Do you get those crazy questions or thoughts that won’t let you go? They just keep rolling around in your mind - hitting you when you least expect it or hounding you when all you want to do is “veg-out?” Those mosquitoes on the mind just keep buzzing and buzzing in a threatening kind of way. I have had one of those suckers poking about my mind and heart the past couple of days - don’t know where it came from or when it will leave cause the question gets too close to “what it’s all about.” It is a question that I think right now I can’t answer the way I “should.” The answer is too revealing and disappointing.

I wish I could just smack this mosquito and put an end to this buzzing in my head.

The question:
Am I living from a posture or position of willfulness or willingness?

[Willfulness being a posture of stiff-armed distance that projects, “I am in control here;” and willingness is the position of the Gethsemane prayer, “not my will, but Thine be done.”]

The statement above is one I actually recall asking. I have thought it more often than I’d like along the Way as well. It is what motivated me to post the pictures in the previous post.

When you have been walking after God for 20+ years or far less for that matter - we can begin to think that merely accumulating years accounts for the growth of our soul. We know cognitively that this is false, but we can still believe it on other levels. So when the Mystery of the Universe comes in with a cosmic pruning shear or a chain saw and begins to lop off years of accumulated “growth” - it seems a fair question…

Is God killing me? Or keeping me?

Pruning and reshaping can sound pastoral and even “pretty” but as we go through the process we begin to see it as the great spiritual writer and mystic and poet St. John of the Cross states it, “the dark night of the soul.” We see it in light of the pain and desperation of Elijah’s flight to the desert. We begin to emote with our Lord in Gethsemane. And we begin to see beyond the burning hearts to the desperation and hopelessness of the pilgrims who couldn’t even recognize their Messiah and Master before them on the Emmaus road.

And if you have ever spent a sleepless night tossing and turning you know how LONG a night can last.

In these times of pruning and shaping the Spring time offers some hope. My faith can stop shaping me into question marks and for a moment I can rest and take hope in the buds and new life emerging around me.

So today I choose to say, the Potter prunes and reforms that I might in time reflect the Glory of my Maker even more.

In the beginning O God
You shaped my soul and set its weave
You formed my body
and gave it breath.
Renew me this day
in the image of your love.
O great God, grant me your light
O great God, grant me your grace
O great God, grant me your joy this day.
And let me be made pure
in the well of your health.
(prayer by J. Philip Newell from Celtic Prayers from Iona)

“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15. 1-5 NLT)

happy earth day.

Ministry can be a deceptive thing. We can begin to do ministry as a big fish in a small pond mentality pretty quickly (starting to think ministry is about us - rather than the bigger picture of being a small part of God’s grand epic - the unfolding and revealing of God’s Kingdom). We can begin to have poor motives - ambition; success mentality and using people to forward our own agenda can all start to seep in and get mixed into our “ministry approach.”

So how do we avoid or at least attempt to keep our motives and ministry approaches fresh and pure? Regular time away with God and laying our motives before Him can be a great practice. Another simple practice is inviting a trusted friend who knows you and your ministry for feedback providing us another perspective on how we are doing. It takes rigorous discipline and some uncomfortable practices to serve God well and according to His will and way.

In that spirit here are 10 questions that could help in revealing and correcting our motives that can cloud and corrupt our best ministry.

Ten Questions: Ministry
By Craig Groeschel

1. Is our vision so big that we obviously can’t accomplish it without God?

2. Am I doing ministry from memory or from fresh direction from God?

3. What ministry (or program or meeting) has lost its effectiveness and should be stopped?

4. Is there a person who needs to be moved to another role (or removed), and I haven’t done it?

5. What faith risk is God calling me to take?

6. Have I repented to my team at least once in the last year for a failure in leadership?

7. Have I done everything in my power to make sure my team is living without unconfessed sin?

8. Am I expressing love and care for my team members’ families?

9. Am I living with delayed obedience toward God in any area of leadership?

10. Is Jesus my sole motivation for ministry or has my motivation become clouded?

69%How Addicted to Apple Are You?

ONLY 69 percent?! Unbelievable… what just cause I didn’t own a G-3?!

Doesn’t my 128 K first gen mac account for something?

I am powered by APPLE baby - and proud of it!!

It is no secret that I am a huge fan of a very little known band called the Seventy Sevens. Since many moons ago (circa 1982) I have followed the career of these bad luck or no luck paupers of the back beat. The recordings of Roe and Co. have been the soundtrack of a large portion of my life. Their honest and gritty lyrics and their way of pairing it to great hooks and often raw but still beautiful music for some reason connects with me.

So, the 77’s are rumored to be putting out their first new recording (working title - Jesus Hits Like an Atomic Bomb / rumored actual title - Holy Ghost Building) in some 6 years. A collection of old blues tunes given the royal 77’s treatment (think a Stones/Zep take on Run to the City of Refuge or Workin’ on a Building). I don’t know when it will ultimately “hit the street” (or website store) - but hopefully mid to late summer. There is even some talk of the power trio version of the band (Roe, Harmon and Spencer) making a little road trip round the country playing churches, clubs and maybe even a back yard or two.

Well, I couldn’t be happier! It is so refreshing to find beautiful and authentic music made out of sheer love for the art. I think that is what I find when Roe croons, and Harmon grooves and Spencer keeps time. They long gave up “the dream” and now the music is a result of their friendship, their connection and maybe even to quiet and satisfy their small, but rabid and devoted fan base.

Well, Mike Roe, lead singer and guitarist of the 77’s, has been working on mixing and readying the new sevens recording… and also has played a few solo dates this past week. I stumbled across this gem of a performance on you tube and felt COMPELLED to share it (do it for love!!). [stick with me here as I name drop and reference and well hang in and see if you can understand the next sentence ] It is Mike Roe in John J. Thompson’s (of True Tunes fame and the keeper of the Gallery stage at Cornerstone for many years) kitchen/dining room in Nashville helped out by Matt Slocum on Cello (Sixpence None The Richer); Phil Madeira on guitar (B-3 legend playing with everyone from Keaggy to Emmylou Harris and Buddy Miller); Jimmy Abegg on guitar (painter, photograher, solo artist and member of the old Exit label band Vector) and Steve Hindalong on percussion (Member of the Choir and producer of the famed City on a Hill recordings; writer of God of Wonders). So without further ado… here is Mike and company turning up some beauty in the suburbs of Nash-vegas… doing his take on the Velvet Underground’s, “Pale Blue Eyes“:

Made me smile.
Made me wonder.
Made me pray along with her.

Hope it helps you smile, wonder and pray, as well.

One way I attempt to remain attentive to God and to increase my awareness of God’s nearness and presence is through saying “breath prayers.” One breath prayer I say countless times a day is the Jesus Prayer. (I posted about this here.) There are many other breath prayers that I have said throughout a given day… The following ones all come from scripture and could accompany and punctuate your days as you attempt to increase the frequency and duration of your holy moments.

[Note: the first phrase is said while breathing in and the second phrase is intended to coincide with exhaling.)

* “Speak Lord… for your servant hears” (Samuel, 1 Samuel 3:9 & 10, NKJV)
* “Give thanks to the Lord… for he is good” (David, 1 Chronicles 16:34)
* “The Lord is my Shepherd… I shall not want” (David, Psalm 23:1, KJV)
* “Taste and see… that the Lord is good” (David, Psalm 34:8)
* “Be still… and know that I am God” (Korah’s family, Psalm 46:10, KJV)
* “The Lord… will be [my] confidence” (Solomon, Proverbs 3:26)
* “The joy of the Lord… is [my] strength” (Nehemiah 8:10)
* “Let it be to me… according to your word” (Mary, Luke 1:38, NKJV)
* “Our Father… Hallowed be thy name” (Jesus, Matthew 6:9, KJV)
* “Father… glorify your name” (Jesus, John 12:28, NKJV)
* “Father… into your hands I commit my spirit” (Jesus, Luke 23:46, NKJV)
* “Live by the Spirit… Keep in step with the Spirit” (Paul, Galatians 5:25)
* “To live is Christ… and to die is gain” (Paul, Philippians 1:21, KJV)
* “In Christ’s humility… consider others better than yourselves” (Paul, Philippians 2:3)
* “I want to know Christ… and the power of his resurrection” (Paul, Philippians 3:10)
* “My God… will meet all your needs” (Paul, Philippians 4:19)

[Note - passages from New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise indicated]

In getting started with these simple prayers intended to accompany you on “your way;” begin your day with about 5 minutes of quietly reciting and repeating your breath prayer (do so in a relaxed and unhurried manner - learning the rhythm and wording of your prayer). After this “initiation” in repeating your prayer as you go throughout your day - in idle moments, in anxious moments, in moments of joy and when loved ones come to mind - return to reciting your breath prayer.

Peace.

If we are going to be passionate about the God of the Universe we must come to terms with God on God’s terms not our own. A god of our own construct is no god - but an idol of our own creation. God must be appreciated as God truly is; revealed on the terms God has determined and employed: through the created order and through the special revelation of Scripture. We need our faulty and incomplete images of God refreshed and re-oriented often for our calibration to understand and appreciate God seems to be easily skewed. The prescription for me is regular time in reflection/meditation on a portion of Scripture accompanied by being attentive to God’s presence in silence. Through doses of scriptural reality and times just “being with God” my life is reordered and my passion for God reignited.

“The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men. … We have lost our spirit of worship and our ability to withdraw inwardly to meet God in adoring silence.” (A. W. Tozer. The Knowledge of the Holy. The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in the Christian Life. New York: Harper and Row. 1961. pg. 6).

My family’s calendar is probably one of the most important documents in our home. Before things are scheduled; before answers are given; before money is spent - the calendar is consulted. What is already on our family agenda? Who is already committed?

You get the picture. I bet you can relate - as well!

Our agenda’s and the agenda’s of others converge and make for the need to schedule, plan, look ahead, budget, make decisions, weigh options and create deadlines. We live by schedules - daily plans, weekly schedules and monthly and yearly calendars - and we try to balance a life of activity that too easily can spiral out of control with planned activities (trying to fit more and more into an unforgiving, inflexible, 24 hour day, 7 day week and 365 day year).

Enter the interruption.

The unexpected guest, the unscheduled “drop-in,” the knock at the door (”who could that be?”), the ringing phone, the “can we slide that appointment up?” How do we respond to the immediate need or interrupting visitor impinging on our well-planned agenda?

Jesus never met an interruption. It seems every intrusion (whether a Samaritan Woman crowding into a quiet moment by a well or a sick woman latching on to his garment holding him up for an important appointment) was welcomed not as an interruption but as an appointment - a divine intervention. Jesus’ agenda was always submissive to the Father’s agenda.

This kind of perspective is so foreign to me (and also our culture) where efficiency and effectiveness are the measures of all things successful and “right.”

“The effectiveness of work increases according to geometric progression if there are no interruptions.”
- Andre’ Marois

As I look back these past couple weeks it seems that the lesson and the pattern of my life has been - welcome the interruption as an in-breaking of God’s agenda. As I have been open to this and surrendered my calendar and agenda (and wishes and hopes) to the serendipity of God’s timing (interruptions) it has been amazing the conversations, opportunities and even accomplishments that have ensued. Long standing plans have delayed to open up an opportunity to serve a friend and organization; a knock at a door opens to a neighbor needing to talk; working in the barn is interrupted by another lonely neighbor; a “last minute” e-mail invites me to speak to my favorite youth ministry… and so it goes?

How open am I to this? Well, truth be told I like to know what I am doing and when… but I am learning God calls us to live by faith, not certainty.

I still cringe at the interruption - so I am praying, “God open my eyes to see you in the now. May I be willing to embrace your interventions and appointments that come my way.”

“Interruptions can be viewed as sources of irritation or opportunities for service, as moments lost or experience gained, as time wasted or horizons widened. They can annoy us or enrich us, get under our skin or give us a shot in the arm. Monopolize our minutes or spice our schedules, depending on our attitude toward them.”
- William Arthur Ward