The Quest for Greatness

As I watch the Olympics I am in awe of the dedication, discipline, and sacrifice every one of these athletes and their families have made for this moment! When I visited the Olympic training facilities in Colorado, our guide told us that the average athlete spends $250k a year to train and that many athletes family's have several mortgages and loans just to support this dream! I again say, I am in awe of such sacrifice of anyone for anything. I began to think about so many who don't make it, can't afford it, have injuries end their career or just aren't as good as others. How do they measure themselves at that point? I am grateful that in my life, greatness is measured by who Christ is and not how I perform, how many medals I get or how fast I get it done! One of the pastors who mentored me in the early years would always say, "God judges you on your faithfulness not your effectiveness!" I am so grateful for those words and the truth they remind me of after all these years. Doesn't mean I don't strive for greatness, but my quest is not found in my ability or results but in a loving savior who "will finish what HE began in me". I am great because Jesus declares me great... That's victory! Hebrews 2:11

I'm Batman....

Sitting in a hotel room it scrolled across the screen: "Breaking News: Shooting in Colorado Theatre at opening of Batman Movie." Sadly I was almost none responsive as if I was completely inoculated in our day of shootings, terrorism, and ramped depravity. But after a moment, my gut sank, my throat got dry and I began to mourn. I mourned for those in that theatre, who simply went to be entertained and enjoy a movie, but instead lost their life or had their life altered forever physically, emotionally or psychologically. I mourned for the shooter, his brokenness, his depth of hopelessness and the shear sadness of a person constructing such evil in his heart. I mourned for families, parents, spouses, Moms and Dads who suffered unmentionable loss in that theatre. I also in the moments ahead thought back to years before, the very day that I stood before the students in my very first Youth group to explain why two kids went into their school and began to kill classmates in a brutal savage way. I am reminded of the human condition and the ever deepening sense of reaching as many people as I can with the hope of Jesus...Why does God allow such things to happen? I think the better question is Even though such things happen, why does God keep lovingly pursuing people like us? Lord may I never forget that without you, I am simply a Dark Knight vigilante myself...thank you for calling me into your great light!

L'amour de Dieu, les gens aiment

It's amazing how easy it is to love people when I travel abroad. Kids in slums, girls being sold like objects in market, 3rd world poverty and any other obstacle you can think of. But I observed in my own heart this week that loving the people of Haiti was easy. It's the people I will sit next to on flights today and tomorrow. It's the lady at the store back home who is super slow checking out my buggy full of food that I will hard time loving; the guy parked "to close" to my large SUV when I go to put the groceries in to go home to my comfortable home where I will have a hard time loving my neighbor who usually cranks his loud truck WAY earlier than I want to get up.... You get what I'm saying. As I leave Haiti today, the prayer in my heart is that I will Love God and Love People. All people!!!

Jesus lives at the Waffle House

Every year at camp, we set aside one night to take our graduating seniors on an "after hours excursion". This year we found out that about 80% of the seniors at camp had never been to Waffle House!?! So of course I had to solve this crisis. After the confusion of how to order, the awe of hearing scattered, covered, smothered, and chunked, lots of pictures and a good time was had. As we were leaving, a man asked, "Would you buy me some coffee?" Well 17 of us look at each other for a moment and then I say, "Sure!" Look in my wallet all I had was a $20. My rule is, if someone asks for money, if I have it I give it, no questions just give. It's all Gods money anyway! Well this gave us an opportunity and so 1 hour later we had heard a man that was literally destroyed by divorce, loss of job and confessed that if we hadn't talked with him, he had decided to take his own life. What a great privilege I had to see my seniors gather around this guy, listen to his story, share the love of Christ, and pray with him! I left that night convinced that Jesus lives at Waffle House!