vision

[vision]
do you have it, lack it, need it, want it, lost it, fogot about it, overflowing with it, confused by it?
we should check ourselves, often. do you need to take some time today and seek vision?

proverbs 29:18
where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.

change

There’s no growth without change, and no change without pain. I don’t remember who I heard first way that, so I’ll take credit. Thank you.

Every time I’ve experienced growth personally it has involved a change of some sort, and here’s the deal – change is hard. Yeah there’s good change, but just changing and getting out of what’s normal can be an arduous task. We like what we’re used to, even if it’s crap compared to what lies ahead. I’m reading through Numbers right now, and I’m amazed at 1) how often the people following Moses forget what God has done and 2) how soon after God does something they forget. Sometimes it’s literally “the next day”! They faced some very real hardships (you try walking around the desert for years, bro), but God was always with them. Then throw in that they were still the generation liberated from Egypt, and so many wanted to go back. What the heck!?

Our church is going through a big transition right no, seeing our pastor appointed to a new district and being appointed a new pastor. I met him for the first time last night; I like him. While I’m confident that God knew what was up in this change, and how good I believe it will be, there’s going to be change, and some of it difficult for sure. I’m believing that this change will indeed lead to growth – of the church being the church. People need Jesus. Our new pastor is passionate about seeing that happen. Let’s do it.

discipline

I began thinking last week about the discipline of blogging. A lot of people might not think of it as a discipline, but here’s my reasoning. Blogging is essentially glorified journaling, which is a practice I’ve never been good at. I’ve tried keeping ongoing journals before, but usually to no avail – they usually crap out after a month or so. While I still journal during events/times I know I want to remember (such as mission trips), that’s about the extent of what I’ve done up to the launch of this blog.

There a a number of different types of blogs, which is good to know if you need to have a clear focus or direction of what you’re doing. This is vital for me to keep this up; I have to know where I’m going. A great blogging resource for getting clued in about this is the North x East blog. Where I’ve found myself fitting in is really in giving insight and thoughtful posts about ministry. Because of this, when I post I want it to be purposeful and pertinent. Problem is, this can lead to only posting when I feel like I have something profound to say, and that can easily lead to just getting lazy and dropping this, which I don’t want to do.

This is why I think of this as a discipline. During my normal work week, I’m now trying to post something at least once a day, be it short or long, to get myself into the practice of it. It’s not always going to be easy, but I know it will stretch me, too; this is why I’m labeling it a discipline. Ministry and pastoring is a creative field…if you’re not creative, I think there are some issues there that need to be addressed, honestly. The thing about creativity is that while much of it can seem to come naturally or on the fly, it often takes practice. As a musician, you have to practice! I wish I had a log of how many hours in my life so far I have practiced music. Artists practice. Writers practice. If you’re in a creative field and don’t practice, you’re probably not that good, contrary to your parents’ opinion. Sorry, it has to be said.

That’s why blogging is a discipline for me. It’s a practice in creativity in ministry, thought, and writing. I told my wife recently that one of my life goals is to write a book. This is kind of crazy to me, because I always hated creative writing and english classes as a whole. Hated them. But there’s something about writing a book that gets me excited. Maybe it’s the time and effort I know will have to go into it. Maybe it’s pouring over the ideas, finding the best way at the time to express those ideas. Maybe it’s having a finished product at the end that I can look at and see as a successful goal met. Doing this discipline of writing a little often is a discipline I hope will lead to this goal.