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More Pastor Than I’ll Ever Be

February 15, 2012 in Missions, Spiritual Growth with 17 Comments

Two years ago I wrote the post below about my buddy, Bishal. Every time I pull up to his slum here in India there is a bit of a pit in my stomach as I’m wondering if he’ll be there. While hardly a day goes by that I don’t pray for him, I know that, as the time passes between my visits, there’s a million things that could happen to him in the world he lives. Today, I found him and all my worries were put to rest. Here’s a pic from today, as well as the post from two years ago.

February 23, 2010

Let me introduce you to Bishal Barik.

This kid grabbed my heart from the moment I met him. Maybe it’s because he’s 8 like my oldest or maybe it’s his contagious smile, but we instantly hit it off. Bishal is a student at the school we’ve started in the Khalpar slum.

His mother abandoned him the day he was born and another family took him in. There were complications with his birth which have left Bishal battling issues with his legs. He walks with a limp and is often in pain after a day of playing outside. He’s in desperate need of physical therapy but obviously that’s just not a reality in his situation. The couple who took him in are both employed and combined make just over one dollar a day.

You’ll have to trust me when I say Bishal is a special kid. When I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up he quickly responded, “I want to be a pastor.” I said, “Why do you want to be a pastor, Bishal?” He said, “Well, because I Iove Jesus.” And boy does he ever! This kid has Jesus written all over him.

Despite his physical hardships and extreme poverty he simply loves anyone and everyone who comes in his path.

His laughter is a sweet sound in a sea of despair.

His kindness is a light in deep darkness.

His joy is a miraculous contradiction in a hopeless slum.

While Bishal dreams of one day being a pastor he doesn’t even realize he’s more pastor than I’ll ever be.

Matthew 22: 37-40
Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”

How can you love God and people better today?

Saying “I Love You” On Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2012 in Holidays with 6 Comments

Today is Valentine’s Day and for the 2nd year in a row I’m in India and away from my sweetheart. Having said that, let me go ahead and give my wife a long distance shout out, “Happy Valentines Day, baby! I love you more than words can express. Can’t imagine life without you and one of the many things I love and appreciate about you is that you encourage me to chase my heart even when it leads to me being on the other side of the earth.”

I thought some of you might need a little help today. I saw this fun little article the other day in Relevant Magazine entitled “29 Creative Ways To Say I Love You.” Here are the top ten.

1. Share five minutes of uninterrupted eye contact. Creepy … but definitely a memory.

2. Watch a sunset or sunrise together… with your favorite indie rock anthem playing in the background and pretend you’re in a slightly obvious hipster film.

3. Call your parents and thank them for specific things they’ve done for you.

4. Pick out a book and read aloud together. Quality time together and the expansion of your individual/collective knowledge bases.

5. Set up a “media-free” day/evening so you can fully focus attention on a loved one.

6. Get fancy. It’s a classic, but dressing up and splurging on a friend or loved one is a timeless way to tell someone you care.

7. “Family Loves Michael.” Throw a surprise “We appreciate you!” party with close friends where everyone gives a short speech about why someone is loved.

8. Plan “the perfect date.” Do exactly what he or she loves to do, with no strings attached.

9. Rent an ice-skating rink. Play “Endless Love” over the PA, and have dinner at center ice.

10. Re-visit a first date or first meeting place and reminisce about what brought you together, what you’ve learned since and what you’re looking forward to together.

Go HERE to see the other 19.

So how are you celebrating Valentine’s Day?

What’s Your Frequnency?

February 13, 2012 in Uncategorized with 146 Comments

I want you to know about a book that just released last week called Frequency. My friends, Eric Parks and Casey Bankord, wrote about how God has given each person a unique roadmap to Him. When we find and live on that roadmap or “frequency,” we begin to thrive in our relationship with God. Also, Eric and Casey interviewed me about my frequency in the book. I’d love for you to check it out!

And to celebrate the release of the book I’m giving away 5 copies today. Just leave your name and city and we’ll randomly pick 5 winners from the comments.

And in case you don’t win you can order the book RIGHT HERE.

Christian Community Made Simple

February 9, 2012 in Spiritual Growth with 28 Comments

A lot gets written about Christian community these days. How we build it and maintain it seems to be quite the popular topic. I don’t want to over simplify it, but look at Romans 12:15.

” Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”

This statement may be simple, but it’s not easy is it? In fact, the reality is we quite often do the exact opposite.

We mourn another’s joy (jealousy) and we rejoice when someone has reason to mourn (self-righteousness).

And this is why “authentic community” may be a big buzzword in Christian circles, but we’ve got a long way to go if we want it to be a reality.

Your thoughts?

Love To Hate

February 8, 2012 in Leadership, Spiritual Growth with 19 Comments

Almost four years ago I wrote THIS post about my friend, Brad Johnson. The post included an open letter he had written to his church apologizing for the pain his affair had caused his church.

Yesterday, while sitting in my office one of my colleagues asked me a question about “search terms.” They were wondering how people most often find my blog. It’s been a long time since I’ve looked at such stats, but I was absolutely shocked to see that almost four years later “Brad Johnson Affair” is still one of the biggest search terms used on Google to find my blog.

I think that’s so sad.

Why is it that we, as Christians, are so fascinated and pre-occupied with other Christians’ public failure?

Why do we LOVE to hate people who have stumbled?

Is it about revenge?

Does it make me feel better about myself?

Does focusing on immorality around me allow me to ignore the immorality in me?

The thing I tend to forget is Scripture is full of people like David and Moses who committed murder and embodied so many other character defects. And yet, God used them. Not only did he use them, they would become the heroes of our faith. The truth is many of the individuals God used throughout Scripture would have NO chance of ever being hired in any of our churches today.

Why don’t we have more leaders in our faith and in churches who have had moral and ethical failures?

Because we love to shoot our own. We love to hate people that have screwed up. We love the sensational scandal.

But let me say this. Giving up on people like Brad Johnson and the hundreds of Christian leaders who fall every year is not a statement on them. It’s a statement on our belief in God’s redeeming work.

Do you believe God can redeem Brad’s life and ministry? Let me ask a more probing question. Do you really WANT God to redeem Brad’s life?

Maybe the reason we don’t have more Brad’s and David’s and Moses’s leading in our churches today is because as a Christian community we’ve slammed the door on God’s redeeming work in the lives of people who have screwed up.

We’ve stopped looking into the eyes of the fallen and speaking redeeming, loving words. We’ve stopped telling them here is who you can become.

Old habits can change.

Old patterns can be rewired.

You can become the person God had in mind when he thought you into existence.

Who have you given up on? Who needs you to believe in them again?

*On a side note. I’m reading Brad’s new book The Four Laws of Forgiveness: How to Forgive Yourself and Others
and it’s blowing me away.

A Moment In Time

February 7, 2012 in Family, My Family, Parenting with 29 Comments

I’m not clueless.

I know time is flying by.

I know I’m going to blink and they’ll be off dating, studying for college finals and climbing the career ladder.

So when they invite me into their world, their world of imagination, adventure and excitement, I don’t walk, I run into it. These pictures may just seem like a dreary day in the woods swinging on tree vines but look a little closer.

We were dodging arrows.

We were swinging over boiling lava and man eating crocodiles.

We rescued a few princesses.

Fought a few bad guys.

It was a good day.

They don’t know it yet, but they’ll never forget that day. As time moves on and the pressures of life build, their mind will effortlessly drift to that place, to that moment, for a brief but life giving escape.

Kids. They’re a gift. Cherish every moment.

Madonna, Tom Brady, The Super Bowl & Me

February 6, 2012 in Spiritual Growth with 41 Comments

Hope you guys had fun watching the game last night, or at least had fun watching the commercials.

I was really looking forward to watching the halftime show with Madonna, but, unfortunately, missed the whole thing. We had committed to two different parties and used halftime to shuttle to the next one.

Several of my friends said she did an amazing job. Somehow the pop icon, whose now 53, had no wardrobe malfunctions and avoided controversy on almost every level. Maybe 30 years in the business has taught her a thing or two.

I still can’t help feeling sorry for Madonna or really any other public figure/entertainer. Watching Tom Brady walk off the field with his head down in shame made me think that the guy probably thinks he’s only as good as his last game. It’s a tough way to live and you don’t have to have a national platform to fall into this trap.

I’ve got a new book that’s coming out in about 60 days entitled Empty Promises: The Truth About You, Your Desires, and the Lies You’re Believing. In the book I actually have a quote from Madonna from an interview years ago where she said,

I have an iron will, and all my will has always been to conquer some horrible feeling of inadequacy. . . . I push past one spell of it and discover myself as a special human being and then I get to another stage and think I’m mediocre and uninteresting. . . . My drive in life is from this horrible fear of being mediocre. And that’s always pushing me, pushing me. Because even though I’ve become Somebody, I still have to prove that I’m Somebody. My struggle has never ended and it probably never will.

Do you hear that desperation? I hear it echoing in my own head all the time. You feel like you have to prove yourself again and again and again.

This stems, from what I call in Empty Promises, a “Success-based identity.” This is the assumption that what you do determines who you are. You try to control the opinions and approval of others through your performance and you let what they think of you affect what you think of you. In other words, you tend to gather your self-worth externally. And gathering your self-worth externally is kind of like trying to fill up a lake with a Dixie cup. It’s just never enough.

It’s an addictive cycle that we all have to find freedom from before we inadvertently destroy everything that’s important to us.

You can pre-order your copy of Empty Promises by CLICKING HERE.

Do you ever struggle with the idea that “What you do determines who you are?”

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