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You see this guy? This is me. Okay, not literally, but this image captures how I’ve been feeling for months.

I’ve been working so hard at my tent-making trade that I feel like I’ve had little time for anything else. I’ve woken up with my job on my mind first thing and often-times, I’ve gone to bed worrying about tasks and projects that I’m behind on.

Don’t misunderstand me. I enjoy my job, my bosses, and the fact that I work from home. I just have a lot of work to do (but I guess in these days, that’s a good thing) and I’m not feeling like I’m on top of it all.

Changes

Then, last month, literally over-night, I was handed the leadership role of the Knott Avenue Christian Church Media team. Lest I sound like I’m complaining about that, I’m not. It’s a tremendous blessing and I’m amazed and what God has led me to and through in the past two years that I’ve been a part of that team. Still, the day I found out that I was probably going to be leading it, I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders, right at a time when I couldn’t take any additional burdens. I had to learn things that I hadn’t done before (like all the post-production work and video editing of the church’s Sunday morning webcast) with no training. But to God be the glory: things have gone much smoother than I ever would have thought.

Reminders

Still, since that time, I’ve had daily bouts of anxiety and stress and worry. Sometimes to the point of tears. But thanks be to God for the gift of my wife who is always ready to encourage me and remind me that I’m not alone in any of it.

I notice a huge difference, though, when I wrestle against my flesh and, instead of getting up early and sitting down at my laptop, I instead pull out the Word of God. Today was no exception and I was reminded of the story of Mary and Martha.

When Jesus was on His was to Jerusalem to go to the cross, He stopped at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus.

39 [Martha] had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” –Luke 10:39-42.

Oh how long to be Mary, but feeling so much like Martha! No, there is nothing wrong with being conscious of doing Martha-type of work, but it cannot take the place of sitting at the feet of the King.

We cannot be so busy about doing work for the King that we forget about the King and neglect Him!

What about you? Have you ever found yourself in a season of being so busy and worried about things that you realized you became disconnected from your fellowship with God?

May He Increase!

Such a basic illustration but it goes hand-in-hand with the Radical series. I have to admit, it made me question my outlook on my life right now.

May He Increase!

I’m a little behind in my reading of Radical. As a result, I thought I’d change up the series a little and let David Platt do some of the talking.

Thoughts on the video?

[This is part of the Radical Series. Have you seen the other posts yet?]

May He Increase!

If you really want to get “Radical,” you can click below:

I have to confess: when I’m watching TV and one of those commercials come on about starving kids somewhere in the world, I don’t give it a second thought; I turn the channel. I don’t view these commercials any differently than I would a breakfast cereal commercial.

Then I read this from David Platt’s Radical:

Today more than a billion people in the world live and die in desperate poverty. They attempt to survive on less than a dollar per day. Close to two billion others live on less than two dollars per day. That’s nearly half the world struggling today to find food, water, and shelter with the same amount of money I spend on french fries for lunch. More than twenty-six thousand children today will breathe their last breath due to starvation or a preventable disease.”

The UNICEF website has a plethora of stats on the state of the world’s children. Check it out.

In looking for a graphic to include with this post, I ran across this one.

This picture haunts me for a few reasons. First, the child looks terrified or at least worried. But most of all, he looks like my own son, Nicholas.

There have been times in his first three and-a-half years where due to miscommunication between my wife and I, Nick has gone without really eating a full meal for an extended period of time. When I’ve realized this, it makes me feel like a failure as a parent and it breaks my heart.

Now magnify that feeling by Platt’s twenty-six thousand children figure!

We don’t let our own children starve unless it’s out of sheer neglect. What about the innocents in the rest of the world who are truly going hungry? What will future generations say of us who are letting generations of children starve?

What will Jesus say!

In chapter six of Radical, Platt hammers home this point. It’s caused me to look at my situation and realize that this is a huge “blind spot” for me. My family and I really need to deeply and prayerfully look at our role in this and what we can do to play a part in making a difference in people’s lives.

It’s been many years since I’ve been to places where there is extreme poverty. The last time–shamefully, I admit–was when I was a pre-teen and visited an orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico.

Have you been convicted of this in the past? Have you been to areas of extreme poverty and were profoundly changed? What was your experience?

[This is part of the Radical Series. Have you seen the other posts yet?]

May He Increase!

If you really want to get “Radical,” you can click below:

One of the passages of Scripture that has recently captivated me is John 6:70:

“Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?” –John 6:70.

It’s one of Jesus’ statements on his discipleship policy, so to speak. Knowing all things, He chose to spend the majority of His time on earth with 12 men, one of whom was a . . . devil? Amazing.

Chapter 5 of David Platt’s Radical deals with Jesus’ commandment to us to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). I think a lot of us Christians translate this statement into “make converts of all the nations.” We may not even be aware of this but there is a very big difference between the two.

Platt says:

The megastrategy of Jesus: make disciples.

What Does “Make Disciples” Mean?

If someone were to ask you what it means to “make disciples of all the nations,” what would you say? What do you think it means?

Prior to reading chapter 5, I think I had a vague idea but I’m not sure I could have put it into a well-thought-out answer. And yet, the gospels tell us about Jesus and His 12. Could it be that we try to make it more complicated than it ought to be?

Platt is correct: it’s not easy. It’s not quick-fix. It certainly doesn’t happen over-night. Making disciples takes time, energy, patience, sacrifice, and most of all, love. There are no formulas and there are no short-cuts.

But guess what? The pay off is incalculable.

Platt tells of his experience in the French Quarter of Louisiana, known for it’s disparate demographics from Christian to voodoo. His group set up a table right next to “the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans” and would share the gospel with everyone that approached the desk. They would do this day-after-day, week-after-week. They began building relationships with the people.

One by one, homeless men and women began coming to faith in Christ . . . I recently went back to New Orleans and ran into one of the men from the Quarter who had trusted in Christ and had been baptized in the church. With tattoo-covered arms, he gave me a bear hug and said, “David, I want you to know that I’m now leading the homeless ministry in the French Quarter.”

Because of their witness and discipleship, they were able to raise up a new leader for the homeless ministry in New Orleans. Who can know how many more people will give their lives to Christ as a result?

What has been your experience with discipleship? Has someone discipled you? Have you discipled someone else and saw the fruit of this? Please share in the comments!

[This is part of the Radical Series. Have you seen the other posts yet?]

May He Increase!

If you really want to get “Radical,” you can click below: