Category Archive

Step 1: do what you love! Whatever good thing is in your heart, God probably put it there and you will come alive when you do it!

Step 2: love what you do!  Too many times people quit doing something great because they fell OUT of love with it.  Too many marriages, jobs, churches and friends have split because people stopped loving what they once loved.  Everyone, from time to time, gets mad at what/who they love, but that’s all part of the journey.  Don’t forget that love requires dedication, sacrifice and perseverance.  Doing anything great requires those attitudes.

How can we forget how good God is? We are a sight and sound generation. When we don’t see or hear God moving in our time frame, we too often forget His goodness. That’s why the Bible teaches us not to dwell only on what we see, but to “walk by faith and not by sight”.

Finally, we see the answer from God and it hits us: He was always good. So good! Why did we forget? Why did we need yet another reminder?

The goodness of God is so much bigger than we realize!

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. -Ephesians 2:10

We’re all God’s creation but when He became our Savior we became a NEW creation, His masterpiece.  We are His artwork with a calling on our life to go and make more art.

Art – the quality, production, expression, or realm, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.

(By Seth Godin) My definition of art contains three elements:

1. Art is made by a human being.
2. Art is created to have an impact and to change someone else.
3. Art is a gift. You can sell the souvenir, the canvas, the recording… but the idea itself is free, and the generosity is a critical part of making art.

(Also from Seth) “By my definition, most art has nothing to do with oil paint or marble. Art is what we’re doing when we do our best work. “

Your best work is ahead.  Maybe no one expects you to be an artist.  Perfect.  No one expected David, a shepherd, a boy too young to go to be a soldier like his brothers, to stand up to the giant.  Even the king couldn’t talk David out of it so he put his own armor on David.  It didn’t fit.  Art doesn’t live in a box.  David met the Goliath with 5 stones and a staff and the rest is history.  I dare you to tell me that is not art.  Stories don’t get more poetic than that!

And then there’s Jesus.  Everyone was looking for a savior, a king.  And he was born in a barn.  He said “I didn’t come to be served, I came to serve”.  No one expected that!  He took a towel and a bowl of water and washed his disciples feet!  That’s unexpected!  That’s impact!  That’s art!

The world is craving something genuine and authentic.  They are tired of hype.  The world used to be so attracted to anything that could shock them.  We have a unique opportunity because now there’s nothing shocking anymore.  If anything is shocking it’s people who serve the least of these, no strings attached.  Generosity is shocking.  The unexpected are the ones who do the right thing, the ones who honor God with every life decision they make, the ones that aren’t afraid to be different and aren’t ashamed to be a Jesus freak.

You may still be thinking “The guy in my class that draws Transformers – he may be an artist but I don’t get how I can make art”.  Would you say storytelling is an art form?  Every one of you has a story to tell and it’s a good one!  In your story you are the main character but Jesus is the hero and that story is a work of art.  It’s going to make an impact.  YOU can make an impact.

You are God’s art, created to make art in this world.

If you obey God you cannot fail

And God always makes it possible for us to obey Him

We should be careful in our belief of failure and success

Some of us would say success is obedience to God

But what we say and what we believe are two different things

We say what we think but we act on what we believe

So if we’re curious as to what we believe all we need to do is examine our actions

Isn’t it interesting how God takes you through tough seasons in life to prepare you for your future.  You may think that you are simply suffering or bored or frustrated but really God is at work preparing you and building you up for what lies ahead. He is the master Architect.

Building a Foundation isn’t flashy but it’s probably the most important phase of building. Regardless, the foundation is certainly the first phase and if you don’t build it now you postpone your dreams.

I was watching the movie “Sneakers” the other day and a scene at the end struck me.  The team of good guys have a chance to trade a special computer to the NSA and get almost anything they want in return.  While the rest of the team asks for Winnebago’s and trips to Europe, River Phoenix’ character asks for a female NSA Agents’ phone number, which I thought was brilliant.  But then Whistler, the blind guy on the team, asks for peace on Earth and goodwill toward men!  I love that he asks for that out of all the things to ask for!  The agent in charge says “We don’t do that sort of thing” to which the good guys reply “You’re just gonna have to try”.

For Whistler (and the rest of the team) it was a defining moment, which is “a point at which the essential nature or character of a person is revealed or identified”.  As the saying goes: adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it.  We are building our own character, good or bad, everyday.  If we are careful we can hide the weaknesses in our character but at some point when we are stressed, stretched and tempted our true character will be revealed.  When that time comes I can only hope to be as sharp as the blind guy from “Sneakers”.

I went for a run the other day and I was listening to an excellent podcast by Andy Stanley. Before I knew it I had run further than I ever have before.  A lot of times I think “I just need to focus!” but my run reminded me that focus can be bad if you’re focused on the wrong thing.  If I go for a run without my ipod it ends up being a terrible run.  The whole time I’m thinking about how difficult it is and when it will end.  We all know people that talk constantly about their problems.  That’s like staring at the rear-view mirror while your trying to drive forward.  Maybe we can go further than we ever have if we focus on the solution instead of the problem.

As I was playing disc golf today I noticed my disc had landed near some poison ivy. You need to understand that I am a magnet for poison ivy. I’ve had it spread all over my body and usually at the worst of times, like when the IMT school year first started and I was meeting all of the new interns with a rash all over my face! I’ve taken everything there is to take to treat it and in the process I’ve learned everything there is to know about the demonic plant.

So when I noticed my disc had fallen near some ivy I took serious action. An ivy plant produces oil that most people are allergic to. This oil takes about 3 hours to bond to your skin and cause a reaction. So after I finished my round of disc golf I came home and immediately kicked off my shoes and took careful note of everything I touched on my way to the shower. After my shower I got out the latex gloves and cleaned the doorknobs, car keys, phone, wallet, water bottle, shoes, discs and I put my clothes in the wash. Christina was beginning to think I had committed a murder.  I can’t be too careful when it comes to poison ivy because I know all to well it’s potential.

It got me thinking. What if I feared the destruction sin can cause as much as I fear the itchy inconvenience of poison ivy? What if I realized how much sin had hurt me inwardly? (Aren’t we always so conscious of what affects us outwardly?  The things we can’t hide) What if I took such careful precautions to avoid the terrible effects sin can have on me?  What if I walked away from temptation like I carefully walk away from poison ivy?

Poison ivy oil can stick to your shoes and can still attach to you after a year if it’s not washed off.  Like sin, you can’t get away from it unless it’s cleansed.

Many times an entertainer will explode onto the scene because of their passion for their art form. Then, when fame kicks in, they lose touch with what they used to know so well (real life) and they can’t produce like they used to because they aren’t as passionate as they used to be. And then there’s those that make a comeback. John Travolta. Robert Downey jr. Even Britney! (for some reason I’ve always rooted for Britney) Their careers sank so low that they rediscovered what real life is about (or somewhat real life – I guess you could say they experienced struggle again). And then they regained their voice and their art form. Sometimes its like this with christians. When we first get saved we are filled with passion.  We are like sponges soaking up God’s word.  Can’t wait to get to church.  It’s a lot like a honeymoon.  Then after time, we sometimes forget what we were saved from.  We can forget how much we needed God in the first place.  We start thinking the grass might be greener on the other side.

If you’ve lost passion or know someone who is going through that, how can you rediscover your first love?  Here’s just a few of my suggestions:

• Take a trip with no baggage.  Get away with God and pursue a genuine relationship with Him and forget about the little things
• Serve somewhere or someone.  Giving has a way of opening your eyes to things you haven’t seen in a while
• Leave behind the things you are ashamed of.  Get free and lose the guilt that causes bitterness and kills passion
• Find an accountability partner.  Agree to be honest and ask for the cold hard truth