This map is from a different era. I remember staring at these maps while sitting in the small sunday school classes or during sermons that had everything but my undivided attention. Compared to the methods of transportation we have today, the travel alone in Bible times should cause us to be in awe of their dedication. Disciples and apostles were called to go out, leaving their comfort zones with one mission in mind. Reaching the lost for Christ. They weren’t called to greatness before they left on these journeys. Sometimes the largest impact is made in the smallest of meetings, or through plans that don’t make perfect sense before the first step is taken. What was about to happen through them really had nothing to do with their plan or even preparations. When God was moving there was nothing that got in the way. Not the sea, a prison or the possibility of being stoned to death. And the results…..they were life-changing and even sometimes soul-saving. The following verse applies today, just as much as it applied to those people.

“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.” John 8:31

What is about to take place here in Columbus, Ohio is truly special. Not because of any of the people that are involved, but because it is obvious that God is moving in a new way. I’ve included another (more contemporary) map that requires the type of cost as the one above. The map isn’t really remarkable because of the distance traveled, although it is fascinating. My friend Daryl (aka spirit20 on Twitter), who I’ve never personally met, just booked a flight for our second gathering of Digital Disciples here in Ohio. He shares the same passion many of us do (online and here in Ohio). Daryl knows that God is at work, but he doesn’t stop short of saying “here am I Lord, send me”. What turns my soul sideways is the fact that this isn’t about the numbers attending, exposure, financial profit or fame. With God moving, prayer taking place, and a focus I’ve never seen before – there’s nothing that can stop a journey like this. The mission is to grow closer to our heavenly Father. Sure, we’ll focus some on technology, but the God I serve has been able to move through things that seemed even powerless or impossible. It won’t take specific technologies for Him to speak, although many of those will help. The Spirit has been at work, planning this occasion long before it was even planned.

Daryl is just as excited about this as I am, I can tell. If the Spirit is working in your life, a trip to Columbus is not required. You’re more than welcome to attend one of our monthly gatherings (starting on February 5th), and my doors are open to house you and hopefully make money less a part of the picture. If you would love to make it, but can’t, please do us a favor and join us on Facebook or call me at 614-787-8544. We’re excited to start looking at ways that Digital Disciple gatherings can take place elsewhere, if that is what God wants.

I remember the days when I would be asked to create a Christmas list. I specifically remember being asked by my grandparents to give them a hint about which gift might make me the happiest. I would search magazines, stores, talk to friends and my brother and parents about it. Trying to figure out what I didn’t already have that made me happy. Those moments come back quickly when I see the lights light up in our daughter’s eyes when they are talking about gifts this week.

By nature, even children don’t look at what they’ve already been given and give thanks. It’s much more about what we don’t have than what we do already. Being content is a struggle from day one, especially in our culture. As our pastor shared today, we all have three ways that we deal with desires.

1. By eliminating our desire. A path that leads to complete dis-connect from reality and the world we live in. Not a healthy choice.

2. By limiting our desire. A lifestyle of communism, where everyone has the same amount. Never tried this one, so no comment.

3. Satisfying our desire. Hello me! Maybe hello you? The problem with this choice is that the satisfaction spins out of control, so we’re now content with more than we need. No longer content with JUST what we need.

Christmas seems more challenging every year. Gifts add to the confusion, but it’s difficult when letting Christ shine through us can bring the joy of Christmas into someone’s life.

There’s no gift like walking through life with God. There’s not a life that can’t be satisfied by the  desire that God, the Father, showed when He sent Christ to live and die on earth. What challenges me this year is to find every desire through that one gift. Learning from God and giving. Learn from Christ and sacrifice. And bless others who have less. Especially those that haven’t accepted that gift like I have.

The gift of a life in Christ continues to change me. That’s something I can be grateful for, and something that fills my desire every time I unwrap it. There are some days I’m not blessed because I chose not to open that. Being content happens when I re-open what God wants to do with my life. Pastor Mike made it very clear this morning how we all can become more content and live that life. Realizing that being content with what we have is a learning process (not natural), depends on God’s providence (not our wallets or savings), and that it survives even when you have only a little (even if we have to wait). WOW. That’s a present that I am putting on my list this year. One that I know God will be putting under my tree to be re-opened for years to come.

You might notice the retro image on the left that has been used in the Obama campaign with the slogan of “Hope” usually beneath his photo. After hearing so much about this hope the past two years, I decided to create a poster of my own. If you’d like a much larger image of either of these, or just one, just leave a comment and I’ll get in touch with you.

What an amazing time to be a Christ-follower. I’ve heard quite a few other believers that are choosing to focus on their relationship with God while staying confident that only His will alone is what will take place in the days to come.

What led me to create the poster of Christ were not thoughts or wishes that Obama would fail. I believe he will be successful and do good things for our country, but I’m also aware he most certainly won’t live up to most expectations or promises he has made (he’s human, and McCain wouldn’t have either). But that is the point. The change that he, or any other leader, can bring to this world is only temporary. We’re blessed beyond measure to live in this nation, and it’s time to pray that God guides him and our government and that the change that is needed does take place.

A new friend of mine shared something just this week with me that has impacted my “hopes”. In a nutshell he basically stated that as Christians we can’t really think that a leader that perfectly matches every side of every issue we’d want. There is only one who can really follow through with His promises, and whose promises have never failed through centuries of contrasting styles of leadership. That is God alone. What’s ironic, is that during this election many Christians I’ve talked to seem to be placing their hopes in things that are temporary and forgetting that there is grace that lasts eternally. Some issues that have impacted our vote are issues that are CLEARLY temporary. Our economy, environment, health care, etc. are simply things that will not last, while there are others that damage life and other things that eternal impact.

I’m extremely thankful to live in this country. May we pray for positive change and hope that this country needs. For the leaders that can “possibly” help make them happen. I’m even more thankful for a grace that goes beyond measure. How thankful I am that the truths of my God are certain and that they last.

It’s an election. One day (thankfully soon), it will be over. I’ve had the privilege of blogging, chatting, messaging and talking to so many different people these past few weeks about all of the issues. This will be my last post before the election, mainly because I must now truly place November 5th into the Lord’s hands just as I do any other day.

If November 4th were really worth so much to me, I wouldn’t stop trying to be used by the Spirit to wake some people up who have apparently taken their eyes off of God’s Word. My last statement I will have for those people (most know who they are) is that it’s not up to how much you’ve angered those known as “conservatives” or how far you can push your liberal beliefs and still label yourself a “Christian”. Only God is walking with you and can sense how much closer you’ve grown with Him or further. I have no right to question your walk with the Lord, and have not tried to do so.

There is one verse that applies to EVERY day, EVERY deed, and EVERY spoken word for EACH of us that call ourselves Christ-followers. This applies to the candidates and VP choices that are brave enough to take up this calling. This verse applies to you and I just as much as them. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31.

November 5th will be a new day. It might be good for you, it might be bad. The thoughts, words, prayers, and even our actual vote itself is something that does not fall outside of the challenge of this verse. We’ll go into the day following the election just as we will going into eternity. Knowing that only Christ alone has given us true freedom. Freedom that lasts eternally. The comparisons of being an American relate so well to that of being a Christ-follower. We’ve received a freedom from individuals that we did not deserve. We received salvation from an individual that we did not deserve. The response to both should be one of extreme honor and should require important moments of pondering the outcome of our actions.

I don’t want to chat or interact with anyone else about this or previous blog posts between now and November 5th. The verse I’ve shared is the challenge for us all, and the blood of our soldiers and of Christ speak louder than any response or petty comment I could return to you. I would request that each of you vote, but I’d prefer to request that those of you that do BOLDLY claim to be a Christ-follower would glorify God by seeking His will during these next few days. His will will be done. That’s all we can seek and He will guide us into November 5th better than our next president could ever dream of being able to.

After posting this blog today I came across a video by John Piper that I’d recommend watching. Click here to see it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wife, Marla! Glad you’ll be with me through these next four years, that’s for sure. If you’re looking for a good blog, check hers out here.

Before I share anything, I would urge you to stop by the library or local store and grab a copy of this book (or click on the cover and buy it from Amazon). I’m not a reader, but had to get some truth from facts about the man himself and not just the media. I wanted to learn more about Obama and his faith, and this book really opened my eyes even more.

From Obama’s “Call to Renewal” book (and page 54 in this book):
“There are aspects of the Christian tradition that I’m comfortable with and aspects that I’m not. There are passages in the Bible that make perfect sense to me and others that I go, ‘Ya know, I’m not so sure about that.’”

From interview with Cathleen Falsani in the Chicago Sun Times on April 5, 2005 (and page 55 of this book):
“I am a man rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.” He first saw this broad embrace of faith modeled by his mother. “In our household,” he has explained, “The Bible, the Koran, and Bhagavad Gita sat on the same shelf alongside books of Greek and Norse and African mythology. On Easter or Christmas Day my mother might drag me to church, just as she dragged me to the Buddhist temple, the Chinese New Year celebration, the Shinto shrine, and ancient Hawaiian burial sites.” Thus, for Obama, Christianity is but one religious tree rooted in the common ethical soil of all human experience.

In the same interview with Cathleen Falsani he continued (and page 57 in this book):
Asked by a reporter how he can so warmly embrace non-Christian faiths when Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me,” Obama insisted that this is only a “particular verse” and that its meaning depends on how the few words are interpreted.

Many people have tried to make me think that Obama is a Christian. I will be the first to state that only God knows a man’s heart, and only He can accept the man or woman into heaven as a result of their true motives. The only thing I know for certain is my faith alone. I don’t take most people’s words for granted. I don’t even trust myself most of the time. We’re human. We’re known to slip here and there, stretch a story too far, or only tell parts of it that we feel comfortable sharing.

Those who blast me about this like I am trying to make our government a Christian government (really a relationship, not a cult, lol) don’t realize that this is the lens I look at everything through and it hasn’t let me down. Unlike Obama, I don’t doubt a single piece of God’s Word or question whether or not it should apply or be clear to me. If it’s hard to understand or apply, 100% of the time I find myself to be the one lacking, not God. I find the words of Obama from these past few years to be much more troubling than those of McCain. Sure, McCain had issues with his marriage and sinned as we all do, but he even publicly admitted that he confessed his actions to God and that those were very bad times for him.

The faith of Obama that has been shared in this book is the faith he has today. The Christian faith is not as simple as accepting Christ’s death and slipping into heaven (fire insurance from hell), it is a changed life of repentance and dedication to following only God’s truths alone. From my personal perspective going into this coming week’s election, Obama is a man that wants everyone to feel happy. He doesn’t want to offend homosexuals by giving them their freedom. He wants to please Christians by saying “he is one”. He doesn’t want to offend women by being fine with them making choices about which humans deserve life and which don’t. He wants to sit down and talk with terrorists who want to blast God’s chosen people (Israel) off of the face of the earth.

And all of this comes from a man who spent MANY (around 20) years sitting in a church that is nothing less than racist. From a man who ditched those closest to “his faith” (his church) when they were hurting his political campaign. I’ve discussed this material at length with “Christians who support Obama” and they continue to point to the war or the economy, or try to make me think I’ve missed the last 8 years of hell with George Bush, lol. Get real. How stupid can you be? Take a few seconds and turn your dial off of your biased news stations and papers and relate the fruits of this man’s life to the life Jesus calls us to. Some Christians are sold when they see someone say they’ve “accepted Christ”. The individual (even if they graduated from Harvard or can run for president) is still human and their words about their own faith only go so far. The fruit of the Spirit sure shows itself, doesn’t it?

Matthew 7:20 “Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”