Tag: examples

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Prone to Wander

Last night I had the privilege to hear the bands at Boyd Buchanan in their spring concerts.  Of course Alex and his trumpet were incredible, but the second best part of the night for me was a saxophone trio ( actually there were 4 players) who played an arrangement of “Come Thou Fount” called Fantasia on Nettleton. Come Thou Fount is quickly becoming one of my favorite hymns, especially because of this one stanza that I have not been able to get out of my head since last night.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Prone to wander.  Boy, does that describe us well?  So today, a simple encouragement to pray to seal and bind your heart.  And out of that a wellspring of action should arise.

13-14Meanwhile, we’ve got our hands full continually thanking God for you, our good friends—so loved by God! God picked you out as his from the very start. Think of it: included in God’s original plan of salvation by the bond of faith in the living truth. This is the life of the Spirit he invited you to through the Message we delivered, in which you get in on the glory of our Master, Jesus Christ.

15-17So, friends, take a firm stand, feet on the ground and head high. Keep a tight grip on what you were taught, whether in personal conversation or by our letter. May Jesus himself and God our Father, who reached out in love and surprised you with gifts of unending help and confidence, put a fresh heart in you, invigorate your work, enliven your speech.  2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 The Message (MSG)

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Corner Sermon

Last night as I was coming home from the boy’s soccer practice, I exited the interstate and crested the hill to shock.  There in front of me at the intersection ahead where no cars, a red light and a beggar standing on the left hand side of the road.  This is a one way street and I was about to turn left, so I quickly understood that I would be the only one at the intersection and I would be waiting at the light right next to him.

“Oh No, I can’t believe this!”, I said out loud as I slowed my vehicle waiting anxiously for the light to change to green so I could zoom past without a care.  However, that was not my destiny for this day.  As I came to a stop, I was ear to ear with this man.  He was not four feet from me.  I am sure I could have reached out and touched his shoulder from my driving position.

So, there I sat, for what seemed like minutes, but what was really only 20-30 seconds.  I stared awkwardly straight ahead while he stood holding his sign, staring nervously the other direction.   What was his situation?  What where his needs?  I don’t know.  I looked at the empty bags on the floorboard that contained the remnants of my dinner, and thought about the items I had just purchased in my truck bed, but I took no action. I will add here, not to excuse myself but to set up the situation, this corner seems to be a professional corner.  Its one that is usually occupied by the sign holders.  However, this guy was not in the worn patch that is there, he was almost of the road.  But either way, this man has stuck with me all night.  Could I have helped him?  I don’t know.  Would a few loose coins, or a few dollars helped him?  I don’t know.  However, the part that has stuck with me is that whether I could have met his needs or not, he still is a person – made in God’s image, and I ignored him.  Its bothered me more that I judged him and didn’t even acknowledge that a person was standing right outside my car.  Had this been the Chick-fil-a cow and those idiotic Liberty Tax Dancers, or a dude holding a furniture store going out of business sign, I would have waved and watched their antics.  But since I felt this guy needed something from me, or was an inconvenience to me or something like that, I screened him and acted like he was not there.  EPIC FAIL!

42And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” Matthew 10:42 NIV

So, my encouragement to you today, is to remember that all of us are made in God’s image and all of us are important and just people with problems.   I am not suggesting that I would have unloaded my wallet on this guy if I was back there again, but I may have at least made eye contact and treated him with respect.  The only way I could imagine that I might be better then him is the blood of Jesus and I did nothing to earn that gift.

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.  Genesis 1:27 (New International Version)

Think about how you are looking at the people around you today!

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Living with Passion

Several times over this past weekend I heard individuals suggest or encourage the idea of living with passion.  It was such a recurring theme that is seemed liked maybe I should consider it for a while.  The idea expressed in multiple ways to me this weekend was one of living life to the fullest, being excited, having enthusiasm and really staying engaged in your life.  There was also an element of purpose and intent mixed in the messages as well.

I have been considering these thoughts all weekend and what it means to live with passion.  I am still not exactly sure, but I do think that you can’t do it if you don’t get up each and every day and approach the day as a gift from God.  My thoughts led me this morning in Philippians, first the fourth chapter and then back into the third right to these words:

Philippians 3:12-14

12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (NIV)

12-14I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back. (MSG)

I certainly have not mastered passionate living, but I will continue to consider it.  However, one thing I know,  I am putting my eye on the goal and I am not turning back.  Maybe thats the starting line?

Runners Set….

Go,  get off the line and live! Give it your all, focus on the prize and live for him.

And if you have any ideas on passionate living, share them!

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One of Those Days

As the alarm sounded this morning my mind immediately begin to run the list of the events of the day.  This at 7:30, that at 8, this at 10, that at 11, this at 11:30, that at 1, and that at 1, this at 2 and 3 and then this and then that… oh man….  I really just wanted to unplug the alarm clock and sleep.. until tomorrow.

There as to be more reason for the day then what lies ahead of me today.   Even as I write this this morning, I am anxious for the 3 little numbers in the bottom left corner of my monitor.  Its just doesn’t seem right, the sun has not peeked its head over Big Frog Mountain, and I am wound as tight as a … well something that is wound too tight…

So I turned my attention to two familiar passages this morning and I hope they stick with me today.

25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life……O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:25-34

13Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-17

Also I have prayed this morning/am praying all day for God to use me in this business.  My prayer today is that I will focus on him and what he is bringing in front on me instead of the hectic schedule. It seems to be calming a little, so far.  But seriously, maybe your days are like this too.  I am going to try all day to focus on God and his desires in the midst of insanity and see how it goes.

I think maybe this is part of what he is getting at? Give it over to God today and see where it leads you!

Oh BTW, the Caleb Factor number is now 182 ( down 2) and the goal is still 174.  That’s a good start!

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Flat Water Ahead?

Well, I broke down and did it on Saturday night.  I bought a boat!  Well, a canoe.  A nice inexpensive 14′.  I did it for Alex.  He has been asking for a canoe or kayak for a few years. And some recent thoughts and events encouraged me to move forward.

Remember that one of my goals for 2010 was to become obsessed – obsessed with God and to let him impact my life.  So with that in mind, I was recently reminded about the shortness of life and the short amount of time our children are in our homes.  That reminded me of this picture.

Those 4 men are my fathers.  Well, the baby is my actual father, but the other 3 are his father and his father and his father.  So that’s 4 generations back in the history of my family.  I would be the fifth and my sons the sixth standing on the right.  I starting thinking how little I really know about the two men on the left.  I know their names, their wife’s and their children’s names, and even their birth and death dates.  I have even stood at the foot of their graves.  But the only thing I really know about them exists through what I know about my grandfather and my father.  I don’t know how they lived each day, but the overall impact of their choices and decisions for sure have had impact on me.  So then I look forward and I think about 4 generations ahead and what they will write on their iMinds ( that’s an futuristic Apple product that just connects directly to your brain!) about their grandparents?

Deep stuff, so what does that have to do with a boat? Everything!

I figure that my legacy for those potential future generation is set in the way I approach every single day.  I don’t have huge plans of grandeur.  But I think that each day, I can live in a way that when the “complete body of work” is examined, it will be something that points one direction – Heaven.

I hope this boat can me an instrument to help.  For you it may be golf clubs, the kitchen, or long drives.  But I am sure there are things in your life that you can use as opportunities to share the gifts we have been given.  Of course that’s on top of living each and every day in a way that brings glory to our Lord and Savior.

16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:16-17 (New International Version)

18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, Deuteronomy 11:18-20 (New International Version)

So here’s to flat water, good paddling, great conversations and trips that bring us all closer to our God.