Regener8td's Blog

This is a relevant question today, one only you can answer. I’m not talking about what other people think of you. I’m not talking about the person your friends and family think you are. I’m not talking about the person you’ve painted yourself to be on social media. I’m not talking about the mask you put on Sunday morning. I’m talking about the kind of real, Jesus was referring to when, in Revelation, he said, “I know your deeds, you have a reputation for being alive, but I know you. I know your inner most thoughts. You have everybody fooled but you’re not fooling me. I know your heart. You are DEAD.”

Jesus was calling out the fakers, the posers, the imposters. He called out the church, the body, the ones going through the motions. The ones who look like they got it all together. They had the good deeds thing down but Jesus said, “YOU ARE DEAD.” What would Jesus say about the real you? Do you appear alive, but Jesus would tell you. “You are dead.”?

So Jesus has a standard of real, that obviously differs from our definition of real. We judge ourselves by the deeds we do. We put our time in on Sunday morning. We throw twenty bucks in the plate and feel God should be grateful. We mouth the words for 30 minutes of worship. We own a Bible, somewhere. We know John 3:16 and that Jeremiah, good plan verse too.

So if this is not real, according to Jesus, what is? What would Jesus consider, alive? What’s his definition of real? The Bible has some thoughts on this subject. Thoughts that we might not necessarily want to hear.

For starters, real to Jesus, is you being the person at home, that others believe you are at church. Real to Jesus is you living the life people will say you did, at your funeral. Real is you craving your Bible reading time. Real to Jesus is you praying without ceasing. Real is you trusting God 100% with your finances. Real to Jesus is having the right motives for everything you do in the name of Jesus. Real to Jesus looks like fourth soil growth. Real to Jesus is really forgiving those who wrong you, loving your enemies and not gossiping. Real to Jesus is being aware of a need in your church and stepping up to fill it.

Most readers of this blog will consider themselves the real deal, yet churches all over the United States suffer from a financial deficit. Their ministry effectiveness is hindered due to lack of workers. Wednesday night prayer services are barren wastelands. Community members are unaware of their existence. The pastors send out multiple emails and literally beg for leaders to rise up, but to no avail. People sign up for hospitality or worship teams and don’t even bother to show up. Children and teens walk away from church for lack of mentors. Teachers don’t even bother to look at the lesson until Sunday morning and wonder why lives are not being impacted from their “efforts”

Jesus said, “WAKE UP! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you received and heard; obey it, and repent.”

Are you dead? Or are you For REAL?

No matter how hard I try, I simply cannot love my son as much as God loves him. I can’t protect Christian from suffering. Yesterday my inability to protect him from the harsh pain of loss became a stark reality.

We had to put our beloved dog, Magic, to sleep yesterday. We put it off as long as we could but we knew it had gotten to the point, we were just being selfish. We were putting our emotional attachment and our fear of loss over what was best for Magic.

Magic was really Christian’s dog. Magic became a member of our family when Christian was only 3. Christian is 10 and so was Magic. Unfortunately 10 years old is at the high end of a Boxer’s lifespan. We always knew we would have to face the day when Magic would no longer be with us. Christian never even considered this day. As an innocent child, he believed Magic would live forever. He told us on more than one occasion about Magic being his best man someday at his wedding. As his parents, we knew that was never to be. We just could never bring ourselves to tell him. We always thought we’d deal with the subject someday. Someday was yesterday.

On Friday we scheduled the appointment with the vet for Monday afternoon at 3:30. We figured this would give us time to accept it and help Christian come to terms with this reality. It was a hard weekend to get through. We spent a lot of time just loving on Magic and reminiscing about all the wonderful times we shared with this amazing dog. My wife and Christian slept in the living room with Magic the entire weekend.

Sunday night my wife cooked Magic a steak dinner complete with baked potatoes and gravy. We video taped him eating and laughed and cried together. We gave him a lifetime of treats for dessert. Monday morning came all to quickly. We got Magic a double bacon and cheese A1 burger from Burger King for lunch. He then went to the beach for the first time in his life and sat on the sand next to his best friend, Christian. We took tons of pictures to memorialize the moment. My wife got a photo that is my favorite. Christian and Magic were sitting side by side facing the ocean and watching the waves come in and roll out. The sun was glistening on the water and silhouetted this dynamic duo. They stared out at the vastness of the ocean before them and it was like Magic knew they were sharing this last moment together.

We arrived at the vet and solemnly entered. Magic seemed nervous and at peace all at the same time. We were able to stay with Magic as the vet administered the drugs. I watched as my son wept over the loss of his best friend and I felt helpless. I could not fix this. I had no words to console him. No matter how much I love my son, I was helpless.

I wanted to give him inner peace and erase all traces of pain and sorrow. But in that moment I realized why it’s so important to make sure I connect my son to God at an early age and help foster a lifelong relationship. Only God can adequately provide everything my son needs emotionally and spiritually.

I love my son but I simply cannot love him as much as God does. That’s hard for me to comprehend, but it’s true and I find comfort in that. God can give my son the inner peace I cannot. God can comfort him in ways I cannot.

As hard as it was to watch my son agonize over the death of Magic, I know he is going to be okay. He will come through this more compassionate and have a greater appreciation for life. I know this because I know whose hands he is in.

And to Magic; Thank you for 8 wonderful years and thank you for making my son’s childhood so awesome and memorable. Good bye my dear friend. Enjoy your afternoons running through fields of lilies chasing butterflies. We will never forget you.

If I learned anything this year, it was definitely the fact that good intentions alone, equals nothing. We all have good intentions about praying more, reading the Bible more, living out our faith more, calling our loved ones more, saving more, spending less, watching less TV, meeting our neighbors, going to church, getting in shape, blogging more, writing more….

But good intentions without action are useless. Jeffrey Kluger said; There’s a deep freeze of sorts for all good intentions- a place that you store your plans to make changes in your life when you know you’re not going to make them at all.

I had good intentions to blog several times a week this year but you need only look at my archives to see that those intentions were useless. Do you have a barrel full of good intentions shoved in a corner somewhere in your mind and heart? You’ve slapped a label on it that reads; “Someday” but in really “Someday” becomes “Noday” I had a friend who years ago, give me great advice. He said, “Don’t make someday, noday. It was simple yet profound.

The only time good intentions come in handy is when we are judging ourselves. You see, we tend to judge ourselves on our intentions, but others on their actions. I’m sure you can relate. Other than that, good intentions rob much from our lives. They sneak stealthly into our minds and hearts and steal precious time from our lives. We spend enormous amounts of time planning all the things we are going to do. We spend so much time on planning that we don’t do much doing.

I am guilty of this as much as you. Just a few days ago I turned 47 on Christmas day. 47 years allows for a lot of good intentions. As I write these words, it’s December 30th. 2014. I had good intentions to complete my second non-fiction book as well as my young adult novel. I could have done both easily if I had just applied action to my intentions. But I must have thought the book fairies were going to slip into my house at night and pound out thousands of words on my laptop while I spent countless hours on social media, reading other peoples books or watching TV.

I’m tired of good intentions. I’ve committed instead to “Good Actions”. Today I uninstalled Facebook, a big time stealer, from my phone. I created a chart to, well, chart my progress for finishing my books. I know my Editor will be pleased. That’s the good thing about the past, it’s in the past. Today I am making a change. It’s not too late because currently I am still breathing. I want the dash between those two dates to mean something. I want to leave a legacy that makes an impact for eternity. I want to know that I left this earth empty. I don’t want to die with anything let in me I was supposed to accomplish. I want to die empty and I invite you to die empty with me.

Thank you for following me and I promise you, there will be a lot more blogs from me in 2015. Happy and Blessed New Year!!

Rob

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,100 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 18 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

As I write this blog I am currently 3 weeks into a 6 month missions trip to Westerly, Rhode Island. I came to Westerly for the first time 8 weeks ago to speak at a church and do a leadership training seminar.

I learned that New England was infamous for chewing up and spiting out churches and pastors. It seemed the devil had a stronghold over this area and claimed victory. This did not sit well with me. My wife and I discussed the possibility of moving here and running Satan out of town with the power of the Holy Spirit working through the church.

We have seen tremendous results in the 3 weeks we have been here. Before I share with you what God is doing, I want to state a disclaimer: I am not a professional speaker. I am not a Bible scholar. I have never been to seminary. I am not book smart. I hold no degrees. I am not special in any way.

Now that you know what I am not, let me tell you what I am. I am a 46 year old house painter, 47 this Christmas. I came from an abusive childhood and had many run ins with the law as a teenager. I am average. I have a high school diploma. But I possess something valuable to God, A completely surrendered heart and belief that all things are possible, These are the only qualifications I have. This enables God to accomplish great things through me. God truly uses the foolish things of this world, I am proof of that.

So I want to share with you what has happened in the last 3 weeks and the methods we used.

Nerf Gun Fight

Our third day here my 10 year old son, Christian, saw 6 boys playing in a yard across the street. He said, “Hey dad, should I go build some relationships with them. We taught him the value of building bridges his whole life.

He went out and joined their game of football. After a bit, I carried out a bunch of Nerf guns that we purchased for occasions such as this. They were a huge success. After the war I invited the boys to church on Sunday and also told them to stop by and we would do this again.

An 11 year old boy came to my house several more times that week. We met his mom that week and I invited her to church with us. My son stayed over at their house Saturday, which enabled me to visit them Sunday morning to remind them of church. The family, minus the father, came to church. The second Sunday, the father joined his family at church. I preached that Sunday and he said God spoke to him through me. He returned this past Sunday and accepted Christ as his Savior. We have only been here 3 weeks!! This started because a 10 year old boy went out to build relationships. A Nerf gun war resulted in a soul spending eternity with Christ.

During this same 3 week time period we started a Friday night game night at our home complete with brownies and board games. This same 11 year old boy invited a friend and he attended church with us this Sunday as well.

We started a Saturday night community group in our home and we provide dinner and guests bring dessert and drinks. This enables us to invite our neighbors and build meaningful relationships.

Out of all these activities, we launched multiple Life Transformation Groups, (For info on these just Google Life Transformation Groups.)

God is moving and people’s hearts are being changed. We didn’t beat anyone over the head with our Bibles. We didn’t judge our neighbors or bash their lifestyles. We simply loved them like Jesus did. We cared for them, met some needs and shared our lives over spaghetti. We bought bright orange plastic guns that shoot foam darts and slayed the enemy and destroyed his strongholds.

Can you do these things? Can you have a Nerf gun war or something similar in your neighborhood? Can you open your home and play Monopoly? Can you boil some noodles and drown them in sauce and smother the enemy’s plans for your neighbors?

It’s so easy, a child DID it.

There are many ways to be distracted these days. Companies are in an epic battle competing for our mind time. We are bombarded with media overload and we don’t seem to care. Need proof of this? Just visit any restaurant and observe your fellow diners. 7 out of 10 people will have their noses buried in their smart phones. Husbands and wives, even children, will sit at the same table in silence, glued to their screens. They are oblivious to their surroundings as they update their Facebook statuses, send tweets, view emails and read the news. Sound unbelievable? Go see for yourself. Every corporation wants your attention and your dollars. As a result, we are over stimulated. This epidemic is out of control. They’ve now decided we cannot even pump gas for two minutes unless we can watch a 26 inch HDTV mounted to the top of the gas pump.

Priorities whacked out

People will let a roof leak go for months before repairing it. They will suffer for weeks with a toothache, but less then a minute without cable or internet. They panic as soon as the connection is lost and scramble for the phone to call for service. Even moving day has been affected. Top priority is getting cable and internet hooked up before they move in. People can live without water but not without internet and cable. I realized my 10 year old son will never know life without cell phones, tablets, streaming 24/7 media, online gaming and movies delivered to your portable devices instantly. They’ve taken the guess work out of life along with imaginations and face to face playtime. I’m not against technology but I can’t help feeling that, with all the things we’ve gained from it, we’ve lost as much in some ways. But of all the things we’ve lost to the never ending onslaught of stimulation, is our private quiet time with God. We are willing to sacrifice our spiritual growth in the name of social media where we build imaginary farms, invite people to play solitaire, which makes no sense, mafia wars, candy crush, Texas HoldEm and the list continues to grow. We cannot hear the voice of God among the chaos. It has been drowned out. Our vessels are so full of worldly things, that we put God away in a box on a shelf in our closet with the thought of “someday”. This is exactly where Satan wants God. Distractions are how he operates. How he gets your mind off God and his plans for your life. He slitters up on you without much fanfare and entices you with things you think you can’t live without, all the while forsaking the very things that give life. Do not be fooled. Satan will not try to get you to stop serving God because it’s so much easier to just make you forget about God altogether. His plan is working. Now that you know his plan what will you do about it?

How many pastors does it take to screw in a light bulb? I already told you. Yes I did. Look at the title of the blog. See now you get it. Okay it was lame but on a serious note, regardless of the translation of the Bible we have, why are we so far off base when it comes to imitating Christ?

It’s not like the Bible and the Church of 2015 are just two ships passing in the night, they are not even sailing in the same ocean. So how do we navigate our way back to the shores of truth? How do we escape the waves of compromise?

Let’s look at some of the differences between the actions of Christ and the behavior of the 2014 Church. This will hopefully show us some action steps to reconcile the differences.

Jesus called us to be fishers of men. We want to be cleaners of fish.
Jesus said to go and make disciples. We sit and wait for people to come to our churches.
Jesus created disciples that were willing to die and many did. We create teens who are indifferent to God.
Jesus hung out with sinners. We avoid them at all cost.
Jesus loved his enemies. We boycott ours.
Jesus loved people, met their needs and taught them in interesting and practical ways. We tell people to say a prayer or burn in hell.
Jesus was about his Father’s business. We are about everything else but that.
Jesus spent countless hours alone in prayer and communion with his Father. We don’t have time for that.
Jesus said to hide God’s word in our hearts. We update our Facebook, Twitter, and other social media pages and watch countless hours of television.
Jesus said take up you cross and he led by example. We avoid suffering at all cost.
Jesus preached the Peter and Paul package of discipleship. We preach the feel good Jeremiah package.
Jesus commanded us to make disciples. We make churchgoers.
Jesus did not say make disciples and if you can’t make disciples, just make Christians.
Jesus said not to be ashamed of him. We are embarrassed to tell our friends and colleagues about him.
Jesus warned us not to store up treasures on earth. Our basements, attics and garages are so jammed packed with stuff that we are forced to rent storage units for the overflow.

Jesus commanded us to take care of the poor and widows and orphans. We walk by the homeless on our way out to dinner and let government programs supplement the poor.

Jesus said we should produce a crop 30, 60, 100 fold. We produce nothing.

Jesus said people will know we are his disciples by how we love each other. We are known more for what we stand against than who we stand for.

As you can see by just a few of the examples I’ve listed, we are far better imposters of Christ than imitators. How do we turn the ship around, re-chart our course, point the compass of our hearts towards Christ and reach our desired destination?

Study, Study, Then Study
Every actor studies for the part. When Will Smith played Muhammad Ali he not only under went extreme physical exercise but he trained with professional boxers. He studied videos of Ali’s fights. He learned Ali’s mannerisms and facial expressions. He probably knew as much about Ali as Ali knew about Ali.

This is the same approach we need to take when it comes to imitating Jesus Christ. But we cannot genuinely imitate someone we don’t know. We cannot act like Jesus if we don’t know how Jesus would act in a situation. Makes sense, right? The thing that turns most people off from hearing about Jesus is us and our attempt to “act” like the way we think Jesus should act or how he would treat someone, based off our lack of knowledge of Jesus himself.

I want to challenge each one who reads this blog to join me in a journey, through a series of blogs to help us better understand Jesus and how he really lived and taught. I also want to challenge you to dig into your Bible for at least 30 minutes a day with the specific purpose of studying the ministry of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Ready, Set, Study

Has Rob lost his faith or his mind?

That’s probably what you are wondering right now, but those of you who know me, know that I am going somewhere with this…as usual.

Last night as I was reading my Bible, I came across a story I have literally read dozens of times over the last 20 years. It’s found in the Book of Mark chapter 5. It’s the story of when Jesus caused a shortage of bacon when he sent 2000 pigs filled with demons over a cliff to drown in the sea.

You can read the whole story after you finish here but I want to focus on a small part of the story that I found particularly interesting. We will pick up at verse 19:

As Jesus was getting in the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

Following Jesus would have been a good thing, but Jesus had a better thing for the man to do. His ways are not our ways. Jesus knew that the man would have a greater kingdom impact by staying right where he was because people in the town knew him, at least they knew the old demon-possessed guy. His testimony would have weight behind it. This once uncontrollable demon filled crazy man had an encounter with Jesus and it forever changed his life. There would be no denying it in his hometown.

I am certain you have heard stories of miraculous healings in far away places you cannot pronounce and you doubt them, even in a small way. You tell yourself that these are just clever emotional stories to illicit a monetary response from you. Sure miracles can happen but you’ll believe it when you see it.

But if Joe, your neighbor dying from 4th stage lung cancer is miraculously healed, that’s another story all together. You know Joe. You have prayed for Joe. In fact you had your whole church praying for Joe. You’ve spent countless hours sitting by his bed talking with him. You’ve laughed with him, you’ve cried with him. If he were healed the whole town would know the power of God. People’s faith would grow in leaps and bounds. No one could deny that God had intervened. Joe’s story would change the whole town. Many would give their lives to Jesus.

But what if Joe was healed and no one knew? What if he went to some other state or country and told his story? Many would doubt. There would be skeptics in every audience. No one knows Joe. No one saw how close to death he was. His story just does not pack the punch it would in his own home town.

Let’s see what happened to the demon-possessed man:

Mark 5:20 So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

If God has saved you from a life of sin and made you a new creation in Christ, use it. The people who knew the “old” you will see the “new” you and be amazed. They will have to concede that God has in fact done a mighty thing in your life. Your testimony in your own home town among your friends and family will hold more weight and make a greater impact then if you travelled the world telling strangers what Jesus did for you. Your family and friends are your mission field. All we have to do is live our faith out in front of them.

Jesus told the man to stay home and win souls. That’s great advice today too.

The title to this blog could mean one of two things; first I think attending a Christian writer’s conference is a waste of time and money or I believe they are not a waste of time and money.

I just returned from my annual trek to Langhorne Pennsylvania where I attend the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writer’s Conference and I decided after attending this conference for the last 5 years, it was time to put my thoughts on paper so to speak.

I have realized several things over the years:
If I was not a writer I would be a writer’s conference groupie. I would go just to hang out with some of the most amazing people I have ever come to know and love. I am so very blessed by the friendships I have made. The four short days we see each other seem to fly by in seconds and we head our separate ways across the country. The funny thing I have found is when we see each other again it’s as if no time has passed at all.

The second thing I learned was that we all struggle with fear and doubt regardless of our writing experience or lack thereof. We find encouragement and inspiration in the halls and classrooms on the campus of Cairn University.

The beautiful grounds of this campus, normally bustling with college students, becomes a retreat of sorts for writers in the Christian publishing world. We come from diverse backgrounds and all walks of like. The novice to the expert. We share ideas, successes and our failures. We laugh with each other and we cry with each other. We discuss how to take the message of the Gospel to the world through our writing but more importantly we share our love for our Savior Jesus Christ.

I love all the classes where I learn everything from how to write a book proposal that won’t end up in the trash to promoting my work through social media. But the thing I love the most is what happens at the end of every day.

After a long day of learning, after we listen to the evening keynote speaker enlighten us to an important issue we all make our way back to Heritage Hall. We gather around in comfy chairs and share our lives. We might even play a card game and every now and then someone will break out a guitar and sing. We build friendships that will last a life time and beyond.

If you want to experience the things that I have come to look forward to every year I suggest you go to http://www.Philadelphia.writehisanswer.com and register for next years conference.

As you probably figured out. I’m not wasting money on a Christian Writer’s Conference, I’m enjoying every minute of my investment.

I woke this morning and went out in my yard, Bible in hand, and climbed into my early Father’s day present, a new hammock. I’ve always wanted one and my amazing family delivered.

Once in my hammock I opened up my Bible to the Book of Mark and my eyes were drawn to Mark 1:40 because at some point I had highlighted it in bright orange. I didn’t remember why. So I read it again and I immediately felt God speaking to me. He asked me. “Is this what you see today among people who profess my name?”

I knew He was not talking about everyone. There are quite a few Christ-like disciples I know personally that live out the character and qualities of Christ, but sadly there are many more people who claim Christ in name only.

It is these people that I knew God was addressing in His question to me. God does this a lot to me and I must be faithful and write what He gives me.

So this morning as I lay in my hammock, God spoke again. And here is what I received and have obediently documented in my blog for those who need to hear this.

Mark 1:40-42 NIV

A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man, “I am willing, he said, “Be clean!”

Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

Here’s a more modern translation:

The Book of Stark Reality 1:40-42 (We are Jesus in this version because we are his hands and feet)

A filthy drunk came to Jesus and fell on his knees and begged him. “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Jesus was repulsed by the sight of him. The only thing worse was the stench emanating from the scraggly haired mess. Jesus instinctively pulled back so he wouldn’t  make contact with his grimy hands. “You did this to yourself.” Jesus said to him as he tried not to breathe in the arid smell. “Now you want me to fix your life?” Jesus scoffed. “You had so many chances, so many blown opportunities. How many rehabs did you walk away from? How many times did you fail the 12 steps? Do you know how bad you hurt your family when they staged that intervention and you stormed out cursing, spent the night drinking and woke in a gutter?

The man sobbed uncontrollably. “I’m sorry. Please, I beg you, forgive me.”

Jesus looked the man in his eyes, “Forgive you? You don’t deserve forgiveness. You destroyed the lives of your children. You made your wife’s life a living nightmare. What about them? You think sorry is going to make it all better? You are pathetic. A complete waste.” With that Jesus turned and walked away shaking his head in disgust.

The man wept bitterly and went back to the bottle.

To claim the name Christian we must be Christ-like. Here are some verses to show you what that looks like:

Matthew 18:21-22: Then Peter came to Jesus and asked. “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

Luke 17:3:  “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

2 Timothy 2:25: Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change their hearts, and they will learn the truth.

Galatians 6:1:  Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

James 5:20:  Let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering, will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

These verses are instructions on how to be Christ-like, to be Christian. If you don’t want to follow these instructions, please take off your Hello My Name Is: Christian, nametag.

Thank you.