Last week I read my friend Bryan’s blog about the virtue of patience and his thoughts on the subject are sticking with me.

Reading Bryan’s blog I realized that I too have a problem with patience…but who doesn’t, right. What struck me while reading Bryan’s post was just how often and how easily I place limits, markers, …deadlines on God. Yeah. It goes something like this:

GOD: Aaron, be ready to pick up and go where I tell you to go.

ME: Yes, sir!

one week later

ME: GOD, I’ve found exactly the place you want me to go! Thanks so much for your help!

GOD: Aaron, I didn’t tell you to go there.

ME: Well…not yet you didn’t …but I’ve faithfully waited on you for a week now.

GOD: I didn’t tell you to go there.

ME: Right… but I know you would have…it’s perfect right. And, no need to wait if I’ve already found what I -I mean, you want for me!

I like to think I’m ready to be faithful to God’s calling on my life like Abraham was faithful and like Moses was faithful. But how long would I wait for Him to say “GO”? Especially right now, while I am searching for the next step in ministry employment, I find myself tempted to impose a deadline on God to reveal His plan.

And, if He doesn’t come through on that deadline…will I convince myself that my impatient scheme is really His calling on my life?

I’ve been brutally honest and open about myself.

How about you? Do you impose deadlines on God?

Transparency is a word I’ve seen used often on church websites. Or, I’ve heard it from a lead pastor describing to the congregation a pivotal behavior emulated by the staff/leadership at their church. Sometimes the actual word may not be used but instead I hear synonymous words like authenticity, honesty, real…etc. Usually, it goes something like, “Here at _________ Church we just want to be honest and let you see that we are broken and messed up people too. We ALL are in need of a savior.”

I tell you this because I believe this emphasis on being real, being honest, being transparent in the church is not just a fad but it is the currency of leadership to the GenX and GenY (or Millenial) generations.

THE ABOVE IS JUST A OFA POST I WROTE FOR ANDY WHISENANT’S BLOG. FOR MORE, YOU’LL HAVE TO VISIT HIS SITE HERE.

Today’s post is from Andy Whisenant -Christian, humanitarian, and mac & cheese connoisseur. You can catch his thoughts on life and follow his journey at his blog, Andy in Progress. Also, be sure to follow Andy on Twitter: @andywhiz

_______________________________________________________________________

I was posed a question the other day that, if I’m completely honest, has been bugging the heck out of me because I’m afraid of what the answer to that question really is.

My pastor was teaching the other day and asked a question that stopped me dead in my tracks…

“What voices are you allowing to lead you?”

Ouch. That one kind of stung because I think know I’ve been avoiding dealing with the ramifications of how I answer that question for a long time.

I eventually sat down and started to think through what voices I let lead my thinking and understanding of who God is and who I am. More often than I’d like to admit, I listen to the crappy voices in my head who try to tell me who I am. Maybe you’ve heard these voices too…

·                 The voice that says I’m not good enough

·                 The voice that says I’m not qualified

·                 The voice that says I’m not experienced enough

·                 The voice that says I’m just a failure

·                 The voice that says my past defines who I am

·                 The voice that says what I do determines my value as a person

·                 The voice that says I’m not worthy of God’s love

·                 The voice that says I’m too far gone for grace

·                 The voice that says I’m too messed up to be used by God

Yeah, I know what you’re going to say…those things aren’t who I really am in Christ. And I would agree with you. It’s just that sometimes, those other voices are so loud, it makes it hard to hear the one voice that makes any sense. (Be patient, I’m still working through this whole following Christ thing.)

I get to points in my life where I listen to these other voices more than anything else. I let them define me and shape me. I get to the point where I hear these voices so much that what they’re saying becomes truth in my mind.

But when I look at this thing we call the gospel story, I hear a whole different voice speaking to me.

I hear hope. Hope for myself and for everyone else who hears these voices bouncing around in their heads telling them they’re a nobody.

Because of this “good news” Jesus spent His time talking about, I can begin to understand who I really am because of who He says I am, not because of what I think about who I am.

Rob Bell argues that “the gospel is the counterintuitive, joyous, exuberant news that Jesus has brought the unending, limitless, stunning love of God to even us.”

This news changes everything. This gospel story screams loudly that I am loved, not rejected. It says I can live in hope, not despair. It says I can know peace, not unrest. It says I am unarguably, unconditionally, irrevocably, eternally loved by the Creator.

And so are you.

So may we learn to listen to this voice that is constantly screaming the beautiful reality of the gospel story.

I just recently discovered TED Talks thanks to Kyle Reed. My world has been expanded! TED Talks is a non-profit that, since 1984, has been providing cool and innovative ”talks” where people to present their ideas in the fields of Technology, Entertainment and Design.

Some of the talks are just extremely entertaining!

Check out the 10 minute video below. This guy suggests that he can do what he calls “brain magic”. You be the judge.

If you don’t have time for the whole video, just watch the first 3 minutes where he gets the whole audience to participate in his first trick of “brain magic”. You can try it along with him.

I figured out how he does it (after I watched the video 5 times). Can you?

If nobody has ever said that than I just did and you can quote me. But we all understand what that quote means. The significance of the word “love” is lost if you frequently apply it to how you feel about favorite foods or designer clothing.

Michael Kelley believes much of the language describing the Christian faith has lost its meaning. And, he’s fighting to rescue it.

I just finished reading through HOLY VOCABULARY, a new Bible study from LifeWay Press. This is Michael Kelley’s latest work within LifeWay’s Threads Department which specializes in Bible study media for young adults.

HOLY VOCABULARY is a group study experience that prompts discussion and study of the themes presented…so, reading it on my own didn’t quite give me the full effect. But I have to say, even without the chatty debate among friends, I relished it!

Michael has structured this study over seven themes (God, Humanity, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Church, End Times, Scripture) that allow the discussion of several common words of the Christian faith…like sin, holy, fruit, lost, sanctify, filled…etc. As the cover states, this Bible study is an endeavor to rescue “the language of [Christian] faith.” Michael isn’t shy about laying out the Biblical context for why sin is called sin, …and why Jesus calls unbelievers “lost”. Even from the first chapter, the word “holy” is given a stronger context when Michael shares the story of God striking dead the man who touched the Ark of the Covenant. That would be a story most pastors would avoid sharing on a Sunday sermon but Michael utilizes that passage to regain the full significance of that word…HOLY.

HOLY VOCABULARY is concise, direct, strong in theology and ripe for discussion.

If you want to order this Bible study for your small group or personal study, check it out here.

You can also view a promo video for HOLY VOCABULARY at Michael’s blog here.

I say that at the beginning of this post because I’m going to now tell you some things that may seem down about my life.

Some things may seem unhappy or uncomfortable or just not where you’d want to be.

My wife and I are searching for …a lot, frankly, in the way of direction. We are searching for direction primarily in where God is taking us job-wise. Most of you know I am on the job hunt because I felt God calling me to a full-time position in ministry. So I left the part-time position at a good church and am now doing the resume/interview dance with several churches. In the past 3 months I’ve said “no thanks” to some of those churches and some of those churches have said “no thanks” to me. We have options. But, Elaina and I are searching for direction. We are asking God for a direction.

At the same time, we just had our first baby,  Caius William Shaver. That is an adjustment to put it simply. Focusing on our marriage relationship has just taken on a new responsibility. Our life is now full of feedings, changings, doctor’s appointments, car seats, sleepless nights…etc. He’s only 6 weeks old but I can’t help but keep thinking about the next 12 to 20 years over and over and over.

Elaina and I live in a rented home …that we love in a town that we love. Which means all this searching for a direction in the ministry/job field will probably cause us to leave the little home and town we love. Maybe not …but, maybe.

Elaina and I also live paycheck-to-paycheck…which has taught us a lot. Most importantly, it has taught us how rich we are with family and friends. God has blessed us with family and a community who knows us and loves us and would never let us go without food for us or clothes for the baby. Our means come from beyond ourselves. And we are thankful for that.

Most every night, whenever Caius wakes us up and Elaina and I are half-alive and trying to take care of him…I will look over at my wife. With a groggy voice I will utter simply, “I like our life.” And she smiles at me.

A wise man told me to remember these times that seem tough now. “Because, one day you’ll be employed in a church full-time. Things will be good. Financially good. And, you’ll get comfortable. And, in that comfort you’ll forget each other.”

I like my life because I know I’m alive.

I like my life because I am in a place where I must rely on God for needs.

I like my life because my wife and I have to intentionally love each other in the middle of the uncertainty for the future.

Discovered this from a link Michael Kelley posted on his blog.

Ever wonder if your writing style is similar to that of an established and well known author? You can find out!

Just paste some paragraphs of your own text at this site. I did!

Evidently, my writing style is like that of STEPHEN KING.

http://iwl.me/s/b3a26720

Check it out here!

DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES

Today a new thriller opens up in cinemas. Warner Bros. Pictures releases Inception today, a movie written and directed by Christopher Nolan (of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight fame).  IMDB.com describes the synopsis of Inception like this:

A sci-fi/thriller set within the “architecture of the mind,” and centered on a group of business people who can construct a dream world for an individual and then infiltrate that world to steal their subconscious.

I want to know what are your most memorable dreams…or most frightening nightmares.

Most recently, I had a dream that frightened my wife. “How is that”, you may ask? Well, I barely remember the dream except that I was an adventuring archeologist type person much like Indiana Jones. At some point in the dream, I had to read out loud from a “book of the dead” to exorcise some kind of demons. Well, according to my wife, she awoke in the dark to the sound of me chanting in my sleep, “Mancer, Mancer, his name is Mancer- on his hands, blood- in his heart, pain.”

She woke me and I tried to assure her that the dream was not as sinister as it sounded before I dozed back to sleep.

She didn’t sleep the rest of the night, poor girl.

Now that I’ve started it off…

What is you most memorable dream?

Today, I thought I’d take the opportunity to share with you the names of a few people I keep up with via blogs and Twitter. These folks are influencers, pastors, leaders, and social media gurus. And, in their own way each of them is changing the world around them.

Please, dear reader, take the time to check ‘em all out. Read their blogs and check out their twitter feeds. You’ll like what you see!

Pete Wilson -Pete is the lead pastor at Crosspoint Community Church in Nashville. He’s led this church to open 4 campuses in just over 7 years. Crosspoint is a church that ministers to families while reaching out to the unchurched and the dis-churched. You’ll find that transparency is a defining characteristic of the leadership at Crosspoint (b.t.w. just check out all of the staff at Crosspoint. I follow them all and they’re pretty much all amazing).

You can find Pete’s blog here. Also, check out Crosspoint’s website here.

Sam Davidson -Sam is a blogger,  a non-profit guru, and has a really cool website called CoolPeopleCare.org From what I can tell, Sam’s passion is to connect the GenX and GenY generations to activism in an immediate way. One of the coolest features of his website is 5 Minutes of Caring …you should check it out.

You can also follow Sam on Twitter: @samdavidson

Adam Smith (@jackalopekid) Most people know Adam Smith as Jackalope Kid via his website or Twitter account (he has over 100,000 followers on Twitter…GEEEEZ!) Adam is a connector in the HUGEST sense of the word. He uses his blog as an outlet for causes world-wide and local. And, you’ll find a little humor sprinkled throughout his blog as well.

So, wether you want a Jackalope Kid t-shirt or want more information about how to save the world, go visit his blog.

Michael Kelley  -Michael is a blogger, speaker, and (on the weekdays) a content editor at Lifeway Christian Resources. His blog is actually the source I modeled the style of my own blog from. Michael is a great guy who writes about the Christian life, culture, and his kids on his blog. You should check him out for two reasons:

1) He’s such a great speaker that churches, college groups, and conference-type retreats are hiring him all the time. Srsly, his calendar speaks for itself.  

2) He just wrote another book called Holy Vocabulary that’s just released. Here’s a promo video.

So…those are just a few people that, if you don’t already know them, you should!

Any of you got somebody that I should know about? Leave me a comment and let me know.

So, last week my brother and I sat down to watch the highly anticipated UFC 116 a pay-per-view fight with the main event deciding the Heavy Weight Champion between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin. Both men were 265 lbs BEASTS ready to pummel each other that night!

My brother and I watched with excitement, fear, and a little trembling as the sheer strength and athleticism of these two men came crashing together at full force. I mean, I’m pretty sure if BP employed these guys, they could just punch that little oil leak closed in the Gulf.  For you non-UFC fans out there, just imagine watching The Hulk fight The Thing from the Fantastic Four:

Now, I wanna ask you to weigh in on some pretty hot match-ups. Who would you call winning a fight if these contenders pictured below went toe to toe?

Count Chocula vs. The Count (Sesame Street)

Edward vs Jacob

James Bond vs Jason Bourne

Mr. T (old B.A. Baracus) vs Quinton ”Rampage” Jackson (new B.A. Baracus)

 Captain Crunch vs Captain Morgan

Now, don’t be shy. Let your opinion be heard! I wanna know who you think could put on the strongest show of fisticuffs and why!