Lent

First of all, thanks to Trevor for a good reminder of how religious obligations should never get in the way of following Christ. I'm hoping God will call me to a Panthers game this Fall so that I can be salt and light at Bank of America Stadium one Sunday when I'm not at Reveal.

Second, I did not grow up in a church that celebrated specific dates on the Christian calendar like Lent. I was a baptist. We celebrated Easter and Christmas. That was it. Almost my entire life has been spent attending baptist churches. Until about eight years ago, if you had asked me what Lent was, I would have told you it was the stuff I cleaned out of my dryer. At my previous church, one of my youth workers introduced me to the concept of Lent. Each year as a youth group, we discussed Lent on Ash Wednesday and the students were given an opportunity to reflect on preparing for Easter.

For many, preparing for Easter is much less important than preparing for Christmas. Yet, for the Christian, Easter may be the most important day of the year. It is the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, the hope of all mankind. Traditionally, people give up something for Lent. I always joke that I'm going to give up vegetables for Lent. But giving up something reminds us of the sacrifice that Christ made on our behalf. I know people who have given up a certain food or drink, or a specific meal during the week, or television. Whatever it may be, it's something that they do regularly. The 'sacrifice' then serves as a regular reminder of the ultimate sacrifice.

It's also common during Lent to make a commitment to do something that will remind us of Christ's mission on Earth. Serving somewhere (i.e soup kitchen, homeless shelter, school, etc.) or doing something (i.e. reading a specific passage of Scripture, having a special prayer time, etc) that you don't normally do can refocus and refresh us as well as prepare our hearts for the Easter celebration.

How will you prepare?

Peace - Jamie

PS - If you're not sure what Lent is, check out this out.

Teachable Moments (Guest Post by Trevor Ashe)

Don't you just love when something just "happens" to be thrown on your plate at the last minute. I had an experience like that this past week.

So Saturday on my way out of the store, I was "reminded" that we had an all store meeting on Sunday morning. I'll be honest, my first thought was to say sorry cant make it, I have better plans. Then I realized how sweet it would be to get paid for doing no work, eating breakfast, and just hanging out with fellow employees. No brainer in that context. So I told my managers I would be there and I'll see them in the morning.

Well on my way out of the store I was telling people good bye and I will see them in the morning and one of my friends asked me if I was really going to be there in the morning. I told them I certainly would. Then I get asked about if I was going to miss church for this meeting and I explained I would. She said, "I thought Christians had to go to church."

BAM!!! You hear that? That is a teachable moment knocking on the door. So I got the opportunity to explain to her that being a Christian is not just about going to church and marking things off on a never ending "spritiual check list." I told her that my faith is all about a relationship, and freedom from the check list.

As I am writing this, a picture of the "karma list" in the TV show My Name Is Earl just popped into my head. I dont know if any of you have ever seen the show but basically he is under the assumption that if he corrects every wrong doing in his life "karma" will be good to him and make his life better. But basically the more he fixes of his past, the more his list grows.
That's the mentality many people have about Christianity. That if we "fix" our lives or our past relationships with people, life will be better and we will win a spot in heaven.

In this one small moment with this young lady at my work I saw a new paradigm open up on her mind. She realized that faith is not a bunch of rules or things to do; rather its a way of living, a relationship that keeps evolving bringing you closer to the Holy Spirit. Granted, I do not know where she is in her spiritual walk, but it was really cool to see her eyes light up when I told her this simple truth about Christianity. Thats about it, just wanted to write a bit and share this pretty cool story.

Trev

PS. Sometimes the Lord might call us to "skip" church to be involved in the lives of people whom do not yet know him. Sounds like a Sunday morning mountain bike trip might be in my near future!

This Little Light

So I had a cool opportunity this weekend. I was asked to play a song for the 3 and 4 year olds Sunday morning. After I was done, we sang a few more songs off a CD. One of these songs was "This Little Light of Mine". Now I couldn't tell you the last time I sang that song.

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine
Let it shine, Let it shine, Let it shine

Hide it under a bushel, NO!, I'm gonna let it shine...

Such a simple song, but it really got me thinking. Am I letting my light shine? Now I think to myself: "Hey you're not doing so bad, Will, you have an ichthus fish on the back of your car, you wear your "Jesus is Rad" shirt, you lead worship each week, you blog about God, you are on staff at a church." That's a pretty good resume...but then again a relationship with God is not a job.

When I was in high school, we talked a lot about posers - someone who could dress and talk like they were involved in something even if they weren't. Sometimes I wonder if I am a Christian "poser"? I mean I can talk the talk, I have lots of head knowledge about God. But what these 3 & 4 year olds were showing me Sunday was heart knowledge. They were just worshiping. They didn't care that if my guitar was in-tune, or if I remembered all the words, or if there was a band backing me up, or that I wasn't playing the latest CCM hit off the radio. They were worshiping to a simple song in a simple way, and I believe that God heard their worship.

Luke 18:17 - Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.

I don't want to "hide it under a bushel". I don't want to be a Christian "poser" either. What I want for me and for REVEAL is to be able to worship God with abandon but also with purity of heart like those 3 & 4 year olds.

Dream Big...Pray Bigger!

Will

Set List 02.22.09

Here is the music that we used for 02.22.09 (Week 3 of God's Purpose...Right Now):

The Solid One (Jeff Zabel)
Our Love Is Loud (David Crowder)
I Stand Amazed (Charles Hutchison Gabriel)
Beautiful The Blood (Steve Fee)
My Glorious (Martin Smith)

Steve preached the third sermon of God's Purpose...Right Now. This week he focused on the story of Joseph. What a wonderful reminder to stay focused on God even when "circumstances" seem to tell us that we have been forsaken.

There were 63 people in Reveal today and 11 in childcare. Remember that next week we are going to have lunch (Fuel Pizza) for everyone after Reveal. So invite a friend and bring a couple of bucks to help offset the cost.

We are also working on putting together some small groups (catchy name to come later) in the next few weeks. If you are interested, please let me or Jamie know.

jamieb@fbcrockhill.org
willb@fbcrockhill.org

Dream Big...Pray Bigger!

Will

Some Intresting Blog Posts

I read a lot of blogs. Some are for fun, some are for ministry growth, some are just to try and keep up with people I know. One thing that I don't particularly like is when bloggers "borrow" other peoples ideas and don't have much to add to the discussion - they just post the link to the other blog. But today I am going to do just that. Mostly because I think these blogs have said it better than I could have reworded it. So here goes.

Eric & Riley Johnson
Eric and Riley are members of FBC and attend the 10:30 service. Riley's post is a well written recap of what Steve talked about in his sermon 2/15/09 (Abraham).

Glenn Packiam
Glenn is one of the pastors at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO. He has written songs such as "My Savior Lives" and "Your Name". In this post he talks about an liturgical experience he had at an Anglican church.

"we are not here for what we can get out of worship; we are here to give ourselves away in worship."

Dream Big...Pray Bigger.

Will

Praying With Your Spouse

How important is prayer in your daily life? As a pastor the correct answer for my life should be "VERY" but the honest answer is that it varies. Some days I do really well at praying for people and situations. Other days - not so much. A lot of times, when someone comes to mind, I'll toss up a quick prayer for them or their situations.

But there is one prayer time that I don't miss. Before I go to bed, Lori and I pray together. Now this prayer time is kinda like date night that I explained in my last post. Sometimes it is good. Sometimes it is kinda weak. Sometimes it is a mad prayer. And sometimes, I'm half asleep when I pray. But one thing is for certain. If at all possible, we are going to pray together before we go to sleep - even if we are apart. In fact, during the 6 months that I was in SC and she was in California, we prayed over the phone.

This is something that we started when we got married and I have been very thankful for this in our marriage. It forces us to deal with issues before we go to sleep. And like the date night, the cumulative effect on your marriage will be well worth the effort.

Dream Big...Pray Bigger.

Will

Bits and Pieces

Did you ever have one of those weeks when nothing that was on your 'to do' list ends up getting done? What am I talking about? Of course you have. Well, that's the best way to describe my week. Thus for my first blog entry this week you get bits and pieces of what's been going on in my mind as opposed to the penetrating, thought-provoking entries of weeks past. Yeah, right!

• U2 has a new song - I like U2 a lot. "War," their breakthrough album (and, yes, it was an album) dropped in 1983 just as MTV was taking off. I can still remember the music video for "New Year's Day" playing on the tv in my living room. At first, they were just another new wave band like Duran Duran and the Culture Club. I kick myself to even put those bands in the same sentence with U2 now. It was really "The Joshua Tree" that solidified U2's legendary status. Since then, I've had an off and on love affair with their music. "Pop" wasn't that great to me. But I thoroughly enjoyed "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" from 2004. All that to say that "Get on Your Boots" hasn't grabbed me yet. I've listened to it a lot because I WANT to like it but so far U2 hasn't gotten me to throw down some cash for a new CD.
• The Carolina Panthers have a big decision to make - As much as I enjoy music, spectator sports are my passion. This big decision has nothing to do with Jake Delhomme (sorry, Hunter, you're stuck with him for at least one more season). By this time tomorrow, either Jordan Gross or Julius Peppers will be guaranteed a lot of money for the 2009 season. I hope they can get Gross signed and get something in a trade for Pep.
• The Daytona 500 (er, 380) was a disappointment - My second favorite sport, behind the NFL, is NASCAR. I'm a Jeff Gordon fan. Boo, if you like. You won't hurt my feelings. Can you imagine if the NFL called the Super Bowl before the 4th quarter began? Because that's what NASCAR did Sunday. The race wasn't the best I've seen. But it HAS to end after 500 miles. It's your Super Bowl, NASCAR. If you have to cancel the California race this Sunday to finish The 500, you cancel the California race.

Hopefully, the rest of the week won't be as busy and I'll have a chance to post some coherent thoughts later. But probably not.

-- Peace, Jamie