Extreme Dreams vs. Scary Nightmares

What an amazing week I had! On behalf of the seminary, I attended the annual National Sports and Recreation Ministry Conference in Orlando (the event formerly known as Rec Lab). Not only did I get to visit a wonderful city but I was privileged to hang out with incredible people who do ministry with a “whatever it takes” mentality! I sure wish you could meet my friends John Garner, Tommy Yessick, Myrna Gregory, Tiffany Moore, Chuck Connor, Jenny Hemmer, and a whole lot more mission-minded folks who believe I Corinthians 9:22b is their mandate to ‘play with a purpose.’

At our closing banquet, Pat Williams, Sr. VP of the Orlando Magic, offered a challenging presentation on characteristics of extreme winners (which you can read about in his new book The Ultimate Road Map to Achieving Your Dreams.) Williams’ first point (and the only one I’ll mention here) was that extreme winners have extreme dreams. He’s quite the story-teller so his explanation was laced with anecdotes about people who had not settled for small dreams: people like Martin Luther King Jr., Amelia Earhart, Michael Jordan, and Ben Carson (google him, great story).

As I reflect back over Williams’ passionate presentation, I am wondering at what point in their lives those goal-setters realized they were pursuing extreme dreams. I think most of us are afraid to dream THAT big because, well, racial equality, flying around the world, and being the best basketball player seem like such unreachable possibilities. Or maybe that’s the point! They didn’t see them as unreachable … perhaps they figured someone was going to do it, so why not them? What one person calls a scary nightmare, another person describes as the ambition of a lifetime.

So I can't help but wonder what you’re dreaming about. I imagine some of you are reaching for things that would make me hide under my bed but that’s because it’s not God’s dream (or to reference Hebrews 12, God’s race) for me. But I pray you go after that dream with all you’ve got because we’ve been challenged to do what we do to the glory of God … and that’s what turns scary nightmares into extreme dreams!

The Missing Ingredient

Last Saturday I had a hankering for chicken tortilla soup … correction, HOMEMADE chicken tortilla soup, which is interesting since I’ve never made it from scratch before.

Nevertheless, I downloaded a recipe from the web and started gathering ingredients. Since it was going to be in the crockpot all day, I didn’t panic when I realized I was missing a few things … I mean, how important are black beans and cumin when you have all the other stuff? I finally got around to a Wal-Mart run a couple of hours before the soup was to be ready and, boy, am I glad I did! While the soup would have been edible without black beans and cumin, what a difference they made to the quality and taste of the finished product!

Our lives are busy and it’s easy to think that ‘good enough’ will do. But I hope as you ramp it up for this spring semester, you’ll give specific thought to what will make it an ‘excellent’ experience in every area – academically, socially, spiritually, and so on. Don’t settle for edible when your taste buds are craving cumin! Go the extra mile to make the most of the opportunities God is giving you this semester … to HIS glory.

And as you do, please be praying for student wife Rachel Haley who was in a bike accident last week and will spend the better part of this semester recovering from a broken leg, broken clavicle, and other injuries. We’re praising God for the progress she’s already made and know He is using this experience in her and Abe’s lives as well as many in their spheres of influence!

Who's Checking Your Weight?

So, I missed a day in the office last week and, when I came back, I was informed the troops had organized a pretty elaborate weight loss contest, complete with a small admission fee and prize for the ‘biggest loser.’ Some thought I might be upset since I spent last summer on my own weight loss journey with a good amount of success. Au contraire! I am not upset! I am thrilled for some accountability to get back on track after a season of holiday candy and second helpings.

How do you feel about accountability? Does it encourage you and push you to do better, or do you feel like someone’s always looking over your shoulder, just waiting for you to fail? Whether in weight loss, daily devotions, or life-changing decisions, accountability can be what keeps many of us on track … helping us with perspective: immediate gratification vs. long-term satisfaction.

In her chapter titled “Friends Don’t Let Friends Eat Before Thinking” in Made to Crave, Lysa Terkeurst writes that one her most effective accountability measures is mutually tracking progress with friends (41). She tells about specific friends who have helped her in specific ways on her wellness journey. I’ve got a few friends like that. No, they don’t slap my hand when I reach for potato chips or king cake but they do offer encouragement and praise when they see me making progress toward my long-term goals.

Do you have any friends like that? I hope so but, if not, maybe I can help. I’m not in the match-making business but a lot of what I do as Coordinator of Women’s Programs is in an attempt to connect women with other women on the NOBTS campus. By offering a weekly Bible study/book club … by facilitating opportunities for intentional interactions … by practicing what I preach … it is my prayer that you do not find yourself alone on this leg of your life journey. Instead, I hope that as you reach out, you are finding other women who love God passionately and desire to share their walk at levels of both comfort and challenge.

Need Your Complacency Challenged?

I picked up a Lifeway ad paper recently and was intrigued by the subheading “Recent Studies for Women that Challenge Complacency in Your Walk.” Maybe I was more intrigued by the fact that I have on my office shelf many – okay, MOST – of the studies being promoted. And two things came to mind:

1)      I should tell our women students that they are welcome to borrow these studies to lead a group at their church or small group; and

2)      Having a study on my shelf doesn’t mean a lot if I don’t take the time to actually, well, study it.

First, about borrowing the studies. Should you decide you want to either peruse or even use one of these studies sent to me compliments of LifeWay Christian Resources, I would welcome you to come by my office and ‘check’ it out (like the library, only not). Here’s a partial list of the studies I have:

·        Stuck by Jennie Allen

·        Return to the Garden by Kay Arthur

·        The 7 Experiment by Jen Hatmaker

·        Malachi by Lisa Harper

·        Conversation Peace by Mary Kassian

·        Nehemiah: A Heart that Can Break by Kelly Minter

·        James: Mercy Triumphs by Beth Moore

·        Missing Pieces by Jennifer Rothschild

·        Why Do You Believe That? by Mary Jo Sharp

·        Can We Talk? by Priscilla Shirer

·        Desperate by Cindi Woods

Did I mention that I have a lot of studies? Well, I do, and I would love for them to be used (and returned) so let me know if you’re interested. I just have one copy of each, so it’s first-come, first-served.

And, second, about taking the time to actually study the studies. You can imagine how difficult it is to choose which one to do with so many choices … so many GOOD choices. So, they continue to sit on my shelf, unchosen. But that needs to change.

  

Just as an exercise program starts with the first step, so a Bible study journey begins with an open book and open heart. I pray that this semester you are working through a study – alone or in a group, written or unwritten – so that when you look back in a few months, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you took the time to study God’s Word, not just for pop quizzes and final exams, but to get to know the Author better than ever.

He Grew into His Name

I had a December baby. And, like a lot of expecting parents, we spent many of the months leading up to his birth trying out names. Actually, for most of those months, we had settled on a boy-name combination that included the middles names of our fathers. Neither name was weird, and all was right with the world. (NOTE: we did end up changing one of the names when my son was born but that doesn’t factor into this story, so I’ll leave that alone except to say I did practice wifely submission in accepting the new name!)

The process of selecting a name appropriate for someone to have their WHOLE life really is a big deal. I won’t get into all the names we had to eliminate with the last name Jackson, just suffice it to say that Andrew and Michael were not ever in the mix! I tried to imagine holding a newborn and calling him the names we were contemplating, and realized that is how some people end up with nicknames. Parents don’t think the grown-up name fits so they use cutesy names like Boo-Boo, Bubba, Lil Bugga, well, you get the idea.

Have you ever thought about how this was for Mary and Joseph? They were told to name their son JESUS, but even without baby books, they knew what this name meant. How did they hold a tiny baby and call him JESUS, knowing that it meant Wonderful, Counselor, Prince of Peace, Savior, and so much more? I try not to think they might have used the Jewish equivalent of Boo-Boo or Lil Booga. But we do know the end of the story … and the end of the story is that Jesus grew into his name … he grew to be all of these things and so much more.

As you celebrate Jesus this season, consider who He is to you and whether you’ve allowed your childhood perception of Him to grow into who He truly wants to be in your life today! Merry Christmas!

No Matter What

A familiar song came on LifeSongs as I was out running recently. “No Matter What” by Kerrie Roberts struck a chord as I heard these words:

            Before a heartache can ever touch my life,

            It has to go through Your hands…

            No matter what I’m gonna love You

            No matter what I’m gonna need You

            I know You can find a way to keep me from the pain

            But if not, I still trust You

            No matter what, no matter what.

I began reflecting on what that looks like as our loving heavenly Father processes what He will allow to touch our lives and what He shields us from. As a parent, I have a limited understanding of what will help my kids in the long run, even if difficult for a season, and what might crush their spirits.

In the book Trusting God, author Sharon Jaynes tells the story of a woman who asked a silversmith if it was true that he had to sit in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. “Oh yes!” he replied. “I cannot take my eyes off the silver. If it is left in the furnace even a moment too long, it will be destroyed.” The woman suddenly understood the beauty and comfort of Malachi 3:3: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.”

Jaynes goes on to note “there are times when it seems as if we will be swallowed whole by the fires of hell itself. The pain seems too hard to bear. The fear is paralyzing. The doubt is overwhelming, and the questions flood our hearts and minds... Our trials are not random persecutions. Heaven is not in a panic. Where we are and what we are going through is no surprise to God. We may be knocked down and kicked around by life, but if we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we will not be destroyed.”

I’m not looking for any future opportunities to be tested on my comprehension of this amazing promise. I have enough to look back on and see how it’s worked in the past, even when I questioned His presence in, His purpose of, and His rescue through the difficult parts of the journey. However, even though I’m not looking for them, I know the opportunities will arise … that’s just the way of life outside of heaven.

In the meantime, I’m stockpiling ‘life-preserving’ truth to cling to in the midst of the inevitable storms and sharing them with fellow travelers who may have hit a pothole or mack truck in their current journey. We’ve got to be ready … no matter what.

NOTE: if you're not familiar with the song and can handle a hokey you-tube video presentation of it, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA3MSqufJP4.

No Deductions for Trying!

I don’t know Rachel Evans but I think I’d like to have coffee with her one day. She blogs, and recently reflected on watching the Olympics in awe of the athletes and with disdain for the analysts and judges. She was disillusioned by one commentator during a gymnastics competition that pointed out, “It’s all about the deductions…. In gymnastics, the goal is perfection.” Check out her insights at http://rachelheldevans.com/celebrating-somersaults.

In the meantime, I challenge you to consider your perspective on how you view the people around you, particularly in this first week of school. You’ll sit in class with students who barely scrapped enough money and/or scholarships together to cover tuition, but they did. You’ll walk through the hallways with others who never imagined visiting New Orleans (much less living here), but they are. You’ll wander through the bookstore amid classmates who are overwhelmed by syllabus shock, but they are indeed still standing.

Instead of handing out deductions for less than perfect performances, let’s celebrate with each other for being willing to start something new and different, whether it’s a brand new season of life or just a brand new semester of seminary. For a lot of us, this week feels like a somersault on a four-inch balance beam.

And, since I don’t know how to get in touch with Rachel about having coffee, I’d be just as excited about having coffee with you. Stop by the Dean of Students office, and let’s see if we can work it out!