Why are we so surprised when we see God at work? It is true isn’t it? God is at work all around us, and yet we fail to engage what he is doing and try to manipulate and start our own stuff. Just last night I am sitting at home watching the good ol’ TV when my 8 year old Kate says, “Dad I want to get baptized!” My reaction was one of total surprise as I responded, “Who talked to you about being baptized?” Like it was a bad word and that some how she was signing up for an occult. Of course, she responded, “At Church…”  Once I regained my composure and got rid of my prideful self saying, “why didn’t she hear it from me, or learn it from me.” I had a very proud moment and acknowledged that God is at work even though I didn’t manipulate it, start it, or control it.

Are you surprised when someone is healed, when someone receives salvation, or a simple prayer is answered? Why? As believers why can we not rest in the fact that God is at work all around us, he loves us, and wants the best for us? My best advice in engaging adventure in this life is look around you and see where God is at work and join in and stop trying to manipulate, start, and control something just because you want your fingerprints on it. It will never be all it can be with your mark anyway.

So where is God at work in your life, home, and community? Are you joining in or pridefully staying at arms length?

I have watched this video over and over. One guy, made one decision, that changed a whole community. Check it out and then decide what decisions you make that have the potential to change a whole community.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNn7SXAyuhQ

Are you a consumer or contributer? As in the words of my good friend Chris King. Now go and try something different. Have a blessed week….

At New Life Ranch our overall theme verse is II Corinthians 5:17 which says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” My issue with this passage is that in my life the old (flesh) seems to continue to come to the forefront and the new takes a back seat. Whether it be the way I act towards my family or my co-workers, how I react to the poor and needy, or pride and selfishness the old still is present in my life. Therefore, when others come with their needs I often feel unworthy to help. “I’m just not there!” If I feel like if I am letting the flesh win, then how can I in return help others?  Then I don’t engage! In fact, I walk away more defeated and can eventually end up riding the pine and not engaging the game. Anybody else been there? Are you there now?

I think this is exactly where satan would have us reside. In fact he wants this feeling to penetrate the whole Church. You aren’t good enough! You are not there! You really can’t help! In fact, I believe this is where most people of the Church are at and this is why we see the lack of engagement in culture and in mess. We would rather manage our Christianity and stick to what gets us by so we continue to go to church, sing in the choir, and perhaps make an appearance in a small group but I personally have discontentment in this. This is what we have done for years. I believe others are there as well. There is not only discontentment with the church, but there is a discontentment in our very own lives. Have you taken time lately to sit down and say what kind of difference am I truly making? Have you asked your self the hard question of what is God calling me to? I have a hard time believing it is too sing in more choirs or set in the church pew a few more times a week. I truly believe he is calling us all to the mess of the world no matter what mess we are finding ourselves in.

Get over the lie that you are not there or that you are to messed up to help. Reality is we are only good enough through the grace of Christ Jesus. It is through him that I am to live. In fact, if you go up from II Corinthians 5:17 to II Corinthians 5:15 it says, he died for all, that those who might live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” May I continue to learn that I am not my own no matter how big my mess is… I am there and I must engage….

Share with us your story of discontentment or your story of not feeling worthy enough and why….

I am convinced that Jesus dealt in mess more than he dealt with the nice and neat. I am also convinced that He called his Church to mess instead of the nice and neat. Yet, how would you feel if you caught your pastor hanging out at the local bar or casino? Maybe worse, what if he/she where spending time with Tiger Woods or Obama right now? A few years back I got to meet with a pretty high profile Christian author/speaker. (sorry I don’t like to name drop…)  When I asked him about meeting with President Clinton during his scandal with Monica Lewinsky he said, “The most amazing part about it was how the Christian church responded to me trying to help the President through his mess.” Needless to say their response erred on the side of judgement instead of encouragement.

Why is this? In Mark 2:17,  Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” How many of our lives and how many of our churches are concentrating on the righteous more than the sick? How many of us turn a nose to the sick because they are messy, but feel very comfortable sitting in our churches with the righteous? How many of us have become Pharisees? On the outside we say the right things, do the right things, and hang-out with the right people yet inside we are full of ourselves. I am guilty as charged! In fact, I hate this about myself. I am a selfish nose turner that loves the comfort of my chair (not my pew, we are to contemporary for those…) in my church. I have become to comfortable.

So here are the tough questions I must ask myself and ask you… 1) If Christ called us to the sick then why are hanging out with the righteous? 2) Are we hanging-out in the right places? 3) How would you feel if your pastor were caught hanging out in a bar or casino?

P.S. — Pastor Dave if you are reading this I would applaud your efforts in reaching people for Christ. In fact, I might just join you….

This weekend my wife and I were in Kansas City, MO on a business adventure. We decided to stay an extra night, since my parents had our kids, and we actually got to go watch a movie by ourselves. We picked Alice in Wonderland mainly because it was at the IMAX, in 3-D, and because Johnny Depp is a little bit creepy. Can I get an amen to that? We’ll I won’t ruin the movie, but there was one particular part that has stuck in my brain. Towards the end of the movie Alice must get a special sword and slay a dragon. She contemplates the action and comes back saying, “I just can’t do it, I cannot kill the dragon.” After making this statement she’s runs into a wise old blue caterpillar named Absolem, who is a chain smoker by the way. He makes a statement to Alice that I am processing. He said, “The sword knows what to do, you just need to hang on…”

Don’t you think that it works that way with us and God? I mean we all have a calling, a purpose, and identity but we continue to come back and like Alice say, “I just can’t do it, I just can’t let go!” All while God is saying, “I have your purpose and know what I want you to do, just hang on.” We all have adventure in our DNA. God made us that way. We aren’t to sit on the sidelines and let life pass us by we are to act. A very familiar scripture comes to my mind in thinking through this. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” If he knows the plan then what are we doing interfering with it? I know for me it is because I don’t want to lose control. His way looks like a slippery slope at times and my way looks much safer and secure.

Let go today! Do something bold that he wants you to do instead of playing it safe on the sidelines. Get in the game! Oh, and by the way if you do see a chain smoking, fat, blue, talking caterpillar along the way you better listen….. Have a great week..

I don’t know about you, but growing up I heard the words “Just Try Harder” often from coaches, teachers, and my parents. You see I was the average kid that was OK at a lot of things but not necessarily a stud at anything. Therefore, instead of batting 2nd or 3rd in the line-up I batted 8th or 9th. You see I could play but not at the level I or others wanted. Therefore, I was sent on a mission to “Try Harder”. I spent hours at the batting cage, watched my all-time favorite player Ozzie Smith over and over, I would listen to coaches and my dad, but it never really clicked. One day the baseball coach from our local high school came and watched my team practice and caught eye of me getting frustrated in hitting the ball. He watched, observed, then approached me and simply took my front foot and moved it out more opening up my stance. This way I could see the ball with both eyes instead one. (Who knew a few months later I would be fitted for glasses?) First pitch? It went sailing..

Seth Godin, one of my favorite authors wrote this about “Trying Harder”:

“The usual mantra is to ‘try harder’. Trying harder is impossible when you’re already trying as hard as you can.

But you can always try different.

Years ago, I was creating trivia questions for a product we built for Prodigy. We had a 99% accuracy rate in doing the questions. Which was great, except there were 1800 questions in a batch, which meant 18 wrong each time, which was totally and completely unacceptable. These were honest mistakes, made by smart people working as hard as they could.

No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t do better than 99%. So we switched our system completely and did it in a totally different way. Same number of people, same number of hours, 100% accuracy.

If it’s not working, harder might not be the answer.”  

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/03/try-different.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+typepad/sethsmainblog+(Seth’s+Blog)

I just wonder if this might be true of us and our desire to follow Christ? I know even in my own spirituality I have been counseled to just try harder. Our churches have tried harder to be relevant and reach more people using contemporary services, meeting in coffee shops, creating movements and more. But what if trying harder doesn’t work? Maybe it is time to try something different!

Any suggestions?

I hope to this point I have gotten many of you to think about service and generosity to the point where you feel overwhelmed. To ask the tough questions like: “How do I do all of this?” “How do I keep my eyes open to see the needs around me and respond?” “Why am I so selfish?” Let me bring some guidance along the way.

The is no doubt each and everyday there are hurts, social injustices, and pain all around us. So how do we really help? We also see catastrophes like Katrina, Haiti, 9/11, and so on. How do we help? Do we get so overwhelmed we don’t do anything? This past Sunday we had a couple of families leaving for Thailand to work with young women in the sex trade industry. There is something that Kelly said that has stuck with me. “What do you burn for?”  She said, “find what you burn for and do it…”

Let me ask you! Do you burn for anything? Something so strong that you would leave everything behind to pursue it?  If not, why not? Do our neighborhoods burn for anything? Do our churches burn for anything? The lost, the poor, the sick, the naked, the hungry? I have a feeling that we all have no idea what we burn for so therefore we throw money at things that come our way, go on mission trips, serve in soup kitchens so that we feel better about ourselves as people and sadly enough as Christians. So instead of serving out of our God given passion and gifts we serve out of duty. So how is that working for you?

If you feel lost in the area of engaging or struggling with your identity and purpose than I ask, “what do you burn for?” If you know than focus on it. Andy Stanley in many of his books says, “do less for more”. If you focus the impact will be greater. Reality is we have so many organizations and ministries that have no clue what God wants them to do so they throw the kitchen sink at it and hope something sticks. Then we sit back and wonder why we are not being effective. I know strongly enough that people don’t want to be involved in something that doesn’t make a difference or is stagnant. If you don’t know what you burn for go out and serve and educate yourself. Find something you believe in and want to impact and go for it.

What do you burn for?

Now that I have run the word motivation into the ground, I thought I would come back and talk about the very root that “should” motivate us. In fact, watching “The Grammy’s” the other night they mentioned this word a lot. It flashed on the screen above the singers more than a dozen times, and each person talking about Haiti mentioned it in their speeches. Although, I don’t know if the word really stuck or if their definition was correct. As most of you probably have guessed this word is “LOVE”.

Love is a word that gets thrown around a lot, but I am not sure we understand the implications it holds. When I was a young stud wooing the ladies (kidding of course), I threw this word out quite a bit. You know the awkward times of getting off the phone and the words “I Love You” usually spew out when you are not thinking, or you get caught in a trap by her spewing the same words first. Merely listening to the radio or musical artists we see love used excessively. “Love Will Build a Bridge,” “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” and my all time favorite by DC Talk, “Luv (notice spelling) is a Verb”. You know DC Talk may have gotten it right more than we think. Listen to these words: “Because love is a word that requires some action.” So what is love without action?

Of course, when speaking of love my mind automatically goes to I Corinthians 13. Most of you might be familiar with what it says in I Corinthians 13:4-8. “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” Man, what a great passage right? I believe this gives us a great look at love, and we can even compare ourselves to it as sort of a measurement. Am I patient? Do I insist on my way? And so on. The part we often over look is captured by Paul in verses 1-3. Paul gives us an idea of what this motivator is all about. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

If it is not eloquent words, knowledge (which we put so much stock into now days), or faith and not even ultimate surrender than what is love? Share some stories that you have seen that describe this ultimate motivator, and give some ideas of what you think love truly is. And if that is what you believe then do you posses that kind of love?

Being a father of two incredibly cool kids I am overwhelmed daily with a few quotes, “Hey dad!” “Dad, look at me.” “Dad, come see what I built.” “Dad, look at this, it is cool.” “Dad, watch me.” If I am being quite honest I get tired of hearing the word “Dad” sometimes. However,  I know what my kids are yearning for: Acceptance, Applause, an Encouraging Word, a little bit of Dad’s time and love…

I am also a big fan of the show “American Idol”. Now before you judge me on watching very shallow TV, hang-on. I love the stories. Last week they featured a girl who grew up in a very strict home. This girl basically seemed to live in the shadow of her parents, and at every waking moment she did her best to please them but it never seemed enough. Well, the girl broke free and was now sitting in New York City plastered on the TV waves. She sang and she made it. Tears of joy streamed down her face. American Idol proceeded to tape as she called her dad. The dad said, “Hello” and the first words after “Dad, I made it to Hollywood” where, “DAD, ARE YOU PROUD OF ME?” Now I am not much of a crier but the tears flowed. All the girl wanted was to know that her dad was proud of her.

I have friend that is an incredible athlete. In fact, this kid has more talent in his big toe than most have in their whole body. He was all-conference, all-state, and more in football and ended up playing at the collegiate level for a couple of years. Unfortunately, some bad choices ended it all. While he was struggling with this loss I began asking him tough questions. Who are you? Where you going? Why can’t you move on?  The bottom line was he missed the roar of the crowd. He missed the pat on the back when a fumble was recovered or a pass intercepted. He lived for the applause now it was gone.

As I sit back and watch person after person give to the tragedy in Haiti, I hear their silent, “Look at Me!” pleas for acceptance. Now I am not judging their heart or intentions because I think they do want to help, but if we are honest, we are crying out for the attention, the applause, the moment always. Just like my kids saying, “Dad look at me!” or the girl on American Idol saying, “Dad, are you proud of me?” or my friend missing the roar of the crowd when a job was done well. So the question becomes when the world, crowd, mom or dad don’t give you your acceptance, where do you go? We all want it. We all need it. But where you get it is very important, and it could mean life or death. Lastly, going back to motivation, are you only motivated to serve, clothe, feed, love during tragic events or big sponsored events so you can get the attention or  praise, or can you do it all for no applause, no pat on the back, no acceptance and feel secure in who you are made to be? I can’t  help but think that it is those who never get noticed in the world that make the most impact. What do you think?

Tuesday night I am sitting in an Outback Steakhouse in Tulsa, OK celebrating my brothers 40th birthday. When my eyes stretch out across the restaurant to the near by TV and I see “Breaking News – Haiti is hit with massive earthquake”. My thoughts immediately went to the missionary friends I know there, the churches and medical facilities they have built, and if they are all OK. I was motivated to say a little prayer for them, the country, and quickly moved backed to my shrimp, prime rib, and garlic mashed potatoes. Last night while watching the news I noticed another form of motivation. The New York Yankees gave $500,000.00 to Haiti, Lance Armstrong’s foundation gave $250,000.00, and the NFL Colts gave $10,000.00 to the Red Cross for relief efforts. I also caught that Obama and our government have already shipped out and flown out relief aide, along with troops to keep the peace. To this I say Kudos and applaud the action they have taken.

It seems as a nation and for the most part as a people we respond very well to massive tragedy. Whether it be tornados throughout Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas and people responding to wrecked houses and wrecked lives or on September 11th when the Trade Towers were hit by two airliners and people lives and a country where changed forever, people rose to the occasion. We see political figures, celebrities, Christians, Athesists, Buddists, etc. rise to the occasion of helping one another in spite of race, political preference, or belief. Although, the question remains why are we mostly motivated by a massive tragedy when injustices and tragedies are happening around us everyday? Nightly I am hearing on the news of police officers, firemen, teachers, and city workers in Tulsa and the surronding communities having their pay cut or worse their jobs taken from them and the New York Yankess have no problem increasing someone’s pay from $35 million to $40 million because the player hit 10 more home runs last year. But, when Haiti is hit with an earthquake they can spare $500,000.00. I have friends moving to Thailand next month to make a place of refuge for the girls in the sex slave industry and they can’t sell their homes, and are having a heck of a time raising the needed support to go. Is it not enough of a tragedy yet in Thailand that we will stand up and make a difference. How many have to die? How many girls have to be used, abused, and thrown out on the street before we take notice?

Again, what motivates you? Are you only moved when massive tragedy takes place around you, do you only respond when a tornado roles through town, or have you opened your eyes enough to see the hurt and pain around you daily?

** Side note: I am trying very hard not to use one wide brush when facing these issues. I know there are many daily fighting for injustices and I applaud them. I also know there are numerous athletes who give graciously to communities, civil and religious organizations, and many make a huge impact. I merely have a hard time seeing people struggle daily and we say it is because of our economy, while others already making a ridiciously amount of money are getting more. There seems to be something wrong with this picture. Thanks for allowing me to vent a little this morning….