Author: Jonathan Blundell

I'm a husband, father of three, blogger, podcaster, author and media geek who is hoping to live a simple life and follow The Way.

what’s your credibility rating?

This morning at the What-A-Study, Brian asked, “what’s your credibility rating?”

When you think about credibility, what comes to mind? What causes a person to gain credibility, or lose credibility? When you think about Scripture you can probably name a number of folks who had some great credibility, and those who didn’t. You can probably think of folks in your own life who have great credibility with you – and those who don’t. Where would you rank on a scale of 1-10?

Brian pointed out that even the Apostle Paul had to raise his credibility rating. If you think about it, he was coming in as an outsider. He was someone totally opposed to Christianity and now he shows up wanting to work hand in hand with the disciples. Maybe we should check his letter of recommendation a little closer.

Here’s what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians (from the Message):

1-2 So, friends, it’s obvious that our visit to you was no waste of time. We had just been given rough treatment in Philippi, as you know, but that didn’t slow us down. We were sure of ourselves in God, and went right ahead and said our piece, presenting God’s Message to you, defiant of the opposition.

3-5 God tested us thoroughly to make sure we were qualified to be trusted with this Message. Be assured that when we speak to you we’re not after crowd approval—only God approval. Since we’ve been put through that battery of tests, you’re guaranteed that both we and the Message are free of error, mixed motives, or hidden agendas. We never used words to butter you up. No one knows that better than you. And God knows we never used words as a smoke screen to take advantage of you.

6-8 Even though we had some standing as Christ’s apostles, we never threw our weight around or tried to come across as important, with you or anyone else. We weren’t aloof with you. We took you just as you were. We were never patronizing, never condescending, but we cared for you the way a mother cares for her children. We loved you dearly. Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts. And we did.

9-12 You remember us in those days, friends, working our fingers to the bone, up half the night, moonlighting so you wouldn’t have the burden of supporting us while we proclaimed God’s Message to you. You saw with your own eyes how discreet and courteous we were among you, with keen sensitivity to you as fellow believers. And God knows we weren’t freeloaders! You experienced it all firsthand. With each of you we were like a father with his child, holding your hand, whispering encouragement, showing you step-by-step how to live well before God, who called us into his own kingdom, into this delightful life. (1 thes 2:1-9)

A few things to consider as we think about our own credibility:

  • Paul served sacrificially (vs 1-2) he didn’t show up and suddenly hope doing one or two good things would make him credible. it took time and sacrifice.
  • Paul constantly checked his motives (vs 3-5) – Paul continually checked his motives with God to ensure he was working and sacrificing for the right reasons. He didn’t work to please man – but God.
  • Paul was willing to do right even without credit (v 6) – that can be a hard one. it’s easy to hope that others will see our good deeds and tell everyone about it – but can we still do good without credit. will you still wash the dishes or fold the laundry for your wife even if she doesn’t recognize it for weeks on end?
  • Paul was selfless, grace-driven and caring for others (vs 7-8) – Something that stands out in that passage, “We loved you dearly. Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts.” As Christians our goal is to share the Gospel. But Paul says that despite that calling he wasn’t content just converting people. He shared his heart. Reminds me of Bullhorn Man. Are we simply so enthralled in converting people that we don’t recognize the hurting that’s around us? Are we so concerned about sharing the Gospel that we forget to live it? Sure I can go to Austin Street and share the Gospel, but I don’t have any credibility with those folks until I recognize they don’t have a bed to sleep in or a coat to keep them warm. They may ultimately need the Gospel, but we must also be aware of their physical and emotional conditions as well.
  • Paul was consistent in his hard work (v9) – he labored and labored and labored, not losing sight of his goal.

So what about you? How is your credibility with your wife, husband, children, friends, boss and the stranger on the street? How would you rate? How would you rate me?

Christmas Eve Sarajevo

love this live introduction to TSO’s Christmas Eve Sarajevo, it reminds me of Wim Winders Wings of Desire and U2’s Stay (Faraway So Close).

…when he flew over sarajevo
there were scars upon the land
there were scars upon the people
it was hard to understand
and the deepest scars of all
which to humans are unseen
the angel could see clearly
were the scars of all the dreams
by bellfast, rowanda, palestine
the only decorations here had been awards for their crimes
and in the gardens where the children played
now soldiers only trod
and stranger still
he heard some say that they were killing for their god
now the angel had heard God speak many times
and he had always paid attention
but this killing of one’s neighbor
was something the Lord had never mentioned
as he neared the earth of a recent battle ground
from among the ruins
he once more heard the sound
it was a simple chello
playing a forgotten christmas song
and even on that battlefield
that song somehow belonged
and as he flew away
the angel did take note
and where he found this music played
one always could find hope

5ive things I’ve learned while riding DART

With my new job I’ve been riding DART to work everyday (well almost) and I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve learned on my own – that the DART website didn’t tell me.

5. You must have exact change. Unlike the DART Rail stations that offer machines to buy tickets, Park and Ride stations do not – and you’ll need exact change to get on the bus.
4. Buses make more stops than advertised. On the route for my bus the brochure and website only show 3 stops in downtown. They make A LOT more stops than that. It makes things easier I’m sure for most, unless you’re one of the final stops along the route and the bus is already full.
3. Some bus drivers think they’re in NASCAR. You’ll rarely get the same bus driver on the same route at the same time every day – so be warned – some will drive like NASCAR – some will drive like your grandmother.
2. The buses are clean and well kept. I’ve been told this and experienced the clean rail lines but never really personally experienced how clean the buses were. My only bus experiences were on chartered buses so everyone knows they’ll be clean.
1. Lots of interesting people ride DART. You never know who may be riding next to you. A lawyer, doctor, single mom, married father of 5. You can meet lots of interesting people – that is if they’re willing to carry on a conversation with you.

and as a bonus: DART needs more service coming to Glenn Heights and Ellis County. From my view, the bus into downtown stays full almost every trip. A couple other bus options (including weekend service) and/or light rail would be AWESOME!

Catchup

Wow! It’s mid-December?! Holy Cow!
It’s been a fast and crazy two weeks. Let’s see if I can play catch-up in one post.

1. I have a new job. I started a new position with the Dallas County Community College District on Dec. 5th. I’m not completely sold that this is the career for me, but I think it’s a lot closer in the right direction. My official title is: Curriculum Management Content Specialist. And guess what — that’s actually what I’m doing so far!

I enjoyed my time with the county but the further along I went, the further I realized it wasn’t quite for me. My boss was great, my co-workers were great, the hours and benefits were great, but in the end I felt like the money could be better spent on paving roads than on paying my salary. Also this opportunity came available when I wasn’t even seriously looking and I felt like it was where God was leading me next.

The job itself is working with the district’s catalogs and maintaining, posting and revising them online, as well as putting together a “print” version that will be stored as a PDF on CD for various groups. I’m also getting to do some graphic work along with the web and database work so it should be a great experience either way.

2. Well that’s about it. Just kidding.

3. Things around the house have been busy as well. We had our community group Christmas party on Dec. 7th, followed by a men’s gathering/challenge at 10 p.m. that night. It’s part of a 9 month series we’re doing on challenging men to be stronger men of God. I put together a website for the challenge and just now finished editing the video from our first gathering.

The basic idea behind the challenge is that once a month we’ll pass out GPS coordinates on Sunday morning and post them on the website. The following Friday night – at 10 p.m. – the men in the church will meet at that location for discussion and a challenge from Brian. He’s also following up with a challenge that is e-mailed/txt’d/ or printed out for those interested.

The idea is that there is a bit of a challenge in finding the location as well as coming at the scheduled time. You have to make some sacrifices to be a part of the event – just like we have to do to be men of God.

I’m looking forward to the other meetings. Our first meeting was on an island in the middle of Lake Waxahachie. The coordinates simply took us to a boat ramp where we gathered and 3 john boats carried us in pairs to the island where a bonfire and Brian were waiting. Very cool.

Brian mentioned yesterday that he’s amused at the difference between our church and others. He told another pastor about the idea and the man responded, “Yeah that sounds like a great way to get deacons and elders for your church. That’s when you find out who you want to lead your church in official capacities.” Too bad we don’t have deacons or elders. Ha.

4. We had four parties to go to last weekend. Our community group Christmas party, a birthday party for Gracelyn, a Christmas party at Daniel and Allison’s and the CWF Christmas party. Whew! What a weekend. And our friend Andrew was “bab-a-tized” Sunday morning (I’m working on that video too).

5. Monday, Dec 10 brought work again and then we went to Mesquite that night to enjoy an After Hours Improv show at our parent’s church. Always good entertainment.

6. Wednesday, Laurie stayed home from work to rest and catch up on her sleep. All the going, going and going along with her heart working overtime wiped her out.

I was somehow able to convince her to hold off with painting our bedroom during the day, but after I got home she went to work. She painted one wall a cool rich dark purple to match the comforter on our bed. I’m just surprised she hasn’t posted pictures of it yet. That took up most of the evening, while I worked on “tweaking” a (Unit 4) photoshop project.

Thursday evening she finished touch-ups in the room.

7. Friday was another Christmas party at work. I think that was the 4th one I’ve been to since I started at DCCCD. Let me think back… We had a chili cook-off the 2nd day I was there, a pizza party the 3rd, the Chancellor’s Christmas brunch earlier in the week and then the lunch/party at a Mexican restaurant in Mesquite for another team I’ll be a part of. And there’s one last party on Wednesday of this week.

8. Once the party was over, I tried to do a little Christmas shopping but gave up after visiting three stores. Just couldn’t get myself in the mood to fight the afternoon crowds.

After Laurie made it home we went to Bob and Vickie’s for some dinner with the rest of Laurie’s family and then headed over to Jed’s house for a Christmas party there. Jed will be marrying Jen, Laurie’s maid-of-honor in June. I think Jen’s enjoying taking the “bachelor” out of Jed and his house. I’m not sure who’s worse – me or him. I guess we’ll have to quiz Laurie and Jen after the wedding.

9. Saturday we slept in finally and then got up and cleaned, ran errands and cooked dinner for friends to come over for dinner. Matt, Kathryn, Daniel, Allison, Richard, Amber and Gracelyn all came for dinner. We had a great time – and took no pictures :-(. We usually end up playing games after dinner but it was nice to just sit and talk around the table afterwards.

Laurie fixed her infamous potato casserole and I cooked up a green been casserole and a pot roast. We decided afterwards that we’d stick with the cheaper roast meat when doing pot roast – chuck roast doesn’t seem to be as tender and also seemed to be a lot fattier (there’s more on that story but I’ll save you the details for now).

10. Are you still reading? Geeze. Bored at work I presume.

11. Sunday we had church as usual and then Brad and Jen came over with their kids and Laurie took some family Christmas photos of them. Lots of pictures – hopefully some of them turned out good. Getting two kids to sit still for too long is pretty hard so luckily we had lots of room for pictures on our camera disk and lots of time ;-). It was great to spend some more time with Brad and Jen and the kids as well. Brooklyn even volunteered to help me clean the back door where Presley has left her muddy paw prints.

And sadly, in the midst of it all, the Cowboys lost… dang that Jessica Simpson.

Well that’s about all I have on December for now. I’m sure I’ve left something or someone out and hopefully Laurie will get a chance to stop and fill in any gaps. But of course if you’ve been following my Twitter feed you already knew a lot of this anyways ;-).

Hopefully I’ll give my tips for riding DART before too long. It’s been cooking in my head since the 5th.

Verse(s) for the day

1 And that’s about it, friends. Be glad in God! I don’t mind repeating what I have written in earlier letters, and I hope you don’t mind hearing it again. Better safe than sorry—so here goes.

2-6 Steer clear of the barking dogs, those religious busybodies, all bark and no bite. All they’re interested in is appearances—knife-happy circumcisers, I call them. The real believers are the ones the Spirit of God leads to work away at this ministry, filling the air with Christ’s praise as we do it. We couldn’t carry this off by our own efforts, and we know it—even though we can list what many might think are impressive credentials. You know my pedigree: a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God’s law; a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting the church; a meticulous observer of everything set down in God’s law Book.

7-9 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.

10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it. – Phil 3:1-11

This passage always stands out to me. It’s one that really helped me put things in focus when I was 18 and made me realize the things of this world that I was striving for – didn’t really matter.
Even today, as I read it for the umpteenth time the words rang just as true as they always have.
It is definitely a Monday morning. I woke up earlier than normal, sometime before 5 a.m. because I apparently rolled on my back and started snoring. Laurie did exactly what I’ve been telling her to do – wake me up if I’m keeping her awake. But I was frustrated at myself because I simply don’t know how or why I tend to roll onto my back when I sleep. After that trying to go back to sleep was useless. I finally got up, made some coffee, ate some breakfast and went to let Presley out.

And despite the warning stuck to our back door – “Turn the alarm off” – I didn’t. So the alarm went off as soon as I opened the door.

I finished getting ready and sat down to check my e-mail. Laurie headed off for work and I waited my time to leave. At 6:45 I started the “process” of getting Presley back into her crate. She was perched on her favorite chair with a warm blanket and wanted no part in moving. I got her to her crate and noticed she was avoiding one side of it. Upon further examination I discovered she had an accident during the night and of course wanted to avoid laying in it. Apparently the pot roast left overs I gave her yesterday didn’t sit well with her and she couldn’t wait till morning.

So despite the time on the clock, I had to clean up the mess. She obviously knew she had an accident but unfortunately that doesn’t mean she’s going to help clean up. ;-). I finally got things cleaned as best as I could in a brief time, threw her blanket in the wash and put her back in her crate – smelling like an accident myself.

I headed out the front door at 7 a.m. only to realize my windows were frosted over again. Arrgh! I grabbed a glass of luke-warm water to clean them off, which did a great job getting rid of the frost, but apparently wasn’t warm enough to keep the water from re-freezing before I could get the truck warmed up – so I was back to scraping the ice off by hand.

I finally made it to the bus stop around 7:20 – just in time to catch the bus to work.

As I read the above passage, with the smell still in my nose of Presley’s accident it was an screaming example of how Paul felt about the things not of Christ – “dog dung.” I prayed and pray that I will feel the same way. The same sickening smell I’m smelling today should be the same smell we experience when we stray from Christ and His call on our life.

How do your sins/distractions from Christ smell?