God-Moments

Father’s Day weekend was all about books for me. I want to say a big THANK YOU to Joel and Maryann at Mauk’s in Jonesborough for hosting a book signing party for me and allowing me to set up and sell my book, The Great All-American Dad Misconceptions. Also thanks to Officer Dennis for bringing us all free ice cream from JJ’s! (If you haven’t had the ice cream from JJ’s you need to—it’s amazing J)

               But more than just signing and selling books, I got to talk to some people about life. A woman whose son is terminally ill, a caregiver looking after her husband through many long term illnesses, a family who recently adopted two children, and many others who were just coming in shopping enjoying a beautiful day in our beautiful town.

               These were special moments. Moments that I would not have been able to experience had I not been scheduled for a 10-2 for a book signing.

               And then on Father’s Day I received a gift of a new journal. I kinda like to write and read a little, so this was a perfect gift for me. But the gift came with a rule from my wife: ‘don’t use this for your to-do lists, use this to write what is on your heart’. Wise words from a wise woman.

               I do like my to-do lists. I live by them. They keep me on track and help make sure I do what I need to do when I need to do it. I have plenty of to-do lists.

               But this new leather bound journal would not be for that, it would be for something different. But what I wasn’t sure. I already had a journal for my meeting notes and a journal for working on writing ideas and inspirations for my next book. I decided that this new journal would be my “God-Moments” journal.

               Every day I will write down ways that I experience the active presence of God in my life in a different way. Every single day. And a different way every single day. I am doing this to be intentional in what I am looking at, or perhaps intentional in the ways in which I am looking at things; people, circumstances, events, etc. I am doing this because I want to experience the presence of Jesus more fully through the eyes of the Holy Spirit in my ordinary day-in-day-out up-and-down life.

               I think that if we look for God we will find God.

               “If you search for Him with all your heart and soul you will find Him”- Deuteronomy 4:29

               “If you look for Me wholeheartedly you will find Me”- Jeremiah 29:13

               And Jesus said, “ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you”- Matthew 7:7

               God-Moments. We all have them, and sometimes we even realize it. But more often than not I think we don’t. Not that we are intentionally ignoring the presence and working of God in our lives, but we are just busy. Or maybe like me you have too many to-do lists or too many things on your to-do list. Maybe we miss God because we are too busy doing things. Maybe even things we think we are doing for God. That’s why my favorite Bible verse over the past couple of years is Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God”.

               God-Moments. I want to wake up every day looking for them. Interesting things happen then, when you are intentionally looking for the goodness and the mercy of God in things…you actually see them. And your focus, when it is on God, is not on other things that have been slowing pulling you away from Him.

               Maybe you’ll want to try this with me. You don’t need a new leather journal, but some way to write them down is helpful, that way you can go back and read over the ways God was with you when you need these reminders. Maybe you could share some with me too, I would love to hear how you see God this week.

Band Together

               Last week my mentor and friend Richard Looney gave me a small box of books. I love books, and he knows that. One book has captured my thoughts this week. It is Mike Slaughter’s “The Passionate Church”. I recommend you read it (and then I recommend you read “The Great All-American Dad Misconceptions” by yours truly….wow, that was a shameless plug wasn’t it J).

If you read much about Methodist history you will encounter the terms “societies”, “classes”, and “bands”. These are terms for how groups of Christians were organized in worship, discipleship, and spiritual growth. These terms also are old. These practices were centuries ago. And not many people read much Methodist history unless they have to for a seminary course.

               You’re probably thinking, “where is he going with all this? I just wanted a quick funny little devotional read”. Hang with me a minute. This might not be too quick, or too funny, but I think there is still something there.

               If you’re not familiar with those terms I listed in the first sentence, the condensed definitions could be that a “society” was a group that comes together once a week to worship, pray, read Scripture, sing songs. This is sort of like our modern day Sunday morning worship service.

               The “class” was a smaller group that came together once a week to do a more in depth study of Scripture with prayer. This would be similar to what many churches have as a Sunday night or Wednesday night Bible Study.

               The “band” was a small group of 3-4 people that met together once a week or so for a different purpose. The band was either all men or all women. The band focused on spiritual accountability and discipleship growth of the small group of members.

I pastor a church, and sometimes the temptation is the bigger the better. We are really good at counting numbers. But I need more. I need to grow deeper rather than just bigger. I need to know that there are a few men to stand with me and ask hard questions like “how is it with your soul” or “what temptations are you facing right now” or even “what sins have you committed since we last met?”[i]

               Those are just questions we don’t ask outside of a committed very small group of people we really trust.

               I don’t know how all this “band” small group stuff would work today, but I’m willing to give it a try. So I have. I have stepped out and asked a couple of guys to begin one with me. Yep, right here in Telford, TN.

               And they aren’t other pastors. They are just men seeking to follow Jesus, just like me. I hope that I don’t ruin their high and lofty ideology of perfect pastors… because I’m not one.

               There were many men that I could have asked to start with. But it had to be a small group to begin. There were many men that I wanted to ask, so I just prayed, “God please show me a few men tonight you want to start this with me”. And He did.

               I believe that if we ask God to show us things that He does. I believe that if we ask God to speak to us He does. I also believe that our vision and hearing is not all that great sometimes.

               Pastor Andy Stanley said, “something happens in circles that doesn’t happen in rows”. Something deeper can happen in smaller groups that does not happen in the pews on Sunday morning. It can be a deeper dive from the Sunday morning themes and topic, or it can be a different direction. But something does happen in the circles.

               We become “doers” and not just “hearers” of the Word.

               I don’t know for sure where our Telford band is going to go. That’s the organic beauty of it. I hope that this time next year the four of us are all meeting in small bands with other men and that there are bands of Telford women meeting to turn the world upside down with the excitement of living of a life following Jesus.

               So pray for me please. Pray for the band I am meeting with. And pray that if God wants to “band” you together with some others that you are open and available for that.

               Let’s go deeper, because this is really what matters.

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[i] Mike Slaughter, “The Passionate Church” (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 2016) 37

Keurig Patience

I am writing this week’s column from the beach, Oak Island, NC to be exact. This is our annual family beach trip. We have been coming here for the past 8 years or so, and we have stayed at the same condo complex each time, but we have stayed in different condo units. We are creatures of habit, I suppose. But we have found something that we like and we have stuck with it. This works for us. All of the condos are laid out the same, and inside they are all furnished about the same, and we don’t come for the condo décor anyway, we come for the beach.

                One thing that we do check in the amenities list is what kind of coffee maker the unit has. I know, this might sound a little trite, but Heather and I really do like our coffee. So we need to know, is there a conventional coffee maker, or is there a Keurig. We have a Keurig at home, and I guess we are a little spoiled by it. Anyway, this year SSV #202 at Oak Island, NC showed it had a Keurig. So we brought 48 K-Cups with us (and other than Little Debbie’s and bottles of water this was the only food we brought).

                When we arrived at the condo we saw a very nice Black & Decker 12-cup coffee maker, but no Keurig. We searched the cabinets. We looked in the closets. No Keurig. No problem. We had to go to Food Lion to get real food anyway, so we bought coffee filters and coffee. It’s all good, we are on vacation, after all.

                Sunday morning I sat waiting for the coffee maker to brew. It wasn’t a pause-n-brew. And I waited. And waited. It seemed like I waited longer for this cup of coffee than I had ever waited for any cup of coffee ever in my entire life of waiting for coffee.

                And then I realized that I have Keurig-patience. Not with everything, mind you. In some things I feel that I am a pretty patient person. This has been an area where God has grown me over the years, and I thank Him for that and recognize that while I am not where I need to be, I am not where I used to be either.

                Colossians 1:10-11 says, “live a life worthy of the Lord a please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you might have great endurance and patience”.

                We are all growing in this Christian life; growing in grace, growing in love, growing in understanding, and, yes, growing in patience.

                And while we may grow in our patience with waiting on hearing God, or in our interactions with family members, maybe there is a patience involved in little things in life…like waiting on the coffee to brew. It’s in these little day-to-day activities and times of waiting that we need the Black & Decker-patience, not the Keurig-patience. We need the patience to just be still and wait, not just in the monumental life-changing decisions that need to be made, but also in the little ordinary decisions that might not seem to have such a huge impact on our lives.

                Because it is in these little things, like waiting for coffee to brew, that we can experience God. Maybe these are times in our day that He has given us to connect with him. During that long brew cycle, that red light, that train that has blocked your road, or that mid-day power outage where you can’t watch TV or surf the web.

                Maybe these are times we have with our Lord. Maybe these are times we are growing. Growing from the Keurig to the Black & Decker.

                May God bless you this week, and may you grow in patience, even if it is during the brew cycle.