hurry up and read this...

One barrier to full intimacy with the Savior is hurriedness. Intimacy may not be rushed. To meet with the Son of God takes time. We can't dash into his presence and choke down spiritual inwardness before we hurry to our next appointment. Inwardness is time-consuming, open only to minds willing to sample spirituality in small bites, savoring each one. 

Intimacy with Christ comes from entering his presence with inner peace rather than bursting into his presence from the hassles of life. A relaxed contemplation of the indwelling Christ allows for an inner communion impossible to achieve while oppressed by busyness and care. 

Holy living is not abrupt living. No one who hurries into the presence of God is content to remain for long. Those who hurry in, hurry out.

This was written by Calvin Miller, a former professor of mine as well as a pastor, author, painter and exceptional communicator. Though this article may sound spiritual and lofty, it is fundamental and basic... isn't this what we already know with regard to any relationship - friends, siblings, spouses? My prayer for each of you today is to walk with intentional pace and deliberate direction so that you won't miss God's blessing. He has blessings already planned to share with you for today, this week, this coming Sunday, this coming holiday season... every day for the rest of your lives! 

If you stop long enough to wonder where God's blessing is,
you're probably moving too fast.

which ministry is really most important?

If I were to ask that question at the next leadership gathering, each and every ministry there would say their ministry is the most important ministry to the health and success of wb... 

and they would ALL be right. 

• The kids workers would say, "If we reach the kids, we'll reach the parents! The kids ministry is most important." 
• The student workers would say, "If we don't reach them by their high school graduation, the chances of them being reached at all drops significantly. The student ministry is most important." 
• LifeGroup leaders would say, "Anything aimed at the home and "living life" (marriage, family, career) because the home is the backbone of the church AND society. LifeGroups are most imporant." 
• The Life Enrichment and other small group teachers would say, "Teaching is the most important because people need the absolute foundation of God's Word, and how will anyone hear if we don't tell them?!? Teaching is the most important ministry of the church." 
• The ones we rarely hear from would then step up and say, "But didn't Jesus say his Father's house should be called a house of... prayer?!?" 
• And then all those artsy-fartsy people would sing and shout (with appropriate dramatic pause, "But the life blood, oh yes, the life blood of the church is worship. Everything we do for God's glory is rooted in worship." 
• Then the missionary-types would take over and say, "Guys, I hear what you're saying but Jesus and the Apostle Paul made it abundantly clear that without this one ministry, the church would eventually die out... and that one ministry is evangelism." 

Here is why we can ALL be right... every Christ-follower should be serving according to their gifts and out of their passion - maybe you've heard the phrases gift-based and passion-driven? So, doesn't it make sense that each and every believer would feel that "my" ministry is the most critical to the continued growth of the Body of Christ?

In a book Dave and I are reading, the author makes the following statement, which is the most beautiful way I have ever heard someone illustrate the synergy of gifts and passion.

My reason for walking through all these ministries was to make one simple point: God has given each of us a different piece of His heart for His world. When we bring each piece to the work of service, we collectively display the heart of God to one another and the world. No one of us has a heart big enough to contain the heart of God for humankind. No one of us has the time and energy to be involved in all that needs to take place. So God gives to each of us a passion - a love, if you will - for some dimension of His work.

So, what piece of God's heart do you carry?
We each need you to bring that piece to our church family... and the world.

do you have a theme song?

This has been a crazy and blessed week.

Camille was in a horrific car accident and was able to walk away - though she did get a CAT scan and x-rays at the hospital (as did her aunt and cousin). Needless to say, Christie and I have been so thankful for God's mercy, as well as all the men and women who have worked to make our automobiles so safe - this was a 55mph T-bone accident, not no fender-bender.

Christie has been flying completely solo at her studio - there's lots of details but let me put it this way: it ain't easy having all the responsibility and none of the authority.

And then, last night my left eyeball started having this sharp pain, glossing over and feeling generally uncomfortable. I woke up this morning pretty sure I have pink eye. So, I worked from home today which is ok, just harder to do.

All of that to say, I am buhLESSED (translation: WAY blessed), and not just because there are folks who have it worse than me - that's a lousy way to measure blessed-ness, don't ya think?!? I am blessed because I have a God who loves me, my wife and my daughter (and my whole family) more than I could ever comprehend, AND who has a plan for each of us that He so desperately wants to share with us, AND because I know the temporary frustrations and pains of this world don't even weigh down the joy of my salvation and hope in God's amazing grace and love. I am not a human being who has a soul; nope, I am a soul that has a body... for now. This life is not my own (nor is it my final destination) so I can walk in confidence that He who began this life will be faithful to complete it. My biggest challenge is to walk as the son my Father is loving, training and encouraging me to be... the details of each step are His to worry about - I just need to walk, true and straight. I love my life, my wife, my daughter, my home, my dog, my job, heck... I even dig my very practical Prius! I have NO complaints about my life on this planet becuase I know I am loved and will never have to walk alone. Ever.

Oh yeah, theme song... do you have one? Check out this video (thanks, Darrell!).

recalibrate

Do you remember when Windows OS was still a new thing and the term "WYSIWYG" was the cool tech-speak? If you don't, it's the acronym for "What You See Is What You Get" and was relevant to the new computerized desktop publishing environments - what you see on the screen is what you get from the printer. For better or worse, I've often seen myself as a WYSIWYG kinda guy... I'm not naturally skilled at hiding things, like my emotions, but I like to think I'm learning more every day (believe it or not).

So, in that vein of WYSIWYG-ness, I wanted to share a journal entry with you that I stumbled upon the other day, read to Christie last night and may share on Sunday morning (so don't steal my thunder just yet).

Here's the entry:

I'm in a season - and have felt it for several weeks - where I sense rushing waters behind me and I'm about to either shred some serious waves or get pummeled under its crashing power... So, I find myself doing some serious soul-searching, or maybe better said, some soul-recalibrating. The thing about recalibrating is that recalibrating doesn't actually change the machine or its original function; recalibrating just makes the necessary adjustments to keep the machine effective and efficient in its original intent and purpose. I'm living my dream and I'm set on my mission, but neither are fully realized yet. So, I recalibrate. I must adjust myself to the things God has revealed to me, to the circumstances in which He has placed me and to what I sense Him impressing on my heart. I'm still me and His Truth and purpose (in me) hasn't changed... I'm just continuing to dial it in... and I don't want to miss this opportunity or His blessing.

Can you relate?

getting perspective on the "lost"

I was recently reminded of a time a few years back... Camille was about 6 and we were in Walmart. I was looking for something specific - don't remember what - and was having a hard time finding it. Camille was switching back and forth between holding my hand and looking at things around us. I kept looking, occasionally reminding Camille to stay with me... then, one of the times I glanced back, she was gone. GONE!

I looked around... no Camille. I went to the other side of the isle... no Camille. She was just there FIVE SECONDS AGO!

It is absolutely unbelievable the number of scenarios that can run through a parent's mind in a matter of seconds. Between thoughts of her being abducted and seeing her terrified face, and visions of me being brutally and slowly tortured by Christie, I was a wreck... and then it got worse as I realized I was "one of those parents" who loses his kid in WALMART! (Are you kidding me?!?)

Then, after what couldn't have been more than 20 seconds - though it seemed like 20 lifetimes - I heard, "Would the parent of Camille LaRue please come to dressing rooms."

I ran to the dressing rooms, scooped her up and squeezed that little body of hers... I can't begin to explain the overwhelming sense of joy knowing she was safe, no longer lost and alone. I could almost feel her fear fade as she whimpered and said, "I'm sorry, daddy. I know I shouldn't have walked away."

I kept her close the rest of the day and scratched her back a little longer when I tucked her into bed. I thought she was lost, gone... but she wasn't, and I was (and will forever be) so thankful.

Though I NEVER want to relive that experience again, my soul is humbled to have caught a glimpse of how our heavenly Father must feel when he "loses" his children and how much his heart rejoices when even just one is found.

God is not obsessed with the lost...
no, the Father of all creation is obsessed with his children.  

shake the pepper or be the salt

chasing lions... seems a bit hard to fathom when some of us don't even want to chase one of those long, skinny, black bugs with the little pincher tails we find in the bathroom, right?

in the first chapter of the book "in a pit with a lion on a snowy day", batterson writes "goodness is not the absence of badness" and that "we can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right". (yeah, read that again)

several years ago, after serving a church that had a fairly legalistic "i am the pastor" type pastor, i decided to stop using the words "right" and "wrong". i wasn't renouncing absolute truth, nor was i advocating situational ethics. my intent was to make sure my language and my perspective wer not peppered with "that's wrong" and "this is right" type phrases. such vernacular for us spiritual types makes us more coercive than creative, more religious than relational, more arrogant than compassionate, and that is not what we are to be.

for example, if i view everything as either/or, right/wrong, righteous/sinful, i assume i know all there is to know regarding a given situation, that there is absolutely nothing left to which i might be unaware. as much as i might want this to be the case, it is highly unlikely. ;-)

when we look at Jesus, we see a man whom scripture says grew in stature and in favor with God and man, was without blame (to give or receive), and who was constantly surrounded by the likes of folks most of us avoid - prostitutes, adulterers, thieves, liars, murderers, drunkards, you name it. as a matter of fact, there are stories of where so many people wanted to see him that they packed houses, pushed against him in crowds and forced him to get into a boat so he could have some breathing room.

as i superimposed my daily routine of life, word and deed, over the life of Jesus, this is what i saw: the one whom i am to emulate, my Lord and Friend, had people running and flocking to him that they might listen to him, touch him or just see him - when was the last time that happened to me?

collectively, we could ask that of ourselves as a church family... (as scary as that might be)

so, i decided to remove the words "right" and "wrong" from my vocabulary so i might take another step toward my mentor and Savior, and learn how to get past circumstance, behavior (or my prejudice) to see the person - or the people - just like Jesus did.

a little diddy on leadership

Did some "leadership" reading recently and have been doing some pondering. I sent my thoughts to my church elders and staff... thought I would share them here, too. Ladies, my apologies in advance.

Imagine you are Joshua. You have just led over a million people across the Jordan on dry ground. Momentum is high. People are excited and they are just waiting for you to tell them what's next. So, you ask God for direction and you get Joshua 5:2-3: At that time the Lord said to Joshua, 'Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.' So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth.

Leadership is TOUGH.
Did God tell Joshua to find a few good men to empower and delegate? Nope. Did God tell Joshua to find folks who were trained in this discipline? Nope. Did God tell Joshua to find people who were willing to do this for him? Nope. Leaders are those who know that God knows they will do the things no one else is willing to do. Leaders are willing to roll up their sleeves and fully invest. Leaders are not cowards who fear what others may think (and please remember, Joshua had over 500,000 men to face who, I'm sure, did NOT love this idea).

Leadership is tough. We are at a point, and will be again, where we need to humbly ask ourselves, "Can God trust me to do the things that no one else wants to do, but are absolutely essential for the success of the church that I am leading?"

Leadership is SACRIFICE.
Everyone loves the idea of progress, improvement, growth... it's the sacrifice associated with these things that we have a problem with. Maybe that's why Jesus challenged us to take up our cross daily, instead of sit on our couch? We love hearing stories of sacrifice and even get energized when we see someone sacrifice. We just don't like it when it comes to us.

Leadership is sacrifice. We are at a point, and will be again, when our personal preferences, our desire to please others or our adaptation to a style must be weighed against the character, call and commitment of Christ in us.

Leadership is SERVING.
Scripture doesn't say anything about anyone rebelling against Joshua's plan. Think about it, over 500,000 men were willing to expose themselves to some seriously intense pain and discomfort when they thought they were about to finally "arrive" in paradise... and NO ONE pushed back. Why? Could it have been because these men knew Joshua, their leader, had already submitted himself to the same experience? He wasn't asking them to walk a journey, take a risk, or submit to an experience he had never walked, risked or endured... or would be unwilling to walk, risk or endure WITH THEM. He knew the pain and sacrifice associated with the vision he was casting and yet he could ask it with integrity because he was experienced, seasoned and committed.

Leadership is serving. We are at a point, and will be again, when we must hold ourselves to that which we, as leaders, embody, expect, profess, teach and demand.

Are we ready to lead?

bi-polar faith

The Saturday after Jesus' crucifixion was a silent day, at best. Bewilderment, fear, frustration and anger were likely emotions for those who celebrated the triumphal entry of their king just 48 hours earlier. The most fundemental discipline of being a God-follower had been elevated to status-critical : walking by faith rather than sight.

When Jesus interacted with people, he challenged the religious to be humble, the learned to be relevant, the healthy to be hope, and the wealthy to be gracious.

He encouraged the diligent to sit and rest, the lazy to work and earn, the weak to get up and walk, and the strong honor the weak.

He taught parents to become children, children to become heirs, foreigners to become citizens, and citizens to become inclusive.

Yet many Christ-followers, like those on that Saturday long ago, exchange God's gift of transformational faith for a bipolar faith. One day we are singing and shouting His praises; the next, hunkered down ready to sit out the next season (or more) because our loss is just too great and we don't see enough personal benefit to justify the cost.

As creative worshipers, we must remain committed to the details while increasingly cognizant of the fuller expression. In other words, our worship cannot be centered on this one life that has been changed but centered on the One who can change all life. Then, and only then, will our faith grow beyond "me" and "my" benefit, to him and his purpose.

This might be the only way to elevate our worship beyond ourselves and Easter beyond another hallmark holiday with chocolate bunnies and new clothes.

how He loves

John Mark McMillan wrote a song called "How He Loves"...

The song is about John's struggle with his best friend's death; specifically why God, a supposed loving God, would allow his friend to die suddently in a car accident. The answer God spoke into John's heart was this: God allowed him to die because God did love him and was ready for him to come home.

John's friend was in a prayer meeting the morning before he died. In that prayer meeting, his friend prayed that whatever God required or asked of him for the message of Christ to be heard, be it life or death, he would give it.

Now, I'm not quick to believe that God said, "Aw'ite..." then *poof*, John's friend died. But I do know God gave every human being the right to make choices (like the right of John's friend to choose humbly, and the right of the driver who hit and killed John's friend to choose wrecklessly), yet reserved for himself the right to work any choice into his larger plan and purpose.

Listen to this quote from John:

I do believe the effect this song has had on people is part of a promise the Lord made when He took my friend home. I regularly receive messages from kids battling with depression and suicide who tell him the song turned them around, that it even saved their lives. I don't understand how all that works theologically. I just know that's the way it is.

Click here to read the words and watch a live performance of "How He Loves".