Take a Break. Why Not?

I love personal challenges. And one of the challenges that I recently committed to was to take a one month break from my blog entries. Why? Well -a relative of mine shared with me that in order to keep things fresh in his life, he discovered that each passion or obsession needed a resting point. Just as the body needs rest for the new day ahead, so our dreams and passions do as well. In doing so, we come at it with fresh eyes and with new perspectives. In ministry, they often call this a sabbatical. In fact, in the New Testament we are told that Jesus often times went to an isolated area to be with himself - to collect his thoughts and to pray. I must confess, there were many times during this past month that I thought, "Wow. This would be a great blog entry." But it tested the glue of my commitment to stay true to the goal.

What is something in your life that you may need to put to rest for a bit in order to come at it again with more energy and efficiency?

A little sunshine on a Rainy Lake

This past week I got the rare opportunity to get away and refuel my engines by doing something I truly love to do - fish. Fishing can take my mind to different places and it allows me to experience the beauty of God's creation. After a five hour drive into Canada, Rainy Lake produced some great fellowship along with some big fish!

I always come away with...

This Sunday after church I got the privilege to do a little "exit greeting" as people left our 10:00 service. I love exit greeting because it gives me the opportunity to mix and mingle with just about everybody (young and old - first time guest and veterans). But I also must add that exit greeting (for me) does come with some elements of risk.

For example, several years ago an elderly lady did not recognize me as the teaching pastor while I was exit greeting that Sunday and she wanted to know if "the guy" on stage (which was me) is really the pastor at this church? I said to her, "He's all we got." And she smirked at me and said, "I guess he'll have to do!" Not sure how to take that!

And just this week, a lady came out of the service and was moving pretty fast to the exit door when I asked her if she would like a Willowbrook magnet with our summer calendar on the front? She quickly looked at me and said, "I'm in a hurry because the speaker went long today!" Ouch! I must admit, I wasn't expecting that from my MOM! Anyhow....

In all truthfulness, I was truly blessed this Sunday following the service because I met a sixty-four year old woman who has been attending Willowbrook for her third weekend and as I handed her our summer magnet I noticed that she had written down a lot of information on her worship outline from my message. I joked with her and said, "I'm happy to see at least someone is using my sermon notes." And she responded,

"I always come away with a few nuggets of truth to apply to my life."

I just about melted!

Now, I'm not saying that 64 is old. So don't get me wrong with what I'm about to say - but here it goes:

I hope that when I'm 64 that I am still collecting nuggets!

I think that when most people get to be my age (31 ..., okay 44) we tend to think we know all of the answers. We tend to think we can't be surprised anymore. I think in many ways, sadly enough, we have been "tamed," like a circus animal. We don't live for the adventure of following Jesus. But not this lady. She is a nugget collector.

What about you?

Are you like a deer that pants for water when it comes to Jesus?
Do you have a passion for the truth?
And if so, how much energy are you willing to spend to find it?


Something to think about!

I am committed to improving

I believe that one of the essential for leadership growth is an attitude that expresses, "I am committed to improving." When it comes to a great marriage, people just don't accidentally fall into a good marriage. Instead, all great marriages have a common denominator - they are committed to improving their skills, and they seek out the best resources to allow it to happen. At our church I oversee a lot of talented people. And although talent can help get you down the road, rarely does talent alone have enough gas get you all the way home.

Ecclesiastes 10:10 reads,

If an ax is blunt and the edge isn't sharpened, then one has to use more strength. But wisdom prepares the way for success.

If a person is talented, but they are not committed to improving their skills, they are very much like this dull ax described by Solomon. Sure, they can rely just on their raw talent to impress a person or two, but when it comes to their full impact for the kingdom it will fall way short of God's outrageous design for their lives.

My prayer for me as I continue to walk this path of leadership is this: That by this time next year, I will have sharpened the ax even more by becoming much wiser through humility along with a deep passion and desire to always improve.

What about you? What do you see yourself becoming next year for Christ? What areas do you need to improve on (sharpen)?

Those Lovely Patterns

I was reminded this week, as I performed a child dedication at our church, how important the role of a parent is when it comes to spiritual development for their son or daughter. My mind went back to Sesame Street and the familiar song, "One of these thing just doesn't belong here." Remember that crazy game? The idea behind this particular lesson was for the child (watching from his or her television set) to point to that one object or "thing" that was different from the rest. For example, from the four objects listed, which one of these is not like the other?

One of the first things kids learn to identify are shapes. Much of our right brain stimulation comes from viewing shapes or patterns. And so when parents are standing up in front of the church dedicating their child to the Lord, I often wonder if the parents will commit their lives to a pattern in their home that best imitates the pattern of Jesus Christ. Will they show love, patience, kindness, gentleness, self control, and the many other important patterns for their child to follow? And most importantly, will they model a great marriage?

Wouldn't it be great for our children to identify which spiritual elements our from Christ and which ones are from the world? Well, in many ways, they will only know this if the parent best model the pattern of Christ.