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Downpour

How could I possibly think that I could ever need anything else? I have so much. I have been so blessed. God is so good to me. Each day is just like a complete drenching of blessing from my heavenly Father...and believe it or not, at times I have the audacity to complain when I am in a downpour!

I feel like God has centered the universe around me. I don't mean that in a pretentious, self-focused sort of way...but it just seems, at times, like this: How can anyone be blessed by God as much as me?

If every day from this day on were empty of any blessing from God then I have still been blessed by my Father enough to fill up 1000 life times. It doesn't even seem fair. He really is a good God.

I, like the Psalmist can say, "Taste and see that the LORD is good!" I wouldn't even try to begin to enumerate the blessings. They would boggle your mind. He leaves no stone unturned. He is attentive to my whole heart and he cares about things in my life that I can't believe would interest the heaven designer.

It makes me wonder...why me? Why do I find favor? It really is hard not to feel special. Although I think the same is true for any follower of Christ...but the feeling sure seems amazing! It seems at times as though I am the only child he has created and he is focused on nothing else in all of the vastness of space.

And yet, in the scheme of all things, I am the smallest piece of dust. So I still am blown away by a God such as this!

Tonight, as I type this, I know there will be times when I don't feel as I do right now. There will be valleys and shadows ahead, things that will make this memory faint and even disappear. But please help, Lord. Help me not to forget the wonderful things you do for me. And when I am being drenched by your blessings and complain at the downpour...drown me in your love!

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The Competition

When I first began at The Fort, I had a member of the church going over a list of people that had left the church for varying reasons with me. That person would say a name and add something like, "Yeah, we lost them to Rising Sun (Church of Christ)" or this person would add another church name.

And it was so funny to me that this member thought that because a person or family left to another church, that meant "we lost them." Well, I do believe the church has competition.

Our competition is down the street and on about every street corner. Some have nicely manicured lawns. Some have big, fancy signs. When you drive by, some have full parking lots. Some have a simple approach. Others pull out all the stops to attract a crowd.

If you actually step inside the facility of some of your competitors, you'll see differences among them. Some are focused on variety; they offer a little bit of everything. They can deliver just about whatever you need.

Many of our competitors have a well-honed message. They know exactly what to say to get people to visit them instead of our church. They know how to hook our church attenders. And once they get them, we may never see them again.

Here's the surprise...I'm not talking about another church. Regardless of their packaging, methods, or affiliation, if other churches in our town are preaching the good news of Jesus Christ, they are not our competition. They are our partners. They are on our team, working with us to defeat the work of Satan.

In the Des Moines metro area (nine counties make up that region) there are almost 650,000 people! Do you have any idea how many of those people are going to die and spend a Christless eternity in hell? The answer is most of them.

We need to understand that other churches are not our competition. It takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people. So if churches are not our competition, who is? It is Jordan Creek Town Center, Valley West Mall, Southridge. It is any and every restaurant. It is TV and web sites and night clubs and sporting events.

It is every choice any unchurched person makes that keeps them away from church. And knowing this should influence how we do church. We should view our guests on Sunday morning with the realization that they could have stayed home in bed. They could have been at the mall. They could have gone to a restaurant. So we need to make sure their experience is a positive one when they visit with us.

We need to offer them services that are relevant and excellent. We need to design our services in such a way that we capture and hold the attention of our audience.

Once our guests meet Jesus and begin to grow in their faith, they will come to church for more spiritual reasons, such as continuing to grow, to help others, and to worship God. But until then, attending church is optional. We need to get to know our competition so we can win the battle for souls of the people in Des Moines! (Some of the material comes from Simply Strategic Growth, by Tim Stevens and Tony Morgan)

Fully Devoted...Kinda

Aren't we the best self-deceivers? We con ourselves. We rationalize, justify and de-sensitize ourselves constantly. And nowhere is this more true than in the arena of our own spirituality.

After Easter I will begin a new sermon series entitled, "What If?" The whole dynamic behind this series is this idea of what if we really got serious about our faith? What if we were as devoted as they were in the book of Acts?

We brainstormed the other day. We are going to put together a video promo for this series that will air on Easter Sunday at our church. I will post the promo video here for you when it is all completed. But here is the basic premise behind the video.

We will shoot a video where I will order food from McDonald's (that bastion of healthy choices for food consumption). I will order a big 'ol super-sized meal with two apple pies...but I will insist on having a diet coke.

That is so descriptive of how it is with most people. We fool ourselves into thinking that we are doing good with our diets because we order the Diet Coke but yet we nullified that with an awful meal to go along with it.

A lot of people Diet Coke their relationship with God. They live lives that are absolutely half-hearted in their faith but yet they do the one Diet Coke thing and come to church and they feel like they are the best Christian that God has ever put on planet earth.

Well...that has been on my heart. What if...we got serious about our faith. What if we became the kind of church God is calling us to become?

I think we float along most of the time just fooling ourselves all the while sipping on our Diet Cokes thinking that we are really serious about our faith. God could care less with our "righteous acts" - they make him sick.

If all we can offer is a Diet Coke faith...I think God isn't even hungry. What if things changed?

Staff Added...

We hired a new staff member. We stepped out on faith and hired a person with no previous ministrry experience. Conventional wisdom would say this is the right path. To hire from within and train up and mentor. So that is the approach we are taking.

Our new man will focus primarily with youth ministry. I look forward to having a lot of creative synergy sessions with him. He is a guy full of ideas and creativity so I think we will be challenged.

At the outset I hope to implement evaluative procedures for him as well. I want to evaluate true measurables in his ministry effectiveness. But it is kind of a hard thing to tangibly spell out because much of ministry deals with intangibles.

But it is still important to find the areas that can be measured and evaluate accordingly. That is what we will do. Pray for our new man, pray for our ministry and ultimately that lives will be changed...that is why we do what we do.

I'm nervous...

In about a month I will take my youngest son, Jacob away for a weekend. I won't even preach that weekend, it will be all about him and I. My father-in-law, Jacob's grandpa will come too. What we will do that weekend is our very best attempt to speak into Jacob's heart and prepare him for adolescence.

My goal will be to prepare Jacob for the changes ahead of him. Changes in his body, his emotions, his self-awareness...and his transition into becoming a man.

I want to alert him to the on-coming canyon he will face in terms of feeling inferior (as every young person does at some point). And to let him know that he won't be the same physically as others or the same intellectually as others or the same with money or status...and that is alright. Because who he is...is who his heavenly Father says he is (and who we help to shape him into as his parents).

We will discuss how to handle peer pressure and fears of rejection and failure and unpopularity. Doing what is right is always better than being in with the right crowd.

We will talk openly about puberty and all the hormonal changes that are awaiting him.

We will talk about what real love is and the difference between love and sex.

We will talk about all the intense emotions he will feel and experience during adolescence and his desire to be independent from us (his mom and dad).

The reason I am spelling all of this out...is because I am nervous. I need prayer.

I have already done this with my oldest son, Jonathan. And to mark the occasion I gave him a gift that he can carry into adulthood. I will do the same with Jacob.

It is all about him seeing clearly the transition from childhood and boyhood to manhood. It is his own Bar Mitzvah. In Jewish tradition this has evolved to another form of a graduation party...but the reality is in times past it bore with it the clear indication that now the young person was responsible for his/her actions. And typically that was at the transition of adolescence...around 13 years old.

The reason I choose around eleven is to catch him before these things start to happen...to let him not be caught unaware.

It is hard to be a dad in these wierd times. But my two sons are my whole life and hopefully with our upcoming weekend in April...we will honor God with what we do and we will help one young boy begin his path to manhood that weekend as well.

Remembering

Sometimes remembering is good. Sometimes it's not. Remembering happens to us at unexpected times. We don't usually sit down and plan on remembering something. It just kind of happens. We just are going along doing our thing and then all of a sudden, we remember.

We remember the moment we got caught. And we wince. We don't like to think about the look we received.

Or we remember that kiss. How awesome it was. How long and sweet it was. And how we felt like we were just going to literally float away while it was happening.

Or we remember when he took his last breath. And how we all couldn't breathe ourselves after that. And how much it hurt to know that he really was never going to speak again.

Or we remember the argument. The venomous anger that we just let explode from our mouth. And we feel such shame that it happened.

Or we remember that meal. And how when she served it to us, it was almost like being in heaven because nothing tastes as good as this in the way she makes it.

We remember. And we don't force it to happen. It just does. We remember. While we're driving. While we're showering. While we're praying. We remember.

But it is interesting that Jesus wants us to remember. In fact, he kind of demands it. He said, "Do this in remembrance of Me."

I don't know about you. But it is hard to force myself to remember something. Not that it can't happen...because it does...but my mind wanders so easily. I find it better to be caught up in a memory when I am not expecting it. And then when it fully grasps your mind and heart, to just swim around in that memory until it is fully drained from your emotions.

I want to remember Jesus like that. All the time. Everytime. Just at strange, odd, moments. When I am not expecting to remember Him. Maybe as I stare into the eyes of my wife...and then to remember that Jesus died for her and he loves her so much more than I could ever begin to try.

Or when I am driving down the road...and I see a little cross with flowers on the side of the road as a marker that someone lost someone they loved at that spot. And then to be brought to Calvary in my heart to know that someone died for someone who didn't love back like that.

Just to remember. Honestly, taking communion for me is hard sometimes. I just wish I didn't do it sometimes. I feel like I am so unready for it. So rushed in the moment. It is almost like each week we say to each other, "Hurry up and remember what Jesus did so the preacher can get through the sermon!"

Hurry up and remember. I can't. I can't do it so fast. How can you?

It's like when I think about seeing my grandpa die. Even now...I am so flooded with the memory it is hard to rush my mind through something like that. How do I rush looking at my naked Savior, bleeding and dying for my wretched soul?

Remember. That's what Jesus wants us to do. As often as we can. But it is so hard. And honestly, sometimes I don't want to. Almost like how I don't want to watch certain movies because I know I will cry...and I don't want to be emotional...I just don't even want to go there.

I find Jesus' command to remember very perplexing. But no matter what I think or feel...Jesus still says, "Remember me." Maybe the more I remember him...the clearer it will be for Him to remember me.

Kind of like the thief on the cross...Lord, remember me when you enter your kingdom.

Remember?