This Is Only A Test

Do you remember that feeling you would get just before a big test/exam in high school or college? Anxiety...pressure! Forget about the pop quizes! Those would just magnify everything!

We just finished up a series in Huddle on "Integrity", and I talked this past week-end about the "test of integrity".

Pop quizes will freak you out! "Hey! I didn't know I was going to have to know this today." "I thought you would let me know when I would need to be ready!" True? We want to be told when to expect the test. No surprises, thank you.

However...

• pop quizes don't work like that
• life rarely works like that
• God doesn't work like that

God has not come to me and said, "OK, Russ. Wednesday at 7:36AM you are going to be tested. I know you have not done anything up to this point to prepare...but!"

I was a good student in college and I made excellent grades. I didn't have to stay up all night before a big exam and drink pot after pot of coffee and try to cram every bit of information I could into my brain to try to slide through with a passing grade.

I studied each day. Every day. I would re-write my notes. I would re-read the text. I was ready when the test came because I prepared for it all along the way. It was a way of life for me.

That's how we have to handle our walks as followers of Christ. We have to spend time each day in God's Word and in prayer. It has to be a way of life.

Will we be ready for the test? It's coming.

Bring It!

Pastor Mike brought it tonight. At Hope, we're in a series called "Get Smart...Christianity For Dummies". This week-end, it's "Sorry About That Chief", and we are dealing with prejudices. Awesome text from the book of James.

Pastor nailed it! He was spot on about illegal immigration as he referenced Leviticus 19. Man! We gotta love! When did we become known for being so flippin' "ANTI"?

Plus, we are finishing up a series in First Impressions huddle on "Integrity". I know God has been all in this thing and has really given Mary Ann and me the freedom to put His truth out there.

Listening to some Metallica now before bed...looking forward to sharing my heart in Huddle tomorrow morning...then heading off to C3 for the 11:15 service...then lunch with my bud, Jackson.

Big heapin' dose of God's truth this week-end, for sure!

Seven Jeans...True Religion

Is this thing on? Wow! It has been a mighty long time since I have last posted. Thank you for all of your prayers for me and my family as we celebrated the life of my grandmother.

Not only have I missed posting here, but I have missed reading my "daily" blogs. Maybe I am back on track, but I was able to briefly talk today with one of the dudes whose blogs I check out every day. I was scoping out the half-yearly Men's sale at Nordstrom today and saw Pastor Matt Fry of C3. What a blessing he was to me today, and it was great connecting with him. God is moving in huge ways at C3. HUGE!

He introduced me to his wife, Martha as well as Pastor Joe Champion of Celebration Church (Austin,TX) and his wife, Lori. Keep these pastors, their families, and their churches in your prayers.

Pastor Matt (Master Patt) ...keep pressing on and thanks for your time today.

A Life Well Lived

IRENE "TENNIE" WOOD WILLIAMS

APRIL 5, 1916 - JUNE 2, 2008

Some woman, that grandmother of mine. I have been trying to narrow down what I would share about her at her funeral Thursday. So many stories and so many memories. 92 years! Wow! I believe we were all "prepared" that this day would come, but it is still very difficult.

Grandma loved Jesus Christ, her Lord and Savior. My grandfather, Russell Jefferson Williams, loved Jesus Christ. What a reunion took place yesterday!

My prayer for this week is that we honor God and honor my grandmother as we celebrate her life and her love. She was the last one of my living grandparents. I was so blessed to have four wonderful grandparents who loved me (and spoiled me) so much.

She truly fought the good fight.

Just A Swingin'

One of the best wedding gifts Beth and I received was a Pawley's Island hammock...you know...one of those rope hammocks. We didn't actually receive the hammock from anybody. We "traded" a few gifts in to get the hammock. Nonetheless, I used to love being in that hammock.

So today, I pulled it out of my garage...that warehouse of forgotten things. I hook it up between 2 trees (I guess I could assume you know it takes "2 trees"). I grab the book I'm reading ("Simple Church"), a pillow, a bottled water, and out I go.

Colby and Marley come outside with me...for a while. Colby couldn't decide whether he wanted to be inside or outside. He really wanted us all to be inside, but he wasn't willing to be separated from me. Marley, having never seen the hammock, was extremely curious.

Colby is the cautious, sensitive one. (me) Marley is the bold, adventurous one (Beth). It wasn't three minutes before Marley was climbing up , through the holes in the rope, to get in the hammock with me. He was unsure, but he wasn't scared at all. He was just focused on being where I was.

Everything was fine, until Colby decided he didn't want Marley in the hammock. He barked. He whined. He came over and bit Marley on the butt. Now Marley is losing his confidence and his resolve to be with me, doing what I was doing. Why? Because of Colby and Colby's jealousy and desire that Marley stay on the ground where he was.

I totally got the connection to my spiritual life. Are there times when I follow God boldly even though I am unsure what may happen? I so desperately want to be as close as possible to my Lord. I may step through some holes and my footing may seem unstable, but I'm doing it.

Until...

Until someone says that I can't do that. I shouldn't be doing that. "That's enough. Now come back down here with me. We don't belong there."

Marley crawled down from the hammock, and took a spot on the patio. He kept looking at me as if he wished he had never let Colby "convince" him to get down.

WiBo Part Two

OK. Here is what really stood out to me from the afternoon at The Whiteboard Sessions. Check my previous post to see Part One.


MARK DEVER

"Have we forgotten?...THE CHURCH WILL WIN. The Kingdom of God is victorious!"

"Through the local church, God has put Himself on display for the world to see." (Ephesians 3)

On the importance of church community: "There is something about our congregations that compounds our witness and confuses the world."

"Your church will show the world what you are preaching."

"God is God. Our methods are not god. What do you really think that God is thinking when we think we have found something that works?"

***I just got a hold of Dever's book, "12 Challenges Churches Face"...looking forward to digging in.


JOHN BURKE

"We have made Christianity confusing and complex to people."

"There must be a moment to moment dying to self."

"There must be a moment to moment connection to God."

"If we stay connected, fruit happens." (John 15:5)


PERRY NOBLE


"Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him." (Mark 3:13)

"We need to understand our calling."

"We need to understand our priorities. We are called to be with Jesus. We are called to preach. We are called to have authority."

"There is way too much imitation and not enough revelation in the church. We will get revelation when we spend time with Him."

"I am crazy enough to really think that God has at least one more big move in Him."

To pastors: "You and I will experience temptation and spiritual warfare on a level that others will never really understand."


ED STETZER


"Going through doubt to faith"

"Thomas...Doubting Thomas...went the farthest to proclaim the Gospel. Thomas had great faith."

On comparing yourself/your ministry to others: "Let's quit submitting to ministry pornography ... an unreliable picture of an experience you are never going to have"

"God is not afraid of your questions."

"The world is tired of trite. It wants something more."

"God promises us only His presence...not our happiness."

"Jesus doesn't always speak happiness, but he does speak peace." (John 20:19)

"I've learned that Jesus has not always taken away my pain, but he is enough for me in the midst of it."


There you go. WiBo 2008. It is so important in my life to learn from those who are out there...with all their chips pushed in...100% sold out and committed...day in...day out...focused...passionate...broken-hearted...and lovin' Jesus. Thank you, God, for putting it on my heart to be there and making it possible.

WiBo Part One

The Whiteboard Sessions...1 day...8 speakers...30 minutes each to discuss 1 idea...over 600 miles driven. Whew!

Still downloading the conference, but here are some things that hit me from the speakers:

MARK BATTERSON:

"When we think we have God figured out, we lose our spiritual thirst/quest to seek Him, and we develop a theological pride. Our best theories will soon become obsolete."

"When is the last time that you confessed to God that your dreams are too small?"

"We get to a dangerous point when we do ministry out of memory instead of imagination. At some point, memory will overtake imagination."


VINCE ANTONUCCI

"How is it possible that I lived for 20 years right here in America and NOBODY ever told me about Jesus or invited me to church?"

"The church is reaching people, but not lost people. We are reaching "saved" people. 2.2% of churches are experiencing conversion growth."

"In Matthew 9:36...Jesus looked upon the crowds and saw they were like sheep without a shepeherd. It broke the heart of Jesus. What breaks your heart?"

"If you are not close to people who are far from God, then you are not as close to God as you think you are."


TIM STEVENS

"Most churches are not impacting their communities. They are actually getting in the way of the Gospel."

"Leverage the culture or risk losing your impact."


DARRIN PATRICK

"Sin = exchanging our object of worship. You are ruled by what you worship."

"Worship is the natural response of being captivated."

"An idol is the sin beneath the sin...anything in my life that occupies a place in my life that should be held by God alone."

"Most of the time, we are clueless about our own idols (pretty good at knowing the idols of OTHERS). When our idols are threatened or disturbed, we become aware."

"The more you mature as a Christian, the more you realize that you are a bigger sinner than you thought!"


Wow! Or as Perry Noble would say, "DANG!" Or as Matt Fry would say, (well, he said it once) "Boy Howdy!" Or as Mary Ann would say, "OH! OH! OH!"

Anyway, just some things that I wrote down in my Moleskine journal at Wibo. Those are just the first 4 speakers, so my next post will have some of the "gotchas" from the second half of the day...Mark Dever, John Burke, Perry Noble, and Ed Stetzer.