So yesterday it was in the mid-40s here in Detroit. And we were told to expect one last day of nice weather before winter came back. I went to bed last night hoping for mild temperatures today.
Of course, we woke up to 3 inches of wet and heavy snow. Bummer. I love winter, but cabin fever has set in and I’m ready to get out in the nice warm sunshine of Spring.
Amazingly, we’ve made it all the way through Luke 13 in our series "Tell me your story." So far it’s been a good study. One of the things that it interesting to me is that we could easily spend much longer than one school year in Luke.
Last night was particularly important as we see Jesus’ teaching on salvation change from a corporate faith to an individual decision.
Tonight I will be talking on Luke 13:22-30. This is such a relevant chunk of Scripture. There are many, not only in Light Force, but all over who think they know Christ, but Christ doesn’t know them.
So the obvious reply to this quandry is how do I know if Jesus will open the door for me?
p.s. On a personal note, I am the only McLane not sick this morning. Kristen and Megan were still in bed when I left, Paul was watching TV but already telling me he didn’t feel that well. I suppose the only good thing about my schedule lately is that I haven’t been around long enough to be sick.
I am reading a book called Never Walk Away by Crawford Loritts. I will admit that I am not very far along in the books, but I am already learning a lot.
There is a concept in this book that I am struck by. Availability. This is a big topic with me because we do everything we can do to be available to our students, their families, etc. But I wonder how my kids look at that. Do they mind that sometimes "their time" is shared with someone else? Or does it matter mostly that I am "there."
I know I am still sorting that out in my mind. How we balance our time matters to our kids.
It’s good to be home today. We don’t have any big plans, but it is nice to have a day where I only have a little bit of stuff to do.
Adam: I’ve got some YMX stuff to do today, and I need to get us started on our taxes. How well I planned in 2005 will determine a lot of what we can do money-wise in 2006. I hope that I’ve not messed up like I did in 2004.
Kristen: Kristen is ready to get out of the house. I can just tell! Good news, we’re going out tonight.
Megan: Megan is amazing me with her interest in writing letters and asking how to spell words. We’ve not pushed this and she’s seems interested on her own. One of the funniest things she does right now is when I’m working on the laptop she will often go and grab her "Barbie laptop" and sit and work on it to be like daddy. Megan is also getting good at talking on the phone and coloring in the lines.
Paul: Paul is growing the fastest in the family! (Good to know, eh?) He’s extremely verbal and will tell you exactly what he wants. He’s also doing pretty good with potty training… more exciting for Kristen than for him I think. Paul’s biggest frustration is that he’s 2 and not 4 like Megan. He wants to do everything she can do and sometimes freaks out when he can’t. It’s funny to learn how different Paul is from Megan. He is way more cuddly than Megan has ever been, but he’s also way more physical. One of the great ways he and I communicate is by bumping heads… literally! Unfortunately for Paul, he communicates in this same fashion with hard things like furniture.
Violet: Our friendly cat is ready for Spring. She wants out of the house in the worst possible way but it is too cold. She seems to adjusted to "life with a dog." The big change for her is that she isn’t able to sleep with Kristen and I since Stoney is in the bedroom now. But she has found Megan and Paul to be excellent sleeping partners!
Stoney: Stoney has slowly become part of the family. He still does same bad things every once in a while, but overall he’s a good family dog. He too is ready for Spring so he can be in the yard most of the day instead of in the house. He is obviously in the "hybernation" mode as he sleeps most of the day and is far less active than when it is warm outside. I am sure he is ready for the warm weather so he can play endless ball in the backyard.Now if only he would get along better with the cat. It’s good that he doesn’t try to eat her, but if he would just not chase her we’d be happy.
Marble: The fish swims, we’re happy about that. Best behaved animal in the house!
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.
It’s been a long but good day. I woke up at about 5:30 this morning and it’s now 11:20 PM and I am sensing the pillows call.
All-in-all it’s been a solid day. Everything has gone according to plan and on schedule. I love it when a plan comes together.
Here are some thoughts from my first day here.
Moody is a great place. I know I am an alumni, so it is expected that I would feel this way. But it also is worth noting that I wasn’t a big fan of the Institute all the time. In fact, most of my time as a student was spent not liking the place! But today was another story.
As I sat in the massive auditorium of Moody Church I kind of felt the sense that my alma mater wasn’t the great place I had been told it was while a student. I started thinking about it as a dying breed and frankly stuck about 10 years in the past compared to what I see every day. My mind filled with a sense of "Am I really associated with this?"
About half way through the session tonight I discovered that I liked the place afterall. It wasn’t the music, it wasn’t the patting of the back of one alum to another… it was a sense of togetherness for a purpose that drew me to the place in the first place and somehow I felt like coming to Founder’s Week was "checking in" to that togetherness. If the purpose of MBI is to train a generation of church leaders, I have reported for duty.
I have no great plan. As I listened tonight to a fantastic message by Andy Stanley it came to me. I will never stand on that stage and preach to this audience and I am perfectly fine with that. I think at one point in my life I had hoped that my ministry would one day progress to a national stage or some sort of spotlight. It’s not that "the dream" was a bad thing… it’s that I don’t think that is something God will have for me. I don’t want to focus on the future so much that the present doesn’t matter. Right now, it is far more important to me that each day I do the best I can and live to the most glory of Christ that I can.
P.S. I received good news tonight. A student of mine recently came to know Christ. That is very exciting.
Last night’s LF talk was from Luke 12:1-12 and it asked the really big question Am I a Fake Christian?
Here are a few cuts from that.
Opening Story: (I decided not to publish a link to this blog)
bye kids. tired of church and its abuse of people’s lives. tired of God and what he allows his commissioned followers to do in his beloved son’s name. tired of bad dreams and newsletter scraps from churches gone by. tired of compliance-based "christians" selling real estate in heaven to which they don’t have the deed. tired of finding myself fighting back tears during worship, not because of what Christ did for me, but because of whatever flashback hits me triggered by a hymn, a verse, or the way someone looks at me. tired of being a failure in the eyes of so many. tired of the quiet dark speculating time during the night when i consider whether it was a mistake to leave youth ministry. tired of preaching to the choir and stroking ego’s as a means to an end that i’m not that sure of myself. tired of hailing a new class of "emerging" celebrities. tired of pretending things are ok. tired of apologizing in my sleep to hundreds of former youth across the country for being part of the machine that is truly full of *edit*.
and tired of the church as it stands.
— when God wants me back he can *edit* well ask.
This is the way he describes himself:
No longer a Christian. I thirst for the experiential faith I knew before seminary, before the propositions and peer-pressured altar calls. When passion was stupid but somehow right. When I prayed for someone out of sheer compulsion, not because I was paid for it. When I didn’t care what anyone thought, except my best friend and my dog. The cold wet grass of camp, after a late night of teenage theology swapping. When future and potential tumbled out and was replaced anew with every breath. When Jesus was my savior, not my attorney. With faith as a child. I feel it once in a while and it is glorious. I want more. I want more.
My question for you is the same as it was for him? Did he have faith at all?
I think what helps me not attack Andy, like most of my other “Youth Ministry friends” have, is that I can see myself doing the same thing… bolting. Sometimes I wonder if I have “enough faith” to withstand the peeks and valleys of a life with Jesus.
The reality is that there will come a time in each of our lives where we will have to decide… this faith in Christ… is it worth holding onto?
Or will I bolt?
Will I pretend to not know him?
Here’s the reality… I think that for most of you… that decision needs to be made now.
When life gets tough… are you going to get goin?
And here are the takeaways. You can know you aren’t fake or a hypocrite, that you are an authentic Christian by observing these 4 things from Luke 12.
– Be authentic(v. 8)
– Be transparent (v. 11)
– Be public (v. 2-3)
– Be sincere (v. 6-7)
Bob and I (and Dwaine!) are leaving this morning for Chicago. We’ll be attending Moody’s Founder Week. I’m looking forward to spending time with the guys and hanging out a bit around my alma mater. We’ll be back Saturday night. Since the hotel has wireless and all, I know I’ll be updating.