48 hour Challenge

So my friend Greg Stier started this thing called the 48 hour challenge.  Have you ever seen the movie fight club (I have not).  But I hear it is about these guys who start this club where they fight because they want to live for something that matters, and there is this part where they challenge each other to go pick fights.  They think how to make a life matter is through fighting, now I love UFC but I know that life is about fighting.  However I also want to make my life matter.  One of my friends (Austen) started a fight club at CCU (Colorado Christian University).  He also wanted his life to matter.  This fight club though is about challenging each other to go out and share our faith with people.  When Austen told me about Fight Club I was in, because I am always up for a good challenge.  So I want to challenge you to join Fight Club with me, but not physically fighting people, but fighting for the lives of our friends and family.  The Bible says that apart from Jesus we miss the fullness of Joy that this life has to offer, and in Jesus alone is the fullness of life (John 10:10).  I love people, so I want everybody to experience the fullness of this life, and I am willing to fight for it.  Like a modern day Spartan.  Will you join Fight Club with me, lets fight for life, fight for a cause greater than ourselves, fight for our friends, fight by sharing the message of life joy and love with our friends.  People are going to stand against us, the bible says that the message of Jesus is foolishness to people who don’t believe (1 Cor 1:18).  They are going to laugh at us, make fun of us, we will become un-cool, and maybe even cause people to get mad at us.  But like King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans warriors against an army of 1 million soldiers at the battle of Thermopylae, we are out numbered.  I believe God lives in us and will fight for us, we must trust in His Spirit to change the hearts of our friends.  So I challenge you to tell you friends about Jesus in the next 48 hours.  Join me and the growing number of Fight Club friends, who fight for love, and fight to share the greatest message of love with our friends.  Will you fight?

Why the Bible?

Why spend time in the bible.  I am not motivated, I know I should, it pleases God…blah, blah, blah… it doesn’t motivate me.  What if there was a whole other motivation.

Self image.  I struggle with wanting to be liked.  Wanting to be cool.  What if I could be that guy that was so confident in himself that I didn’t care about what others thought.  I mean the people we look at and think “that dude is cool,” or only “she is so cool.”  People who are confident in themselves attract others.  You can tell by the way that they act, they are not trying to hard to be liked, they are just themselves, they are comfortable with who they are.  They can wear funny clothes and they end up setting trends, because they are not worried about what others think.

There is this little kids book called “You are Speacial” by Max Lucado.  It is a story about a little wooden boy (Punchanello) who is always making mistakes, saying stuff that make people laugh at him, and because of that the other little wooden people give bad marks to little Punchanello.  But Punchanello meets a wooden girl who has no marks, neither good nor bad, she is just who she is.  When he asks the wooden girl what her secret is, the girl tells little Punchanello that she just goes and spends time with her maker. It is when they go spend time with Eli the woodworker, that he tells them that he is proud of them, that they are beautiful, and that the woodworker made them just as they are, and he doesn’t make mistakes.

I spend time in the word to hear God’s words to me.  That I may be confident in who God made me.  Psalm 139 talks about how God has made us and God doesn’t make mistakes.  The more I hear God’s truth about me, I don’t need to believe the lies that others say to me, or even the lies that I think about myself.  I can then be confident, not because I have some special talent, or because I look a certain way, or because I hang out with a certain crowd, but because God made me, and He loves me no matter what, and I have purpose because God made me unlike anyone else in the World with a purpose unlike any other in the world.

So spend time with God, not to earn His approval, because He already loves you, He died to prove that to you.  Spend time with Him to say thanks, and to hear about His love and purpose for your life.

God Is Not Safe

So there I am back at the skate park getting ready to drop in on the little side of the big bowl, picking the line that I am going to try, and I drop in, headed for my first huge backside turn down in the deep end of the bowl when I see this little 9 year old kid flying the opposite way headed right at me.  We lock eyes and we both freeze, carnage is inevitable.  Of course since I am like 6’1 and about 179 and little dude is about 3 feet tall and probably weighs about 60lbs soaking wet, this is not going to be good, especially for him.  BAAAAAMM!!!!!! We full on collide mid bowl, and little dude goes flipping through the air and lands on his side.  And there he lies, lifeless, and I am thinking “I KILLED THE LITTLE KID!”  Oh no this is not good.  So I run over pick him up and blood begins to gush from his head on to the cement of the park.  I start really getting scared, oh no I killed a little kid.  I lift him up and out of the bowl, to where now there are like 10 other skaters going “oh man, you killed the little kid.” 

 

They sit the kid down, I climb out of the bowl and the kids mom is now running across the skate park.  I am thinking “not good, over protective mom, not good at all.”  The little guy is sitting up, not crying but blood is gushing from his nose into what now looks like piles of spilled red paint.  Now the mom is freaking out, “you killed my kid!”  Next thing I know she gets on the phone to call her husband, little dudes dad, and says “quick get to the skate park Burke is bleeding everywhere, CLICK… and hangs up the phone.  Now I am like “oh no definitely not good, overprotective mom angry dad, not good.”  But the little dude is just chillin calm as can be. Little dude just says “its okay, I am fine, my nose just hurts, but things happen I will be okay.” 

 

It turns out the little guy is okay, just a bloody nose, a real bad bloody nose.  Little dude heads home and everybody gets back to skating as normal, but not me.  I am fully in shock.  My buddies are like “Yo, Zane, snap out of it, it wasn’t your fault and little dudes okay.”  Well okay or not, his fault or my fault, I just feel terrible, I almost killed a little kid.  One of the local kids who saw the whole thing just casually skates by and says, “it’s a skate park that stuff happens.  If you want to play it safe, stay at home and play X-Box.”

 

I realized that skate boarding is not a safe sport, and that is why I like it.  It’s dangerous, people get hurt.  I think too often in life we want a God that is safe.  I don’t think Jesus is safe.  His first followers (12 disciples) all lost their lives for following Jesus and telling people about Jesus’ message, well except for John he was just boiled in oil, happened to survive, and sentenced to the island of Patmos for the rest of his life.  Jesus call for us today, is not safe.  The reality though is that in America, most likely we will not lose our life for telling people about Jesus.  But at school, or in our circle of friends we may lose what it is to be cool.  Jesus says “whoever desires to save their life will lose their life, whoever desires to lose their life for my sake will find life.”  I think Jesus is talking about losing our cool.  Putting popularity aside, for the greater purpose of sharing Jesus.  You may get laughed at, called names, but whoever said that following Jesus would be safe.

 

Last thing is I want to share a quote from Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe.  It is when Lucy, the little girl, is going up to meet Aslan and it goes something like this…

 

            Lucy talking to the Beaves asks about Aslan, “is he a man?”

 

Beaver says “A man, He is the king of the woods, king of the beasts, Aslan is a Lion.”

 

            Lucy goes “oh, a Lion, I am nervous about meeting a lion, is he safe?”

 

            Beaver- “Oh no… he is not safe but He is good.”

 

Aslan is supposed to be a picture of Jesus, and Jesus isn’t always safe, but He is good and worthy of us to trust our entire lives with.

If you fail, will you try again?

So I was at the skate park the other day.  Now I have tried to drop in on the deep side of the bowl before and it turned out treacherous.  About a year ago tried droping the deep side and I basically dove off of a 12 foot ledge straight to my head.  It was not good.  Everybody was cheering me to drop, and then when dropped straight to my face, everybody was like “ohhhhhhh!”  Since then I have been freaked out to drop the deep side, or any side for that matter.  But the other day, there I am, I find myself standing on the deep side with my pastor yelling at me, just do it man!  This is what we always talk about “go all out for Jesus”, its all or nothing man.  And there is this little kid, like 8 years old, standing next to me saying “just go for it man it’s easy” as he drops in like it aint no thing.  My heart is pumping, half with fear ready to poop my pants, half with rage at this little grom for dropping in and making me look like a fool. 

 

So I finally hang my board over the edge and look over the edge of what seems to be a skyscraper.  I can hear my Pastor “just do it, go all out, no holding back…..stop being a Nancy and GO!”  I lean over throughing caution to the wind, I can feel the comfort of safety being left behind me, I am entering into a new place of unknown.  Fear that it may not turn out so hot runs through my whole body.  Wind rushing past me as I plumit to the bottom, AND I MAKE THE TRANSITION!!!!!!  Everybody standing around the bowl cheers!!!  Once is luck twice is stuck, I get up for number two, I drop and stick another one.  Booo yeah! I did it.

 

I realized, in this life we may fail.  And failure has paralyzed many people from ever truly living life.  We often live in fear of what others might think, fear of getting hurt, fear of being laughed at.  Maybe our fear comes because of past experiences past failures. 

I realized at the skatepark that even though we mail fail, we can try again.  Thomas Edison had over 1,000 failed attempts to create the lightbulb, but he never gave up.  Maybe you have been trying to overcome a certain area of sin in your life, but you have continued to fail.  Will you  continue to strive to live out God’s standard in your life.  Maybe you have tried to live out the Christian life and have failed.  Tried to be diligent in reading your Bible, but have fallen short.  Maybe you have tried to share the message of the gospel with your friend but they shut you down.  Will you continue to share.  After all Paul said that he labored and toiled, aka worked his booty off, to share the gospel.  But Paul said that he labored according to the power of Christ living in and through him. 

 

I realized that I may fail, it may be dangerous, difficult, scary, but just as I go all out in skateboarding I am going to go all out in my walk with God.  Go all out in sharing the greatest message of forgiveness and redemption with my friends.  I challenge you to do the same.

Just want to be Loved?

Well I just realized a lot today.  I got off the phone with my step mom just a little bit ago.  My dad and her are getting a divorce.  And it hurts.  As I talked with my step mom on the phone and asked how she was doing, she shared through her tears all that she is feeling.  I could feel her pain.  She said she always wants to be a part of my life.  I realized how much I care for her when I told her that I want to continue to be a part of her life as well, and that I will always love her.  Through the years she had become someone who I let into my heart, and I loved her.  After we hung up the phone, I just wept.  Another person in and out of my life.  Not just another person though, but a parent, a loving mother figure, someone to look up to.  And throughout my life, outside of my control people have come and gone, mother figures, father figures, people to look up to.  The relationships that are supposed to be the stabilizing relationships in my life have been the ones that have left.  I have gotten close to these different people in my life, and it has hurt.  I think that is why I don’t like saying bye to people that I grow close to, because I have had to do it too many times in my life.  The people who have meant the most have left.  Sometimes I have been too young to understand.  When I was young I would only get to see my dad once every two weeks.  My dad tells me stories about when he would drop me off at my mom’s house after my weekend of visiting him. And I would just cling to him, begging him not to leave.  He would hold me and how he would try and stay strong for me, but he couldn’t help from just crying too. As he drove away, he would watch me cry as I stared out the window watching him leave, and it would break his heart.  

These situations have left long lasting scars and still affect my life and relationships today.  But I feel that I am not the only one who has felt pain like this.  All over the world divorce happens.  I realized today that there is “someone” in my life that will never leave me and will never forsake me.  That no matter what this “someone” will always love me and never hurt me.  This “someone” actually loves me even when I don’t love back.  This someone knows all my faults, and just loves me.  This someone doesn’t just give me broken promises, or empty words about love, but actually died to prove true love to me.  This “someone” is Jesus. 

This is THE love that comes from God, the God who sent His one and only Son Jesus Christ to die as an act of love.   Romans 5:8 says that “while we were still sinners, Jesus Christ died for us.”  This blows me away that God could know all my sin, and still love me.  It is that love that changed my life 6 years ago

And only Jesus gives a type of love that can be trusted to never fail.  I know of the reality of Jesus’ love because I am experiencing this love.  It is a radical love that is actually changing me from the inside out.  As I experience this love I want to give it away to others, because it is so good.

Gods love for you is not based on how good or bad you are.  God just loves you. And he The Bible is really one giant love letter from God saying “I love you, do you love me, check yes or no.”   How will you respond to God’s love?

Leavin Your Imprints on the World

I just got a call from one of my favorite youth pastors in the world.  He has brought his youth group out to Timberline Lodge (where I work) a couple times and I have gone and spoke at their summer camp twice.  Over the years I have developed relationships with different students in the group.  Two of the students that I will never forget are two girls, Lauren and Kathryn.  I call them tweedle dee and tweedle dumb (or the twins) they are inseparable..  They have been best friends since they were in kindergarten.  Now they are 16 or 17 and have grown up to be amazing women of God.  I spoke at their summer camp one year and the girls made me a poster board that was a colleague of them growing up to tell me how much they appreciated me.  If you were to meet these two girls you would never forget them.  They are both full of so much life and joy.  They can make anyone feel welcome and accepted.  Together they are hilarious, like a constant comedy act.  They made such an impact on my life that I still have the poster board and this was over 3 years ago (which is a big deal for me.)  When I picked up my phone and realized that it was this youth pastor I got excited, it was so good to hear his voice.  Only he didn’t sound like his regular self.  He said, “Zane I got some bad news.”  Lauren, (one of the girls) died today in a car wreck.  My heart sank.  It didn’t seem real.  It was like the world stopped and I was left with the cold reality that one of the most amazing, joyful, life loving people that I know just died at such a young age.  I wanted to call the other girl, but I had no words to say.  When we face the reality of death, there are no words to take away the pain.  It’s not fair. I went up to my room and just spent time looking at the poster board that Lauren made me.  She died way to young.  As I sat there looking at this poster I realized, that Lauren lived life to the fullest.  She left her fingerprints on this world.  Just one of those prints is the impact that she had on my life.  I have a poster board to remember the girl who left a lasting imprint on my life.  I was faced with the question, “what imprint am I leaving on the world?”  What will I be remembered for?  May each of us leave an everlasting imprint on the world, an imprint of fullness of life, joy, happiness, and love.  Jesus said that He was the one who came to offer life and life to the fullest.  If you have received that life then share it with others, we never know what day will be our last.  If you have not received the fullness of life that Jesus offers, don’t waste another day living without it we never know when our last day may come.      

Who I Am And What I Do