I'm a little clay pot, short and stout!

Where does your mind go when you hear the word "clay"? For me, I think back to 10th grade crafts class (which by the way was the most stressful/hard class in all of high school, harder than any AP science or math class simply becuase I am terrible at ARTS and CRAFTS. ) I always knew my craftyness was bad, but it was reaffirmed when I brought home a basket I had weaved in crafts class out of rafia, and my parents ended up using it as a receptacle for old newspapers that needed to be thrown away, instead of hanging it on a wall to display the magnicance and intricacies of the weaving as suggested by the teacher to myself and my classmates. Problems only magnified for me when we moved to the art room to make our own clay pots. Around the same time, I had the misfortune to trip over a line while backpeddling during basketball practice the week before the championship game and breaking my right (dominant hand) wrist. Although I was in a cast/sling, I managed to use my left hand to whip up a lopsided clay pot, with top sides folded out to give the illusion of flower petals and a fun lavendar glaze covering it to help prevent cracks. So perhaps you don't have the same thoughts as I do, haha. Maybe you think about clay from a functional standpoint, such as clay can be used as soil fertility for plants or as a vessel. Regardless, did you know that the original Hebrew word that is translated as the "dust" that Adam was created from actually means clay, making God the first "potter," ? "Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." (Isaiah 64:8) and "The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life ... I too was formed from a piece of clay." (Job 33:4,6). Pretty cool, right?!

Today I want to share with you all my friend Rachel S's favorite devotional. Devotionals are things us Christian folk read on a daily basis (although doesn't always happen) to provide encouragment, remind of us biblical truth, and help us focus on God. As you may already have figured out, this devoltional talks about clay! I hope this finds you well!

Devotional

God calls us clay pots. And true to the name most of us sport cracks, carefully glued back together. We are oh so sturdy, yet oh so fragile. Why would God entrust clay pots with the light of His love? We try to fulfill His purposes but we get cracked and broken. Yet His strategy is clear... He knows our weaknesses yet He chose clay pots anyway. He tells us why... "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us" (2 Corinthians 4:7). Don't be ashamed of the cracks in your life... don't be afraid to show how God has mended you. This is the testimony to the watching world. Our God fixes broken pieces! If you are broken today because of circumstances in your life, or because of choices you wish you had made differently, don't stay in pieces on the floor. If you know you have disappointed God in your walk or in your talk tell Him you are sorry. God will forgive you, pick you up and mend you. Changed lives, lives lived in the power of the Holy Spirit, demonstrate that it is His power at work in us. This is our hope...this is the hope we hold out to a needy world.

Father God, Thank you that You use cracked pots to demonstrate Your love and power. Forgive me today for the guilt trips and the pity parties and help me to tap into the power that changes lives. Thank you that You put Your Spirit in me so that Your amazing power can be visible! Shine through my cracks today, Lord so that others can see who You are. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Questions: Do you need to change your thinking and accept the cracks in your life as the very places Jesus can shine through? Invite Him into those places today.

Spotted: Stephen Baldwin baptizing Spencer Pratt in a Costa Rican jungle river

Yes, that’s right. Spencer Pratt (most known for his role on The Hills as the jerk boyfriend/fiancé/and now husband of Heidi Montague) was baptized on national television by self proclaimed born-again Christian Stephen Baldwin. WHAT?! This act was first seen Monday June 1, 2009 when the show “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!” debuted drawing in approximately 6.4 million viewers. According to Wikipedia the show is “about celebrities live in jungle conditions with few comforts and have to earn human essentials”. Now, you are probably wondering why on earth did Pratt choose to do this?! … maybe it was to make his wife Heidi happy … maybe it was for publicity…. maybe it was to “be washed clean of his filth” as he stated moments before getting dunked in the river… or maybe it was for some other reason. I don’t know Spencer’s heart, only God does, so I won’t try and figure out what his true motivation was. However, I would like to clear up two common myths about baptism and also share why many believers choose to get baptized.

Myth #1: Baptism will wash away sins (or as Pratt stated “clean you of your filth”.)

Truth: The act of baptism does not save us or wash away our sins. Only the blood of Christ cleanses us from sin. 1 John 1:7 "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. "

Myth #2: Getting baptized allows a person to go to heaven.

Truth: The only requirement for getting to heaven is to believe that Jesus is your personal Lord and savior. (John 3:16, Acts 16:31, Ephesians 2:8-9). Baptism is not a requirement for salvation, it is simply the outward testimony of a believer's inward faith. Romans 6:3-4 says “Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." You are "crucified" (standing upright in water), you are "buried" (immersed into the water), and you are "resurrected into life" (raised out of the water). See also Corinthians 12:13.

Why do believers choose to get baptized?

#1 Cuz all the cool kids are doing it!!!!
And by cool kids, I mean Jesus. "At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan." Mark 1:9
#2 Cuz Jesus told us to!
Jesus’s love language is obedience, and following his commands shows our love for Him (Jesus said "If you love me, you will obey what I command. " John 14:15) Jesus also said, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." Matthew 28:19-20.
#3 Cuz it shows you are a believer!
In the OT, Jewish people would get circumcised (ouch) as an outward symbol of their faith, whereas Christians get baptized as an outward symbol of their faith! Acts 18:8"...many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized."

CONFESSION: I have not been baptized, YET. I am hoping to do so before I leave DC. Details to follow soon.

Mullets and Other Fun Ideas by Mike O'Brien

NOTE: THE FOLLOWING WAS WRITTEN BY MY FRIEND MIKE O'BRIEN. THIS IS THE SITE'S FIRST GUEST BLOG. ALL I DID WAS ADD A PIC OF UNCLE JESSE AND POST.

The other day I was walking to work and I saw a guy with an incredible mullet (a hairstyle characterized by short hair on the sides and long hair on top and in the back). According to Mullet Junky, as reputable a source one finds on such things, this was an Animal. This sight nearly distracted me to the point where I almost tripped on a curb. In that humbling moment, I remembered a question someone asked at a Bible Study a few years ago:

Q: I want to get a mullet, and some of my Christian friends say it's not cool, what did Moses say

A: Your friends are right, Leviticus 19:27 reads, "Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head..."

Q: Are you kidding me, are you sure this isn't one of those Old Testament Laws that got replaced by the New Covenant?

A: I'm sure, 1 Corinthians 11:14-15

That is as straightforward as biblical law gets. The Old Testament says it (no short hair on the sides), the New Testament confirms it (no long hair at all) - God disapproves of mullets. However, few items are so straight-forward in the Old Testament. The casual reader may find a prohibition in the Old Testament to which there is no counter prohibition in the New Testament (such as getting a tattoo, Leviticus 19:28), and ask whether it still applies.
The bible discusses God making covenants or promises with different people at different times. There are five covenants described throughout the Bible:

#1. Noah, Genesis 9:1-17, explained here in detail. In short, God rewards Noah’s faithfulness and promises not to flood the world again.

#2. Abraham, explained here in detail. Including that God will extend the forgiveness and engagement to everyone else…someday. Genesis 18:18, Genesis 22:18.

#3. Moses, Exodus chapters 19-34, explained here in detail. God provides a plethora of regulations (one of which is the subject of this post), and then promises to be merciful and gracious while He forgives iniquity, transgression and sin. Exodus 34:6-7.

#4. David, 2 Samuel 7:12-17, explained here in detail. Basically, God is a establishing a throne from the heirs of David which will last forever.

In each of these covenants, there were certain standards of behavior that accompanied the promise. To enjoy the promise the covenant holder had to have faith in God. The standards of behavior were reflections of whether that faith was present. It is important to note that there was no requirement for perfection, since, if there was, there would be no need for God’s grace which is the common theme throughout these passages.

#5. New Covenant By the time of the new covenant, a bifurcation existed between church law (which governed conduct of believers) and civil law (which provided remedies for private and public disputes among mostly everyone). Romans 13. So, Paul recognized that there was a general moral obligation to obey the law (there are obviously conflicts between church and civil law, but that is a topic for another day). This event narrows the discussion to restrictions on personal conduct instead of prohibitions on public behavior.

To begin, in the Old Testament Jeremiah predicts that the “old covenant” personal conduct will not be around forever, 31 "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. 33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." Jeremiah 31:31-34 (my emphasis). Luke 22:20 explains, “In the same way, after the supper (Jesus) took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.’” Some scholarly dispute agrees as to whether the new covenant began at the moment Christ died or at Pentecost. Regardless, we are certainly in a new covenant time now, and Hebrews 8:13 explains, “By calling this covenant ‘new,’ he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.”

Therefore, the Old Testament restrictions on behavior have passed. But note how all of the promises of God explained above have been fulfilled (or are currently in progress, such as not flooding the world, the availability of forgiveness of sins, etc.). That brings me back to the original question about getting a tattoo. The important inquiry is not whether one can get a tattoo, but why one would want to. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says that as believers we are to honor God with our body. If one is getting a tattoo to glorify God, then it wouldn’t be considered sinful. However, if one is getting a tattoo for some other reason (to spite one’s parents, etc.) then it could be considered sinful.

"I'm swine flu serious"

You know something is a big deal when 1.) your Mom sends you an email chain entitled "Breaking News- Celebrity Swine Flu Fatality", that includes a picture of a lifeless, Kermit the Frog laying amidst a muddy pig pen, and a one line text in blue Courier font reading "And we all know who gave it to him" and 2.) a random dude at one of the classiest, most fun, low-key, entertaining, and delicious weddings I've been to in a while, decides to crack a joke and show his commitment to getting drinks after the open bar closed by exclaiming "I'm swine flu serious! I've got everyone's drinks covered". Now I realize, this topic is a bit stale, and that the whole swine flu scare was so 2 months ago, but let's travel back in time to our state of mind when we first heard about swine flu. For me, I remember I was on gchat sometime in April, and my friend sent me a news link about people in Mexico dying from "swine flu" and how it could very easily spread to the U.S. if proper precautions weren't taken. I kind of forgot about it until a few days later when the U.S. declared a public health emergency over swine flu after there were 20 cases diagnosed in the U.S.. Shortly after this, travelers were shown on TV carrying face masks on their business/personal trips to Mexico, and stories such as "Only pig in Afghanistan locked up... to protect country from swine flu " made headline news. For a while people panicked, myself included, and I will admit that I fell prey to the http://www.doihaveswineflu.org/website whose name implied a self-assured way to detect if you had symptoms of swine flu. I remember my mind momentarily wandered to the "what if" mentality. What if it were to become a pandemic, what if it were to kill massive amounts of people, and I was one of those people?

I thought to myself, well of course it would really stink to die and miss out on all the things that life has to offer between the age of 26-78 such as marriage, kids, mastering drums on rock band, grandchildren, playing bingo, etc. And although it would be really sad to die, I am not afraid of death. If I was to die in the next 5 minutes, the next 5 days, or the next 5 years, I am 100% certain that I will be in heaven with the God of this universe because I have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal lord and savior. And what's even cooler and reassuring is that I can't under any circumstance lose my salvation. In essence, I have eternal security. Let's briefly look at the Bible (i.e. word of God) and go straight into the truth and the amazing promises that are given to believers regarding their eternal security. Note, when I say 'believers' I am referring to Christians- i.e. someone who has, by faith, received and fully trusted in Jesus Christ as the only Savior (John 3:16, Acts 16:31, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 5:1). Once saved, always saved. Here's why:

1.) Christ died once for ALL sins (past, present, future). You can't do anything to screw up your salvation because let's be real here people. God is omniscient . He knows about the sins you are going to commit 10 minutes from now, and 10 years from now. That is why God's grace is so AMAZING. God, being the all knowing genius that he is, knows our thoughts before we speak them (Psalm 139:2-4), knows all the hairs on our head (Matthew 10:30) , and knows every darn tuten bad thing we will ever do, yet is choosing to love us in spite of ourselves. He loved us so much he sent Christ to die, once, for all sins (Romans 5:6-8, Romans 6:10, 1 Peter 3:18) Wow, that is really nice of him!

2.) Nothing can separate us from Christ's love
Romans 8:38-39 "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

John 10:28-29 "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand."

3.) God keeps our salvation in a safe place for us. You can't lose something you aren't holding. Yes, I have lost countless cell phones, wallets, and receipts in my day, but thank God I am not in charge of holding on to my salvation.

1 Peter 1:3-5 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time."

4.) The Holy Spirit seals us. God gives the Holy Spirit to every believer when he/she gets saved as a down payment of His promise to take us to heaven and give us our inheritance

Ephesians 1:12-14 "in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.

2 Corinthians 1:22 "set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come"

And that, my friend(s), is why I am able to go to bed every night at peace, and not fear death.

I like it, I like it a lot!

It's 2015. Matt Lauer still works for the today show and its that time of year again for "Where in the World is Matt Lauer" (not to be confused Where in the World is Carmen San Diego, one of the many nerdy games I enjoyed as a child). This morning, Matt Lauer has traveled to Liberia. But what's the occasion?! The camera zooms in on Lauer and it becomes apparent that the locals in the background are building a well. "Folks, what we are witnessing behind me is the LAST well being put in Liberia". Lauer walks over to the well site, where 10 gringos between age 18-40 are standing smiling and waving at the camera. Lauer approaches the leader of the gringos, introduces him as the founder of theLASTWell saying "Todd, in 2009, there were 1.8 million people in Liberia that did not have access to clean, safe, water to drink and now there are enough functional wells with enough clean water for the entire nation... this is unbelievable... rarely do charities have specific missions with specific end dates, much less achieve the specific goal in less than a decade, is there anything you'd like to say? ". Todd shrugs, then smiles, and simply replies " We encouraged people in their 20s, to help change the world, and we did it all in the name of Jesus."

WOW. That was my reaction when Todd Philips, the teaching pastor of Frontline (McLean Bible's service for young adults between 18-40), shared the vision of theLASTWell during a fundraiser for folks preparing to climb Mount Whitney. As you probably have already inferred, the mission of theLASTWell is "to provide safe, affordable drinking water to the entire nation of Liberia and preach the message of Jesus Christ to those we serve". The cost of this project is estimated between $10MM-$15MM. Now, it would be relatively easy to contact a Fortune 500 company to get the money, but that would defeat the purpose of TheLASTWell, which is to inform and empower young evangelical adults across America to come together in order to accomplish amazing feats of service for Jesus. If you want even more granularity, new wells can be built for $5,000 and dysfunctional wells can be fixed for $2,500-$3,000. (Living Water International is the organization that actually builds the wells). And it get's even more exciting hearing that a donation of only $1 is enough to provide clean water to 1 child in Liberia for an entire year.

So the question remains, how does theLASTWell raise $10MM-$15MM?! Already in the works are numerous hikes throughout the entire world, including climbing the tallest mountain peak on every continent. If you are interested in climbing Kilimanjaro in August 2009, or interested in climbing another mountain in the future, or donating money, please visit http://www.thelastwell.org/ Oh, and the picture is from July 2008 on the top of Mt. Elbrus, the first hike completed.

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." - John 4:13-14