Preparing to go

There are just a few minutes left before it's time for another weekend at Crossroads.

Sitting here watching Ohio State begin I decide to mute the TV for a few minutes and make sure I'm prepared to go.

I would guess in order for the Word of God that's about to be taught to actually affect my life, I need to prepare to hear.  To make sure I'm really ready to HEAR and apply the spoken truths.

I assume I should check my heart for any un-forgiveness and confess anything that remains.

To make sure I have cleared my mind of all distractions so that as I walk into Crossroads I can say that Christ holds first place in my life.

I would assume, that only if these preparations have been made will I truly receive what God needs me to hear so that it can become a part of me for all of eternity.

And now I will go, prepared by the Lord for the Lord.  

I'm excited to see what the Lord has for all of us!

Leadership runs deep

I've been trying to be very intentional with my study about leadership.  I want to make sure I have a good understanding of the younger generations and what their needs are, as well as trying to improve my leadership for those I've served with for years.

The first thing in my studies that is very consistent, is the need to embrace the fact that God gifted me to lead.  This has always been difficult for me because although I'm very opinionated, I prefer group leadership, owning and carrying out decisions made by a group instead of being "the" leader.  This is why I love serving as one of the Directors of Crossroads - group ownership is the best!

However, as I look at my life, I see over and over again that God keeps placing me in positions of leadership both at work and in my personal life, so AGAIN I'm stepping completely into that confidence and thanking the Lord for the opportunities.  AND, continuing to try to learn and develop.

Secondly, in my studies, I'm seeing again how important it is to work toward health in the Lord.

A firm, full-in commitment to studying His Word, really studying, not just reading and covering our ministry, my family, my country and friends in prayer.

And then, confessing constantly.

The other day I was praying and He brought to mind all these little things, wrong thoughts, jealousy, unkind words - seemingly trivial things if you begin to compare.  As He placed each one on my heart I began to confess them .....and I suddenly felt the weight of those 'little' sins.

Even a single unkind word - created a need for a Savior.  Remembering that all sin is equal in it's requirement of confession and forgiveness, caused me in that moment to really understand why my leadership, life and everything that comes out of my mouth must be glorifying to the Lord.

My desire to be healthy before my Lord, must include the physical as well.  I've been blessed with a very high metabolism, however, weight is not the only deciding factor for a call to better health.  I'm seeing more and more people my age who are not overweight developing 'lifestyle' related critical illnesses.  Some of which would possibly be prevented with a very healthy lifestyle.  I read recently, "For the first time in history as many people are suffering from too much food, as are from malnutrition" Rick Warren.  Too much food is a choice.  I am really, really going to attempt to provide healthy choices for my family as I cook and prepare our meals, snacks and 'outings' together.

The other thing I feel we should all take advantage of are opportunities like the Global Leadership Summit Simulcast - that we will broadcast for 2 days, Thursday and Friday, August 6 & 7th at Crossroads.  This event provides important leadership development whether you are a stay-at-home mom or a CEO of a large company.  Because it's not possible for our Crossroads leaders and attendees to all go away for a conference due to our busy schedules, we decided to bring it to us!

I'm asking you, PLEASE consider attending this with us.  To register or find out more about it click on this link, http://www.crossroadswired.com/summit and remember Crossroads attendees, we have a special code for a cheaper price!

Strong leadership (all of us have areas we lead in), healthy lifestyle, burying ourselves in Him = the life He created us to live.

a communion day

Today we prepare for communion, both with our programming team to prepare all the details of tonight's service, as well as personally.

As the staff broke into study groups our text was I John 1:9. How appropriate.

Asking God to continuously reveal sins in our lives takes intentional focus. Confession is of course not a one time deal - but CONTINUOUS.

One line from the "Lessons on Assurance" booklet we were using was something I still haven't quit thinking about. "...honest confession must include the willingness to forsake the sin." I found this very troubling to be honest.

I thought back on how many times I have confessed similar sins and then fall right back into them. Does that mean I didn't completely forsake that sin? I think it does. How patient our God is as we CHOOSE to remain in our sin and bitterness...it is in fact a choice to remain there, not easy by any means, but a choice none the less.

poor preparation

I wonder if God has been impressed with my hard work this week?

I wonder if He would have preferred that I spend more time with Him instead?

I feel I have done a pretty good job this week preparing all the details of the Easter services with the help of an amazingly talented staff!

What I have not done a good job at is preparing my heart.

Meetings, planning, talking, leading, working ...no time for personal preparation. Or at least that is how I acted this week.

So tonight I confess to the Lord - the same Lord that gave His life for me...that at times this week I have acted as if He doesn't exist. As if He is not the most important thing in my life, as if preparing a service that honors Him is more important than my relationship with Him.

I confess.

weekend report

The weekend once again went well! Praise God!!

Pastor Tim asked us "What would you do differently if you only had one month to live"? I have been thinking about this. What would I change and if it is that important why am I not doing it anyway?

This is my list :

1. spend more time talking to God: I don't examine my life enough. I think if you don't picture your life as fleeting you don't always confess things as you go. I tend to wait for "prayer time", instead of confessing and asking for forgiveness as God brings wrongs to my attention. I would never let any conviction He brought to mind go unresolved if I thought I only had 30 days left.
2. stop worrying about tomorrow and fully grasp each moment: I would enjoy each day, the whole journey. Especially with my family. I would realize the future is pointless to worry about, because we are not promised anything but today! And even this day we are not promised anything beyond the current breath we are taking. I would continue to live as wisely as I could preparing for the future, but not focused on the future. I would also create writings for all my friends and family telling them what they mean to me.
   
3. write a book: Pastor Tim has been trying to get me to write for years. I don't know...maybe. But I have to be honest, if I had 1 month to live, I would try to write a book.

Since I don't know how much time I have, I pledge to begin practicing the first two immediately. The final one, write a book, I will pray about to make sure this is what God wants. If He does, he will have to give me the words and ideas and I will obediently begin...

It is all any of us can do with our lives , just obediently begin.