New Band Member

Just thought you would like a peek at one of the latest band members to hit the scene here at SouthPoint. He's a little heavy on the kick drum, but other than that this kid can rock!

We had a great Sunday as we kicked off our "myspace" series. It was truly a great day all together. If you wanna catch the pod cast follow the link on the SouthPoint website.

NEW BABY ADDITIONS!

Josh and Meagan - two of the finest children's volunteers int eh history of the world, have been so burdened lately to help the growth of their area of ministries that they decided to have twins! Meagan gave birth last night to two beautiful girls:Sidney and Riley. The picture is of only Sidney b/c Riley is still in the incubator for a little while longer, but all is healthy and good.

1 + 1 = 1

Once we step over the line and enter, “The Christian” world, we are bombarded with a litany of things we should do to increase or spiritual formation. Good things, things that no self-respecting follower of Christ would argue with. Bible reading, prayer, quiet time, and the list goes on. Things, that when done in a quantitative amount, add value to our lives. In fact, they don’t just add value to our lives, they actually form our spiritual nature.
In Genesis we see man being created. God formed him from the dust of the ground, and then He blew breathe into his nostrils. Amazing huh? The Hebrew word that is used for the whole ‘breath’ thing is the word that is also used for spirit. Man is the only thing that is both physical and spiritual. That’s something Angels can’t even boast.
Trees, ferns, dogs, and badgers are physical. None of these things were created spiritual, only physical. Angels on the other hand are spiritual beings. They have no bodies, and were not ‘formed’ by God. Man is the only one that is both physical and spiritual. We are the great dichotomy of God’s hand. This is why we read in scripture that when we all get resurrected in that last hour that we will get heavenly bodies. Bodies are not bad. They are part of who we will forever be.
For us, you can’t separate the spiritual and the physical, but that is exactly what we try and do daily as followers of Christ. We focus on the pillars of our Christian walk: daily bible reading, prayer, quiet time, etc. these spiritual pursuits are pushed up the scale of importance while leaving the “less important” things behind. We separate our spiritual pursuits, from our physical pursuits.
You cannot separate the physical from the spiritual. How we drive, treat our neighbor, play with our kids, and interact with our wife, are all extremely spiritual things. You cannot somehow draw a line and separate the spiritual from the physical. We are an amalgam of both. In those times when I’m angry, how I treat my wife and children are a much better litmus test for my spiritual formation than if read my bible that day.
Hopefully your mind is reeling right now applying this principle to your life. It would change everything. The bible tells us that the world is full of God (Psalm 24:1). You can’t separate it. How we dress, talk, act, interact, play, laugh, cry, and fight are all spiritual things. Spiritual things are interwoven in our lives with the physical, and whether you want to admit it or not, deep down you ‘feel’ that it’s true.
What do you call someone who reads there bible everyday, but gossips? Yup, you guessed it, we call them a hypocrite. Why? Easy. Because, that person has attempted to divorce the spiritual from the physical. We quickly call them a hypocrite because we really don’t know how else to respond. It could be that they just need to allow more of a proper spiritual formation to happen in their lives. A formation, that encompasses more than merely a laundry list of ‘spiritual’ deeds.
As we step into this ‘spiritual’ life, it’s not that we need to take up a whole new list of things to do. It is more like we need to just do all the things in our lives differently. Not making God a Sunday thing, but making Him a ‘life’ thing. It’s kind of humorous in a way when you think about it. Here we are, the created product of the uncreated-one, and we, in our infinitesimal thinking, want to take the cosmic God and isolate him to Sunday mornings (or crisis moments, because we all need God in the crisis times right?).
God is not just in the ‘spiritual things. He’s in the physical things. He is in everything. We can’t separate the two, but we do need to live out of the two. Recognizing that our spiritual walk is identical to our physical walk. If our physical walk doesn’t line up with our spiritual walk then we have no spiritual walk to begin with.

The Value of The Cup

I went into a bookstore the other day and bought a cup of coffee. Of course, not just any coffee. I was specifically getting ready to partake of the divine Starbucks. This bookstore had the signs out front proclaiming that their café proudly served Starbucks brand coffee. I’m what you might call a mild addict. Yes I admit it, I really like coffee. I even consider it a need in the hours before six pm.
So I go in to this café/bookstore and order my latte. They take my money and then they hand me a cup that says, “7-11”. I looked at it oddly and then glared up at the young girl behind the counter and said, “You’re kidding right?” She smiled and said, “No sir. We are out of our Starbucks cups and lids so we got these from a local supplier, but the coffee is still genuine Starbucks.”
I didn’t want to look like a self-righteous premadonna that was all about image, so I smiled and threw her my best, “cool,” and headed for the door.
It tasted different. I know it shouldn’t have, but it did. As I sipped my steamy hot beverage the taste just seemed wrong. It was not the same experience I was used to having and frankly I didn’t like it. I threw it away.
One of my friends worked at that same café and I asked her about that day. She laughed and said that it was a rough day. That many people refused to purchase the coffee once they found out it was going in a non-Starbucks cup. She swore that the stuff inside was the same, the only difference was the container.
I thought to myself how containers really do matter to us. We can act like they don’t, but they do. We judge so many things by their appearance when the real value is the stuff inside. I wasn’t buying a cup, but a cup of coffee. How often do we pre-judge if someone is a Christian or not based on their container. We put so much stock in the outer label and totally negate and ignore the inner worth.
If someone is dressed nice, has properly combed hair, and no tattoos then he is more likely to be a Christian than someone who is wearing ripped jeans, has a face full of metal (I’m not talking about braces), and a plethora of tattoos. We instinctively think that if our containers are not the same, the good stuff inside cannot be the same either. We look at our lives, and compare it to others. We decide, based purely on the container, if they are as good as us or if we are as good as them. In actuality neither is correct. Value never comes from the container but what’s inside the container.
A treasure chest is valuable because of the treasure inside. An oyster is just a slimy muscle in a shell unless there is a pearl inside. And we have value because of what’s inside us. It’s time to stop looking solely at the container and begin sampling the goodness of others based on the goodness that is within them. The goodness of Christ comes in many different containers. Some are black, some are white, some look like they’ve been colored on with crayons, and others may look like they fell face first into a tackle box, but those are just containers. Again, we are only looking at the outside, and when we are stuck on only looking on the outside, we might be throwing away the best cup of coffee we have ever had.

When Work Becomes Fun

Last week Barry Bonds broke one of the longest standing records in Major League Baseball. He hit more homeruns than Hank Aaron. Now the circus has come to town: The fight for the record breaking ball, and the debate whether he should keep the title because of steroid use. Yep a veritable circus.
So much hype, so much controversy. Of course, I guess there should be, after all, it is one of the most important jobs in our country. Surely you don’t disagree with that statement? MBL players get paid more than you. It’s a serious job that impacts thousands of lives everyday on a deeply spiritual level. Right?
When did the play of baseball become work? When did the metamorphosis take place? How can a group of kids playing a fun sport progress into a serious job full of pressures, deadlines, social struggles, and performance records? Do you remember when you actually thought your job was fun? Do you remember when you viewed your life as important to society? Isn’t it amazing how things can change? How our thought processes can slowly shift from one stream of thought to another, seemingly overnight, but in actuality it happens over time.
We start out doing our jobs living our lives with a little adrenaline surge. That little tickle right behind our heart that says, “Yea this is good. We are going to make a difference.” And then within a few short moments it seems our idea of fun has quickly turned into work. Well you’re not alone. I think most people have drifted into the work life as apposed to the fun life. There is an option.
My dad told me, “Son, find something you love to do and you’ll never have to work another day in your life.” It took me about fifteen years to even figure out what that meant, but it’s good, real good. Of course not everyone is able to do what they love to do. Some people have to work a thankless job just to put food on the table and keep the lights on. No passion, no fun. Never was, and there never will be. So that’s when we have to work at the fun.
The bible says that the joy of the Lord is our strength. If that’s true (which I am positive that it is), then if we are not joyful, then we are not socially, mentally, and spiritually strong. We lack vigor. I find it interesting that so many people struggle with so many things, and it really all boils down to the fact that they are weak in certain areas, which in turn shows a lack of joy.
Joy is not something you either have or you don’t. It’s not like there are some blessed people out there that have all the joy and you got the short end of the stick. No, Joy is something that you willingly tap into. The sad thing is that most people don’t tap into this supernatural joy. It’s not because they don’t want to, in reality it’s just that they are so consumed with work that they don’t take the time to find the joy that is right there waiting for them. God has made His joy available to everyone, but we have to climb out of the rut we are in and actually find it. It takes a little work to tap into it and find it. It requires a re-shifting of our thoughts, but that extra effort is the difference between a joyful strong life, and a mundane weak life, one that struggles to get over every little hump.
Once we re-align ourselves with the joy of the Lord and allow His strength to fill our lives, we quickly realize that now we can live life at the Major League Baseball level, but play with the joy and excitement of a ten year old. When we latch onto that, then our families will like us better, our bosses will appreciate us more, and our community will be a better place. Now that sounds like fun.