This is one of those famous “I Am” sayings that reveals a closer glimpse about who Jesus is and why he entered this world, putting on flesh, and offering his life as a ransom for many.

The main point of the message that the Spirit led me to as I wrestled with that passage for quite some time was this: Even though it looks like darkness is winning in the world, the gospel shows us that light overcomes darkness and not the other way around. And, if Jesus is the light overcoming darkness and those that follow him have the light of life, then we are on his team as well, and we are on the offensive as well, and it’s our call to chase away darkness.

So this post is twofold in its purpose. Two things that have been working on me since Sunday.

a) One thing that I alluded to on Sunday that I believe is that the light will shine in on our dark places. Whether that’s a dark place of sin or whether it’s a dark place of hopelessness and despair. Today, let his light shine in on your dark places. Confess your sin and let his light drive away that darkness or confess that place of agony and pain and let him relieve it, he wants to do that for you. The problem is that we want to cling to the darkness. Let the light overcome that darkness.

b) The second thing is this. If light is overcoming darkness and we are called to chase it away, then where/what is that dark place where we are called to go. A friend spoke these words to me, “I’m in a very scary place in life and if His light can shine just enough to illuminate the next step then I’ll be satisfied.” Meditate on those last 16 words. Will I will be satisfied if he only lights enough to see the next step? Will I be obedient if that’s all I can see? Will one step be enough for me?

My prayer, that we allow the light of Christ to chase away our darkness and that we place our hope in his power to do that, and that light for the next step would be enough to satisfy us.

This verse has been at the forefront of my mind for about a week now. I shared it with two guys this morning. I’m clinging to it. If you are in Christ, you don’t have to do that old stuff anymore. It’s not required. You can walk away from it. Strip off the old, put on the new.

When you’re facing that “do I do this again” moment, just tell yourself, “off with the old, on with the new.” That’s what you get to live in!

Boom! Truth!

See, what ha happen was:

(nostalgic sequence)

We had people sign up for a trip to Buloba, Uganda in May. We always have to fight the balance of waiting to buy tickets to make sure everyone is committed to going as well as buy tickets soon enough that they don’t cost a fortune. Once I received confirmation from everyone and got names and birth-dates settled, I called in the information and waited patiently for what I assumed would be some of the cheapest tickets we’ve ever purchased for Uganda per the information I had already been given.

The voice on the other end of the phone said, “Brian, six tickets will now cost you $4000 a piece.”

(Very high pitched): “Saaaaay WHAAAAAAAA?” (that’s right, there was no ‘t’ on the end of what.)

I immediately went into, “God, what just happened?” mode. I freaked. I thought so much I got a headache. Literally.

But, I had to remember, “from you, through you, to you are all things, to you be the glory forever.” Soli Deo Gloria.

And a little phrase that my mom always shared with me, “Remember, it can’t eat you.” (unless of course, as one friend pointed out, it’s a tiger).

update:

This morning, we found six tickets, for more than they were originally, but a good 2200+ cheaper. Boom, that just happened.

Thankful for God’s faithfulness whether the day is rough or the day is good. Soli Deo Gloria.

Let us pray.

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have
made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and
make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily
lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission
and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.
Tonight, we begin a journey towards the cross and resurrection.

The other news is that this year we compiled our own Lenten reader. This reader will take us all the way up to Easter Sunday and each week is anchored on the message series we are in called “I am.” We’ll be examining one of the seven “I Am” sayings of Christ from the gospel of John. This is going to be a great season, I’m convinced of it. If you’re part of our community, we hope you’ll dive in with us.

I had one of those nights of, “I’ve got to do that tomorrow for sure…o no, I haven’t done that yet…which means this is getting done either.” Fear set it. It’s crippling. It’s a snowball effect.

So I prayed. “Father, you are in control. I can’t do all this. It’s yours.”

Sleep.

What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. Psalm 56.3

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6.34

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Monday was a different story. After a very long day of meetings and planning and hanging out at Mellow with the small group, I found myself facing 8.45pm. Run time. I tried everything to talk myself out of it.

As I walked out the door at 8.45pm: drip….drip….dripdripdrip…dripdripdripdripdrip…”bottomfallingoutnoise.” I turned around and walked back inside. But I couldn’t quit. I had to hold fast, because I knew my commitment wasn’t fully about exercise. It’s also about working on my self-discipline which I’ve been lax on in every part of my life for some time now. So I ran in the rain.

Turns out. It was amazing. It was beautiful. One of those, this is a unique way to experience God occasions, having cool rain pour down on me and breathing in that beautiful fresh smell of rain.

As I ran, I thought about the people I serve with and the commitment they have to advancing the kingdom and leading people to know and serve Jesus.

Rusty who has pressed forward with a singular vision for over 10 years. Josh who is dedicated to helping people take next steps in discipleship and connecting in community. Jack who makes sure that we never slow down in giving people the best experience they can in every area so that they are not hindered in growing and always keep us moving forward. Lee who is committed to finding new and adventurous ways of raising up a next generation of leaders who will carry the vision forward while always pressing me to know what it means and live out being a true follower of Jesus. Amy who has continued to press in to a generation of teenagers leading them closer to Jesus. Michael who passionately (thankfully, cause I couldn’t) introduces children to a God who loves them week after week after week. Jill, who recognizes that you’re never to young to start learning about this Jesus who has given himself for us. Julia, Scott and Ashley who are working tirelessly to help us communicate in a myriad of different ways so that people see clearly how to join in this mission (don’t mess with the comm team, they are a force to be reckoned with). Lynn, who’s compassion level is always on high and is always ready to respond to crisis. April who brought a whole new level of excellence to leading people and continues to make me think on a daily basis about how I live and love people. Julia, Scott and Ashley who are working tirelessly to help us communicate in a myriad of different ways so that people see clearly how to join in this mission. Mark who is teaching me about raising men as he and his boys arrange, rearrange, rearrange and rearrange rooms, places chairs, replace, replace, resituate and resituate our worship space (that’s right). Franklin, who you might not see a lot, but he’s the guy that works some ridiculous hours to keep everything in this place working right (and then comes to my house to make sure I didn’t wire that fan wrong so that my house doesn’t burn down). Daniel who will work a good 60 hours a week to raise the level of production and is always and continually thinking about how to help people come to know Jesus through our Sunday experience.

And then there countless volunteer teams that plan for small groups, lead in worship, prepare refreshments and coffee on Sunday, perform dramas in Kidztown and teach 2 1/2 and 3 year olds and the list goes on and on and on.

And there’s the beautiful woman who I get to call my wife, Kristen. Who for 6 years, 4 months and 21 days (plus four and half years of dating) has committed to supporting me even when I’ve been a ridiculously awful husband more than I’ve been a decent one.

I’ve probably left someone out and I hate that because when I wanted to quit and give up in the rain, these people were on my mind, literally. Their commitment was driving me. How do you ever really thank all of them, parents who pray for you every day and are committed to bringing the gospel to those who’ve never heard? A brother and sister (and their husband and wife) who are committed to same goal that do life beside you. A small group who are always there moving forward with you.

And Jesus, who gave it all…

…even in the rain, I’ll keep running.

The message seemed clear to me in that Nehemiah was confronting an evil, an injustice. He was fighting against the oppression of a people. He knew that slavery and oppression were antithetical to the movement God was doing to restore a people and to the very heart of God.

In preparing for this message, God was laying on my heart that we are called to do the same. We are called to fight injustice wherever it occurs. We are called to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, bind up the broken-hearted, unleash the chains of darkness and bring hope to the hopeless. This all sounds very weighty, very big. But honestly, I think it’s as simple as just loving people where they are when everything in this world is stealing their hope away.

This is a moment by moment battle. Just have to walk in obedience. I’m convinced he’s going to open my eyes more and more to this every day.

I’m grateful for opportunities to speak where I don’t walk away unchanged. Today was one of those days.

What do you think?

Writing is a way of seeing that is deeper and sharper than most other ways. We see more when we write than we just read.

So I write a lot. In fact, I’ve gotten in to such a habit of writing my prayers that I have to be conscious to just put the pen down sometimes. I write what’s on my heart and what I hear him saying back to me. Its amazing to see how the above quote plays itself out. There is genuinely a depth that is encountered when my prayers or my thoughts are solidified in the ink on the paper.

This morning, I just began to write a little bit about the current life situation I find myself in. Here’s me being vulnerable.

You capture my heart and cause me to stand in awe of the wonders you work on my behalf. I can think of few other times in my life where I have been happier. But may my happiness not deceive me and send me into a lazy stupor of failing to work on behalf of you and of bringing the kingdom into the ‘now moment.’ I can think of plenty of times where I was disobedient, when I was pursuing something that I thought was real, something that I knew must be ‘from God,’ but I was often fighting for my own dreams, a fantasy vision. But, in this moment here, you have brought such great clarity about how to be a part of submitting to a larger vision, that of the local body of believers we’re a part of. You have brought great clarity to me personally about the local church and the vision it should have for the world and not farming it out. Great clarity about how to lead my wife, however well or poorly I’m getting along with that end. And great clarity on how to live as a follower of Jesus Christ in the world. This is not coming from a seminary degree or from being a paid staff member at a church. I’m seeing these things because you have placed us in community with other believers who are passionately connected to the local church, one which is seeking to live out the great commission in this world.

I am overjoyed to be a part of the community I’m in. I love to see how God is working and I pray that it would spur me on and not allow me to rest in comfort of where find ourselves.