Just Do Something

Sometimes, a simple act of goodwill is all that is required to make great change.  Sometimes, a simple spark can ignite a massive fire.  Sometimes, we just need to say “I will…” to start a domino effect of charity in the lives around us.

I say all of this, because I was inspired again this weekend by the good work that my friends Tim and Becky are doing in Atlanta.  In my mind, they embody a “just do something” mindset.  They have a heart to follow God, and in seeking to honor Him, they have found themselves at the helm of an awesome movement.

While I won’t be able do it justice, I will attempt to give a very brief summary of what these guys are doing in their area.  To help make their neighborhood a better place, they are giving kids the opportunity to earn bikes.  The way kids earn bikes is by collecting bags of trash, or doing other similar projects that helps make the neighborhood become a cleaner and healthier place.  In providing bikes to kids in this way, they are teaching work ethic, creating community and giving kids a beneficial way to spend their free time.  This work is brilliant, because they are empowering kids to take responsibility for their personal life as well as the life of their neighborhood.  For more about their work, you should check out the “about” page of their website.

What started as a simple act of wisdom and kindness to one child in their neighborhood has turned into a big community revitalization movement in the Adair Park section of Southwest Atlanta.  While their story is very cool, and I encourage you to read more about it at www.beltlinebikeshop.org, I am highlighting them today for two big reasons:

We can learn from them

While there are many different lesson’s you could get from the work that Tim and Becky are doing, perhaps the biggest lesson is that they are doing SOMETHING.  When you talk to this couple, they didn’t have some big vision or dream for their neighborhood (at least not at first).  They moved into the neighborhood, and when an opportunity to be a good neighbor came up, they acted.  In a very simple moment, they saw a need in their community, and recognized that they had the power to act, so they acted.  For them, serving one youth turned into two…and then into many.  They are carrying the heart of Jesus into their area, and I think the gospel is coming alive to kids and parents because Tim and Becky chose to do something.

We can help them

This past weekend, Cami and I got to have dinner with this couple, as well as a few other couples, and hear the latest updates about their work in Southwest Atlanta.  As they talked, they mentioned that they have an opportunity to be awarded a $6000 grant – if they can raise $6000 to match the grant.  As they talked, I couldn’t help but think “we can do something about this!”  So, while I am working on my own ideas of how to help support them, I wanted to invite each of us to support them in a very small and simple way.

If you have read this blog, I am inviting you to click on this link and give $5 towards their efforts.  If you feel the desire to give more, please do.  However, my invite to you is to take a moment and make a $5 donation* towards the Beltline Bike Shop and all of their efforts.  This small donation won’t make a huge difference to your bank account, but collectively, we could make a huge difference for the kids of Atlanta.

*What a $5 donation means…

• 1 less $5 footlong at Subway – 1 more kid making his neighborhood a safe place
• 1 less Venti Frap at Starbucks – 1 more child learning healthy habits
• A few less iTunes purchases – A few more kids learning work ethic
• Feeding less of my wants – supporting more of someone else’s needs

Finding a mentor

Fairly often, I am asked if I can help connect a person to a mentor.  I have had some wonderful mentors in the past few years.  Mentors who have helped prepare me for marriage, for church leadership and for greater spiritual growth.  I get very excited at the idea people setting up mentoring relationships! When the right connection is made, there is unlimited potential for the lives of those being mentored.

I was reading the other day from John Maxwell’s “Developing the Leaders Around You” and read some great thoughts about selecting people to mentor and develop.  Whether you are looking to mentor someone, or looking for a mentor, these guidelines should be helpful to you:

1) Select people whose philosophy of life is similar to yours

It will be difficult to develop someone whose values are too different from yours.

2) Choose people with potential you genuinely believe in

If you don’t believe in them, you won’t give them the time they need.  And they will discern your lack of confidence in them.  Belief in their potential, on the other hand, will empower them.  Some of the nation’s greatest professional athletes have come from tiny colleges that receive no publicity.  All those ball players needed was for pro scouts to recognize the potential that the right opportunity could bring out.  The secret of mentoring in any field is to help a person get where he or she is willing to go.

3) Determine what they need

Determining what potential leaders need involved looking at their strengths and weaknesses objectively.  Their strengths indicate the directions they need to go, what they can become.  Their weaknesses show us what we need to help them improve.  Encouraging them in their strengths and helping them overcome their weaknesses will move them closer to reaching their potential.

4) Evaluate their progress constantly

People need feedback, especially early in their development.  Ben Franklin said, “The eye of the master will do more work than both his hands.”  He knew that a leader’s ability to evaluate was his greatest strength.  An honest mentor will be objective.  If necessary, he or she will encourage the person to stay on course, to seek another direction, or even to enter into a new relationship with another mentor.

5) Be committed, serious, and available to the people you mentor

The development of the potential leaders will be a reflection of your commitment to them: poor commitment equals poor development; great commitment equals great development.

*These 5 guidelines came straight out of Maxwell’s, “Developing the Leaders Around You.”  Please check out his book for more information about how you can help others reach their full potential.

Hunger

Almost a year ago, I decided that I wanted to make some changes in my diet, so I begin doing what is called the Makers Diet. While I will spare you a lot of the details, this diet, like many others, offered you a variety of food options…just not many that I wanted.  Every day during the diet, I picture one specific thing. There was one food that just kept haunting my mind, calling to the hunger in me and making me crazy. I pictured walking into Mellow Mushroom, and getting my large cheese pizza and devouring the entire thing.  That pizza is the best I have ever had, every time. While I don’t get to eat there all the time, when I am hungry…I know what I want – Mellow Mushroom Pizza!

Even now, though I am not on the diet, I will experience hunger before a trip to Mellow Mushroom. I will watch what I eat during the day so that I can experience hunger before dinner, and then enjoy fulfilling that hunger with the best pizza on the planet.

Hunger is a gift from God

I think hunger is one of the greatest things God created in us. I am talking both of physical hunger for food, and of a spiritual hunger, for more of God.  Hunger can feel like a curse, or like a problem to be solved, but hunger is a blessing from God. Hunger, you see, helps us to define what we want. Hunger has a way of purifying.  It is when we are hungry that we work, with utmost focus and dilegence, to get that which will satisfy us.

Hunger must be cultivated

Currently, as I am writing this, I am sitting in a coffee shop, and I keep looking over and seeing some amazing snacks.  Right now, physical hunger is being cultivated in me by my environment. If I were sitting outside, away from the scented influence of food, this hunger would likely not be as strong.  Right now, my physical hunger is being influenced. In the same way, if we are to have spiritual hunger, it must be cultivated.  A hunger for God, and for the things of God, does not come by accident. It can be sought after through reading, through disciples and through placing yourself in environments that invite you to hunger afte God. One of the many blessings of the Church is that it offers an environment that invites hunger into the life of a Christ follower.

Those who are hungry will be satisfied?

In one of Jesus’ most famous sermon’s, he talks through a series of scenarios will be true in His Kingdom.  In Matt 5, we find him declaring, “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they will be satisfied.”  Now when we hear the word hunger, usually our minds first go to physical hunger. There is no promise that this hunger will find satisfaction. For those of you who go to bed with a full stomach tonight, count yourselves as blessed on this earth. In this sermon, Jesus isn’t talking about a type of physical hunger.  He is describing the reality of being hungry (spiritually) for more of God. Hungry for more of His presence in our lives, more of His truth in our area, more of His Kingdom come…he is saying that when you hunger for these things, you will be satisfied. A hunger for God, and for the things of God, will not return null-in-void.

A Common Hunger

I remember when Water’s Edge first started, the common thread of those who gathered was a desire to see more of God in our lives. The only commonality for a few of us who gathered in a living room, was the fact that we found a common desire…a hunger for God.  So, we prayed. We asked God to show himself to us and show himself to others around us. We asked, and begged, that God would draw the college-age generation to Him…and that He would use our gatherings as a way to introduce him to others.

I look at Water’s Edge today on a given Tuesday night, and I find the hunger within growing once again. Some would look at all that God has done in our ministry over the past years and say that God has fulfilled…He has taken our hunger and replaced it with a meal. I like to look at it another way. I love what I witness as we gather together every Tuesday night. I see the way God is moving in our ministry, and I like to believe this is the awesome appetizer, a small snack as we hunger for the feast that is to come.

I am hungry for more of God.

Good and Faithful Servant

I like to start my day with the end in mind.  My wife Cami likes to laugh at me because I am an extreme planner.  In the morning I get up and while I am still on my first cup of coffee, I am asking questions about what today should look like.  What things do I need to do today?  Who do I need to meet with?  What places do I need to go?  What times do I already have commitments? I am a planner through and through.  These questions I ask each day, they help me look at the 16-18 hours ahead of me and make the most of them.  I think about my day with the end in mind, trying to make sure I accomplish everything I need to on a given day.

I think that starting with the end in mind is a perspective God wants us to have.  Our days become busy with activities and obligations that are good, but without a long-term perspective we can find ourselves very busy, but not on-track with God’s plans and desires for our life.  In order to actually give a majority of our time to the right things, we need to live with the end in mind.

What is the end?

Admittedly, I don’t have a great way to explain or label the things we should do each day to live with the end in mind.  But, when I am trying to figure out how I should live or what I should give my time towards, I look at the parable of the Talents from Matthew 25.

In that parable, the Master goes away for a time, and leaves his servants with certain talents.  After some time, the Master comes back and each servant then accounts for what he/she did with their talents.  To those who took their talents and used them to produce good things for the Master, they were able to look to the Master and hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Now, I wont claim to know what the end goal is supposed to be for you.  In fact, I think while we all have a common (Universal) end goal we are moving towards (eternity with Him), I think we also each have a specific (Unique) end goal we should be moving towards.  The uniqueness is the reality that we each have different gifts, talents, abilities and time.  I can’t tell you exactly what those things are supposed to be used for in your life…but I can tell you that to live with the end in mind means this:

To use all of my God given gifts, talents, abilities and time in such a way that when I get to look into the eyes of my creator, I will get to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Hopeful

For many different reasons, I have been spending time reflecting on the Church as of late. When I say “the Church,” I don’t mean just 12Stone, but the big “C” church – the bride of Christ that gathers in large buildings, in small chapels, in local homes.  I like to spend time reflecting on the Church, because my specific life calling has to do with working/serving in the local church. I still remember clearly the moment when God first spoke into me His call on my life.  It was a moment when every ambition I had – to pursue success or money or power – those ambitions just became small as I took on the call to be a minister in the local church.  It is no small thing to me, because I believe the Church is the single most important entity on earth.

I have come to believe that the local church is the hope of the world.

As we go through-out life, we see people put their hope in a lot of different things. Some people put their hope into their achievements.  Giving days months or years at a time towards making a name for themselves, attempting to prove themselves to family or friends. Others put hope into relationships, thinking that if you know enough people, or have enough dates, you might be able to ignore the loneliness that creeps up within. All around us there are people placing their hope in temporal things.

But we, the gathering of Christ followers, we the Church, are the hope of this world. We are the only hope this world has. In a dark and dying world, the Church is a bright light, a source of hope, where people can find forgiveness & freedom, reconciliation & redemption.

We are a refuge to this world. I am a follower of Christ, as part of His Church. I am a link to hope for the people around me. I stand at the doorway, a doorkeeper in the house of God, trying to quickly usher people into His presence, and into redemptive relationships. That is our role, for any of us who are Christ followers. You see we who belong to Jesus, we gather together and experience this hope that is found in Christ, this same hope that our world is desperate for. We stand in a place where we can be used by God to offer a refuge, safety to others, in a world that is offering imitation hope (at best).

So Church (that is every one of you who consider yourself a follower of Christ), take this hope seriously. If it is true that we the Church are the hope of the world, then we should take every chance we get and talk boldly about what He has done for us, and about His Church.

Praying we see His Church continue to grow this summer.

Insights from Bible Study and Carpet Cleaning

One of the things I enjoy most in life is finding the deeper meanings, the deeper truth in the every-day stuff.  This has not always been something I enjoy, just mostly in the recent years.  I believe our God is big enough to orchestrate His message to be interwoven through-out every circumstance in my life.  If I have eyes to see it, and ears to hear it, there is spiritual gold, nuggets of truth waiting for me in the most un-suspecting of places.

I was reminded of this recently when I was reading in Galatians.  In Chapter 5 of Galatians, we read about the Freedom we have found in Christ…a freedom that releases us from the duty of the Law.  There is an interesting transition in this chapter, highlighting the fact that we are released from the duty of the law so that we could live by the power of the Holy Spirit. This might seemed a little bit weird, because effectively we are released from having to do what God wants for us, in order to be inspired to desire to do what God wants for us. Is this a little bit of reverse psychology?  It might seem that way, but there is so much more going on here beneath the surface.  When you accept Jesus into your heart, and choose to follow Him, you are choosing to live by the power of the Holy Spirit. We should be challenged by what we read near the end of chapter 5: “Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives” (Gal 5:25). When you find yourself following God in every area of your life, you will find God speaking to you in the most un-suspecting of places.

I’ll share a few of my most recent experiences, and then perhaps you will be bold enough to share a few of yours (by commenting at the end of this blog).

1. Manual Labor – Just this past week I finished building a gravel walking path at my house.  It seemed like a fun idea, and eventually just became a heap of hard work.  The lesson learned through this project was that faithfulness, patience and dedication are found through practicing endurance.  There were many times I wanted to just be done with the path, and let it sit half-complete.  Much like finishing the gravel path, the work that God is doing within me will require me to break through emotional walls and practice faithfulness.

2. Carpet Cleaning – As I was working on the gravel path, I was reminded of my days working as a carpet cleaner for ChemDry. My days working as a carpet cleaner were layered with fresh lessons on humility and peace. I remember I used to think more of myself when I would clean carpets, wanting the homeowners I was serving to know that I am more important than I appear.  The lessons of the carpet teach that my identity is found in Christ; and in Christ alone.  I can learn faithfulness and honor in serving in the most simple of roles.

3. LOST- My favorite show on TV now, and for the past few years, is LOST.  I know some people stay away from the show, and think that LOST fans are kind of crazy…we are.  =) One of the reasons I love this show is that through the many twisted plots and story-lines, there is an ongoing message of redemption for the characters involved.  I am inspired every time I watch this show.  The story never seems to end; the character development is always evolving more…much like every person around me.  LOST reminds me to never write anyone off in life, because redemption and restoration could happen at any time.  Just as my favorite characters are consistently changing, so are the people around me as God does new works in all of His children.

4. Serving My Family – Perhaps the greatest lessons come from serving those closest to you. Over the last few years, I have been given the opportunity to serve my family in many different ways.  During these years, I have learned more about sacrifice, and the reality that acting in love requires sacrifice…and that is a worthwhile trade.

So, those are a few of my thoughts and musings, what has God been teaching you?

The Power of the Invite

For a little over a month now, I have been living the life of an engaged man.  I have had enough friends get engaged that I have seen a little bit of how this should go.  Many hours of planning, thinking and working towards a single event.  I have planned my share of events in my life-time, and so has Cami…so in some ways this is nothing new to us.  At the same time, this event is focused on us coming together, so it is very different than any other event we have planned.

Perhaps the hardest part of all of this is dealing with the guest list.  This is not a simple “open to the public” event.  A lot of money is attached to every name on the guest list, which means we end up having to spend a good bit of time thinking about who gets an invitation.  Working through that process is so frustrating, because we would love for every single person we know to engage in this special day with us, but it is simple not possible.

As I have been thinking about process, I realize how much I hate the limitations in planning an event where we have to count our invitations.  I hate it, because I now have a better sense of how much goes into preparing an invitation for one person, and the meaning of being able to hand someone an invitation to our special day.  While the meaning behind a wedding invitation is really powerful, my mind goes to the power and meaning behind an invitation into the community of God’s people.

While I have been spending so much time thinking about wedding invitations, I am reminded that there is a wealth of importance on every invitation I make when inviting someone to come to church.  I often treat these invitations like they are free, cheap and undemanding…yet there is a profound weight attached to a personal invitation into things of a spiritual nature.  The power of my personal invitation is huge.  So, as I look towards big events like the Grand Opening of Water’s Edge on February 2^nd, I am spending time considering who God would ask me to invite.  I am (attempting to) allow myself to feel the weight and importance of a simple phone call or a Facebook message to a friend as I ask them to come with me this February.

Seeking to understand the power of an invitation,

-Cory

Yet God

This morning I have been sitting in the simplest reality, yet it causes the most complex questioning and understanding.  I find myself trying to comprehend the impact of Undeserved Kindness, offered to us by God, as we seek to follow Him and honor Him.  Perhaps it is the Christmas season, or perhaps the fact that I have been reading through the book of Romans (which highlights my human situation and condition), but I have been spending a good bit of time considering the impact of sin in my life, and in the life of those around me.

I started reading in Romans again recently, and was confronted with the depth of this hole we (humanity) has dug for ourselves.  We have found every way possible to go around the values and lifestyles God would want for us.  Usually without any mal-intent, we have chosen our own paths and have placed ourselves in the seat of supreme authority in our lives.  This wasn’t an attempt to overtly overthrow God; but our thoughts and actions highlight the fact that we put more weight in our lordship than in God’s lordship.  So, God allowed us to run down the path we desired.  He did not hold us back from everything we wanted, but he let us run full-force after our own plans and desires.  It was then, when we chased after our own plans that we found out that the road we picked was treacherous and un-fulfilling.  Unfortunately, we ran for so long that we found ourselves lost along our road, unable to find our way back.

This must have been the experience for Adam and Eve in the Garden.  After choosing to follow their thoughts and desires instead of God, they discovered that it was a poor choice.  Yet when they tried to go back to the way it was, to go back to the life God had initially called them to, they found things had changed.  Relationships became harder.  Work became harder.  The path back to God was not found in tracing their steps backwards.  They had moved down the path of their choice, and now they found themselves lost, living in a world that was very different than the one they had originally known.  Every attempt towards creating a path back to God ended in utter failure.

So we found ourselves lost in this new world.  All of us have ended up here, whether you are highly religious and have walked a path of tradition, or you have avoided religion and have worked on paving your own path over the years.  It says in Romans that both the Jews and Gentiles (religious and non-religious) alike have ended up in this void.  It feels as if all the rules have been changed on us, because everything we naturally try to do to find our way back to God is a failure.  There isn’t anyone who has escaped this reality.  In chapter 3 of Romans we are told that there is a standard that God has set (and embodied) and we have fallen short of this standard.

When I think about this, it feels as if I am on the downward trending part of a roller-coaster.  I picture riding on the tracks and just heading deeper into darkness.  And right at the point when it feels like all light has disappeared and the roller-coaster of this book has sent us to the point of deepest despair, I hit a turning point where everything can change.  Two simple words start the most glorious change in direction.  Right after we read that all have sinned, and fallen short of God’s glorious standard, the scriptures say, “Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” (Romans 3:24)

Suddenly all direction and momentum changes as we read “yet God…”  We find that in our moment of deepest despair that every attempt we muster to get us back with God is just a failure, and at that same moment we find that God has stooped down to us.  With undeserved kindness, He has sought after us as we ran down the path of our choosing, and created a way for us to be found righteous once again.

So today, I sit in the wonder of undeserved kindness.  Join me.

The Currency of Community Impact

 I can’t tell you what excitement rests within me as I look forward to the 3^rd annual Hallows Eve Diversion.  Over the past few years, this project has taken on a life of its own.  Starting as an idea birthed in my heart by God, this project now seems to have a community of owners.  I get the joy of watching college students ramp up and prepare for a day every October when they can make a huge difference in their community, and begin to change their world.

Ideas such as the Hallows Eve Diversion began forming years ago, as I observed a trend in my conversations with college people.  Whether I was talking to a future teacher, doctor, store manager or missionary, I found the same latent calling rustling between the words.  Conversation after conversation brought up the reality of one person wanting to affect the world for good.  Each person had a desire to cause a change in our world for good, making it a better place.  At the same time came this frustration in the form of a small and simple lie – “I can’t do it, I don’t have what it takes.”  You see our world, and the generations before us have painted a picture of impact and world changing happening thru money and power.  They were not wrong to do this, because in their time and their day that was the way you got things done.  I am here to tell you that we live in a new day, and the currency of community impact has changed!

Today, through our banding together in large numbers, through our focused efforts, we are changing our world in new ways.  The Hallows Eve Diversion is just one example of this.  A group of college students going door to door on Oct 31^st, collecting food for local food pantries…this simple act has happened the last 2 years and is about to happen again.  As we have done this, more students have joined in, more homes have been visited (and invited into this journey) and by our efforts (empowered by God’s favor), we have seen thousands of families receive an answer to the hunger they are experiencing.  We are watching college students change the world!

I am inviting you to be a part of this project again, by joining us on Saturday, October 31^st at Georgia Gwinnett College for the 3^rd annual Hallows Eve Diversion.  (http://ThisHallowsEve.com)

As we sit just a few days away from this event.  I am also inviting you to join me in an act of remembrance.  As I have been thinking and praying over this event, I am reminded that I have rarely had to experience true hunger in my day-to-day life.  It is easy for me to remember our Hallows Eve event as a fun time for us to join together and make a difference, but it is easy for me to forget the deep impact our actions have on local families.  I am taking a day this week to fast, to remind myself of what is on the line this weekend.  Perhaps you will consider joining me by fasting one day this week…taking one full day to not eat any food, and allow your body to feel hunger and be denied.  I am asking God to remind me through my hunger.  I need to remember, to know my actions this Saturday matter more than I know or feel.

Looking forward to our community impact this Saturday.

Pearl of Great Price

There is a parable told in the Bible about a pearl that is considered to be extremely valuable, so valuable in fact that it someone would sell everything they have to obtain it.  In the same regard there is also a parable about a great treasure hidden in a field.  Again, the treasure was found to be so valuable that someone would sell all they have so that they could purchase the field.

This analogy is really easy to understand when we deal with tangible values.  I can understand trading a piece of silver for a piece of gold.  I would trade a Ben Wallace basketball card for a Michael Jordan card.  I would trade having Michael Vick as a quarterback for Matt Ryan (too soon?).  The point is, in my mind I can understand very tangible items, because they have a tangible value.  While this parable works for understanding these things, it has such a deeper meaning.

The promise found in these parables is so much more valuable than money, than possessions, than anything you could put hands on.  The promise goes deeper, to the places of need, loneliness, hurt and pain within.  In our own power and understanding, grasp at whatever we see that can meet us in our internal pain.  When we are hungry we grab something quick and accessible.  When we are lonely, we reach out to anyone who can just be near and nurse away pain.  I love the way author Chuck Palahniuk  refers to this; he calls us “noiseaholics and quietaphobes.”

Despite the external evidence that seems to say there is no rest, no ultimate solution to these needs, there is a pearl of greatest price.  When we stop fighting these things, and allow ourselves to sit in pain and loneliness, it is then that God comes to meet us in these things.  He comes and meets us and reveals the pearl of greatest price – the experience of being wholly loved.  When you experience deep loneliness, you are willing to do anything to experience healing.  From every person around you, the best you could hope to get is a medicated fix…but God can offer healing to these deep needs.

The healing touch of God, to know Him and trust Him with every bit of your life, to know the full love that comes from Him, it is a treasure in a field…a pearl of great cost.