by Andy Wood on April 27, 2011
in Consumers, Enlarging Your Capacity, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, Love, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Pleasers, Principle of Increase, Words
Frankford and 82nd. Sitting at the light. Laura Kate (age almost-3) and I have been on an adventure. And she is about to ask me a very important question. But first, a slight rewind…
“Laura Kate, first we’ll go to the grocery store. Then we’ll go by Grammy’s office and pick up some prizes she has for you.”
“That’s an awesome plan,” she says.
In between, she learns six (count ‘em) verses of an Easter song her uncle Joel and I wrote when he wasn’t much older than she is now. Which brings us to the traffic light near our house on the way home.
“Papa,” says the voice in the back seat. “Are you growed up?”
“What did you say?” I reply. “Am I growed up?”
“Yes,” she says, very seriously.
“Yeah,” I mutter. “I’m growed up.”
“Yay, Papa! You did it!”
Sometimes I wonder.
I wish it was that easy to claim maturity. Sometimes I think I’m still a kid when it comes to such things. And sometimes I feel, well, old. But there’s a difference between growing up and growing old. Peter Pan and his Lost Boys were only half right.
It’s OK to be a baby when you’re still a baby. But there comes a time when the word of God and the world of people come together to shout, “Grow up!” After addressing the Corinthians as a pack of carnal children, Paul writes to the Ephesians that “we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).
How do you measure your maturity? How do you know when you’re growing and when you’re floundering? Let me hasten to say that maturity isn’t found in big words or fat bank accounts, or your ability to make babies or get a job (although keeping a job may impress a few people).
In gauging your maturity level, I have found five things that act as measuring rods for progress. You are as mature as: [click to continue…]
Joey’s feeling pretty small today. That’s what happens when you’re supposed to have the right words to say and there are no right words for a family in needless grief and pain. So Joey just hangs there, offering the ministry of presence. Hoping to offer some kind of life or lift that will help. But who will lift the lifter, and remind Joey what it’s like to stand tall and strong again?
Joey needs a carrier.
Alicia would never admit this, but she’s a living example of a Proverbs 31 woman. Greatly admired, if not revered, she never seems to sleep, and lives pedal-to-metal most of the time. She gets more work done by lunchtime than girls half her age and boys of any age do all day. But behind the success and flair, Alicia hides an ugly secret: She’s exhausted, and nearing the point of just not caring anymore. And though she has a hard time admitting she can’t do it all, she, too, needs a carrier.
Joey and Alicia are real-life examples of somebody who’s near you, or who is you, right now…
- Tired, but no end or help in sight…
- Overwhelmed, but no clarity about what to hold onto and what to let go of…
- Weepy at times for no apparent reason, or for any little cause…
- Feeling abandoned or opposed against the tide of opinions, accusations, or criticism…
- Disappointed by those once trusted, confused in the very areas that once produced confidence …
- Surrounded by pain, yet seemingly helpless to do anything about it…
All these and more are the unmistakable signs of someone – maybe you – who is calling for a carrier, whether they know it or not. [click to continue…]
Constantly in motion, ever-aware, always alert both night and day, an unseen force is shaping your life in ways you can’t imagine.
Ever-learning.
Ever-revealing.
The algorithms behind this crawler make Google look, in comparison, like a nearsighted man searching for a haystack in a needle factory.
He sees you when you’re sleeping and knows when you’re awake. But I’m not referring to the jolly old elf. I’m talking about the Ultimate Search Engine. But it’s not an “it” – it’s a Person. [click to continue…]
I have a friend who doesn’t do change well. I have another who aches for it. Strangely enough, they both find themselves routinely responding in the same ways.
Both are fiercely loyal, probably to a fault. They will cling to relationships, to institutions, even to ideas long past what most people would consider healthy or normal.
Both are very deliberate in the ways they go about making decisions – to the point that life sometimes barges in and makes the decision for them.
Both have dreams that seem to escape them while they wait for the circumstances to improve… which they never seem to do.
Interestingly enough, both are people of great faith. These are not casual Christians. They are heart-deep in a pursuit of God’s best for their lives.
They also have their differences. One pushes himself to grow, to stretch, to improve – only to find out the ladder he was climbing was leaning against a bombed out building. The other refuses to consider that if she keeps doing the same things, she’s likely to get the same results.
One will analyze a situation to death without ever taking action, then analyze what happened when the action took him. The other will react to situations on the basis of emotions, but typically they’re feelings of fear or regret.
Meanwhile, the winds of change just keep on howling. To one it feels like a blowing rain. To the other it feels like a mocking tormentor. [click to continue…]
Cohen is an expert crawler.
He can cross a room lickety-split on his hands and knees.
He’s an awful walker.
He’s learning. But why risk injury when he can get there safely on all fours?
His parents don’t treat his crawling ability as a special gift, however.
It’s just a skill that helps him until the greater abilities arrive.
Same goes for you and God. [click to continue…]
New Year’s Eve. We’d had a great dinner with friends, and were doing the potty wait in the restaurant foyer, when out walked a small group from another dining room. I recognized her immediately, though we hadn’t spoken in more than three years.
She was (and is) a part of my team. My Dream Team.
If this was baseball, she’d be the heavy hitter off the bench. If it was football, she’d be the Hail Mary quarterback who came in the game in the fourth quarter. If it was business, she’d be the turnaround specialist.
As it is, she’s my frontline intercessor.
As I explained to my friend, she is one of the godliest women I know, and a powerful intercessor. And she has occupied a very unique place in my life. “When my back is to the wall and I’m desperate,” I told him, “and I need somebody who knows how to pray with heavy artillery, she’s the one I call.”
I’m thinking of a few times since we last spoke when it may have been a good idea to make that call. Anyway… [click to continue…]
Dateline Barcelona, 1992. The Summer Olympics are hosting the first-ever competition of the truly-best in their respective nations, as professionals and amateurs are all invited to the party. The United States has assembled a collection of NBA-plus-one stars that may be the best roster to ever take a tip-off. And their nickname: “The Dream Team.”
This isn’t about basketball. It’s about teams, and how you need a “dream team” of your own. Not the kind the wins medals, but the kind that empowers lives. While our culture idolizes the individual, the truth is, you were designed by creation and redesigned by gifts and talents to need the contributions of others in order to maximize your potential. I’d like to show you how to go about doing it. [click to continue…]
‘Tis the season. . . to roll your eyes whenever somebody starts something with “’Tis the season!”
Anyway…
This is the season to give, give give! Toys for Tots, help for the homeless, marches for missions, and then, of course, those never-ending shopping lists.
With all the emphasis on giving, how about a nice change of pace? You’ve heard that God loves a cheerful giver. Well, guess what givers like? Cheerful receivers!
Did you know it’s possible to actually motivate someone to be thoughtful and generous, to feel good about themselves and you? It all comes when you learn the wonderful art of being a good receiver. Here are seven ways you can do that: [click to continue…]
“He who is powerless before God is powerless before men” (Watchman Nee).
On September 16, 2001, an amazing phenomenon took place in churches across the United States. Civilians came out of their foxholes in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11.
And they were talking about God.
On that day, in churches everywhere, they came looking for answers.
Within a matter of weeks, however, things had settled down to business as usual. Not long after, The Washington Times had a story that predicted that within a decade Americans would “invent” a religion of their own that met their needs. The article said that when they revisited the places that had once nourished them, they didn’t find what they were looking for.
Ouch.
To be fair, maybe they were looking for a place that let them have a god of their own making. And the fact that people may try to invent a religion of their own doesn’t bother me – we’ve been doing that since Adam and Eve were escorted out of the Garden.
What bothers me was that when they came to our house – the church – looking for answers, evidently something was missing.
What if they came to our house looking for answers, and we were just as confused as they were?
What if they came looking for life, and we were just as dead?
What if they came looking for supernatural power – some evidence that God is still on the throne, still works miracles, and still has the power to change lives – and all they found was platitudes, programs, and politics? [click to continue…]
(The Squeeze, Part 2)
In the previous post I introduced the idea of the squeeze – that when life comes calling or the world comes knocking and we get squeezed, whatever is on the inside comes flying out. Specifically, when life or the world squeezes, two things quickly become evident – what’s in your character (your decisions) and what’s in your heart (your desires).
That why Peter addresses this encouragement to a group of Christ followers who were living life in The Squeeze:
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good (1 Peter 2:1-3, NIV).
When Our Flesh Demands Relief
People who are hurting instinctively crave relief.
NOW!
Like Job, the tendency is to move from “Lord I’m trusting you for deliverance” to “Lord stop it now or explain yourself!
When we stubbornly hold onto the demand for God to change things, five kinds of behavior emerge. [click to continue…]
Frankford and 82nd. Sitting at the light. Laura Kate (age almost-3) and I have been on an adventure. And she is about to ask me a very important question. But first, a slight rewind…
