Jesus was a Dude

Yeah, I went to a Christian school the other day at spoke to their student body. As I was leaving they told me to never come back. I didn't understand. At the end of my talk I challenged the students to get on their face before God and pray. There were about 60 kids that came up to the front of the Chapel and prayed. Some were praying for themselves, and some were praying with each other. It seemed like an awesome moment in time, where the student body came together. But the Headmaster didn't want me to come back.

You want to know the reason, right? Well, I sat down in the Headmaster's office shortly after my speaking engagement, and he told me what he didn't like. During my talk I referred to Jesus as a dude. What?!?!?! I couldn't believe myself. j/k The Headmaster thought that I was demeaning Jesus by calling him a dude. He thought I was disrespecting Him.

Here is my point of view. Growing up, I always looked to Jesus as this untouchable, unreachable, so perfect that He would never be able to relate to me kind of person. And He isn't. God made Jesus so that God could show mankind that God, the ultimate authority, could also be fully man. Jesus came to Earth so he would be able to relate to the normal person. Therefore, Jesus was a dude. By referring to Jesus as a dude I believe the high school student can understand that Jesus is more like them than they think.

Sacrifice

Why is it so hard to sacrifice? Jesus gave us everything, and I am still not willing to sacrifice. I don't want to sacrifice my friends, my popularity, the things I love, my money, my status, anything. I don't understand it. Jesus saved me from death, and I want to be selfish. If someone stepped in front of bullet for you wouldn't you do anything for them? Wouldn't you go through all costs to let people know you love and appreciate the guy who died for you? Of course you would. But when it comes to Jesus, we accept what He did for us and then that's it.
We worry if we tithe then we won't have enough money to pay bills.
We don't sacrifice.
We worry about losing friends.
We don't sacrifice.
We worry about being a Jesus freak.
We don't sacrifice.

Maybe sacrifice looks something like this:

http://www.bluefishtv.com/ProductDetails.aspx?cid=1005&id=1568&f=s1m&cc=&csc=&ldr=&s=a%20sisters%20sacrifice

Was Jesus Crazy?

Was Jesus Crazy? He had to be, right? How could He go around, claim that He was God, do some illusions to make it look like He healed people, walk on water, and all of that other crazy stuff, if He wasn't crazy? But here is the weird thing. Jesus had 12 guys that were pretty much with Him the whole time. These 12 men saw Jesus do miracles, and heard Jesus claim He was God. They were by His side wherever He went for the three years Jesus did ministry.

After Jesus died these 12 guys continued to spread the story about Jesus. 11 of them were killed for spreading this news. If something wasn't right, if Jesus was crazy and really didn't do miracles and stuff, why did the 11 guys die for Jesus? If Jesus was a fake, or if He was crazy, these 12 guys would have figured it out. Either all 13 of them were crazy lunatics, or Jesus was the real deal. Which one is it? Knowing that your leader was a liar, would you get stoned and killed for passing on the story about Jesus? Of course not.

Jesus wasn't liar, and Jesus wasn't crazy.

Jesus Likes R&B/ Rap Music

Tomorrow morning I am going to Pine Mountain Middle School's FCA huddle. What are you going there for, you may ask? I am going to lead a Holy Hip Hop service. I am going to rap, beat box, dance, and throw in some spoken word. Rap has become such a negative thing, and I am trying to show students that rap can be used for good. I can be uplifting. And if the artist is praising and lifting up Jesus Christ, Jesus will like it too. Therefore, Jesus like rap music.

Are You Excited?

Let me tell you a story. I met this girl a couple of weeks ago. She is actually my sister's best friend best friend. She just moved down here from Nashville, Tennessee and needed someone to hang out with. I went over to meet her and we started a friendship. If you haven't figured out yet, my life is Jesus. I work for FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes), and am a Middle School pastor at my church. The girl I met knew very little about Jesus. On the phone one night she told me, "It's embarrassing to say this, but I am 25 years old, and I don't understand Jesus." I asked her if she wanted to go to a bible study with me. She said yes, and we went to North Metro's Echo bible study. She was really nervous about going. The band started, and we all stood up to sing. As we stood up, she nervously asked me, "What are we doing?" I told her that we were worshipping God, thanking Him for saving our lives and just praising Him for that. This is what she said:



"If they are singing to God because He saved their lives, why aren't they more excited?"



This stunned me. She was so true though. As I looked around, everyone was going through the motions. I think they forgot about what Jesus really did for them. If someone were to come into your worship service and they knew nothing about God, by the way you worship God convince them that you actually believe in God? If not, we need to fix it. Lives are being lost because of the way we thank God.



Chris Tomlin is an awesome singer who sings worship music. Check this video out:

http://godtube.com/flvplayer.swf" FlashVars="viewkey=fb7bc667c7b301b74d52" wmode="transparent" quality="high" width="330" height="270" name="godtube" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"

What Do You Remember?

We go through life and we always remember the past, right? You remember childhood memories, your first kiss, the great sport's play you made, or the big fish you caught. And these are the stories we tell to friends, right? What about Jesus? When you think about the past do you remember Him? Do you tell people about Him?

I know when I get to talking about winning the basketball State Championship in high school I get really excited, or when I tell the story of my first kiss at White Water I laugh and have so much fun. When am I going to start having that much fun and excitement talking about Jesus dying on the cross for me?

Good Ole Jimmy

In the Bible this guy named Mark, who was one of Jesus' best friends, tells a story about Jesus interacting with another guy. This guy doesn't have a name in the Bible, so we will call him Jimmy. Jimmy was crazy. He was possessed by demons, and everybody in the town that Jimmy lived in disowned him. They would take Jimmy up to the tombs and chain him up there and leave. In the middle of the night the townspeople could hear Jimmy scream.

Jimmy was naked.
Jimmy cut himself.
Jimmy beat himself up.
Jimmy was an outcast.
Jimmy wasn't loved by anyone.

One day Jesus and his disciples rowed over to the town where Jimmy lived. Before Jesus could take two steps out of the boat Jimmy was there, begging Jesus not to hurt him. Jimmy was scared to death. Jesus lifted Jimmy off of his knees and grabbed the demons that lived inside of him and threw them into some pigs. The townspeople freaked out because somebody was actually interacting with Jimmy, 1,000s of demon possessed pigs just ran off a cliff, and this Jesus guy was to blame.

Jimmy was clothed.
Jimmy had new meaning.
Jimmy loved himself.
Jimmy was a part of something bigger than himself.

Jesus decided it was his time to go, and he started to get back in the boat. Jimmy begged Jesus to let him go with Jesus, but Jesus said no. He told Jimmy to go and tell all the people you know about the great things I just did.

That's the cool thing about Jesus. You don't have to clean up your life before you start a relationship with him. You start a relationship with Jesus where you are.

And Jesus will come to you. Just like Jimmy didn't have to travel around the world to find this Jesus guy, you don't either. He comes to all of us, but then he leaves it up to us to reply. Jesus isn't Waldo. It used to take me days to find Waldo in his red and white stripped shirt. And sometimes we think it is like that with Jesus. He isn't hiding from us like Waldo is. Just open your eyes and heart, and he will right there for you.

Why Are We Labeled? It's Not Fair!

From the day I was born I was labeled an accident. I wasn't supposed to be born. My parents didn't mean to have another kid. I was labeled the kid who had alcoholic parents, and a mom who was a crack addict. I was labeled the kid who cried about everything. I grew up with three sisters and a mom. What do you expect? I was the kid that walked into the classroom and the other kids knew I didn't live in a stable household. How is that fair? I couldn't do anything about it, but automatically my back, my life, was slapped with a label.

Think about this... Your mom and dad were about to get married. They were only about 14 or 15 years old. Both your mom and your dad are virgins, but the next thing you know your mom is pregnant. Did your parents have sex out of wedlock? Your dad knows he didn't sleep with her, so she must have cheated on him, right? The whole town knew about it. Your dad was ticked off, upset, confused, but then an angel appeared to him and told him that everything was o.k. The angel was the one that made your mom pregnant. Ha, nobody believed it though. Your mom and your dad move away from their hometown, because instantly they were labeled immoral people who had sex before marriage.

Ahhhh...The day you were born. You were born in a stable. The smell of cow dung and horse pee seeped into your nose with your first breaths. You weren't born in a hospital, a house, or even a hotel room. You were born in the middle of nowhere outside on some hay. You were automatically labeled as a redneck. Just kidding. You grow up poor and become a carpenter. You work manual labor job by job. You live for 30 years and then start teaching people about God. You perform miracles and people follow you everywhere. Then you get beaten, die on a cross, then defeat death, and all your labels, when you rise yourself from death. That is what Jesus did.

Yes, I am labeled, but thank you Jesus for being able to relate to me. I couldn't imagine being labeled the illegitimate child, but that is who Jesus was. He was labeled worse then me.

I Am Just an Ordinary Person, Just Like You

I am still in college. I have transferred one time, taken off two semesters, failed three classes, changed my major four times, and been in college for five years. I know, what a loser, right? I see my friends getting married, and moving into careers becoming successful. And here I am, lagging behind the rest of the pack, not even sure if I want to catch up. The truth is, I don't even know if I want to stay in school. What's the point? For the most part, even my friends who have graduated are still working simple jobs like me.

Growing up my mom was non-existent. She was involved with drugs, caught up in her own world, not wanting anything to do with mine. I know this has affected me somehow, but I just kind of avoid thinking about it. I never really felt like my mom loved me. I wish I would have had that woman in my life that could prepare me how to love. I believe having that loving relationship with your mom growing up prepares you to love your future wife. So, I am not going to know how to love my future wife, right?

You grow up with all this pressure to succeed and you think, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I will get it together one day. The next thing you know you are blowing out 23 candles on top of your birthday cake, and you are still having to live with people to make rent. Life is just passing me by.

I believe I am a smart guy. I have taken philosophy, which taught me life is meaningful only if you create meaning for yourself. I used to be a Biology major. I learned that I evolved by chance out of a primordial pond. I have taken business classes that taught me to make all of the money I can. Not once, in my 19 years of being a student has a teacher of professor asked me the question, Why are you here? That would have been a great class.

Why am I here? I guess that is the question I am waiting for someone to answer. I don't want to create my own existential reality. That would only be kidding myself. Who am I to create my own meaning? I can hardly get to work on time. If I ever buy into the fact that I am here by evolutionary chance alone, I'm afraid I'll just "off" myself one day. I mean, what's the point? But again if I buy into the accumulation of cash as the meaning of life, I would simply die inside. I can't wake up, kiss my little blond wife on the cheek, climb into a Lexus, and drive off to throw elbows in the corporate boxing ring. I want something that is true and can speak to the growing emptiness the world seems to think I don't notice.

It's not that I'm in the worst place to be. I just can't go through a day without someone asking me what I want to be when I get done with school. That question pushes me into this loneliness where I feel like I am huddled in a glass box that's only big enough for me. I guess I just wish I was something, so I didn't have to become something.

I feel like I am just another life, lost in the margins. Yeah, lost in the magins. Lost in those clear spaces along the edge of pages in a book. Every book has them. You might jot notes in the margins, but for the most part they go unnoticed. They don't represent the book, and they don't define the message. They're simply there.

Listen up

What's up everybody? I want to use this blog as a platform to talk about Jesus. Yes, I believe in Him. But I want the focus to be on this...I hate the way that Christians are acting today. We are fake, we judge, and we are the reason why people run from Jesus. That is why my title says, I don't like Christianity. Christianity today is becoming so legalistic and dull. As Christians we need to get on the same level as the people we are witnessing too. We don't need to act like we are better than everyone else we run in to. I am like everybody else. I want to add being real, to being a follower of Jesus. So, I am going to try to give you guys a different look into what Jesus is all about, and hopefully we can have some good discussions about it. Look forward to getting to know everybody.