New Year

I am looking forward to 2008. 2007 was a year of transition for my family. Here are the changes we experienced.
We left Parkway church in Victoria, Texas after 15 years of ministry there. This is the church I founded and watch grow for a small group into a regional church of thousands impacting the whole world. It was an honor to serve those people and watch God do an amazing thing. They have experienced much pain in the transition from me to the next leader but God is good.
My dad went to be with the Lord. This was the hardest transition. We are still recovering as a family knowing that we will never be over his passing. God is helping us. I believe that God moved us from Texas in preparation for this big transition. Had we not have moved I would have missed several special lunches with dad and many life changing conservations. He was worried about me leaving the comfort of the existing church to start over. In his worry he chose to support and encourage me. I have always made my dad nervous with my risk taking.
We left my daughter, Calah, in Texas. She is going to UT and loves her life there. I hate her being so far away but I support her dreams!
We have started this new church. Things are going good but slower than I expected. God is teaching me so much about waiting on Him. I love watching people light up as they see what could and should be. Church is about relationships!
We moved into a much smaller house. This is the least of the transitions but adjusting to less space is a challenge.
In all the changes we have experienced God has not changed! I am so glad that He doesn't.
2008 will be an exciting year of growth, challenge, opportunity, and so much more. I can't wait to see what God will do!

Relationships

These are my kids. Caleb and Calah at ages 5 and 7. That is our dog Ming Calah has by the neck. Ming had a hard life! I found this photo today and was reminded how fast life moves forward. The carefree days of childhood soon become the challenges of adulthood.

During this season hug more, fuss less, cry openly, laugh loud, and love deeply from the heart. Relationships make life rich.

I would love to have my kids back at this age for one more day. Maybe that's why God gives us grandchildren!

Christmas

Tara and her sister Elisa hit the stores early today. Why? 70% off baby! I love my wife and I love my sister in-law. When they get together it is full on fun. I love when Elisa and Sam (her husband) come for a visit. They bring such joy and closeness with them.
Tara and Elisa can do some serious shopping. I think it is more about being together than it is about the bargains, but 70% off, wow! It worth getting up at 5 for that!
Relationships make life rich. I know you have read that before but it is true. Christmas reminds me of this deep truth. I am learning to cherish the gift of people.
Tara gave me an amazing gift this year. My brother found several photographs of my dad and Tara had them framed. When I opened them all I could do was cry. I was reminded what a great dad I had. My life is rich because I have a dad who loves me and even death can't separate that love. I really miss him and this Christmas season has brought my grieving to a greater depth. My sadness is being replaced with my father's legacy. I am being to understand the power of a father's love and I long to extend that love to my kids and then to their kids.
I am also understanding the greatest gift I can give the people I pastor is my heart. I must lead them like a father. 27 years of leading has taught me that folks can be difficult, hurtful, and down right mean, but I must love them anyway. Relationships make life rich.
So, Tara and Elisa hit the stores early. They are making their lives rich, kind of.....

Christmas

This is Christmas eve and the air is thick with what might be! I love this day as we prepare to celebrate Christ's birth. We have great plans with our family all centered around food and kids. I know we will have a blast. I pray that you will seize the wonder of this day and drink deeply of the love of God. Merry Christmas!

Christmas

Have you every waited for something or someone. We all have, it seems that the longest hours of our lives is spent waiting. This becomes more evident at Christmas, we wait. We wait for Santa, we wait for family to arrive, we wait in lines while shopping, we wait in traffic, and we wait for dinner. ‘Ti's the season to be waiting.
The accompanying emotion with waiting is anticipation. As we wait we start getting “antsy” about what might be. It is part of the human condition. Thinking about this can you imagine waiting your whole life? How about waiting for generation after generation, the Old Testament is just that, the people of God were waiting for the arrival of messiah. The prophets had described him and the people anticipated his arrival. When he slipped onto the scene they missed him. Look at this ……
"All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’)." Isaiah 7:13
Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies about himself. The odds of him fulfilling just 8 prophecies are astronomical but 300 are unreal! There is no doubt that he was God in flesh! Jesus was worth the wait!

Christmas

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year …the MOST wonderful time of the year. Christmas captures our attention and our heats like no other time.
As a child I thought Christmas was all about me. I have many great memories of Christmases past. As an adult I haved learned that Christmas is not about me but about what God is doing in the world. Our sins sent a Savior
You see God is a both and God. He is for you and he is for us … the whole world.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in Him will not parish but will have everlasting life.” John 3:16
The season is made wonderful by the wonderful God of rescue.
As you scurry around this season let the love of God flood your heart. Ti's the season to love and be loved!

Jesus

God has given us so many wonderful things in our lives, our relationships with family and friends, this world and its beauty, a church family, and so much more. But the greatest gift He has given us is Himself. God showed us how much He loves us by dying on the cross then He revealed that He is God by raising from the dead.
The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most accurately documented event in all of human history, but it is not the facts of history that leads us to a life built by God. It is personally accepting Jesus as Lord. Most of us have been exposed to religion, but Christmas is about a personal relationship with God. That relationship changes everything, your relationships, your life direction, and your eternal destiny. When you give yourself to Jesus Christ everything changes.
God has given Himself to you so celebrate this season by giving yourself to Him. The most powerful prayer you can pray is "Jesus, I am yours".
Come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!

Family trees

Family trees are very interesting. It seems no matter how noble you think your kinfolk are, reality just does not prove it so.
I know in my family, my mother's side prides itself in having a preacher in successive generations since the 1700's. They are also very proud of being southern aristocracy, daughters of the revolution and confederacy. However, their impressive legacy includes slave owners and a genetic malformation that comes from venereal disease.
My dad’s family are descendants of the Creek Indian nation from the Chief Red Eagle. Wow! But there is a long line of horse thieves, murders, and various crooks with a few preachers thrown in. I have been forced to face the facts that my family is dysfunctional.
In the book of Matthew we find a list of Jesus’ earthly family tree. As I look at this list of folks I am overwhelmed that God could save the world through this sorry lot.
Here is a short list of dysfunction. Abraham was a pagan, Jacob was a liar and cheat, Judah slept with his son’s wife Tamar, Boaz’s mother was Rahab and she was a prostitute. Ruth was not a Jew, King David was an adulterer, Solomon was a pervert and that’s just to name a few. God shows us this list to remind us that he uses broken dysfunctional people to accomplish his purposes.
Mary and Joseph were like us. They came from dysfunctional families made functional by a great God.
Take a look at your family tree this Christmas season. It might suprise you to find God can turn a mess into a blessing.

Christmas seekers

The first Christmas day dawned like so many before, mothers cooked, fathers rose to their work, and children rubbed their sleepy eyes expecting just another day of days in the town known as the House of Bread, Bethlehem. But this day was no ordinary day, for this day the God of Heaven and earth, the Ancient of Days, the Great I Am was passing near. Not for a glimpse or a moment but passing near to be born to a teenage mother and an unsuspecting Nazarene carpenter.
The King of Glory would lay aside his deity and take up residence in the most humble of dwellings, the body of a boy, a baby who would coo and cry, grow and learn, fully God bound up as fully man. God came near and we beheld His Glory. The extraordinary invading the ordinary so we could experience the love of God.
His coming was not to Kings and courts, prophets, politicians, or preachers but to the most unlikely. He came to shepherds, wise men, and outcast. God was on mission and His visitation would forever change the lives of all.
Have you seen Him? Have you found this Christmas child? Join me as we see through the eyes of those who sought him. Join me as we look through the eyes of lowly shepherds and star gazing wise men. Join me as we find Jesus and as we find Him we will find Christmas.

Reflections

Last week was a rush. I spent the week coaching and challenging church leaders and planters. In my haste I did manage to reflect on just how good God is, let me share some thoughts.
I am having more fun than I ever have! I know that my personality is a bit over the top and everything seems to be bigger and better than the last but I really am having fun.
This is the most insecure time of my life. Tara and I are out on a limb financially. We have left the comfort of the known and we are living in the God zone. If God doesn't come through we are in trouble. We are out on a limb leadership wise. I am suppose to know what I am doing in church planting. If this plant fails then I look like a fool. Oh well! If following God's call makes me a fool then a fool I will be. No shock here!
I am amazed how people respond to love. All we are doing here is loving people. We are listening, sharing, being open, and telling them the truth about God's love. People are responding and the church is growing. I am hearing stories about life change that brings glory to God and that fires me up!
God is always in front of me. Just when I think I am catching up with His provision or His vision he is out in front. He is amazing and I love serving Him.
I love Tara more than anything. She is a hero of the faith. She believes God and she believes in me. I out married myself.
Last thing, I believe that the second half of my life will be the great adventure! God is up to something big and I don't want to miss it.
I will be back to writing about Christmas tomorrow. I needed to brag on Jesus today!

Stress

I was in Austin Texas Monday leading a coaching network and on the way home I lost my phone! Yes my phone. How did we ever survive or stay connected without a cell phone. Here is the story.
I had a quick connection in Houston. If you have ever been to Houston you know that the airport is massive. I landed on one terminal and flew out of another. I had to cover the stretch in less than 20 minutes. I ran through the airport. It was not pretty. I watched mothers grab their young children and dash for cover, I saw grown men shake with amazement. I thundered through IAH desperate to make my flight home.
As I rounded the home stretch I had the dreaded announcement "last call for Tallahassee". I thought I would die as I sprinted for the closing door.
I made it but somewhere along the way my phone fell from my backpack. I discovered it as I reached into my backpack to call Tara and tell her that I made it.
My heart sank. I lost my phone and I would have to confess to my wife. I don't know which thought was worse.
The good news is that someone found it and few it to Washington D.C.. They called Tara and told her so I didn't have to confess which is always good to have someone confess for you it is so much softer. I made arrangements to get it back this morning.
So what's the point? Why do I allow such little things as cell phones rob me of the peace and joy God wants to give me. The very thing that was created to make me free to connect as enslaved me. I have gone two days phone less and it has been good. Friends who have tried to call or text have stopped by to visit. I have made relational connections face to face that would otherwise not have happened. I have even spent a little longer with God because the distraction of the phone was in D.C..
Don't get me wrong, I want my phone back but this time I will have a different view. I am reminded that the only thing God gives me permission to control is me. So I chose to use stuff and not people. I chose to connect with God and not my phone. I chose to never run through an airport again.
One other thing, I have never been to D.C. but my phone has!

Prince of Peace

The great enemy of the soul is having no peace. I really understand this reality. I am leading a church planting network and the common thread is the lack of peace. It can be called another name ... fear. When there is no peace there is fear and fear is the mother of all negative emotions. Jesus is the Prince of Peace! What does that mean?
Isaiah was writing to a group that lived under the constant threat of doom. The nation he ministered to was small and right in the middle of the ancient super powers quest for world domination. When he describes the coming Messiah as the one who brings peace a collective sigh came from all who heard.
We don't live in that political environment but we do live with fear and we need someone or something to bring us peace. Our fears today manifest themselves not as invading armies but as unrealistic demands, unmet needs, unmet expectations and many other things. I need peace and that what Jesus gives!
Unto us a child is born, unto you a child is born!

Everlasting father

I am sitting in the Austin airport waiting for a flight home and I began thinking about my dad. It is strange this grief thing. Thoughts just come from nowhere and you are crying like a baby. I am having one of those moments.
I need my dad. I would love to talk to him. There are so many things happening in my life that needs his wisdom and counsel and I just don't have it. All my life I had had the advantage of having a dad who loved me and loved God. I could always count on him. All the major decisions of my life have ran through the filter of my dad. I had a great dad and I miss him.
Here in Isaiah God is called the everlasting father. I have a God who is a dad. I have what I need in a dad who never dies, always loves, gives perfect advice, and releases his power to allow me to really live. Unto me, unto you a child is born.