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Building A Dream Life

What Does Being “All In” Mean?

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Be Careful to Not Confuse it With Having it All Together

“Close but no cigar” is a saying that is used when someone falls short of their goal or successful outcome and thus gets no reward. It is believed to come from the 1920s when public fairs and events would give out actual cigars as prizes.

Compared to modern-day carnivals, most of the entertainment back then was centered around adults. As you can probably visualize, when someone was shy of winning the prize, the game attendant would probably say, “Close, but no cigar.”

A game similar to carnival games is the popular game Cornhole. This is a lawn game, once known as “sack toss”, in which players or teams take turns throwing fabric bean bags at a raised, angled board with a hole in its far end. The goal of the game is to score points by either landing a bag on the board (one point) or putting a bag through the hole (three points).

So when the bags are tossed and land on the board but don’t go in the hole, it’s “close, but no cigar”.

There are a lot of situations in life that are “close, but no cigar.” Like being an “almost Christian”.

As Pastor Lisa has been taking us through the book of Acts, we’ve seen how Paul has become an “all in” Christian. He’s willing to be mistreated, whipped, and imprisoned for standing up for his beliefs.

In this Sunday’s Scripture, Acts 26:24-32, Paul is speaking before Festus and Agripa defending himself and telling his story. Festus accuses Paul of being mad. But Agripa was a Jewish King, and Paul says to Festus “King Agrippa knows about these things, and I have been speaking openly to him. I’m certain that none of these things have escaped his attention. This didn’t happen secretly or in some out-of-the-way place. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.”

Agripa was caught in the middle between his worldly power as a king and Christ. He was not “all in”. Like Agripa there were a lot of Sadducees and Pharisees that were having trouble believing in Christ. They were almost Christians, not “all in” Christians.

The world today is full of almost Christians, not “all in” Christians.

Being a Christian requires us to be “all in”

This is more than just doing the right things. Even the demons believe that Jesus is who He said He is, but they aren’t Christians. Being a Christian is more than just believing.

God tells us in Revelation 3:15-16, to not be lukewarm or He will spit us out of His mouth. He wants us to be “all in”.

Being and “all in” Christian, is constantly being in contact with Jesus through prayer and reading the Bible.

Being an “all in” Christian doesn’t mean that we have it all together. Too often, people who aren’t Christians think you have to be perfect to be Christian. This isn’t the case. Christians are like everybody else, except that we have a relationship with Christ.

What Does Eating an Elephant One Bite at a Time Mean?

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Eating Something That Big Takes Real Determination

Most of us have heard the saying, “Eat an elephant one bite at a time.” At first glance, this phrase seems a little far out there for those of us in the middle of the United States. It’s not like there’s a lot of elephants around to eat.

This phrase is used when referring to how we can accomplish a large daunting goal through a series of smaller tasks.

A normal serving size of meat is between a half pound and three quarters of a pound. As we all have different sized mouths, it’s hard to know exactly how many bites are in a serving, but 10-15 bites are considered a good serving. In Africa the forest elephants are normally between 5,000 – 6,000 pounds of meat. (Thank you Skyler)

This means to eat an average-sized elephant it will take around…154,000 bites.

We are all faced with large, overwhelming undertakings, some bigger than others. Sonia shared a story about a large endeavor in the children’s message. She told me about a bicycle padlock that her brother had when they were kids. The problem was…nobody in the family knew the combination.

She said there were 10,000 options to finding the right combination with a four number padlock. She started in and after 4500 tries she got it. This was a pretty big elephant and a lot of bites.

This was some real determination.

The key to accomplishing any big task is determination and taking the first step.

This is what Paul was doing in Acts as he continually went from town to town sharing God’s message. It was a big and dangerous undertaking, but he was determined to eat the next bite.

In Acts 20:17-24 he told the people in Ephesus, “You know everything I did during the time I was with you when I first came to Asia. Some of the Jews plotted against me and caused me a lot of sorrow and trouble. But I served the Lord and was humble. When I preached in public or taught in your homes, I didn’t hold back from telling anything that would help you. I told Jews and Gentiles to turn to God and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

I don’t know what will happen to me in Jerusalem, but I must obey God’s Spirit and go there. In every city I visit, I am told by the Holy Spirit that I will be put in jail and will be in trouble in Jerusalem. But I don’t care what happens to me, as long as I finish the work the Lord Jesus gave me to do. And this work is to tell the good news about God’s gift of undeserved grace.”

Like Paul we all have a purpose. It may not be preaching like Paul’s but is just as important. It may be the way we treat co-workers and customers; it may be in raising our children; it may be community service. Whatever it is that we’ve been put here to do…

We need to stay the course and keep eating the elephant one bite after another. Start chewing.

How Can I be Sure That I’m Doing What I’m Supposed to?

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Wouldn’t it be Great if Everything Was Simple and Easy?

It can be hard to figure out if what we’re doing is what we’re supposed to do. Is this the job I’m supposed to have? Is this the direction in life I’m supposed to head? Is this the business I’m supposed to start?

These questions and ones like them can be hard to answer. We struggle with questions like these and many more.

We often second guess ourselves whether we’re making the right decisions.

As we’ve been going through the Book of Acts, there have been multiple times that Jesus’ followers have been questioned, tried, beaten and more. This could be enough to cause them to question if what they were doing is what they were supposed to be doing.

In Acts 18:5-6, the people Paul had been preaching to, turned against him. Then again in verses 12-13, some of the church leaders grab Paul, take him before the governor of Achaia, and accuse him of “trying to make people worship God in a way against our Law!”

If you were in Paul’s shoes, you’d probably be questioning your decisions. But in verses 9-10, Paul receives a message from God in a dream. God tells him to “keep preaching and don’t stop.”

We need clarity of direction like Paul.

Currently our book club is reading Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas. As I’m reading it, I’m amazed at his search for his purpose and willingness to stay the course. This isn’t to say that it was crystal clear or without detours and corrections.

Like Paul, the one thing that Bonhoeffer did was to continually focus on God’s calling in his life. This clarity came through reading and studying the Scripture and prayer.

Both men received pressure from friends and people around them to take different and less dangerous paths. Both may have veered but would recenter.

How do we know if what we’re doing is what we’re supposed to be doing?

I received an email recently from Christian business coach, speaker, and author Niccie Kliegl that I think does a great job of explaining how to determine clarity of direction. She shares Matthew 12:22-32 where Jesus heals a blind man by casting out a demon. The Pharisees start accusing Him of using the power of Beelzebul to do this.

Jesus responded by saying, “Any kingdom where people fight each other will end up ruined. And a town or family that fights will soon destroy itself. So, if Satan fights against himself, how can his kingdom last?… If you are not on my side, you are against me.” 

The two points she makes are…

  1. The Devil won’t attack his own work. If you’re doing what he wants he won’t be attacking what you’re doing. He won’t be working against himself. So, if you’re facing difficulties and struggles…this should tell you that what you’re doing is God inspired.
  2. The Enemy always attacks God’s work. When you’re doing what God has called you to do you will face opposition. If everything is going smoothly it’s a sure sign that you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing.

On the surface it can seem a little backward. Shouldn’t things be simple and easy if we’re doing the right thing? We need to remember that we live in a fallen world and that’s what Satan wants us to think.

Embrace the difficulties and keep pushing forward.

How Do We Fill the God Shaped Hole in Our Lives?

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That’s Easy…We put God in it

I loved doing jigsaw puzzles growing up (and still do for that matter). I remember when getting near the end of a puzzle the level of excitement would begin to ramp up. In the accelerated push to get it finished more people would get involved. In the rush, often a piece would get lost.

If you’ve ever done a jigsaw puzzle, you know how frustrating it is to get to the last piece…and you can’t find it anywhere. This is the same frustration we experience when feeling that something is missing in our lives.

Often in life we try to fill the hole where the missing piece belongs with things like drugs, work, love, alcohol, perfection, etc. Not all of these are bad. Some are actually good, but when we try to force one of them into the hole where the missing piece belongs, things just don’t fit.

Finding the missing piece and putting it in makes the picture complete.

In Acts 17:16-34 Paul was in Athens, a city full of idols. The people worshipped all types of different things. One of the idols had an alter with the words, “To an unknown god”. Paul pointed out that they were worshipping so many things that they didn’t even know what they were worshipping.

Like the people in Athens, we tend to worship too many wrong things.

Paul went on to tell them about the unknown God. “This God made the world and everything in it. He is Lord of heaven and earth, and he doesn’t live in temples built by human hands. He doesn’t need help from anyone. He gives life, breath, and everything else to all people. From one person God made all nations who live on earth, and he decided when and where every nation would be. God has done all this, so that we will look for him and reach out and find him. He isn’t far from any of us, and he gives us the power to live, to move, and to be who we are.”

We naturally have a feeling of being incomplete or inadequate, and this leads to looking for that missing piece. The problem is that if we don’t know what the piece is or make the effort to look for it…then we’ll never find it.

The hole in our lives can only be filled with the one and only piece that fits it. Finding God and putting Him in the empty spot makes our lives complete.

What Does Being a Light in a Dark World Look Like?

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It Can be as Simple as a Candle Lit on a Dark Night

If you watch the news, follow social media, or talk to any other living person, it’s hard to not be overcome with the darkness in the world today. This foreboding feeling of darkness can be depressing. Darkness is nothing new, but there certainly seems to be a lot of it going on currently.

When things are darkest is when we need to let our light shine.

What does it mean to let your light shine?

If you’ve ever spent any time in or around a church you’ve probably heard about letting your light shine. This is a common topic throughout the Bible. I quickly counted over forty verses referring to light in the darkness.

In the beginning God said, “Let there be light.” (Genesis 1:3-5) God led the Israelites in the desert with a light. (Exodus 13:21-22)

It’s interesting how the whole light in the darkness example makes such perfect sense.

One of the examples of the impact light has on darkness is a candle in a dark place. The small flame on that little candle makes a huge difference in the dark. And then if you use the first candle to light another one, the two small flames are pushing the darkness back. The more we use our candle to light other candles the brighter things get.

We share our light by living our lives using God’s word as our blueprint.

The sharing of this light can come through holding a door open for someone, giving someone encouragement, being honest and supportive when people need direction, or serving others through how we act and live.

As we’ve been going through Acts, we’ve seen Saul be struck blind by a “Bright Light” and then he turned his life around and began sharing that light with others. In Acts 13:47 Paul shares that he was “placed here as a light…”

Let’s be a light in the darkness to those around us.

This light doesn’t have to be big. It can be a small flickering candle lighting other candles around us.

Better Communication Often Leads to a Shift in Our Thinking

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It’s Really Not That Hard…It Just Requires a Change of Perspective

I’ve written about communication more times than probably any other topic. This is because I think it is as big or bigger than any other issue out there.

Miscommunication or no communication is due mostly to the fact that we get stuck in our own heads. It only makes sense that we would view things from our own perspective. Add to this that we’re all so busy that we rarely slow down long enough to listen and think.

Just a few weeks ago I wrote about how tricky communication can be (link to 9/27 post) and how a word like wonky can have multiple meanings. If I hadn’t asked some questions and done some research, I would never have realized there were other meanings beyond my own perspective.

I needed a paradigm shift.

A paradigm is a pattern, a model, or representation of the mental image you have in your mind. I first became aware of the term “paradigm shift” through a story in Steven Covey’s book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

“I was on a subway in a very large metropolitan city. It was Sunday morning, quiet, sedate. When a bunch of young kids came running into the subway car and their father followed. He sat near me and the kids went crazy on that subway, running up and down, turning people’s papers aside, just raucous and rude. I’m sitting there thinking, ‘I can’t believe this, their father does nothing!’

After a few minutes…, ‘Sir, do you think you could control your children a little? They are very upsetting to people.’

‘Oh yeah.’ He lifted his head as if to come to an awareness of what was happening. ‘Yeah, I don’t know. I just guess I should. We just left the hospital. Their mother died just about an hour ago and I guess they don’t know how to take it and frankly I don’t either.’”

Can you say paradigm shift?

In Acts 10:9-15, Peter was up on a roof at noon praying and was getting very hungry. While the food was being prepared, he fell asleep and had a vision. He saw heaven open, and something came down like a huge sheet held up by its four corners. In it were all kinds of animals, reptiles, and birds. A voice said to him, “Peter, get up! Kill these and eat them.” But Peter said, “Lord, I can’t do that! I’ve never eaten anything that is unclean and not fit to eat. The voice spoke to him again, “When God says that something can be used for food, don’t say it isn’t fit to eat.”

Peter had to shift his thinking from what he had been taught and what he had always believed to be right. He pushed back and God told him three times. It’s more important to listen to what God tells us than what man tells us.

Peter just had a paradigm shift.

We need to be careful to not get too stuck in our own heads and be open to what God is telling us. At the same time, we need to be careful not to take everything we’re told by people at face value. We need to weigh it against what God says.

Like Peter, we need to be willing to shift our thinking if it’s from God. Acts 10:34-48

Life is Full of Interruptions, What is the Best Way to Handle Them?

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By Being Clear on What Your Priorities Are and Being Prepared

An interruption is the act of causing a break in the continuity or uniformity of an activity by saying or doing something.

Growing up, I remember watching TV or listening to the radio and hearing the phrase “We interrupt this program”. This was a common phrase used to indicate an emergency broadcast or a breaking news event.

The phrase was first used in the United States in the 1960’s as part of the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), which was established to provide an expeditious method of communicating with the American public in the event of war, threat of war, or a national crisis.

For me personally these announcements never caused me to worry. Sure, I would stop and pay attention, but it was more about listening to the information rather than panic. I remember when the attacks happened on 9/11 and people went to gas stations to fill up any kind of container they could.

If the world was coming to an end…a gallon of gas in a milk jug wasn’t a very good plan.

As Jesus’ followers began to spread the good news, the religious leaders would interrupt them trying to stop them. The followers didn’t stop. The more the followers shared, the more the religious leaders interrupted. These leaders liked the way things had been and didn’t want anything to change.

Then Saul was interrupted and struck blind with a flash of light.

We need to be careful not to get stuck in our ways or we might get smacked upside the head with a board. We need to be clear about who we are and Whose we are.

Philip was preaching in Samaria telling the people about Jesus and the people were eager for more teaching and to witness more miracles. Many people with evil spirits were healed, and the spirits went out of them. Several paralyzed and lame people were also healed. Everyone in that city was glad because of what was happening. (Act 8:4-8)

Sounds like things were going well for Philip and what he was doing. It would have been easy to stay there and continue.

But Philip was interrupted.

Philip was told by God’s angel to go into the desert on the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza…and he went.

There Philip saw an Ethiopian official riding in a chariot. The Spirit told Philip to catch up to the chariot…so he did.

The Ethiopian was heading home after he had been worshipping in Jerusalem and Philip heard him reading from the book of Isaiah. Philip asked him if he understood what he was reading. (Acts 8:26-30)

The Ethiopian said, “Not unless someone helps me.” Philip helped him understand and the Ethiopian asked to be baptized. They stopped the chariot at some water and when they came up out of the water after the baptism, the Lord’s Spirit took Philip away. (Acts 8:31-40)

Talk about an interruption!

Too often we get stuck in a routine activity. Doing that same thing we’ve always done, the way we’ve always done it. It may even be a good thing like what Philip was doing in Samaria. We just need to be open to God’s interruptions and be willing to act on them.

We’ve all had those things that tug on us to do something that isn’t a part of our plan or that we aren’t comfortable doing. Often, these are God’s way of interrupting us.

It’s His way of letting us know His plans.

We just need to embrace the interruption…and do it.

How Do You Know If You’re Heading in the Right Direction or NOT?

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When it Comes to Clarity of Life Purpose, This Can Be a Hard Question to Answer

Too often, we find ourselves going through life without really knowing where we’re headed or why. This may be because of where we were born and raised, our family and community dynamic, or an unexpected situation in which we are caught.

Going through life, headed in the wrong direction leads to being lost.

People start life making decisions based on what they know. We all know of stories where the child is living out the life that is expected of them. Whether that’s following in the family business or going all in on sports because that’s what a parent wanted. Or maybe someone takes a job to pay the bills and continues to work there without any clear reason.

Or, we may have been doing exactly what we’re supposed to up until the time we need to make changes. These changes may be a slight adjustment to course, or a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turnaround.

Being aware is where clarity of direction starts.

Sometimes the direction changes come in a flash of light or maybe it involves getting hit upside the head with a board. I experienced the latter.

In Act 9:1-16 Saul experiences the flash of light direction change. Saul had been persecuting the early followers of Jesus. This is how he had been raised and what he had been taught. He thought he was doing the right thing. While Saul was on his way to Damascus to round up some of the followers, he was blinded by a bright light and redirected.

Saul could have pushed back and stayed the course…but he didn’t. Instead, he chose to follow the directions given to him by Jesus. Saul became Paul and went on to do the work he had been called to do.

We need to open our eyes and ears to what we’ve been called to do.

We can be led by the crowd to do what seems like the right thing. How can we be clear on what the right thing is? Ultimately, there is an internal voice that aligns with the Word of God. We can choose to listen to it or not.

The crowd’s voice can be very loud and make it hard to hear God’s voice. We need to be aware that sometimes when we choose to listen the crowd instead of God there may be a flash of light or board coming our way.

Sometime this change of direction can be a scary thing. Going to some place out of our comfort zone may require courage. If we want to go where we’re supposed to and be obedient, we need to be willing to step out in faith.

Be open to God’s leading, and you’ll experience a life beyond your dreams.

Clear Communication Can be a Tricky Thing to Get Right

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There’s a Reason We Have Two Ears and One Mouth

Too often we think we know what some is saying without bothering to even listen. Good communication takes twice as much listening. This is why we have two ears and only one mouth.

We’ve seen a lot of miscommunication in Luke and Acts over the past several weeks as we’ve been going through these books. This was a problem between the Jewish leaders and Jesus then, and this is still a problem for many church leaders today.

A good example of how miscommunication can cause problems happened in Sunday School this past week. We were talking about the new book The Great Dechurching. Bradley Gamber has started reading it, and he described it as “wonky”.

I asked him what he meant by “wonky”. His definition of wonky is something that has a lot of detail and statistics.

I told him that’s not what wonky means to me. It means that something is out of whack, leaning, or crooked.

This led to quite the discussion about the word “wonky”, and we discovered that there were a variety of thoughts on this. I’m glad that I asked the question because otherwise I would have assumed that Bradley didn’t like the book, but this isn’t what he was saying.

What’s even more interesting is that after doing some research…both definitions are correct.

Wonky according to the Cambridge Dictionary means “knowing or showing that you know a lot of details about something, especially politics or science”. This sounds like the way Bradley was using the word.

Wonky also is defined as “askew, cockeyed, lopsided, rickety, shaky or wobbly”.

It’s no wonder that there’s such a problem with communication.

This brings me back to the Scripture in Acts 5-7 and Pastor Lisa’s message this week. The focus was on Stephen and his arrest and stoning. This story is full of miscommunication.

As followers of Jesus were gaining more and more popularity among the people, the Sadducees were becoming jealous and had some of them arrested. Then after the apostles were released by an angel, they went back to the temple and were teaching. Then the apostles were called before the council and again told to stop speaking about Jesus. (Acts 5:17-28)

Stephen was a man of great faith and was filled with the Holy Spirit. He was one of the men chosen by the apostles to help spread God’s message to many more people. (Act 6:1-7)

Then Stephen is arrested because there were men who started arguing with him and accusing him of saying terrible things against Moses and God. These lies turned more church leaders against Stephen. Stephen begins to give the church leaders a history lesson about Abraham, his descendants, Joesph, and Moses bringing the slaves out of Egypt. (Acts 7:1-47)

The church leaders didn’t like what Stephen was saying so they covered their ears and started shouting.

Doesn’t this sound like a child who’s not getting their way.

The members of the church council get so mad that they attack him, drag him out of the city, and stone him to death. In order to throw the stones, the men that brought the charges give their coats to Saul to take care of. (Acts 7:54-58)

Check back next week to see what becomes of Saul, the coat keeper.

As Stephen is dying, he calls out to Jesus to welcome him home and asks Him to not blame the men throwing the stones because they don’t know what they’re doing. (Act 7:59-60)

There was no question what Stephen was saying as he spoke to the leaders of the church. He didn’t mince words, he said what he believed. This took boldness and courage in his willingness to stay true to what he believed.

We need to be willing to speak what we believe in love. We need to open our ears and listen. We need to discuss and learn.

Stephen was clear on what he believed and was willing to die for it.

A faith worth living for, is a faith worth dying for.

Are you clear about what you believe and is it a faith worth dying for?

On a side note – My amazing personal assistant, Dori, recently shared a link with me of Dr. Albert Mohler, President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary speaking at a recent chapel at Cedarville University. In addition to the great message presented by Dr. Mohler, I was impressed with the number of students and their focused intensity.

Maybe there is hope for the future of our country and our world.

What Does Living with Boldness Look Like?

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How We Do it is Just as Important as Doing it

Being bold can be perceived as being pushy and overbearing…like being a bully. I think this is why many of us are scared to say what we think. In reality, these two things are quite different. A bully is someone who seeks to intimidate or coerce someone else into their way of thinking.

Boldness is not the same as being a bully.

Boldness is not hesitating or being afraid when facing our fears. It’s about being clear about what we believe and being willing to stand up for those beliefs.

What we believe individually is different. This is where the whole thing can get kind of tricky.

Pastor Lisa shared a story of being in a doctor’s office waiting room last week. When she went in, there was already a woman sitting there, so Lisa sat down with a chair between them. Then another woman came in and sat in the chair next to Lisa on the other side.

This wasn’t a problem, but Lisa thought it odd that she sat down next to her when there were other empty chairs.

Then Lisa got a magazine and lady number three asked Lisa to get one for her too. So, Lisa picked one out, hoping it was one she would like. Then the lady started talking about what she was going to have for lunch.

Later Pastor Lisa was talking with her daughter about her interaction with the lady in the waiting room. Her daughter said, “I’m never like that. I just don’t talk to other people in the waiting room. I’m just not that bold.”

This got her thinking about Peter’s increasing boldness that we’ve been seeing as we move forward into the first part of Acts. (Acts 1-4)

At the end of each year, Lisa picks a word to focus on for the upcoming year. This topic of boldness reminded her of her word for last year…moxie. Moxie is having a courageous spirit and determination. Or as Lisa explained it…

Moxie is boldness with a little bit of sass.

I found it interesting that Moxy is the name of our dog. I think boldness with a little bit of sass describes her to a tee. This is exactly why she is named Moxy. Sometimes, in her aggressiveness to get to a varmint, she will tear bark from trees or metal siding from trailers. This is taking boldness a little too far.

Some people are naturally shy, and this makes boldness hard for them. But boldness is about facing our fears. Remember that we can change if we choose to.

Boldness is a choice.

Let’s look at Peter’s boldness and how he got to where he is in in Acts.

Remember back in Luke 22:49-50 when Peter in his boldness cut off the ear of a servant of the high priest. This sounds a little like our dog.

Then shortly after that, in his fear he went the other way and lost his boldness in Luke 22:54-62 when he denied Jesus three times.

This brings us to Peter’s increasing boldness in the first part of Acts. In chapter 3 verses 5-10 Peter and John heal a man in front of the temple. Then in verses 11-24 they are boldly speaking in front of a crowd in the temple. In chapter 4 verses 1-22 they are brought before the council. Next, Peter prays for courage in verses 23-31. We may be bold and do and say things before thinking like Peter did when he cut off the servant’s ear. Or maybe we’re shy and scared to speak up about what we believe like Peter when he denied Jesus. Either way…like Peter, with the Holy Spirt, we can be bold and speak the Biblical truth.

Live in boldness with a little bit of moxie!