What's an Ipod?

  It's not a big secret that I am going to be a dad any day now.  The other day I was struck with the idea of just how much stuff exists now that was not around when I was born.  So here is a list of just ten things that Jude will never know life with out.

1) Ipod (First Launched October 3rd 2001)

2) Social Networking facebook, myspace, twitter etc (First launched in it's beta form as friendster in 2002)

3) Wireless Internet (Not sure when it was launched)

4) Wikipedia (Founded in it's earliest form as Nupedia in March 9th 2000)

5) Mass cell phone ownership

6) The Message Version of the Bible (Published in segments from 1993-2002)

7) Macbook (First introduced in 2006)

8) The Baltimore Ravens (First season game as this team was in 1996)

9) Justin Bieber (Trust me he is never going away.)

10) Google (Began January 1996)

  What other things can you think of that have been invented in the past 25 yrs?

When Cultures Clash. Click around minute 10.

Why God Went Through With It

  In about five weeks (give or take two weeks) I will be responsible for the needs of another human being.  This is going to be quite a change of pace for me.  To be honest I have never had to be responsible for another person's well being before.  I have been in charge of a lot of teenagers and elementary school kids over the past seven years, but at the end of the day I could always take comfort in the fact that they were going to go home to their parents and I was going to go home to my Xbox360.

    I have always heard it said that something changes in a man when he discovers he is going to be a dad, but I did not really understand what that meant.  I still don't, but I am starting to get the idea.  I have to be honest, for awhile I have wondered why in the world anybody would want to have kids.  Why anyone would want to be responsible for a life that for the better part of twenty some years will at best acknowledge your existence, and at worst want nothing to do with you was something I simply could not comprehend.  That changed thirty seven weeks and five days ago.  That is when Aimee and I discovered that we were going to have a kid.  No, I did not change my mind over night, to be quite honest I was scared, and a little aggravated that it happened so soon.  Slowly and surely though God began to work on my heart.

    I have always struggled with the question of why God created us.  If he knew that it was all going to go horribly wrong, if he knew that we were going to spit in his face, pretend like we don't know him, use his name to explain our frustration with things, and just generally rebel against him, why go through all that aggravation?

    I do not claim to have all the answers to that question, but here is what I am starting to realize.  Last night Aimee and I took a tour of the hospital.  It was a very cool experience because we were able to see where we needed to go and what was going to happen once we arrived.  The part I enjoyed the most though was the stop at the nursery.  Inside the nursery was one single baby boy who was not even an hour old yet.  As soon as our tour saw him everyone stopped, got very quite and just looked.  We did not know this boy, we did not even know his name.  All the kid did was squirm around and make funny noises but  all of us stared in awe at new life and at that moment I realized a little bit more why God went through with it, and why I am so excited about the birth of my son.

    None of us knew the boy in that nursery but we did know one truth, we were looking at potential.  This was a new life in the purest sense of the word.  He knew nothing of evil or good all he knew was the here and now.  I wonder if that is what God saw when he created the first man and the first women?  Did he see potential?  Sure he knew that they were going to mess up, rebel, cause pain and suffering but in the end they were still apart of him and they had potential.  Each of us has the potential to turn toward our father and say, "I love you and I'm ready to live life the way you designed it to be lived."  That is a choice we can make each and every day.

   So yes I am still nervous and scared, I have trepidation about doing things right and being the best dad I can be.  More than that though I am excited.  I am excited that in a few short weeks I will be holding in my hand pure potential.  A boy that could grow up and rebel, spit in my face, pretend he does not know me and go his own way.  If he does do that, it's ok because there is always the potential to turn the other way.  He could grow up and change the world, and God in is grace sees fit to let me be apart of that.  That is a very cool adventure to be apart of.

The Effects of Fear John 21:15-22

Yes I do still blog, below is a sermon that I delivered for chapel on April 27th.  Like all sermons I put on here do what you want with it, steal it and make it your own and give God the credit or use it as a coaster for you drink on your desk.

Introduction

            As a kid I was a pretty big scared little fellow.  Looking back there was a ridicules amount of objects and events that I was scared of.  Dogs, heights, bees, the ocean, swimming pools, driving too fast, roller coasters, snakes, basements, the dark.  I was even scared of loud noises, and the sound that automatic toilets would make when they flush!  I was a pretty timid little dude.  I’m happy and proud to announce that I am now the proud owner of two dogs, I love going to Kings Dominion and riding most of the roller coasters, I live by the beach and frequent the ocean a lot, and I can even use automatic toilets with out any fear of them flushing. 

            We all have fears, things that we were scared of as children and things that we are scared of now.  Some are legit and some are just weird.  As we get older we may grow out of those childhood fears, but it seems that bigger and even more daunting ones replace them.  Fear of being alone, fear of failing at our career, fear of losing those we love, fear of disappointing those around us, fear of raising our children wrong, fear of not being good enough, fear of missing our purpose in life, and the list goes on and on.

Fear Makes us Forget

When I think about this concept of fear I am always encouraged by the fact that the Bible is full of guys that were plagued by fear.  Moses pleaded with God to find someone else to do the job, Jonah ran the other way, the Israelites wandered in the dessert for forty years because of their fear of the promise land, David in Psalm 55 cries out, “My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me.  Fear and trembling have beset me, and horror has overwhelmed me!” the disciples were scared in the storm, and then there was Peter.

I’m not sure if I can say this about an apostle, but I think it’s fair to say that Peter and I would not have gotten along very well.  His personality and my personality just would not mesh that well.  He was always the first to talk, loud, abrasive and very opinionated (two really opinionated guys in the same room don’t mix well).  No, Peter and I would not have gotten along well, but there is realness to Peter that I can relate to.  A lot of times we don’t associate Peter with fear, for crying out loud he was going to take on a whole group of Roman soldiers with one sword, but there are times in Peter’s life when he is ruled by fear.  The story of his denial of Christ is a pointed example that underneath all of the big claims of dying with Christ, and following him to the end, there was fear living in him and when the proverbial rubber met the road Peter’s true nature came to the surface.

Now I don’t want to pick on Peter too much because truth be told I’m pretty sure I’m not so sure if I would have done differently. I believe that the example of people like Moses, and Jonah, David, and Peter teaches us a very true and very important principle when it comes to fear. 

1) Fear makes us forget who God is. 

            This is not a hard concept so I am not going to spend a lot of time on it.  Fear makes us forget.  We fear being alone/ we forget that Christ promises to never forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).  We fear failing at our careers/we forget that our identity is not found in what we do, but who we belong to (Ephesians 2:10).  We fear missing our purposes in life/we forget that when we belong to Christ we have already found our purpose (Jer 29:11).  We fear not raising our kids well/we forget that God is their heavenly father and even though we love them very much he loves them more (Lamentations 2:19).  The list goes on and on of issues that we fear and example after example of God being faithful through all things, and yet when fear strikes amnesia sets in.  This is evident in the story of Peter, just days earlier he has watched the triumphal entry of Christ, a dead man come to life, a blind man receive his sight, and his very own pronouncement of Christ’s deity.  Fear makes us forget the promises of God and the power of God. 

It is a fruitless effort to not be afraid of certain situations, but I believe the key is that when we get into those situations that we do not forget who God is and what we has already brought us through and promised to bring us through.

2) Fear looks for company (John 21:15-22)

            This is one of my favorite accounts in all of scripture for a couple of reasons but one of the reasons is the realness of it.  Anyone who has ever been the bystander to an awkward conversation can kind of relate to this story.  Picture the scene, everyone has just finished a very nice breakfast with Jesus, the dishes are getting cleaned up, the fire is getting put out and all of a sudden Jesus drops the bomb.  “Peter do you love me?”  Oh man here it goes, Peter had to know this conversation was coming, he had been dreading it ever since he had heard the great news about Christ.  “Yes Lord you know I love you.”  Ok we got that out of the way we can move on, but Jesus is not done yet, “Peter are you sure you love me?”  And you can almost hear the underlying statement in there, “Are you sure you love me, because back in the day you talked a pretty big talk, but I’m pretty sure you did not follow through.”  I would imagine at this point the rest of the disciples are looking around for something to do, because this was not a conversation that they wanted to be apart of, maybe there like sweeping the beach up.  “Simon son of John, “Do you love me?”  “Lord you know I love you, that stuff that happened back then was a mistake, I freaked out, we all did, but you know everything and you know that I love you!”  It’s at this moment that Jesus seems satisfied and says, “ok then if you’re sure you love me, then hold on because the rest of your life is not going to be for the faint of heart, it’s not going to be for people who scare easy. Translation, if you follow me your going to die because of it.  We know from tradition that he did in fact die for Christ, some traditions say crucified upside down, others say by beheading, but the point is the same when people get serious about following after Jesus, it can get scary.  There is no guarantee of safety or comfort or glory when you follow Christ.  This is not a message that is preached too much to people going into ministry so let me make it very clear, if your in ministry for comfort, fun, glamour or to make a name for yourself, get out because it will eat you alive.  The ministry is not for the faint of heart, or for people easily scared by life (that one is for free.)   

 I love Peter’s response to this whole conversation.  Jesus says ok if you love me this is how your life is going to play out, and instantly Peter starts looking around and he see’s John and says, “Well what about him?!”  This is so interesting to me because we all do this.

Some of you are going to go through seasons of your life when you follow after Jesus that are completely out of your control, seasons that scare you.  For some of you it will be routine test results that come back bad.  For some of you it will be job loss, spousal issues.  Some of you will work your entire lives in ministry and will never see fruit.  Some of you sitting in here today will have to bury children, and when that day comes your gut reaction is going to be to look around and say, “but what about him, what about her?”  “It’s not fair, I worked just as hard as them, exercised more than her, raised my kids better than them, and this is how it ends?”  If your not careful you can begin to live a life that is controlled by this type of “yeah but what about them mentality.”

Some of you know that I have a twin sister.  Growing up a twin can be a very interesting experience.  One thing that used to irk me as a kid was when people would but us one gift to share.  Something that would be even more aggravating though, and it did not happen very often, but every once in awhile my sister would get a gift and I would not or vise versa.  My dad used times like these to teach me a very important lesson, “just because someone else get’s a gift does not mean I’m going to get a gift.”   This is such an important lesson because it is so true. 

  It’s during these hard seasons of life, when were looking back at everyone behind us , evaluating their gifts, and looking at what we have and don’t that and fear  and the jealousy is taking  that our heavenly father reminds us, “don’t worry about them, I have a purpose for them as well, we don’t all get the same gifts, but you follow me.”

Conclusion

Hope amidst Fear

            Here is the last thought I want to leave you with this morning.  Isn’t great that despite Peter’s fear, Jesus still uses him for the glory of his kingdom?  See I’m not quite sure that Peter every really got over his fear of what people thought about him and what the future would hold, because we find in Galatians 2:12 that Paul is openly rebuking Peter because of is fear of what the Jewish community would think of him eating with the gentiles.  It’s a really interesting part of the Bible, and when you get a few minutes you should check it out.    Isn’t it great that Christ uses us despite our fears?  Christ commands his disciples 21 times in the New Testament not to fear and yet it seems as though that was a hard lesson for them to learn, despite that he continued to use them for the kingdom.

            I don’t know all of you guys, and you guys do not know very much about me, but here is one thing I know.  Every single one of us has something that we are afraid of. I’m not talking about some little fear like heights or snakes or automatic toilets, I’m talking about the deep fears of the soul.  If you have not experienced a soul fear yet, at some point you will.  One day you will be asked by God to do something you do not think you can do.  You will be asked to go places you don’t want to go and minister to people that you do not feel comfortable ministering to.  You will be asked to carry an illness that you do not think your strong enough to carry, give help to people you do not feel qualified to help.  Christ Jesus will whisper to you, “Do you love me?” “Then feed my sheep.”  It is at that point when the fear and the doubt creep in that you will have a choice to make.  You can forget who God is, you can begin to look around and covet the cross that others have been asked to bear or you can say yes Lord I love you, please use me despite my fear.  When that day comes I would ask you to remember the words of Romans 8:15, “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry “Abba Father.”

Some Perspective

The Story of Zac Smith from NewSpring Media on Vimeo.

The lesson of 7th Heaven AKA Help I'm about to be the father of a PK!

I have a confession to make.  I was just sitting in Panera Bread (The restaurant that nine out of ten hip young pastors prefer in a national taste test), and I was hit with the startling realization that in just a few short months I am going to be the father of a preachers kid.

 Some of you may not understand why this thought  is an unnerving feeling to me so let me explain.  I have come in contact with a lot of preachers kids (or PK's as there known on the street).  I have interacted with them at church camps, at my home church, had them in youth group and even dated one and dated and married another.  It has been my experience that PK's are always held to a higher standard than the rest of the kids in the community and the Church.

    For some reason it is automatically assumed that if a kid possess the genes of a preacher that they some how are oblivious of and incapable of sinning, and if they do they should be chastised with even more wrath than  the wrath that I chastise my puppy for peeing on my carpet with.  I am not sure why this is, and I'm not sure what to do about it, but I'm nervous.
  
    Let's face it, we all could probably name some pretty rebellious PK's, you may in fact be one.  I blame a lot of my anxiety on the popular show 7th Heaven.  I grew up watching that show and I learned one major lesson for it.  PK kids are messed up!  It seemed like every week Mary, Lucy, Simon, Ruthy, and Matt were always getting into some kind of awkward moral dilemma that would lead their preacher father ever closer to a massive heart attack (which he eventually had I may add).  I'm not really sure how I am going to handle that stress.

So I have a question for all you minister dad's out there.

What steps do you take to make sure that your kids are not help to any higher standard than any other kid in the congregation that you serve?

What steps can I take as a father to make sure my kids don't develop the PK syndrome that will eventually lead me (according to TV) to a career ending ulcer or massive heart attack?

The Arrogance of Youth A.K.A Look at me I'm so humble!

"At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there."

John 8:9

    As I get older I begin to realize that there is a certain arrogance that comes with youth.  The very fact that I just referred to myself as "getting older" at the age of 24 is in fact a pretty arrogant statement to some of you.  I can look back at who I was as a 18 and 19 years old and cringe at the level of arrogance that I carried around with me, especially in my regards to my claims to follow Christ. My mindset often went like this, "I know more than that person when it comes to Jesus, but because I'm humble I'll keep it to myself."  I'm starting to realize that is more arrogant than just out right saying I know more. Feigned humility is the worse kind of arrogance. 

   I find it interesting that in this verse John makes a point to show that it is the older ones that realize their arrogance and in turn are the first to walk away.  

I wonder how long I would have stood there holding a rock in the stage of life I'm in right now?  How much arrogance do I still harbor in my heart?  

There is no better indicator of spiritual immaturity than spiritual arrogance.  

So how about you? How long would you hold your rock?  How do you keep arrogance in check?