Challenge 2008 for WEFC

We are headed to challenge tomorrow. There is a blog set up for parents and people that are praying for those headed to challenge. You can find it at www.wefcchallenge.blogspot.com.

We will post things there all week. My blog will be silent.

Have a good one...

-Pastor Chris.

Middle School Camp.

We are at Middle School camp and having a great time. God is good and continues to teach our students truths from his word. There are 27 of us here and enjoying his creation.

I'm excited for challenge which starts on Friday...

Attention now turned...

I am done speaking at Hidden Acres and am enjoying family in Northwest Iowa. I am looking forward to driving down to Southern Missouri on Monday to connect with our middle school students from West Evangelical Free Church. We are going to Roach Missouri for student life camp. I am excited to see what God will do in each of our students' lives. I am bummed that I don't get to be on the bus with them, but I have to come back early so that I can catch the bus out to Salt Lake City, Utah on Friday.

God is good and he has given us good travels so far. Isaiah is holding up well and appears to enjoy traveling. Sometimes he is grumpy in his car seat, but for the most part, he enjoys it. Cassie is enjoying traveling, but we also miss Wichita. We miss the people, the house, our neighbors. But we'll be back soon.

God did some amazing things at camp. He worked in kids hearts; of those that knew Christ and of those that didn't know Christ. It was cool to be a part of.

Salvation is...

Salvation is when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and we are saved. This is the simple gospel message that I gave last night. God revealed himself in crazy ways to campers and counselors and I am excited to see what will happen in the next twenty four hours as campers continue to come to the understanding that the God of the universe loves them enough that he would send his one and ONLY son to this world to die for the sin of the people that continually walk away from him.

Isaiah was up on stage with me last night. For me to give my son for a group of people that were dying from a disease would be incredibly painful and I experienced just a tinge of that pain last night as I talked through a situation where people were sick and the only way that they could all get better is if my son died. I wouldn't let it happen.

But God did. And I have no doubt that there was pain involved. It certainly didn't feel good to have his son here on this sinful earth and then to have him killed by sinful people so that those same sinful people could be in a relationship with him. But he made that way so that I can know him and be in relationship with him.

God is at work at camp. He is revealing himself again and again in the presence of camp staff, counselors, campers, and myself. What an amazing privilege to be a tool for the God of the universe who created me to do good works for him after the point of my salvation.

Let there be humility as I serve you. Work in spite of my weaknesses. Amen.

Reality is...

Tonight, I am giving a message on Salvation. The title of the message is "reality is..." and really the reality is that we cannot be close to the God of the universe no matter how hard we try and no matter how much we want to be. It is by grace that we are saved through faith and it is not of ourselves but it is a gift of God, not of works so that no one can boast. We can't do anything to earn our salvation because when we do try and do that on our own, we fail miserably. One of the things that I enjoy most about salvation is that God's power is at work in me in crazy ways and he is my strength and my salvation.

Amen.

At Camp- Tuesday Morning...

Well, Cassie and I are here...At Hidden Acres. I spoke on Monday morning and hung out with my family the rest of the day. I continue to remember why i love camp. There is an energy that is here, something that happens during a week of camp because of relationships that are being developed. God, in his mercy, allows connection to take place between counselors and campers which is so cool to watch happen. I get the tremendous privilege of speaking to middle school (Jr. Highers as they call themselves here) from God's word each morning. this morning, we are discussing our problem...The problem of sin. Basically, in a nutshell, I am talking through what confession, repentance, and forgiveness looks like. I'm pretty excited. That happens in about 1 hour.

Hope everyone is doing well...More later...

God, give me strength, your words, and grace this week. Speak in spite of me. Amen.

Job and Big Questions.

Today, at McKenzie's funeral, Ken talked about Job and the four chapters where God gives Job his "hearing." As Ken talked, I realized that the questions that I have regarding God and his power are simply the wrong questions. The way to respond to this type of event is simply to cling to truth. You know, it's funny because I say that phrase all the time. CLING TO TRUTH...But do I do it? Do I actually cling to who the God of the universe is, all the time? Well, no, I really don't. I wish that I could. I want to.

I'm not worthy to ask God such questions. I am man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the glory of the Lord almighty and as Isaiah says this, he realizes that the truth of God outweighs all of the questions in his mind.

Thank you God for being who you are. Help me to CLING TO TRUTH in all of it's simplicity and complexity.

Amen.

At Camp.

Sunrises that take my breath away. Sunsets that make me want it to last forever. Water fun with campers... Deep relationships with other counselors. Seeing God work in phenomenal ways through speakers, devotions, relationships, and nature...

These are only some of the reasons that I love camp. Hidden Acres Christian Center is really the place that God called me to ministry. It has a place in my heart that gets me excited when I think about it. So this next week is somewhat of a dream come true for me. Growing up and during my counseling years, I always admired and respected the teachers that were at camp. They were men of God that cared deeply about students and counselors. This next week, I get the opportunity to speak to Jr. High Students at Hidden Acres. My wife gets to come with me along with Isaiah and man, I AM PUMPED!

Bring on the hotdogs. Bring on the Capture the Flag...It's camp time!

By the way, this next three weeks, I'll be at Hidden Acres, and then Southern Missouri, and then Salt Lake City! Traveling the globe....

God give me your strength, your passion, your energy as I do this next three weeks!

The Problem of Pain

God is All good. God is All knowing. God is All powerful. If I make these assumptions, which are not really assumptions but are based on the word of God which is complete truth, then I must wrestle with a question that many atheists will ask...Why then, is there pain in the world that we live in? Either God is not All powerful and cannot take care of pain, or God is not All good and can stand evil. That's the argument. And yet, I wonder if that is the only way of explaining this problem of pain.

I think I have it deeply engrained in me that bad things happen, not because of who God is, but because of who I am. That's not to say that all of the bad things that happen in this world happen because of ME but they do happen because of who humanity is. God didn't create me as a robot. He didn't create me so that he could micromanage me. In fact, he created me to make a choice whether or not I wanted a relationship with my creator. In Genesis 1, we find this incredible creation account where God breathes life into humanity. Then humanity chooses against the relationship that the God of the universe was offering. And after that, everything is messed up. It's not because of who God is that evil is the world, that pain owns us, that we are messed up inept people. It's because of the sinful nature that I am born with. Sin taints everything. It messes everything up. Not just my own life, but everything around me.

God cannot stand sin. He cannot tolerate it. But he is also not a micromanager. He could be. Has the power to be. But he has offered a process in which the relationship with him can be restored and mended and this is where his Son, Jesus Christ comes in. Interesting to me that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost...Humanity...sinful messed up people...that he came to seek and save.

God ultimately will solve the problem of pain...In his time, in his way, and it will solve EVERYTHING! I look forward to that day.

Father, teach me your word as i seek to understand how you created me for a purpose and how my sinful nature desires to thwart that purpose.

Amen.