New Year... New Name... New Blog!

Thank you so much for reading my blog for the last several years (or however long it's been for you)... I think it was probably as theraputic & developmental for me as it was anything else!

As of 1-1-11, Christian Life Center does not exist in Kenner, Louisiana. We are now INSPIRE!

Our website is www.INSPIRENOLA.org & our new blog is INSPIRENOLA.blogspot.com

Come on over & join us on our journey with Jesus!!

Put Up or Shut Up

Call it a rebellious streak.

Not a "fight-the-power" or "anarchy-rules" sort of rebellion, but the "religion-killed-Jesus" type.

I don't know why, but it's really been on my heart and mind lately. I'm just sick of religion... It kills people.

It almost killed me.

Maybe you don't know what I'm talking about, so you're kinda freakin' out: "Oh, my gosh! Jeff has finally gone over the edge!"

Some of you probably thought, "I KNEW this was coming!"

Others of you thought, "Oh, NO!"

Relax, y'all.

I'm sorry to disappoint those of you in the first group, & glad to clarify for those of you in the 2nd.

You see, I am NOT talking about true, Biblical religion that is pure & undefiled in the sight of God... I'm talking about the manmade kind that sucks the life out of the true religion. The kind that parades itself as more righteous and more holy than the rest of us, while living a lie--sorry, I meant to say "a life"--that denies what true religion is really about.

I was thinking about that passage of Scripture where John sends his disciples to see Jesus and questions His Messiah-hood. (It seems that Jesus wasn't meeting John's expectations of how the Messiah should be acting... Have ya been there?) He asks, basically, "Are You the Messiah or not?"

Jesus' response is intriguing to me: He doesn't offer any "proof". Instead, He points to the facts of His ministry and says, more or less, "Judge for yourself."

More specifically, He says, "Go and tell John what you see & hear," then lists the various signs they saw & heard: the blind see, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, & sinners have the Gospel preached to them.

'Nuff said!

It seems that Jesus never concerned Himself with winning the approval of those that considered themselves religious "experts." (Once again, I ask: Have ya been there?) I wonder what Jesus' appraisal of their "expertise" would've been.

I'm just sayin'.

That got me to thinking about the church--and the overall state of religion--in America today.

What if we stopped looking for the approval of the "experts" & sought the approval of the Master?

What if we stopped measuring our "success" by what we hear from others, and start measuring success by what others hear (& see) from us, instead?

It seems to me that this would be a better--and more Biblical--measure.

I can only speak for myself, of course, but I am tired of churches--and Christians--that talk about the power of God, but never see it. I want to see it! I want to hear it! I want to live it!

Or let's just go home.

Maybe it's time for us Christians to put up or shut up.

The Cruelty of Ice-Cold Water

I'm a HUGE Michigan Wolverines football fan, & I was watching the Michigan-Wisconsin game yesterday.

[Insert random, snarky anti-Michigan joke here... I've heard 'em all the past couple of years!]

Anyway, I watched as the team got their butts handed to them (again) and--of course--facebook & the blogosphere were immediately filled with "FIRE RICH ROD!!" comments. But smack-dab in the middle of a series of fb posts, someone left a comment that was so even-keeled & level-headed that it provoked me to thought (a scary idea, huh?).

This person basically said that if Michigan fires Rich Rod now, it prolongs the program's transition-related misery since he hasn't finished HIS transition yet. He urged patience for another year or two, & then watch him do what he has done everyplace else he's coached: win. A LOT!

For some reason (please don't ask me why; I don't know why my brain works the way it does), I started thinking about the transitions that we go through in life. They're never easy, but let's face it: some are MUCH harder than others!

When you're in one of those sucks-to-be-me-right-now transitions, there's a natural, human defense-mechanism that says something like, "Get the heck outta here!" and every impulse in you tries to get you to quit. To borrow the nautical expression: to jump ship.

I did that once.

Once.

I had been out water skiing with a flight-school buddy & my pastor on his boat ("Visitation", I think it was called... His secretary got a kick out of telling people that called the office, "I'm sorry, but Pastor is out on Visitation."). We were headed back in to the dock--at about 40mph--when I got the GREAT idea to tap Pastor on his shoulder, yell, "Bye!" and jump off the back of the boat.

Time out!

At this point, you're either saying, "That Jeff! He sure is a barrel of laughs!" or "Dude! You're an IDIOT!"

If you said the latter, you are light-years of ahead of where I was at that moment!! The amazing thing is that I talked my flight-school buddy into doing it, too... Isn't machismo an amazingly-powerful force?!

Time in!

I tapped.

I waved.

I stepped off the back.

I asked myself, "What the HECK are you doing?!" (In that order, by the way.)

That's when it occurred to me, as I looked down between my feet & saw water going 40mph--BACKWARDS!--that what I had done was 1) dumb, 2) scary, & 3) REALLY GOING TO HURT!

Guess what? I WAS RIGHT!!!

It had seemed like such a good idea just 10 seconds earlier.

Pastor cut his engines & swung around to where the two dumb-a**ed Navy guys were floating in their life jackets, laughing their fool heads off, & asked, "You guys OK?"

We weren't. We were in a LOT of pain, but there was NO WAY either of us was going to admit it!! So we lied: "Yeah! We're AWESOME!! Ha, ha, ha, ha, yuk, yuk, yuk..."

"Good!" he said.

Then he gunned the engines and left us there... almost a MILE from the dock!!!

Here's my point: it seemed like a great idea to "jump ship"... & there was nothing wrong with the ship I was on! How much more does it seem like a good idea to "jump ship" when the ship is on fire or going in what we consider to be the wrong direction?

It SEEMS like a good idea... Until you hit the water!

That hurts.

And--God forbid--if the water is cold!

What seems like the easy (easier?) way out while you're IN the boat is usually the painful (painful-er) way once you're OUT of it.

So, maybe you're a glutton for punishment... Jump away, my friend!

Just remember: water is hard at 40mph and cold when you have to swim for a long time!

If I were you, I'd stay in the boat.

Oh, by the way... Pastor made us swim ALL THE WAY BACK to the dock!

Milestones

Have you ever noticed that there are certain times, events, places, things, and people that just seem to stand out from the rest of life?

"Milestone" is a good word--a perfect word--for them... Don'tcha think?

Recently, we passed one of those milestones in our church, and it really stood out as a significant event!

For years, our church has been changing our focus: we want to be a church that people are proud to bring their "unchurched" family, friends, co-workers, etc. This may sound like a no-brainer to you (it may even be a no-brainer to you), but this has been a tremendously-difficult and arduous process! This battle has not been without innocent victims, nor without sacrifice or heartache.

To be honest, it has totally sucked at times.

But last Sunday, a guest came up to me after church that made all of the struggle worth it.

Bob (not his real name) came with a friend. He's been trying to get his friend, Derek (not his real name, either), to go to church with him for years. Unknown to Bob, Derek started coming to our church recently & God is doing an AMAZING work in him & it's affecting his whole family!

That in and of itself is ample reason to celebrate, but the story doesn't end there!

Anyway, back to the story...

Bob called Derek on Saturday evening & asked, "You wanna go with me to church tomorrow?"

Derek answered, "Well, actually... I've been going to this church I found for a while now... You wanna come with me?"

Bob managed to cough out through his stunned stupor, "What?! Yeah, Dude... If YOU found a church that you like, I DEFINITELY wanna check it out!"

So, he did.

And God met him!

That, too, is ample reason to celebrate, even if there was no more to the story!

But there IS more!

Bob came up to me after church (this is where I started this story) & told me that he was SO touched, that he felt like he just HAD to come & tell me the story I just related to you.

But then Bob continued, and this was AMAZING!

He said, "Pastor, I've got ALL these unsaved friends I've been wanting to bring to church, but I have not been able to find a place where I could bring them..."

TIME OUT! That statement breaks my heart every time I hear it! I don't understand how we can call ourselves followers of Jesus if we are not broken hearted over the things that break His heart... And He WEEPS for them!

Bob continued, "...I have not been able to find a place where I could bring them... UNTIL TODAY! This place is PERFECT for them!!"

My heart went from sunk to sky high in those 7 little words!!! THAT is what we've been working so hard to hear for SO LONG!!

I hope that this is just the first of MANY times I hear this... And I am confident that it is, because I shared this story with our church this Sunday and they were ecstatic! They went NUTS when I told them.

That's not just a great sign, it's a milestone! And a BIG ONE at that!!

Teachable Moments

Yesterday, the kids & I were in the truck driving somewhere. Faith mentioned something factual that Hosanna was unaware of, so she corrected her little sister (as all 9-year-old big sisters do).

Faith then explained the rest of the story to Hosanna, and she realized that she was wrong. So, she admitted it.

No, really... She did!

Maybe that's no big deal where you live, but I can't remember the last time I heard someone say those 3 words together.

Discerning a teachable moment (as any parent would), I told Hosanna how proud I was of her for admitting that she was wrong, that even most adults have a hard time admitting when they're wrong, & that her doing so told me that she was becoming more and more grown up.

Just before I could fully enjoy the shot of parental pride I was feeling, Faith shot out, "Yeah! Especially or Hosanna!"

Teachable moment #2, welcome to the conversation.

I Need That!

So, I'm sitting in my office today, trying to get some things done, and my brain cramps.

I'm not trying to be funny. It really did cramp!

Maybe you've never felt that before, but it's not like a charlie horse on your leg or anything... In fact, it's like nothing else I've experienced!

It's like I can't concentrate... Like my brain is full & can't hold any more thoughts... It doesn't hurt, it feels more like I'm distracted... It's weird.

I've learned that when I start having that feeling, I need to take a break.

Not a if-I-were-a-smoker-I'd-go-have-one break, but more like a if-I-don't-get-the-heck-outta-here-I'm-gonna-lose-it break.

Fortunately, Jen & I bought a Disney vacation for the kiddos several months ago! And we leave tomorrow!!

I am SOOOOOO glad... I need it!

See y'all in a couple of weeks!!

I'll tell Mickey you said "Hi!"

Perspectitude

I loved my Shakespeare classes in college!

It seemed like my "learner" went into overtime or overdrive or whatever hyperbolic term you can think of... I just seemed to learn a lot more in those classes than in most of my other classes.

One day, I remember our professor, Doc White, telling us that Shakespeare often made up new words whenever no currently-existing words fit what he wanted. He said that in the play Hamlet alone, there are over 600 words that appear in the English language for the first time (in other words, that he made up). One example: "jump."

Well... if it's good enough for Shakespeare, it's good enough for me!

My wife would also add that if you're Southern, you do it all the time anyway.

Well, allow me to introduce you to my newest creation: perspectitude.

I was looking at a situation in my life earlier and really feeling down about it. In fact, I told Jennifer I needed her to pray for me because I was really down about it!

All I could see... Or, really, all I was looking at... Was the negative stuff about my struggle.

But then, like a ray of sunshine through a cloud-covered sky, I thought of something positive in my circumstances.

I wasn't wanting to & I certainly wasn't trying to! In fact, I was quite content in my misery!

But the moment I saw that one bright light, I saw another. And another. And yet another!

Then the thought crossed my mind, "There's just as much--if not more--good to focus on here than bad... You're moping around is insulting God! Look at all He's doing in the midst of this!!"

So, I decided to change my perspective & focus not on the bad stuff, but the good stuff.

It took quite a bit of effort for the first few minutes, but then--without warning--I noticed a shift in my attitude!

The doom & gloom that hovered around me like a cloud was gone! In fact, I felt excitement, joy, & courage to keep going forward.

The drastic change in my attitude was the direct result of deliberate, mental change of perspective!

Did you get that? Changed perspective became changed attitude!

Perspective... Attitude... Perspective... Attitude... Perspective + attitude = Perspectitude!!

So, the next time I'm facing a difficult situation & start to feel burdened, discouraged, or whatever, I'm gonna check my perspectitude!

I bet it changes everything else, too!