Happy Hearts

Happy Hearts

My daughter (4) surprised my wife and I today. Shortly after lunch, my wife said she would join the children in cleaning the play room. To which my daughter replied "Mom, you take such good care of us and you are always cleaning up after us. I don't want you to clean the play room, you are not allowed cuz me and my brother are going to do it."

No lie. Thats what she said. Her brother- usually adverse to cleaning and whatnot - stepped right in and helped get it done. As a parent, you live for moments like that.

Lesson number one-
It is more joyful to serve when that service comes from a thankful heart.

Lesson number two-
How much more joyful should we be in serving God and the church if it came from profound thankfulness for what Jesus has done for us. Just Ike we were delighted in my daughters thankful heart-service, i imagine God would be delighted when we serve out of appreciation rather than disinterested obligation.

Lesson number three-
People are more inclined to joyfully do a task if they are invited by a peer rather than by an authority.

Sent from my Tricorder

Safe House

Safe House

I saw a banner ad at a Christian website that said "keep your church safe". It was an insurance company advertising a booklet that will help churches keep away from liability lawsuits. My dad was a church administrator, and we have been witness to too many churches getting sued because their sidewalks made someone trip. What a stupid waste of time and momey. I don't know why, but the banner struck me as funny- like it was out of place.

Should a church be "safe"? Of course no one wants a lawsuit against them, but as an institution, we spend a lot of time building walls up around our churches in order to keep us safe- safe from injury, safe from lawsuit, safe from sexual predators, and even safe from the outside world and its philosophies. Developing apologetics to retain our children and keep them from the ways of the world is standard operating procedure for many churches. These things aren't bad, but i worry we have spent way to much time and energy on defensive fortitude.

As the church, shouldn't we be focusing on being dangerous? I don't mean dangerous in the sense that we go around killing abortion doctors, but dangerous as weapons of righteoussness. I mean danger in that we are risk takers, creative, adventurous. Jesus said that the gates of hell will not prevail against his church. Gates are defensive structures- which means the church would be on the offense. He didn't say that our gates would stand firm, but that we will overcome the enemies defenses.

I gotta tell you, as a man, the concept of being a dangerous warrior for God has much more appeal. I want my sons to be adventurous and dangerous. I want them to do amazing things that are crazy. I want them to get that look in their eye and go after it! Whenever my kids get hurt doing something adventurous, i just shrug it off with my best Jack Black voice (from Kung Fu Panda) and say "authentic battle damage!".

I want the same thing for my church. I want my church to not settle for safety, but through strength and creativity i want them to do the heroic and unheard of. While women may enjoy the safety of church, men thrive on that sense of adventure.