In The Dash- A Different Way
I can’t sit still very long. I have a hard time listening. Needless to say I struggle when it comes to listening to God and being still. Sometimes I try but I only hear what I want to hear.
There was the time when I was looking for my first youth pastor position and I was convinced that God wanted me to take it. However my wife who was still and silent heard something different. She heard wait and be patient because this was not the right opportunity for us.
I am so glad I listened to my wife and so glad I didn’t listen to the voice that I thought was god. Truth is I did not spend a whole lot of time seeking Gods will. When time is short we prioritize what is important. Listening to God and being still is important.
Action Step:
◊ Be still and listen.
In The Dash- Till Death Do We Part
Everyone dies. In some cases we can choose how or when but in a healthy way of life God chooses for us. I’ve always said that I never want to die by fire or water, to be completely honest I would rather die peacefully in my bed or in a quick instant. I don’t do well with pain or suffering.
I believe everything happens for a reason whether I understand or accept it, so if I knew I had thirty days to live my prayer is that I would live with joy and passion till the very end. My prayer is that I would live as if it were a celebration, that I would not waste my time feeling sorry for myself or spend my time questioning why.
My prayer is that through my death others may find life, and God would be honored.
Action Step:
◊ Embrace the end and not fear it.
In The Dash Launch
I have been challenged by many to put my thoughts to a digital footprint about what I feel is really important and about what I have learned over the last year or so. One of the many things I have learned is figuring out and prioritizing what is really important in my life. Faith. Family. Friendships. After those three things most everything else seems irrelevant to me anymore.
I went through a sermon series a few years back called Live Different, and to be honest at the time I took it for granted. It wasn’t until this last year that I applied what I had heard several years before. In some cases it was too late and in others it was just in time. So I began to write what I would do if I had just 30 days left to live. What would I do that would leave a legacy and leave a mark on the life that I would leave behind?
So what you are going to read over the next 30 days is called In The Dash, 30 Day Challenge. 30 things that if I knew I had 30 days left to live I would do. Here is the catch though, there’s always a catch. Why not live as if you had 30 days left to live today? We are not guaranteed tomorrow and what I have learned is that were not all given a second chance to live differently and live with passion. So in the true spirit of a digital footprint, instead of using 140 characters as Twitter has used so effectively, I will write each chapter in 140 words. These are simple thoughts but I believe some of these simple action steps to be life changing and legacy changing.
These words are my passion, my heartbeat and my challenge to myself to live In The Dash with a purpose and invest my life into what truly matters. Maybe you will be able to take away a step or two that will significantly change the course of your faith, family or friendships.
I would love any feedback or comments that you would be willing to give as I try my hand at being an author. Answer for me each day if this something that you are doing or feel compelled to do? If you feel it is important or not? What other ideas do you have? How can we truly make our faith, family and friendships stronger as an online community? As always thank you so much for taking the time to read my words.
Ryan
Weird Concept
Farmers impress me. They get up early, they work hard, they are good stewards of the land they have and they labor and sweat for the harvest. Truth is no matter how hard a farmer tries, he alone can’t make corn or tomatoes or cucumbers grow. He tills the ground, plants the seed, waters the seed, weeds the seed and in the end it is nature that produces the harvest. There is no special formula to the growth of the crop. There are the basics and there is hard work.
I’ve been learning so much from God about patience which is not my strength, even writing this I can’t wait to get to the end of this post. I’ve been watching God strategically put me in places that I would never thought I’d be in. I’ve been watching God give me opportunities that other pastors rarely have.
I am so quick to get to the next thing, I don’t even punch in 3 minutes for my microwave popcorn, I simply hit the popcorn button for the sake of speed. We can get the same way in life and and forget that the journey not the destination is sometimes more important.
I know what God has planned for me and what is the next chapter of my life, He has put it on my heart and given me a passion for it.
However, I am learning to celebrate the seasons of preparation for the harvest. Maybe your not experiencing the harvest in your life that you thought you would because your not ready for it.
As I have been studying the Bible I am seeing person after person that did this simple principle that is so hard to apply, “Listen to God, do what He says.”
That’s it. Even when God does not make sense.
- Noah- Built an ark even though it had never rained.
- Moses- A man of a stuttering tongue confronted Pharaoh and demanded the Egyptian slaves freed and then proceeded to march them out of Egypt through the Red Sea.
- Paul- Quit killing Christians and became one of the most influential people for Jesus in his time.
- Jesus- Jesus even said I do what the Father tells me to do.
“Listen to God and do what He says.”
Sometimes He says go, sometimes He says stay, sometimes He says listen but all the time God is preparing us for the harvest and if we are so quick we will miss out on the journey of small beginnings and small lessons.
Just as a farmer can’t force the harvest of a crop but must work hard to see the fruit of it, so must we work hard and be patient. Trust me when I say it is not easy. I’m living it. I don’t like it most of the time but I am learning to listen to God and do what He says.
God Can’t Use A Broken Vessel
I read this post below that is bolded from Jason Curlee’s blog and it totally resonated with me. There are days when in all honesty you just want to throw in the towel. When you question if you have ever really made a difference? When you question will you ever feel like God can use you? When you question, why is this so difficult? When you question why others don’t get it when they have been told over and over? When you question why you don’t get it when you have been told over and over? I wake up some days so excited about how God wants to use me today and in the future and then I go to bed deflated feeling like I have lost the battle and the will to try again.
It comes down to this question, who is it really all about? You? Others? God? You probably know the answer and yet our emotions and our feelings get in the way. Our pride and our anger get in the way. Our self-pity and horrible excuses get in the way. Just in case you didn’t know the answer, it has nothing to do with you or with others so that leaves only that it is all about God. It is only God that frees you from your past and from chains that are holding you back today. I love what Jason wrote below and I ask you the same questions, what’s holding you back? How can you start living free today? Trust me this is a journey that I am on and I don’t have the answer, but then again neither do you. We struggle with this together, but we struggle because we focus on us. There should no struggle when we focus truly on Christ and the grace that He presents us with.
“There are often times I feel God won’t ever use me fully. I mean how could He…my past is not the perfect one. I messed up A LOT. There are even days now that I walk between self-doubt and self-confidence.
I feel God wants to use me and yet I feel how can He use me.
It is in those days I have to realize I’m making it about me and not about Him. I’m not allowing myself to just be the vessel for Him to use.
BUT how can God use such a broken and ugly vessel I think……
Have you ever felt like that? If you have you are not alone. That’s why I love Ephesians 2:8-9 which says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast.“
Take that verse today and think on it…
what’s holding you back? how can you start living free today?”
Be Good. Really? That’s All You Got?
What a ridiculously good question that maybe all of us who are in the faith have all struggled with and asked was asked at my life group last week. “Do we really think that God will only answer my prayer when I’m living ‘Good’?” That question stopped me in my tracks and I did not hear anything after that for a few minutes as I quickly wrote that question down before I forgot it, even though I knew there was no chance of forgetting it because it’s a question I have asked myself many times.
“Do we really think that God will only answer my prayer when I’m living ‘Good’?” I have thought so many times that I’ve sinned so God can’t hear my prayers or that God can only communicate with me when I am pure in His eyes. I have struggled with trying to do good and be good so that God would hear my prayers. Maybe I pray so God will GIVE ME what I want or maybe I pray for Him to reveal Himself to me or I pray for OTHERS but every time I pray, I wonder does God really hear my prayer if there is sin in my life and I’m just not “GOOD”?
Then there is Galatians 3:5 that says, “Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you?” -The Message
Once again Galatians 3:5 in a different version, “I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.” -The New Living Translation
Based on that passage, God works miracles because of our belief, not necessarily because we are good. Interesting point from a friend who said, “If God only heard us based on how good we were He would never have heard me cry out to Him to begin with.” It is comforting to hear again and again that God hears my prayers because of my belief in Him not because of my belief in how “GOOD” I think I am. So I ask this question because the truth is I’m still trying to figure this out. Still trying to figure out this communicating with a God who loves me so much deal. Still trying to convince myself that I will never be “GOOD” enough. It’s a journey not a destination I’m told but what happens when the journey seems lonely and without answers? For me its pushing through and trusting Gods Word and believing with a simple faith that God hears me because He loves me and I love Him.
So I think this is a great question for discussion, have you ever asked that question before? What answer(s) have you come up with? “Do we really think that God will only answer my prayer when I’m living ‘Good’?”
A Gathering Force
Francis Chan wrote an article back in 2008 titled, A Gathering Force for Catalyst. I found what he wrote to be very exciting, alarming and unattainable, but is it? Read part of this article and share with me your thoughts below.
“Is there any logic in believing that God started His church as a spirit-filled, loving body with the intention that it would evolve into entertaining, hour-long services? Was He hoping that one day people would be attracted to the church not because they care for one another, not because they are devoted to Him, not because the supernatural occurs in their midst, but because of good music and entertainment?
Try to imagine what conclusions you would come to if you had no prior church experience. The things in church services might make sense to the American church-attendee, but they don’t make sense biblically.
Picture yourself on an island with only a Bible. You’ve never been to a church-you’ve never even heard of one. The only ideas you have about church are what you’ve read in your Bible. Then you enter a building labeled “church” for the first time. What would you expect to experience as you entered that building? Now compare that to what you actually experience when you attend church.
What if the church looked like this? ’They devoted themselves tot he apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together int he temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.’ (Acts 2:42-47)
It describes what the world is looking for. I used to look at this passage as something that was wonderful but could never happen int he twenty-first century. There are just too many cultural obstacles for the Holy Spirit to overcome. He is powerful enough to form a sharing and loving body in our individualistic society. I doubted God’s ability to stir a body of believers to love tirelessly and give without restraint. I reasoned that this type of fellowship was probably not intended for our time. Besides, we don’t have time to love like this.
Looking back, I wonder if I came to those conclusions because there was a part of me that wasn’t sure I wanted it. It’s interesting how much our theology is driven by desire.
Something real was happening in the early church. It was something of the Spirit, too powerful to be replicated by human effort. Imagine taking a friend to one of their church gatherings. Your friend might not experience a smoothly run, professional service. But one thing he would experience: God. Do we even need to ask which is better? So much of church growth today has nothing to do with the Holy Spirit. The right team of talented people can make any church grow. When people sit through creative services, is it really God they’re experiencing?
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying that we shouldn’t give our best to God. If you’re a musician, work diligently are your music. If your a teacher, labor intensely over your messages. I’m just asking you to be willing to rethink what you’re doing and ask: How can we create a more biblical environment where people see and experience God?
May people see our churches and know that mere human beings could not have created what they experienced. May we seek the priorities of the early church and trust God to once again produce the fruit of the early church. ’And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.’ (Acts2:47″
Great reminder for me to not be performance based but Spirit based.
Absence
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. Who says that I don’t know but I wonder does that work the same with God? We all get into those seasons or ruts where we are not as close to God as we would like. Not as intimate and in some cases we almost can’t seem to hear Him. When you miss time with God does that bug you? When you miss time with God does it create a hunger in you to get back to Him to hear from Him? I hope it does. I hope that the season you may be going through or will go through does not cause you to separate from Him for too long. He loves you and has so much He wants to share with you if only you chose to return to Him and stop and listen.
Tears
I have watched this video two dozen times over the last two days with the same result, tears. I think of my kids and my life and how I take the opportunities I have to truly LIVE for granted. I challenged teenagers last night to realize how precious their life is. That it is a gift. That no matter how difficult it gets or how much junk builds up, there is a God who loves us. There is a God who is bigger than our hurt and our pain. There is a God who is bigger than even our hopes and dreams because we have no idea the plan that God has for our lives.
16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. -Ephesians 3
Just a reminder today to not just make it but to LIVE. LIVE with passion and excitement. LIVE with purpose. LIVE today with an intention to make somebody else’s life better. And may you not just exist but end today releasing a balloon knowing that you truly LIVEd.
My Story Sucks
I can’t tell you how many times I have heard somebody say, “My story sucks”. They have said that their story does not involve radical life change or some sort of rehab visit. They have said that they didn’t do some historic rescue or walk across America to raise awareness for social justice causes. They have said many, many things. The truth is everyone has a story and the uniqueness of that is, not every story is the same. If everybody had the same story then that would suck.
The fact is God is writing your story and how you choose to respond to that is up to you. We fight to allow God to write the chapters of our life out of fear of the unknown but I say that is what makes the story exciting. When you watch the movie and know the ending the story just doesn’t seem to be as exciting. It lacks the mystery and suspense, sure it can still be emotional but it is not the same.
Sit back and enjoy the story that God is writing in your life. Sit back and enjoy that you are the feature character and that God has a plan for our story. One that will prosper us and not harm us. One that will give us a hope and a future.
Are you enjoying the story? What’s your story that God is writing right now?
