Faith in Real Life – Page 4

In Faith in Real Life

People Pleasing Takes A Ton of Work

May 25, 2012 3 Comments

Yesterday morning I was driving in to work and I could feel a tightness in my chest. I thought to myself, here it comes–The Big Chest Grabber. You know the one where you find yourself laying on your back in an emergency room… Yeah, that one.

I was feeling it.

STRESS…

It all began that morning when I placed my sock covered foot in a puddle my refrigerator was making. Great. Two days ago roofers tore my whole roof off and put it back on. Now there is a 40 yard dumpster sitting in my driveway. And I was waiting for the roofing contractor to come fix the hole in my ceiling that his crew made over my desk. He was late. Now I was late. I had an appointment at 9am which I had to punt. I had a 10am appointment which I couldn’t punt. I was leaving the house for a few days so that I can be over in Jersey for the outreach this weekend. Which left me thinking, “do I have all of the clothes I need?”

I was driving away from this whole situation and driving towards a whole different situation. Each situation is asking me to contribute/give to them. The problem is that I can’t contribute/give to both equally at the same time.

Have you ever felt that? Have you ever felt like there just isn’t enough of you to go around? Yeah, I’m guessing you have.

I found this video over at YouTube. As I was watching it I couldn’t help but think about how much work it takes to set this all up! This is a time-lapse video of the Staples Center in LA. It is shot over the span of 4 days, from May 17th-20th. 6 playoff games were played in this time span.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4rZjGNYxuo&hd=1]

People pleasing feels a bit like that video, doesn’t it?

There is one space available. And there are three teams that vie for time in that same space. The place is always in a state of construction. It is always moving and being shaped and formed. It is always giving. I got tired just by watching it! That is what people pleasing can feel like at times-an arena that is shared between three teams and two different sports.

Proverbs 29:25 says, “Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety.”

I’ll admit it. There are times when I want to please people so badly that it causes me to walk right into the trap. The awesome part is that Jesus can help us walk right out of the trap. Proverbs tells us that all we need to do is to trust God. Trust God and we will walk into safety.

So, back to the story. Yesterday when I realized why I was so tense, I literally had to shut off the radio and ask God to forgive me for not trusting Him with my schedule, with my life, and with anything else that I was holding onto. When I gave up the right to own my day, and when I let God speak into it and work through it, I was able to let go of my chest. The tightness began to disappear.

How are you doing today? Are you so busy trying to please people that you are walking right into the trap? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

The Untouchables: Aids

May 24, 2012 2 Comments

Liquid Church Droplet Tomorrow something really exciting is going to take place. This weekend a crew of 215+ volunteers are going to descend upon the New Jersey Aids Service (aka the Eric Johnson House) and get cracking on an extreme makeover. Why you might ask?

That’s a great question. Pastor Tim Lucas, lead pastor at Liquid Church, explains that best. You can watch it here. Or you can download the audio version here.

In Luke 17:11-19 we see Jesus interacting with some people who were untouchable in His day and age. These were the lepers. They were the social outcasts who no one wanted around. No one even wanted to be near them. But Jesus did. In fact Jesus loved the untouchables. The question is, Do we?

The modern day lepers are those people with HIV Aids. This weekend we are going to break into our community with nothing but LOVE for a select group of people who most people think are outcasts and untouchable. Most people wouldn’t go near them with a ten foot pole.

IT’S TIME TO BREAK SOME POLES!

Check out the promo video below of what is going to go down in just a few short hours! There are still spaces available to sign up and join us. Sign up here.

[vimeo 41716283 w=500 h=281]

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/41716017 w=400&h=300]

Remember, “It is not a sin to be sick.”

~Peter

UPDATE:

We now have 293 volunteers! INCREDIBLE!

Check out these articles written about the outreach over at

In Faith in Real Life

Identity Crisis

May 18, 2012 No Comments

Artwork Image of Thomas a Kempis A friend of mine recently told me this, “It is none of your business what others think about you.” I thought that was pretty insightful. It felt freeing to me. I don’t need to care what you think of me, because it isn’t my business anyway. It’s true right?

Then I read what Thomas a Kempis wrote in his book The Imitation of Christ. He writes, “Place all your trust in God; let Him be your fear and your love.”

Too often we place our trust in what others think of us. Or what we can do for others. In fact we allow ourselves to be defined by what others think of us. The reality is that we need to place all of our trust in God. That includes trusting God with our identities. When we allow others to occupy the place in our mind that is rightfully God’s we do ourselves and God a huge disservice.

So what do you think? Who is shaping your identity? Do you have an identity crisis on your hands?

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

Added Value…

April 3, 2012 2 Comments

Callout, Value Added Many of you know that right now Tiffany and I are in the midst of selling our house and looking for a new home. We find ourselves asking questions almost everyday. Questions like, “how many showings will we get?”, “when will someone make an offer?”, “will they like our house?”, “will we get what we are asking?”. I am grateful to say that we have received a couple offers on our house and we have accepted one of them. PRAISE GOD! Seven days later and we’ve got ourselves a buyer. That’s unheard of, but not when God is in the midst of it!

But now that we are through that hurdle we find ourselves looking at a different set of hurdles. We have rounded the bend in the track and in front of us yet more hurdles. We are asking even more questions, like, “where should we live?”, “what is that area like?”, “can we make that into something we can live in?”, “what can we afford?”. It seems to me that most of our questions are based around the core idea of VALUE. Monetary value, yes, but not just that. The questions that we are asking are centered around the value that this decision will add or detract in our future, and the future of our family.

Value is something that we deal with everyday. I drive past probably 50-60 gas stations on my commute to work and each one has a slightly different value on the gallon of gas. In the morning we value our cup of coffee so much so that some of us will not speak with our spouse until we have tasted the sweet caffeinated nectar. Value shows up in almost every decision that we make.

We deal with value every single day. We evaluate values every single day. We will look at a product or a service and determine if we are willing to pay the value that is set on it. It controls our spending and the use of our time, etc. Yet, how often do we honestly evaluate the value that our own life is adding to our world?

Our lives are significant and valuable. However, they can be used to do one of two things; add value to life, or detract value. Our lives when lived in mission with Christ should add value to the lives of those around us.

So this leaves me wondering… Am I adding value to the lives of those around me? This means the waitress that serves me lunch, the security guy who stands in the lobby of the building, the parking attendant, the lawyer who rides the elevator with me, my neighbor who is always interested in what I’m doing outside, and all of those other people whose lives intersect with mine.

How can I breathe value into their life? Better yet, how can I help them see the value that they have in the eyes of their creator? What about you? Are you adding value to the lives around you?

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

Chapters, Journeys, and other such things…

March 13, 2012 2 Comments

For four and a half years I have served as the Student Ministries Pastor at First Baptist Church of Doylestown. There have been times when we have laughed so hard that I cried. There have been times when I have flat out just cried. There have been times when we stayed up all night. There have been times when we served our community and the communities around us. We have seen God break through in the lives of countless students and truly be their Lord and savior. I have been given the privilege to work alongside of some really gifted individuals that love God and love others. I have had an opportunity to train and mentor others. I have learned new things about leadership, students, volunteers, myself, and God. It has been an incredible journey.

God has blessed me abundantly more than I could have ever dreamed He would.

It is with a contemplative spirit that I write the ending to this chapter in our history. I am thankful for all that God has done in and through us here at First Baptist. We are truly excited for the future. We are excited to dream about what God is going to do in and through us as we follow Him. The future is filled with unknowns for us. But whose future isn’t? So we will walk by faith, knowing that God has never left us hanging, never let us go, or ever turned His back on us.

Some of you have been asking what I will be doing in the future. I am excited to share with you that I have the opportunity to continue to serve alongside of great men and women. I will be working at Liquid Church in New Jersey. I will be working at the Morristown Campus. For those of you into details, I will be working as an Associate Campus Pastor. I’m super excited to figure out what that exactly means. I know one thing, I will be able to continue to lead people to life and growth in Christ and partner with others as they explore their journey of faith. Stay posted to the blog for more info of what I’m doing in life and in ministry!

Now onto the good stuff:

This past Sunday was my last Sunday here at FBC. The church was incredibly generous in praying for us, thanking us and being a huge blessing to us. So to all of you from FBC, THANK YOU! We love you all dearly. I had the opportunity to preach, to laugh (thanks Bob Miller), and to pour my heart out. Then later that day was my last youth group. What a great night! There were some highlights for sure. I loved being able to share with students the one thing I want them to remember: To Love God, and To Love Others. We concluded the evening and my ministry here at FBC with a baptism service. I could not be more proud of these six students! Each of them had a story to tell about what brought them to this point and why they wanted to be baptized. We cheered, hollered, screamed, and whistled in celebration of our six friends who decided to make a public statement that they are following CHRIST!

The pictures tell it all!

To all of the students at FBC, thank you for giving me the opportunity to be your pastor. Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for partnering in the kingdom mischief, I pray that you will keep it up. I’m super proud of all of you! God has great things in store for you.

~Peter

[slideshow]

In Faith in Real Life

Journey’s, Hike’s and Adventures

March 4, 2012 No Comments

What is the coolest journey that you have ever been on? This journey could have taken you miles from your home, or it could have only moved you few minutes from home. The distance does not matter. The journey does.

When I was a kid, one of my cherished family traditions was to spend thanksgiving day with my extended family and sleep at my aunts house that night. This would make it so that all of my cousins could hang out the next day. The day after thanksgiving never changed. As sure as it was to be a Friday, we were certain about what we were doing. We set out on a journey, an adventure. All six of us would gather up food, provisions, and supplies for the journey that we were about to embark on.

We set off to play/build/create in the woods of a South Jersey farm. We left from the house that sat at the front of the property and we journeyed to the back of the property. Not a far destination at all, yet a significant one at that.

We are all grown up now, and it has been years since the last time the six of us plodded down the dirt pathway leading to our destination, yet it comes up from time to time in conversation. Remember when we used to ______________________. It was significant. It was fun. It was an experience, a journey.

As kids we would journey to the back of a farm every friday after Thanksgiving. I’ve gone to places much farther than the back of the farm in the years since those adventures. A journey can be near, or it can be far. It can occur in a day, or over the course of several years. The distance, nor the time matter, the journey does. I’ve been thinking, how do you journey well?

Hebrews 11 has encouraged me to journey well. The last verses of chapter 10 are significant to the reading of chapter 11. The writer of Hebrews writes,

Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. But my righteous one shall live by Faith. And if He shrinks Back, My soul has no pleasure in Him.” Hebrews 10:35-39

Tiffany and I are about to head out on a new journey. Along the way I expect that there will be adventures, set backs, and mountain top experiences all mixed together. There will be times when a journey looks crazy scary. It may be ridiculous at the outset. I’d encourage you to read Hebrews chapter 11. There are some people in there who journeyed well, and did some incredibly crazy stuff along the way(And hey, be encouraged, Samson made it in that list.)

What are some things that you have found that have helped you journey well?

I’d love to hear your thoughts/insights.

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

Vanilla Ice and My Son

February 24, 2012 No Comments

Okay, for real. I’m jealous of all you people out there who have awesome hair. It is not that you’ve got incredible hair per say, it is the fact that you can do something with it. You can style it. I have been shaving my head for over 4 years now not because I want to be prematurely bald. No, I have been shaving my head because my hair simply will not style in any other way. I grew up with a comb over, I tried the shaggy surfer hair, and I would say for a vast majority of my adult life I’ve had chia pet hair. You know the kind that just poofs out.

I have vowed that Noah will not inherit my comb over, or the chia pet hair cut. So, since the other day he started to look like this guy… We decided that something must be done. So, we busted out the clippers and I went to work. He sure was a trooper. Here’s how it went down. (Barber of Seville style)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcA3ozgqqw0]

Just so you know, I’m open for business, if you are looking for a new do!

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

One of my favorite things…

January 20, 2012 No Comments

There are a lot of things that I enjoy doing in life. And fortunately my job allows me to do some of them! This weekend is a highlight for me. This weekend I will have the privilege of performing the wedding ceremony for two of our former youth leaders. I look forward to opportunities like this. I have known Bekah and Jesse for about 4 years now and I am totally excited to celebrate with them tomorrow!

I also love participating in weddings because every now and then something like this happens…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clw7SAJs_6w]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0]

What’s the best thing that you’ve ever seen at a wedding? For me, it was my own wedding… My 6’49” brother-in-law passed out right in the middle of my ceremony. Good times, funny memories of “Tommy-Timbers”…

Here’s hoping for tomorrow,

Peter

In Faith in Real Life

We all do it… Admit it…

January 9, 2012 No Comments

We boast about a lot of things.

our football team
how skilled we are at sudoku (okay, maybe not that one…)
culinary skills
our children’s abilities
our income
the stuff we’ve got
what we drive
our wardrobe

and many other things not on this list…

I read this today and it has been in my head all day.

But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. ~Paul, from his letter to the Galatians, 6:14

Here’s an excerpt from a a book I’m reading on Galatians, “The New Interpreters Bible Commentary“.

It is an acute paradox to speak of boasting in the cross, for the cross is precisely the place where all human effort and pride come to an end. The cross is God’s deed, not ours. To “boast” in the cross, then, is to acknowledge that our efforts only lead to death and that our confidence can rest only in God’s grace, which rescues us…

It really isn’t about anything I’ve done. I don’t have two legs to stand on. It is only what Christ has done.

Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord ~Jeremiah 9:24

What have you been boasting in lately?

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

Boil The Ocean

January 3, 2012 No Comments

It is cold.

The ball has dropped.

Time Square has been cleaned up and has returned to the normal hustle and bustle as usual.

The fireworks have been lit.

The food has been put away.

Work has resumed.

It’s the beginning of a new year.

At the beginning of a new year we go into this panic mode where we realize that there are 57 different things that we want to change in our life. In reality there are a zillion different things that should be changed in our life, but right now all we can focus on are the 57. We focus on them because it is January. It is the time to do such things.

My question for you is, what is different between January and December? Really, what is different between December 31st and January 1st? If I listed all of the food I ate between December 23rd and December 31st at 11:59 you would first call me disgusting and then you would fear for my arteries. So, why then on January 1st am I all of a sudden concerned with what I eat? There is nothing about January 1st that is different than the day before it. There are still only 24 hours in the day. The sun rises and sets in much the same way as the day before it. I wake, I eat, I work, I play, I sleep- the day is over. Repeat the next day.

The reason I think about eating healthy, and crafting “resolutions” is because everybody else is doing it. The twitter sphere blew up on New Years Eve and New Years day with all of the lists of things that were going to be done, or not done by each one. Even now, salads are being bought by the thousands (out of season none the less, but that’s a different soap box). Runners are donning spandex in the hopes of becoming magically fit. Gym memberships are hitting the visa card like my kids hit fruit snacks. Everybody is doing it! Therefore I feel as if I must too.

We don’t just do this with our waistline, or exercise habits. We do the same thing with our spirituality. We jump on some ridiculous routine of reading the bible in 15 days, or we say that we’ll pray 2 hours a day. We’ll go hard after our convictions for about two weeks to a month and a half, but then we fade back into the mindset of before.

The problem with this is, even though it is a good thing for me to eat better, it’s a good thing to exercise more, it’s a good thing to read through the Bible in a year, BUT if I am not convinced in my head that something needs to change, then lifelong transformative change will not take place– my waistline will continue to fluctuate, my exercise habits will remain the same and life will go on as usual, my relationship with God will remain mostly the same. I must be convinced in my heart that something needs to change before I can expect to see my habits and such follow suit.

I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to make any resolutions this year because I knew that I would break them. ~~But peer pressure has gotten the best of me.~~ ~~Everyone else is doing it, so I thought I should too.~~ The problem is that I realize that there are a zillion things that need to change in my life… I may as well focus on 57 of the zillion this year and set some goals.

The most encouraging thing I read in the last 3 days was from a good buddy of mine, J.R. Briggs. He tweeted this the other day. (follow him on twitter @jr_briggs)

“Great advice I heard for this first week of January: Don’t try to boil the ocean. Just get a few things done before Thursday.”

My goal this year is to be faithful in all of the areas of my life. I’ll make mistakes along the way, for sure, but I want to be faithful to work through them and find myself on the other side of it even just one step closer to being more like Jesus.

Stop trying to boil the ocean. Let’s start with enough for a french press.

~Peter