We have steadily walked our way through this verse this week and have attempted to discover the ONE THING that we could do at home to be more intentional about connecting our family with God. We have had great fun with 'Red Light Thankfulness' this week as our girls are getting into saying something they are thankful for when we stop at a red light. We have set a new rule with this one though, we have agreed that we need to be specific about the things that we are thankful for.
The final installment of this verse is "when you rise..." and today we will consider ONE THING that we can do in the morning time to encourage our family to connect with God and to connect with each other. I know that not everyone is a morning person, and that there are also a number of people living in our metropolitan area who leave home at an unearthly hour just to make it to the office in time. regardless of whether you have a crazy early morning or the opportunity to take some time, we can all use some encouragement to be focused. Our morning times are pretty intense - three mornings a week I am gone from the house before my wife and kids are up, and the other two days I have the great chance to work from home and so I can be a part of the routine.
There are lots of things that must be done before our school or workday begins and some of those things are not really the time to be trying to memorize bible verses. It takes enough energy to try to keep my 4 yr olds hair out of her cereal in the morning let alone trying to teach her some biblical truth. One thing that has to happen every morning is that our kids need to put their shoes on before they go out. So, Julie had the great idea that she would get six small photo frames from that famous Swedish furniture store and print out six attributes that our kids can read as they put their shoes on. So each morning there on the wall in front of them are these six pictures. When we get a chance we try to go over one or more of the verses or attributes and remind the girls of what they have read.
The other thing which Julie has implemented with our girls is that on the drive to their school they all take turns and pray for the day. This has become so much a part of the routine that one day last week when I drove the family to Cara's school, we didn't pray - I did not know the rhythm. Julie felt a little off after the short trip to Cara's school when she realized that we didn't pray. I had hindered the rhythm. The lesson we learned from that trip was that we both need to know the rhythm, even if we are not normally involved with a particular aspect of it. So now, if I take the girls to school we pray on the way there - its our rhythm.
So here we are on day four of our journey through this verse from Deuteronomy 6:7. We have been thinking about creating a rhythm in our families and today I want to challenge you to think about ONE THING that you can do at bedtime that will help you become more intentional about impressing on your children the laws of God.
Most households have a routine that they try to follow at bedtime. For us, we have a routine that typically takes about 30-40 minutes. That may sound like a lot for some of you, but that is our rhythm - you need to find your own. For us, our intentional impressing does not need to wait until we are tucked up in bed - we look at how we can use the time between dinner and bed time as a way to develop greater family connection. We do not try to do this every day, but most days we will ask the girls if they want to play a game or maybe do family movie night. The games we play range from Candyland, to card games to Break the Ice (last night). Family movie night is not as grand as it sounds, it is basically a 30 minute time block when we sit down as a family and watch a TV program together. For those who are on cable or FIOS then check out the Christian TV channels and especially some of the kids shows that are on between 6 and 7pm. The quality of production may not be what you want to see, but your kids will learn so much from the truth that is repeated on these shows.
After that it is upstairs for the typical teeth brushing and bathroom visits before we hop on one of the girl's beds to read a book or two. We spend some time in prayer for the things/people that we have interacted with earlier that day and thank God for whatever comes to mind. We spend a few moments praying with each of our kids before kissing them good night and heading downstairs to collapse on the sofa.
It has been interesting to me over the past few weeks as I have thought about this verse that it says 'as you lie down...' This has been especially interesting because recently our little one has asked either her mom or I to lie down beside her for a few moments as she settles for sleep. It is as if she just loves the proximity and safety that she feels with one of her parents lying beside her. We oblige, and there have even been occasions where an hour or so later we wake up from that position and go downstairs. How precious it is though that our daughter wants us to be close to her and to spend those moments with her. What greater expression of love is there than to just lay down and be there. TV shows can wait, new series premieres are nowhere near as important as those precious moments. Do not miss them.
For a long time our girls just wanted Julie to put them to bed. I sat downstairs, usually online, and wondered why it took her so long. I mean, how long does it take to read a story, kiss them on the forehead and walk out of the room? I realized one day that the investment that Julie was making in our girls was an invaluable one that would come back to bless her with many fold. As for me - I was too pre-occupied with my bowl of lentils (see Genesis 25:29-34) to see what I was missing. Last night, I lay down beside both of my princesses for a while. I want them to know that their daddy is right there, present, there for them. Always.
What ONE THING will you add or change about your bedtime routine to intentionally pour into your kids?
Sorry for the delay in posting this but I met an old friend this morning as I was leaving my work-out who asked for a ride to the bus stop so he could wait for the next bus home. There was no way I was giving him a ride to the bus stop! I took him home instead. I didnt think you would mind waiting for today's installment.
So we talked yesterday about the ONE THING that we can do to enhance the time we spend with our families at bed time - or when we lie down. Today I want to turn our thoughts to the times when we walk along the road. The first time I read this part of the verse I was instantly struck with exactly how much time during the day this might have been for the children of Israel at that time. They were in the desert heading for the promised land and by the time that journey was completed it took 40 years. That was all done on foot - all done by walking. That is a lot of walking. Transport yourself to present day America and lets face it, if you see someone walking you pray that they get their job back so they can afford the payments on a car. No-one walks in this country - everyone drives. In fact, even walking from the parking lot to the store seems to be too much for most as they endlessly circle looking, nay waiting for the space closest to the door to open up - even though they actually could have parked and walked to the store by the time this actually happens.
Our walking along the road has been transformed to 'driving in the car'. What do you do when you are in the car? What music do you listen to? What songs do you sing? What do you talk about? What do your kids do, if you have any? Do your kids jump in the back seat and turn on the latest Disney movie on their in-car DVD player for the 5 minute ride to your next location? Do you think you are missing an opportunity here? do you think that somehow you could leverage these few precious moments and instead of your child learning the words to 'A whole new world...' that they might actually have the chance to hear God's truth sung?
What if you tried a little experiment for 2 weeks. Two weeks is not a long space of time in the life of a child, so come on, lets give this a try. What if for the next two weeks you listened to nothing but Christian music while you were driving. What if you switched off the DVD player and dropped a Christian storybook, or even a kids bible into their seats. What if every time you got in the car you thought to yourself - "What should we talk about?" or "Who should we pray for?" and then you lead the conversation or the prayers for those things.
Julie told me yesterday that she is going to try to make even the short car trips intentional by asking our girls to say something that they are thankful for every time they are stopped at a red light. You know how many chances there are to be thankful between our house and Gold's Gym in Crofton - 6! There are 4 chances between our house and the Town Center and 6 chances between our house and Grandma's house. One of two things will happen with this experiment:
1. My wife and I will run an awful lot of amber lights as we travel.
2. Our kids (and us) will gradually make thankfulness an everyday part of our lives.
I pray that the second of these options occurs more than the first.
So what is the ONE THING that you are going to do to be more intentional about leading yourself or leading your family into a deeper relationship with Jesus when you walk/drive along the road?
I finished yesterday's message with the story of how Esau gave up his birthright for a bowl of stew. Esau gave his brother Jacob his entire future for nothing more than some cooked lentils. That is insane to me. So why do I do that very same thing - except not really the lentil part? Why do I give up my kid's future for nothing more than a few hours more in the office, or for nothing more than just one more check of my e-mail or just one more tweet? When will I realize that my wife and my kids are worth so much more than any hobby, than any work related demand, than any 'emergency' that demands my attention?
Last summer, after multiple efforts to try to help me see how I was putting everything else in front of my wife and family, Julie showed me that I need to chose to be intentional about putting them first. I needed to chose to give my family the best of my time, the best of my energy, the best of my passion - and not just give them whatever was left after I had spent everything I owned in my career, or my hobbies or my church. The words of this song really are what we walked through, and continue to walk through. Maybe you are in the same place with your wife and family. Maybe it is time for you to take your head out of the sand and begin to lead your family.
My wife has often challenged me that my physical presence at home did not always equate to me actually 'being at home' with my family. What she meant by that was that even though I was physically in our house, I was mentally engaged in whatever the current issue was at church or at work. Being at home needs to become being at home - completely.
I have the luxury of an hour long drive home after work each day. Yes, I called it a luxury, because I have decided that this is the time that I re-live all of my office encounters. This is the time when I replay the conversations and choose the words were I win. My intention is that by the time I arrive at home that I can close the door to my truck and leave the office in there. When I open the door to greet my family I am trying hard to be present completely - physically, emotionally and spiritually. I am not always successful with this, but this is the ONE THING that I am intentionally doing to make our times when we sit at home more meaningful. If you talk to any craftsman they will tell you that preparation is the most important aspect of any job. So I prepare myself to engage my family.
What ONE THING are you planning to intentionally do with your family when you sit at home?
Last night we played checkers, we played cards, we read stories - we engaged and interacted. To be honest, I was tired and would have quite happily curled up on the sofa to sleep through the game like half the population. My kids wanted to play. I had to make a choice. In the interest of full disclosure, we did leave the game on in the background. Old habits die hard.
Share your ONE THING, or your sit at home experiences with your family.
This morning (Sunday Sept 26) Julie and I had the great privilege of sharing with our church some of our story of creating a rhythm in our family. When we discussed earlier this week, what we should teach during this session, we felt it was important that we were honest. We felt that it was important for people to know our story. Not that our story is the greatest story around, but our story is what we know, and what we can be real about. I thought I would share a little of our story here and then continue our discussion throughout the week.
Julie and I were married at Christmas time in 1995 having been engaged for 2 years and dated seriously for 3 years prior to that. We had known each other even before that. We were friends who fell in love. We took our time with our relationship. We took everything slowly. We thought we were on the right track.
Julie was an elementary teacher. I was a physical therapist who was in the final stages of completing his PhD, developing a career as a college professor and running a clinic at the same time. In fact, our clinic was developing a reputation that was fantastic and I was the therapist responsible for the Irish Ladies Field Hockey Association. Both Julie and I were what the world would describe as successful. We were creating a rhythm that we were comfortable with. The problem was that we were not creating the same rhythm, we were creating separate rhythms that occasionally synched up, but were often discordant.
In January of 2000 we had a life changing discussion. A painful discussion. A heartbreaking discussion that effectively changed the direction of our married life. Julie was dissatisfied with where we were going. She felt the discord, I didnt see it. She saw the different rhythms, I didnt. She was done unless there was change. I was not.
We decided that we had to change how we lived in order to save and salvage our marriage. Our plan was that if my squad failed to qualify for the Olympic Games that we would look at moving away from Belfast to start afresh. It was a big step, but it was a vitally important step. What was more important was that the decision to change was mine to make. Julie had already expressed her feelings on where we were at as a couple. If I wanted things to improve then I had to make the change. I had to accept that there was a problem, that I was the problem and that we needed to begin to move in a new direction. That was a hard decision to make, a very hard decision - because to me it felt like I was admitting defeat as a husband. It felt that by agreeing to make this change that I was accepting total responsibility for the issues we were facing. That is not an easy place to be in - but the truth of the matter was that as the husband, as the head of the household it was my position as appointed by God to lead my house. I had to change.
On April 1st 2000 I returned from the Qualifying tournament - we failed to qualify. I resigned my position, and we set about looking for a new place to restart our lives. In November 2000, we landed at Dulles Airport - Julie, Ollie (our dog) and all our worldly possessions. We were beginning a new era of our life together - we were attempting to create a joint rhythm.
Are you and your spouse creating one rhythm together or are you playing separate rhythms that only occasionally synchronize? Is it time for you to change your rhythm and begin afresh?
More to come tomorrow. Please join the discussion, and take courage to bear your heart.
I just listened to a talk by Erwin McManus and was struck by one of the many great things he said. Essentially he asked the question from the title of this post. Erwin asked if the story I am currently living is compelling enough for the people who see this story to be drawn into following the things that I say or do, or am I just telling people things and expecting them to follow because I have said it?
This is a critical question. In my professional life I teach students. By my very position at the front of the class I am in a position where a group of 30+ people watch and listen to everything I say and what is worse they tend to write down pretty much every word uttered. Is my expectation that my students will just do as I say because of my position or is there a better way for me to go about my chosen profession? Maybe it would be better if I were to demonstrate the story of my experience to my students so they learn from my experience and knowledge because they are inspired to do so as opposed to being told to do so. How much more effective would my teaching be if I were to use my story to help compel them to learn our profession?
What about my life in the church? Do I lead in such a way that people see my story and are compelled in some way to do what I do or follow where I go? Do I just say things or even write things without living a compelling story and then expect people to do what I say? Where does this model of leadership come from? Where did we begin to think that people should do what we say when they are uninspired by the things they see us doing?
I think it is time to live a compelling story in all aspects of my life so that those who see it may be inspired to follow. Nowhere is this more important than with my family. How can I expect my kids to grow up and live their lives following Jesus if they do not see their daddy living his life for Him? Do my kids see me building my relationship with Jesus more than they see me on my computer or watching TV? What does my life story say to them? Time for a change. Time to live a story that is compelling, not a life that is struggling to even reach mediocrity.
Are you in front of something? When you look behind you do you see a group of people who are looking straight at you and apparently waiting for your next move so they know what their next move is going to be? If you find yourself in that awesome position, then you have woken up to find yourself in a position of leadership.
Are you a positional leader? Are you by job description or title a leader? Does your position in your company or business necessitate that you are in from of people, but when you look around are you straining your eyes to see where all the followers are?
In the business world this lack of follower-ship can be problematic to your company's bottom line - if you are a pastor then this lack of follower-ship can mean eternal death for hundreds if not thousands of people. We live in a time when the population of the world is growing and the population in our churches is decreasing - Houston, we have a problem!
We do not have a lack of church locations, but yet we have a lack of growth of the Christian faith. How can this be the case? How can we in America have a surplus of churches and yet still have a deficit of Christianity? How have we missed the boat? Why are we in the position we are in? How are we going to get out of it?
Where is the urgency in the church? Where is the passion in the leadership of the church that compels us to give everything we have to reach those around us with the Good News? When did we swallow the lie that it is ok to be the church 'for us', but it is not ok for us to be the church for 'those people out there'? Why do we believe that 'those people out there' need to change to be more like us before they can join us? Do we seriously think that people are dying to flood into our churches and fill our pews all by themselves?
Houston, we really do have a problem - it just isnt going to happen.
We need to allow the Lord to change us and transform us to a people of URGENCY - a people who have heard the alarm bell ringing and understand that when the alarm goes off it means only one thing - FIRE!
We need to allow ourselves to accept change and new things readily and to not get stuck in the rut of 'this is how we have always done it'. We need to recognize that the cheesy-Left Behind series movies may not have all the Hollywood razzamataz, but they have one vital element - the TRUTH. Whether you enjoyed the cinematography of any of those end of the world type movies is not important - the truth that people have one life to live and if they die without knowing Christ then they are dead forever.
When will we wake up to the alarm that is ringing loudly at the minute and 'be strong and courageous' and simply invite our friends and neighbors to come to church?
This week has been one of those weeks when it seemed like I was out every night, or working every night in preparation for what was a busy weekend. Friday daytime was spent putting the boat back together again followed by small group and a late night preparation time to get ready for Bowiefest on Saturday.
Saturday morning we were up and at em early and after picking up a few bits and pieces from the church at 8am I was off to Allen Pond to set up our booth for what promised to be a day of connecting with the great people of this city. Saturday was hot - from the moment I left my house it was hot. It was one of those days when being hot and sweaty was the common feeling of the day. I dont think that changed at any moment during the day to be honest. The band were due to play at 11:30am but that was never going to happen because the sound engineer who had all of the sound gear in his truck overslept and only arrived at Bowiefest at 11am. To say they were slow setting up their rig was an understatement, but by noon, JD and the gang were belting out worship tunes across the whole venue. It was awesome to walk through the vendors and stalls and see people tapping their feet to the music. I wonder if they really knew it was a worship set?
The rest of the afternoon was spent talking to people about StreetReach and what we were trying to achieve with our summer outreach. There were a number of great conversations and we will see what comes from the seeds that were planted.
Saturday night was spent enjoying the beauty of Justin and Jackie's wedding. It is always great to see friends fulfill their dream of getting married and to be a part of the beginning of their new journey together. Ending the evening with final preparation of this morning's message.
This morning went well, at least I felt it did, but it is always difficult to know how you are heard. The response seemed to be good. We will see what the week brings.
When I got home from gassing up my truck in preparation for the week, Emma was in the toy room yelling for her mom. I went in to see what the issue was that was evoking the screams. "Would you play with me daddy?" came with a little forlorn look. I was instantly met with my own message this morning - I had a choice to make. Was I going to make some selfish excuse about being tired and go sit down, or was I going to fight for my family and sit down on the floor to play with My Little Ponies. There wasn't really a choice to make. So little purple brush in hand I was designated as the head groom and had to brush all the ponies. Once the stable was completed we moved on to Barbies and the doll's house. For a little under an hour or so Emma and I played with her toys, doing the things that she wanted - and it felt fantastic. I need to keep making the right choices - regardless of how tired or busy I think I am.
I sat in a meeting today in work, my university work, and read an e-mail informing us that one of our faculty colleagues lost her battle with cancer this week. We didnt stop our meeting, take a pause or even acknowledge the loss of a friend and co-worker. Those who read the e-mail made a few "That's sad" comments but little else. we returned to our business in an effort to complete our tasks and get finished for the day as early as possible.
I was struck by how self-absorbed this act truly was. It has set me to think today about the selfish things that we instinctively do and how so often we seem to think that somehow our selfish actions or desires are perfectly justified. we are full of our own self-importance. The refrain from the parody of that Christian song came to mind, "It's all about ME, really, and all this is for ME ...." (sung to the tune of Its all about You, Jesus). Why do we fail to look around us at the world we live in and fail to think of others above ourselves? Why is it always about us, about our desires, about our wants, about our needs?
As followers of the Way, we must have a different mindset. We must have the mind of Christ, who being in very nature God, who was made of the very same stuff that God is made of, who was equal to God the creator of the universe in every way, yet He humbled himself - ahh, there it is. He HUMBLED himself, He - the creator, the maker of all things He HUMBLED himself, He lowered himself, He wasn't lowered by someone else, He wasnt forced into it, He HUMBLED himself. And as He did that He took on the very nature of a man, the Creator became a created being. He became finite, the infinite was contained. He HUMBLED himself.
Could the simple truth be that easy? Could it really be a matter of us recognizing that regardless of our gifting or ability or position, for us to be like Christ then we must do as He did. We MUST HUMBLE ourselves. We must fight against the world as it attempts to elevate us, and we must fight against ourselves as we attempt to elevate ourselves. We must resist the urge to raise our heads above all others and we must take on the very nature of a servant. We must force ourselves to seek out a life of service, a life where we look to raise others up, a life where we spend all of our energy in exalting others and leading them to the Savior.
HUMBLE yourselves therefore, under God's mighty hand, that HE may lift you up, in due time.
Flying to Orange conference with Dione on Wednesday morning - YAY
Getting the call that Julie's granda had passed away - BOO
Getting inspired about reaching the family for Christ through Orange - YAY
Booking separate flights to Belfast for my wife and I to be with her family - BOO
Having local parents (Mine) who love to care for my kids - YAY
Being in Atlanta while my wife flies to Belfast - BOO
Being able to purchase a ticket to Belfast to support my wife's family - YAY
Having to wait until I could get my passport renewed to be able to fly - BOO
Having a very nice passport office worker get my passport in 5 hours - YAY
Condensing 5 days work into 5 hours to try to get everything done before leaving - BOO
Getting a call that my wife's car keys have been found after being lost for 1 week - YAY
Getting rear-ended by some guy not paying attention and crashing into... me - BOO
Has it really been a month since I last spoke to you? Has it really been so long? I guess I have neglected you for 'the other woman' so to speak! I started my second blog with my 210 in 2010 Challenge and have put more emphasis into that site than this one.
As I write that I can't help but think about the message I just heard at the Orange Conference here in Atlanta. Doug Fields was on stage talking about how every day we have to make choices. Every day we only have 24 hours in which to accomplish all the things that we deem important. Every day we all have the same amount of time to fulfill our to-do list. What aspect of your life gets your priority? What part of your to-do list ALWAYS gets the best of your time, the pick of your energy, the quality of your day?
For many of us we struggle between a choice of giving the best of our time between one of two life arenas - our jobs and our families. So which one wins in your life? When push comes to shove and you have things left on your to-do list, do you go home only to still be at work? Do you grace your family with your physical presence only to rob them of your actual presence? When you switch off from the office, is the ride home little more than a moments respite from log-in sessions?
When you finally retire and they give you that gold watch - will your kids resent the career that stole their dad so much that they wont wish to share in the excitement of the presentation?
Let's change the scenario and swap work for CHURCH. Will you continue to argue that 'this is the Lord's work' and therefore is more important than your family? Will you weep when you sit all alone in your chair, abandoned by your kids who resent you and the 'mistress' that stole your time, 'their' time with you? How long will you neglect your family for some 'higher' calling? When will you realize that there is no higher calling than being the best dad you can be? When will you realize that the meetings will continue, even if you are not present, the discussions will go on without your input and the problems will be resolved without your assistance? When will you realize that your daughter will never dance at another 'first dance recital', that your daughter will never have another 'first soccer practice', that your daughter will never have another 5th birthday party?
Well Jason, how long will it take you to realize that the greatest call that there is on your life is to be dad. to those precious gifts that God has given you - Julie your wife, Cara and Emma your daughters.
Don't let it be long. Create habits today that will produce a family that is strong and secure. Set in place a pattern of living where you are HOME when you are home. Take time to switch off from work, to unplug from church and to focus every ounce of your being on pouring your heart and soul into your family.
This week is an important week for my precious 5 year old. This week is the week that she needs to remember the books of the bible so she can achieve her goal in AWANA and get an invite to the Achievement Party. It was suddenly my responsibility to make sure she had it all correct – at least that was what she told me.
So I sat with Cara and her AWANA book – “Matthew, Mark, Luke …” the first group rolled off the tongue relatively quickly, although she did seem to lose Romans a lot of the time. I thought, “There are a number times that I seem to forget Romans too, or at least some of the things it says in it.” We finished that first group and moved to the epistles – a little tricky for a 5 year old, but she is a smart kid and I am confident that she can do it. She steadied herself and began, “Galatians, Ephesians, Philipians, Galloshans…” I paused her for a moment and enquired what that last book was again – “Galloshans! Daddy.”
She was so close, and yet so far away from the truth. I must say that my first thought was that of Dora the Explorer's little buddy, Boots, and maybe he went to the church of Galloshans. Then I had mental images of what the Veggie Tales people would do with the concept of Paul writing a letter to the church of the Galloshans. When I snapped back to my seat at the kitchen table, I realized that the most amusing thing was that she was sure she was right – and she would today believe that Paul wrote to the Galloshans, had I not helped her see the little pen stroke that makes a C into a G wasn’t actually there.
How often do we do the very same things? How often do we believe something, and believe it strongly, only to find out that our understanding is not 100% accurate, and often it is only the smallest of pen strokes, or most innocuous of things that makes all the difference. As I reflected on this incident this morning in my commute, I was struck by how many times we draw a line in the sand and defend a position that is indefensible, if only we saw all of the facts as they were and not as we perceived them. We believe that we are right, yet we have missed one vital detail. There are even times when we have inserted a pen stroke where none existed, we have inserted information where there should not be any. We have taken our understanding of a subject and defend it as strongly as any proven truth. Yet, we are wrong.
What do you do in those times? Is saving face more important than acknowledging our error and our weakness?
I know this is not how the famous little saying goes, but recently I have been wondering if the rhyme may be less than accurate. I have been considering the things that we say, and the way that we say them, and the power that is conveyed through our words.
The bible says in James 3:5-10,
“5Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.”
The tongue is a very powerful weapon, yet how often we choose to carelessly use it, and cause considerable harm in the process. There is a fine line between challenging and chastising. This became tremendously apparent last week when I was preparing dinner at home while Cara and Emma were sitting at the table. Julie had left some things on the table that the girls really didn’t need to be playing with, so I asked them to put them aside and not play with them. The first request went unheeded and so the same request was made a second time. It was at that point that my 5yr old (going on 40) said under her breath, “We were just looking at them”. This is a new phase for her – a new boundary she is learning, but this was one muttered piece of back-chat that pushed the wrong button. I turned on my heel, and using nothing but words reduced my beautiful sweet angel to tears. Through my tone, and my inflection I used the same tongue that earlier had conveyed love, to now chastise. She got the point, but I fear there may be more moments of correction before we are free of this boundary checking.
This incident set me to think that the bible is true (fancy that) and the way that we use our tongues is incredibly powerful. There are times when I stand before the congregation and try my best to issue a challenge, but after listening to the podcast later I question whether I brought more chastisement than challenge. Oh how I wish I had the wisdom to get that one right in real time. One thing I have learned though is that what may come across to one person as a challenge may be considered as chastisement by the person sitting beside them. It is a very fine line to tread.
So how do we learn to tame the only muscle in the human body with one end unattached? I think we can do no more than follow what the Lord has instructed us to do in His word. Psalm 34:13 says, “keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies” – we need to exercise control.
When it comes to bringing a challenge, we need to exercise control and only bring that challenge that comes from the Lord, not add our own ideas to what the Lord has given us. I think we step across the line into chastising when we don’t control our words. I pray that as we continue to grow as a body together that we will be patient with one another, holding each other up and being gracious to each other. I pray that as a family together we will use our tongues to edify and not to destroy. When we find ourselves feeling that we have been chastised, then maybe we can show grace and help the speaker understand how we feel, without making them feel the same way. When we feel that we have been challenged, then maybe we can take seriously the challenge that was made and not selectively pick out single words or phrases which we then use to disqualify ourselves from what was said.
I suppose when it comes to controlling the tongue we need to do everything that we can to keep our speech pure, and maybe we should learn to believe the best from the speaker and trust that even though their ‘challenge’ may have felt more like chastisement, it wasn’t intended to come across that way. Then we can show grace and mercy with our tongue, and edify.
I know I have a lot more to learn on this, and I hope that as we grow together you will graciously help me in that process.
Today 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.
My beautiful wife and I just returned from a fantastic short trip to see one of the 7 natural wonders - the Grand Canyon. We drove from Vegas to the South Rim of the canyon filled with anticipation of the sight that would greet us. We had seen photos and pictures, but there is usually no real comparison between the panavision and the real vision. We parked the car, and headed for the view. What a view it was! Breath taking, awesome, vast, OMG, are poor word choices which flooded my mind when I stood there on the edge of this great chasm.
As far as the eye could see to the left was a carved landscape of varying colors and eroded layers of time etched out of this barren landscape. Looking to the right provided a similarly stunning vista with the only difference being the direction the river had carved its path. One thing that was striking was the flatness of the top of the canyon that bounded this abyss. There were no mountain peaks to see, there were only sheer cliff-side drops that drew the eye eventually to the river below. When I say below, I mean way way way below. At the South Rim (where we were), it is a vertical mile (or 5,000 feet) from the rim to the river (7 miles if you walked the trail). The canyon is approximately 10 miles across from South to North rims and the canyon has a total length of some 270 miles.
I was stunned. What other emotion could one possess at that moment? What other thought could go through your head as you gazed upon this sight?
Just as I was contemplating the view I heard a voice from my right hand side. A husband and wife stood about 10 feet away from me looking at the same view I was awestruck by. The husband points to the canyon floor and says, "Look honey, there is the river." to which the most amazing statement was given in reply. The wife, with all seriousness, responds to her husband with these unforgettable words, "It looks kinda dirty, doesn't it?"
I'm sorry, what did you just say? You are looking at one of the 7 natural wonders of the world and your main concern is the fact that from over a mile away it appears as if the water in the river may not be crystal clear! I wanted to reach out the right hand of fellowship and slap the love of Jesus into that woman, but I refrained.
How can you look at a view like that and only see dirty water?
The simple answer is that this lady could make this statement because she is human - and us humans have the incredible ability to miss the obvious majesty and glory of a creator God and only notice the dirty water at the very bottom of the picture. How often do we stand in the presence of the creator of the grand canyon and instead of looking in amazement and wonder at His beauty, only comment on the dirt of the water in the river.
I was recently listening to a podcast featuring Rick Warren and he madethis statement which has been rolling around in my head ever since. For regular readers, things that roll around in my head for a while usually find their way out through my fingers into some sort of article. This statement is no different and has found its way to print.
When Jesus met the fishermen who would become his disciples he invited them simply to ‘Follow Him’. There was no great master plan given to them at the time. There was no discussion about salary, career path, stock options, pension plan, just a simple request – ‘Follow me’. You can read the whole story in Matthew chapter 4, but essentially Jesus sees these guys fishing, stops and talks with them and tells them to follow him and he will make them fishers of men. That’s it, that is all the information he gives. Would you have followed him? Do you follow him now?
It struck me that the same simple request that Jesus made to those first disciples is the same request that He makes to everyone today – Come, follow me. As I considered this it became apparent that when we first meet Jesus and first hear that call that we do not have a 5 year plan given to us as to what ‘following Him’ will look like, yet for many of us we took a step of faith and followed.
As you follow the lives of the disciples you see that the simple request to ‘follow me’ is quickly changed to ‘Come die for me’. In Matthew chapter 16, we see the disciples and Jesus who have been travelling through the land and spreading the Good News about the Messiah. They have seen Him feed thousands from little more than a bag lunch. They have seen countless people healed and set free from all manner of afflictions. They have seen miracle and they have seen heated discussions and attack from some of the religious leaders. However, in Matthew 16:24 they see that Jesus simple request to “Follow Me” actually has more to it. The act of following requires sacrifice – complete sacrifice. Matthew 16:24-26 says,
"Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”
How many of us in our Christian walk have lost the eagerness to simply ‘Follow Me’ and now demand to know what is in store if we follow? How many of us have refused to ‘Follow Me’ because we think it unwise to do something that we don’t know the outcome of that activity? How many of us will only ‘Follow Me’ if we know the outcome, and will actually refuse if the outcome does not appear to be beneficial to us? How many of us count the cost first before accepting the call to ‘Follow Me’? How many of us justify our refusal to ‘Follow Me’ by saying that it would be unwise, or too expensive, or too difficult, or too painful or too whatever to simply ‘Follow Me’?
How many of us have not read Matthew 16?
We answered the call to ‘Follow Me’ and now we must answer the call to ‘Die For Me’. We need to set aside our own wants and desires, our own wisdom, or own way of doing things and get back to the child like faith where we said “YES!” when Jesus whispered ‘Follow Me’.
Following Jesus is not safe. Following Jesus is not comfortable. Following Jesus is painful. Following Jesus is difficult. Following Jesus brings rejection. Following Jesus brings separation of brother from brother, or from children to parents. Following Jesus costs – a lot.
As we wake on another beautiful new day of snowfall, school closings, government shut downs, icy roads, treacherous travel conditions, what are you thinking? It struck me last night that the past five or six days have probably for many been the longest period of time that families have spent together, unable to go anywhere or really see anyone else. So how is that going for you? Are you ready to strangle someone? Or have you found that this gift of time with your family has been an opportunity to strengthen your family?
When you look back at the snow of 2009/10 what will your memories be? When your kids look back at the snow of 2009/10, what will their memories be? Will your kids eyes light up as they recall the day when daddy crawled through the snow with them to build that snow fort or snow man? Will their memories be of the fact that mom and dad were home with them for a long time and each day was a new adventure? How have you taken this enforced family time to build your family and strengthen your bonds with your kids?
If you are like me then you have probably had those times when you just wished the roads were open enough for you to slip slide your way to a store just for a break from the noise that kids can generate. Sadly, when I think of these types of thoughts my heart aches that I miss the opportunity to see the potential in giving my kids all of my time and attention and wish for 'peace and quiet'.
Today, I will do the work that I need to do when my kids are asleep, but when they are awake I am going to give them all of my time. I want my kids to look back at this snow fall as the time when daddy and mommy just hung out with them, played with them, did cut and stick projects and were a family.
Today, let's be family, let's create good memories, let's laugh with our kids, let's fill our family with love.
I am constantly amazed at my girls. Usually I am amazed at how much volume two little tykes can create, that and their ability to turn a perfectly organized and cleaned up play room or craft room into a scene from "Earthquake!". How can they not just take one toy out, play with it, then put it back where it came from? Is it really that difficult? Then I looked over at my home office desk and realized that this little trait was genetic and they had no hope of maintaining a neat and tidy play-room, but they would learn to clean it up every week.
Last night we reached a whole new level of amazement. This week, Julie and I have started a new venture with our kids - they get a nickel for helping out around the house with the daily necessities like making the bed, tidying the aforementioned play room. There is a sticker chart now adorning their bedroom wall and each night they recount the activities they have done to be good helpers. We are trying not to use the word 'chores' because it has such negative connotations and 'child labor' might get us arrested - so helping around the house it is.
Well, last night was payment night - we were late by a couple of days due to a lack of nickels - and Cara sat with three little jars in front of her. The first jar was for the Church, the second was for Savings and the third was for Spending. Our plan is that on 'pay-day' we will begin to teach them now how to handle their money so when they get to our age they might be better than we are at it.
$2.70 was placed in front of Cara in nickels (did I mention child labor?) and Julie began to explain that 10% immediately goes to the Church, 20% immediately goes to Savings and the rest does not go to Spending - it goes in a pile from which Cara can decide which of the three jars it goes to. Julie and I sat there as the wheels were turning in Cara's little mind and she reached out, grabbed a handful of her coins and poured them into the Church jar. Julie asked Cara if she realized that once the money went in the jar she couldn't take it back out again, and that if she took Emma to the store to spend some of her money and Cara could only spend what was in her 'Spending' jar. My little 5 year old never skipped a beat and looking at her mom said, "I want all this to go to Haiti. I dont need to buy anything this week. I have enough. Can I give it all to Haiti?"
My heart melted. My wife and I looked at each other across the kitchen table and were nearly overcome that here our little angel was old enough to realize that she is blessed and that there are children in the world who have nothing, and whatever she could give to help them out, she wanted to do.
Wow!
Moments later, our little one came into the kitchen, she had been in another room and hadn't been a part of the previous discussion with Cara. It was time to settle our account with her too. She had been equally as busy and had earned the grand total of $2.65. Once again, three jars were set out with Church, Savings and Spending on them. The pile of nickels was laid out in front of Emma and the same explanation given. Julie counted out 10% for Church, 20% for savings and the remaining pile was once again hers to decide over. She looked at the nickels in front of her and then looked at her mom. She reached out her hand, grabbed a handful of nickels and said, "I want to give this to the homeless people, where is the 'homeless people' jar?" Once again Julie explained that once she had given it away, she couldn't get it back and if we went to the store for Cara to spend her money then Emma would not have anything to spend. "That's ok mom, I want to give it all to the homeless people, which jar does it go in?"
My wife and I sat with 6 little glass jars in front of us, 3 for Cara and three for Emma. Two jars marked 'Savings' had approximately 50c in them, two jars marked 'Church' had approximately $2.20 in them and two jars marked 'Spending' were empty. My girls may not be good at cleaning up their rooms, but I will trade that for the rest of their days if they continue to live with generous spirits that see the need that others have as far superior to any need they may have.
I love my kids, and I love my wife for teaching and modeling these principles so well. After all, the girls had to learn this from somewhere.
I have the privilege of speaking at an upcoming winter retreat for Faith Community Church in Crofton in a couple of weeks. It is kind of weird but from the moment I was asked the passage that I have felt was right for the weekend was the passage in Matthew 16:13-20 where Jesus asks Peter who people say Jesus was. Jesus is not looking for the names that they called him, but more what they were saying about him. Were people calling Him the Son of God or a prophet, or simply just a carpenter? Jesus moves from the general to the specific really quickly in this passage and asks Peter who he says Jesus is.
What name does Peter have for Jesus? What description does Peter choose? These questions led me to consider how the answer Peter gave Jesus was a strange one. Peter doesnt respond by saying Jesus' name back to him, he uses words that describe what Jesus has done and who he is through demonstration and not description.
Peter says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God..." He doesnt even mention Jesus' name - just His character. I wonder how many of us have become defined by our character as opposed to our given names, and how many of us have the character worthy of such a description. Or I wonder how many of us have given up the truth of our birth names with all of their meanings and have accepted the names that peers have given us, or that society has given us. How many of us have given up our names and accepted names like 'loser', 'dummy', 'idiot'. How many of us have accepted those names and have become defined by the names that we have been called? How many of us have been called stubborn and therefore remained inflexible? How many of us have been labeled as losers and believed that we will never amount to anything, and therefore we have given up and stopped trying?
I think God wants to change some names at this retreat. What about your name? Does it need changed too?
There is an interesting group that has caught my eye, and my heart at present. This capture came about in a God designed whim when we attended a session at Catalyst 2009 that we were not planning on attending. The speaker at that session described the simplest of things which struck home with the magnitude of a lightning bolt.
He described how God had ordained two institutions in the scriptures - the church, and the family. Throughout the bible the Lord has a special place for these two groups. He repeatedly refers to them, declares His love for them and states His intention to rescue each of them. God loves families and God loves the church.
The simple question is, does the family love the church and the church love the family?
This seems like a simple question from the outset, however if we really consider what we do with these two institutions then we might be a little concerned over what we find. In church we are very pro-family. In fact, we are so pro-family that we have employed staff who's job it is to reach out to our children or our youth or our adults all with the purpose of connecting them to church. However, there is one missing link. We do a great job trying to reach and connect these three groups SEPARATELY, however we are not that intentional about reaching the whole family at the same time.
Is it even possible to do that? Is it possible to somehow do church together in such a way that we effectively reach the entire family at the same time - together? There are some great folks at a group called Orange - if the family were a color it would be red and the church would be yellow, mix those two and you get Orange - who believe that it is not only possible to blend the church and the family, it is essential. If we were somehow able to intentionally reach the whole family through church then we would have somehow been able to blend these two God ordained institutions. Wouldn't that be a good thing?
I think I will read some more of the Think Orange book and see what the Lord has to say. Why dont you check out the folks at Orange and see what God says to you. Post your comments and let me know if you get any insights.
If you are like me then you will have sat in silence, dumbstruck at the events of the past few days in Haiti. For many we may not know much about this little country or its people. We may not even know where Haiti is, but the devastation that has occurred there must move us. I have a friend who works with the Community Coalition for Haiti (web site link is above) and he has traveled to Haiti for week long medical missions twice a year for a number of years. He has been busy working with INOVA Fairfax hospital in preparing to send three teams to Haiti this coming weekend.
While we may not be able to do much ourselves, we can support those who are helping. I want to encourage you to make a donation to CCH by following this link Give to Haiti Relief and please continue to pray for the people in Haiti and the rescue of those still trapped.
Today I am working on next Wednesday's theme for our week of prayer and fasting - BE STILL ...
If you have any bible knowledge then there are probably a couple of verses that jump to mind when you hear those two words. The first for me is the passage in the book of Psalms where we are commanded by the Lord to 'Be still, and know that I am God". The second passage that comes to mind is when Jesus was asleep in the back of a boat having preached all day and a storm blows up. Jesus is sleeping, the storm is raging and the disciples are panicking - hmm, a common occurrence in the bible I think. The disciples are so afraid that they are going to die that they wake Jesus up so He can save them. I always found it interesting that fishermen would wake a carpenter up in the midst of a sailing crisis, but I digress.
So we join the story with Jesus, just being woken by a bunch of scaredy-cat fishermen whining about the wind and the waves. Mark tells us that Jesus, 'got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.' Then he shared a few harsh words with the disciples about their lack of faith and presumably went back to sleep - the story doesn't tell us that part.
Be still - two simple words, spoken as commands in two places in the bible - once by the Father in Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God" and then by the Son in Mark 4:39. When Jesus spoke the words there was an immediate threat to the safety and welfare of the disciples, at least as they perceived it. Have you ever considered that the same two words spoken by the Father in Psalm 46 were spoken with the same authority and command as those spoken by Jesus to the wind and the waves. Have you ever considered that the command given in Psalm 46:10 should be responded to by us in the same way that the wind and the waves responded to Jesus.
Is it possible that when the Lord says, "Be still ..." that we are actually supposed to BE STILL? Is it beyond the realm of possibility that when we read the rest of Psalm 46 and the trouble that the author describes the children of Israel being in, that this command to BE STILL was the LORD telling the children of Israel to quieten down, to stop thrashing about and causing a commotion and to allow Him to be God? Could the same be true for us today?
Next Wednesday I want to encourage our church to obey the command of Psalm 46:10 and to BE STILL. I want to encourage myself and our whole congregation to stop trying to come up with the solution to our problems, to stop getting all agitated about situations around us, to stop, to BE STILL.
During this week I have been preparing for next week’s prayer and fasting week and I have had a scripture rolling around in my head that I wasn’t really sure what to do with. The verse is in Isaiah 43:18-19. It reads, “18 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”
There is a lot in this verse – let’s break it down. The rest of the chapter before these verses is the Lord telling the children of Israel who He is and how much He cares for them. God follows this declaration of who He is with this incredible statement – Forget the former things. In other words, what has happened in the past is in the past, it is time to leave it, move on and forget it.
What a powerful verse that is, and yet how incredibly difficult it is to achieve too. How many of us live with our minds on things that have happened to us in the past? How many of us ‘dwell’ on things that have happened to us in the past? How many of us hold on to our past hurts and fears like they are our favorite teddy bear – no-one can pry our fingers off of them? How many of us need to hear these words from the LORD? I believe that as we enter this season of fasting we need to hear these words – FORGET THE FORMER THINGS, DO NOT DWELL ON THE PAST.
As we begin our fast I want to challenge myself and all of us to forget the things that have happened to us in the past. I know that many of us have been hurt by the church, and by leaders and people in the church. I have walked on both sides of that line in my past – I have been hurt, and to my shame I have caused hurt. If you know of a situation where you have caused hurt or pain to a brother or sister then please take time to repent and seek forgiveness. If you are holding on to hurts from the past that have been inflicted on you, then I want to encourage you to take a step and LET THOSE HURTS GO. This does not excuse hurts from the past, but it releases us to move forward. We hold on to our pain and it not only stifles our walk with God but it also cripples our relationship with anyone we perceive to have hurt us in the past.
In this verse in Isaiah God says “FORGET THE FORMER THINGS”. The greatest news in this comes in verse 19. The reason we need to forget the former things is because God says this, “See, I am doing a new thing!” God wants to do a new thing in you and through you. God wants to do a new thing at Mt Oak. If you quickly mentally asked “why ?” , or internally said, “No He doesn’t” then I want you to seriously consider if you have forgotten the former things. This verse doesn’t command us to forget the bad former things, it commands us to forget all the former things, good and bad.
I am doing a new thing! Those must be among the most exciting words in the bible – a creator God, the Almighty declares “I am doing a new thing!” I believe that as we forget the former things and ask God to show us the “new thing” He is doing then we will be amazed at where the Lord wants to lead us personally and lead us collectively as Mt Oak.
What is the NEW THING you would like to see God do in your life? What is the NEW THING you would like to see God do in Mt Oak? In the New Testament, Jesus told a story of a rich young ruler – in Luke 18: 18-29 – and in this story the young man asks what he needs to do to get into heaven, especially since he had kept the law from a young age. Jesus answers him with these words, “You still lack one thing.” Jesus then goes on to highlight the area of the young man’s life where he had not let go – where he had not forgotten the things that were behind. The young man was rich, he had everything he needed, and he knew it. Jesus tells him that the ONE THING he lacks is complete trust on the Lord – he trusted in his stuff.
What is the ONE THING that Jesus would tell me if I were in that situation. I doubt it would be wealth, but I am sure there is ONE THING. What ONE THING would Jesus say that you lack? What ONE THING would Jesus say you are holding on to from the past? What ONE THING do you need to “FORGET” and move on from?
This week, maybe we need to just listen for ONE THING. Maybe we need to FORGET SOME FORMER THINGS.
Lord, show me the ONE THING that I lack, and the FORMER THINGS that I need to FORGET.
Maybe you are in a place where you do not lack ONE THING, but you need to hold on to ONE THING. The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13-14, “13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But ONE THING I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
The apostle Paul takes these two ideas of forgetting what is behind and holding on to ONE THING. He sets the example for us to stop living in the past, stop comparing the present with the past, stop comparing people in our lives today with people who used to be in our lives, stop living in times gone by and forgetting what happened then, forgetting the good things and the bad things for ONE reason. The reason we forget the former things is so that we can fix our eyes on the GOAL – we can fix our eyes on the NEW THING the Lord is doing, we can focus everything within us to strain towards the GOAL to win the prize.
As we enter this week of fasting, let’s take this exhortation seriously.
Forget the things from the past
Desire the NEW THING God wants to do
Focus your life towards the GOAL to win the prize.
It's Tuesday, only a few days before we embark on a special journey. Only a few days before we have the opportunity to put ourselves in a place where change can occur. A place where real change can come. But it takes just one thing. It takes our willingness to submit.This incoming week of prayer and fasting will be much more difficult for most of us than we think.
For many of us we have thought about the physical difficulties that we will face as we deny ourselves food, or certain foods, or technology or whatever it is we believe God is asking us to give up.
I wonder how many of us have considered the cost that next week will bring on who we are. I wonder how many of us have thought that next week might just be the time when we deconstruct our dysfunctional relationship with the Lord or with our friends, spouse, family, and then wait as He lovingly reconstructs us to e the person that God wants us to be.
I wonder if we think that we are just going to spend time telling God the things that we want or feel we need, or have we grasped the enormity of the possibility that we will simply put ourselves in the presence of the living almighty God of the universe, and He may wna to make some adjustments.
Will we be willing to change? Will we be willing to allow Him to break us? "But what will people think or me if they really find out what I am like?" "Will people still want to be in the same church or small group as me when they learn that I am not the person I portray myself to be?" "How can people follow me if they learn the sort of terrible things that I do when I don't think I can be seen or will get caught?"
I believe that this week is a critical point in the life of our church. It is a time when we can allow the Holy Spirit to sweep through his house and clean away long held positions and fears and replace them with passion and love. It is a time when the Holy Spirit can take a tired and weary people who have become tired in rebuilding the walls and strengthen their hands and reignite the fire in their hearts to continue the work that the Lord has set before us.
I believe that this incoming week could be a week that is looked back on as a 'red letter week' in the history of Mt Oak. This week could be a week when we truly humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and His righteousness. This week could be the beginning of something great.
Or it could be just another week, except one where our stomachs growl more frequently.
As we get ready for the start of our fast I wanted to write what will hopefully be an encouragement to all who are considering joining us on our fast but yet have that hesitancy that is distracting them. Let's be honest, undertaking a week of denying yourself food, or any comfort for that matter will not be easy. I wonder who said life was going to be easy anyway? James said, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds ...". Now I know what you are thinking, but these trials are self inflicted. We could endure the trials of our faith being challenged by a co-worker, or the trials of being different in our family for Jesus' sake. But when we are inflicting the trials on ourselves it is a little different.
I read an article in the January edition of Charisma (click here) which was very encouraging. The article (if you didnt follow the link) was entitled 'Start the New Year with Extraordinary Prayer' and describes a 21 day fast that one church is undertaking, but the length of time of the fast doesn't matter - you don't get more brownie points in heaven the longer you go without food. The key thing is the attitude you take into the fast and the way you spend your time when you are on the fast.
The piece that struck me was the reason they gave as to why they fasted at the beginning of the year. They were three-fold:
You set the course for the rest of the year by how you start the year. If you begin the year with prayer and fasting then you set the rest of the year up to be successfully dedicated to the Lord. Just like praying at the beginning of the day often sets the rest of the day up and covers anything that may occur, so fasting at the beginning of the year sets up the whole year. Maybe we should carry that on into other areas of life - like giving God the first part of the day, giving God the first part of the week (Sunday), giving God the first part of our income (offerings and tithes), giving God the first consideration in every decision we make.
Blessings will occur because you set aside time at the start of the year to fast and pray.
Fasting at the beginning of the year sets us in line with Matthew 6:33, "Seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." So if we seek Him FIRST then we should be expectant for ALL THESE THINGS to be added.
Wow! some simple truths that when we are reminded of them should change our attitude of a fast from something to be endured to something to be anticipated and enjoyed.
Let Your Kingdom come, and Your will be done O Lord.
By day an Associate Professor in Physical Therapy at Marymount University. By night a husband to my beautiful wife Julie, a dad to my wonderful daughters Cara and Emma. A servant of Christ trying to build the kingdom.
Posts
