K.I.S.S.

This very moment.  Right now as I type.  The telly is on, music is playing, both Facebook and Twitter have their own tab open amongst other tabs open on my laptop, and I am trying to type a blog while answering texts on my phone.   In the age of technology where advertising runs rampant bombarding it's way into our lives only to consume every second of our attention we find ourselves in a state of indecisive complexity.  We create this.  We allow this to happen.  And honestly, we would be lost without it.  We thrive for interruptions.  We can not break away from distractions.  We need them like an addict needs a fix.  Well at least I do.  Maybe it's because I'm A.D.D. or A.D.H.D.  Whatever the case may be I just can't focus on one thing at one time.

Sadly, this bleeds into my spiritual life.  When I sit to meditate on God's word whether it be in prayer, reading, journaling or listening I allow distractions to follow me through the door of my devotion with Jesus.  God doesn't want to be a part of the distraction.  He wants to be THEE attraction!  He doesn't want to share time with anything else.  He wants to be the focus of our attention!  BUT, we do it anyway!  I do it.  Everybody does it.  Look at Exodus 20:4-5.  This verse talks about our indecisive complexity.  Our distractions!  God is telling the people of Israel that he is a, "jealous God".  Meaning he doesn't want to be shared with anything or anyone else.  What God is telling us, right here, right now is to K.I.S.S.  To "keep it simple stupid".

Some of you right now are saying, "you don't understand,  I have kids, I work 900 hrs a week, I do this, I do that, how do I NOT MUTI-TASK?"  It's easy.  You K.I.S.S.  Give God what you have.  If it is 5 minutes, then give God 5 unadulterated minutes.  He is a jealous God, but he is a loving God.  He wants you, and we must allow God the time to give him all of us and emerge from...indecisive complexity.        

Heir Condition

Here it is 6:26 am, pitch dark, Christmas morning. I can't sleep. I didn't sleep. I'm sleepy, yet sleepless. There could be a few possible reasons for this. One, I'm sick and have been with a terrible toothache which is making the left side of my head feel like it is being stretched across something much bigger than my head. Say an S.U.V. or a California King-sized bed. From sea to shining sea. Two, I'm not sleeping in my bed, but on my fiance's parent's couch. Which is comfortable, just foreign. Or three, I'm suppose to be up writing this. Or all three. Or none.

However, whatever, these are the conditions. And as I am lying here I hear the tick of a clock somewhere in the room. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick. This incessant sound sweeps me away to the story of some 2,000 years ago and reminds me of the significance of this day. Christmas. Now I realize Jesus wasn't born on this day exactly. He was probably born sometime in March. Like every good baby. A spring time baby. I'm just saying. The exact date isn't so important, but the conditions he was born into is.

Now besides Jesus being born in some unsanitary cave with animal excrement, animals, from a teenage girl and placed into a cesspool for bacteria feeding troth his overall socioeconomic conditions weren't so good either. He wasn't born into the best ethnicity. He was Jewish. And Jewish people back then were not very popular. "I wanna be popular!" That was for all my Wicked fans out there. Anyway. Sorry. Most Jews were slaves. He wasn't born into the best social class. In fact he was at the bottom of the barrel. A carpenter's son? Rah-ha-eeely? He wasn't born into the best family; hookers, adulterers, murderers, cheaters, thieves, ect. In fact if you know anything about his lineage you would say to yourself, "Rah-ha-eeely?" Seriously, you would. Lets just face it. Jesus' conditions here on earth sucked. Just like some of ours.

The list of conditions could and do go on and on and on. But Jesus doesn't let it. In fact he doesn't even acknowledge it. He realized they were there and he knows what he was born into, but Jesus also knew what his purpose was. And purpose trumps conditions every time. Did you know that we have the same purpose Jesus did? It's true. If we claim the name of Jesus and we live the life, or try to live the life he did, then we share the same purpose. And that is to bring God glory.

Some people's conditions are worse than others. However, we all still share the same purpose. Jesus rose above the conditions he was placed into and those he placed himself into. He depended on the power of the Holy Spirit to lead him and Jesus leads us to do the same. He empowers us to rise above the conditions we are placed into and those that we place ourselves into. Remember what the angel told Mary about her being preggo without having sex-o? "Nothing is impossible with God," Luke 1:37. So remember that today. Remember that today we celebrate the birth of a Savior. Remember Jesus. Remember that purpose trumps conditions. Every time. And remember to bring God glory! Make that today's mantra. Make that your life's mantra and emerge from...conditions.

What code are you written in?

I realize I haven't posted in a while. I apologize. Life got in the way. I'll try harder to not allow life to keep me from my cyber-duties. Moving on.

I recently reevaluated and reconstructed the website for our church's student ministry, e.merge, at Oak City. It was a very painful and tedious yet educational and inspiring experience. I am not a web developer, nor do I claim any expertise on the subject. That's why I used iweb. But I found it to be extremely interesting and boring at the same time. Is that even possible?

I found it extremely interesting because everything you see, a picture, a video, a link to another website, a color, a background, the illumination of a word as your cursor scrolls over it, the website itself on a website is written in some kind of code. I will spare you the assortment of code there is in developing a website, but trust me there are many. I found it extremely boring because someone had to sit down and type out every punctuation, letter, and number for a particular code in order for that particular website to be a visual sensation for particular eyes to feast upon. Depending on the code used for the website will determine what the website will look like.

Once the website is developed it is never finished. Because the maintenance of a website is ongoing unless of course it is abandoned. That is what had happened to our first student ministries' website. It was left abandoned and became outdated and was ultimately left for cyber-death. R.I.P.

I find that my physical and spiritual life is a lot like this. My life may have developed, but it isn't finished. So I find myself constantly maintaining my physical and spiritual life in some capacity or another in order to improve it. Physically, I try to watch what I eat and drink. I monitor how much sleep my body needs (which is a lot apparently). If I don't exercise I find my body going into atrophy (which is taking place as I type). It's an ongoing process. It also could be called aging if you wanted to get technical about it for all you technical jerks out there.

Spiritually, it is a lot of the same process as the physical one. I watch what I digest spiritually through television, music, literature, and art. And I balance that diet with exercise in Scripture, meditation, and prayer. If I abandoned my physical body the consequences could be countless; possibly and ultimately death. But if I abandon my spiritual body the consequences are eternal.

Just as code written for a website will determine it's appearance, the code you use spiritually will determine the way you act, think, and appear physically. The good thing about code is it can be reevaluated, reconstructed, and rewritten when we revisit the website of life. We are renewed and resurrected in Jesus Christ which gives us the power to e.merge from...self-abandonment.

Spiritual Pirate

A British captain spots a ship climbing over the horizon of the high sea. As he keeps a watchful eye on the ship he lets out a huge sigh of relief as he sees the flag being flown on the ship. It is one of his fellow country’s carriers probably carrying goods to the new world.

As the ship drawls closer the British captain is paralyzed by what happens next. The hatches on the side of the ship fly open and canon barrels emerge from the dark misty holes. BOOM! Deck hands on board of the British ship scurry to get below to open their own hatches. The smell of gun powder overpowers the smell of the sea as the mysterious ship fires round after round upon the discombobulated ship caught by surprise.

The British captain regains mobility as he takes the wheel of the ship to avoid any impact he can from the canon balls and bullets whistling by. But his heroic attempt is short lived as he sees the dreadful black flag of non other than Blackbeard the pirate being hoisted into the air from the dissimulated ship. In a moments notice Blackbeard’s men are swinging over to the helpless ship filling the air with laughter like a pack of hyenas and taking every man on board captive. It is all over. Blackbeard has pirated another ship leaving it in shambles and desolate.

Blackbeard’s appearance was his most influential and powerful weapon. He rarely used force when commandeering a ship. The slightest glance would spread fear to the embers of any soul. If that wasn’t enough the snarl of his voice would deafen the most violent of thunderstorms. Lets just say he was no Ronald McDonald.

From a safe distance we too can wave a flag to look welcoming and friendly to others. Just like Blackbeard’s ship did to the British ship. A ship’s flag represents the country and the citizens of that country no matter where that ship sails. Our lives are our ships and how we navigate our lives through the sea of life is contingent upon our words and actions. These choices announce the flag we wave to others around us. If we are disciples of Christ the flag we wave should represent is Christianity. Sadly, this is not always the case.

When we come into contact with other people is our life portraying that same kind and friendly persona they saw at a distance? Does the flag match the ship? Does the slightest opposition reveal the flag we should have been flying all along like that of Blackbeard’s ship? When we come into the slightest altercation with another person do we hoist up another flag? Does our entire demeanor change? Does our mouth become a canon firing words of destruction? Do we find pleasure in tearing down others self-esteem? Are we flying the flag of Christianity, but really posing as a spiritual pirate?

For some of us we need to check the crew we have on board of our ship. Our crew can be the people in our lives, the priorities we have, the gossip we spread, the business we conduct, the possessions we have, or the busyness of life that consumes our time which hinders our relationship with God. Some of us need to examine the flag we are flying on our ship and emerge from...piracy!

"Celerity is never more admired than by the negligent." -Cleopatra

I must admit the very title of this blog is appropriate for my absence. Over the past few weeks a lot has been happening, not only for me, but for those around me. And there are a lot of 'those' around me. I, as I am sure a lot of people do, wear many hats. What do I mean by this? I have to connect differently to different people in different ways. In doing so negligence can come in like a tornado for the soul!

One way I must connect is as a fiancee. The wedding day is lurking around the corner and there is still a lot to be done. What needs to be done you ask? Your guess is as good as mine. But I know one way I can help and that is to give my fiancee and her family my support and time as we drawl closer to the sound of the wedding bells. Another way I must connect is to be a good son and a better big brother to a mother and sister who live a thousand miles away. This might be one of the toughest ways to connect. Because I can't see them daily it is easy for me to get caught up in the web of life, but they are some of the most important people in my life. And so neglecting opportunities to call them can easily be consumed by other priorities of lesser importance. And as a student pastor I must connect with my students and leaders. This connection is one that demands great balance! One fine lesson I am learning very quickly as a new student pastor is your time is not necessarily your own.

I have found (especially in the past few weeks) that ministry can and will consume all of my time if I let it. Even though I am committing my time to people and their needs I am neglecting time with God and my needs. This is where I am finding myself searching for balance. I am not complaining. I love what I do. I love connecting with as many people as possible. But what I am noticing is that in doing so there are areas of my life that are being neglected.

And so you might be like me. You might have school, work, meetings, people, family, friends, appointments, plans, and games pulling you in every direction and leading you straight to the next one. Take time to stop. Take time to evaluate your time. Take time to prioritize your time. God is the first one we run to in the time of need, but then God is also the first one we neglect when we run out of the time we need. Don't let the busyness of life deteriorate your time with God. Let God deteriorate the busyness of life by giving him your time first and let him empower you to emerge from...negligence.

"Earls" and "Thelmas"

There was an elderly couple who did everything together. Their lives were filled with routines. They ate every meal together. They played bingo every Tuesday together. They even read the same book together. Every night they went to bed together at the same time. And every night they sank their false teeth in their respected jars together and gave each other a goodnight kiss before they went to sleep. One night as the elderly couple crawled into bed the old man leaned in to give his bride of 50 years a kiss. When to his surprise she bit his lip. The old man let out a yelp! “What in the world Thelma?” he said. “Earl, remember how we use to kiss when we were young?” Thelma said. Earl quickly replied, “Well sure I do Thelma, but now we take our teeth out before we do that!”

When does a routine begin to live our life for us? Now there is nothing inherently wrong with routines. In fact routines can be a strong display of how disciplined a person’s life is. But routines can become stale quickly when they begin to cross the boundaries into our relationships. Especially our intimate relationships. That’s because a relationship was never meant to be routine. It was meant to be full of purpose. It was meant to be spontaneous and exploding with excitement. It was meant to be alive.

However, routines can live your life for you if you allow it to. It can dictate your relationships with your friends, with your family, with your spouse, and even more importantly with your God. God didn’t create us for a routine. He wasn’t sitting in heaven planning his routine with us. No, God was planning our relationship with Him. God created us for a relationship. He created relationships for us with one another. Some of us are "Earls" and some of us are "Thelmas". Which are you? God and people alike don't want to be the special occasion in your life every once in while. They want to be thee occasion in your life all the while. So live in relationships and emerge from...your routines.

emerge from...

What does it mean to emerge? Anyone can search the dictionary to find what the word 'emerge' means.

Emerge: to come forth into view or to notice; to rise or come forth from or as if from water or liquid; to come up or arise, as a question or difficulty; to come into existence; to develop; to rise, as from an inferior or unfortunate state or condition.

See, that was easy! But, what does this word 'emerge' look like in motion? How does this word affect life? How does it affect your life? This is where it becomes problematic. There are so many obstacles, influences, obligations, and necessities that consume, or should I say submerge, our everyday lives that it virtually suffocates our every attempt to break through to the other side. It is an endless battle in our lives. But be certain there is reassurance for you and me.

My desire for this setting (blog) is to humbly address some of life's obscurities we all deal with on a daily basis in hope that it brings encouragement for the areas of life that may be engulfing you. Because in and through Christ you have the power to emerge from...