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May 09, 2012

  Picture people walking around with little guillotines hung around their necks, or perhaps electric-chair earrings. What if this Mother’s Day, you decided to buy your mom a beautiful ruby-embellished set of tombstone earrings? Do you think she would like them?  If you or I saw any of these things, we would find them very odd; instruments of death do not usually make for good fashion ware. When forged out of silver or gold, adorned with diamonds and other precious stones, it is easy to forget that the cross is very much at home among the worstRead More...

May 01, 2012

  All of a sudden, walking in the woods and staring at trees is very appealing to me. I climbed a mountain with some friends recently. I have been on long walks before, even long walks in the woods, but this was clearly different. Both the ascent and descent were more difficult than I thought they would be. It turns out mountains are high and it takes a lot of upward and downward walking/scrambling/panting/twitching to hike them. Hiking a mountain is not like walking on the street; it requires you to focus intently on the steps aheadRead More...

Apr 26, 2012

Your life is busy. You have bills, and school, and work, and kids, and cars, and car repairs and books to read and things to get done. My life is busy, too. I often get tunnel vision trying to focus on getting more done in less time. If I let this tunnel vision persist for too long, I start to think that the sum of living is doing, when in reality, the true point of living is loving. Everyday we are surrounded by the others. They are going through struggle, pain and confusion. Some are lost in pride and self-delusion.Read More...

Apr 18, 2012

Your life is a moment. Picture a vast landscape bordered only by horizons. It is enormous and grassy, scattered with trees and gentle hills. You cannot see the end of it; it just keeps going and going beyond the reach of your finite eyes. Now, in the enormity of this pastureland, turn your eyes to the ground, and stoop down. Notice the top of the grass and gaze even lower to its roots. Gaze lower still and you will find dirt. Smaller still and you will find its particles. This is your life. A particle. A moment. Small . How doRead More...

Apr 11, 2012

Eliud was a son and a father. He was a man who was once a child who became a know-it-all teenager and then perhaps a hipster twenty-year old, confused husband and learn-as-you-go father. Eliud was one of the billions of people to live on this planet before you and me. Did he have a temper? Massive insecurities? No sense of humor? Love for board games and lazy afternoons? I don’t know, but he got up each day, and he liked his food a certain way, and stubbed his toe every once in a while, and had to apologizeRead More...

Apr 07, 2012

You will never receive the joy God has for you until you first submit to the pain He has for you. This is a hard truth and one of the most difficult for us to understand. It goes beyond our simple acknowledgements of sinfulness to a place of confrontation, reckoning and then, joy. The life of Jesus is one of continual submission the God. His answer to God the Father is a continual “yes.” Will you go? Yes. Take on flesh and time? Yes. Serve your enemies? Yes. Suffer for them? Yes. Die for them? Yes. The truthRead More...

Mar 31, 2012

What an interesting world we live in. Today, each of us has unprecedented opportunities to mold a public image and share with others who we want them to think we are. Are you actually authentic, or just wanting people to think you are? Are you really happy, or do you just think you should be and thus present the right front for it? Do you really have that opinion or does it simply seem like you should? To paraphrase a concept I orginally heard from Dr. Ed Cole, you have three versions of yourself to deal with: Who you thinkRead More...

Mar 16, 2012

God’s Word is devastating to the human soul. It strips us of all confidence, assurance and peace. It comes in like a wrecking ball, destroying all pretense and self-righteous posturing. You have failed. You cannot meet His standard. You daily hate your fellow human beings and worship yourself. You think your deeds merit His favor when they don’t even merit His attention. He has tried you in the flame of His Perfect Holiness You have been found impure Profane Flawed You are hopeless Lifeless Dead _____   He moves He seeks not Himself But you You areRead More...

Mar 13, 2012

Each week at Sacred Journey we come together on what the early church called “the Lord’s Day” to worship God, hear His truth and be together. Why do we do this? Have you ever asked yourself this question? Is it because we think we should? Because we’re used to it? Because we feel guilty if we don’t? All of these aren’t necessarily bad reasons, but there are better ones. Every church has a liturgy, even the ones who proudly proclaim that they don’t. Liturgy done well isRead More...

Mar 10, 2012

In my last post, I talked about how the frustrations, relational ruts and spiritual walls we run into are often God’s way of communicating to us. I would categorize God’s speaking in these ways as primitive and basic, not unlike a shock collar you would place on a pet to keep them safe in the yard. That's not to say that these ways are not incredibly valuable, but these are not His only ways of speaking to us. God can speak to you in whatever way He wants. (Please note that I said whatever wayRead More...

Mar 07, 2012

What if every word spoken to you were actually from God? What if every tense conversation was Him trying to get through to you? What if every uncomfortable circumstance is a gift from Him to spur you? I’m not here to tell you that any of these things is actually happening in your life. What I do want to say is that God is definitely speaking to you. The more important questions are, do you care and are you actually listening? If you’re like me, you have frustrations in your life; things like behavioral patterns andRead More...

Feb 28, 2012

One of the clearest signs of a mature Christian is their service to others. Service is a fundamental element in the Kingdom of God, and one of the basic mechanisms by which the Kingdom operates. Serving others is often menial, laborious, boring and time consuming: think setting up chairs at church when everyone else is late, or absorbing the collective drone of screaming toddlers in the church nursery while everyone else enjoys the sermon. At Sacred Journey, we expect all of our members to serve on one of two basic ministries: Nursery Team, where workers look after the congregation&rsquoRead More...

Feb 20, 2012

Information: The Bullets You and I swim in a sea of information. Perhaps “drown” would be a better term. Much of this information is interesting and much of it is useless. Thanks to technology, we now have access to pretty much all of it, so…umm...good luck. Seriously, what do we do with all of this data? I’m sure, like me, you have sat and watched the news only to hear that yet another scientific study has been rebuffed by yet another scientific study. Drink eight, eight-ounce glasses of water per-day. Just kidding —Read More...

Feb 11, 2012

As Christians, we live everyday in an atmosphere that is toxic to our spiritual lives. We are surrounded with enticement and temptation, so much so that we’re likely not to realize how much it quietly and daily seeps into our pores. It is like a dense fog of attitudes, popular ideology and anxiety. This is what John means when he says “the world” here: 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. What about “God so love theRead More...

Feb 01, 2012

There is a deep and transforming power when you begin prayer with praise. Praise has to do with adoration, respect, honor and priority. The Lord’s Prayer begins this way, saying, “Our Father, who is in Heaven, hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done…” It begins this way for a reason. It puts God and His glory first, at the center of our focus. In speaking specifically about our worrying for needs like food, clothing and other basic provisions, Jesus says in Matthew, chapter six, “But seek first the Kingdom ofRead More...

Jan 28, 2012

The Bible as a whole, the New Testament in general and Jesus in particular, have a ton to say on how we handle our time, our money, our possessions and our relationships. God is the one who created all things, sustains all things and is the owner of all things: that tree, that car, that spouse, that child, that awesome pair of jeans, those planets, that ocean, that cute kitten and that wonderful morning cup of coffee. He owns it all. We are privileged to enjoy them, and it reveals God’s immeasurable grace and kindness that He wouldRead More...

Jan 25, 2012

Months ago, I began to wrestle with the idea of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, and what it means to make disciples for Him. What's necessary? Sure, discipleship requires "everything," but I have a job and I'm in school and I got this thing and I stayed up late last night and you know, life happens. Can you be a disciple and attend church gatherings once and a while? Can you follow Jesus and just kind of learn at your own pace? What is it that we do exactly? The following are three essentialRead More...

Jan 21, 2012

To repent is to turn from and intentionally forsake the disobedience in your life that is dishonoring to God; to turn from those things that God says are destructive to your life; to endeavor by Christ's strength to obey His commands. Repentance is both a single act of spiritual aggression towards a particular sin, and a gradual, lifelong reprogramming of your heart towards God. Repentance is the engine of spiritual transformation. It is something we practice; however, it is first a gift that is granted to us by God. It is His kindness that leads us to turn fromRead More...

Aug 14, 2011

  “The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth!” - Proverbs 19:24   I used to think this proverb was a little ridiculous. Have you ever gotten out a bowl, poured some cereal, added milk, sat down and then been too lazy to lift the spoon to your mouth? Me neither. However, as one would suspect (it is in the Bible after all), there is wisdom in this verse – and not just a little. What can this proverb tell us about ourselves? You and I live atRead More...

Apr 23, 2011

*There is an account in John’s Gospel of a woman who is caught in sin. This woman is discovered in the act of adultery, a sin punishable by death. She is dragged through the dirt streets of Jerusalem, her shame exposed, her guilt on parade. Is she clothed? Probably, but she may as well be naked. Her shameful act has been seen first hand, and she has no defense. She is hauled to Jesus in disgrace. She is placed at His feet for justice. We are this woman. Each of us has been found in the midst ofRead More...

Apr 16, 2011

In our culture, work is a primary provider of identity. This is evident in our values, the pace at which we live, and the behavior we reward. For men, job-identity is an especially large problem. We are saturated with the belief that our accomplishments define us. When challenged on this issue by our wives we utter the seemingly invincible retorts: “I do it for you!” or “Somebody has to pay the bills!” or the classic Christian crane-kick: “God has called me to this!” Men, if you're married, your job is husband.Read More...

Sep 15, 2010

In the most recent sermon series “Unvangelism” Pastor Todd has been dismantling the contemporary view of sharing the gospel we all know as “evangelism” and advocating for a return to a very biblical and revolutionary invention: the church as a gospel community. The differences between the two are quite dramatic and I would encourage you to listen to the entire series so far as it takes some time to unpack the nuances.    Here are some reflections thus far...   Us vs. Them This sectarian mentality is a very well worn rut that Christians haveRead More...

Aug 25, 2010

The book of proverbs has a lot to say that is practical and applicable to everyday life. Some even read it daily, there are 31 chapters so it fits well to read a chapter per day monthly. Proverbs is a book full of little sayings of wisdom: some are funny, some confusing, some are sobering, and all of them are good. There are a number of topics that are repeated throughout the book but one of the main themes in Proverbs is the contrast between the foolish and the wise, the proud and the humble. Look at chapter 26:3-12,Read More...

Aug 18, 2010

For a long time in my life I was exposed to a thread of teaching in the church that intensely discourages believers from acknowledging their sinful state. The thinking goes like this: 1) Jesus died on a cross for me. 2) Therefore I am a new creation. 3) The Bible says I am the righteousness of God. 4) To call myself a sinner is to disrespect all that Jesus did for me.   I completely agree with points 1-3. Number 4 is where we take the wrong exit and eventually end up somewhere other than the Bible. I used to think this teaching was benignRead More...

Jun 20, 2010

I recently read a quote by a man named Alvin Reid that intrigued me greatly: "We must revisit the biblical teaching that we are never more like the prophets or Jesus than when we are rejected." It intrigued me because it implies a special communion brought about by the shared suffering of Christ and his people. We've all heard that suffering can lead us to greater intimacy with God but can suffering and rejection be seen AS intimacy with God? Does scripture display this? I believe it does and that is what we'll explore in this post. WeRead More...

May 26, 2010

For most of my Christian life I have had the general awareness of pride in my heart and the knowledge that it affects my life in a variety of negative ways. I think many Christians, myself included, interpret this vice as one that expresses itself brashly….like cutting someone in line at Starbucks or interviewing yourself on your own talk show. I’m not sure if you’ve seen the talk show I'm talking about but I kid you not; the host sings the the opening song as images of him are beamed onto the sidesRead More...

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