Swap Blog

Milton Stanley, posting on and bouncing off a post by William Willimon , has a great post about what is really the main reason to be in ministry and that is theological. Read Milton’s Post Here

Well after almost (probably nine total months of breaks) 20 solid years a era ended yesterday (May 11th, Mothers Day, 2008), I am not longer teaching a weekly Sunday School, Discipleship Training, Youth Ministry, Small Group or Connection Time class. The last 20 years have been fun, and I can honestly say God taught me so much because I was leading the various classes, but my wife and I made this call for all the right reasons. The #1 reason being that God seems to be bringing some new ministry options / opportunities / means our way and #2 we need some freedom on weekends to pursue some things away from church as well.

That is not to say that we (meaning she and I) will not take a class on again or act as filling ins / temps when needed, but honestly as of now we/ I have no plans to take leadership of a weekly class anytime soon. God of course could change all of that tomorrow (and He has done that before when we stepped down from leadership), but we are trusting Him to work on that when He wants.

This decision took almost a year to make, and the base seeds of it were planted almost 2 years ago. It was one of those things where 10 to 15 small to medium, and a few large things, added up to showing us it was the right time to make the big move. Our students seemed to understand and were supportive overall, church leadership was supportive as well, but in the end we made the call and we were going to do regardless of the support because it was time.

For this blog / website this real world change should have no real impact as this operation / ministry has functioned separately from our weekly live teaching for over 4 years now. Hopefully it will actually help improve this blog / web site as we MAY (big MAY) have a bit more free time to devote to it now. I do desire to resume a more regular blogging pattern again soon, but that will be more dependent on my ongoing M -F work load. It is a very good possibility that there will be more and more posts from 6 to11 PM and less from 8 AM to 5 PM at least short term. Time will tell.

As always thanks for reading, thanks for your encouragement, thanks for visiting, thanks for commenting, and most of thanks for your prayers.

This came in via Daily Wisdom today and I wanted to share it. I highlighted the part I know I personally needed to hear today -

Camouflage - May 06, 2008

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Hebrews 4:13

We were on the back porch. A holiday morning, not much stirring yet. I was slowly waking, cradling my steaming coffee mug, when my husband quietly asked, “Do you see what’s in the tree there?”

I strained to look, and all I saw was healthy, green fronds. I noticed how tall the coconut palm was getting. But I didn’t see what he was talking about.

“Sit here”, he said. “There’s something blocking your view there.”

Perfectly camouflaged, the iguana lay draped over a top branch. I zoomed in the lens, and was once-again amazed, at the mimic, nature can come up with.

“He’s so concealed by his coloring and marks”, I thought. However, my husband saw him, then I did as well. Sometimes I cover things up, put a smokescreen over them. But nothing in all of this world, including my heart, is hidden from God.

Our very thoughts are known to Him, and they are not even a surprise.

He doesn’t say, “Hmmmm, imagine that, what she’s thinking”….or, “Gee, look what he just did!” No news to the Lord, who knew us before we were even born (Psalm 139).

And, He loves us anyway. You may have heard this, and it is true: there is nothing you could ever do that would make God love you more, and there is nothing you could ever do that would make God love you less. He loves you. Period. Forever. Unconditionally. Just as you are. Forever and ever.

That is definitely good news.

Milton Stanley is pondering, thinking and teaching on the habits ofNehemiah, specifically his prayer life which was CONSTANT. Part of Milton’s pondering is brought on by a piece by Jeff Weddle ), which Milton followe with some personal audio about. Milton’s Post / Audio Here. Give both posts a read and Milton’s audio a listen.

Milton Stanley of Transforming Sermons has a great post / link up to a piece at Jesus the Radical Pastor Post here that is a great reminder that we all need to take some BE time with GOD.

This AM as I drove into work I was already thinking about lunch. It was not that I was really hungry it was I was missing a little sandwich shop near my work that closed a few years back.

This little sandwich shop made some of the best sandwiches I have ever had, they made a good calzone too but you had to come after 5 for those as the owner (and only employee) did not turn on the “pizza oven” until 4PM due to the cost of running it. The sentence above really tells you most of the reasons that the shop is gone - one employee (the owner) and a bare bone budget with no room for advertising. Adding to the last issue was the fact that the owner was a quiet guy who you almost had to drag more then a “Hello” out of. Not exactly a self promoter you might say.

Well bottom line as I thought about those sandwiches, the business situation of the shop, and the owner himself an additional thought came to me - how most Christians have similar habits to that little shop and it’s owner when it comes to sharing their faith and their relationship with God.

You ask why I say that? Well think about it a bit. Christians have the best thing in the world going for them - a one to one relationship with the creator of the Universe, the savior of the world, and the perfect patient and persistent teacher of true wisdom - yet many never talk about how great their life is or the perfect peace that comes from the Father. They allow their natural habits and tendencies to confound their walk, which eventually results in them just giving up and moving on. Many Christians go quietly through life, concerned more about not being noticed or being different, then actually worrying about showing / telling other about the very thing that makes them different, special and unique.

Understand I am not talking about,or saying that, Christians having to run into a room hand out tracs and share their testimony 15 times a day. No, I am simply talking about Christians taking the time to share with others (friends, co-workers, etc) the love of God. I am talking about relating too / investing in people close to you. That means talking to people about more then sports, weather, kids, and cars. That means carrying about the person enough to want to get to know the REAL person and allowing them to know the REAL you.

Back to my core point, this pattern of silence and camouflage by many Christians goes on month after month, year after year. They then wonder why their faith is stale, why they are unexcited about the things of God, why they seem so unfulfilled, and why no one really id’s them as a child of God. In time they begin to drift away even more and they begin to languish in their own disillusionment. After that they just stop thinking about the things of God entirely. They are resigned to being saved and to being silent about it. Unfortunately by doing this, they are missing the fact that they are not living up to the potential that God has for them. They are sliding silently through life while carrying a incredible (and free) gift with them and that is not God’s call to His people.

Just something to ponder as you move through your day and your walk with the Lord. Also something to ponder if you are ready to hang up your walk with God and just accept a quiet life of sliding along.

Though it is a few days (ok almost a full work week) late John T Brown from Scotwise had a excellent Monday heart starter up this week and everyone should give it a read. John’s post here

Milton Stanley of Transforming Sermons is serving up a double helping of knowledge and wisdom with his posts today on two of the touchiest (and most important) topics in churches today - leadership (and the lack there of) and discipline.

Milton, bouncing off a post by Kamp Krusty, makes a point about how most church leadership books are lacking when you get to the meat of their content.

Milton then moves on to talk about how discipline is a much ignored,but much needed, topic in the North American church. Milton’s post on discipline is based on a post by Ken Sande at Christianity Today.

After the last two weeks of real world work stress, a dog that had to have emergency surgury and that is still healing, a week in a walking boot due to a foot injury, and normal life stresses somehow Monday looks nice as nothing big looks on the horizon today.

God really can be found in the rough times of life. He truly shows up and blesses when the times are tough. It really takes rough times for us to see the little daily blessings that go unnoticed until the rough times. These are things in the end though that are vital to our survival. You can really find God in trials. It is just sad that so many of us never notice the little blessings until they all we have to look forward too.