So there has been this conversation going on around me here for a bit. And it has been really interesting watching and listening. It seems some of the people that I know are, lets say, debating for lack of a better word, the idea of once saved always saved. I read a post on facebook the other day that went something like this, “you can’t be saved from hell by saying one sentence once in your lifetime”. Interesting thought. It just reminded me that we spend so much time talking about heaven and hell and not enough time talking about the actual TEACHINGS of Jesus. Why do we spend so much time telling people they are going to hell? We may not say, “you are going to hell”, but our conversations are more about condemnation instead of redemption. They way I see it, and I am not so big to say that I may be wrong, but Grace is enough. And Paul tells us we cannot earn it. Jesus tells us we can not earn it. My Pastor tells me I can not earn it. And you know what. I believe it. I choose to believe that God is so big and mighty and loves me so much that there is no way I can live up to the yolk we have placed around our necks that try to equate us to his Glory or Holiness. We are told God through Christ made us Holy. The law was to much. Man could not function under the law. Man can not function under the law. I cannot even follow the laws set by the city I live in, how can I follow the laws my God had laid out before redemption decided to stroll into town? So heres the thought to leave you with today.

Would you rather live by laws that man has decided is the measuring stick for holiness. Or would you rather know that his grace is truly enough?

It’s no secret. i play a lot of cards. Sin or not, I play. I enjoy. And now I teach the little ones the ways of the poker world. We had our first family card game tonight. It was fun. In fact it was awesome. A little five card draw to start the twinks off. At least we figured out the definition of check or bet tonight. It’s a start!!!!

So I took quite a break. Not sure why, just needed some time to think. Unfortunately more time thinking only leads to more questions. Or maybe that is a fortunate thing. Who knows. Things are well. Life is great.

Today is my eight year wedding anniversary. Eight years with the most amazing human being I have ever met. Eight years with the only person in the world who understands me, well   more than others. Eight years of waking up next to the same woman every morning and thanking God that he put her in my life. Eight years of wondering why she puts up with all the B.S. that can, at  times, surround me. I don’t deserve her, but I am grateful to have her. Every time I start to cock my head and look at God the way my dog looks at me when she doesn’t quite understand what I am saying, I think about Sue and I just praise him. That probably doesn’t make sense to the majority of you who read this, but to the few that do…..we’re tracking.

Speaking of readers, so I haven’t posted in months and I am still getting close to twenty hits a day. Who are you people?

Shalom.

So its been a while. Let em catch you up. House was for sale. It seems to be sold. Home inspections are tomorrow and Tuesday. Closing is may 27th. The day We have to be out. Did I mention we haven’t started packing yet? It’s a bit tricky. i am not made of cash, so I am trying to time everything down to the perfect scenario. Making sure all i’s are dotted and so on before I pull the trigger on an apartment. That’s the other thing. We will be chilling gin an apartment for a few, like 5, months while we build our new house. I am not bitching. Just a little concerned. Rayn and Grace are all about the apartments, poll of course. But dad is getting a little to old to be kept up by college kids now days. Plus I have lived in the middle of BFE for the last eight years so submersing myself and family back into city life is liable to throw everything into a tail spin. Actually I doubt it. I have missed the city for most of the time I’ve been gone. Just wont be able to fire off any fire arms at will. But there also will not, atleast I hope, be any bobcats or coyotes hanging out in the yard either. It only took ten months to sell the Ross estate, but looks to be well on its way.

What else………I am currently in the middle of teaching a series about Rethinking the way Jesus looks at Global issues in my college ministry at church. Seems to be going well. Kicked it off last week. Only have about five weeks to go. It’s been a great subject for me to study up on. Really contrasting the evacuation theology, like see you in heaven, versus the transformation theology……..reconciliation of all things for God. It’s interesting to hear peoples opinions on the whole conversation. I actually had someone, no names ***** ********, ask me what does the world matter if God is going to send it up in flames anyhow. I hope he was kidding, but to be honest I am not one hundred percent convinced that he is. Were you kidding? Call me and let me know please. But, it’s good to be teaching again. It’s been way to long.

Work is freaking nuts. If you ever ask God for something and he answers, don’t bitch. My cup runneth over to the point that my hair is getting a bit lighter.  And it’s jet black. Or was atleast. Thanks God, by the way, you rock!!

Well. i will try to get back to the whole blogging atleast every other day for here on. No promises, but I will make an attempt.

Oh, and when we move, we’ll be closer to Raleighwood. Look out Thompson’s!!!!!!

A while back i posted about this special little girl.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/gracyndenbesten

She got her heart!!!!!!!

Please keep praying for a full recovery!!!

You guys are awesome!

Shalom…..

Grace: Dad, what was here before God made the world?

Dad: Not to sure, what do you think it was like?

Grace: Really dirty.

Rayn: Super dirty, really really super dirty.

Grace: Yep

Rayn: If you close your eyes, that’s what it was like.

Grace: So how did he see to make the cows?

Shalom………

Sustain is a ministry we have started in our youth ministry known as Youthquake. Here’s the idea behind. It’s pretty simple really. Catch the people who fall through the cracks that society overlook. It’s not the governments job to take care of the poor, sick, and homeless. It’s the Church’s. And that is exactly what we are doing. One person at a time. Jesus said the poor will always be with us, so to me it means it’s time to get to work because the harvest is plentiful. A few weeks back, around 40 volunteers came together to help someone who was getting evicted from their home. The pulled together and made what needed to happen happen. Over the past few weeks we have also developed a relationship with a couple homeless people. We have been providing them with food and new tents to live in. But this week it went a step further. Through the Sustain ministry they now have a home. It’s truly amazing. I’m not bragging. i hope I am encouraging. Like Nike said, just do it. If the church would do as much as it talks about doing, then ………….

Shalom.

It’s been a while. Sorry. I’ll be back soon. Chumba Wumba.

Do people with a lot of questions get on your nerves? Does that person that just keeps hounding you, never seeming to leave you a lone get under your skin? Sometimes it does me. But I was thinking this morning about people with questions about faith. Specifically about Christianity. The more I think about it, the more I wish people would ask me questions. Not because I have the answers, I don’t, but if someone is asking you questions about your faith, then they are at least interested in it. It may not be the good kind of interested, but at least they are interested. When it comes to Christianity, the people with a lot of questions don’t bother me at all. In fact, it’s the ones with no questions that scare the heck out of me. It’s the ones that go through life accepting ever single doctrine, which is not faith, and move along as if all is well. Rob Bell puts it the best I have ever heard. He says that Christianity is like a trampoline. And what holds a trampoline up? Springs, The springs are the doctrines that hold it in place. But, they are also able to bend and stretch and move around. They are able to be ”questioned”, for the furthering of Christianity. Think about Martin Luther. He is the founder of the “reformation”. But, it seems today that alot is just reformed and not reforming. Surely we haven’t figured the whole thing out. Surely we don’t have all the questions answered. Surely with ever answer comes more questions. I think God loves it when we seek him with questions. Look at the Bible. Abraham bugged God with a boat load of questions, Moses spent two chapters questioning God’s choice for a spokes person, which was him by the way. Even Jesus’ last sentence on earth was a question to God. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”.

So here’s the deal. If you are studying the Bible and searching for God and you have no questions, then it may be you aren’t really studying and searching. You may just be a brick follower. On the trampoline the springs are what allow this story we are all part of to move and shift and mold, but if you replace the springs with bricks, then you have no room for God to work. Doctrine is man made. Reformation is a movement in constant motion, where the mysterious ways of God not only bring us joy, but they also bring us more questions. Springs are good. Bricks are bad. Bricks are used to build walls to keep people out. Just like some doctrines. They were made to exclude individuals for whatever reason. But that’s not reformation. With bricks, change rarely happens. Sometimes you have to tear the bricks down. And what better way than by asking a lot of questions?

Shalom..

This weekend my pastor spoke about brokenness. He taught about how there was a group of people that Jesus was speaking to in his hometown. These people had seen the signs, the miracles, everything Jesus had done. But for whatever reason they would not repent. They would not turn away from their sin. Jesus even went on to say that the people of Sodom will receive a less severe punishment then his own towns people who were really good people. They obeyed the Sabbath, worshipped together, but did not repent.

Pastor Cox likened to this. He took a coffee mug and began to hit the edges of it. Chipping it around the rim. We are all chipped in many ways. But some people believe that it’s Ok to live with these chips. It’s Ok to have some flaws and learn to live with them. It’s even Ok to continue adding chips to our glass. No ones perfect and God accepts us as we are. I, of all people, am fully aware of that. But instead of standing in front of God trying to hide or even worse convince him our chips are Ok we should become broken for him. Sometimes we have to allow God to break us. Because in brokenness there is the ability to made whole again. And that is the business that God is in. Fixing brokenness. So, are we Ok with being a little rough around the edges or do we want to become broken for something bigger?

Shalom..