When my daughter was born something fundamentally changed in me. I began seeing the world differently. As a young man I really didn't think very much about how women experienced the world. It was hard for me to think of women as someone's daughter or sister.Then my daughter was born.All of a sudden I began think about women differently. I became keenly aware that the women I would see on the street...
Socrates said, "An unexamined life is not worth living." This is my feeble attempt at examining my life.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
One Step Too Far
Why is it that we tend to go one step too far? I'm particularly thinking about holiness and the Christian life (although I think this extends beyond that). We have a very good desire, to be holy, but it plays out so often as self-righteousness.For example, we want to keep our minds and hearts pure. Therefore, we set a rule, "no movies but G rated films". Or we want to encourage abstinence so we create...
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Small Hills
A friend of mine says, "Christians choose to die on small hills". I think he's right. We get bent out of shape over lots of things. Most of these things don't matter.Over the last few years I'm finding that there are fewer things that really matter. There are few things that I get angry over. Not many things get my blood boiling.I hope that this is the result of maturity and growing in grace....
Monday, October 27, 2014
Transformation
If we're honest with ourselves one of the reasons that we don't participate or engage in "evangelism" or "discipleship" is because we don't think that transformation is possible. We have a "what's the point?" mentality. This person isn't going to change, so it doesn't matter.Incarnation –> Reputation –> Conversation –> Confrontation –> TransformationIt doesn't have to be that way though....
Friday, October 24, 2014
It Takes a Community
The other day, I received an email that really got under my skin. I mean, it really bothered me a lot. It was one of those emails that for whatever reason just irked me.It felt personal.I took it personally.I was ready to respond with snark and sarcasm.Thankfully, I could process it out with Amy. She listened and reminded me that it was not personal. This was no vendetta to ruin my life (we are...
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Diversity In Unity
"Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it."This is something that I love about following Jesus. We are not like the Borg where you have to assimilate. We're not like the Daleks or Cyber-men (I know I'm mixing Sci-fi references). The body of Christ is wonderful because it is full of diversity and unity.There are some things that the Church offers the world. This is one of...
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Notifications
Notifications on our phone are weird. They're really intrusive. I may be reading or praying and then all of a sudden, "ding, ding" and like Pavlov's dog I grab the phone.It might be really important. So I really need to check it.Then...Just a stupid cat video.A number of weeks ago I took a Facebook break. When I returned to Facebook, I turned off the notifications on my phone for the app. As a result,...
Monday, October 20, 2014
Confrontation Brings Change
That morning I woke up with a pit in my stomach. A ball of acid that wouldn't go anywhere. The drive to the office was a bit foggy. When I arrived, I tried as hard as I could to just go through my usual routine. Then my lunch appointment arrived and over the course of that conversation everything changed. Confrontation is not always very much fun.I don't know anyone that likes confrontation. There...
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Simple Joy
Most Saturdays this fall have been quiet. It is typically a day to sleep in, rest, and recover. We have very rarely done much of anything on a Saturday.Quite simply Saturday has become a day of simple joy.Our family gets to eat three meals together, on Saturday.Our family gets to watch a movie together, on Saturday.Our family gets to play together, on Saturday.These are simple joys. There is nothing...
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Being A Pastor
I was on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ and considering going into church ministry. The biggest question I had for our pastor was how did he get involved in people's lives? It appeared to me that he just hung out in his office all day.He didn't.I have been a pastor with an established, institutional, congregation and now with a congregation that is just beginning. The experiences are totally...
Friday, October 17, 2014
Don't Feed the Troll
I am realizing that there are a few people who follow my Facebook feed that are trolls. No, they're not ugly looking people on the outside and they don't typically live under a bridge. They are much more insidious.It seems as though everything I post, there they are to say, "You're wrong" or "You're dumb". They do it in different ways, ways that get you riled up inside and all fiery and passionate.That's...
Thursday, October 16, 2014
I Stood Up
Very rarely do I find that there is something in the news that I need to take a stand on. A friend of mine has said that Christians like to die on small hills. I think for the most part he is right.The hard part is discovering which are small hills and which are the big hills.I have come to the conclusion that 99% of the hills that we see in our culture are really small. When you recognize that hill...
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Drama!
What is it about drama? Why is it that some people love it. Some people seem to pursue it. They chase after it like a dog chases a stick.I started thinking, maybe it is a contentment issue. Maybe people create drama for themselves because they are not or struggle to be content with their lives. The Apostle Paul writes in Philippians 4 that he has learned to be content in all things. He talks about...
Art of the Conversation
I wrote a piece about conversation yesterday. Conversation is an art that I'm trying really hard to teach my children. It just isn't something we do very do often as a society.Too many people are simply too interested in themselves. They cannot quite get their mind around what it looks like to really care about somebody else. Conversation inherently teaches us to care about others.There is something...
Monday, October 13, 2014
Have A Conversation, Be On Mission
When was the last time you had a real conversation with someone who is different from you? Most of the time our lives are filled with those who are just like us. Christians are called to be on mission. We are to be about proclaiming the excellencies of Jesus and we can not do that apart from conversation.Conversation is the third step of being on mission in this world. We begin by incarnating a space...
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Man, We Manipulate
There are some things in life you can't control. You can't control the weather, for example. The other thing you can't control is other people.But, we really want to.We really want to control others so we try to manipulate them through emotion. If that doesn't work, we try to do it through policy. But we really want to control them.Why? It's because we want something from them. We want to get their...
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Class and Character on Gameday
Class and character are hard things to learn. They are mostly caught and rarely taught. The thing about both of them is that you can tell when they're absent easier than when they are present.This past week at my son's football game he was taught class and character by his coaches. His team's coach in the face of adversity taught the boys character by not allowing them to make excuses. They were getting...
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Don't Look Behind The Curtain
Why does it seem the "biggest and best" are often times anything but? It seems like there is so much broken inside huge corporations.This is just as true for local congregations as it is in the secular world.I think at the heart of it is a lack of accountability. As it is said of Colonel Nathan Jessup in A Few Good Men, "You don't get to his position without learning how to side step a few land mines."The...
Why You Gotta Be So Rude?
There are many issues in our world today that have people up in arms. I swim in the Christian sub culture and when the sub culture gets angry, look out.Many of my friends post articles written by prominent pastors and bloggers. The tone of the articles are mean, sarcastic, and rude.What strikes me is that if I want to have a real conversation with someone I need to engage with them with some humility....
Press On Through
I am growing in my realization that perseverance is not normal. In my old Campus Crusade for Christ days we called it "Dynamic Determination".It seems that few possess this ability. When things get hard they walk away. A bright new shiny opportunity gets laid before them and they're gone.Living in the context of a true community requires a doggedness of commitment to the people you're living with....
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Paul, Barnabas, and Timothy
There is nothing like friends. People who know you beyond the just the mask that you show the world.I am grateful to have a few friends like this in my life. My wife is obviously one. But, the ones that I am thinking of are a handful of men who really know me.There are a couple of older guys who are ahead of me in life. These guys are able to listen and give me insight into what's to come. They give...
Monday, October 6, 2014
Be Known, Build A Reputation
When someone says your name, what comes to other people's minds? This is your reputation. Reputation is the second step of really living into a place. It is, in a sense, the legend of ourselves in our community.Incarnation –> Reputation –> Conversation –> Confrontation –> TransformationI remember a discussion that took place on Facebook a while back about "bi-vocational" ministry. One...
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Sunday Morning Rhythm
When we find rhythm in our lives it is so very joyful.Ever since we launched the Antioch Movement we have been gathering together on Sunday nights. This has created a Sunday morning rhythm in our home of restfulness. Quiet mornings and relaxation.We have found a rhythm where Sundays are Sabbath rest for us. We don't do very much but we are together.I remember something that a friend said many years...
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Let The Dog Out
One of the things that I love about being a pastor is that I get come alongside people and love well. Most of the time this is during times of pain and suffering. Every once in a while it's when something fun is happening.This weekend I get to let the dog out. One of the guys in our community took his wife on a surprise get away for the weekend. I get to let the dog out.As I drove over to their house...
Friday, October 3, 2014
The Grass Is Always Greener
The grass is greener over there on that side of the fence!Faithfulness is really hard. We don't like to be faithful. It requires us to push through when there are obstacles. It is so much easier to walk away.The most beautiful of things that I get to see is when people choose to be faithful. Great opportunities come along every day. These cause us to take our eye off the ball and to look over the...
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Growth is Pain
I have one teen age son and a pre-teen daughter. The son is constantly growing these days. It seems that he wakes up in the morning an inch taller than when he went to bed.The thing about growing is that it hurts. Knees, elbows, hands, legs, arms, and feet all hurt. Growing is painful.I am not a gardener. However, to be good neighbors we had some landscaping done. To care for our plants we have to...