Sent

I just dropped off my wife and oldest daughter (13) for a week long mission trip in Honduras. It is a strange feeling 'sending' your wife and daughter off to a strange land where there is perceptibly more danger and less control. I trust they will be well and God will open their eyes to see there what is all around them here. God speaks to us in the going and the sending--the illusion of control that we live under is undressed when we send and the blindness of opportunity is unveiled when we go. Both the going and the sending open our eyes to the life we take for granted right in front of us everyday.

Thoughts on Leadership

I'm a leader, therefore I must lead, read, lead, teach, lead, serve, lead, model and lead.
I must give it away because I have very limited abilities. I must focus and delegate.
I must clarify who I can lead, what leading looks like and how is it evaluated.
I must choose to lead those who are following and not those who I wish would follow.
I must reconcile that my calling is irrevocable--failure is not an option. Affliction is part of character building and the time is short.

cynical faith

My son rolled an ATV right in front of me, and what I saw was amazing and miraculous. I told him he needed to thank God for His ministering angels. There was an ascent from my son but also a veiled cynicism. Familiarity breeds contempt and the more we are around the miraculous the less it registers.
I shook hands with Steve Larson on Sunday evening, he's been healed from Leukemia, though we've never really talked about it--the cynicism lingers. I prayed over Tracey Flores and my heart sank as I heard of her stage 3 cancer and yet she beamed in her trust of God and I was shamed.
I find it easier to trust God for the unseen than to validate the miraculous He has done in my midst. God has converged one miracle after another in my life this week and I cannot deny, suppress, dismiss His supernatural presence. I am broken that my cynicism has been shared, passed on and infected others. I see it in the faces of others when I talk about the miracle of faith, healing, deliverence, angels, and protection. I'm broken in this moment because I can no longer allow my own jaded heart to veil the glory of God. It is so apparent all around even in this moment. God, forgive me for hiding the light under the basket, wearing the veil, tolerating the scales, and minimizing the faith of others through cynicism. The sin of our age: the joy-stealing, faith-quenching, glory-robbing attitude of pride mixed with doubt. I'm sorry.