Lunch For Three: Awakening - Day 1

Awakening - Day 1
Last week at my Bible study I was talking with my guys about how I have a yearning to see the awesome power of God in my life. I have heard all of these great stories of people being healed, raising from the dead, or experiencing demonic deliverance, but have not been able to personally experience these things. Fast forward to Sunday morning and Past Peter Haas was preaching at our church, Substance Church. They are starting this new series called "Awakening," in which we as Christians are called to awaken from the funk that we are living in and follow the path that the Lord has laid out for us. He then went on to talk about Fasting and what it is and what it means as a Christian. The act of abstaining from something can be an act of self-discipline and worship to the Lord.

At this point in my life I am not sure what my calling is. I enjoy my job but I know that this is not all that the Lord has for me. In an effort to better discern His will, I have decided to fast from food on Mondays and to fast from soda pop for the rest of the month. This is just the beginning of my exercise with fasting so I am starting with manageable and attainable goals to which I can achieve a closer relationship to my Lord and Savior. In his sermon from this last Sunday (available here), Peter states that "God gives revelation when we seek Him through these types of discipline." Throughout this act of discipline, I pray that the Lord will help me to discern His will on my life and open my eyes to where He is leading me in my marriage, my job, and my life as a believer. I do not necessarily have grand expectations for this but only hope to grow closer to my Lord and follow His footsteps.

It is 4:07pm on Day 1 and I am not yet hungry. Please pray for me as I go through this. Pray for my wisdom, my self-control and discipline, and for my faith, that it may be strengthened through this intimate experience with the Lord.

"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors. You have given me wisdom and power, you hvae made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream if the king." Daniel 2:20-23 (NIV)

Lunch For Three - Day 20

Nooma 020|Shells
"Do you often find yourself saying, "I'm so busy" or "I just have so much to do"? It's easy to get overwhelmed with appointments, gatherings, to-do lists. But what are we really doing with our time? Many of us are running from place to place and it seems like life is just passing us by. We're doing so many things, a little bit of everything, and yet it doesn't feel like much of a life. But most of us find it hard to say no. We feel obligated. There are so many good things to do. So many good causes to join. But while we're busy doing all these good things, are we missing out on something great? Maybe saying no would be easier if we knew what it meant to say yes." NOOMAtube

Life gets busy sometimes doesn't it. I commonly find myself stuck in a position where I have committed to help a friend move, catch a Twins game with my dad, and pick Abby up from somewhere, all of these things within the span of a few hours. Almost always I end up letting someone down when I realize that I can't do it all and need to cut one of these obligations out of my agenda. How do you think that God feels when his plans are the ones that we cut out of our agenda. It's been over a week now since my last post in this Lunch For Three series. Obviously with work getting busier, summer commitments coming into full affect and a monster birthday season in our family on my plate, I made the poor choice to cut blogging and more importantly cut my time with God and my devotional study out of my life. Coming back into the study with this video was a bit of a slap in the face.

Overcommitment is an epidemic in today's society. With the advancement of cars, cell phones, and computers we seem to think that we are able to do it all, and do it all at the same time. Does this sound familiar? Or maybe you're a people pleaser and you just can't say no when someone asks something of you. Either way, we all have an issue with spreading ourselves too thin. I've made a comment in one of my previous blogs about some advice that my dad gave me about being financially responsible. He has told me that it is important to stay out of debt and be financially comfortable not because you never know what opportunity may come your way or what tragedy may befall you, but because you never know what God might call you to do. And when God comes calling you want to be in a position where you will be able to fulfill His calling. This is the same sort of concept that Rob is talking about in this video. He gives an example of his son spotting a star fish floating in the water. In mid stride on his way to catch the starfish his son stops, and says I can't my hands are full with my shells. If God came calling to you today, to put down the video game, skip the shopping, get off the couch and go out and help those who are less fortunate, where would your priorities lie? Which of those actions would you cut out of your schedule?

"May you drop your shells in the pursuit of a simple, disciplined, focused life. I which you pursue the few things God has for you. And may you be like Jesus, able to say no because you've already said yes." Rob Bell

Please, if you are interested I encourage you to participate and share your thoughts. I would love to get some feedback and hear what each of you took from the day's topic. Just fill in the comment box at the end of each blog and let me know what you think! To read more posts and see my entire blog click the Touch 'Em All Productions header at the top of the page!

Lunch For Three - Day 19

Nooma 019|Open
"Many of us have experienced situations where we've prayed and it felt like God wasn't listening. And yet other times we've prayed or known someone that prayed and the situation changed. Does God answer prayer? Sometimes, but not all the time? Or does God always answer prayer and it's just that sometimes God says no? Some of us are angry with God for not answering the prayers we've prayed for years. Why did he answer their prayer but not ours? What if there's more to prayer than just God listening and answering? Maybe if we understood how Jesus prayed, our concepts and expectations of prayer would change." NOOMAtube

Have you ever wondered why some prayers get answered while others do not? Was this group praying harder or better than the other group? If God is all powerful and can basically do whatever he wants, why hasn't he healed them yet? Prayer is an incredible yet confusing thing. This lack of understanding is something that is not unique to the human race. When Jesus Christ came down to the earth and lived among us, he too was filled with this doubt. While on the cross Jesus prayed twice to God. The first time he was basically pleading to the Father, "if there is any other way." He was praying to be saved, praying to be healed. Yet Jesus realized that God had other plans and in his second prayer He closes by saying, "Not my will, but yours be done." It's tough to get a grasp on God's plan that he has for the world. Through creation, God has left the world unfinished and has invited us to take part in the creation. As all parents know, when you create something you are taking a risk that what you create will not turn out the way that you have planned. How many people do you know that grew up in a Christian home and have at one point in their life taken a turn for the worst? I know a few. This is why we pray.

Prayer is basically the action of being open to the God who is at work here and now. Being open to the plan that God has put in place, not the plan that we wish to see to fruition. Sometimes His plan does not line up with our plan and it is painful. If you have experienced death or sorrow, do not be afraid to lift up these feelings to the Lord. It is said that most of the Psalms are filled with laments towards God. People shaking their fists at God, yelling at God. He can handle it. Life up your emotions. Prayer is an incredibly powerful tool. There is an idea that prayer taps into the same energy that was used to create the universe. How cool is that idea? Open your eyes to the power of prayer. "May your whole life be a prayer and may you be honest with God as you become more and more open to your role in the ongoing creation of the world" (Rob Bell).

Lunch For Three - Day 18

Nooma 018|Name
"We all compare ourselves to others. We spend our lives wondering what others think and say about us. Some of us even wish we were someone else. We question why we are the way we are and not the way we wish we could be. Some of us have let the expectations of others dictate who we've become. We act a certain way to be accepted but know that we're being untrue. But why are we so concerned with what other people think, say, or look like? What does it say about us if we are unable to accept who we are? Maybe if we really knew our true selves, we wouldn't give so much attention to other peoples' lives and live more in tune with the life God wants for us." NOOMAtube

And Jacob said unto his father, 'I am Esau, your first born.' Genesis 27:19

Have you ever wanted something that somebody else had? Maybe it was a car, maybe it was a game, or maybe it was even a physical characteristic, their height or beauty. As for myself I just started my first real world job, and let's just say I am not breaking the bank! I roll into work and see people driving cars all the time that I would like. I wish that I could jump as high as Lebron James. If you ask anybody what they would change about themselves they would hesitate to respond. Not because they are having trouble thinking of things they don't like about themselves, but because they are trying to narrow down the list of things they have inside their heads. Jesus invites us to be our true selves. To embrace who we are, what we are, and where we are. Yet we get hung up on what we are not. We get caught up in petty jealousy and desire for what we do not have. We are so worried about other people and what they have that we don't have, that we forget to be thankful for the blessings in our own lives.

Proverbs 14 says, "A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones." How much of our life do we lose out on when we are endlessly comparing ourselves to others. In Genesis, Jacob was jealous of the inheritance that Esau was in line to get. He went to great lengths to doop his father into thinking that he was indeed Esau that he lost sight of the good things in his life. As we can read, Jacob was a very talented young man. He was wise beyond his years and was growing to be a leader in the community. But this was not good enough for him, he wanted to be the oldest and he wanted to be strong, he wanted to be Esau. Jacob was so blinded by his jealousy that he deceived his own father and stole from his brother.

Take a second and look at yourself in the figurative mirror. Do you see envy? Do you see jealousy? How can we love others and love the world when we can't come to grips with that fact that who we are is who we are. And who we are is who God created us to be. I pray that I can get to the point where I look into the mirror happy with what I see, proud of what I see, because what I see is created by God and what I see is good. "May you do the hard work of the soul to discover your true self. May you find your unique path the one God has for you. And in the process, may you find yourself comfortable in your own skin" Rob Bell.

Lunch For Three - Day 17

Nooma 017|Today
"How much time and energy do we spend wishing things were how they used to be? We often think about times in our past when things were different and want our lives to be like that again. Some of us have even come to believe that our best days may actually be behind us. But if we're in some way hung up on the past, what does that mean for our lives now? How are we and those around us affected if we're not fully present? If we're longing for the way things used to be, what does that really say about our understanding and appreciation of our lives today? Maybe we need to learn to embrace our past for what it is, in order to live our lives to the fullest, right here, right now." NOOMAtube

today (nooma)

There's a commercial on TV right now that sums up this idea that Rob is talking about pretty well. A father is sitting on the couch reading the paper and his 8 year daughter rolls down and asks if she can borrow the car to go to a movie. The dad finds out that there will be boys there and after bantering back and forth he caves and the shot cuts back to his daughter who is actually 17 or so. In his eyes she is still his baby. The end of the commercial is the best when an even younger looking daughter walks out the door and the dad asks here where she is going. Smugly she responds and says, "work." It's a great commercial that we can all relate to. Often I find myself clinging to memories of the past. We get together with college friends and reminisce about the crazy times we had living in the freshman dorms on Freshman Hill. We go on for hours just looking back at the good 'ol days. But we need to be able to let go of those memories.

None of us are the same person that we were back in '04/'05. We've all grown up and moved on in our lives. Some of us are married, some have jobs, and some are having kids. I love these times when we can look back at the way things were but we can't have "Uncle Rico syndrome." If you recall in Napolean Dynamite, Napolean's Uncle Rico was guilty of holding onto the past and wishing that he could go back and quarterback the team to a state championship. Uncle Rico was living his life wishing he could go back and alter the past knowing what he knows now. We know that this is not a possibility and if we continue to hold on to these things we are doing a disservice to our present and those that are presently in our life. Rob put it very well in the video when he said, "When we are still holding on to the way things were, our arms aren't free to embrace today." God has a plan for us that is taken place in the present and if we are stuck in the past we cannot fully devote ourselves to his plan.

Don't get me wrong, enjoy your past. Smile, laugh and cry when looking back on the past but realize that you have a role to play in the present. "May you accept the past for what it is. May you celebrate what needs to be celebrated and grieve what needs to be grieved, and then may you receive from God a new spirit, one from here, now, today." Rob Bell

Nooma 016|Store

Nooma 016|Store

"We all get angry about things from time to time -- some of us more often than others. For some of us, it feels like we're constantly on the brink of losing it, where it doesn't take much to get angry about anything. And this kind of anger can be seen everywhere we go -- at work, in traffic, at the store, at home. But what is really at its the root? Anger is often looked at as a bad thing, but are there things actually worth getting angry about? Maybe if we had a better understanding of our anger and where it comes from, we could learn how to channel it towards something constructive -- something that's bigger than ourselves." NOOMAtube

Wow, this one hit pretty close to home for me. I feel like sometimes the guy who gets upset in traffic or in the grocery store is me. I mean I have a little more self control over the actions that my fingers do, but that anger and that rage still boils up. Just this morning I was in the right lane getting ready to exit onto 394 from hwy 169 when a car that was coming onto 169 accelerated when I accelerated and decelerated when I decelerated, ultimately blocking me from exiting where I needed to exit. I knew that I could just get off on Cedar Lake Rd. (the next exit) and would have only lost about 30 seconds, but I still waved my arms and muttered under my breath. Why couldn't she have yielded to me? Why did she have to be so dumb? I like the way that Rob titled this type of anger as, "low grade boiling rage that people carry around with them everywhere they go." This situation did not necessarily warrant this level of anger, but I still flipped out. Over something stupid, over something that I cannot change no matter how much I yelled or how dirty of a look I gave her.

"Anger is simply an emotion. It's just your body's way of telling you that your will has been blocked. What you want to happen isn't happening. The problem isn't anger; the problem is what we do with it. It's where we take it. It's where we go with it. The question is, why am I angry? Because my anger is going to lead somewhere." A cool idea that Rob took from this anger was that we need to listen to our anger because God may be using it to get our attention. When we think about what God may or may not be calling us to do, all to often we make a list of things we love and go from there to follow our calling. But maybe we are looking at this on the opposite side of the spectrum. Maybe the things that anger us are the things that we are most passionate about, maybe this "low grade boiling rage" is God's way of directing us to what we are supposed to do to change the world. "Some people are always looking for a fight because they are not in one...We need to embrace the simple truth that we were made to give ourselves to a cause bigger than ourselves...a cause that increases the peace in the world...a cause, a purpose, a task that makes the world a better place."

Rob's final words will be a prayer that I pray for myself from this day forward..."May you become aware of your anger. May you learn to channel it, to focus it, direct it into something beautiful. And may it fuel sacred acts of healing and restoration."

Assess your anger, find the deeper meaning behind it.

Nooma 015 | You

Nooma 015|You
"Some of the central claims of the Christian faith are the source of many discussions and heated debates. But are we always debating the right things? Maybe some of our discussions would change significantly if we had more insight into the actual circumstances that surrounded the first people of the Christian movement -- if we had a better understanding of the things they did in the context of the world they lived in. Maybe some of the claims of the Christian faith that we typically perceive to be unique aren't really that special at all. And at the same time maybe we don't always put enough emphasis on the things that truly should matter in our lives." NOOMAtube

The early Christians almost had more of an uphill battle to face than we do today in spreading the gospel. Sure it's hard for us to fight mainstream society and the influence that the entertainment world has on lost souls, but at least we have an infrastructure to work from. Early Christians had nothing but faith to go off. They began the daunting task of building an infrastructure from scratch and used models of Roman rule to do so. At this time the developed world was ruled by Romans and Caesar was their leader. When the Romans would conquer a city they would force the inhabitants of the land to proclaim that "Caesar is lord." Once this was done the Romans would build a building that would become a worshipping center to Caesar. These structures were called "ekklesias," which in English is church. These first Christians took this term and used it to describe their gatherings, where they confessed that Jesus is Lord.

At these gatherings they preached the love and compassion of Christ. They preached the our world was fallen and in pieces. "These first Christians believed that Jesus' Resurrection had implication for the entire universe...They saw in Jesus' resurrection the beginning of this universe-wide movement to put it all back together" (Rob Bell). They opposed Caesar's tactics of using political and war power to force people to believe certain ideals. "For them, this gospel was about serving the world, especially those on the underside of the Empire. For them it was about serving, not ruling" (Rob Bell). These are the types of people that don't have to go about proclaiming and preaching the name of the Lord for they have that special "glow" about them that draws you to them. That "glow" is Jesus' love flowing out of them, and it's attractive to all. We want to be around these people because being around people like this gives us a glimpse as to what it would have been like to be around Jesus.

Easier said than done right? The truth is that "we all fall short and that's the beautiful part. Broken, flawed, vulnerable people like you and me, are invited to be the hands and feet of Jesus who loves us exactly as we are and yet, loves us way too much to let us stay that way" (Rob Bell). If people were to base their decision to believe off of you and the life that you live, what would they decide? Would your actions and your words give them the confidence to believe that Jesus has risen from the dead? "May you be a 'yes' to the questions, 'Has Jesus risen from the dead?' And may you come to see - may you understand that you are the good news. You are the gospel." Rob Bell

Lunch For Three - Day 13

Nooma 013|Rich
"There's a popular bumper sticker that reads "God Bless America," but hasn't America already been blessed? It's easy for us to fall into a mindset of viewing "our" world as "the" world, because it's all we generally see. We're constantly bombarded with images of the latest styles and models of everything, and it can easily leave us feeling like what we have isn't enough because we see people that have even more than us. But how does what we have compare to what most people in the world have? Maybe what we have is enough; maybe it's more than enough. Maybe God has blessed us with everything we have so we can bless and give to others."

Isn't it interesting how we view the world? We live in a country that is considered by most the center of the universe. And our lives represent this notion. Take a look at our maps of the world. The United States is always smack dab in the center of the map and on top of the world. Europe is off to our right side and Western Asia and Australia down to the left. In Australia they sell world maps that are very different. Their maps have Australia at the top and smack dab in the center of everything. Look at this map for a second. Can you even find the United States? It's all a matter of perspective. How we view the world is very different from how the rest of the world views the world. You may think that you are poor yet you live in a house and drive a car. Check out these statistics...

• The U.S. population accounts for about 6% of the world, yet we use 40% of the worlds resources.
  
• 92% of people in the world do not own a car. Between you and your family how many do you have?
• 1 billion people in the world do not have access to clean drinking water
• 800 million people, 300 million of them children, will not eat a meal today.
• 1 billion people in the world live on less than $1 a day
• To supply food and water to the entire world is would cost about $20 billion a year. This is less than we in the United States spend on ice cream in a year.

Some of those numbers are sickening. And we have the audacity to call ourselves poor or unfortunate. It's very dangerous when we start believing that our world is the world. It's not a bad thing that we enjoy what we have, but Christ has called us to do more than just enjoy our blessings. We were called to aid those who are in need. Whether it be food, water, money, or just time we should be selflessly giving what we have. Throughout my life my dad has taught me to be financially responsible. I always figured that these suggestions and lessons that he gave me were to assure my families financial stability for years to come, but that wasn't it at all. Recently we had a talk about finances and it came out that the real reason that he was teaching me to save and be responsible was because we never know what God is going to call us to do. If we ended up having a friend who was in need or being called into missions we would want to be financially stable enough to follow God's calling. We are called to be generous with all that we have.

"Let's be honest. It's easy to go to a church service, it's easy to read the Bible, it's easy to discuss who believes what and who's right and who's wrong. It's easy. But when Jesus talks about his followers, he talks about people who are generous, people who clothe the naked, take food to the hungry, take water to the thirsty, people who visit the prisoner, people who invite the stranger in, people who give their time, people who give their energy, people who give their money." Rob Bell. When face with a situation don't ask yourself, "what can I get?" Ask yourself "what can I give." For Jesus it's not about having everything, it's about being content. It's about taking hold of the life that is really life.

May you come to see that you're rich. And your possessions, they're luxuries that most people in the world don't have. And may you do what Jesus says, may you step into your divine responsibility to give, and when you do, may you take hold of the life that is truly life. - Rob Bell

Please, if you are interested I encourage you to participate and share your thoughts. I would love to get some feedback and hear what each of you took from the day's topic. Just click the comment button at the end of each blog and let me know what you think!

Family Life Conference

Family Life Conference 2009
My apologies for my absence over the weekend and yesterday. Yesterday was a little rough at work and I was super busy updating the websites, thus no lunch break. And as I mentioned on Friday, Abby and I spent the weekend downtown at the Family Life Conference. The weekend was great! The conference brings in pastors and relationship/family experts from around the country. Our speakers were Bobby Conway from North Carolina and Tim from Arizona. It was obvious that both men had been keynote speakers at these conferences before and they were wonderful.

The whole weekend took a look at different aspects of marriage. Why marriages fail, where they struggle, and how to avoid the way of the world. Most of the weekend we were together with each other, but on Sunday morning the crowd was split into men's and women's specific conversations about being a good husband being a good father. It was a busy a long weekend, but I am so glad that we were able to go! Special thanks the Randy and Lisa Roehl and "the LaLas" for sending us!

Even if you have a good marriage I encourage you to attend a Family Life conference sometime. Click here to visit the Family Life website!

Lunch For Three - Day 11

Lunch For Three Revisions
Lunch For Three will be taking on a little bit of a new look for the next three days. Abby (my wife) and I are heading to the Family Life Marriage conference downtown this week and I will be unable to view/analyze the usually NOOMA videos. In its stead I will post a summary of the conference each night when we arrive home. Thoughts, interesting topics, and useful exercises from the days activities. Stay tuned for more!