Simple Things – Part 1

I like things that are simple and easy to understand, but I also understand that when something seems too simple, it can sound unbelievable.

Christmas, for instance, is a little unbelievable.  The story is simple…God created everything and loved His creation fully…His creation rejected His love and had to live separated from Him…God hated the separation so much that He sent Jesus (His Son) to come live on earth and carry out a plan that allows us to be reunited with Him.  It’s a simple story…but, at times, it is unbelievable.

I was reading in 2 Kings yesterday (the Old Testament of the Bible) and came across a funny story about a guy that had a skin disease and asked Elisha (one of God’s prophets) how he could be healed from his disease.  The prophet told him to go wash in the Jordan river seven times and he would be healed.  Rather than take Elisha’s advice, the guy gets really ticked off and begins a tantrum where he basically calls Elisha an idiot and Elisha’s plan degrading…it was too simple to work.  The story continues with the guy’s servants asking him what he was so mad about.  They basically say, “If Elisha had told you some elaborate plans and rituals full of details that you had to carry out, you would have done it…why not trust the guy when he gives you something easy to do…what have you got to lose?”  Of course, the story ends with the guy coming out of the Jordan river for the seventh time and he is completely healed.

Sometimes simple things are the best.  The story of Christmas is too simple…but the truth behind the simplicity is incredibly beautiful.  The process of becoming a follower of Jesus (asking Him to forgive you, then letting Him change your life) is too simple…but the end result is absolutely amazing (eternal life in Heaven, abundant life on earth).  Just because something is simple, don’t automatically reject.

Returns and Christmas Cash

‘Tis the season for returning unwanted Christmas gifts and duplicate items…how many lines will you stand in over the next couple days?  I took the day off work today so my family and I can head to the stores for a little after-Christmas fun.  We’ve only got two things to take back (one doesn’t match what we’ve already got and one is a duplicate of something else), so we won’t be in the return lines long.

When we’re done with that, then we get to watch the kids spend their Christmas cash…it is amazing to see how quickly two of our kids can blow through $25 and how long it takes for another one of our kids to do the same…it will be a fun day.

I hope yesterday was all that you hoped it would be…I hope you celebrated with your family enough…called enough of your friends…ate enough of all the holiday food…got enough cool gifts to satisfy you…and basically, celebrated enough Christmas to last you for the rest of the year.  Unfortunately, the first few weeks after Christmas usually get a little crazy for most people.  As the credit card bills start arriving, panic sets in.  As the family and friends returns to their homes, loneliness sets in.  As the “sudden, unexplained, interest in spiritual things” subsides, hope begins to disappear.  January and February are sure to be difficult months for many people.  Begin thinking now how you will fight the post-Christmas blues in your own life and prepare yourself to encourage others as they go through it, too.

2008 is sure to be an incredible year…but if we sit around and mope through the first two months of it, we may miss the most important parts.

Christmas Morning, 5:45am, and I can’t sleep

I feel like I’m 6 years old again.  It’s 5:45 on Christmas morning, and I can’t sleep.  So, I’m sitting in my living room trying not to wake up my kids by typing.  I’ve already gone on Webkinz and logged in all three of my kids so they could get their “special present from Santa Kinz” (don’t laugh…if your kid has a Webkinz pet, I’m sure you know their login name and password as well…and you have probably taken your fair share of spins on the Wheel of Wow, too).  And, the house is still quiet with me being the only one awake.

I used to do this as a kid and was quite famous for waking up between 4am and 5am and then just waiting in my bed, staring at the ceiling until we could get up and tear into the presents.  The anticipation would kill me because I never knew what I was going to get.  That’s not the case this year…in fact, I purchased all three big gifts that I was getting this year (a new cordless drill – $30, a big package of drill bits – $5, and an mp3 player – $20).  I think the reason I can’t sleep is the anticipation of seeing my kids’ reaction to what they’re going to get for Christmas.  I want them to be excited.  I want them to enjoy this morning.  I want to see them laugh and jump up and down and shout and scream with joy.  There’s got to be a lesson there.

Last night, I had the opportunity to help lead Church At The Grove’s first Christmas Eve service.  I was thrilled to be able to share the stage with Russ Butcher and Nathan Boyd as we walked people through the story of God (from pre-creation, to God’s first interactions with mankind, to Jesus’ birth and life, to the changes He makes in our lives today).  It was a great night for me and 247 of “my closest friends.”  Russ and Nathan did a great job with their parts (by the way…I’m really loving watching Nathan communicate in our services…he is an incredible speaker and Russ and I both look forward to seeing what God does with him in the future).  I freaked out about my part and wound up having to take my notes on stage with me, but as I went through my section on “God Loves,” I was reminded about what that really means.  God loves.  He loves me as a child.  And, I think there are times when He has the same feelings of anticipation about my life that I do about my own kids (where else would my emotion have come from?).  I’m sure there are times up in Heaven where God can hardly wait for me to experience the next incredible part of life that He has planned for me.  In fact, right now, God is awake as well.  He’s watching me type this.  And, I really believe He’s excited for me…He wants me to have a great day with my family…He wants me to enjoy my kid’s reactions to their gifts…He wants me to have fun re-telling my kids the story of the first Christmas…and He wants all of us (as we hear that story) to just sit in quiet amazement at the God that He is…the God that creates…the God that loves…the God that gives…and the God that dwells with us.

I hope you have a great Christmas morning.  Now, I’m going to go…my oldest daughter Katie just woke up…it’s great to be a kid!!!

A Great Day!!!

Alright, so here was my day… definitely one well spent.

5:30am     Wake up and start cooking breakfast for 90+people.

7:00am     Head to Youth Middle School to serve breakfast for the faculty and teachers at YMS.

8:00am     Make 100 pancakes while I watch Russ Butcher make incredible specialty coffee drinks for all the teachers.

8:45am     Hang out with Ms Lynch and her staff for about 45 minautes while they have their end-of-year staff meeting.

9:30am     Clean up and head home to get ready for a “cookie party” with a couple families and a couple extra kids.

10:30am     Hang out with a bunch of kids, make a bunch of cookies, decorate the cookies with a lot of sprinkles, make a big mess, clean the mess, and repeat.   (Did I mention we used a lot of sprinkles?   I MEAN A LOT OF SPRINKLES!!!)

2:00pm     Make more cookies while Amy, the kids, and everyone else drive to Boys and Girls Club in Monroe to drop off 100+ books that the third grade classes at Youth Elementary School wrapped to give to the kids at the Club.

4:00pm     Hang out with some more friends and talk and laugh a while.

6:00pm     Head to Fatz Cafe to meet up with my cousins from Virginia that I haven’t seen in a while.

Later tonight…come home, collapse in bed, and get to sleep.

A day well done!

Hilarious Road Sign

Last night, I was inching my way home from Snellville and it was taking forever (it took me almost an hour to go a total of 15 miles).  Anyway, I came up to this construction zone and wish I had a camera with me.  On the side of the road was one of these big DOT signs that flashes various messages to those that are driving by.  On this particular sign it was cycling through three screens:

“Entering Construction Zone”

“Watch Your Speed”

“Your Current Speed is 0m.p.h.”

I just had to laugh.  At least the sign told the truth…but did we honestly need a written reminder not to speed through Snellville at 5:30pm on a weekday…I figure the 18,000 cars ahead of me was a pretty effective reminder.

P.S.  If anyone reading this works for the D.O.T., why not use signs like that during rush hour for things that will really benefit us…type out the top local news articles, or put some recipes on the sign for us to make dinner when we get home, or put up the entire transcript of “War and Peace”…we’ve got the time to read it.

“Suggestion Box”? – Part 2

A good friend of mine read my “Suggestion Box”? – Part 1 and asked me “Who ticked you off?”  So, let me briefly explain.  I did not write Part 1 of this post after somebody ticked me off.  Actually, just the opposite.  If anything spurred these two posts, it was a conversation on Sunday morning where a different friend of mine suggested a great idea and he suggested it in a perfect way.  Let me elaborate a little bit as I attempt to answer the question of how I like to receive suggestions.

#1  My friend caught me at a good time…in the hallway during a “down time” after we had set up almost everything already.  Sometimes (like everybody else) I’ve got a lot to do and catching me in the absolute middle of a project (or series of tasks) is not the best time.  If I am too busy, I will not have time to write the idea down.  If I don’t write it down, I will not remember it.  If I don’t remember it, I will not even begin to think about it, process it, and implement it.

#2  My friend’s suggestion was useful…it helped answer a very basic need with leading our volunteer teams on Sunday mornings.  I love our volunteers and love ideas that make their jobs easier when it comes to creating the Sunday morning environment.

#3  My friend’s suggestion was simple, easy, and cheap…with a few extra minutes each week (and no extra cost), I will be able to implement his suggestion.

#4  My friend’s suggestion was actually something that falls under my areas of leadership…he knows enough about me to know some of the things I spend time on each week and his suggestion was something that he could not do, but I could.

#5  My friend’s suggestion was actually made as a suggestion…he basically offered it as a “what would happen if…” comment and did not add any implied guilt if I did not take his suggestion.  I don’t like being guilted into decisions.  I always hated the “if you don’t do it my way, I’m not going to be your friend” scenarios I went through on the playground in elementary school…and I haven’t grown to like them any better over the years.

#6  The suggestion came from my friend…a friend that believes in me…believes in the ministry of Church At The Grove…and really wants the ministry to be as effective as possible for developing people to follow Jesus and make disciples.

#7  The suggestion came out of (and for) a ministry that my friend is already involved in…it’s hard to listen to suggestions from people that don’t know anything about the situations or the challenges surrounding the part of life they are making suggestions about…but somebody that’s on the “front lines” of a particular ministry is a great source for ideas on how to make things run smoother on the front lines.  (By the way, I also love suggestions from complete “outsiders” – those that are not affiliated with any church or do not have a relationship with Christ).

So, that’s pretty much it.  I love what God is doing at Church At The Grove…I want him to continue to do amazing things…and, I know that there are a lot of good ideas out there that Russ and I haven’t thought of yet.  Maybe you have one of those good ideas…I would love to hear them as long as they fall in the list of topics from “Part 1″ and are handled in the ways of “Part 2.”  So, come up with the ideas, think about them a lot, pray through them, figure out if they are ideas to share with us (or just implement on your own), and then handle them however God leads you to handle them.

P.S.  I promise not to come across angry in tomorrow’s blog…I’ve got to tell you about this sign I saw on the way home…funny!!!

“Suggestion Box”? – Part 1

I almost always try to the very best job at whatever I’m doing.  Sometimes, I get lazy and I drop the ball.  Sometimes, I try hard, but the task is too difficult for me and I fail.  Sometimes, I work hard at something that will NEVER succeed.  Sometimes, I do the right thing in the right way and with the right amount of energy…and it’s a success.

Obviously, when helping Russ lead Church At The Grove, I apply myself in the same way…sometimes with good results…sometimes with failures.  Along the way, it seems like everyone has opinions about what I could do better and what I should do differently.  So, I figured it was a good time to give you some insight into how I lead…and what kind of suggestions I like to hear.  The attitude that may come across is one of arrogance…I assure you that is not my heart…I’m simply learning that I don’t have time to please everyone, so I only need to focus on pleasing God and some suggestions help me do that, while others do not.

#1  I like things that encourage a Biblical understanding of faith…if you are a Christian and your suggestion has nothing to do with helping develop people who follow Jesus and make disciples…I probably don’t want to hear it.  We did not call this thing “Country Club At The Grove” because we did not want to create a place that was focused only on our comforts and preferences.  If, however, your idea has something to do with the mission of the church, it may very well be one of the “missing pieces” of the ministry around here.

#2  I love people and I love God and I want people to know about the love of God…if you have an idea that helps separate us from people that don’t have a relationship with God, then I will absolutely shoot it down on the spot.  We want people to explore faith with us on Sunday mornings…any “wall” we put around us goes against our very purpose for existence.  If, however, your idea has something to do with connecting in a new way with those “least likely to go to church,” then I would love to hear it.

#3  When I turned to follow Christ, I became His representative here on earth.  Along with meeting needs and having conversations as I go through the details of daily life, I also have a very specific mission field that God has called me to spend a lot of time and energy on.  If you are a Christian, and your suggestion is an attempt to pass responsibility for your mission field off to me, then keep it to yourself…I don’t have time to do my work and yours…or just go ahead and write down the names of the people in your circles of influence so I can pray that God will put another Christian in their path who is actually interested in their lives and eternities.  If, however, you have some stories of how God is using you to connect with others and help them consider Christ in a new way, then let me know…others may benefit from your experiences.

#4  I enjoy authenticity.  I like things that are real.  I like people that are real.  I used to be “fake”…I tried to appease everyone I met, I tried to pretend like I had life all together…I was miserable.  In the last several years, God has been teaching me to be real.  I have real friends.  I go through real life.  I struggle with real problems.  If your suggestion involves helping create fake successes or fake relationships around here, then don’t waste my time with it.  If, however, you’ve got an idea that will help people connect with and “do life with” other believers and those outside the faith, then it may be a winner of an idea.

#5  I like simple things.  If your idea makes either the message of the gospel or my life more complex, then don’t even bother telling me.  If you can save me time or energy or make what I’m already doing more effective, then speak up.

#6  Time, energy, and money are always limited.  If your idea takes a lot of any of these things, it better have some pretty incredible potential.  If you have an “expensive” suggestion that isn’t likely to accomplish much in the way of developing people to follow Jesus and make disciples, then save it for another church that loves wasting God’s resources on ineffective things.  If, on the other hand, you’ve got an idea on how to connect with people that is shows an understanding of effectively managing God’s stuff, then it may be a great idea.

 So, that’s what I like to hear suggestions about…in a few days, I’ll let you know a little bit of the best ways to tell me your suggestions so they’re most likely to be heard.

I’m quickly becoming a “gravatar” model

This is a “gravatar” —>  

A “gravatar”, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an 80×80 pixel avatar image that follows you from weblog to weblog appearing beside your name when you comment on gravatar enabled sites.

I logged on to my blog because I needed to see if anybody had read anything I’ve written and I was shocked/scared/disappointed at how much I look like the generic gravatars in the “Recent Comments” list on my blog.  If I would amputate my shoulders or lose about 150 pounds, I would really look like them.  Some day I will understand the benefits of being bald…but right now, I really just feel like a “gravatar” model.

Oh well…on with my day.

Homeless for the Hurting – Local Buzz

Churches are, unfortunately, famous for being on the front page of the newspaper.  Anytime there is a scandal, we’re there.  Anytime there is a protest, we’re there.  Anytime there is a tragedy, we’re there…usually talking about the tragedy being God’s judgment on us.

As far as the scandal goes…what a shame that Christians fail so “publicly”…scandal drags the name and message of Christ through the mud.  As far as the protests go…what a shame that Christians are so often known for what we’re against…maybe what’s going on IS wrong, but do we always have to be so stinkin rude about it?  As far as the tragedies go…we (all of us) certainly deserve God’s judgment, but is it possible that we blame him for too much?  Maybe the “I told you so” response should be our last response instead of our first.  Just think what kind of ministry we could have if we came alongside those most deeply impacted by the tragedy and tried to figure out how to help.  Okay, I’m rambling…back to the point:  churches make the front page of the newspaper too often for the wrong things.

However, I wanted to point out that Church At The Grove has hit the front page of the Loganville Tribune for the second week in a row…and both of them were great things.  Last week, we were there because of our work on the Shop With A Hero event.  Today, we’re there because of Homeless for the Hurting.  I’m thrilled to be part of faith community that takes the needs of others seriously.  Thanks to all who planned and volunteered at these events.  You’ve had an impact that goes far beyond what you could imagine.

Homeless for the Hurting – You can still help

Today, I went ahead and took the coats and blankets to Trinity United Methodist Church in Atlanta.  I got a chance to meet Kathy (the Trinity Community Ministries coordinator) and I met the pastor of the church where many of the ministry’s activities happen.

Sunday after the first service, we’ve got several individuals and families that are going to head down to Atlanta (we’re supposed to be there at about 11:30am) to actually hand the coats and blankets and stuff to these men and women that desparately need them.  About 400 homeless people will show up at Trinity Methodist at 12:30pm for lunch and then an opportunity to pick up a few items of warm clothing.  If you would like to help on Sunday, just let me know and I will get you directions down there.  This is a great way to still be involved in meeting this tremendous need.