I remember when I first got my drivers license at the ripe old age of 16 years old (that was the driving age in Illinois).  Of all the lessons that my parents taught me, one that my dad taught me sticks out: the importance of headlights.  He explained that headlights light the way the rest of the car will go - where the headlights go, so goes the rest of the car.  He also included a warning - don't overdrive your headlights.  What this meant was don't drive so fast that by the time you see something in the headlights you can't react to it - you'll be in trouble.

Visionary leadership in a church is very much like headlights.  It is the primary job of the pastor and then ministry leaders to set the vision and be the headlights for the rest of the congregation.  It doesn't mean the rest of the congregation is in the dark, it just means that the people should expect its leaders to be praying, seeking out God, discerning His truth, and directing the church to follow that truth.  If leaders aren't doing that  - they are not leaders - they are just taking up seats in a room.

Let us all seek to be headlights in the Kingdom, driving our communities forward toward the Kingdom of God.  Let us never take the easy way out and get lazy and merely focus internally.

"It is not for the well I have come, but for the sick . . . " 

Last summer I  done what i have done the past two summer which is read the whole Bible in 90 days.  Having spent most of my life reading smaller selections, reading it in big swaths has been great.  The thing I notice the most is how you can miss the forest from the trees or vice versa.  Reading in large chunks really helps you to “carry the narrative” across the span of God’s Word.  Connecting Old and New together is so much easier.  God’s activity throughout history: His consistency, His intentions, His grace, His expectations – they all come into focus for me as I read through big chunks.  Very worth it.

This brings me a classic example of the importance of reading Scripture within in it’s own context – the book of Ecclesiastes.  To understand Ecclesiastes, it has to be read in the context of the rest of Scriptures.  This seems logical and perhaps should go without saying.  Reality is – people need to be reminded constantly that Scripture interprets itself; therefore we need to read all Scripture within the context of itself.  Read on its own, Ecclesiastes can paint a picture of God, the purpose for His creation, and our lives that is not very complimentary and inspired.  But when read in the context of the rest of God’s Word, Ecclesiastes’ purpose become much clearer and we learn something fundamentally important about God.  Reading pericopes (small sections of Scripture) has it’s value, this is not an argument against this.  What it is is a corrective to the practice of most evangelicals who tend to read smaller passages and perhaps miss the forest for the trees.

The rule stands – the more Scripture you read, the better you understand it, the better you understand the sense of it, and the better you understand the God who communicated it.

Just read!

As a Christian and as a pastor I hear on a pretty regular
basis, “If I only saw God or heard directly from Him, I would
believe in Him. If only an angel or something holy presented
itself, I would be convinced.” Not a surprise – some days I feel
like this too . . . Today I was reading Judges 6 and the story of
Gideon. This is one of my favorite stories (and a favorite of my
daughter’s, mostly because of VeggieTales  . Israelites are being
ruled by the Midianites because of their disobedience to God. God
wants to deliver them and decides to use Gideon to do it. God
delivers this message through an “angel of the Lord.” Wow – exactly
what most people would want just happened, God showed up in a
material and tangible way for Gideon. That should be enough right?
Well, apparently not. Gideon wants proof – from an angel no less.
Long story short is that Gideon gets his proof and follows through
on Gods plan for Him. Wasn’t a visit from an angel a good enough
sign? Jesus warns in Matthew 12 that the signs that have been given
should and are enough. In particular He is speaking of the sign of
Jonah, his story. What you need you already have Jesus says – more
will do you no good. Further, it wasn’t just past signs. It was the
sign in their presence that was so great – Elohim enfleshed. That
they could not see that sign was the greatest sign of their
spiritual blindness and eventual death. And also ours . . . The
reality is that those who today “look for signs” or “just want
Jesus to show up” are perhaps doomed to be unfulfilled. The reality
is that God has shown up and is relentlessly active. Christ is
present in the church, in the Word, and in the power and work of
the Holy Spirit. Old signs will do – but the presence of “God With
Us” is all we need. 

Stop looking. 

Start obeying.

This is great prayer by Karl Barth that is in the Selected Prayer svolume that was translated by Keith Crim (Richmond: John Knox).  It was meant for a Sunday morning, but I do think it is good for every day use.

“Holy and Compassionate God, how great is Thy goodness, which permits us to enjoy this day and now brings us together to call on Thee and to hear Thy comforting and exhorting words.

What are we men befor eThee?  How much conceit, hardness, and falsehood there is in our thoughts, words, and deeds.  And as a result how much error and confusion, how much sorrow and need here an in the whole world.

But over it all Thy fatherly heart is open for us and Thy had remains strong to hold us, to lead us, and to make us free.  Thou dost not forget or reject any of us.  Thou art near to us all.  Thou dost call to us, everyone.

Make us aware of this again on this Sunday morning.  do Thou see to it that what we do here in praying and singing, in preaching and hearing, may not be done in vain, but be to Thy honor and to the awakening, enlightening, and lifting up of us all, for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen.”

I have a favorite pair of jeans.  They are a pair of Levi's 505.  I have worn them in and they are comfortable to me - I love them!  The problem is that over the years (yes YEARS) the jeans have developed holes in and around the back pockets.  The holes are big enough that they needed to be patched so my boxer shorts don't show through :).  So Missy (my wife) proceeded to sew them up and to apply some patches to the jeans so that they could be worn again.  Voila!  The jeans were fixed . . . 

or so we thought . . . 

I put the pants in the wash and, what a bummer, the patches were halfway removed from the water and movement of the washing machine.  I was SO BUMMED - did I say I loved those jeans?  

So I took on the task of patching them myself.  This time I not only used a patch but a special adhesive that holds the patch in place (I have no idea what  its called).  The trick to the adhesive is that it is HEAT activated; you need to use an iron and press it on the patch and adhesive so it will set and work correctly.  It's not a little heat that's necessary, but a lot of heat.  I turned the iron on high and pressed it on the stop for 2 minutes.  Luckily nothing started on fire.  I was so excited - the patches held!!!  We'll see what happens in the next wash.

Now - where is the spirituality in all of this?  Why is Steve rambling on about his jeans?  As I was working on my jeans I was thinking about discipleship and how to move a person from point to point.  I was thinking about my life and I realized that there were times in my life (and still are) when it takes "heat" from God, pressure if you will, to get my discipleship moving.  Heat from God could be relationship, financial, or job challenges.  The heat gets turned up and you get the opportunity to see if what you have learned "sticks" or if you need more work in that area.  All metals, when formed, are forged in fire.  When you are forged in fire you become something beautiful and you are ready for the challenges ahead!

Patch the jeans . . . and be ready for the heat to get turned up.

When we live our lives day to day we are unaware that we are joined at the hip with one of the divine members of the trinity – the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit was promised to us in John 16 by Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit is not an “it,” but a person that “embodies” the person and work of Christ.  Christ was with the disciples and He promises them that they will not be left alone – so the Holy Spirit represents a promise that Christ keeps for the disciples and the Kingdom of God.  While the Holy Spirit is ours, it’s not ours privately.  The Holy Spirit is a person that functions communally to build a people to/and advance the Kingdom of God.  The Holy Spirit is not just our personal conscience-checker (though He is that), He s also constantly pushing us to advance the Kingdom of God.  In fact, He is uncovering sin in our life really isn’t even about us, it’s about changing us day by day to be Kingdom leaders, Jesus follower,  and “pushers" of the Kingdom of God.

Please email me if you have questions or want more info on the Spirit.

I just got done with a five week study of Jesus and prayer – it could have been 10 weeks, but I wanted to stick with something short.

The study went through, I believe, about every instance where Jesus prayed. The plan covered the places both where Jesus modeled prayer intentionally for the disciples (The Lord’s Prayer for example) and where Jesus just prayed without any intentional modeling. These were times that Jesus left and went up on a mountain to pray, went alone to a solitary place to pray, etc.

The study revealed one thing: overwhelming Jesus taught prayer by silently modeling it for his disciples and the “crowds.” He spent more time praying than He did talking about prayer. The disciples truly had to follow His lead and not just His words on prayer.

Jesus believed, at least as evidenced by His practice, that the best way to teach prayer was to engage in it.

Prayer in our own lives needs to be something we don’t talk about, but that we do. We don’t call attention to it – we just do it.

Our staff right now is reading a book together that focuses in on the marks of a healthy church. There are ten of them in all, but this week we focused in on God-Exalting Worship.  The chapter cover the importance of God-honoring worship, the presence of prayer, Scripture reading, etc.  One of the most importance aspects is talking to God vs. talking about God.  It was an important point and one that I think most churches don't think of.  I know I don't always think of it.

Random thoughts today:

What defines community? Congregating can’t be enough, those around you should impact your life and help you, directly or not, in allowing Christ to be seen in your life.

What defines faith? I suppose a lot of things, but today I’m thinking about faith always being active 24/7 365. Beginning the day by anticipating God’s work in your life and ending it by reflective on it.

What is more important: being a great leader or being a great follower?

Do you read the classics in Christian history: Augustine’s Confessions, Thomas a Kempis Imitatio Christi, or even C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity.

Do you have a reading plan for reading the Bible?

Is serving in a place of ministry important to you?

I'm not naturally a swimmer.  The only reason I swim is because I do triathlons and swimming is a part of the race.  I am a reluctant swimmer.

When I first started training back in 2008 I would just rote swim lap after lap.  The goal was to be able to swim a 1/2 a mile, then 3/4 of a mile, then the biggie - 1 mile.  The longer I swam the more I was able to reach my goal.  Here was the problem - I didn't enjoy it very much.  Not only didn't I enjoy it very much, but I really dreaded getting in the water because I knew I would be bored for he next 45 -60 minutes.  I could get the job done, but it wasn't very enjoyable.  This went on for 4 long years.

Then I was introduced to the idea of intervals and drills. Intervals train you to go slow for a certain amount of laps and then fast for a certain amount and back to slow.  What happens is you slowly build up your speed by mixing in those fast laps into the slow ones - slowly building up.  There are all kinds of intervals you can do - I won't list them all here.  Drills are also fun because you do laps, but in different ways - one handed, on your back, limiting your breathing, sprinting, etc.  You learn a lot and you get a lot done.

To my surprise and delight - when I focused on drills and intervals and not on time and distance, I accomplished both and had a great time doing it.  Better yet - I got faster and stronger because I wasn't just concerned about the distance and time.  Overall, I have become a better (not great) swimmer by focusing on the journey and not the destination.

The reason I bring all of this up is that I believe that so many of us start our spiritual walk and we really start crawling, like I started swimming - slow, but steady.  We all have dreams of being the spiritual giant in the room, a prayer warrior, the person that others come to for tough Bible answers, etc.  And from where we stand now - getting there seems a lifetime away (and in a certain way it is).  If we only look at what we are not, we'll never get where we want to go.  So mix it up a bit.  Get a Bible reading plan get a prayer partner, go to a conference that teaches you about Biblical history, maybe even sign up for a class at a local seminary.  Before you know it you'll be on your way and stronger than before.  But you have to take your eyes merely off of destination and allow yourself to develop along the way.

Dive in!!