Posts Tagged ‘Jesus Christ’

Living in the splash zone of grace.

Posted: December 19, 2014 in fizzy faith
Tags: , , , , ,
0

When we lived in San Antonio we had season passes to Sea World. I love Sea World, It’s a magical place that smells like tuna. Our daughter, Delanie, was a little kid and we would spend hours there, petting the dolphins, riding the roller coaster, laughing at the walruses & the penguins (I’m a big fan of penguins because I physically resemble them) & drinking out of the 12 dollar souvenir cup.

But, our absolute favorite thing at Sea World was the Shamu Show, and our favorite place to sit was right down front…in the SPLASH ZONE. It was awesome! We didn’t want to just watch the cool whale tricks, we wanted to get soaked with the fragrant whale water.
It was always interesting how people approached the splash zone. Some people didn’t go close, they sat in the back where they can see, but there’s no chance of getting wet. Some people actually wore rain coats & sat in the splash zone. They were basically saying “I want to get a little wet, but I don’t want to get soaked. I want to play it safe & choose what parts of me get wet”.
But, there was nothing like the wild, messy excitement of getting completely soaked, and it affected everything! Every part of you got wet and ( depending on the nasty Texas heat) you would drip all over everything & everybody for a while, leaving your mark.

The more that I get to know Jesus, the more that I want to live as close to him as I can get. I want to live in the splash zone of grace…

“May God our Father himself and our Master Jesus clear the road to you! And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you. May you be infused with strength and purity, filled with confidence in the presence of God our Father when our Master Jesus arrives with all his followers.” – 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 (MSG)

I want to stay in the splash zone.
I want to get absolutely soaked with love & grace.
I want to live Spirit soaked.
I don’t want to sit in the back where I can see what God is doing, but there’s no chance of actually getting wet.
I don’t want to wear my spiritual raincoat & try to control how wet I get.
I want to experience ALL that the Holy Spirit has for me, I want to get soaked.
I want to live in the splash zone of grace.

When we live in the splash zone we get other people wet too. “It splashes over on everyone around us.” We drip love.

Dive into God & get soaked! Don’t sit back & just watch. Don’t be selective about what parts of you get wet…get Spirit soaked!

I’m going for it, It might be wild, unpredictable & messy. It is going to touch every part of me & I’m gonna leave a mark. But, I’m going for it…I’m going down front. I’m leaving my raincoat & reservations behind.
I want to get crazy wet!
And if I start to get dry, I want to get splashed again.
In fact, I want my life to be a nonstop soaking.
Soak me Holy Spirit!!

Street preaching for dummies.

Posted: December 13, 2014 in fizzy faith
Tags: , , ,
0

a while back, we went to the race. I was excited! I love NASCAR. I love being at the race. there’s really nothing like a live race, it’s a special flavor of fun. We had just arrived, parked about 12 miles from the track and We were walking into the redneck promise land. We were swept up in a big beautifully imperfect wave of humanity, lots of interesting sights, sounds and smells. there was a crazy sense of community as people bragged about their driver and talked a little smack about other drivers. I’m a Kyle Busch fan so I always attract a lot of unsolicited advice and gestures. It’s all good fun.

But then…
I heard the voice…
The voice of one screaming at the speedway.
He was a sweaty, angry man with a big megaphone and a message for Y’ALL. He was wearing one of those Christian knock off t-shirts designed to look like a biker shirt. It had a bedazzled cross on it. He didn’t seem to have a central message, He was just preaching against anybody and anything that caught his attention…rock and roll, alcohol, tattoos, scantily clad women, the government, etc. etc.
He was right next to an intersection where people had to stop and listen to his rant.
As I stood there something made me feel a little nauseous and it wasn’t the fragrance of the fried food.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against street preaching…
The truth is I think We are all called to be street preachers. but before you grab your megaphone, I think there might be a better way.

In the gospel of Luke, Jesus told a great story comparing the Kingdom of God to a party and he begins to wrap it up by saying: “And the host said, “Well then, go out to the highways and hedges and bring in the complete strangers you find there, until my house is completely full.” (Luke 14:23 – the voice) We are told to go out and invite people to be a part of the party.

Instead of putting people in their place, We need to let people know that there is a place for them.

Here are some random thoughts about street preaching…

Serve instead of shout.
Let love be the loudest thing in your life.
Listen more than you talk, you can learn how people are hurting and offer them a cure.
Earn the right to be heard.
Don’t be a jerk. I don’t see Jesus ever being a jerk. The only one who never sinned was the least judgmental person ever.
Don’t be so angry, don’t take yourself so seriously. People are attracted to joy.
Tell stories of hope.
Remember, the Gospel means “Good news”. Jesus compared the Kingdom to a party, not a tax audit.

There’s a time for uncomfort that will lead to life change, but the Holy Spirit is so much better at orchestrating that than we are.

Realize who you are representing…the Creator. His amazing creativity is constantly on display in the beautiful diversity of humanity. It’s not about making people conform and look like us. People are different from you…that’s by divine design…get over it.

Our job is simply introducing people to our best friend and inviting them to His party.

Don’t call people names…lift up THE name that has the power to save and heal…Jesus.

Let’s go into the highways and hedges and make some friends.

Hit the streets, but leave the anger and the megaphone at home.

tell me you’re coming back soon.

Posted: December 11, 2014 in fizzy faith
Tags: , , ,
0

I love the news stories and YouTube videos of soldiers coming home to surprise their kids. A mom or dad has been stationed far away, and the separation has seemed like it’s FOREVER!

The kids have held onto the hope that Dad is coming back someday, but SUDDENLY someday is happening.
The kids are on a playground or school assembly or living room, it’s a normal day. SUDDENLY Dad rounds the corner, they turn around and see him. SURPRISE!!! The floodgates of raw sweet emotion burst open.
SUDDENLY nothing else matters. Everything is swallowed up in the moment. There is only HIM and only THEM. There is an explosion of sloppy love. hugs…kisses…uncontainable JOY!!
The sweetness of reunion.
It gets me every time, I get all mushy inside.

There is something in me that connects with this, because there is something in me that hungers for reunion…for someday.
I hold onto the hope…
Jesus made a promise:”Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.” (John 14:3)

Jesus made us a promise…someday, He will come get us. The Father will be reunited with His kids. The sweetness of Reunion will happen. Someday WILL happen.

CAN YOU IMAGINE the moment when we see the Lover of our soul?

SURPRISE!!!

The floodgates of raw sweet emotion burst open.
SUDDENLY nothing else matters. Everything is swallowed up in the moment. There is only HIM and only US. There is an explosion of sloppy love.
hugs…kisses…uncontainable JOY!!

Until then we hold onto hope. We don’t know when someday will SUDDENLY happen, but it will.
The sweetness of Reunion is fueled by SURPRISE not strategy.

Excuse me…it gets me every time I think about it, I get all mushy inside.

The rebel alliance…

Posted: November 30, 2014 in fizzy faith
Tags: , , , ,
0

I was in 7th grade when my life was changed forever!

It was at the Crown theater in beautiful downtown Collinsville, OK.
The Crown theater was a little one screen movie house (yes kids, once upon a time we got a choice of ONE movie, instead of sixteen) the theater was dark, dingy and it smelled unnaturally nasty (it was a lovely combination of mildew and old popcorn). the floor was always sticky (from years of accumulated dropped milk duds), and the seats made loud screeching noises every time you moved. But it was in that funky old theater that something truly magical happened…
I saw Star Wars for the first time.
The Opening scene took my breath away and captured my imagination.
It was like nothing i had ever seen….star destroyers & amazing music! I was transported to a place, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….”
I was hooked! I was destined to be a star wars nerd forever.
I Collected action figures, trading cards and stickers.i had a R2D2 lunch box. I made homemade light sabers out of old toilet paper rolls and duct tape. I still have toys in my office & an impressive collection of Star Wars shirts.

Star Wars changed my life in other ways. it made me proud of my name…Up until that point, I had been the only Luke I ever knew. It wasn’t a super popular name. I got called Luke the Puke a lot ( yeah, I know, REAL original!!) but, suddenly people were calling me Luke Skywalker ( much cooler than a nickname involving vomit).

It Changed everything!!

That was the first movie which, as it turned out, was really the fourth movie. at first it was just “star wars” then it became “star wars…a new hope”

It changed everything!!

I wanted to be a Jedi…a mysterious warrior…a freedom fighter…a card carrying member of the rebel alliance.

It tapped into something deep within my soul, I wanted to fight injustice and evil though out the galaxy.

Turns out those cravings to do something stellar are not accidental.

I have been called upon to be a freedom fighter, to join a rebel alliance that offers a new hope!

I am a Jedi…for Jesus.

We can live as Jedis for Jesus, but we gotta let Him be our Master. In order to experience everything he has for us, we need to join the rebel alliance!

Rebel against the world…rebel against the norm…rebel against average…rebel against selfishness.

Jesus was not a skywalker, but He was a waterwalker and someday He will be a skycracker.

and He started a rebellion! He Turned everything upside down…which actually made it right side up!!!

Jesus changed everything!!

He wasn’t the kind of God that anybody expected, but he WAS the God who everybody needed.

He hung out with all the wrong people. he didn’t worry about what anybody thought. He didn’t play by the rules.
He introduced a Radical new way of loving people and doing things.

He created a rebel alliance…
An alliance for anybody who is sick of the world and media telling you what to do, how to dress, how to be a winner…c’mon rebel!
An alliance for anybody who is sick of a luke warm, wimpy version of Christianity…c’mon rebel!
An alliance for anybody who is Sick of normal, appropriate or average…c’mon rebel!
An alliance for anybody who is sick of a faith that is more about behaving than following Jesus…c’mon rebel!
An alliance for anybody who is Sick of seeing injustice, watching people hurt…c’mon rebel!
Rise above…grab ahold of something exciting and UNnormal!

There was a Luke in the Bible too. He wrote two really cool books:
the Gospel according to Luke, which tells the story of everything that Jesus began to do and teach. The birth of the rebellion…a new hope for mankind.
Then he wrote the sequel…the empire strikes back otherwise known as The book of Acts. It tells the story of the mission of Jesus carrying on thru his rebel alliance.

We dont meet one of my favorite characters until the second movie…YODA!!!

We dont meet one of the main characters in the rebel alliance until the second book…Paul.
Paul went from trying to destroy the rebellion to being a leader of the rebel alliance. He went from the dark side to the light side. He was a hardcore jedi for Jesus.

He was the Obi Wan of the early church! He had several padawans, one of them was a dude named Silas (Silas Skywalker?), everywhere they went they made some noise, they got a reputation.

Acts 16:20: “The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews!” they shouted to the city officials.”

Acts 17:6: “…Paul and Silas have caused trouble all over the world,” they shouted, “and now they are here disturbing our city, too.”

Everywhere they went they stirred things up! They were rebels!

The church was never meant to be a clone army,
It’s a rebel alliance of beautifully unique scoundrels.

The Rebel alliance is for people who are:
* Intensely passionate for God.
* Believe that they are here to love people by any means necessary!
* Respond to evil with good and to hate with love…that’s how you start a real revolution!!!
* Have a fire in their eyes and in their gut
* Have a nothing is impossible mind set
* Believe that Jesus is not meek and mild, he is mighty and wild!

There is No age limit…membership is all about hunger and passion…Courage and compassion.
The Rebel alliance is not safe…you gotta be willing to risk it all for the cause!
You gotta be crazy enough to turn the world upside down.
Don’t let anything hold you back!!!
Members of the rebel alliance destroy the death stars in their life…fear, unforgiveness, insecurity, conformity, mediocrity.
Members of the rebel alliance have heard God say “I am your father” and it has changed everything!!

They have rebelled against:
low living,
selfishness,
pride,
evil,
apathy

They use the force of the Holy Spirit and they have pledged allegiance to their true master…Jesus Christ.

Join up! Join the rebel alliance.

“I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you.” Ps. 51:13

Newer Entries