Uganda and Beyond

I'm sitting on my couch, in my apartment living room, on my computer, staring at my T.V, and thinking about the 8x8 shacks that we encountered in Africa. These "homes" would not even be suitable for our pets to live in here in America, but people live in these conditions...

Heart breaking.

Convicting.

Why do I have so much and they have nothing? Better yet, why do WE have so much yet think we need more? These are question that will haunt me for the rest of my life.

I hope.

I want to be asking these questions. I want to have my heart break for the things that break God's heart. I have only been home for a few short weeks and I can feel the memories of what we saw, smelled, and experienced fading into a distant past...

I titled this blog Uganda and Beyond because I wanted to share some thoughts on Uganda and what I have learned. I asked every one of my students on the trip to tell me what they learned. Not, "I'm gonna be more grateful for what I have" but what God genuinely taught them. Now, it's my turn. We are beyond Uganda and I'm ready to share it with the world.

Uganda was amazing.

I fully expected to come home and want to sell all my possessions and give it to the poor. I thought for sure the things I witnessed would be too overwhelming to come home to. What happened? Well, I'm glad you asked.

I came home on fire.

Not on fire for any one place. Not Africa, not Uganda, but people. More importantly students. What I witnessed in Africa was a group of people who genuinely prayed believing God for miracles, and guess what? They see them. They truly and whole-heartedly believe that God is their provider no matter how destitute they are. Everything was passionate and it was on fire for Jesus.

I came home convicted.

Not as much over spending, but over passion. We have more resources, talent, and ability in the American church to be radically changing the world, yet we are passionless. I was passionless. We sit on our hands and watch the world fade. We watch our families and friends fall further and further into the oblivion that will be eternity for them without Christ.

I came home on fire to see a generation rise up and take it's place as world-transformers.

I am ready to take a stand with my students at RHCC and begin taking ground in a long time losing battle with Satan. It's time for us to see a generation that will rise that will not lift up our eyes to false idols, but to trust in Jesus. It's time for us to change the world.

I came home ready to see the students at Rolling Hills, my leaders, and the rest of the congregation madly in love with Jesus and ready to take a stand for him! God did a lot in my heart, my mind, and my soul over the past few months. Won't you join me in helping Jesus transform this generation.

May the grace and peace of Christ be with you


Branden <><

I love all other Cultures

I love all other cultures.

The people groups, languages, and even the way they dress, it intrigues me. I genuinely wish I could speak every language in the world. I want to be able to relate to all of them in their own way.

I love all other cultures,

but for some reason the people on the African continent scream out to me.

Every video I have watched, story I have read, or person I have talked to has made my heart scream for them.

Why? Are the people of Africa so different than the people in Mexico, Guatemala, or Nicaragua? No! They are all plagued by the same poverty, disease, and brokenness. I can't honestly tell you why I have such a love, but it lives in my soul.

I love all other cultures,

but I hate bugs.

I also hate meat that isn't chicken, pork, or beef. I am not a huge fan of going without showering, beds, in filth, or things that smell bad.

Why then am I going to Africa?

Is my passion for the people of Africa big enough to surpass these issues?

No,
But my love for Jesus is.

My God is a God that hears the cries of the oppressed. He loves he unlovely, touches the untouchable, and feeds the hungry. He is a God that loves with a deep and passionate love that is beyond my comprehension.

My God has called me to love.

He has also called me to serve, and to pour my life, talent, and resources into other people.

I am going to Africa to look into the eyes of a hurting people and say "God has heard your cry, I can't fix your pain or your problems, but I can love you and tell you that there is a God that infinitely loves you"

I love all other cultures.

Including the one I live in.

So, as I embark on this journey half way around the globe I pray that I remember that my God is a God who hears the cries of the oppressed...

Even here.
Even Portland.

The most important thing I can remember is that My God is a God who hears the cries of the oppressed, and he has given me the task to love people and to SHOW them that He has heard their cries. In Portland or around the globe!

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." 1 John 4:10-12

May the Grace and Peace of Christ be with you

Branden

Facebook fast

So...fasting from facebook huh? Did you learn anything...I did. I realized that I use facebook as a time filler in my life. Instead of taking time to spend with Jesus, I get on facebook. I feel like I'm missing something if I'm not on. I realized that I need to be more productive in the time I have and use that time to grow in my relationship with Jesus...after all isn't that all that really matters? What did you learn?

When will it end?

I struggle.

I struggle with pride. I struggle with arrogance. I struggle with lust. I struggle with envy. I struggle with a lot

I'm a pastor.

Shouldn't I have it all together? Doesn't my job title mean that I'm perfect and no longer in need of grace? Many people wrestle with this very same idea.

When will it end?

Will there come a day when I have it all figured out?

Will I ever be able to kick this addiction?

When did Christianity become about having it all together anyway? Why isn't it ok to not be ok? It seems to me that we are the only people that should understand how broken we truly are. This just isn't how the world views us.

Sometimes I'm sad to say I'm a Christian.

Not because of Jesus, but because of his followers. Hypocrites. That's what they call us. The world sees a bunch of happy plastic faces in our happy plastic places.

I'm sick if it!

Why can't we rise above our own pride and become who we really are, sinners in need of grace. I have a generation of high school students that, on the outside, look like life is going just fine. They sing and raise their hands during worship. They serve whenever they are given the chance. They do whatever they can to look like they have it all together.

But they're dying on the inside.

It has never been ok for them to not be ok. Pretending is their favorite game because it's easy. Shouldn't Jesus be the place for them to find refuge? Shouldn't the church be a sanctuary of peace where they can finally let their guard down?

Why can't church be a place where we walk through the doors and the first thing you get are people who genuinely love you and care about you. What if those people prayed for you if you needed it. What if they cooked meals for you when you couldn't? What if church were a community?

What if the addict could be open?

What if the divorced can find refuge?

What if the broken were fixed and the wounded were healed?

What if it was ok to not be ok?How could you deny Jesus if you walked into the doors of a church and saw a bunch of broken sinners showing others how Jesus healed their wounds. What if we truly loved eachother with a brotherly love that only comes from God? The world wouldn't know what hit them. I truly believe that the church would be an unstoppable force in the world if the believers would stop pretending and actually start being the church to one another.

Too much gossip
Too much plastic
Too much hate

My brothers and sisters. May we become a community of believers that does not put on the happy plastic face. May we be true, open, and honest about our lives and the brokenness we live in. Most importantly may we love Jesus with all our heart, strength, mind, sould, and strength!

May the grace and Peace of Christ be with you

Branden

If I had a Nickel

If I had a nickel for every time a Christian said these words "You're just judging me" I would be a millionaire. Each time I have heard these words they have come from someone who is in the middle of a pretty obvious sin. I have never heard it ome from someone who is genuinely following Christ with everything that they are. I mean, let's get real, when you are following Christ with your whole heart, there is nothing to hide. I have been on the other end as well. I have been on the end of feeling judged, but it was only my own conviction that has done the judging. I have never, at least to my own knowledge, judged another believer in the way they think. Isn't there a huge difference between judging and sharing truth? I think so. I came accross this interesting verse in 2 Corinthians where Paul is writing a response to something that obviously convicted the Corinthian church. They were feeling judged and like Paul was trying to make them feel guilty. They started talking about him behind his back and telling others just how terrible he was. His response was the response I hope to have with all of my friends and family that need the truth, but are convicted on their own. He says "Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done." 2 Cor 6:8-11 Paul was saying that whatever it was he sent to them caused them grief. It caused them to think about their lives and quite frankly it ticked them off. He shows no sorrow because he says that this sorrow led them into repentance and that leads to salvation! Brilliant! Why can't we as Christians see that when someone shares truth with us they are trying to open up our hearts and our eyes to what the Lord is truly trying to do in their lives? If we are going to walk this planet as Jesus followers, we are going to mess up. When we mess up we are going to need brothers and sisters to come in and share truth in our lives! My brothers and sisters may you open up your heart and your soul to what your brothers and sisters are saying. Take heed to the conviction of God. Don't run from God, but to God with open arms!!! May the grace and peace of Christ be with you!

The Right thing

Most of the time I think we as people believe that whatever the easiest thing is, must be the right thing. I have been faced with many decisions in life that are tough. Making the tough decision may seem hard because we focus on people's feelings more than doing the right thing. Are people's feelings important? Yes. Are they more important than doing the right thing? No! In 1940's German and you were an anti Hitler anti Holocaust person, you would have been the minority but to stand up would have been the right thing. Likewise when Jesus had died and was resurrected his followers totaled 120 people. 120. They saw the God of the universe die and resurrect to share the New Covenant with the world. They were the vast MINORITY! Millions of people going in one direction and a few people saying that they have a new message to share. Was the right thing for them to shut up and keep the message to themselves? No. Was it easy to share the message? No. What happened? They were beaten, jailed, and eventually most of them were killed. So, doing the right thing, got them killed. Do we have to focus on being killed for doing the right thing? No we have some emotional pain and some heartache from the potential of saying tough words and hurting someone but doing the right thing, is the best way! My brothers and sisters do the right thing, the tough thing, and God will move in the midst of it!

Let it read us.

I was reading a book the other day and came across this amazing line. The book said "Let scripture read you" Now I have heard that line before but this time it opened up a new idea. Let's be honest, when we read scripture we read it to affirm what we already believe. We read passages that are familiar and we understand them, they make sense to us. They affirm what we believe. We read passages like John 3:16 and skim over it because we get it. What if, we allowed scripture to read us? What if instead of reading through the lens of how we see the world, scripture was the lens that saw us. Alright, so that may not make sense. Let me explain. Allowing scripture to read us, means that we won't understand everything. We can't explain all of God through systems and dispensations, but that he speaks and reads our hearts and our motives through his scripture. Doesn't the unexplainable and mysterious make our God more beautiful? Isn't it all about our hearts? Doesn't he want more than anything that our hearts will seek after him? What if we read scriptures like Matthew 19:23 23Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." And we wept over this because we realized that we are the top 5% of the worlds wealth? What if we allowed God to test our hearts and our motives. Have I figured this out? Is there a formula to making this happen? No, but I think it starts with our motives. We must allow scriptures to read us. We must allow God to test our motives, actions, and hearts through his word instead of reading what we already believe into it...May the peace of Christ be with you.