Rock Solid

Don't have much experience building especially foundations. But I do remember building a “go kart". I use that term loosely because it was me and some neighborhood boys who found all this scrap wood and I had left over wheels, probably not much more that 6". Well we thought we could build something that could roll, as long as we were going downhill and someone gave us a head start push. So as I sat on it for the test run, (it was my wheels and I was the smallest, I got to go first), Jeff gave me a push, the wheels bowed out and I sunk in the middle. Needless to say, our design was flawed, we had no frame. We had no support, no structure.

When I read the parable of the wise and foolish builder, I think of that. Take a read of Matthew 7:24-27:

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell with a great crash."

The first obvious observation is where are you building? Not just your life- do you believe in God? But each area of life. It's not good enough, to simply say I have God as a part of my life. To have a solid foundation, we need to say each area of my life has God as its foundation.

Today, where do you need to strengthen your frame, your foundation? Is it in your family, workplace, responses, finances, truth, forgiveness, grace? Where do you need to establish a rock solid foundation?

The other observation that is so valuable about this story is that everyone gets wet. The storm impacts each builder. And that is true of you and me. Folks, our strong foundation doesn't exempt us from the storm, it provides protection, weathers us during the storm. I know that because of the many storms I have faced, the hurricane force winds or the blizzard. They were translated in marital storms, financial hurricans, moral floods, abuse type winds, miscarriages, and failure.

Folks, I have been learning; growing in asking a new question, not why the storm? But what do I need to do to button down the hatch and secure myself to my rock solid foundation? For me storms come and go in life, today I want to know that I am holding onto the presence of God and that his footings of love, truth, grace and forgiveness are my foundation. I want to be walled in by peace, hope, joy, patience as we endure the storm. Folks, it isn't about believing in the things of God, it is hearing and putting them into practice.

Today, what foundation do you need to make rock solid? And the storm that you are in today, what are one of God's secure promises do you need to hold onto and put into practice?

Beyond the Wrapping- Gift of Gifts

Gift giving comes in a variety of forms doesn’t it? I mean the easy gifts to give are to the ones you truly love, where there is an excitement and anticipation to give the gift. Even white elephant gifts can be fun because of the humor or story that goes into the time. But you know white elephant gifts aren’t the best gifts you have given or received. Then there are the gifts you feel obligated to give. It could be a boss, co-worker, distant aunt, or even a friend you didn’t know you had that type of friendship with and they got you something. Gifts, especially around Christmas can be a funny thing.

That’s why I find it interesting about the gifts that were given by the Magi. The Magi searched for “the eventual King of the Jews” as to pay homage to a literal King, but through their expedition, through their journey they found something very different. And I believe we can learn a lot about giving gifts from the caravan of Magi and company who gave three gifts to baby Jesus.

It’s not what the gifts represent as much as what we can learn from the gifts given. I think the first thing we can learn from the Magi is in Matthew 2:11- “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. . . . .” The Magi gave themselves. They humbled themselves, they bowed down and worshiped a baby, even though they were brilliant, affluent, creative men, they were Magi. But when they saw the baby Jesus, they gave themselves and humbled themselves at the feet of Mary. That is what we need to learn and carry with us, what does it mean to “give ourselves” to others? What does it look like to humble ourselves and give ourselves to those in our life? I believe it isn’t simply something we learn from the Magi, but this is exactly what God did for us. He gave himself for us in the form of a baby, His Son. This Christmas season, take some time and challenge yourself to give yourself to someone; spouse, kids, parents, co-worker, friend, teacher. Don’t worry about the how yet, simply think through and challenge yourself with the “who.”

The next part of the Matthew 2:11 says this, “Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” Each of these gifts are gifts of value, gifts of significance. Not only that, each of them the Magi knew how to gather or make the gifts, so they were invested in the gifts they gave. The final thing we learn from the Magi visit is that they gave gifts of value. I’m not talking about the Christmas list; I’m not talking about giving the I-pad, jewelry, Super Bowl tickets, or a new Lexus.

With the backdrop of the first response, “giving yourself” to someone, the gift of value needs to come from who you are. And that is where we slam on the breaks and say I don’t think so. Because when we look inside to who we are, we don’t see a gift of value, we see a white elephant gift, we see garbage. We believe because of the difficult experiences and relationships we have gone through, who we are at the core isn’t worth it, isn’t significant. And why would we give anyone that we love, garbage, give them the “yuck” of what we see and feel.

To be able to give out of who we are, we need to have a transformed foundation. We need to believe the truth of who we actually are. This is who you are,

“I am God’s handiwork, fearfully and wonderfully made, created in His image for such a time as this.”

Say this to yourself.

That isn’t some New Age mumbo jumbo or a rerun of Stuart Smalley from SNL, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and gosh darn it people like me.” No, this statement is the truth and promise of God’s word. I am God’s handiwork (Ephesians 2:10), fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14), created in His image (Genesis 1:27), for such a time as this (Esther 4:14). When that is our foundation, our lives change and our relationships change. We no longer have to live out of the garbage; we get to live out of the rich significance of who God says we are.

Which means when we answer the question, what is your gift of value you need to give someone in your life this year? It changes. We give out of who God has created us to be, so maybe the gift of value you give isn’t about the list or pretending or performing. The gift is actually; Creativity, passion, joy, forgiveness, insight, grace, ingenuity, truth, impact, detail, compassion, craftsmanship, service, listening ear, love, patience, wisdom, time and maybe treasure.

I’m not asking you to give something that you haven’t experienced or that isn’t who you are. I’m asking you to give yourself to someone out of the foundation of who you are. I believe if we begin to do that, we will be transformed and the people in our lives will begin to be transformed in ways that are far different than we have experienced. And that this Christmas you will begin to live beyond the wrapping of Christmas.

Today, who are you going to give yourself to and what gift of value are you going to give them?

Beyond the Wrapping- Gift of Presence

Have you ever wondered- would Jesus have coffee with you? Think about it. Y our favorite coffee spot; could be Exchange Bank Coffee House here in Plymouth, WI or Starbucks or even your back porch. Would Jesus sit down and have coffee with you in the morning or in the afternoon and share life? Would he have an "I Love Bill" coffee mug? In honor of you of course.

I believe that is one element of what Jesus wants to do and promises to do in your life. And why he came, "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel… which means… God with us.” Matthew 1:22-23

God with us, doing life with us. Walking with us, challenging us, wrestling with us, correcting our path, loving us and spending time with us. Not only does he say he will come and be with us, he promises he will stay. John 14:16-18- “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

The beauty in Jesus coming is the expression of love, sacrifice, and the fact that he never leaves us. He gives us a gift of the Holy Spirit to be our companion, our guide, and our hope. How may this Christmas season lead you into understanding more of who Jesus is by way of his Gift to you, the Holy Spirit.

I would encourage you this season to take some time and pour two cups of coffee, one for you and one for Jesus and spend some time with him. He longs to spend time with you. Share, allow him to be your companion, your guide and your hope today and everyday. (highlights from Pastor Bill McCaskill's sermon on December 11th, 2011 to listen to it in it's entirety follow this link- http://www.newlifecommunitychurch.us/messages)

Relate: Vision

"Without vision the people will perish." (Proverbs 29:18a) We can connect a lot of realities to this verse, it can be physical, it can be corporate or even non-profit. Without a vision the company or non-profit will no longer exist. But how does it apply to marriages?

When we look deeper into the word perish, it actually means "exposed, naked, uncovered," you could also say it means vulnerable, unprotected or directionless. With that deeper understanding, look at the impact of this verse, "without vision my marriage will perish." Without vision my marriage will be exposed, unprotected, directionless.

Which begs the next question, what is the vision of your marriage? Do you have one? Do you have a destination to your steps in marriage and if you do, how will you know when you get there?

I think all of us can have good intentions when it comes to our marriage. I think all of us want to have a healthy life giving marriage. But intentions don't get you anything. Andy Stanley says, "direction, not intention, determines destination." It is the direction of your marriage that will determine the destination.

Which leads to the other reality, if we don't have a concrete vision for our marriage, other things will take its place. Instead of focusing on the direction of a vision-filled marriage, we begin to focus on the past. Either the good ol' days or the past hurts. It's like driving to a destination, but only using your rearview mirror to get there. Looking at where you came from versus where you are going.

Or we focus on circumstances, instead of our future vision. Circumstances come in all kinds of forms and distractions; kids, budget, work, church, working out, grocery shopping, chores, and the list goes on. Don't get me wrong, those things are realities of every day. But if we don't have a future vision, we will be more focused on putting out fires than the growth of your marriage.

So what is the vision of your marriage? God says in Jeremiah that "he has a hope and a future for those who call upon him." And Solomon says in Proverbs that "he will make our paths straight for those who trust in him and not our own understanding." The results of your marriage is exactly what you put into it. If you put into it life giving elements, you will have a healthy life giving relationship. If you focus on other things, like your past and everyday circumstances, you will have a shallow, directionless marriage.

A vision doesn't have to be much; it can be a word, or a statement or a series of words. For my wife Theresa and I, over the past few years we have worked on putting a vision together for our marriage/family. We chose four words- adventure, safe, grace, creativity. We wanted to have a relationship of adventure, where we took risks, had fun, and did what we could to live outside of the box. In the same breath we wanted to have a marriage that was safe. When I say safe, I mean vulnerable, an openness to share from the heart. We also want to have our children be in safe environments for growth and becoming who God created them to be. Grace should sound simple, but in families, sometimes they are the last people we are gracious with. We need to be open to second chances and undeserved favor. Finally creativity, allows us to be who we want to be, as individuals, but also have fun from art to going grocery shopping.

Take time this week to draft a vision with your spouse. Take time to think through the direction of your marriage, because I believe it will give you the opportunity to live life anew with your spouse.

Journey Essentials: No More Fig Leaves

Would you agree with this statement- The largest obstacle in our journey is failure? Why or why not?

I would argue that the largest obstacle that stands in our way from going forward and keeping up with momentum, in our journey is failure. That failure can be mistakes, sin, shame, guilt, you name it, it holds us back from experiencing all that God wants to share with us and do with us.

No doubt the bible is God's love letter to us and it details his pursuit of a relationship with us. But what is unique about the bible is it is also the hall of fame of failure. Throughout the pages, it has names and stories of people who failed, sinned, screwed up, and then had to learn to live with that reality. The greatest of all failures was Adam and Eve (Genesis 2:25-3:13). Take some time and read through their story. And ask yourself these questions:
1. What was Adam and Eve's response to their failure?
2. What is my response to my failure?
3. What was God's response to Adam and Eve's failure?

If you take some time to read through this story and ask those questions, I believe you will be amazed to see how God works.

In most of our failure, we turn and run and hide. We are filled with guilt and shame and so we hide, just like Adam and Eve. But yet, how did God respond? He looked, he came towards, he sought out, Adam and Eve. And he does the same with you and I. We believe that our failure, sin, shame and guilt disqualify us from God's love. But the reality is, God loves us and in the midst of our failure, sin, shame and guilt, he wants to come near us and love on us.

In his book, He Loves Me, Wayne Jacobsen says, "God sees something redemptive even in letting us fail. He seems less concerned about our mistakes than how we respond to them. Do our mistakes lead us away from trusting in our own strength or wisdom and toward seeking what it means to put our trust in him?"

Maybe, from today forward, instead of seeing failure, sin, shame and guilt as an obstacle to your journey. Maybe God wants to use it as a catapult to launch you ahead in your journey, and experiencing the depth of his love for you.

Journey Essentials: His Plan

Have you ever started on a journey, road trip or adventure and at some point during your time you realized you forgot something? Or maybe you realized you weren't prepared enough for the long haul? That happened to me on a trip up the Boundary Waters of northern MN back in 1995. I thought I could do the entire trip on eating ramen noodles and beef sticks. Needless to say, by the last night of our 4 day trip I was hungry and sick of my menu choices. It caused me to resort to some drastic action, but that is for another time or listen to the message online. But the point is, I didn't have a journey essential. It may sound foolish, it may sound naive, but the truth is I thought I could get by with a limited menu.

I believe the same is true in our spiritual journey. I believe that we think we can get by with certain things or survive without certain things and we then at some point gravely wish we made a better decision. Maybe that is where you are at right now. Maybe you are walking on your journey and your stuck? Maybe you are at a crossroads and just don't know where to turn? Maybe you have created a belief of how the journey should be, and its not that. I don't know where you are at on your journey, but I do know there are certain essentials we just need to have.

The journey essential I want you to have with you, like food, is this: know that God's plan for you is to experience the depth of his love. Some of you are like "dah" I know that. Just like I know you should pack more than just ramen and beef sticks. But I would argue we don't live that way everyday. I don't believe we live as though God loves us deeply, because we allow things to get in the way. Then we determine that God must not love me today because of the circumstances we face.

We decide that based upon a certain criteria God loves us or doesn't love us. And we miss the truth that at the core of who God is, HE IS LOVE (1 John 4:8 and 16). I know all of us do this, but if we pray or read the bible, we believe God loves us. But if we curse or lie to save our a*# he doesn't love us. If we get a raise God must love us, but if we get sick or loose a loved one he doesn't love us. If we help someone in need he loves us, but if we are bitter with our children or spouse, he doesn't love us. It is as if God's love is like our first grade school crush, and we pick up a flower and pick the pedals wondering each and every day; he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me. It must be a good day.

Folks, our journey doesn't need the added attraction of a roller coaster, up and down with God's love. The Journey Essential you need to have with you each and every day is God loves you period. Not because of anything we do or don't do, not because of anything we say or don't say. Not because of circumstances or failures. He loves you because at the core of who he is, he is love.

Check out this verse:

1 John 4:16, “we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love.”

This is the verse I want you to carry with you this week and the steps ahead on your journey. Print it, write it down, e-mail me and I will send you a laminated copy I have here. Hold this truth, this journey essential close to your heart. This will guide you each and every step and will give you freedom to stop striving to make God's love a reality in your life.

This week, rest in this verse and rest in his love.

Don't Pray For It. Or Maybe You Should?

The dreaded "P" word- patience. Most folks don't want to pray for it because it takes "forever" as Caleb would say, to receive. But maybe it is more about our perspective on patience than it is on how it actually applies to our life.

My wife Theresa shared in her blog this past week about our son Caleb and gave a great life example of patience. She said, "My little guy turns 6 today. We spent years trying to have another child. Years of heartache and loss. Years on our knees praying for a sibling for Jayda. In God’s perfect timing, He gave us Caleb. Though it was not my timing or the road that I wanted to walk to get him, it was ALL worth it. Caleb amazes me daily." There is no doubt patience was what was needed during that period of time. In our grand scheme of things we wanted 4 kids- two boys, two girls. But God had other plans and allowed us to have 2 beautiful children who are filled with life and love. As I have seen and as Bill had preached about this past weekend, maybe patience is more about waiting on God than it is to have patience with another person who annoys you.

Bill gave a new definition of patience which I think is valuable and necessary as we walk through our journey,

"Patience is waiting expectantly for something of much greater value to happen with God's involvement than you could of achieved by your own intervention."

How true it is. How many times do we "run out of patience" because it isn't going the way we expected it or wanted it or dreamed it? How many times, do we try and crawl up on God's throne and say, "no, I meant life to look like this?" As Bill shared and reflected on David's writings in Psalms, we can grow in patience when we are willing to climb off the throne and trust that what God wants to do is greater than anything we could ever dream or imagine.

This week I would encourage you to look back through Psalm 40 and share with us how you have seen this passage and God's directive, of trusting and waiting upon him, has worked in your journey. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to interacting with you.