No Condemnation

This morning I was reading one of my favorite blogs (more on Kevin and blogs in a future post). I think it is a great piece on the workings of guilt and how Christians need to deal with it. The blog was very convicting and redeeming for me to read.

For as long as I can remember, I have always struggled with guilt. Not the kind of guilt that paralyzes and keeps one from functioning, but the kind of guilt that always keeps me wondering and second guessing myself. Questions that rattle around in the corners of my mind and never seem to go away. Does God really love me? Do I truly believe the gospel? Am I a legit follower of Christ? Am I doing enough for the kingdom? Was my teaching effective? Have I loved that person well? A seemingly constant tug of war.

I'm not sure where it comes from. Maybe everyone has the same questions and wrestles with similar feelings. Maybe it comes from my desires for achievement and approval. Regardless of the cause, I constantly find myself struggling to believe the words of Paul in Romans 8. "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus." At the end of the day, I need to be reminded that my acceptance and approval has nothing to do with my actions but of the actions Jesus has already accomplished.

I would encourage everyone to read Kevin DeYoung's entry on guilt. I hope you find it as enriching as I did.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/

Anxiety

1a: painful or uneasiness of mind usually over an impending or anticipated ill.

According to Merriam, this is the definition of anxiety. I don't consider myself to be a very anxious person but "uneasiness over anticipation" most definitely describes my current state.

For the past 30 minutes I have been staring at my iCal in disbelief. With summer quickly approaching, I am feeling the mounting pressure of an insane schedule. By the time August shows itself on the calendar, I think I am going to need cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

During the next 80 days when I'm not sunbathing and drinking lemonade, I will be doing one or a combination of the following:

5 high school graduations, 6 soccer games, 2 retreats, 5 interns, 2 mission trips, football meetings and football practices, 4 bible studies, 16 teaching "opportunities," numerous graduation parties (the count is still rising), 1 missions conference, at least 20 more blog entries and 1 wisdom tooth extraction!

Ha, while composing this post, I have received 2 e-mails: one for another graduation party and one for another teaching opportunity. This is definitely going to be crazy summer. Ironically enough, summer is my favorite time of year. Travel, pools, lots of time with students, outdoor activities, and of course yummy fruits and vegetables. So uneasy = yes, a little anxious and overwhelmed = yes, but the chaos of my summer is anything but an anticipated ill. Soon the haze will lift and my colorful calendar will no longer seem like a burden. A brief moment of clarity is sometimes needed to remind me what a great privilege it is to be able to do and experience all of the things God has placed before me.

Daily Meditation

"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

Colossians 3:1-4

Weekend Part 2

As we prepare to love the world in deed and word (See Part 1 for more details), we are doing so in a way that is very strategic. We believe that in order to best be used by God, there are a number of things we must do. As followers of Christ, our compassion for others comes from an overflow of love and mercy that we experience from our Lord and Savior (Matt. 22:37-40). If we are going to love the world well, we must first realize that we all, at one time, were in desperate need ourselves. (Eph. 2:1-10) The goal for all of our students is NOT for them to "go on a trip" or "have an experience," but to continually become more like Christ. Instead of "doing" missions, we want them to become missional. God's mission for us is not contained to a few weeks on a summer calendar or even by specific locations. Therefore, we think every minute of every day is reason to learn how to love our neighbors the way that Christ loves us.

Here are a few practical steps of preparations for all of our students:

1 - Pray. We need to be in constant prayer for the people we get to minister to. (1 Timothy 2:1-5)
2 - Know Your Neighbor. Just like Paul in Acts 17, we must know the strengths, needs, and unique culture of the people we are in community with. (Luke 10:25-37)
3 - Know Yourself. Understanding who God made you to be and how he has created you to serve him will have a huge impact on how effective you can be. (1 Corinthians 12:1-11)
4 - Get Equipped. Preparation is key. Each experience is different and requires unique training. (Proverbs 1:1-7).
5 - Go. The core of becoming missional is that you can't stay put. Movement is a necessity. It may be across the street or it may be across the world. (Matt. 28:18-20)

Please pray for our students and leaders as we continue the process of becoming missional.

Weekend Part 1

For the past 2 days, I have spent time with 70 students and leaders from Grace Church on a retreat in the mountains of North Carolina. This retreat was different than almost any other retreat I have been a part of. In fact, all the staples you find on a typical retreat were noticeably absent this week: games, team competition, bonfires, s'mores and t-shirts.

No, this retreat had a single-focus; preparation for summer mission trips. This summer our student ministry will be sending out 3 different teams to 3 different locations.

1 - From June 7th-15th, a team of 14 will go to Managua, Nicaragua. This team will partner with a community church to do evangelism in schools, community outreach, sports events and lead multiple church services. Additionally, this team will lead a weekend retreat for youth leaders in Nicaragua. The goal of the retreat is to help equip the leaders with strategies for effectively ministering to their churches and communities.

2 - From June 20th-25th, a team of nearly 50 students and leaders will spend a week in Allendale, South Carolina. Allendale County is one of the poorest counties in South Carolina where that average household income is $19,000 annually. During this trip, our team will lead a day camp for the local Boys and Girls Club, do construction work on a local church, and participate in various events to connect with people in the community.

3 - From July 10th - 17th, a team of 30 students and leaders will travel to Eleuthera, Bahamas. Partnering with Mike and Shannen Fastzkie, our team will lead a a vacation bible school, a day camp for special needs students and help with local construction projects.

As diligent as our teams worked in preparation this weekend, I know they will continue to work just as hard from now until the time their trip is complete. I am excited to see how God will use all of this to shape our students, spread the gospel and bring glory to Himself.

IFankfulfor

When our kids were younger, Kelly and I tried to think of creative ways to introduce them to the Scriptures, church and what it means to have a relationship with God. In addition to modeling an open and honest prayer life, we gave them some clear structure when praying. We would guide them through a prayer that would answer the following questions:

1 - What is something you are thankful to God for?
2 - What is something you are sorry for?
3 - What do want to ask God for?

As you can imagine, the amount of random comments from this exercise produced enough laughter to make anyone's abdominal muscles scream. In order to make it even more engaging and interactive, we used a small cushy ball that we would pass back and forth. Whoever had the ball would answer a question and then would have the privilege of choosing who would go next by passing them the ball (yes, this was the coach coming out in me). Over time, the ball become known as the thankful ball. Because Harper was very young and not yet verbally "developed", she always ended up saying "IFankfulfor (I'm thankful for). The thankful ball became a staple in our house during the evenings.

Over the past few days I have been thinking about the thankful ball a lot. I am just getting over a 4 day long stomach bug. Not good! However, as bad as it has been, it has reminded me of how thankful I am for some of the simple things in life:

- Coffee! Oh how I missed you! (nope, I don't have issues)
- food with color (I'm so done with white bread, white rice and white crackers)
- the gym (I just function better with exercise)
- a healthy back (soreness, aches and pains take over after so many hours on the couch)
- food with taste (oh how I missed fruit, and vegetables, and meats and sauces, etc, etc)
- human contact (being quarantined and being kept at a distance from all people got old fast)

Although I'm not ready to reintroduce the cushy ball, I am much more aware of some of the great things in life, as simple as they may be. And really hoping I don't need another reminder anytime soon!

Chips N Dip

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I thought I would share a few mexican food moments and memories.

Los Arcos - Lots of cheap combination #1's and Speedy Gonzales at the only mexican restaurant I think existed in Boone while I was in college. Why did ice cold coke taste so good with that food?

Fish Tacos - My friend Dave McIrath made delicious homemade fish tacos one year for my birthday! Totally scrumptious. Since then they have been one of my favorites.

Chuy's and Blue Goose - 2 of our favorite Dallas joints. Something about Mexican food in Dallas....so so good.

Calahan's 1st Beer - ok, ok, not really....but we do have a picture of him grasping a Shiner Bock at Chuy's as a 3 month old.

Homemade Salsa and Guac - Kelly does the guac, I do the salsa....yummy!!!

Pilo's - Some random border town mexican joint in south Texas. We ate their twice while on a mission trip. I remember that the flank steak fajitas were insane. Or maybe they just tasted so good because I was with 30 high school students in the middle of nowhere waiting for a hurricane to pass.

Back-2-Back - Eating at the The Blue Goose on consecutive days on a recent trip to Dallas. Special thanks to Mo and MK for making us get the Sopapillas. Unbelievable!

Tonight - Dinner at Corona's. The food wasn't that great but the experience was tremendous. Free necklaces, t-shirts and hats. Cinco de Mayo has instantly become a favorite holiday in our house.

Viva La Mexico