What are you saying?

For Jacob it was a limp.  For Moses it was his face that he had to cover with a veil.  For Peter, it was simply the way he spoke to crowds of people.  But in every one of these cases, it was obvious these people had experienced and encounter with God.

So the question I’m asking myself, is this “How can people tell that I’ve been with God?”  Is it obvious that I’m a Christ-follower?  Is there something different about the way I walk out my daily life, something different about my countenance, or something different in the way that I talk to people, that would cause them to say, “Wow, there is something different about that guy!   Dude’s been with Jesus!”

Whether we like it or not we’re all communicating something by the way we live, the smiles,  or lack thereof, on our faces, or by the words that come from our lips.

So . . . what are you saying with your life?

My Letter.

I decided last year that I wanted to start a new tradition this year.  From this year forward I hope to write a letter to each of my girls on their birthdays.  I want it to be something, that they will keep long after they’ve moved into their own life.  These letters may not mean much now, but I believe they will be something that will hold a great deal of meaning in years to come.  I see it as a way for me to speak my wisdom, and blessing over their lives.  My only regret is that I didn’t start writing them sooner.

I know its a personal letter from me to her, but I felt like it was a challenge that we all deserve to hear.  So if you’ll indulge me this one post, I’d like to dedicate this one to my little princess:

Dear Makenzie,

Well its finally here.  Your 8th birthday!  You’ve been counting down for the last 364 days to this day, and its finally here.  I’m sure you’ve been looking forward to this day so you could say that you’re another year older, but I have a sneaky feeling you like the fact that this day is all about you.  And you know what?  It is.  It’s all about you my little Princess.

I have to be honest and tell you that I haven’t been as excited about this day, for one little reason:  you’re growing up SO fast.  I can’t sit for very long thinking over the last 8 years, remembering all of the funny, sweet and loving things you’ve done with out tearing up.  I’m already sprinkling my keyboard with tears as I type this.  I wish I could slow you down, put more hours in a day, more days in a week, more months in a year so you wouldn’t grow as fast.  But that’s impossible.  And if I could it would be selfish. So, since this day isn’t about me and what I want, and its about you I want to share my birthday wish with you.

Makenzie, my wish for you today is that you never loose your love for life.  Whether dancing in a recital, learning to play a new note on your violin, or learning a new cheer, you know how to go at every life experience with wide eyed wonder.  You’re driven by your desire to simply have fun.  To enjoy life.

Sadly, you will encounter those who try to damper your love for life.  But I pray that you never stop laughing, jumping, dancing, cheering, shouting; having fun.  Never let anyone or anything stop you from twirling, singing, or skipping.  Guard those things, hold them dear to you, because they are indicative of a person who appreciates, no better yet, who loves life.  As you get older some people may try to tell you to “grow up” “stop being silly” “act your age.”  I’m afraid I may have even be guilty of being that way with you from time to time.  But you know what I’ve learned?  Those are the words of dead people.  They’ve lost their ability to be childlike, to  laugh, or dance, or skip.  And in a way, they’re dead.

But you my dear, you are alive, fully and completely. The twinkle in your eyes, the smile of your face, the bounce of your hair, they only accentuate the life that pulsates through your soul.  And I say to you live, live life to the fullest, and love every minute of it.

That’s my wish for you today, on your 8th birthday.  I love you Makenzie, very much and I hope you have a very very happy birthday.

All of my love,

Daddy

mercy.

I love that song.  It actually comes from a passage in Lamentations, that actually starts with Jeremiah feeling like God has just lowered the boom on him.  He feels completely overwhelmed by his circumstances, feels like he’s hopeless, feels like God is eating his lunch.  And at the end of his describing how bad he feels he says, (and I paraphrase) “But I remember that God is faithful and his love and mercy never run out, in fact there are brand new mercies waiting for me TODAY!”

I’ve been thinking a lot about God’s mercy lately.  I’ve always sort of thought of it as my “get out of jail for free” card.  When I blew it, and didn’t deserve forgiveness then mercy comes in and makes it all better.  But I’m learning mercy is a lot bigger than that.  Here’s what I mean:

Because of God’s mercy I got out of bed today.

Because of God’s mercy I had food on my table.

Because of God’s mercy I was able to kiss my wife and three little girls.

Because of God’s mercy I have a job.

Because of God’s mercy I can accomplish things I never thought possible

Because of God’s mercy I have wisdom and understanding in areas that are beyond me.

Because of God’s mercy I will fulfill His purposes for my life today.

Do I deserve any of those things.  NO!  But when I woke up there was a brand new bunch of mercies sitting right there waiting for me to lay claim to and I did.  I told God this morning, that I’m taking Him up on His mercies, I’m leaning on them today.  I need them, why else would He give them to me everyday, if I didn’t?

I think I’ll be camping out here for a while learning more and more about God’s mercy.  But can I challenge you with this thought today?  Everything you purpose to do in your life, will only be accomplished because of the mercy of God.  If you’re trying to do things on your own, and it doesn’t seem to really be working out, maybe you need to lay claim to God’s mercies that are brand new for you today.

Amen?  Amen!

Let’s stand and be dismissed.

did you loose Jesus?

I read this devotional from Charles Spurgeon this morning and thought it was too good to keep to myself, I’ve modified it from its original “kings English:”

Tell me where you lost the friendship of a Christ, and I will tell you the most likely place to find him. Have you lost Christ in the secluded place of fervent  prayer? Then it is there you must seek and find him. Did you lose Christ by sin? You will find Christ in no other way but by the giving up of the sin, and seeking by the Holy Spirit to remove your desire for that sin.   Did you lose Christ by neglecting the Scriptures? You must find Christ in the Scriptures. It is a true  proverb, “Look for a thing where you dropped it, it is there.” So look
for Christ where you lost him, for he has not gone away. But it is hard work to go back for Christ. Bunyan, (author of Pilgrims Progress) tells us, the pilgrim found the piece of the road back to the Arbour of Ease, where he lost his roll, the hardest he had ever traveled. Twenty miles onward is easier than to go one mile back for the lost evidence.

Take care, then, when you find your Master, to cling close to him. But how is it you have lost him? One would have thought you would never have parted with such a precious friend, whose presence is so sweet, whose words are so comforting, and whose company is so dear to you! How is it that you did not watch him every moment for fear of losing sight
of him? Yet, since you have let him go, what a mercy that you are seeking him, even though you mournfully groan, “O that I knew where I might find him!” Go on seeking, for it is dangerous to be without thy Lord. Without Christ you are like a sheep without its shepherd; like a tree without water at its roots; like a leaf in the tempest-not bound to the tree of life. With your whole heart seek him, and he will be found of you: only give yourself thoroughly up to the search, and truly, you will yet discover him, to your joy and gladness.

Ok so its not like we can really loose Jesus, but we can loose the passion of our relationship with Him.  Consider this your periodic call to evaluate your walk with Christ.  How’s it going?

conversations with a 4 year old.

This morning I had the rare opportunity to enjoy and english muffin drizzled with a bit of honey and a glass of O.J. with my four year old, Mady as she ate her Nutri-grain bar and strawberry flavored Dora the Explorer yogurt and cup of milk.

As I finally sat down with her the following conversation ensued:

Me:  You want to pray the blessing for breakfast?

Mady:  No.  You know dad you don’t really need to pray for breakfast, only lunch and supper.

Me:  Oh really?  No I didn’t know that.  Why is that?

Mady:  Because this breakfast is not hot, only lunch and supper?

Me:  Oh really, again?  So you only pray for the food if its hot?  Why is that?

Mady:  (with a sort of ‘ya big dummy’ look on her face) BECAUSE DAAAAAAAD!  You have to pray so th food won’t burn you, and when you finish praying the food isn’t hot anymore.

Me:  Okay. Well thanks for that information.

Mady:  Welcome

Oh the things you can learn from a 4 year old.

Guess I need to shorten my prayers of blessing our food from now on, huh?

pet peeve.

In an effort to break away from the more serious discussions of “What Needs to be Changed?” and “Who is a True Catalyst of Change?“  I thought I would share one of my biggest pet peeves.  I suppose its more of a source of annoyance than a pet peeve but I really get irritated at the large toilet paper dispensers in public restrooms, especially the ones with four individual rolls in one dispenser.  It always seems that if ever I have need to utilize the services of one of these modern inventions, I always seem to get the end of a roll and the beginning of a new one.  Inevitably the new roll that I’m depending on to help me in my time of need never seems to be ready to release a few of its squares for utilization.  So I’m left to pull and fidget and rip away at the roll until I finally get the end square to make its appearance.  That bugs the daylights out of me.  Can anyone else relate to my frustration?

What is your most recent pet peeve?

Who Is A Catalyst for Change?

Yesterday I asked the question, “What Needs To Be Changed?” In that post I made a statement that said, “I think a lot more people are talking about change in the church, than there are people who are true catalysts of change.”  Having said that, let me tell you that I know there are lots of people out there effecting change.  I went through the list of people that I’m aware of and thought I would introduce a couple of them to you:

Anne Jackson – Anne is a writer, blogger and staff member at Cross Point Church, in Nashville, TN.  Anne has a book coming out very soon called Mad Church Disease.  This book speaks to the issue of so many Christians and Christian leaders dealing with burnout.  Anne has a heart to see Christ followers have HEALTHY relationships with Christ and with other followers.  But if you spend anytime browsing through Anne’s blog you’ll see that she’s committed to helping bring positive change in people’s lives, by sending shoes to the poor in Mexico, purchasing mosquito nets for kids in Africa, or visiting prostitutes in Baton Rouge, LA.

Steven Furtick – Steven pastors Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC.  Now I haven’t been to Pastor Furtick’s church, but I’ve followed his numerical growth over the last couple of years and I have to tell you that the sheer numerical growth is phenomenal.  The church launched in 2006 six and in two years has grown to over 4000 people in attendance.  This church meets in rented venues, which means they don’t even own property.  But to me that’s not really the most impressive part.  What I find impressive is the number of people that are invited to follow Christ each weekend, and who publicly accept that invitation.  I’m also impressed with Pastor Steven and Elevation Church’s sense of calling to their community. Go spend some time on his blog and see what I mean.

These are just two people who I believe are catalyst’s for change.  Tell me about some of the people, ministries, or churches that you see as being true catalysts for change.

What Needs To Be Changed?

“Change” is a very popular word these days.  The concept of change has almost become fashionable as of late.

I’ve never been one who’s afraid of change.  In fact I generally seem to find change exhilarating.  But I’ve also never been one who enjoys change simply for the sake of change.

In the church world I hear or read people talking about change on a regular basis.  “We need to change the way we _____” or “We need to change how we ____”   Now I’ll be the first one to say that there is a lot in the church world that needs to change.  But I don’t want to fall into a commonplace trap that thinks that talking about change is the same as truly effecting change.  I think a lot more people are talking about change in the church, than there are people who are true catalysts of change.  You see for change to occur in the church in any form it takes people to implement it.  And for that change to be effective we need to truly understand what needs to be changed.

Now your opinion on what needs to change may be completely different than mine.  But I’d like to start the discussion about change here.  I’d like to hear what you perceive as the greatest need for change within the church.  I’ll start by telling you that:

I think the greatest need for change within the church is for the church to more effectively grow more people into true disciples of Christ, to truly fulfill the Great Commission.

I would dare say that we have more people in more churches today, than ever before. Yet in spite of our large numbers of participants, the number of particpants who are in a sincere quest for authentic relationship with Christ and living out that relationship on a daily base are significantly lower.  Now that may seem like a pretty broad conjecture but to back my claims I refer to a study that I read last year which was conducted by Willow Creek Commuity Church.  This study looked at the involvement of their participants hoping to find that more involvement in the local church equals spiritual growth.  But their results were not supportive of their hypothesis.  For a closer look at the REVEAL study click here.

So tell me What Needs to Be Changed?

loyalty.

loy·al·ty - 1. the quality of being loyal 2. a feeling of friendship or duty towards someone or something.

It’s a characteristic that we all appreciate in a friend.  It’s a characteristic that I’ve always just sort of taken for granted.  I would like to think I’m a loyal person, but honestly I’ve never spent a lot of time thinking, “Am I loyal?”  “Am I a loyal friend?” Those aren’t questions I ever really asked.

Recently I had a conversation with a friend, and in that conversation they expressed their true loyalty toward me.  I was blown away!  I never really knew what a valuable gift I had in that friend.  Their loyalty humbled me, even convicted me, and challenged me personally to be a more loyal friend.

So friend (if you read this) thank you for being a true friend, a loyal friend.

What trait to you most appreciate in a friend?  Is that a strong trait that you possess personally?  Would people consider you to be a loyal friend?

roots.

The beginning of a new year is a great time to look back in reflection over the past and to look forward with anticipation toward the future.  Over the holidays I’ve been doing quite a bit of reflection.  We had some time to visit with our families over the Christmas and New Year holidays, and our time with my family especially allowed for some profound reflection.

As I went back to my hometown, spending time with my parents and sister, as well as my grandmothers, and aunts and uncles, I had the opportunity to be reminded of where I come from, I guess you could say I was reminded of my roots.  And I was reminded that I have good roots.

You’ll not likely find a person of extravagant wealth in my family, but integrity, honesty, strong work ethics are all attributes that are far more valuable that wealth and material things.   I spent time with my aunt and uncle and grandmother  on my dad’s side of the family, and their way of life is extremely modest, some might even say lacking.  But in my opinion a happier man you could not find than my Uncle Joe.  He may not know what it means to be wealthy but he knows what it means to be content.

My Dad & Mom, my sister and brother-in-law all bear additional character traits that are absolutely invaluable.  “Hard working,” “generous,” and “committed to their faith,” are all words that I would use to mark their lives as long as I’ve been alive.    Seeing them, spending time with them, reflecting on my roots, makes me thankful for my heritage.  But also allows me to look forward to my future with hope.  Hope that I may embody the same characteristics.  Hope that I will bear fruit in my life according to the deep root system which has me grounded.    I’m so thankful for my extended family, for my roots, and can only hope that my little girls will one day be able to appreciate their roots as well.

When’s the last time you considered your family roots.  What characteristics can you identify in your family that you are thankful for or hope to embody in your life?