Guiding Principles (1 of 4)
You won’t find these on a t-shirt. We don’t even have them officially listed anywhere. But there are a few guiding principles that affect what, why and how we do things as a church.
Principle 1: Invest a lot in a few.
We have had to say “No” to a lot of really good things to really say “Yes” to a few very important things. As hard as that is at times, it has been a great gift. Invest in fewer things with more energy is more impactful than investing in everything with little energy. That has allowed us to be more relational, active and impactful. Our relationship with the women’s shelter is a great example of this in action.
No perfect people here…
Prepping for this coming weekend’s message on Mark 15 (the crucifixion) took me back to a significant truth from last week.
Though we have betrayed God, he has not betrayed us.
Most people have the misconception that a Christian is supposed to be a perfect person. The truth is that a real Christian is exactly the opposite. Honest about imperfections, sorry about failings and leaning on the promise of God… though we have all betrayed Jesus, he did not betray us.
Just look at who the Bible “heroes” are…
Eve – Disobeyed
Adam – Blamed
Abraham – Lied
Noah – Got drunk… a lot
Moses – Murdered
Samson - Was self-centered
Rahab - Was a prostitute
Esther – Doubted
Jacob – Cheated
David – Cheated and Murdered
Peter - Denied
Disciples – Ran away from Jesus
and Jesus… He died for all of them.
Here’s a link to a video that illustrates this well.
Breakfast of Champions
It’s taking some time for me to figure out the best foods to eat during this fast. I’ve realized how I almost always eat for pleasure. But, today… I started it out right with the breakfast of champions.
One steaming, hot, bowl of completely plain oatmeal. Yes, I did add water. No, I did not add anything else.
For those of you participating in this fast with us, I pray that this discipline in your physical appetite will lead to depth and growth in your spiritual appetite.
Remember, be praying at 8, 4 and 8 every day as well!
Two new Quotes
These two quotes caught my attention today…
British preacher F. W. Robertson:
“Life, like war, is a series of mistakes, and he is not the best Christian nor the best general who makes the fewest false steps. Poor mediocrity may secure that; but he is the best who wins the most splendid victories by the retrieval of mistakes. Forget mistakes: organize victory out of mistakes.”
And Harry S. Truman
“There is no end to what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.”
Fasting “tips”
A special thanks to one of our own, Jill, for helping us to have a healthy and God focused fast.
She provided all of the recipes found in the fasting guide as well as some of the family tips
Click here for the guide.
I thought this would be a good place to share some more of Jill’s fasting tips.
1- Plan your meals ahead of time. Prepare your grocery list, and buy your groceries the beginning of each week (Sunday). This way you are less tempted to “just grab something quick” while out, and less tempted to eat something unhealthy when you’ve purchased a bunch of fresh fruit and vegetables.
2- Post your family menu on the refrigerator for the week – this results in less complaining from the kids if they know ahead of time what is being served for dinner. Let the kids choose one meal for the week and rotate who gets to choose a meal each week.
3- Get rid of the “junk food” in your home. Donate unopened items to the food shelf, toss opened items, or, put them away and out of sight until after the fast – you are MUCH less tempted that way.
4- When dining out – a salad is always a good and healthy option, so don’t stress if you have a work dinner or social event to attend to.
5- Bring a cooler of healthy food options with you to work as well as to any evening sporting events. It’s hard to justify grabbing that burger at the cafeteria or hot dog at the hockey arena when you bring your own food! Again – PLAN AHEAD – that is key to any successful eating plan.
Life is Tremendous
Years ago I did door to door sales. One of the hardest and best experiences of my life. It’s funny how those tough times often lead us to deeper truth. For example, I don’t know if there has ever been a time in my life I have felt so dependent on and bathed in the Scriptures.
Also, during that time I read a number of other books.
One was called, “Life is Tremendous” by Charlie “Tremendous” Jones. As Charlie is now on his death bed I thought I might share with you all some of the words of wisdom from his book…
- Learn to be saying something positive all the time.
- There are three critical decisions in life: what you are going to live your life in, who you are going to live it with, and who you are going to live it for –
- The first law of leadership is learning to get excited about your work.
Obama and McCain interviewed by Rick Warren @ Saddleback Church
Regardless of your political views… Rick Warren’s interviews of the two main presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama, are very interesting.
I won’t insert my own opinions here, but welcome your responses.
Here’s a link to watch the interviews in their entirety, or click on the image for more.
… and a time to fast.
There are a lot things going on behind the scenes right now that we are very excited about. One of which is our preparation for a time of fasting.
We’ll be encouraging people to fast from August 24th until September 13th.
This one will be a little different than you may have heard of in the past.
We will be doing what is called a Daniel fast. The idea being to fast in the way that Daniel did: abstaining from foods of pleasure and meat for 21 days.
More details to come!
Another Awesome Weekend!
Couldn’t be prouder of our people. Thanks to all who committed the better part of a beautiful Minnesota Saturday to serve at the shelter. We pulled weeds, we hung out, we served and we laughed.
Look at that team!
I loved the addition of the band during meal time!
Since last time I made a little fun of Brian’s AWESOME vertical he decided to go all out and put one down. (It does look a little like the hoop stooped to his level more than he aspired to its height! But who am I to judge.)
I made the mistake of going on the offensive in the water balloon war and spent the rest of the day looking like this, or running for my life.
All in all a great day! Thanks everyone!
Brett a Jet!! … and some words on grace.
“It’s not personal. It’s just business.”
Why do people always frame the most personal of things with statements like that?
That one is right up there with “No offense.” Which really means, “I am offending you, but because I’m telling you ahead of time, you’re not allowed to be upset about it!“
And in the end, it really isn’t business, it is personal. I wonder if Brett Favre would be a Packer today if everyone would have taken a page out of God’s book. ”Forgive, as you have been forgiven.”
I’ve walked with many people through some really hard situations and have noticed that often the grace we expect from others and the amount that we are willing to give are two different things.
Remember Jesus, with nails being pounded into his hands saying this prayer, “forgive them, for they know not what they do.” That is grace. And Favre’s got nothing on Jesus.
