Say It Ain't So, Bono...

Has Bono been hanging out with P. Diddy? Is the Edge all about the Benjamin's? What can possibly explain the fiasco taking place with U2 fanclub members pre-sale tickets? Just sounds like a great way for one of my favorite bands to make an extra buck...while taking advantage of those that support them.

Tribune Article

Today, Salvation!!!

If you're a Christian, you're probably familiar with the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector. It comes from Luke 19:1-10. Yesterday I was doing some personal studying and listened to a sermon that reminded me of the power of what took place in this interaction.

Zacchaeus was a tax collector...he was part of the elite few that had money in Jericho at the time. In his day, there was a huge gap between the haves and the have not's. It's said that somewhere between 80-90% of the people worked in agriculture and had very little money. The elite ruling class often took advantage of the have not's.

When Jesus invited himself over to the hated tax collector's house, can you imagine the reaction of the poor folks? "Jesus, what are you doing? You're one of us? Why are you going to spend time with that horrible, little man?" The really amazing thing is what happens in the life of Zacchaeus, which in result has an effect on all the people.

Zacchaeus, after being befriended by Jesus, realizes the way he has led his life. In an instance, he turns to Jesus and says he will give half of all that he has to the poor. Last time I checked, that's more than a tithe. Then, he lets Jesus know that if he's taken advantage of anyone, we will pay them back four times (which refers back to the Torah).

Zacchaeus doesn't mention anything about his beliefs. He doesn't say, "Jesus, I believe in you. I believe you are the Son of God." Instead, his life is turned upside down by this encounter and his actions change.

On hearing what Zacchaeus is going to do, Jesus proclaims that "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost" (verses 9-10).

Zacchaeus meets Jesus and is instantly changed. We too, on meeting Jesus, can experience this kind of life change. Zacchaeus was taking advantage of others and storing up for himself. He obviously had plenty, but kept taking more.

We need to experience this kind of change and find out what we can give away. We need to look at how we can serve others, rather than how we can be served. What in your life needs to be turned upside down today?

Tuesdays with Morris

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. (Psalm 146:1-2)

This Sunday, we're singing a Tim Hughes song that has the lyrics "My soul, my soul must sing." Ever since I first heard this song, I've been thinking about the whole idea of my soul singing. What makes my soul sing? Does my soul truly sing? Am I so in awe of God and all He has done that even my soul sings? Do I have such an attitude of praise that my whole being is in a constant state of praise. Verse 2 of Psalm 146 says "I will sing praise to my God as long as I live."

If you don't take time to praise God each day for all that He is and all that He has done, let's commit together to start today. I know that I need to praise the Lord. Yet, many days go by where I spend more time praising myself and others and little or no time praising God. He is the only reason for anything worthy of praise. Let's put on an attitude and a lifestyle of praise. May our souls sing today, tomorrow and forever!

Goodbye Johnny!

It's a sad day in the life of late-night TV. Today, we morn the loss of the great one...Johnny Carson. Many of you may know that one of my dreams is to take over the Late Show with David Letterman after he retires. Johnny helped Dave get started in the business. Many of us owe a number of our laughs to Johnny. His comedy will long be remembered.

Chicago Tribune Article

U2 On Tour!!!

The world's greatest rock band is launching a world tour!!! I'm so stoked. You better believe I'll be looking for tickets for any shows in the near vacinity.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/6857196/u2?pageid=rs.Home&pageregion=single1

US Tour Dates

The Heorot...

Many of you already know that one of my favorite spots in Muncie is the Heorot. It's a fun little pub in downtown Muncie...a wonderful place for great conversations. I've had the privilege of sharing in some great talks with BSU professors, my friends, complete strangers...and even Bill Malonnee of the Vigilantes of Love.

Well, the Heorot is celebrating 10 years!!! Congrats to the Heorot...If you've never been...Friday is a great day to stop in for lunch...$2.50 12-inch pizza with the purchase of a beverage...and they have the best root beer (Sprecher's) in the world.

http://www.thestarpress.com/articles/8/033082-4758-026.html
http://www.thestarpress.com/articles/5/033093-5985-026.html

Love One Another

Recently, I’ve been doing a personal Bible study in the Book of 1 John. This is a wonderful book of the Bible and I highly suggest that if you’re looking for a good read to check this book out. One of the themes from this book that really stood out to me was the encouragement of the believers to love one another.

This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brother’s, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay our lives down for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
(1 John 3:11-18)

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love…Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
(1 John 4:7-8, 11-12)

As I read the first passage, I thought to myself, “I’m nothing like Cain. I’m full of love! This love thing…I’ve got it down!” Well, after a prayerfully thoughtful read of the 4th chapter of Genesis, I realized that I do have some things in common with Cain. When I see others succeed when I’m struggling…I’m quick to get angry and frustrated. Now, I don’t go as far as murdering anyone…But, I do find myself thinking awful things. I have come to the realization that my thoughts and actions are not always filled with love.

These passages call us to love. God loved us first…and as a result of his love for us, we should show our love for others. John challenges us to love, not with words, but with actions. If all we do is talk about how much we love our fellow humans, our talk will get worn out on those that need to experience love. There are so many people out there…so many souls that need to experience the love of God. They need to experience the love that God has given to us. They need to see the love of God’s people in action.

I want to challenge us to start putting our love into action (I’m included in this challenge). We need to come up with some practical ways to show our love for those in our church family and our whole community. What are some things that you can do on a daily basis to show your love, without using any words, to the people you interact with? These don’t have to be huge things…the small stuff really counts!!! Whatever we do, let’s do something to show our love!

One of Those Days

Today seems to be one of those days where I struggle to get my mind moving in the direction I desperately need it to...One of those days when I fail to move my desk calendar to the appropriate date until just before noon...One of those days where I long for just one more cup of coffee...One of those days where I'd like to just go to a coffee shop and read something by Chuck Klosterman...One of those days where I dream of the day being over...One of those days where I've already thrown in the towel on accomplishing anything before I've even left for lunch...One of those days where I feel like Peter from "Office Space."

I'm sure you've had a day like this...Well, mine is today!

Tuesdays with Morris

Yesterday, I was reading 2 Corinthians 3...And, verse 5 really stuck out to me. In the NIV Bible it reads like this, "Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God." Yesterday, I read from the NLT Bible and it words this passage on the thought that apart from God, we can do nothing...that our only success and power comes from Him.

In a world that strives for excellence in everything, this verse is a good reminder that our excellence has less to do with us and more to do with Him. Are we competent because of our own doing or because of God? Is our success our own doing or does it come from Him?

It's easy to say, "Well, I did this. Sure, God is great and has given me many gifts. But, all this success was a direct result of me." Sometimes it's hard to admit that apart from Him, we are nothing. We deceive ourselves when we claim power and success on our own. And, if our power and success came void of God...is it good power and good success?

Well, I'd encourage you to read 2 Corinthians 3. The chapter ends telling us that we are to be like mirrors that reflect the glory of the Lord. My prayer is that we all will recognize our position before the Lord. My prayer is that we will all come to the place where in all things we can reflect the glory of the Lord so that all will come to know Him.

Politics

I try to avoid talking politics or letting my political agenda come across in the things I write. Don't get me wrong, if we have a conversation about politics, you'll definitely find out where I stand. But, I just don't like to be one of those people that parades my choice candidate around and tells everyone why God wants this person to be our chosen leader. I thought our last election was pretty ridiculous on all sides...but, I'm not going to get into that.

Anyway, I read this article by Jim Wallis of Sojourners Magazine (a Christian Social Action magazine) and thought it was pretty good.

Check it out: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20041220/religion_two.art.htm

It's Cold!!!

So, I woke up this morning and started watching the news. The weatherman came on and let all the viewers know that it was zero degrees. Zero...The Big 0...Not 1, Not 2, But ZERO!!! I don't even want to get started on wind chill factors. Are you kidding me? Zero!?! Wasn't it 65 degrees a week ago? How bizarre are these weather trends we've been seeing???

Well, if you really want to see what today's weather is going to be like in Muncie(as I write, it's warmed up to 3 degrees...but it feels like -12 according to the Weather Channel), take this link:

Muncie Weather

The Beauty of Mystery

This is a pretty good devotion I came across this morning. Sometimes it's hard to have faith when we don't necessarily see the results. Yet, Hebrews 11 talks about the faith of many that did not see their promises. However, we can take great faith and find joy in knowing that we will receive the ultimate promise because of our faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Check out the article: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/article.php?sid=5378

Lights, Camera, Power!!!

Have you ever seen any of those "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" books? They kind of crack me up. They talk about how all the small, mundane details of life shouldn't get in the way of how we live our lives. Well, maybe you've also seen the "Sweat the Small Stuff" books. These books talk about how we should concern ourselves with the small things in life because how we react to the small stuff will have a big impact on how we react to the big stuff too.

No matter which side of the fence you fall on (either sweating or not) isn't a big issue. At least not to me. God will work it out with you and show you the areas of life where you need to sweat more or less.

Well, after a week of not having power...Emily and I finally got our electric back this evening. Around 6:30pm, I heard the furnace kick on. What a glorious sound!

Over the past week, Em and I realized how ridiculous it was for us to get upset about our situation. Sure, not having power was an inconvenience. But, we had warm places to stay, food to eat, and opportunities to spend time with friends and family that we would not have had otherwise. In light of all that's going on in our world today, not having power for a week is no big deal. We have friends fighting horrible diseases/illnesses. There are hundreds of thousands of people that have died as a result of the tsunami. California has been wrecked by mudslides. Many in our own city don't have warm food and places to stay...regardless of the power outages.

It's so selfish of me to get worked up about these earthly things. We're called to set our sights on things above and not to get caught up in the things of this world. The week-long power outage served as a great reminder of that...at least for me.

"We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it." (Proverbs 16:9, The Message)

Tuesdays with Morris: God's Comfort

All praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of every mercy and the God who comforts us. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. You can be sure that the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. So when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your benefit and salvation! For when God comforts us, it is so that we, in turn, can be an encouragement to you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in suffering, you will also share God's comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:3-7, NLT)

What does it mean to you to be comforted? For some of us, it might mean being encouraged, strengthened, given hope, etc. For me, being comforted means being given the assurance that I'll be able to make it through whatever is troubling me. Being comforted is the understanding that everything is in God's hands and that he will take great and wonderful care of me. It doesn't necessarily mean that my troubles and suffering will disappear. But, it does give me the hope that I know I can make it through. "For I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." That's the familiar passage from the 4th chapter of Philippians. The Good News here is that this word is true. God comforts us. God strengthens us. God provides for us. Paul tells the Corinthians that the more they suffer, the more God will comfort them.

Following Jesus isn't always the easiest thing. It doesn't guarantee that we will be freed from suffering or facing troubles. But, it does mean that God will provide. God will comfort us! Let us share together in God's comfort.

In what area of your life do you need to experience God's comfort? Take a moment to pray over your troubles and suffering and thank God for comforting you. May you experience His grace, peace, love, mercy, and comfort.

Rock On With The New Rock,

Jason

No Power!

So, if you live in the Muncie area, chances are that you've been without power at some point in time in the last week. My wife, Emily, and I have been without power since about 2:30pm on Wednesday, January 5th. We toughed it out in the cold house on the 5th. But, since that evening, we've been staying with either my parents or my grandparents. We will probably be among the last to receive power. All of this has made me thankful for the times that we do have power. Isn't it amazing how much we rely on power? Power or not, this has been a great opportunity to spend time with our family. There's always a bright side!

The Star Press has had pretty good coverage of the storm and it's damage. Click on the link and check out the latest on this amazing storm.

Tuesdays with Morris is Here!

Greetings to the Tuesdays with Morris blog. Each Tuesday, I will be posting a devotional on this site which will hopefully encourage, challenge, motivate, and bring those that read it closer to Jesus Christ.

I'm not promising to post to this blog everyday. But, on occasion, I will post some random thoughts and links to articles that I find interesting.

Grace & Peace,
Jason