Day 1 is under our belts! So far this trip has been a ton of fun! Spent half of day one driving and the other half at the beach. I never knew that boogie boarding could be so much fun! Big props to Angel for teaching me how to read the waves and Chris and Kaylin Bennet for bringing the boards. I had a great time. As the sun started setting, we looked out over the crashing waves and saw a small pod of dolphins swimming. Some of them even got to within 100 yards of the shore. They are quite amazing.

Post beach fun, we sat and just admired the sunset, knowing that God has a special task for us this week…Open Your Eyes!

I came across a good post on Pastor Steven Furtick’s blog today. In it he talks about how the issue with the American church is not that we need more depth in our study of the bible, but rather our depth needs to start forming from our application of the truth that we are discovering. This post echoes a lot of what I feel God teaching me right now. I feel like I have gained a lot of theological knowledge, but need something more. God requires more than just our cognitive comprehension of His existence and purpose for our lives. We have to act on that knowledge. We have to step into the purpose that we have been given.

Here’s the full article.

OK, this post has a dual layer meaning. First, the obvious reading:

WE’RE HAVING A BABY!!! We are SUPER excited to share this with everyone. As far as commonly asked questions are concerned;
No we don’t know what it will be yet, yes we will find out, and no, we don’t really care which gender it is :^)>

Now for the second layer:
I’ve been reading through Francis Chan’s Forgotten God. It’s about the Holy Spirit and how He has essentially been forgotten in most churches today. In the first chapter, Chan provides a beautiful insight:

…if you or I had never been to a church and had read only the Old and New Testaments, we would have significant expectations of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

So far the book has been great…and extremely challenging (if you couldn’t tell already). So my question is, what are you expecting from the Holy Spirit. What is it that you expect the Holy Spirit to do in your life and the lives of those around you?

Later in the chapter, Chan has the reader ask themselves a very pointed question: “When was the last time I undeniably saw the Spirit at work in or around me?” So that is my question to you also. How has the Spirit undeniably worked in or around you? Francis Chan also challenges, “If you are having trouble recounting a time when the Sprirt was at work in or around you, perhaps that is because you have been ignoring the Spirit.” Take that in…mull it over. See you guys next time…oh, and GO GET THIS BOOK!

Go Get This Book!!!

So it’s been a little bit since my last post. Figured I should probably update this thing. Hopefully I will be able to make some more frequent updates and visual changes in the coming weeks.

Today I came over to my parents’ house; this has been my routine for the past 2-3 months on Wednesdays.  On Wednesday mornings I come over, give Dylan a hug before he heads out to school and wait for the little man to wake up. Until that happens, I usually end up with about an hour or two of surfing the web and reading blogs that I usually miss out on since Niece and I don’t have internet at our apartment. Just means frequent trips to visit the rents :^)>

Anyway, back on topic. I visited my friends over at Collide Magazine, if you’re interested or on a team of designers/tech folks for a church, they have some awesome resources. On the front page this morning I found this article entitled “The Idiot’s Guide to Church Burnout.” I was curious, having had this feeling of “burnout” in places that I’ve served. Here are some key points I took away from the article or I have experienced:

• Burnout was never something I saw coming

But it hit me like a ton of bricks. I loved being at the church, with my friends, “serving the LORD,” stacking chairs (a little Tim Hawkins reference…Click here to “get it”) I never thought that I could, or would, become burnt out.

• The root cause of burnout had nothing to do with being tired, overworked or underpaid

This was the one that really disturbed me. I had no idea what was causing me to be burnt out. These are the three big things that usually cause people to become worn out or just want to quit altogether, but none of them fit for me. Was I tired, overworked and underpaid? Sure, but that wasn’t the biggest issue. As the author of the article, Gary Molander, puts it, I wasn’t “living the exact dream God [had given me], while making a difference in the world.”

Here are a few things that I experienced while I was burnt out (points from the article, but I totally experienced these)

• I lost grace

I also lost patience…with everyone it seemed. I couldn’t help but be frustrated with everyone and everything.

• I dreamed of other occupations

I thought that if I could just work “there” or work with “those people,” my burn out would go away.

• I didn’t believe anything noteworthy was being accomplished

I honestly couldn’t see that I was making any difference at all. I felt like I was at a dead end and the end was nowhere in sight.

There was one thing from the article that really jumped out at me and I have to share, just in case you have time to read this but not the other article.

• “I discovered that I needed to stop following the principles of Jesus and start following His person”

This one is still something that I am dealing with. It’s easy to know all the right words to say and do, but when it comes down to it, who is Jesus. Not just who you know him to be from the Bible or historians. But who is he to you? That’s a question I wrestle with daily, knowing that the answer is worth the time I spend thinking on it. Which do you follow, the principles of Christ or the Son of God? (I know they are linked, but only one is really worth following with all of your heart)

Well, those are my experiences and things I took away. Go read the article, if you haven’t already, and tell me your thoughts!

I’ve heard many times in the past couple of years that people are ok with Christ, but Christians ruin it. Obviously this bothers me, being a Christian. So, if we all have heard this, are we changing? In my experience, when you hear the same lesson over and over in life you have not yet learned it. So if the message continues to be that we are in the way and not a catalyst, I think it’s safe to say that we haven’t learned the lesson. Why? Do you think Christians are still in the way, or do you think that perception is changing? If not, why are we not changing. What is our motivation for not changing? What do you think?