Making the Most of It

When we decided to make the move to Texas to plant Solomon's Porch, we did some significant downsizing.  The most dramatic part of the downsizing process was moving from a three bedroom house, with a great backyard, into a two bedroom apartment.  We have two children, which means now our kids share a room.  Needless to say, this is not an ideal situation, especially when you have a boy and a girl, and they are four years apart.  My son is headed into 6th grade and he's sharing a room with a 2nd grader.  It's not even close when it comes to the issues they're dealing with and being in the same room just complicates matters.

So how do you give your kids a little privacy when they share a room?  How do you give them a space to call their own, to put their own personal touches on?  Well, thanks to my wonderful wife and her ability to make the most out of a less than ideal situation...you give them tents!  She even let them write and draw on the tents to make them their own.  So far the kids are loving it, and although we hope to give them their own rooms again one day, we're all learning to make the most out of where we are.

The hardest thing about planting Solomon's Porch, at least so far, has been the affect that it has had on our kids.  In many ways, our kids have sacrificed a great deal more than us.  As a father, that's a hard pill to swallow and one I wrestle with daily.  Although we can't change our living situation right now, we can make the most of it.  I thank God for a wife that's doing just that for our kids.

Maybe your current situation is less than ideal.  Make the most of it.  When you do, five or ten years from now, you'll look back on this time with fond memories instead of regrets.

Here are a few pictures of their new "rooms."

Jordan's Tent

Sydney's Tent

    

Compassion On

During my prep time for the message this past Sunday, I read a familiar verse in a familiar parable.  However, while reading it, I had an anything but familiar wake up call and it all hinged on one word.

The verse is found in the parable of the good Samaritan.  This is what it says...But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him.  Luke 10:33 (KJV)

I read this verse and one word jumped up at me, the word ON.  Now, on the surface it doesn't look like much but I believe this one word speaks volumes about the kind of Christians we are called to be.  Why doesn't Jesus say the Samaritan had compassion for the man?  Why does he say he had compassion on the man?  He uses the word on because there's a huge difference between having compassion for someone and having compassion on them.  Having compassion for someone is passive.  It's a feeling and nothing but a feeling.  Having compassion on someone is active and goes beyond just the initial feeling and results in action.

Having compassion for someone is saying, "My heart goes out to the kids in our community that can't afford school supplies."  Having compassion on someone is saying, "My heart goes out to those kids so we're going to give away backpacks and school supplies to help them out."  As a church, as believers, it's more important for us to have compassion on people...to take action and do something about the hurt and pain we see around us.  Lord forgive us for simply having compassion for people and challenge us to start having compassion on them.

Show compassion on someone this week.

        



 

The Power of Ordinary

Sometimes we're guilty of falling into the trap of believing that in order for something to be considered extraordinary it has to be big, cost a lot of money, or leave us with an emotional high.  I'm afraid churches are the worst when it comes to this mentality.  I'm not anti-big event, in fact I love big events, but I think in our quest to be extraordinary we've lost sight of the power of ordinary.

Most of us would agree Jesus was pretty extraordinary.  In fact, the whole Son of God, raise people from the dead, live a sinless life, tends to make you the most extraordinary person of all time.  We even read in scripture where he walked on water.  However, the bible only mentions him walking on water one time.  Every other time, the bible says he got in a boat to cross to the other side.  Why?  I mean if I could walk on water, if I could do something that extraordinary, I'm never setting foot in another boat.  So why would he choose the boat over walking on water?  Why would Jesus choose ordinary over extraordinary?  Here's why...relationships are built in the boat!  Ministry takes place in the boat!  The boat may be ordinary, but it's in the boat that life change happens.  Jesus knew he could walk on water and get to the other side faster, but just imagine all the time he would have lost "doing life" with the disciples...valuable time that he gained by doing something ordinary. 

As a church planter, I'm constantly praying for the extraordinary and I believe Solomon's Porch is called to do extraordinary things in Richardson.  However, I'm beginning to learn that there's also power in the ordinary.  There's power in getting in the boat with other people, of living life with them in plain, simple, ordinary ways.  I'm learning that it's possible to be great while being ordinary.

What's the Point?

Every month for the past year, Solomon's Porch has done at least one outreach in our city, most months we do more than one.  Yet I have to be honest, we've seen very little fruit from these outreaches.  Sometimes when I'm letting God have it, I mean praying, I'll ask one of the great pity party questions of all time, "what's the point?"  What's the point of investing time, money, and energy into these outreaches if we aren't seeing lives changed?  What's the point of giving away Thanksgiving dinners to needy families when you don't get so much as a thank you from 99% of them?  What's the point of challenging our people to give of themselves if there's no visible, tangible results?  If people's lives aren't being changed, if they're not walking through our doors, then what's the point?

Last night while I was praying, I was reminded of the point.  The point is with every Thanksgiving dinner, every business of the month we take gift baskets to, every backpack and set of school supplies we give away, we're giving someone the gospel.  Every outreach, big or small, preaches a sermon...tells our city that Jesus loves them.  Maybe you're not big on public speaking but you've always wanted to preach a great sermon...take your neighbor some brownies....watch their kids one night so they can have a night off...it may be the greatest sermon that person ever hears.

The next time you hear me say what's the point, remind me of this post.   

 

         

Successful Failure

I hate to lose!  From the time I was a kid, until this very day, nothing bothers me more than losing.  One time when I was just a kid, I was playing catch out in the front yard with some friends, when my mom heard me say a cuss word.  She came running out the door and asked me why I said that particular word.  My response was very simple, “I missed the ball.”  Although I’ve cleaned up my language from my days as a filthy mouthed 6 year old, I still hate losing.  In my head, losing has always equaled failure.

As a church planter, I operate in a world in which failure happens at a pretty high clip.  While I’m never going to be ok with the idea of failing, I’ve come to grips with what I think is a very important truth, one that is currently helping me maintain my sanity.  That truth is this…God’s idea of success is different from mine.  And at the end of the day, I’d rather be successful in His eyes more than anyone else’s, including my own. 

Most of us operate from a worldly perspective of success.  It doesn’t matter if you’re in the marketplace or the church, we are all guilty of using what I believe are incomplete metrics for measuring success, these metrics are not all together wrong, they’re just incomplete.  I’d like to see more of us, including myself, add an additional and I believe more important metric to the equation…obedience. 

Solomon’s Porch may never become the church I dreamed it could be, but if this adventure comes to an untimely end, this one thing I will always know…I was obedient to the call.  While I spend many nights praying/stressing over numbers, finances, and the success of our outreaches, God asks one thing of me…be obedient.  You’ve got to admit, using the world’s standards, the cross looked like a huge failure.  The Son of God was dead.  But little did they know, Jesus’ act of obedience was about to change the world. 

As I’ve chewed on these thoughts the last few days, I’ve come to this conclusion.  It is impossible to fail, if we’re obedient to the Lord.  This doesn’t guarantee Solomon’s Porch will flourish.  It doesn’t mean you’ll get every promotion.  It simply means, when you walk in obedience, in God’s eyes, you’re already successful.  Our obedience to God means that no matter what, we always win!      

Narcissistic Therapy

I suppose a blog is a little on the narcissistic side. Let's be honest, posting your thoughts for the world to see assumes people care about what you have to say. In fact, it assumes you have anything worth saying at all.

While I would like people to stop by and check things out, I think more than anything this may be good for me. So basically, I created a blog which has the primary purpose of serving as my own personal therapy session, and I've invited you to listen in. Yep, narcissism at its finest. Take that Lady Gaga!