"I am busy because I am lazy. I indolently let others decide what I will do instead of resolutely deciding myself...If I vainly crowd my day with conspicuous activity or let others fill my day with imperious demands, I don't have time to do my proper work, the work to which I have been called. How can I lead people into the quiet place beside the still waters if I am in perpetual motion?"
The past two weeks have been intensely emotional. I have been angry, I’ve been sad, I’ve been happy every time I’ve heard my wife’s voice or my son’s cry. But deep inside there has been a quiet contentment that isn’t controlled by my emotions, not by my circumstances, but by something simple. My contentment has rested solely in what I have claimed to have had as the center of my very existence, but I have failed to understand contentment until the last 2 weeks.
The idea of joy, contentment, or even happiness is just that, an idea or a dream if the center of our lives isn’t firmly set on Christ. The dreams that I have dreamed have all but died or at least the road that I would have chosen to achieve them have shifted dramatically, and yet there is a peace that I am just where I should be. I have a history of becoming restless, seeking for the next thing, the next idol built in my honor. Today I have no fear of tomorrow, for I finally understand that tomorrow can worry about itself. We are being made today for what we will be and what we will do tomorrow.
If we are always looking forward, or even from side to side, thinking that the grass must be greener on the other side we miss the point of abundant life. When Christ said he came to give abundant life he said that joy and contentment would be the fruit of that abundant life, but that cannot exist without an understanding of our security in Christ. When we allow ourselves to place our fears about tomorrow at his feet we then begin to rest in the peace and security that is found in his arms.
The Christian has no right to ask the destination, it is the job of the Christian to daily submit to the sovereign will of God. If we do this the destination is sure and the outcome a success.
What a Christmas it is. We were blessed this week with the most amazing Christmas gift we've ever received. Gabriel Thomas was born 12/20 at 3:47PM. He was 7lbs 9ozs. 20 1/4 inches long and drop dead gorgeous.
Thank you all so much for your prayers throughout the past year. Please continue to pray for strength, health, and most importantly that Gabriel grow to know Christ and His abundance and grace more with each day that passes.
'It is the most ungodly and dangerous business to abandon the certain and revealed will of God in order to search in to the hidden mysteries of God.'
Martin Luther
If you don't have the right to fail and you are constantly being protected from failure, you can never truly succeed.
God does not basically give grace because there is a need, but God gives grace because He is a gracious God. - Johnnie Foglander
My beautiful wife Katie
My gorgeous son Gabriel who I have not yet had the privilege to meet
Wonderful, God fearing parents who weren't afraid to raise a son in the way he should go
Friendship that extends from the past well into the future
Men who stand in my life as mentors and friends who aren't afraid to speak truth
The opportunity to do life together with men and women who seek passionately after the ways of the Kingdom
A life that I do not deserve
A Savior that made it possible to live abundantly now and forever
Joy
Sovereign Hands, that guide, protect, provide, and comfort
The opportunity to speak to my generation
The blessing of knowing that I am His
The freedom to dream
Renewed Vision for my life, my family, my friends, the world
The Church spread throughout the world, living out daily the Glory of Christ
I am thankful, I am undeserving, I am humbled.
Living for others, is a means of grace. We give because of our faith, and it deepens as we give. If we permit ourselves to give casually, we are really teaching contempt.
Did anyone else watch 60 Minutes tonight? Especially the segment on the "Millenials"? My generation is seemingly pathetic. Work ethic seems to have been replaced with entitlement. As a leader I am appalled by my peers, get off your butts, turn off your IPods and get your hands dirty. Future CEO? Hardly.
Fortune 500, please do not hire my generation until it learns to work and enjoy it. Just because an institution, that once held some sense of credibility, gave them a degree in underwater basket weaving, it doesn't tell you how they've led, how they've earned the right to sit at the table, it doesn't even tell you that they know how to do what you're hiring them to do.
Here's a hint when hiring a hipster, we've never been told no. If you want to weed out the worst of us, make us earn the right to lead, don't give it to someone because of their pedigree or how cool they seem. Give them entry level positions and make them work their way up. Don't be afraid to say no.
If someone isn't willing to sweat and sacrifice, I won't follow them, and hopefully no one else will either. If they want to play video games at work they have two options, get a job making video games or move back in with mom and dad.
Oh yeah, take away retirement plans, your generation should be the last to have that travesty thrust upon them. We're lazy enough, we shouldn't mark our calendars with the day we get to become even lazier.
I realize that this sounds a bit critical, that's because it is. You see there are a few of us in the "millenial" crowd who have chosen to focus on becoming real leaders who have dirt under our fingernails and work in a way that our grandparents would be proud of. Don't judge the us all by the standards of the majority. Let those of us who are called to speak into our generation have time make a difference. Don't give up hope, hard workers with intellect and a sense of purpose do exist. But just like in your generation the nut jobs got all the airtime, so it is with ours.
So World, I apologize for my peers on 60 minutes, they don't represent us all.
What a wonderful life. Today we enjoyed a little down time, went to church, hung out with each other, and in a few minutes I'll be watching the Simpsons.
This life God has blessed us with is beautiful beyond description. Our team is not simply coworkers but our best friends. We live, work, make decisions, worship, and have a lot of fun together. This weekend our friends through an amazing baby shower for Katie, while all of us guys had an awesome night of guy time.
Thank you all for sharing this life with Katie and I. We are blessed beyond measure to simply live this life with you.
Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski was invited by the Sioux Chief Standing Bear to carve a memorial to the Indian People. A television documentary covered the progress of the carving of Crazy Horse into a hue granite face of the Yellow Stone Mountains. Clearly this work was going to exceed the life span of the sculptor. He has since died and the sculpture is far from complete. Yet his children continue his work. Current estimates are that it will be completed without federal funding by the year 2050. The sculpture of the warrior astride a stallion will be 563 feet tall. That’s eight feet higher than the Washington Monument and nine times as high as the faces of the four American Presidents carved in Mount Rushmore, just a few miles north of Crazy Horse.
Why go to such effort? In an interview late sculptor said this:
When your life on earth is over, the world will ask just one question.
Did you do what you were supposed to do?
When Michaelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel he was told: Don’t you know you can lose your life?!? His reply? What else is life for?
These two artists from different eras had a similar view of their work. The question to you this morning is this. What is your life work?
Some people do great things, but have no contentment. Others know that they have accomplished what they were created to do. Paul the apostle, and pioneer of the early church said this. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race. Yet Michaelangelo had no assurance of his spiritual prospects after death. John Wesley founded a movement that far exceeded his years. His counterpart, Whitfield, did amazing things, and yet even a brief look at his life finds a lack of contentment, he himself said that he had built a rope made of sand. Jesus’ words to His Father was this, I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you have sent me to do.
By contrast Pancho Villa’s last words on earth when the US Military had tried him and sentenced him to death were this. “Don’t let it end this way, Tell them I said something.” How about you, will you be searching for words on your death bed or will you say as Christ said, I have brought you glory, because I have done what you sent me to do?
You say I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. How do I find out?
Well let’s look at a few things, First, there’s your part. ‘
This includes your cooperation in simple steps of obedience that increase your understanding, preparing for and walking into the Creator’s purposes for you. Your availability in God’s hands as he weaves together the tapestry of your life, pulls, knots, and polishes the strands of your being. Submission, Obedience and availability. That’s your part. Do you want to live a life that leaves a mark? Commit your life to making Jesus the central figure of who you are, Submit yourself to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, and Give yourself to only that which is pleasing to the Father.
So there’s our Part, then there’s the Sovereign Part.
This consists of the deliberate drawing together of those threads, the tapestry that is your life, that have been woven together for as long as you have been alive in a way that reveals your calling. What are the God given passions deep down inside. What has He equipped you to do. What are you weaknesses that when submitted His strength is found. The wonderful thing about the sovereignty of God is that it will always be revealed if we commit ourselves to seeing it.
Your part, the Sovereign Part, The end part.
Listening, understanding, realizing that yes indeed, this thing being birthed within me is what my life is for. It is my divine calling, it is my life’s work.
Leaving your mark is not setting about to do great things. Leaving one’s mark comes through setting one’s face toward a walk of obedience that is carried to completion.
I heard recently a dear friend say that one of the reasons the church isn’t realizing it’s full potential is because we aren’t focusing on the right things, we aren’t focusing on anything consistently.
Why are men not content, because they lost their focus. No longer are our families our focus, but our careers, our money, our position are now our focus. Why are families falling apart? Because we have lost our focus, families don’t even eat together at the dinner table anymore, we’re too busy running off to soccer games or dance recitals. Why are we so tired? Because we think that true rest only comes when we’re on vacation. If we can’t rest in our homes, how dare we think we can rest anywhere else.
Setting one’s face towards a walk of obedience requires focus that will last until the end.
Without vision, the people will perish, how often have we heard this preached. How often have we been told that we must conquer the world. So we set forth with our mighty programs, and ideas of grandeur and we attack hell with barrels blazing only to find that we are carrying water pistols. I think what that verse is saying is simply this, we must have a vision, for our families, for ourselves, and for those we do life together with, and that in and of itself will change the world.
Our focus must be sure, our focus must be consistent, and our focus must centered in Christ.
To leave our mark we must know our purpose, our life’s work. To accomplish that we must obey, and listen. Once we know our life’s work we must commit to it, with our focus never wavering, even if the grass is greener on the other side and there are better offers on the table.
God has given us each the privilege of serving Him. With that He has given each of specific Callings, we are all called to something.
I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished my course. Those are the words of a man who knew he had left a mark. What will yours be?
Why do we speak conditionally about permanent truths eternally, bread by a society of faux philosophers who are little more than philistines?
I got this from a friend...wanted to share.
As I sit here and listen to your creation I wonder
How a God could create such beauty and the man he created to protect it would take it in vain as we do.
I here the sound of crickets and frogs sing a chorus of wonder into the starlit night for all who will listen and hear.
To hear that creation itself will sing of your goodness if man will not
That the stars that shine above shine out of your power and light and yet we fail to see your glory as a comet races by
The night is dark, but in the darkest of night creation sings it’s hallelujahs while man is silent
Why would I be silent, if my reason for silence isn’t to listen for the sound of creations song?
Why is my silence screaming so loud that I cannot hear your voice?
What is in my heart that hides my face from your glory and my lips from your praise?
Tonight as I sit under the starlit sky may the light of your glory become so bright that even with eyes closed I rest and soak in your presence
Tonight as I listen to the song of the wild may my lips form the words to praise you my creator and king
Tonight as the cricket sings your lullaby may my life begin to reflect worship that only the maker of all creation deserves?
Who could create such beauty? And who could deny Him His praise?
The rocks have no right to cry out as long as I live
It is my privilege, no my honor to lift my voice in praise and offer my life as a sacrifice of worship on the altar of service before you
No the rocks will not cry out as long as I have breath, it is my calling that the praise of my life be such that all who meet me meet my creator
It is for His service that I was born, it is for His service that I live
All other pursuits are vanity, all other dreams become nightmares
If it does not come from you my king, who makes the stars to conduct this symphony of praise upon my ears, I do not desire it
As the psalmist declares, let the people praise you Oh God, let all the peoples praise you
For then they shall see your glory and join in this chorus that permeates the earth as the waters cover the sea
I like to call it my Cave time...A time when I can simply sit and listen, a time where the chaos is silenced for a time of silent contemplation, a time to listen.
The idea of prayer is powerful concept. However it is often misunderstood. We are taught, or maybe we just hear what we want, that the idea of prayer is an always open petition line between man and God. A time where we boldly come before the throne and tell God what we think we need. And this is true, there is a power in the fact that we have the ability to speak with authority to the creator and make known our requests. But sadly most of us end there. Of course we all know there is more, but in practice, we stop there.
But in the midst of life, in the midst of chaos where is peace? Where is contentment? I believe it is in the voice of God. A voice that is often missed because we fail to be silent. Sometimes this silence is literal, we get alone, we seek God in the quiet place. Other times we must find this silence in the middle of our day when life doesn't allow for quiet contemplation.
Silence isn't always stopping the noise around us, it is simply stopping the noise within. It is allowing the voice of God to be revealed within our being. To hear this voice, to know this voice I think we need to practice the prayer of silence. Where we simply quiet our spirits, knowing that our troubles and cares are in the hands of a soveriegn God, and listening for His leading, His guidance, His comfort.
Some say that silence isn't possible within a troubled spirit...I say that is true unless you believe that a God that can calm the seas can calm our spirit. Chaos and turmoil disrupting our spirit is a matter submission, not of circumstance.
The submitted heart can always find silence in chaos. If circumstances control the attitude of the heart one will never find joy in the silence of prayer, because the prayer of silence requires releasing control and submitting our story to a greater story.
If my people pray...I will hear...I will heal... I will forgive
If my people submit...What would happen?
If my people obey...What would happen?
If my people listen...What would happen?
We just got back from the doctor, where we found out that we're having a BOY!!!!
Please pray for the continued health of baby and momma.
Pray for wisdom and guidance as we bring this little one into the world.
Pray for all those poor little girls hearts who I'm sure he'll break just by looking at them.
Pray that he looks like his mom
Pray that our child will know God in a very real and personal way
Pray that he grows in love for Christ as he grows in stature
We are so excited that God has chosen us to raise this child...We know that it takes an entire community to raise a child in the way he should go, for those of you who share in our lives we are excited that our son will have such an amazing community of faith, family and friends.
Blessings to you all!!!!!
The way a man thinks dictates his circumstances.
The strong cannot help the weak until the weak understands he needs help.
Thinking for other people is hard, thinking for yourself is harder.
The man who thinks rightly, does justly.
The heart that is pure has a mind that has clean thoughts.
Theoretical thinking is worthless without action.
Philosophy is not helpful if not proven.
Knowledge is useless if righteous living is not pursued.
If a vision does not include the souls of man, it is no vision at all.
A man who does not enjoy work, does not understand the will of the Father.
The man who speaks without earning the right to be heard hurts only himself, the men who let him speak hurt all who listen.
Well, life is busy, and God is good, that's why.
I've realized that life is to be lived and then written about, not spoken of in theoretical contexts. Therefore, our writings shouldn't be about what should be or how things could be better, rather they should be about what has been done or how we are actively trying to improve the world we live in. Too often we write as if we are the final authority on life, scripture, theology, etc. Yet when the truth is known, our lives aren't being lived well, our stewardship of Godly gifts is off the charts corrupt and we judge with our writings in a way that we wouldn't dare judge ourselves.
How can I write about the marketplace if I'm not in it? How can a pastor speak to a church about how they should act at work when the only work he did this week was spend 15 hours too long on a sermon about how you should act at work. What right does someone have to speak with authority on things that they are not and refuse to live out?
If I were to write as an authority on a medical condition you would expect me to be a doctor, one who specializes in that field. So where do we come off as pastors, writers, teachers writing on subject matter that we aren't living out. I'm sick of reading books by men who have never worked an honest day in there life and yet they feel as if they have a grip on the real world. So what, you have a degree from a seminary, you have a PhD, that's great, but if you want to write you better have fruit to back it up not pedigree and papers.
By fruit I don't mean a mega church (see previous mega church blog). By fruit, I mean that your life is raw, dangerous, painful at times, hard, but full of joy, peace, abundance, life. The proof is in the pudding, not in the pages of books.
So Mike why haven't you written in a while? Well, I've been making pudding, not wasting time writing about things I have yet to live.
This morning I received news just as the rest of the world did, that my friend, Jerry Falwell had passed away. The emotional tug of war that took place following the call was something not easily forgotten. For the better part of my adult life Dr. Falwell was more than a man on a stage or that conservative nut job. Jerry was my friend.
One of my first "adult" jobs was with Jerry. Riding around in the Suburban I'll never forget the man who impacted my life on so many levels. As years went by and distance separated those rides, my phone rang occasionally with a simple deep voice saying, "How's it goin Mike? I'm proud of you, I'm praying for you."
Our politics never exactly lined up, Jerry being the Neo-Con and I being a strict Constitutionalist, however there was a common bond even in our disagreement, an intense love for this country. Some may disagree, but Jerry was a great patriot leader and our country is better because of his presence.
His sense of humor will always stay with me, whether it was driving on the sidewalk to run down a student or throwing you over the couch with those massive fists, he was always the prankster. To live the life he lived without humor would have been impossible, thank you Jerry for making me laugh.
Jerry's theology was neither here nor there, he had his beliefs and he stood by them. But he had a heart that was always open to change, but only if he was convinced it was of God. From hymns to DC Talk Jerry showed us a side that most of us aren't willing to open up. Thanks Jerry for showing that change is a good thing.
The Jerry I will remember isn't the man who left an empire or a legacy. Everyone else will write about that. The Jerry I remember was a man who simply wanted you to know Jesus.
A friend today said that Jerry was a leader for his day and age. The 70's and 80's needed a man like him to stand with a mighty voice and proclaim a righteous God. The torch has been passed, leadership doesn't look like it did 30 years ago. But one thing remains the same, we have seen that every generation needs someone to stand in the gap. Jerry stood, now it's our turn.
Rest with your Jesus, Jerry. You always said you'd sleep when you died, well sir you have earned your rest. I'll miss you and I'll always know that you were my friend.
