Over the past few weeks I have had an extra chore to do in my yard thanks to my two silver maple trees. At least once a week, I go out to my driveway and sweep up the countless "helicopter seeds" that have fallen from my trees. Sometimes I use my blower and other times I work with my push broom and send the seeds out to the street. I also have to take time to clean out my flower bed because the seeds find their way into it since it sits next to my driveway and under the tree.
Last week I was doing this process and during the middle of it I gritted my teeth and exclaimed, "I hate these seeds!" As I continued the clean up process, I started to think about how nice it would be if followers of Christ could continually dump seeds of kindness, love, grace, mercy, peace, etc. onto the people and places in our lives. What if the seeds of Christ that we are spreading where everywhere? What if we literally spread so many that it would be annoying, or better yet, impossible for the enemy to clean up?
Thinking about the seeds like that and imagining this kind of impact that I could be a part of - and hope that I am actively being a part of - made the seed clean up process a little less frustrating. So each Spring, these seeds will be my reminder of what we can do by spreading the seeds of joy and hope found in Christ.
Official blog of New Creation Church of Omaha
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
The Police Rule!
So last week I went to see The Police in concert, my first concert in about 5 years. I am pretty picky about music, limiting my music selection to about a dozen musicians / bands. My two favs are The Police and U2. The unique sound of the police and the unbelievable talent of the band's members is what I love the most. They only made four albums, but that was enough to establish some timeless hits.
The concert, not surprisingly, was the best I had seen. The music and vocals were great and the hd projection screens were a nice touch. Even my wife, who isn't a big fan, liked the show. Afterwards, though, she made a comment that rang very true for me. "Wouldn't it be great if people worshipped God the same way they worshipped this band tonight?"
I agree wholeheartedly. The people, athletes, musicians, etc. that we so easily worship are, we often forget, human. They don't have any special powers or auora surrounding them. They are ordinary people doing extrodinary things. God, on the other hand, is loving , all-powerful, awesome, etc. But because we can't see Him, it is very difficult for us to fully engage in the same worship we regullarly participate in at stadiums and arenas every week. The funny thing is the short and long term gains for worshipping God far surpasses any rewards from concerts or events. If only more people could understand and experience this reality.
The concert, not surprisingly, was the best I had seen. The music and vocals were great and the hd projection screens were a nice touch. Even my wife, who isn't a big fan, liked the show. Afterwards, though, she made a comment that rang very true for me. "Wouldn't it be great if people worshipped God the same way they worshipped this band tonight?"
I agree wholeheartedly. The people, athletes, musicians, etc. that we so easily worship are, we often forget, human. They don't have any special powers or auora surrounding them. They are ordinary people doing extrodinary things. God, on the other hand, is loving , all-powerful, awesome, etc. But because we can't see Him, it is very difficult for us to fully engage in the same worship we regullarly participate in at stadiums and arenas every week. The funny thing is the short and long term gains for worshipping God far surpasses any rewards from concerts or events. If only more people could understand and experience this reality.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Tree Watching
Last Monday we returned from a Holiday trip to the metropolis of Osage City, KS to see my Father and Stepmother and family. It was a nice three day getaway highlighted by my Dad and I watching old movies late into the night.
We left in the morning so we had the rest of the day to unpack and settle back in. I took the wheel and put in some music of my own liking as I knew the trek from Topeka to Omaha wasn't exactly the most scenic.
But there was a stretch of 60 miles just before the Nebraska state line that caught my attention. I began to notice the damaged trees along the road. I remembered the ice storm that hit a few weeks back and I realized that this stretch was hit the hardest. Most of the biggest trees had lost the top branches. Some trees were split in half or had limbs still dangling.
As I continued to fix my eyes on these trees, I began to wonder how many of them would survive. What would this landscape look like in the Spring and Summer? Only time will tell of course. But there is one thing that will be a determining factor. The trees that are deeply rooted with extensive root systems will stand a better chance for survival.
In my spiritual life I know this is true too. When I am deeply rooted into scripture and my relationship with God, the damage the storms of this world do to me is more easily repaired. But the times in my life that I have allowed other things to pull me out of the ground, those times have been the most difficult to recover from. For 2008, I know that it will be very important for me to stay rooted in what's most important.
We left in the morning so we had the rest of the day to unpack and settle back in. I took the wheel and put in some music of my own liking as I knew the trek from Topeka to Omaha wasn't exactly the most scenic.
But there was a stretch of 60 miles just before the Nebraska state line that caught my attention. I began to notice the damaged trees along the road. I remembered the ice storm that hit a few weeks back and I realized that this stretch was hit the hardest. Most of the biggest trees had lost the top branches. Some trees were split in half or had limbs still dangling.
As I continued to fix my eyes on these trees, I began to wonder how many of them would survive. What would this landscape look like in the Spring and Summer? Only time will tell of course. But there is one thing that will be a determining factor. The trees that are deeply rooted with extensive root systems will stand a better chance for survival.
In my spiritual life I know this is true too. When I am deeply rooted into scripture and my relationship with God, the damage the storms of this world do to me is more easily repaired. But the times in my life that I have allowed other things to pull me out of the ground, those times have been the most difficult to recover from. For 2008, I know that it will be very important for me to stay rooted in what's most important.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Not Fair!
Yesterday I spent the day tieing up some loose ends and running errands with Jackson. By the end of the day I was ready to have a little fun and didn't want to fix dinner myself. So, I decided it was time for a trip to Dave and Buster's. I figured Monday night would be slow and enable Jackson and I to play the games crowd free.
I was right. Only a handful of people were there so Jackson and I went to work on the skee ball, pop a shot, and any other game that caught his eye. After about 30 minutes our card was nearly spent so I convinced Jackson to play the horse racing game again. It was a game that could entertain 12 people, but you only needed two to start. The object was to roll billiard sized balls into three different holes marked "walk," "trot," and "gallop." Which hole you made it into determined how quickly you made it to the finish line. The nice thing about the game was the 50 tickets given out to the winner. Earlier we had cashed in since we were the only two players. As we sat down and started the game, I had that same outcome in mind.
Naturally, I had to help Jackson a bit. It's a tricky game for a 2 year old. So as I carelessly rolled my ball up the game board with little urgency, I would then turn and assist Jackson with his roll. After about 6 rolls, I heard "down the stretch they come" which signaled the race was nearing an end. But just a few seconds later, the bell rang and it was over. I thought I must have had some good last rolls and proceeded to look for my tickets to be spit out. But to my surprise, nothing.
Then, I turned and looked to the end of the game - some 20 feet away - and sitting at the first chair was a 12 year old boy who had been wandering the game floor since we had arrived. He was looking at me with a sly smile. Just before the game started, he had jumped on the first chair knowing he could cash in.
My first reaction was, "no way did he just do that." How could he take these 50 tickets away from my 2 year old son? Look at how many tickets he has! This can't be fair. I quickly burried my frustration and proceeded to the prize room with our meezly 250 tickets. After 20 minutes in the room, I realized that my son wasn't missing those 50 tickets. He didn't care about the big, expensive items. He was happy with the orange and blue mini basketball he had picked out.
My son showed me something that night. Although life is unfair and full of disappointments, we can still find plenty of good things to be happy about. We can choose to look around and see what we don't have or didn't get this Christmas season, or on the other hand, we can look beyond the big stuff and find the small, yet significant treasures that mean the most. Like spending an evening with your child.
I was right. Only a handful of people were there so Jackson and I went to work on the skee ball, pop a shot, and any other game that caught his eye. After about 30 minutes our card was nearly spent so I convinced Jackson to play the horse racing game again. It was a game that could entertain 12 people, but you only needed two to start. The object was to roll billiard sized balls into three different holes marked "walk," "trot," and "gallop." Which hole you made it into determined how quickly you made it to the finish line. The nice thing about the game was the 50 tickets given out to the winner. Earlier we had cashed in since we were the only two players. As we sat down and started the game, I had that same outcome in mind.
Naturally, I had to help Jackson a bit. It's a tricky game for a 2 year old. So as I carelessly rolled my ball up the game board with little urgency, I would then turn and assist Jackson with his roll. After about 6 rolls, I heard "down the stretch they come" which signaled the race was nearing an end. But just a few seconds later, the bell rang and it was over. I thought I must have had some good last rolls and proceeded to look for my tickets to be spit out. But to my surprise, nothing.
Then, I turned and looked to the end of the game - some 20 feet away - and sitting at the first chair was a 12 year old boy who had been wandering the game floor since we had arrived. He was looking at me with a sly smile. Just before the game started, he had jumped on the first chair knowing he could cash in.
My first reaction was, "no way did he just do that." How could he take these 50 tickets away from my 2 year old son? Look at how many tickets he has! This can't be fair. I quickly burried my frustration and proceeded to the prize room with our meezly 250 tickets. After 20 minutes in the room, I realized that my son wasn't missing those 50 tickets. He didn't care about the big, expensive items. He was happy with the orange and blue mini basketball he had picked out.
My son showed me something that night. Although life is unfair and full of disappointments, we can still find plenty of good things to be happy about. We can choose to look around and see what we don't have or didn't get this Christmas season, or on the other hand, we can look beyond the big stuff and find the small, yet significant treasures that mean the most. Like spending an evening with your child.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Time Out
The holidays are always a great time to visit family and friends. We traveled to Kansas last week to visit my family. It had been a while since I had seen two of my brothers. It didn't take long before we were joking around and carrying on - just like old times.
But after I gave my younger brother a hard time about something, he jokingly responded with what he thought was a harmless, "shut up." What my brother had forgotten was that his two year old and my two year old were in the same room. I quickly reminded him of the fact and we all agreed that he deserved a "time out." Later that day, however, he slipped again and said the same two words. So, it was back to the corner. He knew his mistake a moment after the words left his mouth.
This experience reminded me about the words in James 3. "If we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could control ourselves in every other way." Our tongue is a powerful thing and when it is left to just our control, trouble always follows. The key is to continually pray for self-control (one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit) and fill your heart with uplifting things so that positive words will flow out of your mouth.
I wish that my brother's mistakes had no ill effects. But not surprisngly, my son repeated that phrase more than once the next day. His time outs were a powerful reminder of the "wild fire" effects that our tongue can have. I know I won't be perfect in this area but it is up to me to keep God in control of my life and practice my own self control as much as possible.
But after I gave my younger brother a hard time about something, he jokingly responded with what he thought was a harmless, "shut up." What my brother had forgotten was that his two year old and my two year old were in the same room. I quickly reminded him of the fact and we all agreed that he deserved a "time out." Later that day, however, he slipped again and said the same two words. So, it was back to the corner. He knew his mistake a moment after the words left his mouth.
This experience reminded me about the words in James 3. "If we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could control ourselves in every other way." Our tongue is a powerful thing and when it is left to just our control, trouble always follows. The key is to continually pray for self-control (one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit) and fill your heart with uplifting things so that positive words will flow out of your mouth.
I wish that my brother's mistakes had no ill effects. But not surprisngly, my son repeated that phrase more than once the next day. His time outs were a powerful reminder of the "wild fire" effects that our tongue can have. I know I won't be perfect in this area but it is up to me to keep God in control of my life and practice my own self control as much as possible.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Sit, wait, wonder
It was Thursday at 1am and Candace came running to the bedroom shrieking and pleading for me to help with the dog. Wrigley, our dog, had come to the back door with a opossum in his mouth. Not exactly the cleanest of critters for him to bring to us, but it didn't surprise me as the neighbors had warned us of a sighting a few weeks ago.
On crutches, I was pretty useless in dealing with this problem (removing the opossum and cleaning the dog) so I suggested that Candace give the dog a bath and get me the video camera so I could film the opossum for a few minutes to see if he would rise up from his charade and scamper off the deck. I pulled up a chair and turned on the camera. There I would sit, wait, and wonder. Fifteen minutes later, I was sitting by the back door and losing hope that I would witness the success of one of nature's most interesting defense mechanisms. Finally, I went to bed knowing the fate of the opossum.
Early the next morning, the opossum was still there as my father-in-law stopped by to dispose of our dog's catch in a sealed trash reciptical. The opossum's strategy backfired. Wrigley didn't walk away from him and he wasn't able to come to life and climb the spruce to safety.
As I reflected on my fifteen minutes in front of the back door, I thought of Christ's ressurrection. After countless times of Jesus warning his closest friends and followers of what he had to do, you would have thought that a few of them would still have hope of his return. Instead, his disciples were scared and bewildered following the crucifixion. And even after Christ rose on the third day, it took some convincing on Jesus' part so that the disciples would believe he was really alive.
Isn't it great that we don't have to sit, wait, and wonder? Jesus is alive! And so is our hope - because of Him. Too often I take for granted my hope for the future. I watch the news and read the paper and shake my head. But in the end, I am not worried because my future is secure. I don't have to sit, wait, and wonder if things will get better. All because Jesus did rise again.
On crutches, I was pretty useless in dealing with this problem (removing the opossum and cleaning the dog) so I suggested that Candace give the dog a bath and get me the video camera so I could film the opossum for a few minutes to see if he would rise up from his charade and scamper off the deck. I pulled up a chair and turned on the camera. There I would sit, wait, and wonder. Fifteen minutes later, I was sitting by the back door and losing hope that I would witness the success of one of nature's most interesting defense mechanisms. Finally, I went to bed knowing the fate of the opossum.
Early the next morning, the opossum was still there as my father-in-law stopped by to dispose of our dog's catch in a sealed trash reciptical. The opossum's strategy backfired. Wrigley didn't walk away from him and he wasn't able to come to life and climb the spruce to safety.
As I reflected on my fifteen minutes in front of the back door, I thought of Christ's ressurrection. After countless times of Jesus warning his closest friends and followers of what he had to do, you would have thought that a few of them would still have hope of his return. Instead, his disciples were scared and bewildered following the crucifixion. And even after Christ rose on the third day, it took some convincing on Jesus' part so that the disciples would believe he was really alive.
Isn't it great that we don't have to sit, wait, and wonder? Jesus is alive! And so is our hope - because of Him. Too often I take for granted my hope for the future. I watch the news and read the paper and shake my head. But in the end, I am not worried because my future is secure. I don't have to sit, wait, and wonder if things will get better. All because Jesus did rise again.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
RSVP
A few weeks ago, I received an invite to a "getting to know the neighbors" dinner. Our back yard neigbors, Jerry and Mary, were opening their home and wanted to connect 5 of the families during dinner. I made plans to attend with Jackson as Candace had to work. And at 6pm we walked over to their home with our covered dish and rang the doorbell. Mary answered and we greeted her and asked if the dinner was still on. Her reaction was puzzling as she mentioned that she was hoping that I would have called. I apologized and realized I had missed something. Then Mary told me that no one had RSVP'd and they had postponed it. Oops.
Mary asked us in and we went to the back deck and spent time chatting with them. It was nice to get to know them, but as Jackson and I became hungrier by the minute (and the potato salad by itself wasn't the meal I had in mind), we decided to head home and find something to eat.
Looking back, I am reminded of the story Jesus told about the Wedding Banquet. The king sent out invites for his son's wedding but they refused and after further rebellion by his servants, the king said "go to the street corners and invite anyone you can find." The result? The wedding hall was full of people, both good and bad.
I wondered today, what's that mean for me? What does this story mean for our church? Well, the one thing that sticks out from Matthew 22 is the word "anyone." In our efforts to invite people to church, and most importantly, to Jesus we can't forget that word. I hope that in my life I am always looking for anyone to share my story with. I often pray for God to show me someone that I need to talk with, but maybe I should just start with anyone.
Mary asked us in and we went to the back deck and spent time chatting with them. It was nice to get to know them, but as Jackson and I became hungrier by the minute (and the potato salad by itself wasn't the meal I had in mind), we decided to head home and find something to eat.
Looking back, I am reminded of the story Jesus told about the Wedding Banquet. The king sent out invites for his son's wedding but they refused and after further rebellion by his servants, the king said "go to the street corners and invite anyone you can find." The result? The wedding hall was full of people, both good and bad.
I wondered today, what's that mean for me? What does this story mean for our church? Well, the one thing that sticks out from Matthew 22 is the word "anyone." In our efforts to invite people to church, and most importantly, to Jesus we can't forget that word. I hope that in my life I am always looking for anyone to share my story with. I often pray for God to show me someone that I need to talk with, but maybe I should just start with anyone.
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