Write to Think

Spiritual Habits for your Heart, Pt. 5

2009-10-01T10:26:00.001-05:00

[Part 5 of a series of posts on keeping your heart healthy. If you haven't already, read the introduction to this series of posts here...]

Habit Number 4: Rest

As important as it is to our physical health to physically get away from the office, it is equally important for my spiritual health to unplug as well. To escape the office isn't just a practice that will keep your body from breaking down - it will keep your soul from breaking down as well. When I seize moments to be quiet and still before God it quiet’s my soul. When I unplug the TV and spend an evening with God it fills my cup. When I stop listening to all the noise and all the other voices I so often tune in to and give careful attention to God’s voice I find that I come away refreshed. Truth is, I rarely her God speak unless I shut everything else off.

There is a reason that God commanded us to keep the Sabbath; it is a discipline for our own spiritual health every bit as much as it is for our physical health; but it won't do my heart any good unless I seek it out. As a leader, I've learned that no one is readily offering that time to me. No one else is protecting my Sabbath. No one else is pushing me to take a day off to be alone with God. That is something only I can do. Unless I fight for a day away, my schedule will demand that I keep going.

So how do you effectively take a day of rest when everything and everyone is asking you for more? Here are a few practices I've embraced:

Schedule a quarterly "white day" out of the office. A "white day" is a day dedicated to thinking, praying, looking forward and taking stock of where you've been. No cell phone. No laptop. No intrusions. Schedule it early or it won't happen - something will come up that you feel you 'just have to be at.'
Turn off your email. You don't need to check your mail every 5 minutes on the weekend. If you've committed to be with your family, be with your family. It is completely possible to be present and absent all at the same time. Don't do that to them. If you need to stay connected, schedule 1 time a day to look through your inbox on the weekends.
Drive noise free. From time to time I need just to sit with God. Often times the car is the only place I can't be touched, but so often I spend that time listening to junk. Use your commute to reflect and pray. Fast from the radio for a week and ask God to meet you in those moments.
Seize your best moment. I'm not a morning person, I'm a night owl. I think best at night. Often times, just to be with God or address some nagging issue or thought I'll tuck everyone in for bed and then go pray, read and reflect. The stillness of my home at midnight is beautiful. For you it may be the morning. Whatever it is, seize it and use it to be still.

So what are you doing to keep your heart healthy? There are countless opportunities to be coached, fed and encouraged but ultimately keeping your heart healthy depends on you. Perhaps its time to make a change, start a habit or even kill an old one in order to get yourself healthy.

I'm certainly not there yet, so please seize this moment to let me know what you do to keep you healthy.

Spiritual Habits for your Heart, Pt. 4

2009-09-17T08:00:00.003-05:00

[Part 4 of a series of posts on keeping your heart healthy. If you haven't already, read the introduction to this series of posts here...]

Habit Number 3: Exercise

Last time I talked about the necessity of eating right for your heart. I confess, I live in a land saturated with great restaurants and so I don't often eat well... uh, wait... was that a metaphor for great churches or actual restaurants? Okay, so the secret is out, I don't eat well physically or spiritually. But I digress.

In much the same way that I often fail to eat well, I also often fail to exercise adequately. Just as my physical heart needs to be pushed and stretched, so too does my spiritual heart. I need to wrestle with my faith; not simply to study and think and be challenged but also to exercise my faith through service and missional opportunities. It does me no good to sit on the couch (aka, the pew) and think that I am getting exercise simply because I'm surrounded by like-minded people. Getting up and going to church on a rainy Sunday morning doesn't count as 'spiritual exercise.' Don’t get me wrong, everyone needs to be coached and challenged by those more mature than we are; but when it comes right down to it we have to remember that even though coaches are important their job is not to do the work for us. We must embrace the disciplines personally and get out on the field ourselves.

Disciplines like:

Missions Excursions (get out of your bubble),
Justice (caring for the poor, the oppressed, and yes even the alien),
Service (washing feet and meeting needs),
Generosity (not just throwing something in the offering plate),
Confession (I consider it exercise because its hard; it stretches me),
Sacrifice (giving at great cost because He did)

I grow out when I eat. I grow up when I serve. Each of the two are necessary, but eating is often much more fun to do. We must be sure to work out our faith. Doing so will keep us healthy.

One last habit yet to come...

Spiritual Habits for your Heart, Pt. 3

2009-09-16T15:03:00.005-05:00

[Part 3 of a series of posts on keeping your heart healthy. If you haven't already, read the introduction to this series of posts here...]

Habit Number 2: Healthy Eating

Any heart doctor will tell you that how you eat and what you eat are key to keeping healthy, and the same is true spiritually. If you want spiritual health then it only makes sense to watch what you eat - and what you eat is extremely important to your heart.

I regret to say that my spiritual eating habits are often times no better than my physical ones. I too willingly settle for fast food. I eat cheaply instead of deeply. As a Christian there is no substitute for eating well. Getting into God's Word is critical. "Fast food" feedings and "drive through" devotions will not keep you spiritually healthy.

Snacking instead of feasting is also a problem. I know a lot of Christians who snack but never eat. The truth of the matter is that many times I sample snippets of Scripture or try to survive off of scraps that I collect from sermons or from books instead of digging into something solid. It's tempting to look to others to feed me instead of doing the work of getting into God’s Word myself. It's fast. It's easy. Sometimes it's more convenient for my schedule. But it's simply not healthy over the long haul.

When it comes to healthy eating for my spiritual health I live by a few simple "diet do's and dont's":

DO: Feed myself from the source each and every day. Eating once a week spiritually is about as smart as eating once a week physically.
DON'T: Rush a feeding. Not only do you feel better when you take the time to eat well, but you also get more nutrition out of the meal.
DO: Plan out your meals. Don't just open the Bible randomly and expect a steak dinner. Think about what you're doing. Read intentionally. Use a Bible reading plan or go choose a book of the Bible you will stick with for a season.
DON'T: Accept scraps from someone else's diet. Accountability groups are great; discussion groups are beneficial; and listening to what a friend is learning is awesome...but none of those things count as your personal time with God. Also on that note...
DON'T: Expect your pastor to feed you everything you need. Sermons are like eating out on the weekend: it's fun and really good but it can't and shouldn't carry you all week long. Again, nothing beats cooking for yourself... get into God's Word!
DO: Get the right cookware. Find a Bible you can read and get a journal or whatever else helps you study, understand or reflect on Scripture well. The right tools are essential to feeding yourself well.

These are just a few of the things I keep in mind to help me with my diet. They are by no means all of the things to consider, but the jist of it is this: Eat well. Watch what you eat. Don't compromise or skimp. Your heart needs the proper nourishment and without it you'll be more prone to getting run down.

I'd love to hear your additions to the diet do's and don'ts...

A Watched Pot

2009-09-08T12:35:00.002-05:00

They say a watched pot never boils. I'm beginning to think that the same may be true of package delivery.

Ever since Amazon invented the "Track My Shipment" feature I've been hooked... especially when I'm waiting on a new toy. I recently ordered some new gear and I can't wait for it to get here. I check the delivery status every couple of hours. I know, I'm pathetic. Even more pathetic is that I also cross check it with the delivery service. I'm truly OCD.

But alas, just as a watched pot never boils, so too a watched package never delivers.

I'll check again in an hour.

Spiritual Habits for your Heart, Pt. 2

2009-09-05T07:05:00.002-05:00

[If you haven't already, read the introduction to this series of posts here...]

Habit Number 1: Prioritize

The truth of the matter is that many of the problems that led to my physical unhealth are the same problems the plague my spiritual life – and yet I continue to ignore them and fail to change how I live. One of my biggest problems? I work too much. This isn’t just a problem physically; it’s a problem spiritually. I find myself distracted from God because I’m so focused on what I’m doing here and now. I sacrifice time with Him and time in community because I allow my work schedule to interfere with my spiritual life. When I forfeit time with God in the morning because I “have” to get into the office early I sacrifice a discipline designed to keep my heart healthy.

For me, staying spiritually healthy demands staying focused on a few key priorities:

Face-Time with God. If you are a Christian, spending time with God isn't optional; it's foundational. No relationship can survive without face-time; time connecting, time communicating, time 'relating.' If face-time with God gets pushed aside then you will have heart issues. For me, this means time with God in the morning - yes, that's right, before work! There's no point putting your armor on after you get home from the battle.
Face-Time with Key People. Everyone needs a Paul in their life. (If you don't get that reference, you probably don't have one in yours.) We all need someone who knows us and can hold our feet to the fire when we need it. Having someone to speak truth to us is critical to staying healthy and mis-prioritizing this is dangerous.
Spiritual Community. You can't do it on your own. One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is taking Sunday off when things get busy or hard. If life is killing you, don't skip out on the one place designed to build you back up. (Oh, and if you don't have a place - call me.) My LifeGroup and my church are essential to my heart's health. I need these people and these moments of study, worship, and connection with them. Cutting back here is not an option.

It takes intentionality to let people in, to pursue conversations with others and to pursue time with God. If you don't plan it, it won't happen and if it doesn't happen it will come back to haunt you. Maybe not now. Maybe not next week. But it will hurt your heart. Do yourself a favor, do what I do and put these things on your calendar. Live and die by them. When you need to take a break, skip something else but not these - never these.

Next post, habit number 2...

Spiritual Habits for your Heart

2009-09-04T06:00:00.001-05:00

A little over a year ago I started experiencing chest pains. Work had become all-consuming, I was eating unhealthily, I wasn’t exercising and I never allowed myself to rest. It was a recipe for disaster, even for someone in their early 30’s. After a battery of tests the doctor was clear, I needed to embrace some personal disciplines if I wanted to keep my heart healthy.

It’s no surprise that I pushed the panic button when my heart began to tell me something was wrong. It would have been crazy not to; after all, heart issues aren’t something to ignore. Anyone in that situation would have realized that something was wrong and that something needed to be done because when your heart begins to have trouble, you listen.

I wish the same were true spiritually. I wish I had the same sense of urgency for my spiritual health that I do for my physical health, but the truth of the matter is that when my heart begins to tell me that something is wrong I often ignore it.

Over the next few days I'll share what I've been learning on this journey and I'll peel back some of the layers on some of the spiritual habits I've had to embrace to keep my heart healthy...

Good Thought

2009-08-03T10:56:00.002-05:00

I've been having a pretty hectic summer so far, more on that later, but the long and the short of it is that I'm just now getting around to catching up with the blog-o-sphere.

New(er) to the blog-o-sphere is my friend and boss, Glen Brechner, who wrote a great post last month on the issue of ideas vs. execution. When something fails is it because it was a bad idea? Not necessarily. As Glen argues, an average idea well executed is better than a great idea poorly executed. So what does that mean for your ministry? Check out the post and give it some thought - its definitely worth a few some dialogue:

http://churchstrategic.blogspot.com/2009/07/new-ideas-or-better-execution.html

And for the record, Glen's a great thinker and if you do anything in the church world his blog deserves attention...

...and I'm not just saying that because he's my boss.

Hanging It Up... For a While

2009-06-06T08:03:00.002-05:00

This week I took my quarterly white day. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, a white day is when you retreat from all the noise in order to think, create, cast vision or - in my case - seek God's vision and God's voice. No e-mail. No cell phone. And most of all, no social media.

I do this periodically because my soul needs it. And so does my ministry. Other voices become more prominent than God's; so getting away affords me the opportunity to listen on a level I rarely do. You see, we rarely need to give God permission to speak. I find He often is... Instead, we need to give ourselves permission to listen to Him and no one else.

So this past Tuesday I shut it all down. I read. I studied. I prayed. I listened. I was still. And it was beautiful. I felt the return of a connection with Him that, honestly, had grown dim. And so I decided to stretch out that time a little longer and honestly, the experience has been so refreshing that I'm thinking of hanging up social media permanently. No Twitter. No Blog.

A multitude of counselors is great. Necessary, even. I get that. But I don't think social media qualifies in that regard. If I am truly desperate to hear from God, then I need to show Him I am willing to be still and listen...

Here's to listening... to Him.

Gun Show

2009-05-30T09:09:00.001-05:00

Hitting the gym on a nice Saturday morning... even Easy-E gets in on
the action!

Tozer Talk Tonight

2009-05-27T13:05:00.004-05:00

I look forward to it every time.

Along with a small group of guys from my LifeGroup we are, together, reading through Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer. If you've never read it, you should. Short chapters filled with profound thoughts on God. It's beautiful.

But this week Tozer left a nagging question on my mind. He said:

"...because we are the handiwork of God, it follows that all our problems and their solutions are theological."

All of our problems and all of their solutions are whaaaaaa...? Yes, theological. Which only begs the question, "How good is your theology?" If what Tozer believes is, in fact, true then it only stands to reason that the better your grasp on theology the better your ability to live rightly. So again I ask, "How good is your theology?"

I can't help but wonder how good a job I'm doing at leading people in this arena.

Not Too Sure About This Cake...

2009-05-27T11:17:00.004-05:00

I don't know if this is a selling point or a warning label; either way it created a brief awkward birthday moment...

Eat? Don't eat? Eat? Don't eat?

New (to me) Favorite Website

2009-05-27T09:33:00.002-05:00

If you are a photographer, you'll love this site. If you have ever been forced to take family photo's, you will love this site. If you have ever hoped that someone else's bad portraits would be posted online instead of yours, you will love this site.

Enjoy.

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/

[My personal favorite is the one on this page... http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/?p=1253 I don't know who I feel worse for, the husband or the child being brought into that family.]

Help Me Preach

2009-05-26T15:44:00.003-05:00

Each July I preach a 4 week series while Jeff spends some quality time with God (2 weeks) and with his family (2 weeks). For the record, I've never seen anyone more energized and ready for ministry than Jeff in August. If you are a lead pastor and haven't given yourself the freedom to pursue God and family for several weeks straight then you are doing a dis-service to your church.

But I digress.

This summer I am contemplating doing a series on the minor prophets - you know, the books we never read. Over 4 weeks we will wrestle with issues of justice, faithfulness, complacency and 'robbing God' based on the messages of the minor prophets. Right now I'm leaning towards Micah, Amos, Hosea and Malachi... or maybe just spending the whole 4 weeks on Malachi.

That's just a working idea... what do you think? If you had four weeks, what would you preach?

How We Roll...

2009-05-25T19:03:00.001-05:00

Memorial Day, Leaver style. What did you grill for the long weekend?

First's...

2009-05-25T12:47:00.001-05:00

First freezer pop... Yeah, he's diggin' it.

My Kid is King...

2009-05-24T19:39:00.000-05:00

...of the Winnie the Pooh bounce house.

Oooh Boy!

2009-05-24T19:34:00.000-05:00

This has "good times" written all over it!!! (Memorial Day event at
Stone Bridge Ranch)

Little Lady

2009-05-22T19:25:00.001-05:00

No, she's not ours... but it sure does make me want another. Rylie is
a cutie; in fact, I think I caught Ethan staring. :)

God Doesn't Want Your Help

2009-05-21T09:06:00.004-05:00

When vision strikes our first reaction is to 'do.' We want to jump into action and change the world, especially when we feel like that great idea is from God. And so we sit there looking at the vision and waiting for God to start opening doors. But the doors don't open. Nothing happens. And so we figure that God must want us to do something - that vision takes works and we need to pave the way and make things happen because that's what leaders do. After all, "If its for the kingdom, we've got to go for it!" Right?

But what if that isn't right?

Just think for a moment of some of the greatest visions given by God that were almost ruined because we felt we needed to help God along:

Abraham taking Hagar in order to 'speed things along' on the child front. (Gen. 16)
Moses taking out an Egyptian in order to save his people. (Ex. 2)
Saul's impatience at Gilgal by making a sacrifice without Samuel. (1 Sam. 13)
Peter's attempt to rescue Jesus. (John 18)

Sometimes when God gives us a vision we make the mistake of thinking that He needs to get things done. But God doesn't want our help, He wants our obedience.

God didn't give you the vision because He needed your help. God is perfectly capable of doing things on His own. What's more, even though He chooses to work through His people and His church, you're not the only person on the planet with your particular gift set. (I know, I know... big shocker.) God could choose anyone to do what He has called you to do. Why you, then? Only He knows. But one thing I know is this... God doesn't need my help. He has a plan. He will open the doors. He will provide the resources. My job is to be obedient and to be faithful. To be ready when He say's go. And to pray like crazy until it's time.

I'll say it again: God doesn't want our help, He wants our obedience.

Bailout

2009-05-19T22:36:00.002-05:00

Why improve your product if the government will give you money to keep your bad one on the market?

Who needs R&D when you've got Big Brother?

Monkey Business

2009-05-09T08:27:00.000-05:00

Is it the banana that makes him look like a monkey, or the ears?
Can't decide... :)

Fun with Film

2009-05-06T08:17:00.000-05:00

Ethan and I just can't resist Photo Booth; it makes his day, and that makes mine.

Check it:

Why Your Church Needs PE

2009-05-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

I hated P.E. I was a twig of a kid growing up, so being forced to play basketball with the jocks was always a lesson in humility. But I needed it.

And so does your church staff.

In a recent post I talked about Leadership and Ownership and asserted that taking ownership in an organization sometimes means replacing people that are hindering progress. This raised a valid question from Jeff Flowers, pastor and new Twitter friend, who commented:

"Replacing is probably the easy part. Could you give some of your insight on 'removing the people that are hindering progress'?"

Great question. The answer? P.E. Not Physical Education, mind you, but Performance Evaluations.

Simply put, if you don't have P.E. in your organization then you aren't leading well. Yes, even if your organization is a church! Scratch that... especially if your organization is a church. Why? Because what we're fighting for is more critical than any other organization on the face of the planet! That makes P.E. essential!

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about monitoring network activity, being 'big brother' to your employee's, or micro-managing every movement in the organization. I do, however, strongly believe in the power of feedback. As a leader, your job is to monitor the health of your organization and encourage those struggling to fit in to the mission and vision. If you don't have a system in place to do that, you aren't leading well.

At Chase Oaks our P.E. takes the form of a mid-year and end of year review. It's a very simple and very effective process. Quite honestly, nothing motivates me more than getting feedback from those around me on how I'm leading. The evaluation covers 2 main categories:

List 1 or 2 things this person has done well over the past six months. This is an extremely critical piece to any P.E. Be sure to take the time to acknowledge great work and great successes. Good managers spend the bulk of their time here because they know that a failure here will lead to poor production later... after all, why work hard if what you do never gets noticed?
List 1 or 2 things this person can work on over the next six months. This is where we have the chance to encourage growth. Most of us choose to focus on one specific area where improvement could be made, and we're careful to offer recommendations and practical suggestions based on what we've observed. For example, in a review I got last year my boss encouraged me to watch my emotions. My attitudes and emotions about what I'm doing and what the organization is doing directly impacts the way those under me view what we're doing. I need to lead emotionally. I needed that reminder.

So how does this relate to those 'hindering progress?' Simple. If we address something and don't see improvement during that 6 month cycle, we bring it up again in the next review... and if it really is a serious issue that's hindering progress then when we bring it up again we stamp a 90 day period on the issue with defined objectives that we need to see met. That's called accountability. And it's also called grace. Think about it... we give people 9 months to work on an issue; to grow. And we don't leave them in that alone. We help them. We resource them. We encourage them. But we also don't enable them. If the 90 days passes without improvement then changes are made and sometimes that change is a staffing one. (For the record, more often than not the issues we address are related to character, not competency.)

P.E. gives your church staff the opportunity to constantly push forward, and it gives every employee the opportunity to grow. After all, that's why we are here: to help people grow. As a leader, you shouldn't just concern yourself with the spiritual growth of your Sunday morning crowd, but also the spiritual and practical growth of your Monday-Friday organization.

Da Boyz

2009-04-27T19:29:00.000-05:00

Bath time is definitely more fun on vacation...

Hot Springs

2009-04-26T21:13:00.000-05:00

Peter and Judy are graciously hosting us tonight at their place... and
sharing marriage wisdom from 42 years of experience! Holy moly!