Do You Trust Me?

As I was driving home the other night later than I should have been.  God was really dealing with me on TRUST.  I realize that I put my trust in a car that doesn't have adequate brakes, needs it's oil changed and a front end alignment. Saying all that, I still fly around country road corners seeing only 50 to a 100 feet in front of me a lot faster than I should.  

I have let the address book on my blackberry take over my ability to memorize phone numbers. I have let spell check, fix my need to spell words correctly.  I have let my calendar remind me of big dates that I should remember. I have let twitter and the text message replace my sense to pick up a phone and call someone.  These are the things I put my trust in on a daily basis.

 But because of the past year of my life, I have extreme issues when it comes to trusting in people. There is a chance, that I don't trust everyone I should.  There is a chance I don't trust you.  I'm sorry that this is the case.  It's not you, it's me...

Here's the way lack of trust effects me:

I don't delegate well.

Because I don't delegate well, I may work to much.

I double and triple check mostly everything. By doing this, I sometimes forget the important things because I'm too busy double checking other things. 

I'm sometimes more negative than I should be.

I'm extremely skeptical of a person the first time I meet them.... especially young women in their 20's.

Saying all that, I truly appreciate the people I do trust.  I work on a great staff.  I've got great friends, and an incredible family that are helping me get over these trust issues.

I appreciate the people who trust me, my opinions and my views.

What do you trust?  Who do you trust?  What are the things that have replaced your need to trust in yourself?

 Why do we put more trust in the things that are easy?  Why do we put more trust in the things that will never satisfy or give us purpose? Why don't more people trust Jesus as the Lord of their lives?

Is it perhaps because many people look at us (who follow Jesus) like this guy?

 I read in  the bible that following Jesus won't be easy,

 but a tumor exploding out of your leg and getting kicked in the face by a preacher.

 ouch... that's gotta hurt.  

I don't know about all of that, but I do know God is teaching me it's time to trust again, it's time to be vulnerable with the people I do life with.

Trust.... It can be a scary thing.

I Have High Expectations... on some things.

Some people, mainly the people that I do life with, say that sometimes I set to high of a standard when it comes to our church services and I'm too critical with what we do on Sunday Mornings. They are probably right.

For instance, there is probably never a week that I walk out of a service and truly feel we did everything perfectly. I understand perfect has different context for different people.

This is extremely the case in the baccalaureate service we put on for the H.S. In my mind, it was a disaster! The band doesn't show up, the mic isn't on when people are talking, the stage isn't well lit. The music was to loud during the talking by the principal. The projector shook at times. You couldn't hear the choir, we had no pre-service music, etc.. I could keep going, but I"m starting to bore you.. I would give that service a 7. I would give it a 7 for the concept ,the message, and the technology. It was used in an incredible way. Everything else.... well never mind

I would give our late service Sunday a 9.8 We hit this one out of the park. The feel, the concept, the theme and the worship set was just like we had hoped it would be. I was really proud of our team. The one thing I would change was I would have switched around the songs in the order.

Steve was great! One day, this man will be a great pastor, (however we all pray God doesn't take him away from us anytime soon.)

Saying that I have high expectations ordinarily means that it would be the same throughout every aspect of my life, but I realize it's not.

If you look at my car, which I pay too much money for, it's dirty, if you look at my room, its not well organized...if you look at my to do list, there's so many things to get done that I put off. There are some things I couldn't care a bit about.

It's weird the things people are passionate for, and the things people aren't.

Am I the only person like this? Do you stress out about certain things, and then act the direct opposite about other things in your life?

How can someone think, deliberate, plan, obsess over one thing, and procrastinate about the rest of life? My favorite verse in the Bible is Col: 3:23. Whatever you do, work at it with all of your heart, as for working for the Lord, not for men.

This verse is my favorite, not because I like it, but because it haunts me daily. I realize there are certain things in my life that I am not working with all my heart on for God. Even the little things are for God, and are used to make him famous. I sometimes forget that.

P.S. Yes I realize that God still shows up in services, and that he is sovereign. I just need to be reminded of that on Sunday afternoons about 12:45 when my blood pressure is over 220/100.

I'm a man, i swear.... & possibly a Pharisee

I'm a man, I swear but there are many things that I notice on a daily basis.  Actually I pay attention and notice everything.  I notice the details.  Many people say that's the opposite of the man "who thinks in boxes, and  are also known as waffles"  I sometimes, probably more often than not think like a woman.  There are thousands of small things that I process continuously, and are stored like RAM (random accesses memory) in my head.  (For all you computer geeks, I realized that I'm using RAM in the wrong context so quit bad mouthing me)

One of the things I notice and pay attention to is fashion, I always have, maybe it's because I grew up with 2 women all my life, and maybe it's because I never wanted to dress like my father.

 

I notice what people wear, when they wear it and how they wear it.   I notice when people get new clothes that are around me. I notice the trends, who sets them and who rebells against them.

Here's a list that I kept in my head over the past 6 or 8 months that seems to be hot in the fashion world:  This has a point I promise, just keep reading.

Women:

Skinny Jeans

Ballet Shoes (Flats)

Jeans and High Heels

Tights worn under dresses and skirts

The old school ring that stretches across two fingers that LL Cool J use to wear.

The Color White

UGG Boots with tights worn as pants.

Bright colored dress pants.

Linen Dress. (Not for sure if Linen is the correct fabric, they are the ones the girls wear on the Hills.)

Pregnant Shirts  (not maternity shirts that are for pregnant women, but ones that have a lose flowing bottom) 

Seersucker, or articles of clothing that look similar 

Men:

Beards

Dark Thick Rimmed Glasses.  

The Skinny Tie

Not fastening the top bottom on your dress shirt when wearing a tie. (It says I'm trying to be professional but not to uptight. ) one of my favorites

Chuck Taylors seem to be making a comeback.

Casual shoes with a suit

Driving Loafers without socks

Slip Ons

Argyle

The sweater vest when worn correctly.

multi patterned suits, shirts and ties all worn together.

vector patterns on t-shirts.

V-Neck T-shirts

The Old School Bomber Jacket look

Seersucker 

Big Belt Buckles

Vests with T-shirts and wrist bands if you are artsy or in a band.

Jeans and untucked dress shirts  (Especially true if you pastor a mega church these days)

Things that are dying out:

Pleats... Finally, even though they are still the dominant dress pant.

The Front Tuck.. not as popular as it use to be.  (I still do it)

The Soul Patch unless you are a worship leader at our church.

Gold jewelry

It's funny what people do to look good.  I'm no exception, I lay out my clothes the night before to prepare. I think about weather, what I've worn in recent days, who my target audience is, the look I'm trying to pull off, and of course, where I'm going.  I have this rule where I try not to where the same shirt twice in a month. Ridiculous I know, like anyone else cares what I wear.

Speaking of Looking Good, our softball team really looks good.  Our jerseys are far superior in design than any other team hands down.  I mean, we look good!! People notice when we walk on the scene...

The problem is we stink!!!!  We are bad, we don't care, we are uncommitted, and for most of us, it doesn't really bother us when we lose.   

We play softball like many of us follow Jesus.  We put on this really good show, we act like we've got it all together, we look good on the outside, but it's our souls that scream a different story.  We are uncommitted, we don't care when we don't feel him working in our lives, we don't pray, love our neighbors, or read our bibles.  But, we look good in front of others, and we've got the religion thing down!

Many of us have become the Pharisees. . .I'm excited today after working with Steve on his message about what Sunday is going to unfold in our congregation.  I can't give it away but here's a sneak peek.

Mothers Day , Mariachis, Beer & Jesus

Yesterday was my annual shopping trip for Mother's Day.  Every year, I buy her the same thing, and end up buying a lot more for me than I do for her.  I was determined to change that yesterday. 

 

 I started off heading Here to buy some stuff for the office, but to find out, Target has really nice pants.  So of course, you can't pass up nice pants, especially when they are 20 bucks. So I Bought them.. (1 for me, none for mom)   After Target, my next destination... the mall. 

After several trips around, I wondered into this place:  (And Yes, they do have men's clothes) It turns out they have really nice shirts for 15 bucks.  So I bought two of them!  (3 for me, none for mom) After Forever 21, I ended up in here:  Of course, I couldn't pass up a 6 dollar shirt that apparently has a hole in it!, and more really nice pants. (That's 5 for me, none for mom) Next I ended up here:  So i bought some new flip flops. (6 for me, none for mom)

After the very long day in Dallas, it was nice to come back to K-town for Dinner.  I met the Millers  and Kellie C at a Fine Establishment called The Blue House.  To our surprise, it was Mariachi night which was quite entertaining, even though I didn't know a word they were saying.

Following dinner, we headed back to their house for interesting conversation about toe nails, ear candles, and the large intestine.

About 10 45, we hear a knock on the door, it turns out, it's an old high-school acquaintance of ours who was very, very drunk.  He asked to talk to Grant, actually he wanted to pour his whole life on to Grant.  So for the next 45 minutes, he rambles on about selling drugs, marriage, divorce, babies and leaving the pen. (Huntsville)

After a lot of Thought on that conversation:

Grant Handled Himself In The Same Jesus Would Have.

Here's How:

1. Grant showed the man, he loved him by listening first.

2. He was not judgemental

3. He spoke in ways and context the man could understand.

4. He was patient

5. Grant was honest with him, and gave him loving correction.

6. Grant provided him hope that there was something much better than this.

It's funny how Jesus shows up at all the unexpected times, I was very proud of Grant!

On another note, we have a series called: Beer, Blackjack & Bootscootin' coming to FBC Sunday Nights very soon!

P.S. I ended up buying Mom, a gift card.... I know, I'm ridiculous...

Sunday Deadlines

Deadlines are a funny thing... right, I mean, we all have them, we live by them, for many of us, we die by them, some of us they control our lives.  

For me, because of my job, I have Sunday deadlines and they are always are at the front of my mind, I get up and think about them, I occasionally eat breakfast and think about them... I go to sleep thinking about them. It's like deadlines and I are dating.  I can never get  Sunday deadlines out of my head.  I think one Sunday deadline at a time.  I'm sitting here  in my office on a Thursday night at 10  15 pm because of a deadline...

Wait a minute.  Maybe it's not deadlines at all... 

Maybe it's the fact that I'm so consumed by the thoughts below that the deadlines aren't the real things that drives me.  The deadlines are the things I have to accomplish for these questions to be answered each Sunday in our worship experiences.

What do I have to get done this week in order to create a life changing moment with God?

What can we do better this week?  What can we do that pushes the envelope? What can we do that different.  What can we do that is unexpected.  What have we done in the past that works?  What can we do that draws more people to Jesus.  How to we get more people in this building to hear the gospel? How do we relate to the unchurched? What do they like, what don't they like?  What do they need? How can we create an experience that is life changing.  

Sunday is a beautiful day.

Beta 1.0

Today is Day One, (well actually night one if you will.  It's about 10:30. I swore I was going to bed and hour ago) the first official day in the blogosphere. After many incredible thoughts from this guy:  as well as many others around the country, i figured it was about time to dive in.  
Here's a list of possible topics a long the way:

My Life

The Church (The Arts, Programming, Thoughts and Reviews)

Pop Culture
Apple

Theology

Technology

Design

We will see how this week goes as we get ready for the Mothers Day Weekend.