Tag Archives: community

The JV Squad

Selecting teams for “tackle football” each day on the playground was the highlight of my entire fifth grade year.  If I wasn’t one of the captains picking teams then I was certainly one of the first picks.  It felt good to know that I was a leader on the playground football field.

When choosing his team, Jesus didn’t go with the best available.  At least not in the world’s eyes.  He went with the weak and dependent.  There was nothing special about the twelve men Jesus gathered as disciples, they were passed over as rabbis and most of them left to be fishermen.

I’m guessing Jesus would have picked the boys playing jump rope to come on over and be on his playground football team during recess.

When choosing the disciples, Jesus could have gone to the temples and chosen those who had memorized the Torah. He could have recruited men of influence and good standing. He could have chosen those who were popular or wealthy. Instead, he took the least of these. He looked past the most obvious apprentices, approached some fishermen and simply said, “Follow me.” They did:

Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people.” And they left their nets at once and followed him. -Matthew 4:19-20

Check out some of the descriptions the Appendix of the Bible uses to fill us in on the characteristics of the disciples: treacherous, greedy, doubtful, despised, judgmental, short-tempered, and impulsive. These were people who struggled with imperfections.  Think you can relate?

What made the disciples stand out is that they were willing to leave everything behind to follow Jesus.  There is no need to improve yourself before you try to follow Jesus.  Get up and go!

Jesus has picked you first.  He believes in you and knows what you can do through him.

Question: Jesus asked the fishermen to drop their nets and follow, what is he asking you to leave behind?  Click here to comment.

#9 in 2011: Tell Your Story to Your Kids

This was inspired by incidental learning as I received a “tell me more” response from my kids when I told them bits of my story.  Here is the ninth most popular post from 2011:

 

Tell Your Story to Your Kids

“Let me tell you about when I was going to second grade.”

That’s what I said to my second-grader-to be the other day while we were in the kitchen together.  Her eyebrows raised high as she said, “What did you do in second grade?”

At first, I was thrown off a bit by her excitement and the anticipation to hear my story.  Then, I remembered when my mom or dad would tell me stories about their childhood how much I enjoyed hearing those.

In that very moment, as I began to share about second grade, I made the mental note: Tell YOUR story to your kids.

“My second grade teacher’s name was Mrs. Dimitricopolous.  And she was a short lady.”

“Oh, my!  What was her name???  I can’t even say that,” she replied.

“Mrs. Dimitricopolous.  She was very nice.  She taught us Math, Reading, Spelling and World Studies.  I remember she would give us a state and we would have to name the capitol before we could leave school.”

“That must have been hard.  Who was your friend?”

I replied, “Well… my friends were Josh, and Karl, and Aaron.  I remember that we would always play sports together during recess.  We really liked soccer and football.”

She had a few more questions and then we got to talk about what she was excited about in second grade and that was the extent of the conversation.

It was so good.

Here are four reasons why I believe it is important to share your story with your kids:

[Read the entire article.]

Presence, Not Presents

Much of Christmas is centered around giving presents.

I challenge you to give the gift of presence to your family this Christmas.

Instead of worrying about what to buy, think about who you can be with. Don’t be concerned with how much money you spend on someone, instead consider the time you spend with them.

A few suggestions for bringing your presence:

Play a game. Card games, board games, whatever gets people involved.

Bake some sweets. It seems to me we have an abundance of sweets at our family gatherings, what if a baking crew was selected at random to bake the cookies on hand? An adult version of Home Economics Class, perhaps.

Do the dishes. Some of my best conversations happen while doing the dishes. The doing dishes part isn’t fun, but making it fun with whoever helps out certainly can be!

Ask good questions. “How’s it going?” is not a good question unless you REALLY want to know the answer. Learn about what others are involved in or what interests they have developed. Ask about their job, what they like or dislike about it. Any question that requires an answer that’s not canned is a good one to me.

Our culture has succeeded at dividing our presence with regularity. Don’t worry about the presents you give, rather consider the presence you can give this Christmas.

Question: Who will you offer your presence to this Christmas? Click here to comment.

5 things to help your family focus on Jesus during Christmas

Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’ birth and this is a message that we cannot afford for our children to miss.  Here are some ways our family makes Jesus the focus of the Christmas Season:

1.  Help someone in need.  There are many opportunities for children to make a difference in the world.  Local service opportunities, making meals, or donating through the World Vision Catalog are just a few options for your kids to choose from to help those in need.  Liz does a fantastic job at asking the kids how they would like use some of their Christmas money to help another person in need.

2.  Read the Christmas Story from the Bible as much as possible.  When the Christmas decorations come out, so does the intentional reading of the Christmas Story.  Each of our children has his or her own Children’s Bible and we enjoy reading the Christmas Story from each one of their Bibles.  There are also many translations of the Bible that you can access and read through sites like BibleGateway.com.

3.  Three gifts for the kids.  Jesus got three gifts.  You are fortunate if you get more, but we’ll stick with three.  Each of our children will receive something to clothe them, grow them spiritually, and something they want.  I’ve heard of other people share that they give four gifts: Something you want, something you need, something you wear, and something you read.  Either of these strategies seem wonderful to me, given the state of our consumer-minded-give-me-more culture.

4.  Attend a Christmas Eve Service.  Our home church does a wonderful job with having Candlelight Services every Christmas Eve.  It is a priority for our family to attend this service together and a strong tradition we share.

5. Birthday cake for Jesus.  We have two kids who have birthdays within a week of Christmas so making a cake for Jesus seems like cake-overload for our family.  Still, making a cake is a great way for our kids to realize the celebration of Jesus’ birth.  And if we make cupcakes, they’re easy to share with the neighbors!

Question: How do you bring the focus to Jesus during the Christmas Season? Click here to comment.

Read more:
- What we told our kids about Santa
- 3 points to a truthful conversation about Santa

Never Too Broken for Jesus [Sermon Notes]

“The Coming Matters”
Series: “The Coming”
Alice Shirey
Orchard Hill Church

—

Imagine a young woman with nothing…

Dressed in rags, lived in a shack, and had nothing.

But there was a King who fell in love with her.  Who knows why, but he did.  And his love was relentless.

But… How on earth would he reveal his love for her without overwhelming her?  Without her questioning his motives?

How would he bridge the gap that separates the King from her?

People told the King to simply go get her.  But the King knew that of all the things his power could do, he could never demand love.  He couldn’t force her to love him.

The King realized that there was only one way to win her love.  He had to remove his crown and lay down is scepter, leaving the palace to dress in rags, farm the dry ground, and become a peasant.  Everything gone.  All for his one hope of winning the love of the girl in rags.

He came ragged to let her know how much he loved her.  And he hoped she would realize the depths of his love.

Why did God become flesh?

Yes, to save us from our sins and to bring heaven to us.

But most of all, because he LOVES us.

And he wants us to love him back.

Paul writes about this in Philippians 2:6-8

6 Who, being in very nature God,
   did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
   by taking the very nature of a servant,
   being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
   he humbled himself
   by becoming obedient to death—
      even death on a cross!

We worship a humble God.  His love drives his humility.

As we go through this season, remember that God did not send a subordinate.  He sent his son.  And he came as a baby.  To a barn, not a palace.

Throughout the scriptures, Jesus has many names.

Lamb of God.

Alpha and Omega.

Light of the World.

The Bright and Morning Star.

But in a culture where names meant everything and were a really big deal, God’s son was named Jesus.  This is a common and average name of the day.  Like ‘Bob’ to us.

God chose a typical, normal, average, humble name for his son.  And that’s what people called him by.

When Jesus began teaching, people were amazed because the thought they knew him.

Matthew 13:54-57:

Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. 55 “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him.

To those who needed him, he was just Jesus.

Story: Alice’s Dad

One of the top attorneys in the state.  In the courtroom he is respected as “Mr. Dutton.”

But when he goes to the high school to coach swimming as a volunteer, he tells the swimmers to call him “Dave.”

Jesus was God, but to those who needed him, he was just Jesus.

There was not one person who was reluctant to approach Jesus for fear of being rejected.

Not one person was ever fearful that he/she was too broken for Jesus.

Will you remember this truth the next time you find yourself amazed at your own failure?

Part of God’s glory is his humility.

God wants to be with you.

The incarnation is one of the most powerful illustrations of this truth.

Story: Frustration about a lousy baker during the holidays

Last year tried to serve Bananas Flambe

Konjak wouldn’t start on fire…

Served drunken bananas (ha!)

Frustration also about being a lousy decorator or that Christmas is a to-do list.

Why, during this time of year, are we supposed to feel so close to God yet feel so far away.

The address of God is at the end of your rope -Dallas Willard

We need to remember that because of His humility, he is present with us in our darkest places.

Jesus always stoops to us in our most mundane, shameful, unlikely places in our lives.

Those places where we feel most alone.

Brennan Manning: “I come to Jesus just as I am.  Not as I should be.  I am poor and weak.  And the little child looks at me and replies, ‘Don’t be afraid, I am with you.’”

You don’t have to hide from Jesus.  Not your faults or failures.

Hebrews 4:15-16

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Do you need some mercy or grace?  Or do you find yourself in a time of need?

Maybe this is the first year you’ve been divorced, or your marriage is in a time of need.  Maybe you have lost someone significant in the last year…  Maybe your family just fights during the holidays… Or maybe you have cancer… Maybe you’re a young person and growing up is tougher than you thought… Maybe you’re scared about your future… Or your life just feels like a never-ending cycle of things to get done and Christmas is just another thing…

Don’t fear.  The King of the World is with you and your struggle.

God tilts toward the underdog.

Every time you hear the name “Jesus,” remember that he was humble coming as a king.  And he is a mighty to save.

Remember the peasant girl from the start?  Did she ever return the king’s love?

I don’t know.

But what is your response to God?

He is hoping that you love him back.

Jesus is both humble and strong.  He is with you.  And he will carry you through.