December 6, 2011

I just finished up my paper for Spirituality and the Transformational Journey a few days ago. The main part of the paper was a Rule of Life to keep my soul healthy in the midst of leadership. I didn't include journaling in my Rule of Life, but thinking about it now I probably should have. This is something that helps me process my feelings, emotions, and gives me time to think about how God is working in my life. I haven't been as faithful writing on here as I would have liked when I started in the beginning, but moving and transitioning in life has a way of sucking the life out of some things that we would like to do. It is my plan to be more rhythmic with my entry posts in the future, once life here in Kansas seems to be a bit more settled. I have finished the Good and Beautiful God for the second time. It is a good read, and as I was talking this morning with my mentor/partner we discussed how freeing it was to read the false narratives and know that we don't have to live our lives under those anymore. One of the biggest ones that stood out to me was that our worth and value doesn't depend on our actions. It is not a productivity gospel.

November 28, 2011

I went for a run this morning in the dark. It was probably about 32 degrees out, but it didn't really feel too cold. When I started the run I thought this might not be so great, I didn't take any music and I just wasn't really feeling too inspired to be out there. After about a mile I said, "Okay God, here I am, what do You want me to do?" This simple question turned into a great time of prayer and conversation with God while I finished out my run. God wanted me to look around and see the beauty of His Creation. It was a great time of worship and renewal.

11/17/11

God is so good. God is so good. God is so good, he's so good to me.
He answers prayer. He answers prayer. He answers prayer, he's so good to me.
I love him so. I love him so. I love him so, he's so good to me.

This might be one of the simplest songs, but it completely fits my life right now. God has been here for me throughout everything that has happened in my life in the past month. I really can't believe how much has happened in such a short period of time.

It almost doesn't seem real.

November 16, 2011

I've just started reading "Strengthening The Soul Of Your Leadership", by Ruth Haley Barton, and I feel like I can connect with just about everything that she is saying. A few of the things that have stuck out to me so far have been:

"During those years I myself experienced in this place times of both great fulfillment and agonizing despair."

"I'm tired of helping others enjoy God. I just want to enjoy God."

"Oftentimes our feelings of isolation increase right along with our success."

"The soul... the part of you that is most real... the part of you that longs for more of God than you have right now."

I know already that this book is going to be really good for me, especially coming out of the place where I have been.

November 13, 2011

Continuing on in unpacking everything that has happened... I guess it has been just about a month ago now that I really felt like things were getting pretty hard in Kemmerer. Our tithing had been down quite drastically in the past few months and it became apparent that it wasn't going to start coming back up. At this point I had the feeling from God and others to stick with the Church, that hard times were bound to happen during a pastorate and that this was one of those hard times. I had been in Colorado for a week and half for the face2face portion of this class that I am journaling for. While I was there God moved in my life in some mighty ways, and showed me some things with what might help for the Church. Long story short, the ways in which I felt God leading me and the Church was not the way that others in the Church wanted to go. It kind of opened the door for most of the problems that people had to be pushed onto me.

November 10, 2011

I haven't written on this journal blog for a while. I believe that the reason has been a good one, Audrey and I have moved from Wyoming to Kansas. I will update this blog/journal in the coming days to reflect on all that has happened, and how God has moved in all of it. Here's my thought for today, we are shipwrecked on God. Amen.

October 22, 2011

As I journaled yesterday God has been bringing different things into my life yet they all point to the same things. If that makes sense. In my Masters Face2Face week we spoke quite a bit about transformation, go figure, and when I got home in the mail was an issue of EFCA Today, a publication put out by the E-Free Church of America. On the cover it says, "Pondering Spiritual Transformation", hmmmm... I've been pondering spiritual transformation quite a bit.

I want to highlight a few things in the articles that stuck out to me, and then I'll link to the full page of articles on their website.

"At the heart of spiritual leadership is discernment - the capacity to recognize and respond to the presence and the activity of God both personally and in community."
"The practice of community discernment, like any other Christian discipline, is a means of creating space for God's activity in our lives."
"The Lord seems content to work in people's lives in terms of decades, and in the church at large in terms of centuries. So, we need slow and steady perseverance to get there."
"Sometimes victory is just resolutely facing forward even if you can't seem to move."

Here is the link to the website: http://www.efcatoday.org/

October 21, 2011

God has been speaking to me quite a bit lately, or maybe God is always trying to speak to me and I have been paying better attention. This post is going to ramble, so be prepared...

One of the things that God has encouraged me with is the following devotional that my mom sent to me. The God aspect of this devotional is two fold 1. The date is October 15, which is the same day that Dave Williams one of my Masters Professors talked about the life of Elijah. and 2. I have felt very much like Elijah lately. Here is the devotional.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Discouragement

And he said, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life." (1 Kings 19:14)
Kingdom work can be challenging! You can give everything you have to God’s service and come away exhausted. This is what happened to Elijah. God had just used Elijah to call down fire from heaven in a spectacular display of divine power. But Elijah’s exhilaration was soon replaced by strenuous work followed by death threats, causing him to flee for his life. Now he was alone, exhausted, and discouraged.
Again, God came to Elijah. This time, He came not in fire or in a loud, spectacular way, but in a still, small voice. God’s servant was tired, and God brought him comfort. Elijah’s focus had shifted from God to God’s enemies. He had allowed his circumstances to overwhelm him, leaving him disoriented to God and feeling alone. So God encouraged him. God provided Elisha for him as a helper, friend, and companion.
God removed Elijah from the activity for a time, so that he could rest and spend time with God. When the nation next saw Elijah, he was rejuvenated and refocused on God and His assignment.
If you are overwhelmed by kingdom work so that your focus is no longer on God but on all that there is to do, let Him comfort you. Listen to His gentle voice. He will encourage you and provide exactly what you need to prepare you for what comes next. If He needs to remove you from your work for a time, He will. He may place a friend or co-laborer beside you to help carry the load. God knows exactly how to encourage you. Let Him do so.

Well, that was one of the ways that God has been speaking... Seeing as it is late, I will post another one tomorrow.

October 12, 2011

I have completed my second full day of Face 2 Face classes at Camp Quaker Ridge. These intensive classes are packed into a week, 8-5 everyday. These past two days have been incredibly full. I feel like it will take time even when I get home to unpack everything that has come out already, let alone in the next five days.
There have been many many ways that I have seen Christ since arriving here, too long to write out right now.

I know that this time is life changing and will continue to impact my life long after this week is over. It is interesting to know that something is life changing, yet at the same time not really knowing what it will look like on down the line.

I feel like God is giving me fresh perspective in life, and also a renewed sense of passion for what He is doing not only in my life, but in ministry as well. I have been longing for both of these for quite a while, and I didn't really know how to go about getting them, but they are happening now and I am excited to see where it leads.

October 7, 2011

I talked to my mom on the phone today. She prayed over me, and there was one statement that she prayed that stood out to me. She asked God that Audrey and I would see Him in unexpected places. I'm not totally sure why God made that stand out to me, but I have been thinking about it all day.
One unexpected place that God showed up was yesterday. I was just headed out the door to meet with fellow Pastor Mark Ramspurger for our weekly get together to talk about ministry, life, you name it. I look forward to this time every week. It is so good for me. Well, it was snowing and I realized that both of our dogs were missing. They had somehow gotten out of the house and were now who knows where in town.
I found Maya after about 25 minutes of driving around, but Mountie was nowhere to be found. This is highly unusual because when he has gotten out before he sticks pretty close around the house. I gave up looking for him after an hour and continued about my day until noon.
This time Audrey went out with me looking for him. I was getting pretty nervous and thought he got hit or something. We drove around for thirty minutes, until finally Audrey prayed that we would find him, and I pulled up to an intersection and said, "When I found Maya, I just stopped and looked around for a little while." I put the truck in park and we sat there for maybe 30 seconds when all of a sudden Audrey yells, "There he is!"
He was barely sticking his head out from behind a house that was situated on a hill. There would have been no way that we would have found him unless we stopped.
Anyway, I believe that God showed up there; unexpectedly. I am echoing my mom's prayer today.

September 27, 2011

"Soul Training" Exercise: Lectio Divina

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Always trusts
Always perseveres

Love always perseveres. Love always perseveres. Love always perseveres. Love always perseveres.

God brought a few things to my mind as I prayed and thought over these words. The first one is that God's love for us always perseveres. There is nothing as Paul said that can separate us from the love of God through Christ Jesus. The fact that "always" is the word used makes it kind of hard to wrap my head around. Always is 100 percent. It's not 90 percent, or like the claims of anti-bacterial soaps 99.9 percent, it is 100 percent all the time, never taking a break, never quitting, never almost making it, it is guaranteed 100 percent, always.

God's love always perseveres; it is both humbling to know that God loves me and His love for me will always be there even when I screw up, and at the same time completely freeing and open knowing that God's love for me isn't dependent upon what I do. I don't have to earn it.

The next thing that came into my head concerning this phrase is that of married love. That when Audrey and I took our vows on November 26th, 2005 that phrase love always perseveres took it's roots in our marriage. The ups and downs of life together, the hardships that come our way, the things that love has already persevered through and the things that it will have to persevere through. It brings joy to know that because of God's always persevering love for Audrey and I, that our love for each other can always persevere through anything thrown our way in life.

September 26, 2011 #2

One of the interesting things that I found in Invitation To A Journey was how integral our personality types are to our spiritual growth and transformation. That we need to be aware of what our preferred method of worship/devotions/disciplines are in order that we can nurture the other side to be whole. So I found this personality test online. It appears that I am a ISTJ. I am going to have to do some more thinking and praying about how to apply all of this to my own life. But it is a good starting point to jump off from.


Your Type is
                               ISTJ

Introverted	Sensing	Thinking	Judging
Strength of the preferences %
44	62	50	56

Qualitative analysis of your type formula
 You are:

• moderately expressed introvert
• distinctively expressed sensing personality
• moderately expressed thinking personality
• moderately expressed judging personality

September 26, 2011

 This post struck me this morning as I read it. I've just finished writing my response paper to Mulholland's book, "Invitation To A Journey", and in his book he writes, "We live in an instant-gratification culture... If we do not receive the desired results almost instantly, we become impatient and frustrated." This post from Pete Wilson speaks directly to this idea that spiritual transformation is a life long process, much like physical growth. One of the best lines from this post is, "You can't microwave spiritual formation."

I have really been enjoying how God has been weaving similar acts and truths about spiritual transformation from many different areas in my life. I feel like so many things that I read, or situations that I find myself in, or conversations that I'm having center around spiritual transformation and/or leadership. It has been very encouraging to me to be able to see God working through my Masters course work and my everyday life. They are becoming more and more one and less and less school and life. 

Re-posted blog from Pete Wilson

Impatience Is An Enemy To Spiritual Growth

I think all too often in Christian circles we view spiritual transformation as something that should always be charted up and to the right. While I wish this was true, the reality is it isn’t, is it?
I love to study the life of the apostle Peter. I’ve got way too much in common with that dude.

Matt 16: ¹⁵“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” ¹⁶Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it

What a huge spiritual victory for Peter. You’ve been there.
You walked away from a certain temptation.
You loved someone you thought was unlovable.
You forgave someone you thought was unforgivable.
You had a moment of incredible generosity.
But just a few verses later we read…

²¹From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
²²Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
²³Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Listen, I don’t care where you are on your spiritual journey, when Jesus calls you “Satan” it’s a major set back. No matter how you look at it that’s a bad day.
Peter is a great reminder to me that this journey of having Christ formed in me is not an overnight deal. You can’t microwave spiritual formation.
And yet “impatience” which might be the most accepted sin in our culture today drives us to constantly want to speed up the process.
Can I encourage you today to slow down. Don’t beat yourself up if you’ve met recent spiritual failure or you just feel stuck. There are seasons to this spiritual growth process.
Today’s a new day full of new opportunities to connect to God’s grace in new ways.
Have you ever felt like Peter, up and down in your spiritual growth?

September 23, 2011

 Re-posted from Donald Miller

Leaders Lead People Through the Fear

I received an email last night from a courageous friend named Paul. He’s one of those tough guys but his toughness isn’t covering anything. He’s tough on the outside and tough on the inside, too. What I mean by tough on the outside is he’s actually training to run one-hundred miles in a single go only two weeks from now. No kidding, he’ll run the Chicago marathon as the last quarter of his personal challenge. He’s insane. He’s doing it to help some children he loves. I’ll give you more information below.
And yet, whenever I exchange stories with my friend he’s got more to talk about on the inside journey than he does about his athletic accomplishments. He talks about very hard emotional stuff as though it’s a challenge equal to the physical. Whether it’s addressing a father wound, or addressing his desire to love people more deeply, they’re all challenges, they’re all mountains to climb and he does it with both fear and enthusiasm.
Still, there’s times when it’s hard to be that kind of guy. I think one of the reasons it’s hard is because facing challenges head on is a lonely business. I truly believe most people in the world avoid conflict. We either numb ourselves by getting validation somewhere or numb ourselves by drinking or eating or so many other coping mechanisms.
I reminded my friend in an e-mail this morning that sometimes leading just means being out front, going to the places very few people are willing to go. But the cool thing about leaders is they show the rest of us that the path is scary but ultimately safe.
As I e-mailed him, I thought about the few times I’ve gone through haunted houses with friends. For whatever reason, I sometimes feel like I need to be the guy out front. You know, the guy turning the corners first, feeling the walls, trying to find my way through the maze in the dark. But I assure you, I’m not feeling all that brave up there. I’m feeling terrified, to tell you the truth.
Leading is like that sometimes. You’ve got a gaggle of screaming, giggling friends behind you, afraid of their demons, afraid of addressing their wounds, afraid of getting real about their coping mechanisms, and they’re looking for a shirt to cling to, somebody to bump into when the line suddenly stops because a guy just jumped out of a closet with a chain saw. They’re looking for somebody to scream with and to grab them and keep them from falling down. They’re looking for somebody to move them quickly through the room they’re in into the next room, the one that holds yet another challenge.
To those of you who lead, I’ll tell you what I’m telling myself these days, and it’s the same thing I told my friend.
The trick to leading a group through a haunted house is knowing the scary stuff can’t actually kill you. The management won’t let them.
It’s the same with all the scary stuff we have to deal with, all the fear of abandonment and loneliness and wounds we have to address. They aren’t allowed to kill us. Sure we might feel some fear, and a lot of it. But in the end (even if it kills our earthly bodies) we don’t die. We just come through the other side with a knowledge we faced our fears, and we got out of that haunted house alive, our screaming and giggling friends in tow.
If you’re a leader, just know you’re supposed to be a little afraid. And you’re supposed to be taking some people with you. And nobody can actually kill you in this thing. All they can do is yell boo. Be brave.

September 21, 2011

The "Soul Training" exercise from this past week in, Good & Beautiful God was to recite Psalm 23 before getting out of bed in the mornings and before laying in bed at night, and anytime in between when you thought of it.
I didn't accomplish this every morning or every evening, but I did find myself thinking about the Psalm at different points during the day quite often. We have a whiteboard in our kitchen for grocery lists and other things that need remembering, so I wrote the Psalm on there for a reminder. This helped me as every time I walked into the kitchen it was right there.
There were also a few times this week where life seemed to dump on Audrey and I, and it was in those times of stress that we turned to the Psalm to help lead us in prayers to God. Jim says that you will begin to pray this Psalm at odd times during the day. I found that kind of funny when I read it, and it has stuck with me. I don't think I have yet to pray it at an odd time, but it has become a starting point for prayers for me this week.
We have a community worship service that 3 or 4 different churches participate in that we hold once a month, and it was my turn to share the message this past Sunday. At the end I challenged them with this challenge, of praying Psalm 23 throughout the day.
I will be interested in hearing what their experiences are with this as well.

Psalm 23

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Psalm 23

The LORD, the Psalmist’s Shepherd.

    A Psalm of David. ¹ The LORD is my ^(A)shepherd,
I ^[a]shall ^(B)not want.
² He makes me lie down in ^(C)green pastures;
He ^(D)leads me beside ^[b](E)quiet waters.
³ He ^(F)restores my soul;
He ^(G)guides me in the ^[c](H)paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
 ⁴ Even though I ^(I)walk through the ^[d]valley of the shadow of death,
I ^(J)fear no ^[e]evil, for ^(K)You are with me;
Your ^(L)rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
⁵ You ^(M)prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You ^[f]have ^(N)anointed my head with oil;
My ^(O)cup overflows.
^{6 [g]}Surely ^(P)goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will ^[h](Q)dwell in the house of the LORD ^[i]forever.

September 17, 2011

As I have been spending quite a bit of time reading and studying and writing as part of my Masters journey, there has been some music that I have been listening to that has inspired, shaped, helped me along. I will periodically put up the songs on here that have struck a chord with me for one reason or another. The first one is Mumford & Sons song, "Sigh No More".
Here are the lyrics:

Serve God, love me and mend
This is not the end
Lived unbruised, we are friends
And I'm sorry
I'm sorry

Sigh no more, no more
One foot in sea and one on shore
My heart was never pure
And you know me
You know me

But man is a giddy thing
Oh man is a giddy thing
Oh man is a giddy thing
Oh man is a giddy thing

Love it will not betray you
Dismay or enslave you, it will set you free
Be more like the man you were made to be
There is a design, an alignment, a cry
Of my heart to see,
The beauty of love as it was made to be

The truth behind the last "section" of lyrics is so penetrating. Often times humanity refers to sin as the complete freedom, but in truth it binds you, hauls you down, and ruins you. To quote N.T. Wright from his commentary on the 5th chapter of Ephesians, "In that world, as in ours, many people saw no need for restraint. If it seemed fun at the time, why not go ahead? Avoid all cheap imitations – Casual sex is a parody of the real thing – like drinking from a muddy stream instead of fresh, clear water, or like listening to a symphony on a damaged record or tape player when a world-class orchestra is playing in the theatre around the corner. It promises the earth and ends up killing you – if not physically, then certainly emotionally and spiritually.
Christ's love for us will never betray us, dismay us, or enslave us. How freeing and liberating to step into that way of life. 

September 16, 2011

One of my "assignments" this week was to spend 2-3 hours in a retreat type setting, thinking about how God has shaped me over my life. Specifically the times, places, events, people that helped in my spiritual transformation.
I decided to go for a nice long run in the high desert outside of Kemmerer for my reflection time. I love running in the desert because after just a few miles you can no longer see any sort of real civilization. It is so open and remote here that I can feel like I'm completely off by myself in a short period of time. In fact I only saw one other person the entire time I was out, and it was a hunter on a 4 wheeler.
This was a really good time for me in more ways than one. The last few weeks have been incredibly busy and I hadn't really had a chance to just "get away". Before I left I actually felt a little bit of guilt try and creep its way in saying, "You have so much other stuff to do, how can you just leave for 3 hours?"
But I knew that I needed to get out and do this and spend some extended time in creation and with my Creator.
I won't share all of my details on here since I am writing a paper on all of my thoughts. But I will share that this part of my week has been the best so far. I had a blast running and thinking about my life with God so far. I ended up running a total of 12.5 miles, but the best part was recalling all of the ways that God has shaped me into who I am today.

September 13, 2011

 Re-posted Blog From Donald Miller

What to do with Pain

The older I get, the more I appreciate pain. I’m not a masochist by any stretch because I don’t like pain any more than the average person. And yet I’ve come to appreciate it.
In years past, when I’d go through a hard time, I’d run from it. I’d try not to feel it or deal with it. But these days, I’ve learned the only way life can actually get better is if I face reality, face my mistakes and liabilities and somehow correct or at least acknowledge them.
In stories, characters only change in crisis. Characters never, ever change when the story is going well. And of course the same is true with life. Pain is always an invitation to grow.
Sadly, pain also has the opposite affect. If we cover over our pain with coping mechanisms, it’s as though we are going through a workout without gaining muscle. Some people do this for years and never grow. Ever met a 50-year old who is still making the mistakes of a 19-year old? It’s likely because he never accepted pain and allowed it to change his character.
Here are some ways we can grow through when we are in the midst of pain:
1. Accept it: We need to sit with the pain and not run from it. This means we can’t drink it away or make ourselves busy or “start the next chapter” before we’ve wrapped up the previous one.
2. Gain perspective: If we lose a loved one, it likely has nothing to do with us. And yet, we can still ask ourselves what really matters in the face of our pain. We can ask ourselves how we want to live differently because of the pain.
3. Take inventory: There are other kinds of pain, though, that bring us into self reflection. We’d be wise, then, to do some self reflecting. If the pain is relational, I’d encourage going through Henry Cloud and John Townsend’s book “Safe People” and making an inventory of how you are unsafe. This inventory may help you reorganize your life so you don’t find yourself in the same situation again.
In stories and in life, pain is our friend. It’s an unwelcome friend, but a friend nonetheless. The good news is if we make friends with our pain, it won’t stay long and it will leave us with a gift. But if we avoid pain, it will chase us down until we finally accept the gift it has to offer.

September 11, 2011

21. Bacon
22. Sleeping In
23. Guacamole
24. Supportive Parents
25. Recovery Tights
26. Coffee Shops
27. Living In Wyoming
28. Pizza After A Long Run
29. Sunglasses
30. Racing
31. The Wind River Mountain Range and Specifically Big Sandy Trail Head
32. Freedom
33. Brothers And Sisters (my family & my Christian family)

September 7, 2011

Continuation of Thankful List:

11. Redemption
12. My Family's Legacy
13. Sunshine
14. The Smell Of Evergreen Trees
15. A Good Pair Of Running Shoes
16. Good Health
17. Fresh Fruit
18. The Ability To Stay Connected With People Halfway Across The United States
19. God's Provision
20. Stickers

September 6, 2011

"Soul Training" Exercise: Start off with at least 10 things and by the end of the week try to reach 100.
Thankful List - Things that I am thankful to God for. (In no particular order!)

1. Audrey
2. Forgiveness
3. Running
4. Coffee
5. Mountains
6. My dogs (Maya & Mountie)
7. My own bed
8. Laughter
9. Small Towns
10. Close Friends

September 4, 2011

The "Soul Training" exercise for this past week in "The Good and Beautiful God" was a little bit harder for me to do on a daily basis. Compared to the first one of sleep, which if I don't do I can tell very easily, the act of sitting in silence focusing on who God is and listening to His voice is more difficult. I don't have to try to sleep, I do have to make a conscious effort to stop whatever it is that I am doing in my day and take the time to be in silence with God.
Also, with this exercise it is not relatively apparent when it doesn't happen like sleep. But I believe that it is subversively apparent. Let me explain. This past weekend has been a blur. Audrey and I left for Colorado on Thursday to officiate a wedding for the daughter of some great friends of ours. On the way down, we took a wrong turn and ended up 150 miles from our destination through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. You can't make up 150 miles very easily in the middle of the Rockies. Friday was another rushed day trying to drive through Rocky Mountain National Park and make it to the rehearsal on time. And then the wedding on Saturday.
Needless to say my alone time with God during these past few days has been non-existent. I have shared moments with God; thanking Him for keeping us safe with all the driving we did; marveling at the gorgeous mountains; seeking His blessing for the marriage ceremony. But the alone listening time just hasn't been there.
Here comes the subversively apparent aspect. I still went about my days, got things accomplished, and did what I needed to do, but there was this anxious feeling present. I wasn't tuned into the Holy Spirit as much as I could have been. My frustration with the fact that we got lost, had a massive detour, had to spend money for an extra night in a motel kind of spilled over into other areas.
I think that in the busiest times of life it is the most important to stop, be quiet, and listen to God. Looking back I believe this would have helped me just to feel more sane about the whole situation.
This morning laying in bed I was able to just "be" with God. It felt great. I wasn't rushing off to go do something, and I could just reflect with God on the past few days and see how my situation could have been better.

August 30, 2011

The Good and Beautiful God: Chapter 1 Quotes & Notes

I learned that transformation happens through training my soul.
The problem is that we are not training. We have never been taught a reliable pattern of transformation.
I am a person in whom Christ dwells, and I live in the kingdom of a God who loves me and is caring for me.
We change not by mustering up willpower but by changing the way we think. We change indirectly.
To know the God of Jesus is to know the truth about who God really is.
Metanoia refers to the changing of one's mind. Jesus understood that transformation begins in the mind.
Our bodies and souls are unified. If our bodies suffer, so do our souls.

1. Were you able to practice the discipline of sleep this week? If so, describe what you did and how you felt about it.
I was able to practice this discipline. I have never really had much trouble going to sleep or staying asleep. The problem lately I guess has been feeling like I have to much to try and get done to go to sleep so I do get 7-8 hours a night. But this week I made a conscious effort to go to bed at a certain time so that I would get at least 7 hours. The past few nights I've gotten 7 hours and my days have felt better and more productive.

2. What, if anything, did you learn about God or yourself through the exercise?
I've known for a while that when I get extremely tired I don't do anything well. I don't relate well, I tend to shut myself off and kind of go on autopilot. This isn't a good scenario for any aspect of my life when this happens. Consistent good sleep definitely helps this to not happen.

August 29, 2011

I am extremely encouraged this morning by the transforming power of Jesus Christ. I love the fact that the whole Masters program is centered around Spiritual Transformation, how Christ redeems us from the inside out, changing so many things about us. I got an update from my sister on my newest niece and nephew yesterday. They are miracle babies who are now almost 6 months old. Twins born almost 2 months early, it is amazing to see the pictures of them and see how they have transformed physically. How God is helping them grow into healthy little babies. My brother-in-law in the update said, "God is redeeming our story." I love this line!

This morning I stumbled across this video trailer for an upcoming movie called Machine Gun Preacher. It is based on the true story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing transformation and finds an unexpected calling as the savior of hundreds of kidnapped and orphaned children in Sudan. Just watching the trailer made me excited to see this movie. And it goes right back to being transformed by Christ. Here is a quote that I found along with the video.
“Sam Childers is one of those rare men [who is] willing to do literally whatever it takes to promote the message of Jesus Christ and save children from the tyranny of evil men.” -- John Rich, lead singer and songwriter, Big & Rich

Here's the video - I hope that it stirs Christ's transforming power in you as it did in me.

August 28, 2011

I finished reading the first chapter of, The Good and Beautiful God. I have enjoyed reading it again. The first "Soul Training" exercise is sleep. Doesn't sound too hard, but putting this into practice is harder than reading about it. Especially this weekend, where I did a wedding on Saturday night and then had a sick wife to take care of on Sunday. Needless to say my first day of "training" didn't go as well as I would have liked!
When you are married your sleeping patterns aren't just dependent upon you. They also involve your mate. So I will be including Audrey into this first training exercise. Hopefully she is okay with sleeping at least 7 hours a night!
Resting in God...

August 26, 2011

  Reposted Blog From Pete Wilson

Deciding Not To Decide

I’ve been in one of those seasons where I feel God is teaching me so many things about church leadership, and leadership in general for that matter.
My most recent lesson has to do with decisions.
I’ve always thought a strong leader was a leader who could make a fast and informed decision about anything at anytime. I thought this kind of decision making would help you achieve a irreplaceable position in the organization.
And it might.
But it’s horrible for the developmental culture of your organization.
Making all of the decisions does nothing to help develop other leaders or make them feel like they’re an important part of the process and furthermore it continues to feed your self deception that you’re actually the smartest person in the room.
So these days when faced with a really important decision that needs to be made I’m learning to respond with a simple question.
What do you think?
Amazing how that one question…
-develops ownership
-generates better ideas
-creates extra time for you to focus on what only you can focus on
Don’t be afraid to let go of your need to control your own life. Decide not to decide.
I’m finding all kinds of uses for this principle at work, in my marriage and with my kids.
So let’s all say it out loud together….What do you think?

August 25, 2011

We had our first "official" class on Skype today with Dave Kingrey. Despite losing video with the rest of the class it was really good to hear everyone's thoughts on the different readings and videos that we were supposed to do throughout the week.
I appreciated what everyone had to share, and I resonated with the thought about, "Not taking people where we haven't gone."
Looking forward to next week's session!

August 24, 2011

Today I read the introduction to "The Good and Beautiful God" by Jim Smith. I have read this book once before, but I am excited to read it again to see what God brings out to me this time around. A couple of things that stood out to me today were:

1. "The one primary mission for a pastor should be to make disciples, but there are a thousand other pressing needs, problems, and agendas that easily throw us off track." - I guess I resonate with this statement because it has happened to me. Being a solo pastor requires that I do quite a bit of everything at the Church.

2. "Genuine transformation into the character of Christ really is possible." - A very hopeful statement.

August 23, 2011

I've officially started my Masters. I created this blog to fulfill one of the requirements for a class that is part of the Masters Of Transformational Leadership offered by Barclay College. The requirement is to keep a journal of thoughts, prayers, insights, changes, etc... that I experience through the 2 years that I will be pursuing this degree. And at least one entry per week.

So, for today my insight is this: I have been feeling like I have needed something to push me in my spiritual life. I had hit a point where I felt like I wasn't really growing very much. Like I had hit the plateau, things were starting to look very familiar - all even and flat - like my home state of Kansas. This week I have assignments that I have to finish. I am being pushed to do things that I would not have done without being told to do so. I also feel like God is moving through these. My prayer is that this keeps continuing and that I don't get burdened down with all that I am required to do.