Here is a picture of Ben with the family we built a home for. Juan Carlos and his wife Maria, and their four kids, Leticia, Carla, Estefani, and Carlos. I love this photo! According to the bio, he is a bricklayer who makes $80 a week, but when I was down there, he had been out of work for three months because of an operation, but hoped to be going back to work soon.

Definitely gives you perspective.

I just got back from a mission trip to Mexico through Baja Christian Ministries with our Student Ministry. I have done a trip like this every spring break for the past 11 years, and it is by far my favorite trip that I do. This year, I had the opportunity to take Ben with me. What an awesome trip! It was so cool to watch Ben interact with the local kids (the universal language of fun and games) and to share his toys (they are playing with a football that he brought and left with them). He also helped out pounding nails and helping the dad of one of the houses dig a hole for a fence, entirely on his own. I am very proud. The kids we took loved him as well. The group that went was great, worked hard, and we built 2 homes for 2 families. In addition, they did several VBS groups, and blew me away at their generosity in house warming gifts. It was a great trip. If you ever have the opportunity to do a missions trip, I highly recommend it. It will change your life. I always come back humbled a bit more.

I just finished Andy Stanley's book "Louder than Words" which was given to me by my brother in law at Christmas time. I am a fan of Andy Stanley and really enjoyed and was challenged by this book. It is a book about character, and the need to pursue it in our lives.

Two particular things I liked about it were the chapters connected to renewal that spoke of putting off the old self and putting on the new. In particular, it was his point of challenging the lies that you tell yourself all the time. I really resonated with that because I am often very guilty of listening to the lies in my head, the personal attacks that I deliver on myself quite easily and frequently. But when considering Stanley's words, I tried to begin to really process what I was saying to myself and asking the question, "is this true, or is it a lie?" and then working on identifying the lie. It has been helpful.

The second chapter was about the new self, and basically reinforcing the truths of God's word in regards to my life. Though I have spoken of this often, especially as a pastor, to be challenged with those words on a personal level has been difficult, but beneficial. But as I have taken to reading God's word more lately, truth really is hopeful. It is a life long process, which is clearly reinforced in the book, and is common sense, though many times we want to read a book, apply the principles, and in a flash be fixed, but obviously, that is not reality.

It is a book worth reading, because as a close friend once told me, God honors character development. I believe it is true, but the process of it can be very painful, but so was the cross. Thanks be to God, that my righteousness is not by my works, but by his work. May my life reflect his character in the embrace of his grace!

Someone recently sent me the link for this...move over Age of Empires! It's a funny concept, but definitely speaks to peoples poor and somewhat cynical perceptions of the church, particularly the mega church. Got a laugh out of it though! 

A good friend recently sent me this article by Donald Miller about the gospel and Jesus. My friend and I talked about this concept a while back, about the pursuit of a relationship with Jesus versus the knowledge of what it means to be a Christian. I feel like I know what it means to be a "good Christian" yet so often lack the relational sensitivity of what it means to be in love and in relationship with Jesus Christ, of being a follower of Jesus.

Out of our meeting, he gave me a reading plan for reading through the entire gospel letters (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) in a year. Not a difficult task as far as the amount of dialy reading, but one that has been beneficial in trying to get a better grasp of the God/man/savior Jesus. I still know what it means to be a "good Christian", but slowly I feel like my heart is turning towards being a follower and lover of Jesus. I want to honor him, and I want to know him, and be known by him. And as I do that, I feel like I really am beginning to be changed. It has been said so many times, by many people, even me that the goal is a relationship, not religion, yet to practice that is so much better. In the words of the Apostle Paul, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead." Phil 3:10-11 (italics mine)

Grace and Peace