Thoughts from Sunday...

Just a few thoughts from Sunday...

I love the energy that comes from a packed room. It pumps me up to be a part of a community that is learning to turn our hearts and minds toward God every week. I absolutely LOVE singing How He Loves by David Crowder Band. It is just one of those songs that feels like a personal declaration. The story I shared about heart transplants was from Mark Batterson's book, Primal.

How fun was it to hear Joe sing the words, "I went skydiving...rocky mountain climbing...2.7 seconds on a bull named FuManChu..." I thought it was awesome...a little better than Tim's version. And did anyone notice that he was wearing cowboy boots?

Two simple thoughts dominated the message: 1. The enemy wants us to waste our lives. 2. God wants us to experience a full life. I believe God wants you and me to experience an extraordinary life - He doesn't want us to simply go through the motions. So many of us are just existing - we're not really living. Over the next few weeks, we're going to dig in a bit deeper. On the final Sunday of January, we're going to write letters to ourselves - letters about who we want to become as families, letters about how we want to experience a full life, letters about changes we feel as though we need to make. We'll seal the letters, self address the envelopes and then, at the end of 2010, we'll send the letters to those who wrote them. This will be a great exercise and experience for all of us.

I shared an example from something our family did a few years ago and an example from a personal exercise I did a couple of years ago. Hope these stir some thoughts in you.

Who we are becoming as a family:
1.We love and value all people.
2.We serve others and don’t just think of ourselves.
3.We are generous and share all that we have.
4.We join with Christ in what He is doing around us.
5.We slow down and enjoy time with one another.
6.We do everything (in word and deed) as if we were doing it for Christ.
7.We fix our minds on things that are good.

Some changes I need to make:

1.As a husband - more encouraging verbally and specific
2.As a dad - be there when there...turn off my 'work' when home
3.As a friend - take more interest in them
4.As a follower of Jesus - prayer time more focused
5.As a pastor - unbusy myself & engage people in Word