Discipline

As the New Year quickly approaches, I, along with untold masses, begin to think of the changes and corrections I want to make in my personal and spiritual life in '08. One doesn't read anything written by anyone great, or hear anything said by anyone with an influential voice without soon coming across the importance of discipline. Discipline in prayer, writing, exercise, dieting, and investing - everything worth anything is a process, and all good processes are built on consistent discipline.

Lots of people can be different for a day or two, but I want to be just a little different every single day of my life. A little different from the average . . . every single day of my life.

So what is it that you need to place more focus on in 2008? What areas of life need to be sharpened in order for you to become the person God created you to be?

Blessed.

Have you have you ever had one of those days when you just feel overwhelmed? Not the negative type of "overwhelmed" most think of, but the good kind of "overwhelmed?"

I'm having one of those days today. I feel overwhelmed with blessings. I'm not sick, my bank account is not in the red, my children are (somewhat) normal, my wife still loves me (as far as I know), there is some food in our pantry, my car is working, I have shoes on, I have a job, I have friends, and I have God.

I haven't won the lottery recently. I haven't done anything extraordinary, at least recently :), I'm just way blessed and sometimes I don't express that fact enough.

No matter what state of existence you are in today, if you look around you, you'll quickly find out how blessed you are.

I know - it's such a simple thought. It's also simple to acknowledge our blessings.

Be blessed today, and realize it.

December Nugget

Here's a little pic of my girls. I'm pretty lucky, right?! Geaux Tigers!!!!

I just wanted to let everyone know that the December nugget is now up at www.themonthlynugget.com.

I have been having some issues in sending the mass email. SPAM has caused so many emailing systems to reject mass deliveries and I'm working hard to overcome these technical woes.

Enjoy and thanks for letting me think outloud. Love wins!

Grace must be so big!

In my personal Scripture time this morning, I noticed something obvious. It seems that every single Bible character was severely flawed. "Character" really is a great title for them, because they were so human, so inconsistent, such characters!

Consider Jacob - such a liar, thief, and deceiver, but he's still a Biblical-super-hero! He stole a birthright, he stole a blessing, yet he is still the Mighty Jacob!

It is a beautiful thing to consider, though, that the flawed Abraham and his flawed family produced a flawed nation all to produce the flawless Christ.

Grace must be so big! For God to put up with us, yet still love us as much as He does . . . Grace must be so big! Flawed people that will one day stand flawless. Wow...

Journaling and Writing

Sometimes I journal. Sometimes I don't. For instance, I have a prayer journal that I write in during my devotional time. I (obviously) also blog from time to time. I write a monthly leadership resource. The thing that's been on my mind is the fact that it's okay NOT to write and journal and blog.

If one feels the pressure to write or journal, then it becomes a duty. Duty is not what relationship is about. God doesn't want obligation, He wants relation. We can never allow our tactics to become obligatory actions that we assume will lead us closer to Him.

Write, read, blog, and journal when you want. But sometimes it's okay to just rest in Him - not doing one thing except resting in Him. Don't be obligated. Be in love.

Fully Prepared?

Oswald Chambers once asked, "Am I fully prepared to allow God to grip me by His Power and do a work in me that is truly worthy of Himself?"

Just can't get away from the weight of that question. I just keep asking myself, am I willing to allow Him total access to every fiber of my existence and let Him overtake me. Honestly, I get a bit scared. I get a little timid because I like being in control.

I must get to that point of total and complete surrender. I must get to that point where I am not afraid of failure, only afraid to not give Him 100% of my total being. Am I fully prepared?

NAYC 2007

Today I returned from North American Youth Congress (in Charlotte, NC). Wow.

16,000 students and young adults gathering to focus on Christ - amazing. My biggest 'take away' from speaking at this event is the continual move of God that occurred there. I had a special moment Friday night when Todd Gaddy asked the entire crowd to bow a knee to Jesus. I witnessed 16,000 people one a knee, totally focused, totally consumed. Wow.

I will also always cherish the priviledge of being involved such an event. I personally believe that a shift happened in countless lives. I believe that life-change took place in countless lives. It's moments like these that make me realize that I am apart of something that is so much larger than I alone could ever be. What a blessing. Wow.

Lastly I want to thank everyone who purchased a copy of "Thirtyoneanothers". I totally enjoyed meeting all of you who came by the booth to chat. I love meeting new people, and this week I met a ton of them. Some very positive feedback is coming in for the book that I will post soon. For more information or to order the book, visit www.TheMonthlyNugget.com.

Thanks for allowing me to share with you. Love God, Love Others, Love Wins!

Plastic Plants

Waiting is difficult. Waiting can be very, very difficult. Our natural tendency is to speed along the process. We get tired of waiting on God. We think we can short-circuit the system. We assume we can speed things up a bit by doing life our own way. That's the exact moment that things begin to go really wrong. I once read "the longest possible distance between two points is called a short-cut."

 

Think of it as if you want to grow a nice, beautiful plant to decorate your room or office. Instead of working through the process of planting, nurturing, and caring, you go out and you buy plastic plants.

 

Instead of embracing the uncertain, yet totally invigorating process of growth, you try a short-cut. Plastic plants are cheap imitations of the real thing. Plastic plants are never what they appear to be. Neither are plastic Christians.

Renewal

I've been thinking about the importance of my own spiritual renewal. I'll not be preaching to you blog-folk, just expressing my own heart and feelings.

If Jesus had to go away and spend some alone time in devotion, meditation, prayer, renewal, whatever term works here for you . . . how much more do we need to do the same? I know, I know, you've heard this before. So have I. My question is: why don't I do this more often? Why do I (as Mark Batterson said) do ministry out of memory? Why don't I treasure time spent with the Timeless One more than I do? Bill Hybels wrote an entire book about being too busy NOT to pray. Where am I on this spectrum of busyness?

I'm not saying that I need to spend 12 hours a day in prayer, but I am saying I need to spend some amount of time in prayer every day. Dr. Jeffers once leveled me with this question, "Are you so busy doing the work of the Lord that you have forgotten the Lord of the work?"

I'm not casting stones at anyone. I'm publicly asking myself about my renewal time. I'll privately answer.

Starbucks and Greyhounds

I was recently reading an online post and the writing led me to think about how to get people to say "yes"; or more importantly how marketers are placing opportunities that make it easier to say "yes". Have you ever noticed how there are no Starbucks in bus stations or in the welfare office? Ever noticed that Nordstrom's doesn't build new stores in flea market arenas? More often than not, you'll see Starbucks on the way to Nordstrom's.

Not long ago I did a very small amount of work with the homeless and noticed that there was a liquor store right across the street from the shelter. Did the liquor store guys know what they were doing or what?!?!

What are you trying to get people to say "yes" to and how are you going about it?

Relationships

Since this is my public think tank, I decided I would share something that's been on my heart the last few days - relationships. The older I get the more I am learning to appreciate true friendships. I am about to complete a bible study I'm creating for The General Youth Division and today, I'll spend about 4 hours with a friend of mine to fine tune the bible study and he'll give me his opinion. He doesn't have to, he just will. Last night I had a great phone conversation with one of my best friends, he's halfway across the country, yet he called to chat. He didn't have to, he just did.

That free will is what makes relationships so amazing; true friends act from the heart, not from obligation. Life would be just horrible without the opportunity to share it with other human beings.

Authenticity

I can't get away from the ever growing hunger for authenticity in our world. People are hungry for realness; they crave someone who is comfortable with being themselves. Rare is the person who is comfortable being themselves anymore. In The Message (Matthew 23) Eugene Peterson says some live their lives as "perpetual fashion shows". I don't want to walk the runway of life in full-fake-apparel; I want to walk "naked" before God each day, robed in authenticity. It's cliché, but I still want to live my life for an audience of One. How He measures up my garment of authenticity is the only measurement that truly matters.

Ideas

"Ideas that spread, win". That is according to Seth Godin, a marketing guru that I read from time to time. He speaks of marketing from the critical angle of getting people to "talk" about products which in turn lead people to "buy" the products. He simply says, "Ideas that spread, win".

You know where I'm going, don't you? Imagine a culture of Christianity that operated in this same manner. I'm not suggesting that we turn our churches into marketing machines, but what if we used some similar strategies? What if we got people talking and that led to people acting and that led to people being led to Jesus Christ? "Ideas that spread, win".

The Wiring & The Will

I've been thinking a lot lately about how a human being is wired together – like skill sets, personality traits, etc. We are all wired so different, yet so similar. We are all so unique, yet we are all like-creatures. In teaching a series to our college age students, I've come up with a theory. When you find the wiring, you find the will.

All of Christianity at one point or the other struggle with finding God's perfect will for their lives. His will is extremely important to us as we pursue Him, yet it seems His will is sometimes so elusive and hard to grasp. I might be wrong (I have been wrong at least 173,456,459 other times in my life), but I think once we discover our internal wiring, we are very close to discovering His will.

He won't send a country boy to NYC to plant a church. He won't send a city boy to Pinetree, Louisiana. He won't send someone with ill-fitting giftings to an environment they'll fail in. God gave us our skill sets for a reason; He gave us our personalities for a purpose. If we will be so bold as to discover ourselves, then we just might get to know His will for ourselves. When you find the wiring, you find the will.

Describing God

Have you ever tried to describe God to someone who was unfamiliar with God? Thomas Aquinas once noted something to the nature that "we describe God in terms that we are familiar with." God is love. God is cool. God is a Father. We only talk in terms we know and are familiar with – I know "love", I know "cool", I know "Father".

Have you ever noticed that the more you learn, the more ways you have to try and express / explain God? May we never stop growing, may we never stop learning. Who knows, we may be getting closer to describing this indescribable Being we serve . . . but then again, maybe we're not.

Last Lecture

My wife is a full time Religious Studies major at St. Edwards University. I play along and allow her to assume she's more intelligent that I am J . One of her favorite professors was challenged last week to give what was titled "her last lecture". The point was, if the professor knew she had 24 hours left on Earth, what would her last lecture convey?

At the mention of this, I changed my plans to attend this thought provoking scenario. Let me sum up her "last day words". She used the philosophy of Lao Tzu (who teaches an easy going, laid back mindset) versus the philosophy of Confucius (who teaches an optimist, structured mindset) to show contrast in study. Then she used the teachings of Peter (who's focus was the Jews) versus the teachings of Paul (who's focus was the Gentiles) to show a similar contrast. I'm not sure I would have chosen the same topic if I had one last lecture, but I treasure her point. I can best sum up the vibe I received from her with these words: Study both sides to gain a more focused view of the whole.

I've since thought much of what I would leave an audience with . . . if I had one last lecture.

The Language We Speak

I want to be able to wrap my mind around the thinking and perception of the non-churched and de-churched. When I speak or introduce the Word of God, what exactly do they think, what do they hear? James, the intelligent-data-line-guy who is installing some new equipment in our building, just walked in and asked me about where to put the t-1 line and the conjunction box and the transfer switches to connect the cat-5 cabling. What?!? I didn't understand the language he was speaking.

We must never speak words unknown to those God puts in our life to share His story with. By doing this, it makes God unknown. It's my responsibility to connect; it's my duty; it's my obligation.

Questions and Answers

In my reading a couple of days ago, I came across a heavy quote. I forget the author, but I can’t stop thinking about the quote. The more I chew on it, the more complex it becomes. “The church is answering questions that no one is asking.”

I will not pretend to be able to guide you through pondering this, it’s just for your own thinking.

The Blog Begins

Okay . . . so this is how this will work. I think. I write. Other than that, I'm not going to promise anything.