My Mind is in the Gutter

Here in Kansas City we have been having rain. Lots of rain.

During one of the downpours we experienced recently, I noticed that the gutter on the back of our house was routing the rain water effectively. The problem was it was effectively routing the water up and over the end of the gutter instead of into the down spout.

Yep. Clogged up. When you can't remember when you cleaned the gutters last, that is a sure way to tell it has been WAY too long.

Being up on a ladder is not my favorite thing in the world to begin with. My comfort level in this activity drops dramatically when it is outside in the rain. But like it or not, the clog had to be cleared. So up I went.

The trees that provide wonderful shade to our house in the summer are the same trees that contribute a plethera of leaves, twigs, and seeds to our gutters. It's a love-hate relationship...

So upon reaching the top of the wet, mildly stable ladder, I found that the down spout was completely clogged with a lovely smelling combination of decaying plant matter. Pulled it out, and watched the trapped water quickly escape down the newly opened channel.

This gutter experience got me thinking about how as Christians we are supposed to allow God's love, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding to flow through us into the lives of others. But just like the gutter, we can become clogged with things not of God that keep what has been poured into us from flowing into someone else. So what is the answer to keeping our lives free from clogs?

Frequent cleaning. If I had been diligent to empty my gutters of debris on a regular basis (when it was not raining yet), then I would not have experienced the clog during the heavy downpour. In our lives as Christians, we must be diligent to allow the Word of God to cleanse our lives on a regular basis. (Ephesians 5:26) This consistent cleaning by our Lord will allow our channels to be clear, and his goodness to pass through us into other people.

Are your gutters clean?

Intentionally Intentional

Last week we had an awesome Discipleship Conference at our church. On Wednesday night, our Senior Pastor Jeff Adams was talking about the importance of being intentional in our making of disciples of Jesus Christ. I really like that word, intentional, and it got me thinking about how it applies in all areas of our relationship with the Lord.

intentional - characterized by conscious design or purpose

Here is short list of things that came to mind that I need to be intentional about (not exhaustive)

• Spending quality time in the Word of God
• Spending quality time in prayer with God
• Sharing with others what God has shared with me
• Time to really talk with my wife
  
• Time to play with my girls
• Telling the people I love that I love them
• Being the kind of friend to others that I want them to be to me

In our busy lifestyles it isn't enough to just hope things will end up happening on their own. We must be intentional about the things that matter. One of my favorite quotes is, "There is always time for what is important". The question we all have to answer for ourselves is, "What is important?" Our "list" of priorities will determine how we spend our time, because we are almost always intentional about the things at the top of that list.

Far too often one of the top 5 on my unwritten list of priorities is: self. Wouldn't it be great if we could permanently kick self to the bottom of the list, or remove it altogether?

What do you make a priority to be intentional about?

Walking to Work, or Working to Walk

Walking. In 2007 it has a different meaning in the United States than it did 100 years ago. Today, walking is what you do to get from the living room to the garage in order to get in your car. Or what you do from the parking place close to the grocery store you spent 15 minutes circling around to find.

I have started walking to work. It takes me about 20 minutes one-way, up and down two reasonably sized hills. There are several reasons for starting this new activity. Here they are, not necessarily in order of importance:

1. In preparation for leaving the country in 4 months, we are a one car family. If I drive to work, than that would leave Keeley and the girls without a vehicle.

2. I could stand to lose some weight. Having tried the sitting around like a lazy bum method without success, I am going to try to be more physically active.

3. Preparing for Costa Rica. In Costa Rica we are going to walking ALOT more than we do here. Most likely we will be living close enough to the Language School that we can walk to and from there each weekday. I don't want to be doggin it when we get there and have to walk each day. I remember reading about Hudson Taylor as he prepared to leave to minister in China. While still living in England he began eating much less and slept on the floor to prepare himself for the conditions he would encounter in China. Praise the Lord for beds in Costa Rica!

4. Time to meditate and pray. If I drive to work, it takes me about 3 minutes if I get reds at the two stop lights in between. If they are green lights, the trip is even faster. Hard to do any meditating or praying in that short span of time. Walking for 20 minutes however gives me some good time to spend talking with God. Great preparation for a day at the office. Sometimes I even sing or hum quietly (but only when there are no cars driving by, I don't want to look like I am crazy....).

My wife has been to Kenya, Africa several times and told stories of people there walking for hours just to get to a church service that would last less time than it took for them to walk there. Our culture is really spoiled in that sense. Just costs us some gas to get there.

Anyway, the walking is good for me is several ways. I am determined to stick with it.

Swimming with the Fishes

My wife Keeley and oldest daughter Avigail had some excitement yesterday. They were having a Mom's Group activity at one of the prettiest parks in Kansas City, Loose Park. There is a nice lake complete with ducks and turtles, my girls love it. Yesterday Avigail got a little too close to the edge of the lake, lost her balance, and fell in to some water about 4 1/2 feet deep. Since she is not yet 4 feet tall this presents some obvious problems other than just getting wet.

Fortunately, Keeley was right there and heard the splash. Unable to reach her from the side, Keeley jumped in and got her. Although wet, cold, and smelly, everyone was fine (Keeley's cell phone is another story....).

After the incident and all the way home, my daughter repeatedly thanked Keeley for saving her life and told her that she loved her. Keeley and I were discussing the incident last night and she brought up how as Christians we are so grateful for Jesus saving our lives at the time we receive Christ, but then as time passes we stop telling him how thankful we are. The trauma of falling into the lake and then being rescued by mom will fade into my daughters memory. She will stop thanking Keeley for saving her life. That's just how it works. This is human nature isn't it?

When it comes to God pulling me out of the lake of my sin and its consequences, I don't ever want to stop telling Him, "Thank you Father".

(This picture is the lake at Loose Park, I don't know who this lady is.)

What day is this?

I am T-I-R-E-D, tired.  At my job, we are working on a project that has required more man power than usual, so some of the desk jockeys like me have been putting in some manual labor time.

 

The construction site where we are working requires that all work be performed between the hours of 6:00 am and 2:30 pm.  I like the getting off of work at 2:30 part, but the getting up at 4:00 am to be at my office at 5:15 to then be at the jobsite by 6:00 is killing me!  I suppose I would get used to it if this were to become my normal routine, but for now my body is in shock and rebellion.

 

So my soft, keyboard operating hands are now chapped and scraped up from doing real man work.  :-)

 

This too shall pass.  The project will come to an end.  I will end up back at my desk once again thinking that the grass is greener on the side of the fence where guys get to move more and be active in their jobs.

 

If you see me this next week and my eyes look a little more glazed than normal, now you know that it is caused by a cocktail of sleep deprevation and honest hard work.  What doesn't kill you makes you better right?

What's In Your Fruit Basket?

I have been teaching through the book of Philippians at a small mens Bible study close to my home. We recently looked at the passage that contains chapter 1, verse 11 which says:

Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:11

Looking at this idea that we are supposed to bear fruit to God's glory, I have been thinking a lot about the process that takes place in a tree in order for it to bear fruit. Take an apple tree for example. In order for an apple to be created, the pollen from the male part of an apple blossom has to reach the female part of another apple blossom. The blossom is then pollenated and that flower will result in an apple soon after.

So that is fine for apple trees, but how to we produce fruit as Christians to the glory of God? Just like the apple tree, there must be a coming together of two parts. The two parts for us are simply the Christian and God. But just knowing about God or crying out to him only when we have a problem is not the fruit producing union that is required. In order to produce fruit in our lives as Christians, we need to have an intimate relationship with our Lord. Intimacy requires desire and time. An intimate, right relationship with God will naturally produce the fruit that brings glory to our Lord.

So what is in your fruit basket?

Another interesting question to answer is, "What exactly is the fruit that brings God glory?". I'll save that one for a different post.

Thanks For the Hail God!

On February 28th, we had a thunderstorm come through Raytown where we live and dropped nickel size or bigger hail.  At the time of the storm, I can remember thinking how cool it was to watch it and how glad I was that our minivan was inside the garage of our borrowed house.

 

Little did I know at the time, but the roof of our house that we are selling before we leave for Costa Rica was taking a beating from the hail.

 

About a week after the storm I had a friend from church who is a roofer look at our roof to give us a bid on fixing some leaks.  He checked out the roof and found the significant hail damage.  At his suggestion I called my insurance company and had then check it out.

 

The claims adjuster found there was enough damage to warrant a total roof replacement!  Wooo hoooo!!!  Praise God!!!  He cut us a check that same day that will pay for the entire roof to be replaced.

 

So instead of just getting the leaking valleys replaced for a significant out-of-pocket amount, we are getting our entire roof replaced for nothing out of pocket.  My God is a great God.

Movie Review - Facing the Giants

Just watched a great movie on Saturday night, Facing the Giants.

This is a great movie with biblical values and a good story line. The actors aren't polished Hollywood types, and it shows sometimes, but it is much better that most of the "Christian" movies we have been exposed to over the years.

Good movie to watch if you like football. Good movie to watch even if you don't like football. It is available to rent from most major rental chains.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars. (I've always wanted to say that....)

Here is an description from Christiancinema.com

http://www.christiancinema.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1621&&s_kwcid=facing%20the%20giants|700241606&gclid=CLimnOH2gIsCFRPdPgodO2nDKA

FACING THE GIANTS is the heart-warming story of a downtrodden Christian high school football coach who turns to God when everything seems to be going against him. Trusting God to do the impossible, Coach Grant Taylor and his Shiloh Christian Eagles soon discover how faith plays out on the field … and off.

This new, action-packed drama from the award-winning producers of FLYWHEEL has had theater audiences laughing, crying, and cheering. The best family-friendly film of the year is now available on DVD!

Spring has Sprung

Spring is finally here!! Woooo Hoooo!!!

I love Spring. Nice moderate temperatures. All the plants coming back to life. Wonderful....

Every year the coming of Spring always reminds me of how God is able to take what has died and to breath new life into it.

We have a beautiful Magnolia tree in our front yard. Every Spring it pops out with wonderful blooms that look and smell awesome. During the Winter, this tree looks as dead as could be, but when the weather starts to turn warmer, little buds begin to form on the branches. Soon after that the buds turn into the beautiful flowers I have come to appreciate each year.

It is a blessing to watch this same process occur in the life of a person. They start off cold and dead without Christ or a relationship with God. Then when they come to Christ or get their life right with God, the warmth of His love causes buds to form on branches that were once lifeless. The process of growth and maturity continues and before you know it, beautiful blooms start to appear in their life.

We all go through "Winters" in our walks with God, but may our Winters be short ones. There are many climates in the world where blooming takes place all year. May our lives be of the spiritual climate that we bloom and bear fruit for our Lord all year as well.

Good Morning by Phone

In various jobs I have had over the years I would hear co-workers receive calls from their children. I would hear them talk in "kid voice" to their children on the other end that were excited to talk to their mom or dad. I can remember thinking to myself, "Isn't that cute.....". As a single young man, it is safe to say that I did not appreciate the value of those calls.

Now that I am a father of two wonderful girls, my appreciation of these calls is alot different.

This morning (which is the first Monday after the change to Daylight Savings Time so my body is in rebellion) our girls were not awake when I left for work since their bodies still thought it was time to sleep too. After I had been at work for a while I received a call from my wife. She had the two girls on speaker phone and they wanted to tell me good morning. What a blessing. Now that is an awesome call.

C-E-D Obedience

I am reading a great book called Shepherding a Child's Heart, by Ted Tripp. One of the concepts he talks about the book is the definition of obedience. The 3 words he uses for his definition of obedience are really good.

Obedience should be without:
Challenge
Excuse
Delay

C-E-D. In my desire for my two girls to learn to obey their parents so they can learn to obey God, we have implemented this definition of obedience. It has really caused me to examine my obedience to God and of what type it is. Do I obey God without challenge, excuse, or delay? Too often the answer to that question is no. I am good at trying to rationalize with God and "discuss" with him what he has told me to do instead of just obeying. Sure God, I'll do that, just not right now....

I want my girls to learn to obey in a biblical way. I want to be an example to them of what that kind of obedience to God looks like.

It's Official!!

Our house is officially up for sale now. The for sale sign went in the yard yesterday around 11:00 am. Now we are praying that the right buyer comes to look at the house and loves it.

Click Here to see the listing

Blessed with a new (borrowed) house

A couple of weeks ago we had the blessing of moving into a new house to live in. As we prepare to move to Costa Rica in August of this year, selling our house is high on the list of things to do. Of course selling the place where we live before we actually leave for Cost Rica presents some obvious problems.

There is a wonderful couple in our church that was going to be house-sitting for his mother while she was visiting family out of state for 8 months or so. God directed this couple to let us stay in their empty house rent-free until we move to Costa Rica in August. What a blessing. The house happens to be almost on the corner of our church's parking lot too.

It is so cool to see God parting the waters and make a way for us to cross into His plan on dry ground. How Great is our God.

Father Daughter Dance with Avigail

On February 11th, our church put on a Father Daughter Dance called Puttin on the Ritz. It was held at a hotel near Royal's stadium. We had a great time. For months ahead of time Avigail was so excited to go to "The Ball" like Cinderella.

We danced to every song on a very crowded dance floor.

It was a huge blessing to be able to spend that time with Avigail (she just turned 4 on the 22nd of February). I am going to make something like this a yearly event.

Road trip to Texas and New Mexico

Our family had the opportunity to take a road trip to Texas and New Mexico to visit friends. November 4th - 12th.

Our first stop was Borger, Texas, which is just North of Amarillo in the Texas panhandle. My good friends Chris & Jennifer Ruzicka live there. Chris is the associate pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Borger. Bill Sizemore is the Senior Pastor. It was great to visit with them and see what God is doing in their church. They have a growing Spanish ministry there as well.

Our next stop was Lovington, New Mexico. Three years ago we had a chance to share discipleship with a Spanish speaking church there called Primera Iglesia Bautista. Juan Carlos Soto is the pastor there. The pastor's daughter, Karla, turned 15 years old and had her quincienera (kind of like a sweet 16 party in the USA, except much more elaborate). I had the priviledge of preaching at her party. We had a wonderful time fellowshipping with the people there. It is a growing church that is faithfully taking what they have received and are sharing it with others.

Lots of driving, but it was a great time. A friend generously loaned us a dual screen DVD player for the girls to use on the trip. It did a great job of passing the time for our daughters.