Monthly Archives: September 2007

The five most viewed posts of September

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My gosh… it’s OCTOBER! Before long it’ll be Christmas and the next thing you know… we’ll talking about our grandchildren! ;-)

Anyway… the five most viewed blog articles of September were…

  • Who is Paul Peterson? – This is the “About me page” that tells a bit about the dude blogging! Based on the fact that this page is number one and the number two most viewed “spot” of the month is “Blogs worth checking out” I’d say that a lot of new people are checking out this blog! Welcome!
  • Blogs worth checking out – These are some of my favorite blogs/resources. I’ve categorized them to make your reading easier! Check them out! Subscribe to their e-mail delivery or put them in your reader!
  • A day at the zoo – A picture story of our day at the zoo to celebrate Dallas’ second birthday!
  • Porn stars, pot heads, and Jesus – A reflection on the amazing grace of Jesus! Hey, someone ought to write a song about that… ;-) (I mean the “amazing grace” part Jeff).

Honorable Mention: Holy Spirit – A blogosphere commitment to move away from “Christian-lite”… a brief study of the Holy Spirit.

Bloggers on the Bible

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Here are a couple of worthwhile reads from a couple of my favorite bloggers…

  • Ben asks “What if you couldn’t start with the assumption that the Bible is authoritative?” (Click here to read what he says). I particularly like and agree with the last statement in this article.

The blogosphere is a live environment where theology is often fleshed out and realized. Here are two examples of this.

God… present and powerful

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Reading this a.m. from Thomas Oden’s book, John Wesley’s Scriptural Christianity, I came across a thought that I’ll be mentally chewing on today. It’s worth sharing with you…

“As omnipresence refers to God’s relation to space, as sovereignly present in every location, eternity refers to God’s relation to time as intimately present in every moment.”

These words remind me that God is always present in fullness of power and desiring and capable of a quality of relationship attainable nowhere else.

This is one of the reasons I worship God.

Competence is not enough

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“In organizational life, being competent is not enough.” Michael Feiner

I TOTALLY believe this!

The reality is that if you don’t get along with the people you’re working with, it doesn’t matter how competent you/they are… synergy will not happen!

Bill Hybels is right on when he identifies the top three characteristics of a team player:

  • Character
  • Competence
  • Chemistry

An absence of any of these three is a deal-breaker when it comes to hiring/recruiting those people who will work beside you regularly.

Decision…

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Today I’m sitting in a certain restaurant… in a certain city… asking God for clarity.

Over the last three days a series of events, conversations, etc. have all pointed to one place… the place where we are looking to start a church and spend the rest of our lives.

It’s an amazing feeling knowing that the decision that I will make in the next couple of days will shape the rest of my life, my family’s lives, my launch team’s lives, and countless other lives.

It’s a HUGE decision that can only be made in the context of humility and prayer.

So here I sit… listening… waiting… praying… making a decision that will forever shape destinies.

Stopping to praise

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It is possible to be so driven that you don’t “have time” to praise and enjoy.

It is possible to be so driven that in your passion to initiate or in your pursuit of the next BHAG (Big Harry Audacious Goal – thanks to Jim Collins) you miss what is right in front of you… gifts from God.

Today, in reading from Ephesians, I kept noticing St. Paul give praise to God for a variety of gifts/blessings. I was prompted to take time to praise and enjoy… to “stop and smell the roses”.

I praise God for:

  • Salvation. Bottom line… God has saved me from a self-centered, destructive existence and has given me a new life. While I’m not the man I want to be yet, I’m certainly not the man I used to be and that is a complete credit to my Savior and God, Jesus Christ.
  • The Holy Spirit of God who lives in me. St. Paul says, “When you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit….” (Ephesians 1:13). The Holy Spirit of God lives in us who believe in Jesus and have surrendered our lives to Him! What an incredible gift from God! His Spirit encourages, empowers, confronts, loves, and teaches us as we follow our Leader, Jesus! Just the other night I spoke roughly to “The Ladies”. As I was laying in bed, the Spirit of God began to push on me letting me know that I had acted mean and not like my Leader (Jesus). I got up, went into “The Ladies” room, and spent time with each one of them asking them to forgive me and then just loving on them. I’m grateful to God for bumping me when I get stupid. I’m a better dad because the Spirit of God lives in me… as far as that goes, I’m a better man.
  • My family. Man, there’s nothing better than being loved by a house of ladies! To be “Husband” to Sherri and “Daddy” to “The Ladies” is an role I fill with pride, gratitude, and a spirit of humility. I understand I don’t deserve this gift and I need so much help to properly undertake my responsibility and YET through the love and teaching of my Leader and His Spirit in me I am doing it. Thank you Lord for the gift of my family.
  • The people in my life. From family and friends to mentors and even to antagonists, God has encircled my life with the gift of people. Some of you are teaching me. Some of you are learning from me. Some of you are supporting me/us. Some of you are trying to forget me. Some of you have just met me. Some of you are coming with me. The bottom line is that without you I would not be who I am. I am grateful to God for you and count my life better because of the gift of you that God has graced my life with.
  • The future. The best is yet to come. I’m deeply grateful to my Leader, Jesus Christ, for leading me and all of us into a brighter future. Our confidence lies in the fact that He is coming back for us as soon as He gets “the house ready” (click here to read it in His words). Hey, there’s so much I don’t know, but I’m betting my life on the fact that Jesus is coming back and those who have trusted in Him as the way to God will get to spend FOREVER with Him in a perfect environment! That’s a gift worth celebrating! Beyond the eternal implications, I’m so excited about the near future! I believe that God is setting us up to connect people to Jesus in exciting and creative ways. I can’t wait to get started! I love the life change that happens when people discover Jesus… and that’s my near future!

And I could go on and on, but for now I just want to say,

“Lord, you make me happy. Thank you for loving on me. Thank you for putting so much good in my life. Thank you for trusting me to serve in your church. Thank you for putting such great people in my life. Thank you for my family. Thank you for living inside of me. Thank you for the promise that the best is yet to come. May this day be lived out in a spirit of gratefulness. Amen.”

The church…

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I’ve invested time today reading theologians writings about the church.

Why?

I read a lot of practitioners (i.e. those doing the work), but occasionally it’s good to go back to the philosophical side of what we’re doing.

It’s always good to remember the “Why behind the what.”

Reading from John Stott, among others, I found a “quotable”…

“Unless we listen attentively to the voices of secular society, struggle to understand them, and feel with people in their frustration, anger, bewilderment and despair, weeping with those who weep, we will lack authenticity as the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth. Instead we will run the risk of answering questions nobody is asking, scratching where nobody is itching, supplying goods for which there is no demand – in other words, of being totally irrelevant, which in its long history the church has often been.”