The Paradox of Suffering
Every once in a while I run across a verse that completely blows me over. It's not just the "Hey, that's is nice and it applies to my life" kind of verse, but rather a verse that you can't get out of your head. It's a verse that challenges your thinking and raises all sorts of questions in your mind. It's the kind of verse that lets you know God is working through His Word and is speaking directly to you.
I had that happen the other day going through Philippians. Philippians 1:29 to be exact. Let me quote the verse for you in the New Living Translation.
"For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him."
Read it again and meditate on it a bit.
When we think about salvation and what God has given to us through His Son Jesus Christ, you can't do anything but stop and marvel in wonder about the glorious gift that it is. Too often I don't give my salvation the proper awe and respect it deserves. God's gift of grace to us cannot be explained in mere words nor could we ever express back to Him our thanks in a manner that He deserves. We have been saved from an eternity separated from God and even in our sinfullness God still wants us to be with Him! Incredible!
Now, here is the part of that verse that completely and utterly blows my mind...suffering is equated with salvation. Paul says that salvation is a privilege and that suffering is a privilege. What? Huh? Back up, what did you say? Suffering is a privilege.
I'll be the first to admit I don't find it pleasurable to suffer persecution for the cause of Christ. In fact I pretty much avoid it all costs. It's not a lot of fun. But that is exactly where our thinking needs to change. I believe that Paul actually enjoyed suffering for Christ. I think that Paul found pleasure when he was in jail. I think Paul smiled to himself after being whipped. I think that Paul sang praises after he had been stoned and left for dead. Why? Because Paul understood what suffering meant. He understood that when he was suffering for something he had done for Christ, Christ was being glorified. And since Paul's ultimate goal was to glorify Christ in all he did, he understood that his suffering meant glory, and that made him happy.
When you think of suffering in these terms it really doesn't sound bad. We need to stop thinking of suffering as negative and think of it as positive. When I am made fun of or verbally abused because I just shared the gospel, I need to pump a fist in the air and get excited! And really, here in America what persecution do we really have to fear? Are we going to be beaten, thrown in jail, killed? Probably not - but how much more glory could we give God if those things could happen? You see, we in America have gotten lazy and fat and we are content to just do the "church thing" serve a little here and there, and make it through life without a lot of conflict and strife. But is that what we are called to do? Look at what Paul says about the subject again in 2 Corinthians 1:4-5.
"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."
If you have the opportunity, pick up a copy of Jesus Freaks, a modern day Fox's Book of Martyrs, and see if your thinking isn't challenged by the testimonies of these revolutionaries.
We need to experience a revolution in this area of thinking. We need a complete 180 degree about face. We need to be asking God to let me "suffer" as John Leonard has "suffered" and not to allow me to just go through my normal pain-free day.
What's known in Florida as the Eventual Post
I am way past due for a post. I have thought about for the last few days but have failed to think of any particular topic that I wanted to write about. I have been wanting to start a more focused blog on technology in ministry but I don't feel that this is the appropriate place. When I get more time...ha ha...I plan to start that blog of my personal portfolio site (joshbyers.com). I have a real passion for this area of ministry and see it as something that is under the radar for most churches. As the internet and technology are continually expanding into our lives it should make sense that it expands into our ministry as well. We need to be working on reaching all people where they are at and not waiting for them to come to us.
Family Update: Some of know that Mickie had surgery about a week and a half ago. She had her gallbladder removed because it had been giving her some pains. Everything went very well and she has suffered no ill effects. She is on a lifting restriction however and still can't pick up Mia. That obviously complicates life a bit when trying to control and raise a toddler.
We had a good Thanksgiving at Mickie's parents house. Their whole extended family usually gets together and it was at the Hyde's house this year. That made for a bit of a crowed house but it was neat to be able to experience a big family coming together. The Broncos were on national TV and did not disappoint - though I was a bit worried coming down the stretch. We still have leftovers and according to most health experts most of your leftovers should be thrown away by now...
We got most of our Christmas decorations up including a brand new pre-lit tree. That's right pre-lit. As in I didn't have to string any lights on the tree. That rules. I don't why these aren't more popular. Maybe they are and I am just naive. I am still reeling on how easy the tree went up and for once I wasn't frustrated and ready to be done with the whole ordeal... You can see pictures of Mia decorating the tree on our photostream on Flickr. There are also new pictures from Thanksgiving as well as the Fall.
I will try and write a little more often as a lot of things are going on during the holidays. Hope everyone is warm!
What's in Pandora's Box?
Like the sands through the hourglass, so are the posts of my blog...
Not much to report from the homeland in the heartland. Work is awesome. I am working on developing a completely new web site for our company. The new site will be radically more sophisticated and useful, and it will look better too.
I think a light turned on in Mia's head a couple weeks ago as she has begun to use full sentances. Her cognisence has grown noticably by leaps and bounds. Way cool. There are no new pictures or videos right now, but after next week I should be able to get some up and running.
This week I have planning our major Jr. High activity of the year. This years Youth Feast and Fun Fest should trump the other years (if we can pull it off). No spoilers yet till its over-sorry guys. In my next post I will report on how it went and what we actually did.
I will be traveling to Portland on Monday to participate in some software training for some clients. If there are any readers in Portland maybe we could get together for some coffee. Should be fun, though being away from home is never all its cracked up to be.
And now for this weeks really cool thing. The website www.pandora.com will read your mind and introduce you to new music. The way it works is by entering the neame of a band or a song you really like. It will then search its database for similar music and spit out a playlist you can listen to. It didn't find the two artists I searched for but found the third and its pretty cool! Give it a try.
Just want to give a few shout outs...to Abi, hang in there-college rules!...to Tim and Patty, congrats on the baby-parenthood rules!...to everyone else-Rejoice! God is good!
Email Subscriptions
I have been having trouble with the service I use to send out my newsletter to those of you who have subscribed via email. I have switched the service and hopefully you will be getting your regular updates in your email inbox.
If you would like to know whenever the blog is updated, enter your email in the form to the right.
Internet Ministry
What are the limits of the internet and the potential for ministry opportunity? I had an awesome conversation with a like minded web servant tonight. Tim Kimberly ministers online through He Lives.com. I can't remember if I have plugged the site before, but it is an incredible resource for biblical and theological content that is packaged in a beautiful manner. It is so much fun to sit down and bounce ideas, thoughts, passions and whatever comes to mind off of guys like this. If you have not visited the site, do so, and then tell all of your friends and neighbors about it. And after that send them a check or two to help cover expenses...
Internet and technological ministry has become my passion over this past year and I am really excited to see how God might lead in the future. I think that churches are really waking up to the idea that the internet is going to change the way we think about ministry. One of the things that Tim brought out tonight that made me stop and think, is the fact that the internet now can be a viable tool to do ministry and a way to actively engage a user. As Tim put it, most churches are using their websites as a map to get to their building. Now don't jump off a cliff here, I believe that ministry must be focused around the local church, but this in an area where the local church can do more.
One of my biggest passions is to see the church use the web actively for evangelism. Gospelcom.net's evangelism section has some great ideas about how to go about this. They send out a monthly newsletter with all sorts or resources, ideas and stats dealing directly with internet evangelism. I would love to hear your ideas on how we could do a better job of this.
One of the ways our church is currently ministering in this way is to offer up every Sunday morning sermon available for streaming download. I know a lot of churches are doing this and I think it is effective in a limited way. I would like to be able to not only serve up the sermon, but then connect with those that are listening and be able to do discipling and point them to a good local church. Again the idea is not to supplant the local church but rather support it.
One of the other things that Tim and I discussed was the need for more quality Christian media. Specifically we discussed producing short but powerful vignettes that could be used to pull someone in and get them interested in going deeper in their walk. He Lives.com is trying to focus on more of a discipling/teaching aspect in the way of online bible courses. This would be the "meat" where the shorter media would be the "hook." I can see doing this for not only short videos, but for creative print advertisements and marketing campaigns.
We bounced stuff back and forth for about 90 minutes and I won't repeat it all, but hopefully the Lord will take my passion and be able to use it in these and other ways.
New Photos and Video
Just wanted to let everyone without rss know that there are new photos on Flickr to view and there is a new video on our site to view. I have been having some issues with the video player not refreshing itself, so you may need to clear out your temporary internet files and then refresh your page in order to view.
That would probably be a good thing for a lot of you to do anyway. If you are using IE click on "tools" in the menu bar the click "internet options." This will open up a dialog box. Right in the middle is a button that says "delete files." Click that and then click ok when it prompts you to. All done. Go to the video page and refresh and you should see the new video.
I am working on some sort of better alternative for the future.
Validation Junkie
So about this whole blog thing...is it a fad or is it here to stay? I think for the most part it is here to stay. It gives people an outlet to be heard and a way to express themselves. But I would tend to think that most people will not just post for the sake of posting. They need some validation that people are reading what they are writing and care about what they are doing. I am no different in this regard and I get the most pleasure from the comments that you all leave. I think most bloggers would always like to see more comments but I understand as a blog reader you have to be really moved by something in order to comment on it. I also understand that boring posts like this one will probably not get as many comments, unless it strikes a nerve with you.
So I am stuck. Do I write about things that will make more people comment thus satisfying my insatiable appetite for blogger validation? Or do I just write about the things that I find interesting? Hmmmm...you tell me.
Okay weird rant over...
I am a little over 2 weeks into my new job and I am loving it. Like any new job there is a uncomfortable period of adjustment as you meet new people, learn office politics, and figure out what you are supposed to be doing. But for the most part that is behind me. I like the people I work with and I get to do some really cool things.
I got some new headphones for my iPod. I am listening to it a lot at this job and the headphones that came with it were hurting my ears. I purchased a pair of Sony MDR-EX81 white headphones. They have an incredible sound and are very comfortable. They also block out all background noise which is good and bad. Good, because then I don't hear the ambiant noise of a factory, but bad because I can't hear my phone ring on my desk 2 feet away (yes, they are that good).
Tonight we are planning to take Mia to a pumpkin patch where they have animals and all sorts of fun stuff. Check back later for pictures and whatnot. It should be a lot of fun.
We are four weeks into our new church. For those of you who don't know we are part of a group from our home church (Saylorville Baptist) that is starting a church plant in Polk City. Everything has been going great. We are having one service on Sunday morning and then meeting at Saylorville for the rest of the time. Each week our attendance has increased, we had 62 people a couple weeks ago and we have already seen one lady get saved! It is pretty cool to be a part of something like this. It is as close to a original "New Testament" type of church that you could get. You can find out more at www.lakesidefellowship.net
Mia is doing new things all the time. A couple days ago we were downstairs and she decided to go back up. Well she only went about half way, turned around and asked me "ready?" She asked several more times and I finally said that I was ready. Then she walked down the stairs and jumped off of the last one and made a clean standing landing. Wow. What will she do next? I do have some video that will hopefully get put up soon, but don't hold your breath.
Well, the time is now for me to close. This post has been brought to you by the number 7 and the letter q.
Evolution of the Hip
First off, if you are expecting some musings of old folks and their leg troubles, sorry, not what I had in mind. But since you are here, you might as well keep reading, or click on one of those ads on the right...
My thought today is directed at the ever changing world of design. What was cool 20 years ago was not cool 10 years ago and is starting to become cool again. My case in point is wallpaper. If you want to be ahead of the trend go ahead and start wrapping your walls in all their papered bliss. Maybe not you say? Take a look at web design today. I find it fascinating that trends on the web seems to mirror trends in life just at an extremely elevated pace. In our example of wallpaper, it was all the rage when people started figuring out that you 
could place graphics on web pages. In fact it got to be pretty ugly and it was a rare site you saw that knew how to use wallpaper or a graphical background correctly. Most of the time it was an offense to the eyes. That seemed to fall off and solid color or 2 or 3 colored backgrounds became the dominant force. But now, I am seeing on a lot of contemporary sites (developers and designers that have a voice in the community) the trend back to a graphical background. This time however, they are very subdued and classical. It is interesting how this very renaissance look can be so modern.
I think what I like about it so much is the fact that it is subtle enough not to overpower the content on the page, yet is intriguing enough to warrant a deeper look. I think the word "intrigue" probably describes it best. You will notice that in my efforts to "be with it" I also have this type of background for my pages. I have done quite a bit of searching for these specific types of backgrounds and have found very little. Most of the stuff along the same lines is very cheesy and doesn't convey that specific sophisticated classical look. I did find one website that has quite a few of these. Here is the link. If you follow the link you need to scroll a little bit. The patterns in the examples on this page are great but you would still need to take the opacity down quite a bit in order for them to not overpower the content on the page.
So, if you are looking to lead the way, contact your nearest wallpaper store and have them print you some of those.
Subconscious Marketing
So here's the deal...every week we get a mailer advertising 3 incredible deals for our local grocery store. A lot of the time its things like a gallon of milk for .99 or free bananas, etc. The last few weeks however there has been a coupon for .10 off each gallon of gas you purchase from the store's gas station. Cool, right? Maybe not - at least for me... See when I realized I had saved a little over a dollar on my gas purchase I thought to myself..."hmm self, you could use a Gatorade right about now...and since you just saved a dollar you can go into the convenience store and get one for only .50!" Wow! That's a great deal!!! So I did. Only later did I realize that I had been taken by the scam of getting me in the door.
See, today people pay at the pump more and more and rarely go inside. This, I believe is hurting a lot of gas stations. So they need some way to get you inside to see all of the high priced goodies. Enter the coupon that conveniently (or not) you have to use inside...and thus my flavored drink purchase. Pretty smart.
I need to work on my "spitting"
I just came across this article and had to share it with all peeps in the hizzle...
I from time to time have been known to bust a rhyme...okay not really but I do like to make drum noises with my mouth (otherwise known as "vocal percussion" or "beat boxing"). So I have a little spot dedicated in my heart to free stylin' rap. I like to think I'm cool and break out with a little rhyme every now and then, but I always need to rehearse it for awhile before I try and get spontaneous on anyone.
So, this morning I found this article in the inbox in my rss reader.
"How to Survive a Freestyle Rap Battle" Wow! Does it get any better than that? You can click on the link for the full details but let me give you the basics.
- Listen to great freestylers
- Practice, practice, practice (there is no substitute for this-ever)
- Start writing rhymes (that would be lines and words that sound alike, here is an example...Jesusa loves me, this I knowa, for thee-ah Bible tells me-a so-ah...) That last example works best if said with a little caribbean flava.
- Once you can "spit on the spot" (spitting is a another term for freestyling), try and "spit" about more specific things. (hmmmm, sometimes when I am on a bridge or a tall building I try and spit on a spot.)
- Jump in and battle someone
- Here is my favorite tip...and I am not making this up...okay ready? Make sure your first battle is against someone you dislike - it will make it easier for you to throw in denegrating metaphors (a key staple in any rap battle), personal disses, and punch lines (a combination of the two.) Here is an example. "Yo, you be trippen on yo wal-mart drawers, and you eat garbage from a can cause you so poor. Word." My CD will be out in the late fall...watch for it.
- And last, don't worry if you lose your first few battles. Again practice is the key.
If you do read the article I would like to direct your attention to the warning near the bottom of the page. "Spitting, as refered to in the article does not refer to "saliva expulsion" but rather a poetic combination of wordage.
I would invite all you to try out your mad skills and throw out some mad spits here on the comments. Keep it clean yo. I'm out.