Pure Worship

Sometimes I wish we could all go back and remember what it was like to be a kid again. The early days of Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, Summer Camp, and children's choir were some of the purest days of worship. The freedom to sing loud, clap our hands, and dance was never stifled by the worry of what others might think or say. 


Too often we let our concern and awareness of others put a restriction on our worship of God. And that's when our worship services are filled with statues and frowns.

If you have ever attended a church service that feels more like a funeral than a worship service. This is for you! We all need to remember to have joy in our lives and that it's okay to laugh and enjoy our lives as we walk with the Lord.

This week, let us "cut loose" and worship The One that created the universe!

Tub Time

A very productive evening with dinner out of the way, baths in process, and then the words ring through the house; "help, help, uhhh, help, Zion pooped in the tub!"

I am not a trained poop remover, for that I'm thankful. I can't imagine what being a "poop remover" would include. So, when I walked into the bathroom to see the two kids standing next to the tub, Kim practically rolling on the floor laughing, and the entire family looking to me for action, I hesitated on "step one".

I asked for a bucket and Kim brought a camera! Smart, now we can share this experience with our friends a loved ones!

WARNING: GRAPHIC (POOP RELATED) PHOTO BELOW

Being a parent is full of unexpected happenings, most leave memories etched on our lives far into the future. Sometimes we are left with great joy, other times we are left with a tub full of poop! Sometimes we know the exact thing to say or do, other times we are left with our hands in the air in search of what our next move should be. Either way, we are trusted to love our children and ALL the poop they leave in our homes and our lives!

Honeymoon Phase

This week Addison, our four-year-old started preschool. I would have to say that this was more of an adjustment for the rest of our family than it was for her. Zion, our two-year old wondered aimlessly around the house all afternoon asking for Addison and saying "school" in such a sad tone.

In addition to being an adjustment, it brought a lot of anxiety to Kim and I throughout the day and especially as we waiting for her to come home on the school bus. The first day we waited around for over an hour, not sure of the exact time that the bus would arrive and countless times Kim was itching to call transportation to check on the bus.

Yet, when Addison arrived home that afternoon, the smile on her face, the sprint up the driveway, and the stories about her day calmed our minds and  gave us security, knowing that this was a good school for her.

This weekend we received a call and a letter from her teacher, bringing us even more comfort. In the letter she stated that this past week was the "honeymoon phase". And although the kids were very excited to come to school, meet new friends, and learn new things, that may soon change. She said that soon the kids may begin to get homesick, miss their parents, and not like school. She said this is normal.

Addison loves us very much, we know this because she says it every day, she gives us hugs and kisses, has the desire to play games and spend time with us, and because she (generally) likes to listen to us and please us with her actions. Yet we know that this may someday change, that she may soon have no real desire to spend time with spend much time with us and that the word "hate" may be hurled from her mouth toward us. I'm not sure if I am ready for that yet!

Which led me to thinking; are we in the honeymoon phase with our children? I know that both Kim and I have changed a great deal since we were married seven years ago. This may be due to maturing in both of us, the joy of life, the stress of life, and so many other aspects. Yet one thing is certain, we have both changed and so has our relationship. We are no longer in the honeymoon phase! But we are okay with that, no one can live in the honeymoon phase, not only is it not possible, it is not healthy. But it sure is fun to think of the times of our honeymoon and the memories made up to that point and even after that. And, when this life and so many outside forces are chipping away at us and at our relationship, it is good to remember our honeymoon phase and to strive to get back some of the feelings, the joy, and the happiness that we experienced at that stage in our relationship. 

In the same way, we cannot live in the honeymoon phase of our relationship with Jesus Christ. But, it is essential for us to remember the joy that we experienced when we first found the one thing that made life worth living, the only thing that gives our life value. We must strive, daily, to achieve all that Christ has called us to, that is, His purpose for our lives. This is so much easier during the honeymoon phase, but God did not call us to the honeymoon phase, he called us to this life.

John had this to say about remembering you honeymoon phase with Christ, or as he called it, your "first love".

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.  (Revelation 2:4-5)

I encourage you to read and reread the above, pray over it, asking God to speak to you through it today.

Three Things After Three

Three things happened this afternoon, after 3:00p the first shaped my afternoon, the second my evening, and the third made connected my thoughts and got me thinking. Allow me to share.

FIRST...
A gentleman entered my office this afternoon and said he had the desire to recommit his life to Christ! I'll take five seconds of spacing here to allow for celebration...................................................................................................We had a lengthy conversation about what it meant to be a Christian, what actions he needed to take to recommit his life to Christ, and many of the question and/or concerns he had about this recommitment. One of the topics that came up was his formation of our belief in Christ and the great foundation that our parents built within us at such early ages by "forcing their beliefs on us". And although we had these beliefs thrust upon us, at some point, we all must ask the question; "What do I believe" and we must accept Christ, and the salvation that only He brings, for ourselves Following our conversation I had the great privilege in praying for him and having him pray. This has been, by far, the most rewarding part of my ministry here in Robinson.

Second...
This great experience was followed by dinner with my wonderful family. We decided to go out for dinner and because we eat at such an early time the restaurant was fairly empty. Sitting down in a quiet booth we got settled in only to have an older couple with, what must have been, the most annoying child in the Robinson area. Dinner was spent with this child dropping food on my shoulder, making siren noises in my ear, hitting me in the back with some sort of a stuffed snake-eel-fish-dinosaur. Every now and then "ma-maw" and "Chris" would say "turn around Austy" (I assume his real name was Austin but for such a cute little bugger we need to use the pet name "Austy") but little Austy didn't listen.

THIRD...
Kim ordered hot wings for dinner, her desire for bread sticks and hot wings was what brought me and little Austin together in the first place. Well, that and fate! Anyhow, she likes the wings not the drumettes (we call them chicken butts) and so I was lucky enough to polish off the final two for her. I like spicy food and these didn't seem that spicy, not until I finished them and started breathing again.  As I sit here almost four hours later I can still taste the aftershock.

 As I sat down to reflect on this afternoon's events, still celebrating the rebirth of a soul, tasting the hot wings from dinner and icing the wounds obtained from little Austy, I thought about that foundation of beliefs given to me and to so many others. Some of us are so very lucky to be given this foundation at an early age, to be introduced to Christ by our parents, teachers, friends, and churches. Some of us are lucky enough to have the beliefs of others thrust upon us, creating a basis of beliefs for the remainder of our lives. Others, are not so lucky! Some, like little Austy, are not given a foundation, a basic foundation of behavior and respect (I'm making a judgment call here and referring not to Salvation). Yet, just like the hot wings, it may not be felt until after we have formulated our beliefs and have lived through many of the trials and burdens of life and begin to breath again. 

Do you feel the "aftershock" of the foundation that was given to you? If you are not as lucky as I perhaps you had a foundation that was built on uneasy soil or perhaps you never had one formed at all. Yet there is only one foundation, the true foundation, that can stand the test of time, trials, burdens, struggles, stress, and all that life brings. And that foundation is Jesus Christ. 

"For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 3:11)

                                                                                                   

making the connection

Recently we have been working to develop our ministry plan, purpose statement, mission statement, and so on, most of you know the drill. (It is complete but I feel compelled to unveil it for our church family before unveiling it here). Anyhow, one element of this is the word "connect" (more on that in a moment).

Every week the local paper runs a section titled "Faith and Family" in which they list every church in the community and/or county with information about that church. This information is submitted weekly by the local church and will include service times, visitor names, participant names, etc. They have a list of stipulations such as not listing sermon titles, Scripture references, and so on. One of the things that I wanted to include in our churches listing was "come and connect with God and with others this Sunday", yet I noticed (after several weeks) that this statement was never included. I emailed the newspaper to ask why this statement and others were removed from our listing every week? The response shortly followed;
This was a well prepared and well worded response. As I thought more about it though, it brought to mind many of our worship services. Can we as Christians, and those of us as pastors make the claim that those who worship with us will "connect with God and connect with others"? My prayer is that we can make this statement and that we are constantly evaluating our times of worship and asking this question.

As Christians we understand that people who attend church and Sunday School can "Connect with God" and "Grow in the Word of God", but as a newspaper providing information to the general public we do not have an authoritative source to confirm that information. If you were placing a paid advertisement expressing yours or the church's opinion those words would be fine.

As I sit here on a Saturday evening, preparing my heart to worship The Lord tomorrow and to lead others to worship His majesty and give Him glory, I must ask myself. Will you connect with God tomorrow? Will those that walk through the doors of the church connect with God tomorrow? How will you help to make that connection possible? How will you connect with others tomorrow to show the love of God in a hurting world to so many people who need to see it?

May God bless us all as we strive to connect with Him and connect with others.

surviving the impossible

Just a month and a half ago we moved from northern Indiana to southern Illinois. This, as we knew it would, came with many struggles (can't help but think of the Illinois fans that I have dealt with so far). These struggles started months before we moved with the stress of packing, leaving a church family and a job that I loved and that I felt more than comfortable doing. The anxiety that followed when we considered that our income would change, our insurance would change, our stability, and knowledge of so many of the surrounding elements would change.

I'll take a moment here to mention just how wonderful Kim (my wife) is. She has never questioned the move, the change in jobs, the change in income, or the change in comfort. She has never mentioned that fact that I have taken her (once again) away from all of her friends and have moved here four hours away from her parents. Further, she has taken on so many new duties (such as teaching a Sunday School class), she has taken on new responsibilities (with the additional stress), and she has been my sounding board and listening ear more than I could mention. Bottom line, she's amazing.

One of the biggest challenges for me has been the ability to write a solid sermon every week. And yet, I am not expected to write one sermon, but two sermons (for the morning and evening services). When I stop to consider that fact that every week I am going before people double, triple, even quadruple my age and share with tell a teaching from the word of God, scared is an understatement. The people that I am "teaching" are scholars, executives, business owners, and teachers themselves. At any moment I am expecting one, or all, of the people in the church to stand up and ask "what are you talking about" or "what are you doing up there". Weekly I open my Bible and share a teaching based on truths that are taken from the best selling book of all time, a book that was written by the creator of the universe, the creator of mankind. It is not uncommon for me to ask myself "what are you doing". This is impossible for me! Today a friend of mine reminded me that "God lives in the impossible".

"With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)

How do we get through the impossible? I know that for me it is through the daily, sometimes hourly, reminder that God has called me to this task. It is when I remind myself of this that the anxiety is lifted and it becomes a joy to write a sermon. This is because I am no longer studying, preparing, or writing, but rather God that is writing through me, it is Christ that is working through me. When we allow The Spirit to use the gifts that He has blessed us with to bring Him glory and to further His Kingdom it is no longer an impossibility or an anxiety but it is a joy to see it His work fulfilled.

May God continue to be glorified as He ministers and does the impossible through me.

because that's the way dad did it

The other night I was putting the kids to bed and, in addition to our regular bedtime routine, I told them good night in a very strange voice with some added motions. My wife, Kim, asked me what I was doing, why I used these voices, and why I used these particular motions. My answer was simple; "because that's the way dad did it".

This simple phrase really got me thinking as the night went on. I began to think of the many actions I take, the many routines that I follow every day "because that's the way dad did it".

My dad would do some of the simplest things on a daily basis that seemed to have had a great impact on my life. piggy-back or horsey-back rides to bed that seemed to last for an hour, potty-breaks in the middle of the night so that we would break that pesky bed-wetting problem, making up silly songs with us and about us, trapping us in a make-believe cave while wrestling with us at the same time, giving us rides on his shoulders when we seemed to tired to take another step, giving us rides on his feet when we needed a laugh, and many other memorable things that he did that I think back on and can't help sharing with my children too. But it is not just the fun activities that my dad passed down to me that I share with my children, it also seems to be the disciplines, making them drink all of their milk before they get up from the table, ensuring that they treat their mom, my wife, with respect and are never cruel, giving them "the look" or even "the voice" when they behave inappropriately in public and especially at church, and making sure that they say their prayers before meals and bed every night.

I thought not only of my children, the way that I treat them, the way that I raise them, but also about my wife and my marriage. The small things that my dad did for my mom remain in my head and they seem to have made it to my marriage as well. Opening the door for my wife whenever possible, surprising her with unexpected gifts throughout the year, making the holidays (especially the Christmas season) a special time, and many more.

All of this helped me to realize just how much of an impact fathers have on the lives of their children. Often times as a father we may wonder if the things that we do really serve a purpose and if it is all really worth it, let me say that it is. Sometimes the actions, the little things that we do may seem to be unappreciated and we may feel that no one cares, perhaps even that no one notices. Yet, in the same way that a rock is smoothed and forms under the gentle pressure of a stream, over time fathers are making a huge impact on their children and on their family. If you are a father and you are doubting yourself, your role, and the responsibilities that you are carrying out, just know that, as time goes on, as children mature and advance, your impact and your legacy is being established.

Further, if you are a follower of God, the one true God who created the heaven and the earth, the God that loves and cares for you and me more than we could ever imaging, "that's the way dad did it" carries a higher meaning to you and should impact the way that you lead your family. Our God is a God that governs with mercy, love, and forgiveness. Our God is a God that teaches His children at the various ages and stages as they grow and mature along side Him. Our God is a God that never leaves and never forsakes his children. Our God is a God that keeps His love as the focus of all judgments, actions, and disciplines. But, in order for a believer to say "that's the way dad did it" we need to be familiar with our Father in Heaven, we need to be walking with Him as He is guiding us, teaching us, and maturing us in our personal journey with Him.

Romans 8:15 says: "but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." If it's been a while, your Father wants to hear from you and He wants to make it clear the way that He does it, which is the only way to do it.