The God-Centered Gospel of Recreation

"'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.' And he who was seated on the thrown said, 'Behold I am making all things new.'" Revelation 21:3-5

My foundation has been rocked. Monday, Bryan Redman, one of the staff here, shared an illustration that has me crazy excited. I know I tend to get excited about lots of things, and people find out what I am excited about easily, but this is so much greater than David Crowder.

Bryan asked me to define the Gospel in one sentence. I've had to do this before, actually several times, but have never arrived at the same sentence. Every time when asked to say the Gospel in one sentence I am frustrated, because I feel like it is asking to fit this huge cloud of spiritual topics that some way or another relate to each other into a little bug jar. I thought about it for awhile, then when rushed I jotted down a run-on sentence that still didn't do the Gospel much justice. Since Jesus began to change my life my freshman year of high school the Gospel has just been a word that means good news and was really hard to fit into one sentence.

After we had our silly one-sentence comprehensions of the Gospel in our hands, Bryan scribbled out an illustration of the context of the Gospel. I copied down the simple picture, and his thoughts on the stick figures and what they represent. Something clicked in my heart when Bryan wrote down a single word, that has forever since completely changed the way I comprehend the Gospel. The word he wrote was, "Recreation".

That night Jerry Bridges spoke to us during our Nav Night, I was pretty eager to listen because I heard he was going to be speaking about the Gospel. Some time during that night of me writing down every word Jerry spoke I was broken, realizing that I have never understood the Gospel in this way. The Gospel is what the entire bible is about; everything Paul wrote about has to do with the Gospel. It is what we stand on, and our foundation is built. Why has it taken me this long to have this mental image of what the Gospel means?

For the first time in my life I feel like I have captured a hint of the Gospel and what it entails in order to share it with somebody. Before I felt like the Gospel had the power of BB gun and I was plucking these little spiritual BB's out of this enormous and confusing cloud that was my comprehension of the Gospel. When I would communicate the Gospel to someone it had about the power to change them as a BB gun would, more of a nuisance than anything. The veil has been lifted and I am seeing the Gospel more like a gigantic exploding canon ball that will forever change someone's life when they believe in its truth.

I am realizing that it is all about Recreation. God spoke in the beginning to create, because he is an artist and "we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works" (Eph 2:10). God has never needed us; he had perfect fellowship with himself, the trinity. But he chose to create us by speaking, because he wanted to and as an artist he wanted to express himself on a canvas. That's why he created us in his image to reflect his glory, because it is all about him and it has never been about us. In Genesis it tells us of this two-way-loving relationship we had with God, then sin enters the picture and our backs turned away from God and our lives became about ourselves. God never changed though and by choice he continued to reach out, even though our glory-filled response was severed because of sin. That is when the Gospel enters the picture. In John 1:14 it says the same Word that was spoken in the beginning to create us "became flesh and dwelt among us", completely fulfilling God's perfect and holy law that makes our sin all the more apparent to us, because he was the only one who could! He died on the cross to pay for our sins. He experienced the agony of death in our place, and completely drank the cup of God's wrath which had to be poured out in order to show God's complete and holy Justice. Because God's entire wrath was satisfied, the sentence was paid, the time served; Jesus had to be freed, so he rose from the dead on the third day. Then the Holy Spirit came and when it did, so did the power of the Gospel to go out. We see it spread immediately with power. This is the Gospel as I am beginning to piece together the puzzle pieces into this wonderful masterpiece that is God's workmanship.

God Created. Man walked and talked with God. God allowed sin. Man's back was to God. God brought The God-Centered Gospel of Recreation to do exactly that. Recreate us, and completely change our lives forever, to bring him more Glory.

I am praying that you will understand this more and more every day. The Gospel is moving out. Preach it to yourself every morning.

Posted on Sunday, June 18, 2006

reNew Orleans

I traveled to New Orleans for spring break last week. We took 30 friends with us. We had fun with it. It was hard to take it all in. We stayed in the middle of the Ninth Ward in a gutted out wearhouse. Driving into the city late at night, it was a deserted area. The streets were bare, random cars strewn about the medians like rubble from an explosion. Out of nowhere we come upon the only sign of occupance, the relief camp where we would stay. I could see what looked like a thousand people surrounded by barb wire and armed guards. Is this a prison yard? Once you got past the unnerving shell, there was a mass of people who could be characterized only by love. It was a gathering of love, giving up a week of their lives to pour some much needed affection into a city seemingly ignored by everyone.

There is some discrepancy between the locals about which natural disaster caused the most damage, Katrina or the inept Federal Emergency Management Agency. There is a definite sense of frustration among the people I talked to. No one stepping up and providing direction for relief. There are pockets of indepent recovery efforts, but for the most part there is no clear direction for the city. As we traveled through the city we were constantly stopped by trains carting in FEMA trailers. These trailers look like mini RV's. FEMA is outsourcing 80,000 dollars to bring in every trailer. For every trailer that trickles in there is a line of families still living in tents waiting for one. The families can live in the trailer for 18 months before it is returned. My group worked the whole week with a man name Bruce. Bruce was the neatest man. He owned a plant nursery that was wiped out during the storm. Instead of gutting out homes like most everyone else, five of us spent 5 days planting flowers.

I imagine the Ninth Ward is where Jesus would have spent a lot of time. It was the poorest section of the city, all too familiar with prostitution, crime, and a drug economy. We took a walk through the streets of the Ninth Ward the morning of my birthday. We didn't see anyone who had returned. Some houses had walls missing and all the stuff still inside the house untouched. Every house had a code spray painted on the wall with four numbers, the date the house was searched, how many people were rescued, how many bodies were found and any pets rescued. It was hard to equate the destruction with people who called that place home. I tried to imagine what if Wichita was gone, the people, my house, everything just taken from me. A home that would never be the same.

John Piper was once asked by a reporter what his response was to the devastation of the hurricane from a biblical perspective. He said it should cause us to repent. We should have been in that storm. Some like to reassure themselves that the sin of New Orleans is worse than our own and is the reason they were hit so hard. The funny thing is that Bourbon street, a street filled with everything that our society craves, was left untouched. I have done nothing to deserve the life I am living right now and John Piper reminded me that I need to repent. The storm in our lives is coming... someday it will hit.

All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever. Isaiah 40:6-8

Posted on Friday, March 31, 2006

Running Crazy

Do you ever feel like your being chased by a crocodile? I can't say that I have ... but once I went to florida for space camp, and the young astronauts there told me to run in a zig-zag pattern to evade a hungry crocodile. They can run at high velocities, but their tiny chopsticks for legs can only turn at 15 degree angles. What results is a crocodile making turns the size of a semi while the flailing prey is making sharp 90 degree cuts. I would enjoy seeing that. I wonder if it works?

I have been running in a crazy-zipper like fashion these past few months. I am going to work in Dallas this summer with The Richards Group. I am going to stay home and go to survive. I am going to go to Missouri and work with Matt Young doing landscape this summer. I am going to Colorado to live in the mountains and work at a venture capital company doing who knows what. I am going to Jacksonville Florida to spend time with Jesus this verano. All thoughts I have pursued in the last month.

God's voice is intriguing. I think it is a mystery. I wish it were audible. Maybe it is sometimes. At least why not write it on the wall. You Know Nate, You should Go Talequah This Summer I Hear That It Will Change Your Worldview. I am learning that choosing is a debacle that renders me stagnant most of the time. I am always looking for the perfect opportunity for God to use me. Maybe he just wants me to pick something that looks good, and follow him there.

Aren't you glad Jesus isn't a magic 8 ball?

Links Page

I finally got the links page up, and I must say it love it. I am not just satisfied with it. I love it ... much more than I could ever love something that is in an html document.

I hope you all end up using the website a lot more because it will be changing often. Everytime you click on the link page all those news feeds are automatically updated with the latest news from those sites. Pretty cool. Instead of opening a newspaper in the morning log on to bigOstudents.com and see what's happening in the world. That is one way you can be relevant, know what's going on.

Posted on Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Shawn McDonald

Shawn McDonald is coming to town. This is will be an amazing concert. I have never seen him live, but his songs stick to the roof of your mouth. I am willing to drive from Lawrence for the event, even though he will be in Topeka and KC the next two nights. His story is pretty amazing. I'll let him tell it though.

Nickel Back Is Horrible

A random fact for you to keep in mind next time you hear this band on top 40 radio. Shawn's music is better than anything Nickel Back has ever come up with. I came across this link a few years ago, and just came across it lately. Nickel Back has found an equation for hit songs. This will make you laugh or cry.

Posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2006

In the words of David Crowder, "I feel i'm on the brink of something large." But I DO! Something is moving among the group of people we took up to Main Event in Iowa this past weekend. God is shaking things up; putting things in perspective.

A breathe... that is what we have been given in view of eternity. (Inhales...exhales) That is all. Inside of me there is a yearning to be significant, impacting and eternal. It's just not happening. I am not getting into the lives of the 34 guys on my floor. I've been playing games. There is a lot of fear in my life. I grew up as a very fearful child. God has been showing me that every fear in my life is inextricably linked to an emotional scar from my past. I love pleasing people. It's a great feeling to make someone else happy. It has carried over into striving to make people feel comfortable when talking to me. I can not mention the name of Jesus without flipping a programmed switch inside of people, that releases all the baggage and past experiences with the name of my savior. That is uncomfortable... but essential to relating with people about Jesus.

An old WW2 memorial carries the quote,"We laid down our lives today, so you may have life tomorrow." I can't stop thinking about this. How will I die today so the guys around me can have life tomorrow. I guess moving in my fears instead of retreating to every thing in my life that has the potential to become an idol.

John 15 is amazing. I am a branch connected to this TRUE vine that has deep roots. I long to see fruit in my life that is eternal. That is not my job. Bearing fruit is a simple promise from God, all we have to do is to remain in Him. My job is to remain and then God promises (this is good as gold) to bring about eternal fruit in my life. Remaining is simple, it's obedience.

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:12-13

Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2006