you can't ignore...

Every time I get a little distraught over the state of the world, God sends a little hope my way. Tonight it came in the form of Brandt Russo creator of Adopt-A-Jesus, a movement that began like many other great movements have; with a small group of people taking small steps to change the world.

After watching the film Adopt-A-Jesus and talking with Brandt tonight, one thing was clear: this is all about God. People may sit and look upon Brandt with eyes of amazement. Whether because of his tattoos, stretched elephant ears and scruffy beard, or because of the wonderful work of Jesus that he is doing, people can't help but stare. But Brandt never once accredits any of his movement's achievements to himself. Instead, he oozes God with a humility that makes me see Christ in His heart so clearly. God just flows out of him like it is the most natural thing in the world and I'm guessing that for Brandt, it is.

He tells a wonderful story - one of a Church that is much closer to the way Jesus intended it to be than the stone castles that many of us in North America sit in every Sunday morning. A Church that embodies Christ truthfully and acts as His hands and feet with humility; a Church that I would be proud to call myself a part of.

This Church reminds me that the love of Jesus is a beautiful thing. His work is miraculous. His provision is infinite and His compassion never ceases. Who would have thought that actually living the way Jesus instructed us to would be so fruitful, so fulfilling?

love wins part I

The recent controversy over Rob Bell's new book Love Wins was brought to my attention last weekend during a conversation with a respected female leader at my church. I have greatly enjoy Rob Bell's teaching in the past and so the controversy over his new book intrigued me. It especially sparked my interest due to Mark Driscoll's (another teacher I regularly learn from) response to the book. You can check out Mark Driscoll's blog post responses here and here.

I haven't read the book yet (but plan to start it this week), and so I can't really give a critique or support its ideas, however I can say that the backlash by many noted Christian theologians and teachers worries me. One thing I do know is that Christian universalism is a slippery and dangerous slope, and we must be careful when preaching the universalist approach. It is my belief that God is a loving and forgiving God, but that He is also a just God. These days Christians seem to have forgotten the God of the Old Testament who was jealous and burned with anger at the sin of His people (anyone read Jeremiah and Ezekiel lately... anyone?)

I'll talk more about my views on Heaven/Hell and universalism/relativism after I've read the book. Hell and the afterlife are important aspects of Christian theology, so in the mean time, I encourage you to check out the views presented by both Rob Bell and Mark Driscoll, but more importantly to read the Scriptures and learn for yourself what God says about Hell.

You can check out Rob Bell's website here, and the Mars Hill Bible Church Website here.

It feels so good to be home.

I had almost forgotten how wonderful being in my own room and with my family felt.

I've got three weeks here - I'm going to make them count.

photo via (we heart it)

you can't please everyone

I had a run in with good intentions and bad results.

I found out a friend was being lied to and I tried to help them realize this, but the good intention of trying to protect a friend wound up pushing them away and left me with a handful of blame that wasn't mine. My attempt to remedy the situation did no good, and I was left wondering if 'doing the right thing' was always a good thing to do.

You can try to always do the right thing; sometimes you may even succeed, but that doesn't mean that you're safe. We live in a world of narcissism and cynicism and in that kind of a world you can't please everyone. The selfish people might be jealous of your goodness and cynics might doubt your sincerity.

But does all of this discount goodness? Not at all. We must strive to be good even when it doesn't always reap the benefits we expect because goodness, above all else, is what keeps us human.

In the situation with my friend, I wound up realizing that no matter what, I can leave that friendship knowing that I did the right thing and that my intentions were pure. The rest was and is up to them.

We can't lose sight of the importance of goodness because if we get to the point when lying, cheating and swindling seem to be more fruitful than goodness we'll be at the point of no return. Good intentions, and even good actions, don't always bear positive results, but they keep humanity from totally disregarding one another. So if you're struggling to see the value of goodness, I hope this post encourages you to keep fighting the good fight and to keep praying that goodness will prevail.

Well, Amazon, you're marketing works...
I can't get enough of these guys! :)

photos via (we heart it)

someday I want a room like this one...

photo via (we heart it)

spring is springing!

Ah, Spring.
I want to pick up my guitar and
whisper sweet nothings into your ear.
It's been too long,
how I've missed you so.

photo via (we heart it)