Christmas Flesh & The Cross

Tis' the season to stop and pause amongst the chaos of Christmastime. Most Americans actually have a day or two off this week to celebrate Christmas. For me, I take some time to enjoy the chaos, which I thrive in, and also to get away from it all. In this time, I reflect on what Christmas is all about. I'm drawn to Philippians 2:8, which read, "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Although in this season we think more about the birth of Christ, than we do the resurrection, His purpose was for a far greater purpose than a humble beginning. Don't think of this time and reflect on a cozy, poor lit stable, with dirty animals, where a family had to rest because every other place in town had the 'No Vacancy' sign lit up. Jesus came to earth in this setting to release us, you and me, from sin. It is a power that only comes in the name of Jesus. In the passage Paul wrote that I quoted above, he connects the two thoughts of Christmas-Jesus birth, and the resurrection. Interestingly enough, the word used in Phil 2:8, as "fashion" is the Gk word schema. Schema used in ancient times was used to depict a king who exchanged the kingly garments for a brief period of time for the clothing of a beggar.
When God came to earth, He did so in a way where He shed the "glorious", for the clothing of human flesh. Man's temporal tent, or earthly flesh is wonderfully made, but nothing compares to the appearance of God. He went from radiant glory from eternity past, and came to earth as a babe, so He could carry a cross, then be crucified on it. HUMILITY at it's greatest. When you are in the midstof the craziness of Christmas with family, friends, crowded malls, and last minute deals, remember Christmas and the earthly flesh God manifested as a baby. He was born to die for you and me. This is what Christmas is really about.

Leadership Mic'd Up

Barbara Walters just finished wrapping up her 10 most fascinating people of 2011. However, Barbara, being Barabra, failed to really get some of the most interesting and fascinating people of 2011. She normally goes after glitz, glamour, and people in the news. So this year she failed miserably by not including the person of which the video below is about. He is the most talked about football player this year, and he really has not done too much, except win. His name is Tim Tebow. Now, I am not a Denver Broncos fan, nor will I ever be. I couldn't stand the Florida Gators, the university where Tebow played his college ball either. I appreciate Tim Tebow much more after watching the video below, and I have recently found myself "tebowing" on a few occasions lately. I appreciate the guy's zeal for life and his leadership that he portrays on the field and sideline. One can learn a lot about leadership from watching this video clip as Tim was mic'd for a recent game where he rallied the team to a fascinating come-from-behind win. Watch the clip and I'l break it down for you:



LEADERSHIP LESSONS

*You can make an impact in someone's life, by taking a few minutes of your time to talk to them.

*Leaders should be able to bounce back from adversity.

*Positivity is important in rallying people around you.

*Respect is a leadership commodity that more leaders should have.

*Composure is something every leader should have in their arsenal of skills.

*Encouragement goes a long way.

*Attitude determines altitude.

*When you believe in people and show you care, that impact lasts forever.

I have had the opportunity to be around excellent leaders. Each time I am with one, I try and take something away and implement it in my life. Being intentional about leadership helps one grow. That is my desire every opportunity I get.

What are you Called to do?

As a kid, I knew I had a calling. It included a fast car and a race track...then that was interrupted by a pigskin and pads playing on grass...then I figured why not a leather ball and a court. What was happening was that I was looking at what I wanted to do, not what God really had for me. God got my attention by bringing people into my life that did not know each other, but each had a word for me, about what God had been stirring in my heart. When God needs to get your attention, He will go about it in amazing ways. God has called me simply "To communicate God's word, to equip, empower, and encourage a generation to a real relationship with Jesus Christ. I am called to to use my leadership, influence, and friendship to inspire authentic faith." As I write this I think of Paul, who knew his calling too. Paul lived, breathed, slept, and awoke every day to the call of God on his life. Paul did everything he could possible to attain God's call in his life. He didn't jog toward it, he owned a fierce determination to press ahead. As a matter of fact Paul uses a phrase in Phil. 3:12, "I follow after". This is a fierce word that in Gk literature means to track down, hunt, pursue, as a hunter would its prey. It carries the connotation of hunting down something and will stop at nothing until it is caught. Paul uses the same verbiage to discuss his passion for God's calling on his life. Paul uses this phrase to describe his desire, which was modeled by Jesus Christ. Paul did what he was supposed to, it took determination and hard work. It took concentration and full attention teamed with the Holy Spirit to find, accept, and live his calling. So, do you know what you are called to do? Are you willing to put in the hard work to make it happen? Take action and get to it, it is not too late to fulfill the calling in your life. God has a plan for your life. Engage with God today and let God speak to your calling? helpful hint: be ready to listen!

Loyalty & Allegiance: Forgotten Words in Sports These Days

Have you ever been so loyal to something and then...BAM, it is swept from underneath you; leaving you wondering what is going on? It happens in the sports world all the time. Earlier this month my hometown hero, was rumored to be getting the axe from the team. Today it was another team losing their hero. It makes me shake my head and wonder where did all the loyalty and allegiance go?

I think of major players in history and how they felt when allegiance was compromised. Jesus immediately comes to mind and I often wonder what expression was on his face when he saw Judas.

I know it is a business. It was for Judas, and it is for the protagonists of this blog. I get that, I really do. Better offers come and go all the time, and larger markets and richer owners will always have the ability to reel in the big gamers.

I remember growing up watching Steve Largent catch tip-toeing touchdowns for the Seahawks. Cal Ripken only wore one jersey and that was a Baltimore Oriole one. I'd turn on the television and watch #32 Magic's Lakers and #33 Bird's Celtics battle it out on television. In every sport, every town who had a team, also had a star who were lifers. It was called LOYALTY, or ALLEGIANCE. Fanatics and management made sure the stars knew they were loved. Fans of anything nowadays have loyalty and allegiance. Jason Bourne will only be Matt Damon, no matter who else tries to carry the series on. Imagine if some bonehead tried to pull Jonny Depp from the Pirates franchise.(even though its run its course-it'd be a dumb move)

Here is the deal, today's sports stars are drawn away by the huge salaries that large markets can offer. They will go toward the money, and forget about the fans that they will leave behind when they depart. The landscape of sports changes before our eyes. You may have a Minnesota or NY Jets jersey with Favre's name on it, but love him or hate him he's a Packer. Jordan will always be known as a BULL, not a Wizard.

In life these stars will rise, take teams to championships, and then bolt. That is the crazy landscape we live in the sports world today. I find it rather sad, and I find it rather lame that players can't play for the game in the city they love, instead they play for the love of money, in the city that will pay best. Wonder how St. Louis feels right now.

Loyalty and Allegiance is a lost thing in many regards these days. But it is an important virtue to have. So, ask yourself do you have it? Do you need it?

Ways to ACTIVATE Scripture in our Life

I heard a great line once regarding discipleship. "There should always be an open Bible between me and the person I am discipling." One of the tools I use for scripture is the WORD HAND; giving you the tools for the “grip on scriptures”: Hear, Read, Study, Memorize, and Meditate.

I want to give you 3 more tools that may be of help to you. Without personal strategies for connecting with God, our daily agendas tend to become: I must have, I must be, I must achieve. But exercises such as Scripture meditation cultivates the heart and guard it from stubborn habits.

The SOAP Method-
S-cripture
O-bservation
A-pplication
P-rayer
The idea behind SOAP is to make it a journal when studying scriptures.

3-Step Meditation Process- lectio divina or spiritual reading. Lectio is the attempt to read more with the heart than the head. The idea is not to cover an amount of scripture, but rather surrender to whatever word or phrase catches the attention. A slow meditative reading….really relies on the respect of the power of words to resonate with the full range of experience. Here are the 3 steps:
• Observation- taking the first look- what’s going on? Who are the players? What are the important ideas? Concepts? How do I feel about this?
• Investigation- going deeper-what can I discover? What questions do I need to ask God? What can I discover about myself? Are there any words that I need to define? What is the main point, idea, the author communicating?
• Application- responding in love. What is the takeaway? How does God
Change my life if I apply this? How can I respond to the Holy Spirit in the next 24 hours?

5x5x5- Scripture is one of God’s ordained ways of life transformation-don’t take it for granted. It’s easy to read someone else's thoughts through devotionals. It’s like trying to kiss someone you love through the window of your car. There is the illusion of intimacy, but little first hand experience. So here is a great tool to get you hooked.
5 Minutes a Day-
5 Days a Week-
5 Ways to Approach Scripture- underline the key words or thoughts, write your own translation, ask questions, capture the big idea, and personalize the meaning.

How do we ACTIVATE Scripture as a way of life into the life of Small Group Lifers:

• Learn from Jesus.

o He didn’t invest time with multitudes, he invested in a select few.

• Think big but start small.

o The Gk text of Matthew 28:18-20 uses three words: ‘go’, ‘baptize’, and ‘teach’. All are participles which derive from one controlling verb “make disciples.” The great commission is about ‘making disciples’.

• Think in generations.

o The Bible is peppered with individual personalities. Each of these individuals had the potential to influence others for Christ. This is pictured through scripture in generations.

• Be intentional!

o Jesus focused His ministry toward a picture of maturity. He had a bulls eye on energies focused toward disciple making. So should you!

• Picture discipleship.

Jesus is at the center. Disciplines act as spokes in a wheel, that lead us to movement and structure.
Take action!

What is your commitment to coming alongside people and making disciples?

Creating Christmas Traditions for the Fam

Many Christmas traditions and memories from my childhood still dance around in my brain. I have been fortunate enough to pass down some of these family traditions to the family I now lead. It is important for people to have traditions to look forward to and celebrate, in their lives. Christmas traditions are some of the best to discover and plan for this season.

Below are a list of websites that have ideas to create and celebrate new traditions this Christmas season with friends and family:

http://simplemom.net/6-weeks-till-christmas-create-a-new-family-tradition/

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/holidays/making-meaningful-christmas-memories.aspx

http://halife.com/family/family_christmas_traditions.html

http://www.squidoo.com/family-christmas-traditions

http://www.parents.com/holiday/christmas/traditions/

Pass the Ball

You can learn a lot from leadership and watching sports. I was reading up on the adjustment for one of the highest draft picks from 2 years ago and realized, although a star at one time, his game slipped because he couldn't adjust. Growing up, NBA players have the ball in their hand 75% of a game. In junior high, high school, and even as they get into college, depending on where they go to school and who is on their team, they may dominate the ball handling. What caught me off guard was not the low scoring output for this high draft pick, but rather the following quote:

"I understood why I was struggling on the court, sort of. I was a player who was so used to having the ball in my hands the majority of the time that it was difficult to make the adjustment to playing without the ball, trying to learn how to play without the basketball. When you add in all the normal struggles that a rookie has - travel, length of schedule, and all that stuff - it was a very difficult year."

This is a leadership issue right here. This guy didn't get the ball in the hands of others very often and let teammates help lead the charge. The NBA is the highest level of play in the world-hands down. In all those years of dreaming, playing tournaments, getting a scholarship to a major university, playing ball, he never adjusted or learned the game without the basketball. Is this a failure of coaching? His own doing? Wasted talent? Reality of the pressures of the NBA game?

The fact is as a leader and a major contributor, no matter what you do, has got to get the ball in other's hands. One must study and have to learn how to play, help, lead, speak up, contribute, without being the main threat, main person, main fill-in-the-blank here.

Some lessons are learned the hard way. The take away here from this quote is this: You have got to build a team around you, you can trust, learn from, let lead at times, fail with, and dream with. I'm thankful I serve on a team like that and this above quote helped put in perspective the reality of playing team sports. You have to pass the ball to advance it down the field, score, and be ready when called upon.

Systems...Check...All Systems Clear for Launch...You Can't hesitate.

My car is great at telling me when I have systems that need to be checked or updated. My computer also alerts me, as does my iPhone. So, what would it take for you to have these systems check yourself? In the last month of the year, a lot happens. This is a great time to re-evaluate some key systems and practices you have established in your daily, weekly, monthly, routine.

Systems are great things to have in place. But if you have systems that are not working, it may be time to restructure your systems. Systems are beneficial in business, home, and life settings. Recently our staff went through a check of our systems. It is great to pause at least 2x a year and review the systems you have in place, look for the ones that may need to be established, and then get them all in motion. So you may ask, what are systems that you should think about or have in place for you personally?

Here are a few thoughts, in no order whatsoever: family, spiritual, health, responsibilities, personal, work, & friends. In each of these areas you have a ways to grow and set systems to make better use of your time management, follow though, and life development. In this process of reviewing systems, I found some that were dead-ends, rock-solid, seasonal, need some work, and then a few that need to be established.

Take a few hours to walk through your systems you have or have not. This is developing you as a person. If you need someone to review them, ask someone connected to the area you are working on: family, work, social, etc...

We can all grow from establishing systems. So, take the time and review them soon, before the lights go off and the systems crash. It's easier to address them before they are in a failure process.

The CORE of Fellowship

In this crazy pace of life we live, every so often it is good to get to the core of true fellowship. For small groups, simple core principles of fellowship can be very simple and probably pretty refreshing. As I comb over Philippians 2:1-4, there are some key lines I am drawn too. These lines are core items to gauge for small group life. In this passage we find a word "fellowship" that describes the interaction of the church. The original GK word is KOINONIA. Look at the basics of small group life you find in this passage from the following lines:

· Have Kindness & Compassion for one another. (v.1)

· Be Humble. (v.3)

· Always consider others... (v.3)

· Look out for the interest of others. (v.4)

When you look at Small Groups these are the core principles we need to have. If you applied them to your group your group my look very different than it does today, or your group may be a model group with no change necessary.

In other words SMALL GROUP LIFE CORE PRINCIPLES are summed up in Fellowship this way:

· LOVE unconditionally.

· TRANSCENDENT CAUSES where we serve together for the mission of Christ.

· VALUES/PURPOSE to uphold each individuals purpose in life.

· RESPONSIBILITIES to help each other experience transformation.

In which area may your small group need to improve? Step out and do better at? In which area can you lead better at?