New Year's Implementations

res·o·lu·tion: The state or quality of being resolute; firm determination.

im ple·men·ta tion: To put into practical effect; carry out.

I prefer implementations, that way when I don’t accomplish them, then it means that I just haven’t implemented them yet.

New Year’s Implementations:

In 2006, I desire . . .

1. more time spent talking to God than about Him.
2. more understanding and reflection than assumptions and presumptions
3. less assuming that change is always progress.
4. a deep yearning for the way things should be and longing for when they will
5. me preaching less psychology and more theology
6. less of me aiming at relevance and more of me aiming at obedience
7. to present The Gospel “distinct from my own ideas.” – (Lewis 1945).
8. to live within the moment and not trying to revive the past.
9. to rent less movies and read more old books.
10. to fear God more, and fear man less
11. to risk hearing God more, not just assume it’s my own thoughts.
12. to voice my convictions, even if it make everyone uncomfortable – including me.
13. to quit eating like I was still in high school and playing football.
14. more time calling friends and less time wishing I did
15. to create visible, tangible, and positive changes in the lives of people I don’t know
16. a life that looks more like John the Baptist, you know, less civilized.

Happy New Year!

To You and Yours

Such a great Story.

A Good Day Ahead

Image #1: Ceramic Tile. Stayed up all night. Again. 3rd times a charm. Finished. (Need to grout tomorrow.)

Image #2: My new best friend.

Image #3: My front yard. Snow Day! 4 inches.

It's 7:30am. Good night.

"No. No. I got this one"

I have recently been reminded about the most often recurring sin in the old testament. The sin of forgetfullness. I find it interesting that when I heard this I actually said to myself, "is it a sin to forget?", followed by a quick "of course, forget God? That is definitely a sin. "

Then I would go on to remember, that God was constantly telling the Isrealites, "Remember me!" He started the prayer shawls with tassells tied in knots to remind them of God throughtout the day (Rob Bell) and then He also sent prophets to declare His word and then commanded that it be written down. And then their is the feast of booths that celebrated forgiveness and mercy and reminded generation after generation of God's goodness.

It's sad to me to think that I still forget. I go all day and then pray at a meal and realize, the one that created and supplies life, the one that vocationally serve, sometimes gets forgotten.

It seems to me that maybe this would be a good reason to pray without ceasing. Ceasing at prayer causes us to forget. Which means that everything we do, whatever it is, should recieve prayer. (Read: My X min "quiet time" becomes an excuse to not pray about everything) Maybe the goal should be constant prayer.

Funny. The alternative to not praying without ceasing, it subtly telling God "this one's mine."

"I wonder" - by Susie Moore

Is a Super 8 better than a Motel 6? I think all hotels should come with a number in their name as a type of rating. Like instead of a Holiday Inn it could be a Holiday 10. Just doing my part to make things a little easier.


Susie

I wish I was as funny as Susie.

jason

Mr. Fullen Goes To Washington...

And St. Louis and Dallas and Houston and finally back to Washington. Rachel and I went to Texas this past weekend to attend a funeral of a close friend. I secured our tickets at a better rate by flying out of Washington D.C., Reagan National Airport. This plan would have worked well had we not had an hour delay at Reagan that perfectly allowed us to miss our connecting flight in St. Louis which in-turn caused us to route though Dallas - just in time to miss our luggage and the expired rental car when we landed in Houston. Yep. It was frustrating.

It's funny how things have to work together in order to work well and sometimes work at all. I recently have been contemplating on the fact that God's Glory and my happiness work together. This may not seem possible because there is such a distance sometimes between how we feel and how we "should feel." I think it may be necessary to remind myself from time to time that thoughts always come before feelings. We think therefore we feel.

Colosians 2:6-7 says it best:

6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in
him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught,
and overflowing with thankfulness.

We can only feel "right" when we are thinking right. I love the phrase "overflowing with thankfulness." This feeling of thankfulness can only come when we are thinking the way we are commanded.

Romans 12:2 reminds us . . .

2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what
God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

An Original Thought -Or "I Don't Know Who I Lifted This One From"

Man what a weekend! We hosted THE HUNT last night and it was incredible. We had such a fun time watching the students get so excited. The airport scene came off without a hitch and looked like something you would see at Universal Studios. The shirts looked awesome on everyone and it was such a blast! There were a few minor glitches, but an overall fantastic event!

Well, I've been in Maryland now going on two months. I have been making my adjustment pretty good. Other than getting teary-eyed passing by some Texas Longhorn cattle and hanging out for a couple of hours at the grocery store, staring at the Texas Toast, I'm doing just fine. I was driving around today and was in awe of the beautiful lanscape of the seasons. I was looking at only what I thought came in pictures, not actually existed! It was great to be driving around the back roads and feeling like I was on a beautiful scenic vacation.

Now that I have had sometime to reflect on moving and catch up to the fact that I have actually moved, I have had a couple of original thoughts. (Or at least, I have not consciously lifted them.)

I was moving in last week and encountered the thought about time and the cliche` "Time heals all wounds." I thought about it a while and I am not so sure it does. I don't think time heals our wounds, I think time only allows us an opportunity to do something with our wounds. If we are not deliberate, time will only allow us the flexibility to forget our wounds and busy our lives with something else, not heal them.

Now I do understand that I am splitting hairs, but the idea is this. Time doesn't heal wounds, God does. Only when we choose to allow Him to deal with us and change our perspective and grow our faith, does healing occur. Rach and I had a coversation tonight thinking another thought along the same line. We came to the conclusion that the only time our faith grows is when we doubt our faith. Let me explain. I think the process would go something like this: We have a thought of doubting God, something like "I don't think God has MY best interest in mind, so I will help Him out. Then we "leave our faith" momentarily in search of something else, only to find that their is nothing out there that can come close to Christ! So we return to our faith again this time stronger than when we left.

So what does this mean? I think maybe wounds force doubt, and provide opportunities for growth or rejection to God. This means that wounds that occur due to our sin, or someone else's sin, still have the potential to draw us nearer to Christ.

There still needs to be some thought on the fact that some people do leave their faith in Christ. Although, I think that a little light on the subject would most likely reveal that this person didn't leave a faith, they only left a religion. They certainly didn't find something better than Christ, only something they felt they could earn.
***

It's crazy how much time one can spend thinking while living in that wonderful world of Tetris called Moving! Followed by a new pass-time with all your stuff in boxes called Memory! You would think at 30 I wouldn't still be playing Tetris and Memory.

Shallow and Vain

I'm posting pictures of the jeep after I painted the fenders. It looks so good! I know it's shallow, but I'm not putting hope in it. Just saying that it looks good!

Rach and I are doing great! We have everything in boxes, but we are slowly making our way through the junk to get everything put up.

So far I have seen 3 squirrels and 1 groundhog in the backyard. I think we are going to name the groundhog. It looks like he may visit often. There's a feeder where he came to eat.

Tomorrow is Elevate. We are doing a skit that I wrote. I hope no one can tell I wrote it.

Home Again!

Were home again! We moved in today!

signs of the times

It seems to me that these are interesting times. It seems as though God is doing some big things across the world that requires everyone to watch and weigh-in on life. In light of what God is doing around the world - He is certainly doing things in each of our lives individually.

Some of which we are called to embrace trying times, others where we are called to rest in His embrace.

I'm thinking of two people depicting each call. I was praying this morning and thought of something: Believers are given faith as a gift. Romans 12:3 says "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." This sure makes me greatful for the faith I have been given, and thankful for the wife, friends and family that I have been able to share this gift with.

It's funny, I watched The Interpreter a couple nights ago and was overwhelmed at the thought of being born an American and living in a free society. Today, I'm more overwhelmed at having been given the gift of faith, and the community that graciously came with it!

("Can you tell I miss my Texas friends?")

I found this site and thought it was interesting. If you dig a little you can find some really interesting blogs. I found several links from here.

inevitable?

It's completely mind boggling to think about loosing everything including your family all at once. I watch this kind of thing (which seems to be often) and can't help but think of the suffering that is everywhere. I keep hearing little phrases people refer to the different events, hurricane or earthquake and in some way acknowledging God. For instance, I heard today that this earthquake is "of biblical proportions." It seems everytime I turn on the TV there is some reference to God, Christ or the church. My pastor said today that if we respond to the needs of today the way we should, then this could be the church's finest hour.

On the day that I have to face what this woman is facing, (in whatever form) I hope and pray that my faith is equal to the suffering. The more I read the Scripture and the more I live this life observing hurricanes and earthquakes from afar, the more I realize one it won't be from so far. I hope it's my finest hour.

Hebrews 2:9-11

I think the comments section is fixed now.

life-through-death

Last January, several college students and myself were returning from the Passion conference in Tennessee. We started an incredible conversation about life and death and specifically what scripture revealed about it.

It's very interestesting to learn from Scripture the incredible sayings of Christ. For instance, "greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Oh, and then he goes and shows it by dying on the cross. He also says things like, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." Wow! What crazy words!

So anyway we are having this conversation about living for Christ and we come to the conclusion that every indication in Scripture describes our lives more accurately as "dying in Christ." Susie and Jennifer were both particpating in the conversation, along with Jonathan and Heather and a few others. We chased a few rabbits with this, but the conclusion was the same. Christ is glorified when we 'rest' in Him. This "life-through-death" union with Christ is crazy! However, it sure matches the words of Christ and His walk.

Read what I read from a guy named Ferguson, in the book The Holy Spirit, on the topic:

"In terms of sanctification, Paul argues, we are given over to death, external moritification, so that there may be the manifestation of Christ, i.e. the manifestation of his life in us. We carry around the dying of Jesus in our very bodeis, so that the life of Jesus may also be visible in them. Conformity to the risen Christ is possible only when conformity to the crucified Christ is present."

Read John 12:24 - it becomes even more alive.

Susie sheds further light on this in her last Sunday post.

"Canterbury Tale" #1

Rach and I had an incredible summer visiting England. I have been so busy since we summer I haven't really had a good opportunity to share much about our trip. I thought I would take the opportunity to reflect on one of the first memories of the trip. As time goes on I will throw in a "Canturbury Tale" of my own.

Tues. June, 28th, 2005.
We reached Gatwick about 7:00 am or so and made our way through customs and baggage claim. We gathered in a large group and took turns watching luggage for the group, so others could take a restroom break.

I disctinctly remember the most peculiar sight. I was standing in front of a news store, watching a pile of luggage when I noticed a news-stand across the room. At the corner of one end of the stand, stood a man holding a sign reading: "Mrs. Freedman." On the other stood a man holding a sign reading: "Mr. Bond."

Now, what was the big deal? Well, you have to understand my point of view. I was completely observing everything in sight, looking to read everything, both cliche' and original. So when I see the newstand and the two signs I can only think of the symbolism.

The news-stand represented a megaphone amplifing everything the world has to offer and then truth on either side it. Freedom on one side and bondage on the other. It was poetic and would have made a great picture.

Where's the camera when you need it?

Quantum Leap.

I used to watch the show Quantum Leap when I was in high school. I can remember watching the end of the show and anticpating who's shoes Scott Bakula would leap into. I have always wondered what that would feel like.

Well, now I think I know.

New state. New town. New job. Not exactly settled in yet. Things are good though. I finished all my school work on Saturday and I am now allowed a little free time!

I am looking forward to some good reading (non-assigned), some movies, and some creative student ministry thinking.

Maryland to Texas. Nice! It's going to be great here. Lots of changes, but some great people! - Just like Texas!

Rach and I are in the process of buying a house. We will hopefully move in about 3 weeks!

Update more later!