What's in the way?

I was a youth pastor for 5 years and a high school teacher for 3 years. I've been around teenagers A LOT. And I loved it. There was literally never a dull moment. Some of my favorite moments as a youth pastor were the trips to camps, conferences, or retreats that we would take. All the youth leaders would get together before a trip and go over the game plan for the trip. Our biggest hope was that lives would be changed. And we also knew our biggest challenge would be distractions.

Here were some of the major distractions we knew would get in the way:

1. Horny Guys- There's no other way to put it. Teenagers hormones, especially the dudes, shift into overdrive on trips away from home where there are plenty of girls. I would compare some of the guys I took on trips to caged, rabid animals. Taking them away from home (their cage), was like releasing a wolf amongst sheep.

2. Love struck girls - girls are in full search of "the one". They are looking for a boyfriend who is husband material. It's a scary thing and always leads to some Real Housewives of New Jersey type moments. DRAMA.

3. Sleep Deprivation - Jr. Highers in particular like to pack 72 cans of Red Bull, drink 30 of them on the bus ride up to camp, stay up all night farting and giggling, and then slip into a coma when you actually want them to be awake.

I bring up all the distraction stuff because it is fresh on my mind. On my last post, I asked the question, what cultural tendencies get in the way of you following Jesus? That can be a hard question to answer.

It's hard because it is not easy to be self aware. I know I'm not. Thank God I married a woman who actually has some discernment and wisdom and is willing to share it with me.

I have a burden for you who don't follow Him. I want so badly for you to experience throwing your life into Jesus's story. There is such freedom in it. This freedom, shock, and awe is a natural reaction to an encounter with Christ. Read the story of Jesus healing the blind beggar in John 9. The blind man couldn't explain it. All he could say was, "I don't know...all I do know is I was blind and now I can see!"

I think some of you have drank the "cultural Kool-Aid" for so long you can't even identify the things that distract you from following Jesus. By "cultural Kool-Aid", I mean the distractions, myths and the lies you believe. These distractions, myths, and lies were identified and predicted by Paul in 2 Timothy 4. Read it.

Lack of faith has nothing to do with your reasons for not following Jesus. You have faith. Everyone does.

I have faith in doorknobs. When I turn it, I have faith that the door will open. Lack of faith is not the issue.

Along with faith, we all worship. We just don't all worship the same thing. Some people worship everything except Jesus. Do you worship your job and make it your identity? Do you worship your kids? Just go to any little league game and listen to the parents in the stands who think their kid is the next Albert Pujols. Do you hover over your kids so much that they distract you from any kind of consistent commitment to Jesus? Do you worship the next big life event? Whether it's the weekend, the bar, having a child, a vacation, or a job promotion? Is your life lived waiting for the next exciting event?

We all have faith and we all worship something. Doorknobs, jobs, little league all star teams, children, weekends, alcohol, politics, etc. In about a week, I will fall into my insane idiotic faith in Notre Dame football and that they will actually be good this year.

Are you putting your faith in the truth? Or in a lie?

Are you worshipping Jesus? Or yourself?

My hope is that more of you who aren't following Christ would choose to follow.

What are the cultural tendencies distracting you from becoming a part of His story?

Greek vs. Hebrew

I had a discussion last night with some friends and we were talking about the differences between Greek culture and Hebrew culture. Americans are Greek thinkers. Our culture stems from a Greek mindset. The Old Testament is written in Hebrew and most of the New Testament was written by Jewish writers (Hebrews), although they wrote it in Greek.

There are many HUGE differences between Greek culture and Hebrew culture. And if we let our cultural tendencies control us, they can get in the way of us understanding Jesus, God, and Scripture.

Here's an example of our culture getting in the way of our understanding of the Bible. When reading the Bible...

Greek culture (Americans) have an attitude of "what you see is what you get". We love bullet points, outlines, directions, and steps. We think logically and everything should be explained before we believe it. So when we read the Bible, we expect to know everything. We want the Bible to fill in every detail, answer every question, and tell us every thing we WANT to know. We want all of this before we believe.

We want every movie to come together at the end and get ticked when something isn't explained.

When we buy something, we want very clear steps and instructions for assembly and cuss regularly if something is not clear and easy to understand.

How do we solve problems? By reading books, listening to doctors, and watching TV shows that give us "7 steps to happiness" and "3 steps to financial freedom". We want to know exactly what the journey looks like before we step foot on the path.

Hebrew Thinking - When they see words or numbers, they see depth, meaning, imagery, and symbolism. Rather than bullet points, lists, and everything spelled out for them, they like stories and poetry. For an example, look at Jesus. Many of his teachings were stories in which the audience had to figure out the meaning. Much of the story of creation in the book of Genesis is a Hebrew poem.

Truth is unfolding.

Faith and belief are not abstract nouns, they are concrete actions.

Following God is a story, not a self-help step program.

So how do my cultural tendencies get in the way?

There are a ton of examples that come to mind, here is one, and I'll bet you can think of more.

1. We naturally resist change. We love to find our comfort zone and stay there. We want things to be orderly, neat, and rational. But that comfort zone becomes a rut quickly because truth is actually unfolding. If we decide to follow Jesus, we are deciding to be in a story. And stories have ups and downs, scary parts, happy parts, and climactic events. The Hebrew God is a God that asks us to live in His story...and it is an adventurous and irrational one. Think about some of the guys in the Bible who chose to dive into the story.

Noah - built a boat as big as the Titanic in the middle of the freakin' desert and it had never rained before. People didn't even know what a flood was. That's irrational!

Peter - was making a living in the family business of fishing and made the decision to "drop his nets" and follow a Jewish carpenter for the rest of his life. This decision cost him his life. His life changed dramatically by entering into God's story.

So when you're reading the Bible, and reading stories about these people who chose to enter God's story, ask yourself these questions:

What cultural tendency would I push aside in order to get deeper into Jesus's story?

Am I willing to do something irrational for Him?

What comfort zone does He want to pull me out of?

What's a church plant?

For the past 4 months, Karrie and I have taken the first steps and started preparing for church-planting. As a pastor and as a couple, we've been under assessment with a church planting organization called Stadia.

So many people I've talked with look at me sort of cross-eyed when I throw the term "church plant" out there. And trying to look at it from the outside, I can see how those words sound really weird together. If you're wondering, "What the heck is a 'church plant'?" let me explain.

Churches all over America are on the decline. Churches are shutting down and closing their doors in record numbers. Why?

I don't necessarily consider myself an expert on the "Why churches are closing" topic, but I've been reading about it for quite sometime. Here are some basic reasons I've put together from what I have seen and studied:

1. Many churches are ignoring culture change. Many churches are more interested in preserving traditions than reaching and connecting to people in our postmodern, ever-changing culture. Some churches are stubbornly clinging to traditions like pews, hymnals, the use of any instrument other than an organ, and other human traditions. For many people, church has just become irrelevant, boring, and old. I had a great leader tell me recently, "It's a sin to bore someone with Jesus."

2. Many churches have ceased to be revolutionary. While many are adapting to culture, they aren't leading culture in revolutionary ways. Many churches that are on the decline have adopted new traditions and methods to try and keep up with culture, like "contemporary worship", the use of video and media, the senior pastor dressing more casual, etc. But they have done it with their heels dug in, stubbornly letting culture drag them into new methods against their will. It's almost like these churches are angrily and pridefully saying, "Fine, we will get rid of the hymnals and use video instead!"

This attitude will just lead to a slow death for a church. It's like trying to put a band-aid on an artery that's been cut. It's not going to solve the problem, it will just slightly slow down death.

3. Many churches are stagnant. These churches are not driven by reaching people, but by keeping people once they walk through the doors of the church. Their entire philosophy is driven by their passion to please people and their fear of losing them.

Everything about these churches says, "Yes! We are a cool church!" because they are doing everything they can to appeal to the consumer, an attempt to get you in the doors and keep you from leaving. When you come, you will be treated with snacks, coffee, funny videos, good music, and an engaging speaker. The speaker will tell you funny stories for 20 minutes about the week's topic. It will be something like "Worry", "Financial Security", or "Raising your kids", with random Bible verses splashed in so that the message looks like it came straight from the Bible. Aside from the weekend services, these types of churches have a program and events for everything and clubs for everyone. They are using newer, more contemporary methods. Your kids will love the programs they attend because of the cool games, toys, music, and videos.

Some of you may be thinking, "Hey, that sounds like my church and I love my church!". Are all these things bad? No. They are good intentioned methods. It's the heart, the mindset, the driving force behind the methods that can be bad. If it's something other than Jesus, then the church will ultimately die.

All of these types of churches have good intentions. They've been doing good things for a long time, good things that once brought the results they were looking for. They have good people in leadership who love God and believe they are doing the right thing. But with all their good intentions and all the 'good' things they're doing, they're missing something.

What's missing in the 3 different church types described above?

Jesus.

Jesus is getting lost in everything they are doing.

Here's where I think Jesus is missing in each church example:

1. Many churches don't change methods because their methods become sacred to them. People worship pews, hymnals, dress code, and their style of music. In some cases, those things become more important to them than actual sacred things like The Bible, Jesus, and God.

Being relevant to cultural happenings, trends, and needs was vital to Jesus. Think about it, his first miracle was at a wedding party. They ran out of wine and Jesus hooked them up. How many people would invite their Senior Pastor to a party that lasted for a week? How many people would admit to their Senior Pastor, "Uhh, we thought we had enough wine to last us for the week but we drank all of it. Can you get us some more?"

There were groups of people in the Bible who were called the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They were religious, arrogant, and didn't like Jesus. They accused Jesus of being a drunkard, glutton, and got after him for hanging out with the riff raff. Check out this verse.

Jesus didn't ignore culture, He engaged it.

2. Jesus did some controversial and radical stuff to connect with people in His culture. Read John 4. He crossed into Samaria, talked with a Samaritan woman, and showed concern and care for her. This was a major social no-no. In that day, Jews would avoid traveling through Samaria and would instead walk around the entire country, just to avoid the Samaritan people. Jews did not like Samaritans. No rabbi would ever talk to a woman alone, especially a Samaritan. Most of the religious leaders of the day would have demanded she be put to death because she was sexually impure.

Jesus didn't have to be dragged across cultural boundaries, he shattered boundaries in shocking fashion. His methods blew people away. Churches need to be excited to use radical methods to connect to people in our culture. This is how Jesus did it.

Jesus didn't try to catch up to culture, He led culture in radical and revolutionary ways. He did stuff no one had thought of before. He was original.

3. Re-read #3 from above again. Notice anything missing?

Jesus!

These churches use Jesus in parts of their church. He's talked about and acknowledged. But he's not the foundation or the focus.

Churches that operate with fear, and not with an unconditional love for Jesus will die. Why would a church be more inclined to please people than please Jesus? Because it's safer. Jesus is a polarizing God and He asks us to do some radical stuff. Some churches are dying because they are being led by weak men and women. Hey Parkway people, your pastor would call this "the wussification of the church."

So that was a long introduction to the questions, "What's a church plant and why are they needed?"

A church plant is the start of a new church. Statistically, church plants are reaching and connecting with people who don't know Jesus and have never been connected to church. Church Planting is a pretty big and imporant phenomenon right now. Basically, there are hundreds of churches being planted all over the nation.

With so many churches dying, church plants are NEEDED.

Why are church plants succeeding?

Mainly because they are completely, utterly, and passionately focused on Jesus. And when a church does that, since the church is the bride of Christ, the church will succeed.

Just like Jesus, churches will engage culture, radically lead culture, and be obedient to his teachings and The Bible

So last week, Karrie and I spent 3 days at the Church Plant Assessment Center with Stadia, other current church planters, and potential church planters. It was the most grueling 3 days of our lives. We were put through many different tests, initiatives, exercises.

And the great news is Stadia affirmed our call to plant a church. Having Stadia back us and want to partner with us is a HUGE step. This is the starting point of a very exciting journey. We are excited to be a part of the future of reaching people for Jesus as part of this vast, scary, and exciting adventure that is church planting.

Church Planting Assessment

I was going to write something explaining what Karrie and I are up to this week. But Karrie already did so I'll just copy and paste what she wrote. I'll blog again when we get back this weekend...

Aaron and I have both mentioned our plans in our blogs in bits and pieces. We've not been 100% clear about our plans and have not given any real details, due mostly to the fact that we've still been putting them together! Though I still don't have a ton of info to share yet, I think it is safe to share our intentions and a little bit of our plan for our family.

After much consideration, prayer, research and the start of planning, Aaron and I have decided to plant a church. What this means, really, is that we're starting a church, with a team of course, and Aaron will be the Lead Pastor. The whole endeavor is just as difficult, crazy and complex as it sounds, so this is something that will take a long time and a great amount of support to put together.

Crazy, huh? Believe me, we're still trying to figure out how God thinks a goofy, crazy hooligan like Aaron and a space-cadet like me have the business to lead a church. At the same time, we've been blown away by seeing God's hand on our lives in preparation for this adventure. Just in case it isn't obvious, we both feel called to do this. And I wouldn't be the sap I am if I didn't share that I'm so proud and confident of my husband who I feel has the DNA and makeup to be a great, great leader and teacher for God.

Part of our preparation over the last three months has been getting ready for an assessment with a Christian church-planting organization called Stadia. (You can read more about what and who Stadia is by clicking here) They have an assessment process for people considering to take part in church-planting as done through another program called CPAC (Church Planting Assessment Center). Endorsement through this program is vital to receive support from Stadia.

The first chunk of the process is completing an enormous amount of paperwork: surveys, various personality profiles, and the beast of all applications in which I felt like we were writing out every thought we've EVER had about God and the meaning of life. That wasn't necessarily exactly what they were looking for, it just felt like we wrote A LOT. We had to individually fill out these lengthy questionnaires in which every single answer was an essay. Aaron, of course, had more to do than me. We also had to have several references fill out evaluations on us personally and on our marriage.

All this paperwork was preparation for the 4-day interview/assessment that we are physically on our way to as I type this! It is the end and the culmination of the assessment process and we are so excited the time has finally come for it. We've been waiting for it for months! So, after kissing and hugging our boys 800 million times, we left them in the care of Grandma, Papa, Uncle Nate and Grammy for the next four days. I already miss them, but I'm so excited and ready for this week. We are praying and are confident that it will be revealing and confirming.

Thank you to all of you who have been so helpful and encouraging through these last few months. There are some people in our lives that we have been so blessed by and, as cliche as it sounds, we would not have been able to do some of the incredible and insane things we've done had it not been for God's provision through you. Thank you, more than anything, to our families - you've been AMAZING and incredibly supportive and helpful since the day we left for Arizona and entered a life of full-time-ministry over five years ago. This summer you've been no different, and we are so grateful.

To all of you, we humbly request some of your prayers. Pray with us as we go into this assessment and ultimately endeavor the adventure of starting a church. We are hopeful that through every facet of our lives it is God who is at the center and not us... and that is precisely what we are praying for with this church-planting/starting endeavor.

What story am I getting caught up in?

I love getting caught up in a good story. We all do. Whether it be a book, movie, sporting event, or real life personal event, it makes life exciting and more interesting. There have been some really cool stories to get caught up in lately...

1. The movie Inception. Karrie and I went to see this the other night and it was amazing. It blew my mind...literally. I have to go see it again because I'm not smart enough to keep up with stories this brilliant and creative.

2. Did anyone else get caught up in the World Cup? This guy did. It helped that I was jobless. I was the 2010 version of George Costanza in June. "The Summer of Aaron!" I sat around during the boys nap time eating entire wheels of cheese, not wearing any underwear, and watching the World Cup.

I was totally caught up in the U.S. soccer team and cheering them on. If you didn't catch it, the U.S. did pretty good. In their last group game, they HAD to score a goal to advance. If they scored, they would win their group (1st time since like 1932). If they didn't score, they would go home. Unlike The Hills, The City, and The Bachelor...this drama was real and not manufactured. Well, a soccer match lasts for 90 minutes plus just 2 or 3 minutes of extra time added on at the end. The U.S. hadn't scored and it was desperation time. 2 minutes into extra time, it looked pretty bleak, and then in the span of literally about 15 seconds, the Americans went the entire length of the field and scored a goal. I went bananas! I was screaming, ripping my shirt off (remember I already had my underwear off), and running around. I scared Ty so bad he didn't stop crying for 20 minutes. It's always fun to see people getting caught up in a story. Check out these really cool videos of people watching the goal being scored. Turn up the volume, it will send shivers down your spine.

Checkout the guy in the bottom left corner with the white jersey on. He throws a beer all over everyone. I've always wanted to be "that guy" in the bar who gets away with it.

Complete Pandomonium

Another one of my favorites simply because the guy holding the camera is thinking, "Hey, now that everyone is distracted I can get a nice shot of this girl's butt standing in front of me."

Those videos fired me up. Some of you guys are Colts fans. Remember when Marlin Jackson intercepted Tom Brady to seal the AFC Championship a few years ago? My brother was there and he said the building literally shook from the collective explosion of sound when he caught that ball.

3. I have to give an example for the ladies since I've totally lost them. They are thinking, "Inception was too long and I didn't get it." and "Soccer is boring." Well ladies, I'm sure you remember getting caught up in a story like The Notebook. Honestly, I'm not real sure why women could get caught up in that movie. I know Karrie doesn't understand why I yell at the TV when Notre Dame is playing. So I asked Karrie, "Why do women like The Notebook." She said, "Because every girl wants to fall in love. And it's in the 30's, and they eat ice cream together, and ride bicycles, and kiss in the rain...you know, romantic stuff."

I know every woman doesn't like The Notebook. But ladies, you do have stories you get caught up in.

Or maybe you did get caught up in The Notebook and you're waiting for a bearded, chiseled, craftsman like Ryan Gosling to come along and sweep you off your feet. You might get lucky and get one of those characteristics.

My wife got "bearded". I think I could fall into the category of "chiseled" if I could use "massive pecs" to describe my chest instead of "man boobs".

Anyway, there's one last story to talk about.

4. God's story. It's happening whether you want to recognize it or not. There are actually a lot of stories of God floating around out there. I'm caught up in the one where the main character is Jesus Christ. It's a great story and it's a real story. And the entire story is told within this thing called The Bible.

My first instinct right now is to get cynical and judgmental. I want to rip into certain people, churches, denominations, TV preachers, and other religions. I would love to jump on my soapbox and I've got plenty of material...but that's not the story I want to get caught up in. I've done enough of that.

There are enough Christians out there doing enough of that.

Rather than trash other stories (for an example of "trashing other stories" please see bullet point #3), there's one in particular I love SO much and I want other people to love it too. The thing is, it's kind of like watching a movie, T.V. show, or sporting event. You can't force someone to like Inception, The Hills, or Notre Dame football. They have to discover it themselves. They have to individually choose to get caught up in that movie, that show, that team...that story.

In the past 5 years especially, I've made a mental shift in regards to the story of Jesus. 5 or 6 years ago, I had a lot of doubts about this story. I believed in God and I knew a guy named Jesus existed, I just didn't know about The Bible. Is it true? Is it perfect? Is God who He says He is? What is Jesus really like? Is he a freakin' lunatic? Is he a liar? Or is he really the Son of God?

I started asking some REALLY hard and potentially dangerous questions.

And for those of you who are not sure about this whole "God thing" and getting caught up in the story, start asking some hard questions. Don't be lazy. Don't say stuff like "Jesus was a good guy." He wasn't. He was a crazy liar or He was God. Pick one. (If you want some resources, email me aaron@lifeasathomas.com)

I spent a lot of time studying historians, archeology, and books and my faith in God and in Jesus was strengthened. I got more caught up in the story than I ever had. My love for this story is still growing.

So Christians and/or people who believe in God, I got one thing to say regarding the story of Jesus and getting others caught up in it.

Live the story.

Remember God is not merely part of our story, we are a part of God's story.

I see so many "Christians" who live their dreams and their lives and they make room for God by going to church on Sunday mornings and reading the Bible and/or praying when they need His help. Some of you expect God to get caught up in your story.

How about try getting caught up in His? How about a life change? How about some radical life change? Remember Jesus's disciples? Ten of the 12 were murdered because of their choice to follow Jesus and one of them committed suicide.

Getting caught up in Jesus's story SHOULD change your life. It's a great story and I hope you get caught up in it.

Q and A

I had a friend ask this question to me and post it on her facebook. I'm a dork and like researching things like this so I thought I would post my response. Scripture inspires questions and there's no such thing as a dumb question about God. It's a good thing there are a lot of smart people out there...in particular the dudes that wrote the Bible.

Question:

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul" (Deut. 6: 4-6)...which one of these is harder, or more important? I have been thinking on this for well over a year....this is deep..seems easy...but is it? The heart and mind are connected...which is more of a struggle to control?

Answer:

I did some reading up on this and found some good stuff.

Here's the dealio...

1. I looked at www.scripture4all.org to see the actual Hebrew translation. Turns out that verse, Deut. 6: 4-6 says, "you love Elohim of you, in all of heart of you, all of soul of you, and all of utterly you." The word "mind" is not in the original text. The end of that verse, "all of utterly you" sums it up best because the answer to your question is they are basically all the same thing. None of them takes precedence over the other.

2. I found a good nugget of wisdom regarding the "heart, soul, mind, and spirit" in this book called "The Faith Once For All" by a professor named Jack Cottrell. His body of work is awesome and he's my favorite theologian. He's a Restoration Movement guy (like Trent). I also think it would be wise to look up some Reformed theology guys like Mark Driscoll, D.A. Carson, Dallas Willard, N.T. Wright. But...I'm positive they would all come to this conclusion. Here's what Cottrell wrote...

"The 3 key words for the spiritual side of our nature are 'heart', 'spirit', and 'soul'. The words for heart (leb, lebab, and kardia) are used hundreds of times, almost always in the spiritual sense equivalent to soul or spirit. (Exod. 35:21, Ps 73:26, Eccl. 11:10, Ezek 44:7, Rom. 2: 28-29, Heb. 10:22, 1 Pet. 3:4). The functions of the heart include all those we associate with personhood and the mind, e.g., intellectual activity (thinking, reasoning, understanding), volitional activity (decisions, desires), emotional activity (joy, sorrow, fear), religious activity (receiving God's Word, faith, repentance, obedience, worship), as well as sin and unbelief. We should note especially that in the Bible there is a total absence of the common distinction between the head as representing reason and the heart as representing feelings. What the Bible calls the 'heart' refers to both 'heart and mind'. It refers to the inward person as a whole."

3. Our spirit is not divine or part of God. It is the aspect of us that is most like God. See Genesis 1 for that, "we are created in God's image". We are "like" him, not "part" of him.

So, to answer your question, the heart and mind are not only connected, they are one and the same. They are synonyms of each other.

Hope that helps! Miss having these fun conversations with you,

Aaron

How close can I get?

Last week, I performed the wedding of a long-time close friend, Brandon Wagler. We had a great few days leading up to the wedding. I had about 2 straight days of hanging out with the boys. We pigged out, played some poker, played golf, made fun of each other constantly, and told ridiculous, exaggerated stories from our pasts. However, the funniest moment we had together was just a couple hours before the wedding.

The wedding took place in the old Union Station in downtown Indianapolis. The groomsmen, myself, and Brandon were all upstairs getting pictures taken around this balcony. There were rooms on this balcony and my brother Matt went exploring into what looked like an empty apartment that had a door standing open.

After a few minutes, he came scurrying out like a scared little girl because he walked into one room of the apartment and found a dude sleeping on a couch.

We thought he was lying, of course, so a few of us went in to check it out. The transformation in maturity from the point we decided to enter the apartment was profound. 30-year-old men suddenly regressed in maturity by at least 15 - 20 years. We were tip-towing in, giggling like school girls, and pushing each other to the front position (no one wanted to go first). Matt showed us the way to the room while hanging near the back of the pack. A few of us pinky sweared to enter the room at the same time. Well, we didn't pinky swear, but none of us wanted to go in alone. One of the groomsmen, Chris, took the lead and I was right behind him.

Sure enough, we turned the corner and saw some feet. Next thing I know I hear Matt yelling, "Get outta there!" and I shoved Chris as hard as I could toward the couch as sort of the sacrificial lamb in case this guy asleep on the couch turned out to be a violent sociopath.

Turns out he was just a homeless guy that had found a way to get inside the air-conditioned building, discovered an open door and an old couch and was pretty content until a group of jack-asses awakened him from his peaceful slumber.

He sat up and we went scurrying out of the apartment giggling and laughing. And our adrenaline was definitely pumping.

As I think back on this story, questions pop into my head regarding human nature...

When facing an unknown outcome, why are we hesitant or even scared to "go first" and lead the way?

When we get caught, even if we aren't really doing anything wrong, why do we run and hide and try to cover up our actions?

The biggest question that came to mind was this, what is it about pushing boundaries that gets our adrenaline pumping? We like to see how far we can push something or how close we can get. It's in our nature. Why do we do this?

Even though we were just having some innocent fun, well mostly innocent. One of the groomsmen got his corsage ripped off and broken during the mad scramble to escape. We were clutching and grabbing each other trying not to be the last one out and apparently the corsage was a victim of this.

It's in our nature to push boundaries. Some of you are thinking, "Not me. I have no trouble following rules." Or maybe you are obsessed with rules and you take the boundaries of OCD to new and scary levels. But chances are there is some boundary you push against because all of us do that.

1. Ask yourself, what boundaries do I love to push?

For example, being back in the midwest reminds me of the incredible social pressure of keeping up one's landscaping. People push the social boundaries of landscaping all the time. How long can I go without mowing my lawn. How can I cover up weeds with mulch rather than picking them?

To many of you "green thumbs" this is a lame example, but for those of us who despise landscaping and love to rebel against "the man" (aka the HOA), it's a legit boundary we push.

If it's not HOA boundaries, what social boundary do you love to push?

2. What boundaries are good to push? Bad?

Example: How about the boundaries of right/wrong? People are testing these all the time with certain acts of disobedience. Maybe it's my 3 year old Ty throwing food at the table or maybe it's someone robbing a convenience store. Are you one of those people who ask for water at a fast food restaurant and then get soda?

3. Have I gone past the boundary? What were the results and consequences of that choice?

4. Why am I pushing this boundary? Is it for a good reason? Or a selfish reason?

I'm hoping these questions open up a giant can of worms (which I love to do). I would love to see you share some answers to those questions. It could be a serious story or a funny one. It could be about you or it could be about our culture. Let's see what you got. There are definitely a couple cultural answers I'll address, but let's here from you first.

Been A While

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to write a quick note and apologize for no blogs last week. It was a little crazy. I performed a very close friend's wedding last Friday and it was a very busy week getting ready for and being a part of that. We also had a hectic weekend finishing some stuff up for this Church Planting Assessment we are almost done with.

I'll pump out a couple blogs this week. Thanks for your patience.

Aaron

Cultural Band-Aid

A few weeks ago I had an awesome opportunity to meet with John Caldwell before his last Sunday at Kingsway Christian Church as their Lead Pastor. We talked about a wide range of topics and he had all kinds of wise things to say. He said one thing in particular that has really burned in my memory.

John Caldwell Quote - "Have our lives radically changed for Jesus?" John was talking about the challenge of leading a church in the midst of a growing suburb. Many of us have been born and raised in suburbs and I read a quote recently from a book, ironically titled Death by Suburb: How to Keep the Suburbs from Killing Your Soul, "The space around us sets up living patterns that condition our behavior." In other words, what's around us may not start out as sacred, but because we live around it for so long, it becomes important to us. Many times, it becomes our idol i.e. "god".

For example, when we had our 2nd baby boy, Will the Thrill, he wasn't that great of a sleeper. I was up many times (as was Karrie) holding him during the night. I found out quickly there are two TV stations that don't have "paid programming" at 3am. One is ESPN and the other is HGTV. Well, you can only watch Sportscenter so many times before you get sick of it, so I would routinely check out HGTV. I know what you're thinking and yes, I've already self-revoked my Man Card. I'm a pansy.

Anyway, after a month or so, all of a sudden I was looking at our home with a different perspective. I looked at our walls and thought, "Wow, we really need some good thick crown molding to make this room look complete." I looked at our Master bathroom and thought "We really need to raise the countertops, get a framed mirror, and a cool light fixture." I looked at our flooring and thought, "Some wood laminate flooring would make this look so much better."

In other words, something had become sacred to me because I was conditioned by a TV show to believe it. It was a load of crap, but how many of us in Suburbia fall into that trap?

Seriously, none of that stuff fulfills me. It either makes me envious and slightly unhappier because I can't afford it. Or I spend money and time on it, forget about it a short time later and start thinking about the next big expenditures I "need" to make to catch up with my neighbors. It's a cultural band aid.

What's a cultural band aid? For me, it's mainly chocolate chip cookies and Seinfeld re-runs. If I'm in a bad mood and want to feel better, those are my cultural band aids. Slap those babies on and life is good. What I'm referring to is whatever we use to cover up stress, pain, exhaustion, etc. Nothing like 2 hours of Seinfeld and a full batch of Pillsbury Break N' Bakes to lift my spirits. For you? I don't know. Maybe it's the mall, or a new car, or chiseling your biceps, or Chinese take-out. The point is, the cultural band aid eventually falls off and the hurt, the envy, or condition is still there.

How has culture conditioned you to live?

How has Jesus conditioned you to live?

Do they clash?

Most likely...yes.

What John Caldwell meant by his question, "Has my life radically changed for Jesus?" is a scary, yet exciting thing to ask ourselves. I would say, "My life is radically changing for Jesus." It's never a completed project and working on it is SO much more adventurous, exciting, and harder. But I'm beginning to use less band aids.

So answer the questions above for yourself. The big question is, do you have the guts to let Jesus change you?

Wise Words From Great Leaders

I shared on here previously that my wife Karrie and I are pursuing a thing called "Church Planting". Basically, that means I am starting a church. I'm working with a church planting organization and we have our final assessment in the 1st week of August. After that, there are a lot of unknowns, but we are going to do it. I've been doing a lot of studying, praying, journaling, and reading in preparation of church planting.

With that, I have felt a clear call to plant a church. You can scroll down to the blog post "Fasting - the end of the story" to check that out. As for the location, we still aren't completely sure. It could literally be in any city across the U.S. However, I have a burden on my heart for the west/south side of Indianapolis. These are the communities I have spent most of my life in and God is laying a vision on my heart for this place and I'm chomping at the bit to get started.

Another thing I've been doing is praying for Godly leaders to come into my life that I can learn from. I've sought out 3 men in particular and some of the wisdom they have shared has amazed me. Many times they have said a sentence or shared a thought and my jaw will drop because of the magnitude and importance of what they just said. I've written a lot of their words down and want to share some of their insights over the next 3 days. These are men that are all Lead Pastors and have a combined 67 years experience in leading churches.

Trent Renner (Lead Pastor at Parkway Christian Church in Surprise, AZ) said this to me last night, I'm paraphrasing, "Aaron, I'm willing to bet in the past year or so you have experienced a lot of heartbreak. That's good. You need that because being a lead pastor of a church means you will constantly experience heartache and you needed the practice."

Karrie and I both agree that the past year of our lives has been the hardest for many different reasons. We experienced an enormous amount of pain, frustration, and loss. I'm sure many of you reading this have experienced heartache. I'll bet, like me, you asked God or yourself (if you're like me I talk to myself a lot), "Why did I go through that? What was the point? This sucks and I don't understand!" I've uttered those phrases many times in the past year or so.

And last night, for the first time, I felt complete peace about the past year. To quote a favorite author of mine (Donald Miller), Trent's words were like "water to my soul." Even though I don't completely understand every circumstance and struggle, I do know I needed to go through it. I read a verse in Malachi 3:3 about God, "He sits as the refiner and purifier of silver". I know God has been refining and will continue to do that. I got a cool email one time explaining the process of "refining silver" and you can view the contents of that email here.

Specifically, I have learned a lot about working through forgiveness and heart-wrenching loss this past year. Is it a coincidence that some of Jesus's last words on the cross were, "Father forgive them..." while God looked on and felt the heart-wrenching loss of His Son? No. God has layed an awesome vision on my heart and refining needed to take place before I could lead it. How could I possibly lead His church effectively if I could not relate to God's loss and Jesus's forgiveness?

How is God refining you? What are you going to do with it?

Check back tomorrow and Thursday for some more "wise words from great leaders".

We Love To Put Our Faith Into Things That Crumble

Government, politics, and God...Oh my. That's what I'm going to write about today. Apparently, people with etiquette (obviously not me) would point out that those topics are bad dinner party conversation because they are controversial. Well, I guess I would make a bad dinner guest.

I won't lie, it is tricky to talk about this stuff. It's amazing how sensitive we all are about politics and God. If one of those subjects gets brought up, it seems like we all have some sort of trigger inside of us that goes off and emotions start swirling. I've noticed some Facebook posts recently that have caused this trigger to go off inside of me.

A few days ago, I saw a post on a political leader followed by numerous emotional comments both positive and negative. Just today, I saw a post that was discussing Jesus, God, and the Bible. The viewpoints varied.

Before I dive into some thoughts on politics and God I want to be up front. I try look at this world through a certain lens and that is Jesus and the Bible. Those two things sway every opinion I have. After many years of doubts, questions and study, I truly believe that Jesus is the son of God and that He is the only way to get to God. In the book of John, chapter 14, verse 6, Jesus says "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one gets to the Father except through me." Jesus said it and I believe it. I'm not saying that with any kind of an arrogant tone. It's just what I put my faith in. I also believe that the Holy Bible is the inspired Word of God.

As I look through that lens I just described, there are a couple of things regarding politics and God that I want to share. You may not agree with the lens I view the world through, but I'll bet every person reading this agrees with this statement, "We want a better world to live in. We want less pain and more peace. We want less hate and more love. We want less problems and more solutions." I'll bet we all agree those are our hopes. If you agree with that quote, then read on and take a look at the world through this lens I'm talking about.

Here we go...

Many American people have faith that government (in particular, our government) is the greatest hope to make this world a better place to live. Many people put their faith (and votes) in a certain law, a specific political party, or a great political leader. Our own political leaders believe this. One of our last presidential candidates said this, "America's ideals are the last great hope..."

It's a mistake to put our faith into those things. We can't put our faith into things that crumble. Yet, throughout human history, we continue to make the same mistake of depending on governments, politicians, and laws to make this a better and more hopeful world to live in.

I truly believe this is one of Satan's greatest weapons. He wants us to think that our governments, our leaders, our laws, and ourselves can make this a better world. It's a lie and a trap that many of us fall into.

The word Satan comes from a generic Hebrew word that means, "one who tries to block your way". Satan uses our idolatrous faith in politics and government to keep us (block our way) from making this a better world to live in.

Why is our faith in politics a problem? Because Satan loves us to be ineffective. He knows many people are lazy and apathetic and that's exactly what he wants. But he also knows many of us are driven, motivated, and passionate. If he can help guide that passion we have into something that is ineffective, then he's winning. This is why he is referred to in The Bible as a "deceiver" (Revelation 12:9, 20:3) and "disguises himself as an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14).

So here's what I'm not saying. I'm not saying, "Don't vote, it's a waste of time." We should use and be grateful for the rights and privileges we have in our country...just don't depend on them. Jesus said, "Be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves."

I'm also saying that I openly put all my eggs in one basket. All my passion, energy, and faith go into Jesus and His church. I truly believe He is the only hope for this world. All my charitable contributions, most of my time, and a ton of my energy go into His church. And church isn't a building. It's a community of people who chase after Jesus and imitate Him with their actions and words.

I've seen more life change and more active hope happen through Jesus, than with any law or political leader. Just today, I heard John Caldwell, the man that baptized me, give his last message as Kingsway Christian Church's pastor and he said something that hit home. I'll paraphrase what he said, "Of all the armies, forces, kings, parliaments, legislatures, and political leaders this world has known, the sum of their influence on this world pales in comparison to Jesus Christ."

Napolean Bonaparte had this to say about Jesus, "Well then, I will tell you. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I myself have founded great empires; but upon what did these creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love, and to this very day millions will die for Him." And I'll add to that, their empires crumbled, and Jesus's remains.

If we truly want a better world filled with more peace, hope, and love, then we need to start putting our faith in Jesus. And for you Christians out there, you need to stop splitting your faith.

So what do we do with that? What's a point of action? Here are some questions to ask yourself and some other ideas, think of some on your own as well.

1. What problem or injustice keeps me awake at night?

2. Would Jesus do something about this problem? Since he refers to himself as "the Truth", we should probably figure out what is important to Him and pretty much leave the other stuff alone.

3. Am I putting my faith in a political leader or law to solve this problem, or am I actually doing something about it myself? You want a great example? My brother, Matt and his wife Rene, have adopted 2 handsome boys, Tristan and Desmond. There are 143 million orphans in the world. You think a law is going to solve that problem? Or will it be people like Matt and Rene who have made a commitment to love God and love others.

4. Am I pouring myself into something that is ineffective? Christians - Do you spend most of your time crafting and forwarding emails to "Keep Christmas as a National Holiday", keep "In God We Trust" on our money and license plates? Really, ask yourself if either one of those arguments is truly helping people? Hungry people, sick people, orphans, and others who don't know the love and power of Jesus need people to love them directly, and not depend on others to do it. Signing a petition to "Keep the National Day of Prayer" doesn't help sickness, hunger, orphans, or the lost. Do we really need a government to give us permission to pray? Is that fight truly needed?

Colossians 1: 16-17 "For by him (Jesus) all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

He is more powerful and more influential than any law.

For some more great thoughts about this kind of stuff, check this article out. Think outside the box!

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of...Obedience?

Warped Continued...

I've never been a grudgeholder, but for the first time in my life, I have some anger that stems from some recent relationships in my life...and it hasn't gone away yet. I actually thought I was past it. Then I witnessed something that stirred up some serious anger in me. It's an unhealthy anger because what I witnessed was a very good thing.

What did I see? I sat in on a meeting between two people I didn't know very well and they were discussing something. It was something minor and they had two differing opinions on the matter. In a very loving and healthy way, they shared their differing opinions with each other and then moved on. It was a good, honest conversation between people who cared for each other.

But it made me very uncomfortable and angry. For a split second, I mentally sided with one guy in the discussion. From my point of view, I was angry because I thought the other guy was wrong for even sharing his opinion and I thought he was being disrespectful. Why did this make me mad? Because I'm warped. I couldn't see this conversation for what it truly was, because I was allowing some past experiences define reality and not God.

What did I experience to make me view this conversation with such a warped perception? I'll just say some unhealthy relationships. Within these relationships, healthy, authentic, loving discussion rarely happened and it left a pretty rotten taste in my mouth. And there are nights I lay awake stewing with anger over those memories. That's not good.

The thing is, I have every right to be angry. However, I need to forgive these people. I'm not saying I need to call them up, talk to them, and try to get them to say "sorry". I need to forgive them because the anger and growing grudge I have is unhealthy for me and anyone I have influence over (my wife, my kids, family, friends, etc.). I need to forgive them for me.

We all do that though. We hang on to stuff from our past and we let it define our present.

I just read the story of Joseph this morning in Genesis. If anyone had a right to be warped, it was him. Here's his story in a nutshell that I took from a book I'm reading called Shepherding a Child's Heart, "His mother died while he was young. He was his father's favorite. His dreams inflamed his brothers' hatred. He was further alienated from them by his father's gift of a coat that set him apart as their authority. His brothers betrayed him and he was thrown in a pit. Slave traders bought him to profit from his resale value. He was double crossed in Potiphar's house despite his honor and intergrity. He was imprisoned. Even there he was forsaken by those whom he had helped. Here was a man you would expect to be bitter, cynical, resentful, and angry. If a man is only the sum total of influences that shape him, that would have been the result."

However, later on, his brothers begged his mercy and Joseph said to them "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children. And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them." (Genesis 50: 19-21)

Great things happened because Joseph let God define his life and not his experiences. I want to get to that point. I'm not there yet. Right now, all I can say is "I intend to forgive" these people.

What is it that you are holding onto that is continually warping reality?

Comments

By the way,

Thanks so much for sharing your "warped stories". I didn't say I was going to pick a favorite but I am. Erin, you take the cake for the best "warped story". Light up shoes, huh? You're awesome and I will pray you can let go of your unhealthy grudge towards technologically advanced shoes.

I Am Warped

Seriously...and I just realized it recently. There are things that have happened to me in my past (most of it recently) that warp my views on things. What I mean by "warp" is I have events in my life that have unhealthily (is that word?) disturbed my present reality. Do you have those things? Up until recently, most of the things that have warped me have been fairly benign and somewhat humorous. Here are some examples of "3 random events/things that have warped my view on reality". These aren't a "top 3". Just some things I've experienced that have caused me to have a chip on my shoulder about something.

1. Vacation Bible School - it's that time of year! There are Vacation Bible School signs everywhere. Every time I drive by one I get a nervous twitch and utter something under my breath that is cynical, judgmental, and totally unfair. I went to VBS one time when I was a kid (parents made me) and hated every second of it. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why the word "Vacation" was included in the same phrase as "Bible School". Seemed like an oxymoron to me...even though I didn't know what "oxymoron" meant at the age of 11. I would have much rather spent my time riding my bike, playing backyard baseball, swimming, playing basketball, having Nerf wars, playing video games, well...you get the picture. As I kid, I felt like I went to jail for a week.

2. Being a Notre Dame football fan and Chicago Cubs baseball fan. When it comes to sports, I'm an eternal pessimist. I never believe my team will win. I expect to lose. Look at who I root for. When the Cubs blew it (Bartman game) in 2002 (I think...maybe 2003 but too lazy to google it and don't want to re-live the pain) I cried. Yes, I shed tears.

3. Burger King - I will never eat there again as long as I live. I worked there 3 days at the tender age of 16 and it has forever warped my view of BK. If you're smart, you would take my word for it and never eat there again as well. See?! I'm warped. If you still insist on eating there, do yourself a favor and avoid the Biscuits N' Gravy at breakfast time. Trust me.

Anyway, those are a little silly, but if you dig a little deeper, it gets serious. Those are 3 things I've experienced that have caused me to view present reality in an unfair way. How many of us are more jaded, cynical, and warped because of life? How many of us are letting our past define our present? Our future? I've had some experiences recently that have warped me. And the thing is, I realize it, but I'm definitely still wrestling with it and catch myself in moments of cynicism, anger, and unhealthy thoughts. So I'm working through it right now.

What's the point? There is danger in letting our lives define us and not God. Recently, I have let my experiences define my perception of myself and my view of the world. It's not good. I need to let God do that.

So before I write about that tomorrow. I want to hear your "I'm warped because of..." stories. Today, only funny ones allowed. Share a quick example of how a past experience has warped you. Looking forward to reading...

Fasting - the end of the story

As I write this, I'm sitting in my "ebenezer" location. I took that term from the song "Come thou fount", at least I think that's the name of it. Here's pretty cool version of the song by David Crowder. While searching on youtube, I noticed Michael Bolton has a version of this song as well. I chose Crowder. When in doubt, go with the guy that doesn't have a balding mullet. "Ebenezer" is a reference to the story in 1st Samuel 7: 12 and it means something like "God helped us". While I was sitting in this seat (at Starbucks by the way), God answered two prayers I had and I'll tell you about the 1st prayer today. I'll probably write about the 2nd prayer sometime next week when the timing is a bit better.

I know God answers prayers, but it's not always a "burning bush" moment so to speak. I mean, when Moses saw a burning bush and heard the voice of God, he got a pretty black and white answer. I have had some major and tough decisions to make and after a period of prayer in which God didn't give me a yes or no answer, I have spent some time yelling at him. You know, out of a selfish frustration. Anyone else ever yell at God?

To answer us, sometimes I think God says, "You decide! I gave you free will!" A lot of times, we pray prayers that are already answered in Scripture. "God, should I help this elderly, 90lb. lady who has a flat tire on the side of the road in a heavy rain storm?" If I were God, I would answer sounding like Ed Rooney from Ferris Buehlers Day Off, "Read the Bible 'you pinhead'. Love your neighbor as yourself! Come on." In other words, God gave us free will so we can decide. Many times, He has already spoken in His Word and we just need to pickup the Bible and read it. There's a great book about God's Will I read recently by Kevin DeYoung called Just Do Something. Check it out if you want. It's a good, quick read.

Anyway, I say all that because this prayer I prayed to God was something I wanted a very clear answer on.

Karrie and I have been talking about church planting for quite some time, and are now really feeling called to do it. I would say our conversations started up about 2 years ago and have progessively been more serious. I recently resigned from my Student Ministry position at Flatirons Community Church and within a week, Karrie and I knew our days of student ministry were over. Not because we don't love student ministry, but because we had this inner gut feeling it was time to explore church planting. So we began praying. And we asked God, over and over, for a "burning bush" moment. I wanted this church plant to be of God and not some selfish desire I had. I needed Him to speak to me with a yes or no answer.

That is what led me to explore fasting. I fasted because my biggest idol is food. I love food. I have relied more on food than I have on God many times. Meaning, when I have a rough day, the first thing I usually reach for is not Scripture, or time with God. I reach for cookies, or the Taco Bell drive-thru, or something else with chocolate in it. For at least one day, I wanted God to have my full attention and dependence. I told God, "I would love for you to answer my prayer today. But more than anything, I want you to know I love you so much, more than food, money, etc. and for at least today, I want you to actually see me live those words." So for about 23 and 1/2 hours I loved God more than food.

Here's the cool part. He answered my prayers and He showed me how He was going to do it before it even happened. My 1st prayer was, "God, do you want me to plant a church?". I started my fast at about 10 pm on a Sunday night about 3 weeks ago. I planned on going to Starbucks for the entire day the next day to read my Bible, journal, and pray. That morning, while I was getting ready, God put a thought in my head. I felt the Holy Spirit telling me that someone I know would walk into Starbucks that day and answer both of my questions. So I spent the morning reading the book of Acts and 1st Timothy and writing prayers down to God.

At about Noon, a guy named Zach walked into Starbucks. I knew Zach when he was a student at Mooresville High School, where I taught for 3 years. Zach is awesome. The best way to describe Zach is a surfer dude who has somehow been born and raised in the Midwest. He uses words like, "chillin" and "trippin" a lot and starts every sentence with "Dude" and ends every sentence with "man" or "bro". He walks in and sees me and immediately yells (not exaggerating...yells", "Dude, Aaron what's up man!"

After a while, Zach sits down with me and asks, "Dude, you thinkin' bout plantin' a church bro?". And I said "Yeah". I had not seen Zach in over 5 years, and that's the first question he asked me. And then he says, "Dude, you should!" And for the next hour or so, Zach did most of the talking but I truly believe it was the Holy Spirit working through him. He talked passionately about a need in our culture for this church. I was just shocked. God NEVER ceases to amaze me. I kept thinking about this quote I heard from a guy named Rich Mullins. He said, "God spoke to Balaam through an ass and he's been speaking through asses every since." Zach's not an ass. It's just that God can speak through anyone and it's usually in unexpected ways.

God blew me away and now Karrie and I are on our mission. We are going to plant a church. We are under assessment with a great church planting organization called Stadia and so far it's going really well. I am interviewing with two churches who want to plant and honestly, we truly hope it's one of these two. But if it's not, we will continue to pursue God's call on us.

That's where we are at. It's a little scary and very exciting at the same time. We know it's going to be REALLY hard. But God has given me a vision and that's a peaceful place to be, no matter what craziness is going on around us. There is such freedom in handing our lives to Jesus.

I have fallen in love with Jesus's church and I can't wait to start our mission and this vision He has layed on my heart.

Fasting

Experiencing something for the very first time is almost always a memorable thing. It's like the Foreigner song, "Feels like the First Time" which you can listen to here and then thank me for that song being stuck in your head the rest of the day. Go back in time with me. Remember your first:

Kiss?

Day you had your license?

Wedding Day?

Birth of 1st child?

1st roller coaster ride?

Sometimes "1st time experiences" are painful/things you wish you could forget: Maybe something like:

Divorce?

Loss of job?

A death of a loved one?

Watching the Sex and the City movie (had to throw a joke in there, was getting sad.)

Recently, my aunt was telling me about this book she read on Fasting. Fasting is a spiritual discipline that is discussed throughout the Bible and it means to go without food for a certain amount of time. I've always been somewhat of a pig when it comes to food. I won't lie, I can put it away with the best of them. In college, I would buy the Pillsbury packages of Break n' Bake cookies (24 cookies choc. chip cookies in a package) and would bake the entire tray of cookies and proceed to eat them all in one sitting. I love food and there is no doubt I truly struggle with gluttony. Food is more than a drug to me, sometimes it's a god. In a bad mood? How about some chips and salsa? Bored? How about rooting through the fridge or pantry to munch on something? Watching a movie? Gotta have popcorn. Going to a baseball game? Gotta have some peanuts and hot dogs. I have done all of those things just in this past week.

So before I continue on with the "Fasting" topic, I need to update you really quick on something. Karrie and I moved back to Indiana about 7 weeks ago. We spent the first month just relaxing and enjoying our family, kids, and each other. It was an incredible time of recovery after a long period of stress. However, we have been chomping at the bit for our next mission in ministry. There's something that has been on our hearts for a couple of years now and we had not spent a ton of time in prayer about it. But in the past 9 months or so, it's been fresh on our minds and just in the past 2 months, we have really been thinking and praying heavily about it. I'll get into more details later about all this, but the main point is we really needed a "burning bush" moment, a clear answer from God on this thing. I'm sure many of you are in the midst or have had similar times with God.

So back to Fasting, this book my aunt recommended is written by this charismatic Pentecostal dude. So immediately, I'm turned off. Like every TV preacher I know, his picture is on every side of the book. He's even got a picture on the side of the book jacket of him with this cheesy serious look on his face staring away from the camera, off into the distance, as if he sees a blonde haired, blue eyed, white robed Jesus walking towards him. But since I'm a recovering cynic (great article in Relevant magazine about Satire vs. Cynicism that every struggling cynic should read), I knew I had to get past my own arrogance and judgment and check this book out. The reason? Like any selfish Christian, sometimes, I would love for God to be more of a "genie in a bottle" than sovereign and discerning. Anyone else?

So in chapter 1 of the book, this guy cites Matthew 6 and Jesus says, "When you pray...when you give...when you fast." The author points out Jesus's focus is on "when", not "if". Christians are expected to do all of those, after all, Jesus did them all. I read that and I'm like, "Well, I give. I pray. But I've never fasted." Not once! Why? Because I'm selfish and I love food. My next stream of thought looked something like this, "Giving? That's easy, it's just a one-time setup of automatic withdrawal. Praying? I can give up some minutes each day to talk to God. Fasting? I love food too much. It's not convenient. I need food." And the excuses kept coming. I know that stream of thought isn't very holy or anything, but that's pretty much what popped into my head. We do that don't we? We have a checklist in our heads that we could run down to mentally defend ourselves. It makes us feel better about ourselves. But that's another topic for some other time.

Here I am, really craving for an answer to this prayer Karrie and I had been praying. There are two questions we have been asking God that required two seperate answers. And after reading what Jesus said in Matthew 6, I thought, "Wow, I need to fast." And it's important I clarify, I didn't want to fast because I thought it was some sort of trick to get God to answer my prayer. Yes, I was hoping He would answer, of course, but it wasn't the main motivation. For me, the motivation for fasting was because Jesus expected me to do it as a leader. I mean, I've given a message on fasting before and I've never done it. How hypocritical is that? If I want to be a Godly leader and disciple, I need to let the Word of God mold me and shape me. I read that from Matthew 6 and couldn't get away from it. It's not like I could pretend I didn't read it. It was like getting caught in a lie. Sometimes, you just have to own up to it and make a change.

So I planned to fast for one full day, at least 24 hours. I did it. Survived without gnawing on my own arm or anything. And God showed up in a crazy way that day. It was a "burning bush" moment for me. And I'll finish the story tomorrow.

So it begins...

Alright, count me in amongst the masses of bloggers out there, I've given in and joined the club. Before I write this first post, you probably need to know what this blog will be about. Jesus. There, that's it. Him. I know that sounds extremely cheesy and churchy, but if you're reading this you know me well enough to know I don't like cheesiness and much prefer authenticity. And I don't like churchiness, aka, using big fancy words to make myself sound smarter and look Godly. I'm not very smart (2.8 GPA in college) although I did make the Dean's List one semester (Student Teaching) and neither one of my brothers did. What, what! I also won't use words or phrases on here like "Sanctified", "testify", or "Have you been saved by the blood of the lamb?". Yeah, I might wax poetic and tell some stories, but Jesus will be in the center of it all. My hope for this blog is to share how Jesus is working on me (because I fall way short of Him) and how He's working in the world. Maybe in the midst of it somewhere, if I don't bore you too much and you continue reading, you'll bump into Him and good things will happen.

Also, to start this blog off I need to repent of some sin. I have a tendency to be overly cynical, not a good quality. Many times I'll make random statements on Facebook or in conversations simply because I'm an a-hole and being an a-hole comes naturally to me. I appreciate your grace in this area and if you're reading still, please pray, "God, will you please help Aaron to not be such a jerk?"

Now, I'm very transparent and will continue to be. And I'm sure I'll write stuff on here that will piss people off. But that will not be my intention. My intention will once again be to point attention to Jesus, and sometimes that's cool with people, and sometimes it makes them angry. Either way, I hope things written on here spark good, healthy thoughts and conversations about God and Jesus.

Finally, please forgive grammatical and spelling errors. As I stated in the 1st paragraph, "I'm not perfect". In particular, I'll warn you that the rule for "to" and "too" constantly escapes me so get over it and move on.

My first post is a response I wrote to a church when they asked me, "Describe your ideal ministry?" I got a little fired up and wrote a ton of stuff that was basically the equivalent of verbal diarhea. I found this little nugget (get it?) that interested in me because it made me ask myself some tough questions. Check it out...

Maybe this sounds a little cheesy and obvious, but my ideal ministry assignment would be to imitate Jesus’s ministry. He displayed and taught perfect, Godly leadership. One thing I have realized quickly is “I’m not Jesus”, however, my heart beats and breaks for the same things.

My heart beats for the poor, the rejected, the forgotten, and the abused. People like this LOVED Jesus. They followed Him around and flocked to Him hoping they could at least just touch his robe. They would rip open roofs to be in his presence. Unfortunately, we have developed a culture (obviously not Jesus’s fault) that is scared, angry, or disappointed in Jesus. My ideal ministry assignment must be a community that not only serves the judged, the poor, and the rejected, but lives in community with them, i.e., “does life with them”. People who follow Jesus should be spending a disproportionate amount of time with these people, just like Jesus did. I want to create a community that is not only attractive to these people, but a group of people the sick, the judged, the poor, and the forgotten want to be part of. As the leader of this community, I won’t be satisfied unless someone is trying to rip the roof off to get in. Our church’s reputation should strive for the same that Jesus had. People should be clamoring to be with us because we will truly, authentically love and care for people the way Jesus did. We will not stop at “service projects”. Those kinds of things might get us through the front door of people’s hearts, but life change through Jesus will only happen if we are inviting people into a Jesus centered church community like Acts 2. Sending a church bus over to low income housing units on Sunday mornings isn’t going to be good enough. Sending or developing multiple families and couples to live amongst these communities would be the way Jesus would do it and the church in Acts would do it.

After reading this response, it made me first think about my interactions with people. After all, I am supposed to be a "house" of God; welcoming, hospitable, warm. None of those really describe me. Not good. Then it made me think of my home that I live in. Where is it located? Amongst people that Jesus would hang out with? Are they welcome in my home? Would they even want to be in my home? If not, would it be because I have a big screen TV, heat, AC, and food in the fridge? Or because I don't invite them in and break down social barriers? What about my church? Are people willing to find any way in they can, even rip the roof off because they have heard such great things? This question comes from this story 4 dudes ripping the roof off to get to Jesus

I could go on asking lots of questions but I already feel guilty enough. But we can't operate out of guilt. It's not motivating enough. Once again, it comes back to Jesus and what I think and believe about Him. If we operate out of a deep, burning love for Him, then the answers to those questions should start changing. As Trent Renner would say, "Food for thought".