2, 4, 6, 8 How do you appreciate?

Philippians 1:3-5    I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴ In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now

I cannot think of anyone who doesn’t like to be appreciated.  I know I like it when do a good job.  It adds value to what I do.  It makes me want to do it again.  It doesn’t matter what we are talking about, the more you feel appreciated, the more you will want to do whatever you are doing.

God has a plan, you have a choice

God has a plan, and you have a choice.  Often that plan is something bigger than we can do on our own.  Don’t believe it?  Just ask Moses when he was standing on the bank of the Red Sea.  Or Noah when he was swinging a hammer.  What would Elijah say if you asked him about facing 450 false prophets.

God had a plan for Gideon to lead an army of only 300.

God had a plan for Joshua to march around Jericho.

God has a plan for you to ___________________.

Can you fill in the blank?  How would your sentence end?  Your sentence probably ends with something bigger than you could do on your own

Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.  2 Cor 3:5

If you can’t fill in the blank right now, that’s ok, just ask God what his plan is for your life.  I promise you he has one.  And he wants you to know, and he will tell you.

Who doesn’t like Free? Do unto others…….

Luke 6:31-32

³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.

I wish someone had asked me, and I would have freely given.  No questions asked, because I like helping people. But alas, no one has asked.

Do unto others—-I like free stuff, and would love someone to give me something.  So I got thinking, which is sometimes a dangerous thing.  If I would want someone to give something to me, and do unto others……then maybe I should give something away.

Optical Illusions: What’s your perspective?

What does perspective mean to you?  Take a look at the images above.  What do you see?  When I look at the first one, I see the word ‘Good’, but if you look closer at the white space between the letters you can make out the word ‘evil’.

The second image it was easy to see the word ‘optical’, but it took me a little while to adjust to see the word ‘illusion’.  One of my favorites was the ‘Teach’ with the ‘Learn’ reflection.

Your understanding is determined by your perspective.  At first glance you may not realize that there is “more than meets the eye” (just like Transformers!)  It is true of the images, and it is true for life.

I sometimes think of a ladybug on a leaf.  The ladybug is aware of the leaf it is chewing on, the branch the leaf is growing on, and even the tree that the branch is a part of.  The ladybug is probably aware of the several trees around also.  If you

Remembering Grandma, 9/11, and more

Memories

This was a difficult weekend for me. The anniversary of when my grandma passed away was not long ago.  Today is the 10^th anniversary of 9/11.  There have been a lot of memories recalled this weekend.

I am reminded of the fear and confusion that the terrorist attacks caused 10 years ago.  I remember where I was and what I was doing that day.  I remember the countless lives lost that day.  I remember the men and women serving to protect us every day.   I remember my grandpa was not able to attend my wedding November 10, 2001 because he was afraid to fly.

I remember my grandma.  I remember her smile.  I remember how she could turn the shrug of a shoulder and the tap of a foot into a dance.  I remember the songs she would sing.  I remember the silly jokes she would tell.  I remember her giving me a dollar every spring when I saw the first robin.  I remember the joy she brought with her wherever she went.  I remember how much she loved Jesus, and how much she loved me.

What is Worship?

How would you define worship? How do you convey that to the kids you work with? For me worship is a time spent concentrating on God and his greatness, often with music. Worship takes many different forms. You can stand while you worship or you can walk or kneel. You can sing when you worship, play instruments, or be silent during worship. The focus is on God, not necessarily what you do or how you do it.

One thing that makes me very proud is when our kids worship. You can look around the room and see that even at a young age, they understand how to worship. My daughter is 6 years old, and when it is time to worship and concentrate on God she closes her eyes, raises her hands, and sings. Looking around the room at the other kids some have eyes open, some have their eyes closed. Some sway back and forth, some stand still, and yet other walk back and forth. The thing they have learned is that there is not a formula for worship: you have to do x,y and z in order for it to be worship. They know that how they worship is not important. The important thing is that they worship.

What are your thoughts on worship? How do you teach people/kids to worship?

The Gate: overcoming discouragement in ministry

The Gate:

Recently one of my prayer team let me know of the prayers she has been praying (if you don’t have a team of people praying for you, you should).  She said that recently, every time she prayed for me and my family, God showed her a picture explaining visually what is going on in the spiritual realm.  She proceeded to describe a large gate, with swinging doors.  My wife and I were standing at the gate greeting large groups of children as they approached and passed through the gate.

I’ll stop for a moment to let you know that my family has been under a tremendous amount of stress and pressure lately.  Some of this is due to life, much of it is due to spiritual attacks.  I’ll spare the details for now, but it has been rough to say the least.

So our friend continued explaining what God showed her.  As we were standing and welcoming the children through the gate, the doors of the gate were beginning to close.  My wife and I were trying to hold the doors open to allow the children through, but it became increasingly difficult to keep the gate open.