How Can I Make A Difference?

Tuesday evening our oldest daughter came home a little late from dance practice at church, when asked why she said that she was discussing with her youth pastor her desire to make a difference in the lives of others. "I want to impact people, I want to do something that will help change their lives!" Her words have echoed in my mind ever since she spoke them, she spoke of wanting to fulfill her dream of becoming a lawyer, of fulfilling the prophetic voices spoken over her that she will speak the Word of God, and in fact, that she will finish what I have started! She said, " I wanted to take what has been spoken over me and incorporate it with my career so that I can make a difference in others!" I'm proud of Kaitlin so I don't apologize for quoting so much of what she said, but her words also express the sentiment of my heart. How can I make a difference in others? What do I have to offer that others need and how can I impart for impact? I love to go online to freerice.com and give grains of rice to hungry people, I don't mind doing walks for some charity, but how can I change the climate of the world I'm presently living in? What is that I personally can do? I'm a preacher, a communicator of truth, but preaching alone isn't going to change the world, we need to impact people spirit, soul, and body...Touching every area of their lives in a real and relevant manner....Would somebody tell me...How Can I Make A Difference?

Starting Over

Last week was one of the most trying weeks of my life, it shouldn't have been, but it was. I was asked to assist with the video projection portion of our Easter Program, an easy feat, or so I thought. On Tuesday I went to the video room inserted the DVD only to find that the video was awesome but the audio reeked, it skipped like an old record. I called Media Shout, downloaded files, updated drivers, defragmented hard drives, nothing would work. For three days I did everything I knew to do,to say that I was stressed is an understatement, finally I took the Dell laptop to a Computer guy, of course it's out of warranty, so I used a local repair guy that ended up reformatting the hard drive...not in time for the program, of course! I connected my fairly new laptop, complete with Vista, did I mention how much I hate Vista? It skipped too, I finally ended up using someone else older Dell, complete with XP and I called the maker of the DVD and they sent me the files I needed, which were quickly downloaded and instantly worked and our program was a great success...Certainly not because of me, but including my part. Now that you've read all this seemingly useless information, here's what I wanted to get to. With the reformatting of the hard drive there now had to be a new installation of the programs, including Media Shout which we use for video display, today I began the arduous process of reentering all of our songs. It's not hard, just time consuming, and here's the interesting thing, I get to enter what I want, what we need, what we use...I had to start over! Life is this huge continuous process, a process that takes us many places, allows us to meet many people and to experience many things. Sometimes life gets messy, like when the sheep in our Easter program pooped all over the place, little poop pellets covered the front of the sanctuary, I have to admit sometimes my life leaves little poop pellets all over the place, or others make deposits in my life that I would rather not be subjected to, but I am. The awesome thing about walking with God is we get to start over some times, He allows us not to go back, but to begin again right where we, in doing so we omit things that we don't need, submit things that we do, and admit that we messed up...it's a powerful thing, it's also painful and takes time, but don't good things come to those wait?

Jelly Beans & Crayons

That's what church should look and taste like! Jelly Beans come in many colors and create a variety of tastes. Crayons, the big box, has so many colors you can color anything and everything, you can even make up colors...shouldn't the Body of Christ be colorful and full of flavor? One of the things I love about living in Florida is the multitude of races, in our church we have Black, Hispanic, Native Indian, Caribbean, people that are mixed with various blood lines, people who don't know what they are...they're just people, and they are loved by the Lord...I can't imagine going to a church or living in an area where there is only one race that is prominent, Christ has redeemed us from every tongue, tribe, and nation and made us one! I think it's a sad thing when we can go to school, work, and Wal-Mart with people from every race, but not to church. It has always been my dream to pastor a large congregation with multitudes of people from every walk of life...Jelly Beans & Crayons...that's what I think!

Worn Out

I'm not sure if it's old age, sleep apnea, a spiritual attack, or just a phase I'm going through, or maybe a combination of it all, but I am worn out! Last night I went to bed at 9:30, was asleep by 10:15, got up once in the middle of the night, and again at 6:45 am, which is fairly normal for me, but was exhausted after all that sleep. I'm reminded that the scripture says that the job of the enemy is to wear out the saints, I don't want to over spiritualize anything, I'm not that spiritual, neither do I want to give the enemy much credit, but I'm tired and can't seem to get rested up. My friend and pastor says he's feeling the same and mentioned getting B-12 shots, but they give you those in the butt and from what I hear they really hurt...I'm not going that route! Perhaps I need to double my daily vitamin and see what that will do...maybe it's time to admit it...I'm getting old!

The Dressing Room

Last night my wife and I went out on a date, enjoy some wonderful New York Strip Steaks at Sam Seltzer's in Brandon, FL and a trip through the mall. We were shopping in JC Penny and she wanted to try some stuff on, I saw one of the dressing rooms had a chair in it, so when she enter I went with her, talked to her while she was trying clothes on! All of a sudden I heard a woman saying, "Is that a man's voice?" Julie started trying to shush me up, but it didn't work, I wasn't that loud it was just that quiet...so I answered back, "Yeah, but I can't see you!" Not a another word was spoken, I got out of there without seeing anything I shouldn't see and my wife got a new blouse...good deal huh? Today I flew into Chicago, leaving 70 degree weather to enjoy 28 degree weather. I've already eaten Italian Beef at Portillo's, a Turtle Sundae from Culver's, and Chicago Pizza from Locano's in Kankakee...another step in eating my way through town!