Spring has come…along with a few other uprisings. The skies are blue with scattered puffiness. The air is crisp with fragrant smells. And the temperature is pleasant, inviting outdoor activity. I can’t bear to be under a roof when lying in the sun beckons. It’s like my skin begs, “More vitamin D, please.” Vitamin D and sun on skin are related somehow. Spring is healthy and makes me feel good, until it happens.

Along with spring, come the menaces—the bugs, bees and weeds. Then from out of nowhere pops my bulging disc. Somewhere between L4 and L5 (lumbar vertebrae) I hear a scream, “Stop pulling weeds!” I admit it. I’m kind of soft, very much like a worm. It looks like the weeds win.

But God has a promise for us worms. “Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you. Though you are a lowly worm, . . . You will be a new threshing instrument with many sharp teeth” (Isa. 41:13-15).

Whew. I needed help, but I got more than that. I got TEETH. Ever seen a worm growl? “Grrrr.” God is making me new and powerful. Move on over weed, the whole hillside too, if I choose.
God tells us to, “Forget all . . .for I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun!” (Isa. 43:18-19). He goes on to say he is making pathways clear, deserts full of water and wild things thankful. Why is God doing this?

He’s doing it for me, the lowly worm, “so my chosen people can be refreshed” (v. 20). God promises to pour out his Spirit and his blessing (Isa. 44:3), so we can proudly claim, “I belong to the Lord.” And we “will write on [our] hand, ‘The Lord’s’ (v. 5).
That’s right, God’s making me new and powerful like a new plow. Picture a shiny, new John Deere on a field of weeds. I might smell like a worm but I’ve got new teeth, a refreshed growl and “The Lord’s” painted in yellow and green on my hand. Menaces beware.

(I hope my spine reads this blog.)

So how’s your spring? Send a comment, share your spring experience.
May you find time to be in the sun, to growl at the menaces and to brand “The Lord’s” on your hand. Be blessed.

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I get aggravated when things don’t go as I plan. Like preparing a meal only to find out that my husband ate the same thing for a business lunch. Or when I’m doing my normal work and difficulties keep making the easy task impossible. Even when I’m expecting and waiting for some great experience, I get irritated when it doesn’t happen on my timetable. Like when I prayed for and got pregnant. I really wanted this child, but it was Labor Day and we had planned a steak dinner. Going into labor was not on the calendar. And Christmas. The extra rush of the season—decorating, cooking, gifting, and partying, just doesn’t fit into my already busy schedule. Surely I’m not alone in my frustration when life is interrupted.

That’s when I read about three people whose lives were interrupted in a major way.

• In Luke 1 Zechariah went about his duties as a priest when the angel Gabriel showed up and changed his life forever. He was struck speechless when he questioned God about the promise of a child and because of his doubt he would remain silent until the birth. If I was Zechariah desiring a son, I would be somewhat irritated at the situation surrounding this child and being struck dumb. How could I tell anybody?

• Elisabeth, his wife, had her life changed as well. Imagine desiring for so long to have a child, and then in old age with a wordless husband, she finds herself pregnant. I’d go into seclusion too.

• I read further where a young girl’s life took an extreme twist. She was engaged and preparing to be wed, when Gabriel shows up and tells her she would get pregnant and give birth to a special boy—God’s son. Talk about wedding changes. Life interruption!

All throughout the Bible and even today, God interrupts normal lives. I’m glad these ordinary people allowed God’s disruption. Their life intrusion gave me salvation. I will put away my irritations and embrace my life interruptions. Off to celebrate Christmas—the best interruption of all.

What interruptions and irritations can you celebrate this Christmas? Leave a thought or comment.

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Great Master, touch us with Your skillful hands;
Let not the music that is in us die! ~Streams, p. 335

That line of poetry pierces into the struggle for my passion and alludes to the difficulties of life. Job said:

Is not all human life a struggle? Our lives are like that of a hired hand…who longs for the shade…waiting to be paid. I, too, have been assigned months of futility, long and weary nights of misery (Job 7:1-3).

Amazing leadership gets complete buy-in and financial backing from their enemies. I’d love to know how to change my circumstances, my enemies, and my world. Ezra, a student of the Law of Moses, demonstrates such awesome leadership that powerful leaders, kings, and even his historical enemies became his servants. His example gives leaders an application.

He [Ezra] came up to Jerusalem from Babylon, and the king gave him everything he asked for, because the gracious hand of the LORD his God was on him.  …[He prospered in his work quickly], for the gracious hand of his God was on him. This was because Ezra had determined to study and obey the Law of the LORD and to teach those decrees and regulations…(Ezra 7:6-10, NLT)

Ezra was determined. He had a focus, a passion, a mission. He resolved how he would live and what he would pursue. Good leaders know where they are going and what they want to do. They are not easily deterred from their path. It’s obvious a good leader can go in a bad direction, but Ezra focused on a wise pursuit, which made his efforts successful.

S.O.S. Flag

Ezra’s determined path proved both wise and successful because it included God. He decided to consistently study and obey God’s word, and boldly show others what he learned. But shouldn’t he focus on planning, organizing, vision casting, recruiting, budgeting, and the like? Isn’t Ezra’s direction too simplified and off target? The discipline to study, obey, and share God’s word gives bearing and muscle to the tasks of good management. Ezra’s S.O.S. delivers the wisdom and guidance that best practices give good leadership.

The S.O.S. of Wise Leadership:

• Study: Seek God and study his word to know how to live.
• Obey: Obey his word and the Spirit’s promptings to know where to go and what to do.
• Share: Share what we’ve learned and how to implement it, or the temptation takes over to become legalistic and snobbish about what we know and do. It helps to remember what we were like without knowledge or obedience.

Whether in a position of ministry or business leadership, the results of following Ezra’s practices are the same. Our worst enemies may become our best supporters when we determine to study, obey, and share. Like Ezra, God’s gracious hand will rest on us.

Due to the response of Twittering Church, I’ve been questioning men to get their input on how twitter could help a men’s accountability group.

My husband suggested creating “Rules of Engagement.” Obviously, since twitter is social, the opportunity to a small accountability group is available.

But before I make suggestions for “Rules of Engagement,” I want to describe how I could see twitter working for a small group.

I have a small group that can be mimicked.  My group is my family. My husband and two older children twitter along together. We set our “devices” to “on” so we can see what each other are doing when we post.

My husband may tweet something about being frustrated at work, or how he had an awesome lunch meeting with someone. My kids may tweet “About to take a hard test,” or “Not feeling so hot today.” One may say something funny. One may ask via direct message (dm) for a deep prayer concern.

We laugh making no response. We pray for something mentioned. We respond with encouragement. We direct message our love, concern, and jokes directly into their circumstances in real time. (On a side note, my honey and I send “love” tweets too. Maybe I should write an article on how twitter can help your marriage.)

“Devices” are our cell phones that receive text messages. Twitter sends their tweets to our phones as a text message and we can respond via text messages in three manners.

1. A straight forward response goes to any and all who look at your twitter page on the internet and not directly to the one you want to respond to. Okay, but has the opportunity to be confusing to others not following along in the conversation.
2. Using @twittername (placing the name of the twitterer you want to respond to after the @ symbol) sends it to your twitter page for all to see as well as a community notice of saying it to your intended person.
3. Using d twittername sends a personal message directly to your intended person without posting your message to the social network. (A glitch may accidentally happen in twitterdom. I don’t advise getting too personal here. It may be a way to say, “Hey, call me at ###-####,” or “I got your back on this one.”)

There are more advanced methods such as creating groups and using hashtags (#), but the simple texting method keeps our family digitally connected and involved in one another’s life. I believe if your group creates “Rules for Engagement” and commits to increased digital accountability, twitter will greatly enhance your group.

(Twitter just hit Time Magazine’s front cover. Twitter is changing our culture. I really think the church ought to be involved and engaged in such awesome conversations.)

Twitter “Rules for Engagement” for group accountability and encouragement.

1. Meet face to face regularly – Keep your regular meeting times. Smiles, handshakes, and the necessary “three pat” hugs shouts concern to a much greater degree than the digital connection. Twitter cannot replace this! (Incidentally, I applaud each and every man willing to invest in another man’s life in small accountability groups. My husband has been in and started several over the years.)
2. Keep the most personal discussion personal in the face-to-face meetings. Never know when you might slip and forget to “dm” that detail resulting in shouting something meant “secret” to all internet eyes. And Twitter may accidentally put a “dm” in the main stream for everybody to see.
3. Commit to be involved in one another’s life making an effort to be an encouragement. Don’t make all the tweets self-centered. Send out encouraging quotes, Bible verses, and tidbits of learning you’ve received from your life struggles, as well as the what’s-going-on-with-you kind of tweets. If you’ve read an interesting article online, send a link using the link shortening tool in TweetDeck along with a short description of the article for your group to read. (TweetDeck.com and other applications are free downloads for your computer to make Twitter even more functional.

 I welcome more input, especially from men who twitter and are a part of a small accountability group. Please respond for the edification of all.

Wow, I read an incredible writing this morning. It inspired me and directed my busyness. Read and enjoy . . .

Straining and striving does not accomplish the work God gives us to do. Only God Himself, who always works without stress and strain and who never overworks, can do the work He assigns to His children. When we restfully trust Him to do it, the work will be completed and will be done well. And the way to let Him do His work through us is to so fully abide in Christ by faith that He fills us to overflowing. . . .  

There is no straining effort in an overflowing life, and it is quietly irresistible. It is the normal life of omnipotent and ceaseless accomplishment into which Christ invites each of us to enter—today and always. From Sunday School Times as written in Stream of the Desert, September 3.

Maybe the title should be Overworked vs. Overflowing. May we all obtain balance, purpose, and passion in fully abiding in Jesus!

Live well and hear “Well done.”

Robin

Hey beautiful, arise and shine for your light has come and the Lord wants to fill you with His glory. This is the dawn and God’s mercies are fresh and new. For God has brought up the sun and a brand new start, a new year.

As I awoke this morning, a phrase, a statement, a thought brewed and formed: What I am today places no limitations upon what I can be tomorrow. I reworded it many times in my mind, but the gist of it is my potential is not limited by who or what I am. Yet more often than not, I live my life in the if-only or buts. Excuses for not being or doing what I ought.

An ancient and influential man said, “For I can do everything through Christ,who gives me strength.” (1) I can grasp God’s vision of who he wants me to be and what he wants me to do, then rise up to that calling. As long as I have breath of life in me, I can change. Change is going to happen anyway, but will I embrace and engage change for my betterment and good. Will I sacrifice and make commitments to take the steps down the ordered path God has chosen for me, to become all he intended?

The only real obstacle, challenge or limitation to my becoming what I can be tomorrow, is my belief. Do I really believe I can do anything, become whatever God’s dream for me is through Jesus’ power? My only restraint is doubt, insecurity, and unbelief.
I ought to be spanked for such lack of faith. Even unreligious people have demonstrated more faith. An ancient political leader possessed faith greater than the religious leaders and Jesus responded to him, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.”(2)

“Wake up, believers, from your lowly condition! Throw away your laziness, sluggishness, coldness, or whatever is interfering with your pure love for Christ. Make Him the Source, the Center, and the One who encompasses every delight of your soul. Refuse to be satisfied any longer with your meager accomplishments. Aspire to a higher, a nobler, and a fuller life. Upward to heaven! Nearer to God!” Charles H. Spurgeon (Cowman, p.15)(3)

Rise up, beautiful beloved. It is time. A new day has come. A new year. A fresh start. The Eternal King and Judge sits before us and says, “Go! It will be done just as you believe it will.” (my paraphrase)

(!)Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., “Text Edition”–Spine., 2nd ed. (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004), Php 4:13.
(2)The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984), Mt 8:13.
(3)In Streams in the Desert, by L. B. Cowman, 509. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1977.