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Birthdays, Rejected Books & Approval Addiction

May 4, 2012 in Conversations with Pete Wilson Podcast, Family with 1 Comment

Hope you guys had a great weekend.

Saturday, my sons, Jett and Brewer, turned 11 and 6 respectively. Wow! Time flies. Man, I love these boys more and more each day.

Today I’m releasing the 3rd edition of our new podcast. Would love for you to join us. Talking about all kinds of things including a book I wrote that was TOTALLY rejected by my publisher. It was a huge learning moment for me. Hope it will be helpful to you.

Any questions or topics you would like to hear us talk about?

Join us for this conversation and for future podcasts, we would love to answer YOUR questions. If you have a question you can call us at 218-248-7383 or leave a comment on this post.

Podcast: Subscribe | Download | Play on mobile

Breaking The Silence

January 9, 2012 in Spiritual Growth with 13 Comments

And David declared…

Psalm 32:1-5

¹ Oh, what joy for those
whose disobedience is forgiven,
whose sin is put out of sight!
² Yes, what joy for those
whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt,
whose lives are lived in complete honesty!
³ When I refused to confess my sin,
my body wasted away,
and I groaned all day long.
⁴ Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me.
My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.
Interlude

⁵ Finally, I confessed all my sins to you
and stopped trying to hide my guilt.
I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.”
And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.

There is so much incredible truth in his words. When it comes to our faults, our failures, our screw ups, the reality is we’re quick to want to cover up, to want to deny, to want to avoid, to want to blame someone else. We work really hard to shake off feelings of guilt and shame by minimizing and covering stuff up.

There are a lot of things in our lives we keep silent about. Things we feel ashamed of; family problems, compulsive habits, sexual addiction, and while silence in the moment seems like the best, the safest way to handle it, silence always leads to more pain and guilt festering inside. It always corrodes away our soul. It corrodes away our spirit, and it always, always, always begins to affect other parts of our lives.

You’ll say things like “Well the past is the past.” Listen, you past isn’t your past if it’s still impacting your present.

However, the good news is the very moment humanity fell into sin, God’s plan, God’s passion has been to redeem us and restore us to the life for which we are made.

This act of grace, of forgiveness, of restoration God wants to give, it cannot be forced on you. Like anything from God, it has to be received like a gift, freely, willfully, and intentionally. So how do we do this? How do we receive this gift of grace God wants to give?

In a word, confession.

Confession isn’t doing something about our sin; rather, it means admitting that we can’t do anything about our sin. It’s admitting we need a savior. We need what only Jesus can bring us, which is healing.

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

August 2, 2011 in Leadership with 21 Comments

I actually ran across a website yesterday called “The Mother of All Excuses” (No, I wasn’t looking for one). It exists so people can share excuses they’ve used and so others can read them and take advantage of them. There are literally thousands of excuses for being late to work, missing work, cutting class, cheating on diets, being pulled over and on and on and on.

I think “admitting mistakes and taking responsibility” is a major value missing far too often in today’s leadership culture. Sometimes I get weary with my own excuses for why something happened.

The truth is sometimes I…

Made the wrong hire.
Had bad timing.
Thought I heard from God and clearly didn’t.
Talked when I should have been listening.
Jumped the gun when I should have been patient.
Wimped out when I should have moved forward.

I made a mistake. I screwed up. Maybe it was sin, lack of experience, wrong motives, or plain stupidity. But it was a mistake. I own it.

Do yourself and the people around you a favor today and stop with all the excuses. Owning it and not excusing it is the key to building credibility with your spouse, kids, friends and people you lead.

Any mistakes you need to own today?

How about a favorite excuse?

Private Confession

July 19, 2010 in Spiritual Growth with 49 Comments

I’ve noticed a nasty little habit in my life lately. I call it “private confession.”

I’ve found it easy to confess my sins to God privately without going directly to the people I’ve impacted by my sin. I’ve got a feeling this is a disturbing tendency for most of us.

Personally it’s just so painful to go to someone and say…

I’m sorry my jealousy kept me from celebrating your recent success.

I’m sorry my out-of-control schedule has kept me from spending quality time with you.

I’m sorry my self-centered ego has kept my conversation completely focused on me.

I’m sorry my unchecked, lustful mind has damaged our intimacy.

I’m sorry.

So easy to say to God and yet so difficult to say to the people around us.

Matt 5 23″Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

The Last 2%

April 6, 2010 in Spiritual Growth with 65 Comments

I’m convinced that the majority of us live about 98% accountable. The problem with being 98% accountable is that it’s about as useless as not being accountable at all.

It might even be more dangerous.

You see, you go to your small group.
You meet with your accountability partner.
You even intentionally confess just enough to seem open and honest.

But you guard and conceal the 2% that is slowly gaining momentum in the dark.

Provers 28:13 says,

People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.

Confess?

Even the 2%?

Especially the 2%.

Today I’m praying you have at least one relationship where you can be fully known and fully loved for it’s in that moment you find yourself coming fully alive.

How are you doing with the final 2%?

I Need To Confess

July 7, 2008 in Church Planting, Friends, Religion with 63 Comments

Yesterday at Cross Point Nashville, Pastor Tom spoke on the spiritual discipline of confession. I thought it was a fantastic message and it really got me thinking. He talked about how, as Christians, many of us have grown up in a religious format that has taught us how to “pretend”.

My guess is that many of us have layers and layers of different masks we wear. Some of these masks cover up pain from our past. Some of the masks cover up habitual sin in our life. Maybe the masks cover up our insecurities.

And most of the time I don’t think we realize just how dangerous these masks are.

There was a quote that I heard or read years ago, I can’t even remember who said it, but it has always stuck with me. It went something like this…

“You can only be loved to the extent that you are known”

This is so true! And I have a lot of work to do in this area. I’m still tempted to hide instead of reveal. I’m tempted to make myself sound a lot more spiritual than I really am. Tempted to act like I have faith when I really don’t. Tempted to tell stories that make me sound like I’m a better husband or father than I really am.

I guess I sometimes just find it easier to pretend and cover up than to live totally authentic.

I think we have a long way to go in today’s church to truly understand what confessional community looks like. We can preach it all day, but as church leaders we have a lot of work to do to create environments where people feel safe to live this out.

I know I’m committed, and so are our elders, to taking the steps needed to create this kind of life changing, authentic, community here at Cross Point.

So, why do you think we wear so many masks?

Sometimes I Struggle With Love

May 13, 2008 in Cross Point Church, Friends, God, Leadership, Religion with 51 Comments

I had the opportunity to be a part of a couple of weddings this weekend. As usual, 1 Corinthians 13 was one of the selected scriptures. Derek and Bonnie asked me to read it in the Message translation and I loved it. I have read it a few times since then and it gave me a fresh perspective on this passage.

1 Corinthians 13: 3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

So here is what I want us to discuss today. When you read through the list which aspect of “love” do you struggle with?

For me it was, “love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have”. I have struggled with this on and off throughout my entire life. I’m trying to understand that part of loving God and loving people is learning to be “content” with who I am and what I have.

As long as I WANT your personality, your house, your gift mix, your bank account, your family situation, your health, your job, your friends….your life, than I can’t really love you in the way God has designed me to love you.

So there’s my struggle. How about you?

join the conversation,

Pete

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