Stopping to Smell the Roses... And They Smell REALLY Good!

This-past Sunday was the 6-month-iversary of our church.

In order to encourage our amazing team about the impact they're having in our community & in peoples' lives, I shared some statistics.

Some of these statistics blew me away & I wanted to share them with you, too.

So... Here it goes!

Hang on!

Since Launch Day, JUST 6 MONTHS AGO…

…people have decided to follow Jesus at least 82 times!

…79 people have visited Inspire for the first time! 

That's just over 3 each week for both!

…our average attendance has been 48 people!

…our highest attendance was 91 people (on Launch Day)!

…10 people have joined our Dream Team!

…3 new leaders have stepped up!

Can we celebrate together?!

I am blown away at God's goodness to us!

And Then it Hit Me...

One of the most-difficult things I've had to learn is to be content where I am.

I am a goal-oriented person, & severely driven (yes, I meant to say "severely"). While that has it's advantages, it has its disadvantages, too.

The same drive that helps me reach my goals can cause me to get frustrated & discouraged when I don't see "enough" progress toward those goals.

Full disclosure: "enough progress" is completely subjective & subject to my mood at the moment... Another disadvantage of being so driven.

So, having said that, I have gotten used to frustration & discouragement.

In fact, if I can just be transparent for a moment, I get frustrated & discouraged every Sunday around 2 pm.

Well... I USED to.

See... I've KNOWN for a long time that I needed to learn how to be content, even while I remained focused.

This has NOT been easy for me.

But one of the things I've learned this past year is how to celebrate the successes I've experience. Not just my own personal successes, but the successes of our team--both as a whole AND as individuals.

And as I've learned to do THAT, something has changed... In me!

In fact, I wasn't really even thinking about it... Which is a miracle in & of itself, believe me!

I was just driving along, thinking about how much fun I'm having & how thankful I am for my church family.

And then it hit me...

I am FINALLY content where I am... Even though I have so much more I want to do!

I don't really know when it happened...

But I am SO glad it did!

The Last Exit Before THE Exit

Have you ever taken a car trip?

Ya know that feeling you get when you cross certain "checkpoints"?

Like when you cross the halfway point?

Or you see the "Welcome to Florida" sign on your way to Disney World?

Or when the miles to your destination city start showing up on those green signs on the right?

I think my FAVORITE one, though, is when you come up to the last exit before THE exit.

I had the same feeling today when we had the AMAZING privilege of seeing the 80th person commit to Jesus since Launch Day.

Even sitting here typing, my eyes are tearing up.

Honestly, we aren't anywhere near our destination, but God is doing something VERY special at Inspire, & I sometimes can't believe that I get to be a part of it!

One final word... Because it just wouldn't be right to talk about these 80 people without mentioning the people who made it possible: our Dream Team. They are absolutely incredible & I love every one of them!

Thank you, Lord... My cup is running over!

Tis Better to Learn & Learn Again... Than to Learn & Yet Forget

It seems like a lot of what God is teaching me lately are things He's already taught me before.

(Full Disclosure: If I'd learned it well enough already, He probably wouldn't HAVE to be teaching me again. But, I digress.)

So, on one of my many "take another lap" moments, I noticed that I was feeling really aggravated at myself. ("I know I'm thick-headed, God, but COME ON!")

And can you guess what God spoke to me?

Any idea?

If you said, "Not a dang thing!" you are today's big winner!

'Cause that is EXACTLY what He spoke to me: NOTHING!

Zip.

Zilch.

Nada.

El-ZERO-mundo!

So there I was, left with my thoughts.

And as I thought about it, I realized that some of the most-deeply felt lessons that have carved me out of the rock that I used to be were the ones that I didn't learn the first go-round.

Or the second.

Or the third.

And yet somewhere, someway,  some HOW, God managed to teach me something that has forever changed my life.

As the frustration started to ease, it occurred to me...

It truly is better to learn & learn again (& again & again & again)... Than to learn & yet forget.

Thank You, Lord, for not giving up on me!

P.E.R.S.P.E.C.T.I.V.E.

Seeing people suffer is one of the things I HATE about being a pastor, but I am so honored to be able to be there at the same time (talk about conflicted!).

So... Can I just cut to the chase on this-week's post?

('Cause, honestly, I really don't want to dwell on this topic any longer than I have to.)


This past week, Jennifer & I had the honor & privilege to stand with a family enduring a horrible tragedy.

And 2 things stood out to me above all else...

1. If you love somebody... TELL THEM!

2. If your mad at and/or offended by somebody... RECONCILE!

Don't outlive them & regret that you didn't. Either one.

Seriously.

Ya Know What?! God's GOT This!

One of the things I have had the, um... Privilege (?) of learning is that trusting God is an act of the will.

The way I've learned it is by being in situations--over & over & over again--where I have to decide whether or not I'm going to trust Him.

Which, of course, means being in situations--over & over & over again--where things don't look so good.

Now, I don't know if I'm just hard headed or a slow learner....

(Well... Yes I do. I'm hard-headed AND a slow learner. But that's another story.)

....But I seem to have to KEEP learning this lesson--over & over & over again.

<sigh>

The process usually goes something like this:

1. Difficult situation presents itself.

2. Panic sets in.

3. God slaps me upside the head (often through my wife).

4. I'm overwhelmed by guilt for being filled with fear of what COULD be (almost always the worst-case scenario, of course).

5. I FINALLY take the matter to God in prayer.

6. I ask God to forgive me for not trusting.

7. God reminds me of EVERY OTHER TIME when He's come through.

8. I decide to trust Him (Finally!)

9. Rinse & repeat.

Maybe you don't have this struggle, but I do.

And I am going through the process again as I write this. I'm currently somewhere between #s 8 & 9.

So, as of this moment, I can say with great confidence, "Ya Know What?! God's GOT This!"

Practicin' What I'm Preachin' & Preachin' What I'm Practicin'

This past Sunday, my message was about being the incredible freedom that comes from being thankful in the midst of our circumstances--regardless of what they are.

I worked all week preparing my message (as I usually do), & went into the weekend relieved that I didn't have any last-minute cramming to worry about (unfortunately, that happens sometimes, too). I was glad to enjoy Father's Day weekend with my family!

Then, on Friday, while I was mowing, one of the glass panes in our patio slider door spontaneously started shattering. And if you've ever seen that, it's CRAZY!

I Googled it & learned that it's not all that uncommon. I also learned that the tempered glass keeps the shattered window in place instead of millions of little pieces falling all over the place. Good idea!

...when it works!

I walked out the front door and into the front yard, relieved that the issue wasn't as bad as it could've been if the glass fell out.

As I came back inside & the front door closed behind me, I heard an unmistakable--and sickening--sound....

Let's just say the tempered glass did NOT stay in place! In fact, it made one of the biggest messes I've ever seen!

So, there I stood, looking out a 3-foot round hole in my slider & trying to figure out what the heck I was gonna do to fix it.

I tried plastic first. Bad idea: the AC just pushed it through the hole!

And made the hole even bigger.

About this time, I started getting so frustrated (angry) that cuss words started running through my mind. (I was in the Navy for 10 years, y'all, so I've got quite the cussin' vocabulary!) Then I started making up new ones!

And then it hit me.

"I'm living out the lesson for Sunday's message!"

Duh!

So, right then & there I decided that I was going to put into practice what I was gonna be preaching: I was gonna CHOOSE to be grateful. I didn't FEEL grateful, but I was gonna BE grateful anyhow.

The moment I did, my head started clearing, my blood pressure started dropping, and I started laughing. Not a belly laugh, but a little chuckle. Just for a moment.

In a matter of minutes, I'd put a plan together to temporarily fix the window, executed the plan, AND decided that it was time to replace the slider with those french doors that Jennifer's been wanting for so long.

Sunday's message may not have been for anybody else, but it certainly was for me!