Archive - April, 2007

Tip of the Week

April 30, 2007 in Spiritual Life with 2 Comments

Don’t underestimate what might seem small and insignificant.

 
So much of life is about doing what seems small and insignificant.  Driving.  Talking.  Cooking.  Working.  Dealing with the children.  Walking.  Exercising.  Studying.  etc.   Yet, God notices it all.

 
Jesus noticed a poor widow (Mark 12:41-44) who gave two copper coins into the temple treasury.  He observed that she gave out of her poverty.  Two copper coins?  You mean to say that our Bible has yielded space to a story of a widow who gave two copper coins?  Yes.  After all, this seemingly insignificant moment reflects a heart that Jesus wanted to display before his closest followers.  In Scripture, he continues to display her heart to all of us.

 
During a typical week, we may work on tasks that we consider to be very important.  Or, we may find ourselves in conversations which seem to be highly significant.  However, if you are like most of us, much of the week will be be spent doing the "little things."

 
Could it be that God notices these small and seemingly insignificant moments more than we do?  Could it be that God is paying attention to what we are doing in these everyday moments of life?  I think so.  After all, these moments often reveal our hearts.  They reveal who we really are and what or who we really treasure.

 
That is no reason to be discouraged.  In fact, just the opposite is true.  How encouraging to know that our everyday, ordinary lives really do matter to God.  How encouraging to know that God is paying attention to us.  How encouraging to know that a "cup of cold water" given in his name really does matter.

 
Today matters.

 
It matters because in the ordinary moments of life, God sees our hearts.  He affirms and applauds what might seem insignificant and unimportant to anyone else.  To him, however, these small moments really do count.    

Places I’ve Been

April 26, 2007 in Places I've Been... with 3 Comments

Check out these encouraging video clips from John Piper.

 
Jordon Cooper has cited a nice piece by Leslie Newbiggin entitled "What Pastors Need to be Reading."

 
Interesting post at Lifehacker entitled "How Much Sleep Do We Really Need?" 

 
Some very good reflections on preaching by Terry Rush. 

 
Carson Reed has written a brief and very good piece on "Sunday Dinners."

 
John Franke on "What does it mean to be missional?"

 
Nice quote by John Ortberg on approval seeking. 

 
Read about the nineteen-year-old who is graduating from the University of Michigan after one year of study.

 
Here is an interesting story on the non-use of e-mail by a younger generation. 

Self-Care

April 25, 2007 in Self-Care, Spiritual Life, Stress with 21 Comments

apple_1.jpgI once saw a picture of my father-in-law when he was in his twenties.  He was standing next to another minister.  He looked overweight and uncomfortable.  His skin seemed to be a pasty white.  He did not look healthy or fit at all.

 
Years later he reflected on those years and told me of his lifestyle.  He got virtually no exercise.  He hurried from one town to the next to preach week long revivals or "gospel meetings."  He said that if he preached on a Sunday morning, then he might stay busy all afternoon (as opposed to resting).  Then before he preached that evening, feeling exhausted, he would drink a couple of cups of coffee.  He once said, "Looking back, I would have been much more effective if I had rested that afternoon.  Maybe taken a walk or jogged."

 
My father-in-law had health difficulties for many years.  Early on he had problems with his colon.  In later years he had heart problems as well as cancer and Parkinson’s.  He believed that the earlier lifestyle contributed to some of his colon problems in particular.  In later years, he wisely lived a more balanced and healthy lifestyle.  In many ways (usually subtle encouragement), he encouraged me to do the same.

 
Self-care is incredibly important for men and women living in this twenty-first century.  Self-care is to recognize that the creator God has given me my physical, emotional, intellectual, and relational self and has called me to care for his creation.  I do so as a part of my stewardship before him.  Self-care is not selfishness.  Rather, it is to recognize that caring for the self is actually a blessing to others.
 

  • Self-care is to recognize that I bless others in the body of Christ by nurturing and caring for my own walk with the Lord.
  • Self-care is to take care of my physical body.  To care for what God has given me that I might serve him fully throughout the days of my life on this earth.
  • Self-care is to pay attention to my emotional self.  How many people have ignored their emotional fatigue only to use some very poor judgment regarding an ethical or moral decision?
  • Self-care is to understand that I need relationships.  I need friends.  Something is wrong whenever I manage to burn bridges with most everyone I get close to.  Something is wrong when I wall myself off from people.

We could go on and on.  Think about the instructions given by flight attendants every time we fly.  Suppose you are flying with children.  The cabin pressure drops and the oxygen masks appear.  What does the flight attendant say?  Put yours on first.  Then put a mask on your children.  You are in a better position to help your children if you have first practiced self-care.

 
How are you doing with self-care?  Is there one particular area of your life in which you are tempted to "let go"? 

Moments that Shaped (Part 2)

April 24, 2007 in God, Ministry with 3 Comments

23rd_Psalm.jpgShe was 26 years old and single.  Kay began visiting our church with her sister Brenda.  This was the first church where I preached, a little storefront church in middle Tennessee.

 
Charlotte and I couldn’t help but notice her.  After all, she was related to a family we really admired.  Brenda and Byron were a young couple in our church with two beautiful blond- headed little girls.  I recall going to Brenda and Byron’s home on numerous occasions for Sunday lunch.  There was always much laughter in their home.

 
One day Brenda told me that Kay had received bad news.  She had cancer.  Twenty-six years old!  Charlotte and I stopped by her little apartment one Sunday afternoon.  We talked and prayed with her.  She sat on her couch in front of the big picture window and cried and cried.

 
Days went by.  Months went by.

 
One night I received a telephone call.  Kay was in the hospital in Columbia (Tennessee).  She was near death.  I left our house that evening and drove through a steady rain to the hospital about forty-five minutes away.  I stopped by her room and spoke with her mother and dad.  I had never seen anyone near death before.  Brenda and Byron walked with me down the hall to the waiting room.  I was stunned when I entered the large waiting room.  The room was full but very quiet.  The lights were off.  There were people everywhere.  I suddenly felt very self-conscious.  I didn’t know what to do.  So, I sat on the floor near the family.

 
About twenty minutes later she died.

 
People in the waiting room cried and then hugged one another.  They hugged family members and then they began to leave — everyone except the family.  A nurse approached me and asked me if I would like to "lead the family to the chapel."  (She could probably tell that I didn’t have a clue what I was supposed to do.  I had never experienced anything like this before.)  I had no idea where the chapel was so the nurse took the group there. 

 
This occurred twenty-six years ago, but I remember the next scene so vividly.   The family quietly gathered in the little chapel and sat down.  When the last person went through the door, the nurse, who was waiting in the hall, smiled at me and nodded.  This was such a significant moment.  I was no longer a college student.  I was no longer a person who could pass this moment on to someone else.  Just twenty minutes earlier, this family had watched a 26-year-old woman slip away into eternity.  She had died.  She was someone’s daughter, sister, granddaughter, and fiancee.

 
I saw a larger King James Version Bible on a podium in the chapel.  I began to read the twenty-third Psalm — slowly and quietly.  I prayed for the family and then slipped out of the chapel to return home.  In that incredibly important moment, my uncertainty and inexperience did not rule.  Rather, God in his sweet mercy stepped in and got me through it all.

 
This was a moment that marked me.  I learned that God is faithful and is with me — always.

 
I suspect many of you who are reading this can recall in your own life moments when God’s forever-presence became incredibly important and reassuring.
 

Tip of the Week

April 23, 2007 in Spiritual Life with 14 Comments

encouragement_wonderful_tn.gifEncouragers know that unforgettable moments often occur in the middle of what might otherwise seem to be an ordinary day.

 
If you want to make a difference in someone’s life, you won’t have to go far.  Just step into someone else’s world for a moment.  In the ordinary moments of life, encouragers will often step in and leave their mark.  Don’t worry about overdoing encouragement.  There is a real shortage of encouragers.  Far too many of us are so preoccupied with our own lives that we really don’t pay attention to other people.  Many people rarely, if ever, hear a word of encouragement.

 
I am not talking about flattery.  I am not talking about making positive comments that are really not in your heart.

 
I am talking about genuine encouragement.   Encouragers pay attention to others.  They have an outward focus.  They try to catch others doing something right.  They do not take these moments for granted but look for opportunities to build.

 
"Wow, you really seem to know your job!"

 
"This pie is absolutely wonderful!"

 
"You handle difficult people so well."

 
"This was a great class today, thanks!"

 
Too many people focus on the negative.  These people look at someone and ignore what the person is doing well while they make a mental list of what they don’t like.  Some people spend much of their waking hours critiquing everyone around them.  They are constantly sizing up people and evaluating them.  Of course, most people they are evaluating manage to fall short. 

 
"Hey that was a great restaurant!"  "Yea, but did you see that awful picture on the wall?"

 
"What a wonderful message!  God really spoke to me this morning."  "Yea, but did you notice his hair?"

 
"Wasn’t that a great dessert?"  "Well, it ought to be with those prices!" 

 
"Listen, I really appreciate the great job you did on my car today."  "Why thank him?  It’s his job!" 

 
Think for a moment about such statements in contrast to what an encourager might say. 

 
This is very important.  I have been blessed by having a few encouragers in my life at very important moments.  Or maybe, just maybe, those moments became important because of the wonderful encouragement that I received at the time. 

Moments that Shaped (Part 1)

April 20, 2007 in God, Ministry with 12 Comments

decisions2.jpgI remember several significant decision moments that occurred early in my ministry.  These decision moments were defining.  These decisions turned out to be very important in the formative years of my ministry.

 
I remember the day that I had to make a decision next to Bill’s white Cadillac.

 
I was preaching for a little church in middle Tennessee.  We were about an hour south of Nashville.  This church met in a storefront.  The building was actually a former convenience store.  We were on a main highway leading into town.  Across the street was "the big round bank." 

 
One of our members was "Bill." Bill was in his 60s.  He had divorced his wife a few years back.  Anyway, he was a part of our small church.  This little group of 65 or 70 people was barely getting by financially.  It helped that Bill was a successful businessman, affluent, and that he put a sizable check in the offering each week.

 
One Sunday, I walked outside after the morning assembly.   Bill was sitting in his white Cadillac, smoking a big cigar.  He looked at me and did not look happy.  He motioned for me to come to his car.  I walked over to the driver’s side of his car and the electric window came down.  He took the cigar out of his mouth and said, "Let’s don’t mention the _______ anymore."  (The blank?  A derogatory slang word for anyone who was black.  Not the "n" word but nevertheless an ugly term.)

 
He was referring to the sermon that morning.  I don’t remember the subject or the text.  I remember the essence of what I said.  That morning,  I said something like, "Scripture calls for us to love people, regardless of race or ethnic groups.  That includes everyone!"  So, standing by his car I had to make a decision.  How will I respond to this man?  How will I respond to what I consider a racist attitude?  How will I respond to his effort to intimidate?  How will I respond to an inward fear that he might withhold his check or even leave?

 
At that moment, God gave me the strength to say, "Bill, I am going to have to say what I think the Bible teaches."

 
I then walked away from his car feeling sick.  Sick as I thought about what he said.  Sick as I thought about his effort to intimidate.  Yet, I also walked away knowing that in that moment, I had done the right thing.  

 
That was twenty-seven years ago.  Yet, it almost seems like yesterday.  That decision was a critical moment.  It was in that decision that something was etched on my heart reminding me of who I am.  That day has also been a reminder to me that the one I am called to please is the Lord Jesus — regardless.

 
Can you look back and see decisions you’ve made that turned out to be critical in your formation as a Christ-follower? 

Self-giving in Everyday Ministry

April 19, 2007 in Jesus, Ministry with 3 Comments

footprints_2_2.jpgSometimes when the word "ministry" is used, we often place the conversation in a narrow category.  We may think in terms of a person with a particular role within a congregation of people.  Some think of a person designated as the pastor, the minister, the preacher, etc.

 
Yet, I am thinking about everyday people and everyday ministry.  This ministry or service is for the whole church, called to different tasks, using different gifts, but empowered by the same Spirit.

 
The very heart of what it means to be used by God in ministry is "self-giving."  Our model for this is God’s self-giving love expressed to all of us in sending Jesus to this earth.  The ultimate expression of this self-giving love is the cross (Romans 5:8; I John 4:10).  What goes against this ministry is a spirit of self-assertion and self-will that characterizes far too many of us.  This spirit is bound and determined to make things happen through sheer will and determination.  Yet, people who model their ministries after Jesus follow him down a path of self-giving and self-surrender.

 
Bottom line?

 
1.  When Jesus is our model for ministry, we must address our sin.  Our pride and our self-centeredness are contradictions to real ministry.  Real ministry begins not with a task but with taking these attitudes to the Cross of Christ.  Then we are ready to minister.

 
2.  Some of us are more than ready to give up things for Christ but we will not surrender ourselves.  In particular, we will not surrender our willfulness and determination to have our way.

 
3.  When men and women are involved in everyday ministry, their humility and self-giving love should be evident.  After all, the very model for our ministry displayed these characteristics. So what do you think?  Why is it that these characteristics are so often absent from some who are "doing ministry" in the name of Jesus? 

The Lord is My Helper

April 18, 2007 in Encouragement, Starting the Day, Stress with 17 Comments

morning_dove.jpgToday, I feel somewhat stressed and overwhelmed.  I woke up in the middle of the night feeling very small as I began to think about decisions to be made, the unknown, and the future.  I then read Hebrews 13:5b-6:

 
"…Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."  So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?"  

 
In front of me is a memo pad.  I wrote the following a few minutes ago:

 
Today, the Lord is my helper — I am free to give my stress, anxiety, and concerns over to God.

 
Today, the Lord is my helper — I am free to not be stressed over the future.

 
Today, the Lord is my helper — I am free to relax and work hard.

 
Today, the Lord is my helper — I am free to be myself and not be overly concerned with pleasing others.

 
Today, the Lord is my helper — I am free to focus on pleasing Him instead of trying to make others happy.

 
Today, the Lord is my helper — I am free to be fully present with other people.

 
Today, the Lord is my helper — I am free to live as a balanced person.  I don’t have to apologize for taking time to laugh, play, sleep, or live as a balanced human being.

 
Today, the Lord is my helper — I am free to say "No" or "Yes" or "I don’t know."

 
Today, the Lord is my helper — I am free to enjoy the love of God, my wife, my two girls, and many other people. 

 
I suspect you relate to this.  I suspect that as you read this post, you can think of your own anxiety and worry.  I am so very thankful that he literally is "my helper."  Now isn’t THAT a wonderful gift. 

A Dark Day in Blacksburg

April 17, 2007 in Spiritual Life with 2 Comments

storm_clouds3.jpgYesterday my phone rang and on the other end was my 20-year-old college student Jamie.  "Dad, have you heard the news about all of those shootings?" At that point, I had not heard or seen the news.  When I finally stood in front of a television watching a live feed from Blackburg, West Virgina, it was worse than I imagined.

 
33 dead.  Oh my goodness!

 
Before Monday, the deadliest shooting had taken place in Killeen, Texas, in 1991, when a man drove his pickup truck into a cafeteria and shot 23 people to death before killing himself.  (Killeen is about an hour from where I live.)  Just two months ago, I read an account of one of those who had also been shot but managed to survive.  (This eyewitness account was part of a thesis written by a friend and member of our church who was finishing her Master’s degree in journalism at Baylor University.)

 
Many parents can resonate with President Bush’s remarks yesterday afternoon when he said, 
"…Schools should be places of safety and sanctuary and learning. When that
sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom and
every American community."  That is so true.  How many parents thought about their own children yesterday?  How many parents yesterday thought about their children on university campuses?  I certainly did.

 
This is the news today.  For days to come this day will be discussed.  The media will attempt to tell the story of the event.  Safety and response measures will be debated.  Yet, for many families, it will be news that will never be forgotten.  Let us pray for all who are brokenhearted, for all of those who now have lost a child.

 
"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit" (Psalm 34:18).

Tip of the Week

April 16, 2007 in Spiritual Life with 1 Comment

Look for the kernel of truth and take one step forward.

 
Some people never take a step forward.  Why?  They are too preoccupied with changing other people.  They may be fixated on what someone else has done to them.  Yet, the truth is that I cannot change others.  Nor can I really do anything about what others have done to me.  I can address the way I respond to these circumstances.  In particular, I can address how I respond to these circumstances and people.

 
A number of years ago, I was part of a leadership seminar in Atlanta. Gordon MacDonald was a featured speaker.  He spoke about leaders who receive criticism and then shared some of his own experiences.  He said, "I have learned to look for the kernel of truth in the criticism I receive."  Difficult?  It sure is.  Yet, this principle has been very helpful to me.

 

Sometimes I find it difficult when my wife or children communicate some frustration or displeasure with something I’ve done.  I can get offended by what is said.  I may even disagree with what is said.  Yet, I need to be honest as I listen to their words.
 

  • Is there a kernel of truth in what they are saying? 
  • Could it be that taking one step forward means that I take a good look at that kernel of truth? 
  • What do I need to address in my life?

I remember being in an "intense" discussion with one of my daughters.  I was angry.  I didn’t like her response.  I didn’t care for her tone of voice.  However, it began to dawn on me that there was a kernel of truth in what she was saying. 

 
When I address my own behavior, my own attitude, and my own functioning, then I begin to move forward.  This begins with my becoming aware of what needs to be addressed — in me.  Sometimes I become aware of these things as I read Scripture, journal, and reflect on my life.  At other times, I become painfully aware of what I need to address through what others are saying to me.  Regardless, the way forward is not found in reacting.  The way forward is to look for that kernel of truth and begin to address it. 

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