Aloha,

Today’s service was great. 

Kevin’s message… about allowing Christ to pull us out of bondage… was spot-on.  There’s so many things we allow ourselves to become enslaved-to… I always need the reminder that Christ died so that we don’t have to be this way…

It’s like the lyric in P.O.D.’s “Southtown”… life doesn’t have to be like this… life doesn’t have to be like this…

Also… the band seemed to kick it up a notch this morning (if that’s possible).  To be honest, I’ve never been one for mid-week services… but sometimes I wish we had the time and energy to do just a 4-5 song set in the middle of the week… I don’t think I can get enough.

Last… the kids’ pictures with the easter bunny turned out great.   At the end of the day, people always like free stuff, but when it’s really-good free stuff… all the better.

To be honest, I’m a little tired… it’s late… and this will be a challenging week to get all the creative stuff ready for Sunday (the dilemmas of being part-time help… :o)

That said, I’m feeling this burning… that God’s pushing somewhere… because my soul is uneasy… it’s discontent… I’m not sure where he’ll lead… but I think I’m ready to follow… 

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about what Christ’s death on the cross really means to us.

There’s the theologically-based answer, that God is perfect, and since we aren’t… there needs to be a payment for our sins before we can come into relationship with Him… Since Jesus was without sin, his willing sacrifice through death pays our penalty…

That answer is profound… but for many of us that have exposure (at some level) to the Christian faith… it can come off like a definition, which really isn’t all that personal… 

I mean, there are a ton of people who would say they agree with that answer, but agreeing in their minds about truth isn’t the same as letting a relationship with Him transform their lives.

When I read the accounts of Jesus in the Bible, I’m amazed how he led his ministry on earth… he never accepted things the way they were, and he always sought to free people from whatever bound them.

To the religious person who thought they knew it all, he called them blind.

To the blind person, rejected by society, he gave sight.

To the promiscuous lady, searching for love in the beds of strangers, he gave relationship.

To the bridegroom worried that he had run out of drink, he gave wine.

Time after time again, he went to the heart of their pride… their issue… their pain… their anxiety… and he took it away.  He didn’t ignore it… he identified it… and offered freedom.

His death is the ultimate reminder of this… he looks down from the cross and says…see… here… I’m going through this so you don’t have to… stop where you are and turn towards where I am.  

I pray I find a way to more deeply accept his invitation each day.

It’s honesty time.

I don’t really love people like I should.

I say I do… and I want to… but when I get down to it, I think that I don’t do a good job of it.

I wish when I did it (that is, love people) my motives were pure.  But too often they’re not… I’m nice to them because they’re nice to me back… which is really just another way of saying that I’m nice to them because I want something.

That’s what must have been so great about being around Jesus.  He was really agenda-less when it came to loving people.  I wonder what his answer to this question would be:

 “Jesus, why do you love _____”

It’d probably be something simple, like “because my father made them.”  

That has to be why people were so drawn to him.  For many of them, they were experiencing pure, agenda-less love for the very first time.  

So why bring this up now?

Because sometimes, to be honest again, I want to invite people to church for the wrong reason.

I want to invite them because it makes me feel better about myself.

I want to invite them because I want CG to be a big, impressive church.

My motives aren’t pure.

When I pray, sometimes I ask that God would create in me the same love for people that he has.

I ask that God would change my heart so that I’m as emotionally impacted by those around me as I am by a big-screen TV or new mountain bike.

I think it’d be easier to invite people if my heart was that way.

I think they’d be more likely to come too…

What did the 99 do when the shepherd was gone?

If Jesus Himself is the shepherd, and we are to strive to be like Him, then should we sheep not seek to be a shepherd to others and seek to shine the light of salvation on the wandering ones?  Shouldn’t we pick them up on our shoulders and help to carry them back to the waiting flock?  Once they are there, shouldn’t we encourage them to become shepherds and eventually help in the search for lost sheep?  When we are in the flock, shouldn’t we be encouraging the seeking and praising the Father that found us stumbling about in the wilderness?  Shouldn’t we be learning so that we too may imitate the shepherd and stretch out from the flock to find the lost?

Or should we be content to sit around so many other found sheep? Should we be whispering about those seeking, discontent to be left alone?  No.  Rather than lamenting the fact that your shepherd is seeking the lost ones, read the words long written down and encourage the 99.  Encourage the shepherd when he returns, and rejoice with him/her when a lost sheep is returned.  Learn to look and seek yourself.

I would love to look with you and rejoice when you come back weary from carrying lost sheep.

I got to be in the toddler class at Common Ground yesterday.  Did you catch that I said that I “got” to be?  I didn’t “have to be”, I didn’t have to “take my turn”, I didn’t have to “fill in for someone”, I got to be!  Meaning, “had the privilege of”, “was honored to”, “was excited to be a part of”.  And an honoring, exciting privilege it was! 

So often, I hear people remark about serving children by saying, “I have to work in the nursery today” or “I have to teach the elementary kids” or “I have to help the kids do a craft” as if it’s the equivalent to jury duty or something.  “Just doing my civic duty since no one else will.”  How much we’re missing out on when we view our CG kids that way!  In fact, in Matthew 18:3, Jesus tells the disciples (and us) that unless we change and become like children, we will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  What better place for me to learn how to be like little children than to learn alongside them on Sundays?

Which comes to part of the privilege of getting to serve yesterday, here’s what I learned: 

From Trinity:  I might pitch a fit (and trust me, I do at times!) when God doesn’t give me exactly what I want when I want it (in this case the pink craft), but if I calm down, give it some thought, and look around at what I might be missing, I will realize that God’s alternative for me is something great and fun and I will miss out if I don’t take what He’s offered me.  Not to mention the fact that I learned through Trinity to humble my heart in the process, apologize to the Teacher, and find out that the reward I will receive is just as great. 

From Kyle:  I learned what a difference a word of encouragement can make to people.  When I showed up in class and Kyle said with excitement and anticipation, “You’re my teacher?! Yay!”, I was determined to give him the absolute most fun toddler class that he’s ever had.  What a difference a word of encouragement can make to people who are serving, whether at church or Chuck E. Cheese.  Encouraging words go a long way and make people want to do their best. 

From
Logan:  I learned that I am going to get thrown into brand new situations repeatedly throughout life where I don’t know a soul and am unsure of my surroundings.  I can either choose to stand on the sidelines and watch people play and have fun, or, I can jump right in, put trust in my new caregivers and friends, and enjoy the great, new experience God has given me. 

I can’t wait until my next learning experience with that toddler class and look forward with anticipation when I will find out from Susan the date of when I get to be a part of what God is doing with them again.  Kyle, here I come! 

“Dear Lord, grant me the grace of wonder.  Surprise me, amaze me, awe me in every crevice of Your universe.  Delight me to see how Your Christ plays in ten thousand places, lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not His, to the Father through the features of men’s faces.  Each day enrapture me with Your marvelous things without number.  I do not ask to see the reason for it all; I ask only to share the wonder of it all.”

Read Acts 27 and 28.

Sometimes there are bumps along the road and they can be annoying like mosquitoes intent on distracting you from the otherwise beautiful rain-forest around you.  But sometimes, there are hurricanes in the way that take you off the path you are traveling and shipwreck you somewhere completely unexpected.  Sometimes you escape one shipwreck and find a viper attached to your hand, and hopelessness seems your constant companion.  Sometimes God puts you on a path that doesn’t seem to be the most desirable, yet you know it will end where He wants you, so you are excited about it anyway.  At the end of Acts, Paul was en route under guard to Rome to appeal to Caesar.  While Paul was a well-traveled guy who was not unfamiliar with imprisonment, I imagine he would have preferred other travel arrangements and travel destinations.  But, we read Acts 27 and 28 and we see this guy who is so intent on serving the Lord, that he doesn’t let discomfort distract him.  He knows a fundamental truth that sometimes we Americans with so many creature comforts forget…life isn’t always easy.  Even the life of a Christian isn’t always easy, but the difference for a Christian is that in times of difficulty, we have a family, the church (which is not a building) to fall back on; we have a Father who loves us; we have the assurance of forgiveness; and we have the hope of eternal life.  Those difficult times seem to get easier when you have a light at the end of the tunnel that resembles sunshine more and more.

Paul dug in his heels and continued to preach the Word and reassure the people en route to Rome with him.  He didn’t let a fourteen day storm that only seemed to promise death distract him from God.  He didn’t let a shipwreck distract him.  He didn’t let the fear around him distract him.

I hope that the next time I’m going somewhere God is leading me and things start to really feel out of control that I keep focused on Jesus no matter what.

Also, in this comfortable America I’m proud to live in, I hope I don’t make Jesus secondary in my search for stability and (redundant) comfort.

Top 10 Reasons to Visit Common Ground this weekend:

10. The band plans to collectively gain 100 pounds between Halloween Night and Sunday Morning.
9. Left-over coffee will be used in a chugging contest between Matt (bass player) and Kevin (lead minister)
8. Flashing lights may or may not be law enforcement related.
7. Sean will be practicing Jiu-Jitsu in the aisles with willing victims…I mean volunteers.
6. Everyone will laugh at least once…we hope.
5. Our communion juice is not from concentrate.
4. We sometimes compare church-goers to X-Men.
3. We allow people with emo hair to have leadership positions; it’s practically automatic.
2. We use Macs…Big Macs.
1. Our sound guy has never heard of anything position of the knob other than 11.

So, it looks like Mike is doing the great informational posts about what’s going on in the life of CG, and I am doing the “Deep Thoughts by Matt Murphy” style posts.  That’s pretty cool, I think.

That is all.