HCLM BLOG

What do you do for work?
this is a great question.
Your mind probably goes to what you do that makes you money; quick, redirect. Think on what you do that tires your body out and leaves you feeling satisfied. I’ll ask again, now that you’re thinking in the right direction…

What do you do for work?

The coffee shop is getting busier. My time behind the counter is starting to feel more like work: I’m on my feet more, making more drinks, and washing more dishes. Half way through my shift now my body is already tired. But this feels like a life-giving sort of tired, not life-sucking. It is satisfying to know I’m working toward the success of something. It’s the same sort of thing as when I work in the yard at home, or wear myself out playing with the kids. I walk away feeling satisfied.

When you know the story, you realize that’s not a coincidence. Humanity was made to work. I have gifts, abilities, talents, skills that are made to be leveraged to accomplish stuff. The genius application comes when you start to be able to differentiate occupation from work. You may have an occupation that doesn’t require your gifts, abilities, talents and skills. Or worse, isn’t worth them. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still have work that is satisfying. It takes my creativity and patience to play with my kids, and it is super satisfying when I use them for that work. It’s what I was made to do.

There are all kinds of benefits to learning the story of scripture, but one is definitely realizing we were made for work and it is waiting for us all around…not just at work.

I really enjoyed our Labor day, but it totally threw me off.
Today is thursday but it’s hard to feel like it is. It sort of feels like Tuesday, which really makes no sense.
I like having rhythm to my week. I don’t want each week to feel the same but I like knowing where I am, that I’m getting everything done and that each week accomplished something.

The older I get, the more I get a larger sense of rhythm. I’ve just started to notice annual rhythms. I prune plants in my yard at certain times of the year. The grass grows different in each season, I can feel the changes coming; I’m starting to look at years more like weeks, hoping to accomplish things and planning out the flow.

It all reminds me that the world was not put together by accident, and that I was made as a part of it. There is an order to things and to my life not by accident, on purpose. The more I recognize that, the better I enjoy the life I’m living. When I realize I’m made to love people well, honor and respect my relationships, invest in tasks and accomplish goals, serve the people around me genuinely, I find that my life falls into a rhythm that I really enjoy.

thinking of that, my mind goes here.

I’ve found myself quoting a passage from Scripture lately even though I really have no idea where it is. I knew it went something like this, “he who is faithful with a few things will be faithful with much.”

I’ve quoted it enough times and the T.V. tonight was bad enough that I decided to look up where it comes from. Turns out it’s a saying of Jesus (I figured that much). Matthew and Luke both record it. The phrase actually goes “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” It comes in the context of a story that Jesus is using to describe how the Kingdom of God works. (I could retell the whole story, but why bother. You can read it here… I’ll wait til you’re done.)

Interesting huh?
So Jesus taught that in his kingdom as you demonstrate faithfulness with small amounts of responsibility, you get greater responsibility. This truth has helped me move forward in life.

If I wanted the large responsibility of impacting a city, I need to demonstrate faithfulness in serving it with the small responsibility jobs available to me. In the same way, if I want the large responsibility of long lasting relationships, I need to demonstrate faithfulness in the small things as they develop. See, the kingdom of God operates more on who you are than who you know.

I wonder, where are you demonstrating faithfulness?
Start thinking small.
Where do you tell the truth? Where do you serve? Where do you love well?
It’s in those places you can expect your influence and responsibility to increase.
hmm…

I’m getting pretty pumped for this weekend’s gathering for a whole bunch of reasons. I will now share just a few with you…

1. it’s not nothing to have been gathering for a year and exploring the story that animates the world and our lives. that is something folks. When the New Testament encouraged our people to continue meeting together I think he had in mind that we might become like second families for each other, reminding each other who we really are and what we ought to be about. theCross Orlando is becoming that…a family you wanna be a part of.
2. I’ve been thinking about our topic for Sunday a lot and slowly loving it more and more. We’re talking about how people who step into the story of scripture have the opportunity to receive love from God. The more I think about that, the more I realize what an intense and powerful thing that is.
3. I know that Emily W. is making our lunch again and that rarely goes wrong.

that three of a whole bunch of reasons i’m pumped for Sunday’s gathering.
If you’re able to get there you won’t regret it.

As a suggestion from the teachers at my daughter’s school, we started a journal with my two 7 and 9 year old daughters.  We write letters back and forth to each other, and it is a great way to encourage our kids to practice writing.  I recently created “Top 10 lists” of why I think my kids are so wonderful in each of their journals.  My younger daughter responded with a “Top  10 Things Daddy Does Best” list.  Number 5 on the list was “He sings weird” and number 4 on the list was “He is weird.”  In summary, I would have to say that my daughter thinks that I am definitely weird!  

I am very excited to report that I just finished reading the new book “Weird – Because normal isn’t working” by Pastor Craig Groeschel, and being weird is actually a preferable character trait for Christians.  This is a great book and I encourage all of you to read it.  You can also listen to his related sermon series by Pastor Groeschel at: http://www.lifechurch.tv/watch/weird/1 .

I agree that it may sound suspicious that I am encouraging you to become weird.  However, do we really want to be normal?  Have you noticed what normal people are doing lately?  Normal people are living life at a frantic pace to try to keep up with what everyone else is doing.  Normal people are acquiring so many possessions that they are going more and more into debt.  Normal people are too busy to communicate with the people that are most important to them and as a result, their most important relationships are becoming very strained.  Many normal people have lost touch of what the most important things in life really are.

In the book, Pastor Groeschel talks about the story of Martha and Mary told in Luke 10:38-40.  As you probably recall, Martha and Mary are the sisters of Lazarus (who Jesus raised from the dead).  Also, Mary is also the one who anoints Jesus with expensive perfume.  In this story, Jesus visits Mary and Martha for dinner.  According to the scripture, Martha was “distracted by all the preparations that had to be made” while Mary was “hanging on every word Jesus said”.  Reacting like most people would, Martha gets upset Mary is not doing her fair share of the work and complains.  But Jesus replies “Martha, Martha, you are worried about upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her”.  In today’s society, Martha is “normal” and Mary would be considered the “weird” one in this story.  I have realized that I have spent a good part of my life acting like Martha when I should have been acting more like Mary instead.
 
In the Spring of 2002, I completed the Big Sur marathon in California.  The course for this marathon runs along the Pacific Coast Highway from Big Sur to Carmel, and is perhaps the most beautiful marathon in the U.S.  When I ran the marathon back in 2002, I was so focused on how fast I was running that I didn’t take the time to really take in the beautiful scenery that was surrounding me.  If we go back to the Bible story I mentioned earlier, I think Mary would have approached the marathon just like I did – she would have run as fast as possible to try to set a personal record.  Mary, on the other hand, would have run slowly and would have stopped several times just to take in the beautiful scenery.  She probably would have even sat down to pray along the course because she would have felt God’s presence in many places.  She may have taken an hour or so longer to finish the race, but she would have had a much better experience than I had.

Like my experience with the marathon, many of us are racing through life as fast as possible.  As a result, we miss the beautiful life that God has created for us.  We sometimes work long hours chasing a promotion, but forget to spend time with our kids as they grow up.  Or, we become experts at how our favorite sports teams are doing, but we don’t take the time to truly communicate with the people that matter most to us.  I suggest that you take breaks along the marathon of life to truly take in the beautiful life that is in front us.  We should all try to be more “weird” like Mary and less “normal” like Martha.  

I mentioned yesterday in my sermon the results of a study that was done and published last week in which 3000 British adults were asked "What things can't you live without?"  The results that came back might astound you!

"It seems that things like clean clothes and indoor plumbing aren't quite as important as a daily social networking fix, since Facebook— which appears as the #5 most important "thing" — beat out washing machines and toilets.

Just 4 things managed to eke out more love on the surprising survey, including sunshine, internet, water, and refrigerators. Facebook also ranked above coffee, mobile phones, email, automobiles, and even light bulbs. Other web services like Twitter and Google also appeared further down the list."

To see the full article on this survey, go here.

It's a good question to ask and I think we saw some honest answers in that survey.  And I don't know the nature of how the survey was conducted, but one thing is glaringly missing on that survey: anything spiritual at all!  And again, maybe it was a list of only 50 things that the London Science Museum provided, and there was nothing spiritually on that list; but it's a good question to ask ourselves either way.

Where do things like "God, the church, the Bible, devotional time, prayer, meditation, fasting, serving, etc." rank on your list of what's most important or what you can't live without?

And then secondly, does where they rank on your own personal list ring true with how much time you are currently devoting to those things?

Maybe it's time you take stock of your life and if you’re finding that Facebook beats out anything spiritual, then maybe it's time for you to do something about that!

So today I’m sitting here getting ready as a pastor to do my first memorial service.  it’s for a guy named Jim Wilkinson who passed away on Saturday.  On Thursday night he said “He knew who his Savior was and that it was Jesus.”  Jim was an auctioneer.  I’ve done a lot with auctions, but not the live auctions.  I’m more of an eBay guy.  Jim was a live auction guy.  And it got me thinking about his life and our lives and the similarity with auctions that our lives have.  I’m sharing this below as part of the message later this morning:

“Jim was a man that loved antiques.  He got to be so good at buying antiques that he actually started his own auctioning business.  Before the days of eBay, he was out there finding an item, or a piece, or a rare collectible at great prices and bringing it to a greater public and providing items to people who wanted them.  Jim was real good at what he did and he shared that passion with many of his family and friends even here today that are still in the auctioning business.

It’s important I’ve learned for an auction to have some finality to it.  On eBay it’s just a time that your auction ends.  But live auctions are so much cooler.  You get to see the items in front of you, you hear all the bidding, everybody’s raising their numbers and getting competitive.  But at the end, usually at an auction you hear, “Going once, Going Twice, Sold!”  There’s some finality to it.

And auctions resemble life.  Sometimes you have this piece that you think is going to sell for a heck of a lot.  You see such great potential in this piece.  But then as the auction is going on it just isn’t going for as much as it should have gone for.  And finally, it’s gone.  Going once, going twice, sold.  And you think, “Man, I really didn’t get out of that what I thought I was going to get.  That thing should have gone for more.”  We think that about our lives a lot of times.  We could be this…we could be that.  We could get to this point or achieve this status.  But we don’t and then all of the sudden it’s over.  So much talent, so many gifts just wasted at the end of the day.  I think we’ve all felt that way about our own lives.  Jim, myself, and all of you.

But then there’s other pieces that though they don’t really look perfect, not everything is right with them, but for some reason these auctions and these pieces you see the bidding go up and up and up and at the end you think, “There’s no way I ever could have imagined somebody would have paid that price for that imperfect piece.”  I think Jim and I and all of us also resemble that second piece.  That piece that’s not perfect.  An item that the world might see and just pass over.  But when God looks at it, rather, us, he sees value and he’s willing to raise not just one hand to place a bid, but both hands.  He’s willing to pay for that piece, that item at the cross with his own life, with his own blood.  Jesus has paid that price for Jim and for all that receive his grace.  He did it because he loves us and does see value in us!”

Say a prayer of thanks today that God has risen both hands and given his life on yoru behalf and ultimately paid the price for you!

Yesterday Adam and I were talking about the last clean-up project we did with downtown credo.

We do them once a month on Saturday mornings. Most times it’s hard to convince yourself to leave the house, bed, couch, t.v. or breakfast to go pick up trash at 9a. It takes a force of will. I mean, picking up trash that’s been buried in bushes, strewn on the side of the road and outside corner stores sounds like dirty sweaty work; and it is. But we were talking because we have realized that, after the force of will, once you’re there, the actual act is actually satisfying even, oddly enjoyable. Why?

I remembered that question last night as I was calming Wesley down and putting him to bed. I knelt next to his bed and talked to him as he laid down. The goal was to assure him that everything would be fine, he could fall asleep and in the morning everyone would be there. In the middle of what could be a frustrating conversation I realized, I was loving it. I was glad to be the one doing that for him. I realized there is nothing else I ought to be doing; in that moment, nothing was more important. I’m his dad. Comforting him is what I’m made to do and when you’re doing what you’re made to do, you can’t help but feel satisfied.  Just as that occurred to me, the answer to the “why?” from earlier popped into my head. Picking up trash is enjoyable because we were made to serve.

Check it out…You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

What were you made to do?

you can pray with me today if you want…

Lord, I’m learning that answers are not as important as questions. Not because answers aren’t important, but it’s just that you are so consistently on the mark with great ones. I’m learning it’s more important for me to discover great questions; they set you up for better answers than I could dream up. Give me the heart to ask great questions, then keep moving, working and living confident you’re not yet done doling out great answers.

Today I’m also super glad to not live alone. You’ve put great people around me at home, in work and at church. I’m not kidding, thank you. Teach me to honor those folks, to serve them and love them well.

Lord today I’m looking for joy and peace. I’m working to be responsible, and helpful. Holy Spirit give me joy and peace, make me more productive than the hours I have, and more helpful than I have patience for. All because Jesus died that I could be that sort of person. Amen.

yesterday we talked a little after our Gathering about the ten “commandments.”

We thought about how the ten commandments are more accurately translated the “ten words” and how they could just as rightly be understood as descriptions instead of commands. I love thinking of them like that, they fit in better with the whole story of scripture that way. Rather than being items added to the to do list of life, they describe what our lives look like as we let God be God.

We mentioned how “remember the Sabbath and keep it holy,” when conceived of this way changes from an order to not work one day of every week into an attitude of the heart that takes time to enjoy the gift of life, family, earth and stuff. I enjoyed some sabbath yesterday. After lunch I went to work out (sort of Sabbath for me, I mostly really enjoy that time) but then I came home and instead of mowing the yard in the serious heat like I planned. I made a margarita and floated in pool while I read a book. It was great.

As I floated I thought about all that was accomplished the week prior, I thought about how much I loved our house and yard, I thought about the great little family we have. Then I thought about why I ever wanted to mow the yard instead of float in the pool. I decided that the pase of my life is always going, it sort of builds momentum until it takes a real force of will to settle into rest. Yesterday I decided it was worth that effort. I realized that God was right: we were made as he demonstrated on that first day7 for regular rest to enjoy who we are, who we’re becoming, what we’ve accomplished and what we’ve received as a gift from Him.