faith

What Matters Most?

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“Jesus: I am here speaking with all the authority of God, who has commanded Me to give you this commission: Go out and make disciples in all the nations. Ceremonially wash them through baptism in the name of the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Then disciple them. Form them in the practices and postures that I have taught you, and show them how to follow the commands I have laid down for you. And I will be with you, day after day, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:18-20).

I confess. Aaron Bryant’s sermon at The Church at Avenue South convicted me.

More specifically, it was one point he made that challenged me.

As great as our goals and passions are, none of them can ever eclipse the calling of Jesus’ Great Commission laid on each one of us as believers.

That has to be the #1 priority. Above health and fitness. Above all the leadership and success programs. Above even facial hair.

Nothing else matters as much as making disciples. Nothing.

So why do we let ourselves get so distracted by anything and everything else? Why do we let so many other things– even good things– take priority over this business of helping people along the road from lost to followers of Jesus? Why do I let just about anything and everything take priority over this utmost commission?

I really don’t have a good answer for that. I don’t even have a good solution. I just know it’s something I’ve been wrestling with all afternoon.

Jesus doesn’t want fans. He wants followers. Above all, He wants those of us who call ourselves followers to bring other people to the point where they’re not just pew-warmers and Bible-quoters, but genuine and authentic Jesus-followers.

He wants that from you. He wants that from me.

Maybe 2016 is as good a time to start as any.

 

 

Day Two of 2016

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“Teach us to number our days so that we may truly live and achieve wisdom” (Psalm 90:12, VOICE).

There are probably some of you out there smarting over the fact that you didn’t get invited to any New Year’s Eve parties and you sat at home alone with your pet looking at all the pictures your friends posted on social media of the fabulous times they were having.

You are not alone. You may feel alone, but you’re not. God still sees and knows you. He knows you by name and knows you better than even you know yourself.

Some of you made resolutions for 2016 and have already fallen off the proverbial wagon. Those wonderful lists of things to improve in 2016 are now lining your bird cages or resting in peace at the bottom of your trash cans.

Something I’ve learned is that what counts and matters most isn’t your resolve to be and do better in 2016 but Jesus’ resolve to complete the salvation process He started in you way before 2016 (thanks to Ann Voskamp for that one).

The beautiful part is that you don’t have to wait until January 1, 2017 to start over. Every day you wake up is a chance for a do-over. In fact, every breath is a second chance to do right what you messed up and failed to do right the first time. Every second is a chance for surrender to stop trying so hard and let God do what only God can do in and through you.

FYI. You still have time to make those resolutions and set those goals if you haven’t already done so. I think it was C. S. Lewis who said something like this: It’s never too late to become who you always could have been and who you were meant to be all along. You’re never too old or too far gone to start over and choose wisely.

I think that about covers it for January 2, 2016.

 

Godwinks Circa 2016

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I had a Godwink moment today. For those who don’t know what that means, it’s a seemingly random moment when something really neat or good happens that you didn’t ask for or expect. It’s kinda like when you go to get one bag of Funyons out of the vending machine and you get two instead.

Tonight, I had one of those.

I went with my family to Old Chicago to eat, thanks to a very generous Christmas gift from a relative in the form of a $200 Visa Giftcard expressly for the purpose of the whole family being able to go out and eat together.

That was awesome, but that wasn’t the Godwink.

I had a very good Margherita pizza with an Ale crust that made me thankful that God inspired someone to invent pizzas. But that was also not the Godwink.

I had a friend from Union University that I hadn’t seen in 20 years approach me after recognizing me. That was the Godwink.

A Godwink moment for me has been seeing people that I really like that I haven’t seen in a while. It could be receiving a very generous gift from friends in time of need. It could be simply the overwhelming joy that comes from no discernible source other than God being present in the moment.

You can’t really plan a Godwink moment. You can’t wish for them or expect them. You can only recognize them when they happen and be grateful for them, because you can never be sure when or where they will happen.

Another smaller Godwink moment was me finding the I Am Second bracelet that I thought was forever lost. It turns out it was just hiding in plain sight in the bottom of my closet.

The truth of the matter is that God remains good and faithful whether I feel blessed or not, whether I feel Him at all or not. As a great line from a Christmas movie goes, seeing isn’t believing. Believing is seeing. And true faith is about looking with a different set of eyes at your circumstances and seeing God in everything, working all things together for good. It’s about looking for and finding thanksgiving and joy in every moment in life, both the good and bad moments.

So, thanks God for that Godwink moment to remind me that everything will indeed be fine in the end, and if it’s not fine, it’s not yet the end.

My First Blog of 2016

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Welcome to 2016. It’s a leap year, so we all get that extra day in February that nobody knows what to do with.

I’m thankful once again that I got another day to be alive and another chance to see another year in, even if it wasn’t with a multitude of people and loud festivities. I’m okay with that. It was just me and my sister and her family in a low-key celebration that ended up with just me and my brother-in-law ringing in the new year.

Currently, it’s 12:59 am and I’m pooped. Even after that 2 1/2 hour nap earlier, I’m still tired. I guess I know what my cat feels like most of the time.

I hope to see more of my friends face-to-face and have actual, honest-to-goodness conversations, preferably over coffee, tea, or some other beverage at a Starbucks or other similar type venue.

I hope to lose the weight I gained back after getting down to a good size. And this time, I’m keeping it off. As long as there’s no chocolate or cheesecake or any other type of food to tempt me.

I hope to see the latest installment in the Star Wars franchise, which I am apparently one of the few who hasn’t already seen it at least once. I’m thinking maybe of seeing it in IMAX 3D at some point in the next two weeks. Anyone want to join me?

As always, I look forward in anticipation to what God will do. As I read in a post earlier on Facebook, I’m trusting less in my own resolutions to do better and be better and trusting more in Jesus’ resolution to finish the good saving work He started in me way back when.

It’s now 1:06 and I am officially calling an end to this wild and crazy celebration. See you all later and may your 2016 be blessed and joyful.

 

Happy New Year’s Adam Again!

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Happy New Year Quote - Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happy New Year Quote – Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Once again, it’s New Year’s Adam, which precedes New Year’s Eve, which itself precedes 2016.

For better or worse, 2015 is coming to an end.

For some of you, it’s a year to remember and you wish it could go on a little longer.

For some, it’s a year to forget and it can end quickly enough.

For most of us, it’s been a mixed bag of blessings and hardships, of joys and sorrow, of good days and bad days.

My boss where I worked previously used to say that any day without a toe tag is a good day. I take it to mean that any day that you wake up is already a good one. Any day you get a chance to be alive is better than all those yet to come that you may or may not get.

As a believer, I do believe that death is only a gateway to greater joy than I can possibly imagine. To be absent from the body, wrote the Apostle Paul, is to be present with Jesus. I believe that.

I also believe that life here and now is too precious to be wasted on fretting about what might have been or what could be. As one of my new favorite movie quotes says, “There’s no present like the time.”

“And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been” (Rainer Maria Rilke).

“Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, ‘It will be happier'” (Alfred Lord Tennyson).

Best of all, with Jesus every moment and every breath is a second chance to start over and be the person you always wanted to be, the person God made you to be.

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Step by Step

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You know what generation you are by what song came to mind with the above title. If you are from my generation, it was probably Huey Lewis and the News. If you came a generation later, you probably heard the song by New Kids on the Block.

But that has nothing to do with anything. Just one of those random observances that I am so very good at.

I went to the Opryland Hotel after work to see the Christmas lights. I ate at the food court at Opry Mills and walked over. After I reached the hotel, I probably walked for at least a solid hour.

Today, I logged over 21,000 steps on my Fitbit. That’s a new personal record.

It’s true that every journey begins with a single step.

It’s also true that there will be some days and seasons when you don’t feel at all like making a journey, when you are bone-weary, all you can do is put one foot in front of the other.

True maturity and spirituality isn’t about doing great things. It’s about how you keep taking the next step, no matter what, even if you don’t know where the next step will lead you.

If you’re not in that dark place, maybe what God is calling you to is to walk with somebody who’s there. Maybe you can be the encouragement a friend needs to keep going when all they want to do is quit.

One downside from sitting down after all that walking is that you realize how sore you are. On the upside, I saw the usual amazing lights and decorations, plus I got in a fair amount of people-watching (which is probably one of my favorite sports).

Life is hard, so go easy on yourself and on others. You never know the secret battles many are facing, so be sure to err on the side of grace and forgiveness.

Always.

 

To All the George Baileys in the World

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Recently, I was the recipient of some unexpected and overwhelming generosity. I didn’t seek it out nor did I even have a hint that it was coming.

I felt like George Bailey at the end of It’s a Wonderful Life when all the people he’s tried to help all those year come back and pay it forward back to him in droves.

I’ve decided that I won’t ever be able to match that kind of generosity, but I can do a few things:

  1. Pay it forward whenever is in my power to do so.
  2. To always have my eyes open to the need around me and to pray for a heart that yearns to meet those needs
  3. To live in continual gratitude and thanksgiving, because life all by itself is a gift and salvation even without any blessings attached to it is the greatest gift.
  4. To never forget that many are still living the part of George Bailey’s story where things aren’t quite so hunky-dory and who are feeling like they’re at the end of their rope.
  5. To be a better version of me than I was yesterday, or more accurately, to be a little more like Jesus every single day that He allows me to wake up.

I echo the words of Clarence, George’s guardian angel, when I say, “No man is a failure who has friends.”

If that’s  the case, then I am one of the most blessed individuals to ever live, due to the amazing family and friends God has placed in my life.

Thank you. You rock.

The end.

Four Days Left in 2015

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Note: if you still have unfulfilled resolutions that you haven’t given up on for 2015, now’s the time to get crackin’. You have four days left. That’s all.

Four days.

It seems like it wasn’t that long ago I was bidding a fond farewell to 2014 and wondering what 2015 would look like.

Speedy. 2015 has looked and felt and gone by speedily. Much more so than 2014.

So what are you planning to do in 2016 to improve your life? What are your resolutions and goals for the new year?

After hearing Aaron Bryant’s sermon, I think my goal is the same as the prophetess Anna from Luke 2– to do whatever it takes to get to where I see the Redeemer in my life and that He becomes the focus of my single-minded devotion.

Also, I’d like to see the Tennessee Titans not look like the Bad News Bears of the NFL. It’s gotten embarrassing to watch the games.

I’d like to see people who profess the name of Jesus in Nashville being more visible (and I put myself in that category). A friend of mine posted on Facebook that 95% of the churches in Nashville are declining.

So much for Nashville being the belt buckle of the Bible belt. We have a lot of church buildings, but not nearly as many vibrant, biblical churches that are actively engaging in a Acts 2-type lifestyle of missional living and intentional community.

As I’ve mentioned before, maybe it’s time for most of us (me included) to stop merely going to church and start being the church. The difference is one hour on Sunday and one hour on Wednesday versus 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

So there we are. That’s what I hope to see in 2016. Maybe those Titans might even start being competitive if they can get decent front office leadership and ownership that actually cares about winning.

But that’s another blog for another day.

 

Boxing Day 2015

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“You are Father
of the fatherless
Friend
to the outcast
Restorer
of the broken
Liberator
of the captive
Rescuer
of the fallen
Lover
of creation.

You are the One
Whose Name we praise
Whose truth we proclaim
Whose life we live
You are our God
and we thank You.

Spirit of life
breathe on us
Spirit of truth
speak to us
Spirit of hope
inspire us
Spirit of power
work through us
today and all days.

Amen” (John Birch).

Here’s what I did on my Boxing Day.

  1. I spent nearly all of my gift cards and picked up some nifty loot. Some of it was expected, some of it was not. Here’s a sampling of what I got: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (Extended Edition), Road House (that 80’s movie with Patrick Swayze), and a Dave Brubeck Quartet CD,
  2. I wore shorts and sandals in December. It was over 70 degrees, so I dug those sandals out of the closet and wore them with pride.
  3. I got in my 10,000 steps. Actually, I got 11,653 steps (as of this writing).
  4. I visited all my favorite places in Historic Downtown Franklin (where I got most of those aforementioned steps in wearing those previously mentioned sandals).
  5. I took 10 minutes of silence in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. You don’t realize how long those ten minutes can be until you force yourself to do absolutely nothing in that time but sit completely still and not look at any phones or tablets or watches.
  6. I took my iPad over to the Apple Store in the Cool Springs Galleria, thinking I could zip in and get it looked at and zip back out. In hindsight, that was poor planning on my part, considering that this is the day after Christmas when everyone in the surrounding five zip codes goes to the mall. The estimated wait time was 2 1/2 hours, so I decided to call it a loss and come back later. As in after the new year kind of later.
  7. I had quality therapy time with Lucy the Wonder Cat providing her usual affordable services by curling up in my lap and falling asleep. It’s amazing how calming those sleepy 15-year old (and soon to be 16-year old) cats can be.

I think that wraps up this Boxing Day rather nicely. Note: there was no actual boxing (or watching of boxing) involved, so you can rest easy.

 

December 25, 2015

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“Let the just rejoice,for their justifier is born.
Let the sick and infirm rejoice,
For their saviour is born.
Let the captives rejoice,
For their Redeemer is born.
Let slaves rejoice,
for their Master is born.
Let free men rejoice,
For their Liberator is born.
Let All Christians rejoice,
For Jesus Christ is born” (St. Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-440).

I think this sums it up nicely, don’t you?