Leading on Empty

I'm half-way through Wayne Cordeiro's new book Leading on Empty. It's a good read for pastors and church staff. He notes, "the busier we become the less time we have for activities that replenish us" (90). "You can get along for a while with 'more drain that fill,' but it will eventually catch up with you. It's like a car that someone drives for years without an oil change. You might squeeze twenty or thirty thousand miles out of it, but the neglct will come at the price of an engine that grinds to a stop."

His suggestion? Determine what fills you tank and what drains your tank and then be sure that you balance the two.

So, what drains you? What fills you up?

Summer "Dive-In" Theatre

My tweets and status updates on Facebook have many asking questions about The Brown Family "Dive-In" Theatre. So, I thought I would give a quick history of how it started and a "how to" for anyone wanting a simple but very fun way to entertain.

Last week, I brought home a couple of the church video projectors to do some internal cleaning on them and I had the idea of projecting a movie while we relaxed in the pool. I thought it would be a great way to beat the Fresno/Clovis heat and spend quality time with my lovely wife and two beautiful little girls. We had such a great time that it's almost becoming an every evening event at the Brown house. We've watched High School Musical 3, and parts 1, 2, and 3 of Karate Kid. Ally wanted to watch all of them! I am so proud of that little gal, although Abby thinks the movies are silly. She'll wisen up some day. We are anxiously awaiting the DVD release of the Hannah Montana movie. We all loved it and can't wait to see it at the "Dive-In."

So, if you have a pool and want to have some fun here's all you need to do. Grab a video projector, find a place to hang a large, white sheet to project onto, hook up a laptop or DVD player and some external speakers and you are good to go. Be careful with the splashing though! It can be a shocking experience if you are not very careful.

The Simple Pleasures of Now!

Destination Disease: Being so focused on fixed destination that you forget to enjoy the journey there. Seize the simple blessings that God has before you in this day!

Sometimes I get so focused on the goals of my life that I fail to see the good in my life and the greatness that God wants me to experience right before me. Today brings the stress and errands to prepare for three services tomorrow morning and the dedication of our new baptistery and the baptism of a bunch of people tomorrow evening. My tendency is to be so focused on what needs to be accomplished in the day that I miss the simple pleasures of this day.

Already this morning, I saw a beautiful sunrise, awakened a sweet little princess and made her a peanut butter and syrup sandwich for breakfast (yummy...didn't have bananas though), read some inspirational words from Scripture and had my beautiful wife bring me a breakfast smoothie as she was leaving for the morning.

It's good to know the destination, but it seems much wiser to enjoy the journey on the way.

When Good Things Become God Things

Today, I sit in a local Starbucks sipping on my usual skinny vanilla latte while wrestling with a couple of texts for Sunday's sermon. I'm finishing a series on marriage this weekend and had this thought...Good things can become bad things when they replace the pursuit of God things in our lives.

Examples of good things that might become "god-things" in our lives might include:

• Worshipping any created thing instead of the Creator who transcends them.
• Directing our devotion to a religious practice, style of music or any religious item, instead of directing our devotion to God for whose sake that religious practice and those things exist.
• A very strong attachment to one's country.
• A very strong desire to gain sex, wealth or possessions.
• A very strong desire to gain fame or recognition
• An obsessive desire to earn money could be classified as idolatry.
• An obsession to find love or to be married.

Any of these examples could be idolatry. Basically anything that comes before Lord and service to Him is an idol. That may even include our jobs, our hobbies, and even our families.

There’s an old African proverb that we need to remember.

"The man who tries to walk two roads will split his pants." It has to be only one road for me. Good things can replace God if I'm not careful.

How You Respond to Problems May Be the Problem

The last three weeks has been a ministry whirlwind. Perhaps pure craziness would be a more appropriate description. I have been carrying some extra duties because of staff who are gone teaching in Africa, one who had her first grandchild, and several who are exhausted after a tremendous ministry push in June and July. We've had four deaths in the church over the last two weeks, two construction projects going on, as well as some key leadership decisions that were very difficult to make.

In addition to my job related stuff, Ally, our youngest, had her tonsils and adenoids removed last week, our air conditioning went out on the hottest weekend in history (112 degrees as the high), a palm tree by our pool decided to bloom for the second time this year...a real mess...and today I came home and discovered that the pool sweep was broken.

As I was watering the plants this evening and feeling sorry for myself, I had this thought..."Tim, your problems are less about your problems and more about how you are RESPONDING to your problems. You teach that your problems are opportunities for growth. When will you practice what you preach?" Ouch! Don't you just love it when the Holy Spirit rebukes and corrects you?

Anyway, I'm reminded today that although I may not be able to control my circumstances I certainly can control the way I respond. As my friend, John Maxwell, says; "It's not what happens TO you that matters. It's what happens IN you that counts."