Potential Endeavors

We just got back from a family vacation to Colorado with all of our kids and Beth’s siblings and parents.  We were in one of the most beautiful cities I have visited in the continental US – Telluride, Colorado.  This town had three of the most majestic things – mountains, waterfalls, and streams.

When I experience these three things together, it has a spiritual impact on me.  You see the majesty of God’s creation and the beauty that it displays day after day.  There is something about the breathtaking awe of being on a mountain, the powerful impact of a crashing waterfall and the peaceful relaxation of a flowing mountain stream running through the valley.

In the Bible, mountain top experiences were often used as places where God would communicate with people – Moses receiving the 10 commandments on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34), Jesus at His transfiguration (Matthew 17), Elijah on the mountain after his battle with Ahab (I Kings 19).  I think God used mountains as a place to talk with people because they represent the highest points of earth that are closest to the heavens and because when you are on a mountain, you can see the vastness of the world around you.  It helps to keep things in perspective – how little we are and how big God is!

The waterfall to me represents the power of God!  Looking at a waterfall you see the top of the mountain or cliff that looks so peaceful, but then you see the force of the water falling off the edge and watching how it hits the ground below with amazing force!   God is like that waterfall.  You do not see His power around you, but when you learn to recognize it, it is more powerful than anything you have experienced.

The valley stream reminds me of Psalm 23 – “He lets me rest in green meadows; He leads me besides peaceful streams.  He renews my strength.  He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to His name.”  Psalm 23: 2,3 NLT.  Listening to the water run by is that peaceful, refreshing experience described in Psalms for me.

Experiencing the mountains and valleys reminds me that God has created this amazing world we live in and its beauty reminds me what a wonderful and generous God we have – He created all of this for us to experience and enjoy!

Social media has changed our lives.  We have become “Facebook” people.  We will share all of the good stuff, but we often hide what is really going on or the hard things we are dealing with in our lives.  We often don’t feel comfortable sharing what we are really dealing with – either because we don’t think   anyone will care or we don’t want to burden others with our challenges.

Have you ever listened to someone’s conversation?  It goes like this: “How are you doing?”  “Great, how about yourself?”  And then they move on to the next thing.  When you ask someone how they are doing, do you expect a response?  What would you do if they said, “I’m doing terrible?”  Now you are stuck – how do you respond to act like you wanted to hear it, but maybe you really didn’t.  Or when you meet with someone at a social gathering, you ask about their family, work, etc. and most of the time the response is everything with them is going great?  Work is going great, family is awesome, their marriage couldn’t be better and life is good.  But, if you change the conversation by asking “How can I pray for you?”, things start to change.  All of sudden you learn that the job is frustrating, the kids are going off the deep end and they are struggling in their marriage.

Why is asking someone if you can pray for them so impactful that it can change conversations?  I think there are three reasons:

• Prayer is a spiritual language that brings God into the conversation, which makes people be more honest in what they will share.
• Prayer shows a willingness to listen and listening is a commitment of time.
• Prayer shows you care about them. When you bring God into the conversation and give people freely of your time, you demonstrate that you really care about them and make them a higher priority than yourself.

Now before you ask this question, be sure you are committed to doing the following:

• Listen – Take the time to listen and understand their need.
• Pray – Pray with them in the moment and then commit to praying for the prayer request until it is answered.
• Remember – Write the prayer request down. This will help you to remember to keep praying.  Remember to ask about their prayer request the next time you see them or send them a message or text to let them know you are thinking about them.

If we all take a little bit more time to invest in others and show them we genuinely care by being willing to ask about their prayer requests, commit to pray for them regularly and remember, I believe we can make an impact on becoming a more loving and caring world!  It is also an amazing way to see God working.  You get to be part of watching God answer prayers in the lives of others.

 

Since the beginning of time, a camp fire has been a part of society.  In history, it was the place of heating, cooking and community.  Today it is more for recreational value, but it is still a magical place.  There is something special that happens when you look into the fire and watch the dancing of the flames.

In Exodus, God used a burning bush to communicate with Moses when he was called to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt.  Some of my greatest connection times with God have come when I have been looking into a fire and asking God to speak to me.

Have you ever noticed when you sit around a fire with friends, your protectiveness drops and you start to share your dreams, your hurts, your ambitions and the inner nature of your soul?  What is it about a fire that causes you to drop your masks and often reveal who you really are?

Having a camp fire takes time and work.  You have to gather the wood, prepare the fire, build it to the right intensity and then sit back and stare into its beauty.  I often get so busy that I fail to slow down and allow community with others to happen around the fire.

When Moses met God in the burning bush, God revealed that He was “I AM” and Moses shared his fears and insecurities.  But God wanted Moses just as he was and promised to be with him.  Having a camp fire, whether by yourself or with friends, allows you to share your dreams, insecurities and doubts with God and each other.  Remember that God loves you as you are and promises to be with you each step of the way.

My challenge for you today is to find an opportunity to have a camp fire with God.  Share with Him your dreams, insecurities and doubts and allow Him to love you as you are.  And then, find an opportunity to have a fire with a friend or a group of friends.  Use it as a time to listen, learn and share with each other.  God loves having camp fires with you!

 

Your dreams help you find what your potential is.  What is potential?  The dictionary definition of POTENTIAL is “having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the future”.  Another definition is “latent qualities or abilities that may be developed and lead to future success or usefulness”.  Another way of saying this is that: “potential is what is possible tomorrow instead of what is actual today”.

What do you have hidden inside of you – your qualities or abilities – that you have not identified or let out?

What are your dreams or passions that you have put off because you don’t have the time right now?

What are the things where you say “I wish I could” but have never taken the initiative to try?

I believe that all of us have inside of us the potential to do more –

More of what we love

More to make an impact

More to help others

More to push ourselves out of our comfort zones

But what holds us back?  Why is it so hard to soar with our dreams and find out what is really possible?  I think there are four things that hold us back, one of them not being time, even though that is often the reason most people give.  They are:

• Fear
  • Fear of failure
  • Fear of ridicule or being made fun of
  • Fear of being successful and having to change your life
• Belief in Ourselves
  • We don’t think we are good enough
• Trust in God
  • God has made each of us with our own unique gifts and skills
  • Our challenge is that we don’t spend enough time with God to listen and learn what those gifts and skills are
  • We have never specifically asked God to reveal to us our gifts
  • We allow other people to define us and what we can or cannot do instead of allowing God to define us
• Encouragement
  • We don’t have someone in our corner who knows our passions and dreams and encourages us to become who God wants us to become

 

In future blogs, I will talk more about each of these topics, but I want to leave you with three challenges today:

1. Ask God to reveal to you the gifts and passions He has given to you.
2. Write down your dreams.
3. Find someone to share your dreams with that will encourage you along the way.

 

It was a great week writing!  Thanks for the prayers.  I was able to finish my first draft of my book on Thursday.   Eleven chapters written, and now the editing process begins.  I was surprised that I was able to finish it, but once I started the words and structure came together.  It helps that I have written in my journal almost daily for the past six years.  It was very helpful to read back and remind myself of past experiences and thoughts.

One of the things I realized as I went back and looked at my past was how much my life was a non-stop race.  I worked too many hours and was constantly striving to move to the next challenge in my life.  While we have been intentional at taking vacations and traveling to many fabulous destinations around the world, we also missed slowing down during our normal weeks and enjoying life around us.

Today we took a walk around Como Lake.  Even though it is so close to where we live, we had never taken the time to just enjoy it and walk around it.  I am learning that my pace of life with work over the past 30 years has kept me from enjoying what is around me as much as I could.  We have lived in a beautiful state and city for over 30 years, but there are so many things that we have not taken the time to experience and enjoy.

Life is too short to miss out on enjoying the beauty that God created and has given us to enjoy.  I am going to make a commitment to try something new every week.  Expand my sense of normal and push myself out of my comfort zone.

What do you need to do this week to slow down and enjoy life to its fullest?  What is something you have thought about doing and just never got around to doing it?  Make it happen this week!  You will never regret creating a memory, but you can never create a memory without taking a step out of your routines.

Next week we plan to announce our next step in life!  I hope you will look for our blog and see what journey God is taking us on!

Last week I finished a devotional series by Louie Giglio titled:  “Goliath Must Fall:  Winning The Battle Against Your Giants”.  Goliath was a giant that taunted and threatened the army of Israel in the Old Testament.  The army was afraid of Goliath and did not want to fight him.  But David came to the battle and proclaimed that with the power of God on his side, he would fight and defeat Goliath.  And he did with the aid of a slingshot.

It made me think about what giants are in my life that I am afraid of or try to avoid?  I can think of many!  Over the years, I have had many giants that have taunted me.  For example, I have struggled with a giant called public speaking, a giant called shyness and introverted and one of my biggest giants called worry.  I have battled these giants and chased them away, but I am never sure that they have been killed.  I often wonder when one of these giants will come back out of the cave to attack me, but I pray that with God’s help they are gone forever.

This Saturday, I am attacking a giant that has taunted me for the past five years called writing my book.  I have sensed that God has been leading me me to write a book, but I keep putting it off.  I think I am afraid that it won’t be any good, that it won’t get published or if published, no one will want to read it.  Exposing yourself through the written word is hard.  It opens you up to criticism and rejection.  But on Saturday, I am going to battle against this giant.  I am isolating myself for a week to focus on getting the words in my head down on paper.  I don’t know how the battle will turn out, but it is time to stop avoiding the battle.

So I leave you with three thoughts:

1. What are the giants in your life that have held you back and kept you from doing what God wants you to do?
2. What can you do in the next week to go to battle against this giant?
3. How can you help someone else in their battle against their giant?

Lastly, if you think of it, lift me up in prayer this next week.  Pray that God will to allow the words to flow from my mind to paper and that I can defeat this giant with my laptop!

 

One of the blessings of having a season of transition is that it allows you time to do things that sometimes get put on the back burner when you are working full time, raising a family and trying to serve at your church or in the community.  I think of it as margin.  I know for me, when I am working a job full time, it is really hard for me to find margin to pour into myself.  What generally suffers the most is I neglect my soul.  I find myself running on an empty spiritual fuel tank.

When I worked at Target, I definitely ran with an empty spiritual fuel tank.  Working for a church the last five years my fuel tank has been filled more often, still there were many times where the demands of the job and responsibilities that came with it, left me in a state of exhaustion and running on empty.  I had more time to spend reading God’s word and praying.  I also had worship experiences that I was able to participate in to fill my tank, but it is often hard to turn off the job and truly allow yourself to worship and take in a holy moment.

During this season I am in now, I have had time to do things that really fill my soul.  I have had time to spend mornings reading God’s word and talking to Him.  I have had time to listen.  (That is one of the biggest things you sacrifice when you are busy and lack margin.)  I have been able to take long walks and chat with God as I enjoy the beauty of His creation.  I have been able to read some great books to learn from and challenge me.  As a family we have been able to spend more time together since I am no longer working weekends.  Beth and I have been able to have people over to our house to experience community and build relationships.  I have had time to meet people for coffee and just linger since there is not another meeting I have to get to.

And what I have found, is that the things above fill my soul.  I find greater peace in daily life.  I have more contentment and more time to listen to God and others.  I find greater joy no matter what I am doing.

While I have more free time to spend with God now, what I am learning from my studies of the Bible is that God wants me to have a filled soul all of the time, not just when I have free time.  God wants me to spend time with Him.  Time worshiping, time listening, time talking – a relationship. Relationships take time and I think I have often been far too busy to invest in the relationship with God that He wants from me.  When I am busy and running fast, it is often more what I want from God, than me focusing on what God wants for and from me!  This is something I have to continue to remember and focus on when my schedule does get busier.

Most of you are not in a place where I am today, but let me give you three things to think about:

1.  How is your relationship with God?  Are you taking the time to talk with Him and to listen?
2.  How filled is your soul?  If you want to learn more about this I suggest reading John Ortberg’s “Soul Keeping” or Judah Smith’s “How’s Your Soul?”.
3.  What is one thing you could change in your daily life to give you more margin?

For me, too much of my life has been spent chasing success, accomplishments and status.  What I am learning is that in a moment, all of that can be gone.  I am learning that what really matters in life is who I am becoming in my relationship with God and the impact that I can make in the lives of others.

Those are the words I keep hearing from God.  Do you trust Me?  Do you believe that I have a plan for you?  Do you have the faith to take one day at a time and allow Me to provide?  Those are hard questions to process and navigate.

Five and half years ago I was thrown from my boat and asked to walk on water.  That led me to five years on staff at Eagle Brook Church as a pastor and campus leader.  Now I have been thrown from my boat again and God is once again asking me to Trust Him.  The following story from Matthhew about Jesus and Peter walking on water came to my mind:

“About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!” But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here! ” Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” “Yes, come,” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭14:25-31‬ ‭NLT‬

Walking on water is scary, wet and risky, but it is also where you can experience God in His greatest glory.  Walking on water is a step of faith and as Peter learned, when you take your eyes off of Jesus, you just might sink and need to be rescued.

This is where Beth and I are at.  God has showed us that He wants us to take a step of faith.  Over the past five weeks, God has given us a dream that we believe is God’s guiding in our lives.  This is going to be doing what we have never done and trusting that God will guide and provide.  We are not ready to announce what we will be doing yet but we great potential in our futuyre.  We are in the process of starting a non-profit.  We have registered our business name, secured a domain name and are now in the process of building a web-site and registering with the IRS to be 501c3 eligible.

We have many fears and we are being asked to do things we have never done before.  But we keep hearing God say “Trust Me”.

We have never run a business before – God says “Trust Me”
We have never had to rely on the gifts of others for our financial needs – God says “Trust Me”
We have never had to “sell ourselves” to find work – God says “Trust Me”

We have found the following verses strength for our journey:

We do not have it all figured out, but we believe that God will provide if we trust Him and take a step of faith.  Buckle up and prepare to join us on the journey of our lifetime!