Personality

Have you ever gotten frustrated at your personality? I have. There are times I wish I was wired differently. It’s like hair. I have not met too many people that are happy with the kind of hair they have. What’s that all about? I wonder if we forget sometimes that God has made us the way we are.  I wonder if we realize the strengths of our personality as much as we realize the weaknesses of them. God made us. Our hair. Our personality. We are what we are. We can improve. We can grow. But God made us. And our personality, though it can be a weakness, can also be a major benefit. I fight against certain aspects of my personality. But I also lean into those aspects of it that are a bonus. How bout you? What are the benefits of your personality? What are the weaknesses?

Sunday message

I am pretty fired up about Sundays message. Kept me up half the night thinking about it. Dove tails in nicely with where we are in 1st Samuel. Feel like i am loading the space shuttle with rocket fuel.

Follower

When Jesus was on the earth, He really didn’t follow anyone. In fact, the only way for people to be around Jesus was to follow Him. Sure He would go eat here, or hang out there, but He didn’t stay there. He invited people to follow Him. He was always on a mission. So if you wanted to be with Him, you had to follow after Him.

And here we are today. I have talked with so many pastors. And I am hearing the same thing. People don’t seem to follow after Christ as determined and faithfully as they could. And that strikes me. In America, there are churches and church services everywhere, including online. The quality of preaching and worship and ministry has never been at a higher level. We have air conditioning and donuts and really comfortable chairs in our churches. Yet people just don’t seem to be committed to church. But if you took one of our churches and dropped it into some foreign countries, that church would probably either get burned down for their anti-Christian sentiment, or you would have multiple services because of the vast difference in standards of available excellence. I think we have found it is easier to program Christ to follow us than it is for us to follow after Christ.

Following Christ, though, can’t be confused with going to church right? It’s not everything, but it’s a big thing. We find Jesus was always hanging around at churches. Why? Because that’s where people centralized themselves around the things of God. The New Testament established that having 3,000 people at a service wasn’t all that bad. And the idea of having people saved and added to the…wait for it…church daily was a great thing. The church is still vital. But it seems that vitality is not valued as much any more.

For me, I feel a bit sad writing this. The church is a grand and glorious place. I am a follower of Christ. And following Him always leads me to a place where other followers “congregate”. It is a launch pad of sorts. It’s where we all start over and place Jesus in front of us again and re-establish ourselves as the followers and Him as the followed.

In the coming weeks, my sincere prayer is that Legacy would be one place among many where people place again the value and importance of gathering with other followers around Jesus, the One worth following. And in our pursuit, I pray we will celebrate being on the path of Christ.

Wifeless

My wife and daugher are in Wisconsin visiting her parents. They get back Sunday night, ten long days. I get kind of bored when she is gone. I get a lot done but honestly life is just so much better with her than without her. I always have glorious ideas of things to do while she is gone. But I usually become the lazy bachelor during these times. Maybe tomorrow I can snap out of it. But then again…

Krispy Kreme

I twitted this the other day. But it’s worth repeating. There are so many people that do not believe in the existence of God or the devil. But Krispy Kreme has determined that a store should be placed in my beloved town. The way I see it, either God or the devil is to blame. If God, it is because when I bite into a KK donut after it has gone through the slow rising, the gentle bath in oil, and the baptism in that amazing creamy glaze, I simply hear anels sing. If the devil, it is because one donut is around 200 calories and simply goes right into the heart and causes a traffic jam of all the blood trying to get through the vessels.

So it’s my believe, then, that the myth regarding God’s existence should now be shattered.

Racing

I watched part of the Indianapolis 500 yesterday. And some guy won. Emilio something or other. But the back story on the guy is apparently he was in court a few weeks ago and was found not guilty on tax evasion charges. Had he lost that case, he would not have been in that race, nor would he have been in the winners circle. He would have been in jail. From a moment of pending incarceration to a moment of triumph before millions and winning who knows how much money.

These story reminds me so much of what the Bible reveals to us – that Jesus gives us acquital through the cross and allows us to triumph. Where would I be without Christ? I don’t want to know.

Everybody has something

Having done a fair amount of counseling and probably having needed some in my day, it’s safe to say that everybody has something. We all wrestle with one thing or another. And the danger is not recognizing it in ourselves or reconizing it in others. Everybody has something. All through the Bible, different people struggled with their own junk. The disciples themselves were a mix of the Wizard of Oz crew and the three Stooges. Really, we are no different. Why should I bother to write this? Two things. One, it is my hope that you will not be too hard on yourself and realize we all need forgivness and grace and counsel. Two, we should not be too hard on others as they need grace and help and forgiveness.

Why is it Jesus is always the One to remember this more than we do? He died for us while we were yet sinners. Before we were born He had this crazy notion that we were somehow worth it. And He knew in advance we would struggle with some things. And generously, He said His grace would be enough.

What would Jesus tweet

I think someone did a sermon on that maybe. But I was thinking about it. Would Jesus really dig what I Twit? Would He laugh? Would He cringe? The fact is, before the thoughts ever get crunched down into those few 114 characters, we have already been measured by the Holy Spirit. I have had so many things I was going to Twit then checked myself because I didn’t think it would be a good idea. But just because I didn’t Tweet it doesn’t mean Jesus is really proud of me. What are your thoughts. Has Twitter kind of opened the door to gossip and slander but give it a pass because it’s on Twitter?

The Leadership Content

Leadership is pretty important. And lately I have been wrestling with the entire notion that we are challenged by God to develop our leadership. And the level to which we develop leadership is the level to which God will bless us with people to lead. If we lead lousily 100 people, we probably won’t get to 101. God just won’t waste His resources and people. He is very wise with His own stuff and with His own people. I find the biggest challenge is to refine my own leadership. Do you feel the same way?

Drink it in

When the sun comes up, drink it in. God made it and its amazing.
When a kid smiles, drink it in. God made every person uniquely and wonderfully.
When something goes wrong, drink it in. Experience is an amazing teacher.
When you walk by fruit in the grocery store, drink it in. God has amazing creativity with the fruit of the vine and tree.

I could go on and on. There will be a day when you can’t see maybe or hear or even remember who you are. Why not slow down. Drink in the  moments with your friends. Drink in the moments of alone time. Drink in all that God created. We are in too much of a hurry. We talk fast. We eat fast. We run fast. We drive fast. Slow down. Drink it in. Call a friend you haven’t talked to in a while. Call your parents. Sit alone by a lake. Just stop. Slow down. Drink it in. God really is in the details.