Khakis to Camo…

I used to think of myself as a Starbucks, Chick-Fil-A, or Panera kind of guy.  If I were going to stop somewhere for breakfast in the morning it would be at one of those places.  I would always prefer an Asiago Cheese bagel or a chicken biscuit, but between lousy finances and the lack of any of these stores on my work route things have changed.

Now when I spurge I go for a Mt. Dew or sometimes grab a donut.  The thing that I’ve been beginning to notice is that the clientele is a little different at the local Kagaroo or Chevron Gas Stations.  I see a lot less suits and a whole lot more blue jeans.  It’s far less ties and way more camo. Most of the purchase I saw this morning involved a pack of cigarettes and a lottery ticket.

I don’t know what to make of my newfound patron peers, but I do know that they seem bleary-eyed, lost (not just in the spiritual sense), and without hope.  I know people that are so far upside down on their homes they would need an $80K swing to every buy something else, but they have twice the hope of these guys.

We don’t stop to think about it enough, but much of the reason that you are reading this blog, had a $4 cup of coffee and a Danish this week is because you had good parents, got a good education, and had decent connections.  We started light years ahead of every one of the Newport smoking crew at my new pit stop.

To be cont.

Connect the Dots

Let’s be honest…most of what you have accomplished in life you couldn’t have done on your own.  For me to get everyone of my jobs I needed divine intervention, because there were surely many qualified candidates that were turned down to make room for me.

Take my first teaching job.  I had no teaching degree and no real credentials, yet I ended up being in one of the best districts in Fort Worth.  All I did was relentlessly hand out my resume in person to principles and pray…nothing else.  I guess I did brush my teeth!?

God has always blessed a combination of my own effort or initiative with His sovereign provision.  If you aren’t sure what I’m talking about look at the story of Isaac getting a wife in Genesis 24.

Essentially, Abraham wants Isaac to have a wife from his own people.  To know whom God intends for Isaac to marry Abraham’s servant takes off on a journey and begs God to show him who he should bring back.  Through a little scenario he thinks up when he arrives on the scene Isaac has a wife…nose ring and all.

No matter how literal you want to apply this to your circumstances you know that God has often put you in right place at the right time to receive His goodness.  You can also probably remember when you put yourself in a bad spot and thus got into trouble.

My advice: Be an answer to your prayers (action), pray for provision (supernatural ammo), see where God is working and pounce (faith in action).

Fleeced

When you go into a restaurant it should cost whatever it costs for the meal and service in one single fee.  Tips are stupid and an annoying tradition that should be outlawed immediately…but that’s just me.

Being fleeced doesn’t stop there.  If you really pay attention to your cell phone bill, your closing costs, or your utility bill it will make you feel like you are getting fleeced all over again.  Everyone is piling on the charges to what should be simple and straight-forward bill.

I think the local church is doing the same things with Haiti.  If the church really wanted to help people (both inside and outside) they would build  disaster relief into their budget.  It doesn’t take a genius to know another one is coming around the corner.  There were 7 major ones this decade…9/11, Katrina, Ike, Indian Ocean Tsunami, Cyclone Nargis, Myanmar, Sichuan Earthquake, Kashmir earthquake, and Bam Earthquake, Iran.  All these represent billions in actual and residual damages, plus half a million casualties.

It seems like every church goer in America got fleeced over the last month, because there was a horrific tragedy in Haiti.  Should the church help…absolutely.  Would we want someone to do the same things for us…yes.  I just don’t think taking up lots of extra offerings, or fleecing people for their spare change, truck payment, or coffee money is the answer.

Even after the offering I would venture to guess it’s still a fraction of what a church could do if people actually tithed.  Sure we will never get everyone to tithe, but that doesn’t mean we should rescue the widow, the poor, and the orphan by fleecing people by flaunting a tragedy before their eyes.  Essentially, the church has resorted to taking an offering to pay for budget items (or things we value) and take up special offerings every time we want to look good.

Thoughts?

Centrifugal Force

At some point as a kid you’ve probably proven that centrifugal force exists.  Maybe it was a risky move like whirling a can of paint round and round, or a less risky endeavor like a bucket of water outside in the yard.  Either way you couldn’t help notice that even when the bucket was upside down the liquid stayed in the bucket.  Hence, the rule of centrifugal force is proven.  Objects tend to move away from the center of gravity…even if that means smack dab into the bottom of the bucket.

Spiritual things tend to result in a similar reaction.  Most people find it much harder to get up early for church, then for a trip to the beach.  It’s easier to buy new jeans then put money into the offering.  Meeting a friend a Starbucks is much more fun then lunch with a pastor.  Essentially, it’s much easier for us to run away spiritual things then to go toward them.

If we don’t challenge ourselves to find the bottom of our bucket, whatever it may be, we will always find ourselves running from God.  Ignore the Holy Spirit enough…you won’t notice when He is speaking.  Stop reading the Bible regularly…your decisions will be based on something lacking.  Avoid church and you will find yourself alone when you experience a setback or need hope.

Does your bucket have holes or is your water all gone?

Why I love college football recruiting…

It might sound a little fanatical or maybe a little odd, but I get a tremendous amount of enjoyment with watching the way recruiting goes down in January and February.  Sometimes it can be as exciting as the bowl games…like if you are watching Cotton Bowl.

I know a few people that feel the same way and I’m sure there are tons of reason for their enjoyment, but here is what I particularly enjoy:

• The drama of seeing which college the big name recruits pick.
• Seeing whether the experts were right about a big name recruit 3 or 4 years later.
• Seeing how one player can affect a team’s destiny.
• Watching the team be rejuvenated by the addition of some talented defensive back or wide receiver.
• Learning that a 5-star recruit didn’t even make it on campus, because they did something dumb or couldn’t qualify.
• Watching a player who wasn’t ranked highly become an All-American or win the Heisman.
• Seeing a 3-Star recruit from high school playing on Sundays in the NFL.

Maybe one of the biggest reasons I like the drama is because it really does make a difference when one team gets good players.  Sure a team with average players can pull an upset, but they won’t be successful long-term.  It’s no different in the church.  God has teamed up good preachers with good Executive Pastors and churches have blown up.  He has teamed up great preachers with great worship leaders and the same thing has happened.

I don’t know the destiny of Axiom Church, but I can’t wait to see who God pulls together to change the spiritual destiny of thousands in Gainesville!

Top 5 Christmas Movies

I don’t know if age has anything to do with the following, but I think I actually like Christmas movies better then the Holiday much of time.  Just to clarify…we are well beyond the point of arguing about the Holiday being consumerism wrapped into a big red ribbon or not.  For Americans and the vast majority of businesses that’s exactly what it is.

Anyway,  I really couldn’t care less about getting presents.  It’s not that I’m a Scrooge, but more because I’m very blessed.  There just isn’t anything that I need and really even less that I want.  I’m sure as our kiddos get older that will change, but until then I have the movies.

Here are my Top 5 Christmas Movies:

1. National Lampoons Christmas Vacation
2. It’s a Wonderful Life
3. Scrooged
4. A Christmas Story
5. Elf

Agree or Disagree?

Is this the end?

One of the things that must have confused Joseph (the dude with the tie dye jacket) more then anything was the seemingly confusing contradictions of his life.  He dreamed he would rule, but shortly after was in a pit and then slavery.  If that wasn’t bad enough, he is later falsely accused, jailed, forgotten and then finally realized the dream.

I’m sure someone has pontificated about how long it was from the dream to the realization, but for me only one thing matters.  God revealed something to Joseph then seemed to let everything interfere with it happening.  It seems like as often as God reveals His will, someone does something to screw it up.  Joseph’s story shows that God is sovereign, no matter what others try to do to keep His will from happening.

Maybe you have had a similar experience, maybe not.  Either way God can’t be stopped…things may be delayed, but never stopped.  If He told you something…it has to happen, if for no other reason then that He said it would happen and He cannot lie.

Take heart, it will come to pass!

Regret

It’s scratches on my truck, a stain on my shirt, a bad meal, or something that I’ve lost.  Everyone deals with it in different degrees and get it in different doses…regret!

When I survey my life there aren’t a lot of serious regrets.  Maybe, I’m obtuse, maybe I’m not as spiritual as I should be, but I feel like the mistakes that I made weren’t killers and they weren’t debilitating to the point that they affected me forever.  That doesn’t mean there weren’t some times that I was teetering on the line and it could have gone very differently.

Unfortunately for me the book of James is pretty convicting.  It tells me it’s not enough to keep myself from doing something stupid…I’ve got a responsibility as a Christ-Follower to do something with my faith.  My personal regrets have everything to do with things I didn’t do, when I had the opportunity.  When my life is always about me and I don’t do anything about injustice, the poor, or the lost…I’m one of the worst sinners ever.

I think it’s very possible that our churches in America may be filled with the most notorious sinners on the planet and they aren’t “doing” anything wrong!!

Vision/Thanks!

Is God Quick or Slow?

A couple nights ago Carrie and I decided to sleep on the couch.  I know that it doesn’t make since to the normal ear, but you have to sit on the couches to understand how great they are to know why I would give up my bed for the night.

About 5 AM, we heard a crying kid upstairs that sounded extremely upset and sounded scared and fearful.  Carrie jumped up and ran upstairs to rescue what she thought was our little boy Micah, only to find out that it was his cousin Addy.  Carrie isn’t what one would call an early riser, so it was amazing how quickly she was off the couch and up the stairs.  This was an obvious case of the “motherly instinct” kicking in and giving her super human strength to launch her into mommy to the rescue mode.

Parents and Pastors are always talking about how their kids teach them this and that about God.  I think there a lot of things that being a parent teaches about our relationship with our Heavenly Father.  However, that night didn’t remind me of God, it reminded me of what earthly parents do when their kids are about to hurt themselves.

Sure there are stories where God rescues someone from impending doom (Lot, Balaam), but in most cases God doesn’t swoop in like Superman and rescues us.  Many times in my life things worked out last minute similar to Israel being rescued after 400 years of captivity.

I’m not saying God is a lousy parent, but that we parent very differently then He does and we should make sure our expectations for Him allow for the sovereignty of His will.