Christmas Jack Ass!!!

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?

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

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!

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

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!!

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

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?

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

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?”

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?”