Easter, It's a Shame

Easter, the time of year that breeds confusion about Christianity. Like the rest of you (most likely), I grew up eating chocolate and searching for Easter eggs as well, but how does Christianity fit into this custom? Instead of writing about the Easter Bunny, I would like to clarify Christianity as simply as possible.

Why would someone want to become a Christian? Simple. The Bible explains that we have sinned against God and broken the relationship we had with our Creator. Our sin not only breaks our relationship with God...it requires judgement.

Fortunately, God loves us passionately. The gospel is quite simple. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:14, explains that Jesus (1) died for our sins according to Scripture (or prophecy) for our sins, (2) He was buried, and (3) He rose from the grave three days later. This is the gospel clearly and simply.

Does reading the gospel account, or simply knowing about it, save you? What do we have to do if anything?

It isn't about going to church, doing good works, or....you fill in the blank here. Getting right with God is simple and is explained in Ephesians 1:13, "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel (see above) of you salvation--having also believed (this is the key part), you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise."

The key to becoming a Christian is simple--believe in Jesus. Place your trust and hope into Him. I am so glad I did about 15 years ago!

Thank You Lord for JR

On March 22, 2011 I received some devastating news--my good friend John Russell Trask (JR) had died. We never expect death, but this case was truly tragic and unexpected.

About six years ago, I transitioned from being a Navy SEAL to a pastor and am often asked, "How does this happen?" Many think this there is a great dichotomy between these two careers. Maybe, but it is just my life and doesn't seem so odd to me! But the answer to this question is found in my relationship with JR. Let's go back a few years in my life.

In 1995 I was going through a pretty low spot. I had just graduated Navy SEAL training and had checked into SEAL Team 3 after many years of hard work. I was living it up and partying hard. On July 2, I went too far when I drove home drunk, long story, but it resulted in a resiting evading charge that over the course of the next year would result in my losing my security clearance for a number of months. This was devastating to me. Just when I had achieved all my goals, they all seemed to vanish over night in the moment of a stupid decision.

Around this time, JR "found God" and began getting all religious on us. To be honest, it was all too strange for me. His story seemed whacky and I wasn't very interested in going back to church. It was boring and irrelevant to my life. But this did not stop him from asking me to come to his church for a Tuesday night Bible study.

He nagged me over and over again. I was annoyed and told him, "No, please bro, stop asking me. I am glad it works for you, but I know all about church and am not interested." This didn't work. I needed to come up with a new strategy. My plan was to go to church ONCE, under very strict conditions: 1) I was going to dress casual--shorts, tshirt, and flip-flops and 2) he would NEVER ask me to go again. He bit! I was so stoked that his nagging would end...

His nagging ended, but over the course of the next six months my life would be transformed forever after I attended that one Tuesday night service. I eventually came to understand that the purpose of church was not to be religious, it was all about a relationship with Jesus! My passion for the Bible grew day by day ultimately leading me to Bible College, Seminary, and then into the ministry.

I am so thankful that JR nagged me to go to church. Because he did my life was radically altered. I have a beautiful wife who loves Jesus and two beautiful daughters and am the pastor of a great church! All of this is directly tied to JR. I am so thankful for him and realize that words cannot express the impact he has had in my life.

Yes, I am sad that he is gone, but I know I will see him in glory when my time is up on earth! If you are reading this, I would like to honor JR by pestering you. This is what I learned about God through JR:

1. God is real and He loves you.
2. He is personal. He wants a relationship with you.
3. You and I are sinners. Our sin separates us from God.
4. Jesus died on the cross in order to pay for our sins and to bridge this gap.
5. Faith. By believing upon Jesus in faith, we are saved.
6. God wants your whole life--He didn't save you just to give you something to do on Sundays!
7. Get plugged into a church that teaches the Bible faithfully where you can grow!

A Difficult Type of Forgiveness

Christianity 101 teaches us that God has forgiven us by Christ's work of the cross through faith. The Bible makes it very clear that once we believe upon Christ our debt is canceled out before the Lord permanently.

This is great news. Seriously, to ponder the reality that Jesus died for me while I was in sin in rebellion against Him is overwhelming at times. In some ways I find accepting God's forgiveness is easier than it is for me to forgive.

Forgiveness is not all equal. Some things are easy to forgive. Others are very difficult to forgive. Yet in all of this, Christians are commanded to forgive--this is not to say that there is a difference between consequences and forgiveness, but this is for another post. I have been a Christian for about 15 years now and I have found there is one particular type of forgiveness that is difficult to give. As a pastor, I have seen others struggle with this particular act of forgiveness...so in some ways I am comforted to know that I am not alone and compelled to address this.

What is it? I am glad you asked. Let me lay out the very basic steps, or process of becoming a Christian through my own life:

1. I realized or felt the weight of my sin. I realized that my sin separated from God. I needed a Savior to rescue me.

2. I came to hear the Gospel (i.e. That Jesus died for my sins, was buried, and then rose again according to the Scriptures--1 Cor. 15:1-4).

3. I believed or trusted in Him ultimately accepting this gift He was offering to me (see Eph. 1:13).

4. At the moment of belief, I was seal by the Spirit and my new life in Christ began.

From the moment of my conversion I struggled with a particular kind of forgiveness--forgiving myself for the things I had done and the condition of my heart before becoming a Christian. For years I struggled with guilt, shame, unworthiness of being forgiven, and remorse for my attitude and behavior before God. Yes, I understood that He forgave me, but that didn't mean that I had to forgive myself. I was happy that God let me off the hook, but I wasn't going to let myself off the hook so easily! I was going to pay for it.

My inability to forgive myself was killing my spiritual growth and development with the Lord. I am convinced this tactic is often used by Satan to keep Christians on the sidelines. I really struggled with the idea that the Lord could use me with all my short comings and iniquities. I remember going to Bible college not for the purpose of going into the ministry, but because I wanted to simply learn more about the Bible. Internally I was digging in my heels resisting God's leading because I wasn't done "forgiving myself" for my past debt.

It eventually dawned on me that I was not let off the hook without punishment. The punishment due me was paid in full. It was placed upon Christ in full. I needed to lay it down there and realize that He did forgive me. How in the world could I not forgive me? This may seem a bit silly, but this pain was real.

Eventually, one day, I discovered a verse that I would continue to draw upon for many years. It is Philippians 3:12-14 which says, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

I highlighted the part that helped me the most. The Christian life is about looking forward--not in the rear-view mirror. The past is the past. Confess it, receive forgiveness, forgive yourself, and press on to glory.

How awesome is that? Pressing forward, keeping our eyes on Christ, and allowing Him to lead us where He pleases is the secret to ultimate satisfaction! I would encourage you to let go of the past and press on towards your upward calling in Christ today.

Parenting in Humilty with Grace* (*God's grace)

"Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them...for they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them..." (Hebrews 12:9-10). This verse hits me as a dad. I feel like I am pretty good at disciplining my girls in love, but not in perfection. You see, today I made a mistake and lived out the part of this verse that says, "...as seemed best to them." I am reminded of the poster found on Despair.com's website that says, "Failure. When your best just isn't good enough."

Let me explain. So there I was enjoying my Saturday afternoon--studying for a wedding and Sunday's message when I saw something. I saw my five year old daughter intervening with her younger sister. I missed the first part and only saw my five year old with scissors in hand wrapping her arm around her younger sister's neck. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I immediately jumped in to stop this dangerous action with a firm voice. I immediately sent the five year old to her red chair to await some discipline. She quickly ran off in tears.

After a few minutes of thinking through what I was going to say to her, I went into her room to talk with her about what she did wrong. I started to lecture her about the dangers of what she had done. In trying to see if she understood what I was saying, I asked to to explain to me why she was in trouble. Through her response, I discovered that I, in fact, had translated the events incorrectly as the older child took the scissors away from the younger. I discovered that I was wrong in my actions and my five year old was confused about what she had done wrong. My heart ached.

Wow, I felt horrible. What to do? My initial desire within me was to shrug it off and not take responsibility for my mistake. Following Christ has made me more sensitive to the Holy Spirit's conviction of my wrongs or mistakes. Paul, in Ephesians 6:4, tells fathers not provoke their children to anger. In light of this, I knew what I must do.

I decided the right thing to do was to explain to her that I was wrong, that I was sorry, and to ask forgiveness. She started to cry again. I reassured her that I was wrong and had made a mistake. Through her tears she told me that she loved me and forgave me. Ultimately, we gave each other a big hug and prayed together asking God to help us be the people He wants us to be.

I am so thankful that the Lord has helped me to be a gracious dad that knows how to say, "I am wrong, I am sorry. Will you forgive me?" I want to encourage parents here. You don't have to be perfect. But, when you fail, and you will, you must be able to admit it to your child. Seek God's forgiveness and help. In turn apologize and ask for forgiveness. I can't express to you how much joy it brought to my heart to hear my little five year old forgive me and to pray with me.

Thank you Lord for being so gracious to me.

The Secret

I have noticed over the years that people have asked me about "the secret" to a number of things. One is this question (often by a wanabe), "What's the secret to making it through SEAL training?" My response is often, "Sorry bud, no such secret." We live in such an instant society where we juggle a bunch of stuff yet really don't think or focus on anything. We expect that there is a shortcut to greatness. There isn't.

In recent years, I have started to hear this question in relation to marriage and family. It is humbling to think people would look to me and think, "I should ask him about the secret to marriage and raising a family." This blows me away because I feel like I put great effort to succeed in this arena. I have often thought to myself, "I am okay with failing at everything in my life, just as long as I don't fail at my marriage and being a dad." It's hard work. I feel like my success ebbs and flows at times, but it takes work.

Tomorrow, February 2, 2011, I am celebrating my 9th year of marriage with my wonderful wife Anna. This in large part is causing me to reflect on life and marriage--you know, sort of an annual review sort of thing! She is my best friend and I think we are very happy--although like all relationships we have our great days, mediocre days, and bad days like everyone else. In coming to Valley Baptist Church, we have been exposed to marriages that have had great influence on us. One marriage that was 70+ years strong, many that are 60+ years long, many 50+, and many surviving widows that were married for many years prior to loosing their spouse.

What have I learned along the way? The first thing is marriage flat out takes commitment. This is simple. You know, actually standing behind the vows you make, "To have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part." These are major. Simple to understand, difficult to live by. The only way to do this is to commit for the long haul.

But how when things are bad? This is where God comes in. First, I have found that my biblical worldview has shaped my understanding of marriage. So when the bad days come and I am frustrated, I cling to the understanding that God gave Anna to me. Therefore, He must be working something out in me through the bad times. I also know that He wants me married and so I am left with two options: 1) Stay miserable, or 2) humble myself and initiate something to make things improve!

I recently heard that an author said that "Quality time often occurs unexpectedly in quantity time." I think this is so true. I family must intentionally spend large chunks of time together to grow together. There is no way to get around this one. The more time spent together to better friends you become. I also think marriage is more about friendship or companionship over the long haul so this must be cultivated.

If you are married, and you want to improve your marriage. I would encourage you to read the book of Ephesians and pray every day for a month. I think you will be surprised at what God does through that!

I love you Anna Jean and am so thankful for you! God has blessed me with a wonderful wife and mother of my kids!

Are You Pro-Choice?

My thoughts on the Sanctity of Human Life as next Saturday marks the 38th anniversary of Roe V. Wade. Think about this. It is estimated that 92,000 people died as a result of the earthquake in Haiti. This is the number of children that have been aborted every 22 days since this ruling in 1973. Let that sink in. 1.5 million babies have been aborted each year, on average, since 1973.

I am currently pursuing a doctoral degree. When I started this program I never anticipated how it would affect me. I entered the program with an emphasis on church-planting and now I find myself writing my dissertation with an emphasis on protecting the unborn. How in the world did I end up here? A few years back, I attended a seminar in the summer 2007 that rocked my world. The issue was abortion. During the seminar, we met one of the director of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform an organization that is fighting to protect babies that are facing abortion.

During this seminar, he showed a very powerful video on abortion. I opted out for a number of reasons--primarily I didn't want to face the reality of what it was. A few months after the fact, I decided I should watch it to see if it would affect me. It did. I encourage you, especially if you are pro-choice, to watch it (CLICK HERE).



The majority of Americans seem quite content living under an allusion that abortion is all about "women's rights" and claim many reasons to justify it. You may be included, I know I was. If this is you, I implore you to watch the posted video so that you gain understanding concerning the truth of abortion.

God used this seminar to shake me to my core. It culminated January 2008, as I found myself pastor of Valley Baptist Church and preaching every Sunday. The Sanctity of Human Life Sunday was fast approaching and I had to decide would I comment on the issue.

Many factors seemed to be at play. First, I stumbled across a chapter in John Piper's book, "Brothers, We Are Not Professionals" that challenged pastors on this topic--me in particular. I felt like such a coward. Then, I realized that I was finishing First Timothy the Sunday before Sanctity of Human Life Sunday...what would I do? I had no excuses. Ultimately, I decided that I needed to take a stand. I would preach on the topic from a biblical vantage point. This was the hardest sermon I have ever preached. I came with great personal pain, anger, and sorrow. I have preached on this subject ever since without regrets.

In my heart I don't think that someone can remain "pro-choice" after viewing this posted video, yet I know that I am wrong because many people are involved in this "medical procedure" day in and day out and are not moved by their actions. Our conscience is truly seared concerning this subject.

There are a few things that I want to say specifically on this matter:

1. If you have been involved in abortion (both female and male), Jesus has paid the penalty for you sin. Forgiveness is available to you if you ask Him. Forgiveness and consequence are two separate matters. Once forgiven, I believe it can take many years to sort through the guilt, shame, and scars.

2. I believe aborted children are resting in the arms of God. They are safe with Him.

3. Concerning abortion to day. This is murder. We must act to defend the lives of the innocent. I am not suggesting that we murder abortionist, but we must rise up and help the helpless through political means, supporting your local pro-life pregnancy clinic, reaching out to abort-intent women, along with caring for young single moms who decided to keep their kids.

To you apathetic Christian, I implore you to watch the video and ask yourself, "What does God think about this?" Do you say, "Personally, I would never do it. But, I could never tell someone else what to do." Really? Watch the video, then tell me that! Then I would encourage you to read Proverbs 24:11-12 and ask yourself, "How does this passage relate toward abortion?"

Please people, watch this video. Let it hurt. Let the tears flow. Be ignorant no more!

Be Strong and Couragious!

Fear has gripped our nation. People are afraid of a variety of things...with good reason in many cases. I am afraid of many things, but I have vowed not to let my fear overcome me. I love the beginning of Joshua where the Lord speaks these words to Joshua: "Be strong and courageous...only be strong and very courageous" (Josh. 1:6, 7).

One of the fears I have seen develop since the attacks against the USA on September 11, 2001 is the fear of going to Mexico. It's easy to make excuses for not going because there are valid reasons to be concerned. But I have been guilty of not going because my fear has gotten the best of me.

On Saturday, October 23, Valley Baptist Church made its first "house" building trip since I have restarted Valley Baptist Church. Making this trip was amazing! I am so blessed by the whole body. We had many volunteers go, many givers who made the trip possible, and many people praying for us while there.

We trusted upon the LORD and He kept us safe...even though I am challenged not to pray the prayer of safety after reading these words by Francis Chan in Crazy Love:

We are consumed by safety. Obsessed with it, actually. Now, I'm not saying it is wrong to pray for God's protection, but I am questioning how we've made safety our highest priority. We've elevated safety to the neglect of whatever God's best it, whatever would bring God the most glory, or whatever would accomplish His purposes in our lives and in the world. Would you be willing to pray this prayer? "God, bring me closer to You during this trip, whatever it takes..."

That is exactly the prayer I prayed that morning as we left the parking lot of Valley Baptist Church at 5am with our group. I believe He answered our prayer that very day.

We had an awesome time at Caravan Ministries learning about God's work to all people groups and our responsibility in fulfilling the Great Commission. I saw a quote on the wall of their building by John Piper I thought was really good, "Go, send, or disobey."

We had such a blessed time and valuable lessons were learned by all. As a father, I was especially blessed to see my 4 year old daughter's heart open to God's love for all people. I am glad fear didn't keep me from letting my family to go.

Pondering my courage as a father made me think of Joshua. I find it interesting that the book of Joshua opens with the words of God, "Be strong and courageous...only be strong and very courageous" (Josh. 1:6, 7) and it ends with Joshua's words,

"But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (Josh. 24:15).

May Joshua's words be the stand of my family and yours!