Little Things Count

Occasionally I will write notes to my 7 year old daughter Lindsay and hide them in her lunch box or backpack.  Just little reminders that I love her, that I am proud of her and how lucky I am to be her dad.  Yesterday morning I found a note taped to my bathroom mirror from Lindsay that made my day… “Daddy I love you… I hope you have a grate day… Im glad yur my Daddy… Love Lindsay.”  This little hand written note of poor grammar made my heart melt… and got me thinking.

I LOVE my kids.. there is nothing that makes my heart swell more than a simple hug or note from my oldest daughter Lindsay or hearing my two year old shout “Daddeeeeeeeeee!!!” as she runs across the playground when I pick her up from daycare.  Those moments when they want nothing more than to be near their Dad.  Those moments when they just want to have my attention and affection are AWESOME!

The Bible tells us that God is our Heavenly Father, that we are his kids.  I have to believe that there is nothing that brings God more joy than when His kids want nothing more than to be near Him.  Not asking Him for anything… just spending time with Him.  When was the last time you spent time in prayer, not asking for anything just telling God, “I love you… I hope you have a grate day… I’m glad your my Daddy”? 

I really believe that its the little things that count, and I think that they matter to God also.  Spend some time with your Father today, no pretense, no agenda, no request, just your attention… I promise it will make God smile.

The Wallenda Factor

I read this article from Monday Morning Insight (great site… your missing out if you don’t subscribe) that really got me thinking. 

How many times have we allowed fear to keep us from reaching our potential, from accomplishing something great?  Fear can take on many forms:

Fear of the unknown.  Fear of failure.  Fear of change.  Fear of success.  Fear of ridicule.  Fear of pain.  Fear of loss.  Fear of (heck… you fill in the blank).   The point is that many times in our lives and especially in our churches we have settled for mediocrity and the mundane because of fear. 

I must confess that fear almost kept me from stepping out and starting Lifesong church.  I am still fighting the overwhelming feelings of fear in the planning of this new church.  What if we fail, and become another statistic like the 80% of other new church starts that fail to make it?  What if I screw up as a leader, make the wrong decision that fatally handicaps the church?  What if we succeed and really see God rock our world… and I can’t handle it?   Or, my worst fear, what if Lifesong does make it past the infancy stage and we allow ourselves to settle into our comfort zone and forget the vision that God has to impact our community with the Message of Christ?

As I thought of these things, this verse came to mind.  God does’nt want us to live our lives paralyzed by fear.  I think that it is time that we live our faith recklessly!  Dream big dreams… dreams that others may laugh at, but dreams that cause God to smile.  I think that the reason that many of our churches are struggling is because they have begun to “play it safe” and have stopped taking leaps of faith.  As I study the Bible, I cant find any example of a follower of Christ that “played it safe.”  Over and over again I see examples of people who attempted radically reckless things for God… and they saw God do the impossible!   I want that for Lifesong, I want to see that in all our churches… God blowing us away with the impossible!  But in order for that to happen, we must face our fears and attempt something so ridiculous, so stupidly over the top, so reckless, that only God can make it happen! 

Lets, not just dream big… but actually do something with those dreams and step out in faith to see God do more than we ever imagined! 

Happy Anniversary

In Proverbs chapter 31 the Bible says this is regards to a Godly wife: 

“A truly good wife is the most precious treasure a man can find! Her husband depends on her, and she never lets him down. She is good to him every day of her life… Her words are sensible, and her advice is thoughtful. She takes good care of her family and is never lazy.  Her children praise her, and with great pride her husband says, “There are many good women, but you are the best!”

Today is my thirteenth wedding anniversary, and like this verse says I have a very precious treasure in my wife Tammy.  My wife is a blessing to me in more ways than I can recount.  She is smokin’ HOT!  She truly is my strength and source of calm in times of turmoil.  She is smokin’ HOT!  She is an example of the kind of love that Jesus said that His followers should possess… the kind that puts others first, I do not believe that there is a selfish bone in Tammy’s body!  She is smokin’ HOT!  She ALWAYS put others first.  Oh, did I mention that she is SMOKIN’ HOT!  I really married up!

I can say that I am more in love with Tammy today than when we where first married.  I like to think that we are still in the honeymoon phase of our marriage, and I never want that to end.  I love the fact that our daughters see their Mom and Dad flirt with each other (ok… not in that yucky gross way you are thinking).  I want our marriage and love for each other to be a model for our kids to follow when they get older (MUCH, MUCH older) and fall in love.  I want to be that cute little old couple that still holds hands and goes on dates that everyone talks about… not the bitter strangers that put up with each other for the sake of the kids.  I want to be the kind of husband that my wife deserves and never settle for anything less.

Tammy, I love you… and can’t wait to see what the next thirteen years will bring!  You are the best!  (And you are smokin’ HOT!)  

Leadership

One of my beliefs in ministry is that everything rises or falls on leadership – the people that we lead will not go further than we have gone ourselves.  I must confess that I have not always been an effective leader, and because of my shortcomings, the churches that I have served have suffered.    In preparing for the start of Lifesong church  one of the areas that I have focused on is me.  I have come to the conclusion that if Lifesong is to become the church that God wants it to be, I must become the person that God has called me to be.  Many times in ministry we focus so much on what we want the people to do, or be , or become, that we forget that God wants the same, if not more, from us as His leaders.  What that means is that I must take the time to pastor myself… as messed up as that sounds.  I must take my own advice and counsel.  I must take the time to invest in myself, before I can effectively invest in others.  

Hey leaders, take the time to evaluate, read, study and pray to become the person that God wants you to be.  Invest in growing your leadership abilities, your ministry depends on it.  I really believe that the reason that many of our churches are struggling is because many of us as leaders are not taking the time to grow and develop ourselves. 

Read this article from John Maxwell, it may challenge you!