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Archive for the ‘Formation’ Category

Worth the Trip

Posted in Formation, Grace on July 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Last night Bryson and I made a quick trip to Lubbock to pick up some items for a kitchen remodel project we have started at home.  We decided to try a new product that is used to adhere tile to walls without mortar – much cleaner and faster (if it works).

When we got back home, we read the box only to find that there are two different types of this product – one for counter tops and one for walls.  Guess which one we picked up?

So . . . this morning I got up early to be at Lowes by 7.  I was able t return the boxes of the product we got last night and then go and get the boxes that said “Walls.”  Funny how it says it right there on the package!

I wish I could say that my home improvement projects usually go more smoothly but that would not be factual.  In reality, most of my projects go just about like this – maybe I should learn to read.

But, on the way to Lubbock this morning, I had the most amazing time with God.  The sun was coming up and the horizon was covered by low clouds.  As the sun came up, it outlined the edges of the cumulus with a bright silver.  I experienced God in that picture.  It was just God and me and the sunrise – worth the trip.

How are you going to experience God today?

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Are You Awake?

Posted in Formation, Hope on July 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Have you ever encountered someone sleep-walking?  They are up and walking around, maybe even functioning at some capacity – fixing a sandwich or getting a glass of water, but they are not really “there.”  Sleep walking is what many of us do on a daily basis in our approach to life.

I was reading 1 Thessalonians 5 and was reminded that we are to really live life, not just go through the motions.  The Message translates verses 4 – 8 this way:

But friends, you’re not in the dark, so how could you be taken off guard by any of this? You’re sons of Light, daughters of Day. We live under wide open skies and know where we stand. So let’s not sleepwalk through life like those others. Let’s keep our eyes open and be smart. People sleep at night and get drunk at night. But not us! Since we’re creatures of Day, let’s act like it. Walk out into the daylight sober, dressed up in faith, love, and the hope of salvation.

Paul is telling us that we should not just go through the motions, but rather we should always live our lives aware of the fact that there is something more – more than what we can see, more than we can understand.  As I meditated on this passage, I began to think about how one of my favorite authors described this problem.

Ben Campbell Johnson, in his book, Living Before God, wrote that the majority of people exist in “life-sleep.”  We get up each day, get dressed, go to work or school, do what needs to be done, go home, eat dinner, watch some TV and then go to bed.  The next day looks drastically similar; as do all the others.  The majority of folks live unaware of the spiritual depth of the life all around us.  Life-sleep.

That description has stuck with me for years.  Not because it describes everyone else, but because it describes me – maybe it describes you as well.

Have you ever witnessed a breath-taking sunrise or sunset and felt you had a brief glimpse of what God is like and felt overwhelmed by God’s love and expanse?  That feeling is living as God intended, fully alive.  Anything else is life-sleep.

Paul reminds us that we are not to sleep walk through life but rather to stay alert to the fullness of life all around us.

Wake up – God is waiting!

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Thoughts On Thoughtfulness

Posted in Community, Formation, Motivational on June 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Thoughtfulness requires thinking and thinking requires slowing down long enough to actually think.

There is also an element of planning in thoughtfulness – not to say there is no such thing as spontaneous thoughtfulness, but thoughtfulness should be purposeful.

But at the core of thoughtfulness is the act of putting someone else’s needs above our own and there is something Biblical about that.

Be thoughtful today and touch someone else’s life.

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The New OS4 and Your Relationship With Jesus

Posted in Formation on June 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Last night, actually this morning, I took the time and upgraded my operating system on my phone.  The new OS4 came out last week but I have been holding off on upgrading.  Typically, I will wait until I am confidant that it will work without a lot of bugs and problems.  But last night I decided to go ahead and take the leap.  So far so good.  The home page works a little differently but other than that I have not run across any major changes yet except in the email department – communication.  It is vastly improved.

You may be asking, “Why am I sitting here reading some geek rambling about operating system upgrades?”  Stick with me – I do have a point.

How current is your operating system – your relationship with Jesus?  Do you consistently go to him for current upgrades?  You see, if you are constantly connected to Jesus through Bible reading, prayer, and other practices, the upgrades happen naturally and you don’t even know it.

But, if you aren’t consistently connecting to Jesus, your relationship can grow stale.  And if you are away for too long, your operating system becomes so outdated, it can become dysfunctional and even irrelevant to the world around you.

You see, your relationship with Jesus should be dynamic and real – always growing and improving.  If it is not, then Jesus can’t use you to make a difference in the world around you.  Just like if I refused to update my phone operating system for a couple of years, the newer applications being developed would not perform properly on my phone – they possibly would not perform at all.  Would the phone still work?  Probably, but it would not be relevant to the current needs.

Stay on top of your operating system – make consistent upgrades.  As followers of the Way, Jesus has called us to make a difference in the world around us – but we can’t do that if our relationship with him is not vividly and vitally fresh and real.

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God Cares More About Who You Become Than What You Do

Posted in Formation on June 24, 2010| 1 Comment »

I have written on several occasions about “discerning God’s will” for your life.  Over the last couple of years, God has used some very trying experiences to remind me that being a believer and a follower of The Way is not about me.  I have always believed, and still do, that God has a plan specifically for me – that only I can do to fulfill God’s plan.

What I have found, however, is that this view lends itself to being very ego-centric.  It often causes me to take my eyes off of God and focus more on what I can do for God.

I am slowly coming to believe that God is more concerned about the redemption of mankind than the fulfillment of one man.  I realize this is a controversial stance to take, but I think that if my heart is beating as God’s, then my fulfillment will be realized in joining God on this path.  Does that mean that God does not care about me as a person?  Absolutely God does!  But we have to remember, “It is not about us.”

With this stance, I begin to see that God cares less about whether I sell cars for a living or preach the Gospel and more about whether or not I am learning to love others as Jesus taught us to love.  In other words, perhaps God is concerned more about the person we become and less about what we do for a living.

So today, my prayer for us is that we focus more on becoming the people God created us to be and less on what we think God wants us to do.

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Insignificance In Light of God’s Grandeur

Posted in Formation on June 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »

This morning I was lead to this Psalm.  It is a beautifully poetic description of God and creation.  I encourage you to read it today when you have a minute.  The impact the writer’s words have on me today is that God is beyond imagination in grandeur and I am really small in the grand scheme of things.  But even in my insignificance, God cares for me and listens to me when I call out and when I offer my praise.

Verses 33 and 34 are my prayer today.  Maybe it should be your prayer as well.

33 I will sing to the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the LORD.

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Life Change at Camp

Posted in Formation on June 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Yesterday afternoon, I helped our Children’s Minister carry kids to camp.  It was a four and a half hour drive up to Fort Lone Tree.  We took 15 kids this year.  As we left the church parking lot, the kids were bouncing off the walls – literally.  Over the course of the next couple of hours, they settled into the trip a bit, but as we neared the camp, the excitement grew to the point that as we arrived, they were back to bouncing off the walls.

As I made the four and a half hour drive back home last night, I remembered my days at camp as a child and youth.  I remembered those feelings of excitement.  I also remembered the impact most of those experiences had on my spiritual development.  It was at camp that I began to experience God’s movement in my life like never before.  It was at camp that I first stood before one of the largest groups of  people I had ever seen and spoke and sang.  And it was at camp that I committed my life to serving God fully and completely as a vocation.

So obviously, for me, the Christian camp experience holds great memories.

I have two questions for you today:  Did you have similar experiences at camp as a child?  And second, how do you have those experiences as an adult today?

I would love for you to comment here and tell me what you think.

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Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? . . .

Posted in Formation, Hope on June 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Why did the chicken cross the road?  In this case, to get to my wife’s office.  I suppose it had heard the rumors around the barnyard that my wife takes in stray animals who have lost their way.

Yesterday, my wife was sitting at her desk and looked out the window facing one of the busier streets in town to see a chicken walking down the road.  For those of you who are not familiar with our fair city, that is an unusual sight even for our community.

What made the picture more interesting is that 3 feet behind the chicken was a cat, ready to pounce.  Kristi jumped up and called for backups from some of her co-workers.  As she got to the door, the chicken had already crossed the road and was standing just outside the building.  One of the co-workers picked up the chicken and brought it into the building.

Then started the process of finding the owner.  After a couple of hours of checking around and running a free public service announcement on the local radio station “Trade-E-O,” she was able to find a new home for the fowl with a family who raises chickens.

As I thought about this comical drama, I was reminded that most of us are pursued by undesirable things – habitual sin, past experiences we would like to forget, etc.  Just like that chicken walking down the road and the cat ready to pounce, we are often in the same situation – at any moment we could be pounced upon.

But praise God, we have someone we can run to for safety and rescue.  No matter what road you are on today, and no matter what is about to pounce on you, God is watching and waiting for you to reach out for help.

Don’t be discouraged – take heart – God is always right there!

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Does Serving Jesus Bring You Fulfillment

Posted in Formation on June 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I have been wrestling since yesterday morning. Wrestling with who I am in Christ.  Wrestling with fulfillment.  Do you ever struggle with being fulfilled – with being happy?

Reading Thomas Merton is what started the wrestling yesterday.  Here is what I read:

We are what we love.  If we love God, in whose image we were created, we discover ourselves in him and we cannot help being happy: we have already achieved something of the fullness of being for which we were destined in our creation.  If we love everything else but God, we contradict the image born in our very essence, and we cannot help being unhappy, because we are living a caricature of what we are meant to be.

I have been wrestling with fulfillment and how that is directly related to what or who I love and it excites me to think that by loving God, I am achieving a little of what God intended for me.

Fulfillment comes when we function as God intended – and a part of that is found in loving God.  Sounds simple enough but it takes not loving other things on a daily basis – some of them may be good things but if they dilute your love for God then they are pulling you away from what you were created to be and do.  Jesus said we can’t serve two masters – it’s true!

Love God today and live a fulfilled and happy life!

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Watch That Camera Bag!

Posted in Formation, Humor on June 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Yesterday I had to make a flying trip (literally) to El Paso to finalize the details for our upcoming mission trip to the area.  As I was boarding the plane to head home, I was behind a gentleman who was having a little difficulty managing his carry-on bags.  He had a roll-on bag and then a camera bag.  He was holding the camera bag by the strap as he attempted numerous times to place his larger bag in the overhead compartment.  I was 3 people behind him in line and couldn’t help, and unbeknownst to him, each time he attempted to wedge the bag into it’s unwilling home for the ride, his camera bag swung around and hit an elderly lady in the head who was already seated in the row in front of him.

The patient woman did nothing except smile at me as if to say, “Somebody please do something.”  From where I was standing, I could do nothing but smile back.  Inside I wanted to burst out laughing.  I mean the bag wasn’t really smacking her around – otherwise, doing nothing would have been insensitive and just wrong.  The bag was barely brushing her hair as she dodged it each time it swung around her head but it was still hilarious to watch.

As I sat through the flight, the picture of the bag swinging around and the helpless look of the elderly lady kept coming to mind.  Once I got over my immature side and began to think about the scene, I wondered how many times I have been unaware of imposing on others.

How often has my insensitivity toward those around me caused problems for someone else?  We are called to love God with all our hearts, minds and strength and to love others as ourselves.  This means we must be concerned about how our actions impact those around us.

Moral of the story: be careful when putting your luggage into the overhead compartment – or – pay attention to your actions and how they impact others, you may be the only Jesus that person sees today.

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