Weekend Reflection

This weekend we talked about the God of the Ordinary Part 1. Here some reflections for those of you who weren't with us...

• Emma Joy definitely received the most amount of votes in the vote for our baby name contest. 
• But remember your vote doesn't count on birth day anyway!
• Mark 9:14-21
• When was the last time you were overwhelmed with wonder for God (Mark 9:15)?
• Wonder and imagine are childlike qualities - are you willing to become childlike to be overwhelmed by God?
• God wants us to engage our routines (Jeremiah 29:4-7).
• Your routine is someone else's success.
• Your routine doesn't determine the condition of your heart it simply reveals the condition of your heart.
• If you are not happy in your current routine you won't be happy in a new routine.
• Are you living your routine with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord (Colossians 3:22-24)?

Hope to see you on this weekend (if the baby hasn't come) as we finish the story of our ordinary nameless obscure man from Mark 9!

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."  (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Follow the Leader

This is a guest blog entry from Becca Reynolds. Becca is one of my team members and Mat Carriers. Watching Becca's journey has blessed and challanged me. She is never without a new insight, word, or lesson from Father. She is an outstanding leader and someone I would pick again and again to be on my team. She has a passion to know and experience more of HIM - that is why I asked her to be a guest blogger! Enjoy...

It is one of the busiest intersections in our city.  Seventeen lanes converge to create a commuters nightmare and a pedestrian’s Waterloo.  As I waited what seemed like hours on the light to change, I noticed them.  An average man was waiting to cross 7 lanes of traffic with a tiny white dog standing patiently at his side.  At first glance, it was nothing out of the ordinary – but as the signal was given to walk, it became a fascinating sight.  The man stepped out in the crosswalk with a strong and steady gait, never looking down and never looking back.  The little cottonball with legs immediately followed in step staying one leg-length directly behind his leader.  My children and I were now watching, and we strained to see the leash that the dog was on – and to our surprise, there wasn’t one!

As the right-of-way traffic was zooming past them, the dog never wavered.  Despite the intense intimidation of the cars and eighteen-wheelers holding on the red light, the dog never cowered or even looked around.  His eyes were firm on his leader, whose eyes were directed straight ahead.

I was amazed (and somewhat relieved) when the two arrived safely on the other side.  I expected the dog to continue to follow the leader down the curvy sidewalk banked by a greenbelt.  But I was wrong!  He ran to the green grass and somewhat frolicked around his leader, as if he knew the danger was behind him and he wanted a brief celebration before moving on.  The owner simply reached down, quickly patted the dog on the head, and the two were off again.

Heeding my green light, I began to think about the great teaching opportunity this was for my children – the dog played such a great game of follow-the-leader, and that is how we are to follow our leader, Jesus Christ.  But then I pondered my own walk- how well am I following Him?  Am I distracted by the noise and threats around me?  Does my leader have such confidence in my devotion to follow, that He never looks back … simply presses forward?  Needless to say, I concluded the lesson was more for me than my children. 

Lord, help me navigate the highways of life with a firm dedication to you – never wavering, never cowering – and celebrating the lanes you bring me through.

John 10:5 – “But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

Hope

Hope is an interesting thing isn't it? We all hope for something. Some of us hope for funny things like a sunny day, a Cowboys superbowl ring (not gonna happen this year), a new car, or for that long overdue vacation. But we also hope for serious/significant things in our lives like a new relationship or that a relationship would be restored, that our kids would behave differently, for a healing, a new job, or maybe even that things would just get better or just be different. But what is hope anyways?

Hope is simply a preferred alternative future. It is what we want to see happen instead of what is currently happening.

In Psalm 42:5,11 & 43:5 David writes "Why are you downcast, o my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." What's interesting is that he writes the same exact verse 3 times in only 10 verses. As you read it you get this sense that he is trying to convince himself to get out his pit of discouragement. That he is trying to convince himself to look to God. That he is trying to convince himself to get out of his "funk" of depression or heaviness. He tells himself with an urgent repetition to put his hope in God so he can find freedom once again. Here is the take away...

Hope in God = peace/contentment

Hope in anything else = discouragement

Regardless of what your preferred alternative is, who or what are you placing your hope in? Are you hoping that your skills, talents, abilities, relationships, finances, status, health, friends will bring you that preferred alternative? Or, is your hope placed in God and in God alone? He is the one who can bring healing, provision, freedom, and the alternative future that we truly desire. There is much to learn from this simple verse that David writes over and over again. When our hope is in him we can find peace and contentment regardless of what our circumstances may look like. But when our hope is anything but him it will eventually lead us to the place where David was when he wrote Psalm 42-43 - "Why are you downcast o my soul? Why so disturbed within me?"

Don't Run - Just Rest

Yesterday as my friend and I were hiking around on a deer lease we came upon this little guy tucked way back into a canyon. We got to within 10 feet of him before I even noticed that he was there. As we watched him for what seemed like an eternity this little fawn didn't move a muscle - he was perfectly camouflaged and sat perfectly still. It was an awesome moment!

Nature has taught this fawn that in the midst of danger its best chance for survival is to simply sit still, remain motionless, and just patiently wait until the danger passes by. We could learn a lot from this fawn couldn't we? When life is crazy, when the storm is raging, when it seems like danger is all around God tells us to simply rest in HIM. Like this few week old fawn our safety, security, and protection is found not our ability to out run the problems but to quietly rest in HIM. 

Are you trying to out run the storm or are you resting with peace and patience? 

"In quietness and trust is your strength."  (Isaiah 30:15) 

Membership or Partnership?

So we had Experience..the life tonight. Experience is simply our church's membership class. With over hundred people participating it was a great night. The Gospel was not only clearly presented, it was warmly received - I love those kinds of nights. A great team of people came together to create an environment and experience where people could encounter God through relationships and that is exactly what happened

As the class was wrapping up I got to the typical membership portion of the teaching. As I began to share with them what our church membership looks like I went out on a limb to say what has been rattling in my heart for a while (probably wasn't the best time to share what has been rattling in my mind in a raw unfiltered way but I did it anyways - I am glad I was the only pastor left in the room or I may have been in trouble :) Anyways, I told the group that membership is really the wrong word when it comes to the church.

Membership implies a sense of entitlement doesn't it? If you are a member of a country club, AAA, golf coarse, community organization, secret society, etc. it implies that you receive a number of benefits. It may be free golf, roadside service, or discounted rates but when you are a member you are "in" - you are part of the elite club with benefits that the average person doesn't receive. Is that really the best word in the context of the church? Do we really want members? Do we want people to "join" with a sense of entitlement or expectation?

I am not sure that partnership is the best word but I do like its implied definition a whole lot more than membership. A partner is someone who has stock, ownership, and investment into the organization. Think of business partners for example. They care what happens, what the vision is, and whether or not the organization is healthy and growing. A partner always contributes more than they consume. 

The church isn't designed to be an organization where as members we consume, it is designed to be an organism where as partners we contribute. The church needs more partners not more members!

Vocabulary matters but what matters even more is your view of the church (the body of Christ). Do you live in expectancy of being used by God and make the effort to give more than you get? Are you contributing or just consuming? So are you engaging your local church as a member or as a partner? 

"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."  (1 Corinthians 12:27)

Convinced?

I am not sure where you are or what you are going through today but it seems like one of those weeks where a lot of people are wrestling or struggling with something. This passage brought me much comfort this morning. Let me encourage you to stop - take a deep breath - and now may you simply receive this truth in your heart and soul today...

"In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am CONVINCED that neither death nor life, neither angles nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  (Romans 8:37-39)