Stop Procrastinating. Just Start.

A few months ago, my 4Runner died. I had gone into a store, and when I came out and turned the key, just a bunch of clicking... no life. It was pretty obvious that the starter was the problem, so we got it parked in the driveway with the intention of getting to work on it when it warmed up a bit. A few warm days came here and there, but still the 4Runner sat, pathetically mocking me every time I passed by.

You see, I had a problem on top of my car problem. I knew what the car problem was, and I knew roughly what needed to be done to fix it: Take bad starter out, put good starter in. So simple, right? But I've been dreading doing it for a few reasons.

1. I didn't know exactly where the starter on my old 4Runner was. I knew what it was supposed to do, and roughly where it should be, but not exactly where or the best way to reach it, so I knew I'd have to do a lot of hunting before being able to make any progress.
2. The engine compartment of my 4Runner is a mess. 20 years of small leaks and dusty places have added up to be a thick black layer of sludge covering basically everything. It's hard to tell where one part stops and another starts! (Plus, grimy, greasy hands... I have issues.)
3. I'd read several horror stories of other 4Runner owners taking of entire suspension packages just to be able to reach their starter, then discovering the starter wasn't actually the whole problem anyway. Maybe it was the wiring, or a relay somewhere. I didn't want to do a ton of work to find out the problem wasn't really what I thought it was.

So, the 4Runner sat until yesterday at lunch. I finally decided to stop putting it off and start digging in to the mess of parts and pieces by taking off the wheel. Once the wheel was off, I took off a guard panel inside the wheel well to open up some more space and get a clear(er) view of where the starter was supposed to be. As I began to peak in and poke around a little bit, I noticed something strange - a bolt just hanging from it's perch in the engine block. Surely that should be tightened to something!?

Turns out, it was one of two bolts that holds the starter in place! The starter was just laying there, not bolted in - I have no idea how that can even happen, but I guess after almost 180,000 miles, a two inch bolt CAN revolve enough to fall out! Fortunately, the bolt was still hanging there, so I lifted the starter a bit and wedged my hands into enough space to tighten the bolt.

After some extra juice via some jumper cables, it started right up. A project I'd been dreading because it seemed beyond the scope of my mechanical acumen (which is rather limited, I'm told) turned out to be easily remedied. I just had to dig in... I just had to START to find that out.

I wonder how often we miss simple solutions because we're afraid to start.

Is there a tough question you've been afraid to ask?

Is there a hard conversation you've been putting off?

A potential conflict you've been avoiding?

A big project you just aren't finding time for?

Get some help and START.

You just might find it's not as difficult as you thought (and even if it is, you'll be one step closer to resolution).

Why I Love Compassion

We Teach Children How to Dream (check out this post on Compassion's blog)

Poverty isn't just a lack of resources... it's a lack of hope. I love how this article looks into a few examples of what Compassion is doing to bring hope to the hopeless. LuAnn and I have sponsored kids through Compassion almost from the very beginning of our marriage, and this is why. I know there are a lot of other child sponsorship organizations that do a lot of good things, but we've never been disappointed in our first choice. Look into it.

Help a Child

Holy Mothers Day, Church!

For about the last year, I've been following NewSpring Church's services online. There is a lot that I like, and I've been pretty strongly challenged through their ministry. I started this week's service at my desk this afternoon, hoping to work on a couple other things while I watched - but I quickly realized that I wasn't going to be getting a whole lot done. I think they've got a great answer to the question "What if we loved like Jesus loved @ church?" I know they're a "big church" with lots of resources that we don't have, but the Holy Spirit is the same in South Carolina as he is everywhere else. How will we answer that question in our communities?

(If you want to jump to the message, it begins about the 14th minute.)

Resources from Catalyst West

For the last several weeks, my desk has been piled with stuff I brought back from Catalyst West. Some of the stuff was purchased, some were free books that I seem to never be able to pass up (why would anyone want to?!), and some other promo materials from vendors that were set up at the conference. Just thought I'd pass on some links to some of the resources, connections, causes, and ministries I brought back:

Clover - Fashioners of great websites for growing ministries.
TOMS Shoes - A shoe company that gives a pair of shoes away to someone in need for every pair they sell!
Invisible Children - A movement working in northern Uganda to rebuild life for child soldiers, who've been abducted and forced into the longest running military conflict in Africa.
Orange - Proponents of a strategy that fuses children's and youth ministry with the rest of the Body - ministry to families starts at home.
Orphan Sunday - Nov. 7, 2010 Echoing God's heart for the fatherless.
One Day's Wages - A giving movement intent on alleviating extreme poverty by donating a day's wage. These guys have done a great job leveraging social media to work on their mission.
Gift Card Giver - Distributing unused and leftover gift cards to people in need.
ISS - Stewardship solutions to resource God's vision for the local church.
The Last Letter - Committed to taking up the cross among the poor and lost - a passionate call to action for all of us.
Bethany Christian Services - Orphan care, adoption, and counseling through unplanned pregnancies.
X3Watch - Accountability Software/Tools for fighting internet porn.

Many of these deserve a lot more attention than one post could give all of them, so check the links and see what you find. Then come back and comment and let me know which ones are most exciting for you.

Reorienting

"I believe there is more in store for the local church... that throws off meaningless things and embraces who God is and what He has called them to do."

I pulled that quote from Perry Noble's post on his blog today because it reminded me of something I wasn't really thinking about yesterday (but should have been). Actually, the whole post was something I needed to hear - What Keeps Me Focused as a Leader. Yesterday, I was out of focus (honestly not just yesterday, it's kind of been an ongoing thing) until a bit of a kick in the butt from God when I started to step back and worship Him. It's always great when those kicks come while you're standing behind a microphone and a guitar in front of a room full of students! [...awkward...]

I've been frustrated lately by some stuff that's outside the realm of my influence, and I've let that affect me way too much... distract me from the One that I'm here for. The One who loves this church infinitely more than I do, and who knows what He's doing with it. But I do believe that the best is yet to come, if we will abandon pointless things, embrace God, and do what He calls us to do.

I have two students getting baptized soon, others just floating with little understanding of why they're here, another feeling worthless and probably trying meth and doing who knows what to pay for it, others who are getting more and more passionate about revealing God to their friends and learning to love as God loves... I'd appreciate your prayers as I try to be the focused leader they deserve. The church is His people living on His mission - don't give up.

So much to be thankful for...

I'm thankful that LuAnn and I were able to begin sponsoring children very early in our marriage. Before we had our own kids, before we had decent paying jobs, before we were even through our first year of college... For 15 years, we've been able to share a little of Christ's love and hope with kids all over the world.

Kids matter to Jesus. They should matter to us. Do something.



Maybe you're afraid you can't commit to a monthly sponsorship right now. Try this for a start.

Certain of the Unseen...

The end of Hebrews is inspiring me right now. Not in a Hall of Fame, 'check out these incredible stories' kind of way - but in a 'Hey Mike, the very thing that is frustrating you to no end right now is what is leading you where I want you to go right now so suck it up, have faith, and persevere' kind of way. Someone said something several weeks ago to which I had an immediately vehement reaction (and nearly a vomitous one, at that) and to which I still disagree. I will have to admit that my hope ran low for a while.

But in reading through some of Hebrews today, I have found an inspirational bank of hope. People who had nothing but a promise (or even less) are commended for the perseverance that was birthed out of their faith. They didn't see God immediately delivering on the promises He was making... but they still acted as if He would deliver. They knew that the nature of God meant that He would keep His promises, so they lived as if He would keep them. So...

Abel brought a better sacrifice.

Enoch pleased God (which is impossible without faith) and was taken without dying!

Noah built an ark to save his family.

Abraham left his homeland for an unknown place.

He also lived as a foreigner (as did Isaac and Jacob) as he awaited the fulfillment of God's promise.

Sarah was enabled to have children (even though she was way passed the phase of life when that is possible).

Abraham offered his son as a sacrifice (essentially offering the only thing he knew of as a possible means for God to fulfill His promise).

Isaac blessed His sons (out of order).

Jacob blessed Joseph's sons as his own (again out of order).

Joseph looked forward to a future exodus of his people out of slavery.

Moses' parents hid him - not fearing Pharaoh.

Moses chose a slave's heritage over a prince's privilege. (And "he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible.")

Moses kept the Passover.

The Israelites miraculously escaped Egypt.

The walls of Jericho fell.

Rahab was spared (to later gain a place in the lineage of Jesus).

And so much more... The common thread in the story of the Pentateuch is the faith of God's people to God. They didn't believe what they saw. The evidence told them that they'd been abandoned by God. The facts told them they were a former band of nomads that now were slaves far from home - nothing like a great nation as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. But God told them otherwise. And they were certain of what they did not see.

As I said a couple days ago, faith is not mindlessly assenting to the evidence at hand - it is being certain of what we do not see. Their certainty in the unseen promise of unseen God was the very faith that bred in them the perseverance it took to follow God through to the end.

Some facts are telling me right now it's not worth the fight and I should just give up...

A lot of evidence is stacking up to convince me that my efforts are in vain anyway and should be abandoned...

But Truth is telling me something else. He is reminding me to "run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus..."

May you be sure of your hope today and may you be certain of what you do not see.

1 Million Being Served!

My wife and I have been sponsoring children through Compassion since we were on Ramen noodle rations in college.  Several times, the kids have grown out of the program while we sponsored them and we started over with another child.  I've also encouraged several of my students and others that I know to help Compassion give hope to children all over the world.

Today, I just read on Compassion's blog, they started a sponsorship that means 1,000,000 children are right now being sponsored!  In villages and cities all across the globe, hope has been found and is being shared right now with a million young people!

Visit Compassion and see what it's all about.  Maybe it's time for you to sponsor the first of the second million...

Igniting What Could Be...

This past weekend, I got to take some students on a winter retreat.  The theme of the weekend was "Ignite" with the idea of not being lukewarm.  There was a lot of focus on real practical implementation of our faith.  It was awesome to hear (and see my students hear) so many echoes of what I've been feeling and teaching lately.

A college friend who is now preaching at Calvary Christian Church after being the youth minister there for a number of years was the speaker for the weekend.  My kids really got a lot out of the stories he shared of real, concrete ways that other students had put feet on their faith when they stopped living for themselves.

Saturday was skiing for the morning and afternoon.  Up until Thursday or Friday, there was very little snow, so I'm not sure many of us were very optimistic about the skiing.  But Friday night it snowed enough to provide a little cover for the ice-packed hills.  About the time the slopes were freezing up again (after about an hour of a few hundred people skiing on them) it started to snow again and didn't stop most of the day.  There was plenty of snow.

One of the greatest parts of the weekend for me was the music.  Not so much the music itself, but Tommy, the worship leader.  This event is located at the church where I went when I was in high school, and Tommy was one of the Jr. High kids there at that time.  Back then, no one that I knew of would have imagined that he'd one day be a worship leader - but God did, and now he's the worship and youth minister at that church.  It was awesome to worship with Tommy and his brothers leading and think about the transformation that only God can bring about.

It was humbling to be reminded of a small thing I did while Tommy was in high school that was a part of his "ignition".  A spark that stayed around in his life long enough to find fuel and combine with a lot of other flickers until a life is now engulfed in passionate love for God.  How many times do I miss those little things I could be saying now that will spark something later on?  How often do I let my frustration blind me to a future fully in His hands?

May God let us see what could be...

New Year's Imaginations

*Originally written for our WestWay newsletter - thought I'd post it here, as well.
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“It’s my conviction that slight shifts in imagination have more impact on living than major efforts at change.” –Thomas Moore

You may have already made New Year’s Resolutions by the time you read this. You may have even already broken them! Why do we do this every year? Why do we decide that we don’t like certain aspects of our lives, so we’ll resolve to change them – to fix ourselves?

Haven’t we learned yet that it doesn’t work? Our resolve isn’t strong enough. Real transformation of our lives is never going happen by our own sheer will power, no matter how much of it we have. Our “major efforts at change” are insufficient for the metamorphosis we really need.

But if you’ll return to your childhood for a moment, you may remember something important: when you were a kid, you could be anything. Your imagination allowed you to play in the NFL, and rescue people from fires, and maybe even leap tall buildings in a single bound… You could be the princess, deeply loved and cherished by your devoted prince…

I wonder… when did our imagination die? When did we stop believing in “what might be” and enter into self made prison of “that’s just the way it is”? When did the sin in our lives gain enough gravity to rob us of our hope to soar?

As disciples of Jesus, we need to re-ignite our imaginations. We need to turn our imagination over to Him and allow Him to show us what we can only be in Him. And then watch Him turn His imagination into our reality. Instead of mustering up all the resolve we can manage to change ourselves this year, let’s find out what dreams exist in the heart of our Father and let Him make His dreams come true in our lives.

Advent Conspiracy

It seems like I often get frustrated this time of year. It's not the lines or the traffic. It's not the cold or the snow. It's not even the way people celebrate a day of presents and family.

I get frustrated when I see the church being snared in the trap of thinking we'll be happier with more stuff. Or even that someone else will be happier if we just get them the right gift. How easily we/I forget that 'stuff' is not what Christmas is about. I really appreciate the reminder that these guys at Advent Conspiracy are putting out there.

Worship Fully. Spend Less. Give More. Love All.

Make sure this Christmas means something.

Compassion Blog

Compassion has a new blog. Various writers associated with Compassion talk about child sponsorship, poverty, and issues related to what's going on at Compassion.

LuAnn and I have sponsored kids through Compassion for a long time. It's really a good organization that's making a difference in the world for the sake of Christ. Check out their site and blog. Also, I've added a widget to my sidebar that you can use to sign up to sponsor a child. If you're not already doing this, maybe you should use it...

Oasis...

"...we are baptized into Christ and joined with his body. Every believer passes through the waters and becomes a part of the river of life. Alone, you are only standing in a puddle. Together, we become an oasis where those searching for genuine love and acceptance can come and drink deeply."

--Erwin McManus in An Unstoppable Force

We really need to emphasize that the church, young and old, needs to be this type of source to the world today. People should find within us this well of love and hope and faith... because we freely share our love and hope and faith with them. Together.

Divided, they'll only find pettiness, self-regard, and defensive posturing. Do they really need us to show them more of that?
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Thinking of calling our unnamed Wednesday night youth ministry time together "Oasis" or "The Well". Any thoughts???

Kidney Stone

I had another kidney stone last week. About halfway through Wednesday morning, I could tell I had one and started drinking tons of water. I figured if I could drink enough, and keep it down, I could flush the stone out... but not this time.

Friday morning the pain was finally so bad I had LuAnn take me in to the ER, where they eased the pain and did some scans and found a stone they said was big enough that it may not pass on its own. So on Saturday, I had surgery to remove the stone. It's been a painful week or so.

I've done some more reading on what causes kidney stones and how to prevent them and haven't really found anything conclusive. Lots of "secret" home remedies that I can get in on for $37 or $17 or... whatever. It's frustrating. People are in pain and don't know what to do... let's make some money.

You can't sell hope. It's discouraging to know that for the rest of my life, I'll probably have kidney stones - and maybe the only thing I can do about it is take drugs every day that don't really do anything to change the root of the problem. I want to know why my body has become a rock factory and what I can do to shut down production.

Maybe chugging olive oil will do the trick. Maybe I need to drink lemonade everyday. Maybe it's coffee... no don't drink coffee. Here's a special kidney bean concoction to try. Cranberry juice... stay away from salt. No, it's your thyroid... try this secret mix of three common grocery items... eat more basil... don't eat kelp...

The frustrating thing is the 'just hand over some money and we'll help you out.' attitude. Conditional assistance. I wonder if that's what we offer in the church sometimes. "Talk like us, look like us, arrange your daily schedule like us and we'll share with you the answer to all your problems." As a sufferer, what I'd really like to see is help. Help me through my struggle as I am, and when I've come out the other side, I'm yours because I know it's really me you care about. We need to give the love we've been given - without qualification - and then see real transformation take place.

Election

Well, the election is over - except for Chad and his dimples that have to be ironed out. Control is shifting, seats have been lost. Now, I'm not 'died in the wool' anything except a follower of Jesus, a husband, and a father (and short, but there's no options for me there anyway), but watching news reports last night as vote counts started coming in was a little annoying. Why did the anchors have to have that giant smirk on their faces when they announced a democrat victory? Can they at least feign objectivity?

I don't know, just thought that was kind of dumb. It will be interesting to see how things will get done in the next couple years. I don't think this is the great beginning of a golden democrat-controlled era, nor do I think this is the end of the republic or the death knell of our nation or anything like that - there's more than enough corruption on both sides of the aisle. Days will still pass by one after another. Liberals will still say the Conservatives are uncaring money grabbers (which SOME are), and Conservatives will still accuse the Liberals of killing babies and pandering to gays (which SOME do).

But I'm not sure about the labels anymore. The characterizations of the liberal democrats and conservative republicans have gotten way out of hand. Straw men are too easy to burn. Perhaps this shift will allow us to stop talking in hyperbole and discuss real ideas and real problems and real solutions with real people.

Then again maybe not. Maybe there is no middle. Maybe our nation is destined to be hopelessly divided between left and right (which oddly enough often looks more like coastland and heartland). Either way, I'm glad my allegiance, though it's been pledged to the flag since Reagan was president, is ultimately to another Kingdom. A Kingdom that will not pass away.

I'm also glad I don't have to watch another opposition-party bashing commercial. Well, at least not for a couple years.

"an infinite capacity for not knowing what can't be done"

A speaker I once heard quoted Henry Ford as saying, “I’m looking for a lot of men with an infinite capacity for not knowing what can’t be done.” I love that thought! The idea that we can accomplish what someone else thinks impossible.

Maybe I like it so much because God is always sticking ideas in my heart that other people scoff at. Maybe I like it because it reminds me that I’m not the only one who’s not satisfied with status quo existence. Ford basically stated what he was going to do and gave people the chance to join him or mock him. "I’m going to do what’s ‘impossible’ – want to help?" Most of us drive the mass-produced results of his undefeatable attitude.

But there’s a bigger picture for us. Today, God is at work in the world doing the impossible. He’s transforming self-absorbed, self-righteous individuals into a community of faith, hope, and love. He’s turning people’s attention from themselves to their neighbors. He’s changing my focus from what I want to what others need.

You might expect me here to say that He’s doing it in the church and you should attend more often and be a part of it…But that’s not where I’m going. God’s not just at work in the church – He’s at work everywhere in the world around us. Volunteerism isn’t just something that a few ‘extra-nice’ people do anymore. Students no longer do community service because they broke the law. And they don’t just do it because they have to get some credits to graduate, either. They do it because they want to help!

Unfortunately, many adults have turned their blindside to youth. They’d rather believe the status quo that youth are always getting in trouble and disrespectful. But God is at work in the youth of today, and He definitely has “an infinite capacity for not knowing what can’t be done.” Do you? Then work with God to build future generations.

Hope

I hope this works.... I hope I don't get dumped... I hope we win... I hope someone actually reads this...

We hope for a lot of different things at different times in life. Often, our fears drive our hopes. We hope that what we fear is going to happen is somehow stopped from happening. But what if we lived that backwards? What if we lived our lives with a hope based in something other than fear? What if our hearts beat with such hope that all fear was driven out of our lives?

I think we can.

The Bible is full of talk about hope and examples of people who lived with it... and without it. Go to www.biblegateway.com sometime and do a keyword search for "hope". God has a lot to say about hope because He is the one thing that we can always put our hope in. We can trust Him. That doesn't mean he's going to make life easy for us. It means that He will keep every promise He's ever made... including the gift of life.