This week has been interesting. Over the weekend I went on a trip with some of the members of the Youth that said they want to be leaders. I learned that 2 of 6 are ready to start down that path and one that I have done a lot for lately, I mean a LOT for, is terribly ungrateful and is now planning on attending another church. I'm not too worried about it though. I'm not about fighting to keep, God will take care of that. I was very frustrated Sunday because I gave up my weekend with my family and missed my kids dressed up for Halloween and felt very unappreciated, but God is faithful so I … [Read more...]
Where is a giant monster when you need one?
I think life would be more interesting if giant monsters occasionally walk through town. It seems to work out for Tokyo. Sure a bunch of people die but generally things are better, plus if you didn't see the giant mecha lizard fighting the real giant lizard thing and giant moth and think, "*hmmm, maybe I should go the other direction till the all clear is sounded*" (translated from Japanese) then you probably deserve a Darwin award. It's not like Godzilla is a freaking ninja or something. Each step has got to be heard for miles. Just head to the country for a couple days and come back so … [Read more...]
Stuff and Dessert
So a couple weeks ago we had the free yard sale (aka unsale). I was very happy with how it went for our first time. We had 26 people come by representing 69 people in their households. We gave away donated items estimated at nearly $400 in value. Mind you these are yard sale values so this was a good amount of stuff. We also sold nearly $200 in items which will be donated to the local men's and women's shelters. All in all things went great and more than that we learned a lot for next time.The items left over are being donated to the Salvation Army except the baby clothes, which we are … [Read more...]
Junk for …
So we have so much junk it really isn't funny. I have never had so much stuff in my life. I am pretty certain each of my kids have more stuff than I ever had as a kid. I'm pretty certain 90% of what we own is completely unnecessary. The question is, what do I do with it all?I know we don't need all of it. I know we should get rid of lots of it. I just don't know what I should do with it all.We have literally boxes of clothes that our kids have out grown. I think I'd like to give those away to people that can use them. I know I could try and sell them. Even at a quarter per piece we'd … [Read more...]
I might go to hell because …
Ever worry that you are going to hell? I am specifically talking to Christians who believe that God has saved them. Today I dealt with this twice. In my Yong Adult small group we went through chapter 5 in Crazy Love by Francis Chan. This chapter, more than any other, really challenged me to examine my life as a Christian. Everyone in the group really struggled through it as well.I think the biggest thing is to remember that our relationship with God is based on grace. We don't earn it at all. Often we begin to think that we are doing well and so somehow deserve heaven. I think it is … [Read more...]
When we get to heaven
Tonight we did chapter 4 in Crazy Love. This is the first chapter that really burns. The profile of a lukewarm Christian shows how we tend to go through the motions instead of going all in. I warned the group that this chapter was much more difficult than the previous chapters. I told them to make sure they understood that the focus was about love and not works and to avoid the trap of feeling condemned. I tried to make it perfectly clear, but still tonight they were somewhat depressed. The video helped some but there were still parts that were hard to deal with in our brokenness. I did … [Read more...]
Randomness
We are just getting into Crazy Love in the Young Adults class I lead. Tonight was Chapter 3, which I feel is the key to the entire book. Chapters 1&2 are nice but not required to grasp the book. They set the stage for why we should love God but Chapter 3 explains it. If you don't get this concept then you will fall into the idea that the book is promoting a works based theology. That isn't it at all though.That said I am kind of disappointed in the discussion on the chapter tonight. I was really hoping that there would be some good talk but I had to really coax anything out. I'm not … [Read more...]