A Unique Taste

Question for ya, what do chicken nuggets, peanut butter, and shredded cheddar cheese have in common?  The answer, dinner with my 6 year old nephew.  I had heard rumors about this bizarre taste, but could not believe it  until I experienced it for myself last night.  It didn't take long and I had to taste this fine cuisine for myself.  As I chewed up my chicken nugget, covered in peanut butter and sprinkled in cheese my nephew Connor's grin grew from ear to ear.  Through his teethy grin, his words were of pure delight.  "Yeah you like that don't you Uncle Travis, you are going to go home at tell Aunt Jenny that you ate something delicious tonight"

This great night brought me to a part of my memory that I had all but forgotten.  A time in my life where such creations were an everyday experience.  I recall eating peanut butter and catchup sandwiches, and a pickle juice popsicle.  Looking back nothing sounds more disgusting, but there was a day  when I would dive into some concoction that I was sure would be the next greatest taste, and no one could tell me otherwise.

For Conner the peanut butter, cheesy chicken nuggets were great all by themselves, but where his passion really was, was not to just enjoy them by himself but to share this delicacy with someone else, and win a convert to this unique taste.

For many of us who claim to be followers of Christ we have lost this desire.  Psalm 34:8a says"Taste and see that the Lord is good" and we have done that.  We have seen His blessings, His comfort, His provision, and most importantly the salvation that He has provided, however we have become content to keep these treasures to ourselves.

Maybe it is because we have tried to share it, but have been told no by to many people.  We have become discouraged, and have given up.  Or maybe we think it just sound to crazy and no one else would believe us when we speak to how good God is.  Or maybe we have been tasting for so long, we have allowed the sweetness of God to become as bland and tasteless as a rice cake.

My thought for the day is let us remember the great taste of God, that we once enjoyed and savored each precious bite.  Let us become passionate again to share His goodness with everyone we meet.  Let us not become weary when others think we are crazy, when others are not convinced of His goodness.  Let us go today, and tell someone "that we have tasted something so delicious" then offer them a bite.

Just a Follow Up.

I would like to thank you for the thoughts I received after yesterday's post.  Great stuff.  I do however sense a little confusion.  In  no way am I saying we should do away with the church, or am I speaking down to the church.  I believe the church has been established by God for His purpose, and my only thought is to stay in constant evaluation of the actions of today's church to ensure we are truly doing all we can to be most successful at fulfilling God's purpose.

Sometimes when God brings a thought to your mind it pushes you to great lengths.  It can cause a shift in personal philosophy and ideas drawing you closer to God and His will.  Some because you realize you were wrong about some stuff, others because you realize you were right.  My goal is to maintain within the boundaries of God's Holy Word, (since His Word never changes) and do all I can to reach the lost. 

I would like to specifically respond to the comment I received which was stated as follows "as what you knew as fact yesterday, you question today."  May we not forget that Saul of Tarsus believed he was doing all he could to serve God, by destroying the name of Jesus.  It was only after the Holy Spirit opened his eyes that he saw the opposite to be true.  He went on to be the number one church planting missionary of all time (the Apostle Paul).  What he knew yesterday to be fact, he questioned today.  May we never believe we have it all figured out, and that we have all the answers. 

God is living and active in our lives, His word is living and active in our lives if we read it.  I do not believe it is wrong to question anything, it is the questions that drive us to deepen our relationships, and stay true to the Word.  Let us as Believers constantly strive to understand the will of God, and wrestle with His ways which are high above our ways.

On a much lighter note, I aim to lighten things up tomorrow on "Then They Will Know."  Not that I oppose or shy away from deep theological thoughts, but I just feel like it!  So for now I say farewell, and focus on the Savior!

I hope to see you in church

What an interesting day it has been.  Many discussions on a variety of topics, with a variety of view points that have left a jumble of thoughts bouncing around my somewhat hollow head.  Today I would like to lay something on you, that I would greatly appreciate your thoughts and insights. 

I have mentioned this before and will bring it up many more times in the future.  I am surrounded in youth ministry.  Jr. and Sr. High youth and how to better reach them with the message of salvation is a passion in my life.  Through this passion it has placed me in a culture that I really don't understand, and in many meetings with other in my shoes who understand as little as I. 

There are many views, ideas and strategies about how to "plug youth into the local church."  This is the topic of so many of my conversations, that I could wright a book simply titled "We Don't Really Have a Clue"   You see everyone says they want to get teens into church, but what they really mean is they want to get teens into their church. 

I have been wrestling with this idea of what church is, and what it is supposed to be.  There is a ridiculously large population of teens that have only set foot in church when their dad got married for the third time, or grandpa died.  We have a tendency to sit in our cozy religious buildings waiting for these youth who have no knowledge of God and no desire for God to come strolling in our doors and fill our pews with an active "youth program."

Every so often an organization rises up with the goal of reaching the lost with the saving message of the cross, a desire to mentor and disciple teens, and train them to live out their belief's through their actions.   All of a sudden it is grab the pitch fork and torches to go slay the beast that is "stealing" the teens from our churches!

My thought for today is simple, and allow me to phrase it as a question.  What and who is the "church?"  Is it not the body of Christ?  So if an organization is reaching the lost, and making disciples, isn't it part of the church?  And if it is part of the church, how in the world are they "stealing" youth from the church?

Let me encourage you to wrestle with this as I have been. Let me warn you it just may push us to where we are no longer comfortable, but I think it is worth some long hours pondering, and seeking out the Holy Spirit's guidance.  Is "the Church" our individual local churches, or is it the the Body of Christ as a whole?  And if it is the body as a whole, how far are you willing to go to grow "the Church?"

They Said What?

Music has always been a big part of my life.  I often wonder why God chose not to bless me with any musical talent.  But those of us who can't rock still like to listen!  Let me take you down memory lane today, to a time when I was still sporting the mullet, L.A Gear, and some Bugle Boy Jeans.  Petra "Beyond Belief" was the greatest christian rock  you could get on cassette, and I had the chance to go see them in concert at a youth event. 

I had been riding my bike with the neighbor hood gang, telling them about how "rad" this was going to be and to my surprise none of them even knew who Petra was.  Some of you youngsters are thinking that right now.  Christian Rock was just starting to gain some ground in the music industry, and Petra was leading the way.  Some of the best guitar solo's you ever heard from the legendary Bob Hartman.  John Schlitt on lead vocals had a sound all of his own, Louie Weever and his Micky Mouse shirts on the drums, Ronny Cates on bass, and John Lawry on the keys, bringing some crazy techno sounds.

I said follow me to my fellow Huffy bikers and we rode as fast as we could to my house.  I quickly found my favorite Petra tape dropped in the stereo and cranked it.  They were blown away that a christian group could rock so hard.  A great chance to outreach to my un-saved friends through screaming guitars and powerful lyrics!

Lately I hear a disturbing trend in christian rock.  I still hear the screaming guitars, but it is hard to find the powerful lyrics.  The trend to tone down the message is taking over the industry, like the Swine Flu is hitting our schools.  An infectious disease that carries the power to kill, what so many have worked so hard to obtain.  Bands like Petra, Whitecross, and D.C. Talk paved the way for christian artist today.  They faced hatred, from Christians who thought there music was "of the devil" in order to spread the gospel to an unreached generation.  


For these legends of rock and hip hop it was all about the lyrics, it was all about the message.  The guitars and sweet drum beats where just the tool to get the message out.  There are some great bands today, some great lyrics.  However I listen to many songs and I find myself trying to make up a godly message when really I don't think there is one.

Let's not give in to the trend of following cool.  The idea that if we tame the lyrics down we won't offend.  These thoughts do NO good.  We have to stick to the message!  The Gospel!

Romans 1:16 "I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes."

"Moti, Moti, got A LOT of Motiavtion"

What motivates us?  What deflates us?  It is funny that often times the same information can do both, it is all  in our attitude when hearing it.  Information can cause us to sit, depressed and stare at our computer screens thinking "there is just no use"  or it can cause that spark in our soul to explode like you just drank a gallon of high octane jet fuel!

I have one of the greatest privileges in the world.  Each week I am immersed in "youth culture."  I work with Jr. and Sr. High youth, and am pushed to my aging limits of relevance each week.  This morning I was on the phone with one of the local schools and learned that there are approx. 350 students in grades 7-12.  Let me save your head from spinning, yes I live in very rural area.  We do have a stop light in town,  however for activities after 8:00p.m.we are struggling.

As I leaned back in my cozy office chair, stared at a rather large collection of books on my shelf that talk about youth ministry and my guitars in the corners, I thought "What are you doing?"  We are the largest youth ministry in our immediate area and I find myself often patting myself on the back for how "good" things are going. 

However all the "goodness" doesn't even account for 10% of the teens that go to school 3 miles down the road!  So much for "job well done."  When I first came to this eye opening revelation I was a bit thrown back to say the least.  Really things are going good, but is it good enough?  Surely not.

So now presented with this painful percentage I (we) have a choice.  We can let it move in and deflate us.  We can allow thoughts like "the problem is to big", or "I am getting to old for this"  and they will bring us down, and make us completely useless in the battle for the lives of these teens.  Or we can Lace our boots, grab our Bibles and get busy!

Charles Spurgeon said this "Brethren, do something, do something, do something!  While societies and unions make constitutions, let us win souls.  I pray you, be men of action all of you.  Get to work at quit yourselves like men.  Old Suvarov's idea of war in mind:  Forward and strike! No theory!  Attack!  Form a column!  Charge bayonets!  Plunge into the center of the enemy!  Our one aim is to win souls' and this we are not to talk about, but do in the power of God!"

Yeah that should motivate us!  Don't be deflated by the size of the battle!  Instead, let out  your war cry, form columns, charge bayonets, and plunge into the battle!  Time to stop patting ourselves on the back and start gaining some ground!

Rock On

Ever since I was "knee high to a grasshopper" I have dreamed of playing lead guitar in a rocking band. The big hair, spandex, bright lights, huge stage, and a face melting guitar riff, I was going to have it all! I always knew once I got a guitar destiny would take over and it would all just happen. Then finally several years ago a friend gave me an old acoustic that he had. He tuned it up, played it for me to show me it was good, man it sounded great! I was pumped! I got home, took it out of the case, wailed away for about a half hour.

Well I am sure you know when you rock like skillet on an old nylon string acoustic it doesn't take long before it is completely out of tune, and sounding like a cat with it's tail stuck in the door. Not that is sounded good when I was playing, but at least it was in tune. The passion quickly got consumed by the real world and now it sits in my office in the corner leaning against a file cabinet.

Recently I realized my downfall. Big hair, spandex wearing rockers don't play classical acoustic guitars. What I needed was an electric guitar and of course an amp that I could crank to 11. The passion was back and I was on a quest for the right electric guitar that would make my dream of rocking come true. (right guitar, meaning cheap guitar)

I finally acquired the six string musical machine from a student at church. He had apparently decided to trade his dream of rocking for a video game and $20. Same scenario, back to my office tuned it up, plugged it in, turned it to 11 and the crowd went wild! (at least in my mind). This continued for several days, and quickly turned into once a week, and now it looks nice sitting in it's stand in the other corner of my office. I can play no more then I could with the acoustic, my dream of playing with STRYPER is slipping away each day.

I was driving home last night after closing my office door and saying good night to both guitars which I cannot play and this thought hit me. These two guitars collecting dust, and my dreams of rocking are just like so many Christians. My vision of what my future would be as a rocker, my passion for learning quickly went away once it really started to take work. I mean really, I should take lessons, I should read some books, my fingers will get all calloused. Who's got time for all that?

Our life as a christian can be the same way. We have a vision of what life should look like once we claim to be a follower of Christ. Then we realize that life is still hard, (usually harder) we don't "feel" any closer to God, and we continue to struggle with sin. Our passion for reading the Bible, prayer, and witnessing slowly fade and our relationship with God, gets put in the corner just as my guitars. We look at them from time to time, but they only remind us of how hard it is, and we always think "tomorrow I will start".

Jeremiah 29:13 "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" (NIV) Our relationship with God takes work. A strong life of faith, walking in obedience, a knowledge of Scripture, and a passionate relationship with Jesus don't just happen. We need to seek after it. When we are to busy, we need to seek Him. When we are to tired, we need to seek Him. When life hurts, we need to seek Him.

So maybe today, I will take 10 minutes, plug in the guitar and patiently try to learn some chords. And maybe today, we should all take 10 minutes read our Bibles and pray.

Ta Da, I'm Here!

I will make my introduction short, as I am well aware that most people's love for lengthy reading ranks right up there with getting kicked in the face. Trust me, I am with ya on that. Let me first say thank you and welcome to "Then They Will Know" I will assume that for most of you this will be your only visit, so in that case I will say, thank you and good bye as well.

Let's start with a brief explanation of the title "Then They Will Know." I have recently been doing some reading in the book of Ezekiel (in the Bible). The book of Ezekiel carries a powerful message, one that I hope in time we will break down in more detail. However for now a brief overview will have to do. Ezekiel (a prophet) brings two main messages to the people. The first being Judgment (yikes we don't like that one) and second the promise of restoration (ahh, much better). Throughout the book you will find this phrase "Then they will know that I am the Lord"

What sparked in my little mind when I read this is the great lengths God will go to for people to know that He is Lord. Looking at our society today, I see a great need for people to Know that God is Lord. My motive, goal, or hope for this blog is to pass on various insights, thoughts, even the occasional witty story that will help us all to know that God is Lord, and we should live accordingly.

I shall conclude this intro, as I am sure I am the only one still reading this. Please pop in from time to time, drop a comment and share your own insight. I ask that you give me a day or two to get the hang of this whole "blogging thing." Well till next time, I'm out!