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Refiner's Fire

I just got back to school after Christmas break and you know the routine. You’ve made New Year’s resolutions and this year is going to be different! So you want to drop that 15 pounds (or for some of you it’s more like 50), or you want to eat more healthily, or you want to exercise more regularly. It’s one week into the New Year and you’ve started full force on your commitments. You’ve gone to the gym this week and spent hours on the treadmill, the ab board, the stationary bike, and lifting weights. And now you’re body is paying the price! You can’t even sit down without feeling some muscle in your body scream with pain, “Why have you done this to me!” It’s that initial drive, that dedication, that passion that got you this sore. The problem is that you don’t realize that you’re body must go through that pain in order for any “progress” to be made on your resolution.

I just got back to school and we started in with baseball workouts full force. My team has a personal trainer who used to play rugby at Clemson University and he is psycho! I really think he's on the crack pipe! None of us on the team have really done much over Christmas break because we used the time to recuperate from our Fall season and to eat any kind of sweets we could get our hands on, so needless to say we are extremely out of shape! But yesterday our trainer put us through the most grueling, cruel, and unusual workout I have ever been through! We did 20 minutes of abs, we did all this jumping and hopping and running in place stuff (agilities), we did squats and bench and curls and pushups and trunk twists and any other kind of exercise he could think of at that moment! Let me tell you, I will be feeling this pain for the next week! It is unreal! But the thing is, he is training us to perform at our best as athletes. Just like you, going to the gym for your New Year’s resolution, are trying to look and feel your best as a person. But in order to perform or look your best on the outside, all the impurities on the inside must be flushed out. And the only way to do that is through “torturous” workouts! The soreness is good! It means it’s working.

We go through these times in life too. No one can argue that sometimes in life things don’t go our way! Life in this sinful world is full of suffering, and sometimes it’s suffering of good people. That’s all thanks to a big thing called Sin. We don’t have anyone to blame suffering on except ourselves and our sinful desires. What’s our response to times of suffering most of the time though? Why would God let bad things happen to good people? He must not be a loving God. A long time ago people bought things with gold. Now gold can be softened when heated and formed into coins, bars, or whatever shape you want. There were some people who were thieves and would mix wax in with the gold or silver in order to make it look like they were meeting the required weight of gold (kind of like your used car-salesmen of today). The only way you could tell if it was PURE gold was by putting it in the fire to pull out any impurities. Now I imagine if the gold had feelings it probably wouldn’t like being put in the fire, but it was NECESSARY in order to be used and to be counted as full value. The bible says in Malachi 2:17 “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like refiner’s fire or launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. . .” Just like we have to be cleansed on the outside with soap if we are dirty, sometimes we have to be cleansed on the inside with fire to lift any impurities out of us. Psalm 139 says “Search me, Oh God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” In order to experience the abundant and full life that Jesus promises (an eternal life) we must eventually go through the fire and allow the impurities to be lifted out of us.

Parked Cars, Big Macs, and XBox 360's

I should be in bed right now because tomorrow is going to come extremely early for me, but I couldn’t shake this thought enough to go to sleep. I LOVE a nice juicy cheeseburger. It’s not too often that I get to indulge myself in one because my baseball coach doesn’t like us eating fast food. We’re supposed to be “well-oiled and finely-tuned” machines out on the diamond and a double quarter-pounder with cheese and super size-me fries don’t quite go with that description of fitness. But I was in McDonalds the other day and it hit me: the old saying “You are what you eat.” That has got to be the oldest and most ignorant saying I have ever heard in my life. It was one of those sayings that the class loser in kindergarten would bust out because he couldn’t think of anything to come back with whenever he was being cracked on. It is almost as bad as “I know you are but what am I.” I mean hello, preschool called and wanted its joke back (ok that was an old one too).

But it hit me as I was eating that Big Mac, that me sitting in McDonalds no more makes me a Big Mac than sitting in a garage makes me a car, or walking through Best Buy makes me an Xbox 360. So why do people think that going to church makes them a Christian? I’ve done all the Bible asked: I’ve taken communion, I’ve been confirmed, I’ve prayed on Christmas Eve with my candle lit, I’ve been baptized, I’ve put my hands up in worship, I’ve led a Bible Study, I’ve attended membership classes. What more do I need to do to be a Christian? I’m gonna answer that question the best and nicest way I know how . . . NOTHING! STOP DOING THINGS BECAUSE YOU’RE DOING YOURSELF TO DEATH!!!

There was this guy in the Bible named Nicodemas. Now for the sake of typing space and nicknames, we’re gonna call him Nic. Ole Nic was a very RELIGIOUS (religious being the key word here) man and a very smart man at that. He was a teacher of the Law (and by the law I mean the covenant made with Moses by God—The Ten Commandments and Levitical Law, that kind of stuff) He was your typical Baptist (Presbyterian, Wesleyan, Methodist, etc.) preacher who “had it all together because he was “doing” God’s work. Jesus informed ole Nic that he had it all wrong. It’s not about doing things for Him it’s about getting to know Him and having a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself termed it being “Born Again.” A new creation must be born; the old self that used to exist and act is gone and the new self has come through Jesus Christ!

Yeah sure that’s all peaches and cream but how do we go about having a relationship with someone we can’t even see. Well, if I were to write a book about myself and give it to you to read you would probably learn a lot about me in that book, right? God did the same thing: It’s called the Bible. Check it out! It tells you all you need to know about God.

Ok, Ok, so knowing about God no more makes Him your true love than me researching Tiger Woods makes him my best bud. I’ll give you that one. That’s why Jesus asks us to EXPERIENCE him. Just like when I hang out with my girlfriend (who is the most amazing, Godly, and beautiful girl I have ever met), I experience things with her, experience her, and get to know inside and out. That’s what prayer is! I’ll write a segment on prayer in more detail at a later date but essentially what prayer is, is a conversation with God. Talk to Him just like he’s your best pal sitting down and chilling on a Friday night with you, playing Halo or something like that. Tell Him what you like, laugh, cut-up with Him, confide in Him, tell Him your concerns, trust in Him, LISTEN to Him. Listen carefully, HE DESIRES NOTHING MORE THAN TO HAVE AN INTIMATE CONNECTION WITH YOU. More intimate than you can find in relationships with friends, a girlfriend, a boyfriend, parents, your dog, your greasy, greasy grandma, anyone! And when you truly experience God you will never want to go back to your old ways! That’s what being Born again is!

It’s not about being religious. I’m not religious. But I love Jesus Christ with all my heart and I seek to please Him in EVERYTHING I do. But most of all I seek to learn how to love Him as he loved us. It’s all about having a RELATIONSHIP with the very God that died for you so that you can one day live with Him in eternity!

Caffeine High

So I'm sitting in a coffee shop right now drinking my caramel mocha. I LOVE coffee. It's kind of a new trend now days I guess. I can't figure out if coffee has always been this prominent in our society or if I am just noticing it because I have a growing awareness of my NEED for the Caffeine. I'm soooo addicted. I don't know about you but when I drink coffee I get the biggest caffeine high ever and it feels GREEEAAT.....for several hours. But then it hits me. The allusive WALL. After the high has worn off my body goes into shut-down mode. I'm dragging, I'm sluggish, I'm exhausted, I'm drained, I'm empty, I'm depleated. Need I go on? I'm dead, useless, stick a fork in me, I'm done.

I'm a sports fanatic. I play college baseball and love playing any other kind of pick-up game I can! I'm not saying I'm that good, but I love competition. I'm extremely competitive in anything I do. I'm one of those kinds of people that you don't want to play monopoly or risk with because I'm "in it to win it." Ok that was a gay saying, but I will go crazy when playing anything because I want to be the best! I want to win! So if I were to got out on the playing field after having toxicated on vanilla lattes or caramel mochas man I would be jacked....for a whole three minutes. Once I sweat all that caffeine out of my system I would be done. So do I tank up on coffee before going to play? No. I eat carbs. Complex carbs and proteins. Sustaining energy! That way I can woop you all up and down the field, no matter what we're playing! Ha!

Okay, so I'm sipping this mocha, thinking about the Caffeine high I'm gonna have for the rest of the day (coffee affects me in extreme ways--I'll have a caffeine high for several hours off one cup of coffee; most people have to refill every couple of hours to keep the high but not me!) and the low that will hit me tonight and all of a sudden the light bulb goes off. We look for Caffeine highs in life. We are caffeinated by what the world throws at us. It's sad really. So often people search for that fix that will create a high for them NOW, but they don't think about how they will feel LATER; the high is only temporary. The next morning they're pouring their soul (and last night's dinner) out to the porcelain god, prostrate on the tile altar of cool redemptive purging. Or better yet, when the high has subsided it's time to find a stronger one. Weed addicts look for the stronger buzz in cocaine and an even stronger high in heroine.

So if you're reading this and you're thinking to yourself, "I'm not an alcohic or a crack addict, what does this have to do with me?" Well, I implore you, GET OFF YOUR SELF-RIGHTEOUS HIGH HORSE and read on. Wow, that just came out. This coffee does some strange things to me. Christians and "morally upstandard" people do this too. Relationships for instance. Let's find our high in "love," or better termed "lust." There is a reason the divorce rate in America is over 50% and the average marriage lasts 7 years! We're looking for that immediate gratification finding it at another human being's expense. To borrow a famous line coined by the great Righteous Brothers "You've lost that loving feeling. . .now you're GONE, GONE, GONE." What kind of men is our society raising today that they would run away with their tails tucked between their legs in hard times? Hmmmm....that's another topic for another day....where were we.....oh yeah.....caffeine highs.....

. . .What about money? We look for caffeine highs in money, too. I watch Jim Cramer all the time....You know Mad Money?....He's so intense, it's awesome! Boo Ya! Yeah you know it well. His aim in life is to get himself and other people rich. Why does he want to get other people rich--to make himself RICHER of course. But all that money is nothing in the long run. Why do you think there are so many suicides in Hollywood alone? Is it because of the stressful work place? Right (sarcastically typed). Who wouldn't want to be waited on hand and foot by everyone? No! It's because they've come to realize a simple truth. No dollar amount can buy you happiness. No platinum Visa card can find you peace. No Swiss bank account can provide fulfillment or contentment.The Bible says in Matthew 16:26, "What good is it for a man to gain the whole World and yet lose his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul" (paraphrased).

What about those of us in ministry? Do you think we're excluded from this? We pour ourselves, our time, our money, our family into ministering to people becuase we have found this Caffeine high of results-oriented ministry. What happens when the results don't follow? We are sunk into an extreme low! We are drained and we blaim it on other people with the simple, "People suck" adage. I do it too. Where do we find our sustanence? Where do we find contentment in life even when we don't see progress, or light, or happiness? Are we truly establishing a relationship with our Savior and finding joy in Him? Are we really pouring ourselves into His Word everyday? Just a thought.

What about bread though? I love bread! Have you ever been to Olive Garden and tasted the breadsticks that they give you for appetizers. I always get full off the bread because it is SOOOOO good! And then I'm too full to eat my fetuccine alfredo that I ordered. Or what about Red Lobster? I could eat those cheese biscuits for the rest of my life and never get tired of them!! How awesome are those!!?? Jesus made an extreme claim in John 6:35. He said "I am the bread of life." He didn't say I'm the caramel mochiato of life, or the peppermint latte of life. As good as that would have tasted to those people back in the day He knew they needed something more to survive! We need bread! I hear about all of these no carb diets where you're not allowed to eat bread, and I can't help but wonder if that is a ploy by the devil to try to get people to forget the NECESSARY quality of bread. But just like any of those other fad diets (atkins, etc.) it will wear off. People cannot reject that bread is necessary.

I live in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Roll Tide! Anyways, it never snows here. NEVER! Well there was that one exception in '93 when the "Great blizzard of '93" hit. People were immobilized for weeks during that! We do get that occasional scare of ice and sleet, though. What happens in the South when the weather advisory board puts out a winter weather warning? People go nuts! All of a sudden all of Hades breaks loose and the lines in the Food Max and SuperWalmart are out the door! What is it that people are buying? French Vanilla lattes? Candy? NOOO!! It's bread and milk. You can't find bread on the shelf for days after one of those scares. People around here go crazy thinking that the blizzard of '93 has come to exact its revenge on the poor, pitiful people of the South! You cannot deny your reliance on bread!

So how can we deny our dependence on Jesus Christ, the bread of LIFE? And once we've recognized that Jesus is necessary for survival how do we feed off His bread? Pour yourself into His Word! He's written it down right there for everyone to eat. The Bible is not just the breadsticks given to paid customers at Olive Garden, it's a free buffet, open to anyone who wants to feed off Jesus Christ! Get to know the Bread of Life and forget the caffeinated promises of the world. The high you get in Jesus is far greater and much longer-lasting than anything the world can offer you! It's ETERNAL!!

Hello Everyone!

This is my first blog post. I may be doing it wrong but who cares right. It's my blog I guess I can make and change the rules to my blog. hmmm. I made this blog for you NOT for me. Well maybe it will be for my use too, at least for venting purposes. Often times I have thoughts circulate in my head. Thoughts and reflections about life, God, ministry, the meaning of existance, death.......woah......that's pretty heavy. But don't act like you don't think of those too.

I hope that God can use this blog as kind of an online discipleship thing. My passion is discipling people into a relationship with Jesus Christ, helping them to find out who they are in Him and what God's purpose is for their lives. I also desire to see 6 billion people come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Just in case you didn't pick up on that, there are 6 billion people in the world. I desire to see every person in the entire world come to accept Jesus as his/her Savior. You say it can't happen!? Well I ask you one question: How big is your God? The Bible says that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord! The only thing you have to decide is are you going to willingly bow before God or are you going to be blown to your knees by his Shakina Glory?

Anyways, enjoy reading, post comments, and ask questions! I'm open to anything that will help you to discover who you are and what your purpose in life is in Christ Jesus. I'm signing off for now, but I leave you with one thought: Where do you find your satisfaction and fulfillment? In what do you place your trust? In this world? In family? In money? In a job? May I remind you of those Louisiana natives who placed their trust in this world, in the "stability" of their homes? Just a thought. Your life could be flipped on end at any moment. Where will you place your trust?