LESSON LEARNED WHILE LYING ILL

“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1-2, ESV

Only twelve hours to go. Hundreds of people were expected to show up. It was crunch time.

In the weeks leading up to this moment flyers had been passed around town. Emails with outreach details had been circulating the internet. Word had gotten out and even the local newspaper called to notify us that they were sending a journalist to do a story on the event. Everything was coming together perfectly except for one major thing. ME. I had come down with the flu and I was supposed to preach a sermon at this special outreach.  Flu symptoms include fever, headaches, vomiting, muscle aches, chills and tiredness. All of which I had in unfortunate abundance!

Prior to an event like this I like pray bold things like “God, send city wide revival and demonstrate your mighty power!,” on this day my prayers were pretty much “God, please don’t let me pass out and fall off the 4ft high concrete stage when I get up to preach tomorrow.” In my illness I couldn’t review my sermon, I couldn’t coordinate with set up teams,  I couldn’t even stand up for more than a couple minutes without becoming nauseous. The one thing I could do was humbly cry out to God in desperation. So that is what I did. Over and over again I prayed.

Miraculously, God healed me that evening and I was able to lead and preach the following morning. Reflecting back on the situation makes me wonder if I would have been as desperate for God’s presence and provision if I hadn’t been so weak. I believe the Lord used the occasion to show me that he delights to heal and empower us when we’re humble and longing for his presence. While I sure hope that I’m full of strength and health for the the next outreach that comes along, I also hope that I never forget that without the provision and blessing of God there isn’t a thing I can give to others that means very much.   

           

Comments that CHANGED my life! (part 3)

“I'm going running Wednesday morning - want to come?” 
Pastor Dave Metsker

Dave never bought me a book. He never took me to a conference. As my pastor he never lectured me on how to mentor or train people. Yet, he helped me realize how simple and do-able making disciples can be.  

He did it by spending some time with me. I realized that many of the really important things about faith and life are caught rather than taught. Wayne Cordeiro often says. “You can teach what you know but you’ll reproduce who you are.” 

That was Jesus' way too! Do you remember what was said of his disciples in the book of Acts?

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13 

The take away is: If I’m going to fail at building people-up it won’t be due to a lack of time or resources. It’ll be because I wasn’t intentional about sharing my life with others.  

Comments that CHANGED my life! (part 2)

“I require all my staff to make at least one mistake per week!” 
Pastor Ken Hart

Those who know me are probably aware that my first official ministry gig was at The Highlands once Ken Hart hired me. What you might not know is that I initially tried to talk him out of it. It’s not that I didn’t want to be on his team. I just knew that I didn’t yet possess the abilities to run a thriving youth program. 

My relationship with Jesus and faith gave me confidence that God would help me but still I knew I'd occasionally make mistakes. Ken let me know that he’d give me the grace and opportunity as long as I was willing to do my best.   

The take away is: Excellence must certainly be the aim of our efforts but perfectionism can never become our hang-up.

Part 3 of this series will be posted in a few days - Subscribe below

Comments that CHANGED my life! (part 1)

“You gotta stay sweet!” 
Pastor Phil Jones

Brains, talents and natural abilities don’t guarantee a person success nearly as much as their resolve to “stay sweet.” The opposite of a person staying sweet would be to eventually become bitter and or cynical. 

Phil tells me that all of us will occasionally be rocked by people’s rash words or by life’s unexpected setbacks. However we mustn’t become bitter or sour. By following Jesus' example of praying for those who hurt us and serving those who are less fortunate we'll keep moving forward. Suffering is inevitable but misery is optional.  

The take away is: If you’re going to be truly effective and fruitful you’ve got be tenaciously kind and uncompromisingly hopeful.  

Part 2 of "Comments that CHANGED my life" will be posted in a few days - Subscribe below.

Truth about Troubles

Food for thought…

“With God all things are possible.”  Jesus

Hey, don’t jump ahead so quickly! You owe it to yourself to be amazed by that for a little longer. Go ahead and try it again.

“With God all things are possible.”  Jesus

If your mind isn’t blown yet you aren’t fully grasping the implications. God the Son said “ALL things!” The word Jesus chose in this statement is fascinating. After countless hours in research and study I’ve finally gotten to the root of its meaning. Turns out when Jesus said “all” he meant it. All things means all things.

Let’s linger on that concept for a bit. If all things are possible with God then he could make every day Christmas.

-Cheesecake fat free.

-Unicorns exist.

- Give the Dodo bird a come-back.

- Make baseball less boring to watch on TV.

-He could even take all the pain and heartache out of our life  experience.  

So why doesn’t He?

I’m not exactly sure.

Maybe it’ll all make sense when we see it from the Heaven side of eternity. Until then I find a lot of comfort in a particular promise in scripture.  “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

Now realize it doesn't declare that everything in life is good. That certainly wouldn't be true. It says that God can use everything for good. Notice it also doesn’t  state that everything will turn out according to what we think is good. And isn't that a relief! The stuff that I've dreamt about in the past has often proven to be a nightmare in the present.

So whatever you’ve been through, are going through, or will go through – Go through it with Jesus. Everything will either be used for your eventual good or God’s eternal glory!  

References: 1) Matthew 19:26; 2) Matthew 19:26; 3) Romans 8:28 (NLT)