I May Be On A Diet

Scripture challenges me.  Many times when I'm reading, a passage jumps off the page at me.  It causes me to look at my life critically.

This morning, I was reading the beatitudes in Matthew 5.  I've read them many times before and I remember studying them in Vacation Bible School as a kid.  But this morning, verse 6 jumped out at me.  It says, "Blesses are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (ESV).

Reading that caused me to ask the question - How hungry am I for righteousness?  How intense is my appetite?  When I get hungry for food, there is very little that can stand in my way of getting it - SERIOUSLY!  You can look at me and tell I don't miss many meals.

Here's what I find, though:  I am starved for righteousness - in other people's lives.  In my dealings with others, I can always see how they could be more righteous and make better decisions.  I crave righteousness for them especially when it's me that's not being treated very well.  In my life, however, not so much.  Oh sure, I want to do the right thing, I want to treat people fairly, I want to live with integrity, but am I hungry for it?  Do I have a deep, internal craving for good?

How about you?  How hungry are you?

Can't We Be Friends?

Tonight, my daughter Bryanna is going to a sleep over at one of her friend’s house.  She has been very excited all week.  Each morning at breakfast she has reminded me and Michael how many more days until she goes to Jessica’s.  Yesterday, the day before the big event, she couldn’t hardly contain herself.  Why is she so excited?  Is it because Jessica has better toys than she does?  Is her mom a better cook?  Maybe they have more video games.  Maybe she just wants to get away from us?

I don’t think any of that is the case.  I think it’s because that’s the way she’s wired.  In fact, I think it’s how we are all wired.  I think each one of us has a built in desire to be connected with other people.  We were made for relationships.  God designed each one of us to operate best in community with other people.  

As we get older, we tend to suppress that need because of our own personal hang ups, but it is still there.  Sometimes we get so busy, we just don’t have time to invest in relationships.

In the past couple of years, I have been intentional about building relationships and it has made a huge difference in my life.  Not all of the relationships have turned out well.  I have been hurt deeply by people that I was very close to, but over all the results have been positive.  I actually get excited when we are meeting our friends for dinner or our small group is coming over.  I can’t wait when I get the opportunity to play golf with a friend.

So, I challenge you to take stock of the relationships in your life.  Do you have some good friends that you are doing life with?  If not, take the time.  Go have coffee with someone.  Invite someone over to dinner.  Don’t have a sleep over, though, that could be weird.

Lessons From Kids

God is love. I’m still trying to learn that lesson.

I used to have a very hard time reconciling the angry, judgmental God of the Old Testament with the loving, forgiving God of the New Testament.  What made it even harder was the legalistic churches I had attended.  Back then it was all about the rules.  You had to wear the right clothes, watch the right TV shows (or certainly not watch the wrong ones), read the right Bible, say the right things... to make God love you more.

All of that changed, that whole perspective, when we had kids.  I then saw how angry I could get when they subverted my attempts to keep them safe while at the same time loving them so much I can’t even describe it.  It all started to make sense.

This weekend marks eight years since Steph and I brought two little kids home and started the journey of adoption.  Eight years later I’m still learning how to be a father.  And, eight years later Bryanna and Michael are still teaching me about my heavenly father and how He loves me.

Numbers

This past weekend was Easter.  We had 809 people show up to 3 services.  First let me put that number in context:

• We have been averaging 425-450 people for the last several months
• The last several weeks we have crept up to around 500 in regular attendance.

I know what many of you are thinking.  It’s not about the numbers, right?  I’m going to stick my neck out and give you my opinion... IT IS MOST DEFINITELY ABOUT THE NUMBERS!  That number represents people... people that need Jesus.  We want large numbers to come so we can tell them about Jesus, that they were created on purpose and God has a plan for their lives.  He wants them to be a part of His family.

A couple of random things about the number:

• We limited advertising this year and depended on our attenders to invite their friends.
• We believed God was going to do something big and acted on it.  Our senior pastor, Scott Flippin, mobilized a team to build an additional classroom in an unfinished part of our building to handle extra children.  Those involved didn’t question or doubt what God was going to do.  The room was put together (framing, wiring, drywall, painting, lighting, furniture and decor) in 10 days.
• We are not in competition with other churches.  I was hesitant to even publish the number for fear that it might sound like that.  We are in competition with culture (television, sporting events, leisure activities and doing nothing).

This afternoon I was reading in Deuteronomy 9 and God was telling the people of Israel that He wasn’t giving them the promised land because they were so good.  No, His focus was on the current inhabitants of the land.  He didn’t bless us this weekend because our church is so great or the staff did such a good job with preparations or because the volunteers were inspired to build a new classroom.  No, His focus was on the ones that don’t know Him yet.  That’s where our focus should be, too, down to the last number.

Doggone

I love our dog. She is a 10 year old Labrador retriever. The bad thing about retrievers, though, is that they retrieve things. Sometimes in the summer we let the cucumbers get too big before we pick them. If they are no good, we throw them down through the woods. Later we find them back in our yard… because we have a retriever.

Right now our yard is strewn with various parts of deer skeletons left over from hunts last fall; an assortment of small bones, larger bones, a skull and an entire rib cage. I tossed them all down into the woods the other day before I mowed. Today they are all back… because we have a retriever.

The thought occurred to me though that of all the things God is, He’s not a retriever when it comes to our screw ups. When we make mistakes, we acknowledge it, ask forgiveness and He never brings it up to us again (Psalm 103:12). We don’t constantly have to step over old bones from our past. Other people might remind us, but God doesn’t. That’s a good feeling. Stepping on a half rotten cucumber – not so good.

Near Miss

There are a couple of indicators in my life that show when I am too busy. One of them is my car and the other is my desk.

When my car gets really, really messy and you can’t see the floor for all the Wendy’s bags waiting to be thrown away, it means that I have been on the road too much. I’ve been consumed by events, Scout meetings, family functions and various other showers and birthday parties. And it most likely means that I’m running on empty, I’ve been stretched too thin and I need some rest.

The other indicator is my desk. When my desk gets messy, it shows that I am too busy and I’m probably not managing my time well. When I have a lot to do, I feel the pressure of needing to get it done. When I finish the main part of a task, instead of seeing it to the end and filing what needs to be filed, I leave it on my desk thinking I’ll file everything at one time and I move on to the next task. This situation occurs because I get great satisfaction out of being able to check something off of my “to do” list.

Yesterday evening, my pastor called and needed to know where a set of plans were. They were rolled up under my desk and he had to go in and get them. The first thought that ran through my mind was a mental picture of what my desk looked like when I left the office. The next thoughts were of my pastor being buried alive under an avalanche of papers. He would most likely sustain serious, if not critical, life-threatening injuries and wouldn’t be found until the next morning when the first of the staff arrived at the office.

Thankfully, he was able to retrieve the plans without incident. It served as a good reminder, though that I’m not helping myself by moving on to the next task. I’m really only slowing myself down because of the extra time it takes to find things in the mess.

So, how are your desk and your car? It’s good to have a couple of indicators to let you know how busy you are and if you are making time for God, for your family, and for your best work.