Things looked bleak for the children in George Muller’s orphanage at Ashley Downs in England. Muller had built his ministry as a model of how God would provide for him with no specific requests for support.
But on this day, it was time for breakfast, and the cupboards were bare. There was no food in the kitchen, no money in the bank. A small girl whose father was a close friend of Muller was visiting in the home. Muller took her hand and said, “Come and see what our Father will do.”
In the dining room, long tables were set with empty plates and empty mugs. Muller gathered the children together and prayed, “Dear Father, we thank You for what You are going to give us to eat.”
Immediately, they heard a knock at the door. [click to continue…]
(Inspired by and dedicated to a great group of leaders I have had the privilege of working with over the last 12 weeks.)
It was a lonely life, but Jesse’s baby boy made the most of it. His brothers probably learned the same way he did, but had gone on to other exploits.
David? He was confined to the idiot patrol. He was his father’s shepherd. And it was there – alone with the dumbest animals on the planet – that David learned to be a leader.
He was alone when a lion came and seized a lamb from his flock. He was alone when a bear did the same. He was alone when he delivered those sheep from the valley of the shadow of death. And the passion, courage, and wisdom he gained there – alone – forged pathways of leadership in Israel that were still in place years after his death.
Goliath? That was just mop-up duty.
It’s true that leadership is on display when everybody else is looking. It’s also true that leadership is being forged when no one is. You may feel you’re in a wilderness, stuck making up silly songs to sing to the sheep. In fact, you may assume that your solitude or lack of position means you’re no leader at all.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Here are eight ways to influence an entire generation, even when nobody is looking to you as the obvious solution to their leadership needs. [click to continue…]
These days I make a trip to the bank just about every day. I’m on a first name basis with most of the tellers, which feels good. And most days it’s a pretty straightforward deal – one or two deposits, mostly business. Even a left-handed guy like me can get that right. About the worst mistake I ever made was driving around in a cluttered truck and realizing that beneath all that clutter was a deposit I forgot to make. For about a week.
Then came Friday. Four deposits. Three different accounts. And one of those was a check I’d written to myself to deposit in our personal account.
I pulled up to the window and realized I hadn’t endorsed the check I’d written to myself, so while the probie teller waited for me patiently, I paused to do that.
I’d venture to guess there was about a six-inch gap between the deposit drawer and my truck window. And somewhere in that six inches, as I reached for the drawer with a pile of bank bid-ness, that freshly-endorsed check was sucked away. Weird even for the dusty plains, the drive-through lanes had formed a wind tunnel. And the wind tunnel took my check.
My assumption: Oh. This is frustrating. I’ll have to get out of the truck and pick it up off the ground.
My reality: Y’all, it was gone. Vaporized. On its way to Amarillo, I suppose. I always fuss because Amarillo gets all the rain (out here we refer to it as “moisture”). Now they got my check. [click to continue…]
I enjoy taking pictures the same way an 8-year-old “artist” enjoys sidewalk chalk. But as long as I can remember, I’ve had a fascination with old cameras. They remind me of some of my own heritage, and they fascinate me as I imagine where they have traveled and what they have captured on film, or lately on disk. I’ve often said to myself, maybe one day I’d like to add a few to my own old camera collection.
Well. This weekend the motive, means and opportunity all converged as we travelled to my son’s house for Easter weekend, and I came home with these 23 treasures. Most of them are in the “junk” category. But I did pick up a really old (still working) movie projector, a circa-1900 Conley wooden box camera, and a couple of Kodaks from the 1950s. [click to continue…]
“Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble…”
And the multitudes surrounded Him, and shouted words of praise
As He rode a strong young donkey through the holy city’s gates.
Everything they did exalted Him; they praised Him as their King,
But He never smiled in victory – He never said a thing.
And they all surrounded Him again in just a few short days,
But their cries had lost their ecstasy, their words had lost their praise.
Everyone through sticks and stones at Him, they mocked and cursed His name,
And the man they worshiped as their King hung on a cross in shame.
They all said, “Crucify! I’ll live the way that I want to live.”
They said, “Crucify! The Man asks for more than I can give.
Yes I love Him, but He simply doesn’t fit my plans,
And the only way to do what I want is to crucify this Man.”
[click to continue…]
Okay, let’s stretch a little and use some imagination. Suppose you received that message on your smart phone or email. Looking beyond the earthly trappings – a church house, your bedroom or office or favorite nature connection – what does the “usual time” and “usual place” for a meeting with God look like?
I daresay for most of us, me included, we become Saints in the Presence of a Busy God. We pray, we worship, and we listen to a God who’s gettin’ it done. And on our best days, we come in faith that He will actually use us to help execute His plan and that He will get some things done for us.
Anything wrong with that? Absolutely not. After all, our God has unlimited power, knowledge and presence. And He invites us to trust Him to use it and to join Him in effecting His plan – His work. See if you can relate to some of these “meeting places” with God. [click to continue…]
Brandi is a student in upstate New York. She introduced herself by saying, “I am a little bit of a new health nut, and love exercise, hiking and biking… I also have a serious love for candy, totally in contradiction to my healthy side.”
Then she adds this pearl: “But hey, everyone has to have something they irrationally love.”
I love it! And I think she’s on to something. When everything in your life is reduced to what you can fit inside a logical, predictable box, it’s time to check some vital signs.
Charge to 20… Clear!
Sure, integrity and authenticity have their places – hugely important places. But if there isn’t something that drives you on, keeps you up at night, fills your conversations, or fires your passion to the point that people think you’re just a little stubborn, obsessed or crazy, you need CPR (That’s Cardio-Passion Resuscitation). [click to continue…]
(A Conversation)
I don’t know. I just don’t get it.
Get what?
Why I feel so… I don’t know… alone, I guess.
Alone? You’re married.
Yeah, she’s stuck with me, I suppose.
You’re a leader in your church.
Well, even there I more on the outside looking in. It’s like people see me coming and turn away. One time I smelled my pits to see if I had B.O.
I think I can help you.
Oh yeah?
I think so.
So what? There’s some big secret that everybody knows but me?
It’s no secret.
Well what is it? [click to continue…]
Way back in the day, Chuck Bolte and the Jeremiah People did a hilarious skit called “The Service” about five people sitting on a church pew waiting for the service to start. There was an older couple, a younger couple who had it all together and knew it, and a young wife who in tears admits that her husband has left her and moved into a hotel.
Out come the clichés. In one place, Chuck who played the younger man, said something like, “You see, Julie, as Christians we’re on God’s winning team. We make our baskets, we sink our putts, we cross the goal line!” Then he asks that penetrating question: “Julie, have you made Christ the center of your marriage.”
“Look,” she says. “I don’t know how to make Christ the center of our marriage. I come here for help and all I get are words… words I’ve said to myself a thousand times.”
Ouch. But hey, at least she got some words. Sometimes church people don’t even do that.
In 35 years of some sort of ministry, I’ve been blessed to receive a lot of gritty grace. Sure, some people got it wrong. But I’ve seen enough people get it right to dismiss my own “inner Pharisee” and pay it forward. They taught me how to run to the spiritually wounded, not away from them. Here are a few lessons I’ve learned along the way. [click to continue…]
Remember, You said with broken bread and common cup held high.
Believe… not just once sometime years ago, but today, in this day’s sound and fury
That the gift that You gave for lost hearts of stone (like mine)
Hasn’t gone anywhere – it’s still as alive today as You are.
So never let me forget the supreme price, the steadfast love, the faithful offering
That forever changed my heart of stone to gold… to joy… to peace.
And oh… [click to continue…]
Things looked bleak for the children in George Muller’s orphanage at Ashley Downs in England. Muller had built his ministry as a model of how God would provide for him with no specific requests for support.
