Thine not Mine

I regularly go through phases where my prayer life is not what I want it to be. What do I want it to be? Honestly, I am not even sure I know. I do desire to have a continual growing dependence on God. One that causes me to always be thinking and communicating with Him. One where others needs are on the forefront of my mind and my own agenda fades away. But sometimes, even when that may be happening, I feel like all is not right.

Over the past few years, one tool I have found to be a regular help with my communion with God is a book entitled, The Valley of Vision. It is a collection of Puritan prayers. Reading these rich declarations of dependence has driven me to echo and own them for myself. They are filled with a robust appreciation for the greatness of Christ and the neediness of mankind. Below is the entry that gave the book it's title. I hope God uses it to stir your soul as well:

Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,

Though hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see you in the heights,
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold the glory.

Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen in deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter thy star shines;

Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley.

Preaching to the Choir

A few weeks ago I was fulfilling my mr. mom duties of folding and putting away clothes. I was a bit surprised to see Calahan standing at my bedroom door as I had recently put him to bed (the rule is once in bed, you stay in bed). Before I could scold him and demand he return to his room, I noticed the curious look on his face and immediately knew something was up. With an outstretched hand he beckoned me to follow him. As we entered the hall, I could hear the voice of my daughter. As we drew closer to her bedroom door, the muffled tones turned to clear words filled with energy and passion. Quickly I realized what had caused Calahan's state of uncontrollable laughter. Before I proceed, you need a little more context.

As I was tucking Harper in that night, I told her that she could read in her bed for a while before going to sleep. In response, she asked if she could talk instead. Not really understanding what my creative, right-brained daughter meant, I simply said "sure Harper you can talk for a few minutes."

So....now back to the story. Here is what Calahan and I heard that night:

Harper - "Now, you need to understand that God wants you to be kind and compassionate to everyone. Do you know why? Because He made everyone and it makes him very mad when you are not nice to the people he made. And you know what else? You are disobedient and sinful. And God loved you so much that he sent Jesus to die on the cross for you to take the punishment for your disobedience."

Unable to control myself any longer I pushed open the door to find my daughter leaning over the edge of her bed with her finger extended towards her two American Girl Dolls. Yes, I am certain that Mia and Josephina got saved that night. If not, there is absolutely no hope for them. I'm not sure what is more haunting, the fact that my 6 year old theologian was preaching at inanimate objects or that she obviously takes in everything she hears me say. Regardless, I know I can never hear a gospel presentation again without that precious image coming to the forefront of my mind.

Stirred Up

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

7am - 10pm.....that is a typical Sunday for me. I usually have an hour or two at home but most of my day is spent at church. If I'm not careful, it can become nothing but work for me. In one sense, it is work. I am a pastor. That is my job, and I get paid for doing the responsibilities that require such long days. However, I don't want Sunday to be a job for me. I want it to always be a time where I can encourage and be encouraged by my time together with the church body.

The author of Hebrews says that we need to meet together to "encourage on another." Today I was encouraged by:
* hearing the Scriptures taught
* singing songs of adoration to Jesus
* celebrating Communion
* talking with others about how they are being used by God
* listening to high school students talk about their faith
* talking to my Son about what he learned at church
* watching the many different body parts function as one moving unit

I am thankful for those words as they are a constant reminder that no matter how exhausting Sundays may get, I know that my soul needs to be encouraged in many different ways, by many different people. And in that I have a role to play as well, whether I get paid for it or not.

Short-n-Sweet

The Short - I woke up with a stomach virus! My day has spent migrating between the bed, couch and bathroom. My diet has consisted of a steady dose of saltine crackers and watered down Gatorade. Mustering the energy to flip open the lap top and bang out a blog entry is a very tall feat.

The Sweet - Harper scored her first career soccer goal today! This is her first attempt at playing a sport (sorry, cheerleading doesn't count in my book) and I wasn't certain that a goal would come. However, she has steadily improved and seems to be loving the game. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see it but having her tell me all about it was pretty special. I hope there are many more to come in the future.

Hard to believe that it's just day 3 of my challenge and I'm already experiencing a major road block. Oh well, here's to pushing through.

So, short-n-sweet.....there it is.

Wait

It's just about lunch time as I write, and already, life for the Keevers has been turned upside down (oops, maybe a poor choice of words). Early this morning, Kelly woke up with a bad case of the stomach virus. Since that time, our day has been a chain of mess-ups, changes and cancelations. Here is a sample of the day we didn't expect:

Dad had to do Harper's hair = She has to Wait for another day to wear it the way she wanted.
Trip to BP for a coke for Kel = Wait for 3 people to have a ridiculously long conversation
Scheduled golf match = Wait for another day (hopefully as beautiful as this one)
Getting a prescription from the doctor = Wait 2.5 hours just to have him call it in
Pick-up at Pharmacy = Wait, Wait, Wait because they can't find the order
Scheduled plans with friends tonight = Wait for another time
Trip to Allendale tomorrow = Wait for another time

So you get the picture. Wait! Wait! Wait!

The Psalms are filled with verses that command God's people to wait on him. When reading the sacred literature, I routinely blow past that word, not fully grasping what it meant to the original audience or what application it may have for me. Quite honestly, I'm not very fond of waiting (see above). I mean who is? Our society has pampered us with instant access to just about anyone or anything anywhere. Fast food restaurant, delivery services, cell-phones, and the internet have done a great job of masking the harsh reality that exist for all creatures. Over the past few hours a quote from my seminary professor Dr. Jeff Bingham has been rattling in my head. "Every time we have to wait should cause us to worship." The fact is, God alone is exempt from waiting. He created life by speaking it into existence. He heals wounds and diseases. He calms storms. And all in an instant! God is not bound by time. It's just one way we are distinct from our creator.

Instead of getting frustrated, upset and even angry over waiting, I want waiting to remind me that I am just a creature. And that no matter how technologically advanced our society becomes, I will always be bound by such limitations. But God isn't, and he never will be and that brings reason to worship our creator.

So this afternoon, and hopefully in the future, I will worship while I wait.

30 for 30

Ok Ok! I know the title is not original. Hopefully you have had the pleasure of enjoying one or more of the entertainment nuggets airing on ESPN as part of their 30 for 30 documentary series. Some of today's best filmmakers use their gifts to highlight some of their favorite sports characters, moments and events from the past 30 years. Whoever came up with this idea is a genius. These hour long episodes are truly fascinating and clearly reveal how filmmakers really can make or break a story.

However, my 30 for 30 has nothing to do with ESPN, the past 30 years, or today's best filmmakers. No, mine represents a personal challenge. Over the past 6 months I have struggled with the motivation to maintain a consistent blog. Now, in my defense, I am regularly being asked to contribute to two other blogs (http://gracechurchscpastors.blogspot.com/,http://unafide65.wordpress.com/) which have become a bit of a distraction. But with that said, I want to offer up no excuses and find out for myself what I really think about the world of blogging.

So, here is the challenge that I have given myself. I am going to do 30 blogs in 30 days! Why you might ask? Because I want to commit wholeheartedly in an effort to see if it's really something that I like to do, want to do, and is beneficial for both myself and others. Although there may not be an entry every single day, the goal will be to have 30 blogs by the end of 30 days. Hopefully, by the end of May I will know more about myself, my desire to write and blog. And as is the case with all thing in my life, I hope this challenge in some way, draws me closer to God, gives me a better understanding of the gospel, and points others towards Christ.

Good night. See you tomorrow!

Here and There

I recently returned from a visit to Dallas, TX. I attended 4 church services, had 3 meetings, ate at the same mexican restaurant twice and enjoyed a romantic Valentines Day with 3 "close" friends all within 48 hours. (Just for clarification the romantic part with 3 guys was a joke! Please no e-mails to the elders of Grace Church).

There are definitely things I miss about Dallas: unbelievable Mexican food, a Starbucks on every corner, and Cowboys paraphernalia everywhere. However, midnight traffic, toll roads and the never ending concrete jungle that is Dallas served as smelling salt to my momentary lapses of nostalgia.

There is an old saying about the Lonestar state that "everything's bigger in Texas." and churches are no exception. The four churches we attended average over 6,000 people weekly and have buildings that resemble shopping malls. Coffee bars, oversized fire places, flatscreen tv's and leather sofas are standard clad in the metroplex mega-churches, and that is before you even enter the sanctuary. Inside, worship leaders wear scarfs, and pastors with designer jeans seem larger than life on big screens and big stages. However, once the bling induced shock wears off, there was plenty of church normalcy to be found.

Fellowship Church in Grapevine is ginormous! This was the most unlike Grace of all the churches we visited, and it was hard for me to focus, much less worship. The music was very concert like with a worship band the size of a choir and cameras everywhere. The teaching was filled with vivid illustrations and lots of comical relief. However, not once did I hear the words Jesus, cross, sin, repentance as the pastor worked through (I use the phrase loosely) the book of Nehemiah. I was reminded that visuals can really help communicate our message. Unfortunately, the message was't Jesus!

Watermark Church epitomizes Dallas. Lots of room, lots of money and lots of pretty people. I swear every dude there was 6'3 and 190 lbs of muscle. Excellence was the takeaway! They communicate well in everything they do. This local community is having an impact in Dallas and around the world, and they are doing it by teaching the bible.

BentTree Bible Fellowship was marked by people that are very loving, kind and generous. Although I didn't get to sit in their adult service I know that they are committed to loving people well and meeting all the various needs of the people in their community.

The last church we attended was The Village Church in Flower Mound. Unlike the other "souped-up" services, The Village offered nothing but a guitar, a bible and a few people using them to exalt the name of Jesus and equip the members to be conformed to the image of Christ. It was quite refreshing to worship in a place that felt like home. I found the Village to be a lot like Grace in a number of different ways. What stuck out the most to me, was their determined focus to do a few things well, and their contentment with what God has called them to do and be.

By the time we returned Monday night, I was both energized and exhausted, excited and overwhelmed. But through it all I am thankful for Grace Church and amazed that Jesus has chosen to use this thing called the church to save the world to himself.