Love, Trust, & Sing

I love the honesty of this psalm. Hopefully we will find ways to sing every day!!

Psalm 13

1 How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?

2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;

4 my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.

6 I will sing to the LORD,
for he has been good to me.

Filed under: Reflection

9 Things a Leader Must Do – Book Review

Just finished a pretty good book where the author outlines 9 things he believes a leader must do.

It got me thinking – there are questions that I need to consistently be asking myself. Maybe I can add this to my journal goals for the year except ask them weekly.

Anyways – here’s 9 questions that I need to be asking myself constently:

1. Am I living my life driven towards a vision that absolutely gets me excited?

2. What negative things do I have in my life?

3. Is the stuff I am doing today setting me up for where I want to be 2 years from now?

4. What can I do to make a negative situation better?

5. I’m I consistently making people around me better?

6. What are the negative things that I hate and will not tolerate?

7. When others fail, what can I do to help them succeed?

8. Do I have a heart of humility?

9. Am I making a decision based on what is right or based on what is popular?

Anyways – just some thoughts running around my head right now…

Filed under: Leadership, Reflection

Tear Down my Idols

The dearest idol I have known,
Whatever that idol be,
Help me to tear it from thy throne,
and worship only thee…

- William Cowper, “O For a Closer Walk with Thee”

Filed under: Quotes, Reflection, Religous

A Reflection…

“When you come to knowing God, the initiative lies on His side. If He does not show Himself, nothing youcan do will enable you to find Him. And, in fact, He shows much more of Himself to some people than to others—not because He has favorites, but because it is impossible for Him to show Himself to a man whose whole mind and character are in the wrong condition. Just as sunlight, though it has no favorites, cannot be reflected in a dusty mirror as clearly as in a clean one.” C.S. Lewis

God knows you…do you know God?

How dirty is your mirror?

What can you d to keep it clean and clear?

How are others responding to God’s reflecting they see in you?

… must know HIM better (and better) …

Filed under: Reflection

Remove our Idols and Hindrances…

Lord Jesus,
take from us now
everything that would hinder the closest communion with God.
Any wish or desire that might hamper us in prayer
remove, we pray you.
Any memory of either sorrow or care
that might hinder the fixing of our affection wholly on our God,
take it away now.
What have we to do with idols anymore?
You have seen and observed us.
You know where the difficulty lies.
Help us against it,
and may we now come boldly,
not in the holy place alone,
but in the holiest of all,
where we should not dare to come
if our great Lord had not torn the veil,
sprinkled the mercy seat with his own blood,
and asked us to enter.

- Charles Spurgeon

Filed under: Reflection, Religous

Can we say this…

I was reading out of Taste and See by John Piper this morning and he smacked me across the face…

Here’s what he smacked me with:

Can we say the following with Augustine?

How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose!…You drove me them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place…O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation.”

Or are we in bondage to the pleasures of this world so that, for all our talk about the glory of God, we love televeision and food and sleep and sex and money and human praise just like everybody else? If so, let us repent and fix our faces like flint toward the Word of God in prayer: Oh, Lord, open my eyes to see the sovereign sight that in your presence is the fullness of joy and at your right hand are pleasures for evermore.

Filed under: Quotes, Reflection, Religous

Bless Everyone

I’ve really been chewing on Matthew 10:12-13 lately and how it applies to ministry. Jesus sends out his disciples on their inaugural mission with these words: “Whenever you enter a town or village, search for a worthy man and stay in his home until you leave for the next town. When you are invited into someone’s home, give it your blessing. If it turns out to be a worthy home, let your blessing stand; if it is not, take back the blessing.”

I feel like In too many instances we, as Christians, have it backwards. We expect people to belong before blessing. Jesus instructed his disciples to bless before belonging. Fundamentally, we are called to be a blessing. But I think we’re so afraid of blessing the wrong people that we tend to withhold the blessing. Jesus tells us to bless everything that moves! And if they aren’t worthy, we take the blessing back. If they are, the blessing stands!

I feel that by viewing it this way if frees us up to always be loving the unlovely in our communities. It frees us up to try new things – to love on people – to always be proactive instead of reactive. I don’t know – still chewing on all this but thought I would share.

Filed under: Reflection, Religous

Set Apart?

I’ve been having some conversations lately with a couple of good friends and people I really admire and respect who have been living life beside me for awhile and I have to confess – I’m troubled.

Lately God has been doing a lot of moving and shaking in my heart – dust is flying off and new doors are being opened and it is a lot to be taking in.

I’ve been struggling with Romans 12 where Paul calls Christians to “not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” What does that mean? How do I apply this to my life?

What does it mean to live in todays world – be a part of a community yet also be a Christian who is “set apart.”

What distinguishes us from everyone else?

I think essentially it all revolves around humility and forgiveness. Humility and forgiveness…

I mean think about it, humility and forgiveness is totally countercultural. They are things that go against every grain of our nature because we are fundamentally driven by pride – we are – lets just openly confess it to each other. The stink of it is – pride is the original sin – wanting to be like God.

Everything we are taught in the states from the second we leave our mother’s womb is to embrace our pride – “go for it” and “be all you can be” – you will accomplish anything you set your mind on! Parents and teachers and tv and internet tells us that we are important and that we can make something of ourselves. Even our economy is structured in such a way that we want more – we want more wealth, more prestige, more respect, more significance – more more more!

Pretty much everything we do is for the bettering of our lives and leaving a legacy behind.

Yet Christ’s example was self-denying and an other focused existence.

Think about what Christianity could look like if we stopped being so self-obsessed. What would the world do if every Christian stopped trying to make themselves look good or sound smart, humbled themselves to a place where they realized it’s not about them?

What if we decided to live simpler lives and consume less – instead we give more resources away instead of spending money on useless stuff.

What if we stopped obsessing over twitter updates (myself included), facebook wall posts, and having that new outfit for next weeks party and took a step back and said to ourselves, “its really not about me”?

And I realize its hard and I openly confess that I have a hard time going here. I do – I like stuff. If I could check myself into a “stuffanynonomous” program I would! But…what if I just started walking with God. What if I started opening the scriptures every day and just immersing myself in the story of God – His revelation to mankind about who He is and His intentions for those who love and follow Him.

What if by doing that – I would truly be set apart because the Word was impacting my life.

What if I started following Christ’s example of self denial and being focused on others first?

What if…

Filed under: Personal, Reflection, Religous

Gaining Credibility

I came across a great post the other day by Brad Lomenick titled, “Gaining Credibility,” and thought it would be a great share – especially for you seniors out there fixing to make the jump to the big fish pond called “the real world.”

I remember struggling to gain credibility in the work force when I first graduated and it some ways felt like I was entitled credibility just because I had a college degree – regardless of the fact that half the stuff I learned in college wasn’t really guiding anything I was doing…

Brad gives great introspection – you can read it HERE or follow the points below:

1. Be Self Aware- first, you have to have an accurate understanding of who you are and where you are in life. A very clear and realistic picture of your self identity and current reality. If you are 24, you have to understand that life experiences and job experience probably aren’t something you can hang your hat on.

2. Listen, Listen, Listen. Ask great questions of those around you, and then LISTEN to the answer. Don’t talk until you have something to say. But learn to ask great questions and learn from them. This is especially true in a team environment.

3. Experience creates expertise- this is obvious, but sometimes we forget. Credibility comes with action- doing, not just thinking or talking. Jump in and get involved.

4. A platform takes time- it’s just a reality. Most of us aren’t patient enough to spend adequate TIME at DOING something until we gain a platform or credibility. We usually lose interest, get bored, or just simply move on to something else. The key- stick with it.

5. Connect with leading organizations, networks and individuals- connect with companies, teams or individuals who are highly respected, and you’ll gain respect. But the key on this- connect with them and ask how you can HELP them, not how you can gain from them.

_______

Good stuff – I have a “leadership thoughts” journal that I keep – dropped this one in it…

Filed under: Leadership, Personal, Reflection

Help us die daily.

O God,

who for our redemption

gave your only-begotten Son

to the death of the cross,

and by his glorious resurrection

delivered us from the power of our enemy:

Grant us so to die daily to sin,

that we may evermore live with him

in the joy of his resurrection;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Filed under: Personal, Reflection, Religous

Just sayin…

1. I want God to fix the world, but He wants to fix me.
2. I pray for ease, but he gives me endurance.
3. I keep trying to improve to impress Him, but He’s not impressed
4. I call it being frugal with what He has given me, but He calls it lack of trust.
5. I’m trying to add Him to my life, but He’s waiting for me to die.
6. I worship with songs & sermons, but He wants discipline & dedication
7. I read the Word to learn, but He wants me to read the Word to live.

Just sayin…

Filed under: Personal, Reflection

Significant marks in my journey.

Been visiting my past journals over the last couple of days – been great reflecting on how God worked in my life and how he continually is shaping me along the way.

During my trip down memory lane – a couple of significant light bulbs have happened for me that I thought I would share…

Here we go:

• I can’t do it alone…and neither can you. We need each other. Why do we consistently put ourselves through the ringer trying to do things ourselves when God has expressed His love for us through the church?
• People need us. Our story is not unique and needs to be shared. Your greatest source of pain could very well be someone else’s source of healing.
• Growth, unfortunately, can never happen without pain. And now for the worse news – it’s often the most painful things that you endure that bring the most growth. Don’t hate the growth – embrace the growth and ask God for the strength to persevere well and to grow in the midst of the pains
• Community is worth fighting for. Fight for it.
• You get out of community what you put into it. You want to be known – make yourself known. You want to develop deep relationships – seek people out to develop those relationships. If you put in the effort, your rewards will be great!
• Hold on tight to what you know is true – even when your not even sure you believe it. Remember that faith is hoping in what is unseen – hold tightly to that hope.
• Just be real, honest, and who God made you to be. Life’s too short to waste it on being a superficial person that you are not – be you.

Just some things that God has been teaching me.

Filed under: Leadership, Personal, Reflection

Set Apart?

I’ve been having some conversations lately with a couple of good friends and people I really admire and respect who have been living life beside me for awhile and I have to confess – I’m troubled.

Lately God has been doing a lot of moving and shaking in my heart – dust is flying off and new doors are being opened and it is a lot to be taking in.

I’ve been struggling with Romans 12 where Paul calls Christians to “not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” What does that mean? How do I apply this to my life?

What does it mean to live in todays world – be a part of a community yet also be a Christian who is “set apart.”

What distinguishes us from everyone else?

I think essentially it all revolves around humility and forgiveness. Humility and forgiveness…

I mean think about it, humility and forgiveness is totally countercultural. They are things that go against every grain of our nature because we are fundamentally driven by pride – we are – lets just openly confess it to each other. The stink of it is – pride is the original sin – wanting to be like God.

Everything we are taught in the states from the second we leave our mother’s womb is to embrace our pride – “go for it” and “be all you can be” – you will accomplish anything you set your mind on! Parents and teachers and tv and internet tells us that we are important and that we can make something of ourselves. Even our economy is structured in such a way that we want more – we want more wealth, more prestige, more respect, more significance – more more more!

Pretty much everything we do is for the bettering of our lives and leaving a legacy behind.

Yet Christ’s example was self-denying and an other focused existence.

Think about what Christianity could look like if we stopped being so self-obsessed. What would the world do if every Christian stopped trying to make themselves look good or sound smart, humbled themselves to a place where they realized it’s not about them?

What if we decided to live simpler lives and consume less – instead we give more resources away instead of spending money on useless stuff.

What if we stopped obsessing over twitter updates (myself included), facebook wall posts, and having that new outfit for next weeks party and took a step back and said to ourselves, “its really not about me”?

And I realize its hard and I openly confess that I have a hard time going here. I do – I like stuff. If I could check myself into a “stuffanynonomous” program I would! But…what if I just started walking with God. What if I started opening the scriptures every day and just immersing myself in the story of God – His revelation to mankind about who He is and His intentions for those who love and follow Him.

What if by doing that – I would truly be set apart because the Word was impacting my life.

What if I started following Christ’s example of self denial and being focused on others first?

What if…

Filed under: Personal, Reflection, Religous

A Different Sort of 10 Commandments

Recently I stumbled across a book titled, “Anyway” by Kent M. Keith.

This book is one of those books that as you are reading it you find yourself saying, “yes” out loud – it’s that good.

In his book he talked about his 10 commandments of leading a Christ like life in the midst of a fast paced crazy world.

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self centered. Love them anyway.
2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
3. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
8. What you spend years building my be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
10. Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the best you have anyway.

I think these are good rules to live by. They help remind me to continually be looking to Christ in all things I do and not to others or situations around me.

“When people realize it is the living God you are presenting and not some idol that makes them feel good, they are going to turn on you, even people in your own family. 22 There is a great irony (a paradox) here: proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate! But don’t quit. Don’t cave in. It is all well worth it in the end. 23 It is not success you are after in such times but survival. Be survivors! Before you’ve run out of options, the Son of Man will have arrived.” Matthew 10:21-23

And no – these 10 should not replace the original 10 commandments of the Bible.

Filed under: Book Review, Personal, Reflection

Thicken our Skin.

Lord, thicken our skin.

Not that we be less tender, but that we be less easily offended.

Take away our bent to self-pity.

Give us a passion for the truth that is stronger

than our inborn passion for being praised.

Forgive us, Father, for calling words unloving just because they were tough.

Forgive us for attributing malicious motives

to people when we don’t know their motives.

Help us to learn from Jesus

when to be tough and when to be tender.

Guard us from justifying merely human anger with the hard sayings of Jesus.

But don’t let us become so mushy that we can’t speak a firm word in season.

We marvel at the words of our Lord Jesus.

How unpredictable He was!

No one ever spoke like He did.

He is in a class by Himself.

We bow before Him and shut our mouths.

We are eager for Him to speak – and to speak any way He pleases.

We are the silent learners.

He is the sinless teacher.

We put our hands upon our mouths and take our place at His feet.

Do with us as You please, Father.

We are not Your judge, nor the judge of how Your Son speaks.

Have mercy on us – tough or tender – and lead us to Your everlasting joy.

In the name of Your Son, our Lord Jesus,

Amen.

- John Piper, from Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ

Filed under: Church, Culture, Quotes, Reflection

Missional Ministry

I thought the fellas over at the swerve blog hit it out of the park with THIS post.

If you plan to reach the next generation for Christ, don’t ask them to believe what you believe, instead invite them to do what you do.

Beliefs are a dime a dozen. This generation has seen every variety of spiritual beliefs you could imagine (and many you couldn’t imagine).

They’re extremely turned off by people who don’t live what they claim to believe.

This generation doesn’t want to hear about what you believe. They want to see your beliefs in actions. And if you’re daring enough to live like Jesus, you’ll have a shot at reaching the next generation.

* If your version of Christianity is limited to what you’re against, you’ll not likely reach many.

* If, on the other hand, your faith is so alive you must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, and love the outcasts—all in the name of Christ, the King, you will attract interest.

As strange as it might sound, if you truly live a missional and Spirit filled life, the young generation might join you and do what you do, then one day believe what you believe.

_____

On a personal note I still get frustrated at times when the older generation knee jerks against these kind of statements. I think their fear is that by saying, “if your version of Christianity is limited to what you’re against, you’ll not likely reach many” means that we, the younger generation, are bucking doctrine, absolute truth, and core values to the curb but WE ARE NOT!

I firmly believe that my generation cares about doctrine and absolute truth because it’s the basis for what drives us to action – a desire to live out the truths that have been taught to us.

I just think the younger generation has come to a place where we say, “If we are going to do this – let’s go do it!”

I like it and it refreshes me.

Filed under: Church, Culture, Personal, Reflection, Religous

Great quote

I just read this from Richard Foster the other day:

“If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship.”

Filed under: Quotes, Reflection, Religous

Back from Ski Trip.

That’s right – back in the saddle after spending last week in Winterpark, CO with the college life posse – man was it a great time!

Here are some of the highlights of the trip for me:

• Being amazed by God in His Creation. I love it – it just flat out refreshes me. There’s something about growing up in Dallas that I really feel like I missed – the fact that I look at buildings, skyscrapers, huge highways and glory in the creation of man. Getting away to Colorado helps me to glory in the Creation of God.
• It was awesome that we could squeeze all our college guys in a condo and all our college ladies in a condo – I like tight proximity because I truly believe that’s where relationships are grown.
• Mark Robinson led us in a devotional for two nights on some “mountain tops” that Elijah was on. It was awesome – I love hearing Mark teach – pretty creative and interactive guy. It’s always hard for me to focus on what he’s talking about because I’m making mental observations of his style of teaching – highly relational.
• Ate at Hernandos pizza as you can see from the pic above – if you are ever in Winterpark – this is the place to eat!
• Eric Miller sent me a text one morning that reads – “I love you so much and can’t wait to see you at lunch.” – It was really sweet – even though it wasn’t meant for me or…was it…
• Thought taking the vans was cool – maybe think of a wait to switch out whose in what van during the trip just to mix the flavor up.
• My wife was awesome! She couldn’t ski because she is pregnant which made her sad but she held down the fort and the bottom of the mountain and helped out a ton with injuries. I love her very much

Lots of good stuff and good times – can’t wait for next year – Crested Butte here we come!!!! Wahooo!!!

Filed under: Personal, Reflection

Punched in the Gut.

Brennan Manning punched me in the gut last night as I was re-reading Ruthless Trust.

Brennan wrote:

“The great weakness in the North American church at large, and certainly in my life, is our refusal to accept our brokenness. We hide it, evade it, gloss over it. We grab for the cosmetic kit and put on our virtuous face to make ourselves admirable to the public. Thus, we present to others a self that is spiritually together, superficially happy, and lacquered with a sense of self-depricating humor that passes for humility. The irony is that while I do not want anyone to know that I am judgemental, lazy, vulnerable, screwed up, and afraid, for fear of losing face, the face that I fear losing is the mask of the impostor, not my own.”

Filed under: Church, Personal, Quotes, Reflection, Religous

Whats wrong with us.

I openly admit that before you even get into this post that I have no answers but these thoughts have been plaguing me over the last couple of weeks as I have been digging into the Apostle Paul’s prayers throughout the New Testament.

So here goes…hold onto your seat:

• Why is it that churches in America compete with each other?
• Why are we happy when a church down the street doesn’t do well
• Why are we upset when a new church starts in our area?
• Why are we good at talking about each others flaws but not so good at helping and partnering with each other?
• Why do we not challenge the art of church hopping?
• Why do we let neighborhood churches die?

All tough questions and all questions that I wish I had the answer to. I firmly believe that as we begin to look at different churches within the same denominational context that we begin to see a more well rounded view of God. I think that’s a good thing. I also believe that as churches decide what their missions are we see different ways that God loves on the world – some churches are committed to local outreach, some churches are committed to global outreach, some churches are committed to poverty, some to those with handicaps – God loves all of that.

I wonder though – if churches have the same mission within the same proximity if partnership between the two could happen. Think of what you could accomplish with double the resources instead of each of the churches doing their own separate things.

I love Paul’s heart for the unified church.

Filed under: Church, Personal, Reflection