Lately, I have been meditating on that word…normal. What does it really mean?

Why are so many people pursuing it?

Why are so many more running away from it?

When life exits a crisis why are we in search of a “New Normal?”

Normal is a word you want to hear after a medical exam, and is a word you hope to never hear in show business.

What about all of the normal people in the Bible? People unlike Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brothers and eventually rose to be second in command to Pharaoh, or David who killed Goliath with one shot and became King of Israel only to eventually commit adultery and murder a friend.

What about the men who fought with Gideon? Or the men who were sent away because they chose to drink from the stream instead of from their hands?

What about the elders of the churches that were started by Timothy and Titus and Paul? What about the people Peter, Paul, Jude, James, John and the writer of Hebrews fail to mention?

In the day and age where great leaders are celebrated and even worshiped I find myself wondering if everyone is supposed to strive to be great, or are most of us just supposed to figure out what it means to be normal Christians?

After watching AND LISTENING to this wonderful talk I would love to hear what you think.

Or just click on the link here.

What do we do in the Church that is really born out of the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment and not the scriptures?

The crux of what Sir Ken Robinson is saying should make us think differently about missions, ministry, and even worship.

It’s 9:26 pm on a Thursday night. I’m still at my full-time gig running samples on an instrument I have been trying to fix for two weeks. So, while the instrument is working I’m churning out the data. In the mean time I figured out how to sync my music to my new phone, the Droid X. I have never had an iPhone, but I doubt my mobile experience could be any better than it is right now even if the iPhone comes to Verizon.

Eminem is on the headphones asking, “Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity…To seize everything you ever wanted…Would you capture it, or just let it slip?”

What would you do?

In most circles of success we might think that everyone would respond, “Capture it!” In most leadership books or conferences I think the same message is presented. A few friends just got back from one of those Church Leadership conferences and when asked to text me a comment about the conference one of them typed, “We only have one shot, so what are we waiting for?” Sounds a lot like Eminem, doesn’t it?

I have been wondering a lot lately about how Eminem filters out through the Church.

I mean, we are supposed to be governed by Grace, which – at least to me – means Eminem’s question might become, “If you had a million shots, a billion opportunities…To seize the only thing, or One, you really wanted…Would you capture it, eventually, or not?”

It would make a terrible rap song, I know, I know, but hopefully the content of my message isn’t destroyed by the delivery.

Recently, I had the privilege of receiving an advanced copy of a book, by Mike Foster, to review before it goes public October 6th. To tell you the truth, I’m in the book. I mean I’m not, but my name is in there. I had forgotten that he ran a contest or something when POTSC.com launched and my name actually appears in the book as one of the thousands of People of the Second Chance.

The title of the book is Gracenomics. It’s not really your typical book for the Church, but it doesn’t make it any less valuable for the Church to read. Simply it helped me grapple with this question of how Eminem’s question gets transformed in the context of the Church, although he never actually mentions Eminem I’m sure Lose Yourself was playing at some point.

You can pick up a copy at Amazon.

In short the book proposes that grace can change the world. In the face of failure people can be given a second chance and that opportunity could turn into huge dividends. Foster points to multiple examples of how second chances have paid off. While the book is an easy read you will want to savor each chapter like a fine wine. It raises significant questions and pushes some interesting buttons when it comes to what we might be justified to do and what might be the best to do. It challenges the idea that we need to find someone to blame for failure, and instead we might need to expect it and even be concerned if there isn’t enough of it. It calls into question the gravity of “One shot” living, and asks that maybe the stronger and eventually more successful people are those who risk failure, fail, and learn to move on.

It’s worth the $9.00.

This core value, which has really crystallized at Quest Community Church in Lexington, Kentucky, is one, in my humble opinion, every church in America needs to adopt.

People who say that they are Christians may not actually be known by Jesus. They may actually not be covered in His blood. They may actually be destined for Hell unless we begin to ponder this question.

How would we do weekends, or weekdays for that matter, differently if we assumed that almost everybody attending a worship service, Bible study, small group, or cookout were not Christians?

I have a deep unsettling passion that the reason American culture continues to look less like Jesus is because many, if not most, of the people who attend mass or a worship service in churches around the country say that they are Christian while in reality the risen Son of God, Messiah, Jesus has not been embraced by them.

They have accepted an idea in lieu of embracing a person. Their fruit is rotten (Matthew 12:33).

Pete Hise, pastor of Quest, had six minutes to share about this core value. It’s worth six minutes of your time to watch, listen, and ask yourself whether or not you’ll be standing in a Matthew 7 line.

“21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?’

23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’“

Pete likes the NLT, but I am loving the NET these days and I think that there is significance to being called a lawbreaker in light of the atoning death of Jesus. So, are you sure that you’ll not be standing in a Matthew 7 line? You cannot be called a lawbreaker if Jesus’ blood is on you. Have you been washed in His blood? If not leave me a comment, or pull me aside, or send me a note. Let’s talk about it.

Posting on a Friday has never been a good idea for me. No one reads blogs on Fridays or Saturdays or Sundays. So, I may re-post this on Tuesday, but just felt like I needed to put this out there.

In ministry I always tried to look for the Silver Bullet. Made famous by the tales of werewolves I wanted to hunt down and kill ministry for the sake of fame, fortune, and self. I wanted to find THE Way to do the ministry and then settle into a routine. What I have discovered is that there are no silver bullets.

A Way may exist, but it will likely change for the next person to whom you need to minister, or it will change in a year or at the most two. In essence, my passionate search for Silver Bullets killed my ability to do ministry. Now that I am beginning to accept that a couple of things become absolutely clear about ministry.

1. There is a whole lot of freaking work to do! I mean if how you do ministry changes with every person, or every year, then the necessity to be a lifelong learner becomes a must.

2. There is a whole lot of freaking work to do! I mean if how you do ministry changes with every person, or every year, then you need to get some help. The older you get the more you already know how things work in the world. It’s called cynicism. The younger you are the less you care about how, and the more passionate you are about what needs to happen. My job becomes guiding passion, and in the mean time I might even regain some passion. I’ve quoted Seth Godin’s views bellow on this subject.

3. There is a whole lot of freaking work to do! I mean if how you do ministry changes with every person, or every year, then you need to pray. Pray for yourself, pray for your help, pray for those you help and who help you.
This is the hardest discipline for me to take time to do because I am a do guy. I mean I pray during my commute so I can get two things done at once. Sad, isn’t it. I’m in the process of letting Jesus change that in me.

4. There is a whole lot of freaking work to do…in me! Do not lose sight of the fact that while in the process of serving others you neglect what the Spirit is saying to you about what needs to change in you.

5. Don’t let the amount of work trump the individual. In ministry we cannot be led to do something in order to get the most bang for our buck. We must be able to be present with people, and more specifically with one person. It’s the spiritual discipline of fellowship, and if we choose to give our affection to the event over the person, then we have made the wrong choice. I need to read what I just wrote every day.

A newly-retired executive takes a job as an adjunct professor and really shakes things up. Both the school and the students are blown away by her fresh thinking and new approaches.

A forty-year old internet executive who has been running his company for decades misses one new trend after another, because he’s still living in 1998.

One thing that happens to management when they get senior is that they get stuck. (As we saw with the new professor, senior isn’t about old, it’s about how long you’ve been there).

If you’ve been doing it forever, you discover (but may not realize) that the things that got you this power are no longer dependable.

Reliance on the tried and true can backfire (Rupert keeps missing one opportunity after another, and keeps misunderstanding the medium he works in) or it can (rarely) pay off (Steve Jobs keeps repeating the same business model again and again–it’s not an accident that Apple has no real online or social media footprint. Steve believes in beautifully designed objects, closed systems and evangelizing to developers and creatives).

Worth quoting–one of Arthur C. Clarke’s lesser known three laws: “When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is probably wrong.”

The paradox is that by the time you get to be senior, the decisions that matter the most are the ones that would be best made made by people who are junior…

Let me state from the outset that I grew up in a home with both parents. My Dad never missed a game, took me fishing, hunting and is still a great Dad. My Mom; however, was the spiritual lead…even for my Dad, as he has readily admitted in the days since her physical death. Her ability to hold Dad to Christ’s standards is the thing I believe he feared losing the most.

It was embarrassing at times as it seemed Mom would try to make some forceful corrections in our lives by introducing uncomfortable elements of faith, or in correcting the actions or words of a friend. Mom wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but in the end she loved Jesus and she had little problem letting people know. About 10 days before Mom left the hospital for the last time she had emergency surgery to remove a tumor on her spine that had paralyzed her from the waste down. The following afternoon after the surgery, and after receiving the first in a long line of bad news my Mom asked for her purple iPod Nano, unplugged the headphones, and played and through tears attempted to sing Matt Redman’s You Never Let Go. It is a memory that moves me to tears as I write. At it’s conclusion she then asked for hugs from every family member and pronounced a blessing over every single person with some words of wisdom and encouragement as she embraced them. She knew the end of this life was near for her, and she used the platform of her impending physical death to point my four cousins, my uncle, two aunts, my grandmother, my sister, my brothers, a soon to be sister-in-law and her mother to Jesus and His ways.

It was an episode that she repeated with every new visitor. Even when she could not stay awake for the visit she would wake up and pray over people before they left. Only time will tell of the fruit Jesus bears from those moments. Her moments with me have already born much fruit.

In the age where more and more families are broken and more and more fathers are absent the faith of the Mothers will be the primary guiding influence in the lives of children in America. While it is tragic that so many men have failed to be a Christ-centered spiritual guide for their families we cannot ignore supporting the mothers in their struggle to raise their children while trying to stem the tide of divorce, unwanted pregnancy, co-habitation, and the absence of men in churches. We must never let go, because He won’t.

When we find ourselves in a place where we know that we can do more, better, bigger, than we currently are doing it might be good to remind ourselves that we’re fallen and imperfect people who rely on a perfect and Holy God.

Evotional.com

Everything I’ve ever done is laced with selfish ambition. Why? Because I’m not completely sanctified. If you want to go to the next level of leadership you need to allow God to crucify your selfish ambitions, but that is only half the equation. You also need God to intensify your godly ambitions. There is a fine line between those two motivations, but they will determine what gets rewarded and what gets disregarded. I think there are lots of leaders who are accomplishing great things for the kingdom, but it will go totally unrewarded because they are doing it for the wrong reasons. And it is our motivations that will one day be revealed and judged by God.

The difference between selfish ambition and godly ambition is sort of like the difference between self confidence and holy confidence. The source of the motivations are polar opposites while the actions on the surface seem to be the same. It’s so easy to do the right things for the wrong reasons and appear to be godly. May God sanctify our motives. May God crucify our selfish ambitions and intensity our godly ambitions. May the glory of God be the only motivation driving us!

David Timms shares some thoughts on becoming a disciple and the lack of focus on humility.

“Should you ask me: What is the first thing in religion? I should reply: the first, second, and third thing therein is humility.” – Augustine, 4th-5th century

Humility

“I am amazed at how little humility is seen as the distinguishing feature of discipleship.” (Andrew Murray: 12)

Most of us think of humility as just another virtue — much like patience, goodness, or kindness. It’s nice and we appreciate it when we see it, but we rarely discuss it and almost never pursue it. Yet, the Bible seems to indicate that humility may be the bedrock of discipleship.

Jesus humbled himself by becoming a man and submitting even to death. (Phil 2:5-8) He called His disciples to “deny yourself … take up your cross … be last of all … be slave of all.” (Mk 8-10)

James reminds us that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (Js 4:6)

It’s an old biblical theme that generates little attention, especially in a culture devoted to achievement, recognition, status, and significance. But if pride is the root of our fallenness (1 Jn 2:16) then humility paves the way to our restoration.

Andrew Murray goes so far as to say: “Humility is the only soil in which virtue takes root; a lack of humility is the explanation of every defect and failure. Humility is not so much a virtue along with the others, but is the root of all.” (Murray: 17)

Marriages fail not when love grows cold but when pride trumps humility. Churches experience conflict not when unity is forgotten but when humility is lost. We grow least content not when circumstances are tough but when entitlement buries humility.

Of course, our definition of humility makes all the difference. It’s not about self-loathing or dejected defeat. Rather, “true humility comes when before God we see ourselves as nothing, have put aside self, and let God be all.” (Murray: 55)

Let God be all. Sounds simple enough, but the striving and fruitlessness of our lives suggests that we find it easier to let God be some.

The challenge of our day, as followers of Jesus, is not to rise to the top but to live faithfully among the least, because of who He is. It’ll change everything; our homes, our families, our churches, and our workplaces.

In HOPE –

David

Waiting on the Lord…

Is not an excuse for inaction…

While your perfect situation

Your dream job

Your Dream

Is awaiting heavenly approval

God’s blessing

Do SOMETHING!

Volunteer in the nursery…yes men I mean YOU!

Do SOMETHING!

Only drink water for two weeks and send the money you would have spent on beverages to Living Water International.

Do SOMETHING!

Might God be waiting on us

To just try to be obedient

Loving others and showing compassion

Before our dreams are realized

Or ChAnGeD!

Failure

As a scientist I know that one must generate a logical set of ideas about what, why, how, when, and where in order to partake in the discovery process. Seldom does one have a dream of a new compound or a new architectural or engineering structure and then immediately develop it without change to the original idea.  Ignoring that Ironman made it look so incredibly easy to make an entirely new element the generation of that element was necessary because his initial invention was killing him. So, was the initial invention a failure, or just a stepping stone to a better one?

In our ideas about the decisions that make up our every day and those that lead to what looks like failure from many perspectives we should remember that although we may have chosen incorrectly we can still achieve success. When it comes to our ideas about God the Father, about Jesus, about the Holy Spirit and about how much attention we pay to each of them throughout the day we must view the times we failed to include or recognize Him as steps to an increasing awareness of His presence.

The great thing about Failure is that it happened? It may or may not happen again. The place where we have a willingness to risk failure is the place where faith increases. The place where we are willing to step forward in the midst of doubt is the place He is made strong.

Even Honda seems to recognize the value of 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.

But he said to me, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, with insults, with troubles, with persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong. – 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NET