Tag Archive - Spirituality

Emotional Porn

July 8, 2010 in Culture, Spirituality with 6 Comments

“There’s certainly a war against the prevalence of visual pornography in many corners of our society—especially in the Christian culture. There is an attempt to expose pornography for its promotion of unrealistic sexual expectations and exploitation of human sexuality. And that attempt is a very necessary one. But what about the unhealthy emotional and relational expectations portrayed in so much of our media? Is there really much of a difference in the hyperbolized sexual imagery of typical pornography and the hyperbolized momentary emotional high felt in a romance film or romantic comedy that sends us looking for a “love” that doesn’t exist?” Cole NeSmith, pastor at Status in Orlando, creator of Uncover The Color

I’ve long since thought that we are quick to label visual porn, but are almost inept at labeling it’s equivalent (for the typical woman) in emotional porn. Here is a great article that Relevant Magazine recently posted about this very controversial idea.

Egypt Reflections Pt.4

April 6, 2010 in Spirituality with 1 Comment

Those who know me well know that I’m not really a “worship” guy. What I mean by that is I’m not the type of person that usually connects emotionally with God through singing worship songs. Third Format definitely gets close for me, but I’m just not wired that way. I’ve met many people who are.


One of the days that we were in Egypt we visited an Oasis in the middle of the Sahara Desert. It was a five hour drive from Cairo and was literally out in the middle of nowhere. The second day we were there we walked up a small mountain and I was able to look out at a sea of palm trees in the middle of a vast wasteland of desert. Being up there, feeling a cold breeze on my face, looking at a seemingly immense geographical contradiction, caused me to have an incredible moment of worship as I reflected on the artistic nature of the God that designed this. I stood up there a little longer as I pondered this. Below is a picture that one of the guys took of me standing there. The second picture is a glimpse of what I was looking at. Our God is absolutely incredible.




I’d love to hear from you guys. Where do you experience these types of worship moments with God?

24/7 Prayer at Central

November 13, 2009 in Church, Family, Spirituality with 3 Comments

I spent some time praying at the Gilbert campus tonight for this year’s 24/7 prayer event at Central. It was a great time and very spiritually refreshing. In one station, people could write thoughts onto a white board. I took a picture of one comment that stood out to me.


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As I sat and stared at these three sentences, I suddenly remembered two years ago when I was doing the same exact thing. I was at a 24/7 prayer station, this time it was a station setup with a punching bag. In that station, we were encouraged to write something down that we were frustrated with God about. At that point in our life, Michelle and I had been trying to get pregnant for about a year. I couldn’t understand why we couldn’t start a family, especially when I felt that God was the one who had given us such a desire to have one. I wrote my complaint on a piece of paper and left it there and walked away from that night unresolved.


Flash forward to tonight. I sat there and remembered the frustration I had then when I felt that God was silent, and how different that seems to me now as we are currently pregnant with our second child. God is still listening, and prayer really does matter. So wherever your journey with God is right now, don’t give up on Him. He may have an answer for you that you can’t see coming.

A Story of Redemption

October 6, 2009 in Church, Spirituality with 4 Comments

I was having lunch last week with my friend Tom and he shared with me an unbelievable story of how God has been working in his life lately. I had goosebumps as he told it to me. I asked him if I could blog it for you guys to read and he sent me the following “Reader’s Digest” version. This is absolutely incredible, and it shows the opportunity we all have to experience the thrill of God’s Spirit if we would choose to listen.

“I have been blessed with a personality that draws people to me; very passionate and outgoing. For most of my years my God-given talent was abused by me. I used it to attract and control women and was very abusive to them mentally and physically.


Over the past few months God has been working on my heart in accountability, reconciliation, and owning my past. My wife and I talked about me seeking out those who I have hurt, as I did her, and let them know I’m not who I used to be. With her blessing I proceeded.


And then God rocked my world. Last week God spoke very clearly to my heart to find a girl from 25 years ago named Terri. I Googled and Facebooked her but no luck. That Sunday at church, no one showed up to drive the trams, so I drove. On the last run through the parking lot, I stopped by a person walking and asked if they needed a ride. She said no. But when she spoke I immediately recognized her and said…Terri? Stunned, she looked back and said Tommy?


Terri got on the tram and I told her my God story, then she told me someone invited her to come to Central and that she was supposed to go to the 11am service but ended up at the 9:30 service and didn’t know why. There was no reason for her to be on campus at 9:30 that Sunday morning other than God had orchestrated this event. We met later in the week and God allowed me to spend 2 hours in reconciling my past and sharing my faith with her. It was one of the hardest things I have had to do but it was worth it. God can restore everything to his good if you don’t ignore the Spirit’s prompting. I was able to ask Terri and God to forgive me and I was free from the guilt and shame.” – Tom


Is the Voice Enough?

September 16, 2009 in Family, Spirituality with 2 Comments

Last Saturday as I picked up Gavin from children’s ministry in Mesa after our Third Format service, I was told about something interesting that he did during the service. Apparently he was pretty mellow and was cuddling in a lady’s arms in the nursery until she walked over to part of the room where they were playing the service live on a tv. I happened to be teaching at the time. Gavin immediately started looking around when he heard my voice and when he didn’t see me he started crying. They ended up turning the tv on mute.


Fast forward a day to Sunday night. I pick up Gavin from the children’s ministry in Gilbert and they tell me another story. They have a similar tv in their nursery as well. When I began teaching, Gavin quickly crawled across the room toward the tv (they compared it to a baby sprint) and when he didn’t actually find me but heard my voice, began to get fussy again. They ended up playing Baby Einstein DVDs until the service was over.


The odd thing about this is that he’s never done this before, and all of a sudden does it on back to back nights in two different places with two sets of people. So I’m enjoying being a dad and having a son who gets bothered when he hears my voice but can’t find me.


But I wonder how often we are content when it comes to our Heavenly Father to hear bits of His voice only. We don’t often long for more. We hear part of His voice in one moment, and we are content with that instead of looking around and longing for Him even more. I pray that our desire for His Spirit would grow and that we would be bothered whenever we can’t experience Him fully.

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