Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Vomit

Yuck.

That's what went through my mind as I was awakened by the sound of my son getting sick all over my bedroom floor. He made an attempt to tell us he was sick by coming into our bedroom but before the words could come out, his dinner did.

The last 72 hours have been us nursing him back to health. For 48 hours he was vomiting and couldn't keep anything down. His energy level plummeted and his normally infectious smile faded. Our little guy was a sick little guy. Because I'm strange (for some of you that is not new information) I began to think of how violently his body was rejected anything in his stomach and his intestines. His body was expelling everything and anything in such a destructive manner.

I wonder how often I hold on to sin and pride in my life and yet I know the Spirit within me wants me to rid my life of the sin that draws me out of fellowship with God. I don't think that God's concept of my ridding my life of sin is "on my terms and my way"...rather, I think it maybe more along the lines of what I saw in my son this weekend: a violent urgency to rid the heart of destructive sin. God's intent is not that sin lingers in our life, but that it be expelled, destroyed, and all together gone. Sin is an affront to God's holiness, it grieves the Holy Spirit, and it squats on God's residence in our life.

Removing sin is never easy. I burdens me to hear so much about the freedom of Christ as a tool of passivity when it comes to sin. Grace was not meant to be a "get of jail free" card. Sometimes it's easy to abuse grace which can so easily divert our attention from the seriousness of sin. Jerry Bridges wrote in The Discipline of Grace that "the way to stay on the right side of the fine line between using and abusing grace is repentance." Repentance is vital in the violent removal of personal sin. Lord, I pray that I'll see sin for what it is. Help me to understand the destructive nature of sin and how important it is to immediately deal with sin through repentance. Help me not to hang on, linger in, or rest within my sinful nature; rather, help me to respond to the Holy Spirit's desire to remain holy, useful, and in fellowship with a most Holy God. Help me never to be a place where I'm so lukewarm with sin that God wants to vomit me from his mouth.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Communication is Key

It's interesting being on the other side.

I've been in church work for over 15 years. For most of that time I have serve in some capacity on staff, on the inside if you will. Today I found myself on the outside.

One of my kids has been hounded me about a certain activity they'd like to do. I've been hestitant because I wanted them to be a bit older, but they have been persistent. Our church doesn't offer this particular activity but I heard of a neighborhing church who does. Not knowing the church all that well, I did what any regular Joe would do: I checked out their website.

Lame. Nothing there about the activity so I called. I got a great receptionist who directed me to the right person and she told me the day and time of the sign ups. I looked on my calendar this morning and today is the day. I cut my nap short this afternoon, made arrangements and altared some other things to be there on time. I walked in to sign up and found out that his age group has been postponed and more than likely postponed indefinitely. No notification on the web, no phone call, nothing.

In the enormity of life, this really isn't a big deal. We'll figure it out and our lives will definitely go on. However, for the first time in a long time, I wasn't on the inside of communication and I felt helpless and frustrated. As staff we often don't think about how our miscommunication or lack of communication effects those on the outside. I walked out this afternoon thinking if I really was a regular Joe, their lack of communication left a bad taste in my mouth....they might have lost the right to minister to me and my family.

Communication is key. The church must do an excellent job at clearly communicating the X's and O's of our activities, philosophyies, and overall the gospel. I'm on the inside and knowledgeable about what's happening, but today I got a glimpse of how it is on the outside of communication. I renews my vision to communicate clearly so that I can win the right to minister to students and families.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Dad, that was a close one!

A year ago I agreed to help coach my 6 year old's soccer team. Last season, we rocked. Lost only one game and had a great team. This year he moved up a division and we had to restructure a new team. This season, we're rocky.

I've got great boys on our team. But only half of them are there to really play and compete. The others either have never played or have no real desire to play. As I plan our game strategy I have to split our team up between those who want to win and those who really don't care.

To help our new team stay focused I implemented the Five Rules of Soccer:
1) Have fun.
2) Put the ball in the goal.
3) Don't touch the ball with your hands (unless you're a goalie(.
4) Have fun. (just for emphasis).
5) Be a team.

I know it sounds basic (I never said I was a good coach!) but it helps keep our guys focused on the play. We don't have a rule about winning...just having fun...mmm.

I was reminded of this concept two weeks ago. After losing 5 straight games and only scoring 2 goals all season I was ready to hang up the cleats on our team. Being a collegiate athlete, I'm fairly competitive and somewhere along the way, winning really became priority. I was visibly frustrated with our team when they would make a mistake or not follow instructions; when we'd lose I was in a foul mood for the rest of the afternoon and I even dreaded coming to games. However, at this particular game we played especially bad and lost 6-0. On the way to the car my son Caleb grabbed my hand and said, "Dad, that was a close one! We almost won!"

In that moment, I realized that Caleb had no idea what the score was nor did it matter to him...he was just following rule 1 and 4: having fun.

It's always nice to have your 6 year old correct you. And right then and there God used Caleb to correct my spirit about competition and how I was losing sight of why I agreed to coach in the first place: to invest in my son and help other non-churched families see a "switched" life.

Grabbing his hand and walking to the car, I was humbled and broken. It's here that God often speaks the loudest to me. I repented and renewed my vision to coach our team. The next Saturday morning I got a call that our best player wouldn't be there to play our afternoon game. Instead of allowing that to ruin my day, I headed to the field ready to encourage my guys and not worrying about the outcome of the game. It was so liberating to enjoy the game and see my son score his first goal of the season. I finally stopped allowing the pressure to win to overshadow the joy of coaching.

Our boys played great and won their first game. God always has a sense of humor.

I wonder what we would be like if we stopped allowing the outside pressures of work and relationships kill the joy that God has for us. Trust him, relax, we don't exist for the praise from others or to have a winning record. We're called to worship the king and reflect His glory alone.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Facebook: I Like It On... Really?

Lately women world wide are posting on their facebook status, "I like it on the..." and they name a place. Immediately, you begin to wonder what in the world are they talking about.


Turns out it's about breast cancer awareness and they are referring to where they place their purses...http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2010/10/i_like_it_on_your_facebook_sta.html

Really? The innuendo implied by these facebook statuses is yet another challenge for students and adults to keep their minds pure. Although, it maybe "cute" and "raising awareness" I think it causes minds to flutter. It's unfortunate that women would use this type of tactic to become a cry for such a worthy cause. I think it's demeaning towards women, it cause people to stumble in their thought life, and it's hard to redeem the necessity for such a slogan.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

life book


Today I picked up over 1600 life books as we ready ourselves for The Life Book Project next week, October 11-15. We're asking that everyone of our Barlett area high school students jump on board and pass out 25 copies of the life book. I'm anticipating incredible things from this project and hope and pray that other churches in our area are as committed to this project like we are. Students don't need to hear men, they need to hear the word of God and the life book is an incredible opportunity for unchurched and unreached students to read God's word. Praying...