If you know me at all, you know I like tech gadgets.  I like to be current with technology, if not a little bit ahead of the curve.  However, you may consider me pre-historic because I don’t have the latest cell phone technology with a data plan–mostly because I haven’t been able to justify the cost.  Sure, I would love the convenience of the virtual world at my fingertips everywhere I go!  I’ve always dreamed of having the all-in-one device that plays music, videos, gives me directions with the latest maps, tells me what song is playing in that store at the mall, helps me navigate the constellations in the sky, checks my email, follows my social networks and makes a phone call.  All of those things in one device would not only be entertaining but it would make my pockets lighter.  But it comes at a price!

I remember having a conversation with a representative of my wireless network a few months ago.  I was telling him that I couldn’t justify or afford the extra $30 a month for the data plan that comes with the latest smartphone.  His question back was, “Do you have an extra dollar a day?”  Wow, that makes it sound a lot cheaper, huh?  Since then, I still have not added the data plan.

It wasn’t the thought of not having the data plan that haunted me last night–it was the salesman’s question.

There’s an organization that I hear about and see often at concerts and events that used to use the tagline, “For just a dollar a day…”  Since then, the price has gone up a little bit due to the worldwide economy but Compassion is just one organization that helps provide food, water, shelter, clothes and education for children in poverty.  The price to sponsor a child is $38 a month.  Compare that to the $30 data plan.

Feed my need for technology or hear the cries of the oppressed?

I’m not a spokesman for Compassion, just a guy thinking about what really matters in life.  At this point, I don’t sponsor a child OR subscribe to a data plan with my wireless carrier.  I’m not sure what I’m going to do at this point…but at least I’m thinking about it, right?  There will come a point in time where I need to put my thought into action.

I know God doesn’t need more apathetic philosophers to talk about what the Church is doing wrong but He needs some revolutionaries to show the Church what to do right!

I like what C.S. Lewis writes in his book Mere Christianity,

“But it [Christianity] also thinks that a great many things have gone wrong with the world that God made and that God insists, and insists very loudly, on our putting them right again.”

• Taking and being the Church in a non-church environment.  (Matthew 28:18-20 *note:  ”all nations” has no boundaries of social class, job environment, race, religion, nationality, etc.)
• Hearing ‘their’ cries.  (Exodus 3:7-9)
• Restoration.  (Romans 8:18-24, Revelation 21:3-5)

Funny, after writing these out, I realized how much they go hand in hand.

I attended a funeral last week.  The weirdest part is that it wasn’t for somebody who was not living.  On the contrary, it was for a living and breathing soul–me.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.  2 Corinthians 5:17

Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I’d even lived one day. (Psalm 139:16)

May you rest in the fact that your story has already been written!  Consider stepping into that which He has already prepared for you.

If God freed our people once before, couldn’t God do it again?  And so it’s here, in exile by the river, amid the tears of despair, that God’s people begin to dream again.  Their repentance gives them hope to see a future beyond the bitterness of all they have lost.

Quote from Rob Bell and Don Golden’s Jesus Wants to Save Christians (pg. 54)

So often, we look at our own “exiles” as a bad thing.  I’m not sure that’s the case.  Sure–in the midst of things it feels hopeless and helpless especially, when you don’t know where you’re going.  However, it’s in exile when you ask yourself, “How did I get here?”  And soon enough you have a follow up question of, “Where am I going?”  And that’s when the DREAMING happens!  Right there, in the middle of exile, you dream.

If you know me well–I’m a dreamer.  I’ve had it said to me, “That’s a great idea (dream) but lets bring it down to size.”  When you’re a dreamer there’s nothing more heart wrenching and deflating than that!

It was a couple of years ago when I had the opportunity to hear a missionary from Africa speak at our church.  I have one of his quotes (something he felt God saying to him) on my white board in my office that says, “I’m tired of your small mind about my work!”  That quote blew me away.  When the God who created the heavens and the earth, night and day, every living creature and knows mankind inside and out says, “I’m tired of your small mind about my work,” to you–you probably want to be paying attention!

So, when exile is here–I will dream!  I won’t dream dreams and then, “take them down to size.”  That sounds like an insult to the Artist.  I will dream BIG dreams and EXPECT the Artist to create something mind-blowing!

“Seriously, my life was not meant to be an example to copy.  Being my follower is not trying to ‘be like Jesus,’ it means for your independence to be killed.  I came to give you life, real life, my life.  We will come and live our life inside of you, so that you begin to see with our eyes, and hear with our ears, and touch with our hands, and think like we do.”  (pg. 149)

The more I submit myself as a follower of Jesus, the more I’m realizing that Jesus is less interested in us living like Him–He desires to re-live His life through us.  Maybe instead of asking the question, “What Would Jesus Do,” we should ask ourselves if we’ve surrendered ourselves to the One who created the moon and the stars and give Him the freedom to manifest Himself inside us.  I don’t think Jesus ever wanted an army of posers who act like Him–I think we were designed to live in Him and Him in us as one body, His body.

[step off soap box]

What are your thoughts?

God, give me YOUR EYES to see the injustice, the hurting, the hopeless and the helpless around me.  Give me YOUR Heart to love with.  Give me YOUR MIND to think with.  Let me be attentive to the One who already lives through me.  I want to step into YOUR STORY and join whatever you’re already doing and whatever you want to do.

This may or may not be related to my recent prayer but a week ago Julie and I went to a local produce market to pick up some groceries.  We ran into an elderly lady who was noticeably frail in her speech and in her walk.  She asked if I could lift a bag of oranges into her cart.  As I was assisting her–she went on to explain, “I just had a chemo treatment and I can’t do much.”  I asked her if there was anything else I could help her with.  She said, “No, my husband is waiting for me out in the car.”  I hope that as I performed this act–Jesus radiated through me.  I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her or praying for her.

Sometimes, when you’re on your hands and knees in the filth and chaos serving others you’re taken advantage of by the very people you’re trying to show God’s love and grace to–especially, when you’re serving QUIETLY and behind the scenes.  It’s like, while you’re on the ground attempting to build Christ’s Kingdom you’re being kicked in the ribs over and over again…but you continue serving and submitting anyways because you know it’s what God is calling you to do.  It’s insanity!  Same act–same result.

Then, I think about Jesus!  He served QUIETLY while being kicked in the ribs over and over again and hung on a cross to rescue mankind.

Is this what it means to share in Christ’s sufferings?

What’s the hardest thing about serving to you?

*By the way, I’ve written and re-written this post and cannot figure out the clearest way to demonstrate this thought.  Maybe you can help me out

The cool part about this is that I’ve experienced a lot of encouragement from strange places.  I can’t even begin to explain everything.  The encouragement hasn’t necessarily been from one person saying something but it’s been from multiple people’s actions even though they have no idea what it has meant to me.  There are also some other weird affirmations that I don’t think are appropriate for me to discuss here but they are thoughts and dreams that God has given me for the past seven or eight years that are on the cusp of break through.  Thank you God for the encouragement…you know just what I need in the face of opposition.

I’m reminded of some Scripture I just taught about this past weekend and is something I’m hanging onto right now.

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.