This Is The Secret To Making Things Click

 by Chris Jones

I’ve always enjoyed puzzles.  I love the feeling of finding a piece that “clicks” in place.  It’s the moment when all the searching and trial and error pays off.

Has it been a while since things have “clicked” for you?  Sometimes, you reach a point in life when it feels like all your searching and trial and error don’t pay off.  Take time to slow down and reset your focus.  While you’re busy trying to make all the pieces fit, “The Maker” is trying to show you the big picture.  He’s drawing your attention to the details of each piece.

Put first things first.  Define your borders.  Group similar pieces together.  Work on one area at a time.  Start with what’s easy.  God can help you make things click.  It’s amazing how those small victories provide all the encouragement you need to keep pushing towards completion.

The Adventure of Change

 by Steve Turner

We’ve been hearing a lot about change recently at our church. It seems God is calling us both corporately and individually to new things. Sometimes change is sudden and God brings about miraculous transformation in a matter of moments. Often though, change can be a long arduous process that God calls us to play a significant role in.

I was thinking about Noah recently. It would have been easy enough for God to drop an ark full of animals out of the sky when it started to rain and tell Noah and his family to hop aboard. But he didn’t. Instead he called Noah and his family to a decades-long process of building this massive ark. I can only imagine the obstacles to overcome and the highs and lows that Noah must have experienced over that time as He pursued his calling.

Let us take a moment to consider what God has called us to. Does it seem impossible? Does it seem too incredible of a dream to ever come true that you doubt its Divine origin? I believe that God equips and empowers those whom He calls. What tools has God equipped you with to begin the process of change? I know as I begin to take steps to bring about changes God has called me to, I’m thinking about Noah and what it must have been like for him to take that first swing of the ax.

“For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

Broken

 by Chris Jones

Do you ever look at the world and wonder, “why can’t things just work the way they’re intended to”?  Everything seems broken: government, schools, families, churches…  It’s easy to stand at a distance, casting criticism, excusing ourselves of any personal responsibility to bring change.

It’s hard to be honest about the malfunctioning bits and pieces of our own lives.  There may be aspects that are temporarily “out of order”.  There are probably even components of our lives that are undeniably broken.  Regardless, I think we convince ourselves that everything’s OK, as long as the sum of our parts somehow equals something “good”.  There’s a problem with this thinking, however, if you believe you’ve been designed and placed on this Earth for a purpose.

Think about a machine.  They’re created to accomplish a specific task.  Successful operation requires all components to be fully operational.  If something malfunctions, it may be able to limp along for a while.  Eventually, though, it’s gonna crash.  If just one part of that machine is broken, the sum of it’s parts just equals a broken machine.

It’s important that we allow the Holy Spirit to strip us down to our basic parts, revealing what’s in need of repair.  Allow God to fix what’s broken, knowing your wholeness helps repair what’s broken in your family.  Healthy families serve to repair what’s broken in churches and schools and government.  

Before you lay blame for it’s problems, remember that a broken world is simply an extension of what’s broken in us.

What I Need To Let Go

 by Chris Jones

I’m a critical person…a very, very, very critical person.  Honestly, I’m just hard on people, much harder than people deserve.  The problem?  I expect grace from everyone…and I’m critical of others when I don’t get it.  There just isn’t any life in that cycle.

These are all difficult admissions, but necessary.

Last Sunday, during worship, our Pastor challenged us to ask God what we need to let go.  It took nearly zero nano-seconds for God to tell me that I need to let go of the need I feel to be right.  …ouch.  Harder than hearing that, I felt like I needed to share this epiphany with my wife.  Thankfully, she made it easy…or maybe it was the mild shock my confession induced, as she sat it what I now realize was stunned silence.

I especially feel a need to apply this to the desire to share my understanding of God.  He is great, so great.  Yet, all I know of Him is only what He has revealed.  It isn’t hard to imagine the small fraction of a percent of what glimpse we’ve seen, compared to all He is.  What justification, then, does this give me to argue that I’m more right about Him than anyone else?  All I can effectively do is live a life that inspires others to see Him for themselves.  What better way to live that life, than by showing grace?

His grace, in exchange for my need to be right, sounds like a good deal.

Let Go

 by Chris Jones

Take a look outside and you’ll see a tell-tale sign of winter, trees awaiting the new growth that comes with spring.  It’s all a part of the season.  This preparation begins in fall, as they shed their leaves.  Why hold on to them anyway?  They’re dead, right?  Can you imagine seeing a tree, come spring, that chose to hold on to it’s dead leaves?  As everything else experiences the refreshing explosion of new life,  a solitary tree clings desperately to the crusty emblems of what used to be.

This picture came to mind Sunday morning as a word was spoken about emptying yourself of all that keeps you from receiving the new thing God wants to give you.  Why is this easier said than done?  What holds that place of importance in our lives: personal possessions, habits, self-perceptions, religious ideologies?  Is it an issue of comfort or trust?  Do we truly believe these things are ours?  Don’t we know that, like dead leaves, it all turns to dust in the end?

There are murmurings of God getting ready to do something new among His people.  I can’t shake the feeling that a season of growth and refreshing is coming soon.  If you find yourself, in this present season, barren.  Stand confidently, with empty hands raised, trusting that new life is around the corner.  God may just have you exactly where He intended you to be, in the right place, in the right season.  If you’re full and lacking nothing, ask God if there’s true life in the things you hold so dearly.  Be willing to respond, if you hear Him telling you to let go.