A Bondservant's Musings

As I wrote on Christmas in the first of a series of Christmas posts, the question facing every one of us is "How will you respond to the Savior?" Today we look at the shepherds' response to the Christ child as recorded in Luke 2:8-20. The announcement came to the shepherds while they were at work in the fields. ... there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, (Luke 2:8) Their initial response to the glory of the Lord was fear. This is different than fear as our world thinks of it now. A right relationship with God starts here. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Wait, why should I fear a loving God? Because He is God and I am not. He is the Creator. I am the created. He is righteous, holy (i.e., set apart) and just and cannot and will not overlook sin. If you remember from Romans 3:23 and 6:23 from my previous post, as sinners, we all have plenty to fear in the pr...

Remember the oft-dreaded pop quiz in school? It was telling to watch and listen to your fellow students' responses to that "Put away your books" declaration of the pop quiz. Did they immediately show signs of nervousness? Or did they fairly calmly put everything away as the quiz made its way down the row to them? Which were you -- the "Oh, no, I knew I should have studied" student or the "All that studying and staying caught up pays off now" student? While those questions might make for either a pleasant walk down memory lane or bring back a twinge of that sense of panic, that is not the point of this. I want to turn our attention, our minds and our actions to the ultimate pop quiz - the return of the King. I read about Jesus' return in Matthew 24 in my quiet time one day last week. In verse 44, Jesus tells us that His return will come at an hour you do not expect. (I recommend this passage to those out there making predictions about the date...

As a humid, 95-degree July day comes to a close, I am reminded of something I saw after the biggest snowstorm of last winter in Chicago. New-fallen snow is beautiful and bright white. When it's untouched, it looks so white, so pure. Then we start walking on it, driving on it, pushing it around with shovels, snow blowers and plows. Whatever that mixture is they put on the roads to melt the ice gets mixed in. That once pure snow becomes dingy, dirty, hard, crusty and anything but clean. When Snowpocalypse 2011 hit, all of the Chicago area was covered in a foot or two of new-fallen snow. Many weeks after Snowpocalypse 2011, I still saw a giant pile of snow in one spot on my train ride home every day. But what used to be pure white, fresh and almost breath-taking was now black, gray, crystalized, hard and ugly. What happened? Human intervention. Time. And no more new-fallen snow. The same thing happens in our lives. A fresh touch from God after a time of confession in our...

On a recent vacation to the Big Island of Hawai'i, I noticed an abundance of "Slippery When Wet" signs to apparently help stop vacationers from slipping or falling. As I saw more of these in the first few days of our vacation on the island, it got me thinking two things: Do we need all these signs? After all, aren't most things slippery when wet? And do items that don't get slippery when wet -- and I am having trouble thinking of any such items right now -- pose a problem for us? Couldn't we just assume surfaces are slippery when wet? Since there are so many of these warning signs, does anyone pay attention to them? That last question plus the presence of cairns ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairn ) my wife and I followed to stay on the Kilauea Iki Crater Trail in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park on a hike later in our trip got me thinking about the spiritual equivalents of those "Slippery When Wet" signs that I think most of us are ignoring and ...

That seems like a crazy title. It doesn't sit well with my math-leaning mind. How can a small group not be a small group? Let's focus on purpose. Small groups are about sanctification (i.e., the process of Jesus' disciples being conformed into His image as Paul wrote about in Romans 8:29, the often left-off completion to the often quoted Romans 8:28). In the Harvest Bible Chapel ( http://harvestbiblechapel.org/ ) paradigm, small groups are about walking in Christ in community. With the purpose defined, I contend there are groups meeting in your church carrying the small group label that aren't really small groups. So when is a small group not a small group? When it is a Bible study Wait a minute. I cannot possibly be dissing Bible studies, can I? Clearly Jesus' disciples should study His word. But small groups are to be more than a "What do you think?" discussion of our favorite book of the Bible. Small group has to be a vehicle to push to application of G...

As I got on the elevator to head out to a lunch appointment, I quickly glanced at the headline on that little screen that is so ubiquitous in the Loop that I wonder what elevators were like without them. (Oh, wait, I remember. We stared forward looking at nothing instead of staring at the screen.) I thought the "French shoot down Libyan war plane visiting no-fly zone" headline was strangely worded. That was until I re-read it and realized it said the Libyan plane "violated the no-fly zone." That little mix-up had me thinking about the absurdity of the idea of "visiting" a no-fly zone and expecting to get out safely. There are definitely no-fly zones for the follower of Jesus Christ. Some should pretty much be no-fly for all believers. Others may be more individualized based on areas where you have fallen previously or where you know there is great temptation. I hope you are thinking of those no-fly zones in your life right now. Regardless of what the no-fl...

We have all heard it. Perhaps we have said it to a friend, family member or colleague faced with a loss or a trial. Perhaps we have posted it as a Facebook comment recently in response to a tragedy or trial. "You are in our thoughts and prayer." Here is the thing. There are at least two problems with that statement. There is no power in our thoughts. When have you ever thought something into being better or fixed or different at all? There is no immediacy in that statement. Truth told, you are doing nothing for them in that moment. So let's fix those problems. First, drop the thoughts part. It isn't helpful. It isn't powerful. Quite frankly, it's lame. When I hear that from someone, I think sarcastically, "Gee, thanks." Second, bring immediacy to the prayer part. What sounds more active -- "I will keep you in my prayers" or "Let's pray now?" Pray for that person right now, in the moment. If you are with them, put your arm arou...

My wife and I set out for a hike this morning on the Big Island of Hawaii. We read up on where we were going -- from Highway 19 down to the ocean along the Kohala coast to the Golden Pools of Ke-awa-Iki -- and how to get there (using our standard Hawaii guide book, this time Hawaii the Big Island Revealed ). We took the description of the hike and a map with us. And still we managed to make the hike longer and harder than it should have been. Instead of following what the book laid out, I got us off track after rushing down to the black sand beach and starting to explore. Then we didn't stop and look back at the instructions or the map when we had a question about where to go next. (I won't be quitting my day job to become a guide anytime soon.) Never fear, we didn't really get lost. And no one was in any danger. We got to see everything we set out to see, including those golden pools. And all it cost us was a little more time and a little more exercise as we backtracked t...

"Get out of the way" is not something you normally associate with strong leaders. But stick with me here. There are certain things a leader has to give up as he or she moves up in leadership. I want to concentrate on one of those areas for flock leaders. The typical path to the flock leader role is to promote a current small group leader or couple. That means there is a decision to be made about the future leadership of that small group. Let me make this easy for you. When promoted to flock leader, the soon-to-be former -- that should give away what is coming next -- small group leader(s) needs to give up leadership and ownership of that small group. I say this for a couple reasons. First, as a flock leader, you are now a leader of leaders. Your responsibilities have changed. You are now expected to identify, shepherd, train, equip and release new leaders. That should start with what until yesterday was your small group. (By the way, it was never your small group. Rather the ...