Apparently, this was a popular weekend for creating death rumors about celebrities. Rumors were created for both Miley Cyrus and later Taylor Swift. Both are alive however, so you can put away your hankerchiefs.

Interestingly enough however, the country singer did recently play a role in CSI: Las Vegas in which she was stabbed and murdered. This could possibly explain some of the confusion.

While this is all nice, it does leave a greater question unanswered: why create rumors of people being dead when you don’t know what you’re talking about? It happens way too often.

Oh well.

This past weekend, I had the incredible privilege of hearing Vince Antonucci, the founding pastor of The Verve church in Las Vegas, speak at Kensington Community Church in Troy, MI. I was excited because I had previously heard of Vince and the church plant and wanted to learn more about what God is doing through this project.

While I found Vince’s message to be relevant, energetic, and entertaining as I listened to it, it has taken a few days of processing time for his heartfelt stories to have begun impacting my life in an intensely powerful, emotional way.

Increasingly over the past several weeks, I have been encountering more and more people who are turning away from God and denying His power, rejecting His grace, and even refuting His very existence. I generally enjoy meeting people with different beliefs and taking the time to hear their life stories and engage with them on their journey, no matter what they believe or in what direction they are heading. It is always my prayer and hope that in developing a relationship with them, I would serve as a mirror reflecting God’s love and joy in my life onto them, giving them the opportunity to re-encounter God and have the opportunity to return to Him in God’s own perfect timing. I reject pushiness and do not endorse anyone pushing others to believe certain things, whether true or not. Just as God gave people the free choice to believe and trust in Him, my intention remains to always act in the very same manner and with a patience fueled by trust that God is actively pursuing their restoration to Him and will do things in His own time.

Essentially, my desire for people to experience God’s life-transforming power and healing in their own lives is something I look forward to as we develop a relationship, but is something I leave up to God. My focus is just to love them the best that I can and continue developing our relationship with the hope that they would be able to experience how incredible my life is because God is in it.

However, it has been becoming increasingly painful to watch people who I love, who belong to and are loved by God, explicitly deny their only hope for salvation. I’ve been trying to determine why this has been progressively becoming the case, and finally can see that it’s because I’m beginning to realize time is very short.

It’s almost like I’ve been looking at the world through some fantasy lens until this realization. I’ve been getting caught up in how some good things are happening, for example, at places like Kensington – where people are being reunited with God. And, of course, God’s Word makes it clear that it is our responsibility to seek after the lost until Christ returns, no matter how near we feel the end may be. However, the realization that time is very short brings about a definite urgency – that is very unsettling and extremely uncomfortable. And it’s impossible to look around the world and deny that it is turning against God on a very mass scale.

Vince told a story about how he and his wife went to a theme park with their children, and one of their sons got lost attempting to go over to his mom at the other side of the park. When Vince made his way back over to where his wife was and realized that their son was not with her, he jumped into a frantic mode that he vividly described – he looked everywhere for his son, shouting across the park whenever he saw a child he thought might be him. The feelings he described can only be defined as excruciating – not knowing where his son was or if he would ever find or see him again.

That very feeling is the same feeling God feels about each and every one of His lost children. Vince made this statement during his message, but it has taken a while to finally hit me. It’s that same feeling that makes God leave all his sheep to go after just one who is lost. It’s that same feeling that God feels about every single one of His children who have wandered away from Him.

I think the changes I’m noticing are me beginning to experience that very feeling more and more intensely. The Bible is very clear that people will either spend eternity with God, or eternity in flames (Matthew 25:40-46). I don’t want that to happen to people who I love and care about, and want more than anything for them to be in a relationship with God. And the reality check of just how quickly the world is turning against Him is scaring me for the sake of my loved ones’ future.

I guess the only thing I can end with, regardless of whether you believe in Jesus or not, is that I love you, and God loves you, and that’s the most important thing I could possibly tell you. In the end, nothing else really matters nearly as much.

As you may already know, Earth Day is one of my favorite days of the entire year. Environmental issues and concerns are a really big thing for me, and I’m all about taking action to care for the Earth.

So, as you can imagine, I’m very excited to have a day dedicated to ramping up for doing great things for the Earth.

That’s why this year, I’m launching a new company called EnviRevive – dedicated to caring for the Earth and restoring it to health.

Prosperity and happiness don’t come from money. Here’s what really counts.

In America as well as many other industrialized countries throughout the world, wealth has unfortunately come to be known, for the most part, in a financial sense. This, however, is a great shame because money in actuality is the least meaningful and significant aspect of wealth. There are so many things that are so much more valuable and that provide a much richer understanding of what wealth really is.

For the remainder of this article, I will discuss some of the things I believe constitute true wealth, and suggest some ways to achieve the wealth found in these sources.

Time

Time is perhaps the most significant aspect of wealth. People who have been alive for a long time can attest to this. Their virtually unanimous consensus is that their greatest experiences, highest-quality moments spent with friends and family, and most memorable instances of their lives all far outweigh any amount of money or material possessions they could have ever accumulated.

Yet, looking at the way time is spent in popular culture indicates that this view is not commonly held or understood. When spending overtime and late nights at the office take priority over being home on time to kiss a son or daughter goodnight, it can only be assumed that spending time working to earn money is viewed as more valuable than spending time with one’s children. No matter how hard someone argues that they are doing it for their children, the fact remains unchanged that they are settling for valuing work time over family time.

Further, when people, especially children, prefer to spend their time playing video games, seeing the latest movie releases, or spending time forming superficial and meaningless relationships with people over social networks like Facebook and MySpace, it indicates what sort of value they place on their time.

People

This ties in closely with the value and wealth found in people, since the most valuable way one can spend time is with other people. When you walk outside on a sunny Saturday morning and find no children playing together outside because they’re all indoors, glued to their television sets, it indicates that they have placed a higher value on these activities than with spending time with other kids.

This, of course, is because people are an absolutely incredible source of wealth, and time spent with other people is worth more than gold. Every minute a child spends indoors playing a video game rather than interacting with other children is a minute of potential wealth experience that they have missed out on.

Of course, that’s not to say that activities done alone are not valuable and full of wealth as well. For example, reading an educational book and even just meditating are incredible sources of true, meaningful wealth, as we will see later. However, any nonproductive moment spent alone rather than engaging in the prosperity of other people is a moment of potential wealth gain lost.

Other People’s Resources and Abilities

There are several reasons people are such incredible sources of wealth. Perhaps the most obvious is that every person alive is a unique, special, and fascinating being who is worth getting to know. There is so much value that’s so often overlooked in simply getting to know people just to learn what makes them who they are.

There’s more, though. Each and every person has amazing resources and abilities to contribute to society and to other people, and these abilities and resources are unique to different people. We would never be capable of doing the incredible things that we do as a society as individuals. For example, let’s take the construction and operation of a hospital. I feel it’s very safe to say that there is no individual who could build a modern-day hospital without other people. Let’s say that individual happens to be an architect, and designs an absolutely incredible blueprint of our imaginary hospital-to-be. This is absolutely great! However, that architect will have a very difficult time wiring up the hospital’s network, configuring its servers, and getting its patient databases rolling so that patients can be checked in and out. But, just to be fair, let’s say they’re also a builder, and IT specialist, and just an all-around do-it-yourselfer, and manage to build the whole hospital and get its computer system up and running as well. Whew! Now our only problem is the guy who just got wheeled in because he’s having a stroke.

The alternate picture, of course, would be that our architect understood the value of other people. He or she partnered with builders, doctors, IT professionals, and a bunch of people all with unique abilities and skill sets.

At this point, there should be no question in your mind regarding which hospital you would rather visit, because you see the incredible wealth found in people working together.

There is incredible power in knowing people with a ranging set of skills and abilities. When needs arise, it is very powerful to know someone trustworthy and knowledgeable who can meet those needs properly. Ironically, it can also save you money. That’s why other people are an incredible source of wealth. So form networks, get to know as many people as you can, and unleash the wealth of other people.

Life Experience

Life experience is an extremely valuable asset, as it shapes how a person reacts and makes decisions in the future. Essentially, it is a form of knowledge based on how things work or have worked in the past. And, of course, knowing that certain situations and factors result in certain things allows people to predict outcomes and therefore determines how they deal with future situations.

Of course, life experience can also be shared between other people you know, thus demonstrating even further the wealth found in other people. It also enables people to mentor others and help them make better decisions.

Knowledge in General

In general, the more you know (and the more your network of people know), the more equipped you are for life. Every fact you can learn has some sort of benefit somewhere. In that case, never stop learning. Seek to understand as much as you can, and never stop pushing your mind to its limits. It will always pay out in the end, even if you never end up on Jeopardy.

Personal Time

Lastly, there is incredible value in personal “alone” time. This is one of the sources of wealth that is ignored the most. Spending personal time gives the mind a chance to process all of the things being run through it, such as pending decisions, past events, and unchecked emotions. It often leaves people refreshed, energized, and more capable of facing everything that’s going on in their lives.

Hopefully this list has helped provoke some thoughts about what you believe constitutes wealth and what your highest values are. It’s only after we really understand what wealth really is that we are able to be truly wealthy. And, it’s not really possible to feel wealthy unless you know what that really means. So, here’s wishing that these past few thoughts will help you to feel a bit richer with every new day.

Ok, maybe not quite exactly, but you’ll see what I mean in a minute.

Probably about 6 months ago, I stopped by a Chinese Medicine shop in my neighborhood, having dealt with ongoing health issues for quite some time and still unable to come up with any solutions. I was greeted by a friendly Chinese woman who after just a minute of conversation directed me to an older Chinese gentleman, apparently “the doctor.” He took me to his office in the back of the store and did a bit of a diagnostic on me, checking my pulse, looking at my eyes, etc. As an almost instantaneous response, he muttered “stress.” I nodded in agreement.

No sooner than we had sat down in his office, we were up again, walking back to the counter to the woman I had spoken with moments earlier. The older gentleman exchanged some quick Chinese with her and she then took me around the store to grab my medicine.

There were two items she picked out for me. One was a bottle of pills for brain activity, but the one that particularly intrigued me was a box of Dong Quai tea. Perhaps what perplexed me more than anything was that the box said the tea was used for helping with female body functions…

Nevertheless, I walked with her back to the counter and paid for the two items. If I’m not mistaken, the tea cost only $5 for a box of 20 individually-packaged servings of tea. I thanked the woman, and asked what my follow-up instructions were. She almost laughed as she said there were none, just instructing me to take the pills and drink the tea and come back when I ran out if I wanted/needed more.

So, I left the store, shrugged, and went on my merry way. That night I began drinking the tea. I made one cup every night and also had a cup every morning with breakfast instead of my usual coffee. One of the first things I noticed was that the tea helped my insomnia, which wasn’t even anything I complained about! It also started warming me up a little bit, since my primary complaint was that I was (and still generally am) always cold.

After finishing up the box, I procrastinated a little bit but eventually went back to the store to get another two boxes. I started taking it again, but not as consistently (thanks to my procrastination) and eventually forgot about it, with a whole unopened box still left. Since then, my health wavered in and out from being an annoyance to being a fairly noticeable problem, but I didn’t really do much about it.

Now, this is where the story starts getting pretty wild.

Last week, I happened to be looking through a few of my boxes at a friend’s house (aka. my storage facility), and stumbled across my remaining, unopened box of tea. I was excited as I recognized it, and grabbed it to take home with me. Well, this past week, I’ve been feeling horrible, and probably my biggest complaint more than anything has been my inability to sleep, partly from anxiety and partly from my body just not wanting to fall asleep. So, I’ve begun drinking the tea again.

Well, tonight I couldn’t sleep yet again, so I went to make myself a cup of my beloved tea. However, as I was waiting for the water to boil, I noticed something that I had somehow overlooked all this time. The distributor of the tea is a Chinese company named Prince of Peace. That caught my attention, since that’s a term often used to refer to Jesus, the Son of God. Of course, this whole time I’ve just been going with the fact that the Chinese are very, very smart about this stuff, and honestly, I trust their thousands of years of knowledge of medicine over the American capitalistic healthcare scam. But what if this product somehow involved Christians in China? How awesome would that be?

Of course I was excited at first, but I wasn’t 100% sure if it was referring to Jesus or not. For all I knew, it could be another deal like how Catholics claim Mary is the “Queen of Heaven” when the Bible clearly points out and warns of a pagan goddess known as the “Queen of Heaven.” “Prince of Peace” could be some Buddhist thing or Chinese god or who knows what, so I concluded that I would never really know for sure.

Then I looked at the back of the package, and what did I see? Yeah, that’s right, an Ichthus.

It’s just funny to me how God worked this one out, down to the very last detail of the timing and everything.

I mean, it’s not as if I’ve been hearing about the rapidly growing Christian Church in China from my pastors at Kensington Church for months now or anything…

Or as if I was just reading about the significance of the Ichthus just a couple hours ago, as I’ve been thinking about getting a tattoo of it…

Yeah, God’s pretty awesome.

So, looking at this whole story now, the awesome punchline is that the people making this product to help my health, utilizing the intense knowledge of Chinese medicine, are doing it in the name of Jesus Christ. Maybe it’s just me, but I think that’s pretty awesome.

Dear friends,

For many of you, this is just one of several notes from me that you’ve been reading during the past few months. For some, this may be the first. For some, you may barely know me, or perhaps not have a clue who I am! Regardless of how you’ve ended up here, I hope you’ll spend a few minutes reading. However you may have arrived, I believe that you’ve ended up here for some reason. Please pass it on (links are good) if you feel there are other people who should read it as well.

In just 20 days, I will board a plane with 17 other college kids from Kensington church, headed to do mission work in eSikawini, South Africa. Many of you have been following along with me during the incredible journey I’ve been on leading up to this trip, through my letters, emails, and website. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your support and encouragement. Thank you to all of you who have given donations, as well as to all of you who desired to contribute but simply cannot with today’s grim financial conditions. I understand that times are very tough now and simply wish to express my deep, sincere gratitude for your willingness and desire to help me in all the ways that you have as I strive to follow where God is leading my life.

This past Wednesday, our New Community service featured the commissioning of many mission teams, including the one I will be working with. The pastor teaching during the service was Dr. Craig Mayes, very arguably my favorite, who himself is also embarking on an exciting journey with God this summer as he leads a church plant team to New York City. I would like to invite you to view the service online by visitng the following link: http://kensingtonchurch.org/message_video/index.asp?id=1771&zzwa=2008-06-04M . Craig’s sermon was absolutely remarkable this past Wednesday, and I would like to highly encourage you to set aside some time to listen to it using the above link. If you look closely, you can see me up on stage a few times!

The remainder of this note will serve as a status update for the different aspects of this very soon upcoming trip.

Spiritually, God has been thoroughly preparing me for the mission through my study of the scriptures as well as through sermons I have been hearing over the past several months. I have also been attending meetings with the mission team and leaders as well as a short retreat this past weekend in Port Sinclair. I feel that I have grown a tremendous amount in the time I have spent preparing for the trip, and look forward to much spiritual growth to take place through serving the Zulu people.

Financially, I am not nearly as prepared for the mission as I had hoped to be. I still need just under $2000 in order to be able to go, and will need to pay for whatever I am unable to raise by myself. If you would be willing to make a tax-deductible donation to this trip, please contact me as the deadline is extremely soon. I would very greatly appreciate your help! I will also be selling Africa t-shirts, available for $15. If you are interested in one or more of these shirts, please contact me.

I wish to thank you again for all the support you have shown me in any way, and ask for your continued prayers as I go through the final countdown before I leave on this mission. Thanks again, and God bless all of you!

If you haven’t heard yet, you might be interested in hearing how Dr. Neil Warren, founder of eHarmony.com, found love on the internet. There’s only one problem. It was on one of his major competitors’ sites, match.com! Take a look at this: http://www.onlinedatingmagazine.com/news2008/neilwarrenlove.html

And now that you’ve read through that, we can learn two valuable lessons:

1. Online dating is kinda a joke.

AND

2. Always look at a calendar before you believe stuff

I happened to come across this news article on news.com the other day – apparently a New York senator wants to ban the use of electronic devices while crossing the street. He doesn’t just want to ban iPods while crossing the street, which actually makes some sense since you can’t hear sirens or traffic if you have headphones on, though it’s still stupid. He actually wants to ban any electronic device, including cell phones, portable video game systems, and video players. I don’t know if he plans on forbidding people from crossing the street while on bluetooth headsets too, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he did.

Now, I’ll be the first to say that when I’m blasting music into my ears with my iPod, I’m completely oblivious to outside noises. So, I acknowledge that there is perhaps some degree of danger in crossing the street if you don’t know that there’s an ambulance speeding down the road before it hits you. In fact, I’ll even agree that a bill to prohibit blind people from crossing the road while listening to their iPods would be just dandy. Normally, however, sirens conveniently come from some sort of physical, visible thing that any semi-intelligent living thing (that can see) would be easily aware of. If you can’t handle crossing a road without being able to hear, you just might need to get run over a few times so you can learn how to.

Honestly, if crossing a busy road, I would probably pause the song I was listening to, and turn it back on when I got to the other side. I just like to be able to hear when I’m trying to concentrate. However, if this became a law, I would apparently have to completely take the headphones off, and put them back on when I got to the other side, to avoid the risk of being slapped with a $100 fine on top of court costs.

And, if I can handle talking on the phone while writing a paper, eating a bowl of soup, and watching a James Bond movie, I can certainly manage talking on the phone while crossing a road, especially on a bluetooth headset. In fact, I do it all the time. If somebody seriously thinks he can tell me that I can’t handle talking on the phone while walking, then we have a serious problem, and unfortunately for him, it does not lie with me.

Lastly, if someone is stupid enough to watch a movie on a portable DVD player while crossing the road, then they pretty much deserve whatever outcome results.

I guess you just have to become a senator before you can reach the level of stupidity required for this idea to make sense.

This is the second of a multiple-post series.
If you haven’t read the first post, you can find it here.

About a month ago, I wrote about some very apparent and substantial concerns with the directions American society is heading in. Hopefully you’ve had the opportunity to take a few minutes here and there and reflect on the points I brought up. If you haven’t read last month’s post, please read it first using the link above before you continue. This is a follow-up of that post in which I’ll explore some of the opportunities we have to bring about change in our society and to reverse the destructive trends that plague our culture and society.

Last month, I emphasized the importance of communication and interaction and explored some of the trends that are resulting in our society from a grave decline and lack of these important aspects of society. Society cannot exist without a sense of community, and these things are vital to a healthy community. So, in this article, I’ll explore five of my ideas on how we can begin to restore community and interaction.

1. Move beyond your own “comfort zone.”
Before you can begin change anything, you have to start with yourself. Take some time to evaluate yourself and how you interact with people. I know as for myself that even being as extroverted as I generally am, there are many social situations where I’ll become shy or uncomfortable. We must first push ourselves further and challenge ourselves to move beyond our “comfort zones,” perhaps stepping out into the crowd or giving that unexpected hug. If you notice that you spend a lot of time texting or on instant messenger, challenge yourself to go out more and interact with people face-to-face. If you’re waiting in a slow-moving line, initiate a conversation with one of the people next to you.

2. Encourage others beyond their “comfort zones.”
Being careful not to be intimidating or to make others too uncomfortable, gently push people beyond their comfort zones. If you see someone sitting alone, go join them and start talking to them. Involve people who are more shy in your conversations, project groups, or meetings. Reach out to people who seem secluded or singled out. Even if this makes them slightly uncomfortable, you’re really doing them a favor and helping them to grow in a way they just haven’t realized yet.

3. Don’t wimp out on the truth.
Be honest with people and stick with what is right, even when it hurts. Way too much stuff in our society is sugar-coated and diluted. If you believe something is wrong, stand up for it no matter what! If your kids want to watch a television show that you don’t feel is appropriate, don’t let them watch it! If your daughter has received detention for hugging a friend, and you don’t think that’s right, protest! By “playing along” with our society as it is we are only complying and supporting it without even realizing it. Be brutally honest with your kids on how you feel about drugs, sex, and violence, and make it clear that you won’t accept it.

4. Double listening, talk half as much.
Take time to really listen to what people have to say. Pay attention to people! Sometimes we all get so caught up in stuff that we miss out on what’s going on with the people around us. Be sensitive to people’s needs and how people are doing. You can save the life of someone about to commit suicide by being there and caring enough to discover there’s a problem. Instead of getting mad at kids bringing guns to school, talk with them and find out why they feel threatened. Instead of judging people, get to know them and see who they really are first. If we take more time to listen and be there for one another, we’ll be more connected and be able to support each other and grow together again.

5. When it’s time to talk, be bold and make your statement.
Don’t chicken out when it is time to talk. Remember to not wimp out on the truth, but also, don’t wimp out on your mission. Make sure that you’re heard. Team up with people and combine voices. A perfect example is the Free Hugs Campaign that has flooded Facebook. People all across the country and even across the world have teamed up for “free hug campaigns” in which participants will agree on a date, and then stand out in the streets and offer strangers passing by a hug. This makes a strong statement that we don’t feel embrace and affection are “tacky” or “poor taste,” and that we won’t stand for our society turning them into just that. Remember, whatever you decide to do, never give up! Eventually, someone will have to listen. Everyone will have to listen.

So, there are some of my thoughts. I’ll be sure and provide updates on the “free hugs” or any other campaigns or events coming up. I hope you’ll be able to find some time to think and reflect about this, and formulate your own game plan on what you’re going to do to take our society back. Together, rather than trying to “make a difference,” we ourselves can be that difference. I know I’m ready. Are you?

This is the first of a two-part series.

Or at least it seems so. Last month, a thirteen-year old Middle School student from Illinois received two detentions for hugging her friends while saying goodbye for the weekend. Sam McGowen, the school district’s superintendent, was addressed regarding the issue. He contended that the punishment was in fact fair, referring to the school’s student handbook. So, referring to the handbook, one will find the following clause:

“Displays of affection should not occur on the school campus at any time. It is in poor taste, reflects poor judgment, and brings discredit to the school and to the persons involved.�

This is simply appalling. Affection, apparently, is now considered “poor taste,” and “poor judgement.” This handbook does not seem to say that is it bad to show affection only at the school, but appears instead to state that this is true of affection in general. So, remember as you hug your son or daughter before they go to bed tonight, the next time you see your boy/girlfriend, or the next time you see grandma, don’t show affection! Be American and give them a good, cold and impersonal American greeting.

Perhaps this seems outrageous to many, who still believe in the importance of affection, interaction, and human embrace. Unfortunately, however, it truly does reflect changes that are taking place in American society as a whole. Compared to many other countries, the physical interaction between Americans is quite cold. It is not customary in American society for people to embrace each other, show their affection for one another, or even communicate sufficiently with one another. This, not coincidentally, reflects many of the widespread problems that plague American society. Without live communication, affection, and other personal interaction among people, it is simply impossible for a society to exist.

The definition of society simply requires that. Virtually all the definitions I found of society demanded “interaction,” and “similar interest.” My favorite, however, came from a Bioethics dictionary:

1. an enduring and co-operating social group whose members have developed organized patterns of relationships through interaction with one another. 2. a community or broad grouping of people having common tradition, institutions and collective activities and interests;

Society implies community. You simply cannot have society without community. A group of people living in the same spot under the same government may be part of the definition of society, but it is not complete. Unfortunately, it seems that America is losing the sense of what community is. This can be demonstrated in basically all aspects of American society, particularly the family – the most basic unit of society.

In a society where we communicate less and less, are so busy that we have less and less time to spend with people, and are discouraged from showing affection to one another, it should be no surprise to us that the divorce rate continues to rise at an alarming rate, that crime and murder rates are rising, that kids are bringing guns and other weapons to schools, that domestic abuse is rampant, that we are running out of space in prisons, and that more and more people are walking the streets at night, homeless and hungry.

How can we expect people to spend the rest of their lives together happily when they simply cannot communicate, and have little time to spend together?

How can we expect children to get along peacefully when their socialization comes more from movies, video games, and television shows filled with violence, conflict, and poor taste more than it comes from us teaching them to love and embrace? Should we really be surprised when they show up at school with guns? I mean, it’s not like they spend more time texting and talking with people on IM than they do in real person. After all, we were too busy to teach them the right way anyways, right?

And of course, how could we possibly address the needs of those around us when we’re clearly so busy? Besides, we can’t possibly afford to give away any of our money, possessions, or resources. We need those for ourselves!

So, in the end, should we really be surprised when we look around at all the problems that face us and our so called “society” or whatever it has become now?

Continue with Part 2: Taking Our Society Back.