I read this in …

I read this in the Bible this morning.   “Give to the Lord the glory his name deserves.”  Psalm 29:2

And that got me thinking — DO WE????   Really?  Even on our best days, do we give the Lord the glory his name DESERVES? And what about the rest of our days, which are much more numerous that the best of our days?  And the rest of our Sundays, what are much more numerous than the best of our Sundays.

What is the glory God’s name deserves?

If I took that command seriously what would my worship look like?   And what would my life look like?

Interesting questions.

What do you think?

Here’s a verse…

Here’s a verse from my daily Bible readings that jumped out at me this week.   “Entrust your efforts to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.” Proverbs 16:3 (God’s Word)

If you’ve been coming to Concordia recently, you’ve heard about our emphasis this year to PRAY.  And, specifically, to pray for 1) opportunity and 2) favor.   And more specifically, to pray for opportunity and favor in these 3 areas:  1) growth in my relationship with Jesus 2) inviting others 3) telling Concordia’s story.

See how that word from Proverbs connects with that emphasis?

new (old) discoveries

So here’s where I am in my now 1 month journey into taking a regular day off, and making that day into a sabbath.

1.  I’ve actually taken the day off — a big step for me.   It still feels a little weird, and I’m not completely relaxed yet, and I still have to work at not working…but doing.   And, I think , the more consistent I become, the better it gets.   [ Anything you can  take from that in the areas that you're working on?]

2. As part of that, anything non- emergency I just say NO! to.   Period.   And for me, that means I have to NOT check work email, and only CHECK MESSAGES on my phone to see if it is an emergency that requires my immediate attention.  (If it’s an emergency, I go — Jesus healed on the sabbath, too.  But, after more than 20 years in ministry, I can now figure out what “emergency is, and respond accordingly. [ Anything you can  take from that in the areas that you're working on?]

3. THIS IS THE BIG ONE –  the ONLY THING THAT I MUST DO on that “sabbath day’ is have some extended time with God.   Most of you can get that during weekly worship – but weekly worship is a little different for me.   Oh, I worship in church; but I’m also “on,” and, thinking about the next thing, so it’s a little different.  And, I preach to myself first, and so the message hits me where I live, but again, it’s a little different.   

And I realized what I should have known…I was missing something.   Many times, I suppose, even though I was worshiping, and doing my daily Bible readings, I was almost more “DOING God” than PURSUING God.

SO, the only MUST DO on my day off has been turning the FIRST part of it into a personal worship time…pursuing God, seeking God, praising God, praying to God, LISTENING to God…

And you know what?   The rest of that “day off” is still a work in progress, but seeking God FIRST has really blessed me…and the rest of my day off.   [ I wonder, for those of you who's sabbath is the weekend, if there's something there that might be of help for you]

my continuing journey into Sabbath

So…I did actually take a full day off for the first time in a long time..

the best part of the day was the time I spent alone with God. Those were some pretty good moments.

The rest — well, I got a few things done, and a little relaxing done, and I did stop in to have lunch with my wife…but most of the time I was WORKING at not working. And a lot of the time, I kept thinking about what I still needed to do for work….and to get things ready for the weekend services,and then saying to myself, “No, I can’t work on that today.”

And I didn’t… and that was good. It’s just that thinking so much about working at not working felt a lot like…well, WORK.

But this week’s another opportunity for Sabbath. And, this week, my who family’s off together. Looking forward to it.

BTW…how’s your journey into Sabbath going?

But I’ve still got a ways to go in making that day off a full “sabbath.”

steps into sabbath

Ok, this is no longer a step…this week I’m going to take a LEAP.

What this last message series has forced me to realize is, I have been ignoring sabbath for way too long. There’s always an excuse… “we’re trying to get this through the city — no time to take a day off. We’re building — no time to take a day off. We’re in two locations — no time to take a day off. We’re a start up — no time to take a day off. When you start a business, you HAVE to work all the time. I’m need to come up with a new “FAM JAM” every week — there’s no time to take a day off.

Easy to justify. Easy to rationalize. Easy to think, “I’m the exception. Easy to think “This isn’t forever. Some day, this pattern will change.” Easy to think, “I’m the one for whom busyness will translate into fruitfulness. I’m wired with lots of drive and energy — I can keep up this pace indefinitely.”

Easy… and WRONG!!

I can start to feel that years and years of taking a full day off as the occasional exception in my schedule is taking it’s toll. (And, since I’m in it for the long haul, something has to change)

But even that’s not the main reason that THIS WEEK, I’m going to take a sabbath. The reason is – through my one reflection on what God’s been telling me in this series we just finished is that not taking a Sabbath is WRONG. It puts me outside God’s will and design.

That’s not a place I want to be. And It’s not a place I’m going to live any longer. I want to get back to living in line with God’s will in all my life. Not just because it’s inside God’s will that blessing is found. But simply because it’s RIGHT. It’s RIGHT to listen to God and do what He says.

So this week, don’t look to see me around every single day. One day, I won’t be there. I’m not sure how I’m going to make it work, but I will. I’m taking a full day off.

No more excuses. I’m leaping into Sabbath. (And, I’m looking forward to it. Not just for the day off. I’m also expecting that I’ll find God there)

making marriage last

At the “Sticky Teams” conference, Mark Driscoll shared something that stuck with me . To make marriage last, BE FRIENDS with your spouse.

Hmm…seems so basic…and yet is so often ignored. Yet if you look at it, before Adam and Eve were passionate, God made them for FRIENDSHIP.

Mark suggested asking (and answering) 3 questions with your spouse:

1) How have I been a good friend?
2) How have I been a bad friend?
3) How can I be a better friend?

Good stuff. I’m going to discuss those questions with my spouse.

What about you?

Home groups are…

Home groups are such a great thing…for me, it’s a great way to connect with new people, and a great way to apply what we started talking about on Sunday.

This week was a wrap-up on our series on “slowing down.” And I wanted to share a gem from someone in my group. Here it is:
If you can’t get to sleep at night (because you can’t turn your mind off) , work on memorizing and reciting Scripture verses. Satan is more apt to leave you alone, leave you in peace, if he knows he has already lost you to God. If he can’t keep you up worrying, planning, thinking about plans and problems, Satan is more likely to go pick on someone else. Trust God to run things, at least while you sleep. This helped my friend a great deal when she was going through some very serious medical problems.

And then , another group member started reciting this Scripture:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Thanks, home group members, for blessing me.

Spent the last …

Spent the last two days at the Sticky Teams Conference with our main ministry team at Concordia. There was LOTS of good information…and a few CHALLENGES. But here was the BEST thing I got from the two days — I absolutely LOVE our team; and I love being with our team, and doing life and ministry with this team.

I’m convinced that this is absolutely the right team to lead Concordia to the next level. And I’m humbled , and proud, to be on the team with such great people.

Can’t wait to see what God will do with us next.

More lessons from a fishing trip

Seems like I always learn something when I go out fishing. And this time was no exception

Lesson #1: Sometimes the leader (me ) can be an idiot.

I had plenty of vacation Sundays, so I could have just taken Sunday off. But the boat was supposed to get in at 6am – plenty of time to get a shower and get to church on time. (except the boat ended up docking at 10:45am. Oops.

Lesson #2: You can’t plan for every contingency.

I had things planned, and people prepped to cover everything for a docking as late as 9am. We’d never gotten back any later than 7:30 am so I thought I was covered. Wrong!! And the worst part was, my poor planning made the staff and volunteers scramble, when I never should have put them in position to do that.

Lesson #3 A GREAT STAFF can save your bacon.

I have a great staff — both paid and volunteer — and they really came through. Even though I put them in a bad position, they still came through and made it work. I’m sorry I let them down and put them in that position, but I’m so proud that they were more than up to the task.

Lesson #4 Take a vacation day

Like I said, I had the time coming…but guess I figured that Sunday morning couldn’t go on with out me. Guess I still have a lot to learn about Speeding up by SLOWING DOWN

toward developing margin

Some days, it all comes together. And not coincidentally, I think, that seems to happen more often when I start putting what we experienced Sunday morning into practice right away Sunday afternoon.

And, like I said, this Sunday afternoon, a lot of things came together, not just from this Sunday, but from the whole series on “Speeding Up by Slowing Down.” Here’s how that worked for us.

We spent the morning together in worship, as a family.

We decided, in the afternoon, to head up to north county together. Why together?

Michael had volleyball scrimmages in that direction; and there were some nightstands from Craigslist that Michelle wanted to check out in that direction. So we decided to drive together. And…

• We saved gas by taking1 car instead of 2
• On the way up, we had an interesting discussion – initiated by my teenagers, actually – on the concept of “financial margin” we talked about in the morning, and how that applied to some of the things they’ve been wanting
• We got the nightstands – saving a lot of money over buying new
• We got to watch Michael play volleyball
• We had time together in the car, and actually spent that time talking to each other
• Since we saved money with the Craigslist purchases, we had a little extra margin so we could order out pizza (which was GREAT, since I didn’t really feel like cooking anyway)
• I got to watch some football (and both my teams won!!)
• We ended the night with our family Bible reading, and then watching a taped TV show together that we all like (and hadn’t yet seen)

A pretty good day.

I’m beginning to like this journey into slowing down…and developing a little more margin in my life. And I think that’s what God had in mind when He created one day in seven for us to make sure we schedule that “rest” and renewal into our lives.

So how’s your journey going?

Why not join us Sunday at 8:30 or 10:30 as we go another layer deeper into “speeding up by slowing down?”