How? Now.

There seems to be this burning question floating in the air presently... How? You hear people out there saying things like: How is this economy going to turn around, how am i going to get this done, how is life going to turn out, etc. The 'How?" questions we have are not one's that i can answer but i do have a simple thought to get us somewhere down that path. The thought is simple: Now. So many of us just keep asking questions while not trying to answer them. So many of us find that it is easier to say I will get to it next time or maybe we would rather make excuses and just throw negativity on the situation by saying it can't be fixed or attained. It is time for us to do something. That time is 'now', not tomorrow or next time. I don't know what you are trying to figure out presently in life but i do know by stepping up and assesing the problem 'now' you will see a change. To many of us look at the problems in life and see them as the huge tasks that are burdens that can't be handled. As if you are to drive from Memphis to Los Angeles. Majority of us would look at that and think 'geez that's 1800 miles, that will take forever'. The good thing for alot of us is that we understand what road we are on in life, we just do not realize how to get there. The idea of living 'now' is simply that, living now. We need to get on the road and drive. It is time for many us to pull out a life map and see what road we are to get on out of Memphis and focus on the next town (step), Little Rock. Then from L.R. to Fort Smith, then from Fort Smith to Oklahoma City, and so on. Eventually each town leaves us a little closer to the final destination that we are to get to. See it is time that we focus on getting to where we need to be going and not sitting around doing nothing about it. For others of us it is time to realize that the questions in life are answered easiest by taking steps and focusing what can be done 'now'. May you find what road you are on. May you find what step you can make 'now' is. May you find yourself answering the 'How's' of life. May you live in the 'now'!

spirit

spirit
There is a great story in the book of Luke where Jesus gets off a boat and the crowds are cheering, booing, crying, begging you get the picture. As he steps on to the shore he is met immediately by the the synagogue ruler (sort of like what we would call a pastor) of the town, the rulers name is Jarius. Jarius is frantic because his daughter that is 12 is deathly ill and is about pass away. With no where else to turn he turns to Jesus for help. Jesus hears his story and proceeds to go to Jarius' home to help the daughter. As he and the crowds, of what I picture of hundreds maybe thousands, follow they are stopped by a woman who has been subject to bleeding for 12 years (I know kind of a gross thought). This woman like Jarius has no one left to turn to. For years she has used all of her money in attempts to heal her bleeding problem and money just didn't help, doctors didn't help, priests didn't help, and the list could go on. But with no where to turn she sneaks into this large crowd in hopes just to touch his cloak. She feels if she touches his cloak she will be healed, so she goes through the crowd and touches Jesus and oddly enough her bleeding stops and at the same time Jesus realizes he has lost some of what I call his power. Now remember there is a girl who is dying and Jesus has offered to help her, everyone is in a frantic to get there but Jesus stops and looks to his friends and ask who touched me. They (his friends) very abruptly tell him that there are hundreds of people touching him. The woman realizing what had happened to her falls at his feet and to the shock of the town they see this woman, who they have banished from the town because of her problems, is healed. At this point Jesus goes on to tell her that her faith has healed her. As he is telling her and the crowds this statement a person from the house of Jarius runs screaming to Jarius that his daughter has died. As you can guess everyone is a bit disappointed that Jesus didn't heal this girl. He being Jesus says these words "she is not dead but asleep". The crowds at this moment laugh at him knowing she was dead. But here is the awesome part. Christ proceeds to the house of Jarius and allows his 3 best friends, Jarius and his wife into the daughter's room. When in the room Jesus grabs her hand and says these words "Child get up". The next verse is the key to this whole long story: HER SPIRIT RETURNED AND SHE STOOD UP.
The girl was healed, Jesus took his time and saved a woman that had been ill for 12 years and then raises this girl from death. Here is the thought. In Romans 8:19 Paul writes these words "the creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For it was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice but by the one who subjected it….". The cliff note version of that verse is that when Adam and Eve partook of the fruit in the Garden of Eden the world was made sinful, wicked, awful, selfish, prideful, arrogant, dark, bad, corrupt. Mine and your spirits where lost we needed our Spirits to return. This is exactly what Christ did for us when he bared our sin on the cross. He hung on the cross an innocent man and 3 days later rose again. Why? It is simple. The reason is so we could ask for his hand and while we hold his hand (figuratively speaking) the Spirit that was lost at beginning of creation can re-enter us. May we ask the Lord for his hand, may we find his spirit to return to our hearts, and may we stand up and believe in what he has done!

guys and girls

Guys (not all just most)! What have we done? I was talking with a girl the other day and here is what she said: Nice guys are turn offs to me. Nice guys meaning guys who want to be kind, guys who want to be a friend, guys who don't want to just get some, guys who believe the girl has feelings, guys who can look deep into her eyes and actually listen, guys who find hair and eyes beautiful, guys who actually like treating a girl as a girl, guys who want to lead, guys who only want one girl, guys who put others in front of themselves. The statement my friend told me wasn't the first time I had heard this comment but this time it got me fired up. In Philippians we are called to imitate Christ. The verse is Philippians 2: 5 "your attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus" and guys here is the sad part….. Our attitudes aren't imitating Christ. We have grown up in a society where in order to get the girl we must not care, we must act like jerks, we cant hold doors, we cant buy food, we cant give presents, we cant over compliment, we cant be real, and the worst part is that girls have gotten use to it. Girls no longer expect to be pursued. They have grown a custom to being treated like second class citizens and guys we like that, we think its funny. I don't care if you are a Christian or not, life isn't about treating others like crap. Life isn't about making yourself look the best. Life is about service. Life is Christ. Christ was perfect, something none of us will ever grasp but we are called to follow Christ who in the very essence was perfect, meaning we should seek perfection. Christ came to die and die is what he did. He layed down his life for me and you. Here is the questions guys: Would you die for her? Would you give everything up for her? Girls quit believing the lie that you aren't to be pursued. Why? Because you are. Christ came her with one goal and that was to die on a cross. He died and rose 3 days later. That resurrection marked a point at which we can have eternal life with him. He pursued us, through out scripture there are people who said they didn't need him, in our lives there are tons of people who doubt, hate, and who are strongly against the Lord. The beauty is he has already pursued them by coming on this earth and laying down his life. So girls quit listening to the lies, quit giving in, mark your goal for perfection. If a man is pursuing Christ he is pursuing perfection and if he is personally pursuing perfection his pursument for you will be in the sight of perfection. Guys, man up and live the life we were called to, not the life Hollywood and the players tell us to live. Girls, may yall come to find that you are beautiful, wonderful, special, glorious, exuberant, and awesome. May you find peace in the nice guy. May you seek perfection!

grace

The number one selling book of all time is the Bible. Every year it is the number one seller, yes I said every year. The bible consists of 66 books with two sections. The sections are as every knows are the Old and New Testaments. In church we always here about the New Testament and we look at the stories of Christ, the journeys of Paul and we read stories of the disciples. What we never seem to hear about is the Old Testament. The O.T. was written within a span of 2,000 years before Christ to 400 years Before Christ. There are 39 books in the O.T., those 39 books were written over a 1,600 year span. No one in the O.T. knew Jesus; they knew of a Savior to come but didn't know Christ. For us we know Christ, he is the guy that died on the cross, he is the perfect man, he is the son of god, he is the savior. We have history books that show Christ was real they had nothing. The whole purpose of the O.T. was a foreshadowing of Christ. Every story showed the love, grace, brilliance, beauty, kindness, anger, humility, and servant hood of the Christ to come. For the people of the O.T. they put their faith in a person that was to come. In 2 Samuel there is a great story of King David. He has been in this pursuit of becoming King of Israel. The king that was before him (Saul) was crooked, evil, selfish, disobedient, etc and David was appointed to take over as king of Israel but not until Saul died. That is where we are going to pick up. Saul has died (actually killed himself) and the kingdom of Israel is opened for taking and David steps in. The country is stoked they are what I would call giddy. There is a new king who has been a big part of their success in battle and they feel relieved at the lose of such a bad king. David is in charge. Based on Hebrew laws and the way things were run back 3,000 years ago the new king who had succeeded the thrown of another king could have the entire family of the old king killed. The reason is quite simple, to the Jews your blood line was everything and if there was a remaining family member of the old king's family they would have president over the new king for the thrown. So in order for the new king to be able to keep his kingdom he had to get rid of all possible threats. Kind of harsh I know, but that's how it was. In the story David is on the thrown and calls for Saul's servant to come and notify him of any remaining people from Saul's family. There is one left. His name is Mephibosheth (Ma-fi-ba-chef), Mephibosheth is lame (can't walk). As a kid he was dropped and became paralyzed in both legs. In that day and age you were considered a sinful person if people in your family were disabled, so that included people with skin diseases, retarded people, lame people, deformed people, you get the picture. So in order for the king (Saul) to look holy and righteous to his people he couldn't have the country knowing he had a grandson who was disabled, because that would make his family look unholy. So they sent Mephibosheth to a village called Lo Debar where he was supposed to live his life with other "unclean people". Lo Debar was a place for misfits and weirdoes. It was the hiding place that predominately wealthy people could send their family members so there image wouldn't be tainted in Jerusalem. So king David sent his servants to Lo Debar to get Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth knowing how new kingships happened knew that this new king was probably going to kill him. Mephibosheth was brought to the king and fell flat on the floor to show his honor to the king. I don't know what the scene looked like but I can tell that Mephibosheth was scared because after greeting Mephibosheth David says these words "Don't be afraid". What David gives Mephibosheth is amazing, he allows him to have his Grandfathers estate and all the servants Saul (his grandfather) had. The last thing is David tells Mephibosheth that he is forever allowed at the king's table. The king's table was the most revered and respectable thing any one could possibly be invited to. The grace of David is awesome. Here you have a lame guy who for years had lived in a community with misfits and David can have him killed and that's even what Mephibosheth is expecting but David doesn't do it. Mephibosheth deserves death and David gives him life. Here is the foreshadowing part. In life we are Mephibosheth, we are misfits, we live on Earth which in God's eyes is like Lo Debar a place for the outcast and yet God sent his son to die on the cross for us. We deserve death but we are given life through Christ. May you come to realize the grace you were given.

Confidence

I hate going to retail or food establishment to find the person behind the counter to be a jerk. You know what I am talking about, that person who seems upset at you, the customer, because you asked him a question. The one who gives attitude for making them get up and work. I just don't understand it. In the realm of life I also hate seeing people especially Christians who aren't confident. Our society has become very self conscious. The majority of people just don't think they can do anything. As Christians we have started believing the World's lies that we aren't good enough, we have come to believe that we can't accomplish things, we believe everyone else is better, we believe we cant get the girl, we believe we can't get the job, we believe we are never going to finish, we believe success is for everyone else, we believe a whole bunch of crap. And frankly I am tired of it. For majority of none church goers you hear the same thing over and over; i just didn't like it. The reason is simple. Because the majority of people in the church are fake! You have no one being real. Why? Because we being the pastors, congregation, college kids, youth don't have confidence in whom Christ created us to be. We believe the lies of the world. It is time we all man up and stop living a life of timidity and we get out there and are real. It's time we go for it. It's time we get out of our box and live by faith. It is time we get bold. It's time we go hang out with people who are different. It's time we get out of the Holy Huddles. It's time we live the lives Christ called us to.

Giddiness

I am sitting here at my computer wishing I could actually go to bed but it just doesn't ever happen till around 3. But i am listening to the worlds greatest mix tape and as i think about and listen to it, it makes me giddy. I love that word. I think it is becasue i can't truly define it. But here is how I would define it if I had to; awesome, peculiar, unexplainable, freeing, anxious, delicate, loving, surreal, almost perfect. This feeling of giddiness doesn't come often to me and I think that is a good thing. Life is so funny. Think about it. We spend our entire life looking for love, friends, realness, and purpose and what we end up with is shallow friends who only give a crap about themselves. Our quest of love turns into others taking advantage of that for their own selfish desires. The pursuit of realness just turns to a pursuit of loneliness and despair. Then we end up 10, 20, 30 years down the road absolutely broken. We look back and we have no one sitting in our corner, we have no real friend we can call at 3am, love is now a joke, and we have found that everyone is fake. Why? I think it is because we pursue life so hard that we miss the meaningful people in life, we miss the meaningful relationships, the meaningful path in life because we are looking to hard. May you take a step back and look at whats in front of you in the here and now. May you realize that the people you need in your corner are the ones you dont have to chase and beg. May you find the things and people that give you giddiness!

Max

When I was a junior in high school I would throw the football almost everyday with a friend who was such a good receiver that we called Hans Flakes! Hans and I would throw everyday! I know that kind of makes us losers but we didn't care. I remember one day in particular in which we were throwing in the church gym/ youth room and a guy named Max who was 3 years younger came in and was making fun of me and I was like Max "I am about to throw this football at you as hard as I can if you don't stop" but Max being the funny Harry Potter look-a-like he was he was keep egging me on so I threw the ball and he ran out of the room so I ran and got the ball in anticipation of him coming back in the gym and my anticipation was correct. Moments later Max ran back in the gym and as he ran in I threw the ball as hard as I could from across the gym (40 yards or so) and hit him square in the "boys" the ball hit him so hard that he flew backwards and hit the ground crying and laughing all at the same time. For that moment in life in the entrance of the gym/ youth room the three of us thought we had witnessed and caused the funniest thing ever. The stories that involve Max Durham are always funny ones there is never a dull one. Now fast forward 2 years later to the date of April 14, 2005. The date is one in which many people will for ever remember. At around 12:30pm I got a call from my boss/ mentor. His voice was shaky and you could hear the tears! I ask Bret what's up? His response was "I haven't called anyone yet and wanted to let you know to be at the church early tonight (I was a senior high intern at the time) because there are some big things that have happened" so in response to that I said Bret seriously what's up? "Max is dead, his dad came home after church and found him, he has committed suicide" At that moment a sense of shock and disbelief hit my like a semi. My emotions weren't one of tears but yet they were one of dismay. I went directly to church and sat and pondered. My thoughts were scattered. They were questions like: Why would anyone ever think to do that? Does Max go to Heaven? What was the reason? How's his family? Why GOD!?
Only in our own personal minds can we justify what we justify in our lives. For Max he had justified the action of suicide. We are not sure why. We don't know how it happens. We now know that his family and friends will forever be changed and that you just have to press on. But you never have to forget the good times. You don't have let his memory fade. For me after I processed my thoughts I walk into our youth room by this time it was 4:30pm and as I walked in to that room I took three steps in and started to cry a river, tears were streaming down my face. The tears were in the very spot in which I hit Max in the balls 2 years earlier. My mind went to that thought of how the three of us that day thought we had hung the moon, how our thoughts were full of laughter because we thought we had done the funniest thing ever. When I remember Max Durham I think of those kinds of Max stories.
We have all had tragedy in our lives. We have all felt abandoned. We have all felt insecure. We have all felt completely clueless. We have all found ourselves asking God why? Those questions at times are healthy and good questions to ask. For me I believe whole heartily that Max is now in heaven looking down. That moment at which he asked the Lord as his Savior marked a new life. It didn't mark a perfect life; it didn't mark a easy life. It marked the day a relationship with the mighty Savior began. Though your hard days might not be full of suicide and death, they may be full of divorce, break-ups, moral failures, loss of friendships, I am not sure what your hard days look like only you know what made those days that will stand out forever. May you come to find restoration in Christ may you never forget the good, may you remember you mean something, may you live!

The see-saw

One day I will be doing very well and the next day I might be doing horrible. Life is so crazy; constantly I find life so up and down. If my life were described as any child play ground toy or equipment it would easily be the infamous see-saw. For all too many of us the see- saw is our designated playground amusement of choice as well. The sad, scary and bad thing of life is the see-saw will be our ride forever. Some weeks will always be good and other weeks when it feels like all hell has broken lose and the break-ups happen and the bills aren't getting paid, life will not seem oh so good. How do we balance it? I thought of an answer… What is it that you do on a see-saw? You go up and you go down. If you sit on the see-saw by yourself you stay on the ground. If you have a partner on the other side that's bigger than you, you just sit up in the air. The goal is to find a person of the equal stature that you can balance the see-saw out with. In life the road will get hard and when life happens we need someone see-sawing with us. Someone who is in the same place, someone who can help you balance out life. We need true friends. Friends who don't judge but one's who listen. Friends that care about us not ones who only care about themselves. Friends who love and can see past our faults. We all know Christ can be that friend and He is amazing at doing what He does but we also need someone around us in life who is acting as our Jesus down here on Earth. Do you have that Jesus in your life? Are you being that Jesus for others around you?

My beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, it is time that we get out there and starts living out the Life of Christ. It is time that we Christians leave our Holy Huddles, take a step off the pedestal, and attempt to show love. May our generation of Believers rise up and love on folks. When Christ comes again may He say "Well done my good and faithful servant". My prayer is that He doesn't look at me or you and ask "why didn't you find time to build impacting relationships with people that didn't know me?" or "why did you go to so many bible studies?" or "why couldn't you just be real and not judge" or maybe he would ask "why didn't you get off your butt and live out the example that I had Paul write out for you in Philippians chapter 2?"

May we be the person Jesus called us to be and not the one we have created ourselves to be. May we be a people that can never deny the fact that there is a Rsien Savior just based on how all these so called "Christians" live their lives! May our generation be one filled with leveled out see-saws.