If we are the body

I'm going to start today's blog off with some pretty cool facts... here they go!
-There are 10,000 different kinds of ants!
-Ants can lift 20 times their weight-- that's like a 10 pound baby lifting her 200 pound dad!
-Ants come in all kinds of colors-- red, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, and black!
-Ants have two eyes that are made of up of a bunch of smaller eyes called compound eyes.
-Ants have two stomachs-- the first holds food for itself and the second is for food to be shared with other ants!!
-Ants live an average of 45-60 days.
-Ants live in colonies where each ant has a job to do (there is even an ant that takes out the garbage!! No joke!!).

First of all please just take a moment to think about that then tell God what an awesome job He did when He created ants!! Whoo go God!!

Ok wow! So ants are pretty cool huh? Well what gets me is that they don't take days off. They don't have paid vacations and pools behind their... umm... I don't know cells? Anyway that's beside the point! Ants live for 45-60 DAYS!! That is not a very long time! And you know what they spend their days doing? Digging holes!! I mean they do more than that but you have to admit their lives are pretty boring. But they do it anyway! They don't care that it's boring or maybe they like Bob's job better than theirs! They do their job for the good of the colony no matter what!

Wow! That is devotion! That is pure selfless devotion! They spend their entire lives building up their colony's kingdom. They give their lives for the advancement of their colony.

I don't know about you but I think the body of Christ has a lesson or two to learn from ants! Don't take my word for it; here is a passage from the Bible for you to chew on. "Go to the ant, O sluggard (lazy), Observe her ways and be wise..." Proverbs 6:6

Like an ant colony the body of Christ is made up of different members who each have their own job.

12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. --1 Corinthians 12
(This is a small part of what God said about the body so I encourage you to read all of 1 Corinthians to get some more out of it.)

We Christians are part of that body. Now you're going "I didn't sign up to be part of a body!" Well... yeah ya did. When you gave your life to Christ you were made part of the body of Christ right then. God said 'whoo hoo --insert your name here-- came to know me we are going to spend eternity together and now she/he can get started on the job I planned out for her/him before I created to universe!' You and I have jobs God made just for us! Very cool huh?!

But I have a feeling that the ants put us to shame when it comes down to getting our jobs done. Which is really sad because you remember what I said earlier about ants spending their whole lives building up the colony's kingdom? Well, if we do our jobs we are building up God's eternal kingdom!! Wow! God is letting us help Him build His kingdom! That should make us want to get up and go get a hammer and nails right now! But we don't...

Right now you are coming up with every way possible to defend yourself from being bettered by and ant. You're thinking, "Oh but didn't you say that ants could lift 20 times their weight? We can't compete with that!" -- Oh yes we can!

"For truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you." Matthew 17:20

A mountain... hopefully that is at least 20 times your body weight! If its not... well I won't go there...

So the point is we have no excuse for not living every moment of our lives for the Lord! Shame on us for letting ANTS work harder for a kingdom that is easily destroyed than we work for a kingdom that is eternal!

Now I don't want to sound like I've got it together. I'm sure that I'm the worst of all of us and I have a lot to work on!

I thought I would end this blog with the lyrics to a great song by Casting Crowns called If We are the Body.

It's crowded in worship today
As she slips in
Trying to fade into the faces
The girls' teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

But if we are the Body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way
There is a way

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat
And quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgemental glances tells him that his chances
Are better out on the road

But if we are the Body
Why arent His arms reaching
Why arent His hands healing
Why arent His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why arent His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the Body of Christ

If we are the body
Why arent His arms reaching
Why arent His hands healing
Why arent His words teaching
And if we are the body
Why arent His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Jesus is the way

Remember...

Remember when to finish listening to your music you had to flip your cassette tape over. When getting high meant swinging on your swing set. When you could chose between Hot Wheels and a Barbie at McDonalds. Back when our lunch boxes matched our bookbags. Your imaginary friend lived in the blue house down the street. When the playground games of choice were hide-n-seek, four square, kickball, and various versions of tag (freeze tag, cartoon tag, candle tag, etc). When the worst thing you could get from boys was cooties. When running away from home consisted of packing a bag of your favorite things and a plastic butter knife to fend off heffalumps with and going to the end off the driveway until dinner time. When everyone listened to the Spice Girls and *NSYNC on their Walkmans. Any argument could be settled with a game of tug-o-war. When Bow Wow was the sound a dog made. Mom was your hero and dad was the boy you were going to marry. Your worst enemies were your siblings. Crack was what Jimmy did to corn. Race issues were about who ran the fastest. You didn't know what political parties were-- but they sounded like fun! War was a card game. Bills were something ducks had. Ninja Turtles ruled the world. And your toys were alive... you just knew they were!

Life was simple and care free, but what I remember the most was just wanting to grow up...

Now I wish I could fly away to never never land with a boy dressed in green named Peter!

(Not for the same reason Michael Jackson does)

We always want what we can't have huh?!

BIGSTUF

I haven't posted in a while but I've been in Panama City at BigStuf for the past five days (BigStuf was a camp my youth group went to).

Ok well, the last five days have been simply amazing! There aren't words to describe how great it was! First off, the guy in charge of the whole thing, Lanny Donoho-- is brilliant! He was crazy, smart, funny, passionate, zany, and the list goes on... Then there were other amazing speakers-- Stuart Hall and Jeremy Herd. You could almost taste the passion for God in these great men!

The theme of the camp was "Wired." Like God wired us a certain way for things and if we do things the way He made us to do them we will get more out of them than we have ever imagined!

One thing that was talked about was that for us to live a life for Christ we must change our prospective. Now I figured that little fact out not too long ago and I really wish someone had told me that much sooner! I had really been struggling with living so that people could see Christ through me and living in a way that God could best use my life.

And it's not a checklist like those charts we had on the fridge when we were eight. You know what I'm talking about, that list of chores and other things your parents wanted you to do. Like clean your room, wash the dishes, feed the pets, brush your hair, etc. And every time you did them you got a little star sticker beside that activity. As fun and competitive that was when we were eight, our relationship with our heavenly father isn't meant to be like that. It's not supposed to be a check list of things like read my bible, have a 30 minute quiet time every morning, pray five times a day, go to church, and if you want to get really froggy-- talk to my friends about God.

No! You can't have a relationship like that! And so many times we leave camps like BigStuf saying to ourselves those very things! "When I get home I'm going to get closer to God! I'm going to pray more, have a 30-minute quiet time twice a day, tell my friends about Christ, and read the whole Bible in a year! Yea!" Not that those aren't good things to do but it’s a bad way to do them.

Our relationship with God should be a lifestyle, not a checklist. If we look at every decision we make as how it will effect God's plan, not ours. What we should do to best reflect God's glory back to Him not anything else. If we live our lives like that the checklist of things will get done but will be done because we want to-- because we long to! Because we are so in love with our Savior that we want to tell everyone about Him, that we want to read and learn about Him, and that we want to spend time and talk to Him! Isn't that so much better?! Since I started doing it that way I have gotten so much more out of my life and hopefully so has God.

-- 1 Corinthians 10:31 --

Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Can't sleep

Here lately I haven't been able to fall asleep for anything! It is terrable because I like to be active during the day but by lunch I'm drained.

What keeps me awake is my restless mind trying to figure stuff out like what I'm here for and what I'm supposed to be doing.

Or it’s finding ways to explain the unexplainable-- like eternity, the trinity, the end of the universe (which cannot possibly exist and if it doesn't then how does it not run out of room?--kind of hard to express what I'm thinking...sorry), or why Donald Trump doesn't get hair implants or a good toupee!

Then sometimes it’s creating scenarios in which I'm where I'm supposed to be and my life has found its purpose. Or where I save someone's life or I show someone Jesus' love! You know cool stuff like that!

And the worst of all is when it’s reliving mistakes of my past. I have done so many stupid things in my life and I just wonder what the heck I was thinking!! Gah I hate it when I start thinking about regrets. I just can't ever let my mistakes go and I beat myself up over them all of the time.

Anyway, I don't get that much sleep and that's why I'm posting this blog at 1 in the morning!

...Good Night...

God Bless America

The 4th of July-- Independence Day. Most Americans celebrate this day with their friends and family by eating enough hot dogs to feed a small country, shooting fireworks, and reflecting on our great nation's history. The whole concept of early America is unbelievably inspiring! It was founded by people who wanted freedom more than anything. They risked everything by standing up for a country where they could worship the way they wanted. A place where their opinions actually counted. America's story is one of hope and determination that can not be compared to anything else on Earth.

I truly believe that America wouldn't have happened, much less be the prospering country it is today, without the faith of our founding fathers. It is very apparent that there has been an ever-present hand from Heaven protecting and guiding her.

Here is a story that is evidence of that protective hand of God.

July 9, 1755 --
The American Indian Chief looked scornfully at the soldiers on the field before him. How foolish it was to fight as they did, forming their perfect battle lines out in the open, standing shoulder to shoulder in their bright red uniforms. The British soldiers-- trained for European warfare-- did not break rank, even when the braves fired at them from under safe cover of the forest. The slaughter at the Monongahela River continued for two hours. By then 1000 for the 1459 British soldiers were killed or wounded, while only 30 of the French and Indian warriors firing at them were injured.

Not only were the soldiers foolish, but their officers were just as bad. Riding on horseback, fully exposed above the men on the ground, they made perfect targets. One by one, the chief's marksmen shot the mounted British officers until only one remained.

"Quick, let your aim be certain and he dies," the chief commanded. The warriors-a mix of Ottawa, Huron, and Chippewa tribesmen-leveled their rifles at the last officer on horseback. Round after round was aimed at this one man. Twice the officer's horse was shot out from under him. Twice he grabbed a horse left idle when a fellow officer had been shot down. Ten, twelve, thirteen rounds were fired by the sharpshooters. Still, the officer remained unhurt.

The native warriors stared at him in disbelief. Their rifles seldom missed their mark. The chief suddenly realized that a mighty power must be shielding this man. "Stop firing!" he commanded. "This one is under the special protection of the Great Spirit." A brave standing nearby added, "I had seventeen clear shots at him ... and after all could not bring him to the ground. This man was not born to be killed by a bullet."

As the firing slowed, the lieutenant colonel gathered the remaining troops and led the retreat to safety. That evening, as the last of the wounded were being cared for, the officer noticed an odd tear in his coat. It was a bullet hole! He rolled up his sleeve and looked at his arm directly under the hole. There was no mark on his skin. Amazed, he took off his coat and found three more holes where bullets had passed through his coat but stopped before they reached his body.

Nine days after the battle, having heard a rumor of his own death, the young lieutenant colonel wrote his brother to confirm that he was still very much alive.

As I have heard since my arrival at this place, a circumstantial account of my death and dying speech, I take this early opportunity of contradicting the first and of assuring you that I have not as yet composed the latter. But by the all-powerful dispensations of Providence I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me!

The battle on the Monongahela, part of the French and Indian War, was fought on July 9, 1755, near Fort Duquesne, now the city of Pittsburgh. The twenty-three-year-old officer went on to become the commander in chief of the Continental Army and the first president of the United States. In all the years that followed in his long career, this man, George Washington, was never once wounded in battle.

Fifteen years later, in 1770, George Washington returned to the same Pennsylvania woods. A respected Indian chief, having heard that Washington was in the area, traveled a long way to meet with him.

He sat down with Washington, and face-to-face over a council fire, the chief told Washington the following:

I am a chief and ruler over my tribes. My influence extends to the waters of the great lakes and to the far blue mountains. I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle. It was on the day when the white man's blood mixed with the streams of our forests that I first beheld this chief [Washington].

I called to my young men and said, "Mark yon tall and daring warrior? He is not of the red-coat tribe-he hath an Indian's wisdom and his warriors fight as we do-himself alone exposed. Quick, let your aim be certain, and he dies."

Our rifles were leveled, rifles which, but for you, knew not how to miss-'twas all in vain, a power mightier far than we shielded you.

Seeing you were under the special guardianship of the Great Spirit, we immediately ceased to fire at you. I am old and shall soon be gathered to the great council fire of my fathers in the land of the shades, but ere I go, there is something bids me speak in the voice of prophecy:

Listen! The Great Spirit protects that man [pointing at Washington], and guides his destinies-he will become the chief of nations, and a people yet unborn will hail him as the founder of a mighty empire. I am come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle.

___
* * *

This story of God's divine protection and of Washington's open gratitude could be found in many school textbooks until the 1930s. Now few Americans have read it. Washington often recalled this dramatic event that helped shape his character and confirm God's call on his life.

Story- Under God by: Toby Mac & Michael Tait

Though a thousand fall at your side,

though ten thousand are dying around you,

these evils will not touch you.

Psalm 91:7 NLT

Love thy Neighbor

I know you have heard the phrase "love your neighbor as yourself" whether you are a religious person or not. It is a very popular saying that most people take lightly. I too took this commandment as a good idea but irrelevant in our fast pace society. I mean who has time for neighbors anyway? I don't believe that most people can honestly say they even know the people who live next door to them. Sad I know. Toto, I don't think we're in Mayberry any more.

I know, I know, this doesn't make much sense but I'm getting there just hold on! Ok here we go-- I go to Fellowship Bible Church and there is a Mosque being built right next to us. When I first found out about our soon to be Muslim neighbors I was a little unsure about the whole thing. But our church has been really positive about it! Our pastor talked about it yesterday at church. He really brought to life that seemingly irrelevant commandment that I mentioned earlier. They are now our neighbors and we are to love them and be kind to them just like we would be to anyone else. So we invited them to an ice cream social we had at our church last night. It was amazing! They are some of the coolest people you will ever meet.

It was great to hear them say how much our kindness and hospitality meant to them. I think that is what Jesus had in mind. He just wants us to be nice to people no matter what social separation might be in place. It is through living Jesus in our lives that we will get people's attention and show them what His love looks like.

I know what you're thinking, big deal you invited some Muslims to an ice cream party-- whoop de do! I know it sounds simple but sadly it is exceptionally rare. This just doesn't happen everywhere. Our pastor did some research and found some churches in various places in the country that are located close to mosques. He wanted to ask them how they handled the situation and told them about us having our new neighbors over for ice cream. He said there was always a short pause over the phone followed by a "you did what?" So like I said, this kind of stuff just doesn't happen-- though it should.

Anyway, I have a feeling this will be an awesome learning experience for me!

Here is the passage in the Bible that talks about this...

Matthew 22:

35 One of them (one of the Pharisees), a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him,

36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"

37 And He said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'

38 "This is the great and foremost commandment.

39 "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'