Allison and I are getting away today through Sunday…some friends are allowing us to stay at a cottage of theirs and then to a hotel in the Galleria area of Houston.  Some of our favorite things to do when we stay at a hotel is to eat breakfast there.  Long breakfasts and talking and reading are some of the favorite past times when we get away.

We are tired!  We are seeking God!  We want God to be big and people small…it is a book that I have read and I am planning on watching the DVDs of “When People are Big and God is Small” (thanks George May).

Please pray for us!

Lessons in life tend to come in bucket fulls at times and drips at others. Right now is a bucket full time and it is hard to truly soak them all in. The last installment came this past Sunday while listening to Dave Gibson talk about Ecclesiastes 4. There is an Emptiness in Power and Work…

4 And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

5 The fool folds his hands
and ruins himself.

6 Better one handful with tranquility
than two handfuls with toil
and chasing after the wind.

Lesson in short form:

• Too much laziness is never a good thing your body literally wastes away
• Too much labor is never a good thing it is literally chasing after wind
• BALANCE IS KEY: ONE HAND FULL OF REST AND ONE HAND FULL OF LABOR!

Do you remember Paul Potts? Well my Dad sent another amazing performer…Terry Fator appeared on America’s Got Talent and I was very impressed…I hope you enjoy these also.

I was reading in The Leader’s Journey by a group of author’s in the Leadership Network. Jim Herrington is the main author. In the chapter entitled, “Becoming a Calm Leader” the author’s main purpose is to strengthen a leader’s resolve to be a calming agent in the midst of great stress and strife within an organization.

He used the Joharri Window as a tool for self awareness. Self awareness is one thing but the real key is to move from self awareness to being known also by others. This is the tough stuff. Stress and anxiety are often the by products of not knowing ourselves and not being known.

Here is the window:

When we are known there is freedom, strong relationships and peace. When we are unknown to ourselves and to others there is great stress and anxiety and masks. Obviously everyone has a facade they deal with. The more you can expose your own masks to yourself and to others the more freer and fuller life is going to be.

Don’t move over this too quickly. Knowing and being known is a powerful blessing in the life of a person. It is also a gift. Open it with wisdom.

Herrington says, “As a relationship grows your known areas will become larger and your blind and hidden areas become smaller. As you become more self-disclosing you reduce your hidden area. As you encourage others to give you feedback, your blind area is reduced. Through reducing your hidden area you give other people information to react to, thus enabling them to give more informed and precise feedback, which better reduces your blind area. Through reducing your blind area, you increase your self-awareness; this helps you to be even more self-disclosing with other.”

Was Peter a failure when he focused on the waves instead of on Jesus after he walked on water a bit? I imagine all of us have a part in us that thinks, “Peter failed! If he was worth anything spiritually he would have sustained a nice little walk.” I used to have a friend who jokingly would say, “Gee, God thanks for me!” If someone takes that attitude with a Peter failed mentality you get Pharisee 100%.

Life is not as predictable as many would want it to be. The best parents are normally those who don’t have children. They have all the good advice and do a lot of judging. LIFE IS JUST NOT LIKE THAT…IT HAS A LOT OF CURVE BALLS. Life is full of waves and tough times. I have a lot of admiration for Peter. He got out of the boat. He risked! He was willing to sink. He met his fears head on. He focused on Jesus, OK he slipped a little…but ALL slip. It is not the lack of fear, anxiety and slipping in life that we need to avoid but the focus of Jesus and the training of our minds in the midst of fear and anxiety.

I LOVE WHAT THEODORE ROOSEVELT SAID, ”

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

THAT IS JUST AWESOME! GET OUT OF THE BOAT…

Not for me or Allison but for the kids…I am very excited to see Sophie reading with emphasis and excitement.  Do you remember the Dick and Jane books? (Run, Spot, run…Sillly, silly Spot…See Sally play, etc.)  Memaw and Pappaw especially love curling up with Sophie and listening to her read.

Seth and Sean are always reading to their brother and sister at night.  They read Calvin & Hobbes cartoons to them and other library books and just laugh.  They both (Seth and Sean) are cutting through books left and right.  I just love it.

It has always been our desire to see not just our children but children everywhere learning to read and ultimately (especially our children) learning to read for themselves the Scriptures.

DO YOU  HAVE A SUMMER READING PLAN?

Sitting here in my first D-Min class…what a wonderful opportunity to rub shoulders with great people and a great prof (Reggie McNeal) whose finger on the pulse of our culture is excellent.

The main point of yesterday’s class was…

• INTERNAL VS. EXTERNAL CHURCH

The Missional Church is not a FAD!

• The Missional Church is not a place to do stuff (like sacraments or listening to things) it is a place to be.
• The Missional Church is not a vendor of religious goods and services like rubber stamping church growth movements that mimic the SERVICE ORIENTED SOCIETY…
• The Missional Church is not a PROGRAM DRIVEN CHURCH… we deal with consumers…we rate the worship service based on feel… this is an untenable concept in most of the world, most of the world just doesn’t get it…
• THE MISSIONAL CHURCH IS JOINING THE WORSHIP THAT IS ALREADY IN PROGRESS IN THE HEAVENLIES…
• The Missional Church is not people on mission for God…but rather on mission WITH God… This is God’s work (Psalm 67 stuff)… People Partnering with God in His redemptive mission in the world…

GOOD STUFF…MORE DETAILS LATER!

Thanks for praying!

A few years ago a friend of mine and former President of Columbia International University, George Murray shared a story that has profoundly affected me and many others.

God does not lead like a Constitutional Monarchy. He is a loving dictator. The Queen of England is a figurehead. Whether she signs the bill or not, Parliament has the final say. We sometimes treat God like he is a Queen or King in a Constitutional Monarchy. We say, “Here are my plans please sign with your blessing!” But whether God signs or not we still go along with our plans. This makes God a figurehead in our lives and not the King who should be worshipped and obeyed.

We must sign our names and let God fill in the details…

WHATEVER LORD, WHEREVER LORD, WHENEVER LORD…THE ANSWER IS YES!

My kids love Cartoon Network and they say this is a cool cartoon. Stephen Curtis Chapman sings the song..listen to the words and imagine giving God the blank sheet of paper with your signature on the bottom of it.

“the way of Jesus is always local and ordinary.”- Eugene Peterson

It is always local…grow where you are.  Know God where you are.  Make God known where you are.

It is always ordinary…the ordinary way of the Holy Spirit is power, influence, love and impact.

Local and Ordinary is what is happening in China, India, Africa and Korea…we in the west are actually individualized, secluded, inside the church walls and sub-normal, minimalized and pathetic.

Let’s get after it.

I am heading to Columbia International University for a D-Min class with Reggie McNeal.  1 week, nearly 40 hours of class and one topic- Missional Leadership.

Pray for me.

Enjoy the Motivational Posters I made up in light of the challenges we are facing and the challenges you face.