don't put off today...

i had a friend named dave.

i met him at moody, and we instantly became friends. dave had an incredible reputation of being a man who loved God. that's why i wanted to be around dave. see, when i first arrived at moody on orientation day i received some of the best advice i've ever gotten. dr. joe stowell (one of my heroes) was the president at the time, and he told us that first day in chicago, "find someone who's a couple steps ahead of you in their walk with Christ, and latch on!"

i just remember hearing dave pray in a group one time, and it was like he was sitting in the throne-room of heaven communing with God Almighty. so i made a decision as i listened to him pray...i wanted to talk to God like dave did. i wanted that kind of relationship with the Lord.

so i asked dave one day if he would help me learn how to pray. and he and i began to meet on a weekly basis to go to our school's prayer chapel and pray together. i remember walking out of the prayer closet constantly asking each other, "why don't we do this more often?"

it's because we get "so busy".

well, i don't think i want to get to the end of my life and realize i was just "so busy" every year of my life that i just didn't really have time to commune with God in His awesome presence. in fact, i think i'd rather have worn-out knees and have spent most of my time consciously crying out, thanking, praising, and listening to Him instead. i'd love to have a deep and intimate relationship with Him.

but i've got a lot of immediate responsibilities right now....so i guess i'll have to start tomorrow...

a long walk

so we had a lazy day today.

that's a great way to start off a post huh? bet your just itchin' to read on and see what lurks around the corner of that suspenseful sentence. but nope. that's it. it was wonderful! i'd consider myself to be a somewhat lazy person...but it always seems like i have to fight to be lazy, or at least to stay that way for awhile. have you ever had that feeling like, man, i'm so glad i get to do whatever i want today, but i don't know what i want to do....i'm in the mood for something, but what? yeah, we had one of those days. but i'm learning to love just being...just being with my wife. not worrying about doing something, but just being with her. i like it.

so after finishing indiana jones this morning and trying unsuccesfully to watch a scratched-up, rented home alone 2 dvd, carissa and i decided to take a walk. and just be together.

as we were walking along the sidewalks of crawfordsville on a fairly muggy and dreary day, i couldn't help but wonder if i'd be walking these sidewalks for years to come. or if the Lord would have me keep walking...keep walking on this journey of life. you ever wonder where the road's going to lead? how far you'll end up walking, and what kind of adventures you'll find?

if this were a movie...the music would start it's crescendo, the wind would whip around as i'd stand silhouetted against the sunset staring off into the unknown ready to step foot onto the road again more emboldened than ever. cheesy? yeah, but sometimes i like these moments of pause in the script when you just stand and wonder...what's next?

so a brief walk down the sidewalk to campbell's coffee shop with my wife turns into another mental quest to discover the unknown.

but for now...i'm so thankful to be enjoying a lazy day with my bride!

coffee, coasters and carissa

it has begun. my ever-increasing fascination with coffee has plunged to new depths. wednesday night...i officially roasted my first batch of coffee!!! using our old-fashioned stove-top popcorn popper i began what i hope to become an exciting journey or at least an enjoyable past-time. my inspiration comes from a good friend and creator of charlie's joe...chuck unseld. he's gotten me hooked on this stuff...and as long as it doesn't cost us insane amounts of money, my wife is totally on board! coffee...just one of my favorite things.

then yesterday we took our youth group to king's island in ohio!! we had a blast! i love roller coasters...and anything that takes me up really high, drops me, flips me around...wow! so...they have this new ride, firehawk....amazing!! i guess it's like the superman at six flags (but i've never been on that). you hang face down and fly face first...oh man! it was sweet! so we had an awesome time with rides and lots and lots of park food! cheesy fries, funnel cakes, slushies, dip n dots, cotton candy, you name it, we got it! just a few more of my favorite things.

and can i just say?....i love my wife! she is amazing, and makes my day...everyday!
carissa...she is my favorite!

what about Jesus?

am i supposed to be in love with Jesus?

i know He is the head of our church. i know we sing our songs about Him. and i know we worship Him in our church services and in our everyday lives. but as a man (or even a married woman...although i don't claim to understand that perspective), isn't that kinda weird to say? that i'm in love with Jesus Christ...? i'm ok with saying, "i love Jesus". but then again, i'm ok with saying, "i love lebron james" (despite my cavaliers being swept by the spurs). that doesn't imply any perverse form of love...and it's totally different from me being in love with carissa (whom i love being in love with!). but do you have to be in love with Jesus, who is fully God, yet fully man? that's just a little weird to think about...in fact, it's kinda disgustingly uncomfortable to write about.

and you're thinking...jeff, why'd you even have to say it like that? couldn't i just sing my songs, tip my hat to Him, and go about my week referring to Him as just "God"...without the whole "in love" stuff?

well...can you know Him as Savior, as Creator, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Jehovah God...without falling in love with Him?

i think i might have been getting a little burnt out on my faith in the past few months. at least, before last week came along. and my worship and my life over the past few months seems a little passionless in retrospect. but man, did i get a refresher!

after spending the night in the salt lake city airport friday night, my wife and i and a group of our teens returned home to crawfordsville from a week-long missions trip to manti, utah. i'm still blown away by all that happened! carissa and i were driving home from our small group last night and she turned to me and asked, "can you believe we were just in utah?!" it's crazy how flat and boring indiana seems compared to the mountains of the west!

it wasn't just a sight-seeing tour of God's glorious and breath-taking creation...and it wasn't even a work trip...it was a little unusual. we went to engage in the cross-cultural land of the mormons. more specifically, we went to converse with members of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints during their annual "manti miracle pageant". (notice, i purposely did not capitalize "jesus christ" here...only because this church's "jesus" is not my Jesus)

let me explain a little. our pastor's brother, chip thompson, has a ministry to mormons in ephraim, utah, and we were invited to join them in evangelistic efforts during this year's manti (that's a city in utah) pageant. the pageant is an outdoor production of the events in joseph smith's life and the overview of the book of mormon (it would be like our easter cantatas or christmas pageants). chip and rodney (chip's pastor and another man burdened to share the gospel with the LDS) spent the first few days that we arrived training us in the basics of the mormon religion. and we poured over Scripture (our Bible) and their "scriptures" to get perspective on the Truth and how we can share the good news of Christ's gospel. the mormon church teaches another gospel that is not from God, and they brainwash their people with illogical, unfounded, and impossible doctrines and rules that they must follow to finally reach the "celestial kingdom" and one day become gods themselves! you should have seen our teens devouring the Word of God, arming themselves with the truth, marking up their Bibles and gathering an arsenal of questions to challenge the mormons in their faith, while praying for them with compassion because they are "like sheep without a Shepherd" (carissa and i were so proud and fired up by their enthusiasm, commitment and concern for the lost!)

then wednesday we spent the day in salt lake at the "temple square" touring the museums and buildings and asking provocative questions to the missionaries, tour guides and tourists whenever we came in contact with them. it was incredible to see the paranoia the mormon church has with anyone who even asks questions that may challenge their faith! all the tour guides and missionaries had a "special button" on their person that they would push when we asked too many questions...and lo and behold, bouncers (body guards, security...whatever you want to call them) would show up in seconds dressed in their suits and ties with earpieces and ask you to "stop being contentious" while threatening to throw you out. but we were just asking questions! then we'd turn around and the missionaries or whoever we were talking to would be gone...hmm.....

thursday and friday night we went out on the streets of manti at about 6:00 in the evening and we spent the rest of the night getting into conversations with the mormon people who were coming to see the pageant. it was incredible to say the least. here's this huge and gorgeous temple standing tall against a sky flooded with stars and mountains cascading around the landscape...and all those people...blinded by this cultic religion, gathering to watch a production about a man...joseph smith, whom they spend most of their time talking about.

that was what didn't make any sense to me.

i spent most of thursday night challenging men with contradictions i saw in the book of mormon, impossibilities that their prophets had claimed, illogical beliefs, direct contradictions with God's Word, and all sorts of questions that they really struggled to answer...but the conversations usually ended with them "bearing their testimony". which is how they are taught to respond when someone has challenged their belief system. they respond by saying (and they all sound exactly the same), "i know that the mormon church is true, i know that joseph smith was a true prophet, i know that the book of mormon is true...etc..."

but it wasn't until friday morning in our training when i heard the testimonies of a couple who came out of mormonism a few years ago (which is really hard for them to do), that i got my biggest beef with the mormon church. they have all sorts of ridiculous and completely offensive doctrines, inconsistencies and practices that are easy to get stuck on...but this couple kept coming back to the fact that, even though the church has "jesus christ" in their name, Jesus Christ is not the center of their church. He is merely given lip service. they focus, almost solely, on the teachings of joseph smith and their "living prophet" and aspostles...

so friday night, as i went from one conversation to the next, all i kept asking was..."what about Jesus?"

i'd listen to them tell me that "jesus was really the center of their church" and then they'd jump right into what joseph smith taught and bear their testimony to me...

and i fell more in love with Jesus through every conversation as i got to "bear my testimony" of why i love and worship Jesus...the True, Living, Holy, Awesome, Amazing, All-powerful, Saving Jesus! He gives life and hope and peace...because He is IT. nothing else. it's all about Jesus! Jesus!!! i got to go off for about 30-40 minutes uninterupted in a conversation with one of the mormon missionaries about who Jesus is to me and why i worship Him alone! and everytime i said His name...He became more dear to me, more amazing, and i couldn't say His name enough!

it maybe weird to some, but when God's Word and testimony of His Son is opened and i think about all that He has done for me...i can't help but say, "i am in love with Jesus!" and as one woman who had be converted and freed said, "it just gets sweeter and sweeter...everyday!"

so...what about Jesus? are you in love with Him?

hope

sometimes...

life is just hard.

sometimes you have to walk through valleys. sometimes you have to suffer pains. sometimes you have to wrestle with doubts. sometimes you have to stumble through darkness. sometimes you have to climb rugged mountains. sometimes you have to fight to stay above water. sometimes you have to battle fear. sometimes you have have to hold on.

there's just sometimes you have to trust.

but it's amazing to me that no matter what the circumstances feel like...no matter how tough it seems...no matter how much you want to give up...whether its a glimmer or a flood, there's always hope.

hope. it's a gift from God. a very good God. and i'm thankful to Him right now for hope. that we can always trust in a good God who gives us hope no matter the times we find ourselves in!

there's a book called, The Valley of Vision. it's a collection of puritan prayers, and sometimes it can be so uplifting to the soul to pray along with the rich love and theology of our fathers. check this out:

"Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,
Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold Thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime, stars can be seen from the deepest wells
and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine
Let me find thy light in my darkness
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley."