Only Nuns Change Their Habits Overnight

What an awesome title for a book - pity I didn't think of it or write it, I just borrowed it. My wife arrived home with a book with this title and instantly it started me thinking about change. Not the small coins that jangle annoyingly in your trousers pocket or fill up every small container in your car, but change - real change. Change of belief, change of knowledge, change of action, change of who we are to who God wants us to be. That sort of change.

I had an old youth leader who used to frustrate the life out of me and a number of my peers because he lived by his favorite saying - 'Constant change is here to stay'. Every September we would change how we did things in our youth group. We would change the small group we were in, everything would change. Peter was trying to teach us not to fear change, but to embrace it whenever we need it.

There is one fundamental flaw in this saying, and in trying to actually live it out with a church - PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE CHANGE!

I am learning that more and more each day. One thing that I am realizing is that people are much more willing to embrace change if it is the change they want to make. If there is an 'enforced' change then it seems that people just get out the shovels and dig the trenches a little deeper on those issues. Why is that? Why do we not like change? Why are we not willing to be led, even if that requires change?

I am unique, I know that. Well, actually everyone of us is unique. You are the only you that God created - He gets it right the first time. But few of us embrace our uniqueness and allow God to use that uniqueness for His glory. We gravitate towards a mid-line or a mean. We gravitate towards the lowest common denominator. We gravitate towards mediocrity. We need to CHANGE that!

We run the risk of being what every kid in school attempted to avoid - being average. Those average kids were always the 'ones in the middle of the pack' - they were always in a group. The ones on the upper edges or the lower edges were on their own. They were setting the pace - some in a good way and some in a bad way - but they were pace setters. It is interesting to me that even God has no time for mediocrity - in Revelation 3:15-16 "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

Oh my goodness!

If we continue to be average, if we continue to accept mediocre as a way of living then we become vomit in the throat of God - ready to be expectorated. What a thought! Can you see yourself going to church this Sunday and shaking hands with Pastor and Mrs Vomit, Mr Hughey Upchuck or Ms Boak McPukely? If that is repulsive to you then why do we live our lives as if mediocrity is an achievement? Why do we accept our churches as average and celebrate that at least we are not struggling like some other places? Why do we feel we have made it when we treat our church more like a social club than the bride of Christ?

We need to CHANGE!

As the title suggests, "Only Nuns Change Their Habits Overnight". Well, then it is time for many of us to join the nunnery. It is time for us to stop avoiding change because of the pain it may cause or because of the unknown that it brings or because we just don't want to. We are on a spiritual journey as believers, we are being "transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." according to 1 Corinthians 3:18 and again in Romans 12:2 we are told "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

So what are we to do? Are we to remain as vomit or are we to take the changes being placed before us seriously? Do we believe that God is faithful and true? Do we believe that He loves us? Do we believe that He has a plan for us, a plan to prosper us and not to to harm us? Are we listening to his whispers? Or are we just playing it safe, taking the middle road, smoothing out the speed bumps, are we settlingn for mediocrity?

Dear God let the answer be "NO!!!!!"

We are called to be overcomers, we are called His children, we are called heirs to the throne, we are NOT AVERAGE! We need to lift our eyes to the throne room of the Father, we need to climb into His lap, and look in His eyes. We need to pour out the things that are weighing us down and we need to let go of them. We need to take on the burden that Jesus gives us -it is light and His yoke is easy.

Dear Lord why do we lose sight of the simple facts of what you have said to us?

It is time to rise up, to shake off the mediocrity that has besieged us and to do what we are called to do. To be the church that we are called to be. To change teh world with the love of Jesus, like He has called us to.

Can we change a habit overnight - ABSOLUTELY YES! Not only can we change a habit overnight, WE MUST. We need to stop whining when things get tough, we need to stop throwing dust on our heads and throwing our hands up in this 'woe is me' attitude and we need to put on the full armor of God that Eph 6 describes. We need to take our stand and when all else is done WE MUST STAND!!

We lift our shields of faith with which we can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. We need to take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God and we need to start to wield it in all of its power and defeat the enemy. The word says that 'ALL authority in heaven and on earth" has been given to Christ Jesus, and He gives that authority to us. It is time to walk in the authority that we should be walking in.

Stop looking at the economy, it can no longer be your idol. Stop looking at your bank account, you cannot serve two Master - God and money! Stop looking at what once was and wishing that we could return to that place once more. That time is gone, the lessons from the past should be used to help us navigate the future. Successes of the past are not landmarks and monuments that we need to recreate, we remember what God did at that time and find out what He wants to do now. Then we do it!

Rise up O men of God, have done with lesser things, give heart and mind and soul and strength to serve the King of Kings!

Amen and Amen!

Picnicking in the valley

If it already hasn't happened to you, sooner or later it will. At some point you will wake up and look around and realize that you are in the valley. For each of us as we journey through life there are times when we walk on the mountaintop. Those are the times when we feel like we are on top of the world where everything is going right for us. It is that place where every traffic light turns green as we approach, we always get a parking space right by the door, if it can go right it does go right. Then it happens, the lights are always red, the bills are piling up, the pressure is on and we realize that we are no longer on the mountaintop but we are in the valley.

Everyone has valley experiences at some point in their life. Everyone. There are some valleys that we find ourselves in that are not of our making. Being fired from our job puts us in a valley that we did not choose. There are those valleys that we find ourselves in because of something stupid we did. Overstretching our finances to get the bigger house that we never could really afford, making a bad business decision and watching it go south, saying something that is out of place and hurtful to other people. We look around and instead of being able to see above the clouds all we can see is the rain that is dropping from the clouds - we are in the valley.

When we find ourselves in the valley we have a couple of choices that we can make. We can sit down where we are and think about days gone by when we used to be able to see all that there was to see, we can take out a shovel and dig a little more so our valley becomes even bigger than it already is or we can follow Elijah's example. We can go back from where we came from.

In 1 Kings 18 and 19 we read the story of Elijah and his mountaintop experience (literally) with the prophets of Baal. Here is the man of God in a one-on-850 prophet contest. The prophets of Baal do there thing and nothing happens - Elijah calls on the name of the Lord and fire falls from the sky, and then the rains come ending a 3 year drought. Talk about a mountaintop experience. I can imagine Elijah retelling that story a few times. In the following verses of chapter 19 we read that Jezebel, Ahab's wife, tells this mighty man of God that she is going to kill him. So, fueled by the recent memory of this tremendous spiritual high, Elijah does what many of us do in times like that - he ran for his life. He didn't just run away and hide - he ran over 200 miles away to hide. He was so deep in the valley that he asked God if he could just die. This was a deep, deep valley.

You need to read the story for yourself, but after a number of interactions with God, God asks Elijah this question, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" This is not a philosophical question as to the meaning of life - God is asking Elijah why he is in this valley under a broom tree asking to die. How could this mighty man of God go from being in control of commanding fire from heaven and drought-ending rain and yet be asking to die? How did he go from the mountaintop to the valley?

"What are you doing here, Elijah?"

Are you in a valley at the minute? Are things in your life not going to the plan you had made? Are you struggling financially? Are you having difficulties in your marriage? Are your children driving you insane? Have you walked, no, have you run away from God and the things He has for you? Maybe today God is standing where you are and asking you the same question - "What are you doing here?"

The next interaction is incredible - God puts on a display of his strength and power for Elijah and reveals Himself not in the wind, not in the earthquake, but in the silence of a whisper. One more time God asks Elijah the same question - "What are you doing here?" God has demonstrated His power on the mountaintop with the prophets of Baal, He has reminded Elijah through a quick demonstration with some wind and an earthquake. God is screaming at Elijah - DO YOU NOT KNOW WHO I AM? DO YOU NOT KNOW HOW POWERFUL I AM? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?

He doesn't literally scream it out - He brings his work in a whisper. God speaks to him in verse 15 and says this - "Go back the way you came...."

God tells Elijah to go back to where he was. Go back to doing the things that you were doing before you ended up in the valley. Go back and do the things that I HAVE CALLED YOU TO DO. God tells Elijah to go anoint a successor to King Ahab, and a successor to that King and a successor to himself. Elijah realizes that God not only has a plan but he has a successor to carry on his ministry, and a successor to the king - which means that the king's days must be numbered and Elijah will be safe. God has a plan - God had a plan the whole time, but Elijah couldn't see it because he was in the valley focused on his problems and not doing what God had called him to do.

Is this where you are? Are you in a valley because you have stopped doing the things God has called you to do? Are you in the valley because you stopped reading your bible and praying? Are you in a financial valley because you stopped giving God what was rightfully His off the top of your income and have subsequently lost the blessing He prescribes when we do that? Are you in a valley of your own making because things got hard and you bailed on your Christian walk and relationship and now don't know what to do about it?

"What are you doing here?"

Have you been sitting in the valley having a picnic and looking at the view? God's word to you is "Go back the way you came". Return to the things that God asked you to do. Return to putting Him first in your life, in your finances, in your thoughts. It is time to get up off the valley floor and do what God has called you to do.

remember this one thing - a valley sits between two mountains. If you were on a mountaintop and find yourself in a valley then keep on going because there is a new mountaintop to be reached right beside that valley you are in.

So are you going to sit where you are or are you going to stand up, remember the things that God has done in you and through you, and go back the way you came?

Its your call.

Money, Money, Money

We are in an economic crisis! It is kind of like, 'the sky is falling, the sky is falling!'. Now I know that some people have sadly lost their jobs and that many more cannot just buy what they want anymore, but I have been thinking that there is an upside to this. Is it just me, or are we living in times where more and more people think that they are owed something? We live in a time when people feel entitled - entitled to do whatever they want, entitled to write whatever they want, entitled to have whatever they want. When did we think this was a good idea?

Is it just me or can anyone else remember when you had to make a choice between buying one expensive item or the other - as opposed to just buying the both now and paying for them later? Did anyone else buy the house they could afford at that time with the understanding that you had a responsibility to pay your loan back? When did we allow the greed of our eyes to dictate the decisions of our brains? As my mom would say when we put more food on our plate than we could actually eat - "Your eyes are bigger than your belly!" What I have learned over time with that one though is that with the right practice and training you can increase your belly :)

I have heard a lot of worry about the economy - and not worry because we cannot put food on our tables - but worry because we cannot put the food we want on our tables. There has been outcry because we cannot go to the restaurants we used to go to, or we actually have to cut our own grass instead of paying the lawn service to do it. When did we get to this sorry state of affairs?

Where has all the trust gone? Where has all the faith gone? Where did God go?

The simple answer I believe is that God didn't go anywhere - but many of us are learning the truth of Matthew 6:24 - You cannot serve both God and money. For some of us we fight against this, we declare that we have never served money - yet we live our lives glued to the markets and the financial reports. We worry about the cost of our houses more than we pray for revival in the nation. We justify our service of money as 'concern' or 'good stewardship' or 'being wise'.

We need to trust in God and His word - when He tells us to consider the birds of the air and how He takes care of them, then don't you think we should? God never said He would meet our wants, He said He would meet our needs.

Just a thought today - not sure where it came from.

The Graveyard of God's Precious Treasure

I really need to stop reading books. It seems that each time I pick up a book to read there is a line in it that jumps out and smacks me in the face. This time it is from "The Principles and Power of Vision" by Dr Miles Munroe. I picked this one up at Borders for an evening read over a coffee and of course it came home with me - even though I only read a few pages.

Here is why.

As the title suggests, this book is all about vision - finding it, holding on to it, refining it and achieving it. Right up my alley. I never got past the first few pages because I read one of those pop-out boxes that said this - 'Too many of us bury our dreams in a lesser existence, making ourselves a graveyard of God's precious treasure.'

That was it for me. I could not get past that. You might wonder what the big deal is. Let me ask you this one question - are you doing right now what you dreamed you would do when you were younger?

When we are little kids we dream dreams about what we are going to be when we get older. We want to be firemen, or nurses, postmen or astronauts. Very often those dreams pass away and are nothing more than flights of fancy. Then we dream those formative year dreams where we see ourselves as the executive CEO of some major corporation, or we see ourselves as a professional athlete, or we see ourselves as a pastor or a church leader. whatever it is, there are those dreams that we had when we were younger, not simple flights of fancy, but real dreams where we would work out the details and imagine ourselves in situations that only existed in this dream life. These are the dreams that I am talking about. These are the dreams that directed our hobbies, that peaked out interest in subjects in school, that attracted us to join teams or clubs or organizations. These are the dreams that God placed in us at an early age. Very often we find that we have some gifting or skill associated with the dream we have. We can hit a baseball with ease and dream of breaking the home run record (steroid free of course). We can draw and create beautiful pieces of art and we imagine ourselves seeing our name on the sign outside of the City Hall announcing that we are the artist of the month. Big or small, it doesn't matter, these are the dreams and the gifts that are deep within us.

Now you know what I am talking about - now answer the question - are you doing right now what you dreamed you would be doing?

If you answered no, then you have become a graveyard of God's precious treasure. Ouch! that hurts! I don't mean to be rude, but I believe that God places gifts and talents inside of each one of us and along with those gifts and talents He places dreams. He give us those childhood visions of us serving sick people in hospital, or sitting around that board room meeting with a bunch of suits trying to make a decision as to how to avoid the next crisis. He gives us those dreams of putting out fires or rescuing stray cats from trees. he gives us those dreams of raising beautiful children or kicking a soccer ball even better than David Beckham can.

Have those dreams died inside of you? Has the treasure that the King was placing in you been buried under the mortgage, or the gas bill? Has the treasure been stolen from you from those who said, 'You want to do what? There is no money in that! Get a real job" Have you had your dream of teaching a small class of 4 year olds the truth of the simplest of bible stories because you "don't read so well"? As you look at your life and see the choices and sacrifices that have been made and how those dreams became another sacrifice, does something deep inside of you rise up when you think of what you wanted to become?

In 2 Timothy 1:6-7 Paul says these words to Timothy - "I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." Timothy was just a young man at this point, and Paul is reminding him of the dreams that were in him, he is reminding him of the gifts that were in him - and he was exhorting Timothy to not be satisfied with the current intensity at which he was using those gifts - there was more. Timothy was instructed to fan into flame - a picture of a fire-tender taking out the bellows and blowing air into the very heart of the fire to inject combustible oxygen into the center of the flame and increasing the fuel, increasing the fire and increasing the heat.

I listened to a speaker on my way to work this morning that reminded me that I am unique - he wasn't just speaking to me, but I was the only one in the car so I reckon he had to be speaking to me. He reminded me that in 1 Peter 2:9 we are called a 'peculiar people' (King James Version). God created me peculiar. He created you peculiar too. Why do we try to conform to some middle ground where everything we do is normal. It is time to redefine normal. When we fan into flame the gifts that God has placed in us we will do just that - we will redefine normal.

I keep hearing people tell me that I am different, that I am unique, that no-one else thinks like me or acts like me. It used to bother me. it used to make me reflect on how I could change and become more 'normal'. It made me consider how I could become more acceptable and not be so different. Well, I believe that through the message this morning I need to fan into flame some gifts that God has put in me that have been on a low ebb for a while. It is time for me to not conform to 'normal' but to redefine normal. To define what is 'normal' for me - to be me, to be unique. You want to know something - don't do what I do - you are not me! God has created each of us to be unique, with unique gifts and talents but as we work together we compliment each other and our gifts blend until we corporately will build and edify the body of Christ. From now on it is unacceptable to consider someone weird just because they do things differently from me. Praise God for that difference and let's work together to see this city changed.

There is a passion and a desire inside of me to see the church in this city work together to see His kingdom come across this whole city. Only one church is big enough for that - THE Church of Jesus Christ collectively. There is a passion inside of me to see the college age generation so ignited with passion for the gospel that they become infectious everywhere they are and like the flu bug that has been going around i want to see our college age folks infect everyone they 'sneeze' on with the Good News about Jesus. I have a passion to see our Sunday morning services be the best opportunities they can be for us to come together to worship the King, to hear His word and to respond with open hearts and willing minds. I have a passion that I have laid down for a while, a passion that consumed my every thought a few years ago, a passion that defined my mission in life - and today I am resurrecting it from the graveyard. I have a passion that I will see God's kingdom come and see His will done right here in the City of Bowie, as it is in Heaven.

Let it come Lord, let it come. Today I am kicking tombstones over and monuments to dreams that have passed and were never thought to be possible. I am releasing my dreams back to God and asking Him to raise up again the things that He has called me to. Today I am shutting down the graveyard that I have created in my own life and having a personal resurrection service - right here in Panera Bread coffee shop. Let Your kingdom come, Lord! Let it come today, right now, right here!

What do you need to resurrect and fan into flame?

Today is your day. You choose.

St Patrick’s Breastplate

Tomorrow is St Patrick’s day - a day when the whole world attempts to claim it’s Irish heritage by dressing in green, drinking beer and if you live in America, eating corned beef and cabbage. Sadly, none of these things were actually done or would even be condoned by the Irish saint (especially the corned beef and cabbage thing) whose day this is all in honor of. St Patrick brought the truth of Christianity to the people of Ireland, but only after he has been kidnapped, beaten and sold as a slave before he eventually escaped and following his call from God and traveled to the Emerald Isle with Good News.

The following prayer is attributed to St Patrick and this version is found in Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 4, §14, critical note on St. Patrick. Schaff, notes that this Irish hymn is found in the Book of Armagh, and is "called S. Patricii Canticum Scotticum, which Patrick is said to have written when he was about to convert the chief monarch of the island (Laoghaire or Loegaire). The hymn is a prayer for the special aid of Almighty God for so important a work; it contains the principal doctrines of orthodox Christianity ... in a composition intended as a breast-plate or corselet against spiritual foes."

This St Patrick’s day why don’t you take some time to pray this prayer and find out what the real St Patrick was all about.

St Patrick’s Breastplate
I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of the Invocation of the Trinity:
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.

I bind to myself today
The virtue of the Incarnation of Christ with His Baptism,
The virtue of His crucifixion with His burial,
The virtue of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
The virtue of His coming on the Judgment Day.

I bind to myself today
The virtue of the love of seraphim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the hope of resurrection unto reward,
In prayers of Patriarchs,
In predictions of Prophets,
In preaching of Apostles,
In faith of Confessors,
In purity of holy Virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I bind to myself today
The power of Heaven,
The light of the sun,
The brightness of the moon,
The splendor of fire,
The flashing of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of sea,
The stability of earth,
The compactness of rocks.
I bind to myself today
God's Power to guide me,
God's Might to uphold me,
God's Wisdom to teach me,
God's Eye to watch over me,
God's Ear to hear me,
God's Word to give me speech,
God's Hand to guide me,
God's Way to lie before me,
God's Shield to shelter me,
God's Host to secure me,
Against the snares of demons,
Against the seductions of vices,
Against the lusts of nature,
Against everyone who meditates injury to me,
Whether far or near,
Whether few or with many.

I invoke today all these virtues
Against every hostile merciless power
Which may assail my body and my soul,
Against the incantations of false prophets,
Against the black laws of heathenism,
Against the false laws of heresy,
Against the deceits of idolatry,
Against the spells of women, and smiths, and druids,
Against every knowledge that binds the soul of man.

Christ, protect me today
Against every poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against death-wound,
That I may receive abundant reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in the fort, [i.e., at home]
Christ in the chariot seat, [i.e., traveling by land]
Christ in the poop. [i.e., traveling by water]

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of an invocation of the Trinity,
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.

Never Beat The Sheep

I have been wrestling with some thoughts this past week. It started with reading Exodus and the story of Moses and the children of Israel. As I thought about that story I could see things very clearly from Moses point of view - the reluctant leader, being asked to do something that he believes is beyond his talent or ability. I could see how the grumbling people became so much of a frustration to Moses that he even went to the Lord and said, "What am I to do with these people?" in Exodus 17:4. I could see how difficult it must have been for Moses to lead such a quarrelsome group who continued to want to return to the slavery they had been liberated from. A few verses after Moses complains to the Lord about the Israelites, he is instructed by God to strike a rock that the Lord allowed water to flow from to meet the latest grumbling need from the Hebrews. I imagine Moses hearing the instructions to strike the rock and rather that that one majestic strike the Charleton Heston did in the Cecil B DeMille movie, I can see Moses just hammering the living snot out of that rock with his staff, taking out his frustration with some 'exercise'.

So, hold that image in your mind and come with me as I transition to the other side of the coin. On Tuesday I was reading Bill Hybels "Axiom" book and a chapter entitled 'Never Beat The Sheep' leaped out at me. In the two and a half pages that this chapter consumes contained some of the most convicting words I have read in a long time. Hybels discussed how leaders can see what many others cannot see. They strive to the next thing, even when the people may not have finished the task at hand. This comes naturally to them, however to the people it can appear that the leader is never satisfied, doesn't stop and indeed doesn't even know how to slow down. This can produce incredible frustration for the people. Like the children of Israel in the desert - there was Moses out in front following the cloud and pillar and the people are behind wondering where they are headed to. I am sure that many of them were happy when they settled in one place for a little while, only to get aggravated that they have to up and move again, and for them this went on for 40 years.

When this frustration is not handled appropriately it becomes 'grumbling' from the people and can be even worse from the leadership - sheep beating. There are times when leaders can take their frustrations out on the people and instead of loving them, caring for them, protecting them, training and teaching them, they can often revert to beating the sheep for not doing what the leader believes the sheep should be doing.

So here is the eternal dilemma - leaders are called to lead, are gifted to lead, are anointed to lead and are appointed to lead. Sheep are followers, however they will follow pretty much anything that looks good - which sometimes goes against where the leader is going. However, with gentle correction most sheep will move back to the path that the leader is following. I fear that sometimes what the leader believes to be GENTLE correction is received by the sheep as a beating, at least, I can see this has been the case in the leadership that I have been involved in over the years.

I have been praying recently and asking God to forgive me for any times that I have beaten sheep. It has been a difficult couple of days to think back over the areas that I have been allowed to lead in and to realize that there were times when I struck the sheep with the staff and not the rock that God had designated. I wanted to apologize through this article to you if through things that I have written, said or done I have in some way beaten you down. It has not been my intention, but to be honest that is never an excuse. Bill Hybels is right, 'Never Beat The Sheep'. He concludes his chapter by instructing leaders that 'A word of loving admonition every once in a while might be appropriate, but put the stick away. Permanently.'

As I continue in the position of leadership that the Lord has put me in I will endeavor to follow this Axiom and please, if I say or write something that contradicts this then would you gently remind me that sheep beating season has passed? Lord, help me to put the stick down and never to reach for it again.

God bless

Let My People Go - Moses' Story

Last week, Julie and I took the girls to the Lake for some family time. With no TV or internet to distract us in the evenings, time was spent talking, laughing and reading. I sat down and read the story of Moses and the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt and the control and reign of Pharaoh and was struck by the similarity of this story and what seems to happen in a number of our churches these days.

I thought I would take some time to write this series on the church – paralleling it with this exodus story.

There are a number of areas where this story breaks naturally and if I were ever to teach a series like this these would likely be the titles:

1. The calling of Moses – the reluctant leader
2. The support of Aaron – good men are hard to find
3. The grip of captivity – how sin holds us, temporarily lets go only to recapture us
4. Our love for what we know – even if it means staying under bondage
5. God is in control – all the time
6. God’s plan is His plan – not subject to our whims
7. God’s anoints and works through anointed leadership
8. God fulfills His promises – in His time scale, not ours

I may post some notes to these talks as I write them - we'll see.

Have You Hugged Your Church Today?

I don't write this blog for anyone in particular but more so I have a location where my jumbled thoughts can be gathered and maybe utilized better at a future day. Here is a thought I had today -

Have You Hugged Your Church Today?

I was reading from one of the books I currently have on the go and I was struck by the title of a chapter - Don't Beat Your Sheep! What a brave author to pen that as a title to a chapter. It certainly caught my attention. The chapter continued to talk about how church leaders can easily get frustrated by their 'sheep' when the latter do not appear to do what the leader is asking. After all, how can these 'sheep' not know that the leader has heard directly from God and therefore when he speaks a message he is communicating the heart of the Father. In a number of instances this is true, and the frustration can be too much. In some cases though the leader is really out of touch. The end result, can often be the same - some large 'spiritual truth' comes out in the form of a sermon or an e-mail or a blog detailing how the 'sheep' have missed the boat.

Now of course, no church leader would actually come out and say something as harsh as that to their congregation, at least not in words. How often do we as church leaders get frustrated when the people we are leading do not follow the plan.

Wasn't it clear when we communicated it?? Didn't they catch the vision from our flashy powerpoint and our witty message delivery? Can't they see? Are they blind? This initial frustration can lead to even greater internal criticism, which occasionally spills over. Why did God give me these people? Why did God put me here with this bunch? Do they even know the voice of God and His direction when they see it?

As the chapter continued, how often are the things that we get frustrated at our own making? How often does our bad planning or poor delivery lead to those things described above? All too often I fear, yet we seldom review our own internal systems, but more so we look for someone to attack?

There is an old saying that people will not care how much you know until they know how much you care? But dont they know? Don't they see the preparation I put into the messages I bring? Why cant they see that I care?

There is another old saying that goes - 'It is better felt, than tell't'

When it comes to feeling love, to knowing you are cared for, to see that you are accepted and part of the family it is one thing to be told that, it is something completely different to be shown that love and acceptance. Hence the question, Have You Hugged Your Church Today?

What love did you bestow on the whole congregation today? Who in your flock did you take some extra time with to help them catch the vision and decide to move with you? Did you put down the stick you have wielded once too often and stop beating your sheep?

Well, Jason, maybe when you come back and read this entry in a year or two you might sadly be walking in a situation like the book described earlier. Just remember -

Put the stick down and step away from the sheep!

Then hug your church and make sure they know that you love them dearly.

Vision: a function of the heart

“Sight is a function of the eyes while vision is a function of the heart”

I read this statement recently and have been plagued with it, mulling it over in my mind for a couple of days now. How often we consider vision, and by vision I mean the direction or long-term objectives or direction of our lives, or our families or even the church we are in, and yet we use our eyes to try to look and see what will occur, we rarely use our hearts. We try to look with our eyes to see what will happen in the future. We look at the state of the current economy through our eyes and see the state of our 401k or dwindling stocks and shares. We look at the decisions being made by the current administration with our eyes and wonder what the future holds. We look at our lives with our eyes and wonder how we can fit in things that others deem to be important – like gym membership, a second job, completing college or even church stuff activities like tithing or joining a small group. When we view these things with our eyes we can see only so much. When we look with our hearts and look with vision then we can often see things very differently. Indeed, on those rare occasions when we actually use our hearts to try to discern direction and vision we can face a battery of questions on the validity or ‘do-ability’ of what we have conceived. When was the last time you went on a ‘flyer’ for Jesus and had a bunch of people questioning your wisdom or asking who was going to pay for it, or seriously doubting your sanity or even your calling to lead?

When we use our eyes to set our vision we will only ever reach as far as we can see – unfortunately many of us are spiritually myopic. When we use our ears to try to smell a flower we are unsuccessful, the same goes when we set our vision through organs intended for sight and not those designed for vision. Proverbs 29:18 tells us that those without vision will perish – quite simply those who live without direction, without revelation, without purpose will die.

Last week in our Young Adults group we were reminded of 1 Kings 18:41-45. IN this passage the prophet Elijah has just defeated the prophets of Baal in a “My God’s bigger than your God” contest and he falls to his knees to pray. He asks his servant to look out towards the sea and report what he sees. The report is that he sees nothing the first 6 times, but on the 7th he sees a cloud that was so far away it was the size of a man’s hand. Even his servant saw it and wasn’t that disturbed by it. That is because the servant saw with his eyes, Elijah saw with his heart. His eyes told him the size and dimensions of the cloud – the size of a man’s fist, but his heart told him of the potential of the cloud – a torrential rainstorm that would soon arrive. His sight said one thing, his heart (and vision) said another. What clouds do you see that are the size of a man’s hand right now? What does your heart tell you they may become?

So what about those who follow their hearts? What about those passionate people who seem to be dreaming more often than they are thinking rationally? What about those weird visionary type people? What about them? Find them, befriend them, love them, listen to their heart, help them teach you how to listen to your heart, include them in your discussions because without them you will not see very far.

Walk by faith, not by sight.