A couple friends of mine just had babies recently. I saw their pictures on Facebook. Beautiful little bundles of joy. And at Christmas time it’s such a beautiful thing.

Babies are completely helpless. Totally dependent on their caretakers for everything. They have no say in where they will sleep. They have to input on what they eat. They cannot choose their friends or family.

Jesus was a baby once. He was completely helpless. Totally dependent on Mary and Joseph for everything. While everyone was yearning for a king, they got a baby. Interesting.

The next time you find yourself in a helpless situation, remember this one thing: Jesus, your only true Source of strength, knows what helpless is like. He knows what it is to be totally dependent. For those experiencing loss instead of gain this Christmas, remember how everyone 2000 years ago was expecting a king and got a baby instead? Your strength will come from unlikely places. He was despised and rejected, yet He became the savior of the world.

Celebrate the Source of helpless strength.

Yesterday morning I asked God to show me what I don’t know that I need to know. I wasn’t prepared for His answer.

He told me, “You’re too capable.”

“What do you mean, Lord?”

“You have created good, healthy rhythm in a lot of your life areas. You are productive with your time. You have lowered your cholesterol. You read good stuff on blogs. You’re up to date on your Youversion Bible reading plan. You pray for people as EchoPrayer sends you your prayer list via texts all through the day.  You are always reading something on personal growth. You are always thinking about how to educate a population of ministry leaders on the fine art of mocking burnout. You love your wife and kids…

“Okay, so what’s the problem?”

“You rely on yourself too much. You rely on me too little for what really matters. Capability is a slippery slope. Once you see success in an area of life, it’s tempting to let self-reliance slip in and start a conversation with you. Before long, you are all buddy-buddy and your utter brokenness and dependence on me fades into the woodwork.”

“Oh.”

“Remember what I said? ‘I am the vine. You are the branches. Apart from me you can do nothing.‘  I mean it. Apart from me you are just like that bonsai tree you tried to grow. You may look (and feel) good for a season, but you’re not really impacting the world the way I want you to.”

“Forgive me, Lord. How can I keep from becoming too dangerously capable?”

“Let’s get together more often. Let me do the talking. You listen.”

No matter where you call home in this world, there is little doubt you know what I’m talking about when I say “9/11″.

An incredible display of evil in a matter of minutes spread over 3 different locations across the United States. And the world has never been the same since.

Tragedy and Clarity

Tragedy has a unique ability to shove us into personal clarity. Something, or someone, is suddenly stripped from our “known reality”. Our trust is shaken. Our control is compromised. We’re left broken, stunned, less than whole. Now, if we stick it out we are left with clarity of purpose; clarity of conviction; clarity of mission.

What is your personal clarity today? Of what are you 110% certain?

I heard a quote by William Barclay the other day. It was in a commentary on the book of John. I thought of you who diligently serve Christ in ministry leadership and wanted to share it with you as an encouragement:

“What God did for Jesus, God does for every man. When God sends us out upon a road, He does not send us out without directions and without guidance. When God gives us a task, He does not leave us to do it in the lonely weakness of our own strength. God is not a silent God, and ever and again, when the strain of life is too much for us, when the effort of God’s way is beyond our human resources, if we listen we will hear Him speak, and we will go on with His voice ringing in our ears, and His strength surging through our frame.”

…His strength surging. It’s how God rolls.

THAT’S a picture of serving strong, wouldn’t you agree?

“I began to live as if there were no one save God and me in the world.”  Brother Lawrence

Photo: Preconscious Eye

Two resources have grabbed my attention recently. One is a blog post by my friend, Kevin Martineau entitled, “6 Ways To Practice The Presence Of God Throughout Your Day“. The other is an article in the Outcomes Magazine entitled, “Restoring Leaders’ Souls“. I strongly recommend you visit both pieces and read them for yourself.

Here are 4 principles that stood out to me:

Bookends.  We must begin and end each day in the presence of God just listening. By doing this, we tell God and ourselves that everything between the bookends is from Him and through Him and for Him (Romans 11.36)

Gardening.  We must tend the garden of Truth found in God’s Word. This is particularly difficult for some because when they sit down to read the scriptures for their own personal spiritual growth, they end up preparing for sermons. This urge must be resisted.

Trajectory. Is the trajectory of your life moving toward a more spacious, Spirit-filled, reflective way of being? Or is it increasingly harried, stressful, and endlessly fast-paced? We seem to quickly justify all of this activity as important – but is it really what God intends for us?

Priorities.  We hear a lot about priorities in leadership. What are yours? Do they look like this: Soul/Spiritual first, Service/Leadership second? Caring for our own souls first equips us to care for the souls of others. If you’ve ever flown, you know the instructions in the event of the loss of cabin pressure to put on your own mask before assisting others. Sounds counter-intuitive, but it’s a must.

Your turn. After reading through the two resources above, what are you learning?

What do you think of the 4 listed above?

I stumbled upon this photo and it instantly became a blog post in my mind (probably cause I could relate to the panic associated with this kind of situation).

There have been times when I’ve asked myself, “How did I get here?” I’m in way over my head. I’m traveling at speeds I can’t keep up with. I’m doing things I wasn’t cut out to do. I’m trying to please everybody all over the place… these are all symptoms of one.single.mistake: 

I become my own god.

Now, I don’t wake up thinking, “I believe I’ll take over from here God. I don’t need you. I’ll handle today on my own.” No. In fact, with the aid of my Accountability Network (you have an Accountability Network don’t you?) I get up first thing every morning and kneel quietly for a season at God’s feet without any requests – just listening.

So I don’t intend to be my own god. It happens gradually. A little decision to worry about something in the morning. A little decision to try and figure out a challenge on my own in the afternoon. And before I know it, I’m feeling like the motorcyclist in the photo. This is no way to stay strong in ministry leadership. I know it. But I need to keep a watch all.the.time.

Can you relate to this tendency? What do you do to keep from gradually becoming your own god?