Every track on this album is amazing. The instrumentation is perfect, the lyrics are very original and catchy, and it’s an overall fun album.

And he already has six music videos that are stunning.

Listen once on Spotify, then go buy this album on iTunes and put it on repeat. When you get home, play it as loud as you possibly can.

Source: Flickr

This Sunday I had the opportunity to have lunch with some folks after church who had never attended my church before. I go to the main campus of North Point Community Church and it’s big. I’ve been in churches that would fit inside the main worship center at North Point.

So in typical host fashion, I asked “What did you think?” My parents are the only “outsiders” I’ve taken to NPCC, so I don’t really get the chance to explore this question often. The answers weren’t what I expected.

The message felt like a keynote.

There wasn’t a sense of connection.

I don’t really like the whole mega-church concept.

The last one doesn’t surprise me. A church the size of North Point is not for everyone. It wasn’t for me when I first moved here two years ago which is why I started attending a smaller church. I eventually came around to the concept of a huge church and it was no longer all that different than going to a much smaller church.

I can also understand the second one. I’ve attended two different non-Sunday morning events at North Point in an attempt to connect with other people. Both attempts failed. I tried Fusion which is a singles gathering. I’m an introvert in a large, unfamiliar crowd. Forced social interaction is not for me and I have never felt more uncomfortable and overwhelmed than I did during the first night of Fusion. I survived the initial launch night and attended the first Fusion gathering a week later. I enjoyed parts of it, but didn’t feel like it was going to work out (yes, after one try), so I stopped attending that as well. I’ve also tried community groups but quit that before the first night every rolled around. “It wasn’t for me” and “I had nothing in common with those guys”. My typical excuses.

But the first response surprised me. In addition to that statement, another one was added:

There wasn’t enough Jesus in the message.

Hmm. I’ve had that same thought before, back before I attended North Point regularly. I’ve attended church my entire life and the service usually has about a 45 minute message and lots of Bible and Jesus. But the messages at North Point aren’t always like that. I’m still really challenged by the messages from Andy and the other pastors, but am I just being challenged by them like I would a really good keynote? Guess I need to pay more attention to this.

It’s clear that North Point makes a huge impact in Atlanta and around the world. No one questions that (at least not over lunch this weekend). But is there enough Jesus on Sunday mornings?

This was a good week for my #finishyear goals. I’ve already finished one goal and knocked off part of another one this week. At this point, it looks like I’ll be finishing all my goals this year with no trouble at all.

Complete 500 miles on foot

I’m 30% of the way through this goal. I’ve completed 149 miles out of 500.

Complete 2 more 5ks, my first 10k and first half marathon

I ran my first 10k race this weekend. 10k is 6.2 miles for those of your uninitiated to running terms. My last 3 runs of a similar length all took: 1:15:30 (6.09 miles), 1:12:48 (6.2 mark of 7.56 mile run), 59:41 (5.54 miles).

I completed the race in 1:01:10! Faster than I’ve ever run the distance. That was the official clock time, at least. RunKeeper puts my time between 59 minutes and an hour. This was a fast, flat course on the greenway that I’m used to running on. However, the last half mile or so was a dramatic increase in elevation and sucked. Who puts a stupid hill at the end of a 10k?!

I need to find a couple 5ks for fun runs and PRs. I’ve started researching half marathons. I think I want to do one that is fairly flat for my first time out.

Read 15 books

Haven’t done much reading in the last week.

Hand write all of Proverbs

Slacked off again. Only a few chapters left and plenty of year left on the calendar.

Become debt free

DONE. I’m also glad I already have my emergency fund in place because, unfortunately, I need it this month.

Complete 500 miles on foot.

Added another 10.87 miles to my total this week bringing me to a total of just under 90 miles for the month. That puts me at 27% of my total distance for the year. Quarter of the year done, quarter of the goal done.

Hand write all of Proverbs

I got back to this one this week and wrote out a few full chapters this week.

Become debt free

Done.

As promised the other day on Twitter, I have two big announcements today.

The first one is….

I’M DEBT FREE!!!

The image at the top is my final loan payment. I graduated on May 16, 2009 and in less than 3 years I’ve paid off around $19,400 in student loan debt.

And the second is…

I’ll be on the Dave Ramsey show on Monday around 2pm CST (3pm EST) to do my debt free call from the lobby and sign the debt free wall while I’m in Nashville this weekend.

Background image: "Bonsai tree" by horrigans. Creative Commons: Attribution/Noncommercial.

Yes, I’m late on this. So instead of just being a regular update, consider this an extended edition bonus content blog post. I’m already pretty far along on several of these goals and can’t wait to mark them off the list, and then see how much further I can get with them!

Complete 500 miles on foot

Total YTD: 120 miles. I’ve had a few tough runs in the last couple of weeks. They weren’t long runs at all, but they were physically tough for me to complete for some reason. I took a few days off to relax last week and this weekend while my parents were in town and came back strong today with a 7.58 mile run. My pace isn’t really getting any faster, but I’m almost done with my 10k training app on “first 10k mode”, which means I’ll start the “next 10k mode” which includes more speed work.

Get below 20% body fat

I’m still not below 20% but I have dropped a little over 1% according to my scale. I’ll get this professional measured at the 6 month mark to see how I’m really doing.

Complete 2 more 5ks, my first 10k and first half marathon

I’m officially not doing the Nashville half marathon next weekend; I’m just not physically or mentally ready for it. However, I will likely be running the Boulder Dash 5k here that same weekend. It’s a 5k run through a rock quarry that benefits the Forsyth County Parks Department. I love running on the greenway and recently discovered an incredible athletic park 5 minutes from where I live with a running path and a track, not to mention a ton of spots fields and playgrounds for kids. A worthy cause to support.

Read 15 books

I’m on book 10 of 15. I’m currently reading “Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us” by Seth Godin (Amazon affiliate link). I’ve had this book recommended to me before and my roommate owns a copy so I’m borrowing it. This is a drastically different book than the one I just finished reading. My last book was “Battle Royale: The Novel” by Koushun Takami (Amazon affiliate link).

I came across “Battle Royale” after reading some reviews about “The Hunger Games” movie. People were saying “It’s just a rip off of ‘Battle Royale’”. So I looked it up. It’s a similar premise but not even a remotely close comparison beyond the “kids killing kids because the government says so” plot. “Battle Royale” is a much darker novel and much more brutal. I didn’t want to put this book down from the very first chapter. It’s about as long as the “Hunger Games” series, and I read it equally as fast. I highly recommend this if you’re not overly sensitive to violence.

Hand write all of Proverbs

Still slacking off on this one. I wrote one complete chapter in the last three weeks. I’m at chapter 18 now. I don’t want to complete all of my goals in the first half of the year, right?

Tithe regularly

I’m glad to say I’m still being faithful in my giving with every paycheck and with the bonus I recently got at work.

Become debt free

This one is literally so close I can taste it. I’m less than two weeks away from making my final student loan payment. I don’t have a car payment. I don’t have a credit card. I don’t own a house. I don’t have any purchases financed. Nothing. All that stands between me and financial peace and freedom is a $555 (plus change and two weeks of interest) payment.

Resurrection © by Earl-Wilkerson

Before you get upset, I didn’t call you a good-for-nothing. I said “you are good, for nothing.” As in “good for no reason at all”, you’re just wasting your time.

Unless the resurrection really did happen.

Without the resurrection our faith and goodness are pointless. But the resurrection is a crazy thing to believe in. People don’t just come back from the dead. But there were over 400 witnesses who saw Jesus after he was killed and buried. And men who interacted with him before and after his death wrote about it.

It’s natural to want to divorce the life and teachings of Jesus from the resurrection of Jesus.

Andy Stanley

We shouldn’t be so fast to say “I believe in Jesus” but say “there’s no way I can believe in the resurrection.” Without the resurrection then we just follow another teacher who said a lot of strange things and is dead.

There are definitely some people who teach that the resurrection really isn’t an important part to the Christian faith. But the men who wrote the Gospels and the letters of the New Testament firmly believed in the resurrection. They either witnessed it or talked to eye witnesses.

…and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is without foundation, and so is your faith.  In addition, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified about God that He raised up Christ-whom He did not raise up if in fact the dead are not raised.  For if the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.

1 Corinthians 15:14-17 HCSB

The “we” Paul is referring to is not you and me. We aren’t found to be false witnesses, we’re just found to be idiots who believe liars. The “we” is the apostles and those who experienced the resurrection first-hand. If they are lying about the resurrection then they are false witnesses. In a legal matter they would be committing perjury by lying about a key piece of evidence.

Many people–Christian or not–have heard of the Sermon on the Mount. It’s one of the best-known passages of the New Testament. In this sermon, Jesus outlines the characteristics of people who are blessed. It’s not an appealing list:  “poor in spirit”, “those who mourn”, “gentle”, “hunger and thirst for righteousness”, “merciful”, “pure in heart”, “peacemakers”, “persecuted”, “insulted and falsely accused”. Where are “rich”, “prosperous”, “famous”, “powerful”, “strong”?

Jesus doesn’t shy away from the fact that following Him is not a guarantee for an easy or glamorous lifestyle. He also isn’t giving those who will follow him a pass to just “be a Christian and get to heaven.” He demands much more than that.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled on by men.

“You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house.

“In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

Matthew 5:13-16

During Andy’s message on Sunday I couldn’t help but think about how this requirement of believes is exactly how the Guinness (yes, the beer) family lived in exactly this same way.

I just finished reading “The Search for God and Guiness” by Stephen Mansfield (affiliate link) over the weekend. It’s a fascinating look into both the history of Guinness beer as well as the larger impact the Guinness family had on the world.

The Guinness family took matters of faith very seriously and used their great position and wealth to impact Ireland, and the world. Throughout the Guinness history, they built better housing for the poor; they provided health care, social activities, higher education, and job security for their employees; they cared for the families of the men they employed while they were fighting in World War 1.

Sunday schools were founded in Ireland by the Guinness family; homes for orphans were built; missionary programs to China and other countries were established; churches were built. An entire line of preachers came from the Guinness family and were as famous for their sermons and teachings in their day as Dwight Moody, General William Booth (founder of the Salvation Army), Martin Luther, and John Calvin.

The Guinness family was extremely wealthy, but lived their lives as salt and light to Ireland and the world. They didn’t have to be overt about it because everything they said and did glorified God. They cared for the widows and the orphans, treated everyone fairly, defended the outcasts, supported their own families, and spread the Gospel around the world.

Henry Grattan Guinness lived his life for God as a preacher and missionary. In the epilogue of the book Henry is said to have a favorite saying:

“Gentlemen, find out the will of God for your day and generation, and then, as quickly as possible, get into line.

Prince Albert (page 254)

Many in the Guinness family lived this way even without this quote. They never had to think twice about what God wanted of them and how they were to use their position and influence in society. They were a light unto their world, bringing faith and hope to people desperately in need of something more. They were salt of the earth, preserving the life of those they came into contact with, caring deeply about everyone and helping raise people from poverty when possible.

Source: leighighvalley.com

We’re all familiar with the Westboro Baptist Church people. According to them, God hates everyone and everything, and everything bad is from God and is directly related to the things God hates.

But they claim to be Christians. Sure. Remember, “Christian” is anything you want. These people are not disciples. There is no love from this group.

As Christians, we’re have a unique way of interacting with others. We have a different moral standard than others, but we aren’t called to judge non-believers. We are called to love them. Jesus never said “Therefore go and judge”, he said “Go, make disciples…” (Matthew 28:19).

Tonight I had the chance to see an early screening of “Blue Like Jazz”, the movie. It’s been a little over a year since I last read the book, and honestly I have forgotten much of what I read. Before tonight I never connected the book to Andy’s “What is Christian” series. But after seeing the movie, all I could think was “this is exactly what Andy preached about yesterday!”

I won’t ruin the ending of the movie, so I’ll refer to the book instead.

Towards the end of the book, Donald Miller and the few other Christians on campus set up a confessional during Renn Fayre at Reed College. This is a multiday party after exams and unlike anything you’ve probably experienced. The idea was not that students would confess to them, but that they would confess, as Christians, to the students.

In the book and movie it’s made clear that Reed College is not a place for Christians. At Reed, all the worst stereotypes about Christians are believed. Being a Christian is not cool or acceptable, it’s stupid and intellectually irresponsible.

Donald and his friends chose to not judge the other students for their beliefs–or lack of beliefs. They chose to own up to their own beliefs and to be honest about them to others. They chose to love the students at Reed College.

In the movie (I’m not sure if this quote is in the book), Donald’s character tells another student: “I’m sorry for misrepresenting Christ.” I loved that line. Donald wasn’t judging his friend who didn’t believe the same things he did. He was loving him by apologizing for not living up to the things he claimed to believe in.

At one point in the movie, one of the characters essentially says:  “I’m agnostic. But I respect a religious person who has the balls to stand up for what they believe in.”

In the Bible we are not called to be “out of this world”, we are called to be “in the world, but not of the world” (John 17:6-16).

Although I am a free man and not anyone’s [slave], I have made myself a slave to everyone, in order to win more people.

1 Corinthians 9:19 HCSB

Donald and his friends very much lived in the world–and for a while, lived of the world–but eventually he chose to live in the world, but not of the world. But he didn’t choose to judge them.

In one of his letters, Paul instructed the believers in Corinth on this matter. Some pretty bad stuff was doing on the Church there and it needed to be addressed. Paul wrote to them that they were getting things all wrong. Instead of judging the believes among them, they were only judging non-believers.

I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.  I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world.  But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer who is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person. For what [business] is it of mine to judge outsiders? Don’t you judge those who are inside?  But God judges outsiders. Put away the evil person from among yourselves.

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 HCSB

I really liked Andy’s illustration to explain this on Sunday. As a parent, he said, I care if my child does his homework. He lives in my house, under my rules. But I don’t care if your child does his homework because he doesn’t live under my rules. “It’s not my place to judge your child if he doesn’t do his homework, but it is my place to judge my son if he doesn’t do his, because those are our rules.”

As Christians/believers/Jesus followers/disciples, it isn’t our place to judge non-believers. But we are responsible for judging those who call themselves believers. We’re allowed to hold them, and to be held, to a higher level of responsibility and way of living.

Andy summed things up well:  Judge the believin’ not the heathen!