Dashboard of Life

As you know, every car has dashboard gauges that tell your vital signs – speed, gas, mileage, temperature and even oil pressure. These gauges inform and warn. They inform of how you are progressing during your journey. They also warn of problems that occur during the journey. You can do one of two things with your dashboard – 1) You can pull out a hammer and smash your dashboard, essentially ignoring its vital signs. OR 2) You can choose to evaluate your dashboard and respond appropriately.
My desire is to allow God's Spirit, His Word, and His people be as a dashboard in my life. Here are some things that are on my dashboard:
God Time: My personal devotion time with God is a reflection of who I am and what I do. I must realize God is not a crutch/cane to support my life and ministry but is a complete stretcher in which I am laid out and completely dependent on him. Currently I am reading through 1 & 2 Samuel in my personal devotions. I am studying how God calls and uses leaders. I believe the most important character of a leader is integrity. Certainly this can be seen in the life of king David, though even he was not perfect.
John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Family Time: My family is important to me, but this is not always shown in the time I devote to them (both quantity & quality). I must realize God has given me a gift in which I must be a good steward of (as son, husband, father). My personal goal is to be home at least three nights a week.
1 Timothy 5:8 “If anyone does not care for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
Fellowship Time: Many pastors say the find it difficult to have close friendships. I can somewhat understand their dilemma yet understand Jesus calls us to close community. I am blessed to be slowly developing close friendships in my ministry as well as with those God has placed around me. I am praying that my friendships are Christ-centered in the sense that our conversations & actions toward each other are reflections of his grace as we become more like him.
Proverbs 17:7a “A friend loves at all times…”
Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

Look out, I'm being recorded!

On Monday night a few people from church went to the PBA Training event they had. I took Tommy (our new intern) and we went to the Youth Ministry track led by Maina Mwaura. Maina is excellent. I really appreciate his heart and dreams for student ministry. The times I have heard him speak or even had conversations with him I walk away inspired to have BIGGER thoughts about God and have LARGER dreams and goals for student ministry.

On a side note, Maina gave us cassette tapes... yes, they apparently still have these although I haven't made a mix tape since middle school crush days. Anyways, the tapes represented the fact that our lives are being recorded by others every minute. I have been reminded of this fact through connecting back with Tommy. Tommy was a youth at my home church when I was a volunteer youth pastor for about 5 years. He is now 22 and pursuing God's call to serve in some type of pastoral ministry. He subtly reminds me of things I said and did 10 years ago as his youth pastor and it shocks me. My life was being recorded then and it certainly is now. My words and actions will make impressions upon future generations. Perhaps there will be others who will be influenced by things I say to be missionaries, pastors, youth workers... God only knows. The thing that strikes me most is that if I am not in a walking relationship with Jesus, being filled with His Word and Spirit then I have nothing to give those under my influence. I must always be sensitive to understand my weaknesses and strive for God's wisdom, so God can bring about great things in others. This is not to say God will not do it if I am not walking with him. BUT, it is saying that I will miss the opportunity to be a part of his work, and I don't want to miss it. So go ahead, hit record... are you ready?

Maryland Lighthouse Challenge

Today we went to 4 different lighthouses as part of the MD Lighthouse Challenge (http://www.cheslights.org/). The 4 we went to were Point Lookout, Piney Pt., Cove Pt. and Drum Pt. My personal favorite was the last one, pictured above right. It was a very fun day, kinda seemed like we went away on vacation for the day except all of this was in our own backyard. I think Alethia most enjoyed her time with grandparents :)