May 21?? Really?

May i preface this by asking you to go and read my professors blog on this topic? It is a quick read.
http://tinyurl.com/3t3gyg2

First of all, if May 21 is legit, I will be the first to find my professor and my friends up in heaven and punch them in the face because they are in Israel when all of this "will" go down.

But with that said, I believe I won't have this opportunity. Harold Camping, the leader of this Judgement Day movement, has been wrong once before (calling Sept. 6, 1994) and he is likely wrong again.


My reasoning? He pulls one Old Testament scripture (Gen7:4 saying giving a time of destruction of the earth as 7 days) and then a New Testament scripture (2 Peter 3:8 saying 1 day is a thousand years and a thousand years is a day to God) and coming up with some pretty ridiculous math to bring Judgment to May 21, 2011. I have my Math degree...and have had some class that mention "special" numbers in the Bible...but Harold's thought process is ridiculous. and remember, these verses are taken WAYYYYY out of context...so always remember to think about what these authors were going through when these passages were written. As my professors always say, "CONTEXT, CONTEXT, CONTEXT." And when you pull two verses out of the Bible...guess what you have left....A BIBLE!! A recording of peoples lives as they have lived under God and with Jesus in their real lives!!


All of this to say, we have NOTHING to worry about. Do not go sell your house, do not go spend your life savings...because the followers of this movement HAVE!!! The disappointing thing is that they have thousands of followers, but even they say only about 144000 will actually make it to heaven...hmmmmmm.

May we remember some verses of scripture that Jesus himself and his followers taught us from the beginning:

Matthew 24

³⁶"But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven's angels, not even the Son. Only the Father knows.

^39-44"The Son of Man's Arrival will be like that: Two men will be working in the field—one will be taken, one left behind; two women will be grinding at the mill—one will be taken, one left behind. So stay awake, alert. You have no idea what day your Master will show up.

As Peter said, "false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction" (2 Peter 2:1). John in Revelation said Jesus was coming but never said when.

And when Timothy’s mentor Paul spoke about this he said: For "evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived" (2 Timothy 3:13), and "the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths" (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

Finally, there are some good things we can take from these people who are looking forward to May 21. Though we might think these people are a little nutty for waiting for May 21 at 6pm (according to you time-zone, that is when it will "happen" for you), I have to pat them on the back for being EAGER to see the face of God and their Savior Jesus!! And let it be known, I am just as eager! We are called to be eager!!

My heart is burdened for these people who have followed this movement with all their heart. What if we see May 22? What happens then? What happens to the hearts of these people. My first thought is that they will fall away from the faith...and that is sad. My heart prays for these people that they may not be discouraged, that they continue to follow Jesus just as hard as ever before. And i have the same prayer for myself and all of you when the light breaks on May 22 and we are brushing our teeth and preparing for worship.

And please know that none of us know when this will happen, not even Jesus. So it could happen May 20, June 30, or nov. 29, 2059. Until it happens, be ready. Live your life for God, doing what Jesus did: Loving God and Loving People.

And these people that follow May 21 show us something else…
Everyone is searching for something…

When we believe Jesus, his death, resurrection and returning, we have the greatest mystery in the world…because it is TRUE!

And whenever the day does come...I can only echo Casting Crowns...OH GLORIOUS DAY.... :)


UNTIL NEXT TIME....

Allasso?

Weird name? Possibly. I like it though. For some reason, I like to look at where words come from. Many of the faith breakthroughs I’ve had happened because I more completely understood a part of the Christian faith that I had taken for granted. Words that I had heard over and over simply didn’t mean much to me. Faith? Grace? Sacrifice? Repent? I could have given you a definition of these words, but they didn’t impact my life.

I remember hearing a definition of ‘repent’ that changed the way I lived my life. It means: “To turn away. To come back.” The Hebrew word for repent, (Shuwb, which is fun to say), literally means to walk the other way. Every time someone told me to “REPENT!” I thought I just needed to say I was sorry. But this new meaning literally turned me around. If I was repenting of something, I didn’t just have to stop doing it, I had to do the opposite. Repenting for yelling at my mom meant that I had to do the opposite of yelling. I had to start speaking lovingly to her. Repenting for lying didn’t just mean I had to STOP lying. I had to look for ways to tell the truth. I can’t even begin to tell you how much this changed my life.

So back to explaining this strange, strange name. Allasso literally means to change, to exchange one thing for another, to transform. Youth is defined by change. Some change that you want, that you look forward to. Change: your mom used to drive you to the movie to hang out with friends. Now you actually get to drive there yourself. Good change. Other changes are harder to deal with: friends change, romantic relationships change, your relationship with your parents change, your relationship with yourself changes. School gets harder, everything gets more competitive. So, change is sometimes tough. The word ‘allasso’ reminds us of the stage we’re in, gives us comfort that this is supposed to be happening.

Definition #2: To exchange one thing for another. I can’t tell you how many times a day that I have to stop and remind myself that what I’m doing (or thinking about doing) is NOT what Christ would be doing. He probably wouldn’t gossip. When I catch myself about to do something I shouldn’t, I have to exchange what I want to do for what Christ would have me do. So ‘allasso’ reminds us that we have thousands of opportunities a day to exchange the bad for the good, to exchange our ways for His ways.

#3: To transform. All of these choices we make everyday transform us into something. ‘Allasso’ reminds us that we are constantly in a state of transformation. It reminds us that what happens on our insides inevitably shows on our outside. True ‘allasso’ isn’t a magical event that happens one day. Allasso is the product of the million little choices you are faced with every day.

Lees Chapel Youth: how would this sound as a mission statement/goal of our youth group? How would this be as a youth group name or meeting time? Allasso....

Everyone: how does this sound as a life goal and mission? hmmm...

Recognizing God

A man named Moses is tending to his sheep in the land of Midian when he comes upon a burning bush. He moves closer to see more and hears the voice of God, speaking to him about his people and their need to be delivered from the land of Egypt. God tells Moses to take off his sandals, for the ground he is standing on is holy. Moses has been tending sheep in this region for forty years. How many times has he passed by this spot? How many times has he stood in this exact place? And now God tells him the ground is holy?

Has the ground been holy the whole time and Moses is just becoming aware of it for the first time?

Do you and I walk on holy ground all the time, but we are moving sooo fast and returning so many calls/texts and writing sooo many emails and having such loooong lists to get done that we miss it?

-Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis


Hmmmmm....

Labels

My reading today challenged my thinking on what I label "Christian".

Christian=> noun=> a person devoted to living the way of the Messiah (Jesus).

Does the definition describe me? Does that describe my actions and the things I do?

Here are some quotes from my reading:

-Christian is a great noun and a poor adjective.

-To be a Christian is to do whatever it is that you do with great passion and devotion

-This is why it is impossible for a Christian to have a secular job. If you follow Jesus and you are doing what you do in Jesus name, then it is no longer secular work; it is sacred. You are there, God is there.

This is my favorite quote:

-A church is a community of people who are learning how to be certain kinds of people wherever they find themselves, so they can do whatever it is they do "in the name of the Lord Jesus." The goal is for the church to be these unique kinds of people who are transforming the places they live, work, and play because they understand the whole earth is filled with the presence of God. God is not in one building only. Doing things for God happens all the time, everywhere!

Honestly, I love the images Rob Bell presents of the church and the Christian and how they should relate to each other. Looking objectively, I wonder if our churches...my church...is anything like that. As Christians, do we live unique lives and transform the places we exist on the name of Jesus? As a church, do we invite people around us to be present with God along with us? I pray all these are yes or become yes!!!

Chew on that...let me know what ya think....