What is church?

How do we define church today? Is it just a building? Is it just a social event? The place where you put money in the plate???


Or does church go beyond the 4 walls of a building? Does church go into the community, and change lives? Or are we just limiting church to the walls...


And who goes to church? The perfect people? The people that have it all together? The people that don't have any problems, who have no struggles? No one that goes to church sins right???


If Jesus was to walk into your church, would you even notice Him? What if His clothes were dirty, would you go talk to Him? What if He stunk a little, because He had to walk to church on a hot day, would you ask Him to sit with you? What if He came by Himself, would you invite Him over for Sunday Dinner after church? Is Jesus even invited to your church???


Or has church become about our priorities, has it become about our events, has it become about our wants, our needs, do we ask ourselves what can this church give ME...


No one who goes to church is perfect. "For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." So stop pretending you are, and stop judging others. Work together to bring glory to God, not glory to ourselves. Open your eyes to the spiritual part of church, not just the physical part of church...


If Jesus showed up at church today... would you even notice him...

For the journey today...

W.W.J.D?

W.W.J.D?


Mention that to anyone on the street, and they will know what those letters stand for: "What Would Jesus Do?" I remember growing up and having that taught to me. It seemed easy to do back then. There was no job I was at, there was hardly any school work, there are hardly any responsibilities for a 7 year old...


Now that I am a little older, those letters take a completely different tone. There is the workspace, the college, the friends, the church. The list could go on and on about all the different situations we find ourselves in one day. How many times though do we ask the question, what WOULD Jesus do?


Sometimes we are just too busy. We need to pick up someone from school, need to go to piano lessons, have softball practice, have to cook dinner, then do the laundry, and then this and that... and many times Jesus is lucky to even get a back burner in our lives...


But how do we even know what Jesus would do if we don't find ourselves in the word of God? We can't live off of the faith of others. We can't live off the faith of our parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, best friends, co-workers... Jesus' relationship with us is PERSONAL, yet we fail to make it our PERSONAL responsibility...


Jesus took the time to pray. Mark 1:35 (NIV), "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." Jesus found the time to pray, he found a quiet place to pray. If Jesus, who is the SON of God, still needed to find time and a quiet place to pray, how much more do we need to?? Jesus got away from the crowd, the busyness of life, to find a solitary place, a place where he would not be disturbed by distractions, and spent time in prayer. And he didn't just do this on retreat, he didn't just do it in the hard times, he didn't just do it when he wanted something...


What would Jesus do? Maybe you should ask him...


For the journey today...

No one is perfect

Sometimes, the reminder on my left hand tells me I messed up, it tells me I failed, that I cant do anything right. imagine waking up with this weight, try to fall asleep at night bearing this thought... im not looking for pity, not looking for sorrow, I can't explain it, words do not do it justice...

So why write about it? There is a reason for pain, there is a reason for suffering. In some ways, it makes us stronger, it makes us bolder, it builds us up. In other ways, it tears us down, it's a constant nagging, a constant ringing in our ears, a constant reminder...

Life sometimes throws a monkey wrench, it sometimes throws us something unexpected, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. But it is the way we react to the situation that really shows our character, our virtues, who we really are...

What is holding you back? What is stopping you from living your life? Is it just an excuse to say no? Are you not thin enough? Not pretty enough? Not smart enough? We come up with all these lame excuses to say that we can't do it, that it won't work, that we'll just mess up, that we'll fail...

Don't let your situation define who you are, but the way you react to the situation will define who you are. I could of given up, I could of never touched the piano again, I could of never pick the bass up. I could of dropped out of school. I could of said that this is too hard, that there is no point, that God doesn't love me...

I am not perfect. I am not the "standard" of a good person. I have flaws, I have made mistakes, I have regrets, I have failures, I have struggles, I have problems. The list could go on forever telling me my wrongs and faults...

But God...

If I said I never doubted God, I would be lying. If I said I was never mad at God, that too would be a lie. But God sees the bigger picture, God sees a plan that is beyond our imagination. It is easy to praise God in the good times, to serve God when we're happy, when life is going for us. It is a whole lot harder to praise God when our world falls apart, when it just falls all around us. Yet, it is in those places that God can rebuild us stronger, rebuild us higher, rebuild us better. I don't have all the answers, yet I have the faith to make it through the next day...

For the journey today...