Rain, rain fall away!

I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful day. It's yet another rainy day. Many of you find yourself complaining about a dreary, cold day like today. When that feeling hits you, remind yourself of how dry it was this past summer. We would have begged for this kind of rain back in July. I promised God this past summer during the big drought that I would never grumble about the rain ever again. Rain is a blessing from God. In fact, the Scriptures describe rain as a powerful instrument God uses to get our attention.

God's control of the rain is a sign of God's power and stregth. Remember the last huge thunder clap that made you jump, or the helplessness you felt looking out at your brown yard this summer? "God's voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,' and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.' So that all men he has made may know his work, he stops every man from his labor." (Job 37:5-7) The fact that God provides rain for us is amazing when you think about what we deserve. The older I get the more I realize that I don't deserve anything good from God. My heart is deceitful and dark. God allowing the sun to shine on me, or the rain to fall around me, just illustrates His patience and mercy toward me. I was God's enemy, and yet He chose to save me, adopt me into His family, shower me with love, and make me His son.

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:43-48). So, God provides the sun and the rain on those who deserve it and those who don't deserve it. He gives us more than we need, and yet we complain when He sends the rain. As the rain falls today, remember God's favor on you and breathe a prayer of thanksgiving. Rain really is a beautiful thing...

Keeping off the Weight

I've been on a weight loss journey since January that now finds me 50 pounds lighter and feeling better than I have in many years. This weight loss journey is now in the "weight management" phase, as I have met my goal. I seriously think that losing the weight was the easy part. Keeping the weight off requires constant effort and attention. Here are the lessons I'm learning about keeping the weight off:

1) Fight boredom. I lost a lot of the weight by eating a steady diet of the same entrees just about every week. Some of them I ate every day. For example, I have now eaten approximately 200 western omelets since the end of January. That's a lot of eggs! The food I ate was appetizing....the first 8 months of the diet....but now I'm starting to actually be repulsed by the very things I craved while on the strict phase. I've had to tweak my meals and find new healthy alternatives for foods that I crave. This takes extra effort to plan and cook, but it's worth it.

2) Don't beat yourself up when you slip. I ate 2 oatmeal raisin cookies this week in a moment of weakness and literally felt sick with guilt and the sugar high. I never knew cookies could give you that kind of headache! I confessed it to my wife. I also woke up the next morning and went back to the diet. You will slip up sometimes. Sometimes, you even need to cheat just to enjoy rich foods occasionally. The key is get back on the saddle and continue. Let the slip-ups be the exception, and not the norm.

3) Quit weighing yourself so much! I now check my weight every 2 weeks or so. I was checking every day for a time and had to stop. I was getting fixated on the day to day fluctuation of my weight. I do not want to get consumed with my weight to the point that it paralyzes me. If I gain a pound here or there, I will just modify for a short time until I get back to my target weight. If I am not careful, I will let this area rule over me. I've had to battle being prideful and more concerned about my appearance as the weight has come off. Keeping track every day only feeds that pride in me.

I am still glad that I was able to lose the weight. Now, the real challenge begins. This diet can't be a passing fad that I tried. It must be a lifestyle of discipline. What this boils down to for me is maintaining self-discipline and focus.

The Heart

I was just reading this week in I Samuel 16, where the young boy David is annointed king of Israel. If you'll remember, David was the scrawny kid who didn't even get asked to meet with Samuel when Jesse was asked to present his sons for kingly consideration. In fact, David was sent out to watch sheep while Samuel was judging the other guys. The oldest, tallest, and most athletic son, Eliab, passed the prophet and Samuel thought to himself that surely this was the Lord's annointed. (I thought, "Hello! Didn't he learn that lesson from the Saul situation!") At that moment, God corrects Samuel's misguided criteria in verse 7. "But the LORD said to Samuel, `Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.'"

Being a rather short man, my first reaction to reading this statement was to smile! YES! God doesn't care about who looks like a leader. (Think about most high school football quarterbacks :) Most look like Abercrombie models....AKA: my polar opposite.) I once got to meet the leadership of a nationally prominent church and was intimidated by their towering height. I literally was looking up to them, as these 2 pastors are over 6' 3" easy. I felt like a little kid standing next to them.

So I was relieved that God doesn't care about my vertical challenges.

But then I got to thinking. Do I really want God to make my heart the criterion for whether or not He uses me? You can engineer all kinds of external changes to what man looks at (makeovers, diets, clothing updates...or even elevator shoes). At that moment I had to do a heart check. Is my heart qualified to lead? Are my desires and passions positioned in the right direction so God can use me? I had to pray David's words from Psalm 139:23-24 and soul search a bit, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." I had some confessing to do...a heart check. I advise you to take some time today to take a heart inventory as well. Can God use you, based upon your affections, devotion, thoughts, and attitude?

Mission Trip Reflection

We had a wonderful trip to Bluffton, S.C. this past week to help a new church plant there, Crosspoint Church-Bluffton. Our days were usually split into a morning and an evening segment, as far as work. Every night, we put on a Vacation Bible School for Crosspoint and a sister church in the area in a borrowed facility. During the morning ministry time we did some nursing home ministry and an outreach at a local Boys and Girls Club...the highlight of the week for me! I learned a few interesting things about our team and about the work to be done in Bluffton that I thought I would pass on to you:

-Beaufort County is the most unreached county in South Carolina, with only 9% of its population considering themselves to be Evangelical Christians. Wow.

-Many of the residents we met this week were transplants from up north...and I don't mean North Carolina! In our conversations with residents at 2 nursing homes, we determined that about 90% of them were from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut. Who woulda' thunk that?! Come to think of it, I only met a handful of people who were actually from Bluffton. That being said, there are many people who have little exposure to Evangelical Christianity.

-The population of Beaufort County is expected to double in the coming 3 decades....a little boom town! There were subdivisions popping up everywhere...and strip malls...and lots of road expansion. You could tell that this area is getting ready to explode with people!

-When you think of the general Hilton Head area, you usually think of very wealthy people. However, it takes many, many "regular" people just to keep things going there (retail, business owners, construction work, etc.)

Having said all of that, there is much work to be done in this area. I'm glad we partnered with Crosspoint this week and hope to continue supporting their work. I was so proud of our Good Hope mission team. All in all, 20 people went with us on this trip. Each one of them worked very hard, and with very little complaining. They did what was asked of them and beyond! I had a blast getting to hang out with this group.

-We have some men who would intimidate grizzly bears with their snoring, no lie. I have never slept with ear plugs...until this week! Thanks Jesus for inventing ear plugs.

-Danny Owens is a cooking machine. We ate well.

-We had a few children who went with us and they were great assets to the ministry, especially the nursing homes and the VBS. Great job kiddos!

-The teens/college students who went with us really made me proud with their effort. Whoever out there who has lost faith in teenagers just don't know the good ones!

-The construction crew were real troopers: lugging it 50 minutes each way to get to the site each day and completing everything they were asked to do!

-Jody, Michelle, Tim, Justin and the other adult leaders did a great job of ministering to the kids at VBS. I couldn't have asked for better quality in preparation and effort.

As I said, the trip was a great success. If you're a Good Hoper, I hope you consider going to Bluffton with us the next time we get a trip together. See you Sunday!

SBC Reflections

The Southern Baptist Convention was a wonderful experience for me a few weeks ago. It reignited a passion in my heart for both the Great Commission and my denomination. Of course, there are always knuckleheads in every large meeting who try to make weird resolutions...like the weird guy from New York in a bad toupee who made the resolution for our seminary professors to stop teaching that the world was coming to an end in May 2011...and the Mark Driscoll bashers who want to incite friendly fire on a strong brother who is on our own team. But, on the whole, the experience was positive and uplifting. The highlight of the Convention for me was the SBC Pastor's Conference. For some of you this might be considered torture...but to me it was absolute delight. For an entire day...all day long...I got to sit under powerful preaching from some of the leading voices in our denomination and beyond. My dad and I were literally sitting on the front row directly in front of the podium. The experience was like trying to get a sip of water from a gushing fire hydrant! The most awesome experience, to me, was David Platt's message on the state of the Church today. I highly encourage you to follow the link below to the video and watch. It might be the most impacting 35 minutes you'll ever spend. The Brother started off his message by quoting from the Psalms for a really long time...completely awesome! I watched it again 2 nights ago just because I needed to hear it again. If I'm ever sick and can't preach, Good Hopers will be watching this video message in my place.

For a video link to David Platt's message, click on the link below:

http://www.keithsewell.net/?p=121

With all of the good things, there was also some discouraging news that requires action from each of us. The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is a special SBC offering that all churches in our denomination take up to support our international mission efforts. There was a 30 million dollar shortfall this past December, severely crippling the IMB from sending out new missionaries. We were told there are 2,000 missionaries who are "in the pipeline" to be sent out. Many of them have sold their homes, gone to school, and are waiting to be sent. At the present time, we can only send 300 of them to the field due to the budget shortfall. I am joining with other SBC pastors in calling for a "Christmas in August" special offering to make up for this shortfall. Good Hoper's, please be in prayer and prepare to give sacrificially so we can provide for our missionaries who are depending upon us for the resources to "go and tell." We can't let these guys down!!!

SERVE: Summer Missions

Summer is here! Can you believe it? It snuck up on me before I even knew it. Summer is a great time at Good Hope: VBS, the churchwide family campout at Hartwell, outdoor Home Group meetings, and church fellowships involving ice cream :) usally make for some great times in our summer calendar. We also like to spend quite a bit of time doing some kind of recreation or trips with our families. You deserve it and should relax a bit.
Having said that, I want you to also consider how you can use your summer to impact the world for the Gospel. I want you to experience the JOY of serving others in the name of Jesus. Hopefully your Home Group is carrying out an outreach for the "I (Heart) L.A." campaign in the coming weeks. Our Home Group is distributing bread tomorrow to some apartment complexes and trailer parks in the hope of sharing the Good News. Good Hope is offering some great opportunities to serve others and share the Gospel in the coming weeks. You'll never regret reaching out! There are a couple of mission opportunities available that I you want you to check out:

1) Vacation Bible School is a great outreach for our church. There will be many children and families from our community who will be on our campus that need to see we care. We have a real opportunity to reach these families for Jesus this week. You might not be a "children's ministry worker," but you might can help with crowd control or engaging parents as they drop off their kids each night. VBS starts this Sunday and runs through Thursday night. If you can help and haven't contacted Jody Slice, then jump in now and help out with this awesome outreach.

2) Backyard Bible Club is a little pet project that Sierra Sevy is coordinating this summer. Our plan is to do a weekly Bible club for a couple of hours in one of the local apartment complexes in Iva. She'll be doing this program the last 2 weeks of July and the first 2 weeks of August on Tuesdays. Let her know if you can help prepare lunches, lead/play games with kids, help with crafts, or teach Bible stories.

3) The Bluffton Mission Trip is an opportunity for you to help a new church plant in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Our goal is to help Crosspoint Church in Bluffton do a jam up VBS. We'll need people to lead the various VBS stations: craft, snack, Bible lesson, and games. We also need some cooks to help us prepare the meals for the team and some skilled labor to help renovate a homeless shelter nearby. The dates for this trip are July 19-25 and the cost is about $100. Contact me if you're interested in this trip. Did I mention that Bluffton is one town over from Hilton Head? Come suffer for Jesus at the beach with me...

4) Our Firstfruits Ministry is getting off the ground. Beverly Arthur has been working to make this food pantry ministry a reality. We need perishable and non-perishable items to give away. (Remember to bring in those fruits and vegetables from your garden so we can give them away this summer!) We also need helpers to keep things organized and to walk clients through the process when they come on our distribution Sundays.

I know you can't do all of these things...but you can do something! Make sure you use your summer to make a difference for the Kingdom of God. You'll never regret serving others!

Basketball just isn't my thing...

I just got back from playing basketball with some of the guys from church. We do this on the first Thursdays of every month. Every time I go I realize just how bad I am at basketball. I'm short. I have poor aim. I try way too hard to make creative passes. In fact tonight I single-handedly blew a 6-4 lead by passing the ball to the opposing team 3 times in a row and then completely missing shots when I had the chance to shoot. We lost the game: 10-6.

I only played organized basketball for one season in 5th grade. I had 2 points the entire season. The coach was my neighbor and he would let me play the last 2 minutes of each game out of the kindness of his heart. Jim Goodman was a merciful coach. He pitied me. I say all of this to reiterate that my basketball game stinks...and that's okay. I'm not good at basketball... but I'm pretty good at other things:

I take really good pictures...lots of practice now with 3 kids.
I can relate with most people pretty well.
I usually can come up with some good ideas.
I'm a good dad to my kids.
I can run 3 miles now without feeling like I'm going to pass out or die.

Like I said, I've got some things I can do well. That's the way God made me. He did not make me to be an NBA player. The key is to know what I do well, what I was made to do, and then do those things to the best of my abilities. It'd be ridiculous for me to spend hours on the court trying to better my basketball game when I know that I'll never be that good at it. I need to work on my strengths and make those the best they can be instead of focusing on my weaknesses. Most of us try way too hard to make our weaknesses stronger when, at best, with lots of attention and training, all they'll be is mediocre. Meanwhile I'll have taken too much precious attention away from my strengths. Even my strengths suffer when I'm focusing on my weaknesses. Find out what you're good at and work hard there.

I think this thought can transfer to many areas of personal and organizational philosophy. As churches, we sometimes try way too hard to do many things when there a few things that we're made to do. We need to spend our precious resources (time, people, facilities, energy, and money) to do those things we were made to do and be. It's difficult to not spend energy on those areas/ministries/programs that will only be mediocre, at best, with lots and lots of attention. But sometimes we just have to eliminate our weaknesses in order to really focus on the few strengths that will help us grow. If we can get to that sweet spot as an organization, where our strengths are really humming, then we'll soar. Otherwise, we'll waste lots and lots of energy trying to maintain and improve the many mediocre things we feel that we have to maintain. Let's pick a few things and do them excellently!