Rooted in Grace

In my last few weeks working at Grace Church in SLO before I take off for seminary I am teaching a series for our college students entitled, Rooted in Grace. You might wonder where I got the title for the series...I got it from the theme phrase of Covenant, "Rooted in Grace for a Lifetime of Ministry." I'm hoping to begin to process through the meaning of that phrase this summer and help others see it too as I process through the questions, What impact does God's grace have on our lives? Where would we be without God's grace? What are the Riches of God's Grace? What does it mean that we are saved by God's Grace? What do our lives look like when we are overflowing with God's grace? How do we faithfully testify to God's amazing grace?

These questions have been rustling in my heart and mind as I wrestle with how to clearly and effectively communicate how amazing God's grace is for us. Tomorrow morning I am working through Ephesians 2:1-10 and how incredible it is that while we were dead-completely dead, unable to do anything on our own but rot away and cause disease and rebellion among others, God saved us by his grace through the life of Jesus Christ. Amazing Love, Amazing Grace!

Roots are so important to the growth and nutrition of a tree and our roots are critical for us too. They enable us to break through the rocks of temptation and sin. They provide living water and rest for our souls. If our roots are cut or damaged they lead to destruction. We must have our roots firmly set on Christ, the true vine and the only one that can provide for us.


It made me think about one of my favorite verses of a hymn, from the Love of God,

"Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky."

God's love and grace is so deep that even oceans full and skies as our scrolls would not be enough to write of all His love and grace. I'm thanking God for His grace tonight and for how He has shown me the length, breadth, depth, and height of his love!

Back to the blog on a Mac

Well, I finally went ahead and bought a mac laptop...definitely my biggest purchase in a while thanks to my time in Financial Peace University and deserving of a proud comment from Ben that I made a real investment...but I have now moved to the darkside.

One thing I do like about Mac so far is there attention to detail especially in packaging. The highlight of the Macbook packaging so far was the made in California tab...I love that as I'm headed out of the state for seminary. I'll write more about that later. With the laptop I can blog while watching the Angels which is great and what I'm doing right now, the Angels vs. Dodgers (Freeway Series). Angels going for their 3rd sweep in a row and I was at the last game!!!

I'm not going to lay a clear goal out there, but I'm planning on getting posts up at least once a week now that I can make blog posts Wherever I Am. Here's to more blog posts and updates on what's going on in my life! Keep encouraging me if I start slacking!

Give Me Your Eyes

What would it look like to view the world out of God's eyes? To see the world with the beauty of His creation, but recognize how far each human has fallen from His design? What about seeing all of the children starving, broken hearted men and women, hopeless people? How do we respond to all of the needs of our world?

These questions have come up in my mind quite often over the last few weeks especially after hearing the song "Give me your eyes" by Brandon Heath. At a Missions sharing night at Grace Church, SLO one of the missionaries put their pictures up with the song and it totally moved me to want to see the world more like God sees it.

I sometimes feel as if I am too broken and weary to make any difference on the massive needs of this world. It's at those times I need to remember that Jesus calls me to "come to me all you are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul." (Matthew 11:27-29)

Check out Brandon Heath's music video for "Give Me Your Eyes"

Angels in the Playoffs

On Friday night I went with my dad to the Angels playoff game and saw an awesome comeback from a 4-0 and 5-1 deficit before K-Rod gave up a game-winning homer in the 9th to crush all the momentum and spirit of the fans. I got an email from a guy that I watched yesterdays stomach churning game with (which the Angels pulled out in the 12th) which gave Boston's perspective on the Angels.

Choke's on California Again



If the Halos win tonight, though, they can take the series back to Anaheim for one decisive game!

Playoff Fever

I can't wait for the baseball playoffs to start tomorrow and to watch the Angels take on and rock the Red Sox. If you want to join me in watching the Angels and Dodgers come over to my apartment at 3:30pm tomorrow and we will be watching some baseball!!!

Fireproof

Well, after finishing the Truth Project and getting going in College Ministry for the year I have gotten busy and neglected my blog, but I did read a review and watch the trailer of an intriguing movie coming out today, Fireproof. Check out the trailer...



The movie stars Kirk Cameron and looks at the life of a fireman that is a hero to everyone around, but his wife. He and his wife are ready to separate until his dad challenges him to hold on for 40 days with a different task to do each day.

I am curious to see what the response to this movie will be. It was made by the same church and creators as Facing the Giants and I think I will try to see it this weekend. After working the SLO Chamber of Commerce breakfast this week and hearing their endorsement for voting NO on Proposition 8 I am curious as to what people will say about a movie encouraging husbands and wives to stick together fight through struggles and missed expectations to continue to love each other.

Here's a review put on by Boundless, Fireproof Review.

What do you think?

Labor: Created to Create

What is work? "A bummer," "what I have to do for money," or "the only way to get to Friday?" Our culture tends to view work very negatively and even Christians reference the fall to support the view that labor is a curse. Is that the view of work that we should have? Come to the Truth Project tonight @ 7pm at my apartment to take a look at God's perspective on the sphere of labor.



This is the second to last tour of the Truth Project so come this week and next to finish out the 12 tour trip of the Christian worldview.

See you Tonight!

How did We Get Here?

Just last week in our Truth Project discussion we talked about the power of the state and what happens if the state gets out of control. In our tour we saw that Hitler, Mao Tse-Tung, Stalin and others killed millions of people in their countries in the 20th century. How did this happen? Ravi Zacharias says that it happened as a result of Nietzsche's philosophy that God is dead.

Check out the video video,.

What do you think about it?

Truth Observed

This summer I have been leading a group through the Truth Project and it truly has been fun, while also challenging me and our whole group of how we view the state, family, marriage, God, philosophy, and so much more.

As I have led the group I have frequently turned to Del Tackett's blog, (the professor that teaches the classes in the DVD). When I went to Colorado in June to visit Denver Seminary I was able to run by Focus on the Family Institute (a great leadership training program I would encourage anyone under the age of 26 to check out) where I first took Del's class and catch the end of his last class. It was just like I was back into the mode I was in when I heard his introductory lecture in Fall 05, but I knew things were different now.

After he finished his lecture he told me that he would be going on a rafting trip through the Grand Canyon beginning the Monday following with top evolutionary scholars, creation scholars, and scientists to see if the Grand Canyon gave evidence for God. I was excited first that he was rafting, but even more when I thought about it of the impact of his trip. Check out his blog posts over the last couple months to see what he saw and hear his thought from being on the river...

Rafting gives me another sense of the glory and power of God's creation.

Here are a few pics from my trip in late July.

Heading into Tunnel Shoot


Flying Down



It's a beautiful thing to see God's glory and beauty in a whole new way.

Back on the Grind Again

"back on the grind again you know it's been a little while but it's time again"

I know it's been a while since I posted on my blog, not because I haven't been thinking, I just haven't taken the time to put my thoughts together for a blog post.

When I am lacking ambition and creativity, though, I can turn to Lecrae to give me an idea. The title and first line of the post come from his song Jesus Muzik. Pretty sweet and it makes me wanna "ride with my top down listening to some Jesus Muzik."

Here's the video for Jesus Muzik


If you listen carefully to his lyrics you can hear Lecrae rap the gospel...


Check out the Mars Hill website to hear an interview between the pastor of worship and Mars Hill and Lecrae with the focus on lyrical theology in his songs. In his interview he is totally humble and wants his music to be Christocentric and deflect glory to Christ. He is about redeeming hip hop from it's idolatrous nature and even says his music is "almost like your listening to the Bible when you push play..."

Sociology: The Divine Imprint

The Truth Project continues tonight at my apartment at 7pm and we have finished the first half of the study and also the foundation of the structure and now begin putting the roof on.


What does that mean? We will be looking at how the truth of the Gospel and the Christian worldview impact every relationship we have in our lives and also how the nature of the trinity is a model for those relationships.

Here is the promo video for our sociology discussion tonight,

Mammoth with the fam

After spending a few days in Yosemite my family went to Mammoth with a quick stop in the ghost town of Bodie. Mammoth was beautiful and we had a blast hanging out with Aaron and taking in the beautiful mountains and lakes, playing games, watching movies and the Angels.

Here is a shot of a chapel in Bodie, a ghost town that was the largest city in California for a few years before everyone moved out because of the brutal weather and licentious lifestyles there.


The people took off so fast that the inside of buildings was preserved, here is a look inside their schoolhouse.


They had some pretty sweet cars too.


We hiked up to a beautiful cascade,


and lake where we connected with a family that goes to church in Santa Barbara that Aaron had a connection with and they pour into Westmont students there.




Then we went on the most beautiful hike along Rock Creek and saw many lakes, wildflowers, glaciers, cascades, and awesome mountains.




Finally we hiked to Devil's Postpile

and Rainbow Falls (which have sentimental value to me from my Cross Country days at Valley Christian when we would go to Mammoth each summer for our running camp).


All in all an awesome vacation to beautiful places with an amazing family.

Yosemite

Alright, it's been a couple weeks and I've been out of town, but it is time for me to finally update my blog.

Last week I had a great time hanging out with my family in Yosemite and Mammoth, for today you can catch a glimpse of what Yosemite was like.

We were surprised to drive into Yosemite with a dark orange sky at 4pm

The tunnel tree looked awfully ominous

We went to the chapel in Yosemite on Sunday morning, who can argue with a worship service to our Creator God in the middle of Yosemite Valley

Thanks to the encouragement from a certain family, to be left unnamed, we tried to hike up to Sierra Point,

but were climbing up a rockfall

and the view was marred by the smoke

We did make it up to Vernal Falls

with a beautiful rainbow

and Nevada Falls

With the cooler, ask Krista about how glad she was to carry the cooler...

Although we don't have any pictures, we heard from our neighbors that a bear jumped on our bear locker in Housekeeping Camp both nights we were there...

What is Science?

The Truth Project tours continue tomorrow night with a look in at Science. Come over to my apartment at 7pm to learn about one of the top arguments people have with Christianity, it doesn't match with scientific evidence, How could there be a god to create the Earth?

Here's the promo video,




Come ready to discuss the argument of science and if you want to see the second lesson on science let me know and I can loan out the DVD. See you tomorrow.

Josh Hamilton, Proof that Hope is Never Lost

Did anybody watch the home run derby last night? Did you see Josh Hamilton pounding the ball out of Yankee Stadium, hitting 13 homers in a row?

Before last night all I knew about him was that he had the lead in RBIs for the AL and that he had hit a walkoff homerun against the Angels last week. After last night I couldn't help but check out his story and read a few articles about him, 'I'm proof that hope is never lost'

Check out the article where he talks about dreams battling Satan with a bat on his own and then with Jesus on his side. "This devil seemed unbeatable; I couldn't knock him out. But just when I felt like giving up, I felt a presence by my side. I turned my head and saw Jesus, battling alongside me. We kept fighting, and I was filled with strength. The devil didn't stand a chance."

All this coming from a man that spent 3 years careening down into an endless tunnel as a crack addict, drug user, and a man kicked out of baseball for his substance abuse. He then took the steps he needed to have a man keep him accountable, hold his money, and run from any temptation he faced and remove any thoughts that Satan put into his mind.

The end of the article is epic, a story of him talking with a boy after a game.

"But there is one story that sticks with me, so much so that I think of it every day. I was driving out of the players' parking lot at Great American Ball Park after a game in May, with Katie and our two girls. There's always a group of fans standing at the curb, hoping to get autographs, and I stop to sign as many as I can.

And on this particular night, a little boy of about 9 or 10, wearing a Reds cap, handed me a pen and something to sign. Nothing unusual there, but as I was writing the boy said, "Josh, you're my savior."

This stopped me. I looked at him and said, "Well, thank you. Do you know who my savior is?"

He thought for a minute. I could see the gears turning. Finally, he smiled and blurted out, "Jesus Christ." He said it like he'd just come up with the answer to a test. "That's exactly right," I said.

You see, I may not know how I got here from there, but every day I get a better understanding of why."

Here is the video from last night,

Who could have thought his dream of playing in a home run derby would ever happen?

Here is one more quote from another article that made me think,

"In the dream, though, he never saw himself actually swinging the bat. He remembers only being interviewed afterward on ESPN, and describing how he'd gotten to this miraculous point, through the power and the grace of God.

But now, here he was, 2½ long years later, and he got to find out how it all turned out. How beautiful was that? "

What do you think about Josh Hamilton?