an old talk that still affects me

(This is a repost from October 13, 2009.)

One of my favorite leaders and communicators is Rob Bell. I think he's the man. Me and Crystal even went to Mars Hill up in Grand Rapids ("the epicentre of progressive culture" as Rob would say) a few years ago to check out what God was doing there.

You've no doubt seen or at least heard of Rob's Noomas. I think they're brilliant and think more and more people should be exposed to them. He's releasing some revolutionary new "noomaesque" stuff that will be totally free soon. More on that in another post.
I've got all his books and love them. You may have read one - Velvet Elvis, Sex God, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, or the most recent Drops Like Stars... which is also the tour Rob is currently on (came through Charlotte just 4 days ago!). (You can buy his books HERE.)
He had a talk prepared that I had actually listened to a couple weeks ago = "The Importance of Beginning in the Beginning." But he scrapped it at the last second feeling a leading to talk about something else. Something from his soul he had never talked about before in public.

Anyway, nuff said for the intro.
He started off his talk with the Q = Is bigger better? Of course we would mentally say “no,” but there’s something deeper that makes us feel differently. (We talked through some of John 6:22-66.)

"That’s not why we do things – because they’re popular. We do them because God’s doing them." Right on!

And I absolutely LOVED this = God won’t say to me “Why weren’t you more like him.” No, He’ll prolly say = “Why weren’t you more like YOU?” We all need to hear that and believe it!
He told us about a take on the 10 commandments that I guess is actually pretty old. It's what the Rabbis used to say... The 1st 9 of the 10 are externally measurable. But the last is different. *The Rabbis say the 1st 9 are commands, but the 10th is a REWARD. If I obey God (the 1st 9) then I won’t want anybody else’s life! (I won't covet.) It’s a reward. My life is just fine. I was fascinated by this thought. I'm not saying I buy into something like that the 1st time I hear it, but that's a pretty good take on it. I think it makes perfect sense.

This was a great and deeply internal searching for me = "Is there ever a deep, residing anxiety in me that I haven’t accomplished enough?" My answer would have to be Absolutely. God wants to set me free from that. Don’t let what I’m building and doing become a burdern/stress on me.
A subset of that question was "Is there any way I’ve been stressed about size?" 

I was struck by this comment Rob made = "There’s a difference in me walking a hard road and carrying a stress-inducing burden. Jesus may give us a hard road, but not a stressful burden…" I thought that was REALLY interesting considering how many pastors and leaders are probably stressed out right now! I think there's a thin line between the 2, but an important one not to cross. What I'm following God to do right now is hard, no doubt, but it shouldn't be constantly stressful for me.
That was the theme throughout the talk.

*Jesus wants to set me free to enjoy the work I’m in right now. And that is very freeing. He kept nailing it with these awesome questions he kept asking me...
"Is there anywhere or any way that I’ve neglected to take care of myself because I think I’m supposed to be going all the time?" [I’m think I’m getting better and better and figuring this out.]
Does my spouse get my very best? Or does she get what’s left over after I’ve given it all to the church. My spouse will be there the whole journey. Better keep my priorities straight.

*"Jesus wants to make sure that peeps like me who are proclaiming a gospel of peace and life are actually experiencing the peace and life of Jesus." profound.
I think it was awesome for many to hear him say "Let them have their more and you just do what God's put in front of you. Be free from the big… that’s good news."

It was an awesome talk! Definitely in my top 2 or 3 of the conference. (And awesome enough for Matt Chandler to say a couple times how good it was. Wonder what his big bro Driscoll would think of that?)
It was all great stuff for me to hear (and I'm guessing for thousands of others too). Thanks for sharing, Rob, and letting this be the first place you talked about it in public. We needed it!

What do YOU think of Rob's stuff?

party people or religious people?

(This was originally posted on June 2, 2009.)

I just wanted to share with you the coolest sentence (pretty crazy run on sentence though) that I've heard all day. I heard it while mowing my grass tonight listening to Rob Bell's series = Jesus Wants to Save Christians. This was Part 7 (I've only got 1 more talk to go in the 8 part series).

It's from a series back in the day but now there is a book of the same title (Jesus Wants to Save Christians = buy it HERE).

Anyway, here's what he said...
"By the way, a general rule of thumb - If people who want nothing to do with God and are hostile to church and are considered kind of on the margins... if they love being around you; and very wound up religious people who think that they're right and everybody else is wrong find you deeply disturbing and offensive... then you're being like Jesus."

Pretty awesome. My prayer is for Jesus to help me live this way, help me live like He did! So that the "party people"... the people who the other church peeps don't like... wanna be around me.

That's our prayer at Ridge Church. That people who don't like church would come to our church and really like it... and that God would change their world! 

thoughts on sabbath and furious rest

(This was originally posted on June 16, 2009.)
 
I love sabbath! (sabbath = basically a day of rest each week.) I have only truly understood it for the past 4 years or so. Louie Giglio and Rob Bell, 2 of my "mentors" helped me to "get" sabbath & dive into the awesome world of practicing it.
Thankfully those 2 men helped me understand and start practicing sabbath just a few months into my marriage. I think it was divine timing! (I had never done it before.)

[*Side note story warning] In fact, I can still vividly remember the exact time when I decided to practice sabbath rest each week. I was driving in my caddy listening to a Rob Bell talk back in '05 after we had just been married. I was in the drive thru line at the McDonald's near our house picking up dinner & his whole thing had been about sabbath & I was like "you know what... I'm gonna do it." One of the best decisions I ever made.

Basically 1 day a week I try to NOT do ANY work. (Like no work for my job). I just chill. I've done that for almost 4 years. Pretty much every Friday is my "sabbath." And it also doubles as date night with my wife, Crystal. I've written about that before HERE.

Because of a super busy schedule & some extra jobs I've taken, I haven't had a sabbath in about 2 weeks. UNTIL TODAY. a Tuesday. And WOW did I need it! (That was the 1st time I've ever gone this long without one since I started.) I can tell that life gets jacked up when I don't get a day of rest each week.
[Today I just went to a late breakfast with my wife @ Sunrise... my fav breakfast joint in Charlotte where I used to go with my dad once a week when I was a kid. Then we did a little grocery shopping. Had some fun at the house. Watched a chick flick she wanted to see & now we're going to sleep. Very spiritual day.]

When I was a little kid I thought sabbath was just a Sunday thing & we weren't supposed to mow the grass or God might strike us dead with a lightning bolt. haha... but the cool part is that God started sabbath as a favor to us.

**Take the whole "God side" out of it even... it's just common sense. You will simply work better, feel better, be happier, function better, be nicer, and enjoy life more! Seriously, try it for like 4 weeks in a row. You will be amazed. You probably won't stop.

Here's some things Louie helped me understand about sabbath:
(the parts below in "quotes" are from him...)
Sabbath is “a day to remember that He is God and we are not. Without Sabbath, we forget who we are and lose sight of who He is.” That's really the heart of it.
I committed to NOT let myself “get to the place where I truly believe the outcome of the story fully depends on me.” Because that would be laughable.

*I don't know about you, but my job NEVER ends. I could work 24/7. Literally ALL the time... and there would still be more to do. I can't leave my work at the office. So when it comes to this sabbath thing for me - there's so much pressure to work on Sabbath because there's SO MUCH to do!

BUT, Louie taught me that sabbath IS RESTING in knowing that "Everything doesn’t hinge on me. If I stop doing my part, the whole world will not fall apart. I am not in control. God made the whole world in six days without any input from me, or my assistance. God doesn’t need me to accomplish His work. I am little. God is huge. I trust Him.” I love it! Sabbath is me getting to heap glory on God through proving/showing my trust in His power & sovereignty.

*When I wake up everyday (after I stumble out of bed) I seriously try to remind myself that I’ve been invited “into an already-in-progress Story in which God was doing just fine long before my little feet ever hit the floor.”
- “Sabbath happens anywhere and everywhere we let go of the controls and lay the cares of our lives at His feet." = that's a pretty simple definition for you.
[most of those quotes are from Louie's pimp book i am not but i know I AM which you can click on to the right & buy it.]

Basically we are all (myself included) arrogant. I guess it can only be our own pride that tricks us into thinking that what happens is pretty much all up to ME. How freaking arrogant is that!??? but we totally act that way don't we!? "I can't take a day off because there's TOO MUCH TO DO!" haha... there's always gonna be too much to do, SO you may as well have a nice relaxing day of rest. :)

Sabbath. It's furious rest. It's a very spiritual thing. And I refuse to trade it for any amount of $ or extra production.