:A Christian Blog

Just thought I would point out that Rick Warren has made Fortune’s Top 25 People We Envy Most. A suprising list to make for a Christian I know, but even more suprising is their write-up about Rick.

From the article:
“The most influential evangelical since Billy Graham preaches in Hawaiian shirts and sandals. As if that weren’t enough: Warren gives away 90% of his income. And he’ll never wake up wondering if his job has meaning.”

God is giving a lot of responsibility to Mr. Warren, and from what I’ve seen, he’s using it in some of the best ways possible. Congratulations and keep up the good fight.

No Comments

There’s an interesting discussion going on at the Rapture Ready message boards that started out with an educated atheist asking “Why should I love God?” It’s interesting to me because it’s not from a scientific standpoint. He acknowledges God, but just doesn’t see what God is doing for him. There are many different replies along the lines of “He loves you”, “He sent his son to die for you”, etc. This doesn’t mean anything to someone who doesn’t want to believe and love God though.

I think the answer is that God is doing a lot for him already. God reaches out to all the world by teaching you and me to represent him physically. Casting Crowns has it right, “we are the body”. Chances are, God has helped him all along in his life, he may have even hired him for his current job. Where would we be as the human race without God’s teaching of love and charity? It’s definitely not in our nature. As children, we are completely selfish. I would hate to see a world without God. Anyone that couldn’t make it on their own would die. Anyone that had more than someone else would be robbed or killed. God is doing a lot for him and everyone else through us. It’s a great responsibility to represent God on this Earth. Do you make God glad that he is being represented by you?

No Comments

As I drove home tonight, I heard a commercial about how movie night is sweeping the nation’s churches. It offers a chance for families to get together to watch a movie (which it seems they could do at home), as well as, giving non-church goers a form of “free entertainment”. I, for one, am torn about this type of church marketing to try to get non-members to join. Should we really have to rely on movies, basketball courts, workout centers, and other perks to get people to join the church? I thought it was all about our life and the light that was shown through us. At what point did that lose it’s luster and become just a small part of bringing new people to Jesus? Shouldn’t we teach Christians that they, not the church, are the right reason people should come there in the first place?

Mark4:1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3″Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.”

Why would I use this parable here? Because I think anyone that you bring into the church because of basketball courts or movies are seeds being planted on shallow ground. They will start to grow, but as soon as things get tough, they will wither and die. I’m sorry if this post sounded a little like a rant, but it just amazes me how much a church has to do to grow it’s membership these days. When the tried and true method of spreading the gospel is within every single Christian.

3 Comments

I don’t know if any of you watched this movie last night on TNT, but it was probably my third time to see it. When you’ve watched a movie multiple times, you begin to notice things you never noticed before and thinking about things that you didn’t think of the first time you watched it. For me, it was the concept. I remember hearing the concept before I ever watched the movie for the first time. But why did it work? Why did a concept that is basically giving to others work so well when there are plenty of avenues to satisfy this Christian commandment? Pay it forward worked because it gave a person a goal. When you generalize charity, and ask people to give, and ask people to help, they don’t really have a goal. Pay it forward gave them that. Find three people and help them. A simple concept, but successful because it was definitive. I’m going to strive to not only be charitable, but to set goals each day, week, and month. Setting goals and meeting them gives an extra boost of satisfaction that already accompanies giving to someone.

Luke10:25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

26″What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

27He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”

28″You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36″Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

If you have trouble giving, then I encourage you to set goals for yourself each day or each week. At the end of the week, review and see if you met your goals. As I try to meet mine, I’m going to blog about things that helped me reach my goals each week. Don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any advice for my struggle to go and do like the Samaritan.

3 Comments

At Beliefnet.com, they have a poll running asking the question: Did God send the Hurricane? Some think this is God’s revenge. Some think that God doesn’t control the weather. Some think it’s a sign of the end of the world. One answer eludes all of them, that Katrina is a blessing to us. That’s correct, a blessing. Yes, lives were lost in this disaster, and my heart goes out to those families, but the numbers were so low, that was really a blessing in itself. Those who did, however, did not die for no reason. I see atleast three positive outcomes from this storm.

Fellowship. Millions of people have come together because of this disaster. They were brought together to clear roads, help out each other, and strive as friends to get through the hardship caused by the need for food, water, and shelter.

Faith. Many people had nothing left, except the clothes on their backs. They were forced to rely on God for the things that they needed. This is the way that God wants it.

Matthew 6:30″But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!

31″Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’

God wants us to trust him, believe in him, and depend on him for everything we need. He created all of it, and can provide for us.

Humility. This hurricane taught us all how weak we are in the context of the universe. This natural disaster, much like the tsunami, has shown everyone that you cannot even rely on the entire human race to save you. We were all humbled by it’s power and size. A storm much like this arose while the disciples were out to sea with Jesus in Matthew 8:24-27. With faith in God, you have nothing to fear.

I may be wrong for thinking this storm did more good than it did bad, but as a Christian, I love how it has brought people together and the love that it has brought out in people that you didn’t even know existed. You can really see the truth in people’s hearts in times of a great disaster such as this.

No Comments