The Spirit of Christmas...

So my house has turned into Santa's workshop the last few days. We decided to hand-make many of our gifts this year so every flat surface has turned into a workbench. All other work has come to a near halt. And bedtimes are thrown out the window as we work on creating tokens for those we love.

And it has had a wonderful effect on our household! Our kids are more excited than I've ever seen them and it is mostly about the gifts they are giving rather than the gifts they are receiving.

That is the spirit of Christmas.

Yesterday I had a wonderful experience while driving my school bus. For the last two weeks there has been a war raging over the music I put on the radio. They have fought tooth-and-nail against my efforts to play Christmas music. They've complained. They've whined. They have turned up their mp3's on their phones and waved them in the air in defiance.

And then yesterday (our last day of school before Christmas break), I determined that the Christmas music would win. I braced myself for the battle. And an amazing thing happened: They all sang along. Everyone of them.

That is the spirit of Christmas.

And it seems everywhere you go during this holiday season you see people holding the door for each other. Putting money into the Salvation Army buckets. Smiling more. Saying "I love you" more.

That is the spirit of Christmas.

And as I sit here this morning typing this while listening to the perpetual loop of Christmas songs that is going on in my house, I wonder...

Why do we reserve this beautiful spirit for just a few weeks a year? Whether people realize it or not, this spirit is of a loving Creator God who sent His Son to die for the people He loves, and He has promised He will fill us with His very Spirit if we will just accept His offer of a relationship through His Son. This Christmas Spirit we are seeing is just a glimpse of the way life could be...if we would live in true relationship with our God.

So tell me how you've seen the Spirit this season. And then help me figure out how we can spread that out all year long! God bless.

Inspirational...

As I've said before, I get new favorite things often, and this painting is currently it.

The official title of this piece is "Alfred, Louis and Francois after 12 years of preparation were surprised to find a cafe at the top of mount Everest".

Isn't that great?

I love the freshness and zaniness of it. I love the use of colors. I love the unique style of the art. But mostly I love it because it reminds me that some people are out there doing the thing they love and it is working for them.

As I think about the things that inspire me right now, I think that is one of the top ingredients - a life free to pursue its passion.

Just this week I've been inspired by...

Carlos Whittaker (a worship leader turned pastor turned leadership coach turned recording artist turned church planter who blogs at ragamuffinsoul.com);

Elsie Flannigan (an local artist and shop-owner who spends her time making "cute" and blogs like crazy at abeautifulmess.typepad.com);

Colby Moore (a local photographer who is blowing my mind with his creative scenes and vibrant colors. How exciting that he is making it work with what he loves. Check out his stuff on facebook or at colbymoorephotography.com);

and of course Matte Stephens (the artist who created my new favorite painting [see above] and seems to have a healthy affection for owls. Check him out at matteart.blogspot.com).

So what inspires you? Would love to hear.

Peace.

Do You Remember...?

I'm starting to forget things.

Like where I left the keys. Or who sings that song.

Nothing major, but I've always relied on my memory. Even prided myself on being able to remember things. And I don't like not remembering.

I don't know if it's a function of getting older or the amount of information that is constantly rolling around in my mind pushing aside other memories. But I realize that I must make a greater effort to hold onto the memories that are important to me.

But maybe that is a good thing.

I've recently been reading through I Corinthians with my kids. And just this week we have been studying chapter 10 where Paul encourages the Corinthian church to remember some things. He starts out reminding them of how the Israelites were punished and sometimes destroyed while they were wandering around in the desert searching for the Promised Land because they worshiped false idols and disobeyed God and grumbled.

He even says that these things are recorded in Exodus & Numbers so we will have an example to NOT follow!

He then goes on to remind them of how drinking of the blessed cup and eating of the blessed bread is to remind us of how Christ died for our sins and made a way for us to have a renewed relationship with Him.

So you have good memories and bad memories. Both of which are to keep us focused and on track.

As I talked to my kids about this, I saw some variance in responses. My daughter Shiloh said that when she remembers that Jesus died on the cross for us, it makes her cry. But she went on to say they were tears of joy because it makes her realize how much God really loves us!

That is a proud father moment, let me tell you!

My son Ethan, on the other hand, while we were reading and discussing these truths, was having a tough time because we were doing it in the morning...

and he is not a morning person!

"Everything" in his mind was going wrong. Life was unfair because he had to get out of bed. Mom was a cruel task-master because she had made him put on clothes. His sister was a heartless antagonist because she had walked over him as he lay in the floor in rebellion against getting up. His brother was an extreme annoyance because he was hitting him in the head trying to get him to play. His father was an unbending authoritarian because he was trying to get him to answer a couple of questions about the scripture we were reading.

Life was not going his way.

So we talked about how we need to remember that we live in a comfortable house and have warm clothes to wear and that we have a family that loves us and a God who loves us even more. And I told him that when our feelings don't match the truth of our circumstances we need to remember those things and that it affords us a choice. Ethan can choose today to remember the truths of his life and have a crazy-awesome, positive-focused day. Or he can choose to forget the blessings of the God who loves him and have a miserable day.

And we each have that choice. So today, what is it that you need to remember?

God bless & Peace.

Creating Spaces...

Last night at 180 was a special time of reflection.

As I looked into the tired eyes of my Creative Worship Team Tuesday night and heard their stories of piles of school work amid their already tumultuous lives, I asked what does worship need to look like for us this week?

They answered resoundingly: QUIET.

So we spent some time remembering that this is the season of Advent - the traditional preparation period leading to Christmas. Where we evaluate our life. Where we contemplate the AWE-Factor of God and His Son. Where we prepare for His coming - which is literally what "Advent" means.

So we prayed and we read and we reflected and we lit candles.

And it was beautiful to see a mob of teenagers get quiet before the LORD.

So today, I pray that the spirit of quietness is carrying on in our souls and our hearts.

Now, if you were there, I want to hear how God spoke to you.
And if you weren't, I want to challenge you to take a moment and consider how you are using this season as a time to quiet yourself before the beauty of what God has done and what He is continuing to do.

...and then tell us what you are going to do about it.
Let us dwell in Him as we seek for Him to lead us. Peace.

My New Favorite Thing

I have a new favorite thing.

I seem to get a new one every few weeks. And right now it is the iMotion App for my iPhone.

It's this incredible little program that allows me to take a series of photographs with my phone camera in controllable intervals and then makes a stop motion video out of the frames.

It is wonderful.

I have been making movies of everything.

During this Thanksgiving break that is pretty much how my kids and I spent every spare minute. We stop motioned our dinner. We stop motioned Isaac. We stop motioned cars crashing (Hot Wheels, of course; not real ones.) Here is a video we made of dough rising.

Or at least our version of dough rising. And my kids came up with most of the ideas and did all of my special effects. It was a blast creating those holiday memories.

As we head into this holiday season, I know many of us will have extra time off with our families. And this should be a time to build relationships and enjoy each other. But I know for me at least the temptation is to get hectic. Or the temptation is to get frustrated. Or the temptation is to get cranky.

But let us decide to go into this time to make memories. So here is a suggested TO DO list for this Christmas season, especially as you have extra unstructured time:

1. Spend a full uninterrupted hour with God.
2. Make some Christmas presents/ornaments/cookies/(fill in the blank) with your family.
3. Make some hot chocolate or other festive hot beverage and watch a classic Christmas movie.
4. Turn off the TV and play some board games.
5. Cram into the family vehicle and drive around looking for the best Christmas lights.
6. Or go caroling.
7. Or purpose to have only Christmas music on in your house
8. Or buy presents for the Salvation Army Angel Tree together as a family.
9. Or serve at Heart 2 Heart (or some other community relief organization)
10. Or come up with your own creative memory-making family idea! (and please share these with us!)

May this holiday season we live out the words of Colossians 3:14-17 - "And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

And make a memorable Christmas season as we do it!

So...

I haven't posted in a while.

Okay. Like a real long time.

Life kind of got crazy lately. Some expected. Some not.

An awesome wedding. An injured pastor. A death. A birth. Among other things and the wonderfully full life I get to lead.

And a really interesting thing happened...I slacked off of all the social media I use. I stopped updating my Facebook status. I quit blogging.

And it makes me wonder, how helpful is the online community if it's the first thing I chuck when life gets crazy. And interestingly enough, during this time I sought out face to face relationships more than normal.

So are we just fooling ourselves with social media?

Let me know your thoughts. Peace.

He Still Answers Prayer...

Last night at 180 I was bowled over by the number of praise reports I kept receiving.

It seemed like from the moment I entered the building there was this constant flow of young people telling me how God was working in their life and answering prayers we had prayed together...

Improved relations with parents.

Parents improving their relationship with God.

Parents improving their relationship with their children.

There were so many in fact that I think we will take some moments next week to let some of those people share the way God is working.

I know for me it is those tangible reminders that God is working, in both my life and others, that help my faith to grow. Too often we don't seem to expect God to work. We may say a token prayer, but we don't really think anything is going to happen about it.

Praise God that He is raising up young people right here in our community who pray with faith and are praising Him for His works. Last night one of the Scriptures we looked at was James 5:16:

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."

May we continue to pray for one another and see healing in our lives and others!

God bless.