Sorry it's been a long time (not that people are lining up to read my rantings).
I was a little overwhelmed today. I'm part of the twitter-rific world of instant blog/thought about life and ministry and as a man in my early 30's it is easy to feel unsatisfied about all that you aren't doing. I've always been my worst critic and always had a deep sense of passion to be on the top of my game. As I'm logged on right now, thousands of great thinkers, strategists, missional pastors, teachers, and influencers are typing, texting, blogging, writing, and speaking an incredible amount of insightful, helpful, ministry-changing ideas at their high level churches, ministries, and offices. To quote Chandler, "these guys are seriously legit."
It's easy for me to be overwhelmed at not only the enormity of information but how little I feel that I contribute. I want my church, our ministry, and the people that I lead to catch an unprecedented vision from God to reach our community for Christ and I often hold myself accountable to helping our people see the need and the possibilities. In a nutshell, I want to be legit and wow those are some big shoes to fill. So, yes, there are moments when I'm stressed, frustrated, and overwhelmed and today was one of those days.
A little dejected, I came home and just began to read the paper at the hub (aka breakfast table) trying to mute the noise of the boys playing in the living room, Brooke preparing dinner in the kitchen, and everything else in between. Yet, I heard the sweetest thing...I noticed my 4 year old daughter at the end of the table singing. She was singing a made up song of unintelligible words just lost in her own world. She had a piece of construction paper and large bright markers. She was coloring a picture, singing a song with not a care in the world. She had abandoned the noise (doing a much better job that I was) lost in her own enjoyment; not paying attention to the world around her; content as can be.
I stared at her for a few moments and I can feel my mind and soul take a breath. I began to wonder if I was feeling some of the same joy and warmth that God feels as He sees His children simply content. They aren't trying to keep up or speed up with the world, people, jobs, MINISTRIES around them; they are just content to be a child of the King, in His presence, under His grace. I wonder if God stares at us and can find the enjoyment of seeing us content with nothing else than just Him. All it took for my daughter was a piece of paper and a few markers; surely with the majestic power of the Lord of All Creation I can simply be content.
Lord, reassure me of Your power, mission, and purpose when I'm overwhelmed and help me to find contentment in Your calling and Your strength.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Monday, December 21, 2009
Grandma's and Gratitude
Last month Brooke and I were asked by our mechanic if we were especially attached to our car...that's never something you want to hear from your mechanic. Consequently, we were forced to find another family vehicle and after weeks of searching we found a vehicle in our single income, stay at home mom price range. That was 9 days ago.
This morning I did what thousands of dads were doing: packing the family car and heading to grandma's for Christmas. After packing up, cleaning up, and escorting three trips to the restroom, we were finally on our way. Excited about meeting some good friends for lunch and then eventually on our way to grandma's we prayed and pulled out the driveway. Halfway through our journey (while I was napping and Brooke was driving) the car lost power and she was forced to find space to pull over on a bridge of a busy interstate. As we waited for a wrecker to find our location, our car shook and moved as every car and truck whizzed by on their way to grandma's. When we finally arrived at THE garage of this one horse town, we were told that the car we owned for 9 days would need a new transmission (something of a torque converter malfunction and depositing debris in the transmission). This was turning out to be not a very merry Christmas.
To our surprise, the friends we were meeting for lunch arrived at the garage. They took our kids to McDonald's while we dealt with what to do next. I made a call to one of our volunteers who is a service manager for a large dealership in Memphis. (He is one of those guys who knows everyone and doesn't take no for an answer.) He began the arduous process of getting the car fixed. After several phone calls to dealerships, customer service, the salesperson who sold me the car, and my insurance agent, we were just simply stuck. The garage couldn't do the work on the vehicle, it needed to be towed to Memphis, no one would take blame for a bad transmission, and we still hadn't made it to grandma's. This was turning out to be not a very merry Christmas.
A short prayer later and a few more phone calls, my volunteer called and arranged for a dealership in Memphis to install the transmission for almost $1000 less than our lowest bid. He even offered to come get the car on his own the next morning and bring it back to Memphis to save us money on the towing charge. Our friends, who had been at McDonald's for about 2 hours by now) told us we could pile in their car to head on to Little Rock, where we would drop them off and take their car on to grandma's for Christmas. While we were in the car (our luggage, several Christmas gifts, 5 children, 4 adults, and 1 fish) a friend of ours from our church called. He heard of our predicament and told us that he had made arrangements to get our car fixed over the holiday and the bill had been taken care of.
I immediately began to cry, overwhelmed with a deep sense of gratitude. Our friends were loaning us their car, another friend was picking up our car and taking it to the shop in Memphis, and even more friends had taken care of the bill. I'm one of those guys who is very grateful, but I don't receive gifts very well. I've always been taught that you work for what you get and to be on the receiving end of such incredible help is simply overwhelming. Our friends have been so much more than a blessing to our family today, they were being Christ to us today as they selflessly met our needs.
Words can't adequately express how I feel about our day. In thinking through all the emotions I've felt today it leaves me rather exhausted. We went from a road trip from hades to being overwhelmed with generosity from our friends and family of faith. A good friend reminded me today that if God can move mountains he can take care of transmissions...how true. God's unexplainable grace and overflowing provision for our family continues to amaze me. Our journey today will last in my mind long after the new year; it stands as a reminder of just how wonderful He is to us.
Our hearts of so thankful for Casey and Janie Cole, Mike Kerr, and several others who have offered an unbelievable gift to make our Christmas an extraordinarily very Merry Christmas. I only hope that one day I will have the opportunity to give back what I've been given today.
By the way, we finally made it grandma's... and it was worth every mile.
So incredibly grateful,
Jason
This morning I did what thousands of dads were doing: packing the family car and heading to grandma's for Christmas. After packing up, cleaning up, and escorting three trips to the restroom, we were finally on our way. Excited about meeting some good friends for lunch and then eventually on our way to grandma's we prayed and pulled out the driveway. Halfway through our journey (while I was napping and Brooke was driving) the car lost power and she was forced to find space to pull over on a bridge of a busy interstate. As we waited for a wrecker to find our location, our car shook and moved as every car and truck whizzed by on their way to grandma's. When we finally arrived at THE garage of this one horse town, we were told that the car we owned for 9 days would need a new transmission (something of a torque converter malfunction and depositing debris in the transmission). This was turning out to be not a very merry Christmas.
To our surprise, the friends we were meeting for lunch arrived at the garage. They took our kids to McDonald's while we dealt with what to do next. I made a call to one of our volunteers who is a service manager for a large dealership in Memphis. (He is one of those guys who knows everyone and doesn't take no for an answer.) He began the arduous process of getting the car fixed. After several phone calls to dealerships, customer service, the salesperson who sold me the car, and my insurance agent, we were just simply stuck. The garage couldn't do the work on the vehicle, it needed to be towed to Memphis, no one would take blame for a bad transmission, and we still hadn't made it to grandma's. This was turning out to be not a very merry Christmas.
A short prayer later and a few more phone calls, my volunteer called and arranged for a dealership in Memphis to install the transmission for almost $1000 less than our lowest bid. He even offered to come get the car on his own the next morning and bring it back to Memphis to save us money on the towing charge. Our friends, who had been at McDonald's for about 2 hours by now) told us we could pile in their car to head on to Little Rock, where we would drop them off and take their car on to grandma's for Christmas. While we were in the car (our luggage, several Christmas gifts, 5 children, 4 adults, and 1 fish) a friend of ours from our church called. He heard of our predicament and told us that he had made arrangements to get our car fixed over the holiday and the bill had been taken care of.
I immediately began to cry, overwhelmed with a deep sense of gratitude. Our friends were loaning us their car, another friend was picking up our car and taking it to the shop in Memphis, and even more friends had taken care of the bill. I'm one of those guys who is very grateful, but I don't receive gifts very well. I've always been taught that you work for what you get and to be on the receiving end of such incredible help is simply overwhelming. Our friends have been so much more than a blessing to our family today, they were being Christ to us today as they selflessly met our needs.
Words can't adequately express how I feel about our day. In thinking through all the emotions I've felt today it leaves me rather exhausted. We went from a road trip from hades to being overwhelmed with generosity from our friends and family of faith. A good friend reminded me today that if God can move mountains he can take care of transmissions...how true. God's unexplainable grace and overflowing provision for our family continues to amaze me. Our journey today will last in my mind long after the new year; it stands as a reminder of just how wonderful He is to us.
Our hearts of so thankful for Casey and Janie Cole, Mike Kerr, and several others who have offered an unbelievable gift to make our Christmas an extraordinarily very Merry Christmas. I only hope that one day I will have the opportunity to give back what I've been given today.
By the way, we finally made it grandma's... and it was worth every mile.
So incredibly grateful,
Jason
Monday, November 30, 2009
Thomas
Thomas Young passed away Friday after Thanksgiving. He was a evangelist, pastor, and friend and I am going to miss him. We worked on a few projects together but I'm not sure he would really remember my name, but nevertheless, I felt that he was such a champion for the gospel and really called Christians away from religion and into relationship. He started The Sanctuary Fellowship near Sugar Land, TX with that in mind - moving people away from "church" and into relational exchange between the Father and friends. There is still some ambiguity regarding his death, but his legacy will live in me as one who helped church be more than church and Christians be more than people acting Christian.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Re-Casting In Worship
I was in a meeting yesterday with a good friend of mine and we were discussing the need for visioncasting in worship. In other words, we were feeling that often in a typical worship service you don't really have an opporutnity for a team leader/pastor to just shift his weight to one elbow, look over the pulpit and cast the vision, again.
I'm re-reading "IT" by Craig Groeschel and I completely resonate with his concepts of casting vision. Simply, he states that churches with "it" state, re-state, cast, re-cast, package, and re-package their vision. I found myself as a leader casting vision expecting my people to function out of the casted vision. Irregardless if I'm waking up excitied everyday to fulfill the vision, my people probably aren't...unless I cast and re-cast. How can I continue to say the same thing over and over again differently, how can I continue to recast vision, to whom do I need to continue to cast and once I feel they've caught the vision, what kind of re-casting is necessary?
Then it hit me. Worship. Well, really worship service. When do we provide the time to cast and re-cast the vision? Does this take place inside an announcement? Is it happening in a song? Is it an application point in a sermon? I guess so. But shouldn't it be so much more?
As a student pastor, I find myself laboring over a sermon or over a program time. Thinking through every detail and every facet. Thinking things like, "this game will help students find new friends and make stronger connections", or "during this announcement I'll remind them to invite friends and exemplify the great commission", or even "on this point, I'll pause and restate one of our purpose statements and that will reinforce our vision..." Inasmuch as those things maybe happening, I think to most a game is just a game and an announcement is just an announcement.
We have got to provide occasionally, yet consistent times, in our worship services to intentionally cast and re-cast the vision to our people. That's right worship times. We can't rely on small group leaders, letters, websites, nifty print peices to adequately share the fabric of our vision. It has to happen in a venue where we have the most impact, the most attention, and the most return - weekly worship services.
I think this looks like video testimonies, an on-stage interview, and video loop of the vision statement, and so many other possibilities. Should worship leaders stop talking about a song and how it matches our vision or should preachers stop referring to vision during a "sermon" - absolutely not. But I think we as church leaders think our people aren't recieving our message of vision when we camoflouge it in our worship bulletins.
I'm re-reading "IT" by Craig Groeschel and I completely resonate with his concepts of casting vision. Simply, he states that churches with "it" state, re-state, cast, re-cast, package, and re-package their vision. I found myself as a leader casting vision expecting my people to function out of the casted vision. Irregardless if I'm waking up excitied everyday to fulfill the vision, my people probably aren't...unless I cast and re-cast. How can I continue to say the same thing over and over again differently, how can I continue to recast vision, to whom do I need to continue to cast and once I feel they've caught the vision, what kind of re-casting is necessary?
Then it hit me. Worship. Well, really worship service. When do we provide the time to cast and re-cast the vision? Does this take place inside an announcement? Is it happening in a song? Is it an application point in a sermon? I guess so. But shouldn't it be so much more?
As a student pastor, I find myself laboring over a sermon or over a program time. Thinking through every detail and every facet. Thinking things like, "this game will help students find new friends and make stronger connections", or "during this announcement I'll remind them to invite friends and exemplify the great commission", or even "on this point, I'll pause and restate one of our purpose statements and that will reinforce our vision..." Inasmuch as those things maybe happening, I think to most a game is just a game and an announcement is just an announcement.
We have got to provide occasionally, yet consistent times, in our worship services to intentionally cast and re-cast the vision to our people. That's right worship times. We can't rely on small group leaders, letters, websites, nifty print peices to adequately share the fabric of our vision. It has to happen in a venue where we have the most impact, the most attention, and the most return - weekly worship services.
I think this looks like video testimonies, an on-stage interview, and video loop of the vision statement, and so many other possibilities. Should worship leaders stop talking about a song and how it matches our vision or should preachers stop referring to vision during a "sermon" - absolutely not. But I think we as church leaders think our people aren't recieving our message of vision when we camoflouge it in our worship bulletins.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Taking It In
We just found out that our oldest son Gavin is allergic to pretty much everything. We knew he had food allergies when we has 18 months old, found out he asthma when he was 3 and through a process of events found out yesterday he is allergic to 31 out of 38 common food allergies and 45 out of 58 environmental allergies.
Our hearts are broken for our big guy. Sure it will be an adjustment for our diet (imagine not eating chicken, beef, pork, fish, bread, milk, eggs, even apples and so much more) but I just hate it for him. He has always been embarrassed and anxious about his food allergies. You see his food allergies cause his skin to become irritated, itchy, and dry around his eyes, face, arms, legs, feet, and back. He scratches all the time and consequently his skin looks like patchwork. He is so self-conscious of it he wears pants when people come over and doesn't like to take his socks off because he sees the sores. I wonder how much more he will worry with the addition of so many more known allergies.
God is answering our prayers through my wife being a clinical dietitian and know that we know the facts we are able to start an action plan. But it still hurts me to know my boy is dealing with all of this.
My kids have always been relatively healthy and I know so many parents who have children who are so much worse off than my son. I'm experiencing a glimpse of the anguish they feel and I absolutely hate the feeling.
God, you are the God of comfort and you comfort those who are hurting. Help me to receive your comfort through your Spirit, your Word, and your people.
Our hearts are broken for our big guy. Sure it will be an adjustment for our diet (imagine not eating chicken, beef, pork, fish, bread, milk, eggs, even apples and so much more) but I just hate it for him. He has always been embarrassed and anxious about his food allergies. You see his food allergies cause his skin to become irritated, itchy, and dry around his eyes, face, arms, legs, feet, and back. He scratches all the time and consequently his skin looks like patchwork. He is so self-conscious of it he wears pants when people come over and doesn't like to take his socks off because he sees the sores. I wonder how much more he will worry with the addition of so many more known allergies.
God is answering our prayers through my wife being a clinical dietitian and know that we know the facts we are able to start an action plan. But it still hurts me to know my boy is dealing with all of this.
My kids have always been relatively healthy and I know so many parents who have children who are so much worse off than my son. I'm experiencing a glimpse of the anguish they feel and I absolutely hate the feeling.
God, you are the God of comfort and you comfort those who are hurting. Help me to receive your comfort through your Spirit, your Word, and your people.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
It's Never Just a Goose
Geese.
Lots of geese.
Our church has a beautiful little pond surrounded by several cleared acres in northeast Memphis. This pond is a magnet for Canadian geese. On any given day, you can drive onto our property and see a small flock grazing in the field. These geese are pretty brave in that they graze close to our building, walk to and fro across driveways, and even find themselves in our recreation fields from time to time. Although the geese are beautiful to look at and provide for a picturesque setting for any church, the most distinguished quality I've noticed is that they are never alone. They are always together. It's always geese and never a goose.
I had a very difficult conversation with a young man last night who confessed to me a moral failure he experienced over the weekend. I'm just broken for him. I know how significant sin can be in our lives and I know his life is forever changed because of his lack of judgment. As we talked it became obvious that one of the contributing factors to his indiscretion were his friends. Inasmuch as he fully responsible for his actions, the crowd he runs around with never encouraged him to stick to his moral standard. When he found himself in the situation he didn't have friends helping him get out, he had peers encouraging to stay in.
That's how it is with teenagers. No teenager ever wants to be lonely. Every teenager wants a friend. As teenagers look for friends, they are drawn to the ones who accept them, irregardless of the moral compass that group exhibits. Teenagers, in their efforts to avoid loneliness, will engage in crowds that lead them to bad choices. I'm convinced most teenagers don't really consider the kind of crowd they are with as they find security in being a crowd. Geese, never a goose.
So what how does the church respond? I'm convinced its not all that realistic to tell students to stand out as a goose. I do, however, think its our calling to equip geese with gospel to go and gather more geese for the gospel. We have a lot of Christian teenagers who are too content to be geese in the Christian flock and never consider the gooses out there looking for a new pond. We've got to get our geese off the church property and help understand their calling is to go make disciples among the gooses. In the end, we all love geese, no one wants to be a goose, and we've got to make more room for new flocks.
Lots of geese.
Our church has a beautiful little pond surrounded by several cleared acres in northeast Memphis. This pond is a magnet for Canadian geese. On any given day, you can drive onto our property and see a small flock grazing in the field. These geese are pretty brave in that they graze close to our building, walk to and fro across driveways, and even find themselves in our recreation fields from time to time. Although the geese are beautiful to look at and provide for a picturesque setting for any church, the most distinguished quality I've noticed is that they are never alone. They are always together. It's always geese and never a goose.
I had a very difficult conversation with a young man last night who confessed to me a moral failure he experienced over the weekend. I'm just broken for him. I know how significant sin can be in our lives and I know his life is forever changed because of his lack of judgment. As we talked it became obvious that one of the contributing factors to his indiscretion were his friends. Inasmuch as he fully responsible for his actions, the crowd he runs around with never encouraged him to stick to his moral standard. When he found himself in the situation he didn't have friends helping him get out, he had peers encouraging to stay in.
That's how it is with teenagers. No teenager ever wants to be lonely. Every teenager wants a friend. As teenagers look for friends, they are drawn to the ones who accept them, irregardless of the moral compass that group exhibits. Teenagers, in their efforts to avoid loneliness, will engage in crowds that lead them to bad choices. I'm convinced most teenagers don't really consider the kind of crowd they are with as they find security in being a crowd. Geese, never a goose.
So what how does the church respond? I'm convinced its not all that realistic to tell students to stand out as a goose. I do, however, think its our calling to equip geese with gospel to go and gather more geese for the gospel. We have a lot of Christian teenagers who are too content to be geese in the Christian flock and never consider the gooses out there looking for a new pond. We've got to get our geese off the church property and help understand their calling is to go make disciples among the gooses. In the end, we all love geese, no one wants to be a goose, and we've got to make more room for new flocks.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Cracks in the Sidewalk
Today is my daughter's 4th birthday. It hard to believe that four years ago I stood in the delivery room asking our doctor, "Well, what is it?" and he promply replied, "It's a girl!". My heart skipped a few beats in that I knew how to deal with boys. With two sons already, I had the talks all laid out in my head, the sports balls in the garage, and dreams of watching SEC football together all planned out. "It's a girl!" ruined me. Absolutely ruined me. And I'm so much better for it! There is a special place for daughters and my Lily has her daddy's heart. I'm not sure if it's her eye contact across the dinner table and we both instantly smile at one another or if it's the times when she shows me exactly where the items go in her dollhouse, but she has my heart and I love her more each day.A few weeks ago we were walking hand in hand and I noticed that she was skipping over the cracks in the sidewalk. When we would approach a crack, she'd pull on my hand just enough to help step over it. At every crack I felt her tug on my hand as she hopped. Hop, hop, hop, crack, crack, crack. After a minute of this I looked down and asked her why she skipped over the cracks and she responded, "I don't know, I just do."
I've been guilty of intentionally missing the cracks as I walk too. I don't do it every time I'm on a sidewalk, but occasionally, I'll adjust my stride just enough to miss the cracks. (I've also been guilty of concentrating too much on missing them that I look rather ridiculous.) It is interesting to think about the cracks in the sidewalk. Most sidewalks are made with gaps every few feet to allow for expansion and movement. These gaps are considered cracks by many, but without these "cracks" the sidewalk would most likely buckle, become uneven, and eventually become useless.
Most of us have "cracks" in our lives that might seem unsightly or at least inconvenient. Divorce, a failed career, physcial disability, depression, a difficult family member all might be cracks in our lives. Sometimes we find ourselves trying to skip over these cracks. Hopping over them is somehow a way of ignoring them. But these cracks may be necessary for growth. They enable us to withstand outside forces and many times they are necessary for us to fulfill our true purpose. Maybe we need to stop trying to skip the cracks and learn to accept their potential usefulness in our lives, relationships, workplace, or ministry. As you're walking the sidewalks of life don't skip the cracks, but embrace them for His purpose and glory. Just as the concrete worker allowed gaps in the sidewalk, so does our Creator allow our cracks and who knows how he plans to use them.
Happy Birthday to my sidewalk crack hopper. May you learn to embrace what God has given you and use them to impact the world.
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