Dart Board

Occasionally when I’m speaking an idea will come to my mind that I’ve never thought of before and the next thing you know I’m blurting it out.   This blog is about a recent blurt! 

We are all familiar with dart boards where you throw darts at certain numbers or icons on the board!  And if you want to dice up the dart throwing experience, you may hang a picture of someone you just don’t like.  This livens up the target as you stick this effigy of your favorite nemesis with nice pointy darts!  I suggest that while we may never actually paste a photo of some despicable personage on a real dart board, we may have one in our heart!  Do you think that everyone has somone in their heart that they throw darts at once in a while? 

We may recall certain comments this person has made and think of what we would like to say if we ever had the opportunity to let them have it!  There goes the dart!  We may list all the reasons they are an A-1 jerk.  There go some more darts!  Look, we need to stop pitching darts in our heart! 

Jesus Christ has forgiven us of all our offenses so let’s be willing to forgive others as well!

Enjoying Life

Deuteronomy 6:1 – “These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to posess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy a long life”

There are a couple of striking things in these verses.  The first is that our life and the quality of our life is connected to how we live.  Following God impacts us and also generations to follow so we want to guard against being nonchalant when it comes to the words of God.

I also picked up on the phrase, ”enjoy a long life”.  It fascinates me that God is interested in us having a long life here.  Sometimes we may have the notion that this life doesn’t matter and all that matters is heaven some day!  We may think we’re just enduring this blip in time until we can get to something really cool.  God wants us to enjoy a long life on earth so we don’t need to save all the fun and joy for heaven!  We can have happiness right here on earth as well.

Enjoy your life realizing this happens as we follow God and keep to His ways!

Equilibrium

Life can be hectic at times as there is an endless parade of tasks and pressing requests scrambling for our attention.  In the dusty cloud this busyness creates it’s so easy to lose sight of truly important things.  I admit there are times when my life is out of balance and I seek equilibrium.  So I sat down and thought about those things for which I must make time if life is to be balanced. 

The foremost command in the Bible is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30).  I am not going to talk about love right now but I do want to consider our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  I asked myself a simple question recently, “What am I missing because I’m busy”?  The following are some notes I made to myself and I share them in hopes that it will be helpful to you.

1. Rest.  We need to take care of our bodies in order to have the strength we need.  When we’re busy morning until the waning moments of a long day, we are missing out on times of rest and rejuvenation.   We may even get so busy that we are not getting the exercise we desperately need as we burn that proverbial candle at every end possible.  The soul is housed in a body and we do need to take care of it.   So schedule in times where you can chill out and relax during the week in order to have balance.  I am making a memo to self: Take a few nights off during the week!  

2. Reading.  Interacting with great thoughts and taking time to strengthen our minds is very important as well.  What have you been reading lately?  The Bible inspires me greatly and I love interacting with it.  What about reading other authors, history, biographies of great people, or current events?  For our lives to be balanced we need to read more.

3. Reflection on Spiritual Things.  Let’s not lose sight of our souls!  Service to God and others is of vital importance for a balanced life.  When my world is out of balance I find that I’m not accomplishing those things that God has laid on my heart to do because I’m caught up in all of the urgent demands and losing sight of profoundly important spiritual assignments!  I need to every once in a while reflect and ask this question, “God, what do you want me to accomplish for you with the talents you have given me”?  Maybe God wants you to call someone and encourage them.  Perhaps God wants you helping someone out or getting involved in a service team at your church or in your community.  Do you have time for God and God’s things?  If you don’t your life is out of balance.

4. Relationships.  The heart needs to give love and receive love but unless we make the necessary time we cannot nurture our relationships with our family or friends.  I’m such a doer and sometimes I think I could be happy zipping along to the next task on the do list until the day is far spent because I enjoy getting things done.  But we cannot do that at the expense of our relationships with others.  Have you spent any time intentionally developing friendships?  I love people and love socializing but I don’t always make the time for it like I should.  I confess that I really blew it lately because I was so out of balance that I didn’t call a friend when they needed me.  I confess that I’m not always that ever listening ear for my children that I need to be!  I spend time with them but sometimes it’s more about doing things than it is face to face relating.

Is your life balanced in these areas of rest, reading, reflection on the spiritual, and relationships?  Let’s work at intentionally blocking out times for the truly vital things in life that are so easy to miss!  It will take a deliberate effort to make the time to gain our balance!!

Two Words

Two words have been bouncing around in my head lately and I’ve been running with them.  They originally came to the forefront of my thoughts as I pondered my expectations for my children regarding earning some money for college this summer.  I would love for them to make money via buying and reselling.  I’m all for it if they’ll push themselves and make it just like any other job!  But what if they go light?  What if they only work one day a week or underachieve because they’re distracted by all of the activities that summer has to offer?  What if when I talk to them about their effort, I hear a litany of well-meaning excuses as to how many other things they had to do instead!  I’m ready with my slogan for this summer and here it is, NO EXCUSES!  Especially regarding my oldest daughter because we have to buy and sell in order to pay for her college and it can be done.  So, no excuses! 

I’m all ready to apply this phrase to my children as I teach them about hustle and a good work ethic!  However, I’ve really been using the phrase to motivate myself!  I’m not a man of a lot of excuses but I’ll make them and even accept them!  So as things have needed to be done I’ve been reminding myself, no excuses!  We pray to God and count on his blessings and then work hard!  No excuses.

Could you use this phrase in your own life?  Have you been making excuses as to why you can’t get things done?  Why you can’t love your spouse?  Why you can’t pray, read the Bible, find time for church, come to a prayer meeting, or help out in service!  If we’re not careful we’ll find every excuse in the book not to do the things that can be and must be done. 

No excuses!

Hit the Ground Running

We will never do all the things we would like to do.  It may sound pessimistic but actually it’s realistic.  Many goals and dreams compete for our attention like a hundred people trying to get the last three U2 concert tickets.  There are not enough to go around that’s what life is like sometimes!  Your potential do list is like having a dozen plugs and one outlet.  What am I saying?  I’m saying that something in life will be left unplugged!  Something is getting skipped.  The question is, what will it be?  Will you pass over the exercise you desperately need?  Will you skip the prayer that you absolutely require?  Will you ignore the children who want some time?  Will the book you want to read stay on the shelf?  These are the hard questions that we must answer. 

The good news is that if we make priorities and plan our time well, we can get to the important things every day! 

It’s a blessing to have a lot to do because we’re never ever bored.  There is always something to read, something to write, something to organize, something to fix, something to accomplish.  I have projects for winter and projects for summer and some have been on the list for far too long.  However, they’re never coming off the list unless I make a plan!  If it’s an important use of my time then I have to make the time to get it done.  We can talk priorities all we want but priorities without a set plan are nearly meaningless.

If you want to exercise you must make the time.  If you are going to pursue God like we should,  you need to make the time.  If you want to have devotions with your family and pray together, you’re going to have to plan to do it and when to do it.  Talking is easy but it’s the plan that makes the difference. 

Start the week and the day strong.  Hit the ground running, knowing exactly what you’ll need to accomplish to get the priorities done.  If you’ll do this, you’ll accomplish much more with your life! 

Remember that Jesus was busy too but He still made time for His heavenly Father and He accomplished the important things!

Life’s Intersections

There are times when we are re-acquainted with people through times of grief.  How often have you heard, “I’m glad to see you but I wish it were under different circumstances”?   

Recently, I was invited to do the funeral of a man whom I have known for many years.  His one son used to attend our church before passing away at the age of thirty and his daughter was involved in the ministry at EBC.  Time escaped and the years rolled along but occasionally our paths would intersect and we would catch up.    

Last week I had the chance to re-connect with this sweet family through helping with the funeral service.  While I so very much wish it were under different circumstances, I have to admit that it was good to see them. 

Why was I called upon?  It was because fourteen years ago I walked a few miles of difficult road with them.  I also was able to walk some miles of good road complete with blue skies and happy times.  There was a friendship that never died despite the passing years because we had shared life together.    

I say that to remind us of the importance of times when our lives intersect with people God has placed beside us on the road of life.  These acquaintances, relationships, and friendships can be very significant so value them!  Remember that we may be leaving some of ourselves behind with those we encounter on the journey and may just leave a mark that lasts until our dying days and beyond.

In Need of Assistance

Our oldest daughter Cassie just graduated from High School and we had the Open House on the very next day. Jeri has been thinking about this Open house for months and it intensified as the big day approached. Wow!

I have a new found appreciation for Open Houses and the amount of work that goes into pulling one off! There’s outside work and inside work and attention paid to a hundred different details that most people would never notice! (But you notice it when you’re the one doing it). You know what I’m saying, right? The weeds pulled, the bathroom painted, the windows cleaned, the planters planted, the tables arranged in a certain location, the balloons, the ribbons, the decorations, the table coverings, the games, and lest I forget the absolute most important one – THE FOOD!

I just have one thing to say about all of this. If it weren’t for the help of many friends we would not have pulled it off! You reminded me once again of what true friendship is all about. THANK YOU from our entire family!

It has been a great reminder of my need of other people in life! I could not do what I do in life if it were not for the assistance and encouragement of so many people. I in turn want to make sure that I also am helping and encouraging others realizing that we really do need each other!

Keep it Real! Bill

Verses on the Spirit

Here are the verses from the sermon on 6/14/09 regarding the Holy Spirit. I had so many that I thought it would be helpful to post them.

1. We Are United with Christ by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:13, 27

2. We Are Given New Life by the Holy Spirit. John 7:38-39; Titus 3:5-6

3. We Are Indwelt by the Holy Spirit. John 14:17

4. We Are Counseled by the Holy Spirit. John 16:7

5. We Are Convicted by the Holy Spirit. John 16:8

6. We Are Led by the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:14

7. We Are Given Gifts by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:7

8. We Are Sealed by the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:13,14; 4:30

9 We Are Improved by the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23

And all of this is ours through faith. Jesus died to forgive us of our sins and through faith we are forgiven and have heaven as our home. Do you believe?

John 7:38 – Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.

A Weekend to Remember

Wow! What a fantastic weekend our Grand Opening turned out to be! I so appreciate the tremendous support shown by the congregation and our community! So many of our church family and friends made the effort to share this weekend together with us.

We ended up having 955 people in attendance between the two services on the first Sunday morning! We fed 400-500 people on Saturday night and had 400-450 for our Worship night on Friday night. I thought it a particularly fitting way to kick off the new building. We also had a great turn out for our Open House on Saturday! I don’t have enough words to describe how blessed I felt this weekend! It was a very successful start for our new chapter in “helping wanderers to become followers of Jesus Christ”.

The recurrent theme that I continually think about and talk about is how many people are serving and helping. I could not do what I do without the help of my church family. You guys are GREAT! In my book, you’re the best!! So keep up the good work!!!

May God bless us as we seek His direction! Thanks again for helping this to be such a memorable time!!

A Credit

I just want to send a thankful post to all of the helpful people at Eagleville Bible Church.  I would be so lost without all of the assistance as we prepare for a transition into a new building and our Grand Opening.  There are so many who have selflessly and seriously taken on responsibilities and are getting the job done!  Just about the time I wonder what we’re going to do someone steps up and WOW!  Thanks! 

I’ve been thinking about so many of you and how much I appreciate you all.  You’re such a blessing to me and others so thank you! 

The truth is that I could never do what I do without all of you doing what you do!  If it were not for you right now, I just don’t know what I would do.  I would be pulling my hair out and volunteering for a straight jacket!  I can’t say enough about how much your efforts are meaning to me and others.  Suffice to say, “Thank you from the bottom of my heart”!  

And for those who pray for myself and other leaders in the church!  Grats to you too!!  I feel it. 

Bill