CrossCounsel Podcast: "Our Soul's Soundtracks"

I recently had another opportunity to be a guest on CrossCounsel International Ministries podcast, this time with a couple other friends of mine who are engaged in the ministry there as well. This time, we had a round table discussion about music and many different aspects of it: how it affects us on a spiritual level, how we can interpret the messages contained in the music, how it affects our brain, and many other things. If you've got 45 minutes to check it out, you should definitely do it. And if you've never heard of CrossCounsel before, you should check out their web page and check some of my past posts that I've shared that talk about the ministry they do there. Here's the link for that episode, now go and check it out!

CrossCounsel Podcast Ep #167 - Our Soul's Soundtracks

If you enjoy watching this podcast, feel free to check out a couple of the other ones I was previously able to share on as well:

CrossCounsel Podcast Ep #125 - An Uncommon Message

CrossCounsel Podcast Ep #149 - No Need for Weed

CrossCounsel Podcast Ep #159 - Weeding Out More Lies

CrossCounsel Podcast Ep #176 - Truth Independent of Reactions

Christmas Reflections 2024

Merry Christmas to all of you out there! I hope and pray that today, and the year ahead, may be filled with love, peace, and hope for the future. Christmas can be an uplifting and energizing time of year for many, and it can also be a time of heartache and even depression for others, depending on what your life circumstances have been up to this point. Regardless of where we are at individually, I believe we can choose to reflect on what the hope of Christmas means for us all and why we can choose to have joy, even if we are not experiencing a life of happiness at the moment.

So what is the hope of Christmas? Isaiah 8-9 paints a beautiful picture of Christmas hope in my opinion, by looking at darkness and light, as it points forward in prophecy to the savior Jesus that will be born several hundred years later. Before we can understand our need for a savior, we need to first understand the darkness that is very present in this world and affects us all. Once we can see how dark the world can truly be, we can finally see the beauty of the light that God has sent into the world, and the deep longing and need for that light that is part of our human nature. Isaiah 9:2 says "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned," again pointing forward to Jesus. It goes on to describe the effects of this light as increasing the nation's joy, removing a burdensome yoke, and bringing peace, before directly pointing to the future birth of Christ in this context by saying "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6 NIV).

I think in a general sense, most people have always been able to look at the world and acknowledge the effects of sin and evil, agreeing that things just aren't quite right, and there is a sense of injustice with much that happens here. Who do we look to blame for the presence of evil in our world though? This is a much deeper question, and one that many will struggle to answer. For those that refuse to take any personal ownership of this problem, they will tend to point the finger at everything and everyone else as the cause of evil and suffering. I believe the bible is clear from cover to cover on this though, evil is present in our world because of the sin that exists in each of one of us. Jeremiah 17:9 says "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" In the book of Romans, Paul wrote "For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing," (Romans 7:18-19 NIV). In essence, sin is the source of all evil, and evil is the source of the darkness in this world, and we all at times choose to walk in that darkness and go our own way, away from God. God is perfect, just, holy, and without sin, so since we know that we "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23 NIV), how can we possibly be with God when we have at times willingly participated in those very things that prevent us from being in His presence? Where is hope?

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us," (Romans 5:6-8 NIV). We are positioned at a unique point in human history where we are looking backwards on biblical history. This allows us to view the gift of Jesus Christ differently since we also know the story of Easter, and that he proved that he was who he said he was by overcoming death on a cross, and rising on the third day to defeat the powers of death and evil in this world. Jesus is our living hope, and our way to be with God, for he himself said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Jesus himself makes this possible by paying for our sin, and accounting for the evil and suffering that we have willingly brought into this world, because "...he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed," (Isaiah 53:5 NIV).

Being a Christian involves a challenging paradox, one of believing in the hope we have in Jesus, yet while living in a world where we are all broken and full of sin in our own ways, and seeing the effects of this play out in a world full of evil and suffering. We are still living in a world that sees the effects of the darkness of evil, but if that is all we choose to see, we will have missed out on what Jesus meant when he said “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life,” (John 8:12 NIV). Jesus was pointing back to Isaiah 9:2, identifying himself as that very light in the land of darkness that is our world. So as we all go through this Christmas season with a different set of life circumstances, some happy and some sad, we can choose joy, because of the hope we have in Jesus Christ. It is remarkable that even though Jesus fully knew of the life of sorrow he would lead while living in our world, and the excruciating death on a cross he would experience, the bible says "For the joy set before him he endured the cross." This joy is available to all of us, it is not the same as happiness, for happiness is often temporary and subject to our unique situations in life. The gift of Christ is available to each one of us not just this Christmas, but every day we have breath in our lungs. Take hold of the gift of Jesus, "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus," (Philippians 4:7 NIV). Merry Christmas.

Jesus: A man of suffering, our hope in the storms of life

We live in a world where we see glimpses of beauty and love, but it is contrasted by shades of darkness and evil. We can see the potential of people to do good, while seeing the potential for doing awful things, and the sin that lives in each one of us. So where is God, when tragedy strikes? Where is God our creator and savior, when life is a raging storm and full of despair? Friends, that is exactly what I'm reflecting on as we get closer to Christmas, the day that we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Christmas is the one thing central to Christianity that no other religion has. It is about God himself coming down into our world and entering into our pain and suffering, so that we might know the depth of his goodness and love for us. The old testament has many prophecies that pointed ahead to Jesus, and he was the only one who could fulfill all of them. One of the most beautiful and telling ones is Isaiah 53, often referred to as "the suffering servant:"

"He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed," Isaiah 53:3-5 NIV.

Perhaps one of the hardest things that we could try and wrap our human minds around is how an eternal God, who is holy and perfect, could enter into a human body and experience pain, suffering, and even death that exists in our world. The Bible testifies to this being true, and it is the reason that Christmas should give us so much hope, no matter what is going on within our lives. God is not so far removed from our lives that he has no idea what we're going through, on the contrary, Isaiah says he was "familiar with pain," to say the least, because he experienced all of the heartache and tragedy that many of us go through. Why did he do this for us? He endured the worst things of this world to bring us peace that surpasses human understanding, and everlasting hope that is able to get us through the worst storms of life. He proved all of this when he was born, eventually crucified, but ultimately rising from the dead, proving his power and authority over death. 

So where is your hope this Christmas? For many, life may be full of heartache, bad news, disasters, and tragedy, but Christmas reminds us of the eternal peace and confidence that we have in Jesus Christ. There is a beautiful picture of this in the gospels when Jesus is sleeping in a boat in the middle of a raging storm when his followers are in full panic mode, fearing for their lives:

"Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm," Matthew 8:24-26 NIV.

When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, it doesn't guarantee that our lives will be free from trials and storms. On the contrary, I believe this example in the gospels was a living parable of what life looks like when we follow him. Sometimes the storms will rage on around us, but Jesus Christ is the rock upon which we place our hope and faith, and we can be assured of his presence with us even in the midst of those storms. We may cry out to him, "God where are you?!" But he reminds us that he is with us always, even if we think he's sleeping on the job, we can be assured that he has never left, and he fully understands what we are going through. We can completely trust in him, even though we don't understand why we have to experience the storms sometimes. This is the hope that Christmas reminds us that we have in our savior, Jesus Christ.

CrossCounsel Chili Cook-Off Testimony

I was given an opportunity to share my personal testimony and experience with CrossCounsel International Ministries at a Chili Cook-Off fundraiser, and I was honored to be part of the experience. Below is the transcript of my testimony that I shared at the event:

Shane Buol - CrossCounsel Chili Cook-Off Testimony

Hi, my name is Shane and I’ve been coming to CrossCounsel since August of 2023. I'd like to share with you a little of my own story, what brought me to CrossCounsel, and what this ministry has done for me.

I had a rough start to life, having young parents who both came from broken homes. I experienced a lot of dysfunction related to drug and alcohol abuse in my home, sexual abuse at the hands of some neighbors, and many other things. Thankfully though, my parents eventually became Christians and made efforts to provide a better life for our family. When I saw the power and love of Jesus changing my parents' lives, that brought me to a place where I was able to accept Jesus as my savior too.  Although my new faith in God had just significantly changed my life for the better, I eventually found that some of those old familiar feelings were still there inside. During my senior year of high school I was listening to some dark heavy metal music by the band Korn, which triggered negative childhood memories. I suddenly realized that the events of my childhood were not normal, and I sank into a dark depression. I tried a lot of things to try and escape the pain that I was carrying inside, including cutting myself, and using lots of drugs, but I couldn’t make it go away. After confiding in a friend that I was thinking about committing suicide, he called my parents and told them he was worried about me. Thankfully, my parents listened and got me into counseling right away. Although that counseling experience didn’t address the core feelings I had buried inside, it was still positive because it provided a way for me to reframe the past and move forward without wanting to end my life.

As an adult, although my faith in God was very real, I still found myself struggling with substance abuse in various forms. The Lord eventually showed me that I had a drinking problem, and after a personal encounter with him, I was able to quit drinking alcohol. Although this experience gave my faith a tremendous boost, I continued to struggle with other substances over the next few years, as I still didn’t know how to cope with negative emotions. As time went by, I began to realize that this was not a sustainable pattern. In 2018, I had been working long hours at my job, and my mother-in-law had just passed away from cancer. The stress of these events brought me to a breaking point, and I struggled to keep my emotions in check on a daily basis. I knew I needed help, so I set out to find a place that could help me sort through my issues. I went through counseling at two different places, and I did have some positive experiences by having a safe place to share and work through painful memories. Neither experience really got to the root of the false beliefs I had internalized though, so I eventually  found myself repeating behaviors that I could not seem to break free from.

Around this time, I had met Steve and learned about CrossCounsel for the first time after hearing him give a presentation on the ministry at the men’s group at Living Water Church. That tapped into something inside of me that said there was something unique about this ministry. Some time went by and I again talked with Steve about CrossCounsel when he had a booth at Living Water Church and was sharing more about what they did. At this point I began listening to their podcast, and I knew there was something different about how they were doing ministry, by bringing Jesus right into the middle of people’s deepest pain and suffering. Within a couple of months, I had a situation happen that made me realize I still had more work to do, but this time I booked an appointment with CrossCounsel and decided to give it a try. Within a couple of months I had several sessions, and I began to understand how the MELT process helps us to connect what’s going on in our present lives, to something that we felt or believed in our past. This was all about getting to the root of the problem, just like I had wanted to do for so long. Things were starting to click, and I could tell that something was happening every time I came to CrossCounsel and took my emotions to the Lord. Although I didn’t experience a profound truth and healing moment during every session, each one helped get me a step closer as the layers of my emotions were peeled back.

In October of 2023, I experienced the most profound moment of healing up to that point in a session. I had several memories surface during that session, and the Lord showed me that although I had felt unsafe in all of them, He was safe, and I could trust Him. The effect this had on me was immediate. Although I had  known in my head that Jesus was safe as long as I had been a Christian, I knew that my heart just believed it for the first time. It felt like a weight had been lifted off of me. In the coming months, I noticed that I didn’t have the regular desire to escape from negative emotions with substances anymore, and I became even more determined to do the work of troubleshooting them with God’s help.

I knew that I still had a lot of baggage to sort through, and this was only a step in the continuing process of sanctification we all go through as Christians. I was not discouraged by the work in front of me, so I continued to do more sessions, and a year ago to the date last month, I had another significant session where I again heard from the Lord as he revealed more truth to me. In this session, I went to several more memories and the Lord showed me how I had felt alone in all of them, but that He was there the whole time. My response was the same as before, I couldn’t believe the beautiful simplicity of the truth I had just received, and I felt a rush of happiness come over me as I again started smiling and laughing, in disbelief at what had just happened.

I’m still waiting to learn what exactly has shifted in me from that last session, but I can tell that something is different. Time will tell, and it will also show me what things I still need to look at, so I can continue to do the work needed to pursue His truth and healing in whatever areas he reveals to me. I am so grateful for the ministry at CrossCounsel, it is truly life changing, as my story testifies to. Although I have had several direct moments of healing that have had an immediate impact on my life now, perhaps the most significant thing I have received from their ministry is the realization that all emotions are a gift from God, and the negative ones reveal the things in us that need to be further refined, so that we might continue to be made more like Christ. This knowledge has given me a freedom that I have never known before, I no longer feel the weight of addiction that I carried for most of my life, and I no longer feel like I need to run away every time I feel something negative. It is an incredible feeling.

Thank you for coming out and supporting this incredible ministry. The donations from people like you, can truly make a difference for someone who is struggling, but just can’t afford to pay for a few sessions themselves. I can relate to this, because I have found myself in that same position and been on the receiving end of those donations on more than one occasion. Please consider donating to this ministry if the Lord puts that on your heart, it really does make a difference. Thanks again for being here.

CrossCounsel Podcast: "Weeding Out More Lies"

A couple of months ago, I was given an opportunity to share some of my testimony and experience with CrossCounsel International Ministries on their podcast, episode 155 (cleverly titled "No Need For Weed," 😆). I am honored to have been asked to be on the podcast again to further elaborate on my story and experience. That interview was just released this week, so I wanted to post that in case anyone was interested in checking it out (see link at the bottom of this post).

If you haven't heard of CrossCounsel before, it's an incredible ministry that seeks to connect us with the healing power of Jesus by helping us navigate through lie-based thinking and allowing God to shine his truth on it through what they call the MELT process (memory, emotion, lie/belief, truth/transformation). God is ultimately the one who reveals truth, but we have to be willing to go to the painful memories and lies we've believed, and open the door to let God into those same places. Once the lies are exposed and truth has been revealed, we can experience freedom in those areas that have held us hostage for so long.

It is truly a privilege to be part of such an awesome community that focuses on helping people change their lives for the better. The Lord has opened so many doors for me through this ministry to be able to share my own experience with others and to continue to learn and grow in my faith in the process. It has truly been an answer to many of my prayers. It is my hope and prayer that someone else might be encouraged by my sharing and find something relatable that helps them. As we receive help and encouragement from others, it enables us to do the same for others by sharing our own stories and experiences. May God bless you as we together seek Him, and to know His will and purpose for our lives.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ," -2 Corinthians 1:3-5 NIV.

CrossCounsel Podcast Ep #159 - Weeding Out More Lies

If you enjoy watching this podcast, feel free to check out a couple of the other ones I was previously able to share on as well:

CrossCounsel Podcast Ep #125 - An Uncommon Message

CrossCounsel Podcast Ep #149 - No Need for Weed

CrossCounsel Podcast Ep #167 - Our Soul's Soundtracks

CrossCounsel Podcast Ep #176 - Truth Independent of Reactions

Jesus: God's love for humanity

God loves you. Did you know that? The Bible shows us this when we read, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life," -John 3:16 ESV.

Some of us may struggle to see the depth of love contained in that single verse because of the brokenness of our own lives and families. Some of us may have fathers who failed to love us in the way that we needed, so to read something like this just doesn't seem like it could be real. Or maybe you were left feeling abandoned by those who should have loved you. Or maybe someone you love passed away too soon and left you feeling alone, or unloved. Or perhaps due to the choices you have made, or the things you have done, you just can't believe that you are worthy to be loved by anyone, especially God. Maybe you think, "how could the God who created everything, love me?" He can, and He does. If you don't believe me, put it to the test yourself. Read the Bible, start with the gospels, which show the life of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Personally, I don't know how you can read about Jesus' life and not be moved by his love for the broken and hurting people he encountered time and time again.

Love comes from God, because he is love. This does not mean though that there are not consequences for how we live our lives, there are in fact, very real consequences. Love does not leave people to their own destructive behaviors and simply look the other way, that is not love. The Bible shows us God's love for humanity from cover to cover. The Bible also shows us how despite God's repeated efforts to provide a way for us to be with Him, humanity continually rejects His love and we turn our backs on him. The prophet Isaiah beautifully illustrated this and pointed forward to Jesus when he wrote: "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all," -Isaiah 53:6 NIV.

No matter what you have experienced in this life so far, the truth is that God loves you and that he sees value in you, and purpose for your life. If you've been rejected by your own family, God is waiting with open arms wanting to have a relationship with you, and wanting to restore your life, and your heart. You don't have to take my word for it though. You can actually put it to the test. Read the gospels of Jesus Christ. Pray. Go to church. Ask God to come into your heart and to show you who He is, and if He is real. That is what I did, and why I became a Christian years ago. I saw how He was changing lives in my family, and I prayed an honest prayer asking Him to show me if He was real. That prayer was answered in a very personal and powerful way, and the next day I gave my life to Jesus.

God is real. Jesus Christ is real. He's as real today as he was 2000 years ago. And He loves you enough to die for you.

The Book of Psalms: A raw picture of the life of faith

Out of all the books of the Bible, it is possible that the book of Psalms could be one of my favorites. I love the raw honesty and depth of emotion conveyed by the various authors. To me, the book of Psalms is one of the most real books that shows the trouble that we all go through in this world. One of the risks we run in Christianity is adopting a false belief that when we choose to place our faith in Jesus, that life will be all rainbows and unicorns after that. This is not a belief based on biblical truth, it is 100% false, in fact. When I read through the Psalms, I see it in direct opposition to the false teaching and belief that Christians are guaranteed an easy ride, it's simply not true.

Out of the book of Psalms, perhaps one of my favorites is Psalm 51. This Psalm is supposedly composed by David after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and was confronted by Nathan the prophet about his sin. David has always been one of my favorite people in the Bible, because he's always seemed very real to me. For the Bible to describe him as a man after God's own heart, while seeing some of the terrible sins he committed and experienced the consequences of, has always given me hope as a believer. It shows me the very real nature of sin and spiritual warfare in our world. Even the best Christians who truly love God with all their heart, are just as at risk of committing sin as anyone else. The thing about David that I love the most is that he was always quick to repent and to seek after God for forgiveness. He did not make excuses, he admitted what he did and moved forward.

There is another danger that any of us can fall into believing if we're not careful, and that is legalism. Most other religions of the world are legalistic in some way or another, and Christians are certainly not free from the possibility of viewing God in the same way. At its core, legalism is simply the belief that we get to God by doing good deeds. It's the belief that if we follow the rules, or if we do more good than bad in this life, it will all work out in the end. The Bible has much to say about this, and so did Jesus when he was here. The truth is, it's not about the sacrifice (or good deed) itself that pleases God, it's the heart behind the sacrifice, which if properly aligned with God is a desire to be right with him and to be in his presence. Psalm 51 addresses this idea and it hits home pretty hard for me:

"You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise," -Psalms 51:16-17 NIV.

Whenever we commit sin, our conscience speaks to us and brings in guilt and shame to point us back to God (assuming we haven't seared our conscience yet by repeatedly ignoring it and living in sin anyhow). As Adam and Eve experienced the desire to cover up their shame by hiding from God, we are no different in our modern day. We may not use fig leaves anymore, but there's a world of other things we can use to hide the guilt and shame. For me, I struggled with various substances for years to cope with those negative emotions. I wish I would have known the significance of this verse years ago. What if we begin to look at those negative feelings as a way to offer sacrifice to God? If those negative emotions were designed to help us course correct and get us back to God, then by running from them we are in fact rebelling against his design, and ultimately from him. God uses those negative emotions to push us back to him so that he can teach us things about himself, and ourselves, so that we can continue to become more and more like Christ. This is what the process of sanctification looks like. We cannot participate in that process of growth if we continue to run away from God.