So I work at a pool. It is a cake job and it can be lame. Recently I told a frat brother about it. He suggested I put a baby ruth in the pool to get it shut down and go home early. Yesterday he asked how it went.

This was my response...

There was this little cambodian kid in the pool (isn't this how every great story begins)...

Anyway, he thought since there was already a "floater" he could just squeeze one off. Anyway stuff got out of hand quick and before I knew it javone's mom was jumping in the pool playing bobbing for apples.....only she wasn't bobbing, and they weren't apples.

You can not purchase the Gospel

You can not purchase The Gospel with obedience. Grace is a gift. Repent. Ask for it. Live in response to it.

" RELIGION: I obey-therefore I’m accepted.
THE GOSPEL: I’m accepted-therefore I obey.

RELIGION: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.
THE GOSPEL: Motivation is based on grateful joy.

RELIGION: I obey God in order to get things from God.
THE GOSPEL: I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.

RELIGION: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.
THE GOSPEL: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while he may allow this for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.

RELIGION: When I am criticized I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a ‘good person’. Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs.
THE GOSPEL: When I am criticized I struggle, but it is not critical for me to think of myself as a ‘good person.’ My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ. I can take criticism.

RELIGION: My prayer life consists largely of petition and it only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is control of the environment.
THE GOSPEL: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with Him.

RELIGION: My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel insecure and inadequate. I’m not confident. I feel like a failure.
THE GOSPEL: My self-view is not based on a view of my self as a moral achiever. In Christ I am “simul iustus et peccator”—simultaneously sinful and yet accepted in Christ. I am so bad he had to die for me and I am so loved he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper and deeper humility and confidence at the same time. Neither swaggering nor sniveling.

RELIGION: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work. Or how moral I am, and so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to ‘the other.’
THE GOSPEL: My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for His enemies, who was excluded from the city for me. I am saved by sheer grace. So I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. Only by grace I am what I am. I’ve no inner need to win arguments.

RELIGION: Since I look to my own pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols. It may be my talents, my moral record, my personal discipline, my social status, etc. I absolutely have to have them so they serve as my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, whatever I may say I believe about God.
THE GOSPEL: I have many good things in my life—family, work, spiritual disciplines, etc. But none of these good things are ultimate things to me. None of them are things I absolutely have to have, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness, and despondency they can inflict on me when they are threatened and lost."

This was posted by my pastor (Bryan Stupar) in San Luis Obispo who got it from Tim Keller.

Check out Keller at Bryan Stupar's blog.

For the RED

This is a song Jay-Z did for the RED campaign which helps raise funds and awareness for the fight against AIDS in Africa.

Brooklyn We Go Hard

1 Peter 1:1-2

How are you being sanctified?

From the Trial Series: Trial and Sin by Mark Driscoll

Day Two

Morning. Day two.

7:30am came quickly. Joshua David and I began our day by cleaning up poop and pee in Chuck's dinning room from one of the dogs. Thank God for tile floors, sandwich bags and paper towels. One thing is for sure though, those dogs are very regular. Not runny, just....right.

Anyway, after our cleaning I decided to read Hosea. As I began reading over 11:10-11

"10 They shall go after the Lord;
he will roar like a lion;
when he roars,
his children shall come trembling from the west;
11 they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt,
and like doves from the land of Assyria,
and I will return them to their homes, declares the Lord."

One of the dogs barked really loud as I read that, it startled me and I began to really think about a lion roaring. That would make me tremble. If the Lord is like that I would be freaked out. I don't think I have reverence for the Lord's power and jealous love. I often think of God in terms of Christianity; Lord of believers not of the universe. I tend to marginalize his power. Other times I will only think of him in a personal sense; sovereign over my life not the world. Thoughts like these tend to de-elevate God I think. At the very least these thoughts steal my reverence for the Lord.

The roaring Lord. Roaring to get our attention and bring us back to him. That is commanding and bold. That is the strong God. Do we hear him roar? Do we want to?

After some time in scripture Chuck and the Mrs. rolled in. We said hi, they said hi, Chuck bounced, we bounced.

After a stop at the Shell Gas station (I got 3 cents off every gallon for being a shell card member: sweet!) and a stop at the D's (McDonald's) we headed to Hoover...Dam it is as big as he was. (Get it? That is a pun).

Next stop the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon will draw reverence out of you. The drive afterward to Albuquerque New Mexico however just draws insanity out of you.

Day three was around the corner, along with a Waffle House. More about that tomorrow.

Day One Done

Day One of our cross country jaunt is done. We drove from Tulare to Long Beach to Vegas. We got a late start, but it wasn't a big deal really. On the way to Long Beach we listened to Savage Garden, Five, and Rap from back in the day--which really means rap from 5 years ago.

Once we got to Long Beach we met up with Sarah Tim-oh-ns (really spelled Timmons). She is on the Long Beach Summer Project, which is ideal because it is literally right on the beach.

We found out the hotel she is staying at appears in the OC. Yal member dat show?
After David (That is Jessica's brother. I found out his real name is Joshua. David is his middle name. I am upset.) stuck is toes in the COLD Pacific went and we raided a homeless person's crib we went to Belmont so Tim-oh-ns and Jessica could shop.

David and I sat outside most of the store like real men do. While we were sitting outside one shop a homeboy walked by with a Boston Terrier. He was also waiting outside the same store for his lady friend. This was the first time I have ever seen a Bosty in real life....

After Belmont we dropped Tim-oh-ns off and took goodbye pictures--she immediately posted them--then made our way to dinner at In-N-Out. This was a virginal experience for Joshua David as he has never been to the West Coast before.

Vegas came next, well sort of, we had to drive 5 hours to get there. Jessica and I talked a lot on the way. David said he wants to be an airline or jet pilot. I think that is cool.

We got to Vegas, saw the strip, it was 11:30pm. Everyone was out and about like it was the new year. With "stripping" complete we made our way to the Wardzy's cousin's crib. He and his wifey were not home. They went to Lake Mead for the day with some friends on a house boat. They missed the ferry to come tow them back in so they were stuck on the lake all night. Bummer stat because we wanted to hang with the Wright side of the family.

2 dogs were at the Arizona Palace of Mr. Chuck Wright (Jessica's cousin). They were high on cocaine I think.

Bed.

Me Too

So I am inspired by John Piper and Mark Driscoll today.

John wrote: "Now what about Twitter? I find Twitter to be a kind of taunt: “Okay, truth-lover, see what you can do with 140 characters! You say your mission is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things! Well, this is one of those ‘all things.’ Can you magnify Christ with this thimble-full of letters?”
To which I respond:
The sovereign Lord of the earth and skyPuts camels through a needle’s eye.And if his wisdom see it mete,He will put worlds inside a tweet.
So I am not inclined to tweet that at 10AM the cat pulled the curtains down. But it might remind me that the Lion of Judah will roll up the heavens like a garment, and blow out the sun like a candle, because he just turned the light on. That tweet might distract someone from pornography and make them look up.
I’ve been tweeting anonymously for a month mainly to test its spiritual and family effects on me. In spite of all the dangers, it seems like a risk worth taking. “All things were created through Christ and for Christ” (Colossians 1:16). The world does not know it, but that is why Twitter exists and that’s why I Tweet.
By his grace and for his glory,
Pastor John"

Mark said: "Guys can Change"

Before I listened to that though, I listened to Mark rebuke me with his Marriage and Men talk. I have also been reading through Hosea.

The inside of me has been all turned up over my sin. But I am finding great encouragement in John and Mark's encouragement that God's grace can change us.

I talked to my friend Jerrod last night, what an ear for the Lord he has. He very casually told me about what the Lord has been putting on his heart. Hearing that was so awesome because I see and heard a man being radically transformed by the Holy Spirit. He is putting the work in and listening to the Lord, embracing truth and receiving grace.

I want that too.