The Core

For the past 10 years I've had the privilege of training and encouraging youth workers all over the world through an interactive training seminar from Youth Specialties called The CORE. This spring I'll be traveling again and would love to see you! Please come up and introduce yourself...tell me you read my blog and I'd love to talk some more! Here are the cities and dates of my 2008 SPeaking Tour:

2/23 - San Diego
2/29 - Tri Cities
3/1 - Nashville
3/7 - Columbia, SC
3/8 - Kansas City, KS
3/29 - St. Louis, MO
4/5 - Jacksonville, FL
4/12 - Hartford, CT
4/26 - Virginia Beach, VA
5/3 - Toronto, CA

I'm excited about what God's going to do through this year's tour! We're talking about CHANGE in students and youth workers and it would be great to have you involved in the conversation. You can register at www.youthspecialties.com

Last Post of the Year...Changes are coming!

Well this will be it for the year...and what a year its been! Like everyone else, there have been lots of ups and lots of downs, but its been exciting to see God working through it all! I've been blessed in so many ways: My Savior loves me and pursues a relationship with me daily, My wonderful wife and I have enjoyed 16+ years of marriage and are looking forward to many more, My kids are growing up and learning to love Jesus on their own, My extended family know and love the Lord and dedicate themselves to pursuing His Kingdom. What more could a guy ask for?

Here's what I'm looking forward to in 2008...
1. Growing closer to Jesus by dedicating myself to seriously studying His Word in depth as often as I can. I also want to learn how to fast and pray!
2. Modeling Christ's love for my family by serving them with Jesus' love.
3. Going on a mission trip with my entire family to Nicaragua to serve the poor (But probably more so for what God wants to do in each of us!)
4. My fist book comes out on January 4 and I'm excited to see what God will do with it to change lives.
5. I want to learn to live in community with a few other men who will love me and encourage me and get in my face on stuff and who will allow me to do the same for them.
6. I'm excited about a web project a friend and I are working on in 2008. I believe it has tremendous potential to help people by using cutting edge technology and the Word of God. Stay tuned for more information...

Of course I can't do any of this on my own. I need your help Lord. So I pray for your will to be done on earth - right here where I'm at...just like it is already being done there in Heaven where You're at!

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog this year. I look forward to what God will do through this little tool in 2008.

Happy New Year!

Letting Go

A friend shared the following words with me today from the Henri Nouwen Society. They reminded her of my last post and I loked them so much I had to pass them along...

Giving Permission to Die

One of the greatest gifts we can offer our family and friends is helping them to die well. Sometimes they are ready to go to God but we have a hard time letting them go. But there is a moment in which we need to give those we love the permission to return to God, from whom they came. We have to sit quietly with them and say: "Do not be afraid ... I love you, God loves you ... it's time for you to go in peace. ... I won't cling to you any longer ... I set you free to go home ... go gently, go with my love." Saying this from our heart is a true gift. It is the greatest gift love can give.

When Jesus died he said: "Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit" (Luke 23:46). It is good to repeat these words often with our dying friends. With these words on their lips or in their hearts, they can make the passage as Jesus did.

Henri Nouwen continues to influence my spiritual journey well after his own death. Thank you Lord for the gift of spiritual mentors who breathe into my life.

A Time to Die

There's a time for everything in life...including death. As part of my "offical" duties as a Pastor, I spend time visiting people in the hospitals, nursing homes, officiating at funerals, etc. Well this morning I had the opportunity to visit a man from my congregation who is 80 years old and was sitiing in a nursing home waiting to die. I've got to admit - that's tough stuff! It's hard to find anything to talk about. It's hard for him to even have the energy to carry on a conversation I imagine. But one thing I said brought a twinkle to his eye. I said, You're ready to go home and be with Jesus aren't you?" And he responded by saying, "I sure am."

When my friend arrives in heaven, he will receive a new body for the rest of eternity. His pain will be gone. He will have a new source of energy that will allow him to live the way he was really designed to live form the very beginning. I could see it in his eyes: He couldn't wait for that day! And neither can I! Why do we avoid talking about death and dying? Why does it scare us so much? Why don't we look forwrad to it like we look forward to being with an old friend we haven't seen in such a long time? Maybe it's teh fear of the unknown...Maybe it's something else...But I pray that God gives me the faith to see what He has in store for me in the afterlife! How about you?

A Lot to Be Thankful For...

Little things...

Like a warm day...

Or a Deep Blue Sky...

My Health. My Family. My Freedom. My God.

Thank-you!

Friends?

What does a good friend look like? What commitments are made between two people to cause them to call their relationship a "friendship"? And what happens when someone breaks one of those commitments?

I recently had a friend who made a major life decision without including me in the decision-making process at all. We got together and my friend told me about the decision which had already been made. I have no idea why this casued me so much hurt and disappointment, but it did. It caused me to re-think our friendship - not just ours, but al lof my "friendships". What does a true friendship really look like anyway? Is it just time spent together? Or are there certain commitments two people make to each other that you don't go back on no matter what?

When I get hurt like this, my initial reaction is to pull everything in and not open up so much to anyone. I don't want to take the risk of getting hurt again I suppose. But I know that's not the right instinct. I have to keep opening up and pursuing friends. I need people who will be there for me. People need me to be there fo rthem. This life is meant to be lived in community with other people who stay committed to one another through thick and thin. But those relationships are just really hard to find. And even when you think you've found one, I'm discovering that you can't be too sure.

I'm glad the Scripture promises me that I have a "friend who sticks closer than a brother" in Jesus Christ. He has never left me. He has never gone back on His commitments to me. He will never let me down. I pray that I can be as good of a friend to the people who call me their friend! Help me Jesus. Help me...

What Do You Really Want?

Recently someone asked me how I was doing and I told them I felt "bored" with life. Things seemed so predictable and so mundane. This person told me, "Maybe you should go out there and do what you want to do for awhile. Maybe you need to be turned loose to your desires." That was an interesting thought to me. What are my desires? What do I relaly want? If I got down the road in my mind or in my ideal fantasy world, would I really want to live there? Or if I lived there for awhile, would I gain a greater appreciation for who I am and what I have in this world today? Let's just say that I've walked down that road in my mind...that road that always seems like it's better than the road I'm on right now...and it's a dead-end. It always leads me back to reality and all of the ways I've been blessed in my real world...right here, right now...today. God, thank-you for helping me learn the "secret" of contentment. Help me to be present in my world today! One day at a time depending upon you and living gratefully for everything you are and everything you do for me this day.