The Getaway B-1

July 7-11 will forever mark a measurable shift in the lives of 33 individuals, my life included. That week I saw God do things I wasn’t sure He was ever going to do again. I saw first hand the changing power of a mighty and powerful God. It is complicated to even put words, sentences, and phrases together to accurately describe what God really did that week. In fact, we may not know the full impact of our experience with God for years to come. Some things may never be revealed here on earth. I do know one thing; God, the spectacular God that we read about in the Bible, spent a week working on the lives of the adults and young people that went on that trip.

Out of that experience, missionaries, pastors, and Christian leaders were birthed. Out of that experience people found out exactly how life changing the power of God can be and none of us, not one out of the thirty three left that week doubting the power of God.

My Space

What does it mean when the most popular websites are sites to promote ourselves or share our personal information? Sites like Myspace, Facebook, Blogs, truth box, and now Twitter are all sites based around sharing personal information with other people. Does someone care what I ate last, how often I talk to my number 4 myspace friend, or what I am doing right this second? Why is it that we as a society are so fascinated with other people’s lives?

Myspace surveys have to be the biggest waist of time ever.

What's one thing that would instantly make you dislike a person?

What do you do when you need to relax?

Do you believe in Aliens?

What were you doing at 3 AM this morning?

Who cares!

Normally we would have to actually talk with someone for a length of time before we find out what cologne someone wears. Oh, Me? I wear the Usher cologne. I’m kidding but now you are curious as to what cologne I really do wear aren’t you?

Why do we care? Why do we spend a half an hour filling out stupid questionnaires or writing blogs about our romantic trip to anywhere but here?

Is it that our society is craving attention, love and acceptance or maybe reading about other people’s lives give us the opportunity to see how we measure up? How do I compare to everyone else? Isn’t that always the question in the back of all of our minds?

The Truth Box is an interesting addition to the mix. Here we give others the ability to write ANYTHING they want to about us and remain anonymous.

Given enough time I believe that I could find more proof that we are a self-conscious generation of people consumed with what others think about us. Myspace, Facebook, Blogs are simply tools to help us compare and contrast.

We live in an interesting day and time.

Twitter

Sounds weird but apparently it is all the rage. Why? I have no idea. The only way to find out is to join and try it. Now, it seems really simple. All you have to do is answer one question, What Are You Doing?

Easy enough.

Lets see how it goes. Want to join me? https://twitter.com/dchuff

Church Planting

Today I spent time with two of Chattanooga’s finest church planters, Damon (Hamilton Life http://www.hamiltonlifechurch.com/) and Dana (Embrace Church http://www.embracechurch.com/).

These guys are pioneers. Church planting is one of the hardest and most frustrating things someone can do. Damon meets in a theater and Dana meets in an art gallery. Both guys have to set up and tear down every week. They pour their heart and soul into their congregation while hoping to budget.

When planting a church you find yourself in a position where completely relying on God is not an option. I have been apart of two church plants in my eight or so years of ministry so I know first hand how tough it is. While in Kentucky my parents put their house up as collateral so the church would be able to get a loan for a building. There were many weeks we didn’t think the bills would get paid. There was even a period of time where the church was unable to pay me full time so I took on a part time job to supplement my income. You do whatever you have to do to keep the doors open because you find yourself so passionate about what God is doing.

I have a high respect for church planters.

If you are ever in Chattanooga check one of these churches out.

home phone

Cell phone companies own your soul. It’s true. You are unable to win when it comes to cell phone companies; they are always going to come out on top.

Let us break it down. You pay monthly for a service that requires you to have a working product in order to utilize the service you are paying for. The same company sells you the product you need at a cheaper price if you sign a two year contract with them. You are unable to do anything but sit back and hope your product does not break in those two years. If your product breaks, you can either pay four times more for the same product or you can purchase insurance in which you add to your monthly expense. If you are allowed to pay monthly for insurance then you still have a deductible of around fifty dollars. Now, I say if you are allowed to pay for insurance because even if you want insurance, it is not offered on all products. Consumers can either opt for the cheap or free product that works with the service or pay extra for a nicer product; again taking the chance that said product will break and not be insured. What other service providers do we know of that contractually holds us by the proverbial balls?

In my mind, it would seem as though a service provider should provide us with a working product. For example, I made the adult decision to sign a three year deal with a satellite company. Our deal states that I will pay them X amount of money each month and they will provide me with access to America’s top 200 channels. If service is interrupted or the equipment becomes damaged, our contract states that they will take care of me immediately preventing me from missing my favorite shows.

Now one might say, “well, satellite companies do not provide you with a television set” and to that I say, If your TV set were to break one can shop around and find the best deal at any number of stores that sell TV’s. One can even purchase a decent TV for cheaper than a cell phone proving that cell phone companies own our souls.

I don’t like to complain without providing some course of action. Well, actually I do complain without providing ideas but this time I think we can all ban together and take down cell phone companies one at a time. How you ask? Well, we could bomb them but to take a less invasive and less illegal approach we could all refuse to use cell phones. Let’s get back to the home phone idea. There you have one centralized phone, most of the time in the kitchen for some reason, where the entire family can share. This puts everyone back at home talking and not on America’s highways and byways. Ear cancer would be all but eliminated if everyone stopped holding cellular devise up to their heads. I see no down side to this plan!

Who is with me?

Bored people are boring

I read a quote the other day that said, “If you are bored then you are boring.” My life is far from boring. In fact, it has been a long time since I have even thought I could potentially become bored, even when I have time to sit around and do nothing I find something to do.

This past weekend my wife went home to Kentucky to visit her family. Though I always miss my wife and son dearly, I use my time away from them to bond with friends. Saturday night me and some good friends drove down to east Nashville to a place called The Family Wash. None of us had been before so it was a little disconcerting when we had to drive through some ruff neighborhoods. However, when we arrived we all said collectively, “this place is going to be great!” That night the five of us took in the music, culture, and great comfort which made The Family Wash the hippest place I have been in some time. I will be going back for sure. But as I sat there listening to two guy’s bang out chords on old beat up guitars I realized God has blessed me with an interesting life.

My wifeless weekend has come and gone. Hanging out with friends helps pass the time but I was not cut out to be a bachelor. Needless to say I am anxiously awaiting the return of my wife and son.

Italian Suits

“Tourist traps and public-relations stunts draw attention to themselves, but signs point to something beyond themselves- a destination or a path or something worth noticing.” Brian McLaren

John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the father except through me.

Most churches are a lot like a tourist trap, you stop by because something big is going on or they are giving something away or they have a unique looking facility. You swing by and get drawn in by their flashy preacher, slick media, or hype based worship. After a while you realize that there is nothing more to the church than flash and you find yourself spiritually dead. Margie and I went to a church just like the one I described. Their preacher used a lot of props and interested preaching gimmicks to keep you interested. The worship was slick; they had renewed musicians playing the hottest worship tunes available. Seriously, the fiddle player traveled the world with the Dixie Chicks, Charlie Daniels, and so on. You left the timed church service feeling like you had just been to a movie or play. You felt very entertained. But is that what church is supposed to be? Better yet, is that what our faith has been lowered to? Has God become nothing more than another form of weekend entertainment?

Christianity has become the most marketed religion, in my opinion. Sure Karma had a good run but Christianity brings in the big bucks and in an effort to capture some of the money churches have stepped it up. We have made church sharper, slicker, and more user-friendly. The problem is Jesus, whom we have loosely based most of our churches after, wasn’t slick, sharp, or efficient. In fact, when He preformed miracles He would tell people to keep quiet about them. One would think that a miracle would be the greatest marketing method ever. If I healed one blind guy I could travel the globe in my person jet holding mass rallies everywhere. People would be chanting my name as I walked out on stage in my gaudy Italian suit. But Jesus didn’t use His miracle working power for his own good. He healed people as a sign, a sign that would make others wonder. Signs point to something bigger than themselves.

God has really been pushing me to make sure my life is pointing people to Jesus.