dare you to move

i'm in the mountains this week, with my 4 best friends from college and their families. we first spent a weekend together here in january 1982. 26 years later, we are all married, with an additional 15 children in tow, from age 5 to 21.

yesterday, the dads took on the five oldest boys in basketball - 2 hours of gutting it out in the heat. the five of us have played together for so many years - we know each others moves, strengths and weaknesses, where each will be at any given time. but yesterday, that didn't matter...

because we're old. okay oldER, but older sometimes feels very old when five boys age 18-21 are running full-court like derby champions. but it got worse...

somewhere mid-game of the first go-round (we played, and lost, 2 close games), i twisted wrong and felt a stabbing pain in my lower back. next thing i knew i was on the floor, wondering if i would be able to continue... wondering if i could even walk, actually...

Dare You To Move - the words of our now-to-easter challenge of doubling the size of threshold took on new significance as i lay there. i didn't want to get up. i knew it wasn't impossible, but i knew it wouldn't be comfortable. but i also knew how long i had anticipated this day. from the days of the births of will, ben, jake, john, and graham, i knew the day would come when our boys would finally overpower us on the court, the day that they would show us once and for all that they were men now. and i had a pretty good feeling that this was that day. so, hurt though it did, i got up. and i ran - sorta - up and down that court for another hour - God knows how - because i was not gonna miss this. no way. no how.

Dare You to Move

when God planted threshold, he did so with joy and anticipation, and with a vision - a vision to reach the entire surrounding community with the joy and fullness of a life in Christ, in ways that are authentic and real, that bring healing and wholeness to all the definitions of life. for a few years we ran up and down with energy, inviting and drawing in our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors, people we meet at starbucks. but in the past few years, it's as if our back has given out, in a way. we have reached the plateau that nearly every church reaches and that most never move beyond: 200 in the worship space on sunday. 

it's been a great six years. people have come to know Christ. marriages have been strengthened, kids have been baptized and nurtured, the hungry have been fed... but as i see it, we're not even halfway through the first game. i know, growing a church can be painful - that's why this 200-barrier is so rarely unsurpassed. but i didn't sign up for a game, only to throw in the towel when a little pain stabs me in the back. i signed up for the whole deal, and we aren't there yet. there's still a lot of game to be played. plateaus in the life of a church come. but i'm not stopping here. no way. no how.

last sunday i spoke of the challenge to be replicating followers of Jesus. this sunday we'll talk about the risks involved. the week after that, we'll discuss our individual responsibilities - after all, it will take every one of us playing.

i am more excited about the movement of God at threshold than i have been since the fall of 2002 when we first opened the doors. the potential to make disciples and see people loved into an exciting life in Jesus Christ is electric. i cannot wait for next easter!

lastly: after worship, i met a man who introduced himself to me and told me that God had spoken to him during the service. he said that God told him to affirm my call to us to be obedient (in our plan for growth). and he also said this: buy more chairs.

i did not get his name. i don't know if he was with one of you or not. but i sense in my Spirit that God did in fact speak through him. i hope you do too.

sacred pathways

my daughter ashley is away this week studying theater at uncc. on tuesday night (wednesday morning) at 1:00 AM, my phone woke me up with a text message she had sent: 

just had an EXTREME God moment. had to tell you. explain tomorrow. love you! night.

she called last night to tell me about it. during the hour before sending it, she had been lying on her bunk, ready to sleep, when some thoughts about the past began to invade her mind, making her uneasy. she jumped off her bunk, grabbed her ipod, and dialed up some worship music that had been very special to her a few years back that she hadn't listened to much since then. as the words and the music replaced the negative thoughts in her head, she tearfully welcomed the peaceful presence of God which was overwhelming her.

as i reflect on her story this morning, several thoughts come to mind:

1. i love my daughter! and i love that i can have a conversation with her on such an important spiritual level. young parents: please talk openly about the Lord daily in your home. when moments like this come along later, you'll find there is nothing like it!

2. i love how God shows up like this. ashley and i discussed what God might have been up to in this moment, but finding the right answer wasn't the goal. giving thanks to Him that he DID show up was the important thing.

3. philippians 4.6-7 says: don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. his peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 

true that.

4. from time to time, ashley tells me that she wishes she felt God's presence in a greater way. i know the feeling - she and i were poured from the exact same mold (part of that i celebrate, and part leads me to pray so hard for her, bless her heart...). anyway, this morning i remembered a resource on my bookshelf. it's called Sacred Pathways, by gary thomas. it's a great resource which helps you discover how you best and most fully experience God. i recommend the book.

in the process of googling, i came across the short 45-question quiz that points you in the right direction. here's the link:

sacred pathways quiz

i'd love it if you would take it after reading the rest of this post. knowing ourselves is so important in so many ways. knowing how we best enjoy the presence of God should top the list of what we know about ourselves. there are 9 categories. you might pay most attention to the top 2 or 3. here are mine:

1. naturalist: you draw near to God through nature (being in the great outdoors)

2. intellectual: you draw near to God through your mind (study and knowledge about God)

3. sensate: you draw near to God through your senses (music, art, aroma, etc.)

and here's a webpage with a little fuller description of each type:

sacred pathways types

so... how do you draw near to God? or maybe better asked: do you know how God has wired you to best feel Him drawing near to you?

take the quiz.

me? i'm going whitewater rafting today!

soup for the soul

in about 10 days, i'll be hanging out with my four best buds from college. as with most guys my age, one of the more frequent topics of conversation is health and weight. during my junior year at carolina, i roomed with two of these guys, and we were nearly identical in size, which was convenient when i forgot to do laundry.

twenty-five years later, there are still some real similarities in our build and our bellies. given that we are all still highly competitive, recent weeks have had me restricting my caloric intake with fervor, hoping not to be the heaviest of the bunch.

i know it's about health, not image, but hey, call me a little vain.

five weeks ago, tol - one of the 4 - and i were together over lunch. he took the opportunity to ask me what i weighed, and we discovered that we were within a pound or two of each other. 

game on!

the very next morning at starbucks, i overheard a guy telling a friend about losing 40 pounds. God is good! i was about to discover the way to beat tol in the weight loss competition before our next get-together! 

the guy told me that first of all, it involved a bet. so far, so good. tol and i had made one the day before. 

next, he said, he did a lot of cardio. so tell me something i don't know. i hate cardio. fortunately, so does tol. so what else?

finally, during the week before the deadline, he purged. he went on the sacred heart diet (formerly known as the cabbage soup diet, among others). it's nothing more than taking the chance to get rid of a bunch of built-up toxins in your system, and gradually replace them with better stuff, healthier stuff. in the process, one also gets leaner.

so... the bet is on. caloric intake has been reduced. i'm trying cigars instead of cardio, which has had surprisingly positive affects. and next week: purge-time! anybody up for a little soup?

the past two months of sundays at threshold have been a theological version of this process. our series has been called GOD, and my hope has been that you have purged your heart, soul and mind of some of the toxins that have perhaps built up inside over the years. we all have a habit of creating God in our image, even though his word clearly tells us that it's the other way around. so every once in a while, it's good to simply revisit the truth about the nature and character of God. i hope that these talks have either confirmed things you already believed or challenged some that need to go. and either way, i hope that you are more fully aware than ever that God's chief passion and pleasure is his own glory, and that he is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him.

i used three primary sources for the series, and i want to strongly recommend you read at least one of them in the coming months. the first two would make a fantastic resource for cells to discuss. the third is for the academics among you.

1. the pleasures of God, by john piper

2. knowing God, by j.i. packer

3. systematic theology, by wayne grudem

ultimately, it's not about what anyone else thinks about you, it's about your health - whether physical or spiritual. my passion for you is your spiritual health. i hope the purging and refilling i've tried to share has you leaner, less encumbered by the things that keep you from enjoying the best life you can live as a child of God. 

and heck, if someone else notices, nothing wrong with that!

birdfood for thought

i'm back from my annual week at the beach. our accommodations were alongside a marsh which stretched from the house to the edisto river. what an amazing view. especially at sunset. each evening, when the tide was high, the channels into the marsh would fill up and overflow, bringing water to within yards of the house. 

it was my favorite time of day.

i especially loved watching the seagulls. not the ones that you find roaming the parking lots of suburban shopping centers - how the heck did they ever wind up here, anyway?! no these were the black-headed variety. during the early evening, they would fly back and forth over the rising marsh waters, looking for food. day by day i watched their flights expectantly, waiting for a swoop or a dive that would result in one of them rising skyward with a fine catch of fish in its talons. or maybe a crab or some other small sea creature. but it never happened. not once did i ever see a single gull emerge from the water with something to eat. in fact, i never saw one even touch the water. heck, maybe they weren't looking for food. maybe it was just aeronautical calisthenics. who knows. but i'm betting they were grocery shopping.

now, i didn't watch for hours on end, and i didn't worry about them. i wondered, yes.

but i also remembered something...

look at the birds. they don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them.

Jesus said that, in matthew 6.26.  it was part of a larger lesson:

“that is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? look at the birds. they don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. and aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? can all your worries add a single moment to your life? (matthew 6.25-27, NLT)

not a new lesson, i know, but definitely one to be reminded of. especially now, with the economic conditions and all that. but more than a statement about the economy, it's a statement about God. rather than launch into anything deeper, i'll leave it with you. 

give it some thought.