Fix it and Move Forward

I love riding my bike. I'm not talking about a Harley Davidson or a souped up hot rod. I'm talking about a 16 speed road bike that makes Memphis Tennessee feel like the Tour de France. Okay, maybe not quite but it's still one of my favorite hobbies. A few nights ago I decided that I was going to go on a ride for at least 20 miles and would not return home until my mission was complete. Everything was going well until I was 10 miles out and I heard the disturbing hiss of discouragement tempting me to give up on my goal. You've heard the hiss I'm sure...perhaps it came in the form of another bill that said that you'll never be able to get out of debt. Maybe it was the sound of an argument that tempted you to think that the best days of your marriage are behind you. Maybe it was the sound of bad news from your child that made you think that all of the things that you tried to teach them went in one ear and out of the other. There you were progressing through your goals when all of a sudden the wind is let out of your sails and you come to a halt. Psssssssssssssss... Stinks doesn't it?!

I don't know how you feel about yours but when I heard the hiss of disappointment coming from my tire that caused me to have to place my progress on pause I was tempted to give up on my goal and say, "at least I tried". I felt discouraged for a moment and thought about how much it stunk to have to sit on the side of the road in 90 degree heat fixing a tire with a swarm of mosquitoes adding insult to injury but before I allowed the negative to take over I decided to say "Praise God that I have a spare". With a quick breath of optimism and gratitude I commenced to repair the tire and finish the course that I had planned. In fact, I was able to add an additional 5 miles to my goal! Much in the same way, as you make plans to walk in the victory that you see in the Bible and hear about in church you will undoubtedly encounter challenges along the way and you will have a choice to make. You can either allow the frustration to bring you down or you can fix it and move forward. I chose the latter and I hope you'll do the same.

Guess What...

A few days ago my wife showed me a book that chronicled my niece's first year of life. Since she was celebrating her first birthday I guess my brother & sister-in-law thought now was as good a time as any to have a book made to depict her first memories. I agree. Although, as I looked through the book I made it about half way through and noticed something quite humorous...I didn't see any pictures of me in the book. I saw pictures of my niece (of course). I saw pictures of her parents. I even saw pictures of her parent's parents, but I didn't see me. In fact, I noticed pictures of events where I was present but my image was cropped out of the picture. I decided to call my sister-in-law to give her a piece of my mind (relax, I'm just kidding) but as I called to joke with her about cropping me out of the pictures I noticed one picture where I was in the background behind my niece. I had a cameo! Which brings me to the thought that I wanted to share with you.

As you walk through life attempting to serve God and love His people. As you pour yourself into ministry or in the efforts to make the world a better place you may look at the plans of God, the big picture, or who is getting the credit and within yourself, "I don't see me", "Or where am I in all of this". I know that it's not easy to admit that we look for our own benefit sometimes or consider how things will help us as we serve but the truth of the matter is sometimes we do. Since this is always a temptation we must be careful to remember what I had to keep in mind when looking at my niece's book...IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU! It's not about you getting the glory, it's not about you being the center of attention. It's not about people seeing you, celebrating you, or salivating over you. It's about using our lives to cause others to do these things for GOD. It's about doing what we can to help others to see the goodness and kindness of Jesus Christ. Much like my niece's book, this life is all about God. The "big picture" goal is to reveal His glory and when we get caught up in looking for ourselves and trying to get others to see us, we miss the purpose that God intended for our lives. Frances Chan said it best by saying "The point of our lives is to point to God." The point of my niece's book was to show the world my niece and the point of our lives is to show the world our God. If we will live our lives with this understanding the sky is the limit to how we can be used to demonstrate how awesome God truly is...and who knows, maybe with close examination, when it's all said and done we'll see ourselves in the background of the big picture as God gets more glory and be able to say, "Hey, there I am."

"May Pop!"

I'm sure you've felt the rattle and heard the thumping. The stressful rhythm of the bump, bump, bump that occurs when your tires are running low on tread. When I was 16 my father told me that this meant that you were riding on "may pop", meaning that they could pop at any moment. I have begun to hear the sound lately, in more ways than one. Yes, I am purchasing new tires for my car this week but this is only part of the problem. There is another area of my life that has been running low as well. It recently occurred to me that I have gone 5 years without taking a single vacation. It's not that the vacation time was not available but that in my great enthusiasm and tremendous ambition I have failed to use it. I told myself that the opportunities that I get to travel and share God's Word are all the vacation I need and while this has worked for quite a while I have started to hear the sound in my spirit that I am running low and "may pop" if the environment (or criticisms) were just right.

While I have been hearing the sound of needed rest ringing within for quite some time now it was not until this morning that I decided to head the warning. After leaving an excellent event at the church yesterday I laid down for a moment to rest and didn't wake up until it was time for church this morning (14 hours later). As I prepared for church I was reminded of Psalm 23 that says that "He maketh me to lay down beside still waters and He restores my soul..." and felt the conviction of God for not taking heed to His commands to rest. I believe that God has been repeating to me "Lay down for a moment and rest" over and over again for months and now I'm ready to listen. What about you? Have you been so wrapped up in your goals, responsibilities and dreams that you have forgotten to trust God and rest? Have you forgotten that even God used 6 days to create and reserved one day to rest? Have you forgotten that even Jesus would take time to break away from the crowd and spend time with God or have fun at a wedding? I had but I'm thankful for a God who "Makes me lay down beside still waters..." because He knows that I wouldn't have chosen to do so on my own. Just as my car will ride smoothly after I take the time to replace the tires, my soul will ride smoothly after I take the time to relax and recharge my spiritual & emotional batteries and I don't know about you but I'd rather take the moment to make that minor adjustment than to continue to ride around on "may pop".

More than Enough

Have you ever had the thought that if you just had a little bit more, that things would be better for you? Have you ever thought that if you could ever just get one step ahead, that would give you the momentum that you need to sustain your success? Have you ever thought that what you have to work with is not capable of accomplishing your dreams? I have. For me, this has prompted an endless pursuit of the newest hardware or the most cutting edge software to spread the good news about Jesus Christ but there's always a nagging feeling that what I have to work with is not enough to get it done. Maybe this hasn't been your experience but maybe you have been searching for a better job, better church, better position, or better network thinking that if you could just get there you'd have all that you need. It reminds me of the widow mentioned in the Bible in 2 Kings chapter 4. She had lost her husband and was facing debts that she could not meet. When she brought the issue to the Prophet Elisha he asked her an interesting question..."What do you have in your house?" When she said that she had some oil he told her to go borrow pots from those around her because God was going to multiply what she had. Perhaps this is how the LORD plans to meet your needs and fulfil the dreams He has placed in your heart. Maybe He wants to multiply what you have. Maybe we should stop looking at what we think we need and start to look at what we already have through the eyes of faith with the understanding that no matter how meager our present may look, God can use His power to transform it into a masterpiece. If you are anything like me, even after reading this article, part of you will still think that you need more to make your goal come to pass but I would encourage you to join me in believing that what God has placed in our hands is more than enough to bring His plans to pass when they are coupled with His supernatural power and our works of faith.

Part of the Process

I love fishing. Let me rephrase that, I love to catch fish. There's something invigorating about when you feel the tug on the line and see the fish coming near you as you pull it out of the water and into your hands. It makes all of the effort of obtaining a fishing license, buying bait and standing by the lake worth while. Although, this week I was reminded that there is an important process that takes place after the fish is caught before it can accomplish the purpose for which I caught it.

This past Sunday evening I pulled some fish out of the freezer so that my wife could work her wonders on the grill but before she could cook them I had to go through the long and often disturbing process of cleaning them. I'll admit that the process took longer than I thought and was messier than I had prepared for but it had to be done if we were going to see the fish fit into our plan. 1 fish, 2 fish, 3 fish and it started to get messy. 4 fish, 5 fish, 6 fish and the house began to smell like the world the fish came from. 7 fish, 8 fish and both the kitchen & I were covered in scales but I kept on cleaning and even though I was frustrated through the process the only alternative to pressing forward would have been to give up on the potential of the fish. After more than an hour of being covered in mess I was able to clean up and enjoy the fruits (or "fish") of my labor.

What does that have to do with new life in Christ? I'm glad you asked,as you and I come to Christ we receive eternal life in Him and the forgiveness of our sins but there are still areas of life that will be cleaned as a part of the process. This can be a messy & frustrating process at times. If you're anything like me you look at your life on occasion and say, "I can't believe I'm struggling with this", "I can't believe I did that", "I can't believe I said that" or "I can't believe I went there" and you get frustrated and perhaps even discussed with yourself wondering what is going on and how you can deal with this and still call yourself a "good Christian". I'd like to suggest that what you and I are experiencing is simply the cleaning process that God is taking us through to tear away the elements in our lives that He can't use so that a new us can emerge free from the scales (hard heads) and entrails (things that are inside that can taint us from being useful and pleasurable in God's sight).

In John 15:2 Jesus discussed how God prunes (or cleans) us so that we may be more fruitful so don't be discouraged when you endure times of challenge where old habits and practices are being pulled away. Perhaps God is pruning you and although it's frustrating and messy it's a part of the process that He has planned to prepare you for His purpose. Don't resist it,embrace it! It's a sign that He has a part for you to play in His plans. If we can trust that God knows what He's doing through the process, I believe we'll see that God knew the best way to get us to our destiny and it just may involve sitting us in a sink and pulling at all of the scales we used to hide behind.