The Money Diet

A Money Diet: 

In the USA billions of dollars are spent on fancy diets to help people lose weight. The South Beach Diet, The Grapefruit Diet, the Slim Fast Diet, the North Beach Diet, the Watermelon Diet, the Slim Slow Diet...etc, ad nauseum. 

I go to Ethiopia every year and it's funny how I have never heard the word "diet" once. No one is spending any money on diets and there's hardly anyone overweight. How do they do it without any of our wonder diets? 

It's simple...when you burn more calories than you consume, you lose weight. God made your body really complex but also really simple - 

Excercise more +Eat less = Weigh less (Physical Health)

Now a MONEY DIET is just the same as a BODY DIET: 

To get in better financial shape you must: 

Work (make) more + Consume less = Owe less ($$ Health)

Our nation is in economic trouble for one reason: We thought we could spend more than we made. We fell in love with CREDIT and thought we could get away with it. But DEBT will be the DEATH of our economy. We indulged in DEBT like hot fudge sundaes. 

John Wesley's wisdom for financial success is as sound today as it was 300 years ago: 

"Make all you can, Save all you can, Give all you can." 

I am praying for the people of our church to: 

1. Make more...new jobs, better jobs, more hours, raises, side jobs, creative new ways to make money. 

2. Save more...spend less, lower lifestyles, cancel cable, sell their clutter, find creative low cost pleasures instead of expensive entertainment, stop buying unnecessary stuff, walk more - drive less, start piggy banks again, put money in safe cds, etc. 

3. Give more...invest in God's kingdom to release God's blessing in their finances, help the hurting because God promises to bless those who bless others. 

I have a friend who was just told by the doctor. "Go on a DIET or you are going to DIE"

The same is true for our nation's economy: "Go on a DIET or you are going to DIE!" 

Consume less, borrow less, produce more, sell more or you are going to die. 

Larry, a prophet?

Respect prophecies!

Yesterday my friend taught me something. Steve Fitch brought the word in our church and taught on a neglected passage. 1 Thessalonians 5:20 "Do not treat prophecies with contempt".

The opposite of "contempt" is "respect". So we are to respect prophecies...but what is prophecy?

It is certainly not predominately the doom and gloom of the Old Testament. The New Testament definition is revealed in 1 Corinthians 14:3 "But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort."

Plus it goes on to let us know that all new testament believers CAN prophesy. 1 Corinthians 14:31 "For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged."

So what's that mean for me? When a brother or sister in Christ have a word of blessing, or encouragement, or strengthening, or comfort...I need to respect it, really receive it, and then live by the truth of it. If their words are in line with THE WORD then they may be speaking God's word to us and to pooh-pooh that, or discount that, or despise that... is to miss out on what God has for me.

PLUS I need to GIVE prophecies - Words of encouragement, instruction, promise, strength from God's heart, in line with God's Word, to God's people to meet their need of the moment.

Prophecy in the New Testament is much more "FORTH telling" than "Fore-Telling"...speaking forth the truth of God in a particular moment, to a unique situation, to a individual person.

May we all be "prophets" to strengthen one another...especially during these tough times!

My Recession Proof Security System

I was pondering security systems...We have one at the church. It detects when doors are open or when there is motion. It something is wrong, it sounds an alarm and dials the security team who show up with guns drawn. 

The idea of our security system is that it keeps us from being vandalized or stolen from. It keeps us safe and lets life go on as usual. 

What's my security system? Someone said to me something to this effect recently, "You are in a luxury industry. People can stop giving to the church and boom there goes your paycheck."

I don't see it that way. First, church is not a luxury, it's a necessity for anyone desiring to seek God, grow in the knowledge of His word, and be part of a family that helps you through the recession. 

Second, people can stop giving but they shouldn't. God's principles always work but they are especially needed during hard times. That's when those principles work most obviously. People who want to weather the recession most effectively and be blessed in the midst of it, continue to give with great faith. 

Third, what about me? My security system is the Holy Spirit. If I will listen carefully for His voice, he will alert me to when something is wrong...to when the devil is trying to steal or destroy something good in my life. God will show up in those times of trouble and show off his power and put the enemy to flight. 

My security is not in the economy, or in the offering plate, or in my bank account. My security system is staying tuned into the promises of the Word and the voice of the Holy Spirit! 

Is there Recession on my Forehead?

Is their recession on my forehead? 

Recession is in the air. It's a fact and it's tough. I don't need mean to diminish the very real pain and hardship of it. Long Beach, my hood, is approaching 12%  unemployment. Yikes! 

But as Christ-followers we face the recession with faith and even occasional laughter! Therefore, this post. 

I am trying to determine whether there is actually recession on my forehead. Recession means moving backward...as opposed to progression which means moving forward. 

My daughter is convinced that I am living in a season of recession. She says that my hairline has moved backwards by at least an inch. I am filled with fear that she might be right. 

IF it is true, it is being driven by factors beyond my control. Although my uncle used to tell me that if I drank coffee my hair would fall out. My uncle was wrong. After 20 years of Starbucks, I should be cue ball bald. 

I am not yet ready to try desperate measures like Rogain or "No Gain" as I like to call it. Baldness cures have been around since Cleopatra used ground horse teeth and deer marrow to help out her boyfriend, Julius Caesar. And though ‘Caesar’ in Latin actually means “abundant hair” there was no amount of deer marrow or rancid hippo fat, another popular hair remedy from antiquity, that was going to prevent Emperor Caesar from becoming another victim of the baldness cure industry. 

Similarly the real recession has no quick cures, no magic bullets, no quick money solutions. We can't stop the factors that are causing the big picture problem. But we can take actions and have attitudes that will help our personal situations. Lowering consumption, increasing savings, creating new revenue streams, simplifying life, enlarging our networks, improving our skills, are all helpful but they won't completely cure economic baldness. 

The recession on my forehead won't change who I am. You can take the hair off the man but you can't take the manliness off the man....unless the man confuses his masculinity with his mane. 

A man and his mane are not the same and a man's mane is not the main matter that makes a man masculine. 

So even if there is recession on my forehead...I am going to forge ahead into all that God has for me! So should you! 

The Former Athiest Who Got His Knees Back

I sat staring for a couple of moments. He was back. After a month of absence he was back. 

He was tenderly holding his wife's hands as she held them in her lap. 

With a sincerity, faith, and love that I have rarely seen equaled, he engaged in the act and art of prayer. 

There were six of sitting in non-descript church chairs pulled into a tight little circle. It was a full hour until the service would begin. It was only  8am but there he sat...changing the world with his expressions of faith to a Father he could not see. 

The pain he was in that morning had not been able to confine him to his bed. He had bravely made his way to the passenger seat and ridden happily to the church as his sweet wife cheerfully drove. 

This brother is brilliant. A great mind that was geared for rational equations of engineering feats. This mind had denied the very existence of God for years. There was no reason for him to believe in God and his reason told him there was no God. 

But love broke through. God pursued his heart through people and circumstances and reason. Finally love busted a crack in the hardened heart and stubborn mind. 

The marriage that had been shattered to the point that peices were scattered all over the floor of their lives, was gradually reassembled into a beautiful mosaic that people now stop and admire. 

The former anti-believer now rides his bicycle around the 30 mile permeter of our city each Saturday...praying earnestly for revival. 

The knees that propel him had been broken down but now they were recovering from a reconstructive surgery assisted by prayer....Healing so they could soon return to their high act of Saturday ministry and worship. 

So I sat there staring in awe of a great man and an even greater God. His own life and acts of faith were enough to decimate any doubts I was feeling. I got on my knees and looked up.  

Procession in Recession

Processions are what happen at graduations, weddings, and other noble events. It is a serious, significant, and happy move forward to a new place. I want a Procession in my Recession. 

Recessions are tough for sure. Especially on the folks that I pastor. The urban poor feel the brunt of this in disproportionate ways. With low end jobs they are often the first to be let go. With no savings to fall back on and limited resources available in their extended family, they are soon in the welfare line to grab what little they can. My comments today are not directed to them.

My comments are aimed at the rest of us who have more than we need but less than we want. 

Procession in Recession...I believe with God's help we can move forward in significant ways during economic downturns. Here are a few thoughts I have on moving ahead when your standard of living is falling behind: 

1. It forces an analysis of our spending patterns. Every dollar for a Christian is a sacred trust, one that we take too lightly too often. Squandering money on unnecessary things easily becomes a habit...a habit that is only broken when necessity forces a deeper concentration on every dollar.

2. It can bring a detachment from things to a deeper attachment to people. A 30 dollar trip to the movie can be replaced with a free trip someones house for a game of Scrabble. 

3. Replacing a habit of replacement with an act of rejuvenation. We have become the "throw away and buy a new one" generation. Very few things are repaired and kept. While it is true that things are manufactured that way these days to force continual spending- we can break the automatic reflex we have developed and seek to repair what we have. And we can seek to only buy things with greater longevity. 

4. A simplification of pleasures...we have become an unimaginative lot and to access other people's imaginations cost you money...think cable tv, movies, computer games, entertainment parks, dvd's, etc. Recession can help us rediscover our own imaginations and find joy in the simple. 

5. A rediscovery of what is free in the world...one public library has enough free entertainment to keep you busy for years...listening to pandora.com instead of subscribing to sirrius radio... samples at Costco...pedaling a bicycle...sunsets....free days at art museums...

6. A discovery of new skills. When forced to broaden one's marketability, you can discover or develop new skills that become a joy and a source of income throughout life. 

7. Deeper trust in God. When times are tough, we have the opportunity to meet God in deeper ways, to know Him more directly as provider, to be satisfied more often by HIM instead of by things. 

Barak, Rick, Larry

Names...it was all about names today. Big names.:Barak Obama, Joe Biden, Martin Luther King, Jr., Aretha Franklin, George W. Bush, Rick Warren, etc.

Deb and I watched the streaming live video on our computers while leaning back on our patio chairs under the bright California sun while those in D.C. were huddled together like sheep in a snowy field.

We were cheering the fact of an African American president being sworn in on a terrace built partially by slaves! I felt like congratulating every African American I met yesterday.

As we were listening, one commentator said, "Anyone who is anybody is here". I was a bit offended by the statement. I don't want to be "somebody", but I am NOT a "nobody", which means I am an "anybody" and I wasn't there.

My closest link to the event is about as distant as can be. Rick Warren was there and I once had lunch with Rick Warren...well there were six other people at the table so it wasn't like Ricky and Larry hanging and shooting the breeze...but still...does that make me "somebody"?

Rick gave the book I coauthored 5 stars...does that make me "somebody"?...of course he may have had some of his staff review it for him. Which means he still wouldn't know my name.

Rick did a great job today praying his inaugural prayer. I voted for Rick for president...but it was "write in" campaign that never got anywhere. :)

Anyway, I was impressed today by the fact that there is only one name that really lasts and Rick said it in 5 different languages---"JESUS". That's the only name you can invoke to enter heaven, to get right with God, to bless a President, to lead a country".

JESUS that's the NAME of the greatest person by FAR that was there, yesterday. Now HE IS a personal friend of mine. We hang out all the time. He thinks I am fantastic and I feel the same about him. And that does make me "somebody"!

Forgetting Myself Into Greatness

"Ten thousand fools proclaim themselves into obscurity while one wise man forgets himself into immortality" - Martin Luther King Jr.

"If a man would gain his life, he must lose it." - Jesus Christ

The strive to "make a name" for myself is a hopeless, petty, and foolhardy ambition. It colors my "serving" in an ugly hue of "self".

I have "a name" and it's one that is cherished on the lips of Jesus. When I see him face to face, he will give me a new name.

Revelation 2:17 tells us "If we overcome...He will give us a white stone with a new name written on it."

Too often I try and "become" somebody important. The important thing is that I "overcome". I seek to see my name in "white lights" but Jesus is going to write it on a "white stone". Unlike the faddish coming and going of the names of the stars, this engraving will last forever.

Martin Luther King was not out to become someone great, but to overcome something great. He was not out to see his name rise, but to see others rise. He was not out to be a celebrity, but to be a servant.

Mother Teresa lived this style of servanthood also. She said, "Anyone can be great, because anyone can serve".

To give yourself away in service. To overcome on the mission God has placed you on, this is the real way to "MAKE A NAME FOR YOURSELF"!

URP about AARP

What an insult. The AARP (American Association Retired Persons) had the audacity to send me a membership card on the last day of 2008. I wanted to URP (evacuate).

Do they think I have grey hair, wrinkles, drive a 2001 Sebring Convertible, creak when I get out of bed, and am growing hair off my ears now? ....oops...guilty on all counts.

But come on...I am only 51 and longevity rates are rising alot faster than the stock market.
I will live to be 78 if I am average and since I have hit 50 without major health complications...83 should be no trouble for me.

If 83 is my number then I have 32 more years....they seriously want me to adjust my self-image enough to join their organization for the next 32 years??? And "retirement"...what gives with that word? They think people can afford to retire at 51 years of age?

With 401Ks sinking faster than the reputation of Illinois politics, there is not a chance of retirement. Besides I love what I do and have no desire to ever retire...get out of the way for the young bucks, yes...but not to get off the payroll and let them miss decades of the wisdom I got from all my mistakes.

So AARP back off for a couple of decades....although 15% off at Denny's is very tempting.

Merry Chemo Christmas

"Have yourself a merry chemo Christmas"...somehow that lyric doesn't jive right with the melody. Yet here I sit in the Fred Hutchison Cancer Center in Seattle as mom receives a 5 hour chemo treatment.

Mom is still alive this Christmas. Is it chemo or is it Christ? Doctors had thought the multiple myeloma cancer would have taken her by now. Instead they are saying she's going to be around awhile...that's the best gift I got this Christmas.

Should I thank the Doctors or the great Physician? Of course the answer is both. The book of James makes it clear that EVERY good gift comes from the Father above. The gift of MEDICINE and the gift of MIRACLES are ULTIMATELY from the same source. So while I thank the doctors, I praise our God.

As mom and I sat in the waiting room waiting for room in the "inn of chemo", I watched the hairless cancer soldiers as they bravely marched through. Some looked as if the fight had taken flight and they were merely walking zombies waiting for the end. They needed a bigger dose of Christmas pumped into their hearts.

Christmas is the only effective drug for our death sentence. Our eyes can stay full of life, even if our life is ebbing away. For those who know Christ, chemo is not their real hope. Christ is the one who gives life to those that Isaiah said live "under the shadow of death".

Christmas shatters the darkness with the light of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. Even Chemo is transformed by Christmas truth.

Christmas Ashes

Yesterday I picked up Len. Nothing unusual about that, right?
A month ago that statement would be ordinary. Today it is strange and sad.

You see, the great leader and CEO of ProMark Financial Services has been reduced to a 14 inch by 8 inch box. A small pile of ashes is all that physically remains of one of the most extraordinary human beings I have known. Yesterday I brought Len to our house.

On the way home with Len, I had to stop and do some Christmas shopping. It was surreal to think here I was buying presents and Len was no longer present.

As I pondered the reality of this sorrow, I began to feel a heaviness invade my soul. Life is so fickle, so superficial, so capricious, so unpredictable, and then it's reduced to a few ashes.

Christmas songs were playing in BARNES & NOBLE...but "Here Comes Santa Claus" wasn't giving me much hope...but then right there in the liberal aisles of books on "How to Make a Million" and "How to Seduce a Woman" and "How to Become Your Own God"....the truth of Jesus began to pierce my melancholy meditations.

As the song "Joy to the World, The LORD has come" rang out it hit me Jesus was born in a BARN and He is NOBLE!

His regal nobility shatters the darkness of death, it reframes life from a few short years to an eternity of glory. His coming breaks the curse!! Ashes are not the end of us. They are only the evidence that we were once here, but have left for heaven forever.

As the song goes on to say:
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

My SORROWS will not GROW, for HE has broken the curse! Let the blessings flow!
This is the message of Christmas! Ashes are not the final word. Jesus Is!

My Misery, His Majesty

GOODBYE MY FRIEND, LEN!
Sometimes there is a part of me that would prefer to sit in the crow, instead of stand on the platform...that would rather be a griever instead of a comforter...that wished I could be the listener instead of the speaker...that could be poured into rather than pour out...that would rather simply be the weak one instead of be the rock.

But note the words "sometimes" and "part of me" which start the above sentence. I feel honored and fulfilled to lead, to speak, to reach out, to lift up, to be able to point people heavenward.

Yesterday was a mixture of MISERY and MAJESTY. My friend, Len's funeral was the hardest one that I have ever led. Len was a close friend, a partner in dreaming about kingdom building, still a young believer whose spiritual trajectory was just really launching upward, a man with a profound influence, brilliant intelligence and fearless generosity. Saying goodbye was MISERY.

Today I am simply exhausted fromr carrying the grief of so many people on top of my own grief. Questions, fears, doubts, sorrows flood my soul.

Last week I literally touched death 3 times in 5 days. 3 friends and church members died in one week. All had something wonderful to offer, something that will be profoundly missed in the days ahead. It has been MISERY.

"YET"..."YET" what a great word...the word "YET" does not negate what has gone before it, but rises above it to declare what is true.

Consider the Christmas song, "O Little Town of Bethlehem":
YET in they dark street shineth,
The everlasting light
The hopes and fears
of ALL the years
Are met in thee tonight!

It is TRUE...into the darkness of my MISERY a brilliant light dawns...the light of Jesus' love and truth and promises and comfort penetrate my misery and visit it with undefeatable MAJESTY!!
MY hopes and my fears are met in the CHRIST of CHRISTMAS!
MY MISERY is overwhelmed by HIS MAJESTY!

His MAJESTY is the reality that lifts my humanity into glory, into hope into certainty.
The apostle John wrote, "This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our FAITH!"
The misery the world visits upon me, canNOT overcome or defeat me, IF I take my stand by FAITH in His MAJESTY!
So here I stand today by Faith!...Faith in the babe of Bethlehem who is now the KING of heaven!

Merry Christmas is a shallow holiday greeting, UNTIL we realize the reason we can be "MERRY' in the midst of MISERY is the MAJESTY of CHRISTmas!!

Len and Zoe

As I sit grieving I watch dawn begin to paint golden pink hues across the black sky. The darkness cannot restrain the light, death cannot keep life pinned to the mat.
Len and Zoe are unconquerable.

I touched death yesterday. Len, one of my closest friends, walked through the shadowed valley of death. After being removed from the respirator he inhaled three final times as if to say, “Father, Son, Holy Spirit”. I had only a few minutes earlier invoked the power of the Triune God over his fading life.

He did not struggle, thrash, or gasp for air to hold onto this life. With a profound peace, he stepped into life. Len and Zoe were beautiful.

In the courageous manner in which he chose to die, he gave ZOE to at least 6 other people. Len and Zoe were unstoppable.

Who is Zoe? Zoe is the Greek word in the New Testament for life. It carries 3 dimensions…physical life, spiritual life, eternal life.

I was not there the day Len was born and given PHYSICAL ZOE. But I was there the day he was given SPIRITUAL ZOE. In one of our final conversations, Len thanked me several times for helping bring him to Jesus. And I was there yesterday when he was given ETERNAL ZOE.

Len’s life is not finished, his life has been relocated. The heavenly moving van showed up and took him up. He is not dead, but more alive than ever. Len and Zoe are dancing.

One of Jesus' greatest invitations was to come meet ZOE. In John 10:10 Jesus said “I have come that you might have ZOE (LIFE) and ZOE (LIFE) to the full!”

This morning as day breaks on my broken heart, I rejoice in Len and Zoe.

John 6:47 "I'm telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life (ZOE). - Jesus

Fast Life, Slow Dance

My friend may die today. He is fighting for his life with advanced lung disease. After attending a Christmas Party at my publishers in Ventura, I may have to stop at UCLA and say the final good-bye to Len. He just turned 50.

While the below poem has circulated on the internet under the false pretense of being written by a young girl dying with cancer, nevertheless, it expresses simple wisdom that all of us should hear, especially at Christmas time. As I think about Len, I think about life and how to live it. Here's to slow dancing to the music of life.

Slow Dance

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?

Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.

Time is short.
The music won't last.

''Do you run through each day
On the fly?''

When you ask "How are you?"
Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?

You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.

Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?

And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die

Cause you never had time
To call and say "Hi"?

You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.

Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....Thrown away.

Life is not a race.
Do take it slower

Hear the music
Before the song is over.

The ICU Blues

With three folks I love living in ICU land, it's been a bit difficult to "Deck the Halls with boughs of Holly".

One of them is one of my closest friends - we've vacationed together, skied together, experienced fabulous meals together, dreamed about the kingdom together, and watched our wives be best friends together. But now we are not together...he is fighting for every breath waiting for a lung transplant because of a rare mold disease of the lung. He is lying in an ICU bed for his 12 days of Christmas and I am throwing Christmas parties. We are not together.

I have the ICU blues...

But here's the deal...in times like these Christmas only shines brighter. Without Christ, suffering is empty, lonely, cruel, and meaningless. Because of Christ, I can look at my friend and know Christ is doing a work in him, touching lives through him, preparing him for his real life in heaven, rewarding him for every ounce of suffering, and all the time whispering his strong presence to his heart.

Christmas is not nativity scenes in malls next to the "buy one get one free" sign.
Christmas is Jesus, the babe all grown up, standing like a strong carpenter and regal King next to a bed in ICU stroking the brow of his best friend and saying, "It's going to be ok, I am Emmanuel".

The "Hallelujah" Chorus really is an antidote for the ICU blues!
And He shall reign forever and ever...!!

Thanking God for the FLEAS!

The barracks where Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsy were kept in the Nazi concentration camp Ravensbruck were terribly overcrowded and flea-infested.

They had been able to miraculously smuggle a Bible into the camp, and in that Bible they had read that in all things there were to give thanks, and that God can use anything for good.

Corrie’s sister Betsy decided that this meant thanking God for the fleas.

This was too much for Corrie, who said she could do no such thing. Betsy insisted, so Corrie gave in and prayed to God, thanking Him even for the fleas.

Over the next several months a wonderful, but curious, thing happened. They found that the guards never entered their barracks. This meant that women were not assaulted. It also meant that they were able to do the unthinkable, which was to hold open Bible studies and prayer meetings in the heart of a Nazi concentration camp.

Through this, countless numbers of women came to faith in Christ.

Only at the end did they discover why the guards had left them alone and would not enter into their barracks.

It was because of the fleas.

God is often blamed for the very things that He should be praised for. Our short sighted, earth bound perspective distorts our vision and destroys our praise.

My commitment is to be a man of praise IN all things...as my African-American sister says, "If God brings me TO IT, He'll bring me THROUGH IT!"

Unexpected Thanksgiving

When my mother was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer two years ago, no one was thinking of Thanksgiving 2008. She was only supposed to live for a few months.

But MOM is down from Seattle and celebrating Thanksgiving with us and we are expecting to do the same thing in 2009! Can you imagine how thankful my mom is this Thanksgiving?

But DAD is giving thanks from HEAVEN this year. Everyone expected him to be here for a long time but this Thanksgiving he's gone having died suddenly in May.

My point in relating this personal piece of news is that you never know how many chances you will get to look UP and look AROUND and say, THANKS! Won't you take advantage of your chance to tell God, THANK YOU.

Every good gift comes from God above, the God of mercy, the God of love!

The Grateful DEAD OR LIVE?

I never understood the name of the band "The Grateful Dead"....When I am dead I am going to be grateful that I lived, and grateful to have died in Christ, and grateful that my earth stay is finished so I can get home to heaven.

But while I am ALIVE I want to be "The Grateful LIVING"...the man who lives with a profound awareness of how good God has been, is, and will be to me....the man who lives with an awe of how beautiful people are, how rich life is, how stunning magnificent creation is, how amazing a child's smile is, how sweet a juicy apple really tastes, how mysterious and grand sex inside of marriage is, how splendid the sound of a great band is, how miraculous the body I live in is, how blessed a sunrise makes me feel, how a flower rings with the laughter of God....I want to be the GRATEFUL LIVING.

"He who is content with little has a continual feast!"

This week is a great week to be grateful...I want to engage in ThanksLIVING today, this week, and this life!

Counting Sheep In the Night

After 3 months of going to bed and sleeping like a baby, I am back in the real life of pastoring. Many of my nights since my sabbatical have been filled with “counting sheep”.

Who left while I was gone?

Who’s marriage is struggling?

Who’s developed a disease?

Who’s lost a family member?

Who’s lost their job? Their house?

Who’s mom got Alzheimer’s?

Who’s son was arrested?

Who’s gotten mad at someone?

Who’s had an affair?

Who’s family member was shot?

Who’s upset with the church?

Who’s mad at me about our position on homosexuality?

Who’s left their ministry position?

Who’s stopped volunteering?

Who’s dropped down to attending once a month?

Who moved?

I could fill names into these questions, in many cases, I can give you multiple names.

I have been back 20 days and all of these questions and all of these faces plow through my mind in the middle of the night.

When 1200 people call our church their home and you have been gone for 3 months…there is lots of counting to do.

That doesn’t include the corporate questions…

What staff have been underperforming?

What staff have gotten less motivated or a bit misdirected?

How do we address the economic realities we are facing?

When are the offerings going to start rebounding?

How do I restructure the staff for optimal efficiency?

How do we get the Community Center finished and operational when the bills just doubled and the City is being a huge hurdle?

So while I sleep well for 5 or 6 hours, then I awaken to count sheep.

Pastoring is a high privilege…but it’s really a hard calling.

Counting sheep is supposed to put you asleep…mine keeps me from sleep.

51 Whoo Hoo!!

51 years young today!! Some random thoughts below:

My life mission is by the power of God and to His glory to LIVE fully, LOVE sacrificially, LEARN continually, LEAD wisely, and LAUGH frequently!

How about some "51" rhymes?
51 and having fun....51 and living for One...51 and only half done...51 and loving my hon...


"Change" is the word of the hour and it's good word if you are changing forward and not backward.
I look forward to the changes God has for me this year...if you are not changing you are dying!

One of my favorite quotes for a birthday,
"Life is not a journey to the grave
With the intention of
Arriving safely in a pretty
And well preserved body,
But rather to skid in broadside,
Thoroughly used up,
Totally worn out,
And loudly proclaiming,
WOW !!!! What a ride!"

My Life Verse: For I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me! Galatians 2:20

As I walked barefoot on the beach at sunrise singing, Agnus Dei (Alleluia) I was praising God for the incredible joy of living, loving, and dancing in the ocean surf! Asking Him give me 51 more years like these and then swoop me home to dance forever!