Christmas

Well, Christmas Day has come and gone. It's Christmas night as I write. The presents are opened an laying around the tree and other parts of the house. The big meal was consumed with family and friends who had no family of their own in town. Our extended family has left or retired for the night and now we are left with the memories of another Christmas. The memories are always good, and the time together is always sweet. But there's something about Christmas that always leaves you wanting. Maybe it's the build up to the big day that comes and goes as fast as it came. Maybe it's the expectation of the day itself. Whatever it is, you can never hang onto it. It's so fleeting. You tire of all the Christmas shows and Christmas carols all of sudden seem old. But much of life is that way, isn't it? Everything is so temporary. Nothing lasts very long, whether it's the expectation of opening presents or the time with family or the day itself. It fades so quickly. But the greater truth and the reason I'm not sad or depressed is the fact that Christmas isn't about just one day. For us who follow Christ, we know that Christmas is forever. The real gift that God is with us every moment of every day causes us to press on! It's not about the presents or anything else for that matter. It's what Christ has done for us that changes everything. Because he is Immanuel, God with us, our expectations are always for more than this life. They are eternal. Thank you God for your Son, and thank you that Christmas is forever!

Birthdays!

December 10. Well, another year, another birthday celebrated. What is it about birthdays that makes you feel important, at least for the day? And why is that they are sometimes hard and difficult to accept? I think we love the "Happy Birthday's" we hear at work or from friends, and the cards we receive. We love the attention. We love that we're noticed on "our"day. But when another year is added to your chronological age, you know reality is setting in. Am I that old? Do I look that age? Maybe my birth certificate is a mistake? But then I'm brought back to reality. Birthdays are to remind us that our lives are not our own. Each day we live, each breath we breathe, each step we take reminds us that God gives us life. And then I remember Psalms 139:16 and it all comes together. "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Birthdays are not bad. They are a gift forged by the hand of God in whose infinite wisdom I must trust. Thanks God for my birthday today. Thanks for the days given to me to live. Help me to live each day to the full. Amen.

Thankful!

As I sit here in Starbucks, where else of course, I'm moved to realize how grateful I am for all that God has allowed me to experience in my years of ministry, not to mention my lifetime. I've been fortunate to know a lot of people from all walks of life. I've been privileged to teach the Bible to middle school and high school students and adults, speak in schools, preach in churches of all sizes, go on mission trips to other countries and experience Christ among the poorest of the poor, perform weddings for so many friends, honored to say last words at friends funerals, open our home up to neighbors and friends to celebrate life, build homes for the homeless, build churches for Haitian refugees, hand out winter clothing to coal miners in West Virginia, have coffee one on one with friends and new acquaintances, work at the YMCA as a fitness instructor and I could go on. The point is I have had a blessed life. I am so privileged to be a servant of the King.
To top it all off, I'm blessed with a beautiful wife, friend and partner who has enriched me more than I can say. I have two wonderful kids who love life and keep us young and we have a beautiful home and health and are blessed beyond measure.
And I'm privileged to serve in a young and growing church community that is learning what it means to follow after Christ in this world we find ourselves in. What a thrill to be able to stand before them each week and show them Christ from the scriptures!
Finally, I have the joy of being called a son of the King, a child of God, and one who is forever joined to his Kingdom! What a privilege to be a follower of Christ!
What more could I ask for? This Thanksgiving season, what are you thankful for? May you realize how blessed you are and may you revel in the richness that is yours in Christ!

Hello Again!

Wow, it has been awhile since my last post. Actually, about one year. It's not that I don't like to blog, it's just that it was a new thing for me last year and I never got into the swing of it. But I've decided to turn over a new leaf, so here goes. From now on, there will be at least one blog a week. That way I'm not overly ambitious nor self-defeating. I hope you enjoy these and that you'll enter the conversations from time to time.

I don't know if you've been in front of a group of people and confessed your failures or not, but I did just that recently. I preached a series of messages called Confessions of a Pastor. In the series, I shared a few areas where I felt I had failed. I spoke of my failures as a husband, a father and as a Christian. Now understand, I didn't air out any dirty laundry. But I did share enough to let people in on who I am a little more than they had ever heard before. And I must tell you, it was rather freeing to let people know that I'm not perfect and that I don't have to play the game of trying to keep up the perfect image. That's part of the beauty of the gospel though isn't it? The gospel story is about Christ, the Perfect One, redeeming the imperfect ones. The ones who fall short, the ones called sinners. And the greater beauty of the gospel is that it keeps on redeeming us. And it allows us to be who we are without playing any games. It's about admitting we are sinners. It's about letting Christ do his work of restoration and sanctification in our lives. He does the work in the heart and it transforms us. Yes, I still fail more than I care to admit but God only sees the work of his Son in my life and as far as He's concerned, I'm holy. Today, why not revel in the fact you are forgiven if you've trusted Christ and his work on the cross. And be the person you've been made to be. When you fail, admit it. But don't stay there and don't beat yourself up. Be real and stay authentic. That's what the gospel is all about!

Are we Unchristian?

I recently attended an event in Atlanta called Catalyst. It's an exciting two day, high charged celebration of worship and great speaking from some of our best pastors and thinkers in the christian world. While there, a new book was unveiled called Unchristian by Dave Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. The premise of the book is that people between the ages of 16 and 29 that consider themselves non-christians have a very negative perception about those of us who call ourselves christians. In fact, most of those surveyed for the book said that we're mostly known for what we're against. They would go as far to say that we dont represent what Jesus was known for, that our brand of christianity is nothing like the christianity that Jesus spoke of. That begs the question then, what has gone wrong? What have we been presenting to the nonchristian world that would give them this negative perception of what christians are about? Personally,I think that we have been so consumed with all the "sins" we're against that maybe we've forgotten what's more important and that's being friends with all kinds of people and loving people for who they are. Sure, they're are lots of issues that demand our attention that we should be against, but maybe it's time we let people know all the things we're for as well. Things like showing compassion to all people, serving the outcast, bringing justice to the oppressed and meeting the needs of the poor. Maybe we need to let our actions speak louder than our words. Jesus was very comfortable in the homes of those labeled as "sinners" by the religious crowd of his time. Maybe Jesus was on to something. Maybe those of us who call ourselves "Christ followers" need to spend more time following the way of Jesus and then see what happens to the negative perceptions. God help us make it so!

Thousands

Have you ever been in a room with over eleven thousand other people singing worship songs in unison? If you haven't you'll have that to look forward to one day in Heaven with millions upon millions of voices in unison. Until then, we have conferences like Catalyst here in Atlanta. I'm here this week with our worship pastor, Scott Spruill and my son, Tyler. This is one of my favorite conferences that I look forward to attending every other year or so. Each year I come away with one thing that God challenges me with for my personal life or ministry life. This year it's humility. Andy Stanley challenged us all to use our power of influence to serve others as Jesus did when he washed the feet of the disciples. He referred to him as "the most powerful person in the room" who stunned them with his act of humility. He leveraged his power on behalf of the others he led. That's the nature of true leadership. My desire is to humbly serve those I lead. Power can intoxicate those in leadership. It can lead to using people instead of loving people. Stanley said our response to power will determine our legacy of leadership. May God help us all to walk humbly before him as we seek to lead others.

Who is Jesus?

It has been a few weeks since I last posted a blog, for which I feel terrible, but don't worry about since I'm still getting used to blogging. I have a desire to do it, but the will power to get it done, hasn't caught up with it yet! With that said...

I'm sitting in Starbucks at Blakeney here in the Ballantyne area of Charlotte as I type this, studying for this Sunday' message on misconceptions about Jesus. I'm sure you've heard some of them yourself... "Jesus was good moral teacher, a prophet, a historical figure but there's no way he was God!" I've thought a lot about that. And it requires an abandoning of all bias and assumptions you may have had about him in order to take an objective look at him. It's kind of like having a negative or for that matter, positive perception of someone before you meet them. Going only by what you've read or heard about them or what others have said about them. But until you meet them for yourself or in the case of Christ, study his life and words, with the goal of really getting to know him, you can't make an objective declaration until you've done that.

That's the core of Christianity. You must make a careful research of his life and using his own words to come to that conclusion, "And who do you say that I am?"