In John 3, the followers of John the Baptist tried to get him to drink the heart-numbing elixir of jealousy and envy when they said, “the one who you said is the Messiah is baptizing people, too.” They must have been living the thug life because they asked John: “Do you want us to put in some work and stop him?” In other words, they wanted to somehow stop Jesus’ success. John told them to slow their roll. Now, he could have been dragged into the numbers and success game, but John didn’t drink the cancerous libation. He responded with a line that is unnatural for me, but it is a principle that I need to rehearse and learn daily: “I am filled with joy at his success.”(NLT) Let’s be honest; It’s not easy being filled with joy for someone else whose . . .

ministry is larger than yours
budget is bigger than yours
popularity is greater than yours
books outpace yours
blog gets more traffic than yours
songs get played more than yours
networks are stronger than yours
living the life that should be yours
marriage is happier than yours
job pays more money than yours
body looks better than yours
enjoying the success and blessing that should be yours
checks have more zeros than yours

And the list goes on, doesn’t it?

I hear people saying all the time: “I work just as hard and spend just as many hours as they do, working on my craft, honing my skills, and being faithful to God and my family, but I don’t experience the same success.” Sometimes, it just doesn’t seem fair, does it?. Yet, John said: I am filled with joy at his (Jesus) success. So, how can I be filled with joy at the messianic status and success of others? Here is what I’m learning:

1. God gives each different gifts and niches in ministry.
2. I have to be faithful to and thankful for what God has given me.
3. We’re on the same team and playing for the same generous Coach.
4. Celebrate the success of others every chance I get.
5. Jealousy and envy are sins that prevent me from being fully present where I am.

Have you ever been tempted to drink the elixir of jealousy and envy? How difficult is it for you to be filled with joy at someone else success? What lessons are you learning?

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“Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.”

Reading Luke 22 this morning, the echoes of these ancient words reverberated through the corridors of my soul. I was convicted – guilty as charged.

Just hours before he would carry all of humanity’s sins on his shoulders and in his own body, Jesus spoke these words to his friends, disciples, the men who would be responsible for his world-wide mission. He invited them to enter into and share his agony through intercessory prayer.  But, they were exhausted with grief and the self-absorbed pursuit of moving up the leadership ladder.  How could they sleep while their Master suffered? What a shame! Well, over 2000 years later, he speaks these same words to me.

I am in that garden, sleeping. My Savior invites me to pray with him, but I am exhausted with grief and hopelessness, self-absorbed pursuits, and the lack of curiosity. My Savior has invited me into his pain. Yet, I sleep. My Savior has invited me to agonize with him over murder, abortion, rape, slavery, genocide, infanticide, abusive relationships, failing marriages, oil spills and hurricanes, and earthquakes. Yet, I sleep.  He comes to me and finds me sleeping. I’m busted. I’m embarrassed. I offer no words of excuse or rationalization. I was sleeping – plain and simple.  I wipe the sleep from my eyes and the drool from my mouth, only to recognize that he has been praying while I was sleeping. He has been praying and agonizing over the pain, the brokenness, the sins, the fear, the anxiety, and the hiding of the world, and I have been sleeping.   My Savior kneels alone on his praying ground, deeply troubled. Yet, I sleep.

Because I am sleeping, I am not praying. And, because I am not praying, I am more prone to fail. I am in the garden, sleeping, and I am prone to give into all kinds of temptations: irrational fear, unnecessary anxiety, blatant satanic lies that my sins can outrun God’s grace, the delusional belief that I know better than God and can control my own life, and feeding my flesh is more important than feeding my spirit. It’s time for me to:

Get up!

Arise!

Wake up!

Pray!

Intercede!

Talk to God!

Be devoted to prayer!

Enter into this exhausting, powerful, and intimate spiritual habit with my Savior.

Will you join me in being devoted to talking to our heavenly Father daily? Let’s get and pray so we won’t fail him and others we love.

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Here is a picture (Yes! I was the photographer.) of our new digs in Haslett, Michigan. God is really gracious toward his children.

Yesterday morning, around 10:20, Tonia and I began signing a 2 inch stack of papers to close on our new house in Haslett,  Michigan. By 11:30, we had carpal tunnel (At least it felt like it), a bunch of brand new keys, a few gifts from the realtor, a lot of handshakes and congratulations, utilities transferred over to my name, and a stack of signed papers reminding us of our long term relationship with the bank (we will certainly try to shorten that relationship through some wise stewardship practices). We are humbled that God would provide for us the way he has. We thank him for his gracious provision to us and all those who journeyed with us in prayer and encouragement through this long and sometimes frustrating process.

PRAISALLEUIA! The commute is almost over! (I had to throw that in there).

The big move date is scheduled for Monday June 28th. Why on a Monday? Tonia looked at our schedule – kids at Spring Hill Camp, Tonia starting class, me doing everything under the sun – and determined that was one of the only free days for us to get it done. Plus, we want to get our tenant into the house as quickly as possible. Tonia has been right so many times in the past. So, I trust her judgment. I will forward more details of the move in the next few days.

Rejoice with us as God has proven once again that he is faithful. Again, thanks for your prayers, encouragement and support.

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Yesterday, as I was about to leave the office, my executive administrator brought a beautiful bouquet of flowers in to me. This was a “welcome to the city of Lansing” gift to Tonia and me (mainly Tonia) from Pastor Larry Trice and his wife, Lena, from Tabernacle of David. We were overwhelmed by their generosity. We have always known this, but we are becoming more and more convinced of it – People don’t have to be nice. When they are, we should humbly accept it, gladly enjoy it, passionately thank God and them for it, and quickly pass it (kindness, niceness, generosity) on to someone else.

When was the last time someone was kind to you? How did it make you feel? What was your response?

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For the last year, these are the roots that had been growing in our pipes in our basement, and that the Roto Rooter man snaked out. We normally call him once a year to clear out the roots, but because we had not had any backups and slow moving water, we assumed that there wasn’t a problem. So, we had not called him for the yearly maintenance. Well, a backed up toilet, a slow draining faucet and tub, and a $230 bill later, taught me a very valuable lesson: Don’t wait until the issue turns into a problem to address it. Address the issue it before it becomes a financially, physically and emotionally expensive problem.

What issue do you need to deal with today, in your family, ministry, business, friendship, before it becomes a problem tomorrow?

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Many of you have already seen this ad that Nike and Tiger released this week. Let me say up front, I like Nike and Tiger, and I am really pulling for him to win the Master’s this weekend. If he wins, his will go down in the annuls as one of the most compelling stories in past and recent sports history. More importantly, I am pulling for him to be a better husband, father, friend and person.

Now, regarding the ad. I really didn’t know how to respond when I first saw it, and I wanted to withhold my opinion until I had time to digest its content and true meaning. As I thought more and more about the ad, it was obvious to me that Nike and Tiger weren’t selling clubs, balls, or shoes. But, they were selling something. What they were selling and how they were selling it, made me uncomfortable. They were using Tiger’s dead father’s voice, out of context mind you, to protect, re-image, and sell the Tiger brand. In my humble opinion, it seemed they were more interested in image rather character and integrity.

This ad inspired a personal question in me: As a leader and minister, how do I protect and sell the Jesus brand in my life each day? Here are some of my answers:

1. Begin each day by acknowledging my absolute need for Jesus
2. Express gratitude to Jesus every day for the gifts that he’s given me
3. Quietly transfer all glory to Him
4. Invite and pursue correction from godly men and women
5. Repent quickly and thoroughly
6. Don’t take myself too seriously (laugh at myself)
7. Model my life after the One who made himself of no reputation

What was your initial response to the Nike and Tiger ad? As a believer, what are some other ways you protect the Jesus brand each day?

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Today is April 7th, and whereas this day may be just another day for you, it is a significant day for me and an even more special day for my daughter, Mikayla. You see, today is her Day with Dad. Though I spend regular time with my kids during the week, each month I spend SPECIAL time with each of them on the day of their birth (inspired by a my friend Artie Lindsay), and we call it Day with Dad (Mikayla’s B-day is May 7th, Marvin Jr’s B-day is May 27th and Micah’s B-day is August 28th). We put it on our home calendar each month so I won’t forget and so they can anticipate it each month. I really try not to miss this time, and if I just have to miss it (which is extremely rare), I get their permission to schedule it on another day in the same week.

I tend to do what they want, within reason and budget, of course. I think today we are going to the Justice Store at the mall. Really don’t know if my wallet can handle that. Whatever we do, whether it is going out to eat, going to the bookstore (I have not influenced this choice at all) or a movie, studying AWANA verses, studying for a spelling bee, or going to get ice cream, we always spend time walking and talking about our hopes, dreams and fears, laughing a lot, mainly at ourselves, and discussing what it means to follow Jesus.

I ask them questions about how I might encourage them rather than provoke them to anger (Ephesians 6:4) or discouragement (Colossians 3:21). Sidebar: I think sometimes we as parents criticize this angry generation as if we had nothing to do with it. I digress. Although they gave me fairly high marks (I graded myself a full grade lower) last month when they graded me as a father, I know God is still working on me. Because I have a few short years to invest in them and influence them, I must be intentional in turning every minute with them into significant moments.

If you have children, do you have a SPECIAL day or spend SPECIAL time with them? If so, what do you normally do? If not, what prevents you and what do you need to do to begin?

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As the global community has been deployed to provide relief to the people and land of Haiti, we still wrestle with troubling questions regarding this calamity. The fact is, we respond to world tragedies with deep, unsettling questions, don’t we? The earthquake in Haiti caused my kids to ask questions like these: Why do mind-staggering tragedies like this happen? If God is strong and powerful and loving and close, couldn’t he have prevented the devastation in Haiti? Is God punishing the people of Haiti in some way? Are the people in Haiti more unrighteous than thousands of murderers, rapists and thieves in the world, that something like this would happen to them? These questions are legitimate, but they inch me and all of us away from an appropriate personal response to world tragedy. I think I can respond appropriately to world tragedies by answering several important personal questions that Luke 13:1-9 raises – questions of mortality, eternity, and productivity.

The first question is a question of Mortality: How close am I to the end of my life?

Luke chronicles two historical events to show how indiscriminate death is. One event accounts for the evil of one man can exact on another human being. Pilate had some Galileans killed while they worshiped.  These people died at the hands of an evil man. Evil people do evil things to innocent people.

The other event (which has greater relevance to the tragedy in Haiti) shows how death can happen naturally. A tower in Siloam fell and killed 18 people. Many were caught beneath the rubble, hoping and praying for someone would intervene and bring relief and rescue. Our fallen world is filled with such tragedies that break our hearts over and over again. Tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes are natural catastrophes that snatch lives out of this world each year and destroy miles and miles of valuable property. This event was so unlikely, but it happened. It was a natural disaster. Haiti has experienced one natural disaster after another. That one nation can experience so much natural disaster seems unlikely, but it has happened. This was a natural disaster. People die in natural disasters all the time, but it does not make them more sinful than anyone else.

The issue here is not the timing of death or even the cause of death. The issue is that we are mortal beings and we will all die.  We love to talk about others’ deaths and tragedies just as long as it doesn’t get too personal. World tragedy is a prime opportunity for us to discuss our own mortality. Nothing is so certain as death, and nothing is so uncertain as the hour of our death. We will die, either by some horrific calamity, evil plot, cancer, car accident, or some natural cause.  Most of us are not afraid to die; we just don’t want to be there when it happens. In light of this world tragedy, let us consider the question of our own mortality – How close am I to the end of my life?

If death was the end, then I think we could possibly live with that. I mean, we have lived a decent life, made a little money, enjoyed family and friends, and had some good times. But the question of Mortality causes me to consider a second question (next post) – a question of Eternity.

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Elbert Hubbard said, “If we want to avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” The problem with this is, mostly every person who is reading this post desires to make a positive impact in the world. Therefore, you are going to be criticized. You will be criticized for what you do, what you say, how you live, the way you lead, the way you speak, the way you parent, and the way you run your department. Some of that criticism will be justified and some will not. That’s not the most important part of criticism. How we handle it determines the trajectory of our growth as parents, spouses, friends, employees, communicators, and leaders.

Most of us have a typical negative emotional response of anxiety to criticism, whether it is real or imagined, self-directed or from someone else. Some of us even panic when we are criticized by others, and we become defensive, deny the criticism, and we end up being manipulated into defending what we want to do instead of doing it. I have not always handled or coped with criticism in a way that displayed maturity, but I have been developing the following skills and attitudes to help me handle criticism better:

1. Agree with any truth in statements that people use to criticize me and determine how I can grow.
2. Listen to exactly what the critic says, not to what’s implied.
3. Respond only to what the critic says, not what the criticism implies or my interpretation of the criticism.
4. Don’t interpret what is said to conform to my own insecurities and self-doubt.
5. Accept my mistakes and errors and see them as just that.
6. Realize that my mistakes and errors do not define me as a person.
7. Realize that God does not condemn or criticize me for my sins, mistakes and errors.

Next time you’re criticized for something, walk through this list. The result of developing these skills, we can cut our learned emotional puppet strings that cause us to react negatively to criticism from others and become whole, fully effective, free people.

What is your typical response to criticism? What other skills of handling criticism have you learned and can add to this list?

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Sometimes I can forget to show appreciation to people who have impacted my life and my ministry. I don’t have a lot of money to buy nice, extravagant, and individual gifts for everyone, though I wish I did. I suspect you don’t either, but you wish you could.

However, we do possess the art of expression – words, cards, cds (old skool cassettes), meaningful Bible verses, applause and ovations, dedicating a blog post, highlighting their influence in your life, and so many other creative ideas. One simple but powerful expression I use often is writing letters to the people that have spoken powerful words into my life. It is a powerful medium to help others understand how much you love and appreciate them.

Here is an exercise: Think about several people who have had a personal and positive impact in your life, and sit down and write them a letter, expressing your appreciation for their powerful influence in your life. If the person is deceased, it would still be healthy and therapeutic to write him/her a letter expressing your profound gratitude to God for them.

What do you think of this exercise? What other creative expressions have you used to express appreciation and gratitude to people who have impacted you for good?

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