What do you want for Christmas?

What do you want for Christmas?

I have to be honest with you; I really have a hard time with this question. I’m actually a pretty content guy. It’s not that I don’t enjoy Christmas presents as much as the next person. I just have a hard time compiling a list. However, Lauri told me if I didn’t put together a list for the fam, I wasn’t getting anything! That being unacceptable, I gave her a list, which included the following items; a Great Dane, neckties (lots of neckties), a fur coat, and an autographed 8 track of Lu Lu Roman (of Hee Haw fame) singing her greatest hits! She didn’t appreciate my humor but our daughter, Lauren, did!

One thing I would love for Christmas is to have the true holiday back! Between commercialism, busyness and political correctness Christmas seems to have been completely crowded out. Even our children’s Christmas musicals at school have replaced songs like “Silent Night” and “Away in a Manger” with “seasonal” or “cultural” selections. In the process of secularizing our holiday, the messages of “Peace on Earth” and “Joy to the World” have been all but lost! This is truly unfortunate for a world in desperate need of peace and joy. Christmas was once a time of year when even the most lost among us would pause to wonder if the miracle of Christmas could reach them. Sadly, that spirit of hope seems to be fading in the places that need it most.

As disturbing as the secularization of Christmas is, I believe this may be a cloud with a silver lining. As the message of Christmas becomes less popular the need for Christmas becomes more pronounced! In other words, the darker the night the more welcome the light. Far more compelling than a description of the light is the light itself! Songs and stories can only go so far so let’s not just tell them about Christmas; let’s show it to them!

Christmas is all about Emanuel, God with us! So what if the world doesn’t want to sing the songs of Christmas? Let them see the God of Christmas. Show them His awesome presence at work in His people! Sure, I miss some of the sentiment of ‘traditional” Christmas, but what really makes Christmas worth celebrating is the Presence of the King and He is alive and well! You want to make an impact this Christmas? Give the greatest gift ever given, Jesus! Let Him live, love and speak life through you!

My prayer is that you would have a blessed, Christ filled, Christmas.

I should have my head examined!

Do you know how crazy it is to try and summarize the book of Revelation in a 5 week series? What was I thinking?! My problem is I kind of enjoy getting bogged down in the possible interpretation of each and every symbol...while at the same time encouraging others not to! I keep reminding myself that this series is about the main themes! But, I can't help but wonder ...could it be that Jacques Chirac's name is encoded numerically in the description of the beast from the sea? Hmmm.

Awesome!

Wow, what a great weekend!! We had close to 4000 people come to our festival and everyone seemed to have a blast! Big thanks to all who worked to make it a huge success. You have no idea what kind of fruit your investment might yield. We serve a great God!

Big Weekend!

This coming weekend is a big one for River City Community Church! On Saturday, we are having our annual fall festival. We anticipate as many as 3000 people to come and eat, play, hang out, and have a general good time on our campus. I love this event! We get to meet people from our neighborhood as well as all over San Antonio. There will be some great bands (including the RCCC house band!) playing live music all day long. It really is a good time! I'm praying that we get a chance to connect with lots of people from our community.

On Sunday, I begin the much anticipated series "APOCALYPSE NOW?...A Message of Hope from the Revelation." I know this is an area of great interest to a lot of people. I’m really looking forward to the series and praying that God really speaks to people through the messages.

A Busy Day

I had a lot on my plate today. This is not an unusual condition and it’s not like that plate seems to ever get cleared off, but I still am aware of “the pile”. As I face a day like today, I am tempted to hit the ground running and play catch up. This is not entirely bad except that I may run right past some very important things in my haste!

If I run too fast, I might run right past my appointment with the Lord. This is an appointment I don’t want to miss. As I talk with the Father, He gives wisdom, peace, guidance, and strength. How much time and energy will I waste if I blow by the most important appointment of my day?

I could also breeze right by our staff small group / prayer time. We got together this morning for our weekly time together and I got to hear their heart’s as we shared and prayed together. What did we get accomplished? I guess that would depend on whether you were looking at the plate or the people.

I wouldn’t have had time to spend with three different staff members encouraging them, sharing vision and helping them think through various issues related to their ministry.

Jesus said the most important thing in life is to love God with all we’ve got and to love others the way we want to be loved. This cuts right to the heart of the matter and even though I didn’t cross that many things off my list, by Jesus’ standard, I guess today wasn’t half bad.

The plate is still sitting there but somehow I feel like some very important things were accomplished today. It was a good day.

Easter evening

This has been a tiring day...a good day, but a tiring day. For a minister, Easter is "big game time." I get to talk to people I may not see until next year this time about the most important event in human history...the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I get to tell them that resurrection means they don't have to go it alone...He desires to walk with us. I get to tell them they don't have to do it in their own strength, because His strength is available. I get to remind us all that resurrection means all things are possible. Our greatest fear, the fear of death, has no teeth because death has been conquered!

Then I get to challenge every one of us to stop living like the resurrection either never happened or is simply a religious story. I get to challenge us to rethink our lives in light of the reality of resurrection. Consider yourself challenged!

What matters most

I find it a constant struggle to remember what matters most. You would think in my job I could keep it straight! As a minister, I regularly remind people of the eternal and the lasting. Even as I'm pointing the way for others, I am constantly tempted to focus on things that won't matter in a year, let alone a hundred. Not that things like details and deadlines don't matter at all...they just aren't what matters most. Jesus put it simply..."The most important thing is love, for God and one another"

Relationships are what matter most. The Spirit inside you and that person beside you are more important than the task before you. God help us if we sacrife what matters most for...whatever.