Love is: Kind

So I’m sure you couldn’t help but notice that I’m writing on love a lot lately.  Well, this has sort of been an unplanned series of writings.  Since I’m enjoying this topic, I figure’d I would go ahead and make an actual series of writings.  Seeing that I’ve never really done this kind of thing before, we will see how it goes.  

Earlier this week I wrote about love being patient.  This week - Love is: Kind

To be kind, or kindness means the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.  

In short terms, I think that this quickly explains why love is kind.  I bet that typically when you think of kind people, you think of loving people.  If I were to ask you to think of someone who has been extremely kind to you in life, you could probably name them off quickly.  For some of us it would be our grandparents or parents.  Others of us its a friend or mentor.  Selfishly, I would hope that I came to mind in this exercise, but some of you may not know me so that’s ok.  

Anyway, kindness is expressed throughout the Bible.  Paul lists it as part of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22,  in Colossians 3:12 as being part of a character that is holy, and compares it to us being like Christ in Ephesians 4:32.  Peter, one of the guys that actually walked the earth with Jesus, said that showing kindness is part of a growing christian’s life.  He also said that by not showing kindness, we are blind, short-sighted, and have forgotten the forgiveness Christ has given us freely on the cross.  

When I think of kindness, I think of all the people that have given freely to me without asking anything in return.  Recently, one of our friends at church pulled my wife and I aside and gave us all the cash he had in his wallet, and he didn’t even count it!  He told us that he remembered being young and not having a lot and wanted us to be able to go on a date, get groceries, or whatever we needed.  By doing that he was showing genuine kindness and generosity.  We were extremely humbled and gracious in that moment, because somebody decided to us some unconditional love.  

Kindness is a character trait I wish to have.  Right now I would say that most of the time I am kind.  There are times when I’m not, but most of the time I can claim this one.  I say this not to brag, but to say that if I can do it - you can do it.  I’ve been hard hearted in my life.  There were times I was racist, chauvinistic, homophobic and so on.  It’s taken work.  I believe that God has done a major work in my heart teaching me to love people.  Maybe that’s why I’m writing about it so much.  I believe in it.  

As I close I want to leave you with this question.  Something for you to ponder personally, or share with us.

Is it joyful or a chore for you to show kindness to others?

Love is: Patient

Love is a topic that is widely covered throughout the Bible.  I know I’ve done a couple of post on it in the past couple of weeks, but it’s a topic worth covering multiple times, and then some more.  It’s an extensive topic that I don’t think I will ever understand, but I’m ok with that.  I believe that God, who created the universe, everything in it and love, is a whole lot smarter than I am.  So here’s the little nugget that was revealed to me.  

• Love is being patient with others as they walk through the process of life-change.  Heart change comes before behavior change.  
• Legalism (what most of America probably thinks of when they think of christians) is expecting others to change a behavior to fit a model.  It offers no real change in the heart.  

When we show true love to someone, we are patient with them.  Patience, is one of the descriptions of love listed in 1 Corinthians 13.  In fact, it is the first description listed.  From my experience, it is also one of the hardest to live.  It is through love that we allow someone to experience a heart change, or in bible terms repentance, before we expect their behavior to change.  It is allowing God to work in their lives.  

Now, don’t get me wrong.  You are definitely there to show someone a path, to guide him, encourage her.  Disciple also has its place and love does not go without it.  Rebuking and reprimanding should not be lost, but must be done in love.  Paul described this when he said that if we don’t have love, then we are only making noise.  That is to say, without love, it’s worthless.  

When I think of love vs. legalism, I think of the American Christian.  In this context, legalism is living two lives. One six and a half days (Monday-Saturday & Sunday afternoon), and one Sunday mornings.  Thinking we have to have it all together, many of us go to church with a mask on.  We never let people see the real us.  Maybe you have a good reason for the mask, I don’t really know but there is one.  

Love on the other hand allows someone to live as him/herself.  We’re allowed to be broken or express complete joy.  We don’t need a mask to hide behind.  I think this is where the most life change happens.  It’s through love that chains are broken, wounds are healed, bondage is vanquished and so on.  

Do you show this kind of love to someone?  To let them mess-up, yet they don’t feel like they’ve completely let you down.  To walk through difficult situations even though you don’t fully know what to say or do.  Do you celebrate and cry with them? 

Or another question - do you have a person like that in your life? One that’s walking through life with you.  Always around.  Always patient when you mess up, big or small.  Willing to discipline you when you need it but also be one of your biggest cheerleaders when the chains get broken.  If you don’t, I highly encourage it.  It might be the one thing you’ve been needing.

David

Hope

What is hope? 

I’ve been struggling with that question for a while now.  I’m in a season of waiting, and it seems like hope comes and hope goes.  Excitement comes when the hope of a job prospect starts to unfold and then all hope seems crushed when it falls apart.  That leads to asking the question of why? Why even hope? All it does is disappoint.  At the very least, that’s where I’ve started this journey - searching. 

So that leads to answering the question, “What is hope?”  I mean, we hear about it.  The old guy President Snow in the Hunger Games movie said, “Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.” Oprah has a section on her website about quotes that give hope.  Google found what seems to be a gazillion places where one can find more quotes on hope.  You know, those that make us feel fuzzy on the inside when we need that fuzzy warm feeling.

But all of that feels so insignificant to me.  Yea, I brought up Oprah, only because it came up quick when I typed in “Quotes about hope” in my search bar and was intrigued. I have no desire to read anymore of her feel-good philosophy.  It may work for tv, but not real life.  Anyway, digressing back to the point here, searching to answer how hope fits into real life. 

If you’ve read my blog long enough, you know I unashamedly believe that the Bible is truth.  So that’s where my search begins, in the concordance of a bible, which is really just a big word for the index.  In there we can find things about putting our hope in the Lord.  David proclaimed that his hope was in the lord.  Paul described that hope comes from the Lord, and that along with faith and love, it is one thing that will remain.  But that doesn’t really help me much, so I need to define what hope is. 

The Dictionary app on my iPhone defined hope in this way;

• A person or thing in which expectations are centered
• To look forward with desire and reasonable confidence
• To desire something with confident expectation of it’s fulfillment

Now, having a definition of hope, I can put it back in scripture to make a little more sense.  I’ll use the one that has really spoken to me Psalm 130:5. It says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.” Now to you that may not say a lot, but in my journey, it’s life-giving.  Grouping this together with what i’ve been learning about waiting, here’s what it’s saying to me, “I patiently anticipate the Lord, my soul stands in readiness, and in him all my expectations are centered.”

To center my expectations in the Lord means that I’m believing that his word is truth when it says he will provide for me in Matthew.  It means believing that my identity, my foundation, who I am to the core, is rooted in Jesus.  It means that I have confidence that whatever trial I face, will bring perseverance.  Perseverance produces character.  These are what he’s promised to me and there are many more I could name here but I won’t, I’ll let you figure those out for yourself because then they’ll actually mean something to you.  

I’ll leave you with my paraphrase of this scripture

“Let all that I am patiently anticipate the Lord, for my expectations are centered in his promises. He alone is my foundation, where I will not be shaken.” Psalm 62:5-6

Question: What is Love (part two)

So my last post was about answering the question, “What is love?” After talking about it a lot, I finally brought you to a list of what love is, along with one of what love is not.  This list came from breaking down the Apostle Paul’s description of love in 1 Corinthians 13.  If you haven’t read that post I suggest checking it out here.  

Today we’ll continue that subject and look at how a person can love.  Looking at all of those traits it seems like an extremely daunting task to obtain all of them.  In actuality, when I first made the list I didn’t think that I possessed any of those traits.  I fit in better with the Hate side than the Love side.  So how did I change myself?  Well, honestly I didn’t, God did.  I know cheesy answer but I’m going to take you through the practical things I found.  

First thing to do is to make sure that you know God.  Here’s what I mean.  To love like God loves, which is described in part in 1 Corinthians 13, we must know God because God is love.  I’m getting this from a letter the Apostle John wrote to several churches in the late 1^st century.  It states; 

“7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8

What this says is that love comes from God.  If we have been born of God, meaning we have a relationship with Him through the salvation of his son Jesus Christ, then we can love fully like God because God is in us.  Well, that was a mouthful.  Maybe it’s better said like this - Because God is love, and we are in him through his Son Jesus, you/I can learn to love like God.  

This is really the only way to love fully, is to be in him.  Yes, we can argue that those of you who don’t believe in God can love as well and a semblance of that might be true, however, I’m under the firm belief that it is through God that we can obtain a love that is immensely greater than our own.  

The second thing I had to do was transform my mind.  Paul writes in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  What this means is that for anything to change in my life, I must first change the way I think about it.  For me to view myself as a loving person, I had to change my mindset and in doing so, God transformed my heart.  

Now don’t get me wrong here, this is not easy and it is a process.  It took us nearly a year of me working at Starbucks dealing with all kinds of difficult, demanding people to come to the realization that the entire purpose of me being there had been fulfilled.  I’m not done either.  The process is continuing to this day and will continue on, but the transformation is one of the essential steps in learning to love.  

So, time for a self-assessment.  Are you loving like God is calling you to love? Are you being honest with yourself? 

Question: What is Love?

As a Christian, I hear about loving others, and I’ve definitely been no stranger to saying that we need to love others.  But what is love, really?  Is it what we see in movies or read about in books?  Is it what we of when we think about our high school romance?  Is it what we think our parents have towards us that keeps them from completely disowning us?  Is love that thing that holds to brothers or sisters together even though they have completely different lifestyles?  

Thinking about it in those ways, it seems as though we’ll never really know what love is, which leads to another question, if we can’t even really define love, how can we properly show it?  As a Christian, it’s easy to say that we show love by showing people Jesus.  While that does hold some legitimacy, it just seems cheesy to me, and while I really like eating cheese, I don’t like to hear it.  So if you will, let’s take a journey together through what I’ve learned about love.  

Now I’m sure most of you have heard this recited at a wedding.  “Love is patient, Love is kind…” and so forth, but really have no idea where it comes from.  Well, it comes from a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to an ancient church in the city or Corinth.  It is in the middle of this letter that Paul gives us a beautiful description of love.  If you want to read it, grab a bible and look up 1 Corinthians 13, or click here. 

The more I read this, and the more I’ve studied Scripture, the more alive it came to me.  As God was teaching me to love people last year, this became a key passage for me, and here’s how I broke it down. 

Love is…

• Patient
• Kind
• Slow to Anger
• Keeps no record of Wrong
• Delights in Truth
• Always Protects
• Always Trust
• Always Hopes
• Always Perseveres
• Never Fails

I also came to the conclusion through this passage that the opposite of love is Hate. It looks like this;

Hate is…

• Envious
• Boastful
• Proud
• Selfish
• Easily Angered
• Keeps a vault of wrongs and constantly uses them against us
• Full of half-truths and pure evil
• Will Fail 

After looking at these two list, I’ve come to realize what love is.  I believe that it helps teach us what love can looks like.  Whatever relationships we have; romantic, brotherly, working, or friendly, they all benefit from showing love.  Whether its with my wife or a co-worker, showing love in the form of kindness, patience, or trust allows that relationship to grow far more than if I show selfishness, boastfulness, or pride.  Love is what makes relationships worth having.  Without it, everything we do is pointless.  

Later we’ll how to love a little deeper in Scripture, but I want to leave you with this question, 

Do you typically show Love or Hate in your relationships?

Question: What does waiting mean?

What does it mean to wait on God?

What does it mean to wait? 

What does wait even mean?

Right now I’m going through a part of life where I’m having to wait - A LOT, so those are the questions I’m asking.  Some of you may know, but I’ve yet to learn what it really means to wait on God.  I understand that we’re supposed too, but many times I feel like we confuse waiting with laziness, and I hate laziness, especially in myself so in turn, I really hate the idea of waiting.  In case you’re wondering, here’s some of the background.

This past summer my wife and I traveled with a great ministry called Clear Camps.  This was our second summer to travel with the organization and we absolutely wouldn’t have done anything else.  We made some great friends and got to learn a lot of what it means to be leaders.  

After the summer my wife was able to go back to her job, but I felt that the Lord wanted me to not go back to mine.  I was fine with that as I felt that it was only a job for a season.  I learned a great deal about myself.  But coming back, knowing what the Lord had called me to, I expected to find a job quickly.  

After we got back from the summer I did what most of us would do and start contacting people for opportunities and applying for jobs.  In doing this though, and without including God in the decision making process, we can easily get ourselves into all sorts of problems.  For me, it was pursuing an opportunity that I really didn’t know much about, but had heard some significant things about it from the amazing people I met within that organization. The more I got in, the more I realized how much it wasn’t for me.  

Opportunity number two didn’t pose much success either as it didn’t go past the first meeting.  I became extremely discouraged after this, as some of you can imagine.  It was here that I really began to search for what the Lord was wanting me to do, and his answer was, Wait. 

If you’re anything like me and grown up in church, then waiting on God is not a new concept as we hear it all the time.  David wrote about waiting in the Psalms.  Paul discussed waiting on Christ in his writings.  So it’s not a new thing.  

Despite that, I need a practical answer.  I need action steps.  A path to take.  Something beyond, “Wait, because it’s in the Bible.”  To me, that answer for any problem in life is useless.  It gives nothing of value, at least not to me.  Nevertheless here’s what I wound up doing, looking up the definition of wait.

Here’s what I found: Wait - to stay, to serve or attend to (like a waiter in a restaurant or nurse), to patiently anticipate, to look forward to eagerly, and to be available or in readiness. 

The ones that caught me were “to patiently anticipate” and “to be available or in readiness.”

Now some of you may look at that and prefer the word wait. To patiently anticipate is no better of an explanation.  I get that.  It’s just a word thing for me.  There’s more action involved in anticipation for me than waiting.  I really like the action part, the one that gives some sort of movement. Let's look at this verse. 

Psalm 130:5 says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.”

It really is a great verse. Wait on the Lord, and put our hope in his Word. But it doesn’t say too much to me. Consider this paraphrase with me 

• I patiently anticipate the Lord, my soul stands in readiness, and in him all my expectations are centered. 

So my conclusion is this.  To wait on the Lord is to patiently anticipate his calling us to action.  It is searching for Him.  It is be ready to go when he says go and stop when he says stop.  Waiting is the antithesis of laziness and idleness.  Waiting is expecting.  

So now, when the Lord tells me to wait I know, Waiting = Patiently Anticipate in Readiness.

Book Review: Greater

I recently finished reading the book Greater by Steven Furtick. He is well known as the writer of Sun Stand Still and the lead pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

Greater: dream bigger, start smaller, ignite God’s vision for your life is a book about just that, igniting God’s vision for our lives. Throughout this entire book he shows us that God is ready to give us more, if we are willing to go for it. Furtick says, “The thing is, most believers aren’t in imminent danger of ruining their lives. They’re facing a danger that’s far greater: wasting them.”  His desire is for every Christian to find the full potential God has for them. 

Overall this book was really great to read.  Furtick bases his entire work on the life of Elisha, and how he came to be one of the greatest prophets we know of in Scripture. He is saying that God has more for each and everyone of us, just like he had for Elisha. This book sure has challenged me to look at my own faith and walk with God and see that there is much more to Christianity than living a mundane life. My kindle version is now full of highlights and notes! 

I received this e-book for free to review from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers. If you would like your own copy I suggest Amazon. 

David

Trust

Trust. It’s something I believe all Christians struggle with from time to time. Circumstances, emotions, maybe past experiences, but most probably Satan’s lies, can all lead us to a place where we find it hard to trust others, and even God. Most of those times it’s probably logical, valid, and very understandable to think; “Where is God?” “What is he doing?”or “How can God be in this?” Or, as Andy Stanley says, what do you do when God is Inattentive, Uncooperative, or Late?

But even in those times, where we feel like God is nowhere to be found, we can have confidence in the fact that he is trustworthy. He is faithful, constant, loyal and so on. What’s intriguing for me is that he often reminds me of this before I go through a season that could lead to distrust in Him. Let’s look at some of the scripture he showed me:

Matthew 28:6 “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.” (NIV)
In my mind that verse reads like this - “He’s not here. He’s risen, just as he said he would. Go and look if you don’t believe me. 

Here’s what I think the take away is from this:

1. Jesus’ words were 100% fulfilled. He said that he would be killed and then rise from the dead in three days. His words can be trusted. 
2. As God speaks to us today, we can rest in knowing that He will fulfill his promises to us. 

To remind you that His word can be trusted from beginning to end, let’s go to Genesis 13:14-18; 

"14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”18 So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord."

This is where God first gives Abram a promise that he will make his offspring like the dust of the earth. But, it wasn’t until many years, and a few screw ups on Abram’s part that God began to fulfill this promise through Isaac.  Years later, after the birth of Isaac, I’m sure Abraham was wondering, “God, why are you asking me to sacrifice the son you have given me? How will my offspring be like the dust of the earth if you take him from me?” (Gen 22).  But at this point, we know the rest of the story. Through his obedience, God blessed Abraham, but in those first moments, I’m sure he went through many doubts and questions, wondering if God would really provide the lamb.

So what is God asking you to trust him with today? I bet some of us are where Abraham was in those moments where God asked him to sacrifice Isaac. He’s asking us to give up something. To trust Him. Others of us may be at the beginning, where God has given us a promise, but has yet to fulfill it. And some may be able to look back and see the whole story up to this point. God promised you something and fulfilled it. 

All in all, God is trustworthy. His Word shows us that from the beginning to end. We may not know exactly what he is doing, or when he’ll do it, but he will. 

What is God asking you to trust him with today, in this season of your life?

Immanuel

It’s Christmas Eve!

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. Streets, businesses, and houses are all decorated in lights, snow, blow-up figures, trees, and so much more. People are typically nicer than they are the rest of the year. Families make time in their busy schedules to spend with each other. Overall it’s just a pleasant time of year. 

This year has been different for me. I’ve been super busy lately and haven’t made too much time to reflect on what Christmas means. But in the short time I have reflected on the meaning of Christmas, the term Immanuel stuck out to me greatly. 

Right before Thanksgiving, I strongly believe that God put this word on my heart to reflect on.  The term itself comes from the book of Matthew and means “God with us.” I did some research on the meaning of this name of Jesus and found that it is significant because God chose to be with us instead of being against us, or opposed to us. 

Think about that. Humanity was full of unholiness, sin, and was far from God. Because of his vast love for us, he chose to be with his creation. He chose to bring salvation to humanity because he loves us. That salvation is still available to humanity today. 

God still loves humanity. He loves me. He loves you. He chose to be with me and he chose to be with you. 

So that’s what I’m reflecting on this Christmas season. God’s love for me. Every time I hear the name Immanuel in sermons, talking, or songs I’m reminded of his ultimate act of love, shown for me, and for you. 

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

-DS

Book Review: Man Alive

I just finished reading a new book called Man Alive by Patrick Morley.  Morley is know for his book The Man in the Mirror, which has sold around three million copies, and for leading a weekly bible study that reaches over 5,000 men called The Man in the Mirror Bible Study. 

Man Alive is a book relating to helping men find their God given purpose in life. It’s about pushing men to live a life outside of mediocrity, one where we are not just going about days half alive, or just existing. Morley’s intention in this book is to help men answer questions, about themselves, their families, and God. 

I really thought Man Alive was an easy book to read. It is thought provoking, yet not wordy. It is setup well, explaining major problems in many men’s lives with solutions to help solve those problems. Each chapter ended with questions that, if one were to take the time to answer, would help a man examine himself. Even though each chapter is about 20 - 25 pages, they feel short and straight to the point, something I believe most men can relate with. 

Overall this is a great book for men. I would definitely recommend it if you are seeking answers to questions in your life like:

- I don’t feel like God cares about me personally - why?

- Why are my most important relationships not working?

- Where do these destructive behaviors of mine come from?

- How can I live a life that will make a difference in the world?

I received this book for free to review from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers. If you would like your own copy I suggest Amazon. 

David

Remembering

It's hard for me to believe that 11 years ago today, devastating acts of terror were taking place in my own country.  At the time it felt like I was watching a movie unfold right before my eyes. It felt surreal. 

Now I know how real that day was. I've been to the World Trade Center site. I saw the holes in the ground where two massive buildings used to stand. I rode in a subway that passed a destroyed train platform. I was seeing destruction in real life that I only thought could happen in the movies. I was seeing the aftermath of pure evil. 

As I think about it now, I'm still at a loss for words. Even though I was not personally affected the events themselves, I still ask "Why?". I know I may never have the answers to those questions, but I still have them. 

Today, I am reflecting a little bit on the events of 9/11/01. Why? Maybe because I saw a similar post like this on a blog or facebook. Or maybe because it's good to remember. Remembering helps us to see how God has changed us from those times. How we've grown, hopefully to Him. It helps us to see who we were, as individuals and as a country then, and how we are today. 

So as we remember, here are links to a couple of videos we did at Riverside Church last year where I was the music minister. We purposefully took time to remember and pray for individuals affects by these events, and for our country and its leaders. Maybe today, we could all do the same. 

The first link is how we opened our service last year, a video of the band playing Alan Jackson's 'Were Where You?'  Oh, and sorry for the poor video quality on this, it was the only camera we had. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z998M5RBoxk&feature=plcp


The second is to an interview video we made of people telling their stories from that day. 
http://vimeo.com/28870401 


-DS

Reminders

I love how God can use anytime, anywhere, to remind us that He’s around. He’s providing for us, caring for us, and loving us. Today, God once again reminded me of this so I’ll share it with you.

I’m currently on vacation with my wife’s family, so my father-in-law and I decided to go play some golf. We both love to play whenever we get the chance, and what better chance than now. 

Anyway, I haven’t played in about 6 months up to this point so I wasn’t expecting to make any great shots but, on our fifth hole, I shot a birdie. Now those of you that don’t play much know this aint an easy thing to do. But somehow I managed to make a 10-15 yard chip for birdie on a par 3. Since this isn’t a common thing for me I didn’t know how to act. No celebration fist-pump or jump in the air kinda thing. Just in awe. 

As I was walking back to the cart after picking up the ball I looked down to clean my club, and right there in the middle of mud, grass, and sand were to pine needles shaped just like a perfect cross. I thought, “Huh, that’s cool,” cleaned off the club and kept walking.  In the middle of walking down a steep hill my father-in-law said something about walking gracefully. Just by him saying something about grace, and the cross pine needles on my club God was saying to me, “Hey, I’m here. Just wanted you to know.”

I love that God speaks in so many ways, reminding us of His presence. Reminding us that He is always around. His presence is everywhere, sometimes we just have to stop and realize it. Stop and notice Him. Yes, even on the golf course he can say to you...

“Hey, I’m here. Watching you. Protecting you. Loving you. Just wanted you to know.”

-David

Summer recap from a different perspective

Hello there readers!

Below you will find a link to the official Clear Camps blog. One of our leaders has written some about the summer, and also a challenge to all who attended a Clear Camp this summer. It's a great read from a different perspective than mine so I figured I'd share it with you here, so take a look. 

http://www.clearcamps.com/yourmove/

David

Book Review: Living Close to God

I’ve said it before, but periodically I’ll write reviews on some books I get for free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers.  I usually enjoy the books I get and God uses them to speak some great things into my life. Basically, I learn some good principles. The book I’m writing a review on here is no different. 

Living Close to God (When You’re Not Good At It) by Gene Edwards is a book about learning to fellowship with God throughout one’s busy day. It’s about having a spiritual life for spiritually handicapped or practical people. It’s about furthering one’s walk with Christ beyond merely reading the Bible and praying, but about genuinely walking day by day with the Lord.

Throughout the book, Edwards gives practical advice and steps, that he has personally taken, to learn how to fellowship consistently throughout one’s day. Some of these include finding God in the quiet places, putting up small reminders in places that one frequently goes, and finding cracks in the day where one can simply be with the Lord. 

While Edwards gives great practical steps for the “spiritually handicapped” to walk with the Lord, he’s not very consistent in his explanations.  At times the throughout there are redundancies upon redundancies to such explanations as ‘partaking’ of the Lord. Other times the content seemed to be shallow and simply a space filler. One such instance would be chapter 18 where he discusses pursuing Christ in a corporate setting. I would have loved for him to expand on these thoughts further, but they seem to be quick afterthoughts. 

There are other instances of inconsistent explanations in this book, however this is my only complaint about the work. For all practical purposes this is a great book and I would recommend it for those seeking a way to walk closer with Christ, even though you may not be good at it! 

Like I said earlier, I received this book for free to review from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers. If you would like your own copy I suggest Amazon. 

David

Clear 2012 - Week 8

Week 8 - Daniel Springs Baptist Encampment

Well, here the is, the last installment of my Clear Camp summer blog for 2012.  

The last week of camp consisted of all three of our teams converging onto the Daniel Springs Baptist Encampment for our biggest camp of the summer.  This youth camp brings in an average of about 600 students and 100 adults a year.  Add in the close to 70 Clear Staffers and guest throughout the week, there is about 800 people on the campus at any given time.  Needless to say, there is a lot going on.  

Throughout this week God was continually pushing me out of my comfortable place.  I didn’t realize that I had any comfortable places left after being surrounded by my other 16 team members non-stop for five weeks, but I did.  

Anyway, one of the major standards of Clear is that the staff is with the students as much as possible.  This means from breakfast at 7:30 in the morning until we walk them back to their cabins between 11-11:30 at night.  What this does is forces us to interact with students, at all times.  It forces those of us, like me, that don’t really like to talk, to talk.  

For me, this week started with just simply talking with the adult leaders.  I met some that had been doing this for a long time, and others that were at a Clear event for the first time.  Mostly, God pushed me in talking with students in the lunch/dinner line.  Since we all had to be there, and it took some time to go through, I had some great conversations with students throughout the week.  I really believe that God was speaking through me, showing His vast love to the students.  

Even as I type this, God is showing/reminding me how he systematically brought me through this summer, not just this week, teaching me to interact with people I don’t know.  He has continually been teaching me about His love for people.  About his love for me.  

The week at Daniel Springs concluded with 60 salvations.  How amazing is that!?  60 new believers in the kingdom!  That is why we do camp.  To lead students into a relationship with Christ, and give them tools to grow in that new relationship.  Over the entire summer, with three teams from East Texas, to Chicago, to Florida, and all the way to India, Clear has seen 293 give their lives to Christ!

This has truly been an amazing summer for me.  God has shown me a ton about himself, and myself.  I hope you’ve enjoyed reading along.  If you would like more information about Clear, let me know or check out the website at www.clearcamps.com. There is some great stuff coming up this fall that you should definitely check out. 

Until next time,
David

Clear 2012 - Week 7

Week 7 - Conroe, TX

Week 7 of our Clear summer consisted of our team heading down to Conroe, TX to work with a church called Under Over Fellowship.  The church, less than two years old, is pastored by Jerry Vineyard.  Due to a passion to serve the homeless community in Conroe, their vision is to be a literal “come as you are” church family.  

What's really amazing, is that Under Over genuinely wants to help people get back on their feet.  Vineyard and his team take a few people at a time, teach them how to restore old furniture in their shop Under Over Mission, and then sell it in the store called All Things New.  After time, the guys working in the shop make enough money selling furniture to have a secure sustainable income.  

This week we also had the chance to visit the Conroe House of Prayer, or CHOP as it’s commonly referred to.  This is a ministry that opens its doors for the homeless community every weekday from about 5:00 to 9:00am.  Food is provided along with daily worship and preaching.  

While at the CHOP on Monday, we were able to further connect with many of the same people we had met at Under Over Fellowship on Sunday.  Through the week many of the team had the opportunity to listen to stories and pray with many of the people.  We even had one guy tell us that he would give God another try after hearing one of our team members talk about the week.  What’s amazing is that God was showing His vast love for people through every individual on our team.  

I really think that was one of the big things God wanted to show me this summer, what His love really looks like.  I spent the whole week in 1 Corinthians 13, which most of you know as the Love chapter.  I really think that being in the middle of a bunch of people I’ve never cared about before, and spending time in this chapter, God expedited my learning of the subject.  I’m no expert on God’s love yet, but I have a better understanding.  I would encourage you to go read 1 Corinthians 13 and take some time to understand what love is, and what love is not.  I believe this will help you get a better understand of God’s love for people.  

So anyway, back to Conroe.  There is so much more I could tell you about our week in Conroe.  We put on a VBS for a parent center located in an old school and saw three or four kids come to know Jesus as their savior.  We walked around in some sketchy neighborhoods with known drug houses passing out flyers and making connections for Under Over Fellowship.  We had the opportunity to lead a Wednesday night service where many of our team had a part through music, preaching, testimony, dance, or serving.  But through all of what we did, God’s love was shown and that’s the only thing that really mattered.  

Thanks for reading!

David