Posted: Jul 8, 2009 in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Posted: Apr 6, 2009 in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

A couple weeks ago my wife and I were able to spend some quality time with some friends at a lake house in central Florida. We had a great time! I thank God for close friends, true friends. To me a true friend is irreplaceable. I heard someone say their closest friend was their dog, because a dog doesn’t care how much money you make or how popular you are and he’s always there for you at the end of the day. A true friend sticks by you through thick and thin. A true friend could care less about your social stature; they don’t always look to personally benefit from your relationship. A true friend cries when you cry, laughs when you laugh, sympathizes when you’re hurting and rejoices when you succeed. A true friend will tell you the truth no matter how bad it hurts, but will always do it in love. With all that said, true friends are really hard to find and if you have someone that meets the above criteria hold on to them; treat them well and tell them how much their friendship means to you.
 
Growing up I didn’t realize how blessed I was with the friends God gave me. When I was 13 my parents split up and my mom packed my brother and me up and we moved to Oklahoma. It was a long trip and all three of us were carrying our share of baggage, (and no I’m not talking about the bags in the U-haul trailer). I was a broken, hurting, boy who had little security and what fragile security I did have was found in my one true friend and I had to leave him behind. Transferring schools mid-stream is never good. The new kids from the beginning of that year have already made their friends and you are the odd ball that gets thrown into the mix with everyone staring at you.  As if I didn’t stick out enough I didn’t help myself with what I wore to school the first day. I don’t know what I was thinking–I don’t know what my mom was thinking to let me leave the house this way! I wore a pair of green sweatpants with my doc marten boots and I believe a black t-shirt. The shirt isn’t as clear as the green sweatpants and boots. I’m positive I wore the green sweatpants and boots because I remember as I walked into school some kid said, “Oh my God! Look at this dufus with his green sweatpants and boots!” If he had commented on my shirt I would have remembered that, too. You know the phrase, “I was so embarrassed I wanted to crawl in a hole and die”? Well that phrase doesn’t even come close to what I felt! See if I had crawled in a hole and died that would leave everyone standing around the top of the hole, laughing over the corpse of the new kid–lying dead in a hole wearing green sweatpants and boots! What I wanted was for everyone else to fall in a hole and die! That way I could have laughed at them and said, “Who’s the dufus now, huh?  Bet you wish you would have wore your sweatpants and boots!” That one event pretty much summed up my year; needless to say seventh grade was awful. I still get chills up my spine when I walk into a junior high cafeteria and smell tater-tots! Eighth grade didn’t look like it was gonna be any better. I was still the new kid and the cafeteria still smelled like tater-tots. Do schools have tater-tot scented air-fresheners or something?!
 
But then one day a girl named Jenny Rutherford invited me to her Wednesday night church youth group. I literally looked over my shoulder thinking she was talking to someone else! As that Wednesday rolled around I began to feel kind of nervous wondering if the kids in this “youth group” would accept me. My family rarely went to church, but when we did my mom dressed us to the nines! So naturally, I figured I’d better dress up…Yeah you know where I’m going with this. I wore my khaki slacks, a dress shirt and a brand new vest my mom had got me. I remember walking in and seeing everyone else wearing jeans and t-shirts! I’m pretty sure one guy didn’t even have a shirt on! Once again I felt out of place. I stood cringing; waiting for the “dufus” remarks to start when I was greeted by this college guy who gave me a huge hug and said “we’re so glad you’re here!” It brought tears to my eyes, because for the first time in a long time I felt accepted, needed, and loved. That one hug changed my life. I ended up going back to that youth group again and again and ended up making the greatest friends anyone could ever have. They were all older than me and it was crazy how we met. We were all hanging out at a house and they thought I was funny so they kept inviting me to hang out with them. Over the years we developed a deep bond. We hung out 24/7. Every weekend we were sleeping over at one of our houses, wrestling to the flashes of a strobe light, toilet papering houses and laughing until we thought we would throw up!
 
I have never laughed as hard as I did than when I was with those guys! I always wondered what put us together, I know now it was God. God used those guys to keep me alive. There were several times I thought about ending my life, but my friends gave me hope. I have to be honest, at first I didn’t go to church because of God, I went because I felt accepted and I knew I would see my friends. One thing we all had in common was we came from broken homes. We each had our pain, and there were many nights we would all cry our eyes out not afraid of showing our weaknesses to each other. On several occasions I remember making a pact with them that we would be better fathers to our kids than our fathers had been to us. They stood up in my wedding and I stood up in theirs. If I was ever in a war they, along with my brother, would be the ones I would want to get my back. Never have these guys thought less of me, tried to use me, or betrayed my trust. They aren’t perfect, but they are honest and true. I remember getting together with them and praying for hours. I remember the time I thought I had bit my tongue off playing slaughter ball in the pool and they helped me look for it. There have been times when I’ve been afraid, but  I knew I could call one of them, no matter what time of day or night it was; knowing I wasn’t an inconvenience; knowing they had my back. Today we’re scattered across the United States. Even if years go by when we don’t see one another, when we reunite it’s as if we’ve never been apart. They are men of Character, men of faith. My friends.
 
Proverbs 18:24 says ”there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” It may sound weird, but as my faith in my friends grew my faith in my God grew. I thank God for his true friendship and for placing these friends in my life at such a needed time. It was through their love that I began to see His love. God knows what we need and when we need it. If you have a true friend, take some time today to tell them how much their friendship means to you. Life’s to short not to tell the ones we love how much they mean to us. I hear a lot of people say they have good friends and when I hear that I always say to myself ”but not as good as my friends.” While many people have good friends only a few have true friends. Be thankful for them!
 
PS: To my true friends, I love you guys! Thank you for always being there for me! SF forever!

Posted: Feb 4, 2009 in Uncategorized | Comments Off

One of my wife’s favorite movies is “Footloose”. It’s a cheesy early ’80′s film starring Kevin Bacon. I watched it with her once. It was all right I guess…ok that’s a lie. I would rather watch “Dances with Wolves” than see that movie again. Basically, you have Kevin Bacon and a bunch of no-name actors, wearing ridiculously tight pants, dancing little jigs here and there. Hey, if you like it, more power to you. I don’t consider myself a very good dancer. I mean I can keep a beat and all, but when it comes to taking that beat and making your body gyrate to it, (there’s a nice mental image for ya) well, that’s another story! I’ve seen the show “So You Think You Can Dance” and those guys can dance. They can take nothing and turn it into something! I heard a quote that says: “dance like no one else is watching.” I like that quote! Too many times we get overly concerned with what “people” will think–to the point that we never really find out if we can dance or not. We get paralyzed by fear…fear of failure or of humiliation. We tell ourselves it’s better to play it safe than to dance. One thing I’ve observed is you can’t dance without music; you need something to carry the beat. Whether it’s you humming softly to yourself or if it’s cranking up the sound system and jamming out: dance needs music.

I’ve learned that life is one big dance. Sometimes you lead; sometimes you follow…that’s a song, but so true! Our music is our joy in life. Sometimes we don’t hear the music because we have no joy. Sometimes others come and try to take our music because they don’t have any of their own. There are people that live their whole lives not hearing a single note. They think their music lies in money, success, power or in climbing the social ladder. They believe once they reach the top rung of that ladder they will finally be able to enjoy the music. The sad thing is, when they get there they don’t hear a thing. Not everything in life is great, but it’s the joy we find within those circumstances that keeps our music playing and, more importantly, keeps us dancing. Why do we let circumstances, people, fears and countless other things, hold us back from dancing the dance God has created us for? How often do we lie to ourselves saying, “well this is just what I have to do.” We grow up, have a dream, go to school, are told to stop dreaming; we come back to reality, graduate from school, go to more school, get a job we never wanted so we can pay off the school we never wanted to attend; we get married, have kids, get a house we can’t pay for, work 30 plus years, all the while being miserable trying to find security financially so when we’re old and gray we can retire being bitter at the world for making us bitter, old and gray! Whew! When it’s laid out like that it seems really bad! Yet, I think not reaching our full potential and not fulfilling the purpose God has for us–that’s what is really bad. We are people of excuses! We have one for everything and what’s crazy is we convince ourselves that our “excuses” are legit. I love when I see people who defy all odds. I have a Rocky poster that reads “His whole life was a million to one shot!” Those kind of people learn to play their own music and they dance to a different beat. It’s a beat that makes “normal” people feel nervous because it’s a beat that’s not safe; a beat that’s risky.

I was in Barnes and Noble the other day. I was reading in the cafe area because as I was running for one of those precious few comfy chairs, a lady whisked in and took it from me! I had to laugh at the whole thing. Even if I did beat her to it what would I have said, “sorry lady, ya snooze ya loose!” Yeah right! So I went to the cafe area. As I was reading my book, out of the corner of my eye I saw a lady sit down. She appeared to have her arms tucked into her shirt, like she was cold or something, but as I looked closer I realized she didn’t have any arms. I’m serious there was nothing there! The lady from the cafe brought her a danish and a drink. I truly didn’t want to stare, but I was wondering how in the world she was going to eat her danish and drink her fancy drink! I watched as she took her foot and wrapped her toes around a straw, peeled off the paper and put the straw in her drink! She then picked up her fork with her toes, and began to eat her danish! I was so amazed by what she had done I almost yelled out, “Yes! That’s awesome!” I caught myself and realized that probably wouldn’t be the best thing to do. Yet, I was so humbled by this woman. Here she was living her life to the fullest. I felt like God said to me “so what’s your excuse.”

My mother-in-law is one of my heroes. She’s going on (this is where I know to not insert her age because I want to live to see 50). Most of her life she has worked on staff at a church handling all the bookkeeping and administrative work (stuff that would drive me crazy). She is very good at it, too. She’s always been a leader; it seems to just come naturally to her. She’s also an entrepreneur! She wouldn’t say that, but she is. She’s always had a desire to have her own business. She never really shared this desire with anyone, but one day she just decided she was gonna do it! She went to school to learn how to do nails with the intention of eventually opening up her own nail salon. She had no clue what was going to happen when she stepped out on the dance floor–all she new was she needed a change in her music because the dance was getting old. She put in her notice at her “safe” job and now works full time doing nails and is happier than ever! The point is, if you’re not happy with the music playing in your life–change it. If you don’t like the dance you’ve been dancing, learn a new one. You’ll probably fail a few times, you might even embarrass yourself, but you know what, you will find your dance. Even when people say “I told you so” and “it can’t be done” recognize that they are people without music, content to just sit on the sidelines watching you play!

A few years ago when I stepped out to do Elevate, it seemed there were people lining up at the door telling me it couldn’t be done. I remember one pastor in particular saying, “you can’t do this, who do you think you are? Take a youth pastor position and work your way up.” What he was really saying was, “play it safe, don’t take risks, I know because I’ve tried and I failed.” I feel sorry for people like that. I remember when I was praying about stepping out in faith to do the ministry that I do now. I asked God what He wanted me to do and He said, “Jason if you stay right where you are I’ll bless it, but one day I’ll show you what you could have done if you would have had more faith.” I’ll never forget that! It gave me chills. That’s my biggest fear, arriving in heaven, Jesus looking at me and saying, “well done my good and faithful servant” then adding “but this is what you could have done if you would have had more faith.”

Life’s a dance; it’s up to us to choose the music and live our lives to the fullest, taking risks and stepping out in faith. Don’t expect it to make sense all at once, you have to practice a dance to get it down. Don’t expect it to be easy, if it were, more people would be dancing. Know this: God will honor your faith! Dance your heart out!! Dream big, dream the impossible. Live your life! I promise you’ll never be happier!

Posted: Jan 5, 2009 in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Getting into shape is hard work! While it may come easy to some people, for the majority of us it is hard work. It takes dedication and discipline. Those six packs don’t just naturally form, they come at a price. My wife is someone who can eat just about anything she wants to without gaining a pound. I’m pretty sure she’s eaten an entire box of Twinkies and actually lost weight! I on the other hand, have been known to gain weight just by breathing too much air!
 
About five months ago I purchased a gym membership. I’ve been against gym membership because statistics show that 85% of people who have memberships don’t even go to the gym. But seeing as it was only $10 a month, I said ’hey, why not!’ I’m not one to go to the gym and pump iron, but I have been faithful for about five months now. It took about two months before I started seeing some results. I was feeling pretty good about progress and then Christmas came. Yeah Christmas…enough said. You have the apple pies, and the cherry pies, and the marshmallow fudge and then there’s sugar cookies. Oh yes, let’s not forget the sugar cookies! All those cute reindeer and snowmen topped with vanilla icing and sprinkled with colorful delight! I tell you people, if sugar was illegal, I would be in prison!! I love sweets! I’ve tried to tell myself I don’t really like them, I’ve tried to convince myself it’s all in my head. But the truth is, I love sweets! There’s a weight loss saying that goes “Nothing tastes as good as thin feels.” Ha! I don’t know if that’s true or not because I love sweets more than getting into shape–when Im eating it, but afterwards, I feel like dookie! I think, man all this hard work lost to this stupid (albeit it delicious) sugar cookie!! I’ve come to realize that working out isn’t enough, you have to eat right as well. Statistics show that as much as 85% of getting into shape is simply eating the right things.
 
Seems like our whole life is spent trying to find balance and getting things into shape. Whether it’s your marriage, work, or weight–sometimes the scale is tipped to the right and at other times it’s to the left. Every now and then you get it balanced out. There are times you believe you’re doing everything correctly, then you discover you have to eat right, too. I guess that’s part of the adventure. You can’t get frustrated about it you just have to keep tipping the scales and when it comes to your weight you hope it tips to the left!
 
Life is hard work but hard work results in a great pay off! The best part about the work is not the end result, but the journey it took you to get there. I hope I never get so focused on the end result that I lose sight of the journey. Learn to laugh at yourself. When you fail (and you will), be proud that you tried, then try again. What’s the journey you’re on? What do you want for this new year? I pray you will enjoy the journey on your way to your destination! I pray you will take a chance and step out in faith into the unknown. Don’t keep looking at the past focusing on your failures–your would of, could of, should ofs. Look to the future and trust in the Lord to balance out your scale!
 
Now I got to go get on the tread mill!

Posted: Nov 26, 2008 in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

I have a friend who likes Dr. Pepper.  Actually, that’s the understatement of the year.  I really believe he would lay down his life, maybe even his family’s lives for the drink!  He loves it so much that when we eat at a restaurant that doesn’t offer it or if they try to offer him Dr. Thunder or Mr. Pibb as an alternative, he looks at the server as if they just committed blasphemy as he says “no thanks, it’s just not the same.”  Needless to say he is a die hard obsessed fanatic!  He wants the real deal.  You have to respect that.  It’s kinda hard to respect the person that takes the original of something and dilutes it to make a buck or two.  Ripping off someone else’s idea, where’s the honor in that?  I know someone else that will not buy the generic of Q-tips.  He insists that its just not the same.  My personal ear-cleaning choice is the cap of a pen!  There are some companies that have been so effective in selling their product they have literally changed the name of what it once was called.  Instead of, “could you pass me a tissue”, we say, “could you pass me a kleenex”.  Instead of, “I need a bandage”, we say, “I need a bandaid”.

Posted: Oct 9, 2008 in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

I like feelings…most of them at least. I’ve seen these girls walk around with t-shirts that say “Drama Queen” on them, indicating
they’re really emotional (which, girls, throws a red flag up to every guy ‘stay away! ‘she’s a basket case!’). Often when people are talking to me about God they’ll say “I don’t feel Him,” or, “He used to feel closer!” We equate feelings with the ability to gauge if God is near–we desire to feel that he loves us. I remember growing up and going to church camp. It felt like God was right there. As I got older it was as though I no longer felt or experienced Him in the way I used too. Why was that? Was it my pride; was I more distant from Him than I used to be; was it sin in my life? What triggers the “spiritual goose bumps?” There have been times when I felt He was right there kneeling next to me. But then there are times where I feel He’s so far off, a million light years away, and I’ll never be able to reconnect with Him. There’s a story I heard of a woman that had been saved for 30 years that saw how God was blessing another woman who had just gotten saved. Out of frustration she asked God why He blessed this person that had only been serving Him for a couple of months. She had been serving Him faithfully for decades–why wasn’t she reaping His blessings? God answered simply, “I bless her because she is new to me, and if I don’t she’ll leave me. I know you don’t have to receive gifts from me all the time to love me, I know your love for me is not based on a feeling or how I bless you.” This story has always challenged me. I never want my love for God to be based on a feeling. Im so glad that
when He died for me he didn’t let His feelings control the situation.

Many of us are selfish in our relationship with Christ. We want it our way, on our time. In reality this is not a relationship at all, but instead is a dictatorship–with us in the role of dictator. If God never answered another prayer for me, and I never felt those “spiritual goose bumps” ever again, God would still be sovereign. He would still be a God of love and grace. He doesn’t owe me anything. Yet, He already gave
me the greatest gift He could ever give…His life. I pray He helps me to live my life for Him whether or not I “feel” Him or not.

There could be many reasons why you don’t feel Him like you used to. It could be there’s sin in your life; it could be that you are just too far
away to hear His voice; but it could be that you aren’t doing anything wrong. It could be God is letting your faith become stronger. James 1:3-4 reads, “For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.” The sad thing is most of us don’t want to go through those trials to become stronger; we wan it to be like zap–fast and easy. That’s just our human nature. The truth of it is, nothing has a lasting impact without a testing. God is always there, no matter how far away He feels. It says in Psalms 139:7-8 “I can never escape from your spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there, if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there.”

Take time to examine your heart and ask yourself why He feels far away. If it’s the way you’re living, ask for His forgiveness and come back to Him. If you’re just in a place of testing, stand firm and hold tightly to His truth (the Bible). Let us be people that love Him not for what He can give us, but for what He has already done. Thank you Jesus for feelings, but let my relationship with You be more than a feeling!

Posted: Sep 17, 2008 in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

My freshman year in college I went on a Missions trip to Amsterdam, Holland. It was a trip that would change my life forever. We teamed up with a missionary, and our primary job was to be released on the streets of Amsterdam and witness! I don’t know if you’ve heard too much about Amsterdam, but let me break it down for you…people don’t go there to hear the gospel of Jesus! In Amsterdam drugs are legal, so people (mainly Americans) come from all over the world to experience the “freedom” of doing drugs right out in the open. I remember when I first got there, looking around and seeing coffee shops every where! I thought to myself, “Man these people must really love their coffee!” When I went into one of them I received two menus one for coffee and the other for marijuana! I immediately looked around thinking I was going to jail just for walking into the place. I watched wide-eyed as people would go up to this guy behind a wall of smoked filled glass and place their order for their marijuana. He would roll it up for them then take a hit for his tip. This guy had to be high as a kite, all he did for eight hours was smoke weed!! I quickly learned that all those “coffee shops” were not just your regular Starbucks!

After the initial shock of thinking “Oh my God I’m in Sodom and Gomorrah!” I began to go up to people and present the gospel of Jesus Christ. Person after person I would tell of how God loved them so much that He gave His Son so they could have eternal life. They would listen intently, hanging on every word. I thought “Man this is going to be easy.” Then I would ask them if they would like to accept Jesus as their personal Savior they would say, “No thanks. That’s great it works for you though–thanks for talking with me!” Each time it was like someone took my ice cream cone and threw it on the ground (I can relate to food not balloons). I was extremely discouraged but kept up with it, sharing my story and telling how Christ loved me and saved me.

One day as I was walking down the street, I began to witness to this guy. He was a short, African-American man and looked very busy. When I asked if I could talk with him he said “Sure–walk with me.” When I began to share Christ with him he immediately stopped and looked at me with wide eyes. He was surprised that I was in Amsterdam, doing something productive.

He asked who I was with. I told him I was here with my college and was spending a week sharing our story and how Jesus saved us. He was a producer that worked for a reputable television station in Europe. He was doing a documentary about backpackers in Amsterdam. He said he had four stories and all of them were about people coming to Amsterdam to do drugs and see the red light district. He was looking for a fifth story and asked if I would like to do it. So from that brief meeting, I and my friends Colby and Dave along with Art VanZanten the director of our college spent a day being filmed as we witnessed on the streets of Amsterdam. We were fortunate that our director Art was a native of Holland and fluent in the language, so if the filmmakers were trying to pull any funny stuff we would know.

We were put up in a youth hostel named the “Flying Pig.” If you don’t know what a youth hostel is, trust me, you don’t ever want to stay in one! Imagine a frat house where everyone thinks not showering is cool. But it’s a really cheap way to travel Europe and does put a roof over your head. You never quite escape the feeling you’re gonna catch something once you walk into the place. The idea was to put us up in the hostel and the next morning they would start filming us. Art and I were in one room, Colby and Dave in another. The room was about as basic and nasty as you could get. You received your sheets for the bed at the front desk when you checked in. I remember thinking “the only thing that’s missing is the rats and crack head lady in the corner.” Sure enough, I looked over and there they were…just messing, but you catch my drift.

We awoke at 8:00 am to a knock on the door and when we answered it, there was a camera in our face. Art and I were standing in our jersey shorts and messed up hair. I was thinking, “I sure hope they’re not recording”, but the red blinking light erased that hope. Great! Let’s start the day off looking like idiots! We quickly got ready and went to get breakfast. We went to a corner market where they were selling these huge waffles. Not your regular waffle, these had whipped cream, cherries and chocolate on it and it was about the size of a small boy! We were passing it around and as it got to Dave he fumbled it, flinging the whole thing all over me. As my temper began to swell, the camera zoomed in. I looked at Dave and thought “Jason, don’t say what you’re thinking ’cause it’s really bad and you need to be a good witness.” So I forced a cheesy grin, looked at Dave “Hey, that’s okay, Dave, Buddy, ol pal, accidents happen!”

We were outfitted with wireless mics and everything we said could be heard 30 feet away. For the first time in my life I thought about literally every word that came out of my mouth. I wish I would live as if I had a wireless mic on me all the time, it would save me from getting into trouble with my wife!! For hours we were filmed as we witnessed to people. Amsterdam is a unique place, with a variety of different people from all walks of life. On one corner you would see a bunch of tourists taking pictures like you would see at Disney World, while across the street you would see a man shooting up heroin. It seemed everyone I spoke with was surprised I was talking to them about Jesus and not drugs or sex. Amsterdam is known for its “red light district,” a strip of street located in the back end of the city. Women in lingerie stand in windows, red neon lights posted above their store signaled to others they were in business. While prostitution is the main focus, drugs are also prevalent. The film director wanted us to go down to the red light district to do our witnessing. He wanted to see how we would react to that situation. Art looked at him and said “No we don’t need to go down there, anyone that goes down there also comes back up here.” You could feel the rest of us sigh in relief! The objective was to witness on the streets of Amsterdam for a couple of hours then meet up with the rest of the team at an event where we would be doing a service. On our way to the service we tried to board a tram. I say tried to because when the tram stopped we failed to push the button that says “push this button to open the door.” It was so funny the film crew was on one side of the tracks waiting to get on the train and we were on the other side waiting, waiting and waiting for the door to open. We figured we did something wrong when the train pulled away, the passengers looking at us like we were morons! The film crew jumped out of their train and had a good laugh at our expense…jerks! We made it to our event and when we finally were ready to call it a day after 12 hours of filming, the director wanted to get one last interview with us.

He sat us down in a room and said he wanted to ask us an impromptu question. He asked who would like to go first and I raised my hand. Immediately I thought “wait a minute why the junk did I raise my hand!!” It unnerved all of us to be asked a question we didn’t know before the cameras were rolling. No time to prepare just bam there it is! He started to record and then looked at me and said “who is Jason Maupin?” It seemed that red light on that camera was blinking a million miles an hour…maybe it was my heart. I had never been asked that before. It’s one of those questions you don’t ask people, you know? That’s definitely a conversation killer. Can you imaging you just meet someone; they ask you your name and then ask you but who are you? Kind of weird! I thought for a second then said “Jason Maupin is a sinner in need of a Savior that was saved by grace.” I don’t even remember what everyone else said I just kept thinking who am I? Who am I? That’s one of those questions that will make you think, because there is so much to it. What are your motives, what do you believe, when the day ends and you’re by yourself who are you really? After they got done I spoke with the camera man who was actually from New York. I asked him who are you? I think he gave the most honest answer when he said “I have no idea.”

It’s easy to put on a face and be someone you’re not, pretend you’re doing ok and most of the time those people end up fooling everyone else into buying it. When it’s all said and done though you have to look into the mirror and deal with the person looking back. I know some people who live their lives trying to fool everyone else around them. I guess it’s easier for them to be someone they’re not rather than actually live with the person they are. No one’s perfect but I respect the person who sees he isn’t, admits it, and then deals with it. At different points of my life I’ve gone through some soul-searching. I really took some time after that question. In Psalms 139:23-24 King David prays a prayer that says “Search me oh God and know my heart, test me and know my thoughts, point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” That’s one of my favorite verses. I don’t think it’s wrong to not have an answer to who you are; I think King David prayed that prayer so he could find out who he really was. So many people look to the things of the world to give them their identity: drugs, alcohol, sports, clothes, their job, their looks, etc. The only one that can give purpose and identity to something is the maker of that thing.

So, back to the documentary. I asked if they could mail me a copy after they completed it. When I didn’t hear from them after about six months of calling them, I began to wonder what was up. I’m pretty persistent, but after a full year of calling and not hearing from them, I just figured they trashed it and didn’t want to tell me. Seven years later I was back in Amsterdam speaking in a couple of International Schools. I was on the trolley with Art when he looked at me with a surprised look and motioned for me to look behind me. He said, “That’s him, that’s the guy!” Sure enough I looked over and it was the director that filmed us seven years earlier! It felt like a Seinfeld episode!! I immediately jumped to my feet and went over to the guy. I said “do you remember us? We were the guys you filmed seven years ago.” He got this wide-eyed look that said “oh man these guys are crazy!!” I know he was thinking “these guys are Americans they won’t be back over here so I don’t have to give them the video.” Well folks, God sure has a sense of humor!! He said to stop by his office and he’d get it for us. It makes me laugh just thinking of it! What are the chances!!! Art and I practically cornered the guy!! After seven years of frustration! “You wanna know who I am huh! I’m a crazy persistent grudge-holding dude that will fly over here seven years later to get that video!!” I didn’t say that to him, but I’m sure he was expecting me to say it. I’m thankful it happened that way. It shows me that God cares about the little things!

The guy ended up giving us a bogus tape. Im sure he thought he’d better give us something or we wouldn’t leave him alone. Im glad we didn’t get the tape the first time, that guys face when he saw us seven years later made it worth the wait! I’ve thought a lot about that night, when I was asked “who are you?” When all is said and done I still stick with the answer I gave 7 years ago. Jason Maupin is a sinner, in need of a Savior, that was saved by grace. I know its a constant journey finding your true identity, what you like, what you dislike, but I know Im committed to that journey and all the great times that come with it. When you’re alone take time to ask your self–and more importantly–ask your maker the question of who you really are. It’s all right if you don’t like the answer. Just continue to be faithful to following the steps He (your maker) lays out before you.

Posted: Jul 14, 2008 in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Many times I think back to my first encounter with Jesus Christ. I was at the top of a four-story parking garage, contemplating whether life was worth living. My parents were just separating, my brother was doing drugs and running wild and my mother was on her death bed with Lupus. It appeared that life wasn’t as precious as people spoke about. I was only 14 and already had bought into the lie that I was born to fail. I remember reaching up to the heavens with one last desperate hope, saying “God if you’re real you better show me, please help.” And then He spoke. He took time to speak to me, or maybe I was finally at a point where I was able to hear. When Christ speaks it changes you. From that day forward I knew He was real. Have you ever had one of those times where you remember the time and date where you realized He was real? What He did for you? The pain He took on Himself, so that we could live. I began to cry…no, I began to bawl! You see there’s crying then there’s the ugly cry! That’s when you’re crying so hard that you can’t breathe! You’re choking on your snot, feeling you may just die. But I didnt care! Because someone chose to love me, despite who I was. But then as time goes by you become more dignified, you learn how to form your prayers the “right” way–praying the prayers that everyone likes. You become adept at learning what to say and what not to say and how to say it. You forget about the time you did the “ugly cry” or if you do you remember it’s with a tinge of embarrassment. You forget about how messed up you were when He first found you. You even might start to say “I’m really proud of where I came from,” forgetting it wasn’t you who brought you out. That’s why I like to remember the time He first came to me, it brings me back to what’s important–back to who’s important. Take time to reflect, to remember when. Much love!!