Kel's Page

Bible Strikes

2011-01-07T07:08:00.000-08:00

I find it odd that sometimes that I don't always get struck by what I read in the Bible. At first, I thought I was doing it wrong, which is also laughable. But you hear stories about people who just open their Bible and the first verse they read is exactly what they needed to hear. I think the trick is is that they tell the story as if this is what they do everyday and this just can't be the case. What I have found when reading my Bible is that there are definitely times when verses will strike me, but its more like lightening than it is like rain, let me explain.

You see rain is steady. Rain happens. It happens in some places more than others, but it pretty much happens everywhere on earth. The real thing though is that when it rains, its pretty much uniform. You'll get sprinkles, then bigger drops. If you get in a really good rain, it pours down. I these types of rain because its like God has unleashed some hidden tank of water in the sky and its falling to earth to inundate it. Rain is steady and constant though. Many times it will rain a lot, but it doesn't storm. The difference between a rain and a storm is lightening. Lightening is awesome. In past cultures they believed that lightening came directly from the gods and that they were either warring or hitting something with a giant hammer. lightening is spectacular and the closer you are the louder it gets. Have you ever been within a mile of lightening? Its enough to scare any person on earth. There is power and majesty and unknown when it comes to lightening because it is so fast and extreme, and it doesn't happen all the time.

All that to say, the Bible strikes like lightening sometimes. Sometimes you'll be reading and something will just hit you BOOM and you get a revelation from God. The problem is though is when we approach reading the Bible expecting this. Especially if we expect it daily. In my opinion we need to be approaching our Bible like rain. We need to be getting a nice steady soak from our daily reading of His word. And while it is raining we hope that it will storm.

Journal 1/3/2011

2011-01-03T06:26:00.000-08:00

Right now a huge part of my personal time with God is being spent in the studying of and the learning about disciple making. This type of ministry and theology seems so basic and so rudimentary but I believe that focusing on this will be one of the more important things that I can do with my life. You see, disciplemaking is something that Christ did. As a matter of fact it was the primary thing that He did during the time that He was ministering to the world. There would be times that Jesus would speak to thousands and perform miracles, but far more often He would be teaching a group of 12 men. I have missed this and so am coming back to it. I can be the best teacher in the world but if I do not learn how to make disciples, then when I am gone there will be no one trained to take my place. Jesus reached out to hundreds and thousands, but when we look at the impact that the 11 had after Jesus' death, the numbers are astounding.

I started off today reading a Youversion plan. I read the two verses that went along with the story but today it was the additional content that caught my eye. It was a story about a man who was reached by the work of a youth minister back in the 70's. What struck me was this line: I ran for about six months, avoiding Ron the best I could. It was a difficult task, as he seemed to show up everywhere. He was at every football and basketball game. He was in the school halls, in the cafeteria, in the parking lot. He and his band of disciples were always inviting me to another retreat, another Bible study, another prayer meeting, another youth night at the church.

It seems that in that day, this guy was pulling out all the stops. This guy's ministry involved retreats, Bible studies, prayer meetings, and youth nights. The thing that I really want to figure out right now are what are the 2011 versions of prayer meetings and youth nights? These things that worked in the 70's seem to not work as well anymore. I know that the focus does not need to be on the programming, what was important was that this person was coming to the students. But that was just to reach the unreached. The other programs were for disciple making. How do we accomplish this in today's drastically different world?

Lord, give me the wisdom to seek after Your will in this area of my life.

Bible Study:

I then went on to read 1 Thessalonians. Here is the verse that caught my brain's attention the most:

1 Thess. 4: 9-10 Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And, in fact, you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. Yet, we urge you, dear friends, to do so more and more...

Paul is praising this church for the love that it has for one another and for the people in their whole province. But then he challenges them to not only continue, but to do more! This gets me pretty excited because I know that there are times when people can get stuck in a rut. Heck, there are plenty of times that I get stuck in a rut. But God is calling us forward. There is a road and a plan. Love each other well isn't good enough, we must press on towards loving with the attitude that God loves us.

That kind of Dad

2010-12-09T20:00:00.000-08:00

It was interesting tonight, I tucked in my wife Leanne and the first instinct I had was to go and check up on my daughter, just to watch her sleep. I flipped on the hallway light so that there could be a little light in her bedroom and I went in and watched. I watched her sleep for a good five minutes. I was reminded of movie scenes or tv shows when they want to portray a guy as a really good dad it was happens at bedtime. Its either the dad puts his kids to sleep, or he walks in as they are sleeping and he watches. Its a good thing because apparently this is at the top of a short list that dad's can do to be "good dads." I think that the list goes like this:

1. tuck your kid in and read them a story.

2. play catch with your son/have tea with your daughter

3. work really hard to provide the future for your kid, when you get home watch them sleep

The irony of watching your kid sleep is that it shows you care to everyone but your child. They are sleeping and they don't know you are there. But its cinematic and you get the picture.

I recently had a conversation with someone who asked me how they could know that God had their back, because they really didn't feel like He did. I think that this is a feeling that we can all relate to. Sometimes it seems like that life is so hard that we have no idea if God is close and holding us, or if He's far away. I think that there are times when we feel so small and invaluable that we don't feel like we are worthy of God's time or even we don't blame God for being busy, its a big universe... The truth though, is the fact that God uses family language all the time to talk about the relationship that He has with us. He doesn't call us His creation, or man, or His problems, which undoubtedly we all are. Instead God calls us, His children. He puts himself in the place of father in our lives. This leads us to ask the question, what kind of Dad is God? Well obviously God doesn't play catch with us or have tea (unless you are looking at Jesus, but I'm thinking me personally. I haven't ever played catch with Jesus). I've also never been tucked into bed by God, even though there are some great stories that you can read in the Bible. I do think though, that God is the kind of Dad that watches us sleep. He watches our lives, he sees the tears, the joy, the falls, and the triumphs. He looks at us and He smiles because He knows that we are his. I look at Noelle so often and there is this inexplicable love that I cannot fully comprehend or explain. I think that's exactly what kind of Dad that God is.

How do we promote ourselves?

2009-08-31T06:02:00.001-07:00

So Leanne and I were listening to K-Love this morning on our way to the UCM and as we're approaching the last leg of our 10 min drive the information update comes on. The second story today was about how to stay faithful in college. Leanne and I instantly perk up to listen, this being the area we are doing ministry. I can tell that we are both expecting to hear something passionate and full of life but what comes to my ears? A guy that is 80 years old telling us how college students today can keep the faith. 80 years old? We as a church (or the radio station!) cannot find someone in a successful campus ministry somewhere that is less that 4 times the age of most people going to college this year? The really hard part is that it is not like he said anything earth moving coming from 50 years of campus ministry. this guy was just a retired Pastor from WI. This has really got me thinking. I've been running into more and more of these little nuances when it comes to campus ministry. A while back I had preached a sermon at a church where God really moved and stirred the hearts of several in the congregation. The pastor of that church was absent but when he came back he had several comments of which my favorite was this: "Kel did a wonderful job, why are we (as a church) wasting him on campus ministry?" Indeed, why do we waste our time on campus ministry at all? Its hard for me, a campus minister to accept statements like this. One I'm glad for the compliment but in the very same breath I was cut to the bone. You see, people do not take seriously the role of campus ministry in the Church. Oh sure there are a few people here and there that will give us lip service, but when it comes down to it most people do not feel that the ministry we do on campus is important. You can see this in the K-Love news update. They did not go and find someone that is doing campus ministry, they went and asked someone about what they thought about campus ministry. Thoughts need to change, ideals need to change, hearts and lives need to be changed when it comes to how we view campus ministry. I was personally brought to know God through campus ministry and know the importance of what we do on campus. I see first hand the pain and the need of students as they go through college. This world is a broken and fallen world and the college campus is often a place where much of it culminates. The campus is also where people are trying to figure out who they are and what they want to do with their lives. The church needs to be present in the midst of these decisions. I for one am trying to figure out how to better present campus ministry so that everyone can see its importance, will you help?

Casting the first stone

2009-08-26T07:02:00.000-07:00

For whatever reason this morning the passage in John 8 about the adulteress woman and the pharisees popped into my head. I pondered the story and tried to put myself into the story:
I was on a dusty road and it was very hot outside. Thankfully there was a slight breeze but even that was being stifled by the large crowd that had gathered. The religious folk were after it again this time they had brought a woman forward. She looked absolutely exhausted, her clothes were tattered, and by the looks of her, she hadn't bathed in a few days. Then Jesus, who some say is a prophet came walking up and as he did the Pharisees called out to him. Telling him that this woman was an adulterer. I instantly felt bad for this woman, for I knew what was coming to her. In Rome where I'm from, sex is power but here these people were about to kill this woman and knowing these Jews, it probably wasn't even her fault. Sometimes these religions can be so dark and painful towards the very people that need them most. This woman is poor and probably was trying desperately to find someone to take care of her, who knows. Jesus comes up and they demand an answer for what this woman has done and he....ignores them? He is just drawing on the ground, what is he doing? They tire of this and press him for an answer. He slowly stands up and says, "If you want to kill this woman, let the person who has no sin throw the first stone." Ha! They are all standing around looking like someone just slapped them across the face. Wait!?!? They are leaving? What did he say again? sin? Has not one person in this group of so called righteous people not sinned? I figured they would all be ready to start chunking stones at that, but they are actually shamed? Amazing.

This story has some pretty profound meaning, so often we think that this story is about Jesus forgiving sin, which is a part of it. Or we use it to say that we shouldn't be judging people, while is also good but I think that this story has a much more revolutionary undertone to it. You see, the Jewish people were a people that were slow to change and once they had their minds set it took a crazy amount of effort to get them to change. Here was a woman that had sinned and by the law she was to be put to death. Now the Pharisees cared little about the actual sin and merely wanted to test Jesus. Verse 6 says, "They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him." How sad is it that these teachers of the Law of God are using the life of a woman so that they can try to trick Jesus. How wicked are their actions here really. You see the amazing part about this story is the fact that with one short sentence, Jesus turns the tables on these "holy men" and convicts them to their core. These are the same men that boast that they have kept the law to the letter since the day that they were born. These are men that pray on the corners daily and pay their tithes and alms to the temple. Yet it is these religious elite that are shamed by Jesus and not one of them will claim to be free of sin before the judgment of Jesus. THAT is amazing. the passage that directly follows this story talks about judging and how Jesus has come from the father and that the Father is with him so He could judge correctly and best of all verse 15 says, "You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one." The one person that could accurately and correctly judge, is the one person that does not judge. This is why the story about the adulterous woman is so incredible. God has every right to judge people but He does not. Jesus has every right to say that this woman has sinned and deserves to die, but does not. God is all about forgiving and loving and sadly many religious people are not.

Lord I pray that today you give me the strength to love like you love, forgive all who wrong me, even if they don't deserve it. Give me your heart for people.

Pain

2009-07-22T07:46:00.001-07:00

There are times in life when pain comes. Sometimes we see it outside of ourselves. A close friend goes through a breakup, a coworker loses a relative. The other day I was driving down the road and I had the misfortune to witness a cat get hit by a car driving the opposite way. Now I would not describe myself as a cat lover but as I saw one of God's creatures flailing its last before it died I was struck by the devastation that pain, hurt, and death leave on our lives. What's really awful is that somewhere sometime in this life we will be hurt. We will go through this pain. Evil has so pervaded this world that there is a 0% chance that anyone will be able to avoid it. What's sad is that even though we all go through these hard times, even though pain and hurt is one of the most common things about our world we often have no idea what to say. We think that our pain is unique and that we can't speak into the lives of those that are near to us. Now don't get me wrong everyone's situation is unique but as a whole we all suffer together. It is sad that we have lost our sense of community and that people don't realize that we have a common humanity that runs so much deeper than anyone gives it credit for. This humanity is the same throughout the entire world. Do they not smile in Zimbabwe? Are people not sad when someone leaves in Korea? Yet we think that we are alone.

Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

Once again we are called to be different than those around us but I love the reasoning this time. We are called to be different because we have hope. Notice the verse does not say that we shouldn't grieve, but that we should do it differently. The verse doesn't say that the loss of someone will not hurt but that our perspectives should be different than those who have no hope of a resurrection. Jesus Himself wept at the death of Lazarus and He knew that He was about to raise him from the dead. The most important part of this scripture though is the fact that Jesus died and rose again. God conquers death, the one thing that humanity cannot do itself, God steps in a provides a way where we do not have to be separated from Him. My favorite way that this is talked about is when someone says or sings "the grave is overwhelmed" because it basically shows that the love of God and the finality of the death were pitted against one another and the love of God completely exhausted all that death way. Death could not contain God and will not get in the way of Him trying to get to His children.

So have hope and dare to be different when it comes to hurt, pain, and suffering. Dare to say something to those that are hurting or even better don't say anything and do something for them. Then you don't have to worry about saying the wrong thing.

A lesson in facial hair

2009-07-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

I've been getting a lot of comments about my current choice in facial hair and I realize that its a lesser known style. so I thought I would write a post about some of the different options for facial hair so that you could be enlightened.

1. the Goatee
I've been doing some research and it turns out that the goatee is defined as being any facial hair that is grown primarily from the chin.

Much like a goat

This very much looks like what I have now though I would argue that there are some basic differences. First of all its hard to distinguish between varying styles of goatee. Technically a soul patch is also a goatee, but I don't think that it really belongs in the same category.

Here is a pic of a soul patch:

Garth Brooks obviously tried sporting this look and failed miserably. His career definitely took a tumble after this one, lesson learned: no one, not anyone is fooled by the soul patch. Very few people can pull it off.

Here is what I think of when I consider a goatee:
This is technically called a "circle beard" but for the sakes of this post I'm going to say that his is a goatee regular. Also note: not a career killer, the goatee is in if you can pull it off. Just make sure that you can grow enough mustache or you will just look silly.

The type of facial hair that I'm growing is typically called a chin beard, which is a lame name. I'm not going to walk around calling my facial hair by a part of the face. Other facial hair styles are named after famous people who had them....

For Example:

The musketeer is a pointy mustache with a bit of scruff on the bottom. The two do not connect though. Made famous by the guess who? the musketeers.

Another famous one is called the rico and is named after famous cigar maker George Rico. He's the one on the right. notice the soul patch and the chin beard that doesn't connect.

So, what do we call what I have right now? The long chin beard that grows to be longer than your normal chin beard. Here is a picture of me right now:

I'm calling this my crowder after one: David Crowder. Here is a pic:

So there you go, I'm calling my facial hair a crowder. Its an awesome style and David Crowder is also awesome. So there you go.

whirlwind craziness

2009-07-01T07:45:00.000-07:00

So I'm in Michigan right now visiting Leanne's side of the family. Its been a crazy last couple of weeks. In the last 17 days I've spent exactly 2 of them at home. Its been hard for me and hard on my family. then we got up a 3:30am and flew to MI. Needless to say, I was a zombie for most of yesterday and after sleeping for many hours (11+) I'm still a little dreary eyed but I feel like myself again. Leanne and I are starting an exercise regimen to start training to run a 5k this fall sometime. I'm really excited about it, the hard part is that we can't go and do it together because one of us has to watch the baby. Its ok though, it feels great to do something besides sit on my butt all day.

Last week I preached a sermon about death at Local Pastor School. It was an interesting experience. Given the chance I think that I would preach it again, but I definitely need to shore up a few of the things that I said. It felt strange talking about my father's death with only a little amount of emotion. I can remember giving my testimony for the first couple of years and not being able to without sobbing uncontrollably. I've come to the understanding that I'm healing from the death of my father. Its interesting to me how I remember more and more of him as time goes on, all good things. I find myself thinking about random things, like how he used to take like 3 pillows with him wherever he went and it make me smile. I feel like this is how its supposed to be. Its supposed to be hard for a while but then it gets better and you remember that person well. Its still so odd though to be thinking about him and to be happy. I see the same thing happening in Leanne too. Last night her mother found some old pictures and there was a pic of her and her dad before he died. I saw the biggest smile I've seen in a while cross Leanne's face. Yes, there was a layer of pain, but it stayed underneath. I learned this in Pastoral Care class, "Grief and the movement of Active emotion to memory." I believe that when we grieve that we take all that anger, all that pain, and we move through it to become a better person. We have to remember though. We remember a person as they are, not a better or worse person, but as a flawed human being. Its key to move on.

Now I leave you with a video of the five stages of grief, featuring a cute giraffe:

tongues of fire?

2009-05-31T20:31:00.001-07:00

So I've always thought that Pentecost was like the coolest holiday ever. Its a Christian event that I can really get behind. While being in seminary I learned about the tongues of fire and one way that we can interpret this story that I thought was really cool. I had always learned that the tongues of fire were the Holy Spirit coming down to be on the apostles. After this occurred, they could all speak in "tongues" and people from all nationalities heard them speaking in their own language. Pretty cool. What is missed is the fact that God has come down and settled "in the hearts of men." What does this mean for humanity? Jeremiah 31: 31-33:

The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt; for they broke my covenant and I had to show myself their master, says the LORD. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Pentecost is the day and time that this prophecy came true. Jesus came and established the new covenant and instead of having to pine and reach for God, God came to rest within the hearts of men. A really interesting comparison can be made about the image of God coming to "live" with humanity. During the time of Moses, it was God that lead the people. When God went ahead of the Hebrews, it was as a pillar of Fire. Burning bush anyone? Also, when God came down to meet with this same group of people at Mt. Sinai, it looked like the entire mountain top was on fire. Great imagery, when God comes down to live, God's presence is signified by fire and a lot of it. It happens again at the dedication of the temple. What's even more interesting is the proximity to God that is allowed in each of these situations. When God came down to Mt. Sinai to meet with Moses and the people, it was specifically instructed that the people be ritually clean. Two people weren't and they were "consumed by the fire." You see, not only does Pentecost signify the time when God came to dwell in the hearts of men, but it also signifies that the proximity barrier between God and humanity had been shattered and taken away. Before people had to be holy to even think about approaching God. There was only one man that was considered holy enough to enter into the Holy of Holies, and that was only once a year, and after about 2 weeks to ritualistic cleansing. At Pentecost, God came down and God's presence was taken away from the tabernacle, and instead was put into the hearts men.




This should challenge us in many ways. First of all, God lives in us and through us. After God came and settled upon the apostles they did many amazing things but most of all they became the messengers of God to the world. They lived the life. I've been struck lately at how unfree so many people are in america and honestly it doesn't surprise me that God isn't seen in amazing ways. The apostles were free, totally and utterly free from any sort of burden. They were able to bask in God's promises and do completely the will of God. I simply think about the amount of people that are in debt and I realize that most people in America aren't even free financially. If people cannot control this one simple aspect of their lives, then how can they truly know the freedom that God brings. Its really scary to me but I think its true. We as Americans have not been faithful with the immense amount of blessing that God has bestowed upon us. Until we start to shape up...I don't see God giving us bigger things...

Bible Reading

2009-05-28T20:33:00.000-07:00

So I think that I am going to start blogging about my reading of the Bible. I have two reasons for this. Blogging will require me to really think about what the verses are saying and hopefully it will also keep me accountable for doing the reading. So if you don't see any posts here or anything, please feel free to harass me.

Reading for tonight Daniel Ch. 1

In this chapter Nebuchadnezzar comes and besieges Jerusalem and wins. The armies of Babylon then carry off plunder, this includes not only things from the temple like God but also the finest of the young people that are to be taught and presented to the King of Babylon for use in his courts.
showing aptitude for every kind of learning,3-Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility--4.young men without any physical defect, handsome, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.
It strikes me as interesting that not only did the babylonians carry off precious metals but they also took the brightest of the younger generation. Looking back on it, it is really a very clever way to keep the people at bay. If you take the brightest and the best of a people away, it will be harder for the rest to rebel against you because you are taking the one's who would be leaders. Its kind of the reverse of what happened in the Exodus. If you think about it, the Hebrews that lived in Egypt as slaves had been slaves for several generations. Typically, slaves do not read or right or know how to lead an entire nation of people anywhere. So God raises us a Hebrew in a very special way. Moses learned how to read, write, and lead in the best place in the world at the time in the Pharoah's court. This is crucial understanding if we are to really know the character of Moses. Moses was a learned man, and in that same line Daniel and his friends became learned men in the court of their enemy.

Rememberance meets me?

2009-04-08T11:17:00.001-07:00

Its funny how many times we end up like our parents in so many ways. I found myself thinking today of owning our house and the things that I want to do to start slowly improving it. Then I thought about my dad and how if he were alive he would be all about trying to help me figure out how to do these things and would be right there by my side shoveling/building etc. I do miss my dad but the more I live the more that I realize that I am my father's son and that he lives on through me, not above me. Many things that I want to do with my family and assuredly things that my father either did, or wanted to do. I can't help but realize the similarities in the attitudes that we had towards life. Now am I exactly the same as my dad? No. but it is interesting to see some of the similarities and look back and remember my father.

Affirmation

2009-04-02T07:33:00.000-07:00

So I think that affirmation is huge in life and it always feels so great when it comes unexpectedly into our lives. I think that affirmation is something that a lot of people forget about, even though its something that they absolutely crave. Isn't it an interesting concept that people who want something so badly simply won't give that very same thing to other people. I think that a lot of things in life are this way. We all believe that we don't have enough money so we are not generous, we have all been heart so we are cautious to opening our hearts and living the lives of reckless love that our Creator is calling us to. and the interesting thing is how one gets over these feelings. You see, it starts with one person who comes along models how to live life like this. Maybe this person is both smart with money and generous, or maybe this person just comes through your life and makes you feel absolutely the best about yourself. It makes you want to pass it on. I pray that we call all be people who instead of waiting to be affect, will go out and affect our world.

I am what I am

2009-03-02T07:36:00.000-08:00

Words from Paul in 1 Cor. 15: "For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them-yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me."

I loved reading this today. Hearing Paul say that "I am what I am." He knows that in the past he really messed up and you can tell that there is a deep remorse for what he did. Its almost as if he can't believe that he is doing now what he used to kill people for. Its a great message for all of us, especially those of us that are hanging on to our past and letting it stifle our here and now. Many times people that mess up really bad will believe that they are beyond redemption, that they are too far away from God, or even that God does not want them anymore. It just isn't true! Paul here is using himself as an example to show us that we are not beyond redemption and that God can use any and all of us, if only we choose to accept his grace.

Its funny because it seems like I have been doing a lot of thinking about myself from highschool. I look back at that time and I just don't even know that person that I was anymore. I've changed so much in attitude and in beliefs. Back then it seemed like I had it all, but I was still angry. I felt like I was being held down by my parents and that life wasn't fair. What's funny is that now I know that life isn't fair but there are so many days I wish my parents were around more. Life has a funny way of coming back around on you. Well all I can say is that I am what I am only by the grace of God. Who I was back then is not who I am now, but oddly a part of my life that I had to go through to become me.

Lent

2009-02-26T06:57:00.001-08:00

Well the season of Lent is upon us and I'm actually pretty excited about it this year. Last night we talked about reflection of our spiritual lives and how lent can really be a good time to take inventory of our lives and to throw out the bad and in with the good. I know that there are many times that I can be doing more in my own spiritual walk and that this is definitely a great time to undertake some more discipline in my life. Leanne and I are doing something a little different this year when it comes to fasting. Instead of giving up one food or caffeine or something of the sort, we're going to reduce our weekly food budget by 40%. This means that we can eat anything but we won't be able to afford a lot of things. So our diets will change. For example, instead of eating turkey sandwiches every day, i'm going to have to start eating peanut butter sandwiches. You might say to yourself, well that's not so bad. One thing that you have to understand about leanne and I though is that we eat a ton of fresh fruit and veggies. We spend more to get good cuts of meat and since we moved to OK, our budget for groceries has ballooned with the price of food here in Ada. I'm actually excited, I think that this presents our marriage with a challenge that is attainable but at the same time will not be too easy. We're going to have sacrfice, but we're going to do it together. What are you giving up for Lent?

Psalm 72

2009-02-23T13:11:00.000-08:00

Psalm 72

1 Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness.

2 He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. 3 The mountains will bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness. 4 He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor. 5 He will endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations. 6 He will be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth. 7 In his days the righteous will flourish; prosperity will abound till the moon is no more. 8 He will rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. 9 The desert tribes will bow before him and his enemies will lick the dust. 10 The kings of Tarshish and of distant shores will bring tribute to him; the kings of Sheba and Seba will present him gifts. 11 All kings will bow down to him and all nations will serve him. 12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. 13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. 14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight. 15 Long may he live! May gold from Sheba be given him. May people ever pray for him and bless him all day long. 16 Let grain abound throughout the land; on the tops of the hills may it sway. Let its fruit flourish like Lebanon; let it thrive like the grass of the field. 17 May his name endure forever; may it continue as long as the sun.

18 Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. 19 Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen. 20 This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse.

I was reading this passage the other day and it struck me for some reason. Like many passages in the OT it starts out with God seeming like the wrathful angry God that so many people see Him as. "He will crush the oppressors....his enemies will lick the dust" The first part of this psalm sounds very much like this. I love the transition though in verse 12. The key to probably the whole psalm is found in the word "for." For indicates that what is happening before is caused by what is after it.

Before: The desert tribes will bow before him and his enemies will lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of distant shores will bring tribute to him; the kings of Sheba and Seba will present him gifts. All kings will bow down to him and all nations will serve him.

After: For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. 13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. 14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight.

Isn't it comforting to know that the reason for God's enemies to bow down to him, and the reason that kings are bringing tribute is not because God is all powerful and is going to strike them down with his mighty right hand. Rather it is because God is going to deliver the needy who cry out and those who have no one to help. It is because he will take pity on the weak and needy. It is because he is going to rescue people from death and oppression and violence. Why is God going to do all this? Because all of these people are precious in his sight. He cares about their blood or their well being.

How's that for an Old Testament vengeful and angry God?

drivenness

2008-11-28T22:00:00.000-08:00

So I'm reading tonight a book called Ordering your inner life. The first part of the book is very interesting, the author talks about himself as a young pastor getting burned out and the emotional toll that it took upon himself. He likened his life to sinkhole, which occurs during a draught because the water that used to be under the surface goes away and leaves nothing for the outer world to be supported by. He said one of the main problems with our society is that we are driven instead of called to our work. success becomes all consuming and we leave people hurt or worse in our wake. I really liked when he likened drivenness to Saul the first king of Israel. Saul was prime for leading Israel as he was rich, good looking, and a good head and shoulders taller than anyone else in the whole nation. Because of these natural talent, he did not rely on God or develop an inner life. When the time came for him to go to war, he waited for Samuel to come and offer a sacrifice for him and his men. When Samuel did not arrive quickly enough for Saul, he decided to give the sacrifices himself. This angered God, because only priests and certain men were allowed to do this holy work, Saul was not one of these people. Saul's drivenness got in the way with his called duty to God and the nation of Israel. Its so true how this is a huge problem in today's society. What scares me is that I see in myself a natural aptitude to do the work that God is calling me to do. I realize that I need to order my life now, and not rely on my own talents and gifts to get me through. If I do this, surely somewhere down the line, I will fizzle out and fail. I will break down like the author in this book did. What is interesting is that in the Bible, Saul is contrasted with the next king, David. Saul's son and David were actually best friends. While Saul gets jealous of David and tries to have him killed, David never acts unkindly to Saul. David even refuses to kill Saul, or have him killed, even though he is given every opportunity and Saul deserves it. David is called a man after God's own heart. This means that David is caught up in the will of God. In Jewish writing the heart symbolized a persons purpose and will, not their desire and emotion. So God's heart would be God's purposes, God's will. David sought God's purposes. no wonder he was considered the greatest king of Israel. What's great about this story is that even David is not perfect. We will still mess up, we will still sin, but that does not mean that we are not after God's heart. Its ok, to mess up, it is not ok to be driven. The more that we order our lives to point towards God, the more that we rely on Him and not on our own gifts and talents. The better off that we will be.

Revolutionary Christmas

2008-11-24T19:56:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty excited for our christmas service that we're going to do at UCM mainly because i'm going to be basically teaching on Rob Bell's revolutionary Christmas. If you haven't heard it, Rob basically start out giving the cultural context in Israel around the time of the birth of Jesus. He talks about how the Roman Empire rules the world cruelly and is under the control of one man, ceasar augustus. The roman empire ruled through violence and cruelty. Augustus believed that his father Julius Ceasar was God and that made him "the son of God" he made popular such phrases as "you cannot be saved by any name but that of ceasar" he even declared on his birthday a twelve day celebration commonly referred to as advent. Augustus ruled through have the biggest army, he would conquer a new country and would ask that country to declare him their God. He would then appoint a king to rule that area and would pretty much stay out of their business as long as they would pay their taxes and do what he said when he said it. The king that was appointed over the area of Israel was Herod, who was a half-Jew. Herod was pretty much a huge brown nose to caesar but is also considered one of the richest men to have ever lived. ever. Herod funded huge building projects not only in Israel but throughout the mediterranean. he was known for doing everything huge, he built a new temple in Jerusalem that was huge. he wanted to build his own palace on a mountain but in the place where he wanted to build there was no mountain, so he had one built. in another instance, he wanted to build a city where there was a swamp where noone else was able to build. He had to swamp drained and a coastal town built in the spot where it used to be, 2000 years ago. No bulldozers, no electricity, and this man moved mountains, and changed the landscape of the earth. He did amazing things. He was also brutal and paranoid. He had more than a few of his own sons and wives killed for plotting against him. whenever someone would speak against him, he would have them killed. When he took over Jerusalem, there were thousands slaughtered. He had a coliseum built where he invited all the most influential leaders of the Jewish faith. he then had his soldiers lock them inside and told that that the day that he died he wanted them to kill everyone inside, so that there would be mourning and weeping when he died.

So if you are a first century Jew. You live in a country that is ruled by a brutal king that will kill you if you disagree with anything that he wants or does, who taxes you to fund immense building projects and to keep an army big enough so that you can't uprise against him. his kingdom is really just a puppet kingdom of the Roman empire, which is lead by ceasar augustus, who you pay taxes to so that he can have a huge army so that he can rule his empire through brutality and violence, who if you don't agree with, will kill you and your family without even thinking about it. So you work, you get taxed somewhere between 70-90% of your income. As you can imagine, with that kind of taxation, people are being driven to poverty. and people are crying out to God. Asking the hard questions on why is all this happening. If you are God of the universe, why is Ceasar ruling over your people? Why would you allow Herod to kill your people? Almost everyone probably knew someone who had been killed and tortured by either Herod or Ceasar.

Then all of a sudden people are talking about a new king. Someone that is named "the king of kings" and "the Messiah" who is going to establish a new kingdom that will last forever. For those of you keeping track at home, forever = longer than herod's kingdom, longer than ceasars rule, and longer than the roman empire. Basically the birth of Christ came down to one proclamation, this king was going to rule over herod, this king was to be greater than Caesar. This king was going to be different. If you were alive during this time, would you want something different? Would you be looking for a savior? Would you celebrate that a new king had been born in Bethlehem?

The people of this time were ecstatic to hear the news that a king was born. They had real problems and worries. The world was cruel, God's people were being driven to poverty and despair. If we are to be honest with ourselves, there are parts of this world now that are very much the same. The world still needs a savior and I'd bet that if you were to be honest with yourself, I'd bet there is a part of your life that could use a savior too. The good news is is that a baby was born to save us all. This baby would destroy evil and take all the brokenness of this world on Himself and live up to the name, Messiah. If you need hope look to Jesus.

First Fortnight in OK

2008-10-11T22:28:00.000-07:00

Well we've been here for almost two weeks now and it seems that life is speeding along at a crazy speed. I've been loving my job, even though the task seems daunting at time, I have to stand back and realize that I don't have to do everything all at once and that there is time. What we are trying to do is allow the kingdom to come, not build Tower of Babel. That is comforting to me. So far I've been loving the reading that I've had to do for my Foundations of Campus Ministry class, I think that it is definitely helping me focus some of my thoughts for the UCM and its giving me some great ideas. Having that forum to be able to talk to people about campus ministry has been awesome. I'm also taking Hebrew, but that is a little more difficult.

I think that my favorite thing about being in OK has been getting to see family and friends and community in general. I have to say that it has been a while since I have felt so welcome and loved by people other than my wife. We had a party today for OU/TX and if you could how many hours were driven per person to come in comes out to like 6 hours and there were only 6 of us there, and two of us didn't travel at all. That's awesome to me that we have friends who will go out of their way to come and hang out.

Next week is my birthday which I'm also pretty happy about, its not that I'm really looking forward to getting things, but I will again get to be with friends and family, which will be awesome. I love celebrating with people, I don't care if its for me or not.

Next time I write I think I'll write about something more theological or passionate rather than just an update, but this was definitely needed. Its getting late and I should get back to bed with my wife. I love you all.

-Kel

Its been a while

2008-09-29T21:32:00.001-07:00

Well, its been almost a year since my last post. I used to write so much and my wife pointed out to me how I don't do it much anymore and it was something that she really missed about me. Its strange how somethings can just slip away because of the changes in life. I remember when I first started blogging I really enjoyed it, and when my dad started to get sick it was an outlet. Eventually when his health got worse, it was not important anymore though. I went on about a six month hiatus and it was only because I didn't feel like sharing my thoughts. For those of you that do not know me, there is a good reason for this. I am an introvert. Now for those that do not know what this actually means let me clarify. This does NOT mean that all I do is sit at home by myself and not talk to anyone. I'm actually quite extroverted but when it comes to where I draw my strength from, its not from people around me. If I need to recharge my batteries I do not plan a big event so that I can see people. I need to go off and to be alone. So why has it been so long? Well life has changed almost infinitely for me in the last few years. I've been working harder than I have ever worked, I've been dealing with things that I've never had to deal with, and honestly, the work that I have been doing hasn't really been fulfilling to me at all. I think this has worn on my soul. For me, writing is an outlet, something that pours out of me when there is nowhere else for me to pour. I guess I've been dry for a while. Its strange to think about because I've been happy and I've been growing in ways that I would have never thought possible. As I sat at work today talking with students and board members, brainstorming what it was that I was going to do with this ministry that I've been given, I have to say that it was hugely satisfying to know that this is my job now and that this is what I get to do instead of selling lumber or office supplies and going to class. Instead of merely getting by, now I'm fulfilling purpose. This new life that is occurring in the here in the now is not without its dangers, perils, and fears, but when you know that you are in the right place in the right time, it just makes sense that things will work out well. who knows, maybe i'll even start blogging more...

So we almost died over Thanksgiving....

2007-11-24T17:01:00.000-08:00

Yeah, so Thanksgiving was great, really. We went to Michigan, hung out with people, ate some good food and besides Leanne having some tummy aches, we had a really great time, seriously it was sweet, you should have been there. this is obviously not the point at which we almost died, that happened coming back from Michigan, Thursday Night. We were in Ohio, driving down the highway. It was snowing a bit, which actually doesn't play into the story, except to give you a feel for the situation. It was definitely dark, yes very dark and we had been on the road for about 5 hours or so. Are you feeling me? OK, so I'm driving, because I drove the whole way home because Leanne slept most of the time, and Leanne was beside me, sleeping. Ahead of me about ten car lengths is a small red SUV. All of a sudden I see them swerve and head straight for the right side of the road, before they hit the guardrail they spin and do a complete 180 and get back into my lane, and driving head on towards me. I obviously brake real hard (leanne wakes up and freaks out a little, not a lot, but definitely a little) and see the headlights coming right for us, I swerve onto the shoulder and drive past the car. As I'm passing the spot where they lost control I see a deer laying on the pavement. So I'm assuming that they hit the deer and then lost control. Totally crazy and it was definitely scary. But we were both fine, breathing a bit hard. Soon leanne went back to sleep and I got us all the way home safely. So yeah, that's the story of how we almost died.

New Idea for xmas list

2007-11-18T17:33:00.000-08:00

So, I decided that it might be good to put our xmas list on the left there, that way we could still post from now until Christmas. so yeah, there it is. I'm not exactly sure how we're going to figure out people getting us stuff and maybe getting more than one, i guess if you do get us something just try to give us a gift receipt, its not that we won't love it, but we might get two. k? love you, thanks.

Christmas List

2007-11-11T19:05:00.001-08:00

Christmas List

Kel
- Blue Tooth Headset
- DVD- 300
- DVD Evan Almighty
- Cologne (LaCoste Red)
- Basketball Shorts (XL)
- Gift Certificate- Banana Republic

Leanne
- Perfume - DKNY Be Delicious
- Rice Steamer (4 - 6 servings)
- Sweaters by JCrew size small
- DVD Life as a house
- DVD Reign over me
- DVD- The Office Seasons 1 - 3
- Scrapbooks (12 x 12 size)
- BOOK- Serve God, Save the Planet: A Christian Call to Action- by J. Matthew, M.D. Sleeth
- New ear buds to use with iPod

Both
- Calphalon Cookware (anything but the omlette set)
- Scrubs on DVD (all seasons)
- Heroes Season 1 on DVD
- Backpacking Stove - http://www.rei.com/product/665544
- Backpacking Cookware- http://www.rei.com/product/720287

Hello October

2007-10-01T20:21:00.000-07:00

Well it's now more than officially fall and we spent the weekend in Michigan, it was beautiful and cool temperature-wise. We had a great time eating good pizza and picking michigan apples. Kel just got home from work and we enjoyed some apple dumplings that we brought home with us. We added some pictures of the weekend to our photo gallery in case you're interested.

As far as life in Kentucky goes we are staying incredibly busy with work and schoolwork. Life is really stressful at times and other times seem like we have a life starting to bloom, in the midst of this we're trying to grow closer together and become more like Jesus. We are also incredibly addicted to the show heroes and as of the next few days we should be caught up where the rest of the world is as far as season two.

So when is the cooler weather going to start? I bought stuff for chilli tonight and I want it to be chilli enough outside for me to enjoy it. As it stands my little forcaster says it's going to be 88 on Friday and that is just unacceptable to me. Completely.

an update

2007-09-19T06:59:00.000-07:00

Yo Yo Yo, what up everyone. I just thought I would write and let everyone know how we are doing. Life seems to be settling down just a bit and we seem to be working our way towards a routine. Tues or Weds night is usually when we break down and have to have a night to ourselves with nothing else going on. Tonight will be that night, we're going to go and do a whole date for less than $20. I'm pretty excited actually. Classes are going pretty well, I find myself having to be really organized and very determined when it comes to finishing my reading, but I am doing it and I can really see this being advantageous to my scholastic future. I'm learning a ton and I just feel really good about the way its going. Another thing I'm feeling pretty good about is weight loss, I'm now down 11 lbs. since moving to KY, weighing it at 239 just this morning. The goal is to get down to around 220, so still got about 20 to go, but I know that I can do it. I just wish that with work and school I could find time to either play basketball or softball, but it just hasn't happened in a couple of weeks, which was pretty much a huge bummer for me. Oh well, that's really all I got, leave us some love. -Kel

Monday Night Malaise

2007-09-10T19:56:00.001-07:00

So I painted my nails tonight, they will never grow really, I have breaky nails. I have the next two days off from work, but I have school which is not as bad. I am liking the reading material and the classroom time is great too. Tonight as I went over our degree plans I thought about how much I want to have us take heavy course load so that we can finish up here in Kentucky. I want the seminary part of life to go fast so that we can have a life again, I am just not sure how well that this is all going to go. I feel like all I do is work, at school, and at Fresh Market, so if all we're going to do is work work work than I might as well just keep working finish up things around here. I'm mostly just lonely and I can't wait to go home and visit, feel like I have a social life with community again. So I just want this part of life to go faster, I know it might and probably will get better, but for now, I feel lonely and unconnected. Yep.

And School Begins

2007-09-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

Well the first week has come and gone, all I can say is that it has begun. I'm pretty happy with the way that my (Kel) first week turned out. I am in a couple of challenging courses and I know that my professors are going to test me in many ways (spiritually, organizationally, mentally). I really like a lot of things that I am learning about in Dr. Mulholland's New Testament class. I think that I'm going to start posting some of the more interesting things that I learn about on my xanga, seems like a good place to do it. The one part about this week that was kind of a bummer is that I didn't get to play any basketball or softball.

Also, Leanne and I needed a night together and we tried the restaraunt Bella Note and we both agree that it was pretty fantastic. The food was great and really fresh, which we liked tremendously. So if you have the chance to try it, go ahead, I promise you will most likely be impressed.

Kel out.

Success

2007-08-28T20:01:00.000-07:00

So life here is going well, and I think by all measuring sticks we are experiencing success here in Kentucky. Tonight we had a dinner party and people came, laughed, the food turned out great, and we got to know people a bit more than we did before tonight. I mean I love the way the food turned out, the Chocolate fondue was amazing, the pork tenderloin mini sandwiches were perfect and I made the prettiest salad you've ever ever seen. Not that I am bragging.
This Monday was great because my great friend Lisa and I got to have lunch together, it was so refreshing to see a familiar face. Maybe the world isn't as big as it seems. I sure do miss life back in Michigan but that is to be expected, I was surrounded by amazing loving people and things just aren't that way here yet. Although I feel like I am whining about this, I should probably just sack it up and deal... and I am.
All and all life is good here, school starts next week tuesday and then it all starts. Nothing really feels any newer than this so I'll stop here. I am starting to sniffle a ton right now and I should take some meds and get in my PJs.

August 26, 1am

2007-08-25T22:19:00.000-07:00

Hello from my Desk! Ha, yes I am here at my desk, waiting for Leanne to get tired, or finish her book, whichever comes first. First of all allow me to say that it is hot as all get out here in KY right now. Its been over 100 and I'm just going to say that it is lame, VERY LAME.

Enough of that though. This week has come to an end and things are looking pretty good here. I got a new bookcase from work for really cheap so we have more room to store books. We're definitely going to need more as we progress through our studies here at seminary. We had to buy around 25 books just for this semester, and most of them were mine. Work seems to be going very well for both of us. Leanne is getting a little tired of being in the service industry every now and then, but you really can't blame her. I know from experience that working in the Deli isn't the greatest thing since sliced cheese. these are the jokes, i hope you are laughing.

We're going to try to have some people over on Tues. this week to come and get to know us more. We are really trying to fit in and build some relationships with people here in Wilmore. So far its kind of slow going, but I think that we're not doing so bad. For me, its really helped being able to play basketball and softball, I've already met quite a few people and its been pretty awesome. I've even lost about 10lbs since i've been down here in KY. I'm really trying to cut down my weight again, My goal is to lose 30lbs by Christmas. That'll put me at 220lbs and in much better shape. I can already feel myself getting into better shape, and it feels really good.

well that's it from me I suppose, I'm going to bug Leanne to get on here and post something this week, that way you guys and gals don't have to just read from me. Well I love you and I hope to here from you soon. -Kel

Dinner and a Movie AT THE SAME PLACE

2007-08-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

So yeah, we went out tonight because we were going to go camping and that just didn't pan out with all the rain and whatnot. So we ended up going to the movie tavern. Their schtick is that you go there and you get to eat dinner whilst watching a movie. So we go and we read about how their food is prepared by chefs and I scoff a bit because its burgers and pizza. Anywho, turns out its ok, nothing spectacular though. For what we received, mediocre service and high priced food, it just wasn't all that and a bag of potato chips. Not to mention one of the facts that leanne and I enjoy going out is that we get to have some face to face time and talk about life. With this, you get to have none of that. Leanne's burger was dry and the pizza was mediocre at best. We would say that if you have the idea to go here, it would be better to go out for dinner and then to a movie. But hey, we tried it and it was ok.

Life in KY so far has been going pretty good for me. I've been playing a lot of sports and working around the apartment because leanne has been so busy. Call me the House Husband. I do have a job now though, I've been working at Office Depot for about a week and a half now. Its going pretty well I suppose, for selling pencils and paper. I am really excited for school to start, I just can't wait to begin studying for what my calling is all about. It should be good times and I'm even looking forward to becoming more studious in my older age as well.

Well that's it for me for now. peace out from the big man. -Love, The Kel

Welcome to our Joint Blog

2007-08-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

It's sort of like a joint checking account, except less stressful.

This entire page basically started because it is raining today. Why, you may be wondering would rain result in a web page? Well we were supposed to go camping over at Red River Gorge but we figured setting up a wet tent and then sitting in it all day sounded less than totally thrilling. So we are making a website/blog and then we're heading into Lexington for whatever adventure awaits us.

Life in Kentucky is pretty alright, Leanne is having a harder time than Kel when it comes to adjusting and getting used to things. We both have jobs now, Leanne is a deli clerk at Fresh Market and Kel sells office furniture at Office Depot. Neither of them are thrilling jobs but our prayer is that God will keep us thankful for his provisions in every form they arrive in. Plus we get cheaper bookshelves and really good sliced turkey so all in all these two positions have their subtle perks.

School starts two weeks from today, the Tuesday after Labor Day. Then things will really hit with full force. Leanne has already completed her first Grad school class as of Monday Morning. We are in a class together this fall as fate would have it. It wasn't in the plans, but one of Kels classes was dropped so this became the only real option. We already have our textbooks for the fall and we are going to try sharing textbooks for this class and see how it works out.

Well we will try to keep up on this space so that friends and family have a place to go and check up on us and our adventures together in Wilmore.

We love and miss you all and plan to be in two places at once (ha) this Christmas.

Now for some sandwiches...