Klampert

I find the words contentment and restlessness to be very difficult to distinguish between.

The definitions are:

contentment: Desiring no more than what one has; satisfied. (lack of contentment would be of course wanting more than you have or not satisfied)

Restlessness: characterized by or showing inability to remain at rest: arestless mood; unquiet or uneasy, as a person, the mind, or the heart.

What I find odd is that we as Christians throw the word “contentment” around quite flippantly. It has become this “buzz” word that is vague to most people. What does it mean to be content in the Lord? If we go with the definition doesn’t that really suggest that we should be just happy with what we have and not really interested in wanting more. We are satisfied with what we have been given and it’s good enough for me.

I have given a lot of thought to this lately. I think ultimately we need to be content in God and thats it. I think placing too much stake in contentment for anything else either sets us up for disappointment or paralyzes us from being creative or forging ahead with dreams.

That’s where the word restless comes into play. Sometimes we find ourselves in life no longer content with what or where things are going. No longer satisfied with our location, money, church, job, etc. So we go back and pray that God would help us with our lack of contentment.

This is a good thing because we do want to drill into our heads that everything is but a vapor and in the end God is sovereign. It is also a bad thing, because sometimes it is not a lack of contentment that is the issue it is restlessness. Sometimes God is tugging at our hearts to dream, to move, to change, to create.

I don’t think it is easy to decipher the difference if it is lack of contentment or God making us restless. That is where prayer and fasting come into play.

We as christians need to make sure we are deciphering between the two as we move through our daily lives because God could be tugging at our hearts and itching to do big things thru us and we in turn could be stifling His great work because we are too concerned that our lack of contentment is a sure sign we are no longer relying on God.

Be still and know…it is a verse about clear cut clarity. Make sure you seek it out.

The Vertical Self How Biblical Faith Can Help Us Discover Who We Are in An Age of Self Obsession

By Mark Sayers

I recently had the privileged of receiving this book in the mail via Thomas Nelson Publishing.

I was really excited to get this book because it looked very interesting. It talks about returning to a life of Holiness. It is a book about being less self absorbed or “horizontal” and having our eyes fixed on Christ “vertical”.

I personally love books that deal with our identity because I believe it is one of the biggest struggles we as Christians have. Who do we get our identity from? Are our eyes pointed upward or do we continue to look to our environment and peers as our barometer for how we should act and ultimately be.

While the insights are butt kicking and inspiring I felt the actual writing of this book made it a bit monotonous to read. Make no mistake, the content of this book is much needed in the church today and it has some fantastic points. It is a must read, but I just was not a fan of the writing style. It did not keep my interest and therefore it became a bit of work to get through it.

Bravo to Mark for tackling a subject that we as the church seem to forget about and that is Jesus calls us to be like Him and He always looked to the father. Hopefully this book will inspire more to start looking vertically.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The new “Dirt Poor Robins” CD is out…and you are worried about spending the 7.99 on itunes. I get that totally. So here is how you can get it for free.

Go to your CD collection and grab these CD’s/book:

1. Panic at the Disco
2. Kings X
3. Flemming & John
4. Blondie
5. Queen
6. Bjork
7. Alice in Wonderland Book

Ok..you have them? Now…throw them in a blender..use the PULP setting for about 32 sec.

Once it stops look inside…

do you see the new “Dirt Poor Robins” CD?

hmm…didn’t work..

well lets go to plan B and save you $70+ because instead of buying all the CD’s above you could buy:

the new “Dirt Poor Robins” CD

and join the COOL club!

Friday night I was invited by a great friend of mine to help serve at a Homeless shelter in Providence, RI. My wife and two littlest ones jumped in a car to join the 8 or so people from his church plant “Connexion Church” at the shelter.

It was a great time with family, friends and serving, but I noticed some odd things as well.  When pastor jack was done preaching to the men and women there he gave an altar call. Of course many got saved and I am not about to judge who were for real or who just wanted to go through the motions to get their dinner. All the people got up afterward and proceeded rather quickly to the dining hall. Well, all but one. One man stayed behind and talked to Jack and he got to pray with him. I love when that happens because to me thats how you really know how hungry a person is for God.

This man went for the bread of life before he went for the bread that came with the Ziti.

There was a homeless man there that i guess is on staff with the place. He was breaking down the room, clearing chairs, and stacking them. I went up to him and asked if I could help. His answer floored me.

“Huh?” he said “you want to help?..Uh yeah! thanks so much…You are now my favorite church!”

“Why?” I asked “thats what I’m here to do…Help”

“Because most of the other churches show up to preach and then leave. They don’t stick around to help me”

AMAZING! He went on to say that he was floored we have 8+ people because usually churches send the preacher and maybe another guy. I was happy to hear we were there for him and could help even in what seemed like such a little task, but also sad that churches are just sending people there to preach.

I’ll leave you with this quote that I think sums up the problem with the church today.

“Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” St. Francis of Assisi

We spend so much time drilling people with the gospel that sometimes we need to realize all people need to see the Light of Christ is just a helping hand, somebody to love them, somebody to care like Jesus did.

If you read my blog, which you should be, you would have noticed a group of men I meet with that we call “the Forge”. It is a group where I can go and be completely transparent with fellow brothers in ministry from other churches. About 7 months ago God had me move out of the role of HS youth director/leader into the role of being part of a team running the men’s ministry in my church, along side of leading worship. If there is one thing I love about our men’s group that I have not seen in any men’s group I have been in it’s honesty and transparency. In both my men’s group and in the Forge nothing is off limits. Everybody is broken.

I decided to look up the definition of Transparent. Here is what it says:

transparent [trænsˈpærənt -ˈpɛər-]adj

1. permitting the uninterrupted passage of light; clear; a window is transparent

That definition is astounding. I think there are two keys for real ministry within the church. Honesty and Grace. I have been talking about both with my men and forge group for months. We need to be honest with one another, but at same time we need to have grace for each other when things get put on the table that may possibly floor us, hurt us, or concern us.