50,000

I think most people who start a blog think to themselves at some point, “No one is EVER going to read this.”  Whether the person is happy or depressed by this thought depends on the individual.  I can honestly say I never thought anyone would read any of my stuff once, never mind make my blog a frequent stop for their cyber-wanderings.

I most certainly did not think there would be over 50,000 occasions where someone would stop by to see what I thought about something.

And apparently, as of today, that is exactly the case.

Overwhelming.

In honor of this unexpected milestone, I’ve gone back through the archives and picked out a handful of posts that meant a lot to me, and just might have meant something to some of you beloved readers.  It is staggering to think of the major life lessons and changes that have taken place since I started this thing, and some of these posts captured the heart of those lessons and changes.

So here they are, in chronological order (oldest to most recent):

How Will Amazing Happen This Year?

Check out our 30 second teasers for VISION NIGHT.  Feel free to email/facebook them to anyone you think should be there.

A Chance For All Of Us To Literally Save Lives

In just a few days my good friend and brother-in-law, Jeremy Vallerand, will lead a group of climbers up all 14,411 vertical feet of Mt. Rainier, the tallest peak in the lower 48.  That in itself is impressive.  But when you hear that the group is doing so in an effort to rescue girls out of the sex trade, well that is downright revolutionary.

In an effort to get the word out about Climb for Captives in the final days leading up to the climb, Jeremy and I sat down for an iChat interview so I could ask him how his vision came to be, how his faith motivates his efforts, and how we can support him and his team in their effort to raise $40,000 to help bring redemption to young girls in desperate need.  Take a few minutes to watch the video below, consider supporting Jeremy with your prayers and your pocketbook, and pass the video on to anyone and everyone who might be excited to jump on board.

For more info, or to make a contribution, go to climbforcaptives.com

Follow the team on Twitter at twitter.com/climb4captives

Why Bored Christians Should Not Exist

This weekend I was privileged enough to preach three services in The Loft. We are working our way through the Gospel of Mark, and Andy let me cover whatever I wanted from chapters 4-7. After serveral read-throughs of the text, I couldn’t get past the first 20 verses of chapter 4…The Parable of the Sower.

During preparation a few concepts echoed in my mind repeatedly, beyond the need to evaluate my life to make sure the seed of God’s word finds “good soil” in my heart so I can bear fruit.

One such concept had to do with boredom. When trying to discern if you are bearing fruit or not, a great question to ask yourself is “Am I bored?”

After a few days of thinking about it, I boldly submit that it is simply not possible to understand what God has called you into, and still be able to describe yourself as bored.

If the word of God has found good soil in your heart, if it has taken root in you, if you have surrendered to the person and purpose of Jesus, if you realize you have been invited into the reconciliation of all creation and all of humanity back into perfect relationship with God, if you grasp that you have been asked to be the hands that carry out the redemption of the slaves (both literal and spiritual) of the world, and you are actually acting on that knowledge…

…well, there is just no room for boredom in that.

Yet, many of us are bored.

Bored to death, even.

Tragedy.

Of all the sins that Southern, Bible-belt culture has commit against the church, the most heinous just might be the oversimplification of the Christian life into a tragic shell of what it is intended to be. People who have been called to be liberators and redeemers instead find themselves gathered together on a weekly basis as mere church-goers. Stand, sit, kneel, sing, tithe…then high-tail it to the restaurant to beat the crowd.

That IS boring.

And depressing.

And downright wrong.

Boredom invades our life of faith when we let the divine and miraculous become typical and routine.

We must rage against this common downfall.

If we are bored, we are not walking in the purpose Christ has implanted into our very DNA. The radical grace and sacrificial love that we have been given in abundance is being dammed up and withheld, instead of distributed freely and without restraint.

And that just won’t do.

We have been rescued, and invited into the rescue of others.

May our perceived response to those overwhelming truths appear to be anything but boring.

How Reading The Bible Becomes A Bad Thing

August 2002 was a big month in my life.  After spending two years of living my dream of playing D1 basketball, I packed up everything I owned into my 1996 Ford Crown Vic, and drove across the country to a tiny Christian school in Santa Clarita, California.  I had never been to the west coast before, but the promise of a full scholarship and a Christ-centered education was too much to pass up.

One of my first priorities once I arrived on campus was to find my new church home.  It did not take long for the words “Cornerstone Simi Valley” and “Francis Chan” to come up.  I never made it out to Cornerstone, but I always heard incredible things about the church and its pastor, Mr. Chan.

Fast forward 7 years.  About 2 weeks ago I read a post on Twitter by a fellow youth pastor named Tyson, who works at The Austin Stone Community Church.  The “tweet” said he had just listened to Chan’s 7-part sermon series on the Holy Spirit via Cornerstone’s podcast, and that it had rocked him pretty well.  For whatever reason, I felt like I should check it out, so I downloaded all 7 sermons to my iPhone and started listening to them during my drives to and from work each day.

It has been an illuminating two weeks for me since.  I finished the Holy Spirit series and moved on to a mini-series about grace, during which Pastor Chan dropped this quote on me this morning:

If Satan can not get you to disobey the commands of God, he will try to get you to obey them legalistically, which is just as deadly.  – Francis Chan

I immediately pushed pause and said out loud, “Whoa.”

I firmly believe the most effective quotes are simple in structure and profound in nature.  This one is a great example, and it stopped me in my tracks.

When we experience seasons of growth in regard to righteousness, and victory over former struggles, our adversary does not waste his time trying to blatantly drag us back into our old vice indefinitely.  If our actions have become consistently virtuous, he moves straight to our motives and sees how much havoc he can create there.

If he is able to make our response to the grace of God a rigid attempt to earn God’s approval (instead of celebrating that we already have his approval) he has essentially nullified that grace.

Tricky.

“I realize I am radically loved by God, so I want to read the Bible daily to know him as well as I can.”

Good.

“I have been reading daily so long that my reading has become my instrument for feeling worthy of God’s love.”

Not good.

In fact, that is downright evil.

I can stray into this mentality if I’m not careful.  All of us can.  But there is such liberty in the knowledge that God’s love for us does not wax and wane according to our own consistency.  His approval does not come and go with our sporadic faithfulness.

A good friend and mentor recently blessed me with a glimpse into his own life.  He told me that every day he wakes up, and immediately prays, “Jesus, I don’t know what today will hold, but I do know that there is absolutely nothing I can do today to make you love me any more, or any less.”

There is such freedom in the simplicity of that prayer, and the truth that lies within it.  If we are able to remember that truth, things like reading scripture will never become our attempt to attain the love and approval of our Heavenly Father, but instead always remain our opportunity to better know that Father who has already given his approval through his Son.

Lord, keep us on the path of righteousness, but never let us focus on the path itself.  Instead keep our eyes on where the path is leading, and who it is that dwells there.