regrets

Last week, I updated my blog with some serious frustration on my part. I was hurt and reacted out of a place of felt personal injury. I have since deleted my previous post. I appreciate everyone that read it and called or e-mailed or facebook messaged me with encouraging words. I needed to hear that.

From here we move forward. I love every single student at our church. I love their parents. And I'm glad to partner with them. For any who read my now-deleted post, I apologize. I was wrong to react like that.

Looking forward to the future,
dw

oh the times they are a changin'

Not just a good Bob Dylan song, but a reality for us here at Grace. As I type this, our first service is in progress. Today will be our lead pastor's last Sunday with us as he is following God's call to Westminster Nazarene in Denver, Colorado. He will certainly be missed around here. I'm so glad he brought me on staff here at Grace. I honestly had my doubts before moving here if I could do both high school and middle school ministry again. I'm not saying I've got it all figured out, but God has helped me make the transition (which I still feel like I'm in the middle of). I'm learning that I need to depend on Him more and more.

But my thoughts are really today about what this whole thing means for Grace. It will certainly take some time to get used to even an interim pastor. And then when a new pastor is brought on staff here, it will take time for them to get to know the 700+ people that come here every Sunday morning. One of my hopes is that the next pastor will keep us all on staff, and that I will get along with them, and be able to learn from them as I have previous lead pastors.

Though I know pieces of the machine get moved around from time to time, it's reassuring to me that I know I can count on God through it all. Not because I've earned it- I haven't. But because He is good; despite what the circumstances may currently look like. I have hope for the future for my family, for God's church and for the next leader that is to come. Thanks God, that You are trustworthy and faithful.

insane

We here in America have it easy. I don't mean the economy or whatever. But religious persecution at least to me seems that persecution for Christians here is relegated mainly to being not included in others' plans, being made fun of, or otherwise socially outcast. Here are what some brothers and sisters in Pakistan are dealing with. Read about it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/03/world/asia/03pstan.html?_r=2

Jesus, please encourage and comfort them right now, in your Name.

lesson 18 reflection

The Church needs individuals of all generations committed to a biblical
understanding of whole-life stewardship.

We have to constantly teach the next generation about giving of their time, talent and treasure for the purpose of honoring God. If not, they will miss out on the blessings that come with knowing they're serving the Lord and future generations will not get to know the Lord.

Reflect on your own attitude in each of the six categories from the lesson resource.
Environment- has recently become more important to me, recycling and reusing things like paper and plastic have become normal in my life

Personal lifestyle- offering my gifts and abilities to help people know about the Lord is what my life is dedicated

Faith community- as a Christian, I understand that I'm a part of something larger than myself, I am part of the family of God

Outreach- This area has always been important to me, but could be put a little more passion/thought into

Wealth- I don't view wealth as a bad thing, mainly because we always have enough to meet our needs. I've thought for a long time if we ever get a super-abundance of income, that I would have fun giving to meet others' needs. For now I will give when moved to give and when able, in that order.

General financial commitment- I don't know how many different ways to say this, but I understand that God is my provider of everything, and make sure that in budgeting, He gets the first offering, not what's left over.

Lesson 19 reflection

Reflect on your own attitude about tithing and giving. I believe in tithing and have never really had an issue with it. I cannot remember a time where I wish I had the tithe money for myself. I do my best to give to special offerings whenever I can. We also sponsor a child in Nepal through Nazarene Compassionate ministries.

- Reflect on your commitment, and history in tithing.
I made a commitment early on to practice tithing, and as far as I know, have stuck with it since then. I did find an envelope buried in the back of a drawer the other day that was supposed to be given a couple months prior. So I just turned it in with the rest of my tithe the next Sunday.

- the "Big Idea"
Whole-life stewardship recognizes God as the ultimate source of all things. (2 Cor 9:8)
Whole-life stewardship is God‘s method for supporting the local church. (1 Cor 9:6-14)

God is the one who provides our every need, spiritual, physical, emotional and mental. He provides our shelter, food, clothing and jobs.

Not only does our tithe help us support the church financially, our gifts and talents help support the leadership of the local church; lifting their burdens and allowing others to experience God's grace as well.

lesson 17

Reflect on your own attitude toward stewardship your own personal giving.
My mom and dad taught me about tithing and modeled giving to me from early on, so this has never been a big issue to me at all. I understand and practice stewardship from the Bible's perspective.

The Big Idea: Stewardship is about lifestyle issues.
It's easy for us to single out finances as the one issue of stewardship, but really it's our whole lives that need to reflect a submission to God. Our actions and reactions with people should show that we belong to God.

lesson 16 reflection

How do you personally feel about your responsibility for apportionments? I feel like maybe we're a little top heavy. I grew up in the Nazarene church and still need to understand better the role of the DS. Is it necessary? What do they actually do? We have a good DS and he'll do a good job. I've honestly felt like the apportionments is like the Nazarene tax. I guess I'm selfish and would like to see us as a local church be able to do more in/for our community. I understand why and where it goes and believe in it; just seems a little much. I also think the budget should be a flat rate, not based on how large your church is or how many staff people you have. That part is ridiculous.
How will that affect your congregation? I will be supportive of the denomination.

The Big Idea: Through denominational channels the ministry of the local church
extends to the community and the whole world.The Nazarene church does well in its organization.

lesson 15 reflection

Reflect on how you have felt when the church has reached out to personally communicate with you.
It always feels good when a church does something like send a birthday card or a letter letting you know they are praying for you. I plan on coming up with a schedule of contacting our youth staff and students.

The Big Idea: The Bible gives us a wonderfully accurate statement: “An unreliable
messenger can cause a lot of trouble. Reliable communication permits progress” (Prov
13:17, TLB). The second part of that proverb provides a summary of what this class
session is intended to accomplish.

We need to provide constant, accurate and truthful contacts with all those connected to our local church (including those that rarely/barely attend). This will help us be effective within our church and believable to those outside the church.

lesson 13 reflection

After a motion is made in the decision group, the implementation of
the idea depends on delegation and her friends—programming and follow- through.
*It ultimately depends on the people who are implementing the programming and follow through. The leader or supervisor of the idea is primarily responsible for making sure the different steps are being executed.

What did you learn from Moses?
That it would be so much better if I would take time and invest more in my youth staff. I need to put way more time into developing my youth staff; not just for helping sake, but for them to really enhance their gifts and increase the effectiveness of our ministry. In the long run this will help us all.

lesson 12 manual

I feel somewhat comfortable in my knowledge of the manual. I took the class on it way back when you could do a directed study, and remember feeling like I'm reading a phone book or its equivalent. I like that we have the sixteen articles of faith that we probably hold in common with most other churches around the world.

For me to be a leader in the church is a tremendous responsibility, but also a high honor and privilege. I know that as a leader I'm responsible first to God for what I do with ministry and then to the church for fulfilling the expectations/job description. I like being a leader, but like most people, wish I could take that hat off for a while and just be a normal attender. There is a little bit of pressure on those of us in leadership, but that's not always a bad thing.

lesson 11 reflection

Write 8 to 10 concepts in your journal to summarize what you learned in
this session.
Reflect on your reaction to these concepts.
1. When leading change, conflict can be expected.
One of my favorite lead pastors told me that conflict isn't bad, unless there's no resolution.
It's normal.

2. Change for the sake of change is not always a great idea. I've been guilty of thinking that we just need to change things up just for the change. I probably need to consider this the next time I think we need to change things up.

3. We need to love and care for people who are opposed to the changes being made, or are involved in a conflict. This was a good reminder to me, considering a recent situation I was involved in.

4. Growth only comes through change. Makes me wonder who/what is going to change before we grow. Maybe we're not ready to grow out right now.

5. Listening to those who point out our weak spots is a good habit to develop.
It's weird but I can actually look forward to someone pointing out something I didn't think of when it comes to pulling off an event or ministry. This is more difficult when it comes to personal styles or issues.

6. We need to keep being a pastor to both parties involved in a conflict. See reference to number 3.

7. Be a non-defensive learner. This is important to know and practice because we're always going to hear other people's opinions; and they might be different than mine.

8. To be a change agent, I must change first. Or at least be willing to change. Oftentimes God changes the leader's heart before leading them to make forward progress.

lesson 10 reflection

The Big Idea: Understanding how decision-making groups work becomes useful only
when applied to actual leadership of groups.
If there's not one already, there should be an entire module (or three) just on leadership and how to lead people well. It's one thing that we are going to have to do the rest of our career. Being a lousy leader doesn't accomplish anything, and with our Commission, that's not acceptable. Being a constantly-learning leader though has many benefits that not only affect our lives, but the lives around us as well.

Reflect on how you are going to incorporate the information and ideas from
this lesson into your ministry.
Now I have a lot of practical tools for leading meetings. One of the improvements I would like to implement is the one to help the leadership know their spiritual health is vital. We can take the first portion of the meeting to study Scripture and pray together. I especially like the piece of advice about praying for one another by name.

lesson 9 reflection

Reflect on the following statements:
—Every decision has its costs, rewards, and consequences. I agree because every decision involves some level of cost, whether it's time, talent or treasure. Most good decisions bring rewards with them, usually in the form of feeling fulfilled. Consequences usually has the connotation of something bad or unwanted that happens, but it could also mean something fantastic that happened as a result of making wise decisions.
—Leaders who refuse to make decisions eventually cripple their
organizations. Agreed. But let's not confuse patience or waiting with not making a decision. Sometimes not making a decision can be costly because the church could miss out on an opportunity.
—Decision-making is the moment when knowledge, feeling, thought,
energy, and opinions are brought together for action—a time when the
best alternative is chosen. It's more like a process. There comes a time when all these factors come to a point of decision.
—Leaders are chosen to lead. By definition that's correct. Leaders are also to model what others should be acting like. But leaders also choose to lead, leadership can't just be put on someone who doesn't want to lead.

Big Idea: God intends that those trusted with leadership in the church will, in the
process of leading and serving, be spiritually stretched to develop into great
Christians. That’s what this lesson is about—becoming a great servant leader.
The more someone walks with God, the more they know this is true. God didn't save us and set us apart so that we could continue living in our own comfort zone. Instead He calls us to live like Christ, sacrificing our pride and ambition in order to serve others; meeting needs in love. You may not be called to go far away. That's fine. Maybe it's a stretch for you to have a conversation with the check-out person at Walmart. We will always be challenged by the Holy Spirit to serve others. It's a large part of life.

lesson 8 reflection

Reflect on your own personality and your ability to plan and carry out plans.
What can you do to improve?
I'm a melancholy personality type so I like lists and organization. You would think I would be good at planning. I am pretty decent at making plans, but not so great at following through.
I guess to improve I could set some planning dates for calendering and message series, setting aside times just for planning. Also, having other people to hold me accountable for having completed a task could be helpful. I need to put the different steps on my calendar with dates due.

Reflect on “The Big Idea.”After one has studied and understands all the planning concepts and
principles, the next step is to find out how it is done—what is the process.

This is one of the lessons that has been good for me, because I need constant reminders and examples on how to execute. It helps to list out the steps and give time lines. I need this hammered into my head. I've seen a lot of progress in this area, but would like to see some more.

lesson 7 reflection

The Big Idea: Planning—the art of leading the voyage to the future—takes energy,
savvy, time, courage, and patience.
That's a pretty good definition for planning. Planning does take energy, but it's a good use of energy, because essentially it saves work in the end. You also need good insight in order to plan a church/ministry/event. The main insight needs to come from God's Holy Spirit, and we need to walk in step with Him. It is wise to take time to plan, but making time to plan actually adds a level of flexibility that you wouldn't have if you didn't take the time to plan. Planning is an act of courage because you're trusting that God knows what He is doing and that He will provide for the dreams and plans in your heart. Lastly, it takes patience because once you feel like you know the direction God wants to take your church, youth group, or Sunday School class, you have to wait a while before seeing those results come to being.

Reflect on your own experience with good planning versus poor planning.
To me, much of my early experience in youth ministry was not poor planning, it was no planning. Our calendar was chock full of stuff to do, but that's all it really was: giving our kids something to do. There wasn't much purpose behind it. Good planning is much more the norm now that the mission here at Grace (win/disciple/send) drives all the planning. I don't have something happening every weekend, but when we do it is aimed at one of those three goals.

I used to hate the idea of sitting down and planning, but now I have experienced the peace and rewards of planning for a ministry and its many activities.

Reflection on Lesson 6

Reflect on the scriptures from this lesson (Acts 6:1-7, Romans 12:4-5)
Romans 12:4-5 reminds us that we are all part of the body of Christ, yet we each have our own specific role to play. We are each given different gifts to use to help others know God. We shouldn't be jealous of others' gifts and talents.

Acts 6:1-7
This is the passage that shows us as pastors two things: what we need to be concerned with (prayer and the Word), and that we need to delegate important tasks (like feeding of the widows) to other capable people. We cannot and should not try to minister by ourselves, it is meant to be a team effort.

Reflect on “The Big Idea.” For Kingdom expansion, congregational health, disciples’ spiritual
development, and the multiplication of a pastor’s ministry, every lay leader must be
challenged to become a member of a ministry team and shown how to do it.

This is one idea that most pastors would probably agree with, but not enough are actually practicing it. Of course, Jesus modeled to us how to lead a team by his examples with the disciples. This won't be a one-time event where we train and everything is done; but rather a long-term commitment to leading and training others.

I haven't done as well here at my current assignment with training our youth staff, but this reminds me I need to get with it so we can be even more effective for Christ.

Journal for lesson 5

The Big Idea: Every church has an abundance of nonhuman resources that are
sometimes overlooked and thus seldom fully utilized.
I know I've been guilty of just looking through human eyes at what is available (typically at physical things like facilities/finances). This has helped me remember that God has given us everything we need to accomplish his mission. He has given us the best story/offer ever through Jesus. He also sends his Holy Spirit into our lives as a guide and empowering us to witness and serve others. There are resources available to accomplish the task at hand; and I'm not on my own (though it can feel like it sometimes).

Resource 5-5:
This exercise was designed (I believe) to help us mentally sort though what tangible and indefinable resources our local church possesses. I know for our student ministry, we need to rely more heavily on the power of prayer; and I'd also like to see if we can get some kind of mentoring thing going with our students and our kids.
Also, I think more people would be willing to get involved if they knew it would bring them satisfaction. This should make me a little more confident when I set out to invite others to join me in ministry.

lecture 4 journal

Reflect on how you have viewed the laity.
It would be easy to get critical of the few people who failed to follow through on promises, let us down, etc.; but I won't do that. I admit in the past I have muttered to myself "if only they were as committed as me, then they'd really jump in and help." That doesn't help anyone. I've come to a point where I understand that I need to heavily lean on our youth staff (volunteers) to do anything of significance. They are some of the brightest, most talented people I know, and they're doing great things for God and our students. I now view laity as my partners in ministry.

The Big Idea—Realize the church is for people and that people are the church’s most
valuable resource.
I think realizing that the church is for people is easy to accept. It should be a place where hurting people are healed, where broken people are restored and where those serving God can have a ministry role. I think we often forget about people being the church's most valuable resource because we can get so caught up in the how of doing ministry and neglect the why/who (reason for doing ministry). I need to be constantly developing leaders within my group and help them to reach others. We can do so much more when we share the load. God, please remind me that these are not only the people You gave your Son for, but also the people through whom You intend to spread the Gospel.

lesson 3 reflections

The Big Idea: The mission Jesus gave the Church is simple but profound: more
Christians, better Christians.

More- It is simple because according to 2 Peter 3:9, God doesn't want anyone to perish, but to come to a knowledge of the truth. He doesn't want any single person to spend eternity apart from Him. He wants to include all people in his family.

Better- This one is a little bit trickier, mainly because one of the first thoughts that pop in my mind when I think of better is "better/worth more than another". I think that better here in this usage is that Christians are better equipped and trained to share the love of Christ with others. This can be done through purposeful evangelism, sharing with one's family, co-workers, neighbors, etc.

Resource 3-1
Obviously, the great commission outlines what God wants from us, to share the Good News of Jesus with those who don't know it or haven't experienced it personally for themselves.
Tom Nees states four things that missional churches everywhere have in common ("1) They make disciples of lost people. 2) They reach across cultural barriers. 3) They commit to compassion evangelism. And 4) they reproduce themselves with new churches.”) The one that has been ringing home with me is the compassion evangelism. We need to meet needs with love, which give us the right to be able to share Jesus with them.

Bill M. Sullivan said “Missional starts with who we are inside. . . . The evangelization of the world waits not on the readiness of God but on the obedience of Christians.” The world and its lost are not waiting on God to act; He already has. It's really waiting on Christians to say yes to God. This kind of change of mentality must happen IN us at the deepest heart level, at our core.

“The content of mission—the message of evangelism–is the Good News of Jesus Christ.” —Claude E. Payne
We shouldn't forget that no matter the method, sharing the unchanging message of God's love for all people through Jesus Christ is our main goal. People need to know that they are loved by God.

“Soul-stretching, expansive ideas come to my mind when the words mission and vision are used. My list includes objectives, purpose, achievement, missional, evangelism, vision, creativity, passion, imagination and all-out commitment for God.” —Neil B. Wiseman
“There is a sense of mystery in mission which beckons us on to explore and discover riches as yet undreamed of. It is the mystery represented by the person of the Holy Spirit that in a sense guarantees the future of the church in the third millennium.” —Martin Robinson
We need our imagination and our faith challenged in order to really grasp what God wants to do here on earth through us.

Journal assignment 2- NNU online class

- Reflect on the quote from C. H. Spurgeon (Lectures to My Students, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1954, 32.): "We must feel that woe is unto us if we preach not the gospel; the word of God must be unto us as a fire in our bones, otherwise, if we undertake the ministry, we shall be unhappy in it, shall be unable to bear the self-denials in it, and shall be of little service to those among whom we serve." Charles definitely gives a good word to us here. We should identify with Paul who said "woe to me if I do not preach the gospel."(1 Cor. 9:16, NIV) If we don't we will quickly lose sight of why God called us to join him in his work. We won't be able to say no to our own desires so that we can say yes to what God wants.

- Reflect on "The Big Idea.""Effective ministry requires that a pastor be thoroughly converted and that he or she be living out a vital faith at home." How could anyone argue with that? It would be like a salesperson peddling a product they don't believe makes a difference in the life of the customer; except that we don't have anything to sell. We're simply sharing God's offer of love and redemption to any who would receive it. That faith, that conviction should bear itself out in our homes first; then let that spill over into ministering to others. How in the world could I tell someone else that Jesus can help/change them unless I've experienced that for myself?

administration

so I'm supposed to "journal" about what I think when I hear the word "administration". First thought is a newly coined word (also most overused and most annoying) meh. This little collection of letters is supposed to convey some form of displeasure mixed with a sense of apathy. That pretty much sums it up for me. I don't like having to organize things or do paperwork, but I definitely enjoy the benefits of putting the time into administration. It's easy for me to look back and tell that things got better for me when I begin to invest some time in a ministry or activity on the front end.

something you should do

If you have kids, and videos of those kids, you should without a doubt make some kind of video with them. They will love it. I made one for my wife for mother's day, and my kids have watched it fifteen times already. It's so much fun to watch them watching themselves. If you're my facebook friend, I posted the video yesterday. Check it out.

unsatisfied

Monday. Again. Not my typical Monday. Took the day off after staff meeting because I won't be able to take a regular day off this week due to TNT. Anyway, after getting home from my mom's house (have I mentioned we love living in TN?) we settled into the normal routine. I watch Heroes, Kristy gets on facebook) then we continue to mindlessly watch TV until bedtime. Recently I've just been getting tired of it. Nobody appreciates/operates well within a structured routine like me, but there are some things I just refuse to do. So tonight, we turned off the TV, put the laptop down and prayed together. We talked and even got a couple things done around the house. I hope this becomes a new trend. I mean seriously, I've seen EVERY episode of Seinfeld possible. Time for some more meaningful disciplines.

?s from Big ? Night

These are the questions our youth group asked on Wednesday, March 11.
We were unable to answer them all, but here they are.
A little insight into what's on our students' minds (not all are
serious, but most of them are):

1- Is there a right religion? I know Christianity is right but I'm
talking about baptist, nazarene, methodist, etc....
2- If someone is saying their life is pointless and they tell you they
want to commit suicide how do you respond?
3- If God created everything, who created God?
4- Are elves real?
5- Why do people frown on sex?
6- Did the unicorns that God created die in the great flood?
7- Is Obama the anti Christ? (got this twice)
8- How does God raise Jesus from the dead when Jesus is God?
9- When churches judge other people and other churches just because
they believe something different does that mean that they are not
going to make it to heaven because they judge and look down on people
and they never repented for it?
10- Have you felt like someone was watching you and no one was?
11- Do you think the world will end in 2013?
12- Why is it not accepted for you to date [people of other races]?
13- Can people look down from heaven and watch over us and like see us?
14- I have a friend and he does not believe in God at all he says
there is no such thing as heaven and hell? What should I do?
15- How do you make a nonbeliever believe when they won't listen?
16- Does the Bible say anything about relationships with one person
older than the other?
17- If a person has told you they've given up on God, what do you do?
18- Say you have a friend who is on the verge of tears because he has
prayed and prayed that God would help him but nothing has happened
what do you do?
19- Why did God make funny looking edible fruit?
20- Why is it wrong to be gay or bisexual or lesbian?
21- What if you're gay but you don't have sex?
22- Why can't animals have soul?
23- Why do Christians treat people like outcast? Aren't we supposed
to love everyone?
24- Is the shroud of turin real or fake? (got this twice)
25- If you have had sex, does that mean you're not a Christian?
26- Why do people judge people for what they look like or their color?
27- If your friend is talking about having sex, how do you handle it?
28- How fast does a zebra have to run before it turns gray?
29- How can we truly have any choices to make when God already knows
what we're going to do? How isn't that predestination?
30- What is truth (no Sunday school answers)?
31- Does free will override predestination?
32- God knows everything right. Doesn't that mean that He knows what
choices we are going to make? How is that not predestination?
33- What really is humanism?
34- How do we know the Bible wasn't mistranslated?
35- How much wood could a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck
wood?
36- How do we know if we go to heaven or hell?
37- If God is love, why is homosexuality bad?
38- Would the death penalty be ok if that person was not a Christian
and it would send them to hell?
39- What happened to all of the Hawaiians, Tibetans, etc, who never
heard the word of Jesus?
40- I get five dollars for allowance and I want to tithe. Here is the
problem. I get my allowance in dollar bills. And 10% of five dollars
is 50 cents. Am I allowed to make change and take 50 cents from the
offering plate if I put in a dollar? (seriously not made up)
41- Do people such as Mormons and Jehovah's Witness that believe in
things that are radically different than what is thought of as true
Christian churches biblically acceptable?
42- Do you believe in evolution or just God put us here?
43- The Mayans predicted the world would end December 21, 2012. What's
your take on the apocalypse?
44- Is suicide ok if you cannot help it, ex: mental illness? (got this
three times)
45- Do you believe Noah's ark actually happened?
46- Will you go to hell if you are gay, lesbian or bi?
47- Throughout the Bible there are constant occurrences of a vengeful,
jealous, unpredictable God. How can we, as Christians, coming from a
view of God as a nice, helpful father explain and accept things like
the book of Joshua (conquest of the Promised Land)?
48- Do you believe God created the big bang?
49- What is the biggest sin you could ever make?
50- If God created everything, who created God? ps in the Bible is
says everything has to be created right?
51- I know someone who is gay. I love him because he is my friend, but
I don't know how to tell him that I don't believe in that. how do I
tell him without saying I don't still want to be his friend?
52- Is it allright to date a non-Christian?
53- Biblically, is abortion ok, and what scripture would back it up?
54- Do soldiers go to hell?
55- Does everyone go to heaven at the same time or are some people
already there?
56- Why don't animals have souls?
57- Do you believe that people who committed suicide go to heaven in
certain cases (if God knows their hearts)?
58- If killing is a sin, would being an executioner make you a bad
person?
59- If Christians are supposed to love everybody, who do we treat
people like outcasts?

God, hear my prayer

I don't want to be a part of anything I can design or engineer on my
own.
I would LOVE to be a part of what you're doing, to be a part of
something so life-changing and amazing that people that follow your
Son Jesus and people who don't yet believe will have to say "Surely
God is doing something special there.
May your will be done.
Amen

suffering

Why do we think we're always supposed to be comfortable? So much of what we do is driven by getting or keeping ourselves in a state or place in which we are not stressed, strained or otherwise put out. Advertising of products is typically about how much better our lives will be if we have ______. I guess there's nothing wrong with wanting to be comfortable. No one enjoys a cloudy/overcast/cold day with the kids asleep and a hooded sweatshirt and a good movie to watch more than me. Oh and popcorn with just the right amount of salt and an ice- 

cold coke….mmmm. But beyond some down time (which God commands [#4 on the Ten Commandments]) and Jesus' modeling regularly by getting away from the crowds and even the disciples to pray; followers of Christ like Paul mention something about suffering. There's nothing about seeking out our own pleasure.

We choose our homes, careers, clothing, and even our relationships 

based on how pleasant we believe our experience will be. Our houses 

need to have so many bedrooms and bathrooms (what if we had to all 

share one bathroom?!). Our careers should be something we enjoy and 

helps us afford all of the other stuff in life we want. Our clothes 

not only need to be the latest in fashion, they also need to feel good 

to us. Many times people will choose relationships based solely on 

what they will receive from it. But what if that's not how it's 

supposed to be? What if we're called to a different kind of life?

Jesus said that if we want to follow Him, we need to pick up our cross 

daily (Mark 8:34). Doesn't exactly sound like a comfy job description 

for a disciple does it? But Jesus doesn't ask us to do anything He 

didn't do himself. He left heaven and stepped down onto our planet. He 

said He didn't come to be served, but to give his life as a ransom for 

many (Mark 10:45). For you. For me. For everyone. Because He loves us 

all.

Years later Paul said that he wanted to "know Christ and his 

sufferings" (Philippians 3:10). I can imagine hearing that in a sermon 

today. I think some people would bristle at the idea. It seems like 

we've been conditioned to think God is just our comforter and the One 

who will make things better for us. Don't get me wrong, He does do 

that. But what I'm saying is: it's not the whole point; that's not all 

He does.

I'm not sure here in North America we have even an iota of what 

suffering for Jesus would look like. I'm not blaming anyone, just 

saying I think we're not too familiar with the idea. The dictionary on 

my computer says that suffering is "experience or be subjected to 

(something bad or unpleasant)". Have we ever done that for Jesus? 

Besides that one mission trip? It seems to me like we have it pretty 

easy here in the States, especially when I hear of stories from other 

countries where people are losing jobs, being imprisoned, are tortured 

and even killed because they are bold enough to proclaim the name of 

Jesus.

What does suffering for Jesus look like in my life? What about yours?

Maybe it means getting out of our routine long enough to listen to 

someone else. Or stop and help a person in need. Or articulating how 

someone who is far from God can be an active part of the greatest 

story ever told about a God who created people and loved them so much 

that He gave his one and only Son so they could be in a right 

relationship with Him.

Maybe it means that we feel Christ's pain when we see a world mired in 

sin around us. That something in our hearts would cry out to God, 

"Please help in this situation! God you've gotta do something NOW!"

God, if there are ways I can know the fellowship of your sufferings, 

I'm open. Whatever you want God. That's why I'm here.