Affordability… I think cooking for outreach taught me this lesson years ago: Good food can cost very little. I remember the first time I was handed $150 and was asked to cook for 300 people. I thought they were absolutely crazy. There was no way I could possibly feed people for $0.50/person. I had cooked in restaurants before but my budget was leaps and bounds higher. I didn’t turn down the challenge but there was one thing I absolutely didn’t want to do and that was to cut corners. I promised myself that I would feed the homeless only things I would eat. I figured that if I wouldn’t eat it, why would I ever serve it to someone else? What was I concocting for $0.50/person you may ask? My menu included sloppy joe’s, homemade pasta salad, curry chicken w/ rice, and pork chow mein just to name a few.

Prepared fresh/taste great… I might be weird, but I love breaking down and chopping garlic. People complain about the smell on their hands and the annoyance of peeling each bulb… but to me, it’s part of the love that I put into every dish. A meal to me isn’t just throwing something together. It’s well thought out like an idea, written like a novel, composed like a symphony… meaning the care I put into mincing garlic will pay huge dividends to my final work of art. I get compliments on my food all the time. This statement isn’t meant to brag about my accolades. Instead, I want to argue that my love for every ingredient, chop, blend, and stir is appreciated in the final outcome. Why do you think mom’s cooking tasted so good? So instead of whipping out the Ragu, try making your own tomato sauce with fresh peeled tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and basil. You won’t regret taking the extra time.

Bring people together… I think this is the most important part of meals, particularly family meals. When I say family, I mean people who are invested in your life… they don’t have to just be blood relatives. They could be good friends or colleagues. I can’t think of another activity that brings everyone involved into one accord like the way food does. Sure there’s worship, home groups, concerts, games, and sports that bring people together… but I haven’t seen anything that comes close to the effect that food has on people. Obviously everyone comes hungry. That, every being on this planet shares. It plays with the acoustics of the room. I’ve seen eaters scarfing food in complete silence and I’ve also seen loud uproars of laughter. I’ve seen one conversation permeate a room and I’ve also seen 5-6 conversations happening in the same room create a symphony of busy noise. I think the thing I relish most if that it just brings people together from different backgrounds… with their own sets of stories and cultures. It’s all about creating a family dynamic. So many of us long for a place to call home… for family to check on how we’re doing… for deeper connections with people we couldn’t attain other than sitting in front of them and eating the same food. Why did the Bible keep referencing Jesus sharing meals with His disciples and followers? It seems like an odd thing to do if it weren’t significant. I believe Jesus understood that bringing people together and sharing a meal with them was a connection point. It was a way for people to access Jesus in a deeper way as well as giving Him the opportunity to access them in a deeper way. These are my thoughts on food.

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose – Romans 8:28

Over the past week or so, that verse has been standing out to me. I know a lot of people use this verse in times of despair and need to be reminded that God will work everything out. I’ve done it in the past, yet I’m currently not in that season. This causes me to be curious as to why this verse jumps out at me. Part of the reason why this verse comforts so many people is that it gives them hope that their long and wary seasons would be over soon, that God would intervene and make all things new. I fully agree with that! God helps us in our weakness. In my opinion, that’s a very narrow view of what God is really doing in our lives.

I recently began investing in the stock market. The one thing I enjoy seeing is how the stock did in the past month, six months, year, etc. I do that because I want to see where the company started and where the company is headed. When you see things from a macro level, you see the overall growth (or decline) of a company on a wider scale. I could senselessly look at stocks every minute of the day and that would only show me minor percentage bumps up and down. Meaning it wouldn’t show me overall how the company was doing. I hope you’re seeing where I’m going with this. I see my life like this. There are ups and downs in my daily life. There’s no question about it, but when I look at what God has done a month ago, six months ago, a year ago, 7 years ago… I get a better picture of where my life is headed… and that it’s always good. It’s truly the fulfillment of Romans 8:28 AND 2 Corinthians 3:18 which says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

It brings great joy to my heart to understand this principle and to have it be one of the foundations of my faith. It gives me a sense of optimism for where my life is headed despite how objectively skeptic my nature can be. The greater my optimism, the greater risks I can take and the greater the risks I take, the greater the rewards.

The answer is hope. No other creature in the animal kingdom possesses the hope that humans have. I really like the dictionary’s definition of hope: the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best (Dictionary.com). Hope allows us to see a reality that isn’t actualized yet. The stronger the hope we carry, the bigger the fight we put up to see our realities actualized. That’s the thing about human beings. We don’t give up. It’s in our very nature to defy odds. If you’ve ever watched a baby try to walk, you know that the human spirit is persistant. Babies are in fact a perfect example of a human spirit that is unencumbered by fear. You may say they don’t know any better and I would agree with you. There are no odds too great for a baby. Where do odds come from? They come from life. When we grow older, we accumulate fears, boundaries, regrets, doubts, lies, etc. Life tries to beat us down. It throws things like shame, guilt, and defeat to slow us down. You can let those defeats consume you and cripple you to the point of non-existence, but I believe the human spirit is far more powerful than we could ever imagine. If we have hope, we can do absolutely anything.

For of His fullness we have received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. – John 1:16-17 NASB

A few of my friends and I were having a discussion the other morning. In the past, I believed that we receive additional grace, power, whatever it may be from God everyday. I was in a mindset that I had to dig in and press God for things that I needed. But if we actually read what the Bible is trying to tell us… it’s that we have it all. He gave it ALL to us. If we have it all, then why do we enter into seasons of breakthrough? I think it’s less that God is giving them to us and more to do with us realizing what He gave us in the first place. Grace falls into the same category.

If the forgiveness of our sin is only part of what grace does, what does the other part do? And why does grace abound more where sin is? In my opinion, grace is the proactive antithesis of fear through free will. When we read about grace in Romans, it addresses fears about sin and ultimately decision making in the church. And yet love isn’t used to discount those fears. It’s grace that does. Decision making has been so engulfed in fear in the church because we just don’t want to do the “wrong thing”. And yet all that pressure causes us to do the things that we didn’t want to do in the first place. Free will is powerful. It’s powerful because we, ourselves, are powerful. Our decisions change things for either the better or the worst. Yet in the church, we haven’t grasped the enormity of what grace does for us. We haven’t realized that grace covers our every decision. People are afraid to make decisions because they’re afraid of making a mistake.. afraid of getting out of God’s will… Personally, I think that’s crap. Using religion to mask your fears only disables you from reaching your full potential. Listen, if you love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and with all your strength… how can you possibly think you can go out of His will? People don’t casually go out of God’s will, it’s intentional. Those people confined themselves into so many fear based boundaries, that they eventually lost their way.

I can’t reiterate this enough: grace covers our free will. Our decisions somehow become more powerful when they’re infused with grace. It no longer looks like right or wrong, it looks like good or great. I still don’t think I fully understand what grace is doing in our lives. But the more I learn about grace, the more fear that’s driven out of my decision making and the more empowered I feel to make important decisions in my life.

Bill Johnson
Bill is one of my personal heroes. It’s not because his teachings are seeping with knowledge. I think it’s because he taught me that God is in a good mood and that if I camped around God’s presence, I would gain access to God’s heart as well. Based on those two principles, it helped me lay the groundwork to my ongoing relationship with God.

Larry Randolph
Larry is one of the funniest preachers I know. He’s also one of the most real ones I know as well. Sometimes listening to Larry feels like I’m listening to my grandfather who’s giving me words of wisdom for my life. It’s what I appreciate most about Larry. He’s so comfortable with being himself that he’s not afraid to laugh at himself. He comes off as genuine and doesn’t take himself too seriously. Yet through the jokes and the laughs, he has developed this amazing friendship with God that I can only hope to have or exceed. It lets me know that you can have the craziest life and yet still be a friend of God.

Lance Armstrong
The Tour de France is one of the most grueling sporting events in the world. It covers 2,200 miles over the course of 3 weeks. You have to be in insane physical shape to even complete it. Many of those competitors who try year after year fail to win in their lifetimes. Lance has won 7. This is what I respect the most about Lance. Unlike many other sports, I really don’t think biking the Tour de France is about competing against people around you. You’re competing against yourself. To put a human body through 2,200 miles over the course of 3 weeks is a test of endurance. I always imagine my life more as a marathon than a sprint. The decisions I make today will affect the future I foresee for myself. Getting there the fastest isn’t my goal… endurance is.

Steve Jobs
I have a ton of respect for Steve. Although he’s been called a thief and the opposite of an innovator, I saw great value in the way he saw things. The tagline of Apple is Think Different and that is what Steve helped us all to do. He took a simple cell phone and gave people the ability to access the world easily through it. That’s just one of the things he helped pioneer. There are many more. Steve is one of my heroes because he taught us how to think different.

Tony Hsieh
I’ve recently added Tony Hsieh as one of my heroes after reading the book Delivering Happiness. What impressed me most about him is the culture he created at Zappo’s. Zappo’s is credited with having some of the best customer service in the world. Employees are incredibly happy to come to work everyday. They’re allowed to be quirky and fun, yet they accomplish their goals in a timely fashion. Who knew selling shoes could be so much fun? But what got me thinking was the creation of culture. I found that invaluable in my journey to attain more knowledge on how cultures are established.

That’s my list for now. I’m sure there will be more heroes in my future. Till next time…

The Status Quo
Work – I’ve got a good job working with people that I like. In fact, two of my close friends began working with me this past month.

Friends – I’ve somehow managed to coax my friends into doing two family dinner nights a week. It’s mostly centered around my cooking and just having a good time, but I love creating the experience for my friends (We live in Redding and thus suffer from an assemblage of bland and uninspiring fare). I’m not currently dating anyone, but I feel like I’m beginning to do relationships really well. The true indicator of this statement is during my recent trip to Los Angeles, two groups of friends drove incredibly long distances just to see me. (SHOUTOUT: I really want to thank Tim & Thao George and Lorien & Rachel Patmore for making my trip phenomenal and making me feel incredibly loved.)

Health – I’m probably in the best shape of my life. I recently ran in a half marathon. Put into perspective, I’ve never in my life run a full mile prior to this year. In January, I ran 6.8 miles in about 1 hour 8 minutes. Last week, I ran 13.1 miles in 1 hour 45 minutes. I had shaven 2 minutes per mile off my time.

Family – Last but not least, my brother and I probably have the best relationship of our lives. I visited him in Los Angeles recently and realized how much I really missed him since he left in April. We ate well, shopped till we dropped, and had the greatest time bonding. I can’t remember anytime in recent history that we actually enjoyed being together. He’s the best brother in the world. Seriously.

The Challenge
Despite everything going well in my life, I always have in the back of my mind… how do I make this even better? How do I do things differently to avoid the monotony of day to day life? To me, perserving the status quo is the most boring thing I could ever think of doing. To really live is to challenge it and make life the world better. I’ve recently been thinking about how to make the world better because I know it’s messed up. I know people are dying of diseases, malnutrition, natural disasters, etc. I could get totally engrossed in the bad news, ignore it all together, or do something about it. I choose to do something about it. If my life is so incredible, how do I make it incredible for everyone else? Remember why I coaxed my friends into doing two family dinners a week? It’s because I love creating the experience for people. It’s in that passion that I want to create that experience for people around the world. That’s why I challenge my status quo. It’s not because it’s convenient or easy… it’s because it’s fun! I’m not sure where I want to start, but I do know that I’ll be making big steps to challenge the status quo in the near future. It’s not because my life sucks. It’s because my life is incredible and I want it to get better.

1. People are moving back to Redding by the truckload. It seems like the anti-Exodus.
2. The glory is becoming more tangible. Gold clouds are forming at church.
3. Community has become vital to me. I couldn’t live without the rest of the Body.
4. Not only am I interested in what God is doing in my life, I’ve recently become fascinated with what God is doing with all our lives.

If you’ve read this far, I commend you. My first paragraph was disgustingly vague. Here’s my first fundamental that I live by and it’s this… this is and will always be the shaded glasses that I wear: God loves me and I could do nothing to make Him stop loving me. If you know this, I don’t think you could ever live a mediocre life. A life consumed with love is a life envied by most people and rarely displayed. People who are loved and know they are loved go on to do incredible things in their lives. In the past 7 years of knowing I’m loved, I’ve seen and done more than my previous 20. Enough said.

My second fundamental is another lens I choose to see the world in: God can only do good. Before I get stoned by Old Testament junkies… I have one thing to say… God gave His only Son to die for our sins and to remove judgment from our sin-riddled lives. His message was, is, and will always be forgiveness… which means that if we ever see something good happen, He most likely had His hand in it. Sickness, disease, earthquakes, disasters, hurricanes are not good. Your head is pretty twisted if you ever believed that those were good. If you have any questions, read the Bible and notice that Jesus said, “it is finished.”… interpreted as… forgiveness has been given. It is done. No more punishment/judgment.

My third and final fundamental that I live by (it’s not through a lens this time): it’s living to make the world a better place. If I ever have an option… I’ll always try to pick the one that leaves a better mark on the world. I actually believe in transformation of cultures, businesses, and societies. But it has to start somewhere. It starts with doing the right thing… with choosing to bless people when they don’t ask… to say nice things about people randomly… it’s all granular but I believe that leaving your mark starts with the little things we get handed. There are opportunities all around us to make the world a better place. That’s a fundamental I have. Now you know.