mercy

You are here: Home / Posts Tagged "mercy"

Tag: mercy

Standard

Don’t Count Me Out

Don’t Count Me Out!

Rusty Wallace is the youngest guy in the NASCAR Hall of Fame but he is actually the oldest guy to compete in this year’s X-Games. Rusty Wallace quit NASCAR ten years ago and always felt he quit too early. People probably counted him out but he had the itch to keep racing because that’s all he’s ever done. Well this year, Rusty is in the X-Games Super Truck Series. Super trucks are way different than NASCAR but that’s what I love about this story. Here’s a guy who’s 58 years old and won just about everything you can in NASCAR and admittedly made a mistake by quitting too early but instead of returning to his first love of stock cars, He decides to have a go at something different. What a leader! What a fantastic example of someone who didn’t give up on his dream but instead found a different avenue to fulfill what he was created to do.

I can totally identify with Rusty in this story. I’ve made some costly mistakes but I have learned quite a bit through the process and keep bouncing back. I have a “friend” of mine tell me to just sit back and not be the come-back guy. Well no thanks. Lazarus came back from the dead and Jesus did too so we could live in pure power! So just following my Lord’s example I will come back and so will you. When people count us out God counts on us to come back. God loves the underdog, He loves to take what people count out and use them for the most spectacular of His causes. The crazy thing is I’m only 40 years old and I’ve had so many people dip on me relationally. It’s actually laughable! I’ve learned that we should never count people out. As I watched the story of Rusty Wallace coming back, I learned that he could give r ip of who was in his corner cheering him on or not. It doesn’t matter who is cheering you on when you are on your come back. Early on when I was church planting, I had so many people tell me how great we would do and how awesome it was going to be and then when things didn’t go according to plan, I look around and the people who were cheering us on are no where to be found. The lesson learned is that the crowd will chant your name one week and the next they will want to crucify you. Crowds are fickle but true friends are quietly cheering you on. I want to encourage you to not be counted out, don’t let anyone EVER count you out! This next season is going to be your best yet!

Declare it over yourself, “Don’t count me out!”

[divider style=”1″ align=”center” size=”normal” variant=”normal” dimension=”1px” color=”” scrolltext=””][/divider]

Please leave your thoughts if you feel led and let’s continue the conversation! May God bless you!

Standard

Junkyard Jesus

Junkyard Jesus

This blog is taken from a part of my book Getting Up. I added a few thoughts as well in italics. I encourage you to get a copy here! This book has helped hundreds of people get set free!

I love the whole idea of restoration. I love seeing restoration happen. I love it so much I actually watch television shows about restoring stuff. These are things like cars, motorcycles, and antiques. The show usually goes like this: We see an old junkyard with some old beaters. It is a car graveyard. Most, if not all, of these cars are rusted out. The interior is all ripped up and there are usually rats and other animals that are living there at this point. Then we take a look under the hood, of course it is all rusted out and there are weeds actually growing out of the engine! This car needs a lot of work. There is no way it is even close to being drivable.

At that point the master fabricator shows up. This guy is the man. He has restored countless cars. He looks at this vehicle and sees what it could and should be. He sees the cherry red paint job and the chromed out wheels, he hears the roaring engine, he can smell the new interior…he already sees this thing as a beautiful muscle car. But the reality is, it is a piece of crap at the moment. The current owner cannot believe this guy is willing to pay thousands of dollars for it in this condition!

Here is the deal though: the Master fabricator sees its value. He sees what it could be and what it should be. He pays the price and now owns the hunk of junk. So he tells his boys to back up the tow truck and load it up. Now the vehicle has been recovered, but it is time to take it to the shop and start the process of restoration.

Before long this vehicle starts to take shape. They grind the car down to the bare metal. They replace the engine and transmission. The frame is cleaned up and the body goes into paint. New wiring has been done. The interior is now all brand new. Then comes the day when it is time to crank the engine. The Master fabricator has done this so many times, he has complete confidence it will start up on the first try –and it does! He looks at his crew and they celebrate, because they’ve taken this car from the junkyard to showroom floor.

In case you have not made the connection, that Master fabricator is Jesus. He does the same thing with us.

Jesus recovers us from the worst of circumstances and when He restores us, we have to go through the tear down process in order to be built according to what He wants to do in our life. This analogy is closer to truth than we’d like to admit because the new wiring is developing new habits. The new engine is finding out what drives us and how we can fuel it properly. The whole process of restoration comes down to what the vision of God is for us. Jesus has a vision for us and He sees us completed. Now it’s up to us to see what He sees.

[divider style=”1″ align=”center” size=”normal” variant=”normal” dimension=”1px” color=”” scrolltext=””][/divider]

Please leave your thoughts if you feel led and let’s continue the conversation! May God bless you!

Scandalous

scandal

Grace, what have you done?

Murdered for me on that cross
Accused in absence of wrong
My sin washed away in Your blood

Too much to make sense of it all
I know that Your love breaks my fall
The scandal of grace, You died in my place
So my soul will live – Hillsong United

So as I was listening to the song (click the image above to hear it) from Hillsong United, “Scandal of Grace” and I realized that Jesus was as scandalous as they come. He did scandalous things according to the culture of His day. He hung out with prostitutes, con men, and hustlers. He challenged the religious, He upset the self-righteous, He ruffled the sinners as well. Jesus was the most loved and the most hated. He didn’t have a middle ground, He was the ground. No one could match His wisdom yet no one could match His love. His love was scandalous.

Scandalous defined is causing general public outrage by a perceived offense against morality or law. I’ve been scandalous in the past and… yes, so have you. If people really saw our hearts, if they really saw our sick, dark secrets not one of us has any moral ground to stand on. I’d say we would all lose a lot of Facebook friends. It’s sad to see so many Christians live a self-righteous, judgmental life pointing their finger at everyone around them except themselves! Judgement is just as sinful as anything else.

In life we will run into negative scandals that bring up so many questions that beg for answers. Instead of finding answers that may not really matter in our individual life we may want to increase our love. Scandals stir up negative emotions in everyone. The little judge and jury comes out in all of us but for a moment let’s stop and think. Let’s stop and think like Jesus. What’s more scandalous than someone’s sin is the covering of that sin through love. When love covers a scandal, it becomes even more scandalous. This is what Jesus did for us. This is the truth that every self-righteous bone in our body does not want to deal with. We want punishment, they need to pay! Crucify him! That’s what the crowd yelled when Jesus was before them and that’s what the crowd still yells today. Unfortunately it comes more from the church than anywhere else.

I’d admonish us as the church to be scandalous like Jesus and cover those who need it most. All of our time will come when we need the grace and mercy of God. I pray that when your time comes, not if but when, you experience the covering of love of God. I’ve experienced being uncovered by those who say they loved me and I’ve experienced being covered by those who truly do.

My goal in life is to become more like Jesus. I want my life to exude the love of God.I want to cover those who need grace. That’s scandalous.

[divider style=”1″ align=”center” size=”normal” variant=”normal” dimension=”1px” color=”” scrolltext=””][/divider]

Please leave your thoughts if you feel led and let’s continue the conversation! May God bless you!