Why I do what I do

So I’m sitting in a hospital room visiting with a member of our congregation last night, and he’s telling me about all the ways that our church has helped him get closer to God. We are, it appears, not very judgmental, so he felt at home and kept coming back, and feels closer to Jesus than he ever did before. We encouraged our people to start really digging into God’s Word on a daily basis with the Life Journal and he and his wife have been reading the Bible like they didn’t used to. It’s good to do what I do after all! It’s good to serve here. It’s good to be alive.

Say it with me… unassisted triple play.

Talk about individual achievement. The chances of a second baseman catching the ball, hitting the bag, and tagging the runner, in that order, so that he gets three outs all by himself (it’s only happened 14 times in Major League history, fewer times than a pitcher has pitched a perfect game), are so infinitessimal it’s extraordinary, only 14 times in 100 years. Seems like a spectacular example of individual achievement, doesn’t it. BUT… consider this. Asdrubal Cabrera had to be so proud of himself when it happened just this past Monday May 12, but consider how proud his Dad who probably played catch with him was, how proud his manager and coaches who helped him get better at what he does so he’d be ready for this extraordinary opportunity, and the guy who coached him in little league so many years ago was. Even our most outstanding individual achievements rest on the shoulders of those who brought us to be the people we are today. So find somebody who helped you be who you are today… and thank them!

Be more quiet now…

Lately I’ve been privvy to a lot more people arguing and debating (usually just arguing) than normal. Could it be that we don’t remember how to be slow to speak and quick to listen? I know I forget that… all the time… Guess I should shut up now…

Stay hungry, stay humble.

This weekend at my church I brought in a guest worship leader. His name is Aaron Greer, check out his band (Aaron, Clarence, and Scott-o) here. Here’s the thing. Aaron plays guitar WAY better than I will ever hope to. So when I’m in a situation like that, I have two choices. I can be intimidated and let that change the way I behave, maybe that will even make me act like a jerk… OR… I can just bask in somebody else’s talent, celebrate it and maybe even learn a thing or two on the way. Whatever the case, I grow more by being around people that are better, faster, smarter, whatever… than me, than by being intimidated by them. I hang around people who are smarter than me at work all the time. (Sometimes it makes me wonder why they let me stay here.) Makes me want to learn more and get better at what God has called me to do. Even if I’ll never play guitar as well as Aaron.

French fries and changed lives

I used to think that New Years’ Resolutions were for suckers. Last December I decided to make one simple resolution, just to test my own resolve. Three words: “No French Fries”. It’s December 12, and I have almost made it! I even had a restaurant bring me a plate full of fries one time by accident and I managed to not eat them! What an amazing tiny little victory!Sometimes I think we want all our progress in life to be huge, when really, small victories are really big victories. In the church, we love to see big dramatic revivals in our houses of worship where tons of people rush weeping to the front of the stage. But I see revival in lives every day in my church. They seem like small revivals to some, but they seem really big to me. People whose lives are revived and transformed by living in community. People who are revived to be more like Christ than they were last year. People who take their own time and money to travel to places like Jamaica and storm-drenched Mississippi and the Dominican Republic to help people build or rebuild their lives, just because Jesus told us to love our neighbor. People who decide to follow Christ for the first time because of what they see in our community.They are small things to some, but they are truly enormous to God, and they should be a big deal to us, too. It is a real Acts 2 “filled with awe” community if we look beneath the surface. Small victories, that add up to big victories… that change the world. I hope you can see these kinds of things in your church the way I see them in mine.And by the way… Yes, on January 1, I am planning on going somewhere and ordering like… four orders of fries. 

Thankful

I get to preach this coming weekend… about Communion and Thanksgiving and how they’re connected and what the idea of Eucharist means to the church, what it meant to the early church, and what it’s supposed to do to us.

I’m thankful for so much today. I’m thankful for some gorgeous weather, for my family, especially my wife, for food in my belly, and gas in my tank… And I’m thankful for coffee (REALLY thankful for coffee…). But what I’m most thankful for today is that being thankful means I can do something for someone else, to pass it on, to “pay it forward”… and make someone else thankful by what God gives me to do.

Do something for someone today… Make them thankful!

Keep meeting together… for the fellowship AND the food!

Hebrews tells us to keep meeting together and not be “Lone Ranger” Christ-followers. Actually, I think most of the New Testament does. Actually, now that I think of it, I’m pretty sure the whole Bible tells us this.

But recently I’ve interacted with a small handful of individuals who are trying to be Lone Rangers. I’ve exhorted them that this doesn’t work. I know, I tried it for a while years ago.

There’s a few things scary about this kind of Christ-following life. First, you miss out on some essential fellowship (which includes some great food… not an unimportant thing it seems, in light of Scripture). Second, you get “dull” because now iron isn’t sharpening iron. Oh, you can get all your doctrinal and biblical ducks in a row from books and TV and radio preaching perhaps, but your LIFE isn’t being sharpened. Third, okay, this one isn’t so spiritual and maybe it’s even selfish, but it’s just way more fun to do life in community.

Share some time with some people this week… just to do LIFE together… And have some food, too!

And if you could share your stories and insights, that would be great. I have a message that I’m preparing for later this year on community… I’d love to even write it in community!