influence

So I'm sorry I'm such a bad blogger.

So I am back in Homer, Alaska after a simply awesome trip back home sitting in what used to be called " the dungeon" but now is our quite lovely hangout area. I'm here because I don't get internet here and I really want to just sit and not be distracted by various "social networks".

But there are some ideas that have been on my heart recently to put down on paper, to speak out, to express. These ideas have to do with the principles of influence, the cold hard truth of our effect on our surroundings. its been told to me that every thought/ action has a consequence(consequence doesn't necessarily mean bad but just cause and effect) and the importance of a biblical world view/ how you view yourself grows exponentially with that statement.

what do we let influence us?

Funny story that's going around town is this: its about a family that has been in homer since the early days so a few generations. So there is this young lady who is hosting a dinner party, she has prepared it all from scratch and the smell of ham wafts through the house, the finished ham completes the table as the guests are seated the lid comes off and there is the ham with both ends chopped off. one guest ponders out loud what the rest of them are thinking " why are the ends chopped off?" the host responds "I don't know, its the way my Mom did it" so later she calls her mom and asks "why do we cut the ends off of our hams?" her Mom responds " I don't know, its the way my mom did it" so she calls her Mom with the same question and she responds " we only had one pan and it wasn't big enough for the whole ham". Now in the grand scheme of things that little tradition of cutting the ends off of the ham wasn't life threatening. Truth is that there are a lot of influences other than our parents but our parents/ family teach us a lot about how to relate to each other, our society, and God.

What goes in must come out is a statement that I've been wrestling with, it seems like in most cases you do what you have been taught, what you have seen. If your environment is full of sex, booze, drugs, despair, darkness, hopelessness, abuse, etc. that's what gets passed on to you. Dont for a second think this only applies to the north end, or to places far away from you. Gods has power that can protect kids from such hopelessness but believe me its not easy, even ministering to this next generation of kids I believe needs to be done multi generational, if we can get whole households to cling to the light then we have that family dynamic that God so desperately wants.

*sorry little soapbox but im tired of purity being traded for a laugh*
what are you influenced by: tv shows, music, the word of God. now this is where i have to try to not be legalistic in my heart, for i know that it is what comes out of a mans heart that determines many things but what shows do you watch and enjoy, what has our simple ignorance allowed in. two and a half men? a show where we laugh at a sex addict and his negative influence on his nephew. how many of the shows( i could make a long list of sex driven shows) we watch today are complete filth but oh hey they make me laugh. dont get me wrong, Jesus loves the sex addict, but numbing ourselves to such low standards of finding humour in it doesnt exactly transform us into being Christ like.

so to be transform and to help those around me seek the same transformation i need to be rooted in love, self discipline, and power. we can be a influence to this generation, we can start by choosing life over death, by choosing eternal love over temporary pleasure. things seem to always go back to basic love God with everything! and love your neighbor as yourself. i still cringe when i hear the word everything, what does achieving that look like, all i can hope is that im being peeled away into this full time everything mode, Holy Spirit have your way. Love your neighbor as yourself doesnt work as well when you dont see yourself the way God see's you(which brings you back to the consequences of our thoughts), you are to value others with intense passion but it is important to embrace the way of patience and timing.

who is my neighbor? who can i influence?

I am telling you there is a big world out there, with many people. Do not be ignorant to the need of the gospel in all nations. We need to start in our homes, most of the time we need to seek forgiveness with our family members, we need to move on, lay down our pride, work on our personal places. But if you want to be passionate, there are many "issues" that are crying out for passionate people, what are you willing to sacrifice to reach out. if you want people to pray for there are alot of them, i want you to think of the sex trade slaves, the inner city, the reserves, the addicts, the orphan children, the child soldiers, the persecuted church, your neighbor down the street to your neighbor across the world.

who can you influence, be faithful in the small. when i started thinking of facebook as a tool to reach out(believe me im still trying to learn how to not make everything about me) I started seeing fruit. I have up to 40 friends online at the same time, all with different life stories, from different places. sometimes someone just needs a little bit of encouragement to not drown in a bottle tonight, a friend needs to know that im praying for her, a old friend sees something different in me and asks me what it is, reconciliation to someone who i had been a jerk to in grade 6. encouragement, prayer, and the power of testimony go a long way.

this past week i was across the bay in a village named Seldovia population 307, we were a part of a school assembly, 2 workshops (suicide prevention) (bullying prevention), and a evening assembly. this was a awesome experience for me to get to be a part of someones ministry even when the school time was pretty tame in not using the name Jesus, most of the students came back for the evening to hear the word of hope that is that God has a plan for your life, Jesus died to give you eternity. but at the same time the school assembly had alot of power, one of the illustrations that his me was 20 dollar bill, bill took the bill and threw it on the ground, told the bill it was no good not worth anything, stomped on it, spit on it, put it in his armpit and asked the kids how much it was worth.

let that influence you, in your view of yourself and of others.
every moment is a opportunity
carpe diem
Let God transform you