Practicing What You Preach is Easier Preached Then Practiced

I preach……a lot. Granted I don’t preach as much as some guys who do like a billion services on a given weekend, but even one message every Sunday is plenty. Currently I’m facing the thought of doing something that I have preached against. Okay, not really against, because it’s not a sin it’s just stupid. If I do it then it would be a boneheaded move. Dumb, moronic, idiotic, asinine. I know it would be all those things, because like I already said, I have preached against it and know the truth, but in this situation the truth is harder to walk out. It’s easier to preach it then it is to practice it.

I see people regularly preach or teach a certain philosophy about life. They usually do it passionately with much vigor. They believe everything they say, and they think everyone should do exactly what they say, and it can even be good stuff. Ironically those people rarely follow their own advice when they find themselves in the same situation. It’s as if once we become emotionally involved in the situation that all of a sudden our common sense goes out the window because now our emotions are involved.

I’ve seen guys and gals have certain hardcore lines about dating that everyone should adhere too, but they preach those vehemently while they are not dating, only to have them evaporate before their eyes when they step into a relationship.

The scenario really doesn’t matter. I think it probably happens in almost every area of life, but the thing that I am trying to teach myself, is that I make better decisions, and wiser choices, when I am not emotionally involved. In other words, even though I would love to do the easy thing right now, what I preached is so much wiser, harder, but wiser. So I’m going to take my own advice and practice what I preach.

I Will Cut You!

This Sunday at SouthPoint we had a conversation about relationships, and one of the points was that in order to have a healthy year we should find the drama people, and then cut them out of our lives. We said in order to do that you should:
Communicate less and less with them
Utter prayers of deliverance for them, and then
Take time to find new relationships to fill the void.
sounds easy enough…
As the day progressed more and more people contacted me and said, “what do I do if those drama people happened to be family members, you can’t just very well cut off family members, can you?” Assuming that the “family member” is not your spouse, let me give you some simple helps to de-drama your family life in 2012.

Every person could use a dramaectomy, so here is the procedure:
1. Identify the person. Sometimes we might think it’s a sister, daughter, uncle, or aunt, but in all actuality it’s us! So before you go to step two, you better go to God and do some soul searching. It could very well be that you are the drama maker.
2. Reduce your time with them. Most drama happens in down time and frivolous conversation. Someone doesn’t have anything to do so they dramatize everything. So only spend necessary time with the person. When it starts heading in the direction of kicking back and chatting, kick back and head to the door, because you are too busy to deal with drama. Have you ever noticed busy people rarely have drama. They don’t have time for it. I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember the last time I was bored. It’s just not a word in my life, and because of that I don’t have a lot of drama because I don’t slow down for it!
3. Soon the drama queen/king will realize that you are no longer spending all that time with them and they will question you about your change, and that is where step three comes in…Tell them in the nicest way possible, “Honey, I love you and care for you, but you are what we call a drama queen! And as long as you keep wanting to stir up gossip and drama, I’m gonna have to limit my time with you, otherwise I am going to lose my-ever-lovn-mind! However, if you would like help in fixing it or tweaking it, I would love to help you.”
4. Work on restoring the relationship. Teach them. Show them. Model it for them. Guide them in love and grace.
5. Consistently do a relationship check, to make sure that it is a drama free zone.
6. Always remember, drama demands that you must act now because the world is falling apart, but the Bible says, “fire goes out for lack of wood.”. So never throw ‘wood’ on the fire, simply leave it alone, and the fire will always go out.

the journey continues

“And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.”  He kept going.  I read that this morning in Genesis chapter 12 and it reminded me that sometimes all you can do is journey on.  As a church we are fasting and this is week one.  This is the week of the headaches, body aches, and well let’s be honest…gas, a lot of gas.  I know I’m not the only one because I have smelled some of you as well.  But other than the bodily discomfort (and smell) there seems to be that emotional part that makes me agitated and annoyed, and to be honest I just want to quit sometimes.  I know you never do, but I do….sometimes.

Of course renovating a ginormous building like the one God has blessed us with adds to it.  The work seems to be more than I can handle, and new hurdles arrive almost everyday.  This permit, that drawing, lack of volunteers, lack of time, and the list goes on and on; yet I keep taking step after step.  I continue to journey on.  It’s not a complaint, it’s just a fact of life that fasting is spiritual warfare, and warfare is never a walk in the park.  It’s a difficult arduous endeavor that takes, spiritual strength, stamina, and fortitude.  I must, You must, journey on.

I’ve talked this week to several SouthPointers and each has their own unique situation with hurdles, blockades, and issues.  Each one wanting to quit, each one, not complaining, but rather engaging in the spiritual warfare that they have found themselves in.  Sometimes it helps to know your not alone; your not.  Sometimes it helps to know an answer is coming; it is.  And then there are those times that you can’t see the horizon due to the menagerie of problems that surround you; but it helps to know that you can journey on in the strength and power of Jesus Christ.

Don’t stop.

Don’t quit.

Journey on.

Hungry?

“Hunger is an escort to the deeper things of God.” That line is in a song by Misty Edwards, and it really got me thinking. I’m not actually sure what the song is about or what other beautiful phrases she puts together, but for me, that one line got my brain kicked into overdrive. I began to ponder if I really am hungry for God. When I’m hungry for a snickers its worth breaking a twenty just to have a bite of the pea-nutty goodness. In fact, when there is a hunger or craving in me, I usually can satisfy that hunger, because my hunger is a great motivator to get what my body what it wants, but what about my hunger for God?

Not a hunger for the things God does for me or can do for me. I’m not talking about a hunger to be rescued from a difficult situation or challenge. Nope, I’m just talking about a hunger for the real, stripped down version of God. Sometimes God is like buying a car. We want the God with all the extras, all those things that make us feel better about ourselves or look better to others. We want the heated seats, the heated steering wheel and yes even the heated cup holder. We want, no need, 22″ wheels on it with shiny rims because it makes all the girls go crazy! But I’m not talking about that kind of God, I’m talking about the stripped down basic model that has nothing on it but, well…the basics. How hungry am I for a God with no extras?

If God comes to me in a stripped down version, where all he has to offer me is love, peace, righteousness, redemption, and joy, am I still interested? Is there a hunger in me for the deeper things of God?

Dead Man Walking

“I doubt it.”  I’ve heard that a lot.  I’ll say something or ask something and people will say, “I doubt it!” and to be perfectly honest I’ve thought that several times myself.  Somebody will tell me something outlandish and I often think, yea I doubt that will ever happen!  I had this same type of moment yesterday in Urcos, Peru.  Miracles are hard to believe, that’s why they are called miracles, if it made sense then it would be an algebraic equation……nope strike that, those don’t make sense to either…….never mind I think you get my point.

Mac and I, with a couple other people went up to Urcos to video and see our church plant there and it’s progress.  We were standing outside the church videoing and talking and Pastor Gabino, who speaks zero English, walked out of the church and up to us and said something.  The only words I understood was ‘dead guy’ and ‘in the church’.  So I assumed they were having a funeral.  I said to pastor Gabino in perfect Spanish, “if they are having a funeral in the church then we don’t need to go in and disturb, it’s fine.”. He laughed and then, through an interpreter, told me that there was a man in the church that 20 days before had gotten really sick, so they ended up taking him into the hospital where the doctor told him that he had an amazingly horrible untreated case of Bronchial Pneumonia.  He stayed in the hospital and then died shortly there after.  The doctors declared him dead.  The pastor and some church leaders were called in to pray for him, but by the time they got all the way to the hospital (it is a very long way from the small village of Urcos) the man was already dead.

By the time the pastor and the church leaders had gotten there the man had been dead for 15 hours.  Undeterred, the pastor felt led to lay hands on him and pray for him.  The dead man told us that when they began praying for him he heard a voice saying, “Breathe.  Breathe.  Breathe!” the man said that he took a breath, began breathing and then woke up alive and completely healed of bronchial pneumonia!

You can say I doubt it.  I guess that’s your choice, but I’ll say this, looking into that man’s eyes as he told us his story, he believed it.  He knows that he once lived, but then he died, but then he lived again, and now he is alive loving Jesus and giving God glory!  I am so grateful that we serve a God that is alive and not dead.  He loves us, knows us, and cares for us and sometimes he decides to do crazy miracles for us.

Confessions of a Positively Negative Pastor

I’m Positive I’m a pastor, and I’m positive that it is hard to not be negative. Now I am the furthest thing from a glass half empty kind of guy. I’m usually very positive, at least that’s what I thought until our latest challenge at church. Two Sunday’s ago our pastor got up (I’m that pastor by the way) and challenged all of us to be positive for four weeks. He even upped the challenge and said that nothing negative can come out of our mouths. At first I didn’t think it would be that difficult, but then as the days have worn on I have found myself coming to a scary conclusion….I realize that I am positive that I am more negative than I thought. I’m positively negative. I don’t want to be, it just seems to be how I’m wired. I’m realizing that the negativity is deeply rooted in my inner core and it takes some serious work to unearth. I’m not giving up, I’m just working harder.

I woke up today in a positively bad and negative mood. Maybe it was because the sun wasn’t shining, or maybe it was because the elves I hired didn’t make my coffee. Darn those little people! I’m not sure why, I was just not happy. I was driving in my truck this morning and realized that I was not my chipper self. Humph! So I had to make a choice, I didn’t feel any different but I chose to be happy. I chose not to bite peoples heads off, and to force a smile. To actually make the choice to display a different type of Craig than what I was feeling. It seems to have worked. I’m not happy as a loon, but I’m at lest partially acting like a loon again.

I’m positive I’m a pastor. I’m positive I’m a negative person, but I positively know that I can change it all if I just put my mind and spirit to the task.

Do It Yourself!

I like remodeling and doing things myself around the house. The times that I’ve had to call in a professional to do certain things that were beyond my skill level aggravated me. Not because I don’t appreciate the pros, but man, I just wanna do it myself! Of course in all my ‘do it yourself’ projects, I have never uncovered, or found treasure like the couple Rhodri and Angie Powell of Milverton, Somerest (UK). They were remodeling their living room recently and as they began to tear of some wood boards that were over a wall, they came face to face with a giant mural of King Henry VIII! The mural has been dated at over 500 years old and is the only remaining portrait of the late king. This monstrous painting stands 20 feet high and 6 feet wide, and it was in their home the entire time, hiding behind a modern day facade.

When I read that news clipping I got to thinking about all the self improvement stuff we do in our lives. We try to get in better shape, eat healthier, look prettier, and become more financially solid. All of which are wonderful addendums that we can tack on to our lives, but I wonder if they are just all facades. I wonder if the real treasure that God placed in our lives really lies just below the surface and its our attempts at improving our lives that are really just covering up the greatest gift, skill, or talent that He has actually placed in us.

Have you ever felt like you were forged out of the nothingness to do more than you are? Have you ever felt that tinge in the recesses of your soul that says, “there is more to this life than what you are experiencing,” and so you begin doing your best to add things to your life to help find more meaning. Could it be that instead of adding things to our lives we need to remove things from our lives, so that in the process, we just might uncover a blindingly beautiful portrait of the King?

His face in my life will look different than His face in yours, but it’s still His face nonetheless. In your life, maybe you uncover a talent to paint, or sculpt, or teach, or administrate, maybe you excavate the ability to have a deep faith, mercy or compassion. Maybe, just below the surface of your self assurance you find a deep need and longing, for a steamy intimate relationship with the Son of God.

The great thing about digging deep in our lives is you never know what you might find, but one thing is for sure, when we start becoming more aware of who we were created to be, we will always find His face waiting to come out and be admire by all.

How to Never be Bored Again!

I’m still fasting. I don’t say that to brag or to make everybody think I’m grandiose or something, because our whole church is fasting, so I’m not grandiose I’m hungry, but I guess that’s to be expected. Of course none of that is important. What I wanted to share with you is what I learned yesterday.

Since I have been fasting I have had more time on my hands. A pretty decent amount especially since we’ve had two snow days. During this ‘extra’ time I’ve had a couple of moments where I had the opportunity to be bored. Boredom in my book has always been stupid, who gets bored!? Of course my kids used to tell me regularly that they were bored, and I would always reply, “if you’re bored that just means you are a boring person. Which you are not, so go find something to do!” That never worked. So then I told them that every time they say they are bored they had to clean the house. That worked like a charm.

These last few days have taught me to pay attention to God. To not get in a hurry in any way. We seem to think that if we have ‘empty’ time then we are bored. Interestingly enough, did you know that koine Greek (classical Greek which is a dead language and what the NewTestament is originally written in) has no word for boredom? They had 3 words for love and numerous words for power, but no words for boredom. I wonder why?

I think they had no word for boredom because they were never bored. They had no TV, Internet, cell phones, or any other time sucker/filler putting their brains and spirits in neutral. No I am NOT preaching against any of that stuff so relax, but what I am learning myself is that maybe the good ole days of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are not so bad. Sure they lacked indoor plumbing and toilet paper, but they had no word for boredom.

Imagine giving your kids the most amazing Christmas gifts ever and then after a day they say, “I’m bored!” I know, it happens to the best of us. Now think about God. Our heavenly father created us in the most amazing way, in the most amazing place, with the most amazing things, and then we say we are bored. Instead, what I’m learning to do is look for the beauty of God everyday in every moment.

Music, people, trees,
birds, silence, laughter, crying,
yelling, snow, heat, homes, wet socks,
dry socks, cuddling, long drives,
kids, adults, elderly,
and
on
and
on
the list
goes.

I’m learning to slow down.
I’m learning to not be bored, but rather to look for the beauty of God in every thing and in every situation.

What are you learning during your fast?

(for more information on fasting, visit www.awake21.org or danielfast.wordpress.com)

Fasting and iPhones

Today we begin the third day of our fast at SouthPoint Church. I don’t think I would ever say it’s easy or not a challenge but I can definitely say that it is amazing. Fasting has a way of recalibrating our spirits, cleaning out the junk in our closets, and once again setting our hearts, minds, and bodies, directly in the will of God. Everybody needs a soft reset now and then.

I love my iPhone. Now you might think that ‘love’ is a strong word for a piece of electronics, and if you think that then you obviously don’t have an iPhone. My phone does everything I want it to plus it makes phone calls, it’s a far cry from the old Motorola flip phone. As awesome as my iPhone is, after a while it becomes slow, sluggish and frustrating. It’s a computer so it knows what it is suppose to do. I push a certain button and it is suppose to do advanced calculations in a nanosecond to appease my whim. Unfortunately, what happens is the phone gets ‘techno-clutter’ from it’s regular use and needs to be rebooted. It needs a moment. It requires a techno time out to purge all of it’s RAM and cookies, and whatever else it has been holding onto for days. Then once it is rebooted, my phone is back to it’s fabulous state, performing it’s tasks in a fabulous manner.

Fasting is a way of rebooting our spirits. A tangible way of dumping all the junk that has found it’s way into our lives, and has begun slowing down our spiritual responsiveness. Due to the cultural clutter in our lives, we are confused if it is really the voice of God or just our imagination. Is this really God’s will or is it just one of our many whims.

Fasting breaks the confusion.

Fasting reboots our spirits.

If you’ve never fasted give it a try. Just start, right where you are, it’s never too late, and it’s not near as scary as you think it is. So put down the cheese burger and try a rice cake with a nice glass of water and listen to the voice of God, it will blow you away!

(for more information on fasting, visit www.awake21.org or danielfast.wordpress.com)

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