things I learned today by listening instead of speaking

This morning in our Connection Church gathering, we gave four guys in our church 10-12 minutes to each share a message out of the overflow of their relationship with God. Each swung at it hard, and so many were immensely blessed because of it. Even tonight as I took part in a "Learning Community" our church is offering I heard some of the chatter about how people were impacted.

Sometimes you need to step back from what you do in order to hear what you would have spoken over.

I said...

Sometimes you need to step back from what you do in order to hear what you would have spoken over.

Today, Patrick Campbell helped me hear:

• God is in the habit of being "with" people. John 1:1 reveals that it is His nature, for He he has been "with" Himself in community as a Holy Trinity since before time began. (Even as I type that, I know that I am merely scratching the surface of understanding that.) He dared me to pray... not so that I can pray, but so that I can open my life up to God instead of forgetting to and gutting out life on my own.

Today, Mike Whipple helped me hear:

• Delighting myself in the Lord isn't a cool catchphrase - it's what I do when I don't want to delight myself in the Lord. As an example, memorizing Scripture isn't easy, and we will either slack off because it's "too hard" or choose to delight ourselves in the Lord to a new growth point. We have to be careful, for the first sin humanity committed occurred when we decided to delight ourselves in ourselves and give ourselves what we thought was the desires of our heart.  We got it wrong then, and still get it wrong today.

Today, Ryan Collins helped me hear:

• There are two common stories people live in politically - one is labeled "Republican," and the other is "Democrat." We will post things online or rant in life about whatever furthers our sense of how the story should turn out, while demonizing "the other side" on a daily basis. What if instead we lived in a deeper Story - one that is highly political yet completely non-partisan? What if instead of setting up kingdoms on this earth we can rule, we lived for the Kingdom of God that He already does rule?

Today, Bryan Alonzo helped me hear:

• What it sounds like to "SHOUT." Not in an obnoxious way, but in a caring proclamation of truth kind of way. I can settle for shouting my ideas or theology at the world, but what if instead I simply shouted out to God and proclaimed with my life a clarity of who He is. Not because of my volume, but because of the "volume" of who He is.  Could my life become a GPS that others use to find their way back to their true destination? Might others say, "Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: 'Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.'"

All of this learning underscored my firm sense that every person in this world has a "sermon" in them, and by that I don't just mean presenting in a church service but in the way we get to speak directional God-sized truth into the lives of each other. It's like a ringback you hear when you call someone and end up tapping your foot to what they've set up for you to listen to. We can set that ringback up to be something that annoys others, or something that changes the world.

I'm honestly looking forward to living all of this out this week... to either find a new victory, or fail miserably while delighting myself in the Lord in the process.

"But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." (Psalm 1:2)

a few too many spare ribs at the president?

Apparently, the "first family" made a big boo-boo. They're being accused of having double-standards when it comes to how they live and eat.

Read about it here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1358829/Obamas-double-standards-family-holidays-telling-Americans-to.html

First off, my comments as follows are not intended to be political ones. Let's be honest - most of the commentary on this stems less from the issue, and more if you voted for or against the President.

Again... be honest on this.

Then there is the issue itself, which is a hard line to walk... for us, and for the President.


On our end, we have to be cautious about what we see versus what actually is. I'm not a President, but as a pastor I often have people looking at my choices without context. For example, I once had a family in the church tell me that they didn't think I should have taken my family on a vacation because they "pay my salary" and weren't in a position to take a vacation themselves. (Ironically, I paid for the vacation through a writing job I took on.) It's like the old joke that says, "I don't mind what kind of car a pastor drives, as long as it's worse than mine."

We do this with politicians and celebrities all the time. There is a standard we hold them to, and in some ways... rightfully so. On the other hand, we don't realize how hard it is for someone to be a President, let alone to have their kids under the pressure of public scrutiny.

A friend of mine is in the public eye and recently made a decision to switch jobs. The online chatter about it is nothing short of viscous, which I'm hoping the family hasn't read or heard. Comments as petty as, "Who did _____ have sex with to get that job?"

Seriously.

And... seriously?


On the President's end, he does need to exercise healthy judgment. The choices he makes will speak louder than the speeches he gives. Granted, no one knows what it's like to be in his shoes - even past Presidents had unique circumstances that made their jobs unique. Many got wore down fast - just look at President Bush's physical weariness after 9/11.

Yet none of that is an excuse to go off the deep end. Even splurging needs to have boundaries, whether you stretch to turn your McDonalds sandwich into an "extra value meal," or decide to upgrade your rental car experience to include satellite radio. I'm not sure we know enough about the Obama's private financial information or nutritional plan to know if their splurge is a healthy one, or completely unhealthy.

Per Michelle's choices, they are unfortunately amplified - she has taken a public stance on something, and therefore has invited the criticism. Maybe this is why people are afraid to look decisive anymore... we've become a culture that is ready to pounce instead of encourage. Ever thought how that plays out in your life?

Perhaps the Obama's have double-standards after all... or maybe their standards are just like our own that we refuse to see. Again, have you ever splurged on something... only the camera crew wasn't there to capture it? Or if someone did witness it, are you sure they understood your choice?

Granted, sometimes our splurging isn't healthy. I struggle to see people spend money on addictions, such as tobacco and liquor, instead of getting their household into a healthier place. It can even be in our entertainment choices - we may spend way too much money on cable, movies, or our cell phone features.

We're quick to defend our sense of entitlements, though. But we need to take a better look at our own inconsistencies. It's one of the reasons why our church works hard to offer financial counseling and other support so that this doesn't have to be the case.

Yet as I stated earlier, too much of this particular issue is going to be filtered through our personal politics. For every, "Yeah, but..." you may offer, I simply ask, "Do you really know the context of their choices, or merely the coverage of it?"

After all, this isn't a post about the Obama family, nor Rush Limbaugh. That would be too easy. We could criticize them all day without ever having to change ourselves.

Because this is a post about you and I. Let's do some personal growing before we cast the first stone... and let's remember that we are quick to react instead of respond. Maybe we can stop "ribbing" on each other, for it gives us one less bone to pick.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:3-4)

do you see what they see?

It's easy to snap your fingers at others and demand everyone accept you for who you are. After all, we live in a world that says you are to push back on any constructive words someone offers you.

It is far more productive, however, to actually grow in uncomfortable ways.

Not to appease others, but because we all have blind spots that others can see more clearly than we can.

Granted, sometimes other people don't know what they're talking about.

More often, though, we claim that merely as an excuse to do as we want, and not as we ought.

So... which will it be today?

If you aren't sure, think about who you are mad at... versus instead of using that energy to be madly working at what they've pointed out.

"Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses." (Proverbs 27:6)

woo-hoo!

Pretty stoked about this - just found out fifteen minutes ago that this is now live on Amazon.com and is being shipped to stores today.


The Miracles Of Jesus: A 30-Day Devotional for Students by Tony Myles and Seth McCoy

the tension of my tensions

Ah...

to be clever, or to be humble;
to be right, or to get right;
to win the day, or remember the battle;
to be served, or to serve.

And once I decide, to in the next moment wonder,
"to be clever, or to be humble;
to be right, or to get right;
to win the day, or remember the battle;
to be served, or to serve."

a friday quote: rich mullins on hypocrisy

"I remember, you know, you go to these parties on Saturday night and people would say, about 8:00 on Sunday morning 'Whoa, I have to go - I gotta get to church!' 

People would say, 'Why do you want to go to church, all those hypocrites?' 

And I say, 'Look, why do I want to stay here with all you hypocrites?'

I never knew why going to church made you a hypocrite. They'd say because you go to church and you're all 'Holy, Holy, Holy' for two or three hours, and then you go home and sin. I'd say 'exactly!' For two or three hours you're doing pretty good! 

Maybe the problem isn't that you go to church, maybe the problem is that you go home! 

I never understood why going to church made you a hypocrite either, because nobody goes to church because they're perfect. If you've got it all together, you don't need to go. You can go jogging with all the other perfect people on Sunday morning 

Every time you go to church, you're confessing again to yourself, to your family, to the people you pass on the way there, to the people who will greet you there, that you don't have it all together. And that you need their support. You need their direction. You need some accountability, you need some help." 

- Rich Mullins