Life’s Story

And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a FLAME of FIRE out of the midst of a bush.  [Moses] looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was NOT CONSUMED.

Exodus: 3:2 (ESV)

But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the FIRE, adn they are NOT hurt, and the appearance of the fourth is like a SON OF the GOD’s

Daniel 3:25 (ESV)

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.  And sudenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divded tongues as of FIRE appeared to them and rested on each one of them.  And they were all filed with the HOLY SPIRIT, and beagn to speak in other tongues as the SPIRIT gave then utterance.

Acts 2: 1-4

We all have a story.  In fact I would bet we all have a perfect story.  We have this imaginary life that if we could live it would be perfect imperfection.  It is perfect imperfection because we are imperfect, that is until God comes and makes our broken lives a beautiful, perfect mosaic.  Anyways, we have this life that we picture.  The life that we dream of living.  A life where we have conquered sin, we have been matched with and by God, and we are living in reckless abandon.  A life that if the world would look at it, would be entirely perplexed, maybe even inwardly jealous as they mock, because they are able to look at this true freedom, and wish for it in their own life.  This life is considered to be a barbarian way by some, a life led by the heart, and an irresistible revolution to others.  We all have this life.  For guys we want to be the William Wallace.  My guess is that girls would want to be Mother Teresa, Joan of Arc, women who lived out this barbarian way creating massive change in the world around them.  Not settling for second best.

So we have this perfect story.  This ideal thought of life that we wish, we hope, we dream, would become the ideal reality.  Yet for some reason we hold on to this present life.  This life that falls well short of our perfect imperfection, dreaming of the day to be free.  What would life be if we could separate from this old life?  What life be like if we could finally conquer that one recurring sin that keeps forcing us back?  What would happen if we would abandon to passionately follow our God given heart desires?  How would life be different if we could rescue the danzel in distress, the orphan, the widow, the poor because we were sent by and through God to do so?  What if the day were here?  Is the day here?  Are you like me, having a story, wondering can it come?  Is God finally calling us, allowing us, lifting us to our perfect imperfection, our story that only Him and us know?

Let’s us digress, real quick let us return to the opening verses.  Where does fire come into all of this?  Well fire is the very beginning.  The all consuming fire that refined my sight.  The fire that said to me Matt go.  This fire brought me to it by it’s brightness.  It is refinining me through it’s holy heat.  This fire lit me on fire, and is saying Matt you are burning, but you are not consumed.  The fire is asking me am I ready?  Matt, your perfect imperfection lies just ahead.  Your story, it is right around the corner, and I, the fire, the Spirit, am going to guide you there today.

My story is unknown.  I am not entirely sure where it is taking me, but I know that I have arrived at the narrow path.  The path less traveled.  Only traveled by the brave men and women who have said I must have my perfect imperfection, I cannot simply live imperfection any further.  However, I know I am not the only one who has at this paths beginning.  I am only part of a much larger generation is embarking on this path.  So, are we ready?  Let us reach, grab a hold, live out our perfect imperfection, our mosaic.  Let us be on fire!  Let us be refined, barbaric, and revolutionary.

It will not be easy, but then the most exciting stories never were.  William Wallace died for his love and quest for freedom.  Joan of Arc was burned at the stake.  Mother Teresa lived a life in darkness searching for her Savior while she was saving those in Calcutta.  And Jesus went to the cross to show us this way.  This holy, perfect, loving, reckless way.  A way that is characterized by utter obedience, illogical submission, and pure indwelling.

For me tonight begins my story, my new life.  I am leaving the old, predictable life behind, so that I can live out my perfect imperfection.  My prayer and hope is that others are being called to this perfect imperfection and that more will come with me, so we may walk, carry, and guide each other, and the cool thing about that prayer is that I know it is already answered.

Right now I have so much uncertainity, but so much freedom.  Amongst the fog I have peace, because now I am in God’s hands and I know I will not fall.  I am an unquenched beautiful flame, being refined, setting the world on fire, and SO ARE YOU!!!  Perfect imperfection.  God’s beautiful mosaic.  His church.  His fire.

Immigration

A few Sundays ago I was at a meeting called Coffee and Christ, which is a get together every other Sunday morning for the men at our church, First Baptist Church of Massillon.  Every meeting we usually have a really good discussion about God, theology, etc.  It is definitely a time when iron sharpens iron because there are so many different perspectives and view points that you are being presented that you are challenged to reevaluate yours so that you understand what you believe.  Anyways, as our discussion was moving this particular week we soon got on to the topic of immigration and illegal immigrants.

       I sat there for a few minutes and listened to what the others guys were saying.  Some of them were upset that illegal immigrants were here because our government was providing them and their children with money that could be used to help other American citizens.  They did not feel it was right to help out illegal immigrants when they should not be here in the first place.  Others were just simply mad because they were illegal.  They did not have any problem with them getting government aid.  There presence just upset them because they were illegal and should not be here.  These were the two main arguments or disputes.  Some were upset because they were stealing good American jobs to make money to send home to their families that they had left to come to America.

       Anyways, as I was listening I could not come to identify with them.  This is not abnormal for me.  A lot of what I view is different from the grain of society, but as I read scriptures I just cannot come to a mindset that thinks that these illegal immigrants are a huge problem to be dealt with.  First of all we are called to love our neighbors as ourself (Matthew 22: 39).  Regardless of how far these illegal immigrants come from we are called to love them.  So, what does this entail?  Well first of all I do not think it entails deporting them.  In my opinion, in Christ’s kingdom they have just as much a right to be here as we do, even with out a green card or American citizenship, which will be discussed.  Anyway, deporting them is definitely not loving them.  I think our call to love them is also a call to build relationship with them.  We are called to talk to them, to discover their heart, and to walk with them.  This opinion usually brings up the comment, “I would but they do not even speak our language.  If they are going to be here they should at least speak English.” First, God empowers his people to do amazing things.  It is not out of God’s reach and power to empower his people to overcome language barriers (Acts 2: 8-12).  Not speaking their language and them not speaking ours is not a reason for us to not try and love them by building relationship.  By building relationship with these men and women created and loved by God we are acknowledging that God’s kingdom is universal, as indeed it is (Galatians 3:28).  Secondly, by developing relationship we are following the example of Christ who loved everybody regardless of their nationality and race (John 4).  I admit the Samaritan woman was in Samaria in this story, but do you really think the story would be different if the Samaritan woman was in Jerusalem or in some other foreign setting?  Do you think Christ reaction to her would have changed?  The illegal immigrants that we are trying to kick out and thus building walls between them and us are our brothers and sisters in Christ.  How dare we not try to love with all our heart.

         Instead we are worried that they are here illegally, receiving aid from our government “that could be used to help American citizens.”  First of all, in my opinion, the crime is not that they are here illegally the crime to humanity is the fact that their presence here is illegal.  The walls we are building by being identified as an American, Mexican, Iraqi, Asian, etc. has to break God’s heart.  For God there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free (Galatians 3:28), American nor Mexican.  We are ALL God’s people, fearfully and wonderfully made, and loved by Him.  If God loves them then so should we, and we should not have laws that form barriers between God’s people, and that is exactly what these immigration laws do.  We should not be fighting the immigrants we should be fighting the system that labels them illegal. We should be fighting the system that when capable of providing for both illegal immigrants and it is citizens does not.  We should be fighting what is truly unjust.  We are only to follow man made rule and their laws as long as they do not violate the laws of God’s Kingdom.  As long as they do not betray love.  Immigration laws destroy love and produce hatred and anger, and have no place in heaven because in Heaven we are all one.  As Christians we need to stand up and love “illegal immigrants” providing them food, shelter, clothing, and sanctuary (Matthew 25: 31-46) because that is what Christ calls us to do.  Furthermore, not only should we love these illegal immigrants instead of forming resentment towards them, but we should also be advocating them by fighting the very system that tries to deport them, and by doing so we will be breaking down walls that are forming between our brothers and sisters in Christ.

       I admit that some immigrants that are here, are here and cause problems and hurt people and steal jobs for the wrong reasons, but there are Americans that do that to, so where should we send them.  If we would take time to get to know these people.  We would find out that many of them have a huge heart and are loving, caring people trying to provide a better life for their families they left back home.  Maybe the loving thing to do is not to try and send them back home, but to try and bring their families here and help them build a home in America where they know they have someone who loves them like Christ and will help them.  Maybe the loving thing to do is to stand with these people, walking with them, sharing all of their struggles and joys, because that is what Christ does for us.  Maybe the loving thing to do is become a Christian first and an American second.  Maybe the loving thing to do is to stop competing with them and invite them over for dinner.  Or maybe just take the first step towards relationship by choosing to break down the language barrier and shake their hand and tell them you name.  Maybe as Christians we should affirm their worth by simply saying hi because Christ affirmed our worth by doing something much, much more.

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Letting Go…My Spiritual Journey

I went out to eat with my pastor today, which is something I wish he and I could do on a more regular basis because I just do, it is a good time.  Anyways, the past 36 hours or so have been really rough and we were talking about the situation/relationship.  These 36 hours have been tough because I am trying to protect and sustain my relationship with the woman I adore amongst a time of immense uncertainty.  It has been a spiritual journey where God has been telling me to let go.  In this particular situation, He is telling me to let go of not only my heart but hers because I am crushing them.  I am trying so hard to keep the relationship together that I am destroying the relationship because I am so concerned about making the relationship comfortable and secure.  But what matters most in the relationship is not comfort and security but the hearts of those involved.  What matters is that the hearts grow, and the the relationship flourishes.  What matters is that you take risk and you enjoy every second that you spend with that person because you know it could be your last.  That means that you stop worrying about the little things so much because all that matters is the person that you are spending time with.  It means you stop worrying about comfort and security, and you love that other person so much that it hurts and with such a stubborn heart that you refuse to give up on that person.  It means that you never let the relationship destroy your friendship because your friendship is what made you fall in love with that other person.  It means that no matter how dark the skies and how rainy it is that you know you care for that other person even if you don’t know why, because It is ok, to just know.  It means it is ok to let go and just let Love be in control.  So, today I let go, not because I am giving up but because I stubborn and I am going to do whatever it takes to be with her.  I let go because I cannot be in control, because if I am it will fall apart.  Today, right now, I let go of everything I cannot control, so that I can enjoy what matters most.  I let go so that I can love.  And I pray that there is still life in our relationship.  I pray that God will breathe life into us, so that we can just enjoy each other again.  Today, I am letting go so that we can live.

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The Precious Gift

      Lately I have found myself reading a lot of news articles during class, and two recent articles really hit home for me these past weeks.  The first story was when Richard Zednik from the Florida Panthers had his carotid artery severed during a hockey game, losing 5 unit of blood and nearly his life on the ice, doing what he loved.  The other story being the Northern Illinois school shooting, where one man killed 5, wounded 15, and then took his own life.  You hear these stories of life being put into danger and lives being taken, while people are going through their every day lives that seem so harmless, and when events like this happen we are shown how fragile and precious life really is.  Richard Zednik was skating, playing hockey, and then teammate was checked and then  he felt his throat cut, and in an instant he went from playing a sport he had a passion for to fighting for his life.  Those student were studying, learning in an environment they felt safe in and trusted, and in an instant they were fighting for their lives and some were taken.  This life is so precious and so fragile!

     So many times we wait to truly live.  Tomorrow I will quit.  Tomorrow I will start working.  Tomorrow I will get rid of whatever is keeping in slavery.  Tomorrow I will be free.  Tomorrow I will do the wash.  Tomorrow I will show them how much I care, by waking up and making them breakfast.  Tomorrow I will pop the question.  Tomorrow I will tell them that I love them.  Tomorrow I will truly live.  And we wait.  And we wait.  Wasting today because tomorrow we will be ready.  And in an instant tomorrow is no longer on earth but in front of our Creator in heaven.  We cannot wait on tomorrow to live and waste the precious gift that God gave us.  We cannot keep wasting our life waiting, because we do not know that tomorrow will ever come.  James tells us that, he tells us that our life is merely a vapor that could be gone tomorrow (James 4: 13-15).  We need to let let tomorrow take care of itself and only be concerned about how to make the most of life now (Matthew 6:34).  Once we see how precious life really is and how fragile it can be waiting for tomorrow could be the very thing that kills us, if we want to live we need to live now, taking risks, loving, caring, walking together.

     I think because life is so fragile that there is no time for the glass to be half empty.  There is a certain someone in my life right now who has showed me this more than anyone.  We have only been together for about 2 months but she has shown me that life always has it’s positives.  She always shows me the brighter picture and the silver lining because God has shown her how precious life is.  Think, about what a gift life is, and how much we have to be thankful for.  Everyday we live we are given life, a gift of endless possibilities, possibilities to take risk, possibilities to love, possibilities to give someone life, possibilities to be free and to make choices, possibilities to be happy and see the glass half full.  But how often do we take for granted the very breath we have and the life we live, and all we see are the possibilities to be hurt, the possibilities of being killed, the possibilities of being sad, the possibilities of hating, and the possibility of being a slave, and we miss the most precious gift that God gave us and we waste our life being a slave to negativity when we probably thought we were protecting our freedom.  Life is a gift.  The question is, how are you going to use it?  Are you going to wake up every day taking it for granted just walking along and when life gets hard looking at the glass half empty?   Or are you going to see life as the most precious gift God gave us, allowing that to motivate you, thanking him for each breath, so when life gets hard you can say at least I am alive and today the glass is half full?  Telling yourself today I will quit that addiction.  Today I will start working.  Today I will be free. Today I will do the wash.  Today I will show them how much I care by waking up and making them breakfast.  Today I will tell them I love them.  Today I will pop the question. Today I will truly live.  Today I will choose to love.  I will live today because today I have the gift of life and let tomorrow worry about itself because today there are people to love and life to be thankful for.  Life is fragile!  It can be challenged by a skate and taken on the way to class or home from work. Do not waste it!  Be thankful and LIVE!!!!

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Wells…

    So as of lately I have been reading from the journals of Jim Elliot…And a particular journal entry from him really stuck out for me.  Jim Elliot was writing on Genesis 26.  In this particular story Isaac is told to stay at the wells that were dug by his father, even though there seemed to be a more promising outcome if he would go to Egypt by the Nile.  The wells kept being filled in and dried up, and then when he would find certain ones the surrounding people would try and start conflicts with him and his people.  So logically, it makes sense for him to go to Egypt, because then he would have full and ready access to the Nile River and an endless supply of water.  At least that is what it promises.
    However, God had a different plan in mind he tells Isaac to stay by the wells and to trust and obey him.  Even though the odds were not in his favor and it seemed somewhat ludicrous to stay where he was at, he stayed.  How many times do we approach this same problem in our lives?  We see an alternative to what we are currently doing that seems so promising, but God instead tells us to stay and intends to provide and give us even greater rewards than we would achieve by leaving, but the key is we have to have faith that God will provide for us.  So many times we have the grass will be greener on the other side outlook when the truth of the matter is the other side cannot uphold to its promise.  Instead of being greener we find out that really we have lost everything we sought for because we did not obey God and stay close to the wells.
    What brought this up was a conversation that I had with my grandmother before I read this particular entry in Jim Elliot’s journal.  I was talking to my grandma about some of the financial problems that I was having and I told her how I saw why pastors give into temptation and start to live and preach for the money, like the salvation that Christ offers can be given away at a price that makes them rich, meanwhile it destroys the church and their very being.  And she told me, do not sell in, keep fighting no matter how hard it seems, and the look of concern towards me just plastered her face.  She was God’s voice in my life at that moment telling me do not go to the Nile, stay here by the well, so God can give you the riches of His Kingdom.
    So many times God is telling us that but we foolishly believe the promise of the Nile.  Sin promises us so many things that it cannot come through with.  It promises us fulfillment, wholeness, love, when actually those are the very things it takes away.  Sin knows what we desperately desire and want and tries to make us think that it can give those to us because it knows that if we knew the truth about sin there would be no temptation at all.  However, the very things we seek in sin can never be found in sin.  When we sin all that happens is we become empty, broken, and incomplete, and the things we are searching for only go farther away from us.  If we ever hope to be whole the only way it is possible is to cling to the Giver of Life the One who makes us whole and stay by the well, knowing that Nile will not give us what we are truly desiring, but what we desire comes from the wells that God has given us.  Are you clinging to the well or are you journeying towards the Nile and a life of emptiness and restlessness?  Only one life is worth living and will reward you!

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Thailand Trip Support Raising Update

Hey Everybody,

The beginning of raising funds for my trip is underway, and it is exciting but at the same time scary and cumbersome. Right now, the amount that needs to be raised seems like a mountain, close to $5,000, and I need to have $1,600 raised by February 15th in order to book my ticket to Thailand with the rest of the team. As the days go by this amount looks and seems like a lot, but deep down in my heart I know that God will provide, and that is the exciting part, having the faith and knowing that God will be there helping you along, providing what you need, when you need it. It is at times like these where I am completely helpless and vulnerable that I see God’s provision in such a way that I could never see anywhere else, which makes raising support for these trips such a blessing because it tests me, and stretches me, and make me just have faith. So, that is where I am at in the middle of raising support having faith that God will reward my earnest efforts seek and serve him (Hebrews 11:6).

So for all those who were wondering there is the update, and if anyone can help support me right now with the plane ticket that would be such a God-send, especially because I need to turn in 250 dollars by Thursday and have no idea where that money is going to come from, but with a little work and a lot of faith I am sure God will come through. Thank you all and God Bless!!! And as always please keep me, my family, and the team in your prayers as we prepare for this exciting journey!!!!

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Tags: Thailand

Support

Dear Family and Friends,

As must of you know God seems to give me exciting journeys to go on every summer, and this summer is no exception. The past two summers God has led me to San Diego with Campus Crusade and this past summer I worked with A Christian Ministry in the National Park working in Grant Village at Yellowstone National Park. This upcoming summer God has given me the unique opportunity to be a part of the Xtreme Team, which will be going to Thailand. If you have any questions hopefully I will answer them in this letter, however if I do not answer them please feel free to call me (330-754-7878) or send me an e-mail at matt@curtisryanmiller.com.

This past year at Malone has been very exciting. I enjoy all of my classes and I recently added on a minor in Missions and Cross-Cultural Studies, which I am really pumped to start taking classes for.  I moved on to campus as well and have probably the sweetest roommate you could ask for. God has really blessed me with all of the guys I have met in the dorms, so school has been going really well.  At the beginning of the year, I started interning at my church working with the Young Adults, so I am really excited to see where God leads me in that.  I still work at Bravo as a server and I have a prayer house that is in the beginning steps that I am trying to get up and running, but that will probably wait until I get back home from Thailand this summer. 

Enough about me, let’s talk a little bit about the trip that I am going on this summer.  I am going with a team called the Xtreme Team, which is through American Baptist Churches, which is the national church of First Baptist Church of Massillon, my home church.  They actually have a very cool website that you can all go too to get more information and even check up on us with when the team is in Thailand, http://www.xtremeteamonline.org.

To be honest, there are not too many things that I know that you do not.  All I know is that we will be going to Thailand.  We leave on June 12 for a week-long orientation in St. Paul Minnesota, where I will meet the rest of the team, for the first time.  At the orientation we will learn about each other and a little about the people and culture of Thailand.  After our orientation in St. Paul we will leave for Thailand together, a team of people who have known each other for only a week.  Upon arriving in Thailand the team will be informed of their itinerary and tasks on a day-by-day basis through clues that are called X-files.  During the trip we will experience the extremes of Thai culture and we will meet and love as many people as we can along the way doing our best to share the love of Christ with them.  The goal is to get us submersed into a culture to help educate us about missionary work and to encounter Christ in an entirely new way that comes from being completely vulnerable, requiring us to completely rely on him.  After our time in Thailand we will return home to St. Paul, Minnesota for debriefing, and then as a team will be going the World Mission Conference in Medford, Oregon to take part in the conference, and it would be exciting to see you at the conference seeing as how I will just have arrived back in the states a few days before.  Besides for this I am not sure all of what we will be doing there or even who the team consists of.

The entire trip will last from June 12th to July 21st.   The cost of the trip is $2,600 plus airfare and immunizations.  The estimated cost of the airfare for domestic and international travel is $2,200 dollars and immunizations will be another $400 dollars.  So, the trip in its entirety will be around $5,200, which I know is a lot of money, but the experience that I will have will be priceless.  God will be able to touch me through this experience like he never has before because I will be completely vulnerable requiring me to rely on him and extend my faith in ways I never have had to before, and hopefully God will use me to touch to lives of the people I come into contact with in Thailand for his kingdom as well.  Not to mention this will help me see if mission work is really where God is calling me.  This trip will indeed be a life changing experience for me.

You can help me in so many ways.  First, through prayer, praying for me and the team needs to begin immediately.  I honestly believe for this trip to be successful it needs to be soaked in prayer by as many people as possible.  Through our prayers we will be able to show God our dedication to his kingdom and his work, and he will be absolutely faithful to our prayers for this trip.  So, prayer is the biggest thing you can do, praying for me and the team concerning financial matters, our spiritual, mental, and physical health as we prepare and go on the trip, and last but not least for you all, prayer for our friends and families is absolutely essential as well.

You can also help me financially.  However, if you decided to support me in this way please make this decision through prayer and the guidance of God.  Also, any amount helps!  Whatever God leads you to donate to the cause is perfect and more than enough.  If you decide to support me on this trip financially the best way to do it is make a check out to International Ministries with “Xtreme Team-Matt Woods” in the memo, and then mail that to:

    First Baptist Church of Massillon
    20 6th Street SE
    Massillon, OH 44646

Other ways to support me are through encouraging e-mails, donating frequent flyer miles, helping me learn about Thailand, etc.  You are as much a part of this trip now as I am, your prayers and efforts to help me on this trip are just as essential as me going.  Thank you so much for your time and support for my trip to Thailand with the Xtreme Team!

Your Brother in Christ,

Matt Woods

Just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel, so we speak not to please man, but to God who tests our hearts…so being affectionately desirous of you we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.
                                                                2 Thessalonians 2: 4,8

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Christ as Treasure

As of late I have been reading When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy by John Piper.  So far, the books primary point is try to show how important joy is in our spiritual lives, and because of its absolute necessity in our daily walks with Christ why me must fight for joy.  Although that does not mean that we can obtain joy on our own, even though we must fight for it we must also realize that joy is a gift given by God and would never be obtained if it was not for God’s generosity and love for his people.

Anyways as I was reading through this book I came across a very interesting idea or point.  John Piper said that we must trust that Christ is indeed our treasure.  After readings this particular line in the book my mind began to wonder.  Instantly I began to think of all the things that I treasure, my family, my friends, church and my faith.  As I was thinking about this I realized how easy it is for us to treasure things above Christ.  Across America we have so many people who will not accept the Lord because they realize it will cause change which puts their current treasures in jeopardy.  Some people spend their entire life struggling because they treasure things like money and possessions so much that they cannot imagine truly accepting Christ and letting him guide their life because they are afraid that they might lose their treasure.  They do not even think that Christ might become a treasure far more valuable and life giving than the things they are so desperately seeking.

As I thought about the above scenario I realized that is why it is so important that we trust Christ to truly be our treasure.  I mean we trust Christ to be our Savior and even our Lord, but how many trust that Christ is our treasure, the jewel worth seeking for?  The honest reality in my life is that I do not value him like that.  I wish I did but when I objectively look at my life there are so many things that I do which show otherwise. And when I and when we do not view Christ as our treasure horrible things happen.  Christ becomes scary because it means we have to risk whatever is our treasure for him, which will most likely not happen because why would we give up our treasure in return for someone/something that is not completely the treasure of our life?  Therefore, because Christ is scary our lives become very wishy washy because now our treasure, our reason for life is something that we can lose in an instant and we cannot be secure and take faith in that, and our life becomes a roller coaster, going up and down at the mercy of our surroundings and situations.

But if we can honestly trust and make Christ our treasure great things can happen.  First, if Christ is our treasure we will receive stability in our lives, which can empower us to do so much.  We will receive stability because Christ is the one person we can all count on who will never leave our side, which means we will always be able to go to our Treasure, to find him and take refuge in our treasure.  This allows us to calm down because we no longer have to worry about keeping and protecting our treasure, because our treasure has promised us that he will never leave us and he will alway be with us (Matthew 28:20).  What other treasure can give you that promise and no matter what actually come through?  None!  Money cannot make you that promise.  Whatever material possession you have cannot make you that promise.  Your families and friends cannot even make you that promise.  But Christ can!  Christ can give you stability and the comfort of knowing that you will never be able to lose your treasure

This stability that we can receive from treasuring Christ, enables us to do great things.  With money and other treasures that are not Christ there is always the risk of losing them.  This in turns makes one cautious and keeps them from truly living with freedom because they are always worried about their treasure, and this is why it is so hard for non-believers to come to Christ because in order to gain Christ they have to risk it all, and that scares everyone to death.  But when Christ truly becomes your treasure you are not afraid to risk because you know at the end of the day the treasure of your life will still be there.  The treasure that has given you purpose and reason to live will still be with you.  With this freedom that you receive from treasuring Christ you can do so many things.  It frees you to go across the world to serve.  It frees you to sell all of your possessions to relocate somewhere else where God can better use you.  It frees to risk your reputation in order to help a brother or sister that desperately needs your help.  It allows you to put everything on the line knowing at the end of the day you are protected and will always possess your true treasure.  If Jesus is your treasure he gives you the freedom to risk enabling you to truly live, living with purpose and empowerment.

This trust, trusting that Christ is your most precious treasure is a gift from God that will completely transform your life.  Through out the earlier portion of my life I thought that the problem of sin was because I desired too much and that not sinning was merely me controlling my selfish desires, and I hear this idea being thrown out in numerous conversations iat school and church and even amongst my peers.  I thought this until I read C.S. Lewis, and according to C.S. Lewis our problem is not that we desire too much but not enough.  He says we are like little children playing in the mud making mud pies instead of going to the beach and making grand sand castles and playing in the waves, simply because we do not know to desires of the beach.  In other words, our visions and desires are limited to what we can comprehend and see at the time, which is not the most desirable outcome.   Therefore, we sin not because we desire too much but because we desire too little, we desire the momentary fix and the instant gratification.  However, this entire mindset changes if we can trust that God and Christ is our most precious treasure.  If we can trust that Christ truly is the most desirable thing and that he trumps all else. If we can hold on and never let go of this idea it can totally transform and purify our lives because we will desire Christ above all else, which enables Christ to give us desires beyond our wildest  dreams, it allows Christ to take us to the beach, so we can stop playing in the mud. 

Unfortunately, all too often our vision is blinded and for some reason or another we do not see Christ and we stop trusting that he is the most precious treasure in our life, and when that happens we sin.  We allow Satan to step in the way and give us a counterfeit that leaves us battered and bruised.  This is why trusting the Lord to be our treasure is a fight that must be fought, as Piper says in the book, because Satan will do his very best to sell us the mud instead of the ocean and we must fight to see Christ, so he can give us the gift of the beach.  We must trust that Christ is our treasure and seek him out.  Do you trust that Christ is your savior?  Do you trust that Christ will provide for your life?  Do you trust him as Lord?  Do you trust him to be your treasure?  A treasure that is infinitely more precious than anything else that you can obtain in life.  A treasure that gives your freedom and joy.  A treasure that makes you live with purpose.  A treasure that allows you to risk.  A treasure that seems too good to be true.  A treasure that will totally transform your life into the person you were created to be.  Is Christ your treasure?  (Matthew 13: 44-46).

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Lead them home!

Pride caused Satan to think that he could be God and caused him and his demons to fall.  Pride caused Adam and Eve and to believe in the lies of Satan and eat the fruit.  Pride caused Cain to kill to Abel.  Pride caused the Israelites to stray and rebel from God countless times through out the Old Testament.  Pride caused the Pharisees to envy Christ which led them to put Christ on the cross.  Pride has caused war, hatred, and violence.  Pride has caused the Church to lose it vision for the lost and broken.

However, there is good news in all of this.  All of this was overcome and can be overcame through one person’s act of humility.  It was the pride of the pharisees that put Christ on the cross, but it was the humility of Christ, the Divine Son, to go to the cross and endure all of that that pain and suffering that won that day.  Christ’s humble act on the cross destroyed all of the effects that pride has had on this earth.  His humble act on the cross allows us to see humility at its finest and have hope that we may be able to erase pride from our lives like our Lord and Savior.  This not only can be done through Christ but for the sake of the church and our brothers and sisters it must be done.

There are so many people who are lost and broken on our streets and in our lives, and we simply look over them.  I am just as guilty as the next person, but that does not make it right.  We try to make execuses to justify our apathy and non-action.  We say we were running late.  We just did not have the time.  They looked dangerous and scary, so I just kept walking.  Regardless of the execuse we walk away, and we leave the person battered and broken, and chances are we break them even more by not stopping.  We allow our pride to tell us that our time, our well being, our relationships, our own status is more important than the life of that other person who despereately needs a hand so that they can get up and walk and follow.

How would Jesus have responded?  I am sure Jesus was a very busy man being a carpenter and a rabbi trying to lead his disciples in the right direction.  How would he handle these broken people that were on the streets and corners?  How did he handle this?  Did he simply walk past and let them hurt?  Did he pick and choose whom to help?  I am not sure if he approached everyone that he came into contact with, but he talked to countless people and gave them worth even though it interrupted his plans.  Think of the story of the woman who touched his garment.  He was on his way to heal somebody else, and as he was walking this woman toaches his garment and is healed.  Now he could have just kept walking, but he knew that the woman needed more.  She needed more than pure blood and physical healing.  Her enitre life she had been outcasted, her humanity laid in shambles.  Christ knew this and sought her out of the crowd and affirms her and gives her, her humanity back.  He lets this woman “interrupt” his plans and his timing to help her because he had a humble heart the yearned to seek and help those who were broken, downtrodden, and needed a friend and a Savior.  He lived his life trying to love and lead people the Father, and every day he murdered his pride and let his humble heart and heart for the poor and down trodden guide his life.

When was the last time we humbled ourselves and honestly yearned to help someone who was downtrodden, lost, broken, and in need of a savior.  I do not mean we wanted to, but we yearned, we had that intense passion that could not be pushed to the side, but a yearning that ruled our lives?  When was the last time we murdered our pride so that we could serve those who truly needed us and God?  Honestly, the answers to all these questions are irrelevant because they are in the past and we cannot go back and change them.  The only thing that matters is how we respond to the answers that we give.  Are we going to reach our hands out to those who need us and be guides for them to follow so they can experience Christ and God in their life?  Are we going to be the ones who affirm those who are broken just to love them and give them their humanity back?  Are we going to be the one who is ok with being 10 minutes late if it means we can help make someone else day just a little better?  Are we going to be the ones who wake up each day to kill our pride so that Christ may live in us?  Are we going to be the ones who do all of this in silence so that only God is glorified?  Are we going to respond to the tears of the saints and lead them home?  Are we going to be the church Christ intended?

Christmas is 6 days away and on this day we are suppose celebrate the birth of Christ, the  coming of the Lord on Earth.  This celebration entails so much because it means that God came to us, so that we could experience him.  I can think of no better way than to celebrate the coming of Christ and the life of Christ than by serving those whom he served by serving each other.  This Christmas let us all try to celebrate Christ by humbling our hearts, so that we can live out his example.  Instead of getting all tied up in the hustle and bustle of holiday season let us celebrate Christmas and take time to help those around us who need to see Christ in their life.  Let this Christmas truly be about Christ so that it can permeate to every day of the year.  Let us put on clothes of humility so that Christ may rein.

It was humility that made Abel God’s chosen.  It was the humility of David’s heart that allowed him to be molded by God.  It was humility that caused John the Baptist to pave the way for Christ.  It was humility that led Christ to serve others and go to the cross.  It was humility that led Paul in his missionary journey’s.  It is through humility that the church serves as Christ served.  It is through humility that we will be led home and God’s kingdom will come to earth.

P.S.-  I would encourage you after reading this to listen to Tears of the Saints by Leeland and really focus on the words God will blow your will mind!!

My Key to Christmas

This past evening I was at Wide Eyed Life and God really hit me hard. For the past month at WEL we have been going through a series called Advent Conspiracy. Basically, Advent Conspiracy is a program that a bunch of churches have joined. These churches all have one thing in common, they know Christmas is suppose to celebrate Christ, and that is exactly everything it is not doing. Right now Christmas is about consumerism getting what I want, so that I can be happy. It has become very materialistic and self-centered rather than a time to build relationship and celebrate the birth of our Lord. Instead of celebrating Christ and his giving and self-sacrifice we are celebrating a fictional character who brings us presents, and sometimes we do not even want presents because that means we will have to give that person something in return. Christmas at this point might as well go back and become the Winter Solstice celebration that Christmas was suppose to take place of almost 1700 years ago because Christmas has become that hedonistic. Anyway, Advent Conspiracy has noticed this and now a group of people are trying to take Christmas back to Christ and what it is suppose to be. These churches are attempting to push for relational giving (making gifts, spending time, cooking dinners, offering service, etc.) instead of simply buying gifts so that we can cut back on the amount of money we spend on ourselves, and with that money that is saved it is encouraged that it be spent to help enrich someones life who truly needs it. Advent Conspiracy pushes for that money to go towards clean water projects, since over 1 billion people suffer from illnesses and difficulties because they are unable to access clean water, and if America would just caught back 1 percent of their Christmas spending this year it would save 4.5 billion dollars which would be enough to solve one of the biggest problems in the world today. Anyway we have been talking about this and discussing ways to do it and what it means to really celebrate Christ.

This past Sunday, we were talking about celebrating Christ and his birth and what it means. Scott Rosen, the speaker, even posed the question what well are you drinking from the one that Christ is and has provided or a well that has been built by the world to distract you from God. Well as these similar but different question were going through my head. I realized that as I am pushing for a Christmas where we celebrate Christ and who he is, that I am missing one of the key points to the celebration. You see in order to celebrate someone you have to truly know them and their life. Now I know Christ to an extent and what I know I want to celebrate, but there is so much more that I should know, that I want to know, that I need to know to truly and celebrate Christ and who he is. So many times we push for this Christmas story without even really knowing Christ, which makes it rather difficult to celebrate him.

As I realized this lacking that I had in my heart and mind and soul it took a toll on me. I asked myself, “Why do I not know Christ any better then what I do?” The answer led me straight into the message. I do not know Christ in the way that I want so that I can celebrate his life like he deserves because I am drinking from too many other wells. Instead of asking Christ for the living water I am trying to find worth and satisfaction in things that will not even come close to filling me like I desire. I use to describe this like C.S. Lewis, that it is no that I desire too much but too little. I am like a little boy playing with mud pies when I could be at the beach playing in the ocean only because I do not know the ocean exists and therefore do not desire it. I use to think the problem was I did not desire God because I did not know how great God is, however I no longer think my problem is ignorance in the greatness of God, admitting that I still have a lot to learn about how great he is. The problem I face is knowing how great he is but yet I still turn my back on him. I am so fallen in nature that for some unbeknownst reason I choose the other way which at the end of the day leaves me battered and bruised and empty. As I am choosing these pathes of destruction the entire time I realize that what I am doing is not going to satisfy me. It is the most perplexing thing in my life because it is like I am choosing pain instead of joy and peace.

As I began to come to this conclusion I realized I had let life slip in between me and my Divine Guide. I had let life and the work I was attempting to do for Him get in the way of our intimate relationship. I stopped talking to him and reading about him and ultimately listening to him. I was trying to forge my own way to God. In an essence, I was trying to accomplish a transformation on my own accord that only can be granted to me through God himself. I wanted all of this crap that is holding me down out of my life. All of the things that are keeping me from God out of my life. I wanted it so bad that I lost focus of how to truly get it and I tried to do it myself. I tried to train myself and force my self to control me, and it only ended it ruin. I was drinking from the well of self-accomplishment in every aspect of my life. Last night and this morning I realized that if this is what I truly want. If I truly want this transformation, it comes through and by Christ and Christ alone. Only Christ can transfrom my heart and mind to will for his presence more than worldly desires and objects. Only Christ can transfrom me so that I can love a certain someone with a pure heart, mind, and soul. Only Christ can transform me into a humble servant of the church. Only Christ can transform me so that I can truly celebrate Christmas. The transformation I seek and the Christmas I desire comes from knowing Christ more and more each and every day.

The next question is what really hit home. How do I do that? How do I grow closer to Christ? What journey do I have to go on? The answer, I had to do the small things that I had been overlooking. My mind was so wrapped up in the big things in my life that I thought I needed to accomplish for God. I was wrapped up in teaching classes at church and starting a community of young adults where we can live and journey together. I was trying to get this prayer house up and running in Canton. These large projects were keeping me from the small things, which coincidentally are the most important. Before any of those large things can happen. I need to be devoted to the scripture, reading them and searching for Christ in them in a way that I have never done before. It does not have to be an hour long session every day, but I need to be in them so that they may live in me. I need to pray and talk and listen to God, more. I mean I did occassionally but they were set times usually I need to start praying more and more even if it is only a 30 second prayer here and there, so that God can permeate every aspect of my life. As I do these two seemingly small things, I will find Christ more and more and he will become more and more of my life. As a result of him coming and setting shop in my life I will come to know him in such a way that there is nothing else that I can do but celebrate him not just at Christmas but every day, and when this happens the large things will not be so large anymore and they will fall into place, and the transformation to desire only what is holy, pure, and just will be that much more complete. The amazing thing is it is already starting because God is that amazing and gracious

I had to realize that I was drinking from the wrong well, a well that I thought was Christ’ well before any of this came to be in my life. The journey of reformation has just started I came to this conclusion less than 24 hours ago, and I am looking for people to walk with and journey with, so that I can share my struggles and joys because I do not want to do this alone. So, I am going to pose the same question that was posed to me, “What well are you drinking from?” I think the answer you find will be life changing, and might be the key you need to really and truly celebrate the true Christmas, becaue it was the key for me.