“Those that fly keep their eyes on the sky.”
-Anonymous

Leaving a meeting yesterday morning I happened upon undeniable visual evidence that my car had been visited by (or at least flown over by!) birds. They had, should I say, “marked their territory.”

As I perused the “evidence”, frustration gripped me, while mean bird thoughts filled my brain.

“Why were they in this area? Why did they fly over my car? Couldn’t they go somewhere else? There wasn’t a bathroom or at least a tree available?”

Then another thought hit me:

“Well, isn’t this what birds do?”

And the answer to the question is yes. This is what birds do.

Like most of us, I was focused on the negative side of flight.

What I forgot was that flying was pretty cool.

Yeah, birds do make a mess sometimes.

But sky-sailing is an amazing gift given by God.

Rather than obsess about droppings on my car, maybe I should just lift our eyes skyward and enjoy the show.

Flying can be complicated and costly.

Sometimes a mess is made.

But spreading our wings and taking flight is always worth the investment.

I was working on a post today, was almost finished and realized that it needed to ‘cook a little more’. Sometimes the best ideas need more time in the oven before they are fully ready to eat.

In fact, I think every great thinker/leader/creator/innovator should have an oven full of half-baked ideas and plans that are still cooking.

So….what is cooking inside of you?

“We live by faith, not by sight.”
-2 Cor. 5:7

We can’t see.

At least into the future.

God designed human beings with a certain “time blindness”.

We walk backwards through this life, capturing yesterday with vivid clarity while tomorrow remains covered in a hazy cloak.

Knowledge informs the past, but the future can only be understood in hopes and guesses, predictions and projections.

We can’t see.

But this blindness can be a gift.

It makes us humble before God.

It makes us dependent on God.

It causes us to have faith in God.

Humility draws Him near.

Dependence makes Him our trust.

Faith exercised pleases Him.

Though we can’t see, it is through blindness where God can be found.

God adds to our life by subtracting from it.

Satan subtracts from our life by adding to it.

God gives by taking.

Satan takes through giving.

When we get from Satan we give what we must keep.

When we give to God we get what we can’t lose.

A couple of nights ago, the Sacramento Kings won a basketball game in which they were down 35 points in the second half.

Every day, God gives us the opportunity to bounce back and come back because of His great love and mercy.

It doesn’t matter how far back we have allowed ourselves to get.

Everyday His goodness is brand new.

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

-Lamentations 3:22-23

Tiffany and I went to see ‘Avatar’ last night.

Wow. An absolutely amazing film. I was completely blown away. The visual effects were breath-taking. Though the movie is extremely long, I wasn’t bored. James Cameron and the rest of his crew did a wonderful job creatively retwisting the foundations of a familiar story (violent outsiders invading to take land/inheritance of a peaceful, well-meaning population).

Beyond the imaginative elements of this epic film, I was challenged as a leader/pastor by the game-changing nature of ‘Avatar’. Woven into the fabric of eye popping images of Pandora and the Navi people were the themes of Love, Community, Spirit, and Sacrifice.

The effect the story had on the packed in the theater was also profound. Not only did the crowd clap when it was over, but when the movie began, the previously raucous group was caught in rapt attention. Laughing, texting, talking through the previous movie previews, an almost stunned silence settled upon the room.

The narrative had swept them into another world.

My goal as Pastor/Leader/Creative Architect of Renaissance Church is to help lead a revolution. A revolution where we capture the heart of a generation with the narrative of Jesus Christ. His story is the truest example of Love, Community, Spirit, and Sacrifice.

To start the revolution we must endeavor to put the epic of God in motion. We must use the arts, technology, story, and authentic sacrifice to get the attention of a generation that in many ways has written the church of Jesus off as old fashioned and irrelevant.

Let’s make God’s Word come alive.

Alive through how we live as followers of Christ, and alive through our creative imagination given to us by Jesus Himself.

Let’s start a revolution.

Let’s reach a generation.

Let’s change the world.

Living the life that God intends does not happen overnight. It takes faithfulness, patience, and persistence. It also takes time. How we invest that time will determine whether God’s given dream evolves into reality, or devolves into a wish.

The dream can seem too big, too far away. But we can never get to where God is pointing without first taking a step.

So today, let’s make a decision:

Everyday we will take a small step toward our future dream.

If we do that 365 times next year, we will be much closer to the dream than ever before.

And if we start today, we can get a jump on the journey.

My soul, wait silently for God alone,
For my expectation is from Him.

-Psalm 62:5

Are you expecting from God today?

As much as this little boy waiting for ice-cream?

Last month Raina and I went to the park.

When she saw which park we were on our way to, she was upset. This was the “wrong” park with the “wrong” Monkey Bars. They were too high. The park she wanted go to had lower monkey bars.

When we got out the car she had an attitude. She pouted. Had her arms crossed.

She refused to get on the Monkey Bars. They were too high, she said. She wouldn’t even try.

I told her she could do it.

She strongly disagreed.

The difference between the two sets of Monkey Bars was about 10-12 inches. In her mind, it may as well been 10 feet.

But I knew Raina could do it. I just needed to convince her that she could.

I begged her to give it a try to see how it felt. After a lengthy negotiation, she finally decided to get up there.

She looked up, then looked down. She inched forward, meekly reaching for the bar.

She looked down again.

Then she jumped down.

“I can’t do it.”

“Try again.”

She got up again. She looked up at the bar. She looked down.

She timidly reached out, and jumped down again.

She was a defeated little person.

“Ok. This is what you are going to do. I know you can make it. But this time, when you get up there I don’t want you to look down. I just want you to focus on the next bar. You have the talent, the drive, the physical ability, and you are going to leave this park as someone that can do the HIGH MONKEY BARS!”

She is looked up at me, still not convinced.

But my enthusiasm made her try one more time (and there may have been a promise of candy and/or ice-cream as well. But I can’t confirm or deny that!).

“You can do it! You can do it! You can do it!”

She nodded slightly.

“Just jump out there and look at the bar! Look at the bar!”

She jumps, reaching her right arm out and catching the metal bar.

“Now your other arm! Look at the bar! Look at the bar! Look at the bar!”

Now her left arm is grasping the next bar, she is swinging now, smiling too.

“Keep going! Keep going! Keep going! You can do it!”

Eventually, after a few tries she finished the entire row of Monkey Bars.

She was the MONKEY BAR CHAMPION!

When she jumped down at the finish, my little girl was triumphant. She was had a HUGE smile on her face (So did I. I think I was smiling bigger than she was!).

I asked her how she felt. She didn’t say anything. She simply thrust her hand forward in a “thumbs-up” sign.

I gave her a big hug.

She did it.

Rather than focusing on distance, she kept her eyes on what came next . Because she was able to do that, she left the park as a Monkey Bar Champion (those are actual pictures I took during her victory).

The same is true of us.

When we keeep our focus in the right places, we can do things that we would have never imagined.

We all like fruit.

Fruit is tasty and sweet, eye-catching and nice to look at.

But fruit doesn’t just appear out of nothing.

Ground must be cultivated, seeds must be sown, and a tree must be given time to grow.

Good fruit comes from strong trees.

Strong trees come from hard work, back-breaking effort, and rain from heaven to bring the seeds to life.

Without rain, the seeds do nothing.

Without seeds, the rain has nothing to work with.

Some are asking God for rain.

God is asking some for seeds.

Yesterday I wrote of God’s development of my life and character during this decade.

And while it is true that God was able to do these things, so much of it was such a back and forth struggle.

Me struggling against God’s plan, God’s process, and God’s purpose.

Me working to find a shortcut, an alternate route, or another way.

Me negotiating His crystal clear commands into cushy soft compromises.

And at the very same time I have struggled with Him, He’s been struggling with me.

Having to corner me, sending me down a dead-end street just to get my attention.

Tackling me, tripping me, taking me down when I ran in the wrong direction.

Allowing me to feel the pain of the choices that I made, making sure I would never forget.

I struggled because I thought I knew better, He struggled because He knew He did.

I struggled because I was a rebel, He struggled because He loved me in spite of it.

I struggled because of my lack of faith, He struggled because He is always faithful.

Struggling with God is costly, agonizing, and exhausting.

And the crazy thing is, when we struggle with God, we only win when we lose.

This coming decade I don’t want to struggle and wrestle with God.

I just want to surrender, believe, and go where He is leading.