Bottle Rockets

Move Day 4

Thursday was all about worship. We took a long hard look at the idols we have setup in our lives. We worship everything from clothes to cars. We worship things and people, but we all worship something. Last night was a powerful night that made each one of us take a long hard look at who and what we worship.

The day ended with some group time. We shared stories about room mates, awkward moments and had some great laughs. The group is really starting to feel like family. God has been absolutely amazing the past few days.

This Sunday we are having a special Awake at 7pm on Sunday night to celebrate what God has done this week. Parents and friends are welcome to attend. See ya there, you won't want to miss it!

(p.s. The girls had the band sign their head. No explanation, just funny)

Move Day 3

Wow, it's hard to believe that we've reached the half way point of Move. Yesterday we talked about the Crossing. It was the point were Israel had to stop looking back at their past and take a huge step of faith to move forward and cross the red sea.

For students their challenge was to begin dreaming about how God would move them to advance his Kingdom. They were challenged to dream big and do something only God can do. I can't wait to see what they will do this year in their homes, their schools and in their relationships.

The group is growing closer than ever. About half the group played a huge game of Mafia yesterday. I lied so good I even shocked my wife. Proud, No, well, let's just say maybe I should have been a lawyer after all.

Last night's main session ended in style with a huge paper fight. Always a great way to end the day! Today we are talking about worship. Pray that God would reveal to us how to worship not just with music but with our lives!

Move Day 2

Yesterday was pretty heavy. We talked about sin and how it holds us captive and in slavery just like the Israelites were held captive in Egypt. They gave the students wristbands to wear on each hand all day that represented two of their own sins that hold them captive. At the end of the night in the main session they gave us a third band to bind our wrists together. Over a thousand students sat hearing Israel's story of captivity as they sat as captives themselves. After an amazing message by Jeff Walling they ask the students to rip of their chains. It was so powerful hearing the sounds of the wristbands breaking across the auditorium. It was the sound of freedom echoing ringing in the room. As the band played I watched as our students worshiped their God, the God who saves. It was simply incredible.

But God wasn't done yet. After the incredible session our group of 51 meet outside together to talk about the day. I asked the students to share their story of what God was starting to do in their lives. That request was meet with a couple of awkward moments of silence and then it started. One by one some of the most quiet kids in our group began to open up their hearts and what came out was beautiful. We heard stories about broken homes, rejection, drugs, cutting and abuse but that was just part of their slavery, it wasn't their future. The tears started flowing as we heard them talk about longing to have a relationship with Christ, a deeper relationship with their heavenly father. It was incredible. We all sat in awe of what God was doing. He was literally breaking the chains in people's lives!

All of that and it was on Tuesday! Please pray that God would continue to move in our group. Pray for the students that opened up last night (Austin, Abby, Matt, Zach, Robbie, Deanna, Jenny and Lucas). Pray for our leaders, it's hard work keeping up with teenagers! And pray for our students, that God would soften their hearts and reveal to them His purpose for their lives. You can also pray specifically about the themes for each day. Today's theme is Crossing, tomorrow's is Worship and Friday's theme is Live.

Thank you guys for your prayers. I can't wait to share all of what God is doing here! If you follow my Twitter I'm going to try and send out some updates that way. If you don't have twitter you can see the updates at www.twitter.com/jcfluhr. Refresh it often! I don't have internet access on campus outside of my phone but I am able to update the blog via the iphone. I love my iphone.

Move Day 1

After a great drive down our 50+ group of adults and teens found ourselves in Carbondale, Illinois. Along with 1200 other students you can feel the energy of the college campus come alive. The dorms are typical, the shared showers are typical, even the food is typical, but on thing is different. As the crowd filled the auditorium last night you could feel it, with there hands raised in worship you could see it, as they prayed on their knees you coul hear it, God was Moving.

Last night we talked about identity. The big take away was that our identity drives reality. We looked at the story of Moses and how we to can find our identity not by our accomplishments but by the fact that God is with us. It was an amazing night.

Today we are talking about our slavery to sin and how to break free. It should be pretty heavy. Please pray that God softens our hearts to be convicted and broken. More to come soon!

Stop. Seriously, stop.

 This week our church tackled the topic of the Sabbath. I used to think that of all God's commandments this one was pretty easy, you just don't do anything and you're good! But the older I get the harder this one seems to get. Between work, the house, emails, fixing stuff, random day changing texts and ever increasing responsibility it is becoming harder and harder to squeeze the load into six days. In a world that runs 7 days a week the idea of Sabbath seems more like a myth than a spiritual practice.

But that's just the problem, we weren't made to live like this. I'm pretty sure we all feel the stress mounting but for some reason we just won't stop. Maybe it's because we don't know our limits. We think that we can always push a little harder, a little longer, but we can't. We're crashing. Maybe the only way we can get it all done is to stop, to cease, to Sabbath.

My first real job was working for Chick-fil-A. The store I worked in was at a mall and the mall hated the fact that Chick-fil-A was closed on Sundays. After all, it was mall policy for every store to be open during mall hours seven days a week. Despite the expectation, Chick-fil-A stores across the country shut down each week to take a break. The irony is that not only did our store make more money than any other food places in the mall, we made more money than the entire food court combined. That's not because the chicken is awesome (which it is), but I believe it's because God has blessed the Sabbath. I think we are better at doing six days instead of seven. We just work better when we get a break.

I think that's one reason Jesus said that the Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath. I wonder what our world would look like it we all just stopped. Just for one day, just stopped. The world looks different when you stop. You gain clarity. You see things you might have been missing. You get refreshed.

And most of all, a Sabbath gives us a chance to recharge our relationship with Christ. If my wife deserves a date every week then I think God has earned one too. I'm not saying that we shouldn't spend time with God everyday. I spend time with Laura every day, but every week we need some special time, dedicated time. I think that God deserves that too. I've got to learn about Sabbath, but I really like the idea.

Macbook Pro Operation!

Yesterday the unthinkable happened, my MacBook Pro wouldn't start. Instead of launching like normal I got the flashing folder of death. (Dear PC users, yes, my mac had a problem. It's my first one in three years. I would hear your Mac jokes but I can't over the sound of your daily vista frustrations.) Luckily I backed up the day before so I wasn't too worried.

After a little research I learned that the problem was the hard drive. At first I thought I'd have to drop a ton of dough on the Apple techs but then I found some courage deep within and decided to preform the operation myself. After a quick bite to eat and a run to Fry's I headed home to prep for surgery. I laid out the tools and attempted to reboot one last time. Much to my surprise it booted up fine! I couldn't believe it. But I wasn't in the clear yet. Turns out this is common with failing hard drives.

So today, as a preventative measure I decided to install the new upgraded hard drive. With special screwdriver in hand I cracked open the laptop and got to work. The entire surgery only lasted a half hour. I had a little problem booting up at first but after that it worked like a charm. I used Time Machine to restore all my data and about an hour later I was back in business. All the files, my background, my passwords, desktop items, notes on my sticky pads on my dashboard, everything was there! When I opened Firefox it even asked me if I wanted to restore my session! It was awesome. I had to run a serious update but other than that it went great. A hundred bucks well spent. If you aren't backing up with Time Machine I can't encourage it enough. It saved the day and made this horrible experience a quite pleasant one.

Hey Dads, you should check this stuff out

I don't know what's going on. I'm not a Dad but some great Dad links keep coming my way. If you are a Dad you should check some of this stuff out.

FREE ebook by Mark Driscoll called Pastor Dad. It's about being a Father that passes on his faith. It's only 45 pages (can't beat that) and it's free. You can read it online or print it out.

Great Blog post. I read this blog a lot and thought that this post was great.

Great Men spend time with other great men. The Men's Ministry is hosting an awesome event called Striken' N Spiken' on July 17th. I'll be on vacation and bumbed I'll miss it. If you are in town you should be there!

All Pro Dad. I'll be honest, I don't know much about it, but some guys in our church are into this and it sounds pretty cool. Click the link to learn more or call Keith Comp non stop until he spills the details.

Getting Unstuck

A couple of years ago the story of Aron Ralston shocked the country. He was the hiking college student whose hand was trapped beneath a 600 pound boulder. After a couple of days of survival in the hopeless predicament, Ralston did the unthinkable. With nothing but a small pocket knife he first broke his arm then proceeded to cut it off. The country watched in awe as Ralston appeared on the nations gauntlet of morning shows and late night programs. This instant celebrity became famous for getting "unstuck." While he may have gone to the extreme, losing a limb was certainly worth keeping his life.

Our world is full of moments where we find ourselves "stuck."  We often find ways to get unstuck in the physical world, but when it comes to our spiritual world we find ourselves in a rut we can't get out of. Spiritual apathy, habitual sin, or a lack of clear direction become traps whose escape seems hopeless.

Just like Aaron Ralston, maybe we should consider something drastic. It might hurt, it might be difficult, but it may be the spiritual knife we need to cut us free. I believe that fasting may be the kickstart we've been longing for. I grew up seeing fasting as something for the spiritual elite but maybe it is just a tool that I've ignored for far to long. This year I begun to dive into this spiritual discipline and I've still got a lot to learn, but I believe that God can still use this ancient act as a catalyst to my faith and my walk.

I'd love to hear your stories about your walk with fasting and if you need some motivation to get started I've been listening to these two songs on repeat a lot.

-Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of- By U2
-Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Mephis Blues Again by Bob Dylan

The Internet- Learning to Swim

When I was 6 months old my family took it's annual vacation to Panama City Beach, Flordia. Apparently there's a rumor that babies naturally know how to swim. Being the risk takers that they are, and me being only six months old, my family put the theory to the test. It's true, babies can swim, they just can't breath under water! After years of going to the beach I've become a pretty decent swimmer. I love going to the ocean, battling the waves and enjoying God's creation. But every year while we are on the beach we hear stories about drowning accidents, shark attacks and the dangers of the ocean and yet, we continue to go back. I guess there are some things in life that are just worth the risk. Sure you take precautions, you get training, you watch out for warning signs, but ultimately it's worth the risk if you engage it safely.

I believe the internet is the same way. Lists of pros and cons are limitless. There are fantastic advantages and tremendous dangers out there on the web, but I believe that we have to prepare our students for a world that is simply unavoidable. While as a parent you may have varying opinions on YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, I think it's vital to have an action plan of teaching your child how to use the the web safely.

This past Monday night we had a fantastic Parent Summit where we attempted to tackle this difficult topic. Here are some of the key points that I walked away with.

- Keep the Computer in a public place, never behind closed doors.
- Get a web filter. (K9 Web protection, NetNanny, BSafe Online, etc.)
- Set up clear rules and expectations before they start surfing. Maybe even a contract.
        -Time Limits
        -Sites they should avoid
        -What they are and are not allowed to do (i.e. shop, IM, join social networks, etc.)
- Discuss the importance of integrity on the web. Who they are online matters!
- Define strangers. Knowing their name doesn't mean they aren't a stranger.
- Teach them about scams. Avoid ads and shady links.
- Don't give out personal information or passwords.
- What goes on the web, stays on the web. Forever.
- Go where they go. Experience it with them so you know what they still need to learn about the web.
- If they are on Facebook, MySpace or Twitter you should be too!

It was a great night of discussion and I learned a lot. For more great in formation I found the Focus on the Family website to be very helpful.

Facebook Jesus: Friend Request

I don't know about you but I HATE going to the doctor. There is something about the white walls, bad art and its unique smell that just sends my stomach into knots. I know that hospitals are making an effort to upgrade their decor, but I see right through it. But that is really only one half of my averse reaction to doctors. The other side of the coin is that I'm afraid. I'm scared of what they might say. Even when I go in for something simple like the flu I'm secretly convinced that I've contracted a rare, fatal disease like the ones you see on ER. Even a check up has me fearing the worst. This mental condition has me avoiding doctors at all costs. I pretty much need a spear to the chest to convince me that I need to go in.

Unfortunately, I think that's how we see God sometimes. We think that if we could just hide from Him, avoid Him, and keep our relationship with Him at a distance we'll never have to see just how sick we really are. As if by keeping God at arm's length we are staying healthier. But ignorance isn't healthy. We ARE sick.

This week at Awake we looked at Mark 2:13-17. Despite being surrounded by a crowd Jesus noticed a tax collector named Levi. He calls Levi to "follow him," (the ultimate friend request) and he did. They went to Levi's house and Jesus ate with him and some fellow "sinners." The Pharisee's on the other hand just couldn't understand why Jesus would eat with the lowest of the low. I love how Jesus replied. He said that it's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

Did that mean that Jesus didn't come for the Pharisees? No! They had just forgotten that they were sick too. If I was honest I'd love to be Levi in the story but I think more times than not I'm more like the Pharisees. It's so easy to forget that I'm sick, hold Jesus at arm's length away and pretend like everything is alright. But it's not alright, I'm sick and so are you. I need the doctor. I need his friend request. But I believe with all my heart that what He said to Levi he is saying to us, "Follow me."