random thoughts

Like a Child

Posted on July 6, 2011 by jon in culture, family, life, random thoughts | Leave a comment

Remember when you were a little kid? That was the life, huh? Everything provided for you, not having to work, not having to worry about family finances – that was all grown-up stuff. For the most part, when we’re kids, we don’t worry about how we’ll have food to eat. We don’t worry about what we’ll wear. We certainly don’t worry about having a place to live. We just know that our parents are going to provide those things for us. It’s just a natural instinct.

Likewise, for those of us who are parents, there is also this instinctive knowledge that we will provide for our kids. It’s not something we have to choose – it’s something we have to do. However, for many of us, myself included, we experience a critical loss of connection. Once we “leave the nest,” as it were, we lose that dependency. I’m not at all implying that we should depend on our parents for everything even when we’re adults. That would seriously frustrate many, MANY parents. So what are we to do?

The answer, and I believe a crucial aspect of living that our young adults (18-22) are lacking, is that we have to learn to SHIFT our dependency.

In Matthew 18:2-4, Jesus says, “truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

I think there are a few points to be taken out of this, but first and foremost I believe Jesus is telling us to have the faith of a child. Take yourself back to the faith you had as a child. You didn’t have to cook for yourself, do the laundry, earn a living, pay bills, balance that work/life schedule, etc. As adults, we sometimes have a seemingly insurmountable pile of stress laid upon us day by day. What would your life look like if you had that same faith today – not in your parents to provide for you, but in the God who created you to provide for you?

I want to challenge everyone reading this post to recognize that your Heavenly Father loves you and wants to provide for you, just as you want to provide for your child if you’re a parent. Just like your parents wanted to provide for you. Just as their parents wanted to provide for them. In fact, Jesus, when speaking on the topic of money, spoke like most fathers would to their child if asked about how they would get food to eat or clothes to wear:

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? – Matthew 6:25

Parents, set an example to your children that just as they are dependent upon you, you are dependent on God. Then, as they grow and mature, they will depend on God also. That is one of the greatest lessons you, as a parent, can provide.

You Should Read Your Bible

Posted on April 28, 2011 by jon in life, random thoughts | Leave a comment

A while back in our vGroup, we were talking about the place Scripture should hold in our lives. We all pretty much agreed that Scripture should be something we take seriously as a part of our daily lives, but we acknowledged that reading the Bible has become very sporadic for a few reasons.

First, just sitting down with the Bible can be intimidating. I mean, where do you start? How much should you read? Which parts will make the most sense? We often think that the only way to read the Bible is to start at Genesis and just go. That, folks, is a daunting task. Instead, pick a specific book and set a goal to read it in a week. Some books, like Jude, can be read in just a few minutes. Also, I think part of the reason that much of the Bible doesn’t make sense to us is that we’ve always been told segments of larger pieces of “stories.” When you’re a child, it’s perfectly fine to hear a verse here and there or a general overview of a Bible story. But as we get older, our approach to scripture has to grow and mature. We have to start realizing that the Bible is written in various contexts. We have to start thinking about the original audience, the original location, and the original circumstances of what we’re reading. This really opens up God’s Word for me, and I believe it will do the same for anyone.

Second, many of us go to Scripture for an answer to a question we might have. But what happens when the answer we find isn’t the answer we wanted? In this way, we have to look at God’s Word as just that – the Word of God. Reading Scripture should be viewed as conversational. It should be viewed, as Paul wrote to Timothy, as “God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NIV) If we find an answer we don’t like, well… tough cookies. You can’t buy into parts of Scripture and not others. To do so would be saying that God speaks in half-truths.

Finally, many people simply view the Bible as boring and irrelevant. Here we have to go back to context. What may seem boring today was anything but to the original audience. I think if we employ the two tactics we’ve talked about, we won’t be bored, so I’m going to focus on the issue of irrelevance. A lot of controversy surrounds a lot of Scripture for this very reason, especially the Old Testament. For example, the book of Leviticus states that it is against the will of God to get a tattoo. If you keep this out of context, you hear people saying that people who have tattoos have sinned by that act. But if you read it in context and consider the audience, you’ll realize that the only reason someone would have gotten a tattoo back then would have been as an act of allegiance to a pagan God. I mean, it’s not like the Israelites were all tatted up with Harley Davidson logos.

We have to stop viewing daily Bible readings as a “task,” but as essential as eating or sleeping. Get into the habit of making daily time for your conversation with God through His Word, and it’ll be something you cherish every day.

Being Passionate vs. Laying Low

Posted on April 27, 2011 by jon in church, culture, evangelism, fear, leadership, life, random thoughts, theology, youth ministry | Leave a comment

Let’s admit it. We all like to lay low from time to time when it comes to fulfilling the Great Commission. There are a lot of us who don’t want all the baggage that goes along with sharing Jesus with others. Sometimes it’s because we’re overwhelmed. Sometimes it’s because we’re afraid. Sometimes it’s because we feel foolish or, come on now, even ashamed.

This past Sunday morning, our lead pastor Mike P. started off his message by talking about how Vertical Church is seeking to fulfill our part of the Great Commission by “leading people to be passionate about Jesus so that they can lead others to Jesus.” Take a second with me here and think about the implication of the last part of that statement. What if we re-worded it “…so that they can BE PASSIONATE about leading others to Jesus.” That word: passionate – how do we actually become passionate about sharing Jesus with others? Let’s look today at a few hindrances we have to overcome if we are going to develop this passion that makes us want to share Jesus uncontrollably.

1. Realize that you don’t have to be a theological scholar to share Jesus with someone. In fact, check this out:

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to
confound the things which are mighty… – 1 Corinthians 1:27
(AKJV)

Isn’t that reassuring? Even if you feel foolish, even if you think God could never use anyone with your lack of biblical knowledge, God said through His Word that he would use the foolish to “CONFOUND” the wise! If we can come to terms with this, the passion can begin to form within us. Now this doesn’t mean that we should abstain from reading and studying Scripture, but how much you know or don’t know should not be the basis upon which we seek to share the Good News with someone. Why? Because you might not know where that other person is anyway with their own knowledge, and even so, it isn’t Scripture that saves people – it’s JESUS that saves people.

2. You can’t be ashamed of Jesus. Now, why would anyone be ashamed? For one, because of public perception. Think about it – if you have lifelong friends who are unchurched, unsaved, and openly living in sin with no desire for reconciliation and salvation, you might be a grade-A Christian, but talking about Jesus to these friends? Many of us would say, “forget about it.” This is usually the number one objection to teenage evangelism as I’ve found through years of trying to teach teens how to share their faith. Listen to what Paul wrote in the opening chapter of his letter to the Romans:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of
God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the
Jew, then to the Gentile. Romans 1:16 (NIV)

If you know anything about Paul, you probably know that Paul wasn’t ashamed of the Gospel. It kind of goes without saying. I mean, he was arrested for sharing the Gospel, and continued to share the Gospel from prison – he was eventually martyred for it! But why was he never ashamed? Because he recognized that it was synonymous with the power of God, which needs to be shared with everyone. Do you recognize that power? Have you ever read something in Scripture and thought – “WHOA!” The Word of God is powerful – insanely powerful.

3. We can’t be afraid of animosity, rejection, or even persecution. When we hear the word “persecution,” we don’t really think of that word applying to us, especially in the United States. But essentially, the word persecute means “to cause to suffer, to harass, or to systematically mistreat.” When we put it like that, chances are we’ve all been persecuted before. After Jesus ascended to be with the Father, and the church began to form in the book of Acts, the apostles faced constant persecution by the chief priests and government. They were even flogged due to their refusal to “lay low.” However:

The apostles left the [council], rejoicing because they had been
counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
Acts 5:41 (NIV)

What if we looked at persecution as a privilege? What if we rejoiced over something like this? In today’s culture, sharing the message of Jesus isn’t particularly easy or welcome on many accounts. But I’ve always heard that “nothing worth doing is ever easy.”

So, all that being said, are you laying low right now? Do you feel unworthy or not quite knowledgeable enough? Are you nervous about what others will think? Is it just really hard for you to share your faith? I want to encourage you – you’re not alone. In fact, if we believe what we read in Scripture, we are all unworthy and undeserving. But you know what? Jesus died for all of mankind, out of His unending, unconditional love for us, and God wants to use you to share that message. That, friends, is something we just can’t keep to ourselves. How can we not be passionate about leading others to Jesus?

One “yucky” flight

Posted on February 3, 2011 by jon in random thoughts | 1 Comment

It was originally my intention to avoid blogging for the next few days, but I absolutely could not resist the opportunity to relay what was one of the most, well, interesting flights I’ve ever had. It happened yesterday.

I had boarded a 45-minute flight, so I decided to sit in the front row of the plane, in an aisle seat, so I could easily exit once we landed. It was a completely full flight, and once everyone was on board, the attendant announced that they would be “closing the hatch shortly.” About that time, I heard a man’s voice about 4 rows behind me say, “Can you please turn on the air? It’s really hot in here.” I thought it was hot, too. The attendant, however, said “We’ll turn it on in just a minute.”

About that time, the man proceeded to get out of his seat and make his way toward the front of the plane to “get some air” before the door was closed. He stood at the front of the plane for a second, then his head tilted back, and he fainted – right on top of me. I was startled, to say the least, when he then started throwing up violently. I have to tell you – I was freaking out. Trying to remain calm, I turned his head to the side so he wouldn’t choke, and in doing so inadvertently aimed him directly at my shoes. After he threw up on my shoes (a couple of times), he regained his consciousness, and said, “Whoa, did I just do that? The last thing I remember is eating lunch.” I thought, “Really? That’s the last thing you remember? Because it’s 6pm.” Didn’t say it, though.

The man let the plane and saw the paramedics. In the interim, a friendly maintenance worker proceeded to use a miniature ShopVac-type thing to suck the regurgitation off of my shoes, spray them with some type of solvent stuff and wipe them with paper towels. It was like some sort of weird, disgusting shoe-shining endeavor. I had to envision him thinking, “I don’t get paid for this.”

I should also mention that I was wearing my Sanuks, sans socks. So, yeah, it had gotten onto my feet. So the gentleman removed my shoes, and squirted my feet with the same junk, then offered me paper towels to wipe my feet.

The guy never made it back onto the plane, and I sincerely hope he was ok. The airline was very courteous and professional about the whole situation. And hey, at least I was able to salvage my shoes.