I saw this video on the Today Show last week and it made me sad. I think it is really stupid that couples have to go through divorce just to get health care. How dumb is that?

I honestly don’t see how we as Christ-followers can see this happening and not think that something is wrong. Our health care system in this country is broken and needs to be fixed.

Then I saw this video on a friend’s blog and it got me thinking as well.

So people having to go through bankruptcy and divorce because of health care is a reasonable solution for everyone? If you answer yes to that question then I think our country is more screwed up then the health care system is.

I read in the Book of Acts that the church is supposed to be taking care of each others needs. Why aren’t we doing this in regards to health care? We shouldn’t need our federal government to have to come up with a solution to do this. the church should be doing it. But I also know that there was a guy named Jonah who wasn’t doing what God told him to do and so he spent some time in the belly of whale, because God was going to make sure that it got done. Maybe we need to have the same thing happen to us, because the church isn’t take care of each others needs.

All I know is that we need to do something because this is ridiculous. We claim to be the greatest nation on the planet and yet the number of uninsured or under-insured in this country is deplorable.

It was 20 years ago that this event took place and I think we all have something to learn from this man. He was willing to sacrifice all he had for something he believed in. Would you be willing to stand in front of a tank, because of something you believed in?

I think this person’s example shows us what the power of one person can do. We have no idea who this person is. He is simply known as tank man. He didn’t do this for notoriety. He did it because he wanted to make a difference. Though he is unknown he still made a difference and changed his world. So can you.

I believe that as a Christ-follower we are supposed to care for all of God’s creation and I think that there are a lot of things that we could do better. For the past two years my wife and I have made a decision that we will recycle more, reduce our waste and reuse what we can. I hardly ever drink water from non-reusable bottles bought in stores and instead bought a bottle that I keep in the fridge and fill up from our tap water. That way there is less plastic bottles having to be made even though we would recycle them anyway.

I do not necessarily believe in global warming, but I see how it could possible be happening. My main goal in wanting to be more green is because I believe that we need to be much better stewards of our planet then we have been and I believe that it is something that God has called us to do.

Genesis 1:28

Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

God has given us the planet to take care of and we need to ask ourselves if we are really doing the best job with it that we can and should be doing. We need to remember that it doesn’t belong to us. It has just been given to us to be cared for.

Psalm 24:1

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;

And so we need to ask ourselves what will God say when he comes back to reclaim the planet? Will he say….

Matthew 25:23

“Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”

Or will He say….

Matthew 25:26-30

“You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

“Take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For those who have will be given more, and they will have an abundance. As for those who do not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

I hope he says the former rather then the later. It really is easy being green and it will help you save lots of “green” in the long run. So go on out there and make a resolution to become more environmentally conscious.

People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it, making it horrible for the older people and the kids?…It’s just not right. It’s not right. It’s not, it’s not going to change anything. We’ll, we’ll get our justice….Please, we can get along here. We all can get along. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while. Let’s try to work it out. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to beat it. Let’s try to work it out.

I believe that no truer words were spoken and that it is definitely something we need to hear today. This past election cycle went on way too long as it was, but it sure seems that people have forgotten that it is over with. Our new President was sworn into office on Tuesday, and even redone on Wednesday just to make sure. However, some people are still campaigning against him.

I know during the past 8 years that a lot of people said some very unkind things about President George W. Bush and that people “on the other side”, which is a stupid statement in my opinion, did a lot of celebrating his departure from office. But does that give us the right to do the same thing back? I am a Christ-follower and the Bible tells me in Matthew 7:12, which is commonly known as “The Golden Rule”.

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

It doesn’t say, “well they bashed my President, so I can bash theirs.” Or as my kids say, “but she/he did it to me!” No, it says that we treat people the way that we want them to treat us. It is time for us as Christ-followers to put those childish ways behind us.

So I would expect that as Christ-followers that we should be the example of this. We should be leading the way in saying how we are in deep prayer for our new President and that we support him. Am I saying that we have to agree with everything he does or says? No. We are more than welcome to voice or dissent to his positions on issues, but look at what you are doing more of. Are you showing more dissent and not showing enough that you are praying for him?

Sadly, I do not hear many people saying that. That is until you finally ask them if they are. We shouldn’t even have to be asked if we are praying for our leaders. Check out 1 Timothy 2:1-4.

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

That brings up another interesting thought. Have you thanked God that he gave us President Barack Obama?

We are to behave this way because God wants us to live peaceful lives and by doing this He knows that people will be saved. So think about that the next time you decide to say something really negative about our President or any leader. Is what you are saying or praying going to help lead people to Christ and bring peace to your life or will it not?

I know that during the years that President Clinton was our President that I did not live a peaceful life or do what I could by my actions and speech towards him help lead people into salvation. I am saddened by that, but I will not let it happen in my life again.

If you cannot find anything to be grateful about President Obama then think about how cool it is that part of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Dream” has been achieved. I know that I am very proud that our nation has finally elected our nation’s first African-American President and look forward to seeing our first Hispanic, Asian-American, Indian, etc. President.

Just to put all of this into a little more perspective I would like to end this post with some of the words from the letter that Jenna & Barbara Bush left for Malia & Sasha Obama.

And finally, although it’s an honor and full of so many extraordinary opportunities, it isn’t always easy being a member of the club you are about to join. Our dad, like yours, is a man of great integrity and love; a man who always put us first. We still see him now as we did when we were seven: as our loving daddy. Our Dad, who read to us nightly, taught us how to score tedious baseball games. He is our father, not the sketch in a paper or part of a skit on TV. Many people will think they know him, but they have no idea how he felt the day you were born, the pride he felt on your first day of school, or how much you both love being his daughters. So here is our most important piece of advice: remember who your dad really is.

When You want to say something about him. Think about the fact that he is a dad, who loves his kids and his wife with his whole heart. And he is doing his best just like I believe President Bush did his best.

By Andy Kropa, AP - from the USA Today

“I don’t want to be married. I’m very happy with a civil partnership. If gay people want to get married, or get together, they should have a civil partnership,” John says. “The word ‘marriage,’ I think, puts a lot of people off.

“You get the same equal rights that we do when we have a civil partnership. Heterosexual people get married. We can have civil partnerships.”

The whole point in my blog post is that marriage is a religious institution whereas civil unions are a governmental one. So let the two of them be separate but require all heterosexual couples and homosexual couples to have to have a civil union, and let the churches do marriages. I believe that it is the only fair way to handle this situation in a country that has freedoms.

I heard so many wonderful comments that I just thought were wonderful regarding this election. One was from a woman who had her 3 year old son with her and she had said that she was so happy to be able to tell her son that he didn’t have to only dream of being a rap star or basketball player to make a name for himself, because now he could be President of the United States of America.

Another one was from a woman who had gone to the polls with her 90+ year old grandmother. She had said that her grandma had lived long enough to remember when African-Americans couldn’t vote and now she was able to vote for and see a African-American become President.

The last one was from Whoopi Goldberg. She had said that she talked with her mom, who was always a positive thinking person, and asked her if she ever thought she would live to see the day she would see a African-American become President and her mom said that she never thought she would.

When I heard all three of these statements it brought tears to my eyes. I hope that we as a nation continue to move forward in this regard, because we are sadly way behind most of the rest of the world in this regard. I look forward to the day when we can see a Latino President, Asian President or even an American-Indian President. So let’s all take a moment and celebrate this wonderful day and once again on 20 January 2009. This is a time to set down ou political differences and take joy in this historic moment.

The other historic moment that took place happened in the northern regions of Michigan’s lower peninsula, in the city of Traverse City at the Black Star Farms. It was the wedding of Eric and Laura Voigt. While this was not the first wedding ceremony that I conducted it was the first wedding ceremony that I did for someone who was a teenager in a youth group I was the youth pastor at. Besides that part I also believe that every wedding is a historic moment because it is the uniting of two lives together.

I love weddings and find great joy in attending them or, if I get the honor to do so, conducting the ceremony of a wedding. Marriage is such a wonderful thing and something that should be treasured and cherished. I especially love when they do the dance at receptions when they have all the married couples come out on the dance floor and the eliminate them until they have the couple that has been married the longest out on the dance floor. Kimmy and I will sit there and watch that older couple dancing, and dream of the day when that is us. We don’t see any other option but growing old together and staying madly in love with each other. That is my prayer for every married couple and that is my prayer for Eric and Laura Voigt. History started indeed.

The Bible is very clear as to how Christ-followers are to respond to those in authority and unfortunately much of the responses that I am seeing from some of my Christian friends on Facebook is not Biblical, in my opinion. I think back to my reaction in 1992 when Bill Clinton became our 42nd President and it was deplorable. I did not show him the honor that he was due and instead of lifting him up in prayer I was tearing him down with my speech. And that was ungodly. I have repented of that behavior and have made a choice to change that from here on out. Instead I am choosing to follow the words of Scripture.

Romans 13:1-7 - Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.

This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

Whether we like it or not, God has placed Barack Obama as the next President of the United States and we as Christ-followers need to give him the respect that the office deserves based upon the Word of God. We are also commanded to pray for them.

1 Timothy 2:1-4 - I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

So I implore Christ-followers to change the tide of this country and do as a friend of mine said and choose to radically love for change. Another friend of mine made a great comment on Twitter, “Jesus calls us to SALT, not assault. Selah.” All I can say is, “Amen!” How are you going to respond?

His life story has really got me thinking about my life story and how I was raised as a Christian myself, along with the attitudes that I have developed as a result. As you can see from the picture I have posted here, which is a sticker from Jay’s church, it says that they are “sorry for being self-righteous judgmental bastards.” While that is pretty strong language I think there is a lot of truth to that statement, especially for me personally. As I have been really examining my walk with God and the way I live out my faith in the world around me I have realized that I have not been exactly living my life the way that Jesus would. I don’t believe that I have always shown people the grace and love that as a person who is a Christ follower should.

This recent Presidential election has really brought a lot of it once again to my attention and I realized how much of a jerk I had been towards people who thought different than me when it came to politics. But this post is about even more than just that.

I have been at the National Youth Workers Convention in Pittsburgh this weekend and have heard many compelling messages. One of the people that spoke was a gentleman named Andrew Marin, who is the mastermind behind The Marin Foundation that is “the very first organization that works to build a bridge between the religious and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) communities in a non-threatening, research and biblically oriented fashion.” Andrew challenged the youth workers here in Pittsburgh to really get out there and do what they can to reach out to gay teenagers and show them the love of God, and to be intentional about it instead of just waiting for it to happen. Unfortunately, the churches reaction to people in the gay and lesbian community has not been one of love and that has made the church one of the last places on earth that they want to visit, so being intentional and going to them is the only way for us to really show them the love of Christ.

The next speaker after Andy was Soong-Chan Rah, who spoke on the issue of race in the church, which sadly is still and issue that our Presidential election has showed to be something that is a problem. The whole reason why Soong-Chan Rah was invited to speak was because of a skit in one of the books that Youth Specialties published that had stereotyped Asian-Americans in a very bad way. You can read Marko’s apology for it here, but the most important thing that rose out of it was the dialogue that was started regarding racism in the church. We were challenged by Soong-Chan as to whether some of our beliefs were based on a cultural faith based in predominately white America or was it really based on the Bible.

If you want to hear either Andy or Soong-Chan’s messages you can get them here.

This journey that I have personally been on has been great. I think that taking steps back every so often and looking at your life in light of the life of Christ is such a valuable and important thing. I know for me it has caused me to open my eyes and reflect upon the way that I treat my neighbors and even the way I treat fellow Christ-followers. So as a Christian I am sorry that the way I have lived my life has not caused people to see Jesus in me. But I am going to do my best to make sure that changes from here on out.

And, she [The United States of America] has gone from a progressive tax structure, that was built upon the biblical premise that to whom much is given much is required, to one that provides massive tax relief to the people who need it least the rich.

That statement there really got me thinking. What do you think. Is Oliver Thomas correct in his thinking or is he wrong?

Today, we were supposed to go to a birthday party for a friend of ours from church but it got canceled, so Kimmy and I are going to go out on a date. I can’t remember the last time we had an opportunity to do that, which is very sad. Then next weekend Caleb has his last flag football game, I am playing flag football with some guys from church and then we have a Halloween party we are all going to. Then the weekend after that, which is Halloween weekend, I am going to the National Youth Workers Convention in Pittsburgh. So I will be gone from Thursday, October 30th, until Monday, November 3rd. Then the weekend after that Kimmy and I am going up to Traverse City, MI so I can do the wedding for one of the girls that used to be in the youth ministry at the church I was a youth pastor at almost 4 years ago. So as you can see it is crazy!

A few weekends ago I was playing flag football again with the guys from the church and I strained my hamstring and sprained my finger. So I have been rehabbing my hamstring since then and it is much better now. And I should be back to pretty much normal by the time we play again next week. Although I am taking the next month off from playing soccer to make sure it is back fully before I start that up again. I have been able to run on the treadmill for about 20 minutes this week and that is a good sign. I am going to even go out for a run later on.

While I have sworn off talking politics on my blog I do want to say one thing that has been going through my mind a lot lately as I have seen people battling over this whole thing. Our pastor used Ephesians 6:12 the other day in his message and it got me thinking about this election. Here is the verse for you….

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

I realized that amidst people saying that if __________ gets elected that it will be “God’s judgment on the U.S.” and other such similar statements. Along with seeing people in the Church fighting with one another over their choice for President. It has really made me really sad because I think we are losing perspective. Our fight is not with other people, but against our spiritual enemy. The reality is that whomever becomes President of the United States will be the very person that God wants to be in that position and we need to pray for him and ask God’s blessings upon his life.

I regret how much bitterness and anger I felt towards President Bill Clinton, because I didn’t realize that my fight was not against him. Instead of praying for him, I spent more time speaking against him and praying against him. I pray that the Church in America can really rise up during this economic crisis and show America the grace and love of Christ instead of showing America bitterness like so many of us did during the President Clinton’s Presidency.

Okay, that was more than I planned on saying, but I needed to get it out. My faith is in God alone and not in this country or it’s President. That is the perspective I am trying to keep.