tonight's reading

i like posting scripture.
it serves to make less of me and more of him.



Romans 5

Peace with God Through Faith

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.



Death in Adam, Life in Christ

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned-- for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.


But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. If, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.


Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.


Romans 6

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.


For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.


Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.


Slaves to Righteousness

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.


When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.



then this popped up too


1 Corinthians 9

The Rights of an Apostle

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. Don't we have the right to food and drink? Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas?Or is it only I and Barnabas who must work for a living?

Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk? Do I say this merely from a human point of view? Doesn't the Law say the same thing? For it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." Is it about oxen that God is concerned? Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more?

But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. Don't you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me. I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of this boast. Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it.

Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

so important. man.

psalm 145 (tabs)

great is the Lord, so worthy of praise
great is the Lord

one generation will
commend Your kingdom
to one another
they will speak of You
and i will meditate
on Your wonder
and they, they will speak
of Your glorious splendor
of Your majesty
everyday i'll praise thee
forever and ever

everyday i will praise
for You open Your hand
and satisfy desires of all things
my God the King

the Lord is gracious
and slow to anger
He is rich in love
He is good to all

all who call on Him
in truth He is near to
and He hears their cry
and saves them

more justin barnard

many are the roads and many are the trails
that lead to failure
there's one thing i know
one day i'll see that place
of greener pastures

but one thing i do
forgetting what's behind me
straining for the horizon
i press on...

i press on towards the goal
the goal to win the prize
for which my God has called me
i press on
i press on

from worldwide challenge,

the crusade magazine.
it's jess'. hahah. but ive held it hostage for about a week because i like this article so much.


no scanner, so here goes:

LOST
Reaching out to someone who needs Christ starts in our own hearts.
by Michael Brown with Becky Hill
Sept / Oct 2005


Evangelism is 90 percent about becoming the right person and only 10 percent about knowing what to say. It's not about what you do; it's about the kind of person you are.

This became clear to me a few years ago when our Campus Crusade for Christ chapter at Bowling Green State University in Ohio decided to make some changes in the way we reached out to our campus.

As a staff team, we became persuaded that a vibrant ministry must flow from real compassion and strong affection for the people we were reaching. It must flow from sincere love, in the most powerful sense of the word. But we realized that we had been training students in evangelism before they had a heart of compassion. We were trying to get them to do something they simply didn't want to do.


[ at this point i'm hooked... i came to that very same realization last week praying pleading begging what to do about some of my girls... ]

Matthew 9:36 tells us how Jesus viewed the lost: "Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd."


[ this sums up my heart for people, well most of the time anyway -- if i really stop to think about it and the spirit grips my heart. it's the same that jesus felt for me. ]

Jesus realized they were unable to help themselves or to remedy their situation. He felt compassion. How often, when thinking about the lost, do we find ourselves with emotions other than compassion, like judgment, disgust, annoyance and even pride?

At Bowling Green, we needed to first admit we were not moved for the lost like God is moved. We needed to admit, "I'm racist. I'm judgmental. I'm hard-hearted. I'm aloof."


[ ha! i have been all these things. and if i'm really honest with myself, all of them in just the last few days. ]

When first a staff member with Campus Crusade, I worked at the University of Kansas, and my ministry assignment was to focus on Ellsworth Hall. To get to this particular residence hall each day, I had to walk by Hashinger Hall, another dorm on campus. You could smell marijuana coming from the windows, and some of the guys had their fingernails painted black. It was a seriously countercultural kind of place. As I would walk by the sights and sounds of that "other wrold," I kept my eyes glued to the sidewalk.

Then I started to think, If Jesus were to show up on campus, where would he go? Not Ellsworth, where everyone dressed like me and acted the same. He would probably show up at Hashinger Hall.

So I began to interact with the Hashinger students. I created a questionnaire, asking questions like "What is the most annoying thing about Christians?" and "If there was one thing you could change about Christianity, what would it be?" I quickly discovered that most of the students' barriers to becoming Christians were not about God; their problem was with cultural Christianity.

I began to realize that I needed to see people as God sees them. This required a fresh surrendering to God, admitting I was sometimes self-absorbed. I needed to come to grips with my own insecurities, letting God change me from the inside out. Before I could effectively reach the lost, God needed first to reach into my heart.

Jesus said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick" (Matthew 9:12). Jesus died on the cross not to help Christians get better, but to save the lost.

If your phone rang right now and you learned that someone you love - your best friend, your brother or your child - has come up missing, what would you do? Everything would stop. Priorities and plans would instantly be altered. We would go - because somebody we cared about is lost, and everything must be done to find them. Now. Because we care.

Every day we meet people who are spiritually lost, but we don't respond to them with even half this emotion or ugency.


[ there was a certain kind of release here. its true. for me, i havent had much of a best friend or a brother or a child, heh for ever... but if i substitute my oldest friends, my sister and her friends who i've watched grow up... my breath catches. i have to learn how to breathe all over again.

now check this out: ]


Here's a lesson I've learned the hard way. I always speak about what I most care about. I always do what I most want to do. I always find time to eat, I never miss watching The West Wing, and I spend time with my wife and kids. If my heart is moved for something, I will do it, and I will always do it.

If Christ is our heart's passion, His name will simply fall off our lips. Could it be that we don't reach out to lost people not because of time, training or missed opportunity, but simply because we don't care enough?


[ and here's what i think he's nailed it. i find excuses. when i cant find them, i make up some of my own. but for he who has traded his riches for our poverty: "for you know the grace of our lord jesus christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." (2cor89) paul continues: "in this matter i give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. so now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have." (1011) and, in luke 12:

"Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."
Peter asked, "Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?"

The Lord answered, "Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, 'My master is taking a long time in coming,' and he then begins to beat the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

"That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.


and, james 4:16: anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. ]


At Bowling Green, when we realized students didn't have a heart of compassion, we switched things around. We taught students to build friendships and get up close with the lost. We asked every student leader in the movement to become a student leader somewhere else on the campus. We began to immerse ourselves into the university culture and build relationships in places like the social-justice groups, the gay community and the student government. As a result, the Christian students gained hearts of compassion and came back begging for more evangelism and ministry training.

We also redesigned our weekly meeting, making ti more for the spiritually curious than for Christians. Today, the student-body president and vice presidenet come, along with emmbers of more than 100 different student organizations and cultures from across campus - many being individuals who would consider themselves agnostic and atheist. The university administration considers us one of the most diverse groups on campus.

We began by learning how to relate to people, understanding where they are coming from - their backgrounds, their relationships, their choices.

It starts with asking good questions. For example, try talking to every person you encounter. Say hello, then see how far you can go, if it's natural. Practice interacting with people; when they talk to you about anything, draw them out. Take them deeper.

As we ask questions, we will find common ground in all the ares where we agree. Then we share our lives. In this postmodern era, there is nothing more powerful and meaningful than investing relational energy and opening up your life.

Evangelism is as much a process as it is an event. In his book Finding Common Ground Tim Downs says, "To cultivate the soil takes time... I have a conversation here... I ask a pointed question there. I break a stereotype along the way. Withe veryone I meet, I am cultivating the soil and improving the climate for spiritual growth."

A few months ago, after our weekly meeting, the president of a fraternity came up to me. Several of us with Campus Crusade had been hanging out with this guy for two years, and he'd always been a self-proclaimed agnostic. Then he came up to me and said, "I'm ready." At first, I wasn't even sure what he was talking about. He wanted to become a Christian, and we prayed with him that night.

Being real and being intentional about evangelism is a hard road to travel. But it's either that or stay where we are and quietly pass from this life to the next, without ever really living. Once your heart has been broken for that one lost friend, once you have cried over the helplessness and desperation of someone you get really close to, you can't shake that sense of feeling God's heart.

My being evangelistic is not about feeling spiritual, significant or successful. It is always about what the lost need to know and understand. It is about their transformation, not mine. It is about the gospel message, not my fancy illustrations. It is about Christ, not me.



/ / /


TO TELL THE TRUTH
How to explain the gospel clearly and concisely.
by Chris Lawrence
Sept / Oct 2005

On the glacial green waters of the Flathead River I floated with a stranger. His name was Barry, and my job was to lead him safely through the precarious rapids. I was a whitewater raft guide in northwestern Montana.

I paddled in a sporty yellow kayak while Barry trailed me awkardly in a Funyak - an inflatable kayak for beginners. The eight-mile float on the edge of Glacier National Park has several major rapids, with appropriate names like Bonecrusher and Jaws, but it also allows kayakers some extended calm stretches. The float was a perfect venue for me to talk with Barry.

He had quit his job on the East Coast and sped his red Corvette across the country on a midlife-crisis trek. Montana was one stop on his journey.

It was easy to see that Barry was searching for something he hadn't found yet. I wanted to talk to him about Jesus - to tell him how to have a relationship with God. But I struggled with the words.

In the same way, many believers, though well-versed in Christian lingo, struggle to communicate clearly with people about the most important message.

The essence of the gospel is profoundly simple. If I could live that day on the river with Barry again, here's what I would have told him:

God loves us and created us to live a full, amazing life through having a relationship with Him. But there is a problem. Because of sin, we can't have a relationship with God. The Book of Romans puts it this way: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (3:23).

What does the word sin mean? "Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude or nature," says Wayne Grudem in Systematic Theology. "Sin not only includes individual acts such as stealing or lying or committing murder, but also attitudes that are contrary to the attitudes God requires of us."

Sin dates back to Adam and Eve. God created the world out of nothing. He filled it with humans and made it beautiful. It was paradise. But those humans chose to go their own way - ignoring God's law - and we have been running up a "sin debt" ever since.

As of May 2005, the United States has accrued a debt of $7.7 trillion. While the government may never get around to paying this off, in theory it is possible to do so. However, we can never pay off our debt of sin on our own. God is just and demands paymenet; without it we are eternally separated from Him.

But there is hope. The gospel literally means "good news." The reason the news is so good is because we can have a personal relationship with the God of the universe. It sounds absurd, but it's true: He has provided a way to get us out of our sin debt. And to us it's free.

God sent His Son, Jesus, to the earth to live a perfect life, and then die and be crucified. Because He loves us, Jesus paid the penalty for the sin of mankind by dying on the cross. "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while were yet sinners, Christ died for us," says Romans 5:8.

With that powerful act ont he cross, Jesus cleared our debt, which allows us to have a relationship with Him. It is the only escape from the fatal mess we are in.

Back to Barry. Between one of the rapids, I would have invited him to ask some questions about what I waas saying, though trying not to allow things to steer too far off track. Then I would sum it all up and give him an opportunity to respond.

The gospel is, in a word, forgiveness. And through this forgiveness we can have a relationship with the eternal God, the one whom author A.W. Tozer called a "shoreless ocean."

Understanding this message of forgiveness is not enough. To begin a relationship with God, you must respond to His invitation. I would have made sure Barry understood this important step.

Perhaps by the end of the conversation, Barry would have been ready to surrender his life to God, or maybe not. As a communicator of the message, I am not responsible for the hearer's response. That is the work of the Holy Spirit, and I need to leave those results up to Him. Either way, Barry would have heard the gospel, and God would have been glorified.

But that's not what happened that day on the river. I helped Barry navigate through the waters safely, and then he left without hearing the gospel. I can still see him speding off in his sleek Corvette.

Since that day, I've had dozens more Barry-like encounters - at car dealerships, dentist's offices or on soccer teams. As I've learend to communicate the gospel more clearly, I am trying to seize such opportunities, rather than let them disappear in the distance.



/ / /


FAMILY TIES
Talking about Jesus with the people we love most doesn't have to be intimidating.
by Jennifer Abegg
Sept / Oct 2005

Stephanie's dad was a practicing agnostic and proud of it. He believed that any ultimate reality - such as God - is unknown and probably unknowable, feeding that belief with books. He also read books that sought to disprove Christianity, like Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian.

Stephanie, who had accepted Christ in hgih school four years prior, prayed that God would provide opportunities to tell her dad about Jesus and that he would become a Christian someday. It seemed as likely as Harvard accepting a high-school dropout. However, Stephanie was undaunted by her dad's distaste for Christianity. She believed that God could do anything. The only child phoned her father and invited him to meet her for a weekly coffee date. They'd meet and talk about life, and they'd discuss their differing views.

Though most of our familiy members may not seem as antagonistic toward Christ as Stephanie's dad, sometimes we shrink back from telling the truth about Him. But families are a built-in place for us to represent the truth of Christ and invite someone to be a Christian.

"The Lord has sovereignly placed us in the families we are in," says Vince Johnson, a Campus Crusade for Christ staff member. "Somebody needs to tell them about Jesus, and I believe we have a stewardship because we are in the family as a believer. We have a responsibility to tell them."

Pastor Rocky Fong, of Evangelical Community Church in Hong Kong, writes, "People tend to ask the pastor to do it for them, especially when their [family members] are sick in the hospital facing critical illnesses. Based on my own observations, parents are first 'converted' by their children before they formally accept the invitation of an evangelist or teacher."

Yet sometimes it's intimidating. Our families often know us best. They usually have known us before we have accepted Christ, and they've seen us afterward. They know "what we're really like." But there are ways to talk about Christ witht hsoe we love that are possible and practical.


Where To Begin

Prayer is the start. We need to pray and ask God to soften their hearts and provide opportunities. When John lamb returned home after serving in the military, where he was introduced to Christ, he told his brother and sister-in-law about his newfound love for Jesus.

"John," said his brother over dinner, "you look the same and your voice is the same, but I don't know who you are."

"That's because the man you knew before no longer exists," John replied, "I have been made new."

John explained the change. But his brother wasn't ready to accept Christ. Actually, John prayed for him for 20 years before his brother understood the gospel and became a Christian.


Everyday People

Another important element in sharing Christ with family members is to incorporate Him into day-to-day life.

"Evangelism isn't just someting you 'do' - out there - and then get back to normal living," writes Rebecca Manley Pippert in Out of the Saltshaker and Into the World. "Evangelism involves taking people seriously, getting across to their island of concerns and needs, and then sharing Christ as Lord in the context of our natural living situations."

We usually know our family members' needs and concerns better than anyone else's because of our unique position in the family. When we talk with our siblings, parents, children and aunts about deep things and what's important to us, we can talk about Jesus the way we would if we were talking to our Christian friends. We talk about everything else that's important to us; why not talk about Christ the same way?


Easy For You To Say

It can be difficult putting that advice into practice. Rather than just being natural in our conversations, we might only initiate conversations around spiritual things - never about school, friends or anything else we care about. I can think of times in my Christian life when I brought up these natural subjects, only to steer the conversation quickly to Christ. This relentless agenda can leave our relatives feelign less like a loved one and more like a project.

OnMission magazine reminds adult Christians with unbelieving relatives: "Treat them as courteously as you do your friends. Dialogue with them. Get to know some of their friends. Share their enthusiasm for hobbies. Learn to be their friend" (November/December 2001, "Tips For Sharing Your Faith During The Holiday Season").

Books can also help when used appropriately. Stephanie offered to read her dad's copy of Why I Am Not a Christian if her dad would read Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. She later gave him Letters From A Skeptic, a book that includes real letters between an unbelieving dad to his son, by Gregory A. Boyd and Edward K. Boyd.

About five years ago, Stephanie's dad called her on the phone. Maybe, he wondered, God was knowable after all. He had searched God out with the help of his daughter, and now he was seriously thinking about giving his life to Christ. A week later he did.

Currently, he's planning to become a full-time missionary. Stephanie knows God can do anything.



/ / /


FATHER KNOWS BEST
Talking to God about someone's needs can bring a chance to talk about God.
by Angie Bring
Sept / Oct 2005

Nancy Wilson knows a fresh and simple way to bring God into almost any conversation. It requires no training, works anywhere and is almost always well received by non-Christians. At a pharmacy counter at a neighborhood grocery store in Florida, Nancy met Rebecca, who appeared depressed as she filled the Campus Crusade for Christ staff member's prescription.

Nancy asked, "How are you?" The woman in her late 20s answered that she was distressed about her daughter's problems. Nancy gently asked, "Can I pray for you?" Right there in the store, Nancy prayed for Rebecca's need of the moment.

Instead of promising to pray later, many Christians offer to pray right away, immediately engaging people in spiritual conversations. "I've never had someone say no," says Nancy.


Before You Say A Word

Offering to pray for Rebecca wasn't a stretch for Nancy - she enjoys talking to people about God because she has a vibrant relationship with Him. You probably won't bring your sixth-grade best friend's name into a conversation today unless you think about and talk with her frequently; the same goes with God. Bringing God into a conversation will be a foreign idea unless He's regularly on your mind.

The idea of praying for others comes as an overflow of your relationship with God. Since focusing on self is our default setting, it's important to ask God to allow you to see and love others like He does. For instance, yesterday's polite conversations were likely peppered with lukewarm replies of "I'm fine." Have you wondered if the lives behind these responses really are fine? Ask a follow-up question to someone's rote reply, then respond to a need revealed.

Feeling less than Superman-bold about initiating prayer with someone is normal. God designed it that way - so that we might depend not upon our abilities, but rather upon Him.

The apostle Paul struggled against angst too. He wrote, "I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God" (1 Corinthians 2:3-5).

It's a relief to remember that God provides our courage. Our role is simply to look for opportunities to bring people before His throne as we talk with them.


Offering Hope

Ed Silvoso, author of Prayer Evangelism, sees restaurant meals as easy openings to spiritual conversations. He talked about it recently on The Lighthouse Report, a Campus Crusade radio program. Ed often says to the food server, "You know, when you bring out our food we're going to thank God for it, and I wondered if there's anything we could pray for you." He says he hasn't been turned down once.

Larry and Rose Ihle tried that approach at a Chili's [ hahah Chilji's ] in Minnesota. After praying with their waitress, they also explained how she could begin a personal relationship with Jesus. The waitress responded eagerly, and the three of them prayed again. The waitress later returned to their table with the restaurant cook, asking the Ihles to pray for her too. Smiling, Larry said, "You should pray for her." Turning to the cook, the new Christian prayed for her friend less than an hour after inviting Jesus into her own life.


What Will They Think?

People long to be loved, to have someone rooting for them and to experience hope firsthand. Nonbelievers rarely recognize the greatest need for hope in their lives - eternal salvation. However, they're very aware of those needs in their lives they feel are most important, and they welcome prayer.

Surprisingly, they don't expect that your prayer will assure them the answer they want. "They don't demand that those prayers be answered," continues Ed Silvoso. "They are grateful that in a moment of palpable need, someone will volunteer to talk to the Supreme Being about their problems."


Seizing The Moment

Offering to pray for another person on the spot lets them know you're sincere about their need, but keep it short. Be careful - don't cloak a sermon under the guise of prayer.

Praying with someone about a current need in his or her life ushers hope directly into the moment. That hope is found in Jesus, the only One who can meet their needs - whether temporal or eternal.

For Richard Bledsoe, a pastor in Boulder, Colo., prayer also marked the start of a friendship. When Richard first met Tom Koby, chief of police, he asked him about a need in his job that no man or woman could help him solve. Tom discussed the annual Colorado - Nebraska football game - notoriously a time of trouble for the police. Richard prayed for peace, and Tom humorously reported afterward that game day had been appalingly boring. A friendship began between the two men that led to Tom's decision to follow Jesus three years later.

And it all started with a simple question: "Can I pray for you?"

nichole nordeman - legacy

I don't mind if you've got something nice to say about me
And I enjoy an accolade like the rest
And you can take my picture and hang it in a gallery
Of all the "who's who's" and so-and-so's
That used to be the best at such and such
It wouldn't matter much

I won't lie, it feels alright to see your name in lights
We all need an "atta boy" or "atta girl"
But in the end I'd like to hang my hat on more besides
The temporary trappings of this world

I want to leave a legacy
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love?
Did I point to You enough
To make a mark on things
I want to leave an offering
A child of mercy and grace
Who blessed Your name unapologetically
And leave that kind of legacy

I don't have to look too far or too long awhile
To make a lengthy list of all that I enjoy
It's an accumulating trinket and a treasure pile
Where moth and rust, thieves and such will soon enough destroy

I want to leave a legacy
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love?
Did I point to You enough
To make a mark on things
I want to leave an offering
A child of mercy and grace
Who blessed Your name unapologetically
And leave that kind of legacy

Not well-traveled, not well-read
Not well-to-do, or well-bred
I just want to hear instead
Well done, good and faithful one

I want to leave a legacy
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love?
Did I point to You enough
To make a mark on things?
I want to leave an offering
A child of mercy and grace
Who blessed Your name unapologetically
And leave that kind of legacy

I don't mind if you've got something nice to say about me



i think theres even some mandolin, or dulcimer or such, in this song.
genius.

something i really needed to read right now.

heres truth as im seeking it...

Mark Steele
Relevant: College Edition
October 2005
RENT THIS EXPERIENCE

I couldn’t name all of the Supreme Court Justices if I was being dangled naked over a pit of cybot piranha. Those names, along with a thousand other supposedly important facts I learned in college, are literally nowhere in my subconscious. They eased in one ear, came out the end of my #2 pencil, and remained forever on the examination page.

Let’s face it: who truly needs to be aware of the hypotenuse? Who gives a rip what the Medici family did or paid for? I do not daily interface with cumulonimbus clouds, iambic pentameter, and Corinthian columns. I did not, do not, and never will live in the Pleistocene era and sincerely doubt it will show up on a job application. For these and a myriad of other reasons, I have not retained the education.

But, oh, do I remember the first time I heard the haunting strains of the chamber orchestra coda to “All I Want is You” while flying over San Francisco Bay on the way back from break with my college friends. I remember which roommate wept, seated to my left when the bomber flew over a young Christian Bale’s head in “Empire of the Sun.” I remember who I was shelving rental videos with when I first heard Stewart Copeland’s improvised percussion throughout “Red Rain.” Who I sat next to in the theatre when Robin Williams urged “carpe diem.” The exact place I stood in Mexico when I heard that Randy Stonehill song. The mile markers of road trips and extraordinary days and devastating moments that played out in rhythm with the original soundtracks and motion pictures of my college experience.

Pop art has a way of cementing details. A method of internal time capsule. Admittedly, the years in question in which I attended college (the above references should be a clue) were marked more by their lack of decent music. These were the four years of radio wilderness in-between Joshua Tree and Nevermind. These were the years of the Tiffanys and Debbies, hanging tough and growing mullets. Nonetheless, it was the musical score that, to this day, triggers a memory about a person I had long forgotten.

This is, of course, the saddest and most shocking realization of all. That the song comes back so easily, but not quite the faces that listened alongside me. I remember the life on the screen faster and more accurately than the life lived in the room next door. The college experience became marked and defined more by others lyrics and screenplays than my own. Even now, I consider the moments that I knew someone next to me – in my class, my dorm, my room – was hurting. But, instead of turning to face them, we both faced the music and let it define our pain.

Certainly the purpose of art is catharsis: to allow us to live vicariously through its pro- and antagonists. That we might learn something – live something – without actually having to go there ourselves. But, art – even pop art music and film – were never intended to replace. They were intended to provoke.

I have chosen to follow Jesus with my life. If I am going to pay attention to His teachings, this should make me a feeler. As in, I am supposed to empathize with and love others. Therefore, I must give myself over to some level of feeling. In my college years, I understood this and I attempted this. But, I quickly discovered that it was uncomfortable to go that deep. It was vulnerable and unsightly. It made me feel raw and unprotected. So, more often than not, I hesitated: feeling less with real life and feeling more with the emotions spoon-fed to me by mass-media outlets.

In the process, my college experience – no, my life experience – was at times real and at other times rented. The years of my life where I could afford to risk the most – adventure the most – befriend the most – feel the most – were being lived in hand-me-downs.

That passion was Adrian Cronauer’s passion.
That unforgettable fire was Paul Hewson’s fire.
That mission was John Dunbar’s mission.
That Savior was Rich Mullins’ Savior.

I was certainly feeling. But, the feeling was as detached from my own reality as possible.

Many years and many feelings later, I have learned to engage with the world around me. I have learned that a life in pursuit of Christ is a paradox if it is only lived through headphones. I must feel for the people – with the people – right next to the people. I must risk uneasiness and pain for the vulnerability of turning away from the iPod and into the eyes of the individual in the adjacent seat.

For every beautiful moment with another human being that I experienced during my college journey, there were another two potential moments I allowed to slip away. It is only now, in retrospect, that I realize how available I was. How primed I was in those few years to truly engage, listen, and affect.

I continue to be inspired by the words, tunes, and images art urges toward me. But, I do not allow them to exist in my stead. Now, I keep my eyes and ears attuned in all directions – looking for the ones who need a steady gaze to make their hurts known and make their healing personal. I continue to be moved by the pop that plays about me – but now – that passion, that fire, that mission, that Savior – are my own.

happy birthday dad !!

here he is.

Hold On

I keep telling myself hold on it's almost over
But the tears keep rolling down when I'm in bed
In my desperation I keep losing my perspective
And I feel like life is losing me instead

More than anybody I testify to seeing
That Your faithfulness could kill my despair
I kept shouting out I knew You would I didn't doubt
But You saw past all the things that I declared

Hold on You said to me cause I'm never leaving
You know this life's too short so start believing
That I can I can do it and you can oh you can endure
Through whatever comes your way
Hey na na na...

I keep searching for some answers that will satisfy me
Cause it's in this human nature You know
I keep telling You to come on down take me over
I'm admitting that I didn't mean it though

Hold on You said to me cause I'm never changing
You know this life's too short so start believing
That I can I can do it and you can oh you can endure
Through whatever comes your way
Hey na na na...


(c) 2004 Jinny Kim