One Month To Live Mentality

At Real Life I'm currently working on the 5th in a message series called, "One Month To Live." It's a concept promoted by pastor Kerry & Chris Shook, in their NY Times bestseller's book by that name. How would you spend the next 30 days if you learned you only had a month to live? Our answers would indicate what we feel really matters.

It's amazing the things we would stop doing in order to go after the things that matter most. The series kicks off asking how Jesus lived, knowing His days were numbered on earth. As followers of Christ we are called to go after the same 30 day priorities; He lived passionately, loved completely, learned humbly and left boldly.

Besides the numerous people who are making visible commitments at the end of each message, here are a few indications that O.M.T.L. is going to have a lasting effect:

1. Attitudes Climb! Excitement, hope, gratitude. People seem to be looking forward to the possibilities of each new day instead of dreading rolling out of bed.
2. Relational Repair! Fence mending is taking place in challenging relationships. Family time becoming more important. Working toward greater unity in the church family.
3. Fresh Starts! Broken people are getting freed from the chains of past failure, believing in forgiveness found at the Cross. They are ready to move forward to a better end, ready to finish strong.
4. Dreaming Again! People are starting to again ask God how they can live out His big plans for a better future. Real Lifers are asking how the church can leave an epic mark on this world.

I am thankful for the opportunity not only to apply truth to the One Month to Live question, but to witness how it's working itself out in people's lives as well as my own. My next post will be about how OMTL has personally affected my life.

I QUIT RUNNING.... back

I have been running for the last four years. I believe for the most part that's a good thing. For the sake of my health, it was good to burn off some calories, reach some goals I once thought were attainable, and to relieve some stress that comes with being a pastor.

But the running I'm referring to goes much deeper. It is a race that most middle-aged men and women enter when they look in the mirror or the calendar and become painfully aware that time is slipping by. When this happens many enter the race to chase after their youth, hoping to slip back into the early pages of the book called "Life."

We want to run back to the energy we once took for granted. We try retracing the path that takes us back to the dreams we once boldly believed. We run because we are afraid! Afraid of what awaits us.

We treat our future as some kind of plague waiting to inflict us. We have seen enough people surrender their later years to an EZ chair and a remote. We have met enough dreamless men who turn have traded hope for a cup of bitter cynicism. I run from these things because I resist becoming like this.

But maybe my running is away is too short sighted and costly. I think it makes sense to run from the attitudes and actions that suggest resignation. Still I wonder if this running thing can or should last much longer.

I realize as long as I try to run back I'm missing some good things about life's next phase. Missing things like a more well-rounded perspective, the ability to reflect and to grow. I am missing out on the opportunity to embrace the seasons because I bemoan the loss of spring. I am running from a chance to taste of the next season of life.

Well, I say all this to make it known that I'm done running. It all changed last night when I became a grandfather. I am ready to accept hair loss, wrinkles and aches and pains. I'm not giving up. Instead, I am going up with out anymore fight. It's ok to look ahead to the years I have left. I've come to realize I can't honestly embrace them if I'm always trying to run back to where I was.

I will still be a runner of course. I see a lot of guys still run up and down these roads and I think it's a good thing. But as I run, I accept my diminishing pace in exchange for looking around and actually absorbing all the beauty that surrounds me. I'm a 47 year old grandpa and you know what? I'm OK with that! More than OK for that matter.

Alexander James Otero

Gransdon born on August 31,2009 at 9:44 pm.
7lb 7oz.... 20.5"

A story waiting for Alex

Friday night we were in downtown Columbus returning from Riverside Hospital after the nurse sent our daughter-in-law home because Alex wasn't quite ready to be born. Kelly & I followed our son and his wife through dark rainy streets near the OSU campus when we were separated by a traffic light. They made it through and we were stuck at the juncture of 3rd and Olentange River Road.

I was waiting on the light to change when I glanced into my rear view mirror to see a fast approaching car that seemed oblivious to the fact that all the southbound traffic was stopped at the red light. I look to my right side view mirror and notice that this same car is now off to my side and driving where there's no road way. In a flash I hear a scrape and then a pop as the car sails by collecting my mirror. I was stunned that it happened so fast and it was over.

He proceeded to drive on and so I followed him right into a corner lot. I got out and asked him what happened. With hardly any emotion he told me he lost his brakes. I called 911 and requested police assistance. As I tried to figure out my exact location, I noticed the man and his female passenger switched seats. I knew something was definitely strange now. After trying to explain our location for about 5 minutes, the man got out of the car and began a walk/run exit to the back of the lot.

I followed him from a distance and explained this to the police operator who seemed to have little interest in this detail. He proceeded to toss some bottles into the trash bin, circle the bin once and then run away from the scene into the dark. I was stunned that he actually would leave his friend to assume responsibility for the matter. By now the police arrived and attempted to locate the suspect who fled the scene.

While they were unsuccessful, his friend was more than willing to disclose his identity and in moments they had a mug of him on their laptops. I'm standing out in thunder and lightning watching this all unfold and finding it all too surreal! I felt like I was watching an episode of "COPS" and happened to be worked into the script unexpectedly. In moments police are combing the car and place crack, ecstasy and hard liquor on the roof of the suspect's car. I learn that the woman at the scene is detained and is well known to work the streets of Columbus.

I guess we spent 2 hours in a place we didn't want to be and got a view of brokenness that definitely took me away from my comfort zone. Seconds before the event, I had just complained about my son driving through a yellow light and leaving me at a red in an unfamiliar place. Hours later as I thought through what had happened, my outlook about being left at the red changed.

Had they also stopped, I am certain, they would have been struck by the runaway car. Only God knows how that would have effected things! As it was we lost a side mirror, came out a bit shook but unscathed and garnered some valuable lessons in the process. I certainly wouldn't care to experience that again but it sure made for a memorable Friday. I can't wait to tell Alex, my soon to be born grandson, about this night that revolved around his birth story!

Better Slow Down

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.In his opening address he said,"We can't keep Christians from going to church."

"We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth...."

"We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship withTheir SAVIOR."

"Once they gain that connection with JESUS, our power over them isBroken."

"So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners,BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationshipWith JESUS CHRIST.."

"This is what I want you to do," said the devil:"Distract them from gaining hold of their SAVIOR and maintaining thatVital connection throughout their day!"

"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.

"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life &invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds,"

he answered ...."Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow."

"Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles."

"Keep them from spending time with their children."

"As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape fromThe pressures of work!"

"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice."

"Entice them to play the radio or I-Pod whenever they drive."

To keep the TV, DVDs, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home and see

To it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical musicConstantly."

"This will jam their minds and break that union with CHRIST."

"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers."

"Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day."

"Invade their driving moments with billboards."

"Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services &false hopes."

"Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their husbandsWill believe that outward beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. "

"Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night."

"Give them headaches too! "

"If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere."

"That will fragment their families quickly!"

"Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas."

"Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about HIS resurrection and power over sin and death..."

"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive."

"Have them return from their recreation exhausted."

"Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on GOD'S creation.

Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and moviesInstead."

"Keep them busy, busy, busy!"

"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences."

"Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from JESUS.."

"Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause."

"It will work!" "It will work!"

It was quite a plan!

The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere

To get busier & more rushed, going here & there.

Having little time for their GOD or their families.

Having no time to tell others about the power of JESUS to change lives.

I guess the question is, has the devil been successful in his schemes?

You be the judge!!!!!

How Much Is One Worth?

Over the years Kelly has endured my lifelong hobby of baseball card collecting? While I have never stumbled on a Mickey Mantle rookie card being sold at a garage sale for a nickle, I know the first thing she'd say if I landed the prized Topps 1952 card, "SELL IT!"

Value is often in the eye of the beholder. But what happens when you have something that is worth more than you could imagine? A California woman took a Clyfford Stills oil painting to The Antique Roadshow this winter. She explained that it has hung on the wall of her home for 40 years as it was given to her as a house warming gift. The appraiser proceeded to stun her and all viewers with the most valuable piece ever brought to the t.v. program. It was valued at $500,000! Even at that, some experts believe the appraisal was too conservative as a Stills painting recently sold for $21 million at auction.

Sunday I spoke on the worth of one soul. This is the very thing that made Jesus such a passionate seeker of lost people. Often times He was misunderstood by churchy people who were upset when He spent time with the very people they proudly avoided for fear of contamination. On one occassion while He was eatting with the ones who were labled sinners and tax collectors, He was getting some heat from His harshest critics. It prompted Him to tell 3 stories of lost things joyfully found.

But it was the parable of a shepherd who came up one short with his flock of 100 that highlights the worth of one. He left the 99 for the sake of the 1. He does not settle for having 99 and writing off the 1. He does not become angry with the 1 that went it's own way but instead was driven by compassion for the wayward sheep. He does not excuse himself from leaving the 99 because they need the attention but instead takes ownership to get the 1 who is alone at risk.

The story goes that the shepherd went after the sheep UNTIL He found it. Not easily deterred though it may have been physically demanding and, no doubt, somewhat frustrating. He looked and looked until, aha! The lost was joyfully found.

Why did he go after the one? Because the shepherd knows the worth of one. And so does Jesus. He is willing to take the risks, to go to great lengths, to take the time to look for each of us. He will go to the ends of the earth and even hell itself for each of us and why?? Because He knows the worth of one.

You may feel like you aren't worth finding. You may feel like a painting that has hung on a wall for 40 years that may be an accessory but not a necessity. The truth is none of us can truly comprehend the value God places upon our lives. All we can do is look at the Cross to get a hint of how much God is willing to pay to find us.

If Jesus places such a value on 1, shouldn't we do the same? I wonder what would really happen if we bought into the value that Christ puts on one lonely soul that needs rescue.

Builder or Dismantler?

Last night our small group studied the rebuilding of Jerusalem's crumbled walls under the leadership of Nehemiah. This morning I sat at Mc D's watching a BP gas station on the corner of Stewart Rd being taken apart. I looked around to see who was in charge and spotted the director of dismantling.

Not sure how long that station has been there, but I'm pretty certain that a different crew was tasked with constructing the place. No doubt a different leader had the duty to organize the project. There had to be a sense of accomplishment when the station was opened. (No doubt that first gallon of gas was much cheaper than the last one!)

I'm left to wonder what fulfillment is there in stripping down what once was? Sure, it's satisfying to get a paycheck and, in these days of bankruptcies and foreclosure, there's plenty of undoing to be done.

Oddly it really bothers me when most business close up due to failure. I think of the high hopes mingled with fear that must have pumped through the owners veins as he turned the lights on for the first time. At times poor decisions drive an enterprise into the ground, at other times business simply have little margin for error in this economy.

This all takes me back to last night's study on Nehemiah. He wasn't exactly building in a "best of times" environment. There was a lot that was trying to push back on his vision of a better city. He was called to guide disillusioned people, wade through tons of rubble and face a growing host of resisters. Yet with patience, prayer & wisdom from above, he saw the dream come true. We need more leaders to build in a time when there a more who are tearing down. I want to be more like Nehemiah and not the BP guy.