Serve more...

Like many high school kids, I was thinking about myself most of the time throughout those years in life.  Everything was about what I needed, and what was important for me and to me.  You might say that I was a teenager who believed that the world revolved around him.  And then sometime during that freshman year of high school I met Kevin Cobb, the Youth Pastor at my church.

It took me a couple years, but I remember looking back when I was a junior and realized that Kevin never really did anything for himself. He was always at church, at least when I stopped by, always visiting the local small group gatherings that all of us guys had throughout the week, and he even swung by my house to give me a ride whenever I needed to get to a church function. I mean, it was crazy. He always seemed to be there for me when I needed it most.

“The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

~Matthew 23:11-12

These words spoken by Jesus to his disciples and a large crowd could not ring more true when I think about Kevin Cobb. What he was doing was not complicated and groundbreaking. He was doing exactly what he was taught to do when he was a young believer in Christ… and that is, serve others. The simplicity of this lesson continues to speak to me even today.

The people around us do not need us to do anything more than just serve them. And it isn’t about being audacious or outlandish. It just needs to be sincere. So my question for you is this: who is it in your life today that you need to serve? We encounter people all the time that need nothing more from us than a true act of kindness. My prayer for you is that you bless somebody today; it doesn’t matter whether it is big or small, it only needs to be meaningful and from the heart.

Praying for you,

MO

Battle well...

Maybe it is just me, but I hold on to the losses in life sometimes more than I do the victories. I can still remember one of my last water polo games in high school. We really wanted to beat our rival school. It was a close game, but they ended up beating us. That loss still stings. I mean, come on, shouldn’t I be able to get rid of thoughts from so long ago? Maybe. But, the fact is that is part of who I am. I am a fighter.

We see in the Bible that Apostle Paul instructs young Timothy to hold on tightly, and give life his very best. And, Paul does this by giving him encouragement pointing back to his own life.

“Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith.” ~1 Timothy 1:18-19

And there you have it. We only have a couple of options in life. We can either move forward and give it our very best to fight the battle, or we can allow the trivial stuff to shipwreck us and make us crash and capsize. The choice is really up to each of us. My prayer for you today is that you search your heart and ask what it is that you need to do to fortify your heart to continue to fight the battles you will face. And I guess my question is, are you willing to battle well, and do it for the rest of your life?

Praying for you,

MO

What You Control

Let’s face it, you do not control very much in your life. One of my favorite parts about being a chaplain in the Army is that I will never have to make a command decision. I have absolutely no power. In fact, if I were in a situation where a big decision needed to be made on the battlefield, and it was just me and PVT Snuffy, he would be telling me what to do and not the other way around. Which brings me to the part that I like least in the Army, which is, I will never have to make a command decision.

It’s pretty humbling to know that I do not control much. And, that is not just in the Army, but life in general. I would venture to say that no matter where you are in life, you do not have as much control as you might like to have. Whether it is your work, family situation, or even a group that you volunteer time at.

What I do control is my attitude. And, by learning from men and women who know much more than me, peers that care a ton about my growth in all areas of life, and Scripture, I know that one principle remains constant. That is, God is the one that has real control in my life. My question to you is, have you taken a long hard look at what you actually do have control over, and separate it from what you think that you have control over? Once you put your trust in God, and know that he is the controller of not just your life, but of all creation, it might give you a different perspective.

“All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.”

Psalm 22:27-28

Beware of the Man with Infinite Wisdom…

Beware of the Man with Infinite Wisdom…

It always amazes me how so many people have so much to say about stuff that is clearly out of their purview.  What I mean by that is, it doesn’t matter where I am – standing in line, at the grocery store, whatever – someone is always giving their opinion to somebody else.   John Maxwell once said that if we spend as much time taking our own advice that we give to everybody else, we would be much better people.  Let me give you a little bit of context.

Every now and again somebody tries to chime in with their important wisdom and knowledge into something that they believe I need to change.  I usually just smile and accept whatever nonsense they are telling me.  But then there are those that are really adamant about how wrong that I’m doing life, and that they have the answers.  Let’s not even get into the life choices that these individuals that always seem to have the best wisdom are actually making themselves.

Most anybody who has ever spent time with me has heard me say the following, “I really only care about the opinions of five or so people in my life, and you are not one of them.”  Yes, I know.  There is something that I can and should learn from everybody.  But, I can usually do that on my own.  So, next time you want to give me your important insight, just remember that you should probably deal with your own stuff first and then come back to change my life.

The Leadership Lens

I remember my early days as a youth pastor, working with Kevin Cobb.  At that point I had been in many leadership positions throughout my younger years, both in high school and extracurricular activities.  However, now I was being paid to make sure that people were on the right track. Kevin and I had a very important conversation when I was pretty new to the process, which centered on my outlook on life.  He told me that if I wanted to be successful at leading others I would have to take a couple of intentional steps. The first one was that I had to rely on others, or build teams. The other was that I needed to begin looking at life through what he calls the “leadership lens.”

The leadership lens is exactly what it sounds like.  Every situation that I encountered I viewed in such a way that I could apply the leadership principles that I knew, and those that I was learning.  As you could probably imagine I made a ton of mistakes early on. It’s one of the reasons I really look to authors like John Maxwell, who wrote 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.  It was about having a set of values and principles that I was able to look towards the matter within any situation, or question.

Wherever you are in the leadership journey, just know that the sooner you start looking at situations through the leadership lens, the more you’ll start to make correct directional decisions.  And, as one of my author–mentors says that all leaders should ask in any situation, “What would a great leader do?” Lead well.

Bailiwick (2 Timothy 2:14)

Good morning ladies,

The word of the day is “bailiwick.”  I remember when I was in high school I did pretty much everything, and every activity, under the sun. I was part of sports teams, student government, club activities, community activities, and the like. As I grew older, I realized that I needed to focus my energies on maybe just a couple of items in life. Through much prayer and talking to others I trusted, I decided that ministry would be at the center of that journey. I wanted to help others realize why God’s word, and God’s way, were the best possible option in life.

Remind everyone about these things, and command them in God's presence to stop fighting over words. Such arguments are useless, and they can ruin those who hear them.

~2 Tim 2:14

My question is: what are you doing on a consistent basis to understand God’s word just a little bit more? I have the opportunity to speak with many young men and women about faith. I often ask them what kind of structures they have in life to help them through the tough times. Shockingly, the majority of the people that I talked to often have little or no support system. My prayer is that you make the knowledge of God’s word part of your bailiwick, or area of expertise. I’m not telling you have to be perfect by any means, or know the intricacies of the Greek and Hebrew translations. What I am saying is that when you take responsibility for being a productive member in God’s family, a huge part of that is working through the Bible so that when others ask you questions, you have answers, according to God’s will and not your own. Get busy becoming an expert, today.

Praying for you,

MO

Afflatus (Hebrews 4:12)

Good morning ladies,

The word of the day is “afflatus.” I remember one time I had not studied for a test that was pretty important. I was a highschooler, and had very different priorities than I probably should’ve had at the time. I often failed to prepare for exams. So, when I got to a test day in my Chemistry class - one of those no-preparation days - I figured the only action that I could take at that point was to pray. And so I did. I took the test, and did not feel good about it, but figured that God had my back. To my amazement, when we received our test paper back, I had gotten a 36%. I mean, how could God not answer my prayer? I was truly dumbfounded. Then, I actually was dumb enough to have a conversation with Kevin about this, my youth pastor at church. He was in about as much amazement that I thought God was going to help me through my lack of preparation as I was that God did not help me.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

~Heb 4:12

My question is: from where do you find your inspiration? Although I had the wrong line of thinking for that test back in highschool, I did realize that if I could align my thinking  with stuff that was important to God, my life would probably be a bit easier, or at least better. My challenge is that you treat God’s word with respect it deserves. God’s word is alive, it is working within this world each day, and it has the power to do more than you or I could ever imagine. I hope you take a moment to ask God to allow his word to permeate your heart. This is the divine inspiration, or afflatus, to which i am referring.

Praying for you,

MO