I had the best counseling session ever at 3:52 this morning. I don’t do a lot of counseling because there are a lot of people way more qualified. My wife is trained in counseling and all I have is a degree from the school of hard knocks. It wasn’t a scheduled counseling session but when my 4 year old came in to wake me up I had to do my vary best to be Daddy/Pastor.
Before becoming a church planter life was pretty simple for us. We lived a life right out of 1960’s television. Not the “Honeymooners” but more like “Leave it to Beaver”. I was home everyday at 4:30pm and our involvement in church was limited to a Council Meeting once a month, 2 services per week, and an occasional weekend event.
Our families were close and so Owen would have weekly contact with one set of grandparents or another. We had multiple family friends including some really close friends in our immediate neighborhood. So it wasn’t unusual for random drop-ins from neighbors so Owen and their kids could play while moms chit-chatted over cookies and coffee.
All that changed with our move to South Florida and is taking its toll on a 4 year olds emotions (and some 30+ emotions too.) So I spent an hour this morning explaining some pretty significant concepts to my son. These thoughts can encourage the 4 or the 40 so I thought I would share.
A house is made up of walls floors, ceilings, doors and windows. But a home is made by a family. So even though we have moved to different houses and will hopefully be moving again in the not too distant future we will remain a family and that is what makes a home.
God is bigger than all the monsters. Hence when we have God inside of us, regardless of how small we may be, we take on the size and power of God. So when we are scared of things we just need to remember that we have God on our side.
God doesn’t always answer our prayers because He knows what is best for us. I was able to use our recent dog catastrophe to explain that even though we thought it would be a great idea to get a dog (two if you’re my wife) it wound up not being the right timing for us, given some of the other things going on in life. With a few scars to remind him he understood. So it isn’t that God doesn’t hear you or is ignoring you, it is that you may be asking for “good” but He wants to give you great!
Enjoy the “fun” moments in life instead of worrying that they are going to end. In the last week or so my son (and wife) have made some new friends and since my son has just been starving for some play time he gets all worked up because he knows that at some point he is going to have to go home. Obviously we cleared up some “home” thoughts, but he needed to realize that worrying over what is going to happen in an hour or two when play time is over was cutting into the fun that he could have right now.
To relate that to us adults… The Bible says don’t worry about tomorrow because just as God has made provisions for the birds He will make provisions for us. This is that unexplainable joy that we read about.
The joy of the Lord is to be our strength so that even when it appears that the whole world is crumbling around us we don’t have to have an emotional breakdown. We can place our faith in God and even if a rough road comes, He able to bring us through it.
God loves when we obey. Just like when Owen obeys us and we reward that, God also rewards our obedience. I explained to Owen that God asked us to leave the house that he loves in Oakland, FL and move here to plant a church. That even though we had to give up some things that made us comfortable, God was proud of us for doing it and in the end obedience pays. It may not always be in the dividends that we expect or desire but God certainly rewards obedience.
Seems like there were a few more things we discussed but in the end he just need some reinforcement. There are many things based on our current position that are in flux but there are certain things that are solid. Even though I have previously mentioned some chinks in the family armor we are fortifying that and have come a long way. So my wife and I are reinforcing that our relationship with God and our relationship with each other are things he can count on. I think we all need to know that those are things we can count on.
For those of you who don’t know I am O-H-I-O born and raised. That means that there is but one team in college football that matter and that is The Ohio State Buckeyes. I have had to take a lot of grief in recent years being that I live in Florida. In Central Florida by all of the Gators and now in South Florida by the Hurricane fans. (Who we defeated in 2002 for the National Championship)
Regardless of the recent losses in back to back championship games I still support my Bucks. Saturday night for those of you that missed it OSU played the Wisconsin Badgers. With our freshman quarterback, Terrell Pryor making his first start on the road, we found ourselves behind with about 6 minutes left in the 4th quarter.
Terrell proceeded to drive the offense down the field making some clutch throws and ultimately making a great run to get in to the end zone for the winning score. He showed some great composure under some intense pressure. The momentum of the game was against them. The crowd was against them. The fact that he had never been in this position before…
Life is full of pressure. Life is full of opposition from people and environment. There are even times when you can’t rely on your past experiences to help you through. But I believe God is looking for some clutch players in this 4th quarter; men and women who He can trust with the ball. He is looking for people who will say, “God I want to leave it all on the field for you.” Is that you?
How does history feel? During the course of my life (and I am not that old) I have seen some incredible moments in history. There have been things that surely forced people to re-write the history books. For example: Challenger, Berlin Wall, 9-11, etc. This past week was no different with Wa-Mu getting Wa-Me’d. Not to mention a potential 700 billion dollar bailout. I can’t even wrap my little brain around how much money that is. On top of that we are staring in the face of a guaranteed history making election.
Some of that history was painful but with things like the Berlin Wall you can see the positive sides of history. With all of this history making going on I began to evaluate what I am doing to make history. What can I do in my little corner of existence to leave a positive mark? Even though I don’t anticipate there actually being a reprint of a history book based on the happenings of my life, there are choices that I make that can alter the future. We have been talking a lot lately about the sphere of influence that we can have just by impacting one life. You look at what Jesus accomplished with eleven. So I am trying to be more strategic in my actions. I am looking for the opportunities to influence people for Jesus. Whether that is my son or a co-worker, what can I do right now to make a difference that can be scene for generations to come? How are you best utilizing your time right now? Are you influencing somebody for Jesus right now? Are you doing whatever you can to help change someone’s future?
I stole this clip of some “hip/hop” worship from my friend Carl. I wish that I knew the context of this and that there were some crowd shots but based on the applause they thought that it was “dope”.
I am about to call our band and offer them a 20% raise. They are absolutely worth it…
Somebody sent me this link with the youngest “preacher” in the world and I really am torn on how to take it. Check THIS out and come back….
Okay, so I have a preacher’s kid (PK if you will) who every Sunday about mic check time goes to the platform sits on his daddies stool and begins to deliver some 4 year old theology such as “God is bigger than all the monsters.” No jokes… that is deep if you begin to think about all the monsters we face in life.
But I am wondering if his daddy was a yeller who spit over the first three rows when he preached could this be my kid? I guess the answer is probably yes, and I would think that it is great and be proud just like when he teaches from my stool. But would I then take valuable service time to hand my son a microphone and see hom many amens he could get as peop,e pretend that they can understand him?
So I am unsure, but do you find this cute, disturbing, in bad taste, “raising them up in the way they should go”, or other?
I don’t get into a lot of politics on this blog but HERE is a link to a site with the You Tube clips of Rick Warren (Senior Pastor of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California) asking some great questions to Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain. I had some people ask me about it this weekend and I said I would post this link. This happened in mid August just in case you missed it. Regardless of where you stand I think you will be able to agree that this is an amazing thing to have the two Presidential candidates in a church being interviewed by a Pastor is awesome.
At breakfast this morning with my buddy Carl we were discussing some of our challenges. This time could easily turn into a one up or simply a complain session. (you thought I was going to say something else but I am working out my salvation) To this point we have been successful in making it an opportunity to encourage one another and offer feedback.
This morning I was telling him about my desire to establish some priorities and boundaries between ministry and life. I know some really “holy” people just said there is no difference; God has called you to be a pastor, so it is your life. No, it is only a piece… God has called me to be a man, a husband, a father, a friend, a witness, an employee, and a pastor so it is up to me to establish the priorities of these things and establish boundaries.
I have always been aware of the time vacuum that is ministry. I grew up with it and have vowed hundreds of times not to loose site of my priorities. Well, seemingly no matter how conscious I am or how hard I have tried I am missing the mark. God has a way of reminding us of where we are falling short. Sometimes they are subtle redirections and other times they hurt like a dull knife cutting out your heart.
So, I used the word Purpose Driven because that is one of the church planting models that includes the “launching large” concept. Obviously there are others, but I want to share today a price to “launching large” (especially if you don’t make it). The Bible talks about counting your costs and this was one that I didn’t consider and maybe you haven’t either so let me help you learn this so you might not have to pay the same price.Continue reading ‘Purpose Driven has a Price’
I am just throwing that out there because seemingly everybody with gold shoes is incredibly fast. In 1996 it was Michael Johnson, who I think started the trend, and then this year we have Usain Bolt with a 9.69 sec. 100-meter world record. I watched Cool Runnings and I think that the Jamaican bobsled team needs to do some recruiting.
It is almost like all of these track specialists who said Johnson runs to straight up and Bolt (great name by the way) is too tall to be successful getting a good launch out of the blocks missed the advantage of the gold shoes. Check this out… Bolt won with his shoe untied. I am sure there are a lot of athletes at the shoe store right now getting some of these… Nike has officially Pimped My Shoe.
I am not trying to get too spiritual here but John the Revelator wrote about God having feet like brass… kind of looks like gold. And God is pretty fast, creating the whole world in just 6 days, as an example. Coincidence?
Recent Comments