The Upside Down Group

2010-12-18T12:40:00.004-06:00

Hey Gang long time no type! Sorry bout that been thinkin alot and processing alot but haven't felt called to share. I guess sometimes God says "Shut up and listen" so that's what I've been trying to do. Honestly, I've been going through somewhat of a down period in my life. A time of asking "God you gave me an incredible year with you, you taught and revealed so much to me, you modeled your love and faithfulness. Now I feel as if I've sold out and like Israel turned back to other God's. How do I get back?"

The fact of the matter. I was on an emotional low after a major High. Satan the accuser uses that as a way to wedge himself between God and Us. The fact that I've been stressing more than I ever have proves that I allowed him to do that. Thank God that he doesn't Love us according to "Emotion" he Loves Us "JUST BECAUSE" I needed down time to process the Mass Download God gave me before I could move on. He was with me, he never left me, I never left him. I can point out provisions from him in the last few months since returning home (Shoot I can point out provisions in the last week) Satan tried to drive that wedge and it did work briefly but what happened in the long run was my excessive stress, my kicking myself, my health issues as a result of said stress and everything else negative gave me a reminder "THIS IS WHAT LIFE IS LIKE WHEN NOT TRUSTING IN OR FOCUSED ON GOD" and it's only serving to backfire on Satan. You see God has given me some new visions to work towards. Things that I am now processing and slowly bringing up to others in my Community of Believers. Things that are going to take a leap of faith to work towards. Things that I will be telling you about soon(ish). Things I would possibly never do EXCEPT satan accidently reminded me "The worse place one could ever be is Not Trusting God."

I tell you all of this for two reasons.

First for your prayers. While I am coming out of my funk and beginning to feel alive again I'm not completely out. Also that as I process these new visions I hear clearly from God and let the Holy Spirit Guide.

Second I hope this can be an encouragement to anyone who may be where I've been. You may feel like God has left you or fear that you've run away from God. You can't run fast enough God is no further away. Look at what you're feeling recognize those feelings are not from God. Remember what it feels like to be in the heart of Gods will and use the comparison of the two to propel you back into "Active Relationship with Him"

"GOD IS NEVER OUT OF HUGS REACH"

Let's stop the war!

2010-10-18T19:53:00.007-05:00

Guess what everyone. Did you know we are in a war? No I'm not talking about Iraq or Afghanistan. I'm talking you and I right here right now are in the middle of a war. Turn on the radio switch the dial to any talk station and you'll hear the battle being waged. Read the newspaper you'll see it. Listen to the politicians running for office and it's in your face. The war I'm talking about is Christian vs Non-Christian, Conservative vs Liberal, Believer vs Non-Believer, Shoot Evangelical vs Pentacostle. Let's not confuse what I'm talking about with spiritual warfare either that's a whole other topic for another time. I'm talking you and I constantly engaged in battle.

Enough Larry tell me what you're talking about! Don't push me! I've been delaying, trying to find the best way to explain it without insulting anyone. I hate ruffling feathers ;-). Lets find a topic for discussion one that we can all agree with. "Stealing candy from a baby!" I think we can all agree that it's not good to steal candy from a baby (Cut it with the "it's for his health" remarks) Lets say John Smith see's little baby betty with a sucker he thinks the sucker looks good "Mmm Chocolate tootsie pop my favorite Baby Betty doesn't need it I think I'll take it for myself" Just as John goes to grab it Jane Doe see's him and stops him from taking it. "Hey John you can't have that it's not yours"

John: But I want it
Jane: It's not right to steal
John: Why not I want it
Jane: It's been a rule since the beginning of time you can't steal
John: That's a stupid rule
Jane: But it's a rule and you have to follow it
John: But I'm predispositioned to steal. I can't help it
Jane: That's not a good excuse you can't steal
John: Says you my dad says it's ok
Jane: You're dad is wrong
John: Who are you to judge me and my dad. You think you're better than me
Jane: John stealing is wrong
John: I have 10 friends that say you're wrong and judgemental
Jane: Your friends are wrong
His 10 friends: You're wrong lady we have proof that your way of thinking is antiquated.
Jane: Don't be silly throughout history stealing has never been exceptable.
Friend: You're just a biggot.
Jane: I have friends that can prove it.
John: They're biggots

This arguement doesn't seem to be going anywhere does it. Take it out further and you could have Jane giving scientific proof that stealing is wrong and John refuting it with scientific proof that it's a natural part of our instinct and society has wrongfully suppressed it for hundreds of thousands of years. Next thing you know "Jane" who was just defending a little baby is known as a judgemental hater of the new free thinking generation of thiefs. Battle lines are drawn between the two parties Janes group has hired lawyers to protect babies rights to keep their sucker and Johns group has hired lobbyists to encourage a bill be passed making it legal to steal from any baby 3 years of age or older because he/she is old enough to hide the sucker from any potential thief.

Please someone tell me there is something right about this system of justice. Now let me take it one step further. Jane throws into her arguement that stealing from a baby is not the "Christian thing to do" and she can quote scriptures argueing against it. Since this is a nation built on Christian principles our government has no choice but to "PROTECT OUR BABIES FROM SUCKER THIEVES!" John's Side argues that they are not bound by principles of a religion they don't embrace.

I know, I know. This example is simple, it's stupid, it's ludicrous. It's what we are doing constantly day to day every day. ME TOO! I've caught myself right there in the mix. Years ago I remember saying to myself that we as Christians have no right to push our belief or lifestyle on others. God doesn't force it so what gives us the right? Then I see legislation getting pushed and I'm like if that passes it's just another step toward the destruction of our country and I can't have that. So I begin pushing to stop certain freedoms from happening. Forget politically, I even do it personally. "You're a Christian don't do that!" We constantly do it in our church "You're not dressed up enough, You're too dressed up, Don't drink, Don't smoke, Don't cuss, No Sex out of Marriage"

Tell me when is the last time you had a favorable thought towards someone that told you NOT to do something? (Don't go to work doesn't count)

It seems to me that we spend way too much time talking about what we are against and not enough time talking about what WE ARE FOR! I can't think of too many times when Jesus talked about what he was against. He spent his time talking about what he was for. He was for his fathers business. The only time I can think of is when he was argueing with the pharisees but they claimed to be about his father business that made him mad because they were misrepresenting his father. I can't think of one time a "Non-Believer" came to him that he shoved their sin in thier face. I do think of Zacchaeus after Jesus simply paid attn to him repenting and repaying everybody he ever wronged. I do think of a prostitute that was so overwhelmed by Jesus love that she wept and washed his feet with her hair. I think of a woman divorced many times and living with another that turned an entire village onto Christ and into heaven. Jesus never once condemned her. I think of a Mob ready to stone a prostitute Jesus one statement calmed them. He didn't condemn them he just stated "Whoever is without sin throw the first stone." We all know we have sin we struggle with even those who don't confess Christ know their sin pointing it out doesn't help. What does then?

What if we tried pointing out what we are for NOT what we are against. Jesus did this and he changed the world. What if instead of saying "Hey stealing from a baby is wrong" Jane said please "Let me give you one of mine instead."

How about it Gang instead of telling the world what we are against lets tell it what we are about. We are about Loving our neighbor as we love ourselves, We are about loving a brother greater than we love ourselves, We are about our fathers business. Remember we can't stop at talking the talk we have to walk the walk as well. If we do I guarantee we will turn this world "Upside Down"

40 years and 1 mistake!

2010-09-13T20:53:00.002-05:00

So, last time I wrote I asked the question "What are you seeking?" As we went on I suggested that maybe we are seeking after the wrong things. Maybe in order to find all we are seeking we need to first seek to understand and live with a "Fear of the Lord" Since that point in time I have finished reading the book of Deuteronomy and something struck me.

Moses the greatest prophet to ever live (Deuteronomy 34:10) This guy lived as PRINCE OF EGYPT for 40 years and left it all because he felt a calling to his people. He spent the next 40 years building a new life in a new country he was happily married with children and we presume that he presumed he had misunderstood his calling and had moved on with his life when God calls him and says GO! Set your people free! After a brief argument with God he once again leaves all he knows to head back to Egypt the place he Ran from 40 years earlier. He then leads his people out of Egypt, through the wilderness and into the promised land. Whoops wait a minute Not into the promised land just too it then Joshua took over and led them into it. Moses was not allowed to enter it. 80 years earlier Moses leaves his position as "Prince of Egypt" for this very purpose. 40 years earlier he begins leading Israel on the actual journey. For 40 years his job is to lead Gods people to the promised land. 40 years earlier he stood at the base of the Promised Land ready to enter. It was at his grasp yet Israel was too afraid to try.

Can you imagine he was at the base of entering a land that was promised to his forefathers he heard about it his entire life now at 80 years of age he's their and the people he's leading are too afraid to trust a God that led them out of Egypt. As a result "40 years in the wilderness" 40 years passes and once again he's at the base of the promised land Gods promise is going to happen this time. Israel is ready MOSES HAS SPENT 120 YEARS WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT AND... God says no. Joshua will lead them in not you. WHAT! That's gotta hurt. WHY? Deuteronomy 32:51 "Because you trespassed against me among the children of Israel... Because you did not hallow me in the midst of the children of Israel" (The actual incedent Numbers 20 10 - 12) Moses had one moment in 40 years of leadership that he did not Lift God up to Israel and did his own thing. God still provided for Israel in that moment but Moses and Aaron now can't enter the promised land as a punishment.

What are you getting at Larry? I DON'T KNOW! Look scripture makes it clear that we are his children and we have heaven as a reward all we need do is Love God and accept the Gift he gave us through Christ. So I'm not saying if you make one mistake you're a gonner. But I do think we are missing something here. I think we in todays church are somehow playing with fire. We are taking Gods gift saying thank you and then living however we darn well please. We as Gods children his representatives are not "Hallowing God" in front of the rest of the world. We are not revearing him. Moses, the greatest prophet to ever live did this once and lost his lifes dream. As a human being he was never able to walk into the promised land. He did make heaven but missed a "Complete Life" here on Earth. If that is what happened to Moses what are we missing out on? What would a "Full" or "Complete" life look like. We may not be missing out on Heaven but we are missing out on something that God wants us to have but we will never know what it is. Not until we learn to Hallow/revere God in front of all those God gives us to lead. We wont learn to do this until we learn to fear him.

I don't know about you but I want to know what it is I'm missing out on. I want to walk in completeness, I want to experience all God has for me to experience. The more I think about it I can't believe I've been playing games with the Creator of the entire universe. I pray that he forgive me, I pray that he help me to turn my life "Upside Down"

Seeking What?

2010-08-30T21:16:00.004-05:00

I have a question for everyone. In your desire to grow closer to God what is it you are pursuing? Are you seeking knowledge and therefore spending your time studying Gods word? Are you seeking after Wisdom or Understanding? Maybe it's "Right Relationship"? Or if you "Live Right" you'll grow closer to God? What if I seek "Love" if I can find love I'll understand God cause God is Love? I had a friend ask me the other day what the bible says about "Health" he wanted to understand more clearly what God says about that topic. He was frustrated because it's so Grey no black and white answers not just on health but many, many, many other issues as well. Clearly many scholars feel this way they are seeking closeness with God through "Understanding" The Pharisees sought it through the "Law" Others seek it through Prayer and Meditation.

You may say "All of these are correct. It's a personal thing between God and I." You may say "It's the disciplines. You don't find God through one of these but through a combination of them all."

I read something this week that made me begin to think that while all of these are wonderful pursuits we may be missing one CRUCIAL step. After all the Pharisees were great with the law but missed the point entirely. We have biblical scholars that can't agree on what half the bible is saying "Agree to disagree" is a very common phrase in studying the bible. We have others desperately seeking a right relationship with God but can"t seem to keep their family together. How many of us are trying to earn Gods love by working or going to church every time the doors are open?

In the beginning of Proverbs we have Solomon telling us the purpose of the book. Verses 1-6 he's rambling off his desire for us to grow in "Wisdom, Understanding" Then in Verse 7 he begins to say how "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction" Did you catch it? Lets move on Proverbs 2 verses 1 - 4 says "IF YOU" (If you receive, If you Treasure, Incline your ear, etc...) But verse 5 finally moves to "THEN YOU" Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, After that he spends the next half of the chapter talking about all that God gives you once you understand the FEAR OF THE LORD. Then in verse 12 it switches to what he will protect us from once we understand the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 3:7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil Verse 8 It will be health to you flesh and strength to your bones. I haven't read all the way through Proverbs since picking this up but I believe I'll find that Proverbs rather than being random words of wisdom is an instruction book for how to seek, find, and understand "THE FEAR OF THE LORD" Even in Job Chap 28 verse 28 it says "Behold the fear of the Lord, That is wisdom, and to depart from evil is Understanding.

Long story short. All those things listed at the beginning of this note are great things to pursue. But I think the best way to find them is to seek to understand and develop a strong/healthy "Fear of the Lord" Do this and the rest will automatically follow. My personal mission with the Upside Down Group is to help others view this Upside Down world with eyes turned rightside up. I'm beginning to think the best way to do that is buy developing a Fear of the Lord. I admittedly have a ways to go. How about you?

Very Cool

2010-08-23T21:31:00.002-05:00

Ya wanna know what's become one of my favorite things to watch? Too bad you're gonna read it anyway. I love it when I see someone that has been given a vision ACT ON IT! There is nothing more exciting than to watch someone take that step of faith and follow through with what's been placed on their heart. When that plan is to help provide for others I have a hard time sitting still. Now lets take that one step further and see how that very plan will help motivate others to do the same and I could begin dancing (This isn't pretty but hey I never claimed to be... Very often). This is what I watched happen just this past Sunday. We have someone in our church that through observing friends, discussions with others, sermons, Bible Study, etc... has had a passion planted with-in. It is her desire to see her brothers and sisters in Christ taken care of. She has watched friends silently struggle afraid to ask for help. She knows of others with resources to help but unaware of a need. She decided to develop a plan to put the two together. This is so awesome on many many levels. Connecting the two worlds together will help take of needs, it will develop a tighter community, it will set some free from worry, and set everyone free to help others in need. Some who have been too stressed to look outside of their own lives will themselves now be free to assist others. My friend Rhonda's vision is for those in her church to be set free but in reality it is so much larger because once they are free they will be equipped to set others free. The other thing I watched on this particular Sunday was a church open to vision, church leaders encouraging others to jump and follow their God given talents, dreams, and visions.

Now, you want to know my fear? That even though Rhonda took that step of faith. She will still find those in need unwilling to ask for help, she will find those with the skills to help waiting to be asked instead of stepping up to the plate. She will be met with "Great Plan" but noone willing to take advantage of her leg work. Because of this she will leave feeling defeated, tired and asking "Why Bother" I've watched it happen. Shoot I've experienced it. That's because Satan does not want these plans to succeed. He fights them. He uses things such as "PRIDE, COMPLACENCY, LAZINESS, Etc..." He tells us we have nothing to give so don't offer. These are all lies. For those of you out there struggling, needing assistance I give you three magical words. "HELP ME PLEASE" For those of you with eye's to see I give you four magical words "HOW CAN I HELP". For all of us I give you this advice "BE WILLING TO USE EITHER PHRASE"

For my friend Rhonda I say this "DON'T GROW DISCOURAGED" "GOD WANTS YOU TO SUCCEED" "YOU WILL SUCCEED"

For everyone I have just a couple more questions for you to ask yourselves. By asking and answering these questions you'll have the power to turn the world "Upside Down"

WHAT HAS GOD PLACED ON MY HEART?
WHAT'S STOPPING ME FROM MOVING FORWARD?

Now I have one more question.

HOW CAN I HELP?

Seriously

HOW CAN I HELP?

I mean it

HOW CAN I HELP?

Please

HOW CAN I HELP?

I'm Baaack!

2010-08-16T21:23:00.002-05:00

Hello Friends long time no see sorry about the long break. My computer decided it wanted to die and I had no way to replace it. I now have this state of art ok no state of anything a cheapy designed to help me get bye till I'm settled again. With the return of thiz blog I sit here and promise you ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! I will write when I can and I will write what God has laid on my heart. I do have thoughts about the future of the Upside Down Group what it will look like and how you will be invited to participate but those are still formulating and God has not given me a definate go on any of it. For now I just write and expect you as always to forgive my grammer.

What do I have to say today? Well lets talk about the month or so that I've been silent. It's been overall a great time. God has blessed me with a great job that allows me the flexibility I've always desired and looks as if it will pay better than any job I've ever had. (In this economy any job is a blessing so I praise God for the fit of this one.) With the new job I've dove into it trying to learn the ropes working extra hours to find that extra sale (Yep I'm sales pure commission at that). I've kept my schedule open for friends yet always manage to find a way to keep busy. I've never enjoyed just sitting around so I quickly find ways to stop that from happening. You can say after my 13 months of unemployment and 6 months of travel I have once again settled into the typical life in America today. Complete with forgetting to FOCUS ON GOD DAILY! After over a year of making God my focus I find a job and slip right out of the habit. How does that happen? For me it was like two completely different lives. God gave me the clear to search out and find a job and I told myself "Time to get back to life" How stupid is that? I EXOERIENCED LIFE for over a year then truthfully I stepped out of life. God is life, He is what gave me life, He is why I was living a dream then I turn and take my focus off of him. INSANITY! Nothing has changed with God. He is still my provider (He's just using ADT security as the vehicle.) As much as I would love to jump back into unemployment and on my bike to get alone with God again that is not what he's calling me to. He is trying to teach me how to live the day to day and still keep him as the ultimate center. He's teaching me to focus on him in and through all things. The past year showed me things that work for me. This blog is huge whether you enjoy it or not I've learned that writing it helps me to focus on what God has been showing me over the week. Spending time to read his word and veg on it is critical. I need to say "I will spend X amount of time daily" this will stop me from reading his word then instantly closing it without asking God "What are you saying" And I need "alone time" A few hours one day a week where I can be alone with God and just hang.

These are things I've learned that I must do. Not only must do but really want to do Cause I wants to be stay in relationship with my Daddy, Father God! Over the last couple weeks I have felt more stress over life then I did in my 13 months of umemployment. I had a day last week where I had to text my closest friends and say "PRAY FOR ME" Cause I was under some serious attack spiritually. I let my guard down and Satan said GET HIM! My goal is to not let that happen again and these are the things I need to do to keep that from happenig. But forget the attack I was just plain missing hanging with my God, Creator, and Friend.

That list of things I mentioned that I do. Those are things that I NEED TO DO. What about you? What do you do on a daily basis to stay close too and get to know God better? Don't have a list? Get one! The way our society is built we will lose focus if we don't have a plan. How's that old saying Go? "Those who fail to plan, plan to fail" So fill us in. Let us know! What do you do? What do you plan to do? Help us out. In telling us what you do you may help someone else find what they can do. Ok everyone hope you had a great day lets move into this week and live it "Upside Down"

What is your Treasure?

2010-05-24T07:06:00.000-05:00

So, I go into church this morning sit down sing a little bit and then Jason (My Pastor) stands up and writes my blog post for me this week. How he knows what I’ve been processing before he stands up and speaks I’ll never know but this seems to happen quite a bit. However in an attempt to shorten the length of these posts I’m going to streamline. But I first had to thank Jason for giving me the verse I’m going to use.

Matthew 6:19-21
19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

So what is this saying?

1. Don’t store up your treasure on Earth.
2. Do store up your treasure in Heaven.

How do we do this?

1. Take what’s important to us and use it for what’s important to God.
2. When we do the above our Hearts will follow.

Are you storing your treasure in Heaven or on Earth?
Do you want to store your treasures in Heaven?
Do you want to learn what that means?
Do you want to learn how to do this?
Do you want to do this?

Did you answer yes to any of the last 4 questions? I mentioned a new small group I’m forming a couple weeks back. This is the driving force of what we will be working on. If this is of interest to you there is still time to join we haven’t begun yet. We haven’t even chosen a night yet. Monday, Wednesday or Thursday. Let me know if you are interested and which night works best for you. I promise you will not have experienced a group like it.

Come on Gang whether or not you can join the group you can still begin storing your treasure where it belongs. Lets do it and turn this world “Upside Down!”

Food for Thought!

2010-05-18T18:51:00.000-05:00

So, I’m reading in Leviticus today Chapter 18 and this is what I see

1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'I am the LORD your God. 3 You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. 4 You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God. 5 Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD.

You must not do as they do where you’ve been living and you must not do as they do where you are going. Hmmm, It seems to me that we’ve got this “Upside Down” As I observe society today. “WE” seem to be compromising Gods desires for the worlds. “Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord” I don’t know about you but “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord” How about it Gang are we ready to stop compromising?

One of my weaknesses

2010-05-10T21:21:00.001-05:00

As many of you know I have been involved in the Theatre for quite a few years now. I have a degree in Theatre Arts, I worked professionally in theatre for around 10 years and I continue to be involved as my schedule allows. If you’ve never been involved in putting together a production then all you probably know is what you see when you go to a show. You sit down listen to some music while waiting for the show to begin. Finally the house lights go out the stage lights come up and you see actors on a stage working effortlessly at sharing a story. You sit back enjoy the story then when it’s done go about the rest of your evening chatting with friends about the marvelous work you just saw. But for those involved in the production it wasn’t quite so simple. You see first the actor has to be taught how to act. Once they learn the art they go to auditions proving they can act better than the other guy. Once they are cast in a part they get a script and sit down at a table with the rest of the cast and read through it while talking about their character. They discuss the characters background, life, history, future, Can he walk, does he have a limp, why doe she hate talking to her neighbor? They break down the script trying to learn all they can about “Who they are playing” Then they get onstage and have a director tell them where to stand, when to move and how to speak, plus they have to memorize all those lines. The typical rehearsal process is about 6 weeks long. By the time anybody sees the show they have it all figured out and running smooth. Basically we do everything we can before you arrive to make sure it appears effortless to you. In recent years I’ve begun to realize that this has rubbed off in my life as well. If I don’t have something completely figured out I rarely talk about it. Before beginning a new project I need to know all the steps. Before initiating a conversation I like to have the first few sentences lined up. Group dance lessons FORGET IT. I need to look like my act is together. WAIT A MINUTE! I just had a thought. Maybe it’s not me? Maybe others suffer from this strange phenomena. I thought it was just us “Theatre Folk” because that’s all I was around for years. But for the last few years theatre has been a hobby not a profession. I’ve been around “Real folk” and I just realized many of you act the same way. Why is that? What is it in our nature that compels us to act this way? Do you know what else I learned? While managing a scene shop my tendency was the same. I wanted to know exactly how to build the set before starting yet there was usually at least one project that I couldn’t work out all the answers. I would have to trust what I did know, begin the project and trust the rest would fall in place IT ALWAYS DID! I’ve stood in front of an audience as an actor and experienced parts of the show for the first time with them. Talk about nervous energy. IT ALWAYS WORKED OUT! Long story short I’ve learned that we of course need to prep as best we can but despite all our preparations there comes a time to step out in faith and trust your talent, skills, instinct. I think our Christian life is the same. God calls us to do something for him yet when it comes time to walk in the calling how often do we feel prepared? How often do we say “Not yet God I still have more to learn” or “I don’t have enough money” or “I’m not a speaker”, “I’m too shy” Moses had no doubt it was God giving him the call and he said “I’m not a good speaker get someone else” Israel initially refused to enter the promised land for fear they couldn’t fight even though God promised them victory. Jephthah (Judges 11) was afraid to go to battle despite Gods calling. Can you imagine the fear of Jesus Disciples the first time he sent them out without him to preach the good news and heal the sick? But they went out experienced God personally and came back Filled with joy and excitement.

My friends we need to “GET OVER IT” we need to spend our time growing closer to God and when he gives us a calling we need to trust what he has developed in us in GET TO IT! Yes of course we need to plan, we need to think and process but don’t use that as an excuse to sit back. Don’t wait till ya have it all figured out. Last Friday night I heard someone speaking and he commented on how he was recently told he needed to get out of “Figure it out mode” I like it! Friends GET OUT OF FIGURE IT OUT MODE AND START DOING! I myself have been in this mode since returning home from my trip. I’ve found myself walking and asking God “What now” to which I keep hearing him respond “Just Do it” God this isn’t a Nike commercial it’s my life we’re talking about! “Larry just do it” JUST DO WHAT! What I’ve put on you heart. God I know what you put on my heart but I don’t know how to go about it. Larry just do it just take a step. Can you believe it? I left my job a year ago not knowing how God would provide but he did. I left on a road trip seven months ago not knowing how God would provide HE DID. I make it home not knowing how God would get me a job in this economy HE DID. Know I’m sitting not wanting to take a step because I don’t have it all figured out? HE DOES!

So here’s the thing. For the last few years I have felt that God was in some way calling me to the church. Calling me to serve his people but until recently I didn’t know what that meant. Now I believe it’s to encourage and empower his people YOU to get out there and live the life he created you for. There are so many people out there that want to step it up but don’t know how. That want to learn more of God but not sure what to do. That want to show the world his love but are afraid to risk. First things first I want to right now tell you DO IT! Just take a step and God will be there. God will ignite such a passion and excitement inside you that you’ll never want it quenched. I know sometimes it’s easier said then done. Let me put this out there for you to chew on. I plan on starting a new group a “Small Group” that is focused on doing this thing together. I don’t claim to have it all figured out that’s what makes this so exciting. My step, my “Just do it” is this group I invite you to join me. The only guarantee I offer you is that you will be challenged. WE will be challenged. This group will be different, it wont be a bible study lets call it “On The Job Training” If you are interested in joining let me know. Get back to me with when you are available and hopefully we can find a time that works for anyone interested. What do ya say? Lets figure it out together! Lets step out together! Lets risk together! Lets Love together! Together lets turn the world “Upside Down”

Help

2010-05-03T22:07:00.000-05:00

As you no doubt have noticed Love has become the theme of our Blog Posts. Some may be thinking “When are you going to get over this and move on to something else?” The answer is… I don’t know! Maybe never. You see our goal is to help encourage others to live the life that Christ calls us to live out. At this point as far as I can see “Love” is the theme that runs through the bible. “Love the Lord your God with all your Heart Soul Mind and Strength” “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” “Love as I have loved you no greater love has man than this that he lay down his life for his friends” I challenge anyone to read through the New Testament and find one disciple that doesn’t emphasis the importance of Love. Since this is the most important emphasis is scripture it has become the most important thing for us to pursue as well. Now with that said I have to admit a bit of a little struggle I have. You see my understanding of Gods Love at the moment is growing like wildfire. The more I understand his love the more excited I am to live in it. The more I seek to live in it the more my understanding grows. The more my understanding grows the more confident I am in stepping out in faith and following what God is asking of me. My life at the moment is incredible. I love it! I love what God is doing and my biggest fear is that one day I’ll look back and ask “Why am I not trusting God like I did back then?” I have watched others move into this understanding of who God is and what he wants for us long before I moved into it. I saw it yearned for it and ultimately took steps to get it because I wanted what others had. Now I am so excited to be here and so excited to be growing that I want more than ever to bring others along for the ride. I want you (If you don’t already have it) to experience Gods Love. I want you to understand what it means to step out in faith and have God show up big time. I want you to wake up in the morning and ask God. “How are you going to show me your love today?” I want your heart to begin beating for others. I want you to be in love with the life that God has given you and to know beyond a doubt that it is God that has given it to you. I want you to understand without a doubt that this God the Creator of the Universe OUR CREATOR loves you. If you can even get a small understanding of this you will step into life without fear. You will take a chance. You will move into the life God has created you for. Because you will know that the one that controls EVERYTHING has your back. I want you to KNOW all this is true. I want it to move from your head to your HEART. A friend of mine calls that the “Holy spirit slide” I want you to understand all of this. BUT I DON’T KNOW HOW!!! So here is my question. How can I help you? What motivates and inspires?

Please don’t read this and think “Boy Larry is full of himself” I realize that many of you reading this have a better understanding of Gods Love than I do. I want you to kick in. Give your two cents worth to help motivate and inspire. We are all in process and it is our duty to lift each other up. Shoot one of the major reason I want to inspire others is so you can inspire me as well. That’s a selfishness I’m willing to admit. Please chime in. Has this blog inspired or motivated you in anyway? How? Have the weekly assignments or our Encouragement projects? What else can we do? Help a brother out here. I need you, I love you, I want the best for you and I want you to press and pull the best from me. If we learn to communicate openly, If we learn to act as a family we will turn this world “Upside Down”

Don't mess with me God!

2010-04-26T08:09:00.000-05:00

Have you ever watched a movie starring Matt Damon and Robin Williams called “Good Will Hunting” In this movie Matt Damon plays “Will” a Troubled man from the streets that also happens to be a Genius. His brilliance has been overlooked by everyone except his closest friends until one day he decides to show off and answer a math problem that has taken some of the greatest minds in the world years to answer. A professor decides to bring him under his wing and show off Will as the Genius that he discovered. Before he can help Will however he needs to get him serious psychiatric help. They go through therapist after therapist Will running each of them off until he meets Williams character “Sean”. After a rough beginning they become friends and Sean helps him work through many of his issues. However he is still a train wreck pushing everyone away that wants to get close until one day Sean gets to the heart of the issue. He pulls out medical records and photo’s of Will all beaten and bruised. They go into a discussion of what happened and how his dad was an alcoholic. He would come home drunk need something to hit and Will would be the target. Here is where the scene gets good Sean looks at Will and says

Sean: It’s not your fault.
Will: I know
Sean: It’s not your fault
Will: I know
Sean: It’s not your fault
Will: I KNOW
Sean: It’s not your fault
Will: Don’t mess with me Sean not you
Sean: It’s not your fault
Will: (Pushes Sean) Don’t mess with me
Sean: It’s not your fault
Will: (Crying) Sean: (Pulls him into a hug)

That was the beginning of the TRUE healing process for Will. Even though he knew in his head that “It wasn’t his fault” he needed someone to drive it home for him. He needed that understanding to sink deep into his soul before he could move on with his life. Until that time happened he would live a life far far less than he was created for. He would not be able to believe that he was capable of being loved.

Friends, I fear that this is where many if not most of us stand. You see when we were born we were steeped in sin. We didn’t stand a chance we were born in a sinful world surrounded by sin raised by sinful parents, had sinful role models, and it is a part of our very instinct to pursue self before anything else (Romans 3: 9 – 20) I think because of this we have a very hard time believing that GOD the creator of the universe could possibly love us. My life has been out of control and Satan beating me up since the day of my birth. God knows what we are against. He isn’t holding that against us. Of course he doesn’t want us to stay there either. That’s why he sent his son. When we read through Gods word we see one message constantly coming at us. A message that we can say “I know” but one that our actions clearly show we don’t completely believe. In Good will Hunting that message was “It’s not your fault” which I do think would play clearly here as well but there’s another message God wants us to know that’s more important.

God: I love you
You: I know
God: I love you
You: I know
God: I love YOU
You: Don’t mess with me God not you
God: I LOVE YOU!
You: Don’t mess with me you couldn’t possibly love me
God: I LOVE YOU!
You: (Crying) Why
God: I LOVE YOU!
You: (A puddle on the floor crying unable to respond)
God: (Wrapping his arms around you and whispers in your ear) I LOVE YOU
You: I KNOW

If we can learn to truly embrace this our lives would be completely different. No more self destructing. God would turn our world “UPSIDE DOWN”

Love! What's it look like?

2010-04-19T21:48:00.000-05:00

So, I’ve spent quite a bit of time lately talking about “Love”. Loving your neighbor as you love yourself, Loving our family in Christ as Christ loves them. The New Testament is loaded with statements about love it goes so far as to say in 1 John 4:8 If you do not love you do not know God because God is Love. Love, Love, Love, Love. We look at ourselves and we seek love through family, friends, mates in many cases we even seek it through our employers/employees. If we don’t have it we are willing to go to the extreme to get it or at least a substitute for it. The sixties had “Free Love”, The Beatles sang All we need is Love, and of course the oldest profession is where we “Pay for Love” Kids give into peer pressure searching for love. Today men and women before they get married claim they “Fell in Love” then they get divorced and tell their kids “We just fell out of Love” I looked up the Webster Dictionary’s definition of Love and this is what I found

1 a (1) : strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties child> (2) : attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers (3) : affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests b : an assurance of love
2 : warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion
3 a : the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration b (1) : a beloved person —often used as a term of endearment (2) British —used as an informal term of address
4 a : unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another: as (1) : the fatherly concern of God for humankind (2) : brotherly concern for others b : a person's adoration of God
5 : a god or personification of love

— at love : holding one's opponent scoreless in tennis

— in love : inspired by affection

Look at all those definitions. It’s clear Love is an over used adjective that nobody really knows the meaning. How can we follow Gods Command to Love if we don’t really know what Love is? I want to try and clear it up right now. Ok that probably wont happen so let me rephrase. I want to give my opinion of what Love is. When Christ was asked “What’s the greatest commandment?” he responded “Love the Lord your God with all your Heart mind, Soul and Strength. The second is like it “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” Christ spent his entire ministry telling us to “Love” “Love your neighbor as you Love yourself” In John 13 and in John 15 he COMMANDS us to Love as he has loved. The problem I think we have with Love is that for some reason we “Think” love is an emotion a feeling But if it’s an emotion or feeling then we don’t have a ton of control over it. If we don’t have complete control over it why would we be commanded to do it? Because of this I have come to the conclusion that Love is A CHOICE that’s it plain and simple Love is a choice or maybe a better definition would be Love is an ACTION that you choose to do. Think about it LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART. This means in all I do I need to look to God first. If I choose to put him first in everything I am loving him completely. If I choose to keep something to myself then I am loving God with everything EXCEPT that one thing? This is where it gets fun. Lets go to the command to “Love our neighbor as we love our self” In all of life I know what I would want someone to do for me. If I then choose to not do all the same things for ANYONE then where I am not doing for them I am not loving them where I am not loving them I am NOT LOVING GOD. God says to love him with our whole heart. Now lets go to a brother or sister in Christ. Here we are commanded to love them as Christ Loved them. This means we need to be willing to sacrifice for them. We usually stop at be willing to die for them because that’s easy rarely is anyone called to die for another. But what about giving up something we hold dear to help a brother in need? What about giving to someone in need and not expecting to ever see it again? What about answering that call at 3:00 in the morning to comfort a mourning or depressed or scared brother/sister? I’m on my way to work and find someone desperately needs me am I willing to risk my job to help? Brothers and sisters on the other side of the world need help in just the area you are skilled in. Are you willing to pack up and leave your job and friends to go help? What if you have no idea how you yourself will make ends meet? Where we are not willing to put ANY brother or Sister in Christ first (Not just the one’s we know) we are falling short of Gods command to love him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.

Are you overwhelmed yet? I know I am. I’m sitting here reading what I just typed and thinking “Wow, I could never do that.” Well thankfully we are living under the umbrella of Gods Grace so when we fall short we’re still good. However that is no excuse to not try and get there. It really is a great check of where we stand in how much we are willing to love God. When we recognize that we haven’t loved someone as God commands we now know where we can get to work on learning to love. Training ourselves to act. Then we grow in Love because we’ve learned to act. Whoops I failed to Love again God help me to grow my Love in this area. Thanks God! I can now love more. Shoot I didn’t love again! God can you help me again. Shew, Thanks again God. Continue to repeat the process.

What do you say gang? Are you willing to choose love even if you don’t feel like it. I think this is also what God calls our “Spiritual Act of Worship”. Just think about it if we can learn to Love like this we will turn our world “Upside Down”

Time to show a little love.

2010-04-12T17:10:00.000-05:00

Today I experienced a very cool thing. There is this guy that goes to my church as far as I can tell he is the epitome of the word “servant”. Whenever a call for help goes out he is there. If he sees someone needs assistance and it’s something he can’t do he’ll let others that can help know. He’s quick with a smile and a greeting. A few from his church recognized this and wanted to say thank you so they put together what we at the Upside Down Group call an “Encouragement Party” They had people write Thank you notes and send them to him throughout the week then today he was invited to someone’s house for lunch and while he was there all these people began showing up. It didn’t take long for him to realize he was in the middle of a party and was the guest of honor. He was blown away and had a smile on his face that stretched from ear to ear. Now it turns out that this guy had been struggling with some stuff as well and the party is exactly what he needed. It’s not why they threw it but the timing was perfect. This is a great example of what I was talking about last week. “LOVE” in this case love reigned supreme. Mike serves others not because he has to but because he wants to and he wants to because God has placed a love for others in his heart. Mikes family (Re-church) recognized what he does for others and showed love by giving him this party. Nobody was out anything maybe 15 minutes to write a note of Thanks and another hour to join a party (Big Sacrifice) and Mikes day if not week was made his spirits lifted. This my friends is what life in Christ is all about. It’s about taking the time to serve one another. When we serve we love. God is Love.

A couple hours later a group of friends got together for dinner to celebrate the promotion of someone in the group. She had just been offered her dream job and her friends wanted to celebrate with her. That is yet one more example of “Love” Rejoicing with those who rejoice. Of course that’s the easy half of love isn’t it. We don’t do it enough but when we do we are always glad we did. It’s great fun making another smile. The tough part is remembering to mourn with those that mourn yet we are called to this as well. We are called to be “Light” in a dark world. We are called to love. We are called to show love even when it’s tough. As I said last week that is now my goal to walk in love but what does that look like? How do we “Walk in Love”? How do we follow Gods lead? You just read two examples. Do you want to see more? I want to show you. Here is how I plan to do it. Throughout my little road trip every time I updated this blog it was with what God had been showing or teaching me during the week. Now that I’m home I think I’ll mix it up a bit. I don’t expect God to stop so at times I will continue with the “Lesson” type posts. However what I expect to begin seeing with my new focus on “Modeling Gods love” is incredible examples of his people living it out. So even more often I will be writing about just that. What Gods people are doing in his community to show his love. I may write a little about things I was able to do but hopefully I’ll be able to spend more time writing about his community and what they are doing. I pray that in turn this will inspire each of us to step away from fear and into love. The more we are able to do this the better our world becomes. I believe that our community can change drastically overnight when “Love” becomes the driving force. Looking at my calendar it is now April 11 three and a half months into the new year. If each of us committed to model Gods love throughout the rest of the year our city would be turned upside down and if our city flips so does our state. We have the power to change the world my friends it’s about time we harness that power and turn our world “Upside Down” as well.

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Now What?

2010-04-05T18:22:00.000-05:00

By now most of you probably already know that my 6 month road trip has come to an end. It was everything I expected and nothing like I expected all at the same time. Before day 1 my plans began to change or to be more accurate I should say “Were changed for me”. I left one week later than planned for a number of different reasons, Weather that hit on day number 2 changed the direction I was riding not only that but it literally corralled me into a very specific direction. Yet even in all of that I had a strange peace knowing that my God was in control of it all. You see God is why I chose to go for a ride. Ok, in an effort of full disclosure God said “Get alone with me for awhile” I’m the one that chose the road trip. Yes he could have spoken to me anywhere, in a coffee shop, locked in my room, a cabin in the country, wherever. I chose to leave so I could avoid distraction and because I’ve always wanted to do this. What’s cool is God loves me. He knew what I would choose he blessed it, and worked in it. If you can’t tell already I am about to talk about this trip and what the next step is. If you’ve been following this blog long you will see that it has become a weekly lesson of sorts those lessons come from what God had been speaking to me about during the week. I’m not completely sure because I haven’t done it yet myself but I bet if you were to go back to the beginning and read up through now you would stumble on a theme. I know that once I look at all God has shown me (Some I’ve shared some will stay between God and I) I see a clear theme for the trip and that began even before I hopped on the bike as well. I’ll begin with a painting. You see, I called up a local Artist (Bill Butler) and asked him to do a painting for me. I wanted something in front of me that would remind me of why I was on this trip. I wanted him for a number of reasons but primarily because he is a “Prophetic Artist”. We chatted for awhile he went to prayer and came up with a Painting called “Great Love” John 15: 12-13 I’ve quoted this verse a number of times over the last 6 months and he couldn’t have chosen a better verse. I could even call this tour of mine the “Great Love Tour” because that is what God revealed over and over and over again. He loves me so much that he gave me this trip. He loves us enough that he gave us this universe, he gave us his son, he gave us freedom, he gave us a choice.

I’m the kind of guy that loves to boil things down to it’s most basic principle. Once you get rid of all the fluff what are you left with? With Christianity however I’ve allowed myself to get all caught up in the theories, debates. I have to admit I even enjoy these types of discussions. I really enjoy chatting Denominational differences. But what we have to do before we ever get bogged down with this type of discussion is understand the basis of everything. Who is God to us? Who are we to God? This is what God showed me. This is what he emphasized in my studies, in who I met, where I went to church, on hikes, while riding my bike, in that painting I told you about. You see my lesson wasn’t a new revelation. You’ll hear it and say “I knew that” but this time God gave me the opportunity to see what that really means. This is called the “Great Love” tour because that’s exactly who God is. 1 John 4:6… God is Love. That is the basics of Christianity right there. God is love and everything he does is “LOVE” God sent Jesus to die for us because he is LOVE, the Spirit has been sent as a helper because God is LOVE, God created this mighty Universe for us to enjoy because God is LOVE. That is exactly what he has shown me in its most basic form. First he showed me how much he loves me. The trip he gave me modeled his Love, His provisions, The Support Group he Gave, The Bike, Our Conversations, God made it abundantly clear that he loves me (Again you can go to my past posts and find specific examples) Next God showed me that he loves all his children. I sat in a town that you couldn’t walk through and not experience the spiritual oppression yet there was a church in the middle of this town that acted like a Sanctuary from the oppression. He gave his children a special grace and gave them a location for regeneration. In the midst of that Oppression I saw how much God loves EVERYONE even those who have nothing to do with him. There was a spiritual warfare and this means God was fighting for them. He is fighting for you. I saw many more very specific examples that I once again mention in past posts.

Then God takes me to scripture and there is not one Apostle not one book in the New Testament that doesn’t hit on LOVE as a major point in the Christian life. You see God loves us so much that yes he sent his only son for us. He loves us so much that he spelled his plan out for us to see in The Old Testament. He didn’t want us to miss it. He loved us so much that even though we didn’t ask for forgiveness he had Jesus die to offer it that way we just had to grab it. He loves us so much that as soon as we turn to him and accept his forgiveness we become a member of his family. Now here’s the catch and the next thing God showed me so clearly. Once we become a member of his family Sons and daughters of God. WE BECOME LOVE! That’s right if God is Love and we are his it only makes sense that we are love. Since we are Love God wants us to act like it. He sent his son to this earth to be love on Earth. He was! Now we are his children on this Earth so we must be Love on Earth. What does that mean? “Love your neighbor as yourself” Your car is broken down and your neighbor has a spare. You would want your neighbor to offer the spare until it’s fixed. time to offer yours to him. Do you enjoy random people giving you money for no reason? Try doing that as well. John 15: 12,13 “A new command I give you Love as I have loved you. No greater love has man than this that he lay down his life for his friends you are my friends if you do as I command you.” In other words treat your brothers and sisters in Christ better than you would yourself. Sacrifice for them. “SACRIFICE FOR THEM”

This is the Gospel in its most basic form. 1. God is love, 2. We are adopted into his family, 3. We are love, 4. Be Love and don’t forget he sent help in the form of The Holy Spirit USE IT!!! This is the main lesson God has shown me over the past 6 months. He is love, we are love, we need to begin acting like it. Sit down for a few minutes and think about what that truly means. What are we really called too.

Now that I’ve told you all of that, the biggest question I’ve been asked is “What’s next?” or “What do you do now?” I honestly don’t know exactly. I have some idea’s that I’m going to walk towards and see what God blesses. The one thing I do know is this. If I walk away from this trip with the lessons that God has shown me and I don’t move toward Love then this past year would have been a waste of time. I plan on waking up in the morning and asking “God who do you have for me to love today?” Then I’m going to walk my day looking for his answer. Once I find it I’ll ask “God how do you want me to love them?” Then I’ll do it! Will I do it every time? Probably not. Will I miss some opportunities? Most likely. But it’s my goal to try. It’s my goal to each and everyday become love. I want to invite you to come along on this Journey of Love. Ya never know if you do your life may just be turned “Upside Down”

God a Prankster?

2010-03-29T07:52:00.001-05:00

Reconnecting with an old friend of mine of few weeks back I was reminded of a day trip we took a few years back to Minneapolis. We were going to visit a Christian nightclub (I think it was called the Firehouse) We had wanted to try and open a club in Des Moines and heard about this one so went to check it out. We arrived in MN a couple hrs before this place opened so we decided to check out the “Mall of America” It was fairly new back then and very very busy. Being the optimist that I am I always make a quick pass through the front parking spaces before heading to my real spot in the back of the lot. On this day God was smiling on us. We pull into the first aisle and immediately see a car pulling out of a spot. We smile, laugh and do the whole Thank you God thing, I can’t believe this, God is looking out for us today. Then the car pulls right back in and the people get out. WHAT! We started laughing and said Thanks God that was a mean joke. Just then another car pulled out three or four spots over. This caused us to really bust out laughing. Whoever said God wasn’t a prankster. Being jokesters ourselves we had fun with that one for quite awhile. I’m sure this was probably one of those “you just need to be there moments” But to us it was hilarious we were and still are convinced that God set it up just for us a “Prank the Pranksters” type scenario (We were known as Larry Long and his Buddy Bald) All that to say I think God has a sense of humor. I think he loves to relate with us just like we relate to each other and that means jokes as well. Don’t believe me lets look at the bible. Exodus 3 is the story of Moses and the Burning Bush. God could have gotten Moses attn anyway he wanted. He could have spoken to him in a dream, It could have been a voice in the sky but no he chose a Burning Bush that didn’t burn. I think God said “I’m going to have fun with this guy” Why not? He wanted a relationship not an employee. Go on to chapter 4 God says to Moses drop your staff without telling him what was going to happen. He does, it becomes a serpent and MOSES RUNS. Tell me God wasn’t laughing at that. I would have split my sides. For the sake of time lets move to the New Testament. Matthew 8 They are in a boat Jesus is a sleep a storm comes that is so fierce they fear for their very lives they wake Jesus and he shakes his head (I think with a hidden smirk) then yells at the storm to stop. Tell me he and God weren’t giggling a bit at their reaction. Feeding of the five thousand Jesus could have just said at the beginning we’re going to feed them and this is how it’s going to play out. It would have been just as impressive but I think he wanted them to sweat a little. He wanted to blow their minds. Jesus walking on the water. When he sent his disciples away he could have told them I’ll catch up remember I’m God I don’t need a boat but no instead he walks up and they think he’s a ghost. I really imagine Jesus laughing all the way out to the boat anticipating their reaction. Here’s one of my favorites Matt 17 Jesus tells Peter to catch a fish and money will be in its mouth to pay the temple tax. Can you see Peter going to the Ocean shaking his head the whole way? Believe me there are many more examples. But there are also examples of Jesus sacrificing daily for others. There are examples of Jesus crying, eating with others, Teaching, Healing. The examples I’m thinking about are specific for his Disciples and close knit group of friends. They experienced it all! Others would experience one or two things but not the jokes, no explanation of his parables, not the intimate relational things they were reserved for specific people those who wanted more from him than a quick fix. Jesus could have come to this earth lived his life and died. He could have chosen 12 disciples and sat them down as students (Like I assume the Pharisees did) and said when I’m gone this is all up to you so pay attn. But he didn’t he developed a relationship with them. So much so that after his death they were lost and confused. If he were just a teacher they would have shrugged their shoulders and said oops guess we were wrong back to the boats and not been around to see his resurrection. Here’s my point To God we are more than just a number. Every person that accepts Christ and repents of their sins God has a personal vested interest in. Jesus knew what to do on a daily basis because he had a personal relationship with his Father and did nothing without first seeing his father do it John 5:19. The Disciples had a personal relationship with Jesus and did what they did because Jesus told them to do it even when it seemed far fetched. If I were Peter I never would have gone looking for that “Money Fish” if I didn’t already trust Jesus. So, Jesus had his Father, The disciples had Jesus and his Father, We have Jesus, His Father and The Holy Spirit. Now if that’s really the case then I have to ask. Why don’t we step out in faith more often when God says Give money to ______, or Go talk to _______, Quit your job and _________, Start a ministry for__________? The best I can figure is because we don’t REALLY trust him and we don’t really trust him because we aren’t doing our half of the work in getting to know him. We know it’s not the other way around. How do we do it? How do we do our part? Jesus had a different relationship with each of his disciples and I’m sure he does with each of us as well so I’m not going to answer that. All I’m going to say is Go to God and ask him. God how do we develop an intimate relationship with each other? You and I God? Then listen for the answer and do it even if it means “Going Fishing”.

It may not always be easy to follow his lead but the more we do the more we see him work, the more we see him work the better we know him, the better we know him the more we trust him, the more we trust him the easier to follow his lead. So what do you say why don’t we go out and ask God to blow our mind. Lets ask God to dinner, go for a walk, to reveal the meaning of his scriptures, to tell us a joke and to blow our minds. Lets invite him into an honest full fledged intimate relationship with him. Once we do I promise our lives will be turned “Upside Down”.

Southern Hospitality!

2010-03-22T08:49:00.001-05:00

So, I spent Saturday night in Charleston SC. Even though I desperately wanted to I fought off the urge to go dancing (Don’t know how to do the Charleston anyway). But what I didn’t fight off was the desire to go to church Sunday Morning. I stumbled on a good ole Southern Baptist church. Lets remember tradition dies hard in the South. So I pull up and see all these people walking in wearing suits and dresses. I haven’t seen that in awhile and I knew I was in for a good old fashioned Baptist worship service complete with the hymnals. Believe it or not I was kinda looking forward to it. It’s been a long long time since I’ve been in a “Traditional Service”. I’m not going to spend any time talking about the actual service or the pluses and minuses of the style but what I want to talk about is what I observed before and after the service. I walk in about 15 to 20 minutes early and go find a seat. I feel slightly out of place since in my riding gear but I do feel a little better as the younger crowd begins to filter in (They are at least in slacks and a Button Down shirt instead of a suit.) People are all smiling and chatting with each other looking very happy to be there. Then I see one older gentleman walking up and down the aisle shaking everyone’s hand. Now I see another doing the same thing. The pastor is doing the same but slumbering a bit longer chatting with the people. A middle aged lady walks up to me (Mr. way out of place) and begins chatting. Then I see this stereotypical science teacher. Slacks and a sport coat (Tweed), White hair, bald up top long in the back, Handlebar mustache that blends into his mainly white Beard trimmed along the jaw line but very full beard in the middle (Just felt like detailing his look) Doing the same as the first men I saw but instead of just walking the aisle he is going to the middle of the pews as well literally walking from group to group shaking hands and laughing with each of them. I can say I have never seen such an active group. People were going out of their way to chat with each other not just stand and chat with a close friend. Growing up my church may have been like that. I know they were friendly and like family. Generation after generation grew up there so it was easier to “Be Friendly”. After church pretty much anyone that walked by me said hello and shook my hand. The lady that had spoken with me earlier introduced me to her husband and then invited me to their house for lunch (This happened once before when I was in college at another Baptist church). I walked into the church that morning feeling out of place but left feeling very welcomed. Honestly during the service I was bored, I spaced off during the choir can’t believe it but didn’t recognize the hymns and the sermon gave no new revelations. It was a solid salvation message complete with alter call. Now I’m not picking on the service. It is exactly what some need just not what I typically look for but if I were in Charleston again I would go back in a heartbeat. If I moved to Charleston I would check it out again. Why? Because of the display of love I saw. They made an underdressed stranger feel perfectly at home. I’ve had less people talk to me at my home church and it’s a pretty friendly church. Obviously I know nothing about these people. Maybe they all hop in their cars and begin to fight with each other. Maybe there is a problem with gossip I have no idea but what I do know is for the hour and fifteen minutes I was there (Somehow the pastor found mercy for 15 minutes :-.) ) I felt welcomed. I’ve been traveling for six months now going to churches every Sunday. Some I knew others not, some were proud of their openness to strangers they went so far as to brag about it. What’s ironic is those are the places I felt most unwelcome. Anytime I’ve traveled over the last few years I’ve tried to find a church to attend on Sunday the best I’ve ever gotten was people saying hi during the “Greeting time” and maybe one or two before or after the service.

If you haven’t already guessed it I am about to present a challenge to everyone reading this. “Grab hold of some good Ole’ Southern Hospitality!” Do you want to see guests return to your church? Do you want to see others come to know Christ? Do you want others to feel comfortable opening up to you? Then smile and shake a hand! It really is that simple. People want to feel welcomed and they want to feel loved give it to them and they’ll keep coming back. I was blown away as I watched a half dozen people befriend the majority. Can you imagine what would happen if someone walked into your church and they saw the majority doing it? Not to mention you may meet someone that’s been at the church for years. If you’re already doing this let me present one more challenge. Every time you meet someone new “Invite them to Lunch” You never know this one thing may turn your life and the life of your church “Upside Down”

Freely Give?

2010-03-15T11:28:00.001-05:00

I have been thinking about today’s topic for quite some time. Actually a friend of mine and I have been chatting about it pretty much since my arrival in Houston 2.5 months ago. It’s become hard for me to let go of this one even though it fits with a conviction God gave me for the Upside Down Group months ago. My friend has had this conviction for awhile but since we’ve begun chatting it has grown ten fold in him. I want to be very careful as we dive into this one and today I’ll just be scratching the surface of it. It would be very easy to fall into legalism and we must remember in all things it boils down to a matter of the heart. But there is also the message it spreads and more so the hindrance of learning that makes this topic particularly dangerous. ENOUGH OF THE SET UP GET ON WITH IT LARRY! Ok, lets first dive into it by looking at scripture. Then I’ll give you my thoughts.

Matthew 10:7-10 (New King James Version)

⁷ And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ ⁸ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead,^[^a^] cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. ⁹ Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, ¹⁰ nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.

John 2:13-19 (New King James Version)

¹³ Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. ¹⁵ When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. ¹⁶ And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” ¹⁷ Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten^[^a^] Me up.”^[^b^]
¹⁸ So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?”
¹⁹ Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

John 13:14-15 (New King James Version)

¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.

John 13:34-35 (New King James Version)

³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ³⁵ By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 15:12-14 (New King James Version)

¹² This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.

I’m not going to talk too much today. Just point out what I see then ask you your opinion. In Matthew 10 Jesus gives his disciples power then sends them out and tells them FREELY you have received FREELY Give. They went out with nothing other than clothes on their backs and power from God. They were told to give out freely not Heal for a fee, preach for a fee. In John 2 Jesus goes into the temple sees them selling in the courtyard gets upset makes a whip drives the people out and gently turns the tables upside down (More like throws everything around) (The following is a paraphrase from the book Fresh Wind Fresh Fire) They could have argued they were offering a service. They needed a sacrifice and couldn’t carry theirs all the way from where they lived. The problem is they were profiting exorbitantly from the service. John 13: 14-15 says follow my example “He served them” John 13: 34-35 He says Love as I have loved you. John 15 he says the same thing and ads No greater Love than to Lay your life down for your friends.

Looking at all of this my question is. Are we profiting from the Gospel when we should be freely sharing? God gave me a revelation let me write a book sell it, God gave me the gift of healing I’ll do it but charge an entry fee to the crusade. Are our “Christian Bookstores” any different than the money changers in the temple? How many people don’t have access to some incredible insights into scripture or into how to walk after God because they can’t afford the 20 to 50 dollar book? When we think of this the very fact that you have to “Buy” a bible is pretty disturbing.

My big argument has been “But a worker is worth his wages” and “But you have to cover your expenses” The worker is worth his wages that’s why I go back to What’s your heart saying? Why are you writing the book? I’m not going to try and find a formula to determine when someone has made too much or too little, when it’s good and when it’s bad that’s between them and God. But I am very very concerned when I see a ministry that someone desperately needs yet they can’t afford it. Here is a great example of what I’m talking about. (Please don’t think I’m knocking this ministry I think it’s doing a wonderful thing.) Have you ever noticed that nearly every time you go to a Christian Concert anymore “World Vision” is a sponsor. The artist takes some time out of his or her show to chat about what World Vision is doing and to encourage you to sponsor a child. Did you know that World Vision gives (I can’t remember how much) the Artist money according to the number of Children sponsored (Which is better than just paying the artist a blanket fee for sponsorship. It encourages them to push it harder.) Please hear me I’m not knocking specific Artists some need that sponsorship to survive as an artist. When an Artist is doing well and they know the tour is paid for along with a nice little profit. Aren’t they themselves taking money from the starving kids? God tells us to Love our neighbor as we love ourselves and to lay down our lives for a brother. If you were starving would you want someone to say I raised 1,000 to help you but I’m going to keep 100 of it for myself. If you were dieing would you want someone to say I have the cure but need to make a living so I’ll sell it to you. You can’t afford it I’m so sorry. Christ spoke to over 5,000 people in I assume all states of wealth then proceeded to feed them all for free. Whoops never mind I’m wrong he paid WITH HIS LIFE!

Until recently I’ve never even thought about this it’s the way the economy works. I’ll lay odds most haven’t. We wonder why we don’t see the Spirit work as much today. I wonder how much we would see him work if we said “God gave this for me to share freely I’ll trust him to provide.”

Ok, I spoke more than planned. That tangent thing kicks in and I forget how to shut up. Anyway, I want to hear your thoughts on the subject. How do we adjust even if we aren’t acting as a “Money Changer”? Here’s one thing I do. I finish reading a book I give it away. What are some of your idea’s. This goes far beyond selling “Freely give” what has God given you? How can you give of those blessings?

God bless all, Hope you have a wonderful week turned “Upsidedown”!

On your Knees! please?

2010-03-08T17:25:00.001-06:00

One of the biggest breakthroughs I’ve ever had when it comes to studying the bible is the day I realized that the Old Testament points to the New. It doesn’t just talk about what’s going to happen in the New but the Very lives of his people told the story of what God was planning in Christ. His people the Jewish nation is meant to symbolize “US” Christ followers. Moses is symbolic of God, Aaron is symbolic of Christ. Once we understand this our eyes and hearts become open to understanding the Old Testament. With that in mind lets look at Exodus.

The Jewish nation grows so numerous that Pharaoh begins to fear them so he decides to enslave them so they wont have the chance to realize their power. He then puts them to work (forced labor). He beats them and overworks them so they fear him for one, and two are too tired to make babies. They do fear him but make lots of babies. Pharaoh fears their numbers even more so he has said babies killed.

TRANSLATION: Satan saw Adam and Eve and knew that they and their children would join with God and have power over him now he will not even have control of the lower regions. So he enslaved them and got them so busy focusing on their sin and their work that they had no time to focus on God himself and develop any kind of relationship with him. The more kids they had the more he caused them to focus on their own shortcomings and the work they had to do as a result of said shortcomings. Man still populated the earth and Satan still feared them so he sought to kill them (Spiritually by forcing them to focus on themselves rather than God)

Fast forward about 300 years Moses and Aaron come confront Pharaoh and free the slaves. They leave Egypt and wonder the wilderness for 40 years. Each time they encounter a problem or hardship they begin to desire a return to Egypt.

TRANSLATION: God and Jesus confront Satan and set us free from our bonds of Sin. Now as we spend/live our days we are constantly fighting the tug of returning to slavery because we fear the unknown in our current journey. God led them in a cloud by day and fire by night. We have the Holy Spirit. Now for today’s purposes lets stop right there.

The wilderness is the moment I want to focus on because that is where we are right now. We have been set free through Christ and are now Journeying to the Promised Land, Heaven Bound Baby! What happened while they were in the wilderness? They encountered a lack of water, no food, snakes, Pharaoh chasing them all sorts of nasty situations where they were forced to depend on God. Despite the clear leading of the spirit they always turned away and Moses constantly had to turn them back. They would have turned back to slavery if they could have. They longed for the safety of the Whip and chain. Even though they knew it meant certain destruction and total loss of freedom. In the desert they had total freedom and complete protection all they had to do was follow a fiery cloud.

Today as I look around this is exactly what I’m seeing and my heart hurts. I see brothers and sisters that have experienced the freedom and protection of Christ giving in to slavery because it’s easier it’s what they know. They’ve been set free but are putting the cuffs back on themselves. I see them living active sexual lives, giving into homosexuality, chasing after the dollar, positions of influence, liars, cheaters, drunkards, druggies. Most of them fought these temptations for years then just grew tired and gave in. Their brothers and sisters (Myself included here) were too busy fending for themselves to realize anyone else was struggling. We put on such an heir of righteousness or such a busy attitude that no one felt safe going to anyone else for help or support. Remember when Moses went onto MT Sinai and God gave him the 10 Commandments. He was gone for so long that Israel turned to Aaron and said “make us an Idle” They needed Moses to point them to God That cloud by day and fire at night wasn’t enough. Once they were set free Moses symbol was that of prophet (God spoke to him and he spoke to us) He was in Mt Sinai and Israel fell apart. After Christ died his Apostles stepped into that position pointing his family to God. Now I don’t have it altogether. I don’t have the answer to this question but who is pointing us to God now? Who has God called to stand in the place of the Apostles? You could say no one that’s why he gave us the Holy Spirit. They had that in the Desert and still needed Moses. They had the Holy Spirit after Christ but still needed the Apostles. God uses his people to point to him. He appointed Apostles, prophets, teachers… (1 Cor 12:28, Eph 4:11) Where today are those he has called to point us to him? We are Israel without a Judge! You may think I’m painting a pretty bleak picture here, you may think I’m being a little extreme but I ask. Where is his light? And the light shines in the darkness but the darkness does not comprehend it John 1:1. Yes that is out of context. But is it really? We know the light is Christ but we sure aren’t acting like we understand him. If we do we sure aren’t acting like we trust him. Who is going to take the mantle

My friends, as I said earlier my heart is breaking for these brothers and sisters that have given in and offered themselves back into slavery. And for those ready to turn back that don’t think they have the strength to fight anymore. (Lets not bring permanent salvation into this. That’s not what I’m talking about here.) This post today offers up no answers, no solutions just questions. I do offer an assignment though and that’s PRAY! First pray for forgiveness: That God forgive our casual attitude toward him, our unwillingness to trust him in ALL things. Second: Pray that he will give us those that point us to him. Those that live without compromise, that fearlessly call us to account. Lets not just pray for revival lets pray that we grow hearts sold out 110% dedicated to him, No compromise. So we can show the others that it is possible. That our God is indeed the 1 true God. Come on Gang lets spend this week on our knees. God has already given the call evidently those called are afraid of the call. Ask God to raise them up to cancel all fear. Ask God “Am I one that you are calling?” No it’s not presumptuous, it’s a question. Before you ask it make sure you’re willing to live with the answer. It may just turn your life Upsidedown.

Love you Gang!

Why do it?

2010-03-01T10:53:00.001-06:00

I sit here tonight in a state of ??? I really don’t know what to call it. Hundreds of separate thoughts running through my mind but unable to lock in on anything. So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to give you a peek into my brain. Brace yourself, I have no idea what you are going to see, it may be ugly, it may be quite disturbing. If you understand it I would seek medical attn immediately as you don’t process like a normal individual.

This morning as I was sitting in church John 15: 12,13 once again popped into my brain. It wasn’t the pastors topic but what he was saying brought me back to this verse. “Love as I have loved you. No greater love has man than this that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do as I command you.” Now I’ve said a few times that this means we are called to love greater than we love ourselves. Today I began to seriously ask “What does it mean to lay down our lives for our friends?” Well it means when a friend is in need we should set aside our own desires and our own self interest in exchange for theirs. This means a friend loses his or her job and can’t pay rent. We have money set aside to buy a new TV. We forget the TV and pay our friends rent. A brother breaks his leg and doesn’t have insurance because he just lost his job. We are strapped for cash but know we need to help our brother so we sell our _____ to help him out. Our sisters car breaks down she has no way to get to work so we set our alarm to get up one hr earlier everyday until she can get her car fixed and give her a ride even if she works on the other side of town. I think this is also what Paul is saying in Romans 12:1 when he says “… present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service (Other versions say spiritual act of worship) He goes on to talk about transforming our minds and seems to spend the rest of the book talking about “How to live the Christian Life” Last week I asked the question “How do we exhort daily? How do we develop a community with the lifestyle of confession and exhortation? We had one person respond (I loved her response) Basically she said “This is what we should do but will we? (I am paraphrasing pretty big) We are too concerned with looking good to others and it’s too easy to run to the church next door if we are held accountable. We should strive for this but is it really possible in today’s church?” She is absolutely right. I see few signs that it is possible in today’s church. This morning I’m thinking “This is how we get there.” By living as Christ said. If we sacrifice of ourselves for our brothers and sisters our community would become so tight knit that we wouldn’t run away when confronted. How beautiful! The problem is… That’s a pretty big IF most of us aren’t even willing to give up our daily coffee to help a friend let alone really sacrifice. I know I’ve not answered my phone because I knew the caller was going to ask me to help with something. How pitiful is that? Who cares if he has needed support every Tuesday for the last month and I’m tired of missing American Idol. What’s more important a brother or a talent competition? Now please don’t think that I’m trying to lay a guilt trip on anyone or that I’m sitting here down on myself for not being perfect. A guilt trip doesn’t work when we are all guilty of the same thing. WE ARE ALL SELFISH HUMAN BEINGS!! That’s a natural result of the fall. Eve eating that piece of fruit and Adam following suit. I can’t sit here and guilt anyone into action. Best case scenario would be a few of us say we will live this way. We dig in our feet and are really good at it for a month maybe two then we grow tired and move back to the way we were before. How many times have any of us heard a sermon and said “AMEN! I will begin living this way.” Then go to work on Monday and forget what was said on Sunday.

This is where I am. God reveals these incredible things to his people but we only half accept them or we sit back and say “That’s a perfect world scenario the church today is not perfect so it wont work” We are living in defeat and we haven’t even tried. We are settling for far less than God intended for us and there is nothing I can say or do to change that. There is nothing you can say or do either. But this isn’t what God wants. God is the most powerful being in this universe. God controls all/Created all. Nothing happens that he doesn’t allow. If he doesn’t want us to live like this than why does it seem impossible for us to do anything about it? Put simply it’s because we are believing a lie. A terrible idiotic lie from the scum of the earth. This scum can do nothing without Gods approval and we are sitting down here believing its lie. How do we defeat this liar? How do we get around our “Can’t” attitude and begin doing? How do we learn to set aside our own selfish desires and begin living sacrificially for each other? How do learn to ”Confess” confidently? How do we learn to “Exhort” each other daily? How do we finally break through and live the life that God has for us? How? How? HOW?

John 14:15-18 If you love me keep my commandments and I will pray the father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. The spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans I will come to you.

John 14: 26 …The helper, the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name, he will teach you all things…

John 16: 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you; but if I depart I will send him to you.

We’ve been believing lies but “The Helper” is the spirit of truth. God has given us a helper. The Holy Spirit living in us. This makes it possible for us to recognize lies and move onto the truth. “But Larry, if we have the spirit living in us we should be recognizing it already.” Yep, we should. Here is what I would like to propose the problem is. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 “Do not quench the spirit” I think, (This is me, my opinion take it or leave it.) We have become so adept at quenching the spirit we don’t even recognize when he speaks anymore. Do you remember getting those tuggings that said “Go and talk to that guy you just passed?” or “I should turn off the tv and study my bible” how about “Call so and so and see how they are doing” to which we respond “As soon as the show is over” “I feel weird going up to a total stranger” “If I call them and everything is ok I’ll feel stupid” Our selfishness quenches those little tuggings. Then we grow confused at why “The Spirit” doesn’t listen to us when we ask him to heal a friend. Or provide a job for our brother. We’ve grown quite talented at calling on the Spirit according to our own terms not his. (This thinking seems kinda upside down yet we all do it) We are so good at quenching the helper God sent that we don’t recognize him anymore. So what do we do about it? How do we learn to recognize him and stop quenching him? Again my opinion take it or leave it but this is what I plan on doing. Go to God and repent. Tell God that you are sorry for ignoring him/ His Spirit. Then ask him to help you recognize his voice and tugging once again. Then whenever you hear or feel what you think may be the Holy Spirit. Stop and listen. 1 Thessalonians 5 after he says don’t quench he says to test the spirits. So ask, Holy Spirit is this you? Test it? Is it asking you to do something contrary to scripture? No! Then Do it? He hasn’t gotten tired of us ignoring him, packed up and gone. He is still in us. Ask him every day to give us a fresh filling. Ask him to give us the strength to follow his tugging. I think we may be a little more than surprised at how much we hear and how much our lives are changed. We may even begin to experience the Community God desires for us. That’s my thought what about you? Do you have any idea’s? I’d love to hear them.

As always lets live this week “Upside Down!”

Is my business your business?

2010-02-22T13:09:00.002-06:00

Howdy Gang, Hope you’re all having a great Monday. I had a couple of great responses to last weeks blog. If you don’t go to the actual blog site to read this I encourage you to so you can see the responses that came in to the question. “Do we put too much weight on the New Testament and not enough on the Old?” As for this week I believe it will be another quick post followed with a question. The theme for the week is “Community”

A favorite verse of mine for years has come from the book of John chap 17 Verses 20 – 23

²⁰ “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will^[a] believe in Me through their word; ²¹ that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. ²² And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: ²³ I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

I’ve mentioned this verse one or twice before. It’s clear that this was an important theme to Christ and the reason is clear “May they be one so the world will KNOW you sent me” Unity in the body of Christ “THE CHURCH” is necessary for the world to come to salvation through Christ. While Christ was alive he continually told his disciples how to be one. What I heard him say most was “The first shall be last” he also gave a new command to “Love as he has loved” which is to love one another greater than we love ourselves. Then he dies, Pentecost happens and the church of Acts is born. We see Christ prayer in John 17 become fulfilled. Now we begin to see writings telling us how to maintain the “Body” and grow closer to Christ. James 5: 16 tells us to “confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed” Hebrews 3: 13 says that we should “Exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Paul is warning us to Exhort each other daily

Exhort: 1. To urge, advise, or caution earnestly; Admonish Urgently. 2. To give urgent advice, recommendations, or Warnings.

We are to Urge, advise, caution, recommend and warn each other daily. We are to get into each others business. Remember James said we are to Confess too and pray for each other as well. How can we exhort one another if we don’t confess to one another? This is just my assumption but I believe he said to do it “DAILY” so sin doesn’t have a chance to set in our hearts and get comfortable. We are to observe our friends and family as well so we can warn them if we see signs of a stumbling block. The thing that stands out to me is the word “DAILY” in the world we live in today I find daily to be a pretty hard if not seemingly impossible task. Yet if it were impossible Paul wouldn’t have said to do it. So here is my question for The Gang.

How do we get to a point that we can “EXHORT” one another daily? Or is it not an important part of a developing community?

You can either reply to me directly or go to www.liveupsidedown.blogspot.com to reply. I will post your response there if you chose to reply to me directly. But I do encourage you to go to the blog and check the feedback.

Thanks Gang have a great week and as always lets live it “UPSIDE DOWN!”

1 ? 4 U

2010-02-15T18:05:00.000-06:00

Hey Gang, Guess what! This will be a quick one to read today. Actually I have no big revelation to share, no mini-sermon or any of that. (and the crowd erupts) Instead today I am going to give you two verses state a small observation then ask you a question. Please feel free to respond.

2 Timothy 3:14 – 17 ¹⁴ But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, ¹⁵ and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶ All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Galations 1:6- 10 ⁶ I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, ⁷ which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
¹⁰ For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

There ya have the verses. Now Paul is speaking in both instances. The first saying ALL SCRIPTURE. Obviously 2 Timothy is not scripture according to Paul because it is the letter he is currently writing. In Galations Paul says “If any Angel or Man preach any other Gospel” In which he is simply saying preach any other message than that of salvation through Christ. (Which they proved through the “Scriptures”) Whenever they talk about “Scripture” in the new testament they clearly are not talking about the “New Testament” because it is in the process of being written by them. They don’t consider their writing “Holy Writings” They simply consider them letters. With that in mind paying special attention to the 2 Timothy passage verses 16 & 17 here is my question.

Do we put too much weight on the New Testament and not enough in the Old? (Especially the part known as the Torah, Genesis through Deuteronomy)

Note: this has nothing to do with living according to the Law. It has everything to do with getting our understanding of Salvation and embracing the gift given to us.

Give me your thoughts and of course as always Have a great week and lets Live it “UPSIDE DOWN!

Catch and Release

2010-02-09T12:14:00.000-06:00

Howdy howdy Gang, It’s a new week and therefore time for a new post. (One day late cause I had unexpected work yesterday. Yea God!) During my reading the last couple of weeks I have begun to notice a steady theme. This of course means God is wanting to show me something. Since he decided to show me, you my friends get to hear it as well. This is one you may read and go “I already knew that” but it’s good enough that it bears repeating. I can say I already knew it “But did I really” I don’t think so. It seems like common sense, but for me those are the things I tend to overlook. So here we go… Col 3:8-10, 12-14, Eph 4: 21-24, 1 Thess 5:8. I’ll let you look these up cause I’m lazy and don’t want to type it all out ;-.) There is also Eph 6:10-18 this is probably the most well known verse of the bunch talking about putting on the Armor of God. Go ahead take a minute to look up each of these verses I’ll wait for you…

Alright now that you’re done did you see the theme? “Put off” “Put on” I’m about to begin using the word “We” quite a bit know that whenever I’m using it I’m really saying “Me” or “I” but I feel better about myself when I’m not the only one so I’m hoping at least one of you can identify with me. We live in a “Fast Food society” we want everything right now and we want it to be easy (You’ve heard this before) With this mindset as we read scripture we tend to look for the things that sound like the Christian Life should be a piece of cake. “Dead to self” “Alive in Christ” these are the types of verses we tend to hold onto. If when I accepted Christ I died to self then I should instantly be a new creation. I should wake up and no longer struggle with the temptations of life. If Christ is “Living in me” then temptation should be a thing of the past. I’ve heard this preached time and time again. Every time I read this in the bible I struggle with it cause I know I still struggle with this thing called sin otherwise known as “SELFISHNESS” If we’re not careful we may begin to even question our salvation. I’m still struggling with sin did I truly invite Christ into my life? Thankfully there are also people like Paul that make statements such as “Why is it the things I want to do those I do not do and the things I don’t want those are the very things I do” I would like to suggest that we at some point take the time to truly dive into all these verses that seem to make it look like we instantly transform into a new being and see what they are really talking about because evidently we (or as I said earlier “I”) obviously aren’t reading them correctly. The rest of scripture is loaded with very active and continual statements. The verses I gave you earlier all talk about “Putting off the things of this world” and “Putting on the things of Christ” “ACTIVE STATEMENTS” We are to daily put off “Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language” SELFISHNESS. We are to daily put on “tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, and most of all LOVE, we are to bear with one another, forgiving one another. Col 3: 15-16 says we are to let the piece of God rule in us LET IT RULE IN US, Let the word of Christ dwell in us LET IT DWELL IN US. These are ACTIVE statements. 1 Thess 5:19 says “Do not Quench the sprit. DON’T DO IT we have a choice. Phil 4:8-10 tells us to MEDITATE on things that are noble, whatever is just, pure, lovely, what’s of good report, what’s of virtue, praiseworthy. 2 Tim 2:22 says to FLEE youthful lusts, and PURSUE righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart PURSUE and NOT ALONE, but with others that are pursuing also.

Friends, I’ve loaded you with verses today but these are just a few of the verses that talk about the ACTIVE LIFESTYLE of living with Christ. We are to daily throw off evil and to daily PURSUE the things of Christ. This wont be accomplished through simply wishing for it. It wont be accomplished by just reading the bible and hoping it takes hold. We are to pursue what it says. 2 cor 10: 5 tells us to “take every thought captive” The Christian is not called to be passive by any stretch of the imagination especially when it comes to living a pure life. We throw away evil thoughts and we meditate on Christ thoughts. I remember one day on this trip I was on my bike and a thought came to mind (I really can’t remember what it was) that was not of God and I got mad. I was tired of this temptation it kept hanging around. So this time I yelled at it. I said something along the lines of “The Holy Sprit lives in me you don’t belong here. GET OUT! And it disappeared. It was gone, I’m ashamed to admit I had never done this before so I had never experienced it. THE THOUGHT JUST DISAPPEARED. It was so strange I remember trying to recall what the thought was but I couldn’t. This was so foreign to me that it bothered me how I couldn’t remember it. Then I heard the spirit in me say “Larry you just told it to leave don’t invite it back. So I stopped trying to recall it. VICTORY! The living word of God is active sharper than any double edged sword. (Hebrews 4:12) We assume living word means it speaks to us in all situations. We can read a verse multiple times and get a new revelation every time. This is true, But maybe it also means when we put it into action IT WORKS. Have you ever noticed how we dwell on the bad and dismiss the good. A friend does something nice and we thank him/her and move on. If it’s a really really nice thing we may think about it off and on for few weeks. But when a friend wrongs us even in a small way we can’t get it out of our minds. We struggle with it for months. If it’s really bad we may not be able to let it go for years if ever. It’s time to reverse the trend. Take every thought captive. Rather than being a slave to pain, hurt, anger, lets take those thoughts captive bind them in the spirit and cast them out. When good is done lets take those thoughts captive bind them up and tie them onto our soul. It’s not a theory it’s an action. We don’t have to be slave to these things. Ever since my first experience I’ve tried to follow this model on the casting out. I can honestly say that every time I’ve recognized the thought right away with the help of the spirit living in me I’ve been able to cast it out. Sometimes I have to stay on it. I’ll tell it to leave and it will soften so I’ll have to repeat it and repeat it and repeat it until it’s gone but it does leave. If I don’t take it captive right away that’s when I really struggle. Think about Christ when he healed others. Sometimes they would get right up others he would have to pray the healing multiple times. They were slaves to their infirmity our sin is our infirmity lets stay on it till it’s gone. I wish I could also tell you I’ve practiced the holding onto good thoughts and been successful but I can’t. Honestly I hadn’t even thought of that side of it until just now as I’m writing this post. But I will practice it. I am going to each day from here on meditate on the good. What has God done for me? What have others done for me? What has God done for others? When I recognize a good my challenge to me and you is to grab it and meditate on it daily. Say “You are a good thought, you are from God. I have his spirit living in me and you belong here with it. In the name of Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit living in me I command you to STAY!

How about it Gang? What do you say? Lets live each day taking each and every thought captive throwing out the bad and keeping the good. I know it sounds like a lot of work and it is. But after awhile it will become second nature. Learning to walk wasn’t easy either but we did that.

That’s my two cents worth for the week. A new assignment for the week will come out on Thursday remember to check it out on FB or Twitter. Have a great week and as always lets live it “UPISDE DOWN!!!

Why?

2010-02-01T16:15:00.000-06:00

So, here I am sitting here thinking about what to write today. It’s Monday I said I would post every Monday. I’m going over all the conversations I’ve had this week, the revelations I’ve had and today nothing is sticking. To the most part the things I’ve seen and learned this week are for me. Nothing that God is saying “I want you to share.” As I ask him what he wants me to write the thing that keeps coming to mind is “Love” continue to share my love. Then I’m brought to my experience at lunch. Two lady’s sitting behind me were discussing their mother who is in the hospital on a respirator. They knew that very soon they would be getting a call from the hospital asking them to make a decision. In the midst of the conversation I began remembering when a friend of mine was the one laying in ICU and her family was asked to make that decision. I remembered how tough it was for everyone involved. I remember praying that God would heal her and realizing just how selfish of a prayer it was. She was about to meet her creator and move into a life of everlasting perfection leaving behind the pains of this world and we were asking him to stop that from happening. I began thinking about the different people I’ve known that’s been upset at God for taking a loved one. If we stop to think about it those leaving us behind are in a much better place than us so why are we so upset at their passing? Then I began to think about different people I’ve tried to help out over the last few years. The closer I got to them the more I knew they were hurting the more I knew they were hurting the more I began to hurt. The less I could do the more upset I grew. I found myself at times curled up in a corner bawling like a little freakin baby. I began yelling at God. But each time I began yelling at him in the middle of my temper tantrum he would insert a verse that simply said “I love you”. That made even more mad. Don’t tell me you love me when I’m yelling at you I can’t stay mad when you do that. I reached a point for a time where I was tired of helping people. I saw some taking advantage of my generosity and resented it. But even more so I grew tired of hurting and the more I invested in others the more I hurt. I asked God why? Part of me wanted to turn back I wanted to ask God to take away the pain I was feeling and return me to a time of ignorance of the struggles around me. Yet at the same time I didn’t want to be ignorant again I just didn’t want any more pain either. So I stepped back. I remember a friend after watching a certain movie suggested we experiment with saying yes to helping whenever a need was presented to us. Lets do it for a month she said. My instant reply was “You can if you want to but I’m not in. I can’t do it anymore. Some take joy in helping for me it’s become too draining.” Here I am at lunch thinking about all this and it hits me. If we struggle so much with death when we know we will see them again how much does God struggle with death when he knows he will never see them again. What we feel when a loved one dies is what God feels daily for those who die without accepting the life he has to offer. The times I’ve been so frustrated with God that I’ve yelled at him and he gave me a verse that said “I love you” Now I realize God created me in his image. Now I picture him as I’m yelling at him shaking his head and saying “Larry don’t you understand I’m allowing you to feel a very small sampling of what I go through everyday. You Larry reached a point that you couldn’t take it anymore and you backed off. I love you so much that I will NEVER back off. The image that God gave me a week or so ago was Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22: 39-46) Jesus was so distraught that God sent an Angel to strengthen him despite that he was still so distraught that he began sweating drops of blood begging his father “If it is possible take this cup from me.” Jesus is on his hands and knees begging his father please can we find another way. God says no this is what must be done. It’s the only way to bring life. Now how many of you can imagine your kid in the place of Christ? How many of you after a neighbor has shown no love for you are willing to send your kid out to shovel their sidewalk? God sent his to die and continued with the plan despite his kids sweating blood.

Guess what my friends. Nothing has changed in the kingdom of heaven. God still loves each and everyone of us so much that he was willing to send his son to die for us. If you have accepted that gift of salvation you are now A CHILD OF GOD! He is sending you out to the world to model his love. Thankfully he isn’t calling most of us to die but he is asking us to be willing to. “Love your neighbor as yourself” “Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you”

I can’t begin to comprehend just how much God truly loves me but I do know this. When I am struggling with the trials of a friend God is too. When I’m concerned about the salvation of a friend God is too. Maybe just maybe God is allowing me to feel the way I feel so I can begin to have a small understanding of what he must be going through. When I’m struggling for one God is struggling for one million. On the plus side when I’m rejoicing over one. God is rejoicing over one million (hopefully that many) So next time we get all bent out of joint and want to yell at God lets take a second to remembered he is going through the same thing. Then turn our anger toward the one that really deserves it. It’s about time Satan begins to get the lip service he deserves.

Just in case you were wondering. I did have a chance to pray with those women at lunch today and they will be seeing their mother again one day. Praise God!

(FYI: It’s time to begin showing Gods love once again so we are going to resume the weekly encouragement assignments. I am not going to use this blog for that because I want to respect your inbox. If you want to receive those assignments you can either follow the Upside Down Group via twitter or become a fan on Facebook. If you are already friends with me “Larry Rife” on face book that will work as well.)

Have a great week gang and as always lets live it “UPSIDE DOWN”

"Grace" Enough Said!

2010-01-25T10:42:00.001-06:00

Howdy howdy everyone it’s a new week and I pray this note finds each of you looking forward to the challenges the week presents. Last week I spoke with you about one of the main lessons I feel God has been showing me since leaving on this journey. This week I want to continue by talking about lesson #2. Granted he has shown and taught me so much more but these are the biggies. The continuing theme you might say. Last week was Gods Love I began with that one for two reasons. 1. It’s the first thing he showed me. 2. It’s the basis for everything. God is Love and without love nothing else would be possible. What I want to chat about today is Grace. We all know the word. If you’ve been around the church for any amount of time you know the word is tossed around about as much as any other word. But do we truly recognize the power and meaning of this word? I think we might have an idea of its power when it comes to God extending Grace to us. The more we struggle with sin the more we seem to understand grace. Christ even talks about this in Luke 7: 41-43 (I’ll let you look this one up) but this is not the angle of Grace I want to talk about today. Today I want to talk about the power of us extending Grace to others or maybe even more so the “Literal Destruction” that happens when we don’t live a lifestyle that exemplifies Grace. I doubt anyone would argue that God calls us to extend Grace to others he makes it clear that this is what he expects. Matthew 18:21-34 is the parable of the unforgiving servant. The master forgave the servant of a massive debt yet the servant refused to forgive another for a small debt. The whole thing ends with a stern warning in verse 35 “So my heavenly father also will do to you if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses” Also read Eph 4:31-32 and Col 3:13. It’s clear we are called to forgive as Christ forgave us not begrudgingly. Actually the statement currently stuck in my brain is “If God the creator of this universe, our creator is willing to forgive anyone at anytime for the sin they have committed what gives me the right to even consider holding onto a grudge.”

Now please forgive me for the rest of this. My head is full of 101 things to say and examples to give so I fear the message may get muddled. I’m trying my best to set it clear as I do believe that this is at least for me the most important message God has ever shown me. Certainly the most powerful. In my observation of life and “the church” It seems that not only do we struggle to forgive others of wrongs they have done to us but we also seem to struggle with forgiving people of sins period. We look at people stuck in a lifestyle and set it in our minds that they are beneath us. I’m not going to say we do it on purpose sometimes it’s a lie that is whispered in our ear and we don’t remove it quickly so it begins to sink in. (Please note: I am saying WE so please do not think I am claiming to have it all together. Quite the opposite actually.) I began to process this the first page of the first chapter of the book “What’s so Amazing about Grace”. We see a prostitute confessing that she is so strung out and controlled by her addictions that she has prostituted her daughter two years of age to support her drug habit. She is asked if she’s ever gone to the church for help and her reply haunted me. “I already feel bad enough about myself. Why would I go to the church?” Ouch! Here is Yancey’s next quote “What struck me about my friends story is that women much like the prostitute fled toward Jesus, Not away from him. The worse a person felt about herself the more likely she saw Jesus as a refuge. Has the church lost that gift? Evidently the down and out, who flocked to Jesus when he lived on earth, no longer feel welcome among his followers.” Again OUCH! I read that and it was as if someone had punched me in the gut. I knew that statement was true. But then I went on to think about those in the church. Surely we treat them with love, respect and grace. Or do we? Let me ask you a question. If you stumble, lets say you’re single you go out on a Friday night drink too much and find yourself in the middle of a one night stand. Do you tell anyone from your church or do you hide it? You’re married and have an affair. Do you keep it hidden? You’re an alcoholic and fall off the wagon. Do you feel free to talk about it? Do you share your struggles with pornography? You struggle with Jealousy? “Larry just because we’re slow to talk about our mistakes doesn’t mean the church won’t accept us.” You may be right, but the fact of the matter is. We have all heard or participated in gossip about others. “If they chat about them what will they say about me?” Gossip is not showing Grace. We are quick to confront but slow to offer help. I’ve known people caught in sin struggling to get out and because it was an “A” level sin their friends turned their backs on them. The church cut them out of the ministry they were involved in without offering a plan for reengagement or offering help in the process of reconciliation. Now I’m not saying we are broken. I’m not saying we don’t do some things right. Some people are pretty good at this thing we call Grace. I am saying that we need to err on the side of love whenever possible. Our check to see if we are getting closer to Grace is “Do others feel safe confiding in me?” When is the last time someone came to you in confidence? If it’s been awhile ask yourself why. Are you too busy to listen? Have you participated in Gossip? How do you respond to those that “Don’t fit in”?

Please don’t just read this and say “It doesn’t pertain to me” or “I’ll get to this later on” it is important that we recognize the area’s in our life that we don’t model Grace and learn to make the adjustments, that we go to God and begin asking him to give us his eyes so we can view others not through our tainted glasses but through Gods perfect eyes. This is literally a matter of life and death for many. How many suicides happen because “I’m to ashamed to face anyone”, How many leave the church and turn from God because “I can’t measure up to the standards” I know this may be hard to believe but I am a stubborn person. I may plan on apologizing to someone because I know it’s the right thing but then I’m told by another “You need to apologize” Suddenly I don’t want to apologize. But if in love I’m asked “Have you thought about telling so and so you’re sorry?” It’s not so offensive and I do it. How many others are holding onto anger or unwilling to repent because of our lack of Grace? I heard a stat the other day that just blew me away. I had already been processing the dangers of un-grace when I heard this and went yep if this doesn’t drive the point home nothing will. Did you know that eighty percent of those getting abortions today claim to be “Church Goers”? Now I realize this doesn’t mean they all claim to be Christians or that all of them have a great understanding of scripture but it does mean that 80% have the option of talking to more than just Planned Parenthood. I know that shame is not the only reason for abortion. But if eighty percent attend church then I think it’s safe to assume the majority are getting an abortion because they don’t want anyone to know they had gotten pregnant. But lets assume I’m wrong for a moment. Forget all about the reason for an abortion. How many women have come to you and admitted they had an abortion? How many men have confessed urging their girlfriend to get one? If eighty percent attend church odds are you are friends with someone that has. We know God still loves them. Hopefully they know God still loves them. Can they go to you and know you will still love them?

Here’s the thing. I can continue to come up with example after example of why we need to show Grace and where we need to show Grace and how we can show Grace. After I’ve given all the examples I can think of you could chime in with just as many that I hadn’t thought of. Yes there are many examples and studies that show some will never go public with their faults no matter how open and loving we are. Others will always look for reasons to fault us as “The Church” But that shouldn’t stop us from doing everything possible to model Grace. Once upon a time those struggling with life came to Christ we are his church, his family, his representatives, we need to do what we can to make them comfortable with us as well and trust the Spirit to fill in the blanks. Once we do the hospitals won’t be as busy, more will live longer lives, more will live happier lives, the church will be closer to unity, Christ will be lifted higher, and Heaven will be busier.

I know this is all easier said than done. I know many of you reading this need to experience Grace before you can share it. You need set free from the shame you are feeling. You can’t believe God can forgive you because you’ve never known what that feels like. Just like last week I’m going to ask you if you haven’t asked for Gods forgiveness and accepted Christ as your savior “ASK FOR IT NOW”. He’s sitting and waiting for you to do it. It may be hard for you to believe but there is a major party waiting to break out in heaven and you are the guest of honor. Now for everyone feeling the shame of unrepentant sin find someone to chat with. Take that step let it out so you can feel the release and experience Grace, God’s Grace! If you don’t have anyone you can trust tell me. Please! If you’re not comfortable then for the time being set up a new e-mail that allows you to be anonymous and tell me. PLEASE! I want you to experience freedom in Christ. I want you to experience the freedom that God has given all of us.

I know I’ve pretty much wrapped this up but I feel the need to clarify a little of what I’ve said. Possibly a bit from a paranoia stand point. I am spelling out an incredible need for Grace I’m not saying everyone reading this is a judgmental bigot. Lets assume you are a “Grace Giver” No one since the days of Christ is as filled with grace as you. All I’m saying is you still have two area’s to be aware of. 1. Until we can match the Grace of Christ we still have a ways to go. (He offered Grace before we ever asked for it. Romans 5:8) 2. Satan is working overtime to make sure others don’t see Gods Grace. We need to work overtime to be sure they know it’s available.

I love you guys. Have a great week and as always. Lets live it “UPSIDE DOWN”

What I've learned after 3.5 months on the road.

2010-01-19T14:22:00.001-06:00

I have now been on the road for 3.5 months and man has it been an incredible trip. I have been able to experience so much of this country I mean really experience it. When you are on a vacation with a timeline it’s hard to really experience what you are seeing. Yes you can be in the moment yes you can enjoy it but you know you have a limited time so you can’t always soak in it. God has allowed me to soak in his creation. To hike and take my time doing it, to camp, meet and chat with others from the area, Watch the wildlife, get the feel of the region (Are the people happy or sad, rushed or casual, spiritual or not, what do they embrace belief wise? Why? What is important to them? It has been a great time. I thank God for giving it to me. I have traveled in the West, Midwest, South and Southwest. While I took off on this journey so I could get alone with God and hear from him about certain aspects of my life and future to experience him and get to know him better I think God had a different purpose in sending me. Yes I am getting some of the answers I was looking for but I’m getting them through God revealing his purpose of the trip. I gotta be honest I haven’t even said it yet but as I’m typing my eyes are beginning to fill with this strange moist discharge and I have a lump growing in my throat at the thought of what I’m about to say. I thoroughly believe that God has sent me on this trip for no other reason than to show me how much he truly LOVES ME! He knows me and knows how touched I would be through this experience. (Side note: I would not be saying this if an initial step of faith/trust in him had not been made) Never mind I misspoke slightly. I said “no other reason then to let me know he loves me.” He wanted to show me how much he loves all of us as well and how he is calling to us. You see I’ve noticed that in the area’s of this country that I personally have found the most beautiful the people living in those area’s aren’t as interested in God. Of course this is a general statement. there are Christ Followers everywhere. But you can’t argue that certain area’s of the country are more open to him than others. I have come to believe that in our search for God, fulfillment, contentment we are drawn to the area’s of creation that God expresses himself in a special way. You see he so loves us that he puts his stamp on creation and we are naturally drawn to him through that creation. Once we are able to embrace the beauty of his creation we are just a step away from recognizing the creator (Romans 1: 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead so they are without excuse) Unfortunately what seems to happen is we as people are drawn to his creation (Because it speaks of him) but we refuse to listen to him when he says “SEE how much I love you” We have bought a lie that says “No God could love me THAT much. I’m not worthy of it.” But the truth is HE DOES LOVE US THAT MUCH! He loves us so much that even when we do not embrace him he still gives us that gift to enjoy. But when we do embrace him he gives us so much more. He says “Larry I love you so much I want to give you a trip that will change your life. One on one time just you and I because I know that is what will speak to your soul and give you life abundantly” He loves you so much that he knows exactly what will spur you onto greatness. Not necessarily greatness in the worlds eyes but greatness all the same. He knows what will speak to your soul. He knows what will make you excited to wake up in the morning. He knows how you were created and what will make you operate the most efficiently. He wants to give you life, abundant life (John 10:10 The thief does not come except to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. Also read John 6: 53, 63 and 1 John 5:12) The thief kills and destroys by saying “You are not worthy of love, How could the creator of this world possibly love you” But God gave us Christ so we could recognize the lie. He so loved us that he died for us. He came to give us life and to give it abundantly.

Now if you are reading this odds are you’re are saying “I know this you’re preaching to the choir” But I need to push a little further and ask “DO YOU REALLY?” Ok, you’ve said a prayer and you know the verses. You have the head knowledge. But have you let the realization that God loves you soak deep down into your inner being? Does that love effect who you are? Let me put it another way. Most of us know what it’s like to be in love. We have experienced it to some degree. We missed them when they were gone. We have that tinge of excitement when going to see them after being separated for a time. We can’t imagine life without them. We are disappointed when we can’t see them. We are sad when we find they don’t quite trust us in a certain area. THIS IS HOW GOD FEELS ABOUT US!!! When you know someone feels this way about you don’t you listen to them a little closer? You trust them because you know they don’t want to hurt you. If they say “Trust me do this” You do! When it comes to God and he says “Trust me do this” How much do you hesitate? I’m going to step out on a limb here and say. “The more we hesitate the less we believe he loves us” It’s the only thing that makes sense. We know he is God. We know he is creator of the universe. We know he is in perfect control. So if we hesitate the only reason that makes sense in my mind is we don’t trust him and the only reason we wouldn’t trust him is because we don’t realize how much HE LOVES US. Take a minute to sit back and ask yourself “Do I truly realize just how much God loves me?” I don’t think any of us can ever fully embrace and understand those depths but we can understand more. After you’ve asked that turn to God and ask him to reveal to you just how much he loves you. He’ll do it I don’t know how. He speaks with each of us according to how he made us but he will. Ask again tomorrow and the next day and the next. Why not make it a part of our daily prayers “God reveal your love to me today”

Now, I don’t want to just assume that if you are reading this you already know Christ and have embraced and accepted the love he is offering to you. If you don’t know him but you want too simply go to him right now and ask him to come into your life. Just let God know that you now realize how much he loves you and that you accept his gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. Then ask him to reveal his love to you in a greater level. After you are done with that find someone that embraces life in Christ tell them what you did and ask them to help guide you through this thing called Christianity. If you don’t have anyone to go too ask me (Tell me either way I want to hear about it) I would be excited and honored to help point you toward a great relationship with our Creator, Savior, and Holy Spirit. GOD!!!

That was my two cents worth for the week. Next it’s lesson #2 from God to me. “GRACE” It’s just a word but the action behind it could quite possibly be the most powerful force in this universe.

As always Gang lets go out this week and live life “Upside Down!”

Love, Love, Love, Love. I love it.

2010-01-11T19:43:00.003-06:00

This one may be a bit harder than normal to follow. I hope not but as I read it I lose myself once or twice. Sorry about that but I couldn't quite figure out what adjustments needed made.

Hello Friends,

I hope this finds everyone having a great day and looking forward to an excellent week. A few weeks back I talked briefly about how each time we read through scripture we can pick up something new that we had never thought about before. We can have favorite books of the bible or even verses for years and then one day read it again and have a new revelation jump out at us. This once again is something that happened to me a few weeks back. I had one small revelation that has in many ways forced me to try and change how I relate to others. Or should I say it’s given me a new lens to view others through. At first you wont see what the big deal is but stick with me and I think you’ll begin to track. Some may disagree, actually this time I kinda expect that to happen. That’s fine, I just ask that you consider it then feel free to tell me your disagreement.

A few years ago while reading through the Gospels I noticed that Jesus spent his ministry saying “Love your neighbor as you love yourself. This is recorded many different times throughout the gospels. (Matt 22:39, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:27) Then I noticed at the end of his time here he stepped it up a bit. In John 13: 34 Jesus says “ A new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you. He repeats this in John 15: 12-13 and spells out how he has loved us. “This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends.” I always looked at these verses and thought. “God is stepping it up. It is no longer good enough to love our neighbor as we love our self. Now we have to love our neighbor greater than we love ourselves.” Here we go, brace yourselves, wait for it, wait for it… I was wrong. There I said it. I was wrong. I was wrong because I didn’t continue reading. I was also wrong because I didn’t pay attention to the words (That usually does help a little). Before we continue on to the next verses lets look at what Jesus said in these. Chapter 13: 34 “A new commandment I give to you” STOP RIGHT THERE! That’s what I overlooked. He said a NEW command. Not “a replacement command” Not “a change to an old command” “A NEW COMMAND” But Larry, this command obviously trumps the other after all by following this one the other is followed as well. If we don’t read any further you’re right. But since we have to take it as a whole lets ad verse 35 of Chap 13 “A new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” He is telling his disciples to love EACH OTHER this way. He isn’t saying love everyone this way. Lets move on to Chapt 15 and ad verse 14 to the mix. “This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this. Than to lay down his life for his friends YOU ARE MY FRIENDS IF YOU DO WHATEVER I COMMAND YOU.” Verse 14 qualifies “who” he is talking about “His Disciples”. In other words “his followers” or those of us that have accepted him as our Lord & Savior. He is calling us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ greater than we love ourselves. The rest we just love as we love ourselves. So Larry, why is this such a big deal? Why not just stick with “Love everyone greater than ourselves?” I’m not going to go so far as to say you can’t do that. But let me go ahead and tell you where this is exciting to me. First of all I’ll admit that I have a hard enough time loving as I love myself because I really like myself a lot. Growing up it was very natural for me to pursue the best for me. I suspect that’s the same for all of us. Now you really expect me to love others greater than me? Not likely, not very likely. It’s just not going to happen unless I have developed some sort of relationship with them. Say a “Brotherly relationship” Even then it’s not likely unless I have help (Thank you Holy Spirit!) So separating the groups into two categories makes it all a bit easier. But here is where it really excites me. When we love someone as we love ourselves we are getting their attention. Nobody else treats them that well why are we? This causes them to begin watching us. After watching for awhile they notice we are treating each other “even better”. After all we are treating each other better than ourselves. (Sound familiar? The church in Acts? Read how they lived one more time.) After watching this for awhile they come up to us and ask “How can I be a part of that?” Next thing you know we are welcoming a new brother into the family. Evangelism at its best! Now lets follow the process in reverse. How many of us have ever had a brother or sister that was stuck in sin? Never mind, stuck means trying too but can’t get out. How many of you have ever had to confront a brother for living in sin even though they knew it was wrong? Matt 18: 15-17 tells us what to do. We are to confront one on one, then two on one, then bring them to the church. If they still do not change we are to treat them like a heathen or a tax collector. If we are treating everyone the same and then told to treat them like a heathen or tax collector then we need to turn our backs on them. But with this realization Christ doesn’t tell us to turn our backs on them. He says to treat them as a heathen or a tax collector. Hmm, Christ healed many that didn’t believe in him, one of his disciples was a tax collector. This means we are to love our “Fallen Brother” as we love ourselves. We haven’t turned our backs on him. We can still love him just as much as we love ourselves but if he is used to living in community he is used to so much more and hopefully will desire to join once again. I like that answer to confrontation so much better than the alternative. I’ve tried the alternative and must be honest. It sucks for all involved.

Larry, lets assume you’re right. We don’t have a community that looks like this. You are absolutely correct. I have an incredible community, one I thank God for daily and we aren’t there yet either. But that is no excuse to not strive for it. The model is there and with a bit of work, focus, love, and the help of the Holy Spirit I believe we can get there. I believe we have the “love each other as we love ourselves” pretty good but that’s not enough. We will get there and you can too. I know you can. Why? Because God says so!

What do we do until then? Larry what about 1 Cor 5 how do you reconcile all this with that? I have my theories about the 1 Cor passage but can’t give any definite answers. (I just felt the need to put it here in an effort of full disclosure.) I don’t have all the answers (Shocking I know) But I can say this… (Actually I heard a pastor say it just this morning) When you don’t know how to respond. While you are trying to figure out “What do we do until then?” Whenever you are in doubt just remember. God is love so “ALWAYS LEAD WITH LOVE”

Alright gang it’s another week! Lets begin with love and as always live it “Upside Down!"

I was wro… wron… I was mistak.. mis… I didn’t have the whole picture.

2010-01-03T23:49:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year everyone! It’s not only a New Year but a new generation as well. With the introduction of each New Year we are invited to look at our lives decide what we do and don’t like about them then make the appropriate changes. My new years resolution is to continue with the path God placed me on during the past year. I can honestly say that I am about as happy right now as I have been in years. Not that the past few years have been bad but in 2009 God finally put me in a corner where I had to decide If I was going to continue trusting in me and what I know or will I lay it down and truly trust him. Not wanting to bore you with all the details lets just say I consulted with some great friends and knew I didn’t really have a choice. It hasn’t always been easy but God has come through in such a way that I can’t imagine ever turning back. But I’ve been here before, I’ve taken that step and God came through then in a big way as well but for some reason after a couple years I decided to take hold of the reigns again. I held on tighter than ever. I knew I wasn’t as happy yet I kept working my brain trying to figure it all out. I tried to start businesses that were not me. I did some things professionally that I questioned how excited God would be about it. I partnered with others that I new where not above board ethically. While doing these things I justified it all by saying that it was a means to an end. They kept me free for ministry. I could come and go as I wanted this way I could go to the church whenever needed to work where they needed me. If a friend or family member needed anything I could go and help. But what happened? Before long I wasn’t involved in any ministry at the church and didn’t have a desire too be. Even though I was making more money than I had in the past I was deeper in debt and because of who I did business with others were beginning to question my integrity. In a few years I went from someone who enjoyed the ministry, was trustworthy, enjoyed working with others and controlled his budget to just the opposite. Now don’t get me wrong I didn’t grow into some low life backstabbing, overspending, heathen. I still loved God. If you looked at how I spent my money I really wasn’t wasteful, and I would never wrong or mislead anyone. It was all much more subtle than that. Few would say I was doing anything wrong. Lets take it one step further. I went from someone that enjoyed helping others to one that still did it but grew to resent them for it. I would see friends helping others and come back smiling. I would help someone with a smile and leave with a frown. I found it draining instead of energizing. WHAT WENT WRONG?

I’ll tell ya what went wrong that’s the easy part. Somewhere along the way I began depending on myself instead of God. Professionally I knew where I wanted to be so I set out to get there. Financially I new where I wanted to be so I set out to get there. Ministry wise I new where I wanted to be so I set out to get there. I knew God and others expected me to be a servant so I tried to become the servant. What went wrong is easy. The real question is how did I get there? I’m gong to answer that question with a verse. Philippians 4: 6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. The next verses go on to talk about the things we should meditate on and if we do The God of peace will be with us. I knew where I wanted to go in my life career wise, financially and ministry wise. Since I knew I guess I didn’t even think about asking God. But this verse (and others) says “In EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication” It doesn’t say “In the things you doubt” or “only when afraid” it says in “EVERYTHING” I quite going to God because “This is something I can handle” By the time things came up that I couldn’t handle I was out of practice so to be quite honest I didn’t even think about going to him. I grew to resent helping others for the same reason. I was already doing things on my own so there was no focus on God in the process. If I’m not looking to God then I can’t see his heart. If I can’t see his heart I wont enjoy the sacrifice. I have a friend that is a Christian but tends to think we as Christians ask God about too much. He uses French fries as an example. He’ll hold up two fries and say do you think God cares which one I eat first? Of course not! His point is “If we live our lives focused on God then our minds will automatically go in the direction God desires. I’ve heard sermons on this as well and I will say they are correct. But I will also say that I think they oversimplify it. I thought my life was focused on God. I was doing what I was doing to remain open for ministry. We need to guard against losing focus. Praying about everything is one way to do it. Lets go back to the French fries for a moment. If guarding our hearts and our minds means that we need to go to such an extreme in “Praying about everything” then God isn’t going to complain if you ask him which fry to eat first. I think he’ll probably say “Larry, I love you thanks for asking. French fries are bad for you so don’t eat any of them” (Joke, joke, I’m joking don’t get bent out of shape.) He’ll probably say “I don’t care eat them however you would like. Thank you for asking”. After awhile you’ll get to know his heart and some of the things he doesn’t care about. In the mean time three things will begin to happen. 1. You may find he does care about some things you assumed he didn’t. 2. You’ll get into the habit of going to him. 3. You’ll lose the habit of depending on yourself.

Back to my New Years resolution I need to ad a little to it. My New Years Resolution is to continue on the path God has placed me on by going to him daily and asking “God what do you have for me today? When I have a decision to make I will go to God and ask “God do you have an opinion in this matter? When presented with the opportunity to serve another I will go to God and ask “God help me to see your heart in this matter? I love where I am at and where I seem to be going and I don’t want to do anything to stop that progress. I hope and pray that you are in the same place. If not I pray this is the year that God draws you closer to him. WHAT IS YOUR NEW YEARS RESOLUTION?

It’s funny how God works. When I titled this and began writing it I had planned on going somewhere completely different. Began the introductory paragraph and knew we were going somewhere else but didn’t know where until the end. With that in mind I trust that there is at least one person reading this that needed to hear it. If it is you then please right now close your computer and go somewhere you can be alone. Go to God and ask him to do whatever he needs to draw you closer to him. Ask him to show you how to stop depending on your own understanding and start depending on him. Then just sit and listen. God will talk. He will make himself known. What he says to you may or may not make any sense. Don’t let that deter you from following. After all it doesn’t have to make sense to you you’re the one letting go. Ya never know once you do you may find yourself living “Upside Down” and loving it.

Now this is Unity

2010-01-01T20:15:00.001-06:00

Hello once again everyone,

Do you know what never ceases to amaze me with the bible? The fact that each time I pick it up I get something new. I can read the same verse 20 different times and seemingly get something different each time. It’s not that I reinterpret the verse every time. It’s just that my life changes a little and the verse will speak to where I’m at now. Or my understanding of God grows slightly and I am able to glean more because of it. Take for example a verse that has been one of my favorites for close to fifteen years now. You would think if I had been thinking about it for fifteen years there would be nothing new to gain from it. Right? Wrong! This is what I want to chat about today. This hit me probably three weeks ago and I’ve been meditating on it ever sense. You may read it and think “Duh, where have you been?” If so just smile smugly and thank God that I’m finally getting there. Actually I hope that’s the case because it seems so blatant to me now that I can’t believe I’ve always missed it.

What I’m going to do is give you a list of verses and have you read them. See if you can guess where I am going. Then after you’ve read through I’ll tell you what I saw. Good? Good. Lets go.

John 10: 38 … Though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the father is in me and I in him.

John 13: 31-32 … Now the son of man is glorified and God is glorified in him, If God is glorified in him God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him immediately.

John 14: 10-11 Do you not believe that I am in the father and the father in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own authority but the father who dwells in me does the works. Believe me that I am in the father and the father in me, or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves.

John 14: 20-21 At that day you will know that I am in my father and you in me and I in you. He who has my commandments and keeps them it is he who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and manifest myself to him.

John 15: 4-8 Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit for without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it will be done for you. By this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit; so you will be my disciples.

John 17: 21-23 That they may all be one as you father are in me and I in you that they also may be one in us, that the word may believe that you sent me. And the glory which you gave me I have given them that they may be one just as we are one. I in them and you in me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them as you have loved me.

John 17: 26 And I have declared to them your name, and will declare it, that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.

1 John 2: 24 Therefore let that abide In you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the son and in the father.

1 John 4:12-17 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him, and he in us, because he has given us of his spirit. And we have seen and testify that the father has sent the son as savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

There ya have it. Quite a bit to read but I wanted to make sure you had the full picture. Believe it or not I could have given you more but these are the clearest picture of what I want to point out. Have ya read them? Good. Have you thought about it? Read through one more time and think about what God is saying here. Go ahead, I’ll wait I need to grab my pizza anyway… Ok, ya got it. Here is what I see in these verses. First I see the obvious and what we are taught growing up. “The trinity, I in you and you in me.” God and Jesus in each other no big revelation there. Lets go back to John 17: 21-23 since that is the verse I’ve loved for so long. I’ve always read that verse as a call for unity. Which it is but lets read it closely. “As you are in me and I in you that (here it is) THEY MAY BE IN US” That’s what I’ve always missed. We always expect God to be in us after all Christ promised the Holy Spirit. But for us to be in them? Wow, that just blows me away. Now some of you may be saying “Wait a minute Larry these verses are not saying we are literally in him but that we need to abide in them. We need to focus on them.” That is why I gave so many verses. You are correct some of these verses are probably saying that. John 15: 4-8 could be read that way. But in it I am still a branch attached to the tree. You can most likely find other verses that support “Abide means leaning into him” I wont argue. But that doesn’t mean these verses aren’t clearly saying we are “In him”

Ok, I buy it. We are in God as God is in us. So how does that make my life any different? What am I suppose to take away from this? I’m not going to tell you. This week I give you a revelation and say spend some time thinking about it and leaning into God asking him. “That means you don’t know then. Right Larry?” You’re kind of right. I have my idea’s. I think I know what it is telling me but I can’t quite bring myself to say it out loud yet. Here is what I do know. It means I’m a much bigger part of Gods family than I ever dreamed of. I also know that there are verses in there that are the infamous “If you than I” (John 14: 20-21). We have to remember those and hold up our end of the bargain. Obviously it’s not a demand for perfection since we can’t accomplish that but it’s also much more than “I’ll follow when it’s convenient.”

My friends I’ve been meditating on this one for three weeks now and I still haven’t come near completely grasping its meaning and power. But I can say that my confidence in who I am in Christ has grown ten fold with this understanding. Not only is God in Christ and Christ in God and the Holy Spirit in that whole mix as well. But I am in God as God is in me. Chew on that for a minute and see if it doesn’t just blow you out of the water. (No pun intended)

What a way to go into the New year. Knowing that we are woven into the very being of Our God the creator of this universe. Have a great New Year and this year lets “Live it Upside Down”

Wandering in the wilderness. (wave your hands around and turn in a circle)

2009-12-21T16:31:00.001-06:00

Hello friends, Do you remember what it felt like that first time you sat in the drivers seat of a car? The excitement, the anticipation, maybe a little bit of adrenaline. Some of you were incredibly nervous, some I assume were pretty calm. A few of you had paid close attention to your parents when they drove. You got behind the wheel and needed little instruction. Others didn’t pay attn or only noticed a part of what your parents were doing when they drove. You got behind the wheel and it seemed as if you couldn’t do anything right. All of us once we began driving saw the world from a whole new light. We noticed signs we had never seen before. We saw driveways as a place cars could come from instead of a space of cement we could ride our bikes on. The colors of a stop light actually began talking to us instead of just flashing. None of us could have taken a car that first time and driven across town or entered the freeway safely without our parents or instructor sitting beside us guiding the way. Most of us had to drive on empty roads a few days before we were allowed anywhere near any semblance of traffic. (Whether that was a paternal or financial instinct on the part of our parents is up for debate.) Time passes and finally we’ve learned and developed enough to drive solo. After a set time of training and testing the U.S. Department of Transportation finally said we could drive on our own. But they gave us limits. There are still certain types of vehicles we are not allowed to drive without further training and testing. We are not allowed to teach until we reach a certain age of accountability. It would seem crazy for us to just hand the keys to our car over to someone that has never driven. Actually it would be illegal and when they do get in an accident your insurance company will refuse to pay the claim.

What else in life do we need training in before we can do it on our own? Riding a bike, 12 years of school, vocational training, college, Go to court and a judge will strongly advice against defending yourself, shoot even our parents teach us to eat, how to safely cross the road, and protect us from strangers. We are guided along in almost every aspect of our life. Sometimes in a one to one basis, sometimes a large group setting, and others a small group. One thing is sure, one to one is always the best and brings about the quickest and more substantial growth.

If we recognize the importance of training just to operate normally in life why is it not emphasized in the church? In life we are born and have parents to feed, diaper and burp us. They teach us to walk and right from wrong. Then once we reach a certain age we go off to school but even then we bring home assignments that our parents help us with. We see our classmates doing things and we ask our parents about it when we get home. In church we are born and sent right off to College (If we’re lucky) More often it’s “Congrats welcome to the family here’s a book to read I’ll see you at church on Sunday… Oh and I recommend joining a home group as well.” The thinking is ludicrous where’s the logic? There is none. Even in College after four (or so) years of training we go through an internship. Maybe I’m wrong let’s check and see if the bible treats new believers the way we do. Take a minute to look for examples. I’ll wait…

Nope can’t find anything that fits our model. Let me know if you did. Here’s what I did find. In Deuteronomy I see Moses raising up Joshua, Go to Judges and it looks as if Joshua hadn’t mentored anyone. He died and those who served with him died and Israel began to falter. The entire book of Judges is a testament to what happens when “The Judge” doesn’t raise up a mentor. Judge alive Israel prospers, Judge dies Israel wanders. (move your hands about wildy and turn in a circle. That’s my tribute to my churches summer series.) Ok lets continue. Ruth has Naomi and gets written into the family line of God (Hmmm) Samuel had Eli (Look at Eli’s kids good sign that perhaps our parents should not be our “only” spiritual mentor) Elisha had Elijah and he got a double anointing. Lets move to the New Testament. Jesus took on 12 personally yet at one moment he sent out 70 (Luke 10: 1-12) Saul/Paul was picked up by Ananias, and spent “Time” with “the disciples” then had Barnabas, From there it kinda goes crazy and I haven’t studied enough to say who discipled who. Clearly Timothy had Paul. I could name some more but I think you get the point. Can I also say that this is the time the church was exploding even through immense persecution. I don’t believe that is a coincidence. Remember what happened after Joshua died and how Israel acted while between Judges.

If mentoring is so prominent in the bible and the effects are so obvious why are we not emphasizing its importance today? Why are we not mentoring? As far as I can see it’s one of three reasons or a combination. 1. We don’t fully recognize its need or importance. 2. We don’t think we have anything to offer. 3. We are too lazy.

If you do not yet recognize the importance let give you one more observation. Israel without Joshua or any of the other Judges lived according to their own understanding and the family fell apart. Today the church in our country has few mentors and it is hurting desperately seeking to have a voice and without its voice look at what is happening to our country. We have no mentor no one pointing us toward the things of God so we’re making it up. Doing what seems right. (“Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” Judges 21:25)

Ok, number one is out of the way. Lets attack number 2. Saul/Paul was preaching right away. Jesus Disciples were only with him for 3 years. Unless you were born yesterday there is always someone younger than you. But lets hit it for the cautious individual because I know a few of you just cringed a little bit. Mentoring doesn’t claim you know it all it just says you want to help guide. You know the importance of mentoring so you know that you need one as well. If you think you’re too young “find a mentor”. If you have a mentor then you’re not too young. Someone you are mentoring asks you a question and you don’t know the answer. You go to your mentor if he doesn’t know he goes to his. There! You’re not to young because you have back up. Number two is taken care of. Now the last excuse #3 I’m too lazy. GET OVER YOURSELF! Ok all of the excuses are taken care of. Now it’s time to go and find a “mentee”. Ask your pastor if he knows of anyone, maybe a kid in the church or a new believer. If he doesn’t know keep asking. Pray into it. God will lead you to the right person. If you need a mentor follow the same process. Is there someone you look up to? Ask them.

Shoot! I just realized it’s almost Christmas and I should have written about the season in some way and Gods gift to mankind. Ok, I’ll do it now. Gods gift to mankind (Jesus) did two things for us. He offered us salvation through his death on the cross and he MENTORED US!!! Why don’t you give a gift of yourself to someone this Christmas? Offer yourself as a mentor! Now it’s a Christmas message.

Merry Christmas everyone, Hey I have an idea lets do Christmas “UPSIDE DOWN”

No, I'm not over it yet!

2009-12-14T14:27:00.000-06:00

If you read last weeks blog post you know that I was slightly upset by an encounter I had with another group of people that called themselves believers of Christ. I was upset on a number of levels. 1. I was upset by the natural reaction they had to us and the “Assumption” that we had bought a lie and needed witnessed too. 2. I was upset at the reaction of those I was with. “These guys were suffering from a spirit of Religion and they needed set free.” 3. I was upset at my reaction. “I have begun to move beyond that shallow thinking why can’t you?” Now let me ask you. Which of these reactions was the one that brought honor to God? .... I am going to assume you answered “None of the above” because I’m not sure any other answer can be justified. No, I’m not still kicking myself for my response and no I’m not mad at the others for the way they responded but I still have to say no I’m not over it yet. Yes, I’m over the frustration, yes I’m over the anger. But I’m not over the lesson that we should take home. I hope I never get over that. It is my goal to take the lessons learned from life’s observations & screw up’s and use them to grow. If not what good are they?

So what did I learn? What am I going to do with this information. 1. I’ve learned (or relearned) that there is a definite spirit of division in the church today. 2. I recognized that I am not above it. 3. It is important to fight against this spirit so it doesn’t over come us. So what are you going to do about it Larry? I’m glad you asked.

First: I am committing myself to never argue with a stranger about Christ. I am a firm believer that arguing doesn’t lead anyone to Christ. This doesn’t mean I wont discuss Christ and my belief or listen to others opinions but I will not let it move into an argument. Arguments only create ill will.

Second: I will do as we discussed the last couple weeks and “Test the spirits” This means that as I meet new people before we get into any discussion on religion I will ask them about their faith in Christ. If they are a believer in Jesus Christ and have accepted him as savior I will seek to find more common ground. Even if I recognize uncommon ground first I will skip that and continue to seek for common ground. No this does not mean that I will always ignore differences it only means that I want them to know that I recognize and respect them as a brother over our differences. If they are not a believer in Christ I will still seek to find common ground over attacking their unbelief. This way they know that I care for them either way and my desire to show them Christ comes from a caring for them not some religious fervor.

Any other steps will be determined according to the type of friendship that is developed. Do I expect to ever see them again? Are we working together daily, once a week, once a month?

If it is not a person I am meeting but an organization of some sort I will follow the same steps. I will not assume that a church follows Christ, I will not assume that a non-profit (even a religious one) follows Christ, I will not assume that someone I meet at church follows Christ. I will not assume because of their background or denomination that they do not follow Christ. No more assumptions and if I meet someone that is making assumptions I will be sure they realize that they are just that “Assumptions”

My friends we are in a war with a very cunning enemy. This enemy wants more than anything to divide our ranks. We cannot allow this to happen. We must put in the system “checks and balances” to ensure this does not happen. I have told you what mine are. As I progress in this life I may find a weakness in these checks and make a few adjustments. You can choose to follow these as well if you would like or you can come up with your own. But I challenge you to do it. Not only in this area but in other areas of your life as well. How do you check your growth in Christ? How do you know you are getting the best training possible? What about your fellow warriors brothers and sisters in Christ?

The good news is WE ARE ON THE WINNING TEAM! But there are still battles to be fought. Are you prepared to withstand the attack? Are you ready to go into battle? The enemy screwed up last week and revealed a weakness lets seal it and go out in one accord.

Have a great week Gang. As always lets “Live it Upside Down”

Sad or Mad? I think both!

2009-12-07T19:56:00.000-06:00

This is not what I was planning on writing today and who knows maybe I shouldn’t since I haven’t had time to process yet. But it is what is on my mind and there is no way I would be able to recall my previous plans if I tried as this is so fresh and heavy on my heart. There is a spirit that is hiding itself in the church a very cunning and evil spirit that I think is causing more damage to Gods Kingdom here on Earth than perhaps any other and it reared its face today in a powerful way. Let me tell you it is UGLY! It is SLY! And it must be STOPPED! This thing is so sly that as soon as I tell you what it is you’re going to say “Oh I recognized that years ago” ME TOO! I’ve heard sermons about it. You would think It’s on the run because I’ve heard so many speak against it. Instead somehow it has dug it’s claws so deep into us that we don’t even recognize it anymore. I’m not even sure what to call it. It may be two spirits working in tandem I don’t know But we need to recognize its lies and stomp them the second they arrive. For now I’m going to give it two different names The spirit of “Division” and The Spirit of “Superiority”

Let me start by first saying there is just one church. That is GODS CHURCH! For those that may think I’m naming a specific denomination I’M NOT! If you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, Born of the virgin Mary, Crucified for our sins and raised from the dead three days later. If you believe that this Jesus is the ONLY way to God and have accepted his gift of salvation than you belong to “GODS CHURCH” Let me also throw in the Trinity Father, Son, Holy Spirit all wrapped in one. I don’t mean this as an after thought Just realized I shouldn’t assume that everyone thinks it’s a given. (Even though it is). For some reason it’s almost as if (Though no one will admit they believe this way) We have multiple religions that almost believe the same way. LIE, LIE, LIE, LIE!!! Did I say that enough? LIE! First let me say that I don’t believe God ever desired for us to be divided into multiple denominations. Show me an example from scripture I don’t think it’s possible. (That is the first sign that Satan is at work) I’ve heard it justified over the years by saying “I just have a different way I like to worship so I go here”, or “They just relate to God in a different way”. What a load of crap. Some now may choose a church for those reasons but that is not why we have so many different types of churches. Honestly I don’t know how all the different churches came to be. Each one has it’s own story and there-in lies the root of the problem. “I have an understanding of God that is different than the current churches so I’ll begin my own thing”. I’m beginning to dive into uncharted waters (As in I haven’t studied how each church came to be.) so I’ll stop there and move on.

No matter how each church came to be there seems to be an underlying lie that accompanied it. “I know something of God that you can’t grasp so I’m moving on” or “I know God better than you do so I’m moving on” (PLEASE AS WE MOVE ON REALIZE I AM NOT TALKING EVERY PERSON, EVERY CHURCH. IF THIS ISN’T YOU PRAISE GOD)

God has given each and everyone of us special giftings, talents, and understandings of who he is. I assume he has done that because there are many different types of people in the world and he wants his people to be able to relate to all of them so they might come to him. But what seems to have happened is 1. God moves in a new way 2. The church doesn’t know what to think of it 3. A new denomination is born wrapped around that experience. 4. An underlying I’m better than you vibe begins to grow in the new church. 5. The old church prays for the new church because this move can’t be from God it must be a lie.

Let me tell you what happened today that has me so upset. Since I’m on a road trip and don’t really have a home I participated as an outsider which is probably why I saw the beast with-in (So to speak). For those that don’t know I am currently visiting Bethel Church in Redding, CA (If you don’t know Bethel check it out God is doing some pretty cool stuff) I was out with a couple people from Bethel (On what is called a treasure Hunt) We began speaking with some guys from a local bible college (We were at the campus) They instantly knew where we were from and went into “Witnessing mode” (Now please don’t think I’m going to rag on them alone stick with me) It was clear that somewhere along the line they had a discussion about the beliefs of Bethel and why they were wrong and the (Bethel) congregation was buying a lie. Now I’ve heard this before so I’m not too terribly surprised. But what surprises me is the mode that EVERYONE kicked into. Both groups begin arguing their points. I would like to say discussing their positions so we could leave with a mutual understanding of the others position and leave agreeing to research in scripture what the other had to say and then prayerfully go to God for his guidance and wisdom. But that would imply that we were listening to each other. One of the people I was with I saw her stance change and her kick into “It’s on! mode” The guys were more laid back with a smirk on their faces like “This is going to be fun” I must admit I had that thought as well. I loves me a good debate it challenges me to think. Many of you could guess what the debate was about but that’s not the important part. I don’t even want you to assume you know where I stood because you’d probably be wrong (It isn’t that obvious) We get into the discussion and after awhile I begin to hear others repeating to me things I said clear at the beginning but it was as if was their thought or idea. That makes me take a step back and watch others a bit closer. I can see it in their eyes. Nobody is listening to the other instead they are listening for the opportunity to make their next point. The two viewpoints 1. They are suffering from a spirit of religion. 2. They have bought a lie. 1. I must set them free 2. I must not buy into the lie

Anyway we finish gather in a group like a nice “Christian Family” and pray one person from each side. Yep you guessed it the prayers are like closing arguments instead of prayers. (A whole different topic) We hop in the car and instantly “Can you believe this, how about that?, and what about that prayer oh my” all along I am picturing them doing the same thing at the school. It is so sad because we all have something to offer each other me to you and you to me. I’m not going to type it all out here but read 1 Corinthians 12 ALL OF IT. We all have differing gifts and they are to work together to make one body.

One of the people I was chatting with today. My heart so reaches out to him. I don’t know what happened in his life or in a friends life but I could see it in his eyes. “I can’t open up in this way I don’t want to be sold another lie” This is why I go back to last weeks blog topic but ad a new verse 1 Corinthians 12: 3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the holy spirit. Don’t be so afraid of buying a lie that you accept the truth. On the flip side another person was so convinced that they were 100% correct that they wouldn’t have heard it if anyone did correctly reveal where they were wrong.

My friends we are the body of Christ and Satan wants desperately to keep us divided. We must fight against that division. We must take the time to recognize our differences not as lies or a failure to grow but as an opportunity to join together for one purpose. “To show the world the Love of God” and in so doing we might just might glean a little bit of light from each other as well. John 17: 20 – 21 I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in me, and I in you; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me,

Ok gang that was another long one. Hopefully it was direct enough to follow without too many wonderings. Have a great week and as always lets “Live it upside down”

Has God gone crazy or have I?

2009-11-30T19:48:00.000-06:00

Hello Gang, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. There certainly is a lot to be Thankful for. I myself could go on about all God has done for me this year. Set me free from a career that was holding me back from experiencing him in so many ways. Has continued to provide financially from that time (Mid April) till now. Has given me the road trip of a life time, helped me to grow in understanding and faith by leaps and bounds, Still have more about him to learn than I’ve learned (Life would be boring otherwise right.), Incredible friends, and much much more. Ahh but that is a side point to what I have to chat about today. Today I want to talk about my absolute favorite topic in the whole wide world “ME!” ;-). Ok, I hope that’s not true. But I am going to talk about myself for a moment anyway and hopefully that will lead to what I really hope to say.

As I’ve grown up over the years I have had many different viewpoints of God and the type of relationship one should have with him. I remember as a little kid I was very open to God and what others had to say about him. I would go to church listen to my teacher and go home talking about what I had learned that day. I would have a question about God and I would ask my parents or a teacher at church. They would answer and I would trust that answer. As I grew older I probably like most teenagers began to question. My teachers would say something and if it didn’t make sense to me I would challenge them. They would explain what they were saying and I would continue the challenge. I’m not sure I remember my teachers ever really winning a debate with me. Class would let out and the discussion would end never to be brought up again or one of us would see the other wasn’t going to change and would just end the discussion (Usually it would be me) In college even though my teachers in High school had never convinced me I decided that they were correct and it just took a step of faith to believe them and live that way. God would bless it even if I didn’t understand. I remember watching someone in church one day raise their hands as they were worshiping. Rather than asking her why she did that I looked at my experience and belief in God and decided that the only logical reason she was doing this was to draw attention to herself. I think I was in high school at the time. I never mentioned this thought to anyone. Didn’t even take much time to think about it. I just looked at her and came to an instant judgment. A few years later I go to a church that’s a completely different denomination and I see most everyone lifting their hands not only that but I think I remember seeing people dancing in worship. The church also has a full band leading worship. Suddenly I realize maybe there is more to this God thing than I realized. For the first time since High school I begin to ask questions. I spoke with people about why they worshiped that way and instead of judging I tried it out I found I was able to connect with God easier If I hadn’t judged that person years earlier maybe I would have experienced God in worship sooner. But no I had my God in a box and I was keeping him there. Fast forward a little bit about 5 - 10 years. My view on God has changed a lot. I now believe that my mind has opened to who God is. I still have a bit to learn but have now let my God out of his box. I step into a church for the first time and someone comes up to me and asks “Are ya ready?” That should have been a cue. Worship begins people begin running up and down the aisles, falling on the floor in convulsions, I hear these voices beside me that are not speaking in any form of intelligible language. It is CRAZY! As soon as that service was over I was out of there never to go back. I didn’t give it a chance. I didn’t ask any questions. I was just gone. Since then I have heard the reasons behind quite a bit of what I experienced that day. Some I agree with some I’m not so sure. But I can’t tell you if this was a good church or not because I ran. You see I had given God a bigger box but he was still in a box. In my mind that church was all about emotionalism and not God. Maybe I was right maybe I was wrong but that is between them and God. Many other things have happened over the years some I have embraced others I haven’t. I’ve experienced others praying for healing and dismissed it with a God doesn’t work that way anymore. I’ve heard people say “God told me” and dismissed it with “That’s an easy excuse” or “God doesn’t talk to us like that he uses the bible” box, Box, BOX, Guess what… God talks to me. Ya know what else. I think it was 3 years ago I sat in a church as this young healthy woman STOOD in front of the church and talked about how she was in a wheel chair the day before. In the past week I have sat in a church service and the watched a woman sitting beside me get healed of a Degenerative jaw disorder. How do I know? Simple, she had pain before the prayer and no pain after. I watched as a woman’s leg grew two inches (Really her hips went back into alignment) and I’ve heard numerous testimonies of healings. But Larry these could just be emotional healings are they still healed a week later? I haven’t seen them so I don’t know but my money is on YES! Let me tell you of something else. I was sitting in a prayer room last Saturday someone stood and said “There is someone here that has problems with your left ankle.” As some of you know 10 years ago I fell 17 or 18 feet off of a latter. I shattered the left heel of my foot. Praise God my Ankle bone after it broke was long enough to still use and I didn’t have to have it fused together. But, I have only had about half the normal range of motion and the pad of my foot just under my toes has remained numb. I am not going to complain and have always been thankful that this is all. I can still do everything I could before. My ankle is just very sore after and I limp until the muscles can stretch out. Someone prayed for me two and a half days ago. She prayed and after I moved my Ankle back and forth. As I said before it was only about 50% range of motion. As I move it to point I can’t say it’s 100% but it is at least 90% I can barely tell a difference between the two. She prays again and I can feel a flushing coming through my foot I have feeling on the pad of my foot that I haven’t felt in 10 years. GOD DOES HEAL TODAY!!! (No pun intended) I wish I could say it was 100% but I can say I have continued to have feeling in my foot that I haven’t had before. I believe it is still healing. On Saturday November 28^th God restarted the heeling process that had previously stopped. I believe at some point I will suddenly realize it’s 100% But even if it isn’t. I am happy. I’m better than I was and I didn’t even ask for it. Now you may have a whole bunch of why’s coming to mind. Stop right there! I don’t have the answers and I don’t think we will until the day we are face to face with him (Then we wont care) Rather than asking why not? Lets just praise him for the current miracles. But that’s not my point. Here is my point (If ya haven’t already figured it out). We all have God in a box it’s just a matter of human nature. Granted some boxes are larger than others. Remember my very first experience as a little kid? I asked and I accepted the answer. Remember my next stage (The High school kid) I challenged my teachers. I want to challenge you to take the two stages and combine them. If you see or hear something of God that is just too crazy for you to accept be open to it as a child. But don’t forget that we are warned to “Test the spirits” 1 Thessalonians 5: 19-22 Do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast to what is good, abstain from every form of evil. But how do we test the spirit? 1 John 4: 1 – 3 Beloved do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God… So are we supposed to ask every leader their belief and where in scripture they support what they are doing? Why not? Also look at the atmosphere around you. Is God being glorified in what’s happening? Are there examples of this in scripture? If it is in scripture and you are questioning it perhaps your God is in a box. I’ve seen people stumbling as if they were drunk claiming they were drunk in the spirit. Acts 2:13 Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine” combine that with Ephesians 5:18 and do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the holy spirit. And you have a pretty good argument for it. Just because I haven’t experienced it doesn’t make it wrong. But it sure looks like they are putting on a show plying for attn. Maybe but that is between them and God. Scripture supports it even if it’s not what I picture when I read it. In these cases it’s time to pray. “God I don’t understand this and I don’t know what I think about it but I don’t want to miss out on any aspect of you because of my ignorance. If this is something that will draw me closer to you then BRING IT ON!” God meets you where you are, where you are willing to be, and where you need to be. Lets break those boxes open and see “Who” God really is.

Thanks Gang, Hope you are having a great week and once again “Lets live it upside down.”

Oh yeah, The God I knew a year or two ago would have kept me working my job and not trusting him to provide. He never would have given me this trip as a gift, and since it wasn’t life or death wouldn’t have done a thing with my ankle and foot. Is your God holding you back? Then either he’s too small of a God or your not setting him free to work.

King of Distractions

2009-11-16T14:17:00.001-06:00

Being a person that has to the most part made his living in entertainment I know a thing or two about the wonderful art of “distraction”. Magicians use this to accomplish a trick. A slight of hand magician will find a way to get you to look one direction while he hides his “Magic Coin” somewhere else. You know what he’s doing and insist that you wont let him distract you yet he still does. Actually a good magician will use that against you. I have a magician friend that uses that as a part of his shtick. He will tell you exactly how he does the trick and insist he can still fool you every time “He does” An Illusionist uses the same technique except he employs the use of mirrors and lights so you think you’re looking at one thing when you are really looking somewhere else. A good haunted house will trick you into looking at one thing while the scare comes from somewhere else. “Distraction” you insist you won’t be yet it gets you every time.

I want to tell you about someone else that is great at the art of distraction. Actually I don’t think anyone is better. You know what he’s doing yet somehow he fools you into looking anyway. I think you can probably guess where I’m going. The one I’m talking about is non other than Satan himself. As mentioned before some of his techniques are pretty in your face. Gossip is a good one, An argument as you walk into church, Singles how about those times you notice a cute guy or girl as you’re walking into church? You get the idea. Others are a little more subtle. These are the tactics that take your focus of off God. For example: Each time we sin Satan is pretty good at getting us to focus on the sin and trying to overcome it instead of focusing more intently on God. He even distracts from that distraction with thoughts that say… “I’ll never be able to beat this” “Why do I even try” or We go to read our bible and think of something we have to do first (It’ll just take a sec) It’s one of his more subtle distractions that I want to talk about. I personally think it’s one of his better distractions but only one he employs after the other distractions have become less effective.

I’m not sure what to call this distraction so I’ll just use one of the sentences he may whisper in your ear. “Wouldn’t it be great to receive the spiritual gift of ___________ (Tongues, prophecy, healing, helps, etc…) You see Satan’s ultimate goal is to get our focus off of God himself and onto ANYTHING ELSE. What’s wrong with pursuing these gifts? Absolutely nothing! It’s just not the prime focus God wants us to have. 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3 “Though I speak with tongues of men and of Angels, but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love it profits me nothing.” Speaking in tongues could possibly be known as incantations as well. Prophets today could also be called “fortune tellers” I’ve known more than just Christians that volunteer at homeless shelters. I’m going to be so bold as to say that none of these people have “Love”. Oh, Larry you’ve done it now. Are you saying that only Christians can love others? No I’m not. I’m saying that there are a ton of Christians that do this without love as well. I’m saying that Satan has so distracted us that we don’t even know what love is anymore. We look at love like it’s some inanimate object. Lets continue 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 (The first part of 8) Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek to own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (The rest of the chapter goes on to speak of what does fail.) I don’t know about you but this description does not sound “Inanimate” to me. It sounds like love is a living, breathing thing. We are told to pursue this living, breathing thing above all else. “Wait a minute this is beginning to sound familiar.” I certainly hope so! Who else do we know that carries all these attributes that we are suppose to pursue above all else. Hmm, lets go to 1 John 4:7-8 (Actually just read all of 1 John it’s a great book) “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, FOR GOD IS LOVE.” This is no big surprise of course we are to pursue God above all else. If that’s the case and we know it why do we pursue these other things first? My thoughts, because when we hear pursue God we don’t truly know who God is or how to do that so we are tricked into pursuing what we see instead (The Gifts). If that’s the case let me throw out another suggestion. Actually I’ll just throw Paul’s suggestion at you. PURSUE LOVE! In so doing we are pursuing God. What does that look like? Lets figure it out together. Here is where I’m going to begin at least. Remember those WWJD Bracelets (What would Jesus Do)? I’m going to try and follow that model but instead it will be “What would Love do?” When I’m faced with a choice I’m going to ask “What would love do?” and then try to do it. But then ask another question. How did I feel about doing it? If I’m more begrudging than loving I will ask one more question. “God help me to become you in this area of my life.” You see living this way will help us to recognize where we are close to God and where we are clinging on to ourselves. That knowledge will help us to pursue love and in so doing pursue God who is love

Alright Gang, sorry to be so long on this one. Hopefully it was worth your while. Have a great week and as always lets “Live it Upside Down”

What is your Egypt?

2009-11-09T15:31:00.000-06:00

Repost

What is your Egypt? (The first half is a repost of an earlier blog please read this and the comments after then you will understand why I felt the need to repost.)

Ok, I felt the need to share this with you. I am sitting here this morning thinking. "Here we go my first day of unemployment" Then I thought "Wait I'm not unemployed I have a task so what should I call it?" Then I thought MY FIRST DAY OF FREEDOM! "I hope I don't go running back to slavery" It's clear God was leading me to the old testament his children Israel. As they were roaming through the desert every time a struggle or trial would come along they would start complaining to Moses. "It would have been better to stay in Egypt (In slavery) but now you have led us into the desert to die." How often are we on the verge of being set free only to run back to Egypt before giving God a chance to show up? I know I have quite a few times over the years and now that God has given me another chance to escape I pray that I don't run back out of fear.

I feel I must ask. What is your Egypt? I'm not saying it needs to be as extreme as leaving your job. But what is it that is holding you in bondage, afraid to break free? Has God given you the opportunity to escape only to run back for fear of what lies ahead? I pray that God gives each of us the strength to break free and the courage to live in that freedom.

The above post came after reading through the book of “Exodus” and the thoughts it prompted. It is what Israel was dealing with as they were wandering through the desert looking for the “Promised Land” Now I have just finished reading through “Isaiah” and it has been over seven hundred years since entering the promised land. What could the two possibly have in common with 700 + years separating them? While in Egypt they saw God bring plagues, famine, and death to Egypt to entice Pharaoh into letting them go. While wondering through the desert God led them with a cloud by day and fire by night. He gave them Manna daily, parted the Red sea, Water from a rock, etc… Yet each time something went wrong they wanted to go back to Egypt, back under pharaoh’s protection back into slavery. Despite everything they saw God do for them “They trusted Pharaoh more than they trusted God.” Now lets fast forward a few years they have now taken control of the promised land (I wont even go into all God did for this to happen.) They have made it through the time of Judges (Again God showed up big time with each and every Judge) and into the time of Kings. Lets sit and camp on David’s reign for a while shall we. During this period David killed a giant with a slingshot, Jonathon (Saul’s son) and his Armor Bearer killed an entire division of Philistines (Both before David became king) In David’s army we have “The mighty men of David” (2 Samuel 23: 8-37) Josheb-Basshebeth who killed 800 men at one time, Eleazar who attacked the Philistines by himself and won, Shammah who defended a field against the Philistines and won, Abishai who killed 300 men at once, the list goes on. Certainly these men were skilled men of war but there is no way they could have accomplished any of this without God on their side. God has a history of proving himself to Israel. Lets move on to Isaiah 30: 1-3 “Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord, who take counsel but not of me, and who devise plans but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin (Here it comes) Who walk to go down to Egypt, and have not asked my advice, To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, And to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame, And trust in the shadow of Egypt shall be your humiliation.” Do you see that? They are depending on Egypt for protection. Not God who has proven himself time and time again but on Egypt the country that held them in slavery. Did you know that while Pharaoh had given Solomon his Daughter in marriage he was also sheltering two of his enemies (1 Kings 11: 14- 25) Edad, Pharaoh gave him his Sister in Law as a wife. And (1 Kings 11: 40) Jeroboam. It seems ridiculous when you read it. EGYPT!! Israel is depending on EGYPT!! The country that has been a thorn in their side from the beginning. EGYPT is their chosen protector over GOD who had proven himself. Why? What is it that continually brings them back to Egypt? Egypt was a “Super power” The obvious power house of the region so when you look with your eye’s it only makes sense. But God gave them something else to view their world with. He gave them his “Covenant” and he gave them prophets to remind them of the covenant and the consequences of ignoring it. Yet it seemed easier to chose Pharaoh. I think it was because Pharaoh didn’t ask anything other than money. God asked for their lives. We can see the consequences of that choice. Later on Egypt was destroyed and Israel was brought into slavery.

So I must ask once again “What is your Egypt? Despite God showing his love to you time and time again what is it you find yourself running to continually for protection, provision, comfort instead of God? Is it your job? Maybe parents, boyfriend/girlfriend, mate, savings account, Intelligence? What is it? We all have an Egypt in our lives! It’s time to identify it and ask God to move in and PERMANENTLY replace it. Israel couldn’t seem to do it. But we have something they didn’t. We have Gods ultimate proof of love, provision and protection in his son Jesus Christ who came to this earth his death offered up a permanent shield against Egypt will you chose to use it?

"Freaks and Gawkers"

2009-11-02T14:27:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I’m walking down the boardwalk of Venice beach the other day and enjoying the sites (people watching). For those of you that don’t know anything about Venice beach it’s pretty much a no holds barred area that hosts vendors all along the boardwalk. Some very established with their own storefront, some just a table and chair, while others walk around hocking what they’ve got. It’s also a great place to catch some pretty cool street performers, dancers, singers wrappers, glass walkers, etc… Mix that with professional panhandlers that even have their begging down to a science (For example: The man wearing wine bottle sunglasses holding a sign that says “worlds greatest wino”, or the group holding a sign that says “Help keep grass on the boardwalk donate now”) Combine all of that with “Muscle Beach” and you have Venice beach. Of course as you walk up and down this particular stretch of the boardwalk you see all types of people, Homeless, skateboarders, psychics, potheads, bodybuilders, alcoholics, hip hop artists, tourists, etc…) Really you can divide all of these groups into two different categories “Freaks” and “gawkers”. Now I use the term Freaks only because this is the phrase I so commonly hear others use when talking about Venice Beach they are the performers putting on a show for the Gawkers and in many cases making a nice little living doing it. You see the gawkers love to come to the beach to watch and laugh and ultimately feel better about who they are. The Freaks know this is what’s happening and have learned to exaggerate an effect for gain. Personally I like to call them Caricatures. Why? Because I believe they are in real life just who they claim to be at Venice Beach they’ve just learned how to exaggerate it. The sad thing. I noticed an overwhelming number of almost every type of person you can imagine except one. I didn’t see any “Christ Followers” I have seen that caricature in the past (The Jesus bus, The street corner barker) and maybe there are one or two on the beach and I just missed them. I was there but I would be more in the “Gawker” category. Suddenly my heart really begins to hurt for these people they are so lost. How can we reach them? Then I realize what I’ve been talking about, what is happening in Venice beach is everywhere it’s just that anywhere else we are not willing to be that caricature. It’s hidden, in Venice beach they hide nothing! I spend the day trying to process this information and decide what to do with it. When I join a friend and her family to go to the BIG Halloween party in W Hollywood. While we are there it’s Venice Beach times 100. Wow is this crazy! Shannessy and I are walking and talking about what we are seeing and I begin to tell her about what I’ve been processing. Her brain had pretty much begun the same thing (I just got a head start). I asked something along the lines of what do we do? How do we respond? I was overwhelmed not seeing any sort of answer and realizing that this was a caricature of what’s happening everywhere. When a light went on in her head. I was thinking of “The Grand Scheme” when she excitedly said “We be light” No big plan, no making ourselves a “Christ Caricature” just plain and simple “Be Light” in this world wherever you are. Is that enough? Of course it is! Jesus is light (One man) look what happened around him. He’s permanently marked in history because of it. Every time we use the year we are talking about him (B.C. now it’s A.D.) Look at Matt 5:14 – 16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to “ALL” that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven.” My friends it is time for us to be light to stand on a Lampstand (Use the gifts God has given you) and declare the light. Otherwise it’s common sense. The less we shine our light the darker the world will be. I don’t know but maybe that is one of the reasons Jesus in Mark 8: 38 says “For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the son of man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with the Holy angels” If we are ashamed to admit we love him how can we possibly be light in this world. I would like to leave with this question. Is there any reason to not shine the Light of Christ other than being ashamed? I can’t really think of one.

Confession!

2009-10-30T14:22:00.000-05:00

As you know I am on a bit of a road trip at the moment. Before leaving many of you asked me “What do you hope to gain by going on this trip?” It was as if everyone thought that I was expecting this incredible encounter with God. I would be sleeping one night and suddenly have this Angel appear before me and give me words of wisdom that I could then go home and share with the world and like Moses coming down from the mtn my skin would be all aglow from it’s direct encounter with God. But I would quickly point out “No! All I’m expecting is to get alone with my daddy and maybe hopefully get some guidance for “The Upside Down Group as well.” Now that I’ve been gone for close to a whole month I need to make a confession. As much as I wanted my answer to be the truth it seems that others assumptions were a bit closer to reality. If you have been following my blogs at all the last few weeks then you will know that yes I have been hearing from God. It seems that I am constantly having these little encounters yet when I go more then a day or two without actually hearing from him I grow disappointed. I call out to him and ask where he is. On more than one occasion I have asked for him to surround me and to give me a God hug (Much better than a bear hug by the way). Each time he has come through with the hug. As I’m writing and reading this it sounds pretty awesome so why have I been disappointed? Even on days I hear from him I am disappointed that I haven’t “Encountered him” after all I hear of others encounters with God is it too much to ask for the same? For peets sake I left home and friends for an extended period of time. I’ve sold most of what I have to go on this trip come on God I deserve to have “A God Encounter”. I must not be doing it right. I’m trying to be wise with my finances so you don’t have to come through quite as large for me at the end of the trip. But I have spent a few nights in a hotel some I believe wisely but others I know it was just because I really couldn’t stand the thought of spending another cold night in a tent. I have gone out to eat more often then I should but the thought of canned Tuna just wasn’t sitting to well and the meal was a cheap one. But that’s not being wise with my finances will God come through when I need him to now? I have spent a lot of time exploring the countryside around me maybe instead I should have spent more time alone in my tent reading, I shouldn’t have turned on the tv in my hotel next time I’ll see if I can get a room without a tv. NEXT TIME WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THERE CAN’T BE A NEXT TIME! Wow you look at all that and no wonder God hasn’t revealed himself like I was expecting. I’m a slacker! You haven’t even offered to serve local churches in the last couple cities you were in. SLACKER!! (Forget that I tried and couldn’t find anyone home.) I think most can read this and say “it’s a load of you know what”. That’s Satan working his magic planting doubts. I can even say it as I read this but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s there. I was speaking with a friend last night that has more or less gone on the same trip and this friend recognized almost every thought I was struggling with. We found ourselves finishing each others sentences. Here’s the thing though. We know each other and both of us knew that the others intentions were legit. I leave and head to the house I’m staying in for the night and am talking to my host about the same thing. But I find myself with him trying to explain this trip and make it still sound legit. He hadn’t questioned me. He had even made a few statements about how he wished he could do the same. Yet I still keep trying to rationalize it and I can’t say anything without (in my mind) sounding like a slacker/freeloader. It was because I couldn’t insert the word “Work” in with what I was doing. I felt guilty for enjoying this creation that God gave us. That’s when I think about Genesis and Gods creation of this universe. Check it out. God creates everything first then he creates man. He creates man in his own image, he gives man dominion over everything. It seems clear to me that God Created Earth for man not man for Earth. That means God created this Earth for me to Enjoy he created each and every detail so I would have something to explore and see and experience and enjoy. Here comes my big revelation for the day and for the moment my big revelation on this trip. Are ya ready? Ya sure? Hold on to your seat it’s big, it’s revolutionary and can change your life if you truly believe it. If you’re not ready for a total and radical life change DO NOT READ ON!!! ________GOD LOVES ME!!!!________ What? That’s your BIG revelation! I learned that in Sunday school when I was 5 years old. So did I. But there’s a difference between memorizing a lesson and repeating it for others to hear and truly understanding and embracing it. I don’t know about you but I learned that God loves me while living in a world of conditional acceptance. I truly believe that my parents love me unconditionally no ifs, ands, or buts about it but other than that. Your teachers like you as long as you play along in class, your coaches like you if you can advance the team, your bosses like you if you can advance the company, Society likes you if you prove to be a productive member of society. Once any of those things stop others begin to look at you differently. But maybe, just maybe God loves me as I am for who I am. And maybe, just maybe God has sent me on this trip so he can show me how much he loves me. Not so I will spread his light across the country by serving others (Though he’s not against it.) Not to learn giant life lessons and return home changing the world, (I don’t think he’d be against that either) He didn’t call me out here so I would go hungry, or so I can sleep out in the cold. He sent me on this trip because HE LOVES ME!!! He wants me to enjoy his creation and know that he created it for me. The more I am able to enjoy it the more I am able to enjoy him. The more I am able to enjoy him the more I can embrace the fact that he truly loves me. The more I can embrace the fact that God loves me the more I fall in love with him and the more I fall in love with him the more natural it becomes to tell the world that ______HE LOVES THEM TOO!!!_______. So it’s a selfish act on Gods part? If you call wanting your children to know you love them selfish then yes it’s a selfish act. But if anyone has the right to be selfish it’s the creator of the universe so who am I to argue.

So here’s my plan for the rest of the trip. I of course will seek to be a wise steward of what he has given me but I will not be a slave to it. I will go where I feel compelled to go (Unless God tells me otherwise) and I will ENJOY MYSELF!!! While telling others about this incredible gift God has given me and I will not feel guilty about it. In doing so I will have my “God Encounter” that I am looking for. May you have the exact same encounter. May you wake up one day and know REALLY KNOW!!! THAT THE GOD OF THIS UNIVERSE _____LOVES YOU!!!!_____

What are you looking at?

2009-10-29T14:28:00.000-05:00

I was doing my reading this morning in Isaiah and I saw something that struck me so I felt the desire to share my revelation with you. In Isaiah 20:3: Then the Lord said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia…” Isaiah walked naked for three years. For three years “Gods Servant” never put on a piece of clothing, NEVER!!! Now I don’t know about you but if I see someone walking down the street naked I’m going to the other side. I am making an instant judgement of the person based on his appearance without even asking him why. “What’s your purpose in being naked? In this case God told him to and it was because God was trying to make a point. God does this throughout the bible with his prophets. John the Baptist dressed in Camel skin and ate wild locusts and honey. Then he would stand on a corner and yell out the kingdom of God is at hand. (I seem to avoid those people as well.) He had another prophet marry a prostitute (Hosea), etc… All these people were messengers of God but according to anyone’s standards all these people were freaks. Most of us would do whatever we could to avoid them and when we see them quite often we laugh and run off and tell our friends “You’re never going to believe what I saw “I saw John on the corner yelling” Yes, he’s back can you believe it! You can probably already guess where I’m going with this. But I’m going there anyway. Earlier I read again in Isaiah 11:1-3 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and might, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, AND HE SHALL NOT JUDGE BY THE SIGHT OF HIS EYES, NOR DECIDE BY THE HEARING OF HIS EARS; … I have recognized my tendency to Judge and am desperately trying to fight against it but it’s subtle and very easy to do. This is the best reminder I have seen of just how much I can miss by listening to my first impression or the first impression of others. How about you? Where do you stand with this? Are there neighbors or co-workers that you have avoided because they seem to be a little off? Does the person running the cash register at your grocery store seem a bit different? Have you ever listened to the guy yelling on the street corner? Take a few minutes to get to know them and the heart they speak from. You may learn a bit about yourself and our God.

(Obviously practice wisdom. Some people should not be approached alone because you don’t know them.)

Hiking the Dam

2009-10-29T13:17:00.001-05:00

So, I was spending a few days in Boulder City, NV and camping at Lake Mead. When I notice a trail that leads to the Hoover Dam. It’s only a 3.5 mile trail so I figure “Why not, Tomorrow I’ll take the trail to the Hoover Dam.” I wake up the next day and figured I would go ahead and walk to the Trail Head from my campground since it was just a couple miles up the road. I begin my walk and see an Entrance to the beach. “Hey I’ll walk the beach to the trail head that sounds like more fun.” So I work my way over to the beach and have a great time watching the sailboats along the way (There was some sort of race happening.) I get to the end of the beach and of course come to a patch of difficult walking. Through tall weeds, mushy ground, dirty, trash spread around the area, etc… Finally I make it around all this and into the Marina. I decide to head into the Marina and ask if I can catch the trail there or if I need to walk the half mile reverse of the trailhead to catch the beginning. They told me I would need to walk back or climb up the very difficult rocky incline to hit the trail. I of course decide to go up the incline. I don’t know about you but I have always hated the idea of walking backwards to move forward. Some call it lazy I like to call it efficient. So I begin the climb and it wasn’t really all that bad I make it to the trail and begin walking. Now this is an old railroad trail that they used to build the Dam. After the dam was complete they took out the rail and made it a walking trail. It was my understanding that this was a smooth trail that walkers, runners or bikers could take. But I’m walking on rocks. It’s not a hard walk but definitely not the smooth trail I was expecting. As I continue I see the trail split in two directions and it’s not labeled which way to go. So I take a guess and think wow these guys are not good at marking the trails. I move forward and it happens again. Now I’m climbing a pretty steep embankment after the climb I go down an even steeper one. I can’t believe trains ever followed this thing it seemed too steep for a train and the turns too sharp. I found myself sliding down the hill if I didn’t hit a solid rock.. After about two miles of this type of terrain I turn a corner and merge onto a smooth trail. I see another couple walking the other direction and I realize that I just landed on the real trail the other was not a trail at all but work paths for the electrical lines workers. The rest of the walk was smooth just as I had expected and I saw runners, walkers, bikes.

How many of us as we try to walk a path to God decide to take a short cut? We think “I can veer off the trail just a little bit right here and it wont hurt that much because my eyes are still on the trail. Next thing you know you’re walking a pretty rough path back to where you once were. Here’s the thing God has built a clear path to him through his son Jesus Christ. He tells us just stay on this trail and you will make it to me. The world we live in/Satan has put along this path some very enticing things to pull us off the trail and he puts them just barely off the trail so we don’t think it’s a big deal to take a small step off. But when we do we see something else a little further away and we go there and then something else and then another something. Next thing you know we can’t even see the trail we used to be on we don’t think we can ever make it back so Satan then moves in and says you might as well give up on the trail. My first word of advice is this. Don’t leave the trail! But we all know that isn’t going to happen. We all at some point in our journey are persuaded off. Which leads me to my second point. When you do fall off the trail and Satan is saying just give up. Tell him to shut up and then yell out to the trail. That’s right yell out to the trail. Our trail is alive and he will answer back I’m over here. Then he will tell you how to get back on the path. It may be a rough journey back but you’ll find it’s a rewarding one. I had fun on my pseudo trail to the dam but it was tough and I didn’t take it again on my way home.

Where are you on your journey? Have you wondered off the trail a little bit. Don’t worry about it. GOD STILL LOVES YOU! He’s waiting for you to turn around and walk into his arms so DO IT! Are you doing pretty good? You’re still on the trail. Look around for those that have fallen off. Let them know where the trail is and then offer to help them back.

Well Gang that’s my two cents worth. Hope you’re having a great week. Don’t forget Lets “Live it upside down!”

Angels Landing

2009-10-21T14:05:00.001-05:00

As I believe most of you know I have been in Zion National Park the last few days. Let me tell you this park is appropriately named. It’s beauty is spectacular and I will be posting some photo’s on my Facebook account soon. Yesterday I went on a hike to a destination known as “Angels Landing” This was not a hike for just anyone. It’s only 2.5 miles one way but it has an elevation gain of just under 1500 feet. Parts of the climb are steep but paved so a steady pace will do ya. Most anyone can make this part of the climb because you can stop and rest as often as you like. (I am proud to say I only stopped once and no one ever passed me.) That part of the hike is just under 2 miles. After this part of the climb is a short 1/8^th mile climb on some rocks where you have to think about your steps and even use your arms a tad bit to climb. I would say that at least half the people stopped at this point and wouldn’t continue on. Some because of health or just plain inability to accomplish this type of climbing and the other half because of fear. I went on this stretch reached the top sat down and enjoyed the view thinking I had completed the hike. After a minute of sitting and chatting with a couple beside me we notice a group of kids heading back and wondered where they came from. We walked around the ledge and saw in front of us another peak. It looked like a giant pile of rocks that almost went straight up meanwhile another couple passes us heading that way. We had basically another ½ mile to go and it was close to straight up. I let out this audible “ohh wow” and moved forward with a bit of excitement about the task at hand. The other four let out the same “ohh wow” and followed it with a “No way” Since they had made it this far it was clear they had the ability but fear was stopping them. They asked “Are you really going to do this?” I made it this far I’m not going to stop now. After I had gone a ways they yelled “turn and wave we want a photo” So I did and I yelled back “It’s not as hard as it looks the footing is solid come on” They wouldn’t. I move on and they yell for another photo. After I’m about half way up the climb is soo cool I let out another Wow! Two guys a little ahead of me look down and yell It’s soo worth it come on. They assumed I was about to turn. Huh uh I’m going all the way. You see what’s happening? I love what’s going on and try to encourage others to come along. The two ahead of me love it so much they try to encourage me. I catch up with them we chat for a moment then carry on to the top. Once we reach the top we just sit there and enjoy the view. We made it! We were a part of the minority the climb was challenging but oh so much fun and the view Incredible. We take some photo’s chat awhile and then turn to head down.

I could have stopped where the others did and if I didn’t see the kids coming by never would have known the difference. But they did and I did. I could have chosen to not take the challenge and still had a great view and a great time. Everyone that had made it that far was smiling. You knew they meant it when they said “I’m great” they truly felt alive. They had even forgotten how hard the climb was up till that point because the reward was so great. But I would have always known I chickened out. I would have always wondered what it was like on top of “Angels Landing” I would have been the one taking pictures of some guy doing what I wish I had the courage to do. This isn’t a “Go for it” speech. I’m not going to say push your fears and the reward will be great. Ok maybe I will right now but that’s not the point. As I was climbing that second part I realized this is what our spiritual life is like. We accept Christ and begin the climb up. At first the climb isn’t too difficult and when the incline seems to increase our excitement of the new adventure can usually carry us through. Then we reach a landing a place where we can rest (A Mountain Top experience) We know we’re not there yet we see others pass us by but we need to rest we need to experience the joys of the view. Nothing wrong with that experience what God has been doing and live in that glory. Then a time comes when God calls us to begin the journey again. Some of us drop off. We are happy right here we are tired of the work the challenge so we stay. Others begin the climb again suddenly they reach what they think are the mountain top they stop and enjoy the moment (Great bask in God for awhile) Then they notice others moving on. They are surprised to see another mountain top. Some look and say “Ohh wow” and begin the climb others are fine where they are. You see where I’m going. I’m not going to sit here and say get off your butt and begin the climb again. I know it can be a challenge. I know it can be scary. What I am going to say is just what the guys ahead of me said. “It’s so worth it!” Begin the climb you’ll find it’s not really as hard as you thought it would be it will be challenging and “I assume” that each new stage will be more of a challenge than the last. But the last stage prepared you for the current. Don’t sit back and take photo’s of that one person taking the climb ahead of you and silently wish you could be him. You can be! God has prepared you for the climb. He has equipped you for the climb! And if there is anything he forgot to give you (Ha!) He will be right next to you to hand it to you at the moment you need it. Come on! What do ya say? Lets climb together! It’s always more fun with a partner anyway. Oh and if you are one of those that happen to think you’ve made it. You’re at the top. I have just one thing to say. “Look Up” and begin the climb.

Spiritual Warfare is alive & well!

2009-10-21T13:07:00.000-05:00

Just last week I told you about my experience in Monticello, UT and about what a certain church was doing to stand in the gap. I believe I mentioned my conversation with Pastor John who told me that the entire four corners area was under an oppression because of the practicing “Witch Doctors”, “Spiritual Ceremony’s”, as well as the Mormon Stronghold. I was very aware of the situation. By the time I left Monticello, I had walked the town and prayed enough that while I still could feel the oppression I could also feel Gods presence. Pulling out of town it was almost as if I could feel a hug from God as he was saying “You did all I requested. Well Done” So with all that in mind Let me ask you. “Why did I let my guard down?” I left Monticello and went straight S to Chinle, AZ Monument De Chelly. Chinle is in the heart of the four corners area (Where four states join together.) I’m in a great mood the whole ride, the weather is great. I get to the area find a great camping spot in a free campground everything looks great. I hop on my bike and ride to a few of the lookout points trying to catch a little bit before the sun goes down. The more I ride the more I begin to feel frustrated. I turn onto a lookout road and grow frustrated that I still need to ride a mile down the road to get to the viewpoint. I begin to ask myself “Why are you growing frustrated?” I have no answer. Calm down Larry. I get to the campground walk around for awhile, listen to a podcast, Then go to bed. I am on edge all night hearing every noise. I even hear the coyote (I think) that came into the campground and stole almost all my food and my $100 water purifier because it was in my food bag. No big deal, I shake it off Find some oatmeal I had separate from the rest of the food. Make breakfast and begin roaming. I feel ok at the beginning of the day my head is kinda full but no biggie it was cold overnight it’ll clear up as the day goes on. But the more I roam the more I feel like I’m getting a bad head cold. I try to pray it off but it doesn’t leave. I ask God why not? You love me, you want the best for me I see no reason why you wouldn’t want to heal me, Please do so? Nope it just continues to get worse. Finally I decide “Well I’m not going to hike today because I feel this way and I’ve ridden to most of the View points I can I might as well leave (I had planned on staying for the night.). I go to the camp ground and somewhere on the way it hits me. “I think this is a spiritual thing. It’s the oppression in the area.” I begin to pack up my tent and the head cold is disappearing but I can’t concentrate. It usually takes me about 30 minutes or so to load my bike this time because I literally had to think through every step it took me over an hour. By now I know it’s the oppression but I don’t think I prayed it off I just knew I had to run. I finally hop on my bike fill up with fuel and leave. I’m hungry but I know I can’t take the time to eat I have to get out of there. I hit the road and guess what… With-in 15 minutes I feel fine. Now I just want to get out of the four corners area. I pray for protection. I pray for the town and I continue to leave. I don’t quite make it out of the four corners before I have to stop for the night but now I am praying and praying and praying for protection over the night. I get a text from a friend telling me he’s praying for me and I am relieved I text back and say “Thank You Randy” the next morning I get another text from a friend saying he is praying for me. I think my friends knew I needed prayer. Here’s Satan working. I want to text my support group and say pray but I just did a week ago for the same thing I don’t want them to think I’m losing it so I don’t. Thankfully at least some of them knew anyway. I think all probably did those are just the one’s I heard from.

I have so many different directions I could go right now but here is where I want to go. Here is the question. Why did I let my guard down? In Monticello I was standing bold taking my authority in Christ seriously. In Chinle I was running scared (Even though I had warning it would be that way). The answer… Despite what I had already experienced in Monticello and at other times in my life. I wasn’t taking this whole spiritual warfare thing seriously. My head knew it existed but my heart hadn’t really embraced that I am called to be a warrior on the front lines. Therefore I was primed for a surprise attack and that is exactly what happened. Let me give you a word of warning. I am not the only one called to the front lines. If you are reading this and you consider yourself a follower of Jesus Christ. You are called to the front lines! Yes you! The enemy has you in his sights. If you are moving toward God the enemy is moving toward you. I promise you the attacks will be subtle but they will be real. Really you’ve already been under attack. Do you go to pray and get distracted? Go to study your bible with the same result? Feel the urge to talk to someone about God but then find 20 reasons why not? These are all examples of an attack. Take it seriously. Pray into it every day. Ask God to protect you from the enemy and to make you bold ready and willing to advance at every opportunity. If you haven’t yet said that prayer stop what you are doing right now and do it. I don’t want to be caught off guard again. There is no reason we should ever be afraid with Christ as our leader yet I was running like a coward. God help me to see the unseen and be ready today and every day for the battle at hand. I thank you that you are my Commander with you at my side leading every charge we cannot be defeated. I know you wont ever leave my side help me to not drift away from yours.

For you Lord for you!

2009-10-16T10:07:00.000-05:00

How many of you like me when you are praying for someone or something feel the pressure to make it a lengthy prayer? For me at least it sometimes feels like I’m not giving my friend or the situation it’s proper attention if I don’t spend at least X amount of time in prayer. Now the question is “Does God need to hear all those words in order for our prayers to be effective?” Of course not! God doesn’t need any of it. But he does want to partner with us. He wants us to be involved thus the reason for him asking us to pray. Remember what we’ve been talking about lately? Learning how to listen to God in prayer and then praying what he tells us to pray. What I’ve found myself doing is hearing God say “Pray for so and so to get a job” Rather than Responding with God please be with so and so and allow them to find that job that he/she is made for that would make them happy and be able to provide for their needs. (Which is still more than he asked me to pray) I feel the need to go into great detail about the specific job, a timeline for finding the job, the type of coworkers they get to work with, the income level, Oh and please provide it in such a way that it’s clear it came from you. Is there anything wrong with giving so much detail? Probably not. Other than if God doesn’t answer in the exact way we prayed we are sometimes disappointed that God didn’t show up even when they get the job. Gods details are usually better than ours so receiving the job is a great answer even if the other things don’t work out because that is the job that God wanted you to have.

This whole topic really hit home for me this past week. The town I am currently in has a real spiritual stronghold over it. Not to the positive. I spoke with the Pastor of the church I am staying in and he agreed. This whole region known as “The Four Corners” is under an oppression for various reasons. The day I heard it I went out and begin to walk the town and pray. My prayers were big (I think I was under an adrenaline rush) I would walk by the Mormon Temple and pray that the statue on top would fall over as a symbol of God taking the town back. That the temple and both the Mormon churches in town remain filled but filled with followers of Christ. That the Mormon Seminary in town keep its current students but that they would realize the lies and become students of the one living God and that their lives be dedicated to exposing those lies. I was on a real roll. But the only thing I heard God ask me to do was to pray for the town. The next day I went out and began to walk the town in prayer again. This time nothing was coming to mind to pray but God was saying to pray for the town. So I walked around at the beginning with a lot of remember last nights prayer God… Ditto! I grew disappointed that the statue on top of the Temple was still standing and not even slightly tarnished. As I continued to walk I Began to pray “For you Lord for you” That was it God just asked me to keep repeating that phrase “For you Lord for you” Past the temple “For you Lord for you” Past the churches “For you Lord for you” through the neighborhoods “For you Lord for you” it didn’t matter where I was walking the prayer worked. The Businesses “For you Lord for you” As I began walking that night the same thing “For you Lord for you” As I began the next day God help my day to be “For you Lord for you” I have continued to pray for each of you but for the last two days my prayers for you have been that your lives be “For you Lord for you” and that’s how I want to leave this little note with you knowing that my prayers for you are simple “Lord be with them, Bless their Lives and help them to live each of their days “For you Lord for you!”

God Bless I hope you continue to have a great week and lets not forget to live it “For you Lord for you”

Standing in the Gap

2009-10-14T11:18:00.001-05:00

Talk about standing in the gap. Let me tell you about a little church in the town of Monticello, Utah. Monticello, Utah sits at the intersection of two highways 191 & 491 Until just a couple years ago it sat at the intersection of 191 & 666 someone finally had the foresight to change the name of one of the highways. Obviously the name doesn’t pronounce judgment on anything but in this case I do believe it was incredibly prophetic. Let me tell you a couple other points of interest about this town. Being in Utah it is of no surprise that it is heavily Mormon. However it is a surprise to me at least that the Bishops thought it an important enough stronghold to build a temple. Not only this but the Indian population in the area is very strong as well. With the heavy Indian population you also find quite a bit of witchcraft. Put those two things together and you have a town that is under some pretty heavy oppression. You also have a town that I believe God finds very important and is fighting for. It’s a battle ground for what they call the “Four Corners” the area that 4 different states come together CO, UT, AZ, NM. To show you just how important this little church is it runs the only radio station in town. A few years ago when they had decided to build a Mormon temple in town Pastor John received a phone call from someone simply telling him they needed a radio station and he would file the papers for a permit. Out of 180 some applications for special grant permits that year First Baptist was one of five that received a permit. Next they needed to build a tower. No one knew anything about how to build a tower or had any money to buy the equipment. Suddenly an old radio man appears and donates everything they need for the tower just things he had collected over the years. None of it was built for this purpose but it works. John designed and drew out the plans for the tower pad (Remember he has no experience) He sent them in for approval and they passed the inspector was surprised when he found an engineer didn’t draw them out. Finally 2 years later the station is up and they find the extra strain on their electric bill ($75 a month more) was stretching them too thin out of the blue a radio station a few miles away wants to bounce their signal off of the churches tower and pays them rent of $500 a month. The extra gives them money to buy equipment to do the job right. Out of the blue a man and his brother come for a visit and the brother gets a calling to stay and run the station. Rhett gets it to a professional sound but they have few listeners. Rhett has a passion for football and asks if he can broadcast the high schools games suddenly they have a following. Now the station is central to everything in the town. Pastor John Runs the political debates, they broadcast the city council meetings this station has become central to the community. Oh did I forget to tell you that the Bishop in town has told the members to not listen to the station? Guess what that did… You bet suddenly the listenership increased. What’s funny is they never set out a plan to do this. It’s clear God wanted it and he got it. This community that is against Christianity looks to the church because it’s the best option for them. The airwaves are saturated with God. How awesome is that? Now let me tell you about their newest passion. A group of men has begun taking fatherless boys out into the wild once a month and teaching them wilderness survival skills. Not only do they do this but they parallel the lessons with stories of how they relate to Christ. It’s really cool to hear about. Now they have a dream and an opportunity. There is a wilderness camp that has been offered to them for purchase and it just happens to be beside a members ranch. It is their dream to be able to open this up for boys every week. Partnering with churches that have men standing by to be mentors to these young men. I wish I could describe the program more clearly but can you imagine boys from across the country coming to this camp living the life boys dream of. Learning to rough it, to live off the land having instructors pointing out to them “See this horse and all the power it has. See how it is controlled yet at any moment could break lose. That is what it means to be meek. You have power it’s time to learn to control that power.” (One very tiny example of the types of lessons they teach the boys.) Then sending them home to their mentors that are aware of the lessons they were just taught and pick it up from there. They are at the beginning of this journey and they currently feel overwhelmed diving into a whole realm of issues. That tells me it’s God sized dreaming.

I haven’t given you an assignment this week just a bunch of stories or little lessons God has pointed out to me this past week. So here it is your assignment for the week. I ask you to pray for this church this little sanctuary in the middle of a war zone. Ask that God continue to bless their efforts in the community (Pastor John works in the hospital just so he can form relationships in the community.) That he continue to bless and grow the radio station. That the town begin to open up to hearing about Christ not just using the church. And that God show them the clear next steps to fulfilling this most recent dream. (I know he will as it is clearly him that has placed it on their hearts and already opened small doors. But lets pray for it all the same.)

I hope you’re having a great week Gang and once again Lets live it Upside Down!

Observations from a trail!

2009-10-11T16:35:00.000-05:00

I have spent the last two days hiking inside Arches National Park and let me tell you it is beautiful country. Who knew a desert could be so beautiful! I think I have ultimately hit every trail that you are allowed to go on in the park without receiving a special permit. Here is what I noticed. (You may think this is obvious but it’s still worth pointing out.) “The trails with the most people on them were the easiest trails.” Here’s another thing I noticed. “The trails with the most warnings attached to them were the one’s with the best experience.” Being a beginner in the world of hiking I naturally didn’t hit the hardest trail first. (I hit the second hardest) The trail I hit wasn’t dangerous by any stretch of the imagination and honestly most anyone could do it. The hardest part was a 480 foot climb that wasn’t gradual at all. But it wasn’t grab a rope and hold on for dear life either. I knew I could make the climb because I knew I could stop and rest if necessary. Time to brag a bit I had no need of stopping. Did I begin to breath heavy? You bet! But I knew I could push on and wanting to get back into shape I decided to not take it easy. I chose a steady pace and continued all the way to the top. The reward was another great view and the ability to get my picture taken under the most photographed rock/arch in the world (That right there should tell you it wasn’t too difficult of a climb). Day number one I hit every trail accept for two. One didn’t seem that exciting to me and the other was the hardest and longest one in the park. By then the day was almost over and I figured I wouldn’t see anything totally different on this trail than the others so I left. The next day I decided to go back after all I had no timeline for being anywhere and how fun would it be to say I hiked every trail in the park. So I go up to this trail read about it and see that there are two parts to the trail the easy hike but not for those afraid of heights and the primitive trail only recommended for experienced hikers. The primitive trail was an extra 2 mile loop added to the day. Needless to say If you ever see a warning that says “Not for those who are afraid of heights” Go on it! Can I say “Wow” the view was breathtaking and the whole time you are standing on a rock that is probably 100 yards long and 3 to 4 feet wide with no handrails. I decide to take the extra 2 mile loop on the primitive trail and find that it really is much easier than they make it sound yet I am all alone. I see one other group a father son team the whole time. Everyone else was afraid to take the hike. This time it was in the valley climbing stones walking up hill on a diagonal with no real base. Walking through timberland you didn’t know existed hopping small ponds it was a really cool hike. It gets me to thinking about my past. As an actor two of my favorite shows I’ve been a part of were shows I originally didn’t want to do. I saw them loved the show and then thought I hope I never have to do it. Next thing you know I’m being asked to do it. Not being one to say no I accept the part and see that I can do it after all. Were they a challenge? Definitely! But one’s worth taking. When I was a Technical Director I would often be presented with a set to build that had new challenges to it. I would have to learn a new skill in building or painting, etc… I would always look back at those projects with great pride because they forced me to stretch myself. I’m not saying these things to brag I think each and every one of us has these experiences and you know exactly what I’m talking about. So where are you going with this? I’m glad you asked. Why is it that we can take the challenge with one part of our lives but struggle with it in other parts? How many of you have heard God asking you to do something but the thought of doing it scares you too much? “Leave my job! But how will I get by?” “Talk to so and so about God! But I don’t know what to say.” “Give money to such and such but I need it to pay my bills” You get the point. I want to suggest to you that every time we come up with an excuse to not listen we rob ourselves of some great experiences. We rob ourselves of an experience with God. Too many of us are only willing to walk with God in our comfort zones and as a result we are living in an uncomfortable world. Do yourself and the world a favor take the difficult trail “The path less followed” Dive into God’s life with both feet you will never be bored and you will always have new story’s to tell. Remember what one man did some 2,000 plus years ago by saying yes to God and what his 12 disciples did after. It’s time to say yes. It’s time to live the life!!

Taking a photo!

2009-10-11T16:34:00.001-05:00

I hit Colorado a few days back and began to see these incredible views. Now that I am in Utah the amazement hasn’t lessened. God has created some incredibly beautiful country for us to appreciate. Now I’m pretty new at taking photo’s so I’ll admit I’m probably not the best at trying to figure out what to capture when in order to take the best photo. But I’ve been struggling with this. How do I capture in a single photo the incredible beauty that I’m looking at? Especially when it’s a vast openness that is taking my breath away. I don’t care how good the camera is or how experienced the photographer it just isn’t possible to capture the fullness of what you are experiencing. For one second lets imagine that it is possible (After all I have taken a few of what “I” consider to be breathtaking photo’s.) I am now in Moab Utah gorgeous country. Who knew the desert could be so beautiful. It is not possible to capture all of Moab Utah in one photo or even all of Arches National Park, or even all of the smallest hike in Arches. It’s not supposed to be possible. I think God created this incredible universe for us to encounter bit by bit, piece by piece. God also gives us clues to who he is in his creation. As I’ve been hiking the last few days I’ve been on top of mountains and seen miles upon miles of Gods creation all at once and been blown away by the sheer beauty of it all. That view made me want to hit the trails all the more so I could experience what I was seeing. But it wasn’t until I hit the trails and experienced what I had seen bit by bit that I truly appreciated the over all scenery. Before the hike all I knew was “It is beautiful” during the hike I saw the details. I noticed dried up river beds, pine tree’s sitting next to tumbleweed, and a sandy trail that ended in solid rock. I saw the stone had multiple colors in it, Gecko’s running at my feet and even an Eagle flying over head with a snake in it’s grasp. I could go on but you get the point. These hikes almost always had a point where you were “On Top” It was only then after being in the thick of it that I could begin to appreciate the details of the larger picture. Now I can notice the green scenery, I see the outlines of the creek beds, I notice the birds flying in front of me. So I can’t see every detail but I know it’s there and I can imagine the parts I can’t see (Because I know it’s there.) I would say that at one point in all of our lives we saw a big God we saw a God that was incredible, awe inspiring, overwhelming, and maybe even a little bit scary. It’s what drew us to him in the first place. How many of us have taking the hike? How many of us have taken the time to dive into God and begin learning the details that go with him. I would guess that many of us began the trip but soon grew overwhelmed and stopped preferring to view him from a distance. (The topic of my next post) Let me encourage you “Take the journey” dive into God learn the details of who he is. I could probably spend years in Arches National Park and never quite catch all the details but I will catch more and more and appreciate them more than “It’s a fun place to go 4 wheeling” (Which is what most here do) Likewise we can dive into God more and more everyday for the rest of our lives and we will never grasp the fullness of who he is. But we will appreciate the details of who he is that much more. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to just go 4 wheeling with God (Throw up the emergency prayers and sing a few songs on Sunday) That’s all well and good but I want to know those hidden details that draw the world to him. I want to know him intimately! Who wants to go hiking?

Rainy Day

2009-10-06T22:25:00.002-05:00

So, I'm riding my back down I-80 yesterday and the weather is not good. It's a very heavy mist the heaviest i've ever seen and not be considered rain. The road is soaked my pant legs are soaked but amazingly it really isn't all that cold even though the temp is in the 50"s. Radar tells me that the rain is going to stop with-in about 30 miles so I decide to push on. Next thing you know I see a spot of blue sky, with-in a couple miles the sun breaks through the clouds and I find myself singing out loud Hallelluia (Can't spell it but I can say it) After about 10 minutes or so the sun disappears again and I was very sad and disappointed I saw no option for it to come back But off to my left I saw clear sky and I so desperately wanted to turn but I couldn't the rd had me locked in the wrong direction. Then it hits me "This is just like our life with God" Before God we are driving down a rd Dark and cloudy we find God and the clouds slowly begin to break we see the sun for the first time and sing out in excitement and amazement over his beauty. Before long our old life begins to pull us back in we see the clouds moving in and we so desperately want to stop them but we feel trapped we're locked on a road that we can't change. Guess what happened to me yesterday. As I was processing this suddenly the Sun broke through the clouds and began shining directly on me. Right in front of me before it seemed of in the distance. You may feel like you are on the wrong road traveling away from God desperately wanting to turn in the right direction but you're trapped you can't get off the road. This is what's so cool about God. Look to him even when you feel trapped and he will break through the clouds. After awhile the sky will be blue and those struggles a distant memory. God will have broken through those clouds and he'll be shinning even brighter than when you first met him as if to say Welcome Home.

Are you struggling? Look to God he wants to break through those clouds and say WELCOME HOME!!!

On the road

2009-10-05T11:14:00.002-05:00

Hey Gang,

I am writing you from Kearney Nebraska. Nope I haven't made it very far yet cold has a tendency to slow you down a bit and now because of the rain I am sitting in a coffee shop and able to write you a note. First let me say Thank you to those of you that made it out to the Treasure Hunt Thursday night it was a good time. For those of you that chose to bless me with a monetary gift your generosity blew me away. Not only did it blow me away but it is the only reason I am able to write you from Kearney. After paying my bills for the next 2 months the only cash I have left is part of what you gave me. Isn't God good, he knew what I needed and he used you to give it to me.

Just an fyi I have changed my plans already. I checked the weather last night and saw snow in the direction I was heading so today as soon as the rain clears I will be pointing my bike South and heading to a new location. Don't ask where. I guess we'll all know once I arrive. For the first time in my life I am now working without a plan. (Unless you count avoid the rain and cold as a plan.)

This leads me to my assignment for the week. It's a selfish one this time. This week continuing the theme of prayer. I am asking that you pray for me. I am trying to walk with and seek God on this trip. My plans have already been erased putting me completely at his will if I can only listen to his guiding. Please pray that I don't get in the way and for his continued provision financially. That I grow an ability to engage everyone I come across. The bike and Bill's painting are great icebreakers.

Meanwhile my assignment is to pray for you. During the first half of my ride last night I went to do the normal thing and pray for myself yet God said "No, pray for your friends first" This is what I will be doing everyday this week you will be the first I pray for. Of course I don't say this to guilt you into praying for me. I don't want those prayers anyway. I say it so you know that you know you have an intercessor. Actually, hey that's an idea. (Can you tell I'm thinking as I type.) We have a great opportunity. As I know where I am heading I'll let you know. If you have someone in that state or city that you have been praying for let me know and as I ride through the state or that specific city I will be praying for your friend. If I'm in the city and they can meet I'll meet them so we can pray face to face. This wont work if we use the blog to update each other because I wont have daily access to my computer. But Facebook will work. If we aren't already friends on FB find me (Larry Rife from Des Moines, IA) and friend me. I can update FB from my phone and messages come straight to me. As I know where I'm going I'll update my status if you know someone that I can pray for leave a comment to my update. If you want me to meet the person I of course will need more info so send me a message with the info. This could work (The benefits of not having a timeline).

Ok Gang, it's time for me to check on the weather. Have a great week and of course "Lets live it Upside Down!

Continuing with the prayer theme.

2009-09-28T16:08:00.002-05:00

Howdy howdy Gang,

Before I say anything else I want you to right now stop what you are doing open your calendar and reserve 6pm for this Thursday. Write "Meet Upside Down Group outside Rock Bottom."

Now that you have done that it's time to talk about this weeks assignment. It's a continuation of what we've been talking about. First we sat still listened to God and prayed what we heard him say. Next we went for a walk and did the same thing. Now that we have had two weeks practice listening to God as we pray. It's time to do it as a group time to support each other and learn that we do hear from God even if we don't always recognize it as such. We are going to do this by going on a bit of a treasure hunt. I can't give you (Sorry wont) give you any more details than that at this point in time but I will tell you this is like no other treasure hunt you've been on. This can be very challenging mentally and really forces us to listen to God and is incredibly fun. After the hunt is complete those that want too will head on inside Rock Bottom for an evening of fun. To help you with your schedule our approximate time frame is Treasure Hunt from 6 to 8 then hang out after that till you're ready to leave.

The hang afterward part will serve two purposes. One it will give us a chance to talk about our experience on the hunt and Two selfishly I am making it a little bit of a party as well because it is my last chance to see everyone before leaving on my trip Friday morning. If you can't make it to the hunt please feel free to come to Rock Bottom. I will also reveal a painting that Bill Butler (Thomas Lift) did for the Upside Down Group. It's a painting that talks about what the group is all about and let me tell you it is incredible. Better than I could have ever imagined.

You don't have to rsvp to come but I would appreciate it if you did. This way we can know what to plan for and know who to look for. If you want to come but are going to be late late me know that as well we may be able to make arrangements for you to join a group already on the hunt.

Thanks all have a great week and as always "Lets live it Upside Down"

Walking and Praying (Easier than chewing gum)

2009-09-23T16:19:00.000-05:00

Welcome Gang,

Did we have a good experience listening and praying last week? I know it can be a difficult thing to do at first “sit back listen to God and pray what he tells us to.” Really it’s counter intuitive. But then again I honestly can’t think of much about having a living breathing relationship with God that isn’t (At first). But the great thing about God is the more we embrace this “Upside Down Lifestyle” the more natural it seems to become. Don’t get me wrong there to a certain degree will always be that struggle but the more we embrace God and his lifestyle the less that pull will become.

This week I want to challenge you to do one of two things. If you are still struggling with learning to pray as you hear God leading then stick with it. Each day sit down and invite the Holy Spirit to guide you in your prayers. Then just sit and listen don’t speak until you hear God tell you what to say. “But how will I know it’s him and not me?” You will know. Even if you don’t know for sure go ahead and pray it. As long as it doesn’t go against God feel free. But I think God can speak in such a way to make it clear. For those of you that are comfortable with listening prayer lets go ahead and ad some footsteps to it. Begin walking down the street and say the same thing. Holy Spirit Guide me on where to go and what you want me to pray as we walk. He might take you on a walk around the neighborhood and have you pray for your neighbors. But be open to him taking you right up to someone. The other day I went on a walk and began praying in this way. At first I found myself praying for friends and family specific needs that I knew they had. I also found myself praying for friends I haven’t thought about in years and praying for them in ways that I’ve never heard them express need for. Then I felt God tell me to turn left I knew where he was taking me. At the end of the block there is a man that lives in a tent in front of his house that has fallen into disrepair. I’ve waved at him from a distance and even said hello but that is all. I’ve always felt for him but never known what to do never been able to begin a conversation probably because of my own discomfort. So as I walked down the street toward his tent I thought “this will be the same” he may be home and I’ll wave but that is all. It wasn’t! I waved he waved back Then I don’t know if it was he or I who said something else but I found myself walking up to the tent he unzipped the door and we chatted for about a half hr. Was there a prayer or a big miracle? No prayer but a miracle I think so. I began a conversation with a man I’ve been wanting to chat with for very near a year. I kept looking for that prayer opportunity but never really heard God say go for it. He just wanted us to chat. It’s odd you would think that prayer would be the natural. I can think of plenty of things to pray about and I will pray for those things but God was just calling us to chat. One other time God led me to a homeless man that I chatted with and gave him some work to do at my house (Even invited him to church) More often though God simply points out things on my walk that I wouldn’t have thought to pray for, or he reminds me of friends from the past, or the struggles of current friends. Sometimes it’s not struggles he leads me to pray for but thanking him for blessing friends or myself or asking for blessing for friends, family or myself. I tell you all of this just so you can know what to expect as you go on your walk (Anything) God could ask you to do or pray anything just be open to it. He may ask you to hop in your car and drive across town or to stand in one place as he reveals himself to you.

There ya go. Your assignment for the week “Go out and pray as God leads you to pray” It will be fun I promise.

Have a great week and as always. “Let’s live it Upside Down!”

Here’s a little heads up for ya. Next week your assignment will be to go on a “Treasure hunt.” Some of you know what that is others will soon learn. Here’s a hint “It follows perfectly with what we are talking about.” I’ll send out a note in the next day or two asking you to set aside a certain day. This one is a group activity.

Once again, It's prayer time!

2009-09-14T11:10:00.002-05:00

Hey Gang,

As you may or may not have noticed I once again missed a blog last week. This time I even knew what to say and didn't get to it. That is because God gave me a great blessing last week but that blessing threw off my schedule. He gave me work. I now have a job that will keep me busy up till the time I leave for my trip. Can I just say we have a really cool God. I spend one night going over my budget and begin to be concerned about having any dollars in my pocket when I leave then bam the day after asking him about it he gives me work. Now when I leave in two weeks I'll actually have a little bit of money in my pocket.

This leads me beautifully to our assignment this week. You see things seem to happen when we pray. I mean really pray. I don't have scripture to throw out this time just experience. You see when I'm going through my day to day and praying through my day I don't always get a ton of response. But suddenly when I am in real need when my very soul reaches out to God in prayer I hear from him (Not always exactly how I hope too but I still hear from him.) What does this mean? Does it mean God only cares when we are in a state of desperation? I don't think so. As I think back on these times I ask myself "Is there a difference in how I pray" I can only speak for me but I have found the answer is a definite YES! I have found that my prayers change from "God do this for me" To "God help me" In other words I move from a list of specific requests to "God I need you please come and work in my life" My guess is that God wants us to realize just who he is. He wants to be appreciated, he wants to be loved, and he wants us to realize that his plans for us are better than our plans for us.

I hear ya Larry but how do I reach that point of prayer without getting to desperation first? I'm glad you asked. This is something I learned from a prayer class in my Church in Houston (The Houston Vineyard) I've always kept it in mind but rarely practiced. I was recently reminded of it while reading a wonderful book that a group of my friends are currently reading called "The Celebration of Disciplines" Rather than going to prayer with a list of specific requests try going to prayer with one specific request "Come Holy Spirit, Speak to me tell me how to pray" I know it sounds kind of strange "Praying to God asking him to tell me how to pray" But if you think about it it really makes sense. God already knows our thoughts right? God already knows our needs right? Well if he already knows these things then why do we pray? Prayer is a dialogue it's communication. God knows our thoughts but we don't know his. So I would like to suggest that prayer is opening the dialogue. "God you already know my issues and concerns tell me what you think about it." God then answers "This is what I think about it and this is what I want to do about it." To which we respond God this is what I hear you saying you are much smarter than me so please do it?" To which God says great now that we have that out of the way lets chat. What would you like to know about me? I would love to tell you all you want to know."

Don't agree with me? You don't have to. Here is what I would like to challenge you to do and your assignment this week. Try it out! Set aside a prayer time where you sit down with no specific request in mind no preset agenda and ask him "God how would you like me to pray?"

sit and wait to hear from him. Then pray what you hear. See what happens. I believe God will show himself in wonderful ways. If I'm wrong what are you out? A few minutes of sitting and listening to God? If that's all you're ahead of the game anyway.

Ok Gang hope you have a great week. Let's Live it Upside Down!

How do I respond?

2009-09-01T10:50:00.000-05:00

Howdy Gang, Are ya still here with me? Sorry I missed getting a blog out to you last week but the simple truth of the matter is my brain wasn’t processing well and I didn’t want to send something forced out to you. Not to worry there is nothing forced about this weeks note. It is something I’ve been processing for a couple weeks now and it is an assignment that I believe each and everyone of us are called to do. So Gang here it is, read it, think about it, pray about it and then please, please, please DO IT!

You may think I’m a little on the slow side in responding to this but hey it’s never too late right. Our topic and assignment this week is wrapped around the whole ELCA Convention and their decision to allow ministers who are in committed homosexual relationships. Don’t worry I’m not going to spend my time talking about how right or wrong this decision is and the scriptural basis for my belief. I’m sure you’ve been inundated with those debates. What I am going to talk about today is the sadness that has filled my heart. Yes because of the decision (Even after what seemed to be a vote clearly cast by God himself.) But more than that I have noticed that each time a divisive issue hits the church Satan takes it as an opportunity to show the world how judgmental the church is. Or points out that if the church can’t agree on these issues how is it possible that they are hearing from God? He gives people a reason (Albeit a terrible one) to turn from God. The church that seeks to honor God gets stuck between a rock and a hard place. They don’t seem to have a good response in their pocket. If I stay and don’t take a strong stand I am telling the world that the decision wasn’t a terrible one. If I pull away and no longer agree to be a part of the institution I am telling the world that we are intolerant. “But Larry all they have to do is explain the stance and let everyone know they love the person just can’t be a part of the sin” Yep they can try that approach and the world will still look at them and say “You are only wrapping your bigotry in nice sounding phrases” We have all seen and heard examples of this time and time again over the years. Meanwhile others in the church are responding however feels right. Some yelling out in righteous indignation others trying to explain to friends and coworkers the reason for their disappointment (No matter how calmly they try to explain the coworkers tend to still feel you’re just being judgmental) The only people that have the opportunity to say anything and not sound judgmental are those that are somehow (In this case) tied to the gay community (Working to promote AIDS awareness, or Have friends that are Gay, Have helped to advocate for laws protecting them from discrimination, etc…) These people have the opportunity to explain their stance and not sound judgmental because they have already proven they are not. But what about the rest of us? How do we respond? What about our church especially (at the moment) an ELCA church?

Here is my suggestion. If you’re not a pastor or a part of the church leadership. Our best response is to PRAY. Pray that when the issue comes up and you are around that God give you the best most loving way to respond and that he open their hearts to hear. Pray for the ELCA in general. That the leadership have their eyes opened to the lies that they have been fed. (Believe it or not they are acting in what they believe to be the best interest of the church and I think God as well.) If you are a member of an ELCA Church pray for your specific church and it’s leadership that they are given the wisdom to know how to best respond. Let your pastors know you are praying as well. If you’re not a member ask God if there is a specific church or pastor he would like you to pray for.

Here is what I find funny. I’m looking at this and thinking “How could anyone respond to this is a non damaging way and show the world that God is Loving and caring?” I have a hard time finding the correct response thinking we are in a corner on this one. Then I look to Jesus in Matthew 22 and again in Luke 20 it talks about the Pharisees trying to trick Jesus. They ask him a question that has no correct response “Should we pay taxes to ceasar?” If he says yes than he is a traitor if he says no then he goes against Rome. Yet he finds a way to respond that correctly puts his in accusers their place and later on asks them a question that they have no response to.

Our assignment this week and it is an assignment for all is to PRAY ask God to give our leaders just such an answer. To give them an answer that keeps the detractors at bay. Then to give them a question to ask that keeps this issue out of the church for good. Now I have a second assignment and this is for only those that feel led or called to do this. On Wednesday of this week (Tomorrow) Sept 2^nd at 6pm since it is the Largest ELCA in Iowa and from what I hear the fastest growing in the country. I am going to head over to Lutheran Church of Hope and pray specifically for it and it’s leaders. That God give Pastor Mike the wisdom and the courage to respond in the best possible manner. I assume that they have already given an initial response but it is far from over. If you can and feel called to it please feel free to join me I will be by the front doors at 6pm then begin walking the perimeter and praying. There is nothing fancy or organized about the evening. If you can’t come at 6 come earlier or later and pray. If you don’t find me or don’t know what I look like and are afraid to ask don’t worry about it just begin praying and leave when you are done.

Alright Gang there ya have it. Have a great week and as always Let’s live it upside down

A new shift to our assignments!

2009-08-18T10:19:00.004-05:00

As most of you know the Upside Down group at the core is about caring for others. It's about recognizing that in our fallen state we are selfish individuals who care more about working toward our own good than taking the time to help others. Despite living in this fallen state we choose to recognize that this is not the plan our creator has for us. He created us to focus on him and his creation to take care of his creation. With that in mind we have chosen to take the challenge and live that life. It is a process. We try to teach ourselves how to best live in this way. It's challenging, the only thing we know for sure is the best way to live this way successfully is to focus on our God and do what he tells us to do. Too many of us have lived this scenario backwards and as a result we have begun to burn out. We do do do do and then look back to see how happy God is with us then we do some more. But this isn't what God ever intended and what's funny is WE KNOW THIS ISN'T WHAT HE INTENDED! But we for some reason do it this way anyway. I remember about a year ago I was asked a question. It caused me to try and create a picture in my mind of what my life in God was like. I pictured God on his throne and me in front of it looking away from him at the world and doing what I could to help them. Painting the picture in my mind I was finally able to see what I was doing and I didn't like the picture. I knew it was not the picture God wanted. So I asked God "Help me to see the picture that you would want. Suddenly there was a slight shift. You see God was still there on his throne, the world was still out there and I was still in the picture. So it had all the same elements but the difference was my location. I was sitting on my fathers lap. Not only was I sitting on his lap but my head was resting on his chest. Do you remember doing that as a little kid on your parents lap? There was no place safer and no position more comfortable. After sitting like that for a little while I saw God reach out his hand and point. I sat up looked and saw who he was pointing at then I looked back at him and God gave me a little nod as if to say yep I want you to go help them. So I got up and went. That picture has become a goal for my life and my passion for the upside down group. Can you imagine that? An army of kids sitting in daddy's lap enjoying his presence and waiting for him to point.

Can we learn to enjoy our time in daddy's lap? Can we learn to willingly get up when he calls us to go? When he tells us it's time to stop and rest in him again will we learn to listen? I've found myself on all sides. Working tirelessly when he is telling me to rest, Refusing to get off his lap when he gives me an assignment, and resting in him waiting for the assignment. I know which is best and I know which gives me greater contentment. Yet I know even with this how easy it is to lose focus. This blog and these weekly assignments where created to serve one purpose they were created to help us as a community grow closer to our loving God and Savior and through that encourage us to effect our community and world through him. One thing I've noticed in passing out these assignment is that sometimes God will tell me to assign something the community as a whole needs to hear (Last week is a good example) But usually the assignments are a window into how god is working directly with me in my life and while these assignments are always a good thing to do they are not always what God is calling you to at the exact moment. Remember my goal, the dream of The Upside Down Group is to create an army of Gods children focused on and resting in him an army that is waiting for the call and jumps when they hear it (Sometimes he will call us to act as a group and others he will ask us to move individually.) That is why I'm giving you this window into my soul. Not because I think I have something you need to hear or because I'm this spiritual dynamo (Far from it) By watching others in process we learn and are encouraged to dive in as well. I would not be where I am today if it wasn't for some very dear friends that I've watched seek God and grow leaps and bounds. I've also watched them struggle, fall and God pick them up again. It has helped to truly understand and embrace Gods grace.

I didn't realize I was going here when I began to type but once again God somehow took control of my fingers. You are going to notice a slight shift in these assignments once again. On weeks that I think God has given an assignment specifically for each of us. I will say "This is an assignment for the group" other weeks you will hear where God has been working in me. I will still give an assignment and I challenge you to do it. It will help you to grow. But you know where God has you and if the assignment is to act but God has you in a place of rest do not let satan or anyone else guilt you into it. The flip is true as well if God says rest and we say act then rest. God always carries the trump card!

One other thing you will see. In about 6 weeks the look and feel of this blog will most likely change dramatically. I will try to still update once a week but there may be times when the updates span two or three weeks the suddenly you will see four or five updates back to back. Hopefully we will have a video option by then as well (Probably just on You Tube) You see I am going on a little trek. The last week in Sept (Unless God throws the trump card) I am planning on grabbing a backpack, hopping on my motorcycle and heading to the NW. Washington to be exact. I will spend a month in the mountains Just God and I for the purpose of seeking him sitting in his lap and checking to see where he is going to point. After our month in the Mtns we will hop back on the bike and work the coastline. No set schedule or planned stops other than Bethel church in Redding CA for a time. But the goal will remain the same spend the time God and I looking at his creation and watching to see where he points. Once the weather turns and spring is in the air my plan is to begin my journey back this way and begin steering The Upside Down Group in the proper direction. While this is a personal journey I believe there will be lessons in it for all of us so this will remain a public blog.

I ask for your prayers in this journey that God would protect me from harm, keep me and my bike healthy, and provide financially. I do plan on finding work here and there as well as I run out of money.

This leads me to our assignment for the week. This week I would like to challenge you to simply pray. Each day of the week go to God and ask him who you should pray for and ask him how he wants you to pray. Then pray! It's that simple. Set aside a prayer time for just that. Praying for others.

Alright my friends thank you for sticking with me on this incredibly long post and I promise I will try to not be so long winded from here on out (No guarantees though). Have a great week and as always Lets live it Upside Down!

2009-08-11T12:12:00.002-05:00

Alright gang here we go one more week one more assignment. I promise this weeks wont be as long as the last few actually it's sort of a repeat. Since beginning this blog we have I believe given out assignments that have to do with protecting your friendships 3 times now. But here's the thing each time we do someone writes back and says "Thank you for challenging me in this way. After reading the assignment I instantly thought of someone a friend that has grown distant because of a misunderstanding rather than confronting it I found it easier to let the distance grow. After your challenge I knew I had to give my friend a call..." Sometimes these go on to say "Our relationship has been restored" other times they say "It is now a work in progress" and I've seen "We have chosen to go our separate ways" But every time they were glad to finally take the step. It was a release they needed that they didn't even realize they needed. It's been a few weeks since posting an assignment like this but we still continue to hear stories. This tells me that we have hit on an area that Satan is attacking pretty hard. He is so subtle in this attack that we don't even realize it. He starts rumors that have no foundation on truth, he uses one word taken out of context and mixes it around to create a war between two groups of friends, Someone forgets a party and is now "choosing others over me", He must be mad at me he didn't say hi" You get the drift. These things that seem so terrible there can't possibly be an explanation... Until you talk to them and find out she had been sick and accidently slept through the party. He didn't say hi because he didn't see you. When you saw someone laugh and point at you they were telling someone else a joke that you had told them.

My friends, friendship is not something to be held lightly. Why do you think Satan is attacking them so hard. He created the phrase "Divide an conquer" Jesus nailed it when he said in Matthew 12: 25 "Every Kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. Now this is in a slightly different context than the situation he was speaking in but the truth still stands. He said "EVERY" "EVERY KINGDOM", "EVERY HOUSE". We are of the kingdom of God and when we stand together for him great things will happen. So Satan desires to divide us. As a community of believers grows strong they become dangerous. I don't know about you but I want to be dangerous and I know I can't do this alone. Why else do you think the author of Hebrews said in Chap 10 verse 24, 25 "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. When we gather together as believers we stir up Love and Good works. We feed off of each other. I personally don't think this is a call to corporate worship (Even though that is very important as well.) I think it is a call for believers to intentionally get together as friends so we can lift up and support each other.

So your assignment this week is to once again "Fight for your friends" confront anything that could be dividing you RIGHT NOW! Do not hesitate! Pick up the phone or send off an email to whoever and ask to meet with them this week. The longer you wait the easier it will be to just forget it. Yes this could be a matter of life and death. I am not exaggerating the point.

If you are a blessed person that at the moment is not struggling with this issue your assignment is to pray this week for these people. Pray for restoration of families, communities and friends. Ask that God place on each of our hearts someone that we need to talk to and that he give us the courage to follow through.

I hate to tell you this my friends but we are at war. It's an invisible war but a war all the same. It's time we treat it as so and strengthen our ranks. One last statement then I will let you get back to your day. If you are asking yourself "Is this someone that God wants me to reconnect with?" Ask yourself one more question? "Is this person a follower of Jesus Christ seeking to grow his kingdom?" If the answer is yes then let me be so bold as to say YES! THIS IS A PERSON GOD WANTS YOU TO RECONNECT WITH! It doesn't mean you need to be best friends relationships come in all shapes and sizes. Remember Matt 12:25 God is not a God of division so use that as a guide.

Alright, I broke my promise and grew long winded hopefully it was worth your while. Have a great week and of course "Lets live it upside down"

Don't be a freakin Idiot!

2009-08-04T13:33:00.001-05:00

Ok gang stick with me on this one I know I seem to be getting long winded and I promise to try and keep them a little shorter but this week is a challenging one. One that blew me away as God pointed it out. Hopefully this is just a reminder for everyone else because it seems so simple at the conclusion.

Let me set the background for you. We have Solomon the wisest King to ever live. God blessed him enormously because of his father David and because of his humility during the beginning of his reign. But over the years he lost his focus on God and allowed his wives to bring foreign Gods into Israel. 1 Kings 1 – 11 is the story of Solomon’s reign. At the end of his reign God told Solomon that he would hand Israel over to another King because of his unfaithfulness (1Kings 11:9 – 13). This is where we begin today. God Chose Jeroboam as the new king over Israel and sent a prophet to tell him this. The prophet even went as far as to tell Jeroboam why God was taking the Kingdom from Solomon (Because they turned to other Gods 1 kings 11: 29 – 40) In that same section God tells Jeroboam “Walk in my ways… and I will build for you an enduring house”.

God follows through on his promise and gives Jeroboam 10 out of 12 tribes of Israel leaving 2 for the family of David. Here’s the part that kills me (1 kings 12: 25 – 32) Since the temple is still in Jerusalem (Not a part of his new kingdom) Jeroboam fears the people will return to the house of David when they go to Jerusalem to worship so he sets up “Replacement Gods” for them to worship so they wont have to leave. Yes you are reading this right. God gives Jeroboam a gift and he is so afraid of losing that gift that he chooses to replace the very God that gave him the gift. This seems like a worse offense than that of Solomon who simply allowed other Gods into the kingdom (Still definitely not a good thing.) I read this and was shaking my head thinking “What a freakin idiot!” Then I remembered Everything in the old covenant speaks of the new. Israel is symbolic of all Gods family today. This means I am a part of Israel. Have I done what Jeroboam is doing? How much has God given me and rather than trusting that he will continue to provide I seek to find ways to secure it. God gave me a community of friends rather than trusting these friends will love me as I am I hide certain things about me from them. God gave me a business rather than trusting he will bless the business I do what I can to keep it going even if it means taking advantage of my employees or customers, He gave me a job but I take credit for someone else’s work to get ahead or I talk about my coworkers so I can look better. He gave me finances and asked that I give a small part of them to others but instead I keep it all because I fear they wont use it right or to safeguard the house and car he gave me as well.

Here’s the thing. Not trusting God to continue to care for us does two things it hurts us and it harms others. Jeroboam lost his kingdom (1 kings 13: 1- 7) and Israel turned their hearts to other Gods. But by trusting God you will receive blessings that you would not have otherwise and it will bless others as well. 1 kings 17: 8 – 16 Elijah goes to a widow and asks her to make him some food. The widow tells him she is about to make the last of her food for her and her son after this they will starve to death (They were in a famine) But Elijah said make it for me first and you will be fine. She does and then finds that her oil and flour didn’t disappear. It says they ate for many days and the oil and flour never disappeared. Elijah listened to God and went to the widow and he, she and her son were all blessed. But Elijah had to go first for that to happen. The widow listened to Elijah and made him food before she made herself and son food then Elijah, her and her son were blessed but she had to make the food first. If you continue in the story you see another blessing that would not have happened if the widow did not trust God. Her son grew sick and died. Elijah raised him from the dead. Again this would not have happened if sometime earlier the widow had not decided to give Elijah the last of her food.

All this to lead you to your assignment of the week. “Trust God” Duh, I’ve heard that before Larry and I am daily trying to do just that. Ok lets give it a specific. One thing to grab a hold of. What has God given you that you are holding onto too tight? Maybe your finances? You don’t trust God to provide if you give back 10%. This week find someone in need or a few people in need and give them some money. Maybe it’s your friendships. This week it’s time to open up. Maybe it’s your car. Loan it to someone who needs a ride. As we recognize Gods gifts and as we realize that God is not an “Indian Giver” we will learn to trust him more and we will get more blessings in return.

Have a great week Gang and as always. Lets Live it Upside Down!

Just do it!

2009-07-28T13:29:00.002-05:00

Ok Gang, Sorry this is a day late. Maybe it’s cause I was tired or maybe it’s cause the assignment just wasn’t meant to go out yesterday. But as I thought and thought about the assignment my mind grew more and more blank. So finally I just shut down and said we will try again tomorrow. Now tomorrow is today and I woke up with one certain assignment in mind. No scripture to go with it just a you know what to do now do it kind of thing.

We have spent much of our time the last few weeks focused on listening to God. This tells me that if we have been following the assignments; "we have been hearing from God". Hearing is one thing following is something completely different. I have a strange feeling that each of us have been hearing something from God for much longer than just the few weeks the Upside Down Group has been focusing on listening. But have we been diving into what he is saying. If he is telling you to spend more time with him are you doing it? If he is telling you to reach out to someone have you done it? What has God been telling you to do? It doesn’t matter if it’s been the last couple of weeks or the last couple of years if God has been telling you to do something it’s about time we do it.

I know, I know easier said than done. True! But we need to remember who is telling us to do it. If Abraham had ignored God when he said to leave his home where would Israel be? Nonexistent! If David had ignored God when he said to fight Goliath would he be the family tree of Christ? Gods people said no to entering the promised land the first time and they were left roaming in the desert for 40 years. Then they decided to fight and they gained their own land. Israel quit listening to God and they struggled. They turned back to God and they were blessed. We see this time and time again throughout scripture. Now I don’t want anyone to read this and think for a second that I am saying God will curse them if they don’t follow his prompting. But I do want you to realize that by not following you will miss his blessing that is tied to it. But more than the physical blessing we will miss the joy tied to knowing our Lord and Savior in a more intimate way. Hopefully one day the joy of walking hand in hand with my God will out way my desire to be prosperous and safe here on Earth. I will admit that I have a long way to go before that happens but I also know that it will never happen if I chose to play it safe. I must get to a point where I realize that playing it safe is far more dangerous than taking risks whenever God is involved (Hmm, sounds like upside down thinking doesn’t it)

Our assignment for the week? Do what God is telling you to do (Even if it doesn’t make sense) Step out have a good time and most of all lets not forget to “Live it upside down”

How much do you remember?

2009-07-20T11:25:00.000-05:00

Here we are once again leading into a new week. As I write this week I am thinking of something that God put on my heart about two or three weeks back. I’ve come close to posting it a time or two but then couldn’t figure out exactly how it fit in with our mission. Once again these assignments are ways to help us focus on God and this will definitely help with that. But we also want them to ultimately help focus you on others and this is where this assignment may fall a little short. But of course when focusing on our creator nothing falls short. RIGHT! With that in mind lets continue on.

During my last read through of the Old Testament something that Gods people kept doing seemed to stand out to me. (Gen 12:7 “Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said to your descendants I will give this land. And there he built an Altar to the Lord”, Gen 26:24 – 25 And the Lord appeared…. So he built an Altar there. Gen 28: 16 – 18 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said “Surely the Lord is in this place”…. Then Jacob rose early in the morning took up the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. Ex 17:14 – 16 Then the Lord said to Moses… and Moses built an Altar and called its name “The-Lord-Is-My-Banner. Joshua 22:26 – 34 … Let us now prepare to build an Altar, nor for burnt offering nor for sacrifice, that it may be a witness between you and us… ) These are just a few examples, Gods people kept building altars to him when he showed up. Why? It seems to me that his people built altars for two reasons. 1. As a place to go worship. 2. As a marker of remembrance. Both are great models that we should follow today. I do think we should each of us have our own place set aside that we go to worship God. But we can go more into that at another time. Today I want to focus on #2. It seems that those closest to God realized just how bad of a memory they had and they recognized the importance of memorializing his actions for us. So when God showed up they would leave a marker of sorts to help them remember and I believe as a statement to others that God is indeed in this place. How do you think Jacob felt when he finally came back home some 20 years after fleeing from his brother he arrives in Bethel and sees the pillar he set up to God who appeared to him in a dream and promised him safety, prosperity and a return home. The promise has now been fulfilled. One look at that marker had to bring back a flood of memories.

If it was so important back then why have we forgotten it today? Some larger organizations still do it. A corporation when setting up a building will still mark the corner stone with their name and the date the foundation was laid. I know of businessmen that frame the first dollar they ever made. But what about God? Over the years I’ve been terrible at journaling (A marker of sorts) But I can pick up the journals I have written and be reminded of so many things God did that I’ve forgotten. My faith gets renewed and I can walk once again with a boldness I had lost. But that takes time to sit and read (Which is well worth it of course.) But it’s not that quick reminder in a time of need or weakness. What do we do then? Why not build markers of remembrance? I recommend we set up two markers. (One will work) When God comes to you, when he speaks, or does something powerful in your life stop a moment look around and mark the area in your mind then if at all possible place a marker there (a rock, carve something in a tree, plant a bush, etc…) This way whenever you walk past this area what God did will rush back into your brain. You’ll find you love to go there because of the memories it brings. Next how about creating a “God scrapbook” When he speaks or moves find something that will remind you of the moment and place it in a scrapbook. (Take a photo of the area then write under it what happened, grab some grass where you were standing and place it in a baggie, a small rock, write a poem about it, whatever works for you) Maybe build a collage and hang it on your wall, ad to it every time God moves. This becomes a great remembrance for you, a great way to teach your kids, and a beautiful witnessing tool. “What do you mean Gods not real? Let me show you my scrapbook or would you rather go for a walk?”

Do you doubt the importance of markers? God doesn’t, read Gen 9:12 – 17 and you find the first rainbow. Read Gen 32:22 – 30 he gave Jacob/Israel a permanent limp as a marker. How about Passover? Read any of the Gospels and Christ gave us the Lords Supper. God is telling us the importance of markers I think it’s time we listen.

Long story short; This weeks assignment is to begin building markers of remembrance to our incredibly awesome God.

Have a great week and as always… “Lets live it upside down”

Swallow your pride!

2009-07-13T11:22:00.001-05:00

Here is one rule in life that I’m sure we’ve all heard “Never assume anything”. I remember hearing that many times over the years and usually it was after I had made a bad assumption (“I assumed you knew you were welcome”, “I just assumed you got the message”, “You haven’t been around so I assumed you…”, I just assumed you knew how much I appreciate you, Etc…,) Inevitably whenever anyone got caught making a bad assumption you knew you were going to hear someone say “Never assume anything cause we all know it makes an ASS out of U and ME.” It was a safe assumption. So why is it that we are so prone to making assumptions? I think it’s because it’s easier to assume than it is to converse. After all if I assume someone is mad at me why would I want to ask them? It will only encourage them to yell at me and create an uncomfortable situation. If someone is disappointed in me I don’t want to feel worse about my screw up by talking to them. We would rather live without the confrontation because then we don’t know for sure. Unfortunately that’s usually when the damage begins to happen because we talk as if we do know for sure. (“So and so is mad at me for such and such and I think it’s kind of petty that he/she wont talk to me about it?”, “Fine if that’s the they want it two can play that game.”, Etc…) The whole time we are thinking this way party #2 is sitting innocently in the background completely unaware that such a fury is growing. What can we do to stop this behavior, these misunderstandings? The answer is simple yet incredibly complicated. It’s something that has evaded mankind from generation to generation. Even after I spell it out here and now most of us will still miss it. We’ll laugh when we read it and say “I already knew that” but when the time comes to remember, it will be forgotten once again. The answer “Pick up the phone”, or “Knock on the door”. Find them tell them that you are beginning to wonder if something is wrong and then give them a chance to respond. When we do this the assumptions will end. Why do we always seem to forget this simple rule at the moment of truth? PRIDE! It’s that simple. Next time you are in this situation take a moment and say “Larry swallow your pride” (You can even use my name if it helps but inserting your name would be better.) then immediately, DO NOT WAIT! DO NOT STOP, SKIP JAIL, DON”T COLLECT TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS GO STRAIGHT TO YOUR FRIEND AND CLEAR THE AIR!!! Lets take the time to help others as well. If we hear a friend spewing out what seems to be a bunch of assumptions. Stop them and ask “Do you know this for sure or are you just assuming?” It will make them think. Then gently remind them to swallow their pride and pick up the phone.

You may think you just received your assignment for the week and yes if you recognized that you’re living with assumptions you did receive an assignment. But not the Upside Down Groups Assignment of the week. Actually, I didn’t mean to go there. I was setting up the assignment and that’s what happened. I saw it going there and thought “Hmmm, let it ride and trust that the Holy Spirit is leading you there.” Which does lead us beautifully into the assignment. You see nine times out of ten it’s not good to assume. But there is a time that assuming isn’t a bad thing. That’s when the outcome is positive either way. For example: Have you ever been in a coffee shop noticed someone and thought “They look like they could use a lift. I should buy their coffee for them”? In that case it is safe to assume that the Holy Spirit is leading you to buy someone a coffee. What could it hurt? If it’s the Holy Spirit he is planning something to come from that (You may not see the outcome.) If it’s not you still brightened someone’s day. What usually happens (At least with me) Is I’ll be walking down the street and hear “You should go up and talk to them.” Instead of assuming I heard from God I assume it was a random thought and decide not to. Why? Because it’s easier that way. If it’s from me I run the risk of making a fool of myself. But on the flipside if it’s from God you could be partnering with him to change the world. My advice: Swallow your pride! I’m going to make one more promise. The more you step out and are willing to assume you did hear from God the more you will learn to recognize his voice when it does come (His sheep follow him because they know his voice John 10:4). Ask yourself, “What is he asking me to do? Will it lead to good? Will it lead to harm?” if it leads to good assume it was God.

The Assignment: Listen for that still small voice of God then follow what it says. I wish I could tell you what he will be asking but he’s God and his clues are sooo much better than mine. I will say try not to limit his voice to specific areas it could vary from asking you to serve someone all the way to allow someone to serve you and many, many things in between.

OK Gang, there ya go. Have a great week and as always lets Live it Upside Down!

A few fun verses about his voice.

1 kings 19: 11 – 13

John 18: 37

Rev 3:13

Rev 3:20

Shut up and Listen

2009-07-06T15:16:00.003-05:00

Last week our assignment was to walk and pray for those we saw as we were walking. This week it's a slightly different experience. You see I don't think any of us have too big of a problem talking to God. I know that I rarely have too hard of a time telling God what I want and when I have a question I don't hesitate to ask away. "God why?, what?, who? when? where? HOW?" But I do struggle with actually shutting up and listening for his answer. From what I hear I'm not the only one with that issue. How many of us have ever successfully formed a solid relationship by talking and never listening? The best friendships are formed with dialogue. Two way communication. Now if we are to assume that God is seeking a relationship with us and if we are seeking a relationship with him. Then it's safe to assume that God wants to talk to us as much as we want to talk to him (Maybe even more)

With that in mind our assignment this week is to "SHUT UP AND LISTEN!" Set aside a specific amount of time to just sit and listen to God this week. I recommend a minimum of 30 minutes but if you have more time take it because 30 minutes is barely enough time to clear our heads. Lets try to not go into this with any preconceived notions. Lets not ask God a whole bunch of questions then sit and listen for the answer. This week lets try to let God control the conversation. Now since conversation is a two way street after the 30 minutes is up feel free to respond. Thank him for speaking, If it raised a question ask him, write down what he said so you don't forget. Some of you may be thinking that you just don't have the time to set aside. (Do it anyway) Some may be thinking "I never hear from God so it wont work" (It will) All I can say is please, please PLEASE take the time to follow through on the assignment this week. I promise... You wont regret it. You will hear from God. If you've never heard from him before it will be an exciting moment. If it's been a while since you've heard from him you will welcome the voice like a long lost friend. If you hear from him regularly well there's nothing I can say you already know the joy that comes from hearing his voice. So lets just do it, lets have fun, lets hear from our God.

(Note: Be open to his voice. It may be an audible voice, it might come as a whisper or a thought, it could come through another person, or through some other way. Just listen, be open and you will recognize him. He wants to be heard.)

As always have a great week and of course lets live it "Upside Down"

Ready for a walk?

2009-06-28T23:06:00.003-05:00

Hey Gang here we are it's a new week and time for a new assignment. I gave you heads up last week that we would be shifting the focus of our assignments. So here we go! This week our assignment is to go for a walk. Take a walk around your neighborhood. Before you begin walking ask God to open your eyes to see others as he sees them. Then as you are walking whenever you see someone send up a prayer for them. God may give you something very specific to pray for when thinking of them or maybe you simply ask God to bless them in some way. The length of the walk doesn't matter. Maybe it's around your block maybe further. Just make sure you have time to clear your head and hear from God.

Alright Gang there it is. Have a great week and as always lets "Live it upside down"

New look to our weekly assignments

2009-06-25T13:25:00.000-05:00

Hello Gang,

As promised here is an update on what we will be doing from here on out with our weekly assignments. I have spent quite a bit of time walking talking and praying these last couple of weeks. Asking God about the Upside Down Group and what he would like to see. During one of these walks it seemed to me that God was saying “You have the right idea but you are going about it a bit backwards. What makes them want to work these assignments?”

Me: The Joy they experience through helping another.

God: Ok, What makes them want to step out on a larger scale?

Me: It becomes a natural next step from the smaller assignments. They begin to recognize opportunities on their own.

God: And when they recognize the opportunity but are in a busy time of their life what makes them set aside the time to help?

Me: Again, it’s remembering the joy they experience through helping.

God: That will only carry them so far. They need a voice or guide that pulls them in that direction despite their desire to go elsewhere.

Me: I know, that’s where you come in.

God: Where am I in these assignments?

Me: Well… umm, you’re the whole reason we do this.

God: I know that, but you seem to be leaving me out of it. It’s as if a friend made a game just for you and him and you begin playing it with everyone but him.

Me: Crap!

This isn’t exactly what happened but it’s the best way I know how to explain it. Really it was me walking and listening and God planting this realization in my head. So what does all this mean? I believe it is God that plants the love of others in our hearts. The more we know and focus on him the more our love for and desire to serve others grows. (Yes there are people who don’t know God that love and care for others. It was still him that planted that love in their hearts and I would love to see what they could do if they focused on God in their drive to help others. WOW! It would be incredible nothing short of miraculous.) So from here on out our assignments will be things that help us to focus on God. Sometimes God and serving others at the same time but always focusing on him. Come back on Monday to get the assignment and you will see just what I’m talking about.

Have a great weekend and as always… Let’s live it upside down!

Happy Fathers Day.

2009-06-21T21:15:00.000-05:00

Howdy Gang,

I hope each of you had a great week last week and are now sitting here excited about the prospects a new week brings. With it being Fathers day today I feel it only appropriate that our assignment for the week be tied to fathers. So here it is. This week your job is to do something for a father. Not yours fathers day was for that. This week think of a father you know that could use some support and do something for him. Maybe he’s a single father, or just lost his job, or a large family and he and his wife could use a night out. Whatever it is have fun. Have a great week and lets live it upside down.

This is most likely the last time you will see an assignment like this. After much thought and prayer we have decided to switch the focus of our assignments a bit. Look to the blog later in the week and we will give you more details.

So we met our neighbors. Now What?

2009-06-15T10:27:00.002-05:00

Howdy once again,

I hope each and every one of you had a great week last week. Did we get a chance to go out and meet a new neighbor? Good! Now that we have met a new neighbor it's time to branch out on "Being Good Neighbor" This week what we want you to do is once again look out your front door and see which neighbor catches your eye first. Now ask yourself "What could I do for them?" Then go out and do it. That's right this is "Do something for your neighbor week" Wash their car, mow the lawn, clean their windows, or my favorite (to receive) Bake them some cookies, Etc... If it's something simple maybe you can do it for multiple neighbors.

There ya go, this week should be pretty simple and another great excuse for getting to know a neighbor. Have a great week and as always... Lets live it Upside Down!

Meet your neighbors

2009-06-07T22:32:00.003-05:00

Hey Gang,

I hope everyone had a great week last week. I know I told you that I was planning on writing a couple of extra blogs however my computer took a dive and I am now operating on half a screen It took me a few days to learn how to work around it.

Anyway it's time to move on to our assignment of the week. Now that the weather has turned and people are once again venturing outside I figure it's time to once again begin communicating with our neighbors. So this week lets take a step outside our front doors look around and ask yourself "Which neighbor have I not gotten to know yet?" Walk over knock on their door and invite them over for a drink, or fire up the grill and have them over for dinner. If neither of those idea's work then come up with your own. The goal here is to get to know a neighbor.

That's it gang, hopefully you'll find this one pretty simple to do. Let us know how it goes.

Here's to a great week and once again "Lets live it Upside Down!

Commitment

2009-06-01T10:16:00.002-05:00

It's a new week thus time for a new assignment. Have you set a date for your "Thank you party" yet. Please don't let this summer go by without it it is a fun and powerful way to let others know the impact they have had on your life.

Typically each week when planning our assignments I try to look at what is happening around me. Look and see how others interact with each other, listen to people about things they have seen that have meant something them, look at the time of year, etc... I also try to make it something that we can have fun with. After all it's easier to do anything when the word "Fun" is attached right! This week we are going to step away from the model just a little bit. Our assignment will still be fun just not in the beginning. In the beginning it will be tough. Some may even choose to not participate because we have to step way out of our comfort zone. If you have what it takes to succeed in completing the task you will find the end exceptionally rewarding. And it will bring a smile to your face that lasts much longer than a couple minutes.

Lately I have begun to notice a disturbing pattern. I've watched people break commitments at the last minute so they can participate in another that seems like more fun. Watching this happen I have been forced to look back on my own life and have found myself being guilty of the same thing. Unfortunately one of the unintended side effects of this is hurt feelings at the other end. Quite often it can be more than just hurt feelings. Another effect is that it becomes difficult for us to speak with the person we left standing because we know we have hurt them. This of course puts a gulf between the two and the already fragile friendship becomes permanently damaged.

For those of you reading this that can sit back and say "This isn't me" your assignment is very easy. I want you to do two things.

1. Continue to keep your commitments!

2. Encourage others to keep theirs.

For those of us that have recently done this we have two tasks as well.

1. Call up the person or persons we cancelled on and apologize.

2. Encourage others to keep their commitments.

Please, please, please don't take this lightly. Please don't push it aside because it's outside the comfort zone. Please do look at life and friendship as it truly is a "Jewell" a "Gift from God" anyone would be a fool to toss either of these away.

Thanks everyone have a great week and of course lets "Live it upside down"

"I will most likely be blogging a bit more this week so feel free to check back again before next week."

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

2009-05-25T10:24:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone, I want to begin by saying HAPPY SUMMER!!! Some friends of mine and I went out this weekend driving through some neighboring towns and whenever we saw someone outside we would yell out HAPPY SUMMER! You should try it sometime. I know it sounds stupid some might say weird but who cares IT'S FUN!!! For those purists out there let me point out that I know it's not really summer yet. Some woman we wished a happy summer to pointed that out. We have to wait till mid June to be official. But it is "Memorial weekend" and that marks the beginning of summer activities so as far as I'm concerned it's summer.

With summer in the air comes an exciting time. It's when we begin to spend more time outdoors than indoors. We see long lost friends that seemed to disappear from existence once they had to turn on the furnace. People are smiling and laughing more. Really if you think about it summer is a time of second chances a new birth of sorts. I even hear people saying "I'm not going to waste this summer like I did last". I think that has been my mantra for the last 3 summers.

With all this in mind and knowing it is the time of year that people tend to congregate our next assignment fits the theme beautifully. This is one I've been chompin at the bit to get too but had to wait for the right time. The time is now and it will be a ton o' fun. Yet not something you do this week. Just something you begin planning this week. IT'S PARTY TIME! That's right this week I want you and your friends to put on your calendar and begin planning a very special party. For lack of imagination at the moment we will call it a "Thank you party" The specific details of the party can be whatever you like but the one thing I want you to do is to have an area set - up with everyone's name and a box by each name. As the evening progresses it is every guests job to write out a thank you note for each person at the party. Really the note doesn't have to be a "Thank you" it can be whatever you are led to say. What do you like about him or her, What do you see for them, How have they affected you, What have you observed about them? At some point you should all get together so each person can be publicly affirmed as well.

One word of warning on this one. I remember being in affirmation circles watching everyone around me being spoken too and wondering if anyone would ever get around to me. This should not be uncomfortable for anyone. We all deserve affirmation so lets set this up so we are all guaranteed to receive it. For this party lets set it up so we are gathered around our close friends. It would be good for a stranger to witness but I'm not so sure he would feel comfortable being there and we may not be as open to each other with a stranger in our presence. We'll reserve that for another party later on. Maybe in the fall?

Alright everyone, Thanks for checkin in lets have a great week and of course lets live it "Upside Down"

Being a face in a sea of the Faceless

2009-05-20T08:46:00.002-05:00

So, I've been trying to follow through on the assignment this week and have noticed one small little change in society from the last time I tried this (Which if you recall was college more than one or two years ago.) When I was in college the only people with cell phones were businesses that needed to be able to reach an employee quickly. Most of them used beepers (Did I just date myself a little) Now almost everyone has one. The obvious challenge this presents today is that there are masses of people walking and talking. You wont find them not on the phone (I personally think this is a defense mechanism but that is a different topic for a different day). The other thing I've noticed is that most people seem to be walking with their heads down and if they aren't their heads drop as soon as they notice someone looking at them. I could spend a bit of time commenting on this fairly new posture in american society but we don't have the time and currently I don't have the research to support anything I would say so I'll hold my tongue and move on to what we should do about it.

You might be asking... "How am I supposed to look someone in the eyes with a smile and say hi if they are locked on the phone or keep looking away from me? My answer, Don't let those obstacles stop you. Now obviously you can't look them in the eye but you can still smile and say hello. In my opinion it even gives us that much more of an opportunity. As an example I'm going to tell you one more story from college. I remember my Jr Year we used to go to this Truck stop to hang out and study. One day this guy walks in with a friend of mine and honestly my first thought was "This guy is kinda weird" His jokes were not so funny but he enjoyed laughing at them anyway (That should have told me we'd be friends), he had this big nerdy smile, and kind of waddled when he walked. While I had gathered my first impression of him he gathered his impression of me. It didn't take him long to come over and say "Larry I can tell we are going to be close friends" To which I did the smile and nod and thought to myself "I don't think so" For the next couple weeks every time I turned around he was there. He thought we were just hanging out as friends do while I was thinking "How do I get rid of this guy?" I remember one day I called him I can't remember why but after hanging up the phone it hit me. "We're friends! When did this happen?" He was persistent (And maybe a little clueless) and a friendship he desired came to be. Why did I tell you this story? I think what we are dealing with is the same thing just wrapped in a different package. I think if we stay persistent and keep saying hello "With a smile" then we will slowly see heads start to rise and maybe even phones begin to lower.

Here's what I would like you to try. Pick one person that you walk by everyday and choose to say hello to them everyday. I think over time you will slowly see their head begin to rise and after awhile a week or two, maybe even a month or two you may even begin to get them to respond with a "hello" at first hesitant but sooner or later with a big smile as well. Once that happens stop, introduce yourself and say "I can tell we are going to be close friends"

I hope your week is going well. Find some time to get outside and enjoy the weather. Of course lets not forget to

LIVE IT UPSIDE DOWN!

New Assignment (Don't be faceless)

2009-05-17T23:40:00.003-05:00

Have you noticed that we seem to live in a faceless society? Sure we recognize our coworkers our family, friends but what about those we walk by everyday? Or how about the person behind us in line at the grocery store? The simple fact of the matter is that as a general rule we don't take the time notice those people and those outside of our circle don't take the time to get to know us.

So here is what I propose we do this week. Lets become the face in a crowd of faceless people. We can be this by doing one simple thing. This week lets look those we pass in the eye and with a big smile say hello. I mentioned last week how I had tried this experiment in the past. It was amazing to me how many new friends I met. We desire to be recognized, we desire to feel welcome a simple smile and hello can fill that desire.

Let me go ahead and make one little recommendation. Women say hello to women and men say hello to other men. It keeps things simple that way. Once again, This weeks assignment is to smile and say hello to those you pass by. You can choose one day or do it every day. Either way I have a strange feeling you may just find yourself a new friend.

Here's to a great week! Lets live it Upside Down.

Sphere of influence.

2009-05-11T10:14:00.002-05:00

Here is a question for everyone. Please give me your feedback/opinion. This is something I'm (somewhat ashamed to admit) just beginning to process. Facebook recently changed how you can list your friends. (Or I'm just noticing it) You can now put your friends into categories. You decide what to name the category then insert friend that fits description. Compared to some I know I have almost no friends however I am quite proud of the fact that I can lay claim to over 250 friends (At present moment I believe 268). I went about putting my friends into their specific categories. Church, high school, college, work and of course family. After I finished I began to scroll through my friends to see who was left that didn't fit into any of those categories. I had 13 out of 268 left. Out of those 13 I could connect all except 4 to a friend of a friend. To be honest the other 4 are female I'm male you figure it out. I found a way to meet them.

Here is my question. As humans I've always known we are "Pack animals" we hang around others of like mind and look. We rarely venture outside of the pack. IS THIS A GOOD THING? If we don't venture out of the pack how are we to learn (I mean really learn)? How are we to expand our horizons? On the other hand if we have a message how do we expect others to pick it up? Our pack has most likely heard it already. If we have something to teach who are we supposed to teach?

Maybe I'm the only one here that doesn't stray far from the pack but I don't think so. I'm not saying we need to go to the extreme of hanging out in a strange neighborhood and introducing ourselves to everyone that walks by (Even though that may not be a bad idea). But I am asking what can we do to meet others that we encounter in our day to day? Do you have a coffee shop you go to on a regular basis? a restaurant, bar? Have you met other regulars? How well do you know your server? At work how often do we introduce ourselves to the person walking beside us in and out of the office? I remember my Junior year of college I decided to say hello to everyone walking in and out of the apartment building I was in. I met and became friends with more people in the first two weeks of school than I did the previous two years. Why haven't I continued the pattern? Because it's easier to just walk past someone. How much are we missing by doing that?

I currently have some of the best friends a guy could ever ask for and I thank God for each and every one of them. They lift me up when I need support. They hold me accountable. We've had some great times together and I hope those friendships continue for years to come. But what am I missing by only hanging with-in my pack? Who out there needs what I could share? I will always make sure I'm plugged in with my pack. However don't you think "IT'S TIME TO VENTURE OUTSIDE THE PACK!"

Happy Moms day everyone

2009-05-10T19:48:00.003-05:00

Hey gang, I hope we all had a happy Mothers day. For all you moms out there I hope you had an Incredible day. Are we ready for a new week and a new assignment? It seems fitting that this week we tie our efforts to the moms of the world. Since we spent today celebrating our own moms lets spend some time this week recognizing another mom. Choose one, do you have someone that has been like a Mother to you? Do you work with or know a mother who wasn't able to see her kids on mothers day? Or someone whose child has passed away? A single mom struggling to make ends meet? Lets do something for them this week. I'll leave it to you to decide what. Babysit while she goes out, Buy her some groceries, Take her out for dinner or coffee. The possibilities are endless.

Ok gang that's it short and sweet this week. How did we do last week? Did we thank a manager for a job well done?

In the beginning

2009-05-04T13:21:00.000-05:00

How long has it been since you’ve read the account of God creating the Heaven’s and the Earth? If it’s been awhile I recommend you pick it up and read it (Genesis 1:1 – 2:3, 2:4 – 2:25. Read each separately the second repeats the first but with more specific detail on “Man”.) The more I read this the more I come to believe that God created the Heavens and the Earth for one reason and one reason only “As a gift to man”. Check out these verses and see if you come to the same conclusion. (Gen 1:26, 27, 28, 29 – 30, read each verse on its own and then all of them together. Now Gen 2:8 – 9, 19 - 20) If you don’t believe he made it as a gift to man fine but you can’t argue that he put man in charge of it (Gen 1:26). The other undeniable fact is that God wanted to and did commune with man. In Gen 1:28,29 we see God giving creation to Adam & Eve in Gen 2:18 we hear God stating it was not good for Adam to be alone. In 2:19 we see God bringing the animals to Adam and waiting to see what Adam would name them (Kind of reminds me of Christmas morning) Then after the infamous eating of the fruit we see God seeking them out as they were hiding (Gen 3:8,9) The groundwork has been laid God created us to be in communion with him. We were created to focus on God and his creation.

Then something terrible happens! Eve doing what came natural as a human developed a friendship with a serpent. (It seems clear to me that this was the norm hanging with and chatting with the animals. If not I think scripture would have read. The serpent after calming eve down from the heart attack she incurred when realizing a serpent could talk said “Did God really say?”) This serpent talks Eve into ignoring God and eating from the tree she was told not to. How does he do it? By convincing her that she would be like God afterwards (Gen 3:1 – 6) then she goes and gives some to Adam helping him to realize he would be like God as well. Now lets forget the magic of what happened with the taste of the fruit (That’s a whole different topic that I may get to in a different blog) I want to focus on before the bite. You see the moment Adam and Eve chose to ignore God and look out for themselves is the second sin entered the human race. In that second our eyes were permanently turned backwards and we became a people focused on what is good for us rather than God and his creation. Read Gen 3:8 – 13 if it were only a temporary lack of focus we wouldn’t have run from God when we heard his foot steps, Adam wouldn’t have put the blame on Eve and Eve wouldn’t have put the blame on the serpent. They would have stood up and admitted they screwed up. But no, instead they tried looking out for #1 by putting Gods focus on #2. It didn’t work yet we have continued to look out for #1 from that day on. Our focus has permanently been turned upside down looking out for “ME” before looking to God. We have continued to hide from God while God has continued to seek us out. We have become so blinded that despite the consequences of living this way we continue to seek #1. Have you ever read Ecclesiastes? It is Solomon’s struggle with this very topic. “I keep looking for fulfillment and it keeps avoiding me”. He finally comes to the conclusion that the only way this is going to happen is to seek it through God. (Ecc 1:1 – 11, Ecc 12:1 – 14, Ecc 12:13) Thankfully we have Solomon to spell it out for us. Can we learn?

We know we are a fallen people with the wrong focus. But despite all our efforts we have learned that we can’t refocus on our own. We need to call on God for help and in turn he has given us his Son who died for our sins and shown us how possible it is to refocus. He has also given us his Spirit to reside in us, to guide us, to refocus us. There is one other thing he has given us that we take for granted. He has given us EACH OTHER (Hebrews 10:24 – 25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.) This my friends is where “The Upside Down Group” comes into play. It’s what we are about. We seek to find ways to “Encourage” each other, Lift each other up. Working together we can find ways to keep our focus on God and his creation.

Many of you already have heard of us and know what we are about. Many still do not. If you are just beginning to hear about us I encourage you to write to get more information. Everyone else please continue to tell your friends. Think of all we can do when working together as one. John 17: 20 – 24

Assignment of the week

2009-05-03T20:36:00.003-05:00

Hey Gang, how did the assignment go last week? Did we find that person to pray for? Now are we ready for a new challenge? I hope so because it's a fun one this week. Have you ever noticed when we go out and receive bad service (A bad waiter, customer service ignores us, slow service, etc...) how quick we are to tell others about our bad experience. We complain to the manager, we tell our friends, sometimes we go as far as to call the BBB. What about the norm? What happens when we get good service? If it's a really good server we tell them thank you and sometimes make it a point to tell them how much we enjoyed their service but then we stop there. Why? When the service was bad we made sure the manager and server both knew how dissatisfied we were. This week lets make sure both the manager and server know how happy we are. When you are done with your lunch, dinner, coffee, shopping, whatever ask to speak to the manager. When he or she comes out tell them how great the service was and then thank them for hiring such a good worker. If your food was good ask to speak with the cook and tell them.

This will be a fun assignment to do I promise. If you haven't done any of the others I recommend you do this one. Since no one ever asks for the manager to say good things you will find a worried look on the employee's face. The manager will come over slightly on guard readying himself for the blow. Then when you say something nice you will visibly see their posture change. You will watch relief and joy fill their face. You WILL have fun. So what do ya say. Let get out there this week and have some fun!

Here's to a great week!

What to expect!

2009-04-29T10:10:00.002-05:00

As you follow this Blog and plug into "The Upside Down Group" here is one thing you can look forward to.

The Upside Down Group is about encouraging others to become encouragers in their community. One of the tools we use to accomplish this is through our weekly Encouragement assignments. On Sunday of every week we will hand out a new assignment. These assignments are designed to be simple to accomplish yet at times can be extremely challenging to do. This is because while the work is easy the assignment will occasionally push you outside your comfort zone. Let me encourage you to stick with it, push your comfort zone and accomplish the task. As you do you will find you have strength where you thought you were week. As you follow the process you will find some assignments are very easy for you while others incredibly challenging. You will learn more about yourself. Best of all you will have fun (The more challenging the task the more joy you will receive) Then one day not too far away you will be walking down the street, in line at a store, or eating at a restaurant when you notice someone and the thought will come to mind to do something for them. No assignment, no nudge from someone else YOU will choose to bless that person and wonder "Did I just do that" Congratulations! You have begun to renew your mind (Romans 12:2). You have moved a step closer to living how God intended in the first place (A selfless life). Obviously this alone wont help in the transformation but it will be the guiding of the Holy Spirit as you step into the process.

May God be with you and may we all learn to listen to his guidance.

It's a new week.

2009-04-26T18:20:00.002-05:00

Hey Gang,

It's that time of the week again and time for a new assignment. Before I go on to the assignment however I need to ask that you be sure to tell your friends we are now here and encourage them to sign up to follow the blog. Tomorrow I am going to post another blog talking about what you can and can't expect from me as a blogger.

Now on to the assignment. "Prayer" it is a powerful thing. Something that has the power to change the world. But how often do we take advantage of this direct link to God. Me? not nearly enough. When do I choose to attach too and take advantage of this source. Primarily when I, a friend or a family member are in need of something. Rarely do I go to God to just say Hi and even less for someone I don't know. In reading a study this past week "Chasing Daylight" by Erwin McManus I read about a car salesman Erwin had encountered. He had a small conversation with the man trying to sell him a car. It was nothing extraordinary or magical. A car salesman asking him what he had to spend and how much he was willing to borrow to which Erwin explained "I can't borrow and all I have is what someone generously gave me" He explained he was in seminary (I think) and had no source of income. No witnessing just chatting with a salesman. Next thing we hear is the salesman sought Erwin out and asked him to pray for him. How cool is that? Erwin went on to give us a challenge. He said go test drive a car and then pray for that salesman the rest of the week. I'm not going to give you that challenge so you can relax. But what I did love about it is that he was telling us to seek out a stranger to pray for. What a concept!!! Praying for random people. I do love that idea and it so goes along with our mission of loving others. So here is your assignment.

Seek out someone to pray for!

On Monday as you go about your day look for the stranger that stands out to you. Your Barista, the guy in the cubicle two rows over, How about the person that cut in front of you, get their name if possible and then spend the rest of the week praying for them. This is not required but if you can work up the nerve go to them introduce yourself and let them know you are going to pray for them everyday this week (Maybe they'll have a request or two) Sound good? Maybe a little out of the ordinary? GOOD! Lets challenge ourselves to take a couple minutes everyday to pray for a stranger.

Here's to a great week! Lets get out there and make a difference.

Mondays Encourager

2009-04-22T12:47:00.000-05:00

Hey Gang,

Here's an update on mondays Encourager. Mike & Rhonda (members of our Gang) planned the evening along with a couple more of her friends. Everyone met at Mi Mexico to celebrate Shannon. Mike took all of the notes sent in and put them together along with some nice photo's in an album and presented it to Shannon. It looked like she had a very nice turnout of family and friends and was clearly enjoying herself. I would say it is a very safe assumption that she felt loved and appreciated. The timing could not have been better as a close family friend had just passed away (God knows what he is doing doesn't he). As for the groups involvement we had one person send in a note of encouragement (That didn't know her) and only the couple people that knew her showed up at Mi Mexico. What I have heard about Shannon and knowing the situation with the death in the family I believe Shannon got just what she needed and the extra people may have become slightly overwhelming.

I don't point that out to guilt anyone. I only point it out so we don't assume that someone else will stand in the gap. It goes that way with anything that God has placed on your heart. Have you ever thought "I should", or "It would be great if" and then said to yourself "I don't have the time" or "Someone else could do it better than I". Let me challenge you with this. If God has placed it on your heart "NOONE" can do it better than you. If God has placed it on your heart he will make sure you have the time. From now on lets make it a point to say In this life "I WILL" do whatever God places on my heart. Making this statement will also set you free from any attempts at guilt that may come your way. If "The Upside Down Group" says here's a project to take part in and Gods not tugging at your heart to participate "Don't do it" If someone is down and out and Gods not tugging at your heart to give or help "Then Don't". God is getting someone else to stand in that gap. But when you do experience that tug Run, Do not pass go, Head straight to the opportunity and do it with joy. You may not even feel the joy when you begin but I guarantee "YOU WILL" feel the joy when you're done.

Here's to turing this world "Upside Down"

NEW ASSIGNMENT - April 20

2009-04-21T17:52:00.000-05:00

Hey Gang! It's time for your assignment of the week. This should be a fun and easy one especially after the last couple of weeks.

Think of someone you know that could use some encouragement. (Starting a new project, over worked, tired, etc...) Send them an anonymous gift along with a note of encouragement. For example: A plate of cookies and a note that says "I know you are struggling at work so this is my way of helping you hang in there. Thanks for who you are and your commitment to the job."

There we have it. Since it's an anonymous gift the hardest part of this weeks assignment should be who to do it for. Here's a little help. If you are debating between two people. Send the gift to both of them.

On another note. The Upside Down Group now has a logo and will soon have a blog and website up and running. Thank you Tammy. Want to see the logo head on over to liveupsidedown.com

Here's to another great week,

The Upside Down Group