Surely you remember your first time up on the HIGH DIVE!  It was a rite of passage at the pool.  Standing over the blue water, scared out of your mind, about to launch out into the unknown.  This was waaaaay worse than the low dive.  You conquered that when you were about 5.  You remember that too.  Mom and Dad, treading out in the deep end, everyone watching, bulbs flashing (bc back then it was a square and rotating bulb in moms camera) and you took your first step into the air and for a split second had no idea what would become of you……then splash!  Incredible!  Had to do it again….and again…and again….But soon….It was just the norm and you set your sights on that HIGH DIVE!  But sadly, today, after conquering the low……it ends!

And I’m no longer talking about the swimming pool am I?  We aren’t that bad coming to a place in life where we hear the voice of God call us to himself and the incredible happens for us.  We stand out on the low dive in life and we jump to him.  It’s amazing!  We relive the moment over and over and don’t get me wrong……..Taking a step off the low dive and into eternity is flat out unbelievable.  But there’s more!  God created you for more!  He drew you to himself because He wants to do unbelievable stuff with the life He gave you.

And here’s the deal:

If you want to live that life?  If you want to go where most never dare set foot?  If you want to step off the edge into what makes the low diving board seem, well, like the low diving board?  Well, you and I gotta bring back the HIGH DIVE!  It is risky!  Nobody on this side of Heaven will insure you for what it may cost.   You will fail sometimes!  Seriously, who hasn’t tried the HIGH DIVE flip to impress, only to land halfway on your back?  It hurts!  Climbing up steps, pursuing God’s call in your life, having no idea what it will look like when you get up there-only to be told to jump when you arrive-seems insane to a little child………God says have the faith of a child……..

Here’s the thing about the high dive:  Nobody every climbed it just once!  It scared you to death, turned your whole backside red, half the pool went up your nose, and you still did it again.

If you came to Pinelake yesterday then there’s great odds God called you to more in this Life.  Get off the low dive.  Stop doing what is so easy now.  Set your sights higher.  Go climb today.  God is calling you to more.  Leverage this life!  Walk boldly up that ladder, because he says you can come boldly before his throne, and when you get out on the edge and can’t believe you are about to do this thing: JUMP!  You’ll never stop jumping……again and again and again…….

My mind drifts a bit to the church that Paul wrote to years ago in Thessalonica.  Paul writes to these guys and says “you’re knocking it out of the park.”  You are imitating Jesus with your lives. You can go read it later, I Thessalonians 1, but this is the part that stuck out the most today.   Paul says that they imitated him and The Lord as they received the word of God into their lives despite persecution.  Guess what happened, as they were obedient followers?  Paul says that they became and example to not only believers all around this area and others.  Heck, he said their imitation of Jesus was so powerful in some instances there was nothing left to be said but just to hear/see how they were living.

Generally speaking, when I am looking for something and can’t find it, it’s when I know I’m lost.  If I am going to Oxford and end up in Starkville, it’s obvious I’m lost (dirt roads, dead giveaway).  If I leave at 5am to go to the Courthouse to work out and arrive at Krispy Kreme, I’m lost (not upset about it but I’m lost).

In many cases-most cases, what you see around you helps you discover if you are “there” or if you are “lost”.  Here’s why people rarely come up to me and say “Pastor, I think I’m lost.”  It’s because their lives look just like everyone else’s lives.  Their homes, look like everyone else’s homes.  Their destination, it looks like your destination.  So, they say things like “my life seems empty.”  “I just feel unsettled.”  “Nothing seems to go my way.”  But they always follow it up with the qualifier…..”But we’re not doing anything that everybody’s not doing?”

When a man or woman, Chosen by and set apart by God, lives their lives according to the way set out by God, the world notices and sees the difference.  Today, there’s not enough difference among us.  God changes those He chooses and those of us claiming to be chosen aren’t living changed lives.  I’ll put my hand up first and say “Hi, I’m Jeff and I don’t live a life set apart many days.”  There, I did it.  But I’m recognizing it and changing that today.  I want to see God move in incredible ways.  I want to watch His church explode among the people for His Names sake.  I want to see the blind see, lame walk, and I want to see the lost get found.  When I dream about Pinelake, I want to hear an Apostle like Paul say about us what he said about the Thessalonians in I Thessalonians 1:8 “For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in (Madison, Ridgeland, Canton, Brandon,Clinton, Starkville, Mississippi, The United States, Africa, Mexico…..), but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything.

In that dream, our very lives would say it all!  The church would grow. The Name of Jesus would be proclaimed.  The Lost would know they were lost because a bunch of “found” people acted like it.

You know, I thought, this is a really a good opportunity for me to sacrifice for my son and prove my love to him, yet again, by giving up something I love dearly.  You know the ole what greater love is there to show than that I would sacrifice something I love just for you Mitch?

So, with absolutely no malice or ill conceived notions in my heart,  I simply asked the sweet lady behind the counter:  “Ma’am, is my phone possibly due for an upgrade?”  Harmless question just looking to help a brother out.  “Why yes, your phone is available for an upgrade Mr.Redding.”

Ok, well here is a way to solve this whole situation!  I’ll give Mitch my iphone 3GS.  I will part with the phone I have cherished this entire last year of my life that has been beside me through thick and thin and at my every beck and call.  The phone that has taken pictures that will last a lifetime, the phone that records all my favorite songs and reminds me of appointments and anniversaries- you see how tight we are?  I will give my son-My phone!

But then what phone will I have?  Ok, here is where the story sort of falls apart.  I will have to accept the upgrade and get the new iphone 4!

Is there a greater love?  Don’t answer!!!!!!!!!!

Their cars are still here?  I see them everywhere.  Oh yeah, it’s Wednesday!  The excitement has worn off!  Been there and done that.  Matter of fact been there and done that so many times that you(me), at this point in the week, don’t really want to do it ever again.

They’re all in their rooms asleep!

On a Saturday to Saturday vacation, Wednesday is about the day it occurs.

So what day is it for you?   If your life to God was a Saturday to Saturday, and reality is to Him it’s much shorter-but if it were Saturday to Saturday where do you fall today?

Are you waking up every morning with the sun because you can’t wait to see what He has in store or has it become mundane, been there done that, and you find yourself more and more just “asleep.”

I see it a lot and I’ve been there myself.  We give our lives to Jesus (Saturday) and then somewhere in the midst of this life (Wednesday), it happens.  We fall asleep.  The bodies are all still here, I see them everywhere: They’re just asleep!

When is the last time you woke up, got out your bible, and couldn’t wait to go off into the city with the “spies” to check the place out?  When is the last time you stood at the edge of the ocean and remembered His words “come and follow me”?  When did you walk out into the valley armed with only God by your side ready to slay whatever giant you faced?  Walked into the marketplace prepared to heal the sick because you knew He said you had ONE greater than HE in you?

Who told you it was Wednesday?  Wake up! Stop sleeping!  It’s ok for your vacation to lose some zeal mid-week, but not YOUR LIFE!

I know-I know, we can’t live on a euphoric ‘I just gave my life to Christ high’ all the time; But, it doesn’t have to go away forever on Wednesday either.  On the night before He would give up His life for ME, Jesus sat down to eat a meal with 12 men and 3 years into their journey(Luke 22:15), Jesus said “I eagerly desire to share this meal with you.”  He wasn’t asleep or going through the motions.  He was eager about something and it was giving You and Me LIFE.  He was eager the day he came walking up to John the Baptist, Eager the day he went home with Zacchaeus, Eager to eat a last meal, and Eager to go and prepare a place for ME.  Beginning to End, even on Wednesday.

What do you eagerly desire?   Who told you it was Wednesday?

I hit the beach and headed East this morning.  There was a beautiful sunrise coming up and a couple of young moms n dads just sitting at the Oceans edge with their little children.  A couple were around 2 and then on down there were a few more but these were mere babies, trying to avoid the later in the day sunrays.  It was awesome to watch these young families play and enjoy Gods creation this morning.

But as I continued East the journey became less and less desirable.  First, the beer cans began to litter the beach, then bottles, then trash and then bodies…..eeeek!  Seriously, 6:30am now and here are two probably late teens or early twenties laying on the beach together half clothed under a blanket.  Then a few more feet down there was a young guy with his college shirt on sitting in a chair with his girlfriend drinking Tequila from the bottle………6:35am.

I’m barely 20 minutes into working out and God stood me upright and asked me to explain to him how we got “HERE from THERE “.  How we got from young moms n dads with newborn babies playing in the morning sun to young adults sleeping with each other in drunken stupors on the same beach?  I naturally began to think about my own kids.  They are at home sound asleep.  But not for long…..They’ll wake up!  They’ll grow up!  I remember being the young dad with Jennifer holding Mitch n Lynn in the morning sun to avoid the late day rays!  Dear God, don’t let them end up “there”, and He said “Then do something while they’re “here.”

Heading East was a tough journey this morning.  Heading East was a tough journey from the Garden too.  We’re far away from it’s majesty and beauty!  The beauty of today was I got to walk back through the insane when I turned and headed back west.  I got to end my morning back with babies and moms n dads.  I wanted to just beg them not to just cherish this moment but to pray-teach-and live a life that will matter one day for their kids.  I’m going to get some Donuts now and wake up my kids but I am going to remember:

What you do HERE will impact THERE!

My Monday morning began looking back at Sunday at the Madison/Ridgeland campus of Pinelake.  What a day!  Over 1300 on campus- great turnout for a May weekend.  Then I saw the pre school numbers…eeeeeeeeek!  240 pre schoolers back in the pre school area.  Wow.  My mind turned to the incredible servant leaders we had back there and how thankful I was for them.  Surely with 240 pre schoolers on a Sunday when many volunteers were out of town, the ones that served must have gotten creamed.? But nearly 900 adults got to hear a strong and truthful word of God bc those servants were willing to serve.

BUT do the volunteers know that or did they just get creamed?

What’s the key to surviving back in a pre school that continues to be blessed by the Hands of God that he adds to it regularly?  That’s when my mind settled on the question…

What do you pray? I think a healthy and growing church that believes God is going to bring His children have to ask this question in order to even stay 100 yds behind God as he moves on Sundays at Pinelake MR.  So, let me ask you to engage with me in the new Prayer of the Preschool.  And really, you can pray it for all areas of your life.

“God, run us over today!  Out do everything I think would be comfortable, safe, sound and calm.  Bring every lost person in the county that has a pre schooler to Pinelake MR today so the adults may worship you and perhaps find NEW LIFE today.  Let them come find You, Jesus!  Holy Spirit, blow apart my minds fears of the next two hours of my life bc of the madness I may encounter and help me serve YOU and what YOU bring today.  God, if you send nobody else to serve, and Lord I pray like crazy that you send hundreds to serve with me, but if you don’t and it’s just me, then help me to engage this battle –Yes Lord, today, Send ME!  Battlefields aren’t cozy, comfy and serene environments.  God, let’s do this thing today.  I can engage this moment in time -for my service in this place will be complete in two hours but what you will have done in the lives of the parents in worship bc of my service will last for ETERNITY”  AMEN……………….

Can you imagine what would begin to happen in your church on Sundays if you engaged that prayer with all the Spirit of God that is in you?    I love our servant leaders.  Love em!  All of em!  You can’t beat em!  But you don’t want to serve at Pinelake if you aren’t ready to see lives change and the first one being yours bc the Campus Pastor at Madison/Ridgeland is praying for God to “bring it” every Sunday.

What do you pray?

A day like today, Late April w/severe weather threatening, makes my mind go back to a day that I took a page out of Nebuchadnezzar’s playbook (Daniel 4:29) and became King.  Matter of fact, it was a morning just like today.  I woke up early.  I went outside and buried my head in MY yard.  I broke out the weed eater, trimmers, mower, clippers and think I was so intense I may have even gone down the level of nose hair trimmers to get the grass just right on this day!  Listen, I worked for about 4 hours (8am to Noon) before stopping to take a breather and grab some water up on the Patio.  It was about that time that I stepped into my King’s robe, placed the crown on my head and asked the King’s servant to bring me some water.  I relaxed up on the patio and then stood to my feet and began to proclaim how beautiful MY creation was at that moment.  I remember the exact thought: ”Look what you have done Jeff.”  “isn’t it beautiful?”  “Your court will love to relax here all weekend and neighbors will come from near and far to admire.”  Ok, that last one was probably a stretch but I was one proud King on this day.  The swing set was newly coated with weatherproofing and the trampoline freshly WD40’d; I was so proud I took a picture-no lie. Take a look:

Then, about the Noon hour…….I heard from my “throne” a loud siren blaring in the distance.  Ah, they must be blowing the King’s horn to summon everyone to come and see? Or, maybe they are blowing the Noon hour King’s horn to signify the King is about to have lunch and an afternoon nap?  Then, I heard an incredibly loud roaring sound that didn’t sound too far away! Hmmmmm.. Maybe the King’s horsemen are coming to admire?  Maybe the King’s horsemen are bringing the feast?  Then, about that time, the sky turned a weird color of Green that I’d never seen before!  Oh shoot, I’m not the King am I?  Oh shoot, I don’t have any horsemen do I?  Oh shoot, I’m in Kansas………..run………..I bolted for the house and dove in the downstairs bath tub as the TORNADO blew through the back yard hopping down and then back up and over the roof tops leaving nothing but roof and chimney damage to the “castle.”  When I summoned the “kingly” courage to go outside and see what had occurred, I walked back to the same spot on the patio that I’d proclaimed such beauty and this time……well…….reality was this:

There’s only one King and His name is not Jeff!  Have you become the King of your life?  It’s an easy trap to fall into these days.  Whatever it is you think you own.  I encourage you to take a moment, walk back out onto the Kings perch and give it back!  I (well, actually Mitch Brewer) placed a marker right in the middle of where that destruction lay two years ago……..This one reminds me every morning I look outside or work in the yard, Just who is King!

The Evil one, Satan, whom the bible says comes only to kill, steal and destroy….lies waiting to bring your life into calamity.  A nuclear bomb, well that one will pretty much vaporize you on the spot.  Nice thought huh?  Satan does worse!  He eats away at your soul and tears apart all life giving aspects of your life and those around you caught in the collateral damage.  It can be a Disaster.  So what’s your response to this attack?

I want to give you a simple way to respond to such attacks:

E-D-R :  Emergency Disaster Response

E- Expect it

Satan came after Jesus and he will come after you.  So, don’t be alarmed.  Expect it!  The son of man (Matthew 4:1-11) had a weak time in His life and so do you.  Know your weaknesses.  Know the seasons or stages of life that make you weakest and expect him to come looking.  I completely expect Satan to try and derail anything of value that Jesus wants to do through my life for His name.  This is why I spend every Sunday morning on my knees at the altar.  I expect him to come through those doors every time we meet together at RHS.  Expect it!

D-Detect it

Jesus knew who Satan was and would not give into the temptations.  Jesus also promised to send one greater than Him, The Holy Spirit, to me (John 14:12-19).  I have the Holy Spirit alive in me and He detects these attacks when I am connected and listening.  When is it of God and when is it of Evil?  He lurks!  He waits to pounce (1Peter 5:8-11).  Don’t fear him (2timothy 1:7) but rather detect His presence through the power of the Spirit of God.  The enemy is insidious and clever.  He knows exactly where to get your attention.  Detect it!  Sometimes a friend sees it and brings it to your attention.  Listen!  Be Still!  Detect it!

R-Reject it

As you expect His attack and Detect His presence then you plain and simple REJECT IT!  Don’t try and be clever!  Our “Rocky Balboa” rises up and we want to take on the Enemy and Chuck Swindoll has a great name for folks that do it-    VICTIM!  Don’t debate him; Reject him!  Say No!  Get out! Get away!  Leave the affair, get help for the addiction, stop the abuse, quit cheating at work, get away from the computer, whatever he is doing to destroy you-   Reject it!

As great as that moment was, God says ‘I have more………’

You have the opportunity to not only experience MORE but also to bring someone else with you…..As great a time as we had running to the cross- Can you imagine taking a friend with you to see the EMPTY TOMB?  Bring somebody with you this Sunday and trust God to create the moment!

As you prepare for your journey to the empty tomb:

We have two important and very meaningful ways for you to prepare.  First, TONIGHT (THUR APRIL 1^ST)  at 6:30 at RHS we will have a Tenebrae service. A service designed to help you begin walking through and experience in some ways what Jesus was the week he went to the cross for you and me.  Second, FRIDAY MORNING (APRIL 2^ND), we will begin a prayer experience at our offices on Highland colony that will begin at 6am and last through 6pm.  It will begin every hour on the hour!  You simply come as your schedule allows.  Again, another great time for you to come and let this week be more than an event but rather and experience that God will use to help you draw near to Him.  Come and be a part of each experience and bring someone with you.

I believe God  loved seeing all of you “come to the cross” last week.  I believe God would also love to see you bring someone with you this week as you run to the tomb and see that “He has risen…….!”

Easter services at Pinelake Madison: 8am, 9:30am and 11:00am

I love getting out with my family and especially watching my kids play various activities they love to play with friends.  They compete so hard and enjoy making others proud of them when they play.  Usually, that’s where the moments occur.  A tear, a smile, a slide, a kick……something that just makes a dad sit back and love being the parent.

But that’s now how this day went down.  Not just because we lost every single sporting event we played that day (although that may have contributed), but because the best moment was the very last moment.

I got in bed early just after Lynn had dozed off.  Mitch was still getting ready for bed when I called it a day.  Shortly after he’d cleaned up and was about to go to bed he peaked his head in my room.  He saw his mom was not in the bed yet and he crawled up in the bed and put his head just underneath my shoulder, flopped his arm over my chest and then I heard it…….the smallest of exhales …..the ones that say….’I am safe’, ‘I love it here’, ‘I can rest now.’

That was it for me! My son had played his heart out all day.  He’d performed probably for the wrong people at times.  Most likely at some point in the day he did things in a way he would have taken back……BUT…..at the end of the day, He rested knowing that he was in the arms of his father and as good as that may have seemed to him……..It was way better for the Father!

The Psalmist was no dummy!  Be still and know that he is God, your daddy today (Psalm 46:10)…….Your daddy awaits the next moment  that you come and create with him.  He loves those moments.  Created you for those moments.

What are you waiting for?

I heard a great story of God’s work right after the 9:30 service and wanted to share it with you:

There was a gentleman standing in our commons after church waiting on  his hour of service and a man was leaving the 9:30 service after it was over.  The gentleman that had just attended church walks up to the guy standing there and says (and I’m paraphrasing) ‘God wants me to send someone to the nations and I’m not sure the best way to find someone.’ The guy he says that to responds: ‘ I’m trying to go on a mission trip to the nations with my wife and we can’t afford it right now.’ BAM.  They exchange information and his trip to the nations is paid for by the man God called Sunday morning.

How does someone simply walk up to another man they’ve never met and have that type of encounter?  GOD!

I am so thankful for the man that heard the call to send someone.  I am equally thankful for the man that heard the call to go and trusted God to supply his needs.  BUT, I am overwhelmed by the love of God for both of them that he would move them to that spot on that day for His Glory!  That’s our God!

We are continuing to learn as a church that God directs our paths when we listen and obey.  God has all the resources you will ever need in this life and he will supply them according to His riches…..His ways…..His timing……for His Glory!

The all-powerful creator of the universe loves you..you…he will guide you…he will teach you….he gave his son just for you….

However, the loudest and most profound moment came much later in the day.  It came around 10pm as I lay in my dark-still-confines of the hotel.  God just began to speak over me and prompted me to speak back.  As I heard his voice, I just became overwhelmed with gratitude.  You ever have that happen?  I think it’s happened a couple of times for me in my life and both times I can specifically recall, I was right in the middle of something he called me to do and he began to hear me question Him and so he showed up and just like a Dad sits on the edge of the bed and settles down a child-He did!

I began to think about you, the people that God called to make a place for His name in Madison County.  You know we’ve bought land and we are making plans to build a building and we have seen our numbers grow and life change occur but none of those are the greatest testimony about us.  Local newspapers want to know what God is doing at Pinelake and why.  They want to know what is happening in Madison, Clinton and soon to set forth in Starkville.  Can you tell us about the growth, success, giving?  I can.  You can.  We all can.

But, that’s not our story!  Our story is that a people were obedient to the calling of God.  That’s it.  It’s not about success in a news story or success to the world but the fact that you were obedient when God called you to go.  You were obedient when he called you to come serve.  You were obedient when He called you to invite a friend.  You were obedient when He called you to give up comfort for High School surroundings.  We don’t just have a story- we have a calling.  Gosh, I love that about God.

I am constantly thinking about footprints.  It’s why I love the beach so much in a way.  I go stare at the footprints and just stay reminded of how quickly they will be gone.  It can be depressing to think how soon our footprints will be gone.  I caught myself telling someone the other day that we came to Madison out of obedience and we believe God is calling us to make a permanent footprint now as we pursue a building.  I think that was accurate but not as specific as it could have been.  The real question for you and I is WHOSE FOOTPRINT?

Yours and mine will be gone in an instant………but His………His is the only one that matters and ………………………….His is eternal!

I thank God that the greatest lesson I learned yesterday came from His mouth in the still of the night and I praise Him that I get to make His footprint with you.

Here’s why I ask:

Most of us pray all year long for some snow.  Any snow!  Little or big?  Just snow!  We can’t wait to get out in it and play- we want to miss school-work-chores-just a good ole play day.  And then God delivers the big one.  Seriously, 5 inches of snow at my home in the deep south is a lot of snow.  I could hear all of you when you woke up that morning.  Lord, that is so beautiful.  You have delivered!  Your creation is all covered in white (insert all types of Christian references that surfaced on facebook,etc).  We played all day long.  We had snow ball wars, made snow cream, built snow men, and most of us went til well after dark playing our hearts out.  What a day?  Incredible fun!  God, you are soooooo good!  Thank you.

So, then we woke up the next day.  Clothes are still wet.  Mud still on the floor.  Snow/mud prints all over the house in the shape of little kids boots.  AND, the snow is still on the ground.  I heard the ugh so loud I thought you were in my living room.  “UGH!”  When is the snow going to melt and go away so I can clean up all these clothes?  When is the ground going to dry up so we won’t track mud into the house?  Oh how the little blessing has gone south in 24 short hours.  God’s beautiful creation is now life’s dumping ground.  Follow me?  One little problem here……..

Many days, we treat God just like Snow.  He’s good right up until I’m not.  Then if I’m not , He’s not!

There comes a time where we give our lives to Jesus and just bask in the newness of life.  We glow!  We share!  We just play in the beauty of what God has done with our old lives.  Then, just like the snow…..it grows a little weary on us.  And, it too can happen real fast.  If we’re not careful, we find ourselves whining about the way our friends now treat us due to this new life we’ve found.  We find ourselves complaining that nothing has turned around in life at work like we thought it would.  All this “new” in life is suddenly not so pure and joyful………It’s like the snow outside.  We’d just assume it go back tot the way it was before.  No mud tracks in the house , no dirty clothes!  Only this time, We’re longing for that old self because it was familiar, it was liked by so many of our old friends and our old ways.  We prayed for years for life change- got it- and now we want to throw it back.

Wow-what has happened to us?  Our Joy in Christ changes as often as our status updates!

It doesn’t have to be this way.   God is not good when you feel good, God is good-period!  God does not love you only when you feel loved- God loves you-period!  God is not a great and overwhelming snow that melts when the temperature rises.  God is an overwhelming Father/Son/Spirit that increases His presence in your life when the heat gets turned up.  He’s not going anywhere.  So, stop whining, put back on your snow boots and go back out and play-

He’s waiting!

Paul wrote it a long time ago and it was far more inspiring.  Phillipians 3:13 “….forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead.”

If you want to get to the place God desires to take you.  If you want to live the life the early church lived.  If you want to go where God is going.  You gotta start forgetting what lies behind.  It’s holding you back.

Let me show you what I mean…..

I had my hip replaced a little over a year ago and when you do that you have to learn to walk normal again.  At first, you walk like George Jefferson, for those of you that remember George and Weesie.  The thing that holds you back is what you remember about walking.  I would try to walk like I walked before surgery, only my body wouldn’t allow it yet.  It was different.  So, I had a therapist take me back to step one and show me how to put my heal down and toes out , blah blah blah.  It’s really boring stuff but what eventually happens is you forget what you knew and you start over a new way.  Toe to heel-life- bend knee- toe to heel-lift. Etc. etc.

Before long, you’re walking!  If you’re not careful, you forget how much you appreciate walking and you feel some days like you’ve been doing it your whole life-only you haven’t.  This is a new body, new hip.  It’s new to this one.

You want to start living the life God has for you?  Start forgetting what you knew and start letting him take this “new” body, the one He redeemed, the one He has raised up, and let him show you some fresh ways to follow. Forget what you knew!  If you have given your life to Jesus, you are a new creation.  Forget what lies behind! Reach forward!  Press on!

You can start fresh today-that’s the great promise of God to you!

We went around our small group the other night and shared our weaknesses as individuals.  I’d like to share with you what everyone said that night.  Jennifer said…..just kidding.  I would never do that…at least not in writing.  But one guy was very honest and he said “I just don’t listen well!”  So , true of many of us.  I came across a great list that someone put together and helps me to identify when I am listening and when I am not…..How about you?

Take the test:

When I am thinking about an answer when others are talking- I’m not listening

When I give unsolicited advice-I am not listening  (it always sounds like criticism)

When I suggest that “you shouldn’t feel that way”-  I’m not listening to them

When I apply a quick fix to the problem-I’m not listening

When I fail to acknowledge the feelings of the one speaking- I’m not listening(if my wife is reading this she just printed it and put it in my bible to remind me I actually said it-she shouldn’t feel like that)

When I fidget, glance at my watch and appear to be rushed- I’m not listening

When I fail to maintain eye contact-I’m not listening

When I don’t ask follow up questions-I am not listening

When I belong with the person speaking and try to tell a story to top their story with a bigger and better story of my own-I’m not listening

When that person shares a difficult experience and I counter with one of my own-I’m not listening

All throughout the Old Testament, particularly in Deuteronomy, God calls His people to hear and obey.  Moses opens Chapter 4 of Deuteronomy with “Listen” to the statutes and judgments.  It was important then and it’s important today.

How are you doing in the listening department?