Too Much Control is Out of Control

Control Freak. I hear that word a lot. I have been sitting on the word ‘control’ for a few days and what it means to be in control of something or someone, or what it takes to give something or someone control of things that you want to be in control of. To be in control of something is to be in power of it, to move it, and to direct its behavior.

It is inside of every single human being to be in control of themselves and to want to take control of their relationships, their future, money, and basically just have control of everyone. It’s abnormal NOT to want to have control of things.

This is what I am learning: God is in control. He is a God of order, perfection, he is sovereign, and he needs nothing to describe him. This power struggle between us and God goes back to the fall and this product of the fall still haunts us today. God is writing history, he is writing our story, and he will continue to do so.

If we have too much control things get out of control. I hope that I, that we, can learn to let God be in control of our lives in the small and big details.

Control Freak,
~Justin

Joy and Frustration in Being a “Portable” Church

At Kinetic we don’t have a stained-glass sanctuary, in fact we have no windows at all, we don’t have a steeple but we have a movie marque, we don’t own a building but we lease a movie theatre. This is a joy and frustration that we feel all the time.

But I have reached the conclusion that the building is not the church. Whether or not we have a building or not doesn’t decide whether we are a church or not.

People make the church. The physical church that is moving throughout the world is alive and active in movie theatres, bars, high school gyms, cathedrals, church buildings, and in homes.

We can’t forget that we are ALL, all believers, are the church. Kinetic and First Baptist will not have a their own separte place in heaven, but we will all be united as one, as the church. Every church should be portable and not exclusive.

The frustration kicks in when I try to find a place to have small group for the students and to have a place to rock-n-roll once a month. But God is moving and places open up.

We have a place to meet for small group and that is a huge step! I am stoked about birthing the first student small group and many more will pop up over the next few months. We are portable! I like it! We are the church!

~Justin

When the Newness Wears Off

Have you ever bought something brand new, like a car, and when you get it you treat it like a child. You wash it everyday, you won’t eat in it, you watch your mileage, and basically you treat it like the best thing ever. Then something happens, you get the first scratch! You throw up in your mouth it makes you so sick, but then after a period of time the scratches don’t really matter too much. The newness wears off.

When Jenna buys something new she has to try it on right then or open it to try it, but after a few days it just gets tossed into the mix of things. The newness wears off.

After observing lots of marriages and relationships i see this same principle happen a lot. The sparks are there then they leave. The newness wears off, but is it supposed to? I heard a guy say this about his wife once, “I fall in love with her all over again every day.” I think that’s the way it is supposed to be.

This spark leaving happens with God a lot. We hit these spiritual mountain tops sometimes and often times they happen in church or on a trip. Then all of a sudden we fall off the mountain right back into the valley. Now what? We don’t feel like God is the same God in the valley as he is in the mountain top, but he is!

Sometimes it feels like my spiritual newness wears off, but I am constantly trying for it not to. God isn’t something we just try on for a day and throw to the side. We have to embrace him the way he has embraced us.

~Justin

What Makes a Successful Pastor

I started class again today (which I am pretty pumped about), and the one class I had today is Intro. to Preaching. One of the first things the prof said today was that two things will make a successful pastor. When he said this I had no idea where he was going with it. I was thinking he may say “You have to have good jokes”, “You have to have three point illiterated sermons that make some fancy acrostic”, “People have to be saved at the end of every sermon”, “You have to make someone cry”…i honestly had no idea where he was going with it, but what he said struck a power chord with me.

Two things that creates a succesful pastor:
1) Prayer
2) Word of God

Pastor’s are supposed to be spiritual super giants right? They aren’t supposed to struggle with their prayer life or the time they have in the word, but like everyone else they do.

This was a realization to me that I can study, meet with people, plan, evangelize, but if I do not have a prayer life and i am not spending time in the scripture then I will be weak and I will be more likely to fall.

Strength comes in prayer and through the scripture.

~Justin

Back From Vacation and Ready to Rock!

I just got back from a flippin’ sweet vacation at the beach with Jenna, my family, and her family. It was filled with crabbing, shark watching, jet skiing, cruiser bike riding, dueling piano awe, all day lay-out-on-the-beach- days, steam pot grubbing, and just straight up chillaxin.

Here’s the deal…I made a vow to myself that 1) I wouldn’t wear a watch the entire trip. I accomplished that, and as a matter of fact I don’t have it on now. 2) I wouldn’t be attached to my cell phone….i don’t really know where it is right now, but i have used it since the trip 3) That I would rest, detox, and try to get back in tune with God.

One of the things that helped me to get back in tune with God was standing on the beach at night and looking out over the ocean and feeling so freakin’ small. For some reason God created the vastness of the oceans, but chose to create me also. I cannot begin to comprehend how anyone can stand and look out over the ocean, hear the waves crash, look at the moon reflecting off the water, and deny the exsisitence of God.

It is time to Rock-n-Roll!

~Justin

A Little Phone Courtesy Never Killed Anyone

Have you ever been riding in the car with someone and you are having a really good and meaningul conversation and then all of a sudden…. RING… their cell phone starts to ring. They have a split second decision to answer it or to silence the ringer and continue the conversation. However, the majority of the time the person answers and you go from having a really good conversation to having to turn your music down and ride in silence the rest of the way so that the person can keep on talking.

Phone Courtesy needed please…

Ok…what about this… you are on the phone talking to say…your awesome boyfriend or girlfriend and you are having an awesome conversation because you don’t get to talk to each other a whole lot, but when you do you want to have a meaningful and loving conversation, and then all of a sudden you hear a knock on the other end and the door open. The knock is another person ignoring that your boyfriend or girlfriend is on the phone and they start up a conversation and TOTALLY ignores that the other person may be having a deep conversation.

What posesses people to do this? Do they think they are more important than the conversation that may be taking place? We need some more phone courtesy. If you are the person who interrupts….STOP…NOW….it’s annoying…

This is like my prayer life a lot of times. I sit down to have a conversation with God, the God who created me, loves me despite my failures, who has blessed me with a great family, church, a beautiful girlfriend, and so so so much more, and what happens is i feel like i get so distracted sometimes. Sometimes other people and things interrupt my conversations with God, but for some reason God still keeps listening and saying, “Seek me and you will find me,” “talk to me”.

So let’s figure this out…

~Justin

Three Steps to a Better Life

I like to read. I like reading history, i like reading about real people who have served God, i like reading articles, and I simply just enjoy reading. When I finished up the semester at seminary I was determined to go buy a book or two that I could read where I didn’t feel like i “Had” to read it because I would be getting a grade on it. So…i went to the bookstore like every other person who wants to buy a book. As I was walking through the bookstore I noticed a lot of books that were similar to “Three Steps to a Better Life”.

Wouldn’t everyone have a way better life if their were only three steps to achieve the ultimate way of life?

How come the bible doesn’t outline steps to having a better life?

What’s wrong with having trials that help you develop perseverance?

I sometimes wish life were this simple, but at the same time I am thankful that it is not a three step formula, and for that matter a formula at all. I am thankful that the creator of the entire universe cannot be reduced to steps or formulas. I am glad that I like the things that I do and all the while being thankful that you life the things you do.

My biggest fear is that I will lose my awe of God and that I will try to reduce him to a comfortable formula. When Jesus called his disciples to come with him it was never comfortable. He only said one thing: Come, drop everything, and come with me.

I am glad that I am a part of a church that doesn’t give three point illiterated sermons with an acrostic in the middle that outlinez every single hermeneutical assumption of every passage, and I am not going to be that person either.

Work through things, wrestle with things, persevere, and when we get to the other side of things let’s rejoice. There are no three steps.

Rock On:
~Justin

It’s Time to Eat What I Cook

In about 4 hours, as have done for the past 7-8 Fridays, I will walk to the dining hall, grab hamburgers, hotdogs, an apron, and all the necessities that it takes to grill enough food to feed over 250 folks. When I first started grilling I would take breaks every 30 minutes or so to eat the food that I was cooking. I would take time out to enjoy the fruits of my labor, but then something happened after the first few weeks…the lines kept getting longer, people got grumpier and more unsatisfied, and I stopped eating just so I could keep up. So now I usually eat nothing of what I cook.

I have found myself giving advice to people that would solve all of their problems (not really, but you know…) and I can see them soak it in and take it to heart. One of those nuggets of advice is around the issue of REST, and the importance of having a day of rest, or sabbath.

I need a sabbath, I need a day to BE STILL and KNOW that GOD is GOD. I need time to enjoy the fruits of my labor and to spend quality, unrushed time with those that I care about and Love.

I see Jesus taking time out to be alone, to get away from the crowds and go reflect and spend time with the Father. What is unique is that after his day/time of rest something great would happen like, I don’t know, choosing his disciples. He ate what he cooked.

Like Jesus,It’s time that I eat what I cook.

~Justin

Burnouts and Lost Friends

If you have ever worked camp before, especially a resident camp, you know what the feeling of a burnout is. The menotinous routines will drive you nuts sometimes. So I am definitley going through that burnout stage, but hey there is only 1 week left.

In the middle of all of these feelings I get a phone call from my mom tonight who proceeded to tell me “some bad news.” The bad news was a really good childhood friend of mine died today. Just last night at camp we talked about friendship and i remember saying “some of the greatest and most memorable friends we will ever have we make when we are children.” That statement is very true.

In the midst of burnouts and lost friends I know God is here. He is “there”, but He is here. My God is a God of nearness and He comes and makes His presence here in the midst of the chaos and tragedy. My God is not a God of “hey I’m up here and you are down there”, He doesn’t say things, “you are on your own.”

Instead he says, “seek me and you will find me”, “draw near to me and i will draw near to you”. God longs to draw near to us, to comfort us, to give us energy and rest. In the core of who I am as a person I wholeheartedly believe that when God told Joshua “I will never leave you nor forsake you” that He is the same God who promises us the same thing, not to leave or forsake us.

Drawing nearer,
~Justin