NEW BLOGSITE

Effective immediately my blog has been moved to a new site. You can access it here:

http://www.clconline.org/lifeatthecenter

All You Can Eat

I know this may not be too surprising to many of you, but I like to eat. As a typical man I live with the TV remote control attached to my hand, but will always stop when I come across the Food Network. I love it...a TV channel about one of my favorite hobbies!

Not too long ago I heard about a restaurant in Denver that's right up my ally! They charge no set price for their meals. It's called the So All May Eat (SAME) Cafe. They operate on a "pay what you want" model.

No set prices. Customers can pay whatever they want. If you're unable to pay, they ask you to volunteer for an hour.

The cafe is an alternative to a soup kitchen. The food is good enough (it's organically grown health food) that customers don't mind paying for it; it's inexpensive enough that anyone eat there. Some people pay $10 for the cafe's pizza and salads, some pay for their meals by bussing tables and washing dishes.

I don't know if the owners, Brad and Libby Burky, are Christ followers -- but this is a great model for churches to follow. It's how the early church was described.

All the believers were together and had everything in common. (Acts 2:44)

Finally...Gordon Wins!

A beautiful Sunday afternoon was made all the more better watching Jeff Gordon win his 82nd race. He now has won a race on every NASCAR track but one...quite an accomplishment.

More importantly he leads the points standings and appears to be well on his way to a great year!

Random

It's been a few days since my last blog entry. I'm in the process of making some changes to the look and feel of "Life @ The Center." You'll notice them very soon!

At the moment I'm sitting in the Dallas-Fort Worth International airport waiting to board an American Airlines flight back to Philly. I've been here for a couple of days of meetings.

I've completed Sunday morning's message, which will be the final portion of the Truth Project. I'm looking forward to it...should be a great day!

The entire Truth Project has been a great experience. I've heard from many who have enjoyed their small group discussions. The Truth Project "study" may be over, but the journey will continue.

This Sunday we are going to talk about “COMMUNITY AND INVOLEMENT: GOD CARES, DO I?”

The parable of the Good Samaritan offers a challenge for each of us, just as it did for those whom Jesus first told the story to. It challenges us to examine our own hearts and consider who the Samaritans in our lives are.

It further challenges us because Jesus calls us to live as "neighbors" to those we may think of as "untouchables," those people we'd just as soon not have any contact with at all.

But as Jesus Christ makes so very clear in the Parable of the Good Samaritan and in so many other examples from his life, there are no untouchables in the Kingdom of God. We are all created in the Divine Image, and we are all called to love each other.

Jesus made this very clear on the last night of his earthly life, when he told his disciples he was giving them a new commandment: "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

This Sunday we’ll discover the One who went to the cross for you and for me is calling us to "Go and do likewise."

Worst to First

I was reading this week about Cal Ripken's record. You know which one I'm talking about: He played 2632 consecutive baseball games. This is a record that may never be broken; he will always be remembered as a legend in the game.

Many sports records are set when a player gets on a hot streak – he has a good game or a good month or even a good season. Ripken's record is the result of a 'hot streak' that lasted more than 16 years. Day after day he simply took the next step in the right direction, one game at a time.

Something many people don't know about Ripken is that during his first year as a pro – while playing minor league ball in West Virginia – he made his mark in a different way: he committed a league-leading 33 errors at short-stop. Not a good start, and since his dad was already well-known in baseball circles, many pundits said he was just over-rated kid, not good enough for life in the big leagues.

But Cal kept taking one more step in the right direction, one game at a time. Later in his career he went 95 consecutive games without making an error, and committed only three in an entire season – another record he holds. Ripken's habit of taking one more step led him through his own "worst to first" journey.

It's a journey you can take, too. God wants to pour out his grace in your life. He wants to change you through and through. He wants to give you victory over sin, and the power to live the life of your dreams?

Right now, if you feel like you're the worst, he wants to help you move in the direction of becoming first.

Einstein On Faith

TIME Magazine ran a story in April 2007 about the faith of Albert Einstein. Though Einstein was not a Christ follower, his views were interesting, and unique among scientists.

After his 50th birthday, he gave an interview to George Sylvester Viereck. Here is an excerpt of Time's excerpt.

To what extent are you influenced by Christianity? "As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene."

You accept the historical existence of Jesus? "Unquestionably! No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life."

Do you believe in God? "I'm not an atheist. I don't think I can call myself a pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds.

We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn't know what it is.

That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws."

Here's a link to the article.

Are People This Crazy?

There's a Maytag commercial in heavy rotation these days. Maybe you've seen it: It involves a four wheel drive pick up and two parallel rows of about two dozen washing machines.

As the truck drives over the machines, you see the inevitable disclaimer: "Do not attempt."

Do they really think someone will go out and purchase 50 washing machines (an investment of about $40,000) and try to drive over them with a really big, expensive truck? I guess they do.

I know it's there for legal reasons -- because maybe someone actually is crazy enough to try driving over a row of washing machines. Maytag doesn't want to get sued if the experiment ends badly.

And so for that one oddball, they're forced to protect themselves with small print.

Truth Project #10

This Sunday as we continue our journey with the tenth week of the Truth Project, we are going to talk about The American Experiment.

America is unique in the history of the world. On these shores a people holding to a biblical worldview have had an opportunity to set up a system of government designed to keep the state within its divinely ordained boundaries.

The Bible is not silent about nations. We learn that God is greater than all nations, nations come and go, that God uses nations as part of His plans, and that people from all nations will be part of His Kingdom.

The Bible also teaches us specifically what a nation is to do in order to receive and continue in the blessings of God. Psalm 33:12 states, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD..."

This Sunday at Christian Life Center we'll talk about America's greatness, America's God, and America's hope. We'll also discover what Christ-followers can do to bring revival to this great land!

On The Decline

USA Today reported earlier this week on the decline of evangelicalism in America. Reporter Cathy Lyn Grossman stated her case...

The number of people who claim 'no religion' has almost doubled in the last 18 years, from 8% of the population to 15%.

The number of Baptists has decreased from 19.3% to 15.8%. (Even though the Southern Baptist Church has continued to grow, it hasn't kept up with the growth of the adult population, mainly due to immigration.)

Those who claim to be simply "Protestant" remain the same 14% as they were in 1990.

Though we need to aware of the numbers and we can not afford to be apathetic toward apparent trends, it's also true that there are still an estimated 115 million adult Protestant Christians in the US right now, which is well over 50% of the population.

When you add 57 million Catholics to that number, it's clear that this is still (at least now) a very religious, and predominantly Christian, nation.

Interestingly, evangelical Michael Spencer wrote an excellent editorial for the Christian Science Monitor earlier this week, The Coming Evangelical Collapse. I don't know that I agree with him, and I certainly hope he's wrong on a couple of points, but it's an interestingly read.

CLC Team!

"Do you realize how great a pastoral team you have?" It was a question someone asked me at a gathering of ministers from Philadelphia recently. They sort of shook their head as if to say "Wow! What an awesome group of pastors working at CLC!"

I have to agree. You won't find a more talented group of men and women. My job as the coach is to model the way, inspire a vision, enable them to act, encourage them along the way; and then get out of the way as the go at it!

Given the choice between one great player and a team of good players that work together, I'll take good over great every time.

This is something we need to remember as we strive to improve areas of ministry Christian Life Center. One great musician...one great youth leader...one great pastor cannot do it alone. It takes team players!

Franklin Roosevelt said,"People acting together as a group can accomplish things that no individual acting alone could ever hope to bring about. "

I'm humbled to be surrounded by an incredible group of people. I'm honored to be a peer among equals as we work to advance the Kingdom of God...together!

A Challenge!

While meeting with high-some high level executives in Washington D.C. the week after the presidential election, John Maxwell overheard one of the men say, "I sure wouldn't want to be the next president of the United States with all the economic problems facing this country."

Maxwell's response: "I would love to be Barack Obama right now...You show me a person who's a great leader, and I will show you a person who loves a great challenge. That is the DNA of leadership. Leaders are not looking for the easy way out or quick exits; they love to be 'over their heads.'"

It's like the comment that Gene Hackman made to quarterback Keanu Reeves in The Replacements: "Winners always want the ball when the game is on the line."

Leaders understand the power of Paul's words: Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us..." (Ephesians 3:20)

His power at work within us. This is why leaders love a challenge. It's why winners want the ball when the game is on the line!

Stott's Seven Stages

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)

John Stott points out there are seven great stages in this statement by the Apostle Paul.

1. God is able to do because he is not idle or inactive or dead.

2. God can do what we ask because he hears us when we pray.

3. He can do what we think because he knows what we think before we think it.

4. He can do all we ask or think because he knows it all and can do it all.

5. He can do more than we ask or think because his plans are bigger than our plans.

6. He can do much more than we ask or think because there is no holding back with God.

7. He can do exceedingly abundantly beyond what we can imagine because he is the God of the superlative

Out Of Proportion

Florida resident Latreasa Goodman called 911 three times on Saturday February 28. The emergency? McDonald's was out of Chicken McNuggets.

She had paid for them, but McDonald's wanted to switch them for a McDouble, and Ms. Goodman appealed to 911, saying, "This is an emergency. If I would have known they didn't have McNuggets, I wouldn't have given my money, and now she wants to give me a McDouble, but I don't want one."

She was cited for misusing the 911 system.

Last February, Jean Fortune, another Florida resident, called 911 because the local Burger King was taking too long to fill his order. What's more they didn't have lemonade. He wanted the police to come to the scene and settle the matter!

I guess you might say these were over-reactions. It's frustrating when a fast-food place doesn't get your order right, but it's not really an emergency, is it?

The truth is, many of the things that stress us out aren't really worth it. We have a tendency to take little events and blow them up into big things -- especially in relationships.

In the movie Ruthless People, Danny DeVito wants to kill his wife because "I hate the way she licks stamps." We all have a tendency to blow little things out of proportion.

An important part of living the Christian life is learning to put up with annoying situations and the annoying habits of some people, responding instead with a spirit of love and patience. When events irritate you, strive to under-react.

Paul said, "Do everything without grumbling or arguing. Then you will be the pure and innocent children of God." (Philippians 2:14-15)

CELEBRITY SYNDROME!

I don't know if you have heard the Christian Bale audio that has been posted all over the place in the last couple of months. It's better if you haven't, actually. It's a profanity laced rant that the movie star (star of the new Terminator movie) unleashed on a member of crew.

Apparently the guy blocked some of Mr. Bale's light during a scene, and Bale went ballistic. I heard a portion of it on TV, so much of it was bleeped out, but it was pretty intense.

It's not uncommon to see certain celebrities throw tantrums and demand special treatment. We just think they're spoiled, but one psychiatrist, Cornell's Robert B. Millman, says they're not spoiled, they're sick. The affliction is Acquired Situational Narcissism.

ASN develops when once-ordinary people achieve extra-ordinary success, such as winning an Oscar or being named rookie of the year. This double-dose of adulation loosens people's grip on reality and they become (according to Millman) "unbelievably self-involved because of the attention from us. We make it so." [From Reader's Digest April 2002]

Even though most of us will never be at risk of getting Acquired Situational Narcissism -- our lives are far too ordinary -- we all struggle with the temptation of becoming overly self-involved. We sometimes imagine minor-league celebrity status for ourselves and become prima donnas in the work-place, or at church, or at home.

A remedy for this tendency is to remember Paul's words...in humility, consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3-4)

What We Have

Someone once said, "We are successful the moment we focus on what we have instead of what we lack."

Moses faced a similar situation when God called him to lead the people of Israel out of slavery. Moses' response was "What if they don't listen to me?"

God's response was "What do you have?" Then the Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?" (Exodus 4:2)

What Moses had was a rod. But it was more than a rod; it symbolized the power of God, and it was all Moses needed. That rod taught Moses not to look at what he had lacked, but look at what he had: the power of God in his life.

What do you have? Along with your talent and your determination, you can list the power of God among your assets. And needless to say, it goes at the top of the list.

Whatever challenges you are facing — whatever seemingly insurmountable odds — remember that the key to victory is focusing on what you have, not on what you lack