02.10.14
by

Five things college students should remember on Valentine’s Day

love, valentines day, 5 things

A quick survey of the conversations I have had over the past few weeks reveals that there are more people not looking forward to Valentine’s Day than those who are excited. It does not matter where you fall on the spectrum – “I can’t get enough of the flowers, color red and chocolate” to “If I see one more status update about that special gift from their special someone I might actually explode” – Here are some things worth remembering this Friday.

1.  Who you are is defined by Jesus, not who you are with.

Have you ever met the person who finds their identity in the person they are with? Maybe you are that person and that’s why you have found yourself in a string of broken relationships. Jesus has already declared you to be free, loved and secure in Him. I’ve witnessed countless shipwrecked relationships in which one person asked the other to do only what Jesus can do. But people cannot do what Jesus does. When we find our worth in Jesus not people we are free to actually love and enjoy the relationship God has given us.

2.  You are not married yet – so don’t play pretend.

Marriage is great, when you are married. Pretending usually leads to a lot of heartache. I know this is true because anytime we live outside of God’s plan, it does not go well. This Friday night do yourself a favor, stay away from backseats, cozy couches and snuggly beds. Your marriage will thank you someday.

3.  Being single is not the enemy.

Singleness and in a relationship does not equate to defeat and victory. It is tempting sometimes to feel sorry for ourselves when we are not in a relationship as if we are losing at life. That is not how God sees it. He has a plan and purpose even in singleness. Enjoy this time because you are right where God wants you.

4.  Single? Don’t worry, you probably don’t have the gift of singleness, so pray for your future husband/wife.

It is true, God has given some of us the curse gift of singleness. But in general, God has called you to marriage. The command was given back in the beginning, “get married and make babies” (that’s my version of Genesis 1:28). Take some time to pray for your future valentine, maybe they need more prayer this week than you!

5.  Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to proclaim to an unbelieving world the truth about love.

God is love. I will love my wife better because I know and experience the love of God in my life. Would it not be great if you were able to proclaim the love of Jesus on your campus this week?

02.03.14
by

The Super Bowl, Seahawks and Jesus

fansVictory.

Sweet victory.

Admittedly, I am more of a bandwagon fan than a loyal Seahawk supporter. Either way, I watched and enjoyed every snap of the Seahawks win yesterday. There is something great about your team winning. The game will not go down in history as the greatest, but it doesn’t matter much to the players or the fans. Victory is all that mattered.

Victory always results in celebration. Within moments of the final whistle, the neon green and blue confetti began to fall upon MetLife stadium. The city of Seattle erupted in party – one huge party. The last time the city experienced this kind of victory was 1979 when the Sonics won the NBA championship. It is reported that fireworks were launched as students celebrated on the campus of the University of Washington. Victory demands celebration.

There is a parade coming to Seattle on Wednesday. People will line the streets, I’m certain there will be a few tears shed as the masses pay tribute to victory. But there will be defeat again. We will crave victory again. It may be fun to celebrate the moment, but it is only a moment. The Seahawks will not win the Super Bowl every year.

There was a different victory, it was won on a Jerusalem hillside and as a result, defeat has been forever abolished.

Listen to these words written by Paul in 1 Corinthians.

“Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Death has been defeated. Jesus is victorious. Sin has lost its power. Victory demands celebration.We do not celebrate enough. Maybe Heaven will be one big, everlasting celebration. 

What would our church look like if every Sunday we gathered together to celebrate victory? How would your morning change if you woke up breathing the air of victory? Would your perspective be different if you knew death has been defeated and will never see victory?

Victory, sweet victory!

02.01.14
by

See. Feel. Touch.

There are two kinds of churches

A church that is.

A church that does.

Personally, I want to be a part of a group that does. I’m not really interested in being in a community of believers who just meet on Sundays, raise their hands in worship, pray, study the Bible and then go on with their lives. It’s not that this kind of church is all together wrong. In fact, it could still be a good church that proclaims truth. But, I want to be a church that is salt and light in this world.

I was reading through Acts chapter 3 the other day. In the first 10 verses, Luke tells an interesting story. Peter and John are on their way to the temple to worship when they see a man who has been paralyzed since his birth. It says they stopped, looked at him, and then in the name of Jesus, they healed him. Immediately the man ran into the temple, jumping around, praising God.

I realize this is a crazy, miracle story but I want to be like Peter and John. I want us to be like Peter and John. Here is what they did.

They saw the hurt. Felt the hurt. Touched the hurt.

It may seem simplistic, but you can go read it for yourself. They noticed a man in need and they felt his pain. How terrible it must have been to never have been able to walk. Day after day he would just sit on the street corner begging for money – he was a social outcast. I wonder how many people walked by him that day, they noticed him but they ignored him. It’s easy to ignore the hurt of others when we are consumed with our own needs.

Most of us today don’t have trouble seeing hurt in our world. Walk through our town, turn on the news or surf the internet and you will see hurt. Its hard not to see and then feel the hurt of the world around us. But I am certain I do not do a good job of touching their hurt.

Touching their hurt involves action.

It might be as simple as a letter sent to someone hurting. It could be watching the kids of a single mom so she can have a night out. Maybe its sending money to an organization. For some of us it means we give up our spring break or summer break to go somewhere and serve. It could be a coffee you buy for a friend who just needs to talk. It’s a cheese burger for the homeless man on the corner, groceries for the family whose dad lost his job, giving a ride to a friend who has no car, or bringing soup to one who is sick.

See. Feel. Touch.

I do not want us to miss the result of this kind of love.

The man ran into the temple praising God. People respond to our touching with worship. The book of Acts tells of masses of people coming to Jesus. 3000 in a single day (Acts 2) and 2000 more in another day (Acts 4). But slammed between those two accounts of great revival is a story of a single man coming to Jesus.

Why tell us a story of one man crippled from birth coming to Jesus?

Those who are most effective in reaching the masses are most passionate about reaching the one.

See, feel and touch – one person at a time.

01.01.14
by

New Year’s Reset

new yearIt was a weekly ritual for us growing up. On Sunday mornings my family would head to church, Sunday school class followed by service. But the tradition didn’t stop there, after service we would load up our red mini-van and head for my grand-parents’ house for Sunday Lunch. I looked forward to Sundays, but not because for the reason you may be thinking. It really had nothing to do with Sunday school, church, or family.
My Grandma loves video games and she owned the old grey original Nintendo system. My parents never bought us a video game system growing up, so we this was the one chance for me and my brother to play games!

After scarfing down lunch, my brother and I would retreat to the basement and sit around a small black and white TV to play our Nintendo games. We wasted hours in front of that screen. But I probably wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
For the most part, those afternoons were filled with laughter and fun (maybe more for me than my brother who I routinely beat at all games, like any good older brother does). But there was always one frustrating moment. It was likely to happen once each Sunday. While playing a game, the screen would freeze. A loud beep would come out from the speakers – which meant there was no saving it, the only thing you could do was press the “reset” button.

I’ve noticed that in my spiritual life, sometimes it’s like that Nintendo system, it just freezes. Sometimes I just need to press “reset” and go back to the basics. It’s not that I need to restart, its that I need to be reminded of the basics again.

I’m not really into New Year Resolutions – so as we enter 2014, can I share with you my 10 resets?

Here they are, in no particular order.

1. Speak life when your words could cut down others.
2. Trust relentlessly when I could be trapped by fear.
3. Serve selflessly when I could demand attention.
4. Be courageous in sharing when I could disappear in the crowd.
5. Pray for those I have never met when I could waste time on Facebook.
6. Purse holiness when those around me don’t.
7. Spend money on others when I could buy for myself.
8. Take risks when I could choose fear.
9. Practice humility when I feel important.
10. Read the Word with my best when I could wait for convenience.

The New Year gives us an opportunity to press “reset”. What is something you want to focus on?

 

12.02.13
by

Shadows and Reality

Her name was Federlina. Her wrinkled face, callused hands and raspy voice tell you she has lived a full life. How old is she? Your guess is as good as mine, I’m not sure she even knows. She’s lived in the same mud brick house her entire life. Her husband is long gone. Her children have moved to the big city and rarely ever visit. Her cattle that she still takes care of graze in a field a couple miles away – she makes the walk everyday to check on them, it’s as routine as my drive to work. She lives in the Andes’ mountains, in a town of 200 people, has never searched on Google or sent an email and she doesn’t know Jesus. I met her the first time I went with Grant Avenue to Peru two years ago.

Don’t get me wrong, she’s religious. She lives in a village where the majority of people claim some form of Catholicism. A couple times a year there will be religious festivals to honor a saint or maybe even Jesus.  For most of the people in the town, the festivals have little to do with God and are more of ritualistic celebration, an excuse to drink. Federlina doesn’t get drunk during the festivities though, in her words own words she said, “I’m a good person.”

I’m reminded of a few verses in Colossians 2:16-17.

Therefore do not let any one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

A shadow can tell you something of reality, but it isn’t the object itself. That’s what the festivals, new moon celebrations and even the Sabbath are. They are shadows – Jesus is reality.

Federlina knew the shadows well. She knows the festivals. She knows the Christian stories but she doesn’t know Jesus. Every time we would share the gospel with her and think she understood she would say, “but I have always been a good person.”

Sometimes our religion gets in the way of us actually seeing Jesus. Sometimes we get captivated by the shadows of Jesus and not Jesus himself. This time of year might be the easiest to get captivated by the shadow. There will be Christmas parties and presents will be exchanged but I wonder sometimes if we lose sight of Jesus. We are good at celebrating Christmas but are we celebrating the shadow or reality?

My heart breaks for Federlina because she only knows the shadow, she doesn’t know reality. But you and I know reality – Jesus Christ. The question is, will you celebrate the shadow or the reality this Christmas?

11.01.13
by

S.Y.A.T.P.

syatp_2012It was a cloudy, brisk morning just over a month ago. I set my alarm clock for earlier than normal and met some of our high school students at Crescent Valley. It was just after seven in the morning when I pulled into the parking lot, we were meeting to pray around the flag pole before school.

Students across the country met for what is called, See You at the Pole. Middle school and high school students gathered before school on a Wednesday to pray for their campuses. They prayed that Jesus’ name would be proclaimed to the lost.

As we circled the flag pole, holding hands with students from other local churches, I was reminded of my high school experience. I used to attend See You at the Pole fifteen years ago. But on this particular morning, things happened a bit differently.

Across the circle from me was a little freshman boy. I would have mistaken him for a sixth grader if we weren’t standing in front of the high school. I would later find out that his name was Jessie. He was one of the first students to arrive. Things were getting busier as parents dropped off their kids for school. We were standing right in front of the main entrance to the school.

Just before we were to start praying, a girl, who I have never seen before walked behind me. Her mom had just dropped her off and she was making her way into the school. She called out to that boy on the other side of the circle, “Hey Jessie! You need to get some new friends!”

Her words cut through the cold morning air. If it was meant as a joke, than it fell flat because no one laughed. The person to my left squeezed my hand hard. Another girl’s mouth dropped open.

In the brief moment that followed I tried to consider how I should respond as the only adult standing in the circle. I was angry. I wanted to say something to the girl who seemed unnecessarily angry at the boy who was just meeting with his friends to pray. I was sad. I wanted to encourage the boy across the circle. He must feel attacked.

Before I could speak, the boy spoke. His words were soft, but confident.

“I don’t need new friends. I have my people.” And then, before I could even process what was happening the boy looked at us in the circle and said, “Let’s pray.”

He prayed first. It was hard for me not to cry. I wish you could have been in that circle. I have prayed many times standing in a circle. But this time was different. The 14 year old student prayed for boldness, he prayed that every student at his high school would come to know Jesus. He prayed for opportunities to share Jesus with them. He prayed for a heart to love and eyes to see the broken.

The bell eventually rang and students scattered off to their classes. I got in my car and drove to church. My head was racing with thoughts. I thought was Romans 1:16, “I’m not ashamed of the Gospel…”. I wondered why my first thought was to say something back to the girl when his first thought was to pray.

Would our college campuses look differently if we learned from this freshman in high school?

10.10.13
by

Prayer Works

I was only 17 years old, a junior in high school and my youth pastor asked me to help with the middle school youth group during the week. We met on Tuesday nights in a local elementary school gym. I still remember my first night as a leader. 

I was scared. Will they like me? What if I’m not cool enough? What do I have to offer middle schoolers? 
I prayed a lot that day.

It was a rainy September evening, so most of the 80 students were in the gym. Everyone was playing games as the music blared in the background. I had met a group of 6th grade boys and we were playing basketball. For some reason (still to this day I’m not sure why) I thought it would be a good idea to pick the kid up by his ankles and hold him upside down. I grabbed him, lifted him up and flipped the little 6th grader over, attempting to grab his ankles.

But instead of his ankles, I only caught hold of the pant leg of his unusually baggy pants. You guessed it. Next thing I know, I’m holding the pants of a 6th grade boy while he laid on the ground. Despite the shrieks of some 7th grade girls, I’m pretty sure no one else noticed.

Needless to say, it was not one of my proudest moments as a youth leader.

I learned two things that night.

1.       Don’t pick kids up by their ankles.

2.       Prayer works: I could never pray too much.

It turns out that I spent a lot of time hanging out and investing in that little 6th grader. I prayed a lot for him. He is grown up now and thankfully has invested in a good belt. He got married last summer, we still joke about that night, but I spend more time thinking about how God allowed me to be a part of his life. He loves Jesus, serves Jesus and I am confident will continue to do great things for Jesus.

Prayer works. Not just that night when I first stepped into the gym, but every day.

Are you praying? What are you praying for?

07.20.12
by

The Guide

My uncle is a white water rafting guide. If you pay him enough, you can get on his raft and he will lead you down white-water rapids in central Oregon. You would have to be crazy to go down the river without the guide, it would most-likely end badly. But the guide knows what he is doing. He knows what is around the bend, he calls out orders for the group to paddle to the left or right, and it’s his job to keep the group safe (and the group’s job to listen to the guide).

Last summer I read this same verse almost every day. It sustained me when I was weak and encouraged me when I was broken. When I was cleaning out my office last week, I came across the words scribbled out on an old sticky note.

Psalm 48:14.

 “For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end”

 The first 13 verses of chapter 48 describe the greatness of God. It’s like a gigantic crescendo that ends with a heart grabbing statement. This God – who is beautiful, strong, and unfailing in love – is our God. The God that I love is the same God you love. The God I pray to is the same God you pray to and He will be forever and ever.

That means that this Sunday as Stephen Kim leads up in worship with his guitar, we will sing to the same God as the small Navajo church with their out-of-tune piano and we will sing to the same God as the small group of believers in the mountains of Peru with no instruments at all.

Our church is stretched around the world right now. There are students in Thailand, China, Korea, Japan and across America. Where ever you are, we still worship the same God. He is our God.

I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on the first half of that verse. But what breaks me every time I read it is the second half. He will be our guide even to the end. Let me tell you why it breaks me, because lately, I haven’t been very good at letting God be my guide. In fact, there have been times when I was uninterested in letting God lead.

You ever find yourself there? You know those times when you go through the motions of reading the Bible (or maybe not having a quiet time at all). I’ve found myself make decisions with me as the primary consideration, not God – not others. I have felt warn out because I lived “trying” when God wanted me to live “relying”.

Let me tell you what I have learned. Even when I choose not to follow, God still leads. He still longs to be my guide. He knows what is coming up and he has my best interest in mind. He is for me, not against me.  He hasn’t given up on me and he can’t give up on you. He is ready to guide me, I just need to listen.

Life is kind of like the river my uncle rafts down. It can be dangerous and you would be foolish to do it on your own. When I choose to do it on my own I usually fail. But when I listen and respond to God working in my life its always better.

Let’s face it – we need a guide.

Some of us are looking for a job.

Some of us are deciding on a college to attend.

Some of us are dealing with relationships.

Some of us are working in missions.

Some of us are just tired or frustrated.

My prayer for us is that we will be a group of people seeking to let God be our guide. It’s hard sometimes. I’ll be on my knees for you.

05.17.12
by

Knowing Jesus (Through Suffering)

By: Elena Abe

“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”             Philippians 3:7-11

If I could summarize my junior year at OSU in one word, it would be suffering. By suffering I don’t mean putting in countless hours of studying and not seeing the grades I want, or struggling to stretch my money to put food on the table and pay for textbooks (although those are legitimate forms of suffering). For me, suffering has taken the form of God, gently but firmly, ripping apart my heart, uncovering the areas of my life that I had not (and have not) relinquished control to Him.

In the fall, God said no to a relationship I was in. Over and over again, I had to deny myself and my desires; sometimes feeling like I had to fall flat on my face in order to submit to the Lord. “When the will of God crosses the will of man, somebody has to die,” I read in Elisabeth Elliot’s Passion and Purity. Losing this relationship felt like a deep loss in my heart, but Paul reminded me in Philippians 3 that all things, even the good things, are loss for the sake of gaining Jesus (vs. 7-9).

Because in the end, what other choice did I have but to surrender to God? If He a) knows and b) wants what’s best for me, why wouldn’t I accept the things a) He gives me and b) guides me through? During those weeks it was a process of realizing what it meant to have Jesus as the first love of my life. He had to take someone away to show me how much I cared more for other people than for Him. I resolved to develop Jesus’ character in my heart, so that as a woman secure and satisfied in the Lord’s hand, I could freely and genuinely serve others, therefore serving my Lord.  With time, and desperately seeking God, I had a renewed love for Jesus, and am learning how to hold Him much more dear to my heart than even other people.

As 2012 began and winter term rolled along, God revealed another heart issue that I had to work out with Him—how God calls leaders and is the only one responsible for spiritually maturing people (read about my revelation here!). Looking back on those months, it was a heart-wrenching time of pleading with God to purify my heart of thoughts that were proud and asking for His love to fill my heart so I could genuinely give it to others. After those ten weeks, I had emerged ready to lead side-by-side with others, remembering that everything that resulted from my ministry was the Lord’s doing, not mine, and to make Jesus’ name known, not my own.

And so, even on this beautiful spring sunny day, there is still another struggle to be dealt with. Yes the Lord has brought me to a fairly “good” season, refreshed from all the difficult lessons I’ve learned in these past few months. But still, I hear His voice whispering, “Are you clinging to me more than anything else?” A hesitant, soft, “No, Jesus,” is my reply. As I look to the next four weeks, I don’t see all the fun I’ll be having as school winds down with my friends. Instead, I anticipate the sadness that will accumulate and weigh down my heart as the time to say goodbye comes, and it becomes the “last Epic meeting”, or the “last night at Dixon”, or the “last time I may ever see you!” So even though I will miss my friends that are leaving this year and want to hold tightly to this blissful time, I must cling to Jesus more. [Sidenote: In fact, Jesus said that our love for our mother and father (and fill-in-the-blank) needs to look like hate compared to our love for God (Luke 14:26).]

Jesus experienced the ultimate suffering. And if we claim to be followers of Him, it also means that we have a calling, and even a privilege, to suffer like Jesus did. Through all the times that I’ve struggled, whether it be physically, mentally, or spiritually, I have emerged looking a little bit more like Jesus. And that’s what struggles do. They “sandpaper” all the rough spots in our heart that we keep from experiencing His touch. They purify our hearts so we can look like His Son.

Paul wanted to know Christ so badly, even wanting to have fellowship with Him by “participating in His sufferings” (Philppians 3:11). And recently, my love for Jesus has become such a priority, that I too want to take part in His suffering, if it means I’ll look a little more like Jesus. So in the midst of my suffering, or even watching and guiding others during their times of struggle, it is an exciting time. The pain, the tears, the hardship areworth it, because we get to know Jesus intimately. “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…, that I may gain Christ and be found in him…” (Philippians 3:8,9). I want to know Christ, and to be found in Him.

 

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”            -1 Peter 5:10

 

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”           –2 Corinthians 4:16-18