The Puzzle of Life

One of the things we did as a family when I was growing up was work on jigsaw puzzles. It would take weeks. The first step was always laying out all the pieces and turning them right-side up. The next step involved putting all the edge pieces together. Then, we would look for large sections of the puzzle that had the same color pattern. We would work together, and slowly but surely, the final image would begin to emerge. One of the great things about working together on a puzzle was that we all saw different things along the way. Each person helped fill in missing sections that the rest of us hadn’t been able to figure out. It took all of us, and if we had missed any single piece, it mattered to the outcome—the picture would be incomplete. I don’t know about you, but at times, my life reminds me of a gigantic jigsaw puzzle. I work hard to put all the pieces together – kids, marriage, work, friends, family, church, and ministry – but it can all become a bit overwhelming. I don’t think I’m the only one who feels this way. We all work hard to lay out the many pieces of our lives so they will ultimately form a cohesive picture. We try to get a framework of what life is to look like, then we start putting everything together. But then something inevitably happens that causes a piece to be misplaced, or keeps us from clearly seeing the big picture. It is at these times that we need others to help us see the pieces we are missing, to see the picture from a different angle, or to connect pieces of life that we had not yet realized fit together. Life is not intended to be spent alone. God created us to be in relationship with Him and with each other. This is why, as a church, we want everyone to be part of an intentional small group. This is why we structure the leadership of the church in teams. We need each other. Every piece matters, and we are better when we work together. We need our spouses, partners, children, friends, neighbors, small group members, and colleagues to help pick up the pieces, and to better see God’s vision for our lives. I am grateful for my wife, Allison, the Faith staff, my friends, my extended family, and my colleagues who have always been there to help pick up the pieces, who have seen things I could not see, and who stepped in to help connect parts of the big picture for me. They have all gathered around the table with me and helped put together the pieces of a beautiful life. Who are you grateful for this week? How might God be calling you to help with someone else’s puzzle?

Rivals

PC vs MAC

Xbox vs. Playstation vs. Wii

Texas vs. Texas A&M

iPhone vs Android

Pepsi vs Coca Cola

I am sure you could list a bunch of other rivals throughout life. And the list could get really personal for me. My high school’s biggest Rival was the Fayetteville Bulldogs. Every year our game was billed as the battle of the Dogs. It was a week filled with tons of trash talking and us vs them statements. I wasn’t friends with any of them. However, my first week of college, I meet several of them, and discovered we had a lot in common. We became great friends.

It is crazy, but any rivalry is going to lead to winner vs loser attitudes which clouds our judgment.

I remember 100’s of commercials growing up about how x number of people choose coke over Pepsi in taste test. I remember taste tests being held in grocery stores, at the state fair, and other venues. Everyone had a preference. You were either with them or against them. Who is the winner in your book?

Pepsi or Coke, PC or Mac, or Texas or Texas A&M.

As Debra talked about in her Sermon on Sunday, “us” vs “them” has been around since the beginning of time. It is recorded throughout our biblical history. What I find profoundly challenging is that “us” vs “them” or “winner” and “loser” attitudes might be part of human nature, but it is not what God intends. In fact, Jesus came into the world to teach of a different reality. A world in which there is no partiality, no winners or losers, but a world where every knee will bow, every tongue confess, that Jesus is Lord. We are all children of God, we are all family, we are all part of “us”, and there is no “them”.
I think the challenge for us is to begin to see or dream of the unity we have in God, father, son, and spirit. Think about it.

Can you imagine what it might be if we didn’t talk about others as “them”, and ourselves as “us”?

Can you imagine what it would be like if we saw our neighbor not as them, but as us?

Can you imagine Aggies and Longhorns living in harmony?

Seriously what if we stopped talking about the other Christians, or the other churches, and we started talking about the body of Christ, about our brothers and sisters in Christ? What if we didn’t see others in the world, but saw brothers and sisters?

What rivalry do you need to let go for the sake of the Gospel?

"People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering." St. Augustine

Light Bulb Moments

Passionate Worship

When The Light Bulb Went Off!

“The Word, Passionate, expresses an intense desire, an ardent spirit, strong feelings, and the sense of heightened importance,” says Bishop Robert Schnase in his book, Cultivating Fruitfulness (Abingdon Press, 2008 p. 25).

Worship could be described as intentional time given in community so that we might experience and encounter God.

I can say that I have been going to worship/church since I was born. My dad was a Methodist pastor and we were in worship every week and in worship multiple hours. I thought that was what everyone did. I was bored at times. I was sleepy at times. I was like every other kid, I thought. I sang in the children’s choir and rang bells. When I got older I went to youth group.

Worship wasn’t bad, in fact the music was familiar, and I liked to sing, but it wasn’t “fun.” (Except for children’s time) Worship was just something I did. Maybe you can relate… but by the time I was in High School things changed a little. I had been in a few pretty cool worship services… you know one of those services where everything just felt electric or like it was just for me. I remember some of those worship service were with special guest or special music where the music just lifted you out of your seat. Still others were on a retreat or mission trip. Most involved eating bread and sharing the common cup. Have you been there too?

I continued to go to church, throughout my college years. It was later in my life, I found myself longing for more of those moments, and I wondered why it wasn’t that way every week in worship. In talk with some of my friends about worship and how I just don’t get anything out of it some weeks, that The light bulb went off. One of my friends said, worship is not all about you and you get out of it what you put in. POW! What was my attitude like on those Sunday’s, how was I participating? Even later in my seminary training on leading worship, I was taught the audience of worship is not the congregation, but God. Everything we do in a worship service is done to give honor and glory to God.

Light Bulb…

Passionate worship isn’t about the style of music!
Passionate worship isn’t about being in a certain location!
Passionate worship isn’t about the sermon!

Passionate worship is you and me, the whole church who have gathered in that space at that exact time, to encounter and experience God! The way I worship today, was changed by these light bulb moments…

What is one of your Light bulb moments about Passionate Worship?

1st Birthday...

The pictures speak for themselves!

I love my 1 year old little boy!

Worship Wars....

I am constantly watching, reading, and talking about the importance of relevance in worship. I am really interested to see this debate about worship reverence vs. relevance will turn out. This debate has caused a great divide in the church and sometimes in single congregations. So I invite you to check out the following promo video and join me on September 1, for an online 2:00 p.m. CDT for this historic event and the beginning a new conversation about the future of worship in the church.

http://www.lifeway.com/RvR/

I will be post my thoughts on the subject following the event. I will hope to see you and talk with you along this journey. Until them...

What is your top 25 Worship Tunes for 2009?

I want to know what you think?

2009 Top 25 Praise Songs from CCLI

1. How Great is Our God
2. BLessed Be Your Name
3. Here I am to Worship
4. Open The Eyes of My Heart
5. Shout to the Lord
6. Holy Is the Lord
7. You Are My King
8. Forever
9. Lord, I lift Your Name on High
10. Come, Now is The Time to Worship
11. God of Wonders
12. Everlasting God
13. You Are My All in All
14. We Fall Down
15. The Heart of Worship
16. You’re Worthy of My Praise
17. Breathe
18. Trading My Sorrows
19. Beautiful One
20. In Christ Alone
21. I Give You My Heart
22. Days of Elijah
23. Friend of God
24. Better is One Day
25. Above All

I would love to here what others think of this list... What would you keep, delete, and add?