living your life like it matters...

I am teaching a series entitled "30 Days to Live" We are thinking about things. Thinking about life. Thinking about things that matter. When you wrap up your day today and then look back on it, ask yourself, "How much of this day really mattered?"

Think about living in the moment, Eternal perspectives and leaving a legacy. Lets try to think about things that matter.

Waiting on the world to change.

I love change and the vision that it takes to see change. John Mayers song "Waiting on the World to Change" inspires me to see lives change. Although I cant wait until the world changes, but I must personally do something about it.

What if the church looked like trash?

I think it is interesting how we look into churches across our country. You see well groomed middle/high class people who have everything together. I wonder if Jesus started a church what it would look like. I think it would have a bunch of widows or divorcees that did not dress right and a children's ministry full of chaos with a bunch of orphans who did not know how to act "godly".

I constantly look at the "bad guys" of the New Testament; the Pharisees. And I pray that my life would not look anything like theirs. And that our churches would not look anything like theirs. But, I think sometimes we start to look too good for our own good. We need to realize our dependence on God and surround ourselves with people who do not look like us.

What if your church stunk a little bit on Sunday's because of the smell of the homeless man that took "your seat". What if a poor kid with dirty feet was walking in our pews? What would we do? I think we know. But what would Jesus do? I think He would love and play with the kid that we gave a snooty evil look to.

Let's be more like Jesus. "God, allow our churches to smell."

12 to 200 to 80 = lives changed

We took a group of 12 people that were willing to serve God in a foreign land; Honduras. We developed a youth ministry service for youth who were not interested in church. The first Sunday morning 5 adults and a few kids met in the church. After adding a relevant message, drama's and testimonies the church went from under 20 on Sunday to 120 on Monday night. Then 200 on Tuesday. God did some incredible things through our team. Through the week we saw 80 people trust in Christ. We give him all of the glory.

I think of Paul and how he adapted his life around the lives of the people he was ministering to. He said that he wanted to become all things to all people. Meaning he would do whatever it took to bring people to Christ.

A good application for the church in Honduras along with our churches in North America is to change things up from time to time. Continue to evaluate what is working and what is not. Throw tradition to the curb if the lost are not being rescued. Do what you can to reach your community even if is against the flow of what "church people" want. Think. Follow Jesus in reaching people.

"I stink" - my daughter says

My wife and I always get our 20 month old daughter to say funny things. If she goes potty in her pants she'll say, "I stink", which means she wants to be changed. She knows she does not want to be in a diaper full of poop, but sometimes does not want to be changed right away because it takes away from her play time. Even though she knows she stinks, she will sacrifice the smell for another cartoon or another toy to play with. If we left her in her diaper all day, she would likely have consequences at the end; a rash. As parents Faith and I will change her, even if she cries and it takes time away from her toys. We care for her and do not want her to stink or have a rash.

I think of Christians who struggle with sin. We know that we really do not want to be in it and at the end of the day it will leave us with consequences, a lot of times more severe than a rash. Instead of walking in our mess, we need to allow God to change us. We need to lay down our sinful cravings and turn to a God that wants to change us and make us better.

The best day of ministry happened tonight!

Tonight was one of the best days of my life in ministry. I met two girls who knew that they needed God and did not deserve Him. I have shared the gospel hundreds of times and have seen thousands of students come to know Jesus, but something seemed different tonight.

As they were dressed in black and had their chains wrapped around their scarred marked wrist, the girls listened to the last message of a five day conference at our church. The message was entitled, "Engaged in Relationships". I spoke on 1. Our relationship with Christ, but primarily focused on 2. Our relationship with friends.

In our small groups at the end of the night, the girls shared how they felt "unwanted" and "worthless". One shared how she was raped and molested and likes to cut herself to feel something and to escape the reality of the world. The other agreed with cutting as she shared her parents referred to her as a mistake. They both said that they were a bad influence on their friends and wanted to be better.

These are the kids that I want in my youth group. They are real. These are the kids any youth pastor should want. Although they were not ready to trust Christ, I believe God is doing something in their hearts. I pray that He draws them to Himself soon.

Honduras: I'm a punk

I'm getting ready to go to another country and teach people that have a different language than me, lead a team where I've never been and go on my first mission trip overseas. Good luck huh?

It is cool to see that God will use anyone to do anything for His glory. I was just an earring wearing, bleached blond hair dying, cussing like a sailor guy with a 0.7GPA my freshman year of high school about 13 years ago. God took a punk and changed his life to lead others to Christ.

I do not know much in life, but I do know that God is good and at the end of the day He is the main thing that matters.

Let God do something in your life today. I'm sure you do not have it all together either. Maybe your marriage is screwed up. Maybe your a cutter. My God is big enough to change your problems. Turn to Him. He loves you.