Making Magic Happen (in a Panera restroom)

Based on the title, you have no option but to read on... and this is not another story about an elected official or pastor making a poor decision. It is a story about God speaking and a shocked Panera employee seeing mercy lived out.

A bit of back-story. A few months ago, I had a generous family approach me and say, we want to put some money in an account at the church that can be used to help folks that are having a tough time. A line that has stuck with me is, "We want you and Jonathan to be able to make magic happen for some folks..." So while the official name of the fund is "The Benevolent Fund", I simply call it the "Making Magic Happen Fund." This is my favorite fund at Catalyst.

Sunday night I met with a group of about 15 folks who are starting a church (Modern Life Church) in Chattanooga, TN similar in nature to Catalyst. We met at a restaurant in downtown Chatty and I chose the Pepper jack Chicken Nachos and encouraged them for about 45 minutes that they could make it as a church, but it would be a lot of hard work. I stayed up until 2 a.m. talking with my buddy, Ian Shaw, the pastor of Modern Life, which threw my body into complete disarray when I woke on Monday.

About 10:00 we head to Panera Bread to grab a bagel, and my stomach was "jacked" from the nachos and lack of sleep. I told him I would see him in a bit headed to the porcelain throne. I was a bit erked when I arrived to see & hear a Panera employee talking loudly on the phone IN THE RESTROOM. I am hunkered down in the stall trying to ignore the conversation I am hearing. It was a dude named Brenn on the phone with a dude that was about to repossess his car.

Brenn was saying, "I have made the payments on time for two years... I only have a few payments left; it is humiliating and embarrassing to be in this situation.... I have hit tough times and need a break... I am waiting on my W-2s from my other two jobs to show up at the house, they were sent to the wrong address.... when I get my tax refund I can take care of all this"

Being "moved" in more than one way, I exit the stall and begin to wash my hands. Brenn's voice is shaking as he tells the man on the other end , "I will give you this debit card number, but the funds simply aren't there." This dude was at the end of his rope because if he gives that number, his problems multiply because they are going to come get his car AND he will incur overdraft penalties.

I look over my shoulder and ask, "How much money do you need?"

Brenn replies, "$78.03"

I kind of chuckled and said, "Give me the phone". Brenn protested for about .5 seconds and said, "You have got to be kidding me."

I took the phone, made a payment in the amount of $200 for Brenn, made sure they shredded my card number and went to find Brenn ( his break was over and he was hauling ice to the ice machine).

He thanked me gregariously and said; "sir, you are a Godsend" Those words were the truest words I heard yesterday.

I honestly believe that it was no accident that I ate spicy nachos, stayed up to late, and had a "jacked" up stomach when I entered Panera yesterday morning. I have no doubt that I was sent by God to make some magic happen in the life of a hard working young man.

They say grace is "not getting something (bad) we deserve" and mercy is "getting something (good) we do not deserve"

I was able to live out a life of mercy thanks to the generous giving of a couple who trust me to discern when we need to "make some magic happen".

I thank God that he is still using and speaking to ordinary people to make a difference in the life of those that need it.

Study Retreat...

I am basically taking two and a half days this week to get away and study for upcoming sermons. This basically means that I go to the middle of nowhere and stay in a Lake House that a family in the church has made available to me.

I bring a bunch of resources, like commentaries, some forms I use to spawn creativty and look at passages in a variety of ways. It really becomes a lot of reading, praying, begging God for an image or a story that I can work with for a sermon.

My preaching style is not three points, with a couple of sub points. That is actually how I was first taught to preach, and a few years ago I had another preaching course that encourages more creativity.

Writing a sermon for me is like writing a song or something else that is a bit artistic and requires time for creativity. I can't just sit down and read a bunch of stuff and crank out a sermon. I deal with images and stories and try to piece the Story of God together with our place in that story and offer people hope that they can play the part they are supposed to in His story.

So I will not walk away from this retreat with a pocket full of sermons, but hopefully some ideas as to where we are going. Some images or stories that will brew and spawn more ideas. Sermons are always better when they have been cooked in a crock pot and not a microwave. If all we did was preach information (transmission of cool facts and nuggets of info) life would be easy. But we preach for life transformation and it can be slow going at times to get a sermon to where it is ready to be preached.

****A note to all associate pastors that get to preach once every few months, it is a different animal when you have to preach week in and week out. You don't have 12 weeks or more to come up with great material.

Sunday Recap...

• Great Day at Catalyst.
• The worship during these weeks of Advent have been incredible. The Sprang and the gang have done a bang up job each week. It is great to be able to sing the basic melodies of the songs, while they are being done "Catalyst" style.
• It was great to see new faces. It is hard to imagine that we are continuing to grow and see new guests nearly every week at Catalyst even though there is nasty construction at the entrance to the facility.
• It seems like we have a ton of kids each week. I can't tell you how much joy that gives me. I remember telling our folks (when there was only 14 of us) that we had to do our kids areas well. If we miss the kids, we miss the community. I was saying this stuff when the only kids in the church were my two little ones.
  
• Our kids area volunteers obviously do an outstanding job with all our kids (birth- 5th grade) because kids can't wait to get in the building each week.
• Felt good about the sermon this week. Talked about the "fruits" of a repentant life.
  
• Love when we have time to reflect on what we hear. I am going to build that into our services on a regular basis. Too often, I preach so long that we only have time for a prayer, a song, and a pat on the butt on the way out the door.
• Love the Sunday's when we receive communion. It is always meaningful.
• I was told by someone who did not grow up in church that they like Catalyst because we teach in a down to earth, understandable way. Completely made my day.
• Went to a C-group Christmas Party and had an absolute blast.
  
• Gotta do some re-vamping on the teen stuff. Our numbers are dwindling and a lot of it has to do with me not putting enough effort into it. We will hit it hard after the new year.

Keep Christ in Christmas, Really?

Something has been bothering me for a few years and I haven't known what to do about it. I finally figured it is time to put my thoughts on my corner of the world wide web. Here it is, are you ready for it? I am growing tired of hearing people talking about keeping Christ in Christmas. I know I am not supposed to say things like that. I get this sense that I am on the outside of this issue looking in at a lot of my friends of like faith. Sometimes I feel as if I should be wearing Merry Christmas buttons or posting Keep Christ in Christmas banners in my yard, or boycotting certain stores because they have begun using the phrase, "Happy Holidays" over "Merry Christmas".

It seems to me that we (Christians)are beginning to act as if a group of people,or retail stores, or media conglomerates could possibly overpower the greatest event in the history of mankind. Seriously? We are talking about the creator of heaven and earth, we are talking about God becoming flesh and dwelling among us. His story has survived so much more than a shift towards people saying, Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. The God I serve, the one I have dedicated my life to, is so much bigger than this stuff.

There are people all over the world being persecuted for their faith. Real persecution. They worship in "underground churches" because they risk imprisonment and/or death every time they gather as Christians. Scripture is clear that some believers will be persecuted, but I think we can hardly consider ourselves persecuted when the retail industry removes Merry Christmas from it's marketing campaign.

I have had the song "Prepare the Way" by Charlie Hall repeatedly playing while constructing this blog. The words are powerful:

Prepare the way (2x)
Prepare the way of the Lord
Jesus... (repeated over and over)

You are the light of the world (3x)
Jesus...(repeated over and over)

You are the King of the earth (3x)
Jesus... (repeated over and over)

You are the light of the world- This is the Jesus I know and love. The one that brings the light of hope into the darkness of our hearts. The one that invites us to take his light into the darkest of dark places.

You are the King of the Earth- the One who was sent to two young parents, born in a dusty barn and laid in a feeding trough. The opposite of what the Jews hoped for in a Messiah, but the most influential and controversial baby ever born. History itself is divided into the time before his arrival and after his death. He is the king of the earth.

I think we can become so defensive or fearful or near sighted that we miss a huge opportunity during this season. What if instead of worrying about which stores say Happy Holiday instead of Merry Christmas, we fed the hungry, clothed the poor, made a difference in the life of the oppressed.

I have a 70 yr. old Facebook Friend that has recently posted several comments that get at the heart how we can keep Christ in Christmas. Here are a few:

• Keep Christ in Christmas by making Him Number 1 in your life.

• Keep Christ in Christmas by preparing for His Second Coming!

• Keep Christ in Christmas by giving to the poor and needy.Show all

• Keep Christ in Christmas by desiring His Presence more than presents!

• "Keep Christ in Christmas by loving Him with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength; and your neighbor as yourself."

I love it. This is how we keep Christ in Christmas. We allow Him to continue to transform our hearts and lives (like we can separate the two). The transformation is lived out by living a selfless, gracious life, instead of one focused on ourselves.

The only way Christ and Christmas will ever by separated is if every Christian on the face of the earth drops the ball. When our lives begin to reflect words like, transforming, giving, loving, accepting, we will have begun to prepare the way for God to work in us and through us. That my friends is what it means to keep Christ in Christmas.

• So, I will not be wearing buttons that say, "keep Christ in Christmas", I will be living it out.
• I will not be defensive and boycott stores, I will look for ways I can provide for folks in need , and in doing so will be keeping Christ in Christmas.
  
• I will not be telling everyone I meet "Merry Christmas" as a way of making a religious point. I will allow God to continue to transform my heart, and folks will be able to see that there is more than holiday cheer in my heart.

So maybe in the end we really do agree about the need to keep Christ in Christmas. Perhaps I am not growing tired of hearing we need to keep Christ in Christmas. The difference comes in how we do this...

Wallet Saga...(Funny thing about prepositions)

(Backstory)
I have a love/hate relationship with my wallet. I mostly just hate it. I have so much crap in there that it I can't really sit down with it in my back pocket because it causes me to sit crookedly. So I take it out and set it in various places and I waste a lot of time looking for it. My daughter, Addy, even hid it under her stool one time to keep her brother from getting it. It was gone for three days that time.

(Current Story)

I rode with Jonathan Sprang to OKC on Thursday of last week to meet with some folks up there. On the way home we stopped at a trashy little gas station and I grabbed my wallet to get some drinks and a snack or two. Shoved it in my pocket and got back in the vehicle. Never touched it again until we got home.

Went in the house and put all my crap down on the counter. Woke up the next morning to gather my three essentials (Keys, Wallet, Cellphone). I was so sure my wallet was in my backpack that I didn't even look, I just threw it in the car and drove to Chiloso for a breakfast taco. Got there and realized I didn't have it.

Realized I must have left it in Sprang's car, so I drove by his house and looked for myself. His car was unlocked so I just helped myself. It was no where to be found. I went home and turned my house upside down, interrogated my four year old to see if she was up to old tricks, and concluded that it was Jonathan's fault because he left his car unlocked and it had been stolen by his neighborhood hooligans.

I kept checking my online banking to see if there was any suspicious activity on the account and continued grieving because for the first time in a year or more I actually had a bit of cash in the wallet, around $65. I put a hold on all my cards, hoping it would turn up. I was going to cancel everything on Monday and pray that there wasn't an Eastern European mobster opening lines of credit as Levi Lowry.

I had all but given up when I get a call from Sprang on Saturday night. He had gone to a movie after driving a hundred miles or more since our trip on Thursday. After the move he noticed a note on his van saying, "I have your wallet". This made no sense because the wallet was not in his van. I knew that fact as I had searched no less than three times on Friday.

He texted the dude and about 2 hours later he called back and confirmed that he did indeed have my wallet. I met him at the theater at midnight and he returned my wallet. He had actually found it on Jonathan's van. The parking lot was terraced so when he pulled in, his headlights shone on top of Sprang's van and he noticed my wallet lodged in the crossbeam of the luggage rack. He returned it with every dollar, receipt, debit card, etc.. untouched. I gave him $20 for his honesty and hit the road with the wallet sitting in my car.

It is amazing the difference a preposition can make. It was not in Jonathan's van, but was on it. I had been so close, so many times, but the wallet alluded me.

It shall allude me no longer, I went to Ross and bought a new one yesterday. The old faithful has escaped me for the last time...

Sunday Recap...

I have gotten out of the habit of writing on here and really need to get back to it. For better or worse, here is my view on the day at Catalyst.

• I always fear that on Holiday weekends we will have nobody show up for church. Not so at Catalyst. We had a good crowd which is always more fun than the Sundays when the pickens' are slim.
• Felt like the band did a good job. Sometimes they scare the crap out of me during rehearsal. They always pull it off when it counts.
• Sprang has this thing he says when he introduces a new song. He always says, "it is a really simple song..." Ha. I think his idea of simple has become skewed over the years. I was gonna bust him on it during the welcome time, but I forgot so I thought I would bust him now. I am waiting for him to intro a new song and say, "this song is really complicated, good luck staying with us..."
• Felt pretty good about the sermon. The passage was one that I had to wrestle with a lot, but felt like God gave me clarity during the preparation.
• I love talking about hope.
• I feel I am most in my element when telling stories. I have learned that as preachers we have to find our rhythm and groove and improve on it. I feel best when I am "me" up front and not trying to be somebody else.
• I won't ever apologize for telling stories because I see Jesus doing it all the time in the New Testament. I think we need to be able to connect our stories to God's story on a regular basis.
• When we sent the kids off the "The Lab" after the music today it felt like half the room got up and left. I love it, love it, love it. We opened this church with young families in mind and we are hitting that target.
• We are participating with a couple of other churches with an Angel Tree project. We committed to supporting 40 kids and we ran out of kids. I love that Catalyst folks are so generous.
• We also made available a journal for the Catalyst folks to journey through Advent and Christmas together. Sprang and our buddy Scott Stargel did a bang up job getting the book produced and printed.
• If you are interested in ordering a book or bunch of books, you can pay via paypal (send it to catalystrowlett@yahoo.com). Books are $5 each and shipping is $2 per book if needed. $7 shipped or $5 local. Shoot us an email if you live in the area and want a book.
• Went to lunch at Dos Charros Mexican bufett. It was awesome. Will definately be going back.
• Took a short nap and the rest of the family took longer naps.
• Warmed up the Thanksgiving leftovers for diner and settled in the living room to watch "The Polar Express" and "The Tale of Despereaux". Had a great movie night with Heather and the kiddos.
• Here is a peek at the book cover:
• 

Does Lightning Strike the Same Place Twice?

I have been in a bit of a blogging funk, but this may be enough to drag me out of it. As I have mentioned before, I am into trail riding my mountain bike. I get heckled for calling it Mountain Biking because there really are not mountains here in Dallas. There are a lot of enthusiasts including our former President George W. Bush. He rides a couple of the trails more than others and one of his favorites is less than 10 miles from my house.

About three weeks ago I was out there and sure enough so was W. He was gracious enough to take a picture with me and I was pumped. I was pumped until I looked at the picture about 30 minutes later and realized that my buddy Blain had the photography skills of a monkey with no arms. Here is his best efffort.
As you can see, this is the stuff of Jim Carey movies. He completely covered my face and torso just as the former prez was giving me "five". After I slashed Blain's tires and attempted to burn his house down, we reconciled and rode together again on Monday of this week.

Blain is a cop and his copdar began working when we pulled into the parking lot as there were some unusual suspects (other cop types) hanging out in the parking lot. He had a hunch that lightning had struck twice an George W. was back at our stomping grounds. We loitered for a few minutes and sure enough he emerged from the woods a few minutes later with his entourage.

We approached him and he remembered us. I kid you not. He said to me, "He big guy, good to see you back out here." He then asked my buddy Blain where is son was.

I explained to him about Blain's poor photography skills and asked if he would pose for another pic. He was great and said, "let's get a couple this time."

A side note: I was supposed to call another buddy, Dan, to ride with us on the day we met George W. the first time. I forgot and Dan was devastated. He is a huge fan of the former prez and had missed his chance to meet him. Well, Dan is now my friend again as I had called to invite him on this ride and he got to meet one of his favorite presidents.

Here are the pics Dan took of me and my buddy Blain with the prez: