exploring god-shaped shifts

not about us

2005-10-19T09:00:00.000-04:00

Reading: Matthew 9:35-38 NLT

35Jesus traveled through all the cities and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And wherever he went, he healed people of every sort of disease and illness. 36He felt great pity for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn't know where to go for help. They were like sheep without a shepherd. 37He said to his disciples, "The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. 38So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields."

Thought/Story:
Jesus could have asked us to pray for the sheep. Or he could have asked the Father to save all the sheep…instead he asks us to pray for (and be) the harvest workers!

I came to know quite a lot about sheep while living on a farm in rural Virginia. There , the farm owner had a flock of 100 or so sheep that she would shear every year and sell the wool. Here is what I learned about sheep: They are not very smart animals. They would wander into swamps, or ponds, become waterlogged and die, without much struggle. They have no natural defense: they cannot outrun a predator,(many were run down and killed by local dogs) they literally cannot fight back. They rely on something (like a fence or barn) or someone (like a shepherd and his dogs) to give them protection.

Exercise:

To reach our friends and family, I’m increasingly convinced we have to start by listening to them. Just be yourself! Show sincere interest. People so need to be listened to. We don’t have to close the deal each time we talk to our friends. Go on a journey together. Listen. Pray. Pray some more!

“Don’t talk to them about God, until you have talked to God about them”
-quote from last Sundays sermon

Questions:
Do you feel guilt when it comes to “evangelism”? Or insecurity? Why?

Who are the people in your life who might be called “sheep without a shepherd?”

Would you start praying for them every day?(Hint: don’t get into a rut praying the same thing over and over: ask God one day to plant a thought or to have them hear about Him in a unique way or have an experience that draws them to God, etc)

Bare Feet

2005-10-11T11:20:00.000-04:00

seismic.shift – mine to God’s
- “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” - Malachi 3:10

- Have you ever been afraid to take off your shoes in public? Or take off your socks for that matter? There is a small sense of fear that goes along with taking your shoes off while with other people. You have the fear that perhaps your feet might not smell as good as when you put your shoes on that morning. But, when you do, even if it’s in the safety of your own room at home the feeling is incredible. The freedom of your toes is breathtaking (in more ways than one).
The principal of my Christian high school would frequently preach to the students during our weekly chapel sessions. Being that the school was in the south and he happened to be from Connecticut he had some different phrases for things. Different figures of speech than we were used to. One of his favorites was saying that God had or was going to “Bless your socks off”. I never really liked it when he said that, mainly because I was full of myself in high school but also because I rarely wore socks. I hadn’t thought about that phrase or him since I graduated until I read this verse. But the figure of speech is an interesting analogy. The feeling you get after taking your shoes off is pure freedom. Imagine that feeling of blessing throughout everything a part of your lives. Stick with me, I’m not comparing God’s blessings to refreshed feet but what I am saying is that: Basically, God is asking for us not to hold anything back, to offer our resources to him but mainly to offer ourselves “as living sacrifices” as Paul says in Romans 12:2. Being that all we are and all we have belongs to God in the first place, why not give it all back to him? God is essentially saying that if we empty our personal storehouses and bring all of our selves, our desires, and our possessions to him he is going to bless our socks off. My dad always used to say that the hardest part about being a living sacrifice is that it hurts and we keep trying to get off the altar. So, I invite you to hop on the altar and make the shift from a mindset of mine to an attitude that recognizes God as owner and operator of our lives.

Take your shoes off and run some water over your feet. Feel the immediate sense of freedom and refreshment that this causes. Walk into your room and look at your things. In your mind imagine yourself (you can even do this if you want) writing on an entire pack of post-it notes “God’s”. Then after that imagine yourself putting the notes on all your stuff. Put them on your computer, your playstation, you’re TV. your dog, your guitar, your window, everything you can see. Feel the immediate sense of freedom and refreshment that this causes. If we acknowledge that God owns everything in the first place we are free from the bondage of materialism.

In what ways are you trying to get off the altar?
What could you be offering to God that you aren’t already?
Why are your shoes still on?
What are other ways that I could give back to God what is rightfully his?

Tell the Truth and Forget about it!

2005-10-08T14:43:00.000-04:00

Scripture Reading: Zechariah 8:16-17, Ephesians 4:15, Proverbs 12:19, 22

So it was late Friday night and I was out with my friend Ryan who was older and really cool. We met with two girls and crammed into his Cherry Red Ford Pinto. Before this, I was on my way to my friend Sean’s house to spend the night, but hanging out with Ryan and these to girls seemed way cooler. I called Sean and gave him some lame excuse about how I wouldn’t be able to get to his house that night until much later that night.

The night wasn’t anything special, Ryan and I did what we always did, we rode our skateboards around empty parking lots, grinding curbs, hand rails and trying to clear gaps that seemed big to us. The only thing different about this night was that we had an audience. We had just met these two girls in a supermarket parking lot and apparently they had nothing better to do than watch us skate.

I ended up getting to Sean’s house really late that night. He was already asleep and I fell asleep with out a word. The next afternoon Sean was eating lunch and asked “What happened last night?” Without pause I lied to him about where I was and what I did. The truth was that I didn’t want him there because I was with Ryan and two really cute girls. ” With a smile on his face, all he said to me was, “Oh that’s cool. With that said, I headed down the hall with a knot in the pit of my stomach.

I turned and walked back into the kitchen and told Sean the truth about the night before. “I’m sorry,” I told him, “I was out with Ryan and two girls we met and were skating in the Stater Bros Parking lot and dude I totally ditched you and am totally sorry.”
“It’s ok.” He told me, I knew you were lying to me.” “You did?” I asked, “Sure!” he said with a smile. “Then why did you act like you believed me?” I asked, he told me, “It really looked like you wanted me to believe you so I played along.” My heart sank even further into my stomach and I got little teary eyed as I realized at that moment the kind of friend Sean was to me.

Few friends would take it on the chin and smile at you for the sake of you feeling better about yourself, but Sean was that kind of a friend. He was also the one who would tell me when I was acting like a jerk. He seemed to know just how to call me out and be a real friend to me. The truth was something he never hid from me, or anyone for that matter. I knew I could trust him to do what was best for me, whether it was telling me the brutal truth or pretending to believe me when I was not truthful and letting my conscience do its own work. There is so much freedom in never telling a lie. I read it most simply put like this,

“If you always tell the truth, you never have to remember anything.”
-Mark Twain

Tact, backed with the truth, is all it takes to speak the truth in love. It is an art that we as Christ followers need to learn to master. Speaking the truth in love will not only free up our minds from many of life’s worries, but also set others free in more ways than we can imagine.

Questions:
Are you the type of friend who tells your friend the truth even when it hurts?

Do you know people who never seem to tell it like it is?

Which is better, flattery that makes a person feel good, or truth that hurts?

Exercise: Be sure to tell the truth especially in the little things. Tell it straight and wrap it in love to others. Invite someone into your life this week to call you out in blunt ways, to tell you the truth, even if it stings. It will free you to focus on what needs to change in your own life and free others from having to keep things from you.

Prayer: Ask God to help you to be kind to others, to always make you ready with the truth wrapped into a kind word for someone who need one, especially when the truth hurts.

It Is Better To Give Than To Receive (Especially in a fight!)

2005-10-06T15:33:00.000-04:00

Thursday Oct 6, 2005

Reading: John 13:3-5, Mark10:45, Phil 2:3-8

Thought:
Serving is like Boxing.. It is better to give than to receive. I know a pastor who is an ex-boxer. He is full of stories and facts about boxing and about life growing up on the streets of Philly. He told of time when he was in a place that was not welcoming of him being there. He was fighting the hometown favorite in the favorite’s hometown. He knew he could beet the guy and instead of just doing so he decided to shop boat a little. I guess he thought that he would become the next hometown hero. He did everything from beat on his chest, to howl, to wind his arm several times before he threw a punch, to dance in circles around this guy.

This made the crowd very angry and from what he told me they even started throwing tomatoes. (Yes, just like in the movies) The short of the story is that he ended up winning but barely got out with his own life. The police had been called before the fight was over in order to escort him out of the ring for his own safety. His manager was so mad at him for the display of showboating he really laid into him after they left the arena and even told his father that he would not work with his son anymore for the fact that he almost got them both mobbed and maybe killed.

What was the big deal? So he beat a guy and made it look fancy doing it, what is the matter with that? The point is not about who won or lost it was about pride and dignity. He stripped his opponent of both by beating him the way he did. So often it seems that people will serve with the idea that they will get something out of it. My friend the ex-boxer served this guy up a woopin but did it in such a way that he was hated for it. What he should have done was kept his mouth shut, won the fight and quietly left the ring.

Questions:
How often do we serve with the motive of being recognized or even thanked?

Jesus set the example many times in his life here on earth, by being God and serving us.

How much more should we be willing to serve others in a humble way if Christ is willing to serve us?

What are some ways you can serve other and be a blessing to them?

Exercise:
Pay attention to what is happening in your house and take a chore for a family member without being asked. Whether it be cleaning the bathroom, doing the laundry (Don’t mix lights and darks or shrink anything) or even making someone’s bed for them. Look for ways you can be a blessing to someone else this week and do it. What you get out of it is a deep fulfillment that only comes from doing these things for others and who knows what else it may just save your life?

Pray:
Ask God to show you ways to be a servant to someone else. Pray for those whom you wish to serve and who serve you.

Ice Cubes or Warm water?

2005-10-05T11:13:00.000-04:00

Wednesday Oct 5, 2005

Ice Cubes or Warm water?

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:29

Thought:
Have you ever gotten a cup of cold water poured on you in the shower? It is funny to watch but not fun to have happen. The same is true of insults, though they are funny to hear sometimes, they are not fun to have hurled at you. I heard it said once that it takes 10 compliments to make up for 1 insult. I don’t know if 10 is really the magic number or not but I do know that insults hurt and can have a lasting effect on a person.

I have heard it said that we all have buckets that others pour into. Warm water is from those who encourage us and ice-cubes are from those who say unkind words that sting and hurt us.

People are drawn to those who share warm water. Awhile ago, we decided to test this theory and gave out sticky notes one week just to see what would happen. The results were beyond what we could have ever imagined. Our teens took the sticky notes and were set loose on their teachers, parents, friends and even people they didn’t get along with. Most of the notes were not signed but said things like “I believe in you!” or “I’m praying for you!” or “You are cool” some even wrote “Jesus loves you!”.

One teacher stopped class when she found a note and demanded to know who left it on her desk. This was a teacher who had given this student a hard time for being so outright with her Christianity. When the girl raised her hand she said, “I just thought you could use some encouragement”, the teacher grinned from ear to ear and said, “Thank you! You don’t know how much this means to me.” From that point on the teacher would eagerly call on this student and really listened to her thoughts. She encouraged her in her convictions, though she did not agree with her beliefs in God. It is amazing how far a little encouragement can go.

Questions:
Is your bucket full of warm water that feels good or ice cubes that can cut and are
chilling?

Are you filling the buckets of others with warm water or ice-cubes?
Think back to an insult that hurt your feelings…Are you willing to let it go and forgive them?

Did you know that God only thinks good thoughts about you?
It is true!!!

Exercise:
Find a sticky pad or some 3x5 card or something and write a few notes of encouragement. Make sure you give them to the people in your family, friends and give out to a few people you may not like or think don’t like you. You don’t have to sign them but you can if you want to.

Pray:
Ask God to give you words that are warm to say to others. Pray that the notes you give out will get to those who really need some encouraging words.

Blah Blah Blah!

2005-10-04T19:37:00.000-04:00

Tuesday Oct 4, 2005

Reading:
1 Corinthians 10:6-10
Thought:
Have you ever been around someone who just didn’t know when to keep their mouth shut? Whether it was grumbling behind someone’s back or just out and out blurting out things that were not nice to others. The Bible talks about this among other sins and calls it just that… sin.

I had a friend in the 8th grade who had a similar problem, he never knew when to keep his mouth shut. We were out back behind my house skating one night in the school yard parking lot. It ran up to the back of my fence and we would often hop the fence and skateboard under the lights.

We where laughing and tooling around on the curbs and benches when some gangster looking guys rolled up in their car and stopped right where we were. One guy leaned out the far side window, pulled a gun out of his coat and pointed it at us. We stood their frozen and just waited to see what he would do. We were out in the open with no where to run so we were stuck as he stared us down.

He finally spoke and said, “Don’t leave on our account guys.” My friend must have had a fire started inside of him because he blurted out with out a blink “Don’t worry, we won’t… I’m not scared of you just because you have a gun! What are you without ----- It was all I could do to grab him and cover his mouth. I held him tight so he couldn’t speak and say something that would get us shot. I said something to the effect of, “We were just leaving…” I remember him being real upset with me later on for backing down from the guys in the car. I never regretted not getting shot that night. All in all I would say that keeping my mouth shut was a good thing to do in that case.

Now when I have someone at church badmouth or grumble about someone else whether it be about a pastor or church member, I say “Wow, is that how you really feel? I think this person would like to know that you feel this way, let’s go and tell them right now and get this straightened out.” And without fail the grumbling stops.

Exercise:
Think of a time when you or someone you know grumbled about someone else.
Question:
What was the response?
The next time you are faced with a similar situation, how will you react?
What words will you use?
Will you choose to be a part of the solution of part of the problem?
Remember: If you feed a fire it will grow…
Pray: Ask God for discernment on how to recognize it and handle it.

Foot in mouth disease

2005-10-03T18:03:00.000-04:00

Reading:
Proverbs 18:21
Proverbs 12:18
James 3:5-6

Thought:
There are times in life when we do or say something we wished we could take back. This is called putting your foot in your mouth and it happens when we react to situations instead of respond in a loving way.

In 5th grade I played Basketball and my dad was the coach. He was the most encouraging coach any athlete could ever ask for. He never let it get to him when a bad call was made and he never lost his cool. One evening we had one of the toughest games I remember playing. The other team cheated every way they could. They called us bad names and even threw elbows when the ref was not looking. It was a tough game but to this day I and I can’t remember if we won or lost.
Here is why…

After the game was over, we were marching through the “Good Game line”, slapping hands of the other team and muttering “Good game- good game- good game.” to each passing player. When I came to the two who had been throwing elbows and cursing at us in the game I muttered “Good game” and held out my hand to slap theirs when they cursed at me again and gave me a shove. This was the last straw and I let them have it. Not with my fists but with screaming insults and words that would normally get my mouth washed with soap. Where they had shoved me where no one else could see it and cussed at me where only my ears heard it, the whole gymnasium heard the colorful language that I was coming out of my mouth.

My dad grabbed me up and carried me outside and I will never forget what he said to me.
“Son, they were wrong to cuss at you and throw elbows on the court. They cheated this whole game and were the bad guys until you just opened your mouth. Now, you look like the bad guy. All that they did to you guys tonight doesn’t matter now all anyone will remember is how you just cussed then out. By opening your mouth you made yourself look like the bad guy and now everyone feels sorry for them.” Open mouth, insert foot… Foot in mouth disease is one that we all seem to contract from time to time. This happens when we react, forgetting to bless others and put our own feelings ahead of theirs. We need to train ourselves to respond in a loving way not only to bless others but also to save face.

Exercise:
Think of a time when someone upset you and how you reacted.
Question:
Could you have responded in a different way and saved face?
Plan ahead:
The next time you are faced with a similar situation, how will you react?
What words will you use?
Will you choose to bless them or not?
Remember: “A negative response will always get a negative response
But… little bit of kindness goes a long way!
Pray: Ask God for the wisdom to respond to situations that upset you and take a moment to pray for those people who always seem to upset you.

A day off?

2005-09-29T15:05:00.000-04:00

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
_Exodus 20:8-11

You shall not Murder. You shall have no other Gods before me. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. Honor your father and mother.

Do you find it interesting that among such strong commandments, among such strong statements that we see clearly as right and wrong, that in here we find the words, honor God by taking a day off?
Does it also invite the question, why don’t we take this more seriously?

What does it mean to take a Sabbath?
Do I lie around and memorize scripture all day?
Do I just lie around?

How do I incorporate a Sabbath into my schedule

How do you Honor the Sabbath?

The speed of life.

2005-09-27T16:59:00.000-04:00

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
_Matthew 11:29-30

A friend approached me the other day and asked “How I was doing?” and “If I was keeping busy?” Now I know he was just making casual conversation and so I shrugged it off, but deep inside I resented the question. I wanted to answer that I had not been busy at all but had recently enjoyed the pace of my life and I wanted to recount to him the book I had been leisurely reading and mention a conversation or a small thing that had inspired me to reflect on something truly significant. I wanted to answer that way, but I knew it wasn’t true. Instead I said, “Yeah, pretty busy, but with good stuff.” I wanted to scream that busyness does not equal significance or satisfaction, so just stop it! And stick it to the man while you’re at it! But all I could honestly say was “yeah.”
In our culture we easily associate busyness with importance. If I am constantly hopping from one thing to the next only stopping to collapse into bed at the end of the day, then I must be valuable, I must be needed, I am busy therefore I am important. But this lifestyle begs the question “Is this all there is to life?” “Does this really satisfy my soul?”

Can you look back at the end of the day and know it was worthwhile?
Or are you just glad you survived?
Do you have the time to do the things that are important to you?
Are you free to be the person you would like to be?

Jesus talks about giving us rest, rest for our soul. That sounds good. He says that if we want it, we must learn from him. We see Jesus slow down and seek solitude even when everyone wanted a piece of him. He wasn’t afraid to say no. He even said no to things that were good to do, in order to do things that were great.

Do you need to keep busy in order in order to feel good about yourself?
What does this say about where you place your identity?

What does it mean to have rest for your soul?
Have you experienced this?

What can we learn from Jesus life about finding peace in our own?

from doing to being

2005-09-21T15:56:00.000-04:00

reading

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
(mark 1.9-11 nrsv)

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
(1 john 3.1 niv)

This is the kind of love we are talking about--not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God. My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us--perfect love!
(1 john 4.10-12 tm)

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
(1 john 4.16 niv)

thought

I am the one who is smart- maybe the smartest in my school.

I am the one who is captain of the team.

I am the one who works the hardest.

I am the one who is the life of the party.

I am the one who always looks perfect.

I am the one who has the scoring record.

I am the one who always helps people.

I am the one who will do anything to get that right person to like me.

I am the one who is a leader.

I am the one who is never afraid.

I am the one who holds my family together.

I am the one who made varsity this year.

This is how we usually define ourselves. Our lives turn into a game to see what you can do to stake your claim as someone who matters, someone who is significant, someone who deserves to be liked- maybe even loved. Those of us who are living the Way of Jesus embrace a significant change in how we look at ourselves- we’re not accepted for what we do; we’re accepted for who our Father in the heavens says we are. Our Father speaks over all of us connected with Jesus the same words that he thundered from the heavens in today’s reading: you are my Beloved. I love you. For who you are. I’m pleased with you.

I am the one who is accepted by God for who he has made me.

I am the one who has heard my Father say, “You are my Beloved, my dearly loved one. I love you.”

I am the one that the Father is pleased with.

I am the one who Jesus sacrificed himself for.

I am the one who has the freedom of living in God’s unconditional love.

I am the one who freely expresses God’s crazy, irrational love to everyone I can get my hands on.

Conversation
**What are the ways that you try and earn acceptance from other people?

**Listen to God. How do you respond when you hear him say that you’re his Beloved, his child in the family of Jesus, the one on whom he lavishes his love? Have you ever let God speak that to you before?
**How do you think it would change your life to define yourself, not in terms of what you do, but of who God has made you to be?
**What are some practical ways that you can remind yourself and your other friends who follow Jesus about this truth?
**What are some practical ways you can express God’s crazy, irrational love to other people?

**click "comment," and let the conversation begin...

from infancy to maturity

2005-09-20T16:17:00.000-04:00

Reading
We must no longer be children… But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love. (Ephesians 4.14-16 nrsv)

By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one- baby’s milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago! Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways; solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong. So come on, let’s leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. (Hebrews 5.12-6.1 tm)

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature… (2 peter 1.3-4 esv)

Story
In the hit Christmas comedy Elf, Will Farrell plays a kid who goes to live with Santa’s elves when he’s a baby. As the years pass, his body grows like a normal human’s would, but mentally he still lives in the world of the elves, where life consists of games, candy, toys, and Christmas all year round. He receives a rude awakening when he travels to New York at Christmas to meet his real parents…

When I watched this movie, I was almost rolling in the aisles (which, given the popcorn and spilled soda, I’m glad I didn’t do) as I was laughing at how comical it was to see this grown man act like a child all the time. If you had a parent or a teacher who acted like they were 9 years old all the time and only ate chocolate and licorice, you’d laugh too.

We’d be astonished, alarmed, and shocked to meet a person who never “grew up” mentally or physically. Yet why are we not surprised when we meet someone who never matures in their journey with God? Peter, one of Jesus’ closest friends, shares with the community of people he led that God has rescued us from sin and given us life “so that you may become partakers of the divine nature.” We were actually created to grow, change, and mature! We are rescued by God so that we can partake of God’s heart and life- have Jesus’ character, priorities, increasingly become what we live for.

Exercise
Sit down today and make a list. How are you different right now than you were 1 year ago in how you look, what you do for fun, what you know, etc? How is your life with God different than it was 1 year ago? Are you more or less like Jesus than you were 1 year ago? In what ways? If it looks like your growth in Christ is suffering from some malnutrition, take a few minutes to talk with God about how your life needs to take on Jesus’ life…

Conversation
-in what ways have you taken on the heart and life of Jesus?
-in what areas of you life are you suffering from stunted growth?
-how do you want to be more like Jesus 1 year from now than you are right now?
-in your journey with God, are you in preschool, jr. high, or college?
-hit “comment,” and let the conversation begin…

come on in...

2005-09-19T16:36:00.000-04:00

thanks for visiting the Seismic Shift blog- come on in! This is a space for you to kick off your shoes, make yourself right at home, have some good conversation, and engage in an interactive encounter with God. Glad you stopped by...

did you ever play with dominoes when you were a kid? I used to lack some social skills as a wee lad, so i would lock myself in our family's basement, and spend hours upon hours setting up intricate configurations of them- sometimes only to accidentally trip one and have hours of hard work destroyed! That's kind of the idea that's driving this experience: that small but significant shifts create shockwaves of change in our lives! What we want to do together here is to place our lives before God and allow him to produce seismic change in our lives so that we learn to develop deep and complete connection with Jesus.

here's how this experience will work... you'll need to stop by for a while each day from now until the end of October. We'll have some guides for you to interact with God, and with each other, in the following format. Here's what to expect each day:

reading- a selection of Scripture for you to work through and chew on
thought/story- some thoughts and reflections based on the Scripture passage, or a real-life, open-ended narrative for you to engage with
excercise- a practical experiment for you to try out to initiate seismic change in your own life
questions- based on the Scripture readings, story, and excercise for you to think through and respond to, so that you can work through making seismic changes to your life in conversation with God and your seismic-shifting friends
comment- we set this whole thing up in blog format so that this whole experience could be a conversation! share your thoughts on the experience for the day. journal out a prayer. ask questions. respond to other peoples' thoughts and questions. report back on how God is producing change and significant shift in your life. you get the picture... just click on "comment," make sure to respect other peoples' thoughts, and let the games begin...

here's the ground rules:

make the commitment to spend some time in conversation with God and think through how he wants to change and re-shape your life here on a regular basis. we'll be posting these seismic experiences for you to work through 5 days a week.
be completely honest in your interaction with God and other people on this blog.
have fun!
comment, and comment on other peoples' comments! respect other peoples' thoughts, questions, stories, and struggles.
this stuff is best worked out with other people in real-time. click on the ignite (if you're in middle school) or elevation (if you're in high school) link to get info on connecting with some other peers who are asking the same questions and living the same revolution.

let the conversation begin...