More Left To Do

We've been going at this "church thing" for over two years now.  When I moved here, I knew nobody and had no idea how to start a church, run a church or a even pastor a church.  I've made so many mistakes, disappointed myself and others, learned a lot, had a few successes, and been generally overwhelmed by the whole deal.  

This past weekend I was out of town and so was Randy, our worship pastor.  But do you know what?  Nobody really cared.  I'm not saying people don't care about me or Randy, I'm just saying that people don't come for me or Randy and that's a great thing.  In fact, I've heard nothing but good things about Sunday.  Dusty did a great job with the message and Marcus and the band were phenomenal.  Thanks guys.

I'm feeling really unsettled lately.  Like there's a lot of changes that need to be made, but I don't know which one needs to be made first, how to do it best, or even when.  Even though Discovery is started and running, I almost feel like I'm back to square one - with more questions than answers and uncertainty then clarity, having to search out and depend on God for direction and guidance.  Not a bad place at all, but still uncomfortable for me.

The one thing I'm becoming more clear on though is that this town needs Jesus.  There are too many people who don't know Him, don't care about Him, or don't understand how much He loves them.  We have so much more work to do and I'm convinced that things are going to get harder in the days ahead - IF we're willing to do what He's called us to do, and that's make disciples.

We can't settle for what is, we need to work for what will be.  I'm praying that there'll be others who are willing to roll up their sleeves and get to work.  It's not about us, it's not even about "them" - it's all about Him.  So, take every opportunity to steer your conversations and activities towards Him.  Anyone with me?  Start praying then.

One, Two, Three FORE!

Last year we had a successful little men's golf retreat so when I was asked to join in again this year, I couldn't resist. It's about the only time I'm guaranteed to play golf more often than once every two or three months. So, unless we have free wireless and I've done well down in Myrtle Beach, I won't be posting anything until next week. Enjoy the time off. I will.

Are You Accessible?

I was making plans and trying to make reservations for a conference I'm going to in October. I knew they offered conference rates, but when I looked online the rates appeared to be cheaper so of course I called. The desk person told me to book it online and that's when my trouble started. I couldn't get it to book more than one room (or so it seemed) and when I tried calling their reservation and help number, I ultimately kept ending up at a place to leave a voicemail (as you can guess, I'm not looking to stay at the Ritz). I kept going back and forth on the website which kept telling me "easy online reservations" and trying to call the "helpful reservation specialists" that I couldn't reach.

In the end I gave up and figured I'd try another time or, more likely, another place. About an hour later, I noticed I got a few emails from this place, emails confirming my reservations - for three different rooms! Apparently I was successful, no thanks to them.

Here's my question: When you look at your church, are you accessible to people? Can people find the answer to their questions? Are there obvious differences between your website and what a real live "front desk" person from your church might say? Do people leave an encounter feeling dumb and uncertain or like they found some answers to their questions? Do you need to be an "insider" to actually know what's going on or can you get plugged in without needing some "missing" information? It's all about the experience, so what kind of experience are the people visiting your church and church's website having?

When It's Quiet

It's after midnight, the kids have all been sleeping for hours and I can't sleep.  My wife is at a conference and won't return until tomorrow evening and I've been sitting here - wondering what to do.  I've read a few chapters in my Bible - even logged on to YouVersion and posted a few comments.  I've read some blogs, thought about ministry, thought about Discovery, my family, the golf trip this weekend and my kids.  I've taken a good hard look at where I'm improving, where I'm lacking, where I'm failing.  I've talked to God and I've listened - I hear the ceiling fans, I hear silence, I hear God whisper to me - "I love you."  That's what I needed to hear.  I love you too God.

Sometimes it's hard to sit in silence.  It's not hard to ask God questions and beg for guidance, wisdom or direction, but it can be hard to wait for an answer.  It certainly is easier when it's quiet though.  I can't have music playing, the TV on or even sounds of people and activity.  I need silence.  I think that's why I like nighttime better - there isn't the impending threat of silence being interrupted like there is in the morning.  Don't get me wrong, there is silence in the morning, but it's more limited.

Makes me wonder though....do other people need silence, feel uncomfortable with silence or avoid silence and look for "noise" to fill the space?  If you wouldn't mind sharing your thoughts I'd be interested in hearing them.

The One Way

What's that you say? Well, Lora headed off to a ministry conference and that means I'm in charge of the house and the kids. That means we do thing MY WAY. What it doesn't mean is that we throw out all the "mommy rules." In fact, we're going to take this opportunity to make sure that we learn a few lessons in team work, effort, finishing a job and finishing it well, and other character stuff like that.

I've discovered that as much as I wish it wasn't, it's a long hard process to instill hard-working, respectful, honest and self-reliant characteristics into your kids. You can't just give them another one of your lectures (tried that) or point out what they're doing wrong and hope they figure out how to "fix things" (yep done that too). The only way to help is consistency. That means you say it, teach it, and enforce it again, and again, and again. That's the one and only way

And it doesn't just apply to kids now does it?

Marriage - Long Term

One of the things I'm passionate about is marriage.  I've got a great marriage - now.  It hasn't always been that way; just ask my wife.  But I've seen what God can do when you seek to honor Him and are willing to let Him make necessary changes in you or your spouse.  It's work, but it's holy work and beyond a doubt, it's worth it.  With that said, let me share a story I heard recently...

A young couple marries and has kids.  We'll call them Mark and Marie.  The husband has Cystic Fibrosis, but Marie doesn't care.  She marries him anyway - knowing that life expectancy has increased for people with Cystic Fibrosis, but also recognizing that life beyond 40 is NOT the norm.  After a few years of marriage and kids, Mark may become one of the "lucky" ones as he receives a double lung transplant.  Through the surgery and long recovery, Marie is there.  She does things for him, takes care of him and constantly tells him she loves him.  Even when complications arise, she doesn't lose hope.  She encourages him, holds his hand and prays for him.  And when the battles continue and Mark is in and out of the hospital with various infections and complications, Marie is there by his side.  Including on the last day of his life.  As always, Marie is there and is holding his hand.  And Mark lies in the hospital bed, resigned to the fact he's not going to see his kids grow up or spend his 'golden years' with Marie.  Mark looks at her, he squeezes her hand, he thanks her and then tells her how he remembers when they said "for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, til death do us part" and how blessed he's been that they both meant it and kept their vows.  Mark died that day.

Marie honored her vows and kept her commitment.  Was it always pleasant or easy?  No.  Was it worth it?  Without a doubt.  Let's stop accepting lame excuses and impotent attempts at working on things and start honoring God and doing the holy work of building up our spouses and our marriages.  It might be rough, might be messy, might be painful - it might not even turn out like you'd expect, but marriage needs to be 'honored by all' and we need to take to heart, Jesus' words when He reminded the Pharisees, "what God has joined together, let no man separate."

I Wonder

After Randy ran over his macbook, I was thinking....I bet nothing would have happened if he drove over air. I mean, if he had a macbook air - maybe he wouldn't have been able to break it so easily. So now that I think about it, I'm wondering if it's not Apple's fault more than Randy's?

Just trying to see how it feels to blame somebody else and not take any responsibility. Feels....empty....like air?

It's Not For That

You see this.  This is Randy's MacBook.  Yep.  He tried to use it as a wheel block to keep his car from moving.  Didn't work.  The car rolled right over it and now the MacBook doesn't work.  Well, actually, it works (for now) but the screen is busted and there are some broken off metal chips inside that will fry the circuit board once they shake loose and short it out.  Heck, it's even bent and has a nice curve from one side to the other.

Randy was going to share the story on Sunday, but we had a little miscommunication.  I was going to ask for someone to step up and replace it for us (since as a church we've committed to a spending fast for July).   So now that you know, if you feel like God's telling you to replace it for us (and Randy) - contact me or you can purchase one and drop it off anonymously.  I'm sure Randy would be very appreciative (as well as us)

BTW - it really was just an accident on his part (a pretty big one, but still just an accident) - he wasn't actually trying to stop his car from moving.

Dig In

Been a little slow and lacking on the blog posts lately. Might be because I'm diggin Twitter (my feed is on the side of this page) or maybe it's something else. One thing I do know is that I've really been enjoying digging in to God's Word lately.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a bit of a procrastinator and that's kept me from working far enough ahead to make everybody (staff, myself, family) happy. I'm about two weeks out on my messages now and that gives me a lot of time to think, dwell, meditate on various portions of God's word. I think about what I read on my own time in the morning, I think about what I'm studying for this series and for the next series, and I think about what others are sharing from their God times. That's a lot of Scripture rolling through my mind. But it's like a Bible bath, and it's refreshing.

I love that my 4 year old gets up, grabs her "princess" bible, crawls in my lap and "reads" with me. I love that my 11 and 9 year old share what they've been reading and what they though about it. I love that we work on memorizing Scripture as a family at meal time - new verses every week. I love that when my two year old (just turned two on Friday!) prays, I can't understand a word, but I know God hears every one.

I can't understand people who are bored with life. I guess that happens when you don't dig in to God's word and allow Him to stir a few things up, clean a few things off and see a few things differently. Now stop reading this and go dig in. You can click right here and get started.

Happy Belated Milestone To Me

Darn it!  I missed it.  A couple days ago I posted my 500th blog entry.  No real significance except that it's a nice round number right in the middle of 1 and 1000.  But I missed it.  So, happy belated milestone (of no significance) to me!

Get In The Book, Get In The Game

I've been encouraged this week by the people from Discovery who've started using YouVersion for their Bible reading and for sharing their thoughts.  I looked just a little bit ago and on the home page of the site, it shows the most recent comments.  EVERY ONE of them is from a Discovery Church person!  That is just cool to me.  I have no idea how many users there are, but there's a list of all the new users added that changes pretty quick.  All I know is that I'm proud of Discovery Church and the people who are getting into the book and have gotten into the game.  You can join too just by creating a free account at YouVersion.com.

God's Word

Had a GREAT little vacation at the lake with Lora's parents and yesterday we started a new series that I hope and pray will be challenging and encouraging people to get into their Bibles.  I felt like yesterday was a little dry because I was covering a lot of stuff on where the Bible came from, who it was written and how we can trust it - good for some, not for others.  One thing I did find interesting in preparing was that the Bible has been translated into ten times the number of languages as it's next closest book and of all things that book is.....Pinnochio?!  Yep.  I thought that was weird.  And we've all heard the Bible is the best-seller of all time and that's true (somewhere between 5 and 6 BILLION) but never would have guessed what was second.....Mao Zedong's writings?!  Yep.

Look, God's Word, the Bible is simply an amazing work of literature apart from the religious aspect of it.  Once you add that in, there's seriously no good reason an educated or uneducated person should ever dismiss the Bible without studying it.  People who think they're so smart are often the ones who say we can't trust the Bible because it's been translated so many different times.  In a sense, they're right - over 2,400 times or about 10 times more than any other book.  But they're foolish to think that too.  Why?  Because it hasn't been translated from translations that were translated from earlier translations.  Instead it's been translated from the original languages (Hebrew or Greek) and perhaps compared to a Latin version (that was translated from Hebrew and Greek).  Like good reporting and good research, if you want to get to the truth, go to the source.

What about all the contradictions?  That's a question you'll hear too.  But let me just say that different perspectives or accounts aren't necessarily contradictions.  For instance if two people witnessed a car accident and one person said the car crashed into something and another person said the car exploded and burned up - they wouldn't have to be a contradiction.  The car could have crashed AND then exploded.  Both can be true.

Anyhow, enough.  let me just challenge you to read your Bible this week.  You can join us as we at Discovery use YouVersion and go through Psalm 119 and/or the reading plan they have built in.  And let me just say how cool it was to look at the home page of YouVersion earlier today and see all but one of the most recent posts coming from Discovery people!

Freedom

It'll have been 232 years since America first declared independence and ushered in an unprecedented time of freedom. I'm off to celebrate that with family and that means I'll be taking a break from blogging until next week. Make sure to enjoy the holiday this weekend and celebrate the freedom we have in this country as well as the freedom we have in Christ.

Too Fast

I'm studying for a series we'll be starting in about 6 weeks or so and it revolves around the Sabbath and rest. Let me just tell you that I think we move way too fast. There's just so much that can be done and stuff we think 'needs' to be done that we don't take time to sit and be still and listen enough. I'm guilty of it and I talk to people all the time who would give one of their appendages for a break.

So as part of my studies I figured I'd ask,

1) what keeps you from taking the kind of rest you want and need?
2) when you do rest, what does that look like?

Any help and insight would be greatly appreciated by more than just me I'm sure.