Live life

This is just one of those stories that stirred me today. 

In case you didn’t hear the story (I just did – so if you have heard it you might think that I have been living under a rock or something)… on October 30, 2005, Kyle Lake, a pastor at University Baptist Church in Waco, TX was electrocuted while preparing to baptize someone in front of a congregation 800 people.  He left a wife and two children, one 5 and the other 3.  He died doing what he loved….serving Jesus and his people. 

Here is an excerpt from Kyle’s last sermon that was read at his funeral:

Live. And Live Well. BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now. On a crystal clear, breezy 70 degree day, roll down the windows and FEEL the wind against your skin. Feel the warmth of the sun.

If you run, then allow those first few breaths on a cool Autumn day to FREEZE your lungs and do not just be alarmed, be ALIVE. Get knee-deep in a novel and LOSE track of time.  If you bike, pedal HARD… and if you crash then crash well.

Feel the SATISFACTION of a job well done—a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed. If you must wipe the snot from your 3-year old’s nose, don’t be disgusted if the Kleenex didn’t catch it all… because soon he’ll be wiping his own.

If you’ve recently experienced loss, then GRIEVE. And Grieve well. At the table with friends and family, LAUGH. If you’re eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven.

And TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of Life. Because-it-is-most-definitely-a-Gift.”

 I think that there are times that I really don’t live – I just kinda stumble along.  I don’t stop and looking around – to see what God has laid out for me today – to enjoy my life – my kids – my wife – my family and friends.   When tragedy hits, those are the times that we pay attention – why?  Why not pay attention while I am driving down the road with my windows down, playing a tune on my radio?  Why not when my wife and daughters are having dinner and just laughing about our day?

Pay attention.  Enjoy. Live.

Fighting boredom in our faith?

This is just a quick note for today. I met with a friend this morning to talk through some of what life has thrown each of our way. In doing so, he brought up a recent conversation he had with his men’s group. Following is a mixture of my words with his.

Yesterday they were working through the first half of 2 Thessalonians. Long story short, they were thinking about how to grasp the relevance of Paul’s message of hope and end time revelations to this young, struggling, persecuted church. They were trying to grasp it within our experience with “church” in a society/culture that could arguably be categorized as “Christian” or “Post-Christian.” When they broached the idea that our brothers in Africa and the east were experiencing a concept of “church” that was much more similar to the Thessalonian church, a friend leaned in and offered something rather profound.

“The difference is that these churches are in a very real fight in faith, while we are fighting boredom in our faith.”

Wow… I have read about this idea off and on for a while now – about how the churches that fight for their existence are sometimes viewed as deeper in their faith. They rely on God before man, while locally we have a tendency to rely on man before God. Not everyone mind you, but many.

With this conversation, a lot of questions came to mind –

• Is fresh, new love different than mature love?
• Do we show it differently?
• Do we praise God the same way we did when we first received Christ into our lives?
• Does our culture show love for Christ differently?
• Does culture matter?
• Should culture matter?
• Are some of us bored in our faith, or just appear to be?  Or have we settled in like a 50 year old marriage – loving deeply, and are so totally in sync that there is that chance of cruising along with a very good thing?

My friend ended it with the following … Is that it, were we called to hang out and try not to fall asleep (like the parable of the ten virgins in Mt 25) before the bridegroom comes? I think we know the answer. So do we believe that Christ has something special for each of us to walk in faith? Maybe, the better question is whether we’re prepared to truly ask Him to reveal Himself to us.

I love conversations like this. I love to be nudged. I love to refresh my lantern.

Living with a mask of normalcy

I was listening to an older podcast (September 5th) given by Pete Wilson from Cross Point Church today, when I heard this phrase.  And I had to stop.  I had to think about this for a minute. To think about my life. To think about how I am living.  To think about how I impact others. How I allow others to impact me.  About how I have been falling… stumbling… failing in so many ways.  About how I have learned to wear the mask of normalcy…

So with that, I offer up this prayer today…

Help me be honest,
to be real in this daily grind
Help me to pull closer and
push away this mask normalcy
Help me to see
what you are throwing in my way
Help me to listen
To Your gentle voice each and every day
Help me to surrender
So that my darkness will slide away
Help me to understand that you are with me
If that is okay