CLUTTER!!!

What can I say? The blog is late this week. And I blame it on the clutter! Seriously. I am not just saying that because it makes for a great tie-in to the topic from last Thursday night. I really did find my weekend cluttered with too much stuff. And as I sifted through the clutter, inevitably, some things suffered the consequences - in this case, the blog going up in a timely manner. My apologies!

I just wanted to share a quick thought that came out of the table discussions last Thursday. We were trying to define clutter - because the first step to eliminating clutter is to recognize what clutter is. And the question asked was, "Is messiness the same as clutter?" Good question! My initial response was, "Of course it is!!" But after some lengthy discussion, I began to change my answer.

Messiness isn't necessarily clutter. Life is messy sometimes. And that messiness cannot be eliminated sometimes. Too often though, I think we, as Christians, treat any and all forms of messiness as clutter. But the truth is, messiness is part of the Christian life. There will be times when life doesn't make sense. Times when there aren't any easy answers. Even times when the right decision is the most frustrating and confusing choice. Or messiness can come when we find ourselves in limbo spiritually - when life feels like a mess - but God has placed us in that position so that we have to trust in him completely. So maybe messiness isn't clutter.

But I do think that messiness, if left unchecked and unchanged, can become clutter. For me personally, it becomes clutter when it begins to have a serious affect on my lifesyle - mainly my relationship with God. If the "mess" is allowed to build until it hinders my ability to see God clearly, it has become clutter. And clutter like that has no place in the Christian life.

Has clutter begun to find residence in your life? Is that clutter hindering God for having the "room" to do the things in you that you desperately seek for God to do? Just like in real life, occasionally we need to take time to assess and eliminate unnecessary clutter in our lives. Is it time to do a little deep cleaning? Or have you decided that your "clutter closet" is off-limits for God? That's not an easy question for us to ask ourselves. But we must ask it if we truly want to see God do all that he has planned for our lives.

Live cluttter-free this week! See you next Thursday!

Expectations of Greatness

I caught myself feeling a little disappointed by the fact that this past Thursday was the conclusion of our series on HOPE . And that's when it hit me: Who said this was the end? Why is this end? Let me immediately reassure all of you reading this, I am not planning on prolonging the series on hope. When it comes to speaking on hope, this series is over. But things shouldn't end just because we aren't talking about it on Thursday nights anymore. Apparently, I had already begun to forget last Thursday's challenge. My expectations had been lowered without even realizing it.

Ever been at that place in your own life? Will you be brave enough (or just honest enough) to admit standing in that spot? It's a little scary. It's also really humbling when you acknowledge being stuck there. No one likes the idea that they don't expect enough from God. We are supposed to believe God can do anything, right? So how is it possible for us to have so much faith in God, but expect so little from God?

But then again, who are we to expect anything from God? How has the church messed this up so badly? If we don't have high enough expectations from God - we are labeled as not having enough faith . But when we admit to having expectations from God . . . when we believe God can do the impossible and start living in expectation that God will do it (being dissatisfied by anything less), we oftentimes find ourselves in danger of being labeled prideful . Is it any wonder that we come across so many people who have become disillusioned and frustrated by the church and turned their back on religion? It shouldn't be that complicated!

Small groups on Thursday nights after I speak have been so awesome! People are beginning to move beyond "church answers" and are starting to be authentic with each other. And as the facades have dropped, some honest revelations have been discovered. One of the biggest being that the struggles we have with faith and hope in God are usually being felt by more people than we realize. We share those frustrations. But we've made it impossible to share our struggles with other Christians for fear of the reaction we'll get. The table discussions have been so helpful! As people took a risk and opened up, I could see people realize that they're not alone. We all struggle. And small groups have enabled us to share our struggles and triumphs - and hopefully build each other up in the process. That's church the way it should be. Not a self-help or self-pity group. But a group that can encourage and bear with one another when we struggle - no weak links!

I want leave you with a quote I heard recently: We are still paddling on the edge of the ocean of the possibilities of grace. Wow! That quote is empowering! When we realize we are covered by grace, the pressure is gone. We don't have to earn God's favor - just accept it! And when we realize we are living under the umbrella of God's favor, how can we NOT expect the impossible from God?

So the questions remain: What do you expect from God? And are your expectations big enough enough for our God, or do we need to expand our expectations? Expect BIG things. Impossible things! God can and will do it! Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or think. See you all next Thursday!

What Do You Want Me to Do?

DISCLAIMER: There was supposed to be a blog last week, but I'll admit that it had been so long that I forgot the password to log in to blog on this site! So if you came expecting, I apologize for leaving you hanging.

"Never let go of hope. One day you will see that it all has finally come together. What you have always wished for has finally come to be. You will look back and laugh at what has passed and you will ask yourself . . . 'How did I get through all of that?'" - Unknown


We've been looking at the concept of hope for the last two weeks now. Last week, we looked at hope defined as faith. And the discussions at the end of service were amazing! It was so good to hear people share their thoughts on faith. But it was even better to sit and hear people be honest and open as they also shared of their struggles and frustrations. I hope (no pun intended) that you were reminded of Job and David this week - and how even these men of God struggled and found it difficult to have faith sometimes. But in the end, they persevered and God showed himself faithful in their lives.

This week, we looked at hope defined as desire. I will admit that I find myself apprehensive whenever I speak about desire. It's such a complicated word. There seems to be a disconnect for most people when it comes to the concept of desire. But why? We can spend hours on end talking to strangers about things we're passionate about (i.e. sports, politics, current events, hobbies, entertainment, etc). But when it comes to verbalizing the desires of our heart , we find ourselves at a loss for words. Something's wrong with this picture. If our earthly passions are able to be shared, why do our spiritual passions get hidden in the darkest recesses of our heart?

I heard a lot of great reasons for why we keep them hidden: We don't open up to people about stuff like that unless we really know them, We are afraid that if we speak them out loud, we risk them never happening. The reactions of people when they hear our desires. Lack of faith that those desires can ever be realized. All understandable reasons. But when you hide your dreams, it becomes easier to ignore them. And if you ignore them long enough, they die.

David wrote that God wants to grant us the desires of our heart. So the question is: What do you want? What do you dream about so intensely that it wakes you up? What keeps you awake at night? Can you answer that question? Do you yearn for something? Do you believe God wants to grant that desire? And are you doing your part to see that desire become a reality?

God wants to see us dream big. Nothing we imagine is going to shock God by its enormity. So dream it. Pray for it. And go for it. And see what God does! You will be able to see the big picture and see God's hand at work in helping you towards that desire. And you won't be like the author of the quote at the beginning of this blog who wondered how he got through it all - you will take joy at the realization of God's involvement from the very beginning!

I am excited about the changes happening in Element right now. Let's continue to dream big and expect the impossible from God for our group. Thanks for being a part of this journey as we grow together in our desire to know God more. Take care. See you next Thursday!