You're Welcome, Dad!

You're Welcome, Dad...

I confess:  I'm not the neatest person in the world.  I sometimes find it beyond my ability to put my clothes away, do the dishes or take out the trash.

So, it wasn't a surprise when I saw how terrible our boys' room was.  Noah and Jackson hadn't really been cleaning.  The floor was completely covered with clothing--dirty and clean tossed indiscriminately around the room.

Toys, DVDs, books, and other flotsam and jetsam (not Ursula's hench-eels) were strewn about the room.  I told my boys to clean up their room.  Wii was off-limit my s until such time as this massive task was completed.

Hours passed.  I assumed that the room was clean and failed to do the proper inspection.

Later that evening I entered their room to put our youngest, Jackson, to bed.

As I feasted my eyes upon the complete disaster that still remained before me, my son smirked with confidence.

In my head my fatherly anger began to burn.  I asked myself if I was dreaming telling them to clean up the room.  I wondered as my eyes darted to and fro amongst the landscape of ruin in their room if even one thing was cleaned up.

Jackson, however, being the over-confident six year old that he is, took my shock and awe in a different way.

The shocked look on my face gave way to a "Jackson, YOUR ROOM!"

This statement was meant to convey my horror.

Thinking I was impressed with their cleaning skills, Jackson beamed with pride and said confidently, "You're welcome, Dad."

You're.  Welcome.  Dad.  

For a room that was just as disastrous as before the alleged clean up.

I quickly informed Jackson that he and his brother would have to clean this room again and that I was not in any way thanking him.

They were both puzzled the next day when Operation Clean-up Version 2.0 commenced.  I had to give them additional direction and they obediently spent hours cleaning up.

This time it was a success and the Wii was enjoyed by all.


Colossians 3:23-24

23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

It was no mistake, then, the very next Sunday when I was preparing to deliver the story at our Kindergarten to 5th Grade Large Group at church, that I read Colossians 3.  I realized that like Jackson, so many times we smile with confidence to Christ and say "You're Welcome." when in fact, we should be cringing in fear.

The Bible bids us to come to the throne of Jesus with confidence, but it doesn't mean this kind.

We need to work at EVERYTHING we do as if working for the LORD.  That includes BOTH the effort we put forth AND the attitude we have internally about doing it.

We need to resist the temptation to exalt in mediocrity and always strive for better.  Under grace we may be but JESUS demands our very best EVERY TIME.

Let's not rest in our own strength or lull ourselves to complacency under the shadow of grace.  Let our service reflect our worship to Him.

Calvary Chapel Gloucester County Kid Min Blog: The Determination of Moses!

This Sunday your child learned about the determination of Moses.  We looked at the adventures of Moses' life through the lens of needing to finish what you start and working with GOD to do that.  

Moses accomplished a  lot of great things during his life.  He led the Exodus of God's people from oppressive slavery in Egypt.  He parted called down the plagues on Egypt.  He parted the red sea.  He led the Israelites for 40 years in the wilderness and he met with God personally on top of the mountain and brought down the Ten Commandments (not the movie) to God's people.

He intervened time and time again for God's people when they lacked the determination to keep following God.

Through Moses, we saw that another aspect of developing a life-changing faith determination is to keep doing what is right because God is AWE-some.

To read the rest of the post, visit our church Kidmin blog by clicking below...

Calvary Chapel Gloucester County Kid Min Blog: The Determination of Moses!: 

Fix Your Cistern & Stop Baptizing Yourself in Soda

 Jeremiah 2:13:  "For my people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns--broken cisterns that can hold no water."

Reading in Jeremiah today, the Lord revealed quite a telling truth to me about many Christians today.  In the verse above, I believe we find much of what is wrong with the Christian church today.  That's not to say that this post will be all church-bashing and negativity.  It's just to say I believe this is a major area of concern that we should recognize.

In the above passage from the Old Testament, the Lord is identifying two major "evils" committed by His people (in this case the Israelites.)

The first is forsaking God, the "fountain of living waters" as described here.  Living water is a reference that is also found in the New Testament.  Water is also kinda a major player in baptism.  

Staying with the baptism/water analogy before my notoriously short attention span distracts me, I'd say that many of us are essentially baptizing ourselves in soda.  Not content with the purity of God's Holy waters, we are reaching for a sugary, syrupy treat and splashing about in fizz and chemicals.  We're soaking ourselves in man-made unnatural sugary chemicals with all of the appeal and desire of the world and none of the purity or cleansing power of Jesus.

In essence, we're forsaking God and the holiness and devotion that He requires of us in order to become more like the world.  We tell ourselves it is to reach the world but the reality is that the world is reaching us far more than we are impacting it.  This is something that the writing of Francis Chan really challenges believers on.  We're getting away from studying the Bible and instead embracing cutesy phrases and pop culture.

I'm not saying being trendy and cool is necessarily bad.  I can't really fit into skinny jeans, but I am not a total fuddy-duddy!  I am saying, however, that we need to make sure that we haven't forsaken Jesus and a daily connection to His living water  Without renewing our hearts and minds in His cleansing purified water-filled fountain, we will be useless.

As a result of losing that connection and forsaking our fountain, we've allowed ourselves to become broken cisterns.  Without a deep and meaningful connection with the Lord, we find ourselves hole-y instead of holy.  Unable to fill in the holes with anything else, we become frantic, distracted and useless.  

We need to be about fixing our cisterns.  We can't do that without returning to the fountain and splashing around like the cast of Friends in the opening credits.  Without Jesus, we can't get clean and we certainly can't hold anything to offer the world beyond indigestion.

May the words of Jeremiah remind us of what's really important.

God's Got It: 2013 & Isaiah 25

The nation is abuzz with talk of fiscal cliffs, the stench of the slaughter of innocents from the Sandy Hook school shooting still hangs stagnant in the air, and millions of Americans are out of work indefinitely.

January 1 is typically of day of tremendous promise and hope.  A new year.  A new beginning.  A fresh start.  A do-over.

And yet two weeks after the Mayan apocalypse, many find that hope elusive this year.

Many of us had a not-spectacular 2012 and find believing and expecting for something better in 2013 difficult to do.

And yet God is good.

Praying and reading the Bible in the early hours of this new year, the Lord has directed me to Isaiah 25:8-9"

"He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken.  And it will be said in that day: 'Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us.  This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His Salvation."

And just like that the Lord refocuses my sight on Him.  He IS my God.  I need only to wait for Him and trust in Him.  Government is not the answer.  Church leadership is not the answer.  Financial provision is not the answer. A life of comfort and ease is not the answer.  Every day is not a Friday in the way that this world defines Fridays.  Every day IS a FRIDAY as God defines it.  That does not always promise ease and comfort in this life.  It does, however, promise PURPOSE, HOPE and a step closer to HIM spiritually and chronologically.  

He has swallowed up death forever.  He will wipe our tears.  He will take away our rebuke.  He will deliver us and HE HAS WON OUR SALVATION.

There is much to hope in indeed.  Christ is Lord.  And HE IS OUR GOD.  We will wait for Him and He will save us.

To that end, let us seek Him in the new year and join with countless citizens of America in praying for our nation the prayer of 2 Chronicles 7:14:

"If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

Let us pray and seek Him.  Let us put Christ first and let all concerns pass away.  We were chosen for such a time as this. Now let us redeem the time that we've been given by surrendering it back to Him and trusting Him to guide our steps and secure our future.

Hope indeed.  Happy 2013.