Thank you!

Thank you to those who have supported me with the Conversations of Courage Vol. 2 book project. I really appreciate your encouragement! I hope that you all have found these stories to be inspirational and eye opening.

If you are still interested in getting a copy of the book, please let me know. You can get one from me in person or order through this blog. You can click on the link to the left and I can ship you a copy.

Reflections on Easter

I hope that you had a wonderful Easter weekend!

I know for me it was a great weekend. We had 4 Good Friday services on Friday evening. We had a twist on our usual silent services which added some freshness to what we do each year. The most incredible thing was seeing how passionate people were worshiping after spending some time with the Lord in silence. We definitely live in a culture that is fast paced and chaotic. It was great to take some time out as a community and spend it quietly with the Lord.

Our sunrise service on Sunday morning was incredible. 2000 people braved the cold and the mist at 5:45 AM to worship and celebrate the risen King! It was awesome to take communion and worship together as a family.

Finally, our Easter service at Glen Helen was a blessing. Although it rained on us while we were in an outdoor arena, God showed up and touched people's lives in so many different ways. It was incredible to see so many people show up and worship in not so favorable weather conditions. I was truly blessed to be a part of it.

I hope that however you spent your Easter weekend, you had a chance to spend some time with the King of Kings. Blessings to your week!

Walking in the Spirit

I was doing a word study this week in Galatians and ran across something interesting.

Galatians 5:16 says, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh."

A few verses later, Paul writes in Galatians 5:25, "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit."

So I decided to look up the word walk in these two verses. Turns out, there are two different words for walk that are used.

In Galatians 5:16, the word walk is actually peripateo in Greek. It literally means to regulate one's life or the conduct of one's life. Paul is saying that when we order our life by the Spirit, we will live for the Spirit and not carry out the desires of the flesh.

Interestingly, in Galations 5:25, the word walk is stoicheo in Greek. It means to proceed in a row as the march of a soldier or to go in order. In the context of the passage, Paul is saying that if we are to live by the Holy Spirit, we need to follow in His path and be in step with Him.

When we regulate and conduct our lives by the Holy Spirit and when we go in step with Him, Paul explains that we will not carry out the desires of the flesh and we will live by the Spirit. It's not always the easiest thing to do but when we allow God to regulate our lives, we see Him breakthrough and pour out into our cirucmstances.

Conversations of Courage Volume 2

I wrote a few months back that I contributed a chapter to a book called Conversations of Courage Vol. 2. It is a book that contains real-life stories of people who have experienced hope, possibility, and second chances in the midst of their circumstances. It is an incredible anthology and I'm really excited that I have had the chance to be a part of it.

My section is about how I ended up in ministry. In the middle of losing my mom and struggling to figure out what I should do after college, God broke into my circumstances and changed my life in a powerful way.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the book, click on the link on my blog and you can order online.

Again, I'm thrilled to have been a part of this project and I'm looking forward to seeing what God is going to do through it.

Gods and Generals, The Killer Angels, and The Last Full Measure

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara is probably one of my most favorite books of all time. Shaara's ability to capture the thoughts and feelings of the various commanders in the battle of Gettysburg is unparalleled. I remember the first time I read The Killer Angels. I was in 8th grade. I was unaware that Ted Turner's movie, Gettysburg, was based upon the book. I had seen the movie a number of times and was pretty familiar with it. As I started to read The Killer Angels, I realized that I had already heard this story before. Little did I know that the book I was reading was a Pulitzer Prize winning classic.

Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure, both by Jeff Shaara, are incredible books as well. These to books are respectively a prequal and a sequal to The Killer Angels. I have read these books numerous times as well and each time I find something new that I did not see before.

In honor of this month and of the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War, I have decided to read through these books again. I have worked my way through Gods and Generals already and I'm now working my way through the The Killer Angels. I am having a great time rekindling some of the feelings and experiences I had when I first read these novels. I highly recommend that anyone who is interested in the Civil War pick these books up. They are easy reads and they are also very entertaining. They are a great way to immerse yourself into the thoughts and feelings of those who fought in the war.

Yes Men

Hearing what God has to say sometimes is tough to swallow. Being in full-time ministry over the last 4 years, I have learned that it is easy to fall into the temptation of surrounding ourselves with people who say what we want to hear rather than the truth.

Reading through 2 Chronicles this week I was reminded of how important it is to listen to God's direction when facing a decision.

2 Chronicles 18 tells the story of how Ahab listened to what he wanted to hear rather than the truth. Ahab was the king of Israel and he desired to fight against Ramoth-gilead. He asked the King of Judah, Jehoshaphat, to have Judah fight alongside Israel. Prior to making a decision about fighting against Ramoth-gilead, Jehoshaphat asks Ahab to seek out the word of the Lord.

Ahab calls in his prophets and they all say that it is good to fight against Ramoth-gilead. Yet Jehoshaphat isn't satisfied with this answer. He asks Ahab if there is another prophet. Ahab explains that there is another prophet. This prophet named Micaiah hears from God and speaks His truth. Yet Ahab hates Micaiah because Micaiah always speaks evil of Ahab and never good.

Micaiah is called in and Ahab asks him to speak. Micaiah explains that God will put a spirit of deception upon Ahab's prophets. The Lord has proclaimed disaster against Ahab.

As a result of the truth, Micaiah is put into prison by Ahab until after the battle. If Ahab returns, then Micaiah has not heard from the Lord. If Ahab does not return then Micaiah has correctly heard from the Lord.

Ultimately Ahab dies in battle and Micaiah's prophecy from the Lord is fulfilled.

Yet look at what happens. Micaiah is placed into prison for doing what is right. He speaks the truth and gets in trouble. Ahab surrounded himself with people who told him what he wanted to hear rather than what he needed to hear. He put "yes men" around him so he would be comfortable. As a result, he paid the price with his life.

It is important to not only receive the truth in love from others but it is also important to speak it out as well. In order to keep on going in the direction that is set out by the Lord, we must continually seek out what He has to say and then obey his direction. This task is not always easy but it is how we position ourselves to hear from God and act upon his commands.

Back in the day

I was playing my xbox 360 this week and I started to think back about what my favorite games were growing up. I've been working on a list and I think I may have narrowed down my top five choices.

1. Street Fighter II: Champion Edition (Arcade or Genesis)

This game was by far the game I played most as a kid. As the first version of SFII to allow the player to play as the Grand Masters, this game captivated me. I loved the depth and the technique involved with all of the moves. The competitive aspect of the game along with the incredible gameplay kept me playing for years. Even now, when I see an old arcade unit with SFII, I will drop everything to put in a quarter and relive some great memories.

2. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis)

While Sonic the Hedgehog was a great game, it's sequel blew the original out of the water. The graphics, the music, the level design, and of course, Tails, made this game so much better than it's predecessor. I can still remember the first time I saw Sonic transform into Super Sonic and what a thrill it was to be invincible. A tremendous game.

3. WCW vs. NWO Revenge (N64)

Growing up in the mid to late 90's meant that I was into professional wrestling. The monday night wars between the WWF and WCW was a common discussion amongst my friends and me. While I was a much bigger WWF fan, I was usually disappointed in the games that were made using the WWF License. WCW vs. NWO Revenge's gameplay and depth made it a realistic and fun game. The 40 man battle royal was amazing and the customization of the wrestlers was a fun addition. My friends and I would stay up late and play this game into the wee hours of the morning. Plus, this was the only game at the time where I could pick up a stop sign and hit my best friend with it.

4. Warcraft II (PC)

I was 12 years old when I finally got my own computer in my room. It was my parent's old one. A really old one. It had the old turbo button on it to boost it's processing speed from 33 Mhz to 66 Mhz. While it was old, it was good enough to play Warcraft II. I stumbled upon this game and never looked back. I would sit at my desk for hours and hours and build up my armies. I also loved building my own maps. My particular favorites were my invasion maps. I would do a "Normandy" invasion map where boats would carry my army across the sea to land on a beach and invade. Just writing about it now makes me want to go load it on my old laptop and play again (yes, I still own the discs to the game).

5. Rush 2049 (Dreamcast)

Here is a game that I remember fondly from high school. Although racing was the primary aspect of the rush series, Rush 2049 changed that with the addition of the Stunt mode and Battle mode. My best friend and I would play the stunt mode for hours trying to get the coins that were hidden in the levels. Those coins would be used to unlock new cars and levels. To this day, my buddies and I still talk about how much fun Rush 2049 was (and still is).

Mind you, as I think of other games I used to play, this list may change. But overall these are the games that I have very fond memories of. Many hours have been logged playing these games and it's always fun to revisit them every once in a while.