I like being healthy. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t. And when I’m sick in any way, I realize how I take my health for granted sometimes. I just want to feel normal again with everything working and feeling the way I know it should.

Now I say I like being healthy, especially when I’m sick, but I don’t like being healthy enough to give up sugar or chips or diet coke. That’s just the tip of the iceberg because there are tons of things that would have to change if I really liked being healthy. The problem is there isn’t a direct connection between a bag of chips and having the flu for 3 days, or having dessert every day and a sore knee. Nutritionists can tell me there’s a correlation between my diet and the possibility of diabetes, but it seems too distant to make me start eating rice cakes.

“You are as holy as you have ever really wanted to be.”

A lot of people have a distorted view of what it means to be holy. We tend to think of someone who is very serious, a rule keeper, and looks down on anything that might be fun. But holiness is to your soul what health is to your body. A holy person would be able to forgive quickly, would love people of all kinds, would be kind and gentle, and would be the best person in the world to be with when you are sad or lonely. A holy person would be like Jesus.

I want to be holy. You do, too, I’ll bet. But the question is always, “How much do you really want to be holy?” Do you want it enough to give up some of the sins that are absolutely tasty going down but make you feel terrible later on? Do you want to be holy enough to eat something good every single day, to spend time with God as your own personal spiritual trainer? Do you want to be holy so much that you will exercise by serving someone and putting yourself in a place of loving people who are different than you are?

The problem with holiness is the same as it is with health. The connections aren’t direct. We don’t connect a difficult marriage with spending time in worship. We don’t connect bitterness with a season of being self-centered.

So I’ve decided that the quote is right. I’m as holy right now as I’ve ever really wanted to be. Now I’ve decided I want to be holier. Will you join me?

This is always kind of a nostalgic time of year for me. Not just because it’s the middle of baseball season (America’s most nostalgic sport) but because another school year is drawing to a close. Which means there are inevitably a number of students who are graduating high school or college and moving onto the next chapter of their life. It’s nostalgic for me because it means at least a few faces that I won’t likely see as often, a few conversations I won’t get to have nearly as much, and fewer laughs shared than before. It’s both sad and exciting. It leads me to reflect on the relationships I’ve had with graduating and departing students, thinking back over the meals we’ve shared, the trips we’ve been on, and the time we’ve spent pouring over open bibles together. Mostly it leads me to thank God for the blessing that it is to have been even one small part of some of his finest creations. It sounds cliché but each year I am more ministered to, greater blessed, and more deeply challenged by many of these students than I’m sure I have ever done any of these things in return. Time would indeed fail me to recount to each student individually all the ways that they have touched me and impacted me. Truthfully words escape me when I begin to try to articulate even a small piece of it in a final note or card. So instead of leaning on my own weak mind and tongue I have found in Scripture, perfectly expressed, my feelings toward each of those students that have impacted me so much.

The passage comes from Paul in the book of Philippians, in his opening remarks to the believers in Philippi. “I thank God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with great joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 1:3-6) There’s a degree to which I feel like I understand exactly how Paul feels about the believers in Philippi because it seems to be exactly how I feel about the students I am so blessed to call my friends. They have strengthened my walk with Christ. They have encouraged me when they didn’t even know it. They have lifted me up on days that I felt couldn’t keep going. They have taught me lessons I could not have learned anywhere else or from anyone else.

But most importantly, I have seen God work in their lives. Powerfully, undeniably. It has strengthened my faith and given me hope for the future. Because I know that He will not abandon His work half finished. I know that through His Spirit they will continue to grow, until as Paul says, the day of Jesus Christ.  So yes, it’s nostalgic and sad, but also incredibly hopeful and exciting. So to those students leaving this year, may you grow in the knowledge of Him and may He use you mightily to proclaim His glory! And to those students remaining here a while longer, may you continue to allow God to use you right here and now, always continuing to grow into the image of who Christ!

“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

-Philippians 1:9-11

A world where curious kids become hands-on inventors who discover they’re lovingly crafted by God. The kids will enjoy Sound Wave Sing & Play, Bible Discovery, Imagination Station, Game Makers, KidVid Cinema, Snacks, and a Funshop Finale! Dinner will be included and will begin promptly at 5:30pm and the fun will end each evening at 7:45pm. To sign-up, go to the church website or contact Brenda at the church office @ 805.529.3572

Calling all men! Come out to the Grinder, in Moorpark, on Saturday, June 24th, for breakfast, fellowship and encouragement as we pursue Jesus together. We will be meeting at 8:00am.