Bluegrass Therapy!

So what's on my iPod right now? Nothing but bluegrass! It has been a very trying and demanding week so far and one way that I connect with God in the midst of it all is through music. I love bluegrass...and it speaks to my soul and allows my soul to speak too. Thank you Lord for the gift of music...especially bluegrass!

Spiritual Giants

My friend Chris brought this to my attention a number of weeks ago. I was in the garage polishing some chrome on the hawg and checking my latest twitter updates. I posted "I'm polishing chrome." He then posted "Where are the spiritual giants of our time?" I posted "They're polishing chrome!" He then posted back that he was serious, so I had to be too!

It got me to thinking...who are they? There are so many Christian leaders today who are talking about all kinds of things, but mostly just about leadership and the church. They are church giants perhaps, but who are the spiritual giants? And in our own UM Conference leadership, we have our leaders and stuff, but who are the spiritual giants? And in our own church, Cornerstone, I am a leader and we have a capable leadership team and staff, but who are the spiritual giants?

The Bible is filled with tales of none of the types of people I've just mentioned. The reason? They did nothing to change the world. The Bible is instead filled with tales of spiritual giants...people who boldly loved and preached the Word of God. And in this day and age, who is that? It should be me, and it haunts me with the question...why isn't it?

Oh Lord, It's Hard to Be Humble...

This morning I was blessed once again to be a part of a men's Bible study group. We meet at Panera every Thursday morning and it is cool in many ways. First of all, it is great to come together to pray and study the Word in a public place. Also, I don't lead the group! A faithful and humble servant of the Lord leads it, and for sake of anonymity, I will mention him only by his stage name:

Mark Meanor!

So this morning, he was leading us in prayer for a variety of things, including his own journey to become a school teacher after years as an engineer. And he prayed for he and his family to "survive together" during this difficult time. And it struck me, what incredible humility. Most of us, especially me, would probably pray to thrive. We want to have it all...for life to be easy...to come out a winner. But Mark prayed simply for survival.

Now that, dear readers, is true humility. Thank you Mark for your faithful, humble leadership and your witness and example to us all...

Innovate

So I'm at the Dubois Harley dealer last week (and BTW Carla won us a $50 gift certificate in a drawing there...yippee...we're going back for more chromeage!!!) and I, true to my nature, had to pee. So I goes into the men's room, and what do I behold? Voila:

Cool eh? For you womenfolk readers, that's a urinal. It's something every guy wishes he had in his home. But this urinal was extra special....there were handlebars to hold onto, a rearview mirror (for safety reasons!) and, are you ready...to flush it, you pulled in the clutch!!!! No joke! I knew Carla wouldn't let me sneak her in to see it so I took this picture to show her. She was as thrilled as I was (NOT!)

So what's my point? I love it when people think...do a new thing...innovate. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, God uses Paul to talk about the newness we have. In Isaiah, God says He is doing a new thing. Jesus talked about new wine and new wineskins...God is a Creator...Innovator extraordinaire! And He created us to be the same.

So how do we exercise our creativity to honor Him and to reach those who don't know of His love and grace?

Caring Enough to Confront...

So next Tuesday I'm beginning a three week Bible study entitled "Caring Enough to Confront." In it, we will deal with how do we care enough to speak the truth in love. If we did, there would be a whole lot less gossip. If we did, there would be a whole lot less misunderstanding and whole lot more understanding. If we did, we would probably end up sharing our faith a whole lot more often and much more effectively.

So whaddya think...do you care enough to confront? When do you wimp out and why?