Preaching

Last weekend I had the privilege to preach at Richland Hills’ weekend services. It is a lot of fun to preach for over four thousand people that are excited to be there and ready to listen. I guess that’s what happens when you get used to listenning to Rick Atchley and his sidekick Johnny Storm on a consistent basis. Here is a link if you want to check it out.

Forgiveness

Here's an amazing example of forgiveness.

"I looked down to see where my plane had crashed and saw that it had gone right into a house. I screamed in horror when I realized what had just happened," Neubauer said in the document.
Neubauer landed in the backyard of another home and was not injured. The pilot had been trying to reach the nearby Marine Corps Air Station Miramar when he started having problems with his fighter jet.
The jet crashed into Dong Yun Yoon's house, killing his wife, his two young children and his mother-in-law. An unoccupied house was also destroyed.

Days after the incident, Yoon said he did not blame the pilot.
"Please pray for him not to suffer from this accident," Yoon said. "I don't blame him. I don't have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could."

Front Row Flirting

Here’s an unfortunately true story I am telling at RHCC this weekend during my sermon…

It was my first month at my first full-time job and I had just finished preaching when a girl came forward for prayer during the response time. I was feeling pretty good as she headed for the front pew, expecting to hear her tell me a life-changing insight that I shared during my sermon. Soon after she sat down, I stepped over towards her and took a seat next to her. I leaned over to find out how exactly I had changed her life, but she didn’t move. Not only did she not move over to converse with me, but she turned away from me. And she sat. I asked her what was wrong. And she sat, silent. So I motioned for an elder to help me out, and so he came and talked to her. And she actually talked to him.
Thirty minutes later the church building had almost emptied out, when her mother motioned me over towards the two of them and said,
“Luke, I am really sorry that my daughter ignored you. She just thought that you were a boy on the front pew trying to flirt with her.”
Which might possibly be understandable if I hadn't been preaching for the last thirty minutes. So I assume that she thought my sermon was the longest pick-up line in history.
When I actually said, “Open your Bibles to the book of Mark.”
She must have heard in her mind, “Hey girl, you come here often?”

Contentment

Hebrews 13:5- Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
It seems odd that a verse on contentment would contain a quotation given to encourage Joshua as he takes over for Moses as the new leader of Israel. This verse has been stuck in my head for over a week now as I try to think of a connection between financial contentment and God’s faithful presence.
Contentment is a mentality that what you have is all that you really need, if not more than what you need. I don’t think a person can ever be content without being thankful and I think if you are good at one, then you will inevitably become good at the other. God, the dresser of the lilies of the fields and feeder of the birds of the air, will not take a day off from his job. So we are content whatever way God chooses to clothe us, without regard for the brand, and we are content whatever way God chooses to feed us, without regard to the culinary skillfulness. Whenever I find myself being discontent with my situation I try to list five things for which I am thankful and amazingly contentment seems to show up because God is pretty good about never leaving or forsaking us. And I am not saying this as someone who has always had financial things go my way. I have a house that's been on the market in Florida for 14 months now without an offer. I have prayed many times that God would send a buyer, and I have also prayed that God would send a hurricane, both to no avail. So obviously God isn't housing me the way that I would like Him to, but that doesn't mean God has forsaken me. I've actually seen God more in times of trials than in successes and I think that’s what contentment is really about, being ok regardless of the circumstance.

1st sickness

Avery has her first real cold, so we drove around last night so she could go to sleep sitting up in her car seat. While I am thankful she doesn't have a fever or anything worse, it is still terrible to watch your daughter cry and struggle to breath through her stopped up nose.

Reading

This weekend Lindsay and Avery took a quick trip down to Austin, so I had some time to kill. On the way home from the gym on Friday night I grabbed a copy of Jurassic Park and proceeded to indulge my nerdy self. By the time my girls returned for dinner on Saturday I had spent the entire day reading, except for breaks to finish up my class for Sunday and to swim a mile. After this weekend I am reminded of two things:

1-How thankful I am for my wife, b/c left to my own devices I would be a complete nerd.
2-Yes, if you haven’t read the book it is way better than how I remember the movie. It seems to me that our imaginations are always better than our ability to put words into flesh.

Chaos

I have been following the incredibly sad story of the four guys lost at sea in the Gulf of Mexico. In ancient thought the seas were a sign of chaos, and I am sure to these guys and their families it's still a sign of chaos. No matter how big or strong you are, when you are adrift in the chaos of the seas or life for that matter, we are all helpless. But the good news of the first creation story in Genesis says that God creates order in the midst of chaos. I am sure that is what those families and many other families across America in their own chaos are clinging to as well.

UPDATE: Unfortunately this story seems to have an awful ending. According to the survivor, the others chose to remove their life vests and give up hope. Such a terrible ending to a terrible story.

Denton Project 2nd Meeting

On Saturday the Denton Project had her second meeting. We were very excited to introduce the newest addition to our team-Shannon Plog. Shannon, Mike and their two boys: Andy (10) and Elijah (2), come to us from the Richland Hills Church of Christ where Shannon has been on staff for five years in the children's ministry department as the 252 launch director. As a church planter, I am so glad to have such a qualified children's minister, because without a quality children's ministry churches just don't seem to grow. As a parent, I am so glad to have such a good person (and parent) helping to develop Avery's relationship with Jesus.

Here is a group of us praying over the Plogs and next here is Shannon and me talking about children's ministry.