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Archive for the ‘Hope’ Category

I Saw Jesus In a Restaurant Downtown

Posted in Church, Community, Hope on September 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Monday night, I saw Jesus and it was amazing and humbling all at the same time.  No, I didn’t have some mystical experience.  I physically saw the hands and feet of Jesus.

I saw his hands carrying a bowl of stew to man who walked in with a confused look on his face as he was told to find a place to sit and we would serve him.  I saw Jesus’ arms as they hugged a senior adult lady before she left the restaurant.  I saw Jesus in the smiles of the nearly 20 volunteers from our 1st B family who gave of their time to serve a free meal to those in our community who could use something to eat.

But more than anywhere else, I saw Jesus in the hearts of the two ladies who opened their restaurant and cooked the food at their own expense in order to provide a free meal to those who needed it.

Yes, Monday night I saw Jesus and my life may never be the same!

Be a blessing to someone else today!

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Listen To God And Bring Them Along

Posted in Church, Hope, Leadership on September 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Last Wednesday, during my prayer and reading time, I was feeling a little overwhelmed with the pressures of the day.  It was early in the morning before anyone in the house was up, but already I was feeling like there was no way to get it all done.  There were meetings to lead and planning to be done.  The church is in the midst of searching for a music minister and so trying to discern God’s direction has been heavy on my mind and heart for weeks.  All these things were running through my mind.

I began to pray and take my focus off my day and put it on God.  As I did, God began to calm me down.  I opened my Bible and began to read but as I read and prayed, my mind began to race back toward my list of things to do that day.  I continued to try and focus on God and what God would say to me and the most amazing thing happened.  God spoke.

No, not in an audible voice but it was clearly God.  God impressed me with this thought and these words, “Listen to me and bring them along.”

As a pastor, I needed to be reminded of that simple process.  My calling is to listen to God and then bring people along the path God has chosen for us.  Am I the only one God speaks to in our church?  Absolutely not.  But I am in the position that people look to me for leadership.  So it was helpful to remember that my primary task is to listen to God and then lead people in God’s direction.

Many of you are leaders in your churches.  You have people who look to you to take the lead.  Stop today and listen to God.  Remember that God has a plan for you and those you lead.  Your task is to simply listen to God and then bring them along.

Be blessed today.

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Join the Highway Crew

Posted in Church, Community, Hope on September 11, 2013| Leave a Comment »

The area of the state in which I live has been seen as a desert for a number of years.  But lately, God has blessed us with some much needed rain and the crops are looking healthy.  So I don’t hear the term “desert” as much these days.

Image

This morning I was moved to Isaiah 40 in my reading.  As I read these verses, I thought about the calling God has given me.  And beyond me, the calling God has given the church.  Verses 3-5 say this

A voice is calling,
“Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

 “Let every valley be lifted up,
And every mountain and hill be made low;
And let the rough ground become a plain,
And the rugged terrain a broad valley;
 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
And all flesh will see it together;
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Make a smooth highway in the desert for our God.  I may not be in a literal desert, but I see the evidence of a spiritual desert all around me.  Spiritually, the people of this area are parched.  Nothing grows but weeds and thorns and grass spurs.

In the midst of this desert, God has called me – and you – to make a smooth highway.  A wide path for God to be glorified.  All of our efforts each day should be to make a way for God to move in the lives of the people we touch.  We are called to turn the heads of the people we meet toward God.  We can’t make anyone believe.  And we can’t force God to move in someone’s life.  But that is not what God has called us to do.

God has called us to make a way – a highway – to those in the desert.  God will do the rest.  Isaiah tells us that when we are faithful to our calling, then God’s glory will be revealed and everyone will see it at the same time.

Be faithful today.  Join the highway crew.  There is a lot of work to be done and the days are getting shorter.

Be a blessing today!

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Time For a Quick God Break

Posted in Formation, Hope on September 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »

What do you do when not only every block on your month at a glance calendar has something in it but your day’s schedule has something posted in every time slot?

What you do is stop and pray.  Take a God break. There is nothing more important than our time with God and there is nothing you will do today that will not be benefited by your time spent with God.

When we slow down, even just for a few minutes and seek God, we receive clarity and focus.  What is really important comes into focus and we begin to realize that all the peripheral things are just that.

Sit back in your chair – – go ahead – – do it now.

Reflect on God’s goodness in your life.

Take a minute to offer thanks.

Now, back to it.

Be blessed today.

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The Importance of the Pour

Posted in Community, Hope, Leadership on September 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

As I turned on my computer this morning and began opening all the applications I keep running throughout the day, I opened BibleGateway in one of my browser windows.  There I saw the verse of the day – 2 Timothy 1:13-14.  There Paul reminded Timothy to hold fast to the teaching he had given him.  Paul instructed Timothy to “guard the deposit entrusted” to him.  The image I see is that of a security guard tasked with carrying money bags to an armored vehicle for transport.

There are many things I could say about this passage.  But the one that sticks out to me today is not so much the deposit or the instruction to guard that deposit but rather the depositor.  Paul had shared his life with Timothy.  Timothy traveled with Paul, watched Paul, learned from Paul.  Paul had poured into Timothy’s life.  And now he instructed Timothy to guard what he had learned – to make use of it.

This leads me to ask two questions.

1.  Who can you look to in your own life who has poured into you?  Somewhere along the way, someone has taken an interest.  Someone has gone out of their way to invest in you.  You would not be where you are today without them.  Take time today to thank them.

2.  Who are you pouring into?  Maybe you have someone that you are investing in and if so, I applaud you – keep it up.  But if there is no one you are helping, find someone today.  You have much to offer.  God has brought you through the challenges you have faced in your life so that you can turn around and help someone else through similar circumstances.

We are in this together.  God created us for community.  And living in community means investing in one another.

Be a blessing today!

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Just Temporary Circumstances

Posted in Formation, Hope on September 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

When the world crashes in, where do you turn?  When you get that call that you dreaded, who will be there for you?  When you aren’t sure how you will make it through the day, where do you find the strength to keep going?

All of us have seasons in life in which we face what we think are impossible struggles.  Maybe it’s just a bad day or maybe its more than that.  Regardless, difficulties are a part of life.  They come our way and there is nothing we can do to control them.

So where do you turn?

Let me suggest that there is hope in difficult situations.  There is hope in the face of impossible odds or impassible obstacles.  Jesus came to give us that hope.  What he offers us is life – real life – eternal life.  He offers us life beyond our struggles and life in spite of our obstacles.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 reminds us that what we see with our eyes is only temporary.  Our hope comes in remembering that we don’t put our trust in what we can see but rather in what we can’t.  All our troubles are just temporary.  What God has in store for us is so much bigger and better than anything we can see or even imagine.

So regardless of the struggles you are facing in this moment – take heart – have hope.  God is at work all around you and what is in store for you is so much better than these temporary circumstances!

Be blessed today!

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School, Prayer and Time

Posted in Family, Formation, Hope on August 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »

The last two years on this day – the first day of school for my kids – I have written a post about prayer on the first day of school (you can read the one from last year here).  As I think about the importance of prayer and the importance that school plays in the lives and development of our kids, I am reminded that we should make prayer for our kids a daily practice.

I am also reminded of how limited, important and sacred our time with our kids really is.  When you look at the hours in a week and you deduct the hours spent sleeping and then you deduct the hours spent at school, you are left with a limited number of hours that you have with your kids.  When you do the math, depending on their involvement in other activities, you probably have between 20 and 25 hours in a given week (Monday through Friday) to mold and shape your kids – roughly half of the time that we turn them over to the school.

The time moves quickly.  It seems that one week you are taking your kids to kindergarten and the next you are packing the car to head off to college.

Make the most of your time with your kids.  Spend time with them.  Listen to them.  Guide them.  And yes, pray for them – everyday.

If God has entrusted you with children, how will you make their lives better today?

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Rest For the Weary

Posted in Formation, Hope on August 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I often cling to the verse in Matthew that offers a promise for those who need a break. In Matthew 11, we find that Jesus offers anyone who is tired and overloaded much needed rest. He tells us that all we have to do is turn to him and we will find the rest we need.

What kind of rest are we talking about here? Are we talking about sleep? Because I don’t know about you but over the past few weeks it seems I have been missing some of that. I am not sure Jesus was saying that if we turn to him we will have the opportunity to sleep more. But I do believe that when we turn to him and rest in him, our sleep will be more restful.

What Jesus was talking about was rest from the constant busyness and stress that is life.

Summer is coming to a close which is signaled by the beginning of school. As this week progresses, teachers are in meetings and preparing their classrooms. Parents are pulling together school supplies. Kids are trying to make the most of their last days of “freedom.” Things are piling up at the office. The yard needs to be mowed. Bills need to be paid. That stubborn door that opens only by force needs to be repaired. The car is on its last leg. Things at church are gearing up and that means that persuasive and persistent minister is going to be looking to sign you up for some area of service.

It all starts getting very heavy. It’s hard to run at full speed when you are dragging a boat anchor with you everywhere you go. But as the weight of the world presses down, that is what you feel like – you are dragging around a heavy load.

That is what Jesus was talking about. He offers relief. He offers peace. He offers rest.

Sit back and rest in him today. Rest in the peace that comes in knowing that he is in control. Take a deep breath in remembering that there is nothing so pressing, so important or so urgent that Jesus cannot see you through it.

Simply rest!

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God’s Truth Breathed Into Man and Passed On To Us

Posted in Formation, Hope on August 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Over the last three weeks, I have been leading our church family through a series dedicated to remind us of the importance of putting practices in place to help us have encounters with God – encounters that will open us up to be transformed by God into people who make a difference for the kingdom.

The first week we talked about fasting and creating time and space in our lives in order to focus on our relationship with God.  I challenged our folks to pick a day and set something aside in order to focus more intentionally on God.

The second week I challenged our folks to set aside 10 minutes on 3 different days in order to pray.

This past Sunday I challenged our folks to set aside 10 minutes on 3 different days to spend in God’s word.  I firmly believe that the best way to grow in our faith and understanding is to spend time with God pouring ourselves into the Bible.  It should be the road map and guide that we turn to for instruction and hope.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that all scripture is God-breathed (you can read it here).  Think about that for a second.  God breathed truth into man who wrote it down and passed it on to us.  How close did God have to be to those writing that truth down in order to breath that truth into them?  What an amazing picture Paul gives us of how in tune those original authors of our Bible were with the very heart of God.

And God still breaths truth into us today – in many ways.  One of the most concrete ways this happens is through the Bible.

But it only happens if we read it and spend time meditating on the truth we find there.  And then transformation begins to occur when we actually put into practice the truth God breaths.

So I challenge you, as I did our church family on Sunday, spend time in God’s word this week.  Set time aside and read.  Read not to finish.  Read to hear from God.

You will be amazed at what you find in the living word of God!

Be blessed!

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Too Much To Do Not To Spend Time With God

Posted in Formation, Hope on August 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »

To Do List

Do you ever feel like there are not enough hours in the day?  You take a look at your calendar and there is not an empty space for the day and then you look at your To Do list and the first 20 items on the list need to be done by noon and it’s already 9 am – and the panic sets in.

It is in a moment like this that God gently calls out, “Spend time with me – rest in me.”

And in our panic and frustration we think, “There is no way!  I can’t stop and spend time now.  I will do that later – when things slow down.”

That is just what the enemy wants us to think.  If we can stay so caught up in our responsibilities that we put off taking time for God, then tomorrow, God’s voice becomes  faint – drowned out by the obligations and responsibilities of that day.  Over time, we don’t even think of spending time with God any longer.  And that’s how it happens.

Becoming more like Jesus takes time spent with God and it takes discipline.  It doesn’t just happen.  We have to be intentional.

And the reality is that none those things on the To Do list, none of those appointments, not one of those phone calls – none of it will matter if not done as worship to God.  You see, everything we do should be worship.  Our work and effort should be an offering to God.  An offering of our best using the talents, gifts and passions that God has given us.

So I challenge you today to set the calendar and To Do list aside for just a minute and stop long enough to spend a few minutes with the creator.

It might just give you a better perspective on the day.

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