Have you ever been on your way somewhere and you saw someone you knew that wanted to talk? I mean REALLY wanted to talk? And you weren’t REALLY in the mood and didn’t have the time?

That happenend to me this morning.

I was on my way to the office and I ran into someone that wanted to talk.

REALLY talk.

So I turned off the car, put the Ipod on pause, and got out. I must say I was not completely in the mood to have a conversation.

But while I was speaking to this precious man, he told me about his weekend in the hospital because of heart problems. He told me about his ministry and about his marriage. We talked about family and the housing market.

And he told me about how he was praying for ME.

Praying for me and my family and for our future and ministry. As he was talking I thought about the ‘little interrputions’ that can so often annoy us, but can help us along the way.

I smiled as we shook hands and bid adieu to one another, recognizing how much I have to learn about life and what really matters.

I am all for good time management, staying on task, and getting to where we need to go. Those things have great value. But we must stay flexible enough to be open to something unscripted that God desires to do.

I am thankful that God interrupted my ‘regularly scheduled program’ to teach me something important.

This is a picture painted by the great Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai. It is entitled the “Great Wave off Kanagawa.” While looking at this painting, I began to think of the ‘Great Waves’ that I have gone through in my life.
The setbacks, challenges, and trials. The changes,transitions, and the unexpected.

Take a moment to contemplate the ‘great waves’ in your life and journey.

As I considered my own, I was struck with a revelation:

In so many cases, great breakthrough in my life, leadership, family, etc was the direct result of a ‘Great Wave’. This is reality is true for almost all of us. Like the mountains near the edge of the sea, we are shaped by the waves that crash on the shore of our existence.

Because there can be no great art without a ‘Great Wave’.

God has great art that He wants to release to the world through all of us.

I was working on writing something when I happened to look at my post total. Guess what? We just passed 200 posts! Thanks for reading, commenting, and regularly checking this thing out.

Let’s go for another 200!

Sometimes a picture tells the story better than words can. Let’s step out of our comfort zones and reach out to one another.

Kids do it every day.

A couple of days ago I wrote about giving our lives to lesser dreams. Today I would like to ask the question:

What is your greater dream? What is the thing that you are believing God for? How is God going to use your life to change the world?

What the greater dream?

Last night I was reflecting on important moments and decisions in my life. I thought about the times when I went in the right direction, as well as times I didn’t. I also contemplated the times when I wanted to go one way and God wouldn’t allow it. Old prayers and frustrations ran through my head as I detailed requests that weren’t answered and doors that didn’t open.

But now that I am further down the path I am able to look backward with a new perspective.

I am glad I didn’t get the job.

Thankful that my proposal wasn’t accepted.

Appreciative that they didn’t listen.

Blessed that He wouldn’t let me quit.

Overjoyed that I didn’t get what I wanted.

I could go on and on.

God is much wiser than me.

Wise enough not to always give me what I want.

But always what I need.

God is much wiser than me.

Today I am speaking at the AG Northern California District Council on the Mosaic Church in one of the breakout sessions.

I think we see a glimpse of the Mosaic church in the slice of the vision that God gave to John in Revelation 7:9-10:

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”

Pray that I represent Jesus and His vision well, and that we see the church move into a greater place of unity and togetherness in our generation.

Don’t mess with a determined Great Grandmother. An 83 year old Great Grandmother in New Mexico by the name of Bernie Garcia was attacked by a man demanding her money at a gas station (Entire story here). Instead of giving the purse to him, she fought back when he tried to take it.

In the struggle Bernie sprayed him with gasoline as they wrestled. In a later statement to her son (that is her in the picture above talking to one of her grandchildren the day following the incident) after he asked her why she didn’t simply letting the mugger have her purse was, “Hell no, That was my purse. I was fighting for what was mine.”

If we only had half the fight the Bernie had when we are contending for our futures, our families, and what God has for us.

Go on Bernie.

With your bad self.

There is a question I think we all need to ask ourselves:

Are we giving ourselves fully to God or our we investing our life into a lesser dream?

And the truthful answer to that question will either bring us to a place where we need to either pray a prayer of repentance or for God’s strength.

“..the fear of man brings a snare..”

Proverbs 29:25

Fear Factor a show that emerged on the scene in 2001, pitting contestants against each other to complete a series of stunts better and/or quicker than all the other contestants for a grand prize of $50,000. The signature mark of the show was having contenstants do disgusting or scary things (eating a cockroach, having live rats run all over your body, jumping into a pit of tarantulas, etc.). I can recall watching the show and wondering what they would think of next.

It was cancelled in late 2006 to the chargin of many.

But even though the TV show Fear Factor is no longer airing, many of us deal with an aspect of fear that is worse that eating cockroaches or pig intestines. It is dealing with the thoughts and opinions of others. We can be so concerned with what others think or say about us, that we become paralyzed from pursuing our purpose.

What we fail to realize in our paralysis, is when fear becomes our focus (especially the fear of people) God can’t be.

Let’s get our eyes back where they are supposed to be.

Are you dreaming and believing God for big things today? Or are you living according to the status quo?

Living to survive and exist, rather than to thrive and overcome?

Are you dreaming today?