Friday, March 30, 2007

Full Frontal Lobe Lobotomy

For my car, that is...

Maybe I can post a picture this weekend. My son had a little fender bender in my Isuzu Rodeo a couple of weeks ago. Over $2500 in damage! I was able to get used parts to try to replace the damaged bumper, grill, headlamps (both of them), left turn lamp, condensor, and condensor fan assembly. (Thanks Paul!) The front of my car is completely missing right now. My father-in-law and I (mostly my father-in-law) took everything off today. Tomorrow we put all the new/used stuff back on. My car doesn't have a face right now. It looks really sad.

I wonder if this is going to change it's personality?

Walt T is bringing the message at TNC Sunday. Can't wait to hear from him! See you there if you're still in town.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

In Sync With God

I read this in Oswald Chambers' My Utmost For His Highest yesterday. I've often thought and believed that one can be so in tune with God that many of our decisions and questions can be easily answered. I believe, like Chambers, that as you grow more spiritually mature, the easier it is to follow his will. However, I don't recall hearing it taught much. So it was interesting to me to see this:

To be so much in contact with God that you never need to ask Him to show you His will, is to be nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of faith. When you are rightly related to God, it is a life of freedom and liberty and delight, you are God's will, and all your common-sense decisions are His will for you unless He checks. You decide things in perfect delightful friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will always check; when He checks, stop at once.

For the full article, go to www.myutmost.org. Go to the March 20 devotional.

Friday, March 16, 2007

March Madness

My final four pick: Florida, Ohio State, North Carolina, & UCLA. I'm picking the Tarheels to beat the Gators in the championship game. Total score: 133 points. UNC looked a little shaky for a while last night. We'll see if they pull it off.

Monday, March 12, 2007

Who Do You Influence?

Lately I've been re-reading a classic book by J. Oswald Sanders titled "Spiritual Leadership." I would encourage anyone in a ministry position to get a copy. He tells the story of Dr. John Geddie who went to the South Pacific island of Aneityum as a missionary. He worked there for 24 years. On the tablet erected to his memory these words are inscribed:

When he landed, in 1848, there were no Christians.
When he left, in 1872, there were no heathen.

At TNC, Steve has been talking about leadership from the book of Nehemiah. Leadership is essentially the power of one man to influence another. No man can fathom the difference one life can make. Check out my friend Andy Hunter's blog and read about our mutual friend, Ranny Moorhead, the potato chip salesman, if you need an example.

Before all is said and done here, we need to ask ourselves some questions: Who do I influence? Am I leading people to a closer relationship with Christ? Am I lifting Jesus up so that men will be drawn to him? At the end of my life, I want people to celebrate what God did through me similar to what he did through Dr. John Geddie or Mr. Ranny, the potato chip salesman. How about you?

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Pass the Salt, Please


Jesus told his followers that we are to be the salt of the earth. Why would he tell us to be salty? Maybe it's because salt makes one thirsty. If you're living your life as a passionate follower of Christ, you'll make people thirsty to know God.


How do you live a salty life? Make sure others know that Jesus is real and relevant to everyday life. Author and missionary E. Stanley Jones was once asked to name the number one problem in the Church. His answer was irrelevance. Not that the Church is irrelevant, but that Christians were failing to show in concrete ways how Jesus is relevant to daily life. Another great 20th century Christian leader, Elton Trueblood, said, "It is hard to exaggerate the degree to which the modern church seems irrelevant to modern man."


Be salty. Pass the salt to your family, friends, and coworkers. Let them see that Jesus is a real part of your life and that his teaching is relevant to everyday circumstances. Don't preach. Don't be arrogant. Don't swagger your salvation around. Don't act holier than thou. Be the person God created you to be. Use your personality, your gifts, and your abilities to make others thirsty to know Christ.