What would happen? How would your community react? Now, I am not talking about self-esteem reactions such as “does anyone like me” but more of an impact factor. If you picked up and left a community would the community know you left?
Saturday at church I was sharing about how in life you leave a wake behind you kind of like a boat. Some boats go by and the wake is incredible while other boats go by and a few minutes later there isn’t even a ripple in the water. Life is like that, you leave an impact where ever you go. It happens at your work and at play. What is your impact on your community?
As Christians we should be adding something positive to our communities. I’m not talking about religious stuff or evangelism, these are important but not what I mean. What I mean is, are you a positive member of the community. Are you involved in things that do something for the community that aren’t about anything other then being a part of your community. If you have kids this would be things like coaching or being involved in the PTA. Something that adds value to the community.
So if you moved away, would the community care or even know? It’s a tough question, isn’t it? I want to challenge everyone to get involved, be a part of your community. Let’s make sure that the wake we leave behind us is a memorable one, in a positive way.
Since we have been making huge changes at the church, there have been a lot questions about our direction and updates. We now have all of this information online at www.whatifchurch.com. It should answer most questions.
Make sure to let your friends know about it! If anyone has any questions or would like to talk more about where we are headed and how they might fit in, I would love to take them to coffee or lunch. Have a great weekend!
We took a family vacation last week and had a great time in South Dakota, Montana and Idaho. We spend a few days camping and hiking at Holland Lake on the edge of the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Northwest Montana. What a great time. Here are some pics.
If you see the valley going up between the two mountains on the left, this is the valley my wife and went up into the wildnerness for our honeymoon a number of years back. This area is just beautiful. The lake is Holland Lake looking at the edge mountains of the Bob Marshall.
Here are a few pics we took on a day hike up the mountain.
This picture of Holland Lake above is just awesome. Look at that glassy water with the Mission Mountain Range in the background! It was pretty cold too. Nothing like swimming in a mountain fed lake.
This next picture below was the reason for the hike. Holland Falls! This water is cold. I comes from upper Holland Lake at about 6000ft and is fed by the meltdown off the mountain. Upper Holland Lake is where my wife and I based camp out of or our honeymoon. The upper lake is just incredible, it takes about a 6 hour (7 mile) hike up the mountain. We didn’t have the time to backpack all the way up but someday we will do it again.
And last a nice family picture of us on the side of the mountain over looking Holland Lake.
One of the most important things that we do as leaders and Christians is to try and determine how God is leading us. It can get difficult and complicated. Leadership Journal has this great article to help leadership teams discern and obey the voice of God. Check it out here.
Why is it that faith and choices seem so difficult. It one of the questions that people don’t ask very often, but I know everyone thinks. It’s like the elephant in the board room. Sometimes steps of faith really suck. It’s that point where you are in the middle of no-where with your tail end hanging out, you know you can’t go forward, you know you can’t go back, you just got to ride it out. It really isn’t a whole lot of fun.
I think of Jesus sitting there being tempted by Satan to turn the rocks into bread and eat. Jesus says “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” I personally would have toasted Satan right there. Yet He comes up with this answer that really puts things into perspective. Jesus could have whupped up on him right there. He could have made bread out of stones, but Jesus had to ride it out. He knew the end would be worth it. Sure it didn’t make Him any less hungry, or make the situation at the time any more easy to handle but Jesus realized that something bigger was happening.
That gives me some comfort. I know there is a bigger plan and even if my step of faith seems to be failure to others or even to myself, I know that there is a bigger plan and reason and I just gotta do the best I can and try and make the best steps of faith with what God has given. Just ride it out.
