Being Sick Stinks

I’m sitting here,sick, on a chilly rainy day in Atlanta. It’s certainly not fun. It’s really weird though. I ALWAYS get sick when the seasons change from hot to cold or cold to hot. NO JOKE! My wife, when we were dating, never used to believe me. She thought I was just saying that until she saw that I always got sick at the change of seasons.

There is certainly hope though for those in Christ Jesus. God has prepared a place for us with no sickness, no death, no suffering, no hunger and no evil! The more amazing thing about that is we deserve hell. Because of sin, we deserve sickness, death, suffering and our hearts are inherently evil. God, in his marvelous love, chose to gave us grace though. What an amazing God we worship!

Creation

I’m shocked at the number of “educated” people who believe in evolution. I remember sitting in my science classes in college with all of my professors who had their PhD in their respective fields of study. These men were brilliant and could tell you anything about their subject…until it came to the orgin of the universe.

Nevermind the fact that evolution contradicted every scientific law that they chose to teach or that they clearly couldn’t possibly explain how the original matter evolved since matter cannot be created or destroyed. It just doesn’t make since.

I look at this world and it’s beauty. I see the complexity of the human body. I’ve witnessed the birth of my baby girl. I’ve seen sunrises while riding in airplanes and sunsets while sitting by the beach. You can’t possibly look at this world and say that it is here for no reason.

I believe what the Bible says, that God created the universe in 7 days.

I believe that God receives all glory for all that I see in this world.

We worship a wonderful, beautiful and marvelous God.

Open Minded & Tolerance

I love the myth running around out there that Christians should be open minded and tolerant of everything in the world. Let’s look at the life of Jesus. I don’t know about you, but I see a man who was extremely close-minded and intolerant of the world around Him. He was constantly making people angry and offending them with His radical beliefs. Sure, He loved people. He forgave people. Look at every encounter with Christ in the NT though. In EVERY encounter, He required change in peoples lives. He loved them without them changing their lives, but to be a true follower of Christ it requires change. Change of the heart. Change of the mind. Change in actions.

I’m also digging the “We’re supposed to be in the world but not of it” card. Talk about a verse that is stretched by lazy, not theologically sound “believers” who use that as an excuse to go places and do things that are obviously against what the Bible says. Those are the same people who call others legalistic and judgmental for identifying sin. The verse simply means we are to live in this world at peace with unbelievers. We are not supposed to believe the same things they do. We are not supposed to do the same things that they do. We are not supposed to raise our children the same way they do. We are called to be different as a result of our new birth. (For that idiot who is going to say, “so you’re saying that we aren’t supposed to eat at the same restaurants as unbelievers or do our taxes like unbelievers or where jeans like unbelievers…” Obviously, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying our lives have a new purpose as a result of our relationship with Christ. Our new and ONLY purpose on earth is to glorify God in everything we do as where an unbelievers purpose is not.)

So for those believers who believe that we should be open-minded and tolerant of this world, I’ve got a couple of words for yah: READ YOUR BIBLE!!! Yes, we should love non-believers. We should never get to the point where we hate gays or yell at the teenage girl who is pregnant. We should show them love and compassion. However, we should know in our hearts that based on what the Bible says, we disagree with sin and we are not open or tolerant to it.

What do you mean you’re going to homeschool your children?

Before we were married, my wife and I made the commitment to homeschool our children. Even though we came from completely different backgrounds, we both came to this decision pretty easily. My wife came from a homeschooling background. When she got to high school, she transfered to a Christian school and attended a Christian college (only to transfer back to a local university because she realized that there really wasn’t any difference in their teaching/beliefs). I, on the other hand, went to public school K-12 and graduated from a liberal, university here in GA. Based on our experiences, we concluded that homeschooling would be the BEST (not the only) way to help teach and train our children to love God and make Him the center of their lives.

The things that they are teaching children in public schools these days are just horrible. Homosexuality, relativism, evolution, polytheism, atheism, sex, disrespect for authority and much more can be found in classrooms with children as young as 5! I don’t have a problem with my children learning about these things. I have a problem with what the government is teaching our kids ABOUT these things. I see it as my job, as a father, to teach my children and lead them in a way that brings them closer to God, instead of repels them from Him. I believe that it is my responsibility to filter what my child hears and lead them to wisdom instead of foolishness. I believe that homeschooling is the best and easiest way to accomplish these things. I don’t want to spend the precious hours that the children get when they come home undoing what they’ve been taught all day. Instead, I would love to take on the challenge and responsibility of teaching my kids about God’s wonderful creation in a way that gives Him all the glory.

Many people ask, “What about your kids’ social lives? Aren’t you worried that they will be social misfits?” I would ask them to walk up and down the halls of their local elementary, middle or high school and look at the kids. Half of them are social misfits. Many are addicted to drugs. Most of them are disrespectful of authority. The majority of them cannot hold a simple adult conversation. These things are just the beginning of it. Whoever spends the most time with your children are the ones who will socialize them. I don’t want disrespectful, naughty children being my child’s main source of socializing. I would rather be my child’s main source of socializing and teach my kid how to act, which includes teaching them to be friendly and to respect adults. They will get plenty of time to hang with other children at church and their extra-curricular activities.

Many people also say, “God bless You, because I could NEVER do that.” I certainly am not saying that it is wrong to not homeschool or it is a sin to not homeschool, but most every parent is capable of homeschooling. Most of the time it comes down to the fact though that they are too selfish to make the sacrifice. That sounds harsh, but really look at it. Many parents say, I NEED THAT TIME AWAY FROM MY KIDS EACH DAY. They say, I can’t make my kid behave or listen to me now, how can I expect them to learn from me? These types of scenarios just show the selfishness that many parents show. Is having kids a sacrifice? YES. Is raising kids a sacrifice? YES YES YES! If you aren’t willing to sacrifice, then don’t have kids! I have the upmost respect for many parents who put their children in public schools for a variety of different reasons. I do not respect the perfectly capable parent who tells me that they are unable homeschool for a variety of lame reasons if they have the opportunity to do so.

Is the purpose of this blog to persuade you to homeschool your children? No. I simply felt lead to share with you why my wife and I are choosing to homeschool. I hope that this can be an encouragement to you if you are considering your child’s educational future or if you are simply seeking the way you desire to raise a family some day.

FlashForward

So, there’s this new show on ABC called FlashForward. I am hooked on this show. It’s one of those shows that makes you think. For those of you who don’t watch the show, here’s the storyline: One day, everyone on Earth blacks out for two minutes. During the blackout, every person is revealed their future on a specific day and time. Some people love their future. Some people hate their future. Some people weren’t even revealed a specific vision, which means they will be dead.

I know that I can’t do the show justice with my weak writing abilities, but watching the show has really got me thinking. As I mentioned, some people loved what they saw in their vision of their future, so they are doing everything that they can to make sure that it happens the way it should. Other people hated what they saw and are skeptical about they whole thing and are doing everything they can to make sure that the vision they saw doesn’t happen.

Would our lives drastically change if we had a glimpse of the future? Would the choices we make and the lens in which we view our lives change? Would our lives be consumed by our future if we knew it?

You see, God has revealed his future and plan for mankind in His Word. While He has not given us every detail, we do know that Jesus is returning for His bride. He will come in glory to reestablish His kingdom on Earth. We know that if we have a relationship with Jesus Christ, we will spend eternity in paradise with Him, worshiping the king of glory forever. We know that if we don’t have a relationship with Him, then we will spend eternity away from Him in hell. We know that if we are believers and living a life that glorifies our God, we will face persecution and trials.

There is so much that God reveals about our future in His Word. Since the God of all creation has revealed these truths to us, shouldn’t it drastically change the way that we live? Shouldn’t we strive to see God’s will be done here on Earth!? Shouldn’t we live a life that is dedicated to the one who is truly worthy of glory? Shouldn’t we trust God when trials come our way? Shouldn’t we worship with all we are the God who gave us grace when all we deserved was hell?

Spend some time focusing on the things that God has revealed to you in His Word and pray that each and everything that He has shown You will transform your heart, soul and mind.

Bryan

Writing Music

I had the opportunity to attend a Christian concert the other night. They are probably the biggest Christian band of all time as far as album sales go, but I will refrain from mentioning their name because I don’t want to give them a bad rap. I have met these guys and they are truly humble and I have a lot of respect for the band. I couldn’t help but notice though a comment that was made at the concert.

They recently released a collaboration album with a bunch of other artists in which they took straight scripture and wrote songs around it. They talked about how great it was “to get into God’s Word and write music influenced by scripture”.

I agree it is great to get into scripture and write worship songs. I wonder though, why they don’t always get into scripture to write their worship music. God has provided the most intimate way to know Him by reading His Word. It reveals so much about our wonderful God and has endless inspiration in the words. I am not trying to be legalistic about this, however I think that scripture is vital when writing. You do not need to get in there and necessarily copy scripture word-for-word. I do believe though that you should check your songs against scripture to make sure that what you are writing is Biblical. I have heard many worship songs that are completely unbiblical, which essentially means that they are speaking lies about God. I also believe that your songs should be inspired by scripture. God tells us to worship both in spirit and in truth. That means that when we are writing a song it should be inspired by truth (God’s Word).

For all of you song writers out there: I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Bryan

Love Jesus=Love Others

I’ll make this a simple post.

God loves people.

He died for those people that He loves.

If we love God, we should love the things that He loves.

God loves people.

If we love God, we should love people.

His commandments are clear that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. Is there anyone in your life right now that you have not shown love to? I’m not asking if you have been mean to them or shown hatred to them. I’m asking if you have gone out of your way to show them love?

Loving Jesus=Loving People

Obama “Peace” Prize

This is better than the other one!

Steve Fee Concert

Had the opportunity to go to the Steve Fee album release concert on Sunday. Great concert! Amazing production quality. I was highly impressed with the lighting. The new album comes out today! If you haven’t bought it yet, GET OUT AND BUY IT!

Bryan

Challenge and growth, not comfortable and complacent

I’ve noticed a growing trend among churches in planning their worship services. It appears that more and more churches are striving to make its congregation feel more “comfortable” in church. At first thought, it sounds very nice and a good goal. However, when I go into deeper thought on the subject, I can’t help but question why we are striving to make our congregations so comfortable.

Let me first clarify what I’m NOT saying. I’m not bashing a church that encourages its congregation to be comfortable to worship freely or in a way that you feel lead (clapping, dancing, screaming, silence, etc…). I’m also not bashing a church that makes people who typically don’t come to church feel comfortable to attend their church (by welcoming them, sitting with them, inviting them to lunch, etc…) I believe that those are very biblical goals and should be encouraged in every church.

The “comfortable” that I am referring to is the trend of the leadership in current churches and their lack of desire to challenge their congregation. Most churches now desire to make its congregation comfortable in all areas whether it is in truth, life application, worship or in other areas. They flee from critical areas of theology for a fear of offending others. They fear challenging their congregation to shout, dance or lift their hands because it might make some uncomfortable, even though the psalms clearly encourage shouting, dancing and the lifting of hands. They resist focusing on sin in its congregations life, not because they don’t want to be judgmental (the almighty, number one offense of a Christian), but because they are scared of offending others.

When we see Jesus encounter anyone in the New Testament, he challenges them. There is never this moment of complacency with Jesus, ever. He is always challenging others to love Him more, give up more and to abandon their current state. I believe that church should be a place that challenges us. As a church family, we should strive to grow deeper in our relationship with Christ and challenge our brothers and sisters in Christ to grow deeper also. This comes, not as a result of being comfortable, but being challenged. As church leaders, we should seek to challenge our congregation to respond to the Holy Spirit’s work in their lives. We should challenge them with theology and not spend every Sunday and Wednesday in “kiddy pool” theology. We should seek and model (as long as it is sincere) extravagant, heart-felt worship out of our congregation as a response to what God is doing in their lives. We should emphasize Christ’s purpose for our life, which means giving up everything and conforming our will to His, to bring glory to His name.

There are so many ways that we can challenge our congregations. I believe, that by studying the life of Jesus Christ in the NT, we can see that growth is a result of challenge. Let’s seek challenge and growth, not comfortable and complacent.

Bryan