address as "GodHatesFags.com". They have become infamous in the media for protesting funerals, celebrating dead soldiers, and other hateful things. I've been fuming for most of the day because of their latest actions.

My participation in the ministry of Fans For Christ has shown me that there are some good, born-again, Christian people that like sci-fi, anime, comic books, and attend cons. Heck, I'm one of them. Interest in these things doesn't exclude you from being a Christian. A main focus of FFC is to show non-Christian fans that Christianity is inclusive, not exclusive, and that not all Christians are spiteful and hateful.

I went to the church's site and read more about their beliefs. The more I read the more upset that I became. Yes, they bring up scriptures to support their viewpoints. And yes, God does abhor sinful behaviors. But the message of the New Testament is that God loves everybody and wants everybody to come to Him. No matter what the sinful behavior, it can be forgiven and you can have a relationship with God. Yes, sometimes Jesus was blunt and even harsh, but he was also loving, patient, and forgiving. This group seems to be concentrating on the former and forgetting the latter.

I also have to wonder just how many people will seek Jesus because of signs like "God Hates Fags" and "God Hates Nerds". As a Christian that turns me off. If God is really that hateful, I don't want to have anything to do with him. Now I know that God isn't really like this, so I can see their error. But what about people whose only exposure to Christianity is groups like this? What does this group project that people would actually want. They don't even believe in praying for the salvation of sinners!!! Yes, that's right...says it right there in their FAQ.

I really wish I could be there when God sits down to have a few words about love and forgiveness with these people.

Are You Listening?

2010-07-15T14:44:00.000-07:00

God speaks to us. Yes, we probably realize that but do we really understand it? Personally, I'm often waiting for Hm to write in flaming letters on the wall or move the clouds around into a picture of what He has in mind. When that happens we have the tendency to wonder if God is really speaking to us.

I think the real question isn't whether or not God speaks, it's whether or not we're listening. And I think that listening can be the hardest part. How many times during our day do we not really hear what someone has to say. We think we heard one thing when the person said another. Or maybe we didn't quite catch what the person said and ask them to repeat it. We're distracted by things around us such as noises, other events, our own thoughts, and so on. If it's hard to hear someone that's physically close to us, how hard can it be to hear the quiet voice of God?

I'm a veterinarian by profession. When I'm listening to a pet's heart, there are a number of things that can prevent me from hearing clearly. If the pet is panting or purring, those sounds can overwhelm the heart. If there are a lot of background noises they can drown out what I'm trying to hear. And there are some heart murmurs that are very subtle and take very careful listening. In cases like that we may have to try to get the pet to breathe more slowly or go into a quiet room. We are trained to try and eliminate outside distractions so that we can focus just on the sound of the heart. When a murmur is soft, those distractions can affect whether or not we catch a problem.

Listening to God is similar. Many times those outside distractions overwhelm His voice, preventing us from hearing what He wants to say. And to our detriment, we allow ourselves to be distracted. We concentrate so much on things around us and even our own thoughts that we fail to hear God.

So what do we do? The same things I do when I'm trying to hear a dog's heart. Make ourselves slow down and relax. Mentally eliminate all other "noises" of the world. And physically move to a quieter location where there is less to distract us. Once we've done all of that, we need to actually listen. So much of our prayer time is us talking to God. He loves that, but sometimes we need to stop talking and just listen with all of our heart and mind.

Then we will hear God.

Less Of Me

2010-07-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

Something hit me today (no not literally). My quest to do The Love Dare with God has been all about focusing on Him. Each of the task has had me think of God and how I relate to him. The idea behind it is that God becomes the most important thing in my life and not myself.

John the Baptist thought similarly. As recorded in John 3, when he was recognized as coming before the Messiah he downplayed his own importance. He must become greater; I must become less. (John 3:30) John recognized that emphasizing himself was the wrong thing to do. God is infinitely greater than we are, and we are nothing compared to Him. When we want to see Him working, often we get in the way. We spend so much time trying to do things ourselves and forget that God is the one who really gets things done. Whether it's in our lives or in a ministry, in prayer or in a specific need, we work hard to reach a goal or accomplish a task. The less that happens, the more we put effort into it. Then we get frustrated when it doesn't happen.

Too many times I concentrate on me and my needs. Me, me, me. My, my, my. I, I, I. What I really need to do is focus on God. As hard as it is, I need to let go of my problems and turn them over to Him. I need to keep Christ the primary focus of my life. My thoughts and prayers need to be more about Him than about myself. It needs to be less about me and more about Him.

If we change our focus, we can see God at work. It's like emptying a vessel. When we pour ourselves out, God can pour Himself in. And when we let God be the main thing in our lives we will see things happen that are impossible through ourselves.

A Good Read

2010-07-08T14:29:00.000-07:00

Something interesting has happened in the last few days. I've started really wanting to read my Bible. Yes, this may seem like a no-brainer for a Christian, but I'll admit that reading it has often been something I know I should do and not something I want to do. But a few days ago when I did my Love Dare about putting other distractions aside, I started reading the Bible before getting on the computer. Since then I find myself looking forward to reading scripture, and spending more time really paying attention to what I'm reading.

This is a good thing!

As I near the end of the 40-day Love Dare (yes, for those keeping track I missed a few days so I'm a little behind) I feel like I might just be succeeding in being closer to God.

Getting Rid Of Distractions

2010-07-05T18:32:00.000-07:00

Lately my Love Dare challenges have had to do with eliminating distractions in my life, especially sin. Sometimes that's not as easy as you would imagine. There are so many things in life that can distract us from God: work, family, bills, TV, computers, books, and so on. We spend so much time on these other things and comparatively little time reading the Bible and praying. Our true priorities are reflected in how we arrange our time.

So today before getting on the computer I read my Bible and prayed. I read my next challenge in the Love Dare and spent some time with God. This was backward from my normal routine but felt really nice. It was more relaxing to spend those moments in the Word than on my laptop.

So as I go into my last week or so of the challenge, pray that I continue to put Him first.

God Loves The Freaks

2010-06-25T20:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, a brief break from my own tale to share someone else's. For full disclosure, Steve Weese is a good friend of mine that I met through the ministry of Fans For Christ (which he founded). He has also written a great book, God Loves The Freaks, which I highly recommend to Christians and non-Christians alike. To go along with it he recently made a video that I think is important for everyone to watch. And for more information, check out the website that accompanies the book.

Watch God Loves the Freaks in Faith & Lifestyle | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Remembering God....Or Not

2010-06-22T20:51:00.000-07:00

So my journey through The Love Dare with God continues, despite less frequent blog entries. I have been following the book every day, and as before am finding some challenges easier than others. Giving up one of my own interests to spend time with God? Easy...I spend a little less time on the computer and trade that time for prayer and reading the Bible. Trusting Christ for my salvation (the latest Dare)? Well, it's easy but I did that twelve years ago. Showing honor and respect above the normal routine? A little harder.

But my real challenge has been remembering God throughout the day. When I did the Dares with my wife I would see her physically for hours each day and talk to her throughout the day. That physical and audible presence was hard to ignore. Though God should be even more prominent, His presence is more spiritual and less obvious, making it easier to forget.

Wow. Forgetting God. That sounds pretty harsh. I mean, I pray and talk to Him throughout the day, but it's in shorter periods of time. As much as I hate to admit it, I can get caught up in my own daily chores and routines and put God aside. That's the worst thing we can do and the wrong way to order our lives. But it's apparently easy.

But that's the reason for my 40 day journey. I'm becoming more aware of my relationship with Him and how I fail in that. Hopefully that will lead to better changes and a stronger bond. We have to recognize our shortcomings before we can overcome them.

Loving God

2010-06-13T13:52:00.000-07:00

Though I haven't posted on this blog for a while, I have continued to work on my Love Dare with God. Family vacation and business travels have prevented me from blogging, but I have been trying to follow God and become closer to him. Here's a summary of the last week or so of challenges.

One of the tasks was to come up with the good things about God. That was easy, and I quickly listed loving, patient, powerful, Grace, caring always there, and forgiving. The next task was to write down the negative things about God. How do you do that if he's perfect and good? So I thought of the things related to God that bother me. He is too mysterious, he doesn't tell me His plans, and He sometimes doesn't seem to communicate clearly. Really, though, these are all problems with my understanding of God and my own patience, not characteristics of God Himself. The second list was thrown away as a representation of letting go of the things I don't like.

The next several days involved me doing something for God with enthusiasm, doing something out of the ordinary that proves my love for Him, meet His need, giving in on an area of disagreement with Him, and coming up with rules for when we fight. As with many parts of this self-induced challenge, these have been difficult to do. It is hard to find things to do for God, or at least I've not been very successful in discovering them. I also do believe that any time I argue with God, I'm the one who loses. After all, how can I be right and God be wrong? I have ended up trying to pray more, talk to Him more, and thank Him more. I think it's also been difficult since I've traveled a lot over the last two weeks and haven't been in areas that I know and can find things to do. Maybe that's just an excuse, but I know God knows my heart and knows that I'm sincerely trying.

It's now been 13 days. Do I feel closer to God? Yes. But I'm not even half-way through this journey.

Facing Our Failures

2010-06-04T18:51:00.000-07:00

Today's Love Dare challenge required me to ask God to show me three problems or failings I have and then listen to Him without judgment. It didn't take long for Him to point out to me my temper, depressive tendencies, and really more than three things. We are supposed to confess our sins to God, but as Christians we should also know that He can tell what they are before we do them. Expressing this to Him is more about recognizing it in ourselves. It's also different when we ask God to specifically make a list of our problems and listen to what comes into our hearts.

I am very, very grateful that announcing my sins isn't the end of the story. Though God is holy and righteous, He is also forgiving and has designed a way to have those sins removed. Christ's sacrifice means that even if we are aware of our sins, we don't have to live with them.

Offering Some Help

2010-06-03T14:12:00.000-07:00

It's been an interesting couple of days for the Love Dare. Yesterday I was supposed to buy something special and unexpected. How do you buy something for God? So I thought that I would give money to a cause or somehow help out someone in need as God led me. However, I was at the zoo with my family all day and then at my father's in the evening, so I never saw an opportunity present itself. I'm not giving up on that one yet, and will continue to look for some way to fulfill this challenge.

Today's task was to call up God at some point during the day and ask Him if I could do anything to help him. For spouses the intent is to give of ourselves and not expect the spouse to always be the one to do something. In this case I "called" God (prayed) a few times today to let Him know that I was thinking about Him, and then asked if there was anything He needed me to do for Him.

Me do something for God? Well, He's God, so if he can't do it what chance to I have? But the point isn't for me to do something that He's incapable of doing, it's to offer to do something in the first place. It's putting His needs before my own. It's looking to make sure His goals are reached before my own personal ones. And it really is the thought that counts. I can't say that God directed me to do anything in particular, which is okay since the challenge was to offer help as needed.

So where am I now that I've been at this for four days? Well, I'm finding that taking this particular challenge is tricky when directed at an incorporeal being. But it's making me more aware of Him than I have been in a long time, and that's not a bad thing.

How Do I Act Kind To God?

2010-06-01T17:12:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of the Love Dare challenge....

Today in addition to not saying anything negative I was supposed to do at least one kind act. How do we do that towards God? It was especially hard for me since my family spent most of the day driving across several states to visit my father for a vacation. I tried to think of ways that I could be kind to God or His causes...help someone who seemed to need help, give a kind word to someone in need of support, help an injured wild animal, etc. Nothing seemed to present itself. Now the day's not completely over as I write this, but I think that I'm nearing the end of my opportunities as the rest of the evening is going to spent with my wife, children, and father. How can I do an act of kindness to Him in that setting?

Maybe I can respect my wife more since He gave her to me. Similarly with my children, since they are gifts from God, I can be a little more lenient towards their typical rowdiness. Since God instructs us to honor and respect our parents, I can give my father a little more leeway. In each of these instances I am following God's commands and wishes. Since I can't interact with Him in person, I have to do so through intermediaries, such as His creation.

I know that God forgives any of my failings in this endeavor and knows the intent of my heart. I pray that He will help me in this journey.

Something Negative About God?

2010-05-31T17:46:00.000-07:00

It's Day 1 on my quest to do The Love Dare with God. Today's challenge was a little strange. I was supposed to spend the day not saying anything negative about my "spouse". Well, what could I say negative about God?

Plenty, actually, if I really wanted to. Money is tight, I'm not exactly in the job I want, my car is a few bolts away from falling apart, I have staff stresses at work, and so on. God put me here at this moment and in this location for a reason. So if everything isn't exactly perfect, then it's His fault, right? Many people would think so, cursing God for all of the trials and tribulations of life. That's what Job was tempted with. And though he didn't curse God, he certainly questioned why those things were happening to him. Many of us could fall into the same situation and feel the same way.

When you love someone you shouldn't criticize them out of spite. Yes, constructive criticism is okay, but it's easy to go from helpful to hurtful. And when it comes to Jesus and God they are perfect so any criticism is completely unfounded.

So how do you spend a day avoiding saying anything negative about God? Well, first you do just that. You don't complain about your circumstances since God put you in them. You don't get mad at His creation, and you wait patiently through it. Above all, you seek to find the beautiful and positive things in the world around you. God loves us and only wants the best for us. He truly wants us to be happy. How can we be negative about that?

One day down, 39 to go.

The Love Dare With God

2010-05-30T14:47:00.000-07:00

Most of you reading this have likely heard about or seen the movie Fireproof and the book The Love Dare. For those who don't know much about these things, here's a quick synopsis or summary. The premise of the movie is that a man has become selfish and his marriage is suffering because he isn't giving enough to his wife. His father gives him a journal with a "love dare". He has to do each step in order and do one step every day for 40 days, regardless of how he feels about it or how his wife responds. He also can't tell her exactly what he's doing. By the end of the movie this man has found a renewed selflessness and love for his wife. The book is based on this premise, and is an actual workbook for doing these 40 steps and renewing your marriage.

When the movie came out my wife and I bought it as a way to strengthen our marriage. Not to sound perfect or cocky, but we quickly discovered that we already do most of the things in the book, so it wasn't as much use as we had hoped. We don't have a flawless marriage, but we have a very strong and loving one. So The Love Dare ended up in a pile of books to trade in at a used book store.

Until God inspired me today and laid a challenge on my heart.

If you read my last entry, you know that I'm looking at my walk with God and relationship with Him like I would a marriage. Well, if the Love Dare helps to strengthen a marriage and bring two people together, why can't it help strengthen a relationship with God?

Sound crazy?

"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
"At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'
(Matthew 25:1-6)

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, "How is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?"
Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.
(Mark 2:18-20)

The Bible compares Jesus to a groom and the church (i.e. the people who are believers) as His bride. So it's actually Biblical to look at our relationship with God as a marriage. And that's what I'm going to do.

Beginning tomorrow I am going to start a love dare in regards to my relationship with God. Every day for 40 days I am going to follow the steps in The Love Dare and direct them towards God. Each day I will chronicle my journey here, and we'll see where this takes us. Honestly, I have no idea what's going to happen, especially in some of the steps that are expressly directed towards a flesh-and-blood relationship. But I'm excited to see what may happen.

Anyone want to take this journey with me?

Commiting To A Relationship

2010-05-28T11:58:00.000-07:00

I have been married to my wonderful wife for over 11 years, and our marriage has gotten stronger over the years. We have our ups and downs and our arguments and tough times, but our relationship is definitely stronger and I am more in love with her than when we met 12 years ago. I believe that there are several keys to our success.

1. We make time to be together.
2. We talk to each other throughout the day, even calling during lunch breaks at work.
3. We tell each other "I love you" numerous times each day.
4. We continually strive to understand each other better, learning what it takes to make the other person happy and learning each other's moods and preferences.
5. We seek out ways to be together without other people or distractions around us so we can focus on each other completely.
6. We seek to do things that the other person enjoys, as well as things we enjoy together.
7. As much as we can, each of us puts the other's needs ahead of our own.
8. We apologize and ask forgiveness when we have done something wrong.
9. We remember the vows we made when we were married and actively seek to honor them (I made the "mistake" of vowing to spoil her...so far I think I've done pretty good).
10. We enjoy each other's presence, even if we're not actively talking.

Doing these things has helped us weather the problems and have helped us have a successful marriage. Notice that most of these things are active tasks. They happen because we make them happen and not by themselves or without effort. We actively work at our relationship in numerous ways every day.

Did you know that being a Christian is not a religion, but a relationship? Sure, you've probably heard that before, but have you really thought about the implications of this idea? If being with God is like being in any relationship, why not treat it like one? Let's re-visit the above list, but think of it in terms of God.

1. Make time to be with God.
2. Talk to God throughout the day, at lunch and other times.
3. Tell God "I love you" numerous times during your day.
4. Strive to understand God better, learning what He wants and likes.
5. Seek out ways to be with God without other distractions around you.
6. Seek out things that God enjoys and find ways to do that with Him.
7. Whenever you're given a choice, put God's needs above your own.
8. Apologize and ask forgiveness when you have done something wrong.
9. Remember the promises you made to God when you first became a Christian and actively seek to honor them.
10. Enjoy God's presence, even when you're not talking.

I've been feeling very convicted about all of this, and realizing that I don't put enough effort into my relationship with God. My relationship with Him should be the most important thing in my life, but I spend far more time on Facebook and the internet than I do praying and reading my Bible. How can I expect to know God's will and hear His voice when I spend my time in other ways?

Okay, let's everyone be very self-critical for a moment. Be very honest about how much time and effort you put into your relationship with God. Let's be serious for a moment, and brutally truthful. Got that in mind? Now take that time and effort and imagine that you put that amount towards your spouse, significant other, or best friend. How many of us would loose friends or end up single if we treated our human relationships like we do God? What would happen if we spent 10-15 minutes per day with our spouse and the rest of the day ignoring them for other pursuits?

Why do we expect our relationship with God to be any different?

As I said, I'm feeling very convicted about my own failings in this area. So I'm putting this out there in the public realm to be held accountable. First, I will ask His forgiveness for my failure. I will actively work at my relationship with God and Christ as much as I do with any mortal relationships. I will read my Bible every day. I will pray and otherwise be with God throughout the day. I will seek to learn about Him and find things that He enjoys. I will put His needs above my own. I will tell Him that I love Him. And I will ask any of my Christian friends to lovingly keep me accountable.

I hope that any of you will do the same. Let's see how it transforms us.

Too Busy For God

2010-05-22T19:42:00.000-07:00

I've been more aware of a problem in my home church, and I'm sure this is true of many churches. We have a significant number of people who seem to attend only when the don't have something better to do. There are often excuses like "oh, we have some friends from out of town," or "I was tired from working all night," or "we're going out of town for the weekend." It seems like something always comes up that takes precedence over attending church.

Now I know that church isn't a requirement for Salvation or a relationship with God. But the Bible is also very clear in its examples of believers meeting together for worship, fellowship, and group study. Just about everyone of importance in both the Old and New Testaments can be found in regular temple or other worship activities. There is nowhere in the Bible that gives us an example of anyone who survives without regular contact with other believers.

Where is our love of God? Where is our desire for that relationship? What other business or personal relationship would survive sporadic contact and insincere communication? How many of our spouses or significant others would we be close with if we gave them a mere fraction of our time and were always pushing them off for other activities?

Why would we expect a relationship with God to be any different?

God is very patient and forgiving to my eternal thanks. But I have to wonder what role He plays in some people's lives when they put other things ahead of Him.

Unity In Christ

2010-05-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday was the National Day of Prayer here in the US, and I attended my first-ever meeting at one of these celebrations. It happened at our local courthouse, and around 1200 people showed up. That was really great considering that our town's population is around 17,000 and about 500 showed up last year. One of the best parts was when everyone started saying the Lord's Prayer at the same time. Over a thousand people of different backgrounds and denominations, all joining together in a well-known prayer. Regardless of our histories or churches, we were united in praying together for the betterment of our community and country.

The next morning I attended a meeting of local pastors for a time of prayer. There was little socializing and no preaching. For about an hour we prayed together, each in our own ways, for each other, the community, and whatever struck us. This was the first time I have attended something like this, and I wasn't sure what to expect. Again, like the day before, I was struck by the fact that we were from very different places and even theological beliefs, yet we were coming together in a common purpose and faith.

I can't stand how much arguing is done over small differences in doctrine or Biblical interpretation. Yes, those points may be important to the person holding those beliefs, but are they really so important in the grand scheme of things? And are they really that important if they keep Christians from coming together as one under Christ?

Seeing these gatherings in my own city gives me hope. If we as Christians could unite in one single faith, we could change the world in ways never before seen.

10 Steps

2010-04-28T20:08:00.001-07:00

This was posted on the Fans For Christ forum, and I thought it was worth sharing....

1)If God is against it so am I.

2)Every sin we commit starts as a thought in our heart.

3)It is easier to keep the heart clean than it is to clean it after it
has been defiled.

4)It is not possible to fight a fleshly temptation by indulging in it.

5)Small compromises in our walk with God lead to great disasters in our
personal life.

6)Those who do not love the Lord will not help us serve the Lord.

7)Our actions affect not only ourselves but those around us.

8)You cannot fight a fleshly temptation with fleshly weapons.

9)We lose our freedom to choose after we have made a wrong choice our
consequences are inevitable, incalculable, and up to God.

10)God balances guilt with blame as we accept the blame from our wrong
actions God removes the feelings of guilt.

Selling Your Soul?

2010-04-15T20:14:00.000-07:00

Did you hear about an online retailer in the United Kingdom that had a clause in its online agreement that the customers agreed to effectively sell their soul to the company? Seriously....read it here. Now apparently it was an April Fool's joke, and they're not actually planning on collecting. And it does prove a good point that most people don't read the disclaimers and agreements on web sites and software. I'll admit that I don't! However, it also brings up an interesting discussion.

First, many people may not believe that we have souls at all, so there is nothing to be sold or traded. As a Christian, I certainly believe in a soul that existed before my mortal form and will exist long after it. Can I sell my soul? No, I don't think so. But I can decide where it will end up. In 1998 I made a choice that I would follow Christ and give my heart to Him. At that point my soul became linked with Jesus. Truthfully, our souls belong only to God, no matter what we do with Him or ourselves. He created us, and so we belong to him. But He doesn't force us to be with Him if that's not what we want. And that's how people can end up in Hell.

A company or individual can't have our souls. It's simply impossible. Even Satan can only harbor our souls when we reject Christ. Whether that soul ends up in Heaven or Hell is entirely up to our choice and what we decide to do about Jesus. I know what I've done with my soul. What about you?

Facing Death

2010-04-12T06:46:00.001-07:00

This weekend a friend of mine lost his mother to a long-term battle with renal failure. I know it's hard for him, but it was also an emotional roller-coaster for him to see her like this and mentally draining to help her out when she was so sick. He did all of it gladly because of his love for her, but I also know that it wore him down. Her death was still hard on him, though he knows that she is no longer hurting and has gone to be with his father and with Christ.

Death is an interesting thing for us to face. As a Christian I know that my Christian friends and family will be in a much better place when they die, a place I should be jealous of. Yet I still have some anxiety about dying, though I know where I will go. I think that's a natural human fear of the unknown and of things we've never experienced. Yet for Christians we should almost be eager for death! Yes, I know that sounds very strange. But all of the stresses, hardship, pain, and suffering we face on this world will be gone and forgotten once we're in Heaven. We'll be with God, and will have nothing but joy. Why wouldn't we want that? Yet we still put off death as long as possible.

Besides our natural worry of such things, God made us to be on this Earth. We all have a purpose here, and we shouldn't try to cheat His will. Yes, I'm eager to not have to worry about my job, bills, pain, sickness, and heartache. But I also have a mission here, and gifts that God has given me. I don't pretend to be able to fully understand what He wants of me or what He has planned. But I know that I have a purpose here, and in honor to God I will do my best to fulfill that duty.

When a loved one dies, it tears us up. We miss him or her, and cry because of our own loss. But we should be happy for that person (if they're Christian....non-Christians are another story), and even throw celebrations like some cultures do. They have gone to a better place and are waiting for us to join them.

Spontaneous Joy

2010-03-28T15:57:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has been in church for very long knows what it's like to have an altar call or blessing service. People are broken and hurting and they turn their hearts to God. As they pour out their emotions, there is often crying and weeping as feelings overwhelm them. We had one of those services today and as usual there was a lot of people crying.

But then one person started laughing. It was as spontaneous and heartfelt as any of the weeping. Then she asked in amazement "Why are we all crying?" You know, she has a point.

The word "joy" appears in the NIV Bible 242 times.

When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes.
1 Samuel 18:6

Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
Nehemiah 8:12

The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
Psalm 19:8

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
John 15:11

And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
Acts 13:52

Everything about God should fill us with happiness. When we were lost, He found us. When we are hurting, He heals us. When we deserved Hell, He saved us. When Jesus died, He gave us His greatest gift. Christianity should be about laughter and joy, not weeping and sadness. We should feel elated, not burdened. Our hearts should burst with glad feelings, not sad ones.

So I sincerely hope that at some point in your day and your week, you can erupt with spontaneous laughter. And when you're praying in church next time, surprise people with giggles and glee. Then remind them of Nehemiah 8:10....Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

Angels Among Us

2010-03-12T18:35:00.000-08:00

The Bible is full of stories of angels acting as messengers of God as well as helping people here on Earth. The idea of guardian angels is popular throughout modern culture, and many people believe in them. There is indeed Biblical basis for this belief (see a brief discussion of Matthew 18:10 here). And we're seeing personal proof of this in our own church.

My church is in a small city in northwestern Georgia. Last Fall we built a new building and ever since then we have felt that we are in a spiritual battle. Things have not gone smoothly and people within our congregation have come under one challenge after another. We haven't grown as quickly as we had expected and hoped, despite filling a niche not really seen in our community. It has really seemed like Satan has been having an active hand against us, trying to prevent us from reaching more people.

But in the last few weeks we have been getting encouragement and truly believe that God is letting us see into the spiritual world a bit. There have been some strange occurences in our church....stereos will come on and off. People will see things out of the corner of their eyes. And more than one person has heard the sounds of wings flapping even when they are alone in the building. These things have been noticed by children and adults, and only recently have people been sharing stories with each other. At first it was rather spooky, but the more that happens the more we are really convinced that angels are around us and God is protecting us for something great.

If you're discouraged or feel like everything's going against you, stop for a minute. Look and listen for subtle signs. God loves us all so much that he has angels out there to fight the battles we aren't even aware of. One is out there to protect you. Pray, and your sight may be opened.

They Don't Get It

2010-02-24T18:00:00.000-08:00

Working for God can be hard sometimes, especially when your ministry is not exactly "traditional". My wife and I are heavily involved in "geek" ministry through Fans For Christ. We go to sci-fi/fantasy cons, speak to people who come up to our fan table, and when possible have panels involving Christianity and hold church services. Because we enjoy the settings and the people, it is a lot of fun for us. Frankly, we feel blessed that God can use us in this manner. And we really feel that this is a needed ministry, as most Christians stay away from these events. Where will the con goers find followers of Christ who actually understand them and won't condemn their hobbies?

However, we've run into problems with more traditional people in our church. Thankfully we have a pretty open church that is modern and accepting. But we've discovered that it seems like people accept our ministry but don't really embrace it. We've had comments made that if we weren't so involved in all of the other things in our life we might have more time for our home church. It also seems that some may believe that we go to cons more for the entertainment than to be a light for Christ. Frankly, they don't really get it. They don't understand why we do what we do.

I guess that I shouldn't be really surprised. The people in Jesus' time, especially the religious leaders, didn't understand Him either. Jesus spent time with beggars, lepers, tax collectors, prostitutes, and other dregs of society. He was actually condemned for His interest in them and His caring. The Messiah actually wanted to be around these people! But people in the church told Him that He shouldn't be doing that. But Jesus persisted because He saw where the need really was. He was willing to be quite strange and even rejected by religious leaders in His pursuit of sharing God's message.

When I go to cons I often bring up the "where would Jesus be?" situation. If Jesus was back on Earth today, would He be more likely to be preaching every Sunday in a church, or would He be more likely to be going to these cons? I think the latter would be pretty obvious to most honest people. So that's where I will be. No, I'm not giving up my "normal" church on Sundays, but I'm also not going to limit myself to it.

So people in my church don't completely understand. I guess I'm okay with that, because Jesus understands and God wants my family to spread the Gospel at cons.

God's Mysterious Blessings

2010-02-21T21:01:00.000-08:00

It's been a year since I started this blog, right after ConNooga 2009. We just got back from this year's ConNooga, and it was incredible!

My wife won the title of Ms. ConNooga and now is the spokesperson for the con for the next year. This is something she has been wanting since last year, and wants to use it to spread the message of the fan group we belong to, Fans For Christ.

I made contacts with a Christian sci-fi/fantasy author and a Christian role-playing game designer. I've been toying around with making a fantasy RPG setting, and the editor/designer actually encouraged me to become an official licensee with their company.

We had a great church service, met many new people, and strengthened existing friendships. And through it all, God was glorified!

My wife and I truly felt like we were God's favored children this weekend! We both had amazing experiences, and moved closer to our dreams. And it was all because we were there with God as our focus.

That's a great lesson for us all to keep in mind. God wants us to be happy! He wants our dreams fulfilled. Now, he's not going to do that if we're out there trying to make it on our own or defying Him. But when we work for Him...when we do His will...when we put Christ first in our lives and in what we do...then the blessings of God start to wash over us, and amazing things happen.

Trials Of All Kinds

2010-02-18T18:14:00.000-08:00

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:6-7

Trials are very hard to deal with as we go through them. Unexpected things happen and delay an expected blessing. Everything seems to fall apart at once. And through it all we wonder where God is...wonder if He has forgotten us. Trials really test our patience!

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. James 1:2-3

So isn't it a bit strange that the Bible tells us that we should be thankful for trials? That we should be joyful? Does that even make sense?

Actually, it does. When things are going right and everything falls into place perfectly, where is there room for God to perform miracles? Trials and troubles teach us to rely on God, not on ourselves. Trials teach us to trust in our faith. Trials put us through fire to burn away the things within us that give us the most problems. Sure, it's not easy. But through all of life's trials, we need to remember that this is what God wants...not to harm us, but to put us in a place where He can really and truly work wonders in us.

Beyond Our Expectations

2010-02-02T14:19:00.000-08:00

Faith is a funny thing. When things are going well, it's easy to say "Sure, I trust God. After all, look how great things are." When we have a downturn, the most strong Christians will say "Yes, things are bad, but I'm putting my faith in God to make it all better." When the bad times go on for a long time, it's harder to have that faith. Bills pile up, health continues to worsen, a job just can't be found....you know the situations. The longer we go without a sign from God, the shakier our faith becomes. We start to wonder if He is even listening and if He even cares.

My wife has recently been there (yes, honey, I'm picking on you a little bit). We have had some financial issues, and have gotten behind on some bills. Some promotions and other things in my job that we were really counting on have been delayed by many months. Even with some bonuses, we needed around $1500 to get caught back up. And that's not easy to simply come by. With each month of falling further behind, she struggled more and more with God and her faith. She cried and worried, wondering where the blessings were. We have been faithful in our tithes and giving, despite our own troubles, so where were God's blessings? Why was He being so quiet? I managed to hold onto my faith, but as I told her last week, it was because I didn't have anything else.

Sometimes we find ourselves at the end of that rope. We've slipped down and are dangling by the final knot over a chasm whose depth we can't see. And at that moment God says "let go of the rope." What? You're kidding, right God? Just let go? "Yes," He says. Now, coming from God, we should be listening to that. And when we can see the ground a few feet below us or we have hundreds of feet of rope it's not hard to do. But at that moment even God's words and His promises are hard to believe. But as hard as it may be, who really knows best right then?

So I started doing our taxes today. When we were getting our W2s we noticed that federal taxes weren't taken out of my wife's paycheck. It wasn't much, but it worried us. She just wanted us to break even and not have to pay any taxes. As I started doing them, I noticed a trend upwards. Since I knew that she had been praying for a $1500 blessing, I predicted that our refund would be somewhere between $1500-1600, and was pretty happy with that thought. But God knows better, and showed me a lesson.

"Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
"But you ask, 'How do we rob you?'
"In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
(Malachi 3:8-11)

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
(Luke 6:38)

There are numerous scriptures on giving and blessings. We humans are very impatient, and have a hard time waiting for these blessings. Yet when has God ever failed us? It may take a long time by our standards, but He always comes through.

So back to our situation. Our final refund was $2800 from Federal and $600 from State...a total of $3400, when we would have been overjoyed with $1500! Praise to God!!!! We can meet our obligations and actually put some into savings. Our faithfulness has been rewarded, so far beyond our expectations. God lived up to His end of the deal....but doesn't He always?

Let It Fade

2010-01-25T07:38:00.000-08:00

I'm a big Jeremy Camp fan and have all of his albums. Recently we sang one of his songs during our church service..."Let It Fade". The words really spoke to me, and I wanted to share them here.

Have you been walking on a surface that's uncertain?
Have you helped yourself to everything that's empty?
You can't live this way too long.
There's more than this, more than this.
Have you been standing on your own feet too long?
Have you been looking for a place where you belong?
You can rest, you will find rest.
You can rest, you will find rest.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
We spend so much of our lives running around doing hard work or tons of errands (my "to do" list today is typically long). We complain about how tired we are and how little we rest and relax. Researchers spend money to study how we spend our free time and how much we work. But all of us know that sometimes we're simply tired. And more importantly, we get tired spiritually. Our very souls seem burdened and heavy, drawing us into depression.

But God has told us that we can find rest with Him. When we are tired and run-down, when the weight of the world is too much for us, we can go to Him. Christ will take our burdens and allow us to relax and rest in His presence. Unfortunately, we are often reluctant to give up these loads. But if we do, we can find the peace we are seeking. As Jeremy Camp recognized, we can let all of the troubles of the world fade.

Let this old life crumble, let it fade.
Let this new life offered be your saving grace.
Let this old life crumble, let it fade, let it fade.

Let it fade.

Are you carrying the weight too much?, are you running from the call?
Let it fade, Oh yeah.

You can rest, you will find rest.
You can rest you will find rest.

Let this old life crumble, let it fade.
Let this new life offered be your saving grace.
Let this old life crumble, let it fade, let it fade.

Let this old life crumble, let it fade.
Have you been standing on your own feet too long?
Have you been looking for a place where you belong?

The Little Blessings

2010-01-18T20:11:00.000-08:00

A week ago during the recent cold weather a pipe burst in our garage, flooding it and part of our downstairs.

My car is old and run-down, and is slowly falling apart. Most recently, the turn signals simply stopped working.

I wasn't going to be able to make a Bible study tonight because I had agreed to work an extra day on my day off.

Do you ever feel that things aren't going your way? That things keep breaking or going wrong? It happens to all of us at some time or another. And it's frequent during these times that we wonder where God is. After all, if He really cares about us, why do bad things keep happening? When our bills are already behind, why does He allow the car to break down? We pray and pray and things keep going against us. It's enough to make us doubt whether or not God is listening or even cares.

But are we really overlooking that small, quiet voice of God? Sometimes He speaks to us softly, and if we're not really listening we might miss it.

When the pipe broke we were home and awake. I had just been downstairs 20-30 minutes prior to it happening, so the flooding was minimal. The pipe was easy to get to, and the next day it took me about $30 worth of parts and about 10 minutes time to fix it. What if we hadn't been home? What if we had been asleep? What if it was something that we needed to call a plumber to fix? God's little blessings kept it from being worse.

Earlier this week the turn signals suddenly started working again. Sure, the car is still in relatively bad condition, but it's not unsafe to drive. We can't afford a new one yet, and God helped with a small thing to keep it driveable.

Work was slow today, and I was working with another vet who said that I could go home early. I ended up getting off work two hours early and was able to attend the Bible study.

God does care, so very, very much. Listen for that little voice, and look for the small blessings. They're there, just waiting for us to notice.

Haiti Cursed By God????

2010-01-13T18:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday there was an incredible tragedy in Haiti as the island nation was rocked by a severe earthquake. Loss of life may top 500,000, and this already poverty-stricken nation will be dealing with the consequences of this act for many years to come. As a Christian I pray for God to bless these people and show His hand to them, guiding them through the horror and loss. God loves them as much as he does anyone, and I know that He wants us to care for them.

Which makes Pat Robertson's comments very upsetting to me (see the link). He stated that the reason Haiti is currently in a state of poverty is because of a pact made with Satan to free them from French rule in the 18th century. What??? I'm sorry, but as a conservative, evangelical Christian I find Robertson's words offensive. They are also misinformed, as explained by a Haitian minister. But even if there was some truth to this Satanic pact, what part of "God's grace" and "God's love" would cause Him to ruin the country and kill a half-million people over 200 years later?

Yes, I know that many people in Haiti practice voodoo and other non-Christian practices that are influenced by Satan, and even officially recognize it as a valid religion. But there are also numerous Christian ministries and missionaries making inroads with the people of the country, and a growing Christian presence. In the Old Testament Lot is told by God that He will not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if there are even 10 righteous people. Do you think God is more strict nowadays, after the sacrifice of Christ?

I do believe that people who curse God and turn from Him will find punishment, but that may not be until after death. I also know that many Christians died in this earthquake, as they did during Hurricane Katrian and 9/11 (both of which were also God's punishment for sinful behavior according to Robertson). Sometimes a natural disaster is simply that...natural. God allows it, but doesn't cause it.

God's Imensity

2010-01-11T13:04:00.000-08:00

Do you know just how big the universe is? God created all of it, and He's pretty big, so His creation must be big also. Check out this video. Seriously! Take the six minutes and watch it all of the way through. It's worth it, trust me (and click on the bottom right corner to make it full-screen).

Are you back? Did you catch all of that? The universe is pretty stinkin' huge! And we're pretty stinkin' small. Compared to the immensity of all of creation, we are less than a tiny blip. God created this universe, so He is even larger than it is. Kind of gives you a bit of perspective, doesn't it? Centuries ago religious leaders and scientists believed that everything revolved around the Earth and that our planet was the center of the universe. They had no idea of the truth, of how insignificant we really are.

Or are we? God knows us. He knows YOU. He can count every hair on your body and has known you since before you were born. He knows every little thing about you and your life. This being who created the whole, huge universe knows you personally and intimately. He cares about what goes on in your life and he loves you so much.

Many people think that God is too big for them. That He has too much to worry about to help with their little problems. That He is too busy doing other things to look down at them. Nothing could be farther than the truth. We should be amazed that someone as big as Him actually does care. Never forget that. As big as He is, nothing about us is too small to love and care.

Happy Birthday

2009-12-25T05:53:00.001-08:00

It's Christmas day, and the kids got up early to see what Santa brought them. My wife and I exchanged some additional presents, and we have cinnamon rolls baking in the oven (a tradition in our house). We're enjoying some relaxing family time, as well as the gifts we were given. It's a pretty typical traditional Christmas.

I don't regret the secular aspects of the season, but sometimes we have to be reminded of the rest of it. Did you know that today is a birthday? How many of you have forgotten this? Okay, yes, I know that Jesus was likely born in the Spring and that many "traditional" Christmas beliefs and decorations are related to pagan celebrations. Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus, and that is the focus of the holiday. People many centuries ago chose this time to recognize His birth, and we continue that tradition today.

The birth of Jesus Christ was one of the most defining moments in human history (and arguably THE most defining moment). For Christians this is one of our most special celebrations, where we recognize the humble earthly beginnings of God's son. And even if you're not a Christian, the coming of Jesus defined human civilization from that point forward. A baby's birth is a joyous time...this is even more true when it is the birth of the Savior.

Part of my family's Christmas tradition is to recognize that this is a birthday. We will read the Christmas story from the Bible, and make a birthday cake for Jesus. It is important to us as parents to make sure that our children don't get so lost in the presents and decorations, and that they keep in mind the REAL reason for the holiday.

So happy birthday to Jesus! He is the greatest gift we could ever receive.

Keeping the "Merry" in Christmas

2009-12-23T18:46:00.000-08:00

Merry
adjective, mer⋅ri⋅er, mer⋅ri⋅est.

1.	full of cheerfulness or gaiety; joyous in disposition or spirit: a merry little man.

2.	laughingly happy; mirthful; festively joyous; hilarious: a merry time at the party.

3.	Archaic. causing happiness; pleasant; delightful.

Among many people, mainly Christians, the popular phrasing this time of year is "keep the Christ in Christmas". And while I completely agree with this idea, I think we forget about the other part of "Merry Christmas".

How many of us have been frustrated by long lines and crowds? A few days ago my family and I drove down to the local mall to shop and see Santa (my kids are 7 and 8). The traffic was utterly horrible and set me on edge pretty quickly. The mall itself wasn't too bad, but we waited in the Santa line for almost an hour and only making it half-way before we got tired of it and talked our kids into leaving. The longer the day went on the worse the moods of my wife and myself became. And honestly, we were probably among the nicer of people out and about for the holiday. All of us have seen people behave in a very unfriendly and even hostile way during the Christmas season. We've also all seen reports on TV of people being trampled and fighting each other in the search for the hottest toy or gadget of the season. We talk a lot about the "Christmas spirit" and then lament when so many people loose this spirit, as seems all too common.

This is the season in which we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. For Christians, this should be one of the greatest times of year. While Easter may be the culmination of Jesus's Earthly mission, Christmas is the time of His birth. All of the songs and stories around the birth of Christ are centered around celebration. This is a season to be happy and joyful because of what it means to us. If we're really going to keep Christ in Christmas, then we need to not just say it, but also embrace what Christ really means. Never forget that the birth of a baby is always a joyous and miraculous event with people crying in joy and celebrating. Shouldn't the birth of the savior of all mankind be even more joyous? And isn't that the real meaning behind "merry".

So as you spend time with family and finish any last-minute shopping, don't forget to be Merry. Doing so will celebrate the season more than anything else you can do.

Swordsman

2009-12-14T13:21:00.000-08:00

Several years ago I joined a new web site and was looking for an avatar name. At the time I had recently gotten very heavily into the 7th Sea role-playing game; at the same time I have always thought of swashbuckling as very exciting, loving the genre in movies and literature. So, just because it sounded cool, I took the name "Swordsman". I became very well known on that site, and when I started getting involved in other sites I kept the name. Now it's become a pretty well-known handle of mine online. At the time I just thought it was a cool name. But in the five years I have been using it, I realize that it has a completely different meaning, and one even more appropriate to me.

The Bible mentions "sword" 406 times. This isn't really surprising, as it was the main weapon of a soldier throughout the times of the Old and New Testaments. And usually the word is used purely as a description of weapon of war. But God uses the word in a more figurative sense as well.

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."
Matthew 10:34

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Ephesians 6:17

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12

In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
Revelation 1:16

Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Revelation 2:16

The context of these passages (in a way even the one in Matthew) is that God's Word is a weapon. A sword can kill or defend. It cuts things and divides them. Similarly, the words and edicts of God can kill His enemies, defend His children, separate those opposed to Him, and cut out sins. As Christians, we are specifically called on to wield this weapon. Make no mistake, we are in a spiritual battle. Satan and his influence is all around us. Yes, God's armor (see the rest of Ephesians 6) can protect us, but we can't effectively take the fight back to the devil with a breastplate, leggings, and shield. We need that sword! By taking the Bible in our hand, and truly understanding and applying its lessons, we can stand against anything Satan can throw at us.

So calling myself "Swordsman" now has a meaning beyond what I originally intended. It's also appropriate as a ninjate, since the one weapon that pirates and ninjas have in common is a sword. So fellow Christian ninjates, it's time to take up your Sword, fight the devil, and defend fellow believers! It's time for all of us to start considering outselves Swordsmen and Swordswomen!

The 20/80 Rule

2009-12-13T09:36:00.000-08:00

It's a general rule in church (and I've heard it in other areas as well) that 20% of the people are responsible for 80% of the work and offerings. I've seen it to be pretty much true, and this really bothers me. So forgive me if I rant a little.

Everyone has different gifts. Not everyone can preach, sing, teach, or cook. But some have a gift of organizing. Some can help clean. Some can help build for special events. Some make great greeters or have the gift of hospitality. Everyone is blessed with different abilities. And a key is that EVERYONE has something they can offer. So everybody in a congregation has a way that they can join in and help out. However, you will generally see the same people always doing things, and the rest of the church sitting back and letting them.

Tithes are another issue, and really needs a whole 'nother blog. But once again you'll see about 20% of the people truly giving and the other 80% giving less than they really can or not giving at all.

These numbers bother me, and I don't understand them. I've never been one to simply sit and warm a pew, and though I can't do everything, I certainly try to use my gifts and do my part. To me it's simply giving back to God, using His blessings to find a way to serve other people. When I see people not participating I wonder if they realize that they're being selfish and hoarding God's gifts to them. I wonder if they realize that all of the events at the church and the classes don't magically happen on their own. I wonder if they realize that they're denying themselves further blessings by not allowing God to truly work through them.

If you're one of these people, please stop and look at what God has done in your life. If another person gives you a Christmas present, don't you want to give something back to them? Serving in the church is a big way that you can give back to God.

The Tiny Fingers Of God

2009-12-12T16:27:00.000-08:00

The greatest miracle of this season is the birth of Jesus Christ. We celebrate the coming of our Lord and Savior, and talk about him being the Lord of lords, King of kings, Prince of peace, and so on. Christ is majestic and holy, glorious and mighty, and we need to never forget that. But I think that the extent of the miracle is sometimes forgotten.

Jesus was born human. It's so hard for us to understand this because He is God incarnate, a holy being brought into a mortal form. We honor and acknowledge His divinity, but forget His mortality. Jesus was perfect, but He was also as human as the rest of us, with all that being human entails.

When Mary gave birth to Jesus, there were labor pains and contractions. She had to change Jesus and clean him up after he went to the bathroom. Jesus had to learn how to walk, as being ethically and spiritually perfect doesn't give automatic balance; this means he also would have fallen down and bruised himself. Jesus had to learn how to talk as any child does. He had to learn his father's tade, how to read, write, and count. Jesus Christ had to grow, learn, and develop just like any of the rest of us.

To me, this makes the miracle of Jesus even more special. He truly experienced everything that we do. He had challenges and hardships just like the rest of us. He had siblings to deal with, adults to learn from, and pains to deal with. Having gone through all of this makes Him even better at understanding us and being able to intercede for us before God.

Let's celebrate the miracle of the birth of Jesus as a human. And recognize that the true miracle is that Christ is just as human as He is divine. The true miracle is not His birth, but Jesus himself!

Are You Really Listening?

2009-12-03T17:11:00.000-08:00

We're officially in the Christmas season, and that means lots of Christmas music playing. You can hear it in the malls, on TV, and all over the radio with some stations playing nothing but seasonal music. Just about everyone in America can sing at least a little of songs like "Joy To The World", "Silent Night", and "O Little Town of Bethlehem". These songs are ubiquitous and a part of our societal culture. But how many people are really listening to the words?

Traditional Christmas songs are all about the birth of Jesus, how wonderful that is, and how much that has changed our world.

Round yon virgin, mother and child.
Holy infant so tender and mild.

Joy, to the world, the Lord is come.
Let Earth receive her king.

When people sing these songs, are they really paying attention to what they are saying? Is there meaning behind these words anymore, or do people just sing along without understanding the meaning behind the lyrics? These songs have powerful messages of wonder and joy. And they're all about Jesus!

So as you listen to the music this season, take time to stop and actually hear the words. Take them to heart, and make an effort to understand them. I think you may be surprised at how it can warm you better than any heater.

Give Thanks

2009-11-26T19:20:00.000-08:00

I like looking in the Bible and seeing how many times a word comes up. I feel that this can indicate how important God thinks that topic is. Today is the holiday of Thanksgiving, so I looked in the Bible (through the wonders of computer programs) and found that words containing "thanks" appear 110 times.

Sometimes when things are going really bad in our lives, we have a hard time finding anything to be thankful for. It can be very hard to look to God and find something to thank Him for. Yet that's probably the best thing for us to do. It's easy to be thankful in the good times. But when times are tough, and we take the time to seek out something to be thankful for, we can focus on that bright spot.

The brightest spot of all is God Himself. No matter what else is happening, we can thank Him for who He is. He is gracious, loving, merciful, powerful, and focused on wanting the best for us. So today take some time to thank God for at least one thing in your life.

Where Is Your Heart?

2009-11-23T17:54:00.000-08:00

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Luke 12:34

This is a passage that is pretty familiar to most Christians. And I think most people misunderstand the meaning. Many people seem to think that it means "whatever you feel with your heart, that's where you will put your resources." But this is not the correct interpretation. Take a look at the words again. The passage means "where you put your resources indicates where your heart is."

I've been a bit convicted of this recently, considering the infrequent updates of this blog. I update my other blog multiple times per week, but this one is lucky to get updated that many times per month. Where do I put most of my effort? That's apparently where my heart is, and this isn't a good thing.

As a veterinarian, I see people spend more money on grooming their dogs than doing proper preventative care. Preventing disease is much more important to the pet's health, but the people put their priority on the physical appearance of the pet. I think most people would agree that the pet owner is putting the emphasis on the wrong thing. This indicates that their "heart" is not on the true care of the pet.

Don't we do this with God? How many times do we fail to pay tithe or give to our church but then go out and spend $50 on a meal? How many times do we fail to spend five minutes per day reading the Bible, yet will spend a few hours watching TV? And I'm as guilty of this as anyone else! It's easy for us to put things related to God on the back burner in our lives, making other things a priority. And I'm afraid this indicates that our heart isn't on God.

So let's pray for each other to start putting our treasures where our heart should be...on God!

Joyful?

2009-11-19T19:19:00.000-08:00

The word "joy", or words containing it (such as "joyful"), appears in the Bible 242 times. So it must be important, right?

For seven days celebrate the Feast to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will choose. For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.
Deuteronomy 16:15

David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers to sing joyful songs, accompanied by musical instruments: lyres, harps and cymbals.
1 Chronicles 15:16

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.
Job 8:21

The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
Psalm 19:8

But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful.
Pslam 68:3

So exactly what is joy? And how do we feel it? Honestly, I wish that I had all of the answers. Sure, it's easy to talk about being joyful, but it's pretty hard to actually do. As Christians we should have "the joy of the Lord" at all times. Right? But then the car breaks down when our bills haven't been paid, our paycheck isn't what we thought it would be, our boss is driving us crazy, our kids are failing, and so on... Maintaining that joy can be pretty hard at times.

Maybe it would help to see exactly what joy is. I mean, do we really know what that word means and what it feels like? Here's a video you may or may not have seen.

That's how God wants us to be! No worries, no thoughts, just delight in His creation. That baby elk is having a ton of fun. Now, I know, that animal doesn't have bills and responsibilities. But maybe...just maybe...we can sometimes put those things away. When we pause and concentrate on God, we can feel that Joy.

unChristian: Hypocritical

2009-10-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

So now that things have calmed down a bit in my own life (just finished performing in Much Ado About Nothing with my wife), I can get back to my plan to further discuss David Kinnaman's book, unChristian. Today I want to concentrate on one of the biggest perceptions about Christians...that we are hypocritical.

What does it mean to be hypocritical? Basically it means to say one thing and do another. With Christians it means talking a lot about God, Jesus, and the teachings of the Bible, but not acting on them in any significant way. One quote from Kinnaman's book really grabbed me, and it speaks to some Christians. A woman told of her husband abusing her, "even though he taught Bible studies about how husbands should love their wives." A man interviewed for the study said "My former pastor used to teach baptism by immersion, then he got a better job with the Presbyterians and now he teachs baptism can be done by sprinkling. What you believe depends on where your paycheck is coming from, I guess."

Wow, is this how Christians are really seen? Among young non-Christians surveyed, 85% know at least one commited Christian, yet only 15% thought that the lifestyles of those Christians were singificantly different from the norm. When born-again believers were surveyed as to their own lifestyles, they were statistically just as likely as non-Christians to gamble, become drunk, view pornography, and other bad behaviors. I hate to say it, but it's not rare to see Christians talking a lot about how Christ is working in their lives, but then failing to see this happening. I've seen it in people around me, and have been guilty of it myself.

So what does all of this mean? Well, we Christians are human, and full of sin just like anyone else. Unfortunately, having a faith in Jesus does not keep us from making mistakes. We're going to mess up despite our best intentions. But hopefully we won't do it as willingly as non-Christians.

Kinnaman talks about "transparency", and I think this can be a good model. This means that we need to be open with people about our failings, and apologize for them. We can't have a "holier than thou" attitude and think that we're better than anyone else. When we mess up, we need to fess up (to draw on my Southern heritage) and admit to the mistake. We also need to have transparency about ourselves, realize our hypocracy, and work hard to fix this problem. Knowing that we're ambassadors from Jesus to the world, and that our actions influence people's opinions about God, Jesus, and Christianity, we need to more actively study our own behaviors and see if they meet with the Bible's standards. Holding a mirror up to ourselves is a difficult but necessary step.

If we're going to have people believe what we say about God, we need them to be able to trust us. If they see us as hypocrites, they won't give us that trust. We also want people to be drawn to Christianity and want to become Christians. But to do that, we need to show them a better, non-hypocrotical person.

unChristian

2009-10-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a book at Family Christian Bookstore that was 50% off...unChristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. I am a non-traditional Christian and came from a background where Christ wasn't the center of our family. Having come to faith in Jesus later in life, I have a different perspective than many Christians. So I am interested in how to reach people in a non-traditional way (hence the way I do ministries). So this book caught my attention.

Kinnaman works for the Barna Group, a well-known polling company who studies Christianity and religious trends in society. This book is the result of extensive study of the opinions and views of people both within and without Christianity. The data is fascinating, especially in how "outsiders" view Christians. Kinnaman focuses on six big viewpoints of these people towards Christianity, why they feel this way, and what we might be able to do to change these perceptions. I'm not going to go into too many details now, as I plan on discussing it more during this month.

Frankly, I think that this book should be required reading for anyone involved in minstry or churches. There are reasons why younger people are turning away from Christianity, and we have done it to ourselves. By appearing judgemental, hypocritical, bigoted, and other negative traits, we have pushed people away from us. Our attitudes have taken away from the true message that God has for us. Really, we have no one to blame but ourselves. This is why every Christian minister and teacher should absolutely read this book. Believe me, it will change how you view your duties, outreach, and the world around you.

But that's a good thing. We need to recapture society and be viewed differently. Only by showing people how wonderful God is and his incredible grace will people want to turn to Him. And it's really about people wanting to be involved with Jesus....we can't force them to. The message is great, but we need to improve as messengers. Since we did this to ourselves and to God's Kingdom, we can also change it back. A book like unChristian can help us by identifying our failures. It's a harsh mirror that Kinnaman holds up, but it's one we need to look in.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. I will be briefly discussing some of the highlights of it in the upcoming weeks, but it won't be the same as reading the book yourself. Click on the image to go to one of the online retailers where you can buy it.

Are You Approachable?

2009-09-16T17:43:00.000-07:00

This year at Dragon*Con one of our Fans For Christ members received a compliment from someone at the fan table registration area, which was right next to our table for the weekend. She said that we were most approachable and easy to talk to Christians she had ever been around. At first I thought "Great! That's what we're trying to do! We want to show non-Christians that we're really no different than them and want them to be able to talk to us." But the more I thought about it, the more I felt it was a strong, bad, but well-deserved statement on modern Christianity.

Many people see conservative Christians as prudish, judgmental, elitist, and isolationist. As much as I hate to admit it, this does hold true in many cases. My father's next-door neighbor is a Baptist minister and wife, and they are poorly regarded by the entire neighborhood. They have created so many problems by their negative attitudes and picky behaviors towards other people. This has made my father rather cynical about Christianity. After all, this minister is acting as a representative of Christ to other people, and he's not being a good ambassador.

A friend of ours was excited about being a part of a newly created church. They are fans and geeks, go to cons, and run a comic and gaming store. They thought that their pastor was accepting of them, their hobbies, and their business, and they were looking forward to being able to invite their friends to a church that would accept these eccentricities. Then their pastor told them that they had to be careful about these things because it might reflect poorly on the church. The pastor was worried about what people would think about appearances, not as much about what was in their hearts.

Is this the image that non-Christians see? Unfortunately, yes. This is more common that I would like to admit, but I have to be truthful. And this is totally against what Jesus did! He was criticized by the religious leaders of his time because He hung around sinners, beggars, prostitutes, and others that were considered pariahs by "polite society". Did Jesus worry about that? No. He openly defied the temple leaders and others by going where people were in need. And he made himself approachable and easy to talk to. Shouldn't we be like Jesus?

We are supposed to be showing people God's love for them. We are supposed to reach out to those that nobody else wants. How can we do this if we hold ourselves off and are constantly condemning or insulting people? We can't. If we want to truly fulfill the Great Commission, we need to make ourselves real and approachable. We need to make people comfortable around us. Look at my Ninjate points 6-8 on the side bar. Become the kind of Christian that people want to be around and you'll have a much better chance of leading them into the arms of God.

Christian Sci-Fi/Fantasy

2009-09-13T13:14:00.000-07:00

Many traditional Christians wouldn't touch a science-fiction or fantasy novel with a ten foot pole. There is something about the genres that makes some Christians worry that these are anti-Christ stories or that the subjects somehow are against God. Those same people seem to forget that C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were some of the penultimate fantasy writers that people still emulate today, and both were strong Christians who included Biblical themes in their books. Many people may not realize that Lewis also wrote sci-fi. So if these authors can include Christianity in their novels, why can't modern writers?

That's why I wanted to give a little plug to a few people I know. My wife and I met Michelle Weston at Dragon*Con, and were excited to talk to her. She is a published author that wants to write more Christian-themed fantasy fiction in the vein of Lewis. She gave us one of her books, which I am very much looking forward to reading. You can find her at www.elysianchronicles.com or www.mbweston.com. She was very supportive of what we were doing through Fans For Christ at the con, and I admire her desire to do genre work.

There is a newer publisher that has decided to concentrate on Christian speculative fiction, and is growing its library of books. Marcher Lord Press is trying to show writers and fans that you can be a Christian, write Christian themes, and still have genre settings. I love what they do and think they have some great books (which I'll review at another time).

I know that I don't have a wide readership on this blog, but maybe I can influence some of you to support other Christians and check out some of these books. We can follow Christ and still read fun stories that aren't set in our modern world.

Dragon*Con 2009

2009-09-08T13:56:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been pretty hectic preparing for our annual Dragon*Con trip, hence the even less than regular updates. But I'm home now, and thanks to God had a great time. For a full report, you can read it on the Fans For Christ website, at this link.

One of he biggest things I learned at the con was that God is faithful and will provide. In the weeks leading up to the con my family ran into some pretty frustrating and depressing problems with cars and finances. We worried that we weren't going to be able to pay for things. Even though we knew that Satan was trying to keep us away, and this was really a spiritual battle, it was still pretty hard. It shouldn't have been. We have been in tough situations before, and God has never let us down.

We humans are pretty bad worriers. We fret and wring our hands and moan about not knowing how we'll get through. God must be sadly shaking his head at any Christians doing this. After our service on Sunday, I was talking to my wife about it and was amazed at God's grace and providence, berating myself for ever being concerned. God showed us in some incredible ways that he wanted us at the con and would take care of us. We shouldn't be surprised, as this is exactly what He promised! The same is true in the rest of our lives. It's pretty scary some times, but if we trust in and rely on God fully, he will take care of us.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:25-34

Blessed To Be A Blessing

2009-08-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

The Lord and said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
Genesis 12:1-3

Many of us have heard the saying "we are blessed in order to be a blessing." I have seen that recently in my life. Both of our vehicles broke down in the same week, but thankfully we have a man in our church that owns an auto repair shop. He drove with my wife's father almost an hour away to help her when the belt on the van broke. And he wanted us to bring it to his shop a few days later so he could do a more permanent fix. He also replaced the water pump on my car the week before. And in both cases he let us do this with minimal payment, knowing that we would pay him back in the upcoming months. Because of him, we now have safe, driveable vehicles when we don't have the ability to immediately pay for repairs. He truly blessed us by his actions.

Today a woman in our church came up to me and told me that she had discovered a lump on her dog's neck, but they barely have the money to keep a roof over their heads (for those who don't know or haven't read my profile, I am a veterinarian). Tearfully she asked if I could take a look at him for her. Remembering Brian's blessing to us, I realized that God was allowing me to give back, and I quickly agreed to come over to her house tomorrow to look at her dog and see if it is something that needs to be taken care of right away or if it could wait a while.

God helps us become who and what we are. He gives us desires and abilities that others may not have. I have no particularly great skill with cars, despite the fact that my father used to be a mechanic and worked for Volvo as a regional sales manager. Yet I have skill with medicine and animals. I'm definitely a capitalist and believe in free market enterprise, and don't think that these views are incompatible with Christianity. But I also think that we should be examples of God's blessings, especially to other Christians. God gives us these skills so that we can be a light in the world, and an example of what His love is like.

In your own lives you have knowledge and abilities that others don't. Look at how you can use those to further God's Kingdom, and how you might be a blessing to others. God gave this to you to use for Him and for others, not merely for yourself. And He will bless you when you are generous with His gifts.

Satan Fights Back

2009-08-11T16:29:00.001-07:00

Do you know how you can tell when you're doing God's will? When Satan starts attacking you hard.

Dragon*Con is coming up soon and our group, Fans For Christ, is participating. My family's money is in large part being saved so we can afford to do this ministry. We're also paying to have our church's web site professionally redesigned from the ground up. That's out of our pocket, not the church's. Our church is also getting ready to grand open a new and larger building, and we're very involved in that.

So what happens? A few days ago I started to notice a coolant leak in my car. It's now to the point where I can fill up the water in the morning and by the evening it's empty. And I can't find the leak. My wife's van had the air conditioning go out on it today. Any extra money for basically the rest of the year has been committed to various ministries we're involved with. We're not sorry about that in the least, but it means that we really don't have the money to get our vehicles fixed anytime soon.

We find it interesting that all of this happens right as we're getting ready to do big things for God. And that convinces us that Satan is pretty unhappy with us right now and is fighting hard to bring us down and take our money away. So that must mean that we're doing something right! If we weren't supporting Christ's works, then there would be no reason why Satan would be worried about us. And we figure he's pretty worried the way he's fighting against us.

In the end, we know that God will win. That doesn't mean that we're not a little frustrated, but we know that God is going to help us. That's the comforting thing about being a Christian. Even when we know that times are tough, we know that God's on our side and wants us to succeed.

Toe To Toe With Satan

2009-07-31T20:06:00.000-07:00

As I've mentioned before, I'm a staff member of Fans For Christ, a web-based, non-denominational ministry to and by self-proclaimed geeks. Our biggest event each year is attending Dragon*Con, one of the largest multi-genre fandom conventions in North America. We march in the parade, have a fan table, and make our presence known. In a setting like that we are the strange ones, as most people attending events like this are unlikely to be Christians. We go there for fun (hey, we're fans also), but we also see it as serious ministry work, shining the light of Christ in a very spiritually dark place.

For the last two years we have held church services there, something rarely seen at cons. The first year we hoped for 30 people to show up, and ended up with around 60. Last year we had 100. This year it could be even greater. The problem has always been getting a space to hold the service. Dragon*Con itself can't officially endorse us or allow us space, or they would have to do that for everyone else. Fine, I can understand and accept it. But each year something happens to try and discourage us or make the service not happen. We firmly believe that this is Satan's attempts to stop us. He has great influence over people in these places, and certainly doesn't want Christians to succeed here. So we know that we're going to end up fighting against him.

He's doing it again this year. We're having more difficulties finding a place to hold the service anywhere close to the con. I've managed to find a nearby hotel that can let us have a meeting room, but it's a $350 fee for just one hour. Since I'm not wealthy and the economy is tough on us as much as it is everyone else, I can't simply fork over that kind of money. On the FFC site I've asked for donations, and will take any we can get (we have a PayPal account set up at donations@fansforchrist.org), even small ones like $5 or $10. Every little bit helps and it can add up. We also have to pay for printing handouts and brochures, as well as a few other costs.

I hate that it costs money to put on a ministry, but it's one of those parts of living in a modern world. And it's one more way for Satan to work against us.

Anyone who reads this blog, we would really appreciate your prayers as we fight back against Satan. If you can spare a little money, follow the link above. But prayers are most important, as he likely won't give in just at the financial issue. Thankfully, we know that God is more powerful than Satan. I know that God will prevail! I have faith in that, and truly believe in the power of Jesus over the devil. It's been exciting to see what He can do at a con, and I can't wait to see the way he touches people again this year!

More Than Conquerers

2009-07-26T15:06:00.000-07:00

As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:36-39

This is a pretty well-known passage to many Christians. Our pastor even had Romans 8 as a focus of his sermon today. But do we really understand this? Have we really thought about what it means?

Dictionary.com defines "conqueror" as: a person who conquers or vanquishes; victor. Okay, that's pretty easy to understand. A conqueror is someone who defeats the bad guy, wins a contest, and generally succeeds in a struggle or battle. But we could just say "winner" for the same thing, so we need to understand what it means to conquer. Going back to Dictionary.com....

1.	to acquire by force of arms; win in war: to conquer a foreign land.

2.	to overcome by force; subdue: to conquer an enemy.

3.	to gain, win, or obtain by effort, personal appeal, etc.: conquer the hearts of his audience.

4.	to gain a victory over; surmount; master; overcome: to conquer disease and poverty; to conquer one's fear.

Really this refers to something won during a fight, battle, or other very tough circumstance. You don't conquer something that's easy. Conquering something is hard and forceful. And it also implies that you didn't just win, but you thoroughly vanquished the issue or problem to where it can't come back up again. Make sense? Everyone with me so far?

So what does Paul mean when he says that we are more than conquerors? I mean, conquering something is pretty big. How can you be even more than that? If being a conqueror places you at the top of the heap, where are you if you are more than that?

I think it goes back to the rest of the passage. We are only more than conquerors through Christ's love. We win and succeed by his love. But we are even more than that because nothing...absolutely, positively, nothing can take us away from that love! We not only have victory in Christ, but we have everything else in Him also.

Can we win because of Jesus? Yes! Can we do anything through the strength that God gives us? The Bible explicitly says so. But we are even greater than all of that, because God loves us so much that once He accepts us and once we are changed, nothing at all in this world can take that away. That's what makes this so powerful. God loves us before we are cleansed of sin by Christ's blood. And once we accept His sacrifice and let the Holy Spirit work in us, nobody and nothing can take it away. No matter what this world throws at us, we will always and forever have that love and assurance.

Pretty powerful stuff.

Christians Can Have Fun?

2009-07-13T16:23:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest misconceptions about Christianity is that once you become a Christian, you life is filled with rules and regulations, and suddenly you can't have any more fun. That couldn't be further from the truth. Today my family went to Six Flags and had a great time. The kids are tall enough to ride most of the coasters, and it's my 6 year-old daughter that is the biggest thrill junkie of all of us. It's so wonderful to sit next to her on the Mindbender coaster, go through a complete upside down loop, and hear her cackles and screams of joy next to me. Whenever we get off a ride, the usual response is "can we do that again?"

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. (Galatians 5:1)

One of the main tenets of Christianity is that we no longer have to be under the Laws of the Old Testament. The rules of "you can't do xxxx" or "you have to do xxxx in a certain way" are gone. In Romans and Galatians the Bible talks about how we are not saved by the Law, but by Grace from God. Christ came in order to save us from the Law, not to put us under new and different laws. Christ came to free us from the shackles and chains of the Law. Really, Christianity is all about freedom!

Does that mean that we can do anything we enjoy? Nope. Sin is still sin. But there are a lot of things that people think is sin, but really isn't. And simply having fun isn't sinful. And when you think about it, sinful acts always contain a good chance of doing you serious harm (such as sexual immorality leading to disease and emotional hardship). God doesn't want us doing sin because of the pain it can cause us, not because He's a spoilsport.

Accepting Jesus in our hearts gives us incredible freedom that we did not have before that. And that freedom means that we can laugh, dance (yes, it's in the Bible so don't think you can't), joke around, enjoy movies (we're not supposed to conform to the world, but the Bible says that we are supposed to be a part of it), and go to amusement parks. Christianity is about joy, pure and simple. In this world it's pretty hard to grab hold of that kind of joy for long, so we need to embrace it when we can.

And if you don't think that laughter and glee are part of Christianity, then just look at my kids as they go hurtling down the drop of the Great American Scream Machine, see the happiness on their face, and tell me that God doesn't want us to feel that way.

The Transformation of Transformers

2009-07-11T08:23:00.001-07:00

As the father of two young children (8 and 6), I pay more attention to the content of movies than I did prior to kids. I also noticed more "bad" things as a Christian than I did when I was not a Christian. Or maybe I should say that now these things bother me more. It's also growing more evident how our society is changing to find sinful acts more susceptible. Forty or fifty years ago you couldn't use the word "pregnant" on TV, and couldn't show a married couple sleeping in the same bed. Nowadays you can show brief nudity on network TV and use words that many people wouldn't use in their real life. Why is this necessary?

Believe me, I'm not a prude, and can enjoy R-rated movies (and own a few). However, I can separate the good from the bad in what I watch. My kids don't have the same ability, and absorb more into their minds than we like to realize.

My son wants to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and I can't bring myself to take him to it based on what I've heard. I grew up watching the Transformers cartoons on TV and playing with the toys (Soundwave was my favorite!). They were great fun, with a solid story of good versus evil. Over the years there have been numerous animated series, all of them with pros and cons to those of us who began with "G1". My son has watched some of them on DVD, and has liked them. He also likes the current animated version (though personally I'm more old-school).

When the first Transformers movie came out a couple of years ago, we were excited to see it. It was going to be great to see these giant transforming robots "live", and my son and I had some special time together watching it (my wife and daughter aren't into it and went to see another movie). I was very surprised at a couple of the scenes, and am very glad that he didn't really seem to notice much about them. Specifically I'm talking about the brief and awkward discussion on masturbation, and Bumblebee urinating on the agent. Why were these necessary? How did these things advance the plot or explore the characters? The movie would have been just as good (and actually better) without them. I'm surprised that the studio and Hasbro would allow these events, since the movie and toys were definitely marketed towards kids as well as adults. Many of us who grew up on these characters now have kids of our own, and want to share these things across generations. But frankly these things are inappropriate for younger children.

I've heard that the new movie has Sam's mother accidentally getting high on marijuana brownies, and some of the Autobots have hip-hop stereotypes and use foul language. These are not the examples that I want my son watching, so I have to disappoint him and not allow him to watch it until I've had a chance to see it myself first (which will probably be when it comes out on DVD). Again, I have to ask why these scenes are necessary? How does this honor the decades-long legacy of the Transformers? How is this appropriate for kids who go into the toy aisles and see them half-filled with Transformers toys? Heck, even for adults this is completely unnecessary!

Despite all of this, and pretty poor reviews, the movie is making a ton of money. This pretty much assures that a third movie will be made. I'm not looking for a great plot, as I'm fine with going and watching cool CGI robots in action. I'm also not looking for a Christian-themed movie. I just hope that they get a new writer, and a new director if Michael Bay insists on treating the franchise in this way. I want to be able to share these things with my son. But I'm concerned about how this will transform the younger generation in a bad way.

The Gospel According To Tolkien

2009-06-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

It should be less than surprising to know that J.R.R. Tolkien was a Christian, and that he included Christian themes in his stories (especially the Lord of the Rings series). But exactly what does he say? Is Gandalf a Christ-figure? Is Samwise's humility and perseverence mirrored in the Bible? What illustrations does the friendship between Legolas and Gimli show? Tolkien's works aren't a direct allegory as are the novels of C.S. Lewis, so it may be a bit harder to tease out the truths.

This is where Ralph Wood comes in. His book, The Gospel According To Tolkien, seeks to detail the elements of Christianity in Tolkien's works. Readers should keep in mind that this book relies on the complete written works of Tolkien and so goes far beyond the movies directed by Peter Jackson. For those of you who haven't read the books, or have limited yourselves to the ones upon which the movies are based, you might find yourself lost at some of the references.

This book is definitely written for hard-core Tolkien fans. It's also written for those wanting a very detailed exploration into the Biblical themes of the books. While I found the discussions elightening, and will make me look at the source material in a different light, I also found it a bit dry, and couldn't read much at a time. That's not a bad thing, but I would not call this a casual read.

My recommendation? If you want a detalied study and are looking for deep discussions, and you are a big Tolkien fan, then pick up this book. If you've only seen the movies or want a lighter read, you may want to pass.

Do You Trust Him?

2009-06-20T17:10:00.000-07:00

Last week at church, I closed the service with a quick poll. I asked everyone "Do you believe that God will do what He says He will do?" Everyone raised their hands. "Do you trust God?" Again, all hands raised. Then I asked "Who is willing to prove it?" Suddenly there were only a few hands raised. The topic I was talking about was a challenge we are having in the church. Give your tithe for six weeks, and if at the end of that you don't feel like God is blessing you, we will refund all of the money you gave. Pretty easy challenge, right? No long-term risk since you get your money back.

So do we really trust God? It's easy to read the Bible, see the promises, and say "yes, I trust Him." We talk a lot about how much God does for us and how He never lets us down. But when it really comes to proving it, how many of us will go out on a limb and truly put our full trust in God? When we're pushed and challenged to let it all go and turn it over to Him, many (if not most) people find this difficult.

Why? If we're not willing to "let go and let God", then it means that we actually don't trust Him. Despite all of our bluff and bluster, it's not that easy to put actions to words and truly rely on all of His promises. But why not?

So I challenge you to prove it. Read the Bible. Look at His promises. See if he has ever let you down. And then truly and honestly trust Him and do what He says.

Singing Love Songs

2009-06-07T09:47:00.001-07:00

You've all seen the movies or plays where the man stands at the bottom of a woman's window or balcony and serenades her with a love song. Even if he is tone-deaf, the feelings behind it and the emotions he portrays make it very touching. He's not just going through the motions or just mouthing the words.

When we're in church, most of us begin the service by singing songs of praise and worship. The idea is that we are supposed to be lifting our hearts and voices to God, telling Him how wonderful He is and how much we appreciate everything He has done for us. But these songs are well know to us, and we sing some of them so many times that our minds can wander while our lips frame the words. It's so routine and so patterned that we just expect to stand and sing for the first twenty or so minutes of a service.

Is that really worship? Can your heart be in the right place if you're sipping your coffee or water in between verses? If you loose your place in the song because you weren't paying attention, are you really concentrating on God? Where is your heart and your mind focused when the words come out of your mouth? Do you even realize what it is that you're singing?

It's easy for us to take a familiar song and just go through the motions. I challenge you to do something different. Pay attention to each and every word that you sing. Really think about what it is that you're saying. And most importantly of all, imagine that you're standing below God's balcony, singing Him a love song. You'll be amazed at the difference this can make.

Our Unseen Influence

2009-05-31T13:30:00.001-07:00

Yesterday my family and I went to the Georgia Renaissance Festival. This is an annual event for us and as you can see by my pictures we like to dress up. Anyone who knows me or reads my blogs shouldn't be too surprised by this fact. While there my wife was looking at getting a new corset, and we were talking to the guy at the shop. We mentioned that part of the reason for her corset was that we were going to do a Victorian/Steampunk Justice League for Dragon*Con, and my wife and I were doing Black Canary and Green Arrow. This piqued the man's attention, and we talked some more. When I mentioned that this was going to be with some friends of us from an internet forum, he asked which one. I said "Fans For Christ" and briefly mentioned what we were about. He looked mildly surprised and said that it was nice to see Christians who weren't against these things.

My impression is that he has encountered Christians who condemned him because he was interested in Steampunk, Ren Faires, and had earrings. And unfotunately, many mainstream Christians would indeed look down on him for this. That attitude has likely given him a negative attitude about Christianity, and may have kept him from looking much into it. I hate to say it, but I can't really blame him, as I had a similar attitude at one point before really knowing Jesus.

We as Christians have incredible influence on people around us, both for good and for bad. Whether we want to or not, we can make someone not want anything to do with Christ, or make someone want what we have. As a Christian, which will you do? Will your attitude and actions drive people away from God or draw them to Him? Will what you say and do condemn or judge people, or will it show them the all-inclusive love of Jesus? How willl your words and deeds be viewed by those who don't know Christ and may be apprehensive about religion?

Hopefully we gave him a different perspective of Christians. That's what Fans For Christ is all about. And maybe one day that seed will grow into a full-fledged Christian.

The Magic In Christianity

2009-05-24T16:29:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine on another forum posted this recently in a discussion about Christianity. I thought that she did such a great job and was excited and moved by the post, so I got her permission to re-post it here.....

I know how boring Christian writings can be. They're soaked in philosophy and thinking-thinking-thing, or they seem like they're all about bossing us around. Many of them are dusty and stagnant and over-translated. If you read about Christianity from the outside, it can be the intellectual equivalent of choking down dry toast on a sore throat. I get that.

But from the inside, it's nothing like that. I want to try to describe what it *feels* like. No judgments or insinuations that it ought to be like this for you; just my personal experience of the sensation of having faith, with some generalization of other Christians based on who I've talked to. For those of you who're uncomfortable about this sort of thing, take this as due warning.

Faith is a passion that feels a great deal like love. It can be warming like a balm to the soul, or burning, a fire that sears you and everything around you. Like love, it's separate from happiness and misery and even hate, and it can be the source of all of those. You can hate and love at the same time. You can believe and love and hate and want to move forward and run away all at the same time. It all depends on how you relate to your passion--your faith, your love--and the target of it. And how you relate to it can change depending on the day and what's happened recently.

Like love, faith can be nurturing or abusive. I've met Christians who frankly wished (at least at times) that they could shuck their faith and be rid of the burdens it motivated them to take up. In fact, I dare to say that every...I'll say serious Christian has or will at some time share that feeling. Because some days, it *sucks* to care, it *sucks* to be made fun of, to care about people and watch them hurt, to put yourself out and break your back or your heart to help people. Sometimes, in fact, you wash your hands of it for a little while because you just can't find the strength to keep going. But always, you pick yourself back up and do it again, put yourself through that again, because you know it's right and you love them and you want to and can help. Faith is also like honor that way, prodding you toward your duty, no matter how much that duty hurts. It can, quite literally, drive you to quests. As all the world knows.

And what's special about Christianity with all this is how far it asks you to go, and exactly what it wants of you. Most religions agree that there is great suffering in the world--it's fairly obvious. Some ask you to ease that suffering. But Christianity throws it baldly in your face: as a human, you have the capacity to love and to suffer. To love is to suffer, to hurt when the things you love hurt. Christianity takes it a step further: it asks you to take their pain away from them when you can, and to bear it upon yourself. God asks you to hurt, because everyone suffers, but through the divine alchemy of generosity, that suffering taken on willingly can become something better than just the ugly, dirty pain of life.

It's hard for Christians to show people that it's not just a dry faith of words. There's *magic* at the heart of Christianity. It's the most ancient, primal magic--blood sacrifice, self-sacrifice--and also it's no coincidence that the Christian tradition harbored the Western tradition of alchemy. It's transformative...and all sorts of transformation involve death in some respect--the death of the past, the loss of what was before the change. Christianity seeks to conquer the fear of change/death by ensuring that what you become will be better than what you were. Life after death is an extension of this--perhaps a metaphor for it, or maybe those small changes are metaphors for the big one.

Understanding The Potter

2009-05-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
Isaiah 64:8

This is a pretty famous verse and concept that most Christians know, and has been included in many bible studies, hymns, and contemporary praise and worship songs. But how many of us really understand the depths of this simple verse?

Have any of you done pottery, or watched a potter at work? It's pretty serious stuff. The potter starts with a simple ball of clay, and pounds it roughly into a firm lump on the wheel. Then as the wheel spins, the potter reshapes it with his hands. Over time, the lump of clay becomes something completely different. The process itself is pretty rough on the clay and pretty messy. Bits of clay may be worn off or cut off. There is a lot of water, and the potter's hands become covered in the mud and clay. The clay is radically changed from a useless clump to a useful instrument. But once a pitcher, cup, or pot is formed, it's still not finished. If we tried to put anything in it at this time, it would fall apart. To be truly finished, the object must be fired in a kiln. It must be put through intense heat and fire before being useable.

Isn't this so much like how God works in our lives? When we come to Him we are useless and unformed. He begins to mold us, but it's not easy or pretty. It's pretty messy, and bits of us may be pulled off. Those are bits that we don't need, even if we think we do. By the time God is finished with shaping us, we probably can't be recognized as the same thing He started with. And to truly finish us, God must put us through the fire of trials. It is in the kiln of trouble and tribulation that we finally become what we should be.

When you feel the heat of the fire, feel yourself stretched beyond your shape, and feel bits of yourself coming off, just think of yourself as a lump of clay. God is molding you into something beautiful that He can use. The process might be rough, but the end result will be worth it.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
James 1:2-3

Star Wars Jesus

2009-05-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

I've been a fan of Star Wars ever since seeing it in the theater way back in 1976. I remember the lines snaking completely around the movie theater, and the excitement with which I saw it repeated times. I had the toys, books, and so many other things. For my generation, these movies were our mythology and one we have passed on to our children. These movies have remained popular for over 30 years, and continue to inspire people of all ages. So when I decided to look for a new devotional, I explored ones using the Star Wars films. There were several choices, so based on reviews on Amazon I picked Star Wars Jesus.

And I'm very glad that I did. Caleb Grimes is obviously a fan of the series and very passionate and knowledgeable about the films. Other books I have seen talk about the Christian themes found among the Jedi, so it was no surprise that Grimes uses that heavily. What surprised me was how he pulls from all six Star Wars films to show the journeys of various characters. One of the themes that particularly struck me was the lessons learned from Luke Skywalker's life. He goes from a young, brash teenager dreaming of greater things to a mature balanced man who refuses to give into the darkness within him. The story of Anakin/Darth Vader is also interesting as a study of how we can give into sin and darkness, but how we can also receive redemption.

Grimes has a very approachable writing style that presents his ideas in a clear manner that makes the points easy to understand. But even with this simple style, there is still great depth to the discussion and there are some very Biblical lessons to learn. One downside of the book is that there are 101 entries, so Grimes sacrifices depth for breadth. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as there is a lot of material to cover in the six movies. Some of these entries are longer than others, so there is detailed discussion where appropriate. Occasionally an entry really seems almost forced just for the sake of reaching the "magic" 101 mark. But the large majority of the entries are very worthwhile, and well worth the read.

This book has given me several ideas for future sermons, and I plan on re-reading it a couple of more times. If anyone comes to Dragon*Con this year, I may just be talking about ideas I found in this book. If you see a sermon there titled "Red Five, Standing By", rest assured that I took ideas from Grimes' book (and will give credit for it). Yes, all of this means that I really like the book, and highly recommend it.

Blessings At Cons

2009-05-03T18:17:00.000-07:00

Once again, we have returned from a convention with a true appreciation for what God can do when we take Him out of the box we want to keep Him in.

For the last few years, we have been involved in several sci-fi, gaming, multi-genre conventions. The biggest is Dragon*Con in Atlanta, but we've also done ConNooga in Chattanooga, and now the Dicehead Siege in the same city. In each of these venues we've had the opportunity to hold worship services, and share the gospel with people. And each time we're amazed at what God can really do. Let me give you some examples.

Dragon*Con officially reports about 30,000 attendees, but many believe that it's closer to 50,000. The first year we had a service (2007) we hoped for about 30 people coming to church. The room we had arranged was packed to standing-room only with nearly 60 people. Last year we had right at around 100.

At ConNooga 2008 there were just under 1000 people, and we had 11 people come to the service. This year there was closer to 2000 and we had 35 people.

The Siege is in its first year this year, and had about 150 people attend. We had expected 5-6 people at our service and ended up with 13. One of those was a staff member at the arena, who heard our singing and came to sit down and worship with us.

Now these numbers may not be dramatic to many people, but consider the type of people who go to the cons. Most of these people are not Christians, and many have been hurt by judgemental church-goers. To have these people come to the church service, as well as the Christian fans, is a real blessing. And it amazes us (but shouldn't) that God constantly surpases our expectations, each time having the Spirit bringing more people that we could imagine.

There is a real hunger for Christ at these cons. Many people are lost and need the light of God in their lives, even if they don't realize it. And there are Christians who feel like they have to give up church in order to attend these cons. We truly believe that we are doing His will by taking the Word to these places. Nobody who hasn't been a part of it can really understand.

Our next con will be Dragon*Con in Atlanta over Labor Day weekend. I hope to see you there! Be sure to stop by the Fans For Christ booth and say hi to "Swordsman" (my handle on the FFC forum).