God speaks to me in digital clocks.
Okay that probably sounds ridiculous, but before you haul me off to the loony bin, let me explain. I'm a bit of a "numbers" guy, I like math and know some Biblical imagery associated with numbers. So it would mostly make sense that God would use the numbers on a digital clock to speak to me.
How it usually happens is that something really cool is happening, for instance, praying with a friend and speaking encouragement to him, or the phone rings from that one person I just needed to talk to, or I'm perplexed about something and finally feel like I'm receiving the courage to go a certain direction with it. Then, a glance clockward. Quick, not premeditated. Just in the flow of the events. And the clock says?
>12:34<
This happened incredibly often for awhile, especially last fall. Could be AM or PM, they were equally frequent. The simple one-two-three-four that let me know things are in order, God is in control, our loving Lord is sovereign over all. And after that glance I continue doing whatever awesome thing I was doing, but probably with a huge smile and renewed vigor and a heart rejoicing in the Lord.
It was crazy how often this was happening. And it wasn't always 12:34, if I saw a 3:21 it would also bring the same joy, just 12:34 was the most common. Then gradually, I was seeing 2:34 all over the place. Yes, I was staying up past 2:30a more than I should have, which was definitely part of it. But it still seemed cool, just missing that one on the front.
The funny part is that this also mirrored my real life. I was working a lot to serve the Lord, but I had lost that first love for Him. He wasn't number one in my life. As ridiculous as it sounds, this all got restored in a huge way when I went to the OneThing Conference in Kansas City (you just can't make up stuff like this). The "1" that had fallen off my clock was addressed full on with a 4 day getaway that was ALL about falling more in love with Jesus. It was glorious, encountering Him in such a real way that He again became my one thing, my first desire.
And so what did I see on clocks everywhere for the next couple months after this conference, when He was restored as number 1 in my life?
>11:11<
True story.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
passion.... meh...
Tonight at Salt Stan preached on Romans 12:9-13. Four verses, eight sentences, twelve commands. It was a thick sermon of lots of application. He said it was bascially eight sermons, on those eight different sentences, and hopefully one of them would hit you.
The one that hit me was "Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord." Stan went on to talk about zeal and its opposite, duty. Just watch the new wide eyed freshmen on a sports team, running full out sprints during warm ups, while the seasoned seniors are lollygagging out of duty. A good picture to test yourself with: were would you be on that sports team?
It hit me pretty square. I've looked at this list of commands before, and the one that hits me usually as my strike zone is this very one. Never be lacking in zeal. The Lord has blessed me so that my life has the grace on it to exhibit some zeal at times. But lately? Not really. I've just been floating between a part time job and the lack of a second part time job. Filling the hours with random crap. Which I suppose is the biggest challenge if you're a zealous person. How do you keep the fire burning?
Passion is already lacking in our day. Cool indifference was the mode of the day in my civil engineering classes. Nobody really talked or was allowed to enjoy anything. Everybody rolled their eyes at the kids who sat in the front asked lots of questions and tucked their shirts in. Shuffle in. Take care of your business. Shuffle out. And I guess at the bar Friday night you could cut loose. I guess.
I don't want to conform to the pattern of this world. God, you've been transforming my heart, but we ain't there yet. Give me a persevering zeal for your Name and for your Glory and for the things that awaken my heart here on earth to serve you. I want to burn, Jesus. Set me ablaze. All it takes is a little spark. I certainly feel like dry tinder here at the moment. But Lord I need some thicker wood on the fire, too.
While I was at home during the Chirstmas holiday, we raked a lot of leaves. I know, it's almost inhumane to rake that many leaves during the Chirstmas holiday. By the end of the day we had this big pile of leaves and we threw in some dry reeds too. They grow near the burn pile and are useful for starting the fire. So we started the dry reeds and the leaves. The flame would quickly jump high and hot. Then it would just as soon die out to nothing but some smoking leaves. This scenario repeated about 10 times before we were fed up with it. The leaves and dry reeds were good for flaring up and getting a flame started. But to actually burn the pile, we had to catch fire on wooden sticks, in a thicker and thicker progression of wood. Once we had some logs going, it was easy to manage the thick steady log at the base of the leave pile, steadily chewing on the leaves that fell into the flame.
Lord, in the same way, may you temper me in that I catch flame in the substantial parts. The persevering parts of me that don't just get excited and flare up, but the parts that can steadily burn. Lord, may I never be lacking in zeal. Stir up the flame of passion. I want to keep my spiritual fervor. Help me do this, Lord, that I may serve You!
The one that hit me was "Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord." Stan went on to talk about zeal and its opposite, duty. Just watch the new wide eyed freshmen on a sports team, running full out sprints during warm ups, while the seasoned seniors are lollygagging out of duty. A good picture to test yourself with: were would you be on that sports team?
It hit me pretty square. I've looked at this list of commands before, and the one that hits me usually as my strike zone is this very one. Never be lacking in zeal. The Lord has blessed me so that my life has the grace on it to exhibit some zeal at times. But lately? Not really. I've just been floating between a part time job and the lack of a second part time job. Filling the hours with random crap. Which I suppose is the biggest challenge if you're a zealous person. How do you keep the fire burning?
Passion is already lacking in our day. Cool indifference was the mode of the day in my civil engineering classes. Nobody really talked or was allowed to enjoy anything. Everybody rolled their eyes at the kids who sat in the front asked lots of questions and tucked their shirts in. Shuffle in. Take care of your business. Shuffle out. And I guess at the bar Friday night you could cut loose. I guess.
I don't want to conform to the pattern of this world. God, you've been transforming my heart, but we ain't there yet. Give me a persevering zeal for your Name and for your Glory and for the things that awaken my heart here on earth to serve you. I want to burn, Jesus. Set me ablaze. All it takes is a little spark. I certainly feel like dry tinder here at the moment. But Lord I need some thicker wood on the fire, too.
While I was at home during the Chirstmas holiday, we raked a lot of leaves. I know, it's almost inhumane to rake that many leaves during the Chirstmas holiday. By the end of the day we had this big pile of leaves and we threw in some dry reeds too. They grow near the burn pile and are useful for starting the fire. So we started the dry reeds and the leaves. The flame would quickly jump high and hot. Then it would just as soon die out to nothing but some smoking leaves. This scenario repeated about 10 times before we were fed up with it. The leaves and dry reeds were good for flaring up and getting a flame started. But to actually burn the pile, we had to catch fire on wooden sticks, in a thicker and thicker progression of wood. Once we had some logs going, it was easy to manage the thick steady log at the base of the leave pile, steadily chewing on the leaves that fell into the flame.
Lord, in the same way, may you temper me in that I catch flame in the substantial parts. The persevering parts of me that don't just get excited and flare up, but the parts that can steadily burn. Lord, may I never be lacking in zeal. Stir up the flame of passion. I want to keep my spiritual fervor. Help me do this, Lord, that I may serve You!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Kerusso!
Here's the latest movement that I'm thinking of starting. It's called "Kerusso." Sounds cool, right? Want in?
Okay, I guess I'll give you the backstory:
So on my sister's birthday a week or two ago, we made this really random video. Actually, it was just a picture slideshow. We put on funky costumes, took a bajillion photos of us in random poses (sort of like a stop-motion), made a bangin soundtrack, and then posted it on facebook. Responses poured in. I think 8 people had commented on the video before facebook took it down for excessive awesomeness. Okay, they actually took it down because the "bangin soundtrack" was a copyrighted song. But people went nuts for this really random video with no reason or plot or end.
The moral of the story? People are bored. They will watch, read, listen to, or download basically anything. Especially if they know you.
Well, that's one way to look at it anyway. At the retreat this past weekend Brandon Barker had a breakout session where he talked about the church and the internet/technology, and how the former is resistant to change at times while the latter is changing every second. Also, the internet has shifted from a place that you go to get information to a place that you go to be a part of the conversation. See: time spent on facebook, twitter.
This obviously is a new part of the culture. There was a day when people didn't have facebook or youtube or the internet or tv's or even radios. I think people mostly just sat around and talked back then. Kinda lame. But actually, I bet it was fun. Just in the town square, chillin on benches, chatting about what's going on. And if you think about it, we're just trying to make facebook and twitter our new townsquare where we chat about the latest whatever. So we're the lame ones.
Back to the movement and the title of this post. Kerusso. This is a big Greek word loaded with meaning. It means to herald, to proclaim, or to publish, public announcement. They usually just translate it "preach" in the new testament. So it would seem that it was in these town square, chillin and grillin times that Jesus or John the Baptizer would grab their audiences and say things like "repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near!"
That's what they did back then to kerusso. But now we do have the internet and facebook and youtube. How much more can we be kerusso-ing in the information age? My idea is to enable and encourage people to post their God stories all over the place. It was shocking how much conversation and attention a silly slideshow of dress-up generated. How much more if people are declaring the awesome things that God is doing in their lives! I already have videos I want to make where I tell the story of the car battery I prayed for or Melinda's jaw being healed or the witch doctor in Africa coming to Christ or Reggie repenting on the dorm floor or whatever else I can think of to properly herald, trumpet, and proclaim the Glory of God!
What would you want to kerusso from the rooftops? Or from the internet?
Okay, I guess I'll give you the backstory:
So on my sister's birthday a week or two ago, we made this really random video. Actually, it was just a picture slideshow. We put on funky costumes, took a bajillion photos of us in random poses (sort of like a stop-motion), made a bangin soundtrack, and then posted it on facebook. Responses poured in. I think 8 people had commented on the video before facebook took it down for excessive awesomeness. Okay, they actually took it down because the "bangin soundtrack" was a copyrighted song. But people went nuts for this really random video with no reason or plot or end.
The moral of the story? People are bored. They will watch, read, listen to, or download basically anything. Especially if they know you.
Well, that's one way to look at it anyway. At the retreat this past weekend Brandon Barker had a breakout session where he talked about the church and the internet/technology, and how the former is resistant to change at times while the latter is changing every second. Also, the internet has shifted from a place that you go to get information to a place that you go to be a part of the conversation. See: time spent on facebook, twitter.
This obviously is a new part of the culture. There was a day when people didn't have facebook or youtube or the internet or tv's or even radios. I think people mostly just sat around and talked back then. Kinda lame. But actually, I bet it was fun. Just in the town square, chillin on benches, chatting about what's going on. And if you think about it, we're just trying to make facebook and twitter our new townsquare where we chat about the latest whatever. So we're the lame ones.
Back to the movement and the title of this post. Kerusso. This is a big Greek word loaded with meaning. It means to herald, to proclaim, or to publish, public announcement. They usually just translate it "preach" in the new testament. So it would seem that it was in these town square, chillin and grillin times that Jesus or John the Baptizer would grab their audiences and say things like "repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near!"
That's what they did back then to kerusso. But now we do have the internet and facebook and youtube. How much more can we be kerusso-ing in the information age? My idea is to enable and encourage people to post their God stories all over the place. It was shocking how much conversation and attention a silly slideshow of dress-up generated. How much more if people are declaring the awesome things that God is doing in their lives! I already have videos I want to make where I tell the story of the car battery I prayed for or Melinda's jaw being healed or the witch doctor in Africa coming to Christ or Reggie repenting on the dorm floor or whatever else I can think of to properly herald, trumpet, and proclaim the Glory of God!
What would you want to kerusso from the rooftops? Or from the internet?
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