How do we keep Christ in Christmas?

1. Be proactive, but not like you might think… make sure you understand and practice REAL Christmas.
2. Don’t be like Herod… his answer was to kill everyone that could even possibly be associated with the Christ – resist the urge to do this in reverse.
3. Be sensitive to the traditions of others… being sensitive doesn’t eliminate my voice or my understanding. In fact, it lends credence to it.

In the midst of this economic boom (that’s sarcasm) my family and I have decided to leave a healthy, growing church and a comfortable salary to become church planting missionaries.

So I am swimming in the waters of fundraising these days. Here’s what I know… my pastor used to say that what God orders He pays for. I get that. I’ve experienced that. And it translates this way for me:

1. I believe that I am doing exactly what God has planned for me to do.
2. I am going to work my fingers to the nub to make ends meet, but at the end of the day it will not be my hard work that “gets it done” for us financially.
3. I believe that God is the Provider. Money is paper. Human currency. God is over all.
4. I trust God. I know that He will put it in the heart of people to support us & in so doing allow His church to be built here in Duluth, GA.

That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

This is the present and future hope for those who follow Jesus.

So with the Democratic National Convention this week & the Republican Convention to follow next week, I thought I would break all the rules and talk about 1 of the 3 things you’re never supposed to talk about (especially with strangers)… the history of the dark pinstripe suit… I’m kidding.

I will admit that this election season I have found myself doing quite a bit of re-thinking. I am befuddled by those who would run the party flag so quickly up the pole with little regard given to the complete picture of an individual and how he might lead our country. So I have approached this election with (even more) caution. And to the disappointment of some, will still not say (it least in this forum) who my vote will be for come November.

My reason for writing is to remind myself that neither the Senator from Arizona nor the Senator from Illinois (ironically both states in which we have lived) are the hope of America. What this nation needs most is not alternative fuel or peace in the Middle East – both of which I am for. This broken country needs to experience Jesus. May those of us who wear His name also choose to follow Him throughout the week.

Amen.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself… Franklin D. Roosevelt.

All right, I’ll go in there for Dorothy. Wicked Witch or no Wicked Witch, guards or no guards, I’ll tear them apart. I may not come out alive, but I’m going in there. There’s only one thing I want you fellows to do… Cowardly Lion
What’s that?… Tinman & Scarecrow
Talk me out of it… Cowardly Lion

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear... James Neil Hollingworth.

And my personal favorite – Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear... Mark Twain.

Most of you know that a little more than a year ago I felt that God was calling me to start a church. No big deal, right? I mean, isn’t that what pastor-people do? There are few other things to consider in that interrogative equation:

1. for my entire 15-year career (until 1 month ago) I have been a salaried employee.
2. we moved to Atlanta without knowing (in the deep relational sense of the word) a single person.
3. I am a hyper-positive person… to a fault. At times I even (by instinct) ignore negative realities.

So now I am finally facing the reality that this church thing that God has most certainly called us to will require lots of money that I don’t have. Putting aside the fact that I am primarily a positive person (see #3 in the list above), there have also been moments of fear as I consider my family obligations.

This morning in my quiet time with God I read from John 14 and Jesus said these words to His followers, When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. When I remember this truth… I’m not afraid anymore.

I read a Scripture this morning that says this… “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to Him.” Two very different thoughts struck me as I read. The ideas were very different from one another – almost opposites really. They flowed from each of the sentences found in Psalm 24:1.

Generally speaking I think people of faith (not everyone) have ignored or disbelieved the idea that the earth belongs to the Lord. While I may be overstating my case a bit, listen to election year rhetoric from so-called Christ followers and you will hear plenty of talk about family values and very little talk about environmental footprints and the like. I would think the more we believed that the earth really belongs to the Lord, the more emphasis we would give to taking care of it.

The second idea the text portrays is a bit less confrontational and much more hopeful. We have just moved to an area of our country that closely resembles heaven. Our little town of less than 30,000 (as far as the school system goes) has almost equal parts of Asian, African American, Hispanic & Caucasian people. I love cultural diversity. I think it reflects the greatness of God. It is beautiful to think that with all of their uniqueness God sees them all as His children.

Last year Dave Buschow literally died of thirst on a wilderness survival trip that was meant to test stamina and endurance. As the body begins to dehydrate one loses the ability to think clearly and ultimately cannot sense that it is shutting down.

The same type of thing happens to people spiritually. Initially there is a spiritual thirst mechanism in all of us that searches for God. The longer we go without him the more spiritually dehydrated we become until we no longer desire His presence in our lives.

The good news? The drought is over. In Jesus there is an endless supply of hydrating grace. This final picture reminds me of my role as one who has tasted the Water who takes away thirst altogether.

Many of you are asking, “How are the McQuearys since the move?” This picture accurately describes our state. We are surrounded by boxes, pumped about the arrival of something new and yes, exhausted! Sorry I couldn’t help myself.

Keep in touch. Your words of encouragement mean so much as we endeavor to start Process Church!

I am particularly struck with the fact that for the vast majority of individuals who call The Chapel their home… this was simply a review of what they are already practicing. For the last 8 years we have been blessed to worship & serve with some of the best people on the planet. The Chapel is a group of believers in Jesus who seek to live out the Word of God in their lives. Truly they are the church.