Intentional Encouragement

     I just finished a great article on the measuring of "success" in the church.  I think we all struggle with what to measure and how to know if we are accomplishing what we set out to accomplish.  How do you put a person's progress in discipleship on a scale that shows how they are doing?      Nothing grows (or even maintains) it's effectiveness without regular evaluation, but how do we apply that to the local church?      The article is longer than my usual posts, but it's worth the read. Measuring What Matters | Leadership Journal      What do you think?  Can we measure our spiritual successes?  How do you track what is going on in your own life?

     The young people of our church are participating in the "30 Hour Famine" this weekend sponsored by World Vision. It is a great experience for teens to get a brief glimpse of what life is like for far too many people in the world. I've been asked to offer a challenge from the Scriptures about what they will experience.       There is so much to say about God's heart for those who are hurting and the responsibility of his people to care for the needy.       I decided to spend the first few minutes talking about what makes a person "wealthy" and thus responsible to care for the needy. I'm confident that all of the kids involved would fit into a reasonable definition of wealthy once they think about it for a few minutes. The majority of us who live in America have more than we need. I plan to use this video from the "miniature earth project" to help them get some perspective on how much they have compared wit...

            It all seemed so small; a brown outline with little dots of blue and one larger empty brown area.   What am I talking about?   Why, the Grand Canyon , or course.   For many of you who have flown over it at 30,000 feet as you traversed the US for some reason, you may remember the first time the pilot said “now out on the left side of the plane, you will notice the Grand Canyon …”   Somehow, since you were so far removed from it; it didn’t seem so grand.             There are a lot of times in life when this is true.   Even the events that are important to us seem to be reduced in magnitude as time moves us further and further away from them.   That time I got knocked down and took a licking from a bully in 3 rd grade…the first girl I liked, but wasn’t sure she liked me…those stitches that came from jumping on hay bales on the back o...

     I want to challenge your Biblical memory about the story of Easter as it is found in the Bible.      We have all seen movies about people who find some means of going back in time to change something about the future.   The basic story line is always that if you change any one thing in the past, it inevitably changes the future.      Try on these “what-ifs” with the story of the Passion of Jesus and see what you think would change: What if Jesus had not ridden into Jerusalem (Matthew 21) but had stayed in Bethpage and Bethany ? What if Jesus had accepted the applause of the people on Palm Sunday and had taken over as the long awaited King? What if Jesus had not gone to Gethsemane (Matthew 26)?   He could have gone somewhere else.   Then that legion of soldiers would have had the wrong address and Judas would have looked like a fool. What if Jes...

      "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you.  Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock."  Isaiah 26:3, 4      I like Little Caesar’s Pizza. It’s not so much because it’s the best pizza that I’ve ever tasted (though I like it). It’s more because I can run by and pick up a couple of pies on the way home; it’s convenient and doesn’t cost me much.      I remember when the chain really became popular years ago. The “Pizza! Pizza!” slogan was huge. It was a great new concept. Buy one pizza; get the second one free. They used to come in long, thin, white bags on a sheet of cardboard. You don’t get the second pizza for free any more, but they are still less expensive than most and pretty tasty.      The promise in Isaiah 26 that I quoted earlier is that those who are stayed on God; who keep their trust completely in the Lord will ex...

     Back in 1969, a man named Joseph Baylyl wrote down the following little prayer.  It challenges me as I think about how easy it is to seem sincere when, in fact, we are not.  It is more easy to play church than we want to admit.  The biggest problem is that we always think it is the other person that is playing at it while we are the ones serving the Lord with sincerity.  See if these words don't speak to you as they did to me.      " Lord of reality, make me real, not plastic, synthetic—pretend—phony; an actor playing out his part—hypocrite. I don’t want to keep a prayer list, but to pray; nor to agonize to find your will, but to obey what I already know; to argue theories of inspiration, but to submit to your Word.      I don’t want to think another needs me, but I need him else I’m not complete. I don’t want to tell others how to do it, but to do it; to have to always be right, but to admi...

It is interesting to me just how much we like to talk about prayer. We dissect it and analyze it and make acronyms for it. We teach it and preach it and write books (and blogs!) about it. I wonder if we spend as much time actually praying as we do talking and reading and writing about it? One of my favorite quotes about prayer is from Martin Luther. I have seen it duplicated numerous times and every time it amazes me. " I have so much business, I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer. " Really? When is the last time you spent 3 hours in prayer during one day? How about during one week? We have allowed our lives to get so busy and so stressful that when we get home at night after a long day, we feel like if we spent an hour in prayer, we'd fall asleep after 5 minutes. I'm continuing to work at the importance of prayer in my life. I'll spend more time today praying. But I don't think it's a goal of 3 hours a day that is important...