Grow Up!

It's all I hear. Church growth. Grow your ministry. Growing churches. Grow, grow, grow. And I know some of it is probably guilt, jealousy, whatever because Cornerstone isn't currently growing like it has. We're in one of those plateau times. But I wonder, are we more concerned with growing churches or growing people? Are we more concerned with growing churches or living like Jesus? Are we more concerned with growing churches or loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves? After all, Jesus' own "church" didn't grow, right? People left Him left and right. But He was faithful...He defined faithful...He calls us to faithfulness...which doesn't necessarily mean growth. Right?

Why Does It Take So Long?

So yesterday I got to wondering, how long has it been since they brought the self-adhesive stamps into mainline use. I learned some very interesting things. Like they used them in tropical cultures long before here in the motherland. And that the total transition from "licky" stamps to the self-adhesive ones took 10ish years. And by 2002, they were the only consumer stamp available. Fascinating....

...if you think about why it took so long! I mean, I was born in '65 (that's 1965 for your four-digit date code people) and some of my earliest recollections were of sticker books. And some of those sticker books contained a new technology known as self-adhesive stickers! So why did it take so long for the USPS to figure that out?

But isn't that life? It seems to take us forever to become aware and to effect change. I know it's that way in the church! Maybe, just maybe, we don't use our imaginations enough! Maybe we're just too busy to sit and think! Maybe we're so focused on results that we don't ponder a completely different outcome...

I'm going down to the corner store for a pack of cigarettes...

So I used to know this guy who had a neighbor who would say that. Then he would come home three weeks later! Last night I took the hawg out to get some gas...and came back 100 miles later! If Carla wouldn't have been busy studying and hadn't stayed home, I might still be riding!

Wow....

So I just finished reading a book. That, in itself, should be the reason to blog. I never read. And when I do read a book, I never finish it. (Also, FYI, I've told you a million times, I never exaggerate.)

The book. Well you see the picture over there. It's about how we, the church, has become about us, the church instead of about God.

Now that sounds simplistic, but the author really helped me to see how, and how insidious it really is. This has been one of the rare and glorious moments when the words of a song, or just the melody, or the words of a writer will lead me to say "that's what I've been feeling! Thank you for saying it in a way that even I understand!"

I hope to blog more about the book soon, but for now: "Thank you God, and thank you Skye for saying what I think I've been feeling...and for saying it in a way even I can understand..."

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

So in the last few days, several people have come up to me and said "Brett, I think you're wrestling with ___________ right now." And do you know what, they're right!!! So I said "how did you know?" And they replied that they could tell by my facial expressions and my body language. WHOA! That's pretty cool, and pretty scary!

So it got me to thinking...how little we know ourselves. We look in the mirror but we really don't know how we appear to others. And we certainly don't know how we appear to the Lord. He even sorta warned us that this is the case in 1 Corinthians 13:12. I pray that I may see myself today as I truly am...to be completely honest with myself, with you, and with God about who I am, and who I'm not!

I forgot how to pray...

I went to see an "old" friend yesterday...at a long term in-patient drug and alcohol treatment center. He's only 21 and I hadn't seen him in 7 years. Over his teenage years, he made some really stupid decisions and ended up messing up his life royally. He is on the right road now and just recommitted his life to the Lord. Good stuff.

So he says to me..."How do you pray? I forgot how."

Great question. We had an awesome conversation about prayer and what it is and what it isn't. He said that he has a hard time praying for himself...that he is just too thankful and doesn't feel like he should ask God for anything for himself. So he prays for his family and his friends. And he prays a lot of prayers of thankfulness. And yet he isn't sure that he is praying "right" because he isn't praying for himself.

Wow...humbling indeed. I think that young man...that young Christian...may have just taught something huge to this old man...this seasoned Christian...

They Always Come in Threes

I'm sure you've heard it. Somebody you know dies, then somebody else, then someone says "you know these things always come in threes." Well, I'm having a little problem now. First, Ed McMahon died. Then Farrah Fawcett. So I'm ready for the third, and it was Michael Jackson. OK...theory confirmed. But then, bam, it's Billy Mays. Wow, so that makes four. Now what? Today, it's Karl Malden, which, by my count is five...

...or is it two, on the second three? Scary, huh?