blogalicious!....

woke up this morning fully expecting to walk outside and see my city in desolation, buildings leveled, empty streets lined with abandoned cars and what few people there may be who survived the initial catastrophic event would be running around with their hands flailing in the air screaming at a falling sky.

needless to say that wasnt the case.

so as i sit in my still standing and fully functioning office pondering these things and reading obscure passages from the book of joel i am perplexed by the vacuous enormity of so many christians sense of tragedy and impending doom. moreover i wonder how any christ followers hope for the future of this country might be wrapped up in anything but christ...

...who is greater than presidents and parties and supreme court justices and is still very much in control of things here on earth. bc the truth is that this election - like every other - is not a matter of chance. which pretty much means that god does not play dice and does not believe in coincidences. lest we consider null the scriptures we claim to believe.

in 2 chronicles 20:6 jehoshphat declares:
jesus knew that authority in this world derives from god and said so to pilate in john 19:11

paul makes a similar claim concerning christ in colossians 2:9-10

these passages cannot be ignored. there are two very solid implications. first that obamas authority is not supreme but falls under gods which means he didnt get there by plan b or fluke. it also means he is not operating outside of gods design.

the second clear implication is that jesus was willing to allow the earthly government of his time to decide his fate on behalf of god. why is this concept so absent from the tremors of fearful christians decrying the death of our nation and the end of the world?

i can only conclude that their hope has been placed in something other than the god they claim to follow and trust. perhaps the political process and partisan politics in general are the means by which they understand kingdom language but the evidence of scripture is in direct opposition to this thinking.

in scripture jesus kingdom is not of this world. check out john 18:36

so why all the moaning and wailing? is this the end of the world as we know it? have all the worst fears of god honoring christ followers been realized?

no.

obama is not the antichrist. he is not the messiah either. he is a man and not a god. and our god who controls everything has not only allowed him to become president of the most powerful nation in the world but planned it that way for his purpose. and if jesus was willing to allow the earthly government of his time to decide his fate on behalf of god then his followers had certainly better be ready to do the same.

so calm down and get on with the work of reconciling the world to christ. bc thats why we are here.

obama is all for killing our unborn as well as the born and unwanted apparently.
mccain is all for killing other peoples born and unborn alike with cluster bombs.

joyous noel.

quit sending me videos.

o my god
i am done
wiped out and spent
tired
and depressed
broken

1. some friends are not what they should be.
2. i really want more time with my family.
3. ive realized that im still reeling from being called an a-hole (in all seriousness) by someone very close to me.
4. at the bgct youth ministry conclave i noticed that during the worship time a lot of bands trying to promote themselves as worship leaders stood in the back with their hands in their pockets while talking to each other or texting. im wondering how they think they can lead me or my group to the throne when they cant seem to find it themselves.
5. when a secular entity like the west texas food bank can raise money to feed people more easily than the church something is very wrong.
6. i agree with tim keller that christians should be a counter-culture for the common good but i think the vast majority of christians believe being counter-culture is synonymous with being isolated from it.
7. our affinity for celebrity has ruined our understanding of the gospel and made us more narcissistic.
8. i really dig alexanders salsa. its not the very best ive ever had but considering the town where i live its fantastic.
9. im a church planter.
10. if i could spend every day doing only one thing i would read.
11. i dont have time to read.
12. im tired of the election stuff. just give us our antichrist of choice and lets be on with it.
13. as a christ follower i have necessarily become expatriate.
14. im no longer certain that the holy wild is a viable alternative to contemporary worship practices.
15. i saw orion last nite for the first time since spring. it was brilliant to say the very least and i stopped and worshiped the creator for the experience.
16. the milky way isnt too shabby either.

a sermon i gave on the importance of family...

homemade faith

for my friend

shalom

more than just the absence of conflict
more than a happy feeling
more than all bills paid

but everything in its right place - even when they arent

shalom

not from you or i
not from work or art
not from family or friends or friday nights

but everything in its right place - even when they arent

shalom

the trickle tickles my toes
ebb and flow
but the current constantly
drags me out to sea

and i would drown
every day
if i had the chance
or the time
and not much else

id wade out into the swell
exhale
and dive in
mindless of dangers

as my breath escaped
my eyes would behold
the distorted beauty
of the sun above

and when rescue came for me
id be grateful
and know better
and do it all again

this past weekend i took a group from our church up to midland/odessa for a 2 day concert event called rock the desert. while we were there we heard close to 20 bands play as well as a bit of preaching.

there was quite a bit of the world in all the consumerist trappings and i guess i could rant about a buncha things here but the one thing that really rubbed me wrong was the litter. at a christian concert full of christian bands and preachers and christian audience members i saw a typically vacant field become a sea of discarded plastic and half eaten food.

nevermind that there were recepticals every 25 or so feet. i saw one guy walk right past a trashcan - take a final swig from his coke - and promptly toss it on the ground not 3 feet from the trashcan.

as i spent the better part of every hour scavenging the discarded items into the proper waste containers i grew angry. not bc i felt obligated to clean up after these defilers but bc of the blatant disregard for our role as stewards of gods creation.

a crowd of 10k generates quite a bit of trash. in the immediate 20x20 area surrounding our canopies i must have cleared about 8 bags worth of trash during our stay. some of it ours and much of it dropped by people walking in the open area behind us.

and it got me thinking that maybe all this talk of the church finally giving a rip about gods creation and going green is nothing more than feces. but then it hit me. this is the end result of a dualist christian worldview that demonizes this world and idealizes escape from it to a far away heaven bc if we are leaving this place and its going to be destroyed then it doesnt really matter how we treat it.

and i say that whole mindset is a load of garbage.

christ came to seek and save that which was lost and we are fools if we believe that only means humanity. redemtpion means reclamation and according to the scripture we all claim to believe in the creation waits for mans redemption bc it will be redeemed along with us.

our bodies arent the only temples. this is our fathers world and i think its way past time we began taking care of it instead of treating it like a badly wrapped gift we dont want.

/rant