19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Matthew 6:19-21
Thinking through this...brought some questions to my mind.
What does heaven treasure?
Are there treasures that can never be taken away? If so, what are they?
What treasures can be taken away?
What happens when treasures are taken away?
If my heart is attached to a treasure, what happens to it when the treasure is destroyed? Is my heart destroyed too?
Was my heart made to treasure anything on this green earth? If so, what?
I don't have all the answers , but I know I've felt directed to make what heaven treasures the things that I treasure.
I've also thought about those things that can't be taken away from me. I think nobody can take away love or joy. People can take away my clothes. People can take away my legs. People can take away my computer. People can take away my reputation. But nobody can take love from someone.
So, I think that heaven treasures love. I think the heavenly treasure trove is loaded with love, with joy, with peace, with freedom. I want to be like Uncle Scrooge in Duck Tales, when he dives into his piles of gold. I want to dive into the heavenly piles...and unlike Scrooge I want to bring others into it...
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
I'm lucky
Today, I'm going to have three different types of meat. Steak and chicken at lunch. Pork at supper. I have so many options. So much variety.
While I have brothers and sisters all around the world who have no choice over what they eat. I'm eating like royalty compared to them.
I feel kinda guilty about that...
While I have brothers and sisters all around the world who have no choice over what they eat. I'm eating like royalty compared to them.
I feel kinda guilty about that...
Monday, September 26, 2005
Anberlin
Well, I'm currently listening to the new Anberlin album...I think it rocks. I tried to get a picture of the album up here...but for some reason the stuff ain't working...oh well.
You should check 'em out if you like rock.
You should check 'em out if you like rock.
Jr. Hi Wisdom
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to lead the Jr. Hi fella's small group. There were 20 guys there and me. We were reviewing the past 12 weeks of curriculum, which was over the basic topic of "Dares from Jesus". Marko (from Youth Specialties) wrote some excellent small group sessions in his Wild Truth Series...anyway, this book was about the dares that we can get from Jesus' words and actions.
So, yesterday to review I had two intentions. One, I wanted to find out which one they thought was the hardest, and two, I wanted to find out which one they thought their school needed more than any other. I was impressed with how open some of the guys were with what dare they thought was hard. Here are the dares we covered.
Dare to be humble.
Dare to put God before money.
Dare to not judge others.
Dare to love God before anything else.
Dare to live up to your word.
When we got to what they thought was the most important dare for their schools they all said that the dare to not judge was the most important.
All of them had different reasons, but it seemed that the prevalent theme at each school is that people are classified into certain groups, which classifies their behavior and what they are expected to do. Everybody had a story from their school (even the homeschooled kids did)...
I asked them if they thought it was possible for their schools to be rid of judgementalism. Nobody thought it was possible. One kid said it was possible if everybody got "saved". To which I replied by asking who thinks they are saved and who still judges people. Not surprisingly, most of the kids raised their hands in response to both questions. (I'm not downplaying "Being Saved"...just pointing out that even the "good side" is doing the judging)
But this issue of judging others...I think the kids were astute to notice. Most of them have been victims of it. But most of them don't think they can do anything to change the system. It was actually happening right there in the circle while we were talking (some guys made fun of another guy for the shoes he was wearing...)
But I think I should hit this up a couple more times through the youth ministry process...maybe make it a part of who we are as a group. We are a group who leaves the judging to jesus, and the assist Him in the loving of the whole world...whew...that's a hard one to live up to.
So, yesterday to review I had two intentions. One, I wanted to find out which one they thought was the hardest, and two, I wanted to find out which one they thought their school needed more than any other. I was impressed with how open some of the guys were with what dare they thought was hard. Here are the dares we covered.
Dare to be humble.
Dare to put God before money.
Dare to not judge others.
Dare to love God before anything else.
Dare to live up to your word.
When we got to what they thought was the most important dare for their schools they all said that the dare to not judge was the most important.
All of them had different reasons, but it seemed that the prevalent theme at each school is that people are classified into certain groups, which classifies their behavior and what they are expected to do. Everybody had a story from their school (even the homeschooled kids did)...
I asked them if they thought it was possible for their schools to be rid of judgementalism. Nobody thought it was possible. One kid said it was possible if everybody got "saved". To which I replied by asking who thinks they are saved and who still judges people. Not surprisingly, most of the kids raised their hands in response to both questions. (I'm not downplaying "Being Saved"...just pointing out that even the "good side" is doing the judging)
But this issue of judging others...I think the kids were astute to notice. Most of them have been victims of it. But most of them don't think they can do anything to change the system. It was actually happening right there in the circle while we were talking (some guys made fun of another guy for the shoes he was wearing...)
But I think I should hit this up a couple more times through the youth ministry process...maybe make it a part of who we are as a group. We are a group who leaves the judging to jesus, and the assist Him in the loving of the whole world...whew...that's a hard one to live up to.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
A Cute Kid
Well, my good friend, Sam, has a brother named Kyle (who is also a cool guy). Kyle has a baby. That makes Sam an Uncle. Uncle Sam. You might have heard that name before. He's so popular his name precedes him.
Anyway, here's a picture of that cute nephew of his. The title is "Mischievous Naked".
Help, Help
I was walking from my office to the copy room that is right across the hallway when I heard some mumbling from down the hall. I hear, "Help, Help, Help", and I turn and see a woman stumbling down the hall crying out for Pastor Eric. The poor woman is heavily under the influence and all she can mutter is "Help".
I wonder if this is the way many of us walk around this world. Except we are this way in our spirits, and we don't give our spirits voices.
I wonder if this is the way many of us walk around this world. Except we are this way in our spirits, and we don't give our spirits voices.
Monday, September 19, 2005
My Friend Dave
Well, I've got a friend. His name is Dave. He is currently serving with a mission organization in Europe. He's got great stories and he's a swell musician. He's using those talents to bring the good news/life to eastern european people. I like Dave. I think you should too. Check out his thoughts on myspace (http://www.myspace.com/daveapplegate).
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
DLC 3
Quick highlights from day...
1. Starbucks for breakfast again!
2. Walking to "work". We walked down to the convention center in the morning. I would love to live in a situation where I could just walk to my office. There's a cool connection to the community through that.
3. I remembered the ladies name who is from nebraska. It's Dynette. She won the iPod nano giveaway. I'm slightly jealous. I wanted to give it to Aubs, since I have a mini. But I think Dynette totally deserves it. She's so great.
4. I met some more people who know my parents. It's cool to have parents who have made an impact on different lives. it's like they've created ripples that have come back to hit me in unlikely ways. I hope my life creates ripples like theirs did and does.
5. We toured the possible hotels for NYC. Whew, that was a lot of walking. It's a tough decision. we'd like to be close to the convention center, but we'd also like nice sized rooms and a hotel that can accomodate us.
6. Morning seminar on life through the lens of a Jewish mindset by Darren Ojeda. He is a bivocational pastor who works in a Jewish Orthodox Synagogue and has developed some really quality relationships with the Jews there. From those relationships, he has found a deeper walk with the Messiah, and a deeper understanding of who God is (God is what God does...Jewish thought is always functional and practical).
7. Lunch with Darren and friends from the region. Stretch, Kevin, Terry, Adam and more went to lunch at some local pub. it was a good time to talk.
8. Got to talk with Aubrey for a little bit. Boy I miss being with her. I can't wait to be home.
9. Another midnight "emergent" conversation. (Funny, we almost went to a "Hooters" like place, without knowing what it was, but once we went in and saw how the ladies dressed, we walked out.) We focused on the detriments of thinking of our faith as a "personal relationship", and about how we can move from individual focus, to world wide focus...it was just great. we added 3 more guys to the conversation...it was Brian, Kevin, me, Bryce, James, Joel, Kyle, Scott and Mike. Everybody but me, Brian and Kevin were from Ohio. Craziness.
10. Dave Curtiss' encouragement that we are in the movement of the Messiah, bringing hope and restoration to our world!
1. Starbucks for breakfast again!
2. Walking to "work". We walked down to the convention center in the morning. I would love to live in a situation where I could just walk to my office. There's a cool connection to the community through that.
3. I remembered the ladies name who is from nebraska. It's Dynette. She won the iPod nano giveaway. I'm slightly jealous. I wanted to give it to Aubs, since I have a mini. But I think Dynette totally deserves it. She's so great.
4. I met some more people who know my parents. It's cool to have parents who have made an impact on different lives. it's like they've created ripples that have come back to hit me in unlikely ways. I hope my life creates ripples like theirs did and does.
5. We toured the possible hotels for NYC. Whew, that was a lot of walking. It's a tough decision. we'd like to be close to the convention center, but we'd also like nice sized rooms and a hotel that can accomodate us.
6. Morning seminar on life through the lens of a Jewish mindset by Darren Ojeda. He is a bivocational pastor who works in a Jewish Orthodox Synagogue and has developed some really quality relationships with the Jews there. From those relationships, he has found a deeper walk with the Messiah, and a deeper understanding of who God is (God is what God does...Jewish thought is always functional and practical).
7. Lunch with Darren and friends from the region. Stretch, Kevin, Terry, Adam and more went to lunch at some local pub. it was a good time to talk.
8. Got to talk with Aubrey for a little bit. Boy I miss being with her. I can't wait to be home.
9. Another midnight "emergent" conversation. (Funny, we almost went to a "Hooters" like place, without knowing what it was, but once we went in and saw how the ladies dressed, we walked out.) We focused on the detriments of thinking of our faith as a "personal relationship", and about how we can move from individual focus, to world wide focus...it was just great. we added 3 more guys to the conversation...it was Brian, Kevin, me, Bryce, James, Joel, Kyle, Scott and Mike. Everybody but me, Brian and Kevin were from Ohio. Craziness.
10. Dave Curtiss' encouragement that we are in the movement of the Messiah, bringing hope and restoration to our world!
Cynicism Refound
Well, it happened.
I got on the plane to get to St. Louis and the first words from my passenger friend were cynical remarks and included the word "stupid".
It goes with what Hornby said in his book...cynicism is the common language...
I got on the plane to get to St. Louis and the first words from my passenger friend were cynical remarks and included the word "stupid".
It goes with what Hornby said in his book...cynicism is the common language...
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
DLC 2
My four highlights from today.
1. Starbucks for breakfast! I had a Venti White Mocha and an apple-ginger spice loaf (Aubrey would have loved the loaf).
2. Throwing a football on the St. Louis Rams field.
3. The evening worship time was what Dave Curtiss calls, "God-drenched." Dave spoke about the broken state of youth ministry (perhaps even the complete misdirection of it), which really struck a chord in my spirit. He said that Barna says that close to 88% of 20-30 year olds who were involved in youth groups are no longer involved in church. What happened? He pretty much left us at the sad point, but said it was time for youth ministry to be redirected or thrown out for something different. After he did that, our worship leader sensed a real need just to pray for direction for youth ministry and the brokeness of our kids. I got a major sense that I needed to seek the Lord, rather than go into my brain and try to pull out ideas. Then we had a prayer time for each other, which was really encouraging.
4. The 'emergent/whatever' conversation at Friday's, 2 blocks from our hotel. Brian Hull (check out his blog at http://gilborules.blogspot.com) gathered some people together, and we worked through some good issues. Main focuses were how to handle homosexuals with grace (or how to teach our people to handle homosexuals with grace), the importance of Scripture, and how to help the Nazarene church become more missional and open.
1. Starbucks for breakfast! I had a Venti White Mocha and an apple-ginger spice loaf (Aubrey would have loved the loaf).
2. Throwing a football on the St. Louis Rams field.
3. The evening worship time was what Dave Curtiss calls, "God-drenched." Dave spoke about the broken state of youth ministry (perhaps even the complete misdirection of it), which really struck a chord in my spirit. He said that Barna says that close to 88% of 20-30 year olds who were involved in youth groups are no longer involved in church. What happened? He pretty much left us at the sad point, but said it was time for youth ministry to be redirected or thrown out for something different. After he did that, our worship leader sensed a real need just to pray for direction for youth ministry and the brokeness of our kids. I got a major sense that I needed to seek the Lord, rather than go into my brain and try to pull out ideas. Then we had a prayer time for each other, which was really encouraging.
4. The 'emergent/whatever' conversation at Friday's, 2 blocks from our hotel. Brian Hull (check out his blog at http://gilborules.blogspot.com) gathered some people together, and we worked through some good issues. Main focuses were how to handle homosexuals with grace (or how to teach our people to handle homosexuals with grace), the importance of Scripture, and how to help the Nazarene church become more missional and open.
Monday, September 12, 2005
At DLC
Well, DLC started today. Kevin got in yesterday and we went to Union Station (a place where Aubrey and I stayed on our honeymoon roadtrip). Then this morning we went down to Starbucks and chilled for a while.
We had to cool opportunity to set up the atmospheric stuff for the evening. We got to cajole the hotel management into letting us borrow 300 pound marble coffee tables. We also persuaded them to let us use the sham pillows for altar kneelers. I think our little area looks rather sweet. We're going to set up a computer station where people can follow online labrynth's, sacred space, power point picture slides. That should be cool. I've been searching the net for pictures of Jesus to use in the slide. I'll put them on my next post.
Met some people from Nebraska and Missouri tonight. Dennis, (pulling a blank), Mona and Mark (from Mizzou). Pulling a blank is a lady working as a pastor. She says that the percentage of woman Nazarene pastor's is %20. Not bad, but only 60 of those are actually head pastor's. The rest serve in support roles. Anyway, I am impressed by her courage and love for the people out there, even though she recieves flak for being a woman pastor.
The worship segment tonight was pretty cool. Mark (something) spoke about vulnerability with each other, and about how all of us compare ourselves to each other, and how that is not the heart of Christ. Then the worship leader led us in songs he had written, which were all very insightful. My favorite part was when we were singing, "Less of me and more of you" to God, and the director told us to sing it to each other. That was awqward, but neat.
We can see the arch from our window. We're like the closest hotel to the arch.
Well, I'm gonna head to bed.
We had to cool opportunity to set up the atmospheric stuff for the evening. We got to cajole the hotel management into letting us borrow 300 pound marble coffee tables. We also persuaded them to let us use the sham pillows for altar kneelers. I think our little area looks rather sweet. We're going to set up a computer station where people can follow online labrynth's, sacred space, power point picture slides. That should be cool. I've been searching the net for pictures of Jesus to use in the slide. I'll put them on my next post.
Met some people from Nebraska and Missouri tonight. Dennis, (pulling a blank), Mona and Mark (from Mizzou). Pulling a blank is a lady working as a pastor. She says that the percentage of woman Nazarene pastor's is %20. Not bad, but only 60 of those are actually head pastor's. The rest serve in support roles. Anyway, I am impressed by her courage and love for the people out there, even though she recieves flak for being a woman pastor.
The worship segment tonight was pretty cool. Mark (something) spoke about vulnerability with each other, and about how all of us compare ourselves to each other, and how that is not the heart of Christ. Then the worship leader led us in songs he had written, which were all very insightful. My favorite part was when we were singing, "Less of me and more of you" to God, and the director told us to sing it to each other. That was awqward, but neat.
We can see the arch from our window. We're like the closest hotel to the arch.
Well, I'm gonna head to bed.
Hologram Jesus
I'm working through A Generous Orthodoxy by MClaren and just finished the chapter called The Seven Jesuses I Have Known. In that chapter he talks about how he was introduced to Christ through seven different branches of the church. He points out the differences between the perspectives, noting their strengths and weaknesses. He suggests that the best picture/understanding of Christ is one that takes into account all of them.
He says, "Up until recent decades, each tribe felt it had to uphold one image of Jesus and undermine some or all of the others. What if, instead, we saw these various emphases as partial projections that together can create a hologram: a richer, multidimensional vision of Jesus?"
He says, "Up until recent decades, each tribe felt it had to uphold one image of Jesus and undermine some or all of the others. What if, instead, we saw these various emphases as partial projections that together can create a hologram: a richer, multidimensional vision of Jesus?"
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Jon Powers is Getting Married
Well, this weekend, my college roommate, Jon Powers is joining the ranks of marriagehood (if it can be described as a hood). I'm psyched to go to his wedding and hang with him and our friends from college. Aubrey and I are heading out tomorrow morning to drive to Cincinnati.
While we're over there, my friend Sam (a guy I talk to like every wednesday night with Nate...nothing like a little three way conversation...thank Bill Gates for technology), is going to drive up and we're going to have breakfast on Sunday. Really looking forward to that.
And after that, I'm flying down to St. Louis for DLC, an event which is supposed to help me in the planning of NYC for our district. It's also an event where my good friends, Brian Hull and Kevin Snow, will be attending. And I think there will be other cool people there. Can't wait!
While we're over there, my friend Sam (a guy I talk to like every wednesday night with Nate...nothing like a little three way conversation...thank Bill Gates for technology), is going to drive up and we're going to have breakfast on Sunday. Really looking forward to that.
And after that, I'm flying down to St. Louis for DLC, an event which is supposed to help me in the planning of NYC for our district. It's also an event where my good friends, Brian Hull and Kevin Snow, will be attending. And I think there will be other cool people there. Can't wait!
Thursday, September 01, 2005
A Slow Day
It's amazing that light can be so distracting. I was just starting to type, when I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye...movement on the couch, something shifted underneath the couch. so, I moved my eyes to figure out what was going on...and it moved again. It was the reflection of light from the door at Panera. Nothing more. It reminded me of when a cat chases a laser light...
Anyway, I'm at Panera bread, just tooling around on my day off. So, hopefully I'll get some more pictures on my blog from our AZ trip and other things.
I'm also setting up a blog site for ministry ideas with some of my friends...
And it looks like I'm going to be able to chat with my parents on MSN messenger. Thank God for that stuff.
Anyway, I'm at Panera bread, just tooling around on my day off. So, hopefully I'll get some more pictures on my blog from our AZ trip and other things.
I'm also setting up a blog site for ministry ideas with some of my friends...
And it looks like I'm going to be able to chat with my parents on MSN messenger. Thank God for that stuff.
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