Mid-Week Update

An eventful week so far.  Work has been slammed.  I’ve been helping with re-organizing some workspaces.  At the end of the day, It’s nice to be able to see progress being made.  I love being a change agent and I was able to help be part of the solution over the last few days.  It’s very satisfying.

I’ve been working really hard on things for CrossPoint as well.  We’re going away as a Leadership Team on Friday and Saturday.  So I’m getting everything ready for Sunday ahead of time.  I’m really excited about the trip.  I’m praying that God will allow us to dream big and get some things accomplished during our short retreat.  And, just as important: that we have fun together.  That is a crucial part of being a team: enjoying being together.  And I don’t think that will be a problem with this group.

Last night I finished reading Wild Goose Chase.  I could write pages and pages on the final cage: fear.  But I won’t get into those details as God continues to stretch me and really mess with me on the subject.  I will write this: I feel as if I’ve hit a crosspoint in my life on this (pun intended).  Have I made my fear bigger than my God?  When faced with a choice, I tend to not do something because of what bad might happen.  All this time I’ve missed out on what good God can do through it.  I don’t know what it all means, but I do know that God is still working on me and right now he’s taking a hammer and chisel to my pre-conceived notions about myself.  Who knows me better than my Creator?

Last night I also started Visioneering by Andy Stanley.  It will go right along with our current series at CrossPoint: Life Development Plan.  God has a vision for me.  That’s amazing to me.

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  – Ephesians 2:10

God created me with a vision to do a specific thing or things for Him.  Too often we think we aren’t qualified.  And the thing is: He’s already equipped us to fill that vision.  We just need to step up and do them.  As I read in my study through Nehemiah, we should always pray.  But there comes a time to get up and actually get to work to make the vision a reality.  I’m asking God that the next five weeks at CrossPoint as well as my reading through Visioneering will continue to drill this principle home.

Responsibility

Continuing posts on Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson:

Just a few thoughts on the cage of responsibility.  The passage below really messed me up:

Some of us live as if we expect to hear God say “Well thought, good and faithful servant!” or “Well said, good and faithful servant!” God isn’t going to say either of these things.  There is only one commendation, and it is the by-product of pursuing God-ordained passions: “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

I think this paragraph really kick started the restlessness that I wrote about in the previous post on Assumptions.

The other thought I want to hit on is regarding next steps.  I’m a big believer that we all have a next step, regardless of where we are in our Christian walk.  A big thing at CrossPoint is getting people to move forward in their relationship with God.  However, I took it for granted that God would want me to do something new.  Wild Goose Chase challenged me to think about what, if anything, I might need to stop doing.  Even if it’s just temporary like a fast.  Sometimes God might say “remove that” instead of just “take this on”.

Assumptions

Continuing in a discussion on Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson.

Another cage some find themselves in is the cage of assumptions.  An assumption is something unproven we’ve believed or understood about ourselves for so long that we now accept as fact.  I’ve wrote before about how I often times feel like Moses.  Moses was big on assumptions.  God (who created Moses) spoke directly to Moses to give him the project of leading the Israelites to the Promise Land.  Yet, Moses begain telling God exactly why he could not do it.  How funny is that? The created telling the Creator, “You just don’t know…” Moses used assumptions he had made about himself as excuses with God.

What’s sad is that I’ve done that myself.  I’ve been in ministry for close to 7 years.  Those seven years have been spent behind the camera and I always joked that God put me behind the camera because I didn’t belong in front of it.  That grew from a joke to something accepted as fact.  But lately God has been poking at that assumption within my spirit (even before I knew about spiritual assumptions).  I’ve been getting unsettled with myself about this.  First I read the chapter on the cage of assumptions then I found out about a new Andy Stanley Leadership podcast.  The first episode? Yep, you guessed it: assumptions.

Then, this morning I was listening to Big Daddy Weave‘s latest album What Life Would Be Like and the title track came on (which I’ve listened to many times before on my ipod and on the radio) but the words finally connected with me because God had this very topic on my mind:

What if you could see yourself thru another pair of eyes
What if you could hear the truth
Instead of old familiar lies
What if you could feel inside
The power of the hand that made the universe You’d realize

That He made the lame walk and the dumb talk
And He opened blinded eyes to see
That the sun rises on His time
Yet He knows our deepest desperate need
And the world waits while His heart aches
To realize the dream
I wonder what life would be like if we let Jesus live thru you and me

Too many old familiar lies.  This is something I’m wrestling with.  I don’t have the answers but I do know I made a commitment in last night’s creative meeting.  I’m stepping out, slowly but surely.  Like Peter, I’m scared but I just don’t want to look down (or into the camera).

Are there assumptions you have about yourself or your church that really aren’t true?

Routines

As I wrote yesterday, I’m in the midst of reading Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson.  There is a chapter on the Cage of Routine.  I know all about that cage.  I operated in that cage for years.  My Christian walk and church-life was nothing but a routine. Some routines are good.  Everyone around you thanks you for your routine of taking a shower and brushing your teeth.  And I’m a believer in getting your child in a routine.  That’s a must.

I’ve often wrote about the spiritual revival that God has been doing in my heart this year.  Part of that is due to the routine of daily quiet time.  However, I find myself getting into a routine of how I do my quiet time.  I get up at the same time, read the same Bible, and then pray.

Mark writes that he has found himself doing that as well and he recommends something to mix it up to break the routine. One thing he suggests is trying a different translation.  I’m reading through the book of John along with our Growth Groups.  I have read the first 3 chapters in the NIV, I think tomorrow I will read through them in the NLT and then move to The Message.  Those are my 3 preferred translations, but I might even try NKJV with the help of YouVersion.com.

Something else I’m really really dealing with is a weekly unplugging from technology.  A technology sabbath, if you will. Computers and the Internet have become such an integral part of my life that I feel like I’m relying on them too much.  It’s what I do 40 hours a week at my job as well as how I serve God at CrossPoint.  Being offline last week opened my eyes to some things.  More on this later as I feel God’s leading.

Have you found yourself in a routine?  Maybe you’ve caught yourself following God from left-brain memory rather than right-brain creativity.  Now’s the time to shake it up and alter the routine to reconnect with God creatively rather than have more of the same routine.

Home Again

Back home from vacation.  We had a great time!  The weather was beautiful.  The sea was calm.  We couldn’t have asked for much better conditions.  I still have to go through all the pictures.  I’ll post some later.

Posts will be back to a regular schedule.  It was nice to be disconnected for 5 days.  No phone or Internet.  I was able to just enjoy my vacation with my wife.  I was also able to read alot and just worship God.

After finishing “It”, I started Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C..  Mark talks about the cages we are in that keep us from the adventure of following God.  One thing Mark talks about is the cage of routine.  The thing about God is that He is so consistent and we end up taking Him for granted.  The sun rises and sets everyday.  Our Earth continues it’s orbit around the sun without fail. We inhale and exhale and our heart beats thousands of times a day.   And we lose sight of that because these things happen just as God has orchestrated.

While reading this I looked out at the ocean.  We saw alot of water over the last week.  The last 36 hours of our vacation was just sailing back home.  The thought hit me: the massive amount of ocean we saw and God has that in His hand.  He controls the oceans and tides.  With one movement by Him and that water would completely consume all the land.  But He maintains it, day in and day out.  And upon thinking on that, I suddenly felt so small.  Often times we think of God in human terms but, through Creation, I have to open the box that I have put God in and gaze at His sheer majesty.

As with In A Pit…, Mark Batterson has written another great book that God uses to kick me in the rear.  It makes me angry at times because it’s so spot on.  And there are things in there that God has already been dealing with me about (routines, sabbath, inadequecies). So clearly Mark has been reading my mail.  If you want to read a happy, feel-good book, this isn’t it.  But if you like to be challenged and stretched when you read, this is a great book.

Facing Fears

I’ve never been one to eat at a sit down restaurant by myself. Actually, I’ve never done it. There’s two reasons I’ve never done this: 1) I think all eyes will be on me and 2) I fear what others think about a guy sitting all by himself at a restaurant. So I either just grab fast food, quickly eat by myself and leave. Or grab something to go and eat at home or hotel. It has always been easier that way.

On this trip to D.C., I’ve faced my fear and it feels good. On the trip up Sunday, I wanted breakfast for lunch. So I stopped at Cracker Barrel. I brought a book in with me and read at a table by myself. It was so freeing. I enjoyed it so much; I stopped for supper and did the same thing. It’s an awesome feeling knowing that something you feared was nothing to be afraid of. Most may think it’s a crazy fear, but one I was living with. But I’ve conquered this fear and will never be the same again.

In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day has really made a huge impact in my life. How many lions have I ran from instead of chasing them. All these missed opportunities because I was too afraid to face. Tonight (after dinner out at Olive Garden) I could feel the Holy Spirit impressing this on my heart: had I remained afraid, I would have eaten fast food all week. But since I faced my fear, I am able to enjoy better food and have sit-down service. How much more can I enjoy the Christian life if I face fears in that area of my life?!

Currently Reading: In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day

I’ve just started reading this so I can’t give a full review yet, but I will give a brief synopsis (from the publisher):

Your greatest regret at the end of your life will be the lions you didn’t chase. You will look back longingly on risks not taken, opportunities not seized, and dreams not pursued. Stop running away from what scares you most and start chasing the God-ordained opportunities that cross your path. In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day is inspired by one of the most obscure yet courageous acts recorded in Scripture, a blessed and audacious act that left no regrets: “Benaiah chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it” (2 Samuel 23:20 -21). Unleash the lion chaser within!

If I may be real for a moment: I have some inadequacies and fears I battle constantly. It’s only now that I can admit them and pray for God to help me with them. They used to be a crutch, but I now pray for the strength to overcome them because I look back on the missed opportunities due to my own fear. So this book sounded right up my ally.