Baaaaaaa

I woke up at 2:30am literally speaking "My sheep hear my voice" out loud. What's that about? My experience with sheep is limited to Bubba (left), my fairy god-daughter's 4-H lamb, who died 'suddenly.'
Anyway, lying there, I imagined what that really looks like, Jesus as shepherd, us as sheep. What a beautiful picture. Here's what we can know & believe!

• Christ is a good shepherd caring for us, not a hired servant who'll walk away because he's not paid enough! Jn 7-14
• He speaks to us. Jn 10:27
• He leads us. Jn 10:3
• We can know & recognize His voice. Jn 10:14
• We go the wrong way or something attacks? He'll leave the flock for 'one' sheep & be ecstatic to get it back. Luke 15:4-7
• He'll lay His life down for us. Jn 10:15
• We're valuable to Him. Worth much more than a sheep! Matt 12:12

Listen for His voice. Without Him, we are like sheep without a shepherd & we won't survive long!

2 Life-Changing Books

http://www.theholeinourgospel.com/

http://www.theholeinourgospel.com/

I'm reading The Hole in Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns, President of World Vision, an organization I love. The book has numerous takeaways, but one that stands out is God's patient wooing process of each of us. His time is not our time and we have no idea what He is preparing us for. When asked "How do you want World Vision to be perceived twenty-five years from now?" Richard replied:

If it could be said of us that we gave the poor a voice, that we provoked the rich and the powerful to action and that we gave hope to people trapped in hopelessness, I would be deeply gratified. My favorite Bible passage is from the book of Job. It would make a wonderful epitaph for World Vision:

Whoever heard me spoke well of me, and those who saw me commended me, because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist him.

The man who was dying blessed me; I made the widow's heart sing.
I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban.
I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.
I was a father to the needy; I took up the case of the stranger.
I broke the fangs of the wicked; and snatched the victims from their teeth.


Read more: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/05/ten_or_so_quest.html#ixzz0QE8mxpOt

Walk Down Another Street

I believe this poem is from a Tibetan book and a great illustration of life. I'm showing it to every teenage girl I know :)

I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in. I am lost . . . I am hopeless. It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it. I fall in again. I can't believe I'm in the same place, but it isn't my fault.
It takes a long time to get out.

I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it, I still fall in.
It's a habit. My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

I walk down another street!

Give It Up, Foodies

A trip to the beach will prove to you that food has become the object of our worship in the US. And no, this is not a picture of the hotsauce aisle at Publix but rather a small section of our cabinet. Our fridge is a literal condiment explosion leaving no room for real food. We are foodies and I'm embarrassed about it! You know the kind, "What should we have for dinner tonight?" . . . . at 6am!

With trillions spent in restaurants and the avg dress size up from an 8 to a 12, clearly we have misplaced our devotion. God wants our devotion, eyes on Him. That is why I am suggesting a fast for a variety of reasons. And no, it's not a diet :). I'm not much for sacrifice, but God always shows Himself faithful when fasting. I have seen God answer prayer at the very moment I've made the decision to cut out food, which of course makes me want to cheerfully skip through the rest of the fast like a field of tulips. I've seen Him answer heart wrenching prayers, change impossible situations, soften impossible people, including me; and once, I even experienced a total loss of food desire for several days - a miracle in itself. Some say that when fasting, you should pray whenever you think about food. I do that because it brings the whole food thing into perspective. It's part of 'taking every thought captive'; it's intentional, not manipulative. It's not like we're going to die of starvation, but it shows that we are relying on God for the strength and wisdom we need. According to Matt 17:21, some moves of God just require prayer and fasting. Jesus fasted, overcoming Satan himself and was strengthened from it. Fasting can also strengthen us for something later, something more critical. God already knows what's around the bend! And bonus? Prayers are answered. Of course, you can apply a fast to more than just food; Twitter, FB, the internet . . . and spend time with God instead.

Whole Nutha Level

I love getting on an airplane. Watching the little roofs, pools, neighborhoods and roads, I imagine I'm someone else, living somewhere else, traveling to another exciting life and destination. I actually envision the activity below, happy normal life events. Why is it, from this higher level things look better to me; I see only the big picture, my hopes are high, expectations great! God has an even better perspective than that. He can see 'yesterday, today & tomorrow' and knows our steps before we take them. He desires that we not get bogged down in the worries of life. Naturally, you probably desire to live that way too - to see above the details while still handling the details. The best practices I've found (but forget sometimes) are:

1. Reading the Bible - Viewing events from God-inspired scripture is about the best it gets to providing perspective. When I'm overwhelmed, too much on my plate, difficult tasks, or I've made a mess of something and can't fix it, scripture reminds me that He is much bigger than that, His plan is much bigger than mine, and my messes are small (but important) to Him. He's just waiting for me to hand it over. He does miracles right here at my computer!



2. Reading Something - Seeing life through someone else's eyes can still be a great way to get a different perspective. If you're going to imagine your life through someone else, make a point to read something healthy & purposeful versus a trashy novel.



3. Serving - Serving others always changes you and maybe even the people you're serving. Personally, it takes my mind off of ME! There are many ways to serve others. Christ's example for us to follow is summed up in Luke 4:18-19. (more on that later)



4. Social Strategy - Intentionally sticking your neck out & meeting someone new requires effort. Commit to asking someone you don't know well to have coffee or go to lunch, ask them their story, try to find common ground, on purpose. You'll gain new perspective.

Looking at life through God's eyes helps us think accurately and make better decisions, while still living expectantly knowing He has plans, 'plans to give you hope and a future!' Jer.29:11

I Love the Church

As a child, I remember our Walnut St C of C in Dickson, TN as a source of so many things including fun! It was large, relational and creative even in the 60's and I remember momentum kicking in when the younger, cooler pastor took the helm. We met every Sun morn (2-3 hrs), Sun night, Wed night, had dinners on the ground, played tag and hide'n seek until our parents dragged us away. Those seemed like simpler times even though our parents both worked until 6, had bridge club, the country club, etc.

Since then, I've met thousands of pastors and visited hundreds of churches. And no matter the brand of donut, people who come to church are still looking for a spiritual experience, for answers and for solid truth they can consider, & then take hold of. Our first priority is to teach the good news, the truth about Christ, who He is, all the great things that result from repenting and trusting in Him. In marketing terms, there are easily enough features & benefits from trusting in Christ for a pastor to plan out an entire teaching year! People are looking for peace, for protection, for joy, for hope, for strength and more, and most people I meet aren't looking to the church for that. Christ's ministry is made clear in 2 verses Luke 4:18-19 and he left us to do the same. Like most things, it's easy to make the church all about us. But it's still about Him. He's still the answer.

Creativity

Just when we thought we were creative! In 2 Samuel 10, just before David and his army 'took out' the Ammonites, his guys had a little innocent run-in with them. Basically, David's guys went to see the Ammonite king, Hanun, to express sympathy to him following his father's death. King Hanun's guys doubted that and said, "Do you really think these men are coming here to honor your father? No! They're coming to spy and then conquer the city." Hanun fell for their skepticism and:


4 So Hanun seized David’s ambassadors and shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their robes at the buttocks, and sent them back to David in shame.
5 When David heard what had happened, he sent messengers to tell the men, “Stay at Jericho until your beards grow out, and then come back.” For they felt deep shame because of their appearance.



So he shaved 1/2 their beard and sent them away with their be-hinds hanging out. Nice! I love David's protective response, for both them & him. Can you imagine? A little shame used to go a long way!

Back Seat Jesus

Beachside's new series is Back Seat Jesus. It's very common to think, "If things go how I want, I'll be happy." But it really should go like this - "When things go how You want, I'll be happy." My will turned over to Him! This could be me in this weekend's video:

Everything is Amazing, Nobody is Happy

I'm sure there are nicer ways to say this, but this is still my favorite 2009 video . . . so far!

Wisdom

Of course, we always hear about Solomon's wisdom in determining the real mom - just 'cut the baby in half.' Equally as impressive is the Judges 12 account of Jephthah and the men from Gillead, currently Jordan, and their dispute with the men of Ephraim.

vs 5-6 Jephthah captured the shallow crossings of the Jordan River, and whenever a fugitive from Ephraim tried to go across, the men of Gilead would challenge him. “Are you a member of the tribe of Ephraim?” they would ask. If the man said, “No, I’m not,” they would tell him to say “Shibboleth.” If he was from Ephraim, he would say “Sibboleth,” because people from Ephraim could not pronounce the word correctly. Then they would take him and kill him at the shallow crossings of the Jordan. In all, 42,000 Ephraimites were killed at that time.

Yup, apparently the people from Ephraim had a bad lisp!! Surely all 42,000 didn't fail that test, but it sure didn't end well for them. Jephthah, on the other hand, ruled Israel for 6 years. Brilliant!

Proverbs 4 - Above all else, get wisdom!

Be Different

If you could label each year of your life with a word or phrase, what would it be?
I try to record the events and learnings of each year on one sheet of paper, and I always detect an overriding theme. 2008 was 'set apart'.
As I journaled throughout the year, I found the same struggle - to be set apart, holy, obedient and living for God and yet still living with and for others. 1Peter 2 says we're chosen, a royal priesthood, holy, God's own. Can you imagine if we acted that way? The OT is filled with God's desire that we set ourselves apart for him. Just as we expect certain behaviors from our leaders, holiness means that we can't always do everything everyone else does. And believe me, that's okay! Because holiness also means that we'll be given things others won't. It's a great exchange - hopelessness for hope, chaos for peace, sadness for joy, frustration for patience.
1 Cor 6 - we are no longer our own, we've been bought with a price. What a high value he placed on us to have us act any other way but as children of the King!