Simplicity

As I review this past whirlwind of a week and prioritize the dozens of things that I need to accomplish this weekend, I'm reminded of a couple things:
First, the fourth commandment. Going on the way that Jesus treated the Sabbath, it's not necessarily about the specific day, rather the concept of rest. I know that my interactions with people always go better when I'm rested.
The second thing that I'm reminded of is Honduras. My good friends there and how the simplicity of their lives allows them to enjoy life, To enjoy the people in their lives. Many folks view Latin culture as lazy. That is simply not the case. They just value people and relationships higher than anything, including work. 
Jesus is like that. He loves people. Lame people, poor people, rich people, smart people, even not-so-smart people like me. 
The bottom line is...
simplicity places value on people.

The Plan

Well, I got my name badge from the Kansas City BBQ Society. I am a credentialed BBQ judge. So what? 
It's like this, Christ commanded His followers to go and make disciples. When you work at a church, that becomes increasingly difficult. You find that everyone with whom you have contact has, at a minimum, been presented with the Gospel.
To move out of that circle, I have been recently challenged to engage the world as Jesus did. To make intentional relationships to seek the lost. 
The cool thing is, Jesus doesn't expect it to be drudgery. I've realized that I can do it at least 2 ways that are loads of fun. BBQ and plowing snow! (when it happens). 
1 Corinthians 9:22-23 is very clear. Use whatever you can to win the lost.
The bottom line is:
Jesus' plan is amazing!

Stories...

We begin reading stories to children when they are very young, even before they can understand what we are reading. We tell stories in the form of jokes, we describe our life experiences to others in the form of stories. Some folks even make up stories to be impressive.
Jesus used stories to help His listeners (us included) to see deep truths. The biblical term would be parable. These parables helped the spiritually weak to understand. 
In Luke 10:25-37, Jesus uses a story to teach a "religious" man about mercy towards neighbors. 
Mercy, a game that we played in Jr High. Interlocked fingers, trying to overpower the other and bend their fingers backwards, inflicting pain until they cried "MERCY!". In that context, mercy meant to stop inflicting pain. 
Just maybe, helping our neighbors, is indeed, to stop the pain. 
The bottom line is...
Love the Lord with everything, love your neighbor as yourself.

Lent, Leadership, Spiritual gifts

For Lent, I will give up "not blogging". I have to constantly remind my self that it's not about me. My purpose for blogging is to share how God is working and has worked in my life. To share the things that He's telling me.

Leadership. According to Romans 12:8, it is a spiritual gift. Spiritual gift. Wait, what the heck does "spiritual gift" mean? I believe it means that God has given each of His followers a natural propensity to do certain things, and to do them well. From there, we decide to cultivate those gifts and use them. Sometimes we use them for God's purposes and sometimes, not. I think of the gift of evangelism and how Adolph Hitler had certainly been given that gift and used it to serve the purposes of Satan rather than God. We have that choice. Hitler obviously chose the wrong focus of his gifts.

Leadership. In order to be a leader, that requires followers. I inventory my own life and see that there are those whom I lead. It makes me a little nervous as I contemplate what I'm leading them to. The Apostle Paul had the gift of leadership. He told the Corinthian church, "Follow me as I follow Christ."

My self-inventory includes asking: Can I say that? Am I leading people to Christ?

That's my desire. To lead. To lead people to a relationship with the eternal Savior. Jesus, the ONLY way to God.

The bottom line is:

If I'm not leading people to Jesus, my life is a failure.