Live A Revolution... Every Day

Lost and Found... But Not Cut Up

The other day I went to pay for lunch. I always keep my check card in the same spot in my wallet. So when it wasn't there, my heart dropped... I had lost my check card. So I did a retrospect and came up with the last location I used my card...

PF Changs.

So I called PF Changs, and turns out they had my card. Score! The only thing is... it's 3.5 hours away from home. 

So I had three choices. 

1. Drive down to Indy and pick the card up. Not gonna happen.

2. Have them mail the card to me. Not the smartest choice. Or...

3. Have Changs cut up the card and have B.O.A. issue me a new one.

So I had Changs cut up my card and had B.O.A. issue a new one. Kind of like a do-over. It just wasn't worth driving 3.5 hours to get the card I had lost.

I'm just glad God doesn't view us in the same way. Check it out:

"If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders.When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, `Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.'In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven't strayed away!

Stoned - Pillars

 
I love pillars. That's one of the reason's I love going to Washington D.C. There's just something strong and beautiful about them. When you look at the Jefferson Memorial, you can't help but notice its pillars.

But Washington D.C. isn't the only place where you will find pillars. Check this out:

"I am writing these things to you now, even though I hope to be with you soon, so that if I am delayed, you will know how people must conduct themselves in the household of God. This is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation of truth."

1 Timothy 3:14-15

There's deep meaing in the word, "Pillar."

Pillars are strong.

They stand for something.

Pillars are noticeable.

They stand out.

Pillars are beautiful.

They're majestic.

There's deep meaning in the word, "Pillar."

Paul, the writer of 1 Timothy, tells us that the church of the living God is a pillar of truth.

My question is...

What are you a pillar of?

At your job.

In your marriage.

In your relationships with your friends...

And kids.

We all stand for something. We are all noticed.

The question is...

What are you a pillar of?

Cheeto Hand Prints

 

These are the hand prints my little two year old MoMo left on our fridge. What you don't see are the marks she left on our counter, table and wall. She LOVES Cheetos. She loves them so much that she gets them all over - all over her hands, all over her face, and all over anything she touches.

She loves them that much. She can't help it. The Cheetos mark her, and in turn, whatever she touches she leaves their mark.

The same thing happens to each of us. Sure, I may not be covered in Cheetos, but there are things that I allow to mark me everyday. And the things I allow to mark me, in turn, leave their mark wherever I go.

The question is...

what am I allowing to mark my life?

It's easy to get wrapped up in the mess that's tossed at us...

The crap at work.

The anger we experience.

The families we see falling apart.

The hurt we encounter everyday.

But the question remains...

what am I allowing to mark my life?

You see, when my little MoMo eats her Cheetos, she dives in with both hands. And when she comes out on the other side, she's marked. Whatever she had on her hands before is now covered up by the cheesiness of the Cheetos.

I don't know what you've got going on in your life. But I know what I face each day. And I know I have a choice. Because more times than I care to admit to, I allow things I hate to mark me. And in turn, they leave their mark on everything and everyone I come in contact with. So I have to ask myself daily...

what am I allowing to mark my life?

The answer I want to walk away with is...

Jesus.

He's the only One who can cover up the crap at work, the burden of witnessing families imploding, the anger I experience and give, and the hurt I encounter each day. And when He makes His mark on me, in turn whatever I touch, His mark will be left wherever I go.

And so I dive in with both hands...

Because I want to be marked by Jesus - and in turn, leave His mark everywhere I go.

So the question remains...

what are you allowing to mark your life?

  

Drowning in the Pool of Excuses

I love the story of Moses and the burning bush.

After God gets Moses' attention, Go tells Moses that He's seen the suffering of His people and is going to rescue them.

At this point, Moses has got to like, "Ya. You go God. Whip the Egyptians!"

But God's got a different idea. He tells Moses that He's going to send HIM to Pharaoh.

Moses is like, "Ummm, what you talkin 'bout God?"

And he runs through every possible excuse he could come up with.

I don't know about you, but I've been where Moses has been. And I still find myself wading through the pool of excuses.

The pool of excuses is powerful - powerful enough to drown the very person God wants to use... because here's what the pool of excuses cause people to do:

1. Doubt yourself: Exodus 3:11, 4:10 - This is one of the biggest battles I face.
2. Doubt others: Exodus 4:1 - Moses started wondering if he Egytians would even listen to him. Ever been there? I have.
3. Doubt God: Exodus 4:13 - even after all the help God said He would provide, Moses still doubted and in essence said, "I don't believe You".

The pool of excuses sucks. If Moses gave in, it would have drown the very thing God called him to do.

But Moses didn't give in. Despite all of the excuses he came up with, despite all of the doubts, he obeyed God and followed the calling on his life.

I think that why I love this story so much... Moses eventually sucked it up and followed God's voice and pulls himself out of the pool o excuses.

Moses did. You can do it. And so can I.

Romans 8:15 (The Message)
2Timothy 1:7

I'm A Little Fruity

"No wonder the Scriptures say, "The Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you." Romans 2v24

Over the weekend I was going to dive into a container of strawberrys. As I looked closely, I noticed a couple that had fungus on them. They looked healthy on one side, but on then other lay death and decay. So what did I do? I got rid of them. Because here's the thing about decaying fruit, if left alone, that fruit will begin to infect and destroy a considerable amount of the remaining healthy fruit.

Romans 2v24 reminded me of that this afternoon. 

Back in verse 17, it says, "You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God's law, and you boast about your special relationship with him." The following scripture (18-23) goes on to say that the Jews knew what was right because they have been taught God's law. They know not to break God's law but they still did. 

Today, I think, we can substitute the word "Jew" in verse 17 with, baptist, pentecostal, methodist, southern baptist (ohhhh), non-denominational, missionary, catholic, christian, born again... etc. You who call yourselves... insert your denomination here...

Each denomination has something "special" to boast about. THAT doesn't matter. It simply doesn't matter what I call myself. What does matter is whether or not my heart's been changed by God's spirit. What does matter is whether or not I'm causing someone to NOT follow God. 

That's the question, am I causing someone to not see who God really is by my life, words, actions... etc? Has my heart been changed by God's spirit? The question is, am I the healthy fruit, or the fungus-ridden fruit spreading death and decay?

Because, in the end, we're all fruit. It just depends which kind.

Romans 2:17-29

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What is being said about you in the morning paper

"...because your faith in him is being talked about all over the world." Romans 1v8

What are you known for?

It's a poignant question. 

The answer...

Can change in a heartbeat.

The answer...

Can also take many months and years to form.

What are you known for?

If there were a poll taken of people from the differing segments of your life...

Right now...

What would the answer be?

What are you known for?

It's pretty powerful, that without any internet, 24-hour news stations, iPhone, Palm Pre, Blackberry, airplane or bullet train, that the faith of the Roman's whom Paul was writing to was being talked about all over the world.

What are you known for?

Is it positive?

Is it negative?

Is it something you would be proud of?

What are you known for?

Randy Johnson - 164 Means Just As Much As 300 - Moving Beyond Failure

Randy Johnson became just the 24th pitcher in baseball history to win 300 games. That's a gi-normous achievement. People all over the world are talking about his 300th win. 

But, what people aren't talking about, is the 164 lossing games.

Before Randy Johnson won his historical 300th game, he lost 164 times. He's had to endure 164 heartaches, failures, losing attempts... however you want to look at it.

But after each loss, he kept going. He learned from what went wrong, and moved forward. It's easy to look at this 300th win with awe and wonder. But it's not the win that really matters... it's the will and drive to keep going. To keep working. To keep moving forward, even in the midst of losing.

It's easy to give up. And it's hard to keep going.

In baseball. In life. In ministry.

There are many times we're going to want to give up and give in. But we won't reach the victory in life, ministry, career, family, etc. unless we keep going. We won't reach the achievement God has for us, unless we keep taking steps forward - unless we follow the path He has for us. 

I'm sure those 164 losses were hard for Randy Johnson. Some probably harder than others. But he didn't give in.

I'm sure there will be seasons in each of our lives, ministries, careers, families, that will be hard. Some probably harder than others. Learn from what went wrong...

And move forward.

The Life & Death of Dora Balloons

Carter and Mo LOVE balloons. Doesn't matter what kind. They LOVE them. There's only one problem... they all deflate at some point. It's just the natural progression of a balloon's life. It sucks. Some balloons lose their air faster - especially if my kids are kicking and hitting them around the room. Others lose their air more subtly. And at some point, both balloons will end up on the ground. There's no way around it - unless I refill them with helium.

So, as I stood there, last night, watching my kids' Dora balloons dying, I was reminded of my own life.

As I live, day after day, I'm subject to lose my air - to get deflated. Some days I can literally feel it happening as I deal with life head on after hearing about a student who made a poor decision, deal with someone who's rude... etc. Other days, it's more subtle. And over time, I find my attitude and my spirit deflated. As a human being, it's the natural progression of life. There's no way around it - unless I refill with the Source of Life - Jesus.

Check this out:

David said about him: "I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence." Acts 2v25-30

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3v16-19

So where are you at? Near the ground... deflated... losing air. Or are you hooked up to our Life Source? Because if we're not, we will ultimately watch our lives - our attitudes - our spirits deflate just like my kids' Dora balloons. But there's hope. Let Jesus breathe life into you... now.

Spiritual Hangnails

This is Carter's big toe. He's 4 years old. He hates getting "hang's", as he calls them. Hates them - to the point of not moving until he can get mommy or daddy to snip it away. He knows that if the "hang" isn't cut away, it could snag on something causing more pain.

As I sat in my living room, cutting away Carter's "hang", I couldn't help but apply this to my life. There are times where I'm experiencing a spiritual "hang" - anger, swearing, thought life... the list could go on and on. And the thing is, if I don't "snip" or cut away those things, they could snag up my life, causing more pain.

My goal and prayer - for me, for you, and for students - is to recognize these spiritual "hangs" and cut them off as soon as we recognize they're there.

So, what's the spiritual hang in your life that needs to be cut? Grab the clippers and go to town!

Fast Food Faith: Part Three - Stale French Fry Oil

So the last two days I've posted about "Fast Food Faith". The title itself is a little misleading. When you first read it, you could assume it's a post about faith that is no good - or faith that is quick and lacks substance. I mean, isn't that what's said about fast food? But, it's actually about what I'm learning about my faith through the image of fast food. I know what you're thinking, "Todd, you're sick." Or, "Todd, you're a dork." And you'd be right! So here's the last installment from the "Fast Food Faith" series.

After I get past only getting one baggy of ketchup - after I throw away the spoon I don't need - I dig in to the fries. Out of all the food items, I tend to have a soft spot for the fries. If I'm not careful, I'll end up having a huge soft spot for the fries. So I'm checking them out... suck. Soggy. Gross. Flimzy. Gross. They're not crispy and fresh. All in all, they look like they're not done. But my suspicion, being the french fry expert I am, I'm guessing the oil is old. I'm guessing that they got too busy to switch out the oil. My guess is they cooked the fries in oil that really needs to be changed. Yuck!

How many times do I find myself soggy. How many times am I flimzy. How many times is my attitude gross. Too many to count. And here's what I find - when I find myself like that, it's because I'm cook'n in old, stale oil - oil that needs to be changed. I find that, in the busyness of life, I forget to really pray, or read my bible, or spend good time worshipping. Instead, I'm doing other stuff, stuff that's important, but stuff that kept me from getting dunked with God. And when I switch what I'm cook'n in, my attitude and outlook changes. It's crazy. So God, help me to remember to switch out the old oil. Help me to stay crispy and fresh!

It's Fry time!