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Complete Obedience

February 22, 2012 in Living our Faith with 3 Appreciated Comments

Photo Credit: Evan Almighty (Universal Pictures)

Noah’s faith amazes me.

At the age of 599 (which I imagine is the equivalent of being 50 years old today), God shows up and tells him to build an ark, gather seven of every animal and prepare for a flood that would wipe out all living beings. He was given the exact dimensions, specific quantities and clear directions on how to build this boat. He was told rough timelines of when he should have the ark completed. He even knew who God would spare and who He would allow to die.

And Noah obeyed.

Worth the Cost

February 3, 2012 in Ignite, Living our Faith with 5 Appreciated Comments

Ignite Sandburg students spend time praying

This past week was the semester start-up for Ignite.

Our groups at both Monmouth College and Carl Sandburg College held their first official meetings for the semester, setting the pace and tone of what the remainder of this school year will look like. We also held our first Czech mission trip planning meeting.

It was a great week.

We saw new students coming to our Sandburg group, which just launched this year, and are anticipating even more coming next week.

We saw our core members of our Monmouth group challenged to impact the lives of those around them, and heard many of them say how they personally can minister to others on campus.

We saw God begin to move in our Czech mission team, give us new ideas on how to impact youth during our trip, and already received a single, $1000 donation for one of our team members.

We heard the conviction God is putting on students’ lives to lay more down, and seek Him more fully.

We saw students excited, and a bit nervous, to travel out of the country to minister in the most atheistic country in the world.

We saw comfort zones smashed, God minister to students in a fresh way, and a passion for Him ignited anew in their lives.

It was a pretty awesome week.

What hit me, though, wasn’t the numbers or the excitement or even hearing how students are stepping up, taking responsibility for their campuses and are trying to make a difference.

It was when our Ignite Monmouth group members shared story after story of how Ignite has impacted their lives.

Facing the Fire

January 30, 2012 in Living our Faith with 17 Appreciated Comments

Photo Credit: Andrew Malone (Creative Commons)

I am amazed at the faith of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

These young men lost everything. They lost their homes, they lost their families, they lost all their possessions and their claims to nobility, were dragged out of Jerusalem and taken to Babylon, where they were put in the king’s service.

Everything they knew was gone.

Their freedom.
Their hopes and dreams.
Even the temple where they could encounter God.

All of it, gone.

To make matters worse, some of the Babylonians tricked King Nebuchadnezzar to build a giant gold idol and require every person to bow down and worship before the statue when the appropriate music would play. Anyone who didn’t bow down was forced into the furnace, to die by fire.

But when the music was played, and people all over the kingdom started worshiping the statue, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego would not bow.

They would not worship any god but the one true God.

A New Sense of Awe

January 27, 2012 in Living our Faith with 16 Appreciated Comments

Photo Credit: Alive in the Word blog

The past few days, I’ve been reading through the book of Revelation.

It’s not in my top favorite books of the Bible.

I don’t turn to Revelation when I am having a bad day. I don’t study the book when I’m trying to get something from God. My first instinct isn’t to read about the world falling apart and the tribulation believers will face and all the doom and gloom and crazy metaphoric images that are found in the book of Revelation.

Maybe I’m just weird that way.

So when I finished reading Jude and turned the page to start reading Revelation, I wasn’t looking forward it.
I even thought about just skipping this book and starting back in Genesis.

But as I pushed past my initial hesitation, I’ve begun to see God in a whole new light.

Waiting on Us

January 25, 2012 in Living our Faith with 16 Appreciated Comments

Photo Credit: Eirik Solheim (Creative Commons)

I am not a very patient person.

When I get an idea in my head, when I make a goal to accomplish something, when I feel God giving me a promise, I want it as soon as possible.

I don’t want to wait a few days to get my haircut.
I don’t like waiting for the book to come in the mail.
I don’t want to wait six more months until I can go to Czech.
I don’t like waiting until I’m at home to check my email (thank you iPhone!).
Sometimes, I don’t even like waiting the 30 minutes for a meal to cook.

I hate waiting for what I want.
And I know I’m not the only one.

We live in a microwave kind of world.

Doing What is Right

January 23, 2012 in Living our Faith with 9 Appreciated Comments

Taken in Stratford Upon Avon, England during my first trip to Europe.

Until just recently, I alway thought of God’s favor as something that was earned.

If you read your bible, if you prayed, if you spent time in worship, if you pushed past your sin, tried to be a better person, did everything correctly, tried your best not to make a mistake, stepped out in faith, acted courageously, had the goosebumps of God that come when you feel Him and did something crazy big for Him, then His favor would be upon you.

Getting God’s favor, receiving His blessing, having Him push obstacles out of the way and open doors we couldn’t open on our own was all dependent upon what we did.

It’s a prevalent teaching in the church. God’s favor comes to those who earn it.

But as I’ve been studying this idea of favor, as I’ve delved more into scripture, I’m realizing that favor is a gift.