this weekend i watched "the guardian" with kevin costner and ashton kutcher. other then the fact it was a top gun rip off i really enjoyed the movie.
kevin is an old swimmer from the coast guard who loses his whole crew in alaska. he tends to have a lot of flash backs about losing his friends. ( sound familiar maverick and goose). they send him to teach at the a-school. (enter ashton) the young punk kid who excels at everything. kevin spends the movie teaching ashton it is not about himself.
during the movie they flashed this line across the screen. "so others might live." it reminded me of the christian purpose. dont we live our lives so others will see truth in us. dont we live our lives focused on the other in order so they might live. of course you can not really compare us to the coast guard because they just temporarily save people. i am definately not wanting to take away from the coast guard. i am very thankful that they risk their lives to save others.
but it just makes me wonder. if the coast guard is willing to risk their lives for saving someones life temporarily. then what should we do as christians be willing to do to save lives eternally?
Monday, January 29, 2007
Saturday, January 20, 2007
did i make the right decision?
there are times in each of our lives when we ask ourselves, "did i make the right decision?" we look into the past of our lives whether immediate or years ago and wonder, should i have done that? did it benefit anypart of me? or would i be where i am today if i had not made that decision so long ago. some decisions we make effect us long term or maybe for just the next twenty minutes.
for example many times in college, my friends and i would drive the 2 miles or so to taco bell for a our "fourth meal." and while i enjoyed the many chili cheese burritos and nacho cheese chalupas everytime, about twenty minutes later the term taco bell run had a new meaning. and i asked myself "did i make the right decision about going to taco bell?" while that decision only stuck with me for a night, other decision stick with us even longer, possibly even a lifetime.
for example.
when i was a senior in high school, i made the decision to attend indiana wesleyan even though it was 1300 miles away from home. at times after i made the choice i wondered, "did i make the right decision?" it has now been 8 years since i made the choice to go to iwu and i can tell you it was the right decision. it was at iwu where i received my call to the ministry. it was also where i met jenny, who i have been married to 2 1/2 years. this decision has obviously effected the greater scheme of my life for the better.
although i have made other decisions in my life that i regret. and could make life altering decisions in the future i have learned that i need to take responsibility for my decisions. whether good not bad. although i continue to go to taco bell.
for example many times in college, my friends and i would drive the 2 miles or so to taco bell for a our "fourth meal." and while i enjoyed the many chili cheese burritos and nacho cheese chalupas everytime, about twenty minutes later the term taco bell run had a new meaning. and i asked myself "did i make the right decision about going to taco bell?" while that decision only stuck with me for a night, other decision stick with us even longer, possibly even a lifetime.
for example.
when i was a senior in high school, i made the decision to attend indiana wesleyan even though it was 1300 miles away from home. at times after i made the choice i wondered, "did i make the right decision?" it has now been 8 years since i made the choice to go to iwu and i can tell you it was the right decision. it was at iwu where i received my call to the ministry. it was also where i met jenny, who i have been married to 2 1/2 years. this decision has obviously effected the greater scheme of my life for the better.
although i have made other decisions in my life that i regret. and could make life altering decisions in the future i have learned that i need to take responsibility for my decisions. whether good not bad. although i continue to go to taco bell.
Monday, January 08, 2007
gathering
i know a lot of other people will be blogging on the gathering so i do plan to make this brief and give you my favorite parts of of the conference.
it started with a bang. anthony graham started the conference with my favorite message of the conference. he articulated his thoughts on holiness and called all the pastors to a new level in the personal lives. thanks anthony for holding us accountable.
kevin myers the following morning was great. he showed us the meaning of what marriage is all about. and when we focus on Christ how it will shape and mold our marriage in the right direction.
anthony and kevin were the two wesleyan main event speaker and no offense to the other speakers (anne graham lotz, bill hybels and ed stetzer) showed a lot more passion and knew the reason for speaking at the conference in the first place. next time i would like to see all wesleyan speakers.
robin mark was the perfect choice for worship leader. he bridged the gaps of all ages at the conference from some of the youngest to the oldest attending. i was kind of dissapointed that he didnt play more of his original songs. but it showed that he was there to lead worship not plug his name to sell cd's inwhich i never found a booth to buy his cd's anyway. he showed class and you have to love the accent.
tim hawkins was also a highlight for me. one of the funniest men ever. enough said.
during the conference i was able to see people from all kinds of different points in my life. it was great to see my 4th grade teacher (vaughn martin), who has since become a children's pastor. i was able to connect with a good friend (jeremy cummings) from high school and youth group who is also a youth pastor. my senior pastor and youth pastor from high school, who are both still at the same church continuing to pastor my parents and my brother. my college pastor (gale janofski) from brookhaven. friends from college (josh keesling, john and danielle freed, brooks and jill sayer, kevin wright and others.) i also caught up with pastors that i interned with for a summer in deleware. and saw some friends and other pastors from my time in south carolina. (matt and deborah rhodes, heath, buddy rampey and others.)
of course i traveled with the staff that i now work with in pulaski and it was a great time to connect with them and there wives. we were already a pretty close staff before but the times that we grew together during the trip were priceless.
this post really shows me that no matter who is speaking, we will be able to get a lot out of the conference just from who is there. if we have friends to share the experience and to encourage and build each other up people will come to something like this. connecting is huge, especially for pastors. we can have community at our churches, sure. but to come to something like this and be able to reconnect with multiple people who have known you for over 10 years, who have stood up with you in your wedding, it truly is something special.
thanks to all who put this together. next time lets see more wesleyans.
it started with a bang. anthony graham started the conference with my favorite message of the conference. he articulated his thoughts on holiness and called all the pastors to a new level in the personal lives. thanks anthony for holding us accountable.
kevin myers the following morning was great. he showed us the meaning of what marriage is all about. and when we focus on Christ how it will shape and mold our marriage in the right direction.
anthony and kevin were the two wesleyan main event speaker and no offense to the other speakers (anne graham lotz, bill hybels and ed stetzer) showed a lot more passion and knew the reason for speaking at the conference in the first place. next time i would like to see all wesleyan speakers.
robin mark was the perfect choice for worship leader. he bridged the gaps of all ages at the conference from some of the youngest to the oldest attending. i was kind of dissapointed that he didnt play more of his original songs. but it showed that he was there to lead worship not plug his name to sell cd's inwhich i never found a booth to buy his cd's anyway. he showed class and you have to love the accent.
tim hawkins was also a highlight for me. one of the funniest men ever. enough said.
during the conference i was able to see people from all kinds of different points in my life. it was great to see my 4th grade teacher (vaughn martin), who has since become a children's pastor. i was able to connect with a good friend (jeremy cummings) from high school and youth group who is also a youth pastor. my senior pastor and youth pastor from high school, who are both still at the same church continuing to pastor my parents and my brother. my college pastor (gale janofski) from brookhaven. friends from college (josh keesling, john and danielle freed, brooks and jill sayer, kevin wright and others.) i also caught up with pastors that i interned with for a summer in deleware. and saw some friends and other pastors from my time in south carolina. (matt and deborah rhodes, heath, buddy rampey and others.)
of course i traveled with the staff that i now work with in pulaski and it was a great time to connect with them and there wives. we were already a pretty close staff before but the times that we grew together during the trip were priceless.
this post really shows me that no matter who is speaking, we will be able to get a lot out of the conference just from who is there. if we have friends to share the experience and to encourage and build each other up people will come to something like this. connecting is huge, especially for pastors. we can have community at our churches, sure. but to come to something like this and be able to reconnect with multiple people who have known you for over 10 years, who have stood up with you in your wedding, it truly is something special.
thanks to all who put this together. next time lets see more wesleyans.
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