in my random surfing of the internet I often come across good one-liners, statistics, 1 and good quotes. here are a few from the past couple weeks:

“people won’t care what you know, until they know that you care”

“1.2 billion (with a B) live on 23 cents a day”

“8% of people in the world own a car. 1/3 of American families own 3 cars”

“2 Billion people in the world have no electricity”

“It’s easier to preach 10 sermons than to live one”

“you don’t take as much pleasure in someone elses garden, because they did all the work.” (Charles Spurgeon)

“The best style of prayer is that which cannot be called anything but a cry” (Charles Spurgeon)

“”If I say I ought to pray, I will soon run out of motivation and quit. The flesh is too strong. I have to be driven to pray”
“You can tell how popular a church by who comes on Sunday morning. You can tell how popular a pastor or evangelist is by who comes on Sunday night. But you can tell how popular Jesus is by who comes to the prayer meeting.” (Jim Cymbala, Fresh Wind Fresh Fire)

“Story. Our lives come at us as a story, not a math problem. Have we forgotten the story, what is the plot, what is our role. Its like we’ve arrived at a movie 45 minutes late, or walked in on the punchline. We need to know the whole story.” (John eldrige, Epic)

“Practice what you preach and preach what you practice”

“But you can’t just believe in Him to be free of your stronghold. You must Believe Him. Believe you can do what He says you can do. Believe He is who He says He is. And believe you are who He says you are.” (Beth Moore)

“many Christians haven’t thought about what it means to die for Christ, because they haven’t really been living for Him.”
“if you don’t have something worth dying for, you’ve got nothing to live for.” (d.c. talk Jesus Freak)

During my readings the past couple weeks, and a couple experiences in my everyday life. I have had this thought running around in my head – did Jesus love the Pharisees? And if so, how did he show it? I am familiar with the phrase “hate the sin, love the sinner.” I think it was totally necessary for him to contradict them, because the Pharisees held beliefs that were not Biblical. I used to read the Bible and shake my, scoffing at how blind and ignorant the Pharisees were. I thought I was soo much smarter than them. Then I realized that if Jesus were to talk to me about what I do every day in my life, I’m sure he would have to do a lot of rebuking. It really made me think about how much I (and probably most Christians) try to build ourselves up by looking down on people who are “worse” than us. “Worse” is really a matter of perspective. From God’s perspective we are all bad (i.e. sinners worthy of death). But God still loves us all anyway! But I digress. The point of me writing this was to get some feedback from you… How do you balance the need to love everyone without condemning and abandoning people? I think part of the problem is cultural differences. The more commentaries and history I read, the more I find that in the Jewish culture it was very common to argue very heatedly about the scriptures and law; without taking it personally. I wish we were more like that today. Then our pastors wouldn’t be so afraid to preach the truth. I find so many pastors sermons to be watered down. They use the excuse of being seeker sensitive, but I hope and pray that I am never afraid to “bring the heat.” I notice that despite Jesus obvious opposition to the Pharisees they still invited him over to meals, and he spent a lot of time with them. I want to be able to do that. I try to do my best to let people know where I stand, but know that I don’t judge them nor do I feel like I’m better than them. As long as I’m ranting… another thing that troubles me is that so many people are comfortable in their churches with their set community; and don’t even have any friends outside of this bubble. If you don’t have any friends who aren’t saved, how do you plan to share the gospel with this world? In conclusion, yes I believe Jesus loved the pharisees, and yes I believe they knew it. That’s part of what made them so angry.
I’m sorry my thoughts are very unorganized, so I hope this made sense. But I’m tired and don’t feel like editing it. So there.

Different
Personally, I take that as a compliment. Growing up in a quiet suburb of Chicago, I was surrounded by people that all seemed the same to me. I didn’t feel like one of them, I didn’t feel like they could relate to me. I could never understand their narrow minded approach. I knew there was a much bigger world out there. Even as a child I knew I did not want to turn into that. I always kept up appearances, and tried to be content like them; but deep down I was still unsatisfied. Fast forward to today. As I write this I am sitting in a coffee shop in Monterrey, Mexico. This is one of the most diverse cities I have ever seen. This is my new home (at least for the next year). I moved here about three months ago and love it. I love the opportunities I have to meet all kinds of new people and talk with them about things that are important to them – and then talk about what is important to me. I might disagree with you, but I will always love and respect you as a person. I often prefer conversations with people who disagree with me, simply because they are more passionate about it. Being an American in Mexico has lead to many great discussions. I truly enjoy it when someone gets really fired up talking about soccer, (which is a major topic here, but to us Americans, means nothing) especially when they start dropping stats and records from the past 10 years. This leads me to my next point. When you get passionate about something, research it. Make sure you know what you are talking about, or you will look foolish when I begin to inquire about it. Don’t cheer for a sports team you know nothing about. Don’t vote for a candidate you know nothing about. Don’t call yourself a Christian if you know nothing about Christ. You are not a Bears fan if you can’t name more than 2 players on their team. You are not a Christian if you know nothing about Christ. I have realized sharing this truth is one of my purposes here on this Earth. It is something I will fight for the rest of my life. This passion has gotten me in trouble several times. Most people want to be left alone in their ignorant bliss. But if we dare to be different, and let God fill us with this passion; we can change the world. Just because you go to church, doesn’t mean you are different. One hour on Sunday won’t cut it. Jesus calls us to action all day every day: at home, at school, at work, in your commute, and out with friends. Truly being different and following Jesus is a lot of work, and it’s not easy. I also think Jesus often focused on people who society had labeled as “different” and brought them to do great things. Matthew wrote a story in the Bible (in a book appropriately titled “Matthew”) and in chapter 7 of this story Jesus refers to the path a Christian must walk as narrow, and not often traveled. By definition Christians must reject the things of this world in order to follow the path of Jesus. There is no middle ground. Later in that same chapter Jesus refers to a time of judgment in the future. In this story Jesus says many people will claim to have been religious and to have done things for Him while they were here on Earth, but He tells them He never even knew them and to go away. Our choices here on Earth directly result in what happens when we leave this Earth (i.e. when we die). Therefore, we must chose one path – either for self gratification here, or an eternal life in paradise with the one who gave His life so we could join Him there. Some people may think that Jesus was just a good person, or that he had some nice things to say; but if that was all he was, how did he cause such a riot that they sentenced him to die by nailing him to a tree? I’d say he was very different. I believe God has a great purpose and plan for each one of us. This plan requires us to change the way we look at things. It requires us to be different.

I am considering sending this to a magazine to try and get it published… so any feedback would be great!

“Therefore, go…” (Matthew 28:19) This has become a verse that describes my life and my purpose. It’s been a great inspiration and motivation for me over the years. But with it comes the other side of going… leaving. It means holding on to nothing but the Word of God. It means being ready to go wherever the spirit leads. It means going to a place where you know no one. It means going places outside of your comfort zone. It means doing your best to do what Jesus would do. I know that sounds really exciting, but I can assure you it is not all fun and games. I knew years ago that Jesus often took common principles and theories of the day and turned them upside down (the last will be first, you must lose your life to gain it, the most humble will be exalted, love your enemies, etc). Over the last 5 (a case could also be made for 25) years God has been increasingly testing me in taking that belief into the next level – Action. Romans 12:2 talks about a transformation and it requires a change in every aspect of your life. Everything we believe and do should set us apart from this world.

p.s. my bad i meant to publish this last week. i hope to update, at least 2x a week. starting ASAP

I just started reading this book by A.W. Tozer and here’s a cool quote that peaked my interest…
[refering to the cross] “So do not seek to hide from it. Do not accept an easy way. Do not allow yourself to be patted to sleep in a comfortable church, void of power and barren of fruit. Do not paint the cross nor deck it with flowers. Take it for what it is, as it is, and you will find it the rugged way to death and life. Let it slay you utterly.”
wow. that was an exerpt from a book which includes several of his essays. The book is called the radical cross. I’ve only read the first chapter, so I’m sure I’ll be posting more on this in the future.

This is not my typical “missionary update” kinda post. this will be more of a “momentary glance into Eric’s head” kinda post. so now that you’ve been warned…
Those of you who know me well, know of my life-long religous/spiritual background. I grew up going to church twice every Sunday, and at least once more during the week. I also went to a Christian school from preschool all the way through high school. So Christianity was never something unfamiliar to me. Later I realized what a blessing and a curse that was. A blessing, because it was a solid foundation for the faith and relationship I have with God today. A curse, becuase it took awhile to get past all the stuff I took for granted, and all the crap I never questioned. The past several years, since I have left the church I grew up in, and really stepped out on my own (both in life and with my personal relationship with God) I have been discovering what “church” really is.
I am not a fan of labels, but for the sake of a general description here goes:
I have been doing a lot of reading (but still have soo much more to investigate) about different (note I didn’t say better) ways of worshiping, preaching, leading, meeting, and generally growing spiritually. A lot of ideas that I enjoy seem to fall under the category of the emerging / emergent church or postmodern church. Now, I have been careful not to jump onto any bandwagons to be like the cool kids; and I am glad, because there will always be the next wave (or generation) that just want to be differnt. however, I do fall back on some of my reformed background when I hear some things being preached that most people might fall for. I can think of a couple times when I thought I found this great writer or preacher online, and started to read his book/article, or listen to his sermons; only to have him write/say somthing blatantly contradicting the Bible. This has also caused me to begin the endless self-debate of what is “essential’ to me. what am I willing to fight and die for, and what am I willing to “agree to disagree” on.
I’m feeling reflective right now, so this is becoming a “what have I learned post”…
So where does this leave me now? This journey, along with the whole experience of moving to another culture, helped to reinforce the ideas that 1) churches are comprised of people and people are messed up, therefore churches will be messed up 2) christianity is more of a way of life than a “religon” or “sunday service” 3) yes times do change and cultures are different, but God doesn’t and His Word never will 4) don’t sacrifice quality for quantity (i.e. waterdowned sermons to be “seeker sensitive”) 5) a church is not a business 6) although part of the church is tp serve you, a humble maturity should lead to you serving the church.
I think thats enough for now. hopefully I’ll post a part 2 to this soon.

I feel that I often learn best through conversation so feedback is greatly appreciated. i also want to encourage questions, critiques, and please recomend readings, websites, podcasts, etc

i was going to say i made it home safely. but that would be confusing. because i feel like my home is wherever i feel safe, content, and loved. so i could make the case that i have hundreds of homes. (dont worry mom, home home will always be your house in orland park)
but anyways, i am back in Monterrey. it was a great two week break. and i am feeling overwhelmed with all the love from my family and friends. i have been blessed far beyond i ever had imagined.
thank you to all of you who put forth the time and effort to visit with me! thanks to those of you who drove long distances, hopped trains, offered a meal, a cup of coffee (or beer), or offered a couch to rest (or a floor with blanket & pillow).
but most importantly thanks to all of you who have been praying for me. without your support i would have given up a long time ago.
thank you and i love you all