Kevin J. Bowman - a pilgrim trying to be the hands and feet of Jesus

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Forgiveness - Am I Responsible

Monday, December 10, 2007 11:27 AM

I was listening to Morgan Spurlock's "30 Days:Muslims & America" on Hulu and this conversation caught me as interesting.



Why the difference of opinion? Is it not that we as Christians hold forgiveness as our core tenet. The very message of Christianity is that while we were WRONG, Christ took the responsibility of that WRONG on himself and made restitution for that WRONG.

All of us as Christians share responsibility for the tragedies done in the name of Christ. I see the Muslim gentleman in this segments words being very true of an attitude that permeates a lot of Christian conversation.

However, in order for us to LOVE like Christ loved, we must practice the kind of forgiveness that takes the blame for those WRONGS we were not party to.

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Love Is Dangerous

Friday, November 09, 2007 2:19 PM

I was listening to one of my favorite sermons again yesterday. It inspired me to create this shirt.



If I get 8 - 10 people who want it, I am going to do a print run, so comment to me. The cost will be $12 each and proceeds will go to Sevens.

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My Hope Is In Christ's Kingdom

Wednesday, August 15, 2007 8:25 AM

My grandfather told me when I was a young man that everything can be taken from you except your hope. I was a young man and had no understanding of his words at all, yet I have treasured them in my heart all these many years since his passing into glory. It has been 19 years since and I am a "man" now with a wife, a family, a job, and a great hope. Yet, I have not suffered. Still after all these years my understanding of his wisdom is only academic. I empathize with those who have only their hope yet I have never walked in their moccasins.

I think suffering is an advantage, because it aligns your hope. I was reading 1 Corinthians 13. I was reading it because I LONG to LOVE the way Jesus loved. I got to verse 13 and God revealed a beautiful "rhema" to my heart.

1 Corinthians 13:13
But now we still have faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
My experience in life has been insular with "Christian" people. As I have known them, most all of them have had their faith in Christ. Their forward looking truth has been in the promise of salvation. The faith leads them to a righteousness that is modeled in Christ, the apostles, and the heroes of faith. However their faith, is as far as their walk with Christ ever goes. I have struggled to love like Christ, because I have placed only my faith in him.

My hope, and the hopes of those I have known, are not placed in Christ. My hope is placed in my wife, my family, and my job. I hope to have a happy marriage. I hope to have children who are obedient responsible members of society. I hope to be making $150K a year. My hope, or "my treasures" as Christ also calls them, are stored up here on earth.

God spoke to me in that verse and opened my eyes to the fact that I could not achieve the "greatest of these" so long as my hope was still placed in carnal accomplishments. I could not embrace the power of agape love so long as I was the center of my treasure. As I have been busy building my kingdom, I have been unable to become like the King of the eternal kingdom.

As I begin this process of moving my HOPE to Christ. I begin to understand 3 very important truths.

1. Faith is the substance of things hoped for (Heb 11:1)- My faith takes on new dimensions with each day that I move more hope to His Kingdom rather than my kingdom.
2. There is Nowhere to Go, since only Christ has the words of life (John 6:68)- The comings and goings of this life make more sense when I hold on to the only direction that bears life.
3. Abundant Life is a good thing (John 10:10) - The saints of the persecution and the heroes of awesome faith like George Muller and Mother Theresa are marked by their embrace of abundant life. Their hope being placed in Christ's kingdom allowed them to understand that physical peace and economic comfort were mere shadows of the Abundance that was promised.

My grandfather was right. No matter what mankind takes, when our HOPE is in the KINGDOM OF GOD, when we understand that he is making all things NEW! That is the kind of HOPE I want to have!

There Is A Reason

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Who The Christians Are!

Monday, August 13, 2007 10:49 AM

I was reading an old blog post by Mark Moore and he had this WONDERFUL quote in the comments of the post:

Epistle To Diognetus 5:1-17
“For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.”

I want to live my life in such a way this could be written of me!

Not That Kind of King

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UGH - Trying To Be Nice is Hard

Wednesday, April 18, 2007 8:49 AM

(This is NOT a happy post - It does not have a happy ending - It is the simple truth of how I feel - If you want a well formed message with a great spiritual application - this is not the post for you - this is a RAW flush of feelings! Please understand that if you choose to read it)

Knowing in your head to love your enemies is a lot easier than actually doing it.

I was doing so well and quite proud of myself last week when I explained a solution to a problem faced by a person I detest at my church. I thought I was being kind and then once explaining the solution to the problem the person would be out of my hair, and I could pat myself on the back for showing "love" to my enemy.

That was until today, when the person manifested the real reason why I consider them my enemy. This person emailed me needing a FIRM DATE as to when the problem would be solved at the church. I mean it's not like I don't have 3 small children at home. I didn't volunteer to FIX the problem, I just volunteered HOW to fix the problem. Now, judging from past experiences, I will get emails and phone calls CONSTANTLY from this person.

Last year I was going to find a new church to worship and serve with SOLELY because of this person. Though I decided against that, I did decide that I could not serve in ANY ministry this person was involved with. Things have been great for the 9 months since I avoided this person. However the FIRST conversation I have had in 9 months and it is back to the same CRAP as before.

HOW?
HOW?
HOW?
HOW, Do I Love My Enemy?

I want to be the right person and do the right thing. I want to embrace the challenge of Christ call! Yet, I don't have time to spend the 2 hours it will take to fix this issue. It is times like this I think I SHOULD have left this church, since I can not deal with this person and I KNOW it is my problem . I KNOW it is my inability to LOVE like CHRIST loves!

Well, I am off to torment myself on whether or not to even GO to church tonight!



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