Confession

Lately, I had the privilege of speaking at different venues and to individuals about the need for confession. I believe that people have been shying away from the practice of confession. We don't even use the word confession any more.

It may have been a backlash towards the old tradition of going to confession and confessing to another person (i.e. a priest), but this is a tragedy as confession is the foundation of Christian growth. Without it, we are harbor sin and it prevents us from having true and real fellowship with God and others.

Isaiah 59:1-2 talks about God's ability to save and hear from his people - however, sin separates us from him and how God hides his face from us so that he does not hear our prayers. I believe this is a great picture of how sin breaks our fellowship with God. Our sins of the past, present and the future are forgiven (Hebrews 10:1-10), but we need to confess so that we can allow our prayers to be powerful and effective (James 5:16) and for us to connect with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ (1 John 1:6 to vs. 8 and vs. 7 to vs. 9).

Our generation doesn't talk enough about confession and perhaps that is why there is no revival in our culture and our generation. Perhaps that is why we have a lot of Christians who are not satisfied with their walk with God. Confession means we agree with God our sin. And through it, we can truly be repentitive and move on in our growth.

I got tagged

So, I got tagged by Judy. I never have been tagged before so I consider it an honour. Here are five things that people do not know about me:

1. I used to love techno/rave music. Yes, I must say... I was really into dance music back in the 90's (whoa... that sounds so old). I liked the rap, I liked the beat of the music. I would go to the local library and take out all the rave music they had and made my own dance mixes (like MuchMusic used to have). I also liked popular dance like C&C Music Factory, MC Hammer, Blackbox, Snap (I Got the Power), Technotronic (Pump up the Jam)
2. I know Tai Chi. Some people know I used to practice Kung Fu, but not many people know I used to do a lot of Tai Chi. Tai Chi is fun and relaxing which requires a lot of patience. But little do people know, after a good 30 min. of tai chi, you will be sweating buckets if you are not used to it!
3. I have a brother who is 17 years younger than me. When I used to take him out when he was a toddler, people thought that he was my son. Now, they can't make that mistake because he is getting really tall!
4. I like to read fiction over non-fiction. I like to read epics and always will read fiction over non-fiction. I think it allows my imagination to run free with the story and enjoy an adventure. My favorite books are Lord of the Rings, Tom Clancy novels, John Grisham novels, Robert Ludlum novels, the first 6 or 7 books in the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, Chronicles of Narnia. The only non-fiction book I really like and enjoy the most is the Bible.
5. I love to play old computer games. Like a good epic novel, I love a good epic computer game (although the genre has changed over the years). I like a computer game where you can go discover things, interact with characters and has a good plot. Some oldies are the Police Quest games, Blade Runner, Kings Quest games, and good old 8-bit Nintendo RPGs (Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Maniac Mansion).

So, I guess I have to tag 5 people. Ian L., Tim F., Ian C., Ben J., and Sarah B. Why these 5? They all left comments on my blog the past few posts.