When you find people doing what you want to do get as close to them as you can. For me it was tapes and cd’s, but today you can get blog posts, and podcasts from just about every type of business in the world.  Don’t just try and imitate these people.  If you try to “Fake it, till you make it” you’ll end up just going in circles at best, broke and discouraged at worst.  What you want to do is learn from them and pay the price of personal growth.  You may not see the change today or tomorrow, but one year from now you will see a difference, five years from now you will look back at the person you are now and not know that person.  But it starts with finding people to learn from and applying the principles to your life.

Give back what you learn.  One of my goals is to personally mentor two people every year and challenge them to pass that on to someone else.  If you are a leader I believe you should pass on what you know. If you are an aspiring leader find someone to come along side you and learn together.

First of all has to be books.  We are a book buying society.  Whether or not we read the books we buy is another story, and that is part of the self-discipline problem.  If you buy a book to help you then at least take the time to read it.  You can read five pages a day and complete a 200 page book in a month and a half, so reading is not hard.

Next you can get apps on you computer or phone to help teach you discipline.  I have an app that I enter every bite of food that goes in my mouth on.  It tells me how many calories i need, what I take in, and how much exercise I have done.  I use it because I needed discipline in that area, and it is great.

Find someone to keep you accountable.  If you can’t hire a coach then get a friend, but make sure he or she is willing to ask you tough questions, and make sure you are ready to give truthful answers.  If you are not willing to be honest, you will never do this.

The bible says Knowledge begins with respect for the Lord. but Foolish people hate wisdom and discipline. (Proverbs 1:7 NCV) Get smart, learn to discipline yourself, and get growing.

I had left church at 16 or 17 and had no need for Jesus or God.  I lived the life I wanted too and did what I thought was the best things for me.  But I always had a small voice inside that told me I was doing something wrong.  I wanted to be like my big brother, I wanted to be an intellectual, and every body knows intellectuals don’t like God, because there is no proof He exists.

When I had been in boot camp I was the Religious Petty Officer.  I was in charge of getting the company to church every Sunday where I would sit and hold back tears because I knew I was doing wrong in God’s eyes.  I relented my charge as RPO  in a blaze of curse words and challenges to fight.  Look, I wasn’t stupid, I knew I was giving up perks that I got for being part of the leadership in the company.

After boot camp the sense of calling seemed to settle down.  I went my own way and God seemed to go the other.  I finished my tour in the Navy, got married, and lived my life.  My brother and I would make fun of Christians and just about anyone else we presumed was religious.  We would think up questions we would ask Christians to make them look stupid.  I never got to  ask any a question, I guess I forgot when I was around Christians and not my brother.  Life was good and so was I, at least I thought I was.

Like I said when I started, this is my 14th Easter as a Christian. The week leading up to my first Easter was spent at the Putnam County Fair.  I wasn’t a carney, I wish I had been at sometime because I imagine it would be a really cool life.  I was just selling air purifiers.   Yes, I was selling air purifiers at a county fair.  No, it wasn’t a profitable venture money wise, but it was for the rest of my life.

My booth was set up across from two guys selling belt buckles and a man selling burial plots for a local funeral home. He was actually a Baptist minister and he was selling burial plots to make some extra cash.  I Never suspected what he was doing all week.  He talked to me, and bought me a couple of Cokes, but he never mentioned Jesus until Saturday.  About an hour before the fair closed he took me out, bought me a corn dog and a coke and shared the gospel with me.  I was amazed and over whelmed.  I left the fair that night and repented of my sins.  I was so over whelmed I had o stop my truck three times to collect myself before I could drive again.

The next morning was Easter, and no one bothered to tell me.  I showed up at the church looking for my friend Darryl in a t-shirt and shorts.  Everyone was dressed in suits and ties, so I stuck out just a little.  I made up for it the next Sunday by coming in a suit and tie and everyone else was wearing normal clothes, so they felt out-of-place.

This is the story of the beginning of my walk with Christ.  I don’t pretend that it is over or even close, I know I still have a lot to learn.  But I wanted to share my Easter story so others could read it.

For Christian Creationists, it is not the place to get your biology or ecology if you want to teach biblical creation.  If you don’t care about evolution being taught, then Khan academy also offers biology and other subjects. Don’t let the creation issue stop you from using this great math program for your home schooler.

We live in an individualistic world where we work, live, and pray next to people we don’t know.  We are separated by cubicles and garage doors.  We hurry to get in to and out of our homes so we don’t have to say, “Hi!” to our crazy neighbor.

Our churches have become much the same.  Many of us come in late and leave early so we don’t have to say, “Hi!” to anyone who may see us.  We sit beside people we may or may not know, we sing and praise Jesus with as much fervor as we can muster, and still we know no one.  Don’t forget we all attend a small group so we can participate in the community.  But how much do we really participate in the lives of the people in our small group.

Jenna and her boyfriend aren’t getting along, so we pray for her.  No one want’s to get involved so they don’t ask how she bruised her hand.

Mary and Tom are having financial “problems” so we pray for them.  We don’t ask if they need some money, we wouldn’t want to pry.

Bill is always just fine, as he glances away and stares at the floor.  What have those eyes been doing when no one is around?

The word relentless is defined as unyielding in one place, I define it as not giving up or not giving in.

I grew up in a small town and I saw what community was.  When my mother passed away people flooded our house with gifts of money and food.  We wanted for nothing for several weeks after that the cause of the love that was poured out on us from that community.

Living in a relentlessly loving Christian community means getting yourself involved in other people’s lives.  Praying for God to open up relationships for you to love people.  The letters written in the New Testament were not written to just correct things that were going wrong.  Those letters were written by men who loved Christ and loved the believers that were in Christ’s church.

As we begin to love others in a way that Christ loved the church it may not work out as we plan.  As we begin to see other through God’s eyes we will see things we never knew existed.

Crowdsourcing is when a company takes a project and breaks it down into smaller parts that are done by people not affiliated with the company.  So instead of paying an employee and hourly or salaried rate they pay individuals an agreed upon amount to perform the task.  Wikipedia Explains it here.

So How Does this help you?

You can make money by signing up with a crowdsourcing website and start looking for offers pertaining to what you do.

Here are some of the best known:

Design

Crowdspring –  Logos and graphic design

99Designs – Webpages, logos, t-shirts, WordPress themes, and more.

DesignCrowd – Logo, website, and graphic design.

Design and other office work.

Elance – Programmers,writers, consultants, designers, and more

oDesk –   oDesk provides opportunities all types of office and design workers.

I read daily.

Jim Rohn said, books are the ladder we climb to success. While I don’t think I want the earthly success Mr. Rohn referred to I do want to be a success in my walk with Christ. I have highlighted several book that in my opinion should be a staple in every Christian library. These books challenge your thinking, and the modern American view that Jesus wants us all to be happy and have a lot of stuff.

These book are books that expanded my thinking, and probed my heart. They have, in my opinion, been used by God to draw me closer to Him. I hope you find them as useful in your walk as I have in mine.

Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster

I read this book for the first time in 2000. I had been a Christian for about three years, and had never heard anyone talk about living a life filled with God. To me God was distant and removed. While he did care about our well-being, we could not get close to him.

Richard Foster Changed My Thinking

Celebration of Discipline is not a how to get close to God guide. It explains 12 discipline that have been practiced in the church for 2000 years, that many modern Christians do not do, or think about. There is nothing you can do to make God love you more. There are things you can do to put you in a correct frame of mind to see God for who he really is. And this book will give you suggestions on what those things are.

C. S. Lewis

I know C. S. Lewis is an author and not a book, but I think you should read most of his books.

Mere Christianity
is derived from radio spots done by Lewis during WWII. Mere Christianity deals with the intellectual side of Christianity. Lewis makes the case for God, Jesus as savior, and moral issues. If you are already a Christian this book will help you deepen your faith. It is a good book for non-believers who are looking into Christianity.

The Screwtape Letters
is a series of letter sent by the demon Screwtape to his young pupil and nephew demon Wormwood. Wormwood is tempting a human and Screwtape is instructing him in the fine art. This book gives us a look at the reverse side of temptation in our lives and help us understand the lure.

The Chronicles of Narnia
this now popular series follows children during the great war who escape through a wardrobe to find the land of Narnia. In Narnia they are kings and queens who lead talking animals against their foes. Their story is much like our own story of learning to rely on Christ in dealing with our worries of life.

The Cost of Discipleship By Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer died because he tried to stop the Nazi’s. He died because he lived out his faith in a way many can’t accept. From the book:

Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.

As an exposition on, The Sermon on the Mount, The Cost of Discipleship
is Bonhoeffer’s call to the church and Christians to come back to Christ as its center.

The Reason for God

Timothy Keller is pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. He has been posed many objections to God, and the gospel of Christ. In The Reason For God, Keller takes those objections and one by one gives the Christian view and why the objection will not hold up to scrutiny.

The Reason for God is a Good book for newer Christians or agnostics and atheists who are willing to be challenged in their beliefs. Don’t go around throwing this or any other book at people who don’t agree with you. Love first and then challenge. A challenge without love make you and Christ look bad.

Intro image on home page used under cc2.0 license from flicker user http://www.flickr.com/photos/hashir/

What He Did To Generate Website Traffic

1. He told everyone he talked to at the trade show about his blog. Yes he had a forum by giving the talk, but you can do the same thing. This may sound like it is a hard thing to do but getting into a trade show is usually paying at the front door and you can walk right in. Carry your business cards and hand them out like you have a booth. Don’t act like it’s unprofessional just do it and shut-up.

2. He put a digital recorder in his coat pocket and used a small mic on his collar. Yes it is low quality, but it is what he had. You can do this at your house if you don’t have a venue. Just act like you are talking to a giant audience go with it.

3. He used Audacity to turn it into a useful mp3 then uploaded it to his blog. That’s it. Other than closing the deals, but that’s on you. I just tell you how to use the technology, not how to sell stuff.

Happy Hunting, I hope this helps.

(Audacity is a free audio editor. I used it to turn my old tapes into mp3′s. It is fairly easy to learn if you are the least bit technical)

Find Digital Audio Recorders at Amazon (amazon affiliate link)

One of the teaser questions for the book is,

Millions of Christians have struggled with how to reconcile God’s love and God’s judgment: Has God created billions of people over thousands of years only to select a few to go to heaven and everyone else to suffer forever in hell? Is this acceptable to God? How is this “good news”?

I don’t struggle with that question at all and neither should anyone else but Calvinists because that is what they believe.  I and the majority of Christians do not believe God creates people to go to hell.  God Knows before hand who will and won’t because he knows everything, but he does not create them for that purpose.

My Example:

If I meet a strongly believing Buddhist and become friends with him over time I assume we will discuss the Gospel at some point.   I will give him my best apologetic on the gospel of Christ, and he will counter on the best beliefs of Buddhism.  I will still be his friend if he does not accept Christ.  I will still pray that God would open his heart, but if he truly believes that Buddhism is the only form of salvation,  he will not accept Christ and I believe will go to and eternal hell.

Calvinist will argue that man can not choose for himself and God has to make the man accept Christ. If that is true, why do we do evangelism, because God will only let in who he wants to anyway.

God is God, and is the only sovereign one.  He knows about every one of us and I think we do Him a disservice arguing about whether he is going to let some in and shut some out. Hell is a real place and real people will spend a real eternity there (Bill Hybles).  We need to spend our time and efforts trying to get as many out as we can.

My Soap Box

We have spent many years in the church as a whole trying to get people in the door and giving them an easy believism.  All that many “Christians” are doing is trying to get out of hell, or just get into heaven.  We have omitted Jesus’ teaching about discipleship and discipline so people won’t feel like they don’t fit in.  Hang the apologetics and live what you believe.  If you really believe what the bible teaches then live it out unashamed.

P.S I know today that if we have a different view on a subject we are supposed to dislike them. I don’t hate or dislike Calvinist, I graduated from Liberty University and have several Calvinist friends who don’t agree with each other or me. So if you want to argue your lapsarian view please don’t — I’ll just delete it.

The inspiration from theis blog came from many more that I read but mainly from Frank Viola’s post  What is God Really Like? Hell, the Old Testament God, and Love Wins – An Interview with the Author of “Is God a Moral Monster?” He interviews Paul Copan author of the book  Is God A Moral Monster.  It is a deep article and a little long, but suffer through it because it is worth your time.

Featured Image on homepage used under cc2.0 license from http://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-imago/

What is a theologian?  The web definition says that a theologian is someone who is learned in theology or who speculates about theology.  I like speculates about theology the best.

So What is theology? (from the web definition) Theology is the study of a god or, more generally, the study of religious faith, practice, and experience, or of spirituality. (Yes I know God is not capitalized here, I will address that later, just go with the definition.)

Having stated all that I will make my case.  We are all theologians because we all make speculations about, faith, religious practice, spirituality, and/or God — or the lack there of. No one on earth will spend his or her life without making one decision at least about God.  The main decision most people will make is, “Does he/she/it, exist?”  No matter what they decide, their life will be different from that point on.

As for Christians we believe that God does exist, and Jesus was His Son.  But, in the United States at least we have left theology up to pastors and college professors. When we have done this, many times we have put our faith in what that pastor or professor has told us instead of doing the work ourselves.  We have let other people form our beliefs and that has made us weaker in our faith.  When someone challenges our faith, many of us deny  or cower down.  When we leave our theology to someone else we give up our ability to think.  If you are listening to someone else to get your view of God and not exploring for yourself you are not being honest with yourself.

Take the time to study the bible and learn about God for yourself.

Free bible study stuff :

• YouVersion – Online Bible
• My Study Bible – Online lexicon if you want to look up words in Greek or Hebrew
• Christian Courses – From RBC Ministries – If you are new to bible study this can be a good place to start.

Two books that helped me are Grasping God’s Word and How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth.  Both of these books are outstanding in helping to sort through scripture and show you how to apply it to your life.