Run with God

Being Still

I had a hellacious Tuesday and an even worse Wednesday... meeting after meeting after meeting... I was so busy over the past couple days I didn't even prepare for small group (which met several hours ago). Small group started at 6:45. I sat down at 6:00 this evening to look over the material, hoping to cram in a couple minutes of prep.

To my (unfortunate) surprise, the topic this week was "Being Still".

God, really... don't try to be subtle or anything. Don't hold back. If you want to say something, just come out and say it.

It's a needed lesson for me, and was extremely refreshing to hear from the rest of the group that, yeah, life is chaotic. Oh, and evidently the iPhone is the tool of the devil. Who knew. Although secretly I had suspicions that Steve Jobs was, in fact, the Antichrist.

The whole lesson reminded me of an Eagle's song. Yes, those Eagles. No, I wasn't alive when they were together the first time... On their reunion CD Hell Freezes Over they recorded a new track called "Learn To Be Still"... (YouTube video below).

Full lyrics at this link, but I've put a sample of the lyrics below.

We are like sheep without a shepherd
We dont know how to be alone
So we wander round this desert
And wind up following the wrong gods home

There are so many contridictions
In all these messages we send
(we keep asking)
How do I get out of here
Where do I fit in?
Though the world is torn and shaken
Even if your heart is breakin
Its waiting for you to awaken
And someday you will-
Learn to be still
Learn to be still

I find it interesting how even the Eagles see that idols and temptations will drive us away and keep us busy, but "[our heart] is waiting for you to awaken."

Biblically, we know that the Holy Spirit is here to be that resource for us, but sometimes we need to stop to hear where the Spirit is leading.

Take it from an expert. I hate stopping. I have to much to do and for me to stop means that 30 things will not get done, I will miss deadlines, and I'll probably get yelled at (and since I'm my own boss most of the time, the fact that I would yell at myself is even more ironic).

In 21Century America I think that being busy is an unfortunate fact of life. However, it's also shows a lack of faith. Being Still allows us to put our faith in God, that He will provide. By stopping, we are making God a bigger priority than our actions, and our lack of actions is showing God our faith in his abilities to provide for our needs.

So, instead of RUNwithGOD.com, maybe I should be STOPwithGOD or WAITwithGOD or WAITforGOD.com...

Eh, maybe not.

God, continually help me to put my faith in you. Teach me to be still.

Lessons from a minor leaguer...

I went to a Marlins game Tuesday night. It was my dad's birthday... he unfortunately has to share his birthday with 9/11... It was good to take a night off and have fun at the ballpark. Unfortunately, the Marlins were playing...

Anyway, it was an interesting experience. Sitting in a 70,000 person stadium that had maybe 3,000 people in attendance. Sound system broke (bad amp, bad cable?) in about the 4th inning, so there was no music, no PA system for the rest of the game. It was really surreal.

Let me tell you what I took away from the game. Paul Hoover. Paul is a backup catcher for the Marlins. He's 31 years old, bounced around in minor leagues all his life, and has played a whopping 13 games (31 at bats) in the majors his entire life. In the past five years he has played a total five games.

In short, never heard of the guy.

Which is what attracted me to him. First at bat (2nd inning), he lines a single into left field. Second at bat (third inning), double into center. Who is this guy again? Two for two in his first major leage game in a year? Unfortunately, no one was on when he got these hits, but he did score a run! He was contributing to the process.

So in the fifth inning Hoover gets up with bases loaded. I pull out my trusty iPhone and reference marlins.com for stats... he's never hit a major league home run. Never. Well, dangit, Paul's about to hit a Grand Slam...

This is it, Paul. Come on baby. Prove you can do this. Hit it for us other "loser" 30 year former baseball players that never made it to the majors. Nail it. Grand slam. Wait, Paul, why are you swinging at that crap. If you had a tennis raquet you couldn't hit that. And what were you thinking when you swung at that second pitch? A sand wedge would have been more useful... Oh Paul... Paul, why did you hit an infield fly (pictured right) to end the inning.

All kidding aside, the guy went two for five. Awesome game for a newbie. But what I learned from the situation was that when he succeeded, it didn't matter. There was nothing at stake. When an opportunity arose for him to make a name for himself, he couldn't. Every boy dreams of hitting the grand slam in the majors. For Paul, he couldn't capitalize on making that dream a reality. Now he has to hope that opportunity will open up again at a later point.

In our Small Group tonight we talked about following the Spirit, filtering out the world's "noise" and taking advantage of opportunities the Holy Spirit opens up for us. My hope and prayer is that we would follow His guidance, and try to reach out to those around us with the love of Christ. God, continue to open opportunities to us. Allow us to see our home, our work, our school, our city, our life through a Spiritual Lense and truly see how much our city needs You. Then give us the ability, strength, and persistence to tell them about You!

Persistent Prayer

Great lesson tonight in Small Group. I enjoyed sitting back and listening to everyone else share. We had some great dialogues.

The main passage we discussed is Luke 11:1-10 which contains Jesus going over the Lord's prayer again (gasp, he used different words...). Then Jesus shares a parable that had me rolling. Check out the passage (11:5-10) and read the story of the annoying neighbor...

When you're done reading it, try to figure out who you are in the parable... you may not like the answer. I know I wasn't expecting it.

Even though God knows what our heart's desire is, and He doesn't NEED TO HEAR IT from us, He still wants to. And by being persistent, by praying often, God can gauge our passion for the request... and maybe use that prayer to ALIGN our will to His.

Great stuff. Cool to think that God uses prayer to change us, mold us, break us. While we're busy trying to convince Him, He's working on changing us!

Putting on an "old hat"

I've enjoyed teaching the Media Small Group more than I thought I would. That doesn't sound right. I knew I would enjoy it. I went in with fear and trepidation, though. I haven't done this type of thing in years...

That's the downside of my life. I'm the "busy guy"... in the spectrum of Mary to Martha, I land squarely on Martha. And by staying busy, working to achieve mighty things for the Kingdom, I think I've neglected to see the people that make up the Kingdom.

It's been years since I was open with a group of adults. Check that. I don't think I've ever been open with adults. Back in my youthworker days, sure I opened up, shared, and prayed with kids. But there really is something to opening yourself up to a room of people that, more often than not, are going through the same thing you are. Leading this Small Group has helped put a smile back con my face that has been gone for way too long...

God, thank you for the opportunity to not only see the big picture of what you have for me, but reminding me that those numbers have names, faces, stories and needs.

Media Small Group, wk 1

We had our first ever media small group meeting tonight at the CF Palmetto Bay Studio. Really cool. We had nine people show up. The cool thing was it was the first time Palmetto Bay and Homestead Media crews came together. Sure we may be on different campuses, but at the end we are working together to create a venue for people to Connect to God every week. But in the hecticness of the weekend, let's be honest, Media people don't get an opportunity to Connect...

Aside from me, we had eight people. Four from Palmetto Bay. Four from Homestead. Mixed ages. Mixed backgrounds. Mixed demographics. It really is cool, though, to sit down with people you see week in and week out and actually have a serious conversation with them. This group will be a huge blessing to me.

CF Media, if you're not in a small group consider being a part of ours. We're meeting next Wednesday, 6:45pm, @ the Palmetto Bay Studio.

Media Small Group starts Wednesday

Wanted to give a heads up to everybody... Amy and I are starting a Small Group for CF Media Volunteers... In the Media, so often we are so busy creating a venue for others to Connect to God that we miss out on getting ourselves connected. My hope is that during our brief time together we can get Connected to God as well as Connecting to Others.

We'll be meeting on Wednesday night, 6:45pm, at the Palmetto Bay Studio. CF Media volunteers from both campuses (Palmetto Bay & Homestead) are welcome to attend. We are going through the six-week iPray study that coincides with the sermon series, iPray, that Rick/Eric are currently leading us through.

If you are already connected to a small group, great! If not, please consider this opportunity to meet with us as we delve into our study on prayer.

If you have any questions, drop me a line.