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| Wow, so it has been a while since i last posted. To be honest, i have kinda just forgoten about this whole xanga thing. I don't ever think about posting on here. But today i was bored and thought "hey, i haven't checked my xanga in a while" So here i am. All has been well here in the great town of conway. School is cruising right along, i am still running my own business, and i am still an expert at using my bike or guitar as an excuse not to work or go to class. What more is there to say. Well, i hope all is well with everyone and hopefully i will continue to make post on here. Later | | |
| Well, here i am, it is 3:00 in the morning and i am still up packing to go to argentina... thats right i am missing school for over a week to go dove hunting in argentina. So anyway, i was just thinking about this summer and about how everything has turned out. Well, i have to say it has been an odd past summer... in fact, about two weeks ago i was ready to call it quites with conway and move to tennessee to go to MTSU. Well, to say it in the least, my best friend and the guy who spent much of his time pouring into my life teaching me what was important moved away in july. It was tough for me to realize that he would no longer play the same role in my life that he always had. I would now have to try and find someone to eat lunch with everyday rather than just eating with scott. The more i thought about it the more i was confused about why these changes were taking place. For the first time in a long time i didn't have it all together. I had to just trust in the Sovereignty of God and know that he had a plan much bigger than me.
Well, i look back now, the end of the summer, and realize that God has a lot instore for me this year. I am now living with three other great guys and they have helped me to see that it is time for me to now move on and pass along what scott gave me to someone else. So i look forward to this coming year and to how God is going to use in ways i can't even imagine. Well, hope all is well and i will talk to yall in a week or so. | | |
| okay, so it has been a while.... sorry but thefacebook.com has been taking up most of my time. If you don't know what that is then you should get on there and get a account set up it is better than xanga. Well, i guess it is obvious that the tour is over and lance won number 7 as we all knew he would. I am sure you are all glad now so you don't have to read anymore about lance. That you are right but there are still a few big cycling events to come before the season is over so that is not the last of cycling talk from me. Now on to something new.
I recently heard a quote which struck my attention and has really left me pondering a lot over the past week or so. If anything the more i think about the more frustrated i become at "the church" Now, let me clarify before i start that this isn't a lashing out at anyone in particular and nor am i just trying to bash "the church". This has just been on my mind lately and i would like to express and hope to get your feedback about this topic.
The quote read like this ... "effective is the language of management, not the language of christianity." Now if your are like me, when i first read it i was a little confused. All my life i have heard phrases like..." we should strive to have an effective ministry" and "by doing this your ministry will be more effective". So obvioulsy this was a different take on ministry then what i was used to hearing. The quote was then explained to me in this way... Jonah had a very effective ministry and had many converts. Jonah however was not at all close to God. He lacked in his relationship with God and was not living according to God's will. This is an example of someone who had an effective ministry and wasn't even close to God. Jeremiah on the other hand, spent his whole life living according to God's will and having a close relationship with him but he never had one convert. I am sure many people considered his ministry a failure. But we can look back and see he wasn't a failure but that his ministry was to record and write what is now part of God's word. I guess what i am getting at is two different things....1. What actually makes a ministry effective and 2. Should we strive for an effective ministry? We often look to numbers to show success. And in order to get more numbers we think we have to dress up the Gospel with games and fun and food. This is a huge trend amongst youth ministers and preachers alike. But what we are forgeting is that success isn't about numbers. In fact, success is defined by God. For example, jeremiah would not be seen as a success from man's point of view at that time. But He was a complete success and very effective in his ministry because he completed his task that God had called him to. He was successful in that he lived for God. God defines success, not man. We also assume that we have the ability to make a ministry effective or successful. What we are forgetting is that there is nothing we can do in our own strength to make a ministry sucessful. A ministry is only effective if we completely remove ourselves and realize our inability in it of ourselves and allow Christ to fully work through us. Meaning only God can make a ministry effective and he does so according to his will. We often think that God needs our stupid games or our wordly desires to dress up his Gospel and make it appealing. It seems to me that by saying a ministry needs these things all we are doing is limiting God by saying that he is not in control enough to bring kids to him without the games or that the gospel is so boring that we need to add stuff to make it fun. If you ask me this is very heretical. God is in complete control and can change lives and draw people to him without the help of our fun and games and many other tricks we use to try and trick people into hearing the gospel. So now, should we strive to have an effective ministry? Absolutely not, but let me explain so not to be misunderstood. We should strive to have a God centered and God glorifying ministry. We should focus on presenting the whole gospel (which is genesis through revelation) and allow God to make the ministry effective in what ever way he chooses to do so. God has a plan and when we start trying to do things our way we get in the way of him working through us. When we start focusing on trying to have an effective ministry we start focusing on our own definition of what effective is and then we loose all focus of Christ. Now, i know i am being very cynical but don't get me wrong. I think we all desire to be effective and that is ok as long as we realize there is nothing we can do on our own to be effective. All we can do is live according to Gods word and center our ministry on Him and allow him to make it effective in whatever way He so desires. Even if it means having a ministry of 3 or 300 or having 0 converts what so ever. If you are living according to His word and His will then your ministry serves a purpose even if it seems in-effective from your point of view. Wow, so how about that. I hope it all makes sense and i hope to write more on this at a later date. Please give me your feedback. Also, this was written at 2:30 in the morning as my mind wondered aimlessly, so i do apologize for typos and hope this makes sense. If something seems a little out there then it is possible i didn't explain mayself very well so let me know and i will explain a little better and more detailed. I hope this changes your view on ministry as much as it did mine.
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| Well, obviously unless something crazy happens, Lance has done it agian. he has won number 7, at least almost, there are still a few stages but it is pretty much his. And people thought it couldn't be done. I honestly believe he could have 8 if wanted but i guess the end of an era is soon coming to a close. One of the greatest cyclist to ever ride and even one of the greatest atheletes to ever live will soon ride no more as a professional cyclist. Anyway, Hope all is well with everyone. I know many of you are dissapointed that the Tour is coming to a close but i am sure you will all soon get over it and we can join in celebrating lances victory.... ok i know i am a dork. Well, cya.
Dustin | | |
| well, i know it has been a while since i posted so here ya go..... Well, lance is in the yellow jearsey cause him and his team tore it up the mountains today. Lance and his team confidently rode at a pace that was just too much for most of the riders and they single handedly wore out the peleton (the main field or group of riders). Only a hand full of riders were able to hold on during the last climb. And in the very end there were only two riders at the front. Lance managed to put a large time gap between him and the other contenders for the over all title. He made the bold statement today by how he rode that he did come to win and would do just that. hope everyone is doing great.
Dustin | | |
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