What I learned from fasting
Our church just finished a 21-day fast to kick off the year. We partnered with Awake 21 and hundreds of churches from around the world. It’s a great idea to get people fasting and praying but the partnership with other churches was a unique experience as we linked arms together.
I am a little hesitant to share my experience of the 21 days at the expense of sounding super-spiritual. Those who know me know I’m far from that.
I’m also hesitant because I take Jesus’ words seriously:
“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
- Matthew 6:16-18 (NRSV)
At the same time, this is the first time I’ve fasted consistently. My previous experiences were starving myself for 30 Hours at youth for World Vision and then binging on Taco Bell afterwards (which I don’t suggest)!
I didn’t do a full fast or a Daniel fast for the 21 days. My fast was simply during the day. I didn’t eat when the sun was up and I learned some important things over the 21 days.
First, I learned a lot about myself and my dependence on food. We are privileged enough in this country to have food at our disposal. Even if you don’t have enough money for food there are places you can go so that you don’t have to go hungry.
I learned how easy it is to eat without being thankful for what has been provided. Every time my stomach grumbled during the day I took time to pray and give thanks for who God is and what He has given me. Some days there were a lot of grumbles, which also meant there were a lot of prayers.
Second, I learned that eating can be a form of worship. Because I didn’t eat during the day you would think that I had every right to binge at night. But I didn’t… I ate as much as I would normally eat if I wasn’t starving.
I began to learn with every bite, after a day of not eating, that eating is worship. That food is designed to give God praise.
It made me think about how I eat, what I eat and why I eat…
I know during the fast that some people were looking for big breakthrough in different areas of their lives. There is nothing wrong with that.
But…
For me, it was the simple reassurance to give God praise with everything in my life.
My song for Catalyst One Day
Yesterday I tried to win a free ticket to Catalyst One Day, an event in Chicago this March. Unfortunately I didn’t win but I did write a song for Scott Hodge expressing my desperation for the ticket. This is how it turned out.
Clayton’s Story
A while back I was listening to a podcast from Francis Chan and he played a clip of this kid named Clayton sharing his story.
Here it is. Puts a little perspective on life and living for the Kingdom!
I remember…
I remember March 2005. I had just taken over our youth ministry (EMGyouth) and I had invited a friend to come along and speak at a Tuesday night gathering.
That night the speaker shared his story of growing up and being far from God. In the crowd was a young girl who was visiting us for the first time. I remember her being a shy, quiet girl, but what I remember most is that something happened that night.
As the speaker shared, something connected with the girl and at the end of the message she responded to an invitation to invite Christ into her life. That night started something in her. Little by little she began to change!
Mike and Nicole are two of our incredible youth leaders!
Today, over four years later, I sat at Mike and Nicole’s wedding. I was overwhelmed throughout the day at what God has done in their lives. To think that Nicole was that girl sitting in that gathering four years ago. Jesus changed a life and now Mike and Nicole were standing together on the biggest day of their lives.
As I listened to their vows this afternoon I thought to myself “this marriage is a miracle from God!” The wedding party filled with a number of former students and current leaders who have been apart of EMG or connected to our faith community. They played such an incredible role in seeing Nicole and Mike to this point. As I sat amongst the laughter and joy tonight I couldn’t help but reflect on the goodness of God. Today was an incredible act of God’s grace!
It got me thinking…
Sometimes we can underestimate what God is doing. It’s easy to feel like you are working so hard to see lives changed and feel like you are not seeing anything happen.
Maybe we just need to open up our eyes and see what God is doing! Today was a beautiful reminder of how God is changing lives for his Kingdom.
We can also underestimate our story and how God can use us…
God used the speaker that night in 2005 to share how God had saved him. In return we saw today changed lives who will do incredible things in the future.
Don’t underestimate! God still changes lives and I’m blessed to watch what He is doing. I cannot wait to see what the future holds!
Well done Mike and Nicole!…
Inspiration
We had a great night last night. Over a hundred of our crew came to celebrate the arrival of summer with Keep It Real and TO TELL.
As I took time to reflect last night for a few minutes I got thinking of some people I’ve been inspired by recently.
First, our students. I had fun last night. It’s a lot of work but it was amazing to spend time with our crew. Our students really do inspire me and we’ve had another great school year together. It hasn’t been without challenges and there are always things we’re walking through.
It’s part of being a Jesus community. It’s going to be messy! People at times will get off path, but when I look at this past school year I do sit in awe at what God has done. Students are graduating and there can be pain in that, but our students have inspired me to keep loving people, preaching Jesus and worshipping Him with everything I have.
I’m also inspired by a girl named Laura. Laura leads a skateboard ministry called Keep It Real. I remember meeting Laura a bunch of years ago at camp. She was an outgoing girl and the ring leader of the infamous Braeside Crew.
Yesterday I was impressed. Not only by Laura’s ministry but her crew’s heart for people.
At one point in the night Laura got up on a skate rail and started preaching! I mean there was tons going on (BBQ, Dunk Tank, Skaing), but when she started to preach man, the whole parking lot went silent! Every ear listening to what she had to say. She talked about her story, her youth group growing up, how God changed her life and how He wanted to change everyone’s life for His cause. It was unbelievable! She went for it… and I was inspired.
Never write people off! They may be into different stuff or look different than you!… but God has His way. And that’s the way I like it!
Here’s a video of what Keep It Real is up to:
Golf At The Office
*** Disclaimer
1) We work hard… more than the hours we are required to work every week. But we do because we love it.
2) This was at the end of the day
3) This took 10 minutes
4) We love our jobs!
Fighting The Mundane
In ministry you tend to fight the mundane.
It’s easy to do the ‘same old same old’ when you gather as a community.
At EMG we try our hardest to keep our students engaged in what’s happening. We want to be continually mixing things up. We have started using more video teaching and now some weeks we are even running the age groups together for the teaching time.
Once and a while we are taking breaks in the middle of our programs to take a few minutes to connect with each other. Last week we pretty much taught before we had worship as a response at the end.
I say all this to identify some of the things we can do to avoid a ‘same old same old’ mentality. We have an opportunity every week to share the Gospel as a community and we need to express that in a vibrant way!
Though we try our hardest to be creative and fresh, the mundane can creep in.
Just like hearing the ‘same old’ safety requirements spiel on an airplane.
You know what I’m talking about… If you travel lots you know that you simply find your seat, grab a book or magazine or put your Ipod on while the Flight Attendant tells you how to save your life if the plane decides to stop working.
You’ve heard it once, you’re heard it a million times!
But that can change.
Here’s a video of a guy who was tired of the mundane and shook things up!
156 Wings
Last night we went for all you can eat wings. I ate 31… It was painful… I’m still feeling the hot strip ranch…
WOW.
Anyway…
There was a lady there who comes in twice a month and she ate 15 wings.
Actually, that’s a lie.
SHE ATE 156 WINGS!
What?!
We saw her limp to her car! and she was tiny.. like 130 pounds (I’m guessing) soaking wet.
Is that right?
The Story
There’s power in the story of creation and God working in history…
Ben Arment has a new project coming in October. Today he shared a clip from Matt Chandler giving us a little glimpse of the story that we are apart of. It’s powerful! Click HERE to listen and enjoy!
Titles
I was able to read the book SERVOLUTION by Dino Rizzo on our way home from North Carolina last week. I loved it. If you’re looking to be inspired by a church and community that is impacting people by serving, then this is a book for you.
It was amazing to read how Dino and Healing Place Church responded in disaster like 9/11 and during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
One thought stuck out to me as I was reading Servolution and it got me thinking.
It’s interesting to see that as the disciples began to follow Jesus they got caught up in titles.
They even asked Jesus, “Jesus… Which of us is the greatest?”
Now, after reading the gospels, it’s not rocket science to see that Jesus was more concerned with serving than he was titles.
It is also interesting to see that as the story continues and the early church was birthed that these very people that wanted a title were GIVEN the title “Christians” by the surrounding world. It wasn’t something they made up. It was what the culture titled them.
I don’t know if this is making sense, but I do believe that this can apply to both leadership and community.
I’ve heard this… “Our church is relevant” or “Our church is contemporary.”
While I appreciate this, the reality is that if you are what you say are you shouldn’t have to say it! PEOPLE SHOULD SEE IT. Let people determine who you are for themselves!
It is one thing for a restaurant to say that they have good food, but just saying it doesn’t make it true.
The same is true in leadership. You shouldn’t have to declare who you are. I often run into leaders who introduce themselves as Pastor, Reverent, Dr. or whatever. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this, I have always found it awkward when somebody has to declare who they are without giving me a chance to see who they are.
In the case of the disciples, their title was coming. Christians or “little Christ’s”.
Tiles are not something asked for, they are something given!
