10,000 Little Moments

Wow, I haven't posted in a long time.  So, today seems like a great day to get back on track.  I picked up a book by Paul Tripp entitled Whiter than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy.  This book is a great book to read annually if not semi-annually.  To be honest, it has been too long since I last read this book.  Here is what Paul Tripp says in chapter one that convicts me today:

"We all live in an endless series of little moments.  The character of a life isn't set in ten big moments. The character of life is set in ten thousand little moments of everyday life. It's the themes of struggles that emerge from those little moments that reveal what's really going on in our hearts."

My question is this: what are the little choices that I make every day that reflect my character? What is going on in my heart? For me it is the things that I say that are good, but in my heart I think something totally different. For example, I will say that my kids are a result of the Grace of God. This is true. But in my heart I will think in a prideful way, yea but look what I did.  Now, I know the value of both/and in this situation.  God has been gracious to use my wife and I as we raise our kids. The problem is more in my heart. It has to do with my pride.

What have your little moments been lately? Have you had a moment to push the pause button in your life to seek to understand what is going on inside?  I realize that if I indeed want to finish the race, my little moments need to be evaluated and brought under the submission of God on a daily basis.

It's almost summer, what do you delight in?

I have just caught my breath from a very full schedule and I'm starting to wind down to experience my first ever Sabbatical.  I still have a few more things to finish prior to the official start of my summer of rest.  As I slowly transition, I was challenged by this question: what do I delight in?  Do I delight in rest? Do I delight in freedom? In sleep? In watching endless tv?  David reminded me this morning to "Delight myself in the Lord..." (Psalm 37:4) I confess I don't do this very well. OK, it is quite the challenge for me. But this summer, my desire is to delight myself in the Lord. When I delight myself in anything else, my soul tends to shrivel.  Read what Piper says about summer:


  “Don’t let summer make your soul shrivel.  God made the summer as a foretaste of heaven, not a substitute.  If the mailman brings you a love letter from your fiancé, don’t fall in love with the mailman.  That’s what summer is: God’s messenger with a sun-soaked, tree-green, flower-blooming, lake-glistening letter of love to show us what he is planning for us in the age to come..”  -Piper


Will you join me this summer, in delighting in the Lord?

Miami Students Share Personal Faith Stories

This week almost 200 students will participate in a Before and After outreach. The idea is simple.  Upload on YouTube your story of what your life was like before you knew Christ and then what it was like after you trusted Christ. And use one word to describe your life Before and After.   Great stories!  Great students!! Great God!

For more real life stories go to : http://www.youtube.com/user/MiamiCRUtube/videos?sort=dd&view=0&page=1

What does MPH means?

Jeremy Linn's identity is in Christ not NBA basketball video...

Fasting, the lost discipline...

The past few weeks I have been asking some young men to join me in fasting 1 time a week for 24 hours.  This fast has been a fast from food.  One would think that my stomach was a spoiled child not getting what it wanted during these recent fasts.  And honestly, that is what my stomach is most of the time- a spoiled little child.  In Matthew 6:16 Jesus says to His disciples, "When you fast..." The assumption He has for his disciples is that they fast.  This verb is a present subjunctive active. This means that fasting is to be done continuously not a one time event. Now, as I reflect on my 29 years of being a child of God, my life certainly has not been characterized as a continuously fasting one.  Fasting to me is like prayer. I get it. Christians are to pray and fast. I do not pretent to know how prayer or fasting works. All I know is that when I pray and fast God tends to work in my life.  So if you have not fasted recently, why not give it a try.  You could go from dinner to dinner and skip breakfast and lunch. Instead of eating, slip away and spend extended time in prayer and in His Word.  This week I actually did this and studied Matthew 5:6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."  I have read this verse many times in my life but this week, it came alive to me.  The verse means that we are blessed or happy when we continually hunger and continually thirst for righteousness. Now during my short fast, I realized how the only thing I really hunger and thirst for is my next meal.  So I was challenged to think about hungering and thirsting after righteousness. I realized that often I do not hunger and thirst after righteousness.  One of the reasons I don't hunger and thirst is because my spiritual senses can become dull without even know it.  Like the frog in the kettle.  One of the primary sources of my dulling spiritual senses occurs because I have watched excessive TV and lacked time in studying the Bible.  How is your hunger and thirst for righteousness today?  The last part of the verse is  the result of hungering and thirsting after righteousness:  "for they shall be satisfied."  This is what we all want isn't ?  We want to be satisfied. So we try all the world has to offer and it over promises and under delivers.  As I have fasted these past few weeks, I have been exposed of how little this is true in my life and as a result, my motivation for hungering and thirsting has increased. Why not give it a try?  Why not do a little fast this week?  Who knows, God just might work in your life!

Dealing with the doldrums of February...

We are currently in the doldrums of dreary February in sunless southwest Ohio.  Most people I have been interacting with lately have lacked motivation and desire to do much of anything.  This includes me. I feel tired and unmotivated. So, what do you do when you don't feel like doing much of anything?  First, I would recommend moving towards God by faith in prayer. James 4:8 says, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you."   By faith move towards God. Be honest with how you are feeling.   He desires to reward those who continually seek Him whether you feel like it or not. (Hebrews 11:6)  Secondly, move towards a friend.  I normally want friends to read my mind and know what is going on in my life. But the reality is that my friends cannot read my mind and are just as busy as I am. So, I move towards my friends by faith.  Genesis 2:18  says, "It is not good for man to be alone."  Third, make decisions to do what you know is good regardless of how you feel because without faith it is impossible to please Him. (Heb. 11:6)  I really think that one of the most significant truths I have ever learned is how to make decisions by faith whether I feel like doing them or not.  Just this morning,  I had a thought to do the dishes for my wife. But I had no feelings about serving her at all. But as I reflected on how much this ministers to my wife, I served her by faith. Lastly, renew your mind with this reality: "In Your presence is fullness of Joy, at Your right hand are pleasures for evermore." (Psalm 16:11b) Are these principles a guarantee you will get out of the doldrums?  Nope... But, let's let the doldrums of February be instructive in how to walk by faith, not by feelings!!  For when we learn this basic truth, we have a chance to finish well.   

The Small Decisions

What should I do for the summer?  How you answer this question could change your life.
 Check out this video:

Check out summer projects with CRU:http://gosummerproject.com/

Words of Wisdom by John Wooden

The Ultimate Training Camp

A great resource for your Christian Athlete!

http://www.ultimatetrainingcamp.com/#/aia-principles

Why High School Sports?

As a father of 3 teenage boys, I have been thinking a lot lately about that question: "Why high school sports?" And I know that there are many different reasons why people play high school sports. Some play because they want to compete with a team.  Others simply want to win. And still others play because it could be good for the soul and the body. While those are not bad reasons, I have renewed in my mind three theological reasons one might play high school sports today. Because it seems that universally, coaching at the high school level tends to be unhealthy, one needs to be convinced of these truths to be willing to endure what I would call harmful coaches at best. First, the best reason to play high school sports for the believer would be to glorify God. I Corinthians 10:31 says "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." To use one's gifts to give glory to our creator is a great reason to play sports. A second reason to play high school sports would be to be a light in the midst of a mostly unbelieving world.(Matthew 5:14) In many high schools today, there is a void of Biblical Christians. The opportunity to use the platform of sports to communicate your faith not only is possible at the NFL level, but at the high school level as well. And the third reason one might play high school sports would be to become more like Jesus. Paul says in Philippians 1:6 "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." It would seem that most of our teens today are void of difficulties in their lives. But subjecting yourself to unhealthy coaching is just the thing that many Christian athletes might need. So, today I want to say thank you for the coaches who are unhealthy. You are doing our Christian kids a service by unknowingly pushing them to deal with issues that will make them more like Jesus. And you are giving them  a great model for how not to coach!  For those who are healthy coaches, thanks for using your platform to positively influence our youth!