“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”  ~ Proverbs 1:7

When we permit ourselves to stay in sin, we show we have no fear of God.  If fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, then the fool is the person who despise the fear of the Lord.  There’s a lot of people in our generation who become fools, because they mistake fear of the Lord for legalism.

Be wise!

This has been a great week – following the challenge by our Pastor to find our place and time to spend time with God.  The more I’ve been doing it this week – the more I’m craving God’s Word and His presence.

Tonight in REPO I shared a message based on some things God has been working in me.

Play-doh stays fresh when you put the lid on it.  The same with us – we stay fresh in secret when we’re talking to God – when we put the lid on it (Matthew 6:5,6).  Jesus shows us the way we can stay fresh in Mark 14:25-42 when He’s praying at the most anguishing time before his betrayal and ultimately his death.  He shows three things:

1.  Close the lid (Mark 14:33) – we gotta get away from the noise and people to get close to God.  We find our true identity when it’s just us and Him.

2.  Get Flat (Mark 14:35) – Jesus goes a little further and falls flat on his face.  We see clearly when we’re on our face.  We gotta let God flatten our sins, dreams, and who we think we are – to find out who HE says we are.

Martin Luther said, “God made the world out of nothing.  If I am not yet nothing, God cannot make something out of me.”  In nothing, He can be everything.  He takes away our comfort zone so that we can step out fully in faith.

3.  Be Molded (Mark 14:36) – Jesus tells God what he desires, but says, “Whatever you will is – I want to do it.”  When we allow Him to mold us to whatever he wants for that day, week, month, or year – then we see the true masterpiece He has created us to be (Ephesians 2:10).

We gave each of our students a can of play doh and encouraged them to use it in their prayer time.  When you’re praying about sins you struggle with – form it out of the play-doh, then ask God to flatten that sin by His forgiving power.  When you’re asking Him what He wants to use you for that day – begin to shape that play-doh into what He is saying.

Most of all – we must remember that we’re just Play-Doh in God’s hands.  But in His hands is the BEST place to be.

When you look in the eyes of that one who is committing everything to Jesus and you see it – it makes the world stop.  It clicked!

We know the Holy Spirit draws people to Jesus.  But sometimes I get sad when I see the same student coming week in and week out making commitments but still choosing to live the same and keep Jesus on the periphery. I’ve been there, but I really desire true life change and hope to well up in them.

I’ve had many times in my life when it clicked – and my world was revolutionized.  CS Lewis says something along the lines of, “One great mark of God’s presence is that He shatters my image of it all the time.”  It clicks when God shatters the way you thought things were and you get a clearer picture of Jesus.

So my question to you is…What’s been shattered lately?  Because God doesn’t shatter, just the picture we have in our mind of what He’s like does.

Friday was the one year anniversary of when Jess and I moved to Hamtramck.  It’s crazy to think that it has already been a year.  God has changed our lives so much in just one year.

• I went from unemployed for 2 1/2 months to substitute teacher to now a full time technology teacher. Jess went from Starbucks to new Starbucks to Huntington bank to amazing full time wife and minister.  (We both would have been uncomfortable if God had put us in the position we’re in right now, a year ago.  It is incredible how He makes His plan work.)
• We went from not desiring to be in youth ministry to willingly taking over to REPO to now leading the best youth ministry in the world.  The student leaders are amazing, we’re seeing people saved each week, and we have adult leaders who love students and invest in them weekly outside of the youth service.
• We went from churches where there were very few people our age to a church built for people our age to serve in and live out the radical life that Jesus calls us to all together.
• We went from little money to less money – and yet we gave more and saw more miracles!  Haha.  It doesn’t make sense, but Jesus doesn’t have to make sense to us – He’s God!  He just tells us, “Go!”

These are just a few of the “major” changes He has done in us.  There are so many more that He works out daily (like just being more consistent in my reading of His Word and prayer), and I’m grateful for that.

Yeah, this blog post is just like an altar that the Israelites would make to remember milestones of what God had done.  Thanks for letting me lay down these rocks to show what amazing things God has done this last year.  I love you Jesus, and I’m grateful for YOU the reader who takes time to read my thoughts.

TJ

This week has been a reminder that we must keep healthy boundaries for kids and teenagers.  I have been working at my school now for 3 1/2 weeks.  The students are now familiar with me and testing to see what boundaries I’ll keep.  They’re being rude, talkative, mean to each other, and disrespectful.

But I don’t take it personally.  I understand that’s a part of growing up.

However, it is my responsibility to clearly define the boundaries in that classroom.  I let students know what they can and cannot do, both by what I say and what situations I deal with that come up.

You might be struggling with this in your home, at your school, at your church or any other number of places.  But take heart, be strong, and lovingly correct wrong behavior.  In the long run, students will be grateful for clearly defined lines and loving correction.

Just a lesson I’ve been reminded of lately.

TJ

I really like this prayer…here are a few excerpts from it:

I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the
Trinity, through belief in the Threeness, through confession
of the Oneness of the Creator of creation.

I arise today through the strength of Christ with His Baptism,
through the strength of His Crucifixion with His Burial
through the strength of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
through the strength of His descent for the Judgment of Doom.

I arise today, through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me, God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me, God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to secure me:
against snares of devils, against temptations of vices,
against inclinations of nature, against everyone who
shall wish me ill, afar and anear, alone and in a crowd.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right,
Christ on my left, Christ in breadth, Christ in length,
Christ in height, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the
Trinity, through belief in the Threeness, through confession of the
Oneness of the Creator of creation.
Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of Christ. May Thy Salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.

The Lord is good.  His love endures forever.

Ask yourself the right questions, and just keep asking them!

It’s easy to get off course from your purpose because of busyness or laziness or anything that normal life brings our way.  However, we must recognize we’re off course and always continue asking ourselves the right questions.

In my situation here at REAL Church, here are some questions I regularly ask myself:

• Does Jesus have priority in my time, attention, passion, and heart?
• Am I giving priority to my commitments at REAL Church?  (Because that’s why I moved here)
• If not, what do I need to do to refocus?  What do I need to give up to be refocused?
• How do I need to spend my time more wisely?  (Recently I divided my day up into 1/2 hour increments to see where I could better spend my time).  Plus, we’re all busy.  It’s just those that realize how to redeem more of their time that end up doing more to change the world.
• Jesus is first.  My wife (Jess) is second. Ministry is third.  Job is fourth.  (Just need to always remind myself of that.  They blend a lot in all those areas.  But if I find myself really lacking in one area, it’s usually because I have something out of its place).

Those aren’t all of my questions – just wanted to share some with you.

These are just some thoughts on my mind tonight.

TJ

From Thomas Nelson:  “Starring a Hollywood-level cast of young talent including Cody Linley (Hanna Montana, Dancing with the Stars) as Jesus, AnnaSophia Robb (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) as Mary Magdalene, Jordin Sparks (American Idol Winner) as Elizabeth, Cobin Bleu (High School Musical) as Peter, Alyson Stoner (Cheaper by the Dozen) as Martha, and narrated by Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings). The project includes informative book introductions by author Max Lucado and his daughter, Jenna Lucado, who is a speaker on the Revolve® Tour.

The Word of Promise: Next Generation is much more than just a word-for-word reading: it’s an all-star cast performing audio drama with a rich original score and Hollywood special effects.”

I always really enjoy hearing the different ways of presenting the audio Bible.  I was especially intrigued by this one because it has so many high profile names attached to it – that kids, tweens, and teens would recognize. When I showed it to some kids and teenagers they all recognized the names and passed the case around to each other.

However, when we listened to the audio Bible it failed to keep their attention.  Although I believe it was intended to really grab a new generation, I felt like it just sounded like the same old Christian cartoon audio that I grew accustomed to while growing up.

I believe that it might be useful to a children’s pastor who wants students to be able to hear the Scripture that they’re studying for the week.  Or for a child who may be falling asleep (just not the Crucifixion scenes – kinda graphic – as when they broke the legs of the others crucified next to Jesus – you heard it).  Also, it may help a student who is having trouble reading, to be able to hear the words from some of their favorite people from the Disney channel and kid pop music world.

You be the judge.  But there definitely must be a niche for this MP3 set to teach kids more about the story of Jesus.  And if it just gets through to one – that will make it all worth it!

I’ve had friends laugh at me when I told them I follow Jimmy Fallon on Twitter.  And I’ve been checking in on his videos that he has taped almost daily, leading up to the premier of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight.  I’m kind of excited about the show tonight, because I feel like I’ve walked his journey from picking a stage, logo, interviewing different people and many other exciting choices.  So I’m gonna watch it either tonight or on Hulu this week.

In ministry I’ve taken students along on car rides when I went to the grocery store, Home Depot, or other fun tasks.  We’ve randomly stopped to get a Hot-n-Ready donut at Krispy Kreme, or a Taco Bell run.  However, those are some of the times that I talk about with these guys even now.

Jesus said “Follow me” to his disciples, and they were there on the “not-as-spectacular-for-writing-in-the-Gospels” days.  And so are we.  He’s called us on a journey to follow him.

People just want to follow.  And when cool things happen, we don’t really celebrate the cool thing, but the journey that got us to the cool thing.  hmmmm…