"I write to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, dear children,
because you have known the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one."
- 1 John 2:12-14
i read this today and was really encouraged. i think for the first time in my life i feel like that last part is true about me.
I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
i think at various points of my life that has been partially true of me, but right now i feel like the whole thing is true of me. praise be to God!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
calling [again]
so calling seems to be a recurring theme in my blogs lately. big surprise, i'm graduating this semester and don't know what i'm doing with my life... but last night was particularly helpful so i thought i'd share.
last night in small group we talked about the call of abrahm. and i brought up the question of calling. are we called to one specific thing in life? or are we called simply to follow God and within that there are multiple things that we can do. and in discussing that [thanks to guest appearances by bryan carey and isaac barber] we got onto the calls of various biblical characters. so here are some examples of call:
abrahm [genesis 12:1-9] "leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to land I will show you." v.1
so here abrahm was called to just go and God would tell him when to stop. it wasn't a call to go to canaan and then be done, that was all God had for him to do. no, he goes to canaan, there's a famine, he goes to egypt, almost gets killed, goes back to canaan, saves his nephew, has a son, almost sacrifices his son, etc. so it's not just one thing. if you look at the big picture, yes, he just ends up back in canaan in the end. but is that the important fact when you look at his life as an individual? is it the final destination or is it the journey that is important when you look at the scale of the individual?
isaiah [isaiah 6:1-13] "whom shall I send? and who will go for Us?" v.8
with isaiah there is a recognizable need. God needs someone to go for Him to proclaim the word to israel. isaiah, in his vision sees this need and rather than waiting for one of the angels to speak up or worrying that he wouldn't have the words to say, he steps up and says "here i am, send me!" he doesn't know what he's supposed to say, doesn't know the logistics, God fills in those details later. isaiah recognizes a need and steps in to fill that need as best as he can. and God provides him guidance as he goes.
jeremiah [jeremiah 1:4-12] "before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." v.5
jeremiah seems very unsure of himself. God comes down and says i set you up for this before you were even born! you were made for this, don't doubt yourself. but jeremiah replies that he is only a child and doesn't know how to speak. God tells him not to say that, if I made you to be a prophet don't you think i'll take care of you being able? so God is validating jeremiah's call and his identity here when he worries that he isn't good enough for the calling he's recieved.
so in all of these calls God says to just start going, He'll fill in the details as you go. there's no plan laid out before the start of the journey, it's like walking with a candle in the dark, you can only see far enough ahead for a few steps. so when God gives me a direction i need to just start going and let him fill in the details. now if only i could get that direction...
last night in small group we talked about the call of abrahm. and i brought up the question of calling. are we called to one specific thing in life? or are we called simply to follow God and within that there are multiple things that we can do. and in discussing that [thanks to guest appearances by bryan carey and isaac barber] we got onto the calls of various biblical characters. so here are some examples of call:
abrahm [genesis 12:1-9] "leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to land I will show you." v.1
so here abrahm was called to just go and God would tell him when to stop. it wasn't a call to go to canaan and then be done, that was all God had for him to do. no, he goes to canaan, there's a famine, he goes to egypt, almost gets killed, goes back to canaan, saves his nephew, has a son, almost sacrifices his son, etc. so it's not just one thing. if you look at the big picture, yes, he just ends up back in canaan in the end. but is that the important fact when you look at his life as an individual? is it the final destination or is it the journey that is important when you look at the scale of the individual?
isaiah [isaiah 6:1-13] "whom shall I send? and who will go for Us?" v.8
with isaiah there is a recognizable need. God needs someone to go for Him to proclaim the word to israel. isaiah, in his vision sees this need and rather than waiting for one of the angels to speak up or worrying that he wouldn't have the words to say, he steps up and says "here i am, send me!" he doesn't know what he's supposed to say, doesn't know the logistics, God fills in those details later. isaiah recognizes a need and steps in to fill that need as best as he can. and God provides him guidance as he goes.
jeremiah [jeremiah 1:4-12] "before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." v.5
jeremiah seems very unsure of himself. God comes down and says i set you up for this before you were even born! you were made for this, don't doubt yourself. but jeremiah replies that he is only a child and doesn't know how to speak. God tells him not to say that, if I made you to be a prophet don't you think i'll take care of you being able? so God is validating jeremiah's call and his identity here when he worries that he isn't good enough for the calling he's recieved.
so in all of these calls God says to just start going, He'll fill in the details as you go. there's no plan laid out before the start of the journey, it's like walking with a candle in the dark, you can only see far enough ahead for a few steps. so when God gives me a direction i need to just start going and let him fill in the details. now if only i could get that direction...
Monday, January 12, 2009
help yourself
so on saturday, i went with my church to bring sack lunches to Union Mission, the homeless shelter in norfolk. I got to sit down and talk with a guy briefly with a guy who i overheard talking about how he has just gotten an apartment and was going to be getting out of the homeless shelter this weekend.
the first thing he said to me was "you know something, God helps those who help themselves." and we went on to talk about how he's worked to get himself off the streets and get back on his feet.
i think that was exactly the thing i needed to hear.
i've been sitting around, feeling sorry for myself for not knowing what i want to do when i graduate, when i should be working to give myself options. not just waiting for the perfect opportunity to drop into my lap.
this guy had been into drugs, in jail, and on the street, but he's working to get out from that.
i need to work toward my future, not expect it to be provided for me.
i need to help myself
the first thing he said to me was "you know something, God helps those who help themselves." and we went on to talk about how he's worked to get himself off the streets and get back on his feet.
i think that was exactly the thing i needed to hear.
i've been sitting around, feeling sorry for myself for not knowing what i want to do when i graduate, when i should be working to give myself options. not just waiting for the perfect opportunity to drop into my lap.
this guy had been into drugs, in jail, and on the street, but he's working to get out from that.
i need to work toward my future, not expect it to be provided for me.
i need to help myself
Thursday, January 8, 2009
calling?
So it's been a while since i've posted one of these, so i dont know if anybody even looks at this anymore, but here we go anyways....
Calling is a word that's thrown around pretty commonly in the 'christian vocabulary.'
"God calls us to do ______"
"I feel called to ______ ministry"
But what does calling mean? What does calling look like?
Does God call us into specific things, like into a particular job or a particular ministry? Or is God's calling simply that we should follow him in whatever we do and let us fill in the details?
In the first instance, I've known a lot of people who have 'felt called into ministry' or 'called into the workforce.' I'm not trying to dispute what those people have felt, but i've never felt God telling me in some sort of prophetic manner what i'm supposed to do with my life. It would be a lot easier for me if He would just tell me what to do once i graduate, cause i'm lost. I dont feel 'called' to anything or anywhere in particular when i graduate, and that's how i've been feeling for the better part of a year now.
So that brings me to the second idea of calling, the idea that we are simply called to follow God in whatever profession we chose for ourselves, be it in the workforce, in the ministry, whatever. This idea resonates with me a little better, just because we are to be children of God first and foremost in whatever we do. However, that still doesn't help me figure out what i want to do when i graduate, but there is a difference in where each idea of calling puts me. Am i trying to figure out what i am supposed to do when i graduate, or do i have to figure out what i want to do when i graduate.
But i'm still not sure if there's something that i'm supposed to be doing, that i'm called to do. So as i continue to wrestle with this, any input would of course be helpful. Grace and peace.
Calling is a word that's thrown around pretty commonly in the 'christian vocabulary.'
"God calls us to do ______"
"I feel called to ______ ministry"
But what does calling mean? What does calling look like?
Does God call us into specific things, like into a particular job or a particular ministry? Or is God's calling simply that we should follow him in whatever we do and let us fill in the details?
In the first instance, I've known a lot of people who have 'felt called into ministry' or 'called into the workforce.' I'm not trying to dispute what those people have felt, but i've never felt God telling me in some sort of prophetic manner what i'm supposed to do with my life. It would be a lot easier for me if He would just tell me what to do once i graduate, cause i'm lost. I dont feel 'called' to anything or anywhere in particular when i graduate, and that's how i've been feeling for the better part of a year now.
So that brings me to the second idea of calling, the idea that we are simply called to follow God in whatever profession we chose for ourselves, be it in the workforce, in the ministry, whatever. This idea resonates with me a little better, just because we are to be children of God first and foremost in whatever we do. However, that still doesn't help me figure out what i want to do when i graduate, but there is a difference in where each idea of calling puts me. Am i trying to figure out what i am supposed to do when i graduate, or do i have to figure out what i want to do when i graduate.
But i'm still not sure if there's something that i'm supposed to be doing, that i'm called to do. So as i continue to wrestle with this, any input would of course be helpful. Grace and peace.
Friday, September 5, 2008
feeling old
so, this is my 5th year at virginia tech.
so with an exception of graduate students and faculty, there is nobody older than me here.
that's a pretty strange realization, that i no longer have those older guys in IV to look up to like Nate Cook, BJ Walbert, Matt Sidell, etc. Now i am those guys for a lot of people.
That feels like a lot of pressure. I kinda gave some of those guys a heroic myth to them. They were older and wiser and and done so much stuff, how am i supposed to live up to that?
But i think i'm coming to the realization that those guys were great because they invested in the lives of the underclassmen. Sure, they had a lot of stuff to deal with as far as their own classes and graduation, but they still chose to be important and influential in the lives of younger students, and that more than anything left a lasting impression on me. I hope that is something i can do for underclassmen now, and something they can do when they're seniors.
So as busy as i get this year, i need to continue to remember to be relevant in the underclassmen's lives. Not just some old dude who is never around cause he's so busy.
So thanks to God for those influential guys that came before me, and hopefully, those influential guys who come after me.
so with an exception of graduate students and faculty, there is nobody older than me here.
that's a pretty strange realization, that i no longer have those older guys in IV to look up to like Nate Cook, BJ Walbert, Matt Sidell, etc. Now i am those guys for a lot of people.
That feels like a lot of pressure. I kinda gave some of those guys a heroic myth to them. They were older and wiser and and done so much stuff, how am i supposed to live up to that?
But i think i'm coming to the realization that those guys were great because they invested in the lives of the underclassmen. Sure, they had a lot of stuff to deal with as far as their own classes and graduation, but they still chose to be important and influential in the lives of younger students, and that more than anything left a lasting impression on me. I hope that is something i can do for underclassmen now, and something they can do when they're seniors.
So as busy as i get this year, i need to continue to remember to be relevant in the underclassmen's lives. Not just some old dude who is never around cause he's so busy.
So thanks to God for those influential guys that came before me, and hopefully, those influential guys who come after me.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Pride [in the name of Love]
"Let us, therefore, make every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food."
-Romans 14:19,20-
I think the church would look a lot differently if this is how we truly lived as Christians. If we really tried to build up and sharpen one another. If we rebuked our brothers and sisters when they were wrong, but also, if we allowed ourselves to be rebuked.
I think that's a major hold up in seeing this kind of life exist.
Pride.
I think we are so quick to point out the mistakes in other people's lives, but like Jesus said in Matthew 7:3,
"Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"
Our pride gets in the way.
Our pride that says, we did right in that situation, even if deep down we know we didn't.
Our pride that always needs to be right.
So we argue until we feel like we've validated ourselves. But when do we ever convince someone through arguing? Their pride is just as defensive as our own, so what starts as a minor argument turns into a major one. People start taking sides in the major argument and since no one likes to be on the losing side, one side decides it's better to split apart than to reconcile. Is this how Christ wanted us to operate?
Will we ever be able to move past our own pride?
Can we learn to submit to one another for the sake of love, and for the sake of unity?
"Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food"
Usually the things we argue about in the church are such minor details in the grand scheme of things. What if we plugged some different words in for food?
Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of contemporary worship
Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of infant baptism
Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of communion with wine
Let us continue to seek out the will of God in all things, but let us also understand that everyone won't always be on the same page about things. But that's ok. Let us continue to encourage one another and have peace. Let us not live in our pride, but in the name of Love.
-Romans 14:19,20-
I think the church would look a lot differently if this is how we truly lived as Christians. If we really tried to build up and sharpen one another. If we rebuked our brothers and sisters when they were wrong, but also, if we allowed ourselves to be rebuked.
I think that's a major hold up in seeing this kind of life exist.
Pride.
I think we are so quick to point out the mistakes in other people's lives, but like Jesus said in Matthew 7:3,
"Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"
Our pride gets in the way.
Our pride that says, we did right in that situation, even if deep down we know we didn't.
Our pride that always needs to be right.
So we argue until we feel like we've validated ourselves. But when do we ever convince someone through arguing? Their pride is just as defensive as our own, so what starts as a minor argument turns into a major one. People start taking sides in the major argument and since no one likes to be on the losing side, one side decides it's better to split apart than to reconcile. Is this how Christ wanted us to operate?
Will we ever be able to move past our own pride?
Can we learn to submit to one another for the sake of love, and for the sake of unity?
"Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food"
Usually the things we argue about in the church are such minor details in the grand scheme of things. What if we plugged some different words in for food?
Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of contemporary worship
Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of infant baptism
Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of communion with wine
Let us continue to seek out the will of God in all things, but let us also understand that everyone won't always be on the same page about things. But that's ok. Let us continue to encourage one another and have peace. Let us not live in our pride, but in the name of Love.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Unity?
So i'd like to take some time to rant.
but i'd like to give some context to the rant, so here we go....
the church i've grown up in, [and am currently employed by] is part of the PC-USA. That is, the presbyterian church of the united states of america.
two years ago, the PC-USA's governing body, the general assembly started a process in which it was investigating the inclusion of clauses into the book of order allowing churches to allow people who are practicing homosexuals to be ordained as elders or deacons.
now this caused a big hullabaloo [isn't that a fun word?] in my church. and this was timed nicely with a close friend of mine who had also grown up in my church to confide in me that he was gay. so i sat through the process of our church discussing what these resolutions meant for the church, and had to see my friend sit through the same discussions where people were openly hostile toward homosexuals, to a pretty harsh degree.
now everything pretty much cooled off since then, but at the end of june, the PC-USA general assembly again met and proposed another resolution that would take out the terminology saying that an ordained minister needed to be celibate or in a monogamous male-female relationship, and replace it with language saying that they were simply living out and following Christ's direction in their life. So again, this is probably going to cause a big hullabaloo. A lot of people are saying that this could cause a split in the presbyterian church similar to the one that the episcopal church is currently undergoing.
and so with that large amount of background information, i begin my rant....
WHY IS THIS SUCH A DIVISIVE ISSUE?????
There are so many issues in the scripture that people take different opinions on: baptism, communion, speaking in tongues, divorce, abortion, women in ministry, homosexuality, etc. And i understand that people are going to have differing or changing opinions on these things. I mean, I don't have solid understanding or belief in most of these issues, and probably won't for some time, if ever. But should our differences in opinion over these issues jeopardize the ministry we can do as a united Body of Christ? [i'll use allen here as an example, because i know he reads this] If allen and I have different opinions on the roles of women in the church [which i don't know if we do or not] why does it seem to be the prevalent view in today's culture that I can't still minister with allen or work with allen because we disagree on that issue.
It seems to me that we would be so much more successful as a church if we had a wide breadth of people and opinions in that church that would speak to different people groups. Or is it better to have a church that caters solely to a specific group? The First Presbyterian Church of People who Believe in Baptism by Immersion and Speaking in Tounges But Not in Divorce or Ordination of Homosexuals [FPCPBBISTBNDOH for short] can be right down the road from the First Presbyterian Church of People who Believe in Baptism by Immersion, Speaking in Tounges and Ordination of Homosexuals But Not in Divorce.
i mean i know that's a bit silly, but doesn't that seem like the direction we're headed? Shouldn't we as Christians, more than anyone, be able to live with differences that we have with each other because we know we are unified in Christ?
"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."
-ephesians 4:1-3-
If we really follow that, to bear with one another in love, i think it would be a whole heck of a lot easier to keep that unity. And i think we have these opinions because we make it about issues rather than relationships. For me, i never gave a hoot about homosexuals in the church because i didn't know anyone that was gay, and so when my close friend confided in me, suddenly it became personal. personal relationships make an issue so much more relevant. i didn't care about inner city ministry till i met people that lived in the inner city, till i met people that were poor or homeless. i may be oversimplifying it a bit, but Christ's ministry was about relationships, not doctrinal theology.
and with that Allen-esque blog, i think i'm done for the night.
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
-matthew 22:36-40-
but i'd like to give some context to the rant, so here we go....
the church i've grown up in, [and am currently employed by] is part of the PC-USA. That is, the presbyterian church of the united states of america.
two years ago, the PC-USA's governing body, the general assembly started a process in which it was investigating the inclusion of clauses into the book of order allowing churches to allow people who are practicing homosexuals to be ordained as elders or deacons.
now this caused a big hullabaloo [isn't that a fun word?] in my church. and this was timed nicely with a close friend of mine who had also grown up in my church to confide in me that he was gay. so i sat through the process of our church discussing what these resolutions meant for the church, and had to see my friend sit through the same discussions where people were openly hostile toward homosexuals, to a pretty harsh degree.
now everything pretty much cooled off since then, but at the end of june, the PC-USA general assembly again met and proposed another resolution that would take out the terminology saying that an ordained minister needed to be celibate or in a monogamous male-female relationship, and replace it with language saying that they were simply living out and following Christ's direction in their life. So again, this is probably going to cause a big hullabaloo. A lot of people are saying that this could cause a split in the presbyterian church similar to the one that the episcopal church is currently undergoing.
and so with that large amount of background information, i begin my rant....
WHY IS THIS SUCH A DIVISIVE ISSUE?????
There are so many issues in the scripture that people take different opinions on: baptism, communion, speaking in tongues, divorce, abortion, women in ministry, homosexuality, etc. And i understand that people are going to have differing or changing opinions on these things. I mean, I don't have solid understanding or belief in most of these issues, and probably won't for some time, if ever. But should our differences in opinion over these issues jeopardize the ministry we can do as a united Body of Christ? [i'll use allen here as an example, because i know he reads this] If allen and I have different opinions on the roles of women in the church [which i don't know if we do or not] why does it seem to be the prevalent view in today's culture that I can't still minister with allen or work with allen because we disagree on that issue.
It seems to me that we would be so much more successful as a church if we had a wide breadth of people and opinions in that church that would speak to different people groups. Or is it better to have a church that caters solely to a specific group? The First Presbyterian Church of People who Believe in Baptism by Immersion and Speaking in Tounges But Not in Divorce or Ordination of Homosexuals [FPCPBBISTBNDOH for short] can be right down the road from the First Presbyterian Church of People who Believe in Baptism by Immersion, Speaking in Tounges and Ordination of Homosexuals But Not in Divorce.
i mean i know that's a bit silly, but doesn't that seem like the direction we're headed? Shouldn't we as Christians, more than anyone, be able to live with differences that we have with each other because we know we are unified in Christ?
"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."
-ephesians 4:1-3-
If we really follow that, to bear with one another in love, i think it would be a whole heck of a lot easier to keep that unity. And i think we have these opinions because we make it about issues rather than relationships. For me, i never gave a hoot about homosexuals in the church because i didn't know anyone that was gay, and so when my close friend confided in me, suddenly it became personal. personal relationships make an issue so much more relevant. i didn't care about inner city ministry till i met people that lived in the inner city, till i met people that were poor or homeless. i may be oversimplifying it a bit, but Christ's ministry was about relationships, not doctrinal theology.
and with that Allen-esque blog, i think i'm done for the night.
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
-matthew 22:36-40-
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