Immediate Obedience to God and How I Helped a Guy Seizing Because of it

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Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:25

Last night at small group we talked about being immediately obedient to God. Something that I'm not always too good at. I like to think things over for a little too long, but sometimes, sometimes, I get it right. I can point to a few of these times in my life, but I quickly want to share a story that happened to me in the past week.

Allie, my wife, and I were supposed to pick up some new trashcans for the church at Walmart before Saturday night service. We forgot. Later that night, against everything I wanted, I drove over to Walmart again. That part took me about 2 minutes. I grabbed the cans and I was heading to checkout.

At this point it was about 10 PM and there were only 2 registers open. I had a choice: 10 items or less or the short line. A strange tugging seemed to pull to the longer line. While I was standing in line a couple of positions ahead of me was a 25 year old guy buying what I believe to be a sleeping bag. From out of no where I hear a crack sound and watch his knees fall out from under him. His debit card flew into the air and his neck had all the tention of a dead chicken's. His whole body landed with a thud and crescendoed with the knocking sound of his head bouncing off the hard linoleum.

He was slightly shaking on the floor and fluttering his eyelids. I believe he was having a seizure. He got up no more than 30 seconds later and acting like nothing was wrong. Seconds later everyone in line heard that same crashing sound of him falling on the credit card swiper. This time me and another man ran to him and locked our arms underneath and carried him to bench. I yelled out, "Someone please call 9-1-1!".

I watched the guys breathing and made sure he wasn't going to fall off the bench we laid him on. Soon I was on the phone with 9-1-1 talking him through some cognition tests. Within in maybe 3 minutes EMS was on the scene. I left him in much more capable hands.

The story ends there. I don't know what happened to the man, but hope maybe I can find out some day. I prayed for him while he sat on that Walmart bench. I really hope everything turned out fine.

I believe that God wanted me in that line. I was one of two men anywhere near close enough to help this guy in time. Could God have used someone else in Walmart? Sure, but because I was obedient to his voice I was able to make a difference in this guys life.

If we would learn to be immediately obedient to God we would be able to impact, help, and support people whom God has called us to.

Rick Santorum, Iowa, and Underdogs Like Me

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Rick Santorum Potential Republican Nominee

Some people love the political process but it makes many sick. Most people, I think, just put up with it. When the time comes to vote they'll step in that booth, get their button pushing finger limbered up, and push away. Many of them voting for candidates that they know nothing about.  I'm an active news reader and talk radio listener. I try to discern who it is I'll vote for by how closely they line up with my beliefs.

Last night, January 3, 2012, Iowa had their caucus. Mitt Romney won by eight votes. He edged out Ron Paul Newt Ginrich Rick Santorum but just barely. Who in the world is Rick Santorum? I remember seeing him on the stage at debates. He would barely get a chance to speak. He was a true underdog who surged at the right time. Almost every other Republican potential nominee has had a huge surge in the poles, but none of them were at the right time except Rick Santorum. One could say he is the Tim Tebow of the republican potential nominees.

There is a long road ahead, and we really don't know who will be the nominee for Republicans. At this point anything can still happen. What we should pay attention to is the narrative of the underdog.

Me and you are underdogs in a race that we're not capable of winning. We can try hard and show promise. We struggle and preserver, but we're underdogs that will never come back in the fourth quarter. One of my favorite songs of all time by one of my favorite bands is a song call Underdog by Audio Adrenaline.

I'm in this race to win a prize

The odds against me

The world has plans for my demise

What they don't see

Is that a winner is not judged by his small size

But by the substitute he picks to run the race

And mine's already won

The race of life has already been won. Jesus Christ took death and crushed it under His heel. Jesus picked us to be on His team, but we have to say yes if we're going to win. Christ takes an underdog like me and gives me victory.

Dueteronomy 20:3-4 says, ...In a few minutes you're going to do battle with your enemies. Don't waver in resolve. Don't fear. Don't hesitate. Don't panic. God, your God, is right there with you, fighting with you against your enemies, fighting to win.

Really it's unfair. If Christ is your leader and forgiver you've won no matter what happens. That means that when time runs out you'll come out the winner because you have more than a cheerleader. You have a teammate.

Doing Excellence, Pleasing God, and Winning those Far From God

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Firstly, I want to remind everyone about Oceanside's Christmas Offering this Sunday December 25, 2011. It is a great opportunity for you to give and support the work of God all over the world. You can check out this week's EMAIL about where your money goes when you give to the Christmas offering, and if you'd like a detailed explanation of it click HERE. And if you can't join us on Sunday morning you can give online at this LINK. Thank you and Merry Christmas, I will now get into this week's regular blogpost.

How Twitter Taught Me To Wait On God.

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Fail Whale.

I've been using twitter for years, but one unfortunate day I woke up and tried to read my tweets like I had many times before. They weren't there. I jumped up out of bed to figure out what was going on. I wanted to know which child of mine had deleted everything. All replies came back, "No one has touched your twitter." I immediately ran, to my computer threw open the lid, pounded in, "twitter.com" to see I'd been BANNED!

Me, banned from twitter? I don't do anything to get banned. There are really 2 broken rules that will get a person banned from twitter: Spamming and distributing Porn. I was NO WHERE near those two things. I couldn't understand why I was banned.

I quickly shot out an email to twitter trying to get the problem resolved. I got no word back. One day, two days, three days, one week, two weeks, nothing.

So this morning I jumped out of bed with a new vigor in my bones to start a brand new twitter account. I get registered, and click away at the follow button as I try to emulate my last twitter. The thought even goes through my mind that I can make this one better. Hours pass, problems creep in, phones won't sync, websites crash, and I'm left irritated and without a completely useful twitter account.

After 5 hours of on and off tinkering I give up, and convince myself to pick this up another day. Within seconds (No exaggeration) of giving up I received an email from Twitter telling me my account was back up and that they were sorry for the mistake. They even said that they didn't know why I was banned.

I found this whole adventure to be a microcosm of life. We start pushing and struggling. We try to make things happen. We worry. We work to an end, but we don't get much of anywhere. Then all of a sudden out of no where our problem is solved, or our situation is changed. If I just would have waited until 2PM on December 6, 2011 I wouldn't have waisted the entire morning. But I couldn't.

Many times God wants us to wait on Him. He's going to come through in a big way, but we have to wait for it. We get impatient and pull an Abraham and Hagar stunt (Read more about that here). If we would trust God to do what He said He was going to do it would save us a lot of time and pain. 

• Psalm 27:13 Wait for the Lord; be strong and courageous. Wait for the Lord.
• Lamentations 3:26 It is good to wait quietly for deliverance from the Lord.
• Isaiah 33:2 Lord, be gracious to us! We wait for You. Be our strength every morning and our salvation in time of trouble.
• Psalm 37:7 Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for Him
• Lamentations 3:25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.
• Micah 7:7 But I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.
• Psalm 25:5 Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; I wait for You all day long.

We have to learn to be patient, because God is going to come through in a BIG way. And that is what Twitter taught me today.

Keep Christ in Christmas!!! POW!

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Every year people make a big deal out of whether certain stores use the word, "Christmas" in their advertising. Stores that use Christmas want everyone to know. They display it for the world to see. But then the other stores, well, you'd hardly know there was a special day once a year at the end of December. For them it has become winter holiday.

I'm not really the boycotting type, but seriously, I'm buying these gifts for Christmas and if your store doesn't recognize the holiday I'm certainly not going out of my way to support it. And why would I? My family celebrates Christmas and not winter. I don't even really like winter... I'm never dreaming of a white Christmas.

Just this week I read a post on Facebook which caught me off guard. At first I was outraged... but then I started thinking about it a little more. What do you think?

It's true we can't make anyone celebrate our Savior's birth. When I celebrate my wedding anniversary I don't force others to celebrate it with me and shun them if they don't. It's their choice if they want to be happy for me and my wife. And the truth is, it's everyones choice to keep Christ in Christmas. If they just want to have Christmas or winter holiday that is there loss.

That being said, I'm determined to celebrate Christ this Christmas. I'm making a strong personal effort to keep Him as the number one reason for the day. Which is exactly why I like this status update. I think if people saw Christians keep Jesus the real reason for the season they would want to embrace Christ.

Christians do ourselves a disservice when we stand for things but have inconsistant stances. Christians scream "Sanctity of marriage", but we have an insanely high divorce rate. We press sexual purity and feed our addiction of pornography at home. We yell, "keep Christ in Christmas", but beat the snot out of people to get a Nintendo Wii on Black Friday. Before we start focusing on the spec in everyone else's eye let's focus on the log in our own.

Christians say Christmas isn't about the gifts, but we don't mean it. Allie and I have decided to do Christmas a little different this year. Maybe it's something that you'd be interested in. We're going to invest in world missions through our Church's yearly Christmas offering and Samaritans purse. A large portion of the money we usually spend on Christmas gifts is going to go to feeding the hungry, sharing the gospel, freeing slaves, and providing water. Jesus was/is serious about helping those in need. Get a refresher course in Matthew 25:34-46.

I'm not against gifts at Christmas at all. So, don't misunderstand me. We're still giving toys to the kids and giving each other gifts, but we're cutting down on all the extra filler junk and knocking it down to the gifts  we really want.

How are you keeping Christ in your Christmas? 

10 Steps to Cook the Best Thanksgiving Turkey Ever

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I like good turkey and I don't like bad turkey. I'm sure you feel the same way. Instead of a deep heavy post this Thanksgiving I'm going to tell you how to cook a REALLY killer turkey.

I'm passing this on to you with a couple of provisos I'd like you to understand. 1) My wife cooks the turkeys. She is Italian and a very skilled homemade cook. I'm blessed. I'm sure she was meant to marry a fatter guy who would take advantage of her cooking more, but she got me... 2) I believe what has come to be known as Allie's recipe is actually inspired from cooking scientist Alton Brown.

Before you follow any of these steps thaw the turkey thoroughly.

1. Cook the turkey for the lowest hours suggested for your its weight.
2. Take all the stuff out of the turkey, including the neck and do whatever you want with it.
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
4. Drown turkey in your cooking oil of choice (Olive, corn, etc.). Even put the oil inside the turkey.
5. Liberally sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic powder on the turkey.
6. Take sticks of margarine and flatten them with your hands. Blanket the butter over the turkey (Especially the breasts). Make sure to stick some on the legs too.
7. Place it in the preheated oven.
8. About 1/2 way through cooking the turkey loosely cover it with a sheet of aluminum foil, making sure to tuck the aluminum foil under the sides the turkey.
9. Let it cook the rest of the time needed.
10. Take it out of the oven and let sit uncut for 30 minutes. CUT IT RIGHT BEFORE SERVING so that it is still moist when you eat it.

There you have it. That is my wife's turkey and it's marvelous. In the comments tell me what you thought after cooking the turkey. Also, if you have any questions leave those there too. I'll ask my wife and try to get back to you quickly.

7 Ways To Keep Oceanside's Momentum

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The problem with momentum is the more of it you need the harder it is to get going. A 4 ton rock might have a huge amount of momentum while rolling down hill, but getting that rock rolling is very difficult. A 5 pound stone would be much easier to push down a hill, but it would also be far easier to stop.

Oceanside has struggled with momentum throughout our 9 year history. Buildings, health, finances, and confusion of Oceanside's vision and mission have all built huge walls that many times have taken years to breakthrough and overcome.

Once again Oceanside has a little momentum on our side. We've picked up some steam! People are getting their lives changed and we've seen real growth in our worship services. Events like Scaremare have given us little nudges to get us rolling. The question is, how do we keep this momentum? Here are 7 ways that I thought of today.

1. Provide The Finances Needed For Growth.
I wish everything was free, but few things are. If we're going to continue to grow and keep this momentum we're going to have to trust God and do some sacrificial giving. One of Oceanside's biggest barriers is money. Matthew 6:19-21


2. Stay On Board With The Mission.
Far too often people get confused about the mission of Oceanside. We're not left here on Earth to just build cool buildings and hang out together. We're here to build relationships and make disciples. Oceanside needs to be out there making friends and making disciples. That's our mission. Matthew 28:19

3. Love Each Other.
Dissension in the church can ruin momentum faster than you can blink. The sad part is, most of the time church arguments aren't about things that matter. Stay on task, love each other, and take care of each other. Hebrews 10:24-25

4. It's Not About You (Or me).
We often get way too caught up in ourselves. We think the church needs to meet our needs. But if Oceanside is going to continue to grow you're going to have to stop worrying about your comfort and start thinking about the greater mission of Christ's church. Sometimes we forget that we're not people who work and go to church on the weekends. We're the church and we work. Church isn't something we do it's something that we are. Colossians 1:16

I saw this tweet and had to share it with you.

5. Stay In Church.
It is most important that you are THE Church at your job, in your classroom, with your friends, and at home. But don't quit coming to church and small group. Sometimes that means getting up on Sunday is going to be really tough, and staying out late on Saturday might be a little too much. But the fact is your spirit needs the energy is received when Christ's Church meets together. Hebrews 10:25

6. Stay in God's Word and Take Care of Your Spiritual Health.
The temptation is going to be to let that time alone with God slip. DON'T YOU DO IT! In this time of momentum if you're going to participate and get involved where God's at work you'll have to stay in the Bible. You'll have to have deep prayer times with God. You'll have to be on your spiritual guard against Satan. Otherwise this whole thing will fall apart. Proverbs 4:23

7. Forget About Normal.
God doesn't need our normal. There was nothing normal about Jesus. If you're about a church being normal then you are at the wrong church. We're about changing our world, and a lot of times that means we're going to do some strange things. You might have to get on board with some weird things. Like what if we started meeting in a tent for church. Yeah, that would be weird, but it might just be exactly what we need to do. Learn to accept WEIRD and reject NORMAL. Matthew 7:13

There you have it! That's what I came up with. Are there any other ways you can think of to keep our momentum?

Scaremare 2011 by the Numbers (A Postmortem, If You Will)

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Only a few of the volunteer group

What a week! Scaremare was amazing. Just take a look at the numbers.

• 2 Workers Made Life Changing Decisions
• 2 Baptisms Scheduled for November
• 3 Nights
• 6.5 Was the Average Group Size (WHO IS THAT HALF PERSON!?)
• 6 Hours Touring
• 8 Salvations
• 15 Tours
• 35 Volunteers
• 91 Non-Oceansiders Toured Through Scaremare
• 500 Man-hours in Preparation

Numbers matter because people matter. Numbers are individuals. By the numbers this is one of the most successful events Oceanside Church has ever done. We were able to share the Gospel with more lost people in those three nights than we have probably been able to do for the rest of the year. Of those 91 people toured MANY of them did not know Christ.

Painting the Checkerboard Hallway

One of the most powerful parts of the whole experience was the camaraderie between all the volunteers. From set up to tear down everyone spent well over a week together. New friendships were sparked, inside jokes were made, and Christ was spoken into the lives of many workers who had abandoned Him long ago.

Emmie Gluing Newspaper to the Wall For Our Goose Bump Inducing Serial Killer Room

Truly, some of the greatest life change happened in the lives of those who worked in Scaremare. Every night we shared the gospel with ever person who volunteered. They listened and participated. Some made huge decisions, and all left closer to Christ than they came through our doors. That is success.

All these things can happen because of your support of time, prayer, and money. It would not be possible without your audacious vision for this little church in the middle of Mount Pleasant.

Halloween, isn't that the Devil's Holiday?

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Maybe the question has come up, why Halloween? You may think that it's the devil's holiday. And it you'd be pretty close to right. That is exactly why we're using it. We'll kick him right in the face on his own day!

Truth be told, Oceanside hasn't always been successful when having events. Halloween, on the other hand, has been very effective for Oceanside. That is the one day where people actually come out of their homes and talk to us! I wanted to strongly encourage you to get involved. It's going to be unbelievable and I'd hate for you to miss out. Make the sacrifices needed to work October 28, 29, 30, and 31.

People Come out for food and candy...

Trunk 'r Treat: in the past Trunk 'r Treat has been great for us. People in our community have come to recognize Oceanside as a safe, fun, and friendly Halloween destination. Where else can you get piles of candy by walking a total of 50 yards? Last year we had over 100 people visit. Every year it has grown, and hopefully it will be bigger this year. The more people the more come the influence we have.

We need:

• People to sign up to man decorated trunks.
• Have some small game and some candy.
• Workers to walk around, talk, and council people.

"Funeral In My Brain" by Emily Dickinson for the Scaremare preview by Gradearawk

This is a preview of some of the creepy audio that will be in the intro video for Scaremare

Scaremare: because of our yearly success on Halloween we're expanding our influence through our scare house. You can read all about it here. Check out our website for more in-depth information about why and how we'll do it. Also, go like our Facebook page.

We need: 

• Actors
• Builders
• Make-up Artists
• Costumers
• Decorators
• Counselors (for people who accept Christ)
• Crowd control

I really think these two things put together could be huge. Don't miss this opportunity to make a massive and meaningful impact on our community.

I'm Tired of Being a Good Father

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Good enough. I bet any dad who reads this wishes to be a good father. The good enough policy is, well, good enough in a lot of life's areas, but fatherhood is not one of them.

I'll confess I strive to be a great father. I fail far too often. Sometimes I come home and I want my alone time. I veg on my ipad or watch my show on TV. I've worked hard that day and I deserve it... so I think.

I'm always hearing older fathers tell me that, "They'll be grown and out of the house before you know it." I usually smile and nod politely dismissing their wise words. But they are too right.

If a Dad spends an average 6.5 hours with their children every day week, as research shows, that means in a year they will spend 338 hours with their kids. That comes out to a grand total of 2 weeks out of the year with their kids. During the first 18 years of a child's life the father will spend 254 total days with their kids... That's not even 1 whole year before they leave the house. Wow, that sucks. No wonder they're gone before we know it. On average we don't spend a whole year with our kids before they're gone. [Compare that to almost 3 years will be spent with our TV during that same 18 years period, ouch.]

Courageous Movie Trailer

As fathers it is time we start to bump that number WAY up. Come on guys let's at least get an hour a day in (And much more). The time we have to invest in our children is extremely valuable and apparently quite rare. Don't go home a ignore the kids. Go home and invest. The difference that we can make as a father is incredible.

Here is your homework- Go see Courageous in theaters. Get a baby sitter for the kids (This time away from them will be well worth it) and you and the wife go out and see this movie. It might give you a swift punch to the stomach, but sometimes we need that. You'll cry, you'll laugh, and you'll leave changed.