Talk vs. Power

"For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power."

~ 1 Corinthians 4:20

I am by no means a biblical scholar, but having read quite a bit over the years I'm pretty familiar with most of the key themes and phrases throughout Scripture. Every now and then I'll come across something that totally strikes me as "new." Although my eyes may have passed over the words on the page, my heart and spirit sometimes tune out. I wonder how many times I completely miss the power of God's Word to mold me!

As a blogged last time (mere days ago!), I'm making strides to become more disciplined in my spiritual life. One of the changes I'm trying to make is to approach Scripture reading/meditation more systematically rather than randomly. Right now, I'm reading through Paul's letters. As I was reading in Corinthians today, the verse above jumped out at me as "new" for some reason--at least new to me. Maybe it's that it resonates more with me today for some reason. Regardless, I think God put it in my path. It's so short and simple, yet deep and profound.

For the Kingdom of God...
The Kingdom of God is situated squarely in the hearts of people, not in the physical realm. It is not forced or coerced, but freely within our choice to accept or deny. When God reigns in one's life (or that of a body of people), God's Kingdom prevails over this dark world. His Kingdom has been established already through Christ, is being established as the Church fulfills its purpose from His commission, and will be established permanently when Jesus returns. Right now, we are privileged to be involved in the expansion of His Kingdom as we reach a lost and hurting world, which is only our temporary home.

...is not a matter of talk...
Wow - talk about conviction! In many ways, we (the Church) have created a paper kingdom based on nothing more than...mere talk. Either we're so caught up in yesterday that we can't see today, or we're so hell bent on tomorrow that we miss today. Thing is today is TODAY. How much time do we waste talking about God's Kingdom instead of living and experiencing it? Every new day God blesses us with is an opportunity to experience and share His Kingdom in real and tangible ways. And when God's Kingdom truly descends, it will not be a matter of mere talk, but...

...but of power.
Dunamai - miraculous power (where we get "dynamite"). How often do we experience miraculous power in our lives, power that can only be explained by God? It doesn't have to be in the form of a sensational miracle (i.e. physical healing, water into wine, etc.), but isn't abiding daily in Christ a miracle enough itself? Isn't His forgiveness powerful (as well as the capacity to forgive)? Isn't the call to be the hands and feet of Christ to the broken so utterly far from our ability that we must have His power dwelling within us? To earnestly reach out and pray and witness God's Spirit invade someone's life?

All these things are powerful miracles if we actually partake of them, but we can't experience that power if we're not living in them daily. I think one of the enemy's subtle attacks is to fill our mouths with words that sound good but are completely void of true meaning, action, and subsequently the unmistakable power of God.

Talk vs. power. Fake vs. real. Jibber-jabber vs. "BOOM!"

We are kings and queens of words. It's time to shut up.

It Only Takes a Few Minutes...

It amazes me how much pain can be inflicted by just a few minutes of lifting weights. I did legs on Wednesday morning for about 20 minutes and here I sit 51 hours later still cursing the Y and stumbling around like a old fart with a dirty diaper. (Hopefully that last phrase isn't prophetic of my future!) My legs just don't move like they should!

Inevitably I'll miss legs some weeks. I've always noticed that when it comes time to do legs the next week, the aftermath isn't nearly as bad as the first week. The principle is simple - the more you partake of positive habits, the less difficult they become while the benefits multiply exponentially. In other words, if I consistently work my legs, the less strain I will feel as I continually build up muscle, which in turn allows me to work my legs more. It's a cycle of positive momentum.

Spiritually, I've been making great strides to shore up some weak areas in my relationship with God, specifically in the area of consistency. Guess what? It's uncomfortable at first, but routine has started taking over and I feel that I am in a cycle of positive momentum. And it feels good. God has been a most patient personal trainer and my biggest cheerleader. I'm convinced that it's only through His strength that we can be successful, from the mundane to the most profound. His hourly rate isn't too bad, either...

One of my daughters was telling us about a quote she heard on a commercial the other day. It states that in 21 days you can either develop or break a habit, and from what I've experienced that's pretty accurate. Whether it's flossing, not biting your nails, reading the Bible, dealing with persistent sins, or giving up Cokes, it's staggering to think that the potential for such good or evil only takes three weeks to gestate and develop into a fully-fledged habit.

What areas do you need to buckle down and "do legs" consistently in order to work through the pain and discover that cycle of positive momentum? It'll hurt like the dickens at first, but when you see it through, you'll reap the rewards of your effort.

Now, back to my legs...

Off to Guatemala...

Sorry for the two months between blogs. You know, that whole "life" thing...

We leave dark and early tomorrow for Guatemala. Please pray over our trip:

• Safe travel to Dulles, safe flights to and ground travel in Guatemala
• HEALTH! Especially for Lindsay - pray that God would grant her a supernatural energy and healing.
• Opportunities to share the love of Christ through word and deed despite the language barrier.
• That our team (21 Soul Discovery members and 2 NorthStar members) would bond and be servant-hearted throughout the week.
• That God would have His way with us and draw us closer to Himself.
  

Thank you for your prayers! I hope to post updates if the internet is working there. We look forward to sharing all the God does during this experience!

Two Months Until...

...Lindsay and I leave for Guatemala.

With the holidays between now and then, I'm sure the time will fly. I'm looking forward to returning to Guatemala, but I'm particularly looking forward to experiencing this with my wife. I'm so excited to see how God will use this in each of our lives.

In order for this trip to become a reality, we have committed to raising $3,000 ($1,500 per person). With about 35 letters mailed out between the two of us, we have only heard back from nine people. So, we are still quite a bit short, but we are trusting for God's provision. He is obviously interested in stretching us in that area. He is faithful.

With Thanksgiving on the horizon, it makes me even more aware of the privilege to serve the people in Guatemala in the name of Christ!

Short post, I know. I'll try to blog some over the Thanksgiving break...

New Blog Format!

So, when I started this blog a few months ago, I selected a template and never really made it my own. Today, as you can see, that changed. Hopefully, I can add some more picture and content to make it a more interesting place to visit.

Leave a comment and let me know how you like the new look or what you'd like to see. Can anybody guess the color scheme?! First one to get it right wins a virtual high five from your's truly!

Peace.

Soul Discovery in the News!

Just wanted to share something exciting with you. Our church (Soul Discovery Church in Salisbury, MD) was contacted about our billboards around the area, and it ended up being the front page headline/photo/story in the Sunday paper, complete with a color picture of our staff in front of our most popular billboard.

It's really neat how God has orchestrated the timing of this because 1. we had no idea it would be a front page feature and 2. it comes exactly a week before one of our big semi-annual open house outreach events called "Friend's Day" (kinda like a high attendance Sunday). Hopefully, God will use it to draw many new faces to our church. Free advertising is exactly what we need!

Anyway, thought you'd like to share my excitement...

Click here to read the article on www.delmarvanow.com...

Busy Month

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. It's been about a month since I last blogged. But I'm full of excuses--it's been a busy month. Here's the (not-so-short) recap:

The first half of August was the storm before the calm, or so I thought. Our pastor was on vacation for a couple of weeks, so I was filling in for him. Our vacation was scheduled for the last two weeks of August, so I was anxious to get some time off. There were some major decisions facing our church, so I was also looking forward to taking a mental break.

All the while, Lindsay had been dealing with some digestive issues since the middle of July. So, we started vacation with some hesitation in our steps. We met my oldest sister's family in Jamestown, VA on Monday for a fun day seeing the historical settlement (home school points, too!). Everybody had a blast, especially the cousins. We stayed a couple of days at their house just outside of Richmond and had a good time, but Lindsay's illness overshadowed it a bit.

Wednesday, we made a pitstop in Fredericksburg to see my parents and their house renovation project. It's neat to see them so excited about building their dream home--they deserve it! After another pitstop at IKEA and dinner at Macaroni Grille, we headed back home.

After a Thursday full of laundry and house projects, we welcomed our good friends Mike & CJ from Fredericksburg for a weekend visit. It was so good to hang out and catch up on life. They are friends we just feel at home around no matter what, the "friends for life" type of people. Both of our quivers have gotten quite a bit bigger, so having all the kids together was a trip. They returned home Sunday evening...

Monday and Tuesday were filled with packing and preparing for our trip to Jacksonville to see Lindsay's dad and his wife. We were blessed to fly out of Salisbury, so the trip was very smooth. After arriving at the Salisbury airport at 5 a.m. Wednesday morning--five suitcases, two carseats, one double stroller, three carry-ons, three daughters, and one airsick son in tow--we landed in Jacksonville.

After one day exploring our new surroundings, Lindsay's brother's family joined the fun Thursday evening. Did you pick up a theme throughout all of our vacation adventures? A lot of people, especially wild and crazy kids!! We ate, we swam (30 minute rule observed), we went to the beach, we romped around St. Augustine (cool place!), we ate some more, we swam, we ate three birthday cakes and one birthday pie (OK, I ate most of the pie--key lime is my favorite!). Did I mention the food? Don and Susie definitely fed us well...a little too well.

All the while, Lindsay continued to struggle with the cramping in her stomach. She hardly ate anything and was fatigued most of the time. She generally napped twice a day and did remarkably well considering the circumstances. After six days in Jacksonville, we made the trek back home.

So, vacation was over. I hate that feeling, but I was also eager to get back into ministry mode. Those major decisions had been made (I'll blog more on those later) and I was energized for the fall. I went back to work the first day and had made Lindsay promise to call me if she needed me. Ring, ring, ring!!!

Lindsay went to the E.R. because her pain had gotten more intense. Gall stones--big ones and lot of them--were the culprit. She had an appointment with a surgeon the following day to plan a course of action. Great! Now that we know what it is, we can get this resolved this week!

Or not. Surgery was scheduled for the following Wednesday, which was almost a week away. I was ticked! First, that she would have to continue to endure this, and second, that she would have to continue to endure this. So, we waited.

Surgery Day finally arrived and went smoothly. So smoothly, in fact, that Lindsay is at a Women of Faith conference in Philly right now. I'm so glad she got to go as she had been looking forward to it for months. I can't wait to hear all that God has done! I worked from home most of the week (and ironically I feel like I'm actually more productive). I am so thankful for a job that allows me to put family needs first with any threat of docked pay or lost time. The past two months have definitely been a struggle, but it looks like there's light at the end of the tunnel. At least until the next challenge which is sure to come!

That's the recap and the reason why I haven't blogged. I hope to be more consistent in blogging and start covering a broader range of topics that swirl around my mind.

Until next time!