Hallelujah Nuns

Check this out! Maybe when we plant a church, these guys can come do a special music for us!

Lighten Up...Sucka!

Can you tell my research paper is over? I'm not out of the woods yet, but I feel free again.

My brother & sister-in-law sent me this great photo. It was designed by my Scottish pal, Greg "Braveheart" Shepherd. According to Greg, everything about Scotland is accurate in the movie Braveheart....just ask him. (Actually, if he could, Greg would be strangling me right now). It was originally a picture of our church staff in Colorado...(left to right) Keith "Fly Guy" Collier, Weston "How Much for One Rib?" Nichols (our pastor), and my brother Brent "Huggy Bear" Collier (Worship Pastor)

Don't Waste Your Life!

A startling command, huh? To be able to accomplish such a feat, it's probably important to know what types of things lead to a wasted life. Pop quiz: what comes to mind when you think of someone wasting their life? Let me toss out a couple of popular answers: addictions (drug, alcholics, workaholics, etc.), selfish pursuits, laziness, undisciplined, poor decision making...

No one wants to come to the end of their life and realize that they've wasted it on things that do not matter. So, what really matters in life? I think far too often, we in the Church get the answer only partially right. Most Christians would say that being a Christian and "living for God" is what really matters in life. This is undeniably true, but the "living for God" is where I think many often short-change themselves and actually end up wasting their lives. Living for the glory of God means living for something more than yourself. It means more than having a comfortable life, enjoying time with your family, working hard at your job, and being involved with a local church. I would say that the majority of our culture does this, and they're not Christians, and they're wasting their lives.

What makes you as a Christian any different than your co-workers or family members that don't know Jesus. I felt the wind knocked out of me when I read these words by the author of the book pictured above: "Even sinners work hard, avoid gross sin, watch TV at night, and do fun stuff on the weekend. What more are you doing than the others?" If my goals are the same as theirs, why would they want Jesus?

I'm hoping to re-read this book this summer. I have a link to a website that has short videos and a blog to help people hash out what it means to live an unwasted life. I challenge you to visit the website or read the book or gather some friends and do a study on it as a small group. I guarantee it won't be a waste of your time...or your life!

Parenting with Kingdom Purpose

I've been reading this book for one of my classes, and it's sparked some really challenging thoughts/ideas. The book talks about raising your children in a way that helps them cut through the muck of modern life and live lives for the Kingdom of God. Have you ever noticed how much Jesus talked about the Kingdom?

Out of this reading, many ideas have arisen for me. Here's a couple of them:

1. Start a bank account for missions - this can be for individual mission trips for each of your kids or family mission trips. How you spend your money is a strong indicator of what you are truly passionate about.
2. Buy your kids a map/globe - use it to give them a more global perspective about what God is doing in the world. I subscribe to the free magazine Voice of the Martyrs, and they send out a World Prayer Map that shows countries where persecution for the gospel is high. We often pray for an individual country when we pray for our meal.
3. Take your kids with you when you do ministry - visit someone in the hospital, pray with someone, share your faith, etc. By the way, this is not just what pastors should be doing...the Bible is clear that pastors and teachers are called to "prepare God's people for works of service."
4. Instead of buying each other gifts at Christmas, buy worthwhile items for families in need.
5. Make the Kingdom a priority in your personal life. The faith of the young will typically mirror that of the key adults in their lives. Most kids raised in "Christian" homes end up rejecting the faith or going through the motions because they saw how their parent's really demonstrated their faith. A guy in class today made a profound statement..."Hypocrisy is most clearly seen through the eyes of a 15-year old." Genuine modeling from my parents is what has spoken the most to me.

Let's brainstorm...what other ways can you encourage Kingdom living in your home? Maybe your children are already grown...it's not too late to model it. I know I'm still learning from my parents. If you don't have kids yet, how can you make the Kingdom a priority in your life. Who else in your life can you model Kingdom living for? What does it really mean to be Kingdom minded? Jesus talks a lot about it...why don't you ask him?

"4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

Deut. 6:4-9

Anonymous???

Alright, wise-guy...or wise-girl...whoever you are! Someone posted a comment to my last blog entry, but they didn't sign it. I'm assuming it's in response to my challenge at the end of the blog entry. It read as follows:


Anonymous said...
I'm in! Let's go! YEE-HAA!


Someone either accidentally forgot to put their name on the comment (which defaults to Anonymous) or they intentionally left it off. If it's the latter, then I can deduce that:

1. this person either doesn't want to make the full commitment yet

or

2. this person knows it would drive me crazy not knowing who it is, and they just want to mess with me.



Now, I have to go into Sherlock Holmes mode to try to figure out who this might be. Let's dissect the statement. First, it's short statements, so it must be someone who is extremely busy or who is a person of few words. Next, it says "I'm in", so I would guess it's the statement of an individual rather than a family. Finally, there's the YEE-HAA! I'd have to say it's not a person from Texas, not b/c we wouldn't use this word, but more importantly, we all know it's spelled YEE-HAW (like the hit show Hee-Haw!). I have my guesses, but I don't want to call anyone out.



Whoever you are, don't be yellow! Step up to the plate! :)



Editorial note:

I realize that this blog entry may cause others to post anonymous comments, but I plead with you not to do so. With the stress from school and work right now, I might lose it.