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Peter Gowesky

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In Faith in Real Life

February 14th 2002

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Yesterday my wife Tiffany and I celebrated our 9th anniversary of our very first date.  I’ll never forget.  I took her to Red Lobster in Langhorne PA.  I can’t really remember what I ordered for dinner, but that didn’t matter.  It was being with her that mattered.

Nine years later and here we are with two and 3/4 kids and a ton of memories in between.  It has been so good to think about how God has been faithful to us through these last nine years.  Last night we enjoyed some time together talking about our past together.  There have been funny moments, sad moments and just some really enjoyable ones too.  God has been so good to me.  According to Proverbs I have found favor with God.

He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. ~ Proverbs 18:22

I went up in the attic last night to pull down a few of the older pictures.  These were during the dating phase!  Look at my magic.

I know this is one day after Valentines Day, but I have learned more about love, more about myself and more about God through my relationship with Tiffany.  I am so grateful for that.

Last night I sent out a tweet encouraging you to check out Brad Lomenicks blog post.  I don’t know how many of you actually went and read it, but you should have.  So, I’m going to encourage you again.  Check this out by Brad Lomenick.

Love truly never fails.

I’m thankful for a woman who never gives up loving me.

~Peter

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In Faith in Real Life

Watch Your Back Bieber

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This past weekend was my Brother-in-law’s wedding.  Everything went great making it quite the weekend.  However I found myself waking up on Monday saying, what happened to Friday?  It was all totally worth it.  There were some really memorable moments.  Fortunately no one fainted in his wedding, unlike my wedding where he went down right in the middle of it all!  I thought about standing up and faking it.  But I didn’t.

One of my favorite moments of the whole weekend was watching my son Noah.  He was unbelievable.  He was hysterical.  He was in his zone.  There was a point during the reception when Noah started busting his groove-thang.  I mean this kid was breaking it down.  Here is one of the many pictures that I took of him in his moment.

I’m telling you he was in the zone.  There was no distracting him.  His crazy legs were going off.  His hands were moving and boxing his face and pointing and going all over.  This kid has some moves!  Watch your back Bieber; this kid is coming to get you!

Mid way through the dance fest the DJ even took notice of the action on the dance floor and called everyone’s attention to Noah.

He danced harder.

I could not have made Noah do anything other than what he was going to do.

Looking back on that series of events there is so much that I can learn from my little man.

Be who you’re going to be. To many of us try and be someone who we are not.  We talk differently, act differently and walk differently than who we really are.  Be who you were made to be!

Don’t care whose watching. It wouldn’t have mattered who was watching Noah.  He was happy to be moving and grooving.  Once the circle formed around him it seemed to set him into motion even more!  Don’t be embarrassed about who you are.

Smile.  This seems simple, but take joy in what you are doing.  If it is who you are and you are doing what you were made to do, then do it with a smile on your face.  I have a friend who is a funeral director.  We laugh together all the time.  I love that guy!  You would think that he would be pretty somber based upon his profession.  He’s not.  He does an awesome job at what he does too, with a smile on his face!  So let it out.  Smile.

We all could learn a lesson or two from my dancing maniac.

~Peter

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I have a tumor…

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and I think you might too.

This weekend in our student ministry we are continuing our current teaching series called “Busy”.  Every single one of us from time to time feel the pressure that being busy applies to our lives.  Busyness is not just an adult problem.  Gone are the days of Little House on the Prairie, The Waltons, or Leave it to Beaver.  There is not one student that I know that is saying, “Man, I am so bored in life, I just don’t have anything to do.”  Busyness can mess with us no matter what our age is.  It can be a cancer that spreads, gnawing away on our life’s vital organs.

Do you know what I hate?  I hate when people are upset with me.  It feels like there is a 100 pound weight on my chest pressing down.  I hate the feeling that I get when I know the scales are tipping against me.

One of the myths of busyness that we are going to look at this weekend is that we can make everyone happy as long as we do enough.  Abraham Lincoln is credited with the origins of this quote:

You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can not please all of the people all of the time.

Most of us who read that quote will shake our head in agreement only to walk away and keep on trying to please everyone.  That is a problem. We can’t do it.  Like a tumor, busyness wants to burrow itself deep into your brain and sow the idea that the more you do the more people will; approve of you, like you, love you, want you, need you, etc.

The problem with busyness is that it can keep us from being who God wants us to be and from doing what God wants us to do.

Do you see a problem with this?  What can we do to fight busyness?  Are you to busy?

~Peter

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A Direct Message From: GOD

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It is no secret at this point in time.  I’ve been spending a great deal of time in the Psalms lately and it has been amazingly refreshing for me.  Often times I find myself agreeing with the psalmist and saying to myself, “That’s exactly how I feel right now.”  I feel like there is so much flesh on the Psalms.  What I mean is, there is feeling and emotion attached to it in ways that most people can relate to.  I can relate to some of the highs and to some of the lows that we find scattered throughout this book.

Yesterday I was reading Psalm 13.  As I read through the verses I started to feel badly for myself.  I read verse one and two and I shook my head in agreement with David.

How long, oh Lord?  Will You forget me forever?  How long will you hide Your face from me?

How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart all the day?  How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

I was beginning to feel really sorry for myself and I let myself wonder how much longer?  Then there was a turn in my heart and mind.  I don’t think that God has forgotten me, I don’t think that God isn’t speaking to me, I just want more.  So, instead of doing anything about it I whine.  I whine and say God where are you?  How much longer until you __________________.  (Fill in the blank for your own life)

So then I reread the Psalm and I wondered what it would look like if God sent back a direct message in response to Psalm 13.  Here is what I think a possible response could look like: (Insert your name where appropriate)

1. How long, O Peter?  Will you forget me forever?  How long will you turn and hide your face from me?  How long will you try and live life dependent on yourself?

2. How long shall we grieve over you having sorrow in my heart all the day?  How long will you allow our enemy to recieve victory in your life?

3.  Remember me, turn to me, Peter, My child; Open your eyes, don’t you see that you too will die?

4. Our enemy would love to say, “I have him whooped!  Look at him now!”  All those loyal to our enemy would love to shout for joy when your focus on me is impaired.

5. Trust!  Trust in my lovingkindness; Remember, I saved you.  Delight in that!

6. Remember; I have worked in your life faithfully to this point.  Haven’t I?  I’m going to keep doing that.  Let the rythm of my faithfulness stir up a song in your heart.  Belt it out.  Sing that.  May it stir up inside of you.

Some of us need to stop whining about not seeing God in our lives and start seeking Him with all that we’ve got.

“But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.”  Deuteronomy 4:29

Let’s do this together; let’s search after Him will all our heart and with all our soul!  What are some practical ways that you have found helpful as you search after God?

~Peter

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Instructions on Becoming the Ultimate Youth Pastor

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I was told about this video by this guy.  I knew it had to be funny.  It was too funny not to share.  A whole post could be written about some of the sad truths displayed in this video.  However, that will be saved for later.  But for now, enjoy a good laugh!

What was your favorite line?

~Peter

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLGLBVSpBzY&playnext=1&list=PLB826F6F1539E15BE]

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Let’s Play a Game

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Let’s play a game.  Here’s the game.  You tell me if this is a verse from the Bible or a quote from a newspaper.

The next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offeings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

Hopefully that was not hard to figure out.  I think if you wanted to, you could easily fit that into the sports section of a newspaper somewhere.  It could make total sense.  It sounds just like a giant tailgating party.  Honestly, listen to the wording here: Burnt offerings… That’s what men are cooking over some greasy grill they strapped to the back of their truck.  Peace offerings are the contents of your cooler that are given to those parked next to you who have the opposing teams jersey on.  Sitting down to eat and drink, well, I don’t need to explain that one.  Rising up to play happens in every major football stadium parking lot almost every week of the season.

Simple game huh?  Did you guess right?  Well, let’s go one step further… where is that quote from?

Here’s the problem.  The game that was on last night, and the game that we just played are not the only games being played.  I wonder if you and I play games more than we think we do.  I wanted to write a big ‘schpeel’ about ‘who received more worship yesterday’ but I was afraid that in asking that question I would not fairly address the issue.  I wanted to write some catchy lines about “tonight being a good good night”, and about Christina’s remix of the national anthem.  See, for me I don’t care who wins or looses that game.  In fact I don’t care enough about sports to get upset over the winner or loser of any game.  Before you go calling me a nerd for not liking sports hear me out: I LIKE SPORTS, I LIKE PLAYING SPORTS.  However, I’m not a phanatic.   I know a lot of people that love sports.  They’re good people!  So, to keep from being hypocritical and to put myself on the scales as well, it can’t be a question about who recieved more worship yesterday.  The question should be who or what received more worship today.  What about two days ago?  What about a week ago?  What does your worship forecast for tomorrow look like?

Let’s get back to the game.  Each one of us can easily become players in this game.  The game is called, choose your own God and worship it.  The super bowl is only the thing that caught my attention and made me think about it.  But, it is not limited to football.  Football may be your game.  Yet, for others your game is creating a fiscal empire where you reign.  Some people’s game is to please people no matter what the cost is.  Others game is to win the love of that man or woman.  Some of you your game requires premium gas and has five speeds.

I don’t know what your version of the game is.  I do know that the rules are universal for this game.

Rule #1: “You shall have no other God’s before Me.” ~Exodus 20:3

Rule #2: “You shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”  ~Exodus 34:14

For some help on what this may look like check out Romans 11:33-36 through 12:2.

Whew.  I’ll tell you what, I was getting ready to roast some sports fanatics on here(in love of course) and I’ve ended up roasting myself.

How about you?  Have you set any one or thing before God?  How do you keep yourself from breaking the rules?

~A Game Player

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The Starving Will Starve More…

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Yesterday morning I jumped online and was greeted by CNN’s headline “World Food Prices Hit Record High“.  This quote from the article keeps running through my mind.

“High global food prices risk hunger for millions of people. Poor people in developing countries spend up to 80% of their income on food. For them high food prices mean selling off their land or sacrificing their child’s education simply to put food on the table.”

I haven’t been able to get this article out of my head.  I keep wondering, what is going to happen to all those people who live on less than a dollar a day.  What happens now when that dollar doesn’t go as far?  What happens when you sit there and watch your family begin to hunger beyond what they normally do?  I think about my sister and brother-in-law over in Bangladesh and wonder what the people they meet will experience with this rise in the food cost?

Most of all, I wonder what difference this is going to make in the lives and minds of us in the west?  Will we lift a finger to do anything about it?  Will it actually matter?

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:8-9

What do you think?

~Peter

 

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In Faith in Real Life

Joe Blow

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Last November we started a teaching series in our student ministry here at FBC called Joe Blow.  Over the course of this series we looked at the question, “Does my life count, and can my life make a difference?”  Trying to answer these questions started with the idea what does God want from us?  We came up with 3 basic ideas from Micah 6:8.

 

  1. God wants you to Practice Justice. This has the idea of making justice happen.  When you practice justice you can’t help but right the wrong when you see it.  This can be a huge event like stopping the abduction of children in Uganda, or something small like standing up for the bullied kid in class, or the office whipping boy.  Whatever you do, Practice Justice.
  2. God wants you to Love Kindness. Remember buddy the elf?  What was Buddy’s favorite thing?  Smiling right?  “Smiling’s my favorite!”  Make kindness the heartbeat of who you are.  Make compassion your favorite thing.
  3. God wants you to Walk Humbly with Him.  Be humble!  Humility is not thinking more of yourself then you ought to.  It is about having the right perspective of yourself in relationship to God.  Do that.

One of the things we did during this series was to spotlight an individual who is making a significant difference in the world by seeking justice.  One of those individuals is a guy by the name of Scott Harrison.  You can check out his story over here.  Scott started an organization called charity:water.  Charity:water exists to provide clean water to those who otherwise would not have clean healthy water.  1 in 6 people do not have access to clean water.  That is unreal!

I share this with you because recently I have found a way to use this blog to help make a difference.  You’ll notice in the sidebar, on the right side, a box that in hot pink says, “Help me support charity:water”.  This is provided by an organization called socialvibe that “recognizes that in social media, individuals hold the key to generating attention and influence that brands need.”  What they do is provide opportunities for sponsors to make small donations to causes like charity:water.

Here’s where you come in.  Each day you can pop over to thesaltlick.tv and click on that button that says, “click here to help for free”.  You will be asked to do some small task and after doing that they will make a small donation to charity:water.  It is as simple as that.

We may be average and ordinary joe blow types, but with the click of a mouse we can make a small difference.  Will you join me in helping charity:water?  I’d love to see that counter hit 10,000 gallons!  Let’s do it!

~Peter

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Old Man God vs. Hipster Jesus

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One of the reasons why I have decided to keep blogging (read more about that here) is because I want to share with you some of the things that I am learning in my classes at Biblical Theological Seminary.  For my most recent class, Reading the Old Testament Missionally, I wrote a paper on God in the Old Testament and how it relates to me.  We were reading the book The Mission of God, by Christopher Wright.  I came across this quote and wanted to interact with it;

The purpose of the exodus was to bring Israel out of slavery to Pharaoh so that they could properly enter the service/worship of YHWH.  Israel’s problem was not just that they were slaves and ought to be free.  It was that they were slaves to the wrong master and needed to be reclaimed and restored to their proper Lord. (pg 284)

Here is an excerpt from my paper.  We were allowed some stylistic freedoms, I choose to write as if it were a journal entry.  I would love your thoughts.

When I look at my entire spiritual upbringing and a vast majority of my education I find that I have compartmentalized God.  So when I read Exodus and the story of Israel’s freedom from Egyptian bondage I easily slip back into flannel graph mode and read God into the part that He has been playing in my head for years.  God is the redeemer and liberator but not much more than that.  I have read Exodus many times and have not once thought about what God was really doing.  Mostly I would read that passage and my mind would see God as compassionate and understanding.  These are conclusions that I arrive at fairly easily when I put myself in the shoes of the Israelites.  If I were an Egyptian slave I would want God to free me too.  It just makes sense to me.  I would say that up until this point in time my understanding of God from this text was that He was compassionate.  Although I think that my previous understanding of God and this passage also bred in me a thought that God loved Israel much more than anyone else.  I arrived at that conclusion by thinking that God pulled Israel out of slavery most simply put because they were His favorite.  Since reading and wrestling through this text again in my mind, my understanding of God has changed significantly.  I now see that God had a much larger goal in the Exodus of Israel from captivity.  I now understand that God was using Israel to show the nations who He was as well as to show His desire that all worship be directed to Him.    I still believe that God is compassionate.  I still believe that God pulled Israel out of captivity because it was wrong.  However, I can no longer just leave it at that.  God was at work doing far more than just those things.

Most importantly the story of Israel’s exodus from Egyptian slavery has formed a much greater understanding of the character of God and how it relates to me.  One of the things that I see is that God was setting up an epic battle.  It was going to be a battle between Himself and Pharaoh and his false gods of Egypt.   God was getting ready to show the surrounding nations that one of the most powerful nations in the world was nothing in comparison to Himself.  God was about to reveal that there is no one who compares to Him.  It is God and God alone.  That truth found in Exodus still applies today.  In our culture and our lives we set up so many false gods and bow down at their feet.  Many of us will try to worship idols made by the hands of our children, our spouses or even our employers.  God is still in the process of showing us that He is more powerful than anything else we set up.  I love how Wright puts it in that prior quote; they were slaves to the wrong master.  God is a jealous God and He wants us to worship Him alone.  God is not just satisfied with only Israel’s worship.  In fact God wants more than just Israel’s worship.  He wants all of the nations.  This includes me.  This includes my family and my neighbors and those people in Bangladesh that my sister and brother-in-law are trying to love on.  God removed Israel from Egyptian Slavery so that I would know that He is God.  In a weird way the Exodus story is for me.

I see God in this story taking His people out of this very unhealthy environment and bringing them into the desert for cleansing and letting them purge themselves of Egyptian culture and mindsets.  There are so many times in my life when I need a good solid purging of this culture and all that I have become desensitized to.  Maybe it is time for me to go back to the desert for a while.

God was in a process of wooing those He loved back to himself.  I thank God for the fact that He woos, and waits.  This is a point that draws me to my knees in prayer.

So, what do you think?

~Peter

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