Knowing Where You Belong

I love being with people and I have a tendency to try to pack too much into too little time.  My wife has been very patient with me on this throughout our marriage, but it does result very often in chaos.

An example of what I mean is I promised to take the family to a community Halloween party on the same night there was a function at Peace.  I figured I could get the kids home and settled and still have time to catch the end of the the church event.  I was not even close.

I showed up at the church long after the crowd had left and I chatted with the clean up crew.  I offered to help clean up, but they kindly declined and offered me food instead.  As I spoke with several different folks I had a sense that I was doing exactly what I needed to be doing.  The conversations we were sharing was the good stuff.

In the effort to pack as much fun in as possible I often miss the "right now" moment.  Where do you find it difficult to be present?  Do you often find yourself looking to what's coming up next?

Dream Big

Learning a new community is a lot of fun.  Getting to know what people are passionate about and what gets them excited to serve brings me great joy.  A question I've find myself asking is, "What is your dream for this place?"

God calls us to dream big dreams for His kingdom.  I think too often our dreams are too small.  God responds to our dreams with, "That is a nice little dream, but try again!"  What would it mean to dream a God dream for our church and our community?

What is too big for God to do?  I sure can't think of anything, so why do  I limit my dreams?  Why do I keep my  hopes to a manageable size?

It is risky to dream big, but we do not need to worry because God is a God of risk.  God takes a chance on us everyday.  Talk about dreaming big!

Invitation and Challenge

I have been blessed to have learned a great deal about discipleship from two men Mike Breen and Steve Cockram.  One of the examples they lift up of how Jesus did discipleship and how we should as well is Monty Roberts who is known as the "Horse Whisperer."  

Jesus is constantly inviting us to a greater depth of relationship.  So then, how do we invite others?  Take a look at this 10 minute youtube clip showing how Monty uses invitation and challenge.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dx91mH2voo

Jesus invites us into relationship and then challenges us to greater responsibility in His kingdom.  How is this different from how you've been taught to "do" evangelism?  

Making Time For God

It doesn't take much to throw my entire schedule out of whack. With three young kids there always seems to be a new crisis or tragedy around every corner. (And yes, to a four year old losing your socks is a monumental crisis.) My wife and I have learned how to surf the waves of parenthood while mostly maintaining a life rhythm, but when one of us gets sick or runs into a major obstacle everything gets put on hold.

I confess that my devotional time is one of the first things to get put on the back burner in my daily schedule. (Devotional time is the second thing to get postponed right after getting to the gym.)

I would suspect I'm not alone in that regard. I suspect it does not take much for any of us to ask God to wait while we attend to the chaos of life. The problem with putting God on hold is that I need to lean on God in the difficult times. How can I lean when I've asked God to come back later?

When Kaia was sick and I was taking care of her and three kids, I found myself a bit short tempered towards the end of the day. That is when I remembered I postponed my devotional time and now I was running on empty. I did not feel right again until I said bedtime prayers with my daughter. Ah, the healing power of prayer.

How often do you ask God to come back another time?