Ministering reconciliation...

So I have been reading and preaching out of the book of Jonah for like 3 weeks now. One of the things God has been showing me is about reconciliation. The word "reconcile" is an interesting one. It is defined as "restoring harmony or balance." That makes me wonder. 2 Corinthians 5:15-20 talks about us being ministers of reconciliation, but I wonder if we really are doing that? Sure we can forgive people, no matter how much they hurt us, we can and should forgive. But how do we restore harmony or balance with that person? Jesus answer was simple. Not only did he forgive us, but he died to give us the ability to reconcile ourselves to God. What does that mean? Repentance is good, but that is not forgiveness... Wait, what? You heard me, repenting is good, but forgiveness comes through a combination of repentance AND reconciliation. So not only do we have to forgive people, but we have to do our best to restore that relationship into harmony and balance. That means t...

In this world where so many are fatherless, many are frustrated and angry at their fathers, I want to take a few moments to talk about my dad. My dad was a fighter! When I say fighter I don't mean that he fought for money, or was in the Army. What I mean is that my dad fought many problems. He fought long days to provide for our family, he fought the attitudes my siblings and myself had towards him. He fought rejection, he fought loss, he fought being without a job, he fought the end of our church, he fought so much. It would be easy to look back at one of those areas and say, "Dad you didn't do enough!" It would be easy to look back at the long days he spent trying to provide for us away from us; a task that I cannot fathom at the present. Why do I bring this up? Why did I talk about him? The biggest reason is that today he embarks on perhaps the biggest journey of his life. He leaves for a 6 month job. A job that will take him THOUSANDS of miles away from his wife,...

I cannot really take credit for this thought. But I can flesh it out a bit more. As a pastor, I have struggled with the idea that I am not successful because I don't see the numbers, I don't see the connection, I don't see a lot of things that the world measures as successful. While listening to Pastor Aaron Stern @theMill, God reminded me that his standards are different. Isaiah 55:8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. God doesn't measure success based on  the American dream. He measures it by how willing you are to follow him. “Walking with Jesus isn't about your success; it's about God's Glory. and often times, God's glory, God's holiness, God's work, God's redemptive picture in us; he will do at the expense of our happiness, our comfort an...

Restore unto me the joy of your salvation. Restore unto me the joy of your salvation... This phrase somehow echoed a thousand times last night as feelings of betrayal, frustration, discontent swept over me. Somehow, these feelings have made their home in me the last few months. Without my knowledge, without my permission, just coming in making my stomach churn and my head reel. They began to leach away from me all the joy, all the hope, and all the positive pieces that were so evident. As I began to think more and more, I realized two things... 1. Christ felt this way....Why should I expect not to? 2. My life was slowly being taken away from me by these thoughts and emotions that were there. Last night, on the way home from disappointment, from feeling maligned, my wife reminded me of some things. "You don't need approval from anyone but God, work for him alone." I told her that I wanted to, but somehow, that didn't help me cope with the emotions. As I did what I ...

Last night, my beautiful wife Amber and I went to look at an apartment. We have this conundrum. The decision to move from our place or stay is what we are wrestling with. We looked at one floor plan which, despite adding nearly 100 sq. ft, seemed smaller than our current one bedroom. With the thoughts of, "Will this work if we have a child in the next year?" or, "What will guests think?" We complain about how small a place we are living in and want to move because the neighbors are too loud. We go and look for a different place and complain more about the price change. Of these questions, something came to my head as it relates to Christianity. We, as Christians, go to church with the idea that we live in a one bedroom. We complain about the size of the church; too many people, too few not enough stuff. Or, worse yet, we look to move out because the worship is too loud, or God is asking us to make too many changes that COST us what we feel is too much. In John 15,...