some thoughts on Tim Tebow

Some thoughts on Tim Tebow...

I will be the first to tell you that I am a Tebow fan, and long before he was a Jet (or a Bronco) for that matter.

There are those that say that we, as Christians only like him because of His faith, and not because of His playing ability.  There are some great athletes with some great faith (Jared Allen, Kurt Warner, Deon Sanders, Reggie White, Larry Fitzgerald, just to name a few) in the NFL (or retired from NFL).

Yes, i do appreciate Tebows Faith, as well as many others, and how they reflect it on the football field.

More than that, I love to watch Tebow play, He is unpredictable, unprecedented, and some times unbelievable.  Is he one of the best QB's out there, not really.  But alot of the way that He runs, and plays reminds me of my all time fav QB:

Yeah, I know you think I'm grasping at straws here trying to compare Tebow to Favre, but think back to Favre's early days, the way he scrambled and threw the ball and it will remind you alot of Tebow.  Now I don't think Tebow will ever get the chance to be the star Favre was, but imagine this:  If Tebow had been able to stay a bronco and this man helped him fine tune his passing game:

What a QB he could have been.  I would have to say (and this is my opinion, so you can disagree if you want to) that Tim Tebow is better than:

But only time will tell if he gets a chance to prove it.

Have a great weekend! 

Chris

promises, promises

Warning 80's flashback, "promises, promise" by naked eyes



The premise of the song/video was about a relationship in which one party made alot of promises and didn't keep them.....

and if you have been around long enough, it has happened to you:  someone made a promise and didn't keep it, or maybe it was you that made the promise and didn't keep it.

^20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.  (2 Co 1:20, NIV)

God has made a lot of promises:

He will always love you
He will never leave you
He will always listen
He will always care
He will always be there

He will always forgive (if we ask)

He will always guide

and the list could go on and on.......

When it come to you: are you a person of their word, can I (or someone else) rely on simply what you say.  Your answer to that determines what your character is.  think about it.

Have a great day, Chris



Give me a happy ending

There was a movie in the early 1980's called "The Pirate Movie", starred Kristy McNichol and Christopher Atkins, yes it was cheesy but i always liked it and every once in a while you can catch it on.  At the end of the movie pirates are taking over and everything looks as if it is falling apart, aka nothing is ending right.  Kristy McNichol stops everyone and yells, "hey I want a happy ending"; then the movie breaks into this song:

It's what everyone wants right?  A happy ending, we want everything to work out just like, well, in the movies.

The guy gets the girl.
The bad guy is caught.
Good wins over evil.
The star lands the dream job.
The sick get better.
everything turns out...... perfect.

Big problem is, It doesn't always work that way. 

I was thinking about this today, do you remember in the book of Daniel where Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to worship the golden statue, and the punishment was death (thrown into fiery furnace).  Nebuchadnezzar brought them before him and gave them a second chance to worship the golden statue, their response to him was as follows:

“O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. ^17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. ^18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Da 3:16-18)

Their faith is awesome isn't it, "if He doesn't, we still will not serve or worship your statue".  Now of course the bible records that the king gets so mad he heats that furnace up much much higher and throws them in, and yes you guessed it God saves them, after being in the fire, they are pulled out afterwards with not even smelling like fire.  A happy ending.  It's what we want.

I was wondering today, what if God didn't rescue them, what if they opened the door and the three where reduced to just ashes, what if it wasn't a happy ending?  What if they didn't get what they wanted,  is He still God?  of course He is, but is He now the God of Sad ending instead of Happy ending?  Life doesn't always turn out the way we want it to.  We don't always get what we want.  We don't always get a happy ending.  The guy doesn't always get the girl.  The bad guy doesn't always get caught.  We don't always get the dream job.  We don't always get to retire on a tropical Island (that's my dream btw).  Some how in the midst of all that we have to remember God could do it, He has the power to do it, and He controls everything.  So why doesn't He?  the answer is simple but yet profound:  it's not in His nor my best interest.  God always works things out for His kingdom and our best interest, but for us sometimes that is something totally different than what we expected or wanted.

The happy ending is this:  God loves you, He sent His son to die for you, and His gift to you is eternal life.  That my friend is the real happy ending.

Have a wonderful day,
Chris

You've got the power

For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. ^35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. (Mt 12:34-35, NIV)

Do you believe that YOUR words can make a difference?
Do you believe that YOUR words show who you are?

I hope so; because they do.  Your words have the power to change people's moods, feelings, and even their direction.  You have the power within you to either build someone up and encourage them, or to do the opposite and tear them down and destroy them.  The choice, the power is in you.

I also shows your heart, where you are spiritually and maturity wise.  "love is patient, Love is kind...." ring a bell.  It should.  Are our words patient, are they kind?  How did Jesus speak, what did He say.  It's amazing even when Jesus reprimanded someone, at the same time He would encourage them.

Did you know you could change someone's day by mere words, or you could ruin it.  You have the power.  don't be fooled by the old saying, "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never heart me", because it's not true.  Words to hurt, words do damage, words do destroy.  The power (choice) is within your power, so what will you do.

Food for thought for the day, Have a great day, Chris

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

^28 And he said to man,

‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,

and to shun evil is understanding.’” (Job 28:28, NIV)

 

I never have been a smart person (and never claimed to be).  As far as I can recollect I never made A/B honor roll (though came close a time or two).  I always seemed to be "average". 

 

So does getting good grades in school make you smarter?  does it show you have wisdom?  does it mean you will always know the right thing to do?  does it make you more "ethical"?  Does it mean you understand more than the average person?

 

There are two types of wisdom.  One is wisdom you gain from man (school, college, books, etc.); the other is divine wisdom, that only comes from God.  Truth be known you need both.  However, half of this country only has the first.

The source of wisdom is the Fear of the Lord.  Fear translates to giving honor, reverence, respect to the Lord (God); growing to understand who He is, why He created us, He has a purpose in all He does.  What He tells us is in our best interest, His goal is never to harm or keep anything from us.  It is to Grow us into, yup you got it Wisdom.  The other half to this verse is being able to "shun" evil.  To be able to walk away (or run if you have to) that which is not good.  You and I being able to differentiate between what is "good" and what is "bad". 

Books will teach you one thing, God will teach you the best thing.  If you are willing to listen and learn.

 

have a great weekend, Chris.

 

How did we get to this point?

I was doing a search for the youtube video "cardboard testimonies" you know the really cool video of how God changed lives and they write it on cardboard in a big fancy church, and these people walk out in their nice clothes to a live band playing in a temperature controlled environment, and i found this video:

now some are humorous, but most are heart wrenching.  I watch this and i wonder (in an election year) how did we get to this point.  In a country where we raise trillions of dollars for a candidate to run for an office, how is it that we epically fail to take care of the homeless and hungry.  I recognize that not a single person running for office will see or read this blog, but you should be ashamed, very ashamed.  While your flying from state to state all over this country on hard working peoples $$, Americans (many who served this country faithfully) are hungry, cold, and need clothing.

May God have mercy on us for not taking care of His children.

Chris

You've Got a Friend In Me

"Friendships, along with love, make life worth living" - Mike Krzyzewski

^10 If one falls down,

his friend can help him up.

But pity the man who falls

and has no one to help him up! (Ec 4:10, NIV)

 

Ministry is one of the most rewarding, humbling, and highest callings in life.  It can also be the loneliest place on earth.

 

In evaluating in my last blog with my own life i realized something heart wrenching, I was writing about me, that I don't have time to build lasting friendships.  I realized that all my time is poured into two areas:  my home (wife and kids) and my youth.  Now recognizing that those are not bad, however as I was sitting at home Saturday and realized that we don't have "friends" that we hang out with, we don't go out to eat with couples, our kids don't get together with other kids and play.  So the question is why?

 

Some of it has to do with, well probably most of it has to do with the time crunch thing, it's really hard to find the time to.  I think the other one is simply having being in "ministry".  What has that got to do with it?  one word:  Favoritism.  People's "view".  If we as a couple spend time with another couple, could people view it as "favoritism"?  would that be "favoring" one family over another.  Could it affect my ability to minister effectively?

 

Don't get me wrong, I have friends, I have an "inner circle", I have some wonderful people i can go to.  I think as a couple we are just lacking in building quality friendships with other couples.  I gotta work on that.

 

Because we want to be known as:

 

 

blessings on your day,  love ya Chris

A Hospital full of healthy People?

So I have been talking with a friend of mine on the Internet about a problem that a friend of hers had with their local church.  This problem, however, goes far beyond this one individual body of believers.  The problem is this:  the inability to develop personal intimate friendships within the group of believers.  This conversation has brought me to a place of really thinking about this area, because it is turning from a problem to an epidemic.  It's heartbreaking to think that we have gotten to a place that we feel that we must act like we have it "all together" and have no problems when we come together to worship.  The church is designed and given to us to be a haven of rest, a place for encouragement, and a place to be able to come and become "spiritually healthy"; but instead we come in put on a show and make everyone believe we are "a hospital full of healthy people".

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ^32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Lk 5:31-32, NIV)

Jesus' very own words.

How did we get so far away from this?  It's Irony at it's best.  Could you imagine going to the hospital, and patients are all sitting around denying health care, and saying I'm fine, just here to hang out, I'm not sick, there is nothing wrong with me.  Do you know we do that in churches every week, and let's be honest its called lying. It's one of the reasons why we don't develop these personal relationships in question.  There are several other reasons too, they are as i believe listed below:

1. Time:  For some time is really the reason.  Between career, family, and other lists of responsibilities they feel that it is virtually impossible to develop these new personal relationships due to time constraints.  You will find that most people in this category have more acquaintances than friends, because they can't put forth the effort to develop anything other than "shallow" friendships.
2. Socially Handicap.  Some people have just never really developed the social skills necessary to develop deep intimate personal relationships, they have never really been taught what it takes to build such mentioned relationships.  These individuals usually end up with very few friends and rely on family members as their "sounding boards".
3. Broken Hearts club.  Some folks have gotten used, burned, or run over in the past by being completely honest in the past.  They are the ones that have worked hard at developing those personal relationships, just to have the other party in the relationship break confidence.  These individuals usually recover over time, and are able at some point to begin building those intimate relationships again.
4. Fear.  This is the group to which I am referring to as the most common one.  Fear of what?  Fear of people finding out that we are not perfect, our families are not perfect, and our lives are not perfect.  Their afraid of people finding out that the smile they put on every week is fake, their afraid of the "I'm fine" they respond with every week being found to not be true, and their afraid of people finding out that deep down inside they are hurting and in need.  We are afraid of people finding out the truth. 

This is, in my own opinion, a vicious cycle that must be broken.  We are all in the same boat.  None of us have the "perfect life", and we quite honestly need to quit acting like we do.  We all have struggles in life.  If we could put the "masks" down for a little while we could find encouragement in one another.  It is refreshing when you can relate to someone who is dealing with similar issues in life.  It is also refreshing to be able to just to sit and have a healthy conversation about the good things in life as well.  We need it personally, socially, and spiritually.

The same God that desires for us to have a personal, intimate relationship with Him, wants us to have a personal intimate relationships with others while we are here.  With Jesus as the model, He spent time pouring His life into the twelve;  that is intimate personal relationship at its best.  I challenge you with this:  take the time to develop intimate personal relationships with people.  It does take time, it does take effort.  In the end it is worth every second of it.

Please note, I do recognize that not everyone at all times is doing this.  However, I do know from experience with dealing with people, that the vast majority are not as "ok" as they tell people they are.

Have a blessed day, Chris.

take a few minutes to watch video by the group "Casting Crowns"  it addresses this reality: