Challenge The Ordinary

I’m feeling mixed emotions this morning….I’m feeling heartbroken, ticked off, and I’m passionate for those who don’t know Jesus this morning (and everyday)….I can’t get my mind around how the human brain works.  I believe if we (christians) are truly going to change the world….and I mean change the flippin world, we have got to interact with those who are different from us.  That seems simple, right?  That seems like that doesn’t even need to be said, right?  The problem is that it does…If we are going to reach the lost, we must quit spending all our time with Christians and be around those who don’t know Jesus.  We have to “break up with a christian” to give ourselves opportunities to reach the lost…The next thing is that we have to be ready…When you are around someone who is lost, guess what?  They aren’t going to think like you, behave like you, or believe what you believe!  They aren’t like you.  You have to know how to handle that person, how to interact with them, you must know how to minister to them.  Their eternity depends on it!  Don’t just think because you know facts about Jesus that you really “know” HIM.  Have you experienced that life change that only HE can provide.  That’s what those around us care about.  I believe they don’t care about the facts you learned in Sunday school when you were a child, they want to see the life change in you—before they consider traveling a road they’ve never been down.  Are you ready?  Can you handle it when someone around you doesn’t believe what you do?  Do you know what to say?  Do you know how to act?  Do you know how to handle the situation?  Are you ready?  Are you ready?  I hope WE get ready soon, because people are going to hell because WE aren’t ready…

I just got a phone call from this guy and I think it’s totally freakin awesome that he called.  I think I’m struggling with the funeral today because I was picturing my child laying in the casket.  I was picturing myself going through the situation.  It’s been a rough day…Mike said a few things to me that make sense if I can just do it…

1. God doesn’t expect us to understand, he expects us to trust him

2. Don’t doubt in the darkness what you know to be true in the light (he had actually heard this quote)

Thanks for the call Mike-I actually really needed it.

I’m heading to a funeral this morning and I’ll be honest, I’m a little sick to my stomach about this one…The funeral is for a 5 week old baby.  This couple had twins and this one, Anna Kate, developed a tumor on her brain.  They think she may have had it at birth but they aren’t sure.  They had to perform surgery to give her any chance of making it and Anna Kate passed away during the surgery.  I got the phone call on Friday afternoon telling me the news and I’ve been fairly ticked off since…I’ll be honest, this one is tough for me to swallow.  I’m not understanding God on this one, I have no idea why this happened, and I’m just not really seeing a purpose.  I don’t get why God takes this baby girl home after only 5 weeks…It’s not adding up in my mind.  There are two things that are helping through this right now…

1. When you can’t trace his hand, TRUST HIS HEART (can I say that this is flippin hard)

2. This story…I don’t know why this story is speaking to me right now but it is

Seeking to Understand-

Brian

So, I came back from camp last week with my students and we flat out got our flippin world rocked.  Chris Tomlin lead us in worship each day and we were taught by Louie Giglio…Both of these guys are awesome!  I’ve been chewing on a lot of stuff that Louie said last week and I’ll be writing about it over the next several days/weeks…Anyway, one thing he said that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind is this, “…have a big idea…”  You might say that that statement isn’t anything revolutionary, it isn’t anything new…and you are right…the problem is that most “Christians” or “churches” aren’t living this out…We don’t have a big idea, we have a status quo idea…we have an ordinary idea…Here is the thing, it isn’t about being ordinary, it’s about changing the freakin world…normal isn’t acceptable…Matt 28:19 tells us to “go”…it doesn’t say stop at a certain point, it just says go…let me tell you something, if we are going to “go”, then we better be dreaming big because that’s what it will take to reach everyone…we better have a big idea to reach and change the world…I’m not satisfied with just “doing my part” or only “reaching our immediate community”…I want to reach people for Jesus…I want to live out Acts 1:8…We had better stop being so lackadaisical and get to work…Changing the world is not an easy task and it’s not for those who are satisfied with the norm…It’s for those who “get it” and understand the big idea…

Are You Game?

Brian

That’s a question we all have to ask ourselves…are we ready…I talked yesterday about a place in Thailand that was the darkest place on earth and I wanted to ask ourselves this question, are we ready to go to that place?  Are we ready to go out and be the light that God needs us to be?  Most of us aren’t ready to go to Thailand, but most of us also aren’t ready to go back to the lunchroom at our schools…if we are being honest….God has stepped out of heaven so that we could experience him and we want to keep him to ourselves…we want to build this wall around our clique and live in our own little Christian world…maybe we should break up a Christian and get ready for our lunchroom, and then Thailand! 

Wondering are we ready-

Brian

Tomlin told the story of this song (it wasn’t his actually) and the band that wrote the song actually did so in a brothel in Thailand…They actually were playing and this band from Ireland said that God just gave them the words as they were playing…They were in the darkest place on earth (a lot of bad stuff happens there) and they were declaring that Greater Things were coming for that city…That has to be our anthem in our city of Marietta….that HE is the God of our city and that greater things are to come…

A Servant being rocked by God-

Brian

Holy Freakin Crap….I came down here looking to be stretched and last nights talk blew me away…Louie was talking about the vastness of God and I’m going to be chewing on that for the next few weeks…My expectations were nothing compared to what God is speaking to me right now…I didn’t realize it but had put a limit on how much I was going to let God speak to me and be blew that plan up last night….Also, Tomlin is amazing…this morning he led us in his new single “Jesus Messiah” and that song rocks…I can’t describe my emotions during that song but I was just brought to tears at the mere sound of HIS name…I realized this morning that what my students most need probably is for me to hear from God this week…they need me to receive a touch from HIM this week…they need me to be recharged this week so that I can be the servant and leader that they need me to be…things are going well right now!

Alright, I’m heading out in about 8 hours to Daytona Beach with some students for a few days….Here’s what they are looking forward to….hanging out with friends, laying out on the beach, volleyball on the beach, chicken fighting in the pool, just being away from parents and feeling like they are on top of the world…here’s what I’m looking forward to…having the privilege of being led in worship by Chris Tomlin…being taught by Louie Giglio…having my world rocked by MY KING…being stretched to do things that don’t make sense…being used by God to make a difference in my student’s lives….just meeting with God face to face and walking away knowing there are Greater Things to be done and realizing that I have the opportunity to be a part of it…should be a fun week!

-working for just a little while today…then heading to downtown Kennesaw GA for their annual fireworks show with the family!

-Looking forward to the next 2 days off…I plan on catching up on some rest and playing with my boys!

-Heading to Daytona Beach on Monday with some students…We will be experiencing worship with about 3 thousand other people while being lead by Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio…should fun.

-I know this is random, but I hate paying bills!

-Really trying to be Kingdom minded right now…trying to stay focused on what really matters and not let “people” get me off track!

The other night as I was helping my 5 yr old brush his teeth, I started singing “God of this City” and he says…”no no daddy, how about this…he became sin, who knew no sin, that we might become, his righteousness, he humbled himself, and carried the cross, love so amazing“  This is how Tomlin’s song Jesus Messiah starts out…he had heard it in the car lately and remembered the words (he actually knows the whole song)…anyway, as he sang those lyrics I’ll be honest, my heart started to melt a little bit….Why?  Because my 5 year old doesn’t understand what he is singing now, but I began to get excited about the day when those words would become more than just words…I was excited about the day when he would make a decision for Jesus and begin living his life for HIM, and not himself…as I thought about that-I remembered that it isn’t an automatic thing…There isn’t necessarily a guarantee that he will accept Jesus…I just started thinking about my responsibility…It’s my responsibility to show Jesus to him…It’s my responsibility to show him how to be a man…It’s my responsibility to teach him how he should treat women…The common thread here is that It’s my responsibility to show and teach him….The best way I can do that is through example…I’ve got to set the stage—not only with my family, but with all those I come in contact with…They have to see Jesus in me…I have a great responsibility…actually, so do you!