better together

My parents lied…they said I could be Superman

Your parents, my parents, they all did it. They lied!

Lying was not the intent. Making you feel like you could be anything you wanted to be was the rational. The lie sounded like this …”you can be anything you want to be“.

Great! I wanted to be Superman. Not sure what my mom and dad said about that idea. Not sure when they infomed me that I’d likely never be Superman or that Supeman was not real and I could only select real people to become like. Darn. Ok – I will come up with a real person.

I see how this works now… Ok, I want to be Micky Mantle no wait Roger Maris or maybe Wille Mays. Real people, right. I discovered by around age ten that I was actually afraid of the baseball and could not stand in the batters’ box or catch a fly ball. That thing hurts when it hits you.

Alright then, what’s left? Those were basically my top two ideas. So did your parents tell you that you could be anything you wanted to be? If so, it was untrue. In reality, you can only be what God designed you to be and become.

In his book Pinocchio Parenting author Chuck Borsellino states this very common lie shared by us as parents. You can be anything you want to be as long as you work hard. Even the greatest basketball player of all time could not become a top notch baseball player. Michael Jordan had a life long dream to play major league baseball. It took 2 years to convince him that he could not hit a curve ball. I feel better about my hope of baseball stardom now.

Kids are not just blank sheets of paper, one page like the other. We are not like a piece of copy paper from some mass reproduction in a standardized printer either. Rather you, me, and our children are like individually cut diamonds in the hands of the Master Jewler.

The truth is more like this: You can discover your talents and do the most you can with what you have, to become the best you can, in a way nobody has been before.

Suggestions to go deeper:
Assesmnets- Discover and Develop Your Strengths : Strengths Finder 2.0 Assesmnet and Discover and Help your Child to Discover Their Strengths: StrengthsExplored for Kids.

a good read – learn more about your strengths:
The Truth About You, Now, Discover Your Strengths - Marcus Buckingham
Why You Can’t Be Anything You Want to Be - Arthur Miller

Trading up – from serving …to sitting

Ok, I am not advocating that you stop serving and start sitting. Crazy for a serving champion at a church like Grace to promote sitting on any level. But todays story of Mary and Martha is a story of a ‘better way’. Its’ a story of trading up!

By the way, did you see the news story about a guy who ‘traded up’ his cell phone for a porshe? Check out the video below. This is a fun story, has nothing to do with serving. Its’ just fun – an interesting story of trading up!

This trading up story got me thinking. Any evidence in the bible of someone trading up? It seems like the role of a servant is to ‘trade down’, to lower ones’ self and seek less than more or better. But then I recalled our friends Mary and Martha. The two sisters who invite Jesus to their home. Mary sits and listens to Jesus and Martha “serves”.

Jesus evaluated both sisters and yes he asks Martha to “trade up” to the “better way”. Jesus says, Mary has chosen the better way. So what exactly is that way. I don’t think Jesus is sending a message that serving is in some way less important. He does ask Martha to consider a better way. Martha was troubled and distracted about the service she was involved with. Mary, simply said “whoa! Time out, Jesus is in the house, its time to listen and learn”.

Yes, there is a better way. Their is a better way in general. As Jesus said, choose the better way! If you’re not already connected to Jesus and finding yourself sitting at His feet on a regular basis – then its’ time to…trade up!

Trade up to a life connected to the Master, plugged into Him. The life of a servant is one connected to and dependent on the master. A life that depends on sitting at his feet as the better way to start the day of serving Him.

This story of two sisters is not an exortation in anyway to stop serving, but rather to trade up to a seat at the Masters’ feet and see your connection to Him as the core value to your life and thge central motivation for your serving Him.

Your Life Is On L.O.A.N. – Part 4

Needs – opportunities to serve others.

This post is the fourth part in a serries on L.O.A.N. with a focus on Needs.

Our needs make us realize how much we rely on each other. Seems like needs have a way of drawing us towards one another. Unless of course you’re homeless and drunk. Then you’re on your own! Watch the video below. It’s a powerful and convicting (worth watching) clip about caring for others or in this case the lack of caring. The video is from the ABC News series What Would You Do This ABC report documents what we as a society see and do to help others when a need is clearly evident.

Our needs make us all interdependent on each other. But when we are seen by our culture as homeless and a drunk, our willingness to stop and assist is somehow negated. That was not the case for Linda Hamilton – she was the only person to stop and care for a drunken homeless man. Why was that? After watching this video, I wrote down a list of what it was that she did, saw and felt that moved her to do something about the needs of the man in this video. Rather than me sharing my list, if you are moved, make your own list and send me your insights, I’d love to interact with you on this video. This video is a great teaching tool on the Good Samaritan passage. By the way, this is a real story, but the homeless man is an actor. The whole story closely follows the Good Samaritan story in the Bible. Check it out.

Needs are simple opportunities for us to serve others. Jesus’ story about the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-36 is a story of needs and of opportunity. It is also a story of missed opportunity. It’s a story of one person who saw a need and cared enough to do something.

Serving others is about lending a hand. The scriptures are rich with this image of lending a hand, helping and caring for others.

See a need, lend a hand and make a difference. As you lend a hand you meet a need in the life of another and God will use you to care for others and change lives.

Consider your life on L.O.A.N. today!

Leveraging your talents, skills and time.
Keep an eye open for Opportunity or take an opportunity in front of you right now.
Advance your gifts and skills and put them to work for others.
See the Needs around you, serve and care for others.

Your Life Is On L.O.A.N. – Part 3

ADVANCE to you..

We have looked at the acrostic L.O.A.N. – Leverage, Opportunity, Advance and Need. The last two posts I talked about Leverage and Opportunity. Today’s post is – Advance.

Have you ever needed a cash advance? An advance is payment/deposit ahead of time in anticipation of an expense or purchase.

As a Christ follower, God made an ‘advance’ to you. He made a deposit in anticipation of your service and ministry. The deposit was His Holy Spirit. He advanced to you his spirit and it comes with your own set of unique gifts. It’s a promise He makes to all members of the body. It’s His ‘advance’ to you in order for you to make an investment in others.

God made an advance deposit to you when you signed on the dotted line as far as your relationship with Him. Might be you never saw your spiritual gift as an advance. But the day you entered into a personal relationship with Christ is the very day He made an advance to you.

The Holy Spirit is on loan to you for service and Kingdom work. The work of ministry is way bigger than you or I can do alone – thus the reason for the advance. With His advance we have no need for any over draft protection. His advance is limitless. He gave you the Holy Spirit and it comes with an endless and bottomless deposit.

Have you used the advance he gave you? His advance is just waiting to be leveraged for an endless number of opportunities of service for others.

Your Life Is On L.O.A.N. – Part 2

A good loan benefits the lender and the borrower. You get money and the lender gets a return on investment. Normally this is what we call interest. How does the idea of your life being a loan apply to us who serve and invest in others?

God has invested in your life in enormous ways. As a Christ follower your eternal salvation is a change in destiny that has huge returns for you. But the return is huge for the world and people we rub shoulders with. Did you ever think of God’s investment in you this way? The fact is, God has made lots of deposits in our lives. At the top of this list may be the deposit of the Holy Spirit. His confirmation of membership in his family and his Body. It is also His investment in making His church better through your role, part and contribution. The Holy Spirit is our confirmation that he desires us to seek opportunities to serve His church and His body.

Your OPPORTUNITY to lend

Sometimes we take out a loan to take advantage of a new opportunity. I bought my first home because it was an opportunity to stop paying rent and start making an investment. We made 100% return on the investment. Without the banks’ money, I would not have been able to take advantage of the opportunity.

What opportunities do your time, talent and treasures offer you? How will you invest in making life better for others? God did not give you the life you have so you could hide it under a mattress. He invested in you and expects you to leverage His investment with many opportunities to serve others – serving kids, hosting a family, making food for others, using your talent to bring joy to someone else’s life. That’s leverage and that’s taking the opportunity. A mattress is not an investment. But neither is a seat. Your talents and skills don’t benefit seats. Get out of the chair, leverage your life and take the opportunity to serve others with the investment He gave you. Your life!

Two Questions to think about…
Do you see your life as an opportunity to invest in others?
Have you taken an opportunity to make an investment and what have been the benefits to you, the lender, and to the person you invested in?

Your Life Is On L.O.A.N.

Your life is a LOAN, have you considered lending it out?

Have you ever taken out a loan? A good loan benefits the lender and the borrower. You get money and the bank gets a few extra dollars in interest. How does this apply to your life as a servant? The fact is, God has made a loan(s) to you by way of a life filled with all kinds of gifts and talents. His deposits.

So, if your life has a few deposits from Him, what are some unique aspects about this loan?
Consider these ideas related to an acrostic L.O.A.N. – Leverage, Opportunity, Advance, Needs

Leverage your life

A loan is actually leverage to do things that you could not do without the loan. You get to invest or buy something you could not do otherwise. That is leverage. Does this apply to your life?
Jesus said yes! In Matthew 25: 14-30 in His teaching by way of a parable that our lives are on loan from the Father as leverage for us. The application is for us to look for ways to leverage our time, talents and treasures for the benefit of His kingdom – with benefit for us accordingly – God’s affirmation “well done good and faithful servant…”

Two Questions to think about…
Do you know what has been deposited by God in your life? What gifts, talents and skills has He given you to leverage for His purposes?
How will you leverage this L.O.A.N. that HE made to you and deposited in you?

Next post will be about – Opportunity

JUMP

I am always challenged by Jesus’s teaching on the parable of the talents found in
Matthew 25:14-30. Within this story is the encouragement for us to take some initiative with the talent the Master has given.

You know the story. Three men receive talent from a master. The master goes away and asks the men to do something with what they received. Two men took initiative and did something with what they had been given. One man did next to nothing. Well actually, he takes some initiative. He digs a hole and buries his talent.

We learn later in the story the reason why the one man who buries his talent is motivated by fear. It seems to me that fear is always in close proximity to initiative. Fear is simply the most damaging aspect to any initiative.

What is it that prevents a young man from taking some initiative to start a conversation with a young woman who has caught his eye? Fear! Fear of failure, rejection, the unknown, fear of success, etc. etc.

A few years ago I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane. It took initiative to take the skydiving class. It took initiative to get in the plane that I would jump from. None of these steps of initiative were equal to the initiative it took to actually jump.

Looking out the window of a plane towards the ground with the jump instructor saying “JUMP” did not compute in my mind. Everything about this situation said, don’t jump. My fear had erupted. It took all the initiative I could find to jump.

John Maxwell “Talent is Never Enough” shares these insights on initiative.
1. Initiative is the first step to any place
2. Initiative closes the door to fear
3. Initiative opens doors of opportunity
4. Initiative is often the difference between success and failure

Initiative was the step that got me out the door and sailing down via a parachute. Initiative closed the door to my fear of jumping out of perfectly good plane. Initiative opened the door to an incredible life experience.

In Matthew 25, the Master gave a gift or “talent” to each man. What they did with it was the point of the story. Two men were rewarded for their initiative. One man was called “a wicked, lazy servant” due to his fearful approach to his talent.

The two faithful servants in Jesus story took initiative, did something with what they were given.

Are you doing something with what you have been given? Michael Angier – “Success Net” says…ideas are worthless, intentions have no power, plans are nothing….unless they are all followed with action.

Think about something you strongly desire to do. Take some initiative. Don’t let fear get in the way. Jump in. Do it today and watch your fear get blown away.

What Motivates You?

I have been reading a fascinating book called DRIVE -The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Daniel Pink the author has some very cool things to say about why we do what we do.

This video is one of the most creative YouTube clips I have seen. It’s a bit long but fun, creative and interesting. Check out.

who made a difference in your life?

A friend at work shared with me that First Lady Michelle Obama in an interview with People Magazine, said when asked, who she was still “dying” to meet. Michelle told People magazine: “Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith”.

I am surprised that the First lady would like to meet a celebrity and not some world leader and or a person of heroic nature or world impact. It seemed so shallow! But as I thought about the first ladies’ interest in a celebrity, it seemed to reflect our cultures’ value and worth of such celebrity.

Have you ever wondered who has impacted your life or invested in your life? Who took the time to actually have an impcated on your life?

Take this little quiz and see what is real impact. Who is making a difference in our lives. Dont think its the people we hear about all the time… try this

Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
Name the last five Heisman Trophy winners.
Name the last five winners of the Miss America contest.
Name the 5 people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
Name the last 6 Academy Award winners for best actor/actress.
Name the last 5 World Series winners.

The point: None of us remember the headliners of yesterday. Yet they are first rate achievers. They reached the top in their fields. However, achievements like these are forgotten. Bottom line… very little impact. No real investmnet into your life.

Now try this quiz: See how you do at this one. See if the impact is greater.

List a few teachers who aided your journey.
Name 3 friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
Name 3 people who have taught you something.
Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
Think of 3 people you enjoy spending time with.
Name half a dozen heroes whose stories have inspired you.
EASIER?

The Lesson: the people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money or the most awards. They are the ones who cared and who gave you some time.

Grace HAS Talent

I don’t know who these two boys are, (pictured) but they made my day. As did the other 100+ kids who led us all in worship on Sunday. One of my favorite days all year long…Children’s Sunday – What a joy and how much FUN! These two guys will be leading worship one day and I want to be around.

I was in the front row and every kid brought their own style of worship and had such an impact to us adults.

Enough with the kids – This ministry would not be close to being a reality if it were not for hundreds and hundreds of TALENTED and PASSIONATE SERVANT volunteers who make our CM so much fun and so amazing. Grace Has Talent!

Rena, Jill, Kathy, Karen, Bill, Gwen, Jennie ( Grace CM staff ) get to work with some talented and passionate servant volunteers. Thanks to the whole CM team for a wonderful worship day.

If you have ever wondered about serving with the CM team. Don’t wonder. Just do it. Your life will be impacted way more than you can imagine. sign up today for a SUMMER SERVE Childrens Minstry and give it a try.

Check out the worship …

totzone worship from Mark Goodrich on Vimeo.