Hey Friends, just thought I'd give you a quick update. Sam, Christy and I got back late last night from Mexico. We were in San Carlos for the past nine days, with the main reason to celebrate the wedding of Christy's younger brother Kevin. However, it was an amazingly relaxing and fun time as we stayed at a condo for free and enjoyed the good food, warm water, uncrowded beaches, snorkeling, cliff jumping, and all that fun stuff. I'm back in Pasadena, packing everything I can into my car for a road trip to Spokane (via Seattle). I'll be up in Spokane from Monday June 2nd til June 10th, when I will drive over to Seattle and fly out for my missions trip to Greece for the summer. I will send out periodic updates via email/this blog throughout the adventure. As always, I'd appreciate any and every prayer you can muster about the missions trip, and I'm stoked to see what God does.
Peace,
Doug
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Unemployed
I am officially unemployed as of two days ago, Friday the 16th. Now it's off to Mexico to be a bonafide beach bum and take part in Kevin and Ashley's wedding. Rough life, I know.
I was reminded again of how Jesus came to completely reshape the way we view religion and rules and God. In Luke 6.6ff Jesus is teaching on the Sabbath and some of the Pharisees come up to him to see if he is going to heal a man on the Sabbath. They want to catch Jesus disobeying the law that they believed was all important. If Jesus healed the man, then they could accuse him of disobeying God's law and not being true to His commands. In their mind, religion was about obeying the letter of the law. However, just like Jesus does all throughout the sermon on the mount and throughout other Scripture, he completely changes the premise of the accusation and cuts to the heart of the issue. Jesus asks them: Is it better to do good and give life, or to destroy it? The Pharisees could not answer because they knew they had been trapped. You see, according to the strict Pharisaical interpretation of the law was that you couldn't do any kind of "work" on the Sabbath and therefore Jesus would be disobedient if he healed someone. But Jesus reframes the whole issue by getting to the heart: does God want us to do good and give life, or be apathetic and destroy life? Obeying Sabbath laws are not the end; loving God (and, consequently, loving others) is the end. Jesus doesn't want us to follow a bunch of rules. He set us free from them. He wants us to live in the incredible freedom of his forgiveness and be free to love God (and others) with all that we are. We are set free from legalistic living!
I was reminded again of how Jesus came to completely reshape the way we view religion and rules and God. In Luke 6.6ff Jesus is teaching on the Sabbath and some of the Pharisees come up to him to see if he is going to heal a man on the Sabbath. They want to catch Jesus disobeying the law that they believed was all important. If Jesus healed the man, then they could accuse him of disobeying God's law and not being true to His commands. In their mind, religion was about obeying the letter of the law. However, just like Jesus does all throughout the sermon on the mount and throughout other Scripture, he completely changes the premise of the accusation and cuts to the heart of the issue. Jesus asks them: Is it better to do good and give life, or to destroy it? The Pharisees could not answer because they knew they had been trapped. You see, according to the strict Pharisaical interpretation of the law was that you couldn't do any kind of "work" on the Sabbath and therefore Jesus would be disobedient if he healed someone. But Jesus reframes the whole issue by getting to the heart: does God want us to do good and give life, or be apathetic and destroy life? Obeying Sabbath laws are not the end; loving God (and, consequently, loving others) is the end. Jesus doesn't want us to follow a bunch of rules. He set us free from them. He wants us to live in the incredible freedom of his forgiveness and be free to love God (and others) with all that we are. We are set free from legalistic living!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Sweet Corridors Video
Check out this legit video of us at Corridors. Yeah us.
Also, we are featured on reelfm.tv with this vid if you want to see it bigger. Nice fun fact.
Also, we are featured on reelfm.tv with this vid if you want to see it bigger. Nice fun fact.
Moses
Last week I was lying in bed trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep. My mind was wandering everywhere, and at one point I began to ponder the next step for me in ministry. I thought some about leading worship, and I began to doubt again that I would actually be used to do that. As those doubts were creeping in my head, I saw in my head a clear image of a man who I knew to be Moses. I felt God telling me that, like Moses, God's work doesn't depend on His people's own abilities, but on being open to letting God use them. Moses was quite convinced that God had chosen the wrong person to be His mouthpiece. Moses thought himself to be a terrible speaker, too unqualified. God had other plans and used him in mighty ways. This has been a recurring theme recently for me. God is reminding me that it is not through my own strength or skills that He will be most glorified, but through me submitting those skills to Him and letting Him to with them what He pleases. I should not be audacious enough to think I can limit what God can do with what He's given me.
In 2 Tim Paul warns Timothy about godlessness in the last days before Christ comes back. One particular verse stuck out to me. He said that there will be people who are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. There is such a war that wages against my desire for immediate pleasure versus a desire to be obedient to God first and foremost. Don't get me wrong-I think that God is the author of all good things and there is no "more pleasureful" experience than really experiencing God. However, it is easy to just do what our flesh wants (usually what is easiest and most comfortable) instead of submit to God. That's why we're called to die daily and surrender. Quite the paradox. So when I would rather just watch another episode of LOST because that sounds more fun and entertaining, perhaps I should spend some time to read the Word and seek the Lord out. And true vibrant life is in the dying daily and loving God, not indulging daily and loving my own fleshly pleasure. Word.
In 2 Tim Paul warns Timothy about godlessness in the last days before Christ comes back. One particular verse stuck out to me. He said that there will be people who are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. There is such a war that wages against my desire for immediate pleasure versus a desire to be obedient to God first and foremost. Don't get me wrong-I think that God is the author of all good things and there is no "more pleasureful" experience than really experiencing God. However, it is easy to just do what our flesh wants (usually what is easiest and most comfortable) instead of submit to God. That's why we're called to die daily and surrender. Quite the paradox. So when I would rather just watch another episode of LOST because that sounds more fun and entertaining, perhaps I should spend some time to read the Word and seek the Lord out. And true vibrant life is in the dying daily and loving God, not indulging daily and loving my own fleshly pleasure. Word.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Quote
Here are a couple of quotes/thoughts which I resonate with. They are from Jim Cymbala's book, "Fresh Wind Fresh Fire." Good stuff.
Cymbala quotes William Law, a 18th century Englishman: "Read whatever chapter of Scripture you will, and be ever so delighted with it-yet it will leave you as poor, as empty and unchanged as it found you unless it has turned you wholly and solely to the Spirit of God, and brought you into full union with and dependence upon Him."
Often times I can read the Bible, but it can seem blah and dry and unapplicable. It is pretty easy to grasp intellectual concepts in the Bible. But what is important is connecting with the Spirit of Christ, who breathes life to the words on the page. Without a living connection to Him, we cannot truly understand/grasp the heart of the Scriptures, the heart of God, and we cannot truly live in the power that He offers. It's funny because the common conception is that faith is easy because it just takes a simple act of believing. People think that intellectually rationalizing concepts in the Bible is more difficult. I think it's the opposite. It's easy to see how many theological concepts "fit" into a "system" of theology. It's much more challenging to truly believe the incredible words on the pages of the Bible, to believe what God has done, to believe that His Spirit lives in us, to believe that we can experience the living God, perform miracles, receive true forgiveness, not be a slave to sin, be set apart. That's tough, but that's where life is found.
Going along with that thought, Cymbala points out in a relevant Scripture in John 5 where Jesus is talking to the religious leaders: "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that BY THEM you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to HAVE LIFE." It's not by knowing Scriptures that we have life, but by coming to Jesus. Nor is it by reading books about God, like Cymbala's. Everything needs to point to a real, living experience with the true, living God.
Cymbala quotes William Law, a 18th century Englishman: "Read whatever chapter of Scripture you will, and be ever so delighted with it-yet it will leave you as poor, as empty and unchanged as it found you unless it has turned you wholly and solely to the Spirit of God, and brought you into full union with and dependence upon Him."
Often times I can read the Bible, but it can seem blah and dry and unapplicable. It is pretty easy to grasp intellectual concepts in the Bible. But what is important is connecting with the Spirit of Christ, who breathes life to the words on the page. Without a living connection to Him, we cannot truly understand/grasp the heart of the Scriptures, the heart of God, and we cannot truly live in the power that He offers. It's funny because the common conception is that faith is easy because it just takes a simple act of believing. People think that intellectually rationalizing concepts in the Bible is more difficult. I think it's the opposite. It's easy to see how many theological concepts "fit" into a "system" of theology. It's much more challenging to truly believe the incredible words on the pages of the Bible, to believe what God has done, to believe that His Spirit lives in us, to believe that we can experience the living God, perform miracles, receive true forgiveness, not be a slave to sin, be set apart. That's tough, but that's where life is found.
Going along with that thought, Cymbala points out in a relevant Scripture in John 5 where Jesus is talking to the religious leaders: "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that BY THEM you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to HAVE LIFE." It's not by knowing Scriptures that we have life, but by coming to Jesus. Nor is it by reading books about God, like Cymbala's. Everything needs to point to a real, living experience with the true, living God.
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