Bck in the game.

I'm thinking this might be a good time to revive this beast.

Thoughts and goals for the new year...

So as a takeoff from last years' post by Jason - What are some new-year's resolutions you definitely WILL keep this year? Not phony ones - not unrealistic ones - but truthful stuff that really means something to you. Be honest.

Here's my list:

1. Sleep in a lot more....... a lot more....definitely.
2. Go to church and be engaged and involved... not cause I have to (actually, this one sounds pretty good!) But because I really want to be there.
3. Seriously dig into the word - I want to study God's word for me more- not just cause I have to teach others.
4. Focus on becoming more physically healthy - I don't want to be obsessed with my weight or how I look - I just need to get more healthy, it's really sad...
5. Give 100% to whatever I am doing - this is a biggie for me. I tend to hold out and hold back - at work, in relationships, with my family.... it's pretty pathetic sometimes. I'm just really not all there lately.
6. Get my finances better under control & give more.
7. Use my camera more - carpe diem! My kids are growing up and I'm missing it! Aughghggh!
8. Take more quality time with my wife.
9. Write more worship songs! (How about "a" worship song for a change.....sheesh.)
10. Blog more often.

There, that wasn't so bad. Now it's your turn.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas from the Hughlett family!

Crushed by scripture - Vol. 1

Do you ever feel like you need a helmet when reading the word? I do. Every time I open it I usually don't come away feeling refreshed, but rather crushed.

I don't know what to say. I guess I could just stick to Psalms 23 and Phil. 4:13 but that feels dishonest and immature. I need to figure out Hebrew 6:1-6 and Matthew 7:13-14.

Lately these hard scriptures have been haunting me. When I'm honest about how I steward areas of my life I don't see anything to be really proud of. This can come across in my countenance and I continually have people exhort me to start living like "the King's kid" and to cheer up. I appreciate that, but I don't want to live in that dillusion. I think that produces mediocrity. A lack of responsibility. Like those spoiled royals we see in the tabloids that don't have to answer for anything because of who their blood lines.

So what do you do? I know the gospel. I know that I will never be made righteous by my works and good looks, but I also know that when I read the word, there is an expectation that believers "shine like stars" (phil 2:15) and most of the time I feel like a black hole...

What do you do with hard scripture? Do we say they are there to point us to our unrighteousness and need for Christ? Or do they signal how far we are from an authentic and real relationship with God?

I don't know, just being honest...

-Jason

8

8 years married.

Woo Hoo!!!

And it isn't even snowing this year...

I'm headed into the city tonight with my best friend and love of my life to get some great food, and stay in a hotel with a view.

-Jason

Advent week one

Since Steve never taught us about advent in youth group, I had to read up myself. ;)

Just kidding.

I am serious about utilizing this season to make the holidays more meaningful this year.

An song for the first week of Advent (Steve never played this song in youth group either...)

Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming
Lo how a rose e'er blooming
From tender stem hath sprung
Of Jesse's lineage coming
As seers of old have sung
It came a floweret bright
Amid the cold of winter
When half spent 'twas the night
Isaiah 'twas foretold it
This rose I have in mind
With Mary we behold it
The Virgins mother kind
To show His love so bright
She bore for us a Savior
In half spent was that night
O flower whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air
Dispel in Glorious splendor
The darkness everywhere
True man yet very God
From sin and death now save us
And share our human load

Who is like our God?

6 years ago, I woke up knowing something was wrong. It had been a picture perfect 9 months. No morning sickness, no problems what so ever. But on Nov. 26, 2002 Naomi woke up having one huge non-stop contraction. Pretty soon there were numerous doctors, nurses and others swarming into our hospital room fretting over the fetal heart monitor and shouting to get her into the Operation Room.

In a blur, family and medical personnel were all around us. Some were praying, some were trying to get us to sign release forms. A grouchy anesthesiologist didn't help matters with his attitude. Then in one of the most surreal moments of my life everyone disappeared. They took my wife into the OR and everyone else left the pre-op area to the waiting room. I was totally alone.

I'll never forget the question that was delivered into my heart from heaven. "Am I good even now?" "Yes Lord, even if it all ends up terrible for me today, and I lose everything, you are still good." I have never been so close to my Creator than I was at that moment. I can't describe it now and never will be able to. All of the sudden I was filled with fire to pray and intercede for my family.

Shortly thereafter, a nurse came and asked me to come into the Operating room with my wife. They were just pulling the baby out. I looked at my poor, scared wife and she asked my why the baby wasn't crying. I didn't know. Then I heard it again "Am I good?"... "Yes Lord, you are good and your love endures forever..." In what felt like an eternity, but was probably only 10-15 seconds, Noah finally yelped out a cry and the nurse brought him over to us in kind of a sitting up position. I remember my first though was "Where did he get that cleft chin?!?!"

Later on, people were asking what his middle name was. I had a hard time trying to figure it out actually. But it came to me when I realized the name Michael means "Who is like our God". It would be a memorial of meeting God in that place. Kind of like Jacob and Bethel. It was chosen so I would never forget that day. (It also helped that is his grand fathers name!)

So today, I remember God's goodness to us that day. His grace over our family. His sovereignty. I believe if things had been different, or if they become different and not as planned, He demonstrates His faithfulness to walk through the fire, pain and terror with us.

Happy birthday Son!

-Jason

Discipleship does not = Negotiation

I just thought I would throw out a passage that really stopped me in my tracks the other day.

Luke 17:7-10
“Will any one of you who has a servant​ plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly,​ and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants;​ we have only done what was our duty.’ ”

This passage once again opened my eyes to how I often use my obedience as a bargaining chip with God. I foolishly act and think in such a way that if I can just build up enough of my own righteousness that I will twist God's arm into blessing my desires. This is both foolish and wicked and sadly when I do this I do not experience the benefits and blessings promised to me in the gospel.

We sometimes sing a song in Church that is difficult and humbling for me to sing but helps counteract this harmful attitude. The second verse reads:

Take all my cravings for vain recognition
Fleshly indulgence and worldly ambition
I want so much Lord to make You the focus
To serve You in secret and never be noticed

I want to have a heart like this, and I know I do not get there by negotiating with God using my own works.

-Dave

Man this is so convicting.

My wife will crack up when she sees this. This is so... me.



HT:Crazy Christian Clips

-Jason

Brilliant wisdom.

I'm not even sure who this guy is but this is good stuff.

Influence part 3

I read this excellent post over at Matt Chandler's blog on inspiration & influence.

So I ask those who read and participate here:

What influences, deepens or inspires you in your relationship with Abba Father?

Or as Matt puts it, "what stirs your affections for Christ?"

Please comment, as I think we could all use some fresh ideas and perspective on this.

Ponder away.

Click on this link and let it blow your mind.

thanks Matt for the link.

Brilliant thoughts on the election.

Thank God for John Piper. I can honestly say he wrapped up a lot of my feelings in this short interview he did on the upcoming elections.



He touches on these topics...

1. Womanhood (the only one that I squirm a bit about...)
2. Race
3. Abortion
4. Prophetic perspective
5. Sovereignty of God
6. Gospel

HT- Justin Taylor, Between two worlds blog

Posted by: Jason_73

A mouth full...

Real life religious groups and organizations.

Not mocking, just observing...

Our Pentecostal friends:

"Fire baptized holiness church of the Americas"

"The house of God, which is the church of the Living God, the Pillar & the Ground of the Truth, inc."

"International church of the Foursquare gospel..." Just kidding Steve... Kind of...

"Apostolic Overcoming Holy Church of God "

"Praise All Day Church of the Redeemer Christ Our Everlasting King"

Their name says it all, kind of...

"True Jesus Church"

"The Christadelphians"

"The Exclusive Brethren"

Their site says "The Exclusive Brethren practice separation from evil, recognising this as God's principle of unity. They shun the conduits of evil communications: television, the radio, and the Internet. Their charter is 2 Timothy 2:19 "The Lord knows those that are his; and, Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity."

And this is awesome! From a website dedicated to the Amish:

"Why is this site in black and white?

The Amish are known as the "Plain People" because they shun bright colors. Since this web page is about the "Plain People", it is also plain. You will find no javascript, brightly colored icons or anything else that would give these pages a gaudy appearance"

Then there are the "maybe we need a committee to think up something new" group:

Boring United Methodist Church, Boring, MD

Black Jack Missionary Baptist Church in Gore Springs, MS

And we end with Cowboy churches

Cowboy Church On Fire; Iraan, TX

Why not?

I just posted a little Halloween thingy at my blog here. I thought I'd bless you all with one of my all-time favorites cause I can. Enjoy!

Is it wrong that this made me laugh?

Bird watchers in Chicago coaxed a burrowing owl from its home, only to see it immediately eaten by a hawk. The birder who first spotted the owl said, "The sad truth is that we birders may very well have been responsible for the demise of the burrowing owl."

HT: Relevant Magazine

It's late.

I'm awake late tonight. Can't sleep. This rarely happens to me. Usually I'm blessed to sleep like a baby. Not tonight.

Anyway, I've been thinking... I do want to get this blog back to it's original intent. A forum to post theological questions and have some discussion.

I really, really like a good, healthy back and forth chat around a topic. I hate bickering and finger pointing though. However, I would like to try and get back to that.

To help accomplish that, I think I'll go back and delete some more of my personal posts and move them over to a personal blog I want to get up and running.

Then I'd like to come up with some ideas for creating discussions. It may work, it may not. But it's still something that interests me.

To bad I'm not sleeping though and thinking about this nonsense!

Some stuff I am thinking about right now...

1. How hard it is to get back into the blogging rhythm after missing a few days.

2. This funny link that Steve sent me Go Obama/Palin 08!

3. Luke 14. It's amazing how Jesus had no problem making a big crowd smaller.

4. The movie Iron Man. It was good. For some reason my wife and I are suddenly into purchasing DVD's. Not sure why. But we are.

5. Why gas prices are not falling in Canada at the rate they are in the states. That and Canadians pay the highest cell phone rates in the industrialized world, AND we're taxed like nuts too.

6. About the tussle over whether or not to allow homosexual couples to marry in California. California is definitely a post-Christian, non new testament following society. What do people expect? Seriously though, like Dan Kimball is talking about, if it's just about love why not allow polygamy? But then again, the sanctity of marriage was lost a long time ago. How many marriages occur totally outside the Judeo-Christian spectrum already by allowing Elvis impersonators to marry drugged out celebrities for 20 day marriages. Nobody was up in arms over that... Who knows?

7. Thinking about how my wife says I've been too negative on the old blog lately... I guess that's what happens when your in the down cycle of ones bi-polar lifestyle... ;)

8. Also thinking about heading back to my old blog. I know, I know. This has become kind of like my blog, but that wasn't the point when I started and I still feel weird posting personal stuff here... What do you think...?

Minutia

Here are a few things that have come across my desk at TP! HQ:

• Matt Chandler has a blog. That may not excite many of, if any of, you. But to me, he is my favorite person in the world outside my wife and son (and a few others too). He is the pastor at the Village church in Texas. His sermons blow me away and challenge me whenever I listen to them. I'm not kidding. Not even a little bit. If you have a second, download "the great gospel" or any of his recent sermons from the Luke series. You will not be sorry.

You can download them here. Or just use iTunes. Do it. Really, do it.

• The world series is happening. The Dodgers are not involved. Therefore I do not care.
• I watched a really interesting documentary on public TV about William Tyndale last night. I was just flipping through the channels when I came across it. I don't really think I've fully appreciated his enormous impact on western Christianity. The shame is he was kidnapped from Belgium and returned to England where he was burned at the stake only a few months short of King Henry the 8th creating the church of England so he could divorce his wives. That's crazy too, Protestant Christianity and the freedom to read the bible in English came about largely because a guy wanted a boy child.
  

Every day is like Sunday.

What a day.

Tired. Drained. Restless.

I lead the musical form of worship this morning with my acoustic guitar and friend Jessisca singing with me. It was strange. We have been without accompanying musicians for awhile now, and I really thought I was used to it but it was kind of missing an element today. Not sure. It might have been my choice of songs, and their order... Hmmm. There was some other weird distractions before we started. Must be a trend. I've now gone like 3 out of the last 4 weeks with a something going a-miss at church, some sort of scuffle or confrontation.

I need a break. But there isn't really anyone else to step in, so I carry on. I don't necessarily need a break from the music. Just the drama that is associated with it.

Then at the end of the time I kind went all stream of conscience on everyone and blabbed and cried about the persecuted church and my own short comings. Not sure if it was appropriate. People are used to me being transparent and stuff, but the weird thing is I don't have a normal relationship with anyone where I can share this stuff so I do it in public, from the stage or from the blog. I'm not really sure that is the healthiest way.

Then after church we had a pot-blessing, (or whatever we're calling them these days...) and then we came home as my wife had to work this evening. After she left I was tempted to veg on the couch for the rest of the day but felt like I should head over to our Lifeline feeding ministry in town where we hand out groceries and soup and stuff from a converted blue school bus. So Noah and I headed over there and it was a big crowd. Really big. Noah seemed to fit in with the crowd of mostly homeless and recovery folks. He was a bit of a spaz though and I had to kind of chase him around. He'd help for a second, then try to climb all over everything. In the middle of it, I kind of misplaced him for a second to find that he had cut into the food lineup and went to window so he could get a cup of juice. It was kind of cute, he could have just asked one of the volunteers but he just assumed you had to get in line like everyone else.

Another touching moment that I will probably remember for the rest of my life made our trip there totally worth it. It's hard to explain but put it this way, Noah is active. I spend most my time wrangling the kid like a steer. He kind of invades folks space so I have to watch him. Well, I noticed he was sitting at the rear of the bus and a lot of the people we were serving try to cut back there as to bypass the line up. This one lady was doing that, and I saw Noah start to talk to her and kind of start his "space invading". I started over there and he was suddenly giving this lady a huge hug. I picked up my pace thinking this person may not want this attention. As I got there I noticed he was trying to touch her face, I looked and saw she was wearing sunglasses with a big bandage beneath them. Then he did something I've never have seen him do, he asked if he could pray for her, and as she kind of started to object, my 5 year old ignored her and prayed "Jesus, please make this ladies eye feel better, amen". Then he got all spazzy did a flying leap off the back of the bus and I had to chase after him again. It all happened so quick, and he prayed like it was the most natural thing he's ever done. It was a precious and bizarre moment all wrapped up into one. We pray for him when he's hurt so I guess he thinks that's what you do!

Hmmm. Who knows? Long day. I'm happy to report that I was able to veg on the couch for awhile this evening after returning home. Now I'm off to bed!

-Jason