I’m not committing to doing this every week. (After all, if you have followed me at all, you know that consistency in blogging in not my thing. Rather than continue to feel like a loser for this shortcoming, I have just learned to accept it and get on with it. Hope you can too! )

That said, there will be some weeks where I want to add a little extra insight as a follow-up to the sermon. So, playing on the idea of football commentary’s Monday Morning Quarterback, I am calling it Monday Morning Pastor-back. Clever, huh?

Yesterday I laid out the initial challenge coming from the vision God embedded in me while on sabbatical. God is calling us to do great things…God-sized things at Glenn View…things that would require us to give Him full credit because we just couldn’t manufacture it on our own.

I asked several questions at the end:
Will you be committed to praying for our church’s mission?
Will you be open to what God wants above all?
Will you be willing to give your all to His vision?
Will you be willing to sacrifice comfort for the sake of the Kingdom of God?

With all that in mind I want to share a video that a friend sent to me. This video is very telling, I believe, of where we find the church today. It is also a challenge to us that we will never see the God-sized things happening in our lives if comfort and security are our primary parameters. Think big, my friends!

Is it true? Could I, a Southern Baptist Pastor, really be playing poker at a bar a couple of times a week? Surely that is just a rumor! Nope, it’s absolutely true…and I’m not ashamed. Please note (so I don’t lead anyone to stumble here): When I play FREE poker in the bar, I do not gamble or drink alcohol. Got that?! No accusations, please.

Let me explain why I participate in this activity. My choice to play poker at the bar is based on guiding principles for my life:

1. I want to be like Jesus. That simply means I want to do the things He did, say the things He said, prioritize the same things He prioritized, etc.

2. Love is the top priority. I love people because He loves people. The good and the bad, the righteous and the unrighteous, the ones who seem to have their act together and the fouled-up, the rich and the poor, the lonely and satisfied, those who believe in Jesus and those who don’t. While Jesus walked the earth He showed us how to be an equal opportunity lover of people. When He allowed Himself to be crucified on our behalf, it was out of love for the world. (Rom. 5:8; John 3:16) So, if I want to be like Jesus, I have got to love people. Loving others involves putting their needs above my own. It matters not whether those needs are physical, emotional, mental, social, or spiritual – I am called to consider the needs of others above my own.

3. I am on a mission to shine the light of Christ to a dark world. Jesus is the light. I am a reflection of that light. That light is meant to shine. (Matt. 5:16) I am failing if I only shine that light in places that already have light. Light is meant to penetrate the darkness. You see, most of the people in my church experience this dark world on a daily basis. I implore them to shine the light. Most of my time, however, as a pastor, is consumed with “church work” and “congregation care.” As a pastor, I take those responsibilities seriously, but I am also an individual believer who is called to go! Rather than engaging the dark world in the course of normal day life, I actually have to make an effort to go into the darker places.

You might ask some questions:
Why a bar? Uh, because it can be a pretty dark place. Many of the folks in there have all kinds of needs but no church or pastor or caregiver of their soul. Who is going to care about them? I will.

Doesn’t hanging at a bar endorse a very serious problem of alcoholism? No. Again, Jesus is my model. He hung out with sinners. In fact, that was one of the “inflammatory” things they said about Jesus. He was around sinners too much. (Luke 15:2) It no more endorses alcoholism than Jesus turning plain water into premium wine at the wedding. (John 2)

Why poker? Because I like to play it. I’m not sure where we got the idea that to do effective ministry it has to be by sacrificially doing something you hate. While that may be necessary at times, I believe it is often the opposite. God wants us to take the things we enjoy doing and use them for His glory. Find what you are good at, what you like to participate in, and go for it. Poker itself has no intrinsic moral value itself.

Doesn’t that endorse gambling? Uh, it’s FREE poker.

Well, that’s one thing I’m doing to try to shine the light (and that’s the brief version!). What about you?

Below is a link to a news story from Friday. It is strange.

Apparently, a Russian woman was pronounced dead. At her funeral, which could not have been too long after the pronoucement, she wakes up in the coffin surrounded by grieving loved ones. Realizing the situation and the reality that they were getting ready to bury her alive, she has a heart attack. She is rushed to the hospital and dies 12 minutes later.

Wow!

I could take the compassionate response: How sad is this? You are already grieving the loss of a loved one, you are shocked and grateful that they really are alive, only to find out that they die…again.

I could take the humorous response: Fagilyu is the name of the lady who passed. Her husband’s name is Fagili. That may fly in Russian, but over here in the USA there would have to be some name changes going on.

I could take the spiritual response: God gave this woman an extra dozen minutes to get right with Him.

I could take a legal response: The doctor at that hospital is in some deep trouble!

Ultimately, though, the story kind of speaks for itself. It’s just plain weird.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/06/24/2011-06-24_russian_woman_fagilyu_mukhametzyanov_dies_at_her_own_funeral_after_being_mistake.html?r=topnews

I have kind of hit a block in my writing. I still know what I want to write, but everytime I sit down to write I feel an urge to read more. It’s not just a desire to read, it is more of a feeling like I am not competent enough yet in what I am writing about. However, will I ever feel truly competent enough?

I came across some quotes by Samuel Johnson. Someone had tweeted a quote by him:

“I never want to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.”

That really struck me.

Johnson was a giant in the literary field in 1700′s. He was an essayist, lexicographer, poet, editor, literary critic, and a famous talker. He is the second most quoted person in the English language. The first? William Shakespeare! So, I perused many of his quotes about reading and writing. Some that stuck out to me, related to where I am at right now were:

1. “What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.” Cool. So the fact that getting my thoughts on paper is taking effort is a good thing! That is encouraging!

2. “When a man writes from his own mind, he writes very rapidly. The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book.” Writing off the top of your head is not that hard; however, it also tends to not be that lasting. Writing significant stuff that endures means being resourced and knowledgable in what you are writing about.

3. “A man may write at any time, if he will set himself doggedly to it.” Ok. I get it Dr. Johnson! I will get back to work now.

This is the new video by Casting Crowns for the movie “Courageous” coming to that’s this fall. You know it’s a good one when the trailer gets you misty-eyed! http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=FJ0121NU