If you live by the cheeseburger...

Someone smart once said, "If you live by the sword you die by the sword."

In a sentence, this sums up life in a nutshell really. Whatever you focus on in life is what ultimately results in your demise. For some people that is "the sword." They live by violence and they die by violence.

Others live for food (like the cheeseburger) and they die from greasy cholesterol filled hearts that can't pump enough blood through their diseased arteries (now that's descriptive). Believe me, if you live by the cheeseburger you will die by the cheeseburger.

Most people who really despise AIM may have put way too much stock in it to begin with. Missionaries who hate foreigners probably had too high an expectation of the people. Teenagers who loathe their youth ministers may have held those same men in a position that they could never have reached.

If you live by the sword, you die by the sword. We all have to live by something. We all have to find passion somewhere. Our jobs, our education, our experiences, our loved ones. We need something to be focused on. The catch is, whatever we focus on is what will ultimately kill us.

If you live by AIM, you die by AIM.

Might I suggest living for Jesus? After all, he is the only thing/one in this world who demonstrated an ability to conquer death. We all need something to be passionate about. Be passionate about Jesus. If you live by Jesus you will never die, because he is the resurrection and the life.

-Chris Johnson

Joseph as a missionary- I want to slap you!

It amazes me sometimes how we gauge ourselves. I was talking to a young guy once who told me just what a failure he was in ministry. "I don't have any baptisms, I'm not making an impact, I'm wasting people's time and money." Honestly, a part of me wanted to reach across the table to slap him back into place. I wanted to grab him by the shoulders and say, "You're twenty-two! Grow up and start acting like you're not so grown up!" That's right... you heard me... I wanted to tell a twenty-two year old that he was focusing his eyes in the wrong direction, trying too hard to be the "him of the future" and not God's man for today.

I'll tell you, sometimes we just think far too much of ourselves. We get in mind exactly what it is to be a Christian, how many hours of study, how many baptisms, how much growth we are supposed to see in ourselves and others, and we find ourselves depressed and overwhelmed. You know why? Because we want to be finished products before we even get started! So, we covet the ministries of others and we lust for spirituality that God has not yet granted us. We often become an idol unto ourselves, forgetting the creator and worshiping our own selves, desiring to take a greater seat at a "grown-up table" that we are not yet prepared for. No wonder so many young ministers and missionaries lack self-control in so many areas of life. Self is always on our minds, even when we are talking about God. We can be completely selfish.

Joseph could have lived his life like a guy with a dream. He could have lived life like a guy who was supposed to be something better, something greater. However, at some point, Joseph grew up and started rolling with the punches. He stopped asking himself, "How can I be the guy that everybody will one day bow down to?" and he started turning towards God as his source of strength. That's how Joseph survived temptation in Potipher's house. Not by focusing so much on himself and his strength, but considering his Lord and God. Had Joseph been selfish, he would have given in to sin for sure. However, Joseph learned in humility and integrity to become reliant on his God always (Genesis 39). Not to live for a future dream, but to live in the moment for God. To be content with God today and not to just keep looking in the mirror all of the time.

One day, I expect you will be something great. I hope and pray for you that you find yourself reading lots of scripture, winning lots of souls, and wasting no one's time. Until then, start to fall in love with the God of the universe. Humble yourself before him and live a life of integrity. And one day, following your daily devotional or after sharing Jesus with a friend, you will remember today and you will laugh, knowing that you are no longer reading and sharing for the sake of self or others, but for the love of God.

Micah 6: 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

-Chris Johnson

Joseph as a missionary- The dream and the reality

I've been thinking a lot about Joseph, son of Jacob, as a missionary. The story of Joseph begins in Genesis 37 and concludes in Genesis 50. Now, I know that Joseph never intentionally left home to serve as missionary for the Lord. Still, one cannot get around all of the lessons that this man of God brings to light and the way those lessons parallel missions. The next few times I write, I will be focusing in on a few of these ideas.

One of the big struggles that so many of us face in life involve our dreams and expectations. What happens when dreams don't match reality? What happens when expectations are met with disillusionment and failure? I can't tell you how many times in ministry, missions, and life I have spoken with people about this very issue. Marriages ending in divorce because expectations weren't met. Preachers hanging their heads in failure, following the loss of dreams and hopes. Missionaries returning home, saddened by life's disappointments. This dark cloud of failure seems to follow so many of us throughout life.

Joseph had a dream too. Genesis 37 says that at age seventeen, Joseph dreamt of a future where he was respected and honored, revered and exalted by those around him. I seriously doubt that any of us have ever expressed such a self-centered dream to our family and friends as Joseph did. And yet, the core expectation of Joseph's dream is felt by all. Most of us want to succeed in life. We desire honor and fortune in our journeys. Who sets out to let people down? Like Joseph, the dream of accomplishment is ever before us.

The dreams of Joseph were indeed great. In all reality, God planned on fulfilling that dream, but not for the reasons that Joseph had planned. God's vision for Joseph was greater than making him a Lord to be worshipped. God's vision was that Joseph might serve and ultimately save his family (Genesis 45:5-7). To accomplish that goal, God had to take Joseph down an unforeseen path. What might have been perceived as failure to Joseph (becoming a slave, being falsely accused of wickedness, ending up in prison) was just the path God had chosen. Joseph couldn't have reached his destination had he tried to. So, God lead him down a different road, an unlikely one.

Well, we have dreams too. Sometimes those dreams are pure, and sometimes they aren't. Still, God is smarter than us. The road he leads us down may be filled with failures and disappointment. However, God sees the bigger picture. God sees the perfect path for us, not simply so that we can be exalted, but so that people can be saved (Acts 17:26-27). We should hand our dreams over to the Lord. Allow him to guide our steps. After all, we never know what is coming next. Whether pain or prosperity, failure or fortune, God knows our dreams and has his own dreams for us too.

- Chris Johnson

AIM is perfect!

AIM is perfect!

How many of you laughed at the title? Of course, when we assert it in such a manner the absurdity seems obvious. Yet as I hear some of us share our experiences I’m saddened at the emphasis often given to our negative experiences. I am struck with the thought that to remedy everything that we complain about would require the program to be perfect. All pain ultimately comes from the disappointment of expectations. So when we are experiencing pain, we must ask ourselves what our expectations were. Though this won’t make all pain go away, it can clarify things and help us in our healing. As a point of comparison, consider the following:

Let’s imagine you were an embedded reporter from the beginnings of Jesus’ ministry and somehow remained objective and only reported what you saw. Now imagine you are near the end of Jesus’ ministry and are a witness to Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. There you observe as one of Jesus’ inner circle betrays him and the other 11 desert him. Later on one will commit suicide, one will deny even knowing him and only one ends up being present at the crucifixion. After his resurrection, which should be the most compelling evidence of all time, his followers are all caught off guard that Jesus is rumored to be alive and one aggressively challenges the idea, demanding proof. Acts 1 clearly demonstrates they are completely unaware of the goal of His Kingdom and then, quite astoundingly, on the way to witness the ascension it says that some doubted.

So, after over 2 years of intensive training with the very Son of God and witnessing proof after proof that should have sealed the deal and caused them to be exceptionally strong in their faith, you end up with all of them experiencing serious doubt and faith weaknesses, struggling with cowardice, ignorant of the overall goal of the “program” and signs of serious sin issues: lying, arrogance, selfishness, hopelessness and suicide. From the outside looking in, do you want to send your kid to be part of Jesus’ program?

Blame is a powerful tool that the Devil uses to keep us from experiencing healing and growth in Christ. As long as I focus on someone else’s weaknesses, I lose access to God’s strength. This leads to feeling powerless and eventually bitter. In order for me to heal I must face these facts: AIM is a group of flawed Christians, trying to provide a growth opportunity for other flawed Christians so that they can go work alongside other flawed Christians. And, as we learn quickly, flawed Christians tend to have flaws in their Christianity. This means people get hurt. This hurt always happens, whether you are in AIM or not, but since AIM is a “professional Christian organization” we somehow expect the normal things that happen in everyone’s life not to happen there.

Since the AIM staff is not perfect, as Jesus was, we should expect them to have a poorer track record than Jesus did. It is truly not within any program’s ability to provide a guarantee that I will remain faithful to God and have a thriving relationship with Him. God gave each person free will. Jesus trained 12 men for over 2 years and all of them initially failed and one failed miserably. Was Jesus’ training flawed? Because of who Jesus is, we would say no. Because we know the rest of the Apostles’ story, we would say no. We, though, are still writing our stories. How amazing it will be to read them when they include stepping away from the chains of negative experiences and stepping into the freedom of God’s strength and power to bring good from all situations.

- Jason Thornton