wow

There has been so much going right now. I am excited and encouraged by what has happened at our church in the last few months. We had a campaign in which we converted 27 people. I would guess that about 50%-60% have remained faithful and there is another 20% that we are still in contact with and hoping that at some point in the future we will be able to plug them in.

Our church has also installed elders. It is so wonderful to have some leadership, thought it will take some getting used to after 3 and 1/2 years without any leadership.

This is also the first year that I have not had to plan our ski trip. I had such a huge amount of school work to get done (and still have a lot to get done) that I couldn't do it. THerefore, several people have taken it over and it is going smoothly.

The youth group is struggling a little bit. But I believe struggling is part of growing in the Lord.

It seems that we are on the right path at the moment. The one thing that we can be sure installing elders will hold for the future is more work.

So much to do, so little time

Well, today I am sitting in my office working on a paper and trying to stay focused. Wish I was a supere fast writer but sadly enough that is just not the reality of my situation.

I am a member of the Church of Christ here in OK and I am so depressed and saddened about what has happened here as of late. Several very zealous but misguided members of the church have attacked what they perceive to be false teaching at Quail Springs Church of Christ in Edmond, OK. The elders decided that their church would begin to have an instrumental assembly along with a separate accapella assembly. Though I am not in agreement with their decision, I do not believe that this is a salvation matter. I am simply not convinced that the Bible commands accapella worship to the extent that someone who worships with an instrument will be damned to hell.

I believe that the best argument for our case to sing without instruments is the fact that they were not introduced to the Christian worship service for a few hundred years after the beginning of Christ's church. When they were introduced they caused division. I do not condone the way that the Reflections staff in Lindsay, OK handled this situation. I just hope that eventually this will blow over and despite this negative representation of the Church of Christ, people will see that not all of her members act in this manner.

I Am Back!

Well, I recently went to a wedding (my friend Travis') and my wife found out from several people that they had been keeping up with us through my blog (I didn't know so many people read it...if only they had commented!). Sadly, I had not written in it for some time because several of my youth group kids and friends from highschool and college all use myspace. However, I have decided to begin anew on my blogging venture since there are several people who do not have myspace and apparently used to read my blog to keep up with Jen and me. I will probably simply post my blogs in both spaces!

I am also going to use it for the purpose of a daily Bible reading contest in my junior high and high school class on Sunday morning. I will post the reading for the week and a few questions, and their job will be to answer those questions to the best of their ability! I will be looking for originality and thoughtful remarks. I will try not to ask a question with a cookie cutter response (though I may throw some easy questions in just to make sure that they are actually reading!)

Glad to be back and in business...just hope all you people out there who used to read my blog will eventually come back and read!

Josh

If God loves us, why so much pain?

This is one of the major questions that we as Christians need to be ready to answer. It's one that most of us don't really ever think about, at least if you grew up in the church like I did. When bad things happen to us, somebody simply says, it's God's will, don't worry about it anymore.

I have been reading a book by Steven James called "Story". In this book, James states his premise that most of us have been exposed to the crucifixion story so much that we have become callous to it. However, he compares our experience with the story of the crucifixion to coming into a movie during the climax and ending. We know how the story ends, but we don't know all the details from the rest of the story that make it so meaningful. In his book, James' goal is to expose the reader to the whole story, the beginning, the body, the climax, and the ending.

In his discussion of the fall of man, he points out how God intended our lives to be. Perfect interaction with God is what we were destined for. Then sin entered the picture and several relationships were broken. James calls the imperfect characteristics of our world thorns and this is what he says, "The thorns weren't a bully-God's way of getting back at those who wouldn't listen to him, they were simply a reminder of who we are. Their prick reminds us who we became on that day when our first parents charted a course away from God and shipwrecked us here on this imperfect island of The Way Things Are."

These thorns hurt, thorns like cancer, old age, bad relationships, shattered dreams, broken trust, but they also remind us that we still have a rose. Isn't that a beautiful thought! These thorns remind us that we have a rose and there is hope for the future. The thorns remind us that we need God and he loves us. If there were no thorns, then why would we strive for a place without them? And if there were no thorns, we would know that God does not really care for us because all he would be is a facilitator to put us on earth to live life, and then to die, never really desiring to seek something better.

We have seen those moments in life that are absolute harmony. God allows those moments to let us desire that harmony all the time. Just remember, when things are going horribly, and it seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel, there is a rose that is attached to the thorns and it gives us hope.

Sometimes I need to rethink

I am always thinking about ministry since that is what I do. Last year, I was faced with a question that stumped me and it has made me debate in my mind over and over again, constantly going from one side to the other. The question concerns my minstry (and any other youth worker's ministry for that matter) and the effectiveness of it.
The question is this, "If Christianity is about denying self (Mark 8:34) how can we ask these teenagers and children to deny the person that they have not even found?" This question causes me to understand why so few of our churched teenagers have remained faithful to Christ. We bring them into the church and nearly force them to "get baptized" (or in denominations other than my own "to accept Jesus into their heart") at an early age by either guilting them into it or just expecting it. The children want to do what is expected of them and their soft hearts are easily broken so that they feel guilty for what they have done. Then, they act and are baptized. However, they have no idea that what Christ expects of them is to deny themselves and follow him. They then become this pseudo Christian who goes on mission trips, goes to camp and service projects and Bible studies, etc. During all this "Christian" stuff they are finding out who they are. The sad thing is that what they have truly become is not even what they think they are. They think that they are an active Christian. What they have become, however, thanks to our jazzed up view of youth ministry, is a Christian parasite. Looking for what they can get out of Christianity. They are always looking for the next big thing to inspire them, the most awesome music, the amazing worship experience and on and on. They will be let down eventually because that is how life is. It is not perfect. When they are let down they have to stop and review their Christianity. And often this means that they say to themselves, "this is not working, I guess I'll try something else that does." Then they leave.

I am not saying that all teenagers leave. Some, when forced to review their Christianity, realize what has happened and thanks to God touching their hearts, they shift gears and go the right way. But many leave.

The reason I bring these dismal thoughts up is because last week at camp I saw that teenagers can be broken into true denial of self. We had 5 baptisms (4 boys and one girl). These kids did not have their parents breathing down their necks. They did have lessons all week focusing on what it means to be baptized into Christ but I don't believe there was as much pressure as there is at some camps. There was not a continual barrage of guilting lessons about how bad they should feel for sinning. There were lessons on the amazing life that is only found in Christ. These kids were not baptized after calls to come forward, or after class, they were baptized after long periods of time for them to think. The middle of the night, rest time, or any other random times when there was not much going on. And I saw their faces. Tears streaming down and broken hearts and attitudes. These were not young children. They were mostly between 15 and 17 years of age (one may have been 14). This gives me hope for my ministry. It helps me to realize that kids can become Chistians by the hand of God on them and that he can bring them into true self-denial. We, however, as adults, preachers, youth ministers, teachers, etc. who work and talk with teenagers, need to take seriously the responsibility that God has called us to and make sure that we do not prematurely dunk kids in the water. Parasites are not what we need in the church. We need members who will deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Christ.

Preaching

Preaching is a tiring job. At this point in my maturity level, I seem to be good for one sermon a day. Yesterday the preacher at my church was not here and I had not preached recently so it was my turn as the youth minister. I am not trying to be a hot head or anything, but my morning sermon was really good and I had many comments on it. But afterwards, my mind felt blown. I was emotionally spent. I tried to get ready for the evening sermon and my mind was gone. My evening sermon was not good. ANd when I think back to it, probably the main reason is that it was not bathed in prayer as my morning sermon had been. I was also not very prepared for it. So my conclusion is this: From now on, only agree to one sermon a week so that there is time to prepare and pray for it. More than that with all of my other responsibilities is too much and it robs the congregation of what they could hear from someone else. Maybe there will come a day when I am able to handle more, but today is not it.

Sometimes the Human race is disappointing

Yesterday was a very frustrating day. It started out OK because Jen and I went fishing. She was fishing for Crappie and I was fishing for Bass. She caught a whole lot more than I did (around 10, we kept 7) and I caught one good size bass which was kind of exciting. Well, I have as of late decided to put my fish into a bucket of water because the last few times I have gone fishing, a snake has latched on to one of my fish. Anyway, so I put my bass in the bucket along with three of Jen's crappie. I walked off and continued fishing until a heard a dreadful noise. Thump...flap, flap, flap...splash! That's right, you guessed it, my big bass had escaped from the bucket and back into the water. That was pretty frustrating... but it was OK because Jen had caught some fish.

Jen and I headed home around 8 because it was getting too hot to do anymore fishing. So I was sitting there eating my breakfast when the doorbell rang. I get up and get the door expecting it to be someone from my church. It was not who I expected. It's the Sheriff. My heart suddenly leaps into my throat thinking of all the times I have accidentally, and only slightly purposefully broken the law.

Luckily, he was not there because I had broken the law, at least not in Oklahoma. He was there to serve me a court order and inform me that I was being sued.

Three and a half years ago, on December 30, 2002, I was heading back to OC and got caught in a blizzard in Limon, CO. A semi jack-knifed about a mile in front of me and stopped traffic. I was going about 30 miles per hour when I saw the break lights directly ahead of me. I began to pull my vehicle onto the shoulder trying to avoid hitting somebody. But a woman had parked her car there. Needless to say, I slammed on the breaks, but to no avail. I rear ended her and it was of course my fault. Luckily, the police officer did not give me a ticket because there were so many accidents that day.

For those of you who do not know (I did not know until yesterday), you cannot sue somebody for injuries in an automobile accident once three years have passed. This woman filed her suit on December 30, 2005, exactly three years after the accident. I was livid. I jumped around and yelled for a while until I realized that was not getting me anywhere. To make a long story short, I called my insurance company from the time of the accident and their lawyers are going to take care of it.

But this whole ordeal makes me disappointed in the human race. It is obvious that this woman was not seriously hurt in the accident. For one thing, they took me to Limon to call my parents. We were all checked over EMT's on an ambulance. There were no injuries to any of them. Plus, if they were actually injured seriously, they would have made a claim many months earlier than the last day to get anything out of it. Why are people like this? They use the extra long arm of our legal system to twist arms of people they will never have to be in the presence of.

The only thing that gives me peace in all of this is that God knows the truth. He knows whether they are actually injured in such a way that they do need monitary help or whether they are just misusing our legal system and trying to get something for nothing. God is the judge and I put it into his hands.