john piper's "wartime lifestyle"

" sometimes i use the phrase "wartime lifestyle" or "wartime mind-set." The phrase is helpful- but also lopsided. For me it is mainly helpful. It tells me that there is a war foinf on in the world between Christ and Satan, truth and falsehood, belief and unbelief...it tells me that the stakes of this conflict are higher than any other war in history; they are eternal joy or eternal torment (matt 25:46)

...I need to hear this message again and again, because i drift into a peacetime mind-set as certainly as rain falls down and flames go up. I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. i start to call earth "home". Before you know it, i am calling luxuries "needs" and using my money just the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the "war". I don't think much about people perishing. Missions and unreached peoples drop out of my mind. i stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace. I sink into a secular mindset that looka first to what man can do, not what God can do. It is a terrible sickness. And i thank God for those who have forced me again and again toward a war-time mindset. "

hi.

those two letters have so much speed. they get me from :( to :). i didn't use that word for a long time until December 2007. i'm starting to use it alot now. and i have found that it's a beautiful word. it's a key to a whole new world at times. it opened me to beautiful relationships with so many people and so im thankful for "hi". i'm not the kinda guy that has a vision every time i have a bowl of cereal, but i think i hear God a lot. not audibly, but like heartburn -except in my belly. and i always feel God telling me to say "hi". it's like "hey, i got a word from God: hi." . yesterday i was sitting around at a friends house with some folks i had never met before, at it was awkward. were all just sitting around, checking our phones to see if we had any new texts [although my phone was on vibrate]. and so i feel "bellyburn". so in a really weird way i turn to the guy next to me and say "hi". he looked at me like a wacko but it actually led to a full fledge conversation filled with stories about how his sister almost died of fever and how he thinks our church is "dope". remember wisdom, "life's like a box of chocolate."

the here and now

"we can easily become so driven by our vision for church growth, community, or social justice that we forget the little things, like caring for those around us." -shane claiborne.

God please help me to love my mom and dad, sisters, pay for a friend's lunch... to do the little things that i often overlook.

Austria has been on my mind, so much in fact that i took my eyes off the here and the now - and the opportunities thereof. i was praying for God to use me overseas to bring about change, feed the hungry, heal the sick, etc. but Jesus has reminded me about my family, and my friends, co-workers. He wants to use me [you] now.
for tomorrow is never promised.
while reading james' book in the new testament last night, it made me wonder whether we were meant to have all these plans for the future. i think we should constantly remind ourselves of "now" .of the present moment. and of making the most of it. mother teresa used to say: "you cannot love your neighbor unless you learn to love your family." and maybe thats one of the problems with our culture, that we've been programmed since we were kids to look ahead and have all these dreams. that , on its own, is a good thing. but we've made it out to be that all we live for is the future. the patriarchs of our faith also looked forward to something, but nothing earthly. their hope was in The City, eternity. and they understood that the pleasure they recieved in eternity is directly linked to the present moment, and what we do in it.

so open your eyes and your hands little child,
look at those 5 loaves and 2 fish that seem so small
learn to use them now in this moment
and one day you'll be able to feed us all.


but whatever you do, do not miss this moment. because there's beauty in it.

[as you read this, it's a beautiful moment: a chance to pray, a chance to make someone's day, a chance to surprise your parents with a big wet kiss!]

these two in mind

when time shows its weakness, loved ones show their heart.
when reality becomes real, christians show their zeal.
so we live with these two in mind
that time and eternity live together.
that "they can't hear without a preacher"
and "she will fall for another".
life, Jesus, and love-
have taught me their lessons.
they've taught me that "life isnt life unless it's given away".
that Eric Clapton's "layla" does exist
and that there can always be another on the other side.
then she becomes "layla" and then another...
Jesus has asked me "will you turn away too?"- and i counted the cost.
she will ask me the same as life has taught her that i will.
but to both i respond, i'm here to stay , although i go.
like Upton sings, i run, but love's magnet has me running right to you.
i'm starting to comtemplate the possibilities that Jesus meant everything He said.
very unpentecostal of me, i know.
but His teachings of celebacy and redistribution have tugged on me lately
and i ask "did He mean it?" .
and He asks the same of you and me.
"did you mean it?"
when you said you will follow.
it really hurts to leave for these three years
but i'm off following Him.
and i can only hope and pray me and her are opposites.
though for now it seems doubtful.

may God give you peace.