Inside Out People

We apologize to our faithful readers for not being as consistent with our posts over the last few weeks. Three out of the four of us will be leaving very early on August 1 to spend 10 days in Costa Rica on a short term mission trip. We look forward to the challenging and stretching experience that lies ahead. If you are interested in staying up to date on the trip, follow this Costa Rica Team link. As a team, we will study through the New Testament book of Philippians. If you are(…)

My experience with the Bible growing up was going to church and being taught by a pastor, and then being encouraged to read the Bible on my own. Then many began to emphasize the importance of being in a small group in order to study the Bible, pray, hold each other accountable, etc. This past week I had the privilege of being a part of a short term mission trip to New York City with 23 teenagers and 7 leaders. One of our many faith building activities included group Bible studies. Every student and leader(…)

Sorry that I am a few days late with this post but I just got back from a week at the beach with my family.    The very first day, I was reminded again why Jesus tells us that we need to receive the kingdom of God like a child.  (Luke 18:17)  Each year we spend at least a week or so at the same house owned by a relative.  My oldest daughter is nearly 5 and she has been to that house several times.  The house is very modest - 2 small bedrooms, eat-in kitchen, living room, family room,(…)

I am have been exploring what it looks like to wait in silence before the Lord. Last time I suggested it has a great deal to do with being slow to speak and quick to listen. But certainly there are times that we need to open our mouths and speak . . . both to God and to others. Words certainly are necessary, Paul tells the Corinthians that he imparts spiritual truth with spiritual words (1 Cor. 2:13). James doesn’t say to NOT speak, he says that we should be SLOW to speak. (

In my last post, I reflected on Psalm 62 and what it really means to wait in silence before God. I suggested that there is one aspect of it that has to do with contentment. I believe there is another aspect that has to do with not only being silent before God, but also being silent before others. In this Psalm, David is declaring his faith in God in the midst of the attacks coming from his enemies. He says in verse 4, “They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse.” I wonder(…)

I am always thankful for new illustrative ways to think about the Christian life. So ever since Timmy J. (along with others) introduced me to the concept of Inside Out People, I have been able to see life from a bit of a different perspective. I have taken concepts from the Scriptures and run them through that filter, and it has allowed me to have my eyes opened to some new realities. One of the passages I have been working through of late has been Psalm 62. In the past, I may have(…)

Last time, I talked about how the abundant and full life has nothing to do with our circumstances, but it should come as a result of our aggressive and active faith in Jesus.  If we are truly living with an aggressive and active faith in Jesus, what would that actually look like?  Merrill Tenney suggests that this type of faith would result in a vigorous, growing, and expanding life that would be in conflict with the opposing forces in our surrounding environment.  If this is true, I think that I am probably scared that if I actually lived like(…)

In my previous post, I defined our life as “the experiences that are produced by our contact and interaction with the surrounding world.” In John 10:10, Jesus says that he came to give abundant life. The word translated abundant literally means more than expected or beyond the norm. So if we go back to our definition, then that means that Jesus wants our experiences, our contact, and our interaction with our surrounding world to be abundant and full . . . to be more than expected and beyond the norm. I admit that is not always a reality(…)

How would you define life? Not from a biological or chemical perspective, but the life that we as people live each and everyday. I came across the following definition and I thought it was simple, yet intriguing. Life is our experiences that are produced by our contact and interaction with the surrounding world. This is why life is so different for so many people . . . because we all have different points of contact and interaction with the world around us. I think we all would have to agree that some

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Inside Out People . . . the end result is a selfless, consistent, others centered lifestyle. But the irony is that it starts with selfishness. In order to get to the point in life where we are genuinely caring about others, we must first focus on our own relationship with Jesus.

If I am honest with myself, I realize that it is often difficult to drum up sincere feelings of compassion for others. But then I look to the Bible and it tells me to first focus on my relationship with God, i.e. –

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