:: laughing : dreaming : watching : waiting ::

i read this list last year on a random blog i stumbled across and i printed it out and have been reading the list a few times a week ever since. thought i’d post it up.

being missional is…

• Not simply how many people come to our church services, but how many people our church serves.

• Not simply how many people attend our ministry, but how many people have we equipped for ministry.

• Not simply how many people minister inside the church, but how many minister outside the church.

• Not simply helping people become more whole themselves, but helping people bring more wholeness to their world. (i.e. justice, healing, relief)

• Not simply how many ministries we start, but how many ministries we help.

• Not simply how many unbelievers we bring into the community of faith, but how many ‘believers’ we help experience healthy community.

• Not simply working through our past hurts, but working alongside the Spirit toward wholeness.

• Not simply counting the resources that God gives us to steward, but counting how many good stewards are we developing for the sake of the world.

• Not simply how we are connecting with our culture but how we are engaging our culture.

• Not simply how much peace we bring to individuals, but how much peace we bring to our world.

• Not simply how effective we are with our mission, but how faithful we are to our God.

• Not simply how unified our local church is, but how unified is “the church” in our neighborhood, city and world?

• Not simply how much we immerse ourselves in the text, but how faithfully we live in the story of God.

• Not simply being concerned about how our country is doing, but being concern for the welfare of other countries.

• Not simply how many people we bring into the kingdom, but how much of the kingdom we bring to the earth.

it’s so good having a few days filled with very little plans! time to chill, chat, watch TV, read, think, eat, sleep, play football…

i tend to fill my life with so many things and people so often and it’s so refreshing to just stop and truly rest. makes me think i need more of it…or else i’m getting lazy!!!

spent the last few days in County Donegal with 3 of my best mates. we played 3 rounds of golf (i’m knackered now from so much walking), ate 3 fries (must get training again), had too few hours sleep (restful holiday??!) and played countless frames of pool (never gets boring!).

it was great for me to get away for a few days. i mean i’m not going to claim that work is any busier for me than anyone else or that life is majorly stressful…but it’s been a fairly intense couple of months and it was good to spend time with some of the folks who know you best and you can be totally at home with.

anyway, there’s something special about the true acceptance of best mates. i mean, this weekend i was extra aware at times at some of my personality quirks, annoying habits and downright sinful attitudes, yet these people will always accept you just the way you are. not criticise or force you to be different, but love that person you are regardless. not expecting you to be someone you aren’t, but allowing you to be yourself in every moment…

…so it’s been a great weekend from all angles. good golf. great food. top banter. special times.

and tomorrow is Sarah Day…long overdue she would tell you!! …and sadly i’ve no photos cos Craig forgot his camera…very out of character!!

…whenever i was 16, i hadn’t just been a Christian very long and had just started playing the guitar. once a month i went along to a youth event called Mannafest and i used to dream about one day standing on the stage leading all those people in worship.

i suppose back then it wasn’t really thoughts about advancing the Kingdom or pointing young people to Jesus that were filling my mind, but more about me being seen, noticed and appreciated. yes, i’ve always wanted to be used by God to impact people’s lives through worship, but there’s also that little bit of pride that always exists that is scared of people thinking i’m useless or rubbish at what i do. the stage has the potential to be a dangerous place sometimes, and it’s just as dangerous whether there are 10 people present, or over 1000…

but it’s been interesting over the past few years to see God slowly shape and mould those desires into something that He could use. yes i did get to lead a load of young people in worship at mannafest 2 weeks ago and it was an awesome night. but strangely i seemed just as excited about leading a 10 minute slot tonight in my own church at a gathering of less than 100 folks.

it’s not that i’m comparing the two events, but just simply realising what a privilege it is to serve God wherever and whenever. on a stage or off it. leading worship or communicating. hanging out with my mates or giving money in the offering plate. and also a reminder that God does bring about some of our dreams, even if our attitudes, motives and desires aren’t always in line with His at the time…

and just for the record, here’s a wee snap of the team after we finished at mannafest last week, although it’s minus Buff who had just rushed off somewhere!! i suppose i just talk up the guys who i serve alongside in worship because i happen to think they are some of the best musicians around. some of the biggest hearts. some of the greatest personalities. it’s more than just a band for these guys, or music, or songs, or gigs, and i’m a better person for having them around me…

‘Downhere’ have a song called “would somebody show me the real Jesus?”

i think that’s my theme song at the moment. i’m a bit fed up with the Jesus we see on TV. the Jesus that we see with long hair, a nice beard and a bath robe on. the Jesus who votes for a certain political party or goes to a certain church. the Jesus who dislikes certain people because of how they look or the places they frequent. the Jesus who dresses well. the Jesus on our postcards, powerpoints and badges. the Jesus who is mild mannered and kind. the Jesus who presents us with our ticket to heaven. the Jesus who has 3 points to make about every subject on earth, and they all begin with p or r.

and so sparked by my post yesterday i have been thinking through what the real Jesus really looks like. i’ve come up with 3 things so far…

1. the real Jesus is ugly 

“There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.” Isaiah 53:2

this suggests that if i walked past the real Jesus i wouldn’t have given him a second glance. he wasn’t good looking. he was the most fashionable bloke around. he wouldn’t have been picked first in the playground. in fact, he was probably a bit like me.

2. i don’t know very much about the real Jesus

“Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written” John 21:25

there are a lot of books in the world. and yet they can’t contain all that could be written about Jesus. there’s so much still to discover. there is more to suss out. we haven’t heard the half of it. i only know a tiny percentage of stuff about the real Jesus.

3. the real Jesus is fully God and fully human

perhaps i’ve looked at Jesus before as some creature who is half god and half human, rather than being fully God and fully human all at the same time. but that’s probably what i’m loving most about Jesus at the minute – his humanity. the fact that God became like me yet never lost any of his divinity just blows my mind.

and i’ve so much more to discover. would somebody show me the real Jesus? 

i think i fell in love with Jesus this morning.

it’s that simple.

i mean i don’t want to go over the top or anything, but i’m convinced something significant happened in my heart earlier today. and i’m also desperate that this isn’t something i just blog about in my private little computer world that gets made public simply because i press public. but something that i’m free to talk about just as naturally as i chat about the great match at the weekend or the top film i saw last week.

so i was lying in bed this morning reading a book that i’d been struggling my way through. filled with concepts and ideas that were good to think through but just frying my head. and yet 120 pages into the book i reckon i stumbled across possibly the most heart exploding passage that i’ve ever had the privilege to read. the chapter was simply called “Jesus”. 30 pages about Jesus. unapologetically Jesus.

and as i read i honestly think i fell in love with Jesus all over again. i mean i know i’ve loved him before and stuff. and i think that for the last few years i’ve always had my heart turned towards God no matter what. but more often than not it’s the head knowledge that wins rather than the heart. that i love God with all my mind, but not always all of my heart. perhaps some might say i’d forgotten my first love…but without realising it if you know what i mean. and certainly without meaning to.

that’s all i really want to say. i’ve fallen in love with Jesus all over again.

even though i lived a couple of miles away in Templepatrick, when i was growing up i spent most of my time in Antrim. i went to school in Antrim. hung out with my mates in Antrim. went on dates with girls in Antrim. played countless sports in Antrim. went to church events in Antrim. ordered my take aways from Antrim. drove round Antrim. knew loadsa people from Antrim. i loved Antrim. 

and when i get a chance i still spend a bit of time there. at the golf club, leisure centre, snooker club, grabbing a drink, eating out. i love the place. i love the town. i love the people. i love the fact that Antrim was the first place in Northern Ireland to have a Starbucks!! i believe in the people that come from my town. i laugh at our humour. i back our sports teams. i pray for our churches.

but most of the times i hear people talking about my town, they are mainly slagging it off. just last week i was chatting to someone in subway at Junction 1 in Antrim. they didn’t come from the area and they descibed this as “the only good thing in Antrim.” now i could see why they said this because they were looking in from the outside. they weren’t wanting to be nasty, but i could feel my blood boiling and i had to catch a grip of myself as i knew i was becoming quite angry inside…

anyway, it’s fairly obvious but in my anger i suddenly realised my love for Antrim. i suppose when you spend lots of time in any place, you grow a love for it. could i even suggest develop a heart for it? and so when people slag my wee town off, i’ll stick up for it.

and yet God loves this town more than i do. He loves our streets more than i ever could. and He loves Antrim’s people immeasurably more than i can even imagine…

yesterday was a special day. in fact, the 5th march is a special day every year. it was my 8th birthday!now, i know what your thinking, i’m definitely a good bit taller than the average 8 year old and so i suppose i should confess that it was 8 years yesterday when i became a Christ-follower…

i guess i’d always placed a huge emphasis on head knowledge when i was younger. having grown up around church with my major competitive personality disfunction (!), i had constantly focused on getting the right answers and ticking all the boxes. add this to my huge desire to fit in wherever i went, as well as my need to win the approval of people in my secondary school and friendships, this all meant that i was a bit of waster 8 years ago. many would argue i still am…!!

but back then i walked around life with a lot of bitterness, arrogance, hatred and sectarianism. and not that any of those things went straight away but it’s been amazing to realise how God has freed me from many of those shackles and more over the past few years. of how He’s began to mould me and shape me, teaching me more, and constantly picking me up when i’ve fallen over.

every so often i need to be reminded of the pit i’ve been lifted from. of God’s faithfulness to me. of His unconditional and undeserved Love.

but i’m not satisfied. every day i become more and more frustrated at the sin and indifference that still exists in my life. and so, like Paul, i say these words, determined to become more like my beautiful Saviour…

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 3:12-14

feels like i’m rushed off my feet at the minute. i’m not complaining though because it’s just the nature of work and it also seems to be the same for loads of people right now. though as i reflect on my life right now and speak to other people, i’m not sure it’s necessarily the life in all its fullness that Jesus was actually referring to!!

lots of great opportunities coming my way though these days which i’m so thankful for.

will blog more soon… 

really recommend taking a few moments out to listen to this song. i’ve been loving it recently. God has been using it to minister to my heart. enjoy…

“break my heart for what breaks Yours…”