I’ll login to Facebook and start this conversation with a friend or family member. You’re all excited that they’re on at the same time you are, but maybe they’re not as excited. You have some awesome news for them, but they have no clue what’s coming. They’re interested in what you have to say, but little did you know – they have a full afternoon and have to head out before you get to the good stuff.

The conversation doesn’t just slow down and fade to nothing, it slams like a door in your face. You’re left sitting there, with news that might have even been worth their time. Maybe their internet connection just glitched and they’ll be back on in a few minutes? That seems to happen maybe 1 in 100 times. The other 99? Your news can wait.

Let’s switch it up. You take my place, and God is on the other end. He’s ready to chat, but something fills up your time. Think God’s connection ever has issues? Are you like me, and the struggle isn’t finding God rudely jumping offline when you’re ready to talk, but it’s more likely that you haven’t gone out of your way to login and even see if He might be online at the same time you happen to be?

Now everytime I go to chat with someone, and I get that ugly error message that begs me to “Send it as a message since they’ve left”…..I take that as a sign to jump into prayer. Who would have ever thought Mark Zuckerberg would help us in our walk with the Lord? This ever happen to you, or am I the only one, LOL?

Back to the title of the blog. I noticed a blog post from a large news network this evening that screamed “Behold, the new iPod”. Behold? Like stop in your tracks, re-adjust your priorities, and lust after a piece of hardware that is less than 2″ in diameter behold. I’ve blogged before about this I’m sure, but there are very few things (if not just ONE) that should stop you in your tracks like that. If you have no clue who / what that ONE thing is I guess that RADICAL read-along thing might be just the thing for you. It will be for me for the next 10 weeks (starting on Sept. 7th).

Today was probably the first Apple event in a few years that I had no clue was even scheduled. The first in a long time that I didn’t drop my work and “behold” what Steve was sharing. And my life hasn’t degenerated as a result. How do you react when Mr. Jobs requests your attention?

All of this would be impossible without the prayer and financial support of many friends and family members. We were supported as a “missionary family” to work for 1-2 years for a church camp here in Ohio. That support helped me start out as a self-employed web designer over 4 years ago. I’ve now taken a full-time position outside the home, but this missions trip is a great reminder of how God provided when we took that step a few years ago. Reminding me how much people actually care and want God’s work to take place. It wasn’t very easy for me to take the step this time, but I knew it was what God wanted.

Marla and I will be tweeting while we’re on the way there, but I’m excited to partially unplug and connect to things that God wants to do with our hands and our hearts. Have you ever stepped out into a unfamiliar situation / location / circumstance where you were uncertain what God had in store? I’d love to hear about it.

Life really is a story. The way we live it mirrors how we tell our stories. If we know God, there are certain laws and truths that He’s given us to help us build our story. Somehow we start narrating the story / living the life by going down a rabbit trail that doesn’t match how He desires for our story to continue. He’s given us the pen, knowing very well how our story should be told, but letting us figure out a way to screw it up. Rabbit trail after Captain Me Planet rabbit trail.

Isn’t that what free will is all about? God having the power to keep us on a leash, but somehow He loves us enough to unhook the chain and let us get lost.

The story of Christ (God the Son) is the only story on earth where the pen wasn’t handed over. The story wasn’t screwed up, because God the Father satisfied Himself by covering our messed up stories with the one His Son wrote over the course of 33 years.

Thanks to a discussion going on over on Max vs. Max today, I was blown away by the words of C.S. Lewis. – “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” (Mere Christianity, Bk. III, Chap. 10, “Hope”).

What are 2-3 things that you have found yourself chasing, thinking your craving would be satisfied, but finding the next minute or next morning that it was only another rabbit trail ending in a desire for something more? Were you made for another world?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’m a big fan of Skillet, and am thankful to have had the opportunity to hang out with them a bit. There’s lots of church music out there whose lyrics might come straight out of the Bible. You might consider that “Christian” music. Does it challenge you to actually WAKE UP and take another step in faith? That’s what this song does for me. Enjoy the video! I’d love to hear what kind of music causes you to think about things that matter eternally? Since that is ALL that matters.

Being a disciple doesn’t come easily
The past few months I’ve started to speak out a bit more about the local monthly (free) gatherings that are starting to take place across the globe via the Digital Disciples network. Some people respond by saying “I wish there was a group in my city…..it sounds so cool” or ask “could you stream your monthly gathering in Columbus live over the internet so we can sit in on it from the comfort of our couch”. Obviously paraphrased from responses I’ve heard!

I’ll be honest. I know there are some people who “have heard” about Digital Disciples. They feel like they should get involved, but they didn’t start it. They’d rather stick to the ministries that have their name on them, like living the Christian life is all about knowing who’s doing the most good. That’s what I love most about this discipleship network that is growing. It’s completely grassroots. No funding, no business plan, and honestly no measurement of what the world would call “a success”. Find a coffee shop or location that works, get together once per month and watch God move.

The way I look at it, it’s already a HUGE success. I get to meet with a fellow disciple tomorrow for lunch. Someone that’s been placed in a tough position, but has as much tech skills as the rest of us that meet here in town. What an honor!

The challenge for us all
Do you enjoy growing in your understanding of technology or creativity and have a passion to follow Christ? Are there at least two more individuals in your city who could meet with you on a monthly basis? Imagine forming a group where the sky is the limit to both your tech / creative understanding and in the transparency of your life of faith / spiritual growth! I think it’s time we realize just how important people are, and stop focusing on “what we can do” or the “services we have to offer”.

How about you? You spend time listening / giving lately? Or does everything you touch involve receiving only? The feet of the disciples had to move. If they were still alive on earth today they wouldn’t just be creating online ministries. They would be living them.

This weekend Larry King invited Jennifer Knapp, award-winning Christian musician who is now a professing homosexual, into an interview. You can browse all over YouTube and check out the interview videos. I’m not writing this to bash Jennifer. She’s had enough of that. I am standing up for the fact that God’s Word is clear and a life lived in following Christ is a life of repentance (privately or publicly – it doesn’t matter how or where). From the interview (and many other articles), it’s obvious she’s not repenting.

She goes on to say that those who believe that homosexuality is a sin have wrongly interpreted “Greek” scripture. Sorry Jennifer, but homosexuality doesn’t stop short of the Greek text (Sodom and Gomorrah, etc. – Hebrew). His standard against the sin of homosexuality continues throughout the New Testament (“Greek” text). In case you’re questioning that, you can read at least one obvious instance in Romans 1:24-27.

I write this because I care deeply for the church (the Monday – Saturday church outside four walls). A church (me included) that sins every day. But a church that stands firm on repentance being just as much a part of life as love is. Obviously the people that are standing up for God’s Word love Jennifer. If they didn’t love her (like I do), they wouldn’t take the time to pray, write blogs, send her emails, direct messages via Twitter, etc. Why wouldn’t they just give up on her? Really?

And obviously, by the title of this blog post, I believe the cross is being shared with less and less confidence. God’s Word is being faded out by much of Christian music, often replaced with politically correct ideas to gain sales. Just some, not all of “Christian music” (to be clear). I won’t get into how liberalism seems to be predominant in the same circles. Nashville struggles with becoming like Las Vegas. The problem? Whatever happens in Las Vegas really doesn’t stay there. It’s time we gave up on that idea. Pray for me and for yourself, just as much (if not more) than Jennifer. That we won’t stray from being people that repent for our actions. It’s not perfection that is required, it’s that we acknowledge the work of the cross and why that was even necessary.