WithoutWax.tv by Pete Wilson | Archive | November, 2011
Archive - November, 2011

When You Walk Through The Fire

November 9, 2011 in Spiritual Growth with 51 Comments

Every day I run into people that seem paralyzed by fear.

Some of you are afraid….

Your marriage will never be what you long for it to be.

You’ll never get married.

You’ll never have children.

You’ll just have one dead end job after another.

You’ll never get out of debt.

You’ll never really be able to trust God in powerful ways.

It’s true that… Fear establishes the limits of your life.

This morning I was reading Isaiah 43. I’ve got a personal situation right now that scares me to death and it was so applicable. I know the right thing to do, but I simply fear the ramifications of stepping out in faith and doing it. I’m somewhat paralyzed by my fear but this verse brought me so much comfort.

I’m hoping you’ll do more than just go through this passage. Let this passage go through you. Read it a few times and let this beautiful promise sink deep into your heart.

Isaiah 43
Israel’s Only Savior
1 But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.

What’s one thing you fear these days?

Dancing, Ibuprofen, & Student Ministry

November 8, 2011 in Random Fun with 14 Comments

This past weekend I had the opportunity to speak at our Cross Point Student Ministries Fall Retreat, called Aftermath. I’ll be honest. I get more nervous speaking to students than just about any other group. I love them, they just kind of intimidate me. :)

Before my Friday night session an impromptu “dance off” broke out. Feeling led by the Lord to participate, I, for the first time in years decided to bust a move.

I’ve been taking ibuprofen every morning since to take care of the aches and pains. However, I haven’t found a pill to help my ego after getting “schooled” by a seventh grader.

And as you might imagine, there was a camera around which caught this incident. I know it’s a little dark. This is for your protection. Enjoy at my expense.

Too Many Words?

November 7, 2011 in Leadership with 27 Comments


 

While I know many don’t have a real positive outlook on the future of traditional publishing, I’m still a huge fan.

I’m sure the models will be tweaked, maybe even totally transformed, over the next few years but I still think there’s a future for printed books. This should also be the place to note that I’m no expert. Having published one book and getting ready to publish my second leaves me far from qualified to speak to the future of publishing.

The one trend I like about digital books is their length. I love the idea of these Kindle-Singles that have been popping up. While they’re longer than a magazine article, they tend to be much shorter than the traditional book and the turnaround time on how quickly they can be published is crazy fast.

I believe, that for the most part, books are too long. Even the really good ones could be a bit shorter. In traditional publishing it seems to be most books have to be a certain length to meet a certain price point. In digital publishing it seems like length is not near as important because the price point isn’t as important. There’s more room for flexibility.

I would say that about 85% of the books I read I either don’t finish or I skim because there’s a lot of unnecessary fluff included to get the book to a certain word count. I rather have the author just tell me what they want to tell me without feeling they have to add stuff just to get it to the magical word count.

I’d also like to try writing a book that’s about 25k words. To give you an idea Plan B
was almost 70k words, my next book Empty Promises: The Truth About You, Your Desires, and the Lies You’re Believing will be close to 60k words. If I were to manuscript out one of my Sunday morning messages it would land at about 2k words.

I could be wrong, but my opinion is that books will tend to get shorter and shorter for a variety of reasons. This will provide unique challenges and opportunities for both authors and publishers.

It’ll be fun to watch.

As a general rule, would you like books to be shorter or longer?

I’ve Never

November 4, 2011 in Random Fun with 59 Comments

I don’t know about you guys but I’ve had a crazy week. My incredible wife has been out of town all week which means I’ve been playing Mr. Mom. Despite forgetting to give baths until the end of the week and eating lots of frozen pizza we’ve survived. No broken bones or blood and the house is still standing so I consider it a success.

So, that’s my excuse for not writing a blog post today (plus we’ve had enough controversy here this week).  Instead, I thought we would have a little fun and get to know each other better.

Fill in the blank.

I’ve never ________________________.

I’ll give you a couple to get you started.

I’ve never, served on a jury, drank water while standing on my head, or ran a full marathon.

You’re up.

Porn Week

November 3, 2011 in Family, Spiritual Growth with 51 Comments

So apparently this week is Pornography Awareness Week. I know this because I stumbled across an article last night by Dr. Marty Klein a sex therapist who believes we should use this week not to warn of the dangers of pornography but to actually celebrate it.

He offered 14 different ways you can observe the week. Here’s a few of his outlandish suggestions. My comments are in parenthesis.

1)  If you use porn, talk about it with your partner. (I actually agree. However, something tells me this conversation is not going to end with the two of you cuddling on the couch.)

2) Thank the clerk in your local convenience store for carrying porn magazines or DVDs. (Might as well buy them some flowers and chocolate while you’re at it.)

3)  Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper explaining that most people who use porn have no problem with it. (Please, please, please do this. I can’t wait to see how you back this one up. Oh, and make sure you send a head shot and email address with the letter.)

4)  Invite your partner to share her/his concerns about porn with you. (Ummmmm, I’m pretty sure they won’t need your invitation. If you follow suggestion 1 I got a feeling you can skip this step)

5) Use some. Guilt-free. (Good luck. While the last thing we need is more people walking around under a cloud of guilt the reality is sexual intimacy was not designed to be exercised in this way and it will almost always lead to guilt, a lack of intimacy and a host of other issues in your life.)

Dr. Klein may want to pretend as if this isn’t a major issue but I have to disagree.  I’ve met with countless individuals and couples over the years whose lives and relationships have been severely impacted by pornography.

* 42 percent of surveyed adults indicated that their partner’s use of pornography made them feel insecure.
Marriage Related Research, Mark A. Yarhouse, Psy.D. Christian Counseling Today, 2004 Vol. 12 No. 1.

* 41 percent of surveyed adults admitted they felt less attractive due to their partner’s pornography use.
Marriage Related Research, Mark A. Yarhouse, Psy.D. Christian Counseling Today, 2004 Vol. 12 No. 1.

* 47% percent of families said pornography is a problem in their home.
Focus on the Family Poll, October 1, 2003.

I’m not here to try to pile on the guilt. Lord knows if you’re addicted to pornography you don’t need anymore guilt.

I just want to remind you of the truth which is porn is a powerful cycle of addiction that can and will destroy your ability to enjoy intimacy with your partner in the way God intended.

I want to remind you that you don’t have to continue to allow your mind and soul to be poisoned by this stuff. You can find freedom from the cycle of guilt and shame you’re caught in!

One of the wisest things I’ve ever done is installed Covenant Eyes on my computer and established a system for accountability in this area of my life and I want to encourage you to do the same. If you have computers in your home and or work which don’t have some kind of filter on them I think you’re just asking for trouble.

Your Thoughts?

Why I Don’t Protest

November 2, 2011 in Leadership with 53 Comments

As you guys know I rarely, if ever, get political. So with that in mind I hope you won’t find this post political. I don’t really care about politics. I don’t really care if you’re a republican or democrat or who you voted for in the last election.

But, like many of you I’ve been watching the recent national protests from the “Occupy Wall Street” movement.

I won’t even pretend to have a real grasp on the issue but I like the way Brent McCracken summed this group of protesters up:

As a “movement,” Occupy Wall Street doesn’t reveal an organized grassroots agenda as much as it represents a general climate of anger, frustration and antagonism against the “haves”—a suspiciously narrow (1 percent), heartless, no good very bad group whose entrepreneurial and capitalistic success apparently oppress the 99 percent of us have-nots who are being unfairly kept from sharing in the 1 percent’s riches.

I can see why they might be upset, but their tactics, while certainly their right,  seem a little off to me. I’ve never been much of a protester.

I’ve never carried a sign.
I’ve never participated in a march.
I’ve never been a part of a sit in.

I agree with Bruce Wydick who wrote,

Like most protests, the Occupy Wall Street folks are better at identifying something that is wrong than identifying a way forward that is right.

And this is why I don’t protest.

The reality is there are things that need to be changed.

Our political system needs change.

Our financial system needs change.

The Church needs change.

But I think all this “protesting” just shows that we would rather point fingers, lash out, and fight, than share blame and own up to how we’ve contributed to the problems we face. It sounds a little too much like Adam in the garden saying, “This woman made me do it.”

There is no area of your life or our nation where true change begins with blaming. Blaming is for cowards and sluggards.

True change begins when we realize that we’ve all added to the problems we face in our nation, in our churches, in our families and in our individual lives.

I LOVE Halloween

November 1, 2011 in Family, Spiritual Growth with 73 Comments

I love Halloween. Can I say that? Can I admit that? I do. Not in the way I love Christmas or Easter but I do love it.

Usually this time of year there are all kinds of debates about “should Christians celebrate Halloween?”  As soon as I twittered something last night about heading out with my kids I immediately started getting the “you celebrate Halloween?” tweets back.

One tweet said,  “This is an admonition pagan culture -Deuteronomy 18: 9-14 – do u really celebrate this day?”

Please note, I believe this is a personal decision. If you and your family don’t celebrate Halloween, then I totally respect that decision.

Our kids dress up, we carve a pumpkin and take ALL the candy we possibly can from our neighbors. You could say we celebrate Halloween but I think we celebrate our kids, friends and neighbors.

1) My kids. My kids love to dress up. Jett was Satan, Gage, an evil spirit, and Brewer, the angel of death. Just kidding!! They were fired up all weekend about designing their pumpkins and running around the neighborhood. We had a blast.

2) My friends. We usually have two other couples and their kids come over and enjoy the evening with us. We’ve actually gone trick-or-treating with one couple for 11 years in a row. It’s kind of become our little tradition.

3) My neighbors. This is an awesome chance for me to build a bridge with my non-Christian, non-church going neighbors (In fact I met a lady last night who just moved to Nashville and visited Cross Point last week). Think of it as Tuesday night visitation, only this time they’re coming to you. Many will drop by the house and we’ll get a chance to talk about all kinds of things that might serve as a bridge to future conversations and future opportunities to build relationships . I’m probably not going to drop a “Christian tract” in their kid’s bag, but I do want to drop a little sincere Christian love their way.

So if you did a little trick or treating last night, you might end up with a cavity, but I don’t think you’re going to hell.

I know I’m probably opening a can of worms but what do you think about Halloween?  Did you have fun last night?

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