Last night, I awoke at 3 a.m. for no particular reason but to think. Each minute seemed like an hour. As I lay there, I thought long and hard about the details of my life and ministry right now. As I did, I surveyed and surmised the past 10-11 months of drastic change in our student ministry. I evaluated every move I could remember. I became more and more restless the more I thought about it and dwelt on it.

And then God spoke.

I won’t tell you everything He said, but I will tell you that He told me clearly that I’m spending too much time living looking over my shoulder at the past. In fact, God has shown me that I had just about gotten to the point where I am living walking backwards; that is, really ONLY focusing on what is in the past. I can’t explain how He did, but as surely as I’m typing these words He spoke to me and gave me clear instructions regarding how I need to change.

God is a God of opportunities.
God is a God of possibilites.
God is a God of promises.
God is a God of “imagine if…”
God is a God of “wait and see.”
God is a God of “follow Me.”
None of those have anything to do with the past.

God wants me dwelling on the past just long enough to say goodbye to it, because that’s what He’s done with it.

In fact, as I consider Jesus’ earthly ministry, He spend a good amount of time erasing people’s past and setting their eyes on Him right then and into the future.

Because no matter how I slice it, the past inevitably brings disappointment (from past failures), frustration (from lack of traction and unmet goals), and an overall malaise. And therein lies an effective weapon of the enemy, Satan. If he can get you looking behind you, you’ll not only miss the blessing of God right now, but you’ll be in no position to see what God is going to do.

As soon as I had laid there and listened to God speak to me, I prayed and immediately returned to a place of peace in my mind and heart and at 5 a.m. this morning, fell asleep.

Here’s a video from a local news channel. See if you can spot me.
 

Finally, something connected to Michael Jackson worth watching.

Hey Everyone. I want to start off by apologizing for not writing here for so long. I’ll understand if no one ever reads this because no one will ever come back to this site, thinking its been abandoned!

This morning I was reading in Romans 12. It’s probably one of my favorite chapters in the Bible and I learned that the verse (2) where we’re instructed to NOT be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind….did you know those words “be transformed” were written in what is called the “passive voice”? That means that this is not something that we must struggle at, try harder at, or work at. It is something that we simply allow God to do within us as we love Him and follow Him faithfully.

And the fact that this transformation happens as our minds are renewed is certainly no coincidence. Think about a sin you’ve committed; something you did that you know wasn’t the right thing to do. That started in your mind. Even for a split second, it was a decision that you faced. So, to allow God to renew your mind takes the sin issue to the source! If you allow God to renew your mind, He will affect and change the way you view those tempting decisions when it would seem to fun, or cool, or popular, or vengeful, or interesting, or whatever to do the wrong thing–the thing that would pull you from His will. But a lot of times we think we need to really buckle down and try harder at changing our ways, our behaviors, and our words. The reality is that it is GOD who does the transforming in our minds–we just have to ALLOW Him to!

But how does that happen? I think it starts with the simplest of prayers:
“God, I welcome you in to my mind to renew it. Amen.”

Christians talk a lot about “asking Jesus into your heart”, but I think that concept is more of an invention of poeticism on our part then anything else. Don’t get me wrong, the Bible talks A LOT about our hearts (it’s “the well spring of life” and “from the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks”), but take a look at the description of the “armor of God” that is in the Bible, found in Ephesians 6:

13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

It is the HELMET that is connected to our salvation. The “Helmet of Salvation” guards your head, and your head holds your brain. Now, don’t misunderstand me–I know fully that surrendering to Jesus is a heart decision, but its not ONLY a heart decision and as we’ve pointed out, EVERY decision you make starts in your head. So, no wonder its the “Helmet of Salvation”.

So, what guards your heart, according to the armor of God? The “Breastplate of Righteousness” guards your heart. So, righteousness is another way of saying “right living” or “living right”. And how do we live right? By having our minds renewed by God, because that is what helps us make decisions that are right and pleasing to Him.

What do you think about all this? What is it in YOUR mind that gets in the way of God renewing it?

I’ve been blogging pretty faithfully lately. But you don’t know that. That’s because the posts I’ve written are unposts–that is, unposted. I think they might just end up staying that way. I write for lots of reasons, and “me” is one of them.

But I just got back from an evening with a room full of friends who all love Jesus and we actually sat for a couple hours and talked about Jesus, us, life, parents, parenting, kids, the cross, and how it all goes together.

One of the questions we were sharing was “What’s the #1 thing that blocks your view of the cross?”

The cross of Christ is central to who I am. It was the reason Jesus came, so I find that more than enough of a reason for me to live. And not merely breathe, but live a life captivated by the wonder of the cross. To some who might read this it seems far too simplistic, even childlike, even naive or infantile. No matter. I’m simply entranced by a love so all-consuming that it blasts past my faults, my sins, my shortcomings, and meets me right here. Right now.

It is simultaneously elementary and yet incomprehensible. It is the juxtaposition of a freedom so profound that the only right response is for me to enslave myself to the One who gave it to me. I’m not a radical. A radical has a plan. I don’t have any plans. I’m just living my life staring at a cross. Not much of a plan, is it?

And yet somehow, the God who created me is also the God who uses me. I dare you to understand that. God uses my life to impact another life. Why? I don’t know. I told you I don’t have a plan, and now you know I don’t have as many answers as I do questions. And ironically enough, the questions only usher me into a deeper sense of mystery of the love of the Father shown in the person of Jesus.

No one disputes that Jesus existed. We all know He was a historical figure. But I have become convinced that He is not merely historical, but futuristic as well. Every person will meet Him. You will meet Him. Some briefly, some for eternity, but all will meet Him.

Is it any wonder why I think as I do of the cross of Christ? It is at the cross where my death was given to Him. My sin was placed on His head. My punishment was taken away from me and placed on the God who made me. I dare you to understand it.

Even I, as practically minded as I am, read all that is written above in this post and say, “Yeah. So?” Where does the rubber meet the road on this one? I guess that is up to each person. As for me, I’m staring at a cross.

I share a pretty great relationship with my pre-teen daughter. We regularly have heart-to-heart conversations, usually initiated by her I’m glad to say. One such conversation took place last night after our youth program at church, while I was putting away the sound equipment.

I won’t share the specific details, but I can tell you that the conversation sprang from an observation she had made earlier that night, while hanging out with her friends. A comment was made about her (not by one of her friends) that was not true, and therefore hurtful. When she told me who had made the comment, I wasn’t surprised. I told her that I was sorry that comment was made and that she was hurt by it. We quickly moved on from there into a wonderful conversation on relationships, discernment, judgment, and healthiness.

All kids her age at her station in life are primarily seeking 2 things:

1. Identity that separates them from their parents. (Most parents hate this and can’t get past it.)

2. Who’s going to show them the most attention, welcome, and sense of being known and understood. (Whoever does that wins them.)

I’m not writing this to embarass my daughter, but just to point out that after nearly 15 years of ministry to students, I refuse to miss my God-given #1 priority: ministry to MY student. I love our relationship and I hope we’re always this close.