you must be "born again"

John 3:7 clearly quotes Jesus as saying, "you must be born again". A gentleman was at our place yesterday morning and we were discussing "religion" and Jesus and life and stuff. He came from a strong Hindu influence and his opinions were clearly biased towards the culture in which he grew up. It got me thinkin. Just because people in the West grow up in a "Christian" culture, it benefits them no more than someone who grows up in the 10/40 Window (except in the fact that we have a greater chance of meeting a born again person). The only reason people even consider themselves "Christian" here in the west anymore is the religious tradition in which they are raised; it's the same for Muslims in Iraq, or Buddhists in Thailand, etc. Religion is religion is religion, the whole world over. A family background of Christianity is no more helpful than a family background of Islam, of Buddhism, or whatever. "You must be born again". We must have a relationship with Jesus that transcends what we've been told by others whose lives don't reflect the Savior (or Prophet or Teacher) they claim to follow.

It boggles my mind when I meet "Christians" who are passive in their faith, looking for any and every excuse to not evangelize or sacrifice etc. Paul writes to Titus and says, "They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him...." Such is the Christianity we show the world. It's no surprise the world is not beating down the doors of the church begging for the Jesus we believe in.

At the end of the day, one religion is as good as the other. Religion always has to do with man reaching up to God. Jesus was God reaching down to man. It's so important to take this message, this Gospel of Jesus, to the ends of the earth, proclaiming "Freedom from religion!!!". It's our commission (Matthew 28:19-20). I no more want to convert someone to "Christianity" than I do to "any other religion". Religion just won't do. I want people to experience the love of Christ with no ulterior motives. Mother Teresa has a beautiful quote: The success of love is in the loving — it is not in the result of loving. Of course it is natural in love to want the best for the other person, but whether it turns out that way or not does not determine the value of what we have done. Unconditional love has been betrayed by those who claim to love unconditionally.

To end this post, I looked up commission in a thesaurus, and you can sustitute 'commission' with 'to entrust'. God has entrusted us with His gospel. we need to ask ourselves: Have we been good stewards of this precious responsibility?

the newness of colors

Oh yeah. I just spent some time revamping me blog and now you all get to see. It's alrite, I s'pose. Totally newness thing happenin.

Things are still well. Keeping busy. Really trying to focus in on the plans God has for this summer. It has ENORMOUS potential to be an amazing summer, truly. It gets me excited thinkin about it.

Keepin busy...............like:
- meeting with kids from underprivledged neighborhood every odd tuesday
- doing a Pastoral Care course at the Welland General Hospital tuesday evenings
- midweek visitations at Scott St Manor on wednesdays
- drumming at the Hamilton Celebration Church (and helping Jenny with the kid's ministry sometimes) on saturdays
- putting on a sunday service at Scott St Manor
Pretty sweet stuff. God is fun to serve.

Today I was asked to fill in for Elly, who is in charge of a nursing home ministry here in St Catharines. She's going away for two weeks and asked me to take over; what a sweet opportunity. So thats it. Have fun, enjoy Jesus, and stuff.

What can I say? I love Cookie Monster!

the bake-off winner: Jenny Brown

Just a little follow-up to my last post. Jenny won the baking contest with her Banana Cheesecake. She recieved a $15 Starbucks gift card which I hope I will be able to partake of!

I'm a trendy Westerner

This is pretty sweet. Look down by the comment place; I put on this thing where you can rate my posts, so, do it! I got the Idea off of Shawn Cuthill's site. Is that trendy or what?!

Tonight is the "Bake Off" at the Brown's. I made Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Loaf. 1st prize is a $15 Starbucks gift card, and I want it!

Whats been lost, through the years.

St Valentine of Rome lived some 200 yrs after Christ. In that time the Roman Emperor Claudius II proclaimed a law that young men should not be married because single men made for better soldiers than married men. Valentine continued performing marriage ceremonies and was found out and was eventually brought before Emperor Claudius.

Claudius had great respect for this man of God and tried to get Valentine to renounce Christ so that he could spare his life. Valentine refused and in turn, tried to convert Claudius from paganism to Christianity. Claudius refused and subsequently had Valentine imprisoned.

In prison Valentine befriended his jailor's daughter, who was blind. He prayed for her and she was miraculously cured which resulted in the jailor's conversion to Christ. The night before Valentine died he wrote a note to her and signed it "from your Valentine".

On February 14, 269 AD, Valentine of Rome was beaten with clubs and beheaded for his faith.

This story is much different than the one we think of on Feb 14. Let's get back to the root of some of these holidays we ignorantly celebrate.

Amsterdam or Pemba?

In my last poll I asked:

WHERE WILL I BE THIS TIME NEXT YEAR?
sumwhere in Africa (45%)

Russia (18%)

sumwhere else (18%)

PEI (9%)
Ontario (9%)

Almost half the vote said Africa, somewhere. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I am throwing out another poll question to all of you. Recent developments have left with with a decision to either travel to Mozambique or Amsterdam this summer. In either destination I would have the opportunity to help out with missions schools. It's extremely different environments but with extremely similiar spiritual need. Either place would be amazing. So take a moment and ask Holy Spirit and then cast your vote in the poll in my sidebar. Thanks. I already have an idea which it will be, but Proverbs 15:22 says: Without consultation, plans are frustrated, But with many counselors they succeed.

Superbowl Sunday

I never went to church this morning but I watched a bit of it online. Peter Youngren was a bit choked at the idea of church members skipping church this eve to watch the Superbowl so he made someone change the sign out front and promised an AMAZING sermon in place of the football game. Well, I just got back from NCC and I've definitely heard him preach better messages. And it didnt seem to matter to much of the congregation since most of them did indeed skip out on church to watch the game (or pray, or fast, or intercede, or something, hopefully!). And I never watched the game but the New York Giants have won the Superbowl beating the New England Patriots 17 - 14.

And if you wanna see something incredibly disturbing click -->HERE<--.

the Blessing(?)

I'll admit it. Life can be frustrating. When I came back to St Catharines I thought I was starting work after two days; didn't work out. Then I thought I was starting work this monday, but SITEL has pushed that back two weeks till the 19th, so I am looking for work yet again. I remember when I first came to St Catharines in September of last year and it took me 4 mths to get work! Whatever! Things are well though. Jenny and I got to Welland this last tuesday (Thanks Colin!) for our Pastoral Care course; it is amazing stuff. I got to do some drumming in Hamilton last saturday at the Hamilton Celebration Church. Jenny and I did some visitations with some kids throughout the week applying the Gospel in a very practical way. Heymans, Jenny, and I started midweek visitations at Scott St Manor, trying to reach the residents who are more withdrawn and such. Stuff is good; we are blessed.

OK, lets get some controversy going. Much discussion among my peers lately has been around the "Blessing" of God on our lives. Some argue that the manifestation of God's blessing upon us consists of material wealth, while some laugh at the absurdity of such a notion. Am I blessed because of what I possess? Hardly, in fact the Bible clearly states the exact opposite in 2Cor6:3-10. The blessing of God upon our lives has nothing to do with what we possess externally. Simply put, I am blessed because God loves me and I have a Savior. That trumps "health, wealth, and self" anyday. The ammunition is endless and this post could go on and on and on.......but there is nowhere that Jesus promotes the accumulation of material goods. He seems to have more pressing priorities. Because someone is unhealthy or hungry or poor does not mean they are not blessed, in fact, Jesus seems to think the exact opposite (Luke6:20-21). This is all not to exalt poverty, which is totally demonic, but to get the focus back on Jesus and what He's done for us. Did He come and die for us so that we could live a fairytale life here on earth? Uh, no. The 50 or so scriptures I could rattle off would likely be a sufficient argument to that belief. Jesus came so that we would be empowered to be a witness (martyr). Wealth is not a manifestation of the blessing, unconditional love is. Is it a more accurate witness to give the shirt off your back to a naked person if you have 15 more shirts at home; or if you give your one and only shirt to someone in need without knowing if you'll have another to clothe yourself? This world will be won with this kind of self-sacrificial love. Name all the believers who have gone down in church history by propagating the Gospel with their millions of dollars................now name the believers who have gone down in church history by forsaking all for the sake of their King and the dying world. In my opinion, one list is much longer than the other.

Money is a tool and I'm gonna need lots of it. I don't want it so I can accumulate things like Rolls Royce's, or million dollar mansions, or $30,000 conference tables, etc etc. I want it to supply the hungry with food, children with places to live and study, prisoners with resources to better their life, the sick with medicine, and the world with the Gospel. Storing up treasure here on earth means little to me, in the end it amounts to trash.

To be a "blessing" to this world does not mean we make them as materialistic as we have become, it means we give them unconditional love as we have recieved that love from God.