Photo Credit: Jon Ashcroft

There are many words that people can use to define you.

• Young
• Haughty
• Mean
• Depressed
• Lost
• Dumb
• Bi-Polar
• Driven
• Angry
• Obsessed
• Liar
• Cheater
• Hyper
• Boring
• Addict
• Divorced
• Widowed
• Scorned
• Lazy
• Thief
• Loser
• Used-to-be
• Worn out
• Beggar
• Dreamer
• Old
• Out-of-shape
• Bitter
• Aloof

But did you know that you can choose how you’ll be defined? You don’t have to continue to wear the label you’ve been pinned. You don’t have to wear the hat that’s been forced on your head.

Those things don’t define you unless you let them.

I’m choosing my label. And my choice is “graced.”

Despite my past. Despite my failures. Despite my weaknesses. Despite my challenges and frustrations and “personality.”

I am defined by grace.

For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted  the church of God. But by God’s grace I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not ineffective. – Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:9-10

*photo credit: John Ashcroft via Creation Swap

 

I tend to forget.

I get wrapped up into systems and organizational health and execution.

I get wrapped up into “best practices” and “change” and “techniques.”

I get wrapped up into “what’s next” and “what’s not working” and “who needs to be at this table.”

I tend to forget.

Not that leadership principles are wrong, or we shouldn’t be thinking about “what’s next.”

Or systems aren’t important.

Or learning “best practices” from others isn’t something we should be doing consistently.

But may we never that without God’s presence, none of this matters.

Without God’s presence, organizational execution is meaningless.

Without God’s presence at the table, nobody else’s presence matters.

I tend to forget.

Moses said to God, “Look, you tell me, ‘Lead this people,’ but you don’t let me know whom you’re going to send with me. You tell me, ‘I know you well and you are special to me.’ If I am so special to you, let me in on your plans. That way, I will continue being special to you. Don’t forget, this is your people, your responsibility.”

God said, “My presence will go with you. I’ll see the journey to the end.” – Exodus 33:12-14, the Message

Do you ever forget?

 *Photo credit: iStockPhoto user CourtneyK

 

Photo credit: Creative Commons User Herzensangelegenheit

I need you to use your gifts.

Because when you use your gifts, something awakens in me.

I can’t always explain it, but

• when you teach, light bulbs go off.
• when you sing, my heart sings.
• when you lead, I follow.
• when you serve, I want to serve.
• when you love, I understand God a little better.
• when you give, I want to give.
• when you open your home, I feel God’s presence.
• when you share your wisdom, life makes more sense.

You see things I don’t see. Hear things I don’t hear. Taste things I don’t taste. Understand things I don’t understand.

When you use your gifts, I see God in a new light.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. – 1 Peter 4:10

*Photo credit: Creative Commons User Herzensangelegenheit 

 

Priscilla Shirer spoke at Catalyst 2011 in Atlanta. She leads Going Beyond Ministries. She spoke on the danger of “sleeping” through life and wishing it away.

Her mom and dad once said to her, “You don’t live here anymore, but your stuff is still here. You need to get what you want by December 9th. On the 10th, we’re getting rid of it.”

This exercise ended up being a lot of fun to her.

There was a box full of old journals, and it was fun to interact with herself…the Priscilla from a decade ago.

As she read through her journals, she realized that she had effectually slept through long seasons of life, as she noticed that she had wished away and raced through so many years of her life.

Her life seemed to be marked by the statement, “I cannot wait until…”

“If I’m not careful, I will never be fully present and engaged in where I am right now because you’ll keep wanting what’s yet to come. I’d been sleepwalking through whole seasons of life.”

In Scripture, so many times people have been derailed from the plan that God has from them right now, and that God’s not left even though there are many interruptions.

“I don’t want to wake up one day and say, ‘Surely the Lord was there with me, but I missed him.’”

Secrets for Sleepwalkers

1. Our eyes can be open to God’s activities even in the midst of discouragement.

Luke 24:13-35, we see that a couple of guys have just had their plans interrupted. Jesus is the guy that they’re hanging their hopes on, and he’s just been crucified. They’re’ not sure that the rumors about Jesus being raised from the dead are true.

But then we read, “And behold…” This word “behold” calls attention to a specific point. It emphasizes an idea and calls attention to a detail. These guys were in the midst of a “behold” moment, even though they were frustrated by their circumstances.

Your story might be about to change, but you don’t even know it.

Beholding is knowing something and seeing it with spiritual eyes even when others can’t.

“My sons love to swim, and we bought them goggles. But when they went underwater, they kept their eyes closed. They didn’t’ know that they had the equipment to see under water. And the same is true for us, because we have Jesus Christ.”

2. There’s a secret in going home.

Some of us believe that the pinnacle of our Christian experience is to be had in large gatherings and taught from the platform. But the pinnacle should be when you take what you learn in the pew and it makes a difference on the sidewalk in your community.

3. There’s a secret of silence, of controlling the words that come out of your mouth (v. 14-16).

In this passage, there are 7-8 verses where the disciples are just talking. Something is wrong when you’re with God and you’re the only one talking.

There’s probably a part of your life that you don’t really care for and in which you’re being interrupted. But in those frustrations, listen for God’s voice and experience His power.

Are you ready to hear from God?

 

Mark Driscoll founded Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. He also founded the Acts 29 Church Planting network, as well as The Resurgence.

Mark spoke on fear.

In dealing with fear, the first question to ask is this:

What are you afraid of?

Heights? Widths? Mice? Bugs? Snakes? Spiders? Clowns?

Conflict? Failure? Criticism? Embarrassment?

Fear in the mind causes stress in the body.

It’s invariable that leaders have fear. Your body starts to manifest the fear. Maybe that’s a nervous eye twitch. Maybe that’s canker sores.

Then you start eating badly or drinking too much.

You start getting sinus problems and headaches. Some of you just start reading a lot of books on the rapture, wanting this life to just be over.

Mark was afraid when he started Mars Hill: what if this doesn’t work?

Then people came, and his fear was: what if they stay?

Luke 12:25 says, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

Fear is not always a sin, but it is always an opportunity

In dealing with fear, the second question to ask is this:

Who are you afraid of?

This is one of the most important question a leader can ask. Because someone other than God is taking the place that only God should have in our lives. We feel like we need someone to feed us, praise us, and not oppose us…we begin to need them for life. We place people in positions of fear, then we worship them as functional gods.

When you fear someone, you cannot love them. Because to love someone is to give to them, but to fear them is to take from them.

The key of all idolatry is that we trade the creator God for created things…and other people are the likely candidates for this.

Proverbs 29:25 shows us that the fear of man is a trap. It may be that you’re afraid of someone, or that you’re in awe of a person, giving them too much influence on your spiritual, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

The fear of man is fearing others instead of God. At a young age, it’s called peer pressure. As adults, it’s called co-dependency or people pleasing.

Do you have a fear of man problem?

• Whose opinion matters way too much to you?
• Is your appetite for praise too healthy?
• Are you overly devastated by criticism? Criticism may hurt…but it shouldn’t devastate. Criticism is constant, instant, permanent, and global. (Rick Warren)
• Are you committed to things and people that God did not call you to? Don’t follow other people’s calling on your life…follow God’s.

What is fear?

1. Fear is vision without hope.

Fear means that we see vision in the worst possible scenario, and we freak out. Fear sees the future, and says that it’s going to be painful and so it drives you to stress and fear.

2. Fear isn’t always rational, but it is always powerful.

3. Fear is about not getting what we want

…or getting what we want and losing it…or getting what we don’t want.

4. Fear preaches a false Gospel.

It says, “There is a potential Hell awaiting you, and you could have an alternative heaven on earth, so you need a functional savior.” It gives us a false hell, a false heaven, and a false savior. It’s a savior that we, through fear, have created in our imagination.

5. Fear turns us all into false prophets.

Ever been afraid of a future event, then when you got there, it wasn’t just like you thought it would be?

What is the solution to fear?

The Bible says, “Fear not.” Which is the most frequently listed commandment in the whole book.

But the Bible says that it’s not just about facing your fears…it’s about being with God.

The Bible on Fear

• Adam, our first father, as we see in Genesis 3, is afraid after he sins. He’s hiding, and God comes to him and answers his fear by being present with Adam. He pursues Adam in the midst of his fear.
• Abraham, in Genesis 15:1, is told to fear not because God is his shield.
• Isaac, in Genesis 26:24, is told to fear not because God is with him. He’s told to remember he’s not alone.
• Genesis 28:15: “I am with you.”
• Exodus 33:14, Moses is told that God’s presence will go with him. “how can I lead these people? I don’t know where we’re going, but I’ve got to lead them!” God’s answer isn’t “here’s a map,” but it’s “here I am.”
• Elijah, on the battlefield, in 2 Kings 1:15, “Fear not!” (on the brink of war)
• David: Psalm 23 says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear, because God is with me.” Things may not be ok, but I’m ok because God is with me.
• Isaiah 41:14: “Do not fear, you worm of Jacob.” Can you think of anything more defenseless than a worm? Little girls pick them up and mock them. “Little Israel, fear not, for I myself will help you.” Though the fears are real, the lack of resources is real…fear not, I bring resources.
• Jeremiah 1:8 – fear not, for I am with you.” Jeremiah has lots to be afraid of. He smote sad that indie rockers. He’s the “weeping prophet.” “Why did I get out of my mother’s womb? Cursed is the man who brought my mother the news that I was going to be a boy.” He couldn’t’ even get married. He was depressed, by himself, an indie rocker poet.
• Daniel 10:12: fear not, Daniel, for I have come.”
• Haggai 2:4-5: be strong, be strong, be strong.” Be strong because God is with him.
• What did God tell Mary through the angel? Fear not, teenage girl. God will be with you.
• Matthew 28:20 – “I will be with you.”

You know what we have to fear more than anything? DEATH.

But the worst thing that can happen to you is that you die and go to be with Jesus. We need to reset our worst-case scenario. The worst-case scenario is that you go to be with Jesus sooner rather than later…that’s not so bad!

When times are at the hardest, and your grief goes the deepest, remember, “Fear not, God is with you.”

Everything may not be ok, but if God is with you, you’re ok.

 

Photo credit: Creation Swap user Marian Trinidad

Once, a friend of mine ask me to take a whiff of some smelling salts. In order not to appear weak, I did.

Turns out those things are potent.

I got a headache that lasted for about an hour. And I can still, even right now, remember that smell so vividly that it gives me the chills.

These salts are meant for reviving ‘dead’ people. They leave a mark on you so significant that you’ll remember that smell for the rest of your life. When you hear someone talking about smelling salts, you’re taken right back to that moment when you smelled them.

The Mark of Love

And that’s what God’s mercy and love does to us. It wakes us up from death. It revives us from our slumber.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air… – Ephesians 2:1-2

We were held captive by our sin. Chained to our death.

But God’s love pulled us out of our slumber. Out of the mess. It woke us to the beauty offered in forgiveness and beckoned us with hope. God’s love said, “I know your past. I understand your heart better than you do. But I want you anyway.”

And I need that reminder. Every day I need it. Because my heart is prone to wander and doubt. It’s prone to forget even the most important Truth it could ever know: God knows me and still loves me.

I need to go back and smell the salts again. Remind myself of the potency of grace. Feel the chills of the salts one more time.

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation…” – Psalm 51:12

*Photo credit: Creation Swap (Marian Trinidad)

 

I talked with a friend the other day who’s in his 50s. We were talking about a potential job opportunity on his table.

It was a significant step up in pay and influence. I asked him, “Why aren’t you strongly considering this?”

He responded with, “At my age, I can’t make a move like that. If I fail, I’ll have nowhere else to go. Statistics prove that people who have been in my position for as long as I have and transition to another church tend to only spend a couple of years there before they leave.”

There are two important words in what he said. “Statistics show…”

photo credit: Creative Commons License, user Mac Steve

Here’s my word of advice for anyone who uses that phrase:

Who cares what statistics show?!?

Statistics show

• That everyone dies. But I’m not ready for that.
• That more marriages end in divorce than stay the course. But I’m not going to quit fighting for the health of my marriage.
• That I’ll be an absent dad. But I’m not going to let that happen.

Who cares what the statistics say? Not me. I’m not letting statistics hold me back.

I’m thankful that God isn’t limited by what statistics say has to happen.

God isn’t limited by statistics.

• Gideon led an army of 22,000 300 to conquer the Midianites (Judges 6-8). Against the statistics.
• Moses led the Israelites out of slavery to the most powerful man in the world. With no weapons (Exodus 12:31-40). Against the statistics.
• Daniel was thrown into a pit of lions and survived to be a leader for his exiled people (Daniel 6). Against the statistics.
• David, a boy at the time, defeated the best warrior the the Philistines had (1 Samuel 17). Against the statistics.
• Abraham and Sarah birthed a nation at the ripe old age of 100 (Genesis 21:1-7). Against the statistics.
• Jesus had 12 followers that took the Gospel to the ends of the earth (Acts). Against the statistics.

Statistics don’t hold a candle to God.

I know that wisdom takes statistics into account. Statistics aren’t evil, but can help inform our decisions. We should take them into account. But we should not use them solely in our decision making.

Don’t let statistics determine your decision.

Remember that you serve a God who overcomes odds and breaks through strongholds. He won’t be stopped by a mere statistic.

Neither should you.

*photo credit: Creative Commons user: Mac Steve

 

My friend, Brad House (on Twitter HERE), has written a book, Community: Taking Your Small Groups off Life Support, that calls on you to wake up to the life-changing, community-altering reality of biblical, authentic, Gospel-centered community.

This book will challenge you to take your groups to the next level, equipping your church to facilitate small groups focused on transformation through the Gospel.

Check out this promo, then pick up a copy HERE.

 

Creation Swap: Joe Cavazos

It wasn’t just a miscarriage. It didn’t feel like we were “losing a pregnancy.” It felt like we were losing a baby.

Those are the words I’ve uttered countless times to countless people. As the news eked in through little spurts of information from multiple ultrasounds and blood tests, what we feared became a reality. “It’s not a viable pregnancy” didn’t make the pain or reality disappear. It didn’t make the baby growing inside my wife any less of a human.

Earlier this year, my wife experienced the most pain we’ve experienced in our marriage. My wife processed it out loud on my blog HERE.

Though the pain wasn’t as visceral for me, it was no less real. Through the process, I learned some valuable lessons.

Lessons I learned through a miscarriage

Every life is a gift.

I value my own life, and especially the life of my won, so much more now. It’s so much more valuable.

Every life is miracle.

Seeing that this whole pregnancy/birthing process doesn’t just happen automatically has really helped me see how each and every birth is a great miracle.

Experiencing a miscarriage is a real loss.

Not that I didn’t understand this from a theological, academic standpoint. But going through it myself, experiencing that loss, has given me a greater understanding of how to minister to people who are experiencing this. We had talked about the difficulty of miscarriages in seminary. But it was all theory. And I know that someone doesn’t have to go through every difficulty before they can help someone else. But there’s a different weight, a different level of help, that you give once you’ve experienced the exact pain that another person is experiencing.

There’s no “getting over” this.

I dont’ think it’s possible to really “get over” this loss. You can move on. You can grow. But to think that you can “get over” this as if it never really happened is foolish. Anytime you experience significant pain, the answer in coping is learning how to deal with life differently, because life has been altered.

My wife and I are doing well. We’ve grown because of this. Grown in ways we probably wouldn’t have otherwise.

We’ve still not had the joy of getting pregnant again. Maybe God will see fit for us to head back down that path. But maybe not.

Regardless, we’re trusting Him.

*photo credit Creation Swap user: Joe Cavazos

 

Creative Commons: Dustin and Jenae

Confession:  I just may have learned more while working at a coffee shop than I did in graduate school.

I learned plenty of theory in school…but it was ‘real life’ that I learned while working for slightly more than minimum wage with a group of folks who could care less about what I was studying in books written by dead guys.

I developed some amazing relationships while I worked there. With real people who had real problems and real objections and real passions. It became a way that I stayed grounded while being immersed in the world of ivory towers.

Many days, my coworkers and I would talk back and forth about religion, theology, and finding God.  They coworkers were always open to an honest dialog, and their responses were much more…*colorful*…than most “church” people share.  Which I found refreshing.

We rarely agreed on any matters of faith.  But it was okay.  We could still work together and serve together even though we were on opposite pages on many key issues.

But I found that there was one thing that caused everyone in the store to bristle up.  It didn’t matter if you were a theologian or a hater of all things faith-based. Injustice trumped all of that.

I could be having a dialog about why God exists, with the other person digging in their heels as to why they believe that all of life is just an accident…when out of the blue, one of our coworkers would get chewed out by a customer.  And you know what didn’t matter at that moment?

What we believed about God.

We would all rally around that coworker and find out how we could remedy the situation.

One night, we were closed for the evening, and a customer tried to come through drive thru and order a drink. The customer ripped the barista apart for being closed.  Injustice.  You think the only ones who responded were the ones who believed in an ultimate Creator?  Nope.  Everyone did.

Fighting injustice together was much more powerful than my talks on apologetics and theology.

One time, 3 people went out of their way to give 5-star service selflessly.  The customer stormed off, still angry that her coffee wasn’t perfect, not even acknowledging the sacrifice that the barista made.  Injustice.  The rest of the baristas felt that injustice and were angry for them.

Once, our ‘tip jar’ was stolen.  Which meant that, for that week, each person lost out on a grand total of $1.23.  Not a huge deal, right?  But that injustice caused all of the workers to get fired up, angry that they (and their friends) were unjustly treated.

I share these things to point out that it doesn’t matter what you believe about God.  Whether you’re a 5-point Calvinist, an Evolutionary Creationist, a Deutero-Isaiah-ite, or admittedly a non-follower-of-Christ, injustice is injustice.  You don’t’ even have to believe in God for injustice to find you and stir you up.

So is injustice a better apologetic?

We talked in grad school about the theological concept that God’s law is written on even the hearts of people who don’t believe in God (Romans 1:19-23).  I got to see this practically fleshed out.

Finding common ground is essential any time you’re trying to defend your faith.  But instead of just finding common intellectual ground, you may find more unity around the concept of injustice.  Because we all hate it.

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God. – Micah 6:8

Question:

Does ‘injustice’ get you fired up?

Is injustice a better apologetic than traditional, rationally and intellectually-driven methods?

*Photo by Dustin & Jenae