paul's blog

Wisdom

I've been thinking a lot about wisdom and what exactly the word means lately. Clearly, every one I know would claim that they would like to be wise. However, putting some handles on wisdom seems to be a lot more difficult. As I have thought about it, I have come up with my simple, working definition for wisdom. It actually comes in two parts.

1. Wisdom is the ability to see the relationship between choices and consequences.

In other words, people that are wise have a better understanding of what consequences certain choices will bring. If I plant corn (and provide the proper care), corn will grow. If I say this, this will be the consequence. As I talk to people, one of the things that surprises me the most often is their inability to see what consequence is going to follow if the continue to pursue a certain course of action.

2. Wisdom is making the right choice in light of what the consequence will be.

In other words, it's not just enough to see the correlation between actions and the consequences they will bring, truly wise people make the right choices in light of that ability. It is possible to see and understand the correlation and still make the wrong choice. Wise people don't just see what the right choice would be, they make the right choice.

Prayer Day

Our staff spent the morning in Prayer for the upcoming d-Now weekend our Student Ministry will host. It is so exciting for me to think about the potential that this coming weekend has to change lives. We are expecting somewhere near 400 students to be a part of this weekend.

I spent over 10 years in Student Ministry and a dNow type weekend was one of my very favorite events of the year. I can look back 15 years and think about indivuals whose lives have been changed in drastic ways over the years because of one of these events.

I'm really excited about all that God is going to do in the lives of the students of our church and in the surrounding communities this coming Friday, Sat, and Sunday.

2 New Heroes

Last week I had the privilege of eating lunch with two guys that have become new heroes of mine. Leonard (on the right in the picture) and Andrew. Both of these guys work with in the inner city of Dallas for Reconciliation Outreach Ministries.

Leonard is the CEO of Reconciliation Outreach Ministries and has worked with the poor since the mid 80's. The work that they are doing through this ministry is amazing. They have a Men's and Women's Rehabilitation Program (more about that in a minute). They also run a Charter School with 175 children that are receiving a free (private school quality) education. Eighty percent of these kids come from homes where English is not the primary language and ninety percent live below the poverty line. They also run after school programs and job programs. I loved hearing about Leonard's vision and his faith in what God is going to do through this ministry. I also loved hearing about his Theology of Charity. Basically he believes that there are multiple ways to oppress the poor. You can oppress the poor by ignoring them and you can oppress the poor by just giving to them without teaching them to provide for themselves. He also believes that we will have to answer to God for oppressing the poor in either manner. I was very challenged by that.

Andrew was introduced to me by Leonard as the best Discipler of Men that he knows. He runs the men's and women's rehabilitation programs that currently has 40 women and men whose lives are being salvaged and changed. I was deeply touched as Andrew shared his testimony with me. He was on drugs at 17. Met his wife at 18 and soon after had 2 daughters. At age 30 he went to prison for 6 years. It was in prison that he was introduced to Jesus (by another inmate). What an amazing reminder that God works in powerful, amazing, ways.

Upon leaving prison as a new creation, he got some training and has been working to rehabilitate men and women whose lives are a wreck ever since.

These guys are heroes!

Back to Routine

Today was a huge day of getting back to the routine. For our family, the past few weeks have been days of staying awake late and sleeping in. With my wife (who is a big time night owl) being off work our whole family has stayed up really late. It has been nice to be able to not set the alarm and just wake up when we are ready.....but that has been much later than usual.

So today, it was back to the routine. Waking up early, taking a shower, getting the boys up, getting them dressed and ready for school and feeding them breakfast before taking them to school. It all came really early and really fast.

But, I must say, it felt really good to be getting back to a routine today. Part of what I am doing as a part of my end of year review from last year is really examining my daily routines. What time do I get up? What does my time with God look like? How am I learning and growing each day? Those types of things. I am very convinced that our routines (or daily habits) make us or break us.

As you start this new year, what are the changes that you need to make to your daily routines?

Blessed

I love this day of every year. Our church takes off the Sunday following Christmas and so our family has an annual tradition on this day. Every year, we go to the Blue Mesa Grill for brunch. The spread is pretty amazing and so the food is hard to beat.

Each year, while we are there we do a little family devotional. We spend some time thinking about all the ways in which God has blessed us over the past year (which can be quite amusing with 3 boys). This year we talked about our trip to the beach over the summer, the friends we have, the good health we experienced (although it was mentioned that we did all have a small battle with the much hyped swine flu). We talked about the kids sports experiences.....Noah's basketball and baseball, Caleb's football and basketball, Joshua's Backyardigans dances....lol. We also talked about the our church and the new people that have been connected to God and one another at c|Life this year. The bottom line for us is to just take a few minutes to realized that we have been blessed in huge ways.

I bet if you and your family will take some time to think about it, you will discover that you have been blessed this year too.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

Being thankful has become somewhat of a lost art in our society. Maybe its the entitlement mindset or just a lack of humility, but we seem to have forgotten how to be thankful. We seem to think that everything should be ours and that we "deserve" all that we have and along the way we have forgotten gratitude.

I think gratitude is one of the foundational pieces of strong character. Its the ability to recognize and feel appreciation for what you have received. I try to instill this value in my children and am on a seemingly never ending quest to remind them to say "thank you."

When the people of Israel were getting close to the promise land, Moses reminded them "not to forget" that it was the Lord God that had given them all that they had. In Deuteronomy 8:11- 18 Moses tells them:

¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. ¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of  Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ¹⁵ He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. ¹⁶ He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. ¹⁷ You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." ¹⁸ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

So today...I not only remember to be thankful. I remember who I am thankful to. It is the Lord God who has provided for me in abundance. And to him I give thanks!!!

The steadfast love of the Lord

I love these verses from Lamentations 3:22 - 24:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”

I love the fact that I can count on God coming through for me every single day. He is faithful when I am righteous. In fact he is faithful even when I am not righteous. Faithfulness isn't just what God does.....it's WHO HE IS! It is a part of God's character and God is unchanging. His character is consistent and constant.

I rejoice today in a God who can not help but be faithful.

Acts 4

I love verse 13 in this chapter of Acts. It says, "When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus."

I love the fact that God primarily uses common, everyday people. In fact, it is very rare for God to use Superstars. All through scripture, we find God using the people that wouldn't be our first choices. From Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, to David, etc.....God chose the ordinary.

And it is so true in the book of Acts with the early church Disciples. God chose the "uneducated, common men" over the elite. God didn't choose the guys with the most education or the most uncommon of talent and ability......he chose the normal, everyday Joe.

The other thing that I love in this verse is that others could recognize that Peter and John had been with Jesus. Is there a greater need in the church today then for leaders who have been with Jesus to the extent that others notice it?

Acts 3

As I read the 3rd chapter of the book of Acts, there were 2 main passages that really stuck out to me.

In verses 5 - 7 there is a great interaction between a man that was born lame and Peter and John. The verses tell us that as Peter and John go by, the man asked them for some money. Peter and John's answer to this man is that they have no "silver and gold" but they go on to tell him that what they do have they give to him. And then, they command him to get up and walk in the name of Jesus. Now that is what I call a dramatic effect.

The thing that I love about this passage is that they did not have what the man thought that he wanted or needed. I think it was Craig Groeschal that said that sometimes God's greatest gift to us is in what he doesn't give us. I wonder what would have happened if Peter and John would have had a little cash in their pocket. Is it possible that they would have tossed him some coins, and he would have had some change in his pocket...but still been lame? Good thing that they hadn't made it by the atm that day.

The other verses that I loved and that had a huge impact on me were verses 19 - 20. These verses say: "19 Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out,20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, ..."

These verses emphasize something that I easily and often forget. Repentance! It's easy for me to begin to think that repentance is only for those who are wayward and forget the truth that we are all wayward much of the time. And when we are wayward, we need to repent. And when we repent, we experience the times of refreshing that only can come from an overwhelming awareness of the presence of the Lord.

Acts 2

Acts chapter 2 is I think one of the coolest chapters in the Bible, the amazing movement of the Spirit of God on Pentecost is, in itself, mind blowing.

I am way behind on my Acts posts. My goal is to catch up over the next few days. So here we go today with my observations from Acts 2.

I love in verse 13 when it says that the Apostles were so filled with God's Spirit that people were actually accused of being drunk. In verse 15, Peter had to inform the crowd "For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day." Translation..... "It's only 9 am, they are not wasted." So the moral of the story is that if you are filled with the Spirit, people should think you are drunk. Just kidding, but I do think the moral is that our lives should stand up. Their should be something unique about people who have the Holy Spirit of God inside of them that causes people to recognize that something is just a little off.

In verse 24, I love Peters description of the resurrection: "God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it." I love the phrasing that Peter used....it was not possible. Jesus has always been eternal! He will never cease and death is not a possibility for him.

Verse 41 is pure greatness and sends chills up my spine as it tells us that about three thousand experienced life changing salvation that day. What an amazing day. I do wonder if they had the necessary processes in place to handle those people that professed Christ that day. Were there enough counselors in place? Did they have "membership cards" for them to fill out? Had they ordered enough "Survival Kits" so that these new converts could "survive"? Somehow, I doubt all of that. It's good to be prepared, but the Holy Spirit trumps all of that in a big way.

And lastly, verses 42 - 47 are amazing. They give an amazing picture of what the church is supposed to look like. These verses describe the functions of the church....teaching (vs 42), worship (43, 47), fellowship (42, 44, 46), ministry (45), and evangelism (47). All in all, its an amazing picture of what "community" is suppose to look like in the church.