What I'm Tithing for Starving Children.

In a previous post I mentioned my recent conviction to help those who are stuck in real poverty, especially children who are starving to death. 

As a Believer I'm called to act. To not just hear what God has to say, but to also do as He does. To do, to act, on what he says.

I believe in a God that's bigger than a church building, bigger than programs, and bible studies. A real God that can move mountains and actually reach those who are suffering.  It's not that Church buildings, programs, staff, and bible studies are bad, it's just that they are not the goal of my beliefs. The goal is Freedom, Mercy, Peace, Healing and Health, Kindness, Goodness, Grace. I believe in a God that sends his people to Free the captives, to cheer them up, and to feed the orphans and widows.

This means not just praying for change, but being willing to be an instrument of change. Action. Not just being a hearer of God's Word, but a doer of it.

Tithing might sound religious or old fashioned ideal, but it is simply this: Giving our First Fruits to the God we put our Faith in. It's a demonstration of our trust for Him. It's a remembrance that everything belongs to Him.  It's an acknowledgment that He comes first, that He is the one who provides, and that this life is not just about us.

One of the things that often gets targeted for the tithe is money. While that is a real and relevant way to tithe, it's not the only thing we have to offer... And this is where we get into what I have been motivated to tithe to God for starving children.

I'm an idea person and an entrepreneur. I've recently felt convicted to give what I think is going to be my best idea to God. To make it a non-profit and use it to provide food for the orphans and widows of the world.

My dream is to create a non profit that generates income so that it can contribute consistently in a sustainable way. To me, a lot of non-profits are cash sinks. They rely solely on the generosity of others, which often dry up, but don't produce income outside of fund raising. My idea is to create a profitable business that is healthy and grows. A business that generates income outside of fundraising so that it can continue to help those in need. For example, what if Starbucks profits went to the needy instead of share holders? (Not that i'm against for profit businesses in any way.)

The secondary part of this would be to not just drop off food, but to help create a way for families in poverty to sustain themselves through reproducible food stuffs and job skills/careers.

So here is what I'm going to do. 

I am going to start an Ice Cream Cart business. I'm going to pour my heart into growing it, making it profitable, making it a success that can grow past me, but not for me. I don't just want to feed 5 kids, because I could do that on my own. No, I want to feed 5,000 this month and 10,000 next month. I want to help parents feed their kids so they can stay together, so they can feed themselves long after the "help" is gone.

While I want to keep the best for myself, that's not the kind of man God has called me to be. I trust my God and am willing to listen to Him, to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak. So that's exactly what i'm going to do!

I like to say my kids are fat, healthy, and wealthy. That's amazing! I'm so blessed! While I will always want more for me and mine, I know that there are people out there who have to watch their children die for lack of food, medicine, or clean water. I can't ignore that anymore. I won't.

I will reveal details about the Ice Cream Cart ;for starving kids as it gets closer. like March of 2013. I hope I can count on your support emotionally, and logistically as the time gets closer.

Thank you for your good wishes, prayers, luck, and support to help feed starving children!

A Religion that God Finds Pure

The word "religion" elicits such an emotional response from people that many refuse to have the word be associated with them. 

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." -James 1:27


There are a lot of things I could call myself to describe what I believe in, like Christian, Christ-Follower, Disciple of God, and so on. Or I could say I'm 'spiritual' but not 'religious'. Whatever ideal or religion we ascribe to, we can gauge our belief in it based on what it motivates us to do. Many people believe in a lot of stuff and/or are just plain moral, but not a lot of people are willing to sacrifice for the ideals they hold in high regard. Myself included.

In my last post, I wrote about starving children. I'm tired of doing nothing. I want my actions to demonstrate what I believe; That there is a God that loves us more than we can believe. He made us, loves us, saves us, and offers a place in His house and in His family. That's awesome, it's Grace and Mercy.

That same God, while loving and full of grace, requires action from his children. He calls us to love others more than ourselves. He calls us to give sacrificially to others who can't provide for themselves. He asks us to stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves. To love and give to people who can't return the favor. To Act.

We don't do such things to earn the free gift we've been given, but we do them out of gladness for what we have received freely. We do it to be like the God we believe in. Not that we can be perfect but that as a child tries to copy a parent they love, we would do the same thing with our Holy Father.

I want to encourage myself and my Christian brothers and sisters in Christ to remember we are called to be like our Father in heaven.  Unfortunately,  as Christians, we're more often known for what we're against, than what we're for. It's easy to "Speak the Truth in Love,' but more often than not I am coming to believe thats a big fat excuse to be judgmental of culture without engaging it. It also gives us a false sense of being like the Father without acting like the Father.

Truth be told, I imagine, that most Christians would reject Jesus if they met him right now. They would see Him ministering to the strippers, whores, drug dealers and users, those who have delivered abortions and received them, to those in same sex marriages, and all the other hurting and broken people. Christians would see Him and I believe they would turn their backs on him after speaking the truth in love... We want to judge and condemn, but we don't want to be in the mess getting our hands dirty. We set conditions on our love and acceptance. We project an aura that people have to get right before they can approach us. That's not the message of the Gospel.

Life is not black and white. God has not made us to be good moralist. He has not set us up to be the worlds conduct police. No! He has made us to snuggle up with the people who are broken, dirty, and hurting. To come down to their level and to love them. This does not mean that there is no truth, that everything is relative and that there is no right and wrong. All it means is we should consider talking less, judging less, sharing the truth in love less, and start being with people more, living them, helping them without condition, walking with them.

• Children are starving? What have you done about that?
• People are being exploited? What have you done about that?
• People are hurting? What have you done about that?
• People are without food and shelter? People are without love? People are broken? How have you SHOWN that you love them and are in it with them?

We have to stop reacting/responding from our default religious positions and start taking the time to get to know peoples story, their context. We need to be people known for their love and grace through action. We should be more concerned with sharing the Gospel than sharing why someone is wrong! We must seek righteousness over being right!  

Lastly, we should not forget the parable of the Prodigal Son and the audience Jesus was talking to, the warning that was left lingering in the air. At the end of the story, it wasn't the younger brother who had squandered his father's fortune on prostitutes and "wild" living, sleeping with pigs in the mud, that was standing outside of the Feast of Love. No, it was the judging, angry, self-righteous older brother who had done "everything right," that was standing outside, refusing to come in...

Food for thought...

Children Are Starving to Death

Death is everywhere.

"Why is it that a child's death amounts to a tragedy, but the death of millions is merely a statistic?" -Patrick McDonald

Out of nowhere, my mind has become preoccupied by the fact that children are dying in large amounts all over the world.
Death is everywhere, we're all flies on the windshield.
It's near and it.s far.
It's both personal and impersonal.
People die all the time for all kinds of reasons, but the children?
That's not right to me.
It was never right, but I was ignoring it.

I've spent so much of my life not doing anything to help the situation because it's just too big. I could give everything I have for the rest of my life and there would still be millions of people who would die in poverty.

Then I realized what I do. I make excuses of why not to act. I do this in so many other areas of my life, I come up with great reasons of why I shouldn't act, shouldn't do something. As far as this topic goes, here are some of my favorite excuses I've used in the past.

1. There are too many people to help. Any help I can offer would be like a drop of water in the desert.
2. There are already many organizations that are helping. They've got it.
3. I have my own kids to feed.
4. There is stuff I want. New car, big tv, nice clothes, ipad and so on... I deserve it. I can still help after I help myself...
5. Maybe I'll help when I'm in a better spot to make more of a difference.
6. I don't want my money to be wasted on administrative fees. I want it used wisely and there are just too many organizations to research.
7. I don't feel like it.

Those are just the ones that come to mind. If I'm honest with myself, I can admit that they are not logical reasons not to do something, but they are in fact excuses not to live a sacrificial life. 

The real truth here is that I am a selfish, self centered person,who is more interested in my kingdom than God's.  Ultimately, I love myself more than others.


That may be what I'm like now, but here is what God says I should like. What I want to be like.

Luke 3:11 "If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry."

James 1:27  Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

Mathew 25:31-46

I'm tired of not helping, of not doing anything. I believe Conservative Christians should stop being worried about what other people are doing and not doing and feed the hungry children instead. I believe liberal Democrats should worry less about what conservatives are not paying and feed the children.

So, everyday I find myself thinking about starving children and about what I'm going to do about it. For once in my life I want to do something. I'm reminded of a parable about Starfish a friend once shared with me.

One day, an old man was walking along a beach that was littered with thousands of starfish that had been washed ashore by the high tide. As he walked he came upon a young boy who was eagerly throwing the starfish back into the ocean, one by one.

Puzzled, the man looked at the boy and asked what he was doing. Without looking up from his task, the boy simply replied, "I'm saving these starfish, Sir".

The old man chuckled aloud, "Son, there are thousands of starfish and only one of you. What difference can you make?"

The boy picked up a starfish, gently tossed it into the water and turning to the man, said, "It made a difference to that one!"

And that's the way I want to be. I can't fix the problem but If I can save one life, it makes a differnce to that one. So, I am going to act, going to do something.

I have an idea, a plan, on what I can do to help feed starving children. I look forward to sharing it soon in another post.


What are your  reasons for not helping feed starving children? If you already do, what promted you to start? If you don't, do you want to change? Do you want to help me?

FYI: This is not a guilt trip on you. I have been inspired to rethink my past position and feel motivated to change. If you're not in the same place or feel that you already do plenty, thats great! I'm just sharing my heart.

"Let us be the ones who say we do not accept that a child dies every three seconds simply because he does not have the drugs you and I have. Let us be the ones to say we are not satisfied that your place of birth determines your right to life. Let us be outraged, let us be loud, let us be bold." - The Wise Brad Pitt

What Cross are we going to die on?

As  Christian's we have an important question to reflect on...

What Cross are we called to die on?

(Quick disclaimer. This is written by a Christian to other Christians. Please understand that context. I am using certain terms like sin and sinners in terms other Christians will understand...)


Recently, the Chick fil-A thing has brought the gay marriage issue back to the American discussion. Now, the whole Chick fil-A thing is a topic unto it's self because to me it illustrates how divided we are as a country and really shows just how both extremes on the issue cause people to behave ridiculously but, thats not the main thrust of what I'm getting into here.

What Cross do we die on? What issues do we take a stand on? Gay marriage, abortion, swearing,  junk food, divorce, so on and so on.

You see, culture and the world hates Christians for a lot of reasons, but for the most part, they don't hate us for the right reason! Whats the right reason? The Gospel of Jesus Christ. That, while we who have been called were still arrogant enemies living filthy lives and flipping God off, He, through his power, rescued us by dying in our place, because he loves us . Jesus died because of our sin, so that we can live!

The message of the gospel is enough to trip people up. It's enough to make people hate us, lash out at us, disown us, mock us. They will be offended by the Truth of God's awesome love because of it's exclusivity.

The Gospel is the central message of what we believe, it's the only thing that determines where we are heading in life and death, the cornerstone of our faith, and yet, how often do we share that? How often do we take a stand for the gospel in our lives? How often, in a real, sincere way, where we're vulnerable and real, and where it would cost us something, do we "take a stand" on the Gospel? Not often... It's much easier to show our "faith" by going to church, by going to support Chick fil-A, or by condemning people's social views.

If you believe people are going to hell because they are gay, then why not let them get married? They're not going to hell any less than if they're not married. Gay people getting married doesn't make them any more of a sinner. We're not sinners because we sin, we sin because we're sinners at birth! We're all sinners. When you break the law, any law, you are a lawbreaker. You have missed the perfect mark of Jesus and you are a sinner.

In light of that, should we not be more focused on loving them where they're at? Would it not be better  to see a person living a Christ-like life who has a posture of love as Jesus has and had for us?

As Christians, we have become known for what we're against. We have become known for our politics, and social issues, and it's all crap. We cannot legislate righteous.  All this to say, we can ruin relationships over these things. We can become dead to people over these issues. I don't want to die for anything less than the truth that sets people free. The Gospel of Grace is what changes people.

Our culture hates strict absolutes. People will be angry for asserting that Christ is the only Way. People will hate us because we tell them that they are a sinner and they need a Savior because they can't save themselves, but that's the ultimate truth that holds our faith together. And yet thats the true thing that brings real change to our lives.

So, what cross do you want to die on? When people pull away from you because of your beliefs, which one would you like it to be?

As for me, I don't want to do it over secondary social issues. I want to speak more transparently about the hope I have. About why I can love people the way I do, about why I might just be different from others. I want to be willing to suffer for speaking the Truth of the Gospel. John 3:16. 

This is not about condemning or encouraging sin. Please understand, I am not saying we shouldn't have a voice about certain issues, but we should really consider how often we are speaking out, about what, and the platform we're using. We should gravely consider what is to be gained for the Kingdom by sharing a particular view point. Maybe, instead of telling our gay friends about how wrong they are and how they should not get married, what if we loved them and celebrated with them? what if we instead shared the beautiful Good News of Christ Jesus.

So, again, what cross are you going to die on???

Some great reading if you don't agree with me, or I guess even if you do...

Hugh Halter: (Would Jesus bake a cake for a gay wedding?)

Genevieve West: (To my gay friends and Chick fil-A loving Christians)

Sorry, no anonymous comments please.  

The Gross Younger Son

The parable of the Two Sons

Most people are familiar with this biblical parable even if they are not christian. In case you have not heard it; Here is the Cliff Notes version from Luke 15:11-32.

A man had two sons. One did all he was told and is basically the picture of a good son.

The other son was the bad son. The bad son did not do what he was told and was lazy and pretty selfish.

One day the bad son at the height of his lazy entitlement tells his father; "Your dead to me! Give me my money now!" The father gives the bad son what he wants. The bad son squanders all his money on whores and other disgusting and selfish things. Because of his reckless life and so called independence he finds himself penniless, living outside, doing slave labor, and so hunger he wishes he can eat the pigs food he is now tending over..

Looking back he remembers how good his fathers servants had it. He knows he brought this fate on himself and does not deserve forgiveness. But he has a plan. He will go back and beg for mercy and ask to be a hired hand cause he knows he does not deserve to be called son again. So he goes back home to beg for anything he can get.

The father, looking out for his son to return, sees the younger son approaching and runs to great him with tears in his eyes. (Which would have been unacceptable for a older successful Jew)He throws a party and without any condition set on the son, restores him to his previous (good) standing.

The older (good) son is pretty pissed when he learns what has just happened. He refuses to enter the "Feast of Love" because of the injustice he feels is taking place. He feels, that because of all of his "good works" he deserves the fathers stuff more than his brother does. He says, "You never let my friends and me have a fattened calf!" He is mad and is not liking how all this is panning out.

The father says something profound though. He says, "All that I have is your, come, we are celebrating the fact that your brother was dead and is now alive!"

It is left in the air as to whether or not the self righteous older brother enters the feast...


Here are some interesting things to note about this story:

• He did not do anything to earn his Forgiveness
• He did not do anything to earn his standing.
• There was no works, doing, plans, or anything else he did but come back. Grace is sufficient.
• The younger son did not deserve to be forgiven. He didn't even demonstrate he had "changed" his wicked ways.
• While the older son did "everything" right, he did not really care for the father. He lacked love.
• While the older son did everything right, You get a sense that the father was disappointed with his sons hard handedness.
• Humility and repentance trumps the righteousness of works any day. 
• We are accepted. God is pleased to receive us, waiting to throw a feast in our honor when we come back to him in humility. Period.

Long winded blog on spirituality but, worth some thought.. 

What's keeping you from the feast of love? Are you on older brother or younger brother? (No need for shame because both heart postures have some serious repentance to do.)

Fast Food Nation; Even With Faith

Perhaps like me you have heard the term used often that we are a fast food nation?

We want satisfaction now and cheaply; quality be damned. It seems within the main stream of any area everything has been made for us to consume quickly and easily. If we have to wait more than a 2 minutes for our frozen microwave dinner we get mad and look for the one that can be cooked in a minute.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the ability to get what we need/want right away, just that we have been conditioned to live in a way that gets us everything quickly. We also feel entitled to theses things, ungrateful for them, and will pitch a Mantrum when our show takes more than a minute to load.

Here's a great video!

In all of these areas we have applied our fast food mentality to our spirituality. You may not agree with me, but think about it. Lets look at it through the context of traditional western church.

• We go to a building to "get" something.
• Generally most people will get upset if it takes too long to "get" what they came for.
• If they don't "get" what they came for? "We'll just go somewhere else."
• We want what we came for to be easy to digest, make us feel good, and not require any work from us.
• And if we have children we want them to throw in a "toy" for the kids though children's ministry.

Why does this happen? A few reasons.  One of which we are a "fast food nation" of consumers. The other is we equate head knowledge with tangible Kingdom value.  A lot of us want someone to do the hard work of going to seminary, learning Greek and Hebrew then giving us a message that makes us feel good.

We want people to tell us what to think about God and how to live for him.
We want other people to teach our kids about life, the world, and religion. Or, spirituality for those of you who are not "religious." (Even though you are....)

Here's what it all boils down to. It is our job to educate ourselves about, you name it. It's our job to teach our children. (I'm not devaluing school or children's ministry.) It's your job to be actively involved in your spirituality.

In short; we value what we have put effort, time, money, and energy into. Don't look for things to be easier but look to be better. Things worthwhile come from time and labor and yes, maybe some sweat and tears.

Sure, you can get a burger for a buck at Wendie's in 2 minutes, but don't you enjoy the burger a bit more when you make it yourself at home with just the right ingredients? 

Fast-food and fast spirituality does not satisfy because it's crap. (I have partaken in both.)

Go for the good stuff. The homegrown, all organic stuff that was made with love and yes, labor. It will go well with you!

Are you tired of fast_________?

Isolation; The great recipe for destruction

The truth is we are all broken. We are flawed and we are most certainly not perfect. 

In our country we value a word that may not actual be good for us. Independence. Is there some virtue in the concept of independence? Yes, of course. But like all good things in this life, things get corrupted, and twisted, and taken to unhealthy levels.

Independence begins to take on a posture of; I can do this by myself. I don't need your help. I don't need anybody. It's me against the whole world! Ultimately, this kind of mind set leads quickly to isolation.

When we are isolated, we are alone... Alone is not a strength, its weakness. When we are alone we can easily be picked off. Can I fight 5 dudes working together even if they are weaker than me? No. But, if I could get one guy alone who is weaker; could I beat him then? Yes!

Now, what is we are not called to independence but, dependance on one another?

No one protester has every brought about change without other people joining the moment. Not one person has defeated an army by themselves.Not one healthy profitable business is done by just one person.

We often forget we are not great at everything. I suck at grammar and punctuation, I need my wife to help me write. I suck at remembering to be kind and generous to the homeless, I need my friend Ron to remind me. I need my friends, family, and community to fill in all my areas of weakness. I am a better man because my dependance on my wife and other awesome people I let speak into my life because I am dependent on them and not independent from them.

Not everyone believe the bible is right about God but, most people would agree their is a lot of great advice and wisdom in it. Well here is a nugget to think on.  Proverb 18:1 "Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment."

I know I am impulsive and have whims where I want what I want. If I was alone, I would be in a real bad place and that's at my weakest.

Everyone knows the cliche image of one stick being broken by itself but a whole bunch of sticks being unbreakable. It's a cliche for a reason.

Think about it...

Don't Cast Your Pearls Before Pigs

Do you ever throw out a piece of yourself, a piece of your light, only to have it trampled? 

I have. 

I have, at times, given my best (pearls) to those who trampled them into the mud. It can hurt when you believe you're dispensing something of use and people throw it on the ground or worse, in your face.

Thankfully there is hope. Jesus addresses this through scripture.

Mathew 10:13: "If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if not, let your peace return to you." 

Jesus tells us such a person whom receives our peace is a person of peace to us.  Such a person does deserve our time, energy, words, support, and such. The person of peace is willing to hear from us on spiritual matters. They are someone who is willing to speak and work with us and they probably like and respect us as well.

If the person does not deserve to receive our peace we have a response to that as well. We let our peace return to us and we quietly and respectfully depart from them.

Mathew 7:6 "Don't give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." 


This is good news! We have freedom from people who are not peaceful for us. In short, you don't have waste time, energy, heartache, and pain on people who don't like you for whatever reason.

One thing to note about this concept though, is this; To discover if someone is or is not a person of peace to you means there is a chance for rejection. Rejection at any time and in any context sucks. The great thing though is you know where you stand.

If you're received well let your peace remain. If not, shake "the dust off" and leave. That simple. Enjoy the peace and grace of this in your own life now.

What do you think? Does this sound like freedom to you?

Do more, be better, try harder is a lie (When it comes to God)

How is your spiritual health?

When Christians feel like we're not living up to what Jesus has asked us to do we often come up with a quick fix in our heads. The quick fix is the lie that if we could only do more, try harder, be better, that would some how make us closer to God.

“Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. Grace, you know, does not just have to do with forgiveness of sins alone.” -Dallas Willard


There is a huge difference between living differently in-light of what God has done for us verses trying to earn God's love and acceptance.


Without God's Grace we can't do more, be better, or try harder. When, as Christians we embrace our identity as children of God, we then have the ability to obey. When we obey we create less resistance to God working through our lives which, means more of God's power flows through us.


The answer to feeling better, doing more is not to try harder on your own. If you want to see fruit you have to abide in Him. Abide means to remain or to stay. Basically our function is to rest in Jesus. He will take care of everything else. 


There is a pendulum here though. Those who are  trying too hard need to relax and rest in Jesus. Those of us who are having a great time relaxing and are comfortable need to consider if it's not time to put a little effort into working out our salvation for the Kingdom.


In short two scriptures play a role here: 

• Galatians 2:16 "Know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, Have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified."

• James 2:18 "But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds."

You see the balance? We can't earn our way into heaven or God's good graces.  He loves us just as much on our worst day as on our best. In the passage from James you get the impression he is not justified by his deeds but his deeds stem from his faith. There is a connection between what we believe and what we do. 


Don't try harder to work, try harder to abide and the rest will come.


Peace.

The Spiritual Pendulum

Is balance in life important? If you're a believer is finding a balance with God important to you?

God is very specific in both the old and new testament of what he requires from us.I want you to picture a thin white line that stretches out from you past the horizon. As a believer God has asked you to walk that line because his ways are good and right and best for you.

As we get distracted we step off that line to the right or left. We also over compensate. Sometimes we are like a pendulum. I know a lot of people who grew up as pastor kids or in very conservative churches. They experienced an extreme to the right. Then they get old enough to where they can leave that environment but often times trade it for another extreme.They no longer see any good about where they came from and often times judge people who are still to the right.

God is not asking us to compensate for our parents or churches mistakes. We can't fix Christian culture by swinging to the left or the right, for every time we do we move off the line God has laid down. The great thing about God though, is He is patient, merciful, and loves us too much to let us keep going off the path for too long. Through the holy spirit working through those who love Him, we are constantly being shepherd back to the line.

That's why we need each other. That's why we need community. Life and spirituality is a pendulum, an act of life long calibration. Don't over compensate. God doesn't need a PR person. When He gives you a revelation on where you're wrong, or on a better way of doing something, by all means act, just don't over compensate in the flesh.

Embrace the pendulum and ask God to help the swings from left to right to become less extreme. Look for the line and walk it as best you can. Try not to wonder to the left or right but, toward righteousness. Peace.

Question:  Do you tend to over correct? Can you find places where you might be too far to one side of an issue or biblical principle?

Don't be a CINO! (Christian in name only)

What are some of the first things you think of when you think, 'Christian'? I don't mean this question to be answered in the micro but macro. When you think of cultural Christianity as a whole, what comes to mind?

• Judgmental
• Hypocritical
• Exclusive
• Arrogant
• Bigoted
• Cheesy
• And so much more...

The other day at work one of my drivers got an order that is a ways away. "I hate delivering out there," he said. I asked if it was because of how far away it was. He said, "no, its just that they never tip and they are pretty rude." I looked at the customer and was saddened to see it was Christian business.

I got a call today by a very cranky lady about her order. She was rude and did not tip her driver.
That order had been delivered to a church...

A few years ago I worked at a movie theater with a guy that also worked at a hotel at night. He was telling me about how he hated working his job every time the Women of Faith Conference was in town. I asked if it was because they were more busy, he said, "no, because they are so rude."

In a tweet,, Jon Acuff made a statement to the effect of. "How many people have been saved by leaving a track in place of a tip?"

The point is that as Christians we should be less concerned with being right, and more concerned about loving people. Whether you call yourself a Christ follower or Christian. Whether you go to a conservative Baptist church, a liberal Episcopalian church, Methodist, Lutheran, or a relevant "hip" non-denominational church.We are representatives of Christ and should view our words and actions as if we are dispensing life or death.

Will someone come to Christ by leaving them a big tip? Probably not. Will someone reexamine their view of Christianity when we live transformed lives that demonstrates supernatural grace and love? I believe so.

A conversation I have to have with my oldest daughter a lot is about loving people in the way they feel love, not in the way she wants to love them. My daughter has a great heart but she is still immature. She will want to make someone a cake because she wants to make a cake, not because they want one.

We often do this in our adult lives. We don't reach out to culture in a way that shows love to them the way the understand it. Biblical love is hard and requires sacrifice. As Christians we need to make sure our faith lines up with our deeds.

What if at the wedding feast Jesus had made milk instead of Wine because he liked milk more and thought the guests had had too much?

When I worked at Buffalo Wild Wings, the waitresses hate the "church rush" because they made the least in tips and got ran the hardest. If we were living out our faith in a biblical way, the waitresses should love the church rush more than any other shift...

James 2:14-17  ¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.


I was an unbeliever for most of my life. My heart was hardened toward Christianity because of how Christians treated me and each other. The turning point for me was when I was a barista and a couple of pastors treated me well and loved me where I was at. They were friendly, funny, and generous with their time and money. They were people of peace and I wanted to be around them more. I was lead to Christ through that relationship that started because they were men I wanted to be like. They never mentioned God or Jesus right away... Their agenda was one of love alone.


The pizza delivery guy, barista, or waitress at the diner should want to see us. The waitresses should fight over our table because we are kind, generous, patient, full of love, peaceful, and generally just good people to be around. Fruits of the spirit anyone?

We need to make sure our actions line up with what we believe. The more obvious it is that we're Christians, i.e. working at a church or christian book store, the more obvious we need to be in our deeds of love. That means when our food comes to the table wrong, we keep our mouths shut. When the pizza is late, we thank the driver profusely for serving us and tip them well. 


So, don't just say you're a Christian or a Christ follower. Act like it. Not because I am telling you to in a blog but, because that's what our Lord demands of you, in-light of what he has done for you.. Ask yourself the following questions: 

• How often do you get accused of having too much grace? 
• How often do you demonstration love in a way that is sacrificial? 
• How often do nonbelievers want to be around you? 

If you were convicted by this blog post you should ask your self what you plan to do now. Consider reading this post here.

The 3 Most Important Question For Spiritual Growth.

Do you want to grow in a real meaningful way? I know I do.

"A goal without a plan is just a wish" Larry Elder

While the title specifically references to spiritual growth, the three questions below will grow you in every area of your life if you answer them honestly. Whether you're a non-believer or not, these principles will give you traction in your personal development.

1. What is God saying to me?
2. What am I going to do about it?
3. How did it go?

You see, as we live our lives we constantly have moments where a light bulb goes on. Moments where we go hmm??? Sometimes a situation will (good or bad) stand out to us and we ponder it for a moment. We say, hmm, that was interesting." Most of us, when reading our bible, or a blog, or any other type of situation that makes us think, makes us go hmm, we normally stop the process there.

But, what if we didn't just stop there? What if, when we're confronted with information that sticks out to us and impacts us, we did something? What if we really took a deeper look at why does that thought stand out and make us think? What if we then came up with a plan to act on this new profound information instead of going, "that was nice" and moving on?

The above 3 questions really boil down to 3 main points.

1. Think
2. Plan
3. Act

When the next 'hmm' moment, or 'ah ha' moment, or 'I never thought about it like that' moment, comes up don't just say "that's neat" and move on.  If you start asking yourself the 3 questions above I guarantee you will see growth in every aspect of your life. I dare you to do that once today, and share with us here how it went.

After asking your self the three questions, what were the results? Was it a waste of time? Did it work?

Picked

Have you ever been rejected? More specifically maybe not picked at all or picked last? I know I have.

In elementary school I was not very skilled at sports or very popular. When the two team captains of whichever sport we happened to be playing would line us all up to pick teams, I was often picked toward the end if not last. I remember that crushing feeling that someone picked you only because they had to. I also remember praying that  I would not be the very last pick.

As I got older I got better at sports and was often times picked sooner than later but still I was never good enough to get picked first. Again, I remember thinking at least I wasn't picked last.

I don't know about you but, for me as I have grown older, I have told myself such things don't matter and that I no longer care about when I get picked, if at all. But when I'm honest and think more on the subject I realize that I do in fact care. Recently, I did not even get invited to interview for a position I wanted, and that really sucked. I wanted to get picked.

I chose my wife. Not because she was my only option or because 5 other people were not available but because she was my first pick. I know that has meaning to her. I also know that she picked me, and I was first in her heart. I can't began to describe the elation in that concept! But it gets better.

Whether you're a Christian or a non-believer there is good news in this department. Someone did pick you first. Jesus choose you before you were even born. He knew who you would be and he picked you first. He not just waited for you to show up on the field, he relentlessly pursues you no matter where you're at. He says I know you, I made you, I chose you because I love you. Please, please, come into my feast of love! Did Jesus  come before we were born? Yeah. Does he call out to us as a people, as his people? Yes, but he knew you before you knew him. He loves you and wants you. He is God, in all, through all, and over all. Whether you believe me or agree with me, you are loved and you were chosen first.

So, inflight of that, what do we do?

Why I will no longer mix politics and social media

For the longest portion of my life I could have cared less about politics. About five or six years ago I had a job ware I had to drive a lot. Flipping through the channels I found talk radio.Hearing people discuss the issues facing our country really held me in thrall. I was hooked.

For me, my political views swung from indifference to one extreme and then to another until balancing out toward the middle. After watching and listening to talking heads on both sides I realized that political discourse is all but eroded. People don't really have real debates anymore. The issues facing our country, and most of our politics have been so polarized that most people can no longer voice an opinion without collapsing into name calling.

Anyhow, I have friends both on the Right and on the Left who post political comments from time to time. I often times push back against both. Sometimes I will post things on my own wall as well. The issue that has been coming to my heart lately though is if  such polarized conversation is edifying to God? It seems like more and more people are getting emotional about politics, so much so a lot of people are even deriving part of their identity from what they believe politically.

I want to be a person of peace to my friends, family, and to strangers. I think when we post things through the Internet and social media we often times are making pretty bold statements and not really inviting a conversation. I think we can all agree that it's really easy to be misunderstood through electronic communication no matter what the subject is . My concern is that when I make political statements online, reply to political posts, put stuff on my own wall, someone might really miss what my heart is on the matter.

As a Christian I want to be more concerned about whether or not people know me as a person who demonstrates a supernatural amount of love and grace. Jesus said they would know us by how we love, not by how right we are on political matters.

Please don't take away from this that politics are bad or that we should not participate in our government. Discourse is great, but I would rather not create a barrier through political face book posts. I feel that when we put political bumper stickers on our cars, when we put signs on our yards, and bold articles or statements on our sites we are creating a dividing line between us and those on the other side of our opinions.

If you can't tell by now I have a huge man crush on Jon Acuff. So here is how he puts the issue I'm talking about. "It's impossible for me to love my neighbor when my need to be right, overwhelms my desire to be righteous"

I have to look at my motives and do a reality check. Do I care more about making sure people know they are wrong about politics or do I care more about being a person of peace who is humble and approachable?  I don't want someone to think about politics when they see me. I don't want them to mistake my heart on matters that are important to them. I don't want them to see a D or R in front of my name. I want them to see a C for Christian. Not just a C but a distinction between those who love Jesus and just claim the name.

I will still enjoy a true discussion that is respectful when it comes to politics, but I feel like social media is not the place for that. (For me.) What do you think?

The Dirty "R" word: Relligion

Why the Anti-Religious Sentiment is Wrong.

Living in Portland, I have grown used to people saying things like “I’m not religious, I’m spiritual.” While this expression has been common among those who feel disenfranchised by the Church, I have noticed a disturbing trend within the Church to freshen up its vocabulary and dump the R word from its lexicon. In, what I feel, is an effort to make itself relevant, or actually trendy, the Church has jumped onto the anti-religion band wagon. Ironically this I believe is doing more harm than good.

First, we must come to terms with the simple fact that despite how unpopular the word may be, it is an unbudgeable truth that almost all of us are religious. Gasp! That’s right, all Christians, in fact, almost the entirety of the whole world can be fairly labeled the dirty R word. How can I dare to make such a scandalous claim? Well let’s take a short intellectual stroll over to our local dictionary. Here are a couple of definitions for the word in question.

• A specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.
• The body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices: a world council of religions.
• Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.
• A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.
• A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion

So let's run some simple statements through the grid of the dictionary:
• Do you have a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices which is generally agreed upon by a number of people? For example, that Jesus died and came back to life and that Jesus is Lord? Or that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God?
• Are you a part of a body of persons who adhere to a particular set of beliefs and practices? Like praying, taking the sacrament of communion or baptism?
• Do you have a strong reverence for a supernatural power regarded as creator and governor of the universe? God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit???
• Do you posses a set of beliefs, values and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader, maybe whose name happens to be Jesus? Or in some cases Mohammed, or Gandhi?
• Are you a part of a cause, principle or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion? Like, he religiously follows politics. I know some people who "going green" is very much there religion.
If you answered "yes" to any one of these questions, then, surprise! You are a "religious" person. To say that you are not religious is to say that the above does not apply to you.

So if you think of the above and how you might apply that to someone you know like...
“Oh yes, you just described my pastor! But he’s not one of those religious people. He’s a Chris follower.” Please! The hated R word has done nothing to deserve the animosity it has garnered. In short Religion is a description. Nothing more than a commonly asked question. "What is your religion?" Plus, it makes for a great time saver. Well, it used to.So then, how has a word that is merely a descriptor made a transformation to a literary villain? What is the argument against religion? Well, here is what some people feel the word means. Actually, I take that back. The people who often misuse the word usually do know the meaning, but choose to use it incorrectly for the sake of people who do not understand the definition, rather than using an alternate word or educating them on the true definition.

Often times people confuse "ritualistic" with "religion". The "new" meaning of "religion" is to describe people who have sadly turned their specific religion into a meaningless ritualistic set of rules and checklists. They then try to get others to “do” religion their way. They might even proudly call themselves “religious” which, they are correct in doing. So they take their specific perspective on their specific religion and try to force other people into a mold they believe to be correct. Is a person with their rules and checklists any more or less religious than the guy who is a "Christ Follower" living out his faith in a real and sincere way? No. They are both equally religious. Is the guy who goes to church every Sunday and takes communion each time more religious than the girl who believes in Jesus but never goes to church? No! They are equally religious.

Now, it’s a whole other matter on whether one is right or wrong. Good or bad. With the first example of the guy who tries to force people to worship the way he does without the meaning behind it, I would say that’s practicing religion badly. And take the fellow who lives his best to love people like Jesus because he is reacting to God’s goodness in his life. That’s practicing religion well. But both are nonetheless religious.
So over the years you have some cultural Christians judging people they shouldn’t and following a set series of rules and rituals. They go down their checklist that shows them they are good with God. Is that religious? Sure, but it is not just religious it’s bad religion. Now if there can be bad religion then that means there can also be good religion. If there is meaningless religion, then there can be meaningful religion. If there can be Godless religion then there can be Godly religion.

Some of my Christian brothers, especially the ones geared toward evangelism, would make the argument that to most people religion means something else besides how it is defined in the dictionary, so the word should be used in the context which they understand. I have heard the argument that because people have been treated badly by others who have claimed to be religious, "religion" has come to mean people who are judgmental.
I'm afraid that the description "religious" is turning into a judgmental word itself, used to determine if someone has a true faith or is simply following their rules and checklists, when it's only God who knows our hearts. Therefore, it's only God who can determine if our religion is "good" or "bad". Just as it is only for God to say if someone knows Jesus or not. We are able to observe if someone is acting in an "Christian-like" manner, but we cannot say if that person is a Christian or not.

Part of the problem is how people speak about the R word. It’s not enough for people to not use it. I have observed more and more people, especially Christians, going out of their way to talk badly about it. Often when I go to church or even participate in other events organized by other churches you hear phrases like, “Okay guys lets worship God but not in a religious way.” Or “People trying to do a list of things to be good are religious.” Or “God hates religion.” Basically it is used as a stand-alone negative.

What about a pastor who talks about not being religious? They read the bible a lot, so surely God must speak often and clearly about His hatred for religion? Uh no. First let me be honest and clearly state I did not go to bible school and frankly don’t read my bible enough! What I understand to be true about religion from the bible is this: 1 Timothy 5:4. "But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God." What?! A religion that is pleasing to God? Why did the text not read, "Take care of the widows and children but don’t be religious about it"? Okay, that’s just one verse in the big book.
Here's another; James 1:26. "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless." So, if he can have a worthless religion then he can have a worthwhile one that is worthy of God. It does not say all religion is bad.
And how about one more for good measure. James 1:27. "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Wait, if you ask some pastors today, especially ones seeking to be culturally relevant, they would make statements like "God hates religion." But in James 1:27 there is a type of religion that God finds good and pleasing. In short, nowhere in the bible does it say God hates religion in general. Nowhere did Jesus say “I’m not religious, I’m spiritual.” Now I’m not denying the fact that God hates false religion. God wants our everything! He wants more than people to show up on Sundays. He wants to renew our hearts and minds. We cannot go down a check list of six things to do to get into heaven. God does not want our offerings if they are meaningless. God does not want us to practice meaningless rituals that do not glorify Him. Amos 5:21 says, "I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies." to a fallen Israel, who's people worshiped false gods but still tried to appease God by giving Him their offerings.God does not have anything against religion, he has a problem with people’s stinky hearts, and changing the word you use to describe yourself is not going to change your heart. I feel that by both not using the R word as a descriptor, which it is, and using it rather as a way to negatively label people is a cowardly way to not examine ones religion, but mincing words so as to not have to change ones heart.

So what’s the harm? It’s just semantics right? Yes and no. To be fair, this is a pet peeve of mine, but let me show why I am against the misuse of the R word. Well aside from ruining the English language.

First, it’s a disservice to those of us who are still fine “practicing good religion” but haven’t got the memo that it’s now a dirty word.

Second, it confuses ignorant people and those not used to organized religion into thinking anyone or anything that can be labeled with the R word is bad which, is just not true. It creates a dividing line not just outside Christianity but within it as well.

Third, the misuse of the word is simply wrong and sad. Please, pick up a dictionary. I feel like it also makes for an easy way to not examine your specific religion but to just change the word and you're good. Ultimately, I believe it’s a way for people to avoid letting their actions speak about what their religion is. There is no need to feel bashful about having the R word applied to you if you are living out a good, godly religion.

Fourth, it just feels trendy to use the R word in a negative way. It is more and more cheesy to me to hear thing like “I’m not religious, I’m a Christ follower!” I don’t like trendy. What’s "in" one day is quickly "out" the next.

Fifth, one of my biggest problems is that we can’t let others redefine what simple words mean. If we don’t let things mean what they do then everything becomes meaningless and words become useless. If we will not take a stand on what words mean, if we won’t take back the words that have been stolen, then it will all become meaningless and we will forever be back pedaling especially crowd pleasing Christians. Backpedaling because we will constantly be trading one word in for another. For example, if the R word is bad because people have harmed others while claiming to be “religious” then why not stop calling ourselves Christians? What about the Crusades? What about anti-abortion nuts who claim to be Christians and blow up doctors? What about all the Christians who judge others? In fact, there is already a trendy movement for that! “I’m not a Christian, I’m a Christ follower!” Should we get rid of the "Christ" part altogether, because people have been hurt by Christians? What about the greatest aspects of our religion? Faith, Love, and Hope? Well, I don’t want to use "faith" because there were those faith-based initiatives that were pretty unpopular. Then "hope"? No, that one just gets used too much by everyone. "Love"? No can’t use that because those religious people use it right before they pronounce a judgment on someone. I know, instead of me being a religious Christian who profess faith, love, and hope, I will be a "spiritual disciple of God who professes belief, unconditional positive feeling, and optimism" because those words haven’t been ruined by those bad religious people yet. “I’m not a truth teller; I’m a person that brings false hood to light.”

We need to take back the meaning of our words by living them out. We cannot keep changing our vocabulary. For example, by people calling themselves "Christ followers" instead of Christians, all they do is displace the true problem. As the name Christian becomes unpopular and more people do the trendy thing and become Christ followers, it too will lose its meaning. So the original Christ followers will then have to say, “Well that was good while it lasted, but we need to switch names again. I know! We are now "Disciples of the True God" and Christ follower is bad.” We will just run through words and make each one meaningless.
I say no mass! We need to do the hard work and let our actions define the words we use. When you say you love someone make sure your actions line up with a good, biblical love. When you confess your faith in Christ Jesus then show how you have been changed! We should not look to alternate words to prove the validity of our beliefs but rather own them and wear them through our actions. The words are innocent victims in this war within people’s actions and attitudes.

So then, you’re saying to yourself, “I misuse the word religion and I don’t want to anymore, but the word still doesn’t sit right with me. What do I do?” Well I’m glad you asked. First, stop using the word as a stand-alone negative! Second, a lot of problems can be fixed by adding an adjective in front of "religion". Let’s go over some examples. “Meaningless ritualistic religion is worthless!” Or “God hates false religion.” Or “Christianity is the worship of the one true God and is unlike any other religion.” Of course now we know that yes, Christianity is still a religion. So when you don’t like a specific form or observance of religion you can now fix your vocabulary by saying something like “I disagree with people who practice their religion that way.”
So to wrap things up, we have learned that, religion is not bad, it’s a description of your beliefs! "I’m Christian", or "I’m Muslim", or, "that guy plays World of War craft religiously" or "That other guy's politics are like his religion!" We have learned that misusing words is well, down-right confusing! We have also learned that God doesn’t have a problem with religion. Sure, He most certainly did hate the Pharisees religion. But, he found the practice of good religion of faith in Jesus to be pleasing! And we learned that if we don’t like a word we need to take it back by fiercely and forcefully changing our actions. We now know that we can’t just keep word hopping because if we do that we will forever be back pedaling. A couple of things to keep in mind if you don’t like this message: If you would make the argument that because people think of religion as a negative thing, I would ask you then, “will you not use the name of Christ when it becomes unpopular? Will you not say "Jesus" when in Portland it means you’re an unloving judgmental ass? I hope not! Another thing is maybe you think statements like “Not using a word correctly is cowardly alternative for not changing your actions.” As a little harsh or over the top. Well, to take a page from most Act29 pastors, it’s a bold statement to shock people into joining the conversation. I felt compelled to write this essay and I hope that anyone who reads it feels compelled to give it some consideration.

Let me leave you all with a quote from C.S. Lewis. Actually, I don’t like how the word quote has been used by people. So instead let's say, in the words of a dead guy, "Now if once we allow people to start spiritualising and refining, or as they might say 'deepening', the sense of the word Christian, it too will speedily become a useless word."

I am proud to say that I am religious! I believe in a good God who is all knowing and all powerful and who’s love for us knows no bounds. I am happily a part of a religion that makes it it’s business to love others more than yourself and to take care of orphans and widows. Yes, that is a religion and I am a part of it. My religion is Christianity!

Religion Vs. Spirituality

Many people get hung up on the words religion and romatacise the word spirituality. I plan on using this page to unpack those ideas and share what my walk with Christ has been like. For the sake of argument I will be also looking at religion as the practical stuff we do and spirituality for looking at the deeper meaning of why we do what we do and how we often feel about it. Struggling? Running out of steam? Tired of doing it alone? Come, and walk with me.