Grounded Magazine
Thank God for Cookies
I'd like to write something deep. Something awesome. Something amazing. I just read a review of a novel that is about a werewolf in LA, or something, and immediately I could not help but think, “Man, I wish I had written that! That sounds awesome!”Maybe I'll write a story about a dinosaur…in…um, Paris.
No, no, that would be lame.
At this point, I don't have a goal of what to write about. I just write for fun, because it's fun. I'd like to find something, however. A project. I think it would be fun to have something to dive into.
Maybe a bear who DJs in English pubs?
Maybe a robot who drives an ice cream truck?
Maybe a hit man with a killer moustache?
I don't know. Nothing good comes to mind.
I'll tell you what, though; I did at one point recently change my view of it all. Before, I felt like I was going to do something that was just fun. It did not have to be about God or anything. I just didn't want to capitalize on being a Christian or a Pastor, and just wanted to write something for me. So I tried a few times to some genuinely horrible results.
Then, a month or two ago, I really realized something…namely that my way of thinking was dumb. Everything I do, artistic or otherwise, is about God. Thus, everything I write, even if it is about a vampire frog that works the night shift at Wal-Mart, is going to be colored and shaped by God no matter what. Because He is a part of all I do. His Word shapes everything I believe. My end goal should be to glorify God in everything, overtly or otherwise.
So now I'm open to it. I have thought about writing a devotional, about short stories, some kind of comic book….but who knows? I may never write anything at all, and that is okay.
It's fun to pretend though, and to play around with it. And if God ever puts something on my heart to really dive into, well, I'm down for it. But I'll have to wait for Him; I don't want to run a head of His plans for me anymore.
A good verse about this whole thing is Eph. 2:10. God created me a certain way with the talents and gifts that I have, and He has planned out ways for me to do good works with them. I'm just going to follow Him and see what happens.
Here is the verse:
"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
P.S. All that said-what talents and gifts has God blessed you with? How are you willing to give them over to Him? What can He do with your life once you do?
Walk and Talk
Like many of you, I’ve been trying to figure out how to put our Year of Prayer into practice every day. I always thought that I prayed a lot, but this whole prayer focus thing has made me realize that I don’t do it nearly enough. It seemed to me that my main problem was that I didn’t pray for others enough. My prayers seemed to always focus on me and only on me and I felt convicted about that. Over the last few months, I’ve tried to include more and more prayers about people who weren’t me. I prayed for 20/20 students, for my family, for the lost, for missionaries, and many others. Doing this has expanded the scope of my prayers and has also helped me think of others more in all areas of my life, not just in prayer.
Another aspect of my prayer life that I found lacking, was that I had no system for recording how God had answered my prayers. I knew that He was working in my life and answering my prayers, but if you asked me, I could never give you an example. So I started taking walks in the morning where I would bring my prayers before God and keep them in a little journal. Every request that would come to mind, I would write down in the journal and pray about it as I walked. As God answered them, I would write it down, and keep a record of all the amazing things that God was doing. Let me tell you, praying for others and remembering how He answers prayers has changed my life. It makes me excited about my time talking to God and it shows me again and again how much He is working through my prayers.
One of Those Days
Have your ever heard someone say, “It was just one of those days?” I bet you have. Usually the person uttering this phrase has just recounted a series of insane events to you, like “This afternoon, after crashing my car, I was hit by a bicyclist while walking to the store. It was just one of those days.”Based on this phrase, all of life can be put into one of two categories, (1) normal days and (2) those days. “Those days” are a special section of life where everything seems to be going wrong, like in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
Wednesday was one of those days.
Life was so hectic for me on Wednesday that I started feeling very strongly that all I needed was to escape reality for an hour or two and spend some time with God. I made this decision at two o’clock in the afternoon and then spent the next two hours trying to get out the door with my Bible. As I finally found a way to sneak out of my office and head towards my car, the power went out.
Un-phased by the lack of electricity, I started my engine and headed down the Boulevard, looking to duck into the nearest Starbucks. I passed the café at the bottom of the hill and saw that they were closing down their bar due to the power outage. I decided instead to head towards the Village, resolved to hang out in Starbucks even if they couldn’t make me any drinks. When I got to the door, it was locked, adorned with a hand-written sign, “Closed due to lack of power.”
I jumped back into my car and drove towards Hayward. I was certain that even if the Boulevard’s power was gone, life would be different on the other side of the freeway. I was right! The streetlights began working again just as I drove under 580. Pleased with my ingenuity, I checked to make sure every building’s power was on as I turned left on Grove Way. Trader Joe’s—check! First Presbyterian—check! Rent-a-Space—check! McDonald’s—check! I made the U-Turn at Center Street and drove into the Starbucks parking lot, excited to finally escape reality into the text of Scripture.
It turns out that the only building on the west side of the freeway affected by the recent power outage was the Grove & Center Starbucks. Defeated again! Fed up, I drove deeper into Hayward, hoping to find solace on Foothill Blvd.
At this point, you may be asking yourself, “If he needed to get away so bad, why does he keep looking for Starbucks? Why couldn’t Danny just head to Lake Chabot and hang out outside for a while?” Good question. For the answer, you have to remember that Wednesday was one of those days. Due to this fact, it was about 100 degrees outside, which meant that (a) I needed an air-conditioned place to hang out and (b) I was hot, sweaty, and frustrated as I drove from Starbucks to Starbucks.
I pulled into the Foothill Starbucks hot, sweaty, and frustrated, and was pleased as punch when I was met at the unlocked door with a blast of refreshing, cold air. I ordered my drink, sat down at the counter, and opened my Bible, ready to learn.
Just then, two pre-teen boys emerged from the back of Starbucks and proceeded to drive me to the brink of insanity. During the 20 minutes that I sat and attempted to read, they screamed at each other, threw chairs around the store, wrestled at my feet, and bounced pennies at the wall next to my head. Once I realized that they were related to the barista and were leaving no time soon, I packed up my stuff and headed back to the church, finally defeated.
Pulling into the church parking lot, I saw that the power was still out (even though the rest of Castro Valley was back on). At this point, I made a decision in my mind to give up. I let go of my plans for the day, my plans for Omega, my plans for life, and submitted to God’s time schedule. I quickly became convinced that Omega would be very interesting that night, because God was obviously up to something.
For me as a Christian, there is something very freeing about being at wit’s end. When one of those days comes around and everything starts falling apart, it eventually becomes apparent that God was the only One holding everything together in the first place. Once I submit those days to God and His plans, everything falls back into perspective.
As seven o’clock rolled around and people started showing up for Omega, Neighborhood Church remained in the dark. I didn’t care. I hung out with students, talked about life, and decided to “go with the flow.” The amazing conversations that I had on Wednesday would have never happened if the power had been on and we started Omega “on time.”
As I stepped onto the stage to announce that our regular program and post-Omega movie night would be cancelled due to lack of electricity, the power came back. Honestly, why was I surprised? It was just one of those days.
Black & White
I make a TON of decisions everyday. Some days, I feel like I’m making decisions nonstop. Most of them are small, like, “should I wear this shirt or that shirt”, or “should I stop and fill my car up with gas before work, or wait until lunch”, or “should I listen to this CD or that CD on my way to this meeting”. On and on they go. All that to say, small decisions are always before me.Amidst all the small choices that people like you and I make all the time, there are bound to be a few (or even more than a few) choices that need to be made which will be monumental for our lives. There have been more than a few times in my life when I’ve had to make a decision to do the right thing…or the “other” thing – whatever it might have been. Back in high school I had to make decisions about whether or not I should go out and party with my friends. “Should I smoke pot with them?” “Should I have sex with my girlfriend?” My friend’s got all the answers…”should I cheat on this test?”
Heavy questions. Heavy decisions.
I’m so thankful that to each of the questions above, I chose to take the “high road”. I gladly hung out with my friends, and if they started drinking, I’d just split. Most of the skaters and surfers I ran with back then smoked pot. Again, they were good friends, but if they went there, I’d just disappear, not wanting anything to do with it. There was a lot of pressure to sleep around just like some of my friends, but I decided to save myself for my wife, Kristin. I’ve always been thankful that she chose to do the same for me. I took an “F” in a math class that landed me in that class again the next year. My friend thought I was CRAZY for not doing what he did – but I’ve never regretted it.
I was fortunate to have great parents that spoke into my life about high moral character. I was fortunate to attend a youth ministry where I learned the importance of walking with God. I was fortunate to have an early awareness of the life that God wanted for me. One where He was “The Boss” and I was His for the leading.
Now, before you bronze me for all of my high marks, let me tell you that I’ve made my fair share of poor choices too. So many times that I wish I could have back. You know – “do overs”. Friendships I ruined. Pride that kept me from learning more from my mentors. Impatience that got the best of me and caused me to freak on my friends or parents or whoever. Sometimes you don’t know how bad of a choice you’ve made until you can get away from the situation and really think about it. I’ve had lots of those.
You may be interested to find out that opportunities to make bad choices don’t get any smaller as you get older. No, those poor choices are still just around the corner. In fact, I still have to make choices everyday that are either going to please God or displease Him. I can’t think of any moral decision, which I am responsible for making, that is in that “gray area” – where the choice will “kind of” please God, or it might “sort of” bring Him glory.
Character decisions – the ones that mark me as a person at the core of who I am, are always black and white. Each of us makes these types of decisions, and each of us must learn that we will live with consequences of the choices we make. It’s just like Galatians 6 tells us. If we “sow to the Spirit”, we reap all the best things in life. If we “sow to the flesh” we reap all that we deserve. Sometimes it’s a complicated life. Sometimes it’s a broken relationship. Sometimes it is a very painful feeling or remorse for doing something stupid, or careless, or wrong. Every time we make one of those types of decisions it chips away at our hearts. When we are faced with a “black and white” decision as to whether or not we will honor God or forget about Him, and we choose to “forget about Him”, something happens to us. Have you ever felt it? It’s a painful, shameful feeling of disgust aimed at ourselves. It’s no fun – and it’s about the last thing in the world God wants for us.
On the other hand, when we do the right thing, or “sow to the Spirit” as Paul says in that passage above, we get an entirely different feeling on the inside. You see, every opportunity to sin is also an opportunity to build character. And, when we choose to build character, it builds a stronger heart…a stronger conscience. It brings honor to God, and He honors us in return.
Those black and white character decisions that we all make, all the time, are so vital for our spiritual growth. When we bend our consciences and make choices that clearly defy scripture and the God who has given it to us, we become spiritually unhealthy. Too many of those decisions render us seemingly ineffective as Christ-followers. But, when we go with God on those choices – when we honor His word and thus honor its divine Author, we get more and more healthy.
I HATE being sick. Nothing bugs me more than having to sit on the sideline of any day and watch it go by because of the flu or an injury or whatever. On the other hand, I love being healthy. I enjoy working out and running in the hills near my house. I love playing sports and just taking a day head-on! The same rules apply for my spiritual health. On those black and white choices, I’d like to be 100%. I know the benefits of choosing to honor God, and I pray that I will make more and more of them as my life goes on. It’s not natural for our sinful humanity to choose the better of those black and white decisions (see if you, like me, can identify with Romans 7:15-20). But it always is best!
I guess when it all comes down to the wire, God is very interested in the decisions we make. He is always aware of whether we are honoring Him or ignoring Him. When it comes to those black and white decisions that ultimately build up or destroy our character, the choices we make matter to Him. Maybe you’re in a spot in your life where you are being forced to choose which way to go on a black and white issue, (that is, to honor God or not). Can I send a vote your way that would simply convey – do the right thing. Turn over a new leaf. Try it God’s way – the best way. Watch Him honor your life. Watch as your spiritual health gets stronger and your heart gets more courageous to be His man or His woman.
Everyday, decisions are always before us. And the only thing they need is a choice.
What will you do?
Abiding: the Main Thing
Recently I had a hard time reading my bible. In fact it was hard for me to spend time with God in general. Nothing was particularly wrong, I just went through a busy streak, and began to lose consistency spending time with my Savior. At the same time I was still thinking of how I could be effective in serving Him, and how I could continue to “be a light”. It didn’t take long before I got burnt out, became frustrated with the smallest things, and my character began to suffer. I became irritable, critical, and began thinking that I actually deserved this or that. Suddenly my passion for Jesus began to waiver and in its place: pride. I couldn’t understand how I got there. I was serving, excited about ministry nights, but THE main thing was missing from my life.The main thing Christ tells us to do is the one thing that will cause all the good to flow out of us: abiding in Him. So often God has given me a passion for something good, but I have taken off with it, leaving God in the dust. I’ve tried to do things on my own strength, and felt like I needed to do more and more to be a better Christian. But at the same time I could not find consistency in praying about the passion God had given me, or the time to open His word and remind myself what an awesome plan He has, and what He has saved me from. I was trying to do all these “good” things, without relying on the Giver of good things.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which He prepared in advance for us to do.” As we abide in Him, he gives us opportunities to share, to love, to care. However our goal is to abide. It’s not trying to do as many good things as possible, it’s not always defending your faith against Atheists or other religions, and it’s not to always make every conversation about God. It’s abiding in Christ and allowing Him to do the work through you.
If you remember the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians, “If I give all I posses to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” Although abiding in Christ may cause you to give all you posses to the poor, and one day have to make a life or death decision concerning our relationship with Jesus, those are not the ultimate goals of our faith. The ultimate goal of our faith is to worship God. And how do we do that? Abiding in Him, telling Him that He is most important to us, worthy of our best, our time, our praise, our service. The more we abide, the more the Holy Spirit develops us to be people of good character, and the more opportunities He gives us to share the Gospel and bring glory to the name of Jesus Christ.
God continually teaches me that being in Him, living with Him, is the most important thing we can be doing in our lives.
You Don't Measure Up
Lately, I’ve struggled with feeling like I just don’t measure up. I’m constantly comparing myself to other people and asking myself if I’m doing as well or better than them. Is 20/20 as good as Omega? Am I as funny as Joe? (The answer to that is of course, no). We live in a world that prizes success above all else. Good grades, six figure salaries, nice cars, and the hottest fashions theses are just some of the things that our society uses to measure “success” and I’ll bet that most of the time you do too. Now, let me just say that doing your best at whatever you do is not bad and having money, good grades and cool clothes aren’t bad things. It’s when we let these things be the driving forces in our lives that we get into trouble. God has convicted me of this lately and I want to encourage you to take a different look at success with me.There is a pastor I know whom the world might consider a failure. He is by no means rich and he has been kicked out of a church or had a church split because he stood up for what is right and people were unwilling to follow. This guy might never have success in the world’s way of seeing it, but I do know that he has success in God’s eyes. Or how about another guy I know, Jesus. Seriously, throughout His life people didn’t listen to Him, others outright rejecting Him, He was forsaken by His best friends, and finally He was put to death. And while we know that Jesus will have complete victory and success in the end, I think we could argue that His time on earth wasn’t necessarily “successful.”
And this brings us to what God has been teaching me on this particular subject and let me just say that this is a life long and incredibly difficult lesson to learn. The example of my pastor friend and Jesus shows me that I have to take a more eternal perspective on my success. I might not always have an awesome ministry like 20/20 or a great church like Neighborhood and he world might look at me and say that I’m a failure. However, I know that I am doing what God has called me to and that should make all the difference. Maybe you don’t feel like you measure up or that you’re not as successful as you think you should be. Take a moment and try to look through the glasses of eternity and ask yourself, “Is what I am doing pleasing to God?” If the answer is yes, then take heart and press on toward true success. Since when is the world ever right anyway?
The Joe Shuts his Pie-Hole
“Um, err, seriously? Isn’t that going to be kind of hard to live up to?” That’s what I thought when God put Eph. 4:29, on my heart lately.“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
It seems like it may be too much, but it’s what God asks of us. Pretty hard-core, huh? Can you imagine never saying anything unwholesome ever? And, I’m not just talking about gossip here (though that is obviously a huge part of it), I’m talking off color jokes, cranky observations, teasing people just to get a laugh, etc. etc. etc.
God has really laid this verse on my heart as of late. As much as I hate to admit it, I can’t help but think that maybe I’ve let my tongue be on way too long of a leash and given it way to much room to roam (James 3:3-12). It’s a little convicting, to say the least.
So, what to do? Well, what I really like about this verse is that it does not just address the problem, it tells us what we ought to do. Namely, we ought to only say the kind of stuff that is “…helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen”.
So, instead of this being a blog about all the negatives that come with “unwholesome talk”, let’s just go ahead and start with the positive stuff starting…now!
I am excited to see what is going to happen when I try to be as encouraging as possible. Or what happens when I don’t point out something that annoys me to others. Or when I do my best to point out everything awesome to people. Or when I brag on other people. I think that would be the kind of talk that pleases God, and I think it would be the kind of talk that would be a blessing to those around me. Furthermore, I think it will even benefit me, personally, to not let garbage in my life like that.
Overall, people, I think it would be cool if everyone, especially us Christians, jumped on board with this. I really think other people would notice. So, if you’re up for it, join me in just saying only nice, pleasant, good, kind, polite, gracious, well-mannered, courteous, fine, clean, friendly, encouraging, awesome, splendid, tremendous, fantastic, remarkable, amazing, astounding, humbling, sweet, cool, rad, wholesome stuff. I think it’s going to be a challenge, but I think it is going to be worth it.
The Joe
Watchful Eye
I push “end call” on my cell phone and remain sitting in my living room with a heaviness upon my heart. I spent an hour in a conversation with a best friend from high school. He was asking all the typical questions that people ask when they are seeking a greater understanding of our Lord. “I am a good person and always try to do the ‘right thing’ so why would a God that loves me so much send me to hell if I don’t believe in Jesus?” “What about evolution?” “How can you just put your faith in something that you can’t see.” My heart is racing as I am answering all of his questions and praying to the Lord, “Oh please Lord, let him come into a personal relationship with You.”As we are half way through the conversation he says, “I have known you over half my life. I have known you since long before you started working at a church. I like to think that I know all the good the bad and the ugly, and I have to say that you are the only Christian I have met that is real and not putting on an act.” This was when my heart, racing at the excitement of sharing Christ turned heavy with sadness. I asked him to expand on what he meant. He said that he has been purposefully trying to talk more to a few people in his life that he knows are Christians and he is trying to figure out how they live their lives and how it is different than what he does. He said that he often feels an intense judgment, a sense that “we are better than you” in his conversations with other Christians, as well as, witnessing some saying one thing, then living another. He finished by saying, “I don’t want to be a part of that.”
Conversations like that remind me of just how much we as believers in Christ are being watched. People are wanting to see how we are different than the world. They are longing to see a love and grace radiate from us in all we do that surpasses all human understanding, NOT judgment and NOT hypocrisy. They are longing to see Christ. I do not believe that this means we try to hide our faults or the areas that God is working in us. Rather, we let them see because it is in those weak areas in ourselves that people are able to see how we ALL need Christ to transform us to be more like him. “Set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12
Non-Stop Prayer
As I look back at my eleven years of following Christ, I can point out several seasons of time where my faith jumped to a new level. I remember my freshman year of college, when my decision to have a daily quiet time quickly led to realizing God’s call on my life towards pastoral ministry. I think of the tremendous Spiritual growth that resulted a few years later from an accountability relationship with a close friend. I praise God for the Spiritual enrichment that resulted for my wife and I during my time in Seminary. These times are benchmarks in my walk with Christ; they are times that I remember very fondly.The latest benchmark of spiritual growth in my life revolves around our “Year of Prayer.” After preaching on prayer, launching various prayer groups in Omega, and enjoying Continuum, our department-wide night of prayer, I find that my life is beginning to revolve more and more around this crucial discipline. As we approach the halfway mark of this theme, I am excited to see how this priority has changed my life.
Every day as I put on my Year of Prayer bracelet, I make a decision as to what that colored bead will represent. Some days the bead stands for my family, and I hold up my wife and son in prayer every time I see the band on my wrist. Some days the bead represents a student in Omega who is struggling with illness or sin, and I pray for that student every time I feel the plastic bead against my wrist. Other days the bead reminds me to pray for a specific country in the world, or for a people group who is hurting, or for the fruitfulness of ministry. The only facet that remains the same each day is that the bead reminds me to pray.
Year of Prayer has changed my life. It has helped me to realize for the first time in my decade of Christian living what it truly means to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:12). I would encourage anyone who reads this testimony to commit to walking down this path with me. Grab a bracelet and let the constant prayers begin!
My Mission
God has been stretching me to change my view of missions and reaching out. I have been learning that I don’t have to be ready or perfect for what God has for me to do, I just need to obey Him. I have always been interested in mission work, but never been bold enough to seriously pursue it or find out more about it. But it seems that lately everywhere I go and everyone I meet in some way ties in with mission work.My boyfriend and I have often talked about it and it is something both of us are interested in, but he doesn’t have the same inhibitions as I do. His boldness in serving has in turn made me want to be more bold. I now also have the opportunity to attend a weekly bible study about mission work that is really opening my eyes to what it means to reach out and what other churches look like around the world. It provides practical information about how to be a missionary and the issues we should be thinking about. It has been really challenging. I heard the leader of our study give a talk about Jonah and how God wanted to use him in a city where he didn’t want to go because he thought the city would never repent or that it wouldn’t be worth his time. He ran away and tried to hide from God, but we all know that after an awful boat ride followed by three days in the belly of a fish, Jonah changed his mind and went to Nineveh. The part I think we often forget is that Nineveh accepted Jonah. They didn’t try to kill him or run him out of town, they were ready to hear about God and just needed someone to come tell them.
It was then that I realized I could be that ‘someone’. It doesn’t matter that it scares me or I don’t think people will listen to me because God has a plan that is much bigger than all of my trepidations.
So, I have been thinking about how I can become more involved in preparation for wherever God takes me and I realized that I have an opportunity to serve right here at Neighborhood Church. I fill out the announcements for the 6:13 bulletin every week and every week I put one in about the International Student Fellowship. When I looked at it the other day it was like seeing it for the first time. I found myself asking why I don’t already go to that and help out. I am so glad that God has been showing me that it is all right to be nervous about what He has planned for me, that I just need to trust Him and see where He takes me. Realizing this has not taken all my fears away, but rather has shown me that they shouldn’t be a handicap for what God has planned for my life.
Grounded Magazine
Check out our Grounded Articles, written by members of our Youth Staff and found in issues of Grounded Magazine!