white.

I love snow.

I love the silence of a city after a snowfall...the way the snow mutes out sound.

I love sitting in my warm apartment watching the snow fall outside.

I love how fresh snow can transform an average town into a beautiful hamlet.

I love how snow can be different. I love how sometimes you can make perfect snowballs with it and others it will barely stick. I love how sometimes you can barely see reflection off of it and how other times it looks like glitter.

I love how white snow is.

Have you noticed how perfectly white snow is? Snow is really white. When I think of perfect whiteness I think of snow...untouched snow. It is amazing.

Have you noticed how dirty snow can get...quickly?



We were created in His image, white, perfect, blameless, like freshly fallen snow. But, so quickly and so easily, we dirty that snow. We turn it brown and nasty. Unfit to be in the presence of a holy and perfect God.

*wash me, and I will be whiter than snow*

But, if we cry out to him, God cleanses us whiter (!) than snow.

Just as quickly as we dirty ourselves, God washes us and makes us whiter than snow.

And we dirty ourselves again...

and He cleanses us...

dirty.

clean.

dirty.

clean.

But at the heart of it, God desiring us to be like him...to be holy. We dirty ourselves and He cleanses us.

When King David cries out to God in Psalm 51 to "wash me, and I will be whiter than snow", David has just been confronted by Nathan about his adultery with Bathsheba. I don't think we fully comprehend what happened. We know all of the great things that David did. We know that he was called, "a man after God's own heart." We have this impression of David as this "holy man".

BUT, David committed adultery and had Bathsheba's husband killed! What if this controversy hit our church. What if your pastor did that? How would we respond? After all of this why is David still regarded so highly by us...by God?

I'm convinced that the reason God calls David a man after His own heart is because of his repentant heart.

Read Psalm 51.

Read 2 Samuel 24:10

David makes some HUGE errors. But his immediate response is to repent. He falls at the feet of God asking for forgiveness.

And God responds...

He makes him white.

new year, new look

yeah, i know the first month of the year is almost over, but, well, i haven't had time to work on this. so, this is it. new look for the new year.

new links to:

bloggers
tv shows
music
preachers

enjoy.

izaiaš 41,10

Neboj se, nebo já jsem s tebou; nestrachuj se, nebo já jsem Bůh tvúj.

Every New Year's Eve our church has a service to welcome in the new year. As a part of that service everyone receives a verse for the year. These verses are printed onto little bookmarks, prayed over and then, like the casting of lots, everyone draws one of these bookmarks and that is their verse for the year.

Last year I was in Prague for New Year's Eve, so I didn't get a verse. I wandered through most of 2006 purposeless...without vision...

This year I was in the States.

But, in a brilliant stroke of foresight and genius, I asked Lucka's dad to get a verse for me. One year of aimless wandering was one year too much for me.

So, Lucka brought the verse to me yesterday.

Isaiah 41:10 - Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God.

On the surface this may not be that "powerful" of a verse...or may not seem so significant, but it is for two reasons:

1. I can read it in Czech.

2. I had a post entitled "songs for when i want to throw myself from a window" about a month ago. It was in response to a really tough time I was having, specifically ministry related. During one night of sleeplessness I was reading Isaiah 40 to help ground me and remind myself who God is, but I ended up continuing through to chapter 41. There was one verse that stuck out to me. No, not verse 10, but verse 13. "For I the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'Fear not, I am the one who helps you.'"

What I loved about that verse was the idea of God holding my hand. There is something intimate about holding hands. There is something comforting about holding hands. I began to think of God on an entire different plane that night.

The God of the universe holds my hand when I am hurting.

He comes along side of me in my fear.

He grabs me by the hand.

He says to me, "Fear not, I am the one who helps you."

So, I have to admit I was a little skeptical about the whole casting of lots for a verse-for-the-year thing. But as I read the verse this morning and realized that it is a couple verses away from the verse the Lord had led me too on that late night a month ago I became a believer.

fear not.

i am with you.

be not dismayed.

i am your God.

The Handshake Turnover

At our thanksgiving conference this past November, Dave Patty and Mel Ellenwood were talking a lot about a body language book that they were reading. They shared all about the different things that you can learn by reading someone's body language and about all these techniques for how to interview well, how to engage with people in conversation and most importantly (for me) how to tell if a chick is digging you!

One of the things that was facinating was the art of the handshake. Apparently, we can tell a lot from the handshake.

The handshake is a way to show dominance. When a man wants to show dominance, he will turn the hand of his handshaking companion so that his hand is on top and the other man's hand is turned palm up. By turning your hand over and placing his shaking hand on top, he claims the dominate position and makes the other man the submissive one.

The author said that it is always best to try to keep the handshake vertical. He suggested that if you get turned over to "fight back" and try to get the handshake back to the verticle position therefore showing equality between the two men and not allowing one to have dominance over the other. He said that in extreme cases you may need to use your left hand to rotate the handshake into the neutral position.

Fast forward to today.

I am in San Diego hanging out with a youth pastor friend of mine and we went to his church to meet with some pastors to talk about doing ministry in Czech. Before the meeting he toured me around the youth offices. I met a few people (verticle handshakes only) and we were having good conversation. Then the Junior High pastor showed up. We were introduced and that's when it happened...

He turned me over!

(Insert Gargamel's music from the Smurf intro song here)

At first I was shocked. This dude is trying to dominate me! No way! A youth pastor? Turning me over?

The handshake was nearing its end. I felt it. We were almost finished. What should I do? Is it too late to turn it back to verticle. CRAP! I can't believe I'm getting dominated right now.

So I did what any logical man would do. I held on longer. I didn't let go...and I turned it back to verticle.

(Cheers ring out from the crowd)

I'm sure he sensed that the handshake went longer than it should have. I'm also certain that he knew that I brought the handshake back to verticle.

Regardless, I was pleased that I didn't let him dominate me and that I was able to save face by holding on and turning him back to verticle.

God hates divorce...

and I know why.

Over the past couple years I've had four friends get divorced. Three in the past year.

All Christians.

The last one occurred on Monday.

It was one of the saddest moments of my life.

My friend did all that he could to save this marriage. Granted, he made some mistakes along the way (none justifying divorce) that lead to his wife asking for the divorce, but he still pursued her with abandon up until the end. He never signed any papers and it went into default.

God's timing was perfect in this as I was in Arizona over the weekend and was able to walk with my brother through this tough time and was able to be there (with some other friends) at the final hearing.

We prayed as we sat in the courtroom awaiting the case to go before the judge. But as I did, God told me to talk to the girl.

I refused.

I tried praying again. God told me to talk to the girl.

I refused.

After a third time of trying to pray, God again told me to talk to the girl. This time I thought, "What if my words could help save this marriage."

I went.

Having been in the wedding, I know this girl well, so I knelt beside her, put my arm around her and whispered,

"You know I love you, right?"

She nodded her head.

"Seriously, you know I love you."

She nodded her head again.

"You don't have to do this. It isn't too late to save your marriage. Just because you've paid for a lawyer, it isn't too late. Just because you've filled out all the paperwork, it isn't too late. Just because we are sitting in the courtroom, it isn't too late. I know that if you choose to stick with this, God will honor it. It may be difficult, but I know that God will honor your decision."

As these words poured out of my mouth, she continued nodding her head. I'm not sure if it was automated or because she was accepting these words. My guess was that in the emotion of the entire thing she didn't know what else to do.

I told her again that I love her, hugged her, and sat back down with the boys.

Their case was next and I wish the outcome was positive.

The saddest moment of the whole thing and one of the saddest moments of my life was when the judge asked, "Do you believe that this marriage is unreconcilable and broken?" And she answered, "Yes."

Part of me wanted to throw up right there. The other part wanted to stand up and shout, "That is bull. You can save this marriage." It was a serious low.

I have never been this close to a divorce before. I've never seen it from the inside. I've never watched it happen. I've never prayed so much with a brother. I've never begged God so much to change a girls heart to save a marriage. It was sad.

I am glad that I was able to stand with my brother. I experienced the body of Christ with him. On Sunday night I watched him go in and out of a prayer room at our church with multiple groups of people praying for him. It was powerful to see the body rally around this broken brother. I'm blessed that I got to be a part of it.

But, regardless of how God received glory in this, I hated it. I hated watching her reject him and reject Him.

I'm sure God hated it too.

passion07

I just got back from Atlanta (aka The ATL, Hotlanta, etc.). I got the opportunity to represent JV in Passion's Global Awakening Center. It was an unbelievable time. God was moving there. 25,000 students and volunteers combined to give about $700,000 to help build wells in Africa, send 20 Africans to college, build a community center in the middle of a college campus in Iraq, send 2500 Bibles to China, sign a petition that will go to the U.N. to stop the sex trafficing trade in Eastern Europe, translate the New Testament for two people groups who have never read the word in their own language before (!), provide about 50,000 socks and towels for the homeless in the Atlanta area and provide life saving surgeries for children in Central America.

We also got to talk to and pray with hundreds of students about what God is doing in Eastern Europe and thousands more made committments to going to serve God somewhere in the world! It was great to watch as students hearts grew for the world as the week went on.

Here is a pictoral highlight: