Phil Woody's Blog

Assume! - A key to marriage.

2012-02-06T07:03:00.002-05:00

You ever heard the slogan. "When you assume you make a _____ out of you and me." Only partly true. Let me explain. Assumptions that makes us look stupid is when make decisions with not enough or bad information. It's when we fill in the blanks of a story with our own words. The problem is we rarely fill in the blanks correctly because our assumptions are based upon what another is thinking of which we have no ability to know. Those kind of assumptions destroy relationships, especially marriages.

That is why the right assumption is based upon what you know; and that is you. What if in a marriage we would assume it is us and not our spouse. The assumption that it is our spouse with the issue is convenient. I won't lie; it feels better to place the blame on another. Who likes looking into their own heart to see what kind of darkness is actually there. The problem is, that you have no control over the other persons heart or mind. But you do have power. The power you have is influence.

Here is how influence works. Influence is the ability to win the heart and mind of another. You know how you do that. Bible say's, "A new command I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you MUST love one another." Here is the secret to love. It has nothing to do with the other person. It has everything to do with the size and capacity of your heart to love despite. Influence is when you choose to act out of love not matter where we think the blame lies because our goal is not the conflict it is the outcome.

If you want to assume anything, try this. Try assuming not the blame but the responsibility for the success of your marriage. Men; this is a key place you can lead in your homes. Let's put down our pride, our ego's (which are real), and our need to be right for the calling of beautiful marriages. Assuming responsibility means looking inside ourselves for darkness, confessing it to God, then acting toward our spouse's in love. Let your influence grow in their hearts by your ability to be humble, assume responsibility and act in love. Pursue them as God pursued us. Your marriage is not beyond repair (redemption). It starts with you.

Don't stop assuming. Assume more!

Under his Majesty!

2012-01-30T09:14:00.002-05:00

God will not quit until all of us is transformed by his grace and his love. That means that every part of us will have to go through the process of reforming under the Majesty of God. This sounds all good except that the process of placing all of our lives under his Sovereignty and Majesty means desserts, valleys, mirrors, and even death.

The story of Moses is that story. Remember Moses key issue that God was constantly trying to bring under his grace and Majesty? It was his anger. Thing is, that it wasn't that Moses anger wasn't righteous. It was. It was how he acted on it. Our first glimpse of it was Moses as a prince of Egypt with a growing awareness of the injustice his people were enduring under the rule of the Egyptions. It erupted one day and the result was a dead Egyption, his own people's distrust of Moses, and his exile.

It was righteous, it just wasn't right. Moses anger had not come under the Majesty of God and he took vengeance into his own hands. But God took Moses on a journey of redemption. A journey of 40 years in the dessert. Even still Moses had not surrendered that area. He gave selflessly like no other figure in the bible minus Jesus. But he still held onto his anger. It is witnessed when his people complaining for water and wishing they were back in Egypt was met by a gracious God but an angry Moses. God asked Moses to speak to the rock and to tell it to produce water but instead out of his Anger Moses strikes the rock. And not just one time but two.

It was actually this act of anger that cost Moses the most. It was this act of anger that cost him the promised land. Moses people saw it but he didn't. This might seem very unfair. Is it. God makes no false declarations. He is after our hearts. Not just part of our hearts but all of our hearts. It means the surrender of all of our life to him.

Sojourners Of The Weird

2012-01-25T06:51:00.005-05:00

Did you know if you look up the definition of weird in the dictionary it would say, "involving or suggesting the supernatural; unearthly or uncanny"? Have you ever had someone pop into your mind and felt led to call them or text them to find out they were struggling with something or had you on their mind as well? Weird! Have you ever thought about someone not usually on your mind and then bump into them a day or two later? Weird!!

I sometimes fail to realize the density of the weird though. I can tell you that weird happens to me all the time but if you asked me to give you an example I would have trouble putting my finger on one or two instances. Why is that? Because I don't realize how spiritually dense, how much of the supernatural is packed into the seemingly small weird moments.

Being a Christian means getting very comfortable and even excited about the weird. It means looking for the weird. It means speaking the weird and exploring the weird with others. It means stopping every day and asking God what the weird moments were in the day. It means sounding weird to others. Those who do not know Christ see weird as just that weird never even considering they had experienced a God moment. To them our reality is frightening to them. Think about it. If I told you I prayed for you and because I hear this voice in my head telling me to, you would consider me weird. And according to the definition of weird you would be right.

What if as GraceRiver and even beyond we decided to stop every day this week to look for the weird? What if we decided to realize the density of weird moments and become aware of the supernatural power of Christ intersecting our mundane existence sparking life all around us? What if we became sojourners of the weird this week. Think of one weird friend you can talk to about the weird happenings of your week and celebrate a God who shows up all around us.

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. - 2 Corinthians 3:18

In the footsteps of Mary and Joseph

2011-12-16T06:58:00.002-05:00

It seems a simple story of an obvious choice but is it? Was it a no brainer for Mary to say, "I am the Lords servant," in response to the news that she was to be the birth mother of the Savior? Was it a no brainer that Joseph would act in the seemingly obvious manner as to take Mary as his wife even though what was conceived in her was not of him?

We can read the stories flat having heard them a number of times as if the characters were fictional. They weren't though. Have you ever watched a movie and then at the end the slogan"Based on a true story" rolls across the screen. Do you remember how that one line moves you deeply as you realize that what you just heard really happened. It changes everything.

Hear these words and allow them to settles deep in your heart, "A true story."

Mary and Joseph's responses were not obvious. As a matter of fact, if we were completely honest we might not choose to respond as they did. Here is the realization if we allow ourselves a moment of vulnerability. What is obvious on the back side looking back is never obvious in the moment.

Mary was between 13 and 15 years old. She was betrothed to a wonderful man, every woman's dream. That dream was at jeopardy. Weddings were a week long celebration in Jewish tradition. They were a lot bigger deal then we make them here in America and we make them a pretty big deal. Mary's future would be completely altered from what she had been imagining as every girl at a young age. Mary did have a choice.

Joseph was a "righteous man" that in the Jewish community had a "title", just as someone would be given of pride like, "merit of honor recipient." That place of honor was on the line. He had every right by Jewish law and tradition to separate from her publicly, but because of his love and respect for Mary had in mind to divorce her quietly. His rights to the marriage bed, something a man dreams of since a boy, he would have to surrender for the first 10 months of their union per command of the angel. Obvious choice?

What I have realized is that for most of us, myself included, what seems an obvious choice in the moment of decision making, never is. What allowed Mary and Joseph to respond as they did was the very reason God had chosen them to be the parents of Jesus. They had the hearts of a servant. There were different words for servant they used. The one Mary chose in response above was "slave." It is a whole other level of serving when one surrenders every right of their own to that of another.

What I have also noticed is that what we call servant often isn't what Mary and Joseph considered servant. We tend to be servant hearted in a worship service when the pastor is speaking about servanthood. "I'll go on that missions trip." Then when we get home and all the circumstances of our life present themselves, our passion to serve is diminished.

Following in the footsteps of Mary and Joseph is a surrender of all our own rights despite the circumstances. I have watched as people serve in worship or children's ministry, or other areas of the church because it was fun for them and rewarding at that time. That motivation to serve will always be tested. When it is the resolve of our heart is always revealed.

Another way it is tested is in our own moments of crisis or extreme joy. I have been to hospitals to visit those sick who no one else has visited. I have also been in peoples homes in what should have been times of great joy to see no one else standing there but myself. The hard reality is that your investment into others is evidenced by the clouds of witnesses or lack of.

Look at the clouds of witnesses around Mary and Joseph now. Icons of the Christmas story because of their investment into God's vision and his mission to a world despite the circumstances. Living the Christmas story really is about investment. Who's lives are you investing in?

God Hung a Star (Part 2)

2011-12-05T10:41:00.003-05:00

"After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Matthew 2: 1-2

I wonder if my move toward Jesus is not a move toward dependence but toward independence. Could this be exactly what happened to the followers of God in the long period of time between the last prophetic word to the birth of Jesus?

The scripture tells of the story of the Magi coming from the east. When Herod heard the reports of a King of the Jews being born in Bethlehem he was "disturbed". But he wasn't the only one. No, "all of Jerusalem" with him was disturbed too. Wouldn't you think that the response of Jerusalem to the coming Messiah would be one of great joy? But that was not the case. Instead they were disturbed.

What caused this response in God's people? What if it was a contentment to live just a sliver of life. They had gotten there before. When in captivity for multiple generations under the rule of the Egyptians the Israelites, God's people, learned a life that really had little to no hope, peace, or destiny. They settled for a smaller existence.

What if in our lives we sometimes do the same? It's as if I need God only enough to get to a point where I feel that I don't need him anymore. This is also what the world see's us as Christians doing and even the Gospel we might preach. Get Jesus so you can get you life together. What if it was because we cease to live out of a dependent relationship with Jesus when we're not hurting. Do we really realize what good times are for? Are they for enjoyment and basking in the wonders of what God is doing in our lives. Yes. But is that only what they are for? No. They are for an increase of dependency so that you can be a vessel of hope to others. It actually requires an increased dependency on Christ to be Christ to others. When your hurting you turn the complete focus to yourself. The best thing is that God's majesty allows it as he ministers to our needs. But the purpose of our healing and wholeness is to be that same vessel of grace to others.

The trap is to never turn those moments of self-focus back to others. When we don't, we live in a perpetual cycle of me. When life becomes only about me I don't experience real life. I only experience a sliver of it. What God is always doing in our lives is hanging stars. He hangs them as a sign of life that allows us in both the good times and bad times to become increasingly dependent on him for life. Dependency then is life. Life to us and then life from us.

Let's live the Christmas story. Dependency that gives and brings life.

God Hung a Star (Part 1)

2011-12-05T10:37:00.002-05:00

God doesn't leave us with no means for faith. He always hangs a star!

Have you ever been in a place where you felt so far from God. Seemed like forever since you last really "tasted and seen that God is good." We can feel that way when our lives circumstance seem to turn for the worst. Our sin can often place us in that same place of distance from God's presence. I remember being in college and feeling this deeply. I was studying for ministry but having no sense of God in my life. It rose to the level of desperation only to be met by disappointment when is seemed like God had abandoned me.

The Magi were from the far east. They were not close to Jerusalem. They were distant from it, yet God hung a star. To the Magi it would have been the perfect way to get their attention. They were stargazers and thus were always looking to the starts. But, they were not Jews. They were not of God's chosen people, yet he hung a star for them to see.

The truth is that God is always hanging stars to announce his presence. When we are literally far away as the Magi were or our hearts are, he hangs stars. It is knowing where to look for them that becomes key. The Magi were always looking up. Are we. In that season of life in college I realized I had been looking down not up. Looking down is focused only on the next step and fretting if there will be solid ground when you place your next foot forward. It is a real place to be. There are seasons of life that come to us all that feels like were walking a tight rope with danger lurking on both sides. Desperate to not fall our eyes stay locked on the rope of our circumstances praying for some sort of balance that allows us to take the next step.

What is most impressive to me is not the tightrope walkers but the tight rope walkers who do it blindfold. Now that is daring. So is faith. It is super daring. An ability to walk the tightrope of life with our eyes not down but instead up to the stars. It is the scripture that says, "Since we live by the spirit let us keep in step with the spirit." Faith is trusting the spirit to the stepping with a focus on the stars.

Here is the promise of God. If you trust your stepping to the Spirit and look up, he will always have hung a star as evidence of his presence. God doesn't leave us with no means for faith. He always hangs a star!

Do as I do: The life of a Martyr

2011-11-28T06:57:00.002-05:00

Born to Die!

I wonder when Jesus realized the purpose of his birth was for death? There are very few stories of when Jesus was a child but the one we do have is when he went into the synagogue and began to teach and speak with teachers of the law there and found they were very impressed by his understanding of scripture. Was it in his understanding of the scripture that he realized he was the Messiah, the one who the prophet Isaiah spoke about that would come and give his life as a ransom for many?

Or was it when he was older, around 30, when he realized that his journey was something else and decided to be baptized by John the Baptist. Was it upon stepping into the water as the dove descended, the Holy Spirit, and the voice of God from heaven saying "this is my son in whom I am well pleased"? Was it the voice of God that revealed to Jesus that his birth was for death?

Or was it later, following his baptism, when Jesus went up to the mountain where he was tempted by the devil? Was it upon his denial of the devil's offers that he decided to follow God? And in that following God, coming down the mountain to began his public ministry did he realize that calling on his life was for death in order that we could have life?

Or was it the first time Jesus mentioned the coming of his death and began to speak about the time when he would not be there any longer? Remember when he first began to speak about his death? It was Peter, the guy who never got it right, that got it right for the first time when Jesus asked, "who do you say I am?" Remember, Peter's response, "You are the Messiah." Was it then upon Jesus answer to Peter, "this was not revealed to you by man but by my father in heaven," that Jesus realized his purpose?

What it must have felt like for Jesus to know he was born to be a martyr. Is there any life in knowing that your sole purpose was for death? Could that give hope or just steal it? The evidence of the answer to that question is in his life; his living. His life would suggest that from an early age he began to understand that there was something special and unique about the calling on his life to fulfill the purposes of God. That calling seemed to give Jesus life; so much life in fact that flocks of people chose to pursue him. They chose to be around him and to sacrifice their work, their life, and everything just to be near him. What they experienced when they were with him was life. That life Jesus had that flowed out of his soul came from God, his father, and the fulfillment of his purposes. Jesus was born to die and he was okay with it. No, he wasn't just okay with it. He was passionate about it. It gave him life.

I wonder what stirs our passion to give of ourselves beyond what's comfortable and beyond what's convenient this Christmas? I wonder what it looks like to give sacrificially of or whole life this season. I wonder if we would be okay with that? I wonder if we could pursue it with passion and experience life because of it this Christmas? Would you begin to pray even now of what it may look like to follow after Christ in sacrificing yourself that others might experience Christmas this season?

The Power of Words

2011-08-25T10:02:00.004-04:00

Words are everything! With words, according to scripture, we can build up and encourage to faith or tear apart a persons soul. With words the earth was formed and given purpose and meaning. With words dreams are envisioned, communicated, and created. We think in words, speak with words, and live out words. Words really do paint worlds.

Last night I tried to communicate a dream. It was shot out of the sky like a flung pigeon on a shotgun range. Dust was all that formed out of the words I used. Why. I used the wrong words. While the words perfectly communicated the picture that was powerfully clear in my soul they painted a completely different image in the hearts and minds of that room. Why? Because for different people, and without you knowing it, words can be loaded.

Words have memory for people. Certain words have been experienced in certain ways by people in their past that is forever connected to that cluster of consonants and vowels. They can carry fear, or hurt, and even delight. They are loaded. They are triggers that can ignite emotional responses and paint their own picture.

Scripture actually says to speak the truth in love. It is one of the most misinterpreted scriptures in the bible. Most using it as justification to let out their anger and frustration on others. Rather, a proper interpretation of this passage is to speak truth in the best possible way that a person would receive it in love. It's about the other person when you speak love, not you. Making truth only about you is a big mistake. After all Jesus didn't die on the cross just to save you.

What I failed to do was to consider the people I was communicating the dream to and the context of which I was in. After all communication is again less about you and more about the person/s you are speaking to. This requires sensitivity you don't have, knowledge you don't possess, and motive that is others focused. The only place I have found to acquire such things is at the feet of Jesus. Had I considered prayer in that moment the picture was becoming clearly misunderstood, the outcome could have been different. I failed to communicate my heart and it was only my fault.

So realize the power your words have to paint worlds, and subsequently, to destroy them. Also realize the grace that exists in Christ to scrap that painting and start again.

Learning from the Anthony Trial

2011-07-06T11:06:00.005-04:00

In a 3 year long, high profile case like this, emotions are a certain. It is amazing how our emotions can grip our hearts and even lead our minds and actions if we let them. I awoke today with a heaviness on me. After considering where that heaviness arose from, God revealed much of its source. Believe it or not, it arose from yesterday's coverage of the Casey Anthony trial and the verdict.

My kids go to the school feet from where they found the body of little Callie Anthony. We drive past that site every day. As much as you try to guard your kids they have ears and very attuned ones. It was the topic of many discussions with them over the course of the last 3 years. It's proximity to us has had me attuned to the proceedings of this case. But none like I was yesterday. Somehow I found myself trapped by the coverage of this final chapter in this 3 year long saga.

This climaxed last night when barely 7 hours after the verdict was read "Not Guilty," 48 hours did a full one hour long episode of the case as an "Unsolved Mystery." This had me stunned and perplexed more than the 2:15pm verdict reading. What is the word God was wanting to speak underneath this frenzy of media fire.

It wasn't until this morning it hit me. Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."

The trap of the enemy is to monopolize your hearts energy on things dark and not of light. When he can get us fixated on darkness it taps our humanity on the shoulder and un-cages our sin nature. The darkness swallows our heart and confuses our thinking and feeling until what is produces now is unholy and unrighteous. Our thoughts words and actions follow suite to what our mind is fixated on and before we know it we are on an unmanned train racing toward populated areas. That hurt, frustration and fear are then unleashed on everyone around us.

Who is most susceptible are our kids. Remember those attuned ears I mentioned earlier. They are all too eager to get on board whatever train their parents are on. They long for connectedness to whatever has our hearts. It is shameful to admit to ourselves that what has our hearts too often is not those qualities of Philippians 4.

Monitor your heart. Measure it's volume of peace. Peace is what guard our hearts and minds. If you find yourself short on it lately, turn off the T.V. pick up your bible and be reminded of what God's dream for you is.

The World Needs The Church

2011-05-02T12:47:00.003-04:00

I was wrestling with the passage of scripture from Acts 8:14-17. Why did the Holy Spirit not come on the new believing Samaritan Christians when Philip baptized them? As I sat long enough with it the simplicity of the answer was whispered to me by the Spirit humbling me in gratefulness that my wisdom is shadowed by God's.

Simply said, because the world doesn't need Philip or Phillip (me). It needs the church, the body of Christ. The only single man that ever walked the planet the World needed was Jesus. He was also the only man that had all the gifts of the spirit. Philip was an excellent evangelist. The power of Christ was all over him. The miracles he performed had people leaving the magician in Simon, and now following Christ. Simon the magician contended that the source of his power was himself. Philip made not such claim. The source of the power he wielded was Christ's. This is why the scripture say's that Philip baptized the Samaritans in the "name of Christ."

But these were a fleeting people. Like the crowd that followed Christ around the lake for another meal for their stomach, these Samaritans would have been distracted by the next best thing. You ever been that way?

The call on Philips life was evangelism. He had an amazing gift for calling peoples attention away from the things they followed hard after and looking toward Christ. He, however, did not have all the gifts of the spirit nor was called to try to function out of gifts he did not have. The blessing to Philip and the Samaritans was the apostles in Jerusalem. They knew Philip. They knew his gifts. They knew what his gifts were not. So when hearing how the "Samaritans had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria."

Peter and Johns gifts came along side the gifts of Philip and a movement began that swept through Samaria and beyond as the power of the spirit was released into peoples lives.

You are not God's gift to this world. I am not God's gift to this world. Jesus was God's gift to this world and so was his bride the church. Together, the power of the spirit is released into peoples lives as we live out the mission of Christ, "To go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the son, and the holy spirit. And teaching them to obey all I have commanded." Matthew 28: 19-20

Turning Fear

2011-02-16T13:13:00.004-05:00

I'd be lying if I said I was fearless. Truth is fear is a regular part of my life. You could call that weak or you could call that strong. You'd be wrong though if you said that fear is weakness. Everyone of us faces fearful moments. Every hero of the Bible did. What made them brave men and women was not their lack of fear. It was what they did with that fear. For a moment surrender your movie fantasy picture of bravery and consider this.

Fear is an emotion that grips us all. What causes some to be crippled by it and other to be moved by it found in 1 Peter 1:13. "Therefore, prepare your minds for action, be self-controled, set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed." Fear begins in the mind and then captures the heart. There is a battle raging for the hearts and minds of God's people. Those that are crippled by it allow the battle raging in their mind to make it to their heart before they intercept it with God's truth. The truth is found also in 1 Peter 1:13. It is in the fraze, "set your hope fully on the grace to be given you."

The brave catch the fear while it still exists in their minds and inject faith. Faith is believing that the hope we have is in the grace to be given when we choose to walk in that faith. In each moment grace is waiting to be released to us by a loving God as we choose obedience. When grace enters, it replaces fear with passion. It is the hope as you see God's power released as you fully pursue him and his will. And that grace is free upon our willingness to choose it and walk into it. Walking into grace is walking into the fear. Fear is not removed before we choose but as we choose. Passion is not released before we choose but as we choose!

When your willing to walk into your fear you discover a God there waiting for you. Then when your fear comes face to face with his grace you discover gifts you didn't know you had, strengths that are now released, and a calling that gives you life. There is the passion. There is the hope. Are you willing to walk into it?

Meaning In Our Toil

2010-10-04T12:43:00.001-04:00

If you follow the life of Solomon it is intriguing to say the least to watch his passion poured out into his first book (Song of Solomon), then his wisdom released in the writings of Proverbs. So then what happens by the time he writes the book Ecclesiastes. The theme of passion and love for life found in Song of Solomon is lost to the wondering and de-spirited moans of "Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.

Solomon had the best job in all the land. He was the king. No one's job trumped that of the job of Solomon but somewhere along the line Solomon loses focus. Somewhere the kingdom and his job became less about a service to the people in which he ruled to a means to satisfy the emptiness of his own soul. In his own testimony in Chapter two of Ecclesiastes he confesses to his own selfishness and self satisfying of all his toil and efforts. "I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them." And the list of projects goes on and on who's aim was to satisfy his own hungers and needs. Not houses built for the poor and destitute in the land. Not vineyards and parks to feed the hungry. All his toil was spent on his own lostness.

What about our toil. It is funny how in seasons of my own life and ministry I find myself lost and seeking for meaning in what I do. My focus can so easily become on meeting my own needs of feeling important, valued, or needed. Every time I start living out of that I feel my soul slip into the same world Solomon's did, "Meaningless, Meaningless, everything is meaningless!"

What I have found answers the cry of our heart for meaning in our toil is the same thing Solomon knew but had lost connection to. It is his own words of Chapter 3 vss. 24 & 25, "A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment." The wisdom of this scripture is deep and can be missed if you read it flat. Here is what it is saying. Working on behalf of others can be satisfying in moments but will still not satisfy your soul. Connection to God that gives satisfaction can satisfy in moments but does not by itself satisfy your soul. Now before you hang me for heresy, hear me out. The satisfaction God intends for you through your toil is both!!!! It is a deep connection to God that satisfy's your soul and a focus on his purposes that will always make your toil not about how much money you make but how much what you do focuses on the lives of others.

You need compensated for your work. You are not a slave. But the minute your focus comes about building more houses and parks for yourself is the minute you find yourself at the end of the string holding on with one hand wondering how you fell so far from joy. It is not the position you have that satisfies. Remember Solomon had the best position in all the kingdom. It is not about how many hours you volunteer to good causes. It is not about how much time you spend reading scripture. It is about how much connectivity to the God of the Universe that alone can lead you to satisfaction through a life of purpose and meaning founded in him and extended to others. Instead of switching from job to job in a desperate hunt for meaning why not rethinking why you do what you do, and how you do what you do. And have that conversation with God.

What hooks you?

2010-06-08T16:50:00.002-04:00

I got hooked this week. Hooks are words, moments, or situations that capture your heart, raise the temperature inside you, where you find yourself trapped by your emotions. It happens to all of us. A person uses just the right loaded word carrying with it implications or accusations and you get hooked. You get defensive in another situation and you can't figure out why your defensive but you are. It is because you got hooked.

Here is the thing. A hook get's deep in your heart and then it pulls. When that happens, just like a fish on the end of a fisherman's line, we fight to get off. In the flailing around we can find ourself just more hooked.

So how do you get unstuck when you get hooked? Well what I learned this week is when you get hooked and you can't figure out why you are hooked no matter how much you try to talk it out it will only get worse. Your horns get locked and without knowing the hook you just battle to no avail. The conversation stops at the hook.

The first thing you have to do is identify the hook. This is hard because it can mean having to table the conversation. But tabling the conversation allows you to get the time to allow your heart to settle. When your heart is settled you are in the best position to calmly identify and remove the hook.

This only happens in conversation with God. According to his word he can identify and expose the things in us that don't bring glory to him. This is prayer, journal, and questions directed to God and then listening as he reveals it.

Once you know the hook you can then go back and re-engage the conversation to find resolution. Learning to live and communicate this way honors God, heals relationships, and catapults mission forward.

So here is to the removing the hooks in our lives!!!!

The Promise of Character

2010-05-27T09:34:00.004-04:00

Character comes at a price and God's promise to us committed to following him is that he will develop it in our lives. "...we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope." Romans 5:4

God's ability to use his people to bring about his kingdom on earth is completely dependant on our willingness to function in this character. The minute we don't, is the minute that we thwart the plans of God to bring about love, peace, and hope, to others all around us.

In Joshua Chapter 9 God had already used Joshua to destroy both the kingdoms of Jericho and Ai. Because of the great power of God's hand demonstrated through Joshua and Israel the other kingdoms in the area decided instead of taking on Joshua and his God to use deceit in which to acquire a treaty to ensure their safety. It worked. Joshua gave them the treaty thinking they were a people from far off and not living in the land God had promised to Israel.

When Joshua discovered they had tricked him he could have voided the treaty he offered them and easily justified his action. In fact all the assembly of Israel was pleading for him to do so. Instead he remained true to his promise. In doing so God was able to establish the land west of the Jordan as Israel's new home without having to destroy any more people.

The temptation for all of us is to justify the breaking of our oath in one moment for the convenience of the next moment. Many times we give our word before fully understanding the price it will cost us when time to deliver comes. What we must remember is that the story God is writing in the world around us is bigger than our inconvenience or personal costs. By remaining true to our word we remain true to his and allow him to use our faithfulness to bring peace, hope, love, and joy to our lives and the lives of all those around us.

Might my promises one moment be bigger than the convenience of re-niging in the next. Might yours be as well.

Turning Self-Talk to God-Talk

2010-05-06T13:43:00.002-04:00

We do a lot of talking. We don't just talk a lot to others, we talk a lot to ourselves. Sometimes it's out loud but more often it is not. Every time we face a difficult situation, when we are trying to pick which line in the grocery store to get in, and with every decision we face we spend a lot of time talking to ourselves. When we worry we are talking. When we delight we are talking. When we dream we are talking. Listen to what Frederick Buechner says about prayer.

Everybody prays whether [he/she] thinks of it as praying or not. The odd silence you fall into when something very beautiful is happening or something very good or bad. The ah-h-h! that sometimes floats up out of you as out of a Fourth of July crowd when the sky-rocket bursts over the water. The stammer of pain at somebody else’s pain. The stammer of joy at somebody else’s joy. Whatever words or sounds you use for sighing with over your own life. These are all prayers in their way.

Listening to Your Life, by Frederick Buechner

Try being mindful of a God who loves to hear us talk to Him. To discuss with Him your fears, failures, and successes. Try turning your self talk to God talk for your community. For the community along with you to sense God's presence all around you and move through all of your lives.

Try talking (praying) today.

From Pulpit to People

2009-05-29T13:30:00.003-04:00

Whether your a pastor or not we all preach. We talk about how we see life and see people and see circumstances. Too often however we live something contrary to what we say. We look at other kids and protest, "If I were there parent..." or "If I was them.." Then we have kids, or find our self in their shoes with a shoe in our mouth, eating our own words.

Today, I experienced the joy of practicing what I preached and in that moment experienced God in an amazing way. I just spoke Sunday about the "Helpers High," that feeling you get when you serve someone and how that feeling is a God feeling. In my message I left GraceRiver with a challenge. Look for doors God opens to serve others and then do it. Also, to pray for God to put someone on your heart you could serve this week and then go serve them.

Today I was in line at Subway to get sandwiches to go have lunch with my kids at school. In walked some teachers from the school whom I recognized. As I was standing there talking to them briefly I heard God's voice say "here is your chance." I walked up to the counter and
when ready to check out I informed the clerk that the teachers sandwiches were on me. It was simple and it was good. My voice became his voice and those teachers, in that moment, experienced the delight of God over their work with kids.

I walked out experiencing the 'helpers high.' And you know what? They did too.

Phillip Woody
phil@ridetheriver.org

When Can You Take Off The Hat?

2009-03-11T13:44:00.001-04:00

In the area of leadership, when can you take off the hat? When is it
that you don't have to act like the leader? For many of us this is
hard. For us who are wired to lead, it seems that every environment
we step into we experience a rising desire to lead there. Whether
that is because a situation lacks any leadership so we step up, or we
feel like we can lead better than the person already leading. Either
way we have a desire to lead. That is not wrong. It is a God given
desire.

So when is it O.K. to take off that hat and just relax? Here is the
answer my lead pastor suggested..."When your out of town!" It is
unhealthy to always have to be the leader. That is why leaders need
to have regular times they are off duty. That means getting away.
The reality is that once your the leader, your the leader. People
expect it from you and the organization requires it. The only way to
take off the hat is to change your environment. That means getting
the heck out of dodge.

Leaders like anyone else need to breathe. Look at how many times
Jesus changed his environment in order to breathe. He would go "away
form the crowd" in order to not be the leader, rather the student. He
would sit at the feet of his Father and breathe. If your a leader,
and your not breathing, chances are you are not leading that well.

Surrender the fear!

2009-02-05T11:23:00.005-05:00

In my quiet time I was faced with the picture of Jesus we find in Revelation chapter 1. This picture of Jesus is in my estimation the purest single picture of Jesus we have in scripture. The scary thing about this picture of Jesus is that it reveals Jesus as anything but "safe." Safe is not "eyes like blazing fire," a sword for a tongue, or face of blinding brilliance as that of the Sun. Our reaction to this Jesus, like John who wrote the account, is loss of consciousness; overwhelmed. And now we understand what scripture constantly refers to as "the fear of the Lord."

Yet the presence of Jesus in the same moment is completely satisfying, "holding the keys of death and hades," who's method of operation is grace and wisdom and motive is pure unadulterated love. So our response to this Jesus is one of complete surrender to the God of the universe. Our response is fear.

Those who argue this have reduced Jesus to a rabbits foot on a key chain in their pocket they rub in blind hope when any whimsical desire comes fluttering by. Their God is one of convenience not authority, of occasional delight not of complete surrender. Ouch! Is that mine. Every time I don't move forward out of fear I make the decision to treat Jesus as a rabbits foot and not as the fearful God he is. Fearing God means surrender to the blade, surrender to the surgeon who's motive is my heart and who's M/O is grace and wisdom. When God wants to move us forward our proper response is to "surrender the fear." "Then he placed his right hand on me and said: Do not be afraid." (Rev. 1:17b)
Phillip Woody
phil@ridetheriver.org

A God Who Dreams!

2008-12-15T20:14:00.004-05:00

My anniversary happens to be right around this Christmas season. Don't know what we were thinking when we chose Christmas time to get married. It inevitably means more money going out all at the same time of year. This year I was trying to dream a big experience for my wife and I on a tight budget. To make a long story short, I had booked a night at Gaylord Palms with tickets to ICE, a huge ice display in the middle of Florida, utilizing thousands of blocks of ice to create elaborate scenes. After booking it and looking at the final price I canceled. It was way more than I could afford for a one night experience. God took the dream and delivered. Through a series of events out of my control God provided the anniversary we dreamed of and more. Gaylord Palms, ICE, and Universal Studios for less than half the cost.

What made this anniversary so sweet to my wife and I was not that we got exactly what we wanted. It was looking down from the 9th floor of Gaylord Palms, over the Atrium, and experiencing God's presence and his voice speaking this loving truth, "I am dreaming for your marriage." I fear I would have missed it had I paid for the experience he provided. Would have felt the pain of the bill or thought that it was my planning that made it happen. Knowing on our
10 year anniversary that God is intimately involved in the success of my wife's and my relationship made our weekend one of the best experiences of our lives.

Christmas on a Dime!

2008-12-15T19:40:00.000-05:00

If your like most of us, it feels a little tighter this Christmas season. How do we do Christmas on a dime when we really want to express our love this season? Here is your choice. Spend more than you have or stick to the dime God has given you. Consider this question. How do I want to leave Christmas this year? Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Doesn't feel that way when we walk away from Christmas in debt. The heart to bless people is crushed by the gut wrenching feeling that we spent more than we had. It feels more like a curse when the hype of Christmas Day is gone. So the dilemma is, I want to show people my love this Christmas but all I have is this one thin dime. Well what if you took that dime and got creative. What if you chose to live gratefulness this Christmas and figured out a new way to say I love you at Christmas. I think you might find that there is more heart in a sincere gesture than a purchased gift. Why not trying to walk away from Christmas experiencing what God would want you to. The feeling of "more blessed."

Feeling Alive at Christmas!

2008-12-03T10:08:00.003-05:00

You ever heard those psycho sayings like, "The pain helps you know your alive," or "bleeding means you ain't dead." Psycho right. But could they be on to something. You ever watched the guy who's shot in the movies. When do they get most scared? When they stop feeling, when they begin to go numb.

Jesus in the Sermon on the mount say's some crazy things too. Very similar things to the psycho sayings above actually. He say's "blessed are those who mourn," "blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness," and "blessed are you when people insult you because of me." Could it be that in these seasons are the season's when we really find life. Too many times these things cause me to instead of embrace life, numb out. Could it be that when we numb out we stop risking and when we stop risking we stop living? Could it be that real living is feeling deeply and in feeling deeply embracing risk and adventure.

Numbing out is going through life, living is embracing life. That means the ups and downs, the successes and failures, the risks and the rewards. It means faith that God turns "mourning to gladdens" and pain into blessing. It means opening up your heart instead of closing it off. The minute we shut our heart down is the minute we shut down, our dreams, our potential, and our hope. This Christmas what if we opened our hearts completely to God and allowed ourselves to feel deeply again, to risk a little in our relationships, and to embrace a season of hope marked by the birth of a king, the hope of the world, Jesus Christ.

To do this try reading scripture. When you engage scripture you are not allowed to numb out. It won't let you. It calls into your deep and musters up life from there. It pierces your heart with it's truth and excites real living. Also, try loving a little. Taking the risk in a relationship to say an "I'm sorry" instead of waiting for one. Extend a thoughtful gesture to someone you don't know to well yet. Try worshiping. Choosing thankfulness over despair, prayer over frustration. Try thanking God for the harder times that reminds you your alive and that your not alone there. Try thanking God for his presence, in faith, even when you don't sense it. Try living this
Christmas.

Phillip Woody
phil@ridetheriver.org

Held Together

2008-11-12T17:29:00.003-05:00

In the first chapter of Colossians, Paul speaks of Jesus as the one who holds all things together. Ever felt anything but held together? The heart seems to be going one way while the family another, and work even another. Wonder what Paul means by holding us together? Could he be speaking only about the world around us or are we included?

I can't tell you how often I feel anything but held together. I can tell you when I do though. It is when I sit with Jesus. When I take all the compartments of my life and put them in the gaze of Christ. When nothing makes sense things make sense there. They feel pieced together by the hands of God to form a picture of grace, love, and acceptance. At times the picture formed is revealing of the heart. Insecurities, hurts, and fears surface that make sense of behaviors in my life. As the pictures form, God can then take them apart to form a new story a picture in the form of a cross. A picture that allows me to leave realizing, "it is finished." No longer do I have to live there. No longer in the hurt. No longer in the fear. I can live in the grace. Hope you can too.

My kids, God's voice.

2008-10-09T11:20:00.003-04:00

Monday night, my son Caden asked me how to have a quiet time. He was baptized a month ago and his spiritual interest has been explosive. After sharing S.O.A.P. with him he told me, "God has spoken to me before." Curious, I probed to find out when it was and what God might have said to him. He told me that a kid had called him a name at school and that he was going to call him a name back but the voice in his head told him "that would not be loving God." So Caden chose to walk away.

Isn't that how God speaks. A voice that sounds a lot like ours echo's in our mind and heart revealing the heart of God in the moment. Well what echod in my mind was a reminder that even if it feels like a while since I have heard his voice he is speaking. Can't tell you how many times God's voice sounds a heck of a lot like Caden, Gabe, or Blake.

Phillip Woody
phil@ridetheriver.org

Looking silly for Jesus.

2008-10-09T11:10:00.003-04:00

Just yesterday I was at a Starbucks with two other guys from the church to discuss men and GraceRiver and what it would look like for men to reflect Godliness inside and outside of the church. After ordering the drinks, I waited for the barista to make them. Next to me was a girl who looked very familiar. Now the deli-ma is "do I say anything?" On one hand I could be flat wrong and she might interpret it as a pick up line. On the other hand, if I don't, she might recognize and know who I was and consider me a jerk for not saying Hi!

True to fashion for me, I chose the option to look stupid rather than a jerk. The conversation had it's embarrassing moments of trying to discover where I knew her from that led to "church?" Though that was not the connection, I discovered she was looking for a church and had not found one in the area yet. An invitation with a series card for an upcoming sermon series later, I realized it was Jennifer Anniston she reminded me of (a good friend of mine).

I wonder how many divine appointments I have missed not willing to look silly. If silly is the worst thing I have to face to live contagious for Jesus then put a clown nose on me.

Phillip Woody
phil@ridetheriver.org

Rate your buy-in.

2008-10-09T10:54:00.002-04:00

The vision of GraceRiver Church is to spread Jesus like a disease all over Southeast Orlando and beyond. How do you do that. At GraceRiver you do that by Loving God, Loving People, and Living Contagious. Rate yourself from level 1 to level 3.

1. You believe in the vision enough to benefit from it. You receive something from the church and to you that is what is important.

2. You believe in the vision enough to contribute comfortably. Your happy to help if it doesn't interfere with your other priorities.

3. You believe in the vision enough to give your life to it. You belong to Jesus and are sold out to the greatest cause on earth.

-questions by craig groeschel

Don't feel bad about whatever level your at. It's a journey to getting what Jesus got and was all about. Rather, ask what is keeping me from engaging at the next level. What do I fear? What do I question? What is in the way? A church of 3's is a church that can change the world and that is the dream of GraceRiver.

The face of Care.

2008-08-03T23:53:00.004-04:00

What does care look like? Sometimes I think we inflate care beyond our own reach. What I mean is that we have made caring for someone an impossible task. What if care could be a simple text message? What if it could look like an intentional smile, a kind gesture, or a significant touch? What if care didn't have to be a commitment for life, to meet all the needs of a person, but a commitment to the moment; to notice.

That was how Jesus cared for many. It was the woman caught in adultery, the woman at the well, the crippled man lowered on a stretcher. Jesus did not say follow me to these men and women. He said "go and sin no more" to the woman caught in adultery, he said to the paralytic, "take up your mat and walk." Jesus did what he could
in the moment and that was caring.

At times caring is more, but, I imagine the world a pretty cool place to be if we each would just care in the moment. Look for ways to care as you do life and see if the journey isn't a little sweeter. I imagine it will be.

Success at a price.

2008-07-31T16:12:00.002-04:00

A lot of people have paid the price for success. "To whom much is

given much is required." Many have come by success at no price. And
that success soon reveals it's own price to be paid.

All success requires a price to be paid. The question is which do you
want to pay?

Success at a fast pace often leaves no time for character to keep up.
The hard work of reflection is lost to the speed game of staying
ahead. If the success comes with no price, handed to you on a plate,
humility is lost and entitlement can become ones curse. Humility is
found at the feet of Jesus doing the hard work of reflection.

Success at the feet of Jesus is what opens the door to real leadership
authority. Humility and character are always the pillars of long
lasting success. They develop a person beyond a portfolio. They
paint the picture of personhood.

Which price do you want to pay for success? Short lived at the cost
of character or lasting at the expense of the hardest work of all,
sitting with Jesus?

Phillip Woody
phil@ridetheriver.org

Failure to try!

2008-07-17T10:44:00.001-04:00

A Blog by LifeChurch.tv worth putting on my Blog!

The failure to try is one of the most common types of failure, and, in my opinion, one of the worst failures. It is usually the result of a fear of failure or just plain laziness.

In December of 1999, I sold my last technology company. Without going into great detail, selling the company at that time was a huge success for our investors and everyone involved. However, as I drove home from our attorneys' office the night we finalized the sale, I couldn't celebrate. I began to be overcome with the fear of failure…I didn't know what I should do next and if it would be as successful. It was so bad that it effectively kept me from trying anything new for the next several months.

I talk to so many pastors who are either living on yesterday's success or holding the pain of last week's failure. What is unfortunate is that this fear of failure actually guarantees failure…the failure to try. Over the long-term, it will almost certainly lead to a declining or dead ministry.

On our team, we ask people who are interviewing for a failure resume. If someone cannot list several failures in their life, it is sometimes a sign that they fail to take risks or try anything new.

What are some things on your failure resume? What tips do you have for overcoming the fear of failure?

The Gift of Grief

2008-07-10T11:25:00.001-04:00

If you have ever mourned someone you would know that it is a journey
filled with emotion. Most of the time those emotions are dark and
deep matching the deep hurt your experiencing. Lost, anger, hopeless,
despair are some of these. How could anything like that be a gift
from God? When you can see what it produces.

Grief is a cry of the heart that lands heavy on all of those around us
who now share in our hurt. When the loss of someone dear becomes our
reality grief becomes God's gift to begin to fill the huge void that
plagues our soul. The beacon of Grief brings God's life through
people as they share in our pain. Grief has the God given potential
to restore families, build friendships, and produce joy when joy feels
lost. It is a gift.

Here is the kicker. Like every gift you have to be willing to receive
it.

God bless you Grandpa Meme, your life was meaningful and your death a
seed planted.

Conflict Resolution, A lost Art

2008-07-09T09:45:00.003-04:00

Who taught you how to resolve conflict? The answer for most is both no one and everyone. We learn from watching and observing. Usually what we watch and observe from a young age is not healthy conflict resolution. Media plays a huge role as the #1 influencer of kids over parents and the church in society today. Now Rambo, and Judge Judy are our guides. Tell me that isn't scary. Here is a few thoughts when considering conflict that Rambo might not be teaching.

*It Requires emotional grit.
The ability to remain in the conversation when it feels your heart is being attacked.
*Emotional vulnerability. Risk.
Leaning that to hear someone else's heart you must be willing to lead with yours.
*Honoring your heart and honoring theirs. Both in mind.
Realizing it is not a battle to win but an agreement to find.
*A heart to hear as well as be heard/ to understand and be understood.
A willingness to listen first and lead with questions without making to many assumptions.

Here is a scripture that may help: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." Philippians 2:3

That verse lived out has the potential to see the lost art found again.

Hoping is Loving.

2008-06-12T11:01:00.004-04:00

"When he mentioned the ark of God Eli fell backward off his chair by
the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died." 1Samuel 4:18

Eli had just received news that his two son's were killed and the ark
captured by the Philistines. Eli did not mourn for his son's. This
scares the junk out of me. I have 3 boy's and the thought that my
boy's death would not tear me apart scares me. It scares me because
it happens all the time all around us. People lose hope in their
children, and when they do they lose love.

"When we lose hope, we lose love." When there is hope there is a
reason to love. Hope makes love worthwhile. The dream of what could be draws us to care, to hope, and to love. Without the dream loving becomes only hurt. If I believe any of my son's is doomed, then every thought of them is only pain, failure, hopelessness. Eli stopped
loving because he stopped hoping. I never want to stop hoping. Nor do I have to.

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him." Psalm
62:5

A little push, A little pull!

2008-06-11T11:55:00.002-04:00

Ever noticed how everything in life that has any real value requires
sacrifice. Rest, Play, Financial Security, Health. They all require
sacrifice. There is a push and a pull in every area of our life. The
push is the holy discontent. "Something needs to change here." "This
just ain't working." There is also a pull. It usually looks like a
dream of how it could be different.

I have felt it recently with working out. First off, I don't yet
enjoy running and lifting. I do it so I can better compete at
whatever sport I am playing. My pull is my desire to play better, the
dream of being the best softball player the world has ever seen. The
push is how after I run from home to second on a double I know that
that from second to home will end in me throwing up. It's my nickname
at the YMCA, "puker." Now that is a push.

I see this in my relationship with God too. The push in areas of my
life that I am not satisfied with and the pull of the holy spirit
dreaming for me a new way of looking at it, dealing with it, living in
it.

Wonder in what areas of your life you feel the spirit of God pushing
and pulling you.

Words that Tickle

2008-06-11T11:36:00.005-04:00

"See I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of
everyone who hears of it tickle." 1Samuel 3:11.

How would it feel to have the words of God tickle your ears? How
would it feel to be one who God used to tickle the ears of people?
Samuel was one of those. Scripture says that Samuel "let none of his
words fall to the ground." My problem is that so many of my words
do. Our words fall to the ground when there are no ears to hear
them. Sometimes no ears to hear is our fault and sometimes it's not.
I close ears when I talk too much. It's one of the areas I am working
on. I also am very passionate. Put those two things together and
people don't know what I am really passionate about and what to really
listen too if everything is so important.

5 rules I am trying to implement:
1. Don't answer until asked.
2. Don't talk first.
3. Write it and then speak it (process what your going to say,
instead of just throwing up)
4. Say it and then let it lye. Don't feel you have to defend it.
5. If it can be said in the form of a question, then do.

God help our words not "fall to the ground."

Marriage "Take Me There."

2008-06-11T11:36:00.004-04:00

If you have not heard the Rascall Flatts song "Take Me There," you
need to download it from Itunes. It is a song written for everyone's
heart. Who doesn't want someone especially that special someone to
want to engage their own story and know them intimately. Who doesn't
want that person to want to go down the same backroads they have been
down, enter the experiences they have experienced, feel the joys and
pains they have experienced that helped to make them who they are today?

Strange is how few of us know how to do that. My wife are working
hard on this one. It amazes me how often we can just want to pick up
from today and just build the new memories without sharing the old
ones. It is amazing how hard work it is to sit in those past moments
with that someone you love especially when they are filled with hurt.
It's hard. It takes time. It takes a lot of emotional energy. It
takes a lot of listening. It takes a lot of love. When we don't know
where our spouse has come from do we really know who they are? What
if we all took the time to not just hear the stories of the past but
let our spouse take us there? I imagine understanding your spouses
heart may feel a little more attainable.

Marriage "Fallenness vss. Aloneness"

2008-06-11T11:27:00.002-04:00

In Marriage listening is one of the best skills we can learn to
develop. Just listening isn't enough though. Two ways you can
listen; in order to speak or in order to understand. Too often I
listen in order to speak. When I do speak without really
understanding I read my story, experiences, insecurities into my
wife's heart and in doing so miss her heart. If I could learn to
listen to understand her heart I would speak to it differently.

Two ways to speak; to fallenness or to aloneness. It is amazing how
often we speak to a person's fallenness when what they are really
experiencing is aloneness. Fallenness means speaking to the problem.
Aloneness means speaking to the person's emotions. I can't tell you
how many times I have wanted to fix my wife's problem when she just
wanted me to enter into her hurt and live there with her for a while.

Here is how you can do it. 1. Listen to understand. 2. Don't
speak. 3. When she asks you to speak, enter her hurt by echoing her
hurt in your own words and telling her how sorry you are for the pain
she is experiencing. Take care of her, not the problem and she will
love you for it.

Marriage that works.

2008-05-05T15:23:00.001-04:00

1st of a 3 part blog.

On our way to park our car in the garage at the hotel this weekend
for a marriage retreat Janann and I were on we encountered a young
lady working the parking booth to let us into the garage. She was
blown away that a couple had to work on their marriage. It literally
confused her. Perhaps she got her view of marriage from hollywood
where if it is real love it is perfect. Maybe she just didn't
believe in marriage at all and assumed that if we were at a marriage
conference it was because our marriage was in trouble like every
other marriage she had ever seen. Who knows?

What I do believe is that if your not "working on your marriage" then
it's probably "working you" (over). I've been there, have you? How
do you work on your marriage? How do you seek to understand your
spouses heart?

If you "work on your marriage" it will "work on you". I am a better
person because of this weekend. Though she will never make full
sense to my head she makes complete sense to my heart.

Getting God Right

2008-04-27T13:08:00.015-04:00

At a conference this week I heard a powerful statement that made me think, if you have an incorrect fundamental view of God "you would be better off an Athiest." Why? Because any other view of God but the deep lover of your soul that was so moved by you upon creation that he wrote himself into the story of life to have an intimate relationship with us, would not draw us to him but leave us crippled by him.

Imagine if you believed God to be a game master who on his finger spun the world in motion and stepped back to watch it play out amused by our life and choices both good and bad. A sarcastic view of God lends to a life of resentment. Or what if there was many God's each responsible for different aspects of life each for us to pay homage to? Such a view would produce a life compartmentalized as well as our soul.

If these or any other view of God is your view than I would think you better off to not believe at all. And then you are left to the view of Darwin "eat or be eaten." Me, I think I will stick to the radical love of Jesus that started a revolution of care and meaning who I can experience each and every day in a deep relationship of significance. After all, that's the God of the Bible.

21 Flavors

2008-04-21T12:51:00.002-04:00

Thank God for Baskin Robins who carved new horizons and took us on an adventure in flavor. Now each trip a new, deep, and meaningful experience of moosetracks, birthday cake, cookie dough, funfetti, mint chocolate chip and so much more. Now plain vanilla experiences though good are no longer the limit of our soul fulfilling relationship with creamy goodness.

I wonder if Baskin Robins was not a Jesus creation to giving us a window to the real kingdom of God is like? I have had too many conversations of late with good hearted people of God who seemed to want to force me to see God's kingdom as one flavor. Ask yourself why so many different way's to express the deep love of Jesus Christ for people evident in the thousands upon thousands of churches in the world each with their own personality and unique vision yet each an expression of God's heart for people? Is it that one of those churches and only one of them is the right way of helping people to experience the love of God through Jesus, or is it that Jesus himself is an eclectic ice cream lover?

While Grace River church has a unique vision our mission is the same as so many other churches you may have attended or heard of. Why? Because it was the mission given to us all from Jesus himself when he said, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." I guess God realized that to reach all of his people with his unrelenting love he knew that just Vanilla would not do. So what flavor are you? Because your flavor is not an accident but a unique expression of God for the world?

2008-04-16T11:30:00.006-04:00

Playship

It feels like at times we believe that closer proximity to God means the removal of play, fun, and laughter from our lives. But what if play was a way of worship. The Prodigal Son returns home and the Father throws a party, Sarah has a baby at the ripe age of 90 and responds, "God has brought me laughter." I have found in my life that when play isn't happening I feel most distant from him. So maybe play is a gift from God to be returned to him. That makes it worship. So in the words of America's favorite past time, "Play Ball!"

2008-04-14T17:37:00.003-04:00

Learning to Listen

What would happen if a person decided to stop talking for a week and really listen? What would they learn, experience, understand in a new way? My one week adventure in listening starts today. Don't have any expectations just a question, "How will learning to listen change me?" Here is how I am doing it. Consciously making as few statements as possible turning statements I would have said into questions to ask. I want to listen to my own heart, "what am I feeling and why?". I want to listen to God's heart, "What is He saying and why?". I want to listen to my family, "what are they experiencing and why?" I want to listen to nature, "what is it teaching me about God and life and what does that mean?" I want to listen to people, "what are you really wanting someone to hear?" I'll keep you posted on an ADD pastor's journey for understanding.