I am reading through the book of Esther. It is an amazing story, from a strict story perspective. It has everything, love, intrigue, great villain, epic setting, twist endings, irony, and more. You should check it out.

Something in the story really caught my attention, however. Esther, a jew, has become Queen over all the kingdom of Persia. While queen, she learns from her Uncle Mordecai that the evil Haman has plotted to kill every Jew in the entire land. Mordecai challenges Esther to intervene, but Esther is nervous because she does not want to invoke the King’s wrath (The King, by the way, is King Xerxes. You may have heard of him).

Not the most intimidating version of Xerxes…

Mordecai responds to Esther’s reluctance with the following powerful statement in 4:12-14, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. ¹⁴ For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”

“Relief and Deliverence will arise from another place.” I love this for a couple of reasons. The first is that it demonstrates God’s power and control over what is happening in the world. He is going to take care of His people, no matter how big the enemy or difficult the odds. That is a very comforting thought! The second thing I love is the challenge it gives to us. God is going to redeem this world and bring forth his Kingdom. It does not matter if we choose to be a part His work or not, He is going to bring relief and deliverance. We, like Esther, have a choice. Are we going to join in with God’s plan and reap the benefits and joy of doing His work? Or are we going to let fear win out and step out of the game? Esther made the right choice, will we?

Here is this week’s 5b4 video. We had fun with this one, it is a “spoof” of the Old Spice Swagger commercials and I think they turned out really well. Hope you enjoy them!

This fall has been the most beautiful I can remember.

We have had so many days with clear blue sky that highlight the splendor and color of Fall leaves. Everyday I drive home on Ronald Reagan and am in awe of God’s handiwork.

[I took this picture of Stone Mountain over the weekend. Not the best fall picture, but you can see a lot of the leaves across the lake have color.]

I think Fall is one of the clearest signs of God’s involvement in Creation and nature. Paul talks about God’s exhistence being made evident in Romans 1: 20- “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

Fall leaves get their colors when the chlorophyll leaves the leaves (ha!). The trees know winter is coming and they are going to live off of the food/energy they have stored up over the summer so they do not need the chlorophyll in their leaves. The green color goes away and we are left with bright yellows, reds, and oranges.

[An attempt at an artistic Fall shot.]

I think God’s existence is demonstrated in this because you would think when the green color is drained from the leaves they would all remain a pasty brown or a shriveled black. After all, that is what normally happens when things lose their color. But God, the original and perfect artist, had a better idea. Instead of bland and boring, we have bright and vibrant colors all blending together in wonder.

There is beauty all throughout nature. When we see something beautiful there is only one natural response, to praise the artist. So as the fall leaves near their end and continue to cover the ground, praise the one who painted them.

[forester 2009 review]

Here are the two latest 5b4 videos that the high school group has made. Parker Edwards and Jeanette Patton did the acting for both of them and did a great job. One of my goals is to develop the gifts of students so that they can use them and make a positive impact in culture. If you have some creative gifts, I would love to hear about it and offer any help I can (which may be nothing but encouragement). Enjoy the videos!

5b4 Announcements on 11-08-09

5B4 announcements on 11-01-09

The other day I went to a really cool meeting with youth pastors from all over the Atlanta area. A man named Pete Bocchino spoke to us for a little bit about discussing your faith and beliefs with others and it was so good. He models his style after someone who had a pretty good idea about what he was doing: Jesus.

Pete Bocchino’s Book is an incredible read

Anytime someone would challenge Jesus or ask him a spiritual question he would almost always respond with a question. For instance, when the rich young ruler comes to Jesus and says, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus does not respond with a huge explanation about sin and grace, he says, “Why do you call me good?”

I have always known the importance of asking questions, but never understood it to the extent I do now. Discussing our faith in the form of questions does the following:
1) Demonstrates that we care about the person.
2) Shows that we are thinking about what they are saying.
3) Enables us to meet them where they are.
4) Exponentially decreases the chances of hostility.
5) Enables others to come to their own conclusions by forcing them to think. This way when they arrive at truth, it will be based in a stronger foundation for them.

I have talked with so many people who are just fed up with talking to Christians. Too often we go into a big informational schpeal and never take the time to listen to the other person. We expect them to listen to us and our beliefs, but we fail to listen to them.

Asking questions is not natural, but it is vital. Now when I have conversations with people, I sit and listen and think…”OK, what is another question I could ask.” It is not enough to just ask one, we need to have as much of our conversations filled with questions as we can.

What is the first thing you do when someone asks for directions?

If you still are skeptical, think about driving directions. If someone asked you how to get to your house, the first thing you would do is ask them, “where are you coming from?” If you just started babbling about how to get there from downtown Atlanta or from highway 78, you might totally lose them. Especially if they are coming from a totally different state!

We need to know where people are, otherwise we could be giving them directions to salvation when they are in a totally different place than we think. It is not always easy, but it is so much more beneficial. Jesus did it, and so should we.

Last night my amazing wife Morgan and I watched a movie called the Village. It was our halloween (even though we were a day late) movie. The movie came out a few years ago and most people did not like it, but I think it has some incredible messages.

If you have not seen the movie or need a refresher, here is a rundown of the plot. A group of people have left society and formed their own isolated village that is hidden in the woods. The reason they each leave is because of the harshness of the real world. Many of them had lost husbands, wives, brothers, and sisters due to murder. Their solution to these problems was to run away and form the village. Throw some creatures in the woods and you have your Halloween movie (it was more of a thriller than scary though–this is why most people did not like it, they were expecting really scary and they did not get it. The dialogue is also a little goofy). Ultimately, however, death finds its way into their village, and they must decide if they will keep their village secret or not.

The People of the Village

Even though you may not have seen the movie, there are a couple things that it illustrates really well for Christians. We can never solve the world’s problems by running away. One man who lost his son in the Village said, ” you can run from sorrow as we have, but sorrow will find you.” Jesus has called us to be in the world, and not of the world. If we remain out of the world, we can never hope to change things and eventually sin will infiltrate even our safe Christian bubbles.

Another interesting thing Jesus calls us to do is be like salt. It has flavor, seasons things up, and preserves things. Some people do not realize, however, that salt was used to disintegrate waste in Biblical times. And if you took a poll, I am pretty sure that 100% of people would say waste is not appealing. But as followers of Christ, we are to be entering the dumps of the world and disintegrating it.

The movie had another quote that gives a good way to fight the bad things in the world. The leader of the village says, “The World moves for love, it kneels before it in awe.”

For too long we have simply avoided people who are “too sinful.” We need to be amongst the lost, we need to love them, and we need to be a part of the restoration of this world God has planned. This does not mean we become like those we are trying to reach, however. We must maintain our saltiness! If we live in the world but do not act like the world, we will move towards hope like never before.