Grow Some Balls.

I've been playing around with this idea for pretty much the entire summer.  The idea that our faith in Christ should be more than our faith in what culture says.  Here is where it all came from:

I was at Ichthus in June with a group of Churches.  As always, Ichthus is a great time.  I love going there. I love the atmosphere, the people, the music - all of it.  Every year it seems as though we get sent back to our vehicles in the middle of a concert because there is a severe weather alert of some kind.  This year was no exception, but it was a bit different.

We were at the evening worship session.  The speaker was giving an inspiring message.  At the end of the message, he challenged us to run to the cross.  I waited to see if my youth would lead me there.  They did.  They said, "We're going Tom.  Are you coming?"  Man was that awesome.  We got there with thousands and thousands of people crowded around two crosses.  We were praying, weeping, rejoicing - how amazing.

Then - in the middle of all of this - in the middle of the prayer - the director of Ichthus came up and said something like this "Wow, God is awesome.  He is doing great things.  Unfortunately there is a severe weather   warning and I need to send you all back to your cars for your own safety."  I was a bit bummed, but student safety is important, right?

So we sat in the cars for about an hour, the weather cleared, and we went back to concerts.  I am so lucky I went to the right concert.

The band was Sleeping Giant.  An awesome, mosh-worthy metal band.  Thom Green is the lead vocalist for the band.  Before he started playing his awesome metalthatcanmeltface-ness music (yes, it's a word...look it up) he spoke some of the most inspiring and true I have ever heard.  He said something like this:

"What kind of believers are we if we trust the weatherman more than Jesus Christ?"

He went on for awhile talking about this concept and literally told all of the Christians in the crowd that they needed to grow some balls and worship Jesus - rain or shine.

Wow. How amazing is this?  I was so challenged by his words.  Our faith has become so weak.  In Luke 8:22-25 Jesus says "Where is your faith?" in regards to a storm while the disciples were on a boat.  The boat was "filling with water and they were in real danger".  Yet Jesus still called them out on their faith.

Why should it be different today?


Think about it.  Yes - student safety is important.  But what would Jesus have done at that cross if He was leading them?  Would He have gone back to the car, or stayed and continued to worship?  Would he have submitted to the authority of the weatherman, or to the authority of His father?  Why should we do anything different than Jesus would have done in this situation?


I am still inspired by Thom's words that night.  They still inspire and convict me.  After the fact we learned that the storm literally went around the festival.  It just split in two and went around us.  But that was just a coincidence, right?  It surely was not God working.  *wink wink*

It Just Doesn't Feel Right

"So pay attention to how you hear.  To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given.  But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them." - Luke 8:18

I came across this passage in my morning quiet time.  I usually do my quiet times before I even touch my computer, but today I turned it on early as soon as I read this.  I have read Luke before, but this verse has never really stuck out to me.  I wanted to get some input on what it means.


If we listen to the teachings of Jesus Christ, we will be given more understanding.  More understanding into God's mystery (if you look back at at Luke 8:10 it says "You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God".  Secrets literally means mystery - that's where I'm pulling this from).  That part makes sense to me. 


The next part is where I admit I'm confused.  "But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them."  Now when I read this the only logical conclusion is that they're not being let in on the mystery.  They don't get to know about the Kingdom of God and its mysteries.  When I think of someone who "thinks they understand" I think of a lukewarm Christian who thinks that knowing about Jesus and going to Church is it.   But when they pass on, they will realize that there was indeed more to be done. 


I don't think my interpretation of this passage is too far off, but I wanted some input.  The way I described the passage above just doesn't feel right. I don't know why, necessarily...it just doesn't sit well with me.  


So - am I right? Am I off? Can you add some crazy awesome knowledge?