Exclamation Living

I am corresponding with a young man in jail who has recently given his life to Christ. The other day I got a letter from him that really encouraged me; he explained how God had just used him to lead another person in jail to the Lord. He wrote, "I am not worthy to be used to bring people to God! I am so inexperienced as a Christian but God still saw me and was pleased with me enough to fill me with the Holy Spirit and give me the knowledge to bring this guy in! It's so awesome! I used to be in the army... and I thought jumping out of planes and helicopters was a rush! Well it doesn't compare! Not even close! God's Awesome and that's all there is to it! The feeling I get from the Holy Spirit working in me and through me is killer!"

Don't you just love that? Did you notice all of his exclamation marks? Remember the passion you had when you first came to Christ? Unfortunately, too many of us, including me, will put a question mark or a period where an exclamation belongs. Our christian living becomes routine, stale, hum-drum, anything but "killer!".

My prayer: Lord I want to live life with an exclamation mark. Break my heart for what breaks yours! Transform me! Use me! All for your eternal glory!

Exclamation Living

I am corresponding with a young man in jail who has recently given his life to Christ. The other day I got a letter from him that really encouraged me; he explained how God had just used him to lead another person in jail to the Lord. He wrote, "I am not worthy to be used to bring people to God! I am so inexperienced as a Christian but God still saw me and was pleased with me enough to fill me with the Holy Spirit and give me the knowledge to bring this guy in! It's so awesome! I used to be in the army... and I thought jumping out of planes and helicopters was a rush! Well it doesn't compare! Not even close! God's Awesome and that's all there is to it! The feeling I get from the Holy Spirit working in me and through me is killer!"

Don't you just love that? Did you notice all of his exclamation marks? Remember the passion you had when you first came to Christ? Unfortunately, too many of us, including me, will put a question mark or a period where an exclamation belongs. Our christian living becomes routine, stale, hum-drum, anything but "killer!".

My prayer: Lord I want to live life with an exclamation mark. Break my heart for what breaks yours! Transform me! Use me! All for your eternal glory!

FFC Baptisms 2009

FFC Baptisms 2009

Dissatisfied

The interesting thing about being a Christian is, the deeper we grow in our faith in Christ, the more acutely aware of our sins we become. I started to think about the spiritually mature people I know. These folks aren't at all prideful about their spiritual condition; if anything, they are fed up with their flesh and are dissatisfied with where they are at spiritually. They do not excuse away their sin and they strive to be more and more like Christ.

"What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" Romans 7:24

Dissatisfied

The interesting thing about being a Christian is, the deeper we grow in our faith in Christ, the more acutely aware of our sins we become. I started to think about the spiritually mature people I know. These folks aren't at all prideful about their spiritual condition; if anything, they are fed up with their flesh and are dissatisfied with where they are at spiritually. They do not excuse away their sin and they strive to be more and more like Christ.

"What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" Romans 7:24

Happy 9,460,800 Minute Anniversary

18 years ago today, Tammy and I began an adventure together that has taken us to 4 states, 4 colleges/universities, 8 homes, 2 full-time pastorates, 1 child, and roughly 9,460,800 minutes.

Happy anniversary Tammy - thanks for spending so many minutes married to me.

Happy 9,460,800 Minute Anniversary

18 years ago today, Tammy and I began an adventure together that has taken us to 4 states, 4 colleges/universities, 8 homes, 2 full-time pastorates, 1 child, and roughly 9,460,800 minutes.

Happy anniversary Tammy - thanks for spending so many minutes married to me.

Busy Sunday

This Sunday will be busy. During the service we have child dedications, and Aaron & Melissa Black will be sharing about the call that God has on their lives to become missionaries oversees. Following the service we will have our annual all church baptism and picnic.

I'm really looking forward to this Sunday. Seeing people give their life to serve the Lord in fully released missionary work excites me. Aaron and Melissa, as well as Marggy Hensley, I believe, are just the beginning of many more missionaries/pastors to answer the call to fully released ministry. In fact, beginning this weekend we have another couple exploring the possibilities of missionary work in another country.

I'm also looking forward to the baptisms. Seeing people publicly declare their faith in Christ through baptism is always such a moving experience. Here's the video from last year's baptisms...

Busy Sunday

This Sunday will be busy. During the service we have child dedications, and Aaron & Melissa Black will be sharing about the call that God has on their lives to become missionaries oversees. Following the service we will have our annual all church baptism and picnic.

I'm really looking forward to this Sunday. Seeing people give their life to serve the Lord in fully released missionary work excites me. Aaron and Melissa, as well as Marggy Hensley, I believe, are just the beginning of many more missionaries/pastors to answer the call to fully released ministry. In fact, beginning this weekend we have another couple exploring the possibilities of missionary work in another country.

I'm also looking forward to the baptisms. Seeing people publicly declare their faith in Christ through baptism is always such a moving experience. Here's the video from last year's baptisms...

Wyoming Pictures

I have a few photos from our Wyoming trip that I thought I'd post here on my blog. Just so you know - that really is me in the cowboy hat and western shirt =)

Wyoming Pictures

I have a few photos from our Wyoming trip that I thought I'd post here on my blog. Just so you know - that really is me in the cowboy hat and western shirt =)

Heading Home

Today I will be heading home; Tammy and Shelby will be spending a few more days here at "Grandma J's". We've had a great vacation, traveled a lot miles, seen some amazing things, and I have relaxed and not thought a lot about work. This morning though, I am thinking about: the next sermon series I need to write, upcoming weddings to perform, counseling sessions, emails, phone calls, surprise issues, and.... my next vacation :-)

Heading Home

Today I will be heading home; Tammy and Shelby will be spending a few more days here at "Grandma J's". We've had a great vacation, traveled a lot miles, seen some amazing things, and I have relaxed and not thought a lot about work. This morning though, I am thinking about: the next sermon series I need to write, upcoming weddings to perform, counseling sessions, emails, phone calls, surprise issues, and.... my next vacation :-)

Memory Lane

It's fun being back in Northern Iowa for a few days before heading back to Indiana. I lived in Iowa from the age of 8 until 20; so I have a lot of memories of this area. I've been sharing some of these memories with Shelby (6 years old) as we are out and about. I don't think Shelby appreciates all of the interesting facts that I've been sharing with her though. For instance, today I pointed out the general vicinity where I bought my first bean-bag with my hard earned money. That really didn't impress her much; I can't blame her though that memory even bores me.

Later in the day we went to the mall, where Shelby made a bee line for the Claires store. She quickly placed some of her, not-so-hard-earned money from "Grandma J", down on a kitty cat to add to her growing population of stuffed animals. I thought for a moment to tell Shelby that she was standing in the exact spot that I bought her mommy's wedding ring 18 years ago, back when the store was Stadheim Jewelers. I would have told her that money I spent on the wedding ring was hard earned too...

But instead, I decided to create a new memory; you know, it's the one where my little girl and I walk into a store she loves, hand in hand, with some "Grandma loves me money" burning a hole in her pocket. It's the memory of seeing her eyes light up with joy as she finds that little item that brings a smile to her face. It's the realization of the irony of the moment; I'd better enjoy the short time that I have with my little girl before her eyes light up at a wedding ring of her own and I'm walking her down the wedding aisle. So instead of making that moment about me and my memories, I decided to make that moment about ... that moment.

The past is great; memory lane can be a lot of fun - but not at the expense of missing the present.

Memory Lane

It's fun being back in Northern Iowa for a few days before heading back to Indiana. I lived in Iowa from the age of 8 until 20; so I have a lot of memories of this area. I've been sharing some of these memories with Shelby (6 years old) as we are out and about. I don't think Shelby appreciates all of the interesting facts that I've been sharing with her though. For instance, today I pointed out the general vicinity where I bought my first bean-bag with my hard earned money. That really didn't impress her much; I can't blame her though that memory even bores me.

Later in the day we went to the mall, where Shelby made a bee line for the Claires store. She quickly placed some of her, not-so-hard-earned money from "Grandma J", down on a kitty cat to add to her growing population of stuffed animals. I thought for a moment to tell Shelby that she was standing in the exact spot that I bought her mommy's wedding ring 18 years ago, back when the store was Stadheim Jewelers. I would have told her that money I spent on the wedding ring was hard earned too...

But instead, I decided to create a new memory; you know, it's the one where my little girl and I walk into a store she loves, hand in hand, with some "Grandma loves me money" burning a hole in her pocket. It's the memory of seeing her eyes light up with joy as she finds that little item that brings a smile to her face. It's the realization of the irony of the moment; I'd better enjoy the short time that I have with my little girl before her eyes light up at a wedding ring of her own and I'm walking her down the wedding aisle. So instead of making that moment about me and my memories, I decided to make that moment about ... that moment.

The past is great; memory lane can be a lot of fun - but not at the expense of missing the present.

Wyoming Vacation Day 6 & 7

Here's just a few images from the past couple of days of our vacation. We haven't done a lot of site seeing recently; we've spent more time in Jackson doing a little shopping and some "alpine sliding". Shelby really enjoyed the slide down the mountain.

Tomorrow we will be leaving the mountains of Wyoming and heading for the corn of Northern Iowa for a short little break at Tammy's mom's place.

Wyoming Vacation Day 6 & 7

Here's just a few images from the past couple of days of our vacation. We haven't done a lot of site seeing recently; we've spent more time in Jackson doing a little shopping and some "alpine sliding". Shelby really enjoyed the slide down the mountain.

Tomorrow we will be leaving the mountains of Wyoming and heading for the corn of Northern Iowa for a short little break at Tammy's mom's place.

Wyoming Vacation Day 5

Wyoming Vacation Day 5

Wyoming Vacation Day 4

Today, being Sunday, was pretty much a day of rest on our vacation. We played a little miniature golf and slid down the side of a mountain on "bobsleds"; other than that, nothing much for today.

I did however manage to dodge a small chipmunk on the road; I can't say the same was true for yesterday... (poor little fella' never stood a chance). I think we spotted an eagle in its nest; I wasn't quite sure, so I had a fleeting thought of tossing a rock at the nest to see if I could get it to fly away... but then I thought, "No; I'd like to NOT get kicked out of Wyoming!"

Wyoming Vacation Day 4

Today, being Sunday, was pretty much a day of rest on our vacation. We played a little miniature golf and slid down the side of a mountain on "bobsleds"; other than that, nothing much for today.

I did however manage to dodge a small chipmunk on the road; I can't say the same was true for yesterday... (poor little fella' never stood a chance). I think we spotted an eagle in its nest; I wasn't quite sure, so I had a fleeting thought of tossing a rock at the nest to see if I could get it to fly away... but then I thought, "No; I'd like to NOT get kicked out of Wyoming!"

Wyoming Vacation Day 3

Wyoming Vacation Day 3

Wyoming Vacation Day 2

Wyoming Vacation Day 2

Wyoming Vacation Day 1

Wyoming Vacation Day 1

Trip

Most of our bags are packed and we are excited about our family vacation to Wyoming & Iowa. I plan on posting updates and pictures of our adventures. I'm looking forward to the time away from the routine of pastoral ministry and being inspired by the mountains of Wyoming. Tammy will be blogging while we are away as well, and you may want to visit her sites from time to time...

Lead me on

Homeschool Rocks

A Year in Pictures

I have enough issues posting to one blog and Tammy has three =)

Trip

Most of our bags are packed and we are excited about our family vacation to Wyoming & Iowa. I plan on posting updates and pictures of our adventures. I'm looking forward to the time away from the routine of pastoral ministry and being inspired by the mountains of Wyoming. Tammy will be blogging while we are away as well, and you may want to visit her sites from time to time...

Lead me on

Homeschool Rocks

A Year in Pictures

I have enough issues posting to one blog and Tammy has three =)

Knowing Doing Gap

The longer I pastor, the more convinced I become that there is a LARGE gap between knowing and doing. People know the right thing to do - they just don't do it. It somehow is weaved into the frailty of our flesh. Even the Apostle Paul wrestled with this kind of thing. (See Romans 7:14-25)

After Jesus' discourse on the mount, He concluded with these words, "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."" Matthew 7:24-27

Jesus knew that knowledge isn't our problem, action is our problem. I'm familiar with what God expects of me, and as a result I'm responsible to follow through and do what pleases Him; if I don't, then I have sinned against God. People are constantly doing what they know they shouldn't do, and as a result their lives are on sand and before long their life is in a shambles.

Wise people close the knowing/doing gap. Wise people act on that which they know that they should be doing. The wise man hears the words of Christ and then puts them into practice.

“Be doers of the word, not hearers only and therefore, deceive yourselves.” James 1:22

Knowing Doing Gap

The longer I pastor, the more convinced I become that there is a LARGE gap between knowing and doing. People know the right thing to do - they just don't do it. It somehow is weaved into the frailty of our flesh. Even the Apostle Paul wrestled with this kind of thing. (See Romans 7:14-25)

After Jesus' discourse on the mount, He concluded with these words, "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."" Matthew 7:24-27

Jesus knew that knowledge isn't our problem, action is our problem. I'm familiar with what God expects of me, and as a result I'm responsible to follow through and do what pleases Him; if I don't, then I have sinned against God. People are constantly doing what they know they shouldn't do, and as a result their lives are on sand and before long their life is in a shambles.

Wise people close the knowing/doing gap. Wise people act on that which they know that they should be doing. The wise man hears the words of Christ and then puts them into practice.

“Be doers of the word, not hearers only and therefore, deceive yourselves.” James 1:22

Next Steps

I touched on this in the message this morning at church; check this out... The Apostle Paul had a personal encounter with Christ while he was on his way to Damascus to hunt down Christians; following that transformational encounter Paul goes blind and awaits Ananias' visit.

"Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized" Acts 9:17,18

Paul got up and was baptized; he doesn't go to a baptism class, he doesn't have to have all of his questions answered, he's all in, and he is now willing to publicly identify with a movement he was only days before wanting to eradicate. Immediately he was baptized.

A couple verses later the Bible tells us that, "At once he began to preach in the synagogues" We would ask, "Paul don't you need to go to seminary first? Don't you have a lots of questions that need to be answered before you start telling people about Jesus? Shouldn't you be a spiritual giant before you share Christ with others?" Paul would say, "No. I've been transformed by the living God, that's enough for me; I'll just do the next right thing."

Shortly after being run out of Damascus by the Jewish leaders, Paul made his way back to Jerusalem where the Apostles were, in order to learn from them and gain more knowledge about Jesus. After learning at the feet of the Apostles, Paul began to set out on his missionary journeys; and through the power of the Holy Spirit, transformed the spiritual landscape of the gentiles.

Immediately after salvation, Paul was baptized, he shared his faith with others, he proactively grew in his knowledge about Christ, and then went out to spread the good news. What's the next right step for you?

FYI:

July 26th following the 10:45 service is our annual Church Picnic & Baptism. If you have never obediently followed the biblical command to be baptized I would encourage you to take that step.

Next Steps

I touched on this in the message this morning at church; check this out... The Apostle Paul had a personal encounter with Christ while he was on his way to Damascus to hunt down Christians; following that transformational encounter Paul goes blind and awaits Ananias' visit.

"Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized" Acts 9:17,18

Paul got up and was baptized; he doesn't go to a baptism class, he doesn't have to have all of his questions answered, he's all in, and he is now willing to publicly identify with a movement he was only days before wanting to eradicate. Immediately he was baptized.

A couple verses later the Bible tells us that, "At once he began to preach in the synagogues" We would ask, "Paul don't you need to go to seminary first? Don't you have a lots of questions that need to be answered before you start telling people about Jesus? Shouldn't you be a spiritual giant before you share Christ with others?" Paul would say, "No. I've been transformed by the living God, that's enough for me; I'll just do the next right thing."

Shortly after being run out of Damascus by the Jewish leaders, Paul made his way back to Jerusalem where the Apostles were, in order to learn from them and gain more knowledge about Jesus. After learning at the feet of the Apostles, Paul began to set out on his missionary journeys; and through the power of the Holy Spirit, transformed the spiritual landscape of the gentiles.

Immediately after salvation, Paul was baptized, he shared his faith with others, he proactively grew in his knowledge about Christ, and then went out to spread the good news. What's the next right step for you?

FYI:

July 26th following the 10:45 service is our annual Church Picnic & Baptism. If you have never obediently followed the biblical command to be baptized I would encourage you to take that step.

When Your Memories Exceed Your Dreams

Here's what I learned today from the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast. Andy said, "When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near." To put this in the context of the local church: when you live in the past and lack vision and passion for the future, you might as well stick a fork in it. What this means for a denomination is this: when the mantra becomes "we need to hear more about our rich heritage", get ready to dust off the dry bones.

Celebrating the past is obviously important; living in the past will not advance the kingdom of God. The future belongs to the passionate visionaries who celebrate the past, embrace the present, and dream big dreams for the future.

When Your Memories Exceed Your Dreams

Here's what I learned today from the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast. Andy said, "When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near." To put this in the context of the local church: when you live in the past and lack vision and passion for the future, you might as well stick a fork in it. What this means for a denomination is this: when the mantra becomes "we need to hear more about our rich heritage", get ready to dust off the dry bones.

Celebrating the past is obviously important; living in the past will not advance the kingdom of God. The future belongs to the passionate visionaries who celebrate the past, embrace the present, and dream big dreams for the future.

My Guts

You may have noticed that I've not been blogging as much as I have in the past; I used to post nearly every day but lately I've been very sporadic. Let me try to explain the reason for my lack of zeal for blogging lately.

If you will note in the upper right hand corner of my website, I explain the, "Why", of this blog. "This blog is meant to introduce you to me: an ordinary guy called by God to be a pastor. I have one agenda, I want you to get to know me better. Some of what you will find on this blog will be serious, some things will be funny, but all of it will give you a better idea of who I am."

With a large congregation it is difficult for each person to feel that they know the pastor well, because there is no way to have quality relationships with every single individual. This blog, and other social networking tools, have given people that I may have never had the opportunity of spending time with, a chance to get to know their pastor a little bit better (if they so chose - this blog or my Twitters is not required reading at FFC :-)

The unfortunate thing is that when you open yourself up to individuals, you open yourself up to being hurt as well. I'm sure you've experienced that numerous times in your life as well. I had a painful month last month, and I began monitoring everything I would write/say for fear my words would be misunderstood/twisted or used against me in some way.

I've normally done pretty well at not allowing the attacks of certain individuals get me down, and to keep pressing forward; but I've internalized a lot recently, which has not been healthy. I don't ever want to give the illusion that I'm "superhuman" and live a perfect life and respond to everything the way I should; so that is why I'm taking the first step, once again, of just being honest with you and saying I'm feeling sorry for myself and working past the "fear of man" and to simply be myself and realize my responsibility is to live with a holy fear of God and not people. (Prov. 29:25)

p.s.

The purpose of this post wasn't to get you to feel sorry for me - I just felt that I needed to start the process of being transparent once again otherwise I'd just stay in the funk I had been in.

My Guts

You may have noticed that I've not been blogging as much as I have in the past; I used to post nearly every day but lately I've been very sporadic. Let me try to explain the reason for my lack of zeal for blogging lately.

If you will note in the upper right hand corner of my website, I explain the, "Why", of this blog. "This blog is meant to introduce you to me: an ordinary guy called by God to be a pastor. I have one agenda, I want you to get to know me better. Some of what you will find on this blog will be serious, some things will be funny, but all of it will give you a better idea of who I am."

With a large congregation it is difficult for each person to feel that they know the pastor well, because there is no way to have quality relationships with every single individual. This blog, and other social networking tools, have given people that I may have never had the opportunity of spending time with, a chance to get to know their pastor a little bit better (if they so chose - this blog or my Twitters is not required reading at FFC :-)

The unfortunate thing is that when you open yourself up to individuals, you open yourself up to being hurt as well. I'm sure you've experienced that numerous times in your life as well. I had a painful month last month, and I began monitoring everything I would write/say for fear my words would be misunderstood/twisted or used against me in some way.

I've normally done pretty well at not allowing the attacks of certain individuals get me down, and to keep pressing forward; but I've internalized a lot recently, which has not been healthy. I don't ever want to give the illusion that I'm "superhuman" and live a perfect life and respond to everything the way I should; so that is why I'm taking the first step, once again, of just being honest with you and saying I'm feeling sorry for myself and working past the "fear of man" and to simply be myself and realize my responsibility is to live with a holy fear of God and not people. (Prov. 29:25)

p.s.

The purpose of this post wasn't to get you to feel sorry for me - I just felt that I needed to start the process of being transparent once again otherwise I'd just stay in the funk I had been in.