Living for the Long Haul!

This morning I am pondering a principle that has become my mantra over the years. If you play now, you will certainly pay later, but if you pay now, you will be able to play later. This principle is one that is easy to say and much harder to live. First, I believe this principle should cause us to look at the real long haul of eternity. There is only one way to spend eternity in heaven with God and that is by receiving and declaring the Lordship of Jesus while we are here on this earth. No other decision weighs heavier on our future than the decision to live for Jesus and carry out His plans and purposes on the earth. To prepare for one's "future" without preparing for eternity is the most foolish of all priorities. One of the greatest privileges that I enjoy is the amazing opportunity and responsibility that I have to provide for my family. As my kids get older, I get increasing joy from providing resources and opportunities to them and training them according to their personality and "bent". What a shame it would be for me to attempt to "pad my retirement" and neglect the legacy that God has given me in my three children. I will be a "rich" man as my kids follow God and walk in their individual destinies. In life and ministry, the "sow" always comes before the "reap". In relationships there is always a tremendous investment of time before there can be trust or loyalty. As a church in a rural community, we continue to love and invest in our community as people slowly take note of our stability and consistency. If Jesus tarries, we continue to build strong foundations for God to use for His Kingdom for years to come. Seasons of reaping always encourage us and inspire us, but it is the seasons of building and sacrifice that ensure that "harvest" is on it's way. So many in our generation seem to be looking for the quick fix, instant viral fame, and microwave success. While there may be those who "hit the lottery" of success, the majority of those who live a blessed life do so because they have invested much and made solid decisions over a long period of time. Some have said, "it's not how you start, but how you finish" I contend that you cannot finish strong without a strong start. But if you don't finish the race, your strong start will not matter at all. So learn from the past, work hard in the present, and plan for the future at every turn. Put God first and Live for the Long Haul. Eternity will prove who was wise and who was a fool!

The Recoil

Life is full of challenges, disappointments, and very confusing situations. It is a reality! Doesn't matter if you are rich or poor, doesn't matter if you are outgoing or shy, doesn't get easy just because you know God and choose to obey Him. But when we choose to be guided by the Word of God and led by God's Holy Spirit we have the opportunity to respond and react to problems and let downs very differently than most people. Most leaders are wired by God with high expectations, lofty goals, and big vision, which is very necessary to challenge and inspire people toward God's best for their lives, but with those high expectations come hard disapointments. I believe that our effectiveness in life has just as much to do with handling difficult situations as it does with setting God inspired goals and working hard to reach them. So here are some things I am learning abou the recoil:

1. Don't always trust your first response-the quick response is not always the best response!

2. Use every challenge to reevaluate your motives and seek God about what you could have done differently- stay teachable!

3. Realize that if you love people, try to help people, and have a genuine desire to serve people, said people will no doubt receive what you freely give and seldom value and esteem it properly which is likely the reason that they are in need-never stop giving freely.

4. The more we endeavor to treat others like God treats us the better the outcome of any situation will be- always better to be too gracious than add insult to injury.

5. There is always safety in a multitude of good counsel-having a team and being a part of the team insures you are never alone in the battle.

6. Being defensive or going on the attack only proves our insecurity and our need to be right at whatever the cost-people are always the most valuable aspect of any situation.

7. Forgiveness is only necessary when someone has wronged you and submission is only necessary when you disagree with someone.

Edwin Lewis Cole always said "how you leave one situation or season will be how you enter the next." Never underestimate how your current challenge is the opportunity to prove that you are ready for what God has in store for you ahead. Don't lose sight of the big picture, and never let someone else's decision's get you off course with God's plan for your life and ministry. Put the Word to work in your life and watch how God will reposition you for His best as you handle the recoil to difficult situations with wisdom and grace.

Sunday night reflections

So amazed at how awesome God is and how good He is to us in always leading us to the right places, to the right people, and always to Himself. God has truly ordered our steps as we have launched our Saturday night service in WCH, merged our worship teams, and rolled out a very bold series with vision to reach a region just like they did in the book of Acts! We have talked about being Cause Driven, Committed, and Consumed by God. This weekend I was impassioned with a message from the 3rd and 4th chapter of Acts. I was so touched with how Peter was absolutely transformed on the day of Pentecost that it caused him to look at the lame and the poor very differently. Peter was consumed with God so much so that the world around him was changed by his bold obedience to God. I am so challenged by the simple fact that Jesus did not give "everything" so that we could give Him "something"! Jesus deserves our "everything"! I am also very intrigued with a missionary legend named James Hudson Taylor who is known as the most prolific missionary since the Apostle Paul. He said something that I have not been able to shake this whole week. "I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might help Him. I ended up by asking Him to do his work through me." I desire to be known not just for how God helps me or what little I could do to help Him, but that the measure and legacy of my life would be what God would do through me!

It's Monday morning again! This week absolutely flew by. Well, my day off got scheduled with some unexpected meetings, so rest will have to wait for another day. As I reflect about what God has done this past month and year, I am just absolutely amazed. He has continued to brand on our hearts this amazing vision of reaching our region for Jesus. He continues to bring amazing leaders to us who really genuinely love God and have such a heart to see people reached and grow in God. He continues to provide enough resources even in the most chaotic of economies here in Wilmington. He continues to bless our lives and our family with amazing friends to do life and ministry with. God has been so faithful to us and His grace on us only increases as challenges come. This week is going to be really crazy and full, so I am determining now to make the most of every minute and leverage all that God has done for me to encourage and inspire as many as possible to embrace all that God has for us this year. Oh yeah, I am already behind a few days on my #1 resolution, but not doing too bad cutting back on the junk! Water for most meals, more fruit, smaller portions, not planning to lose it all in a week, just getting some better habits in place. Blessings

2010

This is a brand new year and brand new decade. I love new things. Like most people I have made some real resolutions for this coming year. I have taken the last couple of weeks to really think and pray about this coming year and while I am really excited about what is ahead, I realized today that most of my thinking and praying is about our church. I have been consumed with launching fresh vision, planning messages and meetings, writing role descriptions and updating flow charts for different areas of ministry, and a thousand other things that will produce great results for our church. But today (my first day off without a houseful of kids) I am exploring my personal vision, what God is saying to just me and only me. I am seeking Him about what He wants for me this year. I know I want to be more committed, more disciplined, and more excited about Jesus this year than any year before, but today I am grappling with how to really accomplish that. I love the Word of God, I love to read and study, but I have never had a consistent daily reading plan. I grew up thinking that was rigid and boring, I have always preferred to read and study as I have been led by God, and once in the Word, I rarely stop before I have to. I find the Word of God totally consuming and intriguing. This year I want to try something new though, I really want to read through the Bible without a personal agenda and without preparing any message or sermon from it. This may very well be the toughest thing I have ever done. I also really want to be a great husband and dad this year. I am convinced that at the end of the day, at the end of the year, and at the end of this coming decade, how many people our church reaches and touches will not matter to God near as much as how strong my marriage is and how secure our kids feel in this crazy world. I live and preach that every person that has experienced the saving power of God should become a witness and reach out to as many people as possible. But more importantly is the simple fact that you can win the whole world and still lose at home. I am determined not to be in the statistics of pastors and ministers that live with urgency but without priority. I have also realized that one of my personal resolutions is be healthy enough to play with my grand kids someday and if Jesus tarries, I want to be around to cheer on my kids and my spiritual kids as they shake their culture and reach their generation for Jesus. So as simple as it sounds, I have narrowed my personal goals for this year to: 1. putting the Word first and purposing to digest it as often as I do natural food. 2. putting my family first which means I am going to keep dating my amazing wife, I am going to keep having lots of fun with my kids so they can grow up with a dad and not just a pastor 3. I am going to rest so that I can have plenty of energy for my family and friends and not just my calling. 4. I am going to do a better job of taking care of myself, so I am going to stop fuelling myself with junk, start eating more fruits and veggies, and work on a plan to get more exercise.

I am already overwhelmed with all these goals so in order to keep my sanity and stay accountable I am resolving to do something I have always enjoyed and never have been able to devote very much time to and that is writing. So if you don't see me posting very much, that probably means that I am focusing on the other resolutions. And if you see me posting too much, you may want to send me a note and make sure I am eating good and exercising because I probably gave up those aspirations for this one.

What's New?

"What's new?" is a question that I get asked on a regular basis. Most of the time it is just a conversation starter, but sometimes people are genuinely interested in what is happening fresh in your life, what is new and exciting, or what has changed since the last time they saw you. I got a little reflective today and thought I would write a bit so here it goes: "Change" is a regular part of my vocabulary. I live for the new and fresh. Like many people I prefer to shower every morning, put on fresh clothes, deodorant, and cologne. I like fresh sheets on my bed once a week or so, and I love the windows open at our house in the spring and fall, but closed with cool air going when it is hot outside. I try to clean out my garage and closet with each season change so that I have what I need and put away what I don't. I like to drive different ways to and from home, work, and school. I get bored easily I guess and I never did like the connotation of being bored. Even as a kid, being bored meant I lacked the creativity or energy or motivation to do something productive. So as an adult I try to avoid boredom at all costs. I have found life to be much more fun that way! So I like new fresh things. Interestingly, in the last 11 years that Amie and I have been married, we have lived in one apartment, two townhouses, both of our parents houses, 3 ranch houses, one two story house, and an old farmhouse-don't ask! We have remodeled, refurbished, repainted, and redone more than our share and loved every minute of it. I love the expression "Constant change is here to stay"! However, there are some things in my life that have stayed the same. I have loved Jesus for the last 25 years of my life. I have since I can remember believed the Bible is the Word of God and that has not changed. Since high school I have had an unquenchable desire to read and study God's Word and though I have missed many different days and at times allowed other things to distract my attention, I have maintained an intense desire to know and understand God's Word and experience It's power in my life. As a young man I received a definite and undeniable call from God to seek Him, live for Him, and invest my life to encourage other people to seek Him and live for Him too. So now for the last 15 years through all the change and transition, the constant thing in my life has been God's faithfulness and consequently my desire to please Him and follow Him with everything that I am and everything I have. One of the main reasons that I have enjoyed the constant faithfulness of God is because of the constant faithfulness of my parents to God. For the 20 years before the last 15 years my parents had one constant thread of stability woven through their life of change and transition-the goodness and faithfulness of God. They have loved God and loved me through thick and thin, through good times and through the most challenging of times. For their love, encouragement, influence, and example I am forever grateful and thankful. And with the foundation of their example, there is another relationship that has been constant in my life for the last 14 years: my wife Amie. As much as I like change and enjoy transition, there is nothing more fun than experiencing all the different seasons of life with the same beautiful and amazing woman. At every turn she keeps me grounded, focused, encouraged, and well taken care of in every sense of the phrase. Outside of Jesus, Amie has been the most constant and unwavering person in my life and she only gets better with age and time. There are some other constants that I value and they are friendships with people that I have been blessed to be a part of their lives, some for more than 10 years and a few for 15 or more years. Some friendships are for seasons, but the ones that last throughout the different seasons of life are so precious and priceless. So with all the things that are so rapidly changing around me, may God help us keep the right things consistent and constant! May we have the courage and commitment to keep Jesus the Lord of our lives. May we fight for our marriages and learn to love and enjoy each passing year and may we cherish and honor the individuals and families in our lives that we are blessed to call friends!

What to be known for?

In a culture that seems to offer a plethera of choices, opportunities, and options, the question remains how will we determine our legacy? Technology and tranportation makes information of any kind quickly and readily at our fingertips. With churches on every corner, multiple schooling options, libraries in every community, and online access to the world, how does anyone navigate through the competing confusion to find the direction and purpose that fits their personality, giftings, dreams, and desires. In a culture where virtual businesses are bought and sold for millions, carreers are launched through reality TV competetions, people win hundreds of thousands of dollars as contestants on gameshows, and a person who plays a certain sport well enough can make 20 times the income of the average person that comes to watch them. How can anyone maintain a focus on true values like hard work, honesty, integrity, faithfulness, and consistency when our culture bombards the impressionable with all the wrong impressions. Legacy then is passing on a thousand enticing options to choose one bold value, no matter how simple or seemingly unpopular to attach ourselves to and never let go. Legacy is fearlessly traveling the path of most resistence and never looking back. Legacy is finishing any stage of life without allowing yourself to be stripped of every hope, dream, and moral fiber. To emerge from the battles of everyday life with character and integrity intact is a feat that few accomplish, but to consider your closely guarded priorities not as a trophy to be put on display, but as a batton to be passed to the next generation, that is legacy!