Get Spiritually Woke, Church!

It’s time to get spiritually woke, church.

For those of you who don’t frequent social media or work with young people, telling people to “get woke” or “stay woke” is a new slang for being aware of what’s really going on in your community and in the world.  As “woke” grammatically is what you become after the act of waking up, it’s a state of being awake and fully engaged.   It is usually used in connection with social justice issues.  Today, we are going to appropriate it to being aware of what’s really going on spiritually.  It’s a challenge that Jesus gave us in Matthew 25.  It’s has been a long-standing challenge to the church through various periods of war, hatred, and the worst moments of humanity but also in the lulling comfort of financial security of “First World Problems.”  

In short, it’s time to be active, to really see what’s going on around us, and to be actively pursuing our Savior as even now He prepares the final chapters of human history.  It’s time to become active characters in the story that God is telling in our chapter of history.  

Matthew 25 has Jesus sharing two stories--one about 10 virgins with lamps and various amounts of oil and another about some apparently rich dude who leaves to go on a journey and gives his talents (also known as money) to 3 servants in varying degrees based on ability.

Now, most people in this day and age that read these passages have no idea what we are talking about.  Virgins with lamps and oil and some dudes with bags of talents.  It’s enough to make a hipster scratch his beard in confusion.

I’ll let a Google search or a chat with your local theologian fill you in on all of the details of why virgins needed lamps and oil, or what the heck talents are.  The point in both stories, however, is clear.  It speaks of being spiritually “woke.”  In the first story, 5 of the 10 virgins were ready for the bridegroom by having already prepared the oil for the lamps, and 5 were not despite all 10 knowing that the bridegroom could return at any time.  In the talents story, 2 of the 3 servants doubled the amount of talents in preparation for the master’s return.  One just buried it and waited in fear for the master’s return.   In all cases, they knew who the master/bridegroom was, and that he was returning.  That part was not a shock for any of them.  Some of them prepared for that and worked actively toward his eventual return and some did not.

As you are not likely to be in a gaggle of virgins lighting lamps or in a fellowship of servants  burying gold in your backyard, you might be wondering what this has to do with you.  Let Jesus break it down:

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”  (Matthew 25:13)

This speaks to awareness that our time here is limited and that Jesus could return at any moment.  

It goes beyond just watching the clock though and standing ready for Jesus to return.  If you were playing in the Superbowl and you knew that the clock was running out and you still needed to score a winning touchdown, you wouldn’t just stand there watching the clock run out.  Spiritual awareness is good, but it needs to be paired with action.  

If you finish Matthew 25, you see that this is the famous passage where Jesus talks about separating goats from sheep and tells a bunch of folks that they left Him starving, homeless, and without any clothing.  Of course, this came as a shock to many of them.  Questioning when exactly it was that Jesus came to their doors, they are confronted with this powerful truth:

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me...Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” (Matthew 25:40,45)

Many Christians are aware of what the Bible says, what their salvation hinges on, and many of the

core Biblical truths of the Bible.  That’s not the full definition of being spiritually “woke” though according to Jesus.  Jesus wants followers who aren’t just looking for the reward at the end.  Jesus isn’t looking for hands waiting to receive, He’s looking for hands ready to give out of His abundance.  The Christian life isn’t about you.  Not even a little bit.  You are redeemed for a purpose.  And that purpose isn’t just something to make your ego feel better.  God redeemed you to empower you to help redeem and serve others.  You are now part of God’s big story and there are no extra characters.  Each redeemed life is written for a purpose to advance God’s story here on earth in this chapter of history.

Following Jesus also means seeing others the way that God sees them.  Jesus walked that out for us in his time on earth.  He loved the unlovable, the forgotten, and the outcasted.  He broke social barriers and challenged the status quo.  He made every moment of His earthly life about serving God and serving others.  He didn’t have a fancy home, a great car and a cool online social media presence.  That stuff didn’t matter to Him.

The lesson of the virgins and the servants with the talents is clear--God wants you to live out your faith and to continue in the work He has for you to complete.  And the call to action is bigger than just avoiding getting caught slacking when Jesus returns.  Jesus’ call to action is about what your apathy does to you and to the others your apathy leaves naked, starving, and afraid in a world of darkness.  If your faith consists of just attending church you are doing it wrong.  Faith demands action.  The Bible is very clear that faith without works is dead.  It’s not a call to legalism or works based salvation.  It’s a call to a faith that permeates every aspect of your life and to being “woke” to the call on your life and the very specific part in that work that God redeemed you for.  

Finally, look to Peter’s example.  Peter is famous for two main things--walking on water and denying Christ 3 times right before the cross.  When Jesus returns and meets with Peter, though, it’s about restoration.  Jesus asks him 3 times if he loves him and each time he answers in the affirmative. Jesus then links it to others: “Then feed my sheep.”  The 3 times of affirmation are certainly a bookend to the previous 3 denials and as such, they bring wholeness and restoration back to Peter.  But it doesn’t stop there.  Jesus very clearly links Peter’s restoration and declaration of love for Christ to serving others.  If you love Me, you will serve others.  That’s what it means to be spiritually woke.

The servants in the story were rewarded because they took what the master left them and they doubled it.  God wants to double the redemption and grace at work in your life to spill into those surrounding you.  Don’t miss what God has for you and for those you are meant to serve.

Get spiritually woke, church!

CONVERSATIONS WITH CLAYTON: A Story of Hope

CONVERSATIONS WITH CLAYTON: A Story of Hope by Bill & Jaci Hughes & Juliet Henninger 

Clayton serving in Upstreet

“I want people to look at adults with disabilities differently--to realize that we’re adults--people sometimes talk to me like I’m a child--people with disabilities just want to be treated like normal people--see us, not our disability.”

With those words, Clayton Graff paints a picture of his life as a 27 year old living with cerebral palsy in a way that most people have probably not contemplated.  It is at once both eye-opening and convicting.  It is a challenge that God is using Clayton to bring to the church when it comes to interacting with and understanding the diverse and misunderstood world of special needs adults and children so that we can better offer the hands of Christ to those fearfully and wonderfully made glimpses of the image of God.

Clayton Graff is a volunteer at Gwinnett Church in Sugar Hill, Georgia where he primarily serves on the Upstreet Guest Services team at our 4:30PM service.  It is through this capacity that we came to know Clayton and his mom, Laura, who serves in the special needs room at the same service. 

A DIAGNOSIS NOT A DESTINY

Laura shared that Clayton was born at 30 weeks and as a result of being premature had to spend some time in the neonatal unit.  At first, it didn’t appear that there were any complications from his premature birth, but at 2 months, Clayton wasn’t tracking with “normal” developmental progress.  Although cerebral palsy was suspected, it isn’t typically diagnosed until at least a year, and in Clayton’s case, he was officially diagnosed at 2 years of age.  Several painful surgeries followed as well as other various therapies to treat his discomfort.

The diagnosis was devastating particularly on Clayton’s father who saw all of the potential memories and experiences that Clayton and he would not be able to share.  Clayton’s condition also took a toll on the family.  Laura admits that he often took all of her time and that her younger daughter often was left to feel that Clayton was the “squeaky wheel that got all the grease.” It is a common challenge for caregivers of special needs children.

Laura struggled between pushing Clayton to achieve his goals, while perhaps being a bit overprotective and limiting him. 

Laura admits, “I limited him, I kept him close and isolated him from the world.”  But she says, she always told him growing up that he could be anything that he wanted and do anything he wanted.  She didn’t want him to see his disability as limiting the path his life would take.

When he graduated from high school, Clayton felt the weight of his limitations upon him and through tears told his mother “You lied to me.  I can’t be anything I want.  I can’t do anything I want.”

Listening to the heart of this mother and son as they retrace those painful steps in Clayton’s journey, you can feel the despair and hurt, but also sense the deep profound love that they share.  

And yet, for Clayton Graff, the diagnosis was not his destiny.

CONVERSE-ATIONS WITH CLAYTON

Clayton's vibrant shoe collection.

Today when you first meet Clayton, who is in a wheelchair, you zero in on two things--the joyful glimmer in his eyes and the super cool Converse sneakers that always match his outfit.

To see Clayton is to see joy.  Kids light up when they see him each week.  Our own children are often talking about seeing Clayton at church and wondering what color Converse he will be wearing this week.

The Converse collection was an intentional move by Clayton and Laura to reframe the social dynamics surrounding him. 

Clayton and Laura shared about how people, often with good intentions, would ask Clayton what was wrong with him.  Kids would point and stare and ask their parents within earshot of Clayton and his mom, “what’s wrong with him?”

Laura often had to fight the urge to answer things in her own way and let people know that there is nothing wrong with him, while explaining his condition.  She and Clayton worked through ways that he might be able to advocate for himself in social situations. 

Understanding the good intentions of others, they sought an outlet to make interactions with Clayton less awkward.  Then a friend of Clayton’s sister suggested the Converse idea.

Clayton's shoes are a platform & outlet for him.

Clayton embraced it and it has become a symbol of who he is.  His vast collection of Converse in a rainbow of colors (the blue ones are his favorite although he likes the attention he gets when he dons the pink ones!) are carefully selected to match whatever he is wearing that day.  His colorful footwear has led to “Converse-ations with Clayton” and allowed people to be more comfortable when interacting with him.  Instead of stares and questions about his disability, the shoes provide people a more comfortable platform for engaging in dialogue that allows them to get to know Clayton, not just his disability.

Clayton even points out with a chuckle that an advantage of his disability is that his Converse shoes stay looking fresh because they don’t touch the ground. 

“LORD, I CAN’T LOSE MY CHILD MENTALLY”

And that’s what’s inspiring about Clayton’s story.  He hasn’t always been in such a good place, but he’s learning to navigate the frustrations of his condition in a more positive way.

He’s struggled with depression and even a period of suicidal thoughts due to frustrations and complications from his disability that left him feeling hopeless.  Clayton struggled with a series of hospitalizations that couldn’t accurately diagnose his problem at the time, leading to a dark time for him mentally and emotionally.  During that time, Clayton had to be watched 24 hours a day.  And yet, Laura and Clayton didn’t give up. 

Laura said that during this time she would pray to God, “Lord, I can deal with the physical, but I can’t lose my child mentally.”

The Converse project even helped with dealing with his emotional state as well.  Clayton would use the colors of the shoes to indicate how he was feeling that day and that allowed for an outlet to discuss his frustrations, to celebrate moments when he was feeling good, and to be heard and understood by others in a clearer way.

The other thing that seems to have helped is Clayton’s attendance at church and developing a faith in God.  Laura says that she always wanted him to have the joy of the Lord that she has, and that he is now fulfilling that dream.  When asked if he has the joy of the Lord, Clayton says, “I guess so, but I’m still not fully there yet” in his still developing faith.

Clayton now lives on his own and is pretty self-sufficient (something his parents never thought possible) and goes to church regularly.  As they point out, it isn’t easy for Clayton to go out somewhere, so the fact that he wants to go to church is a big deal.  Church has allowed Clayton to work on another of his mother’s dreams: “to have as many friends as possible.  The more friends you have the more lives you can touch.  That he would have the most abundant life, one filled with friends that he cultivates, and one with something to do--a purpose.”

SOMETHING TO DO--A PURPOSE

 

Jaci loves serving with Clayton every week.

Clayton says he never dreamed that he would make friends at a place like church, but he’s done just that.

And as for his purpose, Clayton is inspiring people through his life and service at church.  In addition to being on the guest services team, Clayton is occasionally called into the special needs room to serve alongside his mom when other volunteers from the room are out or called into another environment to serve that week.

Although Clayton doesn’t see his mission as focusing on the special needs population, he has been able to bond with those he serves  in that environment.  He says that they, “understand that I’m in their world, that I’m here with them.”

COUNTING YOUR BLESSINGS AND MOVING FORWARD

Laura views it as a God intervention.  Because they served at this service, which is much smaller than the morning services, it allowed Clayton the opportunity to serve both on guest services and in the special needs environment.

Life for Clayton these days is about finding things to be thankful for--a lesson he and Laura picked up from a recent sermon by campus Pastor Jeff Henderson recounting a meeting he had with Rev. Billy Graham in which Graham encouraged Henderson to start each day listing things he is thankful for. 

As Clayton has begun to work through that, he’s been able to appreciate the life that he is building for himself.  That life includes his service at church, his family, and friends, watching shows like The Voice, rooting on his beloved Atlanta Falcons, and maintaining his own blog called “Conversations with Clayton” where he shares his thoughts and daily experiences.  Clayton’s using his gifts and his life to break down barriers facing special needs adults, and he’s just getting started.  God has big plans for this young man as He continues to bring joy out of pain and hope out of despair.

Clayton’s life is an abundant life indeed--full of friends, soaked in purpose, and lifted by a hope in a deepening faith. 

Rocking the pink shoes at Night To Shine.

Kidmin Volunteers: Make It Better!

Family ministries have an untapped resource to grow their ministry and expand their vision:  their volunteers.

The staff leadership of family ministry wear many hats.  Most of the time, they are overseeing multiple age groups (pre-school, elementary, middle school, and high school ministries are often combined at least partially) or multiple environments (small group rooms, large group production, guest services, etc.)  They also have a list longer than there are hours in the day of things that they, as leaders, are ultimately responsible for--recruiting, training, scheduling, curriculum production and distribution, security, guest services, production, technical support, materials wrangling, vision-casting, communicating with senior staff/other ministry leaders/volunteers/families, event planning, managing staff disagreements, and overseeing/implementing special needs ministry services--just to name a few.

You didn’t think they just showed up on Sundays and barked out the orders, did you?

And the sad fact is that too many leaders get burned out because they are taking on too many responsibilities, either because they are assigned too many, they lack delegation skills, or nobody else has agreed to help.  There are ways, however, that you as a volunteer can make things better.

In fact, every single member of the team bears responsibility for leading your ministry.  Every.  Single. One.  

In other words--you.

MAKE IT BETTER

Andy Stanley, the lead pastor of North Point Community Church, always tells volunteers that they should all work to “make it better.”  It’s what Sue Miller and Adam Duckworth would call “being owners not renters” in your volunteer role.  Instead of being threatened by new ideas or suggestions from volunteer staff, the North Point staff embraces suggestions and rewards ingenuity in making things go from good to great.   Not all organizations are like that, and the church seems to have a particular affinity for maintaining the status quo. In virtually every decision an organization makes, there is a tension between maintaining the status quo of how it’s currently being done and the energy of much needed change to serve our families better.  If we’re serious about reaching the next generation, we need to be willing to embrace change and join the new thing that Jesus is doing now.

Too often even leaders in family ministry who want to go to the next level are trapped into maintaining the status quo because of the “tyranny of the urgent” in their job--the day-to-day, week-to-week to-do list that usurps all of their time and energy, severely limiting or sidelining plans to make it better or grow the vision.  

As someone who has served as a staff member overseeing children’s ministry and who currently serves as a volunteer for Upstreet, I can tell you that staff members generally LOVE volunteers that help them MAKE IT BETTER and that you will rarely meet a staff leader who feels like they have tackled everything they need to in order to advance the ministry.  There’s always something that got sidelined due to lack of time or resources and that is usually a source of frustration for the vision-casting leader tasked with elevating the family ministry game to the next level.

WHOM SHALL I SCHEDULE?

Those crazy volunteers who would never say, “that’s not my job” but rather great every challenge with “how can I help?” are like manna from heaven to our personal ministry.

A challenge that most staff members leading family ministry have is when to ask volunteers to add to their duties and when not to.  The temptation once we find a reliable volunteer who brings value to the team is to ask them to do more.  There is, however, always that nagging fear that we will ask too much of them and burn them out.  It’s a constant mental balancing act.

So, here’s an idea:  If you are an “owner” as a volunteer--don’t wait to be asked.  Go to your staff leadership and tell them you are ready for more.  Share your heart.  What is it in your ministry that moves you the most?  That’s likely the area that God has appointed for you and probably an area your ministry needs help with.  You may be the blessing that allows your leadership to take the ministry to the next level.

IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING...BUT IN THE RIGHT AUDIENCE

Andy Stanley also advises volunteers that “if you see something, say something.”  If you, as a committed volunteer, see something that could stand improving--tell your leadership about it and give them your idea for improving it.  And if you don’t have an idea, maybe spend some time in prayer about it before addressing it to see if God gives you wisdom on how to make it better.

You do run the risk of alienating your leader if they take this as a threat to their leadership or an undermining of their authority.  And some leaders who are not self-aware or secure in their position might see your suggestion this way.  One way to ensure that they take your idea the right way is to know your audience and your own limitations.  Take your legitimate concerns to your leaders privately.  Let them know that you are willing to help make it better.  Give them suggestions for what you’d like to do.  You might open your leaders eyes to something that they didn’t see, lead to a larger conversation about how to improve this area of your ministry, or give you the opportunity to take ownership of your role.  

CONFESSIONS OF A FORMER STAFF LEADER TURNED VOLUNTEER:

1. Leaders need help and support.  They need encouragement.  They need PRAYER. Don’t make the job of growing your ministry all fall on their shoulders.  It’s not all their responsibility.  Do your part or they will get burnt out and you will all suffer.
2. Leaders, more often than not, will listen to you if you are an “owner” who has demonstrated your commitment to the ministry.  Are you an “owner” in your role?  Do you go above and beyond or do you show up unprepared and sleepwalk your way through your duty?  
3. Leaders and volunteers should always be improving themselves.  Don’t stop growing and don’t refuse to learn.  You may have been involved in family ministry since the dawn of time.  Guess what?  Kids are different now.  Learn about them.  Find out what you don’t know about today’s generation and how that might impact your approach. The good folks at Orange have a gaggle of resources for you on that front as well as awesome training conferences and tour stops.  There are also great podcasts, blogs, books, and social media encouragement from leaders like Nick Blevins, Jarrid Wilson, Chase Snyder, Corey Ray Jones & others who constantly share their best practices, their wisdom, and their resources with family ministry leaders.  Connect with them.  
4. LISTEN.  Both leaders and volunteers need to listen.  Don’t allow emotion or insecurity to rob you of progress.  It might hurt your feelings, but if it’s coming from a good place, consider it, pray over it and see if maybe, just maybe, there might be some truth to it.

Imagine what a difference would be made in your ministry, your church and your community, if you chose every day to make it better by being an owner, sharing your ideas, and supporting your leaders and team!  It’s my prayer for 2017 that family ministry volunteers would be emboldened to take a larger role in their ministry and that our leaders would feel the love and support that they are due!  That ownership of serving will radiate through our families and our community.

Helping The Next Gen Grow Their Faith Through Relationship

Our church has been doing a series challenging us to live out intentional generational faith.  A faith that is passed on and encouraged from one generation to the next.  And as someone involved in family ministry for 10 years now, my heart was glad.

It's a message that is so important.  Faith isn't transferred to the next generation through a classroom.  It's not a program or even a great series of lessons.  It's transferred when it's lived out.  Together.  In RELATIONSHIP.

In a passive society where stuff matters more than others and we prioritize ourselves over all, it's becoming a revolutionary act to pursue an active faith and impart that to the next generation.

So, as we begin this series to talk about helping the next generation win, I thought it was time that I look back and thank those who helped me win.  Here are three of their stories:

MY MOM

My mom took a lead role in all things spiritual in our house.  She's the person who instilled in me a deep love of Jesus and church.  She showed me the power of serving.  She demonstrated the power of unconditional love to a son who sometimes struggled to even like himself.  It is through her undying love that I managed to survive the turbulent teen years.  She also served as my youth leader.  Literally nobody else in the church wanted us.  And so she stepped out in faith.  At the time, it was a little awkward.  Having your mom as your youth leader can be a problem.  She didn't have a degree.  She wasn't an expert on teenagers.  She simply had a willing and loving heart.  She loved us teens and walked through the mess with us.  And while it probably seemed to her like many of her lessons during this time fell on deaf ears, it was largely because of this investment in my life that I am where I am spiritually.  And where my children are spiritually.  And why I serve the next generation in my church with such passion.  She is also where I get my love of holidays and celebrating family time.  She also has been the prayer warrior in my life.  There wasn't a day that went by that my mom wasn't praying for us.  I was blessed to have two parents who loved me, supported me, and provided for me.  Not everyone gets that.  I'm thankful for my mom's commitment to our getting involved in church and for prioritizing our walk with Jesus at a young age.  It changed the entire trajectory of my life.

PASTOR JACK

Growing up I was beyond blessed with the pastor that served my church.  Jack Hamilton was a joyful man who radiated unconditional love to everyone he met.  He taught me that Jesus likes to have fun.  He helped make church a place that I wanted to be.  He showed me how much of an impact living life with joy and a smile can do.  He showed what the heart of a pastor looks like.  Late night phone calls & visits to troubled families, round the clock visits to the hospital, spending time with shut-ins, he did it all.  His boundless joy could not be contained.  It was a force of nature that left a permanent mark on my life.  There was simply not a person that Jack didn't love or share Jesus with.  His influence went beyond just me personally, his influence on my family and the direction our family took together in the faith is largely because God brought Jack Hamilton int our lives at just the right time.  Attending his funeral bore witness to the influence that he had as person after person stood to share what Jack meant to them.  We even heard one last audio recording from Pastor Jack made on his death bed.  As he said good-bye to us, he shared the Gospel message one last time to those in attendance.  That's the kind of Christian that I want to be.

MRS. WILEY

Mrs. Wiley was a fun old lady.  She was my Sunday School teacher circa 4th-6th grade.  She had to be at least in her seventies when she taught us.  Physically she somewhat resembled Doris Roberts from Everybody Love Raymond.  And she had the voice of Edith Bunker.  She was a little bit eccentric, but she really loved us.  That a woman that much older than us would still be serving faithfully in Sunday School stuck out to me.  And she didn't make an impact because she was super trendy or hip.  In fact, she was pretty much the opposite of that.  But she was someone willing to still have fun and laugh even in her later years.  She may have been old chronologically, but she was certainly young at heart.  Her example taught me to embrace the fun in life.  It also taught me that sometimes being the coolest or most talented person in the room isn't all that counts.  She taught me that everyone can make a difference just by sharing their love and joy with another person.  I couldn't tell you specifically any lessons that I learned with Mrs. Wiley in church, but I can still feel the warmth of her presence.  She loved us unconditionally even when we disobeyed.  She had fun with us instead of scolding us.  She showed me the love of God personified.

LESSONS FROM MY LIFE

The lesson that I can take away from these shining examples and others is that the key to helping the next generation win is RELATIONSHIP.

Reggie Joiner would put it this way:

"You can't influence someone that you don't know."

Helping the next generation win means connecting them to an active and authentic relationship with Christ.  In order to do that, we will need to be warm and relational.  My top 3 influences didn't impact my life because they were the best communicators that I've ever known.  Their lasting impact on me was borne through the relationship they created with me.  That RELATIONSHIP allowed them the INFLUENCE and LEVERAGE to speak life and truth into my life.

As a result, I was more open to what they had to say and who this Jesus that they followed was.  By modeling a warm and genuine relationship with me, they helped me understand the kind of relationship that God wanted to forge with me through Jesus.

As followers of Christ, we owe it to the next generation to be a model of RELATIONSHIP and to leverage that to point them toward the source of all hope--JESUS.

As you look back in your own faith journey, who were some of your biggest champions?  How did they leverage their relational warmth with you to stoke the fire of faith in you?

Thank God for those who poured into your life to help you win and ask Him what you can do to help the next generation win.

Feel free to hit the comments and share!

Are We There Yet? Fear's Demands on Faith

Back in my day, we didn't have all those new-fangled technologies to dull our senses and lull us into a comatose silence during long road trips.

We might--MIGHT--have had a cassette player or CD walkman, but once your batteries died (which was shortly after you left your driveway) you were left without your tunes and subjected to whatever hillbilly nonsense your parents were listening to on the car radio.

As a result, I often found myself looking for signs that we were near our destination.  Every landmark and road sign was subject to my analytical scrutiny and speculation.

It dawned on me the other day as I was thinking about the ways that FEAR has impacted my FAITH over the years that the "are we there yet" angle is one that FEAR has played a major role in.

Let me explain.

GOD's plan for our lives often invites us to interpret His motives or the deeper meaning.  Every blessing or struggle is viewed as a window into God's character and motives.  And we then begin listening to our own (often fearful) interpretative spin on things.


And as we FOCUS on the TRIVIAL we DIMINISH the ETERNAL.

Now, I'm not saying that questioning and reasoning has no place in our faith.  In the right context it is one of the ways that God grows our faith in Him.

HOWEVER, if we apply the wrong interpretations and come to the wrong conclusions, we might find ourselves fearful of a God that we define in our own failed logic.  If the obstacles in our path become larger or more significant than the One who made the path, we will have officially handed over the wheel to FEAR.

Moses had some issues here in seeing the big picture.

"What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'the LORD did not appear to you?'"

This is from Exodus 4 when Moses is conversing with the burning bush.  The LORD has to walk Moses through some seemingly endless scenarios as Moses inundates Him with a stream of "what if" questions that any person who wrestles with FEAR will identify with.

Now, it's easy to mock Moses' cowardice from the comfort of our living room.  Dude was literally speaking with the LORD via a burning bush.  What is there to worry about?  How could you diminish the power of God by focusing on your problems when you are standing on Holy Ground?

Simply put, Moses allowed his fear of failure to distort God's message and character.  And we do the same thing every day.

When we lose a job.

When we have a fight with a loved one.

When someone betrays us.

When terminal illness strikes our family.

When prayers go unanswered.

With his FEARS dwarfing his view of the LORD, Moses continues to throw "what if" scenarios at the great I AM.  #SMH

Finally, in Exodus 4:11 the LORD said to him, "Who gave human beings their mouths?  Who makes them deaf or mute?  Who gives them sight or makes them blind?  Is it not I, the LORD? Now go, I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

The problem with my trying to interpret the landmarks and signs on our long road trips is that I had no idea where we were actually going and was reading into those signs and landmarks with a distorted or uninformed view of reality.

The problem with Moses was that he was reading into the future what his own fear of failure saw instead of what the LORD behind the burning bush did.

I did not, at the age of 10, know how to drive a car.  My dad did.  And yet I spent many a minute in the back seat questioning where we were going and how close we were as if I did have that knowledge.

Moses didn't yet fully understand who God was.  He was trying to figure out the entire plan at the beginning because his FEAR OF FAILURE was bigger than his FAITH.  And here's the kicker--many of the worries that Moses brings up to God did actually happen.  And God knew that they would.

But the plan wasn't necessarily that Moses would know all the details from the beginning and could trust in the plan.  It was that when the plan did go awry, he knew enough about his HEAVENLY FATHER to LEAN INTO HIM during those trials and experience a new intimacy and understanding not possible via a pre-journey lecture.

FAITH is ACTIVE, FEAR is PASSIVE.

The lens of FEAR turns the PATH that God has mapped out before us into a pothole-filled trail of terror and lead us to a life of apathy and inaction.

FEAR doesn't want you to act because in doing so, you will grow in your CONFIDENCE and FAITH in the LORD and FEAR will be weakened and diminished.

FEAR focuses on life's obstacles, FAITH focuses on the character of God.

FAITH isn't about always knowing exactly where we are going or how things will turn out, it is trusting the God who does.

This is why Moses, so terrified in Exodus 4 at the burning bush, was able to calmly rally the Israelites standing in between an advancing army and the Red Sea.  It was not because Moses suddenly had no FEAR but because HIS GOD was much larger than the "what ifs" of life.

Instead of asking if we are there yet, perhaps we should just sit back and enjoy the ride and kick FEAR to the curb.

Beautiful Sunset: A Lesson on Faith

Sometimes following Jesus is like a rainy day on a vacation.

Let me explain.

We all know that FAITH is believing in something that we can't see, and yet most Christians I know are constantly looking for signs or confirmation about things. Even the most certain of Jesus followers will find a need for confirmation at some point.  We want to know that we are right.  We want to know that God's real.  We want to know that He hears us.   That He cares.  That there's really a plan.

And sometimes we can read too much into things and come to the wrong conclusion.

The enemy KNOWS that your Father God has CREATED you with a PURPOSE.  And God's purpose for your life is not something that Satan will enjoy.   As a result, FEAR and DOUBT will often obscure your view and cause you to hunker down at home and miss GOD's BEAUTY.

We're currently on vacation in Naples, Florida.  It's beautiful here.  I'm pretty sure heaven will look like this.  One of our favorite things to do is to go to either the Marco Island or Naples beaches at night and watch the sun set over the Gulf.  It's truly breathtaking.  On my birthday we went to dinner on Marco Island and planned to see the sunset afterward, but it had been raining all afternoon.  It was still cloudy and foreboding.  We didn't want to pay the $8 to park if there wasn't going to be a sunset.  

We finally decided to just go for it.  And the sunset was a truly unique sunset.  It was unlike any other sunset we've seen.  The water almost looked light gray.  The sky was filled with clouds, but as the sun sank on the horizon it became partially visible near the horizon.  It looked like a painting.  It was so colorful and so beautiful that it didn't look real.

We were so focused on looking for signs of a sunset that we almost missed one of the most beautiful ones we have every seen.

A woman who was healed by Jesus probably had the same experience.  The Bible tells us that she had been "subject to bleeding for twelve years" and that she suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors.  I don't know about you, but this doesn't sound like your best life now.

This woman's life was one of suffering and frustration.  All of the signs told her that her case was hopeless.  She should just accept her life of misery.  But she heard that Jesus was in town and she ignored the signs because she KNEW that He could help her:

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?' ” 

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”    MARK 5:24-34

I never considered this story from this perspective until I either read it or heard it in a sermon recently, but the reality is that the woman was healed just by touching Jesus' robe.  That could have been the end of the story.  And it would have been miraculous.  But Jesus stepped into her life in the most unexpected way.  He wouldn't let it go until she came forward and admitted that she touched Him.

Why?  It's not as if Jesus didn't know who did it.  Much like Santa, he sees everything and knows all.  So then His questioning had to be for her.   It was so that she would have a face to face conversation with her Savior.  It was so that she could shed her old identity of the sickly, downtrodden hopeless gal  and emerge as a daughter of God.

That wouldn't have happened for her if she read the signs and stayed home.  GOD has a beautiful sunset beyond your current storms.  Don't miss it.

The Father's Heart: MDW & Why Sacrifice Matters

To judge from the culture, Memorial Day Weekend is a time for people to hold cookouts and for a bunch of people to get drunk and make bad decisions.  In other words, it is a time to engage in pampering yourself and focusing exclusively on you having a good time.

And yet, we know that the holiday is set aside as a time to remember those men and women who have sacrificed their lives in the defense of the United States of America through military service.  It is a day to commemorate self-sacrifice and valor.  These admirable qualities are often overlooked in today's increasingly self-centered society.

Sadly, many churches have the same problem.  With an ever-increasing consumer mentality dominating our culture, so many people ask, "what's in it for me?"

In culture, we can easily attribute this to the falling away from faith.  In the church, however, we can probably trace this back to a lack of understanding about the foundation of following Christ.

A lot of people boil Christianity down to the idea of proper behavior.  If you follow Christ, you should follow this lengthy list of do's and don't's.  The focus is constantly on the rules.  The problem with a fixation on rule-following is that it misses the point of following Christ--RELATIONSHIP. Also, when someone falls short of the ideal that God has for them according to those rules without a proper understanding of the healing power of God in restoring broken people and using them for great purposes, they might understandably walk away from Christ in shame.

Even looking the grand-daddy of all rules--the Ten Commandments, we can see that the law that God had given to the Israelites was really more about relationship than behavior.

What?  Did I just say that?  How can that be?

Andy Stanley writes in The Grace of God, that we should note that the rules came AFTER the relationship.  God initiated a relationship with Abraham, like a bazillion years earlier.  He pursued Abraham's heart and the heart of each succeeding generation.

He was a personal God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  And Exodus 20 begins by reminding Moses that "I am the Lord YOUR God"  not "Lord THE God."  Before God hit Moses with the Ten Commandments, He reminded Moses of the pre-existing relationship with the Israelites.  Andy Stanley writes, "God initiated a relationship with His people even before he told them what the rules were." 

Wow.  If you are like me, you probably never looked at that from that perspective.

Why is this important and what does it have to do with Memorial Day and sacrifice?

Because as Andy Stanley points out, "Rules without relationship lead to rebellion.  God understands human nature.  So He gave the Israelites rules after they shared a relationship."

Because God is a God of relationship.  Your value to Him is not found in WHAT YOU DO FOR Him.  Your value is found in YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO Him.  He wants your heart.  And from that heart will flow obedience, service to others, worship, and yes, sacrifice.

So many people miss that point. Sacrifice and serving others is born out of relationship.

It is not in our own strength that we can keep God's commandments, but out of the overflow of an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father.

Putting others first and sacrificing your life for something larger than yourself is not commonly found in human nature, but it can be!  It is a reflection of the Father's heart for us.  Jesus made that point abundantly clear in his brief time here on earth and through His heart-breaking sacrifice on the cross borne out of love.

Those men and women who have willingly laid down their lives for us have given a powerful example for the world of the kind of self-sacrificing love that would be commonplace if people would just embrace their identity as a CHILD OF GOD.

If you think that being a Christian is all about following restrictive rules, you are missing the heart of God.  Yes, He wants obedience, but He wants your heart first and foremost.  Jesus wasn't a huge fan of the pharisees--a group of "rules" fanboys if ever there was one.  He was looking for something more than simple rule-following.  He was looking for something more INTIMATE, like RELATIONSHIP.

Not convinced?  Just think about it this way--most of the time when you mess up and do something really destructive in your life, it is born out of a selfish motivation.  In other words, you usually hurt yourself and others when you are motivated by prioritizing yourself--your needs, your wants, your desires.  When you put other people first by serving them and sacrificing for them, you very rarely end up engaging in destructive behavior.   Nowhere is that contrast more dramatic than on Memorial Day weekend as people engage in binge-drinking and self-indulgence to commemorate those who gave up their lives so that others could taste and retain freedom.

So, given that context, let's re-examine Jesus' greatest commandments in Matthew 22:36-40:

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Obviously, not every person who has died in the service of the military was a Christian.  They do, however, give us a glimpse of the power that "the greatest commandment" has in changing our world. Loving God will transform you.  Loving others will change the world.  Doing both is the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its purest form.

Take some time this weekend to thank God for the people who sacrificed for your freedom.  Take a moment to think about what motivated them.  Take some time to seek the heart of God and just see if it will motivate you to do the same.

Branding Your Identity

Who are you really?

Who or what do you measure yourself against?  Honestly.  Think about this right now.  We all have this ongoing internal monologue about who we are.  Wait, you don't?  It's just me?

Assuming I'm not crazy and you have also spent a lifetime measuring your self worth by some standard somewhere, what is it?

Do you even know?

Our culture is kinda obsessed right now with branding, and re-branding, and image, and social media projections that have no basis in reality.  We're all obsessed with pretending to be something that we are not.  And this overwhelming focus on our false facades has completely cut us off from anything real.  For that reason, so many in today's society feel unsettled.  Unaccomplished.  Unimportant.  Unheard. 

We're binge-watching and tweeting away a FALSE life of no significance when GOD has an epic adventure awaiting just outside our door if we will just focus on what is TRUE.

In the JRR Tolkien novel, The Hobbit, there is a special moment early in the book where Gandalf touches on this idea.  Gandalf has mischievously selected a hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, to join a throng of dwarves on an adventure to reclaim their treasure from a dragon named Smaug.  For those of you who aren't nerds, I will explain that a hobbit would probably be the last creature you'd take on an adventure of any kind.  They are short, fat, lazy, and not the sharpest tools in the shed.  They don't stray far from home, and they spend most of the day eating.  

The dwarves were not amused.  They questioned Gandalf's selection of Bilbo.  In response, Gandalf said of Bilbo, "There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself."

Gandalf saw a potential in Bilbo before anyone else did--including Bilbo.

And recently, I've been realizing the same is true of us.  In my own life, the voice that I've listened to in the inner monologue of my self-identity has been a hostile one. It told me that I didn't measure up.  It told me that I messed up too many things to be a success in life.  It told me that I wasn't as good as this person, or that one, or really anyone.  I'm not worth it.

It sounds childish for a nearly 40 year old to write this.  I get it.  And there's good reason for that. It's because I really was like a child cowering in fear.  The feeling of helplessness is like nothing that I can truly put into words.  Fear paralyzed me from moving forward and from seeing who I really am.  Fear caused me to passively accept defeat and embrace definitions for myself that were not TRUE.  

I believe that each person deep down inside answers two questions:

1.  Why was LOST cancelled? 

2.  What was that ending about?

Just kidding (for the most part.)  I believe the two questions that define everything in our life are:

1.  Who am I?

2.  Why am I here?

And how we answer that about ourselves determines our response to every aspect of life.  GOD has one answer for us:

Jeremiah 1:5:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;

Before you were born I sanctified you;

Jeremiah 29:11:

11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

2 Corinthians 6:18:

“I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.”

Sons and Daughters.  Known before we were formed.  Planned.  Created.  Given a future.  Thoughts of peace and not evil.  HOPE.

How often do we really listen to that?  Honestly?

If you are anything like me, not much.

Too often we compare ourselves to just about everything else--other people, standards and ideals that we will never meet, expectations, the words of others, our past.  These voices and thoughts drown out the still, small voice that assures us that we are LOVED.  That we are FORGIVEN.  That we are PRECIOUS.  

FEAR is one very powerful stronghold in the life of a human being.  It can keep you from the things you are destined to do and drive you to destructive behaviors designed to deaden your heart's pull toward your purpose.  It can simultaneously be a hidden and unseen force and a powerful prison from which you can't seem to free yourself.  FEAR can completely cut off the supply of HOPE coming from God and cause a person to be completely immune to words of life and hope spoken by loved ones and friends.

Just like Gandalf, however, God wants to silence those doubting voices.  God has a bigger plan and dream for your life than you could ever possibly fathom.  

Like Bilbo, however, you need to awaken your true identity and stop falling for false comparisons. When you stop accepting the false identity you believe about yourself, you will begin to see the sunlight.  A new day will begin.  God will reveal Himself to you in a new and more powerful way.  

When you correctly answer the question of who you are, you will be open to what massively important and amazingly life-altering journey that God has for you.  

Walk with me in this struggle.  Let's cast out fear and embrace our purpose.  I bet the world will thank us for it.

You are no longer a SLAVE of FEAR, you are a CHILD of GOD: