Brandon

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving break. Right now I want to share with you about our Thanksgiving. This year Thanksgiving took on a whole new meaning for our family. Last Thursday morning I went into down town Atlanta to pick up a friend of mine. This friend happens to be homeless. He isn't homeless by choice, but because he can't find a job. Brandon, joined us for Thanksgiving last Thursday and had a great time. It goes without saying that Brandon blessed us as much as we were able to bless him. The most important thing I learned from Brandon was that I need to be more appreciative of the things God has blessed me with. God has allowed Amanda and I to have a great home, even though we complain about it. We have a leaky roof amongst other problems, but we have a home. Brandon taught us to be content with what we have and to stop being frustrated with where we are at right now. It goes without saying that taking Brandon back down town was a very difficult task. It's not easy to drop someone off behind a dumpster and know that he has no where to go. It's not easy to go to bed at night on a big comfy bed knowing that Brandon is looking for a place to shield him from the weather. All too often we find ourselves saying that we are starving and have no idea what the word really means. While Brandon was with us we gave him a new winter coat, gloves and hat. To see the tears in Brandon's eyes as he thanked me and hugged me brought everything into perspective. I'm not sure what Brandon took away from his time with our family. My prayer is that he felt like he was part of a family again. I hope he felt loved and safe. Brandon brought on a new meaning to Matthew 25:34-41. Check it out, "34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' 41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." So my question to you would be this. What are you doing for the least of these? What are you doing to impact lives? The truth is this, I look forward to the journey God has in store for my family and Brandon. I can't wait until that day when God allows us to help Brandon get off the street. I praise God in advance for allowing me to be a part of Brandon's spiritual journey. God is going to do big things in this relationship and he is going to reveal himself to Brandon in a big way. I'm so happy that God has allowed me to be a part of this! My goal in all of this is to point Brandon to God by the way I live!

Thanks

Well, the anticipation has begun. It is the week of Thanksgiving, and many of us look forward to the feast that awaits us. Many of us look forward to spending time with our loved ones. Many of us dread this week altogether. Personally, I love this week. I love thinking about the things I have to be thankful for. I'm thankful for a beautiful and loving wife, a great marriage, healthy kids, parents who are close enough to live life together. I'm thankful for a great job and God's provision. 1 Chronicles 16:34 tells us to, "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." I love this verse. David's Psalm of praise has a lot of good in it, but to think that we serve a God whose love endures forever is crazy. Forever has no ending, it's continual, never changing, it's forever. Forever is a word that we cannot comprehend. There is no ending so we do not understand how long it will last. There is no beginning so we do not know how long he has been loving us. Our minds are not capable of understanding forever. It's never changing. So, with that said; I give thanks to the Lord because he has blessed me and my family far beyond my imagination. He is good, perfect, whole, and loving. His love endures forever. What are you thankful for? Don't lose sight of the fact that we all have something to be thankful for regardless of our circumstance.

BCS Poll

Now, I know I'm not the only one who despises the BCS, however I think they have it right this week. Being from Florida I have to admit that I like all three of the in state powers. I'm not picky, FSU, UF, the "U". It doesn't matter as long as the championship trophy comes home to the sunshine state. I know that this may seem as if I am in decisive, but who cares. Have a great day!!

Catalyst_09 pt. 2

Does size matter? So many times we get wrapped up in the idea that bigger churches are better. I've got to tell you that I use to have this same mindset. I felt that the bigger the church equaled bigger resources resulting in the ability to minister on a grand scale. But, I've come to the conclusion that this isn't right at all. Christians tend to be slightly more judgemental then most. This is why we tend to judge success by size, where in fact success has nothing to do with size, but life change. We rank our churches on how fast they grow, or by how many other churches we start. We don't look at how many marriages God has saved, or how many lives God has transformed. We look up at the scoreboard and look at numbers, numbers that don't matter. When we as ministers become content with seeing lives changed and people falling in love with Jesus we find success. When we have this type of success everything else falls into place. Success isn't found in the next popular quote we came up with to twitter, when we submit to the love of Christ and pass that on to others we find ourselves looking through the lens of Christ. This is where true success is found.

Catalyst Recap

What an awesome two days! Now I admit that this years Catalyst was a first for me, so to say I was in awe of everything would be an understatement. If somehow you are not familiar, Catalyst is a leadership conference which attracts many Christian leaders from the Church and business worlds. For the next couple of days I hope to share with you some major points that impacted me throughout the conference.

Before I get too involved I want to share that the theme of the conference was, "On Your Mark". Hopefully, as you read the meaning behind this theme will clarify itself. The first speaker of the conference was Andy Stanley. Now I have to admit, I typically like to read his work more then I do listening to him. Not that he isn't a gifted speaker, that's just my preference. One quote that stuck with me was, "What man is a man who does not leave the world better?" What a thought. So many times we find ourselves consumed with our daily routine & schedules that we negate the fact that we are to truly impacting this world. The question is how are we impacting and what kind of shape will it be in when we are gone? We have got to leave a lasting impression on this world. I understand that the task sounds daunting and can be intimidating. The trick here is not getting caught up in leaving a big mark, it would be nice if we could all leave big marks, but realistically we know that won't happen. So we leave a small mark here, and a small mark there. We don't keep score, but we know that these small marks add up. The question posed by Andy, and I ask you is this, "Every leader leaves a mark, what kind of mark will you leave?"

Another thought that impacted me is this, "God takes full responsibility for the life wholly devoted to him." When we fully devote our lives to God he has our back. He takes responsibility for us and protects us. When this happens he leaves his mark on us, allowing us to leave his mark on somebody else.

Finally, hopefully this will challenge you like it challenged me. When you read this put your name in the blank. "Living to make _______ mark is to small a thing to give my life to. I want to be perfectly positioned for God to make his mark through me." Ultimately, it's not about your mark, it's about his mark on your life and the mark he leaves on others through you.

An Unstoppable Force

Lately I've been reading a book by Erwin McManus titled, "An Unstoppable Force". This book has really been pivotal in helping me to identify what I feel the role of the church is. I've also come to the understanding that the church as a whole tends to be exclusive, which is not what the church was initially designed to be. We find ourselves comfortable, we go into nice buildings, hang out with friends and family and walk away energized for the next week. The problem is we aren't bringing people with us. The greater problem is we aren't going to the people who are closest to us. We're content with our only friends being those we go to church with. We find it safe and warm to associate with like minded people, people who won't rock the boat we drift in. The church has become an institution, not a movement. The problem is we like to play it safe, because safe is comfortable. This quote from "An Unstoppable Force" has caused me to think, hopefully it will do the same for you. "It was easier to be certain you were right when you had never even heard of an opposing position. It was easier to be sure you were right when you felt you were in the majority position. It was easier to believe everyone else was wrong when you didn't know him or her personally. The idea that people without Jesus are going to hell went down far too easily for Christians who only knew Christians." The point is this. We have got to stop playing it safe. The bottom line is that when we die we will be going to one of two possible destinations. Many of us know where we will be spending eternity, here in lies the point. Many of those in our subdivisions, offices, schools, don't have the same knowledge. We have a certain knowledge, the knowledge of Christ. It is our obligation to share this knowledge with those who need it most. So we must associate with those we know are hurting, and have hang ups. We must associate with those we don't agree with. If we are going to truly see this community, city, state, country, world change for Christ we have to start with those closest to us. We have got to live in the middle of a battle field.

Expectations

Expectations can be both rewarding and crippling. When we are able to rise to the occasion and live up to our expectations, we feel a since of accomplishment we experience success. However, on the flip side when we fail to live up to our expectations we struggle. We struggle with self-worth or we struggle with pulling ourselves up to make another go of it. My thoughts on expectations are this. One, do we expect enough of God? Do we truly know that God is as big as he claims to be? The measure of our expectations answers this question. If we go through life not knowing that God is bigger then our reality, and that God is not obligated to abide by our reality then we limit our expectations of him. Two, Do we truly expect and trust God to meet and satisfy all of our needs? You can look through the bible cover to cover and see how God has provided for many needs. But, for some reason our expectations tend to only go so far. We don't expect God to fully take care of us, we limit our expectations, with doubt and reality. Finally, do we feel that God is in some far off place looking down as if we are entertainment. I recently posed a question to numerous people and video taped their responses. The question was this, "what do you expect to get out of coming to church." One response I heard was, "you know, I've never thought about that." How can we expect God to move in and through us if we don't have any expectations? Psalm 5:3 says, "In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." David clearly had expected a response from God. He prayed and waited in expectation. We tend to pray a grocery list of wants and needs, neglecting who God is and what he has done for us, then go through the rest of our day without a second thought. So when it comes to God what do you expect? Do you expect to have an encounter with God that will leave you changed? Do you expect something extraordinary? What category do you fall into? Expectations can be good and bad. They can be both rewarding and crippling. If we limit our expectations of God we miss out on all that he has to offer and in turn cripple ourselves.

Try this again.

I've tried this blogging thing before and didn't stick with it. So I'm going to give it another shot. I mean, it's free so what do I have to lose. I enjoy writing, I enjoy thinking out loud, and I enjoy the occassional debate so why not use a free forum to do these things. The purpose of this blog will be to share my thoughts on life, God, students, society etc. I hope to challenge people with my thoughts as I strive to make a small difference in this world. Anyways, keep an eye out for postings to come.

Greg