Thoughts on Discipleship

Last night we had our monthly Young Life Area Leadership meeting.

Jeff Vancil is teaching our area this term on discipleship. Last month he talked about the power of strategic smallness. Jesus spent three years in active ministry on earth and at his height of popularity had at most a couple thousand followers. Yet, when he returned to the Father only 120 people were in the upperroom. Of those 120 only 11 were Jesus apostles, of those 11 3 were in Jesus inner-circle and of those 3 Jesus really poured his life into 1.

So the Son of God, the creator of the world only truly impacted 11 people. Yet in turn those 11 turned the world upside down and we are still feeling the impact of those 11 to this day.

This has challenged me in how I think about ministry and what God has called me to do. I don't need to have hundreds of kids coming to our events, clubs or involved in campaigners. Rather, I need to focus on finding and discipling a handful of guys.

Needless to say this is almost as daunting as meeting and impacting hundreds of kids. I do however get the chance to be real and authentic with a few guys and hopefully change their lives to be more like Christ.

I think of what Paul said, "Follow me as I follow Christ."

Vote

Regardless of your choice...be sure to get out and vote today. 

Your voice matters.

If you have time to kill

Idiot Test

Takes about five minutes.

Simply follow the instructions.

Car versus Bike

I have been bicycling in to the park and ride for about three weeks now. I love the way I feel, physically and in regards to my impact on the environment. Well, on my ride home yesterday I heard something that should have made me stop right away. I heard what can be described as a leaf in my front tire. The thing is that it was not leaf, it was my front tire going flat. I thought, "I can pull up off the road in 20 feet and bust out my patch kit."

This was a good thought.

Until I realized that if you try to turn a bicycle with a flat front tire you have ability to stay upright. So at 10mph I had my first fall on the road. I am fine, sans a little bit of road rash on my knee. I also have a nice hole in the palm of my right glove. So, I called Rachel and she came and picked me up (a whole three miles from home).

Okay, so it's not dramatic, I wasn't hit by anything, and I walked away. However, this little incident has motivated me to carry a few spare tubes and learn how to quickly replace them.

What motivates you to do what you ought to?

Should or Need

For the past few weeks I've been riding my bicycle to the local park and ride. I've really come to enjoy this part of my day. It takes about 15 minutes in the morning and about 30 minutes in the evening (take a safer route home).

One of the benefits I've found from this is that I am buildling muscle mass and stamina. I am also losing weight, slowly but surely.

Now, this isn't necessarily a big deal but I tried the gym thing for a year and ended up gaining weight, go figure.

I was thinking about this shift in excercise, from something I do because I should to something I do because I need to get to work. If I didn't ride my bike to work I'd be paying a lot in gas and wouldn't be looking to sell my car. I wonder if this is how people view their relationship with God. Do they view it as something they should do. They feel like they should pray, read the Bible, and so forth. And yet, despite repeated attempts, they are not growing spiritually.

Rather I think people should practice these spiritual disciplines because they need to. I need Jesus in my life, I need his power leading me, I need Jesus taking the glory. Because with the need I'd do it on my own and end up spiritually anemic (okay this is where the illustration falls apart).

So is your relationship a should or a need?

Commuting

For most people a commute to work involves getting up, filling your cup with coffee and hitting the road in a nice warm car. There commute is full of songs, talk shows, or cursing the car in front or behind of them. It doesn't matter if it rains or is sunny, they are prepared for both (wipers or sun glasses).

If its raining when they get to work they curse all the way in.

This used to be me. However over a year ago I started driving to the park-n-ride and catching the bus. No more having to worry about the cars around me, that was the bus drivers concern. However, I still felt like I could do more and put less wear-and-tear on my car. Therefore yesterday morning I did something I never thought I would.

I rode my bike to the park-n-ride. Now, that in itself is not a big deal. It's only 3.5 miles and most of it is down hill (except the last .75 mile which is about a 7% uphill grade). What makes me think that I am crazy is that I ride at 5:00 am. Yes, five in the morning, before the birds and sun get up. It is actually a pretty nice ride.

My equipment includes:

• Bicycle - Fuji Newest
• Helmet
• Full gloves
• Base layer from costco
• Riding shirt from Cole
• One pair of bibs
• Shoes
• Shoe-covers
• One buff (highly elastic fabric that keeps my ears warm)
• Yellow glasses
• One bright yellow Ortleib backpack.

Needless to say its a lot of gear, however, I haven't driven my car thus far this week. In fact, I hope to sell my car soon (anyone interested in a 2007 Dodge Magnum SXT , 3.5L V-6, appx 26k miles, say about $15,500.)

One plus is that I'm getting a work out in every day that I go to work.

In less than 60 seconds give $2.00 of $80,000.00

Squidoo is giving away $80,000.00 to a list of charity organizations between now and October 15th. How much goes to each organization completely depends on how people tell them to. The rule is simple: follow the link below and vote once from a list of non-profit organizations with causes ranging from environment to animal care to soldier care to world relief.

Please take sixty seconds to tell Squidoo how to spend their $80,000.

http://www.squidoo.com/squidoo-charity-giveaway

Thanks Seth: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/10/raising-money-f.html