Sin

“Be a sinner and sin boldly!” “Let your sins be strong!” “Sin bravely!” All quotes from Martin Luther.

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." -Jesus (Mark 12:28-31)

Is it just me or am I safe to say that the church, AKA Christians, are pretty judgemental people? Did Jesus not walk on this earth and spend his time with sinners? Are we not all sinners? Who gives us the right to label one sin greater than another? Last I checked the people Jesus got ticked off the most with were Pharisees, the religious leaders, who made lists of rules and enforced them on the people. Let me ask you this, is the church today playing the role of religious leaders? Does the church roll out these laundry lists of do's and dont's? I mean it is pretty clear in Mark 12 that Jesus says our number one priority is to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. Does all the other junk really matter? I mean it is pretty simple, I think in the end we will be asked if we love our God with all that is in us and love our neighbor as yourself.

I came across the quotes from Luther after speaking to someone today. I had never heard them and they intrigued me. I think what Luther is saying here is that all that matters really is what is laid out in Mark 12. In Luther's time the Catholic church was pulling out all the stops with lists of rules and Luther would not play along. "Be a sinner and sin boldly" I think what this boils down to is your own personal definitions of morals. After talking with a dear friend last night it became clear to me that there is no set right or wrong. One person's morals are going to be different than another. This is based on life experiences, on the way we are brought up, on our own personal being. If the church labels something as a sin and we don't agree then take a stance, be a sinner and boldly stand up for what you believe. One thing I am realizing is that I often agree with the majority because I don't want to ruffle feathers but ultimately I am not being true to myself. I am not standing up for what I believe. So, today I have a new view, focus on loving God and loving my neighbor as myself, outside of that nothing matters and standing up boldly for what I believe in.

I left my ark at home!

I don't think I have ever seen a storm blow in and out of town so quickly, leaving the results it did last evening. The down-pour lasted one to two hours and left streets flooded and power out. The wind blew down power poles and trees. The hail damaged peoples buildings. Craziness! Trying to drive around town was nuts...the water was up the sides of the car doors...and I have a truck! It was insane. I could see how people got stuck! What is more funny is the storm is long gone and now it is a sunny day. What a funny/crazy personality Mother Nature has.

John C. Maxwell

Today I had the privilege of hearing John C. Maxwell speak at Fresno Pacific. What a dynamic speaker. I really enjoyed him. He only was given 30 minutes or so to speak at College Hour but I could have probably listened to him for hours more.

Maxwell's topic today was running a lap with leaders in the bible. He pulled out three and gave us insight into their lives and what they would say if they were to tell us one sentence based on their life experience.
Esther - God has a purpose for your life.
David - Don't let others limit your potential.
Rebecca - Serve others before yourself.

What an awesome experience to hear a world class author share. I left feeling very encouraged and very happy that I took the time to attend. Thanks FPU for bringing us great speakers! Can't wait for Donald Miller in the spring!

The court is my friend!

So, I went to court this morning after receiving a notice stating my license was going to by suspended in 15 days for a failure to appear/failure to pay on a speeding ticket. This notice was totally bogus as I paid the fine and submitted my appeal via trial by declaration months ago and the courts cashed my check.

I waited in line at 8am this morning when they opened behind 30-40 other individuals. Let me say a diverse crowd indeed. The two in front of me were making out...loud kissing. Kinda grossed me out that early in the morning. Anywho, I waited in line with my copy of canceled check in hand and copy of all the documents I submitted.

I finally reached the clerk and found out that the letter did go out in error and they had all my paperwork and my money. Come to find out the cop failed to submit his paperwork to the judge! He missed the deadline and they extended it a month...which was a few weeks ago and he still didn't file the paperwork. So, the judge has my paperwork in hard and it appears that I will receive a ruling in my favor and it will be removed from my record and I will get a refund of the bail! All I can say is PTL that I have been told to fight tickets cause when the police man doesn't do his part you win! This advice coming from my boss and Executive Director. Haha.

So, the hour down at the court was all worth it in the end! =)

2 for 2

So, I don't want to brag...this is not about bragging. This is about me being in complete and total shock. So, I got my Econ mid-term back today and I got a perfect score of 100. Mind you I got a 100 on the first exam too. The class average on these tests is around 75. There are no assignments outside of exams, the professor bases your grade solely on these exams. I seriously don't understand how I do so well...I mean I was expecting a B on this one. It's shocking is what it is. And I got a C on my youth ministry mid-term, haha. Maybe my calling is to be an Economist not a Youth Minister. Watch out world, I am gonna be the next Alan Greenspan! JUST KIDDING!!!!!!

hate hate HATE...

allergies. I got a call from the doctors office that my labs came back. I am allergic to grass, olive trees, and oat pollen. Freakin sucks! This is the cause of my reoccurring sore throats, runny/stuffed up nose, head aches, and eye irritations. What needs to happen is this freakin 90 degree weather needs to go away and it needs to hecka rain so all this crap gets out of the air. Then I shall be a happy camper. I just want winter to come already!!!

ISTJ...

Your personality type is ISTJ.

Introverted (I) 71% Extraverted (E) 29%
Sensing (S) 73% Intuitive (N) 27%
Thinking (T) 60% Feeling (F) 40%
Judging (J) 73% Perceiving (P) 27%

So, I have taken the myers briggs personality test before however I seemed to misplace my results and I don't recall what my type was...I was asked by a friend what my type was so I decided to take it again. I found that I am an ISTJ. I read the profile (http://typelogic.com/istj.html) and sadly it described me however I can't always say I am proud of the description. I am pretty much down to business, just want the facts, enjoy procedure, don't share feelings all that much, and become frustrated with inconsistencies in others. Hmmm...good to know. Maybe I need to work on being a little more free and lose. My personality is a mix of George Washington, Herbert Hoover, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, and Cliff from Cheers. Haha...too funny!

Love

"The absolutely unpardonable thing was not his concern for the sick, the cripples, the lepers, the possessed...not even his partnership for the poor, humble people. The real trouble was that he got involved with moral failures, with obviously irreligious and immoral people; people morally and politically suspect, so many dubious, obscure, abandoned, hopeless types, existing as an eradicable evil, on the fringe of every society. This was the real scandal. Did he really have to go so far? What kind of dangerous and naive love is this, which does not know its limits: the frontiers between fellow countrymen and foreigners, party members and non-members, between neighbors and distant people, between honorable and dishonorable callings, between moral and immoral, good and bad people? As if dissociation were not absolutely necessary here. As if we ought not to judge in these cases. As if we could always forgive in these circumstances." Brennan Manning (Abba's Child, pp 65-66)

The same God who loves those who call him Abba also loves those who do not know him. What is love that we are to judge who is deserving and who is not? The love of Abba stretches as far as one side of the world to the other, encompassing every body along the way. Love for the woman who has an abortion, the man who is looking at internet porn, the homeless man on the corner who is going to take the dollar I give him and go buy more beer, the woman on G Street waiting for a man with some money to pick her up, the teenager who is cutting and doesn't tell a sole because he hates life, the father who is abusing his children, the downstairs neighbors who blare Michael Jackson music at all hours into the night, the person who is running from the overhead helicopter with the spotlight, the guy who is struggling with homosexuality and understanding his true identity, the girl who is recovering from being taken advantage of and turns to a friend who in turn takes advantage of her wounded state, the woman who is having an affair on her husband, the guy who flips people off in traffic, the Christian picketers standing out on street corners, those who are lying on their income taxes, the bombers on 9/11, you, me, and every person we cross paths with...we are all sinner...and guess what, God loves us all.

Realness

I really like when people are real. Real with that they went through in life. Real with who they are. Real with what life is about. Often times we wear masks...especially as the church...I am guilty of this as well. However, I am very thankful for people around me who are real! So, thank you!

I think I like...

my new boss. I wasn't always too thrilled about the idea of bringing in someone from the outside to be my boss but the more I spend time with him the more I like him. I got to have lunch with my new boss (Jeff), his family, my Executive Director who has been my boss for the past year and a half and his family today. It was a good time of sharing stories about our lives and dreaming about the future. Although, I don't know what my future has in store or how long I will be at YFC, I do think I will get along with Jeff and I think he has the heart, passion, and big dreams to lead our ministry. Here's to a new chapter in the book and full speed ahead.

Don't....

watch scary movies, alone, in the dark, in downtown Fresno. So, last night I decided to pop in the movie Disturbia that my friend Meg loaned me. I have wanted to see it for a while so I thought what the heck. I am not going to lie...I screamed aloud a few times while watching the movie. It was a great film but really made you question who is living around you! You don't really know who your neighbors are! The noises outside freaked me out a bid as I sat on the edge of my seat...or should I say edge of my bed. Anywho, despite the fact that it did scare me a tad, its a movie I would recommend.

Sometimes there are no answers

I found myself asking "Why" the past few days and realizing sometimes we won't have the answers. We don't always understand why bad things happen to good people. It also became clear to me that so often I look at all the problems in my life and feel sorry for myself when really I have no idea the hurt and pain that others are going through. My problems are not even a drop of water compared to what others are experiencing. As I type this blog two of my friends are going through a world of pain. Both of them are battling with losing their mothers. Both of these friends are younger than I. One who's mom is battling day by day with cancer that has taken over her entire body. The other who's mom has been in a coma for five weeks and the family is coming to terms with removing life support as there is no chance for mom to wake up. There are no words that I can say that can ease any pain these two families are going through. I try and put myself in their shoes and it doesn't even compare to an ounce of what their are feeling. I could not imagine losing my mom or looking at her and knowing she is going to pass. My heart goes out to my friends and their families. All we can do is know that God is in control and He is the only one that can comfort.

Meet my friend...

I have been meaning to post this blog since last week. I would like to introduce you to my friend...or should I say half-a-friend in the picture...Bob the cockroach.

You see a few weeks back I was driving and out of the side of my eye I say something moving on the passenger floor. I looked over and there was Bob...the biggest cockroach I have ever seen. At least four inches in length. I immediately pulled over, jumped out of my car and went around to dispose of Bob. But he was a fast bugger...as I went to get him he ran up inside the dash of my car. I could not find away to get him. For the next few days I drove around worried that he was going to jump out and crawl on me while I was driving. But after a few days I forgot about Bob until...

Fast forward to last week. I was visiting a buddy of mine and he wanted to see my new truck. He asked if it had four wheel drive. I told him yes, however I didn't know how to use it. He told me to hop in and he would teach me. So, I got in the passenger seat and we took off. We went around the block and pulled back up to my buddies office. When we were getting out he said "Derek, what is THAT?" and pointed to my vent. I went around and looked and there was Bob...dead of course...and stuck to the vent. Actually taking up almost all of the vent. I started laughing. Then I thought how I had the air on earlier and how I recalled things coming out of the vent and I thought it was dust or something...nope...it was pieces of Bob. Ewww.

So I drove around a few hours wondering how I would get him out since he was inside the vent and the vent does not come off. Leave it to one of my bestest friends, Bec, lil miss McGiver to come up with a solution. She pulled our her trusty lil tweezers and I dissected Bob out of the vent. The only problem was he was too big to come through so I had to break him into pieces to remove him. Wait there was another problem, I had to leave the air running to get him out or else he would fall inside the back of the vent so I got to have Bob guts fly all over me while I pulled him out. What you see in the above picture is the remaining chunk of Bob on the ground after I got him out. RIP Bob...it was nice knowing you!

I could live here....

It kind of intrigues me to live in a big city and work in a big sky scraper. But then on the other hand I am sure it is different to live there then to drive through on the freeway. Hmmm.

Overrated

For some time now I have been looking forward to trying a Chick-fil-a. I have heard that their chicken sandwiches are amazing and I am totally a fan of a good chicken sandwiches. So, this past weekend I was finally able to try one and it was good, however I feel like it is a little overrated. It was not the best sandwich I have ever had...honestly it was just pretty average. And not only that but it comes with pickles...which I am not a fan of. And even more sad it doesn't come with lettuce! You have to pay to add lettuce on. So, my dear readers Chick-fil-a I believe is just another O.C. fad.

Frustrations...

Sometimes it is hard to understand why organizations have to be so difficult. I am frustrated with FPU. Great school. Love the people. However, I don't always understand reasons behind policies and decisions. Looking into the possibility of switching programs and it's like pulling teeth to try and get answers to which path is best. I am trying to remain patient and calm through this process and hope that there are answers that just have to be uncovered.

The Church & Homosexuality

The Church and Homosexuality...a topic that was discussed amongst my Intro to Youth Ministry class as well as at the Youth Network Meeting last week. This topic came up as a duo came to Fresno...Jason & deMarco. Two Christian men, gay partners, who love each other and love God...and they are Christian singers. They also released an independent film recently. Here is the trailer clip...

The topic of homosexuality isn't going away. It is here with us for at least the next decade so what is the church to do about it? Kids are feeling unaccepted and unloved by the church. More and more we are going to lose them because we are going to treat them like they are not human and all in the name of Jesus. I am starting to question, where is the grace? Where in the bible does it say that homosexuality is the worst sin imaginable, aren't all sins equal? I have a hard time standing against people like Jason and deMarco who are trying to spread God's love to a group of people in our society that is usually beaten up by the church.

I investigated this more after seeing the above video clip in class and at my meeting. I came across an article written by Jason and I thought I would put up a link. It really does make you think about this topic on a whole different level. Let me know your thoughts.
http://www.spiritpop.com/reconciled.htm

Solitude

Today in my practicum class we took fifteen minutes of solitude. It was an amazing thing. We were all silent and for the first half we listened to an audio of a woman's voice and she took us through letting go the busyness around us and bringing God into the center of all our thoughts. It was a very cool experience.

I began to picture all the areas of my life: work/ministry, friend, family, my home, school and I pictured my self hurrying from place to place and realizing how often I don't put God in the center of what I do. How often I can see me going through the actions of life and not focusing on the fact that everything truly revolves around Him. I left the class and drove across town and didn't turn on my music, didn't talk on my phone, just spent another fifteen or so minutes listening to the sounds around me and taking the things of life in.

It really made me think that I never spend moments just in silence. Life is so busy and it causes us to loose touch. I encourage you to spend a moment today in the silence...no music, no reading, no talking...just be still and know that He is there.

Adios mi Beemer

It's official...I am a one car man. I juggled two for the longest time...then it went to three, back to two, and now down to one. I handed over the keys to the beauty known as the Beemer, Z-4 Roadster, the Chick Mobile, or as Jen would call it the Tic-Tac. Good bye sweet car, we had some fun memories...but we also had a lot of horrible ones...accidents, vandalism, tickets...I bid you farewell lil car.

Whirl Wind Weekend...

Recapping Friday to Monday...

Highlights...
-Got to spend time with a student who moved away.
-Got to meet a new friend...Valerie.
-Had dinner with Valerie and two other friends.
-Heard a pretty awesome local speaker and mission behind your ministry.
-Was able to chat with Gracie online!
-Had lunch with my buddy Brett who I hadn't hung out with in almost a year!
-Had lunch with Becky which is always a pleasure.

Lowlights...
-Got up way too early for a conference I had to work at all day.
-Food at the conference was icky.
-Visited a church that was way different than mine which was a little too in the box for me. (Caused me to have greater appreciation for my church)
-Worked late on Friday night.
-Became frustrated with students lack of commitment and respect.
-Cable got hacked again and stopped working.
-Not nearly enough sleep...or enough time spent at home.

Time to start another new week...seems as if they continue to fly by!!!

Freakin Criminals!

So, someone hacked my cable again!!!!! I turned on my tv last night and blurry picture and sketchy sound. Luckily my internet is still up today, knock on wood. I don't understand why whichever scammy neighbor is stealing cable won't get the picture. They cut them off two weeks ago and they struck again and in the process they jacked up my service! Can you tell I am not happy? So ya...repair men back out on Monday to attempt to fix this again. I am going to demand some kind of lock to fix this. Okay, thats all.

Bye bye cursed ice chest!

So, tonight I had to bid farewell to a very nice, relatively new ice chest/cooler. You see we had a youth event and I asked a volunteer and student to empty the water and excess ice at the end of the event and they spilled it all over the floor. So, we placed the empty ice chest in the back of my pick-up truck for me to take back to the office. This isn't a little ice chest...it is probably four to five feet in length and two to three feet deep. Well, I dropped off kids and was heading home. I got home and looked in the back of my truck and the ice chest is gone. Yes, gone. I thought it was some kind of sick twisted joke and I stood very perplexed. But after contacting students to verify it was indeed in the truck and I wasn't losing my mind like I left it at the event, I came to conclude it flew out of my truck. How something this large flew out without me hearing or seeing I have no idea. Maybe my music (AKA jams) were too loud for me to notice. I do recall a car honking at one point but I didn't understand so I kept driving, that could have been at the point I lost it. Who knows. So, I hate to report that YFC owns one less ice chest and either someone got a free ice chest and is very happy tonight or someone is very sad because the hit this foreign object on the dark road. I declare that the ice chest was cursed and therefore possibly demon possessed and therefore Jesus set it free so it could cause us no more harm. Haha. RIP blue ice chest. Now we shall wait for my boss to get the voicemail telling him that its gone, haha.