Seven Woes for Me

In Matthew 23, Jesus gives seven woes to the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. I wonder how many he would give to me?

#1 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. Do I draw people to the kingdom of God or do I stand in the way of those trying to enter and experience His kingdom?

#2 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. I am traveled over land and sea. Do I make disciples from all nations and really teach them to observe whatever Jesus commanded?

#3 Woe to you, blind guides! You say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.' You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it. Do I take what is not sacred and make it worth more than that which is truly sacred?

#4 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices: mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law: justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. Have I neglected the most important things of justice, mercy and faithfulness? Do I practice the former without neglecting the later?

#5 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Am I full of greed and self-indulgence? Is the inside of my cup dirty?

#6 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Am I full of hypocrisy and wickedness? Am I a white-washed tomb?

#7 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! Do I say that I would not respond like the Pharisees did? Am I like my them?

Another Example of our Twisted Judical System

I usually don't post political issues but ths article made me scream. Here is a story of a guy in Nebraska who sexually assauted a child but got off for lesser sentence because he is short.

I think State Sen. Ernie Chambers, says it best.

Sen. Chambers, a longtime critic of judges, said he was baffled by the sentence.
"If shortness is an excuse and protection from going to prison, short people ought to rob banks and do everything else they would wind up going to prison for," Chambers said. "We're talking here about a crime committed against a child, and shortness is not a defense."

A Baby Cow

Overheard by Robin yesterday... Luke (seeing his brother stick a handful of grass into his mouth): "Drew's pretending to be a baby cow."

The Promise for the Bedouin

I was reading in Psalms 120 and David says while on the run, "Woe to me that I live among the tents of Kedar". It made me ask, who is Kedar?

As I searched I came across the passage in Isaiah 60 which is about Jerusalem - Zion - and her future glory. The Prophet starts off by saying: "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn."

Then in verse 7: "All Kedar's flocks will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you; they will be accepted as offerings on my altar, and I will adorn my glorious temple." Nebaioth and Kedar are the first two sons of Ishmael. (Genesis 25:12-14 ). The descendents of Kedar were warriors and shepherds who lived in dark tents. (Psalm 120:5; SS 1:5; Is 21:16-18; Ez 27:21). They are the Bedouin, followers of Islam.

Yet the promise here is that Ishmael's seed will worship the true God - Jehovah - one day. Lest we think its just their sheep and rams that will be gathered to be sacrificed, we need to read Isaiah 42 about the Messiah: "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice... I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles... Let the desert and its towns raise their voices; let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice... Let them give glory to the LORD and proclaim his praise in the islands..."

May God's promise that people from all nations will come to worship Him come to pass! May the Prince of Peace, who doesn't even break a bruised reed, come quickly and bring peace to Zion and on Earth!

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the Desert

I was reading in Matthew last night about Jesus being led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. I noticed three main things as I read the first verse of the 4th chapter

Jesus was led by the Spirit. The Messiah was under the leadership of the Spirit. Luke writes that Jesus being filled with the Spirit was led... For Jesus to be the Son (which He was just declared to be by the Father Himself) He had to be led by the Spirit. In Romans 8:14 we see that those led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. In Galatians 5:18, Paul writes that if we are led by the Spirit we are not under the law. Being led by the Spirit is a mark of our relationship with Him and our freedom found only in Him. Lord may I be led by your Spirit. May I be marked as one who is your son and no longer under the law.

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert. The prelude to Jesus public ministry happened in the desert. Moses, Joshua, David, and Elijah all were led through the desert. Hosea 2:14 speaks of wayward Israel saying, "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her." Deserts have a reputation for supporting very little life. It is a place of complete dependence on the Lord. It is a place of desperation. Jesus having made Himself nothing and taken on the very nature of a man had to be led to place where in this humanity He was absolutely completely dependent on the Father. This marked His life. Jesus said about Himself: "the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." John5:19 Lord, may this be said of me that I do nothing by myself. I know that apart of you I can do nothing. Lord may I do today what I see you do. I aknowledge that I need you. Allure me and lead me into the desert to speak tenderly to me.

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. The Spirit seemingly led Jesus into desert for the very purpose of being tempted. We know in James 1:13 that God tempts no one. Yet the Father not only allowed Jesus to be tempted, He led Him into it. But why? Hebrews gives us a clue. "Because He himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted." - Hebrews 2:18 "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are yet was without sin." - Hebrews 4:15. Jesus had to suffer temptation in order to minister to those around Him and He is able to minister to me in the same way. He is able to help me, yet as a perfect high priest without sin. Because of He was led into the desert to be tempted, I can approach His throne with confidence to find grace in my time of need. Lord may I confidence in approaching You knowing that you are able to help me and that you can sympathize with my weakness.

World on Fire

Sarah McLachlan decided NOT to produce a fancy music video, for her song 'World on Fire', but instead gave that money to humanitarian efforts around the globe. It is worth a look as the video shows all the places where the money went.

I don’t know if she is a believer. I see that at least one of her projects has a kingdom component - Dorcas Aid. But it shows how money could be better used to serve people in need who are created in His image.

He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done. ~ Proverbs 19:17

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McCullough Pics

I just created a new blog to store family pics.

House Hunting

Robin and I are getting ready for a big move. (Hopefully, prayerfully.) We are going to list our townhome for sell within a week and start looking in earnest for a new home.

Starting this Sunday for six weeks we are going to housesit for a family that is going to staff the first half of the Myrtle Beach StudentVenture Project. This is enabling us to get our house ready to show and not have to worry about trying to pick up toys, clean-up and rush out with three little boys if someone wants to come look at our home.

Here's our ten big prayer requests:

1. That our townhome will sell and close by July 4th. (There are about a 1/2 dozen townhomes with our same layout for sell right now. And a bunch of new ones being built with a few miles.)
2. That we will have wisdom in what offer to accept. (Most of the above are listed around $199,000 but the average price that one has sold for is around $185,000. I know both seem crazy but that's the market here. We are willing to go lower than what everyone else is listing for but don't want to go too low because we need to make enough to put down on one we buy. Then again, we don't want to holdout too long either.) BTW, the picture is not of our current townhome but of another middle unit like ours that's for sell and therefore one of our competition!
3. That we will find a home that we like in our price range.
4. That it will be closer to work and church - both in Boulder. (Here's the catch, the prices in Boulder County go up considerably. Sometimes it feels like #3 and #4 are direct polar opposites.)
5. That our home will have a nice backyard with a fence around it so Robin can let the boys loose to play. (I can't imagine another year of Robin being at home with three-caged animals especially as Jack and Drew start to walk.)
6. One close to a park and a bus stop so I won't have to drive to work.
7. That it will have enough rooms and square footage for our family. (Our townhome has two bedrooms but we would like at least three so the boys can share a room and a third can be playroom/study/guest room.)
8. That it will have a large enough kitchen space and storage space.
9. That we will really like the house we buy over just settling for something we think we can afford and fits the basic criteria. (We really want this to be a place we stay in for a while. We are not looking for anything extravagant even if we could afford it but also don't want to buy a money pit in a neighborhood we don't like.)
10. That the Lord will lead us to a neighborhood where we can be a witness for Him.

DaVinci and Josh McDowell

I don't know how much this movie is impacting your area. People here tend to see it as fiction, but they don't see much truth in the Gospel either.

Whatever the case may be, it may be encouraging for everyone, especially those with an ipod, to know that you can download Josh McDowell's audio files "The DaVinci Code: A Quest for Truth" through I-tunes: pod-cast. If you are not Mac savvy, you can go to his website:

http://www.pcgmedia.org/davincianswers.html

It is all free, where-ever you get it! Hope this helps you answer questions!

A Gospel that isn't Cool or Hip

There is a good interview with Donald Miller on Leadership Journal's blog: Out of Ur. Donald as you probally all know is the author of Blue Like Jazz, To Own a Dragon and others.

It's a good interview about demonstrating real love vs. trying to be cool and relavent. Here's an excerpt...

How do you react to ministries that try to present Christianity as being cool and hip?

Miller: There are many problems with trying to market the gospel of Jesus, not the least of which is that, in itself, it is not a cool or fashionable idea. It isn't supposed to be. It is supposed to be revolutionary. It's for people who are tired of trying to be cool, tired of trying to get the world to redeem them.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, pictured to the right with Jack on her lap back in November.

Here's some things I appreciate about my mom:

She always believed in me. She has always been a verbal encourager to me. I can remember plenty of times when I struggled with self-doubt and my mom would encourage me with her words. (It my love language.)

She laughs at my jokes - even the lame ones.

She taught me how to read and has always had the heart of a teacher. I joke with her that she showed her special ed kids more patience than she showed me but I am glad that she pushed us to excel. I knew she loved us no matter what.

She purposely tried not to play favoritism. I remember in 2nd grade she was the teacher observing recess one day and I was getting picked on by some bigger boys. I thought if I went to her and told on them surely I would receive justice. to my shock, she didn't punish the other boys but made me sit in a time-out. It frustrated me at the time but I look back and am glad she did that. I am glad I didn't grow up thinking I could whine about life all the time to gain sympathy. Sometimes life is not fair and I am not entitled to everything I think I am.

She loves for her kids and grandkids.

She has been a faithful helpmate to my dad. They have been married 48 years now. Being a pastor's wife was not always easy but she has been a great partner for my dad.

She wanted to be a missionary but when she married my dad her plans were changed. So she become a mom of a missionary. It was hard for her when almost twenty years ago I loaded up my pickup to move to California but she let me go and has to several far away places. I have never heard her say, "why don't you move back closer to home." I think she always remembers the safest and best place for me and my family is in the center of God's will.

She works hard.

She gives good hugs. Wish I was there this weekend to give her a big one! Love you mom!


My aunt Ruth has a great Mother's Day post too. She talks about her mother (my great grandmother) who was a great godly woman.

One Final shameless Appeal

Last fall I signed up for a free ipod in December. I know several more people who have gotten theirs too so it works.

It is not a hoax. Also I received no additional spam by signing up for the offer. I have several people who have been afraid to complete an offer because of this. If I was a little hesitant about I would sign up for a free gmail account and delete all the spam. But I used my normal email and actually think I have less spam since the fall.

Some offers you have to fulfill are pretty cool anyway. I got an airline ticket on the one I signed up for in October. So for $5 if one more person signs up, I got a plane ticket and an ipod.

Anyway, I do need one more person who is willing to do this and they might get an ipod themselves.

Luke and Awana's

While I was gone last week, Luke had a ceremony at Awana's. He finished his Cubbie's class. My first major event I missed for one of my son's because of travel. At least Jack and Drew didn't learn to walk when I was away!

Robin and I were impressed with Awana's because Luke learned a number of verses. Though how he got credit mumbling them I never know. He also asked a lot of questions about the resurrection. He actually enjoyed to 'class'. We missed a few weeks when we were all gone or when he was sick but he made up most of those weeks. This picture with his Grammy is the first and only time he would ever wear the vest. And even more amazingly, he is looking at the camera and sorta smiling.

Drew speaks

This morning Drew, (I think that's a picture of him), was sitting in my lap and he leaned over the arm of the chair and looked at Jack on the floor and said "Dja". Did he just say, 'Jack'?

I decided to test it again so I asked him who this was as I pointed at his brother and he said "Dja".

Later I had both in my lap and ask him again who this was and this time he said "Dja - ka". He didn't repeat it for Robin when she came down and Jack couldn't say anything close to 'Drew".

Starbucks and Movement building

Jay Lorenzen has a new post: Starbucks and Movement building. Here are some major bullets:

• I Learned It’s Important….. to Pursue a Bold Vision
• I Learned the Importance of….. Passion
• I Learned the Importance of….. Leadership
• I Learned the Importance of….. Pushing Boundaries
• I Learned that….. Business is About People
  

Even as high school senior, Dr. Jay Lorenzen, Lt. Col, USAF (Ret) was destined to be a leader who launched movements!

Qualities of a Leader

Here is a list of qualities of a leader that leadership team in Mexico came up with. They follow under three headings: Spiritual Qualities, Leadership Qualities and Capacity.

We are glad we have a leader like Steve Morgan driving the bus for Vida Estudiantil (Campus ministry) in Mexico!

University of New Orleans

Today the group I was with went to the University of New Orleans. It is right on Lake Pontchartrain. It had little damage itself from Katrina as the land it is on is higher than that surrounding it. But almost all of the students on this commuter campus were affected by the hurricane. We prayerwalked the campus and decoded in order to give information to the team that will lead here in the fall. Two of our staff who were also praying and decoding UNO met two African-American gals in the cafe of the student center and got to share the gospel with them and they trusted Christ.

I paired up with Chad and Bekah Stewart who are on staff in Denver and we talked for a long time with a Resident Hall Director (they have only one dorm on campus) who lost his home and all of his family are now living elsewhere with no intention of returning. One idea we came up with was to suggest that this team continue to do relief efforts even weekly and offer to gut out homes of the students and faculty on campus as well as encouraging student groups to partner with them.

Wouldn't it be cool if Campus Crusade was know on this campus as 'the group that served the city and the students!' Their favor with the students would be so huge anyone would want to listen to them talk about the hope found in Christ.

After we left we drove around the Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish that got hit hardest by the storm and levee breakage. It was unreal especially as we drove right where the levees broke. It's indescribable even now many months later. We are not really doing clean-up per se as a part of this conference but I would love to come back and be part of one of the Crusade clean-up teams in the fall. You just can't help but feel like you need to help serve.

Planting and Growing Movements Conference

I am in New Orleans for a conference. We are staying at the Holiday Inn. I look out my window on the 14th floor and have a view of the Superdome with its roof still being repaired. (Luke's right, here I am at another hotel.)

This is a conference mostly for new staff to learn cataltyic principles of ministry. I am here to gain a better insight into how to incoroprate this as we train STINT Team leaders. Tommorrow we will go decode several campuses for a new Metro team that will launch here in the fall.

I haven't really visted the areas most hit by Katrina but its still pretty sad here to imagine all the people of this city have gone through. We are praying that the Lord will bring spiritual relief to this city.