LifeChange

Warmed By The Fire vs Consumed By The Fire

This past Sunday we looked at U2's song When Love Comes To Town.  It's a powerful song about the power of God's love in Bono's life and how it transformed and rescued him.  He describes love coming to town and how he 'jumped that train' and 'caught that flame.'  The flame reference he's making is in regards to Hebrews 12:29 where it says God is a consuming fire.

One of the challenges we face in the church today is that there are a lot of people that hang out around church and God but never fully commit themselves.  They come in enough to get warmed by the fire but they never let it consume them.  There's a lot of reasons people like to hang out around church:  friendly people, a place to belong, motivational boost for their week, something to do, place to meet others like themselves, etc.  These are great reasons for people to first come to church, but if they become the reason they keep coming back week after week then something is wrong. 

The danger is people that are hanging out being warmed by the fire often times think they are living for God... when in reality they're just receiving some of the limited benefits of being close to those that are consumed by God.  There is a much greater level of commitment that God demands from.  He doesn't just want a bunch of groupies that hang out when it's convenient for them.  He wants people that are fully committed to living their lives for Him, no matter what the cost.  He wants a people that are consumed by His fire.

Where are you with God?  Are you just warmed by the fire of God or have you given yourself fully to Him?

New Life Church T-shirts!

Be sure to join us this Sunday at Life Church as we'll begin taking orders for our new t-shirts.  The front of the shirt will look like this:

We are giving people some options this time on the type of shirt and what it will look like:
1) Colors - Cardinal Red, Charcoal, Kelly Green, Royal Blue, Purple (all printing is in white)
2) We're also offering a lighter weight shirt with slightly tapered neck and shoulders (similar to what you would see at an Old Navy), and a normal heavier weight t-shirt quality material.

We'll be taking orders this Sunday and next.  Cost is $10 for one shirt or $15 for two.

See more details on this order form (pdf file).  Cointact me if you want a shirt.

Adoption Grants We've Applied For

Over the last several months as we've been waiting for our paperwork to be processed in Rwanda we've spent our time working on different fund-raising ideas.  One area we've focused our time is on adoption grants.  With me being on a pastor's salary (which isn't much if you are curious) we thought our chances of getting a grant would be pretty good... so far that hasn't been the case.  However, we continue to try.  Here is a list of the grants we've applied for so far:

• LifeSong
• Nat'l Adoption Foundation
• The Cadman Foundation
• God's Grace Adoption Ministry
• International Care, Inc. (not sure this group is still active as our app. was returned to sender)
• The ABBA Fund
• Show HOPE (used to be Shaohannah's Hope)

We also have one more we're going to apply for at Katelyn's Fund.

From personal experience our recommendation would be to spend your time and efforts on other sources of raising support unless you are in an extremely difficult financial position or you are adopting a special needs child. 

Any adoptive families know of other adoption grants we should look in to?

Spiritual Supplements vs. Substitutes

In our western world we have a true advantage in our spiritual life - the countless resources available to us to supplement and enhance our walk with God.  There has never been a time in history where so many quality teachings and resources have been available to the people of God.  Think about what's out there:  books, music, computer programs, DVDs, studies, religious content on the TV, podcasts, online church services, and most churches in the country now make their weekend services available via audio and/or video!  As a Christian today, you have access to an almost unlimited number of high-quality resources that can supplement your spiritual life!

However, I think there's a downside to the above.  Think for a moment about dietary supplements.  Every day I take a multi-vitamin to keep me healthy.  It covers any vitamins I may not have adequately consumed during the day while giving me an extra boost of vitamins that my body can use extra of.  Some people take other supplements such as protein, vitamin C, folic acid, iron, etc.  I would NEVER entertain the idea of taking ONLY my multi-vitamin and stop eating food.  That would be ABSURD... and eventually I'd DIE!

However, this is the exact thing I see many Christians doing today in our culture.  They take the tremendous resources we have available to us that are intended to SUPPLEMENT our walk with God, and instead use them as SUBSTITUTES for their ONE-ON-ONE time with God.  This is just as absurd as doing it with dietary supplements.  We need time directly with God in prayer, worship, Bible study, and quiet meditation.  One word from God in our one-on-one time with Him is worth 20 Christian books, sermons or studies by even the greatest teachers!

I write about this from personal experience.  I've fallen victim to this in my own life.  How about you?  Is this something you've wrestled with?

Video: A Thousand Questions

Several people have asked for a copy of the video I showed today in my message.  Here it is.  Thanks to the creative team at Willow Creek for putting together this outstanding message on God's love and our role in what's happening in the world.

Town Hall For Hope - this Thursday

Thursday night, April 23rd, at 8PM ET Dave Ramsey is broadcasting a FREE event called Town Hall For Hope.  It's 90 minutes long and Dave is going to talk about our economy for about 30 minutes and then he's going to take live questions for the rest of the time.  The goal is to provide people hope in these difficult economic times and also to combat a lot of the fear and false information floating around out there.  Dave's an amazing and entertaining communicator... it will be a great time.  You can find where it is being hosted by going to this website and type in your zip code.

Here's a video where Dave explains what it's about.

Ordinary Guys With Everyday Struggles

As I continue reading through the Bible I found today myself spending time in Luke.  I read several passages about Jesus' interaction with His disciples and I was surprised at how easily I can relate with some of the things they did.  It struck me just how ordinary these guys were.  I could relate with every one of their struggles in just these few scenes.  See if you can relate to any of these:

• Arrogant, thinking they have something to offer God and end up saying something stupid in the process  Luke 9:33
• Failing, not able to do what they should be capable of  Luke 9:40
• Clueless, they just didn't get it  Luke 9:45
• Distracted, off mission, going in the wrong direction and losing their focus on God  Luke 9:46
• Emotional, acting on impulse, getting angry and acting without thinking  Luke 9:54-55

I can relate to every single one of the above... and this is just what happened in part of chapter 9!  It blows my mind to think that Jesus chose these guys to spread His message and build the church on.  Surely He could have done better, found people more qualified, more mature, stronger in their faith. 

No... He choose 12 ordinary guys, with their faults, struggles, issues and shortcomings.  He obviously must have known what He was doing... Christ' church began and has changed our world more than any other force in the last 2,000 years. 

This gives me hope.  I'm just like those 12 guys.  It seems I sometimes fail more then I succeed.  I think more of myself then I should.  I'm sometimes clueless, distracted and let my emotions dictate my decisions.  Thank you Jesus for choosing me as your hands and feet in this world. 

Perhaps you can relate with the disciples as well.  He's chosen you too, faults and all.  How are you responding?  Do you let your struggles become a barrier or an opportunity?

Courtney's 1st Triathlon - Pics & Details

Today Courtney participated in her first triathlon, the 2009 Carmel Sprint Triathlon.  This was a huge accomplishment for her and a major milestone in the journey she began last summer to live a healthy lifestyle.  Here are her approximate times: (final times are posted online in the next few days)

• Overall Time - 1hr. 19 min
• 400m Swim - 8 min
• Time in Swim-->Bike Transition - 4 min
• 10 Mile Bike - 33 min
• Time in Bike-->Run Transition - 2 min
• 5k Run - 31 min

She placed 2nd place in the Womens Athena Division (women 150+ lbs.)

A special thanks to Brooks, Bette, Michael, Kudzie, Shelley, Danny and Taylor for being a part of this special day!

Below are some of the pictures.  If you want to view them all, go here.

Need to make PDFs? CutePDF Writer

Do you need a way to create PDFs from various programs on your computer like Word, Excel and PowerPoint?  Then checkout CutePDF Writer.  It's FREE and doesn't have an annoying trial period, watermarks, or limited functionality. 

Once you install it just use it like a printer.  Select Print, choose Cute PDF as your printer and then click Print.  It'll ask you the filename and location you want to save the PDF it creates.  Great little utility!

Adoption Garage Sale - how you can help

On May 8th & 9th our neighborhood is having a garage sale and we're going to have one also!  All the money from things we sale will go straight to our adoption.  Here's how you can help:  do you have anything you'd like to donate to our garage sale?  If so let us know and we'll either come pick up what you have or arrange a time for you to drop it off.  We've cleared space in our garage to collect things over the next few weeks.

Thanks in advance for helping!