To view the film in a larger format go here.

Forgiveness from Northwood Church on Vimeo.

This past weekend we used it as an intro and then we played the song. It was a huge blessing to our congregation. It is also a great example of team work. Great job Jordan and Chris.

So this morning, outside of my normal personal worship routine (which of course is examen.me) I read the whole book of Ecclesiastes in one setting. It was very refreshing.  It puts the pursuits in this life into perspective.

In life there is vanity, wisdom, folly, toil, hard work, fleeting joys, and a time for everything.  But even through the writer of Ecclesiastes seems to ask many more questions that he answers, I love how the book is ended.

13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. Eccl 12:13-14

May that be true with my life.

Image [damianromero]

May your soul find rest in our great God.

Hard question to ask your self.  Life changing to answer.

Fill in the blank.

There are some great speakers who are going to be there.  I am looking forward to learning and connecting with friends from around the US. I am also interested in watching the dynamics of a whole lot creative types who are very savvy  in social media. Should be Fun!

If you are going, hit me up. I would love to connect.  You can also follow me on twitter to catch real time updates.

What are you doing this week?

• Hit the pinball as hard as I could when it came to near the flappers and happened to luck into a really high score.
• After getting a low score the next go, I realized that hitting certain spots in a certain sequence increased your score dramatically.
• Started trying to strategically hit the pinball in the exact right spots to obtain the high score.
• Failed miserably. I realized that I was no pinball wizard.
• I quit playing pinball.

I can’t tell you how many times I have experienced this exact same sequence with new ministries, ventures, or projects.  I luck into a little success, only to realize it was just a buzz of excitement, realize it is going to be hard, identify the strategy to success, realize executing the strategy is difficult, and I am tempted to quit.

As a believer, i must remember that Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Job, Paul, and Jesus did not quit.  Jesus was the center of a large buzz of excitement at the start of his ministry.  He was alone on the cross at the end of it.

If God has called you to do something.  Don’t quit.  Beg for grace to keep going.

Review

If you have ever had sushi, then you probably have had an experience with wasabi, the flaming hot green stuff that is always put on the side of your plate. It is a small dallop, and looks innocent enough, but it has extreme power if you put it in your mouth.  Shawn relates that experience to seven teachings of Christ.  He uses scriptures that are nice and cute and very familiar to a believer, but he unpacks them in a powerful way.

Shawn’s approach to the book is brilliant.  I approached the book excited for Shawn to highlight some of the hard teachings of Jesus and really push and challenge me to “Just Do It”.   However, his approach is much more effective.   Each of the Seven “wasabi”  teachings of Christ is woven around the story of Laura, a normal girl with a life full of emotional baggage (just like the rest of us).  Throughout the book,  she struggles with applying the teachings of Christ into her broken and un-perfect reality. This approach did two things to me.  First, it made me think through my own life to see how I am assimilating Christ’s teaching. This challenged me to evaluate myself instead of simply reading the book and saying “Amen” as I came to the hard teachings of Christ.  Second, as a pastor, it helped me have empathy for the people in my church (myself included)  who are trying to assimilate the life and words of Christ into their lives.  To see that it is not that they don’t want to, they just have a lot of questions and baggage to deal with.

Shawn’s writing style is refreshing and very easy to read.  He does not belabor points.  He gets to the point and uses humor that literally makes me laugh out loud. I highly recommend Wasabi Gospel, as well as  his other book, 200 Pomegranates and an Audience of One.

The keynotes of the conference are Eugene Peterson, Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, John Ortberg and many others.  I am excited to see what God does in my heart.

I will try to update the blog as we move though the conference, but I am assuming I will have limited access to the interwebs.  So, make sure you follow me on twitter to catch the updates.

If you are going, I would love to connect.  You can contact me through the contact page or through twitter.

1. Oh no you didn’t.
2. Frustration
3. Develop a plan to eliminate the negative behavior - still very frustrated.
4. Realize that I rebel against God just as much or more than they rebel against me. I challenge everything he says, throw fits, and do things my own way.
5. Humbled and regain patience.

My kids and my wife are gifts from God that constantly reveal that I am broke and in desperate need of a saviour.