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Be encouraged.

Posted on 04/03/2011 by Benji Zimmerman Posted in Spiritual | Leave a comment

In Paul’s first letter to the church in Thessaloniki , he offers some closing words in chapter 5.

“For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever. So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.”

AMAZING.

God chose to save us because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God has done the work. Jesus has paid the price. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation. God loves us no matter what we have done, where we have been and how we have lived. God has chosen us. That is simply amazing!

WORDS.

The amazing of what God did for us should result in action. The words? Words of encouragement and building others up. The amazing news of what God did should spur you to action. Not just on Sunday, but everyday. We can not do anything to earn a place with God, but because of what God has done we should be encouraging others and building them up.

ACTION.

Now go and do it. Who do you know that needs to be encouraged? Whatever it takes, be an encouragement to someone today!

Lent – Day 8

Posted on 03/16/2011 by Benji Zimmerman Posted in Spiritual | 3 Comments

If you were to ask my wife about how my first week of Lent went, she would respond with just one word:

CRANKY.

Last week Wednesday when Lent started I posted that I had a specific plan to cut back the amount of sugar I was consuming to the recommended daily amount for adult males (37.5 grams) from an average of over 200 grams I had been consuming blindly. What I have come to realize is that there are all kinds of websites that say all kinds of different things about sugars. I have read that 37.5 grams should include both natural and added sugars. I have also read where it says you can eat as much natural sugars as you would like but to avoid the added sugars at all costs with the maximum daily intake of 37.5 grams. After a week I am not sure I have the definitive number of exactly how much of which type of sugars I should have, but after a week of tracking here is a chart of my first week of sugar consumption:

After one week of tracking my sugar consumption I am averaging 22.6 grams of natural sugar per day and 15.4 grams of added sugar per day. Giving me an average of 38 grams of sugar per day. Just .5 grams more than I should be averaging!!! After 1 week I am so close to being back on target. On day 2 and day 4 I went on 30 mile bike rides where I consumed some natural sugar based energy shots that contributed 24 grams of sugar each time (took one on each ride) so my average without those 2 energy shots would be 31.5 grams per day. I would consider this a huge success after just one week!

The point of Lent and a fast from sugar consumption was not for a diet, but to help draw me closer to God and empathize with the sacrifice God made through Jesus. Lets be honest for a few minutes. This exercise of cutting sugar consumption started out pretty rough. I was cranky, tired and hungry most days. I wanted snacks! I wanted dessert! Most of all I just wanted to be left alone. For the first few days I know that I treated my wife poorly and I was living in a place where I needed some extra grace. After 8 days though I can finally feel my emotions and my body balancing back out and I am really starting to feel good again.

The second part of my Lenten plan was to read 45 minutes a day everyday for 40 days. Honestly, this hasn’t gone so well. I was so tired and cranky the first few days I found it nearly impossible to find time to read between all the other daily tasks. I wasn’t intentionally setting aside time and whatever time I did set aside I spent bike riding instead of reading. However slowly as the week progressed I started to make more and more time for reading amongst my daily routine so by weeks end I had read two hours and fifteen minutes total. Although not anywhere close to the goal of five hours and fifteen minutes for a week, it is a start and I am excited to get back into reading this week.

I don’t like how the week started but I am grateful how it finished. I am excited to continue on this journey and see what unfolds in the next week. How about you, how was your first week of Lent? Did you accomplish your goal everyday? Do you feel closer to God because of the fast during Lent?

What is the hardest thing you have endured?

Posted on 03/14/2011 by Benji Zimmerman Posted in Personal | 2 Comments

What is the hardest thing you have ever endured? Did you choose this thing or was it inflicted upon you?

In recent days I have not lived through anything remotely difficult, but I have been a viewer of three different types of events that have got me thinking. Although drastically different the events that I have seen transpire over the last few days have left me wondering what is the hardest thing I have endured through and at the end of my life what is the hardest thing I will have lived through.

On Thursday when the coverage of the earthquake in Japan and subsequent tsunami damage started airing on the late evening news I was struck with an overwhelming sense of heart ache for the people of Japan. I can not imagine what it would be like to live through an event of such magnitude. I have a really hard time relating to the people of Turkey, New Zealand, Haiti and recently Japan because I have never had to survive something so difficult. The death, destruction and devastation are nearly impossible for me to imagine.

On Friday I watched a documentary called, Running the Sahara. Three friends from around the globe decided to run across Northern Africa specifically the Sahara Desert. Their journey took 111 days and they ran over 4,300 miles or the equivalent of 170 marathons without taking a day off. The statistics of the event are so ridiculous that I can’t even process what they had to endure. The longest solo hike I have ever done is 43 miles. That is how much these guys averaged everyday for 111 straight days! I can’t even wrap my mind around the distance let alone the physical elements of heat, cold, sandstorms, etc that they ran through. These three guys have done something that I will never be able to relate too and it has to be one of the most difficult self-inflicted things I have ever heard of.

Lastly, on Sunday night my wife and I watched the movie Life as We Know It. During the movie the parents of a one year old are tragically killed and they leave their daughter to be cared for by their two best friends who absolutely loathe each other but eventually fall in love. The movie has some great quotes and has a few moments that made us laugh as parents, but the majority of the movie my wife and I were bawling. I can not fathom what it would be like if I lost Ashley or Alexis. Scratch that, I don’t even want to imagine. Although a fictional movie it left us both with an overwhelming sense of trust in God and a sadness for those who have had to endure such tragic events.

I don’t know if I really want to know what the answer to the question: at the end of my life what will be the hardest thing I had to endure? I don’t think I want to know that question because I know that I would not be prepared to hear the answer. God knows what is going to happen in the future and he knows the hardships we will all have to endure. After the last few days and the things I have seen my faith and trust in God has been increased and I have an overwhelming sense of peace this morning knowing that God is in control and that my life is in His hands.

Lent – Day 1

Posted on 03/09/2011 by Benji Zimmerman Posted in Spiritual | 1 Comment

Every year when the season of Lent comes around I promise myself that I am going to do something awesome to spend time with God and give up something that will really draw me closer to God. But then every year I get started and I don’t finish. Maybe I am trying to hard or dreaming to big or maybe I am missing the point of Lent all together. Regardless of what has happened in the past, here we are again, the beginning of Lent.

A tradition that started sometime in the 5th or 6th century, Lent is the period of forty days leading up to Easter Sunday. Today, Ash Wednesday, is the beginning of the forty days of fasting, prayer, repentance and sacrifice in preparation for the celebration of what Jesus did when he died on the cross for the sin of all mankind. Jesus, the son of God, forfeited His own life for the sin of all the world. Traditionally during the season of Lent we give up something to remind ourselves of the sacrifice that Jesus made when He died for us.

In short, Lent is a season to forgo something as a reminder of the sacrifice Jesus made for us. What are you going to give up? What is something so dear to you that you can not give it up without it being a sacrifice?

Diet Coke.

Just kidding. But society has taken Lent and turned it into something to skip for the sake of our waist lines. Lent is not about ditching chips, or soda or any other simple food item because of an excuse to diet, but Lent is as season to spend time without something to remind us of what Jesus did on the cross in replacement for my sins. I will ask the question again: what is something so dear to you that you can not give it up without it being a sacrifice?

Sugar.

This time I am serious. I am addicted to sugar. I have read that an average adult male should only consume 37.5 grams of sugar per day. I am guessing I have that much sugar in my system by the time I finish my breakfast and morning coffee. I tracked my sugar in take for one week, I was average 220 grams per day. The sugars I was consuming were not healthy ones from fruits either! I decided that for Lent I should give up sugar. I am going to try to cut back to the point where I am consuming what the average adult male should consume (this would mean roughly a 500% decrease from my current average that sounds like more than a sacrifice to me, it almost sounds impossible). I will keep track daily and see how it goes. Every Wednesday I plan on posting how my progress is going.

How does giving up sugar draw me closer to God? Honestly, it doesn’t. However, sugar has been stealing time from my family, my friends, my work and most importantly from God. The side effects from sugar consumption are too numerous to list here, but I am convinced that the sugar that I intake makes me more lethargic which causes my body to imbalanced chemically which in turn causes me to be imbalanced emotionally. When I am imbalanced nutritionally and emotionally I have a hard time connecting with other people and spending time with God. I believe, and I am going to test during Lent this year, that when I cut back on sugar it will help me feel more balance and in turn I will want to spend more time being active with my family and spend more time reading and talking with God. I also plan on intentionally setting aside 45 minutes everyday to read, something I have not done for a couple years.

What about you? What are you sacrificing for Lent? What are you doing to remind you of the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf? What is your action plan for the next 40 days?

Luggage

Posted on 01/26/2011 by Benji Zimmerman Posted in Spiritual | Leave a comment

In one form or another all of us have been wounded:

Some wounds cut shallow and some wounds cut very very deep.

Some wounds we inflict upon ourselves and others are ripped into our lives by those closest to us.

Some wounds are just words and some wounds are abuse.

But no matter who we are or where we live we will be wounded by someone or something.

Last night in small group I was reminded about this fact: wounds affect us all. But the key to the woundedness we all live with, is how we deal with the wounds and how we respond the next time around. For all of us the wounds we incur will ultimately shape the way we live. It becomes our choice if we are going to deal with the wounds and reach a place of not only forgiveness but also the ability to wish our oppressor well. Sounds difficult right? Because it is. It requires more than we are capable of giving on our own. That is what makes Jesus so important. The very fact that God sent his only son to die on a cross for our forgiveness of sins shows that God is willing to give to us through an incredibly sacrificial circumstance. God’s gift of forgiveness empowers us to do the same for all of those who wrong us along the road of life.

There is an alternative. Instead of letting our wounds heal with the forgiveness and grace available to us through Jesus, we can let our wounds fester, puss and rot. The wounds will turn into bitterness, envy and revenge. We will start to carry our wounds around in suitcases and backpacks unwilling to let go of the past. The longer we carry these trunks of troubles or backpacks of burdens the longer we will have to start plotting evil on others and create a cycle of woundedness in their lives.

The choice is ours: forgiveness or revenge.

We will all be wounded in this life. What choice will you make?

When we choose forgiveness it is as if God takes our wounds and heals them. Our wounds become scars of honor to God. Our wounds become a reflection of the great things that God has done in our lives. The cheesy idea that chicks dig scars needs to be traded in for God digs scars. They are His badges of honor. Scars show that we have been through the crap that life has to offer and we have chosen the high road, the road of forgiveness. Wounds may come this week, next month or ten years from now, but no matter who we are we can not escape them but rather we must learn to grow through them.

Is it time for you to trade in your luggage?

She

Posted on 01/12/2011 by Benji Zimmerman Posted in Spiritual | 1 Comment

Last night in our small group we watched the Nooma video called She. In the video Mars Hill Pastor Rob Bell talks about the feminine side of God. The video can be extremely controversial in certain denominations or sub-cultures of Christians. Our group thoroughly enjoyed the video and had a great discussion about gender roles, God’s compassion and the need to see the feminine characteristics of God manifested in our lives.

One of the questions that really hit me from the study was one that I wanted to throw out to all of you. Because God is often referred to as God the Father in Bible and throughout Christianity it is often asked: How does your view or relationship with your earthly father shape your view or relationship with God the Father? The Nooma study takes that question and flips it: How has your experience with your own mother shaped your perception of God?

Thoughts? Have any of you ever been asked this question before? Honestly, this question hit me like a truck. In the past I have associated the negative characteristics of my father to God but never once have I associated the positive characteristics of my mother with my relationship with God. What about you? Have you attributed the positive relationship most of us have with our mothers to God? Or have you never even thought of it?

Trying Something Different

Posted on 09/01/2009 by Benji Zimmerman Posted in Personal | 2 Comments

A few days ago I posted about our trip to Michigan and the fact that it left me wanting to deal with the demons from my past. The post ended rather rhetorical as I was looking for an idea of how to do things differently than the ways I had tried in recent years to deal with my past. I had an idea in my head that has been rattling around for a few months here it is:

“Benji, you need to stop reading books. Stop spending so much time reading about what others have to say about God and his word, and just read the Bible.”

My response to myself was that I read the Bible enough to know what it says and that it wouldn’t help much in this issue in my life. I don’t know if I have ever been so arrogant and wrong in my life. I need all the help I can get. I have to be honest, that is what this blog is all about. I have read all the books of the Bible at one time or another, but I have never read the Bible straight through. After seeing some very positive results in friends and co-workers who have been reading the Zondervan Bible in 90 days, I decided a few days ago that starting September first I would start reading the Bible, 12 pages a day until it was finished.

All of this was solidified in my mind before the weekend. Then on Sunday when my wife came into the bookstore and told me that she was PREGNANT I knew I needed to get busy allowing God to work on the demons in my heart and life. I am so excited to become a father. It is a joy and honor I have dreamed of for many years, but with the added pressure mounting of being a husband and a father, I am so grateful that I have the next nine months to allow God to sweep into my life and clean out some of my closets.

During the next 90 days I have some expectations but I am trying to forget all the stuff I know about God and the Bible and allow the Holy Spirit to lead me through the scriptures so that I might come to know more about God and maybe a little more about myself. I am sure that the tone and shape of this blog will change over the next 90 days and that I might lose a subscriber or two, but for those of you who hang around and lurk these pages I pray that if you have time you will consider picking up a copy of the Bible in 90 days and take this journey with me, a journey I should have taken a long time ago. Oh well, it is never to late to try something different.