Spandex, Track Meets, and Weird Weather

My life, here in the Ozark Mountains, has been extremely crazy. This past Sunday I had the oppurtunity to go and preach at New Hope in Omaha, Arkansas. This was a lot of fun. You should have seen their faces when I started talking about spandex. They were like, "Who is this weird freak in our pulpit??!!" And I can understand. They didn't know me and my weird personality. It ended up being a fantastic morning, where the Spirit really moved. I got to talk to them a lot about their faith and the evidences of it in someone's life.



Yesterday I drove half way around the world to Gravette, AR to go to the JUNIOR HIGH track meet. Never having been to one before, besides the one in Eureka I stayed a total of 10 minutes, I really enjoyed it. I never could have imagined the races being so exciting. Berryville guys were crushing when me and the family left, but the girls were behind just little. Just a few shout outs to some of my students: Destiny, dude you amaze me at how hard you run and I appreciate the laugh from the triple jump. Ellis, I missed the shotput but watching you do the long jump made me want to go and crush the opposition. Whitely, You hit like three hurdles but you looked good doing it. Micaela, You looked like you had been running hurdles forever. Grant, I missed the high jump, sorry. Emory, You are a machine.



The weather here is really aggravating. It can be so nice for two or three days, and then it is cold again. The wind NEVER stops blowing.

Saturday's Seven

• I got up about 5:30 to go play some basketball in Eureka Springs this morning. I sucked it up, although I was proud Levi got out of the bed and went with me.
• I have finished alot on my exegesis, but I still have a lot more to go. We are now getting into the actual explanation of each passage part. This will be tough.
• We went to Fayetteville yesterday and got JP's new big boy bed. We put it in his room and asked if he liked it. He responded with a drop dead serious..."Noooooo".
• We still have about 6 spots left for M-Fuge this summer...Wanna go??
• I'm pretty upset I'll miss my basketball game tomorrow, but I'm excited about preaching in Omaha.
• I'll be preaching the sermon, "Spandex and Your Faith" tomorrow morning. It's a challenging, hard hitting message. Pray for the service.
• I told my wife I wanted to wear a spandex workout shirt to preach in, you know for visual effects. She responded with a drop dead serious..."Nooooo".

A Generation Enslaved

I'm more concerned today than I believe I have ever been about the views of Christianity by students. The more I talk and spend time with these teenagers, the more my heart breaks. The reason today's students are struggling so much with salvation is because they do not understand the work of Jesus on the cross. Everyone I talk to expresses his/her desire to stop sinning. Which is great news but we can't stop sinning. It's our nature. It's ingrained into the deepest part of our being. It takes Christ overcoming us, changing our desires, and transforming our hearts. Today's person tries to work for salvation or to not do things to be saved when that is not what Christ has asked us to do. Salvation is more than just not doing things against God's will...it's Him coming into our lives and becoming our Master, our Savior, our Lord. It's His desires becoming our desires. I can't explain how it happens. It's more than a feeling. It's more than a one night experience. It's God radically transforming you. How as a youth pastor can I communicate this message. We, sinners, are saved by grace, unearned favor from our God, through faith, belief in Jesus Christ. I do nothing to earn it. I deserve hell. I deserve God's wrath. I deserve eternal separation, but through Christ I receive this ridiculous free gift of an eternity with Christ because He loved me enough to pay for my sins with His blood. I want to see students, adults, senior citizens become so freaking saturated with the love of Christ that the thought of surface Christianity makes us sick. We can't do anything, but Christ can. Allow Him to change you. Meditate on the price Christ paid for you. He died. Philippians 2:1-11 tells us that not only did He die, but He left His Father in Heaven and all the glory to become a lowly man. To humbly die the worst death any person could ever know just for ME!! Just for YOU!! Don't you see He is worth it. He pulled me out of the pit. I can do nothing to repay Him for what He did. I can only give Him my life and be obedient to his every call. Examine yourself today...Are you working to try and earn His favor? You can't. It's all about Him and what He did.

DM Demolition

I got a long day ahead of me. I'm dedicating all day to work on my exegesis, but I love the blog world so much I thought I would be faithful to give you guys an update on last night.

• 16 Students again last night. We are really developing that core to our ministry and I'm liking it.
• Rush of Fools made and appearance last night as well as Todd Agnew. Rush of Fools challenged are students to pray for God to undo exactly what they had become and Todd Agnew made the announcement that he wants to be just like Jesus.
• We did the third name last night, "Everlasting Father". Our finite minds will never understand the concept of everlasting, eternity, forever...but that is exactly what our God is. We need to be sick as believers of living this life for ourselves because this life is so incredibly short. Instead we need to be storing for ourselves treasures in heaven, we need to be sharing our faith and laying our life down for the glory of Jesus Christ. The fact that God, the Author of Creation, the One who spoke it all into existence wants me to call Him Father is incomprehensible.
• Big Surprise coming up for our Desiring More service in a few weeks...God has got a big Word for our students.

Exegesis

I started writing my first exegesis yesterday. It's on Philippians 2:1-11:

1 Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
The Humbled and Exalted Christ 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Webster's defines an exegesis by saying it is an explanation or critical interpretation of a text. Basically, what I'm doing is finding the author's original meaning when he wrote this text. I love this stuff, but it is so much stinking work. And since this is my first one I'm really wondering if I'm doing it right. The outline was surprisingly the hardest thing I had to do so far. I'm having to read a lot, and it amazes me how gifted some people are when it comes to understanding a biblical text. Ok. So this may be the most boring post in the history of my blogging career. I apologize.

Taste the Rainbow

I love candy. Maybe it it's the sugar...I don't know, but here lately I have been on a candy kick. Today I would like to give you guys my top five favorite fruity candy (does that sound gay?).

5. Starbursts- I love these things. They would have been higher but I absolutely hate having to unwrap each individual one.

4. Sour Patch Kids- I have never been really big on sour stuff, but these little guys are addictive.

3. Gummie Bears- These guys are classics. Who doesn't like gummie bears??

2. Jelly Belly- In 1976 the first eight flavors of Jelly Belly were born. Now they boast 50 natural flavors. That's right...I know my Jelly Belly.

1. Skittles- I know everyone is going to want to debate this, but seriously...There is nothing better than a good pack of skittles.

I would love to hear your favorites...Umm...Taste the rainbow

Saturday's Seven

• I love playoff basketball, Even if it is the NBA. Lebron James is a stinking beast. Don't listen to what Phillip says.
• My wife is enjoying the backyard more than I am, and I love it.
• I ready to play some basketball Sunday...
• Our new house is amazing. Of all the places I've lived, this is the all-time favorite.
• Will summer ever be here? I mean honestly, am I the only one incredibly tired of cold windy days.
• Me and JP have been reading through the bible together everynight. We read this one.
• I get to preach at New Hope Baptist in a couple of Sundays. The title of the message...Spandex and Your Faith. It's going to be interesting.