Last week at Bethel, we focused on sexuality in the chapel messages, and I thought that I would share some or the message material with you along with a few of my opinions mixed in.

The Walterhouses shared their story with us, which involved his addiction to porn for almost 20 years starting at age 14, and carrying through his entire training to be a pastor and his pastorship until he was caught. No one knew. . . . . not his wife. . . . . not his “accountability” partner. . . . no one.  These are some lies that he believe that kept him in bondage:

1. I’m the only person struggling with this sin - now he knew others were dealing with it, but not as bad as him, and wasn’t it supposed to go away after marriage – that’s what other people had told him. . . . what was wrong with him??

2. Everyone struggles with this sin (Lie of rationalization/justification) – in other words, when he heard his discipleship leader make a comment about “just because he is on a diet [i.e., he is married] doesn’t mean he can’t look at the menu” – he figured that this is just a man’s cross to bare, and that all men are dealing with it, so it is really not that big a deal.

3. I’m not hurting anyone else (Lie of denial) – this is just affecting me, noone else is getting hurt. Side not here from me – first of all, “you bring you into every relationship, thus, if you are affected then all of your relationships are affected!” Second, you only have a limited amount of passion and desire, and if you are using up some or most of it on porn, then guess who gets short-changed?. . . . your spouse, your friends, your vocation, etc….

4. I can get victory over this sin (Lie of self-effort) – in other words, if I would just confess it enough, pray about it enough, go to enough church camps, etc…. (his list was fairly long here) . . . then I can kick this thing myself, and noone has to know.

5. I can NEVER get victory over this sin (Lie of hopelessness) – After believing lie #4 and trying as hard as he could many, many times. . . he came to the conclusion that all was hopeless in conquering this. Side note from me: this is not uncommone to see with those struggling with addiction, and it goes something like this. People can maybe envision being strong for a few hours, or a day, but once they start imagining being strong for a week or 2 weeks, a month? – they feel overwhelmed, b/c there is no way they are strong enough for that!! and so they say “screw-it” might as well just give in now. . . .

You know what . . . part of them is right – the state they are in right now, they can’t make it a month, but the secret (that the enemy does not want you to know) is that Day 12 is not as hard as Day 1, and that you are being transformed throughout, so that one day at a time. . . you are getting stronger – sure you will fall, but God is there to keep building you up.

So, keys to victory, according to the Walterhouses:

1. Press in clost to the heart of God – emphasis on the HEART! – and that heart is of love and grace, yes. . . . even for this! He is ready to help and bring you back home!

2. be open with your sexual struggles (or hidden sin) with someone that has bite – in other words confess in a radical way – to people that might leave a mark (i.e., a spouse, an RD, etc…)

3. Call it what it really is. . . . Sin and Lies - and just like any sin, when grown fully leads to death.

One last note from my heart on this:

Deep within each man is a desire to be wanted, and wanted sexually – those images, those pictures. . . you know what they are telling men? “I want you” – “I WANT YOU” – “you don’t have to change, I will except you just the way you are, you don’t have to work to convince me – I am all yours”. That temptation strikes to the core of most men – you take into consideration that men or visually driven, and you have the recipe for a “fall.”

There is so much more to be said on this, but that is it for now – pray for the boys/men and girls/women that are in this addiction right now please – they need all of our help.

Wow- it has been a long month and a half, but I am ready to get back into the swing of blogging again . This semester ends a period of time that might have been one of the most refining times of my life thus far. . . but, we’ll get to that some other time

 I thought about catching you up on everything, but that would take a book, not a blog – plus, I know some of you have been following me on twitter – and greenlockers on twitter too – so, I am just going to start with a top 10 list of things that I have learned in the last month and half:

10. Lasik is a modern day miracle – seriously going from 20/600 to 20/15 over the course of 5 minutes. . . . . . . . come’on that’s just crazy!

9. God’s adventure (i.e., greenLockers) is wilder than I ever could have imagined

8. Not much compares to seeing a “smaller than average” middle school student encouraging his “much larger” peers to not waste schools supplies, but to donate them instead, and he did not know that I was watching

7. I don’t hear anyone talking about parenting in a positive light – about how wonderful it is to be a Dad or a Mom – I plan on changing that a little bit (get ready for . . . . “parenting tips” – coming soon to this blog ). I figured my wife is currently teaching college course called “Parenting” and I teach Child Growth and Development as well as Adolescent Growth and Development – though we ourselves still have a lot to learn, and are NOT perfect by any means!!!! – we also have a lot to share

6. This is one of my favorite pictures of Kya so far – love his Spirit

5. My wife does not get even a 10th of the credit that she deserves. . . – Here is Dane smiling at her during bath time – yeah, he loves her!

4. I am excited about the God’s plan to use the Church (with all of her quirks) to move His kingdom forward. Here are some middle schoolers from GSM cleaning out 800 bins. . . in the rain!

3. The heart of Bethel students continues to impress me – countless students gave up time and effort to FREELY give up parts of their summer for greenLockers

2. Absolutely NOTHING compares to “intentional use of time” and “open communication” when a family is running fully on mission (i.e., the busy, stressful times of the “six days” before the “7th day” rest period) 

1. Blogging and many other “good” things/opportunities are important to me for many reasons, but my family is more important – specifically, being the best husband and father that I can be  – - WILL ALWAYS take precedent over me saving my public face. – here is a picture after Dane’s dedication at church.

A friend of mine, Katie Weakland, who is a botanist shared a devotion with us at our faculty meeting yesterday, and it made a lot of sense to me.

She was discussing how plants that grow on continents (e.g., North America) have a lot of defense mechanisms – like thorns:

as well as many other things – like the poison that Black Walnut trees emit so that no other trees can grow around them. Of course, these are all characteristics that over time. . . have allowed the plant to continue to grow and reproduce (i.e., not get eaten by herbivores), but I wonder if it is worth it?

This is all very fascinating, but the realization is that all of these defense mechanisms take a lot of energy to make. . . energy that could be used to make more seeds, produce bigger fruit, and grow faster.

ISN’T THIS US??. . . . . how much time do we spend on protecting ourselves? – you know, not being authentic, hiding our true selves from others, not loving, not serving, not submitting, seeking control and power in relationships, etc….     – the fact is we are wasting our time and energy . . .

Dr. Weakland went on to say that plants on the islands of Hawaii (and most other islands) are very different.  Since they have not been around nearly as long. . . they have yet to adapt to have some of those defense mechanisms, and instead. . . . you see plants using their full energy in producing beautiful things to their fullest potential (i.e., fruit, flowers, etc…) – in fact she said that the biggest rasberrys in the world grow there, why are they so big?? Because they DON’T HAVE ANY THORNS – they can dedicate all of their energy to producing fruit.

Think about all of the things that we do to produce defense mechanisms to protect ourselves from being hurt or even “eaten” by others  INSTEAD OF USING THAT ENERGY TO PRODUCE FRUIT that we were meant to produce:

love

joy

peace

patience

kindness

goodness

faithfulness

gentleness 

self-control

Let’s all start using our time – our days – our minutes – our strength – our energy – NOT FOR THORNS, but for making the fruit we were created for.

A colleague of mine sent me this video on how those who tend to believe in more pseudoscientific phenomena tend to also call upon others to be more open-minded!?? When in fact, from a philosophical stand point, that seems to be a very weak position. There is also a lot to be digested for the Church as well in this video – Turn your brains on and watch this:

There has sense been informal discussions among some Bethel faculty concerning this video, and so I just wanted to let you in on some of that – if your brain doesn’t hurt too much already

“I’m afraid that I detect some biases in these arguments that seem to be at the root of the issue.

Take a look, for instance, at 2:16.  There is a claim that a lack of (natural) explanation giving rise to a conclusion that an event is supernatural is a contradiction.  To quote the video, “In effect, it is saying that ‘I can’t explain something; therefore, I can explain it.’”  I’m afraid this is false.  What’s being claimed is not that a phenomenon cannot be explained, but that it cannot be explained using natural processes.  Thus, the argument is really, “This process cannot be explained through natural processes; therefore, supernatural processes must be employed.”  There are actually arguments like this made in mathematics:  that a particular system (in our case, an axiomatic system) is not sufficient to answer a particular question, so something outside of that system must be brought in to explain it.

While I can appreciate the argument by the person on the left side (at 0:52), the crux of their argument seems to be bashing the “non-scientific person” because they are not open to natural explanations.  At the same time, isn’t the person on the left falling into the same trap by denying (for instance, at 0:17) the possibility of any supernatural explanations for phenomena, thereby also excluding certain conclusions?  I can accept a scathing rebuke of the group on the right that attributes everything to ghosts (though I think a straw man argument has been set up here), but I think there are more than just the two sides.  We appear to have an excluded middle.  Can we not be open to both natural and supernatural explanations?

In fact, this leads down a very interesting road.  How far does one need to go to exhaust natural explanation before it can no longer be invoked?  The analogous questions in math (in terms of axiomatic systems) have answers.  A lot of work was done in these areas since the 1930s and Goedel’s incompleteness theorem.  I am surprised this is not being asked in the scientific community.  The issue I have is, are these questions even being allowed to be asked?  If not, why not?”

Here is another video about how science and religion can work together (not nearly as heavy!), and fight some of the criticisms of Christianinty hating science:

 http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=48261586648

Here are some of Shane’s thoughts on Jill Briscoe’s second to last session:

Symbol- Dry Bones Ezk 37

Ø  He (God) does not call the equipped, He equips the called.

Ø  We have dry bones (lost people) every where and they are useless.

Ø  When vision, passion, mission leave you, you dry up.

Ø  The call is discipleship, the call is any time, any place, any where.

Ø  Dry disciples are brittle. They no longer have a backbone . . . only have a wish bone.

Ø  When we dry up we get depressed…we lose hope…and we lose confidence…

Ø  There is more depression in America today because they have lost their hope in God. Without hope. . . we all dry up.

Ø  Want to be big. . . . .  Learn to be small

Ø  Courage is doing the right thing frightened.

Ø  Courage waits for your obedience

Ø  You don’t choose where you are going, you don’t choose what gift you will use, you are just obedient. 

Jill touched on a few different things like dry bones or lost people and spiritually dead Christians, being a soldier of Christ, and then on obedience.   Jill said tonight that in our Christian bubbles we can find one of the hardest places to stay fresh, because we have too many spiritual substitutes. 

Jill made the statement that “it’s easier to be friends with Jesus’ friends than with Him…and it doesn’t matter how holy the substitute is. . . . .  it’s not God!” there are so many people out there that don’t know Christ and I thought it was interesting how Jill put spiritually dead Christians in the same category  with  unbelievers. . . . .really. . . . .  what’s the difference???

It takes courage when following God and the Spirit.  Jill told a story about when she felt the Lord calling her to go into this place where a big concert was being held and tell the people about God. She said that first she wanted to pray for courage and as she prayed she said that she still didn’t have courage so the first night she didn’t go in, but she knew that she would have to come back the next night. So she did and she began to do the same thing pray for courage, but as she was praying, she still did not feel courage,  but she heard God asking her  “will you go in for me, WITHOUT  the courage?”  - – - Are we willing to be Bold for Christ and go into places when we don’t have the courage?? are we willing to be OBEDIENT? Jill went on to say that after she had said yes and started in God gave her courage and she went on to lead a man to Christ. See. . . . .  it takes the first step from us. “Courage is doing the right thing frightened.” Take courage even when you are scared because “God does not call the equipped He equips the called.” It’s up to God and His will to show us where we are going to go and what gift we are going to use, not us. We just have to be obedient. . . . . Amen!

Shane is continuing to blog for me, and here are his thoughts from the 3rd session:

 This session Jill used the symbol of water. She told us different ways water was used as a symbol in the Bible.

 - His (God’s) part is to give us soul fulfilling water…our job is to give Him permission!

 - Is your teaching refreshing the people? Is it water?

 - Are you a well watered garden? That people see and want to walk through with you?

 - Without water people cannot survive, the Spirit is like an artesian well.

 - The devil wants to dump a whole lot of muck down our wells.

 - TV/movies – you invite into your living room people that you would never let in your front door.

 - Some of you are totally out of touch with God and you think nobody knows! You have perfected the Jesus smile

 - There is ether self power or God power.

 - no one ever said that all the blessing were just for the people on the front row

  After hearing the story by Jill about when she was exhausted and disconnected,  and a man made a statement about her Jesus Smile that woke her up a bit; I wondered how many of us are like this? How many times have I been like this? Is this YOU?

 To summarize Jill’s message today and using the Symbol of water we need to know this. Gods job, the thing that he is in our lives to do, is to fill us up with “Soul fulfilling water,”  but this requires something from us as well. . . . Our job is to let him in, to open our heart, mind, and soul, and give him permission to pour into us.  When we allow God to pour into us and water our garden of life we are able to refresh others to teach others with the fruits that grow from us.  Are you a well watered garden. . . am I? Or are we like a dried up tumble weed, a skeleton of a living, vibrantly colored bush? Sink your roots deep into the Spirit of God! Be nourished by living water that can only come from him. Don’t let the devil fill up the well that God is pouring into, with muck and garbage! Without water there is no life.

So, in the Fall here at Bethel we have a series of talks over the course of 3 days that we call the Deeper Life Conference. The guest speaker for these days is Jill Briscoe .

I wanted to give some highlights of this journey over the next few days starting with today’s talk:

- There is no such thing as an ordinary day when it comes to the Holy Spirit

- You don’t learn error/lies by studying error/lies, you learn it by studying the Truth

- When you feel overwhelmed remember that you are over-shadowed by the Holy-Spirit, who has overcome all things!

She encouraged us to do an exercise in learning about the Holy Spirit. She said to go through John 16 and make a list of all the “work of the spirit”
1. He is a Counselor
2. He will convince the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgement
3. He is the Spirit of Truth
4. He will guide you into all truth
5. He will tell you about the future
6. He will bring Glory by revealing to you what He receives from Jesus and the Father

The question then I have for all of us. . . Are these things happening in our lives? How would we know??

I know this may be a reminder for you, but it was one that I needed recently – As one is able to determine the health of a tree by the quality of its fruit, so it is with us, we know by the fruit that we are (or are NOT) producing. . . here is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23):

1. Love
2. Joy
3. Peace
4. Patience
5. Kindness
6. Goodness
7. Faithfulness
8. Gentleness
9. Self-control

Fruit happens . . . . . . . let’s make sure it’s the good stuff people!

So, this morning I was facebook chatting with one of my students, Noah. He is on the Pac Rim trip, which is one of the study abroad programs that Bethel College offers each Spring term. Right now they are in China, and I just noticed that he was online this morning, so we struck up a good conversation.  One of the things that I asked him was what was his #1 highlight so far on the trip?

He said that was impossible to answer, but that he has been growing a lot with the “man upstairs.” Of course I knew he was talking about God, but they are not supposed to write anything that concerns God or Jesus because any communication leaving China may be screened. But then the next thing that he said really stuck with me. . . .

“oh and how our struggles shouldn’t be something we should be ashamed of, its a learning experience, that draws us closer to Him”

Far too often I forget that struggles are really growth opportunities disguised as problems.

I have many struggles myself that I rarely admit. Sometimes I think I don’t admit them because then someone else will know that I have them. . . .and be watching me to see if I improve. . . a little something called accountability. Recently; however, I have come to realize that when I withold my struggles from those that are close to me, I am eroding the trust and authenticity that those relationships are founded on . . .AND. . . . destroying the very thing that I was trying to find – true intimacy.

Yes, . . . I know it takes vulnerability to be “real”, and yes. . . . we will get hurt from time to time, but. . . today. . . . my desire to have the FULL life promised to me (John 10:10) is stronger than my fear of taking those risks.

I recently had a Bethel student – who was recalling going through some very difficult times – say that “handling adversity is the measure of a man.”

So, how are we doing men??

When our brothers, sisters, bosses, friends, or wives do something that frustrates us – how do we handle that?

Do we seek first to understand and serve even more before blowing up and trying to “control” the situation?? You know the bible talks about how we are supposed to love our wives like Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25). You know how much crap some people in the global “Church” has done in the name of God – I am talking about horrific things – I mean people have been hurt emotionally, spiritually, even killed in the name of God . . . and you think your person has been doing it to you for a long time – some people have been misusing God’s word for hundreds of years.  but when has Jesus ever said “alright that’s it – no more forgiving. . . you know what. . . . I’m not going to love you anymore, I’m no longer going to serve you, no longer going to listen to your prayers, or give you any my time – you don’t deserve it!”. . . . never!

We don’t deserve that type of grace, and maybe our wives, our bosses, our children, our fathers, our friends, or whomever in our life doesn’t deserve it either. . . . . . . . . . . BUT, how you handle those situations/relationships truly is the MEASURE OF A MAN.

Oh, I have seen it many times in adults too. . . . A man can hide behind childish things like throwing fits, walking out, kicking other people out, not talking anymore, locking people out of rooms, avoiding it, ignoring it, drinking, always blaming the other person, never taking responsibility, being filled with pride, belittling or insulting others. . . even our wives in public!, refusing to listen, etc. . . . . -

The bible says that in our anger we should not sin (Ephesians 4:26-27 ) because it gives the devil a foothold in our lives. . . . so where do you think the devil is going to try and attack you and your life? One place for sure will be through your anger. . . the moments when you are seeking control over the situation or the person, but in reality- by becoming angry and childish . . . you have already turned away from self-control (i.e., a fruit of the Spirit). I know this is difficult – especially when you throw in all the other stresses in our lives that are weighing down on us. This is precisely the reason why how we deal with it is such a great measure. . . .
 

And all of this. . . . will show to our children, our wives (present or future), our grandchildren, our sons-in-law and daughters-in-law, our parents, and our friends what we are really made of. . . . how we handle adversity/conflict/difficult times. . . is the meausre of a man. . . . . . it is difficult, but don’t be passive like Adam in the garden watching Eve eat the fruit without saying anything!!!! that attitude of passivity/just letting things be how they always have been – will forever be one of our greatest temptations men! BE DIFFERENT . . . FIGHT FOR THE STANDARD OF LOVE THAT JESUS CHALLENGED US WITH- Let’s step up. . . let’s stop being little boys. . . and start being the men that God created us to be!! . . . Yes, you CAN get there. . . . . and if you don’t know really where to start – try praying this prayer first:

Father, I know that I have messed up, again, – you know all of the childish things that I do when I don’t feel loved or valued – when the people that I want love from the most don’t give it to me. You know that I have tried to stop doing some of these things from time to time, and it just never seems to work. So, I am just asking with all that I am that you transform me in some way so that when tough stuff comes – I will be able to respond in a way that would make you smile and be proud of me. . . I have no idea how to actually make that happen – I need you to show me – to teach me – please help me find a way Father. . .In Jesus’ name. . . Amen.

So, at 7:30 this morning in prayer chapel at Bethel College, I participated in a little 20 minute, Ash Wednesday ceremony. Let me tell you why. . . and a little more about what it means to me

First some history – where does this all come from anyways?? (Dr. Richard P. Bucher – http://www.orlutheran.com/html/ash.html)

Ash Wednesday, originally called dies cinerum (day of ashes) is mentioned in the earliest copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary, and probably dates from at least the 8th Century. One of the earliest descriptions of Ash Wednesday is found in the writings of the Anglo-Saxon abbot Aelfric (955-1020). In his Lives of the Saints, he writes, “We read in the books both in the Old Law and in the New that the men who repented of their sins bestrewed themselves with ashes and clothed their bodies with sackcloth. Now let us do this little at the beginning of our Lent that we strew ashes upon our heads to signify that we ought to repent of our sins during the Lenten fast.” Aelfric then proceeds to tell the tale of a man who refused to go to church for the ashes and was accidentally killed several days later in a boar hunt! Throughout the Middle Ages ashes were sprinkled on the head, rather than anointed on the forehead as in our day.

As Aelfric suggests, the pouring of ashes on one’s body (and dressing in sackcloth, a very rough material) as an outer manifestation of inner repentance or mourning is an ancient practice. It is mentioned several times in the Old Testament. What is probably the earliest occurrence is found at the very end of the book of Job. Job, having been rebuked by God, confesses, “Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). Other examples are found in 2 Samuel 13:19, Esther 4:1,3, Isaiah 61:3, Jeremiah 6:26, Ezekiel 27:30, and Daniel 9:3. In the New Testament, Jesus alludes to the practice in Matthew 11:21: “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”

 - So, I received the ash cross on my forehead as the leader said to me “From dust you came and to dust you shall return” – (Genesis 3:19) – This is what God said to Adam and Eve after they had eaten the forbidden fruit. I do not have a lot of ancient rituals in my lifestyle, but they can be powerful to partake in.

It is not for show – in fact one of the traditional readings for Ash Weds. includes statements about not being boastful! (Matthew 6:16-18)

If anything it is a public proclamation that I have surrendered my life. In other words, I am telling the world that in order to be who I was created to be – I cannot operate on my own strength, wisdom, or reasoning. . . I have sinned, and though there is great joy in my salvation, sometimes the joy of freedom cannot fully be experienced without reflection on my personal dissappointment, mistakes, weaknesses, and failures. . . . . all the things that, apart from Jesus, hold me captive.

You see. . . sometimes I forget that I am called to a higher standard. I look around and have a sense consciously or unconsciously that I am doing alright – you know. . . . compared to a lot of other people.  I am faithful in marriage, I love my wife and children well, I have integrity at work, I have friends that I care for and pray for, I even have non-christian friends that I care for deeply, I give back to my community, I volunteer, I am slow to anger, I keep my body in shape, yada yada yada. . . . . . it’s easy isn’t it. . . .to compare ourselves to others to see “how we are doing”. . . . . NOT TODAY.

Today is a day to look at the distance I have yet to travel, to be reminded of where I have fallen short – not in the world’s eyes. . . but in God’s eyes.  Today (and really Lent in general) is where I have the opportunity to contemplate soberly what I have done so as to prepare myself to appreciate even more deeply what Jesus has done for me, and the hope that I and the whole world have . . . not in my strength, wisdom, and perseverance. . . but in Christ’s.

Some of the things that we recited this morning were:

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind and strength

We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves

We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ has served us

We have not been true to the mind of Christ

We have grieved your Holy Spirit

- — and then we went on to pray for our forgiveness, for God’s mercy and grace to cleanse us. . .

This cross today on my forehead represents a choice for me. . . I am choosing to be dependent on God and to accept the full life He has for me (John 10:10) over my freedom to be independent. 

In case you forget what this choice looks like – check out 2 Corinthians 6:3-13 – I added the bold for my emphasis today

³ We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us, and no one will find fault with our ministry. ⁴ In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. ⁵ We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. ⁶ We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us,^[a] and by our sincere love. ⁷ We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense. ⁸ We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors. ⁹ We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. ¹⁰ Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.

We were covering some social psychology stuff the other day in General Psychology - specifically, conformity and obedience.  So, . . . . . and I am sure you will all be surprised by this. . . . I decided to use some youtube videos to bring home some of the material.

I first showed them this video on conformity (a little old, but the students always get a kick out of the sweet clothes!), and it gets the students warmed up:)

I then ask for some of their reactions, but we do not spend very much time on it. . . because I am just wanting to lay the foundations for the next video:

I then go through a series of questions that the students respond to – usually in written form first (just because some people want time to collect their thoughts – and feel much more comfortable writing it all out first), and then we end up discussing them after we are all the way through. I give them a couple of minutes after each question to write out their responses . . . . a few more minutes after some of the more difficult ones (i.e., #6).

1. What are your intial reactions to this?
2. Why do you think it is that when Stanley Milgram (before he did the experiment) asked psychologists to predict what percentage of people they thought would go all the way to the lethal level of shock (450 volts) . . . the psychologists predicted only 1/10th of 1% . . . . . .?
3. Migram’s parents were Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. . . how do you think this might of changed his view on Nazis?
4. What do these two videos/experiments tell us about the human race?
5. Do you think you would have gone all the way to the most severe shock if you were the “teacher” in the second video? . . . explain why
6. How do these two videos. . . and especially the second one. . . .relate to our faith. . . what we believe. . . and how we end of up believing certain things about our faith.
7. Define obedience
8. What type of obedience does God want from you?

What ensues then is a great discussion involving class material, personal experiences, and faith. . . . . . . and that combination, . . . . ALWAYS makes me happy. . . . .man! I love what I get to do:)!

First question asked through Facebook to me:

. . . why are you so excited about what you teach? how do you do it? dealing with kids like me…lol marking tests and still having time for your family.

Answer: First of all, I love College students in all of their diversity because they are trying to figure what type of men and women they want to become- and they are starting to get serious about it- -  – I don’t get discouraged at all when I see them have hiccups in their path (whether it is their choice or not) – in fact I really enjoy playing whatever part I can in journeying along with them during those times – That’s what God does for me – - and though I am not God – I’m just doing what I can to love like He loves. . .

I get such a kick out of seeing the “aha!” moments in students’ lives, but what people often forget is that in order to have those moments – there must be times preceding those moments when there was confusion and misuderstanding – so I expect it – it’s just two sides of the same coin. . . . I just love being the one that trys to flip it for them. . . . . . and. . . . I’ll admit. . . . I love to entertain, have fun, and start some fires . . . and teaching in College just seems like such a natural spot for that – -at least for me

As far as family goes. . . a lot of that credit goes to my amazing wife!!! (read some of the posts about here on this blog!). Together. . . . . and that is the key phrase. . . . together, we discuss priorities, time management, scheduling. . . we are far from perfect. . . . . but being commited to communicating well with each other. . . . that has been such a help when it comes to the dillemas surrounding balance in our lives.

Question 2:

What is your favorite childhood memory?

Answer:

This one is easy. . . and it’s actually a conglomeration of multiple events summed up simply as . . laughing at the dinner table with my family . . . we would be eating – discussing the day, and then we would start laughing sooooo hard, and then Jonathan (My older, but not the oldest brother) would not be able to control himself, so he would have to leave the table into the other room. . . .we would all calm down a bit. . . . slowly. . . . but, everytime he would try and return. . . he would just bust out again, which would make the rest of us completely lose control again. . . .oh!. . . . good times!!

TOMORROW – I will give all the details you could have ever wanted on my School recycling project!!! – stay tuned

We have a saying in our house that we often repeat to our children . . . “be grateful, not greedy”. . . and “we share in this family”. . . . can’t quite be sure of how well they are working, but we want the principles to ring true in their lives — Especially, . . . as we are living in such an affluent society. There are other ways that we try and teach our children about giving, serving, appreciation, and sacrifice – - like serving at the rescue mission tomorrow morning, or reading through the World Vision  catalog that we got in the mail a month ago. . . over and over. . . – it is one of the kids’ favorite “books”.

There are many other ways to instill these principles. . . . my point is. . . . it IS worth it to do these things. . . to rehearse these statements to your children, . . .  and to yourself.

I have a former adult student/friend of mine that I have such respect for because of how genuinely he engaged not only my class, but his ownfaith journey. He commented to me one time that through my class he was finding his way back to church. . . .something he had not diligently considered for years – - I never told him, but that might have been one of the best compliments I have EVER received. . . . well, he sent me this video yesterday, and I just think his timing is great . . . . I personally. . . . . can NEVER be reminded enough. . . . .

Ok, so . . . sorry that I have not posted for a couple of days – there has been a lot going on:

yesterday - I spent the whole day with my Block class at Bethel at the Science and industry museum in Chicago.  Now, I forgot my camera, but here are a few pictures that Heather (one of my students) took  – we had a good time

Beyond these pictures – here are few more of my highlights:

1. I got to disect a Cow’s eye for 25 minutes with some of the students. . . . not going to lie. . . pretty amazing – especially the sheer volume of eye juice that was in there!

2. Heard the story and went inside the only German Uboat on American soil – the U505 – it was huge!! The whole thing is indoors, and we went inside for a 20 minute tour that took us back to what happened on the day that it was captured, we got to see the actual torpedo bays that sank 40+ ships, hear some of the music that the soldiers were listening to that day. . . . yes, I know I am a nerd. . . but it was amazing!

3. Saw one of the Ominmax shows. . . . . AMAZING. . . it was about South Africa and the Wild Coast – reminded me that my brother-in-law and sister-in-law are heading over there soon as missionaries (more on that to come)

4. Saw a baby chick hatching from its shell. . . live. . .

5. Got to get to know more of my students better – they are an amazing group of young adults!

 . . . .

Then I made it back to Bethel just in time to start my 6-10pm class that I teach every Tues. night. . . . those students are equally as great! – lots of fun, but I was tired . . . . thankfully I got to go home and see the real highlight of my day – Ang . . . isn’t this a great picture of her that Debbie Mann took a few weeks ago?

Today – I got to participate in a lecture series on social media that Aaron Marshall (the aforementioned brother-in-law) has been giving to the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary over the past few months. He wanted me to explain a little bit about how I use this blog as well as my twitter and facebook accounts as an evangelistic tool. I had so much fun, because here I am in an office with a webcam. . . . where I can see them, and they can see me (free via Skype), and we can talk – as if we were in the same room. . . . even though they’re in Louisville, KY.

Aaron asked me some questions and I talked about how I feel like my blog is a witness/display to others of how I try (I am sooooooo far from perfect at this!!!!) to really keep God at the center of all my life (i.e., why I include many parts of my life on this blog), AND also how social media is my way of imitating God’s model of coming to us/our world with Jesus. . . so, I go into “their” world – my students (believers and non-believers) – a place that is comfortable for them, relevant to them. . . . . where they spend A LOT of time:). . . . and how, on one such occasion a few weeks ago – I was honored and humbled to help lead someone to Christ through Facebook Chat. . . Crazy. . . I know. . . . God can use anything to show others that He loves them!!! (ps – I am soo proud of that student!)

 One of the best things about this little talk this morning. . . is what happened afterwards. . . .I simply clicked a button on my computer to “hang up” and poof – just like that I am no longer in front of people at a seminary, . . . and then my wife calls and says that she, through a link that my sister-in-law sent her by twitter, was watching me from our home give my little presentation to the conference in Louisville. . . . WILD. . . . . ha! . . . . we have used Skype for awhile, but this is my highlight so far

Thanks for catching up with me. . . . have a great day everyone!

I had heard from one of my students the other day about his Father not having much time left, . . . . and he spoke to me about his his legacy – encapsulated somewhat in two of his Father’s last emails.  I asked if I could share these with all of you, and this is what the student sent me. . .

FIRST EMAIL:
“My prayer request many times a day sounds like a car wash. Do you want a total, basic, or ultimate?

Lord, I pray for your will. Heal my body totally, basically, or ultimately. Ultimate is with him (The Works!). You choose , Lord. You have planned it all before the world began. You choose best. Help me with the tough suffering.

All paths are open to God because of his power. He is in charge. It is his choice. To walk with and trust in my awesome God is incredible. All of life is open to him… total, basic, ultimate healing.

He has made me ready for all three. None would be a disappointment. He has shown me himself and his way and made me excited for all the options. Where he leads. It is a very freeing way to think. Not trying to make things match your dreams. But praying strongly for each option and letting him chose.”

several weeks later

EMAIL #2:
“Looking at my health and my body, I would think that God is taking me home…ultimate healing. As I said, my prayers are open to what God would choose but to me it seems like I am going home.

Home is a good place and I am looking forward to going. There really is no better place than home. Margie (my dad’s sister how just passed away from ovarian cancer, lived there in hospice care) is there and rejoicing.

The hard part is that we are not all going together but God has a special plan for each of us. God needs to fulfill his special purposes in each of our lives as he carries out his overall Kingdom plan, then take us home.

We need to be fully involved here as he works out his purposes. He will take us home at his appointed time for us. All this was planned before the world began. God has everything planned from beginning to end. How does He do it?! He is an amazing God.

I did not know that my time to go home would be this soon. My dreams were for a later date, but I never knew God’s plans and neither do you.

We all need to live fully here so God can work his purposes thru us while learning more about our real home.

The journey home may be very hard. Will I be able to trust God for the trip when it seems too hard?”

There you go Dr. Bryant. . . . Hope that this can be a blessing to many people.

- Thank you so much. . . . . thank you for letting us into these sacred moments with your family. . . . I pray for peace and comfort during this time.

Have a passion about something that influences every other part of your life. . . that was one of the main points of the chapel speaker on Weds., Rev. Jack French (Missionary Church Evangelist). . . . let me tell a few of his other points that stuck with me:

1. Always respect other people, but never be afraid of them

2. You can only live today. . . not yesterday. . . or tomorrow

3. No matter what you are up against. . . NO MATTER WHAT YOU ARE UP AGAINST. . . you can face it through Christ

4. The measure of life is not money, fame, retirement, clothes, or cars. . . but, . . . did you, for someone else, make Jesus closer, bigger, clearer – - more real?

5. Apathy is the inability to dream, to see potential in yourself and others. . . what drives you there?

6. Enthusiasm comes from the synergy of two things (1) when a workable plan is put into practice (2) when an ideal takes imagination by storm.

So, I did this exercise in class the other day for my devotion (thanks for the idea Josh ). . . . I showed students this video, and then had them write a blog post about it.

Here are snipets of responses from those that allowed me to publish them:

We all watch these videos and feel bad, and then go on with our lives and do nothing about it. We have people here in America that need help too and we don’t help them

The American culture is so blind to the neccesities of poverty and sickness, why aren’t we doing anything. . . . Are we helping?

I feel guilty for not being an active part� . . am I supposed to feel this way because it is God’s calling, or because I live in a wealthy society?

If we could fast, so to speak, of extra entertainment, food, and clothing, we could literally, as a nation, feed and clothe all of our people

It is so easy to forget about the needs of the world. . . to get so caught up in my world that I miss the bigger picture

Seriously. . . how much did I spend eating out this week?

There is far too much “me” and not enough “us“

Isn’t enough . . . enough?? If you have what you need to take care of your family isn’t that enough?

How about caring more about a human being than how much money your company makes?

Alot of us assume someone else is going to do it, but I ask. . . . if not me, who?  . . . if not now, when?. . .

I feel so guilty that I don’t have more of a heart for poverty and pain across our world

We’ve all seen videos similar to this one we just watched, but rarely have they spurred us into action. What will it take for us to step up and take that first step?

What I noticed the most in this video. . . the people who have nothing – NOTHING- are still smiling. . . here even the richest of the rich cannot grasp that genuine love for .  . . just life. . . how much longer can we go without true happiness

Jeremy Kingsley was the speaker at Chapel yesterday, and he got me thinking about some things that led to a revelation that I am THRILLED about!!

He started off talking about the story of Jesus and the woman who was about to get stoned to death out in the street (John 8). . . that is, until Jesus intervened with the comment of “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” . . . . . well, you know the story. . . Jesus was the only one eligible in that moment to throw a stone at her. . . and he didn’t. . . .

Jeremy continued on by telling of one of his friends who used to go, along with some other church members, to the streets of a few large cities and hand out flowers to prostitutes on Christmas day. . . and when the prostitues asked why. . . they simply said. . . “Because Jesus loves you” . . .  – in both of these instances the spirit of Jesus was to come and love immediately. . . . immediately. . . . after someone had sinned – before asking any questions – before comparing their acts to anything else. . . . . . have you ever given grace and mercy to someone right after they just sinned? . . . maybe your spouse. . . .maybe a friend. . . .Have you ever needed it, yearned for it, right after you sinned? . . . . . .

You see, we often slide toward certain behaviors and attitudes without being aware of the inevitable consequences associated with them – for example:

 - those that tend to be critical usually lack kindness

 - those that love to punish usually miss out on the joy of restoring someone

 - those that tend to be judemental usually lack understanding

 - those that tend to be conceited/overly righteous usually lack the ability to forgive

And then it hit me . . . . . that’s it!!!!!! . . . wow!, I can’t believe it! . . . that is it! . . . . . ok, so what the heck is Ted talking about this time?!. . . . hang with me for a second . . .

Some of you know my “story” – in that I was raised in a Christian home, no divorce, I have two great brothers – and I really didn’t mess up that much, in other words, I didn’t do drugs, didn’t drink, got good grades, was good at sports – didn’t give up, didn’t talk bad about other people, didn’t have sex or mess around – didn’t etc……., and so my biggest struggle in accepting Christ and “being saved” was . . . . . . why? . . . . . I’m a great kid – I don’t do anything wrong, especially not compared to him over there – or her over there . . . . . it was all about comparison to me. . . .  and though I did not boast verbally of my righteousness (there were plenty of people reminding me of that), it was in my heart. . . . . and now I realize that one of the greatest gifts God gave me when I accepted Jesus as my savior. . . . was the ability to forgive. . . . . truly forgive

Comparison creeps into every level of our life. . . . and it leads to us hyping up our own value and worth based on how our actions/behaviors are better than someone else. . . . which leads to the idea that we somehow deserve more . . . . which leads us to expect  more . . . . which leads to anger, frustration, and resentment when we do not get more. . . or confirmation of our “holy-er” status if we DO get more. . . . . leading to thoughts like (“wow, does she realize how much of a better husband I am compared to most guys!” or “wow, does he realize how much I put up with when alot of other women would have walked out long time ago!”, “WOW, I have done so much more in this relationship, in this home, with these kids, on this team – than him/her, etc…..) all of which produces an inability to forgive. . . an inability to resist throwing stones, . . . and inability to give flowers. . . why?. . . .

In true forgiveness, there is no room for comparison, . . . NONE!. . . . forgiveness requires an understanding that the wrong done to you is not greater, nor lesser, than any wrong you, yourself have committed. . . . . a wrong is a wrong is a wrong is a wrong. . . and yes. . . that is SOOOOOOO different from the law of this world. . . . . there was no comparison in Jesus’ death, no priority for grace, it is FULLY available to EVERYONE. . . . . . . . . I believe that until we understand more fully the futility of comparison in our own lives and the complete absence of it in Christ’s life and death. . . . I don’t think we can ever truly forgive or fully love . . .

I just think the comparisons in our own lives make us miss out on a HUGE part of who Jesus is, and how he was/is truly a walking revolution of thought, behavior, and heart. . . . . . . . let God release you from the bondage of comparison today . . . in your sins as well as your wonderful acts of love to others. . .

I really got a lot out of Chapel Friday. A man by the name of Tim Elmore came to talk to all of us about leadership. . . . now I love leadership issues, so I was all in. . . here are some of the highlights:

1. There are Habitual leaders – those that are naturally gifted to lead at almost anytime, and there are Situational leaders - that’s the rest of us – who can lead when a situation matches our gifts, abilities, and passion

2. Leadership is NOT a position. . . . . it is a disposition – seeing things differently and then going first in that direction

3. We all need to create a LIFE SENTENCE – that is, . . . . 20 years after you and I are dead, there is going to be some people sitting around a table talking, and one will ask who was that Ted Bryant guy?  And someone else at the table will say oh, he was the one that ___________________ . And there you have it. . . . . . . we all will be summed up in one sentence some day. . . what will my life sentence be?. . . . don’t wait. . .  figure out what you want that sentence to be. . . and then fulfill that work in your life!

4. Esther was amazing! – young (14), in a foreign land (captured by the persians), and female, . . . . . . . oh, and with God’s help, she single handedly saved all of the Jews in the world. . . . ummm. . . I guess that’ll do!

5. There are four things we can learn about taking risks from Esther ch. 4:

      a. If I don’t step out and take a risk – my fate will not differ from the rest of the crowd

      b. If I don’t step out and take a risk – God will bless someone else who will

      c. If I don’t step out and take a risk - I may lose more than an opportunity

      d. If I don’t step out and take a risk – I could miss my God-given mission and work in my life

 6. Attendance is NOT faithfulness

 Go and watch this 2 minute video and be inspired – VIDEO HERE

Two of my colleagues here at Bethel have recently passed on. . . . One in particular that I knew fairly well. Though I am not grieving like her family, it is strange not seeing her around, and I miss the example of love, strength, and humility that she came to embody. I am posting this video in the honor of those who have lost someone close to them recently: