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In Faith in Real Life

I’m a Pro Wrestler

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This was originally posted on March 02, 2011.  

Most of you probably don’t know this about me yet; but, I am a professional wrestler.  It’s true.  My pro wrestler name is Outlaw Monk and I’m telling you that you don’t want to mess around with me.  I’m scheduled for two on one wrestling matches in the thunder dome about 2 times a week.  Sometimes I’m asked and reminded while other times I just come in with a blaze of fury and knock some heads around.

Truth be told, I’m lying to you.  No one other than the man in the mirror calls me Outlaw Monk, and I am most certainly not a professional.  I do wrestle with 2 little people about twice a week.  Their names are Noah- “Dash Snake”, and Grace- “Outlaw Pounder”.  They are 5 and 4 years old.  And in their eyes I probably am the Outlaw Monk.  In fact I might start whispering that in their ears while they are sleeping, “The Outlaw Monk is coming to getcha!”  It has a nice ring to it.

Last night at Biblical Seminary, in my Genesis class, we were talking about Jacob and his wrestling match with God.  One of the questions we thought about was, “Why did God choose to wrestle with Jacob.  Why not play chess, or croquet?”  I’m not going to answer that for you.  I want you to tell me why you think God chose wrestling.

This morning I was thinking about why I wrestle with my kids.  I have come up with at least five reasons.

  1. To hug them for extended periods of time. When we wrestle, we are linked up in a very intimate way, grappling with one another, trying to push and shove the other into a hold.  It gives me time to just hug my kids and in a way say, “I love you: Now let me kick your butt.”
  2. I want to wear down their energy. I remember being a little boy when energy was abundant and often overflowing that there were times when you just had to run around and get it out.  When you combine to much energy with being pent up in the house, that usually leads to little boys getting in trouble.  So to avoid this, we wrestle till we are both tired.  It keeps us both out of trouble.  🙂
  3. I want to make my kids laugh. Call me crazy, but I love to hear my kids laugh.  It brightens my day and can make me forget about even the most difficult of situations.  Ironicaly, last night Pete Wilson, tweeted this: “Rough day today. Amazing though how 30 minutes of wrestling with my boys brings a little perspective.”  It is hard to beat knowing that you are the cause of their laughter and their face lighting up.  It does wonders for me.  Plus, I want my kids to laugh, I want them to enjoy life! (After writing this, I found Pete has blogged about this exact tweet this morning, check it out here.)
  4. I want my kids to know how powerful I am. There is a time and a place to let your kids win.  I’m not disputing that.  But when we are wrestling, I can tower over them and bring them immediately to their knees.  I never push them beyond what they can handle, but there are times when they may feel powerless in comparison to me.    I want them to be able to turn to me in moments of weakness thinking that I am powerful enough to help them.  (I realize that I am very limited in my power and strength)
  5. I want to see how they will do. I want to know if they will give up quickly or if they will push through with endurance.  I want to see if they can figure a way out of the Outlaw Monk’s death grip.  I want to see if they will push back.  In some ways I guess I am testing them.

In short, I wrestle with my kids because I love them.

So what do you think?  Why did God choose to wrestle with Jacob?  Are there any correlations to dad’s wrestling with their kids?  If your a parent do you wrestle with your kids?  If so, why?

~The Outlaw Monk

Side Note: [If you are in need of a pro wrestler name, check out www.wrestlingname.com for some help and guidance, or just for a good laugh. By the way Tiffany’s name according to wrestlingname.com is “Double Tornado” I thought that was funny seeing as how she is 31 weeks pregnant.]

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In Faith in Real Life

Is Love Winning?

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Recently both the twitter-sphere and blogosphere have exploded due to a trending topic.  At this point in time I am not bringing any late breaking news to the scene, an my intention is not to pile on; either on Pastor Bell, Pastor Piper, or any of the other big names that have written about this situation.

If you don’t already know what is going on I would reccomend that you catch up on the happenings through the blog post of Christianity Today writer, Sarah Pulliam Bailey.  You can read her full article here.

I am sure that I cannot add anything to this already complex situation but I want to ask a question.

Is love winning?

As I read the blog posts and tweets of some really scholarly men and women concerning Rob Bell’s new book, I am concerned with the behavior and attitude that is shown.  I acknowledge that I don’t always interact perfectly either, so I am certainly not trying to cast the first stone, or the second, or the third.  The content of Rob Bell’s book I have very little knowledge of at this time.  I intend to read the book at a later date.  But the title I can whole heartedly agree with.  The problem is that love is not winning. All of the hype that surrounds this book is proving that the Christian community is not loving its own the way that you would think it would.

The problem with love not winning is that we are showing to a watching world what Evangelical Christianity is really like.  There is no option on Google that only allows you to sign on to the special evangelical portions of the internet if you are truly a member of the same variety.  This is all pubic information that will never go away.  The world wide web now holds all of us accountable for our writings and attitudes.

Jesus says in John 13

34  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you that you also love one another.  35   By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

Paul gives us a stirring reminder of the power of love in 1 Corinthians 13

1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

With our back biting and written tongue lashings, what are we showing to the world around us?  I’m pretty sure that Jesus said if you have a problem with someone write a blog about how small minded and misguided they are.  No.  In fact Jesus said the opposite.  Jesus says in Matthew 18 go to the person in private and share with them their offense.  According to Jesus there are two steps that need to be taken before ever taking the offense public.

How do you respond to your neighbor who says, “If Christians treat their own kind like that, why would I want to become one.”  Or what if they said, “Does your church treat people like that?”  We must be so careful to show to a watching world what really loving one another should look like.

I love what Philippians has to say about discernment:

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.           Philippians 1:9-11

This has stirred a debate in my mind.  Is love winning in my life or are there areas where I look a lot like this “Rob Bell Debacle”.  What about you? Is love winning in your life?

Let love abound.

~Peter

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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

Where the Wild Things Are

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Last Sunday I had the opportunity to teach in all three of our main gatherings here at church.  I always appreciate the opportunity to teach.  For me part of the process is unlocking the creative imagery for whatever topic we are discussing…  This week we used the book by Maurice Sendak, “Where the Wild things are” to help illustrate the teaching time.  Here is the video that was seen in the morning gatherings and was supposed to be seen in the evening gathering.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ui2zxiwA_U]

This week we were talking about God’s Love.  Here are a couple thoughts and questions to think about…

  • How often do you run to where the wild things are?
  • How does it make you feel to be reminded of the truth found in Romas 5:8? “But God demonstrates His own love toward us that even when we were sinners Christ died for us.”
  • You have never experienced a loveless day in your life!
  • Which lie do you have the hardest time not believing?
    • I’m to dirty for God to love me
    • Everyone else is against me, my world is falling apart, God can’t love me in all this
    • If I’m good enough I can earn God’s love
  • How does understanding the depth of God’s love for you motivate you to love others?  Should it?  Does it?
  • 1 John 4:11 “If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Just some good Wednesday morning thoughts…  What do you think?

~Peter

 

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In Faith in Real Life

Dear Christian

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Dear Christian,

So, I know… today was a tough day for some of you to swallow.  The party voted on by “all good Christians” (emphasis added for sarcasm) didn’t put a president into office.  Well…  Get over it.  Here we stand on the cusp of a new presidency.   Unfortunately I hear too many people bantering and bickering over wether President Obama is the anti Christ, rather than how can we best pray for our new president?  Too many Christians want to cry over the fact that He isn’t like them, and he smokes!  

Well… Seriously, let’s get it together.  

I mean honestly, it is time for us who call ourselves; followers of the way,  Jesus Freaks, deacons, elders, disciples, pastors, sunday school teachers, young life leaders, FCA Huddle leaders, and most commonly- christians, to begin to be known for the things that we do than the things that we don’t do.  It is time that we are known for loving those that differ from us, than pointing out all of the differences that make us so disgusted by them.  In fact, it’s time for us to quit being disgusted by people who are different than us, and grow to love that difference.  See, it’s my prayer that one day that pot smoking hippy type will be standing next to me in heaven praising God.  

It’s my prayer that the person who I judged most will one day come to know the saving grace and the love of Jesus Christ!  Unfortunately when “we” christians make bone headed statements like, “President Obama is going to lead this nation to hell”, I have a feeling that we may be putting a roadblock in the way of that gossip girl, or that man interested only in greys anatomy.  Come on…

People don’t care what you know, until they know that you care.  

Come on Christian… Step up your game.  Get out there and love people…  

John 13:34-35  “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.  Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

I need to step it up!  Want to join me?  I hope so…

~Peter

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In Faith in Real Life

Community… Love… And all that other good stuff…

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You want to know what ticks me off?  Church’s and Youth Groups that are surface level and shallow.  There I said it.  I’ll be honest.  It truly cuts me to my core.  This is so frustrating, because God created us to live for so much more than just a shallow “surfacey” existence with one another.  (sounds like a good song, maybe John Foreman should write one.)  As Christians we should be setting the bar for what it looks like to have relationships with one anther, and what it looks like to belong, and have a sense of importance and acceptance, and genuine love from others.  We have been wrestling with this thought and others recently in our student ministry here at FBC.  We have titled it, “Our IPODS are different”.  We have been checking out and studying 1 Corinthians 12 & 13.  The basic idea is that we are each made incredibly different.  And that is a good thing.  God made it that way.  Yet, why then do we want everyone to look like me, act like me, and be like me?  And then here’s the kicker:  If you aren’t like me, then we just can’t be friends.  

How do we develop community?  What ways can we grow together; Youth Group’s, Church’s, Blogging communities, Scouts, Biker Clubs, even knitting groups… How can we grow together and develop a sense of belonging?  This has got to be the most difficult question.  If I had the answer I would publish a book and sell it.  I might call it something like, “The Purpose driven life” or the “Purpose Driven Church”, or even the “Purpose Driven Youth Ministry”.  I have read all three of those books.  They are great books.  But right now I am looking for more.  

I want our ministry here at FBC to be one which is defined by love; Love for God, Love for others, and Love for Family.  How do we do accomplish this?  Do you guys have any ideas?  How can we communicate love to each other in a real, non romantic way?  How can we start right now and make a difference on our community here in Doylestown PA?

~Peter

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In Faith in Real Life

Oprah, The Magazine

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Oprah is everywhere.  Not only does Oprah come on TV, she also now comes in the mail!  I’m not sure if you knew that or not.  But even right now as we speak Oprah is flying around the world being delivered to homes all over the world.  Of course I am not talking about Oprah her self, but Oprah the Magazine!  I happen to be one of the few, the proud, the anxiously awaiting the next edition, the “this is classic throne room reading material” guys that actually receive Oprah in my mailbox from month to month.  In print that is. 

So as I was in my throne room the other day reading through the profundities that are just pouring off the pages, I happened to come across one that struck my interest.  It is a story about the Freedom Riders.  If you don’t know much about the Freedom Riders, check out this brief history found here.  Well, anyhow, Oprah had a write up in this May’s issue.  For you other Oprah readers, it is volume 9, number 5.  🙂  Anyhow, on to the good stuff.

The story goes on to reveal several of the freedom riders mug shots, and then their current picture, and what they did with their life since being apart of this very important movement.  One woman literally jumped off the page at me with the comments that she made.  Her name is Pauline Knight-Ofosu.  This is what she is quoted saying in Oprah the magazine.

“My parents never tried to hide anything, but they were Strong Bible students, and they would rehearse to you the various things that had happened to people along the way since time began.  It wasn’t a matter of being afraid- it was a matter of knowing who you were, going forward, and participating with other people, and never to hate.  You cannot hate, you cannot hold this person in error.  You’ve got to see them for who they are.  They don’t know it maybe but they’re God’s children too.”  ~Pauline Knight-Ofosu

 

Wow, I wonder if that strikes you as it did me.  Here is a woman who has in most people’s minds every right to hate all of those people who had repressed/segregated/demeaned and in many other ways hated her and her family, and she is saying, I can’t hate them because they are a child of God!  This is truly an amazing perspective.  You and I have likely lived far easier lives, and yet we decide that there are certain people that we should hate.  We don’t need to like them because they are less of a person, or they are this or that.  However, they are a child of God, therefore loved by God, desired by God to be called heirs to the throne of God, valued human beings.  I wonder sometimes we are quick to say things like God loves you so much he knows exactly how many hairs are on your head, he knows everything about you, but at the same time we then say, well he knows how many hairs are on my head, but not that guys.  He’s a jerk.  God would never care about him or her. 

Not so. 

People, we need to step up and love the way that Christ loved us.  We need to be obedient to the great commandment.  “You shall Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the great and foremost commandment.  The second is like the first, You shall Love your neighbor as yourself.” 

Oprah thanks for reminding me of this very important commandment…  … …

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