re:Think

Changing The Way We Eat

2011-10-17T06:00:00.000-04:00

Our family has changed the way we eat. For the past month and a half we have been doing a candida free cleanse. This wasn't my idea, nor was I even all that excited about it when we first started discussing it. It was my wife's idea, and she asked me if I would do it with her so that it would be easier for the meal planning as well as helping to eliminate most temptations for her to eat something that isn't "on the list." I wasn't against doing it, I just wasn't thrilled about it. My approach was, "if you'll prepare the food, I'll eat it. There has to be stuff in the fridge for me to grab whenever I get the munchies and need something to hold me over until the next meal."

So, I agreed. I agreed for one simple reason. I love my wife.

Now, I will admit to you, on the very first day we started this, I freaked out. I was at work and lunch time was closing in as I began to realize my wife was at work and we didn't really have anything that was "on the list" at home for me to eat. So I began texting her and our friend, Eric, about what I could possible do for lunch. We are sharing our home with Eric and Andrea for a time, but that's a whole other story.

So, back to freaking out.

I wasn't getting enough of a response from either of them to satisfy my panic until Eric finally chimed in with, "I can go to the store to pick up a few items and throw a salad together for you, then we can figure other things out for the days you'll be at work and won't have time to come home and make something." This was enough to calm my panic for the day. Everyone survived and I didn't starve like I thought I would. In the coming days, several trips were made to several grocery stores as we began to explore the many options of what we could and could not eat during this time.

Now, one thing you need to understand is that I am not much of a cook. To word it that way is even giving me more credit than I deserve when it comes to cooking. I typically don't cook. Especially stuff that doesn't have a recipe for me to follow. Suffice it to say that over the past month and a half, I have not cooked one single meal. To be as honest as possible, we have done this whole candida thing with very little effort on my part. But, would you like to know what's been so crazy about it all? I have lost 20 lbs. TWENTY POUNDS!

That's right, 20 lbs. lost without doing anything. I haven't cooked, I haven't exercised, I haven't jogged. The truth is, I have been simply eating, and eating very well! Most days I get a second helping of whatever we're having because the food that has been prepared is simply that amazing. So picture me stuffing my face with a second helping of dinner and waking up the next day only to find out that I have lost another pound. This is brilliant. BRILLIANT, I tell you!

I share all of that with you in order to share Christ with you. Jesus revealing Himself to us in our everyday lives and in some of the simplest ways is one overflow of His life we have been sharing with the saints in the Gainesville church. Here is how Christ revealed Himself to me through this candida free cleanse.

Christ invites us to join in His life, not for our own purpose or desires, but for His purpose and His desire, much like my wife invited me to join her in this candida free cleanse. She has a purpose in doing this and it has nothing to do with my purposes or desires. It's about her and what she hopes to accomplish. With Christ, since He is all, it is about Him, His glory, His purpose, what He desires to bring about.

And so, we agree to join Him in His life, often times simply because we love Him. We love Him for no other reason than that He loves us first. His love and His life are abundant and we simply respond to His life and love by joining Him.

As we join Him, He has been and is at work, preparing and executing His desire to accomplish His purpose in everything. And really, this requires no effort on our part. We have joined Him in what He is doing and His life is now living in and through us, accomplishing His desire and purpose. Because we are no longer living for ourselves, in fact, we have been crucified with Christ and the life we now live is Christ's life in us and through us, our desires, agendas and purposes are no longer being driven or pushed forward. In fact, they die off and His desire and purpose is where we find our true desire and purpose. In His life is where we find our true life. Just as I have done nothing to bring about this candida cleanse or cook the food, but have simply sat down to feast every day, we do nothing to bring about Christ's desire or purpose. He does it all. It is His life living in and through us, all He asks us to do is to partake of it, to sit at His table and feast every day upon Him.

The beauty that comes out of us joining His life, I'm sure, is more evident to Him than it is to us, but still we experience it. I didn't set out to lose weight, I didn't have some big exercise routine in mind, nor have I started one, yet. In this candida free cleanse, I am experiencing the joy of losing twenty pounds, with no effort of my own, except sitting down to eat.

In Christ, we are experiencing His life, love and joy as His Body, Bride and Family as we are being built together in the community of believers. In His life and love, we learn that what we become a part of in Him is ultimately for our good as well. What He does, He does perfectly and it overflows into the life of every believer that has been called according to His purpose. That is how abundant His life is. We lose our lives, our agendas, our desires, our plans and we gain His life, His purpose, His desire and it is so enjoyable, so wonderful that we can do nothing, but consider it all joy. I am confident at this point in our journey, we have only scratched the surface of all He is. Here's to twenty pounds (and counting)!

What a Christ!

Guest Blogger: Seth Roach, "Why We Struggle - A Fresh Perspective"

2011-10-10T05:00:00.000-04:00

I would like to introduce you to Seth Roach, one of the brothers in the church here in Gainesville. In "Why We Struggle - A Fresh Perspective," Seth captured the reality and essence of Romans 12:2 that drove me to start re:Think. He was gracious enough to let me share it in it's entirety here. Not only does it embody the essence of re:Think, but I believe it is vital to being a follower of Jesus. I encourage you to read it, or visit Seth's blog, Straight Plow, and read through the comment thread as well.

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The World's system lies in the hand of the evil one and all people have been indoctrinated by it from birth. Your identity, your worth, your status, etc., is measured by standards set by this world. By necessity there must be a death to that old life, that old estimation of who you are and a birth of new life springing forth of the true reality of your identity in Christ.

Christ Displaces the Enemies Hold
Struggle both spiritually and mentally are not simply a matter of the enemy bombarding your mind trying to bring you down, discourage you, make you feel like a failure, telling you, look what you have done with your life, you have wasted it or look at these people and their accomplishments comparing yourself with others.

The inward struggle youíre facing is a result of a conflict. Your mind has mindsets already built in that are strongholds of the enemy. These mindsets have been built there as you have grown up and are encouraged by the world system which is under the sway of the evil one. These strongholds support the independent self life that Christ has put to death on the cross.

As Christ comes in and begins to shake all that up, breaking in with the truth of who you are in Him. As He displaces the enemies hold (mindsets) bringing in the truth of Himself you begin being transformed by the renewing of your mind. This is the process of becoming who you already are, waking up to the reality of who you are in Christ. Putting off the old man and putting on the new man, Christ Jesus. See Ephesians 4:22-24, "Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." (ESV)

A New Perspective
A new perspective that I now see from having learned that when you feel the struggle it may seem like you are really under attack and perhaps you are but in reality Christ is overthrowing the enemyís stronghold in your mind. Christ is bringing victory into reality in your life. This is when the enemy does all he can to maintain his hold. This is not the time to give in or give up it is the time to press in more resolute to your Lord looking to Him, trusting Him being encouraged that He has done it. At this point to trust in your feelings and emotions or rely on the old estimations comparing yourself with others will only be playing into the enemies hand.

The struggle is important to go through. You will know your Lord in a much more intimate and real way as you pass through this struggle. The battle is already won. Christ has already defeated the enemy. You have already been translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Embrace Christ and the reality of who you are in Him and go through the struggle. Shrug the feeling that the enemy is really trying to overtake you but instead realize that your mind was already under the influence of the enemy and the world system but now Christ is setting you free as you are conformed into His image.

The enemy is losing ground in you and is mad trying to get you to let go of the truth of Christ. This struggle is necessary for you to go through and it is a positive thing. You must cling to the truth even if you donít feel like it. Remember your faith is not based on feeling but in who He is. 2 Cor. 5:7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. (ESV)

Be Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind
Paul states in Romans 12:1-2, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

This appeal from Paul is for us individually and as a corporate body to respond to in faith. It is vital to apply in order that the life of Christ may be lived in and through you within the community of the saints and as you read the rest of Romans 12 and beyond you will see what the fruit of doing so looks like.

A Final Exhortation
When we make a resolute presentation of our lives continually to Christ as a living sacrifice not being conformed to the pattern of this world, that includes the estimation of yourself, success, power, money, material possessions, past mistakes, age and accomplishments and lack thereof, etc., and begin to be transformed by the renewing of our minds according to the realization of Christ, the revelation of Christ in you and in you all as the community of believers we will see the ever growing expression of the glorious Christ in and through us. That is why this is called a walk of faith because we cannot trust ourselves and the Lord is showing us that He is all in all.

The enemy is defeated and the only place he has ground in us is when we either lose sight of the truth and begin relying on the old man again or have an area of our heart that is not submitted to the Lordship of Christ. Either way the Lord is merciful and faithful to work in us both to will and do His good pleasure. Turn to Him now, Call on His name and thank Him that He has placed you inside of Himself and that you can safely rest in His arms trusting in Him fully.

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You can find the full post and comment thread at Seth's blog, Straight Plow.

Bringing It Back

2011-10-09T13:00:00.000-04:00

For some time now, I've been thinking about bringing this blog back. I've been making some changes to it over the past two days, which, if you were a follower of this blog before, you may notice. Then again, it's been so long that you may not.

One of the main reasons I've wanted to try to bring this blog back is because I've been over at Wordpress.com and have enjoyed it, but I use Google and the many vast Google products more than I use other internet products. So I thought I would try and revive this blog and see how it goes. I still plan to keep that blog going as well. At least for a while.

For those of you who visit this blog looking for Marriage Help or Resources, please note that there is an entire page dedicated to Marriage Help Resources. It will continue to grow as I will be posting more articles of our learning experiences through the several years since our marriage has been restored.

re:Think has been a favorite phrase of mine for several years. I decided to name this blog re:Think because it is something I am constantly doing, and I believe it is an essential part of being a follower of Jesus Christ, as Romans 12:2 tells us, "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is." - NLT

So with out further delay, welcome back to re:Think. Up next will be a "Guest Blogger" post entitled, "Why We Struggle - A Fresh Perspective" from a dear brother in the Lord, Seth Roach.

Curious

2011-09-29T09:07:00.000-04:00

I'm curious to know about those of you who were once subscribed to this blog. Did you migrate over to the new blog at WordPress, or continue following in any other way? Or just drop it all together?

If you're receiving this, then you're obviously following it by some means. I'd like to know. If you don't mind, just drop me a quick email at tobiasvaldez@gmail.com or post a comment on this post. It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Tobias

Making a Change

2010-05-10T22:28:00.002-04:00

I wanted to update you on a recent change for re:Think. I'm am moving over to WordPress. You can find re:Think on WordPress at the following URL:

http://tobiasvaldez.wordpress.com

So those of you who follow rethink or subscribe will need to update your feeds and web address. Also if you link to re:Think, please be sure to update the links on your blogs/websites. Thanks! I look forward to what is to come!

-Tob

The Picture of Things

2010-02-14T23:00:00.009-05:00

1 Corinthians 13:12 "We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!" - The Message

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The last time I had my eyes checked (which was many years ago) the eye doctor told me that my right eye had perfect vision (a fact that has now become a running joke among friends). He then continued to inform me that my left eye only had twenty percent of the vision it should have. Twenty percent! I knew things were a little blurry, but I had no idea my left eye was that bad. Neither did my parents. But there I was in seventh or eighth grade with one really good eye and one very poor eye. I ended up with glasses, which, at that time, were totally cool and made me look even cooler (yeah right!). I haven't worn them in years and I'm certain they weren't cool, nor did I look cool in them, but that is beside the point.

I haven't been to an eye doctor in years, but the vision in my left eye has changed very little, if it has changed at all. And as far as I know, the vision in my right eye is still the same. I tell you all of this to tell you a story the Lord has used to teach me something.

The other day a spec of something got into my poor eye, so it was closed and I was trying to finish up what I was doing with only my good eye open until I could clean the other one out. As I finished the task at hand, I noticed that a picture I was looking at didn't appear how it usually appears when I look at it. After getting my eye cleaned out I took another look at the picture with both eyes and the picture appeared normal again. This was significant to me because I wasn't aware of how much my sight is still dependent on both of my eyes even though the vision in one is significantly less than the other. I mean, I knew I still used them both, but I didn't realize how much I still used my poor eye. Nor did I realize how much of an impact my poor eye still has on my perception of things. And that's when the Lord reminded me of the verse about seeing things dimly, like through a fog or a mist. But He showed me something completely new about it, and I believe it is because of where we are in our journey.

Last year my family and I stepped away from church as we've always known it, away from the mentality and lifestyle of going to church to pursue something different (check out the Thoughts On Church section of THIS POST for a glimpse into my early attempts at trying to explain it). During that time of transition I struggled for a better understanding about how the Lord was leading us and what was going on in our lives. Sometimes I posted about those struggles openly on this blog. At one point I even made a comparison between where we were at the time and what I believed we were starting to experience and move into. For me it was a clearing of my mind, allowing me to hear and see my own thoughts so I could better understand. This blog served as my outlet, as it had for previous years. But, for others, it was offensive, divisive and upsetting. I have since been very cautious, almost reluctant to post anything of real substance on this blog for fear of repeating my offense. But through this experience of needing to use both of my eyes to see a picture clearly I believe the Lord has shown me something very helpful on this journey.

Through our time of stepping away from church as we had known it and transitioning into something different, I know what my thoughts were about what we were stepping away from. At times there was a sense of relief, as if a burden had been lifted from our shoulders. Like a stress was suddenly taken away and we could breathe fresh air. At times there was anger and frustration because so much of our lives over the past 10 to fifteen years had been spent on things that I was now questioning the importance of. And I am ashamed to admit it, but at times I was even angry towards some of my brothers and sisters in Christ. There were other times where I questioned the validity of our choices and the consequences of our actions. I wondered what others were thinking about us. We knew some relationships would be lost or damaged. But we rejoiced at the relationships that proved to be founded on Christ and His unfailing love for us all, and were glad to know they would continue on regardless of the different paths we were on. We were blessed to experience a grace freely given by some who live in the knowledge that it was freely given to them.

We don't know what others thought about us or our decisions unless they voiced them to us personally. And I won't make any speculations here. I simply know that at times my attitude, outlook and expressions were not those of the Jesus I claim to follow. For that I apologize and ask forgiveness.

So what is it, you might wonder, that the Lord has shown me? What inspired this blog post?

The Lord is the Head of His body and each of us make up a part of that body. As Paul wrote, there are eyes, ears, hands and feet, and many more members of this beautiful Bride of Jesus. What the Lord showed me was that He desires to use us all to bring about His full expression on this earth. He desires to use us all, those of us who make up the hands, feet, mouth, eyes and ears. Even those of us who, like me, "don't see things clearly", who are "squinting in a fog" or "peering through a mist." And at times I'm sure we've all experienced this until the Lord brought clarity to our eyes.

So, there are those of us who see things differently, just as my two eyes saw things very differently that day. But the head of my body desired to use both, nonetheless, to accomplish what needed to be accomplished. And it favored neither the good eye, nor the poor eye. In a much more complete and beautiful way than my weakness expressed that day, the Lord, as the Head of His body has used and desires to use every part His body to accomplish His purpose and plan on this earth. And my part is of no lesser significance than that of anyone else. But I learned that day, in humility, that my part is of no greater significance than that of any other part. But as the Lord chooses to work through the many members, functioning together, He is accomplishing His purpose on the earth.

In Pursuit of God's Purpose and Passion.

Frank Viola Writes On Organizational vs. Organic

2009-11-12T09:00:00.002-05:00

I've had a few conversations with family and friends concerning what kind of church life my family is involved in these days. As most of you are aware of changes we made back in March of this year. If you aren't aware of them or need a reminder CLICK HERE and read the Thoughts On Church section.

Frank Viola is one of several authors who write on the subjects of God's Eternal Purpose, Organic Church, and Radical Church Restoration, among other things. Because he has years of experience at writing about it, living in it, and sharing it with others...he is very good at communicating it in ways that are clear and to the point, yet filled with grace and love.

One of his latest articles communicating the differences between "organic" church life and "organizational" church is very good and available in a PDF file HERE. It was written for Neue magazine. As you and I both know the term "organic" is being tossed around and attached to so many different things it difficult to know exactly what people mean when they use it. This article does a great job of expressing exactly what is meant when the word "organic" is used to describe church life.

So if you would like another example of what my family is doing and what we are pursuing, I suggest reading the article by Frank Viola, "Organizational vs. Organic". As I mentioned in my previous post, this is one of those things that has come into focus for us.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!

In Pursuit of God's Purpose and Passion.

The Journey

2009-11-11T21:00:00.002-05:00

I've been reading back over some of my previous posts. Some are good (my humble opinion) and some are not so good (again my opinion). As I read some of them I think to myself, "Man, you really were growing/learning some stuff then and it shows." But then there are other post that I read and I think to myself, "Man, you were learning stuff, but you didn't have all the pieces of that puzzle when you made that post." And this is true.

I hope you (the faithful few readers/followers of re:Think) have been or are able to see a journey. For me it has been a process of growth and learning, questioning, searching, stumbling, and discovery. I have shared my struggles with faith, life, God, church life, death, friends, family and a few other things here.

I plan to continue to do so. BUT, I hope and plan for this blog to become more focused. The reason for this shift in bloginess (yes that is a word...now) is that I believe my life, as well as my family's life has become more focused over the past year. Truth be told this "coming into focus" thing is something that happens in all of our lives as we grow and gain more or better understandings of things. Most likely there will be changes made to the blog, some changes have already happened. These changes are being made to the blog because of a significant change/development in my life and my family's life, which I hope to communicate here over the course of years to come.

Thank you so much for being a part of this journey. I hope you will continue to journey with me. I really hope you share your input by commenting along the way.

And so...the journey continues.........

In Pursuit of God's Purpose and Passion.

Radical Church Restoration: A Review by David Flowers

2009-10-05T13:00:00.004-04:00

You may have noticed my list of "Books Worth Reading" has been updated recently. You may also notice the majority of these books are books by Frank Viola. What you may not be aware of is that these books were written as a series on Radical Church Restoration. With the September release of "Finding Organic Church," the series is now complete.

I have wanted to say something about these books for a long time, but do not consider myself to be very adept in "book reviewing." But do not fear! There are those who possess this rare ability and have graciously shared their talent with the masses at various points in history. One such person is David D. Flowers. Mr. Flowers, who has his own blog, has recently posted a most beneficial review of the entire series on said blog. His review may also be found in the customer reviews for the book "Finding Organic Church."

I highly recommend the entire series as it has been the most impacting set of books in my life. To get a better understanding of what the series is about, read the review by David D. Flowers. To order the complete series at a deep discount (along with audio CDs from Frank Viola) visit the ReChurch Library on Frank Viola's website. I would also suggest following Frank Viola's very own blog, where he discusses organic church, the centrality & supremacy of Jesus, and various other topics relevant to the eternal purpose of God and the Church.

In Pursuit of God's Purpose and Passion.

Frank Viola Writes About "Postchurch" Thoughts

2009-08-20T18:45:00.003-04:00

Recently Frank Viola wrote an article that was featured on Christianity Today's blog, Out of Ur, that deals with a "new" mentality (and vocabulary) being expressed by some who have left the institutional church system. I found this article to be very helpful for me and those I gather with.

One of the reasons I found it to be so helpful is because Frank addresses some of the very things we went through at one point in time. Some of the language being used as well as some of the thoughts or ideas that Frank argues against in his article were some of the very thoughts and language that we either were wrestling with or actually using in our conversations early on in our journey outside of the institutional church. As we have been processing through this journey we have prayed, read, gathered together, talked and examined so much. It is such a blessing to have others who have been on this journey longer, who have more experience in it, and who are willing to share what they've learned and are continuing to learn along the way.

So I figured, if we struggled with this there are probably others struggling with this as well and would benefit from hearing what Frank has brought to the table. You can find his published article in two parts. Part one is HERE and part two is HERE. You can find the entire article, prior to being edited for publishing HERE (this is a PDF file).

For those of you who are on this journey, I would encourage you to seek the Lord about what His purpose is and what His passion is for because in finding His purpose and passion we will find our purpose and what we should be passionate about as well.

Desiring to be a living stone, built together with other living stones for God's purpose and passion,
Tob

A New Way To Live

2009-06-24T13:00:00.006-04:00

A while back I said I would hopefully give an update in regards to where we are (as a family) spiritually speaking and what we are up to these days. So at long last, here it is.

(For ease of communicating and for clarification purposes please note that the word Church with a capital "C" is speaking of the Church or Body of Christ as a whole meaning the people of God, the word church with a lower-case "c" is speaking of buildings, institutions, and/or organizations. There is no derogatory intention in making this distinction, just trying to communicate as clearly as possible. Thanks for understanding and sharing in grace.)

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Our Family's Journey
In March 2009, my family and I stepped away from the mentality and lifestyle of going to church to wholeheartedly pursue community life. Some people call it Simple Church/Organic Church/House Church. In fact we used those terms early on in this journey because it was the only terminology known to us at the time. Now we don't really call it anything, we just strive to live it out as a new way of life.

What does this new life look like?

Here are a few brief descriptions to get the wheels turning:

We believe we are all called as ministers unto the Lord and each other, each of us has the opportunity to live that truth out when we are together, using the gifts God has given us through the Holy Spirit. As a result, there are no distinctions between ministers and non-ministers. There are no paid salaries, professional ministers, or staff.

We are a community of Jesus followers, seeking to gather under the headship of Christ, and live shared lives together.

We believe and seek to flesh out this truth, that we, the followers of Jesus, are the Church, the body of Christ, whenever and where ever we gather together. What we do/how we live is not run like a business, and there are no buildings to maintain. We gathering simply, in homes, at restaurants, coffee shops, parks, etc.

This is not all there is to it, but these statements are a few specific descriptions as to what this new way of life looks like.

So, you've started a new church in Altus, you're just calling it something different like house church or organic church right?

The answer to that question is a resounding, NO!

As I said before, in some of our earlier days we used terminology like house church or organic church because those were the only terms that were known to us at the time. We are seeking to live out this new life of being the Church. We don't believe we are starting anything new because the Church in Altus already exists. It has been around for a long time. The Church in Altus can be found in various places around town, as has been the case for decades. Some of the places you can find the Church in Altus would include places like the Protestant churches and Catholic churches around town. I would dare say you could probably find the Church in Altus in homes, on golf courses, in stores and at restaurants. My point is this, every true follower of Jesus here in Altus, regardless of how they do church life is part of the Church in Altus, and the Church in Altus was here long before we got here and will, no doubt, be here long after we are gone. We are seeking to live out this new life (new mentality and lifestyle) of being the Church in a shared community life.

What were some of your reasons for stepping away from what you were doing to pursue this?

My family and I started to experience the fulfillment of a longing that was deep within us when we started gathering with other followers of Jesus outside of church services and events (read the "Thoughts On Church" section HERE). The longing is to share community life centered around Jesus and his purpose in our lives with other followers of Jesus. When we started to experience this it was like finding a part of us that had been missing all along. The impact of living a shared community life was changing our lives in ways we had not experienced before.

One of the other things we started noticing is that we also started connecting with people who didn't attend any type of church for various reasons; Either their work schedules didn't allow them the time to attend, or they had a bad experience in a church they went to in the past, or they just had no interest in attending a church at all. Most of them still had a desire to connect with God and other followers of Jesus, but felt like they were out on their own with very few options available to them to help make those connections. There were also a few who were still attending church, but who were very discontent with the status quo and wanted something different, something more. As we began to share what was happening in our lives it made a connection with a longing in their hearts to be a part of something like what we were describing.

Through many conversations and prayers, we believe the Lord was and still is leading us to live out this new mentality and lifestyle of being the Church, living our lives in community with other followers of Jesus, helping those who can't or won't attend church to connect with God and with other followers of Jesus, and helping those who feel like they are out there on their own to realize they are not alone and they can experience God and community life with other followers of Jesus, even outside of the four walls of church.

There's more I can share and will hopefully make the time to do so here in the near future. In the meantime, if you'd like to read something related to this new way of living, you should check out "A Way To Do Life -- Not A Way To Do Church" by Roger Thoman at SimpleChurch Journal.

Live the Revolution. Be the Church.

New CD Available Online

2009-05-27T14:41:00.004-04:00

Another Day (Now Available Online)
Got some cool news last night! My new CD, Another Day (released Feb. 2009), is now available online HERE or you can use the nifty link (yes I said nifty!) below to check it out!

Altus Area
For those of you who live in the Altus area, Hasting's (in Altus) is now carrying the CD as well. You can swing by and check it out there as well! If you haven't picked up a copy yet check out one of these two places and let me know what you think when you do pick it up! Thanks for the support!

Live the Revolution. Be the Church.

Some Updates

2009-04-29T21:35:00.002-04:00

Just a few updates for you to be aware of...

Subscription Services
The subscription service from FeedBurner is making some changes and I'm not sure if I am going to like them or keep them once the changes are made, so for now I am temporarily disabling that feature for a while. If you are a subscriber and wish to continue receiving posts from re:Think send an email with the subject "Subscribe" to tobiasvaldez@gmail.com and I will make sure you continue receiving the post until I get subscriptions going again. This will be the last post to go through the FeedBurner subscription service.

New Features
There will be some new links over the next couple of days, weeks under the Communities & Zines section (left hand side bar). These links will pertain more to what my family and I are involved in these days (cool stuff there!). For a bit of an update on that click on the "CLICK HERE" link in the top right hand side bar and read that post. It was updated April 2009.

...and Other Stuff
I hope to get back to posting more on a regular basis in the near future. One of the down falls of doing a blog like this is that it is a public space and sometimes the thoughts are not fully developed and therefore not communicated as well as they could be. I've been journaling a lot lately, in my private book journal that is, and that has taken the place of this blog to some extent, especially when talking about under developed thoughts. But when I do post, I hope and expect it to be of significance with regards to where I am at (spiritually speaking), as well as where we (family) believe the Lord is leading us. You won't want to miss it!

Until that time, peace and grace to you all.

Live the Revolution. Be the Church.

Resurrection Day!

2009-04-12T14:31:00.003-04:00

Remember the sacrifice of Jesus. Celebrate His resurrection! The good news of Jesus is living in each of us today. Share it with family and friends. Happy Resurrection Day!

Live the Revolution. Be the Church.

Return To The Blogosphere

2009-04-07T23:00:00.000-04:00

In my last post I spoke about a break from the blog and clearing up some of the vagueness upon my return to the blogosphere. So, here I am to clear up some of the vagueness.

The Break
The main reason for the break from the blog was that I was on vacation. Yes, my family and I took a vacation to lovely, scenic, currently snowy Cheyenne, Wyoming! Before we went on vacation Cheyenne has a little bit of snow. Since we left to come back home Cheyenne has had blizzards and snow storms galore! While we were there...nothing. Not one flake of snow. In fact while we were there most of the days were in the mid to high 70's or low 80's. The evenings and nights were cold or cooler, but nothing to write home about. In case you can't tell, we were a little disappointed.

We did manage to spend some time in the snow over at Snowy Range. My son, brother-in-law and I went there for a day of snow boarding. The rest of the family met us there after lunch for pictures and to watch us fall on our rears. It was a great time! I did way better on this outing than on my previous one.

The only other time I've been snowboarding was 10 years ago to the month! On that trip I suffered some serious whiplash on the first day of a three day skiing/snowboarding trip. Talk about some serious body pain!! That incident happened on the first trail I went on, which took me a whopping hour and 45 minutes to complete. Yes, it was long, I was hurting when I finished. But I didn't give up! I continued snowboarding on the beginner's slope that afternoon and all during the next day. On the third day, I spent half of the day on the beginner's slope, then went back to the first trail (the hour and 45 minute trail) and completed it with a friend of mine in only 45 minutes! For me that was a huge victory! Enough about the past, let's get back to the this vacation.

We also took a couple of days to visit Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse near Rapid City, South Dakota. Very cool! Not only did we get to see something none of us had seen, but we also visited a state none of us had been to before! So this part of the trip was totally new for all of us. let me just say, if you ever get the chance to go there, DO IT!!

We also spent a bit of time sight seeing in Cheyenne at the Train Depot Museum. Very interesting history about Cheyenne, as well as the railway and the area. I'm sure this is all so stunning and exciting and ... and you guys are like...SHOW ME SOME PICTURES ALREADY!! Well, as soon as I get the pictures uploaded to the computer I'll update this post with them.

And last but not least, we were blessed to attend North Cheyenne Baptist with our family. Not only that, but since my brother-in-law is part of the praise team, he mentioned that I play and sing and asked if it would be okay for me to sit in with their team on Sunday morning. It worked out good for them because one of their guitar players was gone that day. They also allowed me to sing a song for the offering time and to have my CD's available for purchase after the service. I enjoyed being able to participate and share what the Lord has done in our lives.

All in all, it was a great vacation. This is only the second time I've been to Wyoming, while it marks the third, fourth, and fifth times other family members have been. So I was glad to return and visit family on their home turf. I'll get the pics uploaded soon, so check back this weekend for the update. Until then, God's best to you!

Live the Revolution. Be the Church.

Sorry, But This Will Be A Vague Post

2009-03-12T09:00:00.002-04:00

It is sometimes difficult to know where to pick back up with the subjects or topics covered on this blog. Especially when you've flubbed something in recent days and do not want to repeat that sort of thing. That would explain my recent lack of posting. There are a lot of thoughts and events I would like to post about (and most likely will do so soon). But I have a desire to respect certain situations and circumstances (as well as people and relationships) and am waiting to post until those situations and circumstances are resolved or are better situated for what I will be posting about.

Are you completely confused yet?

Change is in the works for myself and my family. We believe it is a good change, one that the Lord is bringing about in our lives. This change has been a long process for us (over several years) and has not always been easy, but has been well worth our efforts. For now, that is all I will share about it.

Has your curiosity been peeked? Well, you're just going to have to check back later. I plan to take a break from the blogosphere for about a week starting this coming Saturday. I'll fill you in on some of the details of the break and some of the changes that are in the wind upon my return to the blogosphere.

I may post again before said break, but your guess is as good as mine right now on that. In the meantime be encouraged by this passage from Matthew:

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." - Jesus, Matthew 11:28-30 The Message

Live the Revolution. Be the Church.

Wisdom From James

2009-03-03T11:10:00.003-05:00

"If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. "~ James 3:13, NLT

This scripture really jumped out at me when I came across it this morning. Like many followers of Jesus, I am in a process of learning; learning what it means to be wise, how to live wisely. I have not arrived and don't know that I ever will this side of eternity. It's a journey. I am seeking to understand God's ways. I desire to live an honorable life, doing good works in humility.

Father, help us all to live wisely and grant us wisdom, not only to know Your ways, but to also know Your heart. Help us to live out what we so boldly believe and profess, for You are our God and we desire to honor You.

Live the Revolution. Be the Church.

Blog Post Update

2009-02-13T18:30:00.000-05:00

Today I've made some significant changes to one of my previous posts titled, "God At Work (Story Side B)." Please CLICK HERE and take the time to read it.

Sincerely,

Tobias Valdez

The Family As Conduit For Faith Experience & Expression

2009-01-27T16:00:00.000-05:00

According to George Barna in his book, Revolution, in the year 2000 the family served as the conduit of the faith experience and expression for only about 5% of our population. This means that only about 5% of us experience or express our faith in the home or with our families. As far as Barna and his research can tell, that percentage will most likely not change much between the year 2000 and the year 2025.

As a husband and father, I am determined to have my family be part of that 5%. Being a family of Jesus followers and how we live it out in our every day lives are two things I think about a lot. I am constantly trying to find ways to integrate our faith into our everyday living; things like being in relationship with Jesus, choosing to live according to biblical principles, being a family of integrity, using our resources to help others, and learning to recognize and obey God speaking to us through various ways, those are all things I want my children to see in my life and Brenda's life. It's one thing for us to talk to them about those things. It's another thing for them to see those things (even be a part of those things) as they are being lived out in our home and our everyday lives.

Last night I took advantage of an opportunity to "teach" my son about recognizing God's voice as He speaks to us. It made for a late night for him, but he didn't have school today due to the weather, so we made the most of it.

The opportunity came in the form of a simple question from my son. He asked, "Didn't you already read that book?" He was speaking of the book, Revolution, because I was making notes in the margins and underlining certain parts that stuck out for me. I finished the book a couple of weeks ago. This is my second reading of it and I'm marking it up for future reference. So I told him that I had already read it, but that I wanted to make notes on the things that stuck out to me. As I continued making notes, I was prompted by the Spirit to pursue an open door with my son. So I did.

What followed was about two hours of questions, examples and conversation about hearing God in our lives, being in relationship with Jesus, different aspects of prayer, how to read the bible in such a way that will allow God to use it to impact and shape our lives, the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, God's love for us and how we are to respond to His work in and around us.

The conversation eventually morphed into being in relationships with girls, preferably one at a time, and not until he's out of high school (the out of high school thing is my preference, not necessarily his). We talked about how my dating life was when I was younger (junior high/high school) and how much I learned about relationships after high school, especially after being married for almost ten years. My examples allowed him to see several different lessons I should have learned through my experiences, but didn't realize until several years after the fact. Hopefully through our conversations over the coming years he will be able to learn from my mistakes as well as my good times, instead of having to try it all out for himself and live through it all as well.

He's such a smart guy. I hope to have many more opportunities to share and offer guidance for his life. I pray he will be led by the Spirit in the paths of righteousness for all the days of his life.

"Father, thank You for such great children you have blessed us with. Thank You for opportunities like these to listen and share with my son. Thank You for his desire to know his father and learn from him. Thank You for being in relationship with him from a young age. I pray Your hand will guide him and strengthen him as he grows. I pray he will learn to distinguish between Your Spirit speaking to him and the voices of the world, and that he would be obedient to Your voice alone. Grant him wisdom to know what paths to choose. Bring clarity to his life as he grows and looks toward his future in this world. Help us, as parents, to give words of wisdom, encouragement, and love that come straight from You. We thank You for it all and ask it all in Jesus' name."

Live the Revolution. Be the Church.

Affirmations of a Revolutionary

2009-01-10T12:29:00.011-05:00

I am a Revolutionary in the service of God Almighty. My life is not my own; I exist as a free person but have voluntarily become a slave to God. My role on earth is to live as a Revolutionary, committed to love, holiness, and advancing God's Kingdom. My life is not about me and my natural desires; it is all about knowing, loving, and serving God with all my heart, mind, strength, and soul. Therefore, I acknowledge the following:

I am a sinner, broken by my disobedience but restored by Jesus Christ in order to participate in good works that please God. I am not perfect; but Jesus Christ makes me righteous in God's eyes, and the Holy Spirit leads me toward greater holiness.
God created me for His purposes. My desire as a Revolutionary is to fulfill those ends, and those ends alone. When I get out of my bed each day, I do so for one purpose: to love, obey and serve God and His people.
Every breath I take is a declaration of war against Satan and a commitment to opposing him.
God does not need me to fight His fight, but He invites me to allow Him to fight through me. It is my privilege to serve Him in that manner. I anticipate and will gladly endure various hardships as I serve God; for this is the price of participation in winning the spiritual war.
I do not need to save the world; Jesus Christ has already done that. I cannot transform the world, but I can allow God to use me to transform some part of it.
My commitment to the Revolution of faith is sealed by my complete surrender to God's ways and His will. I will gratefully do what He asks of me simply because He loves me enough to ask. I gain my security, success, and significance through my surrender to Him.
I am not called to attend or join a church. I am called to be the Church.
Worship is not an event I attend or a process I observe; it is the lifestyle I lead.
I do not give away 10 percent of my resources. I surrender 100 percent.
God has given me natural abilities and supernatural abilities, all intended to advance His Kingdom. I will deploy those abilities for that purpose.
The proof of my status as a Revolutionary is the love I show to God and people.
There is strength in relationships; I am bound at a heart and soul level to other Revolutionaries, and I will bless believers whenever I have the chance.
To achieve victory in the spiritual war in which we are immersed , there is nothing I must accomplish; I must simply follow Christ with everything I have.
There is no greater calling than to know and serve God.
The world is desperately seeking meaning and purpose. I will respond to that need with the Good News and meaningful service.
Absolute moral and spiritual truth exists, in knowable and is intended for my life; it is accessible through the Bible.
I want nothing more than to hear God say to me, "Well done, My good and faithful servant."

Thank You, Lord God, for loving me, for saving me, for refining me, for blessing me, and for including me in the work of Your Kingdom. My life is Yours to use as You please. I love You.

Live the Revolution. Be the Church.

Being the Church With My Kids

2009-01-06T23:38:00.016-05:00

Last night I took advantage of an opportunity with my kids to live out what it means to "be the Church." It was going to be a normal Tuesday night. On Tuesday nights the kids and I go to Life Group, a small group connected to ACF, where we attend. I usually lead in three songs of praise/worship at our Life Group. But last night I wasn't going to be able to make it due to a few other things I needed to take care of. So after calling the host home for Life Group to let them know we wouldn't be there we went home where I took care of the immediate things that needed to be done while I still had a bit of daylight.

After finishing the things outside and coming back inside, I became aware of something I knew the Spirit was prompting me to do. I had visited with a friend earlier in the day and learned he hadn't eaten a meal since Sunday. Yesterday was Tuesday. He was not fasting. Because of his financial situation he hasn't been able to buy groceries for a while, but he wasn't telling people. It was only by an off chance that I found out.

I've helped people out before here and there, but this time was different. Yes he is my friend, but this time I knew the Spirit was leading me to help him out by loading up my kids, going to the store and buying him some groceries. So that's exactly what we did.

After going to the store, we drove over to his place, the kids helped me unload the groceries and place them on his doorstep. I told the kids to go back to the car and wait for me there, hoping to keep my friends dignity intact as much as possible considering the circumstances. So I knocked on the door, he answered and we carried the groceries in together. He was in tears. We hugged, I told him I would see him tomorrow. It was good to be able to help my friend. I had heard the Spirit and obeyed.

The cool thing about all of it is this: It wasn't just me, but my kids were able to be a part of it as well. Upon returning to the car I told them we would spend some time talking about what we just did and why. So after we prayed over sandwiches I had the kids wait to eat. I asked them if they were hungry. Of course they were, but I told them to take a minute and pay attention to what it felt like to be hungry. As they did that I told them about our friend's situation, how he hadn't eaten and didn't have money to go out and buy food for himself. Then I let them eat. As they ate I talked with them about being followers of Jesus and how he wants us to help others when we have the opportunity.

I told them of how the scriptures tell us God will supply our needs and how sometimes he will use people like us to meet the needs of others. It was a great time for us as a family, it was a great thing for them to be a part of. It was a great moment for me as a father.

"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:19 NIV

How does that scripture read to you?

For me it reads like this:

My God will meet all of your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus and sometimes he will meet those needs through the life, finances, time, energy he has given me.

It's not enough to pray for God to meet the needs of others. How can we ask God to meet someone's needs and not realize it is for that very reason our lives have crossed paths with theirs. How can I say to a person who is in need, "Put your trust in God and he will meet your needs," and do nothing. Yes, pray for them, encourage them, but at some point the "Good News" of God's love for them must be translated into something they can understand, something they can grab hold of.

If we are truly followers of Christ everything we have belongs to him. Our finances, our time, our resources, which include our energy and our very lives. Some will say the church should take care of things like that. They are correct in saying so, but by their statement it is evident they are greatly mistaken in who or what the Church is. In that statement they affirm a belief that people are to give tithes and offerings to a local church to "enable" a select few (the "clergy") to do the work of ministering to those in need.

Can I just tell you now...THAT BELIEF IS WRONG!!! Tithing is not intended to be a relief of obligation for people who tithe. It does not relieve those who tithe from being responsible to meet the needs of others they come in contact with. That kind of mentality needs to be revolutionized! Then lives will be transformed as the scriptures tell us in Romans 12:2,

"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." - NLT (emphasis mine)

If your life has crossed paths with someone in need and you feel the Lord leading you to pray for them, then, chances are, the Lord is wanting you to ask Him how your resources can be used to meet that person's needs.

We the people, all of us who profess to be followers of Jesus, are the instruments God desires to use to meet the needs of others. We are the organism, not the organization, God has put in place to do His will. He doesn't call organizations. He doesn't call institutions. He doesn't call the government. He doesn't call welfare. He calls people. He has called you. He has called me. It is our choice to answer the call.

Live the Revolution. Be the Church.

Nice!!!

2009-01-05T00:00:00.002-05:00

Just a quick shout out to R.C. (Bridget helped too!)for hooking me up with the new image for my header! I think it rocks!!! It's so nice to have friends who are willing to help you with things they aren't necessarily tied to or involved in (especially when they don't even ask you to do something in return or charge you a "small nominal fee").

Also in the way of blog updates, there is now a new "Follower" section in the right hand sidebar. This doesn't cause anything to be emailed to you or anything like that. It does add re:Think to your "Blogs I Follow" list on your blogger home page. And as an added bonus it makes re:Think look pretty cool. So if you'd like to contribute to the cool factor use the link to become a follower of this blog!

Resolutions

2009-01-02T18:00:00.004-05:00

So the New Year has started, if you weren't aware of that, then you're probably dead or on a deserted island with out a calendar. In either case you're probably not able to read this, so I'm going to stop addressing you in this blog post.

For those of you who are aware of the New Year, congratulations! You're still alive and have at least a portion of your wits about you, and that is a nice thing!

So get on with it already!

Okay, I will.

Do you make resolutions for the New Year? I don't remember if I've ever made a New Year's resolution in my life. I know I've thought about it before, but actually getting beyond the thought of it, I don't think I ever have. This year is slightly different.

I say slightly because I am resolved to do a few things different. But these resolutions didn't come at the beginning of this New Year, nor did they come at the end of last year. They came close to the end of last year, but I think they beat the deadline to be classified as New Year's resolutions. So we'll just call them resolutions.

Resolution #1: Read one book a month.

While this may be easy for some of you (Chris), it is not so easy for me. I am not a fast reader by any means. I hated reading growing up, but have come to love it as an adult. I don't do it as often as I want because of other things, but it is important to me. When I don't read, I feel somewhat stagnant. So because it is important to me, I am making time to do it more often. Hopefully often enough to complete one book a month. This will mean some cutting back on other things, but I have deemed them of lesser significance than reading, so they will take a back seat to reading.

The books I read usually fall into the categories of Church Life, Christian Living, Discipleship, etc. For example, Revolution by George Barna, the book I just finished this morning, is in the Church Life category. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. I'll be posting some thoughts and excerpts from it in the very near future. Read it!

Resolution #2: Read one book of the bible a month

Again, not so easy for me. I do read the bible on a regular basis, but still, I am not a fast reader, so it may take me longer than some. This is not a read through the bible in a year goal, or see how many books I can get through by a certain date. This is more of a deeper reading, an examination of self through the process of holding myself up to the Truth of Scripture. This is for life transformation, guidance, and revelation. I've chosen to do one book a month as a time frame of sorts. If I read the book in two weeks, then I will return to the same book for better understanding for the remainder of that month. If it takes more than a month, then so be it. Its not about speed in this one. It is about quality.

So there you have it. Two specific resolutions for my life in 2009. There are other resolutions I may share sometime in the near future, but for now, two will do. What about you? Have you made any resolutions for 2009 or your life in general you would like to share? I'd love to hear from you!

Look for a post about George Barna's Revolution in the coming days.

Older Posts Now Available

2008-12-19T20:58:00.003-05:00

This is a bit of an update as well as an apology.

Update: Some of my previous posts, which have been unavailable for a while, are now available to read. You can find them one of two ways. They are all labeled under one of the labels in the right sidebar. They are listed in the left sidebar under the re:Think Archives section. So feel free to read from posts as far back as 2005.

Apology: Some of you have email inboxes that were flooded with my previous posts now that they have been republished. I'm sure there is some way I could have prevented the flooding of your inbox, but completely forgot about it as I was bringing the older posts to the archives. So I offer you my sincere apologies. This should not happen again, at least not in mass quantity, as I only have four or five more posts to locate/update. No telling when those will be done. So rest easy knowing your inboxes will not be infiltrated with countless old blog posts again (from me anyway).

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Seeking To Join God's Work

2008-12-16T12:27:00.009-05:00

Every so often a big banner reading, "Divorce Recovery" (along with a phone number to call) is displayed on the front lawn of a methodist church here in town. It catches my attention and begs the question, "What about those of us who are looking for help with restoring a marriage in crisis?"

Don't get me wrong. I think offering assistance and guidance to people who have been through divorce is well worth the efforts they are expending. I have no desire for that type of ministry diminish. But seldom do we see reconciliation or restoration ministries for people whose marriages are in trouble. To me this reveals a very real problem with Christians, churches, and the bride of Christ, as a whole (in the U. S.).

It reveals that we, as a people, are not concerned enough to journey with others through a very intense process of seeing their lives be transformed by the Truth of God and ultimately seeing their marriages be restored by the grace of God. Sure, we are generally available to help pick up the pieces and give a few steps or instructions on how to try to live again once their lives have been wrecked and devastated by the horrors of divorce. Yes, there is life after divorce, even abundant life, no doubt. But we, as the people of God, must not wait to play an active part in someone's life until it has fallen apart. We must get involved on a personal and relational level and help people stand for the principles of God and help people shift from a worldly perspective and result to God-ly perspectives and results.

I think part of the reason we don't offer help prior to a divorce is doubt and fear. We have grown to doubt and be fearful of whether or not God, in all He is and desires to be in our lives, really has the power to transform our lives. We think to ourselves, "What if I offer help or advice and it doesn't work. What if I offer hope to this person and their marriage ends up failing anyway. What if...?" We must begin to walk in the authority Jesus has afforded us by his death and resurrection. We must walk in His Truth and watch it begin to set us free as the scriptures declare it will.

I've been told through the "Experiencing God" study series that we are to find where God is working and seek to join Him there, instead of asking Him to bless our own endeavors. So here's what I purpose to do. I am bringing together all of the resources I have here on re:Think, all of the articles, websites, books, etc., and I am going down to the methodist church to offer these resources and see if they are interested in this kind of ministry. The most I can do is offer and see what happens from there. Since I do not attend services there, I have no idea as to how what I offer will be received. But we shall see.

Would you please join me in this endeavor by praying for me, for the staff at the methodist church and most of all, for God's will to be accomplished there. You have my gratitude. I will give an update on this matter as soon as I have something to share, one way or the other.

A Bit of A New Look

2008-12-14T23:45:00.005-05:00

Been working on the layout and images of re:Think most of the evening (Thanks R.C. for sharing the code link with us!). I'm still using a three column layout, but with the update I've switched over to a blogger template and that switch allows for the use of several new features, which I've listed below.

1) New Linkability: Just type in the regular url: http://rethink.blogspot.com to link re:Think on your website or BlogRoll. Those of you who have linked re:Think prior to this update may need update the link on your blogrolls (Sorry for any inconvenience).

2) Updated BlogRoll: My BlogRoll now features the title of blogs I read, post titles and time of the most recent post (a feature I really like).

3) Post Labels: This gives a short, general description of each blog post (see re:Think Threads on the right sidebar) and groups them together according to common labels for easy searchability.

4) Blogger Comments: Any new comments made here are now run through Blogger instead of HaloScan, so that will save me time and energy in the future. Unfortunately, any comments that have been made up to this point won't show up in the comments area on any of the posts, unless I figure out some way to transfer them. We'll see if that can be done.

(Yes, I realize linkability and searchability may not be actual words, but they work for me)

All of the information I had linked on the old layout should still be on the new layout. Hopefully I didn't miss anything. If I did and you noticed it, please let me know and look for it to show up in the near future. I hope you enjoy re:Think and thank you for journeying with me!

Showing Daddy Some Love

2008-12-11T10:38:00.008-05:00

So today was Donuts For Dads day at my sons school. A day where the dad gets to come to school and eat breakfast with his son or daughter. A couple of months ago was Muffins For Moms day. When my wife returned from her time with our son I asked her if she enjoyed herself. She said she did and they had a good time together. But she was also preparing a bowl of cereal for herself as she answered my question. So I said, "Did you not eat at the school?" To which she replied, "Yes, I ate, but they only gave us one, very tiny muffin," as she held her fingers up showing a measurement of about one and a half inches tall. It made me chuckle, and I thought to myself, well at least they were able to spend a little time together.

So as we were driving to school I asked my son jokingly, "Do you think since we're big, manly men they will give us two donuts? Or do you think they'll just give us one like they did for the moms?" He smirked and said, "I guess we'll have to wait and see."

As we walk into the cafeteria, my son catches a glimpse of the other dads' plates and turns to me with a huge grin and says, "Dad, look! Everybody gets two donuts today!" To which I replied, "They're showing daddy some love!" He just smiled and laughed.

It was a good time and I'm glad I was able to be with him today. Making memories.

Place In The Kingdom

2008-12-07T00:30:00.013-05:00

I'm restless right now. My mind is full of thoughts. If I had to define where I'm at right now, I would quote from George Barna, who, in his book, Revolution, seeks to "encourage people who are struggling with their place in the Kingdom of God." That's me. I'm struggling with my "place in the Kingdom of God."

(Some helpful information for reading the rest of this post: The term church, with a "c," refers to the congregation-based faith experience, which involves a formal structure, a hierarchy of leadership, and a specific group of believers. The Church, with a "C," refers to all followers of Jesus Christ regardless of their location or church affiliation.)

A Bit Of History

For almost four years my family and I have been going to ACF. In the last year and a half to two years, we've been, what I would consider, extremely active in the events that go on there, as well as some of what goes on behind the scenes. I'm one of the worship leaders (not an officially recognized given position) and part of the worship team, and I also lead worship for a life group. We have grown to love the people there. Some of the people of ACF played a huge part in helping Brenda and I through our marriage crisis and restoration process. Through our involvement there, we have been able to build some relationships with people we normally wouldn't see at all.

A Bit Of An Update

Over the past few months my family and some others have been getting together outside of the church, once a week for a quick lunch on Wednesdays, as well as once a month for a big meal and lots of time together, playing games, watching games, praying, conversing, sharing scripture and sharing life with each other, etc. Our little group has also been praying/talking about how we can make a positive impact on our community. We don't want to just be focused on ourselves, we want to impact peoples' lives in our city and advance the Kingdom of God. We want to "be the church," not just with ourselves, but with the people around us. So we're praying/talking about adopting a family. The whole purpose would be to meet the needs the family has but that they are unable to meet on their own, and by doing so, show them the love of Christ, unconditionally, no strings attached.

During this time, I've also been in touch with another friend via e-mail who is trying to teach a senior adult Sunday school class, by word and deed, how to be the church in relation to people and their needs in their city. They recently had the opportunity to minister to a family in need of meals, sit-in care takers and other things. To the encouragement of my friend, several of the people from the Sunday school class stepped up and together, they met the needs of that family who in response told them, "Now we know that we are loved."

Our e-mails and stories of encouragement have led to the possibility of he and I getting together in person several times a month to encourage each other and share ideas, as well as a possible satellite group being formed by my friend in his city that would be somehow connected to our group here.

Finding My Place In The Kingdom

I consider myself a member of the Bride of Christ, the Church. I also consider myself a lover of that same bride, but also keenly aware of some of the flaws we've allowed to define who we, the Church, are and will be. Please understand, this is not a rant about what's wrong with the church. It is instead a time of inner questioning, searching, reading, wrestling, observing, and seeking.

I tend to question a lot of things that others sometimes just accept and go on. Why are things this way or that way? Why do we do this? Where did this practice come from? Is it necessary or something we do because we don't know any better? How will this benefit the Church? How does this make an impact for the Kingdom? How does it line up with the scriptures? Should we keep doing things this way or is there a better way?

Sometimes these questions have caused problems for me because questioning things in some places is not always welcome. In fact sometimes people are content with the way things are and would gladly go on living and doing things they way they've always done them. Sometimes that has been okay and I discover that the issue is something I need to deal with and change within me. Other times it has not been okay and the issue is in fact something that needed to be dealt with with that particular gathering body. Sometimes they don't want to change even if they know things can or should be done in a different or better way. Mostly because change is difficult. It is often viewed as something to fear, something unwanted, something negative. Sometimes people don't want to examine the way things are because if they are examined we might discover things aren't as they appear to be or should be.

I am not afraid to ask questions and examine things. Many times I begin to question or examine things because the way things are leave me wanting. Something is lacking. So, what is it? What needs to change. If the things we're doing day in and day out are lacking or leave us thinking there must be more than this, then I must search.

I find myself on that search again. Reading, wrestling, observing, and seeking. As a matter of fact, I am quite sure these feelings of want, of lacking, of thinking there must be more, are the very things that have caused my family and the other families to start getting together outside of the church. But this time is different than times past for me.

This time there have been no harsh words from others in the church, no stern reprimands from leadership, no arguments. As a matter of fact, the leadership knows about our group and has encouraged us to continue getting together.

So why now do I have a wanting to be more than we are, a feeling as though we are missing something in the things we are a part of?

1) What role, if any, am I to continue playing at ACF??

2) How will my continued involvement in our group of families effect our standing or the role I am playing at ACF?

3) How will my continued involvement in ACF effect our group of families and the calling we believe God has placed upon our lives?

I ask these questions for a few reasons.

1) I am not sure of the role the leadership at ACF desires for me to play. We haven't sat down to discuss it much.

2) I believe God has called our families together outside of the church for greater purposes, which include doing things directly involved with the local community to impact our community, including the poor and meeting the needs of those in our community who are unable to meet them on their own.

3) I desire to see unity in the Church. I desire unity with the churches of denominations, those of non-denominations, those of small groups and home churches. I want to foster a unity that hasn't been seen in my days.

4) I don't want to continue doing things out of familiarity or comfortability. Instead, I want our lives to be about doing things based on a consistency with biblical principles and a capacity to advance the Kingdom of God.

Father, help me find my place in Your Kingdom. Help me to impact those around me according to Your will and purpose. Lead us in the paths You have called us to. We desire to follow Your will for our lives. Help us all to live as You desire the Bride of Jesus to live.

Marriage Restoration (Part 4, Prayer)

2008-11-20T18:00:00.014-05:00

Writing about marriage restoration was never really my intention for this blog. But I have felt very strongly that the Lord has wanted me to write these posts and have them available for anyone who might benefit from what my wife and I learned from all the Lord brought us through. Unless the Lord leads me further, this will most likely be my last post on the topic of marriage restoration for a while. I will continue to post about my journey and thoughts on life, faith and God here at re:Think. I am more than willing to respond to any questions, thoughts or comments you may have about marriage restoration.

I will say, walking through a marriage crisis and seeing things through to restoration is not an easy road, but I am confident it is much easier than going through a divorce. The impact of a divorce will effect the generations to come for years in ways we may never know about. But on the flip side of that, the impact of a marriage restored by God will also effect the generations to come for years in ways we have yet to dream of.

It all boils down to allowing God to do a work in each of our individual lives and learning what it means to truly love one another. It's allowing Christ to be formed in us in such a way as to totally transform every aspect of our lives. Even though a troubled marriage is something I wouldn't wish for anyone, I will say, I am thankful to have gone through what we did and to have come out on the other side of things, by God's grace, with a marriage that has been restored and a new hope to share with others. I pray you are blessed!

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If your marriage is in crisis the hardest thing for you to not do is worry. There are probably many people who will tell you, don't worry about it, pray about it. While this sounds very spiritual, most of the people who will tell you this have probably never been through a marriage crisis big enough to understand what you are truly going through.

I will tell you prayer is one of the most powerful weapons we, as believers, have to do battle against the things that come against us. Praying the scriptures over your family and your spouse is like using two weapons at the same time. You must remember, we do not fight our battles the way the world would fight them. We as believers must choose to fight our battles differently if we are to see the hand of God move mightily on our behalf.

"The world is unprincipled. It's dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn't fight fair. But we don't live or fight our battles that way-never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity." - 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, The Message

I want to encourage you not to pray about your spouse. What? Yes, you read correctly, don't pray about your spouse. Instead, pray for your spouse. There is a difference. When you pray about something its as though you are going to God about something He is not aware of. You're telling God all about the situation or what your spouse is doing as though you are the one informing Him. But God already knows. He is already aware of the situation. He is already aware of what your spouse is doing. He is already aware of the things you are having to deal with. So don't go to Him frantically as an informant or as if He needs to be brought up to date on things.

I'm sure you will struggle with worrying about your spouse or the way the situation looks. But worrying is what the enemy wants you to do. Worrying is how the world would respond to things. But worrying wont change things. Prayer will!

"Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious-the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies." - Philippians 4:6-9, The Message

What you should do is pray for your spouse and for your situation. This will require some adjustments on your part if you are one who normally prays about things. As you start praying for your spouse you actually begin to experience God's heart for your spouse. God desires abundant life for you, your spouse and your family. This abundant life is only found in God, it comes from His heart.

Remember God has given Jesus authority over everything (Matthew 28:18). We must take that authority through Jesus over the weapons of the enemy. You must take authority in Jesus' name to speak Life and blessings into your spouse's life. You always have a choice to bless or to curse. Choose to bless, to speak words of Life over your spouse and family. As you pray for your spouse begin to take authority in Jesus' over things that hinder them from returning to God, bind them and cast them into utter darkness, never to return again. Then replace those things with the fruits of the Spirit. Take authority over your spouse's bitterness, remove it and replace it with love. Take authority over their anger, remove it and replace it with joy. Take authority over their waywardness, remove it and replace it with faithfulness. Always replace those things with things of God.

Most people would also encourage you to pray a "hedge of protection" around your spouse and family. This is wise to do because it is obvious the enemy's attack has come upon your family. But not everything that is happening is happening because of the attack of the enemy. No, somethings your spouse may be doing or saying is because of their own choices. If your spouse is doing things or going places that are out of character and unfitting there is another "hedge" you should begin praying around your spouse.

"Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way." - Hosea 2:6, NIV

Praying a "hedge of thorns" around your spouse is something you can do so the path that leads to sin is blocked should they try to go down it. It is not meant to harm your spouse, but it is meant to make the path of sin be very unpleasant, unsatisfying and more difficult to access.

There may be times when you won't know what to pray, you just may not have the words, or in some moments all you may be able to do is weep and cry out for your spouse and your marriage, but take heart, God knows and the Spirit is there to help.

"Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right along-side helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good." - Romans 8:26-28, The Message

Throughout the course of your struggle there may come times when your spouse will hurt you by something they say or do and you just won't feel like you love your spouse anymore, or perhaps your spouse has told you they don't love you anymore. I want to encourage you to pray for the love between you and your spouse to grow. This is something that may take time, and you may not be able to "see" progress in this area, but trust in the Lord to work in ways beyond what your eyes can see.

"So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much, but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God." - Philippians 1:9-11, The Message

One thing I have noticed is that as the love of Christ grows in you Christ through you becomes attractive to those around you. Your life will begin to overflow with the love of God and it can't help but to spill over into the lives of those around you. And despite the circumstances you are in, you will begin to hope again, not in man, but you will hope in God, just as the saints who have gone before us hoped in God as they were persecuted for their faith. You will also find hope in what God has spoken about your situation.

"God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon's scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God's Word. We can't get away from it-no matter what." - Hebrews 4:12 & 13, The Message

A marriage in crisis is no easy thing to walk through. I know I had to learn to let go of certain people and things and trust God would watch over them and take care of them, which meant I was acknowledging they were out of my hands and I couldn't take care of them myself. Some people or things are harder to let go of than others. At some point you are going to have to let go of certain people or things and trust God to watch over them and take care of them. I will tell you from experience, it is better to let go of people and things willingly into the Father's hands than to have them stolen from you by the enemy's hands. Granted, God is always in control, but there are people and things we try to hold on to and take care of on our own, and in doing so, we sin against God by placing ourselves in God's position over those people and things. In everything, we must be totally submitted to God. We must entrust everything and everyone to His care, this includes our spouse, our children, our finances, our time, everything.

"Now I'm turning you over to God, our marvelous God whose gracious Word can make you into what he wants you to be and give you everything you could possibly need in this community of holy friends." - Acts 20-32, The Message

I encourage you to turn your spouse over to the Lord, not in a spirit of revenge or vengeance, thinking they will get their just punishment for the things they have said or done to hurt you. But turn them over to the Lord in love, having forgiven any wrongs they have committed against you, and with no strings attached, simply wanting to see God's best in them and for them.

Let love be formed in you. Love for God, love for your spouse, your family and for others. Love according to the standard of love we are given in the scriptures.

"Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

Love doesn't strut,

Doesn't have a swelled head,

Doesn't force itself on others,

Isn't always "me first,"

Doesn't fly off the handle,

Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn't revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies." - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, The Message

I encourage you to read all of 1 Corinthians 13.

Lastly, I would like to give you a few scriptures to pray over yourself, your spouse and your family during a time of crisis in your marriage. They were given to me by a guy named Rob, who was gracious enough to share his story with me.

Pray Over Your Spouse

"For here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to take you out of these countries, gather you from all over, and bring you back to your own land. I'll pour pure water over you and scrub you clean. I'll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I'll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that's God-willed, not self-willed. I'll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands." - Ezekiel 36:24-27, The Message

Pray Over Your Spouse & Family

"That's why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the Christians, I couldn't stop thanking God for you-every time I prayed, I'd think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask-ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory-to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for Christians, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him-endless energy, boundless strength!

All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence." - Ephesians 1:15-23, The Message

"My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit-not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength-that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both fee planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

God can do anything, you know-far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. Glory to God in the church! Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus! Glory down all the generations! Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!" - Ephesians 3:14-21, The Message

Marriage Restoration (Part 3, Know Your Enemy/Enter The Battle)

2008-10-30T00:00:00.010-04:00

If your marriage is in crisis it probably feels like you are in a battle. Your spouse has probably said or done some things that hurt you, or perhaps you have said or done some things that hurt your spouse. Your spouse may be behaving completely out of character from the way he/she normally does. That is because your spouse has believed the lies of the enemy and has been "taken captive, forced to run his errands." You may feel like the person you are supposed to love and who is supposed to love you the rest of your life has become an enemy. But that is the farthest thing from the truth. Your spouse is not your enemy.

"Run away from infantile indulgence. Run after mature righteousness-faith, love, peace-joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God. Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights. God's servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil's trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands." - 2 Timothy 2:22-26, The Message

So let me repeat what I just said. Your spouse is not your enemy. But YOU ARE IN A BATTLE! You're in a battle for your very life. A battle for the life of your spouse. A battle for the lives of your children. A battle for the lives of your grandchildren. What? That's right! Your marriage being restored or being destroyed has the potential to impact not only you, your spouse, your children, and your grandchildren, but also the lives of your family for generations to come. So, the sooner you realize you are in a battle and identify who the real enemy is, the sooner you can take a stand against the attacks that are coming your way. The Bible warns us who are enemy is and urges us to stand firm! The devil is the real enemy and he is here for one reason only, to destroy each of us.

"Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You're not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It's the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won't last forever. It won't be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ-eternal and glorious plans they are!-will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word, yes, he does." - 1 Peter 5:8-9, The Message

"A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of." - John 10:10, The Message

The scriptures tell us our enemy, the devil, is here to steal, kill, and destroy. The devil is out to steal the joy and love from your marriage, he is out to kill you and ultimately he is out to destroy your family. You may say, I know the devil is my enemy, but my spouse is acting this way or that way. The enemy wants you to be preoccupied with what your spouse is doing. If the enemy can get you to worry about your spouse instead of praying for them, then your focus shifts from God and His will to the hurt and anger your spouse may be causing you. Jesus told us about the power of two or three agreeing together so we would stand together because, "By yourself you're unprotected. With a friend you can face the worst. Can you round up a third? A three-stranded rope isn't easily snapped." - Ecclesiastes 4:12, The Message.

"Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is a yes in heaven; a no on earth is a no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I'll be there." - Matthew 18:18-20, The Message

The enemy knows there is power in the family, and if he can destroy the family he would destroy what should be an automatic partnership in the Kingdom. A husband and wife in agreement coming together in prayer is one of the most powerful forces on this earth. God designed it to be that way. The enemy knows it and has been trying to destroy it since the garden.

Most people I have talked to in a troubled marriage tell me about what their spouse is doing, how their spouse isn't meeting their needs. Very seldom do they tell me about where they are failing as a spouse or what they have done wrong. They have shifted their eyes off of serving their spouse, meeting the needs of their spouse, and lifting their spouse up in prayer to a selfish view of what their spouse isn't doing for them. You may want to put the blame on your spouse for the way things are going in your marriage, but let me encourage you not to do that. Instead, look for God.

"Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, 'Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?' Jesus said, 'You're asking the wrong question. You're looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do.' " - John 9:1-3, The Message

In this passage of scripture Jesus tells his disciples not to look to put the blame on someone, but instead look for what God can do. In the same way, I encourage you not to look to put blame on your spouse for the things they have failed to do in your marriage. Don't look to blame your spouse for the trouble in your marriage. Instead, I'm encouraging you to accept responsibility for your actions. I say this because, unless you're perfect (which I'm sure none of us are), you contributed your fair share to your marriage, both good and bad, and until you deal with the sin in your own life the enemy will try to use it over and over again to bring condemnation upon you and destroy you as a person. I am not saying your failures are the cause for your spouses behavior. Your spouse is responsible the choices they make. I am saying to take your eyes off of your spouses negative impact and look at your own contributions to your marriage. Have you given your spouse the very best you have to give? Are you lifting them up daily in prayer? Are you thanking God for the good things your spouse brings to your marriage? You need to acknowledge where you have failed as a spouse, confess those things to the Lord, repent of them and then, look for what God can do. This is an ongoing process, not something that will happen over night. As you begin to draw near to God, He will draw near to you and begin revealing to you, in a corrective way, the things that need to be dealt with in order to restore your life and relationship with Him. Then you can grow from there and begin seeing what God can do.

You may be thinking, "What about my spouse? My spouse is lying and saying hateful things to me, doing things to cause me pain. What do I do about them?"

Turn them over to God. Turn them over to God and stand in the gap! Begin to battle for your family!

"Now, I'm turning you over to God, our marvelous God whose gracious Word can make you into what he wants you to be and give you everything you could possibly need in this community of holy friends." - Acts 20:32, The Message

This is the most loving act you can do for your spouse. Remember you are not responsible for the way your spouse is behaving. You are responsible for your words and actions. The best thing you could possibly do for them is to lay them down. Turn them over to God, letting Him be concerned about dealing with them. It is not your place to try to convict them of their sins, or bring them to repentance for their actions. That's the job of the Holy Spirit. And what better thing for them than to be dealt with by the One who loves them beyond measure and has the ability to bring conviction, correction, lead them to repentance, forgive them and bring restoration to their life in a right manner. Ultimately that should be our desire for our spouse because when they are in a right relationship with Him, they have the ability to be in right relationships with everyone else. Ultimately that should be the desire for our own lives because when we are in a right relationship with God we then have the ability to be in a right relationship with everyone else.

So you're in a battle, now what? Your stand for your life, your marriage, and your family must begin with you.

"So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You've had a taste of God. Now like infants at the breast, drink deep of God's pure kindness. Then you'll grow up mature and whole in God." - 1 Peter 2:1-3, The Message

You've got to rid yourself of malice, pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You have to let go of the things your spouse has done to hurt you, give those things to God and ask God to help you to forgive them. If you harbor your hurt instead of releasing them to God and forgiving those who have wronged you, it will fester and turn to bitterness, which will lead to anger and hate. Those things will destroy you as a person.

"Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry-but don't use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don't stay angry. Don't go to bed angry. Don't give the devil that kind of foothold in your life." - Ephesians 4:26 & 27, The Message

I know there are things going on that will make you angry. But as the scriptures tell us, don't let your anger be a fuel for revenge. If you seek revenge you will be hurting the very person you are called to love. Instead go to God with your anger and ask Him to give you a righteous anger and use that as a fuel to stand up and fight the enemy that much more. I'm not saying to disregard the things your spouse is doing. I'm saying to hate the sin, but love the sinner. You must love your spouse enough to let them go in the physical realm, but you must go to war for them in the spiritual realm. In order to do this, you must prepare yourself for battle!

"And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for your, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the devil and all his angels. Be prepared. You're up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it's all over but the shouting you'll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You'll need them throughout your life. God's word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other's spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out." - Ephesians 6:10-18, The Message

Begin to use the weapons of warfare that have been afforded to us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Prayer and the scriptures are two of the most valuable weapons a believer has. Don't think you have to do this alone. There are others who have fought this kind of battle before who are more than willing to walk with you during this time, to help train you up in the things of the Lord. That's what the church is here for! Use it. It is extremely important that you surround yourself with people who will speak words of Life into your life. Many people will have advice and opinions to offer. Its okay to hear what they say, but be sure you don't just jump at everything they throw at you. Some people will tell you to do this or do that. You must test everything they say against the scriptures, and above all, you must seek God about your situation. God is the only One who knows exactly what you need to do. God is the only One whose will is perfect. You must align yourself with His will, to the best of your abilities and knowledge. The battle is not fought against your spouse. The battle is fought against the enemy who is out to destroy you and your family. In the power of the Holy Spirit you must fight for the freedom of your spouse from the things the enemy would use to enslave them. This is how the battle must be fought.

"The world is unprincipled. It's dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn't fight fair. But we don't live or fight our battles that way-never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity." - 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, The Message

I would like to give you a prayer to use for this battle. It is a prayer to pray on the Armor of God, which I pray daily over myself and my family. I've never heard of a soldier going into battle without their armor on. Its no different when we're battling for our families. We must have the full Armor of God!

The Scripture:
"A final word: Be strong with the Lord's mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the devil. For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against the wicked spirits in the heavenly realms. Use every piece of God's armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the sturdy belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News, so that you will be fully prepared. In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by satan. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere." - Ephesians 6:10-18, NLT

The Prayer:
"Heavenly Father, I submit my life to you today. I pray in the name of Jesus asking you to cover me in your spiritual Armor. I ask that you place the Belt of Truth around my waist, that every aspect of my life will be encompassed by your Truth, and that I would know your Truth and it would set me free. Place on me the Breastplate of Righteousness of Jesus Christ, and with it, guard my heart, for it is the wellspring of Life. Protect my feet with the Good News and Readiness that comes from the Gospel of Peace of Jesus Christ. Guard my path, that I would know your ways and walk in them. I take up the Shield of Faith to extinguish all of the fiery arrows that the enemy would try to bring against me. I take up the Helmet of Salvation, and with it guard my mind. Keep my thoughts pure and my dreams focused and centered on you. I take every high thing and every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ. I take up the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, sharper than any two edged sword. Help me to stand strong and firm in my faith in Jesus. I declare in Jesus' name that no weapon formed against me will prosper, and I plead the blood of Jesus Christ over my life. Amen.

New Feed Link & Subscription Service

2008-10-20T17:57:00.014-04:00

For those of you who have been trying to add a feed link for re:Think to your blog or website, but have been unable to do so I think I've solved the problem. So if you would like to add it now you may do so by using the following link when adding blogs to your blogroll.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/rethinkblog

Hopefully that is all you need. I tested it on the Beyond Sundays blog and it worked okay. So I think it will work okay for you and your blog or website.

Also, for those of you who were subscribed to re:Think through Bloglet's subscription service, I've switched to FeedBurner. That means you will need to enter your e-mail in the space provided at the top of the left column of the page. You'll have to go through a brief verificaiton process to continue receiving re:Think in your inbox when new posts are published, but once you're done, you're good! "Why the change?" you ask. Well, apparently Bloglet went out of business or service a long time ago and I wasn't notified. Some people have still been receiving their subscriptions, but others haven't. Sorry for the inconvenience and I thank you for your patience and for journeying with me!

Marriage Restoration (A Letter To A Friend)

2008-10-16T11:39:00.015-04:00

This is a letter my wife wrote to a friend of ours who's marriage is under attack right now. I've removed all names to protect our friends and I've edited a few things to make it more reader friendly. I felt like this would be a very good letter to post because my wife writes from a totally different perspective when it comes to marriage crisis/restoration. I would be considered a "stander," someone who is standing for the restoration of a life, marriage and family. During the time of our marriage crisis, my wife would be considered a "prodigal" spouse, one who, in our case, has left the home and husband to go their own way. So her perspective on some of these things can be very helpful to both standers and prodigals.

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Dear Friend,

There are some things I experienced or felt while Toby and I were separated and through the process of us reconciling our marriage that may be helpful to you. I am by no means saying I have the answers or this is exactly what you will go through, but I do believe God wants Toby and I to share what we went through to encourage and minister to other couples who are struggling in their marriages as well.

I was the "prodigal" and Toby was the "stander." I was the one who wanted out and Toby was the one who, once I told him I was leaving, wanted to fight for our marriage and try to be different and change what needed to be changed.

There will be differences just because of the simple fact that I am a woman, and we women can be very emotional about stuff. So a husband who is a prodigal may fit into some of these things, but perhaps not all of them. But I really feel that if I share things that Toby did or did NOT do during our struggle then maybe it could lend some insight to you.

First things first. When I told Toby I was leaving, I had no intention of reconciling. I was mad and I wanted to be mad. So when he immediately wanted to change and be different and seek God's advice and get on his knees and beg God and me for a second chance, for a miracle to be performed...that made me livid! My first thought was why now? Why, after 7 years of asking him and begging him to change, why did he all of a sudden have a change of heart when I said I was leaving? It made me fume (at the time) to think that it took me saying I was done to have him realize how serious I had been. It felt as if he didn't take me seriously all of those years and all of the conversations and fights we had. So seeing him seek God desperately about us made me want to scream!

The devil used the anger I felt to fuel my fire! The enemy seeks to steal, kill, and destroy and he was working over time on me. The kicker is, I let him. I believed his lies and sought advice and consolation from people who fed my fire. People who would agree with me and tell me what I wanted to hear. Praise God my husband did not do the same! Praise God that Toby did humble himself before God and fight for us!! He fought the enemy for our family when I wanted to give up. He suited up with the armor of God and he went to battle for us! Day and night he prayed for us. When I screamed at him and told him how I did not love him and never wanted to be with him again, he just listened to me. Though I'm sure it hurt him deeply and he wept afterward, he never retaliated against me. He never raised his voice back at me, he never accused me, he never told me the things I had done or were doing were things to hurt him. He let me tell him I did not love him.

Then, when I was done using those sharp cutting words, he would go home and get on his knees and lay it at the Father's feet! He knew that he did not have the strength to carry those words and deeds around. He gave them to the Father and asked God to carry them. And our heavenly Father loves us so much that He does just that. He picks up our pain and our hurt and He carries them!

Toby struggled deeply and he would tell you today that he could not have made it without the prayers and support of Godly friends and family. He surrounded himself with people that spoke words of life into him. He sought advice and was not afraid to tell people what he was struggling with. He made himself vulnerable to others and to Jesus. He opened himself up and allowed Christ to do a drastic change in him. It was not easy! Let me repeat...it was not easy! He had to face a lot of things about himself that hurt. But God is so gentle and gracious. He not only cleans house but He sticks around to make necessary repairs.

That is what Toby was doing. He was busy fighting for our family! On his knees begging God for mercy! I, on the other hand, let the situation become an excuse to act and behave in ways that I regret. I went to Scooter's (a bar/dance club) five times and even drank several times. I told myself it was okay because I wasn't doing anything wrong, and besides, I deserved it because of all I was going through. After all, I was only having a laugh and getting away from my problems, right? That was the lie of the devil I believed. Because if he could keep me focused on myself and my own pity party then I would not be concerned with trying to save my marriage. Nor would I be concerned with my spiritual life and where I was letting myself go, the path of destruction I was heading down.

Now, here is what Toby did during all of that. He loved me! I told him every time that I was going out. I think partly to hurt him. He never argued with me. He never told me I was behaving horribly. He never tried to put a guilt trip on me. He just told me to be careful. He knew he was not big enough to convict me. He knew he did not have the power to change my thoughts or my actions. He knew his words would not cause me to feel conviction for what I was doing, but rather that I would perceive them as an attack. So in turn, he turned to the One who could convict me. He turned to the One who has the power to change my thoughts and behavior. He asked God to go with me. Though it hurt him to see me behaving this way, he continued to love me and believe God would get a hold of me and make a difference in my life.

He handed me over to God. Not an easy thing to do, but he did it, and what a difference it made! It took 7 months before I moved back in. When I did, things were not perfect right away. It took time to heal. There are still things God is working on healing in both of us. A couple of years later we are still working on it, but we are working on it together with God. We are seeking God and placing Him first in our lives and because of Him we are drawing closer to Him and each other.

This is not an easy thing to walk through. But remember, you can NOT control the way your prodigal spouse is behaving. You can NOT change them. You can NOT make them realize what they are doing is wrong and they need to stand and be the man/woman of God they are called to be. You are responsible for you! You need to seek God for change in your heart and your life. You have to open up and let God show you the ugly things about yourself you don't want to face.

Toby did that right away. I did that once I stopped listening to the enemy and letting God have control of my life again. Its also important to stay in touch with family and friends that will speak life into you and speak life into your marriage!! Seek out Godly books and find a Godly person you can confide in, someone you can call on anytime to vent and to pray with. You need prayer partners to help pray you through this! That is extremely important!

There is HOPE!

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Father, bless our friends who's marriages are being attacked. Pour out your spirit upon their lives. Give them the strength to let go and give You control. Comfort their pain. Teach them Your ways through all of this. Do not let them waste the pain. We ask for wisdom and understanding for them. Break the spirit of offense from their lives.

Reach into the lives of the prodigal spouses. Place Godly men/women in their paths who will speak life into their lives. Guard their hearts, minds and ears from the enemy. Help them to quickly be able to distinguish between Your voice of Truth and the voice of the liar and to follow only Your voice.

Protect the children in these homes. Place Your angels around them and around their homes. Set up a watch around their homes and do not let the enemy enter.

Father, give courage to both spouses; courage to face themselves and to admit their faults to one another. Bring Your peace upon them. We ask for healing and restoration of their relationship with You and with each other. Do what only You can do, God! Bring life to this barren land in Jesus' name!

Marriage Help Resources

2008-10-15T18:06:00.012-04:00

There are NEW SECTIONS in the left hand column of re:Think now: Marriage Help Articles, Marriage Help Websites, and Marriage Help Books. They have helpful articles, websites, and books for those who are seeking help with their marriage. They will be continually updated as I will be going back over many of the things that helped me during our marriage crisis.

If your marriage is in crisis and you are looking for something you can plug into right away, I strongly suggest the Personalized Prayer Scripture link. This is a page from Rejoice Marriage Ministries that will allow you to enter your name and your spouse's name and print out personalized scriptures for you to begin praying over you and your spouse.

Also something men can begin using right away is

The Power of a Praying Husband
by Stormie Omartian.

This is a great book because each chapter deals with a specific thing to pray about and at the end of each chapter is a small bit of advice from another man about the subject and then there is an actual prayer you can pray over your wife about the topic of that chapter. So you don't actually have to finish the whole book to begin applying it to your life!! But it is strongly recommended you finish the book and use it on a regular basis!

There's also one for women! Its in the same format as the men's edition, which means, as I said before, you don't actually have to finish the whole book to begin applying it to your life. But please finish the book!!

Power of a Praying Wife
by Stormie Omartian

You can purchase either of these books from Amazon.com by clicking on the links, but if you're anything like I was when our marriage was in crisis, you don't want to wait for the book to be shipped to you. These books are pretty popular in the Christian book market, so you should be able to find them at your local Barnes & Noble or Borders, and also at your local Christian bookstore. This is not a plug to sell a books. These are books God used to change my life and help restore our marriage. Read them, drink them in, digest them and ask the Lord to show you where these things apply to your life and apply them.

The other two books that I've linked under the Marriage Help Books, "How God Can & Will Restore Your Marriage," (one for men, one for women) are from Restore Ministries, and are probably not available from local bookstores. I've been through the men's edition at least twice. They will walk you through different issues you may or may not need to deal with, but most importantly, they are jam packed with scripture and that is what brings about the transformation, the renewing of the mind for the one who is standing for marriage. They were written by a husband/wife team who have been there and came out of the other side with a restored marriage. Some of what is written is from experience, some is from what people shared with them. But I really think what sets these books as well as the "Power of a Praying Husband/Wife" books apart from other marriage books is the abundant use of scripture. These authors realize that God is the One who has the words of Life. While they can offer their experience, knowledge and understanding of things, God is ultimately the One who can restore your life and marriage and they are just tools He uses to touch the lives of people in need.

So I encourage you, seek God about your life, your family, your marriage. He will guide you, by the Spirit of Truth, into all Truth.

Marriage Restoration (Part 2, Rhema Words)

2008-09-29T17:57:00.017-04:00

This is the 2nd post in a series I've titled as Marriage Restoration. You can read the first post of this series here. I plan to link this series permanently in one of the side columns under a section specifically for marriage help resources along with several books and websites that were extremely helpful to me during one of the most difficult times of my life. I already have some of the books linked on the right side column, so please look into those as soon as you are able. I strongly recommend reading part one of this series before continuing to read this post.

You may have noticed an underlying theme of this being an opportunity for YOU in the first post, and there is a very good reason for that. During this time it will be very difficult for you NOT to focus on your spouse, what they are doing, what they are not doing, what they are saying, where they are, who they are talking to, and things along those lines. But God has afforded this opportunity for YOU. You cannot control the choices or actions of your spouse any more than you can control the weather. Let God deal with your spouse concerning their choices and actions. You are responsible for your choices and actions. You must give an account to God for the way you live.

At some point, you must realize and have a very honest confession with God about where you are in your life. When my wife and I had our first discussion in which she mentioned she had thought about leaving, my world was turned upside down. When we separated, it took me a week to get my head clear enough to do this but once I did, the course of my life was redirected from the path it was on to the path I was meant to be on.

My confession to God was something like this,

"Father, my family is in trouble and I need Your help. I want my family back together. I love my wife. I love my children. I don't know what to do. Forgive me for my failures as a husband and as a father. Forgive me for not being the spiritual head of our home. I repent. This is where I'm at right now, but if you will show me how to walk this through, in Your grace, I will not stay here. I will follow You where You lead me. I submit my life to Your authority. I submit my family to Your will. Show me how to be the husband You want me to be. Show me how to be the father You want me to be. Teach me to be the spiritual head of our household. Show me Your ways and help me to walk in them in Jesus' name and by His power. Amen."

It was in that moment the Lord began to work in my life. The next day the Lord spoke two promises (or rhema words *see footnote) to me from scripture. The first promise was Jeremiah 29:11-14, " 'I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out-plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. When you come looking for me, you'll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed.' GOD's Decree." - The Message

For me, this was huge! It was God telling me He had a plan, He hadn't abandoned me, He knew my heart and wanted to give me the future I was hoping for. He was listening. He was findable. He was there.

The second promise was Isaiah 55:8-11,

" ' I don't think the way you think. The way you work isn't the way I work.' GOD's Decree. 'For as the sky soars high above the earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think. Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don't go back until they've watered the earth, doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, so will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They'll do the work I sent them to do, they'll complete the assignment I gave them.' " - The Message

Through this passage the Lord showed me I had tried doing things my way, the way I work, the way I think, but those ways failed. If I wanted to have the new life He had for me, I had to let Him lead, He needed to transform my way of thinking to His way of thinking and my way of working to His way of working. The choice was mine to make. He also told me He had already spoken over my situation. He had already sent out His word for my life and for our family and I needed to put my whole life and my whole trust in Him and His work in my life. These two promises from the Lord became the foundation upon which I made my stand for my life and for the life of my family.

I encourage you, where you are today, in this moment, seek the Lord. Acknowledge for yourself where you are, make your confession and repentance to God, ask Him to help you and guide you. Ask him to give you a rhema word* for your life and your situation. He alone has the answers you seek. He alone has the wisdom and guidance you need for your situation. Others, including myself, can offer helps, insights and lessons learned from our own experiences, but God alone knows your situation and needs. He alone can transform your life.

Isaiah 55:6-7

"Seek God while he's here to be found, pray to him while he's close at hand. Let the wicked abandon their way of life and the evil their way of thinking. Let them come back to God, who is merciful, come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness." - The Message

Rhema - As taken from Wikipedia.org

*Pentecostal Christians view Rhema as the voice of the Holy Spirit as it speaks to the believer at the present moment. In this sense, the Christian should be guided by the Holy Spirit as he/she is guided through inner feelings, impressions and experiences. God's Rhema, the direct words of God to the individual, can also be imparted through the words of others, such as a preacher in a worship service, or a friend who counsels them. In this sense, God's direct guidance can be determined by a variety of means. The test of the authenticity of a Rhema from God is simple... How does it compare to the whole of Scripture? Orthodoxy says that God will not speak a word that contradicts His written word, the Scriptures, so there is a built-in safeguard to prevent misinterpretation.

By contrast, the Logos (λόγος), is typically used in Scripture to refer to what God has said to His people, that is, the collection of God's sayings about Himself, His relationship with His creation and His Church. The Logos of God is true for all time and in all places. It is easy to see how this can be interpreted both as the bible (God's Word Written) and in the Person of Jesus Christ (God's Word in the Flesh) as seen in John's Gospel, Chapter 1.

The Holy Spirit often uses passages in the Logos of God to create specific guidance, Rhema, for the individual. An example of the Rhema of God is to consider how several different people can read the same passage of Scripture and each sees something different. This occurs because each person is in a different place spiritually in their individual lives so God's word to each of them in that moment of their lives is different - specific to their needs. The Logos (God's original meaning and intention) has not changed, but the Holy Spirit has used it to speak to each according to his or her needs

Tired But Blessed

2008-09-26T14:30:00.002-04:00

Today I am tired. But I have good reason to be. My brother, who lives in the same town as I do came over to my house last night for several hours. Big deal, you might be thinking. But it is, really. See, even though we live in the same town we hardly ever spend much time together because our schedules are so full. Granted, there are days we could make time to hang out together, but it just seldom happens.

So there we were last night in my office/music room laughing, singing, playing our guitars, making drum tracks and bass tracks for a marriage retreat he will be leading worship for this weekend. We started around 10:00 p.m. and didn't finish up until around 2:15 a.m. I had to be at work by 8:30 a.m. and for whatever reason he was already up at 8:00 a.m. and called me to see how I was doing, to make sure I was indeed awake.

I doubt he knows this, but I've prayed over the past few weeks for my family to be able to spend time with him and his family more than we do. Just for closeness' sake. My brother and I were close for the first 20+ years of my life and I'd like to be able to say we are still close over the next 20, 40, 60, even 80 years of our lives.

So thank you, Father, for answering my prayer in the simplest of ways, by having my brother call me up to work on some music together. You are good and great, Lord. Thank you.

Marriage Restoration (Part 1, Your Opportunity)

2008-09-16T18:00:00.004-04:00

Most of you who read this blog know that my wife and I went through several months of separation just over two years ago. We were separated for 7 months. To some that doesn't seem like a very long time, to others it may seem like a long time. I know to me it seemed like a lifetime while it was happening. I've never talked about it here. And I don't intend to go into details at all about the situation. But there are some things I would like to talk about concerning this type of situation.

So often we hear of and see churches and other institutions offering services like divorce counseling or divorce recovery. I know some churches and counseling centers offer marriage counseling. But what about those people who fall somewhere in the gray areas of a troubled marriage? Perhaps the man of the house has left a mother alone with the children. Perhaps the woman has left and the only one willing to seek help from a counselor is the one who remains. I've heard people say you should not fight about it, but simply let the other spouse leave and move on with your life. And they would use the scriptures to try to justify letting them go and moving on.

1 Corinthians 7:15
"On the other hand, if the unbelieving spouse walks out, you've got to let him or her go. You don't have to hold on desperately. God has called us to make the best of it, as peacefully as we can." - The Message

If read by itself it would seem as though Paul is telling the spouse who desires to keep a marriage together to just quietly let the other spouse walk out and not do anything to fight the way things are. But that is not where Paul stops and neither should we. Let's read on.

1 Corinthians 7:16 & 17
"You never know, wife: The way you handle this might bring your husband not only back to you but to God. You never know, husband: The way you handle this might bring your wife not only back to you but to God. And don't be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God's place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there. God, not your marital status, defines your life. - The Message

The key phrase here is "The way you handle this." It only takes one person to stand for the restoration of your marriage. That one person is you! The one who hasn't left. The one who hasn't given up. The one who still believes your marriage is worth fighting for. You. If you stand for the restoration of your marriage, God can and will use you. Being a "stander" is not easy. In fact, it is probably the most difficult thing you will have to do concerning your marriage. There is no short cut, there is no easy road, there is no quick fix. Most likely you will hurt. But don't waste the pain. Let me repeat that. Don't waste the pain.

Matthew 16:24-26
"The Jesus went to work on his disciples. 'Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?' " - The Message

If you are in a situation like this, you are suffering and there is great pain. But Jesus tells us not to run from it. Instead he wants us to embrace it in very much the same way he embraced suffering on the cross for the restoration of creation's relationship with its Creator. A comforting thought in embracing our suffering is that he doesn't ask us to do something and then leave us hanging there trying to figure out how to do it. He then tells us to follow him and he will show us how to do it.

Just as Jesus became the sacrifice required for the atonement of sin, he calls us to a life of self-sacrifice, a laying down of ourselves (or a standing in the gap) for the sake of our marriage and family. When we do this we are laying our lives down, dying to our flesh, dying to our own desires. It is during this process, the death and resurrection of our lives that we see the greatest opportunity we've ever had. The opportunity to draw near to the Lord. Its our opportunity to respond as Peter did in John 6:67 & 68...

"Then Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: 'Do you also want to leave?' Peter replied, 'Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life.' " - The Message

Its your opportunity to come to the end of yourself and confess, "Jesus, there's nowhere else for me to go. You alone have the words of life. I lay my life down to die and take up Your resurrection life. Change me. Transform my life. Help me to become the person You created me to be."

This is your opportunity to walk closer to God than you ever have in your life. God is there and He is willing and able to transform your life.

(to be continued...)

9/11 Post from a Friend

2008-09-15T10:01:00.003-04:00

Though I marked the passing of September 11th this year in my own way, I didn't have the words to post here. A friend of mine has posted a couple of things. He's in radio. Some of what he posted was read over the air the morning of September 11th. Very difficult for him still. Very difficult for many, I'm sure.

We remember! We will never forget.

You can read his post here.

Father, as we remember September 11, 2001, we remember those whose lives were forever changed on that day. We ask You to be near to them in these days. We ask for Your grace to saturate their lives. For this nation, we ask Your protection and ever present help in times of trouble. We lift up our men and women in the armed forces to You, as well as their families, as they lay down their lives for this great nation we call home. We place them in Your care, Father. For those who have lost their lives, we are grateful beyond measure. For those who continue to serve, we ask Your protection and we ask for their safe return. Bless them Father! For those who do not know You as their Savior and Lord, may they find You in their midst, ready and mighty to save! Amen.

Something Fun About Me

2008-09-04T16:51:00.005-04:00

Here is something fun I did a long time ago. I thought it would be fun to do it again and see how it comes out! If any of you end up doing it on your blog too, let me know so I can check it out!

Instructions: Go to your music player of choice and put it on shuffle. Say the following questions aloud, and press play. Use the song title as the answer to the question. NO CHEATING.

How does the world see you? Shine by Keith Urban (trying to get there)

Will I have a happy life? Its Not Over by Daughtry (that's good to know)

What do my friends really think of me? Crashed by Daughtry (must be the scar on my head)

What do people secretly think of me? Hurt Before You Heal by Walter Waiters (yes its true)

How can I be happy? The Space In Between Us by Building 429 (ah nice truth)

What should I do with my life? I Am Free by The Newsboys (again nice truth)

What is some good advice for me? Peace (A Communion Blessing from St. Joseph's Square) by Rich Mullins (could that be live in Peace?)

How will I be remembered? For Me or Against Me by Walter Waiters (cut and dry, to the point)

What is my signature dancing song? Don't Bring Me Down by TobyMac (that's funny)

What do I think my current theme song is? Heaven Came Down by David Crowder Band (yes indeed!)

What does everyone else think my current theme song is? The Answer by Shane & Shane (that's a good one)

What song will play at my funeral? God of Wonders (Passion recording) by Chris Tomlin (worshiping even in death!)

What type of men/women do you like? Soldier by Bebo Norman (a battler)

What is my day going to be like? I Bounce Back by Walter Waiters (that's funny too)
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So there you have it my life in song...sort of. Hope you enjoyed it!

Camping and Music

2008-09-02T14:20:00.005-04:00

Went camping with a group of friends and co-laborers for the Kingdom this past weekend. There have been some others from the group posting about it a little bit. You can read Bridget's post here. It was a great time. What was going to be only one night turned into two nights with tons of laughter and good conversation.

We spent the week, prior to camping, meeting at lunch time to pray and encourage one another. The meetings during the week were a great change of pace from the norm. We all felt refreshed and more alive after every lunch hour last week. We've really grown close to each other. To me the week of meeting together prior to going camping was just as exciting as camping, if not more!

For those of you who don't know us or aren't around, the best way I can describe this group of people is like this...we all believe the Lord has brought us together for this time and possibly for plans that have yet to be revealed to us. We don't know if the future plans will include all of us who are currently getting together, or just a portion of us, or more than us. But we are all committed to meet together, pray for one another, encourage each other, and journey together for the time we are allowed to do so. In doing all of these things, we trust the Lord to reveal to us His plans for us (individually or as a group) in His time, and in so much as we are able we desire to help each other succeed in what the Lord has for us to do. It really is a unique group of people and I am blessed to be a part of it!

In other news...

Sunday evening/night I spent several hours having pictures taken for the cover of my cd, which is scheduled to be out this September. It has been on hold for a while, but is now at the end stages of completion. I'm extremely excited to have finally reached this point and will be even more excited when it is complete and available to the public. If you would like to hear a few of the tracks on it you can check it out here. I should get the pictures Wednesday or Thursday, so perhaps I'll post a few of the ones I won't be using for the cd.

Father, thank You for this past week and weekend and the way You provided a place for us to meet together. Thank You for the way You moved in our lives, blessing us with Your presence and Your Spirit! May we continue to move as You move. Give us a passion and a purpose for You and the things You are passionate about. We are so blessed to be called Your children. Thank you, Jesus for bringing me to this point in time, allowing me to accomplish this life-long dream of writing, recording and sharing the music You have given me. Thank You for never letting go of me through everything. I love You and will sing Your praises all my days!

Habakkuk's Prayer Echoes

2008-08-14T10:00:00.004-04:00

"I have heard all about you, Lord, and I am filled with awe by the amzing things you have done. In this time of our deep need, begin again to help us, as you did in years gone by. Show us your power to save us. And in your anger, remember mercy." - Habakkuk 3:2 NLT

These days find me in much the same prayer that was spoken so long ago by the prophet Habakkuk. To be honest, I'm not even sure how I came across this passage. I don't remember if I read it in a book or in a bible study, but whenever it was, it echoed deep within my heart and continues to build beyond echoes.

I grew up in traditional church, most of my life. I was in church everytime the doors were open, unless I was sick or out of town. But as I've grown, I've found Christianity (as I've come to know it) to be desperately wanting.

You see, I know the stories. I've heard them hundreds of times. What I don't know is what happened between the lives people lived in the scriptures (especially in the New Testament) and the lives we live now. I've heard of the Red Sea parting, "bread" from heaven, and crossing the Jordan. I've heard of 5,000 people being fed with fish and bread. I've heard of 3,000 being saved, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. But that's the point. I've heard it. I haven't seen it, to say nothing of it being a part of my life.

Hearing all of these things excites me to a point where I can't sit still. But after talking about it with others who seem to not understand why I've gotten worked up over things that happened years ago, it's hard for anything else to come of it.

Why are things this way? When did it change? When did believers stop "performing" miracles and healing people in the name of Jesus? When did the Gospel become so boring that we must struggle to get even the "members" of the "local church" to show up?

Now that I've asked those questions, I'm not sure they are the correct questions to be asking. I'm not looking to establish when these changes occurred. I don't think doing so would satisfy my longing. And I'm not looking to identify the generation that was active when these things ceased in the lives of believers. Putting blame on someone won't help fulfill the desire I have to see God move and show His power in our days. So the better question would be...How?

God, how do we get back to the place where these things can "begin again?" What must happen in my life?

I don't have the answer to this question, but it has been asked, and I will wait for an answer to come. Until then my prayer will continue to rise.

Lord God, I've heard all about you and I am filled with awe by the amazing things you have done. In this time of our deep need, begin again to help us, as you did in years past. Show your power to save us. In your anger, remember your mercy. Father, do this, not for my sake, for I already believe and am yours. But for your name's sake, for the lost and for generations that will follow after us. For your name, oh, God! Amen.

Thinking About It

2008-08-07T16:07:00.000-04:00

Just testing to make sure things look how they are supposed to here. I've been thinking about coming back to it and getting it running again.

I have several close friends, close as in geographically and relationally, who are now bloggers, so it could prove to be more interesting if I return.

Its worth thinking about.

I'm Also On MySpace.com

2008-08-02T19:31:00.000-04:00

For those of you who are interested in the music I've written, you can find it on my MySpace page. The CD will be available late Summer/early Fall 2008 for your listening enjoyment. So check me out there.

Check it out! CLICK HERE

Thanks for journeying with me!

Currently (Updated October 2011)

2008-08-01T13:00:00.025-04:00

The re:Thinker
I am a follower of Jesus. My name is Tobias Valdez. I'm 34 years old. Married with two children.

Thoughts of Our History
I (my family and I) have been involved in organized churches, to include Southern & Independent Baptists and Assembly of God, a couple of Non-Denominational churches and a few church groups that considered themselves to be part of the Emerging Church Movement and the House Church Movement. I spent fifteen years of my life pursuing things others told me were the good or right things of a Christian life. At the end of March 2009, my family and I gave up that pursuit and stopped attending organized church. We had a longing for something more. So much more.

Currently Thinking
What is shaping our lives right now is the pursuit of Jesus Christ, His centrality and supremacy, and the eternal purpose of God. The revelation of Jesus Christ as the central being and supreme passion in our lives is a consuming fire that is burning away all that is not Him. The eternal purpose of God has become our passion and pursuit. The people we share our lives with in this pursuit have become our family.

For me, living in community, in this way, with deep relationships, and intentionally sharing life with others under the headship of Christ, fulfills a longing I have had all of my life, even as I grew up in the organized church. The longing that there has to be more to being a follower of Jesus than what modern Christianity has to offer. Thinking to myself, "Is this all the Christian life is about? Isn't there more to being a follower of Jesus?" Asking myself, "What was so life changing that persuaded the disciples and those of the early church to live and give their lives, even unto death?" This revelation of Jesus Christ and the eternal purpose of God is the answer to that longing. This is the missing element, the missing part of life, that I had not found in any organized church I had ever been a part of. Jesus Christ becoming the central being and supreme passion in our lives, and the eternal purpose of God is what I will give my life for. He is what I live my life for.

Thanks for stopping by re:Think. I pray Jesus Christ becomes central and supreme in your lives and you will live to see the eternal purpose of God.
-Tob.

"The Word of God" - The Bible (Part 1, Post 3)

2006-07-15T19:46:00.005-04:00

Picking up where I left off a long time ago....

I wonder about things like the bible. Where exactly did it all come from? How did all of the books come to be in one collection? Who wrote the books? Why does the Protestant bible have less books than some of the Catholic bibles. Why are those books not included? How many other writings have been left out and why? How do we know the bible is without errors? Especially when there are so many variations in the many different manuscripts. How do we know that some of the people who copied the existing manuscripts we have from the manuscripts no longer in existence didn't add their own thoughts or explanations to what they copied? Why do we trust a group of scholars from thousands of years ago to have made the right choices in the books they chose? And why is it wrong for me to ask these questions?

Is the bible the centerpoint of our faith, so much to where if it did have errors or any of these other things that our faith would crumble? Sometimes I think Christians have regarded the bible almost to the point of worship. No, I don't think anyone will ever vocally give worship to the bible, but it is held in extremely high regards, so much to the point where it is called "The Word of God." Yet the scriptures themselves are clear in several places as to whom that name has been given, and it is Jesus.

One thing to notice...in all of my questioning and commenting, I have never once said anything about not living by the principles that are found within the bible. Never once have I said that we should discard it or modify it, add to it or take away from it.

Its as if long ago there were a great discovery by some of the spiritual leaders of the day, and if word got out about the discovery it was feared it would would shake Christianity to the core and cause mass apostasy, so it was covered up and they began telling everyone, these are the Christian beliefs, these are the things you have to just accept by faith and to question them is heresy and blasphemy, ... and nothing has changed today since then.

Its like saying the bible is inerrant and infallible, it is the very word of God, the men who wrote it were filled with the Spirit and couldn't possibly have made any mistakes, the men who copied the manuscripts were spiritual leaders in those days and couldn't possibly have made mistakes or inserted their own explanations or thoughts, and all of the men in both of the councils who decided which books to include and which books to exclude were spiritual leaders in those days and couldn't possibly have made a mistake or wrong choices and to question it is heresy and blasphemy.

To explore, to question, to search is, in many places, regarded as heresy, falling away, or losing faith. Yet in my own life exploring, questioning and searching out these things has brought more meaning and depth to my faith than many other things. Have I found everything I was taught to be correct or true? No. Have I fallen away or lost faith because of it? No. I'm confident in all of it that at the core of all my searching and questioning I will find Jesus and be that much more equipped to bring others to Him. In fact, I believe it is the Spirit leading me in my search.

Awestruck by My Children

2006-05-11T00:21:00.001-04:00

Tonight, before putting my kids to bed, my daughter, Boog (5 years old), suggested that we pray for baby Ryan (Ron and Kim's baby boy). We sort of let my daughter be "in charge" of the prayer time since it was her suggestion. She wanted Brenda to pray first and then she prayed. I have never seen or heard a 5 year old pray with such fervor and compassion in my life. I could only weep as I sat and listened to my little girl as she prayed for Ron and Kim, their kids, and the loss of their baby and brother, Ryan. She was so thankful that God was "holding baby Ryan as good" as He was. As I began to pray I broke down in tears again, and then watched in amazement as she pulled tissues from the tissue box and began wiping our tears from our cheeks. One by one she wiped my tears away, Brenda's tears, and then her brother's tears.

As my son, Dude (8 years old), began to pray and weep over his friends, which included The Starkey family, Jacob and thankfulness for our friends and family that are still around in our lives, Brenda and I were so totally blown away at the heart of our son and daughter. A total feeling of loss, yet gratitude that little Ryan was able to get "just a peek of this world." Then he lost all words, and just wept, as my daughter wiped his tears and brought comfort.

Then Boog began to pray again for our friends and family, asking God to "help Ron and Kim to stay together and still be a family because we're all a family together."

Never in my life have I seen such power and awareness flow from children as I saw tonight in my own living room. There was so much more depth in it all than what I can describe here. We spent about 30 minutes just sitting there on the couch praying and letting them take care of each other and bringing comfort to us all. We answered some questions about Heaven and dying. Then I watched as my family embraced each other and listened as my little girl said she wanted to "be strong" for us because this time is hard and we're all a family.

So totally grateful and humbled by the Spirit moving in and through my children this evening. Even more...convicted to be better examples than we have been of being the body of Christ to one another.

My children "get it." They have "got it" long before many adults even begin to think about "getting it." So amazing.

Blessed be the name of the Lord! You give and take away, yet our hearts will choose to say, blessed be Your name!

Palmer's Impact on My Life

2006-03-31T01:13:00.000-05:00

Finding Palmer
I don't remember exactly how I came to find out about Mark Palmer's blog or that he had cancer. Some of my earliest memories of Palmer are the "Blog For Palmer Day" that some of his friends set up and many participated in and then the "Complete Healing" button that Creech made to support Palmer and get the word out about praying for him and his family. Perhaps those were the first times I heard about Mark.

But whenever and however it happened...it changed my life for the better, as I've been reading that Palmer's life has done with many others.

Remembering Palmer's Journey
I prayed for Palmer very often. I can't say that it was daily, though it should've been, and I wish it had been. He deserved more than I gave. But I did pray many times throughout each week. Many times I would find myself wondering how he was doing and then offer a little prayer for his healing and strength. Many times after reading his posts I would pray for him, Amy and Micah. I would read his posts several times and think to myself, "What faith!!" And it would always encourage me to strive harder to live that faith I share with him and many others in this family of Jesus followers.

I remember reading Marshall's blog and being so stoked about being a part of this battle and thinking how blessed Palmer is to have such warrior friends. Though I was more distant than those who have actually met and shared life with Palmer, I still felt the connection of brotherhood we all share as saints and children of our Father.

Praying Palmer Home
The morning Palmer passed over into Kingdom fulness, remember sitting in my office at work thinking about him. Wondering at 9:00 a.m., "I hope Palmer's doing okay today." Something stirred in me to pray for him and I did. But the stirring began to be more for Amy and the rest of the LP folks and Palmer's family. So on my lunch break I rushed home, fired up the Mac and went straight to Palmer's blog where I read Amy's post about Palmer's passing over. My heart broke for them all. It still breaks. I've thought about Amy and Micah, their families, the LP folks and others around Palmer's life everyday...and I've prayed for them all.

Prayer Kindled
Palmer had been in my prayers for so long. But when he passed, it's like the Spirit began to kindle something deeper within my own spirit. A burden to continue to pray for people (more than I have been and more specifically than I have been). To labor in prayer beit with words or with simple groanings. I have never felt this kind of drawing to pray. In no ways have I ever considered myself an intercessor. I've never considered myself as someone who's prayers have a lot of significant impact. Perhaps that's just been shallow faith on my part...I'm not real sure. But I am sure that this drawing to step up my prayer life is important.

So I've committed myself to pray more specifically and more often than I have been in the past. Specifically, I've committed myself to pray for certain people the Lord would choose to bring into my life that have particular situations to pray over. That's not to say I won't pray for other people with other situations, but I feel like the Lord has brought specific people and situations to my attention for this purpose.

People I'm Committed To Pray For

Amy and Micah Palmer
I've made a covenant to pray for both Amy, Palmer's wife and Micah, their son, for the next year. I don't know what kind of prayers will come, but however the Lord leads me to pray for them I will.

Shepherd Eggers
I've known Shepherd and his family since 2002. Shep (as we call him) has been my little buddy since he first saw me sing and play guitar. He's quite possibly my #1 fan. Shep live in Bristol, TN and has had brain cancer since he was fairly young (he still is young, 6 years old I think). He had surgery to remove the tumor, which was successful, and has since made many trips to St. Jude's in Memphis, TN. His parents Trish and Brandon were some of the first people to come to Life Community Fellowship (church plant I worked with). They quickly became good friends of our family.

There's still a lot going on with Shep, he still goes to St. Jude's a lot for check ups and treatments and stuff. And their family is so strong and gracious. When I get a chance I'll be posting some pictures of them here. I'll be praying for them all until healing comes to their house.

Gabriel Christain
Gabriel is part of ACF, the same folks I gather with on Sundays. He's in the military and leaves very soon for a TDY in Iraq. I pray in general for our troops in Iraq, but the Lord put Gabriel on my heart this past Tuesday night at the Life Group gathering I went to. He'll be gone for six months. So I've made a covenant to pray for Gabriel until his return home from the sand box.
------------------------

These are the people the Lord has given to me thus far. Praying on behalf of others helps to take my spotlight off of myself. How self-centered I am. I hope and pray this will have meaning to the lives of those I'm praying for, as I know it will bring great meaning and substance to my own.

I'm sure there will be more to come. I feel drawn to praying daily prayers as well (Lauds, Vespers, and Compline), though I will need some help in understanding the background and the why's of these. I think they are somewhat from the Roman Catholic Church, but am not totally sure. Either way, that's what I'm feeling led to. Perhaps Creech or Hanson will be able to explain these to me. Or anyone else for that matter. There's more to come. Count on it!

I'll leave you with these two quotes from Palmer. Peace to you this night
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"I see all of this as God redeeming a rather horrible and evil situation. People are learning to live and function as community, learning how to love both friends and enemies and people they've never even met. If God is using my illness to spread the ideals of the Kingdom, then I will gladly bear this pain." - Mark Palmer, September 22, 2005

"I guess what I really want to say is just this: be hopeful. Don't stop fighting. On some level this thing is bigger than all of us. It's not about having a wife die of cancer at 26, and then 2 years later getting the same terminal illness. It's not about me and how I fight this disease or how our little family walks through it. The bigger picture is the battle against sickness and death that we all face because we live in a broken world. But it's even more about the Kingdom that has broken in and offers us a chance at relief from that disease. It offers health and victory where before there was none. There is hope in the midst of hopelessness. Death is not where we lose; the onset of hopelessness is the great defeater. So allow hope to rise up within you. And when it seems that hopefulness is the least appropriate response in this situation, let it rise up even more. Whisper your hope when you lie down at night; scream your hope when you wake in the morning. Live your hope as if it is the one and only thing that sustains you in this ravaged world. You will not be disappointed." - Mark Palmer October 3, 2005

The Passing of Mark Palmer

2006-03-27T14:30:00.000-05:00

Today...Mark Palmer, a man I've never met, yet one who has had such a big impact on my life, passed over into Kingdom fullness. Please pray for his family, especially his wife, Amy, and son, Micah.

I'm saddened at the news of his passing, but have not the words for it now. Perhaps in the near future I'll share of how his life and my committment to pray for him and his family have impacted my own life.

Peace to you.
st.

You may recognize the name from the link on the lefthand side bar. Take time to read about Mark and his life at his blog HERE. Pray for his family.

St. Palmer, pray for us.

In Memory of Mark Palmer

Untitled Hymn (Come To Jesus)
Untitled Hymn
Chris Rice

Weak and wounded sinner
Lost and left to die
O, raise your head, for Love is passing by
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus and live!

Now your burden’s lifted
And carried far away
And precious blood has washed away the stain...so
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus and live!

And like a newborn baby
Don’t be afraid to crawl
And remember when you walk, sometimes we fall...so
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus and live!

Sometimes the way is lonely
And steep and filled with pain
So if your sky is dark and pours the rain...then
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus and live!

O, and when the love spills over
And music fills the night
And when you can’t contain your joy inside...then
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus and live!

And with your final heartbeat
Kiss the world goodbye
Then go in peace, and laugh on glory’s side...and
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus and live!
Copyright 2002 Clumsy Fly Music (ASCAP)

Great Danger!

2005-11-24T00:15:00.000-05:00

"For many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it."

--John Ortberg, from "The Life You've Always Wanted", Chapter 5 "An Unhurried Life: The Practice of Slowing."

I found part of this quote posted on The Wall over at Seed Stories. Thanks to Arlen for providing me with the rest of it and the author information.

I wonder how many of us today are settling for a mediocre version. How many of us today are not willing to put forth the effort to search out these things? How many of us today have simply given up on questioning and wrestling with these things?

May we never settle for mediocre, but live our lives as radical as our Lord and Savior did!

Peace to you.

"The Word of God" - The Bible (Part 1, Post 2)

2005-11-22T00:00:00.001-05:00

Intro

I appreciate all of the thoughts and comments from everyone, as they will surely help to further this discussion. If you're just joining this conversation you can take a look at Part 1 here.

A friend of mine pointed out that I may not be discussing the correct point in all of this, because I don't have a problem with the scriptures. My problem lies with the interpretations we give, implications of the name "The Word of God" being assigned to the Scriptures, and effects that those two things have on the church body and our culture which He seeks to love. I'm hoping to gather some of his thoughts together for post #3. So perhaps this conversation will go a different path in the next post, but for now, here we'll stay.

I've found many differing opinions on this topic and I would say that most of the people who have given their opinions believe they are correct. And they very well may be. One thing that I notice is that many of us (and I'm sure all of us have been guilty of this at one time or another) will quote scripture references from the same Bible to try to prove that we are right and that the other people are wrong. That is one thing that baffles me. And that's also one of the main reasons I quote Rich Mullins when he said, "I think if we were given the Scriptures, it was not so that we could prove that we were right about everything. If we were given the Scriptures, it was to humble us into realizing that God is right, and the rest of us are just guessing."

So as I've said before, I don't have all of the answers figured out. That's why I am on this journey. That's why I ask these questions. One thing I hope that we all will walk away from this thing with is this...that we can disagree on some things and still show love through it all.

Peace to you.
----------

Response to some of the comments:
(more comments/responses will follow in the next post)

Kyle said: "If the Bible is really so plain, why must everybody proclaim loudly what they think it means using words and concepts that are nowhere to be found in the canon?

This is precisely why I bring these questions up. It seems like so many people have different views on all of this, and each one quotes a verse here or a verse there to try to show support for their own viewpoint. Is there any way that we as one body could be able to draw the same conclusions about the same book that we claim to be so important to our faith? Or are we even to draw conclusions about these types of things?

Julian said: "As far as who determines the truth and the heresy/orthodoxy debate for protestants, I think it must be said that heresy means something completely different to someone coming from a RC (Roman Catholic) background than a protestant one. The idea of 'excommunication' and the 'Church' (ie. Roman Catholic institution) holding the truth and interpreting it rightly for everyone is foreign to protestants. We're talking about faithfulness to the Bible, not policing doctrine."

Faithfulness to the Bible in what way Julian? Are we to be faithful to the Bible? Or should we instead be faithful to Jesus and his teachings and principles that are found in the scriptures? I would say its the latter of the two.

As a child, I remember reciting the "Pledge to the Christian Flag," and the "Pledge to the Bible" during Vacation Bible School and as I think about those words, I must ask myself, why pledge my life to a flag or a book? I pledge my life to Jesus Christ and his teachings, his ways as he teaches them to me by the Holy Spirit, but to some flag that men have made as a symbol of Christianity or to a book? I have a hard time doing that these days. Christianity didn't provide the redemption of the world, neither did the Bible. Jesus did. And I owe my life to him! Not to Christianity (especially our Westernized version of it!) and not to the Bible.
----------

This questions received a couple of responses in the comments so I wanted to bring it back to the forefront along with the comments that were made:

Question #3: If it (the Bible) is God's word, then why does Paul go to great lengths to distinguish between his words and God's words?

Kyle said: "Because...Paul didn't think he was speaking the Word of God! Jesus is the logos!"

I assume Kyle is making reference to John Chapter 1.

In response to the same question Julian said: "If Paul and Peter didn't think they were writing Scripture, then what did Peter mean in 2 Peter 3:15-17?"

This is a good question, for which I would have to take a deeper look into the scriptures. But I will say that no one has ever brought this point to light in my past conversations. My initial thoughts were that we may have a poor translation from the original language, but without adequate study I don't want to make that assumption. I'm not exactly a language expert either. But perhaps some of the other readers would like to take a shot at responding to this question!?! Thanks Julian.

Julian also wrote: "With regards to Paul distinguishing between his commands and the Lord's regarding marriage, he is simply stating that in Jesus' earthly ministry he spoke to one of the issues Paul was addressing, but not the other. Either way, he insists that he has the Spirit with him when he writes."

What kind of evidence would there be that Paul would know what Jesus specifically spoke about or didn't speak about, other than to say that the Spirit would show him, since Paul didn't spend his time around Jesus during his earthly ministry? Also, would it suffice to say that if anyone else insists that they have the Spirit with them when they write, then what they write should/would also be considered "The Word of God?"
----------

These are some thoughts/questions that have been stimulated by some of the comments from Part 1, which is linked here. I plan on posting more from the comments on Part 1 tomorrow night. Feel free to get some comments going on this post. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Peace to you.

"The Word of God" - The Bible (Part 1, Post 1)

2005-11-09T00:50:00.002-05:00

Update
One of the main reasons I posted this (and will post a couple of more thoughts/questions concerning the bible & "The Word of God" is because this topic has been a source of much controversy with a lot of people around me. Some of my family and a few friends have really had a difficult time with this discussion, so much to the point that they refuse to engage in it anymore. As a matter of fact one of them pretty much avoids conversations about anything remotely religious, spiritual or "church" related. So I really wanted to see if I was alone (in the ranks of christians) on these thoughts or not. I appreciate those of you who have left your comments and will be using them in some of the upcoming posts that follow in the same vein.

A Word Before
Let me say this before I go any further in this conversation; This is not my attempt to disprove the bible, or question the authority of it, but merely an attempt to better understand certain beliefs about the bible that were taught to me or that I've heard along the way. I sincerely hope that you, the reader, will contribute to this conversation by searching out truth in this matter and bringing it to light here. I want to hear what you have to say, what you think or believe. To quote my favorite singer/songwriter, Rich Mullins, "I think if we were given the Scriptures, it was not so that we could prove that we were right about everything. If we were given the Scriptures, it was to humble us into realizing that God is right, and the rest of us are just guessing."
----------

"The Word of God"
For quite some time now I have been pondering one of the names we, christians, have given to the best known book of all times - the Bible. The name in question - "The Word of God." For years I have heard this name. I've even used this name in the past. But these days the name brings up some questions for me. Questions that people around me often find uncomfortable and frustrating. Some have even gone as far as bringing out the big "H" word, heresy.

But I think these are questions that should be addressed. Perhaps there are no complete answers, but if we don't even bother exploring what we say we believe in and use as a basis for our faith, then what good is that faith? It's like a christian who says they believe in the bible, yet they have never read the entire thing. How can you believe in something you've never read? (A lot of claimers actually do this!)
----------

Question #1: Why is the bible referred to as "The Word of God" by most christians?

What do you think of when you hear the phrase, "The Word of God"? I think of something someone (in this case God) said or spoke, or perhaps a promise or oath as in giving your word that you are telling the truth. I don't think of a book, or a series of books that were approved or rejected, by a council of men, based on a set criteria. A friend of mine once asked me, "If I say something, then it is my word, it's what I've spoken. If someone then writes it down, it is still my word, isn't it?" I said no, it is a record of what you spoke at one time.

As I've said before, for years I've heard the bible being referred to as "The Word of God." Growing up I remember hearing various takes on this concept, that God wrote the bible. That God, by the Holy Spirit, spoke the words (literal dictation) to the men who actually wrote down what God said. Or that God, by the Holy Spirit, inspired the men, who wrote the various books of the bible, to write what they wrote. To me the phrase "inspired the men" is similar to the way the scriptures talk of Stephen "arguing" with the men from the Synagogue of the Freedmen in Acts Ch. 6 vs. 10, "And yet they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking." Perhaps like a filling with knowledge or understanding of what to say.

A literal dictation seems a bit far fetched because of the evidence of the various writing styles that appear through out the books of the bible. It also seems unlikely because much of the bible is not actual conversations, or dialogue, or even monologue for that matter. Instead there are things in the Old Testament like, the creation account, the history of the exodus, genealogies, poetry, etc. Some would hardly say that God spoke those things. Then, in the New Testament, there are four similar, yet strikingly different accounts of the life of Jesus, a telling/history of the beginning of the church is Acts, and then letters to the churches in different cities, letters to a specific person, and then there's the revelation of Jesus, from John.

I'm sure there will be some who would quote the scripture 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is God-breathed..." and that's fine if you want to quote it to me. But it brings up more questions. Is it then saying that all scripture is God-breathed, as in, spoken by God? Or simply "inspired" by God as was mentioned before.

Question #2: What scripture is that verse talking about (2 Timothy 3:16)?

Would you say it's talking about all scripture? The entire bible? How could that be? At the time it was written, the bible wasn't even formed yet, some of the "books" hadn't even been written yet. Is it talking about the books of the Law? The Prophets? The entire Old Testament? If you say the entire bible, then which bible would it be talking about, the one used by Protestants (which doesn't include the books that were removed, known as the apocrypha) or the one used by Catholics (which contains the apocrypha books)?

Question #3: If it is God's word, then why does Paul go to great lengths to distinguish between his words and God's words in Corinthians?

1 Corinthians 7:10 - 12, "10But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, the the wife should not leave her husband 11(but if she does leave, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not send his wife away. 12But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, let him not send her away."
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As you can see there are a lot of questions that I have about the bible, specifically the name, "The Word of God" which has bee ascribed to the bible. I hope this is the beginning of what will be a fruitful and beneficial conversation. Your thoughts and comments are most welcome.

Sacred Idolatry from The Ooze

2005-10-26T17:00:00.001-04:00

Return From Camping
We had a great time camping out this past weekend. The weather was great two out of the three days. Sunday morning was very cold. Cold enough to sleet, not to mention the driving winds. In the early morning I thought it was rain, but the grounds were too dry for it to have been rain. The winds made it sound heavier and harder than it really was I guess. The wind and sleet continued off and on the whole time we were breaking camp. We were more fortunate than some of the others who had camped near us. One of the tent was almost completely up-rooted. The only stakes that held were in the front of the tent, so the tent was blown onto it's front, because the winds were out of the opposite direction. I took the time to re-stake it for them, because they had gone into town earlier that morning and hadn't made it back yet.

Our children had a great time. As it turned out, there were three couples that go to Altus Christian Fellowship (ACF, where my father-in-law goes to church) and they had about 5 or 6 children between the three couples, so our children had others to play with. They actually spent most of their time with them. My wife and I spent various portions of our days and nights with the other couples as well. I thought it was cool that they were there. Since Brenda and I haven't really had much of a chance to get to know many of the people that go to ACF, this gave us a bit of an opportunity to do so. Two of the people there are also musicians and part of the worship team. We spent the nights around campfires playing/singing and listening to each other play. Brenda's dad and grandparents came up both Friday and Saturday for a while. It was good to have them there. Good times and restful times.

Upcoming Posts
There are several posts that are rolling around in my head, just waiting for the right time or moment in time to make their entry into the blogosphere. As I've mentioned before, a couple of comments were made during the Kansas City trip that I'll most likely post about, as well as a few other thoughts. I expect these posts to arrive in the next couple of days.

Until Then
Until those posts arrive, I've found an article on TheOoze that I'm linking. It's called The Sacred Idolatry by James Shelley. I spent several conversations with family and friends a few months ago talking about the bible and how we've elevated it almost to the point of idolatry. There will most likely be a post on this in the near future as well. As it turns out, I am not the only one who thinks this, and I'm definately not the most eloquent or articulate person when it comes to getting my point out there. So again, here's the article...I hope you read it.

The Sacred Idolatry by James Shelley

My Son Gets It!

2005-10-05T23:40:00.000-04:00

So the other day, my 7 year old son, Drayton, saw another kid at school standing at the bike rack. My son noticed that one of the kids tires on his bike was flat, so he calls him over and says, "Hey (insert kids name here), me and my mom can give you a ride home after school, so don't worry about having a flat tire."

He saw the situation, saw the need, saw the opportunity and seized it. How awesome!

The thing that makes this even more amazing to me is that this other kid was not just any kid. In the past weeks Drayton has come home and explained to us that this other kid has been hitting him sometimes. Not beating him up or anything, but sometimes he'll just hit him. It really bothered my son. So we talked to him about trying to be nice to the other kid and see if he might just need a friend.

Love the Lord, your God...Love your neighbor as yourself. Does it get any simpler than that.

Peace to you this night.

6 Years

2005-09-06T23:21:00.000-04:00

Today marks six years of marriage for my wife and I. It's amazing how time flies. It seems like only a couple of years ago we were four states apart talking into the early morning hours on the phone. I was doing an internship in Abingdon, Virginia, she was still living in my home town of Altus, OK. We racked up huge phone bills, not to mention the time we spent on MSN Messenger.

(Isn't she a beautiful bride!)

We were married September 6, 1999 in Perrin, TX, at the end of a week long disciple now that I flew in to do the worship for. Brenda drove down to meet me there for the week. I was going to be spending another couple of days in Altus with her and her family. But before we headed back to Altus, we decided to get married. We were engaged in June of that year and the actual date was set in November. But neither one of us really wanted to wait that long. We had talked about eloping plenty of times. But didn't actually decide to until the final night in Perrin before driving back to Altus.

(The Happy Couple and their son)

Because it was so spur of the moment, we were both dressed in t-shirts, shorts and bare-footed. Our friend, Ron Starkey married us, it was quite a shock to see him in a suit (he still wore his sandals though). Our other good friends, Jason Frazier and Regina (Rhine) Frazier were the witnesses and photographer. Drayton, our son, was also one of the witnesses, although, at age 1 & 1/2 he wasn't able to sign the marriage license.

Although it was spur of the moment and very, very informal, we did take it very seriously and entered into the covenant as best as two young kids know how. I will say this, we will never forget our wedding day, nor the day I proposed, but that is a whole other story.

The funniest thing about our wedding was our wedding cake. Obviously we didn't have time to have a cake made or anything like that, but our friends insisted that we must have a cake, so we improvised. Hope you have enjoyed this brief re-telling of our wedding day as much as we have enjoyed the past six years.

(The Cake)

Brenda, I love you and look forward to many more years together. Love you!

Deep Thoughts From My Kids

2005-08-22T14:47:00.000-04:00

Got a few funny things to share with you all. Hope you enjoy them.

From My Daughter
A few nights ago as we sat around the living room, just relaxing, my daughter (Kanzy, age 4) started singing worship songs that she had heard in the past days and weeks. She begins rather softly, but after a few rounds of the chorus, she's belting it out pretty good, and I can finally make her exact words out. The chorus she kept repeating was this:

He is exhausted, the King is exhausted on high

Once I realized what she was singing, I left the room so as not to discourage her, and couldn't keep myself from cracking up laughing. Such a pure heart just singing out. Here's a photo of her riding her bike.

From My Son
My son (Drayton, age 7) loves to draw and color pictures for just about anyone that means something to him. Seldom does he create one of his masterpieces and not give it away. The other day I came home to see one of his most recent works, which he decided to keep as his own and not give away to anyone. It's pictured below:

I'm still not quite sure where he got that from, but I had to share it with you all here.

The Shuttle & Our Weekend
The Space Shuttle was in town this past Friday. I managed to snap off a couple of pictures (a bit blurry) on our way out of town. Altus was on the map again for a bit.

This past Friday, I took off a bit early from work to go to Oklahoma City with Paul, my father-in-law, and my son, Drayton. We went to eat at Zio's Italian Restaraunt just before making our way over to the Bricktown Ball Park to watch the OKC Redhawks defeat the Memphis Redbirds, 7-0. It was a pretty good game. Two home runs, one was a two run homer and the other a solo flight. We had great seats and a great time! It was Drayton's first baseball game ever. My first time watching a minor's game. I'd say it was worth it. Got a few pictures below.

These last two are of one of the Redhawks touching home plate after hitting his solo homerun, the other is of one of the Redbirds getting struck out.

Peace to you.

Some Time Away

2005-08-01T22:19:00.000-04:00

Took Friday off this past week and went to Oklahoma City. We spent Friday and Saturday there. Friday was spent at the Oklahoma City National Memorial for the Murrah Building Bombing (April 19, 1995). So I thought I would mention that a bit here. I'll probably mention our Saturday in my next post.

I purchased a book called, "The Official Record of the Oklahoma City Bombing." It is pictured to the right. We've been to the memorial before, but we had not gone inside of the museum until this year, mainly because we weren't sure if the kids would be okay with it. But they did fine. It is a very moving thing to go through the museum, watching, hearing and seeig all of the stories that the news media was not able to cover. There are so many things that went on during all of the rescue operations and such. Much of it went under recognized by the media.

Outside of the museum there are several other parts of the memorial to visit. Among other things there are "The Gates of Time," which stand at both ends of the "Reflecting Pool" (pictured below with my kids). Representing the 168 lives that were lost is the "Field of Empty Chairs," there is also the "Rescuer's Orchard," the "Children's Area," and "The Survivor Tree." There is a message near "The Survivor Tree," which reads, "The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated; our deeply rooted faith sustains us."

There are many other sites to see at the Memorial, but I will not mention them all. If you ever have the chance to visit Oklahoma City, take a day and visit the Memorial. It is well worth it.

I remember where I was when the bombing happened. It was my senior year of high school. I was in Mrs. Diltz's yearbook class when another student from the ACTV class came in and told us that a bomb had just gone off in OKC. We turned on the tv and watched the horror that followed. April 19...my brother's birthday, I thought to myself. I remember being glued to the tv for the rest of the day and the days following, hoping and praying that survivors would be found and that the death count would be low. It was a mournful time for us.

One thing that I will probably always remember is hearing/reading the stories of survival from those who were there, in the Murrah Building or in one of the other buildings close by. The way their lives have been impacted by the bombing and loss of life is unlike anything I've seen before. God help them.

"Father, we remember the victims and survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing, and ask that you would be near to them. Be with the families who lost someone dear to them. Be with the co-workers who lost friends. Comfort them in their hard times. Give them joy. Help them face each new day. Renew their strength and give them peace. May we never forget them, nor those who lost their lives that day. Help us to follow you through these times. Amen."

Some Conversations I've Been In Recently

2005-07-13T01:28:00.000-04:00

I've been walking through some posts on a couple of blogs in the recent days...thought I'd share a few of the quotes and comments.

On The House Church Blog from a post called "Some Andrew Jones Basics"

"The 72 were told to go out, eat, drink, heal etc etc. THEN tell people about the Kingdom of God. Is this the way we do it? Or are we often in a hurry to get all the 'God stuff' in right at the beginning. People need to experience the Kingdom of God before we start banging on about it verbally."

My comments
This is one of the things that I have long disagreed with in the IC. There was outreach/evangelism...but very seldom was there any relationship building. The method of the IC demonstrates that we don't really care about anybody unless they become like we are. It demonstrates that their lives have little to no value to us unless they "get saved," and even then that is just an agenda, because very little real discipleship ever takes place. It basically says, "Okay, now that you're saved, sit down, shut up, listen up, pay up, you're done."

Even in the new emerging efforts, a lot of what I have seen, even a lot of what I have found myself doing is seeking someone to build a relationship with simply to try to "transform" their life.

We've got to strive for a point in our lives where we realize and fleshout the truth that everyone, everything is important to God, whether it is "christian" or potential christian or whatever. It all matters to Him. We all have value to God. He loves us. Oh how He loves us.
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On Phil Goodacre's Blog from a post called "Reflection of Creating Church in the Emerging Culture"

"Questions were raised about how success is measured in the emerging church context. Does the emerging church itself need to set out such indicators?"

My comments
I think too often we try to measure our "success." A measurement of success sound a lot like a "modern" thing. The modern mentality and all. The desire to measure things and put them into catagories is also a modern mentality, not post-modern or emerging.

I still think we should evaluate what we're doing for effectivenss or efficiency, but being successful or not should be strictly based on doing what God has asked us to do. Often times, I think true success looks like failure if you look at it in the modern context. But through God's eyes obedience or faithfulness, I think, look more like success.
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There were several comments before mine on "Reflection of Creating Church in the Emerging Culture". Phil even shot back a question as well. You can visit both of these blogs home pages by clicking the links below. Enjoy!

The House Church Blog
Phil Goodacre's Blog

Comments on Worship from Shaun Groves @ Mark Van S' Blog

2005-07-08T01:07:00.001-04:00

I've been talking a bit about worship (see this post) and I'm still thinking and reading about it a lot. So earlier today I was reading through a few blogs and found this post from Mark Van S' Blog. It's a simple post about having/not having musicians in a body to "lead in worship." At the end of the post Mark says: "I think music and the arts are a beautiful thing, and if a community has artists, they should be encouraged to share their gifts. But what about the community that doesn't have many artists? What should they do?" This is something I've thought about often. But what really grabbed my attention was one of the comments that came from one of Mark's readers. It was from Shaun Groves, the musician. It caught my attention, not so much because it was Shaun Groves, but because of what he, a fairly popular musician, says about worship. Check it out.

"As a musician and pastor to post-high school young adults one of my greatest disappointments is the elevation of music to the epicenter of "worship" to the exclusion of all other responses to God. It's interested to me that the word "worship" in the bible, both old and new testaments, NEVER comes from a greek or Hebrew word meaning "music". Words like shachah (sp?), proskuneo, abad, and litreia mean things like submission, reverence, service or slave labor. Yet at my church, and in my own life, there is a greater interest in raising hands than stretching them out to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and fight for the poor and oppressed. There is a waiting list to join the "praise band" but a constant lack on volunteers in the nursery. We spend literally hundreds of thousands of dollars on screens and technical gear to look and sound better but next to nothing on rescuing lives from welfare and poverty. Jesus said to love the least as an expression of loving him not sing songs. Service, submission, reverence, fear - these are central to the response to God we call worship and the community of believers we call church. Not music. So at our young adult bible study here in Nashville, even though we have many musicians lying around, we often don't have a musical response time so many of our people call "worship." We've done our best to make music a non-essential far behind prayer, listening, discussing, giving and going. Freaks some people out when no one sings but we believe it's necessary to take this generations eyes off of the Passion worship movement (as good as it is) and on other expressions of devotion to God.
But that's just my two cents. Great blog." -Shaun, shlog.com, Posted by: shaun groves | July 1, 2005 03:18 PM

Hopefully neither Shaun, nor Mark mind me quoting directly from the blog comments. But I strongly agree with what Shaun says. Here in America, we focus so much energy on "worship music" instead of on acts of worship, like what Shaun describes.

"Jesus said to love the least as an expression of loving him not sing songs. Service, submission, reverence, fear - these are central to the response to God we call worship and the community of believers we call church. Not music."

Seems that there should be a lot of rethinking going on when it comes to worship. You can also check out Shaun's blog here.

Peace to you.

The Mark of Ezra: Worship & Scripture

2005-07-01T00:57:00.000-04:00

Several of the men at Altus Christian Fellowship (ACF), the place my family and I have been attending for the past few months, have been talking about the importance of worship in a believer's life. I've listened a lot and said little, all the time wondering about the truth and importance of what these men were saying. And this evening I started reading in The Message: Remix, feeling very strongly that I should start in Ezra, so I did. And the introduction to the book of Ezra really caught my attention. I'll post a portion of it here:

"History had not treated the People of Israel well and they were in decline. They were hanging on by their fingernails. And then Ezra arrived.

This is an extreme case of a familiar story, repeated with variations in most centuries and in most places in the world. Men and women who find their basic identity in God, as God reveals himself in Israel and Messiah, don't find an easy time of it. They never have. They never will. Their identity is under constant challenge and threat-sometimes by hostile assault, at other times by subtle and smiling seductions. Whether by assault or seduction, the People of God have come perilously close to obliteration several times. We are never out of danger.

Because of Ezra, Israel made it through. The People-of-God identity was recovered and preserved. Ezra used worship and Text to do it. Ezra engaged them in the worship of God, the most all-absorbing, comprehensive act in which men and women can engage. This is how our God-formed identities become most deeply embedded in us. And Ezra led them into an obedient listening to the text of Scripture. Listening and following God's revelation are the primary ways in which we keep attentively obedient to the living presence of God among us.

Ezra made his mark: Worship and Text continue to be foundational for recovering and maintaining identity as the People of God."
(The Message: Remix, pg.756)

This really just grabbed me as a confirmation about who we are, our identities, as worshipers of God. This being the starting point of it all.

John Barrett, at ACF, talked of how we could be a worshiper without being a warrior, but we can't be a warrior without being a worshiper. He gave several other examples of what we could be while being a worshiper, but not being able to be them without first being a worshiper.

At a prayer retreat with the men from ACF, Dan Leathers read a paper to us that talked about coming to this place where we could not enter into unless we lay down the things that we view as our gifts or callings, i.e. being a warrior, teacher, encourager, mentor, etc., and (with the image of crawling through a tiny opening at the lowest point) enter in without holding on to anything...and coming in as a worshiper to this place and finding that the things we thought we had to carry or bring with us for His service were there on the other side ready to be used as they were meant to be used.

All of this coming together for me tonight seems really important right now. Especially this part from The Message: Remix :

"Ezra engaged them in the worship of God, the most all-absorbing, comprehensive act in which men and women can engage. This is how our God-formed identities become most deeply embedded in us. And Ezra led them into an obedient listening to the text of Scripture. Listening and following God's revelation are the primary ways in which we keep attentively obedient to the living presence of God among us."

It seems this is a truth that I have been needing to hear, as it has been talked about so often in the past weeks in the places that I've been. It's how our identities are formed, it's how we keep attentively obedient to the living presence of God among us. Worshiping, and listening and following God's revelation.

A Day Off For Horse Riding

2005-06-29T09:39:00.000-04:00

I've taken the day off today. My wife has arranged for us to take our children horse back riding at a co-workers house this morning. I know, big deal right? Right! See, my daughter, Kanzy (4 yrs. old), loves horses and has never been horseback riding, except for at a small fair where they had some kind of ponies tide to a turning wheel thing. My son, Drayton (8 yrs. old), likes horses alright and he's only been on the ones like my daughter has. So this will be their first "real" horseback riding experience. I think they're both excited about it, but you can tell my daughter is very ready to go riding.

I have a tiny bit of riding experience under my belt, most of which was relatively uneventful. Most. One time, before Brenda and I were married, when I lived in Virginia I went down to one of the stables along the Virginia Creeper Trail, around Damascus, to see about getting a little bit more riding experience. The two gents working the stable were friendly enough. After chatting with them about wanting to get better at riding, the one running the show said they would like to see how I was riding, so he put me on a horse that was "a good one to be on." After riding around in their little riding area, he told me to go ahead and take the horse out onto "the Trail," but I declined. He also put some spurs on my boots, said it would help me get the horse going. I'm not sure what that meant, because the horse was going just fine.

I was getting pretty comfortable with the horse when all of a sudden a pick up drove into the stable area, which we happen to be right next to, and began to rev his engine up. That spooked the horse, he slipped on some mud and after about 3 times of that horse bucking I was thrown off. I landed on the backside of my right shoulder, almost completely upside down. I remember just kind of rolling over, looking for my hat and seeing the two stable hands laughing their heads off at me.

I was determined to not let that horse beat me, so I found my hat, got back on the horse and started riding again. About 10 minutes later the horse seemed to be getting jumpy, so I started to take him back to the stable. On our way he started bucking again, but I was ready for it this time. I kept the reigns in one hand and grabbed on to the horn of the saddle and just rode it out. We finally stopped about 6 inches from a fence, which I assume was inteded for me to be thrown over, but it didn't happen.

I got off of the horse and walked him over to the stable. I noticed the two men were laughing again. So I asked them what was so funny. The first guy said, "That horse has just been broke, but he still has a long way to go before being ready to be ridden." They just started laughing harder. I laughed too, because some how I managed not to kill myself on that horse. I remember driving off from the stables laughing to myself about getting bucked off. I'll never forget it.

Hope your day is good! Peace to you.