Endure

What do we do about the trials we go through?

My train of thought today is going to take a foundation from James 1.  

James was writing to the groups of Jewish believers who'd been scattered following the Persecution.  

He, of course, knew the trials that all these believers had been facing, yet doesn't open his writing with any kind of melancholy, pouting attitude.  In fact it's the opposite.  He tells them, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds..." (James 1:2).  As believers in Jesus Christ, we will face many difficulties.  

What James speaks on in the first chapter, namely perseverance, reminds me of a scene from the latest Batman trilogy. 

Bruce Wayne and Alfred are discussing the current state of Gotham and what Batman means to Gotham. 

Here's the conversation:

Bruce:  "People are dying Alfred, what would you have me do?"

Alfred:  "Endure, Master Wayne.  Take it. They'll hate you for it, but that's the point of Batman, he can be the outcast.  He can make the choice that no one else can make. The right choice."

This is at a crucial time in The Dark Knight as The Joker is on a rampage and Bruce Wayne is at an impasse.  Does he continue to be Batman or does he just quit? 

I think those earlier believers may have been in a similar situation.  They had just been scattered by the Persecution. This wasn't a movie, people were actually dying!   So many times, the early Christians faced a way out.  If they would only denounce Christ, they'd be set free and would live.  Most of them made the choice to not turn on Jesus.  That's the exact type choice Alfred is talking about.

As Christians, particularly in the current age, we have to choose the right choice.  We will be hated for it, Jesus told us that (Matthew 24:9) and so did Paul (2 Timothy 3:12).  When we choose to stand beside our faith instead of falling in line with the politically correct society, we will see exactly what Jesus and Paul talked about.  We have seen it in the last few weeks!  With all that is happening in our country, Christians are being put down and slighted more than ever.

I promise you this, it is nothing no other Christian has ever seen.  In our day and age, Christians in other countries face more extreme persecutions than we can dream of.  We are indeed blessed to be Christians in America, but I feel our comfort zone is wearing thin and we will soon see a lot more persecution for our beliefs.  We just think it is bad now.

What would that do to our faith?  If we were to face intense persecution?  I'd hope we could be able to be strong, but I am afraid that our current standing of faith is not strong enough.

Many of us, myself included, are what I like to call "comfort Christians."  We post Bible verses on Facebook and Instagram, we go to church most Sundays, and we try our best to live the Christian life.  When the rubber meets the road though, who are we?  When we face a tough decision, do we seek God's guidance or do we do what WE think is best?  When we are out with fellow believers or even non-believers are we reflecting Jesus?  These are questions, at one time or another, I have asked myself.

What I am saying here is, we need to strengthen our relationship with God!

How do we do that?  We seek Him.  The only way I get to know more about Jennifer is studying her, in a sense.  I ask questions, I watch her, and I pay attention to the details.  It is the exact same way with God.  He has given us the ultimate love letter, the Bible, this is how we get to know Him.  How does He want us to treat others?  It is in the Bible!  How does he feel about the issues of life? It is in the Bible!  God revealed things to the authors of the books of the Bible that He knew would be issues of our day, they can be addressed with the Bible!

Will the world ascribe to what we say is Biblical?  Not always, but does that mean we stop believing it?  No!  We live our lives in such a way that the world starts to believe it!!!

All these social issues that go against what the Bible says is truth, how do you handle it?  By showing love, not hate.  That is another subject for another day, but we have to know that we will not show anybody who Christ is by hating them.

What does all this have to do with endurance?  Everything.

I started writing this post on June 25 from an airplane on the way to Baltimore.  Little did I know the decision that would be made the next day while I was touring DC.  We are going to need endurance in the coming days, weeks, months, and years.  God is going to work everything out for good, but He never said that meant an easy path for us.

When you stand on your beliefs about marriage you will face opposition.  Endure.  When you express your opinion that a man is a man from birth to death and has no right to change that, you'll be considered a bigot or crazy.  Endure.  One day, when you choose to serve God and no one else, you'll likely stare death in the face.  Endure.

Until the day Jesus breaks open the Eastern sky to come back.  Endure.

Why Football?

What makes football so great?  Why do I consider it so important? What drew me to the game so much that I would use it as a basis for a career?

For me, football has been a lifelong love.  

Don't get it twisted.  I love God with all my heart and life, I love Jennifer more than words can express, I love my family and friends, then there's football.  

I guess the story starts with being a young boy and going to HHS football games with my parents.  Even more so from throwing a small football with my Peepaw in his living room every chance I could!  Moves along to the posters that hung on my bedroom wall through my wary years.  One was of Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith and the other was of the O-Line from the Cowboys including Mark Tuenai and Nate Newton.  When I was a kid, the Cowboys were truly America's Team.  I was also a fan of the Texas Longhorns.  

I can remember watching the 1995 Sugar Bowl on TV and being extremely disappointed in the Longhorn loss.  That may have been the first time that I put real emotion into football.  

The fire was fueled when I entered 8th grade and was able to actually play the game I grew up watching.  I got the privilege  to learn the game from many  great coaches.  I played football for five years and then my playing days were over.  When I got to college I spent every Saturday I could posted in front of a TV watching whatever college game I could find. 

Throughout my teenage years, I get God's calling on my life to enter ministry.  I didn't know at the time that my ministry wouldn't be you're garden variety ministry.  

My senior year in HS, I began to notice the impact that coaches had on my life and the lives of my friends.  I believe God was sending me signals way back then.  However, I pursued a career in vocational ministry in my first year at ETBU.  After some prayer and a change of major, I began the road to a career in teaching and coaching.  

I went without hands on interaction with the game for about 7 or 8 years.  During this time I finished college and worked at ETBU for a length of time before I got the call from HISD.  

So here I am, where God has me and where he is using me.  I would never have seen anything without God informing me to!  

All that to say...Why Football? 

For one, because of the impact the game has on the lives of young men. Secondly, the pure competition of the game. Third, the combination of mental and physical that football demands.  One of my favorite parts of coaching is outsmarting the other sideline when I can, it doesn't always happen!  Football is such a metaphor for life, that's another reason it's so great.  There are ups and downs and many things do not go your way. That's how life is, it is a remake adjustments and fix the wrongs and work on the things that makes us better type deal!  

So in a world that can sometimes misconstrue football or attempt to get rid of it all together, I stand beside it and its importance to our society.  

Football was hear long before I was born and will be hear long after I die, but it is an amazing picture of God's plan for us.

God is in the role of a Head Coach.  He makes the game plan, assign the positions, and even call the penalties.  What we have to do is work with our HC to execute the gameplay likes he wants.  

If this is a team you're interested in joining, God's team, please e-mail me (coachk6262@gmail.com) or holler at me somehow and I will gladly introduce you! 

Why are People Leaving the Church?

I do not claim to be a church expert or an expert in what goes on in the church.  I am however a Christ-follower and a church member and so I can give perspective on this subject.

Our pastor spoke a couple of Sundays ago and used a statement that he has used a number of times and that I have heard in other places as well, people ages 18-29 are leaving the church in droves.  I can say from personal experience that this is true.  It is also an alarming statement.

The question posed by many church members and pastors is, "why are so many people leaving the church so quickly?"

The answer can be found by looking at ourselves.  A church self-inventory, if you will.

First of all, let's look at the original purpose of the church in the Bible.

•  "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to   prayer.  Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.  All   the believers were together and had everything in common.  They sold their property and                     possessions to give to anyone who had need.  Every day they continued to meet together in the           temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,             praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.  And the Lord added to their number daily         those who were being saved."   Acts 2:42-47

First off, the church was established as a place of teaching.  We are to go to church and surround ourselves with other believers, in order to establish a base and strengthen our faith.  What would be the purpose of that?  For God to get glory!  Through our faith being strengthened, we grow closer to God and then we begin to reflect Him through our lives and therefore He receives glory!  Secondly, the church exists for the fellowship of believers.  God works in that fellowship and establishes an attitude of sacrificial love.  In the early church, they met in their homes and gave each other what was needed.  That means they gave other members who were struggling a little help.  It wasn't like they had the Fortune 500 businessman or someone else hoarding their money, they gave to each other as needs arose.  They spent time together beyond a Sunday morning!  Notice the passage says EVERY DAY.  They spent time together.  They got along.  Did they have worries and busy lives?  I am sure!  First off, they faced constant persecution!  Beyond that, they all had families and other responsibilities, but the church and the mission of Jesus Christ came first!

Today, I feel like we, the church as a whole, have moved far away from what this early church was.  The original church stood to be a beacon to the world of Christ!  Today, I feel as though much of the church has become a "country club" or "department store" of sorts with the mission of accommodating members and soothing them.  I say all this as one of the poster children of this whole kind of movement.  I am as guilty of partaking in all of this, and soon, I will make a list where I will be just as guilty of every point as any other member of the church.

As "American" Christians, I think we have pushed ourselves even further away from our purpose.  I feel as though we hunker down in our churches and avoid what we should be doing.  While our mission should be spreading the gospel to anyone who will hear, we shy away from doing it.  We produce plays and programs and musicals, so that we don't have to get one-on-one with someone and share our faith!

So, where else are we falling short?  I've compiled a list of points which, I feel has been a part of the encouragement of the mass exodus from the church!

• We are not undignified in our worship.
• David celebrated before the Lord.  He did so HALF-NAKED! (2 Samuel 6) That is certainly an undignified approach to worship.  We should do the same.  We struggle to hold up our hands or actually worship because we worry what someone is going to say.  If we followed David's true example, we would manage to be people after God's heart!
• We don't show unconditional love.  We allow and "celebrate" our pet sins, but shun others.
• God looks beyond every sin and every shortcoming we have and loves us all the same.  He doesn't keep a ranked list of sins and doesn't put one child before the other.  We have not adopted this same mindset.  We shun many, while accommodating others.  We have created a ranking system for sin and portray that to the world, but that's not God's design.  No, we are not to make concession for any sin!  The business man who cheats on his taxes is just as sinful as the teenager who is having sex with his girlfriend.  The guy who's addicted to pornography is just as sinful as the homosexual.  There is no difference in any of us!  We have all fallen short of God's glory and we cannot save ourselves!  Only God can save us!  However, here is the deal!  If we seek God's forgiveness, leave our sin behind us, and never turn back to it, we are on the right track!  It is when we return to our sin of any type that we are wrong.
• We treat church like a recharge station.
• "I've had a rough week, I need to go to church for a recharge."  If I didn't charge my cell phone every day, it wouldn't be of any use to me.  The same goes for my life.  If I don't "charge" by spending time in the Word and with the Lord, then my life is of no use!
• We have adopted the attitude of our society. 
• Our society is "ME-centered".  Everything is done for what I can get out of it.  I need a church that has the best sound system, a Starbucks, a valet service, and a pastor who will speak just enough truth to suit me, not the pastor that let's God speak and pierces my heart to the core.  Kalon, you're being extreme.  Maybe, but probably not!  Like I said before, the early church met in houses in the community! I guarantee there wasn't some amazing rock n' roll worship band or the richest coffee this side of Colombia!  
• We're stiff.
• We have our assigned seats.  Church has to be out at 11:30 so we can go eat and get our nap in.  How dare that Worship Pastor go "off-bulletin" and sing a song that wasn't on the powerpoint!  That person is raising their hands, they must be nutty.  Oh no, look at what that kid is wearing to church!  All these statements are things I know happen in churches across our country.  Mainly because of my next point.
• We don't really do what Jesus would do.
• In Luke 4, Jesus tells us his purpose.  "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  
• We don't trust the message of the Gospel.
• We feel like we have to dress up the most powerful message in the history of the World and repackage it with cute ribbon and bows.  Here's the deal:  God is it!  Everything we need is in Him!  Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, He brought sight to the blind, made the lame walk, raised the dead, then died a brutal death on a cross, was buried, and rose from the dead three days later; and the thing is He did it for each and every human ever!  That narrative doesn't need a make over!  It doesn't need cute packaging!  It works on its own! We have to trust it!
• We don't have concern for the lost. 
• We are so content with our weekly refill of God on Sundays, we fail to see the tragedy that surrounds us.  Our family, friends, coworkers, and the whole world who do not have a personal relationship with Christ have one thing waiting for them, an eternity in Hell.  Hell is real and we should be concerned with the souls of the people around us!  If we had the cure for cancer, wouldn't we share it??

So why would people leave?  Why aren't people coming?  

We are not different!  

Why would people want to join anything where they can continue to do what they do, but with guilt?

We have to revamp our churches and our lives to exude our relationship with Jesus Christ!  We need to get ourselves back to the church from Acts 2:42-47!  That is why America is in the toilet!  We have hidden out in our buildings and peeked out the window!  We should have been out putting the powerful love of Jesus Christ to work!  We must strive to love as Jesus did.  

We've got to stop trying to fix everything and speak the Gospel and stand back! Let God do His work!