Life at the monastery

Picture above: L to R is Jordan, Me and Joshua

Me and the Monks: Joshua on my left and Jordan on my right.



I love to try and pick up interesting titles for these blogspots. The reason i choose this one is because i currently live w/ two younger guys who their father and even them call them "The Monks". They like to live a very simple life. I thought I was conservative. But we frequently joke about that here.



Sometime ago, one of the leaders of FIRE Church, Steve Alt, preached a message here at FIRE about truly being a revolutionary people. I've been thinking about this lately. Our church is called FIRE Church and our school is FIRE School... whenever fire goes through an area, you tend to notice that its been there. It usually leaves a mark. In Steve's message, he made mention that we don't have to be offensive for the sake of being offensive. Simply our message with have a tone to it that can quite possibly do a number of different things.

The other day, i got an email from a very well intentioned relative. They had been reading my blogs and made mention that i seem to have a certain tone about the blogs. it seems that i'm quite critical at times. I wrote back and even called them up. I wanted to get more insight into what they were saying and understand them better. The hard part about writing something like this is you only see the words. When you don't know the heart behind it, it comes out differently. I know at times i come across strong and hard. And sometimes, that is needed. But done in the wrong spirit/attitude, it does come across wrong. but i appreciated the feedback that i got.

1. It would bring conviction. The difference between condemnation and conviction is that conviction brings hope. There is a purging a change that takes place, but overall, the person is edified and changed for the better. To be corrected usually never feels good at first, but in the end, it brings great results.

2. It could very well be misunderstood. In this email that my relative wrote to me, i could easily see what they were talking about. I know that i can come across very strong at times. And its because of that that i try and be very careful in what i say. I know that there is the power of life and death in the tongue. I try and be an encouragement and i also like to bring a challenge and something that brings about change.

Some people may read a book by Dr. Brown and get this impression that this guy is just mean. But once you get to know him, you'd probably be very surprised. I've brought differing view points to him in the past and they were very well received.

3. People will really like it. Something is happening in this day that is just different. The Lord is raising up a remnant to take a stand and see injustice dealt with. In my time at FIRE, i've been apart of countless prayer meetings and traveling all over the world and ministering the gospel. And mind you, i've never really seen a single penny for it coming to myself. And i don't mind that at all. I'm not in this to get paid. I'm in this to expand the Kingdom of God. We can't stick our head in the sand anymore and just ignore the problems in our society. I don't know about you, but i want to leave a legacy that says i took a stand for righteousness. And for each one of us, that's going to look different. For some, that means traveling and preaching/ministering. For some, that means raising kids and having travelers stay with you in your home for a couple days. Each is important.