Lent - Day 4

If you have made it this far, then you may have found one of two things to be true. 

1. You may have found that at this point the item(s) that you were planning on giving up is a lot harder than you originally thought it would be. You may be amazed at how much of your day is run on auto-pilot where you just do what you do without thinking.  Then all of a sudden you run into your Lent offering and it stops you in your tracks. 

As a reminder, I am giving up 4 items.  The reason for four is not to outdo anyone, but each year that I have sacrificed something for Lent, I have added another item.  This year it is coffee, red meat, only watching TV when I am watching with my wife, and a fourth personal item. 

The TV and the personal item have been a much greater challenge that I originally planned.  I did not realize how often I turn the TV just to pass the time.  It is not like I paid that much attention to it, but I would use it as a stress reliever.  When I am about to turn it on, I am reminded that it has to stay off (even though Tiger Woods is playing for the first time this week and my wife does not want to watch golf with me).  Logically I should just know to grab the book I have to study, but instead I find myself frozen for a moment or two as I have to figure out what to do now.

If you are in that place, use that brief pause as a reminder to pray a prayer of thanks to a God who keeps the world moving, and an apology for the times when we have failed Him just because we were on auto-pilot.

2.  You may also find that the items that you gave up have not been as big of a deal as you thought it would be.  I went to Starbucks last night and had no trouble ordering a cup of tea rather than the coffee I normally would have ordered. (But I must admit that I had a headache for almost 48 hours as my body was adjusting to not having the coffee.) 

Giving up read meat has not been that hard since Wednesday either.  The main reason that it has not been that hard to give up red meat is because my wife and friends are aware of what I am giving up and they have been very helpful in providing other options for me.

If you have found that your sacrifice has not been that hard, then there are three things you may want to do.

• Pray a prayer of thanks that God has helped you with the strength of will to handle this adjustment.
• Perhaps you should consider either add something else to your Lent sacrifice, or bump up the intensity of the challenge.  For example, if coffee has not been a big deal, then perhaps trying to go with only water.
• Keep close watch.  It is early in the 40 days and you may find that just when you think that everything is when you will fail in a big way, which will be very demoralizing. 
  

Next week, I will share with you some things to do after you fall short.  In the mean time, I will be praying for you and hope that you are in prayer for me.

Lent Adventure - Day 3

Genesis 19:23-26 "By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land.  Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah - from the LORD out of the heavens.  Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities - and also the vegetation in the land.  But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt."

Sometimes the hardest thing is saying goodbye.  The season of Lent is a great time to consider those vices and sins that you know hold you back from being fully committed to God.  These are the habitual sins that seem to drag you down just when you feel like you are making great progress. Sometimes it is not even a sin, but just something that you know keeps you from being the man or woman God intends you to be.

For each person it may be different.  It may be alchohol, drugs, pornography, smoking or some other addictive behavior.  For others it may be anger, resentment, or the inability to forgive.

Whatever it may be for you, use this time to say goodbye to those things that hold you back and DO NOT LOOK BACK.  When we look back at what we knew so well, it will often lend itself toward falling back into the same old habits.  Say farewell and keep looking forward.

Perhaps today is the day when you start praying a prayer like, "Father, you know how this addiction or behavior has held me in slavery and kept me from being as close to you as I could be.  Free me from the slavery that I have been in, make me a slave to you and keep me from looking back." 

Then pray that prayer every day during Lent, or perhaps just everyday, period.

Lent Adventure - Day 2

I don't know why, but this post came up empty the first time.  Let's try it again.

I made it through my first day of Lent.  What I have learned so far is that I mainly function on auto-pilot.

Wednesday started like most, by getting up, going to the gym, coming home to get cleaned up, then getting ready to go to the church. Yesterday I was getting my stuff together to go to church and headed for my coffee grinder to make a french press of Sun Dried Ethiopia Sidamo coffee.  I don't normally do that in the morning, but it sounded really good, of course forbidden fruit usually does sound good. 

Before I pulled the coffee out, I remembered that I was giving it up.  No problem, I would just have a Starbucks Iced Coffee from the cans that I keep at church . . . then I remembered that Iced Coffee is still coffee.  I gave a quick prayer of thanks and recognition before heading out.

By mid-day I already had my headache for a lack of the black nectar (by the way, today's headache started before 10am). 

I knew that dinner was going to be beef enchiladas, but Sue Freisheim loves me so she fixed one pan of cheese only since she knew I was giving up beef for Lent as well.  I went through the line with my one enchilada and came to the Mexican Salad (I don't really know if that is what it was called, but it is now for our purposes).  The serving spoon was on its way to my plate when I saw it . . . small pieceds of ground beef throughout the salad, forcing me to eat a plain salad with ranch dressing.  I don't really like ranch dressing, but my wife was kind enough to tell me how good the other salad was.

After classes, we went home where I needed to do a little work on the computer.  I reached for the remote control so that I could watch some television while on the computer (I am a multi-tasker).  But wait!  No TV for me, because my wife was in the living room and I am only watching TV when we are watching the same show together.

Here is what I learned from day one.  I am amazed how often I just go through the motions of my day without even thinking about what I am doing. And I don't think that I am alone in that.

I wonder how many pains we could avoid and how much stronger we could be spiritually if we just paid more attention to our actions, causing us to be more deliberate and have greater self control.

Lent Adventure - Day 1 - Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday.  It is the first official day of Lent.  The idea is this, multiple times throughout the Bible you find people repenting of their sins and putting ashes on their heads as a sign of their repentance.  The city of Nineveh in the book of Jonah is a good example of this. 
As a way of experiencing this sign of repentance, some churches will take the dried up leaves that they used in the previous year's Palm Sunday services (Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter when many churches reenact the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem as the people waved Palm branches).
These branches are then burned, the ashes are mixed with Holy Water or oil, although I do know of other churches who will have their people write the names of some of the sins they are repentant of on slips of paper, then burn those to make the ash paste.
The priest would then make a sign of the cross or just a marking of ashes on the forehead of a repentant person.  That person then wears those ashes all day long without washing them off, for all to see their repentance.
While I don't have ashes, I do have a dark gray sweater on today to act as a symbol of the ashes for myself.  The gray reminds me that today is a day of repentance.  It is a day to remember my sins and begin to my "fast" from those items that I am giving up for Lent. 
Take some time today and pray to God a prayer of lament and repentance when you begin to crave whatever it is you have given up.  Use this time to recognize God's power over sin and His forgiveness in the face of your failures.

The Lent Adventure begins - Fat Tuesday

Fat Tuesday, Pancake Day, Carnival, Mardi Gras, whatever you call it, it is finally here! 

As we discussed on Sunday, I began looking for a way to connect with God through Easter better a few years ago, and found myself looking more an more into this season of Lent.  I admittedly balked at the idea of Lent at first.  While I am fully aware that many Lutheran's, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Orthodox, and other protestant denominations do some form of Lent fast, most that do so retain many of their Catholic roots in practice.  Churches such as Assembly of God, Baptist, Evangelical Free, Christian Church and Community Churches rarely, if ever, explore Lent specifically because it is a Catholic creation in its formation, and because it is not a practice within the Bible.  But that does not mean that there is no value we can take away from it.

Here is my plan for this year.  Today is Fat Tuesday so I will be going with the staff to enjoy a few of the things I will be giving up this season. 

I am already on my second cup of coffee (it is 9:30). I plan to use my craving for morning and after lunch coffee as a reminder to pray to the God who created the universe and the coffee beans.

I plan to have some kind of red meat today at lunch (or I may substitute ham or bacon for the red meat).  The passing of red meat is to serve as a reminder of Jesus' words that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

Television without my wife will also be passed up.  The time when I would normally be watching TV alone will be used for reading and spiritual growth.

Along with these three items, there is one thing I am giving up during this season that is just between God and myself.

It is also worth noting that I will almost always watch some TV by myself, have a cup of coffee and probably some red meat on Sundays.  I want to use these days as reminders that God has promised us that our sins are forgiven and through Him we have been set free from those things that tie us down. 

Check back regularly to see how things are going along with occasional devotional thoughts about this season.

Sunday 02-15-09 and a little of last week

What an amazing services we have had the past two weeks.  God has been doing some great stuff around here and I am so glad that He is letting me be a part of it.

• We baptized two more people this week.  Every time I see someone come up out of that water I cannot hlep but smile to see how they have chosen to die to themeselves so that God can make them a new life (according to Romans 6). 
  
• A few weeks ago someone asked me how it is that we can say what we say about immersion baptism, but then we rarely see it in our services.  The main reason is that we believe people should be baptized as soon as they are ready and not wait for the Sunday service.  But I really took the question to heart and so we have been showing videos of the baptisms during the services.  It is so powerful to see those take place and to hear the applause afterward.  If you want to see them, you can find them at our Facebook page.
• God has been bringing so many new families to our church lately and it has me both very excited and very nervous at the same time.  I am excited, obviously, that God has chosen to use us to care for and lead these people.  I am nervous because I do not want to let Him down by "playing to the crowd" or not showing them that we care deeply for them.
• I will admit some concern for where we are financially.  We are running well below our budgeted needs, which is somewhat expected in these financial times.  We have begun to make a few minor adjustments to cut costs without short-changing our ministries, but hope and pray for our giving to increase.
• Brian Henry was out of town this weekend.  I miss the guy when he is not around.  His input and feedback are so valuable and insightful.  We are all really looking forward to his return.
• I can't wait to see what God is going to do next!
  

Sunday 02-01-09 and a little Monday

I have quite a few thoughts on Sunday, but most of them have little to do with the worship service.

• I was unable to attend either one of our worship services this past Sunday because of the "Exploring Baptism and Becoming a Christian" study that I led.
• I heard great things out to the service and trust that they were true.
• We had 32 people come to the "explore" study and had some great questions come up.  I am waiting to see what the next step will be for people because it looks like God is going to do something big out of that.
• Sunday night's Super Bowl was awesome not just for the last five minutes, but also because we had all of the minister's and their families over just to be together.  I love those people.
• Monday night was the elders' meeting.  Most ministers hate those meetings because they don't really like their elders all that much or they don't trust them, or the elders act like "gatekeepers" rather than shepherding their people forward.  That is not the case with these elders.  They want to prepare the way for God to do great things here.  They hold me accountable when I need it (which is often), they push me forward regularly even if I am not comfortable with it and they pull me back when I am going too far to fast.  Sometimes (as in most of the time) they even make adjustments to compensate for me saying things from the stage that might get us in trouble.  They are true men of God.
• Next Sunday is going to be amazing.  You are not going to want to miss what is going to take place.
• Then after Valentine's Day (where we will look at St. Valentine) we move into Lent.  We will be doing a whole series from Leviticus.  I can't wait.