Pity VS Compassion

Today my mind begins thinking through our culture as we seem to see more and more disaster, pain and death fill our world.  Much of our response is pity, feeling sorrow for an individual or group that is going through a hard time, yet we many times alienate ourselves away from the hurt that others are experiencing in their life.  I know our natural response is to embrace pity, especially with our lives as busy as they are and the pull we feel everyday with everyone wanting our time and energy.  This disastrous behavior leaves our world with less hope and more pain without experiencing the love and healing power of Christ in the midst of suffering.  I’m reminded of a scripture that says,

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”  – Matthew 25:35-36

This passage is speaking beyond the physical side of suffering.  I love what Mother Teresa says about this, Hungry not only for bread – but hungry for love. Naked not only for clothing – but naked for human dignity and respect. Homeless not only for want of a room of bricks – but homeless because of rejection.”  When we reach out in compassion – feeling the hurt that others feel and are willing to do something about the suffering, we bring the hope Christ to all mankind.

Lastly I believe this is a choice we must make.  Our emotions or our natural response will lead us to withdraw, but the call of God’s love must motivate us beyond our feelings and lead us to show compassion so that healing power of God may take place in people’s life.  I know this doesn’t always feel comfortable, but to share in the pain of others is to share in the pain that Christ went through for all of us, so that we may experience freedom in the the midst of suffering.  So the only thing left for each of us to do is to be watchful of who God is placing in our path, that we might stop and comfort those who are experiencing difficulty or pain in our world.  When we do this, each of us will experience the amazing grace of God.

Ministry VS Organization

As I was running this morning I took a pause and began talking out loud about Ministry VS sustaining an Organization.   So you can download a copy of my first attempts to podcast a short dialogue about this topic.  There is so much more to share about and to think through as followers of Christ.  We must all decide in our hearts where our focus is…people or keeping a organization functioning?  Here is the download!  Enjoy!

TrueLife Creativity Teams

Our TrueLife (TL) creativity team has been in the process of looking at what our DNA should be as Creativity Teams?  Through the process we have come up with “play ground rules” a manifesto of what will guide all of our creativity teams in the future.  The concepts that I love is that we give people within these teams a voice to share and to contribute to the bigger plan that God is doing in the midst of TL.  This opens the door to allow the church to function within their giftings and interact and reach the city through those giftings.  Where some church cultures suppress new ideas and innovation, TL creativity teams draw out new thinking (through those within the community) as it helps to build bridges to the culture, cultural creatives and through the process it develops community through our journey together.

I guess what motivates me secondly is God has a pathway within our community to shape and form us.  For ages churches  have been copies of other churches, people have thought; if I can only do what that “Big Church” is doing I will build a name for myself, but the reality is that we build a name within our communities by acting and functioning together as a community.  A place where people’s voice can be heard and a place to serve and share the gospel in a practical manner to the city that God has called each of us.

I guess I am sharing all of this just because I am excited to be in a place where I fit, I belong, and God can fulfill something special through our creativity teams.  I know we aren’t the perfect church, but as God directs… lives will be changed!

Lastly, I want to thank Mark for being obedient to allow this concept of creativity teams to be part of our community.  It is a joy to serve with you!

Mom’s Wisdom

This morning I started reading through the book of Proverbs.  I first read it, then as I took my morning run I listened to an audio version of the 1st chapter and finally I stopped running and walked.  As I began walking I took time to pray  the passage back to God and finally too listen to what He was speaking into my life.  I love what my friend Mark says about our pace in life, ‘we need to slow down and become less busy’ – not an exact quote.  Slow down to hear the voice of God and also time to receive what He has for our lives.  Let’s read a portion of this passage together and maybe God will speak something special to you too.

^1-6 These are the wise sayings of Solomon, David’s son, Israel’s king— Written down so we’ll know how to live well and right, to understand what life means and where it’s going; A manual for living, for learning what’s right and just and fair; To teach the inexperienced the ropes and give our young people a grasp on reality.  There’s something here also for seasoned men and women, still a thing or two for the experienced to learn— Fresh wisdom to probe and penetrate,
the rhymes and reasons of wise men and women.

⁷ Start with God—the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning. ⁸ Pay close attention, friend, to what your father tells you; never forget what you learned at your mother’s knee.  Wear their counsel like flowers in your hair, like rings on your fingers.

Proverbs 1:1-8 (The Message)

The first thing I love about this passage is God’s saying that everything that you need for your life and to be successful is already written down.  Read and put it into action daily and you will experience it!  The truth is…none of us was born with all the knowledge need for our life, so we must seek after it if we are going to experience God’s best for our lives.  I know there are times when we think that we have all the answers, but this is called adolescence – the time in our life where we have very little experience to back up our knowledge.  I think many of us – including myself, revert back to acting in this manner where we go off to pursue our plans; thinking we know exactly what we need to do, but we end up disappointed or depressed due to our lack of success.

One of the first places that Solomon encourages us to start with is a humble heart.  Sometimes it is out of disappointment that we end up humble and ready to listen to God’s wisdom.  He goes on to say, listen to what your father taught you and what you learned from your mother.   So because Mother’s Day is this weekend, I prayed and meditated on this passage thinking back to the things my mother taught me.  Some of it was learned as she held me on her lap swinging me on our swing reading books to me after I would get home from school, while other things I learned in passing as she lived her life.  Here are a few things that I have learned from my mom:

The value to read God’s Holy Word, to pray, and to truly seek after God until you hear his voice! She also instilled in me to work hard and give your best at everything that you do, to listen and empathize with people, to be committed to your home and family, to love your spouse, be people of integrity, to stand strong in the mist of difficulty and to serve.  I wasn’t raised in a perfect home, but God placed me in this home to develop me and shape me and mold me into who I am today.

For some of us we may need to revisit what you  learned as a child because scripture goes on to say…”wear their counsel like a flower in your hair and rings on your fingers.”  This is making a choice to embrace the fullness of God’s wisdom and to daily apply those values in our life.

Do you want to be successful in your life?  Seek after God’s wisdom, relearn what you have been taught and apply it to your life.

Free AudioBooks

Since I started Church Planting my life has been on the go and 85% traditional book reading has been put to the side for this season.  The great part of technology is that we can listen to books as our life is on the go.  Well I wanted to share a great audiobook that I downloaded for free…Tribal Leadership.  Click on the link and enjoy! (Registration is required – but it is worth it!)

If you know of any other free running/biking, business (Free business audio/video downloads ) or ministry audiobooks please let me know.

28 Days in Colossians – God is…

Our church is going through Colossians together and today is my day to write out our scripture verse that we are making part of our memory.  So here it goes…

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. Colossians 2:9-10

This passage unfolds a true that we don’t need to look far into the universe for.  Many people are trying to figure out who God is and even ask themselves, does he really exist; and this passage plainly declares that Christ is the complete image of who God is to mankind.  There is no guess work involved!  When we see the compassion of Christ – we see that God is extending His love, when we see in scripture Christ stops to listen to man’s request – we see God is forever desiring to take care of all of our needs.  God is the one who is in control of everything and He gave Christ to us to show us that He is a personal God who will continue to use His power and authority through mankind.

This is practically is played out in our everyday life when we realize that though our world may fall apart, we still have peace because our economy and security is based on who God is, not on what happens to us.    Christ is…the complete image of the Godhead and is the head over every power and authority in our lives!  So therefore if our trust is in God who hears our cries and has plans to prosper us and not to harm us.  We have much hope!  Walk in His hope that He is with you and He is everything that you need in life!

For more on the 28 Days in Colossians check our Mark’s blogg and download the users guide.

Pocket Theology – Salvation

TrueLife has started a new message series entitled, “Pocket Theology.”  One of the main points through this series is thinking through our theology and learning how to carry it with us in our everyday life.

“What you talk through on Sunday and how it walks on Monday.”

Our first focus is the theology of salvation – the continual supply of  God’s provision for our life.  This provision is not based on our perception of what God can and can’t do, but rather on His unlimited ability to provide any and everything that we need in our life.  We must understand that God is available, even if we emotionally don’t believe or understand it yet.

1.  The best way for  this to walk in our life on Monday is through asking God to be part of the area(s) of our life that we have need. This could be our relationships, personal life, daily circumstances or our personal relationship with Him – spiritually.  This is like opening a conversation with a friend and asking for help.  So we do the same thing with God, just approach God through prayer and ask Him to help you in the specific area of need.

2. Give God access to the place of need.  I do this by just asking God for His wisdom and direction in those areas of my need.  As we do this, we give God direct access to help us and allow Him to bring His provision to our needs.  We also need to have the willingness to allow change to accure in those areas.  This is sometimes one of the first steps that must happen for God’s provision to take place in our life.  We may need to reposition ourselves and how we respond in our need and our relationship to the need – changing our attitude and allowing God be the mediator for us, instead of us dealing with it our way.  For some of us the need has haunted us so long that we have unintentionally became the guardian of the need, we want relief, but we are so tied to the pain we have a hard time letting go.

3.    “The Process of  Salvation is sometimes mysterious.”   As we follow through on His direction, we sometimes see immediate results, but I have noticed that when I wasn’t expect it, God’s hand of provision was faithful to provide for me.  Even when the answer to the need wasn’t  resolved in the same way that I charted out in my mind.  He sometimes uses unexpected people, circumstances and we get the honor to just sit back and watch everything unfold as He unveils His master plan for our life.

For some of us, we may be skeptical about God’s Salvation, but just remember that this big word is something small that each of us can carry with us.  I would like to encourage everyone to pull out God’s Salvation in the small and large matters in our life.  God desires to be in relationship with us and He desires to provide for us in “all” areas of our world.

So this week, let us not limit God’s ability, but rather give him all of our needs.  As everything in our life is yielded to Him, He can then express his unlimited love…making Himself available for you.  He is everything that you need – He is Salvation!  To hear more on this topic go to http://mytruelife.org go to media or check out Mark’s blog at http://blog.mytruelife.org

Life Goals

I’ve been thinking through my life goals. One thought I have been asking myself has been, what things do I want to achieve before I die? I know that it is a huge question for many people. Some of the categories I am thinking through are:

-travel- places I want to visit
-dates- memories I want to make with Jen
- physical goals-this is health, fitness and long term care for my life
-foods- foods I have never experience that would be exciting to try.
-cultural- this the arts, dancing, and the like.
-spiritual goals- for me, this is leaving a spiritual legacy
-financial- this covers short term and long term, even thinking through passing on finances to my child and my grandchildren.
-education- growing intellectually
-family – thinking through family experiences, parenting, and spiritual growth

My favorite quote that goes well with life goals is by Dave Ramsey, “When you choose to live like no one else; one day; you will be like no one else.”

I know this is a lot to think through, but out of this thought, I have begun to experience things in my life that I would have never pursued unless I had challenged myself to think outside of myself. Sometimes we just exist to be what is offered to us in life, instead of pushing ourselves to experience new challenges.

This year instead of making a new years resolution for 2009, I’m asking myself, what life goals am I going to pursue this next year? So I leave you with the same question, what life goals are you going to pursue in 2009?

Conquering My Writers Block

Well I finally have a couple of minutes to post something on my blog and now I am having a blog writer’s block.  I know that no one else has this problem.  I read the best way to overcome writers block is to write, so here I go….

I have been crazy busy lately working on TrueLife, family and personal goals and when I do have a minute left to do something I feel the need to do nothing!  So here is a couple of updates on my life:

#1: I am still running!  Yeaaa!  I will run my 6 mile goal this week if all goes well.  I wanted to already run it this weekend, but I haven’t motivated myself to get back into the routine.  Here are a couple things that I do to keep me motivated as I run:

- listen to running podcast ( Trilogy, 4 Feet Running, and 2 Gomers are the main ones I listen to.)

- I have a running log ( I got a copy from this site: http://thinnmann.com/runlog.htm)

- I Facebook my progress, this keeps me accountable.

- My number one motivation is one of my Life Goals.  I want to live to be 80 years old (It will be year 2054 – yeaa)  I know that God may change this goal, I may live to be older or younger, but at least I have a target and a plan in place now!

#2: Church Planting is going great at TrueLife Church!  God has brought an amazing team of people together and that has been a blessing!  Our leadership team has been working on 2009 plans and with that comes a huge task list.  It can be scary to look at everything we are planning on 09, but the exciting part is what God is doing through the things that are happening within our community.

#3: I think the hardest part of my life right now is having a limited time to spend with the family.  They have been troopers, and we all have been creative in how we use our time together.  We all had a wonderful Thanksgiving together and made great memories as we put the Christmas tree up and decorated the house.

I think the next time that I l write, I will write about is some of my life goals that I have been thinking through this year. (I have broken my blogger’s writers block!)  So I want to encourage you to think through what goals do you want to achieve with the limited time that God has given you?  Until next time:0)

Stage 1 Running

I have not posted for a while and I thought I would talk about my physical life.  I have recently started running and I must say it has been fun.  I know most people that hear that statement do not equate running and fun together, but I have truly enjoyed it.  I have been running 1.4 miles for almost 2 weeks and next week I start my 2.4 mile run.  I am still in the process of mapping this out, so I don’t have a lot of details.  My strategy as for now is to add 1 mile every two weeks until I hit 5 miles.  Then I will assess and plan out my next steps. 

Since I have began running I feel great and I am starting to lose more weight.  In September I set a weight goal to lose 5 pounds each month through the new year.  Then in January I will assess my progress and my next step.  I am only 28 pounds away from my ideal weight for my body type, so with the right diet and exercise I should meet my ultimate goal by spring. 

In the midst of losing wieght and running I have set a life goal to run in a marathon.  I am taking this in stages at this point.  At the end of January I am planning to be part of the Krispy Kreme Challenge, this is  where runners and non runners run 2 miles eat 2 dozen doughnuts and then run back another 2 miles….I’m not sure if I can pull off the eating part, but I should be able to run the 4 miles by then.

If you’re running I’d love to hear what running goals you have set for yourself.  Keep running…..