Twenty-Sixth

Well I had the most memorable nights of my entire life last night. Seriously it was incredible, and it can only be intro'd by this song and this picture:






So this will be short; I don't do this often but I thought everyone would like to know I have had a run in with the law. For those who don't know I am living with a family while I do my internship and these people have an alarm system hooked up to their house, I know the code so it's not a surprise when I walk in and hear beeping. So last night I was over a friends house watching the football game and got home a little late. As I walked in I turned the alarm off and locked up and headed to the basement where I stay.(On a side note please remember this house is surrounded by woods, like all around, it's so far hidden no one ever comes back there, why they have an alarm I don't know.) So I head down and watch the news and get ready for bed; of course my night of TV watching was capped off with the DVD release of the movie The Strangers (which looks absolutely horrifying). So I lay in bed trying to forget about the creepy people and about 5 minutes later I hear talking outside my window. I tense up and don't move a muscle and then I see flash lights swirling around and then one shines straight into my room. By this point I have wet myself about 5 times and was thinking I was going to have to either A. Run and scream or B. beat the crud out of someone (now I was leaning more towards A; which is why I was still frozen). All of a sudden I hear one of the men say the door is open, this is about the time I start thanking God for the life he has blessed me with and asking him to make my death go quick so I wont feel any pain. And then the shouting starts, "Sheriff's dept. is there any body in here!" Now in split second here are my thoughts, "(sigh of relief) I'm not going to die..oh crap what have I done?...should I answer them...of course..what if they shoot me when I answer..."

I yell out "yeah and I'm coming out of the first bedroom!" Note that the door they came in from is right next to my bedroom door. After yelling that, they yell back "Come out slowly with your hand where we can see them!" (my thinking again goes back to I might die; also note that I am in just my boxer-briefs- pleasant sight) I slowly walk out with my hands up and out in front of me (I see two officers with lights in my face and their hands on their gun holsters ready to draw; you would have liked if I said I was staring down the barrel of 9 Mil....I wish I could say that too) and they begin yelling "who are you!" I tell them I am an intern and living with the people who own the house. As they start a conversation I simply ask if I can go put some clothes on, they follow me into the room and watch me dress, just to make sure I wasn't doing anything dumb (awwwkward). They proceed to tell me that the alarm was set off and the door they entered from was left open, I then tell them to search the house. I know this isn't my house, but I WILL not sit back and let them question me when there might be someone in the house, I don't want one of those creepy characters from the movie to be standing above me at night!

Well long story short, no one was in the house but the alarm was triggered after I came in and the door was left open. Strange mystery but creates a great story. After the cops left I did my own search of the basement, which doesn't really make since, why I would go look for someone after two cops with guns did. The best part is I layed back down in bed and texted a few people of my story and fell right to sleep. Ironic, you would think I would have stayed up fearing for my life. But I was tired! Well that's all I got.

Cops are good people. (but very scary when they come into the house yelling at you)

Twenty-Fifth

Wow! Sorry it has been so long since the last post, if you haven't forgotten about me I promise this one will be somewhat long and I fully expect to get some questions, if I don't, great that means I have less to worry about.
Here is a song by Leeland(read that as if I am a radio DJ, preferably Casey Casum)


So at the risk of sounding morbid, I do not fear death. I know for those who know me know I have always said, "I don't want to die yet, there is so much in life that I still haven't experienced and want to." But honestly what is better than an eternity spent praising God? Of course I want to get married (sex) and I of course I want to experience the joys of having a child, and watching them grow up, and seeing what it's like to be 50, and all the other things that happen in life. But we are talking about an almighty sovereign God, who put me on this earth to serve him, why wouldn't I want to join him at his throne? Think of it this way, say you get a job that is absolutely incredible, a job where all the benefits are perfect and when you mess up, although something should happen, your boss says "it's OK, try it again," a job where you never get fired no matter the screw up. A place that you always want to go into work. Wouldn't you want to meet the boss of this incredible organization?

I have always, since high school, loved the verse Philippians 1.21 "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." I always liked the verse for the first part, to live is Christ. I understood that to live this life I should live as Jesus Christ did. Of course I'm doing that perfectly (ha! there's lie number 1). But as I go through life I am constantly asking the question (no I will not say what's on those awful bracelets) what is the next right thing to do? By living life by one event at a time I feel I can slow things down and find the next right thing to do.

But the second part of the verse, "to die is gain" has always been something that I looked over. (that's a big look over) There are two options in life, (as Christians) when we are blessed with another day to live we are to love/live/serve/ and be like our Saviour Jesus Christ did. And if we do all this then to die is a gain. It's crazy I know, but I don't fear death. Do I sin? (ha umm every single day) Of course we all do, whether you understand that as sin or not, we all screw up, but my joy and understanding comes from something called grace. I had a conversation with a lady in a coffee shop the other day about grace and she (as the cigarette dangled from her mouth, she was cute until she put that thing in) said something that even Christians get hung up on "so if you believe there is grace does that give you an excuse to sin?" My response was one that I think a lot of Christians need better understanding on, "absolutely not." See grace isn't so we can sin, grace is there in case we do sin. (which we will...oh how typed words are confusing) My words mean nothing, let the Bible clarify:
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.

Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:1-9)

The definition of grace is "receiving something good that you do not deserve" and the definition of mercy is "not receiving something bad that you do deserve."

I don't fear death because God, through Jesus Christ, has blessed me with grace and shown me mercy.

James 4.13-14 says "Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."

With an understanding that my life is a mist or a vapor then that means I should live my life as Christ, and if I do that then to die will be a gain. Guys our time here is short, why waist it on meaningless things? In a time when the economy is going the way we wouldn't like, why as Christians should we worry? Our rewards are not in the stock market or a stimulus plan (which wasn't a good idea, in my 22 year old with no money, opinion), our rewards are in Christ alone. Him glorified is the thing we should live for, money is a blessing that we should share with the poor. (I'm pretty sure Jesus said something about a rich man and a camel going through the eye of a needle..in case you forgot it's Matthew 19.24)

Please don't see this post as being a testament to me hating life. Ha! It's the opposite I praise God everyday for another day, and I mean that. I love the ministry God has called me to and I am excited to see where He is going to take me on this ride and how He is going to use me. I want to experience marriage, children, growth, the future and all kinds of things, but if I don't then awesome because my rewards are in heaven.

May you, as Christ followers, live a life that is honoring and glorifying to the Sovereign Lord and live a life that Paul talks about in Philippians (the verse I talked about earlier, have you forgotten already?) And if you think I am a complete idiot I would love to talk about it, seriously I love to talk, can you tell?

Love Loudly..Live Graciously..Be Conversational..

Twenty-Fourth

John Mayer: (enough said)


I shed a tear today.(that's right, I said it, a man and I cried) Now in my defense I am exhausted from driving yesterday and not used to the lack of sleep from the weekend, on top of that I got pulled over, on Labor day (which can be translated into Indianapolis 500 for the average man) but I wasn't speeding, my man pulled me over for expired tags! Pulled across 3 lanes of traffic for expired tags! (needless to say I was fired up. mom I wasn't mad at you I just knew you could take it. Love you) But back to the crying thing, so I am tired,aggravated, and praying for family stuff (if you could too that would be great) and just realizing that the friends I have really do mean the world to me. (yes that does sound very feminine) I spent the entire weekend with my closest friends and I can't imagine not being friends with them. Seriously without Ben and Kyle I know things wouldn't be nearly as funny but I also know I wouldn't be as encouraged as I am when I am with them. I can't imagine living far from them, mainly because one of them will own a boat before me and I don't want to be far from that! So I think all of those emotions running and colliding into one day caused me to shed a tear, I am blessed beyond all measures and I don't deserve it at all. No matter how bad things may get in my life I know 3 things: 1.) I have a Father watching out for me, guiding me, and reminding me that this life is not mine. 2.) I have the most incredible family, that no matter the tragedy we always come away stronger than before. and 3.) I am blessed with friends that would drop whatever it is they are doing to drive hours to be there when I need them. For that I couldn't be more thankful.(Thanks Ben and Kyle)

OK that's enough with the sappy friendship talk.

I got hooked on a new sport this past weekend, beach volleyball. I love it, in fact if you live in Indy and want to play I need people to play with! Johnson fixed the volleyball court and we seriously played for hours almost everyday I was down there. If you have never played I encourage you to, I hope to qualify for the Olympics next time around. (that's a joke, mainly because my best attribute is holding my hand up saying "my bad"..but I still love it!)

Praise God! (I have so many thoughts running through my head but for some reason this is the one thing that seems to be the only right thing to say)

Love Loudly..Live Graciously..Be Conversational..

Twenty-Thrird

Here is an incredible artist: Phil Wickham


So I don't have much going on, well outside of the internship that is. (Well, that is probably the biggest lie I have told in sometime.) But it's all great stuff, I am leaving the family that I have stayed with for three months tomorrow and moving in with another family. Meeting the Baker's and staying with them was the greatest experience for me, many nights we would just sit and talk about so many different things and how different the views are that we hold, but it's a generational difference, and it's cool to get to hear a different side of things. I am truly going to miss these people, well miss living with them. Thanks guys!

I am really learning new ideas and learning so many things about leadership that will benefit me so much in the future. I was at lunch with Aaron and through conversation I realized that I have things I MUST get over if I want to be effective in leadership. The largest one of those obstacles is my fear to speak up when I see something wrong and the reason is because I see myself as too young to add insight to people older than I and people will dis-credit anything I say because of that.(some of you are shocked right now that I do know how to hold my tongue, but it's true, I process everything in my head before I say it) I am never scared to stand up for what I know is right, the times I am speaking of is when someone is only talking with a narrow minded or very objective view. Some one close to me was talking the other day about wanting to start and build a community of believers and "do life" with those people around him, and if you have read any of my blogs I love this idea, I desire it. But I also understand that if you want to lead a church you must have a system in place so that things will grow and so things stay organized and the most important thing is that people are growing spiritually. In this community I never want to get away from prayer or scripture studying, I think when you get away from that you are not a Christ centered community you are just a strong community. Understand that there is nothing wrong with that, it's awesome, but if you desire to be a church and your missing out on prayer and scripture then I have to wonder if your a church or just another loving group of people. I desire a Christ Centered Community, which translates into a close spiritually growing community. Without structure people forget what they are living for, in the book of Acts(Bible) we see people sharing and selling their things to help people and it all sounds great but just a couple chapters later we see Ananias and Sapphira taking advantage of people and stealing. Without structure things wont hold up. Community is what I desire but I understand that without structure in that, i.e prayer and scripture and teaching/preaching, the community will eventually fall apart.

I am still learning to speak up when I have insight and I understand that I will never be an effective leader until I stop being fearful and speak what I believe to be true. I need to stop thinking I am too young. I am working on that and many other things.(I'm sure I'll tell you those things eventually.)

Love Loudly..Live Graciously..Be Conversational..

Twenty-second

Music time: Aaron (not the guy I'm interning under, but another Aaron)


I am such a somber kind of mood. I walk in to my office and the first thing I read was a horrible tragedy that occured yesterday at Cinicinnati Christian University, a school where many friends have gone. Here is a link to the story I read:

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080821/NEWS0107/808210387/1055/NEWS

I am so sorry for the loss and I honestly cannot even imagine the emotions this family is going through. The thing that really angered me was the comments people left at the end of the story, there was no compassion at all. This makes me sick, the whole thing makes me sick. I don't understand how you can forget something like a baby (but again I'm single and obviously have no kids, that I'm aware of) but in the same breath I can honestly say I have been praying for this lady and her family all morning. I am certain that bad things do happen and I am certain that being a parent and a teacher can throw your schedule off a little and make you forget the easy things, but a baby?

Either way I am in a somber mood and will be all day. I think in times like these is when the church really needs to step in and love and FOLLOW UP with these lady. Continue to lift her spirits and continue to encourage her. I think it is so easy to be there for a family while the tragedy is still fresh in our minds, but it is the coming months that are really trying for a family, trust me I know.

This one is short, becuase really I don't have much to say about it. I know to you all who don't have the same worldview I do are reading this and I'm sure this sounds very "christian-ey" (yes i created a word) but I ask that you just put yourself in this ladies shoes. Try and feel the pain and hurt. Sorry this seems so, depressing, but it's just all I can think about.

Love Loudly..Live Graciously..Be Conversational..

Twenty-one

O.A.R.- "this town"...the significance of this song choice is that I will be watching them live this Friday...YESSIR!!


Well, it's been a while. But I'm back so every one can now stop crying and anxiously waiting the next time I wrote something.(I say all that just to build up myself, I know no one is eagerly waiting to here what is going on in my crazy mind.)

Well now it's time too fill you in on whats been going on.(trust me it will be a mess) So I went to a conference last weekend that was really awesome, since I am the intern under the lead minister I get to go on all the sweet conferences and this was one of them. I feel that my leadership skills are being matured and I really look foreword to seeing the knowledge that I gain throughout the course of the year.

Well here is the insightfully confusing mind of me. So about this time last summer I felt a strong passion to do a church plant. I jumped on this like a fourth grader at a birthday party. I was all for this idea, I searched areas that had no churches for few or dying churches, I started looking at organizations that helped people start a church, I was sold out on this idea. But then I started thinking about logistics and because of age and money, or the lack there of, I wrote it off in my mind. A few months go by and this thought came back into my head, like before I was sold out on it...but yet I again I wrote it off. This happened a couple more times throughout this past year. Well this whole summer I have been trying to really figure out what God's plan is for me, praying that He will show me the direction. Well at the conference last weekend it came back. Now this conference was a leadership conference so the speakers were mainly from churches and were leaders in their churches. But Bill Hybels (a prominent leader in the church) interviewed a couple people, go figure they were people who had a dream and a vision and a calling and nothing was going to stand in the way of their dream. Well the first woman is the founder of Teach-for-America, an organization that takes the top teachers in America and places them in very low income schools to provide a great education for kids. This woman was 22 when she saw this vision and was 23 when all this started. Age was not going to stand in the way of a vision.(When I heard this I thought, "oh no, God is getting ready to shake me.") I was floored by this woman's drive. But the next interview was another woman who graduated at 22 and went to the stock market and found herself trading millions of dollars. Well after a couple years she felt God calling her to go into the prison systems and teach men how to become entrepreneurs and how to maintain a business. But in order to do this her and her husband had to put all their money into this mission. So she tells this story about how they gave ALL their money to this and even took an early penalty hit on their 401k (i don't know what that means but it sounds bad) and then moved to Texas. Well the night they got to Texas someone broke in and stole everything they owned. They had nothing. (At this point I KNOW God is holding me up and just slapping me in the face saying- "hey are you hearing this? Yeah, I got you.") What are the odds that the same things these young women went through and God brought them through are the exact same things that I make as an excuse that I can't do a church plant?

Well after the conference I understood God was trying to tell me something and I knew all I could do is pray about it. Well I chose to try and let this church plant thing just sit, I mean I still have a year here and then one more year of school. So there is at least 2 years before I can/want to do anything. But what happens next is hard for me not to say it was God's hand coming at me again. One of my close friends Anthony a.k.a Tangy came into my head and I decided to call him. Now understand that this guy has a calling from God that is incredible, it's much to long to get into but know it deals with supporting missionaries, it's incredible. Well in the past we have talked about planting a church but like usual it passes. Well he brings it up. We get into this huge discussion and find ourselves just laughing a nervous laugh because we are unsure what God is trying to do, but we we know he is doing something. And I have enough faith to understand that if He is calling me to do something then He will take care of me.

I guess all I can ask is that you pray. Not just for me but pray and ask God what he is calling you to do. Where is it that you can be tool for Him? Pray that God's vision to save the lost is your vision. Pray that His heart is yours. But understand by praying for these things you may be called to do something you think can't be done, but remember that God is so much bigger than the struggles we create in our mind.

Love Loudly..Live Graciously..Be Conversational..

Twenty

I am so happy I can plug this video. (This will make my family proud. YEAH DUNBAR CLAN!!!)


Two of the guys in the video are Pro Bass fishermen, Chris and Bobby Lane.(Yes I know I am a dork for knowing that and a dork for saying Bobby is one of my favorite anglers.) But I have to post that as an intro to my weekend. I am leaving today for my favorite time out of the whole year, this is the time that me and three of my closest friends get together for a weekend of fishing. It's the biggest tournament I fish in, the Plantation Elite Series.(By tournament I mean us four get together and fish on a couple trolling motor boats and whoever catches the most wieght wins. I hope to post a picture of my (soon to be) trophy) There is really no prize, just something we like to do. I love these guys and can't wait to get out in a boat and fish with them. It's such a refreshing time away to fish, hangout, and to catch-up. And on that note I'm off to catch a lunker(fishing lingo for a BIG fish)

Love Loudly..Live Graciously..Be Conversational..