I am Ninja

"I'm God's Secret Weapon for Today." As I read that sentence, I become both exillerated and petrified. You know its kinda like "Wow, God chose ME to serve His purpose!!" And then in the same breath I say "Huh? God chose ME to serve His purpose? What is He thinking?"

Acts 17:26 states, "From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live." Have you ever wondered why you are where you are? I know for me sometimes it is daily. But God lets us know in His word that He pre-ordained the time and place for each one of us. He knew before we were even a thought when, where, and to whom we would be born. He already has the roads lined up that we are to go down. All we have to do is listen and rely on Him to guide.

And it is more than that. He created each one of us uniquely to serve a specific purpose that only we can fulfill to it's fullest potential. There is no one else out there that can do exactly what God created me to do. That is both an amazing thougth and a tremendous burden. But because of His love and mercy and grace along with the confidence He has in me, it is a burden I am more than willing to take on.

A ninja trains from a young child for years in order to protect his people and to be their secret weapon in times of battle. In the same way, I must be in training daily - spending time in the Bible and in prayer, gaining wisdom from others, relying on God. I need to be prepared to protect those that God entrusts to me. I need to be ready to be God's Secret Weapon for a world in desperate need of Hope.

The next time you question why me? why here? Remember that God chose you to carry out His plan. So prepare yourself and be ready for "You are Ninja."

My Storm V

My Storm - cont

I draw the woman and 2 boys to my side.
I look.
Many people are standing there.
They do not see the impending danger.
They do not see tradgedy ahead.
Do I reach out?
What about my Storm?
Someone else will surely come along.
I move on.
Press forward through the Storm.
I look to my right.
I do not see
The woman and the boys.
Have I lost sight of them too?
Confused.
Lost.
Scared.

God I need help.

My Storm IV

My Storm - cont

Think.
Strategize.
Analyze.
Organize.
I go to make my move against the Storm.
But how can I plan against something
Of which there is only Chaos built in.
It is audacity to think that I can
Predict the Unpredictable.
Rely on myself.
Not on Others.
I defy help.
On my own
There is not way out.

The Storm rages.

My Storm III

My Storm - cont

The winds are blowing.
I've become distracted.
My focus shifts from the Storm
To something else.
A woman and 2 little boys
Alone in the street.
I go to them.
Comfort.
Encourage.

They cannot be caught up in the Storm.

My Storm - II

My Storm - cont

Within the Eye of the Storm
I find myself.
Eerily calm. Almost peaceful.
But something is not right.
This is not the answer -
This cannot be my Hope.
I will not be fooled to think I have so quickly
Passed this test.
The winds pick up.

This is just the beginning.

My Storm - Part I

I have recently began a journey of who I am and who God intends for me to be. Each day I have been journaling my thoughts.



With this I have began a poem about my journey. At the end of each of my journal entries, I have written a part of the poem that reflects that days thoughts.



Over the next week or two I will be publishing another part of the poem each day. I hope that you enjoy it and that God speaks to you through it. My desire is that God will use as He deems the words that He has placed in my heart.

My Storm.

I walk down a darkended road.
It is day
but it is as dark as night.
I stumble. I fall.
I can't get myself up.
I can't gain a foothold as I
Stumble again and again.
Who can help me?
Who can save me?
Is there Hope for me?

Enter the Storm.

Potent Conspiracy

Been a while since my last blog. But been very busy - vacation, work, Brayden's soccer, work, church...did I mention work?

Anyway, I subscribe to LifeChurch.tv's blog (check out the link on my site) and today I received the following blog from them. It was written by Gina McClain who is on their OKC LifeKids Team.

What she said really speaks a lot what God has been placing on my heart lately - especially working within community churches to accomplish the same goal.

Enjoy!

Potent Conspiracy

Someone asked me a challenging question recently…and the challenge hit home.

I can walk into my son’s school and they can provide me a comprehensive plan that tells me what they will teach him during the four years he attends that school. I can do that with every school he attends from kindergarten to 12th grade. Yet my church cannot provide me the same thing. Why is that?

Hmmm. The question made me think. In fact, it took me down a path of questioning just how well I work with other ministry leaders on my team. I wondered, how intentional are we with creating a clear path for our attendees?

The public school system displays a level of intentionality that churches don’t. They have an educational plan for their students designed to carry them from kindergarten to graduation. In fact, a good school system encourages and fosters collaboration within teaching teams, among grades and between schools. It’s a conspiracy designed to produce well-educated adults.
So, what’s your conspiracy? Do you have a spiritual education plan for your attendee, designed to take them from a new believer to mature follower of Christ?

Now, I agree that you cannot manufacture spiritual maturity. Neither can you manufacture a good education. But you can certainly lay out a framework to follow that fosters the right environment and provides good direction for spiritual growth.

Most of us have activities, groups or classes intended to accomplish this… but how well are they working? How many of the ministries in your church are collaborating in order to take an attendee from one level of faith to the next? Do your ministry leaders conspire together? Or do they compete for resources?

Let’s say your ministries are working together well. Let’s say you’ve got a plan and you’re working that plan. And you’re actually seeing results. Is that the end of the road?
What if that was just the first step?

What if you got crazy and pulled in a few churches within your community? Let’s say (for kicks) that you conspire together…that your goal is the same. What if this group of churches put together a comprehensive plan that accomplished this goal:

To expose people in your community to the life-changing message of Christ, plug them into a church family, then set them on a path toward spiritual growth?

Why are churches so poor at collaborating? Why do we function as silos? Would our resources go further if we shared them? Would our reach go deeper if we extended it in unison?

How potent would the church be if we conspired together?