Crowder's Blog

I was reading today in Donald Miller’s book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, that a good friend from our ministry had lent me. A single sentence at the end of chapter twenty crept off the page and brutally attacked me. It wasn’t pretty to be sure.

“I would have faced the resistance.”

That’s it. That’s the sentence that did me in. That caused me to question myself…my heart…my courage…my motives as of late. Do I run from resistance? Do I pass on the other side of the locker room hoping to not be noticed when the bully of resistance begins to speak? Don’t we all feel like that sometimes? We just want life to be more comfortable…more stable…calm.

Recently I watched the latest Terminator movie at my house. I needed a story to lose myself in for a while with a lot of explosions and action. John Connor, one of the lead characters of the Terminator saga, would periodically get on a short wave radio and speak to any humans who were potentially listening in. He would end each discourse with the statement, “If you are listening, you are the resistance.” Of course he was stating that they were resisting the world domination of Sky Net and the machines, but could we possibly reverse that and accurately imply that the machines were also the resistance? Is it possible that the machines were resisting man’s very freedom and way of life?

A few weeks ago, I finished a different book called, Wild at Heart by John Eldridge (also loaned by another guy from our church, High Way Community). I loved how he illustrated our deepest and greatest need in life as men is to have something to fight for…that we truly find ourselves when we get lost in an epic (“legendary” if Travis is reading this) adventure. Numerous times he illustrated points with comparisons to the historical account as well as the movie depiction of William Wallace. I think his answer to the first quote would be concrete…absolute…resolved. His life proved that it was. His hearts cry for Scotland’s freedom from the English drove his every breath and action. He was willing to defiantly face his resistance.

William Wallace faced the resistance. John Conner faced the resistance. Donald Miller would have faced the resistance. Would Steve Crowder face his resistance as well? I think we are all posed with that question daily…or at least every other day. We resist lethargy, monotony, temptation, the dude with the incessant need to honk and flash fingers, the red light, the domineering boss…and the list goes on. But, in the book of Job chapter 11 verse 15 says, “you will lift up your face; you will stand firm and without fear.”

Jesus willingly faced His resistance…and won! He foretold that we would face some as well. Know today that He is able…that you are able…that I am able to face the resistance that would seek to rob us of everything God has destined for us to become and every adventure that would awaken our hearts to life.

WHAT IS AWAKENING?

Awakening is an incredible event, consisting of churches and ministries all around the world, coming together in a 21 day season of prayer, fasting and personal devotion at the beginning of each year.  The goal of Awakening is three-fold:

• For churches and leaders to come together to pray, fast and seek God at the onset of the year .
• To inspire pastors and leaders everywhere to establish or strengthen a culture of prayer and fasting in their church or ministry.
• To equip pastors and leaders with the resources and tools to help facilitate a successful season of prayer and fasting in their church.

High Way Community in Boulder, CO is proud to participate in Awakening 2011 and excited to see all that God will do this year in our city!

Heaven Fest is a Christian Music Festival happening in Denver, Colorado on Saturday, July 31st, 2010. Tens of thousands of people from all over Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Nebraska, Utah and Kansas will be coming to Denver to see over 70 bands and artists perform on 7 stages with 7 interactive areas!

In 2008 Heaven Fest became the largest Christian music festival ever to happen in Colorado. In 2009 Heaven Fest nearly doubled in size to over 23,000 people.

Heaven Fest features an array of different musical genres from Rock, Hip-Hop, Hardcore, Gospel, Worship, Acoustic, Folk, Metal, Rap, Electronica, and Experimental. Over 70 artists will play on 7 stages all throughout the day so there will always e something to do!

At the end of the night, Heaven Fest will make Jesus Christ the headliner of the festival by having a nameless, faceless worship band with tons of pastors, prayer-ers, intercessors and worshippers. For the rest of the night, we will worship Jesus Christ and make him the headliner of Heaven Fest and the only name worth mentioning.

Heaven Fest also features a massive 111 Piece art gallery, a 100ft. long interactive art wall and several professional artists to display live their artistic skills through different mediums. Heaven Fest also features professional skateboarders and will have a full Skate Park for attendees to come and display their skills during the day.

One prayer is kicking off tomorrow!

One Prayer began in 2008 to explore the question: We pray to Jesus asking Him to answer our prayers – what if we became the answer to His? In John 17:20-24, He prayed that we would be one, and One Prayer is an opportunity to see what can be accomplished when the Church works together.

For two years, millions of believers around the world have united to pray, learn, and love others. God has worked in amazing ways each year, and we can’t wait to see what He does during One Prayer 2010. Beginning this weekend, we’ll come together for four weeks as we learn more about our Creator and go out into the world to share, serve and give.

What could God accomplish through us if we were all pulling together?
What kind of change could we see in the world?
What if we were unstoppable?

I am thrilled that High Way Community of Boulder, Cool River of Superior, Vinelife Church of Longmont and Rock Creek of Louisville will be sharing each others pulpits throughout the upcoming weeks.  This truly is a picture of solidarity and unity in the body of Christ in the Boulder Valley area.

When the Church unites, it’s unstoppable!

And I stepped into a world that I knew not.  As a child who breaths for his first time the breath of life.  I drank deep… Is this what freedom is?  What freedom feels like?  I had heard of this place, but had abdicated it to a myth beyond reason.  But here I am…not alone. There are others here.  They have found it as well as I.  There is a brightness to this place….Life! Exuberant life!  Full of color and wonder that my eyes find rushing in.  I could get lost here! But why not…I should after all.  I could go so far that the gate would be lost to my memory. I will. I will not return…I can’t return…I dare not return.  Why would I want to?  I am here.  He is here.  Yes, He has always been here.  He was waiting for me…He is waiting for others.  And I have found Him.

This last week, Missy & I missed church! Yep, I proudly admit it…of course it was only the 2nd time in over two years since High Way Community Boulder’s inception (it is customary for the lead pastors to actually show up on Sundays for services you know). Well, I had decided to surprise her with a Caribbean Cruise to celebrate our 12th anniversary this last weekend.  We had taken the same cruise for our honeymoon to Key West & Cozumel on Carnival, and I thought it fitting to revisit it all these years later.  I have to say, any trip with my beautiful wife, especially a ‘get-away’, is an adventure in of itself.  If rental cars and big cities are involved, we’re sure to get lost.  I choose to believe that we get to see parts of the city  we wouldn’t have seen otherwise, oh course.  Well, since there were only taxis used in Miami, the only navigational issues stemmed from which level we were on and direction we were heading to find the endless flow of ice cream while on the ship!  But, by weeks end, Missy could finally tell me which direction to turn to get to our room at the glass atrium elevators. With so many highlights from the week, it’s hard to pick just one, but I’ll do my best.

Each night we had formal dining in the Universal Dining room…table 588 to be exact. And each night we awaited two more people to complete our four-top table who seemed to never arrive…not saying we were saddened by this in the least.  We did have the opportunity to meet some wonderful people while onboard…one even ended up wearing an extra tie I had brought for Captains Night in the dining room. Well, as we sat finishing up our meal listening to the captain greet everyone on the second night, the most unexpected moment unfolded before our eyes…here’s a video of it and a highlight of the trip…

Click this link - 12th Anniversary Cruise

Out of all the wonderful and crazy things that stick with you while on a cruise vacation, this song and dance stuck with me.  In a weird, deep in your psyche kind of way.  I know, I know…everyday we get songs stuck in our heads that seem to play on a seamless endless rotation until we finally ask for another to take it’s place.  But, this song made me curious…yes, the phrase, “You are my destiny” obviously applied to the ship’s name we were traveling on, but what did ‘Jai Ho’ mean?  Yeah, the first thoughts naturally lean to some slang-probably not appropriate-kind of definition, but I found it to be completely the opposite.  ’Jai Ho’ ends up being a Hindi phrase meaning ‘Be Victorious’!  I also found out that the song originally was written for a Slumdog Millionaire dance scene and then was translated into English with the version heard in the video.

To ‘Be Victorious.’
…did you know, the Greek word for victory is Nike?  So many people who wear Nike products are clueless what the word means or that it isn’t an English word.  But, we do associate the logo and brand with an image…as they would hope, one of success and winning: i.e. victory.  1 John 5:4 says, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” ‘Our Faith’ is ‘Our Victory’!  It’s what separates us from every other religion on the planet, but even more than that, it separates us from every other person who chooses not to believe God.  Because isn’t that what faith is?  Trust in God…His Word…His will for our lives?  This is what enables a paralytic to become healed…a married couple on the edge of divorce to fall madly in love once again…a child to grow into a successful businessman despite the onslaught of negative words spoken over him in childhood.  Your faith!

God sees the end from the beginning, and He calls you and I to a place that we have yet to experience or even dream of.  But, to get there, be assured, we will face opposition!  But in the midst of it, He calls us over-comers!  He calls us conquerors!  So, as you read this, whatever it is that you are up against…whatever it is that taunts you with fear and intimidation, know that God would say to you today, “Jai Ho!”  ”Be Victorious!”

Check out my bro’s upcoming conference!  It’s got a superb lineup of speakers and worship artists for your intellectual, musical and creative tastes.

It’s amazing how often we forget that God is the provider…our provider…my provider! In Hebrew, one of His names is penned,  Jehovah-Jireh…’the Lord-Provides.’  This last Sunday at church in Boulder, High Way Community, we were continuing a financial series called Life.Money.Hope. Somewhere in the message I shared about the place we’ve come as a nation; how many worship at the alter of debt and how we worship the almighty FICO, Fair Isaac Corp. credit score.  Somehow we have loosened our grip on the truth that God is our source of everything…As Deuteronomy 8:18 let’s us know, it’s God who gives each of us the gifts and abilities to make our way in life successful and fulfilling.  Why we doubt Him so often, is a question that eludes us daily as we fight under the weight of fiscal responsibilities.

Today, as the snow comes cascading down from what was a sunny sky this morning, I was reminded of a story in the Old Testament that involved the nation of Israel as they trekked through the wilderness.  Found in the eleventh chapter of the book of Numbers, the tribes of Israel have grown accustomed to the manna, a honey-flavored wafer sent from heaven to daily provide sustenance for them. “Grown accustomed”  would be better translated as ‘they were flat tired of eating bread everyday!’  So what they do is respond in a manner all to familiar to most of us: they complain! Complain to God; complain to each other; gripe to the leadership…unable to be satisfied with what God has faithfully provided for them.  Forget this bread stuff…we want meat!!!

Now, there are moments in my life where I felt a strong urge/craving for a certain food…usually on the heals of a well produced tv commercial.  I can recall the urge I had for a Chic-fil-A chicken sandwich toward the end of a ten month fast while we lived in AR…but that’s another story.  Needless to say, I feel the context of this story is less of a focus on the type of food that was ‘desired’ (NKJV wording is ‘intense craving’), but on the negative attitude the Jews continuously extended toward Moses and the leadership.  The passage reveals that God had just finished unleashing a fire in the camp due to their complaining and yet, here they are found doing it again without missing a beat in verse 4.  Sorry you veggie lovers, but they weren’t crying due to a shortage of salad or tofu.  These guys were ‘meat’-etarians for sure and they were hungrier than a pregnant woman wanting some ice cream and pickles!

But God’s always working on our attitudes and in this moment, He needed to make a point…sure you want that?  Sure you want to give Moses a piece of your mind?  Sure you think you’re not being taken care of?  Well, God’s not going to do something half-baked when He’s trying to make a point!

Read this in the Message translation and see if it amuses you as it did me:

A wind set in motion by God swept quails in from the sea. They piled up to a depth of about three feet in the camp and as far out as a day’s walk in every direction. All that day and night and into the next day the people were out gathering the quail—huge amounts of quail; even the slowest person among them gathered at least sixty bushels.” vs. 31, 32

“Hey, honey, where’s little Johnny?”  ”I don’t know, why don’t you check under the 3 feet of quail!!!”  I don’t know about you, but I could walk pretty far in a day, but WAIST DEEP in quail!   Now, my wife, Missy has issues…as we all do, but her’s involve a problem with flocks of birds.  It may be hereditary due the recent acknowledgment by her sister that she too has this phobia.  I’m just saying that she would not have been able to cope in such a ‘fowl’ situation.  I don’t know why large quantities of birds give her such an uneasy feeling, but in this story, I feel that I would not be too far away from her perspective.

So, getting to the point…I have to admit that I am often guilty of complaining…of discontentment…of forgetting that God is at the helm wanting to provide for every situation that might arise.  How many times have I griped about what I thought I should have gotten or how it should have come? The end of the story in this chapter of the Israelite wilderness saga reveals that their gluttony cost many their lives.  They got what they wanted, but to their detriment.  Maybe today we can be reminded that trust, faith and gratitude can go a long way in our relationship with God and His provision for our needs and wants.  After all, it’s hard to wade through that much quail to find your kid…

I want to re-post this blog entry from 2007… Hope you enjoy.

Okay, so I was reading a booklet the other day called “Chained to Changed”  which topic is summed up in the one word…liberation.  The heartbeat of this booklet came out of the passage in Mark 5:1-8 where we find Jesus and His disciples encountering a demon possessed man in the country of the Gadarenes.  Some of you know the story, but for those that don’t here’s the text.  Please don’t skim over it, but see if anything reaches out to grab you (a demon won’t, so please, no fear):

And they came over unto the other side of the sea into the county of the Gadarenes.  and when Jesus was come out of the ship, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:  because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. (so let’s just say, he had some serious issues! read on)  and always, night and day he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.  but when he saw Jesus afar off he ran and worshipped Him, and cried with a loud voice, and said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God?  I adjure thee by God, that Thou torment me not.  For He said unto him, come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.”

Okay, did you see it?  Did it jump off your screen and grab you?  I guess not, by the perplexed look on your face…. no, I’m not talking about the chains or the cutting, the ship, that this man was possessed by legions of demons (says  in other places) or the fact that he was infatuated by tombs!!     I’m talking about what this cutting, screaming, naked, tomb hugging, demon possessed man did when he saw Jesus afar off!  You see it now?  It says, HE RAN AND WORSHIPPED HIM!!!!  I don’t think any of you Bible thumpers picture the area in front of your church’s stage filled with demon possessed people singing ‘Jesus Loves Me’ during your Sunday morning “worship” service.  Do you?  I don’t!  And that’s why this passage is chewing on my insides!

My first of two reactions is that one: every human, even in his lowest state of depravity, is reaching out to be rescued.  So, this man saw his only hope of salvation and ran to Him.  The chains couldn’t control…the cutting couldn’t quench the pain…the tombs couldn’t comfort.  But, this hope throbbed inside him that this Man could deliver so he was reaching out to Him.

My second thought was that the demons declared the deity of Jesus…stating that He was the Son of the Most High God.  To acknowledge this very fact, and to declare it, in itself is at the very heart of worship!  I know. I know. A demon worshipping jesus? or demons?  That word “worshipped” is the greek word proskyneo: meaning to worship, pay homage, show reverence, to kneel down before!!   For the demons to acknowledge the divine authority that Jesus embodied and to come under that, was, in essence, worship.   I think our ideas of worship can get so skewered that we can only picture worship as singing the latest hillsong united song at the top of our lungs.  But here the man furthest from light and freedom “worships” the King of Kings.

So, my conclusion is summed in this: if a demon possessed man can worship Jesus,  how much more can you and I, who are filled with the fullness of all God is and living in freedom beyond what we deserve, give ourselves to complete abandonment in our worship to the king of kings!!!

Yes, I have now re-entered the world of blogging…in a former life, xanga, was the blog of choice, but that has died long ago and now WordPress has resurrected my thoughts.  I cannot say how consistent I will be, but I do intend to convey thoughts as oft as I can.  The majority of my time will be spent in blogging about my views of scripture and what I see God revealing to me through it.  Everything of and in my world and existence are tied to it…tied to Him.

Today, I began the week with a gathering of men from my church, High Way Community, in Boulder, CO.  We meet once a month to stuff our faces with some of Turley’s fine food and to share a passage out of the Bible for discussion.  I was drawn to start a study on the life of David and his journey as the most famous king in Israel’s history.  This journey began for us this morning in the first book of the prophet Samuel in the 16th chapter.  Samuel pens the events of David’s anointing as a young man…merely a shepherd boy out tending sheep with a passionate heart to know God and protect his flock.  David had already acquired a reputation from neighboring folk as one who had valor and God’s approval.  As far as can be known, the extent of his conquests were that of a lion and bear (both great feats considering the weapons used and context of the situations), yet he was also known as a man of war.  David loved his God and was skilled in the arts of song writing and instrumentation.

But, what I find interesting in this story is this:  all of his gifts existed throughout his youth, but the moment the Spirit of God rushed on him and remained, it changed everything about his future.  He had the right heart, but it was the anointing of God that began to elevate him to royalty and position of dignity.  Sure, it was a long journey from that teenage moment to time he literally sat on the throne, but the anointing kept him…preserved him…exalted him…gave him favor.

So, I have to consider the possibility that apart from God’s ‘anointing’, my gifts, talents, intelligence, etc… are only that; limited.  It’s only what I can do and I can accomplish within myself.  But, He gives grace…divine ability to do what needs to be done in the moment for the moment.  It’s His anointing that destroys bondages and restraints that hold back the abilities that He has placed within us.  What would have David become were it not for the anointing that God placed on him through the prophet Samuel?  Not that being a shepherd is a un-reputable  occupation…but in light of his true calling!?!  God, help me  be a man after Your heart…humbly allowing Your hand to cover and elevate…patiently giving myself to the process of your spiritual formation within.  Amen.