Religion Crashers

Last week I took a class at southeastern where the whole class we go around and visit people at different relgious places of worship.  This was a sobering experience for me.  I’ve always known that there are alot of people out there who believe different things, but not until this week how our society today is becoming more and more pluralistic.  Islam is the leading growing religion in the world and a close 2nd or third is Mormonism.  These people that we visited with are so sold out and passionate about what they believe.  They were more devouted to their beliefs than 90% of the christians I know now days. 

It’s really hard to know what to say or think after visiting 9 different places in the past 4 days.  These people are so blinded to the truth.  When we went to the Hare Krishna temple they wanted to sing us a song and as they sang “hare hare krishna hare krishan krishna” yes this was the whole lyrics to the song.  It really hit me hard as they were singing how lost they are.  They were sheep without a shepard.  I was most effected by this experience and visiting the Islamic Mosque.  We were able to have a 2 hour dialogue with 4 Muslims and only 7 of us for part of our class.  These guys were so hard core in what they believe it is hard to see any hope that they will ever be saved.  I feel like this experience has helped bridge the gap between me and people of various religions.  These are people just like you and me, they are peaceful people intently searching for truth and blinded by what they hold to be true. 

The Hindus had all these idols that they would worship.  They were porcelan dolls dressed in find clothes and jewlery.  The priest would clean the dolls and dress them everyday! Everyday,  This visit got me to thinking about our own lives.  What things do we dress up and put in our own lives before God.  It doesn’t have to be a porcelan doll, but idols can so easily slip into our lives without us even realizing.  Do I really love God above Bethany?  Do I love God above soccer?  Do I love God above T.V. or watching movies?  These are just to name a few.  I want people to look at my life and say without a doubt he loves God above all else!  

 In conclusion everryone is searching to believe in something.  As ridiculous as some of these beliefs are it just goes to show you that we were all created to worship something.  There’s a God shaped vacum inside of us all,  the harvest is ripe where we live,  I just want my life to be a witness, I just want people to look at my life and say wow! what does he have that I’m missing out on, I just want to point people to Jesus!

SumMore Fun

Man I have been so busy lately!  It’s a good type of busy alot of fun things are happening.  Nolan was born!  so i got to hang out at the hospital some with the new member to the reeve family.  I’ m writing this at the beach now, my friend ryan is getting married next weekend so me and some guys came down for a couple of days to hang out with ryan before he takes the big plunge.  After the beach i have to finish reading for my week summer class next week and then i’m in the wedding this weekend then I  go straight up to southeastern sunday for my class, I’m also still trying to figure out a job, God has provided for me financially and I know he will continue to, I have a couple job prospects, please pray something works out!  I hope all is well with everyone,

peace out

Will

Safe

It seems like the theme “safe” has continued to come up lately.  What I mean by this is when people are talking about following God or doing what they feel like God is calling them to do, it’s not always safe as in the way we think of what it means to be safe.  Or when people say i’m scared of what this could mean.  This was hammered to me thurs as I was driving home and listening to derek webb.  He was saying Jesus is not safe.  The gospel is not safe it is offensive.  And so we might as well get over the fact that it’s not safe it’s gonna offend people so lets get to preaching it.  I feel like if i am not experiencing some kind of opposition then I’m probably not doing something right.  Satan doesn’t care about those who are not having an impact for the kingdom, but if you are experiencing some sort of opposition it is probably because your making an impact!  I don’t want to feel safe.  I want to live a life that portrays the gospel in a way that is real an offensive in a way.  I want to truly believe the gospel like webb talks about and let people see me for who I am without any masks on.  I want to love people for who they truly are.  The same way that God loves them.  I don’t want the gospel to become safe for me for a second, but let it loose and let God use me in whatever way he wills no matter how dangerous that may be.

“I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes”Romans 1:16 

Focus

Today I realized what the most focused job you could possibly have is. A line judge for tennis.  These guys sit and stare at one line during the entire match and if they loose focus for a second and make the wrong call it’s likely they will be chased out of the court by an angry mob.  Focus is often something I struggle with.  I know it’s ok to be distracted in certain ways, but to still always stay focused on what the goal is.  If things aren’t going my way or aren’t going the way I think they should be I will tend to loose focus and not see the big picture.  I would love to be as focused as those line judges in tennis matches and know when to call FAULT! and when not to.  How amazing would that be to never loose your focus on why you are doing what you do?   Is it to glorify God?  or something else…

Wild Ride

This morning I saw something on yahoo news that was the ultimate wild ride, There was a story of a man in a wheel chair that got stuck on the front of a semi truck and went flying down the road up to 50mph before the driver realized what had happened and stopped.  Wow, I had to write about this.  What a wild ride.  I was trying to imagine what was going through this guys head as he was crossing the intersection when all of a sudden a truck creeps up and latches onto his wheelchair and then takes off.  At first he was probably frightened, but then probably started to rather enjoy it as he went flying down the road.  He commented “It was kinda like a rollercoaster”, when asked what the experrience was like.  Man that’s exactly how I feel being a part of this church plant.  It’s a normal day crossing the street when all of a sudden God gets a hold of you like a semi on a wheel chair and takes you for the most wild ride of your life! woohoo

People

The other day I had to work with someone who has severe disabilities.  I am the backup person for the guy who normally takes care of him, so I fill in and help out from time to time.  The guy that has the disabilities is remarkably gifted at relating to people.  He will go up and talk to almost anyone he sees and pretty much everyone knows who he is.  I honestly wish that i was as good at talking to people as he is.  It is truly inspiring to see someone who is in a wheelchair and has severe disabilities able to talk to people the way he does.  He truly cares for people and wants to know as much as he can about everyone.  This guy also wants to go into some type of ministry someday.  I hope that I can begin to love people the way that he does and take the time to truly get to know someone and share my life with them.  Sometimes you can learn things and be inspired in the most unexpected places.  This really reminded me of how Jesus was always focused on people and relationships.  He would always take the time to talk to someone and truly cared about getting to know them.

Risky Business

The other day me and a group of friends were playing volleyball when out of no where this incredible storm comes  up.  Anytime I see an amazing thuderstorm it makes me think of the power of God.  I think of that verse “Even the winds and waves obey him.” It was raining harder than I have seen it rain in a very long time.  The thunder is so loud you can’t even hear someone talking right beside you.   Lightning is striking all around and we decide to go out and run around while all this is going on.  This may of not been the best idea, but anytime I have to choose between doing something a little risky and playing it safe I always choose the risk!  We end up running down on the soccer field, where lightning just struck behind us.  All of a sudden it’s like were in the eye of the storm.  The rain is kind of moving sideways right into our faces and for a moment it seems like the storm is all around us and we are right in the middle of the eye.  It really seems to be like this alot of the time in our walk with God.  Things may not be going our way or terrible things happen all around us, but with God we can be safe and at peace while in the eye of the storm.  It’s funny because if I had not left the shelter, I would have never experienced God the way I did.  Even though it’s a risk, I believe a risk is always worth taking over playing it safe.

 This past weekend a group of us went camping up at Pilot mountain.  I love camping.  I love getting outside in nature, exploring unknown territory and building fires.  This is a great way to get away and reflect on life.  I also tend to want to do risky sometimes called stupid things when I go camping.  The first night we camped me and a couple friends got the idea of going and looking for snakes at night, in the mountains with just a little head light on our foreheads.  Especially since Bethany had just gotten bit, I was out for revenge on whatever snake we could find.  It was such a Rush jumping from rock to rock trying to scan the ground the best we could without leaping onto a snake’s head.  Eventually we got tired and came back empty handed, but the experrience was worth it.  There’s something about getting a rush that makes you feel alive.  I want to be willing to risk everything for God to see other people come alive through Jesus!