Waterfall Whispers- How to Hear the Voice of God, Mark Batterson

     As the song goes He is still speaking we are just not listening. In the Whisper Batterson urgently reminds us to heed the voice of God but to do so always be listening. Because He indeed is speaking. And personally I have wander from the concept, the doing, of putting such into practice. To truly live out words Ive prayed again and again "to give me ears to hear, eyes to see and a heart that would follow." God who sent His son to die for us expresses His desire of a relationship where we hear Him and move in Him. In not expecting we are hiding from where as Batterson points out we need to hide in Him. And just as important I believe is to pass this on to our children. That God is literally breathing through and speaking to us.  My prayer is to hear his whisper like a waterfall and to run towards Him. And Batterson gives a reminder towards the end of the book no matter what in life, "dont let whats wrong with you keep you from worshiping whats right with God" Once again a very good read from Mark Batterson.

Just Don't Wear It..

It’s easy to wear the bracelet; t-shirt even put the letters up to make a very corny church sign but living it out well that’s a totally different matter indeed. Last year I heard a pastor telling a story about how his friend was going on and on how "we" (referring to his favorite football team) won the game. And he asked his friend what position does he play? And he went to say much of us have a fan mentality in our lifestyle. And this is true in that if we wear a "Christian item", listens to the "right" music and even attends church and/or do the tithing and this supposedly puts us on The Team. It’s our Jersey. We wear it and that’s more than enough for most of we don’t have to even play a position (live it out) or even sit on the bench for that matter we can cheerlead and "wear the jersey". God knows there’s plenty to cheerlead in the likes of the Grahams, Francis Chan, Compassion International, World Vision, Greg Laurie,James Robison,Charles Swindoll, Mission work, and the list goes on and on. But nowhere does God call us to be a cheerleader or even for that matter to stay on the bench. He says Go ...and in Greek and Hebrew that word still means GO. Get involve and be a team player. Missions start in your home but it must carry on to next door, your neighborhood, From Keyser to Kenya. So many of us wrapped ourselves in being a fan of teams, which it carries out in the way we live. I find myself being a fan more than a follower much of the time in many areas of my life.  Picture Jesus and His disciples wearing it well. Jesus with His "WWID" bracelet on and there’s Matthew with His "Hooked on Jesus"(fish hook shaped into a cross to make it official) shirt and John with his "Jesus went into Sky and all I got was this Shirt" Shirt. Obviously You don’t have to wear a jersey or a bracelet even a cross necklace to be on the team. But you do have to be a follower and Not a fan to actually be a Believer (team). In 2009 over 75% of Americans claim they were Christians. Ah I believe the majority of that makes us the fan base. Fans from wearing the “right stuff” to still getting cold chills when Lee Greenwood sings “God Bless The USA” (Not slamming Mr. Greenwood just his music :)). We need to stop living as if our life’s goal is to be a paratrooper but being completely satisfy in walking around forever with a mint condition parachute. Or course it’s much easier to be a fan (and at times perhaps more fun) but the cost in being a follower is worth it, worth it all simply because Jesus said Follow Me.

PS For those wondering no I haven’t read “Not a Fan”, Yet.

Three Days Later

32They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 33"We are going up to Jerusalem," he said, "and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise."

A few days ago I was reading this and the "Three Days later" got my attention. As in being a disciple and following Jesus you have witnessed Him do great things. Miracles after miracles and perhaps most of all Loving those who hated him. And the hate was obvious but now He takes the 12 aside and lays it all out before them. In a nutshell Jesus lets it be known once and for all that he will be betrayed (by the chief priests and teachers of the law, so yea they see themselves doing a "God thing" aka doing God a favor), Condemn to death, mocked, spit on, flogged (beaten till his back is turn inside out) and finally they will kill him. So I'm wondering after saying all that he concludes with Three days later...Would I be taking it all in and truly believing Him. Or would I be glad I packed a lunch (wouldn't have to ask for another miracle before I went my own way) and be on my way. Of course I would love to say I would have followed Him even unto the cross. Well at least be there at the scene and well, ah its no use if I didn't run then I know I would have ran just like the disciples did when they finally arrested Jesus. They were told again and again it would take place and these great followers assure themselves they were ready. Couple of them even asked about seating arrangements in Heaven soon after Jesus states what will happen to Him. They sort of had the attitude hey if you can do it so can we..And Jesus say yea in a way you are correct You will indeed taste such things as well.
So anyway we know what took place "3 days later". As Tony Campolo says in a message :"Its Friday but Sundays a coming!" I know all about the "Fridays" in our life But do I live as if Sunday is a coming? Do I live before or after the "3 days later"? Thomas has been branded with the nickname "doubting Thomas" But its this very same man who said "Let us also go, that we may die with him" Jesus was going to raise Lazarus from the dead but all Thomas and others heard was that they were going to place where Jesus wasn't well liked to say the least. And while Jesus is talking about a "sick" Lazarus, Thomas only comment is Lets go die with Him. Its been said when Jesus said follow me it was a invitation to the cross. There we die to our self, sins, past and everything that is not of Him. And in that rests our hope and trust in that no matter what we will come to see Him face to face three days later. Because for now its Friday...but Sundays a coming!..

take two Jesus Pills and call me in the morning

This peice is from Mike Yaconelli..at first written for youth leaders but as you will see its a must read, "a must live" for todays church. "The Jesus pills do not work".....


Jesus said to his disciples, "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the seas with a millstone tied around his neck than him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves" (Luke 17:1-3)

Sinning is part of adolescence. Sinning is the natural consequence of young people rebelling and finding their way. That's why youth workers talk a lot about sin. We're good at warning young people about dangers of sin. We talk a lot about aborting, alcohol, drugs, sex, pornography-and we should. And even more than warning kids away from sin, Jesus' admonition to his disciples makes it clear that we're not to cause any of them to sin.
What if our ministries cause little ones to sin? What if our programs cause the little ones to sin?
Think that's ridiculous? I wonder.
See if the following tendencies feel familiar...

Oversimplification.
When we tell young people that Jesus is the answer to all our problems, when we paint the world as black and white, when we make following Jesus an either/or proposition, when we suggest that young people "just pray, then everything will be all right," when we promise that Jesus always makes us happy and always gives us what we want, we cause little ones to sin.
We know life is much more complicated than "take two Jesus Pills and call me in the morning"
If we're honest, we know not everyone who follows Jesus is happy, fulfilled, or has it all together. Surely we understand that prayer is much more complex than simply requesting and receiving. Even asking "What Would Jesus Do" isn't all that simple-because often we don't know what Jesus would do!
When we promise that life with Jesus is simple, we set up our youth for failure. when we run off in affairs, what do our youth do then? When their senior pastors are caught abusing little children, what are our youth supposed to think then? How do we communicate the harsh, complicated, difficult, wonderful reality that Jesus really is worth following-even when life is blurry, confusing and difficult?
Manipulation
If I witness one more Jesus cheer, If I hear one more "let's have a hand/round of applause/praise offering for Jesus," If I have to endure more pep rally for Jesus, I'm returning my youth ministry I.D. Card Because as much as we criticize and complaining about our media-ravaged society, as much as rant about the evils of MTV and Pop culture, we've imitated them by rushing to create the worlds biggest youth events.
At these events we parade around and glorify all things "beautiful"-the dazzling musicians, the laser shows, the foxes and studs for Jesus. At these events we mesmerize young people with how "cool" Jesus is. These pep rallies give teens the illusion that God is cool, that God is winning, that God is the majority-and that their ministries and youth leaders are cool, too. But what these events don't dare say is that even cool, dazzling, "beautiful" youth workers (adults) are screwed up,broken and constantly in need of Gods grace.
So rather than cheering our young people into the kingdom, maybe we should point them to the the broken, inconsistent, uncool followers of Jesus found in the Bible. Maybe we need to stop pressuring our young people to cheer long enough to prepare them for a world in which the real heroes are powerless, tiny and considered insignificant.
The radical, ugly truth? Jesus was killed by the very people who threw him a pep rally a week before.
Self-Deception
What characterizes followers of Christ is that we tell the truth. I'm not talking about doctrinal truth-I'm talking truth truth:Where we talk about our strengths and weaknesses;where we talk about victories and defeats;where we talk about our successes and failures;where we talk about our answers and doubts;where we talk about our joys and depressions;where we talk about or courage and fear.
We talk about all of life. We're not afraid that teens will see life as a struggle every day-and that it will always be so. Most of all, we point them away from us and toward Jesus. We decrease while Jesus increases.
Whats so disturbing about youth ministry today, however is how little truth telling there is.
I've been in youth ministry for 40 years and I wish I could have some of those years to live over again. Oh God, forgive me for causing your little ones to sin. Oh, God, help me to learn from my mistakes. Oh, God, in spite of me, cause all of your little ones to run into your arms.
Oh, God help us all.

**Mike Yaconelli (July 24, 1942 — October 30, 2003) was a writer, theologian, church leader and satirist. Co-Founder of Youth Specialties,[1] a training organization for Christian youth leaders, and The Wittenburg Door (sometimes just The Door), a satirical magazine,[2] Yaconelli was also the pastor of a small church in Yreka, CA - "the slowest growing church in America" as he called it. He and wife Karla used to share their time between Yreka and the Youth Specialties offices in El Cajon, CA.As well as his contributions to the Wittenburg Door, Yaconelli also wrote a number of books for youth leaders, and was a well-received Christian conference speaker. He was a regular at the Greenbelt festival in the UK.[1] On his last visit to Greenbelt, he said:

If I were to have a heart attack right at this moment, I hope I would have just enough air in my lungs and just enough strength in me to utter one last sentence as I fell to the floor: "What a ride!" My life has been up and down, careening left then right, full of mistakes and bad decisions, and if I died right now, even though I would love to live longer, I could say from the depths of my soul, "What a ride!"

Mike was killed in an automobile accident in 2003.

Beautiful, Scandalous Night...

Happy Beautiful Scandalous Easter
This Easter think about what it means that Jesus arose from the dead. Without such news the cross would mean little, well actually nothing. We are in desperate need of a risen Savior. Think about how everything first fell apart in the Garden with Adam & Eve. And the very first time the risen Savior is seen He is mistaken for a gardener, that is beautiful irony. In just the first few chapters of Genesis mankind had exited shamefully from the Garden and man has spent the remaining chapters of the Book and life to get back to the Garden. A paradise, a peace, a hope, a Love that is unconditional and because of this thing we called Easter also known as a "Beautiful, Scandalous Night"..

At the wonderful, tragic, mysterious tree On that beautiful, scandalous night you and me Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white On that beautiful, scandalous night

Dont let this go by us so easily this year. Take a quiet time with a sunset and let your heart and mind go those moments on the cross. The movie Passion doesnt (and cannot) touch the emotional & spiritual pain that took place in Christ solely for you and me Beyond the Easter Bunny, candies, nice dinners, church service there is more so much more..In closing Steven James sums it up just right..

The bunny has upstaged the rabbi and stolen the show. The search for plastic eggs has replaced the search for a missing body. Easter has evolved into just another nice,harmless,spineless. little holiday with the climax being a bunch of snot-nosed kids fighting over a piece of chocolate, when its supposed to be about a wrestling match between life & death, a cosmic struggle between good and evil. Easter has lots of lilies and spring hats and piles of fake, green, curly plastic grass stuff, but none of that has anything to do with the raw reality of a bloody cross and the final hope of the empty tomb. The truth is most people just aren't moved by the Easter story anymore. Its like we've walked in at the end of the movie and we just don't get what all the fuss is about. "Is something wrong?" The people who are crying shake their heads. "Then why are you crying?"..the empty tomb doesn't make sense without the cross, the cross doesn't make sense without the manger in Bethlehem and the manger doesn't make sense without the Garden of Eden. Its All one story. And only when you finally untangle it, see its scope, and enter it for yourself do you realize that the story has finally entered and at last untangled you."- Steven James (Story)
Easter such a Beautiful, Scandalous Night...
"Go on up to the mountain of mercy *To the crimson perpetual tide *Kneel down on the shore Be thirsty no more* Go under and be purified*Go on up to the mountain of mercy *To the crimson perpetual tide *Kneel down on the shore* Be thirsty no more Go under and be purified"

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to you! I Certainly haven't kept up with the blogging. Again it would help to have comments to keep it more consistent. But the last 2 weeks have been a bit busy to say the least with a newborn son coming into this world. But more on that later (I'm sure)...After a "Merry Christmas" or Happy Holidays (for the PC People?) the first thing usually people ask "is what did you get"...a week later or perhaps even a day later we could follow up with do you feel different or better ? I certainly don't have a problem with gift giving its just the extreme we have taken it to. At one time this meant a time for family and friends and a few gifts at best. Now its black Fridays, and sales on behalf of a baby in the manger. We actually have people trampling one another to get to the latest toy on sale. I believe all of us can learn from a child when he gets a present. This little one can find just as much if not more pleasure in the wrapping paper and the box. And we could learn from this in letting the simple things, the things we take for granted be what comforts us but not just doing the holidays but everyday. Christians have taken this season out of context if not more than non-Christians. God sent Jesus to get messy. And ever since this Jesus dives right into our mess to offer us grace, mercy, comfort, correction, love, life. Check out: "He Came To Get Messy" on YouTube or SkitGuys.com its worth 4 minutes of your time during this time of the year. By the way tell some one today, you love them, give them a hug, take time for family and friends and show thanks to God who has blessed you to bless others..,if nothing else say hi to your neighbor and wish them a Merry Christmas!