Aaron Reddin onLife, Liberty, and Pursuit of Jesusness

OK friends and family.  This is one that will require your help.  Don’t click away.  Hear me out. 

Most of you know my story of being freed from addiction to meth almost 8 years ago.  Most of you know that I am vehemently opposed the approach of many “recovery programs” due to their possibly unintentional breeding of hopelessness. 

The Church as a whole is just as guilty as AA, NA, etc…

The Church has “recovery programs” that do not teach or show people that their addictions can be COMPLETELY DESTROYED.  Secular recovery theories are brought into such programs as Celebrate Recovery, where people are encouraged/pressured to continue confessing addiction over themselves.  Thus, breeding hopelessness. 

Without the understanding that you can be totally free from your addictions, there is no hope for your future and the work of Jesus was absolutely pointless for your life. 

I believe this so strongly, that I will not rest until I find a way to change the Church’s view of and approach to addiction recovery. 

I’ve been piddling around with writing my first book on this topic for over a year now.  It’s time to make this point to the masses.  While I still have a little bit of time off due to recovering from back surgery, I want to pump a crap-load of hours into completing my manuscript. 

This is where the social media blackout, and your help come in:

I plan to begin a total social media blackout starting Monday.  This will give me the time to pump out a cool thousand or two words per day.  Hopefully, allowing me to wrap up the initial writing. 

What I need from you: 

Prayers – this text will be so powerful that I need a strong prayer cover while bringing it to life.

Encouragement – without knowing that others believe in this truth, I am vulnerable to drying up.

Support – no, I’m not beggin’ for dollars.  I do however need a “volunteer” editor, someone to help me shoot 2-3 promotional videos, any connection you may have with a publisher or literary agent.

Comments – the only media outlet that will remain in my sight is my email (hopefully).  If you would kindly leave a comment here to support and encourage me, it will hit my phone in an email and I will gladly receive the love. 

Guest Blog Posts – I would like to russell up some guest blog posts over this weekend and get them scheduled to post over the next couple weeks to help keep this blog alive and pumpin’.  Please let me know if you would be so kind as to write something for me. 

Share – PLEASE retweet this post, or past the url into a FB status or just email it to someone you know who is passionate about addiction recovery. 

So, there you have it.  My hearts desire is to see people step into the freedom that Jesus has already placed into motion.  I’m tired of seeing Christians use Jesus as a crutch while they learn to live with their addictions and strongholds.  I’m tired of seeing the Church breed hopelessness. 

If people can’t be free from their addictions, then Jesus didn’t really die to give them life abundant.  What do we really believe?

Please take a moment to leave a comment of support and encouragement, and PLEASE retweet or share this post with anyone who may find interest. 

I’m saving you a lot of time in research here.  You can thank me later. 

Who doesn’t love a good remix?  Right?  And who doesn’t love General Larry Platt? 

Don’t act like you don’t bob your head when you hear Pants on the Ground…..

Here are some of the best remixes I could find.  Enjoy!!!!!

I personally think the first one is the best piece of work:

OK, calm down.  You all know that I’m not polytheistic.  I know there aren’t really any “rock gods”.  BUT IF THERE WERE, they would proudly crank up a good cover and roll in fields of green grass.  They would roll down hills.  They would jump up and down like any good rock god should.  They would flail their hands in the air and pump their fists to this one, as they experienced life and love through music. 

It’s no secret that I’m a huge Pearl Jam fan.  No secret at all.  I can’t play their cover of The Who’s, Love Reign O’er Me, loud enough.   I’m sure the rock gods couldn’t even play it loud enough.  See for yourself.  Here’s the original brilliance, and then the ultra divine cover.  Enjoy.  If you click away and don’t participate the rock gods will show up at your bedroom window tonight and throw rocks at your forehead.  No crap.

The Who – Love Reign O’er Me

Pearl Jam – (Cover) Love Reign O’er Me

This is sick.  I don’t care if you like Lady GaGa or not, you can’t deny that this girl can straight sing.  Someone cut this chick a deal for real…..

DON’T WATCH IT IF THE “B” WORD IS GOING TO OFFEND YOU….just sayin’

The Huffington Post reports that the Green Brothers of Highland Park, MI claim that crazy old man stole his American Idol hit.  General Larry Platt….say it ain’t so bro!!!

You changed the world in one minute.  You put a tune in the heads of millions.  Don’t tell us it wasn’t yours….

Make up your own mind folks….

Green Brothers – Back Pockets on the Floor

General Larry Platt – Pants on the Ground

You’re welcome!!!

This morning a friend asked me to call him and have a few minutes in prayer with him.  It was a most refreshing time for me, as my human interactions have been severely negated due to my recent back surgery. 

But the one thing that I was so drawn to pray about this morning, is that I not see Jesus as a peace loving hippie every moment of my day. 

Does he love peace?  Sure.  But sometimes it takes destruction to bring said peace. 

Jesus didn’t come to bring nothing but rays of sunshine and flower gardens.  He came to wreak havoc on things as well.  Sometimes he comes in (like one friend described his dogs) like a tornado of thumbnails and toothpicks.  Leaving a path of destruction in areas of our lives.  Why? 

Freedom.  Freedom doesn’t come free.  Yet, it is FOR FREEDOM THAT CHRIST SET US FREE.  In the events that he faced to set us free, do you think they were peaceful?  Not even close. 

Jesus is not just a hippie.  He is a Native American with warpaint on is face and dirt and blood under his nails.  He is an ever fighting force that will leave a wake of destruction in the areas of your life that need to be destroyed.  He hates your bondages.  He hates your “hurts, habits, and hang-ups”. 

He hates that you want to learn to live with them, when he is ready to go to bloody war against them so that you don’t have to every day. 

Jesus is a fighter.  A warrior.  A lover of your freedom.  Not a crutch to help you feel better as you battle your own addictions.  He wants to slice the throats of the things that hurt you the most.  Let him do it.  Stop fighting the one who fights for you. 

Jesus, let us get out of your way today.  Let us realize that you are a nasty force in the face of our addictions and strongholds.  Let us, let you do our fighting.  You are more prepared and capable than we ever will be.  Please do your thing in our lives today.  Fight, and destroy the things that you hate in our lives.  Let us see the fruit of your destruction in the way that we walk, talk, and love one another.   You are big.  You are nasty.  You are a warrior because you love us.  In the strong name of Jesus. 

There really is nothing to this post.  I mean it. 

I just haven’t posted since my surgery, which was 9 days ago.  I don’t remember much of the nine days.   5 of which were spent in the hospital. 

Anyway, for those that would like to know, it went well.  I think.  I feel better except for the fact that I can’t bend, twist, lift, etc…

With all this downtime, you would think I would pump out blog posts like a real blogger.  Nope.  Not me.  I got nothin’.  We’ll be lucky if I write something before February.  Sorry, or you’re welcome, which ever suits you.  Miss you all and can’t wait to re-engage the human race in a few weeks.

Have you looked at the circumstances in your life or the world around you and asked WHY? Of course you have, we all have asked why at some point in our lives. I want to take a few minutes and share with you a time in my life when I asked why and the answer that changed my life and can do the same for you.

May 17, 2007 is a day I’ll never forget. I went to the doctor for a routine physical but nothing in my life prepared me for what the doctor would say that day.  The doctor got a puzzled look on his face during the examination (that’s never a good thing) and said “I believe we need to run some tests”. Can you guess my response, exactly, why?  He then explained to me that he had felt what might be a tumor. I told him ok just let me know when and where. I left his office and made the short drive back to work and for the rest of the afternoon tried to pretend that everything was fine. I went home that night and got on the web and read everything I could find on the type of tests and treatments. I literally spent the entire night reading information on the web. The whole time one question was running through my mind. You guessed it. Why? For the next three days I repeated the same routine, go to work, go home and read until I fall asleep. I spent the next several weeks undergoing every test known to man or so it seemed, all the while hiding it from friends, family and coworkers. Then the day arrived that all the test results were in and they confirmed my worst nightmares, I had Testicular Cancer.  Once again I found myself driving back to the office trying to pretend that this wasn’t happening. This time I left work fighting back tears and literally screaming at God. Why? Why me?

What I didn’t realize is that God was already at work. God began to show himself to me in amazing ways. I still hadn’t told another living soul about the doctor’s diagnosis and until now only 20 people or less know about this part of my life. Then one of my closest friends called me and told me that God had woke her up and told her something was wrong with me. So I shared with her everything that had happened in the month prior. Then that night God reminded me of a video of a gentleman who attended church with me who had lost his fight with cancer. I went home that day and found the video on the church’s website and watched it what seemed like a thousand times. His testimony brought so much comfort and hope to me. To make a long story short, in July 2007 I had surgery to remove the tumor and in July of this year I’ll be cancer free for three years.

During that time I learned several important lessons but I like to share one with you. God may never answer why but He always answers who. I may never know why God chose me to face the challenge of cancer. But I do know who brought me through the challenge. Jesus Christ. So when you find yourself asking why. Don’t get down on yourself. You’re in good company. Job asked why. Even Jesus asked why on the cross. So look to Jesus Christ for the answers.

Michael is a good friend of mine who I met last year as we were working on a new church plant together.  He serves as the Transportation Manager at Logistic Services, Inc. in Little Rock, AR.  You can connect with him on Facebook, HERE.

I’m a youth pastor, which means I’m not in the highest tax bracket available. I’m going to put myself out there and say that I’ve made some dumb mistakes with credit as a college student.

I’m paying for those mistakes today.

With each day that passes, I look to Jesus for what He provides for my family. I believe very strongly that He’s the One who takes care of my family (Acts 14:17; 1 Tim 6:17). Through the process of paying our debt off, and living within our means, I’ve learned a lot of really good lessons. Some might say I’ve finally learned “the value of a dollar.”

In my dreaming, though, I catch myself wondering what it would look like to make all the money I could ever dream to make. I wonder what it would be like to buy any car I want, because money wasn’t an issue. I dream of what kind of home I might buy if I had an endless source of cash flow.

And then I go back to these lessons that I’ve learned while I’m in the bondage of debt. I remember what it’s like to live within my means, and to spend money wisely.

Truthfully, I wonder if I’ll actually remember and obey the lessons I’ve learned when our family is debt-free. I wonder if I’ll throw it all away and begin to live a selfish life.

It always helps me to ‘remember’ what God has done through reading Moses’ story in the first couple books of the Bible. He constantly told them to ‘remember’ what God had done. He encouraged them to ‘remember’ how God had provided, and to ‘remember’ that they were once in slavery. This is a huge leadership lesson for those of us living in Biblical community – to remind each other to ‘remember’ where we’ve been, and how God has rescued us.

A friend of mine and I were at lunch the other day, and we ended up talking about finances – except, it wasn’t just about money.

He shared with me that it’s ‘sinful’ to white-knuckle the riches that God provides. This stirred up some conversation, and we ended up looking at a passage in 1 John 3:16-19.

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”

My friend’s point was never that material possessions are wrong. However, how we manage the possessions we’ve been entrusted makes all the difference.

So, what’s your situation? What has God given you? And finally, what has He given you, so that you could give it to someone else? Because if you’re like me, you’re quick to get defensive, and tell the world that you have nothing to spare.

I wonder if we’ll ever remember that God is the One who richly provides us with what we need, and that our lives were always meant to be lived in open community?

Let the Scriptures disturb you today.

Mark serves as the student pastor at Indian Springs Baptist Church in Bryant, AR.  Please follow him on Twitter at @markhcox.  He also has a most righteous blog, that I strongly encourage you to check out and SUBSCRIBE TO IT!!  His blog can be found HERE. 

nevertheless i should at least give you something to think about since i’m meant to incarnate myself among humanity.  but since these questions are boring to me, i thought i would pose myself a different question (i got awfully good at this type of rhetorical maneuvering with those pharisees).  my question to myself is: why am i cooler than all the other jesuses?

the answer to that can go in any number of directions, but since i am infallible and perfect, i will choose the correct direction.  the direction i choose to go in is that of my good friend david lettermen and provide a top ten list for you (as a side note, dave’s top ten list is a complete rip-off of pop’s work on sinai, but i have taken the posture of forgiving and forgetting, so let’s move on with it).

010.  i am the jesus of churches with really cool names.  no longer will you have to invite your friends to some lame place called “first presbyterian” or “grace methodist.”  instead you can ask them if they want to hit up “solomon’s porch” or “the journey.”  this will also give you a certain amount of street cred as your church’s name could just as easily be the name of a local bar.

009.  you know those old school pictures of “jesus” with long flowing hair, rosy cheeks, and blue eyes (you know, the one who looks like he could get beaten up by your aunt mildred?)…that’s not me. i’m known to have two different kinds of wardrobes.  first, when i hang out with rob bell i wear a black sweater vest, black rimmed glasses, and chucks.  second, when i hang out with shane claiborne i wear a hemp hoodie, jeans from the salvation army, and a pair of toms shoes.  as my little buddy paul once said, it’s about becoming all things to everyone…except he left out the part that excludes fundies.  the only thing i become to fundies is their worst nightmare.

008.  i drink beer.  listen, i know some christians have a problem with the hooch, but they have it all wrong.  i turned water into wine when the party was getting lame (as a side note, i wanted to turn it into guinness stout, but pops told me that arthur guinness already had a copyright on it…apparently copyrights are retroactive from the foundation of the world.  this, subsequently, became my greatest argument against the doctrine of predestination).  the “jesus” you normal see in pictures (see 009) would have turned the water into shirley temples.  i went with the real deal and now the wedding at canaan has gone down in history as an epic party.  i don’t remember any epic party that featured shirley temples, do you?

007.  my homeboys, emergent pastors, don’t just speak on sunday. they go on tours.  forget lame fundy “pastor’s conferences” where a bunch of kjv toting grumps get together and talk about exegesis.  it’s all about packing out a stadium to hear rob bell do anything but exegesis.  they also serve beer at many of these venues (see 008), so it’s a win-win!

006.  i don’t worry about “theology” or “doctrine” or “truth.”  any idea is welcome because i am open-minded and intelligent.  fundies get their dress socks in a tangle whenever anyone disagrees with something they say. not me.  if your idea or belief is especially interesting, i usually buy your next round (see 008).

005.  i don’t yell or scream or get into arguments.  in fact, i don’t even use capital letters when i write because they seem too dogmatic.  only fundies use capital letters because they think capital letters are “correct” or “proper” or “follow the rules of the english language.”  i’d rather re-imagine what the concept of “capital” means in our 21st century, westernized world.

004.  i don’t care what you wear.  so many fundies are all worried about looking good and wearing three piece suits because they are in “the lord’s house.”  forget about the fact that pop’s house is the entire cosmos, no one wants to be worshiped by people while they are uncomfortably fidgeting with their collar or dress socks.  it takes their focus off being missional.  people can wear whatever they want when coming to one of my churches…as long as its not a three piece suit.  we are welcoming and affirming…except for when it comes to fundies and their “sunday best.”

003.  we don’t have “question and answer” time at my churches.  instead, we have “question and question” time.  it’s usually called the “sermon,” but sometimes we call it a “conversation.”  we are all about asking questions and exploring the bible as people who are following me.  answers simply lead to stagnation of creativity and foster defensive statements (like the ole fundies).  if history has taught us one thing it’s that nothing gets done by answering questions.  it’s all about asking questions and always being open to new questions.  imagine what life would have been like if alexander fleming answered the question he had about the mold on his bread instead of simply questioning and re-imagining the nature and essence of moldiness?  wait…that example didn’t quite prove what i was going after, but you get my point.

002.  emergents know about my jewish roots, which allows them to sound cooler when they are talking about the bible.  nothing sounds cooler then throwing out some harsh guttural sounds when talking about the gospel of matthew.  it also allows them to do some cool things that are found in judaism, like not using vowels when writing the name of g_d, reading the apocrypha, and reading medieval rabbis.  that’s actually the reason i preached the gospel, died, and rose again.  it wasn’t so people would read the bible and preach the gospel, it was so they could read other second temple jewish texts and medieval rabbis while simultaneously adopting superstitious writing practice.

001.  the final reason i am the coolest jesus is because i’m all about you.  i don’t care what you believe, what you do, what you wear, or anything else.  i just want you to be comfortable and have fun in life.  i wish that my homeboys back in the day would have grasped onto this concept.  peter went a little overkill by being crucified upside down and the early church went overboard with their martyrs.  if only they realized that i am all about conforming to culture instead of just fighting against it.  i’m glad that the emergent church finally figured it out…even if it took nearly 2,000 years!

Follow “Emergent Jesus” on Twitter HERE!!!

Well, the time has come for me to say goodbye for a little while.  Tomorrow morning I will undergo my 3rd major back surgery.  They say I will be in the hospital for 3 days, and may have to go to rehab for a week or so after that. 

So….obviously I won’t be able to blog for a little while.  But since I love you all so much, I have some good guest posts lined up for you!  Including the funniest post to ever hit this blog, coming tomorrow morning from Emergent Jesus.  Click there to check out his Twitter.  Prepare to laugh! 

I’m not sure when I’ll be “back”…get it?  BACK!!  HAHA!! 

But I will be at some point.  Your prayers are appreciated, as are your hospital visits!!!  But if you come by St. Vincent’s, make sure you bring a soy latte’!! 

You all have fun, while I go get a new spine like this one!!