However, if you really want to know how the world is to know who it is that is truly living out a relationship with Christ, open up your Bible and check out Luke 6: 32-36.  Jesus makes it pretty plain and simple right there.

To also help make my point, I came across a rather poignant excerpt from The Magnificent Defeat by Frederick Buechner that I want to share on the four types of love:

The love for equals is a human thing – of friends for friends, brother for brother.  It is love for what is loving and lovely. The world smiles.

The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing – the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion and it touches the heart of the world.

The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing – to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy at those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich.  The world is always bewildered by its saints.

And then there is the love for the enemy – love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens and inflicts pain. The tortured’s love for the torturer. This is God’s love. It conquers the world.

The later was Christ’s outlook while mounted on the cross wearing a crown of thorns and watching some soldiers gamble at his feet for his garments. As His followers, He asks nothing less than that from us.

Special thanks to Francis Chan for putting all of this into perspective (Crazy Love).

But how should we receive the things that we run into?

Take today for instance.  You are sitting comfortably in a chair (I am assuming) in front of your computer or laptop and reading this blog post (thank you by the way).  You don’t really know for certainty what today is going to bring you.  Perhaps within the next 30 minutes, something that will frustrate you, anger you, burden you, or just plain trip you up will arrive in your path.  Or perhaps you will end this day and look back and say, “It was a good day”.  Well, no matter what the day brings, you should look back on each day with that same saying.  Regardless of the circumstances. Why?  Because everything that you face, good or bad, makes you a better person because you have endured it. Grown from it. It has strengthened you.

Want a good analogy?  That is what today’s entry is all about.  This was one of the many forwarded emails that I get which I usually pass over and don’t even bother reading.  But this one for some reason stuck with me and I loved it so much I thought I would regurgitate it here for you in case you have not yet come across it yourself.  If you already have, then you should remind yourself of the meaning of this little story.  If you haven’t, read on….

Sometimes we wonder, ‘What did I do to deserve this?’ or ‘Why did God have to do this to me?’ Here is a wonderful explanation! A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, she’s failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away.
Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, ‘Absolutely Mom, I love your cake.’
‘Here, have some cooking oil,’ her Mother offers.
‘Yuck’ says her daughter.
‘How about a couple raw eggs?’ ‘Gross, Mom!’
‘Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?’
‘Mom, those are all yucky!’
To which the mother replies: ‘Yes , all those things seem bad all by
themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake! ‘
God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful!

God is crazy about you. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He’ll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart.

If you like this, send this on to the people you really care about.
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance!”

So along comes a video produced by the good folks at Fairwood Assembly of God Church in Renton, Washington.

This video was shown at our high school youth group the other night and we all got some belly laughs.  I not sure what is funnier… what the video has to say about our own cliches standards of what we consider to be Christian worship (and I am talking more about “corporate church” culture) or, more importantly, how the video was made.  The old-school film grain, the 1950’s style music and over-the-top voiceover makes this video just too fun to watch.  Enjoy and then go out and worship our Lord in whatever manner YOU feel is right.

I am not sure of as to the original creator and it is foreign with subtitles, but this video appears to be an advertisement for bringing religion back into our public schools.

While being a very controversial subject in itself, I thought that the content of the ad was very thought provoking. Very insightful and I can’t believe it was all directly quoted by Albert Einstein himself.

As the video states at the end, “Religion is Knowledge too.”

Tip #2: Regularly Date Your Spouse

Too often, marriages get stuck in the week-after-week routine of life between work, chores, children, schedules, activities, etc. The last thing we often make time for is each other and going out on a date becomes a once-a-month (maybe) event. Now when I say “going on a date”, I don’t necessarily mean having to go outside of the house, perhaps getting a paid sitter for the kids, and spending a lot of money on an expensive date.

Making time for a date night can be as easy as spending an hour together and just focusing on each other at home. The important thing is to make the time and do it often.

After a serious crisis time in our marriage several years ago (one in which some marriages would have perhaps split apart), we set apart one night a week (for us it was every Thursday night) and we went out. We had a friend who volunteered to come and hang out with our kids for free, and we would go out for a walk, or coffee, or a movie, or dinner. The point was, we made “US” an extremely high priority in our schedule. That was crucial for us in allowing our marriage to heal and grow.

There is one thing that I need to stress regarding the “date nights”: Men and women connect relationally on different levels.

Men can bond (with other men or women) by sitting and watching a game on TV or going and seeing a movie together. The connecting time can be spent without much talking done. It is more of sharing an event or moment that men feel connected by.

Women on the other hand bond relationally (with women or men) by communicating. Talking about issues, feelings, current events is what allows women to bond.
I say this because it is important for a marriage to recognize these fundamental differences. If a husband does nothing but suggest they go to a movie everytime they go out on a date night, the wife will become resentful and discouraged. Likewise, if a wife suggests that everytime they go out, they just get coffee and sit and talk, the guy will become less likely to desire these times. The best thing would be to switch off every time. One time, a date night might be renting a movie and cuddling on the couch watching it, the next might be going for a walk, finding a nice spot to sit and just engaging in conversation. The main thing is that each person is bonding the way they tend to bond.

If actually scheduling these dates help, do it. If nothing else, it says to each other that you each matter and that “US” is just as important as “THEM” or “IT”…

Tip #2: “Notes”

Leaving notes of affirmation or encouragement are a great way to communicate to your partner. Even better, try hiding it in a place that they will later discover it… perhaps even days after you have written it. It allows for a sense of surprise. They can be as simple as “Thank you for working so hard this week” to “I think you are the most beautiful person”.

Another suggestion would be to get a pad of Post-Its that are a very unique and specific color (say bright pink). This allows the little “love notes” to be easily spotted (attached to a coffee mug in the cupboard for example) by your love and not overlooked or missed. If done by each other and routinely, it can even become a fun romantic game to see where to creatively hide the next note and what the message will say.

You might even leave one attached to the tube of toothpaste…

What I have gathered and what I have observed comes not only from my own first-hand experience, but also is observing other marriages around me. This leads me to start to compile a list of things or “tips” that can be used as a guide to help stay connected and nurture your marriage. While these may not be revolutionary in the realm of marriage counseling, they are good reminders for us to follow…

TIP #1 – “I Love You”

Now, this 3 words may not need explanation, but they are the three words that you should make sure that they are heard at least 3 times a day by your spouse. They are strengthening words that encourage and affirm why you either asked or agreed to spend the rest of your life with this one person.

More importantly, they need to be said with conviction… with emotion. If they are said in a mundane or routinely manner, they should rather be not said at all. Habitual proclamations of love mean nothing. Rather, remember back to when those 3 words were first expressed to that person or said by them when you were dating and what that felt like. The elation. The seriousness of the matter. Try to recapture that same intensity the next time you say it. Hold them, look into their eyes, and proclaim it.

You will be surprised the power and strengthening that can come from three simple words – from eight single letters.

The are certain universal symbols that generally no matter what culture, there is a general understanding of what that symbol or visual represents.

Let’s take the visual picture or symbol of two hands placed together. Without question, this is a universal symbol for PRAYER.

I came across an article from the Daily Heller, a subscription-based E-blast from Print Magazine, in which the background on this symbol is not what you would think it was. It actually has no religious origin.

One symbol that we all know, yet doubtless rarely think about because it is so invisibly common, is the ubiquitous gesture of prayer. Where did the joining of hands come from? It might surprise you to learn that it does not have a religious origin. It is not signified in the Bible. And it was not even part of the Christian tradition until the 9th century. In Hebrew and Christian custom, spreading of arms and hands toward the heavens was the prevailing sign of devotion.

In The People’s Almanac, David Wallechinsky and Irving Wallace wrote that the joining of hands “leads back to men’s early desire to subjugate each other and developed out of the shackling of hands of prisoners! Though the handcuffs eventually disappeared, the joining of hands remained as a symbol of man’s servitude and submission and his inability (or even lack of inclination) to grasp a weapon.” They added that Christianity adopted “the gesture representing shackled hands as a sign of man’s total obedience to divine power.”

One of his recent ones brings a light-hearted humorous look at the typical church “gift bag” that is usually handed out to those brave souls who raise their hand thereby casting them as first-time visitors.

Below is Prodigal Jon’s take on it. Enjoy, and thank you Jon for sharing your funny insights.

If you won’t accept the gift of salvation as a first time visitor to our church, the very least we can do is send you home with this lovely parting gift. A loaf of bread? A CD message from the pastor? A mug with our church logo on it, featuring a dove, open Bible, sun rising through the “O” in our name and a lamb lying longingly?

You never know what you’ll find in the Gospel Gift Bag we often give first-time visitors. But what if we put what they really needed in it?

1. “Get out of offering free” cards.
We all do that “apologize to the first-time visitors that happen to have come on the one Sunday a year when you preach on money” thing, so let’s just go all the way. Let’s print up a small stack of little Monopoly-sized cards that say, “I’m just visiting.” That way, when the offering plate comes around, the visitors will have something to throw in without feeling weird.

2. An insider’s church map.
Forget the map that shows you where the bookstore is. Visitors need to know the inside information that normally takes years to learn. Where’s the secret bathroom that’s unmarked, looks like a supply closet from the outside, and is actually the cleanest one in the building? Which Sunday school classroom has a teacher who’s friendly and won’t try to force you to volunteer the minute she sees you? Where’s the free coffee and the donuts that are fresh, not left over from last week? These are the kinds of things you need on a map.

3. A seating chart.
Increase the chances of someone coming back to your church by about 105% by giving them a detailed sanctuary seating chart. Where do the people who sing with their eyes closed sit? Who’s going to give you either an awkward or an awesome frontal hug, depending on your preference, during the meet and greet? Where do the dancers and hand raisers sit? The guy who’s locked down his favorite seat for the last 14 years and is likely to put me in a sleeper hold if I accidentally sit there–where does that guy sit?

When people say, “Jon Acuff is changing his generation and perhaps how church as we know it works,” these are the ideas they’re referring to. You’ll probably become a megachurch and need to build a bigger parking lot if you include these items in your Gospel Gift Bag. But if you do, make sure you include which parking lot attendant is most skilled at getting people home. That information is gold and exactly the kind of thing a visitor really needs to know.

Original Link

I am referring to a rather new Web site that has been launched called I Am Second. The purpose of the Web site and group behind it is to solely proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, but utilizing the video testimonies from a wide range of celebrities, all who have different stories to share about how they came to discover the truth of Jesus and accept Him as their savior. There is a few hours worth of material to watch if you so desire, all through 3 -5 minute snippets for which for each person you could watch further videos, read more about their testimonies, etc.

The video is of extremely high-quality both in cinemetography and editing. The Web site has a slick interface, loads fast, and is engaging and makes you want to prolong your visit.

But the best part is that it truly pitches the truths of the the Bible and a relationship with Jesus, but through a collection of life-stories, of various industries, of various races, of various backgrounds.

Whether you are a believer or not, a skeptic or a seeker, agnostic or atheist – this site is worth visiting. What do you have to lose?… but then again, that is the whole point.