Ramblings

The next few have been written over a month or so, as motivated to do so:

The God of mercy offers comfort. Part of the mercy He gives me is in the form of comfort. Comfort is needed in times when I dont know. When He hasnt revealed. Comfort is the peace that knows He is still in control. The circumstances may still hurt, but peace is there. That's comfort.

What's the deal with discipline? Why dont I have any of the 'self' variety? I can know what is needed or right or good and still talk myself out of choosing that way. Discipline always makes me think of the drill sergeant mentality. I dont think it really is though. I think discipline is more of a quiet resolve to do the right thing. I need that quiet resolve.

So everything I experience is for the comfort and/or salvation of others. My life is only valid when I have poured myself out to Him and into others. The exhaustion of being spent and used up as fuel for someone else is oddly gratifying. And when I'm not being spent or poured out everything begins to feel oddly empty. I'll take exhausted over empty any day.

Waiting is one of the hardest things I'm ever asked to do. But only on a spiritual level. Waiting in line at Six Flags with my friends is no problem. Waiting for the next Pink Panther movie to come out, again, no problem. Waiting on God seems to be the big struggle. Maybe if I'd spend the waiting time growing in Him instead of complaining or wishing time to pass the waiting would be more pleasant. I need to grow that way.

Blogging

Getting my thoughts out and onto a somewhat permanent media is sometimes a drudgery. Sometimes it seems to be more trouble than its worth. But I know its good for me to express what God is doing in my life, for multiple reasons.
It causes me to be honest with where I am in my relationship with Him. Reading what I'm going through is more real than keeping it in the back of my mind.
It allows me to share joys and concerns with people who care.
It helps to clear my head of bits of truth that may or may not be related. Sometimes things just bounce around in there and spark off each other.
It reminds me that God is still at work in and around me, whether I've joined Him recently or not.
So I suppose I've tipped my hand about what I intend to write about tonight. Or maybe its just obvious to me because I know what it is. Either way, here we go:
The human side of us is constantly warring against the redeemed, new, spiritual side of us. The physical, human side wants immediate results or has selfish motives. The redeemed sides is patient, waiting on God and has selfLESS motives.
I find myself locked in this struggle all too often. The human side of me rules me more than it should. Today, I struggle with knowing His will. Instead of patiently being quiet at His feet, I want to make decisions on my own, taking matters into my own hand. I know full well the devastating consequences that could bring. And I will end up waiting for Him to reveal His will, leading me into action based on His perspective. But MAN I'm impatient.
So if you read this, pray for my waiting. Pray for me like you'd pray for that friend that is always struggling with being stupid. You all have a friend who just doesnt get it. Pretend that's me and pray.

Read the Word

John Piper has a great article (or sermon) on his website, desiringgod.org that uses Romans 12 as a tutorial for how to read the Word. Or better said, he explains how to read Romans 12 and that could be used to show us how to read the Word. Anyway, its entitled Let Love Be Genuine and the 'how to read' part is about a third the way down the article. You should check it out.
I've been teaching my kids here at FBC that reading the Word is an event that requires more than a desire to finish the chapter and that needs to be viewed as more than another check on our list. Reading the Word needs to be intentional. It needs to be an event that requires prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to give meaning and insight. Allowing the words to settle in our hearts and become a part of who we are. I've given the following analogy a couple of times, and I'll share it with you.
Unfortunately, many of us read the Bible like this: its like seeing an oh 10 model camaro coming past us on the highway. We see if for a split second, then go tell our friends "I saw an oh 10 camaro!!". If we are to get out of the Bible what God intends for us, we should treat it like this: Go to the dealership and look at the camaro. Sit in the drivers seat and crank up the sound system. Ask for the keys and take it for a test drive. Pull out on the highway and FLOOR IT!! See what that baby will do. Bring it back to the lot and plop down the cash to buy it. Take it home and wash it. Wax it. Detail every inch of it. Then when you want to tell your friends about that oh 10 camaro, you'll know what you're talking about.
Read the Word. And enjoy!

Worship

... Is our response to God. Unless He reveals himself to us thru the Word, how can we respond? The revelation of God is where worship begins.
...Is our response to God's work. He works in the world thru His word. Always has. Creation? Spoken. He told the prophets to speak His words. Jesus calmed the seas and cast out demons. You guessed it: by His word. The Holy Spirit gives testimony of the words of Jesus and gives us understanding as we read His word.
Worship is knowledge of and affection toward God thru His works. So the Word is prominent in worship.
The Word gives life. We were redeemed of imperishable seed, thru the living and enduring word of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Not just the first time, but faith is re-awakened by the word. The most incredible and miraculous of works, the redemption of my soul, is accomplished by the power of the Word.

So worship is about the Word of God. That makes preaching an incredibly weighty ordeal. No wonder the purifying preparation of my heart and character is so evident right now.

Oh to be God's man standing before God's people delivering God's message. I covet your prayers!
Sent from my BlackBerry Curve

Committed to Christ

Not only for salvation.
For His view of God: as Holy and sovereign. Makes me want to surrender my (free) will to obey His. Seeing God as holy is a fearsome undertaking. It shows me the wretch I really am.
For His view of the world: heartbroken for the sin in it, spending ALL of myself to see it (them) redeemed. Making disciples of them, which requires that we walk alongside them and get to know them and love them.
For His view of sin and the devil: sin in me devastates my relationship with Him. Some sins need to be beat into submission. Some need to be starved to death. Some, God Himself has to remove from me; much like a Dr removes cancerous cells.
Will I choose to commit to Him in such a radical way that I have Christ's view in these matters? As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
I will accept the responsibility of being transformed by the renewing of my mind.
Sent from my BlackBerry Curve

Friends

Isnt it great to have really good friends!? People who encourage just when you need it. Or who correct and hold you accountable. Or, my favorite, tell you that they love you. When God places those people in your life, it is a blessing like none other.
Sometimes those friends come from unusual beginnings. For example, some of the most encouraging and best friends I have are former students. Kids I have seen grow up from 6-7 year old snot-nosed heathens to the Godly young men and women they are now. Youth ministers have a peculiar circumstance to deal with in this area. About the time we get to see a kid mature, we have to send them off to the world. But all hope (or communication)is not lost.
One of those good friends/former students sent me an email with some C. S. Lewis quotes in it and I thought I would share both my happiness in the friendship and the wonderful encouragement of the quotes themselves. So here goes:"'[Law said], 'If you have not chosen the Kingdom of God, it will make in the end no difference what you have chosen instead.' Those are hard words to take. Will it really make no difference whether it was women or patriotism, cocaine or art, whisky or a seat in the Cabinet, money or science? Well, surely no difference that matters. We shall have missed the end for which we were formed and rejected the only thing that satisfies."
The end for which we were formed. Wow, what an idea. That we were formed for the perfect relationship with God Almighty only salvation can bring. Everything else is dis-satisfaction.
The relationships He allows in our lives can and should mirror that perfect one with Him. That is a topic and idea I am exploring with great joy!
I seem to have rambled quite a bit on this one, i'll try to keep it together better on the next.

Moved

You know that feeling you get when you got just the right amount of sleep? You wake up and have that rested sense of perfect sleep. Especially nice when it hasnt happened in a while. That's a pleasant awakening.

After pondering so much yesterday and today about music moving me, that part of me was awakened on the way home from Houston tonight. I stopped by Pineywoods on the way home to pick up some of Melo and my shoes. On the way out the driveway, I turned off the radio, rolled down the windows and opened the sunroof. For a long while there (until the rain made me close everything) the wind, God and me had a pow wow.

I told Him what was on my heart and really just tuned into His for about an hour or so. It was very refreshing. Then I cranked a CD back up and was MOVED by the songs I wailed before my King. The part of me that is moved by spending time tuned in to God (worship) awakened. What a pleasant awakening.

The 'Move' of Worship

I know that music moves us. Its the way God set us up. That's not entirely a blanket statement, but by and large music moves us. My question for this musing is this: To where does music move us? It moves us from here (where we are) to where?

The right music moves me closer to my wife, or different music stirs a patriotic response in me. The music on that ASPCA (the sad one with the abused/neglected animals) commercial moves me to change the channel. But music that proclaims the Holiness or Righteousness or Sacrifice or Grandeur of our Lord moves me to offer Him all of me. It stirs in me a desire to surrender.

So music moves us toward the intended target? That doesn't sound exactly right. To where does music move us? It can move us to an ideal or event. Get the right jingle stuck in my head and I'll start craving coca-cola. But I don't think God's intended purpose for that programming is fulfilled by mass marketing that "teaches the world to sing, in perfect harmony". I think God's intended purpose in programming us to have music move us is so that we are moved to worship Him. So if the song you just listened to causes you to be amazed at the God of the universe, it fulfilled His intended purpose. If not, well that's 3+ minutes of your life you'll never get back.

At Wit's End

...you will find yourself at your wits' end and at the beginning of God's wisdom. When you get to your wits' end and feel inclined to succumb to panic, don't; stand true to God and He will bring His truth out in a way that will make your life a sacrament. Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Oswald Chambers said it so much better than I could ever say it myself. I do believe that only when we get to our wit's end can we begin to trust God's wisdom. The Word says that He will never put anything on you that is more than you can bear. Only He is talking about temptation in this much quoted scripture, not about circumstances of life. You see, He wants to put more on you and me than we can bear because He knows it will cause us to rely on Him, instead of our own strength. Dont resist the trials of life. See them as the gift from God they are. You may find yourself in Elisha's shoes, striking the Jordan river with Elijah's cloak asking, “Where it the Lord, the God of Elijah?” and finding that the river has parted.

SNAC

SNAC this weekend will be at Bro. Lee's house. Jr Hi needs to bring drinks, 9-10 chips and 11-12 desserts.

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Important?

Is what we do important? I dont mean to ask if what we do is significant or interesting or cool. Is what I (or you or your gf or bf or, idk, your bff rose) do important? If it is then we should, by all means, pour all our hearts into it. We should let it consume our conscious moments and drive our dreams. We should shuffle our schedules to have more time to do that thing which we have realized is truly important. We should spend the money we work so hard to earn on that very important thing. We should convince our friends and families that it is the most worthy and valuable thing we could possibly do. We should invite them to join us, but if they refuse, it shouldnt deter us from continuing. When we face ridicule and persecution for doing that most important thing, we should set our face as a flint; determined to carry on.
If what we do is not important, we shouldnt.

Ok, so this begs the question: what do we do? I cant answer that for anyone but me, and I dont like the answer very much. Reason being that what I do is largely unimportant. Gandhi said: what we are doing may seem insignificant, but it is most important that we do it. I like to pretend that what I do is significant and that people are very concerned that I do it. When, in fact, much of what I do is not. I would like people to see me as important and my work monumental. But that's the fallen side of me. The Christ in me (who, btw, is working very hard to be seen) doesnt care the people see me or my work as important or monumental. He cares that they see Himself in me. They can only do that as I spend time with them and love them and care for them. Who "they" and "them" is should be a different musing altogether. Let's suffice it to say that for now, I want for God to change me. That doesnt sound like its going to be very comfortable, but I'm ok with that.

Most people who know her consider one of the genuinely greatest humans they know. We, however, see her in a whole different light.

World Car Show, Addison, Texas

Why is it that when you know you can sleep in the next day, you tend to stay up to all hours of the night, thus ruining the benefit of extra sleep? I'd be Tammy Greene has a good answer to that question! Well, I find myself there tonight. We are meeting up at 12:30 tomorrow for breakfast at IHOP so we could stay up late tonight.
The card games are now over, the boys are snoring softly and I've exhausted all the useless websites on the internet, so here I sit; not ready for sleep.
We have tackled a pretty interesting topic this week so far in the form of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The 'big three' of Jewish faith. Jews and Muslims alike point back to Abraham as the father of their existence (to a degree anyway). Looking at the heritage that was passed from one to the next, and even further considering Joseph, we see that God was able to use some faulty character in order to accomplish His purposes. Deceit seemed to be a character fault passed down from one generation to the next. (If you arent familiar with the story, you'll need to read it to get that one.) But one constant in each of those is the favor of God rested on each, so His faithfulness was able to see things through.
Things are so very the same today. It is not the great character and nobility of any of us that accomplishes greatness on God's behalf, it is His own faithful character. I have been amazed at the conversations these kids have had this week. People like Ramona, the Niccoli gentlemen, Kelsey, the massage lady all have their own stories and you need to ask about them the next time you see one of the students that went on this trip. They'll tell you that God is busy setting up appointments for us to share His fame.

Passion

For various reasons I havent told anyone about this yet, and even though I should prolly post it in my All in the Family blog, its more serious than what I usually put there so here goes.

Each Thursday morning at Rusk Intermediate School (4th and 5th grade) is CSI which is a clever acronym for Christian students something or other. I was invited to attend this past week to answer any questions that might come up during the discussion. I wasnt aware that my oldest son, Bryce, was leading that discussion.

About 45-50 of students came into the science lab for the meeting. Bryce read several verses from Romans that turned out to be the Roman road. He explained what each meant and that God's purpose was to provide salvation for us. It was good

The impact part of the time I spent at RIS was realizing the passion with which Bryce speaks about the things of God. I have heard him speak to his peers many times about this or that report he was giving for this or that project. I have heard him speak to his peers twice when he was talking to them about God's plan for their lives. The difference is amazing. He is well spoken and organized with any topic, but what the Spirit of God does in him when he is sharing from Scripture is different from any other time. He has an incredible burden for his friends to walk with God. He sees God's Word as ultimately important. I'm sure they exist, but I've never known a 10 year old with that kind of spiritual depth.

Melo and I see him growing up so fast that its almost alarming. She says she wants him to be her little boy always but my take on it is this: God has incredible plans for him and watching that unfold will be amazing. He is growing up too fast, but as he grows, so does his passion for the things of God.

The Empty Tomb

The Empty Tomb
The darkness of Jesus' death was like no other. We cant imagine what it is like to have seen Him, eaten with Him, and lived by His side. How horrible that darkness must have been for those who loved Him dearly.
As they came to the tomb that morning, the knowledge that He was no longer there only caused the darkness to suffocate them even more. They couldnt yet understand the resurrection. All they could see was that His body was missing. Now their mourning would even be cheated.
'His sheep hear his voice and recognize His voice and He knows them by name'. When Jesus said "Mary" she immediately came out of the darkness. And oh, what a great light she saw. Jesus wasnt missing, He was resurrected from the dead!
The empty tomb isnt a symbol of what is lost, but of what is gained: Everlasting life for those who put their trust in Him.

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

So Collin has set us up with a myspace page. www.myspace.com/fbcyouthministry
I blogged a little bit there this morning but prolly wont very often. If you have something you'd like to put there, just email it to me or Collin and we will add it.

I'm really looking forward to our time at Spring Break Retreat! We have gotten to the point on retreats that we just try to spend time unwinding. I know this semester has been hectic and draining, so we will have plenty of down time. There will be some indepth bible studies during the mornings and worship in the evenings, but afternoon will be free time to explore and play then nights will be some outdoor group activities. You know what that's code for.

Lake Tomahawk is a really scenic spot. It is more developed than last year's spring break spot, so it has more recreational stuff to offer. If you wanna check it out online, go to www.laketomahawk.org then open the about us link then campus map. There's not much else there, but its something.

So tell your parents you wanna go and we'll have a great time together!

Therapy

Today was most interesting. I woke up about 7:30 absolutely worn out from the dream I had last night. It was one of those dreams where you are chasing around after something you can't find and when you wake up, it feels as though a beating was administered in your sleep. But things began to look up as Melo went and got donuts for us.
At church I realized that I was wearing navy blue pants, not the black ones I distinctly remember getting out of my closet. I had the black socks, shoes and belt, but navy pants. Many of you were present for the debacle I made of the announcement concerning "Valentine's Day" next weekend, and as things continued on a downward spiral, I noticed at lunch that my pants had been unzipped all morning. Thank goodness for choir robes!
That's a pretty rough start according to most standards. However, the great thing about being part of this particular church is that as I was sharing about my mission trip, it occurred to me that I was surrounded by people who love the Lord and love me and were interested in what my life had been like that week in Guatemala. Sharing with you the things God revealed to me was nothing short of therapy that washed all the sheepish embarrassment down the drain. Thank you for being my church and letting me be your Minister to Students!

In Christ,

Jason

The Facilities

This is our "corn". It is about three and half feet high with a concrete toilet in the middle. That translates into: even sitting down my head is above the walls. Add this to the foot traffic about 20 yards away and you have a rather embarrassing experience. Just thought I'd share. You're welcome.

More Progress

We got rafters up today and then the rains came. We are in the dry season but rain clouds blew in to the mountains from the ocean. Cold and wet.

Here's the Proof

....that we are NOT just vacationing in Vegas. This one is Trampus, Eric and Banjo laying the top row of blocks. We got the ceiling joists cut and on so the roof goes on tomorrow.

Melo requested this one

Pedro and the guys

Laying block for one of the houses we are building in Guatemala. Did I mention we are at 9000 feet? This fat boy is sucking wind!

First Morning in Guatemala

The country is beautiful.

Kelsey Walking

Here we are 48 hours after surgery and she's up walking around the nurses station.

Fear

As we have rung in the new year at Pineywoods, I am absolutely amazed at the power of God. Tonight we were challenged to understand that fear is a tool of the enemy used to oppose God's will in our lives. There was a lot of meat on that bone, but what I intend to share relates to my two sons.
Between the end of our worship service and midnight, each of them, at separate and spontaneous times, shared with me how God is working in their lives regarding fear. The spiritual depth and maturity is beyond their years. Since before they were born Melo and I have been praying for that kind of Godliness in their lives. To see Him actively and currently answering those prayers is a blessing beyond the ability of words. Praise be to the Most High God!

Winter Camp

Here are a coupla shots of the kids around the bonfire just before the New Years Eve fireworks show.

Fireworks

New Year's Eve fireworks show during Winter Camp at Pineywoods.

More

...of the same.