Mental Illness?

Aren't we all mentally ill? Don't hear me wrong, I'm not suggesting that there isn't a thing such as mental illness, but because of the fall don't we all have a problem with our heads and hearts. I wonder if the people who are actually diagnosed with a mental illness are the only ones who are actually not mentally ill. In other words, I wonder if all of us should be more vulnerable and speak up about the things that give us anxiety, fear, anger, and all of the other horrible things all of us think about. Maybe the only way to truly deal with the things that go on in our minds is to talk to someone, or better yet, talk to God about them. But unfortunately we will usually not do this. Then we will be stuck in the vicious cycle of thinking things that will cause us more anxiety, fear, anger, etc. Sometimes this leads to action from our anxiety, fear, anger, etc., and that just isn't good at all.

Solution: Talk to God. Talk to someone who loves God. Become vulnerable. Repent. Believe that God will help you. When He does, remember how he helped and continue to grow!

God, Love, and Sushi

Today I realized how easy it is to just let God's Love pour out of me. This, for your information, has really nothing to do with me except for the part where I'm available.

When our upstairs neighbors moved in, about 6 months ago, I felt like we should take them a house warming gift. So my wife made some cookies, and with a little prodding, my whole family took them up to them. They said thank you, and that was that.

Fast forward about five months when my wife and kids were out back playing. Our neighbor, along with her new baby son, came outside and began a conversation with my wife. This turned into a time where my wife and this woman became friends.

Fast forward about one month. Our neighbors are moving and my wife asked if she needed help packing. The lady accepted and my wife helped and brought her and her son some enchiladas. They were going to pack but that ended up on the back burner while Tonya and her sat and talked for a couple of hours.

Fast forward to today. I got a knock at the door while Tonya and Sidney were gone, I was here alone with the boys, it was our neighbor. She asked if Tonya was home and I had to tell her no. She then handed me a plate of home made sushi. I thanked her because we LOVE sushi at our house and then we began to talk right there at the door.

She had some questions about some Bible stuff and I got to share with her about Jesus. She then told me that she would like for me and Tonya to get together with her and her husband when he gets back from his Navy Seal training. She told me she would like for him to spend some time with me because he could use "a mentor". I don't know about the "mentor" part but I'm hoping this works out.

Things come so naturally when we just love people with God's love. We don't even have to work at anything really. When you just start with a simple act of kindness and genuinely just want to build relationships with people, God takes that and runs with it. You don't have to be special just available.

OBL

So I'm gonna give it a go. I'm going to try to explain whether death should be celebrated or not. It's not gonna be easy because we have a few different things to consider, but it should be fun.

A few weeks ago, as you know, Osama bin Laden was shot and killed by an American soldier. There was more than a few moments where we saw people dancing, singing, and rejoicing in the streets. There were many who thought that this was in poor taste or worse, especially in the Christian community. They got so bent out of shape that it actually put a damper on their day. I found that to be sad.

So what's up? Should we have been rejoicing? Well I guess that depends on which group you are talking about. I'm only going to be talking about two groups here, basically because these are the only two groups I feel educated enough to talk about. ;)

Group One: Those who are agnostic or atheist, in other words there is no belief in God. Why would you not want to celebrate?!? The world had to be considered a little safer after this happened. You could make the case that OBL was not a threat to us holed up in that compound, but I could also make the case that all of the terrorists in the world now have to believe that these forces can find them and will kill them, no questions asked. So any way you slice it there should have been some celebrating going on that night.

Group Two: Christians. I think Christians should have been celebrating as well. Not necessarily in the same way but they should have been rejoicing within themselves that God brought justice and in that more men, women, and children were not going to be killed by this man. And I don't think this is dishonoring to God.

What the Bible says:

Romans 13 1-4, "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer."

I can also rejoice because God is right in his Word, and he is a God of justice and love.

Blessed by God

Well it happened again. We were blessed again. It's getting kind of ridiculous at this point.

It started well before Catalyst West but this story is about that conference and how God blessed us while we were there and the subsequent blessings. My wife and I while attending this Catalyst saw some things that we would love to have for our ministry. Of course being the poor (financially speaking) church leaders that we are we couldn't afford these things. We noticed that many booths were giving away iPads. We had been really wanting an iPad and decided to sign up at all the booths that were giving them away.

There was one booth in particular that caught our eye. They were giving out the iPad but they were also giving away the brand new Francis Chan curriculum, some children's curriculum, and some worship music as well in their drawing. We said to each other how great it would be to win that particular contest.

We also passed the Project 7 booth. Project 7 is a booth that sells coffee to churches and individuals on a monthly subscription basis. It is a ministry to help people, their mission, "You buy, we give." They too were having a drawing, for a year's subscription for coffee. We were actually standing there trying to decide if we should purchase a years subscription for the church, but alas, back to the poor thing again.

Fast forward to about a week ago. Tonya gets an email announcing that she is a winner of the iPad, Francis Chan curriculum, children's curriculum, and worship music!

Fast forward to two days ago. I get a call from Project 7 that I was a winner of a year's subscription of coffee!

We left Catalyst just thinking that someone else won the prizes, which never really gets us down because of the number of people we were in the drawing with, only to find out a month or so later we were both winners. God is good. He knows we need these things for the church and He is providing. He is also writing a pretty good story.

Subway vs. Taco Bell

On Fridays I take my kids lunch. I like to take them what they like to eat as a treat. Unfortunately I usually have to go to two different places, but for them I will do this. This week I got out the door a few minutes after the time I intended to leave. This is a problem. Generally it's a problem because of some of the anxiety issues my son deals with. You see, if I'm not there waiting at the door for him when he gets out of class he starts worrying. Worrying that I forgot or that I'm not going to come. I don't think it's about the food at all, it's more about whether his dad remembers him. It's happened rarely but when it happens, the sick look on his face is enough for me to make sure that I'm there the next time when I say I'm going to be there.

This Friday though I learned a lesson. This Friday, like I said before, I got out the door late. Sidney wanted Subway and Lucas wanted Taco Bell. I pulled out of the lot and went to Subway first. I felt like everything was in slow motion at Subway. Everything just took so long. I probably wasted 15 minutes in line amongst other things. As I left the parking lot at Subway I knew I was screwed. Then I missed the light, one of the slowest lights in Escondido. So I decided not to turn left and to go through the green and go around the block. Good delivery driver move. I then missed the next light. Then I had the sick look on MY face.

Then...I prayed. I prayed that Taco Bell would be FAST! I prayed that God would pave the way for me to get through that drive thru with a speed that could not be explained. And you know what, God did it! I've never been through a drive thru faster, and I've been thru a lot of drive thrus.

So I was rejoicing, knowing that I would be on time for my son. As I pulled into the school and got out of the car I was so looking forward to writing this blog about how God had gotten me out of a jam. Then it happened. As I walked by the office my son walked out with that sick look on his face, my heart sank. I apologized and he accepted and we sat together while he ate. He was okay after a few seconds.

But I couldn't help examine in myself what had just happened. Why would God provide a way at Taco Bell only to get me to the school just moments after Lucas got out of his class? Then I really thought about it.

You see God has been teaching me about trust recently. Do I truly trust Him? As I thought about this in this setting, Subway vs. Taco Bell, it wasn't a competition between them at all, it was a competition between my trust of God vs. my distrust of God. I got myself in a jam, I let the jam extend, then, when I was at my wits end I prayed. I didn't pray for God to get me to the school on time, I prayed that the drive thru would be fast. It's like I wanted to do a bunch of it on my own and then have God do a little part. Why couldn't I trust God when I walked out of the house, knowing I may be late, with the whole enchilada?!?

I have a feeling things at Subway would have gone a lot differently, things at those lights would have been different, my attitude would have been different, and there would have been no sick look on anyone's face.