A real prayer at a church league softball game…BLASPHEMY

Church league sports can crack me up. I love the idea of them. Get together have some fun, play some sports and enjoy some Christian fellowship. For my experience, this is not the case the majority of the time. (My personal opinion) I have seen better sportsmanship in my Beer League Hockey Leagues then I ever have in a church league sporting event. Now before you start throwing stones at me, I believe the majority of people have great intentions with Church league sports, but the minority ruin the experience. Still the one saving grace is prayer. At the beginning there is usually prayer before the game starts. I love this aspect. Usually the prayer includes showing a Christ like attitude, good sportsmanship, keep us from getting hurt and other Christian standard prayer.

In the years of doing church league sports, the prayer doesn’t really vary a ton. The translation of the prayer: God we are about to treat each other really horrible, please give us grace when we cuss at the ref/ump for using their judgment that we disagree with. Please let Jesus shine through us because I am not going to be a nice person for the game Amen. So when a real matter came up to be prayed over, I didn’t think much of it.

Before one game about seven or so years ago, I was talking with Todd Hein. Todd is awesome and I really didn’t know much about him at the time. He was a great ump, funny and tried to make sure everyone had a good time. Todd made church league sports fun. I think Todd was umping the game that day and after the prayer as we went our separate ways to the dugout, I mention to Todd that one of my students was going to a significant medical procedure and to keep them in your prayers. Todd said great, why wait, let’s pray. It through me off a little bit, the game was about to start people were heading to the field. Todd didn’t care we stopped right there and prayed for my student. After that prayer he said he would be praying about it with the other teams/games the rest of the night. What a cool thing, I don’t even know if Todd remembers this, but I had a lot of respect for Todd since then (I had respect for him before but I had even more now). I believe in the power of prayer and Paul share about prayer in Colossians 4:2…

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

Prayer is powerful to a Christian. A line about prayer I liked stated “Prayer is not a spiritual luxury but it is essential for growth.” As we live our lives, a Christians prayer is an important part of our lives not an afterthought. I have had to correct myself from my early walk in faith. I used to say the great line you will be in my prayers or I will pray for that. Sometimes I would remember sometimes I wouldn’t. Just like Todd showed how to stop at that moment and pray, I have changed to do this. When people ask for prayer whether in person or online, I will try to stop at that moment and pray. Rather then writing will pray, I will write just prayed.

Prayer is a conversation with God. There are times when I am quiet and just try to listen and other times I will vent at God about what’s going on in my life. If there is one person you can talk to about anything, it’s God.

Where are you with your prayer life? Is it essential or an afterthought? I thank people like Todd who reminded me about dropping everything to pray and I try to do this more and more. Even at a church league sports event we can stop and have meaningful prayer. How do you need to respond in regards to prayer? How can you improve your prayer life?

Have a great day.

Show respect to gain respect

To get respect takes action. There are plenty of people that might like you but not deeply care. How could this be, not genuine care? Are you willing to do to the little things that can make a huge difference? How do you go about gaining someone’s respect?

A while ago I had a good friend. I really enjoyed this friend and would try to help him out from time to time, he would do the same for me. At first we did things that sacrificed some of our free time. Soon it became less then it got to the point we would hang out with each other but not deeply care. It wasn’t their fault or my fault but both our faults. The friendship died and I think for some reason we lost a sense of respect for each other. It’s even worse when you are in a relationship whether a friendship or dating when you are the only one that cares.

Paul wanted to share his faith with everyone and would put himself on a lower level then others to help them experience Jesus. 1 Corinthians 9:22-23…

“To the weak I become weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”

Paul wanted others to see the love of Christ. In order to do this he had to do anything necessary in order to gain the respect of the people he was trying to talk to about Jesus. He was willing to do whatever it took to share this message of love and grace. There was nothing that was to low for him to do.

To gain respect we have to give respect. Nobody wants to hear hollow words. It’s like a person talking about needing to lose weight and ordering two double quarter pounders for lunch. We have to be willing to make a sacrifice to gain respect. Paul was willing to do this. If you want respect it requires trying to go and help people out. Paul was great at doing this to reach people with Christ and it’s about reaching people where they are at. I need to remember to do this. Becoming less so I can reach more. What about you?

Have a great day.

I didn't think someone could be so cocky

Confidence is great, arrogance not so much. There are people that think they know all. Cockiness flows from them like sweat on a hot day. There was a guy I used to play hockey with, we will call him Troy. Troy was a guy who grew up playing hockey and thought he was going to be drafted and destined for the NHL. He was a very good player, made me look like a fool a couple of times in net. Every time we stepped on the ice, there was only one speed, fast.

It didn’t matter if it was a pickup game or a playoff game, he went all out. My brother Zach and I were playing drop in hockey and Troy was playing like a jerk. In drop in there are people of all different skills yet most people are laid back. Troy was not one of them. Zach and I were just getting into ice hockey more that summer and this was about the fifth time Zach ever played ice hockey. So early in the session Troy came up to Zach with the puck did a sweet move and went right by him. It was a great move.

What Troy didn’t know was Zach was a little bit of a natural, it never looked like he only skated five times. So a little later Zach with natural ability did the same move to Troy and blew past. Troy was ticked and tried to slash Zach all the way down the ice. A little bit of info, Zach was 6-2ish 200 pounds, Troy was 5-9, 155-160 pounds. Zach didn’t put up with crap though and after getting hooked all the way down the ice, he took him into the boards. Needless to say, Zach laughed, Troy was ticked and as he tried to get up to get in Zach’s face twisted his knee and fell to the ice. Troy then hobbled to the bench. Zach didn’t want to be a complete jerk and went to the bench to check on him. Troy responded, “Get out of my face before I blast you.” Zach tried to be nice, but upon Troy being a jerk to him Zach said, “Man, this is my fifth time playing ice hockey and I went by you like nothing, try harder next time.”

We can all be nice or be jerks. Romans 12:3…

“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”

We live life the way we want. We can be humble, respecting others or we can live like jerks. There is something about humble people that I just love. People who don’t think of themselves as all powerful. Paul shares with us the point of humbleness. We shouldn’t value ourselves above others. When we look at what we do compared to what God has done we are a bug on a windshield, we can’t compare.

Yet even in our small statue, we can still think highly of ourselves. We are not called to be conceited or big-headed but rather modest and simple.

What are ways you can be humble today? Who can you show that you are respectful? Can you put yourself in their place and show more respect? There is beauty in humbleness.

Have a great day.

Everyone can't be against if they haven't met you

I remember a little story that goes like this…

Person 1: “I have a feeling that everyone is against me.”

Person 2: “That’s impossible, some people haven’t met you yet.”

Person :1 looks puzzled.

Sometimes it feels like we are under attack.

That we can’t do anything right.

We feel low and pretty down.

It’s always nice to have people in our lives to lift us up.

As I read through Acts chapter 20, this is the first things that stands out to me.

Paul is encouraging people through the places he goes.

Acts 20:1-2…

“When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said good-by and set out for Macedonia.  He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people…”

Paul went through lifting people up.

How often do you feel tore down?

We can feel like this at work, in public and even with our family and friends.

There are certain people I love because they make me feel better.

One of the greatest people I have ever met was my professor at Great Lakes Christian College, Dr. Alvin Kuest.

Kuest is awesome.

Throughout knowing him over eight years, I can call him up and he can lift me up no matter how down I feel.

We all need people like this in our life.

People that can lift us up.

Christians are called to do this.

To lift people up instead of being mad, angry and judgmental.

What if we just focused on the good in people?

Instead of looking at the negative, we looked at what we like about people.

On top of that we would tell people what we like about them?

Imagine how that would change things?

What if we focused on the good that people did instead of the bad?

Let’s try this today, instead of tearing people down, trying to lift people up.

We are all screwed up, but even through the bad there is still good.

Try to be an encourager today and see how this changes you and the people around you.

Have a great day.

Not a God.......yet

We can make the mistake of treating people like a God.

We might not think this but our actions can show it.

Think about stars.

Not that they are bad people but what they do with their lives.

Make movies, sing music, play sports well and are major leaders in one way or another.

No matter how much I love some athletes and stars they are not God even though we treat them like it sometimes.

This happened back in the day too.

Paul and Barnabas healed a man who was crippled from birth.

The people said and did this in Acts 14:11-13…

“When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”  Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.”

They tried to treat them like gods.

They responded tearing their clothes, overstating they were not gods but worship the one true God.

We can get caught in looking up at people.

There is nothing wrong with this but thinking that one person has the amazing status of God is a problem.

God loves all of us the same.

Whether we make movies or slushies, he loves us.

Know that no matter who you are or what you do Jesus loves you.

Nobody has a God status, but everyone is truly loved the same by God.

I hope you know today that you are loved in more ways than you could ever imagine.

Have a great day.

The Bloomin Onion burger = eating over a full dozen of glazed dounts….NO WAY

Something so good could be so bad.

I am a fan of Outback steakhouse.

They are a little on the pricey side so we can’t go there all the time, but if Hailee and I were going on a hot date and money wasn’t an issue, most likely we could end up at Outback.

About 1-2 years ago they added a burger to their menu.

The Bloomin Onion burger.

It’s the Bloomin Onion appetizer on top of a cheeseburger.

It is amazing!

My second favorite burger next to the bonzi burger from Red Robin.

It is amazing.

On top of that I have them make the fries into outback cheese fries.

This is an amazing meal.

I love the taste and I enjoy every bite.

Until I see the health content….

1,221 Calories

77g fat
30g of saturated fat
249 mg cholesterol
2831 mg sodium
76g carbs

BUT

There are 7g of fiber and 56g of protein so I have that going for me.

Take it I do switch mustard with the bloomin onion sauce, so I think that lowers everything about 50 percent right?

Then the killer is the cheese fries.

The cheese fries at outback are amazing.

We usually order them and I eat about 75 percent of them.

Health content for cheese fries with ranch (We eat without ranch)…

2,900 calories182g fat and 240g carbs

Wow.

On top of it all, Men’s Health listed the cheese fries at outback the Number 1 worst food to eat in America.

How do I live when I eat this meal?

How could something that taste so good, be so bad for you?

This can happen so many times in life.

Something we enjoy especially for a quick fix can be so bad for us.

Sometimes its food, sometimes it’s something we get caught up in and other times it could be people.

Could something that is good for us, we hate?

A lot of people could say vegetables in here, but what about people?

Listen to how they describe Stephen and what opposition he faced in Acts 6:8-10…

“Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.  Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called) – Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia.  These men began to argue with Stephen, but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.”

Stephen was known for doing amazing things and yet people didn’t like him.

How could someone known for doing amazing things, be a bad person to the people?

Sometimes we are very hard on other people.

I have seen this happen in schools a lot where the people that are really nice and respectful are treated like dirt by other people.

Why is this?

What makes us be bad to good people?

Stephen was a great man and yet people didn’t like him.

They tried to speak against him but he was wise beyond them.

Stephen was a great person.

Some things like that burger are very bad even though they taste very good.

People treated Stephen very bad even though he was very good.

Bad vs. Good.

How does this happen?

Why do we sometimes treat good people so bad?

Think about one person you are not nice too.

Why are you mad at that person?

Could the relationship be saved?

Things can change in life.

Attitudes can change.

We don’t have to make the same mistakes and can repair relationships.

We don’t have to treat other people bad when they honestly could be very nice people.

How can you be nice to someone you have been mean to today?

Have a great day!

Last to be picked in kickball

Someone always had to be last.

Growing up and going to Maplewood Elementary I always remember recess and playing kickball among other games.

We would always choose captains and pick teams from there.

I hardly remember being the last one picked but someone always was.

It was never fun to be the last one, but at least they still picked everyone.

There is something about being picked or chosen for a job or a task.

Whether it’s when we apply for a job, a school or an event, it’s great to know you got chosen.

There is a sense of accomplishment when you get chosen.

I think that happen during the kickball games just as well as today.

It feels good to be chosen.

Sometimes for a task that is well respect.

In chapter 6 of the book of Acts, some widows were being missed when it came to distribution of food.

The apostles found out about this and decided to have some people be represented to make sure food was getting disturbed correctly.

They told the general group of people this in Acts 6:3-4…

“Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.  We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

It later said this proposal please the entire group.

They choose seven people and it said the word of God spread and a large number of people and priests became obedient to the faith.

It’s amazing what choosing the right people can do not only for the group but for the entire gospel message.

How do you know if you were the right person for the job?

What qualifications did you have?

It can be pretty impressive what happens when the right person is chosen for the job or a task at hand.

A group can grow better when the right person is chosen for a task at hand.

I have seen this happen at jobs when the right person was chosen and the work dynamics improved, I have also seen the negative aspects were thing got worse when the person was chosen.

How can you make sure you chose the right person?

The disciples said the person had to be full of wisdom and full of the Spirit and chosen by the people.

Are you someone that people respect because of wisdom?

What about full of Spirit?

Do people like you and would they chose you as a leader?

If not, what can you change and work on to become a better person?

Even if you are chosen last or not chosen at all, that means there is plenty of room for improvement, what can you improve at?

Have a great day.

A perfect relationship

I see glory.

I see it when I wake up in the morning as I get to wake up next to my smoking hot wife.

I see it when I go to wake my daughter up in the morning.

I see it when my kids run up to me and yell daddy!

Such joy I thank God for everyday.

I can honestly say none of this is possible without Christ being in my life.

Some of you might role your eyes at this, but it is completely true.

Hailee and I said from the moment we got together, said Christ would come first and our relationship would come second.

We are not perfect and at times live for selfish reasons, but our goal is to be more like Christ everyday.

This deals with our relationship with others and our relationship with each other.

Marriage is not easy, it’s a challenge and it’s not always a happily ever after story.

Hailee and I have had to work through some issues we have had in the past, shoot, we even met with a counselor for a session or two.

No relationship is perfect.

Every relationship needs improvement from both partners.

It’s the same with faith.

Listen to what Jesus tells his believers in John 17:20-21…

“My prayer is not for them alone.  I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, father just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

This is following up scripture in which Jesus prayers for his disciples and ends a chapter in John which is the longest recorded prayer of Jesus.

Jesus was sent so that people might believe in God.

Without Jesus I wouldn’t have a lot.

I was angry, depressed, struggled with being who I was meant to be as a person before Christ.

Without the love given by Jesus I would not have the ability to forgive those people that have hurt me.

I am far from perfect, but Jesus came down and died for me.

He did the same for you.

The reason I am able to see glory everyday is because of Christ.

Without his love and model of forgiveness there is no way Hailee and I would be married or have three amazing kids maybe a fourth someday ;) (Hailee will get a kick out of that).

Jesus wants to show his love and forgiveness to the world, to give us eternal life.

That is the greatest glory we could ever have….

Even greater then a Lions Super Bowl.

Have a great day.

All you need is love

Love is so simple yet so hard.

It’s such a simple command, to show love.

What does this look like?

Love – showing affection, adoration, fondness, passion, respect, care and many other things.

What does love look like to you?

Some of the simplest statements and verses in the Bible are hard to do.

Showing love.

Jesus tells us this in John 13:34-35…

“A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Is love one of the first things you associate with Christians?

Most of the time, I think the answer is no.

Why?

Because we all struggle to show love.

Today, I was at the gas station and went to pump gas and found out that this gas station I have frequently visited over the past three years went to pre pay only.

I wasn’t happy with that fact and the fact I wanted to fill up my gas tank and now that was going to be a challenge.

I wasn’t happy, I wasn’t mean but I was being very short with the teller.

I was not showing love.

I think about the little things like this.

Anyone can show love at a church Sunday morning, but how does that love show the rest of the week?

Today I failed at that moment.

In this couple of verses it states people will know you are a Christian because of your love.

Notice how it says love and not your view on politics, homosexuality, gossip, you ex-girlfriend or spouse and the list can go on.

Why is such an easy command and something we are supposed to be known for so hard to do?

Because of us.

We don’t want to show love to that neighbor that has treated us like dirt.

We think we are right and when someone doesn’t see things our way.

It’s easy to love the people we like or want to impress, it’s hard to love the people that don’t like us or treat us with respect.

Love is an area I can improve in.

If you’ve dealt with Christians that do not show love, on behalf of them, I’m sorry.

Christians aren’t perfect and we can improve.

Christians are supposed to be known for their love.

Are you ready to start making that happen?

Have a great day.

38 year outcast

Being an outcast is never fun.

While some people like to be in a wolfpack of one, most don’t.

We want people to relate to or with.

Sometimes we feel like an outcast.

Once every while my anxiety gets the best of me and I don’t like being in group situations.

Often when we are like this, it’s more our choice.

For others it’s not a choice they are an outcast not by choice, but by what others think about them.

Nobody wants to be an outcast.

In Bible times, you were an outcast if you were sick or not well.

Some people wouldn’t even talk to you because they thought you did something to tick God off.

If you were hurt, people wouldn’t be around you.

When you were in this condition, you were not allowed to go into the Temple until you were better.

You were an outcast.

In John chapter 5 Jesus comes across a guy who has been an outcast for 38 years.

Jesus went by and asked, “Do you want to get well?”

The guy was waiting around a pool that people believed would heal you in you went in.

He explained, he had no one to help him get into the pool to be healed.

Jesus told him to get up and walk.

This is what happened in verse 9-10…

“At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

Jesus allows a person who was an outcast for 38 years to be healed and normal again.

Certain people got mad because this was supposed to be on a day off.

Jesus does great on a day off and people get mad because he did this on a day off.

We don’t have to be an outcast.

Through Christ we can connect, we don’t have to be alone.

Through Christ we are not an outcast.

Part of knowing Christ is knowing that other people around us need help and feel like outcast.

We are called to show love and help people realize they don’t have to be an outcast through the love of Christ.

Who can you show love too?

Have a great day.