“Hi-ya Ang.”
I hate it when people call me that. Feels like Mayberry somehow, and only two people have ever gotten away with it. Lacey Parker was one of ‘em.
Lacey was a nut job at times. The whole (short) time I knew her, it was obvious she saw through a different set of lenses. Or maybe lived on a completely different planet. [click to continue…]
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And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul (1 Samuel 20:17).
To give yourself willingly to meet another’s needs…
To protect God’s gifts and work in his life…
To risk being misunderstood, even by family, for her benefit…
To see in him, and invest in, the greatness of his destiny…
To show kindness, even to her children and beyond…
To see the hand and life of God as your ultimate bond…
THESE are the ways of a lifetime friend.
THIS is the heart of the soul mate.
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My sister and I used to make mud tea. We didn’t actually call it that, nor did we actually drink the swill, but when we were small, we’d play around outside with spare dishes. One of our concoctions invariably involved mixing a little dirt ‘n’ water to make a tasty drink. When we stirred and stirred our little elixir, the water would take on that irresistible shade of brown. When we stopped stirring, it stayed muddy. But when we gave it a rest and went off to other pursuits, the water would always be clearer when we returned. The mud would have settled to the bottom.
Your life is like that glass in our backyard. When stirred up, it gets muddy. It’s easy to become confused, distorted, foggy, fuzzy and dull. Under the pressure of circumstances, it’s harder to see issues clearly and make good, clear, meaningful decisions.
So… had any “muddy water days” lately? The phone won’t quit ringing, the baby won’t stop crying, everybody needs your help at the same time, you have major, life-changing decisions to make, you have a week’s worth of money to pay a month’s worth of bills, you spend the entire day running about 30 minutes behind, and then you turn on the radio and some clown is singing, “It’s a Beautiful Morning.”
You aren’t alone, you know. [click to continue…]
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“I will recognize that this day is a gift to me. Today and every day I will take the time to encourage the encourager. I will recognize that my greatest gifts become available to others only when I offer them first to myself and to my God.” -from “The Encourager’s Creed“
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.” -Psalm 46:10, The Message
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His innovative, radical ministry shook and shaped the town where he lived. He started a church from scratch and tossed tradition on its ear. He insisted that worship services be seeker sensitive – events that people would actually enjoy attending. His preaching was simple and plain, filled with word pictures, practical application, and charisma.
He led his people to reach out with God’s love by establishing an innovative system of literature distribution and visitation. In a matter of months his church went from mission to mega, with more than a thousand people attending his Thursday night Bible study.
He was a prayer warrior. This guy spent an hour a day just praying for the Jews! Another hour daily in general prayer and meditation. An hour and a half in breakfast and family prayers. Six hours in prayer and devotional reading on Sundays.
Oh, and then there was the revival. Returning from the Middle East, he found the town turned upside down with a fresh invasion of the Spirit. People came nightly to hear him preach the gospel. Hundreds came to Christ. Without question, he was one of the greatest Christian leaders any generation has ever witnessed.
He died in 1843.
Age – 29. [click to continue…]
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In a previous post I mentioned how I experienced a mini-revolution when somebody suggested that the simplest and most powerful form of goal-setting is simply making a list of things I want to BE, DO, and HAVE. I went to town! And wasn’t content just to itemize some things. I wanted to learn from them. I wanted to learn how to redesign my life before God so that when opportunities arose, like Joshua, I could take quick action.
For me, that meant creating a tool that would help channel my thinking and my actions in the right direction. I began thinking of it as my own personalized planner. I learned from Steven Covey about intentionally planning for the important, though not necessarily urgent, things. I learned from Anthony Robbins about thinking about the states of mind/heart I wanted to experience each day. I learned from the life of Joseph that if I cultivated faithfulness in the daily spaces and dark places, that one day the prison doors would open and Pharaoh would come calling.
So, beginning with the end of the day in mind, I asked myself,
“Self, at the end of the perfect day for me, what can I say that I have done”?
Here is what “God put in my heart to do” (Nehemiah 2:18). Your answer to the question, of course, would be your own. [click to continue…]
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Once upon a time, a young man had a dream – a prophetic dream. He dreamed that he had two homes, his own boat, and would travel internationally and be a blessing to many people. This could only mean one thing! Obviously God was calling him into the business world, where he would make a lot of money and use his wealth to make the world a better place.
After seeking some counsel and getting confirmation that he was headed in the right direction, he changed his college major to business and prepared for a life of benevolent wealth management.
Then he met her. [click to continue…]
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Having a son soon? Still pondering the little guy’s name? Here’s one for ya – name him after that famous guy in the Bible. Call him Bezalel.
Here’s the press release from Moses:
See, the LORD has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding and in knowledge and in all craftsmanship; to make designs for working in gold and in silver and in bronze, and in the cutting of stones for settings and in the carving of wood, so as to perform in every inventive work. He also has put in his heart to teach, both he and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with skill to perform every work of an engraver and of a designer and of an embroiderer, in blue and in purple and in scarlet material, and in fine linen, and of a weaver, as performers of every work and makers of designs (Exodus 35:30-36).
Did you see that? Here was a man who was anointed and pointed, fired and wired by the Holy Ghost!
For construction. Did you know that God can supernaturally fill you with a love and passion for things that get your hands dirty? [click to continue…]
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“Then I told them about the desire God had put into my heart.”
-Nehemiah 2:18
Today it seems little. Important, yes, but H-O scale. But on that day, it was larger than life – even larger than health. And a lesson awaited that was life-changing.
From the time I was 15 years old, I knew that God was leading me to be a pastor. I also knew there would be a pathway to get there, and five years later, I was still on that pathway. I was about the graduate from college. For a year I’d had the privilege of serving at my very first church, full-time in the summer, and on the weekends during school. The people there were gracious and really patient. It had been a wonderful experience. Now, as I was about to graduate from college, both the church and I were preparing to move on.
Because I was a July graduate, and had blown through college in three years, I decided to lay out a year before going to graduate school. When the church caught wind of it, they were delighted to meet with me on a Sunday night and offer me a full-time position. They offered me more than twice what I had ever made in a year (if I told you how much it was, you’d laugh). I said it sounded good; just let me take the week and pray about it, and I’d let them know the next Sunday. I left town that night assuming that the next year of my life was set.
Just one slight problem. [click to continue…]
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“I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!” -1 Corinthians 9:22-23, The Message
I’ve devoted a lot of time to a life powered by wishful thinking. With that came a lot of declaring about what I was going to do, and by when. Those lists I referred to in the last post even contain a pretty crazy collection of audacious plans. Just one problem. Some of them are lifetime pursuits, and I still haven’t started the chase.
Setting goals or writing down wish lists is a bit like writing a check. [click to continue…]
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I’m a list maker. You have your quirks; that’s mine. Not so much the “to-do” variety – that would make me look more organized than I really am. My lists are the more thoughtful type. Let me tell you where it all started.
A few years ago I was reading a book about getting out of debt. Somewhere in the middle of it, the author, Jerrold Mundis, inserted a simple little chapter on goals. He said that while we were in the process of becoming debt-free, it would he helpful to remember why that was important to us in the first place. So he suggested setting goals.
Okay, now! You’re talkin’ my language! I love goals. I’ve read extensively on goal setting, achievement, success, and vision. The gleam in my eye began to shine in eager anticipation.
Make a list, he said.
That’s it?
That was it.
Actually, he suggested three. [click to continue…]
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