Life in Visalia

A Mysterious Caller

2007-03-05T09:23:00.000-08:00

I received an interesting call this past Saturday as I sat in my office, scrambling to put together a last minute promotional video for the upcoming BreakOut retreat. Most of the numbers that I typically receive calls from are already stored in my phone with a name to accompany them, but this call was different. As it rang, I picked it up to see a local number, with the first three numbers typical of cell phones in the area. Not knowing who it was, but still curious enough to pick it up, I answered. Upon my usual "hello" inquiry, the caller, in a gruff, booming, male voice, promptly asked if this was Greg speaking, and I replied in the affirmative. He then began to tell me his location, to which I quickly disregarded seeing as how I did not even recognize the man's voice, and he had not offered me any information that might lead to discovering his identity. I did, however, get the idea that this man was out in the middle of nowhere, or at least it seemed to me, as the street names weren't names at all, just numbers. This was further evidenced by the fact that he then mentioned being in the middle of several orchards. Which is not very common any longer within the true city limits. Still not gathering what exactly this man was doing calling me, and probably tipped off by the confusion in my voice, he continued by telling me that he had found the cell phone, from which he now was calling, alongside the roads previously mentioned. I had been the second attempt at making contact from the lost cell phone, directly after "grandma" hadn't picked up her phone on the other end. Finally gathering the reason for the call, I quickly told him that the number did not have a name associated with it in my phonebook, and the best I could do to offer any sort of help in the current situation was to find his (the caller's) location and collect the phone from him until I could find its owner. Just as the plan was in place, I heard the caller say to an unknown person some distance away, "is this your phone?" The unknown person's voice, unrecognizable and faint on my end of the line, replied somewhat sheepishly, "yah." Now, being fully into the scenario and interested to possibly find out who had left their phone in such an odd place, was dismayed to hear the click of the line going dead, and silence on the other end. I waited for a return call, to explain the story and give closure to this odd event, but no such thing came. To this day, I know neither the identity of the caller, nor the unknown owner of the cell phone. Suffice it to say that once again the phone is in the hands of the owner, and I am none the wiser on the events that led up to the call.

It is in our human nature to be curious and wonder about such things that we may possibly never know the true account of. God created us with that hunger and thirst for knowledge and information. God wants us to question Him and search for answers in this amazing world that He created. Perhaps the downside to this natural thirst is that people get so caught up in the how that they forget to look at the who. We have become so answer driven that when the answer is not attainable to our satisfaction, we become frustrated and give up. Many people think that science and religion cannot mix, but it is out of Christianity that science had its beginning. Christianity challenged the great thinkers of the past to look forward and examine the physical world to see just how awesome and amazing and complex God's creation is. The drive God instilled in us to seek answers is why science is in existence today. It is unfortunate that so many have forgotten or fallen away from that Godly quest and have entered the scientific realm for personal gain or to disprove the very thing the first scientists were adamant about preserving, that God is at the center of it all! Science in itself will never be satisfying, because more questions will always arise and some mysteries will never be solved. If you find yourself with questions that you may never have an answer to, look to the Creator and know that He is in charge of it all. Take a step or two away from your questions and relax, knowing that nothing is more important than remembering that God has all the answers. By all means seek answers, but don't tether your faith to results that may not come. "Be still and know, that I am God."

By the way, if you are either the mysterious caller, or the owner of the phone, and you read this, I want to know the answers!

Shiver Me Timbers!

2006-11-30T10:54:00.000-08:00

We have hit a cold spell in Visalia. The past few nights the temperature has plunged below freezing! The temperature during the day has been reaching a very mild 50 degrees. Lucky for me, I work inside a nice warm office all day. I even have a portable heater under my desk, keeping my feet warm. Sure, I have plenty of sweatshirts and windbreaker jackets, but when everyone else starts to put on their warm Winter coats, I am left behind. However, the only time I must brave these adverse weather conditions is if I have a special event to go to. This past Monday was one of those times.

I had been notified the week before that Visalia's annual Christmas parade down Main Street was set for Monday. Several of my youth were to be involved in the parade and still more would be in attendance to watch. In fact, approximately 20,000 people would be at the parade to watch the entries follow the parade route down Main Street, the core of our small town. At about 3pm, 4 hours before the parade were to start, I received a text message from one of my youth, inquiring if I had planned to attend. Amidst all the weekend activities and the list of tasks I needed to accomplish this week, I had completely forgot about the parade. This wouldn't have been such a bad thing, (because I had no other plans for the evening in place) except I hadn't worn so much as a sweatshirt to work that day. To add to that, I had nothing that might keep me warm in subzero temperatures. I quickly drove home and picked up a windbreaker to go with my long sleeve shirt and undershirt already in place and ran out the door. I arrived at the parade around 5:30pm, early enough to get a curbside seat, and already the temperature was almost unbearable. I sat there shivering all night while band after band, after float after fire truck paraded by, filled with people with nice warm Winter coats and gloves waving and wishing me happy holidays. I saw many of my youth there that night, yet what I take away from this experience is the thought that frostbite would probably really hurt. I got home that night at about 9:30pm. I quickly turned on my heater and found the heaviest blanket I had and wrapped myself in it and was still cold for the next two hours!

I can't help but compare this experience with our position in this world as Christians. We are called to be in the world, not of it. This means that we go to church, we read our Bibles, and we pray daily, in the safety and comfort (and warmness) of the kingdom of God. Yet we are called to much more than that as followers of Christ! We are called to brave the cold weather of the world. We must go out and bring people back in to the warm. When we go, however, we must take with us the coats and gloves God has supplied us with, or else we get caught up in the cold and may not make it back. If we stay in the warmth and never go out, we have disobeyed God, and not lived the life that he has called us to. Our love for the people caught in the cold must match his love for the people caught in the cold. I vow to be prepared for the Christmas Parade next year!

Whistle While You...Break???

2006-11-22T12:49:00.000-08:00

I find it funny how many people make comments to me about how much time I spend at my job. Perhaps it comes from a well meaning idea that I must have some other great plans that I have so graciously declined to attend due to the over abundance of work there is to be done. I agree with the latterhalf, because there is always more work to be done in the kingdom of God, but the former leaves me pondering. I am told that there is no greater joy than to be in a position that allows you to be working for God on a daily basis; if this is true, then why would anyone be concerned that I take regular breaks for this highly rewarding task set before me?

Could it be that even in the community bubble we call church, that people still consider earthly work and kingdom work two seperate entities? I propose that kingdom work be of such a high importance that it spill over into the earthly. For me this may be a simple thing, for I happen to work in the church bubble. For those less fortunate, their aim should be to dedicate their workplace for the kingdom of God and always keep in mind whom it is they are trying to please, God himself. I have no doubt that if you have been convicted that you are "working for the Lord and not for man," success and job satisfaction will follow. Breaks are always welcome, but don't be surprised to find someone with this conviction working extra hard or even putting in a few extra hours.

Dreams of Paper Cutters

2006-11-09T09:11:00.001-08:00

If you have been in the church office lately, you may have noticed that we bought a new paper cutter. This was the result of many petitions and complaints by me throughout the year. Anytime I had to do any cutting I would drop a hint around the office to make sure everyone knew the grief the cutter was causing me with its dull blade and ancient ruling system. One day while trying to blindly line up some pencil marks with the blade of the cutter I came up with a brilliant idea. If you could somehow put a laser line down the length of the blade, it would be so much easier to line up my pencil marks with the blade. I didn't know, in fact, if something like that even existed, but my complaints soon changed to the need for a new sharp paper cutter with a laser sight. One day, about a month ago, a few of us were looking at the church's budget and found some extra money (an amazing feat in itself!). The very next week there was a brand new, sharp paper cutter with a laser sight sitting on the counter in the office. Oh the joy that floods my soul! I have since found many a reason to use the cutter and it never disappoints.

I thought my dream of a paper cutter with a laser sight was grander than anyone had ever dreamed about paper cutters. After all, how many people dream about paper cutters? But, as usual, the industry was one step ahead of me. In the same way, God is always one step (or more) ahead of our own hopes and dreams. You may think that you have the biggest and best plan for your life, but God would beg to differ. The plans that God has, not for humanity, but for you individually, are far greater than even your own plans. You may think that what you have planned is awesome, but wait for God's plan to unravel! You will not be disappointed. Look at Moses' plan for himself, as opposed to God's plan for Moses. Spend your life in hiding in Midian after killing an Egyptian, or become the leader of the Israelites? God's plan seems to have a better ring to it, don't you think? I don't suppose God has planned for all of us to become leaders of nations, but if you think you dream big, then wake up and have a taste of what God has planned. Its the best part of waking up. I would even suggest dreaming as big as you can, don't hold back, because when you realize that God's plan is even better than your biggest dream, there is no one to give credit to except him. Dream your dream, and then follow God's lead. Perhaps there will be something waiting to surprise you on the counter in the office.

To What End?

2006-06-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

I am a planner. I may be a last minute planner, but nonetheless a planner. For example, every summer, my church puts on a three week series called Summer Splash. Each evening calls for a bbq, water games and a lesson. I make every attempt to make each Summer Splash unique from the others, which often leaves me pondering ideas for weeks. Then the day of Summer Splash arrives and I am still chewing on ideas. This last one left me with an idea of digging a river on the church's back lot (its all dirt at this point, so no biggie). I quickly recruited two youthful diggers and off we went to dig the river. I was so focused and concerned about getting the river done before the deadline that I neglected to see the awesome opportunity in spending time with the two youth I had by my side. God still may have been working through me during that time, but I still need to learn how to recognize the opportunities that He puts in front of me.

Lucky for me, my negligence is God's thoughtfulness. In fact, if you ask me, the heart of the gospel is found in the story of the lost coin. A woman has ten coins and she has lost one of them. She frantically begins looking all over her house for it. It becomes dark and she lights a lamp to try to find it. Finally she finds the lost coin, and she is so excited that she calls up all her friends and says, "Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I lost!" This woman lost one coin, and yet to what end did she search? She utilized every resource she had, and when all was said and done, it would be easy to conclude that she had used up more resources to find the coin than the value of the coin itself. After all, oil burning lamps, time, and parties are not cheap!

The gospel story in economic terms is foolish! God goes to the same ends to bring us to know Him. He uses so many resources that they seemingly outweigh the value of the prize itself. What does that say about how much He wants us to know Him? By the standards of the world, that is a foolish investment. And yet, "the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisest man."

Youth ministry shouldn't be about having the most thought out and perfectly planned events. Its not about spending the most money and having the coolest stuff. It should be about spending time with the youth themselves. God goes to all ends to bring in just one person, how far will we go?

To What Measure?

2006-05-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

Nothing brings more validity to the cross than Jesus’ prayer at Gethsemane, as stated in Matthew 26:39. “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Here we see the humanity of Jesus to the fullest. Jesus comes to the Father vulnerable, uncertain, and possibly afraid. All emotions that we, as humans, experience all the time, yet not emotions we would expect God in the flesh to show, unless He was, in fact, fully human.

His mission seemed simple on paper, but impossible in action. Take on the flesh, live a perfect and sinless life, sacrifice that life in the flesh, ascend up to heaven, and become the gateway for all mankind to heaven.

You might think that there should be no doubt that Jesus would live a perfect life, after all, He was God in the flesh. And yet, if Jesus had simply used his Godly powers to overcome all temptation that we, as humans, face everyday, all the power is gone from the mission. If Jesus had used Godly powers to live perfectly, then how could He have been the perfect sacrifice to bury all of our wrongdoings? Unless He was a human, by all accounts, He could not represent mankind as the savior of them. Jesus lived as a human and did not call upon Godly powers from above to bail him out of situations that seemed too difficult to overcome. This is why we see the humanity of Jesus in the Gospels. Without it, Jesus is just some superhuman whom we can never aspire to be like and that we cannot lean on for our own salvation.

Was Jesus truly and sincerely afraid of the things to come while praying to God at Gethsemane? You bet He was! Yet when we look at Jesus, in all his humanity, we have to admire him for his acceptance of God’s plan, spoken with power, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Would someone, living a perfect life, be willing to have their record tarnished by people who live by their own agenda and do not care one bit for others? Jesus would. Not only was the line, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will,” Jesus’ death sentence, it was also the greatest demonstration of love anyone could ever show.

The mission, the plan, was brilliant, but by no means was it foolproof. As Jesus was human, He had the power to choose to say no, just as we have the power to choose to accept or reject God’s will for us. He could have chosen to continue to live his perfect life, and God knew it. God risked looking like a fool. God risked his own perfection with this plan. Would God take that risk, so that his creation could live with him in eternity? You bet! God risked it all, Jesus gave it all, and now we stand here and have it all.

You might ask if God could have attained salvation for all humanity in some other way. He is God, he could have chosen to do it in any number of ways. If he could have done it any number of ways, why did he choose this one? The problem that God faced (I use the word “problem” loosely, for God is not bound by earthly dilemmas. Unfortunately I am bound by the English language), was not one of his own powers and abilities, but one of human capacity. God had to present salvation in a way that we could understand it. Unless we were able to see Jesus as God in the flesh, and witness his crucifixion, we would not believe and accept this as the salvation plan. God’s plan was perfect, not because it was the best of all other possibilities, but because it was the only way that we would be able to see the process and believe. Does God stoop from his place on high to look down upon us? Not only does he stoop, he would do back flips for us if it would help us attain a place in his house for eternity! If you have any doubt whatsoever that God loves and cares for you, take a look at the salvation story. He has proven his love, over and over again.

Orange Cream Shake

2006-04-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

There are two words that have become known to me which are very similar in appearance. One of them is in the dictionary, and the other one should be. The word that is already found in the dictionary is the word 'free'. Most everyone may already know the definition of this word, but just in case, here it is: free adj., Costing nothing; gratuitous. To many people, free is a magical word. It means getting something for nothing. At Jack in the Box the other day, I was offered a free sample of a new orange cream shake they were promoting at Jack in the Box. I didn't accept the free sample (I'm not sure why, except for the fact I was on my cell phone, while trying to steer my way through the narrow passageway they call the drive thru in my boat sized El Camino, while the guy passing them out was running over to my car. I could just picture orange cream shake all over me. I guess I just wasn't in the mood for an orange shake), but because it was free, I felt no remorse for choosing not to accept it. Nor was the man offended that offered me the shake, because when something is offered as free, there are no obligations, no strings attached. One is free to accept or reject without any consequence.

Another story I have of receiving free things was brought to my attention by my sister who now attends Pepperdine, as I did. She was mentioning all the free t-shirts that she had received since being there. Then I got to thinking about the clothes in my dresser at home. I bet 90% of them were free t-shirts I received from high school clubs, and Pepperdine events. Pepperdine gives out t-shirts for everything. They give them out for basketball and volleyball games, spring break mission trips, BBQ’s, Thanksgiving Youthfest, etc. And even today, just about every time I go down to Pepperdine, I wind up coming back here with a free t-shirt. Scott complains about this to me all the time. Maybe one day I’ll remember to bring him back a free t-shirt. When things are, in fact, free, everyone (including Scott) wants to be a part of it.

The other word that I spoke of, which is very similar in appearance to the first word, free, is the word ‘free*’. Now did you happen to see the difference between the two? Sometimes it takes a careful eye to notice. This second word is used all the time and yet one cannot find it listed in a dictionary. I will try my best to come up with a definition of my own for this word. Free* adj., deceitful gratuity. The word free* looks much like the word free in order to deceive people into thinking that what they are receiving costs nothing, when in fact, it does carry a cost. When something is offered to you as free*, the chances are the person doing the offering is trying to swindle you into something you don't want. Some would consider it marketing strategy, I consider it a deliberate lie. On many websites there are advertisements that claim to offer you free things, such as iPods, laptops, and even ringtones. Some make it seem so simple with the words “Click here to receive a free* iPod.” Don't be deceived, they are actually free* iPods, laptops, and ringtones.

I am so thankful that God offers us free salvation and not free* salvation. In fact, it is only by God's grace that we can even know what it truly means to receive something for free. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) It cost God his one and only son, Jesus, but He doesn’t pass that price on to us. We reap the benefits of Jesus’ sacrifice. We didn't have to meet a quota, fill out a survey, or make monthly payments to get this gift. We didn't even have to ask! If you don't receive even as much a free orange shake in this life, know that you can still receive the gift of salvation from God. No strings attached.

Would You, Could You?

2006-03-20T14:21:00.000-08:00

An interesting theological question has pervaded my mind ever since reading an arbitrary comment in a little book which I have been using to prepare my Sunday morning classes. The comment simply read, "We become Christians by God's grace, through His unmerited favor." The point Jim George (the author) was making is that we are not the cause for our salvation, but it is a gift of God. This comment, when taken by itself, might seem to say that we would not, or could not become Christians without God. I'm not talking about if God had chosen to not send His son. I am talking about the circumstances in life that occur which would lead us to become a Christian. Is it by chance that some of the teens in my youth ministry were born and raised in the church or is it by God's grace? Is it by chance that some of the teens in my youth ministry have been introduced to God through friends or is it by God's grace? I'm not here to say that God has made me or anyone else a Christian through force and no choice of my own, but could God have put me in some direct circumstances which would allow me feel that I need to make that choice? To say that He has not, significantly minimalizes his presence and his ability to act in the world today. To say that He absolutely, to all extremes, has vaporizes my own free will and speaks of predestination. Is there a happy medium that can be reached? If God were in the business of forcing people, coupled with his love, all people would be Christians. This obviously isn't the case. If God were to leave it to us, would we, could we, be Christians? I may not be able to answer this with the definitive answer that I would like, but I can say with the utmost confidence that there is no one I can trust more to make the correct decision on the right amount of intervention than God. Only a loving, perfect Creator would know the perfect way to reach the most amount of people, and still know their devotion is of their own.

Evangelism Strategies from the Tabacco Industry

2006-03-02T16:14:00.000-08:00

Here are a few facts. In the U.S., about 440,000 people die a tabacco related death every year. This is more than auto accidents, homicide, AIDS, drugs, and fires combined. There are at any given point, about 50 million smokers in the U.S. That is a lot of death, so my next question was, what are the tobacco companies doing to combat the fact that their clients have a high turn over rate? Advertizing! Every day the tobacco industry spends $42 million on advertizing. Is that money wasted? Apparently not, as every day about 3,900 youth try a cigarette for the first time, and about 1,500 youth a day become daily smokers.

What are the cigarette companies doing that makes them so successful? There is no way to avoid knowing, with all the commercials and health officials visiting schools these days, that cigarette smoking can, and very often leads to (premature) death. So in spite of all the warnings and attempts made to make people aware of the correlation between cigarette smoking and death, seemingly none are deterred. Are people just dumb and get fooled? Are they forgetful and don't realize the consequences? Is the advertizing that influencial? What kind of advertizing are they doing, and can I get my hands on it?

I am also in an industry that is desperately in need of clients. Not because there is a high turn over rate, in fact, there should be no turn over rate because once you join the industry there is no reason to ever leave. Even death does not stop this industry's growth. The benefits of joining it are countless. The promise is eternal life, far from the promise of the tabacco industry, who gives death. Yet, how many are added to the industry that I work for daily? Sadly, not many.

The Christian industry needs to work on its advertizing strategies. If cigarettes can sell and they lead to death, then Christianity can certainly sell by offering eternal life. Maybe we need to be more aggressive in our sharing, and less judgmental and choosy of our cliental. If we could gain 1,500 youth a day in the Christian industry, there's no doubt there would be much rejoicing in heaven.

Dig Dig Dig

2006-02-23T09:28:00.000-08:00

Upon a recent trip to the bookstore, I found that the book at the top of the New York Times Best Sellers list for nonfiction is a story titled, Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog. I have not read the book, but its title would seem to give a fairly good idea of it contents. So if the number one selling nonfiction book is about nightmares in dealing with dogs, then people must like to hear stories about dealing with dogs, and so I have one of my own.

I got my mutt last summer from the SPCA, a Labrador retriever mix, she was 6 weeks old and I named her Molly. She is now about eight months old, and we have gotten past the housebreaking stage, with a minimal amount of accidents. No longer does she choose to relieve herself in the house while I am not looking. We have also gotten past the chewing stage, where everything in the house from three feet down is in danger of getting teeth marks and drool. Most would consider that to be the most aggravating stage to endure. I have taught her to sit, stay, and fetch. So you must be thinking that I am doing pretty well so far, but there is one thing that I just cannot seem to stop Molly from doing; and that is digging in the backyard.

I have heard and tried countless solutions, and if this story sparks more ideas and tips from people then I will probably try them too (assuming they are cost efficient). I have heard people say that you should simply fill the holes up with water and then she won't dig in them anymore. Problems with this...water evaporates, Molly doesn't mind getting muddy, and the clincher...even if it did work for those holes filled in with water, she just digs new ones. I have been told that dogs won't dig if there is pepper on the ground because they don't like it when it gets in their noses. Smart & Final carries big containers of ground pepper, and I went to get one. I filled in all the holes with fresh dirt, packed it down, and then put a nice thick layer of ground pepper in all the spots. Before I was even done putting the pepper down, I found Molly going over all the spots eating the dirt. I bet that dirt had a nice pepper taste to it, one that she considered to be very appetizing. Oh, and then she started digging again. I tried spraying her with the hose when I saw her starting to dig, and that stops her, but when she is by herself, there is no one to stop her. I tried giving her toys to play with and chew instead of digging, but she still digs. Lastly, I tried putting chicken wire down on the ground so that she couldn't dig. This would be very effective if I put it down over all of the yard, but that is way too much area to cover. Molly will just not stop the digging. Molly digs as if she is on a mission. She is persistent, and no matter how many things I try to do to stop her, she keeps digging. Perhaps digging is part of her identity, if you ask me it is.

Jesus was also on a mission when He left his throne on high and came here to be with us. His identity was the cross. It is what defined him more than anything else while He was here. It was his mission. Through that very cross He brought salvation to all who accept it. No matter what kind of obstacles people tried to put in front of him to stop him, He did not stop, He kept on the road to the cross. Satan tempted him, Pharisees tried to trick him, his disciples betrayed him, and everyone misunderstood him, but he kept on the road to the cross. He was mocked, stabbed, whipped, beaten, spit upon, tempted, called a blasphemer, betrayed, lied to, and misunderstood, but He never wavered on his sinless walk to the cross. We serve a mighty savior.

Just Say No

2006-02-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

The office door to the church has had it problems recently. In fact, it got so bad that in order to close, it had to be violently slammed. Where I come from, a slammed door is a no-no (thanks Mom and Dad). On the other hand, several times people unaware of the present state of the door chose to close it gently, and while it may have appeared to be shut tightly, the door was simply putting on a facade. Any gentle nudge applied to the door would expose this facade, but oftentimes the door closer would be in too much of a rush to get out of the church and our poor church was left vulnerable (I suppose that a locked church door can be pretty symbolic of a church's inability to reach out to its community, but that is not where I am going with this).

For weeks I heard talk of someone coming in to fix this resistant door, but it just did not seem to be happening. I realize that sometimes you must be patient and allow for people to fit things into their schedules, but there came a point where I realized that if I had to hear the door slam one more time, I might become desensitized to it and all of my parents' teaching on door slamming would have been in vain. Plus, I realized that in order for me to fix the door I would need to buy a new tool, something that I jump at whenever I get the opportunity!

It took me about 10 minutes to restore the door to it's preliminary state, not a terribly huge or difficult task, but definately one that was a long time coming. Let me tell you, the sound of nothingness ringing through the office is music to my ears.

Scott, I think, is going through the same thing. He has a vision of our church's sound booth being a whole lot more than the sham it is in right now. Almost every work day for about two weeks now, he has been meeting and talking with people who have been promising to pull through to make the booth what it needs to be. I haven't seen any progress.

I suppose I could extend this idea further by pointing out all the times I hear people say directly to me that they will see me in church on Sunday, and then Sunday rolls around and I see no sign of them. I don't think that people intend this to be the case, but I fear that the world is suffering from severe flakititus (most common symptoms are talking big, delivering small, and being apathetic to the whole situation). James has something to say about this type of behavior, in v5.12 he writes, "But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your 'yes' be 'yes,' and your 'no,' 'no,' lest you fall into judgment." If you are too busy to do a favor or a job for someone, they would be much less annoyed if you simply said no, than if you said yes and then failed to follow through. Anyone care to help me rearrange the furniture in my house???

Travels

2006-01-19T11:03:00.001-08:00

I am not a big fan of airplanes. I have been on two trips in my life which have required that I fly to get there, in both cases, something has gone wrong. The first trip I took was to Texas and at first, everything seemed to be going well. I found a seat (a window seat, in fact), I had some peanuts and some Pepsi and I was starting to think that my first airplane ride was going to go off without a hitch. That was until it came time to land...talk about rough landing. The whole time we were coming in for landing, the plane was swaying back and forth and then one back landing gear touched down (now I’m pretty sure that if just one landing gear hit the runway, then we were landing crooked) and then we went back up, and then we touched down again. This being my first flight, the whole time I had visions of a wing scraping the ground and ripping off the airplane. Being in a window seat did not help this image. From what I've seen of landings on TV and movies both back landing gears are supposed to hit the runway first and then the nose of the plane will slowly touch down. On this plane, I think the nose gear touched down before the back right landing gear, making a very rough and scary landing. Needless to say, I was glad to get off of that plane.

My second trip, to Oregon, had an excellent landing, but the takeoff wasn't so smooth. We were headed down the runway for takeoff, picking up speed when all of a sudden the plane slows down and pulls off to the side of the runway. The pilot comes on the intercom explaining that some warning lights had turned on in the cockpit and he was going to have the plane checked by some mechanics. About 15 minutes went by and the pilot came over the intercom once again to say, "we found the problem, we're going to take off now." He did NOT say that the problem had been fixed and everything was going to be fine. All he said was that the problem had been found and we would be taking off. This did not reassure me. Luckily, the flight went well.

Airplanes give me an uneasy feeling because I am not in control of the things that can happen on them.

I like to drive. I would not like it if YOU drove. I've been in a car barreling 100mph down the freeway while I was not in the driver's seat...I can think of better, less catastrophic times I've had. I do not like it when others drive me anywhere for the same reason I do not like to fly in airplanes...I am not in control of the situation. There is no one I trust more than myself. I feel much safer knowing that I have a handle on the things that can affect me in life. There is a certain comfort that comes from having things under control.

Is this what God wants of me? Does He want me to have everything in my life under my control? Perhaps even more importantly...have I left room in my controlled environment for God to work? If I could do it all by myself, and have everything go smoothly, would I need a savior? For some reason, no matter how hard I try, even when I am in control of things, everything does not go the way I planned it. Things I plan with good intention somehow turn out wrong, and I must realize that I need a savior. A savior who will come in and take control for me, who will drive my cars, and fly my airplanes in life, better than I ever could. Jesus is the savior who does this, but what I have to do is to make room for him to work. I have to get over my control freak syndrome and let him start driving.

When It Rains, It Pours

2006-01-05T09:41:00.000-08:00

The rain started last Thursday, which is somewhat disappointing for me because boasting a new set of frisbee golf frisbees, I was hoping to get out on the course and give them a whirl. It continued on Friday and Saturday (which changed my New Year's Eve plans) and Sunday and even Monday before the skies cleared. Someone mentioned to me that the amount of rain that had fallen in those consecutive days had not been matched for some fifty years in Visalia. Which is kind of fitting, seeing as how that was the last time that Visalia had been flooded, and turning on the news on Monday I was surprised to see that Visalia was once again flooding. Not only was it flooding, but it was flooding just a mile or two north of my house! I resisted the urge to go see the damage for myself and just let the news crews be my pair of eyes for the timebeing. Apparently, with all the construction going on just north of my house, there were lots of new houses, but there were not very many storm drains installed just yet. The result? Lots of brand new houses filled with two or three feet of water. After the fiasco was over with, many in my church congregation were attempting to find out if any of the other member's houses were involved in the flood, and the response from those members who lived in the area always seemed to be something to the effect of, "God was good to us, our house was spared." While I am certainly glad that their houses weren't flooded and that they seemed to be praising God for that, I couldn't help but think...what about all the people whose houses were flooded...was God not good to them? When they prayed to God that their houses would be saved from flooding, did God overlook them? Certainly God hadn't picked out some houses to be flooded and the other ones to be spared. What exactly had been God's action/intervention amidst the flooding?

In a hospital room are two patients, both are religious and both also have cancer. They both pray to God that He would intervene and heal, but only one of them recovers from the cancer...what was God's action in both of those patients' lives? Was He good to one and ignored the other?

If you pray that God will open up a parking spot at the front of the mall so that you do not have to walk so far and you find one just where you wanted it, did God answer that prayer?

Certainly, most of us would say that God does not grant us front row parking (it seems a bit absurd), but to what extent does God intervene in this world of ours? We know that He is the sustainer of life, if He did not will that life on earth go on, it certainly would not. So God is active today in the aspect of sustaining life, but does He answer personal prayer? James 5:16 says that "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective," and Proverbs 15:29 says that God is "far from the wicked but He hears the prayer of the righteous." Apparently, there is something about the righteous that God likes to listen to them. Being righteous means not being self centered. Not having the things of self in mind, but the things of God. Being in tune with God. A righteous person would not pray for a parking spot, and perhaps a righteous person would not pray for a certain person to heal if they knew that the will of God was that that person's service to God on earth was finished (he would still pray for the patient, just not his healing). As for flooding houses and God's goodness...God is the one who defines goodness, any action of his is good, even an apparent inaction (in our eyes) would be good if God is the definition of good. If some of the people whose houses flooded were praying that their house would be spared and it wasn't, it was not a breach of God's goodness, but perhaps they have not seen God's good will in all of this just yet. Sometimes even the righteous can be wrong about God's plans...just ask Job.

Who Has Christmas Spirit?

2005-12-21T13:00:00.000-08:00

So I went to see my doctor last week (a favorite pasttime for me). After the standard 20 minute wait while sitting on the paper covered exam table, Dr. Rudis makes his way into my room with a scowl on his face. Something is obviously wrong, and I'm hoping that it has nothing to do with my present state of health. I cautiously greet him and he starts by saying, "What has happened to the Christmas spirit?" "I went to the mall yesterday and none of the stores had any kind of holiday decorations out; the Christmas season is my favorite time of year and they are ruining it...what do you think about that?" Somewhat shocked and surprised by the unexpected greeting, yet at the same time relieved that his pressing concern was not my runny nose and clogged sinuses, my response was, "as a Christian and also a youth minister, I think its kinda sad to see the spirit of the season being overlooked...except for the rush to meet the demand of consumers during the season." That answer seemed to satisfy him for the moment, as he went on and started looking into my ears, eyes and nose, but as he looked into my mouth, he asked me the question I should have seen coming from the start, "well, what are YOUR people doing about it?" After he finished poking a wooden stick down my throat, I gave him a response, but not a response that would satisfy his question, it was a response that may have left him more irritated than when he first came in, but I believe it to be the truth. My response was, "Although we [Christians] find it sad that corporations and the government are moving away from the Christmas season, we don't put up much of a fight on that level of society because our base of operations is on the personal level. We try to change lives one at a time through relationships rather than going to the top and making the corporations and government force Christmas or Christ on anyone." When I look at how Jesus made the impact he did while he was on the earth, I don't see it as being through the speeches and lessons he gave to the crowds, I see it as through the gentle touches, the kind words, the personal healings, and the discipling of just twelve of his close friends. That is how Christianity spread throughout the world, and that is how it will continue to spread...one touched life at a time.

A Reasonable Doubt

2005-12-01T11:52:00.000-08:00

I have just discovered for myself the reason that so many teens turn away from God. If you grow up going to church, you never really question why you do it. It is something you just do, because you always have, it is something that you do because your parents do, or maybe even because your parents make you. There comes a time in life when you start to question why you do things, and one of those things is bound to be church, why church? Most why questions can be answered pretty simply with a rational, reasonable answer…but the question of church cannot be answered very simply. You start to decide that you go to church to worship God, but then comes the time when you have to explain to yourself why you worship God and who and where God is. Not easy questions to answer. And soon it turns into an internal fight trying to decide if you can believe in something you can’t see or hear and the answer, (unless you have fervently kept up the spiritual disciplines of praying, studying scripture, and experienced things in life that build up your faith so it isn’t just a faith passed on through parents) is no. How can a teen rationally and reasonably believe in God when his faith is one learned in Sunday morning bible class? Faith cannot be achieved through gold attendance stars or even gold memory verse stars…faith must be built up by a personal quest to find out who and what God is. No wonder so many people look at the job of youth ministry and run from it…how do you teach that? I look at this problem and I can’t decide whose fault it is, the teens for not taking ownership of their own faith or all those who decided to teach the teens since infancy without mentioning this personal quest to find God. If you went to school to become a chef and then you apply for a job as an auto mechanic, the hiring agent will laugh at you because you haven’t been trained in the area of auto mechanics. If you were trained in church to memorize the Bible, and then you realize that you want to have a relationship with God, you may not have any idea how to do it because you weren’t trained that way. I understand the doubt that can ensue following this predicament, but unless teens realize the responsibility behind the Christian faith in having a real relationship with God, all they will know are Bible stories and that is not enough to keep them faithful. I see the cause, I just wish the solution were easy to come by…

Motive for Moving?

2005-11-29T11:11:00.000-08:00

Ah, Thanksgiving Day (or any vacation day for that matter). What a wonderful opportunity to do nothing all day…or so I thought. After laying in my bed and watching the clock tick the morning away, I started to feel kinda bad. Not the kind of bad that made me feel like I was missing something by laying in bed all morning, but the kind of bad that starts with a small pain in your head and soon increases in intensity as you continue to let the day slip away while you do nothing. I had received a headache simply for staying in bed too long that morning.

It seems to me that the reaction my body had to laying around all day is one that God instilled in us from the day He created man. God did not create us so that we would be idle, and do nothing all day. God created us to go out and do things in the world, specifically, things that would bring Him glory. Try as I might, I can not think of any way in which laying in bed all thanksgiving day would bring glory to our Creator. If God is calling out to me to go and do things in the world that will bring him glory, who am I to keep him waiting…vacation day or not.

Fame

2005-11-17T08:59:00.000-08:00

I recently became famous. I didn't star in a famous motion picture or pose for pictures for the cover of People Magazine, but still, I became famous. It happened when I went to exercise my right to vote last Tuesday. At the polling place I was handed my ballot and marker to carefully fill in the ovals and after dropping my ballot on the floor (probably drawing all the attention in the room to me), I finally got over to one of the empty booths to cast my vote. Across the room there was a guy with an expensive camera in his hand and he made his way over to my side of the room, obviously drawn by my clumsiness. After filling in my ovals, I then got in line to hand my ballot to an elderly lady who was feeding them into a huge machine. As I got close to the front of the line I heard her saying to each of the other voters, "Let's see if [the machine] will accept your ballot, sometimes it doesn't like them." Finally I come to the front of the line, having already drawn some unwanted attention due to the earlier ballot spillage, and I hand the lady my ballot. As she gives me her rehearsed greeting she feeds the ballot into the machine and wouldn't you know it, it came back out, rejected. I am sure that it was then that the photographer chose to raise his camera and snap a picture of my puzzled look as my ballot was denied by the machine. I am convinced that the rejection was due to feeder error because all it took was to refeed the ballot into the machine for its acceptance, but the picture had already been snapped, a moment frozen in time by the camera. As I started my exit, the photographer rushed over to introduce himself and get my name. The next morning I found my picture in the paper with that puzzled look on my face. Fame. Don't worry, I won't let it go to my head.

Last night I taught the youth about the value of the things that God chooses to give us, instead of the value of the things that we think we want. We all made lists of things that we wanted, our all-time want list. When I looked at those lists, much of what I found on their lists, as well as mine, seemed to say, "Give me fame, give me money, give me more stuff." And God looks at those lists and He tells us we don't need those things. In fact, He tells us that we are missing out on the things or experiences that He has planned for us because we are too busy asking for things that we don't really want. We can't really want them because they will never satisfy our hunger. God is trying to tell us that our hunger is fed through our relationship with him. The things that He will give us, things that we really want because they satisfy our hunger, will help us to have a closer and better relationship with him. God wants to give and He wants us to ask. He doesn't sit up in heaven and gleefully deny all of my prayer requests. He is sitting up there trying to show me the things I should be asking for. God challenges us to look at the lists of things we have made and ask if those things will help us maintain a closer relationship with him or if they will pull us away. Things like money, stuff, and my newfound fame aren't always what they are all cracked up to be. Fame might be as unsatisfying as a picture of you with a puzzled look on your face.

God hurts

2005-11-07T12:38:00.000-08:00

After being out of town for the weekend I returned to some saddening news. On the front page of Saturday's Visalia Times Delta newspaper was a story about a church in town who was going through a split. After reading the article I realized that the church was actually in my neighborhood. Before I knew it, I found myself in my car, driving out to the split church. I am not sure what caused me to take this little trip because I am not sure what I was expecting to see but a church building standing there as it had always been. As I slowly drove by the church grounds I half expected to see an actual split down the middle of the church building, dividing the two sides physically, or maybe I was expecting to see tears flowing down the side of the church building for all the sadness and anger that must have preceeded the actual split. Either way, I became captivated by the story and had to see for myself what kind of damage had been done at ground zero, and how bad the fallout had been after the bomb had been dropped. I didn't find any feuding families, or lines drawn with duct tape, or even so much as one person sheding a tear over the apparent divorce of a family of God. I drove home somewhat disappointed that I had not seen to my satisfaction what I had gone out to see...some form of sadness, anger, or anguish as the result of the split (nevermind the fact that I was looking for it in the physical characteristics of the building).

I decided that what I was looking for was not that odd, because certainly all those emotions had been expressed by the people involved, right? Well, maybe not. When I look around at the world today I find that family divorce is so common that no one even bats an eye at it. No longer is it news to anyone, and certainly no one is going to shed a tear when both sides are fighting to get ownership over everything that was once held as common. I would hold that the only reason that the newspaper found it a story good enough to print on the front page is that they wanted to show to the world that even the good Christian church has deemed it okay and sometimes necessary to go through a family divorce. We have fallen to the standards of the world, and God's heartburn becomes too much for a roll of Tums to handle. We can't keep turning to God with our intentional sin and say, "just take two Tums and you'll feel better about it in a few hours." We have been called to a higher standard, as evidenced by the life of Christ, and yet the world only sees us as a bunch of hypocrites. Why? "[We] acknowledge He is with [our] lips, and walk out the door and deny Him by [our] lifestyle" (dc Talk). God has never stood for our excuses, and He only gives forgiveness for those who sincerely regret. He is the only one sheding tears these days, and its because we give Him heartburn so bad no antiacid will cure it. The solution? We must be in the world, but not of it.

Dry Mouth?

2005-10-27T09:56:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago the church got a delivery of a couple hundred empty coin collecting cans to hand out to the members of the church. The idea is to take the empty can and put all the spare change you get throughtout the day, and when it becomes full the church will ship it off to Ukraine so a poor family over there can have a decent dinner for Christmas. I took a can and put it in my office thinking I would see it most often there and be reminded to put my change in it. Just outside my office door is a Pepsi machine, which gives 20oz. bottles of Pepsi for 75¢ (a very good price). Now I'm sure you see the struggle that ensues. Of course I understand that there is a family in Ukraine that has no money and is in need of it, but perhaps I am in the wrong profession, because I can rationalize practically anything, making it okay for me to get the desired result (a nice cold Pepsi).
On Wednesday nights, the praise team practices in my office an hour before Wednesday night classes start, so I often join them. Now when you sing a lot, sometimes your mouth gets dry and you need some water...guess what, the Pepsi machine is right there! If I am singing praise to God, and in the process am developing a gift that God has given me (my singing voice), and my mouth gets dry...am I going to put that 75¢ that was change from my lunch into the can for the Ukrainian families, or am I going to buy a water from the machine?
Why do I have to rationalize the result I want when I know the right answer already? Why do I have to sell myself the idea that both ways are benefiting the Kingdom of God in some way? In fact, sometimes I wonder if selling things is what Christians are in the business of doing. Do we think that we have to rationalize and justify our belief in Jesus to the rest of the world as if we are buying a Pepsi instead of putting change in the can? No! What we have in Jesus' sacrifice needs no justification. Proclaim the name of Jesus because you have seen Him work in you, don't fumble around for justification as if what you believe in isn't real or true. If we are proud that we are wearing the name of Jesus then we will stop trying to sell or rationalize Jesus to the world and start sharing with pride. Let Jesus do the convicting and we will boast in Him. My can will be full for Christmas...

Represent

2005-10-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been on a McDonalds diet, based solely on the fact that I am out to win that Dodge Viper from McDonalds Monopoly (I still need Short Line Railroad). A few times I have been accompanied by Scott, my Associate Minister buddy, and during one visit we decided to turn the placemat over to look at the nutrition facts, we found that we were eating the most calorie filled sandwiches on the menu. I didn’t gasp too much on that, because I’m 6’3” and weigh 160lbs., but our next visit was the one that caught me as funny. As Scott and I walked in the door and were standing in line we began discussing what sandwich we should get, based on the newfound knowledge we had attained from our last visit. As I got to the front of the line and the cashier was about to take my order, I turned back to Scott and proclaimed, “I’m going to get my chicken sandwich grilled instead of crispy, because it’ll be fewer calories.” I turned back to the cashier and she replied, “It doesn’t matter what you order, if you eat here, you’ll get fat.” I thanked her for her advice and ordered my food.
McDonalds has gotten a bad reputation of fattening Americans ever since the “Supersize Me” documentary came out, and that may have been the source of the comment that came from the cashier, but what caught me was the fact that a McDonalds employee, during her work hours and to a customer would essentially say, don’t eat here, it is not healthy. An employee is supposed to have pride in the company he/she works for and defend the company at all cost, not blatantly show disgust for the company, especially in front of a customer. Don’t wear a McDonalds hat and then curse its name.
Sometimes I wonder if we as Christians do the same thing on a different level. We make a checklist of all the things we need to do to be good Christians (go to church on Sunday and Wednesday night, get baptized, give to the contribution, etc.), check them all off, and then go on with our normal lives the rest of the week. Once we have gotten in the door, once we have attained the Christian name, we figure we’re in for good, and our actions begin return to reflect those of the world instead of Jesus’. God comes to us and says, I gave you the mark of a Christian, and you are misrepresenting me by the actions you show to the world. Either you are a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, or you are not, there is no middle of the road. Christianity is a lifestyle, not an event or a place to go to, it’s a 24/7 job, and we must be careful to accurately represent what Christ stands for, especially in the face of those who do not believe (potential customers). Don’t wear the Christian name and then deny Him through your words and actions.

Confidence in What?

2005-10-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

I started playing basketball before I even was able to have any memory of it. My dad bought one of those Little Tikes plastic basketball hoops that adjusted from three to six feet and I would play with my brothers for hours at a time. When I started going to elementary school I was definitely the best in the class and when I got to be in the upper grades in elementary school I was still the best by far. I knew at that time that I was going to be a professional basketball player, watch out Michael Jordan! Middle school started, and 3 elementary schools filtered in to the middle school. I hung out with and played basketball with the serious crowd of ballers, those who knew that they were great players someday. I started on the school’s basketball team, power forward position, our team was awesome, going undefeated in our 6 game season. I knew that I was going to be a professional basketball player. High school started, and 4 middle schools filtered in to the high school. Freshman basketball tryouts started in late Fall, and I made the team, of course. Practices were everyday after school and on Saturday mornings, and sometimes Saturday afternoons as well. When the season finally started I found out I wasn’t a starting power forward anymore, but I hoped that I would be able to prove to the coach that I was starter material. I sat on the bench a lot that year. Sophomore year, I kept with it, hoping to get some playing time because the junior varsity coach seemed like a good guy. I sat on the bench some more. Junior year, I had hoped to move up to the Varsity team, but the JV coach asked me to stay on his team because the young team needed some experience. Senior year, the year that I would move up to varsity, the Varsity coach retired and the JV coach moved into his coaching spot, knowing that it would be another year of sitting on the bench, I quit.
In Kindergarten when all the other kids were struggling to sound out a couple words in the Red Robin Reader book, I was moving through the Blue Bird Book with ease. I was quickly put into the GATE program at school. I didn’t know what it was aside from all the smart kids were in it. I was definitely the smartest kid in school. I got awards at every awards program, and then moved on to middle school. The teachers didn’t know what to do with me after I had finished all my work at school and all the other kids still had tons to do, I was often sent to do special projects to take up more time. I was definitely the smartest. Not many kids can graduate from high school with a 4.1 GPA, but I did, right behind two other kids, who got the honors of Val Victorian and Salutatorian, while I got honorable mention. I was almost the smartest kid in school. At Pepperdine, I was surprised to find that most of the students there also got excellent grades, lots of them better than mine. Classes were tough, but I managed to get through them all. No huge honors were bestowed upon me this time however.
In both cases, as my world got bigger and bigger, I got smaller and smaller. I can definitely say now that I am not and will never be a professional basketball player or the smartest person in the world, two things that looked very promising to me earlier in life. Both times my self confidence took a huge hit, and I had two choices at those points in my life 1) run away and feel sorry for myself, or 2) find a source of confidence that can never let me down or fail me. When the world gets bigger and I get smaller, there is only one thing I know that I can still boast about because it cannot change and that is the love of God for me. When coaches sit me on the bench and students get better grades than me, God says to me, “Hey, I can use you, just the way you are. I have a special project for you to do for me.” How do I know that my confidence in God’s love will never be let down? Because he has proven it to me over and over again, and most outwardly through God’s son Jesus, who died for me to prove that the love of God for me, will never cease. Now that is something to boast about.

Church and Jesus

2005-09-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

After recently becoming a full-time paid minister and going to all the church activities and working eight hours a day, five days a week (on a non-busy week) at the church, it occurred to me that my whole life was centered around church. I lived and breathed church. Many times I would be sitting in my office at church, late at night chatting online and people would ask me, "why are you still at church?" Aside from the fact that I don't have an internet connection at my home, the only response I could muster up was that I pretty much lived at the church. The couch sitting in my office would testify to the number of times I've dozed off on it after a church activity.
To add to this obecession of church, I was at a Blockbuster video store recently trying to hunt down a dvd to show to the youth group when the conversation with the cashier turned from the dvd to church. It was a typical story of someone losing contact with the church she had attended and the guilt that comes from the confession that she should get back into the routine. I very politely told her about the church I attended, and invited her to come visit us anytime.
My life, as a minister, being centered around the church and my conversation with this young lady have something in common. Neither of them make any mention of Jesus. I may live and breathe church, but if I don't live and breathe Jesus I'll wind up the very same as the rest of the world who chooses to deny Jesus and his life giving power through the cross. My conversation with the Blockbuster cashier was not a bad one, and who knows, she may show up at the church one day, but the conversation might have been a lot more fruitful if I had chosen to ask her about her relationship with Jesus without a church family to help her with her walk, instead of using the church as a fix all for the problems in her life. I must be careful to not put too much stress on the importance of being at church, and put more stress on the importance of having a relationship with Jesus. If I focus on the church, then I will start to do church things, which is ok, but the church isn't a perfect model of who a person should be. On the other hand, if I focus on Jesus, then I will start to do Godly things, and I can be sure of their perfection.

Service Week

2005-07-09T10:32:00.000-07:00

Once the muscle soreness from a week of service to the community, involving such things as washing windows and serving dinner at the Rescue Misssion, has worn off, what will be left to remind us of the service that we provided which left a smile on our faces at the end of the day?
Last week I hastily put together a week of activities for the coming week, all with the focus of service in mind. Although the concept of a week of the summer dedicated to service had been churning and dwelling in my mind for quite a while, I neglected to put much thought into it, and I quickly put together the week's activities in a few hours time.
The result of my few hours of work, however, translated into perhaps a lifetime of work in God's hands, because the impact that was made during this week of service by and on the teens was great. Although the service opportunities were made with just a few phone calls, God had these opportunities in mind for who knows how long. He had been preparing the teens and those with whom they interacted for years, waiting for just the right time to reveal his plans. His patience is awesome, and his deeds are unfathomable! My service scavenger hunt in the church neighborhood, became God's window washing program when the hunt turned into conversations with the elderly, and my dinner serving at the Rescue Mission became God's food serving ministry, when His love reached out to the hearts of the teens and called them to return regularly to the Rescue Mission.
My plans (or lack of) for a service week did not match God's. The result? God's plans showing through. So returning to the original question, what remains to remind us of the week of service we spent on the community after our labor pains have subsided? The answer is changed hearts due to God's love for the poor, the answer is the ministries that come out of that week of service, the answer, quite simply, is God.