Archives for March 2014

I was leading a workshop not too long ago and I opened by asking the ladies, “Why are you here?”

The workshop was “Overcoming the Barriers Keeping You from Your Extraordinary Life.”  A few women shared their desire for more joy and to gain a sense of purpose in their lives.  And then one woman raise her hand and said,

How great is that!  Still makes me smile!

So, I’d love to invite you to join me, and maybe even check me out, at a one-day retreat in just a few weeks.

We all want to be beautiful, right?  We buy the creams, get our hair done, and look for just the right shade of make-up.  While none of this is wrong, real beauty, lasting beauty comes through inside-out transformation.

In three sessions we’re going to go after the Ultimate Makeover.  In three sessions,

• Identity in Christ
• Intimacy with Christ 
• Impact through Christ

you will hear my story, reflect on your own, see what the Bible has to say, and join the journey toward “inside out transformation.”

And the worship with Kelly Manley is going to be phenomenal.

Location: 

1503 Walnut Street
Cary, NC 27511

Time:  9:00 – 4:00 

Cost:  $25 and includes lunch catered by Panera. 

Invite a girlfriend and COME ON! To register, CLICK and sign up.  And leave a comment here to let me know you’re coming.  If you’re already registered, let me know that too.

Oh, and one more thing.  If you think that this retreat is one your friends would enjoy, would you share it on FB or Twitter?

Whether your intrigued by the topic, excited about the worship, want to hang with your girlfriends, or just want to check me out  … it’s going to be a great day!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the idea that God always protects His people.  And in the words of Inago Montoya, “I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Because if God always protects his people in the way that we think it means, then why do Christians suffer?  

One January morning I was driving to meet some women for prayer.  I had already been wrestling in the Word and in prayer that morning over all the pain in this messed up world.  The orphans, the exploited, the refugees in war-torn countries.

As I exited the highway and came to the stoplight, I saw a woman holding a sign.  “Homeless and Hungry.”

I checked my purse for a pitiful offering.  All I had was a dollar and a granola bar.  I rolled down my window and apologized for the meagerness and I asked if I could pray for her.

“Please,” she said.  She told me her name and I prayed.  So pitiful.

All the way to my friend’s house, I cried.  Why would God protect me and not her?   In this January of uncertainty in our own lives, how could people promise that God would give us shelter?  She and I are both created in the image of God.  I am no better, no worse than she is.

As I drove away, she stood cold and holding a sign.

I felt anger as well.  Where is the church? 

Not a judgmentally, get-your-life-together church.  But a church that embraces the messiness of us all and works to love well.

And when church is in-this-together, giving-to-those-in-need, grounded in the truth of the gospel, and the community of family, and the breaking of bread, and the praying with groans and tears … there will be no signs that say “Hungry and Homeless.”

And we’ll join together to shine the love of Christ into dark and broken places.  We’ll be the protecting hands and feet of Christ.  We’ll seek the wisdom and discernment and empowering by God, but won’t put expect that God protects without our participation.  We’ll carry his presence into the world.  We’ll be his ambassadors.  We’ll bear his image.  And rather than going to church, we’ll be the church.

But honestly, it starts with me.  And it starts with you.  Join me?

What is carrying Christ’s presence into the world was like this?

What if every morning we lifted the yoke onto our shoulders, hooked our buckets on either side, and trudged down to the well to fill up on a bit of Jesus?

What if bringing living water to others meant that we physically weighed ourselves down and felt the burden?

For me, a trip to the well means a fresh-brewed cup of coffee, a blanket on the couch, the sun glimmering through the trees, and my Bible open in my lap.  For me, a trip to the well is pleasant, comfortable.  It involves reading, praying, writing, thinking … things I love. For me, the greatest challenge is getting up early enough to have quiet.

Not so for our brothers and sisters around the world.  Not so for the 33 Christian in North Korea currently facing execution.

While privately praying may not bear immediate consequences for them, carrying living water into their world does.  

These Christians were working with South Korean missionary, Kim Jung-wook to set up 500 churches in North Korea.  They are church planters pushing seeds down deep, underground, in hope of seeing life emerge.

North Korea.  Here the government maintains a facade of religious tolerance, and yet violently represses religious expression.  Four state-controlled church buildings are located in the capital.  And yet no worship takes place here.  No prayer.  No teaching.  They seem to serve only one purpose — to make the facade look good.

Christians in North Korea are actively pursued and captured.  When they are captured, they are sent to prison camps without any hope of a trial, to be starved, tortured, and perhaps even killed.

Most likely, these 33 Christians will be executed.  Massacred really.  Surely we should pray for their miraculous release.  But, more than that, we should honor these Christians and join them in their pursuit of real life.  Here’s how:

1. Go after the living water.

If it’s as easy for you as it is for me to get to the well each day, then do it.  Don’t squander the freedom you have.  Get to the well.  Fill up on living water.  

2. Feel the weightiness of your freedom.

The freedom we have doesn’t make you and I any more blessed than those who are in chains for the gospel.  We don’t have this freedom so that we can be fat and happy.  This freedom carries responsibility.   Feel the weightiness.  

3. Pray for the persecuted church.

As Nik Ripken says in Insanity of God, don’t pray so much for a ceasing of the persecution, but for believers in persecution to be “faithful and obedient through their persecution and suffering.”  Pray for our brothers and sisters in chains.  

4. Educate yourself and others about the persecuted church.

Read books like Insanity of God.  Subscribe to the free monthly newsletter put out by Voice of the Martyrs.  Seek out real news and consider the ramifications upon Christian believers in North Korea, and Ukraine, and Syria …  Raise your awareness level.  Educate yourself and others.  

5. Carry Christ’s presence into your world.  

While believers in North Korea will not be arrested for praying silently and privately, they will be arrested for going public.  When we live out the love of Christ in our world in word and deed, and embrace the consequences, we are honoring our brothers and sisters, and we are honoring Christ.  Feel the responsibility of your freedom and boldly carry the presence of Christ into your world.  

In North Korea, and around the world, light is shining in the darkness.  Light is shining in and through the hearts of our brothers and sisters.  This “light and momentary affliction” is preparing for them an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as they look beyond what they can see, to what is unseen.  Beyond the transient to the eternal.  2 Corinthians 4:17-18.

Because my heart breaks for them, I will go to the well, I will pray for their strength to endure, and I will do my best to live out the love of Christ in my world.  Join me?

In the comments, would you write a short prayer for these 33 believers?  I’ll start.  

We have been sprinting, friends, sprinting.  Running hard and fast.  We’re used to running, but this stretch, folks, has been a bit more intense than we like.  I’m wondering if this is where you are.

We’re on the other side of this four-month sprint.  Here are a few things we learned:

1. Anticipate sprints when you can.

We knew that these four months would be unusually stressful.  Some of the stress we could anticipate. We knew a move was coming.  We knew my speaking schedule was full.  So, we cut everything that we could possibly could.  We warned the kids that these months would not be the time for adding in lots of activities.

Additional stuff came in.  A sick dog, a totaled car … life, folks, just life.  And additional stuff always comes in.  But, when you can anticipate a particularly sprint-y (Yes, I just invented that word) season, the life stuff just might not put you over the edge.  Anticipate sprints when you can.

2. Don’t get addicted to the sprint.

There’s a certain game-on mentality that comes.  Do you know what I mean?  It’s necessary in the midst of the sprint.  And there’s a rush that comes with it.  But we are not made to sprint every day, all day. 

Sabbath rhythm is good for us. Not in a legalistic-y way.  (Yes, I’m on a word-making-up roll.) The rhythm of hard work, rest, connection with friends and family … so good.   

But, when we start sprinting and we see how much we can accomplish in the hard press, sometimes it’s hard to pause.  We like the rush.  Do what you need to do, but don’t get addicted to the sprint.  

3. Mark the end of the sprint.

Sprints have finish lines.  Don’t lie to yourself and think that all of life is a sprint.  It’s not.  It just can’t be.  If we treat all of life like a sprint we will burn ourselves out and hurt the people we love.   

At its root, treating life like a sprint is selfish and prideful.  If we’re treating all of life like a sprint we’re driving our agenda and elevating ourselves.   

If you’re sprinting, look at your calendar and see when the pressure eases off.  If there is no end in sight, then you probably need to talk to a friend and get a bit of perspective.  

Determine the finish line and then mark it.  Take a day off.  Go out to dinner with your family or friends.  Celebrate a well-run race.  Mark the end of the sprint.    

After a sprint, it takes some effort to get back to marathon mentality.  This is where we are.  Last week I sat down with my journal and took a bit of time to think about what I’ve learned in this sprint. I looked over my weekly commitments and thought about my big rocks.

We still have some adjusting to do.

When you find yourself in a sprint season, what helps you?  How do you transition from sprinting to the day-in, day-out marathon of life?  I’d love to hear from you!