A farm with no fence...

Ever see a farm with no fence?

Why not?

Because the animals would get out and the farmer would lose money. And even if the animals stayed along the property line, there is no protection for the animals.

They can be stolen.

Other animals can harm or even kill them.

In essence, a farm without a fence makes no sense. It marks your property, it protects your valuables, and it lets people know they are stepping onto your tuff.

So, let’s applied this concept to the church.

A church with a fence (arbitrary rules and regulations) poses the question are you in, or are you out?

Are you going to buy into our beliefs…

our package…

our rules…

adopt our agenda…

Are you one of us…or one of them?

If that’s the case, who decides who gets in and goes out?

Is there room for people to get in? Can people get out?

Instead, what if we viewed the church as a farm with no fence?

The question then would be are you moving towards the farm (God) or away from it?

Should the church’s identity be defined primarily by its edges…its borders…its fence? Or should the church’s identity be defined by its center…focused on Christ, the sole source of our identity?

A church with no fence doesn’t have intruders…

A church with no fence doesn’t have aliens hopping the fence…

Because there is no fence.

A church with no fence offers love and grace.

And by church I’m not talking about a building…a structure.

I’m talking about people who are human translations of divine love, people whose words and actions don’t grasp for God as much as they reveal a God who grasps for them.

Hard stuff that I am still trying to process…

Does my farm have a fence?

Easter...bigger than Christmas?

This was the question posed by a friend today. It’s a question I have been thinking about all day.

Is Easter way bigger than Christmas?

Let’s investigate both.

Christmas is huge! I mean the Messiah was born on Christmas. Not only that, he was born from a virgin…without sin!

I don’t know anyone besides Jesus who can say their mom was a virgin when they were born. Jesus’ birth brought about celebration…angels declaring and singing the Messiah was born. Wise men traveled many miles to see the baby Messiah.

Today we celebrate the birth of Jesus, yet it is probably in a much different way than the wise men did. Today the Christmas season generates plenty of money, we go all out when we celebrate Christmas.

Lights hanging from the house.

Fresh smelling Christmas tree…decorated with lights, ornaments, and tinsel.

Presents galore.

Candy canes.

But sometimes we get sidetracked with celebrating the birth of our savior for getting that perfect, expensive gift for our significant other.

But the question remains…is Easter bigger than Christmas.

Well that leads to another question…what defines bigger?

More celebrated?

More money spent during the holiday?

More family gets together?

What about the significance?

Yes, Jesus being born to a virgin is extraordinary…like I said before…not many people can claim that!

But not many people can claim to hanging on a cross for all of humanities sins, being buried in a cave, then 3 days later…rising from the grave…resurrected!

And since Jesus rose from the grave…resurrected…he beat the greatest weapon this fallen, broken world has…death!

Thus setting into motion God’s plan to restore humanity to Himself…freedom…and the invitation into a life that looks totally upside down to culture.

So am I telling you to take down the Christmas tree…and throw some pastel colored lights on it…calling it a Resurrection tree? Why not?

Hang light blue, purple, yellow, and pink lights from your house…? Sure!

Point being…is Easter worth the celebration we allow for Christmas…and then some?

Absolutely!

Because Easter proves that Jesus is who he says he is…the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)!

His ways are totally sideways to culture when he says to love our God with all our mind, soul, and spirit…then he tells us to love our enemies as we love ourselves…

The truth that the Kingdom of God is at hand, the truth that restoration is through him…

And the life that we as his children…his ambassadors should strive to live each and every day.

A life that sacrifices getting even with forgiveness.

A life that trades evil for love.

A life that gives rather than hoards.  

So this past Christmas…we read the Christmas story (the birth of Jesus) on Christmas Eve.

I think this weekend; we will read the beautiful story of the resurrected Jesus…and maybe turn our Christmas tree into a Resurrection tree…

We will see!

Engage 2012 part 2

Day 2 of Engage started with me nothing getting great sleep…I never sleep well the 1^st night in another bed…can anyone else identify with that?

So I figured the best way to wake up is to take a hot shower, and did it work. Oh and I failed to mention it was like 37 degrees in the morning…pretty chilly.

We started the day off with some breakfast, then after a game of kickball…of course my team won…but that really doesn’t matter…right?

After kickball the students had free time, but some stuck around and played some football…I twisted my ankle playing football…they called me old…

I was bitter, just saying!

We ate lunch and had tons of free time after that. Some students walked around the lake to get their “monsters”, some students took advantage of the free time and got to know each other and soak in the sunshine…while others took a nap…namely this guy!

After “recharging my batteries” it was time for dinner…it was right around this time when I was exhausted, mentally getting tired, and processing a lot of personal stuff, satan went on the attack.

I started feeling depression and the feeling of a huge weight on my shoulders, all feelings and emotions that are not from God. Now I don’t normally feel depressed, so I was kind of taken aback about how I was feeling, and the emotions were sudden.

I did the only thing I knew to do…get alone with God.

So I did just that.

Surrounded by woods and worship music flowing from my phone I sat and dwelled in God’s presence. What I felt next was so awesome.

Now I’m in the middle of the woods…but as I am immersed in God’s presence I start smelling this sweet smell. I even feel like I’m not standing anymore, it was like I was hovering just over the ground.

I have felt this one other time before…it’s the most wonderful place to be.

Feelings of peace, and grace, and love…it’s indescribable!

So needless to say the gathering that night involved a lot of worship, and challenge in the message, lots of love, and lots of crying. Students were praying and loving on others students and God made Himself real to a lot of students.

Even though satan tried his best to mess up anything God wanted to do that night, faith and trust in God proved to be stronger.

We even had one student make a decision to follow Jesus that night…which made the entire trip worth it in my eyes!

Engage 2012 part 1

Engage 2012 started with a hiccup…I forgot to order the official Engage 2012 t-shirts in time to hand out while at Engage…oops!!

But that didn’t stop the excitement!

The days leading up to Engage 2012 were exciting, for both the students and adult leaders.

Conversations about expectations, friendships that would be strengthen and made, and an opportunity to relax and get refreshed were common.

Although I was still a bit unsettled.

Engage was going to have a different feel this year. If you remember blogs about last year’s Engage, we stayed in cabins. This year we were staying across the lake on the group property, which had dormitories, a chapel, a mess hall, and more room.

With that brought excitement for me, but if you know me well enough, you know I don’t like to walk into “unknowns”. And the group property had a bunch of “unknowns”.

So as we arrived of course my “OCD” kicked in and I had to check out the chapel to make sure it was big enough and had what we needed to pull off the gatherings. Upon entering the chapel…I was greatly surprised. It reminded me of the old Pentecostal church my family was “saved” in back in 1986. Wooden pews, pipe organ, small stage, and that old wooden church smell…I was loving it.

Then we checked out the dormitories…again greatly surprised, the rooms were huge!

So despite the hiccup of not ordering the shirts, Engage 2012 was off to a positive start. We offloaded the trailer and picked our beds, just in time to eat dinner in the mess hall…again greatly surprised at the size of the mess hall. As we walked up to the mess hall, you could smell the burgers cooking.

That night we enjoyed burgers…then the presence of God afterwards.

When we started worship and the students were singing so loudly, the worship leader Paul Haley could barely hear himself singing through the microphone!!

It was awesome!!!

After worship we took a look at Abraham and his calling to leave his household and his comfort zone and go to a land God would show him.

We ended the night with a bunch of people who didn’t really know each other 24 hours prior to Engage, talking and sharing what they have been going through…aka…community…or what I like to call becoming family!

The 1^st day was in the books, and I was already exhausted…

But God gave me the strength and energy to push forward…

More on that later!

Catching up

Well I haven’t blogged in a while. I don’t know if that has to do with the busyness, or a mental block from trying to convey what I have been through, been thinking about, and been processing over the last couple of months.

I think is a little of it all!

So I will just blog about life for now.

November was good. Lots of ideas and thoughts came together and were birth. Went camping with the family and a homeschool group in Flintcreek, MS. It was good to get back into the woods and simply hang out with friends. A good friend and I went to the National Youth Workers Conference in Atlanta which was very eye opening for both me and him. God did a lot at the conference… personally, for other people, and just ideas to bring back home. It was time well spent, I wanted to blog about it, but never felt a desire or passion to do so. If you want to know more, just ask. Then November was rounded up by Thanksgiving. This was the 1^st year where we just stayed home and cooked our own food. Everyone…and I mean everyone pitched in with the cooking, eating, and clean up.

December started somewhat rocky. Some things happened that I could have taken personally, even though they were in no way directed towards me, but me as a person would have taken them personally anyway. But God has walked with me and worked on me taking “stuff” personally and I was able to lean on Him during these times. Great way to find out if I truly trust God. Went to a few Christmas parties, but the best one by far was the Student Life Christmas party. Over 90 people were packed into the youth room. And the best part, I didn’t plan, facilitate, or execute any of the activities before or during the Christmas party…the student leaders did all the planning, organizing, and execution…how cool is that!!! Christmas at the Gremillion house was good. We started a new tradition on Christmas Eve where I read the actual Christmas story out of the Gospel of Luke. Then I was able to explain to Breana the true meaning of Christmas…and she got it…I think!!

Oh, side note about December. I started to work on a dream I had since we moved into our house 4 years ago. Turning the garage from just a pile of stuff stacked in it, to an actual, functioning workspace. I built a workbench, hung shelves on the walls, mounted a florescent light on the shelves, and did overall clean up. It’s starting to look good…just some more minor details…like a refrigerator, TV, and some other wood working tools, will complete “operation man cave”.

January and the new year is starting off well. Lots of time spent with family and friends (something I will be very intentional about in 2012). Lots of time spent reflecting about 2011, learning from it, what worked, what didn’t, how we can do things better.

So that has been the last 2 months in the life of Grant…maybe I’ll write a blog soon that is more thought provoking…maybe not!

Shalom