What Do You Think?

Here is a new song from Derek Webb. What do you think about it?



(I first saw this on Iggy's site)

MommyDani78

I love my wife. I LOVE watching Jesus in her, live through her and radically change her life. The way He expresses Himself through her challenges, encourages, and spurs me on in my faith as well.

We've always connected spiritually. However, since Christmas, there has been a deeper connection in our spirits that we hadn't experience before. It's been really sweet. Not only has this connection between us been incredible to experience, but it has also greatly increased our feelings towards each other.

I can honestly say that I feel more in love with her and have stronger feelings for her than I've ever had...even when we were first dating. It is an incredible blessing to my soul to share life with her and experience our life in Jesus together.

She has a blog also...it's MUCH better than mine (and I'm not just saying that because she's my wife). :)

Her latest post in very moving and honest. If you have time, please read it...it will be worth it! You can find it here or just go to her blog here.

Grace Giving vs. "Biblical Giving"

I'm half-way listening to some dude online talk to a group of students about the "Giving Revolution." He's discussing how he feels the Bible "compels us to give" and how it's different from those who say, "I give what the Lord leads me to give."

Wow.

The funny thing to me is that as I'm listening to him dissect what his views on giving are, it sounds like those who say, "I give what the Lord leads me to give" have a more biblical stance...because that statement would imply that their focus is on the Lord.

He spends a significant amount of time talking about how we just make up in our mind what we want to give and give it cheerfully.

Hhhmmm...

I think it sounds rather biblical to "fix our eyes on Jesus"...even in the giving department.

Ouch...he just said that the "act of giving increases our personal godliness."

Ok, I'm not going to write anymore about this. :)

Committing Sin vs. Believing Lies

A comment from my previous post is the basis for this post. So, what's the difference between committing a sin and believing a lie?

Believing lies are what lead us to committing sin. If we are in Christ (which means He is also in us) then the most natural thing for us is to do the things He does (because it's actually Him doing them through us). He is our life. He is our Source for life. He is our Source for living this life. That's the true reality for those who believe in Him.

However, most of us life as if there were a different truth. We live as if this life is up to us, that we have to live it on our own (or maybe with God's help). When we live thinking God expects us to live a certain way, then we are always under the pressure to choose correctly, live righteously, and be a good witness to those around us.

However, our righteousness only comes from God...who has made us in Christ the righteousness of God (1 Corintians something....it's late so I'm not looking it up right now). :)

Anyway, as we believe lies about who we are (i.e. that we're not righteous, that we're still sinners instead of saints who sometimes sin, that God isn't pleased with us, that we don't measure up, that we're not good enough, that we need to earn His favor, etc.) then we will act according to those lies.

For example, in the previous post, Haggard said that he was a loser. Believing that, he will act according to those thoughts. The truth, in Christ no one is a loser. No matter what we've done, we are secure in Christ and more than conquerors. Whether we experience that in our physical lives and in our souls is a diffferent issue.

Committing sin is acting on the lies we believe. If we are believing truth, we will live out truth, righteousness, and holiness. We will live this out because we will be surrendered to Christ, allowing Him to be our life (practically, in every moment, not just in our spirit).

The act of committing a sin is the by-product of a lie believed. May our lives be transformed by the renewing of our minds to His Truth. The Truth of who He is, who He is in us, and the new creation He makes all those who believe in Him.

Lies, Lies, and More Lies

Ted Haggard. Just writing that name brings a whole bunch of thoughts to my mind (as it probably does you as well if you've been in the evangelical world in the past 5 years).

He was the pastor of a huge church in Colorado and president of the National Association of Evangelicals. That is, until he was accused of paying for sex from a male prostitute and using meth. He admitted to "sexual immorality" and said that he "really did sin."

What made all of this even more "news worthy" than just one of the several other ministers who have been busted for some devious act is that the NAE, and Ted Haggard especially, had been so outspoken and condemning of homosexuals and fought for "family values." The public image wasn't one of grace but judgment. So, it was no big surprise that when he was caught doing something he had so publicly preached against, he was judged publicly and humiliated.

Honestly, this whole story breaks my heart...on many levels. First, what he did was sin. He struggled with sinful actions. He continues to have that temptation. There is an article on MSN today about him and a new documentary coming up in January. You can read the article here.

I don't think there is any question in most people's minds that he was engaging (at some level) in highly risky, inappropriate, sinful behavior. I get that and agree with that.

However, I view what he did both privately (inappropriate/sinful/etc.) and publicly (preaching against homosexuality, family values advocate, public judgment of others, etc.) as symptoms of the problem. The root of the problem here is that he was believing/is believing lies.

In this current article, he says, "The reason I kept my personal struggle a secret is because I feared that my friends would reject me, abandon me and kick me out, and the church would exile and excommunicate me. And that happened and more."

His fear that he was unacceptable affected all of his actions. To cover up his insecurities, he was more bold in speaking against others who lived differently/unbiblically (not sure if that's a word but I'll use it anyway). :)

I don't know where Haggard stands with Jesus. I don't know if he's been redeemed and made a "new creation." However, I do know that regardless of any of our struggles, in Christ we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). So, if he's a believer, he's a new creation and completely accepted by Christ. All of his needs are met in Him. He may always be tempted by certain sinful behavior, but he isn't stuck in choosing them. He's been set free (Galatians 5:1).

However, believing that he's unacceptable because he struggles with sin that looks and sounds gross, he acting to cover it up...most likely believing that something was wrong with him. That's what we all do. One of the most profound truths I learned through "Be Transformed" was something like, lie believed as truth will manifest itself as truth. In other words, when we believe a lie, we begin to live as if the lie is true. Others will respond to our actions in ways that will reinforce those lies (because they see the action, not the initial lie that lead to that action). When others respond to the lie, we receive it and believe that it must be who we are.

So, we think we're stupid. We put on a front and act stupid. Others call us stupid and treat us stupid. This reinforces the lie. Or, we think we're an incredible gift to the human race. We walk around confident in our own abilities and successes, thinking we've done it all by our charisma. Others are drawn to us and encourage our egos. We receive these responses as reinforcement to the lying belief that we're awesome.

I'm not saying that Haggard didn't do anything wrong, but it's just a clear example of how believing lies can affect/destroy our lives. No matter what he's done, if he's a believer in Christ, he is still holy, blameless, righteous, perfect, and complete in Him. However, he's not experiencing freedom and life because he isn't believing that he is free and alive in Christ. Christ truly is the Source of life, but if we're living as if this life is up to us, we're not experiencing Him as the Source for our life.

My thoughts are a bit scattered over this story about Haggard, so I'll end with this. The saddest and most revealing part of this story is the last sentence of the article. It ends with a quote of Haggard. He says about himself, "At this stage in my life, I am a loser."

He has completely identified himself by his mistakes/sin/actions. In Christ, we are no longer known by our actions but instead by our union with Him. Until we realize who we are in Him and who He is in us, we will manifest self-effort in our lives...because we're believing lies about who we really are and who He is in us.

Only Christ transforms, and He does so by His Spirit renewing our minds with His Truth. My prayer for Haggard is that he will find his worth, value, acceptance, love, and life in Christ. My prayer for the church is that she will fix her eyes on Jesus, the beautiful groom and object of her affections. And in so doing, see the root of the problems around her, not just the actions. I think we'll begin addressing our culture differently when we see the lies believed, not just the behavior of those around u...including ourselves.

Grace&Peace.

Political "Parties"

I think someone should change the phrase "Political Party." Neither group seems to be "partying" in any kind of fun way. I'm rather cynical and apathetic when it comes to the political system. I am a voter, but I don't really think most people are in politics now that truly want what's best for the country. I am open to the possible reality that I am wrong, but this is what I feel after watching the process closely over the past 10 years (the length in which I've been a voter).

The other day, I started realizing that both parties spend the majority of their time explaining their enemy, rather than honestly discussing why they are the best person for the position.

If I were to just listen to both parties talking about their "enemy," this is what I would conclude:

The Republicans are at war with the media. The media never portrays them in the right light and always presents the news with a slant towards the Democrats or liberalism.

The Democrats are constantly being lied about by this underground, incredibly huge Republican machine. Somehow, this faceless group of Republicans is taking everything that is said and spinning it into some sort of lie that makes the Democrat a demon. This isn't directed directly at a person, but rather at a scheming group, i.e. the "machine."

Here's how I think a great political race would look like:

Instead of each candidate/party spending MILLIONS on advertising, campaigning, and politicizing, each candidate would take all of the money donated for their cause and begin giving it to areas where they feel it is best needed. Instead of talking about about how the other candidate doesn't care about the homeless/poor, they would demonstrate how much they are concerned with this problem by financially contributing to organizations that are actually dealing with this problem right now.

Instead of talking about how they would fix education, they would begin working with the people they feel are making strides towards a better education in America and actively working on them before they are elected.

Instead of merely discussing how the other candidate doesn't know how to handle problems overseas, they would contribute to world relief organizations and volunteer in refugee camps and serving through grass roots efforts to actually affect change in the world.

I would think, that if a candidate were to actually live out these things, they wouldn't have to spend a dime on advertising as the media would cover every moment because he/she would actually be doing something that is news worthy, instead of just attempting to destroy others' character.

Just some thoughts from a cynical, apathetic, twenty-something dude.

Letting Go

I'm a pretty laid back guy. A lot of things don't bother me, but when they do, they really do. I thoroughly enjoy being around people and just love connecting with others. Relationships are crucial to me. I truly value deep, sincere relationships and love getting to connect on a deep level with people.

For the past few years, there has been one relationship with a guy that has been a huge struggle for me. The dynamics of this relationship didn't start out as personal, and we never really reached the level where I could call it a friendship. For the most part, the only thing I could really describe the relationship as is hurtful, disappointing, and dysfunctional.

One of the biggest problems, from my perspective, is that he has no clue. I've tried communicating it with him on several occasions, asked for his forgiveness for how I've treated him, and tried to just move on. All the while, I never received any acknowledgment from him that he did anything (good or bad).

This summer it all kinda came to a head. I walked around for about a month with bitterness oozing out of me. It not only affected my relationship with him, but it affected how I viewed other things as well. I could "smell" the stench of bitterness almost flowing out of my pores.

Finally, a few nights ago while I was running, I released him. I knew that Christ in me had already forgiven him and loved him. I didn't wait for the feeling of forgiveness to rush over me and for a warm feeling to lead me into releasing him, I chose to agree with my spirit, which is in perfect union with Christ, to forgive him.

I don't do this often, but I spoke it out loud. There was something in hearing my voice say, "I release _______ from all the hurt, bitterness, and resentment that I've held towards him. I choose to forgive him in my soul as Christ in my spirit already has. I know that the most natural thing for me to do is forgive as I've been given the mind of Christ, so I choose forgiveness."

I am thankful for this process and through it have been shown several areas in my own life and through this relationship where I was wrong. I was practically living as though I had unmet needs and was hoping he would meet some of them. Thankfully, in Christ, I am complete and satisfied. No need is unmet in Him. Also, through this, I'm reminded of how much I am blinded by what I can see physically or what I feel emotionally, instead of the deep reality of who I am in Christ, and who Christ is in me.

Thank God for this relationship! Through it, even though it's been incredibly difficult, I've been able to see the beauty and reality of His life, His work, and His love in and through me.

So, I've let go and I choose Christ. As I choose Christ, He lives His life through me, which will always lead to extending grace, forgiveness, and love to others, regardless of how they have treated me.

Oh Snap...and by that I mean Snapping Turtles

This past weekend I was with a youth group from Boerne, TX. We were camping at Inks Lake State Park and took some time to swim in the lake. It was beautiful, but the water was a little murky...I couldn't see my legs once I was in the water.

Anyway, After swimming around for a while, I got on float (ok, it was a pink float) and started to slowly head for the shore. When I was about 10 feet from the shore, I saw something pop out of the water about a foot away from me with the corner of my eye. By the time I looked over, it was already underwater and those on shore said they thought it must have been a turtle, although no one really saw it clearly for sure.

Moments later, something knocked me off of my float and into the water! I didn't know I could swim as fast as I did.

I wasn't really all that interested in getting back in the water after that, but I did. Thankfully that was my only encounter with the living creatures in the lake. Of course, the students will probably never let me live this one down.

Overall, it was a great retreat and a great weekend. I'm sure glad to be home now though.

Summer League

Yesterday was a crazy-busy day. I mowed my parents' yard, my yard, cleaned the house for company who came over for dinner and played in my first soccer game since my Sophomore year of college.

I feel I've become a bit old. I have my favorite news anchor crew, 10:00 news station, and I enjoy mowing the yard. I'm also getting tired earlier and earlier.

The guests who came for dinner were a ton of fun and it was really nice getting to know them. We met through our church and found that we have a lot in common. Our kids all played outside on the trampoline and an inflatable that my parents bought our girls last year.

Then, I left to play soccer. I've been running again lately so I thought I might be in okay shape...I was WRONG!

This league is a 7-man league. There always has to be at least 3 girls on the field during the whole game. We subbed the dudes every 3 minutes. First off, 3 minutes felt like an eternity when I was on the field and way too short when I was off. At times, my feet felt like I was stuck in cement.

All that said, I had a TON of fun. It was just great getting out there again and kicking the ball around. I never realized what kind of shape I used to be in though. I also was a bit surprised at how easy it was for me to talk some trash to some of the players on the other team.

As soon as one of them said something to me, I snapped back without even thinking about it. It's crazy...I know I have NO room to talk out there. I could barely move after making one run, let alone muster up the composure to spit out one sentence without heavy panting between each word.

I was rather pathetic trying to prove my point to some dude. Trash talking is usually probably done better when you can actually say everything without gettind dizzy in the process. :)

Anyway, I think I'm going to play every Tuesday and Thursday through the summer so maybe I'll get back in a little better shape before it's all done.

Soccer sure is fun! But the day after is painful...

Howard Publishing

The editor that I met with at the writer's conference last weekend was Denny Boultinghouse of Howard Publishing. I'm not that familiar with this publishing house but he sent me three books that he thought could help me in my writing.

So, I just received these books last night and started to read one of them. The one I chose to start with is called A Scandalous Freedom by Steve Brown.


As soon as I started reading this book, I wanted to finish it. It's incredible and engaging and clearly presented. The author has been a pastor for 25 years and is now a professor at a seminary in Florida. It is obvious that he has had to field countless questions and faced people who fear resting in their freedom in Christ.

I'm not far enough yet to fully endorse this as a great book, but if it continues the way it's started, I think it's going to be a book I read several times and will be added to my list of books to go through with other people.

A Scandalous Freedom: The Radical Nature of the Gospel.

Study of American's View of Sin

A recently released study of Americans over the topic of sin has some rather interesting findings. You can view the info here.

One of the biggest things that stood out to me was this paragraph:

"One of the biggest differences in whether people believe in the concept of sin is actually not even religious, but political. Among political conservatives, 94% believe there is such a thing as sin. This is also true among 89% of moderates. But only 77% of political liberals believe in the concept of sin."

If you check out the report, scroll down to the bottom and you can see the info listed in chart form if you don't want to read through everything else.

What do you think? Is this study surprising to you or does it coincide with what you already felt to be true about our country?

What does this study say about the role that the church is playing in our society?

O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-E

My oldest is in a "Christian Preschool" in our community and has really enjoyed it, I think more so than any other educational facility she's been a part of thus far in her short life time.

One of the things that this school emphasizes is their Bible story time and music. This is the first time that our oldest has come home and told us about what she learned and what the Bible story was about that day.

I'm thankful for this place and thankful that my daughter enjoys it. I have one hang up though, and I'm probably the only dad that has this issue.

One of the songs they are learning (and the ONE that has really caught my daughter's attention because she sings it all the time) goes like this:

O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-E
Obedience is the very best way
To show that you believe

My middle girl has joined in on the musical fun and her version goes a little like this:

O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-Eat...

I enjoy hearing their excitement and love listening to them sing, but I am not all that thrilled with the lyrics here. I know, most parents are usually concerned b/c their kids are listening to rap or something with lyrics they don't even understand (and that may happen in our house as well). But, for now our issue is with this song.

I would love for my girls to live a life of complete abandon to the things of this world and complete surrender and dependence on Christ in every moment. I would love for their lives to be obedient to the Father because I know they were created to operate out of their relationship with Him. However, this song just throws all focus onto the obedience.

I really don't think that was ever the point of Jesus' teaching. I think obedience is a natural by-product of what He was really about, which was and is about us being restored into an intimate relationship with the Father through Jesus, who lives in us at and after salvation.

Well, I'm glad I got that off my chest now. I've been thinking about it for a few weeks. Now I can move on. :)

I Can't Believe I Have Three Girls...

This study was just released about teenage girls and STD's. As if it weren't bad enough thinking about when my little girls grow up.

This is the culture they are growing up in! I find it intriguing that our society continues to treat sex like it's perfectly normal for people to experiment and have more than one partner, as long as "you're in love."

What are your thoughts?

This Makes Me Sick

I am a little hesitant to even bring up this article because the actions taken by this "church" are ridiculous and incredibly sad. The group from Westboro Baptist have such a distortioned view of the Gospel and of God.

You can read about their thoughts concerning Heath Ledger's death here.

Apparently, they have missed the reality that God is love and passionately loves His creation. I'm also a bit tired of hearing about all of their protests. Sad stuff...

REMEDY is here!

DC*B rocks it again and brings a cd packed full of powerful songs and incredible lyrics. This is definitely worth buying. I am so glad I was able to go to the cd Release Party last night and hear it all live. It was awesome!

It is also so cool getting to go to UBC every Sunday. It's a great place and getting involved in their Sunday school time has been wonderful for Dani and me. One of the things that is talked about a lot around UBC is how the songs that the band writes are written from the community experience at UBC. Last night, as I was listening to Remedy, I really understood this. Here are the lyrics:

Can you feel it?
Can you feel it?
The love in this place
Can you feel it?

Can you feel it?
Can you feel it?
The grace in this place
Can you feel it?

Everytime I walk into UBC or hang out with other UBC-ers, I feel it. I think that rocks!

Anyway, get the cd!

Fun Times

This past weekend was a lot of fun. The Bears beat Rice, the Cowboys beat the Giants, and we had a lot of family time. We've really enjoyed getting to go to University Baptist Church and just started going to Sunday School there. The class for our age group is called "The Other Side" because we're on the other side of college (since most of the other people who go to this church are college students).

It's so fun being in a class with a group of people who like to discuss things about God and life and how it all fits together. The first week we talked about worship and living as a sarcrifice and this past week we talked about being free in Christ and how that relates to living as a sacrifice. Pretty cool stuff.

It's also a lot of fun because it seems like half the group is from the Pacific Northwest so we have a lot to chat about (even though i'm not from there). i'm a Pacific Northwest want-a-be. i think the bumper sticker that you can see around Texas that reads, "I wasn't born in Texas but I got here as fast as I could" would resonate with me if it read something like, "I was born in Texas and have been trying to go to the Pacific Northwest at every turn" or something like that. :)

Don't get me wrong, i love Texas and have enjoyed living here but there is something really cool and different about the Pacific Northwest area.

Anyway, i'm still running and working toward the half marathon next spring, i just got bored of writing my progress everyday.

Interesting Article

i just ran across this article this morning. It makes so much sense to me and it makes me think this better explains why there is so much division in the American churches.

It's a beautiful day today and we hope to find out if we're having a boy or girl!!!

Listening to...?

i'm not sure if i've actually written about my blog title or not (and since i'm not willing to take the time to look back through my blog archive) so i will take a little space to write out what i mean by "Learning to Listen."

i feel like this describes my life right now (and for the past several months). It describes my life because i'm learning to listen to God's "voice" over the "voice" of my flesh. He has given me life, His life, for Him to live in and through me in this world. His life is easy, light, peaceful, restful, abundant and complete.

i usually don't experience this life because i choose to listen to my flesh and surrender to that instead of to Him and His life in me. i have found, and continue to find, that the more i choose to surrender to Him in the day-to-day stuff, the more i "hear" His voice and experience His life.

My job is to believe in Him and trust Him to do what He has said He will do. He says in Scripture that He makes us a "new creature" at salvation and gives us His life. If He's given us His life, it makes sense that it's Him living through us, not us trying to live for Him.

This all ties into the actual address for this blogpage (he is trustworthy). Regardless of what my circumstances and surrounding environment tells me or looks like, i know that He is trustworthy. Because He is trustworthy, i can rest in choosing Him over my flesh, knowing that He will turn everything to good and work in and through me in every situation.

On a separate note, Dani and i went to a hip-hop exercise class this morning. We arrived late (big surprise there) but were able to jump in mid-way through. The class we took in Oregon was MUCH better but this was still fun. This class was more of a jazz-type dance than hip-hop...in my opinion. Hopefully, it will turn more towards the hip-hop style in the next few weeks.

Starbucks

So, my branch office has moved from the Temple Starbucks to the Waco Starbucks. i love the smell and the atmosphere that Starbucks tries so hard to create. i am working on my SECOND grande cup of coffee. i have a mug so i can get refills for 50 cents. i think i'm officially a junkie. :)

i wonder if Starbucks will ever come out with a cologne line so you can have that brewed coffee smell on you all day, every day. :)

i'm also contemplating a quote to submit for the "The Way I See It" quotes they put on the side of their cups.

i now have the after coffee shakes. Yeah for large quantities of coffee in a short period of time!!!

Also, to honor their new line of summer drinks, i've changed my lay-out to orange colors because they are pushing new orange flavored drinks. The Orange Creme Latte Frap tastes a lot like an Orange Julius drink. It's good, and they often have free samples!!!

It's Official

We're going to have a baby! Baby #3 is actively draining my wife of all of her energy and health. She is in the first trimester so she is tired, sick, weak, and sick. Our first two girls are running all over the place with me trying to stay afloat. It's actually rather humurous for me to think about trying to do all the stuff that my wife usually does on her own.

i'm not NEARLY as good at it as she is. Much props to me wife! i've also realized how much i revert back to how i was raised in dealing with my children when i get so exhuasted and frazzled.

The other day when we were in the car by ourselves, i just started driving without really knowing how i was going to get to our destination. After a while, my wife said that she thought i took the long way (which i did). To that i replied, "i feel like my brain is frozen. i can't picture where i'm going or how to get there (which i usually do as soon as we decide where we need to go)."

i'm definitely thankful for my family and my wife. She does an incredible job with our girls! i'm not at that level yet. :)

life is fun!