Keeping it all in perspective

Just came across this comment in a posting by Pete Scazzero, author of "Emotionally Healthy Spirituality."

Things are not as they appear. So often what looks like a blessing is not. What looks terrible in the short run is, very often, a rich gift. When you think you are going forward, you may be actually going backwards. What appears as success, oftentimes ends up being a failure and setback. Failures will teach you much more than success every time.

I know this sounds very much like my life experience. But what do you think?

If you think you're busy...

If you could pick a word to characterize the lives of those who are closest to you, what would it be? For many of us, it would be "busy." Busy parents, busy co-workers, busy volunteers, busy, busy, busy. When I get busy, it's not always good. Maybe that happens to you. We forget important events. We forget about good manners. We forget to keep our promises to others. We forget the conversations we've had with ourselves in the past that start out with, "I will NEVER do that again..." The bottom line it this: Even though we might get a lot of things done when we're busy, it can often result in bad consequences and habits.

This is the part where you expect me to talk about how God designed us to rest, to trust, and so on. But I'm not going to do that. Instead I want to talk about how busy God is. Yes...God is busy. Now, don't get excited. This is not a mandate to add six more events on your calendar. Actually, when God gets busy, he doesn't suffer from the kind of negative consequences I mentioned above. But wow, does he get busy.

In yesterday morning's "Refuel" passage (Romans 8:28-39), I found this phrase: In all things God works for the good of those who love him.

We like to point to this verse when things are going bad, assuming that it means that God will make everything work out swell. But what it's actually saying is this:

"No matter what happens in your life, God is at work to bring about ultimate good, namely to change you so you look more and more like Jesus."

No matter what happens, God works. Think about all the things that happen in your life. And in the lives of your friends. Then multiply that millions of times over. And in each life, "God works." That, my friends, is one busy God!

So whatever you're experiencing right now. Whatever you took a break from to read this. Whatever situation you're heading into, or dreading, or looking forward to. In everything, in all things, God works. Are you aware of it? Are you looking for it? Will you recognize it? Will you partner with your busy God?

Lessons from a windowsill

Sometimes truth can come from the strangest places When you're not looking for it. Let me explain...

Yesterday I walked toward my desk and noticed something on the windowsill. This is the window where I look out into the world. It's the window that reveals beautiful scenes of pink cherry trees in the spring, flaming maple tree colors in the fall, breathtaking sunrises at dawn, and more. And there it was, at the bottom of the window. Nothing spectacular, hardly unusual. A dead fly. (Sorry...hope you're not eating.) Why am I telling you about a dead fly? Good question.

Mr. Fly had tried to get past the window. And had he been able to do that, he probably would have found what he needed: fuel. You see, there's no "fly fuel" in my office. No bio-fuel. No rotting carcasses. No animal waste products. Just books, paper, and furniture. (Okay, there are some dark chocolate covered espresso beans, but they're locked away where flies can't find them!) All that stood between Mr. Fly and the fuel he needed was a little piece of glass. If only he could get past it...if...only...

Here's the point. Sometimes we're so close to the fuel...we can see it...almost touch it. But that little piece of glass stands in the way. Maybe you've wanted to join us for the Refuel project. Maybe you picked up a hard copy of the booklet. Maybe you've put all the emails in a special folder. Maybe you joined the social network site. Maybe you've even determined what part of the day is going to work for you to "read, reflect, and respond." But maybe that piece of glass is still there. You need a way to get past it. To turn off the TV and pick up the book. To tune out the distractions and spend 10 minutes reflecting. Whatever that last remaining obstacle is, just DO it! Do it today...do it right now. Let Mr. Fly on my windowsill be a lesson. Figure out a way to get to the fuel. Don't end up on the windowsill. As we learned in the first week of this series, the fuel in God's word is there so that we can be "equipped for every good work." So go ahead and fuel up.

Are Christians weird?

If you ever watched the old Saturday Night Live routines with the Church Lady you know what I’m talking about. Church people can be just a little bit…weird. We can dress funny, talk funny, and act funny. But does following Jesus mean your life will become increasingly weird? That depends on what we mean.

If by weird we mean talking differently, using “Praise the Lord” in every other sentence, and dressing in clothes that were fashionable 20 years ago, then the answer is, “No.” Jesus spoke in the language of his culture, and presumably dressed like everyone else. (That’s probably why Judas had to identify him with a kiss…he didn’t stand out from the crowd.)

If, however, by weird we mean that we make different choices about how we will live, and we actually believe that God’s wisdom is the best way to live, then the answer may be yes. If we view our money as God’s, and we give a tithe (ten percent) to God, that’s VERY different! If we choose NOT to participate in verbal bashing of those with whom we disagree or don’t really like, that’s very unusual. If we choose to spend our precious time each Sunday morning worshiping God together with the Body of Christ, that’s unique (hey, after all, you could be sleeping in on Sunday mornings!). If we choose to serve those in need instead of just looking out for our interests, that’s not typical. In each of these cases, the follower of Jesus might not “fit in” with the broader culture. He or she might look different…maybe even weird.

But no place is this more evident than in last week’s topic – God’s design for sexuality as it relates to single adults. If we really understand how God designed us, and why he gave this incredible gift, then it WILL change how we choose to live. If we are willing to believe that God’s way is actually better, it will change our lives! And single adults in 21st century America could find themselves living very differently from their peers. They could have to explain why they don’t behave as others do. (And in conversations with some from our church, they HAVE had these kinds of conversations.) They could end up looking a bit…weird. People might notice. People might wonder. People might ask questions. “Why do you live that way?” But don’t miss this: It might just be that our willingness to believe God in this area could actually help point the way for others to the life they’re REALLY looking for. A life with God.

If you’re a single adult and striving to live out God’s design in this area, let me thank you for your courage. And let me assure you I’m praying with you.

I hope to see you all this week as we tackle the very relevant, and very difficult topic of “Same Sex.” This affects every one of us, whether or not we realize it! Remember to take your kids to PowerHouse, and then join us for an unforgettable Sunday.

Pardon the dust...

Whew...it's been a vveerrrryyyy long time since I posted anything. A bit of dust accumulating here. Apologies, and all.

This summer was an experiment for me as a teacher/preacher. A 10 week series! That's at least three weeks longer than anything previously attempted. And, it was a series based on the Core Values of Seneca Creek. WHY? Because they're so, well, CORE. Actually, once we got into them, it went really fast. (In the interest of full disclosure, I must say that three and a half of the weeks were taught by others on our staff team.)

The cool part is that these values are now working their way into our vocabulary...including mine! And they're working their way into our thinking. And they're working their way into our church. Here they are:

1. Everyone deserves to be introduced to Jesus
2. If God isn’t changing your life, you need a bigger God
3. It’s impossible to love others without serving them
4. Our interactions either attract others to Jesus or drive them away
5. The church has no walls
6. We are all created for authentic community
7. Innovation and failure form the bridge to the future
8. In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity (love)
9. Pray and plan as if God is going to show up
10. Excellence honors God and inspires people

That' the kind of church I want to be part of. How about you? If one of these really resonates for you, sound off on the comment section below. We'd love to hear from you!

-Mark T.

The bridge of innovation and failure

Two Sundays ago we asked for ideas. During a message entitled, “Why Innovate” many of you were inspired to write down ideas of how we as a church could be more effective in the mission God has called us to. We received over 35 ideas! Some of you were even brave enough to write down ideas for yourselves! Some of the ideas for our church were:

• Fulfill God's will by preventing loneliness to those who have no family
• Have services outside on the streets
• Young person's view- sermons and service- church
• Reaching out to the homeless (once a month)
• Live streaming the sermons...this way people can check out church at home then come in if they like
• More diverse music - Latin Christian, contemporary. gospel (Fred Hammond for example)

Overall the ideas were very creative, and encouraging! Maybe you've been thinking about some innovative ideas for church. Why not click on the "comments" below and send us your ideas? We’ll look at them all, and try to figure out which ones we may be able to run with. Maybe they’ll work. Maybe not. But as we learned two weeks ago, “Innovation and failure form the bridge to the future.” I don’t know about you, but I want to be on that bridge!

From the Hawaian anniversary trip

Can you find us in the picture?

Measuring in the church

What's really important to measure in the spiritual realm? In the local church? Sometimes the answers are easy, but the implementation is not.
The following is a brief excerpt from a compelling 15 page report on this topic from Leadership Network.

“Today, people in our churches—and especially young people—want to devote their lives to a cause that’s bigger than themselves,” observes Ken Fong, pastor of Evergreen Baptist Church in Los Angeles, CA. Ken realizes the opportunity for pastors to enflame and direct the devotion of people in their churches, but also, he is aware of a significant change that needs to occur. He observes, “In our church, we’ve had to change what we measure. We no longer use size as our primary metric. Instead, we spend time and effort analyzing the compelling intangibles of the Spirit’s work: devotion, love, and obedience.” [italics added]
Kevin Doi, pastor of Epic Church in Fullerton, CA, suggests that the analysis of metrics needs to go back to the basics. “When we look at the Great Commandment to ‘make disciples,’ ” he reflects, “we need to ask if our time, energy and resources are being invested in the things Jesus values.” Kevin believes that the church must be evaluated on the metric of making committed, invested, serving disciples—and nothing less. “Every meeting we have, every plan we make, and every dollar we spend is analyzed by how well we invite people to develop a real relationship with Jesus and inspire them to live for him in their world.”

You can view the entire article here. I welcome your comments below.

The feet of Judas

You’re probably familiar with the story of Jesus’ washing his disciples’ feet. To be frank, it’s not something I would naturally do. It was demeaning and degrading. It was serving in its most raw and unfiltered form. So this week I was reading the story again (in John 13), and I noticed something. Before John tells us about the footwashing, he says this:

The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. (John 13:2)

So before Jesus picks up the towel to serve these guys, he already knows that one of them is bent on betrayal. Can you imagine what it would be like to be washing the feet of someone who was scheming to turn you in? I suspect most of us would have just skipped over Judas, and gone on to the next disciple.

But Jesus serves Judas anyway. He serves the guy who’s going to hand him over. I’m glad I don’t have to make that choice of whether or not I’ll wash Judas’ feet. But I do have a choice to make, and so do you. The choice is to serve those around us, regardless of their “worthiness.” After all, it's impossible to love others without serving them.

Turning Vision Into Action

Mark & Jeannette share the challenging vision of how we can work together and make Chapter Two happen!

The Power of One Prayer

So here's the 30 day challenge that we're taking at Seneca Creek. Spend the next month bringing the power of prayer to focus on what is important to God. What are HIS plans and purposes? Since he created us, maybe he knows what's really important. And if we can understand what's important to God, then we'll be able to see what's important for us. To help do that, we're encouraging everyone to use the following prayer, based on Colossians 1:9-13

God, I pray that you would fill me with the knowledge of your purposes & will. I pray you would do this so that I could live a life worthy of you, and please you in every way. I pray that my life be characterized by good deeds, by personal spiritual growth, by godly strength to patiently endure, and by joyful gratitude

This prayer could start a revolution in your life! So why not give it a try? What do you have to lose? I can't wait to see what God will do.

Wasted?

It happened again. I was reading a very familiar story from Jesus' life. And I saw something I'd never seen before. And in that moment God spoke into my life. Not with a "voice from heaven" like in the movies, but clear and unmistakable nonetheless. The story is where Jesus feeds the 5,000 with two fish, and five barley loaves from one little boy's lunch. It's actually the only one of Jesus' miracles that occurs in all four of the gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). And as John is telling what happened, he points out that the disciples distributed this little lunch and everyone had as much as they wanted. Then comes the verse I've missed for 50 years.

When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." (John 6:12)

Let nothing be wasted. I suppose you could argue that Jesus was the ultimate environmentalist, or conservationist. You could say he was being green. You could say he was thinking about all the starving children in Africa. But I think there's something else going on here. I think Jesus was more concerned about wasting the impact of his miracle (and his message) than about wasting the leftover bread. That bread was now going to go back to thousands of homes. And the stories would be told for days to come. People would invite all their friends and neighbors. "Come, look at this piece of bread...come see the evidence of this man called Jesus!" And the story would be told again and again. And people would be drawn to Jesus. And the miracle would not be wasted in any way. "Let nothing be wasted."

You probably haven't experienced a work of God quite like the feeding of the 5,000. But when I talk with people just like you and me, I realize that God is working. He's changing attitudes. He's changing priorities. He's healing relationships. He's answering prayers. He's providing hope and joy. He's deploying your gifts into the world. And in each of these situations, I think Jesus would say the same thing he did 2,000 years ago: "Let nothing be wasted!"

The work God has done in your life can help encourage someone else. It can inspire others to hang in there. To pray another day. To step out in faith. To serve despite their fears. To start a conversation without having all the answers. Don't let your story be wasted. Who you gonna tell?

Do not disturb?

A guy in my dorm at college used to sleep with the window open during the Chicago winters to simulate "missionary training." (He did other crazy things I won't mention here.) He's one of the few people I know who did NOT subscribe to the principle that "Comfort is king." When we're honest, we kinda LIKE that principle. We LIKE being comfortable.

But I don't think God subscribes to that principle very often. Last Sunday at Seneca Creek was an example. Thanks to the International Justice Mission, we heard about the injustice around the world in the form of bonded slavery, child prostitution, and more. And we were brought face to face with the very UNCOMFORTABLE reality that WE are God's plan to bring down the barriers which make it difficult for people to believe that there is a God who cares about them. It made me (and probably everyone there) uncomfortable to see the kind of oppression and injustice that is occurring in 2009. If you missed last Sunday, check out the recording here.

I think God uses those kinds of uncomfortable moments to help us move to action. Let me ask you this: When was the last time God disturbed you? When was the last time your comfort zone was pierced by the prompting of God? If you can't remember when that was, I challenge you to remove the "Do Not Disturb" sign from your life. Here's how to do that. Pray the following prayer every day for a week: "God, please change me." Then get ready, because God will answer that prayer. He will "disturb" you. Your life will never be the same. And you'll never regret it for one second!

Easter surprise

I can understand why people were surprised when Jesus was born. I mean really...God, in a feeding trough? You can't be serious! Who wouldn't have been surprised?

But Easter is different. It's different because, well, Jesus kept announcing what was going to happen! Consider this dialogue...

Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again." (Luke 18:31-33)

Seems pretty clear, doesn't it? No surprise here. But catch the next verse:

"The disciples did not understand any of this..." (Luke 18:34)

It's easy to snicker at the disciples. "Not the sharpest knives in the drawer," and all that. But then I wonder if I'm much different. Oh, I believe the story...I could recite it to you. But it continues to surprise me. God, hanging on a tree? For me? It doesn't make sense. It doesn't coincide with reality as I experience it every day. It's not natural. It's supernatural. Actually, it's shocking. In the words of a song I like to sing, "Amazing love. How can it be that you, my God, should die for me?" How CAN it be? I don't understand any of this.

The more I think about Easter, the more it surprises me. But I'm so glad the Easter surprise is true!

Almost nothing?

I met a woman this week whose life has not gone well. She developed a debilitating illness. She hovered half-way through death's door. And then when it became clear she would not regain full health, her husband decided he just couldn't spend the rest of his life caring for her. So he divorced her.

She struggles with some of the basic things many of us take for granted. Her body is in full blown revolt. Her prognosis is for continual physical impairment. Her job options are seriously minimal. She has almost nothing. And yet...she has almost everything. As she poured out her life story, she uttered these words, "God has been so faithful to me." Say what? That's right...she was able to offer genuine gratitude to God in spite of the harsh experiences she has lived through. I was blown away.

I couldn't help but think of so many people who "have it all." Health, wealth, status, leisure, family, you name it. Yet they are miserable. They still haven't found what they're looking for. But she has. I was looking at the real thing. Real faith, real love, real life. She'll never be famous. She'll never speak to thousands or write a book. Which is too bad, because a lot of us could desperately benefit from listening to her for an hour...or a weekend. Her life is a silent testimony to all of us who are furiously chasing things that Jesus told us to forget about. I thank God for bringing this woman into my life. And yours.

The Ultimate Reason?

It didn’t make sense. The experts agreed. What this man was asking was unreasonable. There was every reason in the world to turn and walk away. To do what they thought best. After all, they were the experts. They’d spent all their wisdom, all their creativity, and all night trying to get the job done. But to no avail. And along comes this guy who knows better. “Try this,” he suggests. “We’ve already tried it!’ they respond. Probably tried it a hundred times.

But what happens next is a shocker. They try it. They do what the outsider says. Which is not nearly as shocking as the reason WHY they do it. It’s captured in the simple phrase, “because you say so.” Because you say so, we’ll do it. Sounds like blind obedience. Or maybe it’s something more. Maybe it’s not a mindless, blind reason at all. Maybe it’s a reason based on seeing what others failed to see. Maybe it's the ultimate reason. Maybe it’s a reason based on seeing that the one telling them what to do was wiser than they could imagine. Turns out, he was also right.

Read about it here, in Luke 5:1-11.

So here’s the question. When is the last time you responded to Jesus with these words, “because you say so”?

Doesn't seem fair...

Ever meet someone who does what you do, but does it so well you think, "Why do I even try?" For me, John Ortburg is one of those people. He is gifted in so many ways. And he uses those gifts to encourage and inspire untold thousands of people. Me included. Here's a link to one of his recent articles, entitled "The Good News Amid the Bad News."
Enjoy it.

Want to know what a missional church is? Watch this

Torn Open

Started going through Mark's gospel for Lent. And there in chapter one is this comment, "he saw heaven being torn open." What in the WORLD must that have looked like? (Actually, it probably didn't look like ANYTHING in this world!) Jesus saw the breach between heaven and earth starting to rupture. I think he saw the beginnings of what he would eventually usher in in a whole new way. It was heaven - God's domain - breaking into this darkened world. The next words Mark records from Jesus are these, "The time has come...the kingdom of God is near." I imagine he was thinking back to the rupture...the tear in heaven. It started leaking out into our world. "Thy kingdom come..." Bring it on.

iPod and the work of God

Tonight a line of severe storms passed through the area. I found out by checking the online radar loop. It had already gone by me. I had several emergency emails - which I read after the storm had passed. It must have been a doozie. And I kinda like storms.
But I missed this one because I was in the basement. Actually, I missed it because while in the basement, riding on the trainer, I was listening to a podcast on cycling. It's a fun hobby. But in this case, I got so close to my hobby/interest that I completely missed the big event that was happening around me.

Step back. There is a big event passing by us right now. It's the work of God. It's setting off emergency alarms all over the place. It's way past being a doozie. But are we missing it? Am I? Do we get so close to our interests, pursuits, hobbies, etc. that we are literally deaf to what is going on? Do we only learn about the work of God by reading about it online?

Maybe we could at least take out one earbud.