Some people have asked why I do what I do. Maybe they’ve asked you similar things about going to church on Sunday or doing this whole thing called worship or following Jesus? If they have, then you know there is something about it that you just can’t describe.
One of the Bible verses that I love says the rocks would cry out. The reference is that if we didn’t worship then the rocks would worship God. Have you thought of that? The rocks? I mean they’re hard, cold, inanimate. They can’t talk or move. They’re not even alive. But here the Bible says that they would cry out in worship if we didn’t do it.
Now who would be worthy of that kind of praise. Who would be able to cause a rock to cry out? This week’s song tells us that only one is worthy of that kind of action. Jesus is his name.
This is why I do what I do. This is why we get up and worship on a Sunday morning. Jesus is his name.
Just take a minute and listen to the lyrics of this song. He died and rose. He gave himself freely for us. He traded places with us not because we asked him to but because he loved us that much.
He’s worthy of our praise. He’s worthy of even the praise of the rocks and trees. He’s worthy of a thousand hallelujahs to say the very least!
This week is about faith. When everything around you seems to be going in one direction, but you see God moving. God calls you to have faith. It’s like building a boat when it’s not even raining.
Can you imagine being Noah from the Bible? Think about it for a minute. No rain. No large body of water near by. No real prediction of a storm in the meteorological forecast. But you’re supposed to build a boat. What do you do?
The passers by all laugh and point and call you names. Your friends look at you like you’re crazy. What in the world is this man doing? What do you do?
When the world is spiraling in fear and hatred seems to be all the world cares about. But you know there’s a different message. You know there’s a message of love and hope and peace. What do you do?
Today’s Music Monday song says that you build a boat! When the sun is shining and everything looks great, build the darn boat already.
I don’t know what God has laid on your heart or the things holding you back from making the first cut on that board. But I want to encourage you to build the boat. The rain will come. The promise will be fulfilled. You have what it takes. And just like Noah, you’re not building alone. You might have to look a little but you’re not alone.
So grab the tools and get your supplies, it’s time to build a boat.
Have you ever just sat and contemplated the wonder of how big God must be? I mean for those of us who believe in God as Father, Jesus as Savior and Spirit as Comforter, there’s a hugeness to God that is really hard to get our minds around. But not only the idea that God is so big but also that he has so much on His plate that how in the world could he handle my tiny problems?
You know I think this is something that’s pretty cool about the way we understand God in the church where I serve. He’s mighty and majestic and powerful and massive and other worldly. He’s king and savior and creator and Father and all the things for the entire world (then and now). But he’s also that for me today.
There’s a personal nature to God that is something pretty significant. He’s in my corner. He’s for you. He’s in the muck and mire of your crappy day and throwing parties on your good day. He cares about your divorce or your raise. He’s just as present with you today as he has been with anyone, ever!
This week we pause to worship on this Monday morning and reflect that the God we worship is the same God that showed up in mighty ways for Abraham and Moses, Mary and Ruth, Joseph and Paul. He’s the same God who’s been present throughout history. The God of creation is the God present when you are struggling to make it through the day. The God who healed the sick is the same one sitting by your side when you get the cancer diagnosis. The God who raised Lazarus from the dead is the same one standing by your side in your mourning.
The same God is right here with us. The same power, majesty, might, love, presence. All of it. Just as real as it was for the men and women of the Bible, he’s right here and real for you and me today.
As you begin this week, pause and reflect on the God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
As we start a new year it’s a good thing to take a few minutes to consider the people ahead and behind us in life. Those people who we look to for influence in our lives. But also those people who look to you for guidance. We call these groups people of influence and impact.
The influence group are those who really push you to be your best. They bring out the best in you. They drive you to do and be better in just about every way. These people, and even places, are influential for any number of reasons. Take some time, as you set those resolutions or goals for the year, to consider the influencers in your life.
Make sure to carve our time for these people. Spend time with them. Invest in these relationships. The people who push you to do and be better are the ones you need to be near on a regular basis. Find creative ways to sit at their feet to learn as much as you can. When you’re with those kind of people who draw out the best in you, make sure to sit and listen. Ask good questions to grow as much from these relationships as you possibly can.
But just as important is the group we’ll call your impact group. These are the people on whom you have an impact. While the influencers feed you, the impact group needs you to in a sense feed them.
Take time to think of the people in your circle who need the best from you. Who needs your A game for them to thrive?
When you’re setting goals and plans for the coming year make sure to leave time and space in your life for those people who feed off of your energy, passion and knowledge.
One of the best things we can do in life is to create a legacy around us. A legacy looks ahead and behind us. A healthy legacy gives thanks for the influencers that have brought us to where we are and to the impact group who look to us for leadership and direction in life. Both are critical for a healthy life of leadership.
As a pastor, I focus on something called discipleship. This is the idea of learning from and walking closer to the way of Jesus. We do this by using influencers and impacters. The way we learn and grow is by looking to those who’ve been there…done that. And it becomes scalable and repeatable when we bring others along for the ride. Discipleship has to be an ongoing movement or it simply dies after a generation or two.
Jesus took his lead from his Father. Then shared that with the men and women who we call disciples. What he learned from the Father, he passed on to his followers. We are to do the same thing. Learn from those who feed us knowledge and pass that along to those who will take the reigns after we’re off the scene.
So who are your influencers? And who are you here to impact? Lean into these relationships this year!
There’s an old saying that says you can choose your friends not your family, but that’s not totally correct. There’s one way you can choose people to be in your family. It’s called adoption. Now before you close this article give me a second. I’m not marketing for an adoption clinic. I’m just using it as an illustration for you. Adoption is about being chosen!
Ok so have you ever had one of those friends in your life that made you wonder what you were thinking? Ha yeah so have I! But they were there for a reason. Now family is a different story. For most of us, we didn’t have a say in the family that surrounds us. But it doesn’t change the fact that they are family.
I have great respect for those who adopt! I think it’s a pretty cool thing. Actually I’ve told my wife that it’s something I would not be totally opposed to (most days).
Now adopting a child from the foster system isn’t the only kind of choosing that we need to focus on. There’s another way of being chosen that is immensely important!
There’s a passage in the Bible that talks about God choosing us. Think about that. Out of everyone in the world throughout all of history, God knows you enough to choose you. That’s a pretty massive thing if you think about it.
Just like out of all the kids in the system that one you took home is super special, so are you! Now before we realized that we were chosen we kind of just went through the motions. We didn’t know what it meant to be part of this new family. Sure we had the name but we really didn’t like the rules and all the boundaries set up for us. We thought we’d be better off living free from all of these ridiculous rules!
But what if the rules and the boundaries and the name actually were there for a better purpose than just managing our bad behavior? What if that person who chose us, set up those boundaries because they knew something we didn’t know? What if all of those things we thought were overbearing rules were actually setting up a system for us to thrive in life?
Just like an adoptive parent sets boundaries and rules for the children they welcome into their home, so also God sets up boundaries for us as his children. But one day the goal is that we’ll see that all these rules were actually there to create the best environment for us to be able to succeed and thrive in life.
Instead of bucking the system and running from the rules, maybe…just maybe…we can take a minute and try to see what good these rules are meant to bring us.
To start off a new year we use a familiar name combined with a newcomer to the music scene. The song is The Goodness and it focuses on the goodness of the God who is in the midst of every part of our lives.
It’s typical to want all sunshine and roses in life. We like the sun to rise with the beautiful pinks and purples. We like the soft glow of full moon. We like the warmth of the sun or the crackle of the fireplace. We love all of these great parts of life! Who wouldn’t right!? And it’s super easy to sing and praise and see God in the middle of these really cool moments of life. But what about the dark days?
The song Goodness shows that even in the darkness and rain God is still active and vibrant and worthy of our recognition and praise. Even in the challenge and pain God is still just as present and doing what God does best – working for our good.
One part of God that’s easy to forget is the fact that he knows what we don’t know. He sees what’s coming around the corner and he often will do things to prevent us from hitting catastrophe head on. Sometimes however that detour is an unwanted illness or day that just flat sucks.
But take time to see that God has used this detour, no matter how terrible and life altering, to shape you for what’s around the next corner. He sees what you don’t only the Goodness of God can do that!
Away in a manger. Silent Night. O Holy Night. Joy To The World. These songs will fill our churches over the coming days. They are filled with joy and wonder, awe and excitement. The lights on the trees remind us that Jesus is the light of the world. The porcelain manger scenes show the precious baby Jesus surrounded by Mary and Joseph and those innocent shepherds and generous wisemen. It’s a pretty calming thing to consider.
As much as I love these sights and sounds of Christmas, I think they might be missing something. There’s a part of the story that is often unseen and perhaps the old adage out of sight out of mind applies here. Some of you may know this about me and others probably not. I’m a huge fan of the book of Revelation. As a matter of fact, I read it every year in its original Greek language. And spend numerous hours translating it to English with all of the nuances that accompany its original intent. There is so much richness in Revelation that we miss.
Now you’re probably wondering what in the world this has to do with Christmas. To be honest, everything! The book of Revelation is the backside of the Christmas story. It’s the unseen part of the nativity. What we see as a silent and holy night was nothing close to silent when seen through the lens of Revelation. Quiet on the surface but deadly in the shadows. Violence bled into the outlines of that night, but I bet we won’t talk about that one.
The final book of the Bible is often ignored or dismissed because it’s just too hard to understand. Perhaps it is but it’s filled with imagery that might help us see the world around us and even our peaceful holiday specials with a little different detail. Take this example for instance.
There is a scene described in Revelation 12 that focuses on a woman ready to give birth. She’s in the final stages of her pregnancy. She’s crying out in pain. But she’s not the only one in this picture. Lurking in the distance. Hiding in the shadowy parts of the scene is a dragon. A red dragon with fangs poking through the sides of his jaw line. The scaly beast is snarling and growling. Saliva drips from his mouth. He’s had the taste of blood and now sees an innocent and helpless child as his next tasty morsel.
The woman is so weakened by her pregnant state that she can’t defend her child. All she can do let the natural course of events occur. The child will be born. There’s no stopping it. The dragon is poised for the opportune moment. This little baby may be small but it will satisfy the dragon’s hunger in an indescribable way.
Then the child is born. The crying child is welcomed into the world. Not into the claws of the dragon, but he is snatched away and taken to safety…at least for now.
This sure doesn’t sound like the same Christmas story we preach in our churches every year! It isn’t the silent night we thought it was. The imagery here isn’t calm and meek and mild as the manger scene shows. It’s violent. The scene is terrifying to say the least. Death lurks in the shadowy corner. If you read on, you’ll see that war erupts at the birth of this baby Jesus.
In 2023 I’ll be walking a group through the book of Revelation. This is one of the images that has always stood out to me. The beauty and horror of Christmas. The snarling silent night filled with death and war and violence.
While we hang stocking on our fireplaces looking for presents, in the shadows a war was waged. The real story of Christmas is most certainly about the birth of Jesus. The shepherds were there to be sure. But when Jesus was born the plan promised from the foundation of the world was put into action.
This Christmas as you celebrate the holy night in the little town of Bethlehem perhaps you can pause and see into the shadows. Keep your eyes open for where the dragon was hiding. He’s no longer there. He’s been defeated. He’s been conquered by that innocent, helpless child. His birth meant the beginning of the demise for that powerful dragon.
It’s Christmas friends! Light the candles. Put up the tree. Celebrate with family and friends. Not only was a child born. But the road was paved for the defeat of the greatest enemy we would ever have to face. That’s the story of Christmas! That’s the reason Joy filled with World at Christmastime.
A new year typically brings all sorts of new things. We try that new diet that we’ve read is all the rave. We venture back into the gym for a new routine of workouts. We try on those new running shoes to give the treadmill a try. There’s all sorts of things we pick up at the start of a new year in hopes of forming a healthy trend or habit. We even start reading new books or start bible reading plans or change our sleep routines.
I’m not one to make New Year’s Resolutions for many reason. The biggest reason is that all too often these New Year New You kind of goals end up being broken in just a few short weeks! Being a workout enthusiast it’s easy to see how fast people stop coming to the gym so soon after the near year starts. But this year might be a little different.
No I’m not going to set some unrealistic expectation or goal for the year. I’m not going on a diet. And for goodness sake, I’m not training for a marathon. I am however going to start something new.
As 2022 came to an end, I made the intentional decision to restructure my workload. I had to say no to a couple of things so that I could say yes to a couple more. One of my passions has always been to work with churches and pastors and leaders to help them see the world through a new set of lenses. In an effort to do that, I went through the John Maxwell leadership training program, worked on getting a coaching certificate, and built an array of resources that have helped me understand a variety of challenges that ministry leaders and non profits face.
A new thing will hit the blog and my calendar in 2023. I’ll be working on intentional resources to help congregations see their community with different lenses. I’ll be working on materials for congregations to use to help create an intentional strategy to move people to a deeper level of commitment and engagement in the life of the church.
I’m super excited to see how this move will allow me to better come alongside churches, leaders, and followers of Jesus to help them take strides in living the Kingdom life today! Stay tuned…
So I think as parents we’ve all been there. Our child says or does something and we don’t know how to respond. They say whatever comes to their mind whenever they feel like it. They can’t sit still and are disruptive when we’re in groups of people. There’s a feeling of embarrassment when they just can’t seem to get it together. We wonder things like why won’t my child just sit still?
Well let’s look at the last line there to get started. Why won’t my child just sit still? You want to know the answer? Because they are a child! I know that sounds less than caring and possibly that I’m making fun but I’m not because I’ve been there too. But they are children and they have no idea how to sit still. We haven’t taught them that yet.
And for that massively disrupting behavior you fear your children are making, yeah it’s really not as disrupting as you likely believe. As a matter of fact, most of the distracting noise you hear isn’t really noticed by many others around you in large group settings.
Now I’m a pastor of a church, you know the place where people come and everyone sits as quietly as they can for a duration of time while the pastor talks. Yeah not the most conducive atmosphere for a child, especially your child who can’t sit still – right?! Actually wrong. Really you couldn’t be more wrong on that one. Church is the best place for you to take you child if you feel he is unruly or that she won’t sit quiet or he won’t listen or she can’t stop fidgeting.
Sure there are some of those people who are a bit on the judgmental side who take issue with any noise other than the noise they make. But by and large those gathered as the church have mostly been right where you are. They’ve had the nerves going crazy and the red face moments when their child made too much noise. Give yourself and your child some grace. Church is the place where you are surrounded by parents of all ages who can lend a helping hand if you need it.
Ok so enough commentary. Let’s get to a few tips and tricks learned by hard experience.
Set Expectations
I know that sounds a bit odd especially if you’re talking about a pretty young child or infant but setting expectations is really important. Set your own expectations and theirs! Set the expectation for yourself that you child is a child and will make some noise and that’s ok. For your child, set the expectation of what the situation you’re going into means. To use the church example from earlier, let them know that we’re going to sit and listen when we go in. We’re going to use our inside voice, and use yours when you tell them that.
Sit Close
I know this one runs completely contrary to how we normally think and act but if you sit closer to the front they can see what’s going on. And kids are curious little creatures. If they can’t see, then they’ll likely let you know by making too much noise. Sit in the front third of the room and when you sit down explain what you’re seeing.
Explain Things
Now’s the time to play a little game of I spy with your child. Tell them the colors you see and what might be different than the last time you were there. Point out people you know. What do the symbols mean? Why are they there? What’s about to happen? Who are some of the people around you? Something kind of key here is to introduce them to other people, which means you might have to arrive a little earlier so make sure you plan accordingly.
Keep Them Involved
Even from a young age involve your child in what’s goin on. Things like we’re going to sing a song now to let’s fold our hands to pray are great ways to let them be a part of the worship experience. I remember as a child my parents helping me follow along with the songs as we sang them out of the hymnal. These are all ways to help your child stay connected to the service and be more engaged.
Praise Them For Getting It Right
When the service is over and you are headed to your car, make sure to tell them how great they did. There is even a place for rewarding good behavior after successful trips out like this. Nothing huge or over the top but a stop at the local ice cream shop after 4 straight weeks or watching a new movie with the family or a new coloring book are some options. Pretty much anything that will let your child know that this is the right behavior and it is appreciated.
Grab And Go But Don’t Play
Ok so there will come a time when you have to practice what I call the grab and go technique. This is when the child becomes inconsolable or has a loud outburst that you just can’t get under control quickly. In this case you have to simply grab them and go out. The grab and go is important but what you do when you go out is equally important. It’s the tendency of many parents to go out and let them just play with toys or run around to get the wiggles out, but this sets a bad precedent actually. Your child is smarter than you realize and if when they don’t behave the way you expect they get to go out and play are you sending the right message? They’ll quickly learn that all I have to do to get out of this place is to act like a little terror and I get to go play! When you take them out, stand by the windows that let them see what’s going on. Keep the same expectations of quiet and calm as you did when they were sitting inside. Then when they calm down and the atmosphere allows it, bring them right back in.
I get it. None of this is easy. You’re going to have to work at it pretty hard. But it’s not impossible by any means. Parents across time and space have been doing this and fighting the same battle you’re fighting right now. Stick with it. If you need a hand, ask for some help from those around you who’ve been through this stage of parenting. You’ll be surprised at how much collective wisdom is out there!
This year for Thanksgiving we did something a little different. Instead of looking at the normal bible verses, we dove into a psalm. You know one of those passages that looks like a poem and acts like a poem but sometimes doesn’t feel very much like a poem?
We all know that we have things in our life for which we can and should be thankful. From the family that surrounds us and the friends who challenge us to the house in which we live and the car we are able to drive – there are things all around us for which we can be thankful! And if we’re being truly honest, we are probably not as thankful as we should be nor as often as we should be.
Enter the three words of Thanksgiving. And no we’re not doing one of those cheesy thanks-living kind of deals either. These are three words that actually help us see the world around us with a more thankful heart. If you’d rather listen to this one, you’re welcome to scroll to the bottom to grab the link to hear this message instead of reading it.
Joy is where we start. If you begin your thanksgiving with joy, you won’t regret it! Psalm 100 starts by telling us to make a joyful noise. This isn’t about happiness. It’s not about our circumstances but it’s despite our circumstance. Our happenings can not determine our level of joy! Joy is more a way of looking at life. It’s about character. It’s about watching for God to show up, not focusing on the days when I felt alone. Regardless of my circumstances, I know God is still present. That’s what joy is all about.
The second word for Thanksgiving is gladness. Since gladness isn’t something we talk about all that often in our daily lives, another way to look at it is to burst out in laughter. Could you imagine a life where you just found so much enjoyment that you simply crack up in random spouts of laughter. When we have great gladness in our hearts and we live with joy and exuberant laughter, we can’t help but find something for which to be thankful.
Finally, our thanksgiving wouldn’t be complete without leaning on God. It’s all about dependence. When we truly find ourselves dependent on God and not taking matters into our own hands, worrying continuously about the struggles in our lives, wonder if anyone will love us, fret over whether or not we will make it through this terrible situation – then we’ll be able to see life through a different lens. When we lean on God and rely on him to provide for us, thanksgiving comes naturally.
The three words that should guide us in how to be thankful: joy, laughter and leaning. When we have these three things working together in our lives then thanksgiving will be all around us. It will change our perspective and help us see the wonders of how great we already are blessed in spite of the troubles we face.
Be thankful! Find joy! Laugh out loud. Lean on Jesus.
