Bubbles and the Cross

Yesterday is one of those days that I love, well I mean most of it at least. I had the privilege of speaking at our schools chapel service. (Deer Creek Christian School Go Lions!) Now the service I usually speak at is in the morning in my opinion too early. At this service I will talk to the kids that are in preschool all the way up to 5^th grade. Now if you know anything about teaching kids this is a huge span to keep everyone’s attention and interest. I was told that the focus for the month was gentleness.

Right now I can’t tell you the memory verse they were using for it because each grade had it’s own memory verse in addition to the verse of the month. So there was a lot of scripture. I know excesses.

Any way I had planned to use gentleness from the list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

I wanted to tell the kids that when they were gentle to others in all situations Jesus would be edified, because those around them would see that they were different. This in turn may provide an opportunity to share their testimony of what God has done in their lives. yes even Pre schoolers can have a testimony. 

This was all fine and dandy I had illustration set as well as an object lesson. I thought my object lesson would be killer and the kids would love it. I was going to show them that we use not just one of the Fruit of the Spirit but we use all of them to accomplish gentleness then reiterate all the Fruit work together.

 I also wanted to let them know we can display these qualities on our own (with out Gods power and strength) but they would in no way be close to what it would be like if we would allow God to work through us. I would do this by blowing small bubbles then demonstrate how to make huge bubbles. The kind that are huger than Godzilla’s head!

So, great plan I thought but then God had to come along and ask me to take it another step further I felt God's nudging and had to choose whether to obey or not. I believed God wanted me to explain how He works as the Trinity in this too. I said “oh yeah sure and how can I do that?”( there is sarcasm there) If there is one thing you don’t want to do is challenge God because He will have His way one way or another.

With that I realized that to make the God size bubbles it took three things. Water, Dish soap, and magic bubble powder (glycerin this helps hold the bubble together so it can be huge).  Okay so I have the Father – water, the Son – Soap,  and the Holy Spirit – magic helper powder. I said that would be great but I can’t do it because the soap was green not red. Looking back this is just so stupid to say but I said it. Everyone knows that symbols for Jesus have to be red for the blood of Christ. Duh! So I nixed it and thought next time God I will get the red soap. Thanks for the idea well do this one another time.

Well I started my sermon and told the kids that when were young blowing bubbles can be a real talent because when we would try and blow we wouldn’t use gentleness or self control. We would just blow. And nothing would come out. After much practice we would skillfully blow gently and produce a bubble.

Then I showed them that we could not only blow one but several and, if we could catch one of the bubbles and use it to make more with out going back to the bottle. I compared this to how God can use us if we let Him have control and work in our lives by being teachable.  Others would then see our fruit. The result would be many would be touched by the love of God through you and then you can take one of those changed lives and help it to do what you are doing. Sharing God’s great plan with others and teaching them how to live an honoring life for God. This is doubling your efforts. This is what we would call discipleship.

I then changed focus. I still had everyones attention so, I said the little bubbles are like having good values and doing nice things on our own. what we want is something better than we can do on our own. With God this could be so much better and have a bigger impact.  I asked do you want to see what God can do if we let Him have control? Of course they cheered yes!

 So I brought out the God sized bubbles. This is when God stepped in. I said: You see God is made up of three parts God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Then I related each one to the mixture elements:

Water - God is the living water. John 4:13-14 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The Dish Soap (Still Green) – Jesus Hebrews 9:14
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God

The Magic Powder (this is the helper) – the Holy Spirit

John 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

I stood there amazed at what God gave me to say and the kids really understood and got it. I grabbed the wands and made a huge bubble that was as big round as a semi truck tire if not bigger. The kids gasped and Oooed and ahhhed at the floating spectacle as I said this is a God size bubble. This is what God can do through you if you let His Fruit grow in your life then I explained that He would be the one helping us all the way.

 I had volunteers for this next part and asked them to make huge bubble on there own with out my help. They failed. (Part of the master plan) But when I instructed them step by step and they were teachable they had success. I pointed out this is the way God is with us He gives us His word (the Bible) to help us grow in ways that honor Him. Other Christians can help here too with support and prayer.

This was a good day! I just need some help from God.

If you continue on in the passage about the Fruit of the Spirit you will see that we must nail our ambitions, our wants, our selfish desires, to the cross daily.

Galatians 5:24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

This day I needed to be guided by God and walk by the spirit but first I had to crucify my desires. I believe this is what it means to daily take up your cross and follow Christ. How about you? 

Luke 9:23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

 

You’re Part of the Custodian Team?

So the other day I was at a conference that was held at one of Disney’s resorts. I was waiting in line for something when I overheard a conversation between a Disney cast member and a trainee. They were having conversation about a test that would be given to the trainee.

The cast member said, “one question that is usually on the test is how often will you be working as a custodian?” The trainee looked at the cast member as if he was crazy and said, “what?” obviously confused she than continued; “I’m not a custodian” as if it were a slam to be a custodian. The employee laughed with a bit of a sneer and said “Oh but you are”. “You see were all part of the custodian cast member team” he continued, “we take pride in our parks and resorts and are passionate about it being clean and looking the best it possibly can, and it takes concerted effort form all of us.” She nodded with understanding.

I was thinking that if we all could take pride in what were doing like that.  People would want to be apart of our cause or organization. If you watch the cast members you may notice also that they have an attitude of wanting to make things the best they possibly can be for their guests. It’s almost like you’re in their own home. I had many conversations with cast members and even on their bad day their attitude is one that is very hospitable. Most of them said that they enjoy working there the management is great. It was a bit of a different story about the co-workers though but that’s another story for another day. 

I can’t help but think it has to do with the training and being made to feel appreciated. It could also be the sense of being part of something bigger than them, and is moving in a direction that is exciting. It seems that this is an attitude that is expected from the start. If you add all this up it eventually will lead to people being passionate about something. It could be implementing and idea or just wanting to make a difference or helping someone to have a great experience.

Another example was just today in our church the amount of people who showed their support to our NFL team who was in the play offs again. You can see this any time a local favorite team is up to play in a big game. The clothing is on the talk is of support and high expectations of how great the team will play. Don’t even think about talking badly about the team with out getting some sort of guff about it. You can just feel the excitement in the air when a big win is possible. This is passion for something that really has no personal impact on any of us because were just fans. We will only have bragging rights and what is that worth in the over all scheme of things? Not much.

We can learn this though is that people want to have something so desperately in their lives to believe in, that they can hope for, that will give them satisfaction of saying that’s my team with pride.

So I was thinking how can we use this in our churches or ministries to help people be passionate about things that are going on? Which led me to more questions.

One being, why can’t we have a passion or a feeling like were part of something much bigger than us?

Why can’t we be excited about being part of the custodial team?

What stopping us from celebrating big wins in our ministry?

Well I have to go back to the observation of the cast member it comes from those who have been there before and the management. It really needs to be from those who can identify the wins and be excited about it. Because if there showing passion about the wins it will catch on to those who are new or don’t know what is a win for your organization. This will generate excitement and passion for the positive things you value.

Just for example when we have a baptism in our church it’s a big deal at least it should be. In my opinion when a kid is baptized it should be a huge deal. We should draw attention to it because this is a win! We should be celebrating in every way possible letting everyone know how excited we are because of what God is doing in lives at our church.

 Not only that but if it’s a kid how much of a great thing it is because this is securing who we are for generations to come. Our beliefs our values and how many lives this child can impact because they have their whole life ahead of them. In order for all that to happen though they have to have a good management or support system (leadership) in place to guide them, train them, and help them know what and when to celebrate.

This is actually is the responsibility of the parents/guardians of the child. We see this in my favorite passage Deuteronomy 6:4-9. If they have no other support system that is when the church needs to step up and provide as much as they can. Again this is a blog for another time.

So guess to make this all help our churches and ministries it needs to start with those in leadership and those who are mature enough to influence others. This all reminds me of the book of Nehemiah.

 He had a passion to make a difference and change the course of a nation.  He did this by sharing the passion and vision God gave him. Nehemiah showed others what the issue was. (Rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.) Then he encourages those in his sphere of influence. Showing them what a win looked like.

Check it out: Nehemiah 2:17-18 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” ¹⁸ I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me. They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.

We can even see Jesus giving encouragement to John in prison. He wanted John to be able to celebrate the wins that were going on even in his depressing situation. You can find it in Matthew 11:4-6. (verse 5: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.)

I also think that Jesus said this so His disciples would understand some of the things that could be considered as wins in ministry. Jesus had a passion for those who were not committed to God and those that wanted to be in relationship with the Lord. I believe Jesus knew that His passion was contagious and exciting. He gave people hope and those around his knew they were apart of something way bigger then themselves.

So if you’re in leadership try and figure out what wins are for you and become so passionate that it’s contagious. Celebrate at every opportunity. Continually share the vision and excitement you see to everyone who will listen. We need to be like the sports fans I talked about and defend your team at all times. Don’t forget to wear you sprit gear for all to see what team you support and are a fan of. Be proud of what God is doing in your house and play on any team that brings passion and excitement to your Game! Go, go, go team!!

“Crabby Patties”

Have you ever seen the show Sponge Bob Square Pants? Well if you have you either hate it or love it or just don’t care. Some people say I can’t stand the voice  or something I just can’t put my finger on. I’m a sometimes love it and some times highly dislike it.

Either way one of the big themes that run through the shows is a burger called a Crabby Patty” it’s served at the Crusty Crab Dinner. How would you like to eat there? To me the show is filed with charters that are either negative or pessimist that some how get rescued by this optimist Sponge Bob.

I was thinking the other day as Chrissy who loves these gummy candy crabby patties. They look like a burger with everything on it. Reminds me of a “In‘n Out” burger. Theses burgers are only made by Sponge Bob with Mr. Crab’s secret recipe. For some reason Sponge Bob is the only one who can do it right. Once some one has one of these burgers and I could be wrong on this but it seems to me that magically every thing is all right in life.

Any way she was eating a Crabby Patty and I was thinking about how nice it would be if these little gummy burgers had that effect on us. If we were crabby and wanted to change our outlook we just would eat a "Crabby Patty". Better yet if some one around you was being negative and crabby you could offer them a "Crabby Patty". The world would be changed by "Crabby Patties" life would be GOOD!

Well the truth is that they don’t change our mood or personality only we can we have the power to do this everyday. Now sometimes for some people there are chemical imbalances that can make life hard. Even with imbalances we still choose or attitude for the day. We can choose to eat a “Crabby Patty” and have a great day or choose to be negative.

The thing about being negative is it’s easy and it’s contagious like a bad cold virus. We shake hands and pass on our gift. I once read that it takes 10 positives to overcome one negative. “Yikes”, that’s a lot of “Crabby Patties”. It’s so over whelming that I might just think, why try with the world being as negative as it is. I’m like a salmon swimming up stream.

When I lived in Maryland we use to go crabbing and you would catch a crab on a string with an old stinky piece of chicken. Put your bait in the water and wait to feel a tug. Then, you would pull it up and throw the crab in a bucket. Yea one crab but the secret to not letting the crabs get out was catching another one as fast as you can. You see the one crab in the bucket would try to escape. It would hit the side try and tip it over the bucket and sometime it would be successful and get away(they can be fast!). Almost always though if you get two crabs together in the bucket they will pull each other down instead of working together. There is no real hope of getting out.

This is the way that negativity works. Where two or more negatives are gathered let the negativity flourish. We need to feed those people some “Crabby Patties” quick! This seems hopeless.

The truth is though is that some of us have an opportunity to release themselves and others from this. Those of us who have Jesus as our Savior can use a secret power that we have at our fingertips. Okay ready for this…Its called Joy.

Joy is a state of being it’s a way of life. Many times we think joy is an emotion but it’s not. The writer of the book of James knew this. James 1:2 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds”. This means when life gets crazy hard.  Then Paul the writer of Philippians say we are to Rejoice in always Philippians 4:4.  Not just part of the time or when were feeling like it. Rejoiced always!

Yes hard times will come but we have to choose our attitude or another way of putting it is a mentality. For Christ followers it should be a mindset of the Kingdom to come. Life is short and we need to help those around us see the light of Jesus. We are just like withering flowers or fleeting shadows (paraphrased) Job 14:1-2 .

Our mentality, be it positive or negative we need to keep it in check. My point is that if we have a negative out look, or if our attitude is negative. It’s harder to be a witness of some one walking in the Joy that Jesus brings to our lives. Yes, it is a choice. When your eyes open or feet hit the ground in the morning, it’s your choice to let the joy of Christ flow out of you. It is a battle and won’t change over night unless God changes it miraculously. (That can happen.)

So here is my challenge to you and myself to choose a positive attitude and have a kingdom mentality every day so we can be a positive witness for Jesus! Don’t eat “Crabby Patties” they don’t change anything. Perhaps the size of your clothes that another thing for another blog.

Letting Go

I’m in the middle of a transition in my ministry and at times it can be hard. Last year around May, I was talking to my coaching team about retooling our ministry giving it a new look. So we came up with some ideas that would enhance our present ministry. We tweaked a few things in our service and started to plan out some cool, exciting improvements for our first impressions area.  We wanted a fun “wow” factor to kids but more to parents.

You may be saying WHAT? It’s all about the kids well that is only partially true. You see if we don’t have parents saying hey that looks like fun and you just might learn something. The truth is that the kids won’t be dropped off. Especially on the days they need it most. On the flip side parents might look at your first impression area and say yea this church has nothing for our family. They don’t value the most precious gift given to me.  My kids.

You see your first impression is very important and the stats say you have 7 minuets to make an impact to determine whether a family will return or not and that is from the arrival in your parking lot. That’s enough to make your head spin. That’s not a lot of time to show people what your ministry is all about.

I see kids ministry first impressions like this. It’s kind of like this a box of cereal. The kids look at the box and see if it looks fun, and exciting but really they are interested in how it tastes and what the prize is inside.

For parents they want to see that the kids will be excited about it and want what is inside. Then you have the list of ingredients on the back. They want to know what this is made of, but most people look at that part last. It’s not that it’s lacking importance, because you and I both know that this is where the real part is. In our case the teaching about life change and living a life honoring God.

 So you should see this is an important part of our ministry these days not that it should be but it is. You and I know it’s really not the “wow” factor but that kids feel the love of God in a real tangible way.

So, we need to consider the way our ministries look. For us we needed an update and through a transition in our church, our ministry had to speed up the facelift. So one of the areas that needed a change was our welcome center. My team had not discussed the changes that needed to be made at length before but when they headr that the changes needed to be made they were on board. The truth was that I had what some would say high ownership of the way it looked. I say that I was emotionally attached to the way this thing looked it represented the start of a series of changes that would make our healthy ministry into what it is today.

So I approved some changes and entrusted the work to be done by someone else. This was scary but I was ensured I would be consulted every step of the way. As things are progressing I tried to cast a vision for what I saw this to be and we made some choices and compromises.

Today the rubber hit the road. I was approached by one of the people who was going to be working on the project they showed me the materials they would work off of and I agreed that they would do. But deep inside I was not sure this was the best direction for this to go.

So I helped clear a work area and walked away and left it in God’s hands. I returned to see the progress a few hours later and to my surprise it was exactly what I envisioned. This was great but the bad part was that in that moment the vision changed. The materials that we had purchased now would not work. I stood there and communicated the big vision for this to the person who was working on it. After hearing my vision they were able to understand what believed that we needed. They asked if there could be more changes than I had originally said they could do. And I heard a quit voice say… “yes”. (It was my wife) Then I spoke up and said yea we could go for it.

 In that moment I realized I had a sacred cow in my ministry and I needed to have a steak dinner. So now I’m very excited about the new impressions we will be making to everyone who comes through the doors.

Though I have good intentions I need to put my trust in God and He has all the plans worked out. I just needed to seek him. This may seem trivial to some but a big life lesson is this. If we commit ourselves to praying and seeking God we will see His plans for us and we will be encouraged beyond our wildest dreams. He has some of the greatest things in store for us, but we are not the focus here. We will be amazed at the things He can do to bring Himself all glory and fame though our efforts. It’s for God we labor.

I’m reminded of a few passages of scripture that I will wrap up with you figure out how they fit. 

Jeremiah 29:11-14

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity.^[b] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

Colossians 3:23  whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,

 

Group Hug

Last night I spent some time with a friend who happens to be an elder at my church and one of my coaching staff leaders. We were talking about changes at our church that have come and those that may come one way or another. Some things could be great while others would lead to times of hardship. As we talked and encouraged each other to totally depend on God for direction and provision in our lives. Our conversation took a turn, and we started to look at some of the impact that God has had over the years through our ministry together. He reminded me of something that happened a few weeks ago that was a moment of God speaking to my team and me.

Each Sunday morning my coaching team tries to gather for a time of prayer together. We pray for the day ahead and for each other we ask for Gods blessing to be upon our church and our children’s ministry this day and those to come. So this particular morning we had a late start to our prayer time and kids had stared to arrive mostly kids of our leaders who help in our ministry. As we were praying we could hear playing and some running past us. Just before we were half way done we could hear Marc hading our way.  Now I have to pause for a moment and tell you about my friend Marc.

Marc is one of our special needs kids who is in 6^th or 7^th grade but comes to worship in the elementary ministry. He fits in great! He’s one of those kids who love to touch your hands or arms when he’s talking to you. He likes to be a clown at times but never is out to hurt anyone.  Mark’s dream is to be the character from the Nintendo game Mario Bro’s. He wants to be Mario. What an imagination he has and he has such a big heart. Mark seems to love everyone but most he loves God.

Well, as I was saying we could here Marc coming he came up to our circle ducked under our hand clasped hands and made his way into the middle. There were only four of us this day. As he stood there in the middle, in his own way asked what were doing? Some one said in a whisper “were praying”. He stood quietly and watched and listened as we prayed for God’s blessing on our team and day. Just as one of us said in Jesus name Marc pointed to another person and said your turn. Then he stood and listen some more until that leader was wrapping up, then if my memory serves me he said I pray and he prayed a short prayer and then pointed and said you go. Then satisfied that we were doing well he ducked under our hands and off to play he went. We all stood there with smiles on our faces tears rolling down some cheeks. We wrapped up the prayer and knew that this day was good and God had blessed us.

My friend pointed this out to me saying “some times we just need a hug from God and other times we just need to jump up in the center of His lap and tell him that we love Him.” He continued to say this what he thought of  when Marc  jumped into our  circle he was jumping into the Lords lap as we were giving God a group hug. Marc wanted to be apart of it.  How cool is it when we see the fruit of our labor?

God showed us that day that we were making a difference in the lives of children and families. Marc would have never felt so comfortable getting in the middle of us if he didn’t know we loved him and God.

So when was the last time you jumped into the lap of our Lord and looked him in the face and a said “I love you.”? 

Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Fountain Jerk

Back in the day a fountain jerk was someone who would take fountain soda orders and fill them. They were kind of like a bar tender for sodas. You could order all kinds of specially flavored drinks. Though they weren’t all that popular I do remember going to two places when I was little to have a fountain soda my favorite was Cherry Coke or a Vanilla Coke. I don’t remember much about it but I do remember it being a special treat.

This past weekend I had another special treat. I was at a conference at Disney World, FL. The last day I was in Fl. my wife and I went to Downtown Disney. After having a nice afternoon we headed for the bus stop, but before we could leave we had to stop and get some gummy candy for Chrissy and a Mickey Premium Ice Cream bar for me.

 There is nothing like a Mickey bar! So we took our treats and headed to the bus stop before we reached the stop we took a rest on a bench in front of a dancing fountain. This in one of those fountains that water springs up from holes in the ground and each time you’re not sure where it will come from. It’s a fun surprise for everyone. So we sat and talked eating out goodies as kids challenged running through the fountain without being hit with a stream of water.

I watched as one boy about 10 or 11 who had been caught by surprise with the water. Stood in the middle daring the fountain to get him. Other kids ran through the fountain hopping and jumping giggling when they would get wet. This boy was no different he stood in the middle of the dancing water when all the holes sprang up water at the same time the kids ran and squealed with joyful delight.

 As the boy was standing on the outer rim of the fountain with a huge smile on his face waiting for the right moment to dodge the squirts of water. A hand landed on his shoulder and pulled him to the side. As I watched the man with his hand resting on the boys arm the smile ran away from his face the joy melted form his countenance. The man was obviously telling him that he needed to think about what he was doing and that he shouldn’t be fooling around getting wet.

The man obviously his father told him to sit on the bench away from the fountain and think about his actions. He slowly turned and walked with head hung in shame and embarrassment. The father watch until he was satisfied that the boy was going to follow though with his command and turned and went back in a store to finish his business. This guy was a real fountain Jerk spoiling his kid’s fun. Who was he hurting? He was just a little damp on his shirt and it the warm sun would dry in no time. I was a bit angry.

The boy sat there what seemed like hours to me and I’m sure to him too. His new friends looking around for him he gained his composure and looked up. Sadness filled is eyes and disappointment that ran deep. He watched the other still playing as their parents cheered them on laughing with excitement as the water dance by them.

I watched as joy slowly broke thought the embarrassment as he watched his friend’s skip and dance. It was all okay that he wasn’t able to play but just to watch brought joy to his eyes.

At that moment tears welled up in my eyes I was whisked away back to a month ago when I was that fountain Jerk. Stressed, tried, worried, hungry yelling at my youngest to stay out of the very same water. Right then it all melted way from me and I saw who I was when I let the world around me cut me off from my joy. In that split second I realized that I stole and fun experience a memories that could have should have been made and treasured for years to come. God clobbered me my heart went out not only to this child but my kids too. Then to the father of this boy and me as a father.

We need to be careful not to get so wrapped up in the things of this world that can steal our joy our love our happiness. We need to remember all theses things will pass to treasure each and every moment you are blessed with. I’m not saying to not discipline or train your children but I am saying is take a quick evaluation and step back before you become a fountain jerk.

My heart was turned towards the father by a child to see my sin and repent.

Malachi 4:6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

Be careful listen to your heart and to the father above remember James 1:19  My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,

Perspective

Well for the last few days I have been trying to tie up all looses ends so I could attend CPC (Children’s Pastors Conference) this year. Up to November I had not planned on attending this year. It’s expensive. Once you add up the cost of airfare, hotel room, and the cost of conference it can be a good amount. We have gone in the past because it is a great place to be fed as a Christian leader to kids. You learn all kinds of cutting edge techniques and sharpen old skills that are always effective. This also has a massive vendor area that you can see what is new for reaching kids and families. After learning and seeing everything my team would bring it all back and pour it into all our volunteers through training meetings and one on one. So instead of just a few benefiting my whole ministry benefits.

It’s kind of like an infomercial. There’s More! My team and I have gone out to train other church leaders too. We can forget about the benefits that parents get from connecting with one of my team when they need resources or just encouragement. Then we have the important ones the kids. They benefit the most because they have a renewed core leadership looking to help them grow closer to God. CPC is like a week at the most energizing and refreshing thing you can think of.

So How in the world am I on a plane going to CPC? Well I was asked to help staff a booth for Standard Publishing. They are taking care of the whole trip in exchange for working their booth. Pretty sweet I think.

Last week I received a call from my representative from Standard. She wanted to find out if I could do them a big favor. They wanted me to take over a break out session. They had a speaker back out and need someone to fill in and I was suggested. I have done these sessions before but have had them planned out months in advance. So I accepted like a crazy man. I thought well this one must be Gods and if it is he will give me the things I need to make it come together. So not only have I been getting ready for an exciting transition in my children’s ministry (space change) and all the other things I normally do but I have had this too. If this is not enough, our water heater decided to stop heating the water on Saturday night. humm… and ton of other things that I’m not going mention happened. We do have hot water now thanks to Mr. Bob Mosel PTL for him and I pray many blessing on him and his family!

So I got to bed around 1:30am then back up at 4:40 am today and get ready to leave (Sleep is overrated!) and I look outside and its snowing and coming down good I said okay great what next?

My awesome family and beautiful wife (yes even at 5 am that’s amazing!!) get me to the airport on time. I get through security and go to McDonalds for some coffee and sandwich then to the gate. I sit and it starts to hit me I’m by myself eating the traditional CPC breakfast. I’m going to my ministry teams highlight of the year alone. I’m not carrying some else’s bag or asking Mickey if he has a power source for our mobile devices. I look out side at the snow and the dark gloom. I’m not in a very good frame of mind.

I board the plane alone. I put my bags in the overhead storage alone. I sit in my seat and look over at the rest of the row and think yep ALONE! As I sit the listing to the safety briefing I’m just thinking man how boring I’m all by myself and at the hotel room I will be yep that’s right alone. I hear the captain say we need to pull out and beginning the deicing process. I watch out my window as the trucks move around the plane seemed like I was watching an episode of “Bob The Builder”. As the fluid is being sprayed I asked God help me get out of this funk. We lined up to takeoff the plows clear the way making a safe way for the plane to take off then we go. Up, up and away into the gloom and doom. Ears popping with the steep climb and then we break though to the gorgeous sun filled blue skies and I realize. Dude come on it’s your outlook on what’s going on change it or be miserable.

This could be an awesome experience with adventure around every corner. It’s up to you to decide. It was like God painted this picture for me to get my head on straight. How cool is it that we can call on our creator and he hears our cries and helps us in our time of need. Psalm 17:6-7 I call on you, O God, for you will answer me: give ear to me and hear my prayer. Show the wonder of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes.

Just like the airplane breaking through all the gloom to beautiful sunny skies. God will hear your prayers. It just might take some time or a change of perspective.

So…how’s you perspective today? I hope if its not in line with God’s will you will ask for Him to help you change it. I also hope it was better than mine.

Left-Over

 Yesterday, in Creekside my elementary area of my Children’s Ministry I taught on devotions and quiet times. Last week I was asked by Standard Publishing to present a break-out session on “Teaching Kids To Fall In Love With Devotions” So as I started to work on it. I wanted to put a few of my thoughts to the test and see how my kids would respond to the ideas I had on helping them fall in love with devotions.

As I wrote my lesson I kept thinking that its not that we want kids to fall in love with devotions but fall in love with spending time with God. Some may say that a Kindergartener would not understand or grasp the concept of spending time with an invisible God let alone stay focused enough to communicate with God.

I have to say that we are fools if this is what we think. Sometimes it’s easier for a small child to do this than a full grown adult. Kids already have imaginations that rock the socks of adults. Some say well they don’t understand who it is that their spending time with.

Well I can’t help but to think of when Jesus rebuked His disciples from keeping the children for coming to him. (Mark 10:14) Or when he said the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. (Matthew 19:14) I believe Jesus wanted those who follow Him to learn a few things from this. He knew that they had what it would take to make it thought this world. I could go on and on about this but the bottom line is this. A lot of times we shortchange the children, with only expecting them to be able to understand simple things.

As I progressed though this lesson showing the kids that we needed to spend time with God and that He wants to spend time with us. It occurred to me that this was not me telling the kids that He wants to commune with them on a daily basis, but it was straight from the word of God. This meant that it was God telling them He wanted a special time with them.

I approached it in the same way as having an appointment with God everyday.  How could they understand appointment? Well since most of them have grown up knowing the importance of appointments. Think about it since they were babies the have been told they have doctor appointments. This is an easy concept to grasp and with having doctor appointments the priority has been communicated as very important.  So how much more important is an appointment with the one who made the heavens and the earth, the one who created them? They understood this immediately.

That hard part for me was to try and communicate that God wants our best, first fruits. He wants to be number one. I wanted to do this in a way that they understand that sometimes we put God on the back burner and when we have time extra time we give it to Him. So I thought about something they could relate to food. Specifically left-overs.

I said when we have a good meal we look forward to the freshness on the meal and the great flavor it has. We may even look forward to having the same meal again for lunch the next day.  But if we continue to have the same meal at every sitting it gets old. It looses it’s flavor, it’s excitement, and eventually all left-overs need to be thrown away. The point is that God wants to have that first meal with us. He doesn’t want the scraps or what’s left over. He deserves much more that this.

The kids totally caught it and when I asked how often should we spend time with God the answer was given “all the time”. Why is it so hard for us to get this but not just get it but also do it?

 The sad part is that it’s due more time than not to our busy schedules. The killer is this while other beliefs are raising there kids to put their beliefs first, we are saying to our Christian families “were just to busy for God”. Instead of helping our kids were hurting them and keeping blessings from them. By filling there lives with things that will help them succeed in this wonderful world while we let their eternity fall to chance or unintentionally show them time with God has less importance than the things we stay busy with.

 I have to stop and ask where do I want my children to succeed? (Not just my family but also my ministry kids) Do I want them to succeed in this life or the one that will never end?

 I think about 1 Peter 2:2 “like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation” what is our salvation worth and what are we saying to our kids about their salvation? Is it time to really crave God like he craves to be with us? Who are the adults? Who gets it? A 5 year old or me? Man, I need to get my act together.  How about you? 

Princes and Princess

Today I had the privilege to take some of my ministry kids out for lunch and movie. It was a actually a prize they choose from scoring huge amounts of points at this years Vacation Bible School.

Yes, I know that was a long time ago. In my defense there was not a good kid movie in theaters that I felt would be appropriate for me to take my kids to. But finally there has been a few that had good possibilities. I chose Tangled.

So like any good Children’s minister I took them out to Mc Donald’s for happy meals and chocolate chip cookies. Oh yea it was a hit. They all loved their happy meals and were amazingly appreciative to me and church for holding up our part of the prize and not forgetting.

After filling their bellies with french fries. We made our way to the theater to see Disney’s “Tangled”. Of course we had to get kid popcorns and slushies yum! We entered the theater one of the girls said “awesome were the only ones here this cool!”. Eventually few others came in. But to them it was a private showing with friends and SNACKS!

The movie was great we laughed we cried and ate popcorn. Could it get better than this? When the movie was over all the kids thanked me numerous times for everything. It was obvious to me that this would be a day they remembered for years to come.

As I reflect on the day it’s neat to think that I was able to make the kids feel special almost like Princes and Princesses. You know the really cool thing is that some times the simplest things in life can make people happy.(usually easer with kids than adults. There’s a lesson there too.) What I did was just small in comparison to the things that God can do for us.

I know that I forget a lot of times that I am a child of the King of kings and Lord of lords. I get so tangled in all of life’s pressures and challenges that I loose site of what is really important… our relationship to God.

He is our provider for everything. In John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”. With God our lives can be greater than we ever imagined. We need to remember when life gets hairy and we get all tangled up that God is there for us with His wonderful haling powers. He hears our cries and will answer because we are Princes and Princess of the true King!

Pop-a-Wheelie!

Wow, what a day! Today was my third child’s birthday he turned 14 today.

I remember when I was 14 it was a monumental year. It was my freshmen year in high school.  I lettered in cross-country running (if you know me now it’s hard to imagine.) we took my second trip to the most magical place on earth Disney World. We also visited the Dark Continent, Bush Gardens. This year I also lost my roll model, hero, one of my best friends my Mommom (my grandmother). I also stared to have my first relationship that would last longer then any other. My first love Jesus.  It was a life-changing year.

Well, Jonah decided to go to Texas Roadhouse for his birthday for so juicy steaks they were very good. The best part was that we had a gift certificate too! The very best part was having Jonah sit on the birthday saddle and everyone give him a big ye-haw!

Well, if that was not eventful enough my night was just starting. We had driven two vehicles today because of crazy schedules and having to fix a teenager’s flat tire and so on. So I had to go pick up the truck we left at the church. So I Got there and Got out of the van and looked at the truck and felt like something was telling me to look at the tires so I unlocked the truck for Silas to climb in and I looked at the tires one by one the passenger side was well lit with the light of a street light in the lot.  The other side was not so well lit. So I stood staring at the rear tire but not seeing anything. I moved to the front and saw nothing. So I climbed in and we took off.

I traveled about three miles when I felt like we were getting a flat so I started to pull off to the center of the street to get to a parking lot. I went up a little hill and go about 50 feet and felt the tire going down quicker so I hurried to get it in a good position to change the tire just as I got it in place the back end of the driver side fell down. I thought wow this is a serious blow out.

So I jumped out into the 10-degree weather to inspect the damage. As I looked at the tire it was still inflated so I though gosh I have a broken axel. Then a looked again at it and saw that my wheel just popped off. The 3 of the 5 lug bolts were sheered off and the remanding 2 had no lug nuts. I stood there in amazement. So I called Chrissy who was just a bit ahead of me and she came back to my aid. Then I remembered that I had a floor jack in the back of the truck from changing the tire earlier. So I jacked it up and say the damage the tire was fine but the bolts and the rim we damaged.

So I said to Chrissy well were going to need to get it towed. She said well call AAA I said well were going to have to pay because I used our last tow a few months ago with a breaking issue on the truck. She said hey it’s a new year. I said but our card renews at the end of January. So I called and the girl said Mr. Hunter this is your last tow for the year. Good thing you only have 2 weeks to go until you renew. I asked are you sure? She said yes sir. I was like okay thank you. The tow truck came and figured out if you take a lug from the two fount tires you can reconnect the wheel that popped off and get the truck up on the roll back.

So in the truck on the way to the garage I started to count my blessings. It was crazy that I stood looking at the wheels and felt like there was something wrong. Then that I was so close to the parking lot that I could get into and that, the wheel popped off just as I got stopped. If I was on an express way going 50 miles an hour it could have been disastrous for Silas and me. Or if the wheel dropped off, as I was turning or just in the road I would have caused another accident because the roads were slippery.

Today I heard that life is full of coincidences. And the best explanation is the God wanted to be anonymous. Well I know that God was with us on this trip home.  Some times its so easy to see Gods hand in things and others it’s not so obvious. The fact is that God is always with us and things will turn out good. Perhaps things are not enjoyable or easy but good. In the book of Romans 8:28 says: “that we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” So though all these bad things happened its all good. I may never know the purpose but that’s okay. God gave me another day to live and to experience His love and be a witness to His unfailing love to us. 

Just thinking

This past week I needed to have my Children’s Ministry resource room moved. Let me describe one of the three rooms we occupied. In this room we had 4 bakers carts filled (overflowing actually) then 2 other shelving units just as big and full. Not so bad?  Not so… we also have a small clothing rack for costumes that was not holding up due to the abundance of costumes. Did I mention the 6 trashcans full of props?  And any other useable space filled with props. This room was full but not horribly messy just what I would say manageably disorganized.  I’m not the greatest organizer but this needed done and I decided that with this move would come new fresh organization.

After some convincing (me being convince that they could handle the move) one of our families that supports my ministry a ton took on the initial move. They move everything to one room across the church to be sorted. This room was close to where the new resource room would be. Everything was moved in one night. But if I thought I had a mess before WOW! It was an understatement now. No fault of anyone person. The realization that we had more than we needed was in my face. This was so cluttered that I was not even able to make the piles to sort. After moving some things around and quick purging and a trip to Wal-Mart for storage containers. I was able to start. It seemed to take hours but with encouragement from staff and leaders I moved forward. I made a toss pile, a keep pile, and a long-term storage pile. The next day I had tons of help packing, sorting, organizing, and labeling. You got to love the Dymo labeler!

With in one week we moved and condensed 3 areas that we considered to be all our resources down to 2 rooms the size of the one original room. Everything is labeled and easily attainable to those who need it for their ministry on the weekend.

Going forward we will have a request sheet and supply boxes that will be filled with the supplies requested. Ready to be pick up by the date needed. Then after the services are over the boxes will be due back to the room for clean up and redistribution and inventory.  Hopefully this will minimize the supply scatter and disorganization.

But wow what a task! Thanks to everyone who but their time and sweat and tears into this project!

I was thinking sometimes this is just like our lives. We collect and hold on to things over the years. It could be it possessions or habits or even priorities. Whatever it is we need to take time to step back and clean out the resources room of our lives. Some we need to just trash, others we need to hand over to another person to handle. Then you have some you want to keep ready to use at any moment. Yet, those hard ones we so want to cling to we need to turn over to God, to help us put them into the right area. I can’t help but think of the prayer of Jonah 2:7-8: “Those who cling to worthless idols 
 turn away from God’s love for them.”

We need to organize our lives and reprioritize. So the things that God has given us to use to give Him glory we can tap into quickly and easily with out being tripped up but junk clogging up our lives. So don’t wait start to clean out the clutter!