²⁷ But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;                                                                                         I Cor. 1:27

I’m in Cincinnati this weekend for a new opportunity to be a Making it Count Speaker. I heard about this opportunity through a friend. Essentially, I’ll get certified in different programs that will enable me to go into high schools and speak to the students during an assembly. Pretty cool right?

The best part is, I’ll be talking to the students about how to make their lives count…How to Make High School Count and How to Make College Count. I’ll be teaching them basic principles like time management, the importance of good grades, what colleges look for, how to become a good test taker, etc..

Why is that the best part, funny, and ironic?

Because I graduated high school with a 1.6 GPA, never did any homework, never thought about college, thought I’d be a janitor, etc. . . . Then I met God! It’s been 6 years since I graduated High school and God has done some incredible things in my life. And now He’ll be using me to go influence teenagers in high schools all over the place on living their lives on purpose.

Why share this with you?

Because God Really Does Use and Call Morons!!! It’s in the Bible… I think if some of my teachers saw me now, they’d have heart attacks! I don’t care where you are in life, God can get you out and use you for great things.

God Really Does Want to Do SuperAbundantly Above ALL YOU COULD DARE ASK, THINK, HOPE, or IMAGINE (Eph. 3:20) – I never thought I’d be doing anything with my life, God has done beyond and above anything I ever imagined in my life and He’ll do the same for you.

God gets All the Glory – People who knew me when I wasn’t walking a God, I’m sure would look at my life and what I’m doing and think… That had to be God… and they’d be right. And my hope is that God will get the glory and people will see the goodness of God and start to pursue Him.

Thoughts?

¹¹ Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. ¹² So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem^[f] will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God.¹³ As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ.                                                                                                     II Cor. 9:11-13

Tuesday we took our Youth Group to Cedar Point.  As usual, it was an awesome time! As I’ve mentioned several times every time I go somewhere with large throngs of people, I love to people watch and dream.  I saw thousands of people enjoying Cedar Point and I got to thinking… They all came to have an “experience of a lifetime” riding all the thrilling rides Cedar Point offers. They had no problem paying hundreds of dollars for their families to come to the park to enjoy the  rides that last less than 1 minute. I started looking into the cost of these Minute and a half joy rides:

The Cost of Building the Millennium Force – $25 Million

The Cost of Building the Top Thrill Dragster – $25 Million

The Cost of Building The Maverick – $21 Million

It’s estimated that Cedar Point has spend for $120 million building rides since 2000. Yet, I’ve never heard anyone complain about Cedar Point spending too much money to build rides. I never hear anyony tell Cedar Point that all that money could be given to the poor.

But, as soon as the church starts spending millions to build a new building, start a new program, and do stuff for people, people go crazy. “The church just wants my money” “The pastor just wants my money” “They could be giving all that money to the poor”. Here is just a few thoughts I have about money, giving, and the church: -

• The Result of Us Giving and the Church having Money is Changed Lives – I’ve never heard of anyone whose life was changed forever cause they went to an amusement park. Can you put a price on someones life turning around forever? A restored marriage? Getting purpose? Developing a relationship with God? Without money Cedar Point could not provide the experience they do, without money, the church can not provide the change that they need to.
  

• You Choose Where You go to Church – The reason most people complain about giving and how churches use their money is because they have been in a church that has not managed their money well. You choose where you go to church, I wouldn’t settle for anything less than going to a church that uses their money wisely to reach people. How do you know if they do or not? Look to see if lives are being changed on a continual basis.

• Receiving is Overestimated, Giving is Underestimated - I promise you’ll get no greater joy in your life than when you give of your time, talent, and money. I’ve never met anyone who tithes and gives offerings consistently that has ever complained about it.
  

• There is so Much Money in the World – I think it’s easy to think that there is a shortage of money in the world, but that is not true at all. In fact, there is a ton of money in the world. Watch Cribs, go to Beveryly Hills, go to Qatar… you’ll see there is no lack of wealth in the world.

• A “Whatever it Cost” Mentality - Cedar Point never thinks about what its going to cost to build a top-quality ride. Why? Because people will love it and it will get paid for because of that. We need to adopt the same mentality… We should never think about what it costs to reach people. As people get their lives changed, they’ll start to give in order for others to have their lives changed. We need to reach people no matter what it costs.

• Everybody Wants Your Money - Cedar Point wants your money, Nike, Giant Eagle, Banana Republic, etc. above the church wanting your money, God wants your money. It’s all over scripture and the church is the God’s tool to use to reach the world. The purpose of God and the church having your money is to change peoples lives. So, if peoples lives are getting changed, I’ll never scoff at the price.

The Bible says where your money is, your heart is.If you were to look at your checkbook and see where you’ve been spending your money, my question to you is, are peoples lives getting changed as a result of where you give your money? If not, you’re missing out on one of the greatest joys you can experience. Being involved in changing a life…

Long post… have a lot of this on my heart and so much more… but I’ll save it for later..Thoughts?

If I’ve been challenged in any area of my walk with God it’s the constant battle of learning about God (information) and knowing God (intimacy). I absolutely love learning, in fact, I often feel like Neo from the Matrix when I listen to tapes, read books, etc.. I get all of this information crammed in my brain and it makes me feel amazing, for the moment. I’m addicted to gathering information.

Glen Packiam recently wrote a book that I haven’t gotten a chance to read yet, called Second Hand Jesus. The thesis is essentially that we live in a culture that experiences God 2nd hand through books, listening to sermons, etc.instead of experiencing Him for ourselves.I believe we’ve experienced a lot of things second hand.

Over time, I’ve come to the realization that I can know a ton about God, but not KNOW God. I can know a lot about leadership, but not actually be leading. I can learn a lot about love, but not actually love. I can learn a lot about successful relationships, and have nothing but shallow relationships.

While I’ve experienced God for myself, I haven’t to the level that I want to. While I’ve led to a certain level in my life, I haven’t developed my potential as a leader as I should have . . . you get the picture. All because I’m more focused on information than intimacy, learning than doing, talking instead of walking…

The problem with this lifesytle is that it’s not real. Until you’ve moved beyond information to intimacy, learning to doing, talking to walking… You’ve never actually lived what you’ve learned, but how often do we learn something new and believe we’re living it because we’ve read it.

I don’t know if you struggle with this or not, but I know this, I’m finished living this lifestyle. While I’m comitted to being a life long learner, I’m making a commitment to refuse to continue to just gather  information so I can say I did or quote something cool from a book or sermon. Instead, I’m going to start focusing on being with God, actually leading, actually doing what I’m learning. I know this is the season God is bringing me into… and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

What about you? Are you an information addict? What do you do to combat this?