What a Christian needs to know as President Obama begins 4 more years

Last night our political process played out and by a electoral vote of 303-206 and a popular vote currently at 59,584,661 to 56,959,312 Barack Obama will retain his title of Commander in Chief for four more years.

But you already knew that.

 

I've yet to see the concession and victory speeches, having gone to bed early last night. I'll be honest, I really hope Obama put his arms out and dropped the mic at the end of his. Regardless, skimming through the Facebook news feed this morning I've seen everything from ecstatic praise for the victory to people apparently having a little ancient Mayan in their blood based on their cries of the end coming around the corner.

So what is a person who loves and follows Jesus supposed to do? 

3 helpful links and 2 thoughts on election day

After today the barrage of commercials will go to a trickle (hopefully), followed by lawn signs getting pulled up and 7-11 Obama/Romney cups being replaced with 007 cups (hopefully). 

But as of writing this there are still around 10 hours left in Chicago to vote. For those still undecided, here are a couple links I found helpful:

• www.isidewith.com - The site lists a bunch of questions along the various issues, asking your opinion and how important the issue is for you. Once done it will tell you which candidate you are most in line with. If you go to the site you'll notice that each category has a link under each grouping for additional questions on the topic. Make sure to answer those as well.
• 5 Questions Romney Never Answered About Mormonism - very thought provoking article. For me #4 is the big one to consider. 
• Moral and Spiritual Issues in the 2012 Election - chart on the various issues for the two parties. Thought-provoking, though at the same time should be seen as a summary of generalities. It would be incredibly wrong to make the assumption that a person claiming to be in either of the given parties holds to each and every issue in exactly the way this author has defined them.

A couple thoughts for my fellow Christians:

• Be respectful in how you speak of others that you disagree with. All of the issues are important in an election. However some issues will be more heart felt than others to various individuals, including various believers. There will even be debate on which of those issues should rise to the top. In the same way, though most would agree that we should vote for the candidate that is closely in line with Biblical principles - it is very possible that various believers will disagree on the specifics of those Biblical principles. It is OK to disagree with others and it is OK to have healthy debate on such things. So avoid phrases today (or ever) along the lines of, "I don't see how anyone who believes in God can vote for..." To flippantly make such a statement is more arrogant than anything. There's a right way and a wrong way to point to one's understanding of the truth. How a fellow church family member votes in a political election should not deter us from being in community with them.
• Be respectful in how you speak of the candidate that you disagree with. For example, anyone who refers to our current president as Obama Bin Laden is not being obedient to scripture!!!  See Romans 13:1-7, 2 Timothy 2:1-7, and 1 Peter 2:13-17.

Never a fan of election years for the rift they can cause in families, friendships, churches, and communities. But they are necessary. Pray for God's guidance as you cast your vote.

Praying with Baylee at the flag pole

See You At The Pole is a national day of prayer that started while I was in high school. On the third Wednesday of September the flag pole becomes a rally point for students all over the country to gather together to pray for their families, friends, schools, and country. 

Today Baylee and I gathered at the pole before she went in to class. Trying to explain it to a five year old I said, "We can talk to God any time we want, but today is a special day because while we are praying here there are people all over the city praying by their school flag poles. Remember when we went to New York and San Francisco and Orlando? There are kids praying at their schools there too."

"What are they praying about?" 

"They're asking God to help their schools, and to be with their family and friends. Do you want to pray to?"

"Yes! Dear God - please please help my school! Amen!"

Then she looks up at me, "Like that? Was that a good prayer?"

"That was a spectacular prayer Baylee!" 

I sat her in my lap and thanked God for her and for her mommy and brother. I asked God to protect her at school. To help her to learn well. That she would have a lot of fun. That she would be a great leader and a great helper. And that He would bless Mrs Larose and the rest of the teachers.

After I said Amen she looked at me again and smiling said, "Thanks dad"

Trusting Him to answer. 

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14

Monday Conversations: Chicago & Violence, the church & the LGBT community

My Monday was rather interesting, if I do say so myself. 

In the morning I joined in with some other New Life pastors to attend a press conference with the Chicago Clergy Coalition. The violence in Chicago has been beyond epidemic. The press conference was to announce the coalition's call for a weekend of peace in the city of Chicago. The tribune did a nice job reporting on the event; you can read their article HERE.

One pastor who spoke at the event made the comment, "12 people are killed and almost 60 wounded in Colorado and it is called a tragedy. In Chicago that is called Saturday night." It was really amazing to see so many church leaders from varying faith backgrounds in one place to stand before God for the city of Chicago.

Check out the Chicago Clergy Coalition's website for information on upcoming events that are planned in regards to addressing the violence in Chicago: www.chicagoclergycoalition.org

I left the press conference to head to Moody to be interviewed along with my friend Christopher Yuan on Moody Radio. We were on the Midday Connection program to talk about how the church can interact with the LGBT community. It was my first time doing something like this so I really had no idea how it would go, but it seemed like things went well.

You can listen to the interview by CLICKING HERE.

There were a lot of good comments/questions that came up on Midday's Facebook page(some not so good). My plan is to go through and write up a blog post this week responding to as many of them as I can.

Two issues close to my heart in one day. Not a bad way to start the week.

Praying for peace in Chicago - in more areas than one.

Good Morning Beautiful City

Click to enlarge 

"It's tough being the one there holding a father and mother when they just lost their son"

That's what my friend Matt DeMatteo shared yesterday with our pastoral team after Johnny Vargas passed away. Around 1am I received this string of texts from Matt:

 

Johnny's death came from a gang related shooting (Tribune link). He was only 19 years old.

City Living Quiz: What's wrong with this picture?

This is looking across the street from our condo:

Let's test people's knowledge of city living. What is wrong with that picture? 

Answer posted later tonight.

Very thankful and proud of our worship team!

The worship team at New Life Lincoln Park is AMAZING!!! They are an incredibly talented group of people who all love Jesus immensely, and they had both these things in full display last night when they put on ROCKTOBER! It was an all-out rock-out fund-raising Halloween party! 

Because of traveling for work I wasn't able to get there till late, but I could hear the music as I approached the building.  A huge song list was available for people to choose from, and songs were priced out at $3, $5, and $10 (I think that was the price range). The bands then took turns performing the purchased songs, with all proceeds going to New Life Centers, our church's non-profit organization. At the end of the night $400 was raised!!! 

Here's a few pics from the night:

This Saturday is ROCKTOBER!!!

The amazing worship team at New Life Lincoln Park is throwing one awesome party this Saturday night to help raise money for New Life Centers. You WANT to be there!!!!

Here's all the info (click the image to enlarge it):

The Bears lose, but the buddies win

Sunday night the Bears destroyed the Minnesota Vikings by a score of 39-10. My sister was at the game, so yes, I was incredibly jealous. Break the 10th commandment and ask for repentance jealous. Why? Because the week before, on Monday night, the Bears were destroyed by the Detroit Lions with a final score of 13-24. And that was the game I was at.

Week In Review #15

I was doing really good with consistent blogging for a couple months. Then this week happened. I've been sick and wiped out since Tuesday. It's been really up and down through that: Tues felt horrible, somewhat better Wed, Thurs back to bad, Fri pretty good, and today horrible again. Any spare minute was spent horizontal, trying to get extra rest. Hence, not a lot of blogging this week. But, this was the week apart from being sick:

Week in review #14

This was one of those weeks filled with everything. Some excitement, some low, some fun, some dull. It was all over the map:

Exciting new part of the Moss fam's journey

In the last couple "Week In Review" posts I've mentioned that big news was coming in regards to what's going on with our family. Well, here is:

No, we are NOT expecting another child. =)

This past Sunday at New Life's Lincoln Park campus, Pastor Mark announced that I would be stepping in to take over for him as Teaching Pastor.  Jeannette & I will be joining with Rick & Sylvia Allen to lead the location and bring the gospel to the Lincoln Park area. My primary responsibilities will include teaching/preaching on Sundays, but also to provide leadership in various areas of the church and to help build up the community.

We've been attending NLLP pretty consistently since February. To say it's an understatement that we are excited about this would be an incredible understatement. The people at LP are AMAZING! There are such great people serving and making things happen, and we are humbled and grateful to be able to join in with them.  

Yes, I'll still be working at Logos and teaching at Moody, to answer the expected questions. Logos is my primary job and I love it, being able to travel the country helping people get equipped for Bible study. I'm fortunate to be able to do both. Going into next semester I'm rearranging my teaching schedule at Moody to only be teaching one day (Mondays), so we're going to see how that goes. 

Because of a couple previous commitments in the church and other things, the official transition/start isn't until around Thanksgiving. Between now and then though I'll be teaching most evenings during the 5pm service and also a couple times in the 10am service. 

We are excited, pumped, freaked out, little nervous, but are so ready and anticipating great things to come!!! Without listing all the names here, there are so many people who have carried us through to this point in the journey. "Thank you" seems inadequate, adding "we love you" still not enough. But I feel both very deeply.

Thankful for yesterday, in awe of today, dreaming about the future.

Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days

Week in review #11

Just woke up from getting over 9 hours of sleep last night. Can't remember the last time that happened. But based on the past week, the extra sleep was needed:

Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by?

An incredibly busy city:

The capacity is of people with places to be. 

Jobs. Classes. Projects.

Meetings. Appointments. Tasks.

Daily, hundreds will drive down this street, LaSalle Blvd:

I get to live here!

This was the view from my window last week when flying to Connecticut:

Over the last year I've traveled all over, 

visited many of our country's major cities. 

Have met all kinds of different people, 

seen all kinds of different places, 

and eaten all kinds of different foods.

No skyline is more beautiful than this skyline.

No streets more exciting to explore than these streets.

No city more incredible than this city.

And I get to live here!

Week in Review

I've been really trying to get into a regular blogging rhythm lately.  It's just a good place for me to process what I'm experiencing in life, regardless what it is (scroll to the bottom of the page and read the left column, as far as why I do this blog). One cool thing I've seen in the writings of other bloggers I follow is the concept of a day for random meandering.  Ben Arment calls it his "Wednesday Morning Run Down" and Tim Schraeder calls his the "Monday Mind Dump." Love this idea, and am going to learn from it. For me Saturdays will be the best day for meandering, hence, "The Week in Review." 

Here we go...

Pray for the violence to stop in Little Village!

My friend Matt DeMateo works with New Life's location in Little Village, a Chicago neighborhood with high gang activity. The violence in Little Village has been out of control these last 6 weeks. Matt sent out the below call for prayer this morning. Please read it over and then join in with the prayer effort for Little Village: