Dios es tan bueno!!

Sometimes, I think I've got things kinda rough. I struggle with ministry and with my chruch and some frustrations, but then I have some major wake-up calls to remind me that God has spared me many things in His amazing grace. As some of you know, I'm in a group counseling class this week. We spend time talking about all kinds of issues in our lives, while we are actually getting group counseling (which is phenomenal and I think everyone should at least try their hand at it once). I saw that not one other guy in my class had a good relationship with their father. There was a girl who had been molested, raped, and otherwise mistreated, a girl whose family was in shambles, and other people with various struggles. I found myself feeling almost guilty for not experiencing the same kind of pain that they had. I felt guilty that God had spared me so much. But wait a minute, GUILT SUCKS! It usually involves in some way not humbly accepting what God has given you, whether it be forgiveness (this is a big one), a good family, the means to live relatively comfortably, take your pick.

How about ourselves. Do we thank God for making us the people we are? I listened to Greg Speck speak at Moody and he was talking about self-esteem and our relationship with God. He challenged us to go home, look in the mirror, and thank God for making us the person that we are! That was an intense thought. We spend so much time complaining about the way we are, or just asking God to change it (which, don't get me wrong, definitely has its place), but how often do we thank God for making us the people we are? I know that I don't do it enough, though I have several times since I listened to Greg, and it's incredible. The gift of our lives, the one that is often not remembered. So DO IT!

I walked out of class, and after talking with some friends I called my dad to thank him for being there for me, and for being a good dad. I love my dad and have a great relationship with him, and that's something to be thankful for. Here's my second didactic statement in one blog, if you have a good relationship with your parents, call and thank them for it. I'm guessing that with how often this relationship gets screwed up, it must be hard to even pull of relatively right. This is starting to sound like a sermon.

On that note, I'll quit before I come up with a third command for you all (well, I think maybe 2 or 3 people read this). Enjoy your day, your God, and your life!

An interesting meeting

Well, this Thursday night was one interesting meeting at West Hills. 30 of our members had filled out a survey to assess where our church is at on 8 different characteristics of Natural Church Development. An outsider came to give us the results and discuss what they showed. He started out by saying "This is really hard. I've never had to do a meeting like this." What he meant was, he'd never seen a church score so low across the boards. He said if your church average was 35 out of 100, he recommends closing down the church and doing a replant. Our average score was 28.5 . This came as no great surprise to me. Actually it, somewhat did, because I didn't know that the member of our church actually did realize the state of things.

Some people were relieved, some surprised, and some were crushed. I was...there. I'm not sure what I was. About a million thoughts went through my mind. Are we going under? Should we? Is our church doing any good for the kingdom by keeping their doors open? Am I doing any good by keeping people at this church?

What's the problem? Well, leave it to me to be reductionistic, but it seems like nobody cares. Nobody cares about the right thing at least. We care that there is plenty of food, hot dogs, and crap after the service, but fail to convey the truths of God's Word. We look out for ourselves, but aren't affecting the community one ounce. There's no sense of what the church is supposed to be, no passion for God (at least anything that's producing noticeable fruit), and nobody who's willing to lead others toward becoming God's chosen instrument to reach the world. So what's my place in all of this?

I don't trust God...

I almost choked and fell off of my chair as I heard those words in a class of mine at Trinity. I felt really uncomfortable for a few minutes as I listened to others who shared the same sentiments. I felt as though I needed to defend God and His character. Then I remembered that He's pretty good at doing that on His own. As I listened to the pain of others, I found myself feeling a bit guilty, because I've never even been close to the kind of pain that they are going through. My mind was going nuts as I experienced about a billion emotions at once.

So where did I end up? Grateful to God for His grace for one. I finally came to the realization that maybe many Christians don't trust God. What don't they trust? They don't trust that He'll keep them safe, that He'll protect them from pain and give them a life that at least seems to have some measure of happiness. And you know what? They shouldn't! I think that we should have absolute faith that God will do everything He has promised, but we need to make sure we know what God has promised and what He hasn't. When people confuse this, they see God as untrustworthy and unreliable. Would you trust me if I didn't give you a million dollars? Of course you would, because I would never promise to do that. However, if I fell short on all of my promises, of course you wouldn't trust me!

So what has God promised? I heard people saying "I know God has a plan for me and this is part of it." Time out. Where are you pulling that from? Does God ordain every detail of our lives? I really don't think so, however, I would be open to anyone's comments on this matter. I think God has a plan to redeem the world through His son, and we can count on that. I think that if we continue to seek God and keep Him at the forefront of our lives, that He will work all things together for our good (Romans 8), but maybe that's just in the form of trials that will develop our character. Does God cause everything bad that happens in this world because it's part of His plan? I think not. Does He use it to refine us? Absolutely! However, I'm interested to hear what you all think...