When I woke up this morning, I was immediately bombarded with choice. I had to choose to get out of bed. I had to choose whether or not to shower. I had to choose what clothes to wear. I had to choose if I were going to spend time with Jesus or not. I had and have a choice for every action I will possibly do today. Choice is everywhere.

We live in a very privileged society. We can choose where we work, where we go to school, how we parent, what kind of car we drive, where we eat breakfast. We have freedom to choose to do just about anything. The power to choose is intoxicating. So much so that when something threatens to take that power away we have a tendency to flip out. How could you take away my choice right?

Herein lies the problem with choice – that is choice in our society. Choice has become a “right”.

We are very aware of our “rights”. We love to protect our rights. We love to fight for our rights. With that in mind, here is a question that I believe we must answer: Has that mindset corrupted our faith?

I wonder if we have forgotten that at the Cross of Jesus, our rights have been laid at His feet. That after we come to Christ, we are slaves to righteousness. That we are predestined to be conformed into the image of Christ. I wonder if our proclivity to champion our power of choice has kept us from correctly understanding what it means to be a disciple of Christ.

Don’t get me wrong, choice is great. However, I believe that we must understand as believers, that our choices are no longer our own. That we must lay down our right to choose at the feet of Christ, and come to the understanding that to truly become his disciples our hearts must beat for His choice, His purposes, His glory. Our perspective has to shift from our “right to choose” to His choice for us.

This year the dance was great. However, it was the lessons Mollie taught me about Christ-centered living that blew me away.

There is nothing better than you. Mollie had many friends at the dance. Many times throughout the dance they would come up and ask her to come with them. These friends had abandoned their dads and asked her to do the same. However, not one time did she leave my side. She treated me like all other options were cheap substitutes for spending time with me. Does this characterize your relationship with Christ? Have you adopted a cheap substitute for Jesus? There is nothing better than KING JESUS. Don’t settle for anything less.

I love you! Mollie is quite passionate. She often says, “Daddy, I LOOOOOVE YOOOOOUUUU.” Saying this is not new for her. However, with the absence of the rest of the crew (ok her brothers) she went out of her way to let me know she LOVED me. There was no doubt how she felt about me at the dance. Do you have a regular part of your day where you confess your love for God? You exist for the fame of HIS name and I encourage you to daily, weekly, and continually voice your love to and for God.

This is fun. Mollie and I had a blast. We had our own dance moves we would create. We slow danced, did the Twist, the Macarena, Electric Slide, Chicken Dance, and more. I had the time of my life with my girl. Serving Jesus should be no different. It is what we are created for. There are times that are tough. But that should not distract us from the joy Christ brings when He saves us. Are you having fun in serving Christ and living out the Gospel? There is no greater “fun” than being wrapped up and consumed by Christ and His great mission.

I want to encourage you not to settle for anything less than Jesus, spend time confessing your love and affection for him, and have fun in living out the great mission of God.

God gave me a glimpse of what he wants from His children at the Daddy Daughter Dance this year. Thank you God for using my daughter and your child to teach me these lessons.

While I see how technology is being used for the advancement of the gospel and for the glory of God in many ways, I also see how it has become a prison for some – a prison that has kept some from enjoying God and experiencing Him. Let me throw out a word that doesn’t get talked about much in our culture – solitude. What? Solitude? What’s solitude? Exactly. Sadly, all the different forms of technology out there can easily overshadow this aspect of Christianity today. Simply defined, solitude is the act of detaching ourselves from the busyness of life and getting away to spend some time alone to recharge and refocus. In the 21st century, this could mean getting away from all the status updates and Twitter Feeds, turning off our phones and being “still”. While Christianity is undeniably corporate – meaning, God has wired us to live for Him with other believers – Jesus models the importance of disciplining ourselves to take time for solitude. Throughout the gospels you will find Jesus getting away from His disciples and the crowds to be alone with His father. He often did this in the morning, while most people were getting their snooze on.

Perhaps you are stuck in a rut and spiritually frustrated. Maybe your focus is gone and you find yourself aimlessly going throughout life. Take Jesus’ example to heart and unplug with the purpose of plugging in to Jesus and His power. Carve out a small chunk of time for just you and God. No other distractions. You won’t regret it.

“But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”

1 Samuel 15:22

Have you ever met someone who seemed to have all the intangibles but never quite “got it” and never really did anything great? Even though they had all the potential in the world they never broke away from the pack. They simply remained mediocre. Or worse they consistently underachieved.

After the Hebrews fled Egypt and entered the Promised Land, they wanted a King. Samuel was the Prophet at the time and, with God’s graces, chose a King for Israel named Saul. Saul had the “it” factor.  He literally stood head and shoulders above everyone else. If anyone could have been a great King it was him! Sadly, the story doesn’t end with triumphant accolades or peace for the masses. It ends with him falling on his own sword in battle.

So what was his problem? What kept him from being remembered as a great King who feared God? If we are honest with ourselves, he struggled from the same thing we struggle with. Partial obedience to God.

We are really good at compartmentalizing our faith. We act like Chameleons; changing colors to match the environments we are in. We remain Luke warm. We remain mediocre. God wants to use us for great things, indwells and empowers us with the Holy Spirit, and yet because we only follow Him when its convenient we miss out on everything He wants to use us for!

I for one refuse to live like Saul anymore.

I want to be used by God for more, for things that impact all of eternity. I want to wholly obey the Word of God. I want my kids to know that I loved and obeyed God all their lives and I want them to see what God will do with one man fully committed to Him.

No matter where you are in life, its not to late to stop obeying partially. Stop giving God the leftovers. Stop saving your best for when its convenient or easy. After all Jesus is not safe, but good. Lets count the cost of following him, take up our cross, and passionately follow Him.

Give God your all and he will take you farther and deeper than you could have ever imagined.

Lets not allow our lives to end with us falling on our swords in the midst of battle. Let us end our lives with a passion for God’s kingdom and hearts completely sold out to Him.

I love my new job. The best way to describe it is discovering what you were made for. I know it sounds like a line out of a pop song, or one of those fortune cookies at the closest Chinese buffet, but its the best way to describe things.

Along with the calming of our seas, is our new schedule. Jenn and I sat down at a local bookstore a few weeks ago and ran through our daily schedule. With four kids preparation is key to an orderly household and less grey hair. If I were completely honest with you, it took me about 2 days to process all our schedule entails; but I won’t be honest and tell you I was right with my wife on this.

My wife is a pretty incredible person. I am living with the epitome of the Proverbs 31 woman. She hates it when I brag on her, but I am the head of the house and sometimes get to act like it.

But I digress. School is a major priority in our lives right now. Ella is eager to learn and an excellent student and the boys of course have to be involved in whatever she is doing and getting attention for. So, to include them my wife has come up with a pretty cool system. Each week we focus on a new letter for the boys. What sound it makes, how to write it, finding things around the house that start with the letter…that kind of stuff.

As I was tucking Eli into bed last night I just asked “What does A say!” He answered “Ahh!” He got it. Now you have to understand that this is quite the achievement for this little guy. By the time he was two he was living in an orphange, moved to another orphanage, and exposed to at least two different dialects in Ethiopia. Needless to say Eli did not get the building blocks to learning these things as a baby.

I was proud. I was excited because I knew how hard it had been to teach him this simply concept. A says Ahh. I moved to B. In eagerness. B says Bah. We repeated it, sang a song, said it loud, quiet, upside down, inside out, shaken, still, pretty much every way it could be said. Then I just had him repeat it. Over and over and over. We were making progress. Then I asked him. “What does B say?” The moment of truth. Had it gotten in? Had I stumbled upon the right strategy to help him learn? He said “uhmmmm…r?”

What?! He had just said it! He had repeated it, giggled it, said it on his own 10 times not 3 seconds before! Needless to say I was frustrated. I quickly went back to what he knew. “What does A say?” “Ahh” he said. “What does B say?” “Uhmmm…Ahh?”

Adoption is a beautiful thing. Having children opened up a whole new world to me on how God loves us and calls us His children. Adoption made that come alive even more. Not only does he call us His children and love us like His own, but we were NOT His children! Eli didn’t smell, act, look, or feel like my kids when we first brought Him home. We had to learn to love him. Grow to love him. Ask God for grace to love him as much as our own. I am positive he had the same reaction to us!

As I was teaching Eli last night, I quickly became frustrated. Why wasn’t he grasping this? What had I gotten into? Then the conviction came.

Another world was opened to me. How many times has God been trying to teach me, His adopted child, to obey, learn, and grow in Him and I just don’t get it. I struggle, check out, and ignore His simple, loving instruction. But thankfully, He takes the long view of my shortfalls! He patiently renews His grace every morning. He persistently calls out to me. He quietly teaches me. Every day. Even when I am just not getting it.

So for Eli, his education may be a long hard road; but I know that he can do it. And I have a great example in my heavenly father of how I should be teaching him. With great patience, diligence, and confidence.

“he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will–” Ephesians 1:5

“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” Philippians 1:6.

Did you know that 80% of first time guests at church are personally invited? 80%! Thats a pretty staggering statistic. Think of it this way, Ty Cobb batted .366 and has the greatest batting average of all time. A little more than 3 of 10 is the greatest of all time. Drew Brees had a 70% completion percentage in 2009. The highest in the NFL. Closer, but still not there. If you asked 10 people to come to church, statistics say 8 will come!

The simple truth is, that the Church doesn’t happen without you! We can pour money into advertising and come up with incredible give aways but we wouldn’t come close to having the response you get when you simply invite your neighbors.

Invite someone to come to church with you this Christmas Eve. It could be a night that changes their lives forever.

I woke up this morning and for some reason I was thinking about the Apple Store. I have no idea why, I do not need anything (as if I could afford anything), it was just on my mind. I was specifically thinking about how you can go into an Apple Store, get any sales person, learn about the product and what you need, get your product, and buy your product all from the same person. Its actually a pretty cool model. No waiting in line for the Cashier, or looking around for the Cashier’s desk, nothing. Just check out. They all carry around these iPhones with Credit Card readers attached to them and swipe your card right there. You are emailed a receipt so you don’t have to fumble around with that as you carry whatever you bought. Easy, quick, and convenient.

Thats when it hit me. Why doesn’t the church, by church I mean the people of God, act more like an Apple Store?

Let me explain. Most of the time we, as the church, act nothing like an Apple Store. We have a “thats what the Pastor’s for” mentality. In other words, we can invite people to church on special occasions, but far be it from us to help someone come to Christ. We can point people toward the Cashier, but we are never prepared to help ourselves.

I am not sure it stops there. I wonder if, as Christians, we want someone else to feed us. Someone else to do the heavy lifting. When we have more access to Scripture, more resources to help us understand, and more technology at the ready than any other time in history, we simply are too lazy or overcommitted to put in the leg work ourselves. So not only are we impotent followers, we don’t even really know who we are following because we have never studied it for ourselves.

Imagine what the Church would be like if we acted like the Apple Store. If anyone could come up to any one of us and we understood what we were talking about and remembered that we have all the tools through Christ to lead anyone to Christ.

We have to remember that as disciples of Christ, we aren’t called to point others to “professionals”. We are called to study and show ourselves approved unto God. Rightly dividing the Word of Truth. Watching ourselves and our doctrine closely, so that others can know Him.

God is moving in my life. God is moving in my wife’s life.

I am not talking about good quiet times, or consistent prayer. I am talking about a genuine move in which my wife and I are being changed. We are being dramatically changed. We are being ruined. Isaiah had a similar experience when he saw the God seated on a throne, exalted. I have to tell you it is the greatest feeling in the universe to be ruined by a Holy, Holy, Holy, God. I believe with all my heart that God is preparing us for something huge! I don’t know what it is going to be, where it is going to be, or when it is going to be, but I know that it is going to be great.

I have never been so sensitive to sin and the separation from God it results in, I have never been so open to the voice of God, I have never been so eager for a life that is far from ordinary. I am tired of living a pampered life in which I am more eager to get in debt for a car than giving to the needy. I am tired of complaining that I don’t have the latest greatest and failing to realize that I am in the top 3 percent of the world’s richest people. I am tired of warming a seat in church… I am tired of being a professional pastor and part-time disciple of Christ.

I can’t wait to see what God is going to do in my family. I am excited to see how he uses my wife as she ignites for Him. I am excited to see what he does through me as I lead my family to the front lines for Christ. I desire to see what God will do when we start to live lives that require genuine faith in God instead of my savings account or retirement investments. I am ready to set the example for my kids to see that reading God’s Word is more important than watching American Idol, 24, Heroes, or Dancing with the Stars.

This is not about parading my righteousness, this is not about my reputation, this is about engaging culture and demonstrating that the Christian life isn’t about convenience, Sunday mornings, holidays, or meal time prayers.

You are invited.

God wants to work in your life just as he is in mine. He wants to move in you and leave you in ruins just like he is mine. It is never easy, but I can tell you from experience that it is the greatest, most incredible time of my life and it will be for you too. Are you ready to shake off the dust, to taste and see that the Lord is good? To break out of Christianity based on convenience? God is reaching out to you, inviting you to live anextraordinary life.

I would take him up on the offer.

Since I wrote that post God has continually directed our path and led us to adopt Eli, leave the comfort of good ministry, and jump with both feet into a new church, in a new area, with less “stuff”.

I do not know what the future holds for my family, but I trust what God has planned. I would have never thought I would be where I am now, and I can honestly say that I am doing what I was created to do!

The offer still stands for you guys too!

“So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.” II Kings 17:39

I had a good childhood friend that I used roam the countryside with looking for trouble and fighting ninjas with sticks. He lived in this really cool house on top of a huge hill, or small mountain, depending on how you look at it, and his family was great. I remember our parents getting together for Bible Studies and his dad was a big reason my dad grew in his faith.

To make a long story short, my friend’s dad fell. He was trying to reach people for the Kingdom, but got too caught up and ended up wrecking his family. Its a very, very sad story. Things were never the same after that.

The man’s sin effected everything, and today his children follow. Now they aren’t all drug addicts or anything but they have scars that they probably would not have if their father would have kept the faith. They live very different lives than they would have if their father would have remained faithful to Christ and his family.

Where are you? What idols are you serving that will, lets make that emphatic, WILL, drag you from the Lord? What legacy are you leaving for you kids, or future kids? Their future hinges on the choices you make. Do you fear the Lord, but serve idols? We must check ourselves daily and remember that our sin reaches far.