Whisperings...

Oh give me Samuels ear,
   an open ear, oh Lord;
Alive and quick to hear each whisper
   of Thy Word.
Like Him to answer to Thy call,
   and to obey Thee first of all.

"And my teacher said, 'Billy, if you pay attention to whispers, the annointing of God will be on your life.'"

~ Bill Hybels.

Where Am I?

Intended Consequences by: Jonathan Torgovnik

I do not understand the world. I often feel like the world I see is not the one I live in. How can the same world that celebrates National Secretary Day, have genocide? How can the same genetic design, a human, cry at a wedding, and yet that same design, that same model, can kill the innocent without remorse, or worse, with joy.

I do not understand what we call "the church". How have we sat by for years and years? How did this happen? How have we mistaken our purpose in the past? When did we start arguing over songs? When did we begin to value programs over people? When did everything change? When did our vision move from the community at large to the building on the street corner?

I'm not sure I recognize this world anymore. I only realize now that I've seen it not as it completely is, but as through a stained-glass window. I don't think Christ saw it that way. I think he saw it for what it was. He accepted it, and people. Even the awful ones. He accepted them. I don't understand this.

I don't want a new tv anymore.

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Great article on perspective

Seth Godin is the man. He has an awesome blog and is a profound thinker when it comes to marketing and the art of perception. His most recent article is a really refreshing view on the current state of our country, and really whatever ails ya.

Do You Have 16 Boxes?

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Psalm 27

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation—
so why should I be afraid?
The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger,
so why should I tremble?
2 When evil people come to devour me,
when my enemies and foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.
3 Though a mighty army surrounds me,
my heart will not be afraid.
Even if I am attacked,
I will remain confident.

4 The one thing I ask of the Lord—
the thing I seek most—
is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
delighting in the Lord’s perfections
and meditating in his Temple.
5 For he will conceal me there when troubles come;
he will hide me in his sanctuary.
He will place me out of reach on a high rock.
6 Then I will hold my head high
above my enemies who surround me.
At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy,
singing and praising the Lord with music.

7 Hear me as I pray, O Lord.
Be merciful and answer me!
8 My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.”
And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.”
9 Do not turn your back on me.
Do not reject your servant in anger.
You have always been my helper.
Don’t leave me now; don’t abandon me,
O God of my salvation!
10 Even if my father and mother abandon me,
the Lord will hold me close.

11 Teach me how to live, O Lord.
Lead me along the right path,
for my enemies are waiting for me.
12 Do not let me fall into their hands.
For they accuse me of things I’ve never done;
with every breath they threaten me with violence.
13 Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness
while I am here in the land of the living.

14 Wait patiently for the Lord.
Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.

The Life Argument

I'm going to veer for a moment away from my sinful revolution thoughts because I need to get something off my mind and into the tangible. It's the issue of pro-life vs. pro choice.

Presidential voting is coming up and always this seems to be the dividing line. Economy and war and all that... the abortion argument is the front line in every election. But I'm beginning to see it less as an abortion argument and more as an overall life issue.

The pro-choice argument has for years made it's claim that it "favors the life and health of the mother", but that argument should be continued to say "... over the life and health of the child." Now, the church has said that they are killing babies and that it's murder for years. But looking at it a bit broader, the intrinsic argument is much deeper than that. What it is saying, is that one life is more important than another. It categorizes ALL human life into a hierarchy system.

To say you favor the life of the mother is to simply say you agree to the Hippocratic Oath that all doctors have taken for thousands of years. Every doctor taking this oath swears to the protection of life. So to say that a doctor will favor one life over another in the time of birth is ludicrous in it's own account. Mother or child, they both get the same treatment. And in no situation should a doctor say, "Well, the mother is screwed, let's just get the kid." What I am saying is that they should both be equal in importance. Here is an interesting article on the matter.

But that again is the abortion issue, which I think is only the surface of a deeper life issue. The real argument in abortion is that this life is more important than that life. Out of the issue of convenience and importance, this life should be allowed to choose the outcome of another. Looking at this argument at it's root structure, I think we can see a greater scope of influence.

The same argument that says "mother life" > "child life", will eventually (allowing for social gravity) say that "healthy life" > "sick life"; or "young life" > "old life". The fact that there is an argument of one life over another introduces a hierarchy that should never exist in the first place. The reality of truth is that a stance that says "mother life" = "child life" will also allow for "American life" = "Iraq life"; or "Christian life" = "Islamic life". Life = life. There is no order of importance.

I hate to go here, but this argument of one life over another is the origin of the genocide argument. For the sake of these lives, namely, "my life" or "our lives", all other lives in contrary position should be considered forfeit. How arrogant can human beings go in this system?

This argument in it's full and blown out state of being will at the end of itself ALWAYS come to "my life" > "your life". Always. Because humans are self-obsessed, and given to our own devices we will eventually fall back to a self-protection mode. In this light, how unique and wonderful is the message of Christ. "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends," John 15:13. In fact, the message of Christ flipped the argument: "My life" < "your life". "I make your life more important to me than my own." Even to the point of "Christ's Divine Life" < "our earthly dirt life". What an amazing choice of humility to flip such a profoundly obvious order of importance; that God would find His own life worth forfeit to save ours.

Look past the obvious pro-choice, pro-life argument. Listen to the candidates, and anyone really, with a different filter. If they favor one life over another (even if they happen to say pro-life), then test the wisdom of their decisions. We may find the presence or absence of Christ more obvious than we thought.

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The sinful "revolution" - pt 2

I realize from the previous post that I've mainly just bounced an idea right of the surface of the obvious. The reason people sin, or more specifically choose a different direction than Godliness, is that they are sinners. The reason people sin is that they are following a basic sin nature instead of a Christ redeemed one. But I think it's more fair to say that people sin because they don't know a different way exists, or they can't help it.

I think there is much more to this than we give people credit for. Christian's are quick to judge others' actions because we are expecting them to make decisions based on our viewpoint. We can't understand why they don't see it our way. I read somewhere recently that everyone generally makes the best decision based on the information they are given. That most people, by and large, are acting on the direction which seems best to them. Under this notion, people aren't sitting around drinking poison for the sake of poison. People drink poison because they think it's grape juice. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find a very normal American who purposefully sought arsenic flavored beverages because they loved the taste of arsenic.

Instead, people as a whole have no idea what they are doing. The Bible talks about the Holy Spirit as a light. That He brings about change in people by showing them where they have been blind. It verifies the verse in Amazing Grace, "I once was lost, but now am found; was blind but now I see."

In understanding the fallen nature of man, especially the fallen nature of our society and culture today in America, we have to grow into the revelation that people are for the most part totally unaware of the true results of their actions. The more realistic idea is that there is a rampant blindness to truth. We as the church have to get past this idea that people are all suicidal idiots running as fast as they can off a cliff, even though, justifiably, that's exactly what it looks like.

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The sinful "revolution" - pt 1

Tonight I saw a brief history of "the sexual revolution", which occurred in America in the 1950's. It talked about how America lived very pent up during most of it's past and in the 1950's people began to emerge out into the public as healthy sexual creatures. Just prior to the status quo being violently overturned, it was known that people in this country viewed sex as something you just didn't talk about. It was, for the most part, whole heartedly avoided in discussion.

What seems fascinating to me is that people became so quick to overthrow goodness. It seems that all of a sudden, seemingly overnight, our culture suddenly found purity something that wasn't valuable. And their main cause for justification was the statement, "This is just naturally who I am. I should just embrace it. Why fight what you want?"

Why are we so quick to throw away goodness? Why do we refuse to protect purity? What happened in the psyche of the United States that we no longer found the strength to uplift cleanness and wholeness? It's so odd to me to hear the argument that you should be sexually healthy by acting on your impulses, especially if it means acting on them with someone you love. And yet studies and just basic commonsense at this point shows that the result of sex without real commitment takes an enormous toll on your physical, emotional and physical health.

Why do people do what so obviously leads to their downfall?

I made this a multiple part post because this very idea is on my heart as of late; this conflict in all people to do and act contrary to what their heart hopes the best for. It's an interesting question to ask, but I'm beginning to wonder: why do people justify and argue for the things in their life which mean them the most harm, while fighting and ignoring the few true things which would mean their joy?

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First Line of Defense

I was talking to my good friend Dennis McDowell today about the current instability our country is going through. Economic bailouts, fuel crisis', unsure presidential candidates, increasing unemployment... times are tough, no question. And being in the church it's becoming much easier to see the spiritual fallout and influences easier: both Holy and unrighteous alike. Looking at these times through a lens of history and not of culture brings to light a new perspective.

From a military viewpoint, the smartest and first attack on an enemy usually occurs within the scope of a balance between "well defended" and "high priority". For example, yes, killing the leader would be the highest advantage, but getting to that person directly is almost completely unrealistic (unless you're Jason Bourne, in which case NO ONE is safe). At the same time, destroying their Mario Kart controllers, while it might prove easy with a electrical surge, wouldn't prove to have an enormous impact (unless you're Greg Varney).

It need not be understated that our enemy is really REALLY crafty and good at what he does. Therefore, the initial attack on us as a society and as individuals should be considered this "perfect first strike". And that attack, I've begun to notice, is on our hope. Our hope in this country is waning at an alarming rate. We've got no hope in our economy, we have no hope in our fuel reserves, we have no hope in our current job market. In fact, because our hope is beginning to lose it's grip, we've suddenly shifted it to the current presidential candidates; a move which has ALWAYS proven to be a good one (see: sarcasm). Should either candidate win by a landslide, the poor soul would immediately be seen as the great hope of a nation. And like all people who wear this moniker, they immediately prove us wrong. Thus leading us into further hope recession.

So I challenge everyone reading this: hold tight to hope. Defend it regardless of the current circumstance, regardless of any future circumstance (and there will be more). Hold fast to the hope our faith allows us and in the God who authored victory. The love of Christ has outlived instability and fear itself for millennia. And in His promises and foundations we may be able to offer real hope to a culture which is in dire need.

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The Last Ice Man in Town

I'm not sure where that phrase came from, but being "the last ice man in town" is a great way to determine if your small business has a chance in your town. The idea is this: 100 years ago the way people got ice was that it was delivered to them. It came in huge blocks and guys would bring them around in trucks. You would store the ice in your "ice box" and it would keep your food cold and you could chip away at it if necessary to put into your drinks. The invention of the air compressor and modern day cooling devices meant that everyone didn't need ice deliverers. However, occasionally people do need ice delivered and they need it to happen quick. Therefore, if you're the last ice guy in town, you can sell some pretty expensive hockey flooring.

Same idea applies to small business. What can you do, and where is the need? That's the most fundamental principle to a successful business. If you can do what no one else can, and you can do what people need, you can charge for it. A bad business principle would be to open up a brand new electronics store next to Best Buy. "We've got one of those. Who are you?"

Now for the spiritual part. How many religions are based on works? Islam, Buddhism, Native-American Rain Dancing, Hindu, Wicca, modern day Judaism.... this list goes on forever, because every "religion" finds it's definition as a "set of principles and actions whereby man relates to God(s)". Christianity, to my knowledge, is one of the only ones that is based almost entirely around relationship (ancient Greek mythology was as well, but since we've been able to scale Olympus, sort of destroys the framework). Jesus made it clear: either He knows you or He doesn't. Under this scope it also makes it clear why other religions would dislike us so much. Jesus doesn't make you really do all that much, besides lay down your life for Him.

Last thought: the simplicity you find in following Jesus doesn't speak to blandness. It speaks to order. It doesn't need the bells and whistles of a diet, routine, schedule, alter, building, country, hat, robe, necklace... it speaks to you where you are. You either will accept Christ for what He did, or you will reject Him. And that is far more important than which way East is. Come to think of it, I believe Christianity is the only religion you could successfully practice on the moon...

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Evolution and the ultimate creation argument

The basic way in which I have learned to hear from God is that when He speaks, I listen. That entails two things: 1) I don't control the content and 2) I don't control the schedule. He speaks, I listen. That said, I've found that His wisdom doesn't really care for my time table. I mean, let's face it; the guy is busy. If He can take the time out of His schedule to talk to me, I'd better be open to hearing.

Last night was one of those moments (which by the way are becoming more and more frequent for me). It was during the [r]nation service at church. I began thinking about evolution... and I just lost 8 of you with that sentence.

My understanding of evolution is what I consider to be a very main stream viewpoint. The universe and all existence found itself in a perfect combination of heat, mass, density and pressure and exploded from a central point in space. From there, all existence as we know it was formed or at least set in motion to be formed. One of the things that erupted from this perfect cosmic M-80 was earth. Now earth was unique because it had fluid water and it spun it's orbit around a star with such a perfect proximity that the water never really froze completely and it never really boiled. Nice and constant; perfect for something to start moving.

A couple of microbes and bacteria began to procreate (bow chicka) and over time, like, TONS of time, they began to take on different forms and families and genetic mutations. Throw in some meteor hits, a couple of dinosaurs, some monkeys and BOOM: in about 10 million years, you've got yourself some humans. So that's the long and short of what I know about evolution. We just happened.

This argument makes sense, at least on paper. Math is finding a tough time to prove it, but looking at some turtles and birds in the south pacific - ok, I get it. Maybe. But it also doesn't make sense, for reasons I won't go into here. The main premise I want to make is this: technically under this viewpoint, humans are just like everything else. Really, we aren't any different from bacteria or planets for that matter. Specifically, we aren't any different from monkeys. We're just advanced monkeys. This is where the argument fails.

If you're a Christian, or if you believe Jesus did what He did at all, including for the reasons He did what He did, then the argument that we are all the same is now void. See, just the fact that God did anything, anything AT ALL is a miracle unto itself. The fact that He even noticed us enough to show Himself as a cloud by day was a big deal. But He didn't stop there. He took Himself, and made Him us. He turned Himself into us. And according to His words not mine, He did it so "...that we might never die, but instead join Him in eternal life." So what are we saying by totally agreeing to evolution? God saved the advanced monkeys, but not the basic ones?

By agreeing to the concept of Christ as a savior to the world of men, you are agreeing to the premise that men are different from other things. And if men are different, and I mean TOTALLY different, then God's ultimate sacrifice automatically validates our differences (dude, God changed His form, abandoned heaven temporarily and ripped the cosmos in half just to have a shot at saving us from nothingness). The evolution argument suddenly seems just a bit flat, regardless of how already scientifically hopeful it is.

Yet science still is valuable. It gives us medicine, let's us see ourselves physically for who we are on the inside and even describes the universe in a language we can relate to. So to have one or the other (science or Godliness) is not the case. Instead, one should speak to and validate the other.

I'll end with 3 quotes, and they were made by geniuses. The first two were made by a stark atheist:

"We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special."....... "The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired."
~ Steven Hawking

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
~ Albert Einstein

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VOTING!!!

Ooooh oohhh!! I got another one! TWO POSTS IN ONE DAY!!! WORLD DOMINATION IS AT HAND!!!!!! Eh hem........

You should register to vote, in case you haven't yet. For realz. Go here-------------------> VOTE









HA! Just kidding. It's actually here. No seriously, this time it's legit. And you should flippin' go to church too! Maybe even this one. My gosh people, the last time we just trusted in humans, this happened. I mean seriously, voting isn't enough! You wanna see what just voting without Jesus involved gave us?! EXACTLY! I mean, that was his campaign ad!

To recap, you need voting AND Jesus... I wish I could start singing "You Are Not Alone" by my boy Mike Jackson on all of your computers right now. Cause you're not. Alone that is.

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A Necessary Advancement

Hi. My name is Christian Reese and chances are you already know that because really, to be honest, at this point the only people seeing this are my friends. I tend to be like most people in that I don't jump into a new technology until EVERYBODY already has, which is why the development of this blog has only just now found life. The beautiful part is I'm the consultant for new technology at a local company. Wow, I'm already rambling....

So this blog is now created and for the moment it's been for only one reason: I saw something that caused me to want to say something publicly. I subscribe to a blog called Church Marketing Sucks, a website dedicated to the usually horrid world of church marketing and overall image. A recent poll on their blog asked church staff what the most obvious result was in their churches since the beginning of the current economic struggle. The number one answer? "Offerings are down". A few years ago this would have been a boring poll. But now, to me at least, this is a great snapshot of the current times.

I haven't always been a giver, especially when it comes to church. I tithed when I could, which is to say I gave of my excess. Lovingly, God placed me at The Rock Church in Asheville, NC where I got my senses straightened out. There's nothing loving or generous about giving when you don't have to think about it. It's the proverbial tossing money toward a birthday at work. Real giving occurs when it costs you. Like it pulls from you. Like, it costs you. We don't like that. Which is why most people don't give.

Yet God is really clear on the issue. Give, and He will give to you. You give, He gives (more than He already does, by the way). Better yet, you give, He blesses. That's an awesome idea. And that never comes with a contingency plan. Again though, it has to cost you. It's not about giving in the harvest; it's about giving as a lifestyle. Giving when your blessed is like going to church or praying when you're blessed. The more I think about it, that's actually a bit redundant.

So the challenge has been set forth at The Rock. An initiative we've coined The Generosity Experiment. Till the end of the year make it priority to tithe and be generous to God's House and the people in your world. "Test me now in this," God tells us. So, let's test Him. Better yet, let's prove Him right. Economic crisis or not - generosity, blessing and abundance are lifestyles. And if we can so easily turn them off, then what's the point of building our lives on them.

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