All items from Zack Blaisdell
I have finished reading Hurting With God: Learning To Lament With The Psalms by Dr Glenn Pemberton. It is an exegetical study of the lament Psalms and the New Testament’s use of them.
It is also a deeply personal book as the author talks about his own struggles and of those he knows and loves. It is a book not written from the ivory towers, as it were, but from a fellow struggler.
Some things I really liked and appreciated about the book is the author made a point to connect lament to thanksgiving. The lament Psalms will always end up with acknowledgement that God is still there, that He hasn’t forgotten about you and your struggles. That God is still in control, even and especially when, evidence says He’s not.
I also liked that he said it’s OK to question God. He is our Father and creator. We should have reverance for God. He is also big enough to handle our complaints and questions.
I also appreciate the author for talking about the use of lament in our Christian worship services. A lot of times our worship periods are upbeat and meant to encourage. He encourages us to have a period of time to address those who haven’t felt upbeat and are struggling with life because of various things. We should encourage them to talk to other members, elders, or ministers about their struggles and offer up prayers on their behalf.
And I appreciate the author for saying we might not need the laments for ourselves, but encourages us to think of those in our lives we could pray the lament Psalm on their behalf.
In conclusion, I really like this book. It was very thought-provoking and touching. It was also eye-opening and informative. I was given this book with the purpose of reviewing. I highly recommend getting it and reading it. You can order it at www.acupressbooks.com.
God bless you all. Grace and Peace.
Zack
Greetings everyone! Recently I finished reading Chazown: Define Your Vision, Pursue Your Passion, Live Your Life On Purpose by Craig Groeschel. The book can be found at waterbrookmultonmah.com.
Groeschel says chazown is a Hebrew word meaning vision. Chazown is the word used when the Bible says “where there is no vision ‘chazown’, there is no life” (or something like that).
In the book Groeschel talks about your core values: the things that mean the most to you. He also advices we make three circles. He advices we discover the passions we have, the experiences we have had (both good and bad), and what spiritual gifts we have. Put those three circles together, and pinpoint where the three circles overlap. That is where you find your chazown.
This chazown is something that will help you come alive with passion and purpose. This is something that is truely God-given. It might be something you have thought about for a long time, or might be something you have never thought of before and discovered only recently. But it is always a passion at one point in your life or another.
Groeschel also talks about five areas of our lives that need our special attention. The first is our own relationship with God. To be able to help other people find and develop a relationship with God, you’ve got to have it yourself. You can’t give somebody something you don’t have yourself. So having and developing your own relationship with God is your first priority. To do what God wants us to do we need to have a great relationship with Him. The second area of your life that you need to focus on is your rationship with people. This is family, friends, buisness associates, ect. Having good relationships with those we love and those we are around on a regular basis are vitally important. In order to have a good relationship with God, it is imparative we have a good relationship with those around us. It is imparitive we have good relationships with the people in our lives to do what God wants us to do. The third area we need to be good with is finances. I highly recommend taking a financial class or series of classes. I took Financial Peace University with Dave Ramsey and highly recommend it. To be able to manage money is also vitally important. Several of Jesus’ parables in the Gospels were about money. The best way to know our priorities is to look at how we spend our money. We need to be able manage money to do what God wants us to do. The fourth thing we need to focus on is health and fitness. We need to work out and get healthy. We need to have a fitness schedual and have a healthy lifestyle to live and be healthy. We need to be healthy to live the life God wants us to live. And last we need to focus on our work life. Regardless if we are working in our chazown or not, we need work with all of our heart. As the Apostle Paul has said, we are to work like we work for the Lord and not for men. Like Jesus has said, to one who has recieved much, much more will be required. If we want God to bless us with the chazown from Him, we need to show the same passion in any and all areas of our lives.
Groeschel suggests we find accountability in our lives in each of these areas in our lives, to find what we really desire to do, and to go for it when doors finally open for you to pursue your dream.
What I really like about this book is Groeschel suggests readers have a journal to jote down notes, record their thoughts, and answer some questions pertaining to each aspect of what the book talks about.
I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to anyone looking for their real passion in life.
To learn more about the book from the publisher, please go to waterbrookmultnomah.com. To learn more about what the book talks about, please go to chazown.com.
Groeschel leads a church in Oklahoma called lifechurch.tv.
God bless you all. Grace and Peace.
Zack
Greetings everyone! I read something today I thought was outstanding, thought-provoking, and excellent.
It is on the website faithoncampus.com. It is about wheather college students are prepared to leave the college campus and our college ministries for the summer or not. It is about whether college ministry leaders are spoon feeding their students, or training them to feed themselves.
After reading this, I was thinking not just about wheather they are ready to leave for the summer, but wheather they are ready to graduate from college, for the real world.
Pretty soon, our students will need to be ready to stand on their own two feet spiritually. To feed themselves spiritually.
To be gone for a summer is hard enough. Who knows when college friends will be able meet again. It will take some work to coordinate meeting times for that.
Are the students ready? For the summer? For graduation?
Your thoughts, comments, questions, etc are always welcomed and encouraged.
God bless you all. Grace and Peace.
Zack
Over the weekend, both of my sisters and their little ones were in town, and stayed with my parents and I. Being around them over the weekend reminded me of something that happened while I was enrolled at Sunset International Bible Institute in Lubbock, TX.
While attending the school of preaching I lived with my sister Katie and brother-in-law Jacob. After school one day I walk into the house and saw Katie and Allie (there daughter) seated on the couch that was facing a widow and were looking at all the people who were passing by. I walk in and sit with them and we chatted for a bit.
A few minutes later a fly comes into the house. Allie (who was 6 months or so old at the time) sees the fly, points at it, and starts talking to it. I reach for the fly and swat at it, knocking it down. Now I’m about to squash it. Allie, seeing what I was about to do, looks up at me and starts bwaling.
It brook my heart to hear her cry. I couldn’t bere to break her heart like that. To Allie that fly was her best friend in the whole world, and I was about to kill it.
So I let the fly live. She didn’t believe it, until she saw the fly get up and fly away. She immedietly stopped crying and started talking to it again.
I wonder if that fly knew my neice had saved it’s life. I was about to kill it, but Allie earnestly pleaded for me to spare it’s life, and I did.
How often do we cry out to God for the people in our lives? For something we need?
Your thoughts, comments, questions, etc are always welcomed and encouraged.
God bless. Grace and Peace.
Zack
Greetings everyone! Got a question for everyone: how do you intentionlally grow spiritually? I think I have blogged about this before. I keep a prayer list and try praying for them and others I know of, keep a prayer journal, read my Bible, and other biblical literature.
What are you doing to intentionally grow spiritually? Thoughts?
God bless. Grace and Peace.
Zack
Greetings everyone! I just read something I absolutely loved.
As I’ve said before, I love campus ministry. Campus ministry is my biggest ministry passion. After reading this article about campus ministry on Bob Russell’s blog (at bobrussell.org) I love campus ministry and grown more passionate about it even more.
Please check it out at bobrussell.org. It is very insightful and personal.
Any and all comments, thoughts, questions, ect are always welcomed and encouraged.
God bess you all. Grace and Peace.
Zack
Greetings everyone! Last night I received the opportunity to attend the Missions Resource Network benefit dinner. Had a blast! I saw and visited with some friends I had not seen in a while.
It was an encouraging evening seeing a couple I knew from my days as a student at Harding recieving an award for their life-long missions efforts in Asia. This couple is an example of living and walking by faith.
It was encouraging seeing a church get recognized for it’s own outreach and missions efforts in it’s own region of the world. This church lives missions. It teaches everyone in their church to reach out to their friends and neighbors. This church is a true missional church.
This couple and church truely show missions isn’t what we do. It’s the DNA of Jesus’ disciples, followers.
I was blessed by the evening.
Your thoughts, comments, questions, etc are always welcomed and encouraged.
God bless you all. Grace and Peace.
Zack
Greetings everyone! I just read something I really liked and wanted to pass it on to all of you.
My friend Steven Gaines (stevengaines.wordpress.com) just wrote a blog about the prophet Ezekiel (chapters 1 through 4). Jehovah God tells Ezekiel He (God) will harden his (Ezekiel’s) forehead like a rock just like the people’s heads are hard. And He told Ezekiel to take in Jehovah’s words, let them sink in, and then go tell the people.
My friend tells of a friend of his that discipleship has to start with me and you before we can call others to it.
I think that’s right on.
Your thoughts, comments, questions, etc are always welcomed and encouraged.
God bless. Grace and Peace.
Zack
Greetings everyone! I meant to write this a few days ago.
In this next segment of The Missional Church we will look at Acts 20. In this chapter Paul travels to Greece going through Macedonia. Paul kept preaching the word as went. Timothy plus several other brethren traveled to Troas and waited for Paul there. When they were all united together in Troas they worked there and stayed through the Lord’s day (ie Sunday). On that day they took the Lord’s Supper together and must have met for a long time that day. They met in an upper room. A man was there who sat by an open window. Paul was speaking and went on for hours. The man by the window falls asleep and falls out of the window. I don’t know if there is anyway to tell how far this man fell, but it must have been a couple of stories.
Anyhow, a few people ran down to get him and pick him dead. That must have been devastating. But Paul goes down and touches him, and he revives. They take the Lord’s Supper with renewed focus. The Lord’s Supper is about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. The Lord’s Supper wouldn’t mean anything if Jesus is still dead. Because He is alive (and now because their friend is alive) they can take it with renewed focus.
After this, Paul and companions leave for Miletus. From there Paul sends word for the elders in Ephesus to meet him there. When they all gather together, Paul tells them to keep preaching the word. He tells them he didn’t refrain from preaching the whole council of God’s word. He warns them of false prophets that would come about, possibly from their own number. Then he places them in the best place anyone could possibly be. He places them in the hands of Jesus. To guard them. To protect them.
Then they pray together. And they all go their separate ways. Paul and his companions go to the ship and the elders in Ephesus go home.
What can we learn from this chapter? We can learn the importance of the Lord’s Supper. We learn the importance of being part of a team. We must preach the whole council of God’s word. And we must place everyone in God’s hands.
Is there anything else anyone notices here? Any and all comments, questions, etc are always welcomed and encouraged.
God bless you all. Grace and Peace.
Greetings everyone! This is another installment of Jesus On Campus. I’ve been going through the gospel of Mark and discussing the miracle stories there in light of campus ministry.
This next installment takes us to Mark 5. This story picks up right where chapter 4 left off after Jesus calms a storm while He and His disciples were sailing across the Sea of Galilee. They are all probably soaked from the rain. When they arrive on shore, they probably wanted to get some wood to start a fire, and get some rest. Those thoughts and aspirations quickly dissipated when they see something out of the corner of their eyes. They turn to see a bleeding crazy man running at them. When he arrives, he drops to his knees in front of Jesus and shouts at the top of his voice “What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the most high God? Swear to God that You won’t torture me!”. Jesus had already called the demons to come out.
Jesus asks him his name, and he replies his name is Legion, because there were many demons inside of this man. Off in the distance they saw a herd of pigs. The demons begged Jesus to send them into the pigs, and He told them to go. They all enter the pigs and they dash down the hill and die in the sea.
The herdsmen rush into the town and declared to them what had happened. They all knew about this man. They all come out to see him. They see him and Jesus. The man is now healed, clothed, and his right mind. This scares them stiff and they beg Jesus to go away from them.
As He goes, the man who is now healed comes and begs to go with Him. Jesus tells the man to go home and declare to them what God had done for him.
The man who was oppressed by the demons must have been so lonely and scared. Is there anyone on your college campus or in your neighborhood who is lonely and scared? Are there things Jesus can do for them to heal them? I hope and pray we can all bring Jesus into the lives of those who hurt and need Him.
Any thoughts, comments, questions, etc? Any and all thoughts, comments, and questions are welcomed and encouraged. God bless you all. Grace and Peace.
Zack
