Stay Focused...

My son, Koke, got a cool opportunity this weekend. He was one of the bat-boys at the Cornbelter's game. (Excuse me..."Dugout Assistant"...I know' don't get me started...)

Koke got to sit on the field next to the visitors dugout. He ran to get the bats after the players got a hit and chased down foul balls behind the plate.

He had a great time, but he realized an undeniable truth about baseball...a lot a time can pass between anything actually happening. Koke has the attention span of an 11 year old boy (read: over-caffeinated dachshund). So he kept getting distracted and missing when he was supposed to actually be doing something. Our seats were not to far from where he was so I just kept mouthing in that exaggerated over speaking that all parents do by instinct, "PAY ATTENTION!!!"

I don't know about you, but I need that in my life sometimes. It is so easy for me to get distracted from what I'm truly here for that I totally space out. I lose focus and miss my chance to be and do what God intends for me.

So let's all look in the mirror today and mouth the words to ourselves, "PAY ATTENTION!!!" Block out all the secondary distractions and ask your self these questions...What can I do right now to make my world a little more like the world God intended? How is God's Kingdom coming into my world right now and how can I join Him? What can I do right now to reflect God's glory into my world?

So stop staring at the JumboTron and get in the game.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Stanhope Ln,Normal,United States

Father's Day

Well, it's father's day today and I was trying to think of a good story about my childhood to say thanks to my dad. But the story that stays in my mind is the first time Dad cursed in front of me.

I know, maybe not the most sentimental choice, but it was very meaningful to me. It was the summer before I left for college. Dad had just gotten out of a frustrating elders meeting and in that frustration he just said, "these dxxn guys..."

It may seem minor, but I experienced it as an invitation to manhood. My dad was pulling back the velvet rope and inviting me to join him in the adult world...(okay, maybe I'm assigning too much meaning to a single exasperated utterance)

But it highlights for me the thing about my dad that I most want to replicate as a father...my parents were committed to getting me out of their house. They were more interested in "raising" children than "having" children. They were always looking for ways to push me toward more and more independence.

So, happy Father's Day, Dad, thanks for everything...and you were right, those dudes were...

Kingdom Living

It seems to me that often when preachers talk about Kingdom living (if they do at all) it is in the context of making more discretionary time and money available for church participation. We need to have less busy lives so we can volunteer more (at the church). We need to spend less so we can give more (to the church). We need to diminish the influence of sinful people in our lives so we can fellowship (with church people). We need to influence non-churched people to invite them (to the church).

These are all worthwhile and God-honoring goals, but it seems to me that a Kingdom living mindset doesn't seek to get more of our lives into the Church but to get more of the Kingdom into our lives.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad