God prepares us!

The church where I am the pastor is facing another huge step of faith. Most of the people don’t even know it yet but we are moving into a time when our faith will be tested and we will be call to act on what we say we believe. It is the Degree all in moment. 

I am scared but excited as I prepare to lead my friends on this journey. God has clearly told me that the process is more important than the answer and I feel like He has laid out the process pretty clearly to me.

 

But here is what is really amazing me, I am currently doing “Experiencing God” with a group of men. This is my 3 or 4^th time doing this study but it is life transforming every time. At the end of each day’s study you are asked to write down what you think God is calling you to do in response to what He revealed to you during that study. Today I was asked to go back and review what God has been saying to me. Now remember that this goes back and covers more than 2 months and I just became aware of the stuff at church this week.

 

This is what God has been saying to me:

1)                  Surrender and Trust God IS in control.

2)                  Seek God and don’t worry about the results

a.       Pray

b.      Study

c.       Sabbath

3)                  Look for where God is already working

4)                  Simply follow God and trust He is doing stuff through me.

5)                  Walk with God

6)                  Pray more and watch more.

7)                  Relax in His hands

                  Listen to God and do what He says

9)                  Demonstrate my love to God by being more attentive to Him.

10)              Spend significant time with God

a.       Daily – Quiet times

b.      Weekly – Sabbath

c.       Monthly – Day of Prayer

d.      Yearly – Solitude Retreat

11)              Allow God to build my faith

12)              Take a step – one way or another move.

13)              Cultivate a constant state of worship in my soul

14)              Remember God IS doing what needs to be done.

15)              Spend time simply listening to God

16)              Build the staff before building a building

17)              Point people towards what God is doing.

18)              Look for God’s answers – Rely on Him

19)              Let God lead

 

God prepares us!

The church where I am the pastor is facing another huge step of faith. Most of the people don’t even know it yet but we are moving into a time when our faith will be tested and we will be call to act on what we say we believe. It is the Degree all in moment. 

I am scared but excited as I prepare to lead my friends on this journey. God has clearly told me that the process is more important than the answer and I feel like He has laid out the process pretty clearly to me.

 

But here is what is really amazing me, I am currently doing “Experiencing God” with a group of men. This is my 3 or 4^th time doing this study but it is life transforming every time. At the end of each day’s study you are asked to write down what you think God is calling you to do in response to what He revealed to you during that study. Today I was asked to go back and review what God has been saying to me. Now remember that this goes back and covers more than 2 months and I just became aware of the stuff at church this week.

 

This is what God has been saying to me:

1)                  Surrender and Trust God IS in control.

2)                  Seek God and don’t worry about the results

a.       Pray

b.      Study

c.       Sabbath

3)                  Look for where God is already working

4)                  Simply follow God and trust He is doing stuff through me.

5)                  Walk with God

6)                  Pray more and watch more.

7)                  Relax in His hands

                  Listen to God and do what He says

9)                  Demonstrate my love to God by being more attentive to Him.

10)              Spend significant time with God

a.       Daily – Quiet times

b.      Weekly – Sabbath

c.       Monthly – Day of Prayer

d.      Yearly – Solitude Retreat

11)              Allow God to build my faith

12)              Take a step – one way or another move.

13)              Cultivate a constant state of worship in my soul

14)              Remember God IS doing what needs to be done.

15)              Spend time simply listening to God

16)              Build the staff before building a building

17)              Point people towards what God is doing.

18)              Look for God’s answers – Rely on Him

19)              Let God lead

 

I saw two Angels last week

 Angels are real! They just don’t look like what we think angels look like. In fact, one of the angels I saw had arms as big as my legs and the other one was naked.

An angel is a messenger of God. Turns out they are often real everyday people that God uses to deliver His message or in my case it was a massage.

That’s right the first angel God sent gave me a massage from heaven. If you have never had a real massage from a professional you’ve got to try it. It will literally change your perspective on life. In fact, it very well might be where the phrase “a healing touch” came from.

The second angel I saw – well actually I heard more than I saw – was a local businessman in the whirlpool. I was in the sauna and could overhear his conversations with the other guys in the pool.

 I think there is something in the bible about healing pools.

But anyway the locker room discussion was…well it was locker room discussion, but this guy, this angel, had a way of gently but firmly being a light in the darkness. It didn’t matter if the topic was sports, politics or immigration he subtly shared biblical wisdom. Oh, his verbiage was not churchy or anything, but he clearly spoke for God.

I’m not sure if anyone else who saw these two men that day knew they were angels, but they were!

There are helicopters in the air

My hat is off to all the single parents out there. My wife was out of town this weekend and it was questionable that any of us left at home would survive. Fortunately we did eventually make it. And I actually got to finish up reading Mark Nysewander’s “No More Spectators”. This is a great book about how a cultural Christianity has developed a norm of spectators rather than participants in the Christian experience. Mark did an excellent job of not beating you up, but inspiring you to want to go for all God has.

 

I was very impressed by the book, but more excited about where I got it. Mark Fritchman recently moved to our community and he lent me the book. The impact this book has had on Mark’s ministry is very easy to see. Mark bleeds this book and I am excited to have a guy like that in our community.

 

God has and is bringing some amazingly strong leaders to our area. I use to live in Warner Robins where Robins Air force base is located. Sonic booms were a normal everyday occurrence. One general once told me, “Don’t worry about how many booms you hear or how many planes you see in the air. Watch for helicopters. If you see the copters in the sky something is happening.” I often wondered about that and only later learned that it had to do with personnel disbursement. When people start getting moved around it is because something is going down.

 So what is God up to? He certainly seems to be deploying some special forces to our area. Something is happening.  I am sure watching with interest. Oh, wait a minute; “No More Spectators” so I am actively seeking my role in what God is doing.  Hope you will make the effort to join in the adventure of this life time.

Boomerangs!

I finished reading – actually re-reading – another Henri Nouwen book entitled “Life of the Beloved”. It is a really good book about being Chosen, Blessed, Broken & Given. It is kind of the opposite of the desert father philosophy found in “The Way of the Heart”, which suggest distancing oneself from the damaging effects of the secular world. This book is about discovering how to spiritually live in a secular world.  I want attempt to recap the book because it is short enough for you to read it yourself. But it did get me to thinking about something I thought I would share.

 

Boomerangs. That’s right boomerangs. I use to know this man who actually made boomerangs, real ones. I played around with them some for a while and discovered it is much more difficult than it appears to get them to come back to you. Henri’s book reminded me that I am a boomerang. I came from God and my life is a journey back to God. I am in route home. Not to take the metaphor to far by implying that I am not with God on the journey, but the comforting thing was that I started with God, in the hand of God.  

 

I never did master the art of the returning boomerang. In fact, let a boomerang sail from my hand and it appears a lot like a stick. But to see that guy who made them toss one is amazing. He designed some for tight circles and others for long loops. He crafted each one, by hand, for a special purpose and when he sent it soaring through the air it always returned to his hand. It is an amazing thing to see. The freedom of flight! The speed. The lifts and turns. The zigs and the zags. AND then the return to the hand that set it free, the hand that made it.

 I was made by God and will land in his hand. I don’t know, it just makes me feel good to realize that.

Toddler Tendencies – that often continue into adulthood.

I witnessed an amazing story while waiting to pick up my kids from school. This little kid was trying to break free from his mom with all his little might. I watched as he wrestled free from her grip and took off running as fast as he could toward what he thought was complete freedom. Actually he was heading toward a busy road, so his mom pursued him relentlessly. At times the child seemed to think it was a game and at times he clearly resented her continued and constant presence. With one last final dash the boy got closer to the street than the mother was comfortable with so she snatched him up with more force than he preferred. The mom carried the boy kicking and screaming to the center of the park and placed him safely on the ground where he could continue to play. 

 
As I watched I whispered a belated thank you to God and apologized for not being more appreciative at the time.

 

ONE WAY

I am and apparently have been having some serious problems with my email. Apparently I can send but I can’t receive. I hope this is not true of my life as well.

There was this talented young man on a retreat I recently worked who clearly had unbelievable leadership skills. He had a passion for God that was inspiring and a commitment to his faith that was incredible. He apparently had a good deal of biblical information in his head and his heart seemed to be almost constantly in an uncontrollably display of passion.

All that stuff seems good, even godly. But something just struck me wrong. Something was off and it bothered me. It bothered me more than I thought it should and I couldn’t figure out why it affected me so much.

Now I know, he couldn’t receive. He was unteachable because he thought he knew everything already and the reason it bothered me was because it confronted me with my own inability to be taught. Early on as a teacher and speaker I found it difficult not to be critical or even judgmental towards others who were trying to teach me. I thought I had out grown that, but I discovered now I just don’t listen. I have been trained so much and been exposed to so much that I don’t even take the time to see or hear the lessons that are exploding around me all the time.

This weekend I discovered the profound theological truth that Jesus loves me. WOW! That is amazing!

Waiting to receive.

Every Perfect Gift comes from God

A bunch of us worked on an old house in down town Brunswick yesterday. We are restoring it and hope to eventually utilize it as a The Chapel office. Over the course of the day there were a lot of people who worked. My two jobs were to work with Jeffrey hanging some sheetrock and with David laying the Hardi-board. To be the amateurs that we obviously are I thought we did a really good job.

I mean sure there were some fairly significant gaps in the sheet rock after we hung it and the holes for the boxes might have been a bit large, but nothing a little mud and tape couldn’t fix. All in all it was a-okay!

I had never even heard of hardi-board, but basically it is like sheets of cement that you attach to the floor and tile is laid over it. David and I were to cover the floor with the hardiboard and we did an alright job if I may say so my self. I mean technically there may have been some spots that the stuff didn’t fit just perfectly, but I mean it is all going to be covered up by the tile anyway, so what does it matter if there is a gap here and there.

Feeling good about our days work, I was relaxing and reflecting at home when these thoughts came to mind:
Good is the enemy of great
Okay prevents Outstanding
Alright is not excellent
2nd best keeps more people from God’s best than worst ever could.

Settling – becoming satisfied with less than God has for you.

Now the truth is we did a perfect job on the house – and to any degree that we missed on perfection, it really will not matter. But there are areas where settling is fatal!

Our church has really been growing a lot lately. This time last year our average worship attendance was somewhere around 125 by Dec it had gone up to 250 each week. Last month it was right around 350.

That made me start wondering “why are all these people coming?” and here is what God showed me:

Truth # 1 The reason we are all here is because God loves us so much that he sought us. He pursued you and He used whatever it was that brought you here. Yep- that girl, that guy, that circumstance, that whatever, was God drawing you to himself

Look at the stories in Luke 15 – God seeks the lost

Truth #2 You want to encounter God else you wouldn’t be here. You can say what you want, but deep down in there someplace you are longing for God

And here is where the danger comes in. It is possible, perhaps even likely that you come to church seeking God and leave saying “well that was good, that was nice, I fell okay now” when what God had in mind was awesome, outstanding, excellent.

Why do we pull up short? Why do we settle?