So I'm sitting in the car driving and before I know it I'm where I was headed, I don't remember driving there or making the first turn. It seems to be the norm with me and Hannah lately, we are living in a bubble and it isn't even a nice bubble. It is a foggy bubble that obscures all vision, thoughts, and feelings. Some call it depression, and I am one to join them in that diagnosis. However, instead of drowning it with chemical prescriptions I seem to hit it head on. Nothing matters, it is days like this when Ecclesiastes seems to mean the most to me. Everything in this life is pointless. Let me reword that so you understand where I'm coming from. Ask most people and they will tell you that God, Family, and Friends are there priorities. But I beg to differ, actually most people worship their jobs, because it provides their God; Money. Then if there is time for family and God we'll do it but it definitely isn't because we enjoy it. THAT IS GARBAGE. All of that is worthless. I often wonder why music stirs my spirit like a boat oar in witch's brew... it is because it is a glimpse of the freedom in Christ. I'm not speaking of praise choruses and hymns. I'm speaking of real people singing real songs that make them realize there is more to life than what they are experiencing.

I've posted several times about Zac Brown Band's "FREE" being the drug that makes my mind escape. It really makes me want to GO! but i'm always grounded by "good people" with "good intentions" but the reality is they are slaves to false desires.

Does that song ignite a passion in you like it does me? That seems like the cure to depression. That seems like the life Christ designed for us. But life is filled with people who take that away from you. They build shelters over us so we can no longer see the stars, so we will loose the desire to chase them, and eventually we'll forget they exist.

Well this weekend I have been turned on to another song that is making me want to take my beautiful wife Hannah and hit the road.

Life is just that... life, but things are worthless. It is time to let go and be free in who we are. Your home is worthless if it is only a house Brick, stone, ceramic, wood, drywall, paint, light fixtures, plush carpet, fancy countertops, it is a fancy prison. Your car is pointless it is designed to be and escape however we have lifted it on a pole and covered it in gold and chrome and painted it to reflect our brokeness. Your job... well your job is a good thing, however you shouldn't become a prisoner to it. I do have a leg to stand on in this after all I lost the most precious thing a man can ask for A DAUGHTER. My home, my car, my will to be a slave to money couldn't save her... and it is slowly killing me, my marriage, and my will. I AM CRAZY! it is okay though... i like being crazy... you secretly want to be crazy with me, but fear holds you where you are. So here is to being radical like Christ called us to be!

Dennis Pethers once said at a conference... when we starting tearing down the walls in our churches and using those bricks to build bridges into peoples lives, things will improve. Until then... expect the same tragedy every day... fallen people continuing to fall...

This has been real! Brought to you by _TJ

Be-at-i-tude #1

Matthew 5:3-10
Beatitudes (Be-at-i-tude): Supreme Blessedness

Blessedness: A state of supreme happiness

Beatus = Blessed

CHRIST HAS A BLESSING FOR HIS FOLLOWERS!

I always find myself being drawn to Matthew Chapter 5 almost everytime I sit down to talk with God. Really I guess it flows over to the end of Chapter 7 but Chapter 5 is where I always turn to. I can't help but fall in love with the simplicity of what Christ teaches while he is on the mount and all of these followers are gathered around him. It is really the first thing Christ ever teaches people, and he covers the modeled Christian life in what we now know as two chapters.

He begins his "sermon" with the Beatitudes, I broke down the definition of this word at the top of this post to simplify the term and really shed light on what Christ is saying. We tend to have spiritual glasses we put on when we read throught the Bible and it can really hender us from understanding what God is trying to tell us.

Christ is offering happiness... and happiness is something we all are starving for whether we want to admit it or not.

God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him.
- everything begins with this statement. BLESSED are the poor! Think about this in a real world perspective; you are poor, you do not know where your next meal is coming from, you have no place to call your own, or if you do, you are about 30 days from losing it. You have no job, your family is hungry and the world lets you know you are a failure. Think about the worldly view point for a moment. How many times have you heard it said or maybe personally said it our at least thought it when seeing a homeless begger? "Get a job" it worked for me and it will work for you. Society really considers the less fortunate outcasts, and we reign complete supremacy on those who "have it together" those who are millionaires become role models. Those who are financially "set" are great leaders. But Jesus says something different here and I think it deserves some fresh perspective.
- According to "Global Issues"
>50% over half of the worlds population (3 billion people) live on less than $2.50 per day
>80% of the worlds population live on less than $10 per day

-According to UNICEF
>22,000 children die each day as a result of poverty.

With that in mind less revisit Matthew 5:3a
"God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him..."

Christ is offering "supreme happiness" to these people. Not only is he calling them "beatus" (blessed) he is also offering them something that is unattainable any other way ...
Matthew 5:3b
"...for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs."

The simplicity of what Christ says in the first sentence of his famous sermon on the mount is absolutely one of the most radical statements ever made. He is challenging the world view, he is stating that the poor, the outcasts, the people who have a need for God are infact Blessed, which is a state of supreme happiness. So rejoice you who suffer for the Kingdom of Heaven is yours!

When the world says you have failed Christ says you are blessed.

Lord I pray over my brothers and sisters in Christ that they would feel this happiness you offer in their poverty. These are the ones who will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, and we thank you! Your blessings rain down seeds of happiness that fill our cups of begging. You have promised us your Kingdom and with that we will stand against the World. I pray God that you fill the hearts of these brothers and sisters with a fierce boldness that consumes the negative perspective the world has put on their situation. Father we plead for forgiveness that we ever doubted your greatness and forgot the words of your son Jesus. We are a blessed multitude, we have been blinded by the golden calf of our generation and have been tempted by the way it shines. Father refocus us on you and your love, and allow us to reflect the happiness that comes from our lack of materialism. God let us count the blessings of having less, and rejoice in the lack of glutton. We only ask for more of you! and you Father are more than enough. Thank you for your gift of grace and may you help us realize that with that gift we can give more to the world than it can give us. In the name that saved us from our sins, Jesus Christ, Amen!

Free Falling!

So, I feel that this is too funny not to share with you today.....

We've all had the feeling of "falling asleep" in the shower. I mean you wake up you're still kind of asleep anyways and somehow you manage to find the shower, grab a towel, get the water going, and begin bathing standing there letting hot water run over you. You know you do that too! So anyways I can remember being in Highschool; one morning I climbed into the shower and was taking a zombie soak and the next thing I remember is CRASH! I actually fell out of the shower onto a little table my mom kept candles and crap on and then hitting the floor. Talk about scary! I was in a peaceful slumber beneath the pounding warm waters of my shower only to find myself moments later; naked on a cold tile floor with a throbbing elbow to boot! Did I really fall asleep in the shower! I was standing up! How in the world can that happen? I have to be honest it scared me a little, you just don't fall in your sleep every day! Think about the dreams where you "think" you're falling and how bad that scares you when you wake up! Now picture actually waking up from falling from a standing position in the bath tub to a lay flat position on the floor in the smallest bathroom in the history of mankind. That was me!

---- I told you that story to tell you this one..... This morning I started my normal routine. Alarm Clock starts buzzing at 5:01am, I can't reach it with my arm so I take my foot and hit the snooze button HAHA! yep... it has a huge snooze button (thank the Lord!) Anyways after that fiasco I crawl out of bed... and I have to be honest again... I am very much a morning person [usually] but since I have been battling back pain for the past month and a half, it has changed that feature about myself! Back to the story, I zombie walk into the bathroom get the shower going crawl in and begin the zombie soak like normal! Moments later I wake up to the same feeling you get when riding the DROP ZONE at carowinds. Let me set this up... I turn the water on as hot as possible, turn my back to it and lean my head against the back of the shower for the first 5-10 minutes of any morning shower, okay, any shower! So as usual this was my posture this morning as well. Suddenly my right knee buckles and I literally drop in a straight down fashion until my backside touches my heel! How in the world!? The weird thing is not only did an oversized man contort into a shape not easily taken during the midst of his slumber but I SHOT STRAIGHT BACK UP! It was as if I recoiled like spring action.

---This story has no purpose... but it was too funny not to share... at least for me. If you didn't enjoy it, I'm sorry. But to be honest I would love to hear some of your stories of when you've fallen asleep in the shower. I know I cannot be the only one who has done this!

Until then enjoy this:

Love your life and live to love!

What would it look like if we truly loved our neighbors as ourselves? What if we truly began to view others as our brothers and sisters not just "in faith" but in reality. Would we not begin to refocus our view of life, and begin to love outward and upward? What if all of a sudden the homeless man who sits on our corner isn't just a pest who is faking it and is doing nothing but driving down home equity what if they became your brother or sister who was in need. What if the people we drop bombs on in Iraq and Afghanistan were our family and friends instead of just "those people" is an Iraqi child any less of a soul than an American child, are they any less of a soul than your own children? I don't like to cross the line of religion and politics and that is not what I'm doing now, I'm simply stating that the two are oil and water and always will be. They cannot mix! When an attempt is made you're left with a mess and if you add heat it will begin popping and splattering all over the place damaging everyone and everything it comes in contact with. What if the people on the other side of the tracks weren't outcasts, druggies, others, them, or dangerous? So what if they are? What if they were your mother and father, your brother or sister, or your own children? What if they were your best friend? Would that change anything? I heard someone say the other day that a death is a tragedy but 1000's of deaths are merely a statistic. How true is that? Don't get me wrong we're all human and we all have to battle that fleshly desire to react. When 9/11 happened I was among the first that said "kill them all and let God sort them out" and in fact I've tried to buy into the lie that I can serve God and be Christ like and still support the slaughter overseas. Because frankly I don't know those people, I will never meet them, why should I care? But, honestly how is that at all like Christ? I don't claim to have all the answers, I'm simply looking for them with the rest of the world. I can't say that declaring war due to the 9/11 tragedy wasn't the right thing to do, because I'm not a world leader. I can say that the killing of more innocent people doesn't seem like a logical fix to terrorism.

--I know I will receive hate mail for this post but it is okay, they beat Jesus and crucified him and he warned that the same would happen to those who followed him.

Lets think for a second though, if we are declaring war overseas to eliminate the terrorists and we view the death of innocent women, children, and men as the cost of eradicating evil we must then also use that same lens at home. What if, and this is a big WHAT IF, a few bad people (child abusers, rapists, murderers, thieves, and bigots) were killed in the trade centers? Does it justify the deaths of so many innocent people?

A friend of mine spent a lot of time in Nashville, TN and he was telling me about the homeless pandemic in that city. In Nashville the city streets start at #1 which is down by the river as you enter town and go all the way up to 16th st "Music Row". Now homeless people litter the sidewalks of 1st street, and it is probably the most undesirable place in the entire city, a elite few are able to go up to 2nd street but only if they play an instrument (because city officials think it adds flavor to the city). Here is the truth, when one of those BIG TIME COUNTRY MUSIC AWARD shows come to Nashville -- the city loads all the homeless people up on buses and promises them a meal. They then take them several miles outside of the city to a hot dog luncheon or some other kind of 3rd rate self righteous attempt to "help the needy". The real reason for this is not to help the homeless at all... it is to clean the streets so people won't be "turned off".  

-- Here is the big question for us to chew on. What will we do to change this? Will we even attempt? Ahh the classic commercialized slogan WWJD comes to mind again. What would Jesus do? What would the God of the Universe who came into this world as a homeless infant, born in a barn, do? What would the man who came from the streets of Nazareth also known as the "bad lands" do? I have a feeling we wouldn't want to know.

Chances are we would bus him out of town because he didn't fit in with us and would be a turn off to others coming to the city. Who knows, we might would even separate ourselves so far from him that we would forget who he was and what he stood for. Then when an idiot acted out in rage and maliciously killed innocent people we would declare war on the church!

Count your blessings, but don't store them up where they rot and become no good. Distribute them among others! Chances are God gives you a blessing to share with your community and when we fail to do this others are robbed of what was given them.

LOVE LIKE CRAZY! and when the world calls you CRAZY, you will LOVE IT!

Lay (down) an egg, pick up the Cross

Me and my wife Hannah have been doing a lot of praying on the idea of Easter and we have concluded that it doesn't have a place in out home. Let me explain... Easter Sunday! I have heard it referred to as the Super Bowl Sunday of the Church! People buy dresses, families come together, and of course they pick a church to attend... probably whoever has the coolest "sunrise service". Later in the day they will gather with people to have an Easter egg hunt and see who collects the most eggs for prizes like money and candy. A lot of children will be convinced that the Easter Bunny has came hopping by and left them a basket of candy and a new hero has emerged in their life!

-- But what about Resurrection Sunday? What about the Cross (not your baked hot cross bread) but the tool used to Crucify the savior? What about the power of coming from the grave and the receiving of the Holy Spirit? Where has this gone? Unfortunately I have found where it has gone... it has taken a backseat in the Church. Most assemblies have put together an "Easter Celebration" in which they reenact the scenes on Galgotha, at the end the stone rolls away and at last an empty tomb! Followed by a short blessing, often used for a segway into the real action of an Easter Luncheon followed by the EASTER EGG HUNT!!!

-- I'm not here to condemn you if you celebrate the great egg laying rabbit with your family. I'm here to simply state that it does not belong in the church. If we focused more on the power of the gospel on this day we would see a radical transformation within our communities, people who have denounced Christ would begin to believe in him, people who have never heard his name would be saved by the power of it! Crazy? Remember it was on Resurrection Sunday that Jesus came back from the dead... TOP THAT! It was after this had happened a doubter believed, the church was born, and the revolution began!

"Let us give..."

How many times have you sat in a church pew and heard a sermon on tithing? Yeah me too, I have that same feeling right now just thinking about it. Let me start out by setting the grounds for this conversation so the point is easy to follow. --Too often we water down the gospel because it is just to rich for our taste. Often you will hear people refer to the Old Testament as the "Old Law" or just plainly "The Law", you'll also hear them follow up with, "but we're not held to that law any longer". For instance; under the law you're not allowed to trim the hair from your temples (side of your head) or even allowed to trim your beard (Leviticus 19:27). However, we obviously aren't held to that law, and most would agree, but when you begin to get out to the limits of that law that is when people get crazy. OKAY back to the point (Tithes and Offerings) aka THE DOLLARS AND CENTS!

-- I've heard 10,000 sermons on giving 10% and I've seen people start in Genesis and exegetically preach through the book of Revelations to show the value of the 10%. Now don't get me wrong and stop reading here, I believe in giving! But lets look a little closer. The Old Testament gives a lot of accounts of 10% tithing, but what about Jesus? Remember the guy who came not to do away with the law but to fulfill it [and save us from the penalty of breaking that law] (Matthew 5:17). I have never once seen where Jesus taught 10% tithing... If that were the case he probably wouldn't have asked Peter to come and follow but rather said "Hey Simon, I see you have a basket of nearly 100 fish how about throwing me 10 of them? In this way you will honor God and live life to the fullest". NO WAY! NOT MY JESUS! Well what did he say on the subject? Lets take a look:

Jesus said one thing repeatedly thoughout his mission "Come follow me", "Come Follow", and simply "Come".
But what about money?
Jesus said: "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's" Which I'm pretty sure he meant what he said when he said it, thus being the reason he said it. People were in such a toil over what they should do with their money they asked Jesus and he simply asked "Well who does it belong to"? Money shouldn't be something to worry about, in fact it is irrelevant to God. (Mark 12:17)

But what about all my stuff I have to pay for with that money?
Jesus said: "Sell all your possessions and give it to the poor". I wonder why Jesus would say something like that? Most people read that verse with their "Spirit Goggles" on and don't ever let it sink in. Your possessions are not worth worrying about, they too are irrelevant to God. (Luke 18:18-30)

Well, I was raised to tithe my 10%!
Unfortunately that is most often the case. The Bible is sometimes irrelevant, if Preacher _________(you fill it in) didn't preach it, then it wasn't worth hearing. I'm not just going to criticize the giver but the leader also, the preacher often puts together this wonderful exegetical sermon or series towards giving so he can keep the lights on. I've even heard it masked with phrases of "we want you to experience the blessings of God when you put in a $10 he'll turn it to a $100 yadda yadda blah blah blah! GARBAGE!

Christ was direct -
   Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?t Is anything worth more than your soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds. 28 And I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”

He doesn't want 10% he wants it all! Why? Because 10% won't gain you eternal life. What is the cost of eternal life? Death.

So please remember it was Jesus on the cross and not a dollar bill! If we are to follow him then we too must be willing to CARRY the cross not simply PAY for one made of gold to hang in our cathedral.

On the drive in....

Good morning Blog folks! Well, today is the last day to do your taxes if you haven't already, and a lot of restaraunts are giving away free food! --Let me back up....

This morning as I was leaving my house I was hungry! But as usual I grab a Coke Zero and head on out to work. On my way to work I started thinking "Man, a chicken biscuit from McDonalds would be so good this morning". I've kind of made a vow over the past week that I will only purchase fast food if I have a buy one get one free coupon, that way if I happen to see a homeless or needy person who is hungry I can feed them and myself for the price of one... booyah! So, back to the drive in, I decided I'm not stopping for breakfast this morning because I have no coupons, when all of a sudden HISradio has a break in the action and starts talking about all the restaraunts giving away food today and the last one the mentioned on the radio was "McDonalds is giving away buy one get one free chicken biscuits and chicken sandwiches all day long"! I couldn't believe it, haha I have this little game I play on how awesome God is when he gives me the little things in life and this is definately one of those times. He's like "Oh it's a chicken biscuit you want? but you won't buy one without getting a free one to bless someone with? well, here you go!" haha weird I know... but God does stuff like that for me daily, and probably for you as well you may just have never thought of it that way. --So, I pull into McDonalds and get in line and start thinking who God will put in between Mickie D's and my work for me to bless with a Chicken biscuit.... this is exciting stuff on a Monday morning! I pull up to the menu "(((static))) Can I take your order"? Yes! I'll have the buy one get one free chicken biscuits! "Sir.... we don't participate in that at this McDonalds" ---- Are you kidding me! Then I start thinking about the last time I came to this particular McD for another special that the other 2.5million McD's participate in and they didn't..... So I decided to just pull away from the place and drive on into work. I have a $5 bill in my pocket that is going to bless someone today some how I just dont know who, where, when, and how but it is going to that cause. I'm not really sure why I decided to blog about this, whether it is my anger for this Non Participating McDonalds or the fact that I didn't get to bless someone with what I knew was a gift from God?

--If you're reading this, I'm issuing a challenge! Do not let the sun set today without blessing someone outside of your friends and family. Don't get me wrong they need to be blessed to, but I want to challenge you to go buy your favorite meal from your favorite place and order two of them. Next, find someone who needs that meal and bless them with it. Who knows you might see what Jesus meant when he said in John 1:50 "...you will see far greater things than this".

TJ