Chan really does ask the tough questions that shoot straight to the center of our heart's desires.  He starts this chapter with an illustration and then the question, "why do you want the Holy Spirit?"  Is it for your own desires or is it to be used for his kingdom?  How would I answer this question?  I'll attempt.

Why does Charles want the Holy Spirit?  Trying to be as transparent as possible (sorry for the political term), I feel my urges fight strongly to try to use God as a genie of sorts.  I look around and see what others have and then struggle, fight, and work hard to get their positions in life.  Not all comparisons are bad, if we're doing bad then a comparison to good is a good and right comparison.  Is this a good heart?  A root of jealousy within to motivate a covetous heart to get what I want?  Thankfully that is not the only thing I feel deeply though.  Cuing into Mr. Chan's earlier question in chapter one, "when was the last time you saw the Holy Spirit at work?"  I am led to a place where I deeply desire; brokenness that forces dependence on Him.

The Spirit was very obvious when I broke up with my last serious girl friend.  I felt God convicting me in how to lead our relationship and protect her and after a long while, I finally listened.  When we stopped our illicit behaviors God took me to the next level...."you need to break up with her."  I didn't want to.  I fought it and just couldn't believe it.  Why would God ask such a thing right now?  I loved her during the last year and half of our relationship helping her through the loss of her mom.  I was such a child inwardly and didn't know how to help a woman through a bereavement process, let alone with the loss of her only mother.  But I knew what God was telling me was as clear as the day was bright.  Adding another layer of complexity to this relationship was the fact that I was laid off of my job for almost 6 months now.  Getting a job was always easy, but I just couldn't find work anywhere and my unemployment was about to run out.

After a short set of unremarkable circumstances God helped me make the decision and I broke up with her.  What happened next still fills me with joy when I think back to these days.  The very next day I got a contract....in Dallas, which was far away from her.  A good friend of mine had a partially 'under construction' house on a lake close to Dallas and let me stay there for free.  Off to Dallas I went.

When I got there I plugged immediately into a local church, worked and caught up on my bills, and felt a freedom I had never felt before.  I wasn't pursuing just what I wanted, was still in the dumps materially, but felt more alive than I had ever felt before.  God blessed me with new friends in the church from the first day and we connected musically together playing at a few different venues for Christ (I played guitar).  It was like waking up from a deep dark painful sleep, I honestly don't know what other cliche to use, but that's how it was.  I could feel alive again and in a fresh new freeing spirit that was only from God.  The story gets even more amazing, but I'll stop there and just say, God pursues us and I'm so thankful for that truth.  I was pursuing dust and dirt (all our future demise) and God shook me out of it.

Further into chapter 4 Chan trips along a few subtle concepts I disagree about.  He mentions the Spirit's work (page 92) through us for "the common good," but I disagree, I think that this statement would more accurately be stated as "God's common good."  If you leave the term as 'the' then it becomes relativistic on who the 'the' is.  He definitely empowers us to be his witnesses, but what the common good is can be a slippery slope to major issues.  He doesn't just leave it there in his book though.

Another statement that surprised me was his statement (page 92), "Do they see a person who lives according to the Way of Jesus or someone who does business according to capitalistic and self-centered standards, just like everyone else?"  I understand what he is saying about 'like everyone else,' but he trips on a word that isn't evil in itself...capitalism gets picked on a lot these days.  It is a word used and abused in many social circles today and I'm not afraid of the word myself.  Maybe a definition can help pull us through the confused thoughts about capitalism.  One definition of capitalism is, "An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit."  The key is 'private owners for profit,' which I would argue that Paul, Jesus and a slew of other examples in the Bible would agree with.  Paul was a tent maker (Acts 18:3) and made his own money in order to provide for others and he even mentions for those who used to steal to now work for a living so they can give to others (Eph 4:28) and that those who don't work shouldn't eat (2 Thess 3:10).  Capitalism doesn't = selfishness, it means working for personal profit, which can be used for whatever you feel the profit should be used for.  Is profit bad?  No, but selfishness is.  Money is not bad, but it should not be our life's goal either.  I'll drop this argument and move on, but just think about the fact that both rich and poor can both be greedy.  Capitalism should not be delegated as a negative by-word of working hard.

I also disagreed with this statement on the bottom of page 92, "When we submit to the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit, He helps us become more holy - more like Jesus."  If he had replaced 'more holy' with 'more sanctified' I would have agreed.  The scriptures tell me I'm broken and dead apart from Jesus and with Jesus I am purified before a Holy Father.  Are we automatically just like Jesus in all of our ambitions in life?  Of course not.  When we begin to believe we start an amazing painful, soul crushing and soul joyful process call sanctification.  It is the process of being transformed into the likeness of his Son Jesus.  The Holy Spirit begins testing our hearts through trials (not punishment, but discipline) as he trials those he loves (Heb 12:6).  What good father would let his son continue to hurt himself?  Does this make us more holy?  No, because holiness is a question of righteousness, which we have none apart from Christ and can't build up a bank of holiness.  We either are dead and belong to the kingdom of this world or we are alive and belong to the kingdom of righteousness, there is no between.

Now Chan jumps us into an amazing foundation that I struggle with remembering...love trumps all (1 Cor 13:1-3).  Chan reminds us of Paul redirecting our focus from supernatural gifts (gifts of the Spirit) to love.  God will do many amazing things in our lives and around us as we live, but those 'things' are not life's goal, love is.   But what does that mean?  Love?  What about love?  Loving others requires unselfishness and courage to focus those we're loving to our source of love, Jesus Christ.  Remember what Jesus said (Luke 10:27), "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your strength.  And love your neighbor as yourself."  First love God then love those of us who will usually hurt you because we are fighting within ourselves to be selfish (James 4:1).

In the midst of talking about capitalism and the possibilities of selfishness and materialism we'll end today with a thought that hit me in the face like a refreshing breeze yesterday.  I wasn't scared of this thought and it actually brought joy to my heart as I continued to ponder it:

"I do not want to die an old comfortable life, but I want to die for God however he would call me."

This world is so very temporary so let us let go of our idols and hold onto Jesus with all of our hearts.  It will be over soon.

-charles

Lightening strikes the Willis Tower in Chicago....sweet.  I don't think anyone feels right calling it the 'Willis Tower' as it is still the Sears Tower in most of our imaginations.  Just can't shake the voice of Gary Coleman...

-charles

This is the third post of a review on the book Forgotten God by Francis Chan (see post one and post two).

CHAPTER 3

What does the Holy Spirit do?  Chan starts off by reminding us that what we believe (doctrine) may not change what God will do, but it matters as it will shape what 'we' will do.  He also adds that we should hold fast to solid doctrines and be careful about ambiguous doctrines.  Here's a short quote from page 65, "The point is not to completely understand God, but to worship Him.  Let the very fact that you cannot know Him fully lead you to praise Him for His infiniteness and grandeur."  Also, any analogy of God will never encapsulate God's nature (e.g. God is like the three parts of an egg, like a flame, etc), but the trinity is obvious and implied (Isaiah 9:6). Listed below are a few bullet points he makes about the Holy Spirit:

1. The Holy Spirit is a person.
2. The Holy Spirit is God.
3. The Holy Spirit is eternal and holy - and he dwells in us...wow!
4. The Holy Spirit has His own mind and prays for us.
5. The Holy Spirit has emotions - we are told not to grieve the Holy Spirit.
6. The Holy Spirit has his own desires and will.
7. The Holy Spirit is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient.

I omitted the Bible verse references and main points because I think the book does a great job of creating a more powerful atmosphere than this blog can do....so read the book.

He ends the chapter with a list of 'fruit' that the Holy Spirit can have in our lives.  I admit that I feel like I've ignored the Spirit a lot when I read through the list.  Like I've been trying to do it all on my own.  Sure, I believe in Jesus with all of my heart, but I have ignored Jesus' thoughts about the Holy Spirit as I kept an unhealthy focus on the physical world hoping to bow down to Jesus in person.  Wasn't that the focus of the song 'I Can Only Imagine' by Casting Crown?  Why else did this song resonate with so many of us so powerfully?  We are so excited to see Jesus, but sadly I think we are not worshiping the Holy Spirit that he has given to us today when we only think of the physical present world.

There are two verses I want to end with; John 16:7 and Acts 2:38-39.  In John, Jesus reminds us of why the Holy Spirit is such a big deal and Acts has Peter reminding us how to respond to God:

"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you" - John 16:7 (ESV)


"And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." - Acts 2:38-39 (ESV)

-charles

This is the second post of my review on the book Forgotten God by Francis Chan (see post one here).

Why do a chapter-by-chapter review of a book?  As I could count many possible reasons for doing so I'll just stick to the actual reason I chose to do so.  Why?  To hopefully walk a little deeper in a book that I think will be profound.  So far so good, now on to chapter 2 :)

CHAPTER 2

Wow, he hit the nail on the head.  Coming from a largely conservative background, similar to Mr. Chan, he understands my struggles and my questions deeply about the Holy Spirit and isn't afraid to address them.  Let's walk through some thoughts and questions in this amazing chapter:

1. What if God doesn't come through?  We feel as though we have to cover for God not coming through in our lives when we pray for something and it doesn't happen...but that's a problem.  The real issue is what we're praying for; something promised by God (like giving the Holy Spirit - Luke 11:13) or the gifts God gives?  James investigates this issue further.  Point: pray for what God promised.
2. Do I even want this?  If we are honest with ourselves we will all admit that we don't like the thought of someone telling us what to do, especially if it is uncomfortable, which is usually what God does.
3. Is my reputation in the way?   We all have fears about what others think of us.  Why is this important, because our fears sometimes drive unhealthy behaviors (e.g. ignoring investigation of the Holy Spirit for fear of others judging us).
4. God Fear.  1 Thessalonians 5:19 and 20 - "Do not quench the Spirit," and "Do not treat prophecies with contempt."  This has always been something I've just browsed through not paying attention to like Mr. Chan.  While we fear individuals being overly zealous joy about things that 'God said to them,' we need to not ignore their words.  We need to do what scripture says and "test everything" (1 Thess 5:21-22).  Point: next time you hear someone tell you 'god said...' just merely test their words to scripture, do not just push their words away as 'crazy' or 'misled.'

How do great nations fall?  By an internal erosion of ethics, a mass of citizens voting themselves the treasury, and the fall of a common unity of existence.  How is that for a quick list of adages.

Think of how great nations were started.  Traditionally a common injustice was felt throughout a population, they united, and fought the existing rulers.

Watching the news all around us, I can't help but think of our country's safety.  Outside the picture seems a little grim; Muslim extremists dedicated to attacking their rulers in order to bring sharia law and their collective hate of the world to fruition (the Muslim Brotherhood is not hiding their intentions everyone), China using their debt to manipulate our trade policies (who didn't see that coming...), our government sector unions continue to practice 'thuggery' (Wisconsin, teachers unions, etc) to bully society, and our nation's future children are losing their voices as they struggle to make it past the mother's womb.

What do we do here?  Do we try to mask the actual intentions of those organizations perpetrating their hate because of political correctness?  Do we continue to borrow more money allowing other countries to buy stake in our influences?  Do we sit idly by as our country's children's bodies are piling high as crimes against us?

Does anyone remember what was happening in Rome during the major invasion that finally crushed the great civilization?  They were watching a game.  "Go Cowboys!  Hey, what's that noise?....invasion."

A part of our American problem is that we are distracted spending too much time watching our favorite sports team, tv shows, movies, and other entertainment, to stop and see the shift of direction of the wind in this world.  Add to the fact that it seems that everyone hates the top dog so if we continue to ignore the bigger issues in this world, we will not survive.  The world will not be what it once was and the freedoms everyone takes advantage of will be gone, both in this nation and abroad.


America did not conquer the world, it helped it.  Was America perfect in all it's pursuits?  Of course not, but evil dictators are salivating at the thought of an American empire no longer in existence.  Do we have any idea what will take our place?  It is not going to be a pretty picture as a vacuum of America's positive imperialism disappears.  I argue for 'positive' because countries like Kuwait, France, South Korea and many many more have great reasons to welcome our help. 

In an America distracted we pick up our beer cans, turn up the music, high five our friends, and then watch the world pass us by as we root for our favorite teams while rocking out to 'American Woman.'  In an America distracted we ignore the things we could do to help those around us by voting in new legislature forcing them to do our job for us further imprisoning ourselves in an already doomed tax code.  In an America distracted we think that the world is here to serve us and forget about any of the people who gave themselves before us for what we currently have, thinking we somehow 'deserve' the rights given to us.  In an America distracted we somehow forgot whose lives we are giving privilege by voting away the lives of those little ones who would come and take our place for the next generation building our future.   We are in an America distracted.

With loss of morality, moral relativism is king and everyone loses.  With the loss of focus, pluralism is king and has tried to hand all world views equal merit, which is foolishness and everyone loses.  With the loss of Jesus as a focus, secular humanism is king and is leading everyone to worship themselves instead, which underpins all of the rest.

Jesus did not promise to give us a mighty nation, it just happened.  Jesus does not play politics and parties, but his morality is clearly defined for what is 'wrong' or 'right' and we all get to choose which 'rights' we will sacrifice when we vote.

The world is changing.  We humans have never changed, we are naturally evil and need a savior to crucify our sins.  Let's put down our entertainment and self serving bias' and try to help those who cannot help themselves.  The answer is not to give government more authority to do what we should be doing, so let's do it ourselves.  Form your own organization to make a change aligning the wills of those behind a movement, and make a positive difference.  Some are getting out there in the battlefields of ideas, so let's get out there and join them to fight oppression of hate filled rhetoric from Islam by loving Arabs and showing them another way (Jesus), or getting on the streets and helping those who are downtrodden, or adopting children who desperately need escape from a social system, or meeting the needs you see piling up around you.

Jesus forgive us for worshiping something and someone else besides you and give us strength as you actively flex your will and do what you will to this great nation.  May we not suffer the same pride as Germany and give our powers to evil and may we not suffer the same distraction as Rome and try to live on the blood and efforts of others before us, but be thankful.  Thankful for life, thankful for a chance to grow, but most of all thankful for you and your sacrifice, which gives the greatest hope of all.

-charles

This is the beginning of a series of reviews about an amazing book our MC (Mission Community) is studying called Forgotten God by Francis Chan.  Today's review is over chapter one.

I had two initial fears in reading this book:

1. That I'll start mimicking a Pentecostal's actions of jumping wildly in the aisles and screaming like a mad man possibly scaring others away from Jesus.
2. That I'll find out that I really don't understand the Holy Spirit like I should (that I could have read and not understood).

-charles

I'll start off by saying that I haven't wanted to punch someone in the face for a very long time till tonight.  We were about to go into the second session of class after our lunch break and I found some very helpful information that I thought I would try to share.  Everyone had clearly stated earlier in the class that they had not found this very useful information and I thought I was going to help everyone by telling them where it was.

While I was talking I heard one of the college kids across the room say some snide remark about me sucking up to the teacher or something.  I didn't reply immediately because I was still in the middle of doing something, but as you know, once you don't reply immediately you can't just bring it back up.  If you do bring it back up then you're the idiot for making such a big deal of it.  The other guys were looking away after he made his goofy remark because I think they respect me, but….what does it really matter?
So there I sat, so angry that I could have picked up my chair and slammed it on the kids head, just being honest.  All of the guys in the class are somewhat older and that was another reason that this behavior surprised me.  I wanted to just simply ask him to go back to high school because I was just trying to help everyone.  Funny though, it wouldn't have mattered.  It is all about what it is in my heart really.  To feel that angry over nothing makes me even more angry.  Anyone else relate?

I would say that it is just Jesus testing other areas of my heart.  Am I going to try to lovingly confront the guy the next time he says something or be a jerk?  Would my reaction have been loving tonight if I had said something immediately?  I can honestly answer that with a no.

When things like this happen it is usually the Holy Spirit shining the flash light on an issue that exists in my heart and as I experienced tonight…this most definitely exists in my heart.  A pride so easily thrown to anger by a simple insult from a college kid who doesn't know me.  What matters right now is what I do with this experience.  I think I will have an ale, finish writing my report, pray to God, and try to let go of my pride.

Next time, and I'm sure there will be a next time, I will confront the kid, but as respectfully as I can.  Maybe joke with him, who knows.  Either way, I need to love the kid through his remarks and not give foothold to such evil in my heart….and put the chair down.

Hope your day ended better than mine :)

-charles

I was writing an e-mail to a friend of mine on how what Apple shortcuts to use, so I decided to paste my reply to him here for anyone else to read.

When I moved to Houston, Texas over 2 years ago I really didn't expect to find what I did.  What did I find?  I found a plethora of amazing restaurants, cool places to hang out, venues for live bands, beaches, boats, ocean front property, palm trees and more.  If someone was going to come to Houston, Texas what would I recommend to see?  Well, one of my brothers recently came to Houston with his wife for a 3 day trip and I decided to put together a quick itinerary of cool things to do.  Here is the itinerary:

Thursday:

•  Dinner at Niko Nikos (Montrose)
• Walk around Kema Boardwalk

Friday:

• The Strand @Galveston
• Pier 21 @Galveston
• Drive to west end of the sea wall (dead end) and watch the boats come through the channel
• Moody Gardens @Galveston

Saturday:

• Kaloche's @Shipley's donuts
• Cookies @Miss Ginny's bakery
• Disc golf
• Lunch @Bullritos by JSC
• JP Morgan Chase Sky Tower
• Walk through Houston tunnel system
• Tour NASA
• Flying Saucer for dinner/Create your own flight

Sunday:

• Shopping @the Galleria
• Water wall by the Williams Tower
• Tour Rice University
• Rice Village @El Meson
• Rice Village @Chocolate Shop

Monday:

• Breakfast at the 'Egg and I' off of Bay Area

There is so much to do in Houston, we just skimmed the top of cool things to do here.  Here is a quick list of a few more things to do and restaurants to eat at:

Things to do:

• St. Arnolds Brewery ($5/person - bring some snacks)
• Forbidden Gardens @Katy, TX
• Walk through tunnel system (a lot to walk!)
• The Miller Outdoor Theater - a gem in Houston
• Sports - professional basketball (Rockets), football (Texans), and hockey (Aeros)
• College sports (Rice University, University of Houston, etc)
• The Orange Show
• Houston Rodeo (once a year)
• Clearlake Boat Show (they put Christmas lights on the boats and light up the harbor - very cool)

Food/Drink @Clearlake:

• Perries (get their pork chop)
• Lupe Tortilla (get their fajitas)
• Boondoggles (amazing food and drink)
• Thai Cottage (get their Thai Tea and Panang Curry)
• Frenchies (great Italian food)
• Red River BBQ (simple, amazing)
• Pappa's BBQ

Food/Drink @Rice Village

• Gingerman Pub (drinks only - amazing on-tap selection) 
• The Chocolate Bar!!

Food/Drink @Galveston:

• Rainforest Cafe @the seawall
• Olympia Grill @Pier 21
• Luigi's Restaurant Italiano

Food/Drink @downtown Houston

• Three Forks (best salad ever)
• House of Blues
• Bombay Pizza Co.
• Brennans (French/Creol)
• Mark's American Cuisine (...date night, she'll love it - formal dress)

Food/Drink @Galleria

• Yia Yia Mary's Greek Kitchen
• Maggiano's
• Grand Lux Cafe

Kema:

• T-bone Tom's
• Bakklus Taverna
• Ichabon (sushi)
• Saltgrass (typical Texas steak house)
• The aquarium

Other

• House of Pies
• Dot Coffee Shop (off of 45)
• Bada Bing (great Italian pizza!!)

All else fails, Austin is only 3 hours away:

• Stubs Restaurant
• Congress Street
• Austin City Limits
• Six Street

There is so much more to list of course, but these are the places that I have personally been to or heard great things about.  Start here and venture out on your own, but you'll be glad you started with this list.

-Charles