part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

part 6

part 7

1. Eat Dessert First – Time never stops ticking & each second that goes by is a second that’s gone forever. Before you know it, a second becomes a day; a day becomes a month; a month becomes a year; and a year becomes a lifetime. Be sure to leave room in your busy schedule to taste the sweet things in life.

2. Live an Adventure – Go places you’ve never been; do things you’ve never done; accomplish the things other people only dream about; live the “abundant life” that Jesus promised. Remember: you are writing your own part in God’s epic tale of redemption, so make it an adventure!

3. Don’t Let Go! – No matter what happens in 2013, don’t let go of your hopes, your dreams, or your faith. Whether it’s the best of times or it’s the worst of times, everything in this life is temporary. Don’t let temporary things pull you away from eternal rewards.

Check out the video…

HEADS UP:

In about 4-5 weeks Christians are going to begin complaining that America has abandoned God and forgotten the “true meaning” of Christmas. They’ll quickly point out that “Jesus is the reason for the season” and they’ll fight to defend their “right” to put a Nativity Scene in their front yard or town square. They’ll tell you that exchanging Christmas presents and putting up a Christmas tree are completely meaningless if you don’t acknowledge the birth of Christ (God’s “gift” to us…who “hung on a tree”). In other words, THERE’S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS AND WORSHIPING JESUS (“Christ Mass”).

They are correct.

For an increasingly large percentage of America, celebrating Christmas is a CULTURAL EVENT — NOT a religious holiday. It has no spiritual or religious significance to it whatsoever & is simply a fun thing that people do with their family and friends. Many people LOVE Christmas, but don’t know CHRIST.

Very true.

The funny thing is, the VERY SAME PEOPLE who will complain about “the secular celebration of Christmas” will browbeat people for “celebrating Halloween” because it is a pagan religious holiday.

ATTENTION PHARISEES:

If it’s possible to celebrate Christmas without worshiping Jesus, then it is also possible to celebrate Halloween without worshiping the devil. Why? Because it is a CULTURAL EVENT.

Now CHILL OUT and love people like Jesus. (And PLEASE don’t give Chick Tracts to the kids who come knocking on your door tonight. A piece of candy and a “God bless you” will do just fine.)

That is all. -Kraig

We’ve made Jesus too girly and Christianity too soft. In this message, I challenge men to reclaim their warrior nature and reveal three godly characteristics that lay dormant in the heart of every man. Check it out:

If you haven’t seen the intro, watch this first.

Here’s the intro from my sermon yesterday. We’ll try to get the full video uploaded in the next day or two. I want to say thank you to everyone who stopped me after service, texted or sent emails about yesterday’s message. Much LOVE to all of you. ~Kraig

In this message I challenge the modern form of Christianity and ask, “XXXX XX XXXXX?!”

That seems like a great question to me … so I decided to talk about it. If you’ve missed the BASIC series, here are all seven sessions:

Part 1: Fear God

Part 2: Follow Jesus

Part 3: The Holy Spirit

Part 4: Fellowship

Part 5: Teaching

Part 6: Prayer

Part 7: Communion

Want to join the conversation? Meet me at Niceville Assembly on Wednesday nights at 6.30 PM.

Click here for more information on the BASIC film series by Francis Chan.

If you’ve followed my blog for any period of time, I am truly humbled. It’s mind boggling that anyone would care enough about my thoughts to commit even a few minutes to reading them. For those of you, like David Patterson, who have been following since the beginning, I apologize for those early posts (which in retrospect are more like mini term papers).

I started this blog right after grad school when I had a million thoughts swirling around my head and could write 5,000-word essays in my sleep. I guess after reading hundreds of books in two short years I tricked myself into thinking I was smart and interesting.

Initially, I decided to write about “Christ, Culture, Community and Church” (the tagline that still appears at the top of my homepage). At that time, I was thinking about getting a PhD in Cultural Anthropology. Fortunately, my wife threatened me with physical violence (not really; but she wasn’t very keen on the idea of 3 more years of single parenting). Then a college President that I greatly respect talked some sense into me. His actual words were: “There’s a reason why they call it a ‘terminal degree’: it will kill you. So unless you want to teach at a university, I don’t know why you would do that to yourself.”

So… no PhD for me.

Since then I’ve realized that most of my brilliant thoughts were inspired by other people (who actually are smart and interesting) — not me. I like to think there are at least a few traces of my Intellectual DNA in there somewhere (but I doubt there’s enough for a conviction).

The ironic thing is, when I write about Christ, Culture, Community or Church – nobody really cares. But when I write about things that seem silly or off-the-cuff (like Rubbernecking, roMANce or the End of the World in 2012) my blog stats skyrocket.

WTFiddle?? I don’t get it.

In recent months, you may have noticed that the frequency of my posts has dwindled to a near standstill; more likely, they’ve simply been “out of sight and out of mind.”

I didn’t read a single book in 2011. I wanted to clear my head and re-discover my own voice.

Me to Myself: ”Hello? Kraig? Are you still in there?”
Myself to Me: ”….”

Truth is, behind the scenes I’ve been in a wrestling match with God (if you can imagine a gnat wrestling an elephant).

Me to God: ”Hello? God? Are you still up there?”
God to Me: ”….”

I’m pretty sure God is still up there, but for the first time in my adult life I’ve entered a new year without any measurable goals. I don’t have an agenda. I don’t have a strategic plan. I don’t even know what I’m going to do for dinner tonight. I certainly don’t know what I’m going to blog about.

I feel like I’m floating on a raft in the middle of the ocean with no paddle, no wind, and no sail. Fortunately, there aren’t any waves, either. Or sharks. Yet.

I think I’ll buy a volleyball.

And name it Wilson.

Until then, let me leave you with the words of someone else, who stole my thoughts for his book (is “psychic plagiarism” illegal?).

Since the day I committed my life to following Christ, I have struggled to understand what God expects of me. To the best of my ability, though, I have endeavored to live out my faith, both privately—through prayer, Scripture study, and worship—and publicly, by demonstrating God’s love to others through my actions and words, not just within my small circle of relationships but in the broader community as well. I have tried to appreciate the mystery of the good news we Christians call the “gospel” and its power to change the world by changing the human heart. I have stumbled many times on this journey and do not claim to have it all figured out….

I, too, have had a lifelong battle trying to “walk the talk.” I am certainly no saint or hero, and I never set out to “save the world”—I didn’t have that kind of courage or imagination. I was a most reluctant recruit to this cause—in many ways a coward. But as you read a little more about my story, my hope is that you’ll learn from my mistakes and laugh a little at my failures. That God still chooses to use flawed human beings like me is both astonishing and encouraging. And if He can use me, He can use you.”

Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009), p.4.