Flying to Uganda and spending almost two weeks in the country is an expensive endeavor. Last year when I committed to go, I wasn’t sure how there would be enough money to pay all the expenses. This year we committed to send three of us. The uncertainty regarding money more than tripled. Yet, both last year and this year we have been so blessed to have other people contribute financially to help with the expenses and participate in the work. 

This time we have had family, friends, and SouthEdgers join together with us in an overwhelming way! As we look ahead to leaving in just a little over a month, we are certain to not only meet all the expenses for the three of us, we are sure to have at least a couple thousand dollars beyond that to devote to feeding the children in one or more of five orphanges/schools we will visit. That just blows me away!

If you are reading this and don’t know me personally, you may not know that I am not a “money guy.” As a kid I hated selling candy to support our school or sports teams. I could never be successful in a job in sales. I will help in just about any way I can in our kids’ schools, but I don’t ever want to be an officer in the PTA/PTO because my stereotype is that it is almost always about fundraising. Money is just not my thing.

So, to know that simply committing to go to Uganda, and telling others we are going, and providing a way for them to join in on the work by making it financially possible, and then seeing the result, it knocks me off my feet. It gives me a great sense of gratitude to God for what He can do in the hearts of people. It also humbles me to think that God would use us not only to care for the people of Uganda, but to nurture caring hearts in the lives of people we love.

Thinking about this drew me to a verse of Scripture, Philippians 4:19, where it says, “And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” I have always been very hesitant to use that verse as some sort of guarentee that God has to give me something. I take very seriously the word “needs” and don’t think that applies to hardly anything I want, even when it seems like it would be a way to love God and love others.

However, today I was so please to go back and read Chapter 4 of Philippians and find that before he writes Verse 19, Paul is thanking the Philippian believers for giving him money when he left Macedonia and more than once when he was in Thessalonica, so he could continue the work to which God had called him. He describes this giving from them to him this way, “Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account.” (Phil. 4:17) In the next verse he calls their gift, “…a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.” (Phil. 4:18)

I really hope everyone who has joined with us in making this trip a reality realizes that their offering, and the sacrifices they have made to make it are not really gifts to us, or even to the people of Uganda. They are gifts given to God.

Is there an opportunity before you to give a gift like that? What sacrifices would you have to make to give a gift like that now or in the future? What do you think God does in response to those who give these kinds of gifts? And finally, is there an opportunity for you be like David (discussed in Day #1) and just go first so that others have the chance to join you?

Growing up, my Dad worked for American Airlines. That impacted me in two ways I am thinking about today. First it meant we had the privilege of traveling quite a bit. Second, it meant we were transferred a couple of times and had to learn to live in new places. I now consider both of these great gifts.

Today I travel much less than I did as a kid, especially by plane. However,  the positive impact of  these two gifts has not been lost . My trip to Uganda last summer affirmed for me that I am still a very good traveler. I can sleep on a plane. I can navigate an airport. I can adjust to another time zone. And, I like it. It actually caught me off-guard to see how much some of the people I traveled with didn’t like it and/or struggled with it.

In additional to being a good traveler, I also was reminded last summer that I have a different way of looking at the world compared to others who would seem to be very much like me. The simplest way for me to describe it is to say I see myself as a citizen of the world.

I have friends I know it bothers when I talk this way, but I have to share it here. I really have no special fondness for the country of which I am a citizen or any of the seven state in which I have resided. I like them all fine. I just don’t define my identity by them. If God ever led me to move to another country and live there for the rest of my days, I would miss people and I would miss some trappings of the culture, but I would be gone in a second and not look back.

Well, if you haven’t checked out on me after that last paragragh, let me get to the positive part of my being a citizen of the world, I really believe we are all one family! The people of Uganda are just as much my brothers and sisters as the people in my neighborhood in Georgia. God loves them as much as He loves me and I am called to love them too.

This value is very important to me and I want to imprint it deeply in the hearts of my kids. That is one of many reasons this trip to Uganda is so special to me, my two oldest children are going with me.

When I was a senior in high school I took a school sponsored trip to the then Soviet Union. It was an educational trip with about twenty students and adults. It shaped me forever. Now, in just thirty-nine days I will take a trip with my middle school daughter and high school son that I hope will help them become citizens of the world.

Again, I have friends that just shake their heads when I talk about it, but I really hope my kids grow up to live all over the world, serving all kinds of people and believing that it is normal.

In the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus has a famous discussion with His disciples about being in the world, but not of the world. It is my hearts desire that my kids will grow up to know that they live in this WORLD. They don’t just live in our house or neighborhood or state or country. And, they aren’t just called to love people who are like them. They live in the world and that means the whole earth is a possible residence. Visiting Uganda will hopefully help them discover it is really possible to live anywhere.

But, this trip will also hopefully help them see life differently and be less likely to believe in the principles of the world, especially the American version that they breathe like air. It will be much more difficult, at least for awhile,  for them to say they are “starving” or “poor” or that a hotel room isn’t “clean” after they see what we will see.

They will also discover that there are people who have what we call “nothing” but are rich in love and hospitality and contentment. My trip to Russia was educational. But this trip to Uganda will be entire education! I can’t wait to see what they get and what they don’t. I can’t wait for their to be conversations decades from now when they finally realize just what this meant and how it shaped their decisions later in life.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples they are the, “Light of the world.” I am praying that we will not only get the chance to be Light to the people of Uganda, but that my kids will never again read that verse and think the “world” is limited by marks on a map.

I am excited! Just 40 days from now I will make my second trip to Uganda, Africa. Last summer I traveled there for the first time to care for the people, bring them supplies, and teach them about Jesus. During each of the 40 days prior to my departure, I blogged about what I was thinking and feeling and hoping. If you go read those blog entries, you will find that much of what occupied me then was the “unknown.” What would it be like? What would I experience? How would I respond? How could I possibly be ready?

This time is different! I have a frame of reference from which to operate. I know my experience won’t be identical, but it will be similar. And, I can’t wait! The best word to describe it is EXCITED!

That is also how I am feeling about this second 40-day blog experience–excited! As I mentioned last summer, 40 days is an important period of time in several Bible stories, from both the Old and the New Testament. What I think is so cool is that this past week I was studying a very famous Bible story that I had never before connected to 40 days, and yet there it was, just as I was about to start this blog. It was just another example of God being His crazy, wonderful self and directing my steps!

The story I studied was David and Goliath, found in 1 Samuel 17. Here is how 40 days plays a role in that story:

For 40 days the men of Israel, the soldiers representing God’s people, had been both engaged in a potential battle with their enemies, the Philistines, and stuck in a horrible routine. Day after day after day, for 40 days, they woke up and convinced themselves that “today would be different,” that “today they would finally face and fight and defeat the giant enemy before them.” Full of fear on the inside, they covered themselves with armor on the outside. Maybe it is more accurate to say they were hiding inside their armor. Then, they would shout a war cry to psyche themselves up, run to the battle line, and wait for the giant Goliath to throw down his challenge. But every morning and every evening, day after day when they heard his challenge for one of them to fight him for all the marbles, they all turned and ran for their lives. They faced the giant and lost without even attempting to fight.

I wonder how many people I will encounter in Uganda get up day after day convinced they will finally fight and defeat the “giants” in their lives (giants like poverty, hunger, disease, and spiritual darkness) only to give in to their fear and lose again and again without a fight? At the end of 40 days, David showed up, and in one profound act of courage and trust, he not only killed the giant before him, he also inspired all those fear-full Israelites to take courage and charge and fight and defeat the entire army of their enemies.

This is my desire in Uganda! My moment there is going to be brief. Yet, I want to take those who are stuck in fear and inspire them to trust God and have courage and charge forward to fight those enemies for the glory of God. Oh, if I could be used like David! That is my desire! It is possible! And, it is why I am excited!

What about you? Where are you going today, tomorrow, at the end of the next 40 days? Wherever that is, there are people stuck in fear, losing to the giants before them without even attempting to fight, and waiting for a David to go first and unleash their courage. What if God used you to be that David? Is that your desire? Do you believe it is possible? Are you EXCITED?

At the beginning of the summer, 40 days seemed like a nice little stretch of time and writing 40 blog entries seemed like a daunting task. Yet, here we are in a flash at the 40th entry and ready or not it is time to go to Uganda.

In many ways I do feel ready to go. I think I have planned and purchased and packed adequately for the trip. In other ways I would never feel completely ready to go. I was that kid who went over my notes for the last 5 minutes before the test was passed out, even though I had all the answers nailed the day before. If there is a second to use, I am tempted to prepare just a little more.

However, one of my goals for these 40 Days of Preparation was to move past “doing” everything I could “do” to be ready to “do” what is expected of me once in Uganda, and on to “being” a person God could use effectively, whatever His plans and purposes may be.

Towards that end, I have recognized that I have “become” a person who has a growing desire to experience God’s POWER. I don’t mean to sound like I don’t have a growing desire to know more of God’s truth, His protection, His forgiveness, His peace, His provision, or any other aspect of His. Instead, I just know that at this moment I am starving to experience His power.

The power of God is a central element of the New Life described in the New Testament. The word for power is used over 100 times. Yet, when I look around at my life and the life of many other Christians, it seems pretty obvious that of the three parts of the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit), our relationship to the Holy Spirit is weakest, and therefore power is absent, or at best weak. I don’t believe it was supposed to be this way.

Jesus whole life and ministry was characterized by power. Then, when Jesus sent out His disciples, He gave them power to drive out demons and cure diseases (Luke 9:1). After rising from the dead, Jesus told His followers they would receive power from the Holy Spirit to be witnesses (Acts 1:8). And,  right before the resurrected Jesus was going to ascend to heaven, He told His followers to wait to be clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49). Jesus seemed to believe this “power stuff” was central to the lives of His followers.

Throughout the book of Acts, the description of the birth of the Church and the spread of Christianity was characterized by power. The second chapter of the book of Acts describes the power of the Holy Spirit giving followers of Jesus the ability to speak languages they had never learned and that leading to many becoming followers of Jesus. Chapter three in the same book recounts Peter healing a crippled man, not by his own power, but by the power of God at work in him. The rest of Acts is more of the same.

Once churches were formed, their life and ministry were also acts of God’s power.  The church in Corinth had its problems, but it had experienced God’s power. Paul writes of his ministry there, “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on man’s wisdom, but on God’s power.” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5) Power was part of their Christian life from the very start. Later Paul described their assemblies as times when, “the power of the Lord Jesus is present.” (1 Corinthians 5:4) Power, power, power, power.

Unfortunately, in our culture and in our churches, there seems to be many more examples of the kinds of people Paul warned Timothy to watch out for, people who have a form of godliness but whose lives actually deny its power. (2 Timothy 3:5) Is that how you describe your Christian life and the lives of others? When was the last time you described an assembly of Christians as a time when the power of Jesus was present? How many other people could tell?

For me, these 40 days have led me to a place where I am starving to God’s power in ways outside my past experiences. I join in with Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians and want to know, “…his (God’s) incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Ephesians 1:19) And, I believe along with the Apostle Peter that if I have God’s power, then, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness.” (2 Peter 1:3)

When I think about that last verse, I wonder how we ever got to a place where we thought we could handle life and live in a Godly way without God’s supernatural power at work in us. What about you, have you ever just been overwhelmed by life and a huge failure at living Godly because you were trying to do it with only your own power? It just doesn’t work, does it?

Now, there is one more piece of truth about God’s power that I must face. As much as I say I want to experience it, and as much as I can say I am willing to surrender control and be open to being freaked out by God, there is still one more challenge. Paul illuminates this piece of truth in his letter to the Philippians when he declares, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11)

There it is, “suffering.” Am I so hungry, so starving to know God’s power that I am willing to also participate in the sufferings of Jesus? Those are pretty heavy duty sufferings! I want to experience the power of God in the assembly of believers at the SouthEdge barn in the morning, and every time we get together. What am I willing to suffer in exchange?

I want to get out of my normal life and enter into Uganda and participate in miraculous demonstrations of God’s power. I want to see people be healed on the spot. I want to hear people speak languages they have never learned. I want to feel an enormous boldness to stand for Jesus even in the midst of the most dangerous risks. But, am I willing to suffer? Suffer what? For how long?

What about you? Do you share my hunger? Do you have wisdom to share to help me on my path? I would love to hear from you about this or anything you have read over the last 40 entries! Until then, know that I am praying for you, since you read this entry, a prayer Paul first prayed for the Ephesians:

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being.” (Ephesians 3:16)

Thanks for being a part of these 40 Days of Preparation!

Trees, trees, trees, and more trees, over the last two days I have spent a bunch of time with a bunch of trees. My daughter and I took an overnight trip to the Hike Inn located in the Amicalola Falls State Park in North Georgia. We left Thursday morning, drove to the park, hiked 4.8 miles up the mountain to the Inn, spent the night, and this morning hiked 6 miles back to our car by way of the Appalachian Trail. It was challenging, but we had a great time.

During our 11 miles of hiking we encountered many, many, many trees. We were amazed at the variety as well as the sheer number that we saw. Not wanting to overlook a single type, my daughter took over 200 pictures of trees, that doesn’t include the other 287 that had trees in the background. I am so glad photography is now digital and we don’t have to develop all of those pictures to find out which ones we like.

A few of the trees made me think about other things. There were a few trees that started off with one strong trunk, but then split into two separate smaller trunks. When we first saw these we talked about how they represented marriage (two becoming one down to their deepest roots). It would probably been more appropriate if the trees started with two trunks and grew together into one, but we didn’t see any of those. 

At one point we saw a large, old “marriage” tree that had been uprooted and fallen on top of other trees. My daughter said, “that marriage didn’t make it.” and we laughed. But, later I thought about some of the marriages I know that “didn’t make it” after being together a long time. When they fell it crushed others. It wasn’t so funny then, but I didn’t share that with her.

Having spotted a few “marriage” trees, it was interesting when we found a large, old “family” tree. This tree strated with one trunk and then split into seven separate trunks all growing in different directions. I wondered to what extent my family will one day look like that tree?

There were brand new trees and trees that had been there for over a hundred years. Some were tall and some were short. Some were thick and some were thin. They were all sharing the same space. And, looking at them I realized they all had a story, really two stories, one inside and one out.

If you took any of those trees and cut them open, you could count the rings and get some sense of age and health. But, if you looked at the outside you could find the story of what had occurred during those years and why they were healthy or not.

Some trees had obviously struggled at different points to get sunlight and had taken sharp turns in their growth in order to survive. Some trees had been beaten by weather or attacked by other plants and had the scars to prove it. Some trees had lived long productive lives and had obviously been responsible for reproducing many other trees of their kind right around them. And, some trees seemed out-of-place, being obviously much different from the trees anywhere nearby.

Every tree seemd to have a story and it reminded me of us, a bunch of people, each with a story. We can tell others how old we are and how we are currently feeling, but if you look closely, you see that each of us also carry outward marks that only our life story can explain. How about you, what is your story? Barbara Walters is famous for asking a question similar to, “What kind of tree are you?” I don’t care so much for what kind, but I would like to know how you would describe what you would look like as a tree. What about it?

As I think back on the trees I saw, there were two main categories, and their distinctiveness led me to the question that most penetrated my heart. The two categories are straight and crooked. There were many “straight” trees. It appeared they knew from the moment they shot through the ground that they were racing to the sky. These were the tallest trees. And the oldest ones would always have access to direct sunlight. The other catagory was crooked. For whatever reasons they veered off course, they changed their mind, they had to work around others. These trees were never the tallest, but some were the oldest. And, they were by far the most interesting.

When I looked at these very interesting “crooked” trees I wondered how many of us have lived lives that were not a singular straight line to the top. Is that you? Do you ever feel guilt or shame because your life had taken a more “crooked” path? Although you may have lost out in the “sprint to the top” against others, I want to challenge you to embrace the fact that your crooked life is much more compelling to look at and your story is much more interesting to others.

Well, there are a few other illustrations I can make with trees. However, I would rather remind you of just how significant trees are in the Bible. My trip up this mountain was partly an opportunity to share an experience with my daughter. It was also an encounter with God. These trees brought me back to the trees I have read about in Scripture and the God of those trees.

Early in the Bible, in the Garden of Eden, we find two trees. Genesis 2:9 says, “And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” There, the story of God and mankind is represented in two trees. God comes to bring us life, but Adam and Eve and everyone since has chosen to eat the fruit of the second tree, to think we know better than God, and the price has been death.

Thankfully the story doesn’t end there. In the last chapter of the last book in the Bible we find the tree of life again. In Revelation 22:2 it says about heaven, “…On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Amazing, that here where we see a picture of a great wedding feast between Jesus the groom and His bride (all His followers) there is a “marriage” tree (two trunks becoming one). And, the leaves of this tree heal the death that came from eating of the other tree.

In between, there are several other examples of trees that are significant in the Bible, not the least of which would be the tree that became the cross upon which Jesus died for our sins. But the trees I want to call to your attention before I am through are found in Isaiah 61:3. There God says that the people described as poor, brokenhearted, captive, prisoners, who have experienced morning and grieving (in other words, the people with lives that look like CROOKED TREES), “…will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”

An oak is one strong, powerful tree. I pray that although you have joined the rest of us in eating the fruit of the wrong tree, that you will believe that healing and life are possible. And, that you will believe God when He calls you an oak of righteousness that He has planted (right where you have been planted) for the display of His splendor.

Young or old, thin or thick, crooked or straight, tall or short, healthy or weak, live as the oak God already sees you to be and show off His greatness to the world that walks down the path where you have been planted!

My daughter and I are about to go climb a small mountain together. We are not taking on Everest or anything close. Instead, we are driving up to the mountains of North Georgia and hiking a 5 mile trail up a mountain. Once we get to the top of the trail, we will spend the night at a place called the Hike Inn and then we will hike down and return tomorrow.

We have taken this trip once before, along with my oldest son. He isn’t going along this time, his choice, this isn’t really “his thing.” But, my daughter really enjoyed our last experience and is looking forward to this one. Along the trail she is likely to take multitudes of pictures. Last time, we were able to find four unique pictures she had taken, frame them, and hang them on one of the walls of our entry area. She has quite a knack for this.

The stopping to take pictures will be good for me. It would be easy for me to get caught up more in the challenge to get to the top, than to “see” everything on the path. I didn’t really think about this yesterday when I wrote about “seeing,” but God is giving me a great practical opportunity to practice today what I prayed yesterday.

Although I wish our whole family was making the trip, and one day I hope we will, it will be great to have some alone time to invest in my daughter. As I thought about this trip, two passages of Scripture have surfaced. First, and obviously for those of you who are really tuned in to the happenings at SouthEdge, is Genesis 22 where Abraham journeys up a mountain with his son Isaac. Now, the good news for my daughter is I haven’t been given any kind of word from God about offering her as a sacrifice. But, I do pray that we have an encounter together with God on that mountain.

The second passage of Scripture comes from Deuteronomy 6. There, God is speaking to His people through Moses and teaching them how to live. Moses writes:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 6:5-7)

I can’t wait to find out what we get to discuss and how I can use this time to impress on my daughter’s heart everything God is to me and for me, and help her to know that He wants to be that for her as well!

But, I am also excited because God is my Heavenly Father and He will be walking with me up this mountain and speaking to me as we walk along this road and lie down and wake up. I have asked Him to help me see more clearly. I wonder what He will show me.

So we are heading out to be together with each other and together with God. We are not racing, but taking a journey. We are hoping to “see” many things and discuss many things and more than anything else grow more intimate in our relationship because of the experiences and secrets we are about to share.

Where is it that God wants to take a walk or a hike or a climb with you? Where is it that you should take a walk or hike or climb with someone else? I hope that here, near the end of these 40 Days of Preparation that you will find a way to have some type of planned experience where you can meet with God in a different space, and even take someone else along with you. I can’t wait to hear your story!

Today I went to the eye doctor to have my eyes checked and to get some more contacts in preparation for my trip. I need contacts. I can definitely tell the  difference when I get up in the morning and don’t put my contacts in before heading downstairs. Though my sight is not that bad in comparison to others, especially my wife, and although it has not deteriorated that much over the last twenty years, I will need help seeing clearly for the rest of my life. This, of course, is not just true of my physical eyes, but my spiritual eyes as well. I need help seeing clearly.

As I thought about this today, I thought about how often Jesus healed people who were blind. He did it in different ways and had a variety of responses to His actions. But then I thought, really every time Jesus performed a miracle or taught a lesson, He was healing blindness, the blindness in people’s hearts.

In Mark 8:18, Jesus asks the question, “Do you have eyes but fail to see?” Wow, that is a question we all need to sit with for awhile. I wonder what it was today that was right before my eyes, but I didn’t see. I wonder what God has been showing me during these Days of Preparation that I have just not seen. I wonder what is ahead in Uganda to see and whether or not I will see it.

When I was a young child, my eyes were strong enough that no one suggested glasses or contacts. When I reached my late teens my eyes showed some weakness and the doctor suggested I get them, but they weren’t really necessary, I could still see the board at the front of the classroom without them. I mainly wore my contacts to play sports so I could see extremely clearly. And, when I went off to college and didn’t play sports every day, the hassle of caring for contacts resulted in going without them for many days in a row. During those few years, I wore my contacts so infrequently that I didn’t really know what 20/20 vision was like.

I wonder about that now when it comes to my spiritual eyes. I wonder how much better my “sight” would be if I put on the Holy Spirit over my eyes like contacts every moment. I wonder if I am just so used to seeing through blurry spiritual eyes, that blurry is my normal.

Now, I believe my vision will always be a little blurry while I am living in this flesh suit. Paul describes our vision in 1 Corinthians 13 as “seeing through a glass darkly.” But I am sure I could be, and should be, seeing more clearly.

In Matthew 13, Jesus is teaching the powerful Parable of the Sower (we all need to ask ourselves regularly what kind of soil we are being) and explaining to His disciples why He teaches using parables. His answer, in short, is that parables allow Him to teach everyone and have some understand and others not understand. Not surprisingly, Jesus talks about it in terms of sight. He describes some people as, “Though seeing, they do not see.” (Matthew 13:13) He goes further and quotes Isaiah, saying:

“You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.” (Matthew 13:14-15)

Again, WOW! So when I have an eye problem it is really a heart problem. And, my eye/heart problem can be the obstacle to my turning (repenting) away from me and toward God. And, that can be the obstacle to my healing.

I don’t want to be okay with or used to blurry spiritual vision. I am praying that God will soften every calloused place that still remains in my heart so that I can see clearly and turn quickly and heal fully. I am praying this for the people of SouthEdge, for the people who read this blog, and for the people of Uganda I am about to meet. Will you please join me in that prayer?

In the very next two verses of Matthew’s Gospel, he records Jesus saying to His disciples, “But, blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” (Matthew 13:16-17) You and I have the privilege of being alive at this moment in history. We have come after Jesus has lived and died and risen. We have come after the Bible has been written and made easily available in our language and our culture. And, we have lived long enough to see God for ourselves. We have gotten to see things many only dreamed of seeing.

We have the chance to see. Will we see what we can see? I end with part of a prayer the Apostle Paul wrote to the people who lived in Ephesus. It is my prayer for me and for you and for the people I will encounter in the next couple of weeks:

“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength.” (Ephesians 1:18-19)

Heart, eyes, hope, power, repentance, and healing, I want to see it!

This past school year God helped me connect several dots of interest and what became of it was a monthly breakfast meeting for dads and their kids at our local elementary school. With the structure and suggestions of a national organization and the support of the school’s administration, I had the chance to create a space once a month where “the hearts of children could be won to their fathers, and the hearts of fathers won to their children.” (a loose translation of  Malachi 4:6)

At the meeting each month dads and their children would gather at the gym, grab a biscuit and something to drink, sit on a blanket and have breakfast and a brief discussion based on the theme of the day. About half-way into our time, we would break into groups of about 5 families and dads would introduce themselves, their child or children, and share some way their child made them proud. It was a very simple yet powerful time. Following that, I would give a brief illustration about our theme and we would give away some raffle items to the kids before hugs and on to school and work. It was a fast 45 minutes each month.

I really enjoyed the experience and I really believe that what happened during those moments made a difference. I am so convinced, that this year I am attempting to start a similar group at our middle school, while keeping the group going at our elementary school, even though we won’t have any kids of our own at the elementary school.

Doing something like this dads’ group is not easy. There is a huge cost of time and energy and money. And, like most things, it is difficult to know if it is worth it and you open yourself up to all kinds of criticism. But, when I have one of those moments when I know I have made a positive difference in someone else’s life, it fuels me to keep going.

Tonight after dinner, Sheri wanted us to take a family walk. We live in a large neighborhood with a park area that sits on a reservoir and provides a great place to see the sunset. So, we set out for the park. While there I bumped into a dad who had participated in our monthly breakfast meetings at the elementary school. After some small talk about the summer and our vacation experiences, he told me that the other day his daughter asked him if they could get up early the next morning, get out a blanket, and have there own dad’s breakfast like we had at school. I smiled and thanked him for telling me. Later I cried.

If you aren’t currently finding a way in your life to significantly invest in the people in your community, I want to encourage you to get started now! I know you are busy. I know that lots of people will criticize or not participate. I know that it may take a couple of misfires to find something that fits you and fits the situation. But please, do something now!

There is nothing like the feeling of experiencing that kind of surprising encouragement. There is nothing like having someone tell you a story of how you added something to their life. Don’t miss out on that experience!

If you don’t have any idea where to start, I am happy to help. E-mail me at jay@southedge.org and I will brainstorm with you until we find a place to start. You can do this!

One other challenge I want you to hear: If you have been blessed by the efforts of someone who has taken the time and risk to invest in you, please find a way to encourage them! Please tell them your story of how what they have done is making a difference! Please fuel those who maybe wondering if what they are doing, or have done, is worth it. They need to hear it! It made a difference in my heart tonight to read Walter’s most recent comment from the blog entry ”The Jacket” where he did just that for me!

When I go to Uganda next week, I will have another chance to make a significant difference in the lives of people. But, so will you, right here where you live! Do something! Don’t miss out! I am here to help! Let’s get started!

More and more and more and more of the programming on TV is what we call Reality Shows. It used to be that the news was our reality TV. But, that was just reporting on real life, almost always after-the-fact, and not showing real life as it happened. Then we had talk shows, where the conversations about real life may also reveal real moments between people. Now, we have TV shows that by design record people living life. Many of the shows create the situations, so they are not really real. Still, we get the chance to see people respond at an instant to the challenges of life, we get to see real responses.

If you watch TV, and if you watch many Reality Shows, I bet you would find it hard to identify more than one or two people you thought were benefited from being on the show. Now, I’m not talking about whether or not they won the show and any money or prizes. I am also not talking about whether or not their appearance on a show translated into more fame. What I am talking about is whether or not you think more highly of them having watched them respond in front of the cameras. Most the people I have seen on Reality TV are trainwrecks.

What about you and me? Would we be more or less attractive and impressive to a watching world if we had the cameras rolling 24/7? What if all our alone time was on tape, what would people be surprised to find us doing? What if all of our internal conversations were given a voice? What if everyone was aware of our secret evaluations of others and not just the nice words we actually say outloud? How would we fare as Reality Stars?

As I have been thinking about this, I have concluded that I am the star of a reality show, one with a very small but significant audience. The cameras may not be rolling, but my wife and kids are watching and listening 24/7. I wonder how I am faring with them?

I am also the star of a less intimate show with a larger audience. There are people who know me. they may be friends, they may attend SouthEdge, they may intersect with me because of school or sports or shopping or something else, but they know who I am and they are watching and listening. How am I doing with them?

This must be one of the greatest challenges to living a sold-out Christian life. If we take the Bible seriously, we will live our commitment to Jesus more and more publicly and more and more transparently. How big a challenge is that for you?

I know a few people who are willing to talk about it and many more who just express it with their life choices, that they are unwilling to be public with their Christianity because they know it will mean that more people will be watching and likely finding inconsistencies. In an attempt to avoid public scrutiny, they keep their relationship to Jesus undercover and hope to fade into the woodwork. So much for being a light in the midst of darkness.

In addition, being a follower of Jesus also means becoming increasingly transparent with more and more people, sharing your hurts and doubts and failures. The New Testament even teaches us to confess our sins to one another. Now outside the Bible, there isn’t anyone who is going to try to sell that advice as a life strategy. Why would you ever give others ammunition to take you down?

So here is this crazy way of life: Live as publicly as possible and live as transparently as possible. Choose to put a camera on you 24/7 and then try to get the biggest audience possible in order to point people to God. This is the way of Jesus and it is unbelievably threatening, unless you have been set free from having to prove your worth to others, or having to create an image to impress others, or having to hide your flaws for fear they will be your ultimate undoing.

That is exactly what Jesus has promised to do, to set us free. We are the stars of a Reality Show and God is the audience that sees ever second of the footage, even what is going on inside of us. Yet, He has found us valuable anyway, valuable enough to pay the price of His Son. He is not impressed with our image, instead He is constantly at work shaping us into His image. And, He already knows all our flaws. He loves us inspite of them, not because He is unaware of them.

I am about to go to a country where I will stand out every second of every day. I am preparing to teach and I hope Ugandans will listen. But, I know they will all be watching how I live, how I interact with people and respond in the face of difficulties. I am sure I won’t be perfect before them. That’s not the challenge. The challenge is to live free and when I blow it to deal with that in a Godly fashion as well. They really don’t need me to be a perfect man, then how would they relate to me? They have Jesus for perfection, they need me as an example that God could love them because He could love someone as messed up as me.

Still, my time there will be brief. It will be unlikely that I will be in a situation during those few days where I would display my worst self. It is possible, but really unlikely. Instead, displaying the worst of me is a greater challenge right here in my real life where people will see me over and over and over.

What I have learned is, contrary to popular opinion, you can’t really avoid being a Reality Star if you are living a real life. So, I want to encourage you to take the crazy advice of the Bible and on purpose go more and more public with your relationship to Jesus. I also want to encourage you to become more and more transparent with others. Don’t wait to feel free before you get started. Once you get started, you will begin to experience a freedom you have never known before.

There will be challenges. Some people will judge, and judge harshly or even wrongly, but you will survive. Someone you trust will probably hurt you deeply, but you will survive. This is a threatening lifestyle, but worth it! And, as a result, not only will you experience freedom, so will oothers who will fall in love with the God who loves you. Don’t miss out!

When I wake up tomorrow morning, I will have just one week to be ready to go to Uganda. I have just one week, just seven days. I have read that God can accomplish a great deal in seven days, even allowing for rest, and at this point I feel like He is going to need to do something miraculous in me for me to be ready.

Over the last month of preparation I have been challenged by many things. I have had numerous memorable experiences. I have felt pretty clear direction in my preparation to teach. I have watched my family connect and fall in love with Ugandan children. I have purchased almost everything I think I will need. And yet, in many respects I wish I had another month to prepare myself.

I know deep inside that even if I had another month, I wouldn’t think I was ready then either. So instead, tonight, on the Fourth of July, I am content with one more week. I am not sure exactly how I will spend it. What would you do? Really, I want your advice. If you had one week to get ready to travel to the other side of the earth, to have the attention of hundreds of people, and to have the opportunity to teach them about God, how would you spend your last week?

I mentioned that tonight was the Fourth of July. The two words that stood out for me today, and I shared at SouthEdge this morning, were “freedom” and “independence.” As I look ahead to this final week of preparation, I am praying to experience freedom from my own expectations and freedom to dive in to this opportunity without fear of doing it wrong. In addition, I am praying that the feeling of never being fully prepared would help drive me to the place I need to be, living in dependence on God and not me.

I ask you to please join with me in prayer for this week ahead. I ask you to please pray for me while I am in Uganda. Specifically, I ask you to pray with me that I would get the privilege of experiencing the supernatural work of God in a way I have never experienced before. And, I ask you to pray for my family and my church and their lives while I am away.

During this last month I have witnessed many wonderful changes in my life and the lives of my family. One of the coolest was highlighted tonight in the answer my two oldest children gave me to a pretty standard question. We were sitting, waiting for a fireworks display to begin and I asked them what one thing would they like for me to bring each of them from Uganda. The first response out of my 14 year old son and 11 year old daughter came almost in unison. They both said, “a little brother.” I am so glad God has made this trip possible!