cailyn and i arrived yesterday in the smoky mountains for a week of vacation with both of our families...
traveling down here was a journey to say the least...
just a few miles outside of nashville, while cailyn was driving, we blew our back left tire. cailyn did an excellent job of keeping the car under control...and God seemed to provide us a break in the traffic to allow her to get to the side of the road from the middle lane. it was a very scary experience and we are thankful to be okay.
thankfully, we were only a few miles from a walmart and we were able get there on our spare and purchase a new tire in less than an hour.
it was the process of getting a new tire that reminded me of a great lesson learned. a few years ago, cailyn and i went through dave ramsey's financial peace class. among other things, we learned about the process of setting aside money for specific emergency expenses.
and so, we had significantly more money set aside for car repairs then what it cost us to purchase the new tire. and man was that a blessing. it was a stressful enough afternoon. and it was so nice to be able to stand at the counter, paying for a new tire, and not feeling worried in any way about the cost of the tire and about the financial burden that it might add to the rest of our trip.
in many senses it seems like a little thing, but in the end, it changes so much...
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Love...Filipino Style...
we currently have 4 campus house students on a short-term mission trip in the Philippines, with students from two other campus houses. missions is a huge part of our vision of helping students find their way back to God. we believe and invest much in missions for many different reasons. it makes a difference in the restoration of God's shalom in this world. but it also does beautiful things in shaping the hearts of students in seeing and loving the world the way God does.
this is certainly happening for these 4 students. here are some words that Meagan wrote on the teams blog about their past few days and about what God is doing in her.
"These past few days have been a blur, but a blast. This past weekend we did leadership training on the beach (how AMAZING!) with the small group leaders from Baguio, Dagupon and BSU. What a blessing it was to see the students from 3 different ministries blend together and just enjoy some fellowship time playing in the waves! This was the first time we met the Dagupon students and Stephanie, Allison and I roomed with 5 of their girls. It seems like connections to these students happen in a flash. They are so full of love, acceptance, curiosity and most of all, joy. They continue to be an example and encouragement of how I should be living my everyday life.
Yesterday, we traveled into Dagupon from the beach and got our first chance to check out the Encounter Christian Campus House connected with Luzon University. The students were eager to share with us their culture and many many giggles and fun stories. We pretty much crashed into our rooms at the YMCA hotel, where we are staying until Thursday this week, after that. This morning, we traveled to Luzon University and got to have a meeting with the Deans from all the colleges and some student and faculty representatives. Let me tell you this... I experienced an incredible amount of hospitality. We were welcomed in a huge way, and were given a tour of the University and took about a million pictures. Tomorrow, we will be teaching classes connected to our major to anywhere between 50 and 200+ students, and tomorrow evening we will join Encounter Dagupon in their mid week fellowship. Long story short...well, semi-short, God has shown up in a HUGE way in this country and He has and continues to do amazing things. The Filipino people have been such an example to me in how I was created to love...just as God does. I wish I could explain in words how this trip is changing and shaping my heart to love and want to be His servant even more. Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts!
With love and joy and thankfulness,
Meagan"
God never seizes to amaze me in the ways he teaches us! and i love to see the teaching come from so many different angles. this morning i was reading in colossians 3 where it says:
"And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful."
what struck me was the fact that i grasp the idea of making the choice to love in a marriage sense. from the beginning Cailyn and i have had a solid understanding that the marriage love is one you chose, and it has made a huge difference in the quality of marriage we have.
but i fail often at transferring this idea to other people and situations. when love is easy and convenient and something i feel like doing, i share it with others with no problem. but when it is not easy and convenient, and when i don't feel like it, it is not something i do well. i want to actively be making the choice to love everyone...not just my wife. it is the way of Jesus.
and ironically (or not so ironically, because that is just how God works), Meagan is learning the exact same thing from Filipino college students halfway around the world.
this is certainly happening for these 4 students. here are some words that Meagan wrote on the teams blog about their past few days and about what God is doing in her.
"These past few days have been a blur, but a blast. This past weekend we did leadership training on the beach (how AMAZING!) with the small group leaders from Baguio, Dagupon and BSU. What a blessing it was to see the students from 3 different ministries blend together and just enjoy some fellowship time playing in the waves! This was the first time we met the Dagupon students and Stephanie, Allison and I roomed with 5 of their girls. It seems like connections to these students happen in a flash. They are so full of love, acceptance, curiosity and most of all, joy. They continue to be an example and encouragement of how I should be living my everyday life.
Yesterday, we traveled into Dagupon from the beach and got our first chance to check out the Encounter Christian Campus House connected with Luzon University. The students were eager to share with us their culture and many many giggles and fun stories. We pretty much crashed into our rooms at the YMCA hotel, where we are staying until Thursday this week, after that. This morning, we traveled to Luzon University and got to have a meeting with the Deans from all the colleges and some student and faculty representatives. Let me tell you this... I experienced an incredible amount of hospitality. We were welcomed in a huge way, and were given a tour of the University and took about a million pictures. Tomorrow, we will be teaching classes connected to our major to anywhere between 50 and 200+ students, and tomorrow evening we will join Encounter Dagupon in their mid week fellowship. Long story short...well, semi-short, God has shown up in a HUGE way in this country and He has and continues to do amazing things. The Filipino people have been such an example to me in how I was created to love...just as God does. I wish I could explain in words how this trip is changing and shaping my heart to love and want to be His servant even more. Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts!
With love and joy and thankfulness,
Meagan"
God never seizes to amaze me in the ways he teaches us! and i love to see the teaching come from so many different angles. this morning i was reading in colossians 3 where it says:
"And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful."
what struck me was the fact that i grasp the idea of making the choice to love in a marriage sense. from the beginning Cailyn and i have had a solid understanding that the marriage love is one you chose, and it has made a huge difference in the quality of marriage we have.
but i fail often at transferring this idea to other people and situations. when love is easy and convenient and something i feel like doing, i share it with others with no problem. but when it is not easy and convenient, and when i don't feel like it, it is not something i do well. i want to actively be making the choice to love everyone...not just my wife. it is the way of Jesus.
and ironically (or not so ironically, because that is just how God works), Meagan is learning the exact same thing from Filipino college students halfway around the world.
Monday, July 18, 2011
The Ragamuffin Gospel...
i recently started going through a book with a student...it's a book i read quite a while ago. The Ragamuffin Gospel, by Brennan Manning. it is a fantastic book. honestly, i had forgotten just how good it was. it has been great just to read through the first three chapters again.
here's an amazing paragraph i read this morning:
"If we maintain the open-mindedness of children, we challenge fixed ideas and established structures, including our own. We listen to people in other denominations and religions. We don't find demons in those with who we disagree. We don't cozy up to people who mouth our jargon. If we are open, we rarely resort to either-or: either creation or evolution, liberty or law, sacred or secular, Beethoven or Madonna. We focus on both-and, fully aware that God's truth cannot be imprisoned in a small definition. Of course, the open mind does not accept everything indiscriminately - Marxism and capitalism, Christianity and atheism, love and lust, Moet Chandon and vinegar. It does not absorb all propositions equally like a sponge; nor is it as soft. But the open mind realizes that reality, truth, and Jesus Christ are incredibly open-ended."
there is so much in this paragraph that inspires me and gets me pondering.
i love the idea of having the open-mindedness and teachable spirit of a child. i want to see the world and people that way, every single day!
i also love the way he talks about the "both-and" mentality. it is so true. i have a great friend and mentor that talks often about the christian life being like a paradox. a paradox is two things that are true at the same time that don't seem like they can both be true. like a coin standing up on it's side. it is a beautiful, perfect, and challenging illustration of what we are called to as Christ followers!
if i can daily strive to have an open-mind, a teachable spirit, and a both-and mentality, i think i will be pleased with both where i am and where i am going.
what thoughts does that paragraph prompt in you?
here's an amazing paragraph i read this morning:
"If we maintain the open-mindedness of children, we challenge fixed ideas and established structures, including our own. We listen to people in other denominations and religions. We don't find demons in those with who we disagree. We don't cozy up to people who mouth our jargon. If we are open, we rarely resort to either-or: either creation or evolution, liberty or law, sacred or secular, Beethoven or Madonna. We focus on both-and, fully aware that God's truth cannot be imprisoned in a small definition. Of course, the open mind does not accept everything indiscriminately - Marxism and capitalism, Christianity and atheism, love and lust, Moet Chandon and vinegar. It does not absorb all propositions equally like a sponge; nor is it as soft. But the open mind realizes that reality, truth, and Jesus Christ are incredibly open-ended."
there is so much in this paragraph that inspires me and gets me pondering.
i love the idea of having the open-mindedness and teachable spirit of a child. i want to see the world and people that way, every single day!
i also love the way he talks about the "both-and" mentality. it is so true. i have a great friend and mentor that talks often about the christian life being like a paradox. a paradox is two things that are true at the same time that don't seem like they can both be true. like a coin standing up on it's side. it is a beautiful, perfect, and challenging illustration of what we are called to as Christ followers!
if i can daily strive to have an open-mind, a teachable spirit, and a both-and mentality, i think i will be pleased with both where i am and where i am going.
what thoughts does that paragraph prompt in you?
Monday, July 11, 2011
WOO(ing)...
in case you are not familiar with WOO: Winning Others Over...
we have five values at campus house that we use as a guide in both what we do and what we do not do. one of those is belonging. we want for people to belong...to belong to us as a community and as people. not because we want to be popular or cool or trendy or to be able to boast about big numbers. but because we believe that, in today's culture, belonging comes before believing. that when people feel like they belong with us and around us, this will allow them to truly encounter Christ and to, in turn, come to a place of believing.
i have been thinking this summer about how we can improve our value of belonging. particularly, i have been thinking about those new people that slip in, in say the 9th week of the school year, and we don't ever realize they were here. how do we work on creating belonging with them? (there have been numerous thoughts and ideas to go along with this, but i will save the details unless you are really interested in hearing about them)
in thinking about this, i have been processing thoughts with our staff and our leadership team. the conversations have been good, challenging and enlightening.
last week, i was talking about it with one staff member, and she pointed out something that was both convicting and inspiring. she said that in all of the talking and brainstorming about how we could improve on this aspect of belonging, she hadn't heard me mention God at all. hadn't heard anything said about how this was going to connect people back to God.
this was convicting because i know that it is incredibly important that i am always operating in a way that makes it clear, verbally and explicitly, how what we do is connecting people back to God. it is not okay to leave it assumed and unspoken. maybe i have become a little too relaxed with that.
however, it was inspiring, because it is my hope and prayer that in everything we do and in everything we are as a community of individual's who are finding our way back to God, that "winning" someone to us as a community is the same as "winning" someone to the opportunity to truly encounter Christ. i want that to be our drive and our goal. it needs to be directly stated and laid out. but i do firmly believe that there is a way for us to be operating that will allow people to truly encounter Christ as they first find a home with us.
and on a broader scale, isn't this the life that God is calling all of us to every day? faith and following Christ has become such a compartmentalized thing. something that is delegated to just a corner of life. but that is never the way it was intended to be. following Chirst is meant to be, as Paul talks about in Colossians, a death and burial of the old self, and a being raised to new life in Christ. not part of a new life, but a totally new life. which gives us this great opportunity to tangibly be Christ to people in every moment of every day. largely through them simply belonging with us.
we have five values at campus house that we use as a guide in both what we do and what we do not do. one of those is belonging. we want for people to belong...to belong to us as a community and as people. not because we want to be popular or cool or trendy or to be able to boast about big numbers. but because we believe that, in today's culture, belonging comes before believing. that when people feel like they belong with us and around us, this will allow them to truly encounter Christ and to, in turn, come to a place of believing.
i have been thinking this summer about how we can improve our value of belonging. particularly, i have been thinking about those new people that slip in, in say the 9th week of the school year, and we don't ever realize they were here. how do we work on creating belonging with them? (there have been numerous thoughts and ideas to go along with this, but i will save the details unless you are really interested in hearing about them)
in thinking about this, i have been processing thoughts with our staff and our leadership team. the conversations have been good, challenging and enlightening.
last week, i was talking about it with one staff member, and she pointed out something that was both convicting and inspiring. she said that in all of the talking and brainstorming about how we could improve on this aspect of belonging, she hadn't heard me mention God at all. hadn't heard anything said about how this was going to connect people back to God.
this was convicting because i know that it is incredibly important that i am always operating in a way that makes it clear, verbally and explicitly, how what we do is connecting people back to God. it is not okay to leave it assumed and unspoken. maybe i have become a little too relaxed with that.
however, it was inspiring, because it is my hope and prayer that in everything we do and in everything we are as a community of individual's who are finding our way back to God, that "winning" someone to us as a community is the same as "winning" someone to the opportunity to truly encounter Christ. i want that to be our drive and our goal. it needs to be directly stated and laid out. but i do firmly believe that there is a way for us to be operating that will allow people to truly encounter Christ as they first find a home with us.
and on a broader scale, isn't this the life that God is calling all of us to every day? faith and following Christ has become such a compartmentalized thing. something that is delegated to just a corner of life. but that is never the way it was intended to be. following Chirst is meant to be, as Paul talks about in Colossians, a death and burial of the old self, and a being raised to new life in Christ. not part of a new life, but a totally new life. which gives us this great opportunity to tangibly be Christ to people in every moment of every day. largely through them simply belonging with us.
Monday, July 4, 2011
The Power of Specialization...Part 2...
i was doing some reading and studying in acts the other day, and this idea of The Power of Specialization (see previous post) jumped out at me. in acts 6:1-7 it says:
" 1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith."
i did a bit of commentary reading and discovered it is likely that these widows who were being overlooked were being overlooked, at least partially, because of a language barrier. Which to me is another way of saying that there was a lack of ability and specialization.
And what is their solution? The apostles assign 7 people to specifically take care of these women. And i think it is only fair to assume, that at the very least, these guys possessed the necessary means to overcome this language barrier. Which is to say, they were specialized...talented and gifted in an unique way to be able to do what they did excellently.
And then i love what we see in verse 7. Specialization happened, and with it, results came. Specialization made a difference. the word spread and numbers increased rapidly. not only did specialization make sense, but it paid off...it made a difference.
i think it is important that we stop and notice this. far too often we get caught up in thinking we have to be good at everything. i believe God calls us to excellence, but that doesn't mean we have to be excellent at everything. be excellent at the things God has specialized you for, and be okay with allowing someone else to be the specialist where you are not gifted and are not interested. it was best for the apostles, why shouldn't we think it will be best for us?
" 1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith."
i did a bit of commentary reading and discovered it is likely that these widows who were being overlooked were being overlooked, at least partially, because of a language barrier. Which to me is another way of saying that there was a lack of ability and specialization.
And what is their solution? The apostles assign 7 people to specifically take care of these women. And i think it is only fair to assume, that at the very least, these guys possessed the necessary means to overcome this language barrier. Which is to say, they were specialized...talented and gifted in an unique way to be able to do what they did excellently.
And then i love what we see in verse 7. Specialization happened, and with it, results came. Specialization made a difference. the word spread and numbers increased rapidly. not only did specialization make sense, but it paid off...it made a difference.
i think it is important that we stop and notice this. far too often we get caught up in thinking we have to be good at everything. i believe God calls us to excellence, but that doesn't mean we have to be excellent at everything. be excellent at the things God has specialized you for, and be okay with allowing someone else to be the specialist where you are not gifted and are not interested. it was best for the apostles, why shouldn't we think it will be best for us?
Friday, July 1, 2011
The Power of Specialization...
this summer, our staff at campus house is growing from 3 people, to 5. it is an incredibly exciting time. one thing i am most excited about is the new passions and excitements, along with the talents and abilities that, i believe, will turn those passions and excitements into amazing new endeavors.
however, personally, i have noticed a challenge in this. as i have been observing these talents and abilities, that go along with these passions and excitements, i have found that one of my first reactions is to feel like i need to grow. like i need to learn that ability. like i need to acquire that passion. and while i forever want to strive to learn and grow, i do not believe for a second this is the growth that i or God desire. and it is certainly not the growth that will allow our ministry to reach it's full potential.
so much of the beauty in a staff that is growing is that we possess different passions and abilities. and if i can focus less on aligning with someone's talents and abilities, and instead focus on maximizing and featuring those talents and abilities, the sky is the limit.
in this year that lies ahead, i want to focus...with both our growing staff and our ever deepening leadership team...on identifying their unique passions and abilities...the things that they are far better than me at...the thing that they may just be the best in the world at...and celebrate that, feature that, encourage that, and simply be the cheerleader for a tribe that is way bigger than me.
however, personally, i have noticed a challenge in this. as i have been observing these talents and abilities, that go along with these passions and excitements, i have found that one of my first reactions is to feel like i need to grow. like i need to learn that ability. like i need to acquire that passion. and while i forever want to strive to learn and grow, i do not believe for a second this is the growth that i or God desire. and it is certainly not the growth that will allow our ministry to reach it's full potential.
so much of the beauty in a staff that is growing is that we possess different passions and abilities. and if i can focus less on aligning with someone's talents and abilities, and instead focus on maximizing and featuring those talents and abilities, the sky is the limit.
in this year that lies ahead, i want to focus...with both our growing staff and our ever deepening leadership team...on identifying their unique passions and abilities...the things that they are far better than me at...the thing that they may just be the best in the world at...and celebrate that, feature that, encourage that, and simply be the cheerleader for a tribe that is way bigger than me.
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