Today we’re reviewing, discussing, and giving away a copy of Mary’s Son by Darryl Nyznyk. Keep reading to learn how you can win a free copy.

Mary’s Son is a modern-day Christmas tale first told by author Darryl Nyznyk in front of the fireplace during his daughter’s sleep-over birthday party. It’s the story of two angry young people bent on their own destruction, who are visited by a mysterious old man just before Christmas. He tries in vain to help them until, in desperation, he whisks them back in time to witness the first Christmas. They learn the real meaning of both Christmas and their own lives.

It’s a heart-warming, family friendly story along the lines of Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life and Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. It’s no stretch to imagine it being made into a movie some day.

Get a Free Book

If you’d like a free copy of Mary’s Son, all you have to do is

1. Retweet this post or share it on Facebook, and
2. Post a comment answering the question: what’s your favorite Christmas story of all time? (If it’s the original story of Christmas found in chapter 2 of Luke in the bible, let us know your second favorite story as well,) Be sure to include in your comment the Facebook or Twitter profile where you shared the link, too.

One person who has shared and commented will be selected around 5 PM Eastern time Wed. 12/7 to receive a free copy.

Of course, you can also buy a copy of Mary’s Son on Amazon. And for a limited time the Kindle edition is only $0.99!

In an effort to help Live Intentionally readers reach their dreams and inspire others, I’ve invited you to share your dreams. On Fridays I feature a reader & their dream. Today’s post is by Mindy Hirst…

Ideas and dreams are synonymous in my world. I bet you can identify. So many thoughts fly through my head in a night and I wake up wishing I could remember what went on all those hours. Ideas come to me in the night more vividly than in the day. Once, I had a fitful sleep about a topic I was wrestling with only to have an “a-ha” moment in the morning. So when I thought about the opportunity to tell the story of our dream in a guest blog post, I thought that our Generous Mind idea would fit quite nicely.

The idea or dream of generous mind came during a spring time almost 10 years ago. Jon and I walked through large trees in a small town in Illinois that bordered the Mississippi River. We were celebrating our anniversary, taking a much needed break from early parenting—and talking. We talked a great deal that weekend about many things. But the thing on my mind that day was ideas.

Ideas seemed to float into my mind and then escape at the same speed and urgency as they arrived. It seemed that if I didn’t capture them immediately, they got away, never to be thought of again. This reality disturbed me. How many world-changing ideas had done just that because people were too busy to care for their ideas? What if my life slipped away, day by day, so that one day I came to the end of my life and I had not contributed anything that would last?

That’s when I said in frustration that we have to be generous minds…and our dream was born. Generous Mind as an organization is all about capturing ideas, cultivating those ideas and turning them into something that other people can benefit from. It’s about coming alongside others to help them contribute to the world by taking from what God has given them and allowing others to grow and learn as a result.

It’s not an easy dream. There are so many reasons to squelch an idea—busyness, lack of confidence, not knowing where to start. But it’s so important to the world that these ideas are not lost. Every person and their ideas are unique. Though there is “nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9), the sun has never shone down on today. An idea or concept conceived in another time and another place is going to look different when thought about in the context of the here and now. People need to hear truth cast in the light of their own language and culture.

So what idea do you have today that needs to be shared? How can you be a generous mind? For more thoughts on how you can be generous with your ideas, visit our blog, follow us on twitter or join our facebook fan page. But whatever you do, don’t let today go by without sharing something that God has put on your heart!

In an effort to help Live Intentionally readers reach their dreams and inspire others, I’ve invited you to share your dreams. On Fridays I feature a reader & their dream. Today’s post is by Paula Kiger…

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware. -Martin Buber

I have a journey planned for July of this year. The journey will take me and my 14 year old daughter, Tenley, to Guatemala, on a Mission Awareness Trip conducted by the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging. Obviously the destination is Guatemala, but what am I really seeking by going and taking my daughter? Why is it so important that it leads me to ask for your help?

This trip, in which we will meet Silvia, the child our extended family has been sponsoring for six years, has been in my “Top 3 Goals” for two years running.

To be perfectly honest with you, this trip is not a mission trip where we build houses, install irrigation, teach English, or do other public works. It is defined as an “in-depth immersion experience.” In the words of CFCA:

You will be welcomed into the homes of families and have the opportunity to talk with them about their daily lives. You will hear them describe their challenges and successes, and get to know them as individuals with distinct gifts, abilities and tremendous potential. You will hear presentations about the culture, religion, social and economic conditions in the country. As you travel to CFCA communities, you will have the opportunity to observe the country’s unique natural beauty. Each day, you will have time for personal or group reflections to help you process what you have seen and learned.

When I look back on my education, I remember reading geography books, about various dietary and societal practices of other cultures. It was interesting but it just seemed so ……. sterile. As a parent I want my children to see, touch, and experience other countries. At a time when our world is beset by tensions that arise partially because cultures don’t understand one another, I see this as a chance to plant a seed in my child of understanding – a seed that can only grow by looking our sponsored child, Silvia, and the other people of her country in the eye.

In addition, this is one of the only ways I can think of to drive home the point with my child that problems come in many degrees of magnitude. The things that a typical middle class American teenager thinks are issues (not having an iPhone, Hollister not having your favoriate wash in jeans, squabbles with classmates), are much smaller in magnitude than the issues some people in our world face.

Tenley and I are confirmed to go on the July 16-July 23 trip.  The fee that Christian Foundation for Children and Aging charges for basic shelter, food, and other necessities has been paid. We have been vaccinated against various travel-related maladies. One of the last pieces of this puzzle is airfare.

Last September, when I committed to this trip, my husband had just lost his job and we thought he would find employment rather quickly; but that has not happened. Despite his best efforts, nothing suitable has materialized as we approach the 9 month anniversary of his job loss.

At a time when our family should prioritize the basic expenses of living, it feels a bit extravagant to be planning an international trip, but I really sense that I have a small window with my teenager in which a trip like this can make a lifelong impression.

I have established a “chip in” for anyone who would like to contribute to our airfare fund (any amount is appreciated!):

http://pktkguatemala.chipin.com/guatemala-trip-airfare

If you can’t contribute right now, we would still appreciate your positive thoughts and prayers.

This seven days may change a teenager’s life forever, and you can play a part.

Thank you for reading this!

Adios y gracias!

If you’re a regular reader of LiveIntentionally.org you know…

In an effort to help Live Intentionally readers reach their dreams and inspire others, I’ve invited you to share your dreams. Every Friday I’ll feature another reader & their dream.

So far this year I’ve shared with you the dreams of 10 other people, today I’d like to share one of mine with you…

This summer I’m leading a team to Nakuru, Kenya where we are going to spend a week and a half serving at the Springs of Hope Kenya orphanage and a number of other places in the surrounding community. We’re going to share God’s love and hope with people, and we also want to bring shoes and books and money to help others as well.

To give you an idea of the difference we can make while we’re there I want to share just 2 of many amazing stories from the 2009 trip to Kenya my wife, Jennifer, and I made.

2 Year old Isaac

Before we went to Kenya in 2009, one of Jennifer’s friends, a nurse, gave her $50 and told her to put it towards whatever we thought was best. One day we visited a public school in Nakuru where we gave students shoes and soccer balls. A teacher told us one of the students had a 2 year old brother, Issac, who had a hernia that was so bad he could no longer walk. (They sent pictures, but trust me you don’t want to see them.) This little boy was living this way because his parents could not afford hernia repair surgery. The cost? $50. We knew instantly what Jennifer’s friend’s gift was to be used for. Today, Isaac is a healthy, active 4 year old thanks to the generosity of Jennifer’s friend.

Samuel and the day after tomorrow

Later that same day we went to what passes for a hospital in Kenya. We visited the AIDS wing which was so full that even with 6 beds in a room, some people were sharing a bed with someone they didn’t even know. We met a 31 year old man named Samuel who was dying of AIDS. His mother who was visiting him told us that while she was a Christian, he was not. We prayed for Samuel and talked with him but when we asked him if want to trust Jesus to be his lord and savior he said, “The day after tomorrow.” I asked if “the day after tomorrow” was a Kenyan saying for “not right now,” and was told it’s not. It was a very odd response.

We could all see that Samuel didn’t have much time life, so we continued to pray and talk with him for a while longer. Eventually he decided, yes, he wanted to follow Jesus. We prayed and celebrated with him and there was not a dry eye among us!

Two days later – the day after tomorrow – we received a phone call. Samuel had died.

I am still in awe of the way our loving God orchestrated the events of that day to allow us to be a part of bring this prodigal son home.

So, here’s the deal…  Jennifer and I are going back to Kenya this summer. This time we’re doing it with 5 others including my oldest daughter, Ainsley. But to make this happen we need to raise about $5,000 (in addition to what we hope to raise from awesome Chili Cook-off and Auction we’re working hard to make happen May 14).

What can you do to help?

1) Pray that God would provide, prepare us, and do great things so we have even more incredible stories to tell this time. We can’t take anything for granted on a trip like this.

2) Give $10. Sure, you can give more if you like, but all we need is 500 people to give $10 and we can make this thing happen.

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little. –Edmund Burk

If a lot of people do nothing, they accomplish nothing. But if a lot of people do a little, they can accomplish a lot. -unknown

3) Share this post on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks for your support. I’ll keep you updated on our plans leading up to the trip and share pictures and stories each day from Kenya.

In an effort to help Live Intentionally readers reach their dreams and inspire others, I’ve invited you to share your dreams. Every Friday I’ll feature another reader & their dream. Today’s post is by Marc Buxton…

We have a real burden for the Filipino people and a desire to serve there. My wife grew up in Manila, her parents are BBFI missionaries Greg and Lu Ann Lyons. And God has given me a burden of my own. You may have heard the term Asian Century; many people believe a power shift will occur over the next several decades. You can already see signs of it in Manila – an economic boom in the 3rd world. And where opportunity exists, the people go to it. That’s why America has been flooded with immigrants: the opportunity, the American Dream. Now, Filipinos are flooding into the city of Manila every day. There are 20 million people in Metro Manila and 50% of them are under the age of 25. I believe the Philippines is at the point spiritually that America was at during the Great Awakening. They are open to the gospel. These 20 million are going to shape the future of the world. They need direction in their lives.

We are seeking partners that can help us impact this next century by joining with us in our vision. We have a vision to plant churches, and without going into a lot of detail, we have a strategy and a vision to plant churches that are “non facility dependent”. It’s basically taking the money usually used to build a physical building and putting it back into evangelistic outreach. These churches are able to meet in existing meetings spaces in the city. We also have a vision of winning new souls. There is often a barrier that exists between the lost world and Christ – an ice that must be broken. One of the ways we plan on doing that is through a Gospel illusion ministry – Honest Deceiver Ministries. It is a powerful tool to connect with people and we have seen a lot of success with this method already. Our team also runs a camp ministry. This year the target is for 100,000 youth to attend and hear the gospel . Lastly, we have a vision to make new disciples. Many churches today are moving away from doctrine in favor of pragmatism. We want to train pastors for our churches who are grounded in the doctrines of our faith and heritage, and we will do that by working in a Bible college started by our team in 1999.

We are responsible for raising our own support as independent missionaries. If you would like to make a tax deductible donation visit: www.join360.info.

You can also visit my blog, which focuses on churches and church planting at ecclesiamind.com.

In an effort to help Live Intentionally readers reach their dreams and inspire others, I’ve invited you to share your dreams. Every Friday I’ll feature another reader & their dream. Today’s post is by Kristen Marble…

Ah, the joys of summer!  Backyard BBQs, hide-and-seek in the dark, camping trips and softball.  Growing up, no summer was really complete without softball. I have great memories of playing catch in the front yard, city league teams which my dad coached, and playing shortstop in the cool summer nights.  None of those memories, though, could ever surpass that feeling of hitting a line drive right down third base line.  It was the type of hit you could tell was great just by the feel and the way it came off the bat.  You had connected with the ball perfectly, right on the bat’s sweet spot.

Although those memories are thirty years old, and I’m now the one coaching my daughters’ teams, I still am experiencing that sweet spot.  But this time, it has nothing to do with softball.  How many times have you done something and walked away more energized than you started….ready and wanting to do it all over again….joyful and blessed that you have such amazing opportunities to do what you love?  Isn’t that your sweet spot in life?  Some may call it your gifting, or calling or even your purpose in life.  But no matter what you might call it, it’s that thing that whenever you do it, you think, “THIS is what I was created for!”

Over the past year, I have begun discovering and living in my sweet spot.  For me, there is nothing more exciting or fulfilling than speaking and writing.  There is no greater joy than engaging with audiences through the written or spoken word, touching hearts with the Gospel, sharing my story, and challenging individuals.

But, I still haven’t found that “audience”.  A few months ago I tweeted, “Ever feel like you’ve been given much to say, but just haven’t found your audience yet?  Yea, me too.”  And so when you place those two pieces together – speaking and writing and having an audience – you form my complete dream.  I dream of speaking and writing to audiences near and far, old and young, Christ-followers and seekers, joyful and discouraged.  I dream of God using me in mighty ways to help impact lives for eternity.

Now that you know my dream, allow me to introduce myself.  I am a woman with many layers who wears many hats.  I am a wife to my best friend for almost 17 years.  I am Mom to six daughters and four sons, ages 5, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 11, 13, 15 and 18.  My children include 3 birth kids, 1 Tajik/Russian, 4 Ukrainians and 2 Haitians.  I am daily blessed by the opportunity to parent my large, multi-racial, adoptive family.  I am also a homeschool teacher to our 10 children.  I am a community volunteer with the county food bank, soup kitchen, Ministerial Association, and crisis pregnancy center Board of Directors.  I am a MDiv seminary student at George Fox Evangelical Seminary in a hybrid cohort program.  I am a ministry leader/teaching pastor at a church ministry my husband and I planted in our small, rural community in eastern Montana.  I am a ministry candidate pursuing credentialing with my denomination.  I am a Toastmaster, a speaker and a blogger.

I am a woman determined to live out her calling, to live in the sweet spot.

How might you help me achieve my dream?  You and your acquaintances are my potential audiences.  Those you know may be the lives waiting to be impacted with words He’s given me to speak.  Indeed, there are many ways you can help!

* Visit, browse, read, comment and subscribe to my “Marble Musings” blog at www.KristenMarble.com.  I blog daily on a wide variety of topics including theology, parenting and daily devotional writings.  As you’re reading, if the Holy Spirit prompts you that a certain post would be perfect for someone to read, share it with them!

* Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/KristenMarble.

* Friend me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Kristen.Marble.

* And finally, I’ll end with the one that takes the most courage and initiative.  Would you arrange for me to speak at your event, please?  Perhaps it’s a Mother-Daughter tea, a weekend retreat, a fall kick-off event, conference or a Christmas outreach.  Maybe the event is through your church, mom’s group, para-church ministry or non-profit organization.  I know the old adage that one rarely hires an “unknown” to speak.  But even Beth Moore and Patsy Clairmont started out as unknowns years ago.  I would be happy to send you a DVD of recent messages I’ve preached at our weekly church gatherings.  You can request that DVD, read recommendations and endorsements, and more at my website at www.KristenMarble.com/speaking.  If you aren’t in a position to hire a speaker, would you please pass on my information to someone who is?

They say it takes a village to raise a child.  It also takes a community to get someone started.  Every individual who has ever impacted hearts and lives, who has ever succeeded, who has ever lived out their dream, had someone in the background taking a chance on them, and giving them opportunities.  Perhaps you could be that person.

And as you consider ways you can help my dream come true, I pray that you too will discover and embrace the sweet spot of your own life.  I challenge you to pursue that which energizes you, so that when you hear the crack of the bat, you’ll know you too connected perfectly!

In an effort to help Live Intentionally readers reach their dreams and inspire others, I’ve invited you to share your dreams. Every Friday I’ll feature another reader & their dream. Today’s post is by Paul Wilson Jr…

In our communities today it’s easy to see the problems of crime, homelessness, poverty, illiteracy, disease, poor educational performance, teen pregnancy, abuse, corrupt leadership, and so on. What is much harder to see, though, are the solutions to the myriad of problems that are negatively impacting the lives of children and adults in our communities every day.

The Bible says that prayer not accompanied by action is worthless (James 2:17). Therefore, in addition to praying for the world, there is something else that I’m committed to doing. I am a “Dream Catalyst”, leading people to unleash God’s potential and power in their lives. I am a “Visioneer”, committed to empowering people to execute positive possibilities in situations that others only see as problems.

I have a global vision to see impoverished communities uplifted and advanced through a global entrepreneurial network that provides spiritually empowered economic development and sustainability solutions. This B.I.G. – Bold, Innovative, God-Inspired – dream was dramatically shaped by an incredible experience I had a few years ago.

In October 2006 I had a life changing, paradigm shifting experience. On my first trip across the ocean, I had the incredible opportunity to go on a missions trip to Rwanda. I came back from that trip with a whole new perspective on the world and an entirely new outlook on Africa. Before going, I thought I recognized them as human beings with hopes, dreams, feelings, issues, challenges, etc.

Nevertheless, as crazy as this is going to sound, seeing them face to face and spending time with them gave me such a new and powerful appreciation for their humanity and dignity as human beings. For the first time, I saw Africans as my true brothers and sisters. But not just Africans. I began to see all people around the world as my brothers and sisters. I also gained a better understanding of poverty.

Poverty is such an oppressive institution that it often drives people who feel powerless to do desperate things, and in African countries and elsewhere that often involves violence. One of the keys to reducing this violence is to reduce peoples’ feelings of powerlessness and purposelessness. That’s why I believe equipping people with entrepreneurial skills and resources, teaching them Biblical principles of purpose, and working to change oppressive governmental policies, will help to empower the less fortunate economically, spiritually, and socially.

It is possible to engineer practical solutions that can be utilized to improve the lives of billions of people, from America to Africa to Asia. I also believe the most overlooked and untapped resources needed to improve these communities already exist within those communities.

In order for this dream to become a reality, it is imperative that we start bringing together entrepreneurially-minded people from corporations, small businesses, faith-based organizations, advocacy agencies, and other relevant groups to develop comprehensive yet practical solutions that will propel people to improve their lives.

These collaborative teams need to be willing and able to think beyond traditional community development models and failed experiments of the past. From an entrepreneurial perspective, there has to be a willingness to take risks and try new approaches that have never been attempted before.

The process of engineering a community empowerment plan such as this takes passion, time, strategic planning, creativity, innovation, discipline, and patience. Shortcuts are not an option. And neither are quick fixes.

If economic empowerment and community development are areas that you are passionate about, here are some things that you can begin doing today to make a difference:

1. Start seeing situations through the perspective of possibility versus the purview of problems. Your perspective of a situation will change your response to the situation. Nothing is impossible.
2. Talk passionately about your ideas with other people. You never know what type of resources someone else may have to invest in your vision. However, because most people are probably going to be more pessimistic than you are, don’t allow them to dampen your enthusiasm.
3. Collaborate and brainstorm potential solutions with other like-minded people. You don’t have to be a “lone ranger.” You may have only one piece of the solution puzzle while someone else may have another.
4. Start small. You don’t need a complex strategic plan to begin to implement your ideas. Starting small is probably the best way to test some of your ideas to see if they work before trying to impact a large group of people.
5. Be the change you want to see in your community. It starts with you. Don’t complain about something that you’re contributing to or that you’re not willing to do anything about.

One of the things that people need the most, but is in short supply is… hope. They need more than just hope, though. They need hope that’s backed by action. They need to be equipped with knowledge, skills, tools, and encouragement to succeed, so they can develop and execute a vision for their lives that is greater than what they may have ever thought was possible.

There is no problem in this world that cannot be solved with the right combination of faith in God, passion, ideas, time, money, and perseverance. The question is are you going to be a “problem-peddler” or a problem-solver? I hope you will choose the latter.

Join me today to “visioneer” practical solutions that will empower millions of people to live healthy, whole, and holy lives.

In an effort to help Live Intentionally readers reach their dreams and inspire others, I’ve invited you to share your dreams. Every Friday I’ll feature another reader & their dream. Today’s post is by Laura Droege…

I dream of being the good Samaritan.

I’ve been the Pharisee. Six weeks after my second daughter’s birth, I was at Walmart, pushing my cart down the soft drink aisle. A stocker asked how old my baby was. I told him.

“My wife and I had a two-week-old.” Avoiding my eyes, he added softly, “She died a month ago.”

In my sleep-deprived, stressed-out mode, I didn’t comprehend what his words meant: his child would have been my daughter’s age. I looked blankly at him. Then I continued shopping. I have a million excuses, several good reasons, but I still walked by a man in need of comfort. I was a Pharisee.

I’ve been the wounded man by the roadside. Late in my first pregnancy, just days before my diagnosis with bipolar disorder, I sat on a church pew, limp and exhausted. I was desperate for relief from the civil war in my head. I could no longer speak. Every ounce of concentration focused on containing the coup d’etat of my brain chemicals.

Four people walked by my pew. “Hey, how are you?” they asked.

My husband answered, “Not good” or “Well, we’re here.”

Not one of them asked what was wrong or offered to pray for us. I have often felt lonely but never as alone as I did that dark night, feeling my soul bleed and watching the world cross the road without so much as an offer of a bandage. I was the neighbor.

Yet I dream of being the Samaritan, someone who sees another person in need, whose heart burns with compassion, and who cannot ignore the oozing, pus-filled wounds of another’s heart. I never want to be the one who knew and did nothing.

But I can’t personally know everyone in the world. That’s one reason I dream of publishing my novel: I won’t meet each of my readers but I can influence them through my words.

There’s a reason Jesus told stories. We put ourselves in a story and often learn more about ourselves than we would through an essay or sermon. That’s why I write fiction, so my readers can see where they fit: are they the desperate girl on the brink of suicide? The friend who loves her? The former friends convinced of their own superiority and righteousness?

My dream is for the readers to find themselves in my stories and be changed by what these fictional selves mirror back to them—the righteous jolted from their pride, the desperate given hope that someone does care, the blind eyes opened to see their neighbor in need. And ultimately, I want all to be pointed to a grace-filled God whose dreams for our lives are far bigger than the ones we create for ourselves.

As I pursue this dream, would you be willing to help me? Here’s some practical ways: I blog once a week at lauradroege.wordpress.com, and you can follow it by email, RSS feed or Google reader. I welcome (encourage!) all comments. (It helps to know that someone is actually reading!)

I’m active on Facebook (you can “friend me” at Laura Bradshaw Droege, or “like” me at Laura Droege); you’ll receive notification when I post new blogs. I also welcome new Twitter followers http://twitter.com/#!/lauradroege) and I’ll follow you back!

If you’re involved in media of any type–magazines, newspapers, radio, television, or personally know someone who is–you can support me by publicizing my book when it is released. Articles or interviews are great for book sales, and publishers love to know when a writer can market her novel. Let me know so I can include this in my book proposal marketing information. That’s a big thing.

If you have contacts within publishing, I’d love to know about them. Contact me at laura_droege@bellsouth.net or through my blog. That’s a big thing, too.

The biggest thing is prayer: prayer for my future agent, editor, publisher, and for me. It’s an uphill battle to publish a book about suicide and mental illness, and to have a novel with overtly Christian themes published outside the Christian market, and I need wisdom in knowing where to submit queries and proposals.

I know my dream is possible with God’s help and yours. Thank you, reader, for listening.

In an effort to help Live Intentionally readers reach their dreams and inspire others, I’ve invited you to share your dreams. Every Friday I’ll feature another reader & their dream. Today’s post is by Brandon Andress…

I don’t know how many times I have taken something mechanical apart, in order to fix it, only to get it completely disassembled and not know where to begin in putting it back together.  Inevitably there are three dozen screws thrown about (of which I will only be able to remember where two dozen of them actually go), plastic parts that once fit snuggly together now only coming together through brute force, and little rubber pieces that my dog has now chewed and swallowed.

The process of taking something complex that is broken and putting it back together is a daunting and overwhelming task filled with all sorts of emotions and feelings- frustration, impatience, doubt, despair, and maybe even surrender (if you are me).  Maybe I am being a bit too melodramatic but I am convinced that if a person chooses to put something complex back together, he or she should be prepared for a bumpy ride.  It isn’t all going to be daisies and roses…but if (and maybe when) it all comes together in the end there is a sense of joy, accomplishment, and satisfaction for a job well done.

I see the Church as something like a vacuum cleaner that isn’t really working right.  Sure it still might be able to clean the floor…but not like it used to.  It runs…but it makes a lot of noise and occasionally stinks up the room.  It sucks up the easy stuff…but has a hard time dealing with the big stuff.

There have been many people who have deconstructed this machine.  Some have deconstructed it for the fun of it with no intention on trying to fix it or put it back together.  Others have looked at all the parts in shambles and concluded it isn’t worth all the work to put it back together.  I have looked at the pieces myself and felt really overwhelmed.  I have thought that it would take a real miracle worker to be able to put all of these pieces back together again so that it could function like it was always intended.

That has been my burden and prayer for the Church for so long…that despite how complex, convoluted, and in disarray it is…that the Church would find it’s heart, it’s soul, it’s first love and begin to be pieced and mended back together as one by the greatest miracle worker the world has ever known.

The last documented prayer of Jesus before he was arrested was a prayer for unity among believers:

I pray also for those who will believe in me through [the disciples'] message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

The truth is that the Church has been far from the answer to Jesus’ prayer of unity.

Disunity is the embarrassment and the ridicule of the Church. We have been mocked by the cynics and the naysayers who declare that there is no way that God exists because if He did, there would not be such a divided and misaligned group of people who claim to work on His behalf. Disunity is the dark stain, the blemish, on that which is to be pure and spotless. Of all people who ought to know something about unity, we are the exact opposite of it. The Church is the group of people who has become the face of pettiness, division, in-fighting, conflict, and war with each other. Our disunity is nothing less than shameful and disgraceful. The grace and peace of God that has been so generously given to us and that we should generously and freely extend to each other has instead been replaced by judgment and conflict.

While we all agree that Jesus is Lord and we confess Him with our lips, our denominations and individual churches argue and compete against each other as if we are on separate teams involved in some sort of competition. We behave as if our individual churches or denominations have been given the exact truth or revelation from God and we are the only bearers of it. We treat other brothers and sisters in Christ as heretical pagans if they do one small thing differently than we do. All the while we continue to divide and divide and divide, and build walls higher and higher and higher.

We have to ask what we are trying to hold on to and defend? What kingdom or power structure are we building up and trusting in? Can we not see that we are fighting the wrong enemy and our division works against the Kingdom of God?  Do we continue to argue for our “right” position because it glorifies us or glorifies God? These are tough questions, but questions that have to be asked nonetheless. Is it about our own kingdom or the Kingdom of God?

Do we all not preach Christ crucified and resurrected? Do we all not preach that through our faith in Jesus we are saved? Do we all not preach the confession and the repentance of sin? Do we all not preach one faith and one baptism? Do we all not take a bread and cup that unites us into one body through One Body? Do we not believe the words of Jesus that a kingdom divided against itself will not stand! This is true for any kingdom. How will we bear graciously and patiently with our enemy if we cannot bear graciously and patiently with our Christian brother or sister?

The simple fact is that this battle cannot be fought and won with little bands of resistance forces operating on their own. For this battle, it takes each one of us who call Jesus as Lord to unite behind the great proclamation and the great demonstration of the Kingdom of God to defeat the enemy. It is in the Kingdom of God that we find the one thing which unites and binds us all together and draws us out of division and denominationalism once and for all.

Just as a body is one but has many parts that form this one body, the same is true in Christ. We were baptized by one Spirit to form one body. We lose our individual identities and become hidden in Christ. He is the head and we are the body. His ways become our ways. His Kingdom is our Kingdom. And in His Kingdom there is no room for other kingdoms. There is no room for political kingdoms that divide. There is no room for nationalistic kingdoms that divide. There is no room for religious kingdoms that divide. And, there is certainly NO ROOM for your own individual kingdom.

There is only one Kingdom and it is to that Kingdom we must unite and conform! It is to that Kingdom we must pledge our allegiance. That is why it should not surprise us that the Kingdom of God is the great unifier! Because it was the Kingdom of God that Jesus was calling us into all along. He was calling and inviting us into His Kingdom and only His Kingdom. It is the Kingdom for which we have been called to take in word and action to the nations, baptizing and making disciples, so as to complete the Body of Christ. That is the Gospel message that we join together to proclaim! The Gospel message is nothing more and nothing less than the Gospel of the Kingdom of God! That is the Good News! It is for that Good News we share a united voice. There is no other message that is more important.

And it is to this God-sized dream to which I see the Church awakening:  That God would use each one of us to unite and bring the Body of Christ together to extend his Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

To join me in this dream please take the opportunity (individually and as churches) to read my book Unearthed: How Discovering the Kingdom of God Will Transform the Church and Change the World.  This book takes a hard look at who we are and what we have become as the Church and lays out the framework for how the Kingdom of God will give unite us and give us identity and purpose.  I will be making an individual and group study available on March 8, 2011 as a free PDF download.  If you are interested, please contact me at brandon@the-living-room.org.

Grace and peace…

In an effort to help Live Intentionally readers reach their dreams and inspire others, I’ve invited you to share your dreams. Every Friday I’ll feature another reader & their dream. Today’s post is by Lennart Östman…

I’m a composer, photographer and web designer. I was saved as a teenager but later drifted away from Christ. As I met my wife I came back to Jesus from many wasted years in new age nonsense. I’ve always listened to a lot of record artists and had a huge cd collection.

One day while watching a live dvd by Rush the Lord told me to stop watching it. I didn’t and had an awful day for not obeying. The Lord then led me to throw all my over 300 cd’s with worldly artists in the trash and this time I obeyed. Not much was left but big holes in my music collection. God later led me to several christian artists within the genre I like most – progressive rock.

This started me off in a new direction in my own music making. But as I listened to a lot of christian artists two thing became clear to me.

1 – There is a huge spiritual difference between writing music about love, fantasy or politics and writing music about Jesus. All music is a carrier of spirit, and when we play praise music to the Lord, the praise must be not stay in the lyrics, but most also be in the guitars, the bass and every other instrument!

2 – Musically there is really very little difference between christian music and the worlds music. (there are exceptions)

The devil has formed a huge part of the worlds culture, and much of that we have brought straight into our christian culture, without thinking. I see a great need for a new christian form language within all cultural expressions.

Take distorted guitars for instance. Why do we like distorted guitars? Because they are powerful. But the way they are most often used in popular music they don’t convey power but rather chaos. We use them as we have been taught from the rock bands of the sixties and seventies. But the teenage revolution of the sixties had very little to do with God. This is the form language of the devil and it has nothing to do in christian music. I don’t mean we are to stop using distorted guitars but we should use them to convey the power of the Lord and not the chaos of the devil!

Another thing is the decline of real melodies. In modern music, worldly and christian alike, melodies have  at large been replaced by moods. Moods are all about feelings, and although feelings are very nice and a creation of God, they should not be allowed in the driving seat of our lives, or our music. The angels of God don’t play new age washy techno drones in front of the throne, I’m quite convinced there are totally wonderful melodies there.

There are many more examples from music, movies, painting, theater, you name it.

My dream is the quest of a new Christian form language. To learn how to create like the Lord creates and to teach this to others. Right now I’m in the learning phase of it.

You can follow my path at http://www.spaghettitrain.org