I’ve been asked to be a guest blogger today for a great friend of mine named, Chris Spradlin. He’s an incredible pastor at Euzoa Bible Church in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  He’s recently started writing some honest and on the edge ways to raise kids at his new site: http://www.epicparent.tv/ If you’re a parent, its a must-read!  Here’s a little bit of what I came up with over there…

PEACE.  What is it?  When I think of peace I think of sitting by a babbling brook with some hot tea!  I think of tranquility, serenity, comfort ability, and maybe the absence of conflict.  We are all in search of it…just a little peace and quiet…right?  I have four girls at the age of 8, 10, 12, and 14…so I am the only man in an all women’s sorority!  J  As you can imagine…it’s usually loud in my house…Taylor Swift playing, the sound of Wii, the screams, the hairdryers…something!  As a father, I am always wanting to create an environment where everyone is “getting along” and where we are together and laughing.  Its not easy to do and something that I’ve realized is that I have to fight for peace!  See…peace never just happens… we don’t just naturally drift into peace…continue reading here…

Please let me know your thoughts…

Something I was taught as a young believer by my friend Brian Crall is that RATE X’s TIME = GROWTH.  In other words, the amount of time that you spend X’s the rate at which you grow equals Growth.

So this is what that looks like for me.  I am often perplexed by the amount of immaturity from believers in Christ who are much older than me!!  People who have not applied the spiritual knowledge and/or fruit that we find in the scriptures.  I would have a conversation with an elder in my church and think…“I’m not sure if they even know Jesus at all!” They would be so stinkin mean and critical of everything that I was doing.  I finally built up the courage to ask one of them how he thought he was  really encouraging me as a young pastor and he lashed out even more harshly.  He was in no place to learn from someone or be questioned by someone that was younger than him.  He was an “elder”…he knew better…but the only thing lacking in his life was any sort of resemblance of Christ!

I know that sounds hyper-critical or judgmental but the scriptures teach us that we will know people by their fruit.  I am not trying to dishonor him or be disrespectful, however, I also have a responsibility to make sure and challenge all believers – young and old – to follow after Christ.  I remember feeling so inadequate, fearful and scared of the authority that God had placed above me.  How was I supposed to honor men that were less spiritually mature than I was??  See…the time that I spent with God and the rate at which I was growing equaled a lot more spiritual maturity than people 3 and 4 times my age.  I realized that just because many people had been in the church their entire lives does NOT equal spiritual maturity.

There are way too many people who have forgotten to actually apply the truth of the scriptures in their lives and consequently Jesus is represented  as judgmental – hypocrictical – lazy believers.  The gospel wasn’t written to allow us to become apathetic and lazy…there is always something to work on in your character…there is always something that you need to spend some time looking at to grow…there is always more to learn about God.  Please don’t allow yourself to age and to become grumpy and less gracious.  People who follow after God become more grace-filled, more gentle, patient, kind, loving, caring, peaceful and compassionate.  The more you understand how much you have been forgiven…the more you long to give it away.

Many of you reading this today need to be reminded of the fact that you should not “allow people to look down on you because of your youth”. You can only fake it for so long…either you are spending a lot of time with God or you aren’t.  Eventually, you will be known by the fruit that is in your life and that fruit is only found by your knowledge of the truth and your intimacy with the Father!  NOTHING can replace that or manufacture that.  

Would you say that you are growing spiritually??

I am in a season where my character is really being shaped by God and it has been beautiful and brutal at the same time!  Its hard to be honest with yourself about who you are becoming.  I am having some of the most truthful conversations with my wife and accountability partner that I’ve ever had and in the process the truth is setting me free! (Jn. 10)

When I was a youth pastor in Owensboro, KY I had a friend named Bill Barron who spoke a lot of life into me.  His family was very good to us during the five years that I served at Owensboro Christian Church as the high school pastor.  I’ll never forget the day that he loaded me up into his car and took me to a weekend retreat that he scheduled without me knowing.  My wife was in on this and I did not like it at all.  It was called, “Walk to Emmaus” and that weekend proved to be life changing for me.  I’ll never forget something that Bill said to me while I was there.  He said,

“Love without discipline is hypocricy but discipline without love is brutality.”

Wow…what a huge thought!  It rocked me as a father and as a pastor.  I had viewed discpline the wrong way.  I had a very strict father who taught me to have a healthy fear of him.  In response to that, I had been a  father and youth pastor who allowed way too much too happen without saying a word.  It was in rebellion to such a ridgid set of rules that I had to live by.  I wanted my family and my ministry to be a place that was just a stinkin blast.  I have always been the kind of person that has aired on the side of grace instead of justice because of my upbringing.  However, during that week, I realized that I really wasn’t loving because of my lack of discipline.  I realized that “discipline is the purest form of love.” You can find that in the scriptures in Hebrews 12:5-12, where the chapter heading is:

“God’s Discipline Proves His Love”

.⁵And have you entirely forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you, his children? He said,

“My child, don’t ignore it when the Lord disciplines you,
and don’t be discouraged when he corrects you.

⁶ For the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes those he accepts as his children.” ^F54

⁷As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Whoever heard of a child who was never disciplined? ⁸If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children after all. ⁹Since we respect our earthly fathers who disciplined us, should we not all the more cheerfully submit to the discipline of our heavenly Father and live forever?

¹⁰For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always right and good for us because it means we will share in his holiness. ¹¹No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it is painful! But afterward there will be a quiet harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

In order for me to live a life that produces a “harvest of right living” it appears as if we have to be disciplined by a God who loves us.  In order for that to happen..I have to long for the discipline, reproof, and correction of a righteous God even when I don’t think I need it.  Today…I want to challenge you to not be a hypocrite and continue loving those around you without discipline and/or any correction.  Carefully admonish and correct those around you in honest and sincere truth!  In other words, have the courage to love deeply!!

Do you agree??  Is love really not love if there is no discipline involved?

Your turn…share a  story with me about something you wish that you could take back…

Yesterday I got a phone call from a church member who has been very upset with me and left the church because of something I said to him on the phone over a year ago.  I remember that phone call well.  I had been speaking to a group of addicts and after I was done they all wanted to talk individually about their struggles.  I stayed very late and was mad I didn’t get to put my girls to bed.  I had been poured out that day–I was vulnerable and weak.  I was driving home at 1030 pm and I got the phone call.  He was telling me about how bad of a pastor/friend I was being at the time and he was right.  I replied flippantly.  I said, “it was an honor to have my cell phone and to be careful how much he used it.”

WOW!  I am such an arrogant punk!  I can’t believe I said that to him…but I did.  I am so grateful he had the courage to finally call me and remind me.  After so much time w God on the side of a mountain…he has exposed so many things in my character that I have to work on that it couldn’t have come at a better time.

I communicated so much in that sentence:

I am more important than you.

I am busy.

Don’t bother me.

You are such a pain.

I hate that I did that to him and I feel awful.  My immediate response was, “I’m so arrogant and I am so sorry -please forgive me.  Thank you for calling and loving me enough to have this conversation!!” I asked for his grace and said I was very sorry.  I hope he comes back..I really do miss him.  I am so grateful he shared that with me.

God has been working on that part of my heart all my life and it doesn’t seem like I’ve had much progress over the years.  Sometimes my greatest strengths are my greatest weakness.  Today I feel weak and discouraged from a battle over my heart that seems to never end.  Discouraged that I can be so prideful and arrogant after all these years of being a follower of Christ and a leader in the church.  I’ve never longed to please God more in my life than I do today.  I am praying for His humility and love to change me…will you join me in that prayer??  I’d like to publicly apologize today if I’ve ever made you feel that way!  If I have…would you have the courage today to tell me??  I am working on it…and only by the power and grace of God do I have a fighting chance.

Are there things in your life that you feel the same way about??

So…an hour passes and sure enough watching the Sun come over the horizon has never meant more to me in all my days.  The only thing that kept going through my mind was, “he wraps himself in light…and darkness tries to hide…and trembles at his voice…trembles at his voice…HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD!!” Tears were streaming down my face as the warmth of God enveloped my cold skin.  I had never felt more small or feeble as I stood on the side of a mountain and as God literally showed his love to me as he came over the horizon.  I was lost in the wonder and awe of my Creator.  I started quoting scripture out loud saying the words of Christ who said, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” Those words had never been so reassuring.  Here’s the picture I turned and captured…

Have you ever had a moment when you knew you were being sustained by the giver of life?

I wanted to show you a few pictures of my trip.  My experience in Africa and climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro surpassed my every expectation!!  I was so blessed to be a part of such an incredible adventure.  I still can’t believe that I made it to the top..its the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.  I haven’t got to tell you yet, but, we also went to an orphanage  called Msamaria Center for Street Children and spent some time playing soccer and handing out some chocolate.  It was heartbreaking to see those kids…but I was glad to get to serve them in a small way.

Today is the last day that Blake’s blog will be under siege and heist. Blake has made it off the mountain. He is on his way home via Amsterdam first. In Amsterdam he will finally become aware that for the last week his blog has been under heist by me (Trevor). I figured that it would be fitting if the last post of this series and the first post that he sees would be from his incredibly awesome and beautiful wife Ally. She is Blake’s perfect compliment to life on this earth. She is an incredible mom, phenomenal wife, godly woman and a dear friend. Not only does Blake push her, but she makes him a better man as you will read below. Thanks for letting me heist this little space for the last week. I am sure you are all ready for Blake to be back in this space!!! Until next time…

It all started with a friend playing match-maker that April of 1995, and my life hasn’t been the same since.  I had no idea when I said “yes” to the man of my dreams, that I was saying “yes” to a life time of adventure and what I am going to call “comfort zone busters”!  One of the things I love the very most about Blake is that he rarely stays comfortable.  He will follow the Holy Spirit into what one would think would be awkward conversations, only to help one of God’s children into life-transformation.  He will listen so closely to the Holy Spirit that he will hear Him tell us where he wants our family to minister and move.  He will ask the hard questions, take the risks, and no one will ever accuse him of “playing it safe” through life.  He pushes those who let him in to be risk takers…sometimes in the Spirit realm, and sometimes in the adventures of life realm.  God knew this “safe and security-loving woman” needed a man like Blake to push her to trust Him more.  I thank God everyday that I get to live this life with a man who isn’t afraid to take risks…has it increased my prayer life…absolutely!  Has it made me listen more closely to the Holy Spirit’s comfort and less closely to the world’s…absolutely!  Blake has taught me to not “tiptoe through life to arrive at death safely.” He lives in the moment…and because of that…he makes the most of opportunities.  I am so thankful for you Blaker.  Thank you for being willing to put yourself out there, love others, and do nothing less than LIVE!!!  You inspire so many…you inspire me.

Now…all that being said…GET YOUR BUTT HOME!!!  We miss you around here!