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Now that the Golf Marathon is behind me (it was a great, exhausting event -btw), the rest of this week is for Rest and Renewal. My staff is taking a few days to spend time with the Lord to rest, focus and renew before the school year begins. 

So you may not hear much from me. I’ll be spending time with the Lord. 

See you all in a few day. 

Last week, we had a great time as a family in Lincoln City Beach on the Oregon Coast. It was the first time the kids have experienced really big waves.

The weather in Oregon had peaked at 105 the week before and plunged to 65 the week we were there. But with some wetsuits, the cold air couldn’t keep us out of the water. We even had a visit by a baby whale close to the shore. 

We’re heading out for a family vacation (the first one ever) on the Oregon Coast. 

I’ll be back in a week to update you on our Kayaking trip (it was amazing) and everything else that’s been going on!

See you then!

It’s not often we get to press pause and have an existential moment to take stock on our lives.I just spent the last 6 days kayaking with high school students and discussing our lives. We journeyed through our past and wrestled with what legacy we’d live into the future.  The days were spent kayaking down three different rivers. And each night, we journeyed into raw, honest conversations on the sandy river beaches where we camped. Some talked about hopes and others careers. But they all navigated into what kind of mothers and fathers they wished to be. There is so much promise and hope within these young people.  The Lord will do great and mighty things with their lives.  And as I arrived home, my son James was reading a book on Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark fame). He was reading a passage where Lewis was taking stocking in his own life. The following is an excerpt from one of his journal entries. 

8/18/1805

Captan Clark departed. This day I completed my 31st year and conceived that I had, in all human probability, now existed one half the period I am to remain in this world. I reflected that I had as yet done but little, very little indeed, to further the happiness of the human race, or to advance the information of the succeeding generation. I viewed with regret the many hours I have spent in indolence. But since they are passed and cannot be recalled, I dash from me the gloomy thought. In future, I will endeavor to live for mankind as I have heretofore lived for myself.

And as I reflected upon my trip and also on what was stirring within in Lewis, some two hundred years ago – here is what I wish my legacy to be. 

I want it to be known that I…

- Loved my wife well and unleashed her to become the woman the Lord has created her to be

- Loved and empowered my children to seek their own identity in Christ and know the sound of His voice

- Invested passionately in young people so that they might know the all encompassing and powerful love of Christ

 So take a moment (or day or a week) and press pause. 

 Ponder and wrestle with what type of legacy that your life is leaving. 

 What do you want to be known for? 

This is pretty interesting. It’s less of a video and more of simply a sermon and text, but the point is pretty clear. It’s a part of David Wilkerson’s sermon "A Call to Anguish." Wilkerson asserts that the church (and ministries), no longer are willing to feel anguish. We don’t want to hurt, we want to feel comforted. We don’t want to be convicted, we want to be complacent. 

He’s on to something here. 

Anguish means pain, distress or suffering. 

Are we unwilling to have our hearts broken for the things that breaks God’s heart? If’s there’s no anguish is there no passion. And if not passion, no prayer. And if no prayer is there simply complacency? 

Do you think that most ministries are anguish avoidant? Heck are we as Christians anguish avoidant?

ARE YOU a MERCIFUL PERSON?
-by David Wilkerson

Great are thy tender mercies, O Lord" (Psalm 119:156). "The Lord is gracious and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all his works" (145:8-9, my italics).

I want to ask you a question I’ve been asking myself lately: Are you a merciful person? Most of us would answer, "I think I am merciful. To the best of my ability, I sympathize with those who suffer. I feel the pain of my hurting brothers and sisters in Christ, and I try to help them. I do my best to assist my neighbors in need. And when people hurt me, I forgive them and don’t hold a grudge."

I believe all true Christians have a good measure of mercy for the lost and hurting. I thank God for that. But the sad truth is, God’s Word exposes in many of us deep roots of bias and very limited concepts of mercy.

Most religions that claim to fear God have a creed or doctrine that says, "God’s tender, loving mercies extend to all of humankind." As followers of Jesus, we talk so much about his tender mercies to the wide world. But here is the truth:

There are many people to whom large numbers of Christians limit God’s mercy. I think of prostitutes who work in godless brothels. I think of people in Africa and other continents dying by the thousands with AIDS. I think of homosexuals who endure endless heart-aches and mental anguish, the trials of their lives, and who drink themselves into oblivion to try to cover their pain.

From what I read in Scripture, I can’t accept that my Savior would ever turn down the desperate cry of a prostitute, a homosexual, a drug addict or alcoholic who has hit rock bottom. His mercies are unlimited: there is no end to them. Therefore, as his church – Christ’s representative body on the earth – we cannot cut off anyone who cries out for mercy and deliverance.

We may not even be aware of these inner biases until suddenly they’re in our face, confronting us with the truth about our hearts. As you consider this in your own life, I ask you again: Are you a merciful person, tender and loving? I picture many readers saying, "Yes." Yet, ask those around you – your family, your co-workers, your friends and neighbors, your friends of a different color – and see how they respond.

As I was reading this, it really made me do a soul check. I don’t typically have a hard time having mercy for "the least of these" type people. What I do have a problem with is giving mercy to the Pharisees (the religiously pious). The Lord is working on that in my heart. We are to extend grace and mercy to everyone – even the religiously arrogant – and I struggle with that. 

What about you?