Let's Pack Up And Move To California...

Friends!  I realize that I haven't finished the blogs on hypocrisy yet, and I will soon.  This week has been super busy with midterms and things going on around here that I just haven't had that much time to sit down and write.  I'm at home sick today, so I might pound one or two out throughout the day; we'll see.  Even though I haven't finished them though, I wanted to take a few minutes here to update everyone on my life.

In the fall of 2011 I was first introduced to Eternity Bible College by my youth pastor, Mike Baker.  No, let me back up farther than that.  In 2009-2010, the Sr. High guys youth group at my church that I was a part of decided to go through the book, "Crazy Love", by Francis Chan.  God used that book as a catalyst in my life and ever since that point I've been placed in the eye of a hurricane surrounded by torrential outpourings of His love and grace and experiencing Him in ways I never thought were possible.  I point to that book as the start of me realizing the plans that God has for my life and his strong tugging on my heart for ministry and to do something crazy and exciting for Him.  If you know me pretty well and what's been going on in my life the past two years since that point, you know that I tried running away, tried to do my own thing and tried to make my own path for my life.  That's where I am now.  Reaping the benefits of my so-called, "Smart moves" and gritting my teeth as I bear the last half of the second semester of my freshman year at Bloomsburg University.  Now that I can see the plans that God has for me more clearly, I wish I would have listened to Him in the first place when he called me the first time.

With that being said, I enter the next chapter of my life.  Let me pick up where I left off.  In the fall of 2011 I was first introduced to Eternity Bible College by my youth pastor, Mike Baker.  For those unenlightened, Eternity Bible College is the child of Francis Chan, author of "Crazy Love".  Francis was the senior pastor at Cornerstone Church out in Simi Valley, California, and with the help of the church, Francis made his dream of bringing Christian education and ministry home to the hearts of hungry college students became a reality.  Thus, EBC was born.  Eternity is a small college--roughly 300-500 students including those involved in distance learning.  Eternity is a college centered solely on Scripture.  They have two programs, an associates in Biblical Studies and a Bachelor's in Biblical Studies. Obviously, the associates degree is a two year program, and the bachelors degree is a four year program.  The thing that's neat about EBC is that most of their funding for tuition comes from generous donators who want to see the fire of God in the hearts of young Christians today; ready to take on the world.  The average cost per year at EBC is $3,500.

When Mike initially planted the seed of EBC in my head, I was still in the stage of, "No, I kinda want to do my own thing."  Besides, I'd be moving out there all alone to a place that I've never been before, which scared me.  While it was definitely something to pray about, it was not on my list of top colleges.  In fact, Liberty University, John Brown University, Messiah College, and even staying at Bloomsburg were among my greatest ideas.  Nevertheless, I began to pray for a path to opened up and for the future to unfold in a way that would follow God's Will for my life. 

Over the New Year, I went to Passion 2012 with my church.  Passion is a youth conference in Atlanta, Georgia, that is hosted by Passion City Church (founded by Louie Giglio) and has become one of the strongest voices of salvation in Generation X.  Among others, Francis Chan is also a part of this.  It was while I was at Passion that I heard Sam Jablonski, one of my best friends who I've known for pretty much forever, was planning on applying for EBC in the late winter/early spring for the 2012 fall semester.  At that point, EBC had fallen on the back burner in my mind, but hearing Sam talk about it like it was actually going to happen, like it was real, really hit the message home for me.  Within days, I felt like God was speaking into my life, "Why don't you trust me?  You said you wanted to do great and crazy things for me, but you have to learn to trust me and let go."  Let go?  Let go of what?  Myself.

After I got back from Passion, I began researching schools of ministry.  Why pay huge money to go to a liberal arts college for ministry when I could pay a lot less and go to a school of ministry and get an education that is strictly ministry?  Elim Bible Institute, Eternity Bible College, and Anchor School of Ministry were the three that I checked out.  Out of those three, Eternity Bible stood out the most.  So after praying about it, checking it out, and seeking advice, I did the unthinkable.  I applied.

Fast forward a month and a half to yesterday.  Yesterday was the last day before spring break, and I couldn't have been more excited to start my spring break.  I had plans already for that evening.  After my last class, I would go to the rec. to hit around a racquetball for a little bit, then go to this old barn that I pass everyday on my commute to school to take some pictures, then finally head to the theater to meet up with a friend to catch the movie Act of Valor.  I was stoked!  God had different plans, though.  After eating lunch, I got this weird pain in my stomach, like a cramp.  It would come in waves, and sometimes I'd feel fine but then the next minute be wracked with an intense stomach pain.  I didn't know what was going on and as I sat in class I began to wonder if it was something I ate.  Between my last two classes I sat in the bathroom for a good while hoping that pooping would relieve some pressure.  It didn't.  I went back to class for 20 minutes before running out of class and barely making it to the stall in time to throw up.  After things calmed down, I went back to class for the remaining couple minutes, then left to go home.  I tried to eat something on the way home, but I didn't feel hungry even though I had lost my lunch.  As soon as I got home, I walked in the door dropped everything on the floor and just fell on the couch and drifted off to sleep.  It was at 4:30, an hour later, that my next round of vomiting came.  What was going?  I had barely made it back downstairs from the bathroom and was sitting on the couch cleaning myself up when the phone rang.  I let it go straight to the answering machine, but as soon as I heard who it was I wished I hadn't.  It was the Admissions Office from EBC. 

I called them back right away and learned that my application had been processed and I had been accepted for the fall 2012 semester at EBC!  Hallelujah, praise the Lord!  Needless to say, amidst all the vomit and stomach pain I couldn't have been happier and I felt myself being overwhelmed in worship by a crazy and relentless God.  A God who works everything out to good.  While I have been piddling my time away at Bloomsburg pretending to have control of my life, he has been whittling my future out of stone and has presented to me the first piece of the sculpture.  I'm not sure yet whether I'm moving in the beginning, middle, or end of summer, but within the next five or six months I will move out to Simi Valley, California, to start the next phase of my life.

 Let me just say right now that I am ridiculously excited.  In fact, images and thoughts were dancing in my mind up until 12:30 last night as I laid in bed.  The very thought of what God has planned for me is overwhelming, and I almost literally cannot wait until those plans become reality and Sam and (for he got accepted too, ptl!) I move out to California and dedicate the next four years of our lives in studying and utilizing the Bible, the very words of God.  I will be pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Biblical Studies, and it is a requirement of the school that I become affiliated with a church and dedicate so many hours a week in church service and work. 

Am I scared?  Mmm...a little.  I've lived in Milton, Pennsylvania, my entire life and moving somewhere else (let alone to Simi Valley, which is 45 minutes west of Los Angeles) is different, and I can't help but be a little nervous about the huge change.  But I'm excited.  More excited than I can express right now.  More excited than anything else, and I can't wait until all this becomes a reality. 

So with that said, I'll keep this blog updated with information on my journey out there, and once I get out there I'll keep updating it with what is going on in my life.  If you want to be a part of my life, even when I'm on the other side of the country, this is the place to be.  I'll try to link these blog posts to Twitter and Facebook as well so that people of those networks can also be informed in what God is doing in my life. 

"'It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,' he used to say.  'You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.'"--"Lord of the Rings:  The Fellowship of the Ring", by J.R.R. Tolkien


--DyingAnOriginal

Sunset

I'll rise from the ashes of the pyre you burned me on
Walk away from the road you left me on
Pull the blade from my back and wash it clean
Your gun breathes my name, but silence speaks louder than words

This is the end of you and I
And it's safe to say: I'm not afraid
You chilled my steps, stalked my every move
I'm walking away, I've got something to prove.

Your blood ran in my veins
Filled up my chalice, wracked me with pain
I'm saying goodbye to your sad, decrepit world
I'm sailing off, His banner's unfurled.

I'm walking in love from this point on
Abiding in Truth, kissing the Son
No more lust in the grave of the crippled and broken
You'll fall to the earth with your treachery unspoken.

Come, Lord

Here's some lyrics that I quickly wrote during a worship service at church the other night. 

This is the life that I'm called to live
Daily laying mine down for His
O, Lord of mercy, your blood has sanctified me
Screaming in worship, I'll fall to my knees
You alone are the one that I'm here for
My redemption is the one that you died for
So take me as I am, this mess is all I have to offer
Out of this crippled man you made a prince from a pauper
Come,
Lord,
Be my bride.
Take what I am, dwell inside
Come,
Lord,
Be my king
You are my life, I owe you everything.

Hiding Behind The Mask, Part 2

"98% purity is not enough."

Yesterday, we established that their is a new breed arising in today's churches that are devastating to the witness that the church has on the world.  Hypocrites within the church are blurring the lines that separate the church from the world.  In a faith that is required to be strictly black and white, these people are creating gray, yet still expecting to be classified with the rest of the church.

There's several issues that come to mind when I think about hypocrisy.  They are issues that have been birthed in the world, but have found their way into the churches and are generally accepted by the church.  Yet, even still, if we take a look at the Biblical ruler and what we should all be measuring ourselves against, these issues should not even have a hint within the church.  The Church, the very bride of Christ (John 3:29, Ephesians 5:22-23), is meant to be presented to Christ on judgment day as pure and spotless; unmarred and beautiful.  98% of the bride is not enough.

Gossip
Perhaps one of the most devastating of all sins is gossip.  Webster defines gossip as, "Casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true."  Gossip is addressed in the Bible multiple times (Proverbs 11:9; Psalm 101:5; James 4:11; 2 Corinthians 12:20), and it is unfortunately an issue that has seeped it's way through the cracks in the walls of our churches and become something that is looked over and passed by. 

"God desires unity within his church."


1 Corinthians 12 addresses the need for the church to be unified before the Lord.  On a sports team, if one player is against another and they refuse to work together, that part of the team will be weak until the difference is repaired.  Jesus addressed the issue directly in Matthew 12:25, "Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, 'Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.'" 

Without unity within the global church, the Great Commission is compromised.  Ministry is more than just going out and sharing Christ with the world.  Ministry also involves, serious prayer and financial support that can come directly from local churches.  When a church sends someone out in ministry, the church can't wipe it's hands and hope for the best, no, it continues support through serious prayer and intercession pleading for the work of God to be done in that person's ministry.  Without this support, ministry loses its potency.  If gossip runs rampant throughout a church, unity becomes endangered, and the power that the church has is lessened because of this sin that is accepted within the church and not dealt with. 

So where does that leave us?  Gossip is a serious issue and must be extricated from your spiritual and physical lives.  Don't take part in it, don't do it, and in the love of Christ call out others that are doing it.  Sometimes it can even be done unintentionally or subconsciously when people break confidence and spill secrets that have been entrusted to them to keep.  If someone tells you something in confidence, it doesn't matter who you want to tell, don't tell anyone.  Don't start rumors.  This is especially true if you are in church leadership.  Church leaders need to set a Biblical standard for the rest of the church to follow, and if they are knowingly involving themselves in spreading rumors and gossip, it will be so much harder for the church to bring themselves up out of the muck.  Simply put, don't do it.

On a more personal note, I know first hand how destructive gossip can be.  During high school I was deeply involved in a specific person's life and we were very, very close friends for several years.  Some interesting dynamics entered into the friendship when I began talking to someone else about my friend behind their back.  Through a series of events, my friend found out, heard the things we were saying, and cracks began forming in the foundation of our friendship.  In fact, for a period of time we thought that our friendship would not last and that the differences were too big to be overcome.  Fortunately, the friendship was repaired and we are still friends today, but the relationship will never be the same.


Gossip is dangerous, and it's effects can NOT be taken lightly.  Jesus says we shouldn't do it, and that is reason enough to refrain.  Cut and dry; black and white.  If you gossip you are living in sin unless you confess and repent--change.  Satan has been feasting on the souls that are effected by gossip that has been born in the church and enough is enough. 
 

Hiding Behind the Mask, Part 1

"If we lived a life where all we saw was the glory of God, would we ever need anything else?"

The Christian church--the body of Christ--is under attack.  The world looks on us as if we're crazy, offering us little solace in a temporary world where we are strangers to those around us.  Biblical standards and morals are falling more and more by the wayside, and we're fighting with every breath within us to regain the ground that we've lost, if not for the world, but for ourselves.  The voice of God's unending and holy love is being drowned out amidst the screams of this world that cry for war, greed, and lust.  Within the faith of what we believe we have all that we need, but we live in a completely opposite way.  We have an eternal savior and a loving friend, yet we continue to look towards the world for our hope and sense of security.  Relationships with others are put on a pedestal higher than a relationship with Christ.  We forget the strength that God is offering us and the help he has promised to give us in times of temptation, and we fall victim to our vices--lust, greed, jealousy, vanity.  We live in a world that screams, "More!  More!  More!" yet live with a faith that declares, "Less!  Less!  Less!"  It's in this paradox that we find the Church struggling to recover it's breath in a whirlwind of despair that is wrought out of selfish initiative. 

It's plain to see the damage that the world has done to the Church.  In the media, Christians are portrayed as judgmental, homosexuality-hating pigs, "holier than thou", and old-fashioned.  These are stereotypes that have been placed on us for so long that the rest of the world has succumbed to their beliefs.  Now not only the media sees us like this, but the rest of the world is looking on the church through filthy lenses that have been crafted by media.  The Church is placed in a stigma where all is perfect inside, and everything's wrong on the outside.  It has torn us away from the world and separated us further from the ministry that we've been given to helping those around us. 

There are two worlds battling for dominance within the global earth:  The Church--those within the Christian faith--and the rest of the world.  The world unabashedly sings its songs about greed, contempt, individualism, lust, idolatry, and selfishness, while the church is trying to sing louder about love, selflessness, faith, purity, and hope. 

"The problem is when the two worlds try to mix, and like two paints that have mixed the original is lost and a new product is born"

In God's perfect and loving wisdom and mercy, he chose to make us with free will.  It's with free will that we can choose to love him and live for him or forget him and live for the world.  Two choices, you're either with God or you're against Him.  While free will can become our saving grace when we embrace the love that he has poured out for us on the cross, it can also be our damnation when we choose to live enticed by the desires of the world and living for the materials that the world has to offer.  What we see in the modern church is a new breed of people rising, and these people are more dangerous to the church than anything the world could birth. 

These people live within the church, yet spend their lives in the world.  To the world they look like the church with hints of the world, but to the church they look like the world with hints of the church.  Their most dangerous when they've been raised in the church, but as they grew older bowed to the pressures of the world.  They know the Bible, they have all the answers, and they know how to lie convincingly enough to make the rest of the Church believe that all is well, yet behind closed doors and in the public eye all is not well.  While trying to dupe their Christian peers into believing that they are just like them, they have tricked themselves into believing their own lies--sometimes without even knowing it.  While the church is trying to be set apart and different, without any traces of the world within its veins, these people are muddying the crystal clear waters with the filth that they carry with them.  Jesus Himself speaks out against hypocrites.  The Bible speaks out against hypocrisy.  We as the Church need to cast them out in the name of Christ and set a new standard of 100% purity.

Uncomfortably Engaged.

Recently I've been reading the book, "The Fire of His Holiness", by Sergio Scataglini.  I was at HUF a little over a month ago and found it nestled amongst some of the other books in the "Christian Living" section.  Since I was seeking some more good reads to challenge and stretch my faith (and to also add to the ever-growing list of books that I have but haven't had a chance to read yet), I bought it.  In short, the book focuses on the work of the Holy Spirit in and through people and completely being open to the power that He can exhibit in your life.  It's about 100% complete and utter purity and fully realizing the magnitude of the holiness of God and how great and awesome He is (together we sing, everyone sing holy is the Lord...). 

To say that the book has challenged me would be fairly true.  In it, Scataglini talks about salvation vs. the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and if you want the Holy Spirit's power in your life (as compared to just His presence) you need to be baptized with fire--see John the Baptist in the beginning of Matthew--which comes after you've been already saved.  The concept of a separate baptism beyond mere salvation is one that came up in my life a lot during this past summer at Camp Hebron.  It's something that I never really heard before.  I mean, look at my background; I grew up in a Mennonite church with little exposure to the work of the Holy Spirit beyond His inhabiting of your heart after you are initially saved.  It's something that I've struggled with because for the first time in my life I'm being exposed to something that I didn't grow up believing, but when I look for the evidence in the Bible, it's all there (currently I am in the Commuter Lounge at school, without my Bible, and a spare 10 minutes, so sifting through Scripture to try to find the verses that stick out to me would be improbable if I want to get this blog done before I have to leave).  Talking with a number of people on this, I'm honestly not sure what to believe.  Does the Holy Spirit's power enter you and work in and through you when you are initially saved, or must you go through a separate anointing of the Holy Spirit that will fully let His power be manifested in your life?  Therein lies the rub. 

I'm still learning though.  Still searching.  Still thirsting for knowledge.  Part of me is scared of what other people would think if I actually branch out and start cementing some of my own beliefs about Christian doctrine.  Another part of me wants to trust God and just accept things that are new to me, even if I don't fully understand them.  That's currently the journey I'm on.  But the book is so intense, so real, that it makes me just want to throw away what I believed about the Holy Spirit and believe in the Baptism and Anointing of the Holy Spirit.  For instance, the author was part of several different revivals that took place everywhere from Florida to Argentina with his parents.  There was one instance where he went to speak as a guest speaker at another church several hours away, and during prayer was so overcome with the power of the Spirit that he fell to his knees shaking, crying, and praising the Lord...for three whole days.  Look at the evidence, that stuff just doesn't happen without a passion and a fire only available through the Holy Spirit.  Another story he told was of an Argentinian revival that was brought about through a pastor--almost like the camp meetings of old America.  During these camp meetings, people would merely set foot on the property where the meeting was taking place and be so overcome with the Spirit of Conviction that they would be forced to their knees in forgiveness and purification.  The author's father was at the forerunner of the revival and recounted spending two years without a single night's adequate sleep because people would come at all hours of the nights for prayer and anointing and the work of the church was expanding.  When God calls us to do something, He gives us the ability to go beyond the bounds of human strength. 

The work of the Holy Spirit is so powerful and so evident in our world, yet why do we ignore it so much?  Who's to say that there isn't a separate baptism of the Spirit?  Our churches are afraid of the conviction, the change, and the challenge that the anointing of the Spirit could bring on a congregation.  God is comfortable when we are uncomfortable, and the Holy Spirit's power would bring enough power to cause things to happen that would make you uncomfortable and go outside of our bounds and zone of comfort.  We can get so set in our ways that to go outside of our ways would just be annoying, and we'd give an angry look at the heavens and be frustrated why things couldn't stay the same.  That's why churches are so afraid to talk about the power of the Holy Spirit.  For instance, I know a church that is currently building a multimillion dollar addition to their church.  If the Holy Spirit moved within their congregation to the point that they were convicted of spending millions of dollars on themselves instead of giving them to missions, and the Holy Spirit prompted them to stop the building and give the rest of the money to a non-profit, would they?  Or would they hem and haw, stamp their feet, and give excuse after excuse because they didn't want to give up the complex? 

So this is where the Holy Spirit and human experience meet--right in between the marriage of the  uncomfortable comfort and total abandon.  Which side do you fall on?

Burn

Consume me, Father.  Break in, take hold.
I've lived my life in deceit, and only you can make me new.
We pray for Your Fire, and we pray for Your Rain.
Come alive in us, come burn within.
My heart is deceitful and it knows no truth
My eyes have been blinded by my own ignorance
God, only you can reveal the misdeeds of my past
Only you can fill me with a flame that lasts.
Come now, Spirit and show me Your wisdom
I need to see the sin that I've turned a blind eye towards
Only you can show me the way.
Teach me, alight me today.

Not sure if these are really messy lyrics or a prayer.  I'll go with both.