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Christmas Jack Ass!!!

2007-12-08T09:41:00.000-05:00

Here is the post that I have promised, Well kind of...

Originally my wife and I started out making a "Christmas Jack Ass" for our new Christmas tradition, but it turned out to be a Christmas Camel. We are still in the process of building our Christmas Camel and I will post pics when is finished.

Anyway, Here is the heart behind our Christmas Camel and our new Christmas tradition:

Christmas Tradition

Christmas Tree –

The Christmas tree has many origins, many stories, and has no one distinct background. The Christmas tree has been seen in various pagan worship ceremonies, pagan religions, or other cultural traditions throughout time. The Christmas Tree was later brought into Christianity by the catholic church in order to try and make the Christmas Tree a symbol of Christianity. The popularity of the Christmas tree however found its popularity out of various marketing strategies or pop culture trends of sorts. The Christmas tree has very little meaning and significance when it comes to the celebration of Jesus’ birthday.

Santa Clause –

Santa Clause also has many stories and origins. The story of Santa originates from many different origins, legends, myths, cultures, traditions, and stories. There is no one specific Santa belief, story, or origin. If you travel throughout various parts of the world, Santa looks different, has a different story, and has a different background, history, and purpose. The story of Santa Clause was brought into Christianity by the Catholic Church to try and make Santa Clause a symbol of Christianity. One example of how the Catholic church tried to do this was through the story of a Saint who goes by the name of St. Nick. St. Nick was known to perform many good deeds, support the poor and helpless, give gifts etc. but there is some debate as to whether St. Nick was even a real man or just a legend who later became known as Santa Clause. The Santa Clause we know today became popular through as a well known tradition, through a well known Christmas marketing strategy put together by Coca-Cola. Later, Rudolf joined the Christmas story through another Christmas marketing strategy. Santa has very little meaning and significance when it comes to the heart of Christmas…the birth of Christ.

The Camel –

In history the camel was used by travelers along the silk road for trade and in other forms of travel. Our Christmas camel is a symbol of the many travelers who came to worship Jesus and celebrate the birth of Jesus in the town of Bethlehem. Some of these travelers could have included shepherds (Luke 2:8-20), Magi (matt 2), and possibly even kings or other such visitors.

Shepherd Staff –

The Shepherd staff represents the prophetic word given and fulfilled that Jesus was going to be the shepherd of G-Ds people (Micah 5 and Matt 2:6). The duty of the shepherd was to lead and protect their sheep. The shepherd was to lead his sheep in the right direction and for them to arrive to various areas safely. He was also to protect the sheep from harm and to protect them from wolves and other such predators. Jesus was to be our shepherd, one who is to lead us as G-Ds people, to protect us from harm, and to lead us in the right directions, in life and toward G-D.

Sheep –

Since Jesus is seen as the shepherd of G-Ds people, and the role of the shepherd is to lead his sheep, then we, as G-Ds people are seen as His sheep. Because of this, the sheep represents us, as G-Ds people, and are ability to follow our shepherd, Jesus. He is our shepherd, our Messiah, our Savior. One that will lead us to G-D, will protect us and keep us safe, and will make sure we are lead in the right direction. (John 10:1-21) Many, many times throughout scripture, G-Ds people are referred to as sheep.

No Baby Jesus –

Is there anything wrong with having a baby Jesus? No, I don’t think so. But, we have chosen not to have a baby Jesus. Why? At most birthday parties you don’t sit around and take a look at a person’s baby pictures. Even if you do, we really don’t know what Jesus looked like, so that would be weird. Usually a birthday party is focused on celebrating the life of that particular person. Things like how they have grown, what they have accomplished, and the many stories that tell about who that person is and how they have impacted the world and the people around them. That is why we have chosen not to have a baby Jesus, so that we can focus on the life of Jesus, discuss the stories of Jesus and how, He has, and continues to impact our lives and the world around us.

Birthday Hats -

All the animals who are a part of the manger will be wearing birthday hats. Why? Well Duh!!! We are celebrating the birth of Jesus, the prophesied Messiah, our Lord and Savior. We will celebrate who Jesus is and how he has impacted our lives and the people’s lives around us. We will focus on the stories of Jesus, The Old Testament and Jewish prophesies that talk about a prophesied King, Savior, Messiah, and how Jesus is the fulfillment of such scriptures.

Gifts –

Matthew 2 records a story about some Magi who had followed a star to the place where Jesus was born. These Magi brought gifts to Jesus. These gifts included gold, incense, and myrrh (vs. 11). Every Christmas, these gifts will be placed in the manger and opened by our kids, our friends, or ourselves. We will then use these gifts to tell the story of the birth of Jesus and continue our celebration of His birth and His impact in our lives. This will be a time to teach the story of Jesus or to remember His story and His crazy love for us.

Gold –

Throughout history and scripture, gold is seen as a material or object that is valuable, worth a lot, and a worthy gift for a king, royalty, or someone of great power. It is also seen as a material that is precious enough to decorate temples, altars, palaces, and other important monuments. These Magi brought Jesus a valuable gift of precious metal because they knew that this was no ordinary baby.

Because of this, we use this gift of gold as a reminder that Jesus was no ordinary

baby. Jesus is to be our king (matt 2:2), our G-D (matt 1:23), and one worthy of our most precious gifts.

Incense –

A ritual incense in ancient Israel was a mixture of finely pulverized aromatic gum resins and frankincense, which was salted to produce a visible cloud of sweet smelling smoke. (Exodus 30:34-35). It was consecrated for ritual use…”holy to the Lord” (exodus 30:37)

It became a sign of an earthly act of devotion ascending to G-Ds dwelling place, and likened in scripture to prayer rising to heaven as a cloud of smoke rises in the sky (ps 141:2, rev. 5:8; 8:3-4). One example of its use is on the Day of Atonement where it is used as an offering to the Lord (Lev. 16). During the Day of Atonement, the incense was combined with the sacrifice of a goat in order to remove the sins of G-Ds people. It was also used as a daily sacrifice to the Lord (exodus 30).

Incense was another worthy gift for the Lord. Its cost and fragrance rendered it a

valuable commodity and an offering fitting for the Lord. Again we use this as an opportunity to remember whose birthday we have an opportunity to celebrate. We can also use it as an opportunity to remember that we no longer have to make a sacrifice to the Lord in order to be forgiven for our sins, because Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice, the perfect Lamb, the one that would truly offer total and complete forgiveness, the complete and final atonement for our sins!

Myrrh –

Myrrh was valuable and was used for a multiple of different reasons. Myrrh was used in embalming or in the anointing of the dead. It later came to represent mortality, suffering, or sorrow. The Israelites used perfume ointments of myrrh in funeral preparations to postpone the decay and alleviate odors of the deceased. For example, Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh to prepare Jesus’ body for burial in accordance with Jewish burial customs (John 19:38-42). Myrrh was also seen as a common painkiller or analgesic (mark 15:23). It was also used in cleaning wounds and in expensive perfumes, such as in men’s beards or between women’s breasts. It was also was used as anointing oil, and when combined with incense, as a symbol of prayers rising to heaven. Myrrh was bitter and had a sweet fragrance which makes myrrh to be known as something that is bittersweet.

Myrrh can remind us of Jesus’ human nature or remind us of his death on the cross. It can remind us that our G-D loves us so much that he was willing to come and live among us while also having every intention of dying a sacrificial death in order to forgive us for our sins and bring us into a deeper relationship with Him. His birth is one that is bittersweet. His birth brings about a reminder of his death, which also reminds us that his birth brought salvation and freedom as well.

Manger –

Jesus, who is G-D himself, was born in a manger. He was not born in a castle or into a rich family, a royal atmosphere, or to a great warrior. He was basically born in a stable, outside, with a bunch of animals. He was born into a poor family and as a baby. He was a G-D that chose to be able to live and experience the life that many of His people lived, understood, and connected with. Very freakin cool!!!!

A re-post...Has it ever been Christmas but it doesn't feel like Christmas?

2007-12-08T09:35:00.000-05:00

Has it ever been Christmas but it doesn't feel like Christmas?

I know for me this has become a common thing the past couple of years. I love christmas and all, but it has slowly become more and more meaningless. I love the presents, getting together with friends and family, the presents, Christmas songs and lights, the presents but there just seems to be no heart anymore.

where is God in it all?

i know for me, that our traditions have become meaningless and they no longer bring my thoughts and heart back to God. Instead they take my heart and focus away from God and bring them to focus on meaningless things that help me forget more then remember.

How do our Christmas traditions both inside and outside the church point us back to our messiah? I know some do but most of them seem like they don't.

this past year we decided as a community not to celebrate Easter but instead to have a messianic passover. IT WAS FREAKIN AWESOME! We had a ton of fun celebrating but at the sametime enjoyed being able focus on God using all the symbolic type foods, drinks, words, teaching etc. to truly get our hearts, minds, and thoughts focused on God. this gave true meaning and excitement towards our celebration. It was incredible!

But, as I focus on christmas I wonder what our christmas tree means, or the candles in the candle light service, or the reason we have it on this day, or decorations etc. So much of it points towards meaningless and empty traditions.
Last year Sarah and I even skipped Christmas eve service to study up on hanakka to see if there was a cooler heart behind that jewish custom but even that holiday didn't have much that pointed toward God.

and so I came to the conclusion...I don't want to celebrate Christmas in the same way anymore. I want to create a tradition (yep... I know I said tradition - but not forever just until it loses its heart and then start a new one) that helps us to truly celebrate the heart behind Christmas. that brings our thoughts, minds, hearts back to the true reason we celebrate Christmas. To come up with symbols, decorations, foods, etc. that will bring us back to why we celebrate as God's people.
I don't know what this will look like yet, but I want to study more about our traditions of Christmas now and then pray about what things God puts on my heart. I am excited and I think it will be a lot of fun. prayfully others will join us in this celebration and that we totally have a ton of fun celebrating and worshiping God in crazy ways next Christmas!

The wrong question or the wrong train of thought

2007-10-30T15:11:00.000-04:00

The wrong Question:

I love questions and I love people that ask questions. When people ask genuine questions, that means they have a true interest in finding a REAL answer. Although I love questions, I do believe that you can ask the wrong question.

One wrong question that I get asked often is, "what church do you go to?" I hate that question because usually when someone asks you that question, they already have an idea of how they want you to answer. They want you to respond with a name of some institutional or organized "church". Unfortunately I can't answer that question with most people's perceptions of how they want you to answer. I don't view "church" as being an institution, I see the church as being "the body of Christ", G-Ds people, a community of G-Ds people etc. So to answer that question is tough.

This question however has encouraged me to think a lot about "what church I go to". For example I sometimes attend a worship service at Northstar Vineyard but don't consider this to be a church I go to. I go because there are some very good friends that "worship" there on sunday morning and I do enjoy being able to sing songs of praise to G-D with other people that passionatly love Jesus. But I can't limit this to being my church. Instead I have been trying to map out in my head what "my church" is and it is soooo freakin huge it is incredible. I hang with other disiples of Jesus from all over cincinnati who say they go to different churchs. Crazy enough sometimes these people who are in my immediate "church community" know each other and are connected in different ways. They are from different races, backgrounds, cultures, areas of town etc. and I can call on them at any time for prayer, to hang, for a favor, to share a thought etc. This expands my church community so much farther!! In fact my "church" goes even further than cincincinnati, but to other cities, states, and even counties. WOW!!!

Then I begin to think about the amazing things G-D can do through the "body of Christ" as a whole. Damn!!!! We are everywhere with infinate dreams, influences, jobs, places, gifts etc. My church is the "body of Christ", "the kingdom of G-D", a diverse crazy group of people who passionatly follow and serve YHWH. It makes me smile and reminds me of how awesome and powerful our G-D is to be able to "plant a church" or "organize" his people that goes way beyond my ability to understand or comprehend.

I also get asked often if I will come and be a part of someone's church or if I am interested in checking out there church or need to see what this person's church is like because it is different than anything else that is out there...I think I need to respond with, "Hey come check out my church...it is huge...it does amazing things...it is different than anything else that is out there!!!! We do stuff that is different and there is not box or building that can keep us from doing amazing things!!!!"

Coming soon: A blog called "A Christmas ASS!"

Who is leader and who should be leader? Questions!

2007-10-21T10:46:00.000-04:00

I have recently been studying Chronicles in the Bible for the past couple of months. Through my study, I have read about kings who were good, followed G-D, and were obedient in how they lived and how they led. I have read about other kings who were bad, chose to not follow or honor G-D, and were not obedient to G-D in how they lived and how they led. And then I have read about other kings who were good, obedient, and honoring in the beginning of their reign as king, but then fell away from G-D and became bad kings.

Then recently my wife and I were reading some of Chronicles together and I questioned why there seemed to be so many more kings who were corrupt and evil then there were kings who were good and followed G-D. She answered me with what seemed to make sense. She said, “ultimate power corrupts. When someone has that much power, they are not living in community, they let there power get to them and then become corrupt and no longer focused on G-D or how he desires for us to live” Very interesting. That really makes sense. (I mean think of our politicians, police men, leaders in the school system or non-profit organizations, etc) Is that why, G-D didn’t necessarily want to allow the Jewish people to have kings or judges to rule his people? Wasn’t it the Jewish people who continued to insist that they wanted a ruler such as kings and judges and so G-D eventually allowed this to happen? Wasn’t it G-Ds people who desired these rulers and not G-D? Even thinking forward, G-D didn’t necessarily set specific rulers to rule His church (ex. Pastors), but that is something that many of His people still say they need. Does that make them wrong? But then again, there are many church pastors, etc, that fight and struggle with power, or being led in wrong directions, or not focusing on G-D but on other things such as “cultural relevancy, money, becoming bigger, doing, sin, sexual scandals, money scandals etc.

Does ultimate power corrupt? Does G-D really desire for us to have the kind of leadership we now have in most churches? Does G-D desire to be are ultimate focus as we move and live as “His Church”?

I am going to begin studying Leviticus, Numbers etc. in the Bible to see how G-D answers most of these questions, to try and understand G-Ds heart and desire, and to see if my current understanding is right, wrong, or can just learn a bunch of very cool things from my ultimate King!!!!

Maybe most of this doesn’t make sense, or could be communicated better in words, but I think are some very interesting and challenging questions to ask. I pray that G-D blesses these questions and reveals REAL answers that make sense in my head and in my heart.

REAL meaninful lives...Bono @ NAACP awards

2007-10-03T08:09:00.000-04:00

Check out this video from the NAACP awards. This is a sweet ass speech from Bono and a challenge for us to live crazy, but REAL meaningful lives!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6P6v4bNxJQ

the best is at the end!!!!

Need to take a good dump? Ads make me laugh!!

2007-08-16T18:07:00.000-04:00

I was driving down the road today and I was informed by a billboard that Grand Victoria casino has the best craps. So, for anyone that has had problems taking a crap, you can go to Grand Victoria for the best craps.

Me, I prefer White Castle. A good slyder has always done me well when I need a good crap. So, until next time... crap with ease, make them loud, and make them smell.

The Voyage vs. The Toilet

2007-07-30T07:28:00.000-04:00

This weekend I got to go to the best amusement park I have ever been to with a bunch of very cool friends.

It is called Holiday World ...you get Unlimited FREE Drinks...Free Sunscreen and can ride the best, roller coaster ever created.

I used to think that there was not a wooden coaster that could ever compare to a steel coaster. NOT TRUE!!!!

The Voyage is, by far, the best, most incredible, amazing, kick ass roller coaster every created. You get mass air time, almost never touch your seat, go completely sideways, no down time (continuous action), great hills, incredible speed, and so much more.

What I thought of great roller coasters and what makes a great coaster has changed. You got to check it out.

THE TOILET...I have lived a dream... I don't know the real name of this ride, but there is a new water ride there which kind of makes you feel like you got flushed down the toilet. It is a life changing experience as you imagine yourself as a turd and get flushed.

Healed?

2007-07-06T14:20:00.000-04:00

I worship an incredible G-D!!

Also, Thanks to everyone for your prayers!!!!

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Dr. for a routine check up. During that check-up they took some blood and found out that my liver was functioning 3-4x harder than it was supposed to. The Dr. suggested that I go and get an ultra-sound to see if they could figure out why my liver was functioning 3-4 times harder than it was supposed to. Through the ultra-sound the Dr. found out that I had some benign object on my liver (he had some cool name for it) and wanted me to get another blood test and a cat scan to get more details on this thing that was on my liver. Well, This crazy adventure kind of came as a shocker and freaked me out a bit. I ended up, emailing and calling a bunch of friends and people who are passionate about Jesus to be praying about this crazy situation. Well guess what? G-D is awesome and prayer works!!!!!!!!!

I went to the Dr. the other day to get the blood test and a Cat scan. The dr. called the other day to let me know that the blood work has shown my liver functions to have proved dramatically and the Cat Scan showed nothing!!!!

Was I healed or are the Doctors just dumb? Some people say that the Doctors are just dumb, but you are going to have to do some hardcore explaining to get me to believe anything other than my G-D is freakin awesome!!!!

Anyway, thanks again to all that were praying!!!

TRANSFORMERS

2007-07-03T18:21:00.000-04:00

The most incredible movie to ever be released!!!!!

I laughed!
I Cried!
I Wanted to blow things up!
I wanted a camero that would change into a big robot with big guns and would pee on people I didn't like!!!

This is by far my favorite movie of all time!!!!

“Did I Have Fun?”

2007-06-26T10:15:00.000-04:00

I was teaching at a school the other day and had an opportunity to talk with one of the teachers there. He was a teacher that was retiring from teaching and from coaching baseball after 40 years. He is an incredibly humble man who has accomplished much, influenced a ton of people, and coached more than 5 students who have made it into the pros. He is a man with great wisdom, a love for G-D, and a love for people that you don’t see everyday. It is a great joy to see him interact with students and people. I have enjoyed every conversation that we have had, as he asks genuine questions and offers wisdom through each conversation.

Anyway, as we were talking, one of my co-workers asked him how he was able to make it these past 40 years. He told us, that every night he goes home and asks himself honestly, “Did I have fun?” He knew that if he could answer that question with a genuine, “Yes” then he was continuing to do what he was called to do.

I was blown away by such wisdom. This was the way I used to live. I used to tell people that I wanted to worship G-D with everything that I am, live the adventure of life, and have as much fun doing that as I can. But, recently I have struggled with living out this vision for life. He helped remind me of the way that I desire to live as a disciple of Jesus. You can tell that he lives this out in his own life through his actions and words. You see so many people who are tired and burnt out, but he continues to live with a smile and a joy that can only come from living out the words he spoke with such wisdom. I want to follow his example and once again live the adventure of life, worship G-D with all that I am and have as much fun doing that as I can.

So the question at the end of the day is, “Did I Have Fun?”

A very quick response

2007-06-15T15:55:00.000-04:00

WOW!!! so much to respond to, to think about, to re-study etc.

It is always hard at times to put everything in writing…at least because I am not the best writer. Unfortunately I don’t have the time today to fully respond, but I do think that you had a lot of very cool things to say.

I respond with I Corinthians 6:19 where Paul basically says that we are the temple of G-D. yes, is commenting on sexual immorality, but it is a very powerful statement to say that our bodies are the temple of G-D considering the temple was understood to be the place of worship and the place where the very presence of G-D dwelled.

I also respond with acts 7:48-50. This is basically steven’s response to the religious peeps accusing him of speaking against the temple. Is there a place now or even in the OT where G-D house the presence of G-D.

Or what about when G-D tore the curtain in the temple that separated people from the Holy of Holies (or what was known as the place where the presence of G-D dwelled)

All fun things to think about along with the rest of the discussion that had taken place so far.

I would love to hear other people comment as well. What has your study, conversations, and discussions taught you?

The Fun Continues

2007-06-14T17:04:00.001-04:00

Actually G-D doesn’t call us to be IN church but, to BE the church. The Idea of living life as the church is the idea of BEING the church and not going. If you go back to the very beginning of why the Jewish Synagogue was set up in the first place, it was not because it was a command of G-D, but because it was a desire of the people. So, because it was the desire of the people he allowed the temple and eventually the synagogue to exist. When he did, he set down rules and guidelines as to how the temple should be run.

The synagogue was a man made tradition which later replaced the temple which was never given any specific rules or guidelines at all from G-D. The heart of the synagogue was to go to learn and discuss the teachings of their scriptures. Most of the time there was a teacher because people couldn’t read and so it was a journey that they took together as a community.

The idea of the tithe was set up to support the people that took care of the temple. The tithe would support the Levites, priests, or other peeps that would help the temple to run smoothly.

The temple came from the “tent of meetings which was constructed from pagan religions and pagan gods. The people of G-D figured that since other gods had these little places of worship, that they should have them as well. Hence, where their original request for a place to worship came into effect.

The idea of deacons and elders were set up to structure or help run larger groups of people who gathered together as the messianic community. It was Paul’s response to how people were not living as they should in the messianic communities.

Also, there was never a command from Jesus to be in church or a part of a church, and if there was then he broke it because he never went nor was he a part of one. The focus was always loving G-D and loving others which the heart behind all that he did and all that he talked about. Nor did he ever encourage his disciples to do so.

So, By not being in church we are not defying any command that has been commanded by G-D, especially from Jesus. Although, we are commanded to live as the body of Christ, so we are called to be in community. So, I am not denying the fact that we are to be the church, or gather with others that love Jesus. I am just arguing the idea that to be in church is not necessarily a command, but we are to be the church.

I am also not saying that church is bad or to be in church is bad. There are communities of believers who call themselves a church, that I think are doing amazing things and are doing an incredible of job of living in community or living as the church or being the church. Even the ones that I don’t think are doing a good job, I do still believe that G-D does move through many of these people.

I am not denying the fact that G-D does not work in and through the institutional church as we see it today. I don’t agree with how it is run, but I believe that G-D moves in and through those communities of believers. But, we lose the heart of church when we forget that the church is ultimately, G-Ds people and not the idea of institution. When Paul refers to meeting as the church, he is ultimately promoting the messianic community. Community being the key to what occurs. Also, most of the things that Paul addresses are in response to people being stupid or choosing not to follow the commands of G-D. People ultimately not loving G-D or loving others which is what all of scripture boils down to. It is people being selfish or abusing various aspects of their faith, or life together that Paul usually addresses.

Do I sometimes go to sing songs of praise with a community of people that passionately love Jesus? I DO!

Do I hang out with many different groups of people who passionately love Jesus? I Do! Do I belong or have a membership at any specific church? Nope!

Do I tithe to any specific organization or community of people that call themselves northstar, 4 corners, vcc etc.? at times just to support the people who put those praise gathering together, BUT most of my tithe goes towards helping the poor, helping people who need help in the kingdom of G-D, etc.

Will I ever be in church, nope because I am in the church, being The Body of Christ…The Kingdom of G-D… and that is all that I need to be.

Do I necessarily agree with the church (being the organizational church)? NO! But by no means does that mean that G-D does not move in and through the people who are there. Nor does it mean that church does not occur, as people come together to BE the church or live life as the church.

The church - in reference to another post

2007-06-13T17:14:00.000-04:00

(in response to a post at http://www.youseedrybones.com/ blog title

"G.K. Chesterton"

Isn't it fun to be able to discuss, learn, and grow together as "the church" the ekklesia :)

I disagree, I don't think that anyone should go and be a part of A church. I think they should LIVE LIFE AS THE CHURCH! i think the reason that no one has found the right church is because people don't know what the church is all about. Church is not a program, a place, a service, a ministry, a doctrine, etc. I do not like the church as an institution, but I LOVE the church, as being G-Ds people...the kingdom of G-D. Church in scripture...being the ekklesia is defined as being a gathering of G-Ds people. We are called to live as disciples of Jesus and as the church...to love G-D and Love others…that simple! I also agree with Jack Cottrell on the unity point (and I do not always have friendly words to say about this man's doctrine)but, we as G-Ds people...as the kingdom of G-D do need to be unified as the church because I don't think we look overly pretty the way we live as the church right now. We live divided…”this is my church, that is your church”…well Paul says things about this type of division as well…and they are not pretty words either. We as the church have one mission “God has a plan, and his son has a mission. Join it” (don)…don’t join a church’s mission, join G-Ds! Also, how much more powerfully could we live as the ekklesia, the church, if we live in unity as G-Ds people…I have learned a lot about the church...the ekklesia...and we are freakin awesome

Is it wrong to attend church? NO. Is it is wrong to go to church? No. Is it wrong to attend a service and have no relationships with anyone else? Yes! Why? Because church is all about Loving G-D and Loving others. That is it. Church is a gathering of G-Ds people for the purpose of worshiping G-D. And worship is not just singing a few songs. Church is a community of G-Ds people. So if you want to attend a service, or jump into a radical program, jump into a ministry, or are looking for a hip church to go to. Don’t. Gather together with a community of people that passionately love Jesus, and live life as the church. Use your imagination and serve G-D together, or come up with ideas on how you can radically Love the people you work with, or the poor, or the widows, or the bum on the street. That’s ministry, that’s evangelism, that’s life as the church.

Can we live passionately and radically live for Jesus without going to A church...HECK YA! Why, cause people aren’t supposed to go to church, they are supposed to live life as the church!!! there are disciples of Jesus everywhere...all we need is a community of people that Love Jesus, but it can be any size and number and then look around because we got other peeps all over the place…and maybe we will see unity as we live passionately and radically with those peeps as well.

"Prayer in schools"? and a cool story

2007-03-17T12:05:00.000-04:00

"NO PRAYER IN SCHOOLS!"

"SEPERATION OF CHURCH AND STATE!!!"

"THERE SHOULD BE NO TEN COMMANDMENTS!!"

"NO RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES...DURING LEARNING HOURS!!"

I am sure I could list a lot more things that people scream when it comes to religious stuff in schools.

i think about who is yelling for such religious boundaries.

Is it parents? teachers? politicians :)? very high paid people in the educational system?

or the students? - who really should have a say in their religous beliefs and whose freedoms we are determing and taking away. right? Wasn't our country founded on relgious freedom and freedom of speech? Wasn't England trying to do the same thing to us?

I find it kind of funny. I am taking a class on diversity...finding out how the country/state desires for us to teach diversity, be accepting, integrate different cultures and people into the classroom and yet our teaching is in words and not actions. the one thing we are telling our students to do in words, we as adults can't model in actions. So, what are we really teaching our students?

I don't know...all I have to say is that I don't think there will ever be a seperation of church and state...I mean look at our history and what socities and civilizations were built on. A belief in something spiritual...a higher being. I don't think there will ever be an elimination of prayer in schools either.

and it is passioante people who live out what they believe in, that will cause my preditions to be true!!

I saw one of the coolest things the other day. i was walking into a school to substitute teach a class. OGTs were going on this week...tests that need to be passed in order to graduate. It was a class of Seniors and some of them still needed to pass some of there OGT tests. If they didn't pass...they would not graduate.
It was freakin awesome!! Some of the other students gathered these seniors (that needed to pass the tests) and gathered some of the teachers together to pray for these students/seniors that needed to pass the OGT. the students that prayed...didn't just pray an empty prayer, but a passionate, loving, heart felt prayer to a G-D you could tell they believed in and for people they really cared about.

sounds like prayer in schools...isn't a bad things. in fact maybe even makes our world a better place?

Purim is a great reason to party

2007-03-15T06:49:00.000-04:00

We have so many holidays now days, but so many of our holidays don't have any meaning or miss the heart as to why we celebrate them. They become boring, meaningless, and are empty. But, it has been fun to revisit the heart of holidays that we celebrate or to begin to celebrate holidays that have powerful meaning and heart behind why they are celebrated. Recently, Sarah and I have been really getting into the Jewish roots of our faith. As disciples of Jesus, we desire to celebrate some of their meaningful holidays with the Jesus twist to them (which really is not a twist because he fits in just perfectly - i mean...Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies that the Jewish people were looking for.)

anyway, Sarah and I recently saw the movie "A night with a King" in the theatre, which is the story of Esther in movie form (pretty good movie) and so we began to read the book of Esther in the Bible. We came across a holiday that the Jewish people would celebrate and so we began to look into the heart of this holiday or custom called Purim. We liked it: the heart was to celebrate G-Ds faithfulness and protection.

So, we decided to celebrate Purim and invited a ton of people to join us for this celebration. All I have to say is that this holiday has been a ton of fun. Here is what we found out behind the heart of Purim and some of the traditions/customs we decided to follow:

Purim is a time for us to rejoice, worship, and celebrate G-D’s protection and faithfulness for his people.

What is Purim?

Quick Heart: In the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on its thirteenth day…on the day that the enemies of the Jews were expected to prevail over them, it was turned about: the Jews prevailed over their adversaries. (Esther 9:1)

And they gained relief on the fourteenth, making it a day of feasting and gladness. – Esther 9:17

[Mordecai instructed them] to observe them as day of feasting and gladness, and sending delicacies to one another, and gifts to the poor. – Esther 9:22

Purim is a time when Jews gather together to fast and celebrate in remembrance of G-Ds faithfulness and protection. It is a time where Jews would give gifts to the poor, deliver baskets of food to friends, read the book of Esther (hiss, boo and use noise makers when the name of Haman is mentioned), dress up in costume, fast, “drink until one cannot tell the difference between “cursed be Haman” and “Blessed be Mordecai” (ancient Rabbi’ have said), Feast and Rejoice.

How we celebrate Purim

Fasting

In Esther 4, Mordecai finds out that Haman has put out a decree to have the Jews annihilated. Mordecai then urges Esther to go into the king's presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people. Esther knows that anyone that goes before the king without being summoned, runs the risk of being put to death. So, Esther sends a message to Mordecai saying, “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish." (Esther 4:16).

The day before Purim, the Jews observe a fast day in memory of Esther who asked the Jews to fast for three days before she risked approaching the king. A fast day usually begins at dawn and ends at nightfall. It also consists of no eating, drinking, washing, or engaging in sexual activity (pregnant and nursing women do not have to fast on this day.)

So, we ask that you join us on March 3^rd (the day before Purim) to take a day to fast and remember G-D and his continual faithfulness to His people.

Lookin forward to paryin with all of you…

Oh Yeah…I also forgot last week to talk about why we drink wine on Purim…very quickly…we drink wine on Purim because it was during a wine feast that Haman’s plan was revealed.

Giving Gifts to the Poor

In the book of Ester, Haman (the king’s right hand man), sent out a decree that on a certain day, all the Jews should be destroyed (Ester 3:8-15). Through prayer, fasting, and faith, Ester, along with Mordecai and other faithful Jews, pleaded for G-D to intercede on behalf of his people so that the Jews (G-D’s people) would be saved. God demonstrated his faithfulness to His people as he used Ester and Mordecai to offer the protection that was needed as they triumphed over there enemies.

-- At the end of the book of Ester, Mordecai commands the Jews “to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor. (Ester 9:22b)”. Since the time of Ester, the Jews (G-D’s people) have traditionally given gifts to the poor in order to honor this command and as an example of how G-D continues to remain faithful and take care of their needs. So, we continue to honor this command by taking time to give to the poor and remembering that G-D continues to remain faithful and take care of our needs.

Action: So, for the next couple of weeks lets take time as a community (G-D’s people) to think about how we can continue this tradition as we celebrate Purim. Lets aim for taking a collection on the day we celebrate Purim (march 4^th) and then think of ways that we can use that money to give it radically to people who need it.

Examples:

- take the money we would save on food, during the day we fast and give it to the poor

- take the money and do a soup kitchen thing and donate it to them for the food

- send it to Africa to help an orphanage

- find a begger on the street and give it to them

- take someone who is poor shopping

Pray about what G-D wants us to do with that money and then lets give it away!!!!!!!!!!!!

As we continue our journey into the heart of why we are celebrating Purim, we are going to take a look at two traditions that are usually a part of the Purim celebration; the reading of the Megilah along with Feasting and Rejoicing.

The reading of the Megilah

It is Jewish custom for G-D’s people to gather during Purim and read the Megilah. The book of Esther is commonly known as the Megilah, which means scroll. Although there are five books of Jewish scripture that are properly referred to as Megilahs, this is the one people usually mean when they speak of the Megilah. Traditionally, G-D’s people will read the Megilah the night before and on the morning of Purim. It is customary to boo, hiss, stamp, and rattle gragers (noisemakers – in Hebrew they are called Ra’ashanim meaning “to make a lot of noise) whenever the name of Haman is mentioned. The purpose of this custom is to “blot out the name of Haman”

We are going to continue this tradition as we gather on the evening of Purim (march 4^th @ 5:30) and take time to read the Megilah together before we feast and party.

Feasting and Rejoicing (Esther 9:17, Esther 9:21-22)

It is also Jewish custom for G-D’s people to eat, drink, and be merry. According to the Talmud, a person is required to drink until he cannot tell the difference between “cursed be Haman” and “blessed be Mordecai” (Although this is true, a person should not become so drunk that he might violate other commandments or get seriously ill). There is no special food (except for Hamantashen- will explain later) or special rules behind the feasting or rejoicing… Just to have fun being together and to celebrate G-D’s faithfulness and protection.

We are also going to continue this custom as we gather together to feast and rejoice as we celebrate G-D’s protection and faithfulness in our own lives. We are using the heart of Purim to remind us that G-D has continually remained faithful to His people throughout time. As we celebrate we plan on hanging out, reflecting on G-D faithfulness, playing games, and just having a ton of fun celebrating together as G-D’s people. We encourage you to bring food and drink to share and if you have any games to add to the fun we encourage you to bring those as well.

Why do we drink wine? Esther invited Haman to a wine banquet to bring Haman down.

Giving Gifts to one another:

In the book of Esther, Mordecai declared the holiday of Purim as a time of “feasting and gladness and of sending food to one another, as well as gifts to the poor”

Because of this, it is custom for the Jewish people to send food packages or food baskets to friends and relatives on Purim. The only requirement is that the baskets contain at least two different foods that require two separate blessings (something edible and drinkable) with no further preparation, and that you send them to at least two different people. If at all possible the gifts should be sent by messengers, rather than delivered personally because the Megilah uses the word Mishloach (sending)….these baskets are usually sent on the day of Purim

In order to continue this Purim custom we ask that everyone choose at least two people whom they can send baskets of food to on Purim or the day before Purim. Why? Mostly because it just seems like a fun custom that continues with the heart of Purim and will make for a lot of very cool stories. Kind of like a ding-dong-ditch with food J all in the name of G-D.

Masks

It is customary to hold carnival-like celebrations on Purim, to perform plays and parodies, to dress up like characters in the Esther story, and to hold beauty contests. Because of this, we thought that it would be fun to wear masks to the celebration to remind us that Esther hid her true identity, but that there was no need for her to. Why? Because of G-Ds amazing faithfulness and protection. Maybe during the celebration we can have a mask unveiling and a time of prayer!

So we ask that you bring and or wear your mask to the Purim celebration on Sunday night.

that is the heart behind purim and the adventure we took with other people that passionatly love Jesus!!

IT WAS SOOOOO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOW......I CAN'T WAIT FOR PASSOVER

If its going to be cold there has to be SNOW!

2007-02-10T12:59:00.000-05:00

This is my wife and Mr. chinamoowong.

He began to melt the next day and his head fell off :(

Has it ever been Christmas but it doesn't feel like Christmas?

2006-12-29T07:52:00.000-05:00

Has it ever been Christmas but it doesn't feel like Christmas?

I know for me this has become a common thing the past couple of years. I love christmas and all, but it has slowly become more and more meaningless. I love the presents, getting together with friends and family, the presents, Christmas songs and lights, the presents but there just seems to be no heart anymore.

where is God in it all?

i know for me, that our traditions have become meaningless and they no longer bring my thoughts and heart back to God. Instead they take my heart and focus away from God and bring them to focus on meaningless things that help me forget more then remember.

How do our Christmas traditions both inside and outside the church point us back to our messiah? I know some do but most of them seem like they don't.

this past year we decided as a community not to celebrate Easter but instead to have a messianic passover. IT WAS FREAKIN AWESOME! We had a ton of fun celebrating but at the sametime enjoyed being able focus on God using all the symbolic type foods, drinks, words, teaching etc. to truly get our hearts, minds, and thoughts focused on God. this gave true meaning and excitement towards our celebration. It was incredible!

But, as I focus on christmas I wonder what our christmas tree means, or the candles in the candle light service, or the reason we have it on this day, or decorations etc. So much of it points towards meaningless and empty traditions.
Last year Sarah and I even skipped Christmas eve service to study up on hanakka to see if there was a cooler heart behind that jewish custom but even that holiday didn't have much that pointed toward God.

and so I came to the conclusion...I don't want to celebrate Christmas in the same way anymore. I want to create a tradition (yep... I know I said tradition - but not forever just until it loses its heart and then start a new one) that helps us to truly celebrate the heart behind Christmas. that brings our thoughts, minds, hearts back to the true reason we celebrate Christmas. To come up with symbols, decorations, foods, etc. that will bring us back to why we celebrate as God's people.
I don't know what this will look like yet, but I want to study more about our traditions of Christmas now and then pray about what things God puts on my heart. I am excited and I think it will be a lot of fun. prayfully others will join us in this celebration and that we totally have a ton of fun celebrating and worshiping God in crazy ways next Christmas!

Not about Me

2006-10-30T15:19:00.000-05:00

I have been taking some history classes so that I can begin to go and get my licence to teach. I only need a few so I signed up for them over at Northern Kentucky University. Both of these history courses start with the beginning of time and go up until the 1700's.

With that in mind,
A couple of weeks ago I had really been struggling. Since the beginning of time, every civilization or group started with a focus on the idea that gods or a god must exist. As I thought and prayed about that I was really struggling because i thought about what truly makes Chrsitianity different from all of these other gods and religions. These people truly believed in their gods or their divine being just as I believe in Jesus. What makes Christianity different?

As I thought and prayed through this I thought that it was really cool. because it totally shows that there must be a god out there.
Why?
because we as humans are built with that desire for something greater the desire to be in contact with some sort of divine being. it is built into the way we are created, the way we think. there is no way that anyone can look at history and say that this is not true.

The next thing that i thought was that throughout time the belief in a god has always been selfish. It has always been a selfish desire - as to how god can help me. what do i need to do to make god or the gods happy so that they bless me. what do i need to do so that I have good crops? I need to not make them mad or I'm screwed! or the gods are selfish and do as they please. they party and we try not to get in the way? or we serve the gods for our own benefit... I could go on...

But...I realized that the heart of Christianity is far from selfish - in fact it is very much selfless - has nothing to do with us at all. (we have made chistianity to be all about us but in the true heart of where it started it does not)

A teacher asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was and Jesus responded in matthew 22:36-40
36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[b] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[c] 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Here Jesus says all of scripture (our faith) comes down to 1. loving God and 2. loving others. It has nothing to do with us and everything to do with loving God and loving others. It is very much selfless. As love God and love others we are truly worshiping God, obeying his commands, living the best life we could ever imagine (crazy that life is so much cooler when we focus on others and not ourselves).

I don't know if this makes sense... but I truly find it cool to imagine how much cooler and different our faith is then any other one out there. I also think it is kind of cool to see that it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with loving God and loving others.

What would happen if christians truly lived this way? if the world truly lived this way? how would life be different?

having fun as a passionate follower of Jesus,
scott sulek

SEX!

2006-10-11T08:31:00.000-04:00

Recently I have started working for a non profit organization called "Healthy Visions". Through this organization I have an opportunity to travel to different Jr.High and High Schools to talk about sex within marriage or sexual abstinence. It is actually I lot of fun and a great opportunity to talk about truths that are important to our lives.

Anyway, I recently went to speak at a local high school and recived a bunch of thank letters in the mail. I want to thank everyone that had sent me a thank you letter but wanted to share a few letters that I thought were either funny or creative in their response.

Thank you letters:
1. "Thank you so much for coming into our class and talk about sex and abstinance. YOu have made me realize that sex is way better when you are married. so, i decided to talk to my boyfriend. We have decided to stop having sex and wait till marriage. Its really hard but I think we can do it! thank you so much! - I was very impressed with the decicision that this person made with her boyfriend. It may be hard but they are willing to go for it - way cool!

2.Thank you for coming in and talking about human sexuality and related topics. It revealed a lot to me. It revealed a lot to me. I could talk about it more, but I could also draw a picture. i chose the latter. (he drew a pic of some kind of sperm octopus looking thing) - this made me laugh

3. This person said "Thanks" and drew me a picture of something that looks like a penis rocket called the cockroach and on the back is a pic of cockroaches talking about needing to repopulate the world :)

4. Another person commented on my ninja turtle back pack - i really like this person

5. thanks for coming and speaking to us...you did a great job getting through, not even considering it was only your second time speaking! Regardless, anybody who takes time out of their life to try to improve the lives of other people and speak up for what they believe in is nothing short of extrodinary... thanks again bro. - a very wise man, i hope he takes his own wisdom and lives as an extrodinary man!

6. I think what your doing with healthy visions is awesome, you were an awesome speaker! you're a pretty cool guy, your wife is lucky - i saved this one to remind my wife incase she ever forgot :)

7.Thanks for comming and speaking. Your had a good presentation. Have fun not abstaining any more since you are married - i liked this guy too, he is a good encourager

Not so haunted house part 2

2006-10-04T17:06:00.000-04:00

Here are just a few more stories that connect with my first post:

1. God gave me a band-aid: I had an allergic reaction to my deoderant and had a huge bump under my armpit and it hurt really bad. i had to go to work but it was hard to move around. So, i searched our entire house for a band-aid with no luck. So, as I was walking around and praying I ended up going to where I would usually chill with God in the morning and on the pillow where I would usually lay there was a band-aid. It was a band-aid that was shaped like I had never seen before. Not to mention i had been laying on the pillow just the night before - i was even the last one awake. I then asked everyone in the house to see if they had band-aids shaped like that and no one did. God showed me that he takes care of my needs, no matter how big or small, even when I don't ask. God taught me this during a time when I really needed to hear that.

2. God united us with new and old friends. allowed us to worship with these friends as we lived life together, asked tough questions, encouraged, challenged, prayed, partied, hung-out together and so much more. We were able to celebrate a messianic passover together as we focused on Jesus and what he has done for His people, experienced healings of the heart, ate together, shared life together, laughed, cryed, creativly worshiped, fed the poor, stuck by each other when we were in pain or sick (kidney stones - lol) and soooooo much more.

thank you God!!!!!!!!!!!!!

for loving your people and teaching us to live life as the church as we love you and love others :)

Not so Haunted House

2006-10-02T07:09:00.000-04:00

About a year ago we thought that G-d was calling us to start a church in cincinnati that looked differently then any other church. In the beginning of this process we figured there was no way we could start a church without a house...so we logically bought a house. But, Little did we know that the church was not going to turn out the way we expcted! Throughout this past year we have expereienced life as the church in ways that we would have never imagined a year ago. We have learned and are still learning what it means to live life as the church and part of where this life as the church has taken place is under the roof of a house where a family developed - a family of friends, disciples of Jesus, and random people who found their way to the front porch and even beyond.

These past couple of months I have been frustrated with this house. I have been frustrated with the work that we have had to put into it (i am not a fix-it man), the things that go wrong with it, cutting myself open (not purposly) trying to fix it, and the time that it has taken away from other things that I find more important. I even questioned whether we had heard from G-d when we bought it or whether we were just "stupid little kids" but God has recently kicked me in the butt and showed me that he has used this house to teach us what it means to live life as the church, used the house and us to impact people's lives, to be a light in a dark place, and to have a lot of fun as we worship Him through our lives!!!!!

Here are just a few of those stories:

1. When we first went to look for houses: sarah found a realtor who she thought would be able to help us out. Our realtor was incredible. she put up with the tons of houses that we wanted to look at. many of them were nothing but junk and other ones were more than we could afford. Not to mention we had it set in our minds that we were going live in norwood but G-d had other plans. Sarah finally found a house in clifton (which was not where we thought we were going to move) and so we walked in this house and we knew that this was the area and the house we were supposed to move to. But, with discouragment and fear from our parents we chose to keep looking. We looked at a ton of houses and then found another one and so I mentioned that we should pray (knowing our realtor was not a christian and curious to how she would respond). We prayed and felt that the orginal house that we walked into in clifton was the right house and then I got a word for our realtor. it was way cool! our realtor then said that she was greatly impacted through that prayer time - felt that the other house was the right house, said she had never really been "relgious" but felt she needed to talk to G-d more, said her husband was going through surgery and he needed prayer, said her friend has been telling her to talk to G-d more but she has not listened but felt because of this that she should do so. From the beginning God was moving.

2.There was a family whose car broke down right in front of our house. I walked outside to offer assistance. They said they didn't need any but I offered for them to ring our bell if they did. They later rang the bell to use the bathroom and we got to talking and found out that their six year old granddaughter, who was in the back of the car, had cancer. so, we gathered a couple of peeps around her to pray for her and her family.

We had continued to pray for them as a community and found out that Adia's Cancer is in Remission!!!!

3. Pat (our next door neigbor). An older man in his late 40s early 50s. We have had some strange conversations and some of them have been about G-d. he had mentioned that most people don't care and Christians are one of those type of people. He had lost his job a bunch of months ago, was struggling with money, was close to eviction, had contemplated suicide many of times and was about as down as you could get. We would get opportunities to talk and would check up to see how he was doing. Even helped him out with money at times but recently he stopped me in passing and excidetly told me that he got his old job back. he hugged me and thanked me. he said most of the time people say they care but their actions don't show it and then thanked G-d.

4.Mike and jillian - a couple who was introduced to us through some mutual friends. felt they needed to move in with us. This led to an adventure of questioning, learning, growing, challening conversations and situations, healing, friendship, life as the church, community, learning about Love and so much more. Crazy!

5. Nancy - she was a 60 something year old woman who lived 2 houses down. We had a few conversations with her but didn't know much about her. then some dude landed on our front porch who went by the name billy. billy told us she was going through a hard time so we invited her to dinner. We all went out to dinner and nancy became a part of our group (kind of). she would always stop by, we would pray and talk with her, we would listen, we would protect her, be there for her, feed her etc. at times she would even admit she didn't want to be here but she couldn't help but show up, had some wierd spirtual stuff going on but it was incredible how G-d worked on her life. she later on became more alive, credited her life change to Jesus, was excited about sharing Jesus with everyone around her, was happier and more lively, wanted us to pray for her, etc. very cool!

6. Billy - don't know where he came from or where we went but hope that we had some impact on his life. he taught us some interesting things about people that God was going to bring to us and even already had!

WOW! the more I think back this house has been an incredible blessing. I will continue with more stories later on this week. In my selfishness I have forgotton the incredible ways God has used us and this house to impact our lives and the lives of many people around us.

THANK YOU GOD! for being absolutly incredible! words can't describe!

R.I.P. Ghetto Booty

2006-08-30T09:20:00.000-04:00

it is official - Ghetto Booty has been totaled and is no more. (my toyota echo - car)

I am now going to take this time to remeber Ghetto Booty and his past brothers and sisters (past cars that have moved on).

GHETTO BOOTY - 2000 toyota Echo
- Was named Ghetto Booty due to its enourmous butt! I always said that I would ram a car if it had a butt as big as mine - someone else had the same goal.

SNOT ROCKET - 1996 toyota tercel
- was named because it was snot green and was a manual (I felt cool and like i could drive fast because it was a manual - i couldn't - but the squealed tires made it sound like i could.
*died by a head on with a buick (i am just sorry it had to be a buick - tear*

CU-SNEE-FAR-GO-BU - 1988 chevy nova
- This car was named because it was the kid of smurf poop and a go cart. smurf poop was a chevy malibu and when i first drove it I pulled onto the expressway next to a truck and pretty much shit my pants (it was so small - i felt like i was driving a go-cart).
*Nova means "no go" in spanish. This was true much of the time - she was given to someone else in their adventures of go-cart fun and the stubborness of moving only when she wanted to.*

SCICK - 1989 thunderbird
- was named as ricky and I ran out of the house singing our superhero theme song as we were headed out to go and resucue a friend. this car had every gadget that you could think of and every gadget worked the opposite of what it was supposed to :)
*Scick died of F.O.R.Dness(fix or repair daily*

SMURF POOP - light blue 1978 malibu classic
- the best car a man could own. was named becasue of his light blue color. Brought many fun, crazy, and exciting adventures. a car that truly turned heads, that people tried to by off me constantly, cruise before cruise was invented - people would stop by wherever I was at just to say hi because of smurf poop. all it took was a coat hanger and needle nose pliers to drive. (VERY BIG TEAR)
*died by drunk driver - dumb grand prix*

God is Good - Ghetto Booty Hurt

2006-08-21T08:46:00.000-04:00

After a week of interesting relaxation, enjoying the beach, sleeping, eating, more sleeping etc. we were headed home. Our vacation was over and we were leaving the island and getting ready for a 12 hour/650 mile drive home. We weren't ready to leave but we were ready to be home.

We had left the place we had been staying at about 9:30 and had just left the island and was now on mainland, driving down a two lane highway getting ready to get on the expressway when all of a sudden you hear the screeching of breaks, a crunch and then another crunch as sarah and I get jerked forward and then i find myself slamming on my breaks and trying to gain control of our car so we didn't hit keith and betsy who had been driving ahead of us. WE HAD BEEN HIT! 650 miles from home and we had been in a car accident that caused Ghetto Booty (our car - the toyota echo) to become undrivable. There had been a big toyota SUV that had slammed into a Ford Explorer that slammed into the back of my car.

I had been in an accident in cincinnati but never this far from home. I didn't know what to do. So, sarah had called AAA - they weren't helping us out and so we allowed ghetto booty to be put on the rotation to be picked up by a random toe truck. The toe truck man (preston) had given us and our car a ride to the local car rental place where I called my insurance company, who was being of no help at all, and found out we were standing in front of a car rental place that had just closed. yeah! we were afraid we would be stuck in hilton head until monday.

**But this is how cool God is**
Preston (our toe truck guy) knew some of the people that worked in the car rental place and had convinced them to stay open so that we could rent a car. They stayed open for at least 45 min. longer then they had to so that they could help us out and try and work things out with the insurance company. Then once we got a renal car, preston toed our car to the carriage shop which is where they were going to look at the car and fix it. Well, they had also already closed but preston had called and asked them to re-open. They ended up reopening so that we could bring our car in and leave it so that they could look at it on monday. The lady at the carriage shop was very loving and motherly - it was a family owned shop and she was very concerned for us and not our car. she said they would try and fix it but not to the point that it would affect our safety.

During that time preston slipped us a $100 to help us on our journey. he said that he wished he could have helped more. AFter that the lady from the carriage shop said that she didn't want us driving home in our condition and told us to go next door to a local food place to eat and that she would pay.

WOW! God took a bad situation and made it good. he showed us that he is always there. in fact i was frustrated at first because sarah and I had just prayed and asked God to keep us safe and to keep us out of car accidents and then we get hit. i wasn't mad at God - just a little confused. But, I see that God really does love us and was really watching out for us. he was very much present and I am very grateful. he really has never let us down.

we can't deny how much God was moving that day
our safety - could have been a lot worse

a free meal

extra cash to help us with crazy expenses

a loving/motherly woman to help and bless a couple of younger people trying to get home

a toe truck driver who helped us get into closed places and bless us with some crazy stories and a lot of help - a man who helped us smaile and laught - who spent many more hours then he had to helping, talking, and sharing life with us

great friends who stood by us and were comforting - keith and betsy

the opportunity to be a witness who had seen God's hand move but might not have realized that it was God

THANKS GOD!

LOVE?

2006-08-16T10:47:00.000-04:00

God has been teaching me a ton as to what it really means to love someone or what it really means to love.

Background: A little bit less than a year ago we invited a couple to come and live with us. We thought it was to help them financially and later found that not to be the case. One of them recently moved out (moved away from her husband)and it didn't seem right. Her actions and words didn't make sense to how God works or the commands that God calls us to obey. We went to confront her about her actions or at least gain understanding but she would not take the time to share that understanding. So, we let her know that we loved her and wanted to still be there for her but that we could not allow her back into our house because we felt that the reason for us opening our house was to help and it didn't feel that she was open for us helping her. We also didn't want to encourage what we understood and felt in our hearts to be wrong. At the same time though we have always been open towards listening to her heart and gaining understanding if we were wrong.
This is when she told us that we were not loving her and that we were not being obedient to God!

OUCH! we really felt that we were trying to love her the best that we could but didn't want to encourage what we felt was wrong. It seemed that she believed love to be equal to agreeing and we couldn't do that. This really led me to pray and contemplate over the idea of what it really means to love someone

the Journey:
as I prayed and contemplated over what it means to love someone I realized that many people, the church (generalized comment), and myself had kind of a skewed idea of what it means to love. We have the idea that "to love" means you must agree or allow but I don't believe that to be true. (this was rough ground for me to jump into because I didn't want to be a judgmental Christian) But, after a lot of prayer and contemplation I realized that you really can - not agree with someone, love them, and still not be judgmental.
If a Christian is not obeying God's commands I don't think that it is right for us to encourage or agree with that person's actions. You don't have to judge them and tell them they are going to hell but if they are truly follower of Christ then I would guess that they would desire to live passionately and obediently for Jesus in all that they did - especially if it is true that one way that we show God that we love him is by obeying his commands (john 14:21), or if Jesus says he came to bring life to the full (john 10:10) then by obeying his commands we are living the best life possible. If these are true then I would assume that as their friends we would want to encourage them to live this way (I would assume that anyone would want the best for their friends and for them to live the best life possible). As I thought and prayed about this I really felt that for us to agree with actions that didn't seem right to what God commands it would be wrong or not loving to agree or encourage these type actions. It would be the opposite of love instead of true love. I mean God loves us even when we are not being obedient but that doesn't mean he will agree or encourage those actions. I mean we see a pic in Hebrews 12 to where God disciplines us because he loves us (I don't know if it is our job to discipline but at least be honest and real with them - right?) or see a TON of pics in the gospels of how Jesus loved people but didn't agree or encourage their actions - so if we are to follow his example then loving someone and agreeing/encouraging are not the same. correct?

I have no clue if this makes any sense - God is still teaching me. But, I love when he does that. I just hope and pray that I am being obedient and truly loving as God has called me to love

Questions, a journey, life as a christian and the church?

2006-05-22T12:28:00.000-04:00

about a year ago I started to really question what it means to be the church. It didn't make sense to me anymore. I would worship the same way (sing worship songs), listen to some dude speak for 30 min. and then go home. OR as a youth pastor I would pimp this same structure out but the reality of it was - it started to make less and less sense. Was God truly a part of this worship experience? Why did I feel numb and bored with church?

God then put in on my heart to really dig into the heart of the church. Was this biblical? Is this really what God had set up the church to look like? did it have to look this way? Why do we feel guilty if we don't "go" to church? Why do I feel like I don't belong in the way church looks?
then i discovered that there were other people who felt the same way and so we began to study what it means to be the church. (check out the-table.net for a very brief look into our adventure). I got excited!!! It was really simple! this pic of the "body of Christ". The more I studied and prayed the more God revealed. The more God reavealed the more excited I got. The questions kept rolling in:
What about the role of the pastor? is the church really an organization? if we are going to be organic then can you plant a church or does it just happen?

What about worship? wasn't the style of worship as we know it orginally a pagan thing and then God set up the tabernacle/temple as a means to please us? God told me once that as I do the things I enjoy - that is my worship. Should people feel pressured to worship (church style - thats the way it feels sometimes) OR should worship just naturally occur? - this is a part of my most recent adventure but the other part of my adventure deals with what it means to be a Christian.

What does it mean to be a Christian? Don't get me wrong - I am not questioning my faith but I am questioning the way I live out my faith - the way I live as a disciple of Jesus. I know what I have been told or even what the church culture has told me it means to be a Christian but to tell you the truth this doesn't make sense. It doesn't seem right to - it doesn't feel like i am living the way I was created and the way he has created His Church to live. I don't know! I just seem to get more and more excited the more I dream as to what it means to live passionatly and radically for Jesus and then even more excited when I think about a group of God's people living this way. Oh yeah, then what if we trusted God to use us in crazy ways. we looked to him to be the head of the body, to lead us, to move in our lives and other people's lives. I get so freakin excited the more I dream but I get incredibly bored the more that I play church or play Christian.

So, What does it mean to be a Christian (a disiple of Jesus), to be the church, and have our lives truly be a life of worship to our God?

Does this make sense?

I Picked Up a Hooker

2006-04-12T15:56:00.000-04:00

IT WAS A VERY STRANGE MORNING!!!!!

I was headed to work and stopped by BP this morning so that I could pick up some caffine (mountain dew)to get me started. As I pulled into the BP this woman walks up to my car and asks for a ride. i apologized and told her that I really didn't have time because I had to get to work. she asked me which direction I was going and when I told her she walked around and jumped into the passenger side of my car. (guys, its not safe to keep your car door unlocked)
as I tried to explain that I was not headed very far she said that it would be awesome if I could just take her at least as far as i was going and then she would get a ride the rest of the way. So, I had a weird feeling already and decided not to go into BP (I wasn't just going to let her sit in my car as I walked into BP and got a pop).
As I was driving we began to talk. she said she was from florida, i told her about my wife, she said she wanted to get married someday also, etc. As the conversation continued she asked me how far it was to where I would drop her off. she said that was great and that we could have a little fun on the way. she then began to feel up my leg and went for my crotch. I told her to get the HELL off me and she continued. This time i stopped the car and yelled, "GET THE HELL OUT OF MY CAR!!!!!" she then kept saying, "what is wrong, aren't i pretty." and then kept trying to feel me up until i came to a stop and pushed her out my car and sped off.

it kind of freaked me out. I was shaking. not that I was afraid, I was in shock!
So, I called sarah (my wife) and told her the story.

As I thought about it throughout the day. I began to feel bad. I wish that there would have been some way that I could have gotten her to stop and then encourage her and tell her that she deserves so much more.

BUT... what else do you do when some strange woman starts going for your crotch?

Could I have been a better example of Jesus's Love? I don't know. Maybe, me pushing her away gave her a different picture of men. I don't know. I prayed for divine appointments this morning. didn't expect this, but I hope that God is able to use this adventure to impact this woman's life!!!

I began to pray for her - if you all can do this too, please do!

Authenticity - quick thoughts, response to another blog

2006-03-03T12:00:00.000-05:00

What does it mean for a community to be Real or Authentic?

I have been learning a lot recently what this really means. I have noticed that there are a lot of people who desire to be real and authentic or that commend various people for being real and authentic but many times they don't truly live that out. many times even when people claim to be Real they are still only choosing to be partially real or authentic. they are willing to disclose enough to sound that way but are still not totally being real?

What happens though when people aren't real with each other?
I have noticed that with me I find myself still dealing with issues on my own. I lose the freedom that comes with being able to share my struggles, share my questions, share my thoughts or my life with others. there is something powerful, healing, and freeing about truly being able to be real and authentic with a group of people.

I have also noticed that others are afraid to be real and authentic. they choose not to be real because they are afraid of how people will respond to them and many times this fear becomes a reality because people slam them or respond to them poorly for their true thoughts or feelings. Or people arn't completely honust with each other and then people's feelings get hurt or someone feels like others don't care. But, how was the other person supposed to know if you don't tell them.

So, what would happen if we all lived as God had intended - openly sharing our lives together as a community

Here is a comment that I wrote to a blog that I have been reading. It is a comment to a group of bloggers who all desire authenticity but have been arguing and fighting more than living out the jourey together. I never posted the comment because I just didn't feel that I had the freedom to do so. but maybe it will get us thinking?

I find this thing of authenticity very interesting. People desiring to be real or authentic and yet, i wonder, are these people being 100% real or choosing just how real they want to be and yet still claiming to be 100% real and authentic? Also, is autheniticy a 1 or 2 way road? Just as one person shares their life and heart openly shouldn't someone else listen and respond openly and yet without a judgemental heart?

I then look to our journey as Christians or disiples of jesus. shouldn't we all be on this journey of life and faith together? Desiring to grow, learn, challenge, encourage, ask questions, and seek out God's heart as a family or a gathering of God's people? Through this journey, shouldn't others be enticed and excited about jumping into such an exciting spirtiual and life adventure? So, i then wonder what we are doing here. Is this a blog/conversation/life that allows for true authenticity? Is it a blog that allows for people to ask tough questions and for people to agree and disagree - and then journey together to find and discover answers that are true to life and God? If people post anounoumously, does that say that people are afraid to post? is that a good thing? Even if this is a blog for controversal topics do we as people and as bloggers allow for these contraversal topics to be discussed or do we slam people for their ideas or thoughts.
At some point we must ask and discuss tough questions together with the intention of finding truth or real answers. there must be some truth for the world to exist and continue to work. And if Jesus claims to be truth then through him we will find truth and answers that are true to life and faith. But it seems that it must be an adventure and a journey taken together.

A REAL CHURCH?

2006-02-28T10:23:00.000-05:00

What makes a real church?

Many times I feel that people don't look at us as being a real church. We do look differently. We are not real big, infact we are tiny because we are only a couple of months old. We are about radically living life as disciples of Jesus. We are not about encouraging spectators but encouraing an adventure lived together for Jesus. An advenutre that encourages the life of a disciple as we passionatly live our lives for Jesus and we live out our God given gifts and dreams. We don't like to specify exactly what we look like because we want the people who are a part of our community to shape that (the idea of the body of Christ).

We get people who come to "check it out", or people who come after they have already gone to church, people who expect church to be planned out for them, etc.
but...
I feel that many people are stuck in a box of what church is. Even people that think outside of the box still see a box. I know what scripture says that church looks like and it always points to a gathing of God's people.

So, what makes a REAL church? What is church supposed to look like? Are we a Real church?

I know what God has taught me it means to be the church or live life as the church or what God has shown me through scripture.

What do you think?

Fasting

2006-02-20T08:32:00.000-05:00

God has really put it on my heart recently to begin to fast. Not just individually but as the church - with my community of passionate followers of Jesus.
But, I was struggling because i didn't understand what it meant to fast. Yeah, i was taught what the traditional heart behind fasting was but it seemed like more to me. I knew that you were supposed to not eat or drink for some period of time. or that you could choose to give something else up for a certain period of time. I was told that we need to fast, but why? I mean Jesus really doesn't talk much about fasting in the new tesament so why do we tell people that they need to fast. what is the heart behind it. so, i decided to study the heart behind what it means to fast.

what I have discovered is way cool and i am having fun on this adventure but i don't want to take it alone (God calls us to seek him out together as a community - so i want to encourage you to join me on this adventure of learning the heart of the fast and then fasting together and seeing how God moves.

I will be starting a message board section specifically dedicated to learning the heart of the fast and also for seeing how God answers our prayers and moves as we fast together as a community.

check out www.the-table.net and go to the message boards to join me on this adventure

God gave me a band-aid

2006-01-26T16:57:00.000-05:00

This God sighting seems small but impacted my life huge!
I have recently developed a bump in my arm pit which was hurting really bad this morning. I was going to teach gym today so I went to find a band-aid so that I could put it over the bump to keep it from getting sore and hurting a whole lot. i searched the entire house but could not find one. So, i finally gave up and went to go and chill with God. AFter i read a little i got up to pray and then went back to the pillow that I had been studying on (and I had layed on it the night before - and with my ADD i totally don't sit still - which means the pillow get tossed around a lot) but when I went back there was a band-aid right on top of the pillow. It was way cool. I kind of felt bad that I didn't immediatly ask God for a band-aid but later God revealed to me that he really does take care of our needs - even when we don't ask!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sooooooooooooo, GOD GAVE ME A BAND-AID - WAY STINKIN COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Want to be: A Child

2006-01-19T17:00:00.000-05:00

I've been struggling!
Not living life to the full!
I have allowed things, frustrations, conversations, worries keep me from living in the freedom of who God has made me to be. i have allowed these things to keep me from laughing, keep me from radically loving others, keep me from enjoying each moment that God has blessed me with, keep me from living freely, keep me from using my imagination and creativity, keep me from taking risks, going on adventures, loving others and so much more - I hate that.

I ask that you guys would be praying for me!!! God has me on a crazy adventure to reclaim this joy, lauhter, and child like faith (LIFE TO THE FULL)!

He has put on my heart to study his peace (shalom)and to spend time just enjoying Him, listening, and praising Him) - So far it has been a cool study and enjoyable to pour my heart out in song and in creativty. I want to once a again live passionatly with a an inexpressible and glorious joy. (1 peter 1:3-11)

Better at blogging

2006-01-13T10:27:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone,
sorry it has been so long since i have posted. I have been absolutly horrible at keeping up with my blog. So, I have committed to writing at least one blog a week. I have a lot to talk about or share but am just so bad at taking the time to sit and write out my adventures. so, I ask that you help to keep me accountable if you see that I have not written anything in awhile.

thanks

2005-11-07T09:43:00.000-05:00

the journey of living life as the church

The past couple weekends have been incredible as we have seen God move in incredible ways. God has very much been present with the people that show and the things that are discussed. But...the adventure as to how to teach is one that i don't yet understand:
For the longest time I have been bored in church as I sit down and listen to some preacher dude tell me what to belive. I get excited and have so much more fun however when I have an opportunity to encounter God through scritpure as he reveals his truth to me and as I get to discuss it with others (friends and strangers).
As we have started the table we have tried to avoid the "3 step how to live", or the "this is what you need to believe" and praying that God would move through scripture and conversation. God has blessed us with Christians, people who are not, people who have new ageish ideas but our deepest desire is to encounter God - not just to have a conversation for the sake of conversation.

So...How do you teach good Biblical teachings, heart behind the Jewish cutlture and what Jesus taught and allow for people to enconter God through that. As they discuss and live it out? This is way harder than I thought. I look forward to seeing that adventure that God takes us through and as he allows for this kind of worship to occur.

having fun as a passionate follower of Jesus,
scott sulek

2005-10-30T14:57:00.000-05:00

Amazed and Excited

I am continually amazed about how God's hand is on this adventure. A couple of weeks ago - Jillian (great woman of God/prayer warrior) got a word from God telling us that we don't need to worry about building the church but that God would bring the people - he would be the one to build the church. It has been amazing to see this happen. Many of the people that have come to be a part of this adventure have come from weeks of crazy adventures. some delivered directly to our front porch (no joke!!!)

God has brought people to worship with us on sunday mornings, or hang out with us or live life as the church!!! these people are brining their God given gifts and dreams, they are passionate about God, some of them are confused or going through tough times and need to see light but open to God and discussing spirtitual things, everyone is amazed on the many many many God sightings (movements of God)

It is very exciting to see how God is building our Jesus community (church) and exciting to dream and imagine what it is going to look like as he brings people and their dreams that will create a working pic of the church that is true to what God desires for us to be -individually and as the church

I only wish I could describe in words or in a blog the dreams, the pics, the people and the impact that God has allowed to be come a reality as we live life as His Chruch.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-10-17T14:55:00.000-04:00

God is freakin awesome!!!!!!!!!!1

This past friday night was a ton of fun as a bunch of guys got together as "the church" to worship God as we hung out, played video games, ate pizza, talked about girls, pinched each others nipples, talked about God, talked about life and soooo much more. I LOVE LIVING LIFE AS THE CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ALSO, During that evening a lady named Tonya (who I had run into a couple of weeks ago came to the door to ask my wife and keiths to join her for a sat. morning Bible study. (check out my post a couple of days ago for the whole story of how i orginally met tonya).
anyway, I had met her while walking and I had just told her I lived down the street and she invited us to her church for her pastor to pray for us and what we were doing in clifton. Well we got lost on the way and we never made it and had no way of getting in contact with her.
on sat. she came to the door and asked for me, my buddy don came to get me and when I came to the door she yelled "this is totally God" I responded shockingly but had no choice but to agree. she had prayed that God would lead her to our house and he did. the first house she had come to was ours (again having no clue where I lived) she invited our wives to a breakfast bible study and again invited us to join her for prayer on wed. night. i don't totally know what God has in store for this friendship but I am excited to see what adventure God is taking us on!!!!!

GOD IS SOOOOOO FREAKIN AWESOME!!!!!

2005-10-14T11:01:00.000-04:00

"If its not big enough to be scary its not God sized"
- our lawyer

I am learning that this is soooo true. I have been brought up in the church for way too long and have found my self conformed and churched and I hate it. So many times we as God's people learn how to live by "the faith" but not to live by faith. I find myself knowing the right Christian stuff to do (live by "the faith") but I don't truly live "by faith". i want to control things, or try to make things work, or feel that I have to do something, or am afraid to fail, or must plan something (the list can go on). The moment something happens that I can't control I get freaked out and lose faith, or I allow the question "what if I fail" to keep me from living out what God has called me to live.

anyway, what I am trying to say is that I am learning to live by faith. Knowing that in my failures, in my weakness, in my stupidity, God can and does move. I really just need to live knowing that God has everything under control and works things out in His perfect timing. (he never does anything early or late but right on time.) This week God has used a lot of things and people to help me realize this. our lawayer blessed us this week by giving us a free visit and also paying our incorporation fees (for the table church), God used a friend to tell us not to worry but that God has things under control, or through a story of how God had moved in a crazy way in another churches adventures, or through other people who share my same struggle, or just by the various blessing he has blessed me with. I want once again to live with a faith in God where I can stop relying on my own strength and totally rely on God. That sounds scary at time but it sounds like fun. I want to again laugh and enjoy God as we moves in crazy ways. I want to be able to boast in God not on my own abilities.

maybe this doesn't make sense - i know I like to ramble but it is an adventure I am still trying to understand

I'll keep you all informed on how the adventure goes!

2005-10-05T09:24:00.000-04:00

WOW!!!!!!!!
I have totally been praying for divine appointments and today it was great to see God bless that prayer. (let me tell you about it).

I usually run about 3x a week and see these people at the bus stop. Well today I chose not to run but to walk and pray and she yelled over to me and said Hi and asked me why I wasn't running today. I told her that I ususally run to escape from the world and chill with God and today I just wanted to chill quietly. It was awesome because she shouted with joy. she is like a brother in christ and gave me a big hug. Her name was Tonya. Her daughter and I talked for a long time and I told her that we were starting a church in the clifton area. she was stoked and again shouted with joy and invited sarah and I to come worship with her tonight. It was cool because she didn't invite us to church just to worship with them. She continued to praise God for his awesome plan and also connecting us Christians together. She was excited about how God was going to use this friendship for Hig glory.

I realized she was right in so many ways. God's plan is incredible and beyond our imagination. We both realized that if I hadn't chosen to just take a walk we might not have connected on such a cool level. God's plan is way cool!!!!!!

I also learned a lot for us. i want to once again praise God with reckless abandon and with that kind of joy. I miss that. I have been conformed by the church and I want to again praise God and worship in absolutly crazy ways!!!!!!

Here I am God! keep the adventure going!

Question to Friends - Please keep me accountable to worship and praise God with my everyday life - with reckless abandon!

2005-10-04T15:10:00.000-04:00

This is my first post. So, welcome to my page. I am not always good at keeping my blogs updated but I am going to try and get better at it.

anyway, I try and run a couple of times a week and met this older asian type guy. Our conversations have not gone beyond a smile and a hello but I like to call him the fart wiffer. he walks with his arms wiffing past his butt everytime he takes a step. It totally looks like he is trying to wiff the smell of fart out of the way. He seems like a nice guy and if it is true that a man can truly fart like that as he walks i could only be so lucky as to mentor and learn from a man with such gas and wisdom.

Welcome to the crazy adventures of scott sulek