Why I Ran From a Pizza Place

The fight for discipline is not one that is easily won. As I had told you a couple of posts ago, I have been really trying to put certain disciplines in my life to not only better my life, but to near Christ in ways that never have before. Some of those disciplines are: working out often, organizing my mail, responding to people promptly and doing homework as soon as it is assigned. (which in college is almost a miracle) There are also some spiritual disciples that I am chasing such as meditation, frequent prayer, purity and Bible reading.

Sometimes these disciples sound nearly impossible. But the longer I am trying to practice them, I am finding a common idea that shield me many times from straying from these disciplines. That idea is the art of turning, and running.

I know that sounds, silly, and it might even sound cowardly, but I want to explain why it is exactly the opposite.

The hardest part of remaining pure is having the temptation of hotness in front of you. The hardest part of remaining in good physical health is having the temptation of "good foods" in front of you. The hardest part of remaining in prayer is having the temptation of spending your time doing something more exciting yet less spiritually fulfilling. The one way I have learned to fight these temptations was using the art of turning and running. Everywhere you go you will be faced with the temptation to lose these different disciplines in your life. YOU ARE IN CHARGE AND CAN NOT LET THAT HAPPEN... This leads me to my story...

I had just gotten done getting my hair at the Hair Cuttery in the shopping center by my house. It is so convenient that everything I need is right there. My gym is right next door, and I have been spending a lot of time there. So I walk out of the Hair Cuttery and immediately I am struck with the most incredible, Godly aroma's I have every smelled. Honestly, heaven must smell like that. I want to tell you all that I was also VERY hungry, This was 6PM and I had not eaten since breakfast.

However, I told myself I wouldn't eat that junk for two reasons. 1 - I was trying to get in the physical shape that I want to get in. 2 - I am trying to spend my money in ways that honor God in a non wasteful manner, there was perfectly good food at my house. So I knew exactly what I needed to do. I ran.

I am serious, I literally put it in high gear and ran across the parking lot to my car. Any normal person must have thought that either I was crazy, I had to go the bathroom real bad, or that my house was on fire. I knew that if I was going to be near that smell, that I was going to go get some pizza. I love pizza.

When I got home, I cannot even tell you how happy with myself I was. Through doing that I had even felt much closer to God. I was happy that I could love him by keeping my promises with him. I was happy I was trying to be a better person for him.

I was at the Pennsylvania Christian Teen Convention last year, and I heard a similar story that just sent chills down my spine. This guy and his girlfriend were in a car at some make out spot and were starting to go at it. The guy loved this girl SO MUCH that as soon as his thoughts began to become impure , he threw open the door and ran around the car screaming like a crazy many until his thoughts were no longer being thought up in the wrong head. This guy literally ran off his sexual tension! Hah. Never thought I would say that in a blog. But once I heard that story, I immediately was in awe by how much this guy loved her to do that. When I met the girl from that story, she simply said. "I know I can trust him around other women if when he was with me he was willing to literally run out of the car." That must be an incredible feeling to have.

To wrap it all up, sometimes the bravest thing you can do is learn to shield your eyes, turn your head or run from a pizza place if it's what you need to do to near Christ.

WAR

I believe Jesus is a pacifist...

First off I just wanted to say this is not something I approach with ease. I also am just presenting only my opinion. Things get very complicated when you are out on the lines, and I acknowledge that I have no idea what that is like. To make matters even more tricky, it gets complicated when your only brother decides to enlist... I want to take a stab at this, this one is rated PG-13.

Anywho, I think when you put together all of the evidence it is almost impossible to really think otherwise about the pacifism bit. Let's look at some of the more obvious texts. If we start from the very core into the Old Testament, we have the ten commandments given to Moses. These are all very important commandments to have been given to Moses in such a bold manner. The sixth commandment of Exodus 20:13 states, "Thou shalt not kill." Pretty simple stuff... Notice there aren't any "buts."

Moving once again back to Jesus. I want you all to come back to the scene where the Roman soldiers are about to take Jesus away in the garden. This is right after his betrayal. Let me just drop you some texts, Matthew 26:50-53...

"Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?"

Ok so here we see true brute force being used for the most just cause and Jesus lays it out very clearly. You start shooting people, you will get shot. He's saying that is not the way to resolve anything. This all seems very clear...

BUT

At the same time, why does this all just not sit well with me...

Have any of you ever seen the movie Hotel Rwanda? You know the scenes where people are just laying all over the road. They had been just slashed to death by giant knives. How about the movie Schindler's List. Have you seen that one, where about 5.1 million Jews are senselessly slaughtered by the millions? You all know those are portrayals of real things that have happened right? What about the lost souls using rape as a type of warfare in some third world countries as I type this right now?

Knowing all of these things, and knowing that in your hand you hold the ability to make it stop, would you? Is there any such thing as a "just war?" Why knowing all those scriptures do I still think it's okay for my brother to go pick up a weapon and stick up for people who can't stick up for themselves? (Very Biblical by the way.)

War is a really terrible thing. But wars have also saved lives, freed people, ended oppression and all sorts of things... Does any of that even matter? Why do I feel like this isn't just one of those black and white issues. To be completely honest, for the first time in my blog I will say this... I have no idea. I really don't, I'm going to be working my way through this one for a while... what do you think?

A Lesson in Humility... I got beat up by a ninja.

So if you ever think that perhaps your ego is getting a little too inflated, I have a very easy way to deflate it to size... Allow yourself to take an absolute butt whoopin' from a girl that is smaller than you...

This month our church is doing a series called "Financial Battle Plan," and as part of our series they thought it would be funny to take me to a random location, set up up against a ninja, and just watch her pulverize me.  It was oh so wonderful.  A few notes.  She was a third degree ex-military attorney...  And she was tough!  Enjoy...

And of course... the BLOOPERS!

The Journey of Self Improvement

A button up light blue collared shirt, my rock star jeans, my fossil watch, Vurt cologne, my hot new coat courtesy of miss Jaworski and a hint of new found confidence were among some of the things I put on as I started my second to last semester today.

The cool thing about this new semester is that I am utilizing it for so much more. It's more than just a new semester, it's almost like a new beginning.

So many times it's easy to get to a point in your life where you feel like you just aren't heading in the direction you should be going in. It's even easier to get yourself down about the fact that you aren't heading in the direction you should be going in. What is not easy however is First - figuring out what changes need to happen in your life to get in the right direction, and even more difficult is Second, implementing the appropriate changes!

I have been blessed with a great transition point. I am starting a new semester, and a new year. What better time to work on trying something new! Unfortunately many times people decide around new years day that they want to work on this, or that... 2 weeks later, they are no longer working on this or that. This was very obvious to me when I worked at the Spring Valley YMCA. January 1st - 14th were always very crowded, not so much after that. Anyway, with this new semester I have made several changes already that will help me jump start into a more healthy person. The biggest difference here is asking yourself "how bad do you want it." and feeding off that answer. I want to share with you some big changes going on in my life!

1 - Accountability - Having someone to bear your soul with is a necessity to a healthy lifestyle. What is even more healthy is when you can be disgustingly honest with that person, and that person can tell you the really hard things to get you on track. I am so blessed to have two of my accountability partners come back from semesters abroad in Lithuania and Uganda. It will be a really positive semester.

2 - Organization - I have worked as hard as possible to use every organizational bone in my body, and even borrow a couple from others to stay organized. Some of the new habits I have implemented are a "to do" white board at my desk, an up to date planner, a neat work space and room, and lots of help from people who are gifted in this area!

3 - A DO IT NOW mentality - Perhaps you have fallen victim to ending up on one of my voicemails or perhaps I have told you I was going to do something and it was done... several weeks later of course. It is really hard to recognize your own true shortcomings, but when you do, you can address it head on. I am forgetful sometimes, so something I have been working on that has been quite successful has been doing whatever someone asks me to do, or answering voicemails RIGHT AWAY. It has been wonderful... it will take time though.

4 - An hourly schedule - I have made a schedule of what my normal week will look like. Everything from class times, office times, hockey games and my weekly Panera Bread work session are on there! I have stuck to the plan pretty closely so far and it has helped me with my next improvement.

5 - Discipline - With the new schedule I have, I have been learning to teach myself discipline. Discipline is one of the most important things a person can have. Everything from disciplining yourself spiritually with prayer and meditation, mentally with your school work, or physically can make a more healthy person. Lastly...

6 - Fitness - Today I am a proud new member of "Anytime Fitness" in Trappe. I can throw a rock there from my house. It is a gym you can scan yourself into 24/7. It is the best possible thing for someone with a crazy schedule like mine. I am 100 percent convinced that a more physically healthy person is more likely to be a spiritually and emotionally healthy person. I have worked my gym times into my schedule and hope to see some results before summer!

Obviously this isn't going to always go exactly as planned and it's going to be a very hard thing to pull off, but I hope perhaps you can see this as hope for yourself. I am a hardcore ENFP personality type. To be able to take these steps to get me to where I want to go is a good feeling to know that even a disorganized person can learn some new tricks to make them more efficient. Regardless of how it goes I must still love exactly who God made me to be. I do however think this will all be very good for me, and I am excited to see how it all works out!

Countdown 2009... too good to be true.

So for months we have been planning our student ministries ridiculously awesome new years event called countdown. Countdown is a place where students from all over can come enjoy new years safely and loudly. This year we had constant programing, tons of food, human foosball, laser tag, improv, science experiments, a cafe' and much much more! The best part is, it went down without incident. This year countdown attracted about 400 students!!! I want to share one experience I had during the night:

For the actual countdown, we had passed out a glass of sparkling cider to every student, and had waited in the auditorium to count down, say happy new years, then toast together. I was on stage with April and with the band who was about to play a killer set to bring in the new years. When the time came to actually count down to one, the whole crowed was screaming. I was counting down, they were counting down and with a ferocious roar they all screamed happy new year and we toasted. That was probably the loudest I have ever heard them. Right afterwords I looked over at April and said... "I can not believe I get paid to do this."

That was a huge realization. At times youth ministry can be incredible challenging. At times it can feel nearly impossible. You have to take on things you could never be prepared for. Even in those times it is important to remember that as far as jobs go, loving teens is in heck of a job. So with that loud roar engraved in my memory. I hope to never forget how lucky I am to have such an incredible job surrounded by some of the most incredible coworkers and incredible kids on earth.

Thank all of you who made countdown 09' the biggest and baddest countdown ever. Our ministry would never work without you.