I'm not a huge movie guy, but I am pretty excited for the upcoming release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 (TMNT Trailer #1). Being a 90's kid, the Turtles bring me back to some of my favorite childhood things like TMNT pajamas and the coolest action figures in school. So, I obviously loved the first TMNT movie from Paramount Films, and I'm pretty stoked for the second one.

So, for reminiscence sake, these are some of my favorite TMNT toys ever made:

• The Technodrome
• The Turtlecopter
• And the best of all...The Pizza Thrower!

I have always been fascinated by turtles...especially turtles that eat pizza, ride skateboards, and say "Kawabunga, dude!", and were born out of the 90's. But the very idea of an animal that comes fully
equipped with a personal bomb shelter on its back is so sweet! When a turtle is threatened, or feels in danger, it is able retreat within its shell and find safety and a relative level of camouflage. This is amazing! Seriously, the way God has created turtles is so fascinating! Their ability to protect themselves is fascinating.

But too, often people act like turtles when it comes to their own emotional protection. In fact, I do this fairly often, as well. And this is not good. When turtles do it, it is good. When humans do this, it's not.

What do I mean? How do humans act like turtles?

I'll give you an example, but be nice to me. I'm going to be a little vulnerable with you here.

The other day, I was talking to a friend and he asked about how he could pray for me. And if I was being completely transparent, I would have told him about the multitude of burdens that were on my heart at that very moment. But if I had done that, I would have opened up the possibility of a few things:

• By sharing the actual burdens on my heart with him, he would have seen the mess I was in and would have plenty of chance to judge me and crushed my confidence.
• By sharing real prayer requests with him, I would have been reaching for the hope that my heart would be healed in a context that both of us shared...a hope that was easier crushed than realized.
• And by inviting him into the truth of my situation, I would have had to find a way to insert him into my life in the contexts of my burdens.

And if I am being honest, all of those things scared me. They scared me because it meant I would be opening up my heart to hope in a person I barely know to be there for me. And by doing this, I would take a huge step toward my hope being dashed and my joy being diminished.

So instead, I just told him some kind off vague prayer request like, "Pray for strength."

I acted just like a turtle. Because of my fear, I retreated within myself and avoided the freeing truth and sanctifying vulnerability. I hid behind the shell of vague "Christianese". And many of do this so much more than we realize. We all have pains and burdens. But we hide within ourselves, never finding freedom, because we are too scared.

And as the Lord has been speaking to me about this recently, he has been revealing to me the path to finding real freedom from these burdens and the pains in my heart. And I want to share them with you.

Here are 2 secrets to find lasting freedom from your pain and your burdens.

1) Come out of your shell. Be ok with the mess in your own heart. You're not alone in your mess! It's only when you are honest and at peace with your own mess than you can let someone else in and give you the real love that you need.

Allow me to let you in on the best-kept-secret of finding freedom: we can't find freedom by ourselves; we need another to help us as we search for freedom. In our pursuit of true freedom, real love from another person is a necessary ingredient. In order to enter the promised land called freedom, we must pass through the tunnel of real love. But this is where we tend to retreat into our shells. We are scared of receiving real love.

Why are we scared of receiving real love? Doesn't everyone want real love?

Receiving real, liberating love, requires that we come out of our shells, honestly admit our pain, and open up about our fears to another imperfect human being. It is only when we are vulnerable with another about our current reality that we can receive true love and find lasting freedom.

So why are we so scared to receive love and pursue freedom? Because we know the depths of our own hearts, and we are so scared to let someone else into it. We fear that they will see it and run the other way.

So we never find real freedom. Fear opposes love. And thus, it opposes freedom. We want freedom from our pains and burdens, but our fears tend to get in the way. This is why 1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear..."

Love requires you to open up. Like a turtle coming out of a shell.

And love will bring you to a place called freedom...outside of the shell.

2) Jump into someone else's shell. Be courageous enough to love someone sacrificially...despite the mess in their heart, and despite the amount of times they retreat inside their shell away from you. Real love casts out fear. (1 John 4:18).

Anything else called "love" that is too scared to enter the dark realities of the human heart for another is not love at all. Love bears all things with and for another (1 Corinthians 13:7). Mushy feelings never do that. That's because love isn't a feeling. Love is a self-sacrificing, daily-deciding commitment to the holistic well-being of another without regard for personal safety.

You can only offer this kind of love to someone else by committing to sacrifice and unselfishness. And by giving this real love to someone else, you will bring them to a place called freedom...outside of their shell.

(P.S. Love is a two way street. When you are courageous enough to love someone else, you will begin to find love and healing for your own heart.)

So here's to you! Here's to starting the journey to finding lasting freedom from your pains and burdens! "Kawabunga, dude!"

(Just for fun, here is another trailer...becasue I couldn't resist...)

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Just this morning, I was praying for my wife - like I do every morning. And as I was, something hit me hard. God gave me a realization that what I was doing was absolutely amazing. I was talking to God! And when I realized this, I was fascinated! God gave us the ability to talk to him, and we should never take it for granted. Here are 3 things that make prayer so awesome:

1. Prayer is an awesome thing.

Think about it. When you pray, you talk to the Ruler of the Entire Universe. You aren't just uttering a quaint pre-dinner phrase. You are entering the throne room of heaven to lay your humble request at the feet of the Lord of All. And the thing that is really amazing is that, in Hebrews 4:16, He calls us to do this with confidence!

2. Prayer is amazing thing.

Not only is prayer a high privilege, but it is uniquely special because it opens the door for us to have a living, breathing relationship with the One who breathes stars. Psalm 33:6 says,

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And their starry hosts by the breath of His mouth.

The moment you cease to be amazed by the fact that you are known and loved by this God is the moment you have lost sight of Him altogether. You can't relate to God without having your mind blown consistently. He is infinite in His glory, splendor, and desire for you!

3. Prayer is an affecting thing.

Prayer has a great effect. Prayer affect God, ourselves, others, and our world. How cool is that??? God has specifically given us, as fellow heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17), the ability to reach into the storehouses of heaven and affect God and his activity here on earth. THIS IS SO AWESOME!!!

Andrew Murray said in his book With Christ in The School of Prayer,

"Lord, teach us to pray." Yes, to pray. This is what we need to be taught. Though in its beginnings prayer is so simple that the feeblest child canary, yet it is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which man can rise. It is fellowship with the Unseen and Most Holy One. The powers of the eternal world have been placed at its disposal.

So I want to challenge you today to reach into the heart and hands of your heavenly Father and experience the wonder and power of prayer. This is the unique privilege and plan God has given to you in this very moment. Don't let today end without laying hold of this amazing blessing.

"Here He comes!"
"He must be The One who is to come."
"He will rescue us from the Romans!"

Hours later...

"Who does he think he is?"
"I could have sold those for lots of money!!"
"Who gave him the right to ruin everything like this??"

This was the attitude of the people the day Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem riding on a donkey - just a week before his crucifixion. As he entered, his welcome party was boisterous and excited. They laid their coats and big palm leaves to give him the best red carpet welcome that they could afford. They shouted his praises. In that moment, he was their hero.

Everyone knew he was coming to conquer their enemy. Yet they were confused about which enemy he came to defeat. They thought he had come to oust the Roman soldiers from their midst. This is why they were so confused and offended when he immediately entered the temple turning over money tables and cracking his whip at business men (literally!) and yelling, "My Father's house is called The House of Prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves!" He was furious that sin had so overrun their lives that even The House of Prayer was merely another business venue to them.

Yes, he had come to vanquish the foe. But this foe was much more oppressive than the Romans. He had come to conquer sin.

So often in our lives, we get excited about the King of Glory entering our lives, but are so offended when he begins to shine the light of truth on our own sin. We want the privileges of being known as God's child, but it too much for him to ask us to clean up and give him 100% of our hearts.

We are a culture so used to popularity charts. We have the Grammys, the Emmys, the Oscars, the Golden Globe, the Golden Boot, the Golden Compass. Everywhere we go, we want to know who is the #1, the chart topper, the first. And we do that in our own lives too. If we are really spiritual, we might give Jesus first place in our lives. He can be #1. But you only have to have 51% popularity to be #1. Jesus wants 100%. He wants to be your everything. He wants you to hold NOTHING back.

So I challenge you, when you so gladly accept the Jesus who comes to conquer, expect a Jesus who comes to cleanse...because he wants to conquer your sin.