Struggles In Ministry:

These came down my twitter feed today and I can really relate. Maybe you need to see this today. First John Piper sent out this bit of Second Timothy, "So many sorrows in the ministry. 'Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.'" I'm dealing with a real sense of abandonment right now. I'm sure it's not as bad as I make it, but it's something and I'm dealing with it. The reminder that even Paul dealt with abandonment, not to mention that Christ couldn't even get a crowd to hang with him is helpful.

The second thing that I got today was from Doug Fields his list of "10 ideas to help with ministry discouragement."(here) This is how it starts.


• Discouragement is painful.
• Discouragement is untimely.
• Discouragement is lonely.


Yes, yes it is. You really need to read the whole thing whether you are in youth ministry or not. It's applicable to all walks of life with a little tweaking, because we all deal with frustration. Here's a couple points that have really hit me.

2. Seek to spend time with an upbeat friend who is outside of your youth ministry. The benefit of an upbeat friend is that being with a friend who doesn’t really care about your ministry, but cares about you, can be very refreshing.

3. Realize that not everyone will understand you and your ministry. Actually, it’s fairly safe to state that no one will value your ministry as much as you. Perspective can be insightful.

I don't know if I have a local easily accessible friends who isn't in youth ministry. And, I don't mean that as a knock. I love my fellow youth minister friends, but I don't think I have anyone I can just hang out with that I'm not also working with on some level. The other point actually came out of my mouth last night, no one is going to care about my ministry more than me. I need some perspective and I'm not getting that from sitting at home with my dog. I think it's time to go make some friends and get some perspective.

It's pretty cool to me that both of these showed up right next to each other. I bet God new I'd look past one of them so He, in His immaculate timing got both of these guys to tweet around the same time. Thanks, God! I needed this today.

One Of The Best Days Of My Life:

Christ plucking me from my depravity is tops. Jennie marrying my slacker butt is still confounding, exciting, and humbling me. But, this day, this day just got inserted into days I will tell my kids about. Today is the day I learned you can watch Austin City Limits episodes online. And, you don't have to steal them either! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

I found this out because I've just purchased the album Backatown by Trombone Shorty and enjoyed it so much I wanted to share it with you. I went looking for a video and ended up finding the website for PBS's Austin City Limits.  If you are like me then you are a huge cynic (shame on you) and his name alone would be enough to send you sneering away. But, if you like horns and rock or just things that are a little funky then you will really enjoy this album. I really recommend it for anyone who likes Earth, Wind, and Fire (some of the best music and videos ever) especially and even more so if you like that New Orleans stomp in your tunes.

Watch this video of Trombone Shorty throwing down and then join me as I binge on months of succulent live performances. I'm pretty sure I saw Willie Nelson and The Avett Brothers. Also, make sure you check out Gnarls Barkley who I haven't seen in concert, but have watched live performances and that is on my bucket list if they ever tour again. I'll make sure to check out Esperanza Spalding and experience the music of the woman who beat Justin Bieber for Best New Artist.

Watch the full episode. See more Austin City Limits.

Tom Ascol On Bin Laden:

My buddy Andrew pointed me towards this article and just like he said, this says what I wanted to say better than I ever could.  Here's a snippet and then you should go read the whole thing.  Here.

Yes, we can celebrate the proper execution of God-ordained justice against evil in the world. But should Christians celebrate the death of the wicked? God doesn't. "As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways" (Ezekiel 33:11). That's why some of the euphoric displays of joy on the part of Christians--even Christian leaders--at the news of Bin Laden's death leave me cold. Their celebrations strike me as more American than Christian--which is precisely the problem with much Christianity in America in our day.

Has your reaction to Bin Laden's death been more about this world than the coming kingdom?

Lefty:

I've been making friends left and right by writing about not wanting America to celebrate Usama Bin Laden's death.  So, I thought I'd shake it up and put something up that is really cool and inspirational.

I am friends with the brother of the guy in this video. He is in our praise band and is a fine musician himself, and I'm pretty sure I've seen his dad wearing that sweater. While I've never met "Lefty" his brother is a real cool guy who fought in Iraq and love's God. So, go check out Lefty.

Click Here!

(Unfortunately, I'm not able to embed this video so you'll have to follow the link away.)

Hell:

It's all the rage right now.  Rob Bell has made it THE topic of debate in circles with nothing better to do.  I haven't read "Love Wins" or any of Bell's other works, and this is not a conversation about Bell or any of his books.  But, he does love asking questions, and has done a good job of getting people to consider their stance on hell.  So, I'm going to question....some....questions....or something.

Alright, here's my thought process.  Hell is either eternal or it is not.  Bell thinks it might not be, I will play the advocate and say it is.  There's no real middle ground here.  Hell happens when you die without a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.  Again, talking about the place after you die, I'm sure someone could wax poetic about the hell around us everyday or something.  I'm talking about classic dead people and demons hell.

Bin Laden went to hell upon his death.  He did not go to heaven at least.  I'm not supremely well versed in the lake of fire/Hades timeline, so to save time and typing I'm just calling it all hell since it's not heaven.  Bin Laden went to hell after he was shot and died.  Now, how long is he staying there?

I'll let those of you with something to do in on a secret.  This isn't really about Bin Laden, it's about our deficient view of hell and sin.  So, now that you know, you're free to go or read on.

Usama masterminded the murder of 3000 people on 9/11.  He's been involved with the deaths of countless other people.  He was a bad guy.  And, he'll either spend eternity without God's goodness tormented continuously or at some point he'll be freed and allowed into heaven.

Did you get a weird feeling at the thought of him being in heaven?  I did, and I am the guy that just wrote that he wished Bin Laden had turned his life around and gotten saved.  It's an unattractive prospect to imagine him being freed from hell to stand by the saints in heaven but, here's the alternative.

The late Usama will spend all of eternity being punished for the deaths of thousands.  Here's where I think most people are.  Most aren't imagining an end to his punishment.  They are picturing him paying for what he did forever.  But, does he deserve to be punished forever?  Shouldn't at some point he pay his penance for his evils?  Does he really deserve an ETERNITY of horror and torture?

Yes, it was horrible and he was a devilish individual, but eternity without end?   I mean, what if he did 1000 years for every life he took?  Wouldn't that seem fair?  That's a really long time and hell wouldn't get any easier the longer he was there.

Wait, that means he'd get out.  If he had a hand in the death of 10,000 people he'd do 10, 000, 000 years of unrelenting torment and anguish for his crimes.  But, he'd still get out.  He'd still get to come to heaven.  


I'm not arguing for Bin Laden's eventual release from heaven, I'm arguing that Hell is an unfair punishment for people's actions against other people here on earth.  It is, no one deserves an eternal hell for even Bin Laden level crimes.  If you disagree then you don't have a real grasp on how awful hell really is. There isn't a crime worthy of that type of punishment. 


Eternity never ends.  And, only a crime against an eternal God is worthy of an eternal punishment.  Bin Laden doesn't deserve hell because of his terror-mongering ways.  He deserves it because He had a heart turned against God the Father.  His sin nature, not his sins are deserving of an eternal hell.  We're getting it all twisted up and placing the weight on his actions, which were devastating, and ultimately it was his heart that spurred that devastation.  


Hell never ends, and is worse than you can imagine.  You shouldn't want anyone to go there.  Let's not short change the horror of hell or the eternal consequences of our sin nature.  Bin Laden will be in a real hell for a real eternity and you could sadly as well if you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ.