Thursday, December 31, 2009

New Year

I suppose it is somewhat obligatory to contemplate ourselves, do some self evaluation and make assessments at the first of every year. I do think it is a healthy and worthwhile process with an eye toward improving ourselves, our relationships and our commitments. While the term "resolution" seems to be falling out of favor, I think setting personal goals is a good idea. To make goals toward which we can progress is a positive endeavor.

Something on a kind of reverse thought to self assessment, while we are identifying areas in our lives to make improvements, we ought to also identify areas of our lives that we are doing well. Our introspective views shouldn't just be looking for faults or shortcomings, but areas of our lives in which we are performing well. Often we are our own worst critics, but let me suggest that we also give credit where it is due. Discover and identify the things in our lives we are proud of, do well and feel competent in. It shouldn't be all doom and gloom.

I am inspired by the writer of Hebrews who in 12:1 tells us: "...let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,". What kind of "weight" do I have in my life that is slowing my race? In my case, it is literally some weight that the doctor tells me I must lose in order to restore my health. Losing my health would really slow my race down. What sin are we tolerating in our lives that is costing us the ability to place well in this race of life?

I think it interesting that that verse refers to both physical things and spiritual things that affect the quality of our life. Think of what wears you down. What things prevent you from giving your best energies to your most important relationships? I spoke with a parent recently who admitted that they were feeling worn out from all of the constant running they were doing to keep their kids in several different programs. They felt like they were neglecting other important things that should be getting done but weren't because their time and energy was already used up. Sounds like a "weight" that needs to be laid aside.

What sin "besets" you most often? What would it take to gain total victory over it? Think of what it would mean for your life if you were free from it once and for all. Think of the power of freedom in living free from that negative influence. I speak to many Christian people who want to do things for the Lord, be in ministry and help others but are full of guilt from a sinful condition in their lives. For fear of hypocrisy they are sidelined in the race they are called to run. Why not conquer it? It is possible with God's help.

Well, I hope 2010 goes well and you accomplish your goals. I thought by now we all were supposed to be living the life of the "Jetsons" and in some ways perhaps we are. However, until we are zooming around in personal spacecraft we have to put one foot in front of the other, running our race one day at a time. Pursue God will all your heart and He will help you live the best year of your life in the next 365 days.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Our Full Family Chirstmas

JoLynn and I are especially blessed this year being able for the first time to have our whole family together for Christmas since Scott married Brittani. Last Christmas was our first Christmas without Scott as he and Brittani spent their Christmas with Britanni's family. We haven't had this much excitement for some time. As you can see, everyone is finding something to do, the girls decorated the tree, Brad is catching up on friends home from school and some reading, Scott is busy making history on the Wii by capturing all of the first place finishes on all of the events. We have played lots of games and shared a few stories and as usual, eaten a lot of good food. We did have some outdoor plans which the weather is interfereing with at present, but we will always find a way to improvise. The real truth is, it is fun just being together and what we do is less of a concern than just being able to enjoy each other's company. We hope that everyone has a great Christmas celebration and that all will sense and know the very presence of Jesus with us.









Saturday, December 19, 2009

Meaningful Contributions To Others

One of the secrets to making Christmas less commercial and more meaningful is to make meaningful contributions into the lives of others. I dare say that if Christmas has come to be more of a hassle than special, you might want to up your input into the lives of others. The thing that escapes us often is that when it is "all about me" or "my family" or our own little circle, we really can't do enough. We are disappointed and feel oddly that Christmas has diminished in that special quality we love to feel. Include someone outside yourself, your circle or your comfort zone and watch what happens. A wonderful sense of happiness returns to us and we "re-center" somewhere besides our self.

Three really good examples of this recently took place at New Life Assembly. People stepping out to bless others. Terri Springer led and organized a "Simple and Tasteful" L
adies Tea. I wasn't there so I didn't get any pictures to share, but what a great example of making a priority to take out her busy schedule to put together a fellowship opportunity for the women of our church and some of their friends they brought with them. Bless you, Terri!

The men's group recently sponsored a trip to Anchorage to go out on the streets to talk to, pray for and bless whatever person the Lord directed them to. About a dozen men spread out in
downtown Anchorage and each team had a great experience to report. They prayed for healing for one person who was in a wheelchair, they prayed for families that were breaking apart and they also passed out warm hats, gloves and socks to those who needed them.

Then Forrest Nelson and her army of volunteers threw a "Happy Birthday Jesus" party for all the kids and their friends. Over 40 children came to celebrate, dressed up and wearing their "Prince" and "Princess" crowns as children of the King! It was a very special time. Many visitors came and all the children were so excited to be there. What a special time for everyone.

And really, we know it's extra work, expense and time at a really busy time of the year. However, the secret is that it makes a very special time for those involved . The ones to make meaningful contributions into the lives of others don't have to be convinced of the value. Those who think they are too busy or have nothing to give will never know the joy of this special secret. Bless all of you who make it a priority to include others in your lives!



Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Discover Connect Serve

The board, staff and I have been in a protracted discussion concerning future vision and involvement for our church. We sense there is something new that God may be directing us into. We want to be responsive to this and be bold enough to consider traveling in some new paths that we haven't gone down before.

Part of this process is defining who we are as a church. It takes a lot more time and soul searching that you might think. For example, write a mission statement for yourself. Define yourself and why you are taking up space on the planet. My guess is that it will take you longer than you think. With an organization as varied as a church, there is a lot of thought that needs to be processed. Once you define yourself how do you express that thought in a succinct and memorable way? It is challenging. It is more challenging to do in a group. Try to come up with a mission statement for your marriage and for your family. More minds, more ideas, more opinions.

We offer up this definition and mission statement for discussion: Kenai New Life Assembly of God is a place to, Discover God, Connect with others, and Serve the world. Discover, Connect and Serve. This is the most succinct statement we have yet come up with to communicate who we are. We want our church to be a place of ongoing discovery about God, from salvation to glory we want each time we meet to help people discover something new about the infinite God we love. We also want our church to be a place to connect with other people. Relationships and fellowship cannot be overrated. They are vital to us. We also think our church can connect to other churches and organization in our communities. We believe we can influence our communities in a positive way that makes a difference. Finally, New Life Assembly can be a base from which our members can serve the world. From hands-on local service to world-wide missions support we can be a powerful influence by our service.

Everything we do can fit into one of those three statements. The conversation is on-going and we may change things yet to better communicate who we are, but this is the results so far for our new mission statement. Discover, Connect, Serve. See if you can remember it. More importantly, see if you can make it happen.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Anticipation

My wife and I are trying not to think too much or too often about the fact, all our kids are coming home for Christmas in Kenai this year. Scott and Brittani and Brad will be spending their Christmas break with us. That's a first for us! Only 10 days away as of this writing. We haven't struggled too much with thinking endlessly about them coming yet, we have had plenty to do in the mean time. Take today for instance.

It is Wednesday so I automatically have things on my calendar. I do take the step of arriving at the church and going to the back room to take out the accumulation of "recycling" (it used to be trash) to the borough landfill. There is so much it is blocking the back doors which are a fire exit... so someone better take care of it. So off I go to recycle all this stuff. When I get back to the office I have enough time to answer some email, call our ministry guest for Sunday and give Jean some things to do for me before heading off to the Kenai Chamber of Commerce lunch meeting. I meet some people I know there and meet several for the first time. When I get back, I meet with Ryan to load up the 8 (heavy) boxes full of shoe boxes headed to Fort Yukon to take to the Post Office. We load them up, deliver them at the PO and wait in a fairly long line for our turn. It takes awhile to weigh all the boxes and get them shipped. We notice the church van needs a new windshield wiper so we stop at Napa to get a new set. Finally getting into the office I return phone calls, make some calls and start working on the Christmas Eve service that is coming up too quickly. I then turn my attention to pull together some scriptures and ideas for my Sunday evening message. I work on this for the rest of the afternoon. Then I meet my wife for a quick dinner before church. When we meet for dinner like this, it is rarely a leisurely moment of respite but more often another planning session. My wife has ideas, lots of ideas. So we work through some of them and then it is off to the church to greet everyone and get things together. Soon the foyer and all the rooms are humming with people conversing and kids getting excited. It is an intense time of short conversations and "how-do-you-do's?" I now have a short period of time before we greet everyone as they leave for home. To make use of the time I am catching up on this blog because I haven't posted yet for a week. I also have to make a call to enlist some help for an idea I am working on. When it is all over, we are expecting someone to come over to the house to look at a piece of furniture my wife is selling on Craig's list. I also have to test some dvd's I have been burning as I have been attempting to transfer my VHS tapes over to digital format. Then I am going to fall fast asleep.

So, that's my day, not much room for daydreaming or wishing the kids could get here sooner. In fact if they did I wouldn't be able to see them anyway for all the stuff I am attempting to get done.