Logos

How powerful are words in your life. . .are words you say just words or do they mean something more? I was reading last night from a commentary on the book of John that I have recently decided to spend some time in. And the author of the commentary was giving a brief background on the Jewish culture and he was talking about how John really focuses on Jesus being the "logos" or the word. As I was reading I came upon this statement that stuck out in my mind; "To the Jew a word was far more than a mere sound;it was something that had an independent existence and which actually did things."

I feel like words dont mean anything to us Americans anymore. I always hear the statement that is somewhat along the lines that actions speak louder than words. I do believe that is true, but I however also believe that we need to place a higher emphasis on the words we say and hear. In Biblical times, there were not 2 or 3 Bibles in every household sitting on the coffee table or in the drawer next to your bed. All they had were words, they didn't have the New Testament in 8 different versions as we do today, so they would gather around and have these meetings and share the gospel through words. I do understand that we do need to know our culture and know how to reach our culture and I know that our culture is one that says that actions do speak louder than words and so I understand that we do need to be people of action, but I believe we as Christians need to place a higher emphasis on the words that we say and hear and like the Jewish culture in the time of John, may they not be a "mere sound", but may they be "something that had an independent existence and which actually did things." May the words we use, bring action, may the words we hear, may they cause us to be people of action and not just let them go in one ear and out the ear. God created the heavens and the earth by speaking words.

"If you wish to see that word of God, if you wish to see the creative power of God, if you wish to see that word which brought the world into existence and which gives light and life to every man, look at Jesus Christ. In him the word of God came among you."

Painting

So we, and when I say we I mean my dad, brother and myself, decided to paint the little side porch tonight. Well we didnt decide to do this until about 4 o'clock tonight. So we brainstormed and maybe two trips to Home Depot and 7 1/2 hours or so later, we still dont have the porch painted. Not only did we decide to paint it, but by all new ladice to go around the porch and on the top and apparently we have a big party here tomorrow night for Ben and his welcome back into the states. So we have a lot of work to do before 5:30 tomorrow night. We'll see how it goes.

I took a little trip this afternoon to Best Buy and Barnes and Noble to look/buy some cds. I wanted to buy about 6 or 7 but I brought it down to 2. I bought an older Ryan Adams cd - Gold and went with a group called BR549, kind of a country rock style, I like it so far. Im excited to be back in Knoxville soon so I'll have disc exchange close at hand, and Mckays and good friends with good music taste and good music I havent heard yet.

Oh and apparently you can rent CDs now at the library, my sister goes there and borrows them.

Does anyone read this anymore. . .I dont think they do. Maybe this is a lost cause?

What Are We Doing?

I feel like we've missed it. When I say we, I mean the church. The American Church. I feel like the people in church today just dont get it. Church and being a part of the church today means going on Sunday and maybe even being a part of a small group or bible study, whatever you want to call it, maybe even being a part of a community service project, maybe even being an elder or deacon and then having your own life at home. I am learning more and more that everything, everything we do is spiritual and there is not a seperation between the "secular" and the "spiritual" or "religious". There is no such thing and it breaks my heart to see churches today and even individuals, including myself at times, miss the point, miss what its all about.

Ive been thinking alot about what and where to go as far as ministry goes and to be honest, I feel completely lost on where God is leading me. But I do know that I want to create an enviroment and be a part of people that really get it, that its abour relationships, its about community, its about love, its about caring for each other. I want to be apart of a church and community that gets back to the simple truth of it being all about Jesus and coming back to Jesus. I want to be a part of a church and community that lives the gospel, speaks the gospel, eats and drinks and breaths the gospel. I want to be around people that know that this life, this christian life is not simply a game, its not something that we do three days a week, its not even about doing good things, its about Jesus and the redemption that He offers us. I think Mark Driscoll says it best when he said that "God's mission is not to create a team of moral and decent people but rather create a movement of holy loving missionaires who are comfortable and truthful around lost sinners and who, in this way, look more like Jesus".

I dont want to be known for something he does or doesnt do, but rather I want to be known for something that I am.

Top five

Give me your top 5 books to read. . .or however many. . .top five best books you've read or maybe top 5 books to read now. . .or something. .

No One Told me. . .

Well we made it up to Port Hope, Michigan, which is at the very tip of the thumb of Michigan. The first few days we were here it felt like we were in the fourth ring of hell it was so hot. It is an extremely laid back town and a very old town, which is really cool to see. Grandad has a ridiculously amount of antiques in the house and out in the two barns, its amazing to see. Today it finally cooled down and it feels amazing. We worked on fixing/making a new gate for the back yard, that was cool, for a while however I felt like I was just following them around like a lost puppy dog but things changed today and I was able to actually do some manual labor on the farm so that was fun. Ive been sleeping in a bed that I feel like was made in the 1800's and I feel like Ive been sleeping on a board, but hey Im not complaining cause its got a roof over top and its better then sleeping on the cement or something. No one told me it was this nice up here, this is my first trip to Michigan, first of many Im sure, but its been a good one and Im glad I was able to finally make it up here to see what Courtney will inherit one day. Its been good to meet some people up here and try to learn the history of Port Hope and all that jazz. We went to a graveyard last night and Grandad was telling me all about all the generations that were buried there and I couldnt keep up with him. It was Grandad's Great Grandfather that foudned the town of Port Hope so Courtney is the fourth generation, which was cool to see all of this. I would love to bring our friends up here one day and just hang out up here and to see this area and to just relax, that means you Bill and Betsy and Kenny and Nicole and Jake and whoever you might be with at that time, and Vaka and Shannon if they're still around this side of town and whoever else I may have forgotten, but we will pencil it in our scheldue books and see what we can do one day hopefully. This town is great for relaxing and catching up on some reading, when your not working on the gate or one of the other 3,487 jobs to do around here, but its still great. The town basically shuts down at 9:30 and the house has a beautiful big front porch that I love to perch myself on and just watch and listen and think.

Well we are getting ready to go out to eat, all the family so Im going to get off here. Oh and just to let you know. . .no one told me that I had to bring maybe some "nice" clothes up here for dinner. The guys dressed up nicely in polo shirts and either nice jeans or khaki's and the ladies all dressed up nicely and then here I am in old jeans, chuck taylor's and a good will t-shirt. I didnt bring anything else. . .oh well, nothing new to me though. .Ive always felt a little like the black sheep so no worries folks. . .I'll just keep on keeping on.

I'll see you all soon hopefully and Im reading a book on the Jewish culture and the Jews in the time of Jesus. . .interesing. . .goodbye

Let The Road Trips Begin

Well Im back from CIY with the youth group and it was really good. Many people that I had talked to said that they thought it was the best they've been to in years and Id have to agree with them, it was pretty good. We had a little trouble with the youth group this year, again as we do every year, but it was the first night there in the dorms and so needless to say we didnt get to bed until 3 or so that morning.

It was good to see some old faces and to meet some new ones. Some of you may know that Court and I have been talking and just wondering about church planting and whether or not thats what we want to do or called to do and while at school I talked to two good friends about doing church planting and especially up in the New England area and they too had talked to each other about doing it as well, without knowing that I had talked to them both as well. Well I met a guy this week, one day at lunch and all the seats were taken by my youth group so I decided to meet someone new. I asked if this seat was taken and he said no and our friendship began. We introduced oursevles and did all of that get to know you stuff. . .where you from . .what do you do and so on. Well he began to ask me about what my plan is after the internship was over and I went on to tell him about helping out with a church plant here in Knoxville and then proceded to tell him about my ideas of maybe doing church planting in the New England area. Well Rick got real big and wide eyed and said "No Way", at this time I just assumed he was an energetic guy, but he began to tell me his story. Well Rick was from a bigger church in Florida, but he grew up in Rhode Island and would love to go back there. He began to tell me about how God was working in him and about how a few weeks ago they had a guest speaker come in and talk to his congregation about church planting. He said it was very interesting to him and sparked something in him that caused him to want to move back to the New England area and maybe do church planting. He told me about how just this week, he had talked to someone about doing church planting and moving back to that area up north and about how he would love to go back and reach his home people. The New England area is deeply rooted in Catholicism and to be honest, I have not done a lot of research on Catholicism, but I am extremly interested not due to this fact, but I am just interested in learning about other religions and their beliefs, but this also gives me a little more motive. So with the fact that the New England area is so rooted in Catholicism, it would be great to have someone like Rick who grew up there and who has a heart for the peope of New England.

I feel like God is up to something. With this conversation and with the conversations I have had with friends at school and probably the conversations that I will have in the future.

On a lighter note we went to McKays last night, one of my favorite places here in Knoxville and I got two books Im excited about, The Desire of the Everlasting Hills and The Gifts of the Jews by Thomas Cahill. So Im looking forward to going up to Michigan to have some time to read these books and probably a few others.

I think that I put the finishing touches on the apartment that Kyle and I will be living in this year, pretty small but good enough for me and they're cheap so Im not going to complain. If you know of a good job or a good place for me to work, let me know.

Well we're getting ready to leave to head to Johnson City for Nate and Emily's wedding and to see some family so it will be fun. The road trips are about to begin, 1st stop - Johnson City, TN, 2nd stop - Noblesville, IN, 3rd stop - Port Hope, MI and then back to either Indiana or Knoxville, not sure yet for me. So I may not be able to post for a week or so with me being up in Michigan and not having a computer so to the few that read this, have a great week or two.

Cleave and Leave

I leave tomorrow to go to CIY in Cleveland, TN at Lee University. With that said it might be a few days before I post next, I dont know if I'll have internet there or not. I kind of like this blog thing so far, it gives me a chance to write about whatever I want.

Im excited to get out of Memphis, its been an interesting summer to say the least. I've realized that I want to work with someone that is a little more organized than my "boss" this summer. Not that Im some kind of OCD person or anything, I just like to have things somewhat lined up and be somewhat organized and that wasnt the case this summer but thats ok. It was hard to get people motivated out here to do stuff and to acutally take God and Christianity serious. It's frustrating, and I know its not just here in Memphis but everyone there will be people, but its frustrating to me that people do not see church as something that is living and breathing rather than just a building. People think that being a "Christian" is just about being a good person and doing nice things and the right things and about saying the right things at the right time and looking good to everyone else. They fail to see the relational aspect of Christianity, the relational aspect between us and God and between us and other people. But I will take what I have learned here and value that and move on from here and onto the next thing. I will soak up the good that has taken place this summer.

Im looking forward to getting back into Knoxvegas and hopefully help out with a church plant. Thats something completely new to me and something that is extremly appealing and attractive to me, especially creating a come as you are enviroment and not reaching to the middle class, white amearicans and putting on a show for everyone, but actually having community and having relationships and caring for each other and praying for each other and loving each other and being the church.

Thats all I have for now, off to finish packing my car and getting things ready for the road.

Hi Betsy.

Here We Go

Well here we go, I finally decided to give into to technology and into the fad thats going on. I've always been a little behind the times with getting the new and improved, next best thing. I didnt get my first cell phone until right before my freshman year of college, I still have an old computer (no MAC for me), just got an ipod for Christmas and still don't know of to fully work it, and I don't know that much about the technology world and so this will probably be a long and slow process so I ask for patience with me and this new project I am taking on. I've never been one that is great with journaling or keeping up with stuff like this, so we'll see how this goes, but I'll try to keep up and post as often as I remember to. I swore I wouldn't get a xanga, so I decided to get this instead and I may as well have one cause I read everyone else's, so here's to you Betsy.

Im getting ready to leave Memphis for good, we're taking the kids to CIY and then off to Nate and Emily's wedding I go then off to Port Hope, MI to see where I might end up one day with Courtney. Im actually pretty excited about the next few weeks and the traveling I will be able to do and just getting away and having some free time and being able to spend some time with the misses, haven't seen her much this summer, so it will be good times had by all. However I am also excited to get back into Knoxvegas and see friends and live there hopefully and maybe be involved in some new and exciting stuff that is soon to be happening there, still havent heard anything yet on the apartment however. Well thats about all I got for now, finishing packing up the office, I have too many books for my car I think, I may not have room for all my clothes and other belongings with all the books I brought, good thing Im a professional packer. But this has been fun and hopefully I'll hear from all 1 maybe 2 of you that will read this and hopefully you'll hear from me soon as well.