Sparks Fly!

Last night with our small group, we shared some of the ideas that are being birthed in our group regarding moving forward after last week's experience at Catalyst West. These aren't fully formed yet and some may take a while to become functional ideas, but here's a quick list of what may be...

-Writer's Group - Many students believe the wrong story about who they are. This could be a way to help some of them understand the meaning of their story and more effectively share those stories. When I started talking about this as a thing for high school students, the group quickly pointed out it could be a great thing community wide for adults as well. So true!

-Mission Trip to Arizona - Hi Tory! What could we do at Christmas?

-Pastor's Wives Group - What can we do to connect the wives of local pastors? Pastor's wives are incredible (especially that WestWay youth minister's wife!); what awesome things could God be doing in our area if this group could be drawn together for support and inspiration?! Hosting ladies for Lori Wilhite's web conference later this year can be a good starting point.

-Housing - We'd like to help with the local Habitat for Humanity again, and also interested in the possibility of working with something like Casas por Cristo in Mexico.

-Foster Care/Adoption - How many kids are in foster care in our community? What agencies handle foster care? How can we help them - not only housing kids, but offering respite for foster parents... "Does God want our family to adopt a child?" Don't forget to ask that question.

-Denver Rescue Mission - What could we be doing to help there (the largest city close to us)?

-People of the Second Chance - What are we doing to offer grace, hope, and help to people needing to be restored to wholeness? Recovery Groups/Redemption Groups

-Lots of us Blog and others are considering it - How can we leverage our blogs to best serve the kingdom and help people in our community see God at work around them, especially those who haven't noticed Him before? Maybe a Scottsbluff area aggregate blog or something similar? Tie-in with a new church website?

-Hospitality for visitors - Lots of little touches could be done in our facilities to help people feel more at ease/at home when they come to our building. i.e. shelves in restrooms, less empty wall space, signs within the building to help people find their way, signs in town to compensate for unfortunate building location (outside of most of the community's flow) - but also remembering a sign or wall hanging will never take the place of the personal care we provide as individuals who collectively are the church.
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Those are some of the ideas that were sparked by last week's conference. We're still kicking them around and obviously we can't tackle them all at once. But God is at work in our hearts and stirring some incredible thought. If you're a part of WestWay and have some thoughts about how these ideas can be fleshed out, give me a call or comment below and let's see which of these sparks we can "fan into flame" together!

Let the Wind Bring You Home

I decided to ride my bike back to work this afternoon after lunch. As soon as I turned West, I realized why that was not a great call! I had to fight a really crazy wind, which was blowing in direct opposition to my intended course, the entire ride. I'm not all that into biking, so my biking muscles were very angry. Sort of like the kid on the playground who tried to get on the merry go round going the wrong way, only I get to keep all my teeth!

I decided to detour a couple blocks just to get a respite from the headwind, and my mind wandered to Abby Sunderland. She's the girl I wrote about a few weeks ago sailing around the world by herself. When you're in a sailboat in the middle of the ocean, and the wind is not blowing the direction you want to travel... what do you do? Abby used the term 'northing' to describe the process of going east by heading north. I've never sailed, but as I understand it, there's some waiting involved, manipulating sails to go in a perpendicular direction (north in this case), then cutting back diagonally (southeast) to where you wanted to be in the first place - constantly adjusting to get where you were headed. 

This made me think of last week driving around the Los Angeles area for Catalyst West. If I missed an exit or turn I needed to make, I had to adjust course quickly. Being familiar with the map and recognizing a few landmarks from the previous few days I'd been in the area was critical to being sure we got to where we wanted to go.

And all this thinking, and pedaling, and sweating, and wind (I can't be in wind without thinking of the Holy Spirit), and course adjusting brought to mind a question: What if where I want to go in life, isn't the way God wants me to go? I can adjust my course to get where I want to be anyway, essentially ignoring God. But choosing this course of action requires me to constantly fight against the wind of the Spirit, and that doesn't sound like the kind of life I'd enjoy. I'd rather throw up my sail and let the Wind blow fast and furious, taking me where He wants. Len Sweet uses the term 'pneumenaut' to describe someone navigating through life by God's Spirit. We may not always know where He'll take us, but that's part of the excitement. We'll be blown through restful islands and busy cities... deserts and mountains and forests... shuttled through life and death, but always knowing that He's there, moving us, lifting the waves and drawing the tides and currents to bring us home!

I meet a lot of people who are recognizing their brokenness. Life just isn't what they'd hoped for. I wonder, how often, that's the result of choosing to constantly fight the Wind. Even when they get what they wanted, they find it empty and not worth the fight, so they move on to the next thing. Maintaining the illusion of control, many people bounce from one unfulfilling moment to the next. 

May we in the church help them see how to tune their sails to His Wind in order to find their way home.

Still Distilling

I still haven't had time to decompress after returning from Catalyst West, and may not for some time, so I wanted to jot out a couple things here, though they're not fully processed. I read somewhere that a distillation is the process of separating components of a mixture from each other by tapping into their varying levels of volatility in a boiling liquid. As we distill the post-Catalyst brew... try not to blow anything up (unless it needs blown up)!

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Inexplicable Love + Message of the Power of the Resurrection = An Unimaginable Tomorrow!  We are stewards of the same resurrection message that caused the church to EXPLODE in the first century and alter the course of history.  When we wield that power in love beyond measure, ANYTHING is possible for tomorrow!  What tomorrow are you working to create?

Grace is not just a one time gift that allows us to “get saved” – it is the power we need to live every day. If we limit our view of grace to only our salvation, we’ll doom ourselves to an anemic spirituality because we DO NOT have the power to do what God calls us to do until He unleashes His power in us.  The ministry He calls you to will force you to beg Him for help.  What obstacles are you facing that God is wanting to help you with today?

People become the character in the story that they believe.  If you believe you are a broken down old hag with nothing to live for… you’ll live a pretty bitter life.  If you believe no one loves you… you’ll live as if no one does, even rejecting the love that is given to you.  But if you believe you are a child of God, with a role to play in His narrative… That changes everything.  Who you are will be shaped by what story you believe is real.  What story are you believing?

The Church is His and it is UNSTOPPABLE!  The very same tools that were available to the first believers are in our toolbox: the teaching of Jesus, the Resurrection Message, and the Power of the Holy Spirit.  The early church rocked the planet with these three tools.  What will we do with them?

There is so much more to share, but I just can't right now. I have two worship services to plan and a message to write for my students. Throw in Kota's first baseball practice, a soccer practice, and a weekend full with an area youth event in Central and I just... well, I sound like I'm whining now, so I'll stop. I still have to sift through the tremendous amount of thoughts that were shared and captured at Catalyst.  The ideas need to continue to percolate and become a brew that will strengthen the youth ministry and the body here at WestWay.  But don’t just drink my Kool-aid – Join the conversation: Comment here and check out some other thoughts from our group at these links:

One of the Remnant

Carissa's Little Corner of the World

Reflexion

(more to come)

How's My Driving?

This morning started with a drive down from Orange to Irvine for Catalyst West Coast Labs. The drive went alright, but we were close enough to the local morning drive time that there was a lot of traffic crawling. I don't know if I should really call it traffic, though because that image insinuates that something is actually moving. In the church van, every motion is exaggerated, so start/stop - one bumper to the next isn't all that great. No incidences, but I did make an observation: I've never met someone with a cleaner driving record who takes more crap about how he drives than I do. File that under 'Perils of Being the Youth Minister'.

Anyway, upon safe arrival at Mariners, we all checked in and started the labs. First up for me was Susan Isaacs' lab regarding the value of writing your spiritual autobiography. I'll be bringing her book home. One of the most meaningful writing assignments I've ever had was a few years ago, when I had to do a brief spiritual autobiography for a spiritual formation class. One question from the lab that really sparked my synapses was: 

What is the story that I can no longer NOT tell?

It reminded me of the fire in Jeremiah's bones that he could not keep in anymore. We have to deliver the message God gives us to deliver.

Dan Kimball's lab was also good, talking about exchanging religion for the mission of God. I always appreciate the gentle heart from which Kimball speaks. He had some great stuff that the church needs to be teaching. (It sounded like more of it will be explained in whatever his next book will be.)


Scott Belsky's lab about Making Ideas Happen was pretty thought provoking, too. I am full of ideas, but I've become disordered to the point where most of them gain no traction and fizzle out. The class stirred some thoughts about how that's happened and what I need to do about it. I'm an easy going person by design and I don't see that changing, but somehow that laid-back approach to life has combined with a deficiency of hope and the resulting apathy  to at least make me appear unorganized. That needs to change.


As I was driving to lunch today, I missed the exit & consequently the entry into the parking lot we needed to get into. It wasn't a big deal; we easily took the next exit, got back on the freeway, re-exited and hit the lot from the other direction. It was similar to the airport yesterday, when I navigated a different route because I misjudged the intended exit. I realized: I will probably miss some turns in life, but I'm good at improvising a new plan and still getting where I needed to go. There are lots of ways to get from one point to another - as long as we remember where we're headed to begin with.
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I'm operating on about 6 hours of sleep since Monday morning, so these threads are not yet fully woven together. So... feel free to pick a little, but please don't pull them too hard or my whole sweater may unravel, which would be very unfortunate because this is not the typical OC sunshine week - I need that sweater.  Good night.

Lovin' the Consistency

I hope this isn't hitting the peak too early, but my adrenaline is going crazy today. Several last minute things to do before leaving with an awesome group to go to Catalyst has me running around a little bit! I'm feeling like I'm just about to step onto the pitch for a big game or something... One of the things to do (that I really didn't need to do yet) was to go pick up new registration tags for my 4runner.

So I drove ALL the way across the river to Gering - which as anyone local knows is an arduous task in itself. (Seriously, it took almost 10 minutes to drive all the way over there.) I got to the line at the DMV/county clerk to find big, bold announcements that they no longer have insurance information on file, so I would need the insurance card for the truck. I'd driven the van (meaning I didn't have the 4runner card with me, I had the caravan card).

Before she even asked, I explained to the nice lady behind the desk that the information is the same (same policy, same coverage, etc.) but she apologetically informed me that I needed the one for the vehicle that was being renewed. (I think she even teared up a little.) Not a big deal, I'm just killing time until leaving tonight for L.A. so I drove WAY back over to Scottsbluff to pick up the truck's insurance card, then turned around and drove ALL the way back across the river and railroad tracks.

I waited in line with the proper piece of paper proudly clutched in my right hand (even checked to make sure I didn't grab the outdated one that I should have thrown away 6 months ago!). I made it up to the desk where another very nice lady offered to assist me - I dutifully showed her the registration renewal card, handed her the check, she gave me the new registration and stickers... never even mentioned the insurance!


Gotta love consistency!

I wonder... what if I'd kept my mouth shut the first time!?

...And there is Grace

I don't want to leave this recent discussion about adolescents having sex without touching another concept: grace. Sometimes we act like having sex before marriage is unforgivable - like once a kid's had sex, they're just utterly hopeless and doomed to a life of decadence and brokenness. This mentality can quickly become a powerful vortex, sucking away the will to work toward anything better. "They all think I'm a slut now anyway, so I might as well..."

But the truth is that many people have had sex before marriage and gone on to live productive, healthy lives (not scar free, however). They often paid a heavy price and would undo what they did if they could, but they've survived because of grace. Both the grace offered to them by God, and that of friends and family who came together to support them as they sought to do better.

It's definitely better for teens to not have sex, but sometimes I'm afraid we do little to help the situation with our scarlet letters and pointing fingers. If you're a teen who's had sex and realized it was a mistake, even though you can't undo it; you don't have to wallow in it and keep making the same mistake. You can move on and live differently. If you know a teen who's having sex, find out why. What is it that they're seeking to find in sex? Then show them a better way. Help them find the real fulfillment they're looking for. (Yes, I'm making an assumption there - that they are in it for more than cheap thrills.) Help them find hope for the authentic fullness in life that they won't find in sex.
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Like I said in the last post, this is all coming from my limited point of view. I did have sex as a teen for about a year and a half, but only after I married at 18. The pressures we faced may be very different from the ones students face today. I may be way off base and value your input. How can we help students pick up the pieces?

Why are teens having sex?

Here are some quick thoughts that come to mind about teens having sex:

> It feels good. Let's be honest - good sex feels really good. God designed us in a way that makes sex possible, and he created the hormones and nerve receptors that make sex pleasurable. Teens have hit the stage in life when this reality becomes obvious to them, and sometimes their curiosity overcomes their caution.

> Sense of maturity. Sex is an adult activity. It's possible that teens get the feeling that having sex somehow means they're more adult, more grown up. With so few clear 'rites of passage' from childhood to adulthood, maybe teens have co-opted sex as a mile marker...

> For guys, this may be giving in to the pressure to 'be a man'. Locker room logic may be telling them "You're not really a man until you've had sex." I know a number of boys who've traveled through adolescence with a sense that being a virgin somehow made them less of a man. I wonder if our society has lost the sense of what it really means to be a man, so teens try sex, thinking that's a part of it.

> Girls may feel a similar pressure, but I've seen it often directed at keeping a boyfriend. There's an underlying assumption that all boys want to have sex NOW and if a girl won't give him what he wants, he'll just move on to another relationship. But the assumption is wrong. Even if the boy does want to have sex, doing so is not some kind of relational glue that will keep him around. In fact, many girls find themselves more shattered than ever when he moves on anyway, despite their giving in to his persuading.

> I wonder though, if it's an unmet need for real relationships that lies behind the current of teen sex. People hope that sex will produce the sense of intimacy they are really longing for. With so few authentic relationships (ones where they don't have to wear a mask) teens may use sex as a substitute.

> I'm not sure the problem of teen sex is really a teen problem. Students have been given poor examples to live up to and have sunk to level of low expectations placed on them. When teens, trying to find the way to a meaningful adult life, open up to any media channel and find Big Ben and Tiger and Lindsay and Gaga doing whatever they want with whomever they want... When teens bounce from house to house in shattered families that may now have a revolving door for mom or dad's latest fling... How are they supposed to make better choices? We (the adults) have to give adolescents a better example to follow.
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Again, these are simply my thoughts and conjecture - not thoroughly processed or neatly packaged. Feel free to share yours below, whether you agree or disagree. But more than that, think about the teens you have contact with. If you're an adult, when was the last time you had a real conversation with a teen? When was the last time a teen really felt like they were important to you? Today's young generation is already changing the world we live in and will continue to do so for some time. What are you doing to help them shape the future in a positive way?

What are they looking for?

Our local paper has been running a special series "dealing with issues facing teenagers in this area" over the past several days. The articles could be pretty eye opening for adults who are not very well connected with the teens in their lives. It's unfortunate that the articles have really only dealt with one issue (sex) that teens face - but I do hope the series will spark some healthy discussion about that issue.

Today's article was called "It Happened to Me" and outlined the stories of a couple girls who found out they are pregnant while still in high school. Neither thought "it" would happen to them. But it did. As it has to others. But that frames the issue the wrong way, I think. Pregnancy doesn't just happen. It's the normal, natural result of a specific behavior (having sex). Since the beginning of recorded history, humanity has understood that sex produces offspring.

So why do teens who do not want to get pregnant engage in behavior that thousands of years of recorded history tells us will eventually result in them getting pregnant? Here's one explanation from the article: "There is a lot of sex going on in the school, and parents are so lenient on their children. Kids are doing it because they are bored. There is nothing else to do." (italics added)

But we have more entertainment options at our fingertips (even in our little town) than at any other time in history. Ipods full of our favorite music; movies on demand and in the theaters; the internet full of information at our fingertips; Wii's and Xbox's; sports, choirs, and bands to be in; pools, parks, baseball and softball and soccer complexes... I don't think adding more activity to stave off boredom would do any of us any good.

What are students really looking for that they think sex will provide? I have some thoughts I'll add in another post, but how would you answer that question?

Looking Forward

Random thoughts looking forward to traveling to the Los Angeles area next week for Catalyst West Coast:

Scottsbluff to Irvine is a really long drive, especially in a church van!
     I wonder if a van full of our small group will smell as funky as the van full of the youth group...
     What's the over-under on LuAnn throwing up before we hit Utah?
     Breakfast at the Bellagio... are you serious?  Will their drive through even fit a 15 passenger van?

The time trapped in a rolling box will no doubt provide many moments to remember, but what I'm really looking forward to is seeing the fruit God produces in the coming years from the seeds planted at Catalyst. We have a very well rooted and high capacity group going that will be learning and growing together in a way that is unlike anything I've been a part of before. I can't wait to see what God does with us!

Safe and Sound... or something else?

"I'd rather sail around the world than get my driver's license."

Abby Sunderland is 16 now and could be standing in line waiting to take her driver's exam and get her license... but she's not. Instead, she's about 500 miles west of Cape Horn; alone in a boat, two months into a 6 month solo attempt at sailing around the world! (Which may be safer than learning to drive in California anyway.) She even took her homework with her to avoid having to stay in high school an extra year (she's a Jr.).

I know some people will balk at the notion of letting a 16 year old circumnavigate "this terrestrial ball," but I admire parents who can trust that they've prepared their kids to really live. Too often, we teach so much risk avoidance that the mere survival that ensues hardly seems like living. The Sunderland's sail. Abby's been sailing for years, and apparently hounding her parents to let her sail around the world since she was 13 (even before her big brother Zac sailed around the world last year). So they've prepared her to live her dreams. They've equipped her to do what most people would be too afraid to even try.

"For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity..." -from Paul to Timothy

Abby's Website
Abby's Blog
Check out this video from the Los Angeles Times:

No one ever makes it alone.

In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell makes a strong case for examining the way we think about success. He weaves together  wide ranging episodes from plane crashes to academic failure to Asian rice fields, & highlighting successful technological juggernauts, child prodigies, corporate takeover lawyers, inner city Middle school students, Junior National hockey teams and even the Beatles (yes, those Beatles). The common thread in these otherwise disparate stories is Gladwell's tip of the hat to the support players and circumstances that made success possible for those people who seem to stand above the crowd.

"No one - not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses - ever makes it alone." This is the recurrent thought of Outliers. No one makes it alone. The "self-made man" is a myth. For every individual that has seemingly risen above the rubble to achieve success, there is a litany of opportunities that made the hard work even possible. Bill Gates became "Bill Gates" because he was afforded a series of opportunities not offered to everyone, and he seized those opportunities in order to make the most of the exceptional intellect he'd been born with. The Beatles became great through a series of very fortunate events that allowed them to hone their craft in a way that wasn't possible for most young Liverpool musicians.

The question for me, then becomes: What am I doing to build a culture of success in which my students can thrive? Am I offering blank pages upon which they can paint the dreams God has planted in them, or merely teaching them to stay inside the lines? Will my students be able to one day look back and see a door I held open for them, or will they wish someone had given them the opportunity they needed?

What are you doing to prepare the young generation to succeed? How are you building an environment that builds them up and offers opportunity? Who's standing on your shoulders?

Feverishly Planning or Asking for Help?

"But all your feverish plans are to no avail because you never ask God for help." (in Isaiah 20)

Isaiah had been shown how deeply Jerusalem was in trouble. Beaten down and defenseless... destroyed with little hope of repair... But the people seemed to be resourceful: tearing down their own houses to get stone to fortify the city walls...  building a new reservoir in a more secure location...

But Isaiah knew these plans would ultimately do little to stave off the judgement of God. Their plans may have seemed wise, but they hadn't asked God what He wanted. They certainly had some strong thinking behind their decisions. But it wasn't God's thinking. As God called for remorse, the people celebrated mere survival.

God desires more for His people (still today) than just scraping by. He doesn't want to see His church just limping along happy to have kept the doors open one more day. I wonder if we need to be a little less like Jerusalem... Less confident in our strategies and more trusting in His power to accomplish His mission? I'm not suggesting we don't need to be smart and creative in how we serve, but only that our creative solutions are utterly useless unless they are rooted in Him...

This plays out on many levels:

As graduation approaches, I wonder if my students are making feverish plans without asking for God's help? What am I doing to lead them to ask? Are they connected with people like you who can do the same?

In the life of the church, is our first response to trouble prayer or strategy? Are we working on anything big enough to require us to ask God for His help? Do we rely too heavily on our own strategic thinking? What will we do if His help comes in a form that doesn't fit our plan?

In my own life, have I planned my way out of what God wanted in the first place? Do I need to be backtracking to rediscover what He really wants? When faced with problems, am I consistently seeking God's solutions or just coming up with my own?

May we seek His help. It's His mission in the first place and only His power and love can accomplish it. If we aren't desperately in need of His help, we're probably not on His mission.

Not Called to Normal

In Isaiah 20, a scene unfolds that must have been shocking - it certainly would cause a commotion today! Isaiah decided to walk around for 3 years "stripped and barefoot." Some commentaries give a little dignity back to Isaiah with the suggestion that the Hebrew term meant that he was in his underwear. I'm not a Hebrew scholar, and there's really no need to debate this here, so I'll have to admit he may have been naked, or he may have been walking around in his underoos... but either way, it's a little weird. Why on Earth would a prophet of God, tasked with delivering a message to the people of God, be out in public in either condition?

Simple answer: He obeyed. God specifically told Isaiah to strip down, ditch the Teva's, and prepare for the scorn of pretty much everyone he'd encounter in the next 3 years.

It sort of reminds me of God's request to Hosea: "Go and marry a prostitute..."

"Umm... Did I hear that right, God? Did you just say 'prostitute'? You do know what those are, right? "

"Yeah, I know, Hosea, but I need to tell my people something and I want your help. Oh, and by the way, some of her children will be born to you from other men."

"So Hosea married Gomer..." He actually obeyed! A completely unreasonable request by any man's standards - to choose a woman who you KNOW will not be faithful to you. Yet, Hosea did exactly as God requested. We need to remember, this was the beginning of Hosea's news delivery job for God - "When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea..." There was no precedent for this. Prophecy 101 at Jerusalem U. didn't cover this kind of thing! There was no leadership model that showed Hosea how this was going to work out. Just a seemingly insane command!
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I wonder when we began to think that all that God would ever request of us would make sense? We want to obey God when He tells us to "go to church" and show up for Sunday school... Even when He tells us to "love our neighbor" and be nice to the people in class. We like to obey when He asks us to give as much as we can comfortably give and to play fair. That stuff all makes sense to us.

But what about when He asks for it all? What about when Jesus tells us to eat his flesh and drink his blood? (Don't worry, that sounded crazy in the first century, too.) What do we do when He asks us to give a car to a neighbor without one? When He asks us to fast in a way that means something more than 'fish on Fridays'?

Why do we think every request God makes of us will make sense? I wonder what we miss (or the people we should be sharing light with miss) when rationality is a condition of our obedience - if we only obey God when it makes sense?

Prepare to be surprised! God has not called you to normal.

Let's (Not) Play Twister...

I just read this article from youthworker.com about the importance of teaching our kids to know what the Bible actually says - not what we would like it to say. It's tempting to sometimes soften the message for younger groups. We may rationalize that they're too young to handle the sharp edges of Scripture... The article offers the examples of John and David as a couple exhibits of the danger this presents. I wonder, what is the damage being done? Are they subtly learning to twist Scripture to make it say what they want it to say?

If you teach - teach the truth.
If you teach kids - teach them how to handle the truth even when it's uncomfortable.

A Bandwagon Worth Riding?

I've always hated bandwagons. "America's Team" has never been my thing (sorry, Dallas). I grew up sitting on my grandma's lap while she cussed out a young John Elway on the TV and have liked the Broncos as long as I can remember. I will never be sporting the most purchased jersey of any sport, and when the masses start telling me how great something is, I become predisposed to not like it (sorry, Avatar). Something I learned well at Jr. High dances was "don't believe the hype". Maybe it's a character flaw, I don't know... but when something becomes so popular that it's everywhere I turn, I just want to go out to the hills and hit rocks with sticks (sorry, rocks). I guess I'm just not a fan of being a fan...

That is especially true when it comes to people. Now... I AM a fan of people in general, just not a fan of joining the various cults of personality that seem to crop up around everyone with a little charisma. This invariably leads to great loss and consternation when the idol topples (they always do). So, at the risk of sounding like a fan-boy, I thought I'd share a list of some speakers that I've really been challenged by lately. I listen and read these guys a lot and really appreciate different aspects of their teaching & personalities:

Erwin McManus - watch/listen, Search Amazon.com for Erwin McManus
Mark Batterson - watch/listen, blog, Search Amazon.com for Mark Batterson
Francis Chan -watch/listen, Search Amazon.com for Francis Chan
Perry Noble - watch/listen, blog
Mark Driscoll - watch/listen, Search Amazon.com for Mark Driscoll
Andy Stanley - watch/listen, Search Amazon.com for Andy Stanley

God has been teaching me a ton through these servants. Check them out, maybe we can learn something together. Who else is God using to grow you?

Help Wanted

I read Psalm 108 yesterday and the end of the psalm is stuck in my head: "Oh, please help us against our enemies, for all human help is useless. With God's help we will do mighty things, for He will trample down our foes."

Just a great reminder of where our help comes from. People have issues. Since churches are made up of people, churches have issues. Too often, our enemy uses those issues to drive a wedge between us, leaving us as something less than the unstoppable force that Jesus said He would build: His church that would prevail over even the gates of hell. When things aren't going well, we can tend to snipe and blame and forget whose church we really are. We can lean into our own human help and forget that it's God's help that will get us through. Don't forget. Be reminded today that the church is His and He knows what He's doing with it.

We've been called by God.
We've been given His Spirit.
We are on a mission that will not fail.
We have a message that will not be stopped.