This past weekend I went to a youth retreat with my new church's teens. What a wonderful experience. It was like a taste of what heaven will be like as we talked, worshiped and ate together like a family, although we were a very diverse group. I have led a diverse youth group as long as I have been in ministry professionally, but this group was unique. There were 7 different races that I know about for sure represented in my group of 21 kids. They all got along together and shared like a family. Race and history bring so much into the mix. Unfortunately many times those things are negative and divisive.
With today's young people that is not the case. Most of our teens in urban areas are not influenced much but the race of a friend or acquaintance, they are able to roll with differences and continue to develop deep friendships with people who do not share the same shade of melanin. I left this weekend thankful at the maturity of these teens and proud to be someone who they will hopefully look to for guidance down the road as we all grow closer. There will be no ghettos or security fences in heaven. No gated communities or "other side of the tracks". We will live together in harmony and song, praising the one who made us and led us. Thank you teens for letting me see another taste of heaven this weekend.
What IF everyone in America opened themselves up fully to be used by God with whoever He calls us to be in community with? Can we push aside the negative stereotypes and embrace the new direction of equality that God is taking His church toward?
Friday, February 20, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Going "ALL IN" for God.
Going all in has become a term largely synonymous with poker, especially with the rise of Texas Hold Em on the national scene. I admit to loving Texas Hold em although I do not play for money. I have an online community of friends that I play with through Facebook. It is a live gaming experience where you use "fake" or computer generated chips, so you don't spend any real money. That's my kind of gambling!
The other night one of my regular poker buddies seemed a little down. It turns out that with the economy tanking her husband had lost his job without any notice. This was roughly a month before Christmas and had put a large strain on this family at a normally high strain month financially in a regular year. The financial pressure was effecting this friend in a serious way. Although she believed in God, and had even served in ministry for years at a local church, she was angry because of the situation that her family was and still is in.
After drilling down some, I difficult process in this case, my friend opened up and became very candid about the problems her and her lovely family were experiencing. As she was reciting some of the problems, another friend who I knew from a different connection joined our poker table. I asked him if he had any friends in this person's area because they were struggling. He did not. However as the first friend began reciting some of the strains in her life and the anger she was feeling toward God, she mentioned needing contacts for her daughter and that they were waiting for months to receive them. This friend had come as close as you could to telling me that she was not interested in God anymore because she was extremely angry with Him. I had been pleading with her to not give up on God and to wait and see what God would do. The weight of debt and financial pressure was crushing her and her husband, so much so that they feared meeting minimum basic monthly utility expenses. Admittedly I knew God could help, but I was fully aware that it would take a small miracle for her to see a glimpse of the promise I had made to her about God's provision in an immediate way.
Did I really believe that God could show up at an online poker site? Maybe I was pushing the limits of God's reach.
Well our great God heard my prayers at that poker table. As it turns out the second friend was a believer as well, a fact I knew as we had often "talked church". The fact I did not know was that he was a practicing eye doctor. Upon hearing of the issue of contacts, he told my first friend who he had never met or spoken to before sitting down at the poker table that night, that he could hook her up with some free advice and some free contacts for her daughter if she would get in touch with him and get him the prescription for the contacts! My heart was overjoyed and I could do nothing but praise God at the table! My first friend was literally crying, she had to get up from the table and go get Kleenex. I shared my testimony of what God has done in my life and for the first time I told her I was a Pastor. she cried some more. I shared how I had been in her shoes, angry fist in the air at God too, but that He had softened my heart and my hurt and transformed my life. I shared several things that have not been easy in my life since I became a Christian, but how God had turned them into good when my heart was in a place to be used. A fourth person a poker buddy of the first friend who I had not met until this evening, was also in the room for this time. She also shared testimony. I admit to preaching a little, I couldn't resist. But it was not a sermon I had read 10 commentaries to research, it was one straight from my heart and those other two believers who God had placed in that room, one was a friend of mine, one a friend of the other person who needed ministering. None of us have ever met face to face! Somewhere in the talk I told these dear friends, " you see? God can even show up in an online POKER tournament!" That's how big He is, he can even use poker to minister. In a matter of an hour this poker buddy had gone from disgusted, hurt and angry with God to looking at being regenerated. All because the four of us decided to play poker online for a few minutes to wind down.
So my question to the reader is...WHAT if we went ALL IN everyday? Can we, like God, always be available to minister no matter what? Sometimes its inconvenient, sometimes we don't feel well, sometimes we are in a hurry. But we cannot allow those circumstances to get in the way. I was used by God to connect two friends of mine to one another at an online poker table. I live on the east coast, one friend in the Midwest the other on the west coast. This is truly an amazing story of God's never ending pursuit of us and our obedience. Many nights I would have been unavailable to be used. I got off the computer at 2 am that morning. My eye doctor friend could have chosen to not log on, or not connect with me that night, happens all the time. The other two friends the same idea. God divinely placed all four of us online at different times to connect and minister to one. He set it up, we were usable vessels. I cannot always say that I am a usable vessel or that I am ALL IN. But we must be ALL IN, or else we are bluffing our way through the Christian walk. Everyone knows that bluffing works sometimes, but it usually ends badly. If it is your primary strategy, you will not win very much. Play the game of life like each day at any point might require you to go ALL IN. The kingdom of God will benefit if we all play like that!
God is indeed good, ALL the time.
The other night one of my regular poker buddies seemed a little down. It turns out that with the economy tanking her husband had lost his job without any notice. This was roughly a month before Christmas and had put a large strain on this family at a normally high strain month financially in a regular year. The financial pressure was effecting this friend in a serious way. Although she believed in God, and had even served in ministry for years at a local church, she was angry because of the situation that her family was and still is in.
After drilling down some, I difficult process in this case, my friend opened up and became very candid about the problems her and her lovely family were experiencing. As she was reciting some of the problems, another friend who I knew from a different connection joined our poker table. I asked him if he had any friends in this person's area because they were struggling. He did not. However as the first friend began reciting some of the strains in her life and the anger she was feeling toward God, she mentioned needing contacts for her daughter and that they were waiting for months to receive them. This friend had come as close as you could to telling me that she was not interested in God anymore because she was extremely angry with Him. I had been pleading with her to not give up on God and to wait and see what God would do. The weight of debt and financial pressure was crushing her and her husband, so much so that they feared meeting minimum basic monthly utility expenses. Admittedly I knew God could help, but I was fully aware that it would take a small miracle for her to see a glimpse of the promise I had made to her about God's provision in an immediate way.
Did I really believe that God could show up at an online poker site? Maybe I was pushing the limits of God's reach.
Well our great God heard my prayers at that poker table. As it turns out the second friend was a believer as well, a fact I knew as we had often "talked church". The fact I did not know was that he was a practicing eye doctor. Upon hearing of the issue of contacts, he told my first friend who he had never met or spoken to before sitting down at the poker table that night, that he could hook her up with some free advice and some free contacts for her daughter if she would get in touch with him and get him the prescription for the contacts! My heart was overjoyed and I could do nothing but praise God at the table! My first friend was literally crying, she had to get up from the table and go get Kleenex. I shared my testimony of what God has done in my life and for the first time I told her I was a Pastor. she cried some more. I shared how I had been in her shoes, angry fist in the air at God too, but that He had softened my heart and my hurt and transformed my life. I shared several things that have not been easy in my life since I became a Christian, but how God had turned them into good when my heart was in a place to be used. A fourth person a poker buddy of the first friend who I had not met until this evening, was also in the room for this time. She also shared testimony. I admit to preaching a little, I couldn't resist. But it was not a sermon I had read 10 commentaries to research, it was one straight from my heart and those other two believers who God had placed in that room, one was a friend of mine, one a friend of the other person who needed ministering. None of us have ever met face to face! Somewhere in the talk I told these dear friends, " you see? God can even show up in an online POKER tournament!" That's how big He is, he can even use poker to minister. In a matter of an hour this poker buddy had gone from disgusted, hurt and angry with God to looking at being regenerated. All because the four of us decided to play poker online for a few minutes to wind down.
So my question to the reader is...WHAT if we went ALL IN everyday? Can we, like God, always be available to minister no matter what? Sometimes its inconvenient, sometimes we don't feel well, sometimes we are in a hurry. But we cannot allow those circumstances to get in the way. I was used by God to connect two friends of mine to one another at an online poker table. I live on the east coast, one friend in the Midwest the other on the west coast. This is truly an amazing story of God's never ending pursuit of us and our obedience. Many nights I would have been unavailable to be used. I got off the computer at 2 am that morning. My eye doctor friend could have chosen to not log on, or not connect with me that night, happens all the time. The other two friends the same idea. God divinely placed all four of us online at different times to connect and minister to one. He set it up, we were usable vessels. I cannot always say that I am a usable vessel or that I am ALL IN. But we must be ALL IN, or else we are bluffing our way through the Christian walk. Everyone knows that bluffing works sometimes, but it usually ends badly. If it is your primary strategy, you will not win very much. Play the game of life like each day at any point might require you to go ALL IN. The kingdom of God will benefit if we all play like that!
God is indeed good, ALL the time.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The Angle of Pursuit
I have played and watched lots of football in my days. Those of us who have kids will also understand this terminology easily. My son Caleb reminds me of the angle of pursuit technique that is taught to beginning football players on day one of practice. It is the principle of open field tackling used while trying to catch the opponent. You see this when a running back or receiver breaks loose from the coverage or line and is running in the open field. Most times he will not be caught by someone running from directly behind him. He is usually caught and tackled by someone from clear across the other side or near the middle of the field. How can that happen? The angle of pursuit.
The defensive player cannot simply run straight at the offensive player or he will be long gone by the time he arrives at that spot. Most offensive players will also out run anyone who is chasing them directly from behind. So the intelligent defensive player must take an angle on him in order to catch and tackle the player before he reaches the end zone for the score. The defensive player must make a mental angle in there head which judges where they and the offensive player will likely meet based on the current speed they are going. Hopefully that spot is before the end zone! I also use this strategy when my son is trying to sneak past me or when he bolts to try and get away from me because he wants to go somewhere he is not allowed to be. I cut him off using this same method!
How does this relate to spiritual things? God has the ball and knows the plays. We are the defender. Often times His will is running amok in the open field of our lives and we are shell shocked and confused as to what it is. We can continue to lie on our backs after Satan has laid us out, or we can chase after the Lord and try desperately as Jacob did in the old Testament to wrestle Him to the ground and figure out His will for us. Many times we try and run sideways and hit that spot that was once where we were supposed to be but is now five steps behind the ball-carrier. Sometimes we try and run him down from behind, but are we really faster then the Lord? We have to take the "angle" on the Lord. We try and close the gap so we can figure out how to get His will for our lives. We draw close spiritually by prayer, Bible reading and spending time with other believers in accountable relationships. He wants to be tackled by us! He wants us to catch Him! But time cannot stand still while we sit by and watch our divinely planned out lives sprint by us. Take the angle of pursuit! Pursue God by engaging in the spiritual disciplines, then we will be able to catch Him and walk with Him to the end zone. For in reality, it was an interception and we are trying to block for Him so we can be one of those running into the end zone with Him as we triumph over the opponent. He has intercepted our lives. He acquired us as a costly free agent. He paid more then the market value. He wants to have us by His side. Take the angle so you can walk stride in stride with Him into the end zone which is His will for us. WHAT IF we all committed to seeking to walk stride in stride with Him into the will He has for us instead of sitting on the bench while He has to fight off would be tacklers on the opposition?
The defensive player cannot simply run straight at the offensive player or he will be long gone by the time he arrives at that spot. Most offensive players will also out run anyone who is chasing them directly from behind. So the intelligent defensive player must take an angle on him in order to catch and tackle the player before he reaches the end zone for the score. The defensive player must make a mental angle in there head which judges where they and the offensive player will likely meet based on the current speed they are going. Hopefully that spot is before the end zone! I also use this strategy when my son is trying to sneak past me or when he bolts to try and get away from me because he wants to go somewhere he is not allowed to be. I cut him off using this same method!
How does this relate to spiritual things? God has the ball and knows the plays. We are the defender. Often times His will is running amok in the open field of our lives and we are shell shocked and confused as to what it is. We can continue to lie on our backs after Satan has laid us out, or we can chase after the Lord and try desperately as Jacob did in the old Testament to wrestle Him to the ground and figure out His will for us. Many times we try and run sideways and hit that spot that was once where we were supposed to be but is now five steps behind the ball-carrier. Sometimes we try and run him down from behind, but are we really faster then the Lord? We have to take the "angle" on the Lord. We try and close the gap so we can figure out how to get His will for our lives. We draw close spiritually by prayer, Bible reading and spending time with other believers in accountable relationships. He wants to be tackled by us! He wants us to catch Him! But time cannot stand still while we sit by and watch our divinely planned out lives sprint by us. Take the angle of pursuit! Pursue God by engaging in the spiritual disciplines, then we will be able to catch Him and walk with Him to the end zone. For in reality, it was an interception and we are trying to block for Him so we can be one of those running into the end zone with Him as we triumph over the opponent. He has intercepted our lives. He acquired us as a costly free agent. He paid more then the market value. He wants to have us by His side. Take the angle so you can walk stride in stride with Him into the end zone which is His will for us. WHAT IF we all committed to seeking to walk stride in stride with Him into the will He has for us instead of sitting on the bench while He has to fight off would be tacklers on the opposition?
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Does it feel like 9-10?
Wow its been awhile, my apologies summer can get busy...
The Cross Movement had a song on there last CD called 9-10. The premise of the song is that we love living in 9-10. That refers to 9-10-2001. The day before the terrible terrorist strike which occurred on 9-11-01 and will forever be etched in our memories. I first heard this rap song about a year ago and it has rattled around in my mind ever since. Here is one lyric sample from the song; "we pray every day that it won't happen again, but then we celebrate sin and it feels like 9-10, over and over and over again".
When will the church get it? Our God is bigger then a day on the calender, a crisis, a tragedy or a pandemic! He is in complete control, we are the ones who are out of touch. We pray frivolous and selfish prayers hoping to appease God so bad things won't happen, then we go one living life the same way as if it was 9-10. 9-11 was a horrific tragedy, but has deep spiritual connotations. If you did not ever think that was true, rethink. God does not bring tragedy to see His sons and daughters injured or killed. I believe it comes as a result of our reckless 9-10 like attitude toward our lives and sin. As we stand now almost 7 years removed, does anyone who did not have a direct connection to 9-11 think about how it changed them each day when they awaken? We should, because everything happens for a reason and God is not some tiny God who would allow such a huge tragedy so that only those directly involved would be touched and impacted. We have all heard the "fire and brimstone" sermons, the "turn or burn" messages that are so hollow and unsympathetic and cast God as this Holy Bug Zapper waiting to zap anyone who does wrong. There is truth to those sermons though. If we continue to celebrate sin, He will continue to send more wake up calls such as 9-11. If we fall to the same 9-10 sins over and over again, don't think he won't drop a personal 9-11 on your spirit and life. Just like some children only need a look from their parents to straighten up, others need a much more public sometimes embarrassing action before they will listen to their parents. Don't wait for a personal 9-11 attack from God. Tune in to Him and listen to what He is saying. Don't live a perpetual 9-10 life. WHAT IF 9-11 changed everyone for good and not just for a month?
The Cross Movement had a song on there last CD called 9-10. The premise of the song is that we love living in 9-10. That refers to 9-10-2001. The day before the terrible terrorist strike which occurred on 9-11-01 and will forever be etched in our memories. I first heard this rap song about a year ago and it has rattled around in my mind ever since. Here is one lyric sample from the song; "we pray every day that it won't happen again, but then we celebrate sin and it feels like 9-10, over and over and over again".
When will the church get it? Our God is bigger then a day on the calender, a crisis, a tragedy or a pandemic! He is in complete control, we are the ones who are out of touch. We pray frivolous and selfish prayers hoping to appease God so bad things won't happen, then we go one living life the same way as if it was 9-10. 9-11 was a horrific tragedy, but has deep spiritual connotations. If you did not ever think that was true, rethink. God does not bring tragedy to see His sons and daughters injured or killed. I believe it comes as a result of our reckless 9-10 like attitude toward our lives and sin. As we stand now almost 7 years removed, does anyone who did not have a direct connection to 9-11 think about how it changed them each day when they awaken? We should, because everything happens for a reason and God is not some tiny God who would allow such a huge tragedy so that only those directly involved would be touched and impacted. We have all heard the "fire and brimstone" sermons, the "turn or burn" messages that are so hollow and unsympathetic and cast God as this Holy Bug Zapper waiting to zap anyone who does wrong. There is truth to those sermons though. If we continue to celebrate sin, He will continue to send more wake up calls such as 9-11. If we fall to the same 9-10 sins over and over again, don't think he won't drop a personal 9-11 on your spirit and life. Just like some children only need a look from their parents to straighten up, others need a much more public sometimes embarrassing action before they will listen to their parents. Don't wait for a personal 9-11 attack from God. Tune in to Him and listen to what He is saying. Don't live a perpetual 9-10 life. WHAT IF 9-11 changed everyone for good and not just for a month?
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Blogging From Below?
After my return from classes at Fuller Seminary and the Urban Youth Workers Conference, I decided to put in practice a little about what I have learned this week. Slowing down the Scriptures is a radical concept for some of us. We have become accustomed to speeding through familiar passages and skipping or skimming perceivedly boring or unfamiliar ones. When we slow down and read these for new content, we almost always will find something new.
We place a lot of emphasis on Jesus' Divinity, and rightfully so. But do we place much significance on His humanity? What IF we read Scripture more in light of his humanity instead of always reading the Bible from above, with Divinity in mind. Society has incorporated a lot of our own thoughts into a lot of the Biblical accounts by reading the Bible from the dominant perspective (or from above). A perspective where the people in power control and dictate what is read, said and interpreted rather then just letting the Scriptures speak for themselves. A primary example is how we have been taught to share the gospel. We always stress sin and our need to be forgiven, when in reality a good gospel presentation should begin with Creation. He created us in His image and it was VERY good, not just good or OK or alright, VERY GOOD! We all too often camp out on the "don'ts" of the Bible, beginning with the ten commandments and then working in our own dominant opinions of what "the Bible says" we should not do. In reality the Bible started out giving 3 positive things (do's) and then a fourth thing to be careful not to do. I will get back to the fourth thing in a minute.
God commands Adam and Eve to DO the following in Genesis 2: Be fruitful and multiply (sex), have dominion over the world (responsibility), eat freely (literally EAT, EAT). So God gives blanket permission for human kind top have sex, have power, and indulge in the fruits of the land freely (spending spree?). Sounds like the kind of party most of us would be down for of course. Sounds like a spousal relationship (remember only 2 humans at this point) we would all love to indulge in. This was the perfect plan the Lord set up for human kind in a perfect world. He also makes one warning, much like a parent might say "hey son make sure you don't touch that burner, if you do you will get burned." By saying, do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or you will surely die. Notice he doesn't say "I will kill you", or God's vengeance will fall on you! No, he issues a statement that this one thing should not be touched without natural consequences.
God set up this world to be a PARTY! It was all good, until the serpent put doubt into the mind of Eve. Then she adds in Gen 3:3 that they should not even touch the tree! Even the serpent did not add to what the Lord said in the prior verse. Eve adds to it, she embellishes the God of the NO and forgets about the God of YES that had given them everything they could possibly want or need.
So what about you? Have you ever added to the Word? Maybe just embellished a little to help your cause or argument? Be careful. It can be costly. Young people today and even many adults live in the God of the No. We should be preaching more on the God of Yes, because that was His original plan. WHAT IF we all leaned more on the God of the YES (his calling, his blessings his promises) then on the God of the NO (don't do this or that)? I believe we would be drawn more appropriately to do things that are righteous if we did so out of love for all He has done and how he has blessed us, then by living in fear for the righteous lightening bolt to zap us, and then from fear come crawling meekly to His will like we have been taught to do. Can we change? Let's try!
We place a lot of emphasis on Jesus' Divinity, and rightfully so. But do we place much significance on His humanity? What IF we read Scripture more in light of his humanity instead of always reading the Bible from above, with Divinity in mind. Society has incorporated a lot of our own thoughts into a lot of the Biblical accounts by reading the Bible from the dominant perspective (or from above). A perspective where the people in power control and dictate what is read, said and interpreted rather then just letting the Scriptures speak for themselves. A primary example is how we have been taught to share the gospel. We always stress sin and our need to be forgiven, when in reality a good gospel presentation should begin with Creation. He created us in His image and it was VERY good, not just good or OK or alright, VERY GOOD! We all too often camp out on the "don'ts" of the Bible, beginning with the ten commandments and then working in our own dominant opinions of what "the Bible says" we should not do. In reality the Bible started out giving 3 positive things (do's) and then a fourth thing to be careful not to do. I will get back to the fourth thing in a minute.
God commands Adam and Eve to DO the following in Genesis 2: Be fruitful and multiply (sex), have dominion over the world (responsibility), eat freely (literally EAT, EAT). So God gives blanket permission for human kind top have sex, have power, and indulge in the fruits of the land freely (spending spree?). Sounds like the kind of party most of us would be down for of course. Sounds like a spousal relationship (remember only 2 humans at this point) we would all love to indulge in. This was the perfect plan the Lord set up for human kind in a perfect world. He also makes one warning, much like a parent might say "hey son make sure you don't touch that burner, if you do you will get burned." By saying, do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or you will surely die. Notice he doesn't say "I will kill you", or God's vengeance will fall on you! No, he issues a statement that this one thing should not be touched without natural consequences.
God set up this world to be a PARTY! It was all good, until the serpent put doubt into the mind of Eve. Then she adds in Gen 3:3 that they should not even touch the tree! Even the serpent did not add to what the Lord said in the prior verse. Eve adds to it, she embellishes the God of the NO and forgets about the God of YES that had given them everything they could possibly want or need.
So what about you? Have you ever added to the Word? Maybe just embellished a little to help your cause or argument? Be careful. It can be costly. Young people today and even many adults live in the God of the No. We should be preaching more on the God of Yes, because that was His original plan. WHAT IF we all leaned more on the God of the YES (his calling, his blessings his promises) then on the God of the NO (don't do this or that)? I believe we would be drawn more appropriately to do things that are righteous if we did so out of love for all He has done and how he has blessed us, then by living in fear for the righteous lightening bolt to zap us, and then from fear come crawling meekly to His will like we have been taught to do. Can we change? Let's try!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
What IF Jesus blogged?
Lanny Donahoe has a book titled God's Blogs, great great title and excellent book I suggest you pick it up. But what if the Son of Man blogged daily about what he saw in your life? Would you be embarrassed? Would you be humbled? Or would you be excited!? I wonder. Think about that today and remember He is writing down the history of your life to be revealed and discussed when you meet in Glory, if you have accepted His free gift of eternal life. He is ever watching and listening. Someday He might get to share His blog about you, it sits in some eternal dashboard right now, except unlike me, He is making notes and posts on a frequent basis, many times a day. What does your eternal blog look like?
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Spiritual Vacation
Last month my family and I went on vacation for a week in Myrtle Beach SC. During the trip we decided that it would be a totally stress free trip where we were basically be free to do what we wanted without demands and pressures from family, time or work/school. Anytime someone reverted back to the old ways of worrisome clock watching or trying to over plan things, one of us would say "its okay we're on vacation!"
My oldest son who is seven really milked this phrase "we're on vacation". Eating ice cream for breakfast, its ok we're on vacation. not working on his homework packet...we're on vacation! Laying around watching TV til mid afternoon, its ok, we are on vacation! We even planned an extra day in between vacation and when we would be back to work and school so that we would have a gear up day to get ready for a return to the life we normally live.
This led me to thinking about spiritual things. I have thought about the many times I and others I know have taken a spiritual vacation. A time where either by accident or by design I chose not to follow God or at least to withdraw from the spiritual routines I have developed and tried hard to keep with much discipline. During these vacations from our friendship and walks with God I have found that I get into the most trouble. Temptation is as great as that all you can eat buffet that is in abundance in Myrtle Beach. I think, why I believe it would be nice to try some of this today, or maybe that. Why do I like eating this all the time? It doesn't really taste that good anymore. Or we see an old favorite we haven't had since the last vacation, and we indulge with a vengeance. Just like after vacation from our lives here on earth usually results in our need to lose a few pounds or remember how to accomplish things before 7 AM when we return, when people take spiritual vacations far worse consequences abound. Do I need to state some of them or can you fill in your own blanks?
So I leave you with this thought: WHAT IF a spiritual vacation was what we did to escape from the daily grind and not what we did when we were fleeing from God? We could turn this negative concept into a daily positive routine that was used to get us closer to the Lord and further from the stress that comes with living in a fast paced America culture. WHAT IF...?
My oldest son who is seven really milked this phrase "we're on vacation". Eating ice cream for breakfast, its ok we're on vacation. not working on his homework packet...we're on vacation! Laying around watching TV til mid afternoon, its ok, we are on vacation! We even planned an extra day in between vacation and when we would be back to work and school so that we would have a gear up day to get ready for a return to the life we normally live.
This led me to thinking about spiritual things. I have thought about the many times I and others I know have taken a spiritual vacation. A time where either by accident or by design I chose not to follow God or at least to withdraw from the spiritual routines I have developed and tried hard to keep with much discipline. During these vacations from our friendship and walks with God I have found that I get into the most trouble. Temptation is as great as that all you can eat buffet that is in abundance in Myrtle Beach. I think, why I believe it would be nice to try some of this today, or maybe that. Why do I like eating this all the time? It doesn't really taste that good anymore. Or we see an old favorite we haven't had since the last vacation, and we indulge with a vengeance. Just like after vacation from our lives here on earth usually results in our need to lose a few pounds or remember how to accomplish things before 7 AM when we return, when people take spiritual vacations far worse consequences abound. Do I need to state some of them or can you fill in your own blanks?
So I leave you with this thought: WHAT IF a spiritual vacation was what we did to escape from the daily grind and not what we did when we were fleeing from God? We could turn this negative concept into a daily positive routine that was used to get us closer to the Lord and further from the stress that comes with living in a fast paced America culture. WHAT IF...?
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