Last week the moon here was truly amazing.
It was big, bright, and full. I’m certainly not a guru on scientific matters, but I do remember from my childhood science class that the moon absorbs the light from the sun and reflects it back. This is why the moon
shines at night. It’s more of a glow or
reflection than shining its own light.
As I was driving home the other night, I started thinking about this whole reflection business. The moon has nothing to offer but simply reflects everything that the sun shines on it. It got me thinking about my life as a pastor, and if you’re not a pastor just as a follower of Jesus. How much of my life is spent trying to shine my own light? How much of my time is devoted to casting some light of my own?
I find it all too often the case that well-meaning followers of Jesus try to be the best at something so as to make a name for themselves. It’s disheartening to listen to pastors and churchgoers talk about my church and our focus is on growing our own church by any means possible.
I honestly think we can learn something from the moon. It does exactly what it was created to do – reflect the light of the sun. It does exactly what Jesus did in His ministry – it only reflects what’s given to it. Jesus taught a lot of powerful things. He was put in some pretty tricky situations and even was bombarded by temptations from a very powerful enemy. But in the midst of all of this He never did anything on His own. He only reflected what the Father gave him. It says in John 5:19 the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing.
What a powerful thought! Jesus, the very Son of God who had all the power of God at his disposal didn’t do anything that wasn’t a reflection of the Father’s will and action. This means that Jesus’ death and resurrection were a reflection of the Father’s love for us.
Now as followers of Jesus we’re not called to come up with some bright and witty statement of faith or some great tactic to share who Jesus is with those around us. We’re just called to be a reflection of his presence where we live, work and play. This is the Jesus in me. We’re called to reflect the presence of the Son of God into our everyday situations.
Today don’t try to be your own light. Don’t push to come up with your own presence and power. Instead, today try reflecting the Son into your daily relationships. As you reflect Jesus’ love, people will get a glimpse of the power of God in normal, everyday situations.
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Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been working our way through a book titled The Ways of The Alongsider: Growing Disciples Life2Life by Bill Mowry. Bill is a friend of mine whose passion is to see people grow deeper in their relationship with Jesus and to live out his way of life everyday. The idea of an Alongsider might be an uncommon thought to some of us, but he does a great job detailing at the outset of the book. Then as we moved deeper into our understanding of what an Alongsider was we hit two topics of great importance to discipleship: A Way of Life and Intentionality. Continue reading
journeying through a book by Bill Mowry titled The Ways of the Alongsider: Growing Disciples Life2Life. The 
choices
We’ve all done it. We’ve all made a choice that has haunted us for some time to follow. That choice may have been eating two chili dogs right before bed. That choice may have been to yell at our spouse. That choice may have been to break a civil law. No matter the choice we have made, it’s still a bad choice and we have to live the with the consequences. 
The idea of chasing a storm may seem a bit strange. Storms can wreak havoc on entire communities. They can level cities and demolish landscapes. But there are people who will devote large portions of their lives to chasing down these storms and watching them. They do it so that they can learn more about them. Sure there’s a thrill of the hunt but for them there’s learning to do. Wind speeds, changes in direction, rainfall amounts, pressure changes are some of the things for which they look. 
There’s a lot of talk these days about safe places. These are places where people are free to be themselves. They are places that lack judgment and allow the freedom to be accepted no matter the person’s preferences, history, or genetic make-up.