Brighter Days

Tonight, I decided to go for a bike ride around some parts of Hudsonville. There's a nice trail that winds around the back end of Vitale's, Mr. Burger, the bowling alley and some condo's and I like it back there because I enjoy being away from the busyness of town (although it is a small town like Hudsonville).
I went out around 9:30pm tonight and enjoyed the quiet, tranquil trail on Elmwood. Although the bugs made their presence known, the rest of my ride was just me, my bike and my ipod. The ipod doesn't necessarily add to the quietness, but I enjoy the randomly chosen songs that the men inside the ipod give to me.
This time also gave me the opportunity to pray. I love being able to pray out loud. I don't mind doing it in front of other people, but I love it when I get the chance to verbalize the words I want to speak to my Lord and to do it just between myself and Him (and a muskrat that I happened to see swimming along the water surface).
Lately, I have felt that there have been a lot of things for me to pray for. For friends that are having trouble getting pregnant, for a little Haitian girl who just had a serious heart surgery, for a friend that is battling cancer, for a friend of a friend who is also dealing with cancer, for someone in a far off place that is telling people about Jesus, for a co-worker recovering from a heart-attack, for cousins that are coping with the loss of their two dogs, for my newborn son and 21 month old daughter and wife...and on and on the list goes.
It breaks my heart that so many people are going through pain, yet at the same time I know God knows every heartache, he knows every tear, he knows every thought you have...if you don't believe me...check this out:

⁸For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
⁹For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
~Isaiah 55:8,9

Anyway, back to the bike ride. So as I prayed these prayers and as I biked in awe of God's amazing creation and amazing grace in sending Jesus...a song came on the ipod called "Brighter Days" by Leeland. I have had this in my ipod for some time, but heard it for the first time tonight. May this video/song be an encouragement to my friends I wrote about above and to you that read this blog:

BRIGHTER DAYS lyrics:
Time keeps moving on
Through the sunshine and the storm
And my dreams are set in stone
And someday I’ll be who I want to be
For now I’ll wait
For the sun to shine again
And for now I’ll wait
For the rain to pass away

And I’m looking for the brighter days
When all my hurts seem to fade away
I’m looking for the brighter days to come my way

Faces come and faces go
But none seem to look my way
And walls have stood and walls have fallen
But my heart seems to wait
For now I’ll sit at the end of the road
And for now I’ll wait
At the end of the pathway

I’ll see the sun one day shine upon me
I’ll see the sun one day
And watch the nighttime turn to morning
But for now it all comes back around

Representin'

Have you ever seen things like these on the back of a vehicle? Do you own a vehicle that looks like this one?

When I was in college I made the back of my 1992 Chevy Lumina a walking advertisement (mainly for Christian bands such as Five Iron Frenzy and The Supertones)

Many people have at least one or two bumper stickers in their back window. After buying our [new to us] 2006 Chrysler Town and Country I jokingly told Susan that we definetly have to buy some kind of bumper sticker for our van just so that we can identify it in the plethora of vans that look just like it in places like the Meijer parking lot, church and anywhere else where kid toting parents and old people (that have a van for no particular reason) park.

I've been noticing these bumper stickers lately on vehicles quite a bit. Bumper stickers are a great way to tell who a person is and what they represent. Whether that's a picture of thong sandals for each family member, an explanation of what will happen if the rapture were to occur or Calvin peeing on....well anything, these stickers tell us a story.

In 2 Corinthians 5:11-15, Paul talks about what he wants to represent. He starts the section by saying that the gospel is not about him. Everything points to God and his son Jesus Christ. Paul says, "For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you."

Paul goes on to tell us the thing that he wants to represent. "For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."
Paul is saying, all that other stuff: the college you want to make sure everybody knows you root for, which candidate is best, the fact that you love your pug or even what state/trail you have visited, all means absolutely nothing compared to Christ.

Jesus is not making sure we make the right decisions on such trivial things as these. He's not concerned with things that won't make an eternal difference. He's not concerned about our good judgement in the temporal things. Paul's concern and God's instruction is that you love God more than any of these things.

I don't think there's anything wrong with having a bumper sticker. I don't think it's a big deal to associate ourselves with different persons, places things or animals (nouns :-)) but as I survey my heart and I encourage you to do the same, let's ask ourselves: Are these the things that are MOST important to us? Are the things we have on the rear of our cars, trucks, vans, buggies controlling us or do we (as Paul says) "no longer live for (our)selves but for him who for (our) sake died and was raised."

We are NOT good. We continually put ourselves before God and before others. There is only one who is good...Jesus and by God's grace He has given us the opportunity to worship him and share his mercy with others. Let's represent Christ to the best of our ability each day!

Note: I'm not saying, put a Jesus fish or cross on your car...let's face it, sometimes doing that hurts our witness more than helps it...at least for me that's the case...thank God we are sinners saved by grace!

What's In A Name?

Many people have asked about Silas' name. Why did you choose it? Does it have some kind of family significance? Did you draw it out of a hat?
To be honest we just liked the name, but I like what the Bible has to say about him:

After the Jerusalem Council the church sends out Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas (Acts 15:22). They are sent out to correct a problem that is going on concerning the church. Some people are told that they must be circumcised to be saved (Acts 15:1). Peter corrects the Pharisees in saying, "But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus..." (Acts 15:11)

Along with Judas, Silas is sent out with Paul and Barnabus to tell the people to "abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality." (Acts 15:29)

It says that Judas and Silas were "men who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts 15:26) and also that they "encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words." (Acts 15:32)

In Acts 16 as they are on their way to Lydia's house, Paul casts out a spirit of divination from Lydia and both Paul and Silas are beaten in thrown in jail because of their beliefs. In jail a great earthquake erupts and the prison doors are open, instead of thinking of themselves, Paul and Silas look to the needs of the jailer and show him the grace that was talked about at the Jerusalem council. As examples of Christ they tell the jailer, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." (Acts 16:31)

Silas continued with Paul preaching the good news of God's amazing grace.

Silas is an interesting character to me, because he's mentioned in these chapters, but you don't hear a word from his mouth. However, as I mentioned above, he was an encourager and was totally focused on getting the word of Jesus out to as many people as possible, whether that meant getting beat, or ridiculed or even going to prison.

Many of us don't think of Silas when we think of hero's of the New Testament. We think of our Paul's and we think of how amazing Peter was, but I think (for me at least) sometimes we miss the small stories throughout scripture (both OT and NT) of people that were just as faithful and just as interesting as the top men (and women).

My prayer is that my son, Silas along with myself are like the Silas of the Bible. I hope that's your prayer as well. May we be strong in our faith as these men were and in our "hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil." (1 Peter 3:15-17)

The Business of People

Being involved in some kind of youth ministry my entire adult life, I have had my fair share of interactions with people. These interactions might be in a conversation in which there is a dialog between me and one or more persons. It may be a time of lecture in which I'm speaking and others are listening. Interaction has always been one of two things positive or negative.

In ministry I deal with touchy parts of peoples lives. Where a dietician interacts on the physical or a counselor interacts on the mental, I as a youth pastor deal with the spiritual.

Interacting with people about beliefs and proper living is a touchy subject. However, our culture has strayed away from agreeing to speak Biblical truths. We don't want to hurt peoples feelings. We don't want offend anybody. We don't want to lose people in our churches and our ministries. We have chosen our cultures decision against absolute truth over the truth that will (ironically enough) set us free.

Ephesians 5:1,2 says:
"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

Paul is not saying love people and don't call them out on their faults. That seems to be a definition that has been given "love" these days. It seems to me we have decided instead to say something like, "Tell people about Jesus and love them." That's very well and good but where does discipleship come into play? Where does accountability and action happen?

As a youth pastor (director, minister, guy, etc.) and more importantly as a follower of Christ I have a responsibility to not only proclaim the gospel of Jesus to people, but to not sugar-coat it and explain it for what it really is.

Being a Christian isn't easy, it takes dieing to self every day. It takes discipline in growing in my relationship with my Lord and Savior and it requires me to be honest about the gospel.

People don't like this and they don't want this. They don't want to hear a gospel that says how horrible of sinner they are or that they need a Savior. They want something that tells them how wonderful they are and the "twelve essentials to having a better life."

I write all of this to say a simple thing that I have begun to realize in my life in ministry:
Not everyone's going to accept the gospel that needs to be taught. Don't give up on those people, BUT invest in those people that truly want to hear the gospel that takes the focus off of us and puts the focus completely on Jesus and what he did for us.