P31

I read somewhere that “Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.”

When I read that, I thought of my wife. Not because she charmed me by deception, or because her beauty is fleeting– in fact, my wife is gorgeous. And charming! But it’s the rest of the saying that I want to address, so here it goes:

Hannah has been gone for four days now, visiting family in Ohio. But before she left, she packed my lunches for the week. She left a list of easy-to-make meals on the fridge. She made sure all of the laundry was clean. And she finished all of the dishes. For these things, I praise her.


Honey baby, YOU ROCK! I love you! May you be honored!

And now I’ve posted it to the public, so you can be praised “at the city gate.”

PS: Hannah is also pregnant with #2!

Speak John Doe

Sometimes we simply have to connect the dots. We have the knowledge, but it’s scattered in our brains like debris blowing in the wind. At times, we get lucky, we see the pieces come together, and it’s like a glorious epiphany.

So here’s the first piece of debris, the first dot: The Greek of the New Testament was Koine Greek. Koine was the common, everyday language. It wasn’t the elite language. It wasn’t the language of the empire. It was John Doe’s simple speech.

Here’s the second dot: In America, a lot of Christians speak Christianese. I wrote a blog about this one time (Christian Awkwardness). We hear words like sanctification, salvation, atonement, premillenialism, and we think if we use these words we sound really smart. But when the world hears us, they look at us dumbfounded. And so we say, “Well, it just proves the Scriptures. The spiritual man discerns spiritual things, but the carnal man is blind and cannot understand.” And John Doe looks at us and says, “No, you moron, I can see. You just can’t speak like a normal human being.”

Here’s the glorious epiphany: When you talk about Jesus with people, speak John Doe. Use words that make sense. God used relational words and pictures for us (Husband, Father, Friend, etc.); why can’t we do the same? Use pertinent data so the tech guy can process it. Be a spotter for the fitness junkies as they whip their spiritual bodies into shape. Use the arts as a medium to communicate the gospel, via movies, e-books, songs, pictures. Who knows? Perhaps you could even use a blog.

The options are endless. Be creative.

Here’s my two cents before I close: Think through your example before you give it a test-run. You’d feel like an idiot if you ran out of gas.

And the other cent: Think about the culture we live in—what are some of the most popular products or services? Google, Facebook, McDonalds, Apple, Amazon, WalMart, Skype, etc. And what are some of the buzzwords? What categories do we use? Technology, the economy, art, relationships, business, music, etc. How can those be incorporated in our explanations of the Gospel?  

Turning Vision Into Action

Turning Vision Into Action is another book I am currently reading. It was written in 1996 by George Barna, head of the Barna Research Group.

In the book, he obviously talks about vision. He says vision is a clear and concise mental portrait of a preferable future, imparted by God to His chosen servants, based on an accurate understanding of God, self, and circumstances. Did you catch all that? Again, vision is a clear mental picture. It is a picture of a preferable future. It is imparted by God to His servants. And its based on an accurate understanding of God, of your self, of your circumstances. Vision is tangible to the beholder, he says. And it motivates and directs a ministry. It filters information. It serves as a catalyst in decision making. And it measures progress.

That’s quite a mouthful, but I think he’s right. When you have a vision from God, for your life, you orient everything around it. Every dollar, every hour, every person you meet, every book you read becomes an important piece of the puzzle. And you try to arrange that puzzle so that it looks like the picture you have in your head.

Here’s my current problem. I have ideas and they’re starting to come together. But I don’t have a vision. I don’t have a CLEAR…AND…CONCISE mental portrait.

But I want one. So I’m going to pray and see if God will give me one.

A Peek Into My Prayer Closet

The other day I received a text from my wife. She said our daughter had reached a new level of bullheadedness. Then she asked me to pray for her. From the punctuation and tone of the overall message, I could tell she was halfway joking. But after I chuckled, I realized I needed to deal with the halfway serious side of the matter.

The matter is this: Our daughter can be bullheaded. And if we don’t pray for her and learn how to steer that, we’ll have some very tough years ahead of us. It’s not that bullheadedness is entirely a bad thing. It’s just that it needs to be harnessed and directed toward the right things.

So I prayed something like this, “God, I love Sevaeh and I know Hannah does too. And Lord, I know You love her even more than we do. I’m thankful that You’ve brought it to our attention that Sevaeh has a stubborn streak. I’m also thankful that right now, it’s pretty easy to handle. So Lord, I ask, ‘As she grows up, would You help us to direct that stubbornness in the right direction?’ When boys come around, acting like dogs, may she be stubborn about not conceding to their wishes. When serious relationships develop, may she be stubborn about keeping her virginity until marriage. When she comes into a relationship with You, may she be stubborn about believing in You, may nothing deter her from her relationship with You. And Lord, when it comes to obeying her parents and doing right and having integrity in her schoolwork and in her future jobs, may she be stubborn about doing the good, the right, the noble, the just. Lord help us, we pray. Amen.'”

3 Pre-reqs for Leadership

I’m taking a class for work. In the class notes, I came across a helpful tidbit. I think it applies not only in the workplace, but also in our relationship with Jesus.

In order for leadership to exist, three things must present:

1. Followers must be willing to accept direction from the leader.

2. There must be an unequal balance of power between the leader and the followers.

3. The leader must accomplish results through the power he/she possesses.

If these three things are present, the leader can lead unhindered.

Work. Relax. Repeat.

I think God made us to operate on cycles. One of these cycles is work, relax, repeat.

For example, when using a computer, it’s best to take brief breaks from the screen. Every 10 minutes, look 10 feet away, for 10 seconds.

For every hour of sitting, do five minutes of walking.

For every six days of work, take one day off.

For every six months of work, take one week off.

And if you’re a farmer, every six years, give your fields one year of rest.

It boils down to this: If we neglect the rest, we become work-aholics.

If we neglect the work, we become lazy slobs.

Let’s stay true to our cycles.

A Way We Can Learn (1)

Sometimes we make decisions in life, not knowing why we make them.

For example: Back in July of last year, I started a job in Crawfordsville. Hannah and I were living at my parents’, in the upstairs of the garage, and our daughter, Sevaeh, had just entered the world. A month later, we decided to move to Indianapolis. By most estimates, this decision was not wise. We would be an hour and fifteen minutes away from my job, instead of five minutes away. We would be paying rent and utilities, instead of living for free at my parents. And we would be bringing a newborn and a dog into a house that we were sharing with another couple.

At the time, we did it because it felt right. We felt like that was where the Lord was leading us, and although we weren’t sure why, we were at peace with it. God was stirring up something new, and although we couldn’t put our finger on it, we knew we needed to be in Indy for it to happen.

We lived in Indy for five months, barely breaking even by the time we paid for gas and rent and utilities. But out of that experience came a new thing. That thing is called Water to Wine. That is the reason we moved to Indy.

Water to Wine is a ministry we started with a few other believers. We offer biblically-based courses at no cost to the students. We partner with local churches (in Indy) to offer courses for those who are hungry to learn more. We just finished our first class on the book of Genesis. You can check it out at http://watertowinecourses.blogspot.com.

This is one of many ways we can learn.