I Dare You

I dare you to pray one or more of these. If you take the dare, it should probably be ended with "Please help me to really mean what I just said." I know I have to do that quite often. Lips are cheap, but hearts are priceless.

1) Take away ANYTHING in my life that is keeping me from growing closer to you and experiencing the full joy I could be in our relationship.

2) Show me the sin in my life and do WHATEVER IT TAKES to remove it.

3) Always keep me humble before you, NO MATTER WHAT.

4) If it brings you greater glory with it than without it, BRING SUFFERING into my life.

5) Help me to always both boldly speak the truth, and speak it in love, NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS.

6) Give me the desire to go ANYWHERE you want, ANYTIME you want, to do ANYTHING you want.

7) Help me to be more and more like Jesus, AT ANY COST.

8) Help me to ALWAYS be a witness for you, NO MATTER WHAT PEOPLE THINK.

9) Help me to see the world through your eyes, NO MATTER HOW IT CHANGES ME.

10) Help me to love ALL people like you love them, NO MATTER WHAT THEY'VE DONE.

For the record, I have foolishly been too chicken (read selfish and sinful, among other things) to pray these as written. It's pretty easy to figure out which words I change or omit. Yet, I know in my mind that this is the kind of attitude we should have, and it is the one that brings God the most glory and us the most joy.

Grace and peace brothers, sisters, and friends.

We're Idiots

We're idiots when we evaluate local churches by how much we like the music, the messages, the child care, the service times, the parking, the location, the whatever. How about how solidly the Word of God is taught?

We're idiots when we confine worship to three rehearsed songs on Sunday and prayer to mealtimes and bedtime. How about making our lives an act of worship and making prayer an ongoing conversation with God throughout the day?

We're idiots when we say "we can't" when the first believers got the good news out to the world and took care of the poor with no Internet, no cell phones, no cars, no polished process and programs, none of that. How about "Go!" and "Okay!".

We're idiots when we put God in a box and don't let him permeate every little corner of our lives.

We're idiots when we really stop and think if the tradeoff is worth it between attachment to our little things in our little houses on this little teeny tiny planet and being in the presence of Almighty God for all of eternity.

We're idiots when we think that the God who made the whole universe can't help us with our teeny tiny problems, I don't care what they are. We're even bigger idiots when we think that's all he's for is helping us, because it's not about us.

We're idiots when we get wishy washy with the gospel or think we're entitled to something or that we deserve something or that God shouldn't do something or doesn't have the right to do something, whatever! We're talking about the God who made us and everything. The God who is in charge. The God who can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, without consulting anybody.

We're idiots when we think either that God is not a God of love or a God of wrath. Sin must be dealt with, and God did it through the cross. One act satisfying his wrath and showing his love. Perfectly just and perfectly merciful, all in one. Accept it, receive it, believe it, and get right with him today if you're not. He deserves all our love and all our devotion. As the one who gives us every breath we breathe as a gift, it's his box, his rules, his board, his pieces, and his dice. End of story.

And if you've read this far and think "man, that guy's self-righteous", you're right. Quite often I am, among many other things I shouldn't be. But forget that failing right now, and just make me a crown with "King Idiot" written on it, because I'm in the same bloody boat.

All glory, honor, and praise to a great and awesome God we cannot possibly grasp in our tiny human brains.

Attitude Is Everything

My mom sent this to me. I thought it was excellent. :-)

Attitude Is Everything, by Francie Baltazar-Schwartz

Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed Him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.' I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, 'He's a dead man.

"I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.