Posts (page 2)

Genesis 39:19-21 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, "This is how your slave treated me," he burned with anger. 20 Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.

I complain a lot more than I should. My recent trip to New Orleans showed me that I have nothing to complain about. People down there lost everything, I have more than I need. People in N.O. lost their families and friends. I have more than I know what to do with. I wonder what Josephs attitude was like. I wonder if God would have blessed him if he was a complainer. Or was God's blessing him unconditional? Old Testemant writers were notorious for leaving out the fine details, but I guess our Bible is big enough huh? I would imagine in the night Joseph would voice his "concerns" about his life to God. But when day came maybe Joseph had wrestled with God enough to trust him...with that day. Maybe it's like arguing with your best friend, you will go toe to toe with them over something but at the same time you would give your life for them.

Which reminds me of what David said:

PS 22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?
PS 22:2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, and am not silent.
PS 22:3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel.
PS 22:4 In you our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
PS 22:5 They cried to you and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

And what Jesus said:
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
MK 15:35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, "Listen, he's calling Elijah."
MK 15:36 One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down," he said.
MK 15:37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

I pray that no matter what my circumstances, I will not complain, that I will honor God, and that I will be worthy of receiving Gods blessing.

I am not sure what Scot was on Sunday night when he kicked off the Sunday School Spectacular with the story of Noah's Ark. He was like an AD/HD kid on Red Bull and Fun Dip. I've been there, you can't stop. It's like eating hot sauce, you're fine as long as you keep eating it. Once you stop then it gets painful.

There is a thing called the "preaching hangover" where you wake up on Monday morning and you begin to remember what you said the night before. It reminds me of being in college all over again because there are so many similarities.

1. You usually get a call from a friend saying, "Dude, do you remember what you did last night?" While on the surface the call seems to come out of a heart of compassion, but really the guy on the other end is looking for a good laugh and to take whatever HE did last week off of the conversational radar. It's like passing around a bad trophy.

2. The morning fog lifts and memories start coming back of some really stupid things you said, in this case "There are some really great "buts" in the Bible" or "Noah had a nice butt."

3. You begin to wrestle with thoughts of guilt, regret and diarrhea.

4. You start making promises to God like: "Dear God, I promise I will never do that again...AND(say it with me) THIS TIME I REALLY MEAN IT."

5. Then you turn to your close friends for support. It might go something like this:
Scot: "Do you think I offended anyone last night?"
Jack: "Noooooooo, anyone who would have been offended left a long time ago. Like around the time when you used "granny got back" in a sermon. I think you're in the clear."
Scot: "Do you really think so?"
Jack: "Suuuurrrrre (rolling my eyes as I turn and walk away).

At any rate the preaching hangover will go away with time. You just have to let the memories die. Of course letting things die has become more difficult due to the use of podcasting sermons
and....heh heh... blogs.

You can download the sermon that Scot is trying to forget at www.exchangemcc.org

Or I may refer to it here on occasion, just to keep the memory alive.

Peace out homies.

From Roger Lipe:

Letters to an artist
January 12, 2007
Dear Jack,
In 1903, the poet Rainer Maria Rilke responded by letter to a young man seeking his advice. Rilke eventually wrote ten letters now collectively known and much published as "Letters to a Young Poet." They are heartfelt advice from a successful (but still struggling) artist to another who was deeply mired in self-doubt. The classic language of these letters soars in beauty as well as lofty good sense. His idealism is applicable today to all who might pursue any sort of creative activity.
Yesterday, on a pathside bench deep in a blustery, storm-destroyed forest, I reread the letters. Here, partly in direct quotation and partly in condensed summation, are some of Rilke's ideas:
Your work needs to be independent of others' work.
You must not compare yourself to others.
No one can help you. You have to help yourself.
Criticism leads to misunderstandings and defeatism.
Work from necessity and your compulsion to do it.
Work on what you know and what you are sure you love.
Don't observe yourself too closely, just let it happen.
Don't let yourself be controlled by too much irony.
Live in and love the activity of your work.
Be free of thoughts of sin, guilt and misgiving.
Be touched by the beautiful anxiety of life.
Be patient with the unresolved in your heart.
Try to be in love with the questions themselves.
Love your solitude and try to sing with its pain.
Be gentle to all of those who stay behind.
Your inner self is worth your entire concentration.
Allow your art to make extraordinary demands on you.
Bear your sadness with greater trust than your joy.
Do not persecute yourself with how things are going.
It's good to be solitary, because solitude is difficult.
It's good to love, because love is difficult.
You are not a prisoner of anything or anyone.
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) was born in Czechoslovakia and died in Switzerland. Dogged by fragile health and the constant search for inexpensive and healthful accommodation, he anxiously moved from one climate to another. Considered the greatest modern poet in the German language, Rilke counselled the young poet, known only as Mr. Kappus, over a five-year period. No evidence exists that they ever met.
Best regards,
Robert

On January 1 about 40 people from eXchange headed to New Orleans to assist with disaster relief. We loaded into vans, cars and trucks and made our way to the Gulf. Most of our time was spent gutting houses and doing mold remediation. This was one of 5 or 6 trips that eXchange has made this year to help out. From a pastoral persective this is a dream come true. The identity statement that we have wrapped ourselves around is " eXchange is a Community of people, following Christ, and serving in his Cause." As Associate Pastor of eXchange, I was blown away at how this statement was fleshed out by the people on this trip. We believe that community and cause are tied closely together. What draws people together more than a common mission?

Community - Our relationships with each other blossomed on this trip as we worked our butts off, sweat together and even bled together.

Christ - We prayed several times during the day together. Most often with the homeowner. We talked boldly about Christ with people.

Cause - God put on Flesh and moved into the neighborhood. Then he gutted some houses and remediated the mold. some people gave their lives to Christ for the first time and others were obedient through baptism.

We baptized four of our own while we were down there; Laura, Ricardo, Tyler and Nick were all obendient to Christ in baptism.

Jacob and Esau
19 This is the account of Abraham's son Isaac.
Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram [d] and sister of Laban the Aramean.
21 Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, "Why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the LORD.
23 The LORD said to her, Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."
24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. [e] 26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. [f] Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!" (That is why he was also called Edom. [g] )
31 Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright."
32 "Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to me?"
33 But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.
So Esau despised his birthright.

We don't hear much about birthrights these days except when we talk about English Royalty and hotel heiresses. Living in the land of plenty, birthrights don't mean much.

But in Genesis chapter 25 Esau sells his birthright to Jacob for a pot of stew. Esau was out in the wilderness and was literally starving to death. When he returned, Jacob seized the opportunity to take Esau's birthright. Jacobs name means "to grasp the heal". So Jacob caught Esau in a moment of weakness and took something that was not meant to be given away.

As followers of Christ we are co-heirs with him. We share in his sufferings but also in his power.

I can look back on my life, even in recent past, where I have sold out my birthright. I have squandered the eternal for the temporal. I wonder how many times God was willing to use me but instead I went with my flesh, and sold out.

Father help me to indentify the things in my life to which I am selling out.

Day 5: Last night I had a dream about a Crunch Wrap Supreme covered in Mu Shu Pork. I am really hungry but I am doing ok. I'm really tired of juice and water and feeling a little fluish. My stomach sounds like a Humback Whale looking for a mate. But really I am good.

I have had some time to pray for some people and not just in a "blessem and bewithem" kind of way but really asking the Lord to move in their lives...intercession I guess.

This fasting thing is going a lot better than I thought. Although I am having a hard time replacing the time that I would normally eat with prayer and scripture. But what is happening is I am developing some serious discipline. And when I do get tempted or just want to quit, it gives me something to offer to God as a sacrifice.

My body is getting a little funky today. I am starting to experience some of the typical symptoms of fasting. But I think I can make it to Sunday.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

May the the things you suffer through today produce character and hope in your life and in the lives of those who witness it.

Warning...honesty approaching....

I don't like to fast. I am not good at it. I want to be better at it. For those of you who read this blog not associated with eXchange I will fill you in on what's happening. We are calling ourselves to a corporate fast. Many people from eXchange are fasting this week through giving up various things. Some are fasting from food for a whole week. Some are fasting from entertainment, internet, video games, t.v., etc. This started last night at 6pm and will end Sunday at 6pm. I think I will have a pizza delivered to the church at 6:05. Probably not.

I am giving up food and video games. So far I have made it through breakfast and lunch. No problem. Except the staff at the church went to Panera bread for lunch and I had to tag along since we were all coming back from Joann Smith's funeral together. So I order an apple juice. The girl behind the counters hands me a juice box. I don't drink out of boxes. So she gave me a cup.

Nice.

I have had problems with my blood sugar dropping like a rock in the past, so I am going to keep track of that. I hope to make it to Wednesday evening with no solid food and then limit it to fruits and vegetables from there. We will see how that goes. The video games won't be a problem because I can only play late at night after the girls are in bed. I don't plan on staying up late on this fast because that is when I get snacky.

All I am hoping for is to be in closer intimacy with God.

What are you fasting from?

I have had the pleasure of being a part of something really cool. This week I have spent almost every night at a place called Club Soda. This is a club in Terre Haute that provides a good environment for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts to hang out. It is also a place that hosts a lot of AA meetings and NA meetings. It all started when I got a call from a couple of art students from ISU. They had heard about the ArtReach program that I have been doing at Maryland Community church and they wanted to do something similar for as a required project for a class.

Abbey and Angelia are two wonderful young girls. They both have a passion for helping people; especially the broken and marginalized.

We spent each night this week from 8-9 or so helping the members of the club to express the 12 steps of their program through art. It was great and I met some wonderful people.

I will try to post some pictures soon.

Gotta go ...baby's crying.

So I'm getting ready for my families vacation to Disney and Siesta Key and I get a call from IRS Special Agent Scot Schnieder...

I thought it was a prank and I basically ignored what he was saying for the first few minutes of the conversation. Then he started reciting letters that I had written to Kent Hovind. I perked up and realized that this was not a prank. Kent Hovind aka "Dr. Dino," I am embarrassed to say, spoke at MCC a few years ago on the topic of Creation vs. Evolution. He and I argued for a year (almost to the day) on the fact that we withheld taxes from money collected at his speaking engagement. In order to get this guy, and his cronies posing as attorneys, off of my back I went ahead and paid the $865 he felt that we owed him. Special Agent Schnieder said that I was being subpoenaed to appear in Pensacola Federal Court and testify on behalf of the prosectution. Hovind has over 50 counts of tax fraud, evasion, etc against him.

But here's the beautiful part of this ordeal...

The date set for me to appear in court was the day before I was to DRIVE to Florida from Indiana with my wife and kids, mother and father in law and my brother and sister in law and their 3 year old. So, I missed out on a 2 day car ride with my in-laws and 3 kids. My heart was broken...yeah right. Seriously, I have the best in-laws a guy could ask for and we have a lot of fun together, but that long of a car ride with ANYONE is going to test the relationship.

So I testified earlier this week and things went very well. I basically read letters that were sent back and forth between Hovind and myself and answered yes and no questions. The defense was pretty week and was asking me irrelevant questions. Oh and did I tell you that the judge looked like a supermodel? That was weird. I was expecting a Wilford Brimly type. Oh well I was not complaining.

Disney was Disney, a bunch of stressed out parents trying to cram 3 weeks worth of activities into 3 days while we all watched "the mouse" ride our wallets off into the sunset. All of this in the hope of creating some type of great memory for our kids. We did have fun, but there always seemed to be an undercurrent of stress involved. It all made me realized how blessed I am. My life is so good on a daily basis that it makes the Magic Kingdom, not so magical. I love this life that I have been given. My friends, my community, it's all good. Later Mickey.

So now I am sitting in Siesta Key, FL sipping on some fresh coffee, waiting for the sun to come up. The family is still sleeping. 15 mo Chloe will be the first up, she's the rooster announcing the morning with a plea for her milky.

It's a beatiful new day and God is so very good.

Find some beauty in your day today,
tell a friend what they mean to you,
thank God for what you have and don't have.

Much love,

Jack