Our perceptions can no longer be our realities

In case you're wondering why I haven't written anything in a while it's because I was out of town at a summer camp called YAC.  YAC stands for Youth Adventure Camp and takes place every year here in PA.  I had the privaledge of attending this years camp and would like to take a few moments here to share from some of my experiences.  Firstly, the campground is located in beautiful Ulysses, PA.  Which for us, was a good five hours away.  Being my first time at YAC, I really didn't know what to expect.  Although I had been to similar camps before, I can honestly say that nothing prepares you for a week of low ropes courses, high ropes courses, rock climbing, repelling, ziplining, cave exploring, team challenges, running, playing, jumping, sweating, eating, worshiping, loving, laughing, singing, praying and no sleeping!

I can't remember the last time I had so much fun continually.  There were around 100 or so students who attended this year and they were awesome!  In the midst of all the games and fun was a constant theme of you are valued, loved and cherished by God.  Although that might seem like a very tyipcal theme one might find at a Christian camp...something struck me about how these particular students recieved this message.  It was almost as if they had never heard that before or if they had, they didn't really believe it.  A lot of these students attend church regularly, go to youth group and love God.  But on the inside, they're broken, lost and hurting.

I would venture to say that almost 75% of all the students there were from broken homes.  It was heart breaking to say the least to see and hear the pain that these students carry with them every day.  Many are growing up without fathers who love them and it's taking a toll.  I had seven boys in my cabin, and only one still had a dad at home.  It's getting worse folks...not better.  Our perceptions can no longer be our realities.  Much of us in the church have stuck our heads in the sand of religion and tradition all the while this generation is growing up with no clear picture of what it means to be a family or how to love.

I have one question for the body of Christ today...where are the spiritual fathers and mothers?  Is there anyone who will make a difference in the lives of these who are fatherless and motherless?  We can no longer sit idly by Church!  If there is hope, if there is an answer, if there is one God and one Lord, we should accept the great challenge before us!  My encouragement to us all is that we make time every day to love and encourage those who need a father or mother in their lives.  Let's be a people who reach out, who love, who bless and who mend the broken.  Amen?

Someone's Watching

God is watching our lives...and He's taking notes.  Have you ever heard that?   It's a funny thought really.  To think that the creator of the heavens and the earth, the all powerful, all knowing, most holy God would pay attention to us.  Go ahead, try to wrap your head around that.  All of your days are being observed by the All-Mighty.  There isn't a moment that passes that He does not see.  That thought you just had, he heard it.  Amazing isn't?  We are so loved that even the hairs on our heads are numbered.  I can't even remember birthdays, but God knows every detail about my life and yours.

Why am I writing this?  What's the point?  The point is this, are you ready?  Take a deep breath.  Here goes, your life is worth watching.  I know what you're thinking, no, it's really not.  If you only knew Brian.  Well, I do know.  I know the most important truth in all of human history.  You were worth a Son to God.  But I'm unworthy.  Yes.  I'm a sinner.  Ok.  I've failed so many times.  We all have.  Focusing on our unworthiness or failures is probably one of the biggest mistakes we make. 

The question is not, why did God send His son to die for someone like me? 

The question is, what will we do with the amazing gift that He has given to us? 

This just in...it's not about us!  It's about Him and how great He is!  Ok, I know it may seem as though I'm contradicting myself, but hear me out.  Yes, your life is worth watching...but, it's only because He has redeemed it.  Follow?  The price was paid by Jesus Christ," Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!"  Philippians 2:6-8

Do you understand that we get what Jesus deserves and He got what we deserved?  That "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John 2:2

He took our punishment..."Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."  Phil. 2:9-11

Paul poses this question to us in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, " Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?"  Good question Paul, do we know?  He goes on to say, "You are not your own;  you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."

So if we are the actual houses of God's Holy Spirit and were bought with a price, but not just any price, the greatest price ever paid.  Then, we should live in such a way as to honor God with our bodies and our entire lives.  Why?  Because of what He has done!  My encouragement for you today is that you begin to see your life as more than just mere days, months and years.  More than just a compilation of good and bad choices, successes and failures.  But rather, a beautiful story written with the precious blood of Jesus.  A story of true love, passion and redemption.  After all, the greatest message the world will ever hear is the message our lives speak every day.  

Grace Awakening

I was born on Tuesday September 23rd, 1980.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  Ok...not really.  As a matter of fact, I don't have the greatest memory.  Sticky notes have become one of my best friends.  If I don't write it down, I'll more than likely forget.  That was off topic but I felt you needed to know.  Anyway, before I was conceived, my parents thought they were through having kids.  Little did they know right.  My mom was in her late 30's and my dad was in his early 40's.  I can't even imagine what that must have been like for them.  Afterall, they already had three teenagers in the house and now a baby.

From what I can remember though, life was good.  My mom and dad loved me, clothed me and most importantly...fed me. :)  Because my dad was gone a lot, he was a truck driver, my mom and I did just about everything together.  I can remember going shopping, fishing, yardselling, to church, for drives and spending lots of time outside together.  I had what you might call a normal childhood.  We lived in the country so there was lots of room to run and play.  You know, I miss those days.  They seem further and further away anymore.

From the time I was old enough to pick up sticks, my dad taught me how to work.  I can remember long days working outside in the hot sun.  My mom would come to the front porch and call us in for lunch.  Which was usually sandwiches, chips and momma's sweet tea.  The older I got the harder we worked.  I've shared before that those lessons learned working with my dad have shaped who I am today.  I'm thankful for what he taught me.  There is one thing that I wish I would have learned a little earlier in life though. 

What is that you ask?  God's grace.  You see, even though I grew up within the church, I had my fair share of struggles.  I grew up with the mindset that I had to earn God's favor...well, like I earned my dad's.  If I worked hard and did what I was told, everything was good between my dad and I.  So, as long as I did what God wanted me to do and went to church, read my Bible and prayed...everything would be good.  But, if I didn't...if I sinned...if I blew it...then God would reject me.  Because of that wrong thinking, I would often find myself constantly rededicating my life to God, only to fall short.  The cycle would then repeat.

It wasn't until I hit the lowest point in my life that God began to teach me about His amazing grace.  To say I wanted to end it all would be an understatement.  I've never felt so low.  So far from everything and everyone.  Up until that point in my life, I was a bit of a perfectionist.  Holding myself to unrealistic standards of holiness.  Again, earning my way in God's economy.  Galatians 5:4 pretty much sums up my existence, "You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace."

I remember a pastor friend of mine sent me the testimony of a guy who, like me, learned some things the hard way.  There was one paticular part of this guys testimony that changed my life forever.  He said he was driving in his car and just talking with the Lord one day.  "God", he said, "I know you've forgiven me...but I just can't forgive myself".  Ever been there?  I know I have.  He went on to say he heard the Lord respond with this, "then your standard of holiness is higher than mine". 

That hit me like a ton of bricks.  That was the beginning of my grace awakening.  I realized at that moment that God already knew every sin, every bad attitude, every moment I would fall...and yet, He chose me.  This is where I get totally lost is the love of God and why I can say that nobody, and I mean nobody...loves me like He does.

 Romans 5:1-2 tells us that,
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God."

There are two words that are of high importance here, the word "justified" and the word "grace". 

What is grace?  The best definition I have is, undeserved favor or getting what we do not deserve.

What does justified mean?  It is simply God's act of declaring or making a sinner righteous before Himself through Christ. 

Are you getting this?  Listen carefully and repeat after me.  It doesn't matter what I do.  It doesn't matter what I say.  It doesn't matter what I think.  God has already forgiven me.  He already paid the price.  It's done.  I can't earn it.  I can't buy it.  I'm forgiven (Past, Present and Future)!  Amen!!!

That's the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  And it's because of this great love that we can say,  "For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵ And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

Why wouldn't I give my every breath to Him?  His grace truly is amazing!!!  My prayer for you today is that you grab hold of this truth and let it grab hold of you that you may "boast in the hope of the glory of God." 

By the way, that is me with my mom and dad in the photo. :)

    

Above All Else...

It has been one crazy week, to say the least.  I'm pretty sure I was gone every night.  But, things may begin to settle down now....I hope.  We (our youth ministry) hosted a free concert on Friday night.  Overall, I think it went well.  Our musical guest was Jay Michael and I must say, he did a great job!  The highlight for me was when he shared a little bit of his testimony, which involved the choices he made as a young man.  To paraphrase, he said he made a lot of wrong choices in high school regarding relationships and sex.  However, he and his lovely wife (Alisha) have been married for two years and recently started a new ministry called "Guard Your Heart".

I took this next part from his website, it states:
"Like most guys in High School, Jay Michael Brownlee, got his dating advice from his friends and movies. Its no wonder that trying to land a girlfriend was like trying to catch a touchdown pass in a playoff game!When it came to girls, Jay had no dating standards which resulted in giving himself away emotionally, intimately, and sexually. As Jay grew up and refocused his life on Christ he realized all the mistakes he had made and deeply regretted them. It was then that he struck up a friendship with Alisha which eventually led to their marriage. Jay has seen how the consequences of his former dating life have affected his and Alisha's life together. As much as this couple has seen the positive impact of Alisha's decisions on their relationship, they have also experienced the negative impact from Jay's decisions. Jay has now felt God calling him to share with others the significance of saving yourself for your future spouse. He knows, first-hand, the importance of the decisions that you make right here and now and how they will affect you and eventually your spouse and your marriage."

I would like to preface by saying, I have made very similar mistakes in my life as Jay, so, I speak  from experience. In this blog I'm going to focus on two points, point number one: what does it mean to guard your heart?, and point number two: is dating a positive or negative experience for teenagers?.  

What does it mean to guard your heart?  Before we answer that question, let's take a look at where this idea of "guarding our hearts" comes from.  What do you know, it's actually scripture.  Proverbs 4:23 tells us, "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."

One writer said that, "Solomon is giving us one of the most important practical duties of the Christian life. All other duties pale in comparison to guarding our hearts, for our heart affects everything we are, everything we say and everything we do."  Another wrote that, "The heart is the “master-control” of the life...".  So we can see that the heart is crucial to our whole life and being, and as such, should be watched over as one would watch something precious, or as the literal translation says..."continually observing attentively." 

I believe what we can gather from this passage of scripture and brief commentary is that the heart is something very precious (more precious than gold) and should be guarded in a type of Fort Knox if you will.  No one just walks into Fort Knox and plays with the gold.  It's not open to the public for picnics and potlucks.  It is the epitome of secured locations.  That is the imagery we should apply to our hearts.  To play this from the opposite angle, our hearts should not be given away so friviously like some piece of notebook paper or plastic cup we find on the side of the road.  The three words in the beginning of the passage should drive this all home, "Above ALL else". 

I don't know about you, but when I read that, it almost sounds like something an military officer might say.  I can almost hear it like this, "above all else OR else!"  In other words, if we are not careful to guard our hearts we may infact lose our hearts.  Sadly, I find this is the case in lives of many teenagers, myself included.  We are often so careless with our hearts, we give them away to people who are neither mature enough or Christlike enough to handle them with the proper care.  I mean think about it, as teenagers, our brains aren't even fully developed.  Our bodies are going crazy, we can't even keep our rooms clean let alone take care of someone's heart.

Am I making sense here?  I hope so.  On to our next point, is dating a positive or negative experience for teens?  I recently had a conversation with a parent who is, like most parents, allowing her daughter to date.  I asked several questions concerning why a teenage girl should be involved with a teenage boy.  After a lot of back and forth, there really was no clear benefit for her daughter to be "dating".  I then asked, do you think they will enventually break up and her heart will be broken?  The answerr, of course, yes.  So, let me get this straight, we will knowingly allow our teens to give their hearts away only to be broken.  Sound good to me. 

Honestly, I can't find anything positive about young people dating.  I know there are a lot of different view points on the subject.  But hey, this is my blog. :)  In short, when teens date these things are sure to happen.  They will experience what they think is love.  Then that's all they ever say.  I luv u baby. Smilely face heart heart.  Then the wonderful feelings they get when they're around that other person.  After that, one of the two will become very attached. Before long, let's take it to the next level.  They're not just making out all the time, now they're having sex.  Soon they are so attached that one begins to smother the other.  Then, it's just a matter of time.  The feelings leave, it becomes a chore and hey, Sarah looks pretty hot today.  Break up time.  Nobody wins. 

And yes, to any teens who may be reading this, I do know what it's like.  I foolishly gave my heart to a young lady who broke it into a million peices.  We could have been great friends, but that relationship never healed.  Not only that, I did my fare share of heart breaking.  Which brings me to another negative.  That awesome friendship they once shared, will be shattered once they break up.  Why again is it so important for teens to date.  Oh, I remember, so they'll know what it's like to feel pain and rejection only to start the process all over again.  Are you picking up on the sarcasm?  It's a vicious cycle.

Let's just take a look at the divorce rate among Christians in America shall we.  "A vast demographic study conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, found that Christians, like adherents of other religions, have a divorce rate of about 42%. The rate among religiously unaffiliated Americans is 50%." - USA TODAY

Wow...really?  Almost half. The same as those who are not religiously affiliated.  I might be going out on a limb here, but, maybe if we weren't teaching our kids how to break up they wouldn't be doing so much of it.  Bottom line and I'm done here, dating doesn't work.  Frienships work.  Accountability works.  Raising up Godly young men and women...that works.  But seriously, we should be teaching our teens how to mature in Christ and that's almost an impossible task when all they can think about is you know who.  I would love to hear any thoughts you might have on this.  Just keep respectful.