The Hands Who Helped Shape The Clay

In Isaiah 64:8 we are described as clay in the hands of God. He is our potter constantly molding us and shaping us to be more like the image of Jesus. While God is the Potter in my life and has shaped and molded me and continues to do so he has brought many men and women in and out of my life to aid in my spiritual formation.

The first of these people helped to physically bring me into this world. My mother is the largest and most significant influence on my spiritual formation of all others. From before I was born she prayed over me in her womb and after I was born taught me much of what I know even to this day about prayer and tithing. She led me to Christ at the age of six. If I were to pick up the phone and ask her I know she has prayed for me even today. She helped to make Christ come alive in my life.

The second major influence on my spiritual formation is my good friend and who I consider my pastor, Darien Gabriel. He was my youth pastor from the time I was in 7th Grade all through High School. It was under his leadership and direction that I took leadership roles in worship. He taught me what it means to be a worshipper off stage. There was one night where he actually washed my feet along with some others in our youth group as a sign of servant leadership. I had the privilege to do a youth internship under his leadership during my college years and to this day he is my close friend and mentor. He was never afraid to let me fail in order to learn. He pushed me hard to live in the image of Christ, to walk in the dust of my Rabbi if you will. I am ever grateful for his help forming me spiritually in the areas of leadership.

Though I don't know where he is now or what he's up to, a youth intern named DJ Miles shaped much of what I know about corporate worship leading during my junior and senior year of high school.

The pastor I currently serve with in the PowerSource, Middle School ministry I'm apart of, Jeremy Rader, has taught me more about living a life of integrity by his example than most men I've known. Integrity flows through every part of his life.

My wife has taught me much about how to be less selfish. I grew up practically as an only child since my brother and sister were both out of the house and grown by the time I was around I was handed a bit of a silver spoon. She grew up with a brother and sister in house and is far more generous with her things than I am.

Finally the most recent and one of the largest spiritual influences on my life has been my current mentor Matt Wilkins. He invests so much in my life specifically to shape and mold me to be more like Christ. He challenges me with tough topics and exemplifies the type of man I want to be as interact with my wife and family.

There are many more men and women beyond these listed here that have helped in my spiritual formation processes. These are just a few that have really made specific deposits into me. They are such a blessing and I'm thankful that the Potter chose to bring each of them into my life for those times.

Spiritual Authority: Do I Have It?

This morning I was asked a question about Spiritual Authority.

Quite frankly it was do I have it? More pointedly do I feel like or live like I have it.

As a pastor biblically I have Spiritual Authority. It comes from Scripture and through Jesus. To be honest, I don't feel like I have this authority for the majority of the time. It's easy to get lost in the politics of the week sometimes and forget to rest in my Father's arms.

The path to authority is earned. It's earned by the deposits I make in my people that I am to shepherd.

If I claim authority in Jesus name I had better know what he would do in that situation.

Responsibility is the backside of the coin for Spiritual authority...

I feel like a lack of respect for spiritual authority stems from something much deeper.

A lack of respect for God and His holiness...

So how do we teach this?

We must model it in our own lives.

We must teach it by how we live.

Am I doing this?

Do I love like I have the authority of Scripture and of Jesus Christ backing me?

If not... why not? How do I fix it?

Tetris: A Product Of Communist Russia

I have to admit when Tetris first came on the scene for my family it was on my Nintendo Gameboy. I wasn't a big fan of the game but, my Dad loved it. He would steal off with my Gameboy for hours addicted to these little falling stacking blocks looking for his next high score. I was content with Super Mario Bros. and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the Arcade Game for my NES console. Recently I purchased Tetris Party Wii Ware from the Online Wii Shop for my Nintendo Wii. I've become addicted to the game. I feel like my Father... not a bad thing at all. : )

Regardless, yesterday on my TiVo I noticed a little link on my Nav screen that asked "Who Stole Tetris?" It turns out to be a documentary on the origins of Tetris and how it came to be the monster game we know today. Turns out the rise in popularity from this little game had much to do Russian Communism.

Tetris was developed by Alexi Pajitnov. He can't sell the game because it's communist Russia so he began giving it away to his friends. They gave it away to their friends and so on and so on. The game spread so far that all kinds of people began creating their own versions of the game and selling a few copies here and there for a couple of bucks. Then this guy Robert Stein, owner of Andromeda Software, comes along at a trade show sees the game in action and rather than go through all the Iron Curtain Red Tape to purchase the software he simply steals it.

Stein then begins to sell copies in the States and people are buying it because they think he actually purchased the rights to the game. So he makes a big sale to Robert Maxwell's gaming company. Robert Maxwell was a major player in the media scene during this time. Soon everyone is selling their own fake rights for the game. Before the rights were every official purchased Tetris had already become the best selling game in the USA and in the UK. So the Russians figure this out and create a company to manage the rights to Tetris.

So suddenly everyone is trying to purchase the rights for Tetris. Nintendo met up with the Russian officials pull out a game cartridge of the game and the Russians were upset because they hadn't authorized any type of production like this. So Nintendo pulls out a check and writes it for the cost of what they had sold a few of the games for and the rights to Tetris. The Russian government immediately sold Nintendo the rights to Tetris.

The Russians then locked Stein into a contract where he could only receive rights for the game from a computer. Now there was some dispute over what a computer could be so the Russians in the last moment through in a clause to the contract stating that a computer was anything with a monitor and a keyboard. So at this point in the game the only things Stein can make any money off are PC rights; no NES no Gameboy, nothing but a PC. Stinks for him right? But, I guess he got what was coming to him.

The sad part of this is that the original developer Alexi Pajintov never received any payment for the game. This was due to the communist culture of Russia at the time.

Tetris however is truly a classic game. It ranks up there with Solitaire and the like and I have a feeling it will be around for a long long time.

My Constant Battle With Sleep

There are nights like these when I just can't sleep. I'm not sure why but, I know for sure than sleep and I don't get along as much as we used to. I attribute some of this to back problems I've had since high school. I've been going to the chiropractor recently for that however and through adjustments and acupuncture I think some things are starting to straighten out loosen up and help me out back there.

I laid down for bed around 10:30PM played a quick game of Spore on my iPod Classic, beat the game for the first time, and closed my eyes to sleep...

I guess you figured out how well that worked. I've tried to sleep on the couch, on the floor, all over and nothing. I'm inches from taking some sleepy time medicine but, I'm not game on taking medicines I don't need. I need to sleep, I don't have a stuffy nose, cough, fever, etc...

So here I am blogging. Sometimes blogging makes me sleepy so here I am. Trying it out. Writing to everyone who never reads these posts in the first place about my inability to sleep well assuming anyone will care. Yeah right. Well... Not much else to say. Got a cup of water, gonna try and sleep now... yawning excessively. Goodnight all who care to read.

The Love Of Our Lord

Listening to Punk Goes Pop: Volume Two this morning. Steaming it from imeem.com feeling pretty god about the mix so far. There a re few I could do without but there always are. Reflecting this morning on the love of Jesus and specifically how to love like Him. How to cary His example of love over into my life. In John 15 Jesus says in v.12 "This is my command, love each other as I have loved you."(NCV) It's not an option. It's a command. Jesus then continues with what 'the greatest love a person can show is to die for his friends." v.13 Wow. Jesus did this ... he literally fleshed this out. His flesh and bone has town from his body during his scourging before the cross so much that he was unrecognizable. The man of sorrows found in Isaiah. Jesus thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cost you paid no greater love have you ever showed to me than to be nailed to the tree. There is no one like you God.

FOX NEWS ARTICLE - Losing The Faith?

A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people say they have no religion at all.

Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.

Northern New England surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least religious region, with Vermont reporting the highest share of those claiming no religion, at 34 percent. Still, the study found that the numbers of Americans with no religion rose in every state.

"No other religious bloc has kept such a pace in every state," the study's authors said.

In the Northeast, self-identified Catholics made up 36 percent of adults last year, down from 43 percent in 1990. At the same time, however, Catholics grew to about one-third of the adult population in California and Texas, and one-quarter of Floridians, largely due to Latino immigration, according to the research.

Nationally, Catholics remain the largest religious group, with 57 million people saying they belong to the church. The tradition gained 11 million followers since 1990, but its share of the population fell by about a percentage point to 25 percent.

Christians who aren't Catholic also are a declining segment of the country.

In 2008, Christians comprised 76 percent of U.S. adults, compared to about 77 percent in 2001 and about 86 percent in 1990. Researchers said the dwindling ranks of mainline Protestants, including Methodists, Lutherans and Episcopalians, largely explains the shift. Over the last seven years, mainline Protestants dropped from just over 17 percent to 12.9 percent of the population.

The report from The Program on Public Values at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., surveyed 54,461 adults in English or Spanish from February through November of last year. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 0.5 percentage points. The findings are part of a series of studies on American religion by the program that will later look more closely at reasons behind the trends.

The current survey, being released Monday, found traditional organized religion playing less of a role in many lives. Thirty percent of married couples did not have a religious wedding ceremony and 27 percent of respondents said they did not want a religious funeral.

About 12 percent of Americans believe in a higher power but not the personal God at the core of monotheistic faiths. And, since 1990, a slightly greater share of respondents — 1.2 percent — said they were part of new religious movements, including Scientology, Wicca and Santeria.

The study also found signs of a growing influence of churches that either don't belong to a denomination or play down their membership in a religious group.

Respondents who called themselves "non-denominational Christian" grew from 0.1 percent in 1990 to 3.5 percent last year. Congregations that most often use the term are megachurches considered "seeker sensitive." They use rock style music and less structured prayer to attract people who don't usually attend church. Researchers also found a small increase in those who prefer being called evangelical or born-again, rather than claim membership in a denomination.

Evangelical or born-again Americans make up 34 percent of all American adults and 45 percent of all Christians and Catholics, the study found. Researchers found that 18 percent of Catholics consider themselves born-again or evangelical, and nearly 39 percent of mainline Protestants prefer those labels. Many mainline Protestant groups are riven by conflict over how they should interpret what the Bible says about gay relationships, salvation and other issues.

The percentage of Pentecostals remained mostly steady since 1990 at 3.5 percent, a surprising finding considering the dramatic spread of the tradition worldwide. Pentecostals are known for a spirited form of Christianity that includes speaking in tongues and a belief in modern-day miracles.

Mormon numbers also held steady over the period at 1.4 percent of the population, while the number of Jews who described themselves as religiously observant continued to drop, from 1.8 percent in 1990 to 1.2 percent, or 2.7 million people, last year. Researchers plan a broader survey on people who consider themselves culturally Jewish but aren't religious.

The study found that the percentage of Americans who identified themselves as Muslim grew to 0.6 percent of the population, while growth in Eastern religions such as Buddhism slightly slowed.

I'm A Christian: by Maya Angelou

I 'm a Christian...

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'."
I'm whispering "I was lost,"
Now I'm found and forgiven.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak
and need HIS strength to carry on.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
and need God to clean my mess.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
but, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain,
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner
who received God's good grace, somehow.

Compassion Is A Dirty Word

This act of desperation is wearing me thin in fact

I can't hold on to this anger deep within

It's a movement beneath the weight of the winds

It's congruent with my heart breaking for this

So dig deep

Dig hard

Dig straight through the dirt and down into the heart

I'm feeling compassion brewing within

But will I stand here and watch without loving on him

As he sinks on down through the waves

When I have the capacity to save, his life

So dig deep

Dig hard

Dig straight through the dirt and down into the heart

I'm tired of just throwing money and problems

With the billions we spend none of it will solve them

But If I reach out just for one moment

To break out of this mold I have been holding...

If I dig deep

If I dig hard

If I dig straight through my comforts and do something hard

He can be free

He can have heart

He can be washed off and cleaned up and have a new start

So dig deep

Dig hard

Dig straight through the dirt and down into the heart

A Screaming Little Girl In My Church Growth Class

I'm in my church growth and evangelism class right now with Dr. Towns. Across the room from me there is a little girl, talking and screaming at the top of her lungs about her love for her daddy. She's sitting in his lap and crawling all over the desk and Dr. Towns is very calmly ignoring her. Wow. It's a snow day for almost all of the schools in the immediate area so this little girl is her with her daddy. She's talking non-stop and it's really hard to concentrate. The thing is this girl doesn't care about anything else but her daddy. She wants to play with him and talk with him. She doesn't care that class is going on. She doesn't care that she's distracting... all she wants is her daddy. While this is greatly aggravating to me and a few others around me I've started thinking about this girl and her out loud love for her daddy. Leave it to me to over spiritualize but, I can't help but thinking about how God must want us to be like that with him. When's the last time I cared about nothing else around me except for being with my God, my Daddy? When is the last time I have so recklessly and unashamedly run after God like that? I love Him. I've told God this and He knows it. I just can't help but think about the comparisons the apostle Paul (the apostle formerly known as Saul) makes in Galatians to Christ-followers as "children of God". Jesus calls little children unto himself and scolds his disciples for turning them away. Maybe this is a picture of how God wants us to be with Him? Maybe God wants nothing less that for us to be completely infatuated with Him. Funny how a screaming little girl in my church growth class can teach me so much...

I Think All Electronic Devices Hate Me Today: Galatians 5:13 Says...

So my car had a little bit of trouble making its way out of my apartment complex this morning. It took a bit to warm up (a la the cold). Regardless I made my way out on to 460 East with a really hurried red Tarus behind me who zoomed past me and and around me and slid down the exit ramp almost running off the road due to ice... yeah... wow...

I made it to the office and parked in a visitors spot out front so I could unload a large amount of items in my trunk that needed to come up to the office. I unloaded, I dragged my loot upstairs, I organized my office, talked to Jeremy for a bit, went back downstairs, got in my car to move it and it won't start... that's right. It won't start. I don't understand how if I was just driving it five minutes before it's now not starting...

I pulled out my cellphone to call Brian Claprood (a la recommendation Jeremy Rader) as Brian is pretty much the best in the office for knowing how to do something no one else knows how to do. I called him and talked to him for a bit about my situation and we're going to look at it this afternoon after the battery warms up. I took my TRBC tag out of my window and left my car in a visitors spot. Oh well. After I hung up with Brian my phone went dead. Like white screen of death no response on the keypad, completely dead.

I smacked it on my steering wheel twice and it started back up. The cellphone... not the car... though that would have been great...

So now I'm here in the office drinking my coffee, thinking through design options for a late March calendar and reading in Galatians 5 where the apostle Paul (the apostle formerly known as Saul) writes about the freedom we have in Christ. In verse 13 it reads like this:

¹³ My brothers and sisters, God called you to be free, but do not use your freedom as an excuse to do what pleases your sinful self. Serve each other with love.¹⁴ The whole law is made complete in this one command: "Love your neighbor as you love yourself."¹⁵ If you go on hurting each other and tearing each other apart, be careful, or you will completely destroy each other.

Verse 14 is actually a quotation of Leviticus 19:18 but, re

gardless this got me thinking. How often to I use my freedom in Christ as a get away card. Have I done things before... knowing they are wrong and justified it by saying "God will forgive me. He forgive

s all sin." While this statement is true in this context it's sickening. May I never use God's forgiveness as a crutch and cheapen the salvation I am given through the death of Christ Jesus on calvary.

I'm not sure how I went from electronics hating me to Galatians... oh well. Guess it's a picture of what my brain feels like this morning.

Blessings.

I also lost the Samaritan Gun for my Hellboy figure... I know it's geekish but, I'm pretty bummed it got lost on the transition between my home and the office.