The Story of Pat Maulsen

Friday was my birthday!  I turned 22- a completely worthless age to turn.  I guess after 21 nothing special really happens except that you are just a year older.  I assume that once you hit 30, it goes from making you feel more mature to feeling more depressed that you're not in your 20s anymore.  At least I have 8 more years before the depression sets in!

I think at big events like your birthday, or new years, or whatever, it is natural to reflect on how things have been different since your last big shindig.  Or not...maybe I'm the only one that feels that way.  But regardless, I found myself in a spirit of reflection yesterday.  This was particularly enhanced by the fact that Anthem was also on my birthday.
*For anyone who doesn't know; Anthem is a once a semester worship event at my church that draws easily over 1000 worshipers (primarily college students) for a night of awesome (and mostly original) worship.

The theme of Anthem this year was "Pause".  The goal was for people to pause and think about their lives in the midst of a busy season and determine what they were really living for.  Since it coincided with my birthday, it was an excellent opportunity for me to pause and reflect on the past year and where God has taken me.  And more than simply the past year, it's a great chance for me to expound on the direction of my life.  I guess you can consider this my God Story post.

The Early Years

I was raised in a Bible believing, God fearing, church attending household with parents that did their best to teach me about God from a young age.  My mother would make me read my children's bible with her before bed many nights (back in the days when my bible had pictures!).  As a result, I grew up with a healthy helping of knowledge- I knew all the most popular bible stories (my favorite story was the classic David vs. Goliath) and I memorized scripture through my participation in AWANAS (wow that was a long time ago...).  Typical christian upbringing.  Of course, what I had attained in my head, I lacked in my heart; I didn't understand what it all meant and it did nothing to affect my behavior because ultimately, it meant nothing to me.  Even as a youngster, I tended to alienate myself from other kids.  I had one close friend throughout all grade school and middle school and avoided everyone else for the most part.

High School

I particularly disliked high school.  I moved to Muscatine Iowa one year prior to high school and didn't make any friends before my freshman year.  The next three years were mostly the same.  While I was friendly with many people, I was friends with virtually no one.  I particularly hated going to my church youth group: a lot of people from my high school attended but it felt more like a social function than a time of growth and fellowship.  I felt excluded at church functions where cliques would inevitably form.  This made me mad because I felt like church was the one place where I should be included and that wasn't happening.  I had a lot of anger boiling inside which manifested itself as disrespect for authority: my parents and I had a lot of arguments that got pretty heated, and I had a reputation among my peers for talking back to teachers at high school (you can read about one incident in one of my previous posts).  I was lonely, angry, and prideful.  I also wanted nothing to do with a church family who didn't rush to make me feel welcome (see aforementioned pride).  The bottom line was that I was living life in denial- I thought it was all about me.  I didn't drink, smoke, do drugs, or have sexual relations with anyone during high school and I thought this made me a decent dude.  Even though I mentally believed in a god, I didn't believe in capital G God in a way that made him more than a character in a really old book.

When God Slapped Me Upside My Face

Despite my attempts to avoid my youth group, my mom pestered the crap out of me to join a small group and to keep going, so I did just to make her leave me alone.  Joining Tom Allen's small group was a turning point for me.  Tom was a very godly man who took initiative to pour into my life- the first time someone other than my parents had tried to challenge me.  I also really liked the guys in my small group (two of them turned out to be my best friends today).  Tom convinced me to go on a summer retreat that our youth ministry did every year called Xcursion.  It was a week of games, waterboarding, bonding, and worship with peers from the high school ministry.  It was towards the end of the week- we had just heard a powerful presentation of the gospel and I was thinking hard about the direction of my life.  That night, all the guys decided to pitch their sleeping bags outside under the stars rather than stay in their tents.  I was sleeping next to a dude from my small group named Brance.  We were talking about random stuff for a while and then he drew my attention up to the sky.

"Dude...just think about the stars.  Just think: God personally made trillions of them and yet here on this little planet he also made you and me and he knows our names and cares enough about us to send Jesus to die!  That's pretty sweet!"

I couldn't help but agree.  I thought about that for a long time.  After everyone else had fallen asleep, I was still thinking about it.  I was also thinking about my empty life and how much I hated it- all my anger and pride had gotten me no where.  I couldn't stop the flood of tears.  I got on my knees right then and there and prayed to God that He would forgive my wickedness and lead me for the rest of my life.  That was undoubtedly the best decision I ever made.

College 

It would take way too long to tell of all the things that I've learned since college.  I originally attended Carthage College in Kenosha Wisconsin.  I hated it- mostly because of a lack of community.  I was still an immature Christian at that point.  I transferred to Iowa State the next year and loved it.  I got involved in The Salt Company and learned about how to really live for God.  I became a leader and was challenged to really develop my character.  I'd say that the biggest change that God has wrought has been to grant me a variety of relationships with people.  I didn't have many friends in high school and so when, three days ago- on my birthday, I paused to consider the crowd of legitimate brothers and sisters that had gathered in my apartment to celebrate me, I was overwhelmed.

The one thing that God has taught me about relationships in the past four years is that they are not meant for my happiness.

Relationships exist not to make us happy but to make us more holy.


I wish I had figured that out before this year- it would have saved me and a few others a lot of grief.  I love what God has done in my life.  And I love that He has chosen to use other people as the primary catalyst for change.  People that lead me.  People that follow me.  People that struggle along side me.  Even people that irritate me.  They all have served to make me more holy in one way or another.  I can only hope that in some way I have been able to help others towards holiness as well.

And that's my story.  I wish I could tell more of it.  If you're curious, just ask me and we can chat!  Take some time now, at the end of the year to reflect on what God has done in your life.

Pat Maulsen Stands at the Crossroads

I realized that I have been slacking hard!  This is only my second blog post this month, and April is half over already!  There are only three weeks left of my senior year of college!  After this, I will have one summer class to take and an internship requirement to fulfill and I will officially be a college grad!  I am SO ready for that.  Today was my first full day of work at my new job that I landed recently!  I will be working at Woodward Academy (a juvenile rehabilitation facility) for at least the rest of the summer and most likely for at least the next year.  I feel like my life is slowly but surely coming together (at least for the short term) which is awesome because a major source of stress up to this point in my life was wondering exactly what I was going to be doing after I graduate.

 I have been really encouraged by the fact that things seem to be finally falling into place.  I mean, sure- I'm still single, poor, and have no plan for my life beyond the next year (assuming that the world doesn't end this year) but things could be worse.  I think that it is precisely at times like this that I have to be the most careful to guard myself from falling into bad habits and old sins.

I notice that it tends to be during periods of life where things seem to be going OK that I forget to focus fully on God and to be continually thankful for the good things that have been coming my way.  Case in point:  the other night, right after salt, I said somethings in an off hand way to one of my friends that really offended her and caused unneeded pain.  It came out of no where- I was simply too comfortable with myself and too confident in my ability to avoid sin.  I was viewing life like some sort of video game where I had achieved the next level and now had nothing to worry about from the "lower level" monsters that I fight against.  But the reality is that at any given moment, even when you or I are feeling at our most holy, that we are a mere hairsbreadth away from disaster!

The apostle Peter warns us of this in his letter to the church: "Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8)
  In other words, as long as we live in this broken world, we will be under the constant threat and lure of the Enemy to walk in a path that will make us ineffective as Christ followers.  On the one hand, we can take comfort in the fact that making us ineffective is ALL he can do; that is, he no longer holds any power over the souls or ultimate destiny of any who follow Jesus.  But on the other hand, it would be a great tragedy if we allowed the fact that we are relatively safe to dictate the intensity of our fight against stagnation and ineffectiveness.

It is really easy to get into a rhythm and get comfortable with where we are.  It is easy to overlook the little details- but it is the little details that sometimes matter the most in the end.  C.S. Lewis said it like this:
"Good and evil both increase at compound interest.  That is why the little decisions that you and I make every day are of such infinite importance.  The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of.  An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line from which the enemy may launch an otherwise impossible attack."


There is a great passage from Jeremiah that I have been meditating on for the past week:
"Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." (Jeremiah 6:16)

God is calling to each of us.  He has shown us through His word what the good way is.  Each day, we come to and stand at many crossroads; to one side is the way to God and life, on the other lies death and destruction.  This may be as small as the decision to go to class instead of sleep, or be responsible with your money and not go out to eat for dinner.  It may be something more significant like holding your tongue when you have the option to say something that will wound someone else, or choosing not to look at porn when you are alone in your apartment.

 God stands at the end of the Good Way and calls with a fierce longing for his children to turn back from the wrong turn they have taken at the Crossroads, repent, and run to Him so that he can lavish his love on us.  The promise we have for such obedience is astounding in its simplicity and its scope:

We will find rest for our souls

Meditations on Leadership

I'm one month away from the end of my last spring semester of school ever!  I have a job lined up for the summer (and possibly beyond) and I am fighting hard against senioritis.  One thing that has helped me through the monotony of my life at this point is the fact that two of my roommates (Kyle and Justin) are applying for Salt Company Leadership next year!  I have been hoping that they would for some time now, and have been actively encouraging it, which is why I am so pumped that they actually have gone through with it and taken that next step in their growth.

Thinking so much about having other people step up to the plate and take on the mantle of leadership has made me pause a little bit and give thought to why I am in leadership myself.  I love being a Salt leader- it's been one of the best experiences of my life to be responsible for the spiritual well being of a group of like-minded men who desire to seek God together.  It isn't just leadership in the spiritual realm- I've been training to be an Army officer for the past four years as well.  It is lucky for me that the two tend to overlap in their principals of leadership (they just take on different external forms).

So why leadership at all?  Why not be content to just stay a follower?  And what constitutes a good leader anyway?  Well, I don't know that I exactly qualify as a "good leader" so I'm not sure that I'm fully qualified to answer these questions, but I will simply try and speak from my own experience (because, hey- aren't leaders supposed to take the initiative in uncertain situations?).
* A quick note: I am going to speak mainly to my leadership experience in the Salt Company, but I think that you can take what I am saying and apply it broadly to any situation where leadership is required.....so pretty much anywhere.

So why be a leader?  There are over 850 regular attendees at the Salt Company every week and somewhere around 200 of them are student leaders.  Why take the step forward to be a leader among your peers when there are clearly plenty of others who are willing to do it.  So many aspiring leaders are held back by a voice that says something along the lines of "you aren't good enough."  In Salt, a common excuse is "I don't have a lot of Bible knowledge."  I would submit to you that stepping into that leadership role will confer upon you that which you seek.  This isn't to say that you magically know the bible better when you become a leader, but rather to say that when you are a leader you will be put into situations that require you to study your bible more- thereby gaining the knowledge you once lacked.  If you're not good at relating to people, putting yourself into a situation where you HAVE to relate to people will quickly teach you those skills.

 Leadership is as much about your growth as it is the growth of the people under your charge.  The difference is that you are growing so that you can help others grow more, not so that you can become a super stud that everyone admires.  That, I think, is critical to understanding good leadership.  Good leaders are in charge, BUT they serve those they lead.  If you are a good leader, you should never be considering your own growth, well-being, or comfort, but rather the growth, well-being, and comfort of those you lead.  When you do that, you will find that you grow yourself as a result.

Ultimately, the truth is that  everyone engages in leadership on some level.  At home, in class, at work, in church, etc.  Someone is always watching and learning from your actions and that makes you a leader.  The question is: will you, knowing that people are watching, step into the role and be a leader that others watch and learn to be more like, or will you be a negative example for what you stand for?

I will readily admit this:  I am a much better leader in Salt and personal areas of my life than I am in ROTC.  The reason is this: for so long, I compartmentalized my life and said: "here's something I enjoy (salt) and here's something I generally dislike (ROTC) so I will put all my effort into that which gives me the most enjoyment."  This makes me a bad leader.  Let me explain.  Leadership is NOT about a title.  It is molding yourself to a certain set of standards and ideals and then taking others along with you.  This means that leadership should permeate EVERY aspect of your life- not just the ones that give you the most enjoyment.

This is particularly true for Christians.  As I have said in earlier posts, all of life is spiritual.  The way we work at any given task reflects on the character of Jesus.  Therefore, when we fail to give our all at something (even if it seems to us at the time menial and un-enjoyable) we reflect a poor image of Christ.  That is what I do many times in ROTC unfortunately.

Another trait of a leader is that they are the first to recognize and admit their flaws.  For me, this post is an effort to take my own advice.  All leaders have areas that they struggle in and some that they excel in.  The trick is to turn the weaknesses into strengths and to allow what is already strong to be multiplied.

While there are literally hundreds of things that could be talked about with regards to leadership, there is one that is the most important that I still have not touched on.  For Christians to be good leaders in anything, they must first learn to submit themselves to Jesus.  You cannot be a leader if you are not also a follower.  This means that leaders should constantly strive to seek advice from those who have been there and done that- who have a real heart for Jesus and who are in tune with his will.  If we do not submit to Jesus (and, by extension, the godly leadership that he has placed in our lives) we will find ourselves leading others down a path that ultimately leads to destruction- for both you and your followers.  That would undoubtedly make you a bad leader...

So, in summary:  Leaders should be the first to admit where they are and the first to do something about it, be constantly seeking wisdom and council from other leaders, and place the interests of others over their own interests.  These three things, while by no means all-inclusive, are a great starting point for leaders.  I hope by God's grace to continue to grow myself (I know I certainly have a long....LONG way to go).  I hope that you may have found this useful for your own life.  If you didn't............sorry; maybe you'll like some of my other posts more?

Oh, and Happy Easter!!