My Hero

An amazing thing happened to me last night. I witnessed my son (6 yrs old) growing to be a man. Let me explain.

Around 3:30 this morning I was awakened by footsteps moving around my house. They were not the kind of footsteps that startled me; instead they were footsteps that seemed familiar (amazing to me how our body and subconscious knows things like that). I knew, from the time I awoke, that it was my son that was moving around the upstairs. It seemed that the steps were moving with quickness and meaning. Suddenly, I heard him begin to run (thump, thump, thump) down the stairs. Within seconds he had made a sweep of the floor (we don’t live in a big home, so it doesn’t take long…but he was still flying) and was back at the side of our bed.

“Mommy……Mommy”, he said in a frantic whisper.

“Yes baby?”

“I can’t find Addi (my four year old), and I had a bad dream that something happened to her.”

I looked over to him and asked him to get in our bed. He crawled in and settled between his mother and me. I looked at him and whispered in his ear, “She is alright big man, just go back to sleep.” I gave him a few second, but he never closed his eyes. He laid there with fear on his face.

I pulled the covers back and placed my feet on the floor.

“Daddy, where are you going?”

“I’m going to go make sure Addi is alright.”

“Thank you Daddy”

I walked into their room to find my third born resting peacefully in her bed. I returned to a young man waiting for my words like it was Christmas Eve.

“She is in bed and alright big guy.”

“Alright Daddy”, and he fell fast asleep.

What touches my heart even at this moment, was the love that he was showing for his baby sister. This is the same guy that will not go upstairs by himself to get in the bath tub, but when it came to the safety of his sister…he was willing to brave every room and every corner of our house with darkness all around him. With the sound of his steps, I could feel the determination that he had to find his sister and save her from whatever horror his imagination had produced in his dream. Remember when you were a child, how all the shadows of the dark and monsters in our heads would paralyze us and make us pull the cover over our heads? Not my son, he awakens with a fear that something bad had happened to his sister and arose with all the strength he could build to save her.

He is my hero.

Rocky Balboa the Life Coach! :)

There is so much in this short 2 minute clip.

"When things got hard...you started looking for something to blame"
We always want to blame something (for each of us that "something" is different) when life does not go the way we thought it would. If we don't know how to love others or ourselves, its because we were not loved as a child. If we don't have all the "things" we want in life (you know...the nice car, big house with picket fence, and a lot of money in the bank), its because we did not have the opportunities in life like all the other people did (because we all know that rich people just had it handed to them...right).

Rocky said something that I found very interesting. He tells his son that he needs to go out and stop pointing fingers, saying that it is because of certain situations or people that he is not where he wants to be in life. He then yells with love in his voice, "Cowards do that and that ain't you!"

"Life ain't all Sunshine and Rainbow"
Boy that's the truth ain't it! (Sorry, a little Rocky coming out in my writing) We all have something in our life that makes us stand back and say, "This is not what I thought it would be." Someone out there is looking at their financial situation and saying, "How did I get here. This is not where I wanted to be in my life." Someone out there is looking at their physical situation and saying, "How did I get here. This is not where I wanted to be in my life." Someone out there is looking at their family life and saying, "How did I get here. This is not where I wanted to be in my life." Someone out there is looking at their faith and saying, "How did I get here. This is not where I wanted to be in my life."

It is at these moments that the road of life splits and heads in two different directions. We can choose the left, which leads to us listening to the enemy when they tell us that we are not worth anything. It leads us down the path of anger, negativity, cynicism, and blaming. It leads down a path of darkness that seems to engulf our life with no hope to be seen. Or we can choose the right, which leads to an understanding that life is not always easy, but just laying down and letting life kick you around is cowardice, and we are not cowards...that's not us. I love what Rocky said, "It ain't about how hard you hit, its about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward...how much you can take and keep moving forward"

"If you know what you worth, then go get what your worth...but you have to be willing to take the hits."
How many times in life have we failed because we are too afraid to "take the hits." I'm not talking about the kind of failure that comes when we go out and try out best, and give it all we have and still come up short. In my mind that is not failure; that is learning how to do it better the next time. No, I am talking about the kind of failure that comes in not even trying. You know the kind of failure I'm talking about. The kind that keeps you up at night because you wish you had the strength to take a chance. You wish you did not allow fear to dictate the decisions you make. That is the kind of failure that will eat you up from the inside out. But there is a way to keep that kind of failure from happening, be willing to take the hits. I have seen so many people (and I am apart of this group) that miss out on some of the greatest joys in life, just because they are not willing to put themselves out there and take a chance. "I can't open my heart, because it might get stepped on." Have you heard comments such as this one? (Oh, there are so many more, but I will not waste our time) We can not be afraid of taking chances. We have to be willing to take the hits.

Rocky has another very interesting quote that goes along with this point. He tells his son that he is the best thing that ever happened to him and wants the best for him and his life. He then says, "But until you start believing in yourself...you ain't going to have a life" I think that speaks for itself.

Let me wrap this up :)

This post is all about getting up when life knocks us down. But I would be missing the mark if I did not share one thing...to share with you where my strength to do this comes from. I have had many times in my life where I wish I had been able to get up after being kicked around, but did not have the strength to do so. I look back at those moments and think, "What if". But, I have had many times in my life when I have been knocked down and spat upon and have had the strength to stand tall and say that I am going to keep moving forward. And it is looking back on those times in my life, that I realize that the strength did not come from me...it couldn't have. I am not strong enough within myself to make it through the "12 Rounds" of life. My strength comes from Christ. My example comes from Him.

You see, there is no one out there that can ever say that they have been knocked down, kicked around, spat upon, beaten, and hated more than Jesus. When He was kicked, He did not blame. When He hated, He did not hate back. When He was hit, He was willing to take the hits for us...because He knew how much we where worth to God. It was not a coward that hung upon that cross...it was the King of the Ring and He knew "how winning is done!"

God Bless and Keep Looking Up!

Jimmy Dugan the Life Coach! :)

"The Hard is what makes it Great!"

This is one of the greatest Movie Quotes of all time! I remember seeing this in the theater and thinking to myself, "I will never forget that line." And you want to know something...I haven't. It is so relevant. Relevant to what you might ask (I really doubt anyone is asking that, but it helps drive the post...so deal with it). It is relevant to everything. Being married is too hard...the hard is what that makes it great. Having kids is too hard...the hard is what that makes it great. School is too hard...the hard is what makes it great. Work is too hard...the hard is what makes is great. Climbing that mountain is too hard...the hard is what makes it great. Living a life for Christ is too hard...the hard is what makes it great.

I think when people try to act like they have life all figured out and that nothing bothers them "because I have Jesus in my corner", it sets a very hard standard for others to live up to. Plus, I'm not sure I believe that every moment of every day is sun shine and smiles. We all know that those people really don't have it all figured out. They really don't have a smile on their face all the time. Life is dirty. You can get beat up by life. You can have times in life when you don't know where you are going to go or what you are going to do. Life can be hard. But you know what, in the long run...the hard is what makes it great.

Christ never promised us that life would be easy. He did promise us that He would never leave us. Christ never promised us that we would have everything we ever wanted. He did promise us that He would be enough. Christ never promised us a smile that would never fade and a life without bumps and bruises. He did promise us that He would always be there to hold us. There have been many times in my life (and I'm sure there will be many others) when I looked God square in the eyes and said "its just getting to hard." God leaned in with wisdom in His eyes and said, "If it wasn't hard...everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that life only has hard moments. There are those days of sunshine and smiles. But, having the hard days in my life has done two things for me: 1) Having the hard days makes me appreciate the good days that much more. If I did not have the days in the valley, my days on the mountain tops would begin to be taken for granted. 2) It always seems that it is during the hard times that I seem to learn the most. Now, I wish it were not that way. I wish I was able to learn things the easy way, but it never seems to work out that way. It always seems to be the times in life that I have been knocked down and kicked around the most that Christ steps in and uses it as a teaching moment. And being in the state that I am at that moment, I'm willing to listen a little more intently.

Who would have ever guessed that God could use a messed-up, has-been, old baseball player like Jimmy Dugan to remind me that no matter how crazy this old world gets and no matter how hard life can be, that it is the hard that makes life all worth wild. Plus, the advice written on the baseball wasn't that bad either. :)

God Bless and Keep Looking Up!

When Chickens Revolt

Please read the following article before going any further.

I have always found it very interesting when reading articles such as this, how easy the writer makes it sound to move a congregation in one way or the other. At times, it has even made me feel a little inadequate due to my lack of ability to accomplish some of the these things during my own time in the church.

Jeff does a very good job at relaying a ministry philosophy that I for one agree with. I do feel that in many of our mega-churches today (and those not so mega-churches that want to be…you know there are those out there) :) seek to focus on bringing more people to the “trough” than worrying about the health of those that are there. Again (and I hate to think I even have to say this, but I will just to make sure people don’t take this wrong), I’m not saying that we do not want to bring people into the church. It is very important to do everything we can to draw people into the one place they can find the One they need the most. But, I am also saying that having numbers for pure numbers sake is useless. You can have a large congregation with the most modern everything within the walls of the church but if you do not have the Living Water and the Bread of Life being served everyday to help nourish those that have attended, then what have you gained for the kingdom? So in principle, I agree with Jeff.

But…(and those that know me are saying, “I knew he would have a ‘but’ in there somewhere), I have a question. This question came screaming to the front of my mind when I was reading the part of the article that talked about moving his chicken pens. He talked of patience and how you will always have a certain percentage of the chickens do one thing or another. Well, here is my question (and it comes from my experience in ministry)…What if the Chickens Revolt?

I ask this question because, like Jeff, I too have ministered in small churches. And, I have seen with clarity how fast a group of chickens can turn on the farmer. (I’m just using his analogy…don’t get all bent out of shape that I’m calling the church membership fowl) I have seen pastors (not just the churches I've worked in or pastored) with the patience of Job trying to lead the church in the direction that they knew would bring greener grass and better health to their flock, and chickens look at them with fire in their eyes and say, “NO, WE ARE NOT GOING THAT WAY AND YOU ARE WRONG FOR WANTING TO TAKE US THERE!” Then they huddle together and decide to get rid of their farmer and find a better one. You know as the farmer if you leave the pens in their current place the chickens will die, so you do everything you can to try to convince the chickens to move but there is nothing you can do. So, you move on to the next farm hoping that the chickens there understand that you love them and you are just looking out for their best interest, always looking back wondering if there was anything else you could have done at the other farm.

These are the kind of questions that come to mind. Even though I am no longer in full-time vocational ministry (I say it that way because I still do ministry, just not for a living), I still enjoy reading and keeping up with the “pulse” of the Church (notice the Big C there) and therefore come across these interesting articles. So, what do you think? Am I out in left field in this one, or is this something that we should really think about. We can have all the best church growth principles and pastoral leadership articles in the world but if we do not get the people of the church back to an understanding that we can do nothing and are worth nothing if the Spirit of the Living God does not lead and guide our actions, then we will be going nowhere fast.

God Bless and Keep Looking Up! (and be kind to your farmer)