I just started a series with my students on Wednesday nights I'm calling "30 days to live" which has been inspired by the book I'm reading, "One Month to Live" by Chris & Kerry Shook. How would you live your life if you had 30 days left to live? It's not a new question... I assume it has been around since death. Even though it is hard to think about, it really does bring incredible clarity to life when you try to answer it.
I've invited them to join me in living the next 30 days (which happen to be the last 30 days of their school year) with a no-regrets mindset - in total devotion to live for the glory of God.
Death is such a powerful word. People don't like to think about it, much less talk about it. Yet throughout Scripture we are reminded to live in the moment... to live every day as if it were our last since we aren't promised tomorrow. The focus isn't on death, but on life.
My heart desires to embrace Paul's passionate understanding that to live is Christ, but to die is gain. I want to live life with a reckless abandon to the cause of Christ - to be about Kingdom things, investing in things that matter. I want to live in the moment. I want to love deeply, serve passionately, plunge into the depths of relationships, receive God's grace freely, move missionally, speak the Gospel unashamedly and follow God closely.
I pray that my journey in "life" these next 30 days will result in my life more fully yielded to God. To be able to live as a true Christ-follower, based on His example. Jesus at age 12 said, "I must be about my Father's business" and then 21 years later, with his dying breath said, "I've completed the work you called me to do."
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Collide
We wrapped up our DiscipleNow 2008 this past weekend. It was an awesome yet exhausting weekend all in one. Our theme was collide as we journeyed toward understanding a Christ-centered worldview... learning to live in the world but not of the world.
This is the tension of the life of a Christ-follower. A daily battle between the old nature and the Spirit of the living God within us - redeeming us and making us new. I'm amazed at how strong the pull of the world can be... enticing the desire of my flesh to be the boss and live to please myself. Yet we are challenged in Romans 12 not to be squeezed into the world's mold, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Some days I fight well, or better said, I follow the Spirit's lead and let Him fight on my behalf. Other days are more bleak. But I'm challenged by 1 John 2:6 that says, "Whoever claims to be in Christ must walk as Jesus did." Praise God for giving us a great example to follow. My prayer coming out of this weekend is that I would be faithful to walk as Jesus' walked, and that the desire for the things of God would continue to captivate my heart's attention.
This is the tension of the life of a Christ-follower. A daily battle between the old nature and the Spirit of the living God within us - redeeming us and making us new. I'm amazed at how strong the pull of the world can be... enticing the desire of my flesh to be the boss and live to please myself. Yet we are challenged in Romans 12 not to be squeezed into the world's mold, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Some days I fight well, or better said, I follow the Spirit's lead and let Him fight on my behalf. Other days are more bleak. But I'm challenged by 1 John 2:6 that says, "Whoever claims to be in Christ must walk as Jesus did." Praise God for giving us a great example to follow. My prayer coming out of this weekend is that I would be faithful to walk as Jesus' walked, and that the desire for the things of God would continue to captivate my heart's attention.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
WinterBlast: Day 2
Well it is hard to believe that Ski Trip has come and is almost gone already. We wrapped up our skiing today with some great weather. Not nearly as cold, we had some sun and no wind! It also helped that they weren't blowing snow into our faces all day long. No injuries to report either.
Tonight we had a great dinner at a local equivalent of Cracker Barrel and then headed back for our time of worship and message. John did a great job bringing to light what we are living for and what really matters.
We have to pack and then wake up early for breakfast and to get on the road. Don't forget to check the hotline for our exact arrival time.
Tonight we had a great dinner at a local equivalent of Cracker Barrel and then headed back for our time of worship and message. John did a great job bringing to light what we are living for and what really matters.
We have to pack and then wake up early for breakfast and to get on the road. Don't forget to check the hotline for our exact arrival time.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
WinterBlast: Day 1
Well we made it. We had some difficult weather and roads to drive in. It has been quite challenging to get a 45ft. bus maneuvered around up here! But Larry has done a great job for us.
I don't have time to upload pictures tonight, but did want to at least tell you about our day. It was told to me that with the wind chill we were in the negative numbers on the slopes today... and any bare skin on your body today was proof. Man, it was cold! Beech continued blowing snow on top of the snow that was falling creating a white blizzard to ski through. But all in all, we had a good day and one free of injuries!
After dinner tonight we had our evening session together. We did some fun mixers, the band led worship and John did a great job speaking. He asked us the question, "Is what you are living for worth it?"
Tomorrow we start bright and early and head back to the slopes. They are hoping to have a few more runs open.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
A Blogging Hiatus
Well... I'm here. Not that my presence matters that much in the blogging world, but I did decide to take a little break for awhile. There have been plenty of things going on in my world, loads of lessons learned, mistakes made and exciting things over the last few months. It seems blogging about them is a 'journal' in a sense and helps my aging (and oftentimes feeble) mind remember them. Being the New Year I figure it is a time to be more disciplined in writing what God puts on my heart. It has been an awesome holiday time (Thanksgiving and Christmas) with family and friends being grateful for all God has done in a providing a way for us to know Him and truly have life. I wait in eager expectation to see what God has in store for me, my family, ministry and journey this new year.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Coach Dad
I haven't had alot of free moments to sit down with the house being quiet lately... the boys are asleep, Brooke is at work at the Jags are playing Monday Night Football. I've had some great experiences to write about lately, but they left me before I got to. But I couldn't let tonight pass by.
I knew today was going to be a challenge. Brooke had to work which meant Dad duty, but Dad duty and Coach duty - a new, yet not necessarily a winning combination. Coaching is OK and Dad is OK, but Coach Dad is a different story.
Brock and I were anxiously watching the clock to see if we were even going to make it to football practice on time, as Jake was still napping. And dinner for Jake still had to happen. He made it and I had prepped the "bag of life" and figured we could do some food on the way and some at the field. Noticing a smell - you know the kind that stops you dead in your tracks - wafted upward before we made it to the car. Running back inside and frantically trying to undue those midget snaps on 15 layers of clothes (Mom is into the dressing for cuteness not practicality)... there it was. No time to put on the much needed HAZMAT suit... I had to go in. I got layer one off and there it was. Nothing like poop coming out of all available crevices and on to every layer of "cute outfit". Had to work fast, which meant only coming up for air a few times. This one was so good, that I'll make sure Jake thanks me for this when he is old enough to understand.
The next part of my journey had me looking like Steve Martin in "Cheaper by the Dozen" trying to coach football with a 1-year old on your hip. Doesn't exactly inspire greatness in your players, but then again, I'm coaching 8 year olds who would rather chase each other around and pull each others flags then actually run the plays we call.
"Welcome to Moes" is where we ended up as I knew I was racing against the bedtime clock, but hey,kids do eat free on Mondays - it was a great audible. Coach Brian, Shara and their three joined us which gave us one of the more rowdy tables in Moes, but it was fun. What was more fun was trying to eat a Joey with my left, put it down and feed Jake with the left while the right had to hold since all the high chairs were taken. That might have been harder than coaching with Jake.
But we finally were on the way home, while I was drafting one last play for the evening. I'm giving Brock the call to run a fade route and get the bath running, while I prep the bedtime bottle, get baby undressed and in the tub and clean; handoff back Brock to warm the bottle and throw it deep to me in the end zone where I'm trying to grab flailing limbs and get PJ's on. Then it's off to bottle and some rocking while Brock is doing his pre-bed routine.
I didn't score any big yardage tonight, but we managed to keep penalties and fumbles to a minimum! All in this great game of life in the Veleber world!
I knew today was going to be a challenge. Brooke had to work which meant Dad duty, but Dad duty and Coach duty - a new, yet not necessarily a winning combination. Coaching is OK and Dad is OK, but Coach Dad is a different story.
Brock and I were anxiously watching the clock to see if we were even going to make it to football practice on time, as Jake was still napping. And dinner for Jake still had to happen. He made it and I had prepped the "bag of life" and figured we could do some food on the way and some at the field. Noticing a smell - you know the kind that stops you dead in your tracks - wafted upward before we made it to the car. Running back inside and frantically trying to undue those midget snaps on 15 layers of clothes (Mom is into the dressing for cuteness not practicality)... there it was. No time to put on the much needed HAZMAT suit... I had to go in. I got layer one off and there it was. Nothing like poop coming out of all available crevices and on to every layer of "cute outfit". Had to work fast, which meant only coming up for air a few times. This one was so good, that I'll make sure Jake thanks me for this when he is old enough to understand.
The next part of my journey had me looking like Steve Martin in "Cheaper by the Dozen" trying to coach football with a 1-year old on your hip. Doesn't exactly inspire greatness in your players, but then again, I'm coaching 8 year olds who would rather chase each other around and pull each others flags then actually run the plays we call.
"Welcome to Moes" is where we ended up as I knew I was racing against the bedtime clock, but hey,kids do eat free on Mondays - it was a great audible. Coach Brian, Shara and their three joined us which gave us one of the more rowdy tables in Moes, but it was fun. What was more fun was trying to eat a Joey with my left, put it down and feed Jake with the left while the right had to hold since all the high chairs were taken. That might have been harder than coaching with Jake.
But we finally were on the way home, while I was drafting one last play for the evening. I'm giving Brock the call to run a fade route and get the bath running, while I prep the bedtime bottle, get baby undressed and in the tub and clean; handoff back Brock to warm the bottle and throw it deep to me in the end zone where I'm trying to grab flailing limbs and get PJ's on. Then it's off to bottle and some rocking while Brock is doing his pre-bed routine.
I didn't score any big yardage tonight, but we managed to keep penalties and fumbles to a minimum! All in this great game of life in the Veleber world!
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