Spring Break....

So as I sit with a cup of coffee, the office is slow this week. No services this week but I find myself busier than ever. Taking a look back over the past few weeks it has been a roller coaster ride that keeps on coming. Preparations for Easter, teaching students the truth about Christ and the Cross and Resurrection and now the aftermath. I sit wondering if we have truly walked away with a deeper understanding of what Christ has done for us? I ask myself, what could I do more to remember what Christ has done for me this year? I mean sure I can plan more time to spend in the word, more time in prayer, say all of these nice things that make me feel better but what is it that I can do to please the Father? Honestly? I find that it is so important as a leader to strive to know more about the Savior that I serve. Taking time to slow down through the midst of the whirlwind that we get caught up in through our professions gets harder and harder sometimes. So even though the world around me is turning faster than normal, as weird as this sounds, I find myself falling deeper in love with the Father because of how He has directed my paths. But it is in these whirlwind moments that builds my character and helps me to know that my Father has control. It helps me strive to keep going and pushes me to greater heights and deeper depths. It is like I thrive on busyness. I guess it is because my mind is still in school mode and maybe, just maybe my mind can slow down after the summer. You will just have to check back and see if my mind has slowed down  but until then I love being busy. Most of all, I love being busy for the Father. There is a danger in this I know: being to busy doesn't mean that everything is profitable. I do understand the dangers of having a business like mind when it comes to the church. I do understand the dangers of having to much down time and not being productive. This is something that I am working on and will continue to work on for some time now. I love my position here at North River Church. I am truly excited about how God is going to use our students this summer and the years to come. I want to stay tuned into God and His will for this student ministry and rely on His direction as He leads. Where else would you want to be? For me, this is it and my passion is growing by the moment! Praise be to God!

Great Expectations?

So as I sit here today working on the new series for our students and the thought about expectations has come to mind. How many of us have some sort of expectations for our lives? our spouses? our ministries? As I was thinking out loud I couldn't help but think of how many times we put expectations on Jesus. Jesus didn't come to satisfy the peoples need of a liberator or political revolutionary but He came according to His agenda, His terms. The point I am trying to make here is that we all have put expectations on Jesus. We expect Jesus to do this for us or for Jesus to give us what WE need. The problem with this is the fact that what WE need and what He offers is totally different. Jesus didn't come to fulfill the expectations of the people at Passover but came to deliver the people from sin. You can see in Mark 11:1-11 they yell and plead saying "Hosanna! Hosanna!" which means "deliver us, save us NOW." You see the people wanted a ruler, dictator to overthrow the Roman government so THEY could have what they wanted. Jesus had other plans. Jesus wanted to deliver hope and grace and humility and love. Why is it that we can so easily put expectations on who Jesus is supposed to be? I think the answer is this: WE want to be God! This is the phrase that has stuck in my mind "Life is no longer about who WE think Jesus is; it's about who HE actually is." How about you? Have you put unrealistic expectations on Jesus? Do you have Jesus in your back pocket only to be seen when you need something from Him? What if this Resurrection Day (easter) we could let go of our expectations in life and stop limiting what God can do with us? Am I willing to accept Jesus into my life on His terms and not my own? It's sad that if God doesn't do something for us then we have nothing to do with Him. But we forget that Jesus shed His blood for our sins and conquered death so that we may experience true love by His grace and His act of humility that gives all man hope! Just thought you would like something to ponder this season......

You got served!

Have you ever given up your time not expecting anything in return? I am talking about those minutes that turn into hours that seem to pass by without notice? Why is it that we worry about the time issue when it comes to serving others than just doing it? The reason being is we are a selfish people that are lazy. What would happen if more people served one another and forgot about time? I love that today I got to serve among our students at a local school that some of them went to when they were in Middle School. It was a great opportunity to show the love of Christ and show that we don't want to stand for complacency. I don't want our students to grow up without understanding that "faith without actions is dead." This is such a critical aspect of our lives, especially if we say we have Christ as our Saviour King. The opportunity to serve with our students was priceless and was summed up when one of our students asked what time it was and his response was "wow, it seems like it has only been like an hour!" The issue of time was not on his mind, serving was. If we had the lens of serving one another instead of self-gratification, there is no telling how many people we could impact!