• Ghost Town
• Slumdog Millionaire
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Synechdoche, NY
• Juno
• American Splendor
• Trade
• Amelie

This question went along with the reading of Ephesians 1:1-14 which is full of blessing.

• “Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms” v.3
• “He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world” v.4
• “That we may be holy and unblemished in his sight” v.4
• “Adoption as sons” v.5
• “Grace that he has freely bestowed on us” v.6
• “Redemption through his blood” v.7
• “Forgiveness of our trespasses” v.7
• “Lavished on us all wisdom and insight” v.8
• “Revealed to us the secret of his will” v.9
• “Marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit” v.13

I find myself being reoriented in my relationship with Christ. The book, “The Divine Conspiracy” by Dallas Willard, is helping me see the Kingdom of God and how to live in it in a new way. I feel that I am being reoriented to the way God wants me to live in relation to him and his Kingdom. I wouldn’t say that it has moved from my head to my heart and will yet, but it is stirring in me the desire to draw near and live under his kingship.

I wouldn’t say that there are any major times when I have been away from God so long that there was a restorative event, but there all the more frequent times of restoration. Sometimes in worship I feel more connected with God then normal. It is then that I realize that I haven’t been as close to him as I have been. It is in the heights of worship that I realize that I haven’t been walking closely with him and return refreshed. Also, I would say that celebrating the Lord’s Supper also serves to restore me to him. Our church celebrates communion once per month. There are times when preparing my heart that the burden of sin is lifted off and I feel lighter and joyous again.

Interestingly enough, I think I was spiritually thirsty the year I was in seminary. This might be shocking, but you can spend a lot of time in the Word, studying it in depth and not connect to God. I think what also made this a spiritually dry time was that I wasn’t connected to close friends and particularly Samantha. We were engaged, and distance doesn’t promote intimacy. I attended classes with many great Christians, but they lived an hour away, so spending time with them wasn’t feasible. And although I took advantages of opportunities with the Young Adults Group I didn’t make any great connections. It wasn’t a desert the whole time, there were oases God provided–all-seminary spiritual retreats and God speaking occasionally to me in my studies–but overall it wasn’t an easy time.

Right now I am coming to the realization that God is in every place at all times. Yes, that is his omnipresence. But all too often we don’t really believe it. How could we boldly sin if we believed he was right there with us at the time? It’d be like cheating on your wife in her presence. Beyond sins, I feel that most of the time I don’t believe he’s right here. Certainly much of my past was the same way. I do know that in the times I really needed him to be there–when I felt the most alone and hurt–I was aware of his presence. For that I give thanks. My prayer is that I would come to the everlasting awareness that God is with me at all times and that I would live my life accordingly.

What marked the beginning(s) of your faith journey?

I would have to say that my faith journey is closely tied to my heritage and godly family. Yes, God calls individuals, but often we find him doing so to establish a people who are faithful to him. Certainly I have seen this in my family. So many of my relatives and ancestors walked closely with God. My own journey has benefited from the knowledge of God passed on to me. I consider this a blessing and as I now have children, seek to continue the legacy. 

The milestones of my personal journey:

• January 1984 – Accepted Christ’s death and resurrection for the forgiveness of my sins
• September 1989 – Baptized
• June 1995 – Made a commitment to go into full-time ministry
• February 1997 – Mission trip to Honduras
• 1997-2001 – At Crown College
• 1999 & 2000 – Camp counselor at Big Sandy Camp
• 2001-2002 – At Canadian Theological Seminary
• 2002-2003 – First ministry position at Hope Church in Apple Valley, MN
• 2006-present – Current ministry position at Faith Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, MN

Elisha died and was buried. Moabite raiding parties invaded the land at the beginning of the year. One day some men were burying a man when they spotted a raiding party. So they threw the dead man into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the dead man came to life and stood on his feet.

What?! So a dead guy touches Elisha’s bones and he comes back to life. No prayer. No special reason. Seems to me to give some credit to the Catholic idea of relics. We see a few examples in the Bible where one of God’s men brings someone back to life, but that person was alive. Here Elisha was dead. Come on! What was God’s plan there? Seriously, I have no idea. Maybe God just didn’t want any other dead guys to share the tomb with Elisha, so if you toss one in, he’s just going to walk out.

Anyway, I’m trying to stretch my paradigm a bit. So far I’ve concluded that basically God does what he wants, when he wants, how he wants. Good theology I think, but kinda scary. You gotta expect things to happen in unexpected ways with God. You never know when a dead guy is going to come back to life. My other thought is that I know nothing about the spiritual world. Though it seems to me that the spiritual world is intricately linked to the physical world. That means there really must be holy places and holy things. Sure God is everywhere and everything is His, but in some places and some things he may choose to put some of his power.

On the one hand, it feels like superstition to me. And I am cautious. We are so drawn to the supernatural, the miraculous, the spectacular that acknowledging it might lead people astray. On the other hand, to suppress it seems that we deny God to work in ways that he might choose. Hey, God knows best. If we can’t admit that, we have a long way to go.  I don’t know what to expect now, but my eyes will definitely be open at the next funeral I attend.

“First they came for the Communists but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists but I was not one of them, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews but I was not Jewish so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.” -Martin Niemoeller

We must speak out against injustice against any group, even if we don’t identify with that group, even if we are opposed to that group. If gays or Muslims are being treated unfairly, Christians should be the first to speak up. This is how we show love to our neighbors. I am disappointed with Christians apathy towards injustice, even though I am just starting to be drawn out of it. Read your Bible, especially the Old Testament. Injustice was a major thing God wanted removed from his chosen people.

Maybe the problem is that Christians have a hard enough time identifying with other Christians. When injustice happens to a group that is more fundamentalist, charismatic, or traditional, it is too common for Christians to think they deserved it because they practice their “impure” faith how they do. This lets us be smug and self-righteous. (When did those become acceptable sins.)

Let’s do a better job of speaking up for justice. Like the quote above, there may come a time when we need someone to speak up for us. And, here in America, those willing to speak up for Christians is getting smaller.

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