A visit with the Savior

In John 1 we see the scenario where Andrew and Simon Peter were introduced to Jesus.  They had some questions about him and asked to see where he was staying.  Jesus said, “Come and you will see.”  So they went and saw where he was staying and spent the day with him.  (John 1:39)

Andrew and Simon Peter wanted to know more about Jesus.  They weren’t followers yet but they wanted to investigate this man to see who he was, what he was all about, and what made him tick.  Jesus, in the interest of full disclosure, showed them where he was staying and spent an entire day with them.  It’s no coincidence, then, that these two men became followers and disciples after this.  That’s what happens when you spend quality time with Jesus.  You are changed; you see his love and compassion; and you know it is safe to follow him.

I think we should invite others to investigate Jesus; to spend time with him before becoming a follower.  Just like Andrew and Simon Peter, if people today will spend time with him they will see his love, acceptance, and forgiveness and will be transformed by these things.  You just can’t spend time with Jesus and not be changed by him.

Before asking someone to clean up and come spend time at church, I should ask people to spend time with Jesus, just as they are, and let him transform them.  I spend too much time trying to choreograph a scenario to get someone to church so they can become a believer.  I think I would be better served by introducing someone to Jesus and let them spend time with him.  I can be confident that his love will change them.

Victorious

Hebrews 13:7 says, “Remember your leaders, who spoke the Word of God to you.  Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.”  What leaders do you think the writer wants us to remember?  He is probably telling us to consider the lives of the saints he mentioned in Hebrews 11; those leaders who had such great faith.  We know of those leaders and the lives they led and we know how they triumphed and how they failed.  Even these great patriarchs failed throughout their lives.  So, maybe the true measure of that life will be how we recover from our failures and restore ourselves to God, and move forward in our lives.

I can learn from this.  I think of Moses and Abraham and David and think of their victories and their faith.  They were indeed victorious.  Their victories, though, were rife with failing.  There were failures in battles, failures in obedience, failures of sexual immorality, and many more.  The key, though, with these guys was that they failed and got up and moved on.  That’s what I want to learn from them today.  I want to learn that that my failures can lead to a victorious life.  A victorious life, then, must be a life where I fail and I get up and be restored and then move forward.  I won’t be perfect and my victories will be hard fought and hard won, but the victorious life I want to live is well worth the struggle.

Showing mercy as He writes the story

Micah 7:18 says, “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgressions of the remnant of his inheritance?  You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.”  

God knows the whole story.  He isn’t wrapped up in anger, holding grudges, and exploding great wrath on us because He sees the whole story.  He sees Israel as the conquering people who are in the home of the soon returning King.  He doesn’t stay angry at the Israelites because He sees their destiny – He knows their purpose.  Thus, He delights in showing them mercy as they grow into their purpose.

I see a direct parallel here to my life.  There is plenty that God could and probably should be angry at me for but He delights in mercy and grace to me.  He knows my entire story, too.  He knows that He has plans for me that are big and I think He shows me mercy just because He loves me so much that He wants those big plans, the big story of my life, to come to fruition.  In the end, He will be honored and glorified beacuase of the story of my life that He already knows.  He shows mercy because of His story for me.

Because of this, I thank Him for the story He has written for me and ask that He give me contentment in the story as He shows me grace and mercy.  I also ask Him to show me how to show that same grace and mercy to others as I receive it from Him.

Father’s Day

Tomorrow is Father’s Day.  I love the fact that our culture celebrates fathers and sets aside one day to focus on the value of fathers and the impact that fathers have had in our lives.  We can’t do enough to enhance the importance of a father’s role in society and in the lives of their sons and daughters.  I have daughters so I know how a little girl can wrap a daddy right around her little finger.  I also have sons and know how much fun it is to have someone to train up to be a man.

 

I heard a radio host asking callers this week what they would like to say to their fathers.  They got lots of touching responses and it made me think about what I would like to say to my father if I could.  My Dad died when I was in the 6th grade.  He seemed fine when I went to bed that night and died of a heart attack before I woke up in the morning so I didn’t get any ‘last words’ to him.  It was sudden.  

 

So, what would I say to my Dad if I had a chance to tell him one thing?  I remember several years ago when Kathy and I went to a marriage enrichment seminar, there was a men’s breakout session and the speaker asked us to write down one thing that we would like to hear our fathers, whether living or dead, tell us.  That day, I decided that I would love to hear my Dad say that he was proud of me.  I think he would be.  As a matter of fact, I think he would be proud of all of his children.  One look that I do remember on my Dad’s face was that ‘proud Daddy look’ he had when all of us kids were playing the sports we loved.

 

But, what would I tell him?  I think I would want to tell him that he did a good job.  I would tell him that all of us kids, my brother and sister and I, are all well and that he has lots of grandchildren that are missing out on something because they didn’t get to meet him.  As I said above, I was young when he passed away so I don’t have lots of crystal clear memories of my Dad, but I do remember that he loved me and that I was important to him.  As a matter of fact, I think I’m probably a lot like him.

 

So, if your dad is alive, tell him that one thing that you would like to tell him while you can.  If he’s not alive, then I hope you have the good memories of him that I have of mine and that you, too, could tell him that he did a good job.  Enjoy your time with your dad today.

Born to worship

We had a worship gathering at Grace Capital Church last night.  It was a wonderful time of singing, worshipping, and praising God who has set us free from so many of the roots that have kept us from living in the freedom that He provides for us.  The band was great and I think they did a great job of keeping the focus off of themselves and on God whom we were worshipping.  I believe that we have been doing a lot of heavy work over the past few weeks as we’ve investigated the roots that are intertwined in us and this was a great time for us all to blow off a little steam, to celebrate the freedom we have in Christ, and start replacing those messy roots with good roots; roots that are grounded in the Word of God and watered by the Holy Spirit.

 

There is one message I want to follow up from last night with.  Worship isn’t what we do; worship is who we are.  We don’t come to church to worship and then go a week until we can come to worship again.  We worship every day by living a lifestyle of praise and worship to God.  We live thankful lives and grateful lives as a means of worshipping Him.  

 

I believe that so many of us come to church on Sunday and let Him set us free from the shackles that bind us and feel His freedom as we worship and praise.  The only problem comes when we wake up on Monday morning and put those shackles right back on ourselves and bind ourselves up again because our worship experience is over.  We need to remember that the Son has come to set us free and that when the Son has set us free we are free indeed!  We don’t need to shackle ourselves again with the junk that we laid at the foot of the cross.  Jesus paid the price for all that junk.  I believe an attitude of constant worship prevents us from re-shackling ourselves.

 

So, as we go about our mundane Mondays, tired Tuesdays, woeful Wednesdays, and so on, let’s remember that we are worshippers.  Let’s let our worship make our Mondays magnificent, our Tuesdays terrific, and our Wednesdays wonderful.  We can make this happen as we live to worship Him who created us, Him who loves us unconditionally, and Him who set us free.

Mystery

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon says (Ecclesiastes 7:15) “In this meaningless life of mine, I have seen both of these; a righteous man perishing in his righteousness and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.”  Solomon had what we would consider as a good and successful life.  He was wise beyond measure and he was rich beyond riches.  He had all of this, built the temple in Jerusalem, was the son of David, and yet he called his life meaningless.  He must have figured out that money and fame don’t always equal meaningfulness.  ALso, even in all of his wisdom, Solomon couldn’t figure out why bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people.  This one mystery seems to be such a stumbling block to those seeking God. So many say that they would believe in God if only they could understand why a young child passes or why a young lady was raped or why a young man was shot and killed in a drive-by.  

 

Even Solomon couldn’t figure this out.  Perhaps this is the one mystery that God will not let us figure out because He wants our faith to be the answer.  He wants our faith to be strong enough to believe that He is in control and that He has a deeper and wider perspective on life and death than we do.  Perhaps we need to have enough faith to believe that He is sovereign and His perfect will is beyond our human comprehension.

 

I will have faith.  I will understand that I won’t understand.  I believe God is sovereign; that He sees the big picture and knows all things while my perspective is largely myopic.  I can’t doubt at the passing of a young one or a loved one.  I will just lean on Him and know that His understanding goes far beyond mine.  I don’t understand this and frankly sometimes I get mad about it, but I will turn those things over to Him and seek His peace that passes all understanding during those trying times.

Purpose

Romans 9:17 says that Pharaoh was raised up for a purpose, that God might display His power in you and that His name might be proclaimed in all the earth.  Of course, we see Pharaoh in a negative light here but the underlying truth is the same for all of us.  God does raise us up for a purpose and His purpose always brings glory and honor to Him.  It’s funny, we tend to think that glory and honor are the byproduct or our purpose but the truth is that God’s glory and honor are our purpose and the other stuff we do are byproducts of our bringing honor and glory to Him.

I have been raised up and put in New England in order to bring honor and glory to Him.  He has arranged my days and my purpose.  My life is an adventure every day but that adventure is only secondary to Him being exalted and His might being proclaimed in my life, in my circles of influence, and in all the connections I make.  I should never get the idea that the adventures of my life are primary over my true purpose of honoring God and proclaiming His mighty power.

Memorial Day

Sorry this is a day or so late – it’s a traveling week and I haven’t been to the Internet until now.

 

I want to be sure to thank and appreciate all the veterans that have made this country a wonderful place to live.  There are so many who have sacrificed so much that we sometimes take for granted.  I want to spend a few minutes and a few words today to give my deepest respect to all who have served.  

 

Our country, our service men and women, have fought many wars in order to establish and maintain such freedom.  We know about the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I and World War II, and Vietnam.  There are others, too.  Others we might call ‘minor’ wars, like the War of 1812, the French and Indian War, the Korean War and others, are only really minor for those of us who didn’t fight in them or lose a loved owe who did.  

 

Our servicemen and women have given us a legacy of freedom that we enjoy.  The freedom these men and women have fought for is one of the staples of our country.  People from around the world will risk all they have to come to America to enjoy the freedom we possess.  The freedom that these people come to enjoy, though, was hard fought.  Men and women in all of these wars (and in Iraq and Afghanistan today)  fought and died over an ideal they deemed ‘worth it’.  The ideal of freedom has driven American men and women to fight and die so that their families, children, grand-children, and grand-children for generations to come. 

 

So, thank you veterans.  Thank you for keeping the ideal alive.  Thank you for the freedom that I enjoy today.

Classy Lefty

I just heard the tragic news that Phil Mickelson’s wife has cancer.  It’s always such a tragedy when anyone is stricken with this relentless disease that knows no economic or social boundaries.  I feel for the Mickelson’s and will remember them in my prayers.  

 

Then, I heard that Mr. Mickelson, one of the top golfers in the PGA, is going to suspend his career and help his wife, Amy, in her struggles with this disease.  This is a class act.  Mr. Mickelson could have decided to drop out of a few tournaments and just play the big ones, or he could have said he would play as many as he could to be with her when she needed him, but he decided to suspend his career completely.  

 

 

You see, Mr. Mickelson is a great golfer who is in the middle of a great career.  He could win millions upon millions of dollars over the next few months and years but he decided his wife and family are more important.  I don’t follow sports so much any more because of all the money involved in them.  But, stories like this one bring me back.  Mr. Mickelson is making a good choice.  He’s putting love for his wife and family above love for money and the game.  

 

I applaud Mr. Mickelson and respect him more now, as a man of integrity and character, than I’ve ever respected him as a great golfer!

Collapse of Distinction

I read Scott McKain’s book, Collapse of Distinction over the weekend.  The premise of the book is that our culture has become so homogenized that everything we do, everywhere we go, and all that we see is the same.  Sameness dominates the culture to the point that we are only comfortable with things that are familiar.  The McDonald’s that I went to last weekend in Tennessee is almost identical to the McDonald’s that is in the town I live in.  The menu is exactly the same.  Walmart looks the same regardless of where I am.  

 

McKain uses two small diners from his hometown in Indiana as the thread of example through the book.  The diners were rocked when the new McDonald’s came into town and only one of them survived.  McKain surmises that the reason the one survived was because the owner kept his diner distinct while the one that failed merely tried to ‘out-McDonald’ McDonald’s.  So, distinction is the key to survival for us today. 

 

McKain explains there are four cornerstones of distinction; clarity, creativity, communication, and customer-experience focus.  Clarity, being the first cornerstone, is the key.  He thinks, and I agree, that so many businesses and organizations don’t really know who they are today.  There are so many businesses out there that are either trying to ‘out-McDonald’ their competition or that are trying (and failing) to be all things to all people.  Clarity allows a business (or an individual for that matter) to know exactly what their focus is and helps them make all of their product and marketing decisions.  

 

We are all creative, whether we think we are or not.  The issue many of us have, though, is that we aren’t clear on what we want to be creative about.  I know this is true in my own life.  The times I feel non-creative are the times that I am unfocused and I’m trying to create something that is not in my purview of focus.  Communication also depends on clarity.  We can’t communicate well what we can’t focus on.  We must be clear as we communicate.

 

A customer-experience focus is a five step process.  We need to ask a question; ‘what would happen if everything went exactly right’?  The answer to this question is a good analysis of the things we need to do for our customers to have a great experience with us.  Next, we need to engage our customer in the process.  Many times the best way to do this is to simply ask them what they think or what would make them feel like this was a great experience for them.  The next step is to sync the information that you discovered in the first two steps.  Then, we need outline the roadblocks and finally, the most important step is to execute.  Remember, the all of the steps in the world won’t be effective until we execute the plan.

 

For me, McKain’s teaching on clarity was most effective.  We must deal with the fact that we can’t be all things to all people and that we all have a mission and purpose in life.  Overall, the book is a good, quick read.  There are lots of pearls of wisdom in the book.  Obviously, not every pearl will resonate with every reader, but every reader will come away with a few pearls in their purse.