I am starting a new business and my brochure is linked below. If your car needs some love give us a call 954.804.3916 or email EyeCandyDetail@gmail.com.
I know I started this blog series before Christmas so take a second and re-read our passage:
II Corinthians 4:7-18 (The Message)
7-12If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at.
We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!
13-15We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God’s glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise!
16-18So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.
Today I want to talk about verses 13 -15 today and maybe put together a big finally blog next week. I am going to start with a question which may not be the best literary approach but… “Aren’t we?” “Aren’t we keeping it quiet?” Paul says here that “We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life.” I am glad today that my life isn’t weighing in the balance of people sharing their faith. If you are convicted, good, me too. If you are not you are either doing a good job or just forgot how good the news is.
I wonder how much more motivated we would be if our lives do depend on it? Our lives do depend on sharing the news because had no one ever shared it with us our eternal life would have a much different outlook. For me it was my parents who shared their beliefs. And my dad has told me that story of the lady who shared her faith with him. Given the opportunity to speak with her there was someone who shared with her. I share my faith with my son and with others so you can see how sharing can ignite a significant chain of events.
I was listening to a song the other day (Lacrae – Rebel) that had a Mark Driscoll sermon excerpt in the middle. He was talking about being a rebel from his Rebel’s Guide to Joy out of Philippians. He said that if you want to be a rebel try reading your Bible because nobody is doing that anymore. He says that all other rebellious actions are tired. I am currently listening to the entire series which is pretty good, you should check it out.
I think that another rebel move is to share your faith. In the politically correct society that we live in we find it uncomfortable to speak about what we believe. More times than not people have said that they respect me for my willingness to talk about what I believe. There is no guarantee that it will make any difference in their lives but not sharing does guarantee that it won’t.
I want to close with an excerpt from Matthew Henry’s Commentary related to these verses. “…There are unseen things, as well as things that are seen. And there is this vast difference between them; unseen things are eternal, seen things but temporal, or temporary only. Let us then look off from the things which are seen; let us cease to seek for worldly advantages, or to fear present distresses. Let us give diligence to make our future happiness sure.”
To recap… Wednesday we talked about jars of clay which was good imagery but really there is so much more to this passage that I am excited to get in to. So take a second and re-read our passage:
II Corinthians 4:7-18 (The Message)
7-12If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at.
We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!
13-15We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God’s glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise!
16-18So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.
Verse 8-9 in the NIV reads: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” I want to pick-up there and may get through verse 12 today… it just depends on how fast I can get my “bird” fingers to peck the keys. (Wow that was a lame start… I apologize)
The crazy thing about being pressed is that you never know just how much you can take before you are crushed, or how far can you be thrown down without breaking. I know that when testing the strength of concrete they find the amount of pressure it takes to break it and the only way to do it is to actually break it. Continue reading ‘More Than Meets the Eye (Episode 2)’
The last couple of mornings I have been caught up on a passage of scripture and have found myself re-reading it over and over. This morning I took a look at it in a few different translations and I chose to share this one (for the Transformers reference… so theological deep). This is a pretty common passage of scripture but there were a few key pieces that grabbed my heart and I wanted to write them down because I know that I will need them again in the future. I will probably have to do continuations of this post because I am not going to write it all today (I would wear out my two typing fingers and you wouldn’t read it).
II Corinthians 4:7-18 (The Message)
7-12If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at.
We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!
13-15We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God’s glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise!
16-18So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.
In verse 7 in the NIV it says that we carry the message in “jars of clay”. This was the first piece of this passage that grabbed. Maybe in part because it is the name of one of the first “Christian” groups that I actually owned a CD of because at that time there weren’t very many good ones. But the imagery here is pretty incredible. As a single guy this probably would have not triggered any thoughts but through my married years I have purchased my share of clay pots.
You know the plain orange pots that are the cheapest ones you can get at Home Depot. I have watched (and even assisted) as my wife has taken those plain clay pots and painted them, accessorized them, and turned them into some really nice patio and porch accents. Continue reading ‘More Than Meets the Eye’
Yesterday my son turned 6 years old and so I am going to populate cyberspace with some words to him. Some may think this is a waste of cyberspace and if that is you… stop reading. I know that he may not read this for many years (good thing considering some of what I wrote) but I want him to know how much he means to me.
Owen,
I was reading in I Corinthians 15:33 this morning with your mom and I came across this scripture which I had underlined at some point. “Bad company corrupts good character.” I want to go on the record and say that I am proud of the character you are developing. I am going to focus on that today but I want to also mention that this is only one of the many wonderful things that make me so proud to be your dad.
Many of those other things such as intelligence, resilience and creativity will get you far in life but character (who you are when nobody is looking) is what makes your heavenly and earthly father really proud and sets men and women apart from the crowd.
In the parenting department you are blessed with a phenomenal mom who spends a lot of time sowing into your life and working with you so that you will develop into an amazing man of God. In many ways when I compare myself to her I feel under qualified and am working hard to just not undo some of the stuff she has instilled in you. But we have corporately made some decisions about the influences in your life in hopes that we can protect your character as it develops.
You are already catching on in many areas because you are so smart. Like you are questioning the fact that many of the things you get from us where around when your mom and I were kids. For example, I am glad that Transformers are back but you are 6 and the 25 year old cartoons that we bought you for your birthday are better for you than the recent PG-13 movies. Yes the movie had some really cool robot battles but son the sexual references and images in this movie are not for you. (I saw the way that the Victoria Secret commercials grab your attention even at 5 so I know that your mind is already beginning to process some things.)
We realize that you will someday know that an ass is more than another name for a donkey and that the words that don’t make any sense in the radio edition of” Boom Boom Pow” really are just cuss words that the FCC won’t allow. At some point you will see that if Luke Skywalker had his hand cut off it would bleed like a stuffed pig (Unless the light saber cauterizes also?) but in 1980 that wasn’t a significant part of the plot.
Many parents (some reading this right now) will say that we are shielding you. My response to them is “yes we are”. As mentioned above I know that you will be exposed to this and so much more during life. I realize that at some point you are going to have to battle with raging hormones and strong negative influences but our prayer is that these battles will be easier because you were prepared a little longer with some positive character influences.
For example, before too long you and I are going to sit down for the first of many “talks”. Yes there won’t be just one but many conversations about sex and the feelings that you have. I can’t say that I am looking forward to those in many ways but I am looking forward to being the influence that you hear it from. Some might say that seeing Megan Fox mount somebody on screen is a great communication starter. Though this may be true I think that is a different conversation.
Son, your mom and I love you very much and are trying to be the best character influences we can be. We know that God has big plans for your life and that it is our job to assist in preparing you. This may lead to some confusion as to how Bumblebee went from a VW to a Camaro. This may even cost you a little bit of “coolness”. But son my goal as your dad is not to make you cool or even popular. Son my job is to help you become a man. A man who has enough character to stand up for what you believe in. A man that is strong enough to fight against the path of least resistance and be a leader.
Today you are a Padawan in your quest to be a Jedi (the certificate is in the scrapbook your mom made), though important I am focused more on your training to be warrior in God’s army.
We proceeded to pray this morning for the influences in your life and I started with me. I want to be your hero. I will share the roll today with Bibleman, Luke Skywalker and Optimus Prime but when you are a dad I want you to see me as a hero in your life. I want you to view me as someone who was willing to fight for you and our family at the cost of being over protective, conservative, old fashioned, and a little crazy.
These tactics and God’s hand on you have been doing wonders so far. You are a wonderful young man with so much potential. Many might even say you can be anything you want. I won’t say that because I don’t want you to be just anything… I want you to be exactly who God wants you to be. In that Owen you can and will find happiness.
I love you Owen. Happy 6th Birthday.
Dad
When I think about the Bible and the story of Jesus I immediately think about the magnetism of Jesus. I reflect on the stories of deliverance, healing, and salvation. I have often “lusted” after the manner in which he was able to attract people to the life change He modeled. I realize that some of the things that he did were pretty big attention getters like raising dead people, feeding multitudes, opening blinded eyes, etc. However, there were other times when Jesus would approach people in a one on one environment and “connect” to people in amazing ways.
Today I had a thought of how Jesus must have felt when he wasn’t successful in reaching them. I wonder if the prevailing emotion was pain, pity, anger, frustration or a mixture of all of them. As we witness to people and they reject Jesus it impacts us (or at least it should) but I didn’t leave heaven to die a cruel death for them. I can’t speak for anybody else today but “Jesus I am sorry for the times that I refused and rejected you. I am sorry for taking for granted what you did for me on Calvary. I am sorry that I have broken your heart more than once.”
John 3:18-21 (NIV)
18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
A little over a year ago I set out on what is probably the biggest spiritual journey that I have ever taken. I was reminded of it today as I “squeezed” into some pants and realized that I have put on 35 lbs since Christmas. I would like to give 5 of that back and am working toward that but this is not what I want to journal about today.
This past year has been probably one of the most challenging of my life. Looking back now I am reminded of how Satan tempted Jesus in the desert during His fast. At the time I had some thoughts of what that might look like and expected it to occur during or immediately following. Now I understand that would have been a mistake because in the natural a person would be weakest after an extended fast, but in the spiritual the opposite is true.
So today represents day 328 since I finished that fast and it is just now dawning on me that my fast may be the reason that I will survive the desert temptation. To be quite transparent the last 6 months have been filled with a lot of temptations. Not to leave my wife for somebody else or other obvious temptations. But those ones that make you want to quit, give up, walk away, stop fighting, stop pursuing, question, doubt, blow-up, get frustrated, be angry, become needy, self centered, lethargic, and just not care.
It has come from things such as the multitude of resumes that were not responded to, unreturned phone calls, the promised phone calls that never came, opportunities that were on the radar that apparently developed stealth technology, financial challenges of unemployment, the process of piecing life back together, the feelings of abandonment, etc.
Frankly it has made me mad at hell. No that isn’t a misprint. For the past few months I have been on an emotional roller coaster. The 4 people that read this blog know me fairly well and this is not normal for me. I confirmed this with my wife today because I didn’t want to misrepresent myself. She concurred (fun word to use) that I am pretty emotionally stable and that I do not normally get bent one way or the other.
I am glad that God brought back to my memory my fast and helped me to realize just what is going on with me. God also reminded me yesterday that unemployment is not part of my calling. (I have a secular job now, thank God, but I have been unemployed from ministry for 7 months) Even though I am trying to be found working and am having a lot of fun witnessing to coworkers and friends I miss the rush of being a “missionary”. I miss the pleasure of feeling like I am doing and being exactly what God created me to be.
God, I know You have plans for my family and I. I am trying to be patient while waiting for them (even though You know it is crazy hard for me). I want to thank You in advance for those plans and I also want to thank You for leading me in a season of preparation almost a year ago to help through my desert experience. I pray that You will continue to remind me of who You are and what You have already enabled me to overcome. I pray that You will continue to remind of specifics in Your Word that I can use as my sword in this battle. I pray for Your favor, Your direction, and Your will. Amen.
My wife was watching the “Bringing Up Boys” DVD series this last week trying to get some updated advice on how to discipline our soon to be 6 year old son. This book has brought us through the first five years pretty successfully but in recent months we have faced some new challenges.
I am sure some of it is linked to the life changes that we have underwent as a family and our son trying to express that but regardless we needed some fresh (and hopefully effective) ideas.
My son picks up the DVD case, reads it over and says, and I quote “Dr. Dobson, I hate that guy! He’s the one who told you to spank me.” Around our house we have taught that hate is a very strong word and we are not supposed to hate other people. It is ok to be angry with someone but we are not to hate…
In this case my wife was too busy laughing to turn this into a teachable moment and I had a hard time not backing him up on his thought process. It might upset me a little if I believed one person was responsible for every spanking I received. LOL
So we have read “The Strong Willed Child” and “Bringing Up Boys” but we could use another book reference on how to deal with “The Strong Willed Boy Who is Too Smart, Sarcastic (Like His Mother), Knows How to Work the System, Cute and Funny (Like His Dad) so He is Tough to Discipline.” Thanks.
This week I got “the question”. This question is one that I get asked frequently and every time I wish I had a one size fits all answer… preferably a good one. But every time the circumstances surrounding “the question” are dramatically different. Combining that with varying levels of emotional ties, maturity levels, faith levels, etc. makes “the question” a challenge every time.
So maybe you have a go to response but for me I have to work through my response on a case by case basis. So this blog entry is going to be nothing more than me responding to “the question”: How can God allow (insert bad thing here)? Or another variation: How can there be a God if (insert bad thing here) is happening? Continue reading ‘The Question’
My blogging revival continues. I am trying to stay sharp and writing a blog isn’t quite the same as writing a sermon it is a way of processing thoughts and putting them into communicable vehicles. (I have no idea if that made grammatical sense or not but “communicable” popped into my head and spell check said it was ok)
I am reading a book (because we don’t have cable LOL) entitled The Church of Facebook - How the Hyperconnected Are Redefining Community by Jesse Rice. Now I am only two chapters in so I am not ready to put my name on a recommendation. (Not that it would mean a whole lot to him.) Anyways… so far the author has written a lot so far about the importance of community and the studies that show the negative impact in not participating in community. I am assuming there will be future discussion on the fact that Facebook doesn’t reflect true relationship. Or it might talk about the value of community in the church. I am not real sure where the book is going yet but maybe I’ll write a continuation blog in a few more chapters.
My question is this: If being in community is so critical and happiness can be found there, why does nobody seem to want to do it? Why is it so hard for all of us to interact with each other? Why is it that people could seemingly care less about those around them? How as a culture did we get to be so self centered that nobody has time for anybody else?
I am not saying that I am not convicted by these questions but is anybody tired of trying to create community when it is unwanted, unappreciated, and a ludicrous thought altogether? Well if you are STOP IT! It is time that we “Christ Followers” look rejection in the face and smack it around. The world needs to be reminded how the world can be transformed by a community of believers.
The size of your community is irrelevant. You could be in a bible study of 10 or a church of 10,000. At the end of the day it is about making up your mind and impacting your “community” with the love of Christ. Since leaving the mssion field of our church plant in South Florida I have had to evaluate what the Great Commission looks like for me. What was the City of Weston,FL 6 months ago is now the office of Cuhaci & Peterson Architects.
You may say that I have lowered my expectations. No, I just improved my odds. Let’s face it winning an entire city is highly unlikely but 86 employees? Ok so all of them is unlikely also but I have to start somewhere and considering I have 8+ hours a day 5 days a week to walk out my faith out in front of them… I have an opportunity to interact in their day to day lives and be an influence. My prayer is that this influence would be a good one and reflect my God.
So here is the challenge: Live what you know. (I stole that from a sermon series title) We all know what Christ called us to do and showed us the impact it can have. So let’s do it!
Recent Comments