LightBulbMoments

Community

2012-01-04T10:06:00.000-08:00

Community...it can be a scary thing. True community does not come easily or cheaply. It goes beyond just going to church together, or even serving in the same Ministry together. It breaks down the borders of the superficial relationship. It causes us to dive into something deeper, more personal....

But why is that so scary? Why does it frighten us to be in a position where people can get to know us better? Why are the feelings of vulnerability so strong?

I think it is because we are afraid that we are going to be alone. Ironic....yes....we are trying so hard to keep ourselves on an island, all because our true fear is that we will be...ALONE!?

What am I talking about? I am talking about that fear that we are going to finally come out of our shell, share that “thing” that we have been holding inside of us, and we are going to hear the collective gasp and see the shaking of heads. That we will be ALONE in our sin, or what we are thinking or feeling.

Well, it is simply not true. The exact opposite is the truth. When you finally allow yourself the opportunity to truly get to know others, you see that you are not alone, that you have commonalities with people that you never knew existed. This withdrawal, we feel, promises us safety...but it really just causes us to miss out on countless times of joy and support. All of us need a sense of belonging...to know that there is a group of people who know what’s going on in our life Monday - Saturday, and who will support us when needed.

Don’t let your fears keep you from forming friendships and bonds. Community is a creation of God. This next year, make it your goal to allow Community in your life. Find ways to make those connections. They are easier to find then you think.

“Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their work:
If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”

Proverbs 27:17

We Are To Be Mirrors

2011-01-05T08:53:00.000-08:00

What if we had a mirror in front of us all day, every day.....
showing us our every move, how we handle situations, how we act....
showing us what the people around us see.....?

Would we be pleased with ourselves?

Better question....Would God be pleased?

2 Corinthians 3:18 says "So all of us who have had the veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord - who is the Spirit - makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image." NLT

So, let's go back to the mirror.....are we seeing and reflecting the glory of the Lord? How can we be better at this?
Let's look at those two important words: see and reflect.
The definitions of these two words are:
See- to perceive mentally; discern; understand
Reflect- to cast back or show image of

*Seeing leads to becoming....Becoming leads to reflecting.*
When you see something, this is not just a fleeting glance. It is to stare, to study, to contemplate....so that through the knowledge that we gain, we can become....and through that becoming, we can accurately portray or reflect.

So, in order to reflect God, we need to see Him, to know Him, so that we can reflect Him. That comes through having a relationship with God. If we don't strive to know God, we are going to have a hard time reflecting Him.

Looking back in a journal from last year on notes I wrote while reading "It's Not About Me" by Max Lucado, I was reminded of the story he told about G.R. Tweed:

Tweed had been hiding in Guam for nearly 3 years (trying to keep from getting caught and placed in a POW camp), when late in the day on July 10, 1944, he spotted a friendly vessel. He scurried up the hill and positioned himself on a cliff. Reaching in his pack, he pulled out a small mirror. He began sending SOS signals, and caught the eye of a sailor on board. A rescue party boarded a dinghy and rescued Tweed.

Lucado goes on to say that it was not just good that Tweed had the mirror, but that he knew how to use it to reflect the sun. That knowledge came by him understanding how to catch the sun's rays and how to reflect the correct pattern to send out the SOS. If he just had the mirror, but didn't know enough to know what to do with it, who knows what kind of message he would have sent?

I leave you with these thoughts as we begin a new year:
Let's strive this year to know God more, so that through that knowledge, we can reflect Him so that more might come to know Him.

Lucado's last thoughts in the chapter "God's Mirrors" was:
"Mr. Tweed's use of a mirror led to a rescue.
May God's use of us lead to millions more."

Matthew 5:16 "In the same way, let your good deeds shine for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father."

Thank You

2010-12-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

As another year comes to a close, I want to take the time to thank everyone involved in the Worship Arts Ministry for another great year! If your contribution is playing an instrument, running sound, lights, or ProPresenter, helping lead worship, acting in a drama, sharing a special, leading in prayer...(the list goes on) please know that your contribution is so much greater that you probably even realize. Our Sunday services are called by God to sow and water seeds, and he has used our team to impact lives in ways that will count for all eternity.

As we close this year, and begin another, I challenge us all to take a look back at this year....to mentally scroll back.

How have you seen God impacting POCC, its members and visitors, Port Orange, our
WA team, us as individuals....

We have seen those who have been impacted by a particular song or a dramatic presentation of struggles that we all face. We have had our own lives impacted in the same ways, and by the awesome privilege it is to be able to use our talents to serve and glorify our Heavenly Father.

After we have looked back, let's look forward to the coming year....

How are we each going to allow God to use us this next year? As a team, as individuals....

What lives will He be able to impact when we let go and let Him: use us, stretch us, pull us out of our comfort zones...

I am amazed at how our Heavenly Father has worked in us and through us this last year, and can't wait to see what amazing things He has ahead for us.

Thank you for using your gifts and talents to serve and glorify Him.

Our EXCELLENT Adventure!

2010-05-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

What is excellence? Why do we throw this word around when we talk about our preparation and delivery for Sunday?

A lot of times it is easier to first look at what something is NOT, in order to form a better understanding of what something is. So....what is excellence NOT?

It is not mediocrity. Mediocrity comes when we take a lackadaisical or "it's only Church" approach to our preparation. We have to understand that the hour on Sunday deserves so much more than that. It is our opportunity and privilege to bring sacrifices, worship and praise to our Heavenly Father. It is an opportunity to touch lives for Him. Either of which, we should not take lightly. When we look at Malachi 1, we see God's disgust and anger for His people's second rate sacrifices. Were they bringing their animal sacrifices as God had asked? Yes.....but their sacrifices were blind or crippled. They were bringing God mediocrity....they were offering second rate and keeping the best for themselves. How many times are we guilty of the same?

Now, let's look at the other end of the spectrum....Perfection! This is another thing that excellence is not. Perfection can actually be a driving force to mediocrity.

What? Did she say what I think she said?

It's true! Now, don't hear me wrong, we should strive to do our best, but understand that things are not always going to turn out PERFECT! We are going to fumble the ball periodically (football reference to keep the men reading). When our obsession with perfectionism drives us to a place where all we can see is what went wrong and we miss everything else, that is a problem. And that problem often leads to mediocrity, because we tend to give up all together. We take on an attitude of, "if I can't be perfect, then why even try." Don't focus on the wrongs, learn from them and also look to what went great. We have to see the bigger picture! God does! He knows our hearts and our intentions!

So, where does that leave us? Excellence is somewhere in between mediocrity and perfection. It means we need to strive to do our best and to bring our best to God. This means forethought, practice, prayer....and by doing this, we then are open and able to allow God to work through us. We are not striving for excellence for our own benefit or glory, but for God's. It also means that we will have moments that, even with our preparation, do not go as we had hoped. But we learn from our blunders and move on, knowing that we are doing our best to bring God sacrifices that are worthy and the best that we can bring!

2010-04-06T08:28:00.000-07:00

The month of March was filled with reminders that we don't know when our time here on earth will be complete.

~A friend of ours from Florida Christian College passed unexpectedly after giving birth to her son. She leaves behind a husband and four children (all ages 5 and under).
~In our Port Group, we are studying Francis Chan's book "Crazy Love." The chapter we read in March talked about what type of legacy we want to leave behind...what we want to be known for...how we want to be remembered.

My mind could not help but go to a song by Joy Williams, called "Legacy." In this song she says...

"In the end, I want to hang my hat on more besides, the temporary trappings of this world...
I want to leave a legacy
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love?
Did I point to You enough to make a mark on things?
I want to leave an offering
A child of mercy and grace, who blessed Your name, unapologetically...
And leave that kind of legacy!"

We do not know when our time here will be complete.
What kind of legacy do we want to leave? Do we want it to be filled with earthly accalades?....or do we want it to be filled with how our lives pointed to God and led others to Him?

"Not well traveled, not well read....Not well-to-do, or well-bread.....
I just want to hear instead......"Well done good and faithful one!"

2010-01-26T13:26:00.000-08:00

It is coming up on one year (February 6th) since Kiersten was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. This year has sure been a year of surprises, changes and adapting! But as I look back, there is one thing that overshadows everything else....God's blessings. We are going to be singing a song this Sunday called "Desert Song." It is one of my favorite, because it is a great reminder to us that in everything we go through...through every season of our life...God is still God!

God's blessings started the day Kiersten got taken to the emergency room. We were blessed by great doctors at Port Orange Halifax Emergency, who diagnosed her quickly and suggested we take her to Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital for her continued care. We took their advice, and were blessed again by having another set of great doctors and nurses who were a great support system for us as we sat and watched our daughter as she was incoherent for three days. Then as she got better and better, they taught us all how to take care of Kiersten and helped prepare us for all we had in store. We were then able to keep the same doctor who saw Kiersten at AP as her Doctor that we go to for all of her check-ups. The staff he has working with him is the best, and have been so great to us. They have encouraged us, helped us to get supplies and insulin we need, and have treated Kiersten so well. They have not just been diabetic educators for Kiersten, but her friends.

The blessings continued as we came home. We had a check in the mail, that we did not expect, that helped us to cover the purchase of her insulin and supplies that we needed to get things rolling. We then found a company that has blessed us this past year by taking what the insurance company pays, as full payment for her supplies. Kiersten was able to get on the pump a few months ago, and this same company covered the extra cost on her pump. We were able to send Kiersten to diabetes camp this year, where she was able to learn more about taking care of herself, meet new friends (who are also diabetic), and be a normal teen again for the week.

And probably the biggest blessing of all...we have a daughter who has taken all of these changes better than I could have probably taken them myself. She has made the transitions so much easier on her mom and dad. She has never asked "Why me?" The only question she asked was, "Is this something I will have for the rest of my life?" In which I replied, "yes, honey, it is." And she said, "ok."

Desert Song:
"All of my life, in every season, You are still God, and I have a reason to sing...I have a reason to worship.
I will bring praise, I will bring praise! No weapon formed against me shall remain. I will rejoice, I will declare! God is my victory and He is here!"

2009-11-10T13:03:00.000-08:00

You have heard me say before, and I am sure you will hear me say it again....
that worship is not just something we do on Sundays.

Take this waterfall, for example. This is a picture of a waterfall we
visited while on vacation in Tennessee. When you are standing there, looking at this amazing and beautiful thing....you can't help but think of the Creator. That is worship! I couldn't help but think while we were on vacation, that I had not worshiped this much in a long time. It was hard not to worship! Everywhere I looked, there was another amazing thing that God created. And then on top of that, the way God had paved for us to have this amazing vacation at little cost to us, the rest and relaxation we experienced, spending uninterrupted time with the family that God has blessed me with....it was a week filled with worship.

This is the type of worship that I should be having everyday....no matter where I am or who I'm with. So, why was it so much easier there. For a lot of reasons, I suppose. Less distractions probably would be at the top of that list. But is that right? Should I be allowing it to be that way? Of course not! But I find myself doing that exact thing time and time again.

So, what can be done? Well, I have a new philosophy of worship that I have formed here recently. This philosophy hopefully will be a help to you, and to me, as we strive to worship God more and more throughout our week.

Here it is:

Our worship on Sunday should not be our only worship, but instead, a reaction to the worship we have been doing all week. It should be the exclamation mark at the end of our sentence that is worship!

If we are not worshiping during the week, then our worship on Sunday is going to be effected. Worship should not be a switch we try to turn off and on, our worship switch should be on all the time. We should constantly be looking for ways to worship in all the places and situations we are in. Not an easy task! I know! But remember....our God is the same God no matter what season we are going through. We are going to have good seasons and bad seasons, but one thing we can always rely on is God! He never changes!

There are so many songs that talk about this very thing, one we just sang this last Sunday.....

"Blessed Be Your Name"

Blessed be Your name:

~ in the land that is plentiful

~ when I'm found in the desert place

~ when the sun's shining down on me

~ when the world is all as it should be

~ on the road marked with suffering

God be blessed through it all, in every season....though sometimes there is pain in the offering

BLESSED BE YOUR NAME, GOD!

That should the song of our heart at all times. Try it! See how it changes your worship this week, and how that then transforms your Sunday worship!

Completely in Awe

2009-09-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

Awe:
~an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc., produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, or the like
~a mixed emotion of reverence, respect, dread, and wonder inspired by authority, genius, great beauty, sublimity, or might

Adore:
~to regard with the utmost esteem, love, and respect; honor
~to pay divine honor to; worship
~to regard with deep, often rapturous love

Why, you may ask, is she defining such words?

Well, I have to admit….I have been singing so many songs over the years that have the word “awe” and “adore” in them, that while I was reading the book Crazy Love, I decided to look them up and see what specific definitions they had. I never realized that the definition of “awe” had the word fear in it. Did you?
Don’t freak out on me! Please keep reading!!
I think that it is important for us to understand that this is a healthy fear. This is a fear that is linked to respect and admiration. It is a fear that gives us a clear understanding of our role as creations of The Almighty. It is a fear that helps us keep in perspective who we are, and who God is.

Hmmm! There’s another word that begs to be defined…

Perspective:
~the relationship of aspects of a subject to each other and to a whole
~the ability to perceive things in their actual interrelations or comparative importance

So, this awe and adoration of God helps us keep things in check. It helps us to do a comparison or inventory of importance……
So, what do we find. That’s right…we pale in comparison to God. He is our Creator, King, Savior……but at the same time He is our Friend, and Father. Talk about awe! He is everything! And we don’t even really understand what everything really is. We really don’t even come close to truly fathoming who God is or what He has done. But…….what we do know and can understand, should be enough to drive us to the point of being awestruck before Him.

So, take just a minute! List some of the things that you do know about God, things that you see in His creation, some of the things He has blessed you with or done for you…….

Did you do it?

Here is what I find:
My list is just a drop in the bucket when it comes to who God is and what He has done. But, I also find, that even though we pale in comparison to Him….we are so important to Him that He sent His Son to die for us.

I don’t know about you, but I am in awe!

Higher Purpose

2009-06-01T10:10:00.000-07:00

Do you ever feel selfish? Like you are putting too much emphasis on things that you should not? I’m sure you’re probably wondering where I am going with this!

Here, let me explain!....
Do you ever get overwhelmed by things that people say about you or to you? Especially things that couldn’t be further from the truth!? Does it creep into your thoughts during the day? Does it make it uncomfortable for you to be around that person?

I had a couple of experiences in KY that left me feeling completely hurt. Some individuals who didn’t like the way that I was doing my job (not because I was not doing it right or to the best of my ability) made some accusations and hurtful comments about my character and integrity. These words and comments that where untrue, made it a very painful time and made it very hard to do my job. Every time those individuals were around me, I would feel so uncomfortable. It was a really tough situation to deal with. I really let it get to me and infect me.

When I go to God with situations like this, I always come away with the same response (here’s where the “feeling selfish” comes in). Jesus had people who made false accusations about His character and integrity every day of His life. He was constantly being ridiculed and called a liar and a fraud. He was beaten, spat upon, and eventually hung on a cross!..........How did Jesus handle himself? He didn’t wallow in self pity, and he certainly did not let it affect His JOB! He continued on, doing what He knew God put Him here for. He had a higher purpose!

So, what do I come away from this time with God with?.....yep, that feeling of being selfish. There are so many things out there that are bigger than what I am going through. I was put here with a higher purpose, and letting these things get in the way of doing all I can for God, is not the way to go! God wants me to put these things aside. He understands I am hurting (He went through the same things, and even more), but I hear Him say, “Don’t let it weigh you down. Forgive, as I have forgiven. You are here for a reason, my child. I have a higher purpose for you.”

I truly hope this helps you if you are going through a situation that is similar to the ones I have had. It is not an easy task, but I promise you, you come out the other side feeling a weight lifted off of you like you can’t believe. Just give the situation to God. Forgive those individuals and concentrate on your higher purpose! Don’t let it affect the JOB we have to do for God.