Happy Father's Day

I showed this video today at our church. I thought you might enjoy this! Happy Father's Day!!!

Just Sitting There

"...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10b).

So, here's the deal. Six months ago, my family and I bought a home and, with the help of some great people from our church, remodeled a great deal of the inside. Also with the house came an above ground pool. Oh, how excited I was. This thing is big. It's 52" deep, 15' wide and 30' long. It's only 2 years old and was only used 1 season. So, should've been pretty easy to open this season...right?

It started off with having to pump out and clean out 6" of stagnant, BLACK water. I didn't even know water could be black! There were huge amounts of decomposed leaves, algae, bugs, and dirt. After hours of pumping, sweeping, and scrubbing, the pool was finaly ready for water. I had water delivered. During the filling process, the liner began to rip up top due to dry rot! Well, I discovered over the next 2 weeks, as I went from 52" of water down to 14", over a dozen holes that I've patched. The pool is now open, and holds water. It's now capable of doing what it was created to do.

There's another problem. The weather in Pittsburgh, thus far, is not condusive for a lot of swimming. It's cool and rainy. It's very frustrating. I have this pool that I have invested a lot of time, effort, and money, and it's not functioning at it's fullest potential.

Sometimes I feel that we as Christians are the same way. God has invested much into our lives, but unless we are living it out, pursuing Him passionately, developing the fruitful evidence of that relationship, then we're not much better than that pool that sits in my backyard.

God has done amazing things in my life. I refuse to let them go to waste. God has brought me through so much, invested so much, and I will not stand by on the sidelines. What about you?

He Still Trusts Me?

"I know God will not give me anything i can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much." ~ Mother Teresa

Have you ever felt this way? I know I have. Somedays it seems that if it could go wrong it does, and if it hasn't yet...it will. You go through the day, you look up and say, "God...I don't get it. What's the deal here??"

I am finding that with every day, comes a different task and a test that I have choice in how I respond. I can either choose to let it overwhelm me, or I can choose to allow it to motivate me to continue to trust, to continue to develop my weaknessess in His strengths.

The fact is, He does trust me. He trusts me...to trust Him. In Christ alone I have what I need to live in a way that is honoring to Him. And as I live in honor of Him, I begin to see the blessings of everyday life, and those blessings begin to outnumber the obstacles in my days. I begin to feel a strength that I had forgotten existed. I am strong in Him. I am more than a conqeror through Him. I can do all things through He strengthens me!

"Consider it pure joy when you faced with trials of many kinds, for it is the testing of your faith that develops perseverance. And perseverance must finish its course, so that you may be mature and lack no good thing" (James 1:2-4)

More Than "Just Getting By"

"If the focus of quality is on your work more than the quality of your worship, then your work becomes your worship...and that's idolatry."

This statement has become a resonating voice in my heart. How easy it is to become so passionate about what you do and not take time to worship that God who gave you the ability to be passionate.

The question that I must ask myself, is am I putting the same quality of excellence in my worship of the God I say I love, as I do into the other things of my life? Sometimes it's so easy to "just get by" with God. Because, of course, He will understand...right? He knows we're busy. He knows we've got other things going on.

What's most important? Because, I know I make time for what is most important. And I put my heart and soul into what is most important. I don't try to "just get by" at my job, or in my marriage, or with my children. I give my all, because it deserves and requires my all. I love Jesus, because He gave His all. What other response is adeuate, but to give Him my all.

Nick Vujicic

Check out this video and be sure to read the post below. You WILL be greatly encouraged!

No Arms, No Legs, No Problem

"When God doesn't give you a miracle, maybe you're the miracle for someone else."

What a quote. This was spoken by the guy next to me in the picture. His name is Nick Vujicic. He was born with no limbs, yet God has used him in such a powerful way in 24 countries, seeing over 200,000 people give their hearts to Christ.

But of course, it hadn't always been easy. When Nick was younger he thought about suicide. He considered throwing in the towel and giving up. He had prayed and believed that God would give him new arms and new legs, but at the end of every prayer, he was just as disabled as he was when he began. Discouragement would set in, until the day he realized that the true miracle was being done within. "I wanted God to heal my circumstance, but instead, He healed my heart."

When it feels as though life is unbearable, don't forget to lean on the God who created you with a purpose and loves you unconditionally. If you ever feel "disabled," because of your past, your failures, your inadequacies, or your insecurities, then take Nick's advice: "If you put GO in front of DISABLE, you will very soon find that GODISABLE = GOD IS ABLE."

Time Well Spent

As I write this, I am sitting at the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport. My son, Vincent, and I are awaiting our flight back home to Pittsburgh. It's been a long week. It's been a GREAT week!! Last Friday, I set out on a journey to meet with four different pastors in the greater San Diego area. The purpose? I just wanted to learn. To learn from some guys who are older than me, been in ministry longer than me, and who have learned some lessons along the way. How great it was!

I met with four very different guys. Not all the same denomination. Not all the same age. Not all the same size church. Not all the same approaches to ministry. However, the principles that I gleaned from them over this past week will be very beneficial to me in helping me to continue to shape the leadership potential that God has created.

In the coming days, I will be sharing some of those lessons. I pray that you can benefit from them as well.

Vincent came along and had an incredible time. He got to spend some time with a family that has been an extra set of parents to me. They have treated me like a son and my children like grandchildren. Vincent got to go the beach, out to eat, and to the San Diego Zoo! Since our connecting flight in Dallas got bumped til today, Vincent got to spend time with his MiMi (my mother) and cousins he's never met. THEY HAD A BLAST!!! He even got to see his papaw's police car!

This week hadn't gone exactly how I'd expected, but God has used it in amazing ways. Yes, it most definitely was time well spent!