Eldership or Senior Pastor? What is the Biblical church government model?

So I have had some discussions recently with an associate pastor and have been studying a book called Biblical Eldership by Alexander Strauch. This gave me the desire to right a blog about this situation. In christian churches today you see two basic models, the more popular is a pyramid model with a senior pastor as the head and associate pastors ect under him. I will briefly touch on this.

The pyramid model so to speak is actually a model used in the business world. Where you have a head guy and the others in leadership branch off underneath him. There is actually mention of the would pastor only once in the Bible and it is used as a part of the office of elder. The truth is there should not be a head of the church, the senior pastor so to speak. God is to be the head of the church and the church government is supposed to be working in unison to pursue the will of God. The benefit of this system is it allows more decisions to be made in a shorter time frame as there is a leader that has the final say. It also gives the illusion of a man in charge, the face of the church. It forgets though that God is the head of the church and no one man should be in that position, it takes a worldly business model and tries to force it on the church taking the role of pastor, which is supposed to be part of the eldership and creating an entirely new and non Biblical role for the pastor. This has become a largely used system as it is easier to implement than and eldership working in unison for God's glory.

The eldership is the Biblical government the Bible has given to us. Everytime church leadership is discussed it is in the plural not a singular leader overseeing everything. The eldership is setup with God as our "senior pastor" so to speak. It is used as a group of men to make decisions in constant prayer, arriving at the point they believe God is leading them. It can fall into chaos when the men in it are more worried about getting their way then they are finding where God is shepherding the church. But just because that chaos is a possibility does not mean we should find a new way to run church government, that is other then what the Bible has taught us. "It is not enough merely to have an eldership; the eldership must be actively functioning, competent, and spiritually alive" that quote is taken from the book Biblical Eldership. I would like to quote a couple paragraphs from that book which can be found on page 115:

"Because the apostles knew that Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, was uniquely present with them as Ruler, Head, Lord, Pastor, Master, Overseer, High Priest, and King, they chose a form of government that reflected this distinctive, fundamental, Christian truth. This concept was no theoretical idea to the early Christians-it was reality. The first churches were truly Christ-centered, Christ-dependent churches. Christ alone provided all they needed to be in full fellowship with God and one another. Christ's person and work was so infinitely great, final, and complete, that nothing-even in appearance-was to diminish the centrality of His presence among and sufficiency for His people.
So in the first century, no Christian would dare take the position or title of sole ruler, overseer, or pastor of the church. We Christians today, however, are so accustomed to speaking of "the pastor" that we do not stop to realize that the New Testament does not. This fact is profoundly significant, and we must not permit our customary practice to shield our minds from this important truth. There is only one flock and one Pastor(John 10:16), one body and one Head(Col. 1:18), one holy priesthood and one great High Priest(Rom. 8:29), one building and one Cornerstone(1 Peter 2:5ff.), one Mediator, one Lord. Jesus Christ is "Senior Pastor," and all others are His undershepherds(1 Peter 5:4).
To symbolize the reality of Christ's leadership and presence over the local church and its leaders, one church that I know of places an empty chair at the table next to the chairman during all elders' meetings. This is a visual reminder to the elders of Christ's presence and lordship, of their position as His undershepherds, and of their dependence on Him through prayer and the Word"

So there you have it, Christ is our "Senior Pastor". We are to follow Him and Him alone. No human was meant to be the leader of the church, that job falls on Christ and Christ alone. I hope we can all put aside what we are used to and have grown up with to really take a good hard look on the Biblical model the Bible has given us for church government.


Tim Shrout

It Is Well With My Soul

So tonight I really wanted to share a story with you guys that has meant a ton to me lately. It is the story behind the song "It Is Well With My Soul".

"It Is Well with My Soul" is a very influential hymn penned by hymnist Horatio Spafford and composed by Philip Bliss.

This hymn was written after several traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first was the death of his only son in 1871 at the age of four, shortly followed by the great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the SS Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sailing ship, the Loch Earn, and all four of Spafford's daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, "Saved alone." Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.

I should mention that I got the article off wikipedia. But back to the story, Spafford, in a two year period, lost everything he had finacially and then all five of his children. This would kill most people. But Spafford understood where to turn and produced this song as he passed by the spot his daughters drowned.

It Is Well With My Soul

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But Lord, 'tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

This is an incredible song written by a Godly man who had just lost everything. Yet no matter what happened to him, God gave him the strength to say, it is well with my soul. This is very convicting to me, with all the petty problems I deal with that seem so big they are nothing compared to Spaffords suffering. Or for that matter, the apostle Pauls suffering. Yet they both were fully satisfied in God. He gave them the comfort and peace they needed, yet so often I do not turn to Him in my time of need. I would like to leave you with my favorite verse of the song:

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Tim Shrout

In My Place Condemned He Stood

We are back! The blog is officially back up and running!

For training purposes I have been reading a book called "In my place condemned He stood" which is on penal substitutionary atonement. I wanted to share a couple of passages from the book which struck me.

"The incarnational principle is that when the Son took Himself all the powers and capacities for experience that belong to human nature and began to live through His human body, mind, and identity, His sense of being the Father's Son was unaffected, and He knew and did His Father's will, aided by the Spirit, at all times. It was with His own will and His own love mirroring the Father's, therefore, that He took the place of human sinners exposed to divine judgment" and here is the good part... "and laid down His life as a sacrifice for them, entering fully into the state and experience of death that was due to them. Then He rose from death to reign by the Father's appointment in the kingdom of God and from His throne to send the Spirit to induce faith in Himself and in the saving work He had done, to communicate forgiveness and pardon, justification and adoption to the penitent, and to unite all believers to Himself to share His risen life in foretaste of the full life of heaven that is to come."

This is powerful stuff, very clearly stating what Jesus did for us in His incarnation. What He offered us, He offered us our lives if we were willing to die to the things of this world, not our temporary, earthly lives but our eternal, perfect lives. After all the sins we commit, after all the times we have turned our backs towards Him, He still "laid down His life as a sacrifice for them" a sacrifice for us!

The other text I wanted to share was written by J.I Packer(as was the previous) in which he offers us nine insights basic to our personal relationship with God that are directly related to penal substitutionary atonement. These are points I would encouraged you to reflect on and be edified because of them.

1. God, in Denney's phrase, "condones nothing," but judges all sin as it deserves: which Scripture affirms, and my conscience confirms, to be right.

2. My sins merit ultimate penal suffering and rejection from God's presence (conscience also confirms this), and nothing I do can blot them out.

3. The penalty due to me for my sins, whatever it was, was paid for me by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in His death on the cross.

4. Because this is so, I through faith in Him am made "the righteousness of God in Him," i.e., I am justified; pardon, acceptance, and sonship [to God] become mine.

5. Christ's death for me is my sole ground of hope before God. "If He fulfilled not justice, I must; if He underwent not wrath, I must to eternity" (John Owen)

6. My faith in Christ is God's own gift to me, given in virtue of Christ's death for me: i.e., the cross procured it.

7. Christ's death for me guarantees my preservation to glory.

8. Christ's death for me is the measure and pledge of the love of the Father and the Son to me.

9. Christ's death for me calls and constrains me to trust, to worship, to love, and to serve.

Those are powerful! I hope you guys enjoyed them as much as I did!

Tim Shrout

Moving

Hey guys, sorry its been away after I said it would be regular! I have had a lot of stuff going on lately culminating with me moving soon. I am also working on getting a group of people posting on here, it hasn't picked up yet, in the mean time please be patient, we will get this up and running!

A Story Of Redemption

So tonight I was watching a movie and while I was watching it, something struck me. 90% of the movies made not labeled action movies have a very common theme. Part way through the movie the main character loses his way, something goes wrong and his life seems to fall apart, he feels lost. But the movies always end the same way, redemption. He(or she) earns back the trust of those they have wronged, and are redeemed, people love them again and everything ends well. This shows me how much of the world longs for redemption. We all feel lost at times, we all need to be redeemed. That is why you see this plot over and over again. It is something built inside of us as humans, we all feel the need to be redeemed and sometimes we see these needs through unusual mediums(such as film). The truth is, we all need to be redeemed, thats why we feel those needs, thats why we connect with movies in that way. But unlike those films, the real story of redemption is much sweeter, we don't have to earn the redemption because we can't earn it. It is a gift freely offered to us. The real story of redemption comes with real happiness, nothing fake or temporary. So maybe tomorrow night, instead of watching a movie or a tv show that might give you a fake story of redemption, try picking up the book about the one, true and lasting story of redemption that we all need.

Tim

Feeling overwhelmed? Try adding a little righteousness to your life.

So, I was reading my Bible last night, and I stumbled upon Psalm 18. This Psalm is awesome, because it talks about God rescuing us from our enemies, giving us strength for victory, and the like. That's something I definitely needed to hear, since I've been having a pretty busy, stressful, and challenging time at work lately. For those of you who don't know me, I'm currently in flight school for the Navy in southern Texas, and have been working 12+ hour days pretty regularly. But I digress.
Anyways, one verse particularly stuck out in my mind as I was reading this Psalm. "So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight." (Psalm 18:24). What really struck me about this verse, is that the reason God protected David, the reason God gave his strength and victory, was because David was righteous.
And I thought righteousness was only good for keeping you from getting into trouble.
Nope, apparently a good reason to be righteous is so that when people are trying to chase you down and kill you, God can step in and give you an unnatural power to rout your enemies. Or, at least, that's what he did for David.

Side note:
I don't know about you guys, but I have a hard time being righteous. It's a good thing God can make us righteous by faith, because it's a lot easier for me to have faith than to be perfect! I find that when I'm looking to do what God wants, he's able to make it happen in spite of me and my, well, how do we say, "humanity".

Idolatry, The Man Made Prison

Today I started reading Romans, and something in the first chapter of Romans spoke to me as it has been effecting my life quite a bit lately so I wanted to share my thoughts on the issue. The issue is that of idolatry, idolatry is the foundation of every single bit of sin in our life. And in the first chapter of Romans Paul tells us why this is in a frightening look at not only what happens when we choose other things over God in this life, but at the same time it offers us a glimpse of what an eternity separated from God would look like.

Paul starts us off by taking away any excuse we might have of not knowing God. He does this because of an argument that is quite commonly asked in our day and my assumption would be his day as well, "well what about people who have never heard of God? How can He hold them responsible?". So to address this Paul says in verses 19-21:

"because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse".

He is telling us that God planted evidence of His existence in our nature by way of reason and moral law. He is also telling us that by just looking at the world around us we are able to understand the creator and sustainer of such a universe must be a being of awesome, divine power thus no one has an excuse to put anything above God(idolatry).

So now that Paul has taken away any excuse for placing anything above God, he goes on in verses 22-25:

"Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen."

This shows us the start of what we have done by choosing the created over God. There are many examples of idolatry that are easy to pull up are things such as evolution, choose to believe in mans "wisdom" instead of admitting that the creation and sustaining of this universe is beyond anything thing man can comprehend. But one that I find especially shocking that has effected me tremendously is a Christian who knows and believes in God, yet still puts himself and his worldly desires in front of God. Shouldn't we of all people, who have experienced a closeness and intimacy with God that others cannot imagine be able to put God above all, first and foremost in our lives? So here is the scary thing, this idolatry which we all fall prey to at times(for most of us, way to much of the time) it is a man made prison, we created this situation. Paul tells us that because WE exchanged God for anything else that could give us instant gratification, God gave us over to what WE chose, separation from God. Wether in some cases its a temporary separation, more of a wedge between us and God(for those of us who do believe in Him) or for others, what would be a permanent separation unless we come to believe and receive God into our hearts. Either way, it's what we wanted, we fought for it and God gave it to us.

It strikes me as odd that people say all the time, if God were real, He wouldn't have allowed this to happen! If God is real, He must be a cruel God to allow the world to be in this state! When the truth is God gave us what we wanted, we wanted a world without God at the top, and that is what He has given us. When you take God out of the equation, all sorts of evil comes out. Which is what Paul speaks to in verses 28-31:

"And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God and longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful"

That is the world we live in, the world Paul just described, filled with all sorts of sin and despair. And the groundwork of all of it was idolatry, because we wanted something else at the top of our personal mountains instead of God. It really is a man made prison.

The scariest part about this is what it means for each and every one of us after this fleeting moment we call life on earth is over. Where are we headed? If we have chosen to gamble on putting anything and everything in front of God in our lives, choosing to ignore His calling then we are headed to a place far worse then this earth. You see in this chapter Paul gives us a glimpse of what hell is like, the very definition of hell is eternal separation from God. We have seen in these verse what an earthly separation from God has brought to us, but no matter how bad this earth gets, God will always be present on and in it, so we will never be fully separated from God while we inhabit this earth. But in hell, not only will God turn His back on everyone in it, no part of God is in hell, none of His goodness, none of His divine attributes that weather we believe in God or not, are still present on this earth. Meaning no kindness, no joy, no love, no relief at all will be found there, just depraved human minds, full all kinds of hate and wickedness with none of the Godly attributes we have on this earth to take any of the sting and horror out of being separated from God. The truth that I cling to though is that as one of God's children, no matter how much I put other things in front of God in my life, I will return to Him. It is a gift so reassuring and comforting that no misery I might experience on this earth while feeling separation from Him can ever keep me down for long.

In closing I wanted to offer this as an encouragement for myself, and anyone else who might read this. The more we put God as the number one thing in our lives, the closer we will be to Him. The closer we are to Him, the more His divine attributes will be revealed to us and experienced by us in our lives. This means the closer we are to Him, the more joy and satisfaction we will get out of this life. I am not promising riches, health or tons of friends but what I am promising is the deep joy and satisfaction only God offers us. Those of you who have a personal relationship know exactly what I am talking about, even if you feel distant from God right now, you can remember that joy and satisfaction from when you felt close to Him. Those of you that don't have that relationship with God can't imagine what this feels like, I pray each and every one of you will get to experience it someday. As for me? I am tired of feeling separate, I long for the closeness and intimacy God offers. He is and always will be the only thing I worship in this life, at this time the song lyrics "I'm coming back to the heart of Jesus, and its all about You, its all about You" mean so much to me. I want to encourage all of you who are struggling in the man made prison of idolatry to work hard to return to the heart of Jesus, its where we belong, and its the only place we will ever be truly joyful and satisfied.

Tim

Down But Not Out In SD

Sometimes you have to hit the bottom before you wake up. That feels pretty much what my life has been about over the past six months, hitting that bottom. And believe me when I say it's not much fun being down there. I haven't blogged in awhile but have decided to once again step up to my keyboard(eh, well sit down at my laptop) and start once again. One thing I have realized about the blogging, it really doesn't matter if others read, who blogs are most helpful to is the people typing them, if we allow them to be. It is a good time to be introspective and see what exactly our thought life and minds are dwelling on, and if we can be open in a blog setting then also what we have been spending(or wasting) our time doing.

So now that I finished heading down that rabbit trail, let me talk about what I have been doing with my life, or in actuality what I have been failing to do. All my life I have had a very nasty tendency to just dwell in the moment and not worry to much about long term consequences and ramifications to my actions. This has caused me to become a very poor steward of the material things and internal gifts that God has given to me. I always manage to skate by until these past six months, due to poor stewardship of the money God has given me I was yet another one of those idiot guys living pay check to pay check when I really didn't have to. To clarify, I am not calling someone an idiot who lives pay check to paycheck when they have to, but I am classifying those of us(myself included) who had the opportunity to save but instead chose to spend on things I didn't need which resulted in living paycheck to paycheck.

Then came the car problems, it started there and with various other unexpected monetary twists such as suddenly, due to being put on a poor job, making ten dollars an hour less then I was before. So all of a sudden because I failed to be a good steward with the money God had given me, I have no savings to cover myself when I lost all the money per hour from my pay rate which also resulted in not having the money to fix the car. You can see where this goes, it just gets worse and worse as bills build on bills.

Adding to all that, a sense of depression set in because of the money problems and something else followed that, a giant wedge has been driven between me and the God I love. In not following His commands to be a good steward with the things He has given me, I managed to go into debt, depression and feel emotionally separated from God. This also caused me to become very introverted, keeping my problems to myself and not wanting to be around others, not allowing my friends to pray for me and be there for me. I was to prideful to let anyone in, I didn't want others to see how badly I had messed up. So there you have it, poor stewardship followed by pride have left me spiritually crippled.

The beautiful part is though, now that I have come to terms with what I did to get myself in this situation, I know that God can and will help me get out of it if I turn to Him and follow His plan for my life. I fully believe this problem was put in my life for a reason, to show me just how crippling being a poor steward can be, to point out the pride in my life and if I allow God to work through me, if I run back to Him as a dear to water, then it will make me a stronger, more Godly person for it. So please keep me in your prayers friends and know that now that I have hit rock bottom, with Gods help I will climb out of this pit.

Tim Shrout

"Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you"- John Owen(one of the good dead guys)

Spiritual decay and renewal: The past six months.

So this is the first blog I have posted in a long, long time. A lot has changed in my life since the last one, I have moved out of the apartment and into a three bedroom house with a couple of roomies. I am also working 96 miles from where I live which is a bit of a drive each day but it is work. But what I wanted to talk about is where my spiritual walk has been over the past six months, or really where it has not been.

I have really experienced a disconnect in my walk with God. Some financial struggles that I have been experiencing impacted me in a big way in my actions. Instead of turning to God for strength to conquer my struggles I became depressed and started drinking to much which in turn led to other sin issues as well which drove a big wedge inbetween me and God. This self inflicted wedge effected me mentally and physically in my frame of mind and my actions. For the first time in my life I had no desire at all to go to church or even think about God. Even during struggles I have had in the past I still maintained a desire to go to church and discuss God with others. But not this time, my spiritual life was in serious decay.

It reached a point where I could no longer take this wedge I have put between me and God, I miss the intimacy with Him, I miss the relationship I have with Him. Over the past several weeks my desire for Him has been stirred, the fire and passion I once felt has been stoked again. While I have a long ways to go in removing this wedge, I know what I have to do and I will do it. My spiritual renewal has started.

My relationship with God is very real, and the depression and emptiness I feel without Him is incredibly frustrating. For all of you that read this, please keep me in your prayers that the spiritual renewal that has started in my life will continue and thrive. I want the intimate relationship God offers us, I cant continue this life without it. Without Him, this life just doesn't have meaning to me and it doesn't make sense. We were made to worship God, it is what makes us truly, and lastingly happy. He is the only thing in our life that will not let us down, even if we are not willing to accept that fact, it is true. I want to encourage all of you that feel broken, disheartened, overwhelmed or that are struggling to find what the purpose of this life is to turn to Jesus. Only He will never let you down, only when you experience the intimate relationship He offers us will this life ever truly make sense.

Tim Shrout

A Long Time Coming

So I haven't done one of these for awhile, a long while!  Tonight I am just giving an update, I last left you guys saying I was going to be in a Jits tourney.  I came in second place in my division so it went pretty well, though I had an injury to my neck that lasted quite awhile after that which is fully healed now.  I am training a lot recently, also attending carpenter school right now which is incredibly boring.  I was able to take a trip home recently and loved it, loved seeing my family again.  I am going to try and start blogging again regularly and tomorrow morning I am putting up a new blog on 1st Corinthians 15 which I have been looking forward to blogging about for awhile.  Talk to you guys then!

Tim

The Fig Tree, Do You Have Fruit In Your Life?

Tonight I wanted to share something that really impacted and challenged me recently, it is in Mark 11:13-14

Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.  He said to it, "may no one ever eat fruit from you again!"  And His disciples were listening.

At first glance this might seem strange, okay so Jesus curses a fig tree because He was hungry and it didn't have fruit on it?  This is actually a figurative thing that He is saying, from a distance the fig tree looked good, so He got closer to it to partake of its fruit and realized there was none.  This is actually a parallel to us as Christians.  A lot of us can put on the Christian facade and look good, like we are living a Godly life from a distance.  So then someone gets to know us and realizes there is no fruit in our life.  Nothing to really show we have been affected by our relationship with God.  This is quite deadly for us, other christians and non believers.  For us because if we are truly christians, yet not showing any fruits of our faith then we cannot grow in our relationship with God and cannot affect anyones life in a positive way.  It is deadly to other christians in such as they see us and our good looking christian life from afar then often they will look to us to help disciple them, to keep them accountable and help them grow in their walk.  Then when in truth we have no fruit in our life and no growth, we will not be able to help them.  We can only help them walk down the fruitless path we are on, creating a whole generation of christians that just fit in with the rest of the world, failing to make an impact or a difference.  It hurts non christians as they see us claiming to be christians then see the way we live our lives.  They will think, these people are no different then us, who are they to claim that their way is right?  We poison their minds against christians and God, and fail to reach anyone for Christ, doing our part to send them on their path towards eternal separation with God.  Thus it is better to not claim to be a christian if we are not showing the fruit of our faith in our lives.  Jesus curses the fruitless tree so that it will never again bear fruit, that is how much God cannot stand a fruitless relationship because of the damage is causes and the hypocrisy of it.  

This greatly impacted me making me examine my life to see if I am showing the fruits of my relationship with God.  This is something we all should do, we must examine ourselves, be on constant guard.  If we are not showing the fruits of our faith, then there is a serious issue that must be addressed.  For our sakes, for the sake of other christians and for the sake of non believers everywhere, we must be growing in our walk, we must have fruit in our lives!  Lets not be like that fig tree!

First BJJ Tourney

So this coming sunday I have my first BJJ tourney.  It is called Choke Fest 2 and it is a California based tourney leading up to the west coast BJJ championship in March that I will also be in.  I am really stoked about it, I will be in the 170-185 weight class and cannot wait to see what its like and get my feet wet in the tourney world!

Tim

The Crayon Party

So we had an interesting party this past saturday night.  It was raining and one of the roomies decided to go back to our childhoods for some reason, so we had about 13 odd people over and aquired coloring books and rented a couple of old disney movies.  We now finally have art, a bunch of crayon whinney the pooh pictures all over the apartment.  Then we watched the disney movies, interesting random things to do on a rainy winter night.  Just thought I would share!  

Tim

The Foot

So yesterday at work I spent a lot of time sitting down on my knees trying to uncover some hardware from behind the concrete walls we pored.  I don't know exactly what happened, though I believe it is a pinched nerve,  but my left foot only moves one way right now.  It cannot rotate as it should and only moves to the right.  It is really annoying as its causing me to fall quite a bit and is forcing me to stop training at the gym while it heals.  It seems like I always have these stupid freak things happen to me!  I am hoping it is healthy enough for me to go back to the gym tomorrow.  To walk right now I have to lift my left leg high in the air so that the foot does not drag on the ground and I don't trip over it.  It looks and feels very foolish!  Anyways, thought I would share!

Tim

Atheist Holiday

So I have been absent from this blog for a little bit, my nights have been taken up with training at Undisputed thus making it difficult to write quite as often.  Today I wanted to share a little forward I got that I found quite amusing.  But first things first, if ya'all could keep my Dad(Mike Shrout) in your prayers as he is on a missions trip in India.  Okay, now since it won't let me copy/past onto the startup post, I am going to post a comment on this blog containing the forward, interesting legal situation in Florida:

The Christian Athlete, Dedication And Discipline

So yesterday I was reading in 1 Corinthians and wanted to share what I read.  Paul  uses metaphors that, as an athlete I really appreciate.  First I will share the passages and then do my best to break it down for ya'all:

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize?  Run in such a way that you may win.  Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things.  They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.  Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

The life we lead is a race, and a very difficult one.  While we strive to please God and grow in our relationship and joy with Him, we are assaulted from all directions with things that will slow us down in the race, that will put a wedge in our relationship with Him and our ability to witness to others.  This is why we have to discipline ourselves.  For example, it is so easy to skip reading the word of God for one day.  If we let ourselves not do it one day, it becomes easier to not spend time in His word the next.  It becomes easier and easier each time we do it.  If we are not disciplined in the arena of sexual sin, and slip up once, it becomes easier to do it the next time and easier and easier each time we do it.  You get the picture, without discipline our walk with Jesus can and will fall into shambles.  It might not seem like missing one thing will make much of a difference but it really will.  It is like an athlete, say a fighter who uses some excuse of something he has going or would like to do that night to miss one of his training sessions.  Well the next time something comes up it becomes easier to use it as another excuse and another until he finds himself training only occasionally.  If a fighter does this, not only will he not get better but his skills will start to erode and he will not be able to fight on a high level.  Our walk is just like this, though God will forgive us when we slip up as Jesus death on the cross payed for that, each time we slip up it will make it easier to slip up again in the future.  This erodes our relationship with God and in turn hurts our ability to witness to a lost world.  Paul tells us we must discipline ourselves just like a high level athlete.  Not just for our sakes but for the sake of the lost around us.  Our one true and lasting joy comes from God, the worlds salvation comes from God, and He uses us to reach a lost and dying world.  If we do not discipline ourselves in our spiritual walk, then we will not be able to reach the lost world, we will become just like it.  We need to all strive to become great spiritual athletes, practicing discipline in all areas of our spiritual life so that we might grow in our knowledge, understand and joy of God and so that He might use us to reach a lost and dying world to save them from hell and help them experience the joy we have in Him.  Paul was a smart dude!

Tim

GYM TIME!

So it has finally happened.  After wanting to for so long I have finally joined an MMA gym here in San Diego.  Hopefully all of the training I have done with Nate gives me a good base.  It is called Undisputed (  www.sdundisputed.com  ) I joined their pro fight team so along with getting the best training they have to offer and several one on one sessions per month, I will be training with their other active fighters and they will also help me start getting fights.  I am really excited about this and cannot wait to start punishing my body!

Tim

Sunday Night Fight

So I finally went to my first MMA fight sunday, WEC: Pulver vrs Faber 2.  It was amazing, the whole card was great and I loved watching the california kid(Faber) tap out Pulver in the first round, I felt bad for Jens though as I like him as a person and a fighter and he was really heartbroken about the loss.  Overall though I loved the show and cannot wait to go see another one!

Death By Love

So today it really struck me hard what Jesus did for us on the cross so I wanted to share my thoughts.  So we have the God of the world, the Alpha and the Omega, the One who created the universe, created us.  We the people He created turned on Him, we sin against Him everyday.  We sin against the other people He created whom He loves dearly.  But despite all this, He came to the earth, He gave up His glory and came in the form of a lowly human.  He lived the sinless life that none of us could.  But that was not enough to save us, we have sinned against a holy God, time and time again, only a perfect sacrifice could save us from death.  So Jesus went to the cross for us, first he was put on false trial, mocked and beaten beyond recognition.  Now the cross is was a place of great shame, saved for only the worst kind of criminal.  It was the most agonizing, painful death anyone could possibly die.  After the beatings Jesus had, he was nailed to the cross with giant spikes driven through nerve centers in his wrists and through both feet.  He had a crown of giant thorns plunged into his head and was raised into the air to die a slow, agonizing painful death by suffocation.  While on the cross Jesus says some of the most amazing things, first about those who are killing him he proclaims "forgive them Father for they know not what they do".  To say that about those putting you to death in the most cruel, painful way imagined is just amazing.  Then what happens next is called by Jonathan Edwards the dark exchange.  Jesus took on all of our sins, in that moment he became a murderer, rapist, child abuser, drunk, homosexual, liar, gossip, pervert and every other sin imaginable, he became those things on the cross, taking the punishment and curse for our sin, experiencing a degree of separation from God the father and the Holy Spirit that caused Jesus to cry out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  Jesus went from being our glorious God to every type of sinner and evil person in an instant, for our sakes, despite the fact that we killed Him and continue to sin against Him to this day.  Then in one of the most amazing moments of scripture and in the history of the world, Jesus cries out, "It is finished!"  He announces that the dark exchange is complete, He has taken the sin of the world on His shoulders so that we might be forgiven and live together with God.  After that moment, after He finished the task He set out to finish, He gives His soul back up to God, announcing "To your hands I commend my spirit".  And with those words, He died.  The most incredible individual died the most painful death, taking on our sin to save us.  I don't understand why I am worth saving, why any of us are worth saving, but Jesus gave his life for us and because of that I will serve Him everyday, trying to further His kingdom.  I think we all need to reflect often on just what it was He went through on the cross to save us.  His actions should give us a greater desire to love and obey Him.  I know it gives me that desire!  I love you Lord, with all my heart!

Tim 

Finally! Time For My Fight!

Eh, so maybe the title is a LITTLE misleading.  This coming sunday I am going to my first MMA show ever, and I am really stoked.  It is the first big name company to come to SD in well, forever!  It is a WEC event and the fight I am really stoked for is Uriah Faber vrs Jens Pulver.  This is their second match with Faber winning the first in an exciting five round fight.  I have a coworker, his friend and a couple of friends going with me, its gonna be a good time!  Also starting this saturday me and a group of people are starting up rolling(BJJ) at a friends house which I am also stoked for, and hopefully next week finally starting up training at undisputed.  I am really, really looking forward to getting back to training as I really haven't been able to train at all since I moved to SD.  I am hoping that I will be able to train five-six times a week.  Now some bad news, I was making quite a bit more in my job then I was supposed too and just found out my salary is going back to where it was supposed to be.  So now I am going to have to be much more careful with my budget as I am trying to save money an pay my bills at the same time.  So if you could all pray for me that I would make wise decisions and be able to save and pay bills at the same time I would appreciate it!  Love ya'all!

Tim