I want to let you in on a poorly-kept secret. I can’t dance.
There. Now somebody besides, well, everybody who knows me is aware.
It’s a disappointment to my ballroom-longing wife. It was a “you-can-get-over-it” point of conversation to my daughter when she planned her wedding reception. I knew I couldn’t, but tried. She insisted I would, and was grateful for the moment. My tuxedo pants nearly fell off, and given the way the dance was going, that would have been a relief.
That said, good dancers fascinate me. The skill. The agility. The confidence. The creativity. But dancing is one of those skills I have relegated to the pile items left off my blueprints.
There are others. [click to continue…]
During the American Civil War, General William T. Sherman was driving his troops through Georgia on his decisive march to the sea. He had left a small contingent of men behind in a fort on Kennesaw Mountain to guard the rations. General John Bell Hood of Texas attacked the fort, and a fierce battle followed. One-third of the men were killed or wounded, and J. M. Corse, the general in command, was severely injured in the fighting.
Just as he was about to hoist up the white flag and surrender, a message came through the signal corps set up on a chain of mountains. General Sherman was within 15 miles of the fort and had sent the message: “Hold fast. We are coming.” Those few words so encouraged the defenders that they held on and kept the fort from falling into the hands of their attackers.
You and I are a little like that contingent of Union soldiers. We’re part of a victorious army that has been left for a season to be stewards of the resources of our Commander-in-Chief.
And we’re under attack. [click to continue…]
Some of the rules have changed.
- Time Magazine, in it’s provocative “Ten Ideas Changing the World Right Now,” reports that having a job is cool again. Rather than regarding employment as a necessary evil to be escaped as soon as possible, jobs are now considered an asset. (Nothing like losing something to recognize its worth, I guess).
- Someone just told me about his father, who for eight years tried to make a go of his home-based business and now, in his 60s, realizes the need for an employer. He’s finding it difficult.
- My favorite job/career-hunting book, What Color is Your Parachute?, which has been updated annually since 1970, was back on the best-seller list in December.
So with the new demand for paying day-jobs and the shortening supply, I thought it might be helpful offer some strategies for improving your chances. [click to continue…]
The apostles came back and told Jesus everything they had done. He took them with him to a city called Bethsaida so that they could be alone. But the crowds found out about this and followed him. He welcomed them, talked to them about the kingdom of God, and cured those who were sick.
Toward the end of the day, the twelve apostles came to him. They said to him, “Send the crowd to the closest villages and farms so that they can find some food and a place to stay. No one lives around here.”
Jesus replied, “You give them something to eat.”
They said to him, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish. Unless we go to buy food for all these people, that’s all we have.” (There were about five thousand men.)
Then he told his disciples, “Have them sit in groups of about fifty.” So they did this.
Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and blessed the food. He broke the loaves apart and kept giving them to the disciples to give to the crowd. All of them ate as much as they wanted. When they picked up the leftover pieces, they filled twelve baskets. (Luke 9:10-17, GW)
How do you feed 5,000 men, plus women and children? That was the assignment. And it wasn’t Jesus’ job.
“Uh, Lord, dismiss the crowd so they can go find somewhere to sleep and eat. We’re out in the middle of nowhere.”
“You feed them,” Jesus said.
Get the scene. [click to continue…]
Tense Truth: God gives you desires you can never satisfy and makes demands you can never fulfill. He then goes about bridging the gap, doing for you what you can never do for yourself. Your primary responsibility is to trust Him to be Himself – to rest in His faithfulness.
++++++++++++++++++++++
Have you ever felt like God was somehow playing a joke on you? You hear people talking about being forgiven, and you feel guilty for, well, feeling guilty. You read the stories about miracle-working power, and wonder why you got left at the station. You learn more and are less happy; work harder, but feel weaker. You’ve learned to speak “Christianese” and go through the motions, but sometimes you just feel like a fraud.
What if I were to tell you that God has a glorious answer? Something more liberating than a self-improvement project or yet another string of self-disappointments?
David’s Truth Discovery
For nearly a year, David had played the role. The psalmist of Israel, the beloved king, had gone through the motions, mouthed the words, and tipped his hat to the man he once was. Very few knew people the real story: David was just a shell of the man he once had been. [click to continue…]
To see in him the image of two – an increase to my place in the world;
To shelter him, and walk at his pace until he can walk at mine;
To lend my strength until he has his own;
To model a partnership of intimacy and trust;
To introduce him to an abundant world;
To teach him the ancient ways, that will live in him beyond my lifetime;
To set him free, even from my influence;
To touch eternity by the ways I touch his life…
This is the sacred trust – to forever remain the friend of a child.
Photo Source: Scenes from Indonesia
Photo credit: REUTERS/Beawiharta
Spiritual gifts are in the news lately. Figured out what yours is/are yet? It’s a fascinating study, provided we approach it with the right attitude.
The Internet Monk suggests that the Holy Spirit gives different people different gifts in different situations – challenging the assumption that we somehow receive a gift load when we are saved and carry that with us throughout a lifetime.
Tim Challies also wrote last month about discovering your giftings.
The Barna Research Group just did a survey on spiritual gifts and discovered some interesting stuff. Since they’ve been doing this for a while, they reported some fascinating trends among Americans claiming to be born again:
- Evidently the Holy Spirit is recognizing a greater need for encouragement over the last several years (can’t imagine why!). The percentage that claims to have the gift of encouragement has tripled – growing steadily from 2% in 1995 to 6% today.
- Also, apparently the Spirit has decided that Americans have enough understanding of the gospel (or maybe that some of the mega churches have all that sown up). Since 1995, the proportion of born again adults claiming the gift of evangelism dropped from 4% to 1%.
- On the other hand, Lucy, churches may have some ‘splainin’ to do. Evangelicals who have no idea what their gift is rose from 8% in 2000 to 13% today.
One of the questions about spiritual gifts that comes up occasionally is whether the gifts mentioned in Ephesians, 1 Corinthians, and Romans are exclusive. That is, are those sixteen or seventeen spiritual gifts the only ones the Holy Spirit gives? Were those lists – all of which are different – meant to be just examples, or are they the only possibilities?
That sure came up on the Barna survey! More than one-fifth (21%) of survey respondents claimed to have spiritual gifts that aren’t mentioned in the Bible. These include:
- a sense of humor
- singing
- health
- life
- happiness
- patience
- a job
- a house
- compromise
- premonition
- creativity
- clairvoyance.
So I gotta tell you, my wheels are turning. While it may be risky to step outside the framework of the Bible, the possibility of other spiritual gifts brings up some interesting ideas. If other spiritual gifts really do manifest themselves in the Body, then I think I may have discovered some. And I’m sure building a wish list for others. So with apologies to the Apostle Paul, here are ten possible charismata he just didn’t mention: [click to continue…]
Help Wanted: Branches
Master of the Universe, a firm dedicated to establishing change agencies throughout the world and providing eternal dwelling places for an undisclosed number of people, is seeking branches on which to conduct its fruit-bearing strategy. Generous benefit package. Unlimited positions available to trusting and trustworthy candidates. No previous experience necessary. Will train the right candidate(s). (Please note: No advancement possible. This is an entry- and exit-level position. The other two positions – Vine and Gardener – have been permanently filled.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Stop doing God’s job. Not only is it unnecessary, it’s ridiculous. And believe me, when you try to solve God-sized problems with man-sized vision and wisdom, you will be ridiculed.
So, following up from the last post, how DO we approach situations, opportunities, challenges, and problems that are larger than we are?
You approach them like a branch would. [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on December 10, 2008
in Ability, Enlarging Your Capacity, Five LV Laws, Hoarders, Insight, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Money, Principle of Abundance
Why do you have the resources, abilities, relationships and intelligence that you do? Why do you lack the brain, the pain, the financial gain that others have?
It all comes back to the Trust.
What you “have” isn’t yours any more than what somebody else “has” is theirs. It all – even your life – belongs to God. He purchased it completely with the death and resurrection of His Son. But He has entrusted the management decisions to you. Incidentally, the primary management decision you must make is what you will do with the death and resurrection of His Son!
Jesus’ story of the talents illustrates the point. (You can read my paraphrase/summary here.) Each of the servants received part of the master’s possessions to manage for him while he was away. That represents your life and all it entails. [click to continue…]
Emma Thompson drops by our church from time to time. And yesterday, she prophesied.
No, not the actress. Emma and her twin sister Annie are the eight-year-old daughters of my friend and our communications pastor, Todd.
So get the scene. Our entire church foyer/fellowship area is covered with Christmas decorations. We’re getting ready for a big night of volunteers showing up to decorate the building for the holidays. The office staff is scattered out into the various rooms that have their names on the door. And in comes Todd, Emma and Annie bouncing behind.
Mary, our receptionist, is friendly territory for the twins. She often visits with them while they’re waiting for their dad to finish a meeting or project. She’s also learned that it’s good to offer them something to do to occupy them on days they don’t have homework or something.
Emma is loaded with questions. What’s all this? What are they going to do with it? When? The usual 8-year-old excited kind of stuff. Laughing and chattering away.
Mary says to Annie and her sister, “I have something y’all can do to help us.”
(Okay, get ready, here it comes…) [click to continue…]
