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...