This post is from Abby Dietrich
“I Believe that somewhere deep down inside all of us there is a primal longing to do something crazy for God. We want to chase a loin like Benaiah. But our fear of looking foolish keeps us hog-tied and locked in the basement.”
Also: “Can tell you why some people have never killed a giant or walked on water or seen the walls come tumbling down? It's because they weren't willing to look foolish.”
I can tell you I used to be the first one to do anything to keep from looking foolish. I remember 5 or 6 years ago when I first began to lead worship for the youth, I had a rule on the platform called "No awkward pauses." I never wanted to look foolish or that I didn't know what I was doing. So I meticulously made sure that everyone knew their part. But the problem with that attitude is that you don't allow the Holy Spirit to be a guide. We can be so focused on making it happen that we shut out the voice of the Holy spirit and what He may be asking us.
Sometimes what He may be asking of us looks Foolish. For me that means sometimes I have to let those "Awkward Pauses" Happen( and they do). But the Lord has shown me so much though them, like how to trust Him and wait on Him. And He moves in those times. 1 Cor. 1:27 says:
God deliberately chose the things the world considers foolish, in order to shame those who think they are wise. Don't be afraid to look foolish in the eyes of the world, so He may be glorified in your life.
Abby Dietrich
Looking Foolish For Jesus
Monday, August 24, 2009
This Post is from Linda Taylor
I am sure God had me in mind when it came time to write about chapter 8. The title of this chapter is The Importance of Looking Foolish. On page 149 Mark Batterson wrote that polls have found most people’s number one fear is speaking in public, death being number two.
I’m not sure how fearful of death I am but I know when I was in high school I wouldn’t take speech because I wasn’t about to speak in front of people. Fast forward about 15 years later and I am now on a journey to follow Jesus and little by little He began stretching me in places of leadership I never thought I would go. Several years ago I was asked to be the speaker at a Women’s Aglow meeting and the closer the time go came the more nervous I became. The day before I was to go (you can be sure I was praying) God brought a statement to my attention and I knew when I read it was for me “You must do the thing you think you cannot do”. I did, He blessed my obedience and it strengthened me.
So what could be my reason for concern, but the fear of looking foolish? The author states that faith is the willingness to look foolish. If David wasn’t willing to seize his God ordained opportunity, he would never have killed a giant, Noah would never have built an ark, and Peter would not have walked on water. As it is, David killed the giant, Noah was saved from the flood, Peter walked on water, etc.
Each one of us can write our own story. I want to be with the ones that are not afraid to “chase a lion into a pit on a snowy day”. I believe you are too or you wouldn’t be reading this challenging book.
Linda Taylor
I am sure God had me in mind when it came time to write about chapter 8. The title of this chapter is The Importance of Looking Foolish. On page 149 Mark Batterson wrote that polls have found most people’s number one fear is speaking in public, death being number two.
I’m not sure how fearful of death I am but I know when I was in high school I wouldn’t take speech because I wasn’t about to speak in front of people. Fast forward about 15 years later and I am now on a journey to follow Jesus and little by little He began stretching me in places of leadership I never thought I would go. Several years ago I was asked to be the speaker at a Women’s Aglow meeting and the closer the time go came the more nervous I became. The day before I was to go (you can be sure I was praying) God brought a statement to my attention and I knew when I read it was for me “You must do the thing you think you cannot do”. I did, He blessed my obedience and it strengthened me.
So what could be my reason for concern, but the fear of looking foolish? The author states that faith is the willingness to look foolish. If David wasn’t willing to seize his God ordained opportunity, he would never have killed a giant, Noah would never have built an ark, and Peter would not have walked on water. As it is, David killed the giant, Noah was saved from the flood, Peter walked on water, etc.
Each one of us can write our own story. I want to be with the ones that are not afraid to “chase a lion into a pit on a snowy day”. I believe you are too or you wouldn’t be reading this challenging book.
Linda Taylor
Living In Prayer Mode
Saturday, August 15, 2009
This post is from one of our board members, Craig Baron.
The part in Chapter 7 that hit me the most was when Batterson wrote about living a pinball existence. “There are only two ways to live your life: survival mode or prayer mode. Survival mode is simply reacting to the circumstances around you. It is a pinball existence.” He goes on to say, “Prayer mode is the exact opposite. Your spiritual antenna is up and your radar is on.”
I tend to live my life like a pinball, bouncing from this to that, living in survival mode instead of focusing on the opportunities God gives me. That convicts me. I do, many times, exist in survival mode. My own thought life becomes pinballed from one thought to the next. For example, I was going to play a game with my son recently but there was a game piece missing. I spent the next hour looking for the piece and being upset about it rather than staying focused on the task at hand which was connecting with my son by playing a game. I easily get sidetracked. I never found the game piece and by the time I gave up looking for it, he needed to go to bed so we didn’t play anything. I wonder if I missed out on something that God had for us that night. I wonder if I miss out on stuff like that all the time.
Another area I think about with the pinball existence is faith. Sometimes I don’t have the faith to even look at opportunities. I don’t see my life the way God sees my life. My problems and my issues seem much bigger than they really are. For me, when my spiritual antenna is not up, my fear antenna is up. When I live in fear, there’s no way I can see any opportunity that comes my way. When living in this state of fear, not only could a person miss the big God-ordained opportunities like starting a business, you could also miss opportunities in the small, day to day activities of being a father, being a husband, or interacting with friends and neighbors.
I like the meaning of the Aramaic word for prayer, slotha: “to set a trap.” Batterson says, “Prayer helps us catch the opportunities God throws our way.” I love that. It’s the opposite of pinball mode. Being ready, watchful, strategic. Not being surprised by the enemy. Being proactive and not reactive. Prepared and ready.
The part in Chapter 7 that hit me the most was when Batterson wrote about living a pinball existence. “There are only two ways to live your life: survival mode or prayer mode. Survival mode is simply reacting to the circumstances around you. It is a pinball existence.” He goes on to say, “Prayer mode is the exact opposite. Your spiritual antenna is up and your radar is on.”
I tend to live my life like a pinball, bouncing from this to that, living in survival mode instead of focusing on the opportunities God gives me. That convicts me. I do, many times, exist in survival mode. My own thought life becomes pinballed from one thought to the next. For example, I was going to play a game with my son recently but there was a game piece missing. I spent the next hour looking for the piece and being upset about it rather than staying focused on the task at hand which was connecting with my son by playing a game. I easily get sidetracked. I never found the game piece and by the time I gave up looking for it, he needed to go to bed so we didn’t play anything. I wonder if I missed out on something that God had for us that night. I wonder if I miss out on stuff like that all the time.
Another area I think about with the pinball existence is faith. Sometimes I don’t have the faith to even look at opportunities. I don’t see my life the way God sees my life. My problems and my issues seem much bigger than they really are. For me, when my spiritual antenna is not up, my fear antenna is up. When I live in fear, there’s no way I can see any opportunity that comes my way. When living in this state of fear, not only could a person miss the big God-ordained opportunities like starting a business, you could also miss opportunities in the small, day to day activities of being a father, being a husband, or interacting with friends and neighbors.
I like the meaning of the Aramaic word for prayer, slotha: “to set a trap.” Batterson says, “Prayer helps us catch the opportunities God throws our way.” I love that. It’s the opposite of pinball mode. Being ready, watchful, strategic. Not being surprised by the enemy. Being proactive and not reactive. Prepared and ready.
Grap Opportunity By The Mane
Saturday, August 8, 2009
This post is from Pastor Jake
Chapter seven, from the book “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day” by Mark Batterson, is rightfully titled Grab Opportunity by the Mane and it makes divine sense that this chapter was given to me to reflect on.
As Chapter seven is read, a man named John is introduced. To you or I, he is just a lawyer, but to the author he is a man seizing a God size opportunity. I say that to follow up with a quote that Batterson states about these opportunities and it is this: “But God is in the business of making sure we cross paths with the right people at the right time (127)”. I read this and the words jumped out at me with such truth and understanding from my own experiences. One in particular would be the current location I am at here in Hibbing. As a few months ago, I was in the Florida panhandle enjoying, some may say, the warm late winter air when I decided at 0730 one Saturday morning to go to a Christian Education seminar at the district. The only catch, it started at 0800 and I was forty-five minutes away. Of course, if you spend even a minute getting to know me, that this is no problem, so I saddled up on my steal horse and rode out to Marianna, FL to the district grounds. I had the pleasure of sitting in a CE conference for children and meeting Jason Noble our National Children’s Director. We started to talk, as I am apparently gifted at, and started to connect the lines between us and making the world smaller by the people we had in common. By the end of the conversation he had wanted to place me as Children’s Pastor in one of forty churches that needed one.
So the God size moment was in front of me. Batterson states “Think of every opportunity a gift from God. What you do with it is your gift to God (132)”. My ultimate goal was to become an effective pastor somewhere. I was becoming discouraged by my surroundings because of simple things like being single and not “fully qualified” that I figured I was just always going to be working on becoming a staff pastor, yet here was the Gift of an Opportunity. Walking through the door and becoming the best I can be at being an effective Children’s Pastor, will be my gift back to my Father.
This book is all about opportunity and grabbing it by the Mane. I would like to sum up my short version of the experience I have had with God’s gift with a true statement from Batterson: “Dreams are still achieved one opportunity at a time (130)”. My dream for the last three or four years was to be where I am. God brought me here ordained encounter by ordained encounter. Dreams are still coming true in the Kingdom of God. The only question we can ask ourselves when the moments come is: are we gonna let the lion walk on by, or are we gonna get two big fists full of his mane and hang on for the ride of our lives!
Pastor Jake
Chapter seven, from the book “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day” by Mark Batterson, is rightfully titled Grab Opportunity by the Mane and it makes divine sense that this chapter was given to me to reflect on.
As Chapter seven is read, a man named John is introduced. To you or I, he is just a lawyer, but to the author he is a man seizing a God size opportunity. I say that to follow up with a quote that Batterson states about these opportunities and it is this: “But God is in the business of making sure we cross paths with the right people at the right time (127)”. I read this and the words jumped out at me with such truth and understanding from my own experiences. One in particular would be the current location I am at here in Hibbing. As a few months ago, I was in the Florida panhandle enjoying, some may say, the warm late winter air when I decided at 0730 one Saturday morning to go to a Christian Education seminar at the district. The only catch, it started at 0800 and I was forty-five minutes away. Of course, if you spend even a minute getting to know me, that this is no problem, so I saddled up on my steal horse and rode out to Marianna, FL to the district grounds. I had the pleasure of sitting in a CE conference for children and meeting Jason Noble our National Children’s Director. We started to talk, as I am apparently gifted at, and started to connect the lines between us and making the world smaller by the people we had in common. By the end of the conversation he had wanted to place me as Children’s Pastor in one of forty churches that needed one.
So the God size moment was in front of me. Batterson states “Think of every opportunity a gift from God. What you do with it is your gift to God (132)”. My ultimate goal was to become an effective pastor somewhere. I was becoming discouraged by my surroundings because of simple things like being single and not “fully qualified” that I figured I was just always going to be working on becoming a staff pastor, yet here was the Gift of an Opportunity. Walking through the door and becoming the best I can be at being an effective Children’s Pastor, will be my gift back to my Father.
This book is all about opportunity and grabbing it by the Mane. I would like to sum up my short version of the experience I have had with God’s gift with a true statement from Batterson: “Dreams are still achieved one opportunity at a time (130)”. My dream for the last three or four years was to be where I am. God brought me here ordained encounter by ordained encounter. Dreams are still coming true in the Kingdom of God. The only question we can ask ourselves when the moments come is: are we gonna let the lion walk on by, or are we gonna get two big fists full of his mane and hang on for the ride of our lives!
Pastor Jake
Wearing Your Sunday Best Should Include a Crash Helmet
Thursday, August 6, 2009
This post is from one of our board members, Ron Wilcox
Growing up in the 50’s and 60’s, one of the things we did was wear our “Sunday Best” to church. We were taught that this was a sign of respect and honor to God and His church. That is why I often wear a coat and tie to Sunday morning church today.
In his book, Batterson quotes Annie Dillard saying “It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.”
Why is it that most of us take a “prevent defense” approach when it comes to our Christianity. We don’t want to hurt anyone’s’ feelings or step on any toes. And of course society wants us to be politically correct. By doing this who are we hurting? Ourselves! God has given us a commission to evangelize the world. How do we do that without stepping out of our shell?
For years one of my favorite sayings is “preach always and speak only when necessary”. There is a huge problem with that philosophy. We don’t get much done. We will never be lion chasers. We may occasionally defend ourselves if a lion was to chase us, a friend or a family member. We may have to scare the lion away, slay it, or have the head mounted to show our accomplishments.
A friend recently told me of a situation that God laid before her. Through an acquaintance of hers, she recently met a group of ladies who get together one night a week to listen to music for something to do. God gave her a vision to reach out to these ladies with a bible study. She senses that they would be open to the study just for something to do. Could you imagine an opportunity to share the gospel with people just because they wanted something to do? My guess is that God has given each one of us in the past and will again in the near future that very opportunity. My friend’s prayer is that as she knocks and pushes to open this door, that God will open it for her.
I remember the time my son went down hill skiing for the first time. At age 6 or 7 he was force to go down the bunny hill to begin with. As soon as he could he was down the bigger hills. My wife was looking for him and asked the ski patrol if they knew where he was. When she described our son, the patrol said, “Oh, the Kamikaze Kid”. He explained that Trevor would go to the top of the hill and come down as fast as he could.
Maybe that is the way we should be with our faith. Maybe we should charge ahead full speed after we have gone down the bunny hill a couple of times. Maybe we should put on our crash helmets and charge forward with our faith. Maybe our “Sunday best” should include a crash helmet.
Ron Wilcox
Growing up in the 50’s and 60’s, one of the things we did was wear our “Sunday Best” to church. We were taught that this was a sign of respect and honor to God and His church. That is why I often wear a coat and tie to Sunday morning church today.
In his book, Batterson quotes Annie Dillard saying “It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.”
Why is it that most of us take a “prevent defense” approach when it comes to our Christianity. We don’t want to hurt anyone’s’ feelings or step on any toes. And of course society wants us to be politically correct. By doing this who are we hurting? Ourselves! God has given us a commission to evangelize the world. How do we do that without stepping out of our shell?
For years one of my favorite sayings is “preach always and speak only when necessary”. There is a huge problem with that philosophy. We don’t get much done. We will never be lion chasers. We may occasionally defend ourselves if a lion was to chase us, a friend or a family member. We may have to scare the lion away, slay it, or have the head mounted to show our accomplishments.
A friend recently told me of a situation that God laid before her. Through an acquaintance of hers, she recently met a group of ladies who get together one night a week to listen to music for something to do. God gave her a vision to reach out to these ladies with a bible study. She senses that they would be open to the study just for something to do. Could you imagine an opportunity to share the gospel with people just because they wanted something to do? My guess is that God has given each one of us in the past and will again in the near future that very opportunity. My friend’s prayer is that as she knocks and pushes to open this door, that God will open it for her.
I remember the time my son went down hill skiing for the first time. At age 6 or 7 he was force to go down the bunny hill to begin with. As soon as he could he was down the bigger hills. My wife was looking for him and asked the ski patrol if they knew where he was. When she described our son, the patrol said, “Oh, the Kamikaze Kid”. He explained that Trevor would go to the top of the hill and come down as fast as he could.
Maybe that is the way we should be with our faith. Maybe we should charge ahead full speed after we have gone down the bunny hill a couple of times. Maybe we should put on our crash helmets and charge forward with our faith. Maybe our “Sunday best” should include a crash helmet.
Ron Wilcox
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