Sam Prellwitz

You know when you watch those dramatic movies where two people will do anything for love and then in the end they finally get to be together and it all seems so happy? Movies like this annoy me. And it's not because I dislike the presumption that the two love-birds will live a happily ever after life together. That's all fine and good. I dislike these movies because they sensationalize the catch and miss the out on the life. As a culture we're obsessed with the catch. I'm more interested in the adventure after (s)he's caught. Of course, movies aren't well-suited to examine this part of life. The adventure post-catch develops a lot slower and more deliberately. It takes time, which is something that movies don't have. And it's too bad because for a lot of people the catch is the only thing they've ever been given a reason to be excited about, which has some obvious problems. What would society look like if we sensationalized the life over the catch?

People typically fall into relationships. On the playground a small boy will ask another small boy to play football with him, resulting in a life-long friendship. The new person at the office is grateful for any kind of kindness he or she receives, happy to feel like he or she can find friends there. We're happy to have friends, but sometimes the relationships we build are little more than people we can go to in order to feel valued. This is very normal and there really isn't anything wrong with this. We all need to be in relationship with other people. But there's something to those rare relationships that we often happen upon - the ones where both parties feel pushed and challenged because of it. They're the relationships that are going somewhere. People don't fall into these types of relationships. These relationships are deliberate and purposeful. Each party in these relationships has a vested interest in contributing to it. To grow in maturity, to discover and ...

Galatians 1:10 "Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my  goal, I would not be Christ's servant." Because that's the distinction we have to make: either we're a slave to Jesus or we're a slave to something else. There really isn't a middle ground. Paul understood that a follower of Jesus wins approval with other people not because that's the goal, but because Jesus demands the very best from us and there are people longing to see love like that. Not everyone will like you if you follow Jesus, but you will find that certain people will be drawn to you because of your faith. None of that was your doing - they're drawn to Jesus, not you - and that's a good thing. That's the right kind of approval.    

Matthew 11:6 "And blessed is the one who is not offended by me." (ESV) It is possible that this statement best sums up the state of the world today, yet this statement in today's context is highly complicated. Many are easily offended: Christians, Muslims, Atheists, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, etc. Take one look at the news and you'll see how easily fights break out over difference of belief. But that's not what Jesus is saying here. He's saying in these words that whoever is not offended by Him will be blessed. Much of the world is offended by the message of Jesus. Often their offended by what they believe to be the message of Jesus. Our job, as believers, is to be accurate about it, so that if they're offended, they're at least offended by the right thing. In a world where minor misunderstandings can start wars, this charge to represent our faith in a real, true, and authentic way has never been more urgent. People will be offended by Jesus, but they sh...

Those WWJD bracelets were a nice little idea. They made a significant amount of people think a little more carefully about their actions. The problem is, we rarely know what Jesus would actually do. Jesus was highly unpredictable in His teaching days. It wasn't uncommon for one of His disciples to utterly confuse what they thought the purpose of Him being here was. Even the disciples put Jesus in their own little Jesus box. They did the same thing then that we do now - we expect Jesus to serve our own agenda more than we expect ourselves to serve His. Sometimes people make the mistake of saying that becoming a Christian will make your life better. While that's not an untrue statement, some associate the word better with the word easier, which has never been the case. Following Jesus probably won't make your life easier. The whole better part? That comes when you're finally able to take Jesus out of the box made for Him by your agenda. I know that I still cling to my box...

I was never much of an art student, nor was I much for shop class. I love the process of getting started on a new project, but it was the messiness and the mistakes that always stopped me from making any real progress. So I often fell short of a fully completed project. Lately, I've seen how necessary the mess is. When you carve away at something you're going to have shavings on the ground. The unnecessary stuff needs to settle somewhere. The same is true for me and anyone trying to follow Jesus.  There's a lot of junk that needs to be carved away, but as it gets carved away something new and good is found underneath. Jesus is in the messy business of making things new. Why not get a little messy and join in on some of the good work He's doing in you? It's ok to make a mess...

One time, when Jesus was speaking in a home, it was bursting at the seams. Three men carried their paralyzed friend on a mat to this home so that he could see Jesus. Finding that He wasn't reachable because of how packed the house was, they climbed onto the roof and removed a few tiles and then lowered the man on the mat down in front of Jesus. These men had expectations. They expected to bring their friend before Jesus and see him changed because of it - that's why they went through so much trouble to get him there. What about you? What are your expectations for Jesus? What do you think He's capable of? Do you visit Him with expectations? Do you show Him to your  friends with expectations? Do you expect Him to change your life? Your friends lives? You can read the rest of the story in Mark, chapter 2. It's one of my favorites.  

A young girl passed away this past week. She was fifteen and battled cancer for four of those fifteen years. She was sweet and passionate and her resolve was inspiration for many. Her faith in Jesus was evident and reached hundreds of people. She truly is heaven's gain and our loss. We were blessed to have her while we did.

In Luke 22:44 it says, "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Great drops of blood. These words have haunted me. Imagining the sweat of Jesus pouring out like blood as he prays, anticipating his death. These are meaningful words with much symbolism and foreshadowing, but they also speak plainly about the intensity of the situation. Jesus was at the end of Himself. If left to His human desire, the suffering to come would have been taken from Him. Verse 42 says, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done." The sweat drops like blood from the terror of what is to come, but knowing what is needed of Him, he continues on. Facing pain, suffering, and ridicule, Jesus  relies utterly on His Father and His Father's plan and in doing so offers salvation to the world. It was the most significant act of obedience ever. Do we take the...