One of my three favorite Pastors Alive

Mark Driscoll

Just makes me happy

This preacher, while I have no clue what he is preaching about or who he is, I love his passion for Jesus. And if you can work in a reference to Alicia Keys in a sermon, it can't be all bad.

You may not like this...

I am normally a republican, and I certainly didn't vote democrat last election, but, I love this guy.

A Post for my church people

I realize that many of you aren't church-goers. I get that. I realize that you mainly read the stuff I put up here because you are a friend of me, not a friend of any church, and that is fine. But this is a post for those of us who ARE engrossed in the beautiful dance that we call church.

I posted a few months ago some honest facts about being in the ministry (if you didn't see it, search in the left hand corner "ministry in our western world) and got a large response from tons of e-mails, facebook, text and calls from people having AH-HA moments like "YES, THAT IS ME!!" And the truth is, I said nothing new, I only said it. This post isn't just for those in the ministry, it is for their families, close friends, volunteers, servants, consumers (those who come to be entertained and just leave), and everyone else.

I am going through a book titled "Mad Church Disease" right now, and it is eye-opening. It is written by an author (Anne Jackson) who grew up in a minister's family and now is in the ministry herself (don't worry, not preaching, with the young one's mostly) and how crazy you become if certain problems aren't dealt with.

Volunteers:

We all tend to think the more we do FOR God, the closer we will be TO God. Which is, a lie. The reality is, if you do one thing amazing, you should concentrate on it. If we are great teachers, we tend to try to staff volunteers, be greeters, van drivers, servers, sound people, etc. But what if you were a good teacher and then you took the time to become a GREAT teacher? Is God more glorified by you doing 12 things mediocre or one thing AMAZING? I am asking, really which is better? I realize we should sacrifice time to God, so what if that time was spent making the good, Great?

Families of pastors:

Your husband or wife's emotion becomes your emotion. If he/she hates his/her job, you do too. If he/she loves it, you do too. You let the treatment of them by the church, because your opinion by the church, and that, while accurate, is sad. What if you just saw the church as Jesus' imperfect bride, and attempted to love her and nurture her, no matter how they treat your loved one, they need building up.

I could give a million categories to whom I am talking about, but here is the point, our church involvement or lack thereof, can kill our faith and this is what Satan wants. Look at John 10:10a (1st half of verse):

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy"

Jesus is saying that Satan ONLY wants to kill and destroy. He wants you busy DOING church, so you can be distracted from BEING the church. But Jesus doesn't want it this way.

Look at John 10:10b(second half of verse):

"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

He is saying that he wants us to have a full life. A guilt free and happy life. This means serving Jesus unconditionally, and not doing it to be busy, but doing it to actually SERVE him.

Read this book, its amazing and helping me wrong through a million issues I am personally going through, but also, admit your shortcoming and struggles in relation to the church, she is an adulterous bride, but she has a PERFECT husband.

Birthday

So tomorrow is my birthday, I am turning 26. Not sure why, but I haven't really enjoyed a birthday in a long time. I guess it's the whole adult thing. I have 4 meetings tomorrow. I will get the chance to see my girls about a combined total of 30 minutes from sun-up to sundown.

But what I've realized is, birthdays aren't about celebrating ME. We make them about that, but they aren't. They are more about celebrating the blessings from that year. Otherwise, you would be throwing an party to honor the great accomplishment of not DYING one more year, and for most people, that ain't too difficult of a task to complete.

By the national average, I am way lower middle-class, but in the grand scheme of things, I am more rich than any man could ever be. I have a better wife than a man could even hope for, a better daughter than I ever dreamed of, and twin baby girls coming in the next couple of months, and that is cool. I am a part of a great ministry and I serve a POWERFUL GOD.

Life is good, whether you are happy or not. And I love me some life these days. I may not enjoy my birthday, but I love what it stands for.

Sufjan Stevens - LIVE

Here is Sufjan Stevens singing his sweet version of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.

An amazingly sad, but real movie

here is a movie about a guy named Marjoe. There is a little bad language in it, a second or two of course joking, but at the same time, I think every Christian needs to hear this story. You won't believe it.