Skylar Ogren

One of the greatest experiences in the world to me is seeing the impossible done. I think for the average person there are many events that they would consider impossible or highly improbable of happening. There are many things of inconsequential nature like a rabbit appearing in a hat, time travel and that sort of thing. However, the impossible that I refer to are the “God possible” events. The most impactful experiences I have in my life happen when God does something that I don’t think is possible. I think it’s humorous when we put limits on God and then He throws the ball back into our court and pretty much says… “What next?” There is nothing that God can’t do; there is only a limit to our understanding of what He CAN do. Lately I have really been awakened to how passionate and sincere Paul was about spreading the Gospel of Christ. Paul had confidence in God’s ability to make all things possible. Through Paul’s conviction and deep trust in God’s ability to provide, we can learn a lot about why we need to persevere through life. In the end, no matter what life has thrown our way, our lives will be vindicated.

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A brief history of the word “Gospel”
The word “Gospel” has an interesting history to it. The Hebrew word for Gospel is Besorah. The word Gospel is an invented word of old English origin that is a mixture of the words God & Spel (Gott-spell). God is a Greek translation of Theos, which was a Greek substitute for Elohim. The Greeks used Theos as a name for the Greek god Zeus and because of the perversion of that name, many scholars believed that using Theos to describe Yahuah (God) was the prophesied abomination of desolation. The word “Spel” is a Celtic word that means incantation, speech, spiel, news, message. The word “Gospel” is one of many words we have inherited from dead translators that has really taken on a life of its own. Words like baptism are also in that category. In Mathew the word “Gospel” appears in our translation from the original Hebrew word BASAR ( or Besorah, as defined above), meaning tidings, message, report, or news. The gist of this though is that when Paul is talking about spreading the Gospel of Christ he is referring to the mystery of God’s kingdom. In Romans 16:25-26 Paul ends one of his most famous books by saying:

“Now to Him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey Him…”

Paul was preaching the Gospel, the mystery of God kingdom, to those who had not received or yet heard of God’s reign. Keeping that all in mind, think about how on fire Paul was about getting this message out!
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“For to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
– Philippians 1:21

The one thing that Paul understood that a lot of Christians in today’s generation don’t grasp or cling to is the meaning of our faith. Paul didn’t cling to his earthly existence, but took his eternal existence to the limit. When all is said and done what does carrying our cross, loving our neighbor, loving God with our heart soul and mind, suffering persecution, going through trials and pain come down to in our minds? What it all comes down to is spending eternity with God! Many people don’t focus on that enough. If our existence is holding onto this expectation of having a perfect earthly life when we die, then we are gravely mistaken. Heaven isn’t about us; it’s not about all our earthly desires being fulfilled (playing golf, fishing or laying on the beach forever). No! It’s about spending eternity with Christ! Praising, worshipping and loving Him forever! Is that not the most exciting thing to look forward to? If we are not planting those types of seeds, then what do we really desire as a harvest? If our days aren’t filled with praising, worshiping and honoring God, who are we kidding? When do we think this “carrying-our-cross” thing starts… tomorrow? When life gets a little more defined? Once you get a good job? After you get married? If we don’t start today, then will we ever pursue God the way He longs for us to long for Him?

“I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.”
– Philippians 1:20

I love Paul! He is sitting in prison when he writes these words and yet his hope is not daunted, his courage doesn’t falter and his expectations for God’s plan only grow! Paul looks at his surroundings and instead of losing himself in confusion or frustration he doesn’t allow the context of his life to change the message to which God called him to preach. He was in prison and yet he still advanced the gospel and your telling me you can’t spread the gospel because you work in a cubicle or run the cashier? Paul was chained and trapped in a cage. We are free to spread the good news and yet the greatest chain traps too many people. Fear! Make whatever excuse you want, but if we aren’t sharing our faith and living a testimony of what God has done and is doing in our lives every day, then I fear that we are like the fig tree that produced no fruit. Remember what happened to that tree?

“For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.”
– Philippians 2:13

I work in the system administration office at Winona State University. I pretty much do a lot of computer work that involves programming, software configuration and server maintenance. Despite the intense nerdiness of the job I have had a lot of conversations with my boss about my faith. Almost every day at some point when I go into his office to talk to him about something we have a good conversation about life and share stories and experiences. His wife and him are Catholics and it has been really cool to discuss the differences in our beliefs. We agree and disagree on several things, but the point is that we talk about it! Too many times one’s “religious beliefs” are considered this off limit private section of everyone’s life that we shouldn’t talk about for fear of offending someone. Did Jesus offend people? You be your bottom dollar that He did! Did people hate him? You bet! However, more people were in love with Him and more people have been impacted by His life then any other single human being on this planet. Tell me that isn’t worth sitting down and having a conversation with someone about!

“For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enable Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.”
– Philippians 3:18-21

Paul had a backbone of steel. He didn’t back down and he wasn’t afraid to risk his life by walking into a risky situation. He knew that where God called him was where he needed to be. His desire was to advance the gospel and he knew that God was going to fulfill that desire at what ever cost! I have not had to endanger myself for the gospel yet, but I have had to put myself in many awkward and risky situations in order to share my faith. I haven’t had to disown my family or give up life long dreams for my faith, but I have been challenged in the decisions I have made so far in life and haven’t always done things the way people around me say I should do them. God has to be first in life. Making a decision against the advice of a lot of people can appear to be a very “self-righteous”, “selfish”, “foolish” thing to do. there are a lot of people with a lot of different ways of thinking about stuff. Amidst the stream of information that people are usually pretty quick to give us, we have to look to God and make our decision based on where He is guiding you.  Not the “latest” statistics or newest book.  Granted there is a lot of information out there that is correct and useful, however, there aren’t a lot of times that God directed His peoples lives by the latests statistics.  It’s been my experience that He goes against them.

I would choose God’s way over any worldy wisdom, experience or advice that anyone shared with me. I only pray that God uses those who surround me to encourage me in His way not the world’s way. That is the type of grit that Paul had in him though. When people tried to persuade him to be safe and live inside the lines, he did the opposite and let God draw new lines. It’s living a life outside of the norm and full of risks that God wants us to step out in. My desire is for you to realize that giving your life to Jesus isn’t a joke. Faith in Christ isn’t fake and it isn’t meaningless. Our lives, if we live them to Christ’s glory, will be vindicated! Our pain will be rewarded, our patience will bare fruit, and our lives will please the Lord in abundance if we only live for Christ and die to gain! God is just and He will free the chained, heal the broken, protect the righteous and vindicate His children! Trust, believe and live!

“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps” –Proverbs 16:9

I went up north this weekend to my Grandparent’s cabins to help them out on some projects.  One of my favorite things to do is walk out to the end of the dock and sit with my feet in the water.  I have pondered many of life’s trials on the end of a dock.  This weekend I asked God to remind me of how the cabins have changed me.  The one thing He reminded me of this past weekend was stories. On my way home from camp I was hit by a thought while driving through the Twin Cities.  I had my Ipod in, so as not to fall asleep at the wheel, and happened to be listening to “Open Road” by Bryan Adams.  As he was singing, “life is an open road – it’s the best story never told, it’s an endless sky, it’s the deepest sea - life is an open road to me”, I passed a billboard advertising the $20 Million power ball winnings.  On the billboard was the question… what is your dream?  I found myself laughing at the combination of parallel events.  Life is an open road, pursuing dreams and thinking about stories…

I have always enjoyed listening to really good stories. As a kid we used to have “book time” every night.My siblings and I would all crowd around the couch as my mom or dad read aloud the books of our choice. Stories are amazing food for the imagination and impact children in monumental ways. I remember many books that captivated my mind and gave me so many stories to play around with.Sometimes I would spend an entire afternoon reading chapter after chapter to finish a book as soon as I could. As a little kid I enjoyed fiction, but as I have grown a little older Non-fiction interests me more. I can remember listening to stories my grandpa told us about growing up on the farm and taking care of the animals and of course the infamous “walking to school uphill both ways in 4 feet of snow” story. I think real stories are more fascinating to me than fiction because I know they are possible and that they actually happened.  It’s kind of like a small hope that appears when you know it’s true, because maybe someday a story like that will happen to you. Real things and real people are even more incredible to me because when told by the authors of these “amazing tales” they become real and alive in a way that captivates listeners in a different way then words do.

In this life we each have a story of our own that we write with every decision we make. The interactions we have, the words we say and the perceptions we receive all collide and form the pages of our story.So many times though our stories go unread and nobody learns, listens or gains from the story we have spent our lifetime living. I am very inspired when someone shares their story with me, even if it’s only a little bit. I think it’s important that as we live our life, we share our experiences and our trials with people so they can learn. Paul gives us a great example of this!

“We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.” – 1 Thessalonians 2:8

As he is writing this letter he shares great joy and passion in sharing his heart with those around him. I think this is a great example, because Paul had an amazing story. Being a former Zealot was nothing for him to boast about, but it showed that he had experience in what he was talking about. Zealot is not a word we use in this day and age, but a Zealot could be compared to the modern day Jihadist Muslims.They believe they are in a holy war against the infidel, and people who do not convert or teach against what they believe as the “truth” should be killed in very vicious ways. They believe that they will be rewarded for it! This is what Paul, who used to be Saul, believed.  He even believed he was doing what God wanted and better than anyone else! So as he is sharing this with people, as he is sharing his story think of the impact it must have had! This is not only an example of how we need to share our stories, but also living proof that no matter what sins you have committed God is more than capable of changing us.

Aside from not sharing our own stories I think we can sometimes get caught up in the stories of others and forget about living our own. The other day I was thinking about how we can sometimes get caught up in pursuing someone else’s dream and how much of a distraction it can be. Do we ever take ourselves and place the focus we should be putting on our own lives on the lives of others? I think it’s good to be inspired by the lives of others, but we shouldn’t be so caught up in the lives of others we loose focus on ours. I also think it’s important that we don’t get lost in the “fantastic tail” of the lives of others either. It’s amazing to be apart of someone’s dreams or be apart of an amazing life that God has created. However, we need to make sure that we don’t start feeding on their amazing life when we could be living a life of our own that is equally amazing and unique. We need to take the opportunities God gives us and allow our lives to be changed through the different stories that we can be apart of, but we need to also make sure we are living our own and becoming a story that will change others!

“Where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” - James 3:16

Another thing that we need to be cautious about is comparing our lives to the lives of others.Comparing stories is something that I have struggled with myself and is not good to get caught in doing.Not only do you put yourself up against, sometimes, unrealistic expectations, but you can also get discouraged. I find that I discourage myself if I go “I wish I could be like that. How come I’m not that good?” The truth is that God has created us each talented at different things in different ways. We all have talents and gifts and even though some people may be “better” at using the ones they have been blessed with, doesn’t mean we aren’t special. We need to look to God and be encouraged knowing that when we seek Him, He will shows us how to use our gifts according to His will and to the best of our ability. Instead of living according to the standard we allow others to set for us, we need to live according to the standard God has set for us! (Ephesians 5:14-17) Not only do we have different abilities and talents, but we also have different experiences in our life.  Some people do amazing things and when we compair them to the things that we do, we don’t always find the comparrison pleasent.  Again, we need to remember to seek God out and remind ourselves that we are going to have our own story and that every decision we make makes our story.  So why not make good decisions so we can have a happy ending and good chapters in our life?

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” - Ephesians 2:10

My encouragement is to look at your story.  Who are you? Are you allowing God to write?  Is God completely sovereign over every part of your life or are you still holding on and making excuses?  Make sure that you are living within your own story and not jumping out and into others.  God has an amazing story for you and all you have to do is go to Him and find it! We need to make sure that we aren’t trying to be smarter than God and write our own story.  Everyone thinks they know best… when in reality God is the only one who sees the end result.  Our wisdom will lead to foolishness if we are not allowing God to be the author of your life. What’s your story? Do share!

“Do not deceive yourselves.  If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise.  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.  As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows that thoughts of the wise are futile.” - 1 Corinthians 3:18-20

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” - Hebrews 11:6

Yesterday evening I took a huge leap of faith!  No, really, I’m very serious!  My friend Levi and I decided to go swimming after a run around the Winona lake and the swimming hole as two places to jump off.  The first way to jump is to swing off the rope and fly into the water.  The second way is to climb one of the trees and jump off the branch that hangs over the water.  It took be a bit of coaxing, but I climbed to the top of the tree and jumped a little more than 2 stories into the water!  The moment right before I adjusted my weight to jump I had a thought about God being our Shepherd. I’m pretty sure it had something to do with being on the edge of getting hurt and wanting His protection!  I couldn’t entertain the thought for very long, seeing as I was quickly soaring to the water, but now that I’m on solid ground again this reminder of having a strong shepherd protecting me is really encouraging.

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” - Hebrews 11:1

A leap of faith is taken with out analyzing the situation.  It’s a rapid trust that sets like instant pudding.  There is a simple ingredient, simple instructions and no trick to it!  You simply hand God your heart, hold on and obey, and before you know it you’re standing on solid ground again (Sorry… no dessert)!  Standing on the end of the branch safely holding on provided a perfect situation to analyze how far up I was.  If I had spent 5 minutes thinking about it, I probably wouldn’t have jumped. I know this may seem like it could be a cliche analogy, but it really can’t get much clearer than this for me.  Faith requires stepping from the known to the unknown.  The steps God asks us to take are usually pretty big and require His help, His provision and His love.  When we try to take those big steps with out faith… it’s like jumping out of a tree onto cement… not water!  We have to put that trust in God’s ability to see more than we can see.  He understands more than we can wrap our tiny minds around and that there is a much bigger plan then just our life!

Climbing the tree before I jumped was scary at first. The steps were these little chunks of 2×4 that had about 8 nails in each one.  They weren’t evenly spaced, they were slippery and there were A LOT of them!  The other people that were there kept encouraging me to keep climbing and eventually I reached the top.  I stood there almost paralyzed for about 45 seconds before I decided to jump.  Once I started falling and my stomach filled with intense excitement I knew it was worth that moment of panic and fear.  I think this totally relates to the steps of faith that God calls us to.  We don’t like the looks of it before we even start taking the step, we get scared and uneasy while taking the steps and then when it comes to the BIG step, we forget all the other steps that God was holding us through and freak out!  However, once we step past that fear our eyes are opened up to the abundant blessings of God’s love for us.  With out that leap of faith in God, we’ll always remain blind to His ways.

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.” - Psalm 23:1-3

The world offers many providers… healthcare, food, gizmos, toys, lustful interests… too many!  We have to trust the true provider.  Why do we always get cold feet and hesitate to leap into God’s arms?  He is the safest and most secure provider we could put our life on the line for.  There are always going to be moments in life when we are lost and confused, but maybe it’s because were trying to climb up all the wrong trees with NO steps!  Jonah tried running from God, and that landed him in the belly of a whale.  Is it really worth avoiding a leap of faith just to scoot around being uncomfortable? In this day and age, I don’t think any of us can afford wasting our time trying to convince ourselves that we’ll eventually discover another way.  God’s way is the only way.  His pasture is always going to be greener than ours!  His water is always going to bring life!  The Lord is our Shepherd and in Him we’ll never want!  All our needs will be provided for and fulfilled.  A quote by St. Augustine says “Love God and do as you please.” That sounds pretty bad at first, but if we are truly seeking after God then His desires will become our desires and life will be good!  We’ll always be content in what God has given us and we’ll always be striving for His path of righteousness.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.” - Psalm 23:4

Leaping into God’s arms takes faith.  It’s not something for the weakhearted.  God’s call to join His kingdom is one that requires a divine strength to withstand all fears, doubts and heights that we are called to.  Most people look at what faith requires and give up because they can’t do it, but isn’t that the point?  Our relationship with God is not one of independence, but DEPENDENCE!  We have to rely on Him for everything!  Is it that hard to let go of our controlling tendencies and give in to a God that loves us?  I dare you to take the next leap of faith that God calls you to.  Open up your arms, don’t look down (look UP!) and jump into the arms of your Father… who loves you, delights in you and provides for you!

“Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced.” -1 Chronicles 16:11-12

Do you every hear a story over and over again and wonder why so many people still find it entertaining or funny when you find it so old and boring?  I wonder how God feels when He tells us over and over again of His love, His mercy and His grace and we treat it like a broken record.  The first few times we are moved and we find hope and strength and follow Him with a steadfast heart.  Then after we have heard it, experienced it and taken of it a few times we get tired and want a new story.  Wow, what a joke.  Getting tired of God?

It is so easy for me to judge others and feel judged.  How many times I find myself looking down at others for the mistakes they make over and over again.  What right do I have to do that?  Do I not deserve the same punishment, the same death they do?  I’m completely covered in sin, I hardly do anything right and there are countless faults I could list about myself.  The amazing truth is that because of who Jesus was and what He did on the cross, my debt (The death I deserve) has been canceled out.  Those who were dirty can now be clean.  Those who have fallen can now stand.  Those who have failed can now succeed.  Those who walked in darkness can now walk in the light.  Jesus Christ brought a revolution, a world changing light that puts to shame all worldly ideals and morals.  We can’t put limits on God and turn Him into a religion, an ideal or a good role model.  He is above all of our worldly attempts to contain Him.  What an amazing story!

It is simply incredible how big of a blessing it is to be apart of God’s story.  I certainly don’t deserve to be apart of it. It’s so hard not to beat ourselves up over and over again because of our constant failure.  When I find myself completely helpless in a situation I always start asking that common 6-year-old question (why??).  Why is life so hard?  Why does bad always follow in the footsteps of good?  Why do I struggle with this?  Why can’t God just fix everything for me?  Why wasn’t Adam allergic to apples?  Wait a second… WHY do I need to know?  I have a faith in a God that is one and complete.  Nothing is outside of Him, nothing can control Him and there is nothing that He NEEDS to explain to me.  I don’t need to know why.  I just need to trust that the reason has a purpose.  God knows why… and I trust His judgment.  We serve one God (Father, Son and Spirit), we have one faith with one baptism and one purpose… to love God.  Love can definitely be broken down into many different things, but the root to all those battle plans in the spiritual war we face is love.

Have you ever tried walking on water?  I did once!  I remember asking God to give me the ability to walk on water and then stepping off our dock into the lake hoping that I would experience what Peter did.  However, instead of a cool stroll across the lake, I found myself swimming.  I wondered why God let Peter walk on water, but not me.  There’s that word again (why).  We always look to God to perform the impossible and do all these big and grand things to prove that He cares. In reality though, all the small things are the foundation to the big things. For example, when a window breaks, most people go and get a new window and replace it.  The cool thing about God is that He doesn’t get a new window.  He doesn’t replace us.  He doesn’t forget about the old window and then put in a new one.  He sweeps up the pieces and puts the window back together again.  He makes pure and complete, what was damaged and torn.  Deep down we don’t really need God to do big miracles; we just need Him to be near us and take care of the little ones.  I don’t need to walk on water physically to know God’s with me, I need to walk on water spiritually and trust in Him.

“Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.” – Psalm 103:1

I find myself in many moments where I’m overwhelmed with an intense passion about something.  It’s like every fiber of my being is screaming the same emotion.  It wants to get out, be heard and not be trampled or taken advantage of.  I believe that deep down every one of us has something to say, something to express that too often gets trampled down into a quiet whisper; a whisper that no one hears or pays attention to.  Our faith can be easy to hide in a closet, but what a horrible waste of passion and existence!  We exist to bring glory to God, to honor Him, to be one as a body in Spirit and truth!

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”- John 4:23-24

We can’t let the world take away what is promised to us.  We can’t allow circumstances, struggles, pain, pride or sin distract us from the race we are running.  We may live in dysfunctional families, we may have addictions, we may fight and lose everyday, but God’s grace is never to be taken advantage of in any circumstance.  God’s grace is a gift of beauty and love, not one of excuse and childishness.  We are responsible for the things we do and when we enter a relationship with Christ we become responsible to Him for the things we do, both good and bad.

God is good.  Don’t ever grow tired of sharing that truth!  God is GOOD!  He is amazing!  His story is exciting and worth sharing!  God is so beyond my-self I almost feel silly trying to express how important this is.  There is no way to avoid God’s existence.  He is in us, around us, above us and beyond us.  We can definitely invent fantastic excuses to deny His existence, but He is STILL there.  Life is so hard and I often want to give up and drop down in a helpless heap.  God created me for more than that though.  God created us all for more then most of us are living for.  Why do we stop at being content, why do we live in the comfort zone.  If we really wanted life to the full, abundant and rich in God’s blessings… then we would move out of our comfort zone and enter God’s arena, where the impossible IS possible and lives are changed.  Don’t ever forget God’s story.  We have the opportunity to be apart of it!  Everyday God writes another page in the lives of millions.  We may look at the same old stories around us in boredom, but why not become apart of a story that is never the same? Why not give the pen to God and allow Him to include you in the next page?  Something tells me that once you pick up God’s story… you won’t be able to put it down

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

- 1 Corinthians 9:24-27