With it being the week of Thanksgiving I figured it would a good time to share some of the things I praise God for everyday. So here are the top 5...
1.) My salvation-not only does this impact my forever; I really cannot imagine waking up every morning without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
2.) Gwen-I married the most amazing woman on earth who I could not live without.
3.) Eli-The birth of my son has been such a blessing. Everyday he gives me new reasons to praise the Creator. I cannot wait to see what God will do through him!
4.) My extended family-Eli has grandparents, aunts, and uncles that love him but more importantly love God first. He is surrounded by great examples.
5.) My church-not only does this mean God has blessed me with employment. But more so I love what I do for a living and get to serve along side the best church staff in the country!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Moral Victories and Good Losses
Yesterday I went and watched my old high school play football in the second round of state playoffs. It was freezing cold, the popcorn was sub-par, and the loss was brutal. As I was leaving the game I heard another well meaning Vandal fan say it was a good loss since we made it out of the first round and got beat by a great team; which had not been done in years.
It reminded me of a press conference I watched a few years ago. USC had just come back and beat Notre Dame in the final seconds by a last ditch QB sneak ran by Matt Lienart. It was the year that So Call would lose to Texas in the National championship and many were calling an upset for this game and Notre Dame almost pulled it off. Durning the post game conference Charlie Weiss said,"If your waiting for me to say this was a good loss than your going to be waiting a long time." My thoughts exactly on moral victories and a so called good losses.
Surgeon once stated something to the effect that he could imagine a Christian sharing their faith consistently and not getting anywhere, but he couldn't imagine someone doing so and being satisfied. I think as Christians we all too often buy into moral victories in our faith because we had the right intnetions. We say I meant to have quite time, but then I fell asleep, at lease I had good intentions. I wanted to get more involved in that ministry, but I didn't get around to it. I wanted to be a Godly father or husband but I just couldn't get all the right pieces together at the same time. But then we claim at least we had the right intentions which is more than most the world has. That does not cut it!
I myself come home far too many nights and think to myself, "I was going to share my faith with the chasier at Starbucks (or wherever else I went where I was surrouned by lost people) but I just didn't get the chance. The list goes on in ways we left ourselves off the hook on spritual issues because we had the right intentions or mindset but just didn't get the job done.
We are either in a growing relationship with Christ or we're not. We are either plugged into the ministies at our church and engageing in Kingdom work or we're not. We're either taking people to Jesus or we're not. Lives are being changed or they are not. In regards to our personal faith and it's outward impact on the world around us we're either taking care of buisness or we're not. The best laid plans and good intentions don't hack it. When Kingdom work and souls are on the line there is no such thing as a moral victory or good loss.
It reminded me of a press conference I watched a few years ago. USC had just come back and beat Notre Dame in the final seconds by a last ditch QB sneak ran by Matt Lienart. It was the year that So Call would lose to Texas in the National championship and many were calling an upset for this game and Notre Dame almost pulled it off. Durning the post game conference Charlie Weiss said,"If your waiting for me to say this was a good loss than your going to be waiting a long time." My thoughts exactly on moral victories and a so called good losses.
Surgeon once stated something to the effect that he could imagine a Christian sharing their faith consistently and not getting anywhere, but he couldn't imagine someone doing so and being satisfied. I think as Christians we all too often buy into moral victories in our faith because we had the right intnetions. We say I meant to have quite time, but then I fell asleep, at lease I had good intentions. I wanted to get more involved in that ministry, but I didn't get around to it. I wanted to be a Godly father or husband but I just couldn't get all the right pieces together at the same time. But then we claim at least we had the right intentions which is more than most the world has. That does not cut it!
I myself come home far too many nights and think to myself, "I was going to share my faith with the chasier at Starbucks (or wherever else I went where I was surrouned by lost people) but I just didn't get the chance. The list goes on in ways we left ourselves off the hook on spritual issues because we had the right intentions or mindset but just didn't get the job done.
We are either in a growing relationship with Christ or we're not. We are either plugged into the ministies at our church and engageing in Kingdom work or we're not. We're either taking people to Jesus or we're not. Lives are being changed or they are not. In regards to our personal faith and it's outward impact on the world around us we're either taking care of buisness or we're not. The best laid plans and good intentions don't hack it. When Kingdom work and souls are on the line there is no such thing as a moral victory or good loss.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
What I can't stop thinking about.
For about the past week two different thoughts have been running through my mind non-stop. They both came out of a lunch with a friend; and since I have lost sleep since our conversation I'm really glad he paid. The first thought is a quote by Andy Stanley, "To reach who no one else is reaching, we have to do what no one else is doing" So what is it going to take to see the vast amount of unchurch, unreached, lost people who are living next door come to Christ? Obviously we have to do more of something because our best efforts thus far are still leaving us terribly short. I don't by any means have an answer I'm just sick of always feeling that we are always failing miserably at reaching the masses. My second thought is that doing the same thing everyone else is doing (as a church) only makes us more effective at reaching those who are all ready reached. A lot of churches and ministries, new and old, have grown because they have mastered an aspect of church life such as teaching, small groups, or worship. Now I completely believe in aspiring to excellence in everything we do; but it cannot be enough to run the best dog and pony show in town. What do we have to do to see more people come to Christ? It you find the anwser let me know.
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