An extraordinary life is not restricted to certain individuals or professions. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you serve in life. If you’re a schoolteacher, businessperson, government leader, stay-at-home mom, athlete, factory worker, hairstylist, student, pastor, you were created for extraordinary achievements in that role.
The power to accomplish remarkable feats and live an exceptional life is not tied to an occupation but to a disposition of the heart. This is not only God’s will but also His great pleasure.
Where is the disconnect? Why aren't we seeing more believers operate in this truth?
Well first, we have an enemy who is called “the ruler of this world.” He influences the world’s systems and sways the minds of those who do not belong to God. The sad fact is that too often the church has limited Satan’s chief strategy to certain behaviors. But he’s much more crafty than that and uses a wide variety of snares and diversions. We’ve missed his primary purpose...
What our enemy fears most is Christians discovering who God’s made them to be—extraordinary people with abilities to carry out remarkable and unusual feats. This should be the image society has of Christians.
In stark contrast to the present reputation of Christians, one of the great struggles the early church encountered was convincing people that they were not superheroes or gods. Cornelius, an officer in the most powerful army in the world, bowed down to worship Peter and his companions. Stunned, Peter immediately replied, “Stand up; I myself am also a man” (Acts 10:26).
In a city named Lystra, the mob “went wild, calling out in their Lyconian dialect, ‘The gods have come down! These men are gods!’” Paul sharply corrected them: “What do you think you’re doing! We’re not gods!” (Acts 14:11, 14, MSG). When Paul was on Malta collecting firewood, a poisonous snake bit him. He shook it off, and the inhabitants anticipated his death. “But when it was obvious he wasn’t going to, they jumped to the conclusion that he was a god!” (28:6, MSG).
Unbelievers said of the early church, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too” (17:6). Christians were held in high esteem by their society. It’s recorded that the entire city of Jerusalem’s attitude toward the church was that “everyone had high regard for them” (5:13, NLT).
In our generation may we each live in such a way to recover that kind of respect for the church.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Shocked & Appalled
Thursday and Friday were shocker days for me, and believe me it takes a lot to shock me!
Picture this, Thursday night my 15-year-old son Arden, my lovely daughter in law Julianna, her son Asher and I are nestled in my bed as I read to Arden. He’d had a long day of school and basketball tryouts and was concerned he’d fall asleep if he attempted reading on his own.
We began with the third chapter of his required English Literature reading, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, this chapter opened with a despondent fourteen year- old boy sharing with his only friend that he is considering killing himself. His friend replies with,“It’s not like anybody is going to notice if you go away. So you might as well gut it out.”
Then it is off to a powwow where these fourteen year-olds try to buy some bootleg liquor when one of them in a fit of rage destroys a minivan that he happened to stumble into. As the pages turned I noticed there was an alarming assortment of cuss words and a declaration of familial detachment. Then as chapter four opened up before us we hit the deal breaking dialogue:
I spend hours in the bathroom with a magazine that has one thousand pictures of naked movie stars:
Naked woman + right hand= happy happy joy joy
Yep, that’s right, I admit that I masturbate. I’m proud of it. I’m good at it. I’m ambidextrous. If there were a Professional Masturbators League. I'd get drafted number one and make millions of dollars. And maybe you’re thinking, “Well you really shouldn’t be talking about masturbation in public.” Well, tough, ‘m going to talk about it because EVERYBODY does it. And EVERYBODY likes it. And it God didn’t want us to masturbate, and then God wouldn’t have given us thumbs. So I thank God for my thumbs. (Pages 25 & 26)
My son turned to me, “Mom I really don’t want to read anymore of this book.”
No doubt.
Well needless to say we supported him in his stance. A question arose, why was Pine Creek our Colorado Springs Public High School requiring its freshman boys to read such material?
In his freshman year my son, Alec who is now a senior there was required to read, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.
The next morning I called the school and spoke with the English teacher who not only defended her literature choice she celebrated how well it was engaging the young men in her class. I told her Arden would not be reading it and asked that she supply another option for him.
She tried to defend the book because it’s representation of the Indian ethnic struggle. Well as someone who is proud to be part native, I have to admit this book does represent the worst of the worst well. It is full of drunk Indians who beat their wives, children a handicapped boy, and eventually run over a grandmother. There is entitled shoplifting, drug use, eating disorders and the list goes on.
The book has won many prestigious book awards, but that’s no surprise in our jaded world. It is not the right of the author to pen his life story or the awards I question. What I question is that it is required reading.
I write now in protest to what happened to my son Friday. Arden was singled out. His lack of willingness to participate in this book was highlighted in front of the entire class. The teacher slammed two books down on his desk demanded that he choose right then and there which book he was willing to read.
She berated his choice to read Of Mice and Men saying it was awful and the violence made it too embarrassing to read before her class. (But no doubt she would not be embarrassed to read out loud the above excerpt to a group of young adolescent boys)
The girls had been dismissed to the care of their TA for a separate discussion group. Rather than remaining in the room she asked all the boys in the class that were happy to continue with her reading choice to come outside the classroom which left Arden alone in the room.
When two boys looked back and noticed Arden alone they returned to the room and joined Arden in the classroom and switched books.
Since when did locker room talk count for education?
Since when does the Publically funded school system have the right to introduce material to its students that they would be restricted from in the movie theatres or at least there would be a PG rating so the parents could review and choose whether this is a course they wanted their children to pursue and if so to appropriately navigate it with them.
I personally am not comfortable with a teacher who publically shames a student who feels his conscience is violated while removing all boundaries of propriety between her and the other adolescent boys.
Is this truly representative of an educator?
I would hope our educational system would seek to inspire the young men to be protectors of the virtue of their female classmates and all women for that matter.
You see I have witnessed another equation:
Endorsing pornography + masturbation = misogyny subjugation of women + sexual detachment = strip clubs + prostitution = sex trafficking heart break
So parents don’t imagine that just because your child can read that you should no longer read with them. I suggest you scan what they read. I also want you to know your child and you do have a voice. If for any reason a required reading book violates your family morals or conscience your child does have the right to request an alternative without being shamed by their teacher.
Picture this, Thursday night my 15-year-old son Arden, my lovely daughter in law Julianna, her son Asher and I are nestled in my bed as I read to Arden. He’d had a long day of school and basketball tryouts and was concerned he’d fall asleep if he attempted reading on his own.
We began with the third chapter of his required English Literature reading, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, this chapter opened with a despondent fourteen year- old boy sharing with his only friend that he is considering killing himself. His friend replies with,“It’s not like anybody is going to notice if you go away. So you might as well gut it out.”
Then it is off to a powwow where these fourteen year-olds try to buy some bootleg liquor when one of them in a fit of rage destroys a minivan that he happened to stumble into. As the pages turned I noticed there was an alarming assortment of cuss words and a declaration of familial detachment. Then as chapter four opened up before us we hit the deal breaking dialogue:
I spend hours in the bathroom with a magazine that has one thousand pictures of naked movie stars:
Naked woman + right hand= happy happy joy joy
Yep, that’s right, I admit that I masturbate. I’m proud of it. I’m good at it. I’m ambidextrous. If there were a Professional Masturbators League. I'd get drafted number one and make millions of dollars. And maybe you’re thinking, “Well you really shouldn’t be talking about masturbation in public.” Well, tough, ‘m going to talk about it because EVERYBODY does it. And EVERYBODY likes it. And it God didn’t want us to masturbate, and then God wouldn’t have given us thumbs. So I thank God for my thumbs. (Pages 25 & 26)
My son turned to me, “Mom I really don’t want to read anymore of this book.”
No doubt.
Well needless to say we supported him in his stance. A question arose, why was Pine Creek our Colorado Springs Public High School requiring its freshman boys to read such material?
In his freshman year my son, Alec who is now a senior there was required to read, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.
The next morning I called the school and spoke with the English teacher who not only defended her literature choice she celebrated how well it was engaging the young men in her class. I told her Arden would not be reading it and asked that she supply another option for him.
She tried to defend the book because it’s representation of the Indian ethnic struggle. Well as someone who is proud to be part native, I have to admit this book does represent the worst of the worst well. It is full of drunk Indians who beat their wives, children a handicapped boy, and eventually run over a grandmother. There is entitled shoplifting, drug use, eating disorders and the list goes on.
The book has won many prestigious book awards, but that’s no surprise in our jaded world. It is not the right of the author to pen his life story or the awards I question. What I question is that it is required reading.
I write now in protest to what happened to my son Friday. Arden was singled out. His lack of willingness to participate in this book was highlighted in front of the entire class. The teacher slammed two books down on his desk demanded that he choose right then and there which book he was willing to read.
She berated his choice to read Of Mice and Men saying it was awful and the violence made it too embarrassing to read before her class. (But no doubt she would not be embarrassed to read out loud the above excerpt to a group of young adolescent boys)
The girls had been dismissed to the care of their TA for a separate discussion group. Rather than remaining in the room she asked all the boys in the class that were happy to continue with her reading choice to come outside the classroom which left Arden alone in the room.
When two boys looked back and noticed Arden alone they returned to the room and joined Arden in the classroom and switched books.
Since when did locker room talk count for education?
Since when does the Publically funded school system have the right to introduce material to its students that they would be restricted from in the movie theatres or at least there would be a PG rating so the parents could review and choose whether this is a course they wanted their children to pursue and if so to appropriately navigate it with them.
I personally am not comfortable with a teacher who publically shames a student who feels his conscience is violated while removing all boundaries of propriety between her and the other adolescent boys.
Is this truly representative of an educator?
I would hope our educational system would seek to inspire the young men to be protectors of the virtue of their female classmates and all women for that matter.
You see I have witnessed another equation:
Endorsing pornography + masturbation = misogyny subjugation of women + sexual detachment = strip clubs + prostitution = sex trafficking heart break
So parents don’t imagine that just because your child can read that you should no longer read with them. I suggest you scan what they read. I also want you to know your child and you do have a voice. If for any reason a required reading book violates your family morals or conscience your child does have the right to request an alternative without being shamed by their teacher.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
It's Your Faith
Did you know that you cannot be held back, overcome, or defeated by anything or anyone? No force of darkness can stop your faith. His glory and power is rising within you."Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you." (Isaiah 60:1-3, NKJV)
Could it be that we will remove the limits as a church?
We are not people of this world; we are a royal priesthood and a holy generation. We have the divine nature within us as sons and daughters of the light!
Why have we not gone after what belongs to Jesus with all-out persistence? He gave us His authority to save the lost, heal the sick, recover treasure from darkness, bring solution to the world's biggest problems and live extraordinarily! He told us to do these things in His name with His authority (Matt 28:18-20). Do we understand how much He has entrusted to us? We are to bring heaven to earth--in our lives and in the arenas of life we have influence in.
Jesus says, "Listen! I have given you authority, so that you can...overcome all the power of the Enemy, and nothing will hurt you" (Luke 10:19, TEV).
It's time--not 10 years from now, not even a year from now. Quit looking at your limited ability; focus on His authority and His infinite ability in you! Now is the time to arise and live an extraordinary life by God's empowerment.
Are there mountains in your life blocking the path to your extraordinary life? Click here to submit your personal prayer requests and we will come alongside you in powerful prayer!
We believe in you,
John & Lisa
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