Mystical Skateboarding

Posted on February 6, 2015 by scottytang

When I was young, skateboarding was all about becoming the best I possibly could. It was all about learning as many tricks as I could set my mind to, and doing them down the biggest things I could find. I skated to get good and to prove myself to the skateboard community that I was something special. It was all about me and my ego. As I got older though, I began to see the vanity in this approach and I began to skateboard in a way that was much more meaningful.  

I have always been amazed how bonds could be formed at a skatepark (or any kind of playground) without any words being exchanged. I can go to a skatepark, join the session going on there with complete strangers, and bonds will be formed without knowing anything about them. Just being there, participating in the play going on, maybe giving a little praise and encouragement here and there, is enough to form a bond without knowing anything about their life story. Skateboarding and any kind of play, does this same kind of bonding with God. James 1:17 says, “every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of lights…” And Colossians 1:16 says, “For by Him [Christ] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible… all things were created through him and for him.” “All things,” and “every good gift,” would include skateboarding. Skateboarding is a gift from above – the father of lights, that was created through and for Christ. And if skateboarding is created for and through Christ, than that means it is a means of interaction and bonding with our God. When we see skateboarding like this, it becomes an act of worship, which greatly enriches the experience.

When I started to see skateboarding like this, I started to feel the presence of God with me every time I got on a board. I could feel him interacting with me and moving in me as I rode around and went through my trick list. Almost like the bond that is created between a father and son when the two play together. And when a father plays with his son, he delights and rejoices to see him progress and get better at whatever it is he or they do. As I have gotten to know my heavenly father, my drive to get better at skateboarding has become more about bonding with Him who rejoices to see me on a board and pushing myself, rather than just getting good for my own sake or to please other skateboarders. To know and feel The Father rejoicing in your progression gives skateboarding such a greater feeling.

Skateboarding is a beautiful thing created by a loving God. When we realize this it becomes a mystical experience by which we interact and bond with the Creator, giving it a much more enriching experience with greater meaning. Skateboarding is an act of worship that draws us closer to our heavenly father, not a means to prove ourselves to other people, inflate our ego, and to somehow be recognized for our talent. Skateboarding feeds the soul and the spirit in a way that is much deeper than what is seen on the surface.

Reflection Questions:

If we started seeing and feeling God on the sessions, how would that change the experience or the atmosphere?

Skateboarding is often about inflating the ego and being recognized by the community for being an awesome skateboarder? How can we skate in a way that doesn’t inflate the ego?

Posted in Skate Devos | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Hassle

Posted on January 26, 2015 by scottytang

 

Life is full of hassle, and the more we love something the more of a hassle it seems to be. From the people we love the most, to the things we love to do, the greater the love, the greater the hassle. As skateboarders, it is amazing what we put our bodies through in order to do what we love. My body is always aching or hurting somewhere, but I can never stay off of a board for longer than a few days. Somedays I really want to take a week or two off to let my body heal, but I can’t bring myself to do it, I love it too much. It is also a hassle on our finances with all the things we have to keep buying in order to keep doing it – boards, wheels, shoes, etc. And the more we do it, the more often we have to spend the money to replace things. Skateboarding is a hassle that I gladly put up with because of the love that I have for it.

When I read the story of God’s people in the Bible, I see this same kind of thing. God is constantly getting frustrated with His people, but he gladly endures the hassle because of the love He has for them. When the Israelites are led out of slavery in Egypt, they are constantly doing the opposite of what is expected of them. Time and time again God’s frustration is clearly seen in the scriptures, but He gladly puts up with their foolish behavior because His love for them is so great. The moment Moses leaves them alone for a bit, they make a golden calf and start worshipping it as their God. And even after they see God bring bread down from heaven, and see him bring fourth water from a rock, they still question his goodness and motive for bringing them out of Egypt. Whenever they feel any bit of discomfort, they started grumbling to Moses about how they should have just stayed in Egypt as slaves. The Old Testament narratives (Genesis – Esther) are full of stories that leave you wondering, “why does God put up with such a stubborn, disobedient, foolish people?” And the answer is simple, he loves them enough that the hassle doesn’t matter or is hardly felt. Jeremiah 31:3 says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” And if we look at ourselves closely, we should be asking ourselves the same question everyday about God regarding us – “Why does God put up with us and choose to love us when we constantly mess up and do stupid stuff?” And yet again the answer is simple, He loves us with the same “everlasting love” that he did for ancient Israel.

Love involves hassle, and for skateboarders this should be obvious, our bodies are always hurting somewhere and we are always having to spend money on our passion, but it never deters us from doing it. It is a hassle to love something or someone, but that’s what makes it special. To stick through something when it is difficult and frustrating is the real test of love, and the real indicator of how deep that love goes. And God has undergone these same types of struggles in His love for people. We do things that frustrate Him and fall short of what is expected of us constantly, but that will never deter Him from pursuing us and loving us. Scripture demonstrates that over and over again. Deuteronomy 31:8 says, “It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you nor forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” And Jesus says in Matthew 28:20, “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” No human is perfect, all of us do things that cause us to think to ourselves, “what was I thinking?” But luckily we have a God that doesn’t expect us to be perfect little angels that never do anything wrong. Our actions may not always please Him, but luckily our behavior will never cause Him to disown us. Loving a human is a hassle, for God and for us, but thankfully our God gladly endures it because the love he has for us knows no bounds. There is no such thing as hassle free love, if are going to love someone or something, there will be hassle. I pray that we can love like God loves and gladly endure it.

Reflection Questions:

Have you ever ended a friendship or stopped doing something because it became a hassle? How did that test the depth of your love?

Have you ever felt like you yourself were too much of a hassle to be loved by anyone or any God? How can we always remind ourselves that no human is ever too much for God to love and adore?

If God never sees any human as too much of a hassle to love and pursue, how does that affect what we are willing to endure for people?

Posted in Skate Devos | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Iron Sharpens Iron

Posted on December 30, 2014 by scottytang

DSC00924

Over the years of being a skateboarder, it has always amazed me how much the people we skate with affects how fast we progress. We progress so much faster when we skate with people that are better than us and/or who really want to get better. And so much slower, or at all, when we skate with people that aren’t that good and/or don’t really care to get any better. People that are better than us or really desire to get better will challenge us to push our limits, people that aren’t will make us lazy and careless. Professional Skateboarder Bastien Salabanzi said in his interview on the Nine Club that when he first got on Flip skateboards at age 14 he had never skated a real handrail, only park rails. One year later he kickflip frontside boardslid a 16 stair rail, which was back in 2001. Nobody was flipping into big rails back then, and to go from never skating a real handrail to that in one year is mind boggling. And he said in the interview that it all came from skating with Geoff Rowley, Arto Saari, Mark Appleyard and the rest of the Flip team. Who you surround yourself with plays a huge role in the person you become.

When it comes to really seeking after the Lord, the same principle applies, for Proverbs 13:20 says, “Whoever walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” The people that really take Christ serious and really want to grow in Him are the people that we should be spending the bulk of our time with. For they are the ones who will challenge us to live wisely and push us to grow in our love for God and people. The Christian life is not something that we can do without people challenging us. Jesus says in Matthew 7:13-14, “For the gate is wide and the way is “easy” that leads to destruction, and many will enter; the gate is narrow and the way is “hard” that leads to life, and few will find it.” Without people challenging us, we fall into what is easy and natural, which is laziness and complacency that gets us no where and can even cause us to develop destructive habits. As skateboarders and as servants of the Most High, we need to be around people that test us and motivate us to get better. As Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens a friend.” We need good, quality people in our lives if we are going to be quality people ourselves.

Reflection Questions:

What kind of a person do you want to be? Are the friends that you spend most of your time with reflect that kind of person?

Are the people you surround yourself with bringing you closer to the person you want to be or farther away from it?

Posted in Skate Devos | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Means to an End

Posted on November 25, 2014 by scottytang

Street League 1

With all the money, fame, and glamor that surrounds the skateboard industry nowadays, it amazes me how often I meet kids that pretty much start skateboarding because they want to go pro. Or take skateboarding super serious and get frustrated and depressed if they feel like they aren’t living up to their expectations of skateboarding like the pros. For a lot of people, skateboarding is a means to an end, a way of fulfilling their desires of never having a regular job, and a means to attain fame and glory. People that skate with this mentality never seem to stay in it for very long. I had a friend growing up that told every one that if he didn’t get sponsored by the end of the year he was going to quit skating; and sure enough, he did. Someone in my family too, got his first skateboard and was already talking about becoming a pro skateboarder before he could even do an ollie… he probably skated for 6 months. People that approach skateboarding like this, don’t truly love it, they are just using it for their own selfish gain. When skateboarding is a means to an end, it fosters grand/unrealistic expectations that crushes the joy of it and leaves people burnt out and over it in a matter of months. When we truly love something, when it is it’s own end in it of itself and we are not just using it to attain some selfish gain, the joy of it will always be far greater and our commitment to it will last much longer than if we were just using it as a means to an end.

People tend to approach God in a very similar way – They will profess Christ as their Lord and live a life that aligns with that only for what they can get from Him. He is their means to an easier, less painful, blessed life. In 2010, Steve Johnson – a wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills dropped a game winning pass in the Super Bowl, and after the game he got on twitter and said, “I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO…” For Steve Johnson, God was a means to catch passes and win super bowls, and because his relationship with God was built on what he could get from Him… it crumbled. Whenever we love something for what we can get from it – whether it be Jesus, skateboarding, winning super bowls, significant others, and whatever else – at some point it will always crumble. Love has to be selfless and an end of itself if it is endure.

Many people approach God from the vantage point of, “what is in it for me?” They may not say it so plainly as that, but how they react to hardship, and deal with suffering, does say it plainly. These are the people that become atheists when a loved one dies, or when they lose their job, or are faced with some other travesty. They expect God to bless them and give them an easy life if they serve him. They see God as more of a business transaction than a relationship. If they do their part in serving Him, than God has to do His part. And if he doesn’t… He isn’t keeping his side of the deal. But scripture never says serving God will make life easy and painless, but in fact, quite the opposite. Jesus says in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” He never said we would never endure storms, but that he would be with us and give us peace through the storm.

Christ must become beautiful if we are to love Him in a selfless manner. When the Gospel really penetrates us and we realize how much Christ gave up for us; a genuine, selfless love is inevitable. He died so we could live; He let himself become bound so we could be free; He gave up His treasure in Heaven to make us His treasure. Timothy Keller – A well known pastor and best selling author said, “When we see Him dying to make us His treasure, that is when He will become ours.” Only through a genuine understanding of the Gospel can our love for God be genuine, otherwise it will always be a means for what we can get from Him – leaving us crushed and in despair every time life gets difficult.

Reflection Questions:

Why do you think it is so typical to serve God with the mentality of, “what is in it for me? what do I get out of this?” What are the dangers of this mentality and how can we have a healthier understanding of what it means to serve God?

Why do you serve and follow God? Do you love Him unconditionally? Or is he a means to get something you want?

 

Posted in Skate Devos | Leave a comment

Getting Rid of Fear

Posted on November 19, 2014 by scottytang

boo-bail

Skateboarding can be very scary, and because of this, the fear of falling will often make it hard to try a trick with complete confidence. And without confidence, it is hard to do tricks properly, for our nerves get all uneasy and it gets hard to focus. As odd as it may sound though, I’ve noticed that we can usually build our confidence and calm our nerves by bailing and purposefully falling. When what we think is the worst thing that can happen, actually happens, and we find ourselves hardly phased by it – we realize that there was nothing really to be afraid of. We become liberated from our fear and are free to try the trick with all the confidence in the world. Fear holds us back from skating to our full potential, and sometimes we have to make our fears become a reality before we can be freed from them and skate to our full potential.

All aspects of life entail fear, and sometimes the only way to get passed them is to have them become real. There was a time in my life where I had built my entire reason for living on being a skateboarder and being in skate ministry. If I ever got seriously hurt and unable to really skate, my entire way of life would be crushed and I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. But then it happened and I was thrown into a panic. Life became one mess of confusion and I even doubted if God was real because of it. Thankfully I did recover, and I learned through it that skateboarding and skate ministry cannot carry the full weight of my existence and purpose, it has to be built on Christ. And when I realized this and came back to skateboarding, it became a lot more enjoyable and the ministry aspect was a lot more fruitful. Before I could love skateboarding and skate ministry correctly, I had to relinquish my fear of losing it, and the only way I was able to do that was to actually lose it and have my biggest fear become real.

Proverbs 10:24-25 says, “The fear of the wicked will come upon him… When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous has an everlasting foundation.” Sometimes the Lord will allow our greatest fear to come upon us in order to remove whatever wickedness may be in us. When we love something so much that we can’t imagine life without it, then that thing has become an idol and has taken the place of God in our lives. God in His grace will often remove that idol by making us give it up for a time in order to purify our relationship with Him and with whatever good thing we have made an idol of.  Most the time these things we love that get in the way of our relationship with God are good things, but we get consumed by them and turn them into “God” things. And this gets manifested in all sorts of ways: significant others, money, careers, success, and even ministries. 2 Peter 2:19 says, “Whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.” Everyone is enslaved to something, if we are not enslaved to our perfect God that offers us grace and freedom, than we are enslaved to imperfect things and people that make our lives hard and burdensome, and fill us with anxiety. Fear and idolatry brings anxiety and terror, and that is not how our God designed us to live, for 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and self-control.”

Fear is a painful thing to get rid of, in skateboarding we have to fall and beat our bodies up, in our spiritual lives we often have to go through trials and hardship. C.S. Lewis said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but SHOUTS in our pain: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Because we tend to hold onto things that may be hurting us with such an iron grip, God – our great loving physician – will often have to perform surgery in order to loosen it. Pain is something that is often used to correct and bring freedom, which is something that we can also see in skateboarding. Sometimes the only way to overcome fear is to have it come true. For there are plenty of times when my fears came true and I realized, “oh wow, I had no reason to be afraid of that.” There also times when I am thankful that my fears came true, for they often bring fresh perspective and revelation that cause me to rethink how I have been living. It enlightens me as to how I could be living better. When we look at fear like this it removes the threat. Whatever the outcome is in this fear we are facing, even if it comes true, we are going to learn and grow from it, and that is something we can embrace and show gratitude for. 

Reflection Questions:

Have you ever been forced to let go of something that you thought you couldn’t live without? For example: a relationship, hobby, or even skateboarding? How did it shape you?

Sometimes the only way to conquer fear is to have it come true. Have you ever experienced this in skateboarding or in daily life?

If we could accept any outcome when facing whatever it is we feel we have to do that is scaring us, how does that remove the threat?

Posted in Skate Devos | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Life Beyond The Board

Posted on September 1, 2014 by scottytang

Love Blog 2

I’m sure we’ve all heard people talk about how skateboarding has enriched their life. How it has given them many great friendships, how they see the world differently because of it, and how they now redefine everything around them by seeing this concrete jungle as something to be skated on; a stair set is not just something to be walked on, but a playground that has endless potential, etc.. All these things are great and they give us a sense of awe and wonder toward skateboarding, but what can we learn from it in a way that makes us better people? Is there any wisdom in skating that we could say allows us to live in a way that we wouldn’t be able to if we never became skateboarders?

Skateboarding tends to be seen as a burnout culture, a culture that is full of high school dropouts and stoners, and for the most part, that assumption is not exactly false. Just look at the graphics on most of the top brands, and we’ll see what the values of a skateboarder tend to be. Even though this assumption or stereotype may be true, there is a lot of good in skateboarding, we just have to look a little deeper.

One good characteristic that comes from skateboarding is that we understand the value of being a good risk-taker. If we look at the most successful business people in the world, as well as the most successful skateboarders, an underlining theme for both is that they are good at taking risks. In skateboarding, not only is being a good risk taker crucial to our progression, but skateboarding is a lot more fun when we are taking those risks. When I go to a park and just cruise around and stick to what’s easy, I get bored really fast. The excitement in skateboarding comes from taking risks, and it’s the same in everyday life. If we are not taking risks and making investments in order to progress in life, then we are pretty much doomed to a life of monotony and boredom. The skateboarder risks their body for some excitement and progression, the everyday person risks their time and money for some excitement and improvement to their standard of living.

One more thing along these lines, is that skateboarding exercises our ability to deal with failure. The willingness to trod on and give it another try after we have already thrown ourselves down an obstacle a hundred times, and for some reason, continue to press on in hope of victory, is a great character trait in it of itself. Thomas Edison failed 10,000 times before he invented the lightbulb, and he is famous for saying, “I did not fail, I just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” Being able to deal with failure is a crucial part of moving forward, and skateboarding exercises this in our character.

In my experiences, skateboarding is a beautiful thing that has taught me a lot and has made me a person that is better equipped to handle the difficulties of life. There are many life lessons to be learned beyond the board, we just have to look a little deeper.

Posted in Skate Devos | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Richie Jackson: Being Unique

Posted on July 3, 2014 by scottytang

Richie-Jackson

Richie Jackson is one of the most unique skateboarders in the industry. From the tricks he does, to the spots he skates, to the way he dresses, no one is as unique as this guy.

Being unique isn’t always an easy thing to do. Standing out from the norm can be scary, and it can often get us outcasted, made fun of, or keep us from being accepted. Kids with handicaps like speech impediments, or autism usually get made fun of in grade school because it’s not normal. So why don’t we see more people skating like Richie Jackson? Because it’s not normal, he skates weird.

Jesus says in Matthew 5:11, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” Now why would anybody persecute someone on the account of Christ? Because it’s weird, it’s not normal to commit everything to Christ and live like a Christian. It’s not normal to wait till you’re married to have sex, it’s not normal to be sober and to refrain from getting high everyday at the skate park or getting drunk every Friday and Saturday night. People that “stand out” and “go against the grain” are classified as weird people that often get made fun of or rejected. But just as Jesus says, “Blessed” are those that are persecuted for His sake, blessed are the weird ones that go against the grain. Richie Jackson went against the grain with his skateboarding and now all his youtube videos have hundreds of thousands of views, and he is making a living skateboarding.

Jesus says in John 10:10, “I came that they may have life and have it more abundantly.” Professing to be a Christian and living as a Christian are two different things. Professing to be a Christian and not living like one will not make you stand out and cause you to be classified as weird. Therefore you will also not have life and have it more abundantly. Being unique and standing out is hard and can cause people to get made fun of and rejected, but in the end it can turn into a huge blessing. Richie Jackson is making his living from doing what he loves – skating in a weird way, and the Christian gets to have life more abundantly by standing out and going against the grain.

Posted in Skate Devos, The Pursuit Collective | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The End of “I Miss…..”

Posted on June 25, 2014 by scottytang

Traveling

Through the course of my brief life, I’ve had the privilege of being able to move around and travel quite a bit, as well as making friends everywhere I’ve gone. Being able to travel is usually always seen as a sign of a good life, but one thing that bothers me about all my moving around and traveling, is that every time I leave a place behind I have to miss all the rad people I’ve gotten to call my friends. The more I move around and travel, the more people I have to miss, and sometimes this longing or missing of these people is so great that I’m not always sure if traveling and always adding to this list is a good thing. As I travel and am left with feelings of longing for the people I have to leave behind, it makes me wonder if this points to a flaw in the system, that maybe God had intended things to be different before everything went haywire in the Garden of Eden.

As crazy as it sounds, there are a few accounts in the Bible of people teleporting. When Jesus is resurrected, he appears to some of his disciples, talks to them a bit, and then “vanishes from their sight” (Luke 24:31). And in Chapter 8 of the book of Acts, Phillip is explaining the prophecy of Christ in Isaiah 53 to an Ethiopian Eunuch, and when he finishes and baptizes the Eunuch, scripture records, “And when they came out of the water, the spirit of the Lord carried Phillip away, and the eunuch saw him no more… But Phillip found himself in Azotus” (Acts 8:39-40). These passages of teleporting have always been fascinating to me, and they make me wonder, “if we could teleport, we would never have to miss anybody; maybe teleporting is something God had created us to do in His original design, and is something that we will be able to do freely when Christ returns and sets everything right at the end of the age?”

C.S. Lewis gives an interesting thought in his book, “That Hideous Strength,” that since the beginning of time, good has always been getting better, and evil has always been getting worst. And if we look at our advances in travel, it’s as if it has gotten a lot closer to that perfect world of never having to miss people. 200 years ago, if someone moved to a different city, state, or country, it usually meant they would never see any of the people they were leaving behind ever again, and if they did see them again, it would have to come at a great cost, and a lot of time, traveling great lengths would have to cost them their lives. But now, with the inventions of airplanes, traveling is a lot less costly and much more manageable. As time goes on, we seem to get closer and closer to never having to miss people for any extended period of time. Someday, when Christ returns and sets everything right, we will finally never have to miss anybody ever again, travel will be as easy and as accessible as a blink of an eye. No cost to our money or risk of illness or death when we want to travel somewhere or go see our good family or friend that is currently in some other part of the world. As we get closer to the end of the Age, God gives us a little better glimpse of some of the realities and lifestyles that will be upon us in the New Heavens and New Earth. The second coming of the Lord Jesus when everything will finally be set right is an exciting thing to look forward too. Imagine what other aspects of life might be like in that day.

Posted in Theology/Philosphy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Exciting Risk

Posted on May 27, 2014 by scottytang

scotty Pop Tail Skatepark

The other day I was at a skate park cruising around, sticking to what was easy and tricks that I knew I wouldn’t get hurt on, and after about 15 or 20 minutes of this I realized how incredibly boring skating is when I do this. I never really noticed how much more I enjoy skateboarding when I am really pushing myself and taking risks that could get me hurt. Where is the thrill and feeling of accomplishment without the risk of painful failure?

The other day I heard a quote from Bruce Lee that said, “Do not pray for an easy life… pray for the strength to endure a hard one.” When I first heard this quote, I thought, “wow, another tough guy quote,” one of those things that guys say a lot just to sound cool or strong, but in reality don’t really live by it. At the time when I heard it, I was going through a tough time in my life that caused me to question almost everything in regards to my Christian faith. Since I was 18, fresh out of the party scene, I believed that God had good plans for my life, and that the Christian life is always better than anything contrary. So much so, that I began to pursue a life of Christian ministry that led to me getting a Bachelors degree in Biblical Studies, skating for a Christian based board company, spending 8 months in Florida with a skate and surf ministry, and writing blogs for the past 3 years that are meant to portray the goodness of God. With the way I lived my life, you would think I was completely sold on the Christian life and would never think of questioning it or living contrary to it. But when the morals of God, or the purpose we think he has us on, no longer seems to make any sense, it can get real tough to remain passionate about Christ. When life gets hard like this, quotes like the one above by Bruce Lee just sound like a bunch of meaningless words that only comes out of the mouths of people that have it easy. Giving our life over to God can make life hard, because when life gets chaotic or fuzzy, it’s only natural to blame Him for our problems and to feel like we made a mistake by putting Him in control of our lives. But the fact that some of the morals of Christianity are challenging, and that we don’t always know what God is doing with us or where he is leading us, makes serving Him much more fun and exciting. When life doesn’t seem to make any sense and then all the sudden the smoke begins to clear and God begins to reveal the purpose in all the apparent chaos in our lives, life becomes a thrill and a huge rush. A good example of this is Joseph in the book of Genesis – he gets sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt, is falsely accused of sleeping with a noble’s wife and is sent to prison for many years, and then all the sudden he becomes Pharaoh’s second in command and ends up being the key figure in saving a big portion of the earth’s population from a huge famine. Joseph, reflecting on his life at the end of all this, says to his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” Serving God is hard and challenging because we don’t always know why He does the things that he does or why he lets us go through certain things, but when we all the sudden do see what he is up too…. what a thrill!

Every time we step foot on our boards, we can stick to what’s easy and be kind of bored, or we can challenge ourselves and try things that our hard and have a blast. Skateboarding is the most fun when we are pushing ourselves and taking risks, and in the same way, when we make Christ lord of our lives, life becomes a lot more risky and hard, but it also becomes a lot more fun and exciting. Without a Heavenly father guiding us and being with us, our lives have little sense of adventure, especially when things get tough and we have to suffer. Every good adventure and story has times when things go wrong that leave the viewer wondering, how are they going to make it out of this one? The excitement comes from things going wrong, and then finding a way out of it. That is what makes serving God so exciting, whenever life takes a crazy turn, we get to see God work it out for our favor. As Paul says in Romans 8:28, “We know that all things work together for good for those that love God.” To commit to Christ, is to commit to adventure and excitement, but in that also comes risk and times of Chaos and uncertainty, which only makes it O’ the more beautiful. It is the difficult things that produce the biggest reward and satisfaction, we know that from skateboarding. So if following Christ is difficult, it too will produce the biggest rewards and satisfaction.

Reflection Questions:

Timothy Keller said, “if we obey God only when it makes sense, that is not obedience, but agreement.” Does life and following God always have to make logical sense in order to do the things that God expects from us?

If we took as much risk in our faith as we do on our skateboard, how would that affect our faith? Is there ever a time when hardship can be exciting instead of dreadful?

Posted in Skate Devos | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Wisdom in Business

Posted on February 8, 2014 by scottytang

Time Square

Proverbs 1:20-21, “Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks.”

Wisdom is everywhere and in everything. God created the world with His wisdom and truth flowing through it. To understand and learn the wisdom of God, we need only to observe and think critically of the things that are around us and in our everyday lives. People have not always had access to the Word of God found in the Bible, but the truth of His word has been evident in the wisdom flowing through nature since the beginning of time. If we look at the essence of business we see this same type of thing – biblical wisdom crying out in the streets and market places.

As you drive around any city, you’ll see lots of diverse businesses: food places, clothing stores, trucking companies, mechanic shops, Doctor’s offices and lots of others. And one thing that every business has in common, is that they are all offering a service that people are willing to pay money for. Every one of them can only exist as long as people feel like they need or “have to have” their service. From yogurt shops to Dental practices, it’s all the same. People feel like they need or have to have frozen yogurt, so some entrepreneur saw that need and opened a shop, thereby generating the exchange of money for services. This pattern in business shows that we are all in need of services.

The fact that we are all needy people in need of services puts verses Matthew 20:26-27 in a light that everyone can see, which says, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave.” If we look at how business and every occupation functions, it’s the people that have developed the best or most universal service that become the wealthiest or “greatest.” For instance Bill Gates’ invention of Microsoft computers, or Thomas Edison with the lightbulb. Money all comes down to how needed is the service you are providing, Or how well are you serving people with your product or business? So when Jesus says, “The greatest among you must be a slave of all,” if we look at how business operates, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise. The command in God’s word to serve people and as a result become the greatest in the kingdom, is evident in the natural law and wisdom of the earth as well. The greatest in the kingdom of God and the earth, are the ones that are the best at serving the needs of people.

Romans 12:4-6 says, “For as in one body we have many members, and as those members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ…” This passage is essentially saying that every Christian has a gift or service to contribute to the flourishing of the kingdom of God. And if we look at business and economies, they operate on this same system – everyone has a gift or service that they can contribute to the flourishing of their culture and economy. Some people are better at building than others, some are better farmers, some are better accountants. Or in the perspective of serving Christ, some people are better pastors, or better motivators, or better at hospitality. It is important to always remember that every person has a level of uniqueness and individuality that is exclusive to a smaller group of people. Not everyone has to fit into the same exact mold for the flourishing of the kingdom of God. The flourishing of our culture and economy are essential to the diverse gifts and passions of people.

The wisdom of God can be found in many places besides the Bible, not to take anything anyway from the importance of the Bible, but the wisdom that can be found in things like business and economics only validate the truth and importance of what God commands his followers to do in His Word. Just like what God says in the Bible, “Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses” (Deut. 19:15, 2Cor. 13:1), the truth of God’s word and the truth of what we can observe in nature is God giving us two witnesses that establish his truth and wisdom in the world. These truths of business and economics have been around just as long as the truths of God’s laws, and both validate the other. The wisdom of God can be seen in anything and everything, business is just one example of many.

Posted in Theology/Philosphy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment