On Going to IMPACT

I'm headed out of town today for an entire week to take my youth to a camp called IMPACT, put on by the good folks at the Ga. Baptist Convention.

Hence, I probably won't be updating my blog next week. I might throw on some quick blurbs just to keep you guys posted on what's happening, but we'll see. To say it will be a busy week is quite the understatement.

Just wanted to keep you guys up to speed (since I get several remarks that my last blogging hiatus was unappreciated).

Thanks for reading.

On Crashing

No not that kind of crashing--don't worry. There was no wreck. I'm talking about being really tired and going to sleep.

Yesterday, I just didn't feel like I had much energy. I felt tired all day. I'm not really sure why. It's not like I do anything at work.....(just kidding). Maybe it was because it was my first full week at my new job. Perhaps I was getting sick. Who knows. Anyway, I left the office, drove home, threw my bag down on my bed, and instantly proceeded to fall asleep. I don't think I'd done that so quickly in my life.

The nap didn't last for very long. I had a meeting last night at 6:30, so I only slept for about 45 minutes or so. Still, it was very nice.

Sometimes I just get that way. Things pile up, I get busy, I don't get enough rest at night, and I find myself feeling very overwhelmed and tired. Then at some point, my body just says, "enough," I'm going to go to sleep now.

I feel our spirits are very similar. So many times we don't allow our spirits to rest with the Lord. We overwork ourselves with worry, business, and sin. This stretches out our spirit to the point that we feel tired inside, almost depressed even.

That's when we have to find rest in the Lord. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

This doesn't mean that Jesus will make life a cakewalk for us. He said many times that life would be difficult. However, he reminds us in these verses that we don't have to do this on our own strength. We need the peace that only the Lord can provide to get us through our difficult times.

So trade that tired sigh for a shout of joy. Turn that frown into a smile. Go find rest in God and in his Word. He'll rejuvenate you so you can get going again.

On Bugs and Prayer

I love to ride with my windows down in my truck. I don't have a nice car with a convertible top, so to "ride with the wind in my hair" I have to do the best I can with the windows.

If you join me in the open-air-driving club, then you've probably experienced what I'm about to describe: You're riding down the road, enjoying the breeze on your skin and in your hair, singing your cares away with the radio turned up to Celine Dion (ahem....or some other appropriate musician....). Perhaps you've even got your hand out the window going up and down on a virtual wind-ridden roller coaster.....

Then out of nowhere.....THWAP! A giant bug hits your hand. It does not feel pleasant. It stings your skin. It spills guts on you and leaves behind a funny odor. It angers you. It ruined your Celine Dion moment. It might just have done this to you on purpose. It makes you want to purchase more stock in fly swatters. It causes you to curse the posterity of all flying insects and swear to wipe out their kind to the ends of the earth.

Sound familiar? Ok, does the premise at least sound familiar? Good. Now why in the world would I describe this horrible scene?

Because prayer is just like this. What? No, I'm not crazy. I promise. Here's why:

When we pray, it is very refreshing. We enjoy the feeling of the presence of God surrounding us. It is a comforting feeling, a feeling of security. It is our source of peace, as we dwell in God's mercy and grace. We share our needs with him and spread out our hands in worship of his glory, praising his name and majesty....

Then out of nowhere....THWAP! We git hit with something, and quite often, that "something" is the truth about our hearts. Whether it be a sinful habit, an unrighteous thought, or a missed opportunity, God often convicts us when we're praying.

You see, prayer isn't just our chance to rest in the presence of God. It's a chance for God to tell us what we need to hear, and that isn't always sweet words of comfort. A lot of times it stings. Does that mean we shouldn't pray? Of course not; however, we need to understand that prayer is not a one-way street. God wants to speak to us, too, and God is a God of truth. He convicts us when we need to draw closer to him.

I still love riding with the windows down. It's refreshing. Prayer is the same way. Just be prepared to get hit every once in awhile. It'll do you some good.

On Getting Rusty

Have you ever gone to use something that you haven't used in awhile and then it doesn't work correctly anymore?

Yeah, me too.

As I continue to get situated in my office at my new church, I have been met with a few small challenges. Today, I went to print something from my office printer (which is conveniently stuck UNDER my desk--perhaps it would be wise to move it to a more convenient location....hmmm.....). Anyway, as I looked at my printed sheet of paper, I was greeted by a hideous arrangement of random blotches and lines instead of my nice, clean printout.

What to do? Well, over the next 30 minutes I commenced a major cleaning project of the heads of my ink cartridges in an attempt to restore the functionality of the printer. Lest I fool you into thinking that I'm Mr. Handyman, all it took was calibrating the device electronically (ok, I just pressed OK a few times in the self-cleaning tutorial).

I don't know exactly why my printer was so jacked up, but I'm guessing it's because it hadn't been used in awhile (either that, or it had some sort of internal ink explosion due to a hacking attempt--but I'm still going with my lack-of-use theory). If so, then this printer is not much different from everything else that we have, be it those rusty old pliers, that old car on blocks in your backyard, or that old fishing rod & reel combo in the corner of your garage.

It's also not much different from your faith. If you don't use it, it gets rusty and doesn't work correctly.

When was the last time you spent time in prayer? When was the last time you meditated on God's Word? When was the last time you truly worshiped God in spirit and truth? When was the last time you actually shared your faith with someone?

It's kind of hard to work with rusty tools. They just can't perform at their full potential. Likewise, it's hard for God to use us effectively if we're spiritually rusty. We just can't perform at our full potential.

How do we fix that? Well, we clean up the condition of the tool. In the case of our hearts, we ask for forgiveness and seek the cleansing spirit of God's mercy. As we are cleansed, we are restored to a right fellowship with the Lord, and we become useful in his hands, capable of doing great and mighty things for the glory of the Lord. There is no person beyond the cleansing power of God's grace.

What's holding you back? What's forming rust in your heart?

Get clean, and stay sharp. You'll be surprised at how well you can perform in God's hands.

On Being Back

You thought I was done.

You thought I probably wasn't going to post again, that I had gone the way of many people before me, falling off the blogging bandwagon after a few weeks of typing my thoughts. Admit it: you had given up on me.

Well here I am again, sharing my musings on your computer screen. I understand that it's been 20 days since my last post, and for that I'm sorry to anyone who actually cares that I wasn't updating you during that time. Not to make excuses, but taking a new job and moving has caused me to be a little busy lately. I'll admit that I may not have made this a priority, but now that I'm settled in at FBC Moultrie, it'll be a lot easier to get back on some sort of blogging schedule.

I'm not making any promises, though. There will be a lot going on this summer that will force me to be away. Nevertheless, I'm going to do my best.

There is someone who did make a promise to be back, though: Jesus. He promised he would return to earth.

Unfortunately, there are many who respond to Jesus' return like they would my blog--with doubt. Whether we intend to or not, there are many of us who really don't think that Jesus is going to return anytime soon. We think that he's done, for now anyway. Regardless of whether or not our thoughts actually echo that statement, our actions definitely don't portray any confidence in his promised return.

I don't intend to be one of these impending doom prophets or someone pins dates and times on Christ's return; however, Jesus instructed us to be ready. He told us to live as though each day would be our last. We can't become complacent. We can't be slack. We must be ready.

What does that mean? It means we seek the Lord. It means we love people. It means we share the Gospel with urgency. It means we don't seek earthly riches. It means we don't indulge in worldly pleasures.

It means we should live like the kingdom of God is imminent.

Because it is.

On Being Safe

If I asked you to list the top 5 things that you most often pray for, I wonder what the response would be. Blessings for food would be up there probably. I mean, most people reading this blog at least ask the blessing for the food. Other than that, you would probably list praying for sick friends/relatives. I guarantee you, though, on just about everybody's top 5 prayer requests is a plea for God to keep you safe during _________.

Keep me safe while I travel. Keep me safe while I play this softball game. Keep me safe tonight while I sleep ("watch and guard me through the night," if you will...). Keep me safe on this mission trip. Etc., etc.

Just about all of us pray for safety. That's not a bad thing. Many times in the Bible people prayed for safety, and God delivered. Many times in history people prayed for safety, and God provided. If you look at all the times David prayed for protection, they are quite numerous.

Praying for safety is not wrong, but it is not always good.

What!?! Am I crazy? Am I off my rocker? Why would we not want to pray for safety? After all, if David, "a man after God's own heart," prayed for safety, why can't we?

I want to pose a question to you. What do you desire more: safety and protection or bringing glory to God?

At first thought, most of us would say bringing glory to God, of course. However, what does your prayer life say? If I recorded all of my prayers, I would probably find that I tend to pray for what I want (i.e. blessings and safety) more than what God wants (i.e. glory).

Instead of praying, "God keep me safe," what if we started praying, "God use me regardless of the cost"? What if our prayers were not focused on our health and wants but on the glorification of the name of God?

What if the cost of bringing God more glory was that you were not safe? Are you willing to pay that price?

Don't get me wrong, I think it's biblical to pray for safety. However, every time you see someone pray for safety, it is not for selfish reasons. It is so that they can glorify God more (I refer you to Ezra 8:21-23).

Our ultimate aim should be God's glory, not our comfort. Jesus said that if we were to be his disciples it would come at the cost of carrying our crosses, or in other words, being willing to die. Have you counted that cost? Are you willing to suffer or even die if it means bringing God glory?

Jesus was. We should be too.

On Sitting in Traffic

I went up to Atlanta yesterday to attend a meeting to plan for a summer camp called IMPACT. It was a good meeting, but the trip up took FOREVER....(flash back to "The Sandlot": Fooorreeevvveeerrrr.....).

Yeah, that's about how I felt. If you've driven on I-85 between LaGrange and Atlanta within the past year, you've noticed that there is a lot of road construction going on. I'm not talking about just a few miles. For about 30 miles or so, there is road construction. And wherever there's road construction (especially if it shuts down lanes), you know what that means: traffic.

I hate traffic. I'm going to be honest. It frustrates me more than probably anything else in the world. Sitting there on a stretch of interstate, going absolutely nowhere when you should be traveling 55mph+ (ahem...or a lot faster)---it grates me to no end.

The traffic had it's benefits, though. Although it almost made me late and wasted a bunch of my gas, it did give me some time to make some phone calls to some friends with whom I hadn't talked in awhile. Overall, it provided me some good time to catch up with people and spend some time in good conversation without worrying about cars driving around me at 75 mph.

As I looked back at my time in traffic, I realized that life treats us the same way. We often run around like crazy people, constantly trying to get stuff done, staying so busy that we barely even notice what's going on around us. Then...BAM. We get stuck. Something happens and forces us to slow down. Most of the time our reaction is much like mine was yesterday. We start muttering about how frustrating it is, and we sit there all antsy, waiting to get going again.

Sometimes, though, I think God wants us just to stop for a little while, to quit scurrying around trying to do things so that we can actually spend some time with him. Unfortunately for us, this often takes God intervening in our lives to the point that he has to throw some sort of road block completely in front of us to slow us down.

So next time you get stuck in traffic, think of the good that can come out of it. Spend some time calling old friends. Take time to look around you and notice the beauty of creation (as best you can in the midst of the concrete). Or spend some time in prayer. And next time you get a "traffic jam" in your life that stops you dead in your tracks, enjoy the pause in the business of life to seek the Lord.

Perhaps that's the whole reason you're stopped in the first place.