Faith

Faith & the idea of faith is something I've struggled with for a long while now. Lately, it's been on my mind. And "coincidentally" (if you believe in that), I decided today to start reading Beth Moore's book, "Believing God." I thought I'd share with you how she opens this book.

"Faith is the way believers jump on board with God & participate in countless wonderful things He has in mind to do. Faith happens when believers believe. Faith is an action verb that invites the exhilaration of holy participation. It's about getting out there where we can feel the wind of God's Spirit blowing in our faces. It's about learning that we don't have to put down the Sword of the Spirit (the Word of God) to raise up the Shield of Faith. The way I see it, that's why God gave us two hands. If we want to live abundantly & victoriously, we must pick up both. To pick up the Sword of the Spirit without the Shield of Faith is to shrivel and dry up in the desert of legalism. To pick up the Shield of Faith without the Sword of the Spirit is to try walking by faith on quicksand."

Challenging words. I pray my faith will become action & a reality I live out every day more fully.

Did You Know?

Did you know that the gigantic rope that holds the Golden Gate Bridge together, yes, the huge one you see in the photo below, is actually made up of thousands of smaller pieces of rope all intertwined together? Maybe you did know this. But did you know that if you unraveled these pieces of rope to make one long strand... in other words, if you stretched out all the smaller individual pieces of rope into one long string, you would have enough to wrap it around this planet we call earth not once, not twice, but three times! That's amazing.

It's amazing that human beings can make something like that. And I'm sure there are a number of spiritual applications we could make, a cord of three strands & all that. But to me, the most fascinating thing is that we have continually sought to do great things. The building of the Golden Gate Bridge, a great thing. Especially for it's time. And we as the human race have always sought to do & make great things. As early as the attempt to build the tower at Babel we see this inner desire to achieve greatness.

Yet, there is still a great need for a resizing to take place in our lives. We need desperately to resize our view of ourselves & our view of God. I am most amazed at God's greatness. Who is greater? There is none like Yahweh. But you know what I'm even more impressed with? And this has just really been on my heart lately. More than God's greatness I am deeply impressed by His humility. And with that in mind resizing not only occurs, but isn't greatness also redefined?

Psalm of Nick

On Thursday mornings I meet with a group of teens on this side of town for coffee, prayer, etc. We've been working our way through the Psalms since January. A few weeks ago, I encouraged them to write a psalm, & even be thinking about writing songs that we could sing. One of my heroes in our youth group, a Senior named Nick, took me up on the offer & wrote the following. I was pretty amazed by his words...

A Psalm of Nick.
The Lord guides me. He shines His light onto my path so that I may see. And many times I rebuke Him, and I explore the unknown paths not made for me. Yet the Lord still shines His light for me on my path. He showers me with His never ending grace and mercy. He wakes me with His sun and rests me in His moon and stars. O how I shout to Him and praise His for the blessings He gives me and then I turn my back. But still every day, I have my sun and my starry nights. O Father! Hear my praises, as I fall to my knees and thank You for Your unconditional love, for without it I'd be a withered, dead soul and so would all of mankind. Father, please help me to keep my paths straight, and to keep my praises high, for You, Father, are the supreme, most awesome being, and I fall to my knees and lift my hands and praise Your name forever.

Seven

This May will mark 7 years for me here at Mayfair. It has truly been a blessed 7 years. There are more people who deserve so much credit for me to have even be here to this point than I can name. I'm blessed to have so many who have invested in me & poured much of themselves into my life along the way. And while I can't even begin to list all these people, I thought I would list 7 quick things that I've learned throughout my short time in ministry. Don't get too excited, these probably won't change your life...but they have helped me through the years. Here they are in no particular order...

1. Don't stress.
After 7 seven years of doing this I'm definitely less stressed than I used to be. I'm pretty particular about how I like things done but I've found that at the end of the day it all works out. You can't take yourself too seriously. And it's just easier to roll with the punches sometimes. Things seldom work out like you plan them. While I still believe in putting in the work to plan & prepare, I'm better at going with the flow than I've ever been.

2. Let people help.
Honestly, I walked into a great situation following in Lee Milam's footsteps. He had put some great people in leadership places in this ministry. These people & others through the years have really blessed my life & our ministry & made it greater than anything I could have ever done on my own. I'm grateful to have so many leaders around me willing to invest themselves into what we're doing.

3. Pray for Wisdom & Mentors.
I've always prayed for 2 things since I was in Jr. High/High School. I know this will sound weird but it's true. I've always prayed for wisdom & for mentors. And I believe my life has been blessed by both. I'm not the wisest person you'll ever meet, but the LORD has led me to make some great decisions & I attribute those successes to Him. And I can't tell you were I'd be without the powerful influence of 5-6 key men who knowingly & unknowingly have been mentors to me. I'll have to write later about how they've blessed my life. I'm a strong believer in finding & having mentors in your life.

4. A great wife.
If you know her, you'll agree. Alisha has been an incredible wife to me over our seven years of marriage. It takes a special person to be the wife of a minister. And she has handled the role with grace & beauty. I'm proud of her, I love her, & I'm having a baby with her!! How cool is that? August 6 is coming up quick. Check out the Family News blog for more on that.

5. Tune-ups.
You know how a mechanic never seems to have time to work on his own car? The same can be true of ministers in the spiritual sense. I've found it imperative to take time to keep myself "filled up" so that I can continue in ministry with integrity. Here's a brief list of things I've done that have helped me.
--Read quality devotional material.
--Do something physical (i.e. hike, fish, walk the dog, run, etc.)
--Personal retreat. I did this once at Gethsemani, 1 word: Awesome.
--Conferences. Great times of refreshing.
--Personal worship time. A must.

6. Enjoy it.
The thing I love about my job (even though it's really not a job) is that I still love what I do. I make a living by God's grace doing what I would do even if I didn't get paid for it. That's just cool. I don't know how long I'll be in youth ministry, but I know it will be a long time.

7. Run with the distance in mind.
One of my mentors taught me the principle of "Begin with the end in mind." And that truly effects everything I do. From my marriage, to my ministry, to our summer mission trips, to the next class I teach, to how I live my life. I always want to do those things I'll never regret. And even when I began here at Mayfair, my desire has always been to live out my days here.

This past week Rick Warren wrote about the benefits & blessings of staying at one church for the long haul. That has always been my prayer & intention. I love the words Rick prayed, it's as if they were my own:

"Father, I'm willing to go any place in the world you want to send me. But I ask for the privilege of investing my entire life in just one location. I donÂ’t care where you put me, but IÂ’d like to stay wherever it is for the rest of my life."

home again

I'm finally home from a long week at Lipscomb. I do love getting to see all my Lipscomb friends, but there's nothing more exciting than getting to come home on Friday to see my wife.

On the way home, I listened to the Passion: The Early Session 02 - EP. Have you heard it? Great new song by Tomlin, & Louie continues to rock my world. Get it from itunes asap. You won't regret it. Here's the lyrics to the new worship song by Tomlin called "Made to Worship."

You & I are made to worship, You & I are called to love
You & I are forgiven & free
When you & I embrace surrender, You & I choose to believe
You & I will see who we were meant to be

Before the day, before the light
Before the world revolved around the sun
God on high, stepped down into time and wrote the story of His love for everyone
He has filled our hearts with wonder
So that we always remember

You & I are made to worship, You & I are called to love
You & I are forgiven & free
When you & I embrace surrender, You & I choose to believe
You & I will see who we were meant to be

All we are, and all we have
Is all a gift from God that we receive
Brought to life we open up our eyes to see the majesty & glory of the king
He has filled our hearts with wonder
so that we always remember

You & I are made to worship, You & I are called to love
You & I are forgiven & free
When you & I embrace surrender, You & I choose to believe
You & I will see who we were meant to be

Even the rocks cry out, and even the heavens shout
The sound of His holy name
So let every voice sing out, let every knee bow down
He is worthy of our praise

You & I are made to worship, You & I are called to love
You & I are forgiven & free
When you & I embrace surrender, You & I choose to believe
You & I will see who we were meant to be

Subscribe!

2 new things to report. First, you can now subscribe to this blog. And anytime I get around to posting, you'll know via email. Pretty cool huh? And, due to family & friends abroad wanting to see & hear more about what's going on with Alisha & I, especially now that a baby is on the way, we've started a little blog sharing our family news. You can check it out to see what's happening with us & the baby that's on the way.
Enjoy!

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