EARTHQUAKE!!!

there’s only one down side about living in southern california, earthquakes! we just had a pretty crazy earthquake. from what i heard we just had a 5.8 about 35 to 40 minutes away from where our church offices are. this was seriously the LONGEST earthquake i’ve felt. it lasted for a good minute. scott and i were chilling in the office and watched amy RUN…no SPRINT…to the closest doorway. we laughed about it for a good 3 seconds. once the windows started shaking and things started falling from shelfs we became equally as terrified and SPRINTED with her to a doorway.

earthquakes are one of the trippiest feelings ever!!!! (for all of you in ohio who’ve never felt one). it’s like being in the ocean being tossed by waves except your on land. anyway, craziness!!!! hope everyone was safe.

scott and i just decided that most people will be running home or freaked out to go anywhere so we’re going to lunch hoping that lines are short haha.

p.s. just felt an aftershock of 3.8

bitter sweet confession

he who covers his sin will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
proverbs 28:13

therefore confess your sins to one another praying for each other so that you may be healed.  the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
james 5:16

blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sin is covered…then i acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.  i said, “i will confess my transgressions to the lord” - and you forgave the guilt of my sin.
psalm 32:1, 5

the idea of confessing my sin to a friend has become a significant and difficult discipline in my life.  listening to confession has also become a significant and difficult discipline of my life.  in the past week i’ve heard confessions of adultery, hatred, rage, drug and alcohol addiction, pornography addiction, and eating disorders to name a few.

i don’t know if this is theologically correct or not, but as i begin to wrestle with the ideas of sin and shame i’ve come to this thought: sin is the junk that disconnects us from god, shame is the junk that disconnects us from each other.  many may disagree, but this is just the thought that’s currently going through my head.

we all have just bad crap that we’ve done in our lives.  we all have skeletons.  we all have secrets.  god knows them all but people don’t.  i believe that the practice of confessing sin to each other is lost.  talking with students, peers, and adults this past week has shown evidence to this.  rarely do we ever talk about the skeletons and secrets.  we live burdened lives, carrying around guilt and shame.  i believe that the only way to rid yourselves of guilt and shame is to confess them to someone.

in the verses above we find 3 things when we confess our sin: mercy, healing, and blessing.  isn’t that what we want for all of our sin and shame.  lets stop being fearful of judgment and rejection and start recieving mercy, healing, and blessing.

this blog is a little scatter brained, i know.  there’s just so much going on in my head in regards to confession right now.  take whatever you can from these thoughts.

i’m glad…

that god restored and is restoring my life.

instinct vs. iphone

so i’m currently in the “now” network with sprint/nextel.  they have come out with a new phone that some have deemed the “iphone killer.”  a lot of reviews i read say that it’s the closest thing to rivaling the iphone that’s on the market now (although, the new dare by LG for verizon looks pretty stinking sweet).  i’m a pretty satisfied sprint customer.  however, the iphone is rather tempting, and my contract is up with sprint.  i’m currently torn whether to switch over to at&t or not. 

i have a plan with my brother.  if we both god iphones and wanted unlimited usage of everything the phone can do with 1500 anytime minutes we’d be looking at about a $130 monthly charge.  that seems pretty good to me.  so iphone users, convince me your phone and service plans are better…

i need words

i need words
thats wide as sky
i need a language as large as
this longing inside

and i need a voice
bigger than mine
i need a song to sing you
that i’ve yet to find

i need you
i need you
i need you
i need you to be here now

by the way, this is a david crowder song, more like a prayer….i was rereading it and thought it could be taken in a lot of skewed ways…just wanted to clarify haha

why i work with high school students

i’m currently participating as a leader in a program at emmanuel reformed church called life hurts god heals. in short, it’s a group/program that has been created to allow students to talk about hurts that they’ve experienced in a safe place and with the hopes of finding gods healing touch.

last night students were told to write down one thing that they’ve done to hurt someone and one thing that they’ve been hurt by on a piece of paper. they then took that paper and put it up on the wall. i was overwhelmed at the things the students carry around. here are some of the things students put up on the wall: “raped,” “lust,” “impurity,” “mom’s suicide attempts,” “parents drug abuse,” “dad lies,” “teased,” “manipulated,” “used,” “rage,” and “abandoned.”

those are just a handful of the hurts.

read them again.

read them one more time.

now realize that the person who carries that burden around is just 15 years old….i mean think about that, 15 years old. people often laugh or joke about never being able or wanting to work with high school students because they’re too rowdy, they don’t listen, they’re difficult to understand, or whatever the reason. last nights confession time of hurt is the reason i want to work with high school students. when i see students, i don’t see some rebellious, crazy, and out of control young person. i see a young girl who was raped and doesn’t know why. i see the young man who has been abandoned and left by everyone they know, including family, and he doesn’t know why he isn’t loved or valued. he wonders what he did to push everyone away. high school students carry around these heavy, HEAVY, hurts and questions. i hope god can work through my imperfect self to show them how much he cares, how much he loves, and how much they’re valued.

one last thing….

i just got usc tickets to the usc vs. washington game in november. i have two tickets. who wants to be my date? haha

enemies

“but love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.”
-luke 6:35

i think this command really emphasizes the difference between christian love and the worlds love.  everyone loves but how many people love their enemies.  maybe some people even love their enemies, but how many people are called to go and “do good” to them.  i wonder if the church really does this.

last night i was in a small group debate/discussion/argument (depending on what perspective you took on the conversatio) that debated this idea of doing good to those who are your enemies, doing good to those are are not of the same faith.  i posed the question, “is there ever a time in your life where you are supposed to stop DOING good to people?”  i do not mean is there a time that you can stop loving, but can you ever get to a point in your life where you should cease DOING good things for people.

i used two examples.  if you had a friend who was constantly getting drunk and asking you for a ride, do you ever stop giving him rides?  or if you have two gay friends that want to get married and they invite you to their wedding, do you attend or not?

the room was divided.  some stated that yes, you do continue to pick up your friend and you do attend the wedding (as long as the people invovled know where you stand).  the opposition stated that by giving a ride constantly and attending a wedding you’re supporting a sin and that we should never support sin.  i understand both sides.

what i came out of the conversation thinking about though, is that are motives to do good must always be there.  some people believe that doing good would be to not pick up your friend in hopes that he recognizes that what he’s doing is wrong.  the opposing side would say, yes you keep picking him up showing your love that way.  we may all disagree what “doing good” to people looks like, but i think it’s important to be reminded daily that we’re called to love and do good to all people.

and just for fun (if you feel comfortable answering), would you continue to pick up your friend?  would you attend the wedding?  or…does anyone have any other “gray-area” scenarios that i could wrestle with?

jesus for president

the staff at parkcrest is currently reading deadly viper character assassins. the book is about integrity and the dangers we need to look for if we desire to live lives of integrity.

i’m also reading jesus for president by shane claiborne. this quote from JFP caught my eye:

“their (the disciples) community was more than just a group of people who shared religious beliefs.  they were a group of people that embodied a new way of living, the way out of the empire, where slavery, poverty, war and oppression were normal. they were to become the salt and the light of the world. the credibility of their gospel would rest on the integrity of their lives. for they were now to be the body of christ. jesus would live in them…but it wouldn’t be easy to make disciples of the nations.  after all, the nations were also trying to make disciples of them.”

busted

so last night i went for a run around 10:00 pm.  i really enjoy running at night.  summer evenings have my ideal running weather.  i ran about 4 miles.  as i was coming back from my run i turned the corner to come down my street.  from a distance i see my neighbors house getting toilet paper.  amidst my exhaustion from my run i was able to chuckle as i watched this happen.  the closer i got to the house however i recognized that it wasn’t my neighbors house getting toilet papered.  it was mine.  i was literally running down the sidewalk toward the people toilet papering me.  it wasn’t until i was around 15 yards away that they noticed it was me running.  than the vandals took off sprinting down the street into their vehicles.

i remember the days of “toilet papering” (and i put it in quotes because it wasn’t always toilet paper) mike goldsworthy’s house.  so i was cleaning up the toilet paper this morning i could do nothing but smile.  karma isn’t so fun 5 years down the road haha, and working with high school students you have to know and expect your residence to be “vandalized.”