Life Gets Busy

When you look at your blog and realize that an entire month has gone by since your last post, you are too busy!

Consider this passage.

"We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth for someone else to spend."

Psalm 39:6 NLT

Well, I don't know about the wealth sentence. But, I find myself rushing around a lot lately. Perhaps I should slow down and enjoy what God is doing around me right now.

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Here's what happens when you are willing to be a pizza getter

My last post was about a message that my brother preached recently at his church up in Michigan.  Well, two days ago, they took the spirit of that message to the streets.

Here is what the local newspaper said about the church that day:

I guess this is what you get when people are willing to go get the pizza or do whatever else God calls them to do.

Sometimes you go and get the pizza

I heard a great message today from a great pastor.  He isn't the pastor of my home church.  But he once was.  It was all about the phrase, "Don't Go to Church.  Be the Church."

We were exhorted to be Jesus Christ's feet and hands extended to a lost and hurting world.  We were told that everyone is needed.  Everyone is wanted.  Everyone has abilities that God wants us to use for His glory.  We were told that everyone has value.

Then I remembered something that happened many years ago.  I remember showing up one evening after work to work with the pastor and one of his biggest helpers at the church.  We were going to begin work on refurbishing the nursery.  It was a small but growing church.  (There is always something to be done in a growing church.)  The pastor gave me the job of removing the baseboard trim so that we could put a new floor down and repaint the room.  I had no tools, so I walked over to the toolbox in the corner.  I grabbed the largest hammer that I could find.  It turned out to be a framing hammer.

Well, I took that hammer and began wailing away on the baseboard trim.  I managed to bust up about 6 or 8 feet of trim before the pastor came over and grabbed my arm in mid swing.  He asked me what I was doing.  I said that I was removing the trim.  He said, "You know, we had hoped to re-use that trim after we paint it." -- Oooops.

I was willing.  But I really wasn't equipped for the job.

It was at that point that experienced a feeling that I did not have the skills and abilities that God could use in His Kingdom.  You see, I really have no real skills when it comes to carpentry or building skills.  And that was what was needed at the moment.  I was given a new assignment by the pastor that evening.  One that didn't involve the destruction of the materials that we would need later in the project.

I was told to go and drive over to the local pizza joint and get some pizza for the three of us that were working.  I suggested that we just call the pizza place and have it delivered.  I could then get back to the work of "removing" the baseboard trim.  The pastor said, that what I really needed to do was to go and get the pizza.  I knew that it would take 45 minutes to an hour to go and get the pizza.  How demoralizing. 

Did I mention that the pastor was my brother?

Fast forward to this morning's service.  We were told this morning that we all had skills and talents that God can use.  Rewind to that night so many years ago.  Instead of working on the project, I was sent to go fetch the pizza.

Why can't I be the one to work with the tools and "build" the Kingdom like my brother and Gary?

Then I heard the unmistakable voice of God.  "You don't choose the job.  You just answer the call."  I wanted to be a builder.  Because I thought that was the right call.  But God's call is a personal call.  I am called to obedience just like you are.  But the form that obedience takes is often times different for me than you.

And it dawned on me.  Sometimes you are called to go get the pizza.

So I echo the words of the pastor this morning.  Don't let your own self-doubts or feelings that you don't have the right skills for the Kingdom.  Just answer the call.

Oh, and did I mention, the pastor that spoke this morning was that same brother?


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Update to the Family Tree

Today was a great day!

Today we officially welcomed Andy Barnette into the family.  Andy married my niece, Ashley, in a beautiful ceremony where there was love abounding.

There was the love of the young couple.  That was easy to spot.  There was the love of a father and mother as they looked on as a new family was begun.  That was also pretty easy to spot.  And there was the love of close friends and extended family as they looked on and pledged that they would prayerfully support this new family.

I think God was pleased today.  Clearly this young couple wants to have God central to their marriage.  The love of God may not have been as obvious to see to the untrained eye.  But if you looked into the eyes of Ashley and Andy, Dave and Diane, and John and Betsy, you could see it.  It was just as obvious if you knew where to look.

Blessings on you Mr. and Mrs. Barnette.

One of the finest Worship Leaders I have ever known

I was invited to a church choir concert tonight.  The concert was at a church that we used to attend a few years ago.  We felt God releasing us from what we doing there and calling us to the church that we attend now.

We left that church with mixed emotions.  One of the emotions that we experienced when we left was the emotion and feeling of loss.  Loss of the blessing of watching a person with a true gift of God use it to bring glory and honor to Him.  While at that church we had an opportunity to observe one of the finest Ministers of Music or Worship Leaders that I have ever known.  He leads worship with such a passion that it is hard to put down in words.  It is a blessing just to watch him lead the choir and exhort them to sing with their whole heart.

I sat in the congregation tonight and just basked in the glory of God as we listened to some new music and some old standards of the church sung by the choir.  I was deeply moved by some of the music.  I watched with a sense of awe as the director led the choir tonight.  He was leading.  And they were following.  And God was getting the glory.

Thank you Mark Terry for all that have done and are doing for the Kingdom.  I always feel like I have worshiped when you lead in worship.

Launching a new blog

Well, I decided to go ahead and launch a new blog.  It is called, "What is it there for(e)?"  I have no plans to diminish the frequency of posting to this one.  But, I don't think that this one fits exactly with what I am wanting to do on "What is it there for(e)?" blog. 

It is still in its infancy.  I don't have a lot of the extras or widgets on it yet.  But, it is launched.  And that is the goal for this week-end.  I have another post already to go.  But, I will post it later on this week-end.

I hope you will be an active participant in the dialog on the new blog also.  Feel free to send me suggestions for good "Therefore" posts. 

After all, isn't that what blogs are there for?

Considering another blog . . .

I don't seem to have time to keep this blog updated. And yet, I have an idea rattling around inside my head that I may need to spend some time developing. It goes sort of like this.

I heard a preacher say many years ago, "Whenever you come across a "Therefore" in the Bible, you need to stop and figure out exactly what it is there for."  That was good advice then and it is good advice now.  Therefore, I am working on launching a new blog that will just deal with passages in the Bible that begin with "Therefore . . ."  I plan to pause a while and look at the verse in context and see what it has to say to me. 

What do you think?  Do you have any suggestions?  If so, send them to me by email or post them as comments on this blog.  I plan to get my first post out this week-end.  But, we'll see how that goes.