The First Rule of Fight Club is...

So I love movies, especially movies with plot twists. I was having a conversation with a friend of mine about the scripture is like a story. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. I started pondering what this looks like. I thought for a second about a movie version of scripture. I mean it has war and violence, sex and romance, good guys and bad guys, and even a big plot twist. Certainly seems like the type of movie I would watch.

So let me start off by saying that its true, that scripture is like a story. In fact its a story that's in progress right now. The end of the story hasn't happened yet. This means that you are a character in this story. Think about this for a second.  If scripture was made into a movie, what actor/actress would play you?

The fact is that Scripture does in fact have a beginning, middle, and end. Its important to know and understand all of these elements. Know this is just my opinion, but this has really helped me to understand more of scripture, and helped me to share use it missionally. I took the "Star Wars" approach to scripture. Which is essentially understanding the middle of the story first. Then going back and understanding the beginning, and finally seeing how it all plays out in the end. (I know, I know, George Lucas hasn't made the end of the Star Wars Series, but lets just pretend for a minute) 

This approach was really helpful, because I read the Gospels first. This helped me to understand the character of Jesus. How he acted, the things he said etc. It made me see elements of his personality. It also helped me to understand the beginning of the story. If you read about how Jesus came and died in the Gospels, when you read the Old Testament, you understand why he did that. Lastly, when you read the end, you know where the story is going. You can be prepared for whats gonna happen, so you wont be caught of guard by any plot or character changes. Read them in whatever fashion you prefer, but get engaged to the story of Scripture.

Now here's where the real fun comes in. Go and share the Gospel with someone in the context of a story. I really enjoy the movie 'Fight Club'. In this movie the end is shown first. Then it recaps the last little while to show how it got here. Try to take the Fight Club approach to sharing the Gospel this week. Most people know that Jesus died, and maybe some even know why he died, but I feel as though there are many who don't get the whole picture. Maybe the ending of Fight Club has been ruined for you, but that doesn't change the fact that seeing the movie play out is still interesting. I already am prepared for the plot twist every time and I still really enjoy seeing how it gets there.

So consider taking this approach. Share the end first. Explain Jesus death. Explain how and why he did it. Explain what it meant, the significance in had then, as well as for the rest of eternity. But then try something different. Go back and explain how baby, born in a stable, Jesus, goes through life, and all the way to eyes of fire Jesus. You just might be surprised how people will react. Even if they have heard the story many times, if you can share it in this creative way it could be much more effective. I know it was for me.

So the First Rule of Scripture Sharing is, you DO talk about Jesus. The Second Rule of Scripture Sharing is, you DO talk about Jesus.....

A Letter to Graduates

Dear Class of 2010,

Congratulations for making it through school. You have made choices effecting your own life, but many others as well. I'm sure its fearful to become a "freshman" of real life, but I encourage to accept this task with a smile on your face. While one chapter in your life is drawing to a close many, many others are about to open. I want to express how proud I am of you for showing to me that people actually survive college, and I'm eager to learn more from you as I join you next year, in the real world.

You have most likely changed a lot during your time in college, and I want to challenge you to continue to do so. Please keep following Jesus, and growing in him always. It's easy to feel the pressures of conforming to standard society, but I want to encourage you to conform only to Jesus, and being more like him. Remember that you are unique and special and that no matter how much the 'world' asks you to change,  you were created, with a purpose no less, by the architect of eternity. If your 'degree' doesn't make it easier to find a job, or if your are totally unsure what you will even do, remember that you are a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven first, and that your life was cleverly orchestrated by the creator of the universe.  

Listen carefully to God and follow his will. Embrace whatever commission you are given by him. Live life to the fullest, and embrace God's abundance. As large decisions come your way, like who to marry, when to start a family, where to work etc. Please keep God's purpose for you in your mind and live for Him first.

Go and be a light to the world. Continue on with a missional lifestyle. Never settle for anything less than giving one hundred percent to God. Establish or find good community. Strive for true biblical living, and don't be afraid to improve the existing ways of those that have gone before you. Rise up in the church and help to bring redemption to the brokenness, that the body is facing.

Remember now that even though classes are over, relationships are not. Still be praying for, and investing in the people you were as a student. Even if your life operates comfortably in terms of school semesters, the Kingdom of Heaven doesn't. Be an influence to these people, and don't forget about the relationships that you made during your time as a student.

Wherever you are heading now, whether it be a new city, new state, or even a new country, look back and see the architecture of why you were here. Praise God for the things your learned and taught to others. Remember these years as a student, but don't forget to look forward to where your going. It's been said that college is the best years of your life, and even though I can't speak from first hand experience, even greater things are still to come.

Congratulations, and enjoy your upcoming graduation ceremony. May God bless you and your household.
Your brother in the Lord, Christ Jesus,

Christopher S. Huston

Share in Death, Share in Life

Paul the apostle, mentioned at one point that if the resurrection didn't happen our faith is basically meaningless. How right he was. Today is Resurrection Sunday. Notice that I didn't say Easter. This might just be me, but when I say Easter, candy, bunnies, chicks, and spring colors come to mind. But when I say Resurrection Sunday, I think Jesus. I think what it must have been like to die and to rise. When Jesus came back to life into his body, I wonder what that experience felt like. One door closed in death, and now one big huge door opened in his resurrection. I wonder if he was thirsty or hungry...

Anyway, the fact is that this "holiday" is one of my least favorite, and yet today is one of my favorite days. Easter is my least favorite "holiday" because of what it involves. Egg hunts, candy (which most people don't eat and then give away to someone else at Halloween), bunnies. It was all just stuff I never really bought into. In fact its a holiday that I forget about. It will be like a week or two before and Ill be like, "wait Easter is on Sunday" and I'm not alone.

Why is today so important then? Because just like Paul said, if we don't believe in this, our faith means nothing. I mean if Jesus never really died, and this all was just a joke. He was just asleep or something, then we are not sharing in his death. And when Jesus bids me to come and die, I say no. Why would I taste this sting of death, even if its not a physical death if Jesus didn't go before me? Or if Jesus did die, but didn't rise, same issue. Then I may accept sharing in death, but with no hope of ever sharing in life. But the fact remains, that Jesus, died. He was dead, he breathed his last breath, and was placed in a above ground tomb. His spirit left his body and it lay limp wrapped in cloths soaked in spices. In literally the greatest miracle in the world, he rose. He proved to all who were watching that he is divine. Fully human, and yet, fully God. Able to rise, still with wounds and blood on his body, air filled his lungs again! Can I get an Amen!?!

Jesus opened his eyes, he had now conquered death. He was so full of love, compassion, and holiness that he finished his work and met with disciples before his ascension. I mean, if I were Jesus, I would want to just start killing or mocking the people who hurt me or those who didn't believe. I would want to laugh at the Pharisees. But Jesus is a good King, and I am not.

Jesus, our King, died and Jesus our King, rose. He did this for you! He did this for his people, he did this to let us settle our debts with a completely righteous God. So today, let us remember this. Let us remember what it took for us to live. Let us remember what power our King truly has the he conquers even death. Let us, instead of having an Easter Holiday, let us celebrate Resurrection Sunday. Let us celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, with a very alive and kickin Jesus. Let us thank him for going before us, and leading us on after. Let us ask Jesus, "Jesus, let me share in your death on a cross, that I may share in your life via a resurrection!"

*PS* This is a link to a blog that I subscribe to. Its excellent and I highly recomend reading and subscribing. Please check out this link about her and her friends thoughts on Easter. They hit the nail on the head!

Alidia and Emily Discuss Easter

Bookshelves of Righteousness

Particle board is a specific type of wood. It can technically be classified as wood. I mean if you break down what characteristics make up "wood" particle board fits at least some or even most of them. Particle board is 'wood' that is made from sawdust. When sawmills cut pieces of lumber down to size there is alot of scrap that is shredded as sawdust. This sawdust is swept up, combined with a glue type mixture and when it dries you have some fake cheap wood. This particle board is commonly found on cheap furniture.

Oak wood on the other hand is an incredibly durable wood. It can certainly be classified as a wood. It's cut down from a very sturdy tree and trimmed to perfect pieces of lumber, it's used for more high quality and longer lasting furniture.

Christians relate to this simple analogy quite well. We all start as planted tree. Some of us die to ourselves. We are cut down. Our old purpose removed. But by grace we are given a new purpose. To serve our purpose we are trimmed. We are polished. We are made into something new. We are called to furniture. We are called to be bookshelves.

The fact is that there are some Christians out there, that are particle board bookshelves. They at one time were cut down, and given a new purpose. But they stayed with the scrap. They couldn't deal with the stresses of the trimming and polishing. The clung to a 'filler' some glue mixture that made them feel whole again. They clung to this filler so badly that it became a part of them. When this type of Christian is made into a bookshelf it often falls apart quickly.

As bookshelves God wants to fill us with more books. He wants to fill us with authenticity and he wants to empower us to to become beautiful furniture pieces. The fact is that particle board Christians aren't able to take on more books. When they reach capacity they begin to fall apart. As particle board falls apart it cannot be repaired unless with more glue, as it cannot be held together well with hardware (nails, screws, etc) because it will fall apart more. A particle board bookshelf looks like a regular bookshelf. It indeed has books on it. It might look sturdy and reliable, it might look full of wisdom, but on the inside this particle board person is falling apart. Some people out there may even swear that the bookshelf is totally genuine. "High Quality" a sign in a sales department might even read. But the fact is that even in the confusion of identity. Particle board is always particle board.

The true wood on the other hand, endures. It can be treated and sealed and last for hundreds, even thousands of years. It can be nice to look at, as the works of its life are apparent. It can continue to grow and contain more and more books, and not break down. This doesn't mean that there is no stress on the shelves. The weight of the books bear down greatly on the true wood. But through being trimmed, polished, and treated by a good keeper it will continue to serve its purpose for a lifetime.

The fact is that God calls us to be true wood bookshelves. Not particle board, imitation bookshelves. Even if we confuse our friends, our family, and our church, God is not confused. He cannot give us more books or repair us if we are living as a particle board person.

What hope does a particle board person have? This is the good news; they have hope, and great hope. Because God can separate them from their glue. Heal their life and replant them as a tree. Through nourishment of a good keeper they will grow into a true oak. After which time God can again use them to become a true bookshelf.

Where is your treasure?

Recently, I  dedicated my spring break to God. Spring break is a time that most college students look forward to relaxing, getting caught up, or even parties in Mexico. But God has something a little different planned for myself and 7 others. We traveled to St. Louis Missouri. We took this plunge to learn about ourselves, our community, our cities, and even our God. This was the second time that I took this trip and I was unsure about how it would play out. I had a million and a half questions going into it. What will I learn? Why am I going? How will I be changed? All of these questions were quickly silenced one day right before the trip. God came to me, I was desperate for answers, and all he said was "Go!" Said with an attitude of "come and see." So I went.

What my team and I did in St. Louis
We got to attend a very diverse and multicultural church. We got to live in community. We got to experience and live in the inner city. We got to learn about God's burning heart for justice. We got to experience different cultures foods and traditions. We were taken care of by a family that truly exemplifies hospitality. We got to worship God through dancing, and singing in Swahili with Congolese refugees. Experienced God in a way we never expected. Established lasting friendships. Got to follow Gods will to change ourselves and our campus.

As you can see the trip was loaded, it went by so fast however. On Thursday, the last day before the trip ended I was waiting to see what I was going to bring back to my campus. Last year, I had a good idea of how I needed to change, and how I needed to change my campus by the first few days. But this year the end of the trip was drawing near, and I found myself still confused. I have a heart of these people. I knew the statistics. I had prayed for the pain. What was the big thing I was missing? How was I going to change my campus?

My service project involved working with kids ages 3 through 13 to make Pinewood Derby cars. A simple car that is cut out of a block of wood. On Thursday I set up a section of the race track. The students were going to have a school wide race on Friday, and I wanted to give the kids the chance to practice racing their car. There was one boy who refused to race is car. He was just sitting in the corner playing with it. I went over to Issac and asked him why he didn't want to race. He told me that this little pinewood derby car was so special to him. He told me that it was the only toy that was all his. That he spent time and effort on it, and it was very special to him. He didn't want to race it because he wanted to take it home and show his parents and play with it.

This boy was attending a private school, and I assumed that he was much more blessed than some of the other children in this city. This little piece of wood with wheels meant so much to him. He truly cherished it. Scripture about a man finding a pearl of great value, and selling everything to buy it. Or the man and the treasure in the field. What were my treasures? It dawned it my in that instant. No booming word of God. No flash of light. No mind exploding moment. In this simple conversation with a 5 year old I realized I was a slave.

A slave to money and my possessions. I began to think about how hard it would be to give up some of the things I was blessed with. I mean perhaps if commanded by Jesus himself, but I hold on to these things so tight, it would pain me to give them up. I no longer own my things, they own me. They have consumed me and warped my view of value. The things that are important to me, and that are valuable to me, will all fade to dust one day. Nothing I own can outlast eternity. But God, Scripture, Jesus, these things that I push aside sometimes, will outlast eternity.

Such a upside down Kingdom aspect. The things that are priceless are given as a gift. Things that have no value cost me the most. So that is what I took with me to my home and to my campus. It was hard at first and honestly, it still is. I came home with a support structure of 7 people who care about me and have been praying and providing me with advice. But now I am even better equip to share the Gospel. Because some of the best news I have heard in a while is that life everlasting, something so completely priceless is offered to us for free. If you don't wanna take my word for it, contact a financial adviser or accountant. But in my opinion, the most profitable deal of a lifetime is presented to you right now. I think you should take it!

Ask the Author

In 4 days I will be leaving for St. Louis, MI. I'm heading there with a team of 7 other people to work in the inner city to bring restoration. I participated in this event last year and as its here already I have been thinking about my previous experience. If I trace my faith back it was this event that truly helped me to make the decisions to follow Jesus. While I was saved when I participated in this experience it wasn't until I was in that place that I made a commitment to become a follower.

The experience was overall amazing. I formed strong and lasting relationships with my team. I developed a heart for a overlooked population that dwells among us. I encountered God in a way that was tangible. I brought restoration to place that's facing destruction. But there was something that happened there which to me surpassed all things I brought away from my trip.

I can remember vividly the details, and believe me when I say that the situation sounds so odd. But one day while I was at St. Louis we were having some free time. I can't remember why, but I was upset. I had been having a great trip but something had me really down. I decided to go on a walk and just spend some time alone. I walked out to this little playground that was on the site. I crawled into this tiny little pipe crawl space and chilled there for a while. It was in this tiny, uncomfortable space that I had one of the best conversations I have ever had with God.

God met me in this tiny little crawl space. The first thing he did was tell me that he was proud of me for doing something that was terrifying. It was just uncomfortable, I was absolutely fearful of the trip. He then told me why I was there. I was there because God wanted to teach me about myself. A concept that seemed so strange at the time. He told me that he wanted to teach me why I was the way that I was. I was having a conversation with the author of my life. He was telling me his ideas and I was just watching the story fall into place. I thought I knew everything about myself. What I liked and didn't like. How wrong I was. I never would have said I had a heart for St. Louis or the people I would meet there, and I was 100% wrong. God revealed to me why I cared, and how he had designed me to love justice. It was a total shock of humility. Getting to have the creator explain his reasons for why he did something was nothing short of mind blowing.

Now one year later, my life is completely changed from that experience. I am once again acting in obedience to God and going back. I am eagerly awaiting to see how different and yet still life changing this time around will be.

This event was absolutely critical to my faith and my life, more stories to come at some point. Please consider supporting myself as well as my team with prayer and financially. Two of my teammates created a blog to help there raise the financial support to get them on this trip. Please check it out here and consider supporting them. Also if you would like to receive a prayer card and support us with prayer please email me at Chris@nau.edu and I would love to get you those materials.

God in the IT department

When I was a freshman I landed a pretty sweet job fixing computers. The job was and is great because I get to do something that I love, something that is familiar to me, something that makes people happy. When you tell people you saved their 50+ page paper for grad school, they're really excited. I was really thrilled when I got the job. For anyone who doesn't know I have been working on computers for a long time. I have even built computers from scratch. Which means that I know all the details about them. I know how they should sound, how they should function, what temperature they should be etc. This makes them easy to fix, since I know as soon as something is wrong. Oddly enough God decided to teach me a lesson, which I decided to share with all my readers while I was at work tonight. 

There was these two computers that I was trying to fix. They were very broken. They had all sort of problems, and as soon as I fixed one of the problems another one seemed to surface. I decided to dedicate 90% of my attention to these computers. I would wheel my chair to a few other "easy" ones, and I could wheel away from them, because I was confident that they didn't need my direct attention at all times. I just gave the easy computers the resources they needed to almost fix themselves. This allowed me to sit at these two machines and make them my highest priority.

Strangely enough God does the exact same thing. God is like a IT employee. He's doing something that he loves. He's been doing it a long time! He likes making us happy. He designed us, and is able to repair us so easily because he designed all the parts that compose us. He can also dedicate 90% of his attention to the "problem" computers. Now don't get me wrong here, God is a little better than me at managing his attention and can realistically give 100% attention to everyone, but for the sake of this metaphor just bear with me.

God sits and focuses on these computers that have a lot of problems. He takes em one step at a time, fixing one area of our lives until we are back in working condition. He can dedicate his attention carefully working through the problems that the person has. He also gives these "easier" computers the resources to fix themselves. He gives his followers community, scripture, and lots of other tools so that we can fix ourselves and continue to help others.

The best part is that God wants us, as his followers, to do the same thing. God wants us to focus our energy on relationships that need fixing the most. Its easy to just want to give up, to always just want to work on easy machines, but its the harder ones that require the most dedication. Sometimes we are involved in relationships where there is a lot of fixing to be done. Well let this be a lesson to keep going. Keep investing time in these relationships, because even the most difficult problems are eventually fixed.

So if you are a follower, invest in these relationships. God is working in their life. Hes working hard. Ask him for the resources to help your friends. Ask him how you can help your friends since he designed them and knows exactly how to fix them. If you are not a follower, then know that right now God is investing himself in you. He trying to fix you. Hes dedicating himself to you. He sitting there, not distracted by anything else that is happening. To him you are his number 1 priority right now. So help him help you. Take a risk and hand your life over to God to be fixed.

Yes I do!

On Thursday a few campus-mates and I did a quick 20 minute training teaser to our Intervarsity Chapter. The training consisted of a few elements. One of which was Sharing the Gospel in the Context of Injustice. I practiced this training several times before and felt really good about giving it. But while I was standing up there Listening to the training something really jumped out at me. Emily, my partner that I was doing this presentation with said, God knows suffering. God is the only God who has taken on human form, to know pain and suffering. Even dying the worst possible type of death, to know first hand how we felt. God has even felt the pain of losing a child.

Wow, even though I'd heard her say that in practice many times, and even though deep down I knew it in my heart she said it with such a passion that it just stuck out in my mind. Times I had felt pain rushed to my head. All the times I had cried out to God in my "suffering" saying, "God you don't know what this is like!" How wrong I was. God was right there with me, knowing exactly what it feels like. He has felt physical pain, the pain of betrayal, the pain of loss, even the sting of death. Since I was still giving the training I had to focus on the moment and I ignored the questions and the analysis my brain desperately wanted to do about this little few sentences she said.When I got home though I started to let me brain wrap about this subject.

Thoughts about all this went spinning around. The idea of Jesus somehow being 100% God and 100% man were confusing me. The idea of Jesus having a physical body in Heaven seemed to be confusing me. So many questions were just racing around my head. But I managed to narrow down my question to one that I needed to answer. "Why?" "Why would God experience pain, loss, death?" I thought about it, I mean don't get me wrong, I love Jesus. I love that God in supreme wisdom created a plan to keep his law perfect and flawless but also let us be "clean" and spend eternity with him. But I mean, God could easily just done things differently. Even if he sent his Son, why did he have to die? Why did he have to suffer? Why did a close friend have to betray him? As I thought about it all a rather simple answer seemed to present itself. "Why Not!"

This way God in is supreme wisdom did not only save his Children that he cares about, he did so much more. God as the maker is now able to relate to us as his creation in a way that no one else can imagine. God designed our hearts to love. He designed our hearts to experience pain when we are betrayed. He designed us to experience pain with loss. He did this because he feels the pain too. And he sent Jesus to experience this pain first hand. To see how we felt. So that all the times we cry out to him "You don't understand" he can wrap his arms around us and respond, "Yes I do."

God save the Queen?

Being that I'm a nerd the game of Chess has always been exciting to me. It combines the elements of offense, defense, strategy, and sacrifice. The problem is that I'm not very good at the game of Chess. Recently I decided that, especially if I want to be a business personal someday, learning chess would be a good idea. It's a great way to pass the time and allows for good conversation while playing. I decided to learn how to play, and play well.

I played against my wife, friends, and even online. As most things in life you really have to practice to get better. I could easily see improvement in my game play. I started winning more and more games. I got brave enough to take on my computer in the game. Needless to say the computer even on a medium difficulty wiped the floor with me. I couldn't figure out why I was losing, and believe me I was losing badly. I decided to carefully analyze my style of game play and identify where my errors were. It was through this strange turn of events that God decided to teach me a very important lesson.

The lesson was about what's important. God who is creative enough to teach me something through a game I enjoy knows a lot about importance. Fitting that a lesson of importance would be taught to me through Chess, because there is clearly a importance hierarchy in that game, in terms of the pieces. Pawns are worth one point, knights are worth 3 points etc. It was based on this value structure that I learned my lesson. I started playing a game of chess against a very aggressive opponent on the computer. There were trades left and right, and finally I had a situation where my Queen was in danger. For anyone who doesn't understand how the game is played, the Queen is the most valuable piece. You only get one queen and it's worth nine points both on offense and defense. Being that my queen was in danger I moved her away quickly.

"Checkmate" pops up on my screen. I had just lost the game. "Why did I lose?" I thought to myself. I scrolled through the play history to figure out where my strategy failed. I was able to trace it back to a single move. It was where I moved my queen away from danger. I studied the board for a second, I was tricked. My queen was in danger and I moved her to save her, but in doing that I left what is truly important unguarded, my King. My King was left defenseless and I lost in the next move. I hit the "undo" button and replayed the game from this bad move I made, and guess what, I won! I was shocked. I sacrificed my queen and was able to walk away with a win. In that moment something clicked.

I had just learned at Intervarsity Large Group on Thursday about the dangers of being prideful, and losing sight of who's really the most important in a relationship with God. It now made a lot of sense. The queen in chess is certainly an important piece, but is it really the most important? Not at all, the King is. Without the King the game is lost, and if the game is lost the queen essentially has no value. It made me realize that In my life, I like to think I'm the most important in my relationship with God. I like to think that I'm the piece that's playing offense and defense. I'm the piece that's worth 9 points. But the fact is that my King is the most important. Without my King, this game is over. With this new perspective of focusing on the King as the most important piece I been able to improve my Chess gameplay, and now I seek to improve my life by humbling myself before my King, and acknowledging who's really important in the relationship.

Welcome to the Real World

When I was a freshman in college everything about me was fake. I had fake friends, fake ambitions, fake goals. I blame some of this on the fact that I was in college. College is an easy place to be fake. You chase after things you don't really care about. You study subjects that you don't really care about. You work a job that you don't really care about. Get the picture? It's easy to be fake in college. Things didn't become real to me until later in my college career. Half way through my freshman year I decided to follow Jesus Christ to wherever he would lead me. For the first time things were real! I began to study something that I cared about. I developed relationships that I cared about. I got involved with a community that I cared about.  Things became "real" to me.

The Lord has a interesting way of speaking to your heart in ways that you can easily relate to. For me he spoke to me through The Matrix. Fitting based on the title of this blog as well as this post. After I had decided to take on this insane pledge to follow Jesus "wherever he would lead me" I remembered Morpheus peeking over the "young" Neo, and whispering, "Welcome to the Real World." I felt as if my mentor has said the same thing to me. That sentence implies that your finally free of the bondage of the slave world. It means the start of something new. The blinders have been removed and its time to unlock your true potential in this new "real world."

So now two years later, I am still following Jesus wherever he leads me, and right now he has lead me here. Here is my College Campus at Northern Arizona University. This place that I call home, and my school, is also my "Matrix" where I'm called to be a missionary. I started this blog to share stories about my life before and after my acknowledgment of my Savior. To help students relate to the character of God in ways that are unexpected like through The Matrix. To be "real" with people. To not be fake like the community I served for so long. That being said, "Welcome to the Real World."