I stayed up several hours last night watching the events unfold in Ferguson, Mo. in the aftermath of the grand jury's decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown. Politics aside, what I saw was a broken world.
This afternoon I was listening to the Newsboys and I heard these lyrics from their song, "We Believe"...
In this time of desperation
When all we know is doubt and fear
There is only one foundation
We believe, we believe
In this broken generation
When all is dark, You help us see
There is only one salvation
We believe, we believe
We believe in God the Father
We believe in Jesus Christ
We believe in the Holy Spirit
And He's given us new life
We believe in the crucifixion
We believe that He conquered death
We believe in the resurrection
And He's comin' back again, we believe
Here's the truth I found in those words: We are living in times of desperation and a part of a broken generation. Our sense of justice is out of whack. The only salvation comes from God through Jesus Christ.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
What an awesome promise we have from him. We will live with him!
I hope you can join in on that chorus. As the next verse of the song says, "may our faith be more than anthems". I hope you can join in with confidence as we say, "WE BELIEVE!"
I encourage you to take a couple minutes to listen to the whole song.
Sunday we wrapped up a very successful VBS at Monrovia. It was a good reminder of God's love. I wanted to share with you some of the things I learned or was reminded of.
I learned we have a lot of talented people in our church family. It is a reminder of the truth we find in 1 Corinthians 12:12, "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ."
There are so many people that chipped in to help us "blast off". Brian Kello and Jennifer Hamlett led the charge in organizing the weekend. Brian really brought a lot of passion and encouraged our young people with his excitement.
Brian leading our final session
There were so many crew leaders and people working behind the scenes that I can't mention everyone here. I do want you to see the rocket Bryan Bates constructed from scratch. It was incredible.
Our kids participated in what was called "projects with a purpose". Katy Brown and Heather Bates came up with two great projects to allow the kids to serve. One night they put together a care package for the homeless. The next night, they stuffed toy owls to give away to traumatized kids in the emergency room and on ambulances.
Finally, I want to recognize the Waltons and the Selfs. Amy and Christy served as story tellers to the kids and really made the scenes we read about in the Bible come alive.
Amy Walton, dressed as a Capernaum resident, showing the kids the hole in her roof
where the paralytic was lowered to see Jesus
Thanks to all who participated. I know the children had a great time and learned a lot. Our theme verse for the weekend is also a good reminder to all of us. It comes from 1 John 4:7, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God." Throughout the weekend, Brian would say, "God loves us, sooo...." And the children would shout back, "love each other." No matter where you are or what you've done, God loves you very much. For us as Christians, it is our mission to share that love with everyone.
I have a test for you. Pull your hands away from your keyboard, and look at your fingernails.
Go ahead... do it.
Okay, so now that you did, I want to analyze how you looked at your fingernails. Scientific studies have shown that the majority of men will look at their nails by holding their hands palm up and curling their
fingers so the nails show. Women, on the other hand (pun intended), holds their hands palm down and
fingers straight out. Did you look at your nails the "correct" way for your gender?
I don't know much about the science behind it, but I do believe there is some truth to it. It does seem to work that way most of the time.
Here is another one: Think about how you carry a stack of books. If you're a dude, chances are you carry your books in one hand, pressed against your side. Girls carry their books in front of them, with two hands wrapped around them. One of my college professors first brought this to my attention as he explained that the way we carry books is handed down from our ancestors. My professor said men carry books like our ancestors carried their weapons and women carry books like our female ancestors carried their babies.
Once again, I am not sure how much of a part biology plays in this phenomenon. More than anything, I think how we carry our books is a learned behavior.
Over the last ten months or so I have learned many lessons about ministry and developing adolescent faith. Those lessons have been the result of first-hand experience and academic study at Lipscomb University in a pair of youth ministry classes with Dr. Surdacki and Dr. Fraze. One of the most important lessons I learned was how important parents are in developing faith.
From hobbies to behaviors, we learn much about life from our parents. Last summer I had dinner with a couple of my high school classmates. As we were sitting across the table from one another, I began to notice how much they each looked like their fathers. But, it wasn't just looks. they sounded like them too.
One of those former classmates was telling me about how he was volunteering at our high school by coaching the junior varsity baseball team. His dad was a high school baseball coach. I know they talked a lot about baseball when we were growing up and my friend's dad even helped coach some of our teams. The point is, it was a learned behavior. His dad loves baseball and now he loves baseball.
The go to verse here is Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go;even when he is old he will not depart from it." How about Deuteronomy 6:4-7:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You
shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them
when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you
lie down, and when you rise.
In Almost Christian, Kenda Creasy Dean writes about this passage, explaining that, "The law called upon Jewish parents to show their children godliness—to teach them, talk to them, embody for them their own delight in the Lord, 24/7." I believe Christian parents have that same responsibility. Parents have a major influence on the lives of their children. Dean concludes, "in the end, awakening faith does not depend on how hard we press young people to love God, but on how much we show them that we do."***
When I started writing this post (about a month ago), we had just wrapped up our Senior Sunday as we honored the graduates in the Monrovia Youth Group. On that Sunday morning, we showed the following video. It was a great reminder of the impact a strong family has on the life of a teen.
*** Dean, Kenda Creasy
(2010-06-12). Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is
Telling the American Church (p. 120). Oxford University Press.
This past Sunday, we celebrated the graduation of our seniors at Monrovia Church of Christ. First of all, congratulations! I certainly wish you the best in your future endeavors.
I had the opportunity to speak Sunday morning and shared some advice. We have an awesome group of guys that stream our service online Sunday mornings and record the sermons to make them available. So, I am able to share with you the message we had Sunday morning for our graduates...
When I was interning for WREG in Memphis as a senior at Auburn in 2006, I was interviewing then Memphis football coach Tommy West. I had one of those moments you see on TV when a coach goes on a rant. I was asking a series of questions that my sports director had told me to ask about the Tigers season thus far. Memphis was not having a good year. They only won two games that season. However, the upcoming game was expected to be a win against a lesser opponent. One of the questions I asked was something along the lines of, "do you expect to get some quality minutes for your backups to get some experience?" Mr. West did not like this question and proceeded to put me in my place. To summarize his response, he said, "hey stupid intern, we aren't worried about getting experience, we are just trying to win a game," (his words were much more colorful than mine).
I learned a lesson about words that day. The words I used elicited a very negative response. His words hurt. This incident reminds me of Proverbs 12:18, "the words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."
This story was part of our lesson on words today at Madison Academy as I was filling in as a substitute bible teacher. Sometimes we take for granted just how powerful our words can be. Consider the following quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne:
I think about Hitler and how he stirred the masses to great evil with his words. Martin Luther King had a huge impact on the Civil Rights Movement with his words.
Words stir emotion and can leave a lasting impact. Check out James 3:
3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.4 Look
at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong
winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the
pilot directs.5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind,8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
Take responsibility for your words and choose wisely. You only have a certain number of words to share in a given situation and they are your most powerful tool.
Outside of Monday night's basketball game, I have been a bit of a recluse this week trying to get caught up on some school work, preparing lessons, and getting some planning taking care of for some upcoming MYG events. Therefore, I have spent a lot of time at the house studying, etc.
Today around noon I got a knock on the door asking for some help. It was my neighbor who needed help loading a table into a truck. I provided a hand and then proceeded to get ready to head out the door on the way to the church building.
When I got in my jeep, I still had my iPod hooked up so I pressed play. The song was God's Not Dead by the Newsboys. The first line of the song really hit me: Let love explode and bring the dead to life.
I thought, "what have I done this week to let love explode?" Maybe that knock on the door was a reminder to get to work.
Ephesians 2:10 tells us we were created in Jesus Christ for good works. I think that's what this lyric is all about. Letting love explode means letting your light shine so that others may see your good works and glorify God (Matthew 5:16).
That is where the dead find life, only through Jesus Christ!
One of my favorite parts of speaking at Monrovia is interacting with the little ones at the beginning of service. Yesterday I preached on goodness and we got that conversation going, when I asked the kids some questions about what is good. You never know what kind of answers you are going to get...
