The World Needs You

'If you buy this you will look just like me.'
'If you eat this it will make you act like me.'
'If you do this you will be cool like everyone else.'
'If you wear this you will look like everyone else.'

Working with students is a lot of fun. Unlike adults, students wear their emotions on their sleeves and are pretty transparent about a lot of things. I say, unlike adults, because adults have learned to hide certain things about themselves and, more often than not, only present the good things. Students, they haven't quite learned the craft and as such, are who they are. There is a lot to learn from these students.

The one thing which saddens me quite a lot with students is the constant new trends. It's been said by Youth Ministry experts, Youth Culture changes every 3 months. I actually think it changes even fast than this, maybe even every 2 months. New trends can be good, but when students change with the trend because they think the world needs this or that, or for them to be something more than they are, this saddens me.

I have been Created by a God who has designed me to be me, not someone else, but me. My journey has led me down the path of doing what I believed others wanted me to be and it ended horribly (see earlier post). I realized, instead of trying to figure out what others wanted me to be, I needed to start by asking the question 'what have I been created for?' God has created me for a distinct purpose, distinctly unique. There is no one else like me in the world, not a single person. There has never been a me and there never will be a me. I am it and to quote one of my favourite authors and speakers, 'the world needs me to be me.'

Just like the world needs me to be me, the world needs you to be you. The world does NOT need me to try and be like another person, or for you to be like another person. We have all been designed by such a creative God to be uniquely us. This means we all have something to bring to the table the world has never seen. Did you hear that? Did I hear that? We all have something to bring to the table the world has never seen. Ok, woah.

Pausing to take this in.

What do I bring to the table? What do you bring to the table? So many of us believe we need to have a lot of meat at the table. We all bring various different kinds, flavours, and presentations, but there are duplicates. People end up bringing the same thing. When we focus so much of our energy trying to find what we are made for by looking out and asking media, clothing, and food what we were made for they will tell us pretty quickly, instantly. What I am finding out and noticing is my Creator God is not revealing to me all at once what I am made for, but is constantly revealing things about my being every day, if I would only find the space and time to step away from the noise and be quiet.

One of the things I have discovered about myself is God has uniquely designed me, and desire me, too help people see and do things they think are impossible; to help open their eyes to the possibility and truth of more. This took me a long time to discover because I was trying to find it in all the wrong places. It's really quite simple isn't it? Shouldn't we all be listening to and asking our Creator for the exact thing we bring to the table? I mean, God did create us. God knows our inner most being, all the complexities (Psalm 139:13-16). God knows the very deep desires we have. God knows the exact thing the world needs from me and from you.

As stated above, it saddens me to see students blown here and there by people, places, and things telling them to be this, do that, and need anything. It saddens me because I see so many incredible things in students and children. I see things in them they don't even know about. As I tell them things I see they look at me strangely because I don't sound like what they hear all the time. As a Pastor I am trying to guide and give space to God showing the students what they were 'made for' (to quote Alex Street). My desire is to see each student I work with step into the very reason why Creator God has made them.

Here's the deal. When we all step into the very thing God has created us for we WILL be most alive.

Now I already hear the naysayers and people who say they may not have time for this, ok. How about this: can we all agree to do one thing? Let's all take the advice of Bob Goff and love people, ok? If you don't want to do anything more than you are doing and don't really care about what you were created for, can you love people? There is too much hate in our world. We need more love. I don't know the exact details about why Bob Goff (bobgoff.com) was created, but here is what I do know: He has inspired SO MANY people to love in ways we never thought possible and pretty much everyone who encounters Bob is inspired to love in ways never thought possible. This is his gift to the world and it is what we all need to do if we don't know what to do.

What are you created for? What do you possess, which the world needs?

The world doesn't need another version of another person. The world needs me and you to be uniquely us. The world needs uniquely us to do and be the person God created us to be. Isn't this such a great journey? Honestly. At least for me it is exciting to see things come out in myself and others, which are so unique to the setting we find ourselves in.

If we don't step into what we were created for, hear this, we are robbing the world of what it needs. You and I were made for something. You and I were designed by a Creator who invites us to give what we possess to the world which needs this very thing.

Take the journey.
Discover who you are.
Explore all the unique things.
Give the world what you have to offer because The World Needs You.

My Son Woke Up at 6am

I love to think I am in control of things. I choose to wake up at a certain time, go to sleep at a certain time, read a book I choose, control the finances I have, write, work, etc. The reality is though, all it takes is something, anything, unexpected to throw all of it out of whack. It is these moments where, in the past, I would get incredibly frustrated because 'THIS ISN'T GOING THE WAY I HAD PLANNED!'

This morning my son woke up at 6am. Because of the events of yesterday evening I needed to get some extra rest, so I had set my alarm for 6am instead of 5:30 planning to get up and write for 30mins then head to church to prepare before our 9:30 gathering. At 5:58am I heard the two words through our baby monitor, which tells me my son is awake: 'Get Out.' I knew at this moment I wasn't going to be writing at 6am, but would be going into his room, telling him it was too early and he needed to go back to sleep for a bit longer, listen to him cry for 5mins, and lie with him till close to 7am. This is what happened.

I say all of this because this morning I didn't react the way I used to. I woke up with compassion on for my son realizing he had a bad dream, or was a little restless and just needed me to help him through the last part of his sleep. I also realized no matter what I have to do in life, my wife and children will ALWAYS go before anything else, including writing. At 5:58am there was no where I needed to be more than holding my son and lying down with him till 7, nothing.

And so, I write at 7:30 for a short bit of time because I need to write. But, I write at this time because the more important thing took my attention earlier this morning. My whole day has started not the way I expected it to, it has started 'out of my control,' but is anything really in our control? The truth is there is very little guaranteed in this life. When surprises come my way I am not expecting I am now choosing to not react, realize many things are out of my control, and do my best to navigate through these unexpected times.

I hope I can continue to do this. It is a choice. Today I chose to not react. Tomorrow I may not. Day by day-one day at a time.

Ask for the Impossible

Two summers ago I had the opportunity to sit with 50 other pastors and leaders as we asked our questions to Carl Lentz, lead Pastor of Hillsong NYC. One of the things has he said has stuck with me nearly every day since. He said they only do things people think are impossible, "whenever people tell us it is impossible we always say 'Great! This is where God operates.'" I was struck by this. Not because it wasn't true, but because my faith and understanding of God had been so small.

In the past I would ask God for help, for guidance, to do something, but these were always small things; things I feel as though God was saying 'really?' to me. These past 2 years I have started to ask for big things:

To bring an awakening to my neighbourhood.
To restore impossibly broken relationships.
To help me be compassionate when listening to every person I interact with.
To give me peace at all times in a restless world.

Just yesterday I was interacting with a person who I always thought never listened to me, always talked over me; a person I didn't give the time or day because talking just seemed impossible. I spent a total of nearly 2hrs talking to this person. 2hrs talking about struggles, hope, dreaming about the impossible, and trying hard to be compassionate to all people regardless of who they are.

After this conversation I tweeted out to ask God for the impossible because before you know it, the impossible with start to be possible.

We don't really dream. If something seems impossible it is just pushed aside and is decided it won't happen. It's too big, too much money, no one will come, too much change is involved, people will leave. All of these answers are really the same answer, it's impossible and it will never happen.

Whenever I hear people talk about impossible things and say it will never happen I always poke a little bit and say, 'Great! If you want to see God do something amazing, ask for the very thing you think is impossible.' The response I usually get is laughter. SERIOUSLY! We are so afraid to ask for the impossible it's frightening. It's seems as though we don't actually want to see the thing we say we do, or we are too afraid and what will happen once it occurs.

Here's what I know. Nearly every time God does something throughout the Scripture, it is laughable to us because it seems impossible. Most of the popular Bible Stories and miracles are told to us and yet we don't have the courage, or frankly the faith to step in and ask, operate, and believe like some of these people.

God works in the impossible. God has given me faith through the power of the Holy Spirit. The faith I have is the same faith Moses had, Abraham had, Paul had, Jeremiah had, David had, etc. Nothing is different. I know I need to put my faith in places which seem impossible because when I do I know God is going to do something amazing. I just need to always be ready to see it.

Impossible needs to be the thing we are doing. If it's possible to do something we will most often just rely on ourselves, but if it seems impossible there is no where else to run, but to the God who says, through the person of Jesus, "Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible." (Matthew 19:26)

Breath

Breath is wonderful. It is so natural to a body. More often than not a person is unaware of it. As talking happens, as TV is watched, as food is eaten breath is often the very thing keeping people alive and the very thing people forget about. In fact, as I sit here and talk about breath I have noticed every inhalation and exhalation, but if I weren't talking about it I would probably forget I was breathing because it is so natural.

Breath is life. It keeps a person alive. As a person exercised and the heart rate starts to increase, so does the breath; more oxygen is needed for the body to continue to function. The first sign of life when a baby is born is a cry and a cry is done by first taking in a deep breath and letting it out in scream form.

How often are we conscious of our breath during the day? I am conscious of my breath when I am in a tense situation as I try and slow my heart rate down by deep breathing. My breath becomes the very thing a focus on, but if I am not in this type of situation I seem to be unaware of it.

If find it interesting, breathing. I find it interesting because in the beginning of the Scriptures the writer of Genesis says God breathed the breath of life into humanity (Genesis 2:7). It wasn't until this breath was given did humans become living; without breath people are, well, dead. Breath is given by God, breathed from the Divine, and yet it is often the thing I forget about the most.

Taking a moment.

Could it be the very way to connect with God is through the very life source God gave to humanity in the beginning? Could it be as I breath in and breath out, and am conscious of it, I am interacting, communing, with the Divine? Could it be as I notice my breath I am slowing my body down, becoming still, and now in a posture and space where I can rest with God?

Pneúma is an Ancient Greek word most often translated spirit. It follows with the Hebrew word Ruach, which also means spirit. Yet, spirit, in both the Greek and Hebrew, can also be translated breath.

Every breath I take is the breath the Divine has placed into my body. It is also possible to even say every breath I take is the Divine breathing through my body. This is cool stuff.

Today I am taking more moments to notice my breath because as I notice my breath, I notice the Creator who gave me my breath and is continuing to breath through me just as with the the very first people to roam the earth.

Time to hit publish.