Category: hmm… thoughts

As I get ready to pony up a few dollars for my annual golf membership at Romeo Golf Club, I’ve really had to evaluate what I get out of it. For those who don’t know, during the golf season (April-October) I get up at the crack of dawn and play 9 holes of golf before work. On my days off I tend to stretch that to 18 holes, but for the most part I play 9 holes and still make it home in time for breakfast before work.

Sure, I get excersize out of the deal. Sure, I feel better having played 9 holes than I do not playing 9 holes before my day at the office. Sure, I could get better excersize or raise my heart beat a little more. Sure, I could find a cheaper thing to do with my mornings. Sure, I could find something that wasn’t so controversial to do.

But I like it. It’s more than just golf you know. It’s the time to myself. When you play the same course over and over again you find that you don’t really think about the course too much. I know the holes, I know the terrain, I know the breaks, I know the heighth of trees and the type of shot I have to hit. So it becomes a bit of a self-reflective time. There is something very powerful and spiritual to my time alone on the links. I know that each time I play I will score within a certain range and I will face certain problem areas. But I often get so caught up with my golf in the shear magnitude of the life-illustration. Golf looks simple, but it isn’t. We try to do things the easiest and best way, but we often mess up. We know that discipline will get us better results, but we fail to do what it takes. We know that life isn’t about having the best equipment. It never ends.

Along those same lines, I ran into this post about walking on Marko’s blog.

This morning at my zero hour Bible Study we were looking at Ephesians 4:1-16. There are two things that jump off the page at me in relationship to life as a believer.

1. Paul calls us to live a life worthy of chains. Say what? Paul was probably rarely in trouble before he came to Christ. But after his encounter with Jesus on his way to Damascus, his life was a wreck. But it all comes down to this. When you are chained up for what you do (look at v. 11-13 to know what to do) than you know that we are all equal in position in Christ’s church. If Paul, one of the greatest Christians in history, was chained to a wall… we are all the same.

2. Growing up comes through knowing who you are and service. Louie Giglio paraphrases Jesus by saying our goal in serving Jesus is to make ourselves look smaller so Christ’s name will be greater. The smaller we make ourselves, the greater we will serve.

Paul says that when we do this, we won’t be infants in Christ. What do infants do? Infants are more worried about "big me" than they are about "making Jesus’ name greater." Infants are easily tricked by people who talk fast and present crafty messages. I used the example of the prosperity gospel teachers. Just because they have a nice smile and look like nice people doesn’t mean that what they say is true. In fact, the entire prosperity gospel idea that "Prosperity is my birthright as a child of the King of kings" is antithetical to the entire new testement narrative. Did Jesus or any of his disciples die rich? Perhaps this was because they didn’t have enough faith, right?

But when you are  an infant in your faith and walk with the Lord these things seem like a good idea. You have a hard time looking past what you want to see what you will gain. Paul didn’t write, "To get rich is gain, to die is passing on wealth" did he? Quite the opposite.

I had a nice time with Jeremy down in Ohio yesterday. It is always good to catch up with a buddy, even if you have to drive a few hours to do it. Heck, it gave me time to catch up on my radio if nothing else. But here’s a little takeaway from our hours of chatting. See, Jeremy’s church is huge into the Saddleback, Purpose-driven thing. They just ride that horse like crazy and it’s done well for them. Their church has been able to really focus on a few key areas and move a long way. As he mentioned, when George (their SP) got there 18 years ago, they had roughly 32 people. Really zeroing in on a few keys things has helped that tiny church grow… a lot. It’s kind of fun to see a church grow like a weed in a town that is turning into weeds. Here’s my point. New Hope does all the purpose driven stuff. They buy the philosophy, they use their materials, they copy shamelessly from the best churches in the country.

Part of me looks at that and says, "Are they so uncreative that they just copy everything from everyone? What are their churches paying them to…." That’s when it sinks in. The value their church has sent to the staff is that the people want the staff’s time invested in equipping, not curricuclum development. Less time in the books means more time in front of people. Less time making cool graphics means more time with people. Less time preparing for small groups means a better small group. That’s a lot to chew on for me. In some ways, doing what they are doing takes a lot of pride swallowing. It’s not that Jeremy and the rest of the staff can’t create great materials, their own vision and goals, it’s that they chose not to for the sake of equipping people. That’s a pretty unique take on it.

Pretty smart for a bunch of copy-cats.

Below is an article that I’ve written for our churches newsletter, the Romeo Peach

We’ve just completed our first week of 3 Story Life groups here at church. Our goal has always been bold. We want to equip 100 people with skills for sharing their faith in 2006. With the groups we have going right now, the number is already nearing 50.

It is an accident that we’re starting 3 Story during the Olympics, but I’ve also gotten caught up in it’s symbolism. I’ve had the pleasure of traveling in the Swiss and Austrian alps, I’ve been on some great ski mountains, and I have to be honest and say that I was terrified by the challenges I faced. The very first time I went skiing I got on the wrong lift and ended up on a very steep ridge, far beyond my skill level. (You can’t snowplow down something nearly vertical!) It was a beautiful trip to the top of the hill but when I got to the top and looked at all the skiers hurriedly gliding to the edge so they could start their decent… I had to stop to catch my breathe. Reality had just smacked me in the face. Of all the times I had watched skiing on television it never sunk in how high or steep the hills might be. I was very afraid of what would happen. It was at that moment that I realized that since I had no idea what I was doing, I was taking a huge risk. My mind raced with pending realities. I could get hurt! I would likely get laughed at. I would fall, it was just a matter of how hard I would fall and how much it would hurt to fall.

With no way out but going down the hill I had to swallow my fears and head down the mountain. Just as I had imagined I fell several times on my way down the mountain. I was laughed at, I got some bruises, and I learned some hard lessons the hard way. But I also lived to tell the story. Oddly enough I even found that while it wasn’t easy, it was worth it. When I made it to the bottom I found that, while I still had a healthy fear of the mountain, it was exhilarating to swallow the fear and take the chance!

This is the same look I’ve seen in our 3 Story groups. A little bit of fear, a lot of excitement, and some expectations that learning to share our faith with people we already know may come with bumps along the way. Paul writes, "For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing." (2 Timothy 4:6-8)

For those who are now in 3 Story groups, thank you for counting the cost, swallowing your fears, and heading down the mountain! For those who haven’t "headed up the mountain" yet, there will be more opportunities later this spring.

The other day I opened up John Piper’s weekly e-mail to see his article was called Don’t Waste Your Cancer. He wrote this article on the eve of a very scary thing for anyone to go through, cancer surgery.

Here’s a sample of one of his ten reasons not to "waste your cancer."

7. You will waste your cancer if you let it drive you into solitude instead of deepen your relationships with manifest affection.

When Epaphroditus brought the gifts to Paul sent by the Philippian church he became ill and almost died. Paul tells the Philippians, “He has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill” (Philippians 2:26-27). What an amazing response! It does not say they were distressed that he was ill, but that he was distressed because they heard he was ill. That is the kind of heart God is aiming to create with cancer: a deeply affectionate, caring heart for people. Don’t waste your cancer by retreating into yourself.

I just realized it’s been a couple days since I had posted. That’s bad of me! I am doing fine and back in Romeo now. Founders Week was a nice getaway.

I’ve also realized just how little work I got done last week when I had so much to do. So, between a litany of meetings today and those massive projects that were due a week ago, I am a bit behind on the reflective life. Things are looking good for this week though!

We started a new series today in Sunday school. I am exciting to be Delving Deeply into God’s Word with my students. Today’s lesson came from Psalm 64, Drink Deeply.

I don’t think I say this enough, but thank you for investing in me. The people of Romeo love me despite myself. You care for my family, you love my kids and my wife. I’m not looking over my shoulder all the time, which allows me to look forward secure in the knowledge that I am loved and accepted.

This isn’t something we take lightly, Kristen and I feel honored to be loved so much. Thank you.

This hasn’t happened to me for several months. But I am having a unique inability to sit down, concentrate, and write anything of worth. I’ve been very easily distracted lately and I know it just has to do with the shear volume of writing I’ve had to do.

I remember last year this happened when I was writing a few papers for grad school… but this one is really annoying because the pressure is on for Sunday morning. Just to clarify, I know what I am saying, I know how I am doing it, I’ve studied a lot more than normal, I just am having a hard time sitting down and putting all of the pieces together.

OK, got that off of my chest. Now it’s back to staring at the cursor. Did you know that it blinks about as fast as my heart beats? Bill Gates is a genius.

Remember this old hymn? Billy Graham has this going when he does his invitations. It’s lyrics are haunting:

I have decided to follow Jesus
I have decided to follow Jesus
I have decided to follow Jesus
No turning back no turning back

The world behind me the cross before me
The world behind me the cross before me
The world behind me the cross before me
No turning back no turning back

Though none go with me I still will follow
Though none go with me I still will follow
Though none go with me I still will follow
No turning back no turning back

Though none go with me I still will follow
Though none go with me I still will follow
Though none go with me I still will follow
No turning back no turning back

I wonder how many of my friends are looking forward and not backwards. Day by day we need to count the cost, pick up our baggage, and follow. Not hard, but not easy.

How come we don’t see people write articles about how great life is? How come everyone wants to talk about "what sucks" and doesn’t want to talk about things being great, or even just normal.

Can I be honest? Life is pretty good for me right now. I know that isn’t newsworthy, but it is what it is! Light Force is going well. Church is going well. Relationships are going well. My kids are doing good. Kristen is happy. The dog and cat are getting along. YMX is going good… yeah, so that’s it Mr. Journal. Life is good.