I Can't Poo! and other unwanted physical reactions to fasting

As we prepare our hearts for the upcoming time of fasting, we also need to prepare our bodies and understand that when we have an extended period without food then there are some common physical reactions that we can expect.

I think the first thing that must be stated is that fasting from food is not for everyone. There are certain medical issues where the regulation of blood sugar levels is critical and anyone who has an ongoing medical condition or a medical condition which requires regular medications is best advised to contact their doctor about whether or not fasting is appropriate for them, and if it is, how many meals per day should they miss.

For those of us who have no medical reason not to fast, the biggest obstacle is mental. We don't fast because we don't want to fast. We have never missed a meal without buckling over in two with pangs of hunger (slight exaggeration, but you get the picture). Well, there are some physical reactions that can be anticipated when we deprive our bodies of food and I thought I would give you some practical tips today.

Preparation not constipation - when your body takes food in, it passes through your digestive system visiting various interesting and fun places like the stomach, the duodenum, the colon and finally - well you know what comes next. When the input of food ceases there is nothing coming along the pipes to keep the flow going and motion stops - quite literally. With a prolonged fast there is a possibility that constipation can set in. To avoid this then a few days before the fast prepare your body by adding fruit to your diet, or roughage - salad, bran muffins etc. Preparation is the key. Don't panic if you get to day three and realize that your morning constitution has undergone some reforms with a filibuster in place. Once you begin to eat again, everything will get back on track.

For the caffeine addicts - when you start your fast and you drink your last cup of morning coffee, you will probably experience a headache at some point during the 1st or 2nd day. This is sadly a normal occurrence as your body is craving the caffeine you so regularly feed it. Rest assured that like the constipation, this too will pass.

Hunger pangs - as described in yesterday's blog, there will be hunger pangs and this is mostly because you have a habit of eating at certain times during the day. Your body doesn't necessarily need to have food, it is just programmed to have food. Most of us have plenty of fat reserves to last us through a lot more days of not eating than the 6 we will be undertaking. Some of us even have a little additional stored up from the winter - that's because some of us are smarter than the average bear! When you get hungry, drink a glass of water. When you get hungry, take time to pray. After a day or so the hunger pangs will decrease and even disappear altogether.

Unpleasant social issues - coldness, bad breath, more intense body odor, aches and pains (usually in longer fasts than ours) and changes in sleeping/dreaming patterns have all been identified as potential physical reactions to fasting. Some of these only occur with long term (21 day or 40 day) fasts but you may experience some of them in the 6 days of our fast.

More information is found on this Campus Crusade for Christ International site and you might want to check it out - http://www.ccci.org/growth/growing-closer-to-god/how-to-fast/10-expected-physical-effects.aspx

If You Liquidise a Happy Meal, Does It Still Count?

So, yesterday we looked at an interesting piece of American history where the President actually decreed that there should be a National Day set aside for prayer and fasting - of course, the President was Abraham Lincoln, but who is he compared to the geniuses we have had in office recently? But no politics here, this post is about the practice of fasting - what do you actually do when you undertake a fast?

Essentially a fast is a relatively simple spiritual discipline which is not merely suggested in the bible but is expected. Jesus said in Matthew 6:16, "When you fast ..." and then he goes on to instruct us not to let our faces betray our internal hunger pains by running around looking pitiful because we haven't eaten breakfast.

The simplicity of fasting is this - we set aside a period of time in which we decide that we will deny our bodies the cravings that it has, in particular food, and focus our minds, souls and spirits on seeking the Lord. We have chosen to set aside 6 days for fasting - well, beginning after church on Sunday January 10th until after our special evenign celebration on Friday January 15th. So for that entire time, I want to encourage as many people in our church to decide that they will abstain from food and will only consume liquids.

I remember a number of years ago when my previous church was in the middle of a week long fast, there was a rumor going around that one of the guys had figured out that since we were fasting solid food and consuming water, a liquid, then maybe it would be ok if he put a steak in a blender and liquefied it. If you could get it up a straw then really, would it count against you in your fast?

Now please let common sense prevail, but I would encourage you to set your mind to only consuming liquids - primarily water, but other possibilities are fruit juices but really you should avoid any tea or coffee or any drink with caffeine in it.

But won't I be hungry? How will I cope in work without having something to eat all day? Well, the simple answer is, yes, you will be hungry, at least for the first two days, but not because you have to eat, but more because you are conditioned to eat - three squares a day. We most commonly eat not out of hunger, but out of habit. We eat lunch at the same time every day, even before we have any pains of hunger, we check our watch and determine it is time to eat. After a couple of days of ignoring those demands from your body, you will break the habit of eating and actually often begin to not feel hungry anymore. I know this is hard to believe, but it really does happen. The fasts that I have done that have been the least hunger driven were the ones where I only drank water and didn't drink anything else, no hot chocolate, or coffee or soup or broth - just water.

On another savory note, before you begin a fast, it is a good idea to eat a lot of fruit the day before so your morning constitution can clear the way so to speak. Once you begin your fast you will have nothing in your system to push along any digesting or completely digested food and there is a risk of constipation. The best way to cure this is to avoid it happening in the first place with a little preparation and planning of roughage and fruit the day before.

The most important thing about fasting is not the lack of food intake, but it is what you do with the time that you would normally have spent on preparation and even eating the meal. You have just instantly freed up a couple of hours in your day in which you can take some time to pray and seek God's face.

This can even be more difficult for some than going without food. For a fast to be an effective spiritual discipline we need to take time to seek the Lord. Most people can spend some time in prayer when they have a list of things that they can bring to God and ask Him to fix, heal, stop, start, whatever it is, it is always easier to pray when you have your list ready. But what about coming to God just to hang out with God? What about seeking Him just for the sake of seeking Him? That will be the subject of tomorrow's posting.

Posting about Fasting For a While

We announced yesterday in church that we will be holding a week of prayer and fasting at Mt Oak from Sunday January 10th to Friday January 15th. I thought I would share some insights and thoughts into fasting over the next week or so.

I thought we would start with some history:

Proclamation Appointing a National Fast Day

Washington, D.C. March 30, 1863

Senator James Harlan of Iowa, whose daughter later married President Lincoln's son Robert, introduced this Resolution in the Senate on March 2, 1863. The Resolution asked President Lincoln to proclaim a national day of prayer and fasting. The Resolution was adopted on March 3, and signed by Lincoln on March 30, one month before the fast

day was observed.

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation.

And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.

And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.

All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty seventh.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

Is it Just Me or is Anyone Else Wrecked?

Today marked the end of one very long and busy semester for me. Sixteen weeks ago I embarked on a journey with 31 gifted young students, all eager to learn everything they could about the subject I am supposed to be an expert in. I spent over 30 hours a week teaching this fine young group all the skills I could transfer. At the end of it all, they all successfully completed their examinations and wil progress to the next stage of their career preparation. They won, and I did as well.

At the same time, I continued to work in the clinic for some 12 hours a week or so putting my skills to the test and helping people regain their function back. There have been a number of wins during the past few months.

As if this wasn't enough to keep me busy, I continued to try to serve my church as best I could with every ounce of leadership that remained. We did some things that we have never done before - like starting and leading a small group, the brunch and the outreach at Applebees - epic wins, and we did a lot of things that we have always done, most of them wins.

With all of this potential chaos going on it was possible that my most favorite treasures could be left out - my girls, all three of them. While there were times when all the busy-ness of the previous activities took over, I tried my best to work hard to giving them as much of my best as I could. Sadly, I didn't always win, but I tried to win every week.

So now, it is Christmas break - and what do I want? Some rest, lots of time with my girls, a chance to re-charge my batteries, time to read my bible, time to read some new books and some more time with my girls.

Let the active rest begin.

I want Oceans of it!

I sat in the movie theater in Bowie a few weeks ago with a number of good friends patiently awaiting the start of the ‘show’ for that evening. The lights dimmed, the screen darkened to black, the music began to play in that dramatic theatrical way and then it happened. My world was rocked. My world was challenged, by feelings were insulted, my senses were challenged and my mind was blown and my heart was issued the ultimate challenge.

You see, when we go to a movie theater we expect to be entertained, to have our conscience stroked, to have a place where the wounds of the day or week can be salved over with good feelings and the balm of laughter. We long for the escape that the movie theater often brings with its other worlds that delight and stimulate, its display of far off lands that offer intrigue and adventure. We salivate at the thought that one day, just one day, we might be able to trade places with the lead character, we might be the one that comes out on top, we might be the ones that get the girl, or the guy. We might be the ones who ride off into the setting sun with victory under our belt, love in our hearts and gold in our pockets. Just one day we might be the people on the big screen.

As I sat with my friends around me in that dimly lit shrine to the ‘possibility of what may be’ I was excited, I was eager to be an active part of what I was about to view. I was filled with anticipation of what was to come and the wonder of imagination as to how I might take the starring role in a similar production that would never reach the silver screen. I was ready.

Those feelings quickly changed. What happened in the next few moments stole all of those feelings away. The next few minutes of darkness, narration and written text did not fulfill my anticipation. The next few moments did not fill me with awe and wonder, they did not set my heart racing with the anticipation of what would follow or how I could see myself in the sequel.

The next few moments stripped my heart bare. The next few lines of prose reduced my anticipation to angst. The next few moments reduced me to a humbled position of reality. Reality of the world we live in and reality of how blessed I am with my version of this world we live in.

The narrator’s softly spoken voice conveyed a truth so un-mistakable that there was little else to do but allow the tear to form and slowly fall down my cheek. There was nothing else to do but listen to the words, to watch the images before. There was nothing else to do but to wonder what I could do.

As I listened my heart began to break, my world began to shake and my ideals were once again challenged with the reality of the world we live in. As I listened with my ears to the words of the narrator I was unable to close the ears of my heart to the deafening cry of my Savior. I couldn’t drown His voice out with soda or popcorn. I haven’t been able to drown His voice out for 2 weeks now. I pray I never will be able to.

My prayer is that these words of prose will grip me so deeply that I will never be the same again.

My prayer is that these words will disturb me so much that I can do nothing but answer His cry and change my life to reach out hands of justice. My prayer is that I will want what God wants – as deeply as He wants it.

“I can't stand your religious meetings.

I'm fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
your pretentious slogans and goals.

I'm sick of your fund-raising schemes,
your public relations and image making.

I've had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
When was the last time you sang to me?

Do you know what I want?

I want justice—oceans of it.
I want fairness—rivers of it.

That's what I want.
That’s all I want.”

Amos 5:21-23 (The Message)

http://www.theiheartfilm.com/

Thoughts on Church - Membership

Next week I will be preaching at our church and the subject matter, well at least part of it, concerns the church. I have spent some time over the past few weeks listening to podcasts, reading articles and of course, reading the bible in preparation for next week. This week Rev Ray posted an interesting article on his web site - http://raymcd.blogspot.com/ - which asked a couple of questions about church membership.

Church membership is one of the things that I have been considering recently - well, more so I have been wondering why we have it. Church membership is an interesting concept, because, unlike other memberships that one may have, there are actually few, if any, perks that come with church membership. There are no "Member's Only" sections in churches, at least I hope there aren't. No 'Member's Only' parking spots. There are no special rates for members - a tithe is still 10%, even for members. Your prayer requests don't get jumped to the head of the prayer list just because you are a member. So what is the point of membership? More importantly, is there a danger to having church membership? Could people feel excluded from our community if they are not identified as a member? Does the rhetoric we use set up invisible barriers to people belonging to our church?

As I have thought about why churches have membership lists I can only think that they do so to identify those who are 'with them'. I guess that churches have membership rolls so they can provide a list of all the people who have decided that this particular church is the body with whom they will work and serve to build the kingdom. But does that truly require membership - or does it simply require demonstration? Are there people on the membership roll of a church who have taken a class, signed a declaration, or made some specific statement that are not working alongside the church to further the kingdom? Are there even people on those lists who are actively working against the direction of the church due to some grievance or aggravation they perceive to have been foisted upon them? What about those 'members' who are inactive, or move away to another city or state? Their name is on a list, but their demonstration of alongside-ness has ceased.

If the idea behind membership of a church is to help to identify a group of core people who can be counted upon to work with the church to fulfill its mission then how tough should the joining process be? I once heard it said that a church should be hard to join and easy to leave. The harder the joining process involved then the greater opportunity for prospective members to prove that their actions will demonstrate that they will be active supporters of the mission of the church. If the joining process is too easy then is there a greater risk of people becoming members and then not fulfilling their membership duties? What if we made the membership process more stringent, where people took time to complete a series of steps. During this time they would be demonstrating that they are willing to give their time, energy and money to support the work of the church? I wonder how many 'members' we would have in our churches if this were the case? I also wonder if some of the issues we currently face would vanish too with those who should not stay connected to our bidy but should move on to find one where their gifts and talents could be better used.

I know that for some this discussion could be a difficult concept - but maybe it is time to look at the things that we have always done and ask ourselves a few questions:

1. Are these practices biblical?


2. Are these practices practical?


3. Are these practices hindering anyone from joining our community as they travel along their own spiritual journey?


4. What would really happen if we ceased these practices?

Just some thoughts on the church. Check back this week for more thoughts as I try to sift through the information in my head and hear the voice of the Lord for this week's message.

I covet your prayers this week and hope to see you in Mt Oak on Sunday morning. If you read this and dont live close enough to travel to our church this week then check out the podcast of the message next Monday morning when it is available.

What Would Jesus Google? - for Marty

Ok, so I said I was going to write something and asked for ideas. The idea that was posted on my Facebook was this - 'how about Jesus using google'. So here goes.

Would Jesus use Google, and if so then what would He Google.

Well for some people they might get upset at this very question. After all, why would the God of the universe who was before all things were made, (even Google)have the need to look up anything on the internet. Why would I even consider such an insane notion.

Well, here is what I think. If Jesus were alive today, under the same circumstances that He was alive 2000+ years ago, then absolutely YES, JESUS WOULD USE GOOGLE.

THUD!! did I hear someone hit the floor? Why? Why would that surprise you? I guess that people would think that the Son of God would know everything, why would He have need of a computer or a search engine? well, here is why.

When Jesus came to the earth 2000 years ago, He did so under some specific conditions. According to Philipians 2:6-7 we read this:

"Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing,taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness."

When Jesus came to earth, He was fully God, but He set aside everything that was in Him that was God and became FULLY MAN. Jesus had no greater ability while here on earth than you or I do. He set aside everything that was divine in Him - he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped - He did not believe that having equal power with God was something He should hold on to. Jesus came to be just like us - how could He be just like us if He had all the power of the creator of the universe?

Jesus emptied Himself and took on human form.

So, if Jesus is just like you and me, and He was on earth today, where do you think He would go for His information? In His day He spent time with the scholars and teachers of the law - in the temple. There are not that many wise men hanging out in churches these days - probably get in trouble for that - but lets face it, there are a lot smarter people that we can learn from out there online.

I think that if Jesus were living on earth today and He had a question He would do two things - ask His Father in heaven, and use Google - and in that order.

Which order do you use?

Maybe the real question is not would Jesus use Google, but why dont we seek Jesus for answers.

See you in Mt Oak this Sunday - 10:30am - be there, Jesus will be, Google wont.

Naked and Unashamed - how church should be

In Genesis Chapter 1 we read the story of how God created the world. We read how He made the sun and the moon, and the land and the sea, the birds of the air and the fish in the sea, and after every day of creation there was one comment that God made - it is good. Everything that He made was good. Now if we read in Gen 1:26 we see these words,Then God said, "Let us make man in our image..." Have you ever wondered who He was talking to? Well, He was talking to Himself really - He was talking to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. God is not separate, He is three persons in one. He is three persons living together in perfect harmony. He is three persons who exalt each other above themselves. The Father glorifies the Son, the Son glorifies the Father, the Holy Spirit glorifies the Son. They all raise each other up, they all glorify each other, there is no hierarchy, there is no selfishness, there is no me, there is only WE.

Read on a little further in Genesis 2 we see in verse 18 that God utters these words for the first time - "It is not good for the man to be alone..." Everything so far has been declared good by God, and now there is something that He declares is NOT GOOD. What is that thing? How can something which has been created in the image of God be 'NOT GOOD'? Well, the thing that was not a true reflection of the person of God was that man was alone. God was three persons in one, together, connected, in fellowship. He realized that the man He had created was alone, separate, isolated. That was NOT GOOD.

The story goes on that God causes man to fall asleep, takes a bone out of his side and creates a helper. God created woman - named because when Adam saw Eve for the first time he exclaimed, "Woah!! Man!!! Look at that!!!!" This was shortened to woman.

Man was now like God, man was in fellowship, man was together with someone, man was no longer isolated. Now here is the greatest verse in this story - Genesis 2:25 says this, "The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame."

What does this mean? Well, for the first time (and pretty much the last time) men and women were together with nothing between them. There was nothing separating them, they had nothing to hide behind - and they were not ashamed. This moment in time saw perfect relationship between men and women, there was no hierarchy, there was no shame. They were also for the first time naked before the Lord. There was nothing between men and God. There was only perfect communion. There was perfect relationship. This was VERY GOOD.

Sin entered the world - relationship was fractured, separation occurred.

Jesus entered the world, destroyed sin and made a way for us to enter into that perfect beautiful, unencumbered relationship with God again. We can once again approach Him naked to all the things in the world, we do not have to hide any part of our lives from the Father. Our relationship has been restored.

But what about our relationship with each other? What about our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ? Have we not been set free? Have we not been made whole? Have we not been restored once again? Isn't it time we were able to have relationships with each other where we prefer one another above ourselves? Isn't it time when we should stop putting each other down, or assuming the worst, or standing on top of each other? Isn't it time to lay down ALL of the hurt from the past and stop laying it on top of anyone we think owes us something? Isn't it time that we had relationships that were 'naked'? Isn't it time when we had relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ and we would not be ashamed because, "If only they knew who I really was?" Isn't it time we were the church?

Well, maybe you need to put yourself in a group where you can develop authentic friendships, where you can take off some of the layers that you hide behind. Maybe it is time that you carved a portion of time out of your busy week and joined with other people to learn how to have authentic relationships together.

Maybe it is time to join a small group.

Just maybe.

Who is Church For?

I was listening to a couple of podcasts on my way to/from work. It was a slow traffic day so I had plenty of time to flick though my selection and play podcast roulette. Two of the messages I listened to asked the same question - "Who is your church for?"

Is our church for church people? By that I mean, is our Sunday morning service designed for those who go to church, understand church and need little instruction as to what to do when in church? Or is our church service designed for people who dont go to church? Are we set up as a welcoming place where people who do not normally come to church will feel right at home? Do we have simple things like clear signage pointing to the tea/coffee or the bathrooms? Do we lead people through our service and announce what is going to happen as each thing takes place? If we don't then I suggest that we do not do that because we expect everyone present to know what is going on and why we do those things. If we think like this then we have answered the question posed above - and the answer is that our church is for church people.

If we have purposely taken the time to explain what we are doing at each point in our service - worship, offering, message, announcements - then maybe we are designing our worship services for non-church folks.

Maybe we should begin to change things up a little to ensure that we are truly making non-church people comfortable at our services. If it is possible then maybe it would behoove us to investigate how we can do it better.

Leading From Brokenness

During the past couple of Sunday morning services, as we have been in worship or transitioning from worship to the message I have been broken by God as I have tried to lead the transitions. One week I was broken as we prayed for our family and friends who do not know Jesus. Then just yesterday as we moved from a new song written by AMPED Worship into the message I prayed and thanked God for His mercy. In the midst of that prayer I could see Jesus on the cross and things that I had done just that week, attitudes, actions, words, sins, were being placed on His shoulders and the weight of my sin was adding to the suffication that Jesus experienced on the cross. My sin was, in my vision, literally killing Jesus. His response was, "Father, forgive them ..."

As we sang this new song taken from Habakkuk 3:2 "... in wrath, remember mercy." I could see the pain that the Father felt as He placed sin upon sin on Jesus, then turned His back and separated Himself from His Son. My heart broke, my sin had caused that, but the gift that I received in return was freedom, life, the chance to be a new creation free from sin and death. God had remembered mercy.

I found myself in the midst of prayer, standing at the front of church, barely able to get the words out as the tears flowed down my face. I must confess that inside my head there was a voice that accused me of being 'unprofessional' or weak in front of so many people. A voice that said that the people do not want to see a grown man cry, and there are probably some who might even consider the tears were part of an act meant to manipulate their emotions.

In the midst of all of that internal turmoil I could still see see the image of Jesus on the cross carrying my sin, but the image changed. The crucified Savior was transformed into the risen Lord. Death could not hold Him, my sin did not bury Him. He was alive! He was risen! He was also reaching out His hand to me and raising me up from my death and setting me into His resurrection. His life was bringing me life! I am free, I am alive because of just one thing - Jesus loves me.

Through the tears came a deeper understanding that I am a child of a King, that I do not need to fear anything or anyone. I also realized that I was not alone. That my sin was not the only sin that was carried on that cross that day. The same event in history also transformed, or had the power to transform, everyone in the auditorium that day.

I realized that I need to allow God to break me wherever He wants to break me. I need to allow people to see God at work in my life whenever He wants to demonstrate His love for me. I hope that people can see that even those who are in a position of leadership do not have it all together. Those at the front do not always get it right, we make mistakes. I only pray that the biggest mistake we avoid making is one of portraying to people that we are ok. Let us lead with authenticity and when that requires brokenness, then Lord break us.

Getting Back to the Important Things

Yesterday and today I have had the privilege of spending two days away from all of my jobs - paid and unpaid - and have been attending the Catalyst leaders conference in Atlanta, Georgia. It has been a very challenging two days and while there have been a number of very informative and challenging talks given, there has not been one session of one speaker that has really shaken me, but it seems that God is using a number of the sessions to drop in a couple of lines of the picture. I thought I would jot down where I was as of tonight.

Yesterday one line that was going over and over in my head was this - we have replaced the important with the urgent. A simple statement but a very indicting statement when you delve into it. Essentially what the speaker was saying through this statement was that we have some very important things to do and things that we should be giving our lives to. There are things that we are involved in that are so important that we should be setting them as priorities and yet we have not given these important things the place that we should. We have allowed ourselves to be distracted by the latest Twitter feed, or the latest Facebook status update, or the latest Facebook game, or the latest e-mail - these are the urgent things. Through our social networking and our drive to be on top of everything we have allowed ourselves to take our eyes off of the important things in life and move from one crisis e-mail to the next, from one Twitter post to the next and we spend all of our time on the urgent.

The result can be devastating. We take a normal work day and clutter it up with urgent work and we fail to give the important work any of our time. The important work will be the work that will last. This is the life changes that we see in people's lives - if we take the time to spend time with them. If we fill our day with urgent work then we squeeze out the important and we miss out on what God has for us.

As I thought about this line, another one came to mind - "We need to fight for our families". God has placed us in families and He does not expect us to be perfect, but He wants to write His story of grace and transformation on our family. God wants to take our broken families and write His story through them as He restores them, as He builds them, as He heals the dysfunction. We need to stop trying to write our own story for our family and create the perfect 2.2 children family picture and allow God to create His family picture using our families as the lead characters.

As I pondered these two statements I was struck by a very painful truth about our church and the latest discussions that I have been involved in. We are in the process of preparing our 2010 budget and there have been discussions on costs for this and costs for that. We have discussed air conditioning and grass cutting and fought to include or exclude such items from the budget (depending on your view point). What brought me to tears during this evening's sessions was that while we fight over air conditioning, I know of at least 4 families where the husband and wife partnership is in disarray and for some has become separation. We are fighting over air conditioning and we are not fighting for our families. We are fighting over how much money to spend on grass cutting and no-one is talking about how much we should be investing into our people to help heal their marriages. We are fighting for the urgent and we have failed to see that we have set aside the important.

God please forgive me for placing the urgent in front of the important. Please forgive me for fighting over air conditioning and not fighting for our families. Help me Lord to lean all of my leadership, all of my influence, all of my energy into fighting to restore families and not wasting time on the urgent.

What a month!!

I cannot believe that it has been almost a month since I last posted a blog. Where has the time gone? Well, I know where it has gone to be honest - college started back up again, clinic takes up my other available mornings and today is the first time in a month when I have had a morning off of work/clinic/church/family to do my own thing, and guess where I am. Yup, that's right. I am sitting in my Bowie office enjoying some coffee, reconnecting with some of PG County's finest detectives, the mayor and some other church pastors who frequent 'my' office.

So this should be more of an update than a posting with an attempt at some in-depth meaning, I think. This past month has felt very hectic - only because I am teaching for 30 hours or so on three days and then treating patients for 10-12hours on two days and still trying to accomplish my tasks at church and my role as husband and dad. I have learned that trying to squeeze an extra 30+ hours a week into what was an already busy schedule doesn't really work too well. Something had to give - and the thing that gave for the first few weeks of this madness was actually sleep. For the first two weeks of college I survived (best word to describe it) on about 4hrs a night. Not too good, but just one of those things.

I have been trying very hard to not eat into family time, but I know I have sacrificed some of that too. Julie and I went out on our first date night in months two weeks ago. It was a beautiful evening and one that I would love to do every week, but at this season I dont see either of us making that regular a schedule. We just try to make the limited time we seem to have as effective as possible, knowing that Christmas is coming and a new semester with less pressure is lined up for the Spring.

Julie and I took on some additional responsibility this summer too - we are helping to coordinate our small group ministry in the church, really in the hope of setting up a good structure and format that can be taken on and run with by someone else. It seems that I have a ministry of short term fixes, ship-righting and passing the ball. Dont get me wrong, I love to start new ventures, but sometimes I wonder if we have started something that no-one else in the church wants to do. I'll talk about that in another post some day.

StreetReach continues to develop - some times in a positive way and then sometimes I wonder if we should just shut it down until next summer. The last Saturday we had arranged to go out and serve I had lined up three houses - not a large number by any stretch, and I expected about 12-15 people to show up. Pretty easy - 3 teams of 4-5 and these projects would be done pretty quickly. 5 people showed up. 5 people. Out of a church of some 200 adults and a youth ministry of some 60 teenagers - 5 people showed up. Disappointing to say the least. Having said that though, those 5 people served their hearts out and around 2pm that afternoon we completed the last of the three jobs and headed for home. So I need to be thankful that we served and reached out to three people in our community. There are three more people who know that they are loved by God. So we will focus on that instead of the paltry numbers in attendance.

Tonight we head to Catalyst 2009 - a leadership conference with some 12,000 other leaders gathering for 3 days in Atlanta for training and encouragement. I wonder what sort of challenges I will personally receive. I wonder what sort of challenges we as a church will receive. God bring it, and bring it full on!

I need it, we need it.

I'll write more later.

Well, Today You Are Five

Do you remember the evenings when you couldn't sleep, and we walked the house together in the early morning hours. You were wrapped up tight, lying on your side being slowly rocked as we moved from room to room. Well, today you are five.

Do you remember the day you lay on the living room floor, playing with your soft snail toy, and you realized that with enough effort and a little assistance you could roll over on to your back? It took a while for you to learn how to roll over on to your tummy again, well, today you are five.

Do you remember the time when you first held a spoon and smeared mashed up sweet potato all over your face as you learned to feed yourself? Well, today you are five.

Do you remember the time when you first pulled yourself up to stand at the side of the sofa? You know you wanted to take off and run, but your unsteady legs would not permit you then, well, today you are five.

Do you remember the time we took you to see grandpa Eric and grandma Carol and you were so small that you slept in the basket of the luggage cart at the airport? Well, now you are five.

Do you remember the day when you stepped away from your mommy and began to walk, ever so wobbly, but once you were up, there was no stopping you. Well, now you are five.

Do you remember the time when you came to the hospital to visit mommy and you met your little sister for the first time? You were just 2 years old when Emma came, well, now you are five.

I have so many wonderful memories of you my sweet daughter. Each day you provide me with a new memory, a new story to tell, a new lesson to learn and each day you provide me with a new reason to fall to my knees and thank God for the beautiful blessing that He gave to us when He brought you into the world. I watched you today with your friends, as you played and laughed and ran around with them. There were times when it seemed like chaos, and then there were times when you saw that someone wasn't joining in, or wasn't happy for whatever reason and you lived up to your name - you my little 'friend' would talk to the unhappy guest, or find them another toy to play with. You truly are a good 'friend' to everyone you come into contact with.

Well, now you are five - you are not all grown up just yet, but you are becoming a beautiful young lady, with princess tendancies, as long as the princess is ready at a given moments notice to climb a tree or race across the monkey bars. You have a sweetness in your smile that comes from the purity of your heart that brings warmth and comfort to everyone you meet. You have a strong personality that we will do our best to teach you how to use for great good. Even this evening you realized that you can lead and teach as you and mommy talked and you remembered that you taught Emma how to pump her legs when she is on the swing. You have a great future ahead of you and that will all fall in place in God's timing. You will have great adventures that will make me proud. You will take the gospel to places that I could never go to and you will see God's kingdom come wherever you walk.

Well, that is to come for you, but today you are five. Today you are still my little princess who climbs up on my knee for cuddles, who says, 'carry me' at the end of a long day, who climbs into our bed when you cant sleep - which means that your mommy and me dont get much sleep, but at least you feel safe.

My continuing prayer for you is that God will keep you safe and keep you close to Him as you grow up. God has great plans for you, and I pray that we will see them come about together.

Cara, I love you dearly, and as I said to you when we were first introduced in the delivery suite, I'm your dad, and I love you with everything I have. Never forget that, and never believe that there is anything that can come between us. Sleep well little princess, because today you are five.

I love you.

Dad

Get On Your Knees and Fight Like a Man

How many of you can date yourself and your music selection by knowing where that lyric came from? It is a simple line yet one filled with tremendous power and challenge. On first reading it appears to be a contradiction in terminology. If we are really going to fight then why would we do it from our knees? Why would we not position ourselves in the strongest stance or the place that would afford us the greatest advantage over our enemies? Well, the contradiction in terms is actually a truth that confounds and confuses, yet if followed releases tremendous power and opportunity.

“Get on your knees and fight like a man” could be translated as this – “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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chron 7:14) We fight for lots of things, we fight for our families, we fight for our rights, we fight for the things that we believe in. We fight in our own strength and our own power and we live in a world where the dominant win and the strong survive. However, we serve a Lord who does not follow those rules, we serve a God who is the strongest, who is the greatest, yet He does not use that force to accomplish His tasks. We serve a God who “…chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” (1 Cor 1:27) We serve a God who asks us to rely on Him. We serve a God who asks us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, we serve a God who asks us to humble ourselves and pray and seek His face. When the God of the universe asks us to do something as simple then shouldn’t we just do what He says?

So why don’t we?

The stumbling block in this statement from 2 Chronicles 7:14 is this – ‘humble themselves’. Have you ever wondered why that is in there? It must be in there for a reason, and the reason has to be because the people refused to humble themselves. They were a “proud and stiff-necked people”. Does this verse apply to us today? Are we a proud and stiff necked people who need to humble ourselves and pray? Are we a people who desperately want to see the Lord do a marvelous thing in our church and in our community yet refuse to bend our knee and lower our heads in submission and humility to the King of Kings? I don’t know if you have thought about this, but God has been challenging me about this recently. God has been challenging me on the things that I ask Him to do for our church and yet the lack of time I spend seeking Him with other people in the church. Recently Pastor Ray challenged us on our walk with the Lord and our personal prayer life. While mine is not perfect and could do with some help, I have been convicted over our corporate prayer life at Mt Oak, or at least my lack of personal involvement in our corporate prayer life.

We have a faithful and dedicated handful of saints who gather each Wednesday night in the sanctuary of our church and every week they pray for our leadership, they pray for our children, they pray for our ministry, they pray for our church, they pray for our city and they pray for our country. They pray faithfully because the truth of the statements above has gripped their hearts. Over the past few months I have been challenged to join with them, and that is what I intend to do. On Wednesday evenings after our church family dinner I have decided that it is time for me to humble myself, time for me to pray, time for me to turn from my wicked (and selfish) ways and time for me to seek His face. Is God asking you to do the same thing at your church? Is God asking you to humble yourself and pray and seek His face? Maybe it is time for more than just me to join with faithful prayer servants and spend time on our knees fighting like warriors – prayer warriors.

Do you think that corporate prayer should be a priority for a church? Do you think that corporate prayer should be a priority for you? Would you give up just 6 Wednesday evenings from 7-8.15pm to learn about prayer and spend time in prayer? We are planning to run a 6 week training series to teach us and encourage us to pray. Why don’t you come to our family dinner on Wednesday night, drop the kids off at Awana or youth small groups and come join me as I join our faithful prayer warriors and seek the Lord together. In the immortal words of Nike – Just do it!

Do the simple, ask the question.

I have been thinking a lot recently about our recent summer mission trip, our upcoming Saturday StreetReach micro-missions, our pumpkin patch, our trunk or treat event, and a couple of other events that are in the planning stage and I cant get away from a recurring and nagging fear - "What if nobody else in the church gets what we are doing? What if nobody invites their friends? How can we be successful in reaching this city?"

Instead of getting depressed by these questions or focusing energy on events from the past that have really been disappointing I have been thinking about what the potential fundamental reason might be for a lack of excitement about church. I have come to think that this is really where we are at - there is no excitement about church. There is excitement about a lot of things that we are doing in our lives, but there does not seem to be much excitement about church. A quick trawl through Facebook status updates and you find all sorts of messages about the things that interest us, but rarely a simple message inviting people to join us for church. Now some folks may suggest that a Facebook status update is an ineffective way of inviting people to church - if so then why do people use their Facebook status update to invite people to the town center for coffee, or to the park to hang out?

Reaching people for Jesus involves one simple thing - inviting people to go where they will encounter Jesus - church. If I have friend visit me from Belfast and I ask if they would like to see some baseball, then the obvious place for me to take them is to the Baysox. If we want people to see Jesus then the obvious place to invite them is to church. Yet we do not do it.

I am convinced that the reason we have not reached this city with the love of Jesus is very simple - we haven't reached out. We have not asked the simple question like, "I know this may sound crazy, but would you be interested in coming to our church on Sunday morning?" Could it really be that easy? Could it really be as simple as asking a question? What about some great training in evangelism? What about bringing in a well known speaker? What about spending a lot of money of literature and posters?

What about just dropping a hook in the water and seeing what bites?

When we go to the lake (SML) on vacation I go to the dock with my girls to catch blue gill fish. A little piece of cheese, a small hook and a Barbie rod with flashing lights is all that is required to catch fish. No special training, no special equipment, no expense - just a willingness to put a hook in the water and wait.

It is time for the church to rise up in all of its humility and put some hooks in the water. It is time for us to ask our non-christian friends and neighbors a simple question - "Would you like to come to church with me this Sunday?"

What a difference a simple question can make.

The Scars of Being Up Front

I started back to work this week, another semester of eager young minds to fill with as much knowledge as they can hold. As I sat on Sunday evening doing some final preparations, I checked my e-mail to look for any last minute schedule adjustments. In my inbox was one of those e-mails - you know, the ones where the author has some 'friendly advice' which is designed to make you a 'better person'. Yeah, that's right - someone had an issue with a presentation I gave to my work colleagues during a meeting on Wednesday morning and decided that they needed to correct my errant ways.

On Monday morning, when I had settled at my desk and sat awaiting my lecture to print, I once again checked my e-mail. There in my inbox was another e-mail of a similar vein. When an e-mail says "this is not meant to be offensive" then you can guess what will appear in the lines that follow. I wish though that with all of the means of communication available to us that we would learn how to confront or challenge without causing offense. Being up front in a large church and leading a faculty in a medium sized university inevitably paints a large target on your back. Every word that you say, every action that you do is under scrutiny and judgment by every member of the audience. And, if this weekend is anything to go by, people are not shy about helping me 'amend my ways'.

Now, please, don't get me wrong, I am open to correction and improvement but there has to be a way that we can write suggestions for correction that are not offensive.
The advent of e-mail and electronic communication appears to have empowered people to make suggestions to those whom they hear yet do not really know. Written communication has always been around however when one writes a letter there is always some re-reading before the letter is mailed out. There may also be a little time delay between the letter being penned and the letter being sent. Often, the gap brings additional clarity to the author and many times letters of 'correction' will not be sent. E-mail however has meant that corrective advice is documented and sent and of-times in the heat of frustration by whatever has been witnessed.

If you have a word of 'correction' for me from something you have seen me say or do then can I encourage you to sleep on your thoughts and write when you are not in a state of anger or frustration. Your good message is often lost if the tone is antagonistic.

Just saying, because believe it or not, words cut deep.

The Right to Urge or the Urge to Write?

It is interesting how many people spend greater and greater portions of their life writing about what they are doing. There has been an explosion in the social networking scene with an insane notion that people might actually be interested in exactly what I am doing right at this very moment in time. The advent of programs like Twitter and facebook updates before them allowed people to communicate the most trivial of details about their lives and their real time existence however to what purpose? What do we really gain from 'telling people' how we feel at a certain moment in time - when often the people we inform can do nothing about our situation? Have we reduced our ability to communicate with other human beings in a meaningful way and to develop friendships that will stand the test of time to mere media style sound-bytes of what we consider to be relevant information?

Blogs sites like livejournal, xanga and blogspot have for a long time now been repositories of the words that ricochet around inside people's minds looking for a place to find a permanent home. When I was little those repositories were the infamous 'diary'. Teenagers everywhere (especially girls) had little notebooks where they would write their thoughts down each night before retiring to bed. These books would become like best friends and confidants who would be the only other thing that knew every deep dark secret of teenage angst. Those diaries would hold every inner thought and would consequently be placed amongst the most highly treasured and protected possessions. But can we honestly say that releasing these inner most thoughts from the closed pages of a diary equate to the world wide release through an internet blog site? Where did the secrecy go? Where did the intimacy of having a safe location where you could store your deepest dreams, hurts or fears? Have we allowed technology to create a society where there is no inner voice, no filter that sifts what is flowing out and attempts to determine whether what we produce actually shoudl be produced? Have we ultimately lost the thing that we all crave so much - have we lost our ability to cultivate and maintain friendships?

I fear that we have. I fear that we have lost the ability to pick up the phone and call another human being and to discuss the same issues that so easily appear on our Twits or FB updates. It is easier to leave a comment on a person 'wall' for them to read than it is to actually tell them in person - after all, what will they say? What if they don't like it? It seems that our insecurities have risen to such a pinnacle that we leave 'hit-and-run' messages with our 'friends' and think that we are truly developing the kinds of connections that matter.

So next time you get the urge to write, let me (ironically through my own writings) urge you to consider why you are writing. What are you trying to convey? Who are you trying to convey it to? Are you writing to encourage a friend? Then why don't you call them instead, write them a card and deliver it by hand. Engage in face to face dialogue, build your friendship - and make it last.

Meeting Together

So we are in the beginning stages of launching a new small group ministry at Mt Oak. The question is, what makes it new? What is it that will distinguish this year's small group ministry from previous years? How will we overcome the issues that were faced in the past? How will we overcome any inertia in people that makes them resistant to meeting in a small group?

A while ago I wrote about the McDonaldization for church and how some pastors my try to reproduce exactly what another church does with their congregation - the problem with this is that God may not have called them to be that other church - they need to do what God has called them to do. How does this apply to small groups you may ask, well, we would like to create a model for small groups at Mt Oak that will be followed by all groups even though the subject matter that each group is discussing/studying may be different.

So what is the model? It is a simple one and consists of 4 things to do each week as well as an outward focus where the group reaches out to their friends or community.

Worship - each week every small group will have some form of worship. Worship is not just about singing, it is about taking time to focus on God and tell Him how much we love Him. Worship can accomplished with singing, with meditation, through art or painting (always fun to do in small group) or just reading a passage aloud. Whatever way each group does it, they must do worship - worship connects us to God. It is important.

Word - there should be some form of bible study or devotional study. Some groups may use a book they are corporately reading, some may study a book of the bible, others may do topical studies and prepare them each week. There are loads of resources available - DVD series, video podcasts that can be shown on the TV, access to teaching material is not a difficult. Let's make disciples by studying the Word.

Prayer - each group will be encouraged to keep a prayer journal and to record the things they pray for and also the ways in which God answers their prayers. How encouraging is it to hear that God has met a need or fixed a situation? Shouldnt we be celebrating those things? Small group is a place where personal prayer can easily occur and celebration of God's power can also be done.

Witness - each group should be looking for ways to grow - numerically and not just educationally. Personal invitation to a small group is a key way to bring people into a church and introduce them to Jesus. Each of our groups needs to develop an outward focus - and each focus can be different - as long as it forces us out into our community.

We can do this, we just need to stop saying stuff like, "We have never done it that way before" and "I dont know if I like that" and just get on with it and do it. It has been my experience that even though some people may not have used this model before, once they do try it they will find their groups come to life.

Let's make it happen

Who Influences You and Who Do You Influence?

Influence is the measure of your ability to persuade others to take an action.

I read this line and started thinking about influence. Influence is one of those abstract concepts that affects every one of us each and every day however it is incredibly difficult to measure and quantify. Through reading a piece of written work such as this blog you yourself will be influenced - however each person that reads this may be influenced in a different way. Our ability to influence people is not just dependent on the things that we say and/or do, but it is also dependent on where those who we influence are in their lives at the time we come into contact with them.

Let's take a simple way that people can be influenced. Have you ever tried a recipe for a meal that you had at someone's house? Well, you were influenced. The meal you had was so good that you went out, bought the ingredients and attempted to recreate the meal yourself. If we can be influenced in simple things like sharing recipes then how can we influence people into the Kingdom?

Maybe it is easier than many of us think. I watch my kids and I see things that I do or that my wife does being mimicked by them. We have influenced them. I see them do things that their friends in pre-school do. They have been influenced. I wonder if by just living our lives we actually have the ability to influence people towards the Kingdom. Could it really be that simple? For many of us when we think about introducing people to a relationship with Jesus it seems so difficult. It seems to us that we need to know the right things to say and the right things to do all the time and to be ready for that special moment. I wonder if it isn't a lot simpler than that. I wonder if we just live our lives unashamedly will people see what we do and be influenced?

I heard a story this evening of how we have influenced people in another state. This week there is a group of young people camping at their church and going into their community to reach out to those in need in a StreetReach venture in Pennsylvania. Dione's brother in law is a youth pastor at his church and he was so influenced by what he heard that we had done here that he is in the middle of their first StreetReach Mission week.

That got me excited ... and to be honest a little frightened. If we can have such a strong influence for good then that is great. It scares me though that I may have had an equally strong negative influence on someone somewhere.

"The secret of my influence has always been that it remained secret."
Salvador Dali

How Young Do You Need to Be to Change a City?

I haven't written in a couple of weeks. There are two reasons for this: last week was vacation. A vacation from the computer, from the internet, from the phone. A time to spend with my wonderful family - uninterrupted time.

The week before that was spent with a fabulous group of missionaries taking time each day to reach out to a hurting city through practical acts of kindness. On Sunday July 12th a group of 40 young people assembled together, set up camp and prepared for a week of service projects at homes in what to many could be considered as a wealthy, middle class city. What is not as readily apparent to most people is that behind the shiny veneer that many people put up, behind the front doors of many of the homes in this city are untold stories of pain, and heartache, and disease and death. This city did not take long to travel to for most of our team, in fact, for 95% of the team this city is where they call home. July 12th - 18th was our 2nd annual StreetReach mission week into our own city. We set up camp, real tents, organized work crews and for the entire week we served, served, served. we worked in 40 different homes during the week from small jobs like planting trees, to complete yard transformations and removal of fallen trees. Our team worked their hearts out. They smiled as they worked, they sang as they worked and they even prayed as they worked. Throughout the entire week they showed the people of our city that God loves them.

The whole point of StreetReach is to take the love of Jesus out to a hurting world and to show people through acts of kindness that they are special in the eyes of God and that He loves them.

I think that through the week I was most impressed with the attitude of our team. They just got up each day and set themselves to serving. They rarely grumbled, they rarely argued. There were an increasing number of water breaks taken as the week progressed, but they served their hearts out.

I think that the thing that caused me most concern through the week was that we still did not seem to engage the adult church much. Sure there were a large amount of youth that were engaged, but I was struck by the lack of adults who came out to serve for a even just one day. There were a few, but most days the adults could be counted on one hand. Maybe I just need to accept that people have limited vacation days and taking one to help out on StreetReach just is not a priority. Or maybe the adults don't know how much they are actually needed. This year we were very limited in terms of our adult (over 18 yrs) volunteers. We had 4 who were there every day. we even had to ask one of our adult youth leaders to sleep in the camp and then go to work each day because we needed an adult female to stay in the camp. We only had 3 people old enough to drive the vans we were donated, thankfully we only had three vans. It became very apparent to me that we need more adult help for next year. If we grow next year to the same extent that we did this year then we have to have more adults.

How do we engage people over the age of 25 to get involved? How do we get this demographic to join the youth and truly have the whole church actively involved in reaching our city with the love of Jesus? Over the next few weeks I need to consider how to reach the adults in our church to engage them to reach out with the youth.

Do You Want Fries With That?

I dont know how much time you spend thinking about your church. I spend a lot of my thought time contemplating how we can continue to transform our church into an effective function body of believers who have a heart for the poor and the lost and who are willing to step outside of their comfort zones to reach their city. This can be a very disheartening endeavor but it can also be a very rewarding endeavor.

Recently I have had a few people write to me or contact me with suggestions as to how we can improve our Sunday morning services. Now dont get me wrong, I am open to hear people's opinions and ideas, but having weighed the suggestions that I receive from everyone with what I believe God would have us do on a Sunday morning I make decisions and set our services up. I dont pretend to get everything right all the time and I am very much aware of the responsibility that I carry and the judgment that awaits in heaven for those in leadership.

I think the thing that has recently frustrated me is the attitude of some to 'have it their way' with regards to our worship services. We have become a society that has everything our way and that is it. When Burger King was looking for a way to carve out a little more of the fast food burger market from McDonalds they decided to give their customer choice. Now you go to a fast food burger chain and get your burger without pickle and tomato. McDonalds kept making burgers the way they always did, and the customer had to remove the pickles and tomatoes themselves. In the church across America, and also to a degree here in Mt Oak, it seems that we are developing an attitude of 'Want it your way'.

When 300+ people gather together there are going to be differences in style and taste, especially in things like music, or message content or message length. Yet at what point do we trust our leadership? At what point do we trust that those whom God has placed in leadership might have a good sense of how our services should run? I dont think that the leadership should be left to their own devices and not be willing to hear suggestions, but I do think that when those decisions have been considered in light of all of the other factors that leaders hold in tension and decisions are made where some people dont get it their way then there should be some willingness of the people to trust and follow those in the lead.

Can you imagine how our Sunday services would look if we did everything that everyone wanted to do. If we became the Burger King of churches where everyone got their Sunday services how they wanted then I doubt we would be very effective. God has called us to be a body with Jesus as our head. can you imagine the confusion if your left arm wanted McDonalds, your right arm wanted Burger King, your left leg wanted Subway and your right leg wanted Chik-fil-a? YOu would end up paralyzed as each part pulled in its own direction. The same thing can happen to a church. We can be paralyzed as each group pulls in its own direction.

Is it time to follow the leaders and trust that they are doing their best to stay in step with the Lord?

I think so.

The Most Beautiful Girls In the World

Last week I spent the entire week relaxing, playing, laughing, swimming, floating, fishing and having a great time with three of the most beautiful girls in the world. As the week progressed I found myself at different moments with each of my girls realizing that I have been blessed beyond belief with these three precious treasures.

It wasn't in the big things, it was the little things. It was the way Emma would look me straight in the eye, smile her wry little smile which just melted my heart with love for her. That look which for her may have meant something else, but for me I believe was just unconditional love of a daughter for her daddy.

There was the moment when a little hand just reached out for mine as we walked along and held on tight. There was no request from me, no need to hold hands for safety, but Cara just wanted to walk with her daddy and hold hands. As I looked down at this beautiful little girl I once again was reminded of the tremendous blessing that God has bestowed on me.

There was the moment when I looked across at my beautiful wife, Julie, who was sitting on the boat with Cara's head resting in her lap as we slowly headed towards the sunset after a perfect evening of fun and laughs.

Each day there was one moment after another. Nothing big or great, but each little thing which would melt my heart once more. Even the stuff that often can be frustrating would somehow become sweet. The sticky fingers and faces covered with melted marshmallows, or covered with chocolate ice cream or covered with ketchup. It didnt matter what the mess was, behind the mess there were looks of love, looks of acceptance, looks that reminded me once more how blessed I am.

As we returned home there were still more moments when Cara would say something silly or Emma would sing a worship song to herself, or Julie would challenge my thinking on something I had been reading. Again, no major life changing flash, but each moment enough to challenge me on how much I return the love to my beautiful girls. Each moment a challenge to be the head of the household in every aspect, and that means I need to give out more hugs, more kisses, more praise, more encouragement, more prayers, more support for each of my girls.

My prayer has become that God would give me the strength to be the dad that He has called me to be. That I would have the wisdom to be the husband that God expects me to be. That I would love more and be slow to anger. My prayer is that God would knit our family together with bonds of love that cannot be broken, regardless of what comes our way.

This week was supposed to be about relaxing and recharging as we/I prepare for a couple of busy weeks of church service.

This week was actually about me falling in love with my girls all over again. Don't get me wrong, I never fell out of love with them, but this week was a week when my love for them deepened and God showed me the specialness of each of my girls.

To Julie, Cara and Emma - I love you with everything that I have. You are my treasures, you are my inspiration, your are my loves. I pray that God would richly bless each of you in the calling on your lives and bless us as a family as we seek to do His will.

Choices

This coming Saturday two very special people have the chance to make a choice that will change both of their lives forever. Sean and Janelle will be asked the most important questions of their lives and their choice is simple - "I do!"

We all have choices that we make every day. There are simple choices - like which radio station to listen to in the car on the way to work, and there are more difficult choices - like donut or muffin? Seriously though, we all make choices every day.

I would like to challenge us all to make some choices that will potentially have wide reaching effects. I would like to challenge us all to choose to get fully involved in the things that are going on at Mt Oak over the next few weeks. We have such an exciting opportunity to reach out to this city that we live in, but there is one thing that is holding us back - US. The biggest hindrance to the advancement of the Kingdom of God from the time of Jesus until now is not the Lord and His willingness to move, it is our choices and our decision to make ourselves available to be used by God or not.

As I write this I have a sense that this posting may cause some offense, and please hear me when I say that this is not my intention. I do not want to guilt anyone into action nor do I want to upset anyone, but I do want to bring the reality of the choices that we make and place it right in front of us for everyone to consider.

I know that for some, the idea of talking to people, or even walking and praying through a neighborhood is a scary thing. In fact, I am sure there are some of our congregation who have already chosen to attend another church on July 12th rather than take part in Amazing Sunday. I want to encourage you to reconsider that choice. I want to encourage you to choose to join with us as we reach out to a hurting city.

I want to encourage you by telling you that last Sunday we had all the kids up on the stage at the end doing actions to our closing worship song. Among those kids was one little boy who you probably did not recognize. Now dont feel bad that you dont know all the kids, because for this little boy the only person in the congregation who knew him was his mom. You see, this little boy who was up on stage trying to follow Babette as she led the kids in hand actions was a first time visitor. His mom met someone at the StreetReach booth at Bowiefest and she made a choice - she chose to come to church.

Last Saturday we had a small team walk through the P section dropping leaflets at doors. People who made a choice to come and serve. On Monday morning Milford received a call in the office from a resident on Pinelake Lane asking for help with some yardwork.

A simple choice to stand beside a booth and hand out information led to a new family visiting our Sunday service. A simple choice to walk through a neighborhood and hand out leaflets led to a connection with a new family and a chance to serve.

As you look at your schedule over the next few weeks what choices will you make? Will you choose to take your family out of town on Amazing Sunday weekend or will you choose to stay in town, come to Mt Oak and reach out to the city. During the VBS will you choose to stay at home in the evenings or will you choose to come and serve as a helper or will you choose to invite your neighbors along?

Its your choice.

Busy-ness is a bad business

I got sick last week - and I am still sick. Here it is the middle of June and I have what feels like the flu, and it wont go away. The funny thing is that I know why I got sick. Without fail the main reason why I get the flu is that my body is screaming for a break. It is crying out for some rest and some time to just do nothing. I find that hard to do, but have done my best this week to have a 'quiet' week. What is strange to me is that in this, my 'quiet' week I have worked in the clinic two afternoons, presented a poster at a National Conference for PT's, had a meeting to discuss my research agenda for the next year and a half, talked with church staff about some significant changes, had two meetings at church and had a softball game canceled due to rain.

Aside from these few items on my to-do list this has been a quiet week. I have had 3 mornings at home and been able to do absolutely nothing - which I must admit feels a little odd.

When I say that I am doing nothing at home that is not really an accurate statement. With our Summer StreetReach mission only a few weeks away we are busy organizing and planning. This is a busy time, but it will all be worth it. One more week of busy-ness until we have a week away as a family - and that will truly be a week of down-time.

So here is to hard work, and here is to looking towards good rest.