Jason Bedell Online

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There is a lot going on with Jesus in this first section of Mark. We see him get baptized, tempted for 40 days by the devil, gets his team together (the disciples), drives out an evil spirit, heals a ton of people, gets away to pray, then starts the cycle all over again. The thing that stands out to me while reading this is the praying portion.

Verse 35, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."

In the midst of chaos and life going in a million directions; Jesus took the time to pray. Now what he prayed for I have no clue, but I'm willing to bet it was for strength and peace. I know throughout life I have faced some pretty trying times (many of you at Forefront have too), and in the middle of everything happening I have to remind myself to ask God to give my family and I peace and strength so we can look to him, rely on him, and not go totally insane. When we lean on him, things become clearer. When we trust him and go to God in prayer, he rewards our faithfulness.

Until next time,

Jason *over and out*

I've taken over the Forefront Blog this week so I'll be posting some of the thoughts, vision casting, etc. from my posts there. Enjoy.


On the corner of my desk you'll find a picture of my beautiful wife Carrie and our 5 month old daughter Chloe (she's sporting the Mets hat in the Mets frame if you were wondering what team is the best in MLB). In the day to day work flow they are my reminder. A reminder that God is first, then family, and finally the church. Forefront is a great church and our mission is one of huge importance, but if I miss the boat with drawing near to God and loving on my family, then Forefront will suffer because of it.

Which leads me to the question, "How do you create balance in your life?" With God, family, church, work, little league, dance recitals, and so on... what are you neglecting? Whether you believe so or not, something is hurting. It might be work or maybe even hobbies, but a majority of the time it's God and family. It's a sad reality that many who follow Jesus come to understand.

Let's say: You've been serving in children's ministry since the day you signed up at a serving expo, you cart kids around to various student ministry events, you set-up and tear down every Sunday, and work a 60+ hour work week. You come home, find barely enough time to hang with the kids and spouse before you crash and go to bed only to start the chaos all over again. Then when you get into the quiet thinking moments, you realize that your family is suffering and you aren't connected to God. Who do you blame for ending up in this stage in life? Unfortunately, we tend to blame the church. When that happens you'll start to hear things like:

• "I'm not getting fed spiritually."
• "My family and I are thinking of leaving the church."
• "I like serving, but I think I am getting pretty burned out with this."
• "God just doesn't seem to be meeting my needs right now."

Now I would contend that when things in our life arise they come from a deeper place than we would like to admit. When you hear these things you might look at the church, when I hear these things- I look in the mirror. I wonder where I stepped out of pace with God.

In the 8+ years of doing ministry before coming to Forefront, I had a season where the church was everything. I preached messages on reading your Bible, when I hadn't read it in weeks. I had Bible studies on giving to God, and I wasn't where I needed to be with my giving of time, money and heart. I was serving so much that I began to miss the point of being His in the first place. The problem was I blamed God, the church, the leadership and everyone within shouting distance, but it did nothing. It did nothing because they weren't the problem- I was. I wasn't close to God. I had walked away. I didn't keep up my side of the relationship.

The eye-opening moment was when I got back into the groove. He and I were talking together on a daily basis (praying), I was learning about His plan for my life in a deeper way (reading my Bible), and I noticed my time wasn't as constrained as I had originally thought and my joy was back (serving in the church).

Many times in life I've looked to place blame anywhere but with myself. Now being married, having a little girl, and growing along with God over these years in ministry; when things get out of whack- I look in the mirror. And when God and I are walking in step, my relationship with Him is stronger, family looks brighter and serving just becomes a natural part of my DNA.

So, to the question "How do you create balance in your life?" I would answer, Love God, Love Family, Love People... and you won't be able to contain yourself as you Turn the World Upside Down.

I love the discipleship group I'm in. There are three other dudes that I look up to and respect. We meet online every Wednesday and live & in person every other Saturday. It is such a great encouragement to me. If you aren't meeting regularly with someone or a group... it's time to start sucka.

Anyway, we read a book of the bible every two weeks in depth and talk about how God is speaking to us through the book. Here's part of today's reading:

"God tested us thoroughly to make sure we were qualified to be trusted with this Message. Be assured that when we speak to you we're not after crowd approval—only God approval. Since we've been put through that battery of tests, you're guaranteed that both we and the Message are free of error, mixed motives, or hidden agendas." 1 Thessalonians 2:3-4 MSG

Wow. I know I believed this, but reading it this morning challenged me even more. I am not doing this for any man. My life was given to God in the early 90's (to which I messed up quite a bit) and then my vocation was given to Him in 1997. I can't look to please the masses. Period. My audience and final say is a single being. God himself.

E'nuf said.