Going All Out... even when EVERYONE is looking...

"If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels." --Mark 8:38

Happy Thanksgiving Eve! Probably most of you won't see this tonight, but my day was full of selling turkeys and trying to keep my head above the water at market today. Not complaining really, it was a good day. We had fun :) And it's Thanksgiving... an awesome time to remind us to reflect on the countless blessings that God's given us.

Today however, I'm not even really going to talk about Thanksgiving, other than the fact that I attended our "Harvest Home" service tonight at church. It's a service where people bring in a bunch of non-perishable food items to donate to a local food shelter. Then, there's a worship service as well. At our church, Rhonda has started leading the "youth choir" of sorts. They do drama, music, and I'm not sure what all else. This group is called Imprint. Tonight, they led a drama for us to watch. These dramas are musical, in the sense that a song is played, and the kids act it out. Tonight's song was "If We Are the Body" by Casting Crowns. The kids were acting the song out, which talks about people in a church, observing people entering the church who aren't the normal folks. In other words, the song is about how easy it is to simply judge the people who come to church who we don't know... Especially if they "don't fit in." The song reminds us how silly it is to judge a person by how they look, or simply because we don't know them.

It's easy for a church to look down on a person they don't know... or even give them one of those "evil church eyes" because they worship in a way we're not used to. I love when people worship so intently that they're not even thinking about those around us. I remember talking to a friend in college who led worship in one of our chapels one time. They led some awesome songs that really moved my friend... and she was getting ready to close her eyes in worship while leading the songs, but wondered what the "audience" would think about it. Then, she made the right choice... She chose worshiping God over worshiping men, and she worshiped God with her eyes closed, since that helped her focus more on that worship. Worship. I just said it one more time because I said it so many times in the last sentence, haha. But anyway, she did not let what other people thought get in the way of her worship... she went all out when everybody was looking.

Tonight at church, I noticed some people lifting their hands in worship. While that's not something I grew up around, I usually notice when people do it. I have no problem with it at all, but I notice it... and tonight, I was glad... We were singing a hymn, and I saw a person's hands go up... Suddenly, I looked at the words I was singing. You know what I mean? You sing a song so much, or get so focused on the notes in a hymn that you forget about the words... The hands in the air caused me to look at the words we were singing, and realize them... and they were awesome words written and designed for glorifying our Savior Jesus Christ. There was another person in the church who has a little bit of a handicap. This person was saying "Amen" loudly, and also just really into their worship. And it was great!

I'm not writing tonight telling you that I want you to make a big show with your worship... However, what I'm saying is, don't be afraid of what others think about how you worship. Don't let your worship to God be altered simply because of worrying about what others will think of you. Worship God with all your might... Worship Him with all your being... even when everyone else is looking... Don't think about them... Think about God... It's between you and Him only anyway.

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... and here's some JACK!!

"I think the best Thanksgiving I ever had was the one where we didn't even have a turkey. Mom and Dad sat us kids down and explained that business hadn't been good at Dad's store, so we couldn't afford a turkey. We had vegetables and bread and pie, and it was just fine.

Later I went into Mom and Dad's bedroom to thank them, and I caught them eating a little turkey. I guess that wasn't really the best Thanksgiving."
--Jack Handey, www.jackhandey.com




Posted by Ben ><>

The Bread of Life: All You Can Eat

mmmmm....tacos! mmmmmm.....pizza! mmmmmm.....spaghetti! mmmmmmm.....hamburgers! mmmmmm.....Chinese food! mmmmmm........pig stomach (put that one in there for you Pastor Stan)

I often get insane cravings for food. I'm seriously a large dude trapped in an average size body. Yesterday I was craving some Chinese food. Laura and I went to dinner together at our favorite buffet place and I must admit I left feeling quite unsatisfied. What happened?
I mean I just don't understand, I was drooling in the parking lot like a St. Bernard. Rushed in and flew (okay more like slid on the greasy floors) to the buffet table. I piled my plate full of 70 different kinds of chicken (pretty sure it's the same dish with just different names). When we sat down to eat though it hit me that I just don't have a big stomach. Laura and I are good for one plate and then we just kid ourselves as we go up the second time. When I leave the restaurant it occurs to me that although I'm full I'm just not satisfied. I wish I could have gotten my money's worth of food in there, instead I walk out feeling defeated.
Why is it that we don't crave God like we crave our favorite food?
God will never leave us feeling unsatisfied. The word of God is something that we all can go back for 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths on and yet still never feel too full yet always satisfied.
Too often I'll do my daily Bible reading and then be excited and happy to have accomplished such a feat. Why is it that I don't walk away feeling defeated because I couldn't cram even more of the bread of life into my starving body?
Why is it that we don't crave God MORE than we crave our favorite food?

"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." [John 6.35]

Not really sure why I posted the video but ...tis the season I guess. ;)

Going ALL OUT!! (When no one is looking... part two... or, actually, getting started)

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."
--Deuteronomy 6:4-5

First off, let me be clear. The house you see is NOT a picture of Eric and Rhonda's house :) It's just a random picture off of the grand ol' net. Even so, today's Thing story is about Christmas lights.

Last Wednesday, a friend of mine and myself helped Pastor Eric (Rhonda's MAN) string some Christmas lights up on their house. I've got to say... Eric has some pretty amazing vision when it comes to putting lights up around a house. What we specifically helped him with was putting the lights up and down the gables (peaks) of the house. The roof is fairly high, which wasn't too big of a deal, but the shingles are slate. So, it was a little tricky, as slate shingles are a bit more slick and less stable than asphalt shingles. We were careful though, and we completed the job, all three of us working together.

It was daylight while we were doing this, and I was really excited to see what the house would look like when lit up at night. I then realized that while the front of the house was all "done up," the back of the house didn't have a lot of decoration to it. I asked Eric if he was doing the back, and he said, "Maybe next year." It got me thinking about the back side of people's houses and why they're not seen as important as the front. Obviously, the reason home owners generally don't care as much about the back is because people don't see the back. I remember when we used to put up candles in the farmhouse at Christmastime, and I was always bummed when we never put candles in the back windows... but it "didn't matter" because no one would see, right?

I think this is a problem with the church today. We love to go all out... but only when people are looking... only in the areas where people see us. How do we act when no one is looking? Do we go all out when we know it won't be noticed? Is our Christianity simply for our own "PR?" After all, it's great if everyone thinks we're some super-Christian who doesn't struggle... It's great if people think we're constantly in the "sweet spot" that Rhonda referred to in yesterday's post.

We should be living more like we read in Matthew 6:2-4. In this passage, Jesus tells us to not even let our right hand know what the left hand is doing... Instead of making a big show when everyone is watching, we should do something great when we know that no one will see. And in fact, when no one is watching, we should always live as if everyone was... Don't get me wrong... it's not a show... but our walk with Christ also isn't something that should be so phony that it should only happen when people are watching... because God is watching... always. The deepest secrets we have, He knows. The things we do around our non-Christian friends, God sees. The things we do when no one is looking, God observes... Let's walk the walk... Always... Let's go all out... when "no one" is looking.



Posted by Ben ><>