Generosity

Give. We hear God talk a lot about that. Something happens to us when generosity takes precedence over judgment. We are always confronted with the immediate, the surface, the first impression. Those can be misperceptions based upon prejudice, past experience, or learned behavior. We tend to judge the book by looking at it's cover, when Christ seemed to be willing to open the book and read beyond the introduction and preface. He gained insights into people's lives with the turn of each page. Chapter by chapter, he flipped through without judging where the story of their lives were taking him. Once He got to the end, regardless of how the story had seemingly ended, He offered each author the ability to start writing a new chapter. After one encounter with Jesus, the lonely tax collector, Zacchaeus, was moved to action. He didn't say that he would start his daily devotional. He didn't say that he would start to read the Bible in a year. He didn't say that he would wake up at 5 am for prayer. Those things are great to do, and be apart of, but Zacchzeus was moved to action. We was moved to give. He had been given something. Grace. The action of giving from the grace released to us, will begin to separate us further and further from the place of sin, brokenness, and pain. It's a new day, so get your pen and paper handy......

Oh the treadmill......

After a 3 month hiatus recovering from a knee injury, I have officially returned to face my arch nemesis.....the treadmill! I hate that thing. Just when I am getting close to defeating it, I run out of steam way before it does. Unless, I happen to get on the one that will automatically shut off at the 30 minute mark. Today I was bound and determined to mount up on that machine. The steady dose of Hillsong United and Arena Jams helped me endure to the end. 30 minutes felt like forever. As I was driving home, I recalled that it was just three and a half months ago that I was running 5 miles a day. Today, I struggled to finish a 30 minute walk/run. What set me back so far? Why do I have such a long way to go to get back to where I was? Ah Ha! The injury. I got hurt, and it affect my ability to move forward. I was in a perpetual state on inactivity. The DL (Diabled List). I tried to comeback a little earlier than I should have, and it set me back a little bit farther. The best thing to do when we get injured is to admit that we are injured, and take the proper care necessary to get back in the game. Yeah, sometimes we have to play throught the pain, but other times we have to just sit and heal. Reality.......there is nothing wrong with that! There is nothing wrong with admitting to being hurt. I don't think enough people do. The key is once we have be healed making sure that we get back on the treadmill, and not just sitting around and geting fatter......like what happened to me.....I was reminded of what David Spade said to Chris Farley in Tommy Boy....."I can hear you getting fatter!"

A professioal athlete can come back from a hamstring injury quicker than a "weekend warrior" (like myself) can. Why? It is all about conditioning. They have spent years working out and developing the proper physical attributes necessary to compete at a high level. Many times, our inactivity for the things of God is a direct result of being hurt, wounded, and injured. I guess the balance is recognizing your threshold for pain, and eventually increasing our capacity for suffering. I know how I got hurt, and I know now what to do to prevent that from happening again. So......get healed, get whole, and get moving again!

Do you ever get tired?

I got back yesterday from a week long minitry trip. I only got four hours of sleep the night before I had to fly home. I couldnt sleep on the plane cause there was a screaming kid behind me, a man that was coveting my PSP sitting next to me(if I would have nodded off he would have swiped it for sure), and forget the fact that I was sneezing every 27 seconds. It got so bad that people were staring at me while I sneezed. No one, and I mean no one, said "bless you" or anything! I was deeply wounded. haha. I couldn't help the fact that I was sneezing. I had no medicine or anything, yet everyone around me looked inconvenienced by the fact that I could not stop. Nobody offered me anything either. Don't look at me in complete disdain, without trying to help a brotha' out. Of course, my mind drifted over to the churchworld! There are a bunch of church people who act the same way. We look at people and expect them to stop awful habits, stop sinning, and quit being an inconvenience to their routines. We can't have expectations on people if we are not willing to provide them with some possible solutions. Benedryl, tylenol, and/or tissues would have been helpful. Not even the flight attendant was remotely interested in helping me. She was so intent on doing her job right(what would you like to drink?, peanuts?), that she forgot to look after the people she was doing the job for. Aren't we guilty of that sometimes. Just doing our church job, that we overlook those who really need help. I am getting tired of church. Not THE church, but DOING church. I am looking forward to reading Dan Kimbal's book, They Like Jesus, Just Not the Church. Maybe that will help me make sense of why we focus the majority of our attentionon the service part, but not the servant part.

A trip to the doctor.......

My daughter Brooklen had a staph infection last year on her lower back. As we were waiting for the doctor to come into room #4, Brookie looked up at me, and asked if it was going to hurt. I couldn't lie to her, as I looked into her scared brown eyes. The nervous anticipation grew into unbridled fear, as she heard to doctor's footsteps walking down the hall. The door squeaks as it opens, and the doctor took one look, and realized that she was going to have to lance it, and push the infection out. Underneath the surface of her skin, there were pockets of infection that was to continue to go deeper and casue greater damage if not dealt with immediately. She looked at me and said," Dad, are you going to stay in here"? Maybe that was because she knew that I had an amazingly weak stomach. I happen to think, though, that it was because she wanted someone to just be with her at that moment of intense pain. Brookie laid on her stomach, and tears began to flow. I looked right at her and told her to squeeze daddy's hands, and don't be afraid to scream. And scream she did. I can remember it like it was yesterday. I can still hear her say,"Daddy, tell them to stop, it hurts so bad!" Whew! I tried to console, but it did little good. So, I just shut my mouth, leaned in, and let her feel me close to her. Five minutes after the doctor was finished, she was ready to go to McDonald's, and get her favorite, chicken and fries.

I learned something that day as a father. Many times you don't have the words of consolation, so the only thing that you can do is just them them know you are there, suffering with them. God is the same way. When we are having the deepest infections removed from our soul and spirit, by the Great Physician, we want God to say something that will make us feel better. Would it, even if He did? It's in those times we are writhing in pain, that He just leans and without saying a word, let's us know that he is there. Touched, by the feelings of our infirmities. We all must go through times of deep cleansing and healing. Just know that no matter what, God will always suffer with you. As painful as it might be, we will find that the reward of recovery will outweigh the pain of the process.

Worship

I am in Canada speaking at a youth camp. Although the lot of my time is spent hanging out with old friends until 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning, I am catching up on some reading. One book that I took with me was N T Wright's book, For All God's Worth. He says this about worship......

"True worship does not put on a show or make a fuss; true worship isn't forced, it isn't half hearted, it doesn't
keep looking at it's watch, doesn't worry what the other person in the pew is doing. True worship is open to
God, adoring God, waiting for God, trusting God......even in the dark."

How true is that?! At the core of worship is trust. I worship God with everything I am because I can trust Him. Even when I can't see my hand in front of my face. Even when I am in the darkest season of my life. I can love Him, trust Him, and subsequently worship Him.......in spirit(anywhere) and in truth(authentically).

Let the Blogging Begin

I know I am way behind the times here, but better late than never....right? I just want to share my thoughts, and be able to listen to yours as well. A place where we can connect by being open and honest about God, life, relationships, and everything in between. So......here we go......