LOVE & Love

I was browsing some of my friend's blogs and came upon this dirty hipster musician, Trevor Hall. His style of music is so close to my heart.

If my ear could be married to a style of music, it'd be reggae, Islander music. Better yet, if my ear could be married to anyone, it'd be Trevor Hall.

Anyways, after listening to his lyrics, reading over his lyrics, and then processing his lyrics, my heart started to get broken. Trevor Hall's message is love. Nothing is better than love...nothing at all. But to love without God, isn't love. As I continued to listen to and read over Trevor Hall's lyrics, I became curious if he loved God...loved Love.

I'm not sure if Trevor Hall believes in Love. I know his message is love, but does his passion for love come from the source of love?

There's this deep heart cry within me that wishes the world would come to understand love, know and believe in the source of Love, and then live to love through Love. I want the world to know Love. I want to the world to feel Love. And knowing that the world claims to love, but distorts and ridicules the true message of Love....breaks my heart.

BUT...... it's freakin rad that those who know and love Love are able to love others and that love then reveals Love.

I don't know this brother of mine, Trevor Hall. He's a gifted artist and I have no doubt that his message of love inspires the world. All I hope and pray for is that T.H. loves Love and that his message of love that inspires the world will reveal Love to all!

Little Christ

It all started three-four years ago when I didn't like to call myself a Christian. Rather, I'd claim the title, Follower of Jesus, or the Way. Later, I realized that I wanted to call myself a Christian because Christian means, "little Christ." If there is anything that I want to be, it is to be like Christ. And to proclaim I am a "little Christ" is a blessing from God.

When I think of "little," I think of a child. All children were once a "little" infant and grew in to being a child, and a "little" child will eventually grow into being an adult. Tis' life, right? I, a "little Christ," am growing to be more like Christ, not growing to be Christ, but growing to be more like Christ. I guess a great thing to do would be to look at Jesus himself and the progression of his life.

Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in a virgin's womb. As believers, we must seek to find life in and through Life on this earth. He was then born...in a manger, while him and his parents were livin' large in a.... stable. After having Life as a part of our lives, we should come to accept who we are in Christ and be thankful for what God has done and is going to do. Next big thing: his childhood and awkward, pubescant teenage life was not recorded in the NT, except for a couple things THAT ARE VITAL for being a "little christ."

Luke 2:48-52 tell of the only record of Jesus' childhood. The first is when Joseph & Mary lost and anxiously searched for Jesus. After finally finding their son, the Messiah, Mary asked Jesus why he has caused their anxiety and frustration. Jesus replied....

""Why were you searching for me?" he asked. Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?""

Jesus could have turned Mary & Joseph in to dust...haha BUT he didn't because he honored his parents and then lovingly replied..."...I had to be in my Father's house..." As a little christ, in order to have life within us, we must spend time in our Father's house.

My current devo book is The Divine Mentor written by Wayne Cordeiro. He told this story about a famous european pianist from the 1900s and his work ethic. He wrote that the pianist would practice scales three hours a day and after being asked why he practiced SCALES three hours a day, he said this powerful statement.

"If I didn't practice my scales one day, I would notice the difference in my playing. If I didn't practice two days, my coach would notice the difference. If I didn't practice three days, the world would notice the difference (paraphrase)."

As little christ's, we are the light to this world. If we don't spend time in the Father's house for a day, we'll see the difference. If we don't spend time in the Father's house for a couple days, our close, loved ones would notice the difference. And three days not being in the Father's house, the entire world would notice the difference.

And lastly, Luke 2:52 records that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and mankind. As Believers, we should be reading our bible, growing in our godly character, and "in favor with God and mankind"

2 Peter 1, after Peter wrote a list of godly characteristics, he wrote that we must make every effort as a little christ to be possess those characteristics. As I finish this, I'll close with what Peter wrote after writing the list of godly characterists...

2Pe 1:8... "For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Love!!!

Tug-of-war!!!!!

I freakin love tug-of-wars!!! It reminds me of this tradition that the elementary school I attended does every year. The tradition is all the fifth grade classes come together at the end of the year for a class battle, and one of the events is tug-of-war. I remember the best battle were the ones that would go back and forth...one class would be close to the "pit" and then they'd pull their opponent to the pit. Such a rad game and I bet the teachers were stoked watching the battles.

Tug-of-war is a super fun game, but when "tug-of-wars" take its toll on your faith... not so fun at all. God has created me to be a person of heart. I tend to do nearly all things from the source of my heart. The bad thing about being all heart is that being all mind is like a really distant.....cousin. You know...those cousins who you wonder if they're really related at all?

"Love the Lord your God will all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And love thy neighbor as thy self."

For some reason, heart and mind are the two strongest qualities that people "are." I am a man of heart. I do use my mind and logically try to approach many things, but when it comes down to being in the moment of quick decisions, my heart leads. My wife, Hanna, is a woman of mind. She is a passionate woman and is a big lover, but I believe that is a life or spiritual threatening moment was to happen and she had to make the next step quickly, her mind would lead her.

Jesus' gives this great command and because of his mysterious, trinitarian nature, he lays down something that is so familiar, yet foreign. Most of the people I hang with are minds. I guess I purposely surround myself with minds because I secretly am desperate for a better balance with my love towards God. I'd like to think it's been helping, but who knows.

I just look at this way... if I wanted to be a professional tennis player, I'm not going to go out and hire a karate master. And I also see it this way...we should stray from spiritual tug-of-wars as a church or a believer, and run towards being a balanced church/believer. And if we look to the body of Christ, we can learn and grow a healthy balance as we work daily on loving the Lord our God will all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

Strong and Powerful...me?

I've been thinking a lot lately about the idea of being strong and victorious as a follower of Christ. I guess the reason why I've been soaking in this idea is because I've had my fair share of flesh-vs-spirit battles in the past (and to this day) like seeking freedom from certain bondages, praying for a different mindset, and such things like that. There are a couple truths that I've been exposed to that has...humbled me.

One truth is that across the world, since the beginning of man, various forms of pride have existed. From Cain killing his blood brother over an offering to Joey & Hanna being stubborn and not wanting humble themselves to understand their lovers heart during an argument (I love you Princess!). Pride is so confusing, it has birthed so many different forms from the depth of its heart. And I believe, just like a disease, it has infested or linked itself to other forms like misconception.

I grew up in the faith misconceived about this power that we possess as Christians.

Unfortunately, the new thing among churches in America is to be seeker sensitive...seeker sensitive: presenting the gospel that will not offend the congregation, or give them the meal that they want, but "hold the onions". And something that is hard to avoid with this mission is that there is no separation between the world and the church. I'm not saying that congregations can't be righteous or whatever...but going in to the world and preaching the gospel requires that we present the name of Jesus with power, authority, and through the righteousness that comes through Jesus.

My point is this...with this mentality of being seeker-sensitive or as the church, staying level with the world, the idea of being powerful and victorious has been infested. We have this misconception swayed by the world that we can be powerful and victorious. Like from the line of one of Hillsong United's songs...

"The same power that conquered the grave lives in me"

To be honest, after I sing this song, I feel like a conquerer. But the main truth that I've been learning is this from the great Apostle Paul....

"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." - 2 Cor. 12:9, 10


The same power that conquered the grave lives in me... PRAISE JESUS for that truth because the power that Jesus had while on earth does live within God's children! BUT that power that is in us isn't our power...it's His and His alone.

So...I'm starting to rid myself from the sad misconception that exists within the church. I realized that I am not strong. That I am not powerful. But I will boast about my weaknesses and live in Christ's stength and victory!!!!

A THOUGHT ABOUT THE CHURCH

So I've been reading a lot of OT for my deVo time as of late, but about a week ago I decided to mix it up a bit so I read a gospel (fyi, fell in love with the gospel of Luke) and then felt compelled to read Corinthians.

For those of you who haven't spent a FATTY amount of time with me, I don't have the greatest memory. Hanna, the hottest chick on the planet, always reminds me that she loves telling stories to me... I ask why and she replies something along the line, "Because you never remember them and I get to tell you the same story over and over again."

Anyways, I've read through the entire NT and majority of the OT yet I love to re-read the same books because I have a bad memory. I started reading through Corinthians and while I was reading in chapter 14 (when I read through Corinthians, I always read 12-14 as one chap), a HUGE thought came to mind...

"GOD LOVES COMMUNITY SO MUCH!!!!"

It may seem like Paul opened up a can on the church of Corinth telling them to repent, directing their ways, setting these high standards yet encouraging them, but there's a reason... story time!

I used to be a leader for Gig Harbor Young Life for almost six years. Young Life has a rad structure for reaching the lost youth, but the thing that got to me most was the leaders. I'd say 60% of the leaders were students. I do support student leaders, but what I don't support is student leaders given so much freedom with their...sheep when that leader isn't being discipled nor even being held accountable. After a good chunk of time goes by, that leader flakes out (even ditches their faith) and says this statement that I've heard over and over again.... Christianity requires so much and I'm not down for that.

Now here's my point... God loves community so much that He sent Jesus to die for our sins. Okay... good. Jesus dies, appoints apostles like Paul, and ascends in to heaven. Paul, through the promised Holy Spirit, plants churches and writes letters to those churches encouraging, yet setting high standards.

Yes, high standards may be discouraging at times, but imagine if the standards were set at a comfortable level. The church would've/would be in sin like crazy! And these high standards are NOT written in the bible to discourage us or condemn us.... God loves His people SO MUCH He sent His only son to die for our sins and calls us to a higher standard than the world.... why you ask? So that we can be a bunch of studs and studdettes ready to rock the world and function at a high standard in and as the body of Christ. People forget that we are now the body of Christ! And as the body of Christ, we must learn how to function at a higher, more holy level than the world not to boast about ourselves or condemn...so that we can be lights to world to draw them to the cross.

DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH GOD LOVES COMMUNITY WITHIN THE BODY? I now understand why love is greatest "law" to practice. God wants the best for each one of us because He loves us SO FREAKIN much.... and Jesus loves us so much that he died for us.... and Paul loved the church of Corinth so much that he laid out a higher standard so that Corinth would function as followers of Jesus, not as "Christians"...and that's where we come in. Let's get freakin serious about our faith and read our bibles and fellowship in community that will grow us... for the bible says "bad company corrupts good character"... AND after dying to ourselves and living in Christ daily, we can then function as the church that God desires so that we can love the world and win some lost souls, ya know!!!!!

I love you guys so much! The end of our time here on earth will happen in the blink of an eye and no one really knows when Jesus will come again, but who cares about knowing when he will return... we're living right now so let's LIVE in and through CHRIST.