Josh's Juice
A blog with some of my thoughts and also challenges to read the Bible and talk about it!
Monday, May 09, 2016
Happy Mother's Day!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
wow
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.
Monday, February 11, 2008
So much to do, so little time
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.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
I Am Back!
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
Thursday, August 24, 2006
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.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Sometimes I need to rethink
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.