The Need To Replace

How often is it, that when you lose/damage/break something of value, you first panic and then simply go and replace that which is no more.
Good thing Jesus isn't like that with us. I mean, of course he didn't break us, but we ARE damaged goods. We are broken, after all. But by his grace he didn't just leave us that way. Nor will he ever. He loves us too much to do that. In fact, he promises that he will fix, find and make us whole again. He is the reason we exist.
Why is it then, when we break out lose some thing we freak out and sing trust him. If he is the glue that holds our lives together, when things fall apart, instead of running to other things, we should run to him.
I am writing this out of my own need for him to change me. To challenge me. Shelf me and mild me. I broke my phone some how and instead of going to Jesus in prayer, I freaked out. I obviously need to work on that in my life.
Thanks Jesus fit reminding me of this lesson.

Want More...

I want more. What can I say? But some times we want to hold on to our sin. Not because we enjoy it but because we don't want to hurt those around us or closest to us.
But, if you want more, you must trust God with your sin. Trust him with the results. He died for them. He knows full well what they cost. Let go of it.

Leadership - When Leaders Are Stuck in a room together

If you take leaders who have led their organisations, even if only relatively well, or extremely well, merge together to make almost some mega-organisation, someone, if not multiple 'someone's' will lose their jobs
Some out right, others demoted, others transfer to a board of governors. The CEO will determine basic practices, adopt strategies set goals, make calls in terms of personnel, etc. The board is there to  determine that the CEO is actually making the best calls for the organisation.
Problems arise when a board is not established and point leadership is not determined. You run into a problem that is known as a power vacuum.
The people involved will try to bring, I believe sincerely, the best they can to the table, trying to rally everyone to their cause. But, every other leader is trying to do that. So sides start to develop. Tension rises and ultimately things just collapse.

Things have to change. A great book called 'Good to Great' asks the question who do you want to have on your bus? You only have a certain amount of seats on a bus, so you can't just have anyone.
Do they have the type of character you're looking for? Chemistry?  Competence? Character matters. That's who you are. Your track record comes in here. Your life as observed by others - do you have integrity? Double standards or what? Are you going to stop at the stop sign in the middle of no where, even if you can see 12 miles in any direction? Chemistry is how do you get along? Do you genuinely like them and/or respect them? Are they someone you can spend time with and not feel drained?
Competence: Do they do what is expected? Can they be trained? Can they focus? 

Competence and character are two non-negotiables for any ones bus  - but chemistry determines the bus you're on.

Why fight and try to fight for power on one bus when you could just get on another? Or make another?
Will it be awkward? Yes. Can it be better than what it currently is? Yes. Is there a chance things can go poorly? Yup. But, what really matters at that point is character.

You can get along perfectly well with a murderer. But the character isn't there. Just because you get along with some one doesn't mean they should be on your bus. They need integrity and, for lack of a better way of saying it, 'quality of heart'.
And in the same way that a kid that is 4'11 and wants to be a defenseman in the NFL is delusional, you need to have people on the bus who do and can do what needs to be done.

I mean we can talk about saboteurs and how if they are talking behind the back of one person, who's to say they aren't doing the same thing about you? Or double standards where it is OK for them to do one thing, but lose their minds if someone does the same kind of thing as them?

At some point, if you notice toxicity on your bus, you need to just get off. Get off, stop the bus and fix the problem or find a new bus if it's unfixable.
Just because others are unwilling to see the problems or acknowledge them, doesn't mean you have to die with them.

Sometimes, getting off the bus, whether you're the driver or a passenger, is the best leadership decision you can make. Maybe you are supposed to be the mechanic - but just acknowledge if the mechanic needs to ride on the bus all the time, you're probably riding in a lemon and need a new bus instead of your current broken one.

Just my current thought on one dynamic of leadership.

Shut Up.

Here's the thing. Without trying to make myself sound awesome, the truth is, over all I'm a pretty good leader. I can organise people, cast vision, care about them, do the things good leaders do. Where I totally fall apart is my mouth. My mouth is my greatest weakness, and my greatest strength.
It's so easy for me to be critical, that's why it's easy for me to pick on people and bully them. I can really easily, with out meaning to, become a gigantic jerk, and I don't really realise it until it's too far. Then I try to do some mediocre apology and fail to really change or I make excuses and blame the other person or people for whatever clever reason I can come up with.

That needs to stop.

If I want to be a great leader, I need to just seriously shut up.
If it's possible something can go badly, just remind myself to shut up - particularly when it comes to sports or other competitive natured things.
I need to shut up with the jokes. Often they are so to the truth it's cutting.
My wife said that I need to threaten people with ridiculous things, like "I'll rip off your arms and shove them in your nose." And when making fun of something, as an old leader used to say - " Make fun of them with something positive, like 'gah... Why are you so strong " and things like that.

Words can build your ministry or destroy it. The Bible has a lot of strong things that it states about the tongue. As leaders we best be mindful of it.

Part of my problem as a leader was I never really had this modeled for me growing up.  The vast majority of sorts I played were solo, like swimming and track and field, so my success was not really built on team work. The only team sports I player were baseball and soccer when I was really little.
Any time I heard people commenting on a team was the Maple Leafs, and how badly they were doing and what they should have done.
Ultimately, what I need are some people whom I respect in my life, who, when I'm saying stupid things, to stop me, or call me on it right afterwards in a loving way.
This is probably the biggest character thing I need to deal with, and I need to deal with it now, not later. Otherwise, I may leave a wake of destruction and not hope and encouragement.
This is obviously the first step: learning and recognising the weakness.

Maybe you need to work on this, too? What steps are you taking? And if you have 'dealt' with it, what did it take for you too so?

Pull out the Vision

When the stars align, with the moon at the right distance leaving the tides at the exact, necessary level, and a horse shoe, what happens is a leader says something and it catches fire. The people follow and get excited - and all what was said was one thing.
But, in the real world that the rest of us live in, it requires far more intentionality. It requires repeating things over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over - and then, once they all know it, then you can repeat it with them, over and over, and over, and over...

That's how you pull the vision out of people. The vision becomes so internalized that they understand it, that it's part of them, and so when it comes time to pull the vision out, it actually is freeing for them so they can run with it.

Lazy leadership, poor leadership, whatever you call it, is not leading - it's not providing the target.
"I'm just trying to lead them to Jesus." Ok, great, how?
What's the way you're doing it? Or are you just kind of setting them loose - even within your worship services - saying, "Ok, now enter in to the presence of Jesus."
                              --- Blank stairs----
How do you lead them to Jesus? What is it that they need to internalize? If there's just one thing that you want people to know about your church - or for the church to understand and get - what would that one thing be?
That's your vision, that's what you're trying to set loose. That's the thing that you need to, not grab it by the horns, but show the path and let it run.

Bad leadership takes people the wrong direction - poor leadership doesn't get people on board with a mission and a plan. Good leadership will have an ambiguous goal with a relative strategy (Kind of like giving a 12 year old a city map and say, "go here."). Great leadership knows the target, and shows the way to get there.

Meeting You Right There

I was in Grade 6 and our school was doing the play “Cinderella.” The casting call was announced, and I wanted to play Gus, the mouse. Gus had very few lines, and even fewer singing parts, so I thought that was the part for me. I got so excited and told my whole family what I was going to do! I thought about how Gus sounded, how he acted, and I looked at my lines. I studied all the lines I needed to know the night before the auditions. The next day all the excitement was boiling up. I got called in to the room. I didn’t know my lines. I didn’t really know the part well; ultimately I did not get the part, and I was heartbroken.

Have you ever felt like you failed? Have you ever felt like you just don’t quite measure up?  Have you ever felt like more was being asked of you than you could give or maybe it’s that you promised more than you could deliver on? We’ve all been there, having that twisted gut, back-of the-skull numbing feeling of hopelessness, guilt, and/or shame…

One easy example to look at is Peter. Having failed Jesus and not living up to his words of commitment, he was pretty devastated. The shame of his failure followed him the whole time Jesus was with him after the resurrection. One day at the side of the lake, Jesus talks to Peter and says, “Do you love me?” (John 21:15-19). Before I go further, this is more than about being reinstated in ministry. Yes, you can take this away from this part of Peter’s story, but Jesus is more accurately getting at Peter’s heart and giving him a vision and a hope for the future. When Jesus said, “Do you love me,” the first two times, he asked, “Do you Agape me?” Or, do you unconditionally love me? Peter responded with, “Yes, Lord, you know that I phileo you.” Saying, “Lord, you know I love you like a friend.” And then on the third time, Jesus changes it to match Peter’s words saying, “Do you phileo me?” And Peter was grieved by this, because he understood that the level Jesus was calling him to was lowered. Peter responded with, “You know all things, you know I phileo you.”

I think, more often than not, when we realize that Christ is meeting us where we are at, we become broken, and maybe even grieved, because it humbles us. His standard is one thing, but His grace? We have a harder time reconciling that.

You see, God knows you’re not “okay,” but it’s not okay to stay that way.
Take a moment and reflect on this, too: Even though Peter didn’t love Jesus the way that he should, Jesus still called him to do Christ’s work with the Church. You can serve Christ even if you’re not “there” yet. Maybe you’re not feeling there, yet. The Holy Spirit will work inside of you – He’ll help you get there.

Peter’s heart was revealed to himself by Jesus. Peter saw that he didn’t love Jesus the way that Jesus wanted him to. But Jesus didn’t just leave it there. Jesus gave Peter hope. Jesus gave Peter a vision for the future. That one day, life would suck. It would be horrible. That he would be going where he didn’t want to go (a familiar sentiment from when he denied Christ). However, in the end, Peter would love Jesus, his Saviour, in that unconditional, agape way. He wouldn’t get it right at first, but he would finish well. Church history teaches us that Peter died being crucified upside down, because he didn’t think himself worthy enough to hang like Christ did.

In the end, though, I think Peter “got it”. Peter loved Christ to the standard he was called to.

God will meet you where you are at, and if you let Him, He’ll take you on the journey to where He wants you to be.

This post was originally posted on EveryDayFaith of the PAOC.

Is It Helpful?

It was Christmas, I was handing out candy canes with the Firemen, and myself was dressed in the uniform too, which was kind of heavy, and just awkward because I wasn't used to the outfit. The truck was all detailed with holiday wares like lights, and wooden cut outs of favorite cartoon characters and such, it was a nice night, with nice people. The idea was once we got to the starting point, I was to jump out with everyone else while it was moving; however I didn't understand the concept of momentum when jumping out of a moving vehicle, fell got my feet all tangled all in the lights that were along the bottom of the truck, while this family who had just received their candy canes, watched in horror as this firefighter (to their knowledge) fell, and just about became a paralytic in front of them.

 We've all been tangled by something, whether it's blankets and you feel trapped, or when you're playing with skip rope, maybe trying to sow or knit... maybe fishing... We've all been there. In my situation, I wasn't actually wrapped up in anything that was wrong. No one did anything wrong (other than maybe not explain to me that I should run off with the truck, as opposed to plant my feet when jumping), but nothing innately sinful took place. Often times we as Christians think that it's sin that always traps, entangles or slows us down, but let's look at what the Bible says for a moment.

Hebrews 12:1-2
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders AND the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

I'm going to point out something here that often isn't touched on... "Everything that hinders..." 

Maybe another way of asking this is, "Is it helpful?"

We ask questions like, "How far is too far?" or "How much is too much?" "When is enough, enough"?  I think we think we are innocent in asking these questions, because we authentically don't want to go against Jesus, and do want to follow him. However, what the real motivation there is, "How close to sinning can I get to sinning, without actually sinning?" 

That mindset is so close to the pharisees and that of religious people that it actually goes against the heart and mind of Christ. 

Interesting that God simply asks us... "Is. It. Helpful?"

I think we all know what sin is, and if we don't, we can go on Google - or turn to a Bible - and find out.
It really is key to note the word and that is found in that passage in Hebrews.
Just because it slips us up doesn't make it sinful. If it is sinful, it easily entangles.

If it slows you down (hinderance/unhelpful thing), or tangles you up (sin), get rid of it.

One thing we often want to do is carry extra stuff with us - or we just don't deal with it. Churches are HORRIBLE for this.  Keeping stuff in storage closets that will never be used again because a) Someone might have put effort into it, b) we MIGHT use it in 20 years.
etc. I'm not saying that keeping these things is wrong, but is it helpful?

Give your life space, give your life the ability to move. Get rid of the 'stuff'. If it's not helpful, get rid of it. You know how you get a better night sleep when your house isn't messy and cluttered? Know how you're less stressed? In the same way, do similar things in your walk with Jesus.

Lately, I was watching a TV show, and like so often we do, my wife and I stopped watching a show. She was willing to let me keep watching it on my own, but I said, and even though it made me frustrated, I said, "Well, I don't gain anything in life by watching this show, so it's ok, I'll just stop watching it." Guess what, i dont' miss it, don't even remember the name of it, and ultimately it affected nothing. Alternatively, what if I did keep watching it? What could I say about it?

If you are watching things like Game of Thrones, House of Cards, etc... You're probably not at all helping your walk with Jesus. Consistent, explict nudity and sex and swearing never helped anyone's walk with Jesus. I don't know if you never knew that, but now you do. But I doubt you didn't know that. That's why you became calloused and almost violently defend your watching of these kinds of shows. Jesus always called people out of those things.

Even more practically how does this line up?
When you're tempted to date someone in high school... it's not necessarily a sin, but ask yourself, "Is it helpful?" Note: As a student pastor, I have never seen a situation where students dating in high school has been helpful. Some didn't loose anything, but most do, and it's never actually been helpful - thus I just say to students be best friends and don't date.
When you think about drinking as a high school student- at this point you're all under age, and so it shouldn't even be considered because it's illegal, but when you do, and people ask, "Hey do you want a beer?" Just ask, Is it helpful? This applies to everyone. Has drinking ever actually been helpful? (the answer is no). It's not sinful (unless you get drunk) but it's not helpful.
When you're watching a TV show/playing a game, reading a book and it crosses the line in something, you have a choice to make do you keep on watching it or not? Just ask, "Is it helpful?"

Will this, that thing that is in front of you, apart of you, near you, etc, help you pursue and run after Jesus harder OR does it slow you down. It doesn't have to be sinful to slow you down in your pursuit of Jesus. If it's slowing you down, you're not living your life to the full, and that's one thing Jesus came to help you do.

What if as Christians we didn't ask the questions like, "How far is too far?" How would our walk with Christ be impacted if we simply removed things that didn't propel us forward with Jesus? The Holy Spirit may be convicting you in this about some things in your life because you know it's not helpful, and you know you just need to get rid of it. He's not telling you it's sinful, he's telling you you're not going all out for him.
Maybe you are sinning and that's what he's telling you - and you need to stop.