“Let love be your highest goal.” 1 Cor. 14:1
In a few more days my wife and I will be celebrating on 9-year anniversary. You know when I think back to that moment I really knew Holli was the one, I can’t help but reminisce of our first date. Decked out in my very best, the truck freshly washed, and a little Lionel Ritchie playing on the radio…I was feeling good. A feeling that lasted for about 2.5 seconds, which was about the time it took for me to put it in reverse only to be stopped by a loud crashing sound. Looking into Holli’s face it took me even less time to realize what I had hit…Holli’s Brand-New Chevrolet Cavalier. Now Holli at this point had every right to curse and scream, to jump out of the truck and tell me she never wanted to see me again. Instead, Holli chose to to “make love her highest goal,” by showing grace, by showing mercy, by showing love when I was at my worst. In fact isn’t that when love is measured the most, it’s not when others are at their best but when others are at their worst. When God wanted to reveal the fullness of His love for us He could’ve waited for when we were at our best, His word to us could’ve been “When we finally got our acts together then Christ Jesus died for us.” Instead God chose to reveal the measure of His love for us while we were at our worst, or as the Bible puts it “while we were still sinners Christ Jesus died for us.” A single act that would change the course of your destiny and mine. I wonder how many of our relationships, marriages, friendships would change course, if in the coming days we really committed to let love be our highest goal? If when people were at their worst we responded by reflecting the best of God’s giftings…love. What type of lasting impact might we make in the life of the discontent waiter, neighbor, friend if we responded with generosity and encouragement? How would our marriage be different if we put as much energy in expressing love as the first word in our conversations as we do in making sure to get the last word in? What would our relationship with our kids be like if they heard those words “I love you” not simply when their at their best but especially when their at their worst?
Archive for August, 2008
As I was going over morning routines for the Fetch blog…it got me wondering….what are the best sing-along songs ever made? You know, those songs you just can’t get out of your mind and you have to see along with in the car, shower, wherever. Here’s some of my top favorites…
#4 Men at Work – “I Come From a Land Down Under” (Not even sure if that’s the title, but I’m always singing it.)
#3 Josh Grobin – “You Raise Me Up” Come on, like you haven’t tried singing that song in the shower on a few occasions.
#2 Lionel Ritchie – “Easy Like Sunday Morning” This song has to be on the top playlists for elevators and grocery stores. I love it for some reason, even though Sundays are hardly easy for me.
#1 The Police – “Roxanne” Okay, yes, not the best message behind a song…I didn’t choose it, it chose me, can’t get the song out of my mind.
So that’s some of mine….what would you say, are the greatest sing-alongs?
No real reason for this post. Just a picture of my favorite Starbucks in town. You will be missed my friend.
8:15a.m – Wake-Up.
8:35a.m – Get the coffee going
8:45a.m – See a glimpse of joy.
Everyday I wake up and play the same game of fetch with my dog, over and over again. Now most mornings I think nothing of it, but this morning I happened to notice something I often miss, that look of pure joy. See it amazes me that not only does my dog never tire of this game, it literally is the highlight of his day. What to me is often times a chore, is pure joy and entertainment to him. In fact, the more I took the time to bounce his tennis ball for him, the more bounce he seemed to get in his step. Which got me thinking…what is my tennis ball? What are the small moments or objects in my day that put a bounce in my step?
I think for me it’s that first cup of coffee in the day…it never seems to taste as good as the first cup. It’s singing along to Lionel Ritchie (As if you’ve never found yourself singing along to “Easy Like Sunday Morning”…a classic). It’s grabbing a Brown Sugar Pop Tart on my way out (the greatest breakfast pastry ever made). It’s unplugging from the noise if but a for a few minutes to be with God. It’s having my wife give me a kiss before we start our day. Small routines that add such a big bounce to my step. What is the tennis ball in your life, that thing that when you throw yourself into it, it brings back to you a sense of joy? In other words, what gets you going in a day?
All good things must come to an end at some point. The Fishers Golf League wrapped up it’s season yesterday with a dramatic Championship Round at Fairway Village. I have to say, I felt pretty confident early on that I might be able to walk away with the blue jacket, but after hitting in the water and three putting on the fourth hole…I sensed it wasn’t meant to be for me. Jim, our regular season champ, also had a surprisingly challenging time on the course. That said, it all came down to a final hole, with Russ & Jordan tied up with the pressure of the blue jacket on the line. With two stellar drives off the tee the battle was on. Yet when the smoke settled, it would be Russ Martin winning the day, the jacket, and the title of 2008 FGL Champion. Congrats Russ, and to all the participants in this years Fishers Golf League. The awarding of the blue jacket will be held this Sunday at the Fishers Landing Campus.
(The photo above is a picture of Jordan (left) and Russ (right) preparing to tee off on the final hole.)
As many of you know one of the countless joys of moving is that you have no money! And with no money comes household budget cuts. With budget cuts come the inevitable words I so dread to hear…”Seth, we’ve got to cut out the Starbucks fund.” I know, inhumane you say, but cuts have to be made. Yep, no more hearing that warm greeting “Hey Seth, your usual,” no more free samples of various mystery pastries, no more chasing down the New York Times Sports section. Yes, it was a sad but inevitable day. To Holli’s credit she did make sure I had plenty of fresh Starbucks coffee in bulk to make at home. Now it’s a funny thing about making your own coffee, while it’s the same Starbucks coffee they use at my favorite coffee shop, isn’t it amazing how it never seems to taste as good. No matter how many different ways I try to make it, no matter whether it’s in my favorite travel mug, no matter how many times I filter the water…it’s amazing to me how it never seems to be as good as when I get my morning cup at Starbucks. Now stay with me, because I think there is something to this. I mean let’s be honest when you go into Starbucks to get your cup ‘o’ joe, really you get so much more than just coffee don’t you? See at home it’s just a cup of coffee but at Starbucks…it’s a way of life, it’s a mood, it’s an experience. All of this got me thinking, I wonder if faith can be like that? A faith that when kept to ourselves, when lived out in the realm of myself does little more than help us to simply get by. But isn’t it true that when our faith is lived out with others, lived out in a community of friends and believers that know us by name, our faith…like Starbucks…becomes so much more. It’s in community that we find the faith that God has in each of us. It’s in community we find the faith and courage to move on in life. It’s in community we find our faith strengthened and stretched. One verse in particular that speaks of how community can stretch and strenghten our faith is James 5:16 “Confess your sins to another…that you may be healed.” Now just a little side note when it comes to this word “confession,” I think we tend to do this more than we think. See too often we hear that word confess and we think of it in such formal terms, something that is done simply within the context of church. Reality is, confessing one to another is just as likely to happen in a conversation with a good friend over coffee than in a pew on Sunday. That’s what happened to me this past week, I was having coffee with a friend and without even realizing it started confessing and sharing some junk in relation to my attitude in recent days. And it’s amazing to me that as I shared, and as I listened to my friends encouragement, I began to find healing. I saw some areas in my life I needed to surrender to God, mostly that of my tendency to wait for someday and miss the opportunity of today. Here’s the point of all this, I could be content to live out my faith in the small box of myself and simply get by, or I can choose to get more out of my faith by living it out in the context of community. What will you choose?
” If we love each other God lives in us, and his love has been brought to full expression through us.” -1 John 4:12
CHECK OUT AN EARLIER POST FOR MORE COFFEEOLGY THOUGHTS … “SMALL ACT / BIG IMPACT”
It’s amazing what you’ll do for a dog. We’ve had Buddy for about 3 months now…3 months of hour upon hour standing in the wind & rain while he finds the perfect bathroom, or adding band-aids to bite marks and scratches from Buddy, or scrubbing the floors due to an accident. And yet it’s amazing how a dog can make you forget about all the work required, when you see the excitement and joy in his face just by simply returning home each day. In that moment, to a dog, there’s nothing more exciting, and energizing than the sight of you. They’re not thinking about things they need to get done, or the problems in their life…and no matter what happened in your day, you’re still a star in the eyes of that dog. See you can’t help but go through the work required to take care of Buddy, because Buddy reminds me of what people often long for most in life…to be valued, needed, and loved. One thing I’ve come to learn as I walk through ministry, is that there is nothing neat and proper about this journey with God. It’s often messy, confusing, and tiresome. There are times when I’m utterly discouraged, frustrated, and feel totally lost. Times when I can lose sight of where I am and who I am in Christ. And the truth is, I’m learning I don’t make it very far when I fail to hear God speak into me the reality of His love for me, the value He sees in me, and the purposes He has planned for me.
I thought I’d kick out a fly over shot of Vancouver as we prepare to say goodbye. As many of you know, Holli and I will be starting our trek to Monroe, Wisconsin in September as Campus Pastors for Crossroads Church. We’re excited about what’s to come, and yet without a doubt also sad to leave what we have. As what we have is a great group of friends, family, and people who’ve added to our lives in so many ways. The Couv will be missed!
If you don’t already know, I’m a Starbucks junkie. I love Starbucks, even on the days when they don’t always deliver star service. I had an experience a few days ago as I sat waiting in my car a few extra minutes for my cup’o'joe. Truth be told, I was in a hurry and having a hard time understanding why it was so difficult for someone to pour a simple cup of coffee into a 16 oz. cup. Now it’s here it would’ve been easy for them to look the other way from my frustrated glares, move on to the next guy’s order, and truth be told I probably never would’ve given it another thought. But here’s where the barista would go on to do something totally unexpected to me. He noticed, he cared…apologizing for the wait and giving me a free drink coupon for what was barely a 3 minute wait. See as crazy as it may sound, that one small act literally changed my whole attitude, my demeanor, my day. You see Starbucks understands something that sometimes I can forget in my marriage, family, even in ministry…and that is sometimes the smallest acts leave the biggest impacts in our lives. That one tiny act by a barista changed my day. Jesus put it this way, “if you have faith the size of a mustard seed you can move mountains…” I love that. Recently, the campus has been a lot on my mind as I’ve been thinking about all we’ve gone through together in the past several years overcoming one challenge after another. And yet when I look back on how we’ve managed to endure even through the toughest of seasons, what I find is not a story of one big, quick fix, but the story of a radical group of friends going out their way to do that one small unexpected act….whether it be an encouraging word, dressing up in their formals to go the extra mile, taking an extra minute to listen to or help out someone in need. The mustard seed is the story of our past and if we are to continue to endure and thrive… it must be the story of our future. Just like that Starbucks, people would continue to go away from our campus thinking of that one small act that made a big impact on their day, and their life.
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