you know all that after one game!?

My twitter feed is lit up with Cowboy lovers and Steeler haters. Each one convinced that the results of yesterdays games are defining moments for those teams. I wouldn't be so sure. We all have big wins and big losses from time to time. I'd rather make judgments on the results of the season or the era, not the game. I would also hope that's how people judge me.

Unless, of course, I have a ten-year track record of failure. If that's the case, please judge me only on my few and far between wins :) Just kidding. I still want to be judged on a long-term track record, because that's what matters most.

Let me tell you about Sunday

Sunday was a big day! It was the first "Friends Day" in the history of Freedom Valley Church. Leading into it, I was really anxious to see if the the people at our church would catch the vision of friends day.

They sure did. People brought friends and food like crazy. We had 16 first-time guests and more food than anyone could possibly eat. Not only did people come, but there was also a really strong showing of people signing up to help with all kinds of volunteer leadership! You can watch the video of the service here.

After church ended, I had a pre-marriage counseling appointment and then hurried home and Sara and I cleaned and set up the house for our monthly leadership meeting called BIG Team. BIG Team was awesome as well. There were many new leaders there and it was a great time of them getting to know our church culture and each other. By the time we got things cleaned up, kids in bed and the house somewhat put back together, I was 100% worn out. I fell into bed at 8:26pm feeling grateful to God.

Just a great weekend! Our attendance was 98 people and three people began a relationship with Jesus! A big thank you to Freedom Valley York Rd for the friends day idea and City Church Tulsa for the BIG Team idea. An even bigger thank you to God who makes every good thing possible!

what drives us to criticize?

Twitter is my favorite social media tool, by far. You can follow me on Twitter if you'd like. But, I don't use it to follow a million people. I only follow people I care about hearing from. So, it's been a little bothersome that I've seen a lot of my friends on Twitter going negative lately. I guess they think they are smart or deep thinkers or something. But does it make you look smart to approach life with a sense of pessimism and a lack of trust? I don't think it does. I think it reveals your own character defects.

You've probably noticed this. People who don't trust tend to do so because they are untrustworthy. Liars accuse others of lying. Cheaters accuse others of cheating. Thieves accuse others of theft. Next time you're tempted to rant about someone else's "issues", think about what that may be revealing about yours.

And then make some corrections.

P.S. - I'm sure I'm guilty of this at times too. I'm not speaking from a place of perfection. Just want to ask you to think about this today.

Energy!

Man, I feel some serious energy this morning. I don't have time to write much, but I just go back from a prayer walk and God is showing me so many possibilities that are right around the corner!

This weekend: New teaching series, Friends Day, Big Team Meeting!

Today: Read, Tokbox with York Rd, Sermon prep, Coffee with Jon, Vote, Time with the fam. I had a great Bible reading and prayer time already!

Better get inside and shower before the boys wake up.

priorities

I had a great week, but one thing that was frustrating was the time I spent preparing for the message on Sunday. This week's is one of those that just did not come easy. My guideline is that the message is ready to go by Thursday at midnight. That didn't happen this week. It's not that I don't know what to talk about. Quite the opposite. There are so many roads to go down with this Sunday's topic, it's been a real task upbringing out which road to take. I'll get there. And this is not the point, only the example.

What I'm thinking about this morning are priorities. I didn't finish the prep for that message on Thursday. That meant that I felt the immediate temptation to work on it on Friday. No go. Friday is my Sabbath day - my weekly day of rest. So, now it's Saturday morning and I have a ton of stuff I'd like to do today. Still, the priority is to be very well prepared for that message tomorrow morning.

My pastor, Gerry Stoltzfoos, taught me a long time ago, "When you say yes to one thing that's always saying no to another." That is the essence of priority. I've said yes to communicating God's Word on a weekly basis. This week, that means I'm going to do less fun stuff today and watch less college football than I'd like. Those are small sacrifices, but it's the small incremental decisions we make that define who we are.

How about you? What sacrifices are you making to prioritize the most important things in your life?

Who's your source?

I came across this in my Bible reading this morning. Proverbs 18:9 A lazy person is as bad as someone who destroys things.

It reminded me of a lesson I learned years ago. A wise man named Tom Rees taught me that there is always a fine line between what we need and what will destroy us. In this case, there is a fine line between rest and laziness. There is a lot of talk out there about "taking care of yourself first". It sounds good and makes sense, but again, when pushed too far it gets dangerous.

I'm all for resting and taking steps to see that we are healthy people. But how quickly we can cross the line from taking care of ourselves to just plain old selfishness. The fact of the matter is that Jesus taught us this in Matthew 6:33 "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."

Rest. Be healthy. But above those and all else, seek God out. He is the source of all we're looking for.

up before the sun

I love being up early. I love being up before my wife and my kids and the sun. It's just a peaceful time to read God's Word, think, pray and write. It's before all the demands of the day get a chance to start pulling on me. Just like I give my first dollars to God through tithes, I can give the first minutes and even hours to God by being up early. Yeah, I give up some sleep and some mornings it's really tough to get out of bed, but it's become a habit. A habit that I love and is helping me grow closer to Jesus a little bit at a time. Never underestimate the power of incremental living. Very small steps toward or away from Jesus add up powerfully through a lifetime.