Cool Isn't Cute, It's Stupid

Hey all. I posted a new thing on my new site.

Justinknowles.tv

Make sure to check out the new site.

Thanks!

New blog look/domain/place...please read

Hello everyone!

So if you know anything about me, I am always trying to improve and learn new things. In fact, learning is one of my gifts. One of the biggest things i am trying to learn and get better at is my writing and the content in which I put out. I'm not saying whatever i put out is worth reading, but it is just me trying to better myself as a writer and trying to better myself on getting the thoughts that are circulating in my head down onto paper in a way that makes sense.

Going oblong with this trying new ideas and trying to better my blog, I have been working with my brother on switching over my blog to another site. This site is a bit easier to use and with my brother's help, it looks freaking legit.

My blog will from now continue onto this site with the domain name justinknowles.tv (i just switched it over so if it does not work try http://justinknowles.tumblr.com first.) and you can click on it to check it out.

Thank you all for reading these and at least for a little bit all be announcing on this that i posted on the new site just so you can get used to it too. It is really easy to follow me on this site as well, so I hop you do so.

Thanks so much for continuing to read my blogs, you have no idea how much it means to me.

God bless.

Justin

Can't Force Greatness

James 1:12

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

Sometimes the ideas just don't come like they usually do. Sometimes, you are going to come to a point where you are not going to be able to think of a single idea and it will be extremely frustrating thing.

I felt like that this morning when the Shift Students staff was trying to think of some event ideas for our “I <3 Night” (our invite night here at CCV). Usually ideas come to me naturally. It's what I do. It's part of my job description. We cant be creative all of the time on our own, we need to brainstorm with others.

The tendency will be just to go with the first idea you come up with and go off of that. It might be an idea that you are not too fond of in the first place but since it’s the only idea at the time, you can just force it into a great thing.

Good ideas will come if you force them. Great ideas will come when you develop them.

One of the great privileges I have here is that there is an incredible planning team. This team meets to plan out every service that we have. This group is amazing and talented. One thing we do is bounce ideas off of each other. This is a great way for ideas to formulate, you are able to talk through ideas, accept the constructive criticism, and actually start to develop a good idea into a great idea.

This is something the team here is great at. One person will have a few great ideas, but they will run out. A team of people can have endless great ideas, but you need to get over your own pride and be willing to go to your team and ask to bounce ideas off of them.

We just need to persevere through the dry spells. We can’t force great ideas but we can push through the dry spells with a team to develop the good ideas into great ones.

Proverbs 15:22

Plans fail for lack of counsel,
but with many advisers they succeed.

God Vs. Creativity

Romans 1:22-25

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

In my last post I had mentioned that if you were creative you would have a bigger bull’s-eye on your back because the enemy knows the influence you have on many people with your creation. I believe this with everything inside me. I also mentioned that nothing is more exciting for me than to see an idea of mine come to life.

There is something we need to watch out for. As exciting as it is to see something you made, that you put together, to see your “baby” grow up and become a man, there is always the tendency to worship the creation over the Creator. This is a way in which Satan can detour our vision for worshipping God.

Now this goes two ways: 1) We can go ahead and take all of the glory for ourselves and think that WE created the creation ourselves. 2) We can worship the actual creation, the object, because we ourselves created it. It’s as if we were the parent and that thing would be our child and we love it and we become obsessed with it.

In Genesis 1 God created everything. It was good. God created man and it was very good. God created our creativity and us. If we are creative it is because God made us that way.

We are creative because God is the ultimate Creator.

If God was not creative then we would not be creative. If you don’t think God is creative, look at people, their personalities, look at the animals, look at nature. It’s amazing.

So when we create something, does all the glory really go to us? Yes, we physically came up with the idea and made it but we are creative because God is the ultimate Creator.

In Exodus, when Moses was up on the mountain talking to God, the people built a Golden Calf to worship. They worshiped the creation and took their eyes off of God. When we create something, are we so focused on what we created that we lose focus on the one who gave us ability to create?

Worship the Creator and not the creation. We don’t deserve the glory, God does. This is just one way for Satan to make us lose focus on what we are doing and whom we are doing it for.

God is the true Creator.

Creative Crosshairs

A few weeks ago I was able to go to the Catalyst West Coast Leadership Conference. This is a conference in which church leaders from all over the nation come and hear messages about leadership from some of the best speakers in the nation. It's such a great thing to be a part of and it feels like your are drinking from a firehose of information because all of these men and women are way smarter than you and they blast you with a lot of things. Its great but I am always mentally exhausted afterward.

What does this have to do with being creative? Well, one of the speakers, Matt Chandler, said something that truly stood out to me.

“Satan targets the creative people because he knows the influence they have on others.”

The crosshairs are aimed directly at us.

How true this is. Being creative means you have the power to influence people with your creations. Whether it be a video, a painting, a set piece, a poem, a song, a story or anything else you can create. Your words or image can touch many people at one time all in different ways.

I think of the popular Christian worship band Hillsong United. They are undoubtedly talented songwriters and musicians who play all around the world and lead people into worship. They played here in LA a few weeks ago and sold out the Staples Center…over 45,000 people worshipping God through their creative music and lyrics.

I truly believe Satan sees that and cringes. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

I believe that it is the creative people that Satan will target more because he knows the influence they have on others around them. He will try to attack by causing writers block, creative dry spells, technical problems for bands and videos and much more: anything to have the focus not on God.

Satan is sly and sneaky and will help you be creative but in ways that can detour ones vision away from who God is, and he loves nothing more than that. He wont have you paint a picture of himself, but without taking caution his goal would be to have something you do or say or write be just theologically off base enough in order to cause others to stumble. He can have you worship the creation rather than the Creator. He can have you take the glory to glorify yourself and not God. That's his goal.

God gave creative people the ability to be creative because he knows that they can use that ability to reach many others in a way that glorifies Him, but Satan is there looking to skew that, even a little bit. So we need to be aware.

Let us pray that we keep our integrity, His wisdom, His Word in our mind as we create and effectively communicate to people through our creations because we know we have a bigger target on out back because the creativeness God has given us.

Let us not take this responsibility lightly. Let us glorify God because He is the Creator or creators.

Creative People Are Creative

It’s that simple. Creative people are creative. Someone who is always having great ideas, someone who is coming up with new ideas or someone who sees things in ways that others do not, is a creative person. Now I want to make clear I am talking about creative in the sense that our culture deems people creative. In that we can have ideas that are visually or audibly entertaining to the eye or ear. Here is the thing with that. Not everyone is creative.

Last night during our Sunday night service here at CCV, someone said something that was funny but true. He said, “God made some of us creative and some of us not at all. Thank God for that.” I laughed but it has somewhat of truth in it.

Some people are naturally creative, some people are not. Know which one you are. Know your limits. If being creative is your thing, take reigns on that, own it, develop that. If you are not, then you cant force it.

The most important thing is to know who you are. In the offices here, Jeff, JP, and I have been talking about how people fall into 3 categories (Jeff will be blogging about this idea in more detail on his blog. Click HERE to check his out)People usually fall into 3 different categories: Designer, Developer and Sustainer. Designers are the creative principles. They have all of the new ideas, they know what will draw people, and what needs to come together to make things look pleasing to the eye, they think creatively. Developers are the ones who plan out and get the idea into works. They are the ones who take the ideas and make them come to life. Sustainers are the ones who when the idea is thought of and the idea is carried out, they are able to keep that idea and plan of operation running. They keep it going. All of these are extremely important to have to run a successful organization. You just need to know which one you are.

With that said, you might not be creative in the way that society deems people creative. Creative is our society means that you can paint, play a guitar and write a song, or make videos etc. I think there is some sort of creative ability in those who are more of a Developer or a Sustainer. You can come up with creative ways in order to develop a plan to execute the creative idea or you can creatively think of a way to sustain an idea. That just takes another way to be creative. God is the creator of all creations. He has many different ways in which He is creative and I believe He passes that to us in our abilities.

A lot of creative people (culture’s idea of creative) just have the designer quality. They do not always know the best ways to carry out their ideas because how they are thinking about it in their own head is not physically possible to execute in real life.

You can’t force being creative. Creative people are creative. The important thing is to figure out which one you are and then develop that.

If you happen to be that creative person, please realize that you cannot be successful in carrying out your visions if you don’t have a Developer and a Sustainer because chances are you are not good in all of those areas. If you want to be a great creator you need to surround yourself with a great team with all of the different types of people.

The team here at Shift Students is unbelievable. When I come up with things, we are able to come together and come up with who, what, how and when we need things to make the idea come to life. I am blessed to be working with very differently talented people than myself.

In closing, only creative people are creative. You can’t force it. Know your talent.

Thinking About Being Creative? (How To's)

Something that I have been wrestling with and thinking a lot about lately is being creative. I see other people who are writing about how to be a “Good Leader” or “Steps to Successful Ministry” or something like that. To be honest, I can do those things, I know how to lead (somewhat) and I know how to run a successful ministry (somewhat) but never enough to write something that is helpful. It’s just something I do, something that I partake in.

What I know I have a talent in is being creative. I don’t know why but it comes natural for me. It’s a gift that God has graciously blessed me with. I feel like I can come up with creative ideas, videos, and concepts relatively easily. For Shift Students here at CCV that’s one of the main things that I do. So why not write and help others unleash their creative monster that could be living inside them?! Too much? Sorry.

So what I will be doing for a while is go through my thought process on how I think and how I come up with some of the Creative aspects of our Wednesday night services. I just started to think about how I think and how I process things and wrote down a few notes. It might help or it might not, who knows. I just hope by writing it will be able to help others think creatively or maybe open up some thoughts about how or why something will work or will not work.

You don’t have to take all of my thoughts to heart, I am just sharing mine because its something that I am passionate about and I love to see something that first started in my head and then see it come to life through application and then being able to see it on a Wednesday night or a camp or event I plan.

There is no better reward for me to use my God given ability to effect, alter, entertain, etc. a person for the benefit of God’s kingdom. Nothing is greater than that.

I would love to hear your feedback and thoughts when I post something. I really do appreciate it. I would love to start some dialogue if you have any questions.

God Is Not a Filler Word

When it comes to prayer, there is a whole wide thing and emotions that one goes through when praying. From someone asking, “Who wants to pray?” and there being a long awkward silence, to trying to place yourself with the person who you think doesn’t have the sweatiest palms. But there are two things that have really stood out lately and I don’t know why.

When some people pray, they put “God” as a filler word. Let me explain, some people use these “filler words” in a place in the sentence where they are either thinking about what they are saying or use it when they pause. It is like using the words “um” or “like”, “Like, I don’t know, like, I just don’t know what to do anymore…um…”. In prayer I have noticed people use “God” as these “fillers”.

For example, “Father God, we praise you for the wonderful service we just had God. God we thank you for who you are Father God. We love you God, and God, we…um…God…Jesus…Thank you for dying for us God.”

I just think its funny because we would never do this with any of our friend’s names if we were talking to them. Could you imagine?

“Hey Kevin, how is it going Kevin? Kevin, thank you so much for doing that favor for me last week Kevin. Kev…um…Kevy….Kevin I just want to let you know I appreciate you Kevin for all you do Kevin.”

I just think its funny. We would never do that with a friend so why do we do that with God? Is it to seem more holy because we say His name more? Because doing it with people’s names just sound ridiculous. When we talk to God, we need to treat it as a conversation, because that is what prayer is, a conversation with God. Keep that in mind.

The other thing I noticed is that we say “just” in our prayers. We say “just” as in, “God will you just…”, “God will you just let tonight go well…Will you just heal my cat…Just do this and just do that” as if God has not done anything for us already. I know we just use it as a “filler” word, but the connotation means everything. Saying “God will you just…” is making us sound like we are forgetting that HE ALREADY HAS done the ultimate thing for us. He died for us.

We need to remember that we are not or ever be righteous. Jesus was fully righteous and pure. When he went up on the cross he provided us with the most important exchange in history. He traded our sins for His righteousness so that we may go before God and instead of God seeing our sinful selves He will see the righteousness of Christ Jesus instead.

So it’s not, “God, will you just…” as if we are deserving of anything that we are asking, but, “God, you did…” and we are thankful.

Hope this doesn’t throw you off, because now I bet you will start to notice these things more. You’re welcome.

It is something to notice and it has become a habit with a lot of people. I know I have been watchful of how I have been praying, to make it a little more meaningful and treat like I am speaking to God as if I WERE REALLY SPEAKING TO GOD.

Are You Really Alone?

Read Psalm 42

The other day during my small group I noticed that one of the guys was abnormally quiet. I can tell something was bugging him but out of respect for him I didn’t say anything in front of the group. I was more passive, I just sat back and watched and observed and then after the group I was able to pull him aside and ask him what was wrong. We were able to work through some things and we got it worked out.

I feel God works in this way sometimes. God works passively. There are times in which we feel that we are not as “on fire” as we used to be. Where we go through these dry spells of feeling confident in God, where we don’t feel His presence and our passion is not there anymore. We can call it a “spiritual winter.”

This is when a person looses all of the pleasure they once had in pursuing their devotional life. It happens to all of us. For me, it was the period in which I was searching for a new church to attend at the same time I was trying to finish up college. There was no passion or desire to dive deeper into the Word. I used to be the fired up, ready to do anything for ministry guy and I turned into the questioning, ministry is draining, God and I were not close right now. God was distant. But He is far from distant.

He is being passive. Watching us, observing us because it is during these times in which God wants to purify us and move us onto greater heights. When we first are a believer we are excited, the soul is cared for by the spirit and all is good. But then it comes for a time in which God bids us to grow deeper in Him. So he will strip all the excitement and pleasure we once had in Him in order for us to go actively seek Him and grow deeper in our passion for Him.

He becomes passive so that we may become active.

God knows our imperfections. Because of His love for us He wants us to grow. This love prevents us from staying in our weakness and this is the reason in which He places us in “spiritual winters”. He slowly pulls us away from the pleasures we have acquired in Him by giving us dry times and inward darkness.

No person will ever grow deep in their spiritual life unless God works passively in them through their “spiritual winters”.

So when we feel like we are in a dry spell and we feel that God is no longer working in us because our passion and pleasure is not there anymore, God is not far at all. He is actually working within you at that moment. He is working passively so that you can be more active in seeking Him and growing deeper in Him.

So keep seeking.

Are You Worthy?

This morning while reading my quiet time I was reading Matthew 10. For whatever reason verses 37-39 really stuck out to me. Here is what it says:

37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”

This got me thinking about how I am a family man, a huge family person. I love being around my family, it fills me up on the inside. I would literally do anything for anyone in my family, doesn’t matter what, I would do it to help them. I am super close with my dad, my mom, my brother and his wife, my sister and Kristin and they know that I would give up my arm for them if it means I got to help them out in anyway.

Reading Matthew 10 makes me ask the question, “Do I love Jesus like this?” do I have a relationship with Him in a way that I would drop anything at the drop of a hat to serve Him in a way that I would my family?According to these verses, if I would love my family in that way and I don’t love God in the same way, then I am not worthy. Now we are all unworthy, that’s why Jesus died and rose again for our sins, but it just got me thinking.

I feel called to do His ministry and he is talking to His disciples about going out to show God’s love, but do I have the closeness in my relationship with Jesus that is greater than the love I have for my family?

Whatever the answer is I can only pray and hope that I am striving to have a relationship in a way that has a greater love for Jesus. I hope that I continue to strive for that closeness to Jesus like I feel for my family. I want to be worthy.

The question is, do you feel the same way? Do you strive for the closeness to Jesus that is greater than the closeness of the people you love in your life? It’s a fair question. I am afraid of my answer, because I know I would do anything at anytime for my family, but I am scared to think what my answer would be if I felt God was calling me to do something that was very difficult. Would I have that same attitude with God that I have with my family?

Do you?

May I Vs. Must I

Have you ever had a passion in which when you started it and you really enjoyed doing it? You enjoyed it so much that it consumed your life and it was everything that you lived for and would do anything for the cause of it? Has that passion ever, after a while, turned into a burden? Where the passion that you once had turns into an obligation and that thing that you once enjoyed now seems like a menial job that just drains you?

I feel this is how Christianity works sometimes. When we first find God, He moves in us to move and love others and we give into service like there is no tomorrow and we are asking God, “May I?” to serve in anyway possible. May I do this for you? May I? But then, after a while, the fire dies down and what once fills us up is now a burden and we feel that it is draining us to the point we don’t even enjoy doing it anymore. At first we are on this “high” and love it, it is amazing, but then “high” wears off and we are now stuck with this service, this burden of acting as a Christian in the tough situations, and it is hard for us to keep moving forward. We don’t want to quit though because that’s not like us, so we continue to serve but there is no fire like we had before.

If you are anything like me I wondered why I didn’t feel like it did before. I loved the idea of it still but now it was a burden. But isn’t this true? You love your work and the idea of it, you love the idea of being a Christian and what it represents, but in doing it you find so many cares and responsibilities with it, you feel doubt in the idea that you are being effective and before you even go and do it, you already find it burdensome and therefore you don’t want to do it.

We are selfish. How easy is it to do something in which WE will to do. No matter what the task, whether it will be easy or difficult, if its something that WE want to do, we will do whatever it takes, even if people tell us that we cant or we wont, we just laugh in there face and want to prove them wrong because WE want to do it.

We need to start getting Christians to WANT to do GOD’S will as much as other people want to do their own will.

Read Hebrews 8:6-13

It is written in our hearts, it’s in our minds; God’s will for us is there. We should be able to want to do God’s will, not because it is our duty but because we want to do what God wills. We need to completely die to what we want. If there is something that is draining us and its hard to find joy in it but you feel its within God’s will for you to do then we need to stop fighting the urge to say, “Must I?” and give it to God and say once again, “May I?” We are not wanting what WE want but wanting what GOD wants. If we fully give it to God and say, “Yes, Lord, YES!” and allow Him to take control and remind yourself “Thy will be done.” That thing that you once felt as a huge burden will start to look new and precious to you.

We need to go back to the “May I?” thinking of service rather than the “Must I?” One of them is seeking God and the other is seeking our self. We cannot do it alone because then it will become a burden. We need God. Hannah Whitall Smith says, “His strength is made perfect, not in our strength, but in our weakness. Our strength is only a hindrance.” When we submit to God’s will, and pursue that again and not only rely on us, the “May I?” will come more naturally and the “Must I?” will diminish.

Name Droppers, Please Stop, We Get It

Do you know any name droppers? People who randomly throw in a name of a person who they think is important to impress you in the middle of conversation? For example, "So the other day I was hanging out with Kobe Bryant, oh ya we are like super close and we hang out once in a while (more like just once, just saying), anyways we blah blah blah and then Justin Beiber came over. What?!? You don't know him?! Dang, he is great, you should know him like I do." A bit exaggerated, yes, but you get the point? Most of the time it's usually someone you do not even really care about, but they do it anyways.

I have done it too I admit it. But some people do it more than others. I was thinking, why do we do this? It's because we are trying to impress people by who we know. Thinking that if we are associated with these people, others will think we are important too. It's self glorification.

I was reading in Matthew 3 and John the Baptist does some name dropping himself. But he was doing the right kind of name dropping, the type of name dropping we all should be doing, the type that does not lift us up into glory, but to lift Jesus up.

It says "The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said, “He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!’”

John is announcing to all that Jesus is coming and will be greater than he will ever be. It says that people went out into the wilderness in huge crowds to listen to John. But as soon as Jesus came on the scene, he wanted all attention on Jesus, not him. He name dropped the most important name, not to make himself look better but to make Jesus known.

I know I still need to work on this, but I do know others REALLY need to work on it. How important is name dropping to make yourself look better really? Makes us look like a tool.

Let's lift up His name not ours.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Let It Be Known

Joshua 2:8-11 (NIV)
Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof [9] and said to them, "I know that the Lord has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. [10] We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. [11] When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

I was reading this today for my quiet time. Something stuck out to me with Rahab, not only was she brave and protected God's people, but what stood out to me is the fact that she heard about the great things that God has done. She said the people of Jericho heard what God had been doing, and everyone else in the town knew as well and knew that God was the God of heaven and the earth below.

When I was reading this, I was thinking, do we show this in a way in which other people have heard the great things that God has done in our lives?

In the offices today, we were saying that we need to start to celebrate the victories of God in lives. We seem to only focus on God working in the brokenness, which is a huge quality of God, but not the only quality.

Rehab heard how God had helped Jacob conquer lands...how? People talked. God was known throughout the land. We need to be spreading how God is moving. We need to spread what God is doing in different ministries, in small groups, through people in the city, that way all know that God is the God of all of heaven and the earth below. So that there will be no doubt that there is just this "something", but THE SOMETHING, God of the universe and have that be undeniable that He exists.

Spread the word, celebrate it, make Him known.

Back To School For Me...

WOW. This last week has been insane. Last weekend was CIY Believe; this is a conference for just junior high students. It was Hope International University in Fullerton and there were about 750 junior high students there. Needless to say it was just all out crazy. There were endless amounts of the game Ninja, Jousting, and Ptyeridackl. It was a blast. We went through the book of Esther and it was pretty amazing. We had a blast with our junior highers and it was a great time just to get to hang out with them on a smaller level compared to our Wednesday nights, which has around 350 students (Praise God!). I know for sure I must be getting to that stage were I say, “Man, I really am getting old” because I am about to say it. “Man, I am getting old.” I am still beat from almost no sleep and constant energy from the 7^th-8^th grade population. I am recovering.

During CIY, there was a question that was asked that got me thinking. What is your “here” moment with God? Where are you with Him? During the end of the conference, it shows that this is the NOW moment, that we have right now to act for God, to step out for Him. I find it funny that I, an adult, learned something huge from a junior high conference, designed especially for junior highers. Maybe that just says something about my mind, I don’t know. Ill just leave it at that.

One of my spiritual gifts is “learning”. I know, I was shocked too when I found this out because in high school I despised school. Turns out, while at APU, I ate it up. I fell in love with all of my classes. I used to hate reading. Now I cannot get enough. I have been going through a book a month. Its great. With that said, I have felt God’s undeniable urge for me to go back to school and get my Masters. Crazy I know. I told myself from the very beginning that I would do a couple of years of full time ministry before going back to school, but that is not the case now.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is James 4:17 which states, “If you know what you ought to do, and do not do it, then it is a sin.” I look at that and I cringe because I know exactly what I need to do. I have felt the urge and I need to act on it.

So I have applied for APU’s Graduate School of Theology. I found out that there is a scholarship in which they give a full ride to people who want to pursue full time ministry. I am applying for that as well, which would be great. I have been thinking a lot about this, and I have decided that even if I do not get this scholarship, I am still going to pursue school and get my M. Div. I will have to take out a loan, but I fell like its something that God has placed on my heart for a reason. So I am going to be obedient and follow and pray for the guidance for whatever may happen with this scholarship and going back to school.

If you can be in prayer for that as well I would greatly appreciate it.

I'm Going to Kenya

Its official. I am going to Kenya this summer. It’s something that I have been in prayer for a while now, and now that it is actually happening I don’t even know what to think. I am excited, I am nervous, I am extremely pumped. This will be the first time I really go out of the country and over seas to a foreign land in which I have only dreamt about. The team that I get to go with seems amazing and one of the best things is Kristin Graham gets to come with me. We have talked about this and have talked about the possibilities of us going and serving together and how we think it would be a way for us to grow even closer together out in the mission field, serving God and others together. I know for a fact I will not be the same when I come back, I know going into this my heart will be broken in ways that I have never experienced before…despite all that, I am beyond excited, because I know it will be in the best way for me to understand God and his people in a place that I have no idea about.

If that was not exciting enough, the person who runs all of the missions at CCV approached me today and she asked me if I could be a co-leader on our mission trip. WOW. I really didn’t even know what to say. “Really? Me? I never been on a trip like this and you want me to lead?” is what I asked, and she said that I am already leader here at church and they can use my leadership skills to lead the team of 14 people in Kenya and they would send me through training in order to do so. Needless to say (but I am going to say it anyways) I am honored and so excited for the next process in the next few months. Kristin and I will be praying that God will prepare our hearts for what we are about to experience in August.

Now I am not exactly sure what the trip looks like yet, we have our first meeting this Sunday night. But going off of last year, it sounds like the first week we will be helping out and putting on a medical clinic in a village. 2 of those days we will be on Safari. I really can’t wait until people start to ask me what I will be doing and I will say, “I’ll be on safari.” When I think about that, I imagine myself in a picture with a shotgun, a straw hat, with my foot on a big boar, or maybe even a lion. I don’t know, I can dream.

I know the second part of the trip we will be putting on a Vacation Bible School for students there. We will be playing games, talking about Jesus and I will be leading a small group of Kenyan boys. Holy crap we are stoked. I know all of this will be happening in one of the biggest slums in Africa, which to be honest, I don’t even know how I am going to handle seeing what I am going to see.

If you can just be in prayer for Kristin and I for what we are going to have to do to be prepared for this trip. Also, we will need to be raising money for our trip. Its around $3,000. Yup. A lot. Please be in prayer for our money for this trip, and if you want to throw a couple of bucks my way, I know I would appreciate it.

You have no idea how excited/nervous/pumped/scared I am for this trip. I am just amazed that I will be able to get to be apart of this, not only that, but be able to lead it.

I love it. God is good.

Random Fact: Jasmine is the only Disney princess who is not the main character of her movie.

Something Bigger Than Me...

You can Check out the video of the baptisms HERE. I recommend it. People getting baptized in their regular street clothes.

I have been wrestling with God a lot lately it feels like. I think it’s a healthy thing sometimes. It allows me to come to my own understanding of what God is trying to do in my life.

One of the things I have been working through is that I have been teaching students that we are apart of something bigger than ourselves. The fact is that we are so naturally self-centered, and it seems, not matter how hard we try, it’s really hard to resist not being selfish. The thing is, we are all apart of a story and we just assume that the story is about us. The story is not ours. It’s God’s. We are apart of His story and we allowed being apart of it.

I am reading a book called “Radical” by David Platt (check it out HERE). In it he talks about how we have lost the idea that we are apart of something bigger than ourselves. We have lost the mission that Jesus explained to his disciples. When Jesus was telling his disciples to go out and make more disciples, he told them that they were going to be “sheep among the wolves” that they were going into battle with the world to fight for the lost because they are worth fighting for.

Platt explains that we were designed like the USS United States in the 1950’s. This ship was a huge fighting machine. It was designed to mobilize 15,000 troops anywhere in the world in less than 24 hours. Massive, massive ship built for war. The thing is, it was NEVER used for its purpose. It was turned into a luxury liner for presidents and celebrities and it was only able to fit around 2,000 for comfort.

This is what Christianity has become and what Platt compares it too. We were built for war. But we have become a luxury liner. Notice how when on a mission, the USS United States was able to mobilize 15,000 troops. When used for luxury, it only held 2,000. Big difference. Much like Christianity, when Christ gave us our Great Commission he was sending us out on a mission to reach millions. The 12 disciples alone helped the church explode across the world in a matter of a short time. Today, we are comfortable here in America, we have become luxury liners, comfortable with where we are at not reaching, as many people for Christ like we were built to do.

We are involved in something bigger than us, which requires us to be the war ship rather than the luxury liner. I have taught it but I don’t think I have fully understood what it means or what it feels like…until last night.

Last night I was able to be apart of the 5:30pm baptism service at CCV. I was honored to be able to be in one of the baptism pools on the side of the stage when Jeff Vines (our senior pastor) called people to come forward if they have not been baptized and called themselves a Christian. I was blown away at the response. This was the first time that I was able to be apart of baptizing people on a large scale like that. It was amazing. I don’t even know how many people came forward, but there was a time when another pastor had to jump into the pool with me in his jeans because the line was so long. This had to be just a little feeling of what those people in Acts 2 felt like. It was awesome. There were 133 baptisms total this last weekend. Two of the ones I did were students of SHIFT Students. Super pumped.

I think was the first time I fully realized and understood that I truly was apart of something bigger than myself. It was a truly humbling experience.

Random Fact: Riding a rollercoaster can temporarily 'cure' asthma.

Remember When...

I was driving around yesterday with Jeff Snodgrass (whom I work with at CCV for SHIFT Students) and we were driving through In-n-Out for lunch. We had just left San Dimas High School visiting students at lunch. I like going on campus for lunch because the looks you get from students who don’t know you. They know you are not in “the norm” there and they stare you down. It’s quite humorous. Its like you are an antelope on the African plain and you are walking into a lion’s den, they just are amazed and wondered that you are there. Well, we were talking with some students and their friends, one of these students who i have been trying to get to come on a Wednesday night for a few months now (who just started coming recently by the way, Praise God!) and she was 1) excited to see us at school and 2) excited to invite others to SHIFT later that night.

That’s such a cool thing to see. This girl, who really has not “done” church before has been excited about the message of Jesus that she has been hearing and is excited to invite others to hear too and come hang out at church for the night. It’s exciting.

One of the questions Jeff and I were asking each other was, “How come the newer believers are usually the ones that are excited to invite people when the ones that have been coming for a long time are not as pumped to bring new people?” Why are people who are just starting to come to church inviting and bringing more people to Wednesday nights than people who have been coming every Wednesday for the past year? There is something exciting in he fact that new believers are excited, but there something wrong that older believers are not as excited as they once were.

Isn’t it true though? Don’t you remember when you were a kid and you opened that ONE gift you wanted more than anything in the world and you were the happiest kid in the world? But what about 3 months later? Wasn’t that toy always in the closet or under the bed because you got bored with it and the excitement gone?

I can see that being somewhat ok with a toy, but there is no way this should be happening with Christians. The fact that we can take a breath (take a deep breath right now) and realize who is allowing us to take that breath, is more than enough to start dancing right there in the street. We cant allow us to fall into the trap of mundane and routine rituals on a Sunday (or whatever day you go to service) because there is nothing that is more exciting than waking up every morning knowing that Jesus has paid a price for you in order for you to live.

There should nothing more nerve-racking to you than there are people who are close to you who do not know this Truth that Jesus died for them and offers them a new life.

What am I saying? We need to realize that in Luke 15(The Prodigal God) is an everyday thing, that God is waiting for us to realize that we cant do life without Him and will embrace us when we come to Him, no matter what our past looks like. Jesus already paid the ultimate price, there already is this unbelievable grace waiting for you.

If we have been a Christian for a while now, we need to be like a new believer everyday! Much like someone who comes to Christ for the first time, they never have experienced this presence before in their lives and they are excited to share it everyone. If we have been a believer for a long time, we need to have this excitement again, we need to be excited and invite others to come to know Christ just like you did when you first realized what life can be like with a loving God. The fact is, every day we wake up, we are born again. We are new in Christ. He has allowed us to be here another day, another breath. AND THAT IS EXCITING! We need to not fall into the routine that this is a normal thing, just another day type feeling because Jesus is more than that!

Let us start acting like new believers and being pumped and bold and inviting others to share the love you have from God so that they may get to experience it too, just like we did when we first became believers.

Random Fact: Apple laptops can stop bullets.

Flood of Blood

I have the great privilege to be in a Life Group with a group of amazing guys. We have been meeting for about a year now and we have gotten really close. It is one of those groups were we don’t only just meet on Monday nights, but it was turned into a network of friends who hang out outside of Mondays and genuinely care about each others well being and a place where we can keep each other accountable. I love these guys so much and it is amazing that we get to hang out and grow in life and grow spiritually as well.

We are going through the Johns for our small group: 1, 2, 3 John and then going through the Gospel of John. Last night we went though 1 John 1&2 and these two verses stuck out to me like how Shaq would stick out in Midget Town:

1 John 2:5-6 (New International Version, ©2010)

5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

This is how we KNOW we are in him… we must live as Jesus did. OUCH! This punched me in the face like how Mike Tyson did to Allen in the Hangover for stealing his tiger. Who ever claims to live in Him (which I do) must live as Jesus did (which I do not). I try…I try really hard but I fail miserably.

The bar is set really high. And I didn’t know how I could reach that. But as we were talking we started to think about how we almost need to be thankful for our shortcomings because its only then how much we need to look to Jesus. We fall short, and we look to Jesus to take the rest, because that is what he did on the cross.

If you remember Jesus in the garden, he was sweating blood before he was arrested. People say that he was just so anxious for getting arrested and dying on the cross. I think there is more than that. I think Jesus knew from the very beginning what he was going to do and he was not really worried about that. I think it was more along the lines that Jesus was about to take the whole world’s sins on His shoulders. The prayer of “Father, take this cup from me” is more on the lines like, “Father, I am about to have the entire world’s sins from the past and the future poured onto me right now, take it from me.” That’s why he was sweating blood. That is a lot to take.

To think that we, who deserve the punishment, fall short because we sin, and Jesus taking my punishment for me. It is like if we were to be standing in front of a huge 200 foot tall dam and the dam breached and millions of gallons of water came rushing at you. Scary. Then as soon as the water was about to hit you, a huge opening in the earth started at your feet and all of the water poured down the crack instead of hitting you like a truck… that is what Jesus did for us with our sin. THAT’S NUTS.

How am I supposed to live as he did? How am I supposed to walk in the light if that’s the light I am supposed to walk in? GRACE. That’s how. We have a God who does not sit on top of a mountain and waits for us to come to Him and find the right path to Him. He is a God that comes down to meet us where we are at and he did through Jesus, His Son, who died for me and who died for us so that we are able to live as He did. Even though we will not be able to fully live as Jesus did, His grace for us will allow us to be viewed in favor when we meet the Father in Heaven.

And that is amazing grace.

This Truly Breaks My Heart...

Over these past holidays I got to spend a lot of time with my family. I love every single person in the family. My aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and my immediate family. I don’t know what it was about this year, but something hit me really hard. Not everyone in my family believes in God. Not everyone in my family knows the love of the God that created them. This breaks my heart. This breaks my heart to the point where I am at tears just even thinking about it. I hate the fact that they do not know the love and the forgiveness and they do not know the grace that the Lord will give to them. They don’t know that Jesus suffered on the cross, just for them.

I am sad at the fact that some of my favorite little cousins are being brought up in a home where they have no idea who Jesus is. Their parents used to go to church, and for whatever reason they do not like/believe in the institution of church. My alcoholic uncle, who has a true golden heart, who genuinely cares for everyone in the family, has alcohol as a god rather than the One True Creator. He sits at home while my aunt attends church. I have cousins who do not know God, an aunt, and an uncle. It breaks my heart.

I want to partially blame myself. Even though I have spent time with them, I have not done my part in sharing my faith. My uncle refers to my job as “that thing you are doing with the kids”. I can do a better job at what my job is and the entire purpose of what I do. I can and need to be more intentional on how and when I talk to them about my faith.

Going back to my last post, I can work on this idea of “boldness” with my family. This is something that I must do. There is a hope already though. Over this Christmas season I invited my entire family to JOY, the Christmas services that CCV (the church I work at, check them out HERE). EVERYONE CAME! Even those who have not stepped inside a church in I don’t even know how long. I just pray that the seed that was planted that night though the message grows with a little help from me and a lot more help of God.

I hope that my tears of sadness for them turn into tears of Joy one day.

Random Fact: Cracking your knuckles does not actually hurt your bones or cause arthritis. The sound you hear is just gas bubbles bursting.

One Word Resolution

One of my good friends, and a man that I look up to greatly in ministry is Mike Vander Dussen. He just recently moved up north to be an executive pastor at a church up there. He started a blog in which I started to read. He just wrote one that I loved. You can read it HERE, but in summary, he says that instead of having a whole list of New Year’s resolutions, which we wont get anywhere near to being done, we should have a New Year’s Word that we base the whole year around. The idea in this is that is we focus on one word; we are more inclined to do everything around that one word rather than a whole list. For example, Mike says, “Maybe you’re struggling with your weight, well instead of resolving to eat better, your One Word may be ‘Healthy’. Therefore instead of just changing your eating habits, you focus on everything that makes your life healthy and just maybe for the first time you actually achieve the weight that you have always wanted.”

Such a simple idea and I think it can actually work. My word for 2011 is going to be “Boldness”. I want to be able to speak as bold as Paul did in the New Testament. It didn’t matter who was listening or where he was, he spoke the love of God no matter what. I want to be more like that. I want to start conversations with strangers and end up talking about God. I want to have the tough conversations with my family who does not know the Lord but I have just been too nervous to strike up conversation with them about Him.

See, I don't want it only in church related topics. I want to make it a goal to be bold in life. When it comes to making decisions. When it comes to going places. Just in every aspect. I going to work hard on this, and I am excited to see where it will lead.

Today will be a good first test as I go out and ask strangers to answer some questions for a video we are doing for Shift Students tomorrow night.

I hope to keep myself accountable and I hope that those that read this help me keep accountable to this as well.

It’s been a while since I have done this, but I am going to start again:

Random Fact: A cow gives nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in its lifetime.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Today is...Bleh

I don’t really know what it is about today, but I am just not motivated. I don’t know if it’s a combination of the weather and it being Monday and getting back into the grind of things or what? But I just know I do not like it.

I started off this morning running late because for whatever reasons all of the iPhone 4’s in the world alarm clocks decided not to work in 2011 so far. So I woke up late and in a hurry as I brushed my teeth in my underwear as I tried to put on deodorant at the same time as trying to put on a shirt. I bet I looked ridiculous. I got to work and we had a quiet time, like we do every Monday when we get into the office. I usually look forward to them, it s a great way to start off the week with my team here, but today I was distracted and couldn’t focus. I don’t feel like doing anything. I want to go back into my bed and watch the huge numbers of movies and TV shows that I have on Netflix (which is the best invention ever if I were to choose one).

Even things that I usually enjoy, such as food (Subway for lunch, yum) and watching Modern Family on the lunch break with everyone, didn’t snap out of this weird mood I am in today. I feel like I just want to be Jabba the Hut from Star Wars (yes, I just made a Star Wars reference) and just be fat and lay on the couch and eat 21 Choices chocolate and Kit-Kat mixed frozen yogurt. Don’t judge me, that’s just want I want to do.

But, and there always is a “but”, and I love how God does this sometimes when you need it, I read this:

"Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men."
Colossians 3:23

I, in fact, think I have one of the best jobs. I love it. The other day I went to lunch with Matt Ferrer, a dude who is in my small group, a guy that I work with here at CCV, and just a great man of God in general, and we were talking about how lucky we are that we have the jobs we do. Where else can we do what we love, serve God, and we are able to make a living off of it. It’s truly a blessing. We were talking that I am a pastor, but if we want to get technical, I also am a professional filmmaker because I get paid and I make videos for Wednesday nights. Stretching a little bit? Ya, sure, but I am just saying.

I read that verse from Colossians 3 and I just felt motivated again and reminded me of that conversation I had with Matt. Even as I am sitting here, not feeling motivated today, what I am doing; I need to “work heartily” for the Lord and not for man. I am working for Him, not for others. Ultimately, no one else matters, I am serving God, in a great place, a great church, with a great team, with an amazing volunteer staff, and with some awesome students…and its all for Him.

Pretty uplifting, and its amazing that I read that at the exact time I needed to hear it.

The Worst Verse In The Bible

The other day I was reading something from a pastor named Steven Furtick. He said something that was interesting to me. And I agree.

He said that the verse Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the worst bible verses in the Bible. Now before you get all angry, listen. If you have been around church at all, you have probably heard this verse.

"Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

A lot of people use this as a staple for there life. That's great. I love that verse. It's a promise from God. But here is the issue. This becomes the worst verse in the bible because it sort if gives this "fake" view that God will never allow bad things to happen to you. Ever. He has a plan for you. True. To prosper you. True. Not to harm you. True. To have a hope and a future. True.

All of that is true. But I feel that we get this idea that God will never allow bad things to happen to us because He has a plan and doesn't want to hurt us, but as soon as troubles come our way, as soon as the hard times come, we look at this verse and say, "LIAR! God I'm hurting right now, you said you would never do this." Their faith suffers.

Now here is way I agree with Steven Furtick's claim of this being the worst verse in the Bible.

Christians have this tendency sometimes to take verses out of context. When the Bible originally was written, it didn't have the numbered chapters and verses like it does today. Did you know that? For the longest time growing up I didn't know that. It was meant to be read like a regular book, from the beginning of each book to the end, straight through. The verses are not supposed to be picked out alone, when they are they loose their context. They loose their original meaning, because in context a verse can mean something completely different in the context of the rest of the text compared to that one verse standing by itself because you then can make it mean whatever you want it too. This is dangerous.

Let me give you a personal example.

I have tattoos. Shocker right? Satan! Sadly some people truly think that. They quote Leviticus 19:28 "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord." It says it right there and people always throw that verse in my face. First off, it's Old Testament Law. Jesus set the New law. But if you still want to throw that verse out let's put context to it. Let's look at Leviticus 19:26-27, the two verses before it just as an example. This is a list of laws to distinguish the Jews from the rest of the cultures around them. To show that they were not like the rest and they were God's nation. When that verse it by itself, yes it says that, but we can't take one verse out, say it's God's law and then not follow the rest of the words that follow that verse. You have to look at the whole passage. Look at the verses prior to the tattoo one.

Leviticus 19:26-28 (NIV)
26 " `Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it.".... Oops, there goes your medium steak. We Have to have our steaks extra well.
26b- " `Do not practice divination or sorcery. ".... Dang! There goes enjoying Harry Potter.

[27] " `Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard." .... Shoot. Clean shaven is a sin according to this. Looks like we all have to look like we are from the Civil War.

So back to Jeremiah 29:11. God does promise us in this verse, but it gives the idea that God will never allow bad things to happen to us, and when they do, we say God is a liar and we doubt. This verse is out of context on it's own. If we look at the verse before, Jeremiah 29:10 we then see the true meaning of why God makes this promise.

Jeremiah 29:10 (NIV)
This is what the Lord says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.

Before the promise given in verse 11, God tells the Israelites once the 70 years of exile is completed in Babylon, then there is that promise, that promise is there while they are going through this exile. They most go through one of the darkest times if their life, still looking to God, because God knew what He was doing. Our plans are rarely God's plan.

God is saying that the Israelites had to go through the 70 years of pain, struggle, and exile from their home lands not only before God will carry out His promise, but they are going through this troubling time because it was part of His plan, He knew it would make them stronger. It would cause them to look to God first and then, and only when they complete their time in exile will God hold tom is promise.

God does have a plan. It may not be ours. God will allow us to go through trials, just as Israelites did, but it was apart on the plan from the beginning. For us to take Jeremiah 29:11 as it is, out of context, we get this glaze over our eyes that God will never allow bad things to happen to us. That's why people cling to this verse, and only this verse, and when the troubles come, they fall.

If we look at the verse just by itself, and believe it like this, that's when it becomes the worst verse in the Bible.

But when we look this verse, the verses before it and after, and realize the true context of the verse, and we realize that even through the difficult times, it's because it still is apart of His plan. It's not a promise that God will not allow bad things to happen to you, it's a promise that EVEN during the hard times that God is there with you and has a plan and there is a reason for the troubles, we just can't see it yet. Just as the Israelites went through 70 years of exile, we go through troubles with the knowledge that God has the plan.

When we look at Jeremiah 29:11 in it's context and realize the true meaning of it, that God is there with a promise through the tough times, this verse then becomes one of the best verses in the Bible.

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