a new blog...

i have started a new blog. i imported most of the posts from this blog into the new one. i am going to convert this blog into thoughts and updates about my family and kids. thanks to those that read.
here is my new blog site.

let me know what you think.


http://www.rom815.wordpress.com

until next time....

i love this quote

i saw this quote today and really love it.

"Fear often makes us want to impress others."

The reason I really love this so much is because today at lunch with a young twentysomeone we talked about this exact issue. We thought about how tangled faith, trust, vulnerability, identity and performance are connected. How often do we feel like we can't be our "true" selves because the environment we are in will judge us? We do live in the ultimate freedom of Christ, not culturally rebellious, but culturally different, and from that we are free to be our "true" selves. When we are afraid, we want to impress others, rather than be divinely gifted selves.

I found that quote here: http://www.nfib.com/object/IO_28481.html


until next time....

can you hear it....

can you hear what is really being said? are you and i in a position to maximize this moment in history? i, even as i type, feel the tension. the tension is that at this moment i want to be used of God and labor with God for the advancement of the kingdom while at the same time i want to pass the responsibility on to others. i wonder if world war 2 veterans felt that way? they had a real and tangible army that invaded our country and another that was marching across Europe with some ease. maybe our passivity stems from the realization that our enemy is not so tangible. he is much harder to fight and to overcome. however, i believe that history is looking for the courageous and the brave. who will hear the sound emanating from the top of the seven cultural mountains (family, business/tech/finance, media, education, art/entertainment/sports, government, religion)?

check out this lance wallnau video.


let me know what you hear Jesus saying to you....




until next time....

a few of my favorite new thoughts....

in this life....i'm not looking for something, but discovering someone.
you see in the natural, but hear in the supernatural.
people who are bound up are living in someone else's belief system...not God's belief system.
faith requires us to bring the unseen into the seen.
faith is a relational position, more than it is a functional purpose.
my faith in God is substantiated by his character and nature.
unbelief is not that i don't believe God, i just believe a lie more.
in this world, you have to see it to believe it. in the kingdom of God you have to believe it to see it.
without God we cannot. without us God will not.
revelation is not something you get, it's someone you know.

do you have any cool new thoughts that are shaping your perception of God?



until next time....

update.....

just letting my readers know that i'm fine. i just have not felt like blogging. does it come and go, the desire to write? if so, i don't have a flow right now, but maybe it will return.

until next time...

the power of communication

i have been trying to refrain from making political observations. for one, i am not sure i am smart to make public observations and secondly, the purpose of this blog is not to position myself on one side of the aisle. however, there is so much excitement about mr. obama's speeches. i have heard him speak...at least through c-span, youtube and 30 second sound bites. he seems to be a powerful communicator. really, if i were voting for president on one's ability to give a great speech, i would not vote for john mccain or hillary clinton. barack obama is proving that great communication can generate much momentum. there seems to be a groundswell of support for him. why? because he gives an energetic and passionate speech. i, for one, am looking for great delivery and solid substance. i am not sure i have gotten the solid substance.

i point this out just to illustrate what should be happening in youth ministries and in pulpits across america. we do not need, nor deserve, dry, monotone messages. we need men and women of God who are being formed in intimacy and the fire of the Holy Spirit, to give, not great sermons, but great lives. i was reading recently one of my college course books on biblical preaching. he makes the point, that a pastor's role is not to give a great sermon, but let the bible change him and deliver a great man. i wonder then what is shaping and forming barack obama? what is he meditating on and being mentally intimate with? what is molding and cultivating his platform?

if we rely solely on government to change the state of our nation, we live in a deceived state of humanism. however i want a leader who is governed by the principles, values and spirit of God. i want the kingdom of God and his government to influence the vision, pursuit, legislation and judicial decisions of our government. great speeches won't make that happen. great speeches will draw crowds, but they won't shape history.

it will be curious to see what happens over the next several months. may God give us a righteous leader, full of the Spirit of God and who will lead our nation towards it's destiny and purpose. may God give us great leadership in this hour of church history; men and women who lay down their lives and invest in others. may we grow in the strength of our convictions and demonstrate heightened levels of courage.

until next time....

following jesus

until next time...