Cultural Clarity de Peru: (Times) of the Culture

A really interesting observation that I made that I already talked about in my previous post I will expand a little more on is the time. Another funny thing with Peruvians is time is really just a philosophy or great idea but a poor invention. As the week started we would set times to be ready and be waiting for 20 minutes to an hour for them. Our leader, Doug, expressed his concern that we always be ready on time no matter what. Well by the end we were being pushed by them. So as we are getting more tired and slower and run down the local Pastors seemed to sense our eagerness to follow the clock so as we were beginning to slow they were there to push us.

By the end of the trip I heard “rapido” more times than I wanted. However I feel they were respecting us and our time consciousness. I began to think about the differences of culture. Are they wrong for being late all the time and not caring? Are we wrong for always holding the clock as a higher priority then relationships? I feel the root of this is true, there are differences of culture and that carries much of the weight however I feel a sense of blame and ownership. As two cultures collide, I believe our eyes are opened up to our shortcomings.

First off I will point the finger because there is less there to deal with, actually I truly want to focus on the American rush. If you are like my Peruvian friends, look at your watch, focus a little more, care a little more, be a little more courteous of others. If a car is about to run you over instead of forcing him to slow down pick up your pace, simply move.

So before I point the finger I am first to say, SLOW down America. Don’t shortsale relationships because of your over-exhausted time schedule. Don’t neglect your nature of relationship, we are relational by nature. Stop to say hello, slow down to have time to bless someone, don’t run so fast so that you can have a meaningful conversation of hope and purpose, don’t miss opportunities that are God appointed. Allow yourself to be in the moment and present for what God has intended instead of putting on the game face all the time and running. I realize that many times I speed when I drive and am not even in a hurry. I have accustomed myself to always be on ‘rush mode’. I seem to always be late for things even late for events that are not even scheduled, figure that one out. I want to sloooow down, I want to catch my breathe and breath a deep sigh of relief that the earth will still spin even if I’m not pedaling it. Did you hear that, our little planet will still keep spinning without you pedaling it and running on it.

Here’s the bottom line, you will always have more to do, more to finish, more work to do… set it down and relax, kick your legs up and enjoy the simple life all around you that is waiting to be explored. We make so much complication of God’s simplicity and make ourselves tired and God is saying rest in me my child.

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Cultural Clarity de Peru: The Kiss of Innocence

After the first conference a young lady approached me with Oscar, my translator, and she had a question for me as well as a prayer request. Her prayer request was that her father was a pastor for eight years and he quit and walked away from God. I could tell in your heart she was hurt and broken. Her question was that she felt very shy but had a heart to share her faith and she didn’t what to do. I encouraged her that it is okay that she is shy but I shared with her that when we receive that baptism of the Holy Spirit we receive power to be witnesses and I encouraged her to seek God for everything that He has for her. I spoke life into her and told her that she is perfect in every way, that her life has purpose and that God has a destiny for her. I told her that she was wonderful and amazing. I told her that when she shares her faith with people and they reject her they are not really rejecting her; they are rejecting God. She seemed to be very encouraged and lifted up by those words.

Let me step you back to the moment of her approach, as she neared me with Oscar they seemed to be pretty close and as I stood it was very awkward so the only way to make it not awkward was to turn the stand into a standing hug. When I went to hug her she hugged me face to face and then I heard her kiss me. At first I was very nervous and couldn’t understand why she did that. Then I realized that I had been seeing that from different people throughout the previous day. As the rest of the week every woman or girl hugged me as well as any person with a kiss.

Now the funny thing is I hate touching people’s hands, sure call me weird. To me it is gross and I wish we in America did not do the hand shake. Many times I will hit fists instead of shake hands. You know what also bugs me is holding hands to pray, call me unholy or what but I do not like it. Think about it for a second, the longer the prayer the hotter and more sweaty it gets, gross. To me the kiss is a little weird but in a strange sense beautiful. I remember our last night our bus on the way to the airport had to drive through the drive-thru and we sat there looking inside as three girls were finishing there meals and one had to leave and then she kissed her friends on the cheeks then left. Over and over I saw this happening and it brings the idea of trust and love as well as a personal relationship. I think it is a personal way of greeting inspiring love that a hand shake can’t do…. wait, wait, I guess we do have that, we have the clasp of the hands, snap the fingers, hit three times, hit the fists up then down, spin around, high five, then hug. We also have the gangster hands clasp, fist to fist, hug the side shoulder.

I must say that the love of the innocent kiss is beautiful and makes our hand shake quite pathetic. Here is my solution, I don’t think that we can ever change the culture of America to the kiss, at least not easily. However how can you show love more? How can you express the love that God has given you to the people in your world? God has given each of us our own circle of influence and our own world if you will. Are you able to affect your world in a positive way? I hear many times from people that would say, “I can’t change my world”. The truth is maybe you can’t, maybe that is too big of a task, but I believe in you. I believe that you can change your circle, your own ‘world’, your area of influence. So how will tomorrow be different than today? Will you begin to affect the destiny of others by loving more? Let’s see it.

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Reports From Peru

Peru is a beautiful country and I have cherished every moment here. After the dozen or so mission trips to Mexico I felt very comfortable in Peru. One of the funnest and scariest parts is the driving, much like Mexico. There are really no rules, well at least rules that are followed. Stop signs are optional, red lights are recommended and the horn works as a tool for communication. Yet in the midst of seeming chaos and almost complete traffic jams, Peruvians seem to still stay positive and there are also no accidents, at least not in the week we were there and believe me, after watching the driving for 5 minutes I expected to see at least a few accidents daily. Another funny thing with Peruvians is time is really just a philosophy or great idea but a poor invention. They do not seem to be too worried of the time. Many times we would wait a while for the different local pastors and leaders.

There was a couple interesting things that happened. The first night we were still in a state of euphoria with the idea of being in a new country and the excitation of the days ahead. We were given our room keys and go to our rooms. My room was on the side of a VERY busy road not to mention all the honking. I could not sleep at all and it was a very good thing I brought some Sleep MD. Chicken is the main staple food, more prevalent than good clean water, no joke. So we literally ate chicken for every meal, now my first point is the chicken is the best chicken I have eaten in my life. It is all rotisserie and amazing. However after the first nine times in a row it became out of control. Now I must mention that there was a Starbucks only a parking lot away that I frequented every morning to do my "vanille latte con hellado" as well as the most amazing cinnamon roll that cost about $0.80 US. So finally ten meals in, that is lunches and dinners we end up at a high end outdoor mall that was pretty cool. Finally a food court, anything you would want including American fast food, yessss! No, because all the meals were included in our trip and they paid for them all at once, so guess where we found ourselves? Pardo's chicken, 10th time in a row. It will be a good month of Chicken Sabbatical for me.

The leadership conferences were amazing. God always does the unexpected. We were expecting about 200 at the fist conference and about 300 or so at the second, totaling 500-600. I personally was expecting about 70-80 youth pastors and leaders total. The first conference totaled just about 500 and the second was 500+. So with a total of over a thousand combined, I had about 100 pastors/leaders at each conference. They were hungry for learning and philosophies on ministry. I really felt that God had given me some great leadership ideas and strategies to give to these amazing people. One of the neat things is a couple days later when we were doing a children’s program at a little village a lady came up and told me that she was at one of the conferences with me and that it was 'excellente'. It was amazing to see one of the people in their own area of influence and that they were blessed by the conference.

At the second conference there was a homosexual couple that came in to see what was going on and got convicted so they returned that night for the service and wept knowing they were living in sin. Pastor Larry who was on our team who had been a missionary to Ecuador for many years ministered to these two guys and through tears of shame found God and left new 'men' of God.

I have never been so stretched in my life. The two conferences were in two days in different city/states, the first one in Lima and the second in Ica. These were about 5 hours away. The first conference was Tuesday, it began at 8:30am and ended at about 7:30pm then we all went for dinner, chicken. Rode the cab to the bus terminal (like our Greyhounds) and left about 10pm. We arrived in Ica at about 2:30am and then found our hotel and got only a few hours of sleep to make it to the next conference that started at 8:30am. This same schedule repeated that day ending with the drive back to Lima. Then the next morning up at the same time around 7ish to head to do some street ministry with the team that was here doing ministry while we were at the conferences. That day lasted until 11pm with a couple chicken meals in there for our pleasure. So three days of about 4-5 hours and then standing and walking for about 13 hours and ministering is one of the most exhausting things I have done. I ran my body to fully empty relying on fumes then ran out of fumes by Saturday.

Then Saturday was a day to shop and eat and see the country, it was great and beautiful. Then Sunday I preached at a church in Lima with a couple hundred in attendance. On my way the Book of Hope leader in Peru told me that the mayor goes to this church and will be there, nothing like pressure, eh. God really moved on me and even though I felt too sick to minister I always depend on God in those times and as I approached the pulpit the sickness was not able to follow. I poured my heart out with a message that God gave me for this church talking about how the gift of God, His son, is effective in our life. Myself, the church and the pastor all seemed blessed. Prior to the service the pastor led us through the church introducing us to all the teachers and pastors and as we were entering the Sunday School class for the teenagers the Sr. Pastor told my translator that I would be teaching the class, again nothing like pressure. I had nothing prepared but God led and I followed. When we are sick and at the end or feel great and have high energy God always comes through.

This trip was amazing and everyone that supported us in prayer, thank you. I was invited back again next year and really hope to return. The burden of leadership burns in me to return again. So be praying about considering helping me get there next year monetarily and in prayer. Oh and an interesting bit of knowledge, where we stayed the last rumored time that it rained was about 10 years ago, other than that it hasn't rained for hundreds of years even though it is on the coast, it just mists a lot.

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Viva Peru

Well I am sitting here at IAH, the International Airport of Houston for a 3 hour layover and am getting excited to finish my next flight, 6.5 hours to Lima, Peru. I was invited by Doug Reed to join him and a team of about 10 pastors to go to Peru for a Pastors Leadership Conference. It will be a great trip, I will get to lead three sessions with about 70-80 youth pastors and leaders. I have entitled the three sessions I will be leading:

• Seven Keys to Growth: What causes your ministry to be a magnet for teenagers that need Christ.
• Why Inspirational Leadership? 10 Roles For An Inspirational Leader.
• Ten Great Ways to Lose A Volunteer: Ten missteps that can cost you new and old volunteers.
  

Please keep our team in your prayers and that God uses us in powerful ways in Peru. We need them and depend on God to make this week memorable for everyone.

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mean daiv

there was 1ce a man named daiv, daiv one day was not nice. daiv later apologized and now i forghiv him and let hiim be mi frend agin.

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HVNCNW8

On my way to my ordination exam I may have been slightly speeding, possibly, maybe, and while I was on my way I passed a beautiful black car with the license plate that read HVNCNW8. I saw the license plate before I noticed the car, after looking at the car I noticed it being a S600 Mercedes-Benz, just so you know it is priced at $108,000. Now first off I have no desire to judge this individual or any person who has the ability to afford what I believe a very wonderful workmanship for a car. However I do want to look at the mindset of not only this person, but so many others who has the attitude of 'heaven can wait' (get it).

America is in the now, and many individuals lack the ability to make appropriate priorities. Unfortunately life after death seems to be as minuscule and minor as McDonalds on the arteries. What isn't seen seems to always be insignificant. This is probably why many Christians seem to be struggling with their relationship with God as much as they struggle running through a forest at night with no light.

Matthew 6:19-21 - 19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also". If you are familiar with this verse at all then you should understand the simplicity of the gospel. It's simple, crap/junk on this earth won't last, modestly put!

The part that I think shares union with my observation is verse 21, “where your treasure is, there you heart is also”. I am afraid many people have traded their heart, in essence their life, for their eternity. I say 'life' because the bible is filled with statements that eternity is through Jesus' blood that we are saved. We either have a blood flow of this world or have a blood transfusion of Jesus who's blood takes away our infirmities both physical and spiritual. We need to be aware and be focused on what we are focusing on with our heart.

Be rich, be blessed, buy a Mercedes… but don't sell out your heart for the crap in this world and look to those items as an end all, they merely are temporal and can easily be a distraction. Keep your focus, keep your heart on things above and store up your investments in heaven. Bless someone today, tell someone you LOVE them, possibly a stranger, serve someone… then give the credit to God and in that moment you made a heavenly transaction with amazing an interest rate.

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Dorothy and Earl

I wish I had a picture to show you there beautiful faces. Dorothy, 75, and Earl, 82, are precious and proud.

As we sat to eat at Arby's for lunch with a couple pastors and interns we were being the typical annoying loud people in the corner that most would be upset at us. As Ryan jumps up to do a little dance this quiet elderly couple look over and instead of a frown or look of disgust Dorothy made the comment, "we once were able to move like that, praise God for you young folks". She began to ask us if we were believers in which we responded yes. She was happy and began to get emotional and filled with joy that young people were laughing and having fun and that we loved God. I spent a few moments talking with them as they introduced themselves to me and asked for prayer because they were not doing good. See Dorothy had just had a double by-pass and a stint put in and didn't know how long she would be around. She swore Satan was trying to shut her up because she said she is bold and will never stop telling people about Jesus. She said that Earl is in worse health and that they need each other. I said I would pray for them. Earl said that as soon as they saw us they knew we loved God and that they could feel the presence over us.

As they were about to leave they came over and began sharing the love of God with us loudly and boldly in the middle of Arby's. As she talks Ole' Earl is trying to chime in and give his perspective of seeing a bunch of Christian 'kids' and how happy and moved he was. She then said how much she felt the spirit and shared some scriptures with us. Then with her boldness in that small 75 year old frail frame she said we need to pray. I notice Earl's old weathered hands reaching for his hat and I figured cool, I guess we will pray right now. Dorothy began to pray, not one of these little prayers, "Lord bless these youngens". No, it was a prayer of passion, she truly was praying over us and asking God to use us and care for us. Then we blessed them and they left.

We hurried back to the church because we had staff prayer at one and I told them I would pray for them so I did and began to think and meditate on what happened. I'm not sure everyone that I was with truly got what was happening. Here is some complete strangers yet not caring about anything or anyone around and some were probably missing what was really happening.

Here area a couple saints that are probably close to finishing their race in life and are so filled with God's spirit that they care nothing about public opinion. For many of us we are so worried about what others might think and it changes our actions. I would hate to think that I would become bold when I realize my life is almost over and I have nothing to lose. The bible says that we shouldn't worry about tomorrow because there is no guarantee that tomorrow will even come. If that is the case how come most Jesus-followers don't have the boldness to approach people, don't have the boldness to pray for people in public, to raise our voice for indecency, to not stand up for the impoverished, the hurt, the broken, the neglected, the needy, homeless, drunk, abused and invisible people that are all around us living in the shadows? May God put a burden on us that causes us to hurt like He does, to be broken for the lost like he is! Prior to Dorothy and Earl leaving they talked to another elderly couple and asked them how they were doing and she asked the gentleman who's watching over him and she said, "Is God?" He responded I hope so, and she said, hope so, you better know, do you know Jesus? I realize that todays approach is far different than yesterdays direct, "do you know Jesus?", and that most salvations come through relationship but are we willing to be up front with people, to talk to total strangers?

Pray for Dorothy and Earl, I know they would appreciate it, but also most importantly pray that you get their zeal and energy to do Kingdom Work in your day to day life journey.

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An Overwhelming Urgency

This is going to be one pretty hectic week for me. I am at that moment where everything is beginning to feel overwhelming yet the urgency to get things done is getting more and more real. I am trying to rap up the lessons and messages for Winter Retreat for this year. Our JRHi Retreat is January 19-21 and the SRHi Retreat is February 16-18. One exciting thing is the cooperation of the interns. They will be running the JRHi Retreat for all the events and games. They are pretty excited. However all the programming and messages etc. fall on me. Furthermore I am heading off to Peru in just 7 weeks which doesn't seem to big of a deal but Doug Reed has asked that all of my breakout session material be to him for review by January 10th, eek!

Well in case you didn't know what this Peru trip is, let me explain... Doug Reed with Partnership International asked if I would go with them on a Pastoral Leadership Conference to do the Youth Pastor training. There will be roughly 70-80 Youth Pastors their in attendance. I am excited to be going and being a part of the team of pastors. There will be a team of about 10 pastors, one children's pastor and one youth pastor, me. I look forward to this opportunity and to be able to go to a beautiful part of the world in South America and train some amazing leaders the principles and lessons that I have gotten to learn.

So here goes a couple of days of pushing through and getting everything done. Oh and on top of all of this we are in the final stages of the giant remodel project of The Underground, which I will blog on shortly all about it and put some pictures up of what it is.

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Secular & Sacred

As I met Kevin and Mark, the pastors at One Place in Phoenix I got to see a duo of very creative co-pastors. I knock on the door and wait for Mark to greet me and let me in and we all introduce ourselves and begin dialoging. Mark returns to his office, a makeshift table and a beautiful old 'goodwill' sort of arm chair from the 60's in the front of the stage floor level where the chairs filled on a Sunday night look to be a giant waiting room. He pulls up his desk, a quaint little plastic table with marker graffiti and writing all over it, and begins to tell me that this desk of his is also the cash table for all the concerts that come through their church; the church doubles as a music venue to the community and art gallery on Friday nights. They host in the winter about 1-2 shows a week and in the summer months 20-25 shows a month. Mark speaks up that approximately 70% of the shows are probably not Christian. Oh and then he mentions the table that people write on which probably has profanity on it his covered with a cloth and the elements are laid on it for their communion service the previous Sunday.

Their is something magnificent about how we treat what is secular and what is sacred. It seems to me that growing up, those were not able to coexist, much like a radical Muslim and conservative Christian strolling through the park sipping ice tea together laughing at the most recent 'Fox Trot' Sunday comics. See, I was brought up to believe that once something or someone becomes sacred that any signs of the old, any signs of the secular must be doused with gasoline and torched.

Many times we [Christians], do so good at portraying to non-believers that they are wretched and are unclean as was the individual that had leprosy and was removed form the camp until he was better then still had to wait many days before the priest would allow him back into the camp. And because of their condition we can not coexist!

Can what is sacred and what is secular coexist? I see Jesus who was perfectly content being with the non-believer and I would even further the statement and say that he found joy when he was amongst the secular. Jesus was, at least in my Bible a little more radical, a little more dirt under the fingernails, a little more willing to risk the view of what was suppose to be ideal sacredness for any church leader, let alone a follower. Today's Jesus I believe would mess up the theology of many of today's pastors. I believe Jesus of today would cause a lot of repentance, but not the typical repentance of, "I'm sorry, please forgive me", but a repentance from the church pastor that has the attitude of "how could I have missed it all these years". There have been too many moments of conviction from the 'priest' to the 'leper' of what must change and what can not coexist, and I believe God is saying today, "I want to mess up your theology a little and let you see that I am not so easily defined as you once thought".

Take a walk through the gospels and see how many times Jesus was with the seculars. The interesting thing is both places he went... He was either at the sacred Holy temple chastising the "self-puffed, self-righteous sacred leaders" explaining to them that they have missed it and simply don't get it. They were great on theology but lousy on application. They knew how to live the bible intellectually but not missiologically. Or the other place Jesus was at was with the seculars, the lepers, the drunks, partyers, etc. hanging out, feeding, teaching, loving, and number one of all SERVING. I do believe secular and sacred can coexist, the main difference is that the secular does not try to convict but loves and serves!

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Foggy Days

Here in Arizona, rain, fog, snow, hail, etc are not the norm, however sun, sunny, and hot are. The last few days, five days to be exact, we have experienced rain and it is a great thing for a parched desert. You can recognize the life spring forth from the plants and you begin to have a greater sense of freshness. This morning as I loaded up my 4 month old daughter to take her to her sitter, everything seemed pleasant and norm. As I left my house and go a mile away I started to notice that my visibility was daunting and that there was not clear views ahead. It got so bad that as I sat at a red light I could see the fog blowing across the street as if the house to the right was set to fire. The visibility was reduced to less than a quarter mile and road signs were not readable more than a 100' away as you can see in this picture.

Many times I will have students approach me about their own life and their effectiveness. Almost having a sense of failing because they can't see the outcome of their influence. It is important to know that we don't have to know the plans, we don't have to see the big picture to know that God will lead us to his table. Jeremiah 29:11 says how God knows the plans for our life and His plans are not to hurt us or harm us but to give us hope of a bright future.

I realized in the fog that I was able to see far enough to be safe, that brought comfort however sometimes in life we may not have the visibility in life to know that we are safe. We have to put our faith in God and trust Him in His word that He will never leave us or ditch us or abandon us.

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Every Step Counts

After years of remodeling our house, adding 500 square feet of livable space and 130 square feet we can call it finished. Front yard is all finished and I must say one of the best in the neighborhood. Now the backyard. I was digging the footer for pouring a concrete step off of our patio that is only about 32' long. After I would dig the dirt I would wheelbarrow it out to the middle of the yard and dump it out then spread it with the rake. Nine wheelbarrow loads full and still only about half done is quite a lot of work.

One thing I noticed is there are a lot of dirt clogs in the dirt, some are very hard as well. As we were raking some leaves over this Thanksgiving week I noticed that I would have to step each step onto a dirt clog to break it up. Now this is probably from my OCD which sometimes seems a bit overwhelming when you feel trapped by some idiosyncrasies that seem to make no sense to the rest of the world. What I realized was the thought that came to my mind, "make every step count". I realized that many of the steps as I look like I am ballerina prancing across my backyard I am actually being very productive. I then delved deeper into this thought, how does this metaphorically speak of my life, ministry, family, etc? See I feel that when we begin to make each footprint the most important one then our life begins to bring on new meaning. It is easy to go through years as a Christian and feel that it was all for nothing, sure I am saved and my inheritance is waiting in heaven but what have I counted for here on earth in this time, in this life. I beg of myself to begin a new course of making every step count. Let each move I make be one of significance, of influence, of leadership, of development. Let my life begin to count for something. See the power of this is when others see our footsteps. When the next person beginning their journey can look forward and see what is ahead and what makes sense. Or for yourself to be able to look back and see that there are a lot of dirt clogs broken up, that your prancing through the yard became significant.

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The Unrelationship Release

Account form my Addictions Class -
"As we discussed attachment disorders I realized who I am. I have an addiction. My addiction isn't like most other peoples. I am not addicted to food, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, sex (rolling eyes). I watch movies that have relationships that I didn't have. I watch movies that have stories that I didn't live but that I can live vicariously through them. The story on the screen gives me what I never had, an escape into everything I didn't have. I have issues and didn't have what I needed. It has caused problems with me and my relationships.

I always run and hide from people emotionally. I don't connect with people because they will end up rejecting me so I might as well not give them the chance. The class was over and I went to my car to begin the drive home and well.. I started crying, not the crying like I am doing now (soft tears rolling down my cheeks). I heard an animal crying out like it was being killed. Screams and crying came out of me like I didn't know I could even do. I sounded like an animal that was screaming out in pain because I was in pain. The hurts of my past were here present. I didn't have the attachments that I needed growing up, I didn't have the relationships that I needed when I was growing up. It has caused me to not engage in people or give people my time, see I was empty and what I didn't need was someone to come into my life and hurt me. I cried and broke down and began to feel the healing. The abused, broken, hurt, neglected animal raging and crying out wanting out. I provided him the escape that he needed. I let him go and felt relief, and now I am working on letting people in and my relationships are changing. I am a recovering attachment person. I am now trying to reach out to people." - From the words of an unnamed woman with a deep heart

Many times we talk with people or even yourself that deals with attachments disorders, or shall we call it an attachment issue. Disorder sounds pretty heavy. Many people are dying inside because of the relationships they never had and try to live out relationships through movies, watching others, and whatever else forms they find. It is no surprise to me that the church is the bride of Christ, and not the groom. The groom chases his bride, loves his bride and kneels to one knee to propose. Those that don't have earthly relationships has the amazing opportunity of Christ wanting to love you and cherish you. He wants to be your groom, to chase you and love you and kneel to one knee and propose to you and be with you forever. Let out the animal of hate, the crying animal of unlovingness and be enthralled in the best love relationship this world will ever know. "Will you take my hand in Holy Matrimony? Yes Jesus, I do."

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First Intern Meeting

Well Thursday at 3pm launched our first Intern Meeting. I began using an incredible service Pinger, that allows me to send out voicemails to individuals or to groups two weeks ago. The group of interns became my guinea pigs and our first scheduled meeting was delayed a week due to the birth of my beautiful daughter. You can see her at her own website here. Now the amazing thing, the God thing is that I did not have my Mac with me or anything. I know, can you believe it, I was without my Mac. I had left it at the office from our service the night before and didn't think anything about it, well that night we ended up going to the office. Now i had to tell all the interns about or meeting moving. Dial up Pinger, say the word "interns" and then left a voice mail that was sent to every single one, well all six of them. Great service
The meeting went well, left another Pinger that day telling them all to remember to bring their binders however I left all of them in my truck and I rode my motorcycle to work, so Brandon still does not have his. We went over the new youth name - eikon, we went over the requirements and job descriptions and discussed the expectations. The meeting was good, we found a time on Wednesdays from 3-4 to meet as a group. I am very excited for the future direction of where we are going.

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Sometimes I Never Feel Good Enough

Demands. Expectations. Needs. Realizations. Schedules. People. Lives. Hurts. Pains. Goals. Ambitions. Oh and a baby.
My perspective.

It seems with all the things that are demanding of my time all seem to have the need from someone else. It seems I am being pulled into every direction that is requiring my time. It seems like I can't make certain people happy. Unfortunately the people that I let down are the people that matter the most.

Unbalanced. Preoccupied. Selfish. Lazy. Blurred. Unfocused. Narrow-minded.
Their perspective.

Call me what you want. The truth is none of those are true but peoples preconceived ideas and perception unfortunately define you more then the one who knows you best... yourself. Too bad people around me can't look into my life and be able to communicate with me their thoughts and what they are thinking of you. That would help but nonetheless, this is the life that we are given and need to figure out how to work with those parameters.

Well regardless, I am going back to my demands, expectations, fulfilling needs of being unbalanced, preoccupied, selfish lazy, blurred, and narrow-minded life.

See ya.

Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through him who gives me strength.
God will equip me and guide be to be balanced and not marginalized.

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Our Beautiful Baby Amberlyn Renae

Well we are now one week into being parents. It is a big task. I never realized though how much fun it would be, this is truly the best times of life. I made a Top Ten list for things to learn about babies. Here they are:
10. Diapers are not waterproof, nope not at all.
9. New car smell, new baby smell, diapers are not a new baby smell.
8. Babies, as cute as they are, don’t mind crying when you are sleeping.
7. When they are hungry you feed them, no questions.
6. 3 times in one hour, oh and yes that is diaper changes.
5. They don’t mind spitting-up anywhere anytime, and they are not the best planners of when and where.
4. Its an average of $80-$120 per month on diapers, and they don’t have a job to help support their habit.
3. Did I mention diapers are not waterproof.
2. Despite the diaper mess that you are wearing and being up at night and the spit-up they are very cute.
1. Don’t let their cute looks deceive you.

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About Shaun Mayfield:

Shaun is currently a student at Evangel University finishing his Masters degree in Organizational Leadership. He has a passion towards leadership excellence, team training, consulting for both for-profit and non-profit organizations business and personal coaching as well as motivational speaking.

As an entrepreneur for the past five years, Shaun has owned San Remo Solutions helping people reduce interest on their many lines of credit as well as most recently started brokering telecommunications and energy in the global arena. Shaun would consider himself a serial entrepreneur that loves the small-business world. If you have any interest in being involved in the largest transfer of wealth in history [telecommunications & energy] get more information here.

He has been involved in the youth culture for nearly a decade; as a professional motivational speaker/pastor to teens for the last 7 years, and working within student leadership for 3 years prior to that. Shaun has a remarkable ability to speak into people's lives about leadership, servanthood, positive life choices, choosing to win and to live their life recognizing their purpose. Shaun is passionate towards people as he brings relevant challenges to listeners where they are. Shaun believes that through relevance and humor you will win people’s hearts… and once you’ve done that you can motivate their minds. Shaun also has a heart to lead the leaders, he believes in replicable leadership and pouring into not only the future leaders but the current leaders as well. Shaun has had the privilege to travel internationally to speak to hundreds of leaders about youth culture.

Shaun sees himself as one who attempts the following: thinker, philosopher, theologian, speaker, creative, marketer, youth specialist, student pastor, designer, unicyclist, writer, architect, botanist, graphic designer, leader, coach, while attempting to live life without excuse selflessly!

Background:
Shaun Mayfield is an individual who grew up in the troubled areas of Phoenix, Arizona. At the age of 14, Shaun entered a church hooked on drugs, rebellious, and living a very troubled life and walked out that night completely changed and never has touched drugs since because of the overwhelming power of God.

His parents struggled in marriage for 19 years and at the age of 16, Shaun's parents filed for divorce. Three years later Shaun's father passed away by a heart attack one week before Christmas. His father's autopsy revealed that the hear attack was cause by a drug overdose of methamphetamines which was unknown to the family.

Shaun's life is far from perfect and has been met with many turns in the road of tragedy and troubles. He has learned how to overcome and fight through the toughest issues that life can throw. Through his difficulties he has earned the capacity of compassion, the faith of seeing lives change even in the toughest people, and seeing people dedicate themselves toward their life vision.

His topics for speaking at your event includes, but is absolutely not limited to:
• Choosing a Life that Wins
• ElephANT Improvements - A Very BIG little Talk on Improving Everything
• Character Is What I Create (Not being Subject of Your Surrounding)
• Promises; Broken and Shattered or Lived and Expressed
• The Art of Self-Creation (Creating the life you want NOW!)

If you are interested in having Shaun speak at your church, organization, business, or next event email him.

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Dreams and Alarms

Our first unofficial night moving back into our Gilbert house was haunted by low batteries. As I lay asleep dreaming of uneasy discourses I am awakened by the chirp of the smoke alarm low battery signal. This design although is designed to help the loss of lives by sounding an alarm to let you know the battery needs changed becomes a hatred sound at 1:14am. As I am awakened the inevitable comes to mind; I am going to have to get up and fix the problem. I am optimist by nature, so at 1:14am I tell myself it will all go away and be better. it beeps every 30 seconds, after 5 beeps I go to survey the hallway to see which smokie I need to dismantle. How fortunate, the beeping stops, I return back to the makeshift air mattress bed. No rest of sleep before it beeps again about 20 minutes later. I wait 3 beeps then hurry to the hall expecting 2 more beeps that never come. I return to the padding of air beneath me to lay for 20 more minutes, after 3 more beeps go and remove all 3 smokies in the hallway. Problem solved, return to bed and begin to allow my eyes to grow heavy. BEEP! I hurry again and wait and hear the beep once again in the office. There it is, now I can destroy the infidel in my house, the terrorist of night sleep.

But lets return to sentence #2, you remember the dream of uneasy discourse. I lay and argue in my mind about leadership requirements with someone in my life. I am explaining why he is in the wrong and if he makes a couple simple, yes simple improvements then he will have a paradigm shift that will give him a freedom to lead appropriately. I begin to raise my voice and explain/demand that if he tries my ways just at least try once or twice then measure the outcome that he would realize my rationale. It is met with much hesitation and frustration. Of course this was already expected, I'm young and extremely inexperienced (tongue in cheek) so what in the world might I have to offer on the subject of leadership. To his dismay some leaders are born some are created, I am both, a little at birth, I learned how to be an instigator and lead those I loved into trouble, then that form of leadership was defined into a deep level of taking people into their world to make a difference. Return again to the story, so, as awoke from this dream paced the house knowing in my spirit that there was a reason that I was awakened and went to God in prayer. I have learned that God wakes me at night to get close to him, He speaks to me through my dreams and then I awake to meditate and pray on what was in my dream.

God's message: Not everyone is at the point ready to receive what you have to say. Knowledge does not give the power to speak into someones life just because you know better or have the answer. One must gain influence to be able to move information into someone's mental storage facility. Sure what I said was appropriate and right, but that doesn't need to translate into arrogance. Any gift or knowledge I have is because God granted me the ability to have it. But he didn't grant me the permission to step into certain people's lives and dump my knowledge or reasoning into them.

God's answer: At some point this person (to only be known as PBW) will return to me in the future to seek advice and/or direction.

Read more >> Options >>

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AZ District Council 2007

John Lindell
James River Assembly of God Sr. Pastor

"The Power With Praying With Anticipation"

Isaiah 40:31 - But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

The only story that is repeated 3x in the Old Testament - Hezekiah and his reign as king.

The king tried to trust God and do what he said.

Isaiah 38:6 - And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.

The King didn't trust God, he tried to make deals with other kings.

Isaiah 39:1 - At that time Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered. 2 And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not. 3 Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon.

2 Chronicles 32:25 - But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

Hezekiah is overwhelmed by the situation. Isaiah 36:6 - God would bring him out of the trouble and speak to him.

When God is speaking you to you, hold on to him. LIsten closely to the Lord. Stop and listen to the verses that speak to you.

6 steps to coming to a place of anticipation on the lord through prayer.

Wait: qavah

1. Understand how big God is.
- Isaiah 40:25-26 - To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

2. Even though God is big he cares about your needs.
- Isaiah 40:27 - Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?

3. Remember What you have known.
-Isaiah 40:28 - Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

4. God can miraculously Strengthen you.
- Isaiah 40:29 - He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
- Instead of saying I cant do it, say God you have equipped me and made me for this. I can't wait to see what you are going to use me to do. You will give me strength each day, you will give me strength for the battle.

5. God understands that even the strongest get tired.
- The soul and the strength grow together, they both get tired. - C.S. Lewis
- Isaiah 40:30 - Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

6. If we look to God With Anticipation He will give Strength
- Isaiah 40:31 - But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
- God will give you a supernatural strength.

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Seven Reasons You Might Fail to Become the Best in the World

Seven Reasons You Might Fail to Become the Best in the World
by Seth Godin

1. You run out of time (and quit).
2. You run out of money (and quit).
3. You get scared (and quit).
4. You’re not serious about it (and quit).
5 You lose interest or enthusiasm or settle for being mediocre (and quit).
6. You focus on the short term instead of the long (and quit when the short term gets too hard).
7. You pick the wrong thing at which to be the best in the world (because you don’t have the talent).

By “you,” I mean your team, your company, or just plain you, the jobseeker, employee, or entrepreneur. The important thing to remember about these seven things is that you can plan for them. You can know before you start whether or not you have the resources and the will to get to the end. Most of the time, if you fail to become the best in the world, it’s either because you planned wrong or because you gave up before you reached your goal.

Even worse than quitting in the first six cases: not quitting. Settling. Sticking with it but not succeeding.

Is it possible that you’re just not good enough? That you (or your team) just don’t have enough talent to be the best in the world? Sure, it’s possible. In fact, if your chosen area is the cello, or speed skating, then I might even say it’s probable. But in just about every relevant area I can think of, no, it’s not likely. You are good enough. The question is, will you take the shortcut you need to get really good at this?

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/the_dip/2007/04/the_seven_reaso.html

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Wow, may I never decide to quit, may I never accidentally quit. If I run out of time I will reset my clock. If I run out of money I will beg. If I get scared I will turn on the lights. If I am not serious about it then I will recast my vision. If I lose enthusiasm or interst I will try a new cuisine, possibly a cultural delicacy. If I focus on the short tem goal instead of the long term goal I will look up, if that short term gets too hard I will stop take a breath, a good drink of cold water then look up and go. If I pick then wrong thing because I am not talented I will surround myself with anyhing, everything, anyone and everyone that can help strengthen that talent. I WON'T QUIT, EVER!!!!

I am, I will be a speaker, advocate, lobbyist, activist for the God I believe in, not the Christianity that has been created through ideologies but through the mere understanding of his greatness.

Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised' Hebrews 10:35-36.

God has created me to be who he wants me to be. What ever part of the world in space and time that he wants me to affect I must fulfill. I mut be confident in who God has made me to be. I can't throw that away. Just like in the 7 reasons we fail, without perseverance we are useless. God can't use me if I am not available to be used. If I quit I have limited God and his ability to use me in this place and time to affect my world. Perseverance is in a simplified definition; continued pursuit. Will I pursue God, will I pursue his passions, will I pursue his desires, will I chase his wants? Will I? I must, I have to, I must pursue everything he has for me but not just selfishly, I must pursue him as a living sacrifice. To take up my cross daily is to sacrifice it. God's promises are coming, they are on the way to interact with us in the intersection of finishing the race and doing it with confidence and not quitting. That is the life I want to live.

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Your (you are) Genius (Genie-in-us)

Every single person has in them what it takes to be something, to be someone.

You must take courage to find your genius, when you find your genius you will see that it comes out of your environment.
Have the courage to find your environment where you rub your magic lamp and your Genie-in-us comes out. God gave you the magic. What God gives never comes back in void. God is faithful in everything he says. He has equipped us to be something someday. Our soul for being, our heartbeat for existence is not to settle with mediocrity or to simply be comfortable. Once we know our environment we can begin to take it over. We will simply begin to master it and learn its features. When we know our environment well then we begin to over come it. Michael Jordan was a beautiful genius in his environment. He was the magic to the Chicago Bulls. He was the best person to ever touch the court. Because of his ability and agility to overcome his environment, his courage gave him the MVP and the title of the best player ever.

The saddest thing is that we limit ourselves so much by not believing in ourselves. We hold back our full potential. Maybe somebody one day, one time came down on you or told you that you didn't amount to what you were up against and that took everything you thought you were and it was crushed. You never picked up the pieces and put them together. You stayed there, became stalemate and let the environment overgrow you. IF we don't master our environment the environment begins to take over. I have never in my life seen a garden keep itself weed free, I have never seen a clean house stay clean, or let alone a bedroom. Nature goes bad, our courage to overcome yields its control. We need to step up, take courage and be strong to fight for control over our environment. Then we can be the genius that has been in us the whole time. Our untapped magic is there in everyone, when we see people that are a genius over their environment we think they are a miracle, a perfect package. It is not a miracle, it was one who showed courage over their environment, then the magic comes out and we become a genius.

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