Click here to view the embedded video.

Jaida Li

December 23, 2009 started off as an ordinary day but little did we know Christmas was coming early and we would be receiving the greatest Christmas present ever.

It was a typical winter day with light snow showers which I always enjoy. With not much to do and, like everyone else, not much money to spend, Jenny and I would venture out to spend the day together for some window shopping at the mall after an early lunch.

The mall parking lot was packed because of all the Christmas shoppers. I dropped Jenny off near entrance of the mall so she could go ahead and put our names on the list at our beloved Cheesecake Factory.

I had to drive out to the south forty where I still had to wait for a parking spot. I hustled back to meet Jenny in the busy restaurant where we were seated in a small booth after a short wait.

Opposite of those around us, we were in no great hurry and just wanted to enjoy being together and enjoying the food. After being accosted by grinches at the table across from us, our waitress came over and greeted us with a smile. Wanting to be totally opposite of the “mean” table, we tried to put our waitress at ease, letting her know we were in no hurry.

Normally, when we dine out, we eat more than any human should be allowed to consume. Wanteing to watch our spending and our waists, we intentionally ordered slowly and ordered less. A couple of appetizers and some potato soup would hit the spot on this cold, snowy day.

Our waitress brought out the soup and our conversation turned to the consuming, yet repetitive topics around our long-awaited adoption. Over this four-year long process, we’ve waded through so many emotions, from feeling hopeful to feeling discouraged like it would never happen. After the second year, we actually had the hard conversation to determine whether we were going to quit or keep going through the international adoption process. We were in too deep to quit and too stubborn to give up. So, circling back in our conversation to the girl we longed for was a normal part of our lives. The adoption referral could come at anytime but we were still feeling like it was still so far out of reach.

As we turned to enjoy our soup, Jenny began to share with me what she had written in her journal just a couple of days ago. With a disappointed yet positive spirit, Jenny said, “I’ve been praying and asking God that we would get our referral before Christmas, but, I guess it’s not going to happen. So, I just hope that something will happen before your birthday in January.” I responded with the same optimism and tried to portray a hopeful attitude as well.

Less than two minutes later, my phone rang. I glanced down to see if I recognized the number but I didn’t. I picked up the phone, held it up so Jenny could see the number and asked her if she knew who it might be. She said, “That’s the area code of Iowa, where our case worker lives.” I attempted to answer the call at the last minute but the call had just gone to voicemail. Jenny hurriedly looked in her purse to check her phone. For some reason, she didn’t hear her phone ring just a minute earlier. The caller had just left a voicemail so Jenny began listening to the message.

She looked at me with eyes widening by the second, followed by tears. With her mouth wide open covered by a hand in disbelief and unable to speak, she looked at me and mouthed the words, “We just got a referral!”

Adrenaline rushed through my body and accelerated the sudden mixture of joy and bewilderment. We sat there with smiles and amazement like a five-year old on Christmas morning. We didn’t know what to do. Jenny called the number back and Bonnie, our case worker, answered the phone. In a short excited conversation, Bonnie informed us of the referral details of our new daughter. She shared that our little baby was almost one-year old to the day and was considered a “special needs” child because of a small hole in her heart but was in great health. She was sending everything over to us in an email and let us know we had two weeks to decide, but the sooner the better. Bonnie stated that this little girl was so beautiful and conveyed that she was very excited for us.

After a few seconds of mindless staring, we were all of a sudden calling on our waitress to bring us our check. We wanted to get the heck out of Dodge and get home to see this referral email and feast our eyes on the pictures of the little Chinese girl who we named Jaida Li and had been praying for almost four years. We dreamed about her in our hearts but now we get to see her with our eyes.

The check couldn’t come fast enough. We bolted out of there and got to the car quicker than any speed walker in the country. I started up the car and we began plowing through the snow. I kept glancing over at Jenny. Every time I found her with eyes hazed over and mouth hanging open, unaware of anything that was going on around her.

The unbelievably happy thoughts were also being bombarded by a sudden anxiety. Like every parent, deciphering through the crazy mental circus going on was crashing into our drive home. What if she’s has more medical issues than we can handle or afford to take care of? What if she’s not a cute baby? Are we going to choose her or pass her by and risk waiting another four years? It’s the toxic mix of elation and fear that comes with the unknown in life to all who are halfway conscious.

We calmly pulled the car into the garage, went into the house, took off our coats and headed to my office. I opened up my computer, pulled up the email and immediately scrolled down to the pictures. The first picture they sent was around the time she entered the orphanage and it was, you guessed it, ugly. But the shock passed with the second and third pictures of a healthy, beautiful little girl. I knew right then that she was my Jaida. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! Whew!  :)

Jaida Li

For those of you who don’t know my wife, there are two of her. I jokingly call one, “fun Jenny” and the other, “business Jenny.” “Fun Jenny” has no agenda, loves to talk and be around people, but “business Jenny” focuses and pours herself into a task full of details with no regards for chit chat, tomfoolery or distracting conversation.

“Fun Jenny” was thrown to the mat. Down goes Frasier!  :)

“Business Jenny” takes over to thoroughly inspect the multiple documents containing pertinent information about her location in China, the conditions surrounding her entering the orphanage, her medical condition, her personality traits and other personal insights.

After a little “technical” conversation, we both just stopped and looked at each other. “Fun Jenny” appeared out of nowhere and said with a smile of amazement, “This is our daughter! I can’t believe it is finally happening. I don’t know what to think. I don’t know if it’s really hit me yet.”

After a little time to share the moment and get ourselves together, we began calling our family, friends and anybody who had been a part of this four-year long journey.

Every time I share the story, Jaida became more and more real to me. I can’t tell you how much support we feel from everyone. Everybody makes Jenny and I feel like she’s their kid, too!

We surprised our church on Christmas Eve with the news the next day. After the welcome time before I began singing the next Christmas song, I said, “Jenny and I have an early Christmas present. If you’ll look to the video screens, we’ll show you a picture.” As soon as Jaida’s picture came up, the room erupted. You would have thought we were at a football game and the home team just scored. Our church has been the most encouraging and excited group of people I have ever been around. God has blessed our little girl with crazily excited parents and an insanely loving church. I know we’re not alone and get to share our journey with the people of Journey Church.

It’s been an amazing few weeks, sharing the story and sharing the excitement. We’re getting things ready and preparing for our trip to China sometime at the end of March or early April to go get our daughter. There’s still much to do, but we look forward to the future days of the extended Lohse family.

More coming soon. Thank you, everyone and thank you, Jesus!

Share/Save]]> http://www.thrivecommunity.net/2010/01/the-greatest-christmas-ever/feed/ 12 http://www.thrivecommunity.net/2009/12/right-with-god-right-with-others/ http://www.thrivecommunity.net/2009/12/right-with-god-right-with-others/#comments Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:02:39 +0000 Jason http://www.thrivecommunity.net/?p=691

Click here to view the embedded video.

In light of Gods forgiveness towards us, it’s important that we remember to give grace in the same way it’s been offered to us.

What do you think?

The goal of God is to shape our hearts to be like his, especially for those of us who are followers of Jesus. The more we come to know his heart, the more freedom we will find to express the love we discover there.

The conditions for which God is willing to express his love are boundless in comparison to ours. The Bible clearly illustrate God’s unlimited grace towards those who need it most. God’s desire to reach needy humanity with his love takes precedent over any perceived limitations the average person may see. God is willing to do whatever it takes and leaves no doubt that his love for us is inexhaustible.

In the story of the prodigal son, Jesus is trying to illustrate to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law that God loves sinners in spite of their sin. Jesus takes the opportunity to paint an extreme picture explaining how far God will go, no matter how far “the sinner” has gone.

The son who possessed everything squandered it to nothing. His wealth was wasted. His future was bleak. His options, now limited. At one time, he feasted at the table of his father. Now he fed on left over pig slop. Not the ideal, kosher situation for a young Jewish boy. His outward filth was just a reflection of the inward dirtiness that had taken over his life and led him away from home.

Though he perceived his old life was at an end, his father saw it as a new life just beginning.

As he makes his way back home, repeating his “repentance” pitch, he was convinced that his worth had gone from being a son to being a servant. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and with a heart filled with love, ran and meet him, not as a servant, but has a son. The choices, mistakes, and sins of the son had not closed the open arms of his father’s heart.

God’s love sounds extreme, because it is. It is unconditional and available, regardless of where we have been or what we have done.

If we are to express the heart of God to our world, our arms need to be wide open, just like the arms of Jesus. From Gods perspective, sin has been done away with and it’s not the first thing on his mind (Heb. 10:16-18). The penalty for all sin, great and small, has been paid for by Jesus and is applied to our debt by the grace we receive through him. Our choices do matter to God, but sin is not the point any more. Intimacy with the heart of Jesus is the motive of God for all of humanity (John 17:3). Loving relationship with God brings peace to the longing we have for Gods acceptance of us and grows our desire to bring glory to the One who loves us most (Rom. 1:6-8).

Our calling is to keep our arms wide open so that God may use us to receive those he is drawing home (John 6:37-38)(John 6:43-45). There will be plenty of time for conversation to help wanderers see the errors of their ways, where they drifted away from home and correct all that stands in opposition to Gods purpose for their lives. God will give you the right words at the right time and will bring about the right changes (1 Thess. 1:4-6)(Luke 12:12). Our role is to seek the right heart that God will use to deliver them.

As followers of Jesus, we need to learn to love without limits, not because others need it, but because our soul needs to experience the freedom to love as God does. Love covers a multitude of sins. May God help us see the greater purpose of the Savior, even in the midst of sinful humanity. May we love people to experience the abundant heart of Jesus. May our arms be wide enough to embrace those that are still lost as well as for those who are already on their way home.

What do you think?

It is finished. Three beautiful words. They, too are words of rest but are also words of beauty that, once understood, will release joy and worship. The great exchange where weary souls are finally free.

Rest and freedom are the fruit of a life that understands the “good news” that Jesus spoke of. For some reason, the fruit of the “good news” in most churches actually looks like bad news. I know the words are spoken the same, but the end result in their parishioners lives looks nothing like rest and freedom.

You see, most people who profess to follow Jesus are not really free. There is an unconscious enslavement to a lifestyle of “proving their worthiness to God” and have yet to realize they don’t need to anymore.

What we don’t realize is that God is more excited about this idea than we are (Eph. 1:5). Yet our tendency is to keep working to get His “thumbs up” for our inferior attempts so that, by some means, we can get Him to like us more. We are enamored and distracted by our own efforts, hoping they will draw God’s favorable attention, all the while He’s trying to get our attention by pointing to the cross.

What we have here is a failure to communicate, and I don’t think God is the one who needs a better hearing aid on this one.

There is one main issue we continually fail to get through our juvenile brains and self-righteous hearts. We already have full acceptance and approval from God right now, not because of what we have done to earn it but because of what Jesus has done on our behalf. This “new way” of relating to God through Jesus and His finished work on the cross is really good news if we’ll pay close attention.

“It is finished” means that the task is completed (John 19:30). There is no more need to perform for God to get His approval. God has approved the work Jesus has completed for us. God has fully and effectively finalized any needed effort to work for His love and no more penance for sin needs to be done on anyone’s part because Jesus is the final sacrifice for all sin. Period! (Heb. 10:12) (Rom. 5:9)(1 Thess. 5:9).

Because of Jesus and what He has accomplished for us through the cross, God has opened up a whole new perspective for everyone involved. We were once seen as unholy and blamed for being sinful, but now, through Jesus, we are seen by God as holy and blameless in His sight (Eph. 1:3-5). Jesus’ work has satisfied God and justified us before Him (Rom. 5:1). God is not mad at us anymore (Rom. 5:9). Can I get an “amen” from somebody?

Our alienation from God because of sin has been overcome by the finished work of Jesus. We’ve been brought near to God, not because we did anything to bridge the gap, but because Jesus has redeemed us and brought us home. We can stand firm in His love for us and can hold our heads high in celebration of God’s grace as His children, whole and unashamed (Col. 1:21-23).

This new relationship allows you and I the opportunity to quit trying to “become worthy” and rest in the fact that we “are worthy” because Jesus made us so (2 Cor. 5:21). Those who will be audacious enough to actually believe God at His Word and end the “religious approval” game continually played by “gospel deceived” Christianity will discover an amazing, supernatural rest that can only come from being at peace with God (Heb. 4:1-2).

Freedom is found in abundance when the liberating truth of what Jesus came to deliver takes root in us (Gal. 5:1). It is a freedom that will release the soul, not to attempt “living without Him” but to make “living about Him”, for the life here on earth and the life to come (Heb. 9:15). On this side of the cross, we get to obey God, not to gain His love, but out of love for what He has already done for us. Now we can live to serve His mission and the world around us, not out of duty but because we are delighted in being His children and want everyone to know the peace that comes from being the beneficiary of God’s grace (2 Cor. 9:8).

If you are not free and at rest, then you don’t believe it’s really finished. It’s that simple.

May you find the grace to believe God and what He’s finished for you, so that you may enter into the freedom and rest that is a worthy representation of the “good news” Jesus delivered.

I look forward to hearing what you think.

We all go through different seasons of our lives where change comes easy and the outcomes are seamless and painless. It runs in parallel with who we are, what we desire to do and we are able to live happily with it. But other seasons of change are hard to endure under the weight and pressure it places on our life. The confrontation of change can be harsh, debilitating and deadly, especially when it comes to the issues that lie deep in our soul.

I’ve been dealing with a season of change as of late, not because I’ve been confronted by it, but because I sought it out first. My wife and I have been going to counseling for a few months. We’re going, not because we have a bad marriage, but because we want our good marriage to be even better. The longing of our hearts is to have uninhibited intimacy and are willing to fight for the heart of each other and fight for our own heart to be free and full so that we can love each other the way God intended with full acceptance, full emotion for each other and with full trust. But the freedom we desire comes at a price we must be willing to pay.

Every relationship needs an “outside voice” to help it gain clarity through the fog, see hope in the dark times and offer guidance when the direction is lost. For Jenny and I, our marriage counselor has been a great “outside voice” for us. Her gifts and training has helped us see beliefs and patterns in each of us that have actually kept us from the things we so strongly desire for our marriage and for our individual lives. The moment she began helping us find freedom, the more we find ourselves longing to trust her to take us deeper into the places that need light, love and hope. The ability to have a trusted voice to speak into our hearts has made all the difference in the world.

Most of us don’t realize our hearts are on lock down. We’ve learned to cope with hurt, wounds and low expectations in our relationships, even with God and those whom we say we love. Throughout our childhood, we’ve experience a wide variety of things that have influenced the size of lock and chain we have strapped around our soul. It’s not what God intended and it’s not what will ultimately help us find what we are really looking for.

During a recent counseling session, our counselor asked me who I trusted. Without hesitation, I began describing my life-long mentor, Steve. He has been the ultimate example of what a pastor should be and what a follower of Jesus looks like, feels like and acts like. As the exuberant descriptive words of passion flowed from my heart, so did the tears. It shocked me. What began as a joyful description suddenly became a weeping expression.

I’ve led dozens, if not hundreds of counseling sessions with teenagers and adults alive, having experienced their wounds, but this was the first time I had experienced mine in such extravagant fashion. I couldn’t stop weeping. I mean I really couldn’t stop. I had to grab a flippin tissue for crying out loud. Because I was!

I tried to joke about my being in the “other” chair for once, but it did absolutely nothing to help put the lock back on this mysterious door in my soul that I knew God had gently leveraged open. My incredible wife just held my hand and wept with me, even if she didn’t know what was wrong. She just loved me and, as she described it, cherished the privilege of being in the moment with me, not just to be a witness to it, but to walk with me blindly and lovingly through it.

It took me a while to finally talk and wrap words around the swirling emotions I was experiencing inside. But the fog lifted for a brief moment, long enough for me to get a little clarity about what was causing the surge of emotion. The realization that I had been wounded by various people in various times in my life was a huge epiphany. It was becoming apparent to me that so much trust I had placed in others, even pastors, had been abused and broken, especially over these past twenty years of being a follower of Jesus. I have always been sensitive to the hurt I have caused others throughout my life with deep regret and overwhelming remorse, but this was possibly the first time that I understood the impact of how much pain I had deep in my soul and how many wounds that had gone unaddressed and unhealed.

Since that day, I’ve spent a good bit of time being introspective and learning to pay attention to what’s going on inside me. God has been doing a new work in my heart, bringing healing, transformation and change, all because I was willing to go “there.”

Chains on doors are good for keeping things locked out, but they also keep things locked in. It’s trust that unlocks the door so change can take place, from the inside out. So many times we come into our relationships with the expectation that we’ll wait until the other person changes first, and then we’ll join in. But, most often, it’s just another excuse to keep pretending and living behind the facade that all things are great when they’re not.

I shared in a sermon a few weeks back about Jenny and I participating in counseling. Many of our people were shocked to hear that kind of transparency from a pastor. Even from my experience of being on staff for almost two decades, I can fully understand why. But Jenny and I realized that being honest, transparent and authentic in our marriage as well in our journey with Jesus Christ has made us have less to hide, has led us to experience more freedom and has brought hope to so many others in our situation.

It’s been amazing to have dozens of couples come to us, both publicly and in secrecy, having been encouraged in their heart to do something about their marriage, all because we were willing to open the door to our lives. It took trust to get us there and now, our desire to keep growing keeps us there.

From Adam and Eve to this very day, God has been that “outside voice” in the hearts of His people. It’s was God’s original design that ultimate life from Him would be fostered by intimate relationship with Him and others built on love, hope and trust. Love is the motivation. Hope is the promise. Trust is what will get us there. It doesn’t mean that we will never be hurt again, but it does help us pursue a deeper intimacy that God designed for us to experience with Him and with others.

I hope you will be willing to go “there” where trust leads to change your heart desires most.

Share/Save]]> http://www.thrivecommunity.net/2009/11/trust-that-leads-to-change/feed/ 2 http://www.thrivecommunity.net/2009/07/just-take-the-next-step/ http://www.thrivecommunity.net/2009/07/just-take-the-next-step/#comments Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:16:44 +0000 Jason http://www.thrivecommunity.net/?p=595 I met with a few people today who are interested in being small group leaders. It was refreshing to hear their hearts as well as their different perspectives on what they see as ministry. Our goal as a church is to help people get freed up to be themselves and help them to see how they can serve others with their gifts and passions, where they are.

Leah is helping us create a singles group. After our official, “blessing of the pastor” meeting, we got a chance to talk with her and get to know her a little better. She grew up Catholic and didn’t even think she would ever be back in church. She’s growing in her walk with Christ and has a great passion to create a family for single people and help them belong. As she shared her story, I could hardly keep still, or quiet for that matter. God was stirring me and encouraging me as she shared about her journey, her coming to Jesus and following after His call.

As you might have known, I started jabbering away. Being around an excited Christ follower with a willing heart and a blossoming faith is like smoking crack to this preacher man (though, I, myself have not tried it but I hope the religious people will follow my analogy without legalistic judgement!). I would rather be around a raw, vibrant, passionate Believer than a settled, bland pretender who can talk a good game of Bible trivia, does “Church” well, but their life shout out to the world around them with a resounding…”BORING!”

It’s exciting to me to see people take another step of faith. Now it doesn’t matter to me if you’ve been on the journey with Jesus for 60 years or 6 minutes, it still is a thrill to be a part of.

My buddy Ryan sent me a two page email today sharing about all that God is teaching him. He’s learning about what it means to follow Jesus and be a husband, a dad and a worker that seeks to glorify God in every area of his life. Ryan’s been a Christian for a season, but God is drawing him and calling him to take another step. His heart is open, honest, real and authentic. I could feel the Holy Spirit at work in his heart as I read his story of God’s inner working, moving him towards repentance, confession, vision, dreams and passion. The ecstasy of human existence.

I believe that God gives us grace, not for the finish line, but for the next step. Sometimes we want God to do everything all at once. We may want an answer, but God wants a relationship. It’s a relationship to move us towards trust that God is going to keep His promise, not just an answer, but what our heart is really looking for: “a hope and an future.”

What’s your next step? I’m not just talking about what you’re going to do, but what you’re going to release. The willingness to just take a step instead of demanding all the resources for the finish line means letting go. I believe it will free you to be in the moment, to discover the joy of life “in the now” and have the freedom of heart to move from self-absorbtion.

It’s hard, but necessary for our soul to release control and let God be God in us. So…..just take a step.

What do you think?

There aren’t many television shows I like to watch our regular basis, but one of them is Extreme Home Makeover. About a month ago, the show was about a young man named Bernard McFarland. He’s known in his community as a person who makes a difference. He began an outreach for young boys in the same community where he grew up and currently lives in the neighborhood with his three teenage sons.

His heart and passion was indescribable. The emotion in which he talked about his boys, his community, and the need he sees around him was amazing. It made me want to jump through the television and go help him at that moment. Bernard was doing much with almost nothing. He was living in a dilapidated home, using a broken down Van and a tiny concrete slab for a basketball court to reach dozens of needy kids. But he was making a difference.

When the Extreme Home Makeover team arrived, he met them with great joy and overwhelming tears. As the show revealed what they were doing for him and giving to him, he was thankful at every turn. He would always turn to his boys, hug them and draw them in to let them know that he loved them and that he appreciated this blessing they were to share as a family.

But one thing really stood out to me. As the team inquired as to why he did what he did,Bernard began to share about how his pastor had preached a sermon a long time ago that stuck with him to this very day. The point of the message was this — “lift as you climb.”

“All of this wasn’t about me,” Bernard said. “I was just doing what was in my heart.”

The phrase “lift as you climb” was a seed that had taken root deep in his heart, transforming the way he lived. This phrase should also be the statement that is rooted in the heart of everyone who follows Jesus.

It’s not about us. It’s about what passed through us. It’s about us learning how to give away everything that God blesses us with so that others may find life through the life we have discovered.

I believe that God wants everyone of us to be successful and make a difference in this world. But personal success alone is not the ultimate fulfillment of God’s mission for us here. It involves using the things that God has given us to help others become successful.

Climb. It’s a journey of discovering who we are and what we were put on this planet to do.

Lift. It’s a journey of helping others discover who they are and what they were put on this planet to do.

You see, none of us have gotten to where we are on our own. It’s taken dozens, if not hundreds of people to offer their influence, wisdom, time to help us be who we are today. All of us are given the ability to climb, not because we have everything figured out on our own, but because other people have invested in our lives and helped us find our identity and discover our purpose. It’s easy for us to be distracted by “self” and have our eyes solely focused on our own success and destination while forgetting the greater purpose of God for our life is not for our own success, but that we may be used to help bring others to fulfill God’s dream for their lives as well.

So the question remains, who are you bringing with you? Who are you lifting? Who are you investing in to help them discover and fulfill their God-given dreams?

For Bernard, success is about taking as many people with him as he can to help them discover and achieve a better life. I believe that’s the heart of Jesus to. As a Christ follower and a leader in my community, I’m discovering more and more every day that there are so many people who have no one to point the way, to show them how to live and believe in them for who God made them to be. I’ve been asking God to help me remember that in seeking wisdom, it’s not just so that I can be seen as wise, it so that I may use that wisdom to pass on to others. I know that my life experiences are not just for my enjoyment and growth but for me to pass what I’ve learned along to those whom God has given me to help along their journey.

What do you think?

Share/Save]]> http://www.thrivecommunity.net/2009/06/lift-as-you-climb/feed/ 3 http://www.thrivecommunity.net/2009/05/memorial-day-giving-for-our-gain/ http://www.thrivecommunity.net/2009/05/memorial-day-giving-for-our-gain/#comments Mon, 25 May 2009 13:46:05 +0000 Jason http://www.thrivecommunity.net/?p=576

Opening Day of baseball is a day I try not to miss. I’ve not been able to attend the past few years but I try to be involved, either by watching it on TV or catching the highlights on the evening news. Memorial Day is a special day as well. Watching the parades, listening to patriotic music and getting the chance to say “thank you” to all of our military is truly wonderful. There’s something deeper to these moments for me.

For one, participating with thousands of others singing the National Anthem is a very emotional thing. Then, comes the loud, powerful roar of the F-16’s as they fly over the stadium with precision timing and formation. Screaming and clapping are our best attempt to join this awe inspiring moment.

I get to live in the greatest country on the planet (in my humble opinion) and have a deep sense of gratitude for all that this country has given me. I’ve always been amazed at the level of sacrifice that millions of our soldiers have made to protect, defend and honor our country. The greatest expression of love is when someone lays their live down for the sake of someone else (John 15:13). It reminds me of the greater calling of every person to live for others and something bigger than themselves. It’s the way of Jesus.

I have many family members and friends who are currently serving or who have served our country in the past. The pride and honor in which they serve is amazing. To know that another human being is prepared to make sure I am safe and able to be free stirs the depth of my heart in ways that are hard to explain. It’s something that is a reflection of something deeper, something that paints a picture of what God has done for us. He gave His Son so that we may have life. He gave so that we may gain, not just here in this world, but so that we may gain a better place. A better life here and in the world to come.

Those of us who follow Jesus Christ can learn a great deal from those who serve in our military. There is a focus to live from a different perspective and with a different purpose (2 Tim 2:2-4). We’ve been given much from God that must be passed along so that others can have the opportunity to experience life and freedom. Enduring hardship for the sake of others and for the glory of our God is the essence of what it means to take up our cross daily. 

Freedom isn’t free. It always has a price. Someone gave for our gain. May we who follow Jesus be thankful today and live for the greater good and for the glory of God.

Thank you to all who serve our country and other countries in this world so that freedom, justice and peace can flourish.

Let freedom ring!

What do you think?

Everybody wants to be known, to feel included and to be connected. Take FaceBook and Twitter for example. These social networks were created out of an incredible need that people have to know people and be known by others, even on the most trivial of levels. People share who they are, give updates on what they are currently doing, share photos, join affinity groups and discover new people to be connected with. FaceBook has an estimated two hundred million users while the newly established Twitter has attracted over fourteen million users in the U.S. alone and is rapidly growing.

Knowing someone goes beyond the cognitive and the informative to the intimate and the spiritual. It’s a divine experience that comes from engaging our heart with another human being. But offering insights ABOUT you is different than offering experiences WITH you. It’s how we move from the fictional person we want others to think we are to the person we are in reality. It’s where “knowing” genuinely happens.

Knowing and being known emerges out of experiencing life together but it won’t happen if we won’t be ourselves. We all have baggage, quirks, have committed terrible sins, have tons of faults and will grace everyone else in regards to these issues but not ourselves. So, how about let’s stop being lousy perfectionists and allow ourselves to be a broken human being on the road to wholeness? From the way we do life together with our family, friends, co-workers and even with our church, we won’t get to experience the true pleasure of being known if we fake our way through.

Being known reflects God’s acceptance of us and gives us a sense of belonging. It brings authenticity and freedom to our lives. We don’t have to pretend to be something that we’re not because our friends know who we really are. It offers accountability for how we respond to life. It presents stability and rest to our soul. It delivers a deeper satisfaction and joy to life, where emotion is experienced at a deeper level. Knowing emerges when we press into relationship with others without expectation or alterior motive but to know them. 

God wants us to know him, too. Jesus stated that true, lasting quality of life comes from knowing Him (John 17:3). So, knowing is a two way relationship. In knowing more about who God IS, we discover more about who we are NOT. We come to know more about ourselves as we discover more about God and other people. It sets us free to be real because we are known by God in every way and He still loves us and is totally stoked about us in spite of it all!

It’s an amazing journey. What’s your next step?

What do you think?