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!