I have watched this video over and over. One guy, made one decision, that changed a whole community. Check it out and then decide what decisions you make that have the potential to change a whole community.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNn7SXAyuhQ

Are you a consumer or contributer? As in the words of my good friend Chris King. Now go and try something different. Have a blessed week….

I wrote this blog on Monday January 2nd 2006…please read with the idea in mind that I was a single 22 year old boy…please read the excerpt that follows.

New years, pretty good time.  I am starting to realize though as I get older the whole idea of New Years is losing its Love.  I think its pretty sad too.  Its just not as exciting as it was when you were a kid.  Its just doesnt seem to be the same anymore, next year I want to try to make it more like it is and it was when you are younger.

In the year 2006 I am gonna…

Try to take a road trip across the US.

Start a band.

Finally pick somewhere to go to college (i’ll take suggestions).

Finally get to Africa.

If not Africa go backpacking in Europe with, you know who you are.

Possibly work one more summer at camp(I’m getting really old for this).

Somehow find a way to live with Daniel Lee for a period of time in hopes to become heavily inspired by who he is so I can write a story and a movie about it.

Try not to fall in love with a female just for this year(who am I kidding).

Try not to be so cynical and sarcastic.

try not to wear white after labor day(This comment already makes me fail to meet the above comment).

Become friends with someone that has no friends.

Visit Texas.

Somehow make a Large sum of money and Donate it to people who need it, but i mean people who actually really need it.

Meet Jim Carrey somehow.

Makeout with Salma Hayek somehow.

Start a dance pop band.

Take a whole lot more pictures.

And finally….Become President.

Its weird though, because This is the New Year and I dont feel any different….

Why do you suppose we make lists of things we need to do in our lives?  I love looking back at this list although only 4 years ago it seems like decades.  I was in a much different situation back then and most of the things on that list I did not get completed.  Now that I am older and married It’s funny how the juvenile things I did when I was younger seem now.  I thought these list were important and defined who I was and who I was going to be.  What it comes down to is…God is going to have you do the things on his list, not ours.  I think it is very important to have goals, and if you feel you need to list them, then definitely do so.  As far as making lists with sometimes outrageous things on them (see above list) I think it is more necessary to ask God, what he wants you to do this year, instead of planning it out yourself.  I have made a ton of lists like this and most times I never meet half of no less all of them.  On that list above I remeber that year I only did 2 things, the first thing was Go to camp one more summer, I did do that again, the next thing was I visited Texas to see my friend at the time, who is now my wife.  I didn’t need a list for those things to happen.  I’m glad they did though.  I don’t think lists are stupid, in some cases I think they are fun, but a lot of times the list can have ideas on them that are a bit hard to reach.  Do you think lists like these are important?  Do you think I was stupid or ignorant for doing such a list like this?  Do you think you could ask God what he wants you to do instead of trying to plan it yourself?

Our Junior High group recently went on a local missions trip called Tulsa Missions over spring break.  The students got the opportunity to serve local organizations in our city and bring hope to many.  At the end of the week, we asked our students what they had learned, and here are a few of the responses:

“I learned that God gave some of us blessings and resources and others not as much.  We should use the things that God gave us to help others.  That is why God gave us things.  Most people who are wealthy and have resources don’t worry about the people who aren’t doing so well, and I think we should.  We need to reach out and help people.”–Jordan R.

“This week when I went to CARA I met a boy named Keith–he was deaf–and I felt really bad for him, but I was so happy to see him having the time of his life playing football, basketball and breakdancing.  I also met a 20 year-old guy named Kerry, who had down syndrome, we built his family a wheelchair ramp.  There is a ton more about the homeless shelter; like it really touched my heart when I saw how fortunate I am to have a bed, house, car, food, water, and a loving family.”– Alexandra S.

“I learned that God can be everywhere, especially where you don’t expect it.  Also that even if you have almost nothing that you can still be happy and can laugh and smile no matter what your situation.  We have so much and we still want more, and 10 miles down the road there are people that can’t afford a tube of toothpaste.  We need to reach out and touch people all we can.”–Sam K.

Beautiful stuff from 7th and 8th grade students.

A thunderous night...

Yesterday we took the trip down the turnpike to Oklahoma City, to get a hotel and get checked in for Kristin’s OKC half marathon.  She had been training hard, and I hadn’t- so I hung with the boys (Maggie went to a work retreat at Camp Barnabas- check them out here)  and supported her run.  As we got into town there was crazy traffic and I knew why- it was game 4 of the OKC Thunder/ LA Lakers playoff series.  The Thunder had won their first home playoff game in franchise history, and there was a serious buzz in town about the team.  ”Fever pitch” may be a more accurate description.  We knew it could be historic, in sporting terms, and the chance to watch Kobe Bryant and team play our energetic upstarts the night before K’s run was a pretty cool opportunity.

While waiting for Kristin to check in and get her race packet, I checked craigslist for tickets and found some sweet deals.  There were several blocks of 4 tickets available for the very real deal of $300-$650 per ticket.  After Kristin got back the car I showed her the results of my search.  We could go for only $1200!  She looked at me sheepishly and said- “well, it would be a once in a lifetime experience.”  I nodded, and thought how cool it would be to take the boys and her to see what could be “historic”  and would indeed be a great memory for our family.

It was awesome.

The experience was awesome.

The Thunder won in a way no one could have imagined- the crowd was crazed, the young Thunder ran all over the aging Lakers.  It looked like a changing of the guard could be happening in a way that is usually talked about for years to come in sports circles.  It reminded me of when the Bulls swept the Lakers in 1991 for Michael Jordan’s first championship.  No one expected it.

The game was awesome.  My experience, however,  transcended the game. (note to readers- we didn’t go.) We ended up eating some great Italian food, I spoke words of life to my beautiful wife, and enjoyed some great time at the hotel pool with the boys playing like boys play. I caught the 2nd half of the game on TV in our room and was amazed with the play of the Thunder.   We woke up way early, and saw Kristin off for her half marathon run.  It was the 10th OKC Memorial run- and we remembered those who lost their lives in the bombing there 15 years ago.  Her performance was her best ever- and we cheered.  Upon visiting the Memorial, I saw a Marathon medal hanging on a chair with the name of a child who lost their life in the bombing.  I cried.  The sky was blue, and life moved on, and there was beauty in the midst of this painful place.

And while I missed Maggie- she was with beautiful people from Liberty Church at a beautiful place helping people.  This weekend was indeed a once in a lifetime experience.  For all of us. Everyday should be like that- even when they’re not that spectacular, even if they’re mundane.  Even if they don’t cost $1200 or are “historic.”  I wonder if with all of our talk about changing the world, that we might be missing it- looking for something “big” and not being aware of God present- here, today.  Can we be thankful today- and engage life, because it is a one time deal?

God bless and make today a once in a lifetime experience.

ck

Fences are so common place in American society today that I bet they are rarely even noticed. Oh, you might notice them when it’s time for you to build one.  Then, you become aware of all the varieties, height options, materials, styles, colors, and prices. Or maybe you’d notice if one was constructed because of you. I suspect that imprisoned criminals are very aware of the fences that surround them.

Have you given much thought to the purpose of fences? It seems fairly elementary. They are either erected to keep things out, or to keep things in. I’m hard pressed to think of any other purpose for a fence. Now they might be decorative and pretty, but the purpose is still the same; to sequester. Segregation is the sole purpose of most fences.

With that in mind, I’ve noticed lately that many Christian schools are surrounded by fences, many quite ornate and elaborate, but fences nonetheless. I wonder the purpose of these fences. Are they to keep in or to keep out? What do you think the “outsider” might see when he sees a Christian school fenced in and locked down? I wonder. I realize situations are more complex than a simple either/or, but I’d like to hear varied perspectives on this concept? Any thoughts?

RADIATING CHRIST

“Dear Jesus, help us spread your fragrance everywhere we go.

Flood our souls with your spirit and life.

Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours.

Shine through us, and be so in us, that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul.

Let them look up and see no longer us but only Jesus!

Stay with us, and then we shall begin to shine as you shine; so to shine as to be a light to others; the light O Jesus, will be all from you, none of it will be ours; it will be you, shining on others through us.

Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us.

Let us preach you without preaching, not by words but by our example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do.

The evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you.

Amen”  (taken from Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers: Prayer for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove)

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, may we be more intentional about being this life vs. just talking & thinking about it!

My wife and I went to the RAIN (Beatles tribute band) concert.

I believe I now have a sense of what is like to be on an LSD trip.  The band sang “Strawberry fields forever”, with lava-flow lighting and smoke.  Their words and instruments communicated to me a profound sense of relieve (like some stress had been lifted off my shoulders), and then to a disoriented semi-gloom (a light depression), followed by a nostalgic wish to return to the original sense of relieve.  I guessed that maybe that was the kind of LSD trip the author had experienced.  I felt I shared in the experience through their music.  Which kind-of prepared me for my next new experience.

When the band sang John Lennon’s  “Imagine” I had a freedom to join in the imagining.  Always before for me the song had been a guilty pleasure; intriguing words and melody that flew in the face of my faith.  “Imagine there is no heaven …” – heresy, right?  Yet, in these moments of existential freedom, I liked what I heard.  I saw the words in a new light.  Like, “what if we weren’t all sinners and bound to betray our own highest values?”  I pictured the John Lennon who wrote “Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can” sending millions of dollars on his own comforts.  And, I hurt for him.

I realized that John could only imagine.  He was a dreamer dreaming a dream he must have known he could never even do his part to bring about.  But, OH what a wonderful dream!!!  A world with no war, no greed, no lies, manipulation, or dominating each other.

I felt glad that John was a dreamer; glad that he imagined a better world.  I want that same world, and am free to pursue it through the healing God is working in my soul.  Through Christ Jesus I am offered the joy of heaven promised and the kingdom of heaven breaking into my life.  I get to dream with hope.  I get to imagine with confidence.

At New Life Ranch our overall theme verse is II Corinthians 5:17 which says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” My issue with this passage is that in my life the old (flesh) seems to continue to come to the forefront and the new takes a back seat. Whether it be the way I act towards my family or my co-workers, how I react to the poor and needy, or pride and selfishness the old still is present in my life. Therefore, when others come with their needs I often feel unworthy to help. “I’m just not there!” If I feel like if I am letting the flesh win, then how can I in return help others?  Then I don’t engage! In fact, I walk away more defeated and can eventually end up riding the pine and not engaging the game. Anybody else been there? Are you there now?

I think this is exactly where satan would have us reside. In fact he wants this feeling to penetrate the whole Church. You aren’t good enough! You are not there! You really can’t help! In fact, I believe this is where most people of the Church are at and this is why we see the lack of engagement in culture and in mess. We would rather manage our Christianity and stick to what gets us by so we continue to go to church, sing in the choir, and perhaps make an appearance in a small group but I personally have discontentment in this. This is what we have done for years. I believe others are there as well. There is not only discontentment with the church, but there is a discontentment in our very own lives. Have you taken time lately to sit down and say what kind of difference am I truly making? Have you asked your self the hard question of what is God calling me to? I have a hard time believing it is too sing in more choirs or set in the church pew a few more times a week. I truly believe he is calling us all to the mess of the world no matter what mess we are finding ourselves in.

Get over the lie that you are not there or that you are to messed up to help. Reality is we are only good enough through the grace of Christ Jesus. It is through him that I am to live. In fact, if you go up from II Corinthians 5:17 to II Corinthians 5:15 it says, he died for all, that those who might live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” May I continue to learn that I am not my own no matter how big my mess is… I am there and I must engage….

Share with us your story of discontentment or your story of not feeling worthy enough and why….

“You would have opened the door if I was a white man” the man shouted.  I looked at him like he was a ghost.  I humbly stated “What do you mean sir?”  He looks at me like I am nothing and says, “If I was a white man you would have opened that door for me.”  I froze for a moment thinking.  It’s currently 9:00am which is corporate allowed time to open the door of the place that I work.  I am in no means racist I am just following protocol.  How dare he say that when he knows nothing about me.  Should I say anything back, or should I just say something dumb like “No, Sir” or “Not at all” either way, I started to get really upset.  Then I thought about what I stand for and where I’m from.  I thought about my father, who is a black man.  I thought about my mother who is a white woman who told me to stand up for what I believe in.  I couldn’t remain silent, so I started softly explaining myself…”Sir I believe you are a child of God, and that I should treat you as I would want to be treated.  I would never open the door two minutes early for you, a white man, a chinese man, an indian man, or any other ethnicity or culture.  I don’t open the door early because in my job description I am told open the door at a specific time and close the door at a specific time.  Lastly, I am very hurt that you would tell me what I would do as if you know who I am.  My father whom I love dearly is a black man like you, so yes I am a black man like you as well, and even if my father was at the door I wouldn’t have opened it till 9am.  So please next time you want to accuse someone of racial profiling or racism, be sure it’s 100%.”  He was silent, he paid his bill and walked out of the store, slowly and silent as if he wanted to apologize.

This really happened to me, and I was very upset by what he said.  Now being an apathetic person I thought harder about it after he had left.  Maybe this man’s whole life, in many different situations, he had been treated poorly because of his skin.  In that case I can kind of understand where he is coming from, but yet I still believe he should really be sure of what he is saying to certain people.  I do understand why some people are sensitive to race issues, I for one have been poked fun at, or have had joked been tossed at me because I am bi-racial.  I know as I get older they bug me more and more, and as I stand up and say something I know that people are a little perturbed that I ask them not to make these jokes.  Should they be?  Should that man have had the right to say what he has said to me?  I think that as children of God a lot of us have lost the sensation of understanding.  We don’t understand other cultures because we surround ourselves with our own.  I do not think this is what God intended, do you?  If I were to challenge you to mix it up with another culture this week could you do it?  Let’s try…

Lawrence Kushner writes in God was in the Place & I, i did not know, “Ego is not thinking you’re a talented or good person.  This is only self-confidence, or, in extreme cases, ordinary conceit.  Ego is arrogance.  It is thinking that you are better than someone else.  It is making yourself big in the presence and at the expensive, of someone else.  A hermit cannot be arrogant.  An ego needs someone else, another person, one you believe to be inferior to you, in front of whom you can preen, raise your chin, and stretch your beautiful neck.”

Kushner goes on, “There is more to humility than merely how you view yourself or your ego.  Humility is a function of how you view others.  Your attention is directed outward.  Arrogance is making yourself great in the presence and at the expense of another; humility is realizing that, whatever your greatness, power, knowledge, grace, or even kindness, you are never greater than another.

Humility is built around the notion that each person is unique and, therefore, precious.  In each person there is a priceless treasure that is in no other.  Therefore, one shall honor each person for the hidden value that only this person and no one else has.  Humility is not being in the presence of people who are better than we are, but simply being in the presence of people, any people, for they are all as unique as we are.  Humility commences with the realization that no one is inferior or superior to anyone else.  This fundamental egalitarianism then matures into a willingness to give of oneself to another.  Until, finally, true humility generates a love for all creatures.

In Judaism, the most elegant and commonly practiced method for subduing the ego is a loose catalog of acts called gemilut hasidim, usually translated as deeds of loving kindness.  Acts of gemilut hasidim customarily include leaving unharvested produce in the corners of the field for the poor and the stranger, extending hospitality to wayfarers, visiting the sick, ransoming those held captive, providing clothing for the naked, feeding the hungry, dowering the impoverished bride, attending the dead to the grave, comforting mourners, showing deference to the aged.”

Kushner seems to have an unbelievable understanding of how our identity is to be firmly rooted in being an image bearer of God (Genesis 1:26-28).  Each one of us is uniquely designed and wired with specific giftings and skill-sets, which means in every one of us “is a priceless treasure that is in no other.”   This concept of being an image bearer is how we are to find our identity.  But what I would like us to focus on, is once we understand our identity as an image bearer, what that means for how we view others.

Do we also view others as image bearers?  Do we view everyone as equal solely because they are a human being, an image bearer too?  It is only when we do, that we can begin to let go of our egos (our egos that keep us thinking that we are superior to someone else) to leave a corner of unharvested produce in the field for the poor and the stranger.  It is in these ways that our egos are directly connected to our heart for justice.