Jesus wants to be there for you, not from a distance, but right next to you! He desires to be with you every waking moment of every day, and in every circumstance!
Tag: Journey
…ATTITUDE…
If you are alive on this earth, you have heard the world attitude. You have had to adjust your attitude. You have been on the recieving end of a person that needed to have an attitude adjustment, and if you are like me, you may have felt inspired to the “instrument” that God was going to use to make that adjustment (We have to “SLOW OUT ROLE” when that happens). Attitudes are in everybody, every day, every where, and in every circumstance!
16 years ago, I came across an addage that I had forgotten until recently. Here it is…
What makes life 100%? If
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.
Then,
K N O W L E D G E – 11 14 15 23 12 5 4 7 5 = 96%
H A R D W O R K – 8 1 18 4 23 15 18 11 = 98%
But,
A T T I T U D E – 1 20 20 9 20 21 4 5 = 100%
Now that is pretty powerful wouldn’t you say! I believe that Jesus lived His life in this principle. The Apostle Paul, saw this through his encounters with Jesus and developed this “thesis” the more and more he wrote about Jesus. Look at Paul’s thoughts on this in the book of Phillipians…
Philippians 2 (NLT) – Have the Attitude of Christ
1 Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.
3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.When he appeared in human form,
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
I know right now in my own personal life, the more I shift my eyes off of myself; then shift them to Jesus and to other people, I notice something…
MY ATTITUDE AUTOMATICALLY ADJUSTS FOR THE BETTER!
As a matter of fact, John C. Maxwell said this about attitudes… “When our attitude outdistances our abilities, the impossible is possible!”
So here is to Life at 100% – ATTITUDE!!!!!!!
ICE at Easter
Jesus Identifies, Confirms, and then Employs!!!
Special Forces…
I grew up in a military family. I was surrounded by men and women who have served and protected our country. For the better part of the my first 25 years of life, I learned words like honor, code, respect, and valor.
In being around those men and women, one thing I saw everyday was the ability to follow orders that radically changed life’s trajectory. I said goodbye to friends, watches families leave safety and security and learned to deal with good-byes (which aren’t very fun today). I had to learn to trust in the silence of not always knowing or hearing the answer or understanding it.
Then I read this 3 verse passage and realize that all of those lessons learned aren’t just a military family’s mindset, but a set of values learned by ones that truly set out to accomplish the will of God! The desire to set a person helped, a family saved, and city radically impacted through the Gospel of Christ!
“It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.”
Hebrews 11:8-10 NLT
Abraham desired a city that was set upon the foundations of God! Wow! Abraham was a form of God’s Special Forces…going to a foreign place, setting up a value that was unknown before he arrived, then putting into motion a new way of living.
I desire that! I live in a place that was established as a town in 1764. Before modern conveniences, before modern military practices, before the realization that our world was going to have to go through several revolutions before God would send His Son Jesus back for a His people. So my calling, my passion, and my life’s work is to establish that eternal city right here in Winchendon, Ma.
That means I have to train, study, build trust, pray, serve, obey – I get to live my life in a way that tells everyone I have been placed here for a purpose that far surpasses our ability to understand the natural causes of order and man’s cumbersome path to God. I get to set the peace and love and grace and forgiveness of Christ right in my own town. I get to be a standard bearer for righteousness and for salvation in my little town. Values that go hand and hand with values I learned in the military family of honor, code, respect, and valor.
Would you join me to saluting the Savior of the World Jesus, by longing for the city of eternal foundations, by living your life worthy of the call of our – King of Kings and Lord of Lords – Jesus!
I’m all in, are you?
P.S. To the men and women of our US Armed Services – Thank You for putting your life on the line for our freedom! You truly are the best! I pray for you, I remember you, I Honor you, and I am GRATEFUL for you and your families!
With the Lord’s Help
Gen. 4:1, “Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the Lord’s help, I have produced a man!”
Genesis 4:1 NLT
With the Lord’s help!
I have read this so many times, and it truly just jumped off the page!
Perhaps as parents, we begin to not rely on God’s help when raising our children. It all started with His help, and then somewhere we take it away from Him help and try to do it in our strength.
Lord, teach me not to do it on my own, but in those 18-20 short years of mega influence on my kids, to be a dad that stays in the midst of your strength not my own!
Our life of 12 Stones!
My family starts our journey to our new home back in MA today. It has been a year long journey with many more upsides than downsides. So many people have come alongside our family and have helped set up these stones with us to remember what God has done!
As we start “our” new, our desire is to remember where we have come from and not forget that God is the one that got us this far! The dreams and victories, along with the valleys and hard times are all part of what God has for all of us. The journey was sweet and hard, great and vigorous, blessed and challenging, but worth it all! We are so grateful to God!
Today we think of the the twelve stones that Joshua set up in the river, he said something really amazing…
“Let these stones be a reminder to the next generation of when God…”
Our prayer for us and for you today…
“God let our lives be stones of remembrance for all people to see and remember that God Can and He Will because we remember when He did!”
Putting Feet to Faith…
I was recently in a conversation with a group of Christ Followers, the conversation lent itself to going inward as a Christ Follower. The statement was made that we as Christ Followers need to put “Feet to our Faith”. I thought about this statement a lot over the last couple of weeks. Then today, it came into perspective for me in a real and authentic way…
Today, after my family went to church together this morning to “1st Service”, I headed over to a different church across town. 2nd service was at a completely new and fresh church, that I have never been to ever. This visit was inspired simply because one of the young men in my very first small group ever, is now on staff. I was in his world today, not my world. All of a sudden I was back in 1994, hanging with Jr. High kids, showing up at their games, See You At The Pole, hauling these kids from one end of Omaha to the other. It was right today. It was good today.
I got to simply watch one of “my kids” flourish in the ministry that Jesus had given him, using gifts Jesus has given him; simply to spread the Gospel in a different part of our “small” nearly 1,000,000 people Metro-plex! It was awesome! Ironically, the Pastor that preached, used the title – “Defining Moments”. I couldn’t help but think that today was another “Defining Moment” in my journey.
You see those long nights of Jr. High Ministry paid off. This young man is living his dream in worship and music, and he is in love with Jesus as much as ever. My heart left “2nd Service” full and happy; satisfied that my life was and is still being used for the Gospel of Jesus Christ! A quick reminder of what Paul said…
Acts 20:24 (NLT), “But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God!”
All the small groups, the Sunday School classes, the parties, the all-nighters, the drives, the retreats, the Cokes, and maybe even an ice cream cone or two. They were all worth it . They were clearly the feet to the faith in those early years of serving students in my home church. Good years, strong years; years that I wouldn’t exchange for anything! Years that I am grateful to have shared with some awesomely talented and called students!
Drew, thanks for keeping your feet to the Faith that you learned about years ago. It is incredible watching you do ministry with Passion and Love! I am so proud of you and even more grateful to be able to watch in this time in your life! I Love You Bro!
Jesus, thank you for helping me to learn that sometimes my feet have to log a few miles, but it is worth it – to see Faith walking on! I Love You! Thank you for loving me! And thank you for loving Drew! Thanks for using us both in different ways, at different times; but nevertheless the Faith we share has feet and is still to this day walking!
Your Clock and Your Compass…or His?
I worked for a pastor many moons ago, that I learned to truly appreciate him after I no longer worked for him. He was like a tough coach that wouldn’t let you slack on things, he pushed me beyond my limits to show me where I could go. He pushed me to more like Christ and I didn’t always see it or understand it. Years later, I often go back and read the notes from his sermons, staff meetings, and other things he taught and wrote. They all transport me back to a certain message that I heard him speak years ago, “The Clock and The Compass”. It is a lesson that I have referred to often, quoted from, and shared with others. It marked me so much, I now have a little travel clock and a compass that sits on a shelf in my office to remind me of the God’s Timing and God’s Direction for my life!
This morning, a young lady that I know and really love watching her grow in her faith, wrote the following… “God is writing your story and He is a very good author!” I couldn’t agree more Abby, thanks for the reminder! I thought to myself this morning when I read that, “He is also a pretty excellent map maker or adventure guide or roller coaster developer”.
As a matter of fact, the older I get, I tend to think God wants us to be quite the thrill seekers! You see, we cannot do “our thing” as Christ Followers unless we are completely dependent on Him. To be honest, most of the time I think I/We all have trouble with this. We hate not being able to see the “end of the line”, the reason or purpose, or how about just the next turn. It all seems to venture back to what our clock reads and what direction our compass is set on. We don’t like not being in control of the map, the story, the clock or the compass.
You see though, that’s the problem. Life is not about our clock and compass, it is about His clock … 2 Peter 3:8, “… a day is as a 1,000 years to the Lord, and 1,000 years is like a day.” and His compass… Ps. 25:4&5, “Make me know your ways, O Lord; Teach me your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me. For You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day.”
Interesting thing about His compass… the above passage says ‘for You I wait all the day‘. Sometimes we don’t know which way, but we will wait. But then when we pay attention to His time, well that being said… 1,000 years…He may have us wait a while for the direction. Talk about the wait!
Question… “Is a wait that long – worth it?”
To answer – while you and I are not in the wait – FOR SURE IT IS WORTH IT!
To answer – while you and I are in the wait – most of the time we say – THAT’S A REALLY LONG WAIT! MAYBE THERE IS A DIFFERENT ANSWER!
Now… enter a thought that crossed my mind as I think of Pastors’ talk on the Clock and Compass…A thought that holds my attention as I contemplate my own questions concerning His Clock and His Compass…A thought of truth, seasoned with matter of fact and freedom all in the same thought…
We should realize that everything we go through, everything we learn, every place that we end up at, everything that we find ourselves walking through; they all help our clock and our compass. Our timing and our direction are all so very important not just to us, but more importantly to HIM – the greatest Map Maker of all time – the greatest Author ever. All of these stops, delays, pesky little journeys, and destinations – they have certain deadlines and reasons, certain u-turns and moments, certain people and places that have significance for you and I. We potentially have yet to determine all of their significance… simply because His Timing and His Direction aren’t part of a story that He is writing…they are the story He is writing…and He is a Great Author!
And remember that Great Authors don’t give away the end of the story until the end of the book…
…TO BE CONTINUED…
The Sooner, The Better!
Earlier this fall, my family and I were blessed with a trip to Florida. So many things happened to us along the journey, I could write about them for days. But I would like to share with you an amazing moment.
We were taken to a restaurant at Disney’s Wild Kingdom, it is a restaurant showcasing the cousine of South Africa and the influences of food culture from around the world there. After the meal, we walked out to the center grounds of the restaurant and hotel. You see it was built with a large center courtyard. In the courtyard roamed Giraffes, Wildabeasts, Birds, Water Buffalo, Huge Tortoises, various kinds of “Deer”, beautiful “African” Landscape – it was truly awesome.
While we were gazing, a young man who worked for Disney came to us and began to talk about his home country of Botswana. He was in his young 20’s and very smart and educated. His name translated to English meant Days. As Days was talking about his country, I asked a very simple question – “Is Botswana a Christian or Muslim Nation?” Days response was priceless. He looked at my family and my friends family and said, “There is only one true religion, and that is a personal relationship with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords – and His name is Jesus!” To meet a brother from Botswana – INCREDIBLE!
We stood there and prayed together and laughed and hugged! It was like a family reunion! Then something amazing happened. He told my wife and I to look up the verse Ex. 23:20. Not knowing our particular circumstances in life right then, it was like Jesus was reading our mail.
Brought to tears, we were totally awe struck that God would take us over 1,300 miles to speak into our lives. I guess we shouldn’t, but both honored and loved by our Heavenly Father is sometimes breathtaking!
The journey my family is on is still not solid. All of questions and fear of the unknown, but this I know and I am confident of – I AM has prepared a way and will not leave us alone!
For I know this…
“I AM” will protect you and I! “I AM” will lead you and I! “I AM” has a promise for you and I, that He will lead you and I to a place that He has prepared for for us. And He will do it Safely! As we follow Him, love Him, trust Him, and obey Him – watch “I AM” do amazing things in our lives!
It is really simple – Follow Him, Love Him, Trust Him, Obey Him – and then WATCH Him!
Not sure where you are on your journey today. If you are like me you may feel a million miles away from that beautiful spot that you long to be. Just know this, you are not alone! So why not start your new journey today to the place that He has prepared for you! The sooner the better!