I picked this up from another blog. A youth pastor who heads back to school as a Sophomore. This is very interesting and I look forward to the experiences he has to share with everyone about this. Parents, please read. Grandparents, take heed. Our youth are important, VERY important.


After sitting on my experience for over a year and reflecting on this “Back to School” season, here are a few suggestions I would like to offer to parents if they want to have a better relationship with their kids.
1.Offer Amnesty to your kids
2. Play Favorites.
3. Suck up to teachers
4. Take your kids out of school.
5. Schedule a two week check up
6. Yell less, hug more
7. Don’t listen to your kids
8. Get comfortable with the word “Porn.”
9. Don’t believe everything you read..
10. Practice not being surprised

1.Offer Amnesty to your kids…Wouldn’t you love for your boss to walk into your office and tell you that every mistake you have made in the past can be forgiven , without consequence, if you’ll just come clean at that instant. . “You get a fresh start and a chance to start over” he says. Your kids would love that chance with you and they need that. Take your kid out to eat at a restaurant of their choosing. Share with them that you want them to have the chance to share anything they have ever done wrong with no consequence ... That’s right, you can’t ground them, spank them or punish them for what happened in the past. Offer them a clean start. (while there may be no consequences or punishment for past mistakes, your future decision making may be influenced by their previous bad choices.) Partner this with suggestion number ten: Practice not being surprised.

2. Play Favorites. Your kids are different. No two kids are alike. They are in different grades, they are at different maturity levels and they even view the world differently. So don’t treat them the same. The odds are pretty good that one of your kids right now needs more attention that your other one. So give it to them. It doesn’t mean that you love the other ones less, it means that you care enough to reach out to the one in need, when they need it. As a matter of fact, if you share with the family what is going on, all of you can work together to play favorites!
3. Suck up to teachers—You suck up to your boss, why not suck up to your kid’s boss? Think about it…teachers generally spend more time in a day with your kids than you do. You want them being nice to your kids. You want them investing in, caring for, nurturing, supporting and encouraging your child. Model that for them. Treat teachers like you want them treating your kid. Now that I read this one, it seems kind of obvious. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto your kids.”

4. Take your kids out of school. These are your kids, so spend time with them. Perfect attendance awards may be important, but a high school graduate who knows their parents care more about them as a person than they do about a perfect attendance award is priceless. I’m not suggesting taking your kids out of school every week or on test days, I’m suggesting a calculated, “planned surprise”, coordinated with teachers and administrators where you get to spend lunch, an afternoon or even an entire day with your kid.

5. Schedule a two week check up… Why wait until the first grade card comes home to check on your kids. Two weeks after school starts, take them out for a burger and inquire how things are going. Focus on their academic life as the last part of your conversation! The odds are pretty good that the social aspect of their day is consuming most of their time. Help with the relational/social part of their life…and the academic part will follow. Let your child know that this time is about you caring for them and not about you trying to ensure college scholarship money for excellent academic performance.

6. Yell less, hug more. Do I really need to explain this one? Kids never outgrow hugs. Safe meaningful touch is always appropriate from a parent. Your kids will never come home from school and say “Hug me, I had a bad day.” Look for moments to grab your kids, no matter their age, and wrap them in a genuine warm embrace. They won’t say that’s what they need, and will probably even act like they don’t want it at first, but they are lying. If it’s been a while since your last parent/kid hug, it may be awkward at first…but over time, it will get easier and you will see your relationship change from this simple, yet meaningful gesture.

7. Don’t listen to your kids. Kids say things that hurt. Sometimes they say things that make no sense. Sometimes they even say things that aren’t even true. So don’t listen to them. Okay, you need to listen to them a little bit, but don’t let their words be the only data you use to determine what they are trying to communicate. Filter their words with the information you have about their personality, about their maturity, about their relationships, about their day at school and even about their diet and sleep patterns. If you don’t know about those things, maybe you need to find out more about your kid before you try and listen to just their words. They are trying to tell you something, even if they don’t know how to say it with words. All behavior has meaning.

8. Get comfortable with the word “Porn.” If they can’t talk to you about it, they will talk to someone else about it. You don’t want your or your kid ending up on Dateline because you were afraid to say it. So go into the bathroom, look into the mirror and practice the phrase, “So, do you know kids who look at porn on the internet?” Get them talking about other kids and their habits…then go for it. Ask the question: “So, have you ever looked at porn?” It will be awkward. Do it anyway. You are making an investment in their future relationships, their eventual marriage, and even the relationship you have with them right now. Keep the conversation short, but ask regularly. Seriously, get comfortable using the word porn.

9. Don’t believe everything you read. –A lot today is written about kids. Every day statistics are released, studies are done and we are bombarded with even more information about how bad things are for kids, and sometimes even how bad kids are. I wonder if kids are even starting believe this stuff? We are the grown ups. We are supposed to be the ones they trust. We are supposed to paint the picture of hope for their future. In my opinion we are committing an act of betrayal by bombarding them with all of this information that “de-inspires” them. Thank Al Gore and Jeremy Iverson (High School Confidential, Atria books) for your “near sighted” view and of a potential future and current reality for our kids.

10. Practice not being surprised. One reason kids don’t communicate with their parent is because of the initial pain involved for the student. Kids know they are sharing things that will leave parents hurt, confused or even upset. Often they don’t share because of the initial “freak out”, “hit the ceiling moment” that happens when the information is shared. Practice a calm rational response that only includes phrases like, “tell me more” and “you have my attention, would you like something to drink while we talk about this.” You may be surprised how much your kids will share if their introduction to the conversation isn’t greeted with “I told you so…”, What did you do now…” or “I can’t believe you did that.”

Building up or Knocking Down

I don't consider myself much of a carpenter or a repair man for that matter. I'm not very good with a saw and I am much worse with any forms of electrical tools. Give me a sledge hammer though and I can make it work.

This last couple of days I have been removing a harth from my house. It is made of cement stones and brick. I have loved just about every minute of it, in fact my 3 year old looked at me when we were almost done and said, "Lets do this to the whole house!"

Sometimes as Christians we fail miserably at building one another up. Let's face it, that is one of the traits of being a human being. If we are down in dumps, it feels much better to bring other along, or if we are feeling great, we better kick others down before they kick us. Once you get started, it's hard to stop, if you're not careful, you've destroyed the whole house without even knowing it.

Paul is very clear about how we are to treat one another. "Therefore as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humilty, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another and forgive. . ." Colossians 3:12-13a. Yikes, that is a lot of goody goody stuff floating around.

Stop for a minute and think about this though. Isn't it nice to be around people who are like this. I know a few and I much perfer their presence over say, almost anyone. Now, here is a much deeper question. Do those verses describe you? I know, touchy, but think about it. Are you that kind of person or are you destructive in nature?

I'm not trying to get anyone in trouble, infact my hope is that all of us will treat one another in the way that Paul describes how we should. I sense that if we were truly this kind of people all of the time that everyone would want to know what this faith thing was about.

For know though, we can try. We can put our best foot forward and when we fail, and accidently on purpose destroy something, we will strive to build one another up. Not for our glory, because it's not about me anymore.

aaron

On a Faith Search?

Faith is not dead*. Jason Elam, the field goal kicker for the Denver Broncos is taking a comparative religions course in his spare time. When he attended Hawaii for college he wasn't exactly sure if what he believed was true. He chose to set his preconcieved ideas out of the way and started from scratch, so to speak, to figure out what was true.

The study has only made is faith stronger. You can read the brief article here. He is getting ready to lead a group of athletes to Israel and he knows what he believes and is not afraid to share the reason for the hope that he has.

Elam brings up a strong point. Many times we as Christians have a fear of defending our faith. We are afraid of looking stupid, we are afraid of looking foolish, we fear being challenged. Yet, God is not afraid of such advances. He is not afraid of being called in the carpet, He is the truth.

If you are having a difficult time with your faith, do not be afraid to test it. Here are some important things to consider when testing your faith**:

1. Be sure you are truly using an open mind. This can be hard, truthfully an open mind is very hard to come by. Don't go into your faith test with the purpose of proving something wrong. Take a look at all of the different angles. Consult others on both sides of the fence.


2. Don't bog yourself down. Sometimes we try to look at EVERYTHING related to our study. Follow the most important keys to the religions in question. Truthfully, no matter which religion you are studying, answers on specific things vary person to person. Understand the foundational beliefs. Ask the right questions. Who is God? Who is saved? How do you get there?


3. Set a time to make your conclusion. We can all argue ourselves to death. Literally, argue until we die. Set a time, be specific, on such and such a date make a decision. Give yourself enough to study, to focus and to answer your questions.

The God I serve is not concerned about being tested. He challenges you to seek. To find. We are not to be waffling in our faith for our whole lives. He wants us to understand, believe and live for him.

*Many people believe that it is a waste of time to have faith. It takes a lot of faith to believe that doesn't it? Faith is defined as taking what you believe and putting into action. If you believe there is no God, you must act like it. I pray more and more believers in Christ will put there faith in action and truly live what they believe. Wouldn't the world be a truly different place?

**I am sure there are more things to consider, but it is very important to set parameters on how you are going to make your decision. Don't argue to argue, argue to learn.

Struggling Because of Others

Colossians 1:23-2:5

We have been dealing with some pretty heavey stuff on Sunday mornings in regard to how we fit into and live our lives for Christ in the world around us today. Specifically, this week brought a lot of pain when we focused on living and dealing with the struggles we have today. One of the things we did not have time to discuss in our services is how do we deal with struggles that involve other people. For example you may be going through a struggle with someone, or your struggle directly effects the life of another.

Struggles are not fun, especially when they involve another. Let's first look at how God wants us to deal with those who harm us. In the book of Matthew Jesus asks Peter how many times he thinks we should forgive others. He responds that we should forgive 7 times, Jesus counters, saying, no, 7 times 7. Are you kidding me? Truthfully I pray none of us put ourselves in position to have to forgive someone that many times. We should be smart about who we choose to be around. Yet, in the same breath, when someone brings a struggle in your life, or they are a struggle in your life, God desires for you to forgive.

Often, to avoid in sort of confrontation, we choose to ignore. Hope it goes away. I believe that God wants something more from us. He wants us to take those challenges head on. Remember in Col. 1:29 Paul says that we struggle with all of GOD's energy, he will give us the strength to forgive, to face the struggle.

You cannot hide or avoid a struggle, you cannot make it disappear. Face up to your struggles, trust God for his strength and never ever give up.

ae

CIY Sickness

Art and the kids are at CIY this week and unfortunately they are sick!! About 3 or 4 of the youth we sent to CIY are sick with the flu. They have been taking turns using the bathroom and all of our sponsors are exhuasted. Let's all be sure we ar praying for them.



New Youth Minister

Last night the Elders and I met to discuss bring on a new youth minister. We all agreed to offer the job to Shaun Hart, a graduate of NCC. Shaun and his family live in Eugene, for the time being, Shaun will commute down to the church from Eugene on Sunday's and Wednesdays. He starts on Aug 12. What an exciting time for the church.

ae

Day 4 - Alive and Well

Bob Russell was the guest this morning and he did a fantastic job of encouraging us. He pointed out the amazing amount of people who are drawn to the independant churches on a weekly basis. It was awesome to think that 20 years ago the Restoration Movement was basically dead and no one had any answers. Church planting wasn't a blip on the radar screen and for all intents and purposes there wasn't a whole lot of hope. Yet, look how far we have come.

This whole week was overall very encouraging to me and I think I got some serious business taken care of with God and I'm so glad that I came. This wasn't exactly what I was hoping for but I suppose it was what I needed. God has really developed the vision he has been giving me for quite a while. I don't know if I fully comprehend it yet, but this vision is beginning to get legs and is becoming feesable.

I had an awesome couple of walks today. I ventured out into KC, had a cajun chicken sandwich and boy was it cajun. The temperature today was amazing, a couple of times I was sure that I was going to melt. I kind of enjoy the heat here though, it is a dry heat. Oregon can prove to be a little humid when the temperature climbs.

I look forward to seeing my family again tomorrow. I really have missed them and it will be soooo nice to see them. My flight gets into Portland around 9pm. I get to stop in New Mexico on my way home, another state to stop in on this trip. Heading home.

aaron

Day 3 - Church Planting

I have always had the utmost respect for church planters. You can't argue with statistics, church planting is the best evangelistic tool that the church has. So, how do we in Cottage Grove, OR tap into that. First of all I think we need to develop an attitude of church planting. It may not be exactly feesable to plant a new church in Cottage Grove (though I could argue that it needs one) but we could be supporting, or saving up to support a church plant in the local area. Another way we can help is by raising up a church planter. We can hire on staff an associate minister who will be sent out to plant a church in the future. We can be the place he prepares and is inspired. Those are some very legitament ways we can be a church planting church. Those may not be ideas we can put into practice next month, or next year, but I do believe we sshould have an attitude of outreach in the area of church planting.

The mentorship breakfasts for me, have been truly disappointing. I do enjoy the free breakfast and sharing the vision and awesome things happening at Sixth and Gibbs, but there was very little time, or ability to truly be mentored. I sat around a table with a mentor and six other pastor's. Unfortunately, no one got to be very specific and ideas that guys were throwing my direction just don't work for the situation the church is in. It is not their fault, we just really don't have the time for me to sit and explain the West Coast mentality and what our city is truly like. Let's face it, things are different everywhere, what works in one place may or may not work in another.

Individually it has been a struggle, I miss my family and though there are some people here that I know and love, there is no one here from my peer group. I have been kind of loner the last couple of days which by the way, has provided for some quiet times with God and lots of reading to catch up on too.

I worked out a free lunch, breakfast and bought a quick dinner at the conference. I have failed to experience the culture here in KC, I promise to do better the next couple of days. Peace

ae

Day 2 - Hearing From God

I must admit, I was totally set up by God for this one. A couple of awesome things have been going on. Last weekend in my sermon I spoke of a gal in our church who said she knew without a doubt what God wanted her to do. On my flight from Oakland to KC I listened to book I have on my Ipod called "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell. In the 3rd chapter I believe, Rob digs deep into the idea that God is still at work in his miraculous ways, and we today are an extention of this church discussed in Acts. Last night during the main session, the speaker spoke along those exact terms, calling us today the Acts 29 church. (The book of Acts concludes in Chapter 28, meaning God's story continues.)

This is a very deep thought for me. If I truly believe God's word to be living, breathing, then God's story is not done yet. His word lives and moves within my life and within the life of the church. Truthfully then, God is speaking and moving and I have done an excellent job of making myself too busy and playing off the word of God. I believe God has to work hard to get my attention and many times I have taken credit for his direction and his leading.

Almost eerie was our elective class teacher. Speaking yet again on the power of the Holy Spirit in sermon directing. He challenged us today to listen to God, be subjective and that when we truly are tuned into God, our response should be in humility. Often when I think of God speaking to me, I picture the obnoxious televangelist, using the "word" from God to push his agenda, ask for more support, and apply a thick layer of guilt.

I have not heard the direct audible voice of God, but God still speaks to me through my thoughts. I know this simply because his words are not ideas of mine own, but wake up calls or words of encouragement to direct me. I have often passed those off, or taken credit for them myself but today I was challenged, to listen, to take time to be quiet and to apply these things to my life directly.

I have had a couple more interesting thoughts, of which have been mine not specifically from God. I have noticed how sterile this enviroment is. Yeah, I think sterile is a good word for it. It's a little wierd, but I have spent my free time mostly talking to street vendors and people along the road. The rain poured down this afternoon, I mean poured!!! I made it just before it got nasty into one of the vendor's tents. I guy who just wanted to paint my picture for $5. As we were trying to save some of his art work from being destroyed by the elements we had a great conversation. After the storm let up, I hit the ATM and brought him back $10 for a tent fee. He really wanted to draw my picture, but truthfully, I don't want a picture of me.

This whole conference is so sterile, I needed that rough conversation, that rough challenge to truly minister to someone. I love that, I need that. There has been an interesting debate going on in our family, my wife thinks, and she is probably right, that certain personality types are energized by being around there same personality. Extraverts are energized by being around people and introverts by being by themselves. It has been interesting how energized I have felt by being around people who need Jesus. I need that.

No BBQ yet, with the rain I have yet to chance it. Friday I either need to hit a Royals game, or spend some time in a sports bar with tons of memorabilia that I spotted on the way into KC. But the street vendor brauts have been great.

ae

Day 1 - The Conference Begins

Well, I am here in KC, sitting at our hotel at the Radisson, and things here have been awesome. The conference itself actually begins in about 6 hours or so, but we took some time to take a look at many of the boothes and tables. The thing that really blows me away, are the amount of ministries ideas, plans and well, just plain ministries. Lots of quality, needy well meaning ministries. Lots and lots of ministry ideas and tools, many colleges and tons of resources. The difficult thing I am having is trying to determine what it is that will benefit the church and ministries back in the Grove.

I have also ran into many many familiar faces and people. Boise Bible College has a presence this year at the conference and they are doing a big dinner gathering on Wed. forllowing the conference. I ran into an old friend of mine in ministry and I have just really gotten a kick out of the things going on.

I plan on taking a dip in the swimming pool before the conference time tonight and of course, I'm in Missouri and will be looking for some real life good BBQ. I will keep you posted on my trek for the eats. I am really looking forward to seeing Jim Putman too, he is the main speaker on Wed. I believe.

One more thing. I plan on taking some time to visit the youth portion of the conference, things will be awesome!

Aaron

Kansas City
Here I Come

I am off, to KC, to the North American Christian Convention. I do believe that I will be having an awesome and an excellent time. Goodness, as of right now, I have had enough time to actually blog, now that is crazy. I have lay over in Oakland, then I will be in KC around midnight Central time.

I am really looking forward to a couple of things. First of all there is a mentorship breakfast, where a seasoned minister will meet with us "unseasoned" ministers. I am also really looking forward to viewing all of the booths and getting some exciting ministry ideas. The list of main speakers is awesome to see and I am sure I will be learning lots of tons of stuff. I will do my best to keep all of you posted on my experience.

aaron

I Hate Allergies

One thing that really drives me crazy, sanity and all, is allergies! My head feels like it is imploding and the pressure release valve is all plugged up. Claritin works most of the time but this is sooooooooooooooooo frustrating.

Sometimes I think that if I could just set up a shop vac to my sinus cavity that I could clear the whole thing out. What a thought. I leave you with that.

ae

Man, I need a Tent

I never caught this, in all of the times I have read through Exodus I never saw this. In fact, it had to be pointed out to me. Moses had this tent, a tent that was made available to all of the people, but it seems he was the only one to use it. A tent that was far away from rest of the group. A tent reserved for one on one contact with God. Exodus 33 introduces us to this "tent of meeting," that Moses would go out to, to encounter God. When he went everyone knew where he was going. It really seemed like he went when things were the craziest too, right after the golden calf incident. I'm sure he had a lot of issues going on but that tent was a priority.

Where is my tent? Where is my place, my time to escape? It is no one's fault but my own, I need a tent. Maybe not one with stakes and poles but a tent nevertheless. I would hope that if one really has a tent, a time with just you and God, that life gains a little more perspective.

Yet, even with his tent, Moses still failed to set foot in the Promise Land. He was still human. Imagine what his life may have been like without his tent. He had a lot of responsibility. Man, I need a tent.

ae

One of the things that has struck me lately, is this idea of God being everywhere. Not only his ability to be everywhere, but his ability to celebrate my victories with me and weep and mourn with those dealing with heartache and heart break. As much as he is with me, he is also with you. This is such a concept to ponder but this also reminds me of how powerful God is.

I don't have a lot of time to ponder this idea. God obviously lives outside of our time and space, common, he created it right. In the midst of this deep ponderful idea I am over whelmed and comforted by a God who is fully in control.

Outreach Comedy Presents

July 15 @ 7pm

BBQ @ 5:30pm

What an awesome opportunity coming July 15th for our church here in Cottage Grove. Dana Daniels, a christian comedian will be here to perform, encourage and make us all laugh.

We will be doing a BBQ here at the church immediately before the show. Then we will converge on the High School and enjoy Dana. This is a great and non-confrontational way to invite your friends and family who may be skeptical of the church. This will be just an enjoyable night of fun. We hope everyone brings their friends.

Tickets are $3 and can be purchased through the church.

See you there.

Because we were never meant to be alone.

The Christ in Youth Conference is coming. To read more about the conference, go check out www.ciy.com and click on the Summer Conference section. There is a special section for students this year on the sight, with lots of fun stuff.

Check it.

Aaron

The Riverside Cleanup

The cleanup I think went very well. There were about 110 or so people registered and cleaning up around Cottage Grove. We were done with all of the river cleanups only 1 hour into the deal, and so, we went out throughout all of Cottage Grove and went cleaning up everywhere. The most disgusting place was probably behind the skate park and by the park by Safeway.

There was about 8 or 9 people from our church and I was encouraged to be working along side those from our church. We also spent some time at a BBQ at the park and we had a chance to fellowship not only with others from the church community, but also those from the city community. It was a great step in letting our city know that we as a church truly care about them.

I do hope this is only the beginning, and that we have a great opportunity to reach out to our city! What an opportunity to show Jesus. To show we care. I know I will be praying for more and more opportunities like the one we had this weekend.

The Discipline of Blogkind

I have to be honest, I am not a very good blogger. This stuff takes discipline, time and real effort. My hats off to all my fellow bloggers, who really can't even call me a blogger. An absentee blogger maybe.

I must say, I have really been encouraged by some awesome things happening here in the metropolis of Cottage Grove. I have been meetin with the local ministerial association, a group of us ministers from around Cottage Grove, and we have been putting together a plan to change the attitudes about church in our community. We are looking to bring an attitude of blessing to the city. On the National Day of Prayer, we gathered about 50 of us or so, from many of the local churches to pray for our city and city leaders. I do not envy the decisions and rulings they make and they can use our prayer. We also prayed for those within the Fire and Law Enforcement Departments. It was a great day.

This Saturday is the day I am REALLY looking forward to. Cottage Grove is participating in the state wide "Riverside" cleanup and our church and other churches in the Grove are going to help. This is an awesome opportunity to show love to the city of CG and to help bueautify the most beautiful city in the world.

I will let you know how it goes, if I am ever back on the blogger again.

I spent some deep and awesome time with my wife last weekend at the Family Life Marriage Conference. Honestly, this is the first conference that I have been a part of that didn't make me feel like a schmuck. I was encourage, I was driven to try to be a better husband, a better father and ultimately a better believer. I had one of those "duh" moments that I really would like to share with you.

Here it is, the "duh" moment. I sat in the session specifically for men, and as the speaker spoke he reminded me of the importance of being a Chrsitian first and then God will be the one to help me be a better Husband, Father and person. Yeah, that's it. If I want to have a better relationship with my wife, I need to work on my relationship with Christ first and then he will show me how to be a better man. Same with my children. Same with work, entertainment, everyting! See, I always try to do it on my own. To force myself into being the right person and as I look back in my life I see that those times that I am doing stuff the way it should be done, it was because I wanted to. God planted those desires to be a godly man. See what I mean, a "duh" moment.

You see, Marriage itself is a complete God thing. He is the one who started it, defined it, gave it its perameters and ordained it. Without God, it has difficulty succeeding. With God, marriage is about making my wife happy by being the man God wants me to be. Without God, marriage is about making me happy by satisfying my desires in hope that those fit in with my wife's desires. Now, because I'm human this doesn't always work perfectly but my goals are the same, focused and fresh on being who God wants me to be, thanking him for grace and a graceful wife.

Spend some time today, focused on figuring out who God wants you to be and how that impacts every part of your life. God can help you with that. Give it to him, "duh."

Choices

So far this past month we as a church have been going through the book of Genesis, looking the foundation of our earth, our religion and the scriptures. We have entitled our series, "New Beginnings." Not because this study is "new" or its thoughts are "new," simply because God gives us new beginnings everyday in our lives and we seek to live like he desires us to. In tern, we should desire to be a people with our hearts and thoughts in the right place. Ultimately, we are all on a journey in our lives to be the people that God has called us to be. This journey implies that we wake up everyday prepared to travel, prepared to move, prepared to live every part of our life in the right way.

It has been quite the turning point in my life when I realized that I'm on a journey, in every part of my life. When I arrive, a new journey is set before, just as the world around us is constantly in a state of change, our lives are not the same today as they were 5 years ago, nor will anything be the same 5 years from now. If we want to be God's holy people, the journey starts today, and continues tomorrow. As we follow this path, change is inevitable and each day, each step gets us closer to our goal, or further away from it based upon how we choose to live.

I over heard Bill Long, the CEO of Winco, talking to one of his managers. He made this simple analysis of his company, "If we aren't growing, we are dying." That thought has stuck with me throughout time. The truth in that simple phrase is eye opening and devastating. Ultimately if we are just seeking to maintain something, it will eventually die. Sadly, that is the way many of us treat our relationship with God. If I just do the basic duties, tenants of my faith, I will be okay. Yet, time and time again I have seen so many people become comfortable in their faith, lose interest and fall.

How do we avoid this fate? Well, I think it is simple. Each day we just need to recognize it. The first steps to the recovery of any addict is recognizing the issue. Each day, when we wake up, we must recognize that we are continuing on a journey to be the people God wants us to be. A few thousand years ago (or so), God called Noah to build an Ark. He gave him the dimensions, supplied the wood and gave him a year to complete the project. I have to think, the idea of an Ark was quite the nonsense. Really an Ark makes no sense, no rain has ever been seen, and in the lives of these people, thousands of years, their has never been a flood that would necessitate such a huge boat, if they had ever seen a flood or a boat for that matter.

Noah had to get up every morning and make a decision to work on this Ark. He pulled himself out of bed, strapped on his boots, and made a decision to continue his work. In the same way, we are choosing to live our lives completely different from the way this world does. We wake every morning and have to choose our Holiness. The decisions we make are counter culture to the world around us. We are as different as Noah was to the world around him. Are you prepared to wake every morning and choose Holiness?

Adventures in Ministry

I was blessed this week to speak at a youth revival in Idaho. It was an exciting time for all of us as we dug into the Spiritual "Battle." We looked at the Battle for Holiness, the Battle Within Ourselves and we focused on How God Doesn't Fight Fair. This is literally the core of Battle, Jesus says in John 14, "Take heart, I have overcome the world." You see, he's already won! The battles we face, have nothing to do with the outcome of the war. It's over, it ended on the cross on Calvary. So, this battle is not about winning, it's about "becoming all that God has called me to be." (Phil. 4:12b)

Wow! If you really stop and think about it, that should make us even desire to battle more diligently. The thought of already being labeled victors should drive us to be more like Christ, our King. The idea that we are going to win should cause us to stand with confidence, the armor of God in hand, prepared to accept any challenge.

How incredibly awesome!

ae