Thank God for my wife!

It seems that just about every day I find myself in amazement of my wife Cecil. To me she is definitely a super woman. She somehow manages to find time to clean the house, prepare meals, work part time for our business, and invest lots of time in teaching our children. My kids are so well behaved and smart (obviously I'm a little bit biased), and all the credit goes to my wife. In fact she already has Alanna doing "school" out of a preschool work book. She is truly amazing and I love her for it!

It's All About Relationships

This morning at the gym (I have been going quite regularly over the last month!), I had the opportunity to talk with an acquaintance that I rarely get to see. I was running late (about 2 hours late) and upset at myself for not making it to the gym earlier. After the conversation I realized that God has worked through my tiredness to arrange this meeting. The highlight of the conversation was the opportunity to share a principle that God has really impressed on me over the last few years. The principle is that God uses people to change people. As much as I believe my Sunday sermon, devotions, and other spiritual exercises are important, I truly believe that God uses fellow followers of Christ to shape me more than those other things. In Scripture there is an underlying assumption that every believer is apart of a family or body of believers that helps to encourage, correct, and teach them. I make this following statement with careful thought, "You cannot be in a healthy relationship with God unless you are in a healthy relationship with His body the church." One of the key components that is missing in modern day Christianity is the element of relational accountability. You cannot be a healthy Christian if you view worship services and church involvement as a spectator sport. So where ever you are, go get connected and experience God's movement in your life through others.

Celebrating Communion

During our recent men's retreat at Silver Spur (www.silverspur.com), the director at the camp asked me to lead the men in communion during our final session together. Different churches call it by different names, primarily: Communion, the Lord's Supper or Table, and Eucharist. In a future post, I will do my best to explain how different denominations view Communion, because the way you understand Communion effects your motivations and actions in taking it.

But in today's post, I want to share with you what I explained at the men's retreat. We when we take the bread and drink the juice, I believe that we are making three statements:

(1) We are saying, "We believe." In communion, we join with thousands and millions who have gone before us in expressing our belief in Jesus Christ. We are saying that we believe that Jesus is God become man, 100% God and 100% man. We believe that He lived a sinless life, was crucified, was buried, and on the third day He arose from the tomb. Because of this, we have salvation, which is a free gifts, not earned by our good works, but solely dependent on His grace. We are saying that we believe all of it, that it's real, it's true, and it happened.

(2) We are saying, "We remember." In Luke 22:19, we are commanded by Christ to partake in communion as a remembrance. My view of Communion is called a memorial view. I do not believe that there is anything inherently magical about the bread or juice. It's just normal stuff that we eat on a regular basis in our lives, but when we eat it together as the church it reminds us of the powerful reality of Christ's death and suffering. When I take Communion, I reflect on Christ's suffering, I repent of my sin, and I receive His sufficiency.

(3) We are saying, "We celebrate." When I was younger, I remember the Lord's Supper or Communion always being a serious, somber, dreary event. Everyone was walking around with their heads hanging low, the music was dull and dreary, and it felt as if we were all at the foot of the cross. Although Communion is a very sobering time, I believe it is also a time of celebration. Paul says in Ephesians 1:7-8 that it is because of Christ' sacrifice that we have forgiveness and redemption. That is something to celebrate! As much as I mourn Christ's death, my forgiveness and new life would not be possible if He had not willing gone to the cross and suffered. It is by his suffering that I am healed. I love it at our church because after we've celebrated communion, the band usually leads us in a song of celebration that is made possible through Christ's death. As Christians, we have a reason to celebrate! We have been forgiven and set free!

I hope these thoughts help to add some meaning for the next time you take Communion.

Learning to Say No

I was recently talking with some leaders in our church about time management. If I had my current responsibilities and commitments three or four years ago, there would be no way that I could keep up. My personal discipline and time managements skills were not at the level that they are today. As we discussed these concepts of time management, three key principles developed:

1) God slowly develops our time management skills over time. He never gives us more than we can handle. Yet at the same time, He is continually stretching us to prepare us for the future. I look at other pastors who have many more obligations and responsibilities and I wonder how they do it. The answer is that God has been in the process of preparing them for that moment for a long time.

2) Our effectiveness in life and ministry is found in our ability to focus. Only as we focus on the priorities of life, can we truly be successful. The more scattered my energies and time, the more scattered my results.

3) When we say Yes to something, we are also saying No to something. When I say Yes to attend an event, birthday party, or take on a new responsibility, I am also saying No to some other area of my life. Typically, I have found in my own life, that the things I say No to are usually the more important things. Such as God time, family time, discipleship/leader training.

So keep first things first!