The God Factor

I am a huge proponent of having a plan and executing your plan. That applies to anything from work, money, church services, etc… If you were to come to my youth service you would see that in action. I have a cue sheet that every leader gets that has everything laid out so everyone knows exactly what is going to happen and at what time. It also has all the tech responsibilities on it so there is no confusion. So we never get up there and just “wing” it. I believe that if a student is going to put themselves out there and invite someone to church then the least I can do is make everything the best that it possibly can be.

With all that being said there is also the God factor where He just shows up in a unique way and takes everything in a different direction. Last night was one of those nights and I am so glad that I let God be God and just got out of the way. Was there still teaching, were students still challenged and fed? Yes, just God was allowed to be God and He did more in a few minuets then I could have done in an hour.

I had a Pastor who once told me that “I must prepare like everything depends on me and pray like everything depends on God because it does”. We need to make sure that we always understand our roles and it is the Holy Spirits job to convict and heal, it is my job present. Lets make sure we always make room in our services for the God factor after all He is the Father and like the title of the old T.V. show Father Knows Best.

Out of Gas

Have you ever felt like you are just running around with your head cut off? I have found myself saying “I need to get control of my schedule” a lot lately. With moving, meetings, dinners, etc… it has just been crazy. All good stuff; and I have enjoyed my time learning, and driving, and getting know everyone, it’s just been busy. It seems like during these seasons in our life we tend to neglect what is most important. Think about it this way, your car will continue to run as long as there is gas. Make sure that you are filling up. Don’t neglect your time with God; don’t give everyone else you best and your family gets what is left. Don’t neglect your body and what you are putting into it just because it is convenient. You will surprised how much you can handle and for how long when you stay filled up.

Hello & Goodbye

It seems like life is a series of hellos and goodbyes. Think about it; in every stage of our lives we have a group of people that we believe we can’t live without then life changes and we seem to replace those people with new people, and the cycle continues. The key to me is not to replace those relationships but just to add new ones. If me moving to Kansas meant that I couldn’t keep the old relationships then the move would have been a lot harder, but with facebook, email, text messaging, moving just means face to face doesn’t happen as much. I want to make an effort to not say as many goodbyes in this transition just more hellos.

If you only knew

I remember when I was a kid I used to wish that I lived in a place where it snowed. The movies always made it look like snow was so much fun and I could just picture myself having snow days and playing all day. Well I have now moved to a place where it snows Wichita Kansas. I have only been here a few days and I love it. I had my first snow storm last night well it snowed today it was more like an ice storm last night. When I went to get in the car this morning there was a layer of ice all over the windows. It took me about 20min to scrape all the windows so that I could see out of the car and drive to work.

It’s funny how when I was a kid I thought about all the fun that I could have in the snow, I never thought about the work that is related to snow or the dangers of snow. The same principle is true for life. We always look at other people’s jobs, or houses, or ministries and think, if I could only have what they have then everything would be so much better. We don’t know the price that has to be paid to have what they have though. If we would sit down and talk to them they would probably say “if you only knew”.

My prayer for many years has been this “God I want all that you have for me and I don’t want to miss out on anything”. I want all the He has for ME. I want God’s plan for my life. I don’t want what somebody else has.

Think about this there is probably somebody looking at you right now wanting what you have, or wanting to be in your position. I wonder if we would say if you only knew…..

Inauguration Day

It doesn’t matter if your guy won or lost the fact that we can transfer power without a gun being fired is simply amazing. Think about it, how many countries in our world can say that? There are so many wonderful things about this great country that we take for granted every single day. We need to take moments just to realize how blessed we really are to live in a country where we are truly free and we don’t have to fear a dictator or an oppressive regime.

On days like today I am reminded why this great country was birthed. One of the biggest reasons why America became a country was for religious freedom.

My question today is this, what good is freedom if we don’t take advantage of it? It is always amazing to me how many people died to give us the right to vote, then how many American’s don’t. It is amazing to me how religious freedom was so important to our founders, and yet God has seemed to fall so fast on our list of priorities.

I guess the question goes back even further though. God created this beautiful earth and the stars in the sky. He created every creature on the land and in the sea and He created us, His prize creation. He created us to have a relationship with Him. He did not create us as robots though he gave us freedom to choose Him or reject Him. Think about it for a second the creator of everything in this world desires to have a relationship with us. There is not some rule or law that says that He has too, He desires to. Now we live in a country where people chase after the popular or powerful and yet so many reject the most powerful being that ever was or will ever be. So many of us in this great country claim to be Christians and yet we reject a daily relationship with God because we do not have the time or have yet to realize the importance of it.

I guess that is what freedom is all about. Freedom to choose what we want, freedom to direct our lives in the way we desire it to go. I just hope that, that freedom is not taken advantage of or just forgotten about because we have always had it. Today is a great day no matter who you voted for, America has taken another step to understanding that all were created equal in the image of God. It doesn’t matter the color of your skin or where you grew up. We were created in God’s image.

The Good Old Days

It’s funny how every time there is a huge transition in our lives we begin to reflect on what used to be. My family and I are about to make a huge transition. Now in the scheme of things, in context of the rest of the world and what transitions other people make, it might not be that big. But for Candice, Joshua and I moving out of state away from family and friends to a place where we don’t know anybody is a big transition. So I spent some time reminiscing this morning. I went to Harry Griffin Park to read and study for a while. Harry Griffin Park is the park I grew up going to and where our church used to have its picnics. After studying I found myself driving around the old neighborhood and thinking about what used to be.

There is noting wrong with reminiscing but you can’t live in the past. It’s funny how the older we get the cooler we were in high school. We always have a way of only remembering the best of times, and not how things really were.

Dare to Dream

I might be the only one like this but I love to dream about what life might be. I remember when I was a kid I used to dream about playing 3rd base for the San Diego Padres and of course I was a stud in my dreams. I took this dream a little farther once baseball games came out for Playstation. I always created myself and put me on the Padres and of course if I created Scott Parks then he was going to have almost super human abilities. Hey why not if I am going to dream, why not dream bigJ.

Now I know I am having a little fun with this but dreaming is something that we all do, from having a bigger house, a nicer car, more money, etc… There is nothing wrong with dreaming big; here is my question though, why does it seem like big dreams are designated to material things? It seems like we spend more time dreaming about things then we do dreaming about what we could do for God. What would happen if we would actually dream about reaching our communities, and actually seeing a revival in this great country? What would happen if when we thought about being used by God we didn’t put the restraints of our own personal gifts?

Think about it, when I created Scott Parks in the Playstation game I didn’t put the restraints of my own physical abilities on him. When I dream about a house I don’t put the restraints of my current bank account on it. But when I dream about what I could do for God it seems like I always say well I am not that gifted in this area, or I could never do that. Why is that? Is it that I care more about money, or fame, then I do about lost souls? I hope not. I believe it is a view problem. Not how I view myself but how I view my God. If my own personal limitations stopped God from using me then nobody would ever get saved and nobody’s life would ever be changed. One thing we have to remember about God is this; God’s plan for our lives are bigger then us. Remember what His desire is, to have a relationship with us, and His plan for our lives will always bring us back to Him asking for His help.

I want to dare you to dream this year. Don’t put any limitations to the dream. Spend some time with God then set out some goals. Not goals for your house, or job, but goals for God to use you to change peoples lives. Remember our view of God will determine what we dream. I have told this story before but when I felt called to the ministry I told God no because I am not a good speaker. He didn’t take no for an answer though and eventually I said yes under one condition. I told God if He ever didn’t show up, if there was ever a time when I got up to speak and He doesn’t show up then I am done. I can honestly tell you today He has never not shown up. Now I get asked to speak all the time and I just laugh because it is not me it is God in me. I know my limitations but I also know there is no limitations to my God, and now He gets all the glory because I can do nothing apart from Him.
Matthew 9:37-38 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”