rjgrune.com

“Fear. It was fear that killed my parents. On the far side of the world, I tasted fear in it’s purest form and thought I’d conquered it. But, fear followed me home…” – Batman

I have to make a confession; I am afraid of most animals. I think they are all cute and stuff, but at the end of the day I want to keep myself at a distance and be ready in case they attack. Perhaps my fear of animals is silly and I just need to get over my dog destroying my G.I. Joes when I was a little boy, but don’t we all have fears?

What do you fear?

Fear will always cause a person to react. If you are afraid of getting pulled over by a cop, you will drive slower. If you are afraid of getting caught cheating, you will either avoid cheating or be more secretive about it. Fear might cause you to run away or it might cause you get ready to fight. Depending on how you view God, you might look at him with fear. If the thought of God causes you to be afraid, it will cause you to react.  You might react by rebelling against him, you might react by ignoring him, or you might even react by doing what he says with hopes that you might appease him.

Continue Reading…

Do you like stuff?  Everybody likes stuff, right?

We live in a world that is all about having more stuff. We want more apps, more music, a new phone, a new video game, more friends, and so on. This desire to have more is a common temptation for people; it’s the temptation that we need more in order to be happy. Somehow we have been convinced that we need something it would make us happy. If we had this phone, if we made this much money, or if we had these friends then we would be happy. But the problem is that our stuff might make us temporarily happy, but they will not bring us joy.

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon searches for stuff that will make him happy. Solomon actually denies himself nothing that he wants. He looks for happiness in money. He throws giant parties and quickly finds that once the party is over he just needs to throw another party, with more people and a bigger band. He pursues relationships with women. He builds tons of buildings. And in all of this pursuit he says, “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”

Continue Reading…

This post comes from an excerpt of a mini eBook and small group curriculum available on iTunes called “What’s Your Kryptonite?”

“If you’re using half your concentration to look normal, then you’re only half paying attention to whatever else you’re doing…You want society to accept you, but you can’t even accept yourself.”  - X-Men: First Class

Who are you?

My first instinct, if I’m trying to answer that question, is to start by describing myself. I might describe the roles that I have – a father, a husband, a youth minister.  Or I might describe some of the things I like to do. This question, while on the surface is quite simple, is loaded with depth. How you answer it describes the way that you see yourself. As a Christian, how do you see yourself? Where do you find your identity? If we’re honest, that’s not always a simple question. Continue Reading…

This post comes from an excerpt of a mini eBook and small group curriculum available on iTunes called “What’s Your Kryptonite?”

In the Old Testament there was a group of people who wanted fame. They wanted nothing more than to make a name for themselves, and they decided the way to do this was to build a giant tower. In Genesis 11:4, they say “Come let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves…”

Isn’t this exactly what we so often do? We do whatever we can to make a name for ourselves. We try to get tons of friends on facebook, followers on twitter, or likes on instagram. But, why? Because we want people to be impressed with us. This is called “pride.” Pride the feelings you get when you do something good. So you feel prideful because you feel popular if people follow you or like your stuff. You might feel pride if you are the prettiest girl in the school. You might feel pride if you get paid more than your co-workers.

Continue Reading…

This post comes from an excerpt of a mini eBook and small group curriculum available on iTunes called “What’s Your Kryptonite?”

Anger.  Is it ever pretty when we get angry?  When I get angry, I make stupid decisions, say stupid things, and just am flat out ugly.  Anger has this way of controlling people.  It’s like as soon as somebody does something to put me over the edge; the anger consumes my every thought.

Anger in and of itself is not a sin.  Even Jesus got angry.  The problem is that while anger is not a sin, we are often controlled by anger which leads us to sin.  We get angry and we push our little brother down the stairs.  We get angry and we swear at our teacher.  We get angry and we gossip about how our friend made a terrible decision.  The anger isn’t the problem; the problem is how we respond to that anger.

Continue Reading…

In the book Think Orange by Reggie Joiner, there’s an incredible diagram describing how to maximize your opportunities during family times.  He describes the various times, communication methods, and the roles a parent plays during each of these times.  In Deuteronomy 6:7 it says, “Impress [these commands] on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”  But what exactly does this look like?

Continue Reading…

What makes a youth ministry healthy?  Is it the amount of people that are attending the events?  Is it the depth of the teaching that is happening?  Anyone who is in ministry certainly wants to make sure their ministry is healthy, but what does that look like.  What makes our gathering of teenagers different than any other after-school activities?

Mark Senter III in the book Reaching a Generation for Christ writes, ”When youth ministries are healthy, they have retained a balance among relational dynamics, theological thinking, and a bent for action – which in turn shapes a system of discipleship.”

Continue Reading…