The Move day 1

Hey guys, as you all know I set out this morning for my new home, Danville Indiana.  On my first leg of the trip I made a stop in Columbia South Carolina to visit my good friends the Huston's, Kevin is the new Campus Minister at the Shack on the campus of the university of South Carolina, it's seems like a really great place and I can tell that they are really excited about this opportunity to minister here.  

You know as someone who is very young and very early into ministry I already love to see the passion that can run through a person who finds themself in a place that fits there vision, a lot of people find themselves in a place where they never really see themselves and it shows to people like you and me.  People lose there vision and live a life that is filled with no passion, as I drive and get closer to Indiana my anticipation grows as I begin to think about what I will be learning and putting into practice in Student Ministry.  So tomorrow I head on to East Tennessee for my day two stop, Goehners here I come.

Grace and Peace,

Clayton Wheeler.

Much ado about what?

This past week and really for about the past year or so I've been coming across blog after blog on these issues, Barack Obama, Gay Marriage, and Abortion.  Now I'm not going to mention each of these in this blog but I will take on the issue of Barack Obama's behavior and early presidential decisions, Gay Marriage, and throw in a little Rick Warren based on what he has recently said about gay marriage.  So in the words of the Joker "And here we go."

On Sunday night I don't know if you heard but the USA pagant was on, miss California was clearly in the lead when it came time for the interview.  Her question came from Perez Hilton a gossip collumnist and yes he is of the same family as the famous hiltons, his question was very much direct and to the point.  "Vermont just passed a law that says it is legal for a gender of the same sex to marry, how do you feel about this issue?"  Now California was a devout Christian and Perez knew this very well, she answered from a personal point of view that she believed that marriage was for a man and a woman only.  Now hows that for your controversial headlines, needless to say her answer would forfet the crown, what kind of world do we live in when we no longer have freedom of religion?  We can no longer speak our own mind?  What's frustrating for me is that most Christians actually care about how the world treats us, now here's what I mean by that.  In the New Testament you here story after story of men like Paul and Peter going to prison because they just wouldn't shut up about there resurrected savior, you see it didn't matter to them what the government said or popular demand they kept on preaching.  All I've been hearing lately from Christians has been "well there taking away our freedom of speech."  That may be true to a point but you have to understand that if you are a disciple of Christ you are not an American, German, Canadian or whatever country you call residents.  You see your residents is in the New Jerusalem with Jesus himself, so it shouldn't matter what happens here as far as freedom goes, if it's truth according to scripture I don't care if it's Hitler or Obama never be afraid to speak the truth of Christ.  It says to count it a blessing whenever you face trials and persecutions of many kinds.  If this verse is true then I think Christ for the persecution that came about Sunday, thank you Jesus and may this be the first of many times in which one of your creation stands up and proclaims your name, maybe it will be like during the stoning of stephen when you stood and clapped for your disciple Stephen when he was being persecuted and yet still preached your word.

Now as far as Obama goes do I think yet that he is the anti Christ, my answer is still the same NO!  Am I concerned with some of his decisions yes, but let's look at something positive that happened this week at the forum.  Barack Obama sought out the president of Venezuala and shook his hand, this has been a man who has had a bad relationship with the US during Bush's administration but after words he said to Obama thanks for the gesture and know that I want to be your friend.  Now I know this is something little but I think we can take some positive away from this.  

Now Rick Warren was quoted as saying this past week that "I'm not anti Gay."  Now what he was saying is that from a political stand point he's not going to be an activist when trying to make Gay Marriage illigal, but know that from a Scriptural Standpoint he is still very much a man who understands God's view on such an issue.  So please don't be too harsh on the man after all countless people have been changed because of his ministry and as his brothers and sisters I think we celebrate that fact.

So may God teach us to be the kind of people who simply wont sit down but will stand up for truth, and may we speak your word even if one day it may cost us our life.  For our residence is not here but up there with you.

Grace and Peace be with you.

C-DUB.

Paradise

Today is that in between day of the resurrection weekend, it's the day where Christ is said to have gone down to hell and defeated Satan and finished the job or was it a sabaath?  I wonder looking back at one of his final words recorded on the cross, he says to the thief that today you will be with me in paradise.  What does this mean?  Last night I spent some time thinking about this phrase and I got this picture of Jesus and the thief spending Saturday together in paradise fulfilling his promise to this unknown man who appears only briefly in the Bible.  

Another thought that came across my head was this, maybe he spent the day with me, and then this new picture arose of me walking with Christ on a Golf Course in paradise with Jesus sipping on some amazing Coffee discussing the significance of what he had just done for me.  Maybe Christ was saying today you will be with me in paradise which perhaps translates into today you will all be with me in paradise, I want to spend time with you I want to have a personal relationship with, I want to partner with you in this thing we call life.  So Christ wants to be with me today in paradise?  What a thought what a creator who would want to be with the sinful person that I am.  so here I stand on the 11th of April waiting for my savior to arise in the hopes that I too may continue to live a life of resurrection so that I too may spend the day in paradise with Christ.  

Maybe Paradise isn't really an actual place but maybe it's when you are spending time with your savior wherever you are, maybe that's paradise.  So may you spend this day in paradise with your creator and may you arise a new creation with him.  

Grace and Peace.

C-DUB 

Is it an oil change or is it something else?

Today has been a rough day but also bright in lots of ways too, this morning I had to get my car looked at which turned out to be a continuing sago that will last through Monday ugh.  As I'm sitting in the waiting room I strike up a conversation with this older man from Clearwater, found out he as in town for his son's basketball game and had to get his car looked at as well.  So since we were in the same boat we decided to pass the time by talking to each other.

As I look back on the conversation I can't help but wonder why it happened, I wonder if there was something more spiritually significant going on?  If there was I wonder if I made the test did I do what God wanted me to do, the conversation did go into what I did for a living and what I'm studying to become?  My prayer this day is for him and his family that maybe a seed was planted and that I have more oil changes like this on.

Good?

I was walking down the sidewalk on campus today with one of my friends, we were just talking and shooting the breeze when he said this "Gosh it's already good friday."  Have I totally forgotten about it?  Well it was the first time all week I had given it thought and I am ashamed to say that, I'm busy but should I really be so busy that I forget what the main thing is?  Sometimes I wonder why they call it good friday, I mean what was so great about it?  My savior hung on a cross for some 9 hours for myself and that's suppose to be good?  It makes me scratch my head cause I think there is something more significant going on here, something that I may never be able to understand.

When I read this in scripture I see this picture of the disciples looking from a cowardly distance with no clue as to what's really going on, if you've been in many churches recently you would get the same feeling.  I walk into the foyer and some people are being real but some are being fake.  "How are you doing today?  Fine! "  Or when translated it would say this "I really don't care how your doing but I'm gonna ask anyway and I will have no idea how you responded cause I'm ten feet down the hall."  People just don't get it, they say they understand but they really don't.  It's just like the disciples on the original good friday, they sat and watched while something more significant than they could ever imagine was going on right before there eyes, I mean Peter even denied him.  Whats happened when some people will only attend Church on easter and the only time we even mention the resurrection is on this Sunday, it seems to me that if he really is LOVE then shouldn't we celebrate this event all the time?  Now don't get me wrong I hold this weekend very dear to my heart every year but if your looking for me to make a big deal about it I won't because I want to see us become the Kingdom that celebrates the empty tomb every day, I mean after all it is an empty tomb still isn't it?  Now that's worth celebrating!

Grace and Peace.

C-DUB

HIATOS

It's been over a month since I posted last and so much has been going on, in my head and in my spirit.  Now I don't want to bore with exact detail cause that's not what Confessions is about, but I do want to share some thoughts I've had regarding books, The Church, And family.

I am an avid reader who reads constantly, mostly stuff about Church leadership, Christian living, and Preaching and Teaching.  Now what you didn't see in that list is the Bible, over the past month I have become convicted of the thought that I should be reading my Bible above all other forms of literature.  I have come to believe that if the Church took the Bible as serious as we should then most of the books that I've been reading would not of had to of been written, no Pagan Christianity, no Simple Church, no Velvet Elvis, not even Your better Life now.  Now I'm not saying that any of these books are wrong, in fact I highly reccomend all except that last one I mentioned.  What I am saying is that we should do some damage in the Bible before we go searching elsewhere, we should be Biblicly sound first and foremost.

I have some friends who are giving up on the Church, they think that anything more than 20 people isn't a Church and we should all go to house Churches, let's just say that they all take Pagan Christianity to literally.  This disturbes me cause I feel as though instead of going in the direction of unity this is only gonna cause more division amongst the Church, As a Disciple I beleive that this goes against what God wants for his body.  We need everything the small church, the house church, the midsized church, the mega church, and most importantly we need the Church to be the Church, a body, not a building or some ritual we do once a week.  By the way it has been said by Mark Driscoll in recent messages and books that there will be more mega Churches in the future, contrary to what some emerging types think.  Now I don't know about all of that but my prayer is that we go in the direction of acting instead of arguing!

I said earlier that I would address my family but I feel as though that that's meant for another time and another blog.  Thanks for reading.

Grace and Peace be with you.

C-DUB

RED

How intentional are you?  Sometimes I ask myself this question and it's more of a reminder and accountability than a question, you see it keeps me focused on whether or not I am still doing what matters with my life.  today is AIDS awarness day this is something that has grown rampant in our world in recent years and it's something that is calling out to be dealt with, I believe God has heard the cry of those suffering in Africa just as he heard there cry in EGYPT, my question today is how are you going to react towards this issue?

I believe AIDS has become the new leprosy, it's un clean and dirty and something people seem to be ashamed to talk about and most people could care less about this issue I feel.  Do you think this attitude makes GOD CRY?  All I know is that it makes me cry, how can we sit here when there is still work to be done, still valley's to cross, still people to save.  I wonder if GOD is just sitting up in heaven watching us and wondering how long we'll wait until we do something, the encouraging news is that people are doing something but it's not the Church it's not the bride.  How can this be right?  How can something so horrible be happening and the Church be the one who is years behind everyone else in reacting towards this, we just spent an entire year campaigning for a particular candidate of choice when there was something bigger we could have been doing.  I don't think this generation will be judged by who we put in office to be honest I don't God cares to the degree some of his disciples do, no I think this generation will be judged by how we dealt with these issues.  AIDS, WORLD POVERTY, SEX TRAFFICKING, THE WIDOW, THE ORPHAN, THE ABUSED.  Maybe if we start seeing the world the way God sees it maybe then we'll actually be motivated to do something?

There's this story in the New Testament of Jesus healing a Lepor, would he heal an AIDS victim today?  Maybe were the one's who can heal by just remembering, by just caring, by just knowing and seeing things the way a God sees them I mean this is his creation who is dieing needlessly.

So may God wake you up to what really matters, may he show you the world through his eyes and may your heart break and may that motivate you to be Jesus to these issues.

Grace and Peace be with you.