How Is Your Hear?

How's your heart? This is such a very simple question. Yet it has the opportunity to be so intimate, life giving, giving life bearing results. It is a question we don't ask very often. Most likely because we don't really care to take enough time to listen for a real answer from whom we asked the question. it's so much easier to ask How are you? which in today's vernacular really is just a greeting not anticipating a response.

One of the things I have so enjoyed and already learned from sitting under the discipleship of Jim and Mitch  (our senior and executive pastor here at grace) is the importance of bearing ones soul with a few very trusted people who will be praying for you. Not the kind of people that will say "I'll be praying for you," no the kind of people I am talking about are the ones who stop whatever they are doing and say "let me pray for you right now."

One of the realities I knew was coming in becoming a pastor was the ever increasing amount of meetings I would need to attend. One of the things I never expected was how life giving and enjoyable meetings can be! Here at Grace every meeting I have attended over the past month (to many to count) have begun by sharing the best and worst things that have happened to us in the past week. Depending on how many are in the meeting it might be with everyone or just those sitting right next to you. Nonetheless we begin by sharing where we are at Spiritually, emotionally, physically. Then we pray for each other. Not a 30 second token prayer, rather a sincere cry out for our brother or sister to the Father for His intervention and provision.

Sometimes this only leaves a few minutes for the business to get done, but it is amazing how after spending time "being" the church, rather than trying to "do" church, the Spirit gives wisdom and like mindedness so that the business flows and tends to take care of itself.

This is the kind of pastor I want to be! This is the kind of staff I want to lead! This is the church I want to be a part of!

Monday the pastors of Grace left their busy schedules and Jim took us on a mystery day. We started off at a  place in Houston that is the size of an airplane hanger that had various courts for differing games. The cool thing was the floors of each court were trampolines, the walls were trampolines. What ensued  was the ultimate game of dodge-ball much like when you were growing up as a kid in PE only here you didn't run around you bounced, jumped, launched yourself off the floor and bounced off the wall to get the ultimate 10ft in the air (slight exaggeration) throw across the court. IT WAS AWESOME! We then left, everyone having had a total cardio workout, to go eat lunch together. We ended the day sharing 15 minute versions of our life stories. Then the pastors gathered around me and welcomed and commissioned me for ministry here.

Life! It's meant to be lived together! I can't thank you enough for praying for Kim, Max, Joshua, Tate and I!

It means the world to us and we covet your prayers! Without them we would surely fail and fall apart!

Here are some prayer requests for this week:

1. Tate had strep-throat this week. he is feeling better but pray the rest of us don't get it 

2. We REALLY need to sell our house in Carrollton, please pray God's intervention here

3. Pray for continued vision and clear direction as we work through the complexities of starting a satellite campus

4. Pray for Kim and I to continue to fall in love with each other more and more every day

Finally, How is your heart? email us and let us pray for you and what is going on in your life this week! It would be our honor!

Jeff

P.S. IF you would like to keep up with our prayer shield blog you can go to:

http://praywiththedietz.blogspot.com/

Seeking A Biblical Position

I came across this post today:

As a Baptist, I am driven to basing my positions on what I read in the Bible. It is an ideal my denomination doesn’t really hold to much anymore, but a part of the roots of my faith that have me still claiming the label these days. Many Christians in America these days don’t read their Bibles much, and they certainly don’t stop to look to Scripture to determine what they should think on an issue. It is far easier to let your favorite pastor tell you what you should believe… or worse, your political party. Because, as every Christian knows, Jesus was very clear about His political affiliation.

When it comes to the issue of guns, Americans have an even harder time being Biblical. We have a complicated relationship to these killing machines. We have amended our constitution to preserve the ability of normal citizens to remain armed so that we can fight of the Government should it ever get out of hand again.

Of course, the problem with that is that it just doesn’t work anymore. No citizen could ever maintain the kind of armory necessary to defeat the U.S. government, and only cult leading kooks ever even try to do so. When that happens, we all stand behind the Government when it swoops in and puts a stop to it. No one wants those kinds of kooks having an army!

So, we fudge on the second amendment. We say that it really applies to the right of a citizen to defend themselves without having to wait on trained authorities. Even then, we don’t really think that will ever apply. No one wants a return to the Wild West where everyone walks around with a gun. What most really want is the right to collect guns for entertainment. We love everything about guns. Shooting targets. Shooting animals. Playing simulations of killing people. It runs deep in our cultural roots.

The question is: What is the correct, Biblical, position on guns for a follower of Jesus? Would Jesus carry? As His people, should we?

Seriously. What do you see in Scripture about this? Be sure to use a good hermeneutic. Go.

This was my short answer (non-hermeneutic because of time) response:

The danger I see in reading your questions following your comments is that you make some assumptions or statements regarding the issue to which you yourself do not provide hermeneutic too. This then frames the question in such a way that what you are asking for is for someone to use scripture to defend or oppose your position.

In your statements you ascertain that guns are “killing machines” and that Americans have a hard time being biblical when addressing the “issue.”

If we are to indeed be scriptural and use good hermeneutic we must approach this without any framing or context. This is why after the recent events the church has taken such a hard-line stance on either side, because we are allowing our emotions to give us a biased framework or context in which we are going to the bible to try and then defend.

That being said, I will try and take a stab at answering the best I can what I see in scripture.

What is the correct, Biblical, position on guns for a follower of Jesus?

The short answer is there is no mention of guns in the bible. I know this sounds like I am being trite or trying to be funny, but plain and simply there is no mention of guns in the bible. So we must look at what weapons or other killing things were used.  Swords, spears, axes, slingshots, there might be more  in the way of weapons. Then there are things used to kill for food, protection or financial gain such as nets, clubs and much more.

Now in your statements you referred to guns as “killing machines” and indeed they can and often are used for such a thing, to kill, but we need to be careful if we are to jump to conclude that because they can kill that they are immoral. All throughout the Old Testament we see God sanction the use of violent and even deadly force in war, sometimes to defend against nations seeking to overthrow His people. At other times we see Him command His people to not only advance on another nation but to kill every living thing, people, livestock and on.  In the New Testament we see Jesus command the disciples to cast nets in order to catch fish, to kill these fish for food. Sometimes we see them catch so many fish there is no way they could eat them all. As fishermen it is only logical that they would sell what couldn’t be consumed. God commands the Jews to kill for sacrifice to atone for sins in the Old Testament. What we see is that killing and death entered His creation as a result of sin but that doesn’t mean that in every circumstance it is immoral.

Guns themselves are inanimate objects used for a wide Varity of things. Target shooting for fun, Hunting, war, and murder amongst other things.

Are we to assume that because the disciples cast nets and killed fish that they are immoral? Would this make anyone who used a fish net immoral? That when they used a knife to apply the final death blow or to gut a fish they were being immoral? Then why would we assume that a man who owns a gun and hunts and is a Christian and an American is any less biblical? The argument could be made that many hunt today for sport and not out of need for sustenance but the disciples fished for more than just food. They were fishermen and sold much of their catch for profit.

Am I to suppose that Daniel the young Christian man who loves the Lord with all his heart and just returned from Afghanistan is immoral because he used his gun in war to defend himself and fellow man? God sanctioned war in the Old Testament and Christ himself said he didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law. Yes I know that has a whole set of hermeneutical meanings that don’t directly pertain to war but Chris and God are one and God commanded His people to go to war many times for various differing reasons not just to defend themselves . The bible says He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Specifically pertaining to the recent events of last week, I think we need to look deeper and realize the immorality wasn’t gun ownership, it was murder. And to take such a broad brush and say that all guns and or ownership is a morality question because one used guns to commit murder which is a very clear morality issue is quite irresponsible from a hermeneutic response.

To me this likens to the same argument as Alcohol. Scripture clearly tells us not to be drunk on wine as in Ephesians 5:18 yet it does not condemn wine itself. Jesus himself drank wine and miraculously made it!

 Does the possession of wine therefore make one immoral? Are we to assume as you did above that one ignores scripture if he has a relationship with these "drunkenness machines"?

The fact that guns can kill, does that make those who own them immoral or less Christ like? That is an assumption that in my opinion is as much ignoring scripture and just going off of what "ones favorite pastor or political parties says."

The possession of alcohol and consumption of alcohol are not frowned upon by scripture, rather the misuse of alcohol is.

Because the misuse leads to heinous sins we like to take it a step farther and call the whole thing immoral but it the end that is adding to scripture. 

What happened this past weekend was horrible, down right evil and immoral! Murder is immoral but to paint gun ownership and murder under the same brush and to say one who supports gun ownership is supportive in any way of murder is painting with far to wide a brush stroke.

What do you Think?

Aperture

Aperature from Jeff Dietz on Vimeo.

Aperture:
1: an opening or open space

2:
a: the opening in a photographic lens that admits the light
b: the diameter of the stop in an optical system that determines the diameter of the bundle of rays traversing the instrument
c: the diameter of the objective lens or mirror of a telescope

Aperture or knowledge of how to use aperture is one of those key elements in photography that can take ones shots up to a whole new level. Changing the aperture or f stop allows one to pick focal elements in a shot and make certain portions in focus while things closer or farther away in the depth of field remain out of focus, thus helping one frame in and draw ones attention to certain portions of a shot. To accomplish this with best results when taking pictures it helps to use fixed focus or prime lenses because they have a wider array of f  stops that give you more control than the typical lens that comes with most SLR cameras today.
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It is interesting to look back on one’s life and be able to see how God has orchestrated every little step, every turn, and every detail in order to place His plans into motion in your life. To mold us and shape us into the people He wants us to be so that we might carry out the purposes for which He has called us and anointed us to do. And while it is interesting to look back on one’s life we often wish we could look ahead and see a clear picture of what God wants and has in store for our lives. But that is simply not Gods plan for us. He sees the big picture while we only see in part. We must learn to trust and obey His promptings and callings as they come into focus so as to ever rely on His leadership and not become self sufficient apart from His grace and mercies displayed to us through the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
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Many of you have already heard that Kim, the boys and I will be moving to Katy to take a pastorate there in late December. IF you didn't know, well now you do!
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While I have had conversations with many of you about this new chapter we will begin in January I feel that there needs to be a little more detailed account of how we have ended up here. An account that might be to detailed for a passing conversation in the hall so I don’t bore those who are not interested and for those who are I can direct them here where they can read all about it.
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When Kim and I stepped back into ministry we stepped fully into it. We wanted to be all in or not at all! We wanted to partner with a body of believers who were passionately pursuing Christ and to make Him known. When we came to Carrollton as the Youth/Missions pastor we could have never imagined just how fun it would be. We committed to do youth ministry as a vocation and until God called us out. We never approached it as a stepping stone to get into other areas of ministry. It has been eight and a half years of watching God move in us and through us and watch him change and grow children into teens and then into adults that are fully and passionately pursuing Christ. It has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done in my life. True discipleship! Not curriculum or strategy, just living out a relationship with Christ fully transparent before the teens so they could as Paul says: “follow my example as I followed Christ’s! Also during this time we have seen God take us all over the world and do miraculous things! We've seen people healed, raised from the dead, but most exciting unreached peoples, people who have never heard the gospel and who have no access to it come to salvation and begin to multiply and spread the gospel amongst their peers. God has done amazing things and we have been truly blessed.
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While we have been enjoying where God has had us about a year ago I began to feel like God was getting ready to do something big with us. At the time I didn't know what it was or that it was going to involve leaving Carrollton or youth ministry but I knew I needed to begin to press into Him and ready my heart for whatever it was. Then about six months ago I was looking for available youth ministry jobs for a friend of mine who was looking and while doing a search online I ran across a post looking for a campus pastor.

This Pastor needed to be fluent in both English and Spanish to come join with Grace Fellowship UMC and assist them in beginning work in a neighborhood north of the main campus with a population of about 56,000 people that are 44% Hispanic, 33% Anglo, 14% African American, and 6% Asian.  They wanted this person to be both an “architect and a builder” someone to both dream and implement work in this area of Katy that is highly neglected.  Someone who was familiar with the United Methodist system but didn't have to necessarily be ordained by the Methodist church.  All of these descriptions resonated with me. You see, I am not Methodist ordained however the last 14 years of ministry experience I have are in the United Methodist church yet I have never pursued ordination.  One of the blessings here at FUMC Carrollton has been that this church has always provided for our needs and blessed us tremendously. Indeed we are blessed more than any youth pastor I know!  The down side to that is that if we were to ever leave FUMC Carrollton we would never be able to find another church that could offer us what Carrollton was blessing us with as a youth pastor.
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With Kim’s health and our growing boys, our needs are naturally growing and we wouldn't be able to stay in our current situation much longer. If we were to eventually leave Carrollton for another ministry position it would need to be for a pastorate just for those reasons alone. The problem is that in the United Methodist system I would need to be ordained and while I do have my masters it would still take me close to a year to become ordained and even then the way the appointment system works in the United Methodist church I would be appointed to one of their smallest churches and have to work my way up. Which I don’t mind doing but once again Carrollton has blessed us so much that we already made more than we would starting out as a Methodist pastor. This would mean that we would be taking a big hit as a family if we were to do that. If we were to leave the United Methodist church we would be hard pressed to get a pastorate elsewhere having almost all of our ministry experience in the U. M. church. So to read that here was a Methodist Church that wanted to hire a pastor for their satellite campus but they didn't need to be ordained, well things started to come more and more into focus.  The other issue that I failed to mention above is that… well… I am not what one would consider a traditional Methodist guy. Neither is the church here in Carrollton for that matter. As I went on Grace Fellowship’s website I quickly realized that they weren't either. 
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Over our tenor in Carrollton God had allowed me to be a part of dreaming and implementing a mission vision here at FUMC. As part of that vision we felt the Lord wanted every member of FUMC to go on a mission trip over the course of ten years. Another component of that vision was that we felt led to adopt an “unreached people Group” and God has far exceeded what we could have ever imagined possible in both areas. As I became more aware of Grace and its vision It became clear to me that what God had done in me and FUMC here in Carrollton, HE was using as preparation for me in Katy.
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Grace Fellowship is a church that dares to dream big! It is Graces vision to “be a house of prayer for all nations.” They view this vision statement in three unique, yet fully integrated components – “House”, “Prayer”, and “Nations.”
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“House” – They desire to be a body that is seeking to make disciples who love God and neighbor through home groups and discipleship relationships. Ii is their desire to reach 50,000+ disciples in their life time. These are to be disciples who are mature believers who are being disciple and are actively discipling others. Not just people who attend church on Sunday. They want people to be well versed in the word so they alternate topical studies with expository studies through a book in the bible so that eventually the whole body will have gone through the whole bible.
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“Prayer” – They are seeking and experiencing the presence of God through worship, Word, and Prayer. They realize that many of their dreams and visions cannot be fulfilled with our the anointing of God and without prayer so they have dedicated space for what will soon be 24/7 prayer and praise. Indeed this is a praying church!
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“Nations” – They are seeking to make disciples of all nations through local and international outreach. They want every member to experience a short term mission experience. They also want to adopt 10 “unreached people groups” in their life time. They currently are ministering to 3 and this year will adopt a fourth.

So after much prayer, conversations with loved ones and mentors, interviews, applications and a trip to Katy to see the church and spend time with the pastors and people we felt certain that God was indeed calling us to Grace Fellowship!
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We grieve the family and friends we are leaving in Carrollton! Many will continue to be lifelong friends!  But we know God is calling us to Katy and to join with Grace Fellowship and that is what is coming into focus for us right now so we go whole heartily!

If your Gospel isn't touching others, it hasn't touched you! --Curry R. Blake

There are those moments in life when one has a decision to make and he knows that the choice he makes can and will affect not only his life but the life of others as well. I find my self at one of those cross roads today! I am a christian. I would like to think that I am not just one of thousands that claim the name of Christ yet bear no real resemblance to the one who's name I claim to bear. Nonetheless there are certain times when God leads His followers places they are not sure they want to go.

Four years ago I had the privilege of going to Cambodia t see how we as a church could get involved in taking the gospel to a nation that is 98% unreached. Meaning they have never heard nor do they have access to the gospel. While there Chiv, my Cambodian brother in Christ was reunited with his family he hadn't seen in over thirty years since he escaped Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime.

He shared the Gospel with his family and they not only believed and surrendered to Christ but asked us to come share with their village. Since that time several hundred have come to Christ and three or four villages have come to the faith.

In the morning Mark and I will travel to Cambodia yet again to film all that God has done, to teach and disciple those who have come to the faith and train them to do likewise, and to go to some villages that have never heard the gospel and share with them the amazing message of Christ.

On the one hand I am excited who wouldn't be? On the other hand I am leaving my Wife and best friend and my three beautiful little boys! They are old enough to understand that daddy is gone. The older they get the heavier it weighs on my heart to leave them. To go around the world and into the jungles of Cambodia that is currently experiencing the worst floods in ten years. What if something were to happen to me? Who would take care of them? these thoughts can become haunting if I were to let them.

David Platt once said:
"We have the resources to get the gospel to difficult/dangerous to reach peoples. The question is, Do we have the resolve?"

The truth is God not only will but already does take care of my boys and Kim! Who am i to think that He needs me to get that job done. I want to raise my boys with the knowledge that taking the gospel to the lost is worth the risk! It comes at a sacrifice not only to me but to them as well. But that is a good thing! There are things that are more important in life and sharing Christ is one of those.

I John 3:16

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ lay down His Life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

So off I go! Please pray for the flooding to stop for safe travel for the gospel to be preached and received! Lives changed! Pray for protection and for the nation of Cambodia that in out life time they will become 98% Christians!

The major problem in every marriage: sin. The major solution for any marriage: a Savior.

I recently had the privilege of marrying one of my former youth to her now husband. Every time I preach a wedding I am reminded of the God who came and died in my place, to take away my sin, so I might have a restored relationship with God. A holy act! A divine intervention!

In today's day and age this symbolism of God and His pursuit of us has come under attack ever more increasingly. Even some of the men I know who feel called by God to be His ministers here on earth seem to be getting ever more caught up in the relativistic society in which we live and have exalted political correctness over holiness.

Homosexuality, polygamy and all sorts of other "Lifestyles" are becoming the norm and even entertainment for our so called reality shows. Trevin Wax writes about an interview that addresses the subject very well I think:

Host: You are a Christian pastor, and you say you believe the Bible, which means you are supposed to love all people.

Pastor: That’s right.

Host: But it appears to me that you and your church take a rather unloving position when it comes to gay people. Are homosexuals welcome to come to your church?

Pastor: Of course. We believe that the gospel is a message relevant for every person on the planet, and we want everyone to hear the gospel and find salvation in Jesus Christ. So at our church, our arms are outstretched to people from every background, every race, every ethnicity and culture. We’re a place for all kinds of sinners and people with all kinds of problems.

Host: But you said there, “We’re a place for sinners.” So you do believe that homosexuality is sinful, right?

Pastor: Yes, I do.

Host: So how do you reconcile the command to love all people with a position on homosexuality that some would say is radically intolerant?

Pastor: (smiling) If you think my position on homosexuality is radical, just wait until you hear what else I believe! I believe that a teenage guy and girl who have sex in the backseat of a pick-up are sinning. The unmarried heterosexual couple living down the street from me is sinning. In fact, any sexual activity that takes place outside of the marriage covenant between a husband and wife is sinful. What’s more, Jesus takes this sexual ethic a step further and goes to the heart of the matter. That means that any time I even lust after someone else, I am sinning. Jesus’ radical view of sexuality shows all of us up as sexual sinners, and that’s why He came to die. Jesus died to save lustful, homo- and heterosexual sinners and transform our hearts and minds and behavior. Because He died for me, I owe Him my all. And as a follower of Jesus, I’m bound to what He says about sex and morality.

Host: But Jesus didn’t condemn homosexuality outright, did He?

Pastor: He didn’t have to. He went to the heart issue and intensified the commands against immoral behavior in the Old Testament. So Jesus doesn’t just condemn adultery, for example, as does one of the Ten Commandments. Jesus condemns even the lust that leads to adultery, all with the purpose of offering us transformed hearts that begin beating in step with His radical demands.

Host: You say he condemned adultery, but he chose not to condemn the woman caught in adultery.

Pastor: That’s right, but He did tell her to “go and sin no more.”

Host: But who are you to condemn someone who doesn’t line up with your personal beliefs about sexuality?

Pastor: Who am I? No one. It’s not all that important what I think about these things. This conversation about homosexuality isn’t really about my personal beliefs. They’re about Jesus and what He says. I have no right to condemn or judge the world. That right belongs to Jesus. My hope is to follow Him faithfully. That means that whatever He says in regard to sexual practices is what I believe to be true, loving, and ultimately best for human flourishing – even when it seems out of step with the whims of contemporary culture.

Host: But you are judging. You are telling all the gay people watching this broadcast that they are sinners.

Pastor: I’m not singling out gay people. I’m pointing to Jesus as the answer to all sexual sinfulness.

Host: But you are referring to gay people. Why are you so focused on homosexuality?

Pastor: (smiling) With all due respect, you are the one who brought up this subject.

Host: Are you saying that you can’t be gay and Christian?

Pastor: No. I’m saying that you can’t be a genuine Christian without repentance. Everyone – including me – is guilty of sin, but Christianity hinges on repentance. We agree with God about our sin, and we turn from it and turn toward Jesus. When it comes to Christianity, this debate is not about homosexuality versus other sins. It’s about whether or not repentance is integral to the Christian life.

Host: But do you see why a homosexual watching this might think you are attacking them personally? You’re saying that something is wrong with them.

Pastor: I think Jesus’ teaching on sexuality shows us that there is something wrong with all of us – something that can only be fixed by what Jesus did for us on the cross and in His resurrection. That said, I understand why people might think I am attacking them personally. Most people with same-sex desires believe they were born with these tendencies. That’s why they often see their attraction as going to the very core of who they are, and so they identify themselves with the “gay” label. So whenever someone questions their behavior or desires, they take it as an attack on the very core of their being. That’s usually not the intent of the person who disagrees with homosexual behavior. But that’s the way it is perceived. I understand that.

Host: If it’s true that a person is born with one sexual orientation or another, then how can it possibly be loving to condemn one person’s orientation?

Pastor: Well, we really don’t know for certain about sexual attraction being innate and set from birth. All we have is the testimony of people who say that they’ve experienced same-sex desires since childhood. Christianity teaches that all people are born with a bent toward sin. It’s possible that some people will have a propensity toward alcohol abuse or angry outbursts, while others may have a propensity toward other sins. Regardless, Christians believe people are more than their sexual urges. We believe that human dignity is diminished whenever we define ourselves by sexual urges and behaviors. Consider this: married men are sometimes attracted to multiple women who are not their wives. Does this mean they should self-identify as polygamists? Not at all. And surely you wouldn’t consider it hateful for Christians to encourage married men not to act on their desires in an effort to remain faithful to their spouses. It is the Christian way, after all.

Host: No, but it still seems like you are telling people not to be true to who they are.

Pastor: It only seems that way because you believe sexual desire reflects the core of one’s identity. It would help if you and others who agree with you would understand that in your putting pressure on me to accept homosexual behavior as normal and virtuous, you are going to the very core of my identity as a follower of Jesus. The label most important to me is “Christian.” My identity – in Christ – is central to who I am. So I could say the same thing and call you intolerant, bigoted, and hateful for trying to change a conviction that goes to the core of who I am as a Christian. I don’t say that because I don’t believe that’s your intention. But neither should you think it’s my intention to attack a homosexual person or cause them harm merely because I disagree.

Host: But the problem is, your position fosters hate and encourages bullying.

Pastor: I recognize that some people have mistreated homosexuals in the past. It’s a shame that anyone anywhere would mock, taunt, or bully another human being made in God’s image. That said, I think we need to make one thing clear in regard to civil discourse: To differ is not to hate. I hope we can still have a real conversation in this country about different points of view without casting one another in the worst possible light. The idea that disagreeing with homosexual behavior necessarily results in harm to gay people is designed to shut down conversation and immediately rule one point of view (in this case, the Christian one) out of bounds. As a Christian, I am to love my neighbor and seek his good, even when I don’t see eye to eye with my neighbor. Furthermore, the picture of Christ on the cross dying for His enemies necessarily affects the way I think about this and other issues



For more on the subject you might want to visit http://www.facebook.com/#!/plattdavid as David Platt will be addressing this topic and more November 4th through his "Secret Church" simulcast.

For more from Trevin visit: http://trevinwax.com


As a final thought I leave you with the title of this Blog, the words of David Platt "The major problem in every marriage: sin. The major solution for any marriage: a Savior."

We had the wonderful privilege of taking our three sons camping this past weekend. It was incredible fun and the boys had a blast! It brought back so many memories from my childhood and teenage years, of times we camped in the Rockies when we were growing up. Then in Chile we would camp with a few close family friends. As a teenager I would go backpacking with my friends as often as we could. But somewhere over the past several years it has been something i have done very little of. We tried to take the boys once when we went to see my parents in New Mexico but Kim gets terrible altitude sickness and we ended up having to drive her out of the mountains and so the boys and I only stayed one night.

This time we went to Arkansas where the mountains are not as high and Kim wouldn't have to deal with the altitude. We got to spend four days on this trip and it was great! AS we walked some of the several trails in Petite Jean state park I was reminded why I love the outdoors and especially the mountains. With the combination of pine trees that dominate the smell of the air and the various oaks and elms amongst others changing colors for fall it stimulates the senses. Then there are the incredible rocks! Boulders the size of buses and even larger, plenty of things to climb. These are the memories I had from growing up and now my boys will too!

One of my favorite trails we took was the trail to "Bear Cave." this was my boys favorite part as well. The trail ends up at this huge rock formations. Boulders the size of houses piled on top of each other making towers that reach three to four stories high. Perfect for climbing! While I didn't take the boys all the way to the tops as it would have been far to difficult the teens that were with us did. The boys climbed for hours and could have climbed all day had we let them. AS we climbed I was reminded of Luke 19, where Jesus responds to the Pharisees when they ask him to quiet the people who were praising him and throwing palm branches down as he entered Jerusalem. Jesus responds in verse 40 saying:

“I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!”

Walking thorough Gods creation. One is reminded of His glory revealed! His Majesty! as if God placed these stones here to build a playground for His children to play on and remember how much He loves us! To drive us to praise Him.

Thank You God for your splendor and your creation. You are truly an amazing God!

Disciplship II

In my last post I talked about discipleship and how we as a church were going through a process of evaluating what we were doing as a church, what was effective and what was not. The conclusion I came too was pretty much summed up in the following statement.

“Quantity cannot replace quality. It wasn't most of Jesus metaphors and teaching that got across to the twelve, in fact most of the time they didn't understand what He was saying. It was the walking with Him in good and bad, everyday life stuff where Jesus rubbed off on them. Time and the Holy Spirit are the key. Maybe we would be better served to make sure the things we are doing are Spirit filled and lead and that we are giving them the time and effort before we go throw other things on the plate.”

I wanted to make sure and clarify what I meant by that statement so that there is no confusion.

Many times as Christians and ministers we are always looking for the next best thing, what is working best in other churches and then implementing the same in our situations? The problem with that is that it often leads us to another program that will most likely not change our current need of Spiritual nourishment. True discipleship doesn't come from a program it comes from the Holy Spirit’s work in us and through us! That doesn't mean that programs in and of themselves are bad or are not used by God to help the discipleship process. Rather it is a matter of what is our focus. We would be better served to seek God’s direction in what works best for our ministry scenario in where God has us serving. Than to imitate something that has worked somewhere else.

One of the great things about what the Navigators have been walking us through as a church (although it can seem somewhat tedious at times) is that rather than just coming in and implementing a program they have lead us to take the time to really seek God. To evaluate what we are doing that is working and what we are doing that is not working. Will we be implementing new processes as our new discipleship plan for our church unfolds? Of course we will! Some things won’t change. Some new things will be implemented. But none of those things will remain or be implemented just because they have worked before or somewhere else. It will be because we have sought God! We have gone through a lengthy evaluation process. So whether it be Sunday school, small groups, triads or quads, bible studies or prayer groups it won’t just be a cafeteria of options for people to pick and choose. It won’t be a program implemented just because it has worked somewhere else. No it will be a deliberate effort of the local body of Christ who has spent months praying and seeking God’s desires for this local body.

Hopefully every ministry opportunity, every fellowship group or study group, every time we come together as a church it will be intentional God lead and orchestrated times where we grow together. Where our members are not coming because it is the next thing on the list, rather because people are meeting Christ and growing in the faith. Or in keeping with the theme of the previous blog everything we do has great quality and brings nourishment to the soul!

As I sat there in our meeting I couldn't help but get excited because as I heard people speak I wasn't just hearing that we were adding more quantity to the things we were doing. I was hearing quality as I heard the testimonies of members who’s lives were already being changed by some of the things that this discipleship process has brought about!

Discipleship?

As God continues to fulfill the vision he lead our church too in regards to Cambodia and our adopting the Khmer people, many challenges have come our way! These challenges have been some of the best things that have ever happened to me spiritually speaking in that I have had to do some real soul searching, and relying on God! I have been stretched in ways I would have never even come close too and headed in directions that would have never even been on my radar otherwise.

One of the many unexpected challenges has been the overwhelming power of God moving and bringing the lost to Himself at a rate that quite frankly we were neither anticipating nor prepared for! To be quite honest I was prepared for the most difficult part of reaching an unreached people group to be the communication of the gospel in ways they would understand and receive. How foolish of me, God from the outset brought Chiv my Cambodian brother on the scene and every time he opens his mouth in Cambodia masses are getting saved! What has been a challenge however has been how to disciple these new converts. The great commission calls us not just to save people rather to teach them in the way that they should go. This is rather difficult when you are oceans apart. In this too God is stretching us and proving that He is God and He is in control. He will not abandon those who pursue Him!

An unexpected result of our efforts in Cambodia has been that we have recognized that we need to re-evaluate our discipling efforts at home. Are we intentional enough? Do we have appropriate ways in which our members are being disciples and discipling? This has lead us into an 18-24 month process that is still in the works where we have brought in the Navigators and we are looking at out church with a "fine toothed comb" to see where we are effective, where we are anemic and what we need to do to be better disciples who are discipling. In fact just last night I was in a meeting where updates on the process were being given and several testimonies were shared. And while God is doing amazing things I have to admit that my mind wondered as people were sharing. It wondered back to Cambodia. To all the weird things we ate. Yes, I know my mind is a wild and out of control monster of it's own but bear with me.

In Cambodia we ate some weird stuff, stuff I don't even want to know what it was! Just like the first pic above of my friend Mark that was with me you can see the fish head and yes that is an eye that he was about to eat! Many of the things we ate had little to no nutritional value what so ever and so it begged the question why we were eating it in the first place? Somewhere along the way I realized that during the Khmer Rouge Regime while Cambodia's people were in concentration camps and labor fields being starved to death. They learned to eat anything! Bugs, plants, anything! Many times they were forced to make soup because they didn't have enough rice so they would have a bowl of soup with about 5 or 6 grains of rice and in order to give it sustenance or flavor they would come up with anything to try and get protein or break the mundane. The more stuff and the more variety the better they could forget the fact that the were indeed starving to death.

In much the same way, we as Christians erroneously tend to think of discipleship. The more things we throw into the "pot" there better it will be. Sunday school, small group, accountability group, triad or quad, mid week bible study, prayer meetings and the list goes on and on. Don't get me wrong none of these things are bad in and of themselves. And most of these can be used as tools for discipleship. However it is not as simple as the more you are involved in the better the discipleship. Quantity cannot replace quality. It wasn't most of Jesus metaphors and teaching that got across to the twelve, in fact most of the time they didn't understand what He was saying. it was the walking with Him in good and bad, everyday life stuff where Jesus rubbed off on them. Time and the Holy Spirit are the key. Maybe we would be better served to make sure the things we are doing are Spirit filled and lead and theat we are giving them the time and effort before we go throw other things on the plate. More things might make us feel liek we are getting full but that doesnt mean we are getting healthy nurishment taht we truely need!

AS for Cambodia, I am getting ready to go back in a few weeks and thank God Mark is going with me so he can eat the gross stuff for me!

Definition of AMBIGUOUS

1a : doubtful or uncertain especially from obscurity or indistinctness b : inexplicable

2: capable of being understood in two or more possible senses or ways

— am•big•u•ous•ly adverb
— am•big•u•ous•ness noun

I’m sure you are wondering what I have to say about the word ambiguous or how in the world it pertains to the image above and let me assure you I will address both throughout this blog. However let me forewarn you that this like most of my posts might get a little lengthy, so you might want to wait until you have the time to read through my thoughts and look through the window that is my brain and the way I process things.

Let me begin by telling you a true story that happened just a few weeks ago.

As many of you know, our church has adopted the Khmer people, by adopted I mean that we have committed to pray and find effective ways to impact the largest people group that live in the nation of Cambodia Today. As a people group they are 98% unreached, meaning that 98% have never heard of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Four years ago I and two others went to explore ways in which we could do just such a task. One of those who went with us was a Cambodian named Chiv who has sense become one of our associate pastors. While we were there he was reunite with his family that he hadn’t seen in thirty years since he escaped the Khmer Rouge regime and ended up in the U.S. While being reunited he was able to lead his family to the Lord. The last thing they asked as we left was when we would come back and tell their village about the real God. So one year later we sent a team back and while there they preached the simple gospel and almost all of the village of O-Khmom gave their lives to the Lord. Six months later we sent another team to encourage these new converts and check up on a process of discipleship we had left in place with four Christians we were supporting to go and follow up with every convert. While there our team heard that a neighboring village had heard of the way that O-Khmom had been sharing everything and how they were being blessed and wanted our team to go share about this God that had brought so much change to their neighbors lives so that is exactly what we did and most of them converted as well. Since that time more are being added to their numbers consistently.

A few weeks ago, one of the women from O-Khmom was out in the fields harvesting when she was overcome with a sense of fear so she left the two gentlemen she was working with and went a little ways away and knelt to pray that God would deliver her from this fear. While she was praying the truck that they were throwing their harvest into drove over a land mine that had been left from the 70s when the Khmer Rouge was retreating and had been unearthed since then by the rains. Even though this field had been cleaned of mines this one had been buried to deep and had just now come to the surface. As the mine exploded under the truck destroying the vehicle miraculously the lives of the two gentlemen were spared by God and both of them were left with minor injuries and the woman who had been praying thanked God. As the governmental officials from the demining department came to report on the matter as they have too for every incident the woman told them the story as it happened so they wrote it as such and the report went all the way to the capital and was filed as a “mine that had gone off but none were injured as they had been protected by God!”

What a story! In fact God has been challenging me as of late with what HE has been doing in Cambodia through our churches going through the book “Radical” by David Platt and many other things as of late.

Revival is something I think we would all say that we desire as Christians. But what is it that marks revival. What is it that we tend to look for as signs that revival is happening? For the past year many of the students in our ministry here and some of my former students have been praying and fasting that God would begin a revival on their school and university campuses. In many ways I have encouraged them to be doing this for the past several years. I am happy to say that many of them are beginning to see God move on their campuses and with that move of God have come various questions that have been directed my way. I have tried my best to field those questions and in many ways they have caused me to question. What are the real markers or indicators of a genuine God breathed revival? Not one of those weeks we as churches like to plan and cal a revival, no I mean a genuine God breathed spontaneous revival that is contagious and spreads. And after such a revival breaks out what should our focus be then? What are we to do following an out pouring of God’s Spirit?

Well I think a good place to start is the first outpouring of the Spirit in Acts chapter two. Here we see the disciples closed up in the upper room and the Holy Spirit came upon them, there was a wind, tongues of fire and they rested on each one of them. They were filled with the Spirit and each of them began speaking in tongues as the Spirit was giving to each of them. We see Peter quote the prophecy that was given in Joel chapter two that alludes to prophecies, visions, dreams, signs and wonders. Finally we see that the Lord added to their numbers.

For most of us and in modern church history these are the things we look for as markers that a great revival has broken out! That God has moved! And I must confess that in many ways I have believed and sought the same when looking for revival.

However, I must confess that the older I get in my faith and the longer I serve in ministry, that I think we as the church are missing the boat when it comes to defining and seeking revival from the Lord.

Let’s look again at Acts chapter two. What are the real focuses of this chapter that we should be looking at.

First, the disciples were in the upper room. Does revival necessitate us separating and spending countless hours together with other believers in order to see a move of God? Is that the point we should draw from this? I’m not sure that it is. I’m not saying that retreating and spending time seeking God is a bad thing, but is it necessary to see a move of God? What we should really draw from this is that the Disciples were being obedient to God’s command. They were there because God had told them to go and wait. Time and seclusion seem to have no real bearing here rather obedience is the real key that can easily be missed. Note Acts chapter eight where God calls Phillip to go and it is because of Phillip’s obedience that the Ethiopian gets saved. Some might not see this as a revival but think about it. Here is a man from Ethiopia that has a portion of scripture which is miraculous in and of itself seeing as how the printing press had not been invented and the Jews were so cautious with their caring for the propagation and care of the scrolls. He is from Africa not Egypt, rather Ethiopia, not a neighboring country with Egypt but farther south. Yet here he is and God brings the two of them together and this man gets saved and goes home to share the gospel with an unreached nation. I would say there is a revival in this story wouldn’t you?

Secondly we see the Spirit move upon the disciples through a wind and fire and giving them a gift of tongues. Now there are varying theologies on when the Holy Spirit comes upon Christians today as to whether we receive the Holy Spirit when we get saved and the Disciples did at a later time because Christ had to ascend before he sent the Holy Spirit. But for me this isn’t the focus of this part of Scripture. What we should be asking is not when and how but why? The focus here is not the wind the fire the tongues it is that every man “heard in their own language the Mighty deeds of God and they continued in amazement.” (v. 7-12)

Third, Peter quotes the prophecy of Joel about visions, dreams signs and wonders. Is the point we should take from this that if we are full of the spirit that we should all prophecy, dream dreams, and have visions? Well if we make that general of an assumption that a move of God is always evidenced by such things then we must also say that revivals should be accompanied by blood, fire, vapors of smoke the sun going dark and the moon turning to blood shouldn’t we? I would suggest that here too we need to look deeper. Peter deeper intent here is to point out to the Judean and Jerusalem Jews that God fulfills His word. In many ways this could be seen as a reproach that these men who should know the word don’t know it well enough to see its fulfillment. Indeed as we find out later much of Joel’s prophecy is yet to be fulfilled as most of it is referring to the end times and matches up with the prophecies of Revelation. This is rather a call to know Gods word and apply it to life. True revival is the living out of God’s word more than it is the mysterious and flamboyant manifestations as mentioned earlier when talking about the tongues of fire.

Finally, we see that God was adding to their numbers daily. This is what most of us attribute to revival and a genuine move of God. Numbers! This is probably the easiest in my opinion for us to miss the point, probably because it is a very subtle thing but of utmost importance. God wasn’t adding to their number daily! He was adding to their number daily THOSE WHO WERE BEING SAVED! Many a church has had huge growth numbers and it has been said of them that they have experienced a revival. But the key point here isn’t the numbers, it is that people were being saved. Pula would go on to define this as people were being made into “new creations” people were dyeing to themselves and being remade into the image of Christ! Just as there were always multitudes following Christ when He was healing and manifesting Gods power in miraculous ways only to abandon Him when He was crucified. Many a church or supposed revival movement has gained momentum and people have come from far and wide when signs and wonders were being manifest but as soon as the miraculous or supernatural is gone the wean away.

A true indicator of God breathed revival is that it is followed by Spiritual Awakening. In fact most people confuse revival with the later. True revival isn’t about the manifestations of the Spirit, it is about man having a “re-birth” In other words it is about the Christian coming to the end of himself, remembering that he is in desperate need of God’s grace and that his sanctification comes in, through and by God alone. True revival is about repentance, submission to obedience. Biblically based living and acknowledging God’s Holiness and absolute power and glory not because of Him manifesting Himself through gifts or for what HE has done but for Who He is in His essence! Holy! Omnipotent God! He is who He says HE is! He is Who He says He was! He will do what He says He will do!

When believers are reminded of these things then it leads us to revival. It leads us to coming to the end of ourselves. Not to a place where we take the Holy Spirit and His gifts as God giving Himself to us to wield at our whims. No, true revival is us giving ourselves to God to wield as HE chooses regardless of the outcome.

We Christians, as humans, if we are not careful have the tendency to take this God and try to make His purposes fulfill our own. We say things like it is Gods desire to empower you! God longs to impart His gifts to You! And if we are not careful the focus becomes YOU! But these statements are simply not true. Real revival is not God coming to you and empowering you to do a good work for His kingdom at all! HE does not impart the Spiritual gifts to us so we can be empowered to do the work for God. Real revival is us coming to a place where we remember that God called us to die to ourselves. That each and every day we are to take up our cross, to die to ourselves all over again, and that it is not us that live rather that we be a vessel through which Christ lives in us. Notice who the signs and wonders were intended for in Acts two. It wasn’t for the Jews who had already received revelation and choose to reject it. It was for the lost. We should not need manifestations of the Spirit to draw nearer to God, to be more empowered for God, as Paul says the mysteries of the gospel have already been made clear to us. True revival isn’t about us at all. It is us coming to the end of ourselves so that God can do what HE wants in and through us so that He can manifest Himself to the lost and dying world around us.

Already in the first century church we see Paul having to address this in the church in Corinth as they had become enamored with the gifts of the Spirit rather than the why He was imparting them. We see this in I Corinthians 12-14 Notice what he follows up his discussions about the gifts of the Spirit with in chapter 15. Here we see Paul remind the believers in Corinth of the importance of the resurrection. That is, He points to the gospel and reminds them what it is all about.

In Jesus’ own words in John 15:26 he tells us “the Spirit of Truth…will bear witness of Me.” He then goes on to say that we “will bear witness” of Him as well.

In revival we are reminded of Who He is and who we are not! We are reminded to die to ourselves! Spiritual awakening follows true revival as the Spirit makes Christ known in and through us! Thus the attention in revival and spiritual awakening, in the impartation of the Spirit and use of the gifts is always to point to Christ not to draw attention to the Spirit or the gift.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this discourse, the photo at the beginning of this post causes me to think of revival in that these fish had just come up out of a river in Cambodia that we were about to take a boat down to get some footage. All these fish are dead and are being laid out become a sun dried fish jerky. It is in the fish’s death that life and sustenance are brought to those who are nourished by eating them. In the same way when we die to ourselves God takes us and uses us to bring life to those who are in need of a savior around us. This photo also reminds me of the story of the fish and loaves of bread. Just a few fish and loaves of bread were used by God to feed thousands. The key there isn’t that there were thousands it is that all who were hungry were fed. In the same way revival and spiritual awakening doesn’t require numbers to be a move of God it doesn’t require manifestations that blow our minds. True revival and Spiritual awakening are about us dying so that others may live the same way Christ did for us. In revival God uses us to bring life to others and point them to Christ. I have seen this first hand in Cambodia. Nothing fancy, nothing special about our church or the way in which we have done ministry. In fact we really haven’t done anything at all! Just a simple presentation of the gospel to Chiv’s sister, no grand manifestations or need of demonstrative gifts, and yet three years later hundreds have come to be saved! There is nothing ambiguous about what God is doing there. No doctrinal conundrums, just people coming to recognize Who God is and surrendering to Him as their Lord and God is adding to their number THOSE WHO ARE BEING SAVED!

The Best Gift This Year

The best gift this Christmas was having all my boys old enough to not only be in the Christmas Eve service but have them be old enough to understand exactly what was going on. While Max and Josh used to be so afraid of going on stage this year they had no problem being donkeys in our nativity account and Tate made for a fine Wise man.

At our church Richard sits in a red rocking chair on stage and tells the Christmas story and in between each part of the story we sing a Carol. Each child as we enter the church picks who they want to be and put on a head dress (or ears if they are an animal). Then when it is time for them to come on the scene they go up on stage. This year the stage was full!

After we go through the story of the nativity we take communion. This was our first time to have all three in the service with us and this year Tate had asked Jesus to be the boss of his life earlier in the year so he was going to get to take the Lords supper with us. It was the best part of my Christmas getting to explain to him what the bread symbolized and what the juice represented. To hear him ask why Jesus had to die and why he had to bleed was truly a moment I will never forget! The simplicity of a four year old agonizing over the fact that Jesus had to bleed and die for his sins was so simply warming and heart wrenching all at the same time.

We finished the service with a candle lighting as we had just celebrated in Christs birth through the nativity story. His death through Communion and now his Resurrection and life in each of us and through us to the world as we are commanded to be the light to the world.

After it was all said and done I got to visit several of our members. All of them are like family to us. One of the people we got to visit with was a former youth of ours. As he and his wife were in town to visit with family for the holidays they had brought an international student from the university campus where he studies and his wife works. They had invited this young lady from China and as she sat through the service the grace of our Lord descended upon her and her eyes were opened to the Gospel and she received Christ as her savior!

It doesn't get any better than that!

Trendy?

First of all let me just say that this pic is not being posted for artistic or photographic qualities what so ever! This is a cell phone pic that wasn’t even taken by me. I saw something similar to this but was too disgusted and embarrassed to take out the iphone and snap a shot so I came back and googled to find this pic.

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The reason for posting this “mess “on my blog, is for the content. While I am sure that this young lady, at least I hope, was unaware that she was making a fool of herself, and not just trying to be trendy, today this is indeed a trend that is growing. Indeed when I googled low rise or sagging jeans the amount of modeling or advertisement adds outweighed the real pics like this one at least 10 to 1.
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It is amazing what is trendy today!

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I recently picked up a book titled “Radical, taking back your faith from the American dream” by David Platt. IT is an easy read but an incredibly convicting and insightful one as well. In it David Platt challenges us to begin to rediscover the gospel and center focus of Biblical Christianity vs. our American version of it. It is amazing how much the church in the U.S. and yes, I have allowed myself centered Americanized culture to influence how I live out my life and my Christianity
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Case in point…

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I have become a huge Rangers fan this year. Not just because they are winning. Rather I became interested when they declared bankruptcy and had a change in ownership that involved a lawsuit, an auction and months worth of “dirty laundry’ aired for the world to see.
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Well now that they are in the playoffs and one win away from going to the World Series many more have become or at least begun to express their support of the Rangers. I must admit, I have watched every game at home in HD with the surround sound blaring and even converted Kim to where she is sitting down watching the games with me and she is even screaming at the umpires with me when bad calls are made.

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Even as diehard of fans as we have become I have seen some facebook posts recently from friends that have caused me to take pause. Below are a couple of versions I have seen this week.
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Our Cliff Lee, who art in Texas, hallowed be thy name. Thy win will come, thy will be done, in New York as it is in Texas. Give us this Monday our daily win. And give us our strikes and home runs, but do not let others strike and home run against us. And Lead us not into frustration, but deliver us from evil Yankee Empire. For thine is the MVP, the power and the glory, for ever and ever

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Or
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Our Rangers, who art in Texas, winners be thy name. The Yanks will come, they will be done, in New York as they will be in Texas. Give us this week a series win, and forgive us our bullpen loss as we cause losses upon their bullpen. Lead us not into theoffseason, but deliver us a Championship title. For the Rangers are the swingdom, t...he claw, and the antlers forever. It's time! AMEN!!!!!from Kathryn Hardaway
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Now please do not misunderstand what I am about to say. I am not saying that the individuals who are posting this are heathens! Rather, that in all my fan craze that I have been going through myself is there a line where that craze can go too far? Is there a place where the line between our Christianity and our version of it is so close or in tune with the life we live or culture we live in that the two can blur and cross into each other with such ease that we don’t skip a beat?

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Let’s consider for a second what the quotes are spoofing.
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Our Father Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.

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These words have become so commonplace for us that we can rattle them off by memory. They are so familiar we do not pause to think about the meaning of those words hardly at all. We neglect the verse just tow before these that states we should “not use meaningless repetition.” In the original language the passage here in Matthew really states that we should not use “idle” words or “babble.” No instead Christ suggests that when we pray we should be very intentional with our affections and praise.
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To one of the facebook posts one person replied, “--God probably has a hand in the Rangers winning--I'm sure there have been prayers lifted up for them, right? : )”

Now I am sure this was a comment made not as a statement of belief rather as one intended for humor.

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But that is just it. We have trivialized the gospel down to that. Jesus died for us; prayers to God are for Him to provide for our needs and our whims. There are 6,783,421,727 people in the world today. According to the most liberal estimates, approximately one-third of the world is Christian. These numbers include all those who identify themselves as Christian, whether religiously, socially or politically. Likely, not all of them are actually followers of Christ. But even if they were that still leaves 4.5 billion people who are separated from God and will spend eternity in hell if nothing changes.
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CHRIST DOESN”T CARE ABOUT THE RANGERS!

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He is about His Fathers Glory! About His Fathers Will manifest in the earth! HE dares to ask for His daily need not desire. Remember this is the Christ who is a shepherd that would leave the flock for the one that was lost! He didn’t die so you could become “a better you” so that if you planted a seed he could bless you tenfold! He came to invest in Twelve lowly men and then left the salvation of the world in their hands commanding that they go and follow His example and carry on His legacy by living as he would. Even more than that by dyeing to themselves and allowing His Holy Spirit to transform them and move through them.
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Not so we could take His examples and make them cliché phrases to exalt our American pass time. A bunch of guys throwing and hitting a ball for a game.

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Am I a fan of the Rangers? You bet! Will I watch their games? You bet! Will I cheer for them? You bet! And enjoy every minute of it.
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Will I be so bold as to take what I consider to be words of my God and an example of what is truly important and minimize them to nothing more than a catch phrase that I will use for a meaningless pass time in lieu of the hundreds of thousands who have lived out those words and have been martyred for believing in them strongly enough to try and see them realized in their countries and cultures?

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I choose not too!
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Trendy, What is it really and is it worth getting caught up in? I think naught, after all “I wouldn’t want to get caught with my pants down.”

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Now there is a catch phrase for ya!

What Do You See?

When you look at this man what do you see? Do you see his white hair? His plaid wrap? His Smile? Does this image cause you to question his age? How someone his age can still have his muscle tone? How on earth does he have the flexibility to be able to sit on his heals? How can he smile while sitting on his heals?

I took this shot while I was in Cambodia. A couple of friends and brothers in Christ were in Cambodia with me trying to explore the possibilities of our church getting involved in spreading the gospel in a nation where only 2% of the population claim to know Christ and 71.4 % of the people groups in the nation have literally never heard the Gospel nor do they have access to it.

During our trip we were filming a documentary of sorts and traveling all over the country. This particular shot was taken one afternoon as we were traveling from Phnom Penh, the capital, on a six hour drive to Siem Reap. We had been driving for a while and had just come out of a typical afternoon rain shower which had cleaned the air and what was left of the clouds was filtering the light of the sun perfectly making it perfect for picture taking and right there was this small village off of the road.

We immediately asked the driver to stop the car and off we went just trying to catch a glimpse of real ordinary Cambodian life. After all that is what we had set out to do. We weren't as interested in the normal tourist spots as much as the real everyday life of the people. So off we went hiking down the small dirt path you see coming out of the right of the picture. Carrying our cameras and equipment along with some bread (a nice commodity we had brought with us to hand out as a gift.) I can only imagine the sight as these people who had most likely never seen Americans before watched as these two tall white men came walking down their path into there little village of seven huts built on stilts. This was definitely not on the tourist track and I'm sure they were as intrigued by us as we were of their living conditions. Indeed, for us it felt much like it would if you were with National Geographic out in the jungles filming some documentary of this people group discovering their way of life for the first time.

It was quite exhilarating! After asking if we could take some pictures and giving out the bread Chiv our Cambodian brother began sharing the gospel while Mark and I began taking shots. Soon after we began taking pictures the old man in the first pic of this post came to the threshold of his little one room hut. His was the biggest hut right in the middle of the little village.

I imagine that this village was an entire extended family and that this must have been the patriarch of the family. As we took pictures he just sat there on his heals in his door and watched us without saying a word. He quickly caught my eye and eventually the eye of Mark as well and before to long we were both taking pictures of him in his doorway as he smiled back at us. Usually the kids and people are tickled to see pictures of themselves after we take them and show them in the little LCD displays of our digital SLR's but this man was content to just sit there and let us take his picture for a good thirty minutes to an hour all the while just smiling. Which as we would discover later is not customary for Cambodian culture. In fact when most Cambodians are having a picture of them taken it is customary to look serious. While here in the U.S. we tend to smile, in Cambodia they do just the opposite. So for this man to smile for us most likely meant that he had never been photographed before.

So back to my original questions.

When you look at this man what do you see? Do you see his white hair? His plaid wrap? His Smile? Does this image cause you to question his age? How someone his age can still have his muscle tone? How on earth does he have the flexibility to be able to sit on his heals? How can he smile while sitting on his heals? Or do you see a precious loved one of God, who has never heard the name of Jesus. One who has never known the hope that only the true gospel of the Bible can bring. Do you see one of more than a billion people today who have yet to hear the gospel? Does he cause you to reflect on the gospel you believe in? Suddenly catch phrases like "You do your best and God will do the rest" or "just plant a seed and God will return it ten fold" don't seem to matter much. The color of our churches carpet seem to lose their meaning. What style of music is played and whether or not it is to our liking as we "worship" God seem to become petty.

No, when you look into the eyes of a man that survived the single largest genocide since the holocaust of WWII, a man whose next meal depends on how his crops did that year, a man who has never know electricity or plumbing, who most likely owns the single pair of pants he is wearing, the gospel that the American church has created just wont do. For this man one must return to the true gospel of the Bible. The gospel of Luke 9 or Mark 10 or Matthew 13.

I began this post with a series of questions and will end it with a few more.

Are you willing to risk it all for the gospel? For people like this man? For the sake of the more than one billion people today who have yet to hear the gospel? For the sake of the twenty-six thousand children who will die today of starvation or a preventable disease? For the sake of a church subculture that has trivialized and changed the gospel into one of their liking?

I would like to think that I am

A Change in Perspective

This year sending our boys back to school was a pleasant experience. Last year we had to move Max from the private christian school that the church that I work at runs to public school. Max was going into first grade and Joshua was entering Kinder. Kim and I wrestled all summer to try and find ways we could afford to send them both to our private school but ultimately there was just no way. So last years first day of school was a huge leap of faith for us along with the normal separation anxiety that usually accompanies the first time you send your kids to school. We knew Max had a great year in kinder and had heard about Jesus and we were not sure how the whole public school thing would end up. We struggled with the decision of what to do and as we grew more unsettled Kim even toyed with the idea of homeschooling. Then one day while the grandparents were visiting, or we were visiting there, I can't remember which, my father said something in passing to us as we were talking about it.

Now I need to pause here and say something about my dad. My dad is a man of very few words and always has been, but for as long as I can remember when dad said something you had better listen. When we were younger it was often because we were acting up and we were only going to get one warning. The older I have become the more I realized that while dad seldom speaks, when he does it usually carries an incredible amount of wisdom behind it.

Anyways, I don't know if dad had really thought it through, or whether he was just thinking out loud, but either way, he said "you know, if all the Christians and christian teachers just went too and taught in christian schools, then who would be there to be an example of Christ to the world?" or something to that effect. Now for the rest of the room that might not have resonated like it did for me, however for me, it was intimately profound and I think God was using my father to speak directly to me.



Now fast forward to yesterday. Yesterday we took Max and Joshua to their first day back at school. This year was completely different. Max remembered his teacher he has this year from the interactions he had with her last year and when he found out she was his teacher he literally jumped for joy. Joshua loved his teacher as well. Neither of them had any apprehensions about going back to school, well except for Joshua who wasn't to sure about his teachers choice to sit them boy-girl-boy-girl. Both of them ended up with Christian teachers again this year. Both teachers recognized the Dietz name and were eager to meet our boys and us because of the reputation the Dietz boys had as good students and who's parents were supportive and people they could rely on. Joshua's teacher even asked "Now you are the pastor, right?" to which when we replied yes, she said "awesome!"




God is good! He has taken care of our boys yet again with awesome teachers! He has used them through their relationships with friends at school to create relationships between us and their parents that Kim and I are praying, allow us to reveal the love of Christ and as 1 Peter says "the reason for the hope that we have..." one of Joshua's classmates from last year and again this year is from Argentina so we have an instant connection because of my background. Another family that has boys both Max and Joshua's ages, well there mom is from Chile where I grew up.

God has changed my perspective and I am so happy my boys are in public school. It has helped ease my worries that God become so institutionalized with their father working at a church. It has already given us the opportunity to teach through life lessons that we need to not just Love God but Love people and that they might be the only Jesus their friends see. To watch them internalize that and take that challenge on already has been amazing! God knows what He is doing all the time even when we don't see it that way!

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P.S. Today was Tate's first day of preschool and yesterday was his first time to go to the big boy potty and #2 completely on his own without having to be asked! Now that is Miraculous!