Yesterday!

Wow, what a day! Finally spring is in swing! Perfect weather, 75 degrees, no humidity. Awesome. I ran outside for the 1st time to the gym. Mowed my lawn, got a haircut and then just hung out outside the rest of the evening. And then I topped it all off with sleeping with the windows open. This is when I love Iowa!

Blueprints to Revolution

The blue prints of a building tell you a lot about the building itself. They define the space and everything within it. I can't sleep and my mind wanders sometimes. Tonight I'm thinking of who we call the "great men of faith". What set them apart? What made them different? As I began to probe that question I realized that all of them had unique encounters with God. They had their own "burning bush" experience. God met them individually right where they were. I look at some of them and nothing special comes to mind, a sheep herder, family man, loner, youngest of the bunch, cupbearer, christian hater, and the list goes on. For the most part they (those great men of faith) were anyone of us. So what really set them apart and made them be memorialized in the Bible? Simple, availability. They answered the call regardless of convenience, ability, or even rational thought. They trusted God's way was higher than theirs. No matter how you slice it even back then some of them had to have gotten some weird stares and funny comments.

I am convinced that not only did God write about those men to show us who he is but also to give us a blueprint for living. God never operates according to the rational person or for the sake of convenience and it's definitely not about ability. But somehow in this day and age a lot of "christians" are looking for God and at the same time expecting all of the pieces to the puzzle. We want God to act on our behalf but the truth is that whatever He does it has always been done to bring Him glory. Imagine if we stopped praying for God to fix our circumstances and started to pray for God to use us, no matter the cost. Yes, I'm sure we would see an influx of missionaries and ministry vocational people. But maybe we would also see people taking more risks in the current world in which they live. More men leading their families with passion and strong convictions. Maybe we would see a real and new movement of teenagers taking back what the enemy would try to steal from them. Revolution, is it possible? I believe so. I'm pulling the blueprints out, taking notes, letting go of inability and embracing availability. Imagine what it would be like if we stopped trying to rationalize our faith and embraced the uncertainty of our God. I want to make Him famous, how about you?

3 words

There are a lot of things that God has gifted me with...okay maybe not a lot, a couple. Being a handy man is not one of them. It's so foreign to me. I'm a huge fan of HGTV but probably because they make it look so easy and deep down inside I wish I could do that stuff but it just isn't there. I have spent an entire day putting up a ceiling fan only to watch it fry from not being hooked up right. I once almost burned down my house with a simple power cord from a washer and the list goes on. I wish I was more, correction, I wish I was even a little handy. We just had a piece of our facia tear off our house and it looks like it's back to the 3 word motto that I tagged in our home, "pay the man". And that is my tip of the day.

I wonder....

What if one church decided to shut their doors for one weekend and told the people to go be a blessing to the community by taking their resources and their tithe to people in need? Maybe they were encouraged to go bless a single mom and buy her groceries and take them to her or seek out a low income hosing area and buy everyone a fan for their home. Or just show up to another church and let them know they are part of another church and take their tithe their for the week. What kind of impact would that have? I wonder....

Just how big is the "C" in circumstance?

Life is riddled with circumstance, good and bad. I love the good stuff but don't we all? Yet in moments like today I'm not loving the bad but I'm learning to welcome it. More and more as I read scripture I'm struck with how awful some of those people had life and how circumstance was woven into the stages set for words to fall on pages. I believe all of us are fascinated with adversity and victory. Probably more fascinated when it is not our own but all the same still fascinated. We will watch a news cast to get the story, listen to a great communicator share his life or just watch a movie that depicts the adversity of life and victory over such things like Cinderella Man (good movie). Adversity draws us into the story but victory inspires us to live our own story. If this is true than it is circumstance that is the variable. I'm overtaken today by Christ. The circumstances he faced, the desire to give in and the will to follow his Father. He was a man, just a man. I'm reminded that this too shall pass. Circumstance fades and when the dust settles where are you? For me the reality of circumstances are overwhelming, the desire to give in is there but my will to follow my Father remains. Just how big is the "C" in my circumstance? Not nearly as big as the "C" in my Christ.

One Prayer

Just read this off of Tim Stevens blog (Granger Church)leadingsmart.com. Thanks Sam! I have never heard of anything like this before. I just talked to my pastor and we looked at the month of June when it happens and we are really considering this.

A Little peice of Home

Driving down the road the other day with the family we passed by a new building complex and happened to glance over and see what looked like the Beef O' Brady's sign. I was so stoked I had to turn around and make sure I wasn't seeing things and I wasn't! They are not open yet but by the looks of it I can tell they will be soon! I can't wait.