Roller Derby Revival

So this morning while I was at the gym one of the TVs was on ESPN and they were interviewing girls who are into Roller Derby - there is a Roller Derby Revival. One of the Roller Derby Queens said "Some people go to church, I'm into Roller Derby." Her quote was part of her discussion on how she finds peace and contement being part of a roller derby team.

Her quote is filled with many implications:

1) There are still a lot of unsaved people who assume that people who are Christians and are going to church are using their faith as a crutch to cope with life. The unbelievers philosophy is people cope with life by drinking alcohol, doing drugs, going to church or by being a Roller Derby Queen.

2) Unsaved people are so deceived into thinking they can find fulfillment without God.

Okay, I must admit I have been afraid to post a blog for the last couple of weeks. I was beginning to think that maybe I was not "Spiritual" enough to be writing about God, the Bible, or anything regarding Christianity so I created a post called Snakes and Turtles. Perhaps I am the blind leading the blind down that slippery slope right into the fiery pits of hell.

The other issue that I've really been struggling with is legalism. Legalism in the sense that I should not watch certain tv shows, listen to certain music, watch certain movies - that really I should be spending 4-6 hours a day on my knees in prayer seeking the unction of the Holy Spirit. That all of my spare time should be spent praying and reading my Bible. This came from the idea that so many people are getting saved at the the revival in Lakeland, FL. I began to wonder if my whole philosphy of building relationships with people and winning them to Christ is wrong. That we should just have healing revivals all across the country and everyone will get saved.

As I watched the girls going around the roller rink I kept thinking "That is really cool and looks like so much fun." And the girls were all wearing these really cute outfits and getting into fights. As I continued to watch them I began to wonder - would these girls attend a revival or would the very word freak them out and send them running in the other direction?

Jesus met people where they were at. People came to him in different ways and with different needs. So too, people come to salvation in different ways... Jesus told Peter simply to follow Him, while Paul was blinded by a light on the road to Damascus. I was saved attending youth group with a friend, but, I know other people who have been saved in their cars and others in their bedrooms.

How will the Roller Derby Queens be saved? What about the people who think Christianity is just a crutch and still those deceived into thinking they can find fulfillment apart from God. I certainly won't be able to reach them if I'm spending all of my spare time praying and reading my Bible - although both of these are very, very essential to the Christial Life, there needs to be balance.

I may come to develop an interest in becoming a Roller Derby Queen so that I can share the gospel with them (Romans 10:14). The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 9:22 (LB) "Yes, whatever a person is like, I try to find common ground with him so he will let me tell him about Christ and let Christ save him."

Perhaps we should just start a Roller Derby Church and have a Roller Derby Revival???

Turtles and Snakes

Living in North Carolina has been an adventure! Especially concerning wildlife and more particularly snakes.

As spring has finally hit here in NC there have been a lot more turtles on the road. Turtles are soooo cute! Every time I see one sitting in the middle of the road hiding in his/her shell I want to stop my car and pick him/her up and carry him/her across the street so it doesn't get run over. They move so slow I just know they are bound to get run over.

Now if it were a snake, I would aim my car so that I would run it over. Yet, a snake is still part of God's creation and shouldn't I care for the snake as much as the turtle? Aren't they both equally important in God's eyes? Does it grieve God when a snake dies?

Glory

Jessica has written an awesome blog about women and the word of God http://andnarrowistheway.blogspot.com/2008/04/bible-chauvenist-propoganda-pt-1.html.

One thing that really struck me while reading her blog was the word "glory" and her discussion of man being the glory of God and woman being the glory of man. I think up until now I've had the wrong idea of glory and how it relates to God.


One definition of the word "glory" according to dictionary.com is "something that is the source of honor, fame, admiration, a distinguished ornament or an object of pride."

As Jessica has pointed out in her blog man is the glory of God. But what does that mean exactly - man is the glory of God? If we look at the above definition, then we see that we are a source of honor, fame, admiration, etc. We are a SOURCE! Which in essence means that we, by definition, are what brings glory to God. It's like the way parents are proud of their children's achievments. The children are the glory of their parents. That's how we are the glory of God.



Doesn't it make sense then to live a life that brings Glory to God? To live our lives according to His Word. James 1:22 (NLT) says "But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves."

If we look God's glory can be seen all around us. Psalm 57:11 says "Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. May your glory shine over all the earth." When we experience a beautiful sunset, doesn't that bring glory to God? He is the one who created the sun.

I think the greatest example for me has been to see the changes in my body as I've begun a new fitness routine. I'm learning that I have muscles that I didn't even know existed. But the other awesome thing is just thinking about how the human body was created. God designed us, these perfect machines.

When I first started working out I was like "maybe I'm wasting my time. I mean, shouldn't I be using this time to pray?" As I thought about it more, I began to realize that I'm bringing glory to God by taking care of myself and the very thing that he designed - me. He designed me. He designed you. He's also given us to the tools to further our development to bring Him glory.

Think about endorphins - obviously God put them in our body for a reason. They make us feel good, they make us happy and put us in a better mood. I feel so good right after a work out. It would be very easy for me to get caught up in myself, but I don't when I remind myself that God created me this way.

When stress creeps in I can pray about it and I know some of the stress will be absolved because I find my peace, joy and comfort in Him and in His word. But I also know that it can be absolved through exercise. But I don't see exercise as my God. I see it only has a tool that God has given me. The important thing here is God has given it to me. I know the reason I feel good is because He created our bodies with endorphins, endorphins that are released through exercise.

I am able to bring glory to God because I feel good and I turn start treating others nicer because I'm no longer stressed.

Almost Rosey

Just a minute of your time
Yes, I've been known to delude myself
So let me put those rose colored glasses to the test
Now is this real enough for you
Cause blondes here don't jump out of cakes
If that never impressed you much
Come board this lunatic express
Just why do they say
Have a nice day anyway
We both know they wouldn't mind
If I just curled up and died
Let's not give that one a try
Chin up put on a pair of these roseys
Raise those blinds
Chin up a happy mask was never
Your best disguise
Chin up put on a pair of these roseys
In no time you will feel almost fine
Almost Rosey
Now some girls her will huddle with
No not footballers that are rich
But will confide in small white sticks
He bats as the Virginian Slim
Then I tried once to comply
With an authority that would
Subsidize my wild side
But at the altar was sacrificed
Yes you can laugh at Femm Fatale
In a brides dress now married to
The effortlessness of the cracks
That lie now in between the facts
Now about when Violet died
The cause still unidentified
She thought her love would be enough
But you can't seduce seduction
Her tentacles of endless want
Reach through my corridors
And tempt me to taste of her power
I sober with the witching hour
And when I hear of one more bomb
Yes we have all been robbed of song
And nightingales whot throw their arms up
When is enough enough?

"Almost Rosey" - Tori Amos American Doll Posse

Someone very close to me tried to commit suicide recently. She had called me a week before to tell me how depressed she was and how she no longer wanted to live. I didn't take her seriously and was annoyed that she wanted to take up my time by talking on the phone - I had more important things to do. My answer to her depression "Suck it up. Stop being such a wimp and allowing this to defeat you. It will get better"

I had just listened to this song right before the call about the attempted suicide. As I began to think about the lyrics I began to realize how often I tell people to just put on the proverbial "rose colored glasses" and just get through it. There are some things though that cannot be handled with just the simple phrase "It'll all get better."

This song can be interpreted many ways - that is the beauty of music and poetry - it means something different to each person who reads it. I see this song as representation of someone who is in a physical abuse situation and the people around this person put on their rose colored glasses and never look at the underlying issue, until finally the person is dead.

I had done this very thing with the person close to me. I had put on my rose colored glasses and said "Everything is going to be fine, and it will all work out." Death would not have been working it all out.

How many times do I do this with people who aren't even close to me, saying things like "Just pray and it will all be better" or, "God will provide" or even just "Have a nice day." I walk around blind to the fact that there are actually people out there who are hurting and suffering. I keep the good news of Jesus to myself, how selfish is that?

You Give Christians a Bad Name

Yesterday I read this article in Rolling Stone Magazine called "Jesus Made Me Puke" by Matt Tailbi http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/20278737/jesus_made_me_puke. The author writes about his experience on a Christian retreat with a well known mega church in, TX. His whole premise is to pretend he is a Christian so he can expose the Christian right. Millions of people are inevitibly going to read this article and come to the conclusion that this experience is what Christianity is all about and by the same token that anyone who calls themselves a Christian is like this. I encourage you to read the article for yourself.

When I first started reading the article, I thought it was going to be about how he can't stand the idea of Christianity. I was angry with the author for even suggesting such a title and such a prank as the one he was pulling. By the end of the article I was no longer upset with the author but with the Christians he was writing about.

One of the major things the caught my attention was the discussion of the session where demons were being cast out. Basically the whole congregation was encouraged to open their mouths and the pastor for two hours cast out demons. He cast out the demon of lust, idolotry, incest, etc. The author said one of the demons was "handwriting analysis". Okay, what? I mean maybe the author made that one up. The thing is that these people were buying into this casting out of demons experience.

I know this is going to get into a lot of doctrinal stuff and we may be divided where we stand on this issue. But, here is my argument. It is not possible for Christians to be filled with demons. We are filled with His Holy Spirit if we are truly saved. Another thing, God gave us Free Will. Adam and Eve made the choice to buy into the devils lies and disobey God. We decide to choose to entertain lustful thoughts and act them out thus resulting in sin. Satan and Demons cannot force us to do anything against our will, just as God cannot force us to do anything against our will. We can be tempted, but we still have the ultimate decision about deciding to give into the tempations.

What this article means to me is that an alarming number of Christians are not reading and studying their bibles. We are told in 2 Timothy 2:15 (NKJV) "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Rightly dividing the word of truth - this is so crucial to our personal walk with God as well as to the body of Christ as a whole. You give Christians a bad name when you fail to heed this scripture.

It is no wonder the leftists think that Christians are all a bunch of lunatics. I am not talking about the scripture in Corinthians that talks about being wise by the world's standardes and becoming a fool to be truly wise. I'm talking about walking the narrow way and not being decieved by wolves in sheeps clothing.

Is it just me or has anybody else noticed that there are more and more articles being written about Christians these days? I don't know, maybe I'm just reading too many liberal magazines. The thing is that these liberal magazines are reaching out to their target audience and then some. They are voicing their opinions and taking action, while too many of us Christians have become complacent and inactive.

It is important (and I'm speaking to myself included) to truly study the issues that are out there and pray about them, so that our decisions line up with God's decisions. Don't just buy into things at face value - Jesus gave us a huge warning that we would be decieved by the wolves in sheeps clothing. I'm afraid I've allowed myself to be fooled for too long. I'm realizing more and more that the things Jesus warned us about are not the obvious things that I automatically think of. But isn't that the way Satan always operates - deception?

In the Springtime of His Voodoo

In Mark 11:22 Jesus says "Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, 'May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe in your heart that you recieved it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too."

Forgiveness has been one of those things that I didn't think I struggled with, mostly because my way of dealing with things is to just not deal with them at all.

When I was in High School my stepfather and I did not get along very well. In fact most of my journal entries from back then included the words "I hate my stepdad - he is ruining my life." When I moved out after graduation our relationship was mostly based on just being polite to each other. Since he and my mom divorced in 2000 I have only talked to him on a very small number of occassions and only because I was forced to.

I've been doing this study on the Torah (http://torahclass.com/download.html) and one of the things the teacher spoke about is the promises of God. God has made promises and immediately the enemy comes like a vulture and tries to carry them away. One of the easiest ways to be carried away is through deception. I have been decieved into the springtime of his voodoo. I have allowed myself to think that life is much more rosey not dealing with this unforgiveness. I have buried this unforgiveness so deep in my heart I did not even remember it existed. Pastor Scott read this scripture as pat of his message this morning.

In Matthew 5:23 Jesus says " Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave the gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother, then come and offer your gift."

What is ironic in a way is that I had read my journal from high school this past week as part of a paper I am writing for class. As I began to think about this scripture more I could clearly see the journal entries I had written so many years ago and my unforgiveness was exposed. It had finally come to light and now it is up to me to deal with it.

I can continue to dodge the issue and never reconcile the relationship with my stepdad, but now I know the consequences and I believe they are too high. One of the consequences is that my relationship with God will suffer. God will not be able to heal that area of my life and Jesus paid a high price for that healing - the stripes upon His back.

The other consequence that will suffer; not having established a good relationship with my stepdad he may never come to know Christ. I may be the only Christian my stepdad will ever know - I may be the only person who is ever able to show Christ's love to him. This price is too high - his very salvation could be at stake!

Part of me wants to hold onto this unforgiveness - it is part of my identity. It gives me the excuse to play the victim and wimp out when things get to be tough.

My next course of action is not to simply just say in my heart that I have forgiven my stepdad. My next step of action is to actually pick up the phone and call him and I need to do it soon, with each passing day he is slipping closer and closer to spending eternity in Hell. I will have failed to run my race fully in preaching Jesus shall I choose to not obey.

Spirit of Excellence (Part 2)

Spirit of Excellence (Part 2) - Music

One of the greatest examples I can think of in regard to having a Spirit of Excellence is in the area of music - I briefly discussed this in my previous post but would like to delve into this a bit further.

I really, really, really have a heart to reach musicians. They are able to weave these great tapestry's of art through the medium of music. God is the ULTIMATE Artist - just take a look at His Word - if the Bible is not the greatest example of Artistry ever created I don't know what is. The Bible is full of poetry, prose and stories all weaved together with a single common thread - no human being could have ever pulled off this beautiful work of art.

All that to say I know who I serve - the God of All Creation and I'm not at all bothered by listening to secular music (however, I do know that I really have to guard my heart). I am able to appreciate the music for what it is, a piece of art. I also know that most musicians (when I say musicians I mean people who actually write their own music - not pop tarts like Britney Spears) are seeking all of the same things that we as Christians are seeking they just have not found Him yet. They have not been able to fill that God Shaped Hole (sings) "There's a God Shaped Hole in All of us" Anyone, Anyone - okay, never mind.

Secular music would never turn out crap - so why we do we do it as Christians? Why don't we learn everything we can from secular artists who produce really good music and use that knowledge to make really awesome Christian music. Music that both secular artists and Christians will appreciate. Why don't we study with the best whether they are Christian or not so that we can be the best?

God gave each of us talents - talents that we are responsible for cultivating so that we may use them for His glory, remember the parable of the man with five talents and the man with 1 talent?

I attend secular concerts because I want to learn everything I can about what the world's standards of quality are. I've learned so much from attending these concerts. I'm always watching, always listening trying to pick up any tips I can. I want to develop my craft and help create a Spirit of Excellence in everything I do so that believers and non believers will see Christ glorified.

Whatever talents God has given you it is your responsibility to hone and fine tune them through education and experience.