Day 31 - why I'm a lousy pastor.

Day 31 and the end of the first month of my daily blog. A day with hard emotions.
I was called to the bed side of a dear friend who was breathing his last few breathes.
Enter Gilbert the Pastor. Here is why I'm such a lousy pastor - I forgot to read the passage of the Bible I had chosen; forgot to pray with the family; and the first words I said as I walked into the quiet, anxious ICU room was "what's the old goat done now!"
The other pastors on our church staff would be so good at this kind of visit. Ann would know exactly how to pray and would visit every family member bringing comfort and putting a caring arm around them. Lonney would read a suitable Psalm and pray with the family around the bed with his calming, pastoral voice. But me - despite going to seminary twice - I miss these expected pastor actions.

But I did go. I went because Dale is my friend, a friend who God allowed me to play a small part in helping him find Jesus.

Dale is nothing like me - 65 years old, rode horses, a paid up member of the NRA, a legendary sheriff's posse, a dedicated Republican, never travelled outside of the USA, viewed anything foreign as suspicious ...and so the list could go on.

But alongside the Jesus that we shared, we shared the belief that the church must change for the sake of reaching more and more people.
I'm sure Dale hated our church music and a whole lot of other things that wouldn't appeal to his NRA conservatism - but my friend never complained, or even hinted that he didn't like the new things. Rather, over an enchilada style burrito we talked about life, politics and the church being alive to a new generation.

It was a strange friendship. I'm sure staff at our local Mexican restaurant called Daniel's must have wondered who this old goat was with Gilbert.

And because of all this, and because of all our history - I'm sure Dale would have expected me to walk in calling him an old goat and forgetting to do what most pastors do ......in one way because that's what he always liked - "do it differently Gilbert, keep us surprised."

Now that kind of pastor I can be and that was the kind of friend Dale was.

Who would have thought my red blooded, gun loving, 'Obama and the Democrats are everything that are wrong with this nation', duck hunting, big truck driving friend would have had me as his favorite pastor.

Who would have thought I'd have become a normal pastor?

Day 30 - still learning about grace.

Day 30 and I've spent the day reading (while catching up on Premier League football).
In particular I read the book Tithing: Test Me In This @ Douglas Leblanc. The key idea that spoke to me was the idea that the tithe (giving 10% of income to God) are the training wheels that get you going on the path of giving. If you can capture the spirit of what God is asking and it becomes a reality in your life, you can forget about tithing.

Becoming a generous person.

I still have the tendency to take biblical teaching and make it into a legal transaction. I've fought against this bias for many years with some degree of success (grace a huge reality in my life both towards others and living in it myself), but despite that progress, I still can lean to legalism. This afternoon I discovered that I've leaned too much towards legalism in my tithing.

We tithe - have done so since we attended seminary in Scotland. We learned to do so out of our poverty (relatively speaking). We had a mere $4000 per year to live off of and yet during this time we learned that giving 10% of our precious income to God was not only the right thing to do but the best thing to do. We placed our financial survival fully in God's hands.

But over the years our tithe has not moved much from the 10% principle. We give to our children's charity beyond our tithe, but the 10% tithe has remained our baseline.
This afternoon's reading has challenged me on seeing the baseline increase in 2010.

Jesus repeatedly said "you have heard that it was said, but I say unto you". Constantly Jesus took grace and says grace asks for more.

My follow of Jesus today was to learn from Him.
Tomorrow's must be to act on the learning ......especially when the offering basket passes me during the service.

Day 29 and hopefully normal service is resumed.

Day 29 and hopefully back to normal - no more flights through multiple time zones, no more erratic internet connections, no more jet-lag. Good to be home.
All I can do is ask you to trust me that in the days my blog fell silent, I truly did try to live intentionally in following Jesus. When you are in a foreign country surrounded by poverty and disease - the mind and your discipleship is very focused.

So I re-enter America - surrounded by comfort, no persecution, gadgets and help at my fingertips, distractions all around me to tug me away from self denial to self indulgence, everything to have no need of daily faith ......but also every opportunity to live a deeply devotional and bold life of faith.

Today - I shared my faith with my hairdresser.

Tomorrow - I hope to choose wisely.

Day 24 - and alongside some searching questions I forgave a German lady!

Day 24 and sorry that I've missed a few ...something to do with African internet access and matatu traffic!
The past few days hve been very powerful. If poverty is not the lack of money, but the lack of options then the work that the Furaha Community Centre are doing in the Huruma slum is incrdible. Four leaders and some excellent teachers who had the options to leave the slum - stayed to give orphans that option. This is incarnational Christianity.
This definition of poverty redefines Jesus. He became poor - He gave up His options for the sake of others.
So for the past few days this is the question that has been piercing me - "what options am I not willing to give up in my following of Jesus?"

The past few days have seen me ask multiple searching questions of myself. Questions about what we/I are doing in Kenya? Questions about the white man in a black continent? Questions about global Christianity without the dollar buying power? Questions about how I live?
Socrates once said "the unexamined live is not worth living" - I think this is my intentional follow of Jesus - examining my life and all that I am involved in leading.

And then today - just finished breakfast and I forgave the German lay who stole my omlette!

We head to church in a few minutes to worship in Swahili - 2 hours of understanding perhaps a few words, but joining together with some of the most courageous and worshipful people around.

Karibu.

Day 21 - Jambo!

Day 21 - I know guys, sorry I missed 2 days ...something to do with a 53 hour hounery to Kenya at 39,000ft and no Internet connection.
So for the past few days I've been flying and then today - I met some of the heroes in my life. Four young guys leading Furaha Community Centre, Huruma slum, Kenya.
WOW - these guys ooze faith.
Its been a great few days:
Travelling with next folks; getting our 560 shoes through customs ...in fact getting them to arrive in Nairobi (which is often called NiRobby!)
And as that happened - prayers of Thanksgiving to God.

Intentional living for Jesus - seekijg faith to see what God is doing here and faith enough to take the next bold step ...purchase of 10 acres in Kenya to build safe houses.
As we listened to to guys sharing their vision and standing on the soil they see as where it could happen - is my faith strong enough. Forces you to your knees asking for more faith, knowing that it not about our volume of faith, but the level of trusting the One we are placing our faith in.
Our four heroes see God as big!
Do I?
Or ......am I too rational, too analytical, too wanting to be in control.
Africa, God are teaching me lesson again of faith and trust.
I guess my intentional living is being willing to be taught these lessons.

Unsure when I'll blog again ...but hopefully by then I will have a stronger faith because I've cleared clutter and found God clearer.

Jambo!

Day 18 - the beginning of 11 intentional days, with chutzpah!

So its early on Day 18 ....but today begins eleven unusual days. I fly to Kenya today (yep, just as some more rioting happened on the streets - pray for calm in Nairobi as the minority Muslim population clash with police over the deportation of a cleric).
One thing that's for sure - when you fly 11,000 miles and arrive in the noise and poverty of Nairobi, and when you walk into the Huruma slum - your spiritual antenna is pretty high!
We've always known intense spiritual warfare when a team from Redeemer's Church heads to Kenya (and Guatemala). So this requires us to stay spiritually vigilant.
Praying for good health, praying for safety in the air and on the ground, praying for good team chemistry, praying for great conversations with our guys in Huruma, praying for Ben and his driving of our matatu (wow that is always an experience). Praying.
St Paul said something about "pray without ceasing" - this morning and the next 11 days I know what that means. You just live every breath every thought and pray it to the Throne of Grace.

Its a great way to start the year. It causes you to sharpen your intentional Jesus living. You can't go into Huruma without Jesus - not just for protection, but without Jesus we've got nothing to bring.

So ...unsure if I'll have much access to web to blog days 19 - 28 ...I'll try. But if not be sure that the next eleven days I'm not opting out of intentional following of Jesus, rather, I'm hard at it and so are the other 8 folks on the team with me!

Day 17 - what I intentionally didn't do

Day 17 and its raining in Reedley. Our family love it - Scottish and all that. you know it rains on average 220 days a year in Scotland (I think this alone disproves evolution - Scottish people should have webbed feet by now!); it rains maybe 20 days a year in Reedley ...so this is a good day.

Praying that it stays dry in Haiti - so many homeless, rain would be disastrous both in spreading disease and bringing even more discomfort.

So today I intentionally worshipped God. I especially found the song we sang called "Humble King" as so helpful to not only declare who this God is, but who this God stands alongside - the poor, the needy, the distraught.

I intentionally was careful with my words and my appearance. I didn't want anything to distract people from seeing how incredible Rabbi Jesus is.
This is such a simple things, but I think significant.
I got up and wanted to wear a certain top - but I know the top might distract peoples attention - but I wanted people to focus on the right thing.
Then, during our service as I thanked a neat guy for what he shared I could have made a joke or two about him - but I didn't want attention to come to me but to Christ - so I paused on any humor and spoke about something deeply spiritual that involved my friend.
I intentionally didn't distract people from Jesus.

Amongst the busy of a church teaching day - it was what I didn't do that for me was clearly my intentional following of Jesus.

Day 16 - ski, snow and God.

Day 16 and I spent it with my youngest son skiing/boarding as I'm gone for his birthday (again - aargh!).
The sky was brilliant blue, the snow immaculate white and we had fun ....and only one fall which was off piste and it didn't hurt my neck.

So as I sat on the ski lift heading to 7000 ft my mind went to the Bible verse "I lift my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Maker of Heaven and Earth."

Days like today help me remember how incredible a Maker our God is. I know creation is limited in revealing God - I know it can't reveal His Salvation - but when you see it on a day like today - wow!

So I sat on the chair and tried to worship, tried to help my mind enjoy God.

But I could only manage a mediocre worship with creation. My day was about being with my son and having fun, laughter, speed, jumps, togetherness. Most of my focus was on that - every ski lift ride, every standing waiting on the lift, every pause as we skied and he snowboarded down loads of runs. Today was about Luke.

And as I spent time with Luke he reminded me of how incredible a Maker our God is. He made this amazing kid with humor, fun, daring and insight.

So yep - the scenery, the blue ski and the snow revealed God - but today I saw Him more in the personality of my son .....and that helped me worship Him more.

Day 15 - ten virgins.

Day 15
Friday is always a day when I have deep thoughts. Hopefully most of them are spiritual deep thoughts. thoughts of God, Thoughts of Scripture. But sometimes probably they are just deep thoughts - and deep only to me.
Its the day I write my Sunday preach. That's what I call it and I'm told others call it a Sunday sermon or a Sunday message - but for me its a preach - it's not just information or exegesis - it is an experience that moves people.

Most of my thougths today involve catechism. Learning the faith. Did you know that by the age of 10 all Jewish boys would know the Torah by heart. Some of them would go further and by 14 some would have memorized all of the Hebrew Scriptures.

Got me thinking about how you can know the Scriptures but miss God. But as I had that thought I realised it was a guilt reaction caused by my own failure to have memorized even one Gospel let alone four of them.

Way back when I was 10 years old I did memorise Matthew 25 to win a prize at church. The weird thing was - why did the leader set Matthew 25 as the passage we all had to memorize - The Parable of the Ten Virgins!! Weird .... there must be less boy giggly passages to memorize that one about 'virgins'.

But apart from that concentrated passage - I can't say I've done much large scale memorization.

I can find my way around the New Testament and large chunks of the Old Testament. I can tell you most theological positions with regards to the Bible; I can give an overview of every Bible book; I can debate most debatable points of the Scriptures - but I can't say I've memorized it.

Does this mean its not 'in' me?

And it should be.

So here's my intentional follow of Jesus today - commit to commit to memory more Scripture this year than in any other year.
I think I'll start with the Matthew 25 passage again and see if my boyish giggles are still there.

Day 14 - busy.

Two weeks into 2010 - Day 14.
Today was just busy.
From the moment I reached my desk to the moment I walked away - and still busy when I got home.
Busy.
Not just busy with things to do, but busy with my mind - lots of thinking happening.
Busy.
Just one of those kind of days.
Too bad busyness is not godliness!
Busy.
Spoke to Bruce in Germany; spoke to Ben in Kenya; spoke to Raymond in Britain; spoke to Ann in my office.
Watched images of Haiti.
Busy - read first hand accounts, watched CCTV footage of the quake actually happening, read requests for help from various Christian relief organizations.
Can't imagine how busy relief staff must be. Can't imagine how busy people helping on the ground in Haiti must be.
Busy.
Makes you ask questions about what my busy has accomplished.
Spinning wheels, pushing paper, putting out fires, endless genealogies?
Busy.
Did I feel what I did today mattered, added worth or value?
Busy.
Busy for good, or busy just being busy?
Busy.

Wonder if people would say Jesus was busy.
Did he rush, multitask, always have something to do, somebody to see?

I'm not for one minute thinking his busy wasn't good busy; and I'm sure his busy was always productive, always adding value.

Busy.

Is my restlessness about my busy day - because I think it wasn't productive, or of value; or, is it because I don't have much to show for my busy; or, and I think this is the one - my busy has stopped me from being who i most need to be on a Thursday?

Thursday is the day before I write.
It's a day when I need to be creative.
Busy and creative are contradictions (for me).
The busy I needed to be was a busy that included solace, quiet, space. That kind of busy didn't show up today.

So I finish frustrated. I was busy, even adding value busy - but what my busy needed to deliver, didn't deliver ...and that means tomorrow is another busy day.

and in that busy ......here's hoping some of it, if not all of it - was for God's Glory ......in my intentional busy.

Day 13 - inequilibrium.

Day 13.....and thanks for the concern over my neck. Doing remarkably well - the fear of another 'man massage' is obviously working!

Strange day.
I found myself travelling back from Sacramento without my usual music or teaching CD's playing but rather contemplating and thinking in silence. Ended up humming the tune to the simple song "Count your Blessings", a song I grew up with. The lyrics include:
"Count your blessings;
name them one by one;
and it will surprise you
what the Lord has done."

So I did. This was my intentional follow of Jesus today.
I began to recount the multiple ways that God today blessed me - breath to breathe; food to eat; safety as I drove the mad CA-99 (although I must admit I look nervously in my rearview mirror at every stop light!); ability to think and engage in good discussions; car to drive; family to return to; health; great colleagues; and many more.
Wow - how many days am I too busy or distracted to fail to see all that God has done. Great little song.

But then as I sang the song and thanked God for His blessings it hit me hard that my mind was on this simple song - on the same day that thousands of Haitians felt as though God was nowhere and had withdrawn His blessings. A 7.0 earthquake and millions homeless, injured and thousands dead.

Fortunately, our friend Lucson who lives in Haiti is safe - but as I sang about God's blessings I struggled to thank Him for my blessings as I cried out to Him to help Haiti.
I head to bed still processing this.
The inequilibrium of reality. The tension of faith that this creates. The surrender through mixed/confused emotions to a God who is bigger than me.
I know I can through a theology around this tension - but my theological theory seems so inadequate ...and so for me the tension remains.

I end the day wondering why that song came to my mind on such a dreadful day.

In faith and sadness I surrender Haiti to God, as well as my tension.

Day 12 - no swearing allowed.

Day 12 sees me not swear!
I guess that's an intentional step in following Jesus.
Now I don't swear normally - except to shock my mother in law - always fun to drop in a risky on the edge kinda word around "mom" .....confirms everything she warned Carolyn about before we got married. But I don't normally swear.

I can remember twice when something slipped out.
Once I had been painting our boys bedroom (next to yard work painting is my idea of punishment) and as we neared the end of a long day the ladder and my paint tin fell and something came out that shouldn't have - and two small kids were standing at the doorway rather shocked.
The second time was also with my boys. This time they weren't little. I had jumped in Daniel's truck to move it and in his stereo was music with some bad lyrics on it. I grabbed the CD and waited. Came home from work the next day and to the absolute shock of both our boys and my wife I told them I had had a @#@#@#@ bad day ...and then continued to use this particular explicit 4 or 5 more times - with eyeballs now popping out of everyones heads wondering what had happened. I then said "I assume the F-word is OK in our family because I heard it in our truck last night!" The tactic worked and regret was expressed and iPods were cleared of any other junk!

Today swearing was back on the agenda - my whiplash from yesterday now needed physiotherapy .....aaargh!!!!!!
With his elbow digging into my back he did me in. Kneading and deep tissue massaging - he hurt me ......but I did not swear - not even in the inside!!!!

Yep - it might be a small win, but it was a win for sanctification and something deeper going on inside of me.
As for the neck ....endured a 3 hour drive to Sacramento - prayer, physio and 500mg of something powerful!!

Day 11 - perspective is important.

Day 11 - and my spirituality was sorely tested, literally.
We have a staff policy - male staff and female staff cannot travel together in the same car if only two of them. Kenya planning lunch at Costa Dorada with some other Kenya trekkers saw me head there driving ahead of our Media Arts Director in her raised, bigger than anyone needs F150 truck. Boom ....truck hits 1991 van, only one winner.....and my precious van driven from Chicago has not only now no windows that work, no AC that works - but now no tailgate that works and no rear window either!
As for my neck - ouch it doesn't work now either.

So much for our policy aimed at protecting!

My spiritual test of the day - keep things in perspective.

So after still doing Kenyan planning lunch; and after sweeping the glass away and having help from others to put nice plastic over the large hole in the rear of my van, and some pretty red stuff to make my lights legal...I headed out to a leadership group talking about new perspective .....the new postmodern reality of society around us.

Spiritual intentionality of the day apart from keeping things in perspective - make sure our faith is asking the right questions. Failure to ask questions, failure to question everything makes for weak following of Christ who himself questioned everything.

Perspective - its only an old van.
Perspective - its bringing the right Christ rightly to the real reality.

Away to bed with ice on my neck.

Day 10 - I've done absolutely nothing.

Day 10.
So if you listened to my preach this morning and decided to check out my daily blog -welcome, and today's underpants were also made in Honduras ('cos they're the same pair as the other day - freshly washed!)
Sunday. Preached on the Ritual of Altar Making. Came home.
Felt like a simple preach with not great theological content - but if people grasped that maybe if they stopped / slowed down to build the altar/memorial that in itself could be the best help they give their spiritual formation in 2010.

Or ...maybe I'm trying to justify the stopping I've done all afternoon. Discovered Yogurt Coated Raspberry Liquorice from Australia (via Target) and ate the whole packet as I played on my Netbook and finished off watching Kelly's Heroes 40th anniversary showing (a young Clint Eastwood and Kiefer Sutherland's dad!) I've done nothing all afternoon.

The Sabbath principle is "stopping" principle. A day of stopping, doing nothing, and reminding yourself that the world is still spinning; sun rising, sun setting etc, etc .....and your stopping reminds you that you have absolutely no role in it. You are stopped - producing nothing - and eac Shabbath is God's way of helping you and me have an honest appreciation of who we are and more importantly who we aren't.
Yep - my intentional Christ following today was to do nothing!!

Day 9 - what I didn't do.

Day 9. Saturday. The day before I preach. Does my intentionality today make a difference tomorrow?
Boys at winter camp so a date Saturday with Carolyn. Nice.
Bible study with some guys at 7am - that's devoted living.
Clean my office - a late new year task.
Watch Man Utd draw with Birmingham City - both managers old friends - unsure who I wanted to win.
Went to Fresno.
Held doors open for people at shops - but that's just mannerly.
Washed my hands after being at the restroom - in the minority but that's just the way my mother raised me.
Ate healthy at Panera Bread - that's just sensible.
Watched a clean movie "Leap Year" - why do the Yanks like the Irish so much - it could easily have been set in Scotland - looks exactly like Ireland - but with less Guinness.

But when you add it up - been mannerly, hygienic, healthy and careful - but so are hundreds of other people who don't claim to follow Christ.

What have I done today to help me follow Christ?

I guess its perhaps best today seen in what I didn't do. The sins I didn't commit. And maybe somedays that it. Yep its better to do things, but somedays it not maybe the doing, but what you didn't do.

I didn't cuss. I didn't cheat. I wasn't a sloth. I wasn't a glutton. I didn't lie etc, etc.

Today was a quiet, honest day - enjoying some down time with my wife and doing it simply and honestly.

Maybe tomorrow it will be a big doing day - but today .....I'm signing off on a day when what I didn't do was important.

Day 8 - my underpants are bothering me even more!

Day 8 - the start of my second week and my underpants book is messing with my brain.
Say I agree with all he's saying (thanks Kelsey for blogging back to me) and my underpants were made in a sweat shop by a 9 year old getting 10cents a day - should I stop buying them; should I start a petition to have them pay the kids a decent wage; should I start a petition to have them stop using kids to make them; should I stop wearing underpants!!
What do you do with the knowledge you gain?
Say I read 5 books a months - 60 books a year and I gain vast amount of new, knowledge - what do I do with it all?

Take the underpants issue. We help children in Kenya, Guatemala, Tijuana - are we really helping them? Kelsey Timmerman raises this question in his book - child labor is wrong, but with the money they make they keep a family so do we stop child labor and make more families go hungry or do we fight for better rights - which more often than not don't happen and the kid is out of a job .....what does justice look like that helps the child?

Intentional following Jesus action of Day 8 - cry out to God for wisdom.
I just don't have the answer and this book (along with other thougths and reading I'm doing) are causing me endless questions - but questions that in 2010 I must find an answer for. So my only deliberate action today "God, help me; give me wisdom that you promise in James 1; help me know the best course of action not only with my underpants but with When I Grow Up and our children's charity (www.whenigrowup-global.com)."

Day 7 - wish it was Day 8 already!

Day 7 and a day full of interruptions.
People seeing my blue van in the parking lot and decided "let's go and talk to Gilbert." Phone calls with people about things we've already talked about ....but hey Gilbert's doing nothing anyway. Emails from people with things that I don't need to know about, but hey Gilbert's got time to read the email!
Yep one of those days when my plans and my timeline for accomplishing them got hijacked.

So I diligently and kindly engaged with each visit, each phone call, and each email .....intentionally following Jesus.

Has my venting on the blog negated any of my diligent kindness - or was it negated anyway as it was only on the surface ..underneath I was annoyed ......oops there's another phone call, another interruption even as I try to get this blog written.

I remember one day preaching that Jesus was the master at living with interruptions - and living with them unfazed!
Day 7 not turning out to be my best following Jesus day .....especially if following Jesus is supposed to be about doing the things that He would do.
I mean I fully believe in him. I've prayed to Him today, read the Bible today, worked for him today ..I just haven't followed Him today!!
Aargh.
That's so hard to write.
I mean - does the believe, prayer, Bible reading not count for anything???
In truth - no!
If I haven't handled the things that have come my way the way the one I'm meant to be following would have handled them - and I doubt he would have told anyone to 'buzz off can't you see I'm busy'!!

I did decide today to stop worrying about the three things that I worry the most about - my health, my boys and growing old!
My health - in God's hands; my boys - in God's hands also, and, growing old - in God's hands as well.
So at mile 7 as I ran today I made that decision - no more worrying over these three.
but just as sure as I'd had that victory for faith in Jesus moment - along came the guilt tripping question as to why I don't worry over not reaching enough people with the Gospel; why we're not making a bigger dent in world poverty; why I don't worry over what acts of justice I could fight for in Jesus name.
My three silly worries have now been replaced with guilt over why I'm not worrying about the things I really should be worried about.

So Day 7 ....I'm glad your about finished ....here's to a better Day 8 at being a "slow down, breath, enjoy interruptions as God appointments, worry about the right things Christ follower.

Day 6, and I discovered my underpants were made in Honduras!

Day 6 and I'm back from Tacoma and its very Scottish weather - loved it.
Got my first new book of 2010 delivered today "Where Am I Wearing: A Global Tour to the Countries, Factories, and People that Make Our Clothes" @ Kelsey Timmerman.
The book starts with these words: I was made in America. My 'Jingle These' Christmas boxers were made in Bangladesh. I had an all-American childhood in rural Ohio. My all-American blue jeans were made in Cambodia. I wore flip-flops everyday for a year when I worked as a Scuba diving instructor in Key West. They were made in China. One day while staring at a pile of clothes on the floor, I noticed the tag of my favorite T-shirt: Made in Honduras." I read the tag. My mind wandered. A quest was born.
Enjoying it - and its not only about sweat shops - an interesting look at globalization.

.....so my do something deliberate every day in being a Christ follower. I looked at my labels - made in Mexico, made in Honduras, made in bangledesh, made in China, and one label where its worn off!

For many years (in fact since I got involved with Operation Mobilization while a pastor in Scotland) I've made a lot about us being global Christians. The flat world of the 21st century hands our generation the huge responsibility to be global. Everywhere is reachable within a 36 hour journey. The Gospel can go further - easier and quicker - then in any other time in history - being a global Christian is our history!

So today my family and some others packed 550 pairs of shoes to take to Kenya in 12 days time. I emailed a Christian friend in Holland, spoke to my younger brother in Scotland about a friend he is sharing the Gospel with, sent a Skype message to my dear friends Jake and Renee in Guatemala, emailed my dear friend David in Kenya - and prayed that God would make 2010 a significant year in us helping those we know in Kenya, Guatemala and Mexico ...as well as open new doors perhaps in Haiti and eslewhere.

I'll tell you more of the book when I get it finished. I'll keep you posted on how I/we delierately take a firmer hold of the global baton and do something more with it for the global Kigndom of God in the next 358 days.
I wonder what that might mean for my clothes as well as for the clothes of many of the orphans we're involved with??

Day 5 at 36000 feet and in Tacoma.

So Day 5 and I sit in Tacoma Washington. Can't say I did bible devotions when I got up this morning at 4am. Do true Christ followers rise at 4 every morning?? I used to read biographies of heroes of the faith who rose at 5am and prayed for 2 hours before they did anything. That's never really worked for me - and then it clicked that they rose at 5 because they called it a day at 8pm each night as they had no heating or electricity!
So at 4 this morning I drove myself to airport and in my fog I forgot to pray!
But then energy kicked in and on the plane I listened to some worship music and really concentrated on using the Christ exhalting lyrics to truly worship at 36000ft.
Wanted to nap but chose instead to read a book on spiritual formation - helpful and with my worship singing some intentional acts of following Christ.
Had some good "church & theology" talk with church staff here in Tacoma.
Walked a mall for 2 hours to get exercise inbetween meetings that finish at 9pm tonight - and in my walk enjoyed the sample from See's Candy - again deliberate Christ following - did not splurge on more candy and damage my body which is the temple of the Holy Spirit (as St Paul put it).
So more meetings- including a Pentecostal prayer meeting then bed and fly early tomorrow.
Yep Day 5 I felt like I truly chose deliberate ways to deliberately follow Christ in the midst of a long church consulting day.
Here's to Day 6 coming.

Day 4 - nice discipleship!

Day 4 already. Learned something very precious today "God wants to redeem our lives not exchange them." This is especially precious when doing a blog like this and you discover that your discipleship is rather bland.
Its nice, but not great.
Its certainly not very radical - so at this point in my year I have to classify it as nice!
Yuck.
Take today for example.
Let the boys take the car and gave them money to finish off Christmas holidays skiing - lots of dads would do this and even dads that don't profess to be disciples of Jesus Christ.
Started today on my knees as I committed the recurrence of my health issues back to God and his healing - faith not fear.
Opened the Scriptures and sought God.
Did a random and anonymous act of kindness.
Worked hard.

Its nice discipleship, but hardly revolutionary, 'conquer the world for Jesus' kind of discipleship.

So Day 4 ends .......fly to Seattle tomorrow - hopefully I'll be more radical than nice!

Day 3 - doesn't get any easier on a Sunday.

Day 3.
So you would think this would be easier being Sunday and I'm a pastor.
But really?
Many people can preach, in fact there have been times I've preached but not lived it - cancels out any good in the preaching.
I guess today one of the better things is I started the year preaching about grace.
A distinctively Christian doctrine.
Grace.
Grace.
Grace.
If someone could grasp it and live in it - sweet.
But come back to my desire - take time everyday to do something deliberate in being a follower of Christ.
I tipped our lunch waitress 20% (great food at Costa Dorada's - check it out if you live in Reedley); I showed a clip of Susan Boyle - an great example of Kingdom of God values being outworked; I got up early, sat on the side of my bed and committed this day and all that would come my way in it to God and His Grace.
Yep - I preached and everybody looked at me as the pastor/teacher who is following Jesus, but I'm hoping that my following went beyond words, even although the words were about how magical grace is. I'm hoping some kindness, a listening ear, a surrendering prayer were Day 3's examples of intentional Christ following.

Day 2 - and I haven't quit!

Day 2 .......at least I didn't quit after one day.
Ran this morning (body the temple of the Holy Spirit); did some yard work (caring for creation in honor of its Creator); let Daniel go and play golf despite that changing our plans; ate lunch with Luke and talked life - but I guess many other people did the exact same and didn't put it under the banner of deliberately following Jesus!
But - as I took down our Christmas cards I kept the photo of my new friend Ralph. Took time to pray for him and his wife Susan & family. Ralph is in a wheelchair. I took time to specifically pray for his healing - that nerves and muscles would work again. That he and Susan would know God's presence and his power in this new year.
"God - may you come in miracle healing power and do what only you can do. Amen"

Day One of 2010

It's Day 1 of a new decade, a new year.
Welcome to 2010.
I think I ended 2009 pretty well on the relational side - I sat and watched a movie all about cooking right up to the end of the year and the start of a new one! That's love.
So a new decade.
Been thinking about how in a 12-step recovery program everyday you ask the question "what have I done today to help my recovery?" So got me thinking that for this new year (all 365 days) I should blog everyday on what I did today to help me live as a Christ follower.
Could be an interesting blog.
Can I count my willingness to watch a really bad movie which ended 20 minutes into this new year as my contribution for Day 1? Or does my bragging of my devotion to my wife's wishes negate it.
So Day 1 .......let the boys take our car to skiing (kindness in Jesus name); stayed home with my wife so she wasn't alone on the 1st (deny self in Jesus name), but maybe the first step of doing something on January 1, 2010 was to begin this blog and take a deliberate step in being daily intentional in following Christ.
One day down - 364 to go!