Easter part 3. Scars

I have scars, I have two on my head from accidents and one on my side where my appendices was taken out. They are evidence of trama done to my body.

I have other scars to but you can't see them scars of things done to me that brought trama that in the doing left no sign and yet cut deeper and hurt more then all three physical incidences put togeather. We all have scars like that, scars of words without thought or with great intent.

We all know the emotional wounds that leave scars on our hearts and yet as I have processed my way through so much healing the scars that I have had the hardest time coming to terms with are not the ones I bear but the ones I have left on others.

You know what I'm talking about, we have all said and done things to others that have cut deep and left scars on those around us.

I have been moved as I have traveled the road toward the cross this year to look at the scars my actions have caused.

I have realised that this year what I needed to leave at the cross was my guilt and shame for the scars I have left on you and others I have met.

In Matthew 20:25,27 we learn that Jesus had scars from his time on the cross that stayed with his resurrected body. I think it was a reminder for those he encountered that it cost him something to hang there and yet as I have looked these last months at my scars and the scars I have given I can't help but realise that they don't matter. Not really, not any more because the scars that Jesus kept remind me today that I don't have to keep mine as reminders and I dont have to be ashamed of those I gave because his scars are the payment for both sets.

I have been asking what has God been asking you to give up this Easter at the cross and this is it for me.
I am giving up the scars I have given and the scars I have received and I am saying they don't matter not anymore because my savior kept his so I didn't have to keep mine.

Easter part 1. Faith.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

(Hebrews 11:1-3, 6 TNIV)

What makes us up (atoms) is held together by something we cannot see.

Do I have faith to believe that what God says is true and do I see things as God does or do I just see it from my perspective?

When I trust that what God says is true and start to look at my mountains from his perspective I know that a mustard seed amount of faith is more then enough to do all I am called to do.

So why do I doubt?

Why do I sway from the truth that everything I am called to do I have the streanghth to do?

Why do I live in fear that I don't have what it takes?

I think for me and most likely others too its because we don't see God correctly.

We don't see him as a all loving, all powerful father we have been warped by poor relections of love and provision.

We also don't see ourselves correctly.

We have been built up and torn down by validating and unvaladating. We don't see that God the all powerful and all knowing one has given us a promise.

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b NIV)

This promise was given after the great commission was given a mission we would not do alone so I feel the verse fits for other contexts of knowing our God is with us when he calls us to something.

On my journey to the cross this year I felt that God has been asking me to give up some stuff to Him and embrace my calling as a servent and a missionary of his gospel of hope.

That takes great faith, knowing who He is and knowing who he has made me to be.

What is the King asking you to do this Easter?

Obsession

What can I do with my obsession
With the things I cannot see

Is there madness in my being
Is it the wind that moves the trees

Sometimes You're further than the moon
Sometimes You're closer than my skin

And You surround me like a winter fog
You've come and burned me with a kiss

And my heart burns for You
And my heart burns...for You

And I'm so filthy with my sin
I carry pride like a disease

You know I'm stubborn, Lord, and I'm longing to be close
Your burn me deeper than I know

And I feel lonely without hope
And I feel desperate
Without vision

You wrap around me like a winter coat
You come and free me like a bird

And my heart burns for You
And my heart burns...for You.

This song was a definition for me when I was a teenager.

A couple of weeks ago I was listening to a live version of this song from an album I bought 14 years ago.

Music has a way of bringing back memories and emotions.

That night when I heard the cry of my teenage heart again I felt all the emotion of my desperation for Jesus and remembered all the pain I had in those long ago days.

The Holy Spirit begin to speak to me a out my lack of desperation.

When I was a lost and fearful teenager it was easy to see my need for a savior and to passionately run to him as my only solice from the cruel world.

As I have grown in my faith I have lost some of my understanding that I am still a man in great need of a savior and as my life moves forward my reliance on my Jesus should increase.

I now am responsible for my wife and two children God has given me a specific call and church that I have a part in leading.

My need for a savior has not lessened but rather it has increased. I like you need to be desperate for Jesus.

This week my challange is to reconnect to our desperation for Jesus and if you have never had a desperation to realise your great need for Jesus in your life.

Irredeemable

I recently read a comic book series by that title written by an insightful and creative man named Mark Wade.

In his series he delves into a superman type character who was conceived in dysfunction and who never was able to overcome his origin of dysfunction.

Have you ever felt like you were set on a path of destruction or at least dysfunction and you cannot see how you will ever be fully clear of habits or temperaments?

I have, anger has a way of springing up in my life in a way that makes me feel like I will never be free of it.

I was raised in an anger driven home and as such my course was set with anger fueling my actions and passions.

It sub consciously became a stronghold in my life that anger was something I would "just have to deal with" I don't think that is biblical and as its not biblical it's not true.

Culture tells us some things can't be fixed so don't try.

The Bible tells us that God is all about redemption.

A famous story is that of Ruth the story is one whole book in the Bible.

Ruth as we read was a Moabite, a decendent of Moab who was conceived as a result of a insestual relationship between a father and daughter.

So the whole lineage of Ruth is dysfunctional to start. But God it seems does not believe in irredeemable situations because he uses Ruth to be in the lineage of Jesus.

To get back to myself for a moment I get into a bad place when I think that something God is working on is a disqualifier of me being used by him and worst when I forget that I have been redeemed from so much already.

Lord Jesus I pray for those who are trapped in the cultural lie that they are irredeemable.
That the path they were set upon is the only path that they have to walk.
Show them the grace you have shown me and let your love wash the dirt of the past away so they may see the plans you have for them and the way you would take them.
Amen.

This week read Ruth and insert yourself into the story and see how God your loving father wants to show you that he is even now redeeming your story.

The Revelation.

Reading quitter by Jon Acuff. He is talking about the plan myth.

It's his determination that you need to dip your feet in the area of your passion (step 1) to practice (step 2) so that when the time comes to plan (step 3) you are better prepared to live out your dream.(the goal)

I have had a directionless desire to influence people.

I knew I was made to make a difference in people's lives I just never new how.

I never looked at my passion to be the catalyst of my dream.

I always assumed my passion would come once I discovered my dream.

Wrong.

I have long had a passion to write.

My first stories, I kid you not, were about my lego games. I would imagine stories play them out and write them out. I called them "Lego wars."

I still have those stories rolling around I still on occasion write stories involving those characters. I have maps and timelines all that was pointing to my passion.

How could I have missed it?

My passion is writing.

I heard John C Maxwell talk about how he writes so many books. He said he writes every day not a book a day sometimes not a chapter a day but he writes something everyday.

I would say that strategy is working for him.

So I gave it a try and I have committed to writing everyday and publishing this blog once a week.

Something happened I didn't expect. I can't not write everyday now.
As long as I'm getting input I have to output.

My passion won't let me do anything less.

If no one reads this blog ever I will be successful in my life simply by letting my passion be expressed.
I also intend to read some blogs to help me form better style and technique.

the page ceremony

To explain what this ceremony is all about you have to have a small understanding of the historical idea of a page.

In Medieval times a page was a young boy who was in the service of a knight or Lord.

In some cases for the purpose of becoming a knight. In others he was the son of a lord and this was his training ground to take the role of lord some day. 

The context of this ceremony is a page is a knight in training. 

I have spent most of my life asking a question that for the longest time I couldn't form words around,

Do I have what it takes?

As boys we ask this question we ask our fathers we ask men who are around us. 

We always get an answer and the answer will set us on a path to success or failure. 

in different ways one way is we ask men in our lives if we can help do tasks or activities that we see being done with skill and success. 

I heard alot growing up 

"Your to small"

"When you get older"

"I don't have time to teach you"

These are classic you don't have what it takes moments. 

The page ceremony says you have what it takes and we will help you to do it. 

The page ceremony is all about putting people in the life of a young boy who will influence him toward becoming what God created him to be.  

A friend of mine has four sons two of which I have had the privilege of participating in the page ceremony.  

It's a time when these boys are invited to enter into a group of men to be told you have what it takes we are going to walk with you and teach you how to succeed. 

This is one of the most intentional things you can do to train up a child in the way he should go, you can bet when he grows up he won't depart from the teaching. 

There are to many men walking with him who won't let him slip away. 

I heard a quote a long time ago 

"It takes a village to raise a child" 

I believe it takes a community, a group who stand togeather in faith and values to empower a child to become all they were created to be. 

Discipleship

That's a big word this year in sunshine hills, 2012 is the year of discipleship.

I like to think of it as the year of intentional discipleship.

But what does intentional discipleship mean?

To me as a man I look back at my faith journey and I see key people who guided me and loved me. 

In the absence of being fathered by my dad I was mentored by different men in all different stages of my life.

Where would I have been today if I didn't have strong men who came along side of me and held me accountable, or gave me sound advice, or who cared enough to look me in the eyes and tell me that I was valuable. 

Jesus came to earth he came to where we were. He lived with us in our pain and in our struggles.  Then He discipled. 

If you want to be effective in discipleship it's not good enough to have a good Bible answer for someone's problem you have to live with them where they are. 

I don't know many people who are taking the idea of discipleship as I have described it and are living it out but they that are have caused me to adjust how I view this subject.

I don't think we can be who God wants us to be if we are not taking discipleship seriously and making it a priority in our daily lives. 

Two questions. 
1) Who in your life through their involvement changed the course of your life in a positive way? 

2) Whose life through your involvement is on a positive course change?

If there is no one whose life you are investing in to make a difference for the positive then pray about where God would want to use you and watch how He changes you and them in the process.

the creativity killer

I have been struggling lately with the idea of what I want to do with my life and how that is going to affect how I influence the world.

Six months ago in my journal I wrote that I felt that I needed to let the creative part of me grow but the killer of that was TV. 

I love to write I get a lot out of it; it is how I process and its how I best express myself. It is in fact the thing that makes me feel alive. 

So why is it that I struggle so much with doing it more? Six months ago, it was TV and now guess what its TV. 

Its my creativity killer. 

I am not going to let another six months go by just to come back to the same place hence this blog. 

The fact that there is a battle going on inside me means that I have hope of being all that God has called me to be.

I know that I am not the only person who feels trapped by where they are and knows that there is more they should be doing and could be doing. 

Be brave my friend don't let what you were created for get killed by excesses or by apathy. 

Gods mercy is new very morning and his faithfulness is great. Lamentations 3:23

Today is a new day lets move today from where we are into where we can be just a little more.

Jesus said he would never leave us of forsake us even till the end of the age. Matthew 28:20. 

So with that in mind.

Is there something that stands in the way of you stepping out into your dream? 

It has no power over you. 

Is there something God is calling you toward?

Run to it.

Finally 

What choice will your next choice be and what will it open up into? 

"every right choice opens the way to ten more good choices and every wrong choice opens the way to ten more wrong choices."

I am excited friend because there is a new morning awaiting us and we have a faithful God who is with us.