Check back here late tonight…I’m getting ready for the big Halloween in the Hood bash! (Just made up that name…wish I’d thought of it). Buffalo wings ordered, Pizza coming, weather clear, sound system on. I think we’re all set. I’ll try to post pics and stories tonight.
Aaron Keyes electrified Catalyst with his worship set this month. Every time I hear him I am blown away by his grasp of scripture and his heart for true worship. This past Sunday he spoke on his vision of praise and worship at his home church, Grace Fellowship in Snellville, Georgia. The video below is the full sermon — 40 minutes plus or minus. Here are Aaron Keye’s top eleven reasons why we should worship God. I loved this. Honestly, the full sermon is worth listening to. For instance, he talked about the distinction between Praise — vertical directing of our praise to God — and Worship — falling on our face before a holy, awe-inspiring God.
Why We Should Worship God
1. He commands it. Psalm 150
2. He is present and enthroned in our praise. Psalm 22:3
3. There is great power in our worship and praise: Power for spiritual warfare (psalm 149:6), Protection from attrition (flesh), Becoming more like Jesus (Psalm 115), Releasing the full work of God.
4. It’s a good thing to do – pleasant and fitting.
5. He is worthy of it.
6. It’s partly why we were saved in the first place – saved that we may declare his praises.
7. Worship gets my mind off of myself. We become enthralled with God.
8. Worship cultivates unity and oneness. When the unity goes up, the glory comes down.
9. Worship produces a spirit of gratitude within me.
10. It is why I was saved, why I exist.
The best reason to worship:
11. We can give to the Lord something that delights him. We can delight the heart of God. He will cherish it forever.
Meet my friend Brad Margus. Brad was in our wedding (can it really be almost 23 years ago?). CNN did a profile on him last year, detailing his absolutely amazing fight to save two of his four children from a crippling disease. David and I have lost touch with Brad lately, but have continued to pray over his kids and follow his path to find a cure. This is a great video demonstrating what happens when abilities and skills meet passion and drive. Brad inspires us. You can read more about his foundation, the AT Children’s Project here.
This is part of Watercooler Wednesday.
For the first time in many years I am planning a Halloween party with excitement and anticipation. I’m searching out fun recipes, hunting for decorations that aren’t creepy but aren’t cheesy: not an easy combinatino to find. We’re creating music playlists and telling kids to bring their guitars or instruments to put a rocking band together (hopefully?). I’m even calling it a Halloween party without too much condemnation.
Why the transformation?
The financial crisis in the markets. You see, eventually a Wall Street crisis becomes a church budget crisis. Which means that this year there is no fall festival to supervise and manage at church. Volunteers and families like me are free to — wait for it — throw a party at home and see if the neighborhood shows up! Just think about it: what other time of year has the whole neighborhood either walking through the streets or sitting at their front door ready to practice hospitality? This year our yard is open for the party. I’ll let you know what happens.
The world bursts at the seams with people ready to tell you you’re not good enough. On occasion, some may be correct. But do not do their work for them. Seek any job; ask anyone out; pursue any goal. Don’t take it personally when they say “no” — they may not be smart enough to say “yes”.
– Keith Olbermann
Isn’t that the truth? Just at the moment when you catch a glimpse of the stunning possibilities God might have for you, someone will inevitably pull their pin out to pop your balloon. It happened to me last night. Sitting on the porch God was speaking into the next season of my life. I was excited. I wrote my post, and then jumped onto facebook to see who I could connect with. And that’s when a family member popped all my beautiful balloons. I won’t say more about what they did — especially because it was simply an immature and poorly guided action — but I felt devalued as a person.
Here’s what amazed me, and later convicted me: their action had absolutely nothing to do with any real detail of my life. It didn’t affect me in slightest. In fact, they are the ones who are missing out on experiences and voices God wants to add to their life. Their action literally changed nothing.
But I let it erase all those lovely possibilities from my mind. I lost the vision. Their action put me into defensive mode for the rest of the night. As the quote says, I did their work for them.
Not today, my friends. Not today.
Mark Batterson, in the Wild Goose Chase chapter on not being caged by your assumptions, encouraged me to “swim in the sea of possibilities like a little child.” It’s a gorgeous, 75 degree South Florida day. I have work to do that God has given me. I have people around me who are depending on me — without even knowing it — to notice the ministry opportunites that skitter across my path during a day like today. Today I do not have time for people who are busy walling others out of opportunity.
In fact, perhaps like the Old Testament prophet Nehemiah, I will stand today on top of a wall and call down “I have a great work to do…I can not come down to your level.”
I sat on the porch tonight — one of the first comfortable and beautiful nights of fall — and spent some time talking to God, reading, and listening. It was one of those nights when the ideas come faster than my pen can take notes. All of them bloggable!!!
I am currently reading Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson. I’m sure I’ll be talking about it a lot in the days to come. Somehow, Mark speaks the words that speak to me. I loved In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, his first book. Search back through the archives if you want to read about that one. I’m grateful this title is shorter…so much easier to write!
Here’s just one thought that jumped out at me tonight.
When God wants us to experience a change of perspective, He often does it via a change in scenery. So Jesus took the three disciples to a new place, a high place, a place that was far removed from civilization.
Here’s the bottom line: where you are geographically affects where you are spiritually. A few years ago I came up with a simple formula:
Change of Place + Change of Pace = Change of Perspective.
Maybe that’s why we travel so willingly. Every new town, every new church we visit or new friend we make changes us in some way. We come home different. Just the thought that God can use our forced wanderings — maybe even orchestrates them — encourages me.
Do you need a change of perspective?
I post this because it’s midnight. And because I can. And because I laughed all by myself watching this. Watch how the chimp actually learns by trial and error!
And one further question: who taught the chimp to speak..well…whatever it is they are speaking????
There are some Starbucks stores I just can’t walk by even if I just downed a triple espresso and have no business going near more caffeine. Jeremy’s Starbucks, outside Macy’s in the Gardens Mall, is one of them. Not only have we gotten to know many of the staff by name, but we consistently enjoy a good experience in the store. Today David and I were pondering a few leadership lessons we observed while getting our fix.
As we all know — mostly because Starbucks released it in their corporate press release! — the core mission of Starbucks is to produce a quality cup of coffee. But really there are more objectives than that. In Jeremy’s store there are a few others: create community, give back to the community, be innovative, create your first impressions.
Takeaway: identify the priorities that help your core business succeed. Remember that you are in the people business, the social justice business, the hospitality industry…
Sadly, we’ve all been to a Starbucks just after they have been slammed by a rush. Tables are littered, there are spills on the floor, maybe sugar scattered over the condiment table. And yet it is Starbuck’s objective to make sure the lobby area is cleaned and straightened periodically — every ten minutes according to Jeremy. To remind himself — and staff — of this important but easily forgotten task, Jeremy has a timer going off especially during rush times. Simple solution.
Takeaway: what are the seemingly mundane, repetitive tasks that actually cause our whole system (church, home, business etc.) to run smoothly. Are we remembering to place a value on accomplishing them?
Several times this week we’ve sat in Jeremy’s store and been taken care of as well as we are when he is there. And it isn’t (always) because the staff knows us. He has developed a culture of personal responsibility and community that can function without his physical presence for a period of time.
Takeaway: does our team fall apart without us? Do things run smoothly only because we are there to keep an eye on the minor bumps in the road or have we empowered our team to take responsibility for solutions and ideas?
Jeremy makes sure he hires top-quality people, but only just enough to cover his hours. Why? Because a top-quality person doesn’t want to be competing for hours. They want to jump in and get the job done. An uncommitted sparse part-timer has a hard time absorbing and transmitting your company or church DNA. It’s not impossible, but harder.
Takeaway: tough times may require difficult decisions. Do you have the right number of staff to keep your energy levels high without burning anyone out?
Time and again Jeremy excels in this department. Today, for instance, he quietly switched our to-go cups to ceramic “stay here” cups, encouraging us to sit down and relax for a moment. It’s a little difference, but my inner coffee soul (yes, there is one) loves the look of a dopio espresso in a ceramic white cup. In another crucial area, he and his staff work hard on learning names and favorite drinks. Yes, this too is part of Starbucks culture, but it isn’t always practiced. Done well, this one idea alone leads to increased customer loyalty. We’re all in an energy-draining fight against anonymity. Simple solution.
Takeaway: look for the small areas where you or your staff can exceed an expectation on a regular basis.
I recently heard about a great initiative to teach urban youth the business and entrepreneurial skills they will need to get a good income-producing job. Partnering with the Urban Youth Impact, these kids are running a coffee company. It is called Impact Coffee. They have chosen a sister village in Ethiopia, are importing fair trade, organic Ethiopian coffee, and are establishing a coffee business and online coffee sales. I’m hoping to get together with Leo Abdella, Christ Fellowship’s missions director, to learn more about this intriguing program. In the meantime, here’s the website. Keep checking back to see what these young and feisty entrepreneurs come up with!
He’s back…the lawyer turned prophet turned lawyer again. I’m talking about Eli Stone, my favorite television show from last season and this. Last night, happy to be snug at home again, David and I turned on our DVR to catch up on the shows we missed, and Eli Stone was first on the list.
Then God stepped in, once again, speaking out of the unlikely moments of life. That’s usually when he chooses to break through, isn’t it? He spoke last night through the first episode of Eli Stone. If you don’t know the plot line to Eli Stone, go to iTunes. They have an “Eli Stone starter kit” that will bring you up to speed. The short story is that Eli, a lawyer, spent last season having his life interrupted by a brain aneurysm and visions from God, directing him to help this person or that. Here is the post I wrote about the show last season.
As this season opens, we find a lost and dejected Eli, normal after his brain aneurysm surgery. No visions. No interruptions Normal life. He is discussing this with his court-ordered psychiatrist, begging her to give him certification to get his law license back now that all is normal. Turns out that psychiatrist doesn’t exist — as we know it — at all. She is God’s “fiduciary.” She also sees to the heart of Eli’s unhappiness.
“These sessions haven’t just been about your competency to practice,” she says. “That slip of paper isn’t going to fill the void you’re feeling in your life, Eli. Practicing law won’t do it, either. You’re missing something – it’s true – but it’s nothing a law license can give you.”
Only one way to find out, says Eli as he walks away. He stops. “Or, I guess you could just tell me.”
“I think you’re missing having a sense of the Divine in your everyday life. I think you are less happy now than when your life was occasionally upended by the fantastic. I think that grace fulfilled you in a way that you didn’t even know you needed. And the only thing crazy about you is the fact that you don’t seem to realize that.”
Through the rest of the plot line, Eli of course discovers that she is right. He was created to work on God’s behalf…nothing else will satisfy now. He’s given the opportunity — as only happens in tv land — to trade places with his brother (who now has an aneurysm), suffer once more with the aneurysm and the potential death it represents, but also recover the ability to hear from God once more. Eli chooses quickly to live a risky life for God.
“You had the aneurysm removed. You were quite clear that you wanted your life to return to what you considered normal. But you’re meant for so much more, Eli. You’re one of those people for whom normal is a failure of potential.” The psychiatrist wraps up her time with Eli by pointing out that when Eli walked away from his gift, he affected so many lives: the people he could no longer help, his boss who missed the thrill of doing right in the world, his secretary who longed to see Eli live up to his potential. Eli leaves with a risk-filled, meaningful life once more. He has chosen to step into the role he was created for.
Wow. Not bad for an hour TV show, is it? Not bad for a sermon in church or a life of study, either.
We are all Eli.
We can jump into this risk-filled life and get our hands and feet messy with the good stuff God sends our way. Or — because God lets us make this choice — we can live a safe life, a normal life. He still loves us. Beware, though. Once you’ve tasted the risk-filled, adventure-laden, nerve-chilling life God really wants, everything else seems to lack that sense of the Divine in our everyday lives.
I’ll do it, God. I may complain and duck and cower in the corner, but I’ll do it.