Last Day of September

Today is the last day of September. If you have noticed the leaves the last few weeks have begun their change from green to brown. Some of mine have even fallen off the trees already. My yard, no matter how much I water it in vain, is turning brown. Tomorrow begins the new month of October. The month of harvest, the month of fall coming upon us. Change is in the air. I believe it is a sign of the times that we live in. Constant change is inevitable. Some are good and some are hard. Some we expect and some shake us at our core. As we get older we expect our bodies to decline some over time. But as we get older, we are hardly ever ready to lose those closest to us who have accompanied us on our journeys so far. This week two people who I knew graduated from this realm of fragile life into the realm of everlasting life. So as I sat at my desk in my office this morning opening one of my devotionals, I found this on the page dated September 30th. "The peace of God is different than any other peace. It surpasses all understanding; it helps you to keep your composure. You are not shaken by earthly things. It is a deep peace, created by the knowledge of a living faith, which is the living principle of the foundation of all truth. Christ in in us, the hope and the evidence of glory." I don't understand why things sometimes happen the way they do. But even though I don't understand, I can still have the peace that passes all understanding. That is what Christ brings into our life. I don't know about you, but I need the peace that only Christ can bring in my life today!

Danger of Sunday's Message

One of the dangers of preaching on taking risks is that we will take the biggest risk of all and just file the message away and do nothing with what God has challenged us with. Chasing lions is about going after God's best. It is about being proactive, being offensive, and using what God has given you to impact the world around you. There are so many areas where we need to step out and take a risk. Husbands and wives need to risk more in their relationships by being more open and honest and actually talking and communicating. Bearing their souls at the risk of sounding crazy or even mushy. Parents talking to their kids, pushing beyond the normal conversations and risking finding out what is really going on in their children's lives. Using your gifts and talents to push the kingdom of God further into your own world. Their are lots of risks to take. There are lots of opportunities for you to move out of your safe zone. The question is, will you chase the lion, or will he chase you?

Feels like Fall

It was a nice labor day weekend. My parents were here which was nice. I have been noticing a change in the way the days feel lately. Starting to feel like fall. When I took the kids to school this morning I definitely noticed a change in the seasons. I think it is a good parallel to what I sense God is leading us to do this fall. The small groups are starting to form and God has given me a great series of messages that will begin this coming Sunday. One thing I have learned in planning is to never plan ahead of God. Always stay right with God and He will direct your next step. Also, something that is extremely important in planning is to never ever plan so much programming and structure that there isn't room for the spirit to move and cause growth. My desire is to not just be known as a Spirit-led or Spirit-filled church, but to be a Spirit excited church filled with Spirit-aware people!

Been awhile

It has been so busy and hectic this summer that I haven't made the time to blog like I should have. Notice I didn't say I didn't have the time, I did. I just did make the time. It wasn't one of my highest priorities. It could have been probably should have been, but I just didn't do it. I was reading the book of 1 john today. It's a good book. Speaks a lot on sin and how if we continue sinning we really aren't children of God. Talks a lot about anti-Christs and how to identify them. But it was the very last verse that grabbed at me. Here is what it says, "Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts." That grabbed me. Some translations say to keep away from idols. I like it better because an idol is a statue,something i can see, something that I can avoid. But when you look at idolatry from the standpoint of anything that takes God's place in your life, that is a little closer to home. The question for the day is, What is taking God's place in my life? People, relationships, things, jobs, pleasure, Me. Because in reality if we don't make a conscious effort to keep God in his place in our lives, he will fall down on our priority list like blogging did for me this summer.

Breathtaking!

My wife and I are in Colorado Springs today. I love the mountains. There are so inspiring and awesome to look at. They are a reminder of the faithfulness of God. Psalms 36:6 says "Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the ocean depths." I think God made both the oceans and the mountains to be spectacular and breathtaking. The same way God's rightouesness and justice should be for us.

Rain, Rain

Finally got a couple of good thunderstorms here today. Everything was so brown. Hopefully this will green everything up. Its amazing how I can water my yard and plants and they still have some brown in them. Then God causes it to rain and they perk right up. Wonder what God spikes his rain with. The kids games were cancelled tonight so I just used my Espresso machine and made myself a homemade cappuccino. Pretty good! Worked on Sunday's sermon most of the day today. It's entitled "Potential."

Whoops!

I realized I haven't blogged in awhile. Came home and fixed lunch for my kids and ate with them. They are swimming now. I am excited about this fall at church. I think God is really getting ready to do something if we will listen and be open to changing some things up. That word "change" always gets our defenses up. But without change, nothing good can happen. Mark Batterson talks about this in a way in his book ID:The True You. Basically we cannot have anything new until we are willing to allow the old to die. For instance if you want to go to college, the dream of high school has to die. If you want to get married, the single life dies. I feel like God is moving in the area of discipleship for me. How we do it, what it is not, what it should be. Read a lot of books on this lately. Simple Church, Breaking the Discipleship Code, Organic Church. Read Colossians, Ephesians, and will be reading Hebrews and 1 Peter to see what discipleship looked like in the first century church. What we need to adjust and improve. Also the way Jesus did ministry many times was so much different than how we do it today. Kicking around the idea of a coffeehouse. A lot of really great ideas, just need to have God put it all together. Can't wait! Exciting!

Tuesday

I spent the day today with my kids. Took them all golfing. One by one. I would take one for six holes and then trade and go get another for six and then trade again. I love my kids and find it hard to believe that they are growing up so fast. I am a pastor and know that my job is to take care care of the church I pastor. But all that is nothing if I don't take care of my my family first. Ten years from now my kids will more than likely all be out of the house pursuing their dreams and their lives. I don't want to miss these moments. There were many of things I could and should have been doing. But what I needed to do was spend time with my children.

Home Early

We had to cut our trip short this week due to me getting sick. I fought it as hard as I could but the dreaded Bronchitis got me again. So instead of me writing this from our room in Wichita, I am writing it from my dining room table. It is just one of those things that I have to trust God with. For some reason that I can't see right now, He wanted us home early. What's hard though is that I have a very difficult time resting when I am sick. As soon as I could see Ulysses from the car I started to mentally got through all things I need to get done. I just have to remember to let them go for the next few days. So my plan for these next few days is to rest, rejuvenate, and recover.

Kansas City

We have been at our District Council in K.C. this week. Great speaker yesterday for a workshop and the ordination service. Mark Batterson pastor of National Community Church in Washington DC. He wrote a book called In a Pit With a Lion On a Snowy Day. Great speaker and great message about chasing the lions in our lives. Instead of running from things an constantly being on defense in our lives, go on the offensive and chase the lions God is asking us too. Loved it! Last week we had water baptism at the local pool. We had 19 new baptisms. It is always a wonderful thing when people take that next step!

Back from Horn Creek

We got back from Horn Creek in Colorado last night. We spent Thursday through Saturday their with about 70 people in attendance. It was a great time. I had the flu so I didn't get to do all I wanted to do. I had the privilege of speaking on Thursday night. I used the illustration of a compass and how our lives are like a compass. My 3 points were:

1) You must have a fixed reference point.

2) Watch out for outside forces.

3) Keep your focus.

I had a great time doing it! On Friday night I showed a video called Indescribable by Louie Giglio. It is an awe inspiring message! I would recommend it for every single person. It reminds us of how big God really is and how small we really are.

One of Those Days

Do you ever have one of those days that you wish you could just go back and do all over again? Yesterday was one for me. Every pastor has a fear that he will stand up to preach and one of two things will happen. He will forget his sermon or forget his clothes and be standing berfore the congregation naked. Well yesterday one of those happened to me. No, it wasn't forgetting the clothes. It was the sermon. On Saturday night I made sure to change the clocks forward one hour before bed. Unfortunately, i think I forgot to turn my alarm on. When my wife yelled that it was 2 hours past our normal time to get up on a Sunday morning, that set the tone for the rest of the day. When I went to pull up my sermon on my computer a little later that morning, it was nowhere to be found. Gonzo! Somewhere out into cyberspace world I guess. If I knew where it went, I would have went and got it. So one hour before church was to start, I had nothing. The movie Groundhog Day came to my mind. Can I go back and start this day over again? Well I don't know about you, but I live in real world Kansas, not the land of OZ Kansas. So after getting my blood pressure down and stopping to think for a minute, I had a burning bush experience. This is not about me! The sermon, the cute PowerPoint slides, the videos, or even the words to speak. They are not mine. They are God's. Who am I to second guess God. If I truly believe that God is ALWAYS in control, then that means that even on a day when things don't go according to my liking, He is still in control. How many times do I miss what God wants to do because my plans have been messed with. How many times do I miss what God is ACTUALLY doing around me because my mind is still in the land of wishful thinking. Mark Batterson wrote about a similar thing in his book ID: The True You. I am going to paraphrase it; "How many people in Washington D.C. miss out on the grandness of the monuments because they have lived there so long. How many natives of Colorado miss out on the breathtaking view of the mountains because they are accustomed to them." How many people in western Kansas miss the sunsets because they have seen them a hundred times. How many times do I miss out on the new thing God wants to do because I have grown accustomed to way God has done things in the past. Mark Batterson goes on to say this; "The problem with God is this: He is so good at what He does that we tend to take Him for granted. He is so faithful. He is so available. He is so good. He is the ultimate constant so we take Him for granted." It is always sunrise and sunset somewhere in the world. Every moment of every day. The miracle never ends! What are you missing today because of your busyness? What is God doing around you that you are missing because your schedule got interrupted? Open your eyes and drink in what God is doing around you. Take a deep breath and relax because God is in control and you are not!