Have I been daring greatly

Teddy Roosevelt's famous speech has always been a favorite of mine. It was brought to mind today in my devotions as I finished James in 5.19-20. I don't think I've been daring greatly. I need to. I've posted the speech below to encourage and inspire.

It is not the critic who counts; Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; Who strives valiantly; Who errs, and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; But who does actually strive to do the deeds; Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; Who spends himself in a worthy cause; Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worse, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. —Theodore Roosevelt
This is one thing I know I am passionate about. The fight. The failing. The winning. The blood, sweat, and tears. So cliche but so true. Lacrosse is such a huge part of my life that if all else fails well at least I know I can look back at my life and know that I had something. Something that made me so happy because it wasn’t easy and I worked hard to be the best that I could be.

Christianity Misunderstood...AGAIN

I watched an interview this morning on the Today Show with Donnie Deutsch. They were recapping an interview that he had done with Ann Coulter, a conservative and controversial author and commentator. Deutsch was offended by Coulter saying that he needed to be "perfected". He took it as a desire to wipe Jews off the map, which is not what Coulter meant at all. It is deeply held in Christianity that we want everyone to become believers, it is God's desire as well (1 Timothy 2.4).

We don't convert with the sword, and the Crusades (when Christians did try to convert with the sword) is one of the darkest moments in Christian history. We do it by loving others, by giving to others, and by showing that life in Christ is better and then sharing how to have that life in Christ. The Bible calls believers in Christ clean and sanctified another way to say that is perfected. Christians don't believe that they are perfect, they believe that the one that they follow is - Jesus - and now in God's eyes they are justified (not to be unloving or hateful, and love does not mean a toleration to sin) by the one who they believe in. No real Christian will say that they are righteous apart from Christ.

Jews were given much in the Old Testament, but they rejected their Messiah - Jesus Christ and a new covenant was made with gentiles (one that was foretold in the Old Testament). Jews can still be saved, but only by the same way that Christians are saved by faith in Jesus Christ who died on a cross for the sins of mankind. Only by faith in Him can anyone (Jew or Gentile) be saved.

Coulter speaks off-the-cuff too frequently and did not make her statements clear that she desires to evangelize and not hate Jews. She should be more clear as an Evangelical Christian but she is not spouting hate speech.

Another time when Christianity is misunderstood...I don't think it's the last time either.

Graduation

I just graduated this last weekend from Southeastern Seminary in Wake
Forest, NC. I can't believe I'm done!

Jack Bauer is My Hero

As a devout 24 fan I had to give a little extra play to this list I found on my friend Sam Sutter's Blog. Enjoy!!!!

• "The anti-Christ is hoping Jack Bauer won't be left behind."
• Jack Bauer is an Arminian…if you cooperate you can cut a deal.
• Jack Bauer once baptized someone until he talked.
• Pray with Jack Bauer but if he offers the laying on of hands, decline.
• Jack Bauer giving the sacraments: "You have no idea what it cost to secure this…"
• The only reason you're reading this blog is because Jack Bauer is letting you.
• Jack Bauer believes in Divine Election because he understands what it means to control everything.
• Jack Bauer is a Complimentarian- everyone submits to him.
• Jack Bauer once questioned the authenticity of the Bible, so he brought the authors back to life and tortured them until he was convinced they were telling the truth.
• Jesus will return when Jack Bauer dies. The problem is that he keeps coming back to life.
• Jack Bauer knows whether the earth is "young" or "old," but no one's successfully tortured it out of him.
• For Jack Bauer, confrontation is the only form of evangelism.
• 1/3 of the angels fell when Jack Bauer kicked them out of heaven for not telling him who they worked for.
• Jack Bauer is proof of Intelligent Design.
• Luckily, the Egyptians gave in after the 10th plague because number 11 was going to be Jack Bauer.
• The 10 spies gave a bad report because they saw Jack Bauer.
• Jack Bauer is his own accountability partner and community.

Day 4 and Day 5

Again, we've seen so much and done so much it is hard to explain it all. With no further ado here is what we did on March 15th and March 16th.

March 15

Places Visited

• Jordan River - We were baptized in the Jordan River. Sonny baptized me and then I got to baptize Allie. It was very cool to think about that this was the river that John the Baptist baptized people seeking repentance and the very river that Jesus Himself was baptized in. It was VERY cold. Water temperature was probably close to 55 degrees. We'll have pictures when we get back.
  
• Bet Sayan - This is the site of some of the most exciting excavations going on in Israel today. It is also the site of Saul's final stand and death. They have uncovered a Tel, which is an unnatural hill. The hill is made by different civilizations building upon one another. At the top of Bet Sayan is Saul's civilization. There are 16 civilizations below that one! Unbelievable! We walked through the Roman City which was pretty beautiful as well.
  
• Qumran - The caves are the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Among these scrolls was a complete version of Isaiah (all 66 chapters). This Isaiah scroll is over 2000 years old. The text matches exactly with the versions that we've had passed down through the centuries. There are some different spellings, but the defintions of those words have never changed. God will preserve His word. He does preserve His word and we were in the place that some of it was preserved.
  

March 16

• Massada - This is a plateau that is 1300 ft high. I climbed it with 9 of our other pilgrims. It was a hard climb to the top on a 2.5 mile trail. I did it in right around 40 minutes. I'm so out of shape. I remember in college making climbs higher than that in 30 minutes. Got to get in shape when we get back to the States. Anyway this is the plateau where before Roman takeover Jews decided to not allow them to take them alive. There were 900 Jews here. The children were killed first. Then the women. Then the men. Then there were 10 elders left. They threw lots to figure out who would be the last one. That last one killed the other 9 and then fell on his own sword. Suicide was a curse in the OT and this way only one person had to commit it . The Jews said that they would never be taken as slaves and seen their children abused and their women ravaged. Instead they would die on their own terms.
  
• Ein Gedi - This is the place where many of David's Psalms were written. David would escape here from Saul and then from Absalom. In the Scripture it says that David cut off the hem of Saul's garment. This is not the bottom of the garment, but his prayer shawl which is actually very close to him. It is much more near his waist. Amazing!
  
• Mt. Olives - This is the place where Jesus will return it is right across from the Eastern Gate and overlooking the site of the future Temple (the 3rd). IT is the current site of the Dome of the Rock.
  
• All Saints Church - Church next to the Garden of Gethsamane
  
• Garden of Gethsemane - This is the place where Jesus walked and prayed before He was betrayed. This is in the shadow of the Temple probably. Allie and I got to pray in the garden that Jesus prayed in and sweat drops of blood. There are many Olive Trees there over 2000 years old. This was the place. AMAZING!
  

Day 2 and Day 3

For those faithful readers out there I'm sorry I haven't written in a few days. It has been so busy and full and we haven't had an internet connection.

3/13/07
Places Visited:

• Caesarea by the Sea - This was the Herod the Great's capitol city. This was also the place that we read about in Acts 10 where Cornelius, the first gentile convert, lived and believed in Christ. Most likely it is also the place where Paul would have started on his missionary journies. This place was amazing and huge. Herod was a great builder. He built this entire city from the ground up complete with a 3000 seat amphitheater, an enormous palace on the Mediterranean Sea, and a port of over 200 ships. Included in his palace is a fresh water pool. This pool was connected to the ocean, but not fed by it (obviously, right?). This place was big and old and quite the feat for that day, or any day for that matter. It is also here that archaeologists have uncovered the proof that Pilate was the ruler at the time of Jesus.
• Mt. Carmel - This is the sight of Elijah's challenge to the prophets of Baal. This is a large hill and from it you can see the Jezreel Valley. This is the place of the final battle of Armeggedon. The valley is enormous, the view is spectacular, and the wind was swirling, so we didn't spend that much time up there. This was my favorite sight and will definitely use my experience in subsequent sermons.
• Nazareth - Here we visited a potential site for where Jesus may have opened the scrolls and read in Luke 4. It was after this that he was rejected in this city, having said that "this day this prophesy has been fulfilled in your hearing."
• Mt. Arbel - Nothing imparticular happened here, but from this mountain you can see many of the places that Jesus ministered in the Galilee region. Jesus stayed mostly on the north side of the galilee. This was the place that had the greatest number of people in that day. Today it is not the case. But then, in this great fishing community that side tends to be 2-3 degrees warmer due to hot springs that feed it. That's where the people were, so that's where Jesus was.

3/14/2007

I woke up today watching the sunrise on the Sea of Galilee. I couldn't help but think that this is the SAME sun and the SAME sea (it's actually more of a lake). That Jesus saw rise and set. It was beautiful.

Places Visited:

• Sea of Galilee - This is the sea where Jesus spent most of his ministry around. It is not very large, only 17 miles by 8 miles (give or take). It is positioned in a valley and in a very odd spot. It is very low, some 200 meters below sea level. It is surrounded by mountains on all sides that are set back some varying number of meters. This causes great storms to arise their quickly. Many times in the New Testament it talks about the storms arising quickly. It's easy to see how it could happen. Jesus calmed storms here, he walked on water here, and taught people from boat here. This is the place where Peter jumped out of the boat and started walking. We were there, it is an overwhelming experience.
• Gennesaret - Here they found a boat that they have discovered to be over 2000 years old. It is the type of boat that Peter, James, John, and Andrew would have had.
• Capernaum - This was the place of Jesus' base of operations. The home town of Peter's mother-in-law and the place where Jesus did miracles and healings, left and right. It is also one of the places that Jesus curses because of its unbelief. To this day Capernaum has not been rebuilt. It stands in ruins.
• Mt. of Beattitudes - This is the place where Jesus spoke the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). The place where he most likely spoke forms a natural amphitheater. Today it is home to an order of nuns who are not very personable. They've yelled at groups in the past for singing too loud.
• Peter's Primacy - This is the spot on the Galilee where after Jesus' resurrection he appeared to the disciples who had gone back to their former way of life. You can read about it in John 21. It is also the place where Peter was questioned about his love for Jesus and he told him 3 times that he loved him. There is more to this story, but I want to preach on it, so I'll refrain.
• Caesarea Phillipi - This is the place of Peter's great confession of who Jesus is. Jesus would never have gone inside of this city, it was pagan, but they were in the "region surrounding it". In this region there are tons (literally) of ruins to the Greek god Pan. This was thought to be the "Gates of Hell" by the religious people of the day. So after Peter's confession when Jesus says, "I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it." He was standing right in front of this spot. Pretty incredible, do you have goose bumps, I do, and I did all day long.

This trip has been nothing short of amazing. To quote Ferris Bueller, "if you have the funds I highly suggest it." Seriously, this has been enriching and fulfilling. God has used it in a big way in my life already.

Forgive me if I misspelled things it is 3:30 AM here and my brain is not quite functioning up to snuff.

Holy Land - The Arrival

Yesterday afternoon (Israeli time, morning if you are in the states) we landed at Ben Guiren airport in Tel Aviv. The flight was LONG, but actually pretty good. I hate flying, but it really wasn't that bad, although I got next to zero sleep and watched "Stranger Than Fiction" with Will Ferrel 3 or 4 times. We got off the plane and proceeded to Customs. We had our passports stamped and got our luggage. it was a little surprising how much the airport there was like one in the States. We got our luggage just fine and headed out.

We were then met by our tour guide, Irit. She is a 'Sabin". That is someone who has been born in Israel since the re-formation of Israel in 1948. We drove to the hotel and felt very at home as we were stuck in traffic. It felt like being on I-45 during rush hour. Directly before we got on the tour bus we met up with Christian Friends of Israel. Many of us brought clothes to donate to them as there are thousands of immigrants coming back to the land monthly and are generally in need of clothing. They were very thankful.

We got to the hotel and in our rooms and then had the opportunity to go out on the beach of the Mediterranean Sea. We got to see the sunset on the Mediterranean, it was From the beach you can see Joppa. Today it is a modern city, but Joppa is the place where Jonah ran to, boarding a boat after running from God's will. It is amazing to be here. We are surrounded by Biblical history everywhere. These are places that we've read about and learned about. Allie and I are so thankful to be here and see all that God has for us.

Last night we had a devotion on the beach with Pastor Sonny. He highlighted our connection to Israel and our place and purpose here. That we have been grafted into the tree as it says in Romans 11 and now it is our purpose as believers in Christ to make the Jews jealous through our love and grace. May God bless this purpose in our pilgrimage here.

After our devotion we went right to bed. We were tired so tired. We then woke up today at 3:30 AM Israeli time. I think there is still some adjustment to make in the time change.

Blessings!

Major Improvement!

God has been good. The doctor went in today expecting to find little if any improvement, but as they examined they found blood flow by all 3 of the major clots. That is a huge first step. They were able to suck out some of the clot and they will be going back in later today to try and suck out more.

Thank you for your prayers, but please don't stop. The medicine that Stanley has in him is supposed to be removed after 48 hours. Because there has been so much improvement they are going to leave it in a little while longer, but not much longer. There is a little blood in the urine, but God has been good to us.

It's amazing to see direct answer to prayer. Thank You

Little if any improvement...

Greetings,

After all of our hopes that things had changed sadly, they haven't. The
doctors have seen in the dye test that there has been little if any
improvement.

Aunt Kathy (Uncle Stan's wife) has asked that if you are able to fast from
this evening until 4pm tomorrow to do it. The reason that they are asking for the
fast from those times is that they are only able to have the clot busting
medicine in his system a total of 48 hours. They began it yesterday at
about 4pm. If you aren't able to fast then please pray.

Please pray that the clots will break up and that the medicine will work.
Also, there needs to be some blood flow there. God has been so faithful in
other areas here. We know that He is able to do more than we could ask or
think so please pray.

Asking for your prayers,
jason

Uncle Stan Accepts Jesus

I just got a text message from Allie that said that she was able to share the Gospel with her uncle Stanley and he squeezed her hand saying that he wanted to pray to receive Jesus. Allie prayed with him. God is so good to us. Thank you for your prayers.

On a much less significant note, but still great they are hoping that he will be able to eat solid food today. he has also refused pain meds 3 times today. That's good, it means that he is needing less to keep pain off. They will be doing a dye test this afternoon to see if there has been opening of the veins. It seems that there has been and one of the doctors has said that he is cautiously optimistic at this point.

Continue to pray! It is working!

Allie's Uncle Stanley

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS! Allie's uncle is doing better. They went in and did a procedure to try to break through some of the clots (There are several near the brain). Those clots are about the size of a pea in diameter, but they are very long. One is as long as 18cm or 7inches. The doctor was able to work through some of it and apply clot busting medicine to it, but we are far from out of the woods. After surgery uncle stanley was conscious and responsive, but still in pain. Until they are able to restore blood flow he will continue to be in pain. They will be determining blood flow today and see where he is at physically. It is better than we anticipated though. Pray for Allie as today she is going to try and share the gospel with him.

I'll be trying to update here as much as possible. The website is www.jasoncrandall.info.

Grace Pt.1

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about grace. It's a little word, only five letters long. It's short, but it's depth is broad. It is one of God's top 2 qualities. (I would say His first is His holiness, but it is kind of useless to try to separate God's characteristics. He is who He is and He has always been who He is.) Grace is huge for us.

To illustrate our lack of understanding about grace I ask my students is: why did God choose Noah? Typically answers include:

• "I don't know, I want some lunch"
• "Huh? Who's Noah?"
• One of the smarter kids said, "interesting question, I want some lunch"

What's your answer? Why did God choose Noah? Most likely your answer is "Noah was a righteous man." When people answer like this my next question is, "how are we saved?" Being more knowledgeable of the OT than the NT they say "by grace through faith in Jesus." So then I ask, "did something change? did God change?" Being good conservative evangelical students they know that God doesn't change, so they say "no, but I don't understand." This is normal. Nobody really gets it. They typically think that something changed, in the OT people earned God's favor and in the NT God realized something (As if that EVER happened to God) and said "oh they need me to just give them this b/c they can't do it on their own."

NOTHING CHANGED

Salvation, God's choosing from wrath and disaster has never been by works. Sure, Genesis 6.9 (ESV, it's just a better version) says "Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God". You think "well, Jason, that seems pretty cut and dry." To which I say "look at verses 5-8" in case your Bible isn't right next to you here it is:

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Here's the deal, "every intention of the thoughts" that excludes Noah, right? WRONG! Noah was evil too. But there is a difference between Noah and the rest of the people. Noah found favor, not for what he had done or what he had accomplished, remember he was evil. He found favor. Anybody out there know another word for favor? GRACE!!!!!! The LXX (aka the
Septuagint, Greek translation of the OT, aren't I a nerd?) uses the same word here as is found in Ephesians 2.8-10.

Grace saves us today and grace saved Noah then. God's work is all of grace, it hasn't changed. He has always shown favor to those who do not deserve it. Whether it is someone who's heart is only evil continually or someone who is a porn addict - they are both sinners and they are both in need of God's kindness to bring them to repentance. After Noah found favor, then he was a righteous man and walked with God. This is how it should be with us too if we have found favor with God (aka you've been saved, begun a relationship with Jesus, asked Jesus into your heart, etc). We have been shown grace and now we live in awe and thankfulness of that grace.

That grace is incredible, that grace is sufficient, like the old hymn writer once said, that grace is AMAZING.

RESOLVED: Thoughts from Jonathan Edwards

When Jonathan Edwards was young he wrote several things that he was resolved to do. These are the first 20. Enjoy. They are AMAZING! My personal favorite is #6. Love it!

1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God' s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many soever, and how great soever.
2. Resolved, to be continually endeavoring to find out some new contrivance and invention to promote the aforementioned things.
3. Resolved, if ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.
4. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.
5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.

6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

7. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.
8. Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and that I will let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God. July 30.
9. Resolved, to think much on all occasions of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.
10. Resolved, when I feel pain, to think of the pains of martyrdom, and of hell.
11. Resolved, when I think of any theorem in divinity to be solved, immediately to do what I can towards solving it, if circumstances do not hinder.
12. Resolved, if I take delight in it as a gratification of pride, or vanity, or on any such account, immediately to throw it by.
13. Resolved, to be endeavoring to find out fit objects of charity and liberality.
14. Resolved, never to do any thing out of revenge.
15. Resolved, never to suffer the least motions of anger towards irrational beings.
16. Resolved, never to speak evil of anyone, so that it shall tend to his dishonor, more or less, upon no account except for some real good.
17. Resolved, that I will live so, as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.
18. Resolved, to live so, at all times, as I think is best in my devout frames, and when I have clearest notions of things of the gospel, and another world.
19. Resolved, never to do any thing, which I should be afraid to do, if I expected it would not be above an hour, before I should hear the last trump.
20. Resolved, to maintain the strictest temperance, in eating and drinking.

Put on the breaks: THIS HAS GOT TO STOP!

I've just read an interesting and scary research report done by the Barna Group of Ventura, California. Read the report! Basically, it says that 20somethings are exiting the church like crazy. This happens typically after a great deal of involvement in the teen years. These students have been active and an involved in youth group and church events, but have failed to become involved as they go to college. The stat is 61% of teens who have been involved in a church during their teens are disengaged during their 20s. This is a major problem and we must find a way to stop it.

What's the answer?

The report gives a few great observations:

1. Student Ministries need to focus on Discipleship and Mentoring.
2. Student Ministries must focus on the process of forming faith.
3. Student Ministries need to be more personalized.
4. MOST IMPORTANTLY: PARENTS MUST TAKE AN ACTIVE ROLE IN THE DISCIPLESHIP OF THEIR STUDENTS!

The first three observations that are made by the Barna group can all be handled with one dynamic shift in Student Ministry: the recruitment and development of passionate adult youth workers. Mentoring must be done in an adult to student format, while there can be "unspoken mentors" in a student-to-student format, the most effective mentors are adults who will actively engage in the lives of teenagers. These mentors need to be Christ-centered, Bible-focused, and church-supporting individuals. Mentoring is no more than actively being involved in the lives of students and consistently pointing them towards Christ and His Word.

In order for parents to keep their students from becoming statistics though they MUST become the primary discipler of the students. Simply said if you want a passionately involved student then you MUST be a passionately involved parent. Parents must passionately pursue Jesus Christ daily. Parents must model Bible Study and worship to their children. Parents must be lovers of God and His bride the church. Parents are the key to their children's growth spiritually. This is something that I have held firmly and whole-heartedly believe.

My plea is for parents to understand that they are the greatest influencers in the lives of their children. I will work hard as a Pastor of Students to train them and youth workers alike, but in a maximum of 5 hours a week it is impossible to do what parents are able to do everyday. Parents please love God! Parents please show that you love God to your students! Parents please make Him the most valuable part of your life, not your job or career, not your car or your boat or your golf game. Don't let your 401(k) be the focus of your life or the next vacation or politics, make Jesus Christ your all-sufficient treasure (Matt. 13.44). Find your joy in Him. Make Him the well that you draw strength from and if you do that things will change. If you do that then it will fall out all over. It will be modeled to your children, it will be modeled to your neighbors, it will be obvious to outsiders and people will ask you what is the cause of the hope that lives within you (1 Peter 3:15).

If you do that statistics will change... if you do that your life will change...if you do that your children will change...if you do that this world will change.

Intelligent Celebrities and Other Oxymorons

Today I went to the local grocery store to pickup some donuts for breakfast. While I was standing in line I noticed US Weekly, the celebrity news magazine. This is one of the most amazing parts of our society, an entire magazine devoted to the lives of stupid celebrities who "can't find love" or "look fabulous on the runway" or as Tara Reid said in the most recent US Weekly "I will never be perfect again". It's just so sad that this drunk, druggy, overly partied, and overly sexed celebrity will never be the same again. I was so sad that I nearly cried...

I was so sad because it is such a commentary on our society. There are hundreds of magazines that deal primarily with celebrity news. There are 4 major TV shows that only deal with celebrity news not to mention an entire channel devoted to the worship, errr I mean love of celebrities (E! Entertainment Television). It's sad that American Society follows so closely the lives of people who say things like "if you don't love yourself, no one else is going to love you. It's about me loving myself" (Tara Reid's story, you've got to read this, click here).

What really kills me is that we value the opinions of morally inept people more than the words of the Living God. AND if you are reading this and thinking "YEAH, You're Right!" But value the opinion of Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or Al Franken more than the Scriptures you are in the same boat.

The Words of Life are ancient, they are powerful, and they should be the commentators on our society.

The New York Yankees and other thoughts on combating evil

OK, I'm a little biased. I'm from Detroit and the Tigers are playing the Yankees in the playoffs. We are up 2 games to 1 in a best of 5 series and we're winning 4-0 in the top of the 5th. We're killing them, but I still can't stand the Yankees and their yearly dominance. I think I agree with Larry Lucchino when he called them the "Evil Empire". The thing is that most of the time they beat you before you even start the game; before the first pitch is even thrown. They psych you out with their 10 future hall-of-famers and their nearly $200,000,000 payroll. That's what happened to the Tigers in the first game of the series. Walking in they knew they couldn't win and so they didn't. The thing is once you decide that you're going to fight them and that they are really not more powerful than you (they're only flesh, blood, and pinstripes) then you're ready to fight.

Anybody see where I'm going here? Anybody out there? Anybody actually reading this or am I just ranting about nothing? (It doesn't matter, the Tigers just scored another run, 5-0, I'm feeling no pain).

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6.12 (ESV)

We are fighting something different than us. We absolutely are. Satan and his demons are stronger than us by far. They are stronger than us and if we aren't careful they'll psych us out before we even start the battle. But there are a couple things I've had to realize:

He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 1 John 4.4

In case you were wondering that's Jesus in us and Satan who's in the world.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8.31

Nobody, not even Satan and his demons, it doesn't mean that they won't try though. It doesn't mean that they won't fight. It's our duty to remember that when that fight comes, when we feel pushed in and beaten down and nearly crushed that

In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8.37-39

Right now you are already more than a conqueror, you are better than the Tigers in this series (btw, they just scored 2 more runs), you are the winner; not on your own, NEVER on your own, but through Him who loved us. In the words of David Crowder "We've already won and you don't have a chance!" We win!

Evil reigns in this evil world, but this world is passing away along with its passions, but whoever does the will of God remains (1 John 2.17), abides, and CONQUERS. The world is a big, strong, powerful, and evil team, but we have overcome it.

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

1 John 5:4-5

One evil empire is going down right now (Yankees, score: 7-0), but it is just a shadow of that other one that we can't see. That other one that has already lost, they just don't realize it yet. That other one who right now in our struggles, trials, pains, and hurts seems so big and so enormous and so powerful that we'll never win, that this pain will never stop that we will never make it. Remember it's not true, what you see right now isn't all that's there:

as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4.8

The payroll doesn't matter, the pinstripes don't matter, Christ in you the hope of Glory matters!

Out,

jason

P.S. The Tigers just scored again (8-0)

I Love T-Shirts

I love T-Shirts. I have about 500 billion (ok, not that many, but that's an important number REMEMBER IT). I like them because they are comfortable, cheap, and provide a great deal of social commentary. Recently I saw one in a mall, a teenage girl was wearing it and it said in big bold all capital letter "IT'S ALL ABOUT ME". When I passed her in the mall it got me to thinking - that's really sad. It's sad for 3 reasons (there's probably more):

1. That's small thinking.
2. It's a lot of pressure having everything about you.
3. It's just not true (even though it is the growing feeling of people today and not just people but believers in Jesus).

I am tired of hearing sermons and reading books that cast man as the center of the universe. It seems that everyone has fallen into the disease of "me theology". My life is about me, my time is about me, my money, my car, my house, my stuff, my wife...it's all about me.

As I spend time reading through Scripture I don't see anywhere that it is about me. Instead, I see a whole lot of places where it's VERY not about me; it is all about God. One of the most notable places is Psalm 19.1 (ESV, it's just a better version get over it) "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." The sky is about God, the stuff above the sky is about God. It speaks without words about the One who made them. It shows off His glory.

If you look beyond the sky and out into space I don't think anyone can help but be overwhelmed at how small we are. Some estimates say that there are over 500 BILLION galaxies out there in the heavens. We live in ONE. We live on a small planet in 1 of these 500 BILLION galaxies (told you it was an important number) . 1 out of 500,000,000,000. So 499,999,999,999 galaxies are out there, without us, declaring the glory of God and we somehow get psyched up about us and jacked up about who we are and what we've done. Does that make sense? Seems pretty insane to me.

It's good to not be lazy. It's good to work and accomplish, but when our lives become about magnifying us it gets insane. After all in the grand scheme of things we are in one galaxy of 500 billion, on one of the smaller planets in that galaxy and we are one person of approximately 6 billion on the planet. Translation: we are freaking tiny! So keep thinking magnifying us would be like putting us on a petri dish and looking at us underneath the microscope. Microscopes make small things big. Don't magnify yourself, magnify the God who made you. In order to do that you don't use a microscope, you use a telescope. They make big things smaller so we can see them. There are 500 billion galaxies out there and the universe is expanding constantly and the God who made that is bigger than that. Can you imagine the incredible pressure of developing it all, creating it all, and sustaining it all? NO, you can't even imagine it. But God does it everyday and I freak out when I have to speak a couple times a week, take some classes and cut the grass. And if that weren't enough He decides that "I love those 6 billion people on that 1 planet in that one galaxy of My 500 Billion galaxies and they need a Savior." TOTALLY BOGGLES THE MIND!

I want a t-shirt that says "it's definitely not about me" (notice no capital letters at all) it relieves the pressure, it's true, and it makes me look smart (of course it probably wouldn't sell, which would make one question about how smart it was).

Out,
jason crandall