Root Beer Float

JM, my four year old with a sometimes teenage appetite, says to me tonight:

Daddy, I wanna root beer float.

That'd be good JM, but we don't have any root beer or ice cream.

Can I have an orange float then?

That'd be good too, but we don't have any orange soda & we still don't have any ice cream.

Can I just have some ice cream?

JM, we didn't have any ice cream before & we still don't have any.  How 'bout a banana or an apple?  We have those.

How many times have I asked God for something and he's going:

Dude.  

It's not a possibility.

The ingredients aren't available for you right now.

And, even if they were, that item is not on your menu.

God delights in giving good gifts to his children.  He is sovereign.  He wants us to ask Him all things in prayer. All things.  So much more than we self sufficient, pride drunk people usually do.

Yet.  Next time I ask God for something.

I'll remember a root beer float.

Leave a comment of when you asked God for one thing & got something different, & better, in your life.

Hoodie

About a year ago I found this old hoodie in the back of my closet.  Wrinkly with a stale hadn't been worn in forever smell, I pulled it down.  Memories came tumbling down with it.

The spring of 1985.  Nearing completion of ninth grade & my less than illustrious career at North Richland Junior High.  As freshmen, we were the big dogs of junior high & not the tadpoles of senior high. Spring football that year included shared practices at the high school that we were bused to.  And each of us were given Rebel football hoodies so we'd look the same on the field at Richland High School.  A proud moment it was, receiving this hoodie from Coach Staples.  You can still make out HOUSEHOLDER scrawled across it in permanent ink.

Since rediscovering it, I washed it & pull it out to wear around the house from time to time.  This morning as I was helping my six year old learning to read masterfully daughter, Mary Elizabeth, get her coat on she read it. 

"Ree-buhls.  Where'd that come from, Daddy?"

"Oh, Honey, I got this a long time ago.  Almost 26 years ago.  Before I went to high school."

"Wow, Daddy, you haven't grown much since then."

Melanie laughed out, "Haven't grown much?," looking at my slight 40-something belly.

"Well, Mary, Mama & Daddy are basically the same size as we were in high school.  Some things," motioning from my chest to tummy,  "may have just shifted around a little bit."

She flew out the door to the bus.  My mind tumbled.  Not about physical changes since high school, but real growth.  Maturity.

Personally, socially, spiritually.

How have I grown?

Where am I weak?

If I knew then what I do now, how would I have been different in high school?

Who would I have treated better?

How would my life be different as a result?

Most of you, Dear Readers, are not in high school anymore.

But.

You can still grow.

You can still change.

Take a moment & write a comment.

What do you wish you'd known or done differently growing up?

What do you need to, maybe as a result of reading this post, change today? 

Joy to You

How's your joy?  Really.  Are you joyful?  I mean it.

Joy check.  Right now.  Yes, you.  Let's check. No matter your circumstances.  Things going great.  Or not so much. Thinking you are more blessed than you deserve.  Or wondering what curse you inherited.

Luke 2:10 records, "And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.'"  Do you have joy?  Great joy?  You make up one part of the phrase "all people", don't you?  The angel meant you.  Me.  Us.  We.  Joy.  Really.  Joy.  No kidding.  It's right there in the Bible. God said it.  He meant it.  For real.  Joy.

And then the carol.  Not Scripture, true.  But meaningful to many of us.  A connection through verse & song. Memories mixed with melodies.  Visions of Christmases past.  Anticipation of eternity future.

Joy to the World , the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room, And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing, And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Amidst all you are doing these days.  Making your list.  Checking it twice.  Have you left room for Jesus? Maybe you need to make room for Jesus.  He came to save you.  He wants to guide you.  He has always loved you. "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' & believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved," says Romans 10:9.  Take a minute to ask: Have I opened my heart to Jesus?

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns! Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

Oh, I hope you are singing.  This time of year.  Christmastime.  Celebrating the of the birth of our King, Jesus. Even you non-singers.  You shower only singers.  You stick in the mud afraid to sing a note folks.  I hope you are singing carols.  Smiling.  Thinking.  Joyful.  For all God is & has done for you.  If you are not singing right now will you ask, why am I not singing the praises of Jesus?

No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found, Far as, far as, the curse is found.

Did you know that when Adam & Eve sinned creation itself fell?  The perfection of creation was marred by sin. And the curse of sin came to earth.  Genesis 3:17-18 tells us so.  From that time until now, one sin has followed another. We can't help it.  It's our sin nature.  Yet, God brings us into personal realtionship with Himself - through his son, born to us on earth, Jesus Christ - to love us no matter our sinfulness.  We must ask in response: How do I spread the blessings of Jesus?

He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love, And wonders, wonders, of His love.

"The Word (note the capital "W", Friends) became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One & Only (more capitals), who came from the Father, full of grace & truth," states John 1:14. Jesus is the Word of God to us.  God in flesh.  Living Grace.  Incarnate Truth.  He is full of both grace & truth.  I pray that you know both his grace & his truth in your life.  I pray that you can consider & live out this last question herein: How can I share the love of Jesus?

Open your heart.

Sing his praise.

Spread his message.

Share his love.

And about that joy check: How's your joy now?

Merry CHRISTmas, Friends!

Fifty Weeks

Have you been discouraged?

Attacked or slandered by enemies?

Beaten by circumstance upon conspiring circumstance?

At the end of yourself?

Hope gone?

Faith fragile?

No more thinking.

No more crying.

No more praying.

Where only God's mercy could rescue you from the mess you & others had created?

Only God's grace could give you what you could never earn alone?

Only God's love could soften calloused, embittered hearts?

Read God's Word to you in Psalm 56.  Yesterday a friend quoted verse 13 in class of twenty people.  Yet he was speaking just to me.

Psalm 56

¹ Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me;
     all day long they press their attack.
² My slanderers pursue me all day long;
     many are attacking me in their pride.

³ When I am afraid,
     I will trust in you.
⁴ In God, whose word I praise,
     in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
     What can mortal man do to me?

⁵ All day long they twist my words;
     they are always plotting to harm me.
⁶ They conspire, they lurk,
     they watch my steps,
     eager to take my life.

⁷ On no account let them escape;
     in your anger, O God, bring down the nations.
⁸ Record my lament;
     list my tears on your scroll --
     are they not in your record?

⁹ Then my enemies will turn back
     when I call for help.
     By this I will know that God is for me.
¹⁰ In God, whose word I praise,
     in the LORD, whose word I praise--
¹¹ in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
     What can man do to me?

¹² I am under vows to you, O God;
     I will present my thank offerings to you.
¹³ For you have delivered me from death
     and my feet from stumbling,
    that I may walk before God
     in the light of life. 

Fifty weeks ago I was at verse 1.  More than a year's previous trouble, some of my own creating & some created by others, had come to one afternoon meeting.  I saw no way out.  My reasons didn't matter.  My fight didn't matter.  I was done.

Yet. In God's sovereignty I needed no more reasons nor fight.  He had determined.  He had done what no person could.  In His grace.  For His purpose.

Fifty weeks later I am at verse 13.  Near a year's worth of healing, learning, growing, forgiving, depending, & loving came to that same afternoon meeting.  A completely different situation.  A lesson from my life.  To your life.  You can make it through.

God is sovereign.  He loves you.  He will deliver.

Trust in Him.

Faith & Faithfulness

I am pleased to share a guest post from a wonderful church planter friend, Aaron Loy.  He posted Remembering 30 Days to recount the audacious faith of his new church.  Be inspired as you read, Friends...

In ancient times, altars were often constructed by God's people to commemorate what God had done during a particular time. It served as a reminder of who God was and what He had done. It was meant to prompt remembrance and worship. You could say that this blog post is an altar of sorts.

Just over a month ago, twenty or so people sat in a basement in Lincoln, NE. In their hands sat a single piece of paper presenting a radical idea: videos, vision, stories and a website all culminating in $30,000 in 30 days. One could say it was a rather ambitious undertaking for our small, developing community. And you could feel the tension in the room.

Some openly wondered, What if we don't make it? What if the videos don't connect? What if no one visits the website? What if no one cares? What if people don't give? Are you sure this is such a good idea? What would the consequences be of failing so publicly so early in the game? How discouraging would that be to our team? Could we recover the momentum we would inevitably lose? Besides, is it even okay to pray like that? Can we ask God for something so specific? What if He says 'No'? WHAT IF...?! 

Looking back, it was a defining moment for our little band of revolutionaries. We had talked a lot about mission and risk. Now it was time to put our money where our mouth was. We knew we couldn't make this happen. We couldn't make people pay attention or care or give, we could only be faithful with what God had given us. Despite feelings of fear, uncertainty, reservation and doubt, we chose to move forward in faith anyway. We committed to fast together, to band together in prayer for our city and our church, and to invite others to help us do what we believe God has called us to do. 

Just over a month later, here is what we have seen happen:

• The 30in30 website has had over 12,000 hits from all over the world
• We have had 3 churches (two of them local) partner with us financially - a huge kingdom win!
• Our launch team has more than doubled in size (and with some incredible, quality people!)
• A number of people who are connected to our community who do not know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior are being shaken up and moved by the gospel
• Buzz about Mosaic Lincoln has spread throughout our city
• Our associate pastor, Kevin, and his family moved to Lincoln from Pennsylvania with several thousand dollars of support from their church (not included in the thirty day total) to help them relocate and to free them to invest in our city and church
• We received a gorgeous, $2100 guitar in the mail a few days ago from another ARC couple currently planting a church in MT who told us that God wouldn't let them alone about it and that they wanted to sow into us
• And, praise God, we had over $30,000 donated in just 30 days! 

During all of this, our only expenses were $50 spent on a Wordpress template for the website and $52 on a kite that wouldn't fly! Not too bad for a group of thirty five people meeting in a basement.

My point is certainly not to toot our own horn as if we deserve credit for this. Quite the opposite. My point is to turn your attention to Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith, and his exceeding goodness and faithfulness to provide for our needs and answer our prayers when we ask Him to help us do what He has called us to do. We do not deserve any of this. And in looking at the list above, I hope you will join me in acknowledging that there is no way our little tribe could have pulled this off on our own.

God is good. Christ promised to build His church, and he is doing just that. Here. Now. In our midst. And we are honored, humbled, and deeply grateful to be able to play a small part in it.