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!