Spoiled

"Podcasting is a blessing and a curse. I had no idea anybody could preach an entire message where Jesus was the point until I heard Mark Driscoll. But it’s a curse too, because it has seriously spoiled us for appreciating our own pastors..." Jared Wilson

I am living this quote right now. I was part of Roxbury holiness camp this past week. Four days and three night around the Body of Christ from all different BIC churches in the area. That was a fantastic experience and I can't wait to have it again next year.

The other side of Roxbury is the services. There is a service every night during the week and a morning and night service on the weekends. There are also 2 sessions every day during the week. One in the morning and the other in the afternoon.

I was part of the 1:30 session were we talked about how to "be" the Church instead of just "going" to Church. It was a great class were everybody participated and gave their insights on what being the church really looks like.

The night services however were an entirely different story. After being spoiled by podcasts from Mark Driscoll, John Piper, Francis Chan and Matt Chandler it's a little difficult to listen to a speaker preach about anything but Jesus.

I wasn't there the whole 10 days so I'm not sure what was preached earlier in the week, but while I was there there was not enough Jesus... I'm sorry, it just really bothered me.

Now let me explain something, the night services were packed! I mean some people had to sit outside it was so full. What a wonderful opportunity to share with all those people the only reason we were all sitting there, Jesus. What a wonderful opportunity to lead people into repentance and to start a heart transformation that leads to the constant pursue of God.

But that's not what I experienced in the night services I attended. It was more about getting everybody in a high, about making people emotional. Now don't get me wrong, the speakers were good, their messages were good but they were not Jesus centered.

One speaker went a whole hour talking about the Holy Spirit and God and how they want you not to give up on your dreams, but no Jesus, I don't remember him ever mentioning the name of Jesus(except at the end of his prayer), it was crazy! Not only that but he had no Bible verses to back any of it up. Yet when he asked people to come to the front tons of people went up.

Another speaker during the Sunday morning service had a wonderful message that called people to repent and follow Jesus, only two people went up to the front.

I realize that a lot of these christian functions are really big on the "get people emotional" type of thing, but you know what, I can watch Oprah and get emotional. I even cry!
They want big altar calls and they need people to get emotional to get them, I guess talking about Jesus and repentance doesn't get people emotional enough.

I wish I was able to explain better how after listening to Pastors like Driscoll, Chandler(podcasts) I get angry and sometimes offended. How I have to wrestle with all of the things they said in my heart and come to the conclusion that I'm sinning, that I need to repent and ask Jesus to transform my heart to be more like His.

That is the goal, that should be the goal, transformation and the pursuing of God through Jesus, not a lot of tears over a sad or moving story.

I'm spoiled, I want more Jesus.

Break's Over

I can't believe it is the middle of April already. Easter break was so nice, the kids got to spend time with the grandparents, I got to spend time reading...books, blogs, magazines... you name it, I read it!
I also had time to listen to some podcast I had downloaded from itunes. I've been listening to Mark Driscoll, Matt Chandler and John Piper.

Mark Driscoll has this awesome sermon on 1Peter 3:7, if you have itunes and you're married, you need to download it(you can download the audio or video sermon) you will not be disappointed!

Easter is a great time to just stop and think, or meditate rather on everything that God is, on what Jesus did and what that means for us.
I read somewhere that Dr. James Dobson, (you know him from Focus on the Family) said something about losing the battle when Obama won(he later said that's not really what he meant). I find it weird that he said this right after we celebrated the greatest day on the believers calendar, Easter. Resurrection. The day Jesus won over death.

I think Focus in the family has it backwards, we cannot try to make this world worthy of God. Moses tried that back in the day with Israel and he failed, time after time he failed. Jesus wants to transform people's hearts. That's where we need to start, in your heart.

After Iowa's Supreme Court legalized gay marriage I read a comment somebody made that was directed at believers. "Face it, you lost".

Face it, you lost... I remember thinking to myself.."is that what they think we are doing this for..to win? Do they think we see this as defeat. We lost." I started thinking about Jesus, what He did on the cross, dying for our sins. I thought to myself and maybe it was the Holy Spirit empowering me to really understand what is going on here. We haven't lost, we already WON!
Because of the victory of Jesus on the cross, we can now be in relationship with God again, just like we were in the beginning, you know Adam and Eve. Before Eve ate what she shouldn't have eaten, she and her husband enjoyed a close relationship with God. Once she sinned against Him that was broken. The only way we could be close to Him again was through sacrifices, lots of them. And even that didn't last long.

But now because of Jesus we can have that close relationship once again. Not only that but Jesus said that we will live forever with Him and His Father in a place he is preparing for us right as we speak!
We are not trying to change the world because we think we are better than everybody else or because we are somehow more righteous that you...only Jesus can do that and He will! We are not trying to get people to stop listening to rock & roll, stop drinking or smoking or wear suits and skirts.

Here's the deal, we haven't lost anything...we won because Jesus won. This world is not going to last. Is not going to get better, it's going to get worse. We know this because God's word says it is. What would be the point in trying to make this world better when Jesus himself told us is not happening till He gets back and sets everything right again?

We haven't lost, you are the one who is lost. We are trying to point that out to you. You're lost!
You need a savior because sin is killing you and you cannot save yourself. The stars are not going to save you, the sun is not going to save you... not even Oprah is going to save you.

Only Jesus can do that. There are not many different paths to Heaven and God. There is only one way and that is through Jesus, that's what the Bible says and that's what I believe!

For the person who made the comment, face it you lost. You have no idea what you are saying, and I'll be praying for you to come to the Truth.

Sick Days

I've been sick since Saturday and getting worse by the day, I can't breathe, my throat burns every time I swallow anything and sinus pressure every time I try to breathe through my nose.
I did enjoy the Super Bowl!! Go Steelers, but I was not able to sleep at all that night.

I canceled school on Monday, was going to cancel it today but then decided to just have A7 do her phonics, copy work and her math, no story time this week because talking hurts too much.
The only reason we went to piano lessons today was because last week it was canceled because of snow and ice and I didn't want to miss it for two weeks in a row.

I've been having lots of soupy stuff and hot chocolate, they feel so good on my throat! I may not go to Clubs tomorrow if I don't start feeling better...Please pray for me!!!

How Do We Know?

How do we know when God has called us to do something? I used to think that God would only call me to do things I was good at, things that wouldn't take a lot of my time, things that I would not be inconvinienced by. That's what I used to think.

That was before I became a mother. Once I became a MOM I saw things a lot different.
In the beginning I was not very good at it, it was taking way too much of my time, actually it was taking ALL of my time, and let's face it waking up every two to three hours a night to feed a baby is not very convinient I don't care who you are!

But then, I started to rely more on the Lord than on myself. I knew there was NO WAY I was going to be able to do this mothering thing without HIM. You know what? It got better!

Being a mother is still something I feel I'm not that great at, it still takes a lot of my time and there are many times that I'm still inconvenienced by it. But I'm having a blast, what I'm getting in return it's sooo worth the "inconvenience"!!!
I know that this is one thing God called me to do.

God has called me to do other things and at first I felt the same way I did when I first became a Mom. No way God, this is going to take too much of my time... I don't think I'm going to be very good at this God...this is way to inconvenient for me right now God...

I knew there was a need, I knew help was needed, but I kept telling myself I would be no good at this. I took a leap of faith and as I look back I can see God's hand in everything I've done.
There more I rely on Him the easier things seem to get and they become much more enjoyable.

There is a boldness that develops, there's this feeling of "Yes, I can do this because God has already taken care of it"!

How do you explain this to other people? How do you let them know that Yes! You can do this because God has already taken care of it!

We have a great need at Clubs, we need help...all of the kids that show up on Wednesday nights need help. We need people to love them as Jesus loves them. We need people to teach them about Jesus' love for them. Many of them don't get that at home, many of their parents don't even have a Bible.

We have an opportunity here to do what God wants us to do. At first is going to look like you'll be no good at it, at first it's going to look like it's going to take too much of your time and yes you will be inconvenienced by it. But as you rely 100% on the Lord He will show you different.

I have heard all the excuses in the book but God can break through every single one of them!
How do we know when God has called us to do something? Look around, is there a need? Is help needed, then there's a good chance God is calling YOU to help.

The Santa Debate

I have a problem with lying. I don't like doing it. It wasn't always this way. When I was younger I could lie with the best of them, until the day I got caught in a lie. It was not fun. I was 10yo at the time. Ever since that day I've had a real problem with lying.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not some holier than thou person, there are plenty of things that I do that I should have a problem with and I don't!(spending too much money, being rude to kids who are mean to my kids, eating my kids' Halloween candy...)

Which brings me to the subject of Santa Claus. Now, I don't know about you but I never believed in Santa. Sure it was fun to sing about him and pretend he was real, but I always knew it was my parents or rather grandparents who got us the gifts, not Santa. It did not spoil anything for me. I still enjoyed the Christmas "magic", even though I knew the truth.

I heard a Mom, a Christian Mom, complaining that some 6yo boy told her 4yo girl that Santa was not real. She went on to criticize the parents of the boy for telling their son the truth and spoiling it for the rest of the kids who still believed the in "magic" of Santa. According to this woman, her daughter went on to tell this boy that he was wrong and that she was right, Santa is real. The mother was very proud of the way her daughter stood up to this kid.

Does anybody else see something wrong with this picture?!?!?!
This little girl is "standing up" for her beliefs, her FALSE beliefs and her mother is proud of that. She thinks the boy is wrong when in fact he is being more honest with her than her own Mother!! I wonder if when this little girl finally learns there is no Santa her mom will tell her to go apologize to the boy who told her the truth all those years ago. Because she should!!

My daughter knows Santa is not real(remember my problem with lying), we still sing Santa songs, watch Santa movies, and read Santa books. We have fun with Santa but she knows that Santa is a fairy tale just like Cinderella or the Easter bunny. It hasn't spoiled her Christmas, the magic is still there! More importantly, the day somebody tells her there is no God, she'll know she can come to me and I will tell her the TRUTH!

It's too bad that the birth of our Savior is not "magic" enough for our kids.
Maybe this is something I should really have a problem with!

Ok, I'm done ranting...go back to your shopping!!
Merry Christmas!