Stacy and I had a recent conversation about "my type" of humor. The best word to describe it is caustic. You could also say, witty, sarcastic, dead-pan, etc. Caustic really fits the best because it literally means to burn or corrode.
After discussing and praying about it, I was reminded of a sermon last year where our pastor was talking about stewardship. Usually, this has to do time or money, but he brought up an interesting example of how he stewarded his personality. He had to become more friendly, personable and even forced himself to smile while at church which was outside his normal personality.
My whole goal in this life is to know Christ in the Apostle Paul's words or to become more like Christ. The question became: Was making a caustic joke getting me there? The answer was no. I don't know if it was necessarily a sin, but it could unintentionally hurt the feelings of the recipient or more likely it could be perceived as mean-spirited by a third party.
Honestly, as of right now, I haven't quite figured out how to handle this. Is it okay with my friends and family who know my personality? Or when hanging out with my buddies? With guys-being-guys, it's almost a form of communication like women going to the restroom together. It's definitely going to be trial-and-error with the Holy Spirit and my wife guiding me along the way.
I do know that my first step is not doing it on Facebook. I think this is where most people can be offended because they can't see your facial expressions, hear your tone of voice, or may not even know you. Of course, what good is Facebook if you aren't making political rants or poking fun at people (sarcasm)? I actually used Stacy as a filter today. I text her to ask if "this" was okay to comment. She says, "No. That's funny because it's true, but NO!"
Finally, this may seem like small potatoes to some of you, but a friend in our Connect Group said, "God is like a light. The closer you get, the brighter the light. That brighter light reveals sin. You take another step closer and it reveals another sin that you didn't even know was there because you were too far from the light before." Here's to taking another step closer and becoming more like Christ.
...and no Stacy says, I can't tell you the joke she turned down, so don't ask. ;-)
Monday, January 28, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Serving
(Precursor: I am writing this blog at 3 AM. A friend told me yesterday that I needed to write a new blog. Then at 2:30 AM, I awake from a deep sleep and start outlining the blog in my mind, so I figured that I'd put "pen to paper" and maybe I'll be able to sleep. Also, I created some links on certain words, so those are from me and not some sales pitch to a random site.
I've struggled to write this blog for almost a month now. I didn't want it to seem like a humble-brag. After thinking about it, this blog will become boastful, but not about myself. I will be bragging about God. Without Him, I am an extremely selfish person. Before I rededicated my life to Christ, I always wanted to know 'What's in it for me?' I was this way with my friends, clients, neighbors, and even my family. I had to get something in return before I would help. A quid pro quo if you will. I still struggle with this, especially, in my business.
However, I am learning to love others as myself with the help of the Holy Spirit. I am developing a servants heart. I also use a phrase I heard: Don't think, 'What Would Jesus Do (WWJD)?'; think, 'what would I do if it were Jesus?' If Jesus needed a jump-start, what would I do? If Jesus needed me to stay an extra 30 minutes at work, what would I do?)
In September 2012, our pastor taught on stewardship. The basic concept is that everything we have has been given to us by God and we should return a portion of the resources back to God. This can apply to money, time, talents, etc. At that time, I was absolutely convicted that I needed to volunteer at the church. Of course, I didn't make it that easy. There were a list of excuses and most of them seemed legitimate (new to the church, wasn't sure where to serve, no time, didn't want to be put in a ministry that I wasn't good at, and so on). Looking back, it was really a lack of faith and my own insecurities that held me back. This is the point of this entire post. If you get nothing else, know that we all have insecurities, but God designed you for a purpose (Jeremiah 1:5).
Fast Forward to November 2012 and I still hadn't stepped out in faith. I was reading "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren and purpose #4 in his book is "You were Shaped for Serving God." After that chapter, I sent a message to our church leaders asking them to use me. Of course, Satan was using my insecurities and turning them in to irrational fears as I was typing and I was thinking that I'm not needed or not talented enough, but I hit send and the message was gone. In less than an hour, I heard back from one of the leaders and a weight was lifted off my shoulders.
Before I met with LCC's Director of Connections, Bob Drew, (he helps people find serving opportunities and small groups), I prayed and spent time with God to give me direction. The direction he gave me was to steward my time. There are 168 hours in a week. If I gave 10% of my time to God, it would be roughly 17 hours per week. Generously, I would spend an hour each morning praying, meditating, and reading the Bible. Plus, an hour and half on both Sunday and Wednesday at church or small groups. That's only 10 hours per week or 6% dedicated to God.
Loaded only with the conviction that I wanted to spend more time with God, I had my first meeting with Bob and had no idea what ministry I wanted to serve in or what was available. I took a spiritual gifts test (highly recommended) and we had a conversation about my background, talents, and interests. The next week we met again and I accepted two positions at the church. The first was on Sundays helping people "connect" through small groups, ministry opportunities, and events at LCC. This one came naturally to me because my career is customer service based and I'm talking to people all day long. The second position was to help maintain the websites of LCC throughout the week. Not to diminish the talents or role that God gave me to work at Connection Central on Sundays, but this Web Admin position was special to me. A lot of people don't know that I went to Devry University (used to be called Devry Institute of Technology when I went there). My major was Computer Information Systems (mostly programming and other nerdy computer things). I've always been kind of ashamed of going there. It was a lot of money and not a prestigious school. I ended up becoming an insurance agent. I looked back and thought that I should have went to a public school for business.
I am just so thankful that God has purpose my life. He designed only me this way! Even if I got away from His plan in my 20s, He can take my background and use it for His purpose! There are so many other ways God has blessed me since I've started serving, but I don't want to go too long and make this unreadable, so I'll just list a few: I've been able to expand my staff at work which gives me more time, made new friends at church within my different ministry teams, the pride of seeing others connect or seeing new people come to LCC because of Facebook or the website, and most important spending time with God.
I pray that my testimony will help you to step out in faith and serve God in the way that he designed you. There can be good and bad things from your past (addiction, broken home, education, career, etc.) and God can use all those things for His purpose.
I've struggled to write this blog for almost a month now. I didn't want it to seem like a humble-brag. After thinking about it, this blog will become boastful, but not about myself. I will be bragging about God. Without Him, I am an extremely selfish person. Before I rededicated my life to Christ, I always wanted to know 'What's in it for me?' I was this way with my friends, clients, neighbors, and even my family. I had to get something in return before I would help. A quid pro quo if you will. I still struggle with this, especially, in my business.
However, I am learning to love others as myself with the help of the Holy Spirit. I am developing a servants heart. I also use a phrase I heard: Don't think, 'What Would Jesus Do (WWJD)?'; think, 'what would I do if it were Jesus?' If Jesus needed a jump-start, what would I do? If Jesus needed me to stay an extra 30 minutes at work, what would I do?)
In September 2012, our pastor taught on stewardship. The basic concept is that everything we have has been given to us by God and we should return a portion of the resources back to God. This can apply to money, time, talents, etc. At that time, I was absolutely convicted that I needed to volunteer at the church. Of course, I didn't make it that easy. There were a list of excuses and most of them seemed legitimate (new to the church, wasn't sure where to serve, no time, didn't want to be put in a ministry that I wasn't good at, and so on). Looking back, it was really a lack of faith and my own insecurities that held me back. This is the point of this entire post. If you get nothing else, know that we all have insecurities, but God designed you for a purpose (Jeremiah 1:5).
Fast Forward to November 2012 and I still hadn't stepped out in faith. I was reading "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren and purpose #4 in his book is "You were Shaped for Serving God." After that chapter, I sent a message to our church leaders asking them to use me. Of course, Satan was using my insecurities and turning them in to irrational fears as I was typing and I was thinking that I'm not needed or not talented enough, but I hit send and the message was gone. In less than an hour, I heard back from one of the leaders and a weight was lifted off my shoulders.
Before I met with LCC's Director of Connections, Bob Drew, (he helps people find serving opportunities and small groups), I prayed and spent time with God to give me direction. The direction he gave me was to steward my time. There are 168 hours in a week. If I gave 10% of my time to God, it would be roughly 17 hours per week. Generously, I would spend an hour each morning praying, meditating, and reading the Bible. Plus, an hour and half on both Sunday and Wednesday at church or small groups. That's only 10 hours per week or 6% dedicated to God.
Loaded only with the conviction that I wanted to spend more time with God, I had my first meeting with Bob and had no idea what ministry I wanted to serve in or what was available. I took a spiritual gifts test (highly recommended) and we had a conversation about my background, talents, and interests. The next week we met again and I accepted two positions at the church. The first was on Sundays helping people "connect" through small groups, ministry opportunities, and events at LCC. This one came naturally to me because my career is customer service based and I'm talking to people all day long. The second position was to help maintain the websites of LCC throughout the week. Not to diminish the talents or role that God gave me to work at Connection Central on Sundays, but this Web Admin position was special to me. A lot of people don't know that I went to Devry University (used to be called Devry Institute of Technology when I went there). My major was Computer Information Systems (mostly programming and other nerdy computer things). I've always been kind of ashamed of going there. It was a lot of money and not a prestigious school. I ended up becoming an insurance agent. I looked back and thought that I should have went to a public school for business.
I am just so thankful that God has purpose my life. He designed only me this way! Even if I got away from His plan in my 20s, He can take my background and use it for His purpose! There are so many other ways God has blessed me since I've started serving, but I don't want to go too long and make this unreadable, so I'll just list a few: I've been able to expand my staff at work which gives me more time, made new friends at church within my different ministry teams, the pride of seeing others connect or seeing new people come to LCC because of Facebook or the website, and most important spending time with God.
I pray that my testimony will help you to step out in faith and serve God in the way that he designed you. There can be good and bad things from your past (addiction, broken home, education, career, etc.) and God can use all those things for His purpose.
"Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:26-28
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
The Decision
It's funny to hear people's reaction to us having a fourth child. I'm waiting for people to start calling me Jim Bob. The funniest reaction was when my neighbors asked if we were secretly Catholic.
The truth is we didn't want to have a fourth child. Stacy had a very rough pregnancy with Mackenzie and we thought three was hard enough. Now they have us outnumbered! It's already difficult running Gabe & Sara around to all their activities. I can't imagine what it will be like with four at school age.
That was until earlier this year. Stacy had a problem with her IUD and had to get it surgically removed. Her doctor asked if she wanted her tubes tied "while she was in there." That was an eye opener for both of us. At that point, we weren't ready to have another baby, but we didn't want the finality of tying tubes. (On a side note, we were blessed enough for Stacy to quit her job and be able to stay home with the kids.)
When school started this year, it was just Stacy and Mackenzie at home during the day. She felt like now would be a great time to try for another baby. Truthfully, I wasn't ready yet. We did continue to pray for God to show us when the time would be right.
One October morning, I read Psalms 127. In my Bible, The Message, verses 3-5 say, "Don't you see that children are God's best gift? The fruit of the womb his generous legacy? Like a warriors fist full of arrows, are the children of a vigorous youth. Oh, how blessed are you parents, with your quivers full of children! Your enemies don't stand a chance against you; you'll sweep them right off your doorstep."
I meditated on this verse for a few minutes and knew that I was meant to read this verse at this specific time in my life. But like any faithful Christian, I asked God for confirmation (sarcasm). I heard this bird outside my window that morning. It would chirp three times and stop and then three times and stop, over and over. I prayed, "God make that bird chirp four times if we should have four children." By now, you know the bird chirped four times. Being my faithful self (more sarcasm), I thought, "Maybe that was a fluke. God make the bird only chirp three times from now on." The bird did only chirp three times for the rest of the morning.
That night Stacy went to bed before me and I wrote Psalms 127 3-5 out on our menu chalkboard. She stopped her birth control a week or two later and we found out that she was a pregnant a few days after Thanksgiving.
I don't think parents are supposed to say this, but I'm more excited about this pregnancy than the other three because it is God's timing not ours. It's us putting our faith in God. He had a plan to allow Stacy to stay home, for me to read those versus, for that bird to chirp four times, and for us to have another child at this moment in time.
Here is what I hope you can take from this blog and apply to any area of your life:
This life is not mine. My finances, family, house, bank account, business, and time are not mine. They are God's. We are doing God's will and not the worlds. The world tells us, two or three kids are enough, you can't afford anymore, the world is over populated, blah, blah, blah. But, God said to me, "Don't you see children are God's best gift?"
What is God saying to you about a "the decision" in your life?
The truth is we didn't want to have a fourth child. Stacy had a very rough pregnancy with Mackenzie and we thought three was hard enough. Now they have us outnumbered! It's already difficult running Gabe & Sara around to all their activities. I can't imagine what it will be like with four at school age.
That was until earlier this year. Stacy had a problem with her IUD and had to get it surgically removed. Her doctor asked if she wanted her tubes tied "while she was in there." That was an eye opener for both of us. At that point, we weren't ready to have another baby, but we didn't want the finality of tying tubes. (On a side note, we were blessed enough for Stacy to quit her job and be able to stay home with the kids.)
When school started this year, it was just Stacy and Mackenzie at home during the day. She felt like now would be a great time to try for another baby. Truthfully, I wasn't ready yet. We did continue to pray for God to show us when the time would be right.
One October morning, I read Psalms 127. In my Bible, The Message, verses 3-5 say, "Don't you see that children are God's best gift? The fruit of the womb his generous legacy? Like a warriors fist full of arrows, are the children of a vigorous youth. Oh, how blessed are you parents, with your quivers full of children! Your enemies don't stand a chance against you; you'll sweep them right off your doorstep."
I meditated on this verse for a few minutes and knew that I was meant to read this verse at this specific time in my life. But like any faithful Christian, I asked God for confirmation (sarcasm). I heard this bird outside my window that morning. It would chirp three times and stop and then three times and stop, over and over. I prayed, "God make that bird chirp four times if we should have four children." By now, you know the bird chirped four times. Being my faithful self (more sarcasm), I thought, "Maybe that was a fluke. God make the bird only chirp three times from now on." The bird did only chirp three times for the rest of the morning.
That night Stacy went to bed before me and I wrote Psalms 127 3-5 out on our menu chalkboard. She stopped her birth control a week or two later and we found out that she was a pregnant a few days after Thanksgiving.
I don't think parents are supposed to say this, but I'm more excited about this pregnancy than the other three because it is God's timing not ours. It's us putting our faith in God. He had a plan to allow Stacy to stay home, for me to read those versus, for that bird to chirp four times, and for us to have another child at this moment in time.
Here is what I hope you can take from this blog and apply to any area of your life:
This life is not mine. My finances, family, house, bank account, business, and time are not mine. They are God's. We are doing God's will and not the worlds. The world tells us, two or three kids are enough, you can't afford anymore, the world is over populated, blah, blah, blah. But, God said to me, "Don't you see children are God's best gift?"
What is God saying to you about a "the decision" in your life?
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