Only God knows

Yesterday, my sister called me to tell me that her friend, a 32 year old mother of 4, had passed away after a long fight with cancer. It's difficult to find any words that would even begin to express how sad it is to know that those 4 children have lost their mother. I am praying that God will comfort them, and guide them through this season in their lives, and that their father will have the strength that he needs as well. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that I have experienced this. I have presided over and attended several funerals in the last few years of lives that were cut short by disease or tragedy. For those who are left behind, there are all kinds of questions that come up. Why did it happen? Was there anything I could have done? We prayed for healing, didn't God hear us? In most cases, we just don't have simple answers that can make it better. But for those of us who know God, it's important to understand that He still hears and answers prayer. He still has the power to heal (Isa. 53:5), but He also knows more than we can fathom about how these circumstances will affect others in the end. I have heard numerous accounts of family members coming to know the Lord through these events. We know that God is working for our good (Romans 8:28), even if we can't see how right now.

Today I was reading in the book of Genesis the story of Joseph. At the end of the story, in chapter 45, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and forgives them. I have always marveled at Joseph's attitude when dealing with the circumstances that faced him. Here he was, with incredible power, and the opportunity to take revenge on the brothers who had sold him into slavery so many years earlier, but Joseph chose to forgive. In verse 5 he says, "And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you." Joseph could see how God had worked all of these circumstances together for the very day when he would be able to help save his own family from becoming destitute. It makes me wonder about the loved ones who have left this life and gone before us. When we see them again in heaven will they say to us, "Don't be distressed, it was for this reason that God sent me ahead of you." In the meantime, keep praying, keep believing, and keep hoping.

Cost to be #1 Dad-- $11.95

You might remember on Father's day when I wrote this post about being the 2nd best dad in the world. Well, today I moved up a notch...

If you have kids that live in the United States between the ages of 7 and 11, then you probably are aware that Friday, August 17 is a big day. In fact, in our household we've been counting down for months. (Sorry sis, it's not because it's your birthday) It's the premiere of "High School Musical 2" on the Disney Channel. I have to give Disney a lot of credit for their marketing. They obviously know how to capture the imaginations of kids....and their parents money. Tonight, the girls convinced me that they just HAD to have the soundtrack to the new movie. (It conveniently came out today.) They want to be able to sing along to the songs the FIRST TIME they see the movie. I was skeptical about the whole HAVING to have it thing. But, they sold me when they informed me that this small act would push me over the top, and that I would be, by all accounts, the BEST DAD IN THE WORLD!!! Well, I figured that at $11.95 it was a pretty good deal. So, I am now the enjoying the benefits that go along with having the best dad award, while listening to my girls sing and dance around the gameroom. Oh, they just gave me my best dad certificate....it says "expires in 12 hours." :)

MySpace and Facebook

Over the years I've sat on the sidelines and watched the hype about these social networking sites. I have to admit, I don't really get the attraction of these sites, but about 60 million people on myspace, and 30 million people on facebook must know something. So....I decided to set up profiles on both sites. My sister says that It's pretty sad that I don't have very many friends on my profile. If you're using either of these, feel free to "friend" me or "poke" me or whatever it is we're supposed to do on there. Maybe I'll figure it out someday...

Leadership Summit

This week I attended the Willow Creek Leadership Summit at a satellite location in McKinney, TX. There were so many great points made by the speakers, but I thought I'd share a couple of the highlights for me. Bill Hybels started by challenging us to have a "vision to die for." Throughout church history, people have been willing to sacrifice heavily for the cause of Christ. He defined vision as "the painting of a picture that inspires passion." He went on to talk about the vision formation process and how it's most effective when done as a team. Carly Fiorina was the next speaker. She is the ex-ceo of HP. She was fired in 2005, and spoke candidly about it. A quote that I liked from her was, "There's a gift in everything if only we will see it." That's good perspective. I also enjoyed her point that leadership requires both passion and dispassion. Passion is essential because you have to own the vision and have heart for the mission. But a leader must also remain dispassionate enough to be able to objectively see things as they are. She said that passion can blind you as well as motivate you. She summed it up by saying that leadership is about unlocking potential in others. When we take a chance on others, THAT is leadership. Marcus Buckingham is the author of one of my all time favorite books, Now Discover Your Strengths. He continued his thoughts about building on strengths first, and managing weaknesses second. If you've never read his books before, they are HIGHLY recommended.

On Friday, Bill Hybels opened up the meeting with some very compelling research that they have been doing at Willow Creek about the satisfaction level of people in their church. They have learned that as believers grow stronger in their relationship with the Lord, they actually feel less satisfied that they are being "fed" by the church. One conclusion that they are coming to is that they need to train new believers how to take responsibility for their own spiritual growth, and show them a roadmap for how to get there. I think they have hit on some important information, and I think it may be as revolutionary as their focus on "seekers" twenty years ago. You can read more about it here. Michael Porter discussed strategic thinking as we approach our community outreach programs. He said we need to "do better, at doing good." He says it's important to define clearly what our goals are, and specify the needs that we're going to address. He says that it's more important to do things effectively, than just do things. I agree.

Colin Powell shared his thoughts on leadership, called "Powell principles." He said to embrace the "clash of ideas." It's better to get all of the ideas on the table, even if it means that there will be some clashes. A couple of the other principles that I liked were, "things always look better in the morning," "optimism is a force multiplier," and "trust the element of instinct."

John Ortberg shared about the story of Esther and challenged all of us to not allow our "shadow missions" to become our mission.

Basically by this point my brain was mush, and could not handle any more learning for the weekend. :)

Fruit

This weekend was my first weekend as a staff member at Hope. Pastor John was out of town, so Pastor Aaron, the student ministry pastor spoke. He spoke about the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22,23.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

His main point was that this was not a list of things that we need to DO, but they are qualities that we can BE. If we are allowing Christ to work in our lives, others will be able to see Him in us through these characteristics displayed in our actions.

Each of these characteristics is actually a reflection of how God responds to us. I thought that was a really good point, and for me it made me think about how FAITHFUL God has been to me. He has been with me through so many circumstances in my life. When I look back, I can see God's faithfulness as the one constant through all of the changes in my life. I am so thankful that I can trust in Him. I pray that as I continue to grow in Him, that His characteristics will rub off on me.

Moving in

Last week, I posted and mentioned that Monday was going to be a critical day in our move. Well, everything didn't go exactly as planned, since our Tampa house closing didn't happen until late in the day. So, we had one more night in the hotel, and our mover was upset because he couldn't unload his truck. But, we finally got the call at noon on Tuesday that everything was taken care of, and we were able to move in. We have been unpacking and getting settled ever since. Anne's parents flew in on Thursday and have been a tremendous help. They've helped us paint, install towel bars, and all the stuff that I'm no good at. :) Today, we are supposed to get our internet, cable, and home phone hooked up. I'm looking forward to retiring the rabbit ears again!

I'm Back!

I'm sitting at my new desk in my new office at Hope Fellowship, and it feels good to get back to work. Of course, I don't really know what I'm doing yet, but I'm enjoying getting to know the staff and learning how they do things here. One of the areas that I have responsibility over is LifeGroups. I am praying that God will give me some new ideas for how to get more people involved. I'm excited about meeting the current leaders and hearing what is happening in their groups now.