Question: What does the love of God look like?

I know it has been a while, and I totally have not hit my goal of blogging every day. Here is the sweet thing about goals, you can change them, at least when you set them for yourself. I am proud of my self for blogging as much as I do. However I do want to kick it up a notch as Emeril would say.

I heard a great interview while I was driving. I was listening to the Relevant Magazine podcast, and they interviewed Brian McLaren. I could probably write a whole blog about what I think about those two (Relevant, and McLaren) but I will just say that all things should be taken with a grain of salt. The bottom line is this McLaren said some pretty insightful things that challenged me and made me think.

He explained that in most cases the church has made the gospel about getting as many people in to heaven as possible. He used the term exit strategy a few times to describe this. In addition, he alluded to the fact that the church should be more concerned with the injustices that are going on all around us. I am not sure if he meant the latter is more important than the former, however I say you can't have one without the other.

John 13:35
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another

There are some really obvious injustices occurring all over the world, like AIDS, Human Trafficing, and Famine, just to name a few. These are all important and we need to be part of the solution in some way. However, my question for you, and for God is this: What does God's love look like? or in other words what injustices, or needs occur around us, and more specifically on our college campuses? How do we show the love of God to our peers on the campus? What needs are there? How can we show compassion? or as Jesus himself put it, What makes us different?

Boldness

One afternoon, I pulled up to my house after a long morning pouring coffee, and making lattes for "the man" at Starbucks. As I pulled into the alley way behind my house I noticed there was a brand new, shiny, Lexus slowly creeping up the alley toward me. There was something about it that seemed out of place. Using my detective skills that I obtained from watching hours of Psyche and CSI, I deduced that the driver of this car did not live in the neighborhood.

As the car approached the gentleman rolled down the window, pointed to my house, and asked me if I lived there. The elderly gentleman driving the car said that he used to live in my house in 1945, and began to reflect from his car. He told me that he was in the living room doing homework, when Pearl Harbor was bombed. I invited him in, but he declined. The gentleman said he had been sick lately, and he wasn't up to it. He drove off, but I had this funny feeling inside of me like I should have prayed for him

Here is what I am getting at, that funny feeling, that is called the Holy Spirit. Don't get me wrong I am not living in guilt or anything, I am motivated not to miss another opportunity to pray and see God move.

I read this awesome blog this morning about praying and seeing God move --> Here

Chi Alpha Testimony

Check out the testimony in this newsletter all you college students. It gives a great perspective on friends you think are unreachable. We have no idea what is going on in the lives of people around us.

Sorority Sister

The New Year, The New Blog, and The Best of 2007

So here it goes, this is going to sound crazy to some of you. My new years resolution is to blog every day in 2008! I know that some youth, and college age pastors have said that through the ages, but I really mean it. It may not be ground breaking, or profound, but it will be everyday.

The best of 2007...
AG Frat House
XA Leaders Retreat
XA Small Group Studies (You guys rock)
My Lovely Girlfriend
Reach the U in Springfield, MO
"The Master Plan for Evangelism" By Robert Coleman (Great read, you brainiacs that love to read could knock it out in an evening)
The Well Ping Pong
The first two weeks of RMU fall semester (jam packed with crazy events and fun)
Seeing the high school students grow, and leaders emerge
The Tarahumara, Mexico, and Ernie Peacock
Freshman
Loving Jesus more every day
And there was so much more...

Plastic Sofa Covers (Revised Edition)

I recently realized that humans make up some crazy rules and regulations. Have you ever gone to someone’s house, and you weren't allowed in the living room? Maybe it was your living room that you weren't allowed to set foot in. I am almost positive I am ripping off some very funny comedian when I make this statement, but isn't the point of a living room to spend time living in the darn thing. As if the floor was made of hot lava, and your feet would be consumed by fire if you step foot in it. Maybe your parents thought their 1992 lazy boy sofa would be worth something some day, that’s why they wrapped it with a plastic cover that strangely resembled saran wrap. They should have roped it off like a museum, and put up signs prohibiting flash photography.

Museums, zoos, and aquarium also have some rules I have noticed, and at times, I am ashamed to say, disobeyed. Do not touch, do not feed the animals, or my personal favorite, do not tap on glass. I think seeing signs exhibiting these statements evoke the desire to disobey them. There is just something about a large tank of fish that excites my finger, and causes me to loose control. I confess I am probably responsible for trauma to captive sea dwelling creatures all over the world.

There is something that all of these rules have in common, that is they all have a purpose or a spirit. The spirit of the law is what the law is indented to make happen, or keep from happening. Obviously people who keep their living rooms sacred would like to keep the space clean and presentable. I don't know if this is true or not, probably not, but a tap on the glass to a fish is the equivalent to an earthquake for us. Thus the spirit of this rule is don't freak out the fish.

Well a couple of hundred years before Jesus came on the scene, there were these rule makers known as the Pharisees. There were many people who wished to do away with the law of God, and they were entrusted to uphold, and protect it. They came up with a plan that they would make up a bunch of rules on top of God's law in order to protect themselves from breaking God's law. In a way they thought they would first have to break their rules before they could break God's laws. Kind of like a plastic cover on a couch. Unfortunately, they became corrupt, and began to let their laws take priority over God's laws. The Pharisees missed the spirit of God's law all together.

When Jesus came he completely blew these guys out of the water. By stating it is not enough to obey they Law, but you must obey it in your heart. Basically you must desire to keep the law for it's original purpose.

Matthew 6:21-22 (Jesus Speaking)
21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother[b]will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Mark 7:6
6He (Jesus) replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
" 'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.

Have you ever felt like you are just going through the motions? Sometimes we can create these leagalistic rules in our life to convince ourselves that we are right with God: go to church, read your bible, pray, don't swear, go to Chi Alpha. These are all things that we need to be doing, especially going to Chi Alpha (hehe). However, these things should be by products of a genuine faith within our hearts. The spirit of God is able to transform the way you think, it transformed mine, and still transforms me daily...

The Midwest: Home of the Bass Pro Shop, and Sonic Burgers

This past weekend, five college/career agers, myself included, embarked on a monumental journey into the region of America know as "The Midwest" The mission: travel to Springfield, MO attend Reach the U at Central Bible College, while consuming as many sonic burgers, and cherry limeades as possible.

Lets just say sonic burger didn't stand a chance against us. As for the Reach the U conference, it rocked our worlds. Quite frankly, I didn't know what to expect. The teachings in the group growth track were simple, yet profound, and ruined my whole way of looking at the campus of Robert Morris University.

Our only complaint was this: not enough teaching sessions, too much free time (insert sarcastic tone). It was flippin jam packed, in a completely good way. If the schedule had not been so full, students and campus pastors would have been overwhelmed with choices of what to do first in Springfield. Upon our arrival I asked a cafeteria attendant if there was anything to do in Springfield. Three words: Bass Pro Shop. Unfortunately I never made it to the BPS in our 120 seconds we had between sessions due to the fact there was a Starbucks across the street from it, and my minivan always found its way into the Sstarbucks parking lot...