impinged

Where I’ve been

Administrator — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 22:43:12 +0000

Well I’m embarrassed when I look at the date of my last post. I just don’t have time to blog like I wish I did. But in case anyone still checks from time to time, I thought I would post a brief update.

My business is what takes all my time lately and whatever spare moments I have are spent with my beautiful wife. It is a busy time but it is also an exciting time. A week ago we launched the first of a series of websites. These sites allow you to design your own t-shirts, hats, aprons, kid’s clothes, fleece blankets and other accessories. Check it out here:

MyTshirtCity.com

You can also check out the MyTshirtCity.com blog (yes I do some blogging just not any personal blogging) here:

blog.MyTshirtCity.com

I Corinthians 8 - The Harry Potter Question

Administrator — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 16:46:41 +0000

I often find myself in situations where I have a choice to make where there isn’t an obvious right or wrong. I call these choices the “Harry Potter Question.” This is what I mean: As a Christian, is it right for us to read Harry Potter? I’ve heard vehement arguments by devout Christians against these books. But then I read I Corinthians 8 and Paul says there is nothing wrong with eating meat sacrificed to idols. He says we can do whatever we want but that not everything may be beneficial. The point is that as Christians we aren’t governed by a set of rules and regulations. Remember, we are free! Instead, we are governed by a love for each other and a love for God. And we know there is only one true God and one true power in the universe. If we are strong in that, then reading about the magical and mystical adventures of a school boy is pure entertainment. It does nothing to sway our faith. In fact, because of our security in the Lord we don’t even consider Harry Potter as an attack on God. However, there are weaker Christians who cannot read Harry Potter. To them there is something real about Harry Potter that contradicts their faith. Or the magical and mystical can only be evil (if such things exist, who created them?) The devil uses this as a foothold to breakdown the brittle foundations of their faith. Out of love for our neighbor, we need to me mindful of this. It doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the book ourself; it just means it might be prudent to take care about who we read it around or who we discuss it with. And if we do meet a weaker brother, and they are often easily identified by their dogma, we ought to love them to a sound relationship with Christ rather than argue and belittle their lack of faith and understanding.

I Corinthians 7 - Do

Administrator — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 14:43:43 +0000

₁₅But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. ₁₆How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

₁₇Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches.
I Corinthians 7:15-17 NIV

I love the end of verse 15 where it says “God has called us to live in peace.” Wow, what does that mean? I admit, this chapter has a ton of controversial content that can be misinterpreted and misapplied. As is often the case with Paul, he is giving a clear examples of real world issues the church of Corinth was dealing with. Underlying these issues is a deep and profound truth. Because it is 2000 years later, we are at a disadvantage in that we need to spend the time unwrapping these truths.

In a nutshell, this is what I believe Paul is saying: God has placed you in whatever situation or circumstance you are in for a reason. In this he has called you to live in peace. We are not to be a part of the “If only” or “Grass is Greener” crowd. If only my husband was a believer; if only I could find a better church; if only I lived somewhere else; if only I came from a better family. God has placed you where you are for a reason and that reason is to serve Him.

This truth started to hit home with me and I started to examine my circumstances. I started asking God why I do the work I do? Why do I live in the apartment complex that I live in? Why do I go to the church I go to? If I’m supposed to serve him then why has he put me where I am and what am I supposed to be doing here? I think I’ve come up with some of the answers. Here is one of them:

I live in an apartment complex with maybe 50 apartments. As I asked the question why God may have brought me here it occurred to me that there are lost souls living on the other side of the wall. There are lost souls living 3 doors down. There are lost souls all over this place. What if I looked at my apartment not as just a place to live but a mission field in which I’ve been called to share the gospel? Then I got scared. Real scared. Does this mean I have to be like a Jehovah’s witness and go door to door? Do I have to act like a nut job with signs screaming “Repent” out in the parking lot? No, I don’t think so. For me I think it means two things. One is being aware of how I live. Smiling at the neighbors. Saying hi. Being conscious of how my actions effect my neighbors. The other thing I’m considering is starting a small group Bible study for the residents here. This fall I plan to go around and invite everyone to come to a Bible study in my apartment. I’m not sure how it will go and it will certainly be a step way outside my comfort zone, but I really feel this is calling God has placed on my life. Jesus didn’t say to sit and wait until he comes again - he said to go and share the gospel with all nations… that includes my nation, where I live, my apartment building, my neighbors.

I Corinthians 6 - Freedom

Administrator — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:20:08 +0000

After a couple weeks break to get married, honeymoon, and get caught up, I’m back to blogging.

Vacations are a great time to think and read and decompress. In these times I often gain a fresh clarity in life. As I finished a book by an author I had read before I realized that many authors, especially Christian authors, have a kind of life’s theme. They have found something that they feel so passionately about that it oozes out of them. They see it in everything and it is the underlying message in every sermon they preach, book they write, every prayer they pray, and even every thought in their head. I realized that I have a theme. And I think these life themes, as I like to call them, are God given. They are a response to the situations we have survived.

My life’s calling is to preach freedom. Freedom is my life’s theme. It is the freedom I now experience in Christ that oozes out of me, that I want to preach to everyone that they might experience it too. As I read the Bible, over and over again I see the message of freedom. Paul says in this chapter of Corinthians that all things are permissible but not everything is beneficial and we should become a slave to nothing. That sounds great but then he goes on to list things we shouldn’t do because they are sins and says that we should allow ourself to be wronged and to accept injustice. That’s freedom? I might be a bit turned off on the whole Christian idea if I just jumped in there. But when we look deeper at the end result of allowing yourself to be wronged and accepting injustice, we do see freedom. It goes back to being a slave to nothing, not even vengeance, and the opposite of slavery is freedom. So if we do these things: allow an injustice to go unpunished, avoid drunkenness, preserve sex for marriage between a man and a woman - we remain free from the self imposed prison they place on our lives. Sure we miss out on instant pleasure, and most people believe instant pleasure is freedom, but true freedom is having the self control to delay gratification for the true reward of an overwhelming joy in life.

I Corinthians 5 - Judgement

Administrator — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 19:00:09 +0000

I love this chapter. It explains something that Christians have misinterpreted and abused for far too long: who do we judge. Most people outside the church say Christians are too judgmental and hypocrites. Those of us in the church spend too much time judging out of one side of our mouth and saying God is the judge out the other. It is the 5th chapter of Corinthians that we have mis-quoted and misunderstood.

In order to understand what Paul is saying we need to start from a basic understanding of the underlying goal of Paul’s ministry - which should be our goal as well: the goal is to bring people into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ that their soul might be spared eternal separation from God. When we look at the issue of judging the actions of others from an evangelistic perspective we are able to understand our God given role. And that is to be a judge of those professing to be Christians. If a brother or sister in Christ is involved in grievous sins such as incest, abuse, or drunkenness, they are to be removed from our community. Paul is very clear that we are not to associate with these people because they are the hypocrites who give Christianity a bad name. Above all though, anytime we judge it must be from a spirit of love and correction and not one of self righteousness. Our ultimate goal is to ensure the soul of the one who has fallen is saved.

For those who do not call themselves Christians our role is totally opposite. Again, we come from the evangelistic perspective of saving souls. Our calling is not to judge those who do not know Christ, their judgment is up to God. Not only are we not to judge them but we are called to love them and associate with them where they are at. We are to be in their culture just not part of their culture. For it is only in loving association with them that we are able to influence them by sharing the love of Jesus Christ. Christians for so many years have walled themselves off in their churches with the stained glass windows and high steeples. It is time we read the Bible again and follow the example of Christ. He spent his time in the culture: with prostitutes, drunkards, and the sick and dieing. When he was in the temple he was not shaking hands and patting backs. I think Jesus is appalled by those of us hiding behind the cross he hung on.

This last Friday night was my fiance’s bachelorette party. One of her good friend’s made it a point to tell her she wasn’t going because they were going to a bar. The reason she didn’t want to go to a bar was not because she doesn’t drink, because she does drink in private, but because she didn’t think it would be good for her to be seen there. She thought it might send a message to those who were going that she is different and that she is seeking to serve God. And she also didn’t want to be seen by any of the people she works with at a local restaurant because she didn’t want to give them the wrong idea. The fact is that nobody noticed that she wasn’t there. Absence witnesses to nobody. There was no opportunity to witness to anyone she might have known in the environment where they live: the culture in which they are a member. She fell in to the trap of so many Christians that says because we are different we need to stay away from those who are different. So my question would be, who is right - you or Jesus?

Sex God by Rob Bell

Administrator — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 14:31:22 +0000

I read a couple books a month and they are almost always books about God. Some of them are so inspiring I want to share them with everyone. So what better place to do that than to post my occasional book review as a new feature of this blog.

As the title indicates, recently I finished the second book by Rob Bell. I was excited to read this book after reading his first book, Velvet Elvis, last year. Bell is gifted as a scholar and theologian. He spends a lot of time breaking down text from the bible: providing the actual translations to words in the Greek and Hebrew, explaining the context in which the biblical events took place, and then relating it all back to today. He shows how “this is about that.”

So what is with the title - Sex God? I have to admit the title seems a bit salacious. In a way it kind of turned me off. Ultimately, though, I understand why he named it what he did. God created us, we are sexual beings, and sex is about God. When it is not about God is when sex becomes something dirty. When it is not about God is where people get used and our souls are tainted. How is that? Well I’m not going to attempt explain what Rob did such a great job of explaining.

One final thought on Sex God. I grew up being told that sex was for marriage both at home and in the church. There are a lot of us who were influenced by conservative Christian churches who told us that sex was taboo outside of marriage. Unfortunately, that is where the conversation stopped. We spent our first 20 years believing sex was wrong and that inevitably spilled over into some marriages. Personally, I threw it all away. I know a lot of my friends did too. I couldn’t find in the Bible where it said we couldn’t have sex until marriage. I saw it said to stay away from sexual immorality, but what is that? The conversation ended and I assumed the answer was that most Christians were wrong. Sex God is the conversation we should be having. In this book Rob Bell unwraps the mystery. He shows us how everything is related, how we are related to each other, and how our actions affect others as well as ourselves.

Read this book. Continue the conversation.

1 Corinthians 4 - Pride

Administrator — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 16:39:35 +0000

I am reminded of the obstacles I’ve faced and the subsequent successes I’ve enjoyed as I’ve overcome these obstacles. It would be easy to be proud and say that I did it, that I’m a fighter, I’m a warrior, I’ve had success because I’ve pulled myself up time and again by my own bootstraps. It would be easy to accept the pride others have in me because they have also seen the path I’ve come down. But Paul reminds the Corinthians, who had become proud, that pride leads to destruction. The Corinthians had nothing to be proud of apart from God. The Corinthians were an idol worshiping, decadent, pagan society. Without God they were doomed - Paul needed to remind them of that, and he reminds me of that. All I have, all I’ve gained, every success I’ve enjoyed all comes from God for without him I am nothing. So while I appreciate accolades, as anyone would, I realize it is not me being praised but God, who is doing a good work in me and through me.

Click here to read this chapter for yourself

I Corinthians 3 - Seeds

Administrator — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 18:43:26 +0000

I studied and re-read this chapter for 6 days. There is so much here and so much to understand. I’m not even going to try and attempt to cover it all. However, there is one thing that has special meaning to me. Paul talks about planting a seed - that he planted a seed, Apollos watered it but ultimately God made it grow. That was a hard lesson for me to learn. And I learned it the hard way. As I volunteer my time with the youth, I often talk with kids who don’t believe in God or just choose to screw up. They think that partying is just more fun and they have all the time in the world when they are adults to “live right”. I’ve wanted so bad, as I’ve poured out my time, experiences, and my heart to them to see some of them, even just one, turn their life around and come to Christ, but it hasn’t happened. I’ve been disappointed. I’ve felt like a failure. I was defeated because I couldn’t share the love and transforming power of God in a way that was meaningful and tangible to them, or so I thought. Finally, through these words of Paul, shared with me by a friend, I realized I’m not responsible for their salvation. That is God’s job. I am only a planter and a waterer and I may never see harvest here on earth. It is up to God to make the seed grow (3:6). I hope to see the harvest but even if I don’t, I know I will be rewarded for my heartache and labor.

Click here to read this chapter for yourself

I Corinthians 2 - Heaven

Administrator — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 14:37:43 +0000

Why did Christ die to save us? So that we may avoid death and live for eternity in the presence of God. And God, being perfect, wants no unclean thing in his presence, therefore we needed to be cleansed and made righteous in his presence. Those of us who follow Jesus have been made righteous and we understand that we will enter the kingdom of heaven. Though we’ve never seen heaven, or talked to someone who has been there, we understand it. In us is a deep desire to be there.

How do we understand heaven? Because we have the spirit of God in us revealing his wisdom. The wisdom is that God has prepared a place for those who love him (Isaiah 64:4). Only those who have God’s spirit, which is the mind of Christ, can truly understand heaven and hell. This is why those who don’t know Jesus think heaven and hell are foolish ideas. Because the wisdom of God has been hidden from them.

So it might be true that if a non-believer understands heaven and hell that God’s spirit may be with them and they may be close to coming to a saving knowledge and these may be the people we need to look for.

Click here to read this chapter for yourself

I Corinthians 1

Administrator — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 14:54:10 +0000

Paul quotes Isaiah 29:11

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent

He calls the message of the cross foolishness. It took me days of mauling this over before it made sense. In a conversation Trina and I had at dinner on Friday night, all of the sudden this verse came to me and made perfect sense. As Christ followers there are things we do that logically make no sense - like tithing and loving others. For those of us who tithe we know the power of sacrificial giving. We give in faith hoping that a God we cannot see will provide for our needs as we believe he promised. And he does! And we find out that our God is a generous God and that no one can out give God.

Or take love for example - the world says that in order to love others you must first love yourself. Most Christians even believe this because of poor biblical teaching that misinterprets the second greatest commandment that says to love others as yourself. Our sin nature has a hard time interpreting that command so we wrongly put the emphasis on the fact that the command says to love ourself. The truth is we are to forget ourself to love others. When our focus is taken off of ourself and we love others we find ourselves living in a never ending well of love. Don’t believe me? Ever heard of Mother Theresa? She was a selfless lady and do you think she lived without love? No way, the entire world loved her. Want more examples? Read a book on martyrs or look at the perfect example of love - Jesus Christ. He wasn’t consumed with loving himself so that he could love others. He loved us first and now, 2000 years later, millions still love him with all of their heart. It makes no sense, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those of us being saved it is the power of God.

Click here to read this chapter for yourself