Guided Missiles

Christina and I did something stupid recently. (I know it sounds crazy, huh?) Anyway, we actually chose to go to Wally World (Wal-mart) on Saurday with two little boys. ( I told you it was stupid) Isn’t it amazing what Wally World can bring out of people? What in the world is going on? I felt as if we were in the mall on the day before Christmas. You know what I am talking about. It seems as if everyone is in extreme task mode. If we could read their minds we would be hearing “get out of my way!” That’s how I felt. Every once in a while someone would come barreling though an isle with their “guided missile” (shopping cart…in case you didn’t know what I was referring to.) and everyone had to get out of the way or simply jump into their foxhole. Its pretty sad that I remember this but hey, I can be a pretty sad guy. There was a song back in my day by a guy named Oran Juice Jones. (Talk about sad.) I don’t even remember the name of the song but I do remember a line from the song that said, “ this is your world and I am just a squirrel trying to get a nut.” In other words the world is all about you and I am insignificant. That is how I felt yesterday in that store…insignificant. It was if I was in the way of people accomplishing what they needed to get accomplished and they didn’t care about anyone in their way. Sad. Can we not be kind to one another even in the midst of “extreme task mode?” God help us.

life and death

So I got to thinking recently. Maybe it’s mainly because I am a youth minister and this is one of the biggest struggles that teenagers can have. What is it? The power of words. And I am not just talking about their use of words…I’m even talking about the use of words toward them. I love Ephesians 4:29. It says:

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

So often the focus of that passage with folks is not letting anything “unwholesome” come out of your mouth. For example, bad language. Well, yes that is true and I can’t begin to tell you how important that was for me when I first met the Lord. But now, “unwholesome” has begun to take on a much deeper meaning. For me now it means when you are not speaking words of value, love, truth, and grace. So often we use our words to tear others down and not build them up as the scripture says. Adolescent culture is full of students who have a need to be funny, noticed, and popular. Often that means being the center of attention by getting all the laughs by being sarcastic, joking on others, or “ripping” on someone. Often the recipient of those words laughs them off as a defense mechanism and acts as if the words don’t really bother them. (I have to admit though…right or wrong, I have a few friends that are so comfortable and confident with each other that we can rip on each other with no problems.) With that being said though my friends and I still have to be very careful about who might be listening. Remember the passage says so that it would benefit those who are listening. Do not be the reason that someone stumbles by thinking that it is okay to use words to NOT build others up according to their needs.

So my question to you is how do you use your words? If you are a teenager did I describe you when I said that some use their words to tear down? If you are a parents how do you use your words with your teen? It scares me how often parents use certain words to “motivate” their child and they don’t even realize that they are tearing down rather than building up. Very often those same words are planting seeds of resentment that will come to fruition when a child leaves home. Unfortunately, I have seen it often. Then there are the situations in which a parents just have no idea what kind of damage they do with outright words of pain. For example, I had a student once tell me that their father said to them, ” you are a piece of s**t. Could you imagine? I can only imagine what was said to that father when he was a child. Vicious cycle.

To conclude I will just share this…Proverbs 18:21a – the tongue has the power of life and death.

Do you use your tongue for life or death?

Lord, examine our hearts.

The one thing under attack (August 4)

One of our pastor’s shared this devotion in one of our staff meetings recently. The title I give it is not the same as the title in My Utmost. But I think I prefer this title because it sticks out to me more than anything. Let me explain.  In the beginning of the devotional it says:

 “as long as you think that you are of value to Him He cannot choose you, because you have purposes of your own to serve. But if you will allow Him to take you to the end of your self-sufficiency, then He can choose you to go with Him ‘to Jerusalem.’”  (Luke 18:31)

Then he goes on to say that basically what makes a good Christian “is not a matter of our equipment, but a matter of our poverty; not of what we bring with us, but of what God puts in us; not a matter of natural virtues, of strength of character, of knowledge, or of experience-all of that is of no avail in this concern.”

I have to admit that too often I get caught up in thinking that it is about what I bring to the table as a servant of the Lord. This is where our faith differs with eastern religions in which emptying of self is important. ( I believe I got this thought from Richard Foster in his amazing book, “Celebration of Discipline.”) The difference in our faith is we practice spiritual disciplines, particularly meditation, in order to “empty” ourselves only to be filled by His will and purpose. I have to be about “crucifixion of self” because it is no longer I who live but rather Christ who lives in me. (Galatians 2:20) I and we have to leave everything that we think we bring to the table for god behind at the altar. Our gifts, talents, strengths, plans, will, purposes, and personalities have to sacrificed. Continuing on the devotion goes:

The only thing of value is being taken into the compelling purpose of God and being made His friends (see 1 Corinthians 1:26-31). God’s friendship is with people who know their poverty. He can accomplish nothing with the person who thinks that he is of use to God. As Christians we are not here for our own purpose at all-we are here for the purpose of God, and the two are not the same.

I have to ask myself, do I know my poverty? Do you know yours? Do you think that you are of use to God? Do I? Humbling thought, huh? Whatever made us think that God needs us? Satan has also done a number on us to make us believe that life is about our purposes, will, and desire. We have bought the lie and therefore bought bondage. It reminds me of the first line of Rick Warren’s book Purpose Driven Life, “its not about you.” It is too easy to believe that it is about me. As the devotion states, “we are here for the purpose of God.”

Finally, it closes with: “The most important aspect of Christianity is not the work we do, but the relationship we maintain and the surrounding influence and qualities produced by that relationship. That is all God asks us to give our attention to, and it is the one thing that is continually under attack.”

You and I both now the deal but we so often get caught up in pursuing God via the “checklist.” You heard it…its not about the work we do as if we are checking things off of a list but rather the pursuit of a relationship with our Lord and Savior. And that relationship is the one thing under attack. I believe that it was Carl Jung that once said, “busyness is not of the devil, it is the devil.”

If it is any other way other than the pursuit of knowing Jesus my friend, then you have religion, not relationship. And by the way, sounds like bondage to me.

Lord, I want to be a Christian

So today at staff worship we sang this hymn. (Staff worship happens once a month and a staff person is responsible for leading the rest of the staff in the service.) Today was very good. We did basically a traditional worship service in which we sang hymns. I miss hymns sometimes. When I first starting going to church I really fell in love with many of the hymns. Fascinating because at first I was scared to death of singing those things. First off, I was not a Christian and I knew I wasn’t a Christian but I still sang those songs. What I didn’t realize is that while I sang they began to change me…or rather the Holy Spirit began to do a good work in me. So here I am today fascinated by this particular hymn. As I sang it I have to admit that I began to get a little convicted. I mean maybe you have heard the saying, “be careful what you pray for.” You know, like praying for patience or something. Then of course the Lord is going to send all kinds of fun stuff your way that will teach you to be more patient. So my thought today was really this, “be careful what you sing.” I am afraid of how often we as believers go through the motions of singing our Christian songs and we don’t even think about what the words are saying to either us or to the Lord. What was interesting about this song is that there is no way you can hide. Unless, of course, you just choose not to sing it.

Listen to the first verse…Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart. Wow, I mean we are asking God to penetrate us at our most intimate place.

Now the second…Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart. What? I want to be more loving? I am asking the God of the universe to make me more loving? That is kind of like praying for patience huh? Ouch? Do I really want to be more loving? That means I have to be more willing to be patient, selfless, quick to listen, slow to speak, and generally conscious of others’ needs before my own. Wow, if I am going to sing a song like this I better be prepared for what God wants to do in me in order to get me to be more loving.

Third…Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart. Whew! This is hard enough already! Now I am asking God to make me holy too? Of course. But I have to tell you, as you may well know, the pursuit of holiness is difficult. God does call us to “be holy, for He is holy.” I recall a song that we sang back when I was in college in which we sang about holiness and we sang that we “longed for it.” Do you long for holiness? Do I long for holiness? I am reminded of Ephesians 5:3 which says, ” but among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.” Do you consider yourself one of God’s holy people? Do I? Then if you do, is there even a hint? Ouch!

Then finally…Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart. Now there is no where to run and hide. You know the deal. The word “Christian” is so abused today. But what if we asked people if they were like Jesus? What if we asked ourselves if we were more like Jesus? If you choose to sing or pray that God would make you more like Jesus hang on because it is an incredible ride! There is no turning back. To desire to be like Jesus is choosing to be more of a Christian, more loving, and holy. Jesus is love and holiness. We want to be more like Jesus.

The only way that can happen is if we make this our daily prayer. Lord make me more like Jesus. Conform me into His image. And Lord do it in my heart, where we know lasting change happens. I don’t want to just “look” the part, I want to be the part. I want to be like Jesus even when no one is looking, except of course the One we can’t hide from because we cannot hide. “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7) And by the way, we wouldn’t want it any other way.

So, be careful what you sing.

Disillusioned

Wow…been awhile. One of my very close friends got on to me the other day about not being more consistent with this thing. Hey, this takes administrative giftedness! Of which, I do not have! The sad thing is that I always have things floating around in my head that I need to get out! (So I can think more clearly.) Anyway, been thinking a lot lately. Mainly about the church. You know, the organized body of the church. (Not the true definition of the church which is the peeps or well maybe both. You figure it out.) I’ve had some conversations with some folks recently and I’ve been reading a lot. (As I always have. Matter of fact I probably spend too much money on books!) One book I haven’t read yet but soon will is by Dan Kimball. It is called “They love Jesus but not the church.” Basically it is about emerging generations that struggle with the church as we know it and yet are passionate Christ followers. I know many young men and women that fit this profile. As a matter of fact I talk to them often about their struggles with the church. The interesting thing is that they are not alone. I struggle with the church as we know it and what is funny is that I am employed by one! I often say about church and ministry, “I hate it and I love it.” Often people look at me like I’m crazy when I say this. (I read into their thought process…”hmmm wait a minute, he’s a youth minister and he struggles that way!) Of course I do. There are times when I struggle with what ministry and church has become. But then there are other times when I am absolutely compelled to keep striving to love young people and tell them about the One who can bring them hope, grace, wholeness, and forgiveness. I don’t think I would trade it for anything in the world. The word that keeps coming to mind is disillusioned. There are so many young people that are disillusioned by the church. But because I have given my life to serving young people via the local church body I am challenged to encourage them not to give up on the church as we know it. I know I am preaching to the choir when I say this but we know that the church is the people. I read a book several years back with a great title and I often state this to people…”they smell like sheep.” (That is the title and it is written by Lynn Anderson) When I begin to struggle with what goes on in church, whether by laiety or clergy I will often sniff a little and say, “smells like sheep around here.” That is the deal…we all smell like sheep. And we are all disillusioned at times. It is when we are disillusioned that we strive to bring about change. Change from within the church, not cursing the church from outside. The church needs those who are expecting more to voice their concerns and to challenge the church to follow closely after Jesus’ heart and mission. So anyway, I will close with a great quote from Saint Augustine. Tony Campolo quotes him in the book by Dan Merchant. (It’s called “Lord save us from your followers”)

Here it is: “The church is a whore, but she’s my mother.”

And after that Tony follows up with this:

“You want to talk about unfaithfulness? The church is the unfaithful bride of Christ, but she’s also my mother. Without this thing called the church I wouldn’t know about Jesus. For all its unfaithfulness, for all its whoring, the church has kept the gospel story alive down through the ages.”

Amen.

The Fam

I have to tell you a little bit about the fam since I have not done so thus far. I am married to the love of my life- The former Christina Vandervort. She of course is now Christina Russell and I lovingly refer to her as My Nina. I had to share her maiden name because she comes from a great family of Vandervorts! My Nina is the oldest of five of which there is only one boy in the middle. My Nina and I got married way back on June 10th, 1995, at our former church in Montgomery. Alabama. We have two amazing, fun, loving, busy, intelligent, daring, and cute little boys named Caleb and Brennan. Caleb is 8 years old right now and Brennan is 5 years old. Of course Caleb is named after the biblical Caleb and Brennan is named after one of my favorite authors, Brennan Manning. (If you haven’t read any Brennan Manning I highly encourage it! Especially Ragamuffin Gospel and Signature of Jesus.) So, here are the four of us living in sunny Niceville, Florida. We moved here in February of 2007. We really love being so close to the beaches that both Nina and I spent a lot of time on as kids when on vacations with our families. We also love serving our amazing church, First UMC Niceville. Anyway, that is a little about the fam and I am sure that you will hear much more soon!

 

Alan Klink

Alan is one of our First UMC Niceville Shepherds. He is an amazing guy. I have another blog that I am trying to do my best to keep folks up to date on about him. Alan will be getting a kidney transplant in the next several months and we have begun to pray for him and also get the word out to support he and his family financially. (You can check out his info at pray4alanklink.wordpress.com) Alan’s adopted daughter Jessica will be providing the kidney for him. Her name is Jessica and it really is a story of God working when you realize that she is not even his biological child. It looks like we will be expecting a transplant sometime in July of this year. Alan’s kidney function has continued to deteriorate over the last several months and I believe he is below 15% of normal function. In the midst of all of this you will still find Alan faithfully serving the teenagers at First UMC Niceville. On Wednesday nights he is faithful to be there in the cafe hanging out with kids, shooting pool, or making all kinds of great snacks alongside Ms. Annie. (Ms. Annie is our awesome cafe shepherd) Often on Sunday morning you will see him in the high school guys’ Sunday School class taking roll and/or hanging out getting to know students. We really do thank God for Alan’s willingness to serve! Alan knows that in serving teenagers he is ultimately serving the Lord. Thank the Lord for great shepherds like Alan!

The Will

I saw an interesting sign the other day right here in Niceville. If you live here maybe you’ve seen it. For those of us who have played and love sports you understand why I love this sign. Of course, it is applicable to much of life. The sign is right off of Palm Boulevard and it is near the high school practice fields. It says this: “The will to prepare precedes the will to win.” Amen! What a great sign and great reminder to all of us who want to take the shortcut. Part of me hates that sign! I often wish I could be more disciplined about things. How about you? That sign is of course about sports. It reminds me of how often we want to take the spiritual shortcut. Our will to prepare for the spiritual challenges and battles that we face on a daily basis is imperative. We must know that to win the daily battles we must train diligently. Training diligently means studying God’s word, praying, and living a life of worship. Listen to 1 Corinthians 9:24-27:

” Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

So in other words, I live my life in preparation for the trials and temptations that will surely come my way. God doesn’t take us out of those situations and circumstances…He gives us strength and wisdom to grow through them. I think too often we haven’t prepared well for those times. Remember that Jesus’ prayer was not to take us out of the world. (see John 17:15) So my prayer for you and I is that we would have purpose in living our lives and we would train ourselves in righteousness. Lord knows, I need it. And just maybe you do too. So remember, “The will to prepare precedes the will to win.” 

Moving Mountains

Well, I did it. I made it through the weekend. I have to admit, I am very tired but at the same time so refreshed. It’s amazing how God can do that. This morning I thought about how God moves mountains. (see Job 9:5) Yes, I am fully admitting it. God has moved some mountains this weekend. Can you believe that I am stubborn? I know, I know. That is so hard to believe! God moved my stubborness out of the way so that He could get to my heart that has been healing for the last year or so. I guess sometimes stubborness can be a good thing. To Mary, Steph, and Lori thanks for being stubborn! You didn’t give up because you knew me and loved me enough to know that I needed this. For goodness sake…I’m a youth minister and I tell people about the fact that God loves them more than they can even imagine. You know what? I need to listen to my own message. There is something powerful when a large group of men come together to spend time with God and each other. Walls and barriers were breaking as God did His work in us. He was truly moving mountains in our lives. I haven’t laughed so hard in quite some time and I even cried a pretty good bit. (Or as some of the guys would say, “my eyes keep leaking!”) As to the laughter, God’s word says that a cheerful heart is good medicine. (see Proverbs 17:22) There really is so much that is going on in me right now that it is hard to explain. There really is so much more to share and I don’t have a ton of time to explain it all. (Of course, pertaining to the specifics of a Walk to Emmaus you will not hear anything. For those of you that understand…De Colores!) Anyway, I’ll share more in the coming days. The main thing I know is this: I have tasted of the Lord’s love and His goodness. I want to continue to taste of His living water today, tommorrow, next week, next year, forever! Thank you God for moving mountains!

Out of the Comfort Zone

Well, here I go. I’m leaving later this afternoon to go on a Walk to Emmaus at Blue Lake Camp in Andalusia, Alabama. I am not a huge “do all the Christian programming” fan at all. So I really had to pray through this one. I have had several people tell me that “I needed to go on a walk.” First bad idea. Don’t ever tell me I ought to do something because I will definitely struggle with whether I ought to! It’s not that I don’t enjoy retreats and such. It’s just that I believe I can enjoy the Lord’s presence each and everyday if I would just pay attention! I have been a Youth Minister for over 11 years now and have been to many conferences, retreats, camps, etc. I think that I just get a little disturbed by our “need” of all of these events. The Christain life is meant to be lived out each and everyday in the valley. We sometimes just love to go to the mountaintop and want just that experience as if life can stay that way. In other words, I think we have often just become “consumers” of religious goods and services. Paying and going on these experiences gives us that “spiritual high” that we’re after but then we go home and life goes back to normal. I don’t want that and I don’t think that God wants that for us either. He wants us to experience Him in the midst of everyday life, whether on the mountaintop or in the valley. That is my prayer. I want to share that with others. So, what does all of this have to do with being out of the comfort zone? Well, I was praying yesterday and it occurred to me that God was really trying to say something to me through going on a Walk to Emmaus. This will be the first time in quite some time that I am going on a retreat in which I have NO CONTROL. Wow, I’m just an everyday camper like the rest of the folks attending the weekend. This is weird territory for me. Hopefully, it will force me to think a little more about that student that goes on a camp or retreat for the first time. Hopefully it will help me relate to that adult volunteer who is serving on their first mission trip. Hopefully it will help me have more understanding and compassion on the folks that have no context for this church thing that we are doing. Anyway, today I thanked God for the fact that He will be stretching me this weekend. And guess what? Each time in my life that God has stretched me He has also further rooted me in His love and grace. So, let the stretching begin.