The battle for freedom
"The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly." John 10:10
There it is. Simple. The battle lines are drawn. The thief is out there - he has been there long before Adam & Eve. After he tried to overthrow Heaven, he was thrown out with 1/3 of the angels who joined him in his evil plot. Ever since, he has prowled around looking for someone to destroy and he first reappears in the Garden as a serpent whispering to Eve, "You don't need God, you need knowledge."
Even today, he is there (perhaps more so today than ever) - looking, prowling, sneaking...hunting. As I do all I can to sneak into my deer stand and position myself just right for the right shot at the right moment to take the prized buck down and out, so too the thief sits in waiting. He sits hidden, camouflaged, covered over...waiting. Don't kid yourself men, he sits and waits for the right chance to take you out. Be it another woman, alcohol, power, self-accomplishment, greed, you name it - all weapons are fair game to him.
And yet, there is Christ who came to give us life. LIFE. And importantly to give us life that we "may live it abundantly". What this says to me is He wants me to live life with a passion that draws others in. So often, we think coming to God means installing a bunch of rules on our life - "don't do __________". The church has done a disservice in this regard by encouraging a bunch of "don'ts" on man and by encouraging men to "be nice".
We wonder why the men are checked out in church and the reason is pretty simple, Jesus came to give us life and give it to us to live abundantly with great passion and enthusiasm and the institution has tried to smother that. John Eldredge visited a mega-church in Texas a few years back to do a seminar and went downstairs to pray. He went into a 3-4 year old classroom and noticed a sign in the corner that read "How to make God happy" and it listed 9 things...1) Sit still 2) Don't talk out of turn 3) Don't touch any other child ...
John said it made him so mad he wanted to throw a chair across the room...a bunch of "Do Nots". Right there at an early age the church is sitting on the passion of a child - snuffing it out. Conform. Behave. Be nice. The most holy are those that best keep the laws - those that are so in control of their life that they somehow sin less than others. Comply. And we wonder why the men are drifting off.
Jesus came to free us. He ransomed us from a life of captivity so we might have freedom. William Wallace when he was being gutted alive was told, "just pay respect to the King and we will end the pain"...in other words, give in, sell out. Refusing to comply he shouted his last words, "FREEDOM".
Erwin McManus says this, "This is how life is supposed to work - it's an adventure, a journey, a trek filled with uncertainty, excitement and risk. I am convinced there is a voice in each of us crying out, a confession waiting to be declared without shame, "I want to live!". We were created with a passion to live. So many of us have abdicated our passions for obligations, as if passion is a luxury for the young and we all must grow up. The drive to eliminate sin has more than contributed to the problem of passionless living. We have come to believe (let me interject that the perhaps the enemy has lied to us) that human passions are adversarial to God and corrupting in their nature. We've been taught that the solution is to restrain our passions with His commands. The result has been a Christian religion based on rules, rituals and obligations. When this is the case, Christianity is essentially like all other world religions - all of which instruct their follows to restrain their passions - this is the essence of Buddha - to exist without desire."
Is that what Jesus taught? That we should exist without desire? No! Whatever else Jesus came to do, one thing is clear - He came to set you free. God is not a warden; He is a deliverer. He so cares about your freedom that He was willing to be taken captive and crucified on your behalf just so you can run free.
Soar!
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Wild at Heart
Having returned from Colorado and John Eldredge's Wild at Heart boot camp, I can easily say this was the most significant spiritual time of my life. I cannot yet put words easily around what all I took in. It was simply incredible - God used this weekend to open my eyes in ways that have never been opened before.
I see my life in an entirely new context - my life is part of a grand design. We were born into an epic. We play a key role in the "play" and the enemy is looking for chances to take us out. I understand spiritual warfare better than I have ever understood it after this weekend. I see now - clearly - the ways the enemy has been trying to take me out all through my life. I see the battle for my wife. I see her struggles and see how the enemy is scratching away at her, wearing her down, attacking her in an attempt to take her down and, as a result, take me down. Satan went after Eve in the garden - not Adam. I see that he will come after my wife.
I see my role in my daughter's lives clearly. I learned how to pray for them. Frankly, I learned how to pray in general. I've been a "hey Jesus, you're great, I need ________" prayer person. John taught me how to pray - how to get on my knees, call the Spirit in and do business with God.
I see spiritual warfare oh so clearly. We are at war. We were born into a world at war. John uses video clips from secular movies to make his points. He showed the opening scene from Saving Private Ryan - perhaps the single most intense, graphic movie scene ever filmed. When I left that movie years ago, I said "every American needs to see the first 10 minutes of this movie to fully appreciate what our forefathers did for our freedom." I now say, "every Christian needs to see those first 10 minutes because it captures - perfectly - the image of being born (riding the boats symbolizes the womb and the doors dropping symbolizes the birth) into a world at war". If you will remember that scene, as soon as the doors opened, the men were slaughtered.
Satan sits on the beach with a machine gun looking to take us out. He'll use whatever he can and play on our sin to drive us over the edge. Guilt, shame, competition, anger, a father who didn't meet our needs, lust, the internet, television, alcohol...you name it, all is fair game as a tool for the enemy.
Perhaps the driving point of this weekend is our critical need for a band of brothers to walk with us through this war and help us "unpack" the battles we are facing. No wars are won by a single soilder charging up hills. Wars are won by men banding together to fight the enemy and watch each other's backs. So it is true for the spiritual wars we fight.
I will write more - much more - on this. What a weekend! We hiked to the top of the mountain at YoungLife's Frontier Ranch to watch the sun come up over the Rocky Mountains. We rappelled down a 125 foot cliff. We prayed together. Men wept as they came to terms with the wounds on their hearts, the agreements they've made with these wounds and their desperate need for a Savior. What a weekend!
I soar as never before!
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Chasing the Adventure (2 of them)
I named my blog "Chasing the Adventure". As the fall sets in, I am starting to chase 2 new adventures. Thursday, I leave for Colorado to spend 4 days with John Eldredge and his team for the Wild At Heart boot camp. This will give me a chance to hear John, first hand, teach Wild At Heart. We'll be at Frontier Ranch - the YoungLife camp - in the Colorado mountains. The forecast is for snow. I can't wait. If you have read any of my posts where I reference Eldredge, you will know how in tune I am with what John is trying to teach.
My second adventure is deer hunting (and I hope later in the season, turkey hunting). I've bird hunted a lot but I've never hunted for deer. I love the outdoors and feel one with God when I am in the quiet of the woods. Deer hunting gives me a chance to spend some quality time early Saturday mornings alone with God.
I didn't grow up in a family that hunted. My father never hunted. Neither did my brothers. Yet, this is always something I longed to do. I wish my family owned land and I wish my father had been a hunter/fisherman who would have taught me about the sport growing up.
While that didn't happen, I decided last year to do this myself. I didn't want to get to the end of my life and say "you know, I wish I had hunted..." I'm setting out on the adventure - I'm "chasing the adventure". A great friend took me to Barrows to buy my rifle and scope. He sighted it in for me and got me set. I bought a nice stand from Cabelas and 2 weeks ago scouted the land I hunt on and found a great spot to plant my first stand. There are signs all around my stand of deer activity and I spooked a big one that day near my stand. I'm ready to go.
Who knows if this will stick with me. I might hunt this season and never hunt again but the important thing for me is that this is something I wanted to do and I am doing it. No one is showing me how, I'm just going to do it and I am looking forward to my mornings alone with God in the stand watching his sun come up and seeing the forest come to life. Let's hope I get a shot at a nice buck while I am at it!
Soar!
I named my blog "Chasing the Adventure". As the fall sets in, I am starting to chase 2 new adventures. Thursday, I leave for Colorado to spend 4 days with John Eldredge and his team for the Wild At Heart boot camp. This will give me a chance to hear John, first hand, teach Wild At Heart. We'll be at Frontier Ranch - the YoungLife camp - in the Colorado mountains. The forecast is for snow. I can't wait. If you have read any of my posts where I reference Eldredge, you will know how in tune I am with what John is trying to teach.
My second adventure is deer hunting (and I hope later in the season, turkey hunting). I've bird hunted a lot but I've never hunted for deer. I love the outdoors and feel one with God when I am in the quiet of the woods. Deer hunting gives me a chance to spend some quality time early Saturday mornings alone with God.
I didn't grow up in a family that hunted. My father never hunted. Neither did my brothers. Yet, this is always something I longed to do. I wish my family owned land and I wish my father had been a hunter/fisherman who would have taught me about the sport growing up.
While that didn't happen, I decided last year to do this myself. I didn't want to get to the end of my life and say "you know, I wish I had hunted..." I'm setting out on the adventure - I'm "chasing the adventure". A great friend took me to Barrows to buy my rifle and scope. He sighted it in for me and got me set. I bought a nice stand from Cabelas and 2 weeks ago scouted the land I hunt on and found a great spot to plant my first stand. There are signs all around my stand of deer activity and I spooked a big one that day near my stand. I'm ready to go.
Who knows if this will stick with me. I might hunt this season and never hunt again but the important thing for me is that this is something I wanted to do and I am doing it. No one is showing me how, I'm just going to do it and I am looking forward to my mornings alone with God in the stand watching his sun come up and seeing the forest come to life. Let's hope I get a shot at a nice buck while I am at it!
Soar!
Friday, October 06, 2006
What is truth?
We are struggling with our school over the way they are teaching our kids. The work load is enormous - hours of homework and tests stacked one on top of the other. The school has significantly ramped up its pace in order to keep up with the other independent schools in the South. We've seen a disturbing trend in private education over the past few years. Schools are gearing themselves toward only the very brightest students. The push is on.
My wife and I wrestle with just what it is we want for our kids. We want our kids to be educated - but - we also want them taught values, character and integrity. We want them to work hard - but - we also want them to be kids. As a 10-year old, I remember coming home and playing in the woods, building forts, playing football and riding my bike. My 10-year old comes home eats a snack and does 1-2 hours of homework every single night. There is no play. There is no laughter. There is no downtime. There is no riding bikes with her friends. There is just school work.
Can't you see what is happening by just reading the above paragraph? The world is taking away, bit by bit, chunks of my daughter. A death by a 1,000 cuts. Is it any wonder our society is heading toward destruction? When a 10-year old is so stressed by her school load that she can't enjoy life itself? Jesus came to give us life. Life. And yet our world and our schools is slowing stripping life out of us.
The world is lying to us. The world haves us believe these things are important...Harvard, Yale, global competition, what the Indian children are doing, what the Japanese kids are being taught...if we don't run, if we don't push, our kids will fall behind. It's a LIE.
You know it is a lie when you fall into the trap and don't see a way out. I can't pull my kids out ... "what will everyone think?" or "what will they miss?" It's a lie because the schools are keeping up with the Joneses and the parents are following right along.
To boot, the school is teaching creationism and challenging kids by saying "you can't prove any of what you read in the bible whereas scientists can prove..."
The pros will tell you that advanced education is all about opening up the students mind. Challenging them to not accept the status quo - to reach and question their basic beliefs. It is about becoming "evolved". It is - in it's very basic sense - a lie.
Think about all the things we hear that go on in education today. God is stripped out. Harry Potter is being read. The occult is being studied. Godless teachers are telling children "you can't prove this..." Prayers are forbidden at school events. All in the name of "freeing" up the children to explore their beliefs. Freeing children up to "evolve". If you think about that...sounds a lot like what Satan whispered to Eve in the garden. "You don't need God...you need knowledge".
The world (satan) is lying to us. It is telling us "this is important". It flies in the face of God. Our kids are being taught/trained to go in another direction from God.
I am just coming to terms with what is going on around me and my kids and I don't like what I am seeing. More to come...
We are struggling with our school over the way they are teaching our kids. The work load is enormous - hours of homework and tests stacked one on top of the other. The school has significantly ramped up its pace in order to keep up with the other independent schools in the South. We've seen a disturbing trend in private education over the past few years. Schools are gearing themselves toward only the very brightest students. The push is on.
My wife and I wrestle with just what it is we want for our kids. We want our kids to be educated - but - we also want them taught values, character and integrity. We want them to work hard - but - we also want them to be kids. As a 10-year old, I remember coming home and playing in the woods, building forts, playing football and riding my bike. My 10-year old comes home eats a snack and does 1-2 hours of homework every single night. There is no play. There is no laughter. There is no downtime. There is no riding bikes with her friends. There is just school work.
Can't you see what is happening by just reading the above paragraph? The world is taking away, bit by bit, chunks of my daughter. A death by a 1,000 cuts. Is it any wonder our society is heading toward destruction? When a 10-year old is so stressed by her school load that she can't enjoy life itself? Jesus came to give us life. Life. And yet our world and our schools is slowing stripping life out of us.
The world is lying to us. The world haves us believe these things are important...Harvard, Yale, global competition, what the Indian children are doing, what the Japanese kids are being taught...if we don't run, if we don't push, our kids will fall behind. It's a LIE.
You know it is a lie when you fall into the trap and don't see a way out. I can't pull my kids out ... "what will everyone think?" or "what will they miss?" It's a lie because the schools are keeping up with the Joneses and the parents are following right along.
To boot, the school is teaching creationism and challenging kids by saying "you can't prove any of what you read in the bible whereas scientists can prove..."
The pros will tell you that advanced education is all about opening up the students mind. Challenging them to not accept the status quo - to reach and question their basic beliefs. It is about becoming "evolved". It is - in it's very basic sense - a lie.
Think about all the things we hear that go on in education today. God is stripped out. Harry Potter is being read. The occult is being studied. Godless teachers are telling children "you can't prove this..." Prayers are forbidden at school events. All in the name of "freeing" up the children to explore their beliefs. Freeing children up to "evolve". If you think about that...sounds a lot like what Satan whispered to Eve in the garden. "You don't need God...you need knowledge".
The world (satan) is lying to us. It is telling us "this is important". It flies in the face of God. Our kids are being taught/trained to go in another direction from God.
I am just coming to terms with what is going on around me and my kids and I don't like what I am seeing. More to come...
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Teen Advisors
I had the honor to sit with members of the board of Teen Advisors yesterday to discuss the future of this wonderful ministry. I have previously served on the Board and they invited me back to "consult" with them on their future. We met for 2 hours and it was a great meeting. Men and women gathered around desperately seeking God's direction for this ministry.
Richard & DeeDee Stephens started this ministry 20 years ago. What a legacy! From a bunch of mothers sitting in a sandbox talking about how hard it is to raise kids to a ministry today that is reaching 300+ kids a year in Columbus area schools. Over 20 years, I'd guess that more than 5,000 kids have been touched in some way by TA. 5,000 kids! My 13-year old daughter was at Double Churches School this morning volunteering for Velocity (TA's ministry to the middle school). She witnessed and talked about peer pressure and standing firm in her beliefs. She is now counted as one of the ones touched by Richard & DeeDee's love.
This has been a labor of love for Richard & DeeDee. They have prayed, cried, sweated, anguished, trusted, leaned on, depended on and funded this ministry for 20 years. Richard is a successful businessman that has tithed from his business his money, time and love for TA. DeeDee is a mom that rolled up her sleeves and dreamed an impossible dream and made it happen. Most of us when our kids graduated and moved on, we would have moved on too. Not DeeDee. Her kids have been out of high school for a decade or more. She is grandmother 8 times over and is still in there fighting and sweating and loving for those kids. Our kids. My kid.
I feel most assured that the Lord is well pleased with how Richard & DeeDee have given so generously back to the Kingdom. What a sacrifice. What an example. What a labor and what a reward. 5,000 kids. Imagine the trickle down impact on 5,000 kids. Imagine the lives that have been saved. Imagine the good, solid marriages that are now in place because these kids got grounded and found the Lord through TA. Imagine the former TA's that are now teaching Sunday School, leading TA chapters, volunteering on YoungLife committees, raising their own kids in Godly homes and ministering in the workplace.
Man cannot quantify the impact. Only God knows. Again, I am sure He is well pleased.
So now, TA moves on. DeeDee is transitioning her Executive Director roll to Nick Cash. We sat and prayed with Nick and he wept because he realizes the big shoes he is about to fill. Please lift Nick up in your prayers.
Lastly, we talked about fundraising. It is hard for TA to raise money. Year after year, the budget is a challenge and a call to lean on God. We were struck by the realization that over the past 6-7 years - RiverCenter, CSU, Brookstone School, YMCA, PAWS, National Infantry Museum, the Library - that Columbus has raised more than $300 million for bricks and mortar ... building campaigns. $300 million. Yet, TA has a hard time raising $300,000 a year. People will give money to build buildings that in 100 years will be torn down.
TA builds lives. TA builds souls. TA is eternal and exponential in its impact.
Pray for Teen Advisors. Lift the ministry up and Nick Cash up and pray that eyes and ears and hearts will be opened across the city to meet TA's needs.
I had the honor to sit with members of the board of Teen Advisors yesterday to discuss the future of this wonderful ministry. I have previously served on the Board and they invited me back to "consult" with them on their future. We met for 2 hours and it was a great meeting. Men and women gathered around desperately seeking God's direction for this ministry.
Richard & DeeDee Stephens started this ministry 20 years ago. What a legacy! From a bunch of mothers sitting in a sandbox talking about how hard it is to raise kids to a ministry today that is reaching 300+ kids a year in Columbus area schools. Over 20 years, I'd guess that more than 5,000 kids have been touched in some way by TA. 5,000 kids! My 13-year old daughter was at Double Churches School this morning volunteering for Velocity (TA's ministry to the middle school). She witnessed and talked about peer pressure and standing firm in her beliefs. She is now counted as one of the ones touched by Richard & DeeDee's love.
This has been a labor of love for Richard & DeeDee. They have prayed, cried, sweated, anguished, trusted, leaned on, depended on and funded this ministry for 20 years. Richard is a successful businessman that has tithed from his business his money, time and love for TA. DeeDee is a mom that rolled up her sleeves and dreamed an impossible dream and made it happen. Most of us when our kids graduated and moved on, we would have moved on too. Not DeeDee. Her kids have been out of high school for a decade or more. She is grandmother 8 times over and is still in there fighting and sweating and loving for those kids. Our kids. My kid.
I feel most assured that the Lord is well pleased with how Richard & DeeDee have given so generously back to the Kingdom. What a sacrifice. What an example. What a labor and what a reward. 5,000 kids. Imagine the trickle down impact on 5,000 kids. Imagine the lives that have been saved. Imagine the good, solid marriages that are now in place because these kids got grounded and found the Lord through TA. Imagine the former TA's that are now teaching Sunday School, leading TA chapters, volunteering on YoungLife committees, raising their own kids in Godly homes and ministering in the workplace.
Man cannot quantify the impact. Only God knows. Again, I am sure He is well pleased.
So now, TA moves on. DeeDee is transitioning her Executive Director roll to Nick Cash. We sat and prayed with Nick and he wept because he realizes the big shoes he is about to fill. Please lift Nick up in your prayers.
Lastly, we talked about fundraising. It is hard for TA to raise money. Year after year, the budget is a challenge and a call to lean on God. We were struck by the realization that over the past 6-7 years - RiverCenter, CSU, Brookstone School, YMCA, PAWS, National Infantry Museum, the Library - that Columbus has raised more than $300 million for bricks and mortar ... building campaigns. $300 million. Yet, TA has a hard time raising $300,000 a year. People will give money to build buildings that in 100 years will be torn down.
TA builds lives. TA builds souls. TA is eternal and exponential in its impact.
Pray for Teen Advisors. Lift the ministry up and Nick Cash up and pray that eyes and ears and hearts will be opened across the city to meet TA's needs.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Spiritual Battles
It has been a month since my last post. Wonder why?
About 6 months ago, I began to experience this great awakening in my faith. God was pulling together resources from a lot of angles and converging events in my life. In my first posts on this blog, I wrote of the excitement and energy I was feeling from my renewed relationship with God. I spoke of just getting a taste of it and desperately wanting to hold onto the freshness of my relationship.
The months went by and God presented a lot of exciting opportunities to me. Michael Harris and I took a bold step of challenging 20 men at Wynnbrook to read The Barbarian Way and join us on a new adventure. We met during the summer and had 10-12 men each week coming to our group. I was disappointed that 6-7 of the men we sent the book to never responded. I've run into a few of them over the summer and they have never even mentioned "hey thanks for the book and invite but I just couldn't fit it in..." They didn't say squat.
Our meetings went well but began to fizzle some later in the summer. We took a break to allow for vacations and when I returned I learned the consensus of some of the group was we should meet monthly instead of weekly. With that, the momentum we had building collapsed like a sail on still lake. This effort to reach men and energize them in their faith has ground to a halt.
10 months ago I was flat as a pancake but God woke me up 6 months ago and gave me a new charge to reach out to other men and start a ministry to them. 3 months ago I was hitting a new high daily. And like the sun coming up in the morning, you could have predicted what was about to happen...spiritual warfare was about to kick in.
Fastforward to today and the sail is flat and the ship is directionless. That said, today, I am kicking off phase two of this awakening. I am not going to crawl back under my blanket and hide. I am going to reach out, start over and get our group back up and running. We are going to do Eldredge's Wild At Heart (the video series) and we are going to push this question of "how do we awaken the passion in men for Christ?"
Pray for me and us as we once again try to Soar.
It has been a month since my last post. Wonder why?
About 6 months ago, I began to experience this great awakening in my faith. God was pulling together resources from a lot of angles and converging events in my life. In my first posts on this blog, I wrote of the excitement and energy I was feeling from my renewed relationship with God. I spoke of just getting a taste of it and desperately wanting to hold onto the freshness of my relationship.
The months went by and God presented a lot of exciting opportunities to me. Michael Harris and I took a bold step of challenging 20 men at Wynnbrook to read The Barbarian Way and join us on a new adventure. We met during the summer and had 10-12 men each week coming to our group. I was disappointed that 6-7 of the men we sent the book to never responded. I've run into a few of them over the summer and they have never even mentioned "hey thanks for the book and invite but I just couldn't fit it in..." They didn't say squat.
Our meetings went well but began to fizzle some later in the summer. We took a break to allow for vacations and when I returned I learned the consensus of some of the group was we should meet monthly instead of weekly. With that, the momentum we had building collapsed like a sail on still lake. This effort to reach men and energize them in their faith has ground to a halt.
10 months ago I was flat as a pancake but God woke me up 6 months ago and gave me a new charge to reach out to other men and start a ministry to them. 3 months ago I was hitting a new high daily. And like the sun coming up in the morning, you could have predicted what was about to happen...spiritual warfare was about to kick in.
Fastforward to today and the sail is flat and the ship is directionless. That said, today, I am kicking off phase two of this awakening. I am not going to crawl back under my blanket and hide. I am going to reach out, start over and get our group back up and running. We are going to do Eldredge's Wild At Heart (the video series) and we are going to push this question of "how do we awaken the passion in men for Christ?"
Pray for me and us as we once again try to Soar.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Let go of the past so you can move forward
More from "Chasing Daylight" by McManus...
One moment in the past continues to haunt every moment of your life. A moment in your history that steals from you all the moments in the future. To relive the past is to relinquish the future. If you are willing to let go of the past, then you are ready to step into the future. When you choose to remain stuck in a moment, you become incapable of seizing divine moments. If you're stuck in a moment, turn around, stop looking backward, and dare to look forward. Thre is a life that awaits you, an opportunity to explore and even create a future. Right now, this moment, put away the baggage from the past, shake yourself free from the fear of the future unknown. Right now, choose life - seize divine moments! God's greatest gift to you is that He calls you to be a pioneer, explorer, and even creator. There are things God does for you and things that God waits for you to do. The journey begins when you choose. Stop wasting daylight. Choose a life of meaningful adventure. When you do, you will live in the epicenter of God's activity.
This is a powerful text for me. I struggle to hold onto mistakes in my past. I've worried too much about what other people think of me. These have had the power to stop me from doing things I feel God is leading me to accomplish. Over the past 6 months, I've freed myself from some of the world's expectations for me and some wonderful new ministry opportunities have opened. I have a group of men at church that is bonding together and some new and powerful friendships are forming. We are sharing some of our deepest concerns and worries and we are finding strength in each other's struggles. This group started by men throwing off expectations and saying "I need this and I bet other men do also." This group started because men followed God's nudging and took a step of faith.
What is God calling you to do? What is it you are waiting on to get started? There are some things God does for you and there are others He waits for you to start. Get started. Live the adventure.
Soar.
More from "Chasing Daylight" by McManus...
One moment in the past continues to haunt every moment of your life. A moment in your history that steals from you all the moments in the future. To relive the past is to relinquish the future. If you are willing to let go of the past, then you are ready to step into the future. When you choose to remain stuck in a moment, you become incapable of seizing divine moments. If you're stuck in a moment, turn around, stop looking backward, and dare to look forward. Thre is a life that awaits you, an opportunity to explore and even create a future. Right now, this moment, put away the baggage from the past, shake yourself free from the fear of the future unknown. Right now, choose life - seize divine moments! God's greatest gift to you is that He calls you to be a pioneer, explorer, and even creator. There are things God does for you and things that God waits for you to do. The journey begins when you choose. Stop wasting daylight. Choose a life of meaningful adventure. When you do, you will live in the epicenter of God's activity.
This is a powerful text for me. I struggle to hold onto mistakes in my past. I've worried too much about what other people think of me. These have had the power to stop me from doing things I feel God is leading me to accomplish. Over the past 6 months, I've freed myself from some of the world's expectations for me and some wonderful new ministry opportunities have opened. I have a group of men at church that is bonding together and some new and powerful friendships are forming. We are sharing some of our deepest concerns and worries and we are finding strength in each other's struggles. This group started by men throwing off expectations and saying "I need this and I bet other men do also." This group started because men followed God's nudging and took a step of faith.
What is God calling you to do? What is it you are waiting on to get started? There are some things God does for you and there are others He waits for you to start. Get started. Live the adventure.
Soar.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Venturing out
A lot has been happening over the course of these past four months for me and I wonder, "What are you doing God? Where are you taking me?"
I'm a dreamer by nature and that isn't a bad thing but recently, I've felt God's pull to start putting dreams into action. I read from McManus' book Chasing Daylight last night and this hit me right were I am...
"Don't sleep through your dreams!" Ever heard that voice? It calls you like a temptress to abandon the monotony of life and to begin an adventure. It threatens to leave you in the mundane if you refuse to risk all that you have for all that could be. If ignored, the voice dims to silence. Yet every now and again, like a siren, she sings and begins to woo you back. She awakens within you dreams and longings you put to bed long ago. It is rarely a conscious action to choose to exist rather than to live. For most of us we are simply lulled to sleep. But there is no rest in this condition. To sleep through your dreams is to choose a life of restless nights and unfulfilled days. To avoid the pain of fear, doubt, and disappointment we have numbed ourselves from the exhileration of a life fully lived.
We are all haunted with the fear of living lives of insignificance, and we all hear the voice that tells us we can live the dream. Somehow, we know to play it safe is to lose the game. By definition and adventure is "an undertaking or enterprise of a hazardous nature." In other words, it comes at great risk and at significant cost. And life as God intends for you to live it is nothing less than an adventure.
God is calling me to an adventure. It will be exciting, scary and fulfilling if I seek Him all the way through the journey. Soar.
A lot has been happening over the course of these past four months for me and I wonder, "What are you doing God? Where are you taking me?"
I'm a dreamer by nature and that isn't a bad thing but recently, I've felt God's pull to start putting dreams into action. I read from McManus' book Chasing Daylight last night and this hit me right were I am...
"Don't sleep through your dreams!" Ever heard that voice? It calls you like a temptress to abandon the monotony of life and to begin an adventure. It threatens to leave you in the mundane if you refuse to risk all that you have for all that could be. If ignored, the voice dims to silence. Yet every now and again, like a siren, she sings and begins to woo you back. She awakens within you dreams and longings you put to bed long ago. It is rarely a conscious action to choose to exist rather than to live. For most of us we are simply lulled to sleep. But there is no rest in this condition. To sleep through your dreams is to choose a life of restless nights and unfulfilled days. To avoid the pain of fear, doubt, and disappointment we have numbed ourselves from the exhileration of a life fully lived.
We are all haunted with the fear of living lives of insignificance, and we all hear the voice that tells us we can live the dream. Somehow, we know to play it safe is to lose the game. By definition and adventure is "an undertaking or enterprise of a hazardous nature." In other words, it comes at great risk and at significant cost. And life as God intends for you to live it is nothing less than an adventure.
God is calling me to an adventure. It will be exciting, scary and fulfilling if I seek Him all the way through the journey. Soar.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Take a risk - in life and in your faith
Sir John Templeton is one of the greatest investors of the 20th century (Franklin/Templeton Mutual funds). He is a devout Christian. He wrote this...
What is the risk in doing nothing? Certainly the choice to do nothing is your own business. But deep inside, every one of us knows we're meant to be active, and we know in what directions that activity should be aimed. What happens to air and water when they remain still, silent? They grow stagnant. They become a breeding ground for germs and disease.
Instinctively you know that doing nothing is resisting and avoiding the natural flow of life, because it's not the nature or design of the human being to be inert. You have too much power, too much energy in mind, body and spirit for that to be true. Unused, those gifts are wasted. So if you do nothing, never start, never step forth, never try, it's not going to be easy to remain at peace with yourself for very long. The longer you do nothing, the more you procrastinate, and the harder it is to talk yourself into doing anything positive and worthwhile.
What is the risk in doing something? You might not do it well. You might not like it. You might be wrong; it might not work. It might turn out to be a useless idea or effort. You might look foolish. You might waste time, energy, money. You might fail. Fear of failure is a paralysis!
Even if you try and fail, you will generate energies in the process that can create a new perspective for you, give you a new way of seeing things. Your experience gives you new knowledge and wisdom, and that is never wasted. And you know...you might just succeed. Even if you're nervous or afraid, go ahead and do the thing and see what happens. Say to your fear, "Yes, I know you. But I'm going to do it anyway." You've started down the road, and your momentum will gather. So start with the present idea and do something. More ideas will meet you on your way, and you will find yourself living fully alive!
Soar!
Sir John Templeton is one of the greatest investors of the 20th century (Franklin/Templeton Mutual funds). He is a devout Christian. He wrote this...
What is the risk in doing nothing? Certainly the choice to do nothing is your own business. But deep inside, every one of us knows we're meant to be active, and we know in what directions that activity should be aimed. What happens to air and water when they remain still, silent? They grow stagnant. They become a breeding ground for germs and disease.
Instinctively you know that doing nothing is resisting and avoiding the natural flow of life, because it's not the nature or design of the human being to be inert. You have too much power, too much energy in mind, body and spirit for that to be true. Unused, those gifts are wasted. So if you do nothing, never start, never step forth, never try, it's not going to be easy to remain at peace with yourself for very long. The longer you do nothing, the more you procrastinate, and the harder it is to talk yourself into doing anything positive and worthwhile.
What is the risk in doing something? You might not do it well. You might not like it. You might be wrong; it might not work. It might turn out to be a useless idea or effort. You might look foolish. You might waste time, energy, money. You might fail. Fear of failure is a paralysis!
Even if you try and fail, you will generate energies in the process that can create a new perspective for you, give you a new way of seeing things. Your experience gives you new knowledge and wisdom, and that is never wasted. And you know...you might just succeed. Even if you're nervous or afraid, go ahead and do the thing and see what happens. Say to your fear, "Yes, I know you. But I'm going to do it anyway." You've started down the road, and your momentum will gather. So start with the present idea and do something. More ideas will meet you on your way, and you will find yourself living fully alive!
Soar!
Monday, June 26, 2006
You don't think manhood is under attack? Read on...
Much of what we have discussed has been about manhood. I've talked about the "feminization" of the greater church and we've discussed the basic decline of men in America. I've read of a very scary scenario regarding black men and Islam. Islam is growing fast in the black community especially among the poorest parts of the black community. There, Islam is catching fire. Black men are drawn to Islam because it gives them a new purpose (to men who have no hope) and because it puts men far above women. The scary scenario started to play itself out in a getto in Miami last week. A group of black men, drawn to Islam, were organizing to "declare war on America". Clearly in Black America, manhood is under attack and it might lead to an all-out war on America.
But I am speaking of the attack on manhood in organized religion. I told my wife about the recent developments in the Presbyterian church over the weekend. This follows the news from the head of the US Episcopal Church (a female) regarding homosexuality. When we talked about it, my wife commented, "The end has to be near". Read what the Presbyterian's are saying...
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The divine Trinity — "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" — could also be known as "Mother, Child and Womb" or "Rock, Redeemer, Friend" at some Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) services under an action Monday by the church's national assembly. Delegates to the meeting voted to "receive" a policy paper on gender-inclusive language for the Trinity, a step short of approving it. That means church officials can propose experimental liturgies with alternative phrasings for the Trinity, but congregations won't be required to use them.
"This does not alter the church's theological position, but provides an educational resource to enhance the spiritual life of our membership," legislative committee chair Nancy Olthoff, an Iowa laywoman, said during Monday's debate on the Trinity.
The assembly narrowly defeated a conservative bid to refer the paper back for further study.
A panel that worked on the issue since 2000 said the classical language for the Trinity should still be used, but added that Presbyterians also should seek "fresh ways to speak of the mystery of the triune God" to "expand the church's vocabulary of praise and wonder."
Besides "Mother, Child and Womb" and "Rock, Redeemer, Friend," proposed Trinity options drawn from biblical material include:
— "Lover, Beloved, Love"
— "Creator, Savior, Sanctifier"
— "King of Glory, Prince of Peace, Spirit of Love."
Early in Monday's business session, the Presbyterian assembly sang a revised version of a familiar doxology, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow" that avoided male nouns and pronouns for God.
On Tuesday, the assembly will vote on a proposal to give local congregations and regional "presbyteries" some leeway on ordaining clergy and lay officers living in gay relationships.
Ten conservative Presbyterian groups have warned jointly that approval of what they call "local option" would "promote schism by permitting the disregard of clear standards of Scripture."
Manhood is under attack even in our mainline denominations. Not only are we under attack but the FATHER Himself is under attack. So I guess if you don't believe you - as a man - are under attack, then you need look no further than the demoninations themselves. They've moved beyond attacking man to attacking God Himself. Our days may indeed be numbered.
Much of what we have discussed has been about manhood. I've talked about the "feminization" of the greater church and we've discussed the basic decline of men in America. I've read of a very scary scenario regarding black men and Islam. Islam is growing fast in the black community especially among the poorest parts of the black community. There, Islam is catching fire. Black men are drawn to Islam because it gives them a new purpose (to men who have no hope) and because it puts men far above women. The scary scenario started to play itself out in a getto in Miami last week. A group of black men, drawn to Islam, were organizing to "declare war on America". Clearly in Black America, manhood is under attack and it might lead to an all-out war on America.
But I am speaking of the attack on manhood in organized religion. I told my wife about the recent developments in the Presbyterian church over the weekend. This follows the news from the head of the US Episcopal Church (a female) regarding homosexuality. When we talked about it, my wife commented, "The end has to be near". Read what the Presbyterian's are saying...
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The divine Trinity — "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" — could also be known as "Mother, Child and Womb" or "Rock, Redeemer, Friend" at some Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) services under an action Monday by the church's national assembly. Delegates to the meeting voted to "receive" a policy paper on gender-inclusive language for the Trinity, a step short of approving it. That means church officials can propose experimental liturgies with alternative phrasings for the Trinity, but congregations won't be required to use them.
"This does not alter the church's theological position, but provides an educational resource to enhance the spiritual life of our membership," legislative committee chair Nancy Olthoff, an Iowa laywoman, said during Monday's debate on the Trinity.
The assembly narrowly defeated a conservative bid to refer the paper back for further study.
A panel that worked on the issue since 2000 said the classical language for the Trinity should still be used, but added that Presbyterians also should seek "fresh ways to speak of the mystery of the triune God" to "expand the church's vocabulary of praise and wonder."
Besides "Mother, Child and Womb" and "Rock, Redeemer, Friend," proposed Trinity options drawn from biblical material include:
— "Lover, Beloved, Love"
— "Creator, Savior, Sanctifier"
— "King of Glory, Prince of Peace, Spirit of Love."
Early in Monday's business session, the Presbyterian assembly sang a revised version of a familiar doxology, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow" that avoided male nouns and pronouns for God.
On Tuesday, the assembly will vote on a proposal to give local congregations and regional "presbyteries" some leeway on ordaining clergy and lay officers living in gay relationships.
Ten conservative Presbyterian groups have warned jointly that approval of what they call "local option" would "promote schism by permitting the disregard of clear standards of Scripture."
Manhood is under attack even in our mainline denominations. Not only are we under attack but the FATHER Himself is under attack. So I guess if you don't believe you - as a man - are under attack, then you need look no further than the demoninations themselves. They've moved beyond attacking man to attacking God Himself. Our days may indeed be numbered.
A Father's Blessing
On Saturday, my daughter passed me in the kitchen and said, "Hey Dad, I left a message on your blog thing...pretty cool." I didn't think too much of it right away but later that night, I sat down to check what she had posted and I was deeply moved.
hannah said...
dad. the cool thing about God is that he uses ordinary people to do extrodinary things. God know that Mr. Hank was going to follow him the whole time! i love you! - hannah
She just turned 13 and became a Christian about 2 years ago. The youth group at Wynnbrook has been a God-send for her. School is tough on Hannah - lots of mean girls, lots of peer pressure, lots of kids with parents seemingly far more interested in their own partying than raising their kids -- it makes for a tough environment for a new Christian. Yet, she has the outlet of that youth group - a place she can escape the junk she faces daily at school and be uplifted in her faith. She missed several home football games (breeding ground for all kinds of trouble for 12-13 year olds) this fall to be with the youth group's Friday night events. I just can't put words on how special that group of leaders are in that youth group.
So as I read her post, I was moved by her faith. At 13, she "gets it". Wow! What a blessing that is for a Dad who loves his girls mightily.
On Saturday, my daughter passed me in the kitchen and said, "Hey Dad, I left a message on your blog thing...pretty cool." I didn't think too much of it right away but later that night, I sat down to check what she had posted and I was deeply moved.
hannah said...
dad. the cool thing about God is that he uses ordinary people to do extrodinary things. God know that Mr. Hank was going to follow him the whole time! i love you! - hannah
She just turned 13 and became a Christian about 2 years ago. The youth group at Wynnbrook has been a God-send for her. School is tough on Hannah - lots of mean girls, lots of peer pressure, lots of kids with parents seemingly far more interested in their own partying than raising their kids -- it makes for a tough environment for a new Christian. Yet, she has the outlet of that youth group - a place she can escape the junk she faces daily at school and be uplifted in her faith. She missed several home football games (breeding ground for all kinds of trouble for 12-13 year olds) this fall to be with the youth group's Friday night events. I just can't put words on how special that group of leaders are in that youth group.
So as I read her post, I was moved by her faith. At 13, she "gets it". Wow! What a blessing that is for a Dad who loves his girls mightily.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Following God's Nudging - My friend Hank
If you read my last post about Andy Stanley's sermon then this story will resonate with you. I work with a guy that has felt for some time God's call to the ministry. He has struggled with this over the past year or so and finally settled on God's call to start a new church in north Phenix City/Smiths Station. He has spent the past year+ reading, studying, outlining what he felt God was calling him to do. He has some very strong beliefs about the church and can back up his points with scripture. He feels the call to do some very unconventional things.
Problem is, he has a family to think about and financial needs. He knew that starting a new church was going to probably mean he'd have to have another "full-time" job until the church could get up and running. It would mean probably meeting in a house or a shopping center or store front until enough critical mass could be reached to build a building. His timeline was probably to start the church in the spring and hope to have enough folks to consider a permanent location in a year or so. His plans...
God had a different plan and just like in Andy's sermon, it was far greater than Hank could imagine. A few weeks ago he was invited to preach at a small church in South Phenix City with an elderly membership. He agreed to do it so he could get another sermon under his belt. About the same time a friend put him in touch with a principal in one of the P.C. schools. Seems there was a vacancy for a 7th grade math teacher. Hank's hope was that he could land that teaching job and that would give him a year of a decent salary and insurance and hours that were compatible with the plan to start a church. So he applied for the job.
Last week, he found out he got the teaching job - a perfect job to help him during the transition to full-time ministry. Meanwhile, the small south PC church liked Hank's sermon and began to ask him about possibly coming on as their full-time pastor. The church has 19 regularly attending members and they are old. He wrestled with this but decided to follow God's plan (vs. his plan) and agreed to meet with the membership. At the 2-hour meeting, Hank laid out his specific points for the call God had given him. Hank's challenge to the church was essentially, "Here is what God had laid on my heart and here is the vision I have for the church and here are the key points to God's ministry through me, I'll only come if you will agree to this upfront."
The church voted Sunday 19-0 to elect Hank as their new pastor paying him a good bit more than he expected. (God's provision)
So, all of a sudden, Hank has a teaching job with a decent salary - a job perfectly suited to the launching of his ministry. All of a sudden, Hank has the job as a pastor of a 200-seat, paid for church in South P.C. with money in the bank and a group of members hungry for a vision.
Hank heard God's call and took the bold (really bold when you think about all that was at stake) step of following God's call. Hank's vision was a church in the north part of PC. Hank's vision was a "make-do" start up church until enough mass could be obtained to build a building. God's vision was a paid for, 200-seat church in south PC surrounded by trailer parks. God wanted Hank right there and provided a total blessing to Hank for following His lead, His nudging, His inspiration.
Here is to Hank - a man after God's will. A man willing to throw off all the "you shouldn'ts" of the world to soar.
If you read my last post about Andy Stanley's sermon then this story will resonate with you. I work with a guy that has felt for some time God's call to the ministry. He has struggled with this over the past year or so and finally settled on God's call to start a new church in north Phenix City/Smiths Station. He has spent the past year+ reading, studying, outlining what he felt God was calling him to do. He has some very strong beliefs about the church and can back up his points with scripture. He feels the call to do some very unconventional things.
Problem is, he has a family to think about and financial needs. He knew that starting a new church was going to probably mean he'd have to have another "full-time" job until the church could get up and running. It would mean probably meeting in a house or a shopping center or store front until enough critical mass could be reached to build a building. His timeline was probably to start the church in the spring and hope to have enough folks to consider a permanent location in a year or so. His plans...
God had a different plan and just like in Andy's sermon, it was far greater than Hank could imagine. A few weeks ago he was invited to preach at a small church in South Phenix City with an elderly membership. He agreed to do it so he could get another sermon under his belt. About the same time a friend put him in touch with a principal in one of the P.C. schools. Seems there was a vacancy for a 7th grade math teacher. Hank's hope was that he could land that teaching job and that would give him a year of a decent salary and insurance and hours that were compatible with the plan to start a church. So he applied for the job.
Last week, he found out he got the teaching job - a perfect job to help him during the transition to full-time ministry. Meanwhile, the small south PC church liked Hank's sermon and began to ask him about possibly coming on as their full-time pastor. The church has 19 regularly attending members and they are old. He wrestled with this but decided to follow God's plan (vs. his plan) and agreed to meet with the membership. At the 2-hour meeting, Hank laid out his specific points for the call God had given him. Hank's challenge to the church was essentially, "Here is what God had laid on my heart and here is the vision I have for the church and here are the key points to God's ministry through me, I'll only come if you will agree to this upfront."
The church voted Sunday 19-0 to elect Hank as their new pastor paying him a good bit more than he expected. (God's provision)
So, all of a sudden, Hank has a teaching job with a decent salary - a job perfectly suited to the launching of his ministry. All of a sudden, Hank has the job as a pastor of a 200-seat, paid for church in South P.C. with money in the bank and a group of members hungry for a vision.
Hank heard God's call and took the bold (really bold when you think about all that was at stake) step of following God's call. Hank's vision was a church in the north part of PC. Hank's vision was a "make-do" start up church until enough mass could be obtained to build a building. God's vision was a paid for, 200-seat church in south PC surrounded by trailer parks. God wanted Hank right there and provided a total blessing to Hank for following His lead, His nudging, His inspiration.
Here is to Hank - a man after God's will. A man willing to throw off all the "you shouldn'ts" of the world to soar.
Friday, June 16, 2006
God wants us to trust him
I heard a great sermon by Andy Stanley www.northpoint.org on faith and want to share a quick summary. It challenged me to pay better attention to those nudgings I get from God.
"I really believe God is nudging me to do _________________..." (what comes next?)
We struggle with this - my job, my money, my status, etc. "If I do this thing I feel God is nudging me to do, I might have to part with _____________ and I'm not really sure I can let go of it just yet." We hesitate to follow the call of Jesus because we are afraid of what it might cost us (money, reputation, failure) yet whatever I tend to withhold from God, what I fail to surrender as it turns out, God is not interested in. He isn't interested in controlling you or making you miserable, He is interested in making you better. Consider this...
Jesus is preaching to a crowd (Luke 5:5) and Peter is nearby cleaning up his nets after a long night of fishing. Peter is in the family business, he is a fisherman doing what he thinks he is supposed to be doing. As the crowd grows, Jesus winds up down by the water and asks Peter to push his boat offshore. He then asks Peter to do something really risky - to go out into the deep water and put out his nets (the very nets he has just spent hours cleaning and rolling up after a long night of work). This is risky. The crowd on the shore could very well have laughed at Peter - his reputation as a businessman was on the line.
Peter gave Jesus some info (as if He needed it), "we've worked long and hard...." Sort of like our saying, "Yes but God, I can't quit this job and follow your lead, I have my reputation in the community, I have this mortgage..." But after arguing with Jesus for a moment, Peter does something extraordinary and essentially says, "God you are nudging me to do something and if I follow you, it seems like such a high price to pay and this just doesn't make sense to me...but because You asked, I will do it".
As you know, Peter puts his nets out and in the heat of the day catches so many fish that his nets begin to break. He calls over another boat and it fills with so many fish that it starts to sink.
We mistakenly think the value of what we are holding onto is the issue...it's not. The issue is faith.
God isn't interested in taking things away from us (think back to when you were not a Christian and you didn't want to "sign up" because you thought being a Christian meant you had to give up all that was fun) - God isn't interested in controlling us - He is interested in making us better.
Steps of faith often require us to give something up. What Jesus wants is not the thing we give up, He wants us to have the faith to follow Him. In Peter's case, He rewarded his act of faith with a bounty of fish so great that it filled two boats and ultimately led to Peter becoming a "fisher of men" and the rock of the Church. Just an ordinary fisherman minding his own business took a step of faith and followed Jesus and oh, how he was rewarded.
Soar.
I heard a great sermon by Andy Stanley www.northpoint.org on faith and want to share a quick summary. It challenged me to pay better attention to those nudgings I get from God.
"I really believe God is nudging me to do _________________..." (what comes next?)
We struggle with this - my job, my money, my status, etc. "If I do this thing I feel God is nudging me to do, I might have to part with _____________ and I'm not really sure I can let go of it just yet." We hesitate to follow the call of Jesus because we are afraid of what it might cost us (money, reputation, failure) yet whatever I tend to withhold from God, what I fail to surrender as it turns out, God is not interested in. He isn't interested in controlling you or making you miserable, He is interested in making you better. Consider this...
Jesus is preaching to a crowd (Luke 5:5) and Peter is nearby cleaning up his nets after a long night of fishing. Peter is in the family business, he is a fisherman doing what he thinks he is supposed to be doing. As the crowd grows, Jesus winds up down by the water and asks Peter to push his boat offshore. He then asks Peter to do something really risky - to go out into the deep water and put out his nets (the very nets he has just spent hours cleaning and rolling up after a long night of work). This is risky. The crowd on the shore could very well have laughed at Peter - his reputation as a businessman was on the line.
Peter gave Jesus some info (as if He needed it), "we've worked long and hard...." Sort of like our saying, "Yes but God, I can't quit this job and follow your lead, I have my reputation in the community, I have this mortgage..." But after arguing with Jesus for a moment, Peter does something extraordinary and essentially says, "God you are nudging me to do something and if I follow you, it seems like such a high price to pay and this just doesn't make sense to me...but because You asked, I will do it".
As you know, Peter puts his nets out and in the heat of the day catches so many fish that his nets begin to break. He calls over another boat and it fills with so many fish that it starts to sink.
We mistakenly think the value of what we are holding onto is the issue...it's not. The issue is faith.
God isn't interested in taking things away from us (think back to when you were not a Christian and you didn't want to "sign up" because you thought being a Christian meant you had to give up all that was fun) - God isn't interested in controlling us - He is interested in making us better.
Steps of faith often require us to give something up. What Jesus wants is not the thing we give up, He wants us to have the faith to follow Him. In Peter's case, He rewarded his act of faith with a bounty of fish so great that it filled two boats and ultimately led to Peter becoming a "fisher of men" and the rock of the Church. Just an ordinary fisherman minding his own business took a step of faith and followed Jesus and oh, how he was rewarded.
Soar.
Monday, June 12, 2006
UPRISING
I got another book by Erwin McManus called Uprising. I'm about 30 pages into it and I like what I am reading. Consider this. "This is how life is supposed to work. It's an adventure, a journey, a trek filled with uncertainty, excitement, and risk. One bad or painful experience can cause you to remain on the banks (of the river). But when you do, you neither move forward nor backwards; there you sit, just watching life go by." For the men that might read this and those in the Wynnbrook "uprising" that has started -- this is why I am doing this...I am tired of the boredom of my Christianity. God is a strong, wild river and I don't want to sit on the safety of the banks watching God roar by. I want in. I want to live. God called me (and you) for so much more than safety. He called us to do something with us. We are troops in His kingdom. He has a bold purpose for us. I feel God calling me (us) to stand up and dream. To move forward with bold purpose. Consider one of my favorite quotes of all time...
"Some men see things as they are and ask why. I dream things that never were and ask, why not?"
McManus continues, "So many of us have abdicated our passions for obligations, as if passion is a luxury for the young, and we must all grow up one day. We, even if reluctantly, fall into place to live a life of conformity that we describe as "maturity." We've made acting like adults synonymous with living apathetic lives. If apathy is adulthood and passion is childish, then I understand all the more the words of Jesus when He said that to enter His kingdom we must come as little children."
This is about a passionate dream of what a real, vibrant relationship with Jesus can be and throwing off the things that stop us from pursuing Him. It is about dreaming what we want from a men's group and making that happen. It is about moving FORWARD.
I got another book by Erwin McManus called Uprising. I'm about 30 pages into it and I like what I am reading. Consider this. "This is how life is supposed to work. It's an adventure, a journey, a trek filled with uncertainty, excitement, and risk. One bad or painful experience can cause you to remain on the banks (of the river). But when you do, you neither move forward nor backwards; there you sit, just watching life go by." For the men that might read this and those in the Wynnbrook "uprising" that has started -- this is why I am doing this...I am tired of the boredom of my Christianity. God is a strong, wild river and I don't want to sit on the safety of the banks watching God roar by. I want in. I want to live. God called me (and you) for so much more than safety. He called us to do something with us. We are troops in His kingdom. He has a bold purpose for us. I feel God calling me (us) to stand up and dream. To move forward with bold purpose. Consider one of my favorite quotes of all time...
"Some men see things as they are and ask why. I dream things that never were and ask, why not?"
McManus continues, "So many of us have abdicated our passions for obligations, as if passion is a luxury for the young, and we must all grow up one day. We, even if reluctantly, fall into place to live a life of conformity that we describe as "maturity." We've made acting like adults synonymous with living apathetic lives. If apathy is adulthood and passion is childish, then I understand all the more the words of Jesus when He said that to enter His kingdom we must come as little children."
This is about a passionate dream of what a real, vibrant relationship with Jesus can be and throwing off the things that stop us from pursuing Him. It is about dreaming what we want from a men's group and making that happen. It is about moving FORWARD.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Point of View
Life depends on your point of view. Many of us suffer from the tyranny of the urgent. We are so busy that we miss the point of life. We have our "wants" and we seek to have them met. We run so hard that we miss the entire point of the walk Christ has given us to reach others for His kingdom.
Last night, Shannon and I had a free night. Our oldest daughter left for the Souled-Out beach retreat and our youngest daughter spent the night out. So we had a free night. I rode my bike yesterday for the first time this year (shame on me) and was starving because my only lunch was a power bar. We stopped by a neighbor's house on the way out of the neighborhood. Shannon had been trying to work with this neighbor on association issues. Shannon was trying to make the situation better and walked into a buzz-saw. I stayed in the car because selfishly, I was ready to eat. I could see her inside the house talking and talking. It took forever. The longer it went on, the madder I got. Little did I know that she was under attack in the house for trying to do the right thing. She needed me by her side and I was too busy focused on my needs to meet hers. How often do we do this?
On the way to dinner, she cried and told me what happened. I was a jerk to not be in there with her but I wanted my needs met. We went to Carrabbas to spend some coupons and the meal wasn't great. I don't much care for their food (again, "my" needs).
But here is the point -- and it is real powerful. When we left the building walking to my truck, we passed a couple and their small girl in a wheelchair. The husband walked up to the wife and gave her a big hug and said "dinner was great honey, happy birthday". With that, this angel of a little girl had her face light up and she shouted with glee, "Daddy, I want a happy birthday hug too" and she whipped her wheelchair over to her Mom and Dad to get her hug. The look on her face was unforgettable. Priceless. Stunning. Deathly convicting.
Dadgum it men, WHAT ON EARTH ARE WE DOING??? God shook me like a pine tree during a raging thunderstorm last night. There in all my needs and wants, God showed me a true want. A little girl with withered legs slayed my evil spirit right there in that parking lot. I, who have all any man could want, was taught a powerful lesson by a little girl who would pay millions just for chance to walk across a Carrabba's parking lot. Even though she "wanted" to walk, her true want was a hug from her Daddy. Shame on me.
This is what I am talking about in all these blogs. The tyranny of the urgent makes us act like jerks because we don't get what we want when all along what we truly want is sitting right there under our fat noses. God is calling us to so much more than "being too busy" to play a game with our kids or sit and listen to our wives or reach out to that man at work whose life is coming apart. God is calling you and I to soar.
Life depends on your point of view. Many of us suffer from the tyranny of the urgent. We are so busy that we miss the point of life. We have our "wants" and we seek to have them met. We run so hard that we miss the entire point of the walk Christ has given us to reach others for His kingdom.
Last night, Shannon and I had a free night. Our oldest daughter left for the Souled-Out beach retreat and our youngest daughter spent the night out. So we had a free night. I rode my bike yesterday for the first time this year (shame on me) and was starving because my only lunch was a power bar. We stopped by a neighbor's house on the way out of the neighborhood. Shannon had been trying to work with this neighbor on association issues. Shannon was trying to make the situation better and walked into a buzz-saw. I stayed in the car because selfishly, I was ready to eat. I could see her inside the house talking and talking. It took forever. The longer it went on, the madder I got. Little did I know that she was under attack in the house for trying to do the right thing. She needed me by her side and I was too busy focused on my needs to meet hers. How often do we do this?
On the way to dinner, she cried and told me what happened. I was a jerk to not be in there with her but I wanted my needs met. We went to Carrabbas to spend some coupons and the meal wasn't great. I don't much care for their food (again, "my" needs).
But here is the point -- and it is real powerful. When we left the building walking to my truck, we passed a couple and their small girl in a wheelchair. The husband walked up to the wife and gave her a big hug and said "dinner was great honey, happy birthday". With that, this angel of a little girl had her face light up and she shouted with glee, "Daddy, I want a happy birthday hug too" and she whipped her wheelchair over to her Mom and Dad to get her hug. The look on her face was unforgettable. Priceless. Stunning. Deathly convicting.
Dadgum it men, WHAT ON EARTH ARE WE DOING??? God shook me like a pine tree during a raging thunderstorm last night. There in all my needs and wants, God showed me a true want. A little girl with withered legs slayed my evil spirit right there in that parking lot. I, who have all any man could want, was taught a powerful lesson by a little girl who would pay millions just for chance to walk across a Carrabba's parking lot. Even though she "wanted" to walk, her true want was a hug from her Daddy. Shame on me.
This is what I am talking about in all these blogs. The tyranny of the urgent makes us act like jerks because we don't get what we want when all along what we truly want is sitting right there under our fat noses. God is calling us to so much more than "being too busy" to play a game with our kids or sit and listen to our wives or reach out to that man at work whose life is coming apart. God is calling you and I to soar.
The Tyranny of the Urgent
I talked with one of the men in our church the other night about this new group of "mavericks". He is on board and this resonates with him. So much of what he and I discussed had to do with the urgency of his life. He hits the floor running every morning and stays swamped all through the day. He drags himself home at 7pm for time with his three small children, falls asleep and wakes up all to quickly for another day exactly like the last one. He said his life feels like movie Groundhog Day ... same thing over and over and over.
Where is the time to be close to God?
Where is the excitement and adventure that he once felt as a new Christian - empowered and emboldened to share the gospel with guy across the hall in his dorm?
Where is the freedom he once enjoyed in God?
Webster's defines Tyranny as "absolute power especially when exercised unjustly or cruelly". The urgency in our lives serves as a tyrant over us exercising its power usually in an unjust or cruel manner. My friend's life is so urgent that it totally consumes him.
I confess I struggle with the same "urgency". My life gets so urgent that I miss God all around me. Jimmy Blanchard use to always say, "The graveyard is full of indispensible people - folks so important that we begin to think the business cannot run without them".
This call for me (and I think my friend John) is about waking up to the real opportunities around us. Not the business opportunity or the monetary opportunity or the society opportunity -- but the opportunity to throw off the shackles that are slowly burying us - throw them off, lift the burden and seek God. If we (lost sheep) will turn around, even though we have wandered far off, if we will turn around, we will find our Shepherd standing right there.
Soar.
I talked with one of the men in our church the other night about this new group of "mavericks". He is on board and this resonates with him. So much of what he and I discussed had to do with the urgency of his life. He hits the floor running every morning and stays swamped all through the day. He drags himself home at 7pm for time with his three small children, falls asleep and wakes up all to quickly for another day exactly like the last one. He said his life feels like movie Groundhog Day ... same thing over and over and over.
Where is the time to be close to God?
Where is the excitement and adventure that he once felt as a new Christian - empowered and emboldened to share the gospel with guy across the hall in his dorm?
Where is the freedom he once enjoyed in God?
Webster's defines Tyranny as "absolute power especially when exercised unjustly or cruelly". The urgency in our lives serves as a tyrant over us exercising its power usually in an unjust or cruel manner. My friend's life is so urgent that it totally consumes him.
I confess I struggle with the same "urgency". My life gets so urgent that I miss God all around me. Jimmy Blanchard use to always say, "The graveyard is full of indispensible people - folks so important that we begin to think the business cannot run without them".
This call for me (and I think my friend John) is about waking up to the real opportunities around us. Not the business opportunity or the monetary opportunity or the society opportunity -- but the opportunity to throw off the shackles that are slowly burying us - throw them off, lift the burden and seek God. If we (lost sheep) will turn around, even though we have wandered far off, if we will turn around, we will find our Shepherd standing right there.
Soar.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Traits of an Eagle
My wife was reading a "chick" book. The book was about a family coming apart. The husband and wife had gradually grown apart, each too busy to give back to the marriage, each beginning to assume the other didn't love them. Lazily, they let it drift and real damage started to occur. Enough drifting and our eyes begin to look to other places where we can be accepted and understood. The man in this book began to have feelings for a younger woman and that relationship began to snowball. While he had never consumated the affair physically, he had emotionally. Word began to spread. Soon, the wife "knew" he was engaged in a full-blown affair and the two decided to split. However, their oldest daughter was getting married and they decided to postpone any split (or any word of a split) until after the wedding.
His son was doing a school report on eagles and kept encouraging his Dad to read the report. The Dad was disengaged from his son and kept putting off reading the report. Soon he was confronted with a challenge. The other woman offered herself to him "anytime, anywhere you are ready". With his wife off on a camping trip with the bride to be, the husband sat looking at the phone about ready to call the girlfriend. The phone rang and it was his daughter and he was distracted. When he hung up, he picked up his son's school report sitting there by the phone and read about eagles.
Eagles, it seems have only 2 enemies - storms and serpents. Eagles have learned not to fight a storm but rather to "go with it" wherever it takes them. Once the storm has passed, the eagle can fly home and begin to rebuild his nest. Serpents are a challenge because they prey on the eagle's young and can quickly destroy the home.
Eagles also "marry" only once. They pick one mate and keep that mate for life. Also, if they injest something that makes them sick, an eagle will fly to find a rock and will sit on the rock with his wings spread out to let the sun soak/burn out the poisons in his system.
The father in this story dropped the paper after reading it and called the girlfriend to end their relationship. It seems God spoke to him through his son's writing. He had let a serpent into the nest and it was destroying his home. He had injested a poison and was in need of letting the "Son" burn it out of him. He realized that his wife was his only wife and knew he needed to make things right or die trying.
Of course the story ends with a full reconciliation (hey, after all it was a chick book) but it has real meaning for the lives of men reading this blog.
Have you let a serpent into your life? How's your relationship with your wife? How's your heart? Do you need some time alone with the "Son" to soak out the poisons in your life? I know I do.
Soar.
My wife was reading a "chick" book. The book was about a family coming apart. The husband and wife had gradually grown apart, each too busy to give back to the marriage, each beginning to assume the other didn't love them. Lazily, they let it drift and real damage started to occur. Enough drifting and our eyes begin to look to other places where we can be accepted and understood. The man in this book began to have feelings for a younger woman and that relationship began to snowball. While he had never consumated the affair physically, he had emotionally. Word began to spread. Soon, the wife "knew" he was engaged in a full-blown affair and the two decided to split. However, their oldest daughter was getting married and they decided to postpone any split (or any word of a split) until after the wedding.
His son was doing a school report on eagles and kept encouraging his Dad to read the report. The Dad was disengaged from his son and kept putting off reading the report. Soon he was confronted with a challenge. The other woman offered herself to him "anytime, anywhere you are ready". With his wife off on a camping trip with the bride to be, the husband sat looking at the phone about ready to call the girlfriend. The phone rang and it was his daughter and he was distracted. When he hung up, he picked up his son's school report sitting there by the phone and read about eagles.
Eagles, it seems have only 2 enemies - storms and serpents. Eagles have learned not to fight a storm but rather to "go with it" wherever it takes them. Once the storm has passed, the eagle can fly home and begin to rebuild his nest. Serpents are a challenge because they prey on the eagle's young and can quickly destroy the home.
Eagles also "marry" only once. They pick one mate and keep that mate for life. Also, if they injest something that makes them sick, an eagle will fly to find a rock and will sit on the rock with his wings spread out to let the sun soak/burn out the poisons in his system.
The father in this story dropped the paper after reading it and called the girlfriend to end their relationship. It seems God spoke to him through his son's writing. He had let a serpent into the nest and it was destroying his home. He had injested a poison and was in need of letting the "Son" burn it out of him. He realized that his wife was his only wife and knew he needed to make things right or die trying.
Of course the story ends with a full reconciliation (hey, after all it was a chick book) but it has real meaning for the lives of men reading this blog.
Have you let a serpent into your life? How's your relationship with your wife? How's your heart? Do you need some time alone with the "Son" to soak out the poisons in your life? I know I do.
Soar.
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Don't Waste Your Life
I am more alive today than I have been in years, perhaps decades. Yet, I was more dead than I can ever recall just three months ago. Praise the good Lord! I was dead. Dead to my senses. Dead to my work. Dead to my family. Dead to the amazing, stunning, captivating, empowering God that loves me.
Wake up men. Wake up.
Life is surging all around you. Are you asleep? In John Piper's book Don't Waste Your Life, he gives credit to CS Lewis for leading him to his awakening. "Lewis gave me an intense sense of the "realness" of things. The preciousness of this is hard to communicate. To wake up in the morning and be aware of the firmness of the mattress, the warmth of the sun's rays, the sound of the clock ticking, the sheer being of things. He helped me become alive to life. He helped me see what is there in the world - things that, if we didn't have, we would pay a million dollars to have, but having them, we ignore."
Think about that last sentence. Really think about it. Look at my blog page and study the picture of that red-tailed hawk. Look at it's colors and details. Marvel at the beauty of it's design. My awakening is to things like the two hawks nesting on my property. It is to the sweetness of my little girl saying the word "Daddy". It is to sitting on a Saturday morning with my stunning wife drinking coffee. It is to the sense and feel of working my butt off in the yard, moving rock, building paths, planting gardens -- dripping with salty sweat. It is awakening to the absolute, unconditional love of my black lab, Bo. It is to the incredible opportunity my career affords me to touch lives and minister to people. It is to the twenty, 7th grade boys that faithfully show up each Wednesday morning at 7:15am to listen to my feeble attempts to lead their Bible study.
Imagine for a moment if I were blind or deaf or handicapped...imagine what I would pay (millions) for just one chance to experience all these things God has laid before my feet to experience every day.
And yet, just 3 months ago, I was dead to this. Asleep.
This is the barbaric call God is driving me to. We only get one pass at life men...what are you waiting for? I am going to do anything God will allow me to help other men wake up and soar.
I am more alive today than I have been in years, perhaps decades. Yet, I was more dead than I can ever recall just three months ago. Praise the good Lord! I was dead. Dead to my senses. Dead to my work. Dead to my family. Dead to the amazing, stunning, captivating, empowering God that loves me.
Wake up men. Wake up.
Life is surging all around you. Are you asleep? In John Piper's book Don't Waste Your Life, he gives credit to CS Lewis for leading him to his awakening. "Lewis gave me an intense sense of the "realness" of things. The preciousness of this is hard to communicate. To wake up in the morning and be aware of the firmness of the mattress, the warmth of the sun's rays, the sound of the clock ticking, the sheer being of things. He helped me become alive to life. He helped me see what is there in the world - things that, if we didn't have, we would pay a million dollars to have, but having them, we ignore."
Think about that last sentence. Really think about it. Look at my blog page and study the picture of that red-tailed hawk. Look at it's colors and details. Marvel at the beauty of it's design. My awakening is to things like the two hawks nesting on my property. It is to the sweetness of my little girl saying the word "Daddy". It is to sitting on a Saturday morning with my stunning wife drinking coffee. It is to the sense and feel of working my butt off in the yard, moving rock, building paths, planting gardens -- dripping with salty sweat. It is awakening to the absolute, unconditional love of my black lab, Bo. It is to the incredible opportunity my career affords me to touch lives and minister to people. It is to the twenty, 7th grade boys that faithfully show up each Wednesday morning at 7:15am to listen to my feeble attempts to lead their Bible study.
Imagine for a moment if I were blind or deaf or handicapped...imagine what I would pay (millions) for just one chance to experience all these things God has laid before my feet to experience every day.
And yet, just 3 months ago, I was dead to this. Asleep.
This is the barbaric call God is driving me to. We only get one pass at life men...what are you waiting for? I am going to do anything God will allow me to help other men wake up and soar.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Welcome Men --
Today, I signed letters along with Michael Harris inviting 20 men (mostly from Wynnbrook) to attend a meeting Thursday morning June 8th at 6:30am at Dogwood Lodge on Wynnbrook's campus. We'll have breakfast and coffee and will be done by 8am. In with that letter was a copy of Erwin McManus' book The Barbarian Way. I highly encourage you to start reading this book.
The adventure has begun.
We now embark on our journey for men to "awaken spiritually, have deeper and more meaningful connections with other men and to experience adventurous Christian living." That is the "mission" statement of this fledgling group of Columbus men. Who knows where God takes this? 20 men at Wynnbrook could blossom into hundreds of men across the city waking up to the true purpose God has intended for their lives.
This is exciting. Soar.
Today, I signed letters along with Michael Harris inviting 20 men (mostly from Wynnbrook) to attend a meeting Thursday morning June 8th at 6:30am at Dogwood Lodge on Wynnbrook's campus. We'll have breakfast and coffee and will be done by 8am. In with that letter was a copy of Erwin McManus' book The Barbarian Way. I highly encourage you to start reading this book.
The adventure has begun.
We now embark on our journey for men to "awaken spiritually, have deeper and more meaningful connections with other men and to experience adventurous Christian living." That is the "mission" statement of this fledgling group of Columbus men. Who knows where God takes this? 20 men at Wynnbrook could blossom into hundreds of men across the city waking up to the true purpose God has intended for their lives.
This is exciting. Soar.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Forward
This is all about moving forward. This is about the call of the wild. God is calling. Occasionally, we hear it and we are drawn to it. Throw off the shackles. Rid yourself of things that weigh you down. Cast your eyes on Jesus and run the race before you.
I, for myself, am disappointed in the past five years of my life. I've let my job distract me from my walk with God. Bad stock markets have a way of doing that and yet, one day I'll get to Heaven and God will say to me, "I lost you for about 5-7 years there...what were you doing?" I'll reply, "It was my job - you know, the one you gave me - things were terrible, we had the dot.com crash, 9/11, recession and I was spending my every waking moment thinking about my clients (you know, the ones you gave me) and worrying about the stock market." And God, in all his majesty will sadly, quietly say, "The stock market, what is a stock market?"
You see, God isn't focused on the things that consume us. Oftentimes (I suspect) the things that absolutely consume us, don't even register on His screen. He is focused on us. We are his children and He isn't terribly worried about our job, our home, our things, our place in the community - God is just standing on the edge of the pasture calling out to a lost sheep.
This "awakening" for me is all about never going back to the life I formerly knew. Life is too short to waste it. My call is to help other men wake up. To help other men throw off the shackles that weigh them down - to drop a life of expectations and to pick up a race with God.
The Barbarian says - "The future is uncertain, but we need to move toward it with confidence. There's a future to be created, a humanity to be liberated. We need to stop wasting our time and stop being afraid of what we cannot see and do not know. We need to move forward full force because of what we do know."
Soar.
This is all about moving forward. This is about the call of the wild. God is calling. Occasionally, we hear it and we are drawn to it. Throw off the shackles. Rid yourself of things that weigh you down. Cast your eyes on Jesus and run the race before you.
I, for myself, am disappointed in the past five years of my life. I've let my job distract me from my walk with God. Bad stock markets have a way of doing that and yet, one day I'll get to Heaven and God will say to me, "I lost you for about 5-7 years there...what were you doing?" I'll reply, "It was my job - you know, the one you gave me - things were terrible, we had the dot.com crash, 9/11, recession and I was spending my every waking moment thinking about my clients (you know, the ones you gave me) and worrying about the stock market." And God, in all his majesty will sadly, quietly say, "The stock market, what is a stock market?"
You see, God isn't focused on the things that consume us. Oftentimes (I suspect) the things that absolutely consume us, don't even register on His screen. He is focused on us. We are his children and He isn't terribly worried about our job, our home, our things, our place in the community - God is just standing on the edge of the pasture calling out to a lost sheep.
This "awakening" for me is all about never going back to the life I formerly knew. Life is too short to waste it. My call is to help other men wake up. To help other men throw off the shackles that weigh them down - to drop a life of expectations and to pick up a race with God.
The Barbarian says - "The future is uncertain, but we need to move toward it with confidence. There's a future to be created, a humanity to be liberated. We need to stop wasting our time and stop being afraid of what we cannot see and do not know. We need to move forward full force because of what we do know."
Soar.
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