Soakin' Up Life . . . at a 100 MPH!

You need to get in, sit down, hang on, and strap in for this one folks. This is stinkin' amazing! Romans 5:1 says, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,. . . " I'm not sure if you caught that, but re-read it a couple of times. Did you catch the result of entering into and having a relationship with God. . .a relationship that has been made possible by our acceptance of the Atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ? PEACE!! It's not the kind of 60's-hippie peace you might think. The word means there is tranquility, harmony, and accord between He and me. It takes peace to whole nother level. This peace between us and God? It refers to the untroubled, and undisturbed state of our relationship. don't know about you, but it kinda took me a moment to process it all. After a few moments to get the wheels grinding, it hit me! What I forget is that before Jesus died on the cross and before I...

I'm really not one of those people who doesn't look forward to Mondays. I read on Twitter and Facebook about how much people don't like Mondays and how, for some reason, Mondays have become the scourge of the week . Yet I'm under the impression that if we didn't have Mondays some other day. . .say, Tuesday. . .would be the unfortunate recipient of our dire and crass statements and overall hatred for the the day. Don't be a hater! You do know that Sunday is actually the first day of the week . . . NOT Monday . Yes, for some of you, it's the first workday of the week, but my week started Saturday afternoon as I prepared for our Saturday evening worship and Bible study. I guess I say all that to say STOP WHINING! Some of you wouldn't know what to do if you didn't have a Monday to complain about. Besides after about two years worth of Mondays (yes, as in, at times everyday felt like a Monday - to find out why click here ), I'm thinking it...

Here's just a few random thoughts for this rainy morning: Great thought about Sacrifice by my friend, Grant - check it out here . And if you don't follow Grant on Twitter or his blog, your loss. Texas Longhorns - mental mistakes have killed them all season, now they're biting them in the butt. . .AGAIN! Think Mack needs to get after them at half-time. Great morning to process some thoughts that have been rummaging through my mind. I think I'm making progress. Then again, how would you describe progress? Teaching on Hannah tonight in our ABF - she's a worshiper, no matter the circumstance! Do you find yourself worshiping God more when things are going well or when you're desperate? Been going through Robert Lewis' The Quest for Authentic Manhood with about 23 guys on Wednesday mornings - last week we touched on the Four Faces of a Man: King, Warrior, Lover, Friend . There are extremes to each of these. I tend to find myself to the right of the ...

Life just seems to be unfair at times. . .doesn't it? Unfair doesn't seem to describe parts of my life. To find out more go here . And you may have your own perspective of unfair. . .a loss of a child, a spouse who quits on the marriage and walks away like marriage is disposable, the loss of a job after many years of dedication, the way you're treated at school by your peers, a parent who struggles with an addiction or abuse, or the accusations and judgment of those within the church. Whatever it is, it's unfair to YOU ! I've always said that life isn't fair. No one promised life would be fair. And I'm not totally sure we want what's fair. After all, wouldn't it be fair for us to pay the penalty of our own sins, rather than Jesus? Hannah's situation wasn't fair either, was it? Yet her life is sharply contrasted with that of Eli's, the head priest at the time. Here's Hanna who openly desired a son. She's a woman who plead...

How far are are you willing to go, if at all, to expand the Kingdom of God? I'm not necessarily talking about distance. . .a.k.a. that mission trip half-way around the world. I admit that there's inherent risk in the trip itself. What I'm talking about is the kind of risk it takes to expand the Kingdom of God in YOUR community - school, child's sports team, office staff, neighborhood association, etc. There are people in the Bible who risked life and limb for the Kingdom of God. Check out Rahab . She was a prostitute and, as we find out later, part of the lineage of Jesus. But even when confronted by the king of Jericho's men she would NOT turn her back on God or His people. Yet, how many times do we do that just because we don't want to be labeled a Christian, Christ-follower, one of His disciples, or whatever the cool term is these days for accepting salvation through the blood of Jesus, our Savior? Rahab feared God. She was more afraid of the power...

Yesterday was a really long day, though it was a very productive day. It kicked off at 4:00-way-too-stinkin'-early-in-the-morning o'clock. Wasn't planning on getting up that early, but remembering all I had to do to get ready for our men's group, went ahead and hit the floor running. . .welllll, it was more like stumbling and the running was just to keep me from falling on my face. Yesterday we kicked off our fall Men's Fraternity study - The Quest for Authentic Manhood. Had about 25 guys show up for our 6:00 am group! What a great group. I was uber excited and loved the discussions going on around the tables. Last night another group met - somewhere around 40 men had signed up, not sure yet how many showed up. Tonight another group starts. In all more than 60 men have taken the first on the journey of discovering God's desire and design for them as men. Needless to say, I'm rockin' right now. Then, after getting some stuff done around the offi...

This morning I was reading the blog of Pastor Steven Furtik of Elevation Church who wrote this little ditty on how pointing out problems affects pastors. It reminded me of one of my earliest leadership lessons. . . Back in the day I was a contract administrator for a company that managed health care data for companies. I was part Unix programmer, trainer, process developer, report checker, and front line contact person for our clients. I loved this job. It's also where I learned that I was geek . . . I had inclinations leading up to this experience, but this job confirmed it. It's also where I started my education on leadership. On of my first leadership lessons came from Gina, one of my bosses during this time. Since we managed data and, at times, were developing processes with each new client we were open to problems. That happens when you grow, it's part of the growing pains as an organization gets larger. Because of her position Gina became the repository for ...