Relative Truths

Ok, so I mentioned yesterday that Saturday was my niece Laney's 4th birthday party.  It was
this whole underwater, Ariel, Little Mermaid theme (for a look at some of the food, click here). 
One thing that I notice out of that is the movie The Little Mermaid came out in 1989.  A movie
almost 20 years ago is still inspiring 4 year old's birthday parties.  That's pretty impressive.

Anyway, there were two occurances that stayed with me from Sunday.  First, they set up a 
Slip-and-Slide.  Remember those?  David and Liz have a really cool hill going to their back yard,
and it gave the kids a perfect running start to hit the slide with.  My 2 year old nephew Brayden
would run at that thing with full force and fearlessly dive.  It was awesome to watch.  I thought,
"I wish we would fearlessly attack things in life."  Like I said yesterday, I preached at Sugarloaf UMC,
and I talked about fearlessly proclaiming the gospel.  Oh that we all would attack sharing the good
news of Jesus like Brayden attacked that slide.  What a difference that would make.

The second occurance happened when Laney went on the slide, she ended up in the grass and
was dirty.  She started crying.  So, daddy scooped her up, took her to their little pool and cleaned
her off.  After that, she was fine and went back to the slide.  The truth is that sometimes we just
realize that we have become dirty.  The great thing about God is that when we call out to Him for
forgiveness and grace, like a good Father, he scoops us and and will clean us off.  Then, we can
continue to live this great life he has for us. 

Anyway, that is what I experienced.  I hope you can make it to a 4 year old's birthday soon.  You
never know what you will learn. 

Ok, so just a quick post.  I am at the Starbucks in Suwanee doing some work.  The guy at the
drive-through greeted a customer with, "Hello, welcome to the Suwanee Starbucks.  My name
is Chris.  How may I caffeinate you today?"  Me and another business man in here just started
laughing.  I don't know about the business man, but I laughed because the guy was so honest
it was funny.  Basically, I would estimate that 90% of the people that come to Starbucks for
caffeine.  This worker obvioulsy knew that.  He was just being honest. 

I guess the truth is that too many times there are false-fronts in this world.  Thus, when someone
is brutally honest it can almost be funny.  Maybe we should be a little more honest with our intentions. 
I have learned a lot from Starbucks about creating an environment for people.  I just learned a lesson
in honesty from them today. 

Ok, so I wanted to do this last night, but I was way tired before I went to bed.  So,
anyway, here is a reflection on Sunday.  I preached at Sugarloaf UMC Sunday morning. 
Being church homeless right now has advantages.  One is getting to preach at different
churches.  So far, I have preached Sugarloaf and The Vine.  Yesterday were the two largest
crowds I have ever preached to.  It was an awesome time for me personally because I got
to share about the new church.  Tommy, the lead pastor, did a great set-up for me.  After the
service, I had long lines of people asking about the new church (I had one experience that
gave me goosebumps that I will share later).  We are having a meeting tonight for people
interested in knowing about the new church.  Pray for folks to come (or come yourself;  7pm
at Sugarloaf).  The truth in all of that is that I appreciate pastors giving me the pulpit for a
Sunday and I appreciate people being excited about what God is doing.

Rebekah and I got to hang out with some good friends we haven't hung out with in awhile. 
Carrie and Eric came to the service, so we went out to lunch with them.  Later, we had dinner
with them and played Rock Band (I love drumming).  It was so much fun.  The truth is that it
was good to spend time with good friends.

Saturday, my neice Laney turned 4.  I can't believe she is that old.  It seems like yesterday I
was holding her little baby body in my hand.  Now she is getting so big.  Anyway, I want to
talk more about that, so I will post about it tomorrow.  Hope you had a great weekend!  

Ok, so I took Rebekah's care in today for regular maintenance (you know, oil change,
tire rotation, etc).  I know that I needed to do this becaue of a warning signal that was
flashing on the dashboard (well, also because I pay attention to the mileage).  Anyway,
I am thankful that the car lets me know when it needs work.  I am glad that I am just
(or Rebekah is not just) driving and the engine seizes up because the oil hasn't been
changed (I had a car seize up on me on I-85 once and that was not fun).  The warning
signs help prevent a disaster if they are paid attention to and responded to.

As I was sitting there waiting, it made me think about the maintenance we do on our Spirit. 
Now, I am not going to try and paint an anology of a spiritual oil pan, but our souls need
constant prayer, accountability, study in scripture, and worship to be healthy and running
well.  However, often we ignore the "maintenance" because we either get "too busy" or we
just don't care.  Then, we wonder why we have spiritual crisis or why we can't deal with something.

Now, we don't have lights that flash on and blink when we are getting slack with our spiritual
maintenance, but we do have warning signs.  When was the last time you talked to God?  If it
has been awhile, does it seem hard to just talk to Him?  God wants to talk with us, so if it is hard
to do it, that is a warning sign.  So, pray.  When was the last time you read scripture just to see
what God says about living and how we can have such a full life in Him?  If you struggle to pick up
the Bible because it has been so long, that is a warning sign.  So, read.

I guess the truth is that we need maintenance.  Not only does it do our soul good, but it prepares
us for future events.  Do some maintenance today.  Trust me, you'll run better!

Ok, so I am sorry for not posting since last Tuesday.  I was out of town dealing
with some family stuff.  It has been a pretty rough week.  However, I want to
thank all of my friends and family for their support for Rebekah and me.  We
appreciate it and feel lucky to have such amazing people in our lives.  Anyway,
I wanted to do a post based on a conversation I had this morning.

I am up at Panera (my second office) working on my sermon for Sunday at Sugarloaf,
and taking care of some other business for the church.  I am in the "private room" and
over heard a phone conversation from the other guy in here.  After he got off the phone,
he asked if his conversation was bothering me.  I told him no and that I was impressed
with how he was handling his work situation.  I found out he was a regional V.P. for an
IT consulting firm.  Apparently his firm is big.  I found out that a 700K job was one of his
SMALLER accounts!
 
Anyway, the reason I enjoyed the conversation is because he asked me what I do for
a living.  I told him I am a minister.  Normally this response ends a conversation.  Or it
leads to a massive amount of confession.  Or it leads to a superficial conversation.  Not
this time.  My response led to a very real conversation with him.  He began to tell me
about his spiritual journey, his family, and his business practices.  He is PCA, so we
started talking predestination vs. free-will, Jonathan Edwards, and all sorts of other stuff. 
It was a real conversation and it was great. 
 

I enjoyed a real conversation with a stranger.  It is great to have a spur of the moment
connection with someone.  When was the last time you had a real conversation with a
stranger?  When was the last time you had a real conversation?  Hope you have a great Tuesday.    

Ok, so here is the last post about Nehemiah.  I finished that up and wanted to do
the Tuesday post that I said I would do.  Hopefully, I will be able to get to my next
Bible journey post later this week, but I can’t promise it will be Thursday.  I have a
very busy Thursday and I am not sure I will be able to post that day (by the way,
please be praying for my family that day).  Anyway, here are a few last truths I got
from Nehemiah:

 

Nehemiah 9:21: Even when it seems we are along, we are watched and cared for. 
Even when we feel like we are alone, God still cares for us.  I bet if we would look
for God’s blessings as much as we look for problems we would see how awesome God is.

 

Nehemiah 12:27: They went nuts celebrating the completion of the wall.  God had
given them a task, and they celebrated with the best they had when they completed
the task.  The truth is we should celebrate victories for God way more than we do.

 

Nehemiah 13:2: God can turn even a curse into a blessing.  I love that God can turn
everything around in His love, even a curse. 

 

That’s all for Nehemiah.  I have several other things I noticed, but I just wanted to
give you those.  Hope you are experiencing some Biblical truths this week. 

Ok, so I hope you all enjoyed the 4^th of July.  I know I said I would be putting a post up
on Thursday about my Bible-journey through Nehemiah.  Well, I have kept up with my
reading, but I went out of town Thursday.  Where I went didn’t have the Internet.  I just
got home, so I wanted to throw this up with a few things about Nehemiah.

 

Nehemiah 4:1-5: Nehemiah was doing a good thing, and he still faced critics.  They were
threatened because of how it would affect their power and influence.  When you do God’s
work, be prepared for that.  Doing God’s will is counter to the world’s notion of what is
important.  Stay true and don’t worry about the criticism.

 

Nehemiah 6:3: A leader knows how to deal with distractions.  A leader is able to stay
focused even when people try to distract them.  This is key to helping people stay true
to a vision.

 

Nehemiah 6:6-9: More proof that a leader knows how to deal with distractions.  Stay true
to the vision.  When you are in tune with God’s plan for your life, it will filter other things out.

 

That is all.  Hope you all had a good weekend.  What did you do to celebrate America’s
independence? 

 

Ok, so today was Wednesday, which is also, referred to as “hump day.”  Today
was somewhat of a familiar day to me.  What I mean by that is that there were
activities today that were normal activities to what I am used to.  This morning I
met with my accountability group (well, it was more like a partner since David
wasn’t there).  Later in the day, I went to FUMC to help Allen get ready for the
4^th of July Festival.  We went to the camp ground to get coolers, got some stuff
ready at the church, and shot baskets for a few minutes.  I got a few truths from today.

 

I am so glad to have an accountability group.  Even though it was just Matthew and
I today, it was so helpful to my walk.  I love getting to share my struggles and triumphs
 ith someone that understands.  I am also thankful that I have some people that tell me
when I need to be better.  The truth is we all need encouragement and accountability. 
This group is a blessing to me.

 

Truthfully, It was fun helping Allen.  One, he is a great guy.  FUMC is lucky to have
him.  Two, I love the 4^th of July Festival.  I love that the church is trying to be an
image of God’s grace.  I am kind of sad I won’t be there this year, but I know it
is in good hands with Allen and Greg.

 

Anyway, that is what is going on with me.  Quick update on the church: I am pretty
pumped about our possible worship location.  I am almost ready to just sign the
agreement.  Also, I think we are getting closer to having Christmas Eve decided upon. 
Please keep all of this in prayers.    

Ok, so I have decided that I need a few routines in life.  Yesterday was the
first real day of being a church planter.  I woke up with nowhere to go, but
lots to do.  I worked at my secondary office (Panera) before coming back to
my primary office (home).  Like I said, I need a few routines.  They keep me
on task and that is important.  So, I am going to start my days with reading s
cripture and on Tuesdays and Thursdays I am going to post about what I am
reading.  So, here goes.

 

Today I started reading Nehemiah.  I haven’t read Nehemiah since I was like
15, unless you count seminary when I was trying to be prepared for a test. 
I figured, he is a guy who set out to build something for God, and I feel like
I am trying to build something for God.  Here are a few tidbits I picked up
from the first three chapters.

 

Nehemiah 1:4- he wept because the wall was destroyed and the people of
God were shamed.  I weep for the people in Suwanee that don’t know what
a transforming relationship with Christ is like.  We should all weep when God
has been abandoned or neglected.  What makes you weep?

 

Nehemiah 2:5-8- Nehemiah is willing to ask a lot of the king in order to serve
God.  As a result, he is able to rebuild the wall and restore the people to God. 
Are we willing to ask a lot of others and ourselves for God?

 

Nehemiah 3- It took a community to rebuild the wall.  Nehemiah couldn’t do it
all by himself.  As a church planter, I can’t do it all.  It takes a team and a community
to honor God.  My prayer has been that God is ahead of me in Suwanee so that
we can honor Him.

 

That’s all for today.  Hope your Tuesday is going well!

 
 

Ok, so last Sunday was my first Sunday as the pastor of Connection Church.  Since
we aren't having services yet, I took the opportunity to go to my friend Andrew Erwin's
first Sunday at his first church, New Hope Between.  Andrew did a great job with his
message (he always does).  However, what impressed me most was how Andrew
handled the end.  As were singing the closing hymn, a man collapsed back into his
pew.  We had to call 911 and he was taken to the hospital (good news, he is fine). 

Andrew was awesome.  He calmly led people in prayer for the man, R.L.  He was
a calming presence for the people, showing them tht he is a leader they can trust. 
I was so proud of how he handled a situation I have yet to face as a pastor.  T
o make it even better, his awesome wife, Kristen, who is a nurse, helped attend
R.L. and was another source of calm strength.

I know that is not the ideal way to start at a church.  However, Andrew and Kristen
showed the church that they will be up to the task.  I am proud of them and their
ministry at New Hope and what God will do through them.