Awaken Ministries

I hope you had a Merry Christmas. This week’s blog is by guest blogger Matt Garrett–who is also my older brother. Today, he shares his thoughts on a topic he has been praying about. I hope you enjoy his honest reflections.

“Many people quote their favorite Bible passages, but how many profess to have a least favorite story? Luke’s story of the prodigal son has always been mine. I fully comprehend and embrace the message of forgiveness Jesus is preaching in this parable. Yet, no matter how hard I pray I continue to reject this specific example.

For I am the story’s older brother. Not that I am without sin or past mistakes. The introduction to my latest research, entitled Reflections for the Young Professional in the Sport Business Industry, reflects on transgressions early in my career in the hope readers will learn from them.

But I have always been the “good one”. The one sought to handle disputes between colleagues, coaches, or parents. The buddy my school friends had meet their girlfriends when they needed a clean cut image and the one my adult friends are embarrassed to share their wild stories. I have rarely been intoxicated, a state I haven’t reached in 20 years. I have never attempted illicit drugs. And my wife is the only woman I have had relations with.

Yet it is jealousy in my heart when I question why those who commit repeated and egregious mistakes are lauded when they turn things around, while those disciplined enough to avoid life’s vices receive no such accolades? And when an individual is praised for professional accomplishments when their personal choices poorly reflect their moral compass.

My brother offered the story of King David. While we can’t possibly compare historical eras and norms, this is a great example. David was a murderer, a possible rapist and definite adulterer, and a man who arguably exuded nonchalance in his role in his son’s death. God’s forgiveness would not impact society’s duty to imprison him and deem him unworthy of role model status.

Recognizing we are all sinners worthy of forgiveness, when is our authority compromised as a result of either the severity or frequency of our moral lapses? How does society both model forgiveness yet hold people accountable for their transgressions? It is always appropriate to forgive, but when should and should not we give a person a second chance at a platform to potentially influence others? How is our own moral culpability impacted when we do so, and our soul tarnished when we don’t?

I don’t have the answers, but instead ask you to ponder the questions in your hearts. And pray for mine as well. I had hoped deep reflection on this would lead me to opening my heart toward the prodigal son. I am not there yet, because I still don’t think he deserved a party.”

I attended an event last Wednesday to hear my local state legislators talk about possible legislation coming up for 2015. The state I live in–Illinois–is in quite a financial mess and I was interested to hear some possible solutions that are being worked on for next year. Now, I admit that I went into the event pretty skeptical that these individuals even cared much about education–which is what the main topic was for this forum.

I left with a different attitude altogether. I think for the first time I realized that even state elected officials are trying to balance the needs, demands, and wants of a very diverse group of people. People in their districts–myself included–complain frequently about what happens in our state capitol.

But, I am ashamed to say, I pray very little for these decision makers.

Now, I know I should. I know that Jeremiah 29:7 says, “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” I also know what Romans 13:1-7 talks about concerning submitting to your governing authorities. (A complicated issue, I know…just read Bonhoeffer). But, the first and most basic–and powerful–thing I can do is to pray for the elected leaders where I live.

Unfortunately, for most of us politics and politicians tend to leave us thinking the worst (BUT, for a positive counter-example check out the current edition of World Magazine for an article on retiring congressman Frank Wolf). They are easy targets for us because we don’t really fully understand how difficult their jobs are. Even if your local representative is supportive of your ideas, he/she still has to work with members of their body that are not supportive and sometimes have to make compromises to get anything passed.

So, these people need our prayers. I am ashamed to say that I have been very critical of those governing, but have offered little prayers for them. We should be praying for them, for their families, for them to have wisdom and courage. We should pray for them to be people of integrity. We should pray for citizens who would be excellent representatives to run for office!

That is our challenge for this week. As we prepare to enter into a new year–especially a year that will see many new faces emerge in both state and national elected bodies–we need to commit to pray for them. Pick a time and then stick to it! God does not call us to live in isolation, but to engage our communities as salt and light. If we aren’t praying for our politicians, then who is?

More to come…
Jeremy

This blog marks the 100th post of Awaken Ministries. Now, if this were a TV sitcom, this post would be a re-hash of the past 99 posts played to music to make us all feel nice and sentimental. But…I don’t think that would work well for a blog. So instead, I want to talk about five of the ways I have been blessed by sharing part of my Sunday nights (your Monday mornings) with you. I will count down backwards from five to one which is the way Casey Kasem taught us:

5. It has allowed me to practice getting my ambiguous and scattered thoughts down to a somewhat recognizable and coherent short post of roughly 400 words.

4. I am a teacher at heart and the blog has allowed me a weekly platform to try to teach others through my life and thoughts.

3. The accountability in my life knowing that I am going to publish a blog post every Monday morning. This discipline has helped me stay sharper in my studies than I otherwise would have been and has helped my relationship with Jesus.

2. Communicating with a reader in California who was teaching Sunday School and asking about some Bonhoeffer quotes he was using for his class.

1. Hearing from readers that God spoke to them somehow through a post. I stated this before that the very nature of a blog lends itself to being more meaningful for the writer than the readers (as it is my thoughts and struggles that I write about), but I have heard from readers that have said that the posts spoke to them with something they have been dealing with.

So, there you have it! The first 100 blogs. I sincerely thank you for taking a few minutes each week to read these posts. Whether you have been following since the first post or have just recently started reading–I pray that your journey with Christ will be rich and full and never boring (which how can it be if you are really following Him?!) We will see where God leads this blog and Awaken Ministries in the future!

More to come…
Jeremy

Yesterday marked the beginning of the Advent season in many Christian churches. I realize not every church celebrates Advent and this blog isn’t going to be a persuasive essay about whether or not to celebrate Advent.

But for me the Advent season is a time of reflection and hope. It is a reminder for me to slow down and spend some quiet time thinking about how awesome Christmas really is! Now, Christmas is great for many reasons–the quality time with family, the food, the music, the television specials, the movies, the lights, and the gift giving to name just a few. But it is AWESOME because of what Christmas really means–God sending His Son to become flesh and blood like us to save us from our sins.

Do we really realize just how awesome this is?! Do we realize that because Love came down we now have answers to the questions, “Can this broken world REALLY be healed?” and “Can I ever be redeemed?”

Your challenge for the weeks leading up to Christmas is to find time to contemplate the amazing gift that Jesus is. How can you do that? Well, there are many Advent devotionals out there to choose from. If you are looking to go the free route, I know that if you have the Bible App, they offer many different free devotionals that only take a minute to sign up for.

You didn’t ask, but in case you are wondering what my favorite devotionals are for this season here they are. I have many that I pick and choose from. John Stonestreet and T.M. Moore from the Colson Center have an excellent resource that includes a DVD and a study guide called “He Has Come” that includes a CD by Michael Card titled, “The Promise: A Celebration of Christ’s Birth”. I also use a devotional that our church publishes each year that includes devotional thoughts from members of our congregation. My other two favorites over the years are “Celebrating Christmas with Jesus” by Max Lucado and “The Glory of Christmas” which includes writings from Max Lucado, Chuck Swindoll, Anne Graham Lotz, and Henry and Richard Blackaby.

The most important thing to remember is that what resource you use is not nearly as important as it is to spend time with your Lord and Savior and let Him examine your heart, soul, and mind so that you can love Him more and love others more.

More to come…
Jeremy

When I first started my career in education there was an interactive role-playing simulation I used in my classroom called “Decisions, decisions” created by Tom Snyder. In one of the games, you were the mayor of a town and you had to make decisions as certain critical points came up in the simulation. We would debate the options as a class and then vote to see what decision we would make. Then, much like its predecessor in book form the “Choose Your Own Adventure” series, you would see the consequences of your decisions.

I always enjoyed facilitating these simulations not so much for what path it would lead to–since it was a created simulation there were only so many options–but rather to hear how the students got to a decision. It was good to hear how they would come to a decision and then debate it with the class.

Unlike a computer simulation game that only leaves you with a few options, life gives us with hundreds of decisions we have to make every day. Some are obviously bigger than others, but all decisions lead us to who we are as a person today. I sometimes find myself trying to justify every decision I make as I go through my day.

I want to do God’s will for my life and I oftentimes almost get “paralysis by analysis” because I think too hard about what God would want me to do with a certain decision. The older I get, I am starting to realize that God’s will for my life isn’t necessarily that I work in a certain place or live in a certain place.

I think God’s will is for me to love Him and love others. Everything else is secondary. I find myself often spending more time on figuring out what that means to me in my life and in my time rather than just accepting and living out what He has already told me in Scripture.

Our challenge this week is to simplify our lives and just focus this week on 1. Loving God and 2. Loving others.

As we enter the holiday season, wouldn’t it be great if we could simplify our lives by making a decision to accept what God has told us about His will for our lives?

More to come…
Jeremy

I will never claim to know everything about those who read this blog, but I am 100% confident that I know at least one thing about you. You have problems in your life. I know, it is almost like I am reading your mind! Do you want to know how I was able to know that you have problems in your life? It is because you are alive and breathing!!

We all have problems in our life. Yes, I did say problems–not a problem. Some of our problems are small, some are big, and some are HUGE! But, we all have problems.

Fortunately for us, there is a book we can reference that talks about a lot of really big problems that people had. For example, say your problem is that you have to build a really huge boat that is capable of holding (for quite some time) not only your family but also 2 of every living thing on the earth. Or how about this problem: you are told to free your people from the most powerful ruler in the world and then will lead them out of that country. Or try this problem out for size. Your leader whom you have been traveling with for three years has just been crucified. All of these problems and hundreds more are detailed for us in the Bible.

I know I don’t really like the problems in my life, but God knows me well enough to know that without problems I wouldn’t seek Him the way I should. I would be tempted to think that I have this thing called life all figured out and I would have no need to search for someone higher than myself.

I wish it wasn’t that way for me–I wish I would be motivated to follow Christ no matter what. But, when I read the Bible I see how God moves others out of themselves–which is where most of us would be stuck–and into relationship with Him through the problems of life.

Your challenge this week is to look at your problems for what they are. Give them to God and let yourself be molded by Him as He shows you how to work through them. Sometimes, the answer to your problems are simple. Sometimes they are much more complex. Sometimes, your problems won’t be solved this side of Heaven.

Whatever your problems are, know that God has given us a book where He helps hundreds of people with their various problems. Study His Word and learn from Him!

More to come…
Jeremy

Hope.

I love the word “hope”. It is a word that gives me the ability to keep going when things are crashing all around. It is a word that inspires me to do my best because I know where my hope comes from. It comes from my relationship with Christ.

I think that hope is sometimes the best gift we can give to someone. There are many who feel like they have no hope. Can there be anything worse than not having hope?

We need to remind the people we are around that it’s not too late! It’s not too late to start down another life path. Will things still be difficult? Yes, indeed!! Sometimes, in fact, when you do the right thing, life can get even more difficult. That’s not God’s plan, but we live in a fallen world. But, as Cameron Strang said in the current “Relevant” magazine, “In hard circumstances, we have an opportunity. Sure, we can get cynical or angry–that’d be easy. Or, we can make the harder decision and simply choose not to. We can choose to trust a God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, no matter what’s happening around us.”

We need to remind ourselves and others of this! I think Christians struggle with this because of the pace of our lives sometimes distracts us from seeing Jesus as He is. So, if “seasoned” Christians struggle with this, we need to expect new believers and seekers to struggle even more!

The challenge this week is to think of some people you know who may be struggling with a lack of hope. Pray for them and see if God presents you an opportunity this week to share with them that it’s not too late for them to start down a different path. Maybe you are going to be the one who can introduce them to true hope.

More to come…
Jeremy

This Tuesday is Election Day in the United States. Millions of citizens will cast their vote for the candidates of their choice with the hope that those candidates will move our country, state, county, or city in a positive direction.

As a voter who is also a Christian, I hope for even more than that when I cast my ballot. I still–after living in Illinois my whole life–have the hope that the people I am voting for are people of virtue and integrity. I know, I know, who am I kidding? But, I really still do hold out that hope every year.

Now, I only know about the candidates what I can see, read, and hear so I won’t know if any of the candidates actually attain my stated hope. But, I watched a movie earlier this year for the first time–one that turned 75-years-old this year–that showed me what that candidate would look like. Yes, I’m talking about “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington”. It is a “must watch” for anyone who thinks that one person can’t make a difference politically and not sell their soul doing so!

I have been doing some reading about the movie and found out that the premiere took place in Washington, D.C. at Constitution Hall with almost 300 members of Congress in attendance. If you have seen the movie, you can imagine that the members of Congress were not impressed at all as many were shown as scoundrels! In fact, according to reports, Joseph Kennedy tried to get the film shut down in Europe! (Breakpoint Commentary, 10/22/14)

Now, our faith teaches us that there are no perfect leaders this side of Heaven and until Jesus returns we will have to deal with fallen humans as our leaders. But, as Christians we do have dual citizenship–we are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven and citizens where we are planted now. We can’t withdrawal from the public arena. As Scripture says, we give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s. (Matthew 22:21)

So, this week if you are reading this is the U.S. (and for those of you not in the U.S. when your Election Day comes), you have two challenges: first is to prayerfully vote Tuesday. There are countless people around the world who don’t get the option of a fair election so let’s never take it for granted! Your second challenge is watch (either again or for the first time) “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington”. You can get it through Netflix or Amazon. Watch it with the whole family! You won’t be disappointed! It will give you hope in our cynical times!

More to come…
Jeremy

For as long as I can remember, I have always spent considerable time thinking of the future. When I was younger, I always looked forward to the next “BIG” thing. Whether that was the next baseball season, getting my driver’s license, graduating from college, getting married, or whatever it was I always seemed to look ahead and not truly live in the moment.

Well, now I am older and probably a little wiser. I know that my time on this earth is finite. For me, looking too far in to the future tends to cause me to either worry or not live in the present. Both of which I am not called to do. Matthew 6:27 says, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Just a few verses later Jesus says, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34)

I need to remember what the title of my very first daily devotional book told me…every day is a gift! It took me a long time to appreciate that but it is so true!

Our small group just finished studying Adam Hamilton’s book, “When Christians Get it Wrong”. Hamilton closed the book by asking us two very important questions. The first one is that in any situation, if we are unsure of how to act, we should ask ourselves, “What is the most loving thing I can do?” The second question was, “Are we becoming more loving every day?”

As we have been digesting those questions this week, this revelation has come to me over and over. I CANNOT do either of those things unless I am fully and wholeheartedly in the PRESENT!! I can’t be loving in the moment if my head is looking forward to something in the future.

This week’s challenge for you is to join us in trying to live up to the call of those two questions. It has really given me a good perspective–a more Christlike perspective.

More to come…
Jeremy