Jesus is…?

I love Tim Tebow. Love him. I love that he is living out 1 Peter 2:11-12 which says, “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

As a Christ Follower we are commanded to not make this world our home. That means that we don’t get so comfortable here that we forget that our real home is Heaven. But at the same time we aren’t supposed to ignore people while we are visiting earth. In fact we are to live such good lives that people take notice of our God. Eh huh, eh huh, cough cough, Tim Tebow.

Now the question that was being asked before he was monkey stomped in the second round of the playoffs was “does God care about football?” The answer is…

No. I don’t think that God cares about football. God cares more about our actions, and how we treat people. Check this…1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” It’s God’s will that we give thanks in all circumstances and find joy in Him despite our circumstances.

So God doesn’t care if Tim Tebow wins or losses. He cares how he lives this life, how he responds to loses, and how he treats others. BUT…

I’m not 100% sure that God didn’t play some part in the Patriots going to the Super Bowl. Do what?

Ravens defensive standout Terrell Suggs said the following when asked about Tim Tebow – “”With all due respect, we don’t need God on our sidelines,” the five-time Pro Bowl linebacker said. “Once again, God had to save Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos. He (Tebow) couldn’t even give them two drives? 7 to 3.”

Okay, I’m not saying that God played a part in the Ravens missing a field goal, dropping a touchdown, and getting eliminated from the playoffs by the New England Patriots. I’m not saying it, but I am hinting at it.

The Bible says, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Um…if I’m an NFL player, and I don’t believe in God, I’m learning from Terrell Suggs. Maybe you don’t think you need God, but I wouldn’t challenge Him publicly.

Who do you think will win the Super Bowl?

I hate jogging like you would hate hairy hemorrhoids. I don’t know what a hairy hemorrhoid is and I’ve never had a bald hemorrhoid, but I’m assuming we’d all hate em if we had them.  So I hate jogging and yet on Saturday I suffered through jogged 10 miles. What in the wild world of sports would possess me to do such a thing? I’m glad you asked.

I’m jogging a half marathon. Up until last week this was just a theory…er hypothesis…er…something I talked about. I had set a goal to run one this year but up until last week I hadn’t put down the money for the race. I know! How stupid is it that you pay to run?! Well, now my race is paid for. I’m running the Flying Pirate in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. RRRRRun ye mattey.

Now it’s on like Donkey Kong playing ping pong all night long while singing a song. What song is he singing? “Red Solo Cup” cause you’ve got to be on something to weigh what I weigh and run a half marathon. By the way I’ve never tasted alcohol, and I drink Mtn. Dew in my red Solo cups.  I wanted to clarify just in case you were judging me.

I’m not on a substance that alters my behavior. I simply set a goal to push myself and I’m trying to stick to it. Or I hate myself. That’s what I was thinking as I was running 10 miles.

So I’m running with my buddy Ryan and we started with 5 miles 3 weeks ago. Last week we ran 7 and this week we ran 10. I have never run 10 miles in my life. On mile 7 I was done. What got me to mile 8 was the thought of eating McDonald’s afterward. I know that’s not what skinny people who run eat but I’m not skinny. I also needed all the help that I could get to go to mile 8. Now mile 8 through 10 was all kind of a blur.  The only thing that I remember is that I kept thinking about a quote that I heard from a pastor I had been listening to.

The pastor was talking about the human spirit and how strong it is. He gave multiple examples of people who have achieved remarkable things.  He then said that if the “human spirit is this strong just imagine what it can do when we involve the Holy Spirit.”

The Bible says, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:11-13.

In this world we are going to hurt. We are going to have needs. We aren’t always going to get what we want. What’s the secret to being content in every situation? Finding your strength in Jesus!

Some people have a jogger’s mind. They can push through mental walls and push themselves to great distances. I don’t. I have jogger’s nipple and it hurts like a mother. The human spirit is capable of great things, but it’s not enough. I made it 8 miles on dreams of McDonald’s, good conversation, and will power.  I prayed my way to mile 10. We can do all things through Jesus.  If the human spirit is capable of great things just imagine what it’s capable of with the Holy Spirit?

If you could do one thing and not fail what would you do? What’s stopping you from pushing past your human limitations and leaning on God’s spirit?

So I’m not what you would call handy. I’m more what you’d call paysomeonetofixstuffforme-y. Fixing stuff just doesn’t come natural to me and I get really frustrated when I try. Enter this weeks adventure. I like to call this adventure the time I didn’t have a fat clue how to lower my twin’s cribs.

Our twins are at an age where they can potentially crawl and potentially pull themselves out of their crib and splat onto the floor. I say potentially because they haven’t done this but the fear is real that they might. So…

For two nights my wife and I fought a losing battle against those stupid, no good, piece of shut your mouth cribs. I wish we had reality TV cameras watching this because it would have made great TV. At one point my idea was to turn the crib completely upside down and man handle it. That worked out as bout as well as…

So after two nights of losing I finally YELLED out of frustration told Monica that we needed to ask for help. She admitted defeat but also noted that we made this thing way more difficult than it really needed to be.

So I call my friend Ryan and ask if he can bring his tool box over for Community Group and help me lower the cribs. He shows up with a man’s tool box. In about five minutes we had the first crib lowered. Ryan gently said that he wished I would have told him what the screws looked like because he didn’t need his entire tool box. Oops.

Now sometimes people make fun of me for not having a fat clue about how to fix things. That’s cool. I am not embarrassed by my lack of Tim the Tool Man Taylor skills. I bring things to the table that others can’t. Not everybody can blog. Not everybody can speak in public. Not everybody can be a white guy that can rap. I can’t be you. I can only be me. That means doing what I can do and allowing others to do what they can do.

1 Corinthians 12:16-18 says, And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.

God doesn’t make perfect people. We desperately need each other. One of the lies of pride is that we don’t need anyone. Isolation leads to AWOL body parts.  Think about it what a detached hand is? It’s pointless. It’s only when it plays it’s part attached to the rest of the body that it functions correctly.

Some one is suffering because you aren’t using your gifts. Someone is hurting because you aren’t doing what only you can do. Someone is missing out on achieving their God given potential because you are too prideful to ask for help. Someone is spending two incredibly frustrating nights losing to a five minute project because they are doing what they are not wired to do. Think about it.

What do you think God has wired you to do?

Have you ever had a pukie day? I haven’t…until I had kids.

I have never thrown up. I’ve never hugged a toilet. I’ve never even been sick to my stomach. People tell me that I’m missing out because it feels so good afterward. Well, I’m sure that death feels good after you get monkey stomped by a wild herd of rabid chinchillas, but that doesn’t mean that I want to experience that!

The point is that I’ve never even felt the need to puke, so I’ve never had a literal pukie day…until now.

My son, Hayden, loves food. The other day I was feeding them dinner and my daughter had thrown in the towel. When she is done eating she gets violent. She slaps at the spoon and turns her head likes it’s poison. So my daughter is done eating but I have half a container of baby food left. I try Hayden to see if he’s still interested. He is and he’s really excited about it.

I was one spoonful away from Hayden finishing dinner when he cocked his head to the side, squinted his eyes, did the dougie, and then puked like a baby possessed by a demon. I don’t remember what I yelled but it was something like, “WHOAA WHOAA WHOAAAAAA!”

My wife came in to see the carnage and I told her that I didn’t even know what to do with that mess. We cleaned it up and then Hayden decided to let a little more out all over my wife. It was a glorious disaster.

1 Peter 1:6-9 – In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.  Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Now I haven’t had a literal pukie day but I have had figurative pukie days. I’m sure that most of you reading have had both. It sucks to have a pukie day. It sucks and yet God can use your puke to bring out greatness.

I love the verse above. It says that even though we may have had to suffer grief and all kinds of trials we should feel better because of Jesus. Even though we haven’t seen Jesus we believe in Him. When days are pukie and you’d like for Him to clean up your mess, but it doesn’t seem He’s moving fast enough you still hold on to Him. You hold onto Jesus and you will develop greater faith that is worth more than gold. Boom sauce.

Pukie days prove what we are made of. We can curl up in a ball and give up or we can hold onto Jesus and watch what He does with our puke.

If you are going through a pukie day right now I’d love to pray for you. You are not alone. If not when was the last time you threw up?

Treat Yo Self.

Jesus said “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12 (NIV).

So in the blog world it’s really tempting to self promote. We want people to read. It’s really hard to get people’s attention because the world wide web is a traffic jam of information. So how do we respond? We bombard you with Twitter/Facebook messages, beg you to leave comments, and freak out when our stats don’t climb.

I Hulk Hogan with this. In other words I wrestle with the tension. I really want you to read my posts, but I also don’t want to be all about…me.

What if every time we self promoted ourselves we also gave a shout out to someone else? For example…

If you like my blog then you will love Matt Cannon’s blog, The Seeking Pastor. If you love the Bible and want to see it from a different angle then you will love Michael Perkins blog, The Handwritten. If you love to laugh then you will send me Chipotle gift cards for introducing you to The Good Greatsby! What do these blogs have in common? They all start with The and I love them.

Oh you want more? How about some up and comers that are starting to dominate the blog world? How about a pastor who loves Chipotle and rides his bike like he’s Lance Armstrong – Cycleguy’s Spin. How about a site called the isle of man? Or how about a little bit of Deuceology.  Still want more? Make sure you check out Return to Zero, and The Beardedidealist. I could keep going, but I’m going to let you link the rest.

Now it’s your turn. Treat Yo Self and Treat someone else. What is a blog post or Tweet/Facebook post that you are really proud of? And what is your favorite blog post that someone else wrote?

It’s January 18 and that means that the vast majority of you reading this have fled from your New Year’s resolutions like it was Godzilla and you were a Japanese tourist. It’s hard to change. It’s hard to stick to a goal. It’s hard to break bad habits.

That’s the idea behind the following video. We showed it at Waters Edge to open our series entitled Upgrade. Most of us would love to upgrade an aspect of our life but it’s just too hard. It’s too hard until now…

The video was written by Phil Poteat and Rob Shepherd. It was filmed by Dillon Tulip and edited by Phil Poteat.

What is something you would instantly upgrade if you had Upgrade Vaporub?

But wait…there’s more.

For week two of the series we sent out two of our staff members for potentially the funniest video we’ve ever made. The idea is that everyone wants an upgrade but very few people get one. Until now.

Did this video make you laugh?

I think God gave us women so that we could understand Him better. All the women said Amen. All the men said oh me. Where is this going? Great question.

God doesn’t change…right? At least that’s what the Bible says. God doesn’t change but yet the more we get to know Him the more things we discover. It’s almost as if He’s forever changing because He’s so complex. Like a woman.

I now take this moment to make sure that God knows my heart on this subject.

Uhh God. When I say you are like a woman I mean that in a really honoring way. It’s way different then when some guy tells me he’s cold and I tell him to zip up his man suit and stop being a woman. I promise I have a point and it’s supposed to be a good one.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled blog post.

I will never be able to figure out my wife. She’s a woman. I remember when we first started dating we would always order a cheese pizza. We both loved it! In our first year of marriage I ordered pizza one night and my wife says, “why do you always order cheese? Can’t we get some toppings on our pizza?” As the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles say, “What the Shell?” I was shell shocked. I was floored. I didn’t know that my wife liked other toppings so there was never a reason to order them. In fact I said, “who are you and what have you done with my wife?”

Now compare a woman to a man. Most men are simple minded creatures. We like food, sex, fart jokes, and to be entertained. Most men don’t change a whole lot. I’m not saying that we can’t change. I’m just saying that we don’t. I still like cheese pizza.

Now with my wife either she changed on me or she just showed me a different side to her personality.

The Bible says, “Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. But whoever loves God is known by God.” 1 Corinthians 8:2-3.

Did you catch that verse? Those who think they know do not know!

Have you ever been around someone who had God figured out? Whether it’s Calvinists (those that believe that everything is predestined by God) or those who preach free will both sides claim to have God figured out. The problem with thinking that you have God figured out is that He’s more complex than a woman.

The religious leaders in Jesus’ day thought they had God figured out. So much so that they actually thought they were honoring God by killing His son Jesus. The early church thought they had God figured out and they thought that Christianity was only for Jews.  Now I don’t think that God changed. I think that He revealed another side of Himself. Like a woman.

I don’t ever want to think that I’ve got God figured out. He’s God. If I could figure Him out He wouldn’t be all that powerful. Now even though I don’t think I will ever figure Him out I love getting to know Him more. When we love God we are known by God.  Boom sauce.

It’s a lot like my wife. She’s complex. I love getting to know her and learning new things about her personality. As for me. I’m a guy so she knows everything about me. Like I said, I think God gave men women so that we could understand Him better.

Agree or disagree with my thoughts today?

Start up your Delorean, set the date to January 16, 2011, and charge up the 1.21 gigawatts. We are going back in time to one year ago today.

So here is the scene: my wife and I are at our six month ultrasound appointment. We waited six years to get pregnant. Three years earlier we had gone through a miscarriage after the doctors had told us that we couldn’t get pregnant. We knew it was possible with God to get pregnant again. We just didn’t know when. Now that we were pregnant we approached every doctor appointment with caution. We were scared that at any point the doctor would tell us that we had lost our twins.

We had pictures to prove that we were having twin boys. At the six month appointment the ultrasound tech leads with…

Ultrasound Tech: “For a second there I thought there were three babies in there.”

Rob and Monica: Nervous laughter because we thought she was joking.

Ultrasound Tech: “You aren’t having three are you?”

Monica: “No. We did IVF and they implanted two in there. If one of them split they’d be in the same sack right?

Ultrasound Tech: “Oh if you did IVF then there are only two in there.”

Rob: Trying not to pass out.

Ultrasound Tech: (Not a direct quote because I was in shock thinking about three babies) “Oh there they are. I found your baby girl.”

Monica: Uncontrollable laughter

Rob: Silence due to shock.

Monica’s mom: “You are kidding right? You’ve got to be kidding. You’re joking aren’t you?”

Ultrasound Tech: “I’m not joking.”

Monica’s mom: “You are joking. I think you are joking.”

Ultrasound Tech: “No that’s clearly a girl. I haven’t made a mistake in 14 years.”

Rob: “EXCEPT FOR THE ONE WHERE YOU TOLD US WE WERE HAVING TWO BOYS” (that was my thought and it did not come out of my mouth)!

Monica: Still laughing uncontrollably.

Ultrasound Tech: “Ma’am, I’m going to need you to stop laughing. I can’t get a good look with your stomach shaking so much.

Monica: “You are going to have to give me a minute.”

Monica’s mom: (Jumping up and down over and over again) “That’s what I prayed for. Prayer really does work. I’ve been praying that the penis would fall off.”

Monica: Laughing uncontrollably.

Rob: Silence. Shock. Amazed that Monica’s mom said she prayed for our son’s dinger to fall off.

All of that was one year ago today. We went from expecting Reese to be a boy to finding out that she is a girl. We are so thankful that Reese and Hayden were born healthy…and we are especially thankful that Reese’s you know what fell off. And no I don’t think it really fell off. I’m just trying to be funny.

What’s the most surprising news that you have ever received?