The Video of My Sermon, Part 3

Here's part 3...only 2 more after this one...



Part 3 of 5

The Video of My Sermon, Part 2

And, here's part 2....man it takes a long time for these suckers to upload....Maybe next time I'll do a 20-minute Lutheran sermon instead of this 45-minute African Baptist business...



Part 2 of 5

The Video of My Sermon, Part 1

Seeing as how Tiffany thought I should actually post the video of my sermon from June, I have spent the last few days trying to figure out how to get the video onto my computer and then post it onto the blog. I'm hoping I can get it all on here. I'd also like to apologize in advance for any motion sickness one may suffer from watching the video....Tiff's arm got tired a few times and she'd adjust. And please be nice. I didn't really know what I was doing...


Part 1 of 5

My Resume - what is it worth?

So part of the process of applying for full-time missions with SIM is filling out a doctrinal assessment (I'll get to that in a minute) and a training evaluation. You fill in boxes on all the different Bible and missions courses you have taken, along with related transcripts - a resume of sorts.

Don't get me wrong, I've got this resume thing down... shifting from Journalism to PR to Marketing Communications to Internet Marketing and now to a combination of basically all of the above, I've got my bases covered. So that will get me a job in marketing, but what about in missions?

Granted, Bible studies galore, serving in our church in so many ways that we've basically given up on the concept of weekends, Sunday school lessons, and weekly sermons have all taught me so much about God's word and pushed me to try to be more like Jesus, but I couldn't fill in a single box on the sheet for 'formalized training.' Isn't experience what matters? That's what I have on my resume - I'm past the 'relevant coursework' and rely on 'work experience' instead. But it leaves me to ponder... am I equipped? We've spent the past two years and lots of money putting Luke through seminary and I'm convinced he knows the Bible front to back. Me? I thought I had a pretty good understanding, and that the 'experience' thing would be great, but there was also a doctrinal assessment.

Doctrinal assessment just sounds intimidating. It would have been better had they called it: "What you believe." We filled out the basic version on our initial application, but this was a little longer, a little more insightful, and they limited you to four sentences per answer. Being a writer, I'm really good at really long answers that sound good but may not exactly hit the target of the question. Now I have to answer deep theological questions and am limited to a few lines of text. Oy. All I have to say is that if they deem us unfit for missions or decide I spoke pure heresy, I apologize to Luke and all those who were excited to support us and pray for us as we set off. Okay, it wasn't that bad, and the questions asking me to apply my faith to a variety of cultural questions were actually kind of fun to answer after I stewed on them and avoided them until the last possible minute. Plus, it was good to really think about what I believe, and not just what I've been fed to believe. It's just that the whole process is intimidating - that at each step someone is going to tell me we can't go because I'm unfit for missions because this isn't just writing a good story and hoping it affects someone. This is telling THE GOOD STORY and praying that someone will make a choice between eternal life or eternal punishment.

I guess where I'm going with this is that with all the "successes" I've had in things of this world and all the praise I've received for various gifts and strengths, this is one area where, *shock,* my sufficiency comes only from the Lord. That's kind of freeing - seeing as I definitely don't feel sufficient. This is one test I can't ace by any effort of my own. I can't rely on charm, intelligence, or my resume. Our work in missions will not be our work, but the Spirit of the Lord working through us to bring Him the glory. Praise God!

Because I definitely couldn't do it without him...

Disciplinary Action

Oh, the spiritual disciplines. I remember reading a book about them for school a couple years ago. "The Spirit of the Disciplines," by Dallas Willard. I remember enjoying that book. I remember the assignment of practicing at least one discipline for a period of time to be enjoyable and educational. I actually continued with this discipline for some time after the class ended. Then life happened, and it all changed.

But first, a flashback...

Going back to college, I remember having to be extremely structured with my time. Being on the swim team my freshman year, I would be in class all day, go to practice in the middle of the afternoon, go straight to work, go to some Christian event on campus (between prayer meetings, CRU gatherings, and worship, I had something every night of the week), then go home, do homework, do my quiet time, and go to bed. Every day. Very structured. Yet very disciplined. I always did my quiet time, and when I did, I always read one chapter from an O.T. book of history, five psalms, one proverb, one chapter from the prophets, one chapter from a Gospel, and one chapter from an epistle. Then I would journal, usually for about half an hour or so. Then I would pray. Very, very disciplined. And I grew a lot during that time. Then life happened, and things changed. The swim team got cut, and I became a cheerleader, which was more work and different practice times. My whole schedule changed, and all of a sudden I didn't have the freetime at night to do my quiet times anymore. I tried getting up early in the morning to do them, but 4 am is really early for a college student, and that didn't work. I tried to do them in the middle of the day, but I would fall asleep. It never occurred to me to stop some of my other activities to give some time for God...a lesson I didn't learn for many more years and that I continue to struggle with now.

So here I am, out of college for over three years, looking to finish up seminary in about four months, and considering what God has planned for Tiffany and myself in regards to full-time ministry overseas. Yet I still have a hard time devoting time to God. It's been bothering me for a while, and I keep saying that I'm going to do something about it, but then I don't. I'd much rather putz around and do nothing. But Tuesday night, when I was unable to sleep for hours on end, I had a little discussion time with God. You know how sometimes you pray for unimportant things and God turns you around so you look at the important things, instead. I was praying that I could become more disciplined and start working out more, as I have been frustrated with the irregularity of my workouts. So, as I'm praying this, I feel deeply convicted that I'm not disciplined in my time with God, so how could I ask to be disciplined in my time elsewhere. I needed to get my priorities straight and refocus on the things that matter. So I've taken action on this issue with the hopes of becoming more disciplined in my time with God. I've devoted time every morning (well, Wednesday and today...I don't know what happened yesterday...) to reading God's word, praying, and even journaling (well, I really only journaled on Wednesday....but there's still time today). Though it's only been a few days, I feel like my whole life is getting back into some sort of structure, all because I've made the effort to focus on God regularly and let other things get pushed to the side until He gets my focus. I took some disciplinary action, and it has really made a difference and encouraged me to continue in this discipline.