Thursday, June 26, 2014

Why I Choose To No Longer Invest in Others


in·vest

[in-vest]    
 
1. to put (money) to use, by purchase or expenditure, in something offering potential profitable returns, as interest, income, or appreciation in value.
 
2.  to make use of for future benefits or advantages <invested her time wisely>

I took my place in the room sitting among a handful of young men who were eager to learn from a "seasoned" man of God.  I was excited to learn and thought, "He must be doing something right because his newly decorated and furnished office furniture cost more than the car that I was driving."

He was preparing to explain his philosophy of ministry to people and how we could be successful in our ministries if we adopted his way of doing things.

He started out by explaining an 80 / 20 principle. Spend 20% of your time with 80% of the people and those 20% of the 80% who were on board with your way of doing things you should "Invest" 80% of your time. He then explained that there were so many free loaders who just went church to church you should not invest time with those people.

"Keep your distance of people until you are sure that they will do what you are asking of them and they will help you and then invest in them."

"Some people are not worth the time, and if they are not going to give back to our ministry in service or tithes, we need to let the catholic charities help them. We all have jobs fellas and if you like getting paid we need to re-evaluate where our focus is."

"I am not interested in attracting "Low quality" people in this church, so lets be kind  to them when they come and certainly show them love, but we need to conserve our energy and time for good caliber and high quality people."

"If we cultivate the trashy people, we are going to have a trashy church."

"The Holy Spirit cannot work with a circus full of retards walking around on the front pew." ( This was in a impromptu staff meeting after a family new to church walked in and out of the service from the front row)

I wrote most of these statements down during those meetings and I would go sit in my office afterwards and just look at those words on my note pad and I could not help but feel very sad.

Was this it?


The "real ministry" of Jesus was an investment plan?

That word is used quite a bit in the church culture and you will not go very long before you hear a statement like, "Invest in people" or "Invest in the bus ministry" or "Invest in missions".

You will be encouraged to invest in activity and service and invest your time and your energy into people and places.

I would see people come through the doors who had NOTHING to give and I would see them passed along the receiving line to the one man on the staff who dealt with "those kind" of people.

I would hear people verbally shouted at and shredded to pieces for spending too much effort and time with non-essential people in the church and had to ask the question, "Who or what determines a persons value?"

When a church members tithing record is checked before they receive financial assistance can you see it as anything other than wrong?

James seemed to have asked the same question years before.

"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?" ~ James 2:1-4


I would be asked to see to it that "Quality looking" visitors received follow up visits by engaging and charismatic members of the staff and the lower interest people were blessed to get a visit from the staff that severely lacked people skills. It was amazing how that worked out each week.


Invest.

It sounds like such a good word, until you look at what it means, because what it means is exactly what it is.

You "Invest" into something with the intent of being able to get something back as a result of that investment.

You "invest" in people so that they will add in to the plan, goal, or agenda that you are trying to be responsible for.

Was this truly the mindset of Jesus?

Invest in those who will do things for you.

Genuine compassion has a price?

"Compassion does not pay the electric bill".
 
This must be why Jesus was moved with compassion so much. There was no electric bill when He walked the earth. That makes sense right?

It sounds right for a corporation mindset and it is a good action plan for a BUSINESS but not for an organism.

I say all of that to say that during these meetings, and being a part of these conversations I believe that Father was waking me up to Him.
It was during one of these meetings that I remember writing at the bottom of my legal pad, "I CHOOSE TO NO LONGER INVEST IN PEOPLE."

God did not "Invest" in me and God did not "Invest" in you either.

God loved us knowing that we would not love him back!

 "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." ~ Romans 3:10-12

Paul even hits the word "Unprofitable"!

God gave His son to us without expectation!

Doesn't He know that you only invest in people that can do back for you, your plan, or agenda? I am so very thankful that He does not invest in people, but rather that He chooses to simply SPEND into people.

"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." ~ Romans 5:6-10

God must not have graduated from a Bible college because this plan for expanding the Kingdom through ministry seems so scandalous. Give out to people who don't deserve it and may not even ever pay you back?
 


"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." ~ John 3:16-17

Then you are smacked with the reality that ministry has NOTHING to do with investing in people, but everything to do with extending love and hope to everyone regardless if they accept it or are grateful for it. It matters not if they provide support to your ministry or agenda and program because it should never be yours in the first place. Either God has called you to get your hands dirty with His sheep and He provides or you work for the one who is willing to pay you the most.  Ministry has everything to do with extending what will not be appreciated all the time and expecting nothing in return.

This way of thinking does not build a nice building or a large campus or get your name on the whose who list of Christian colleges and universities but it is how Jesus showed us that ministry should look like.

Heal 10 lepers knowing that not all of them will stop and thank you. Did Jesus experience a poor rate of return? If He had "Invested" He would have, but He does not "Invest". Instead He chooses to SPEND and to BE SPENT.

"Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?" ~ Matthew 5:42-47


"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." ~ James 1:27

Why did James list these two groups of people in this passage? I believe he was pointing out that true religion is serving people who could never give back to you. It is serving people regardless if they can help you back or not.


I love how Paul defines ministry.

"And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved." ~ 2 Corinthians 12:15

I will gladly spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me.

Who has Father placed in your path today?

Who do you know that needs hope and love?

Today I would like to challenge you to ask Father to place a name or names on your heart to just send a simple text that reads something like this, "Hey, I was just thinking about you and I love you. Can I call you in bit?"

It may be the very thing that makes all the difference in the world to another person.

Don't be afraid to spend and be spent for others.

God's economy is not about investing in people for hopes of a good rate of return, rather it is built on reckless spending!!!

Climbing with you,
~Dan

Chalk it Up!


  
It was just an old chalkboard and from the level of dust that covered it, I had to guess it had been tucked away behind the file cabinets that sat against the wall of the warehouse for a very, very, VERY long time.
 
I pulled it out because I needed to ship out the file cabinets covering it for an auction and when I saw how big the board was I just stopped and looked at it for just a moment. In fact I looked at it for a little while and on it's surface I saw something really cool!
 
I found some cleaner and I wiped the dust away and when the dark surface gleamed clean, I reached down and picked up a piece of old chalk that had fallen off of the tray and I began to run it across the surface and before I knew it, I had drawn out a face.
 
The face captured what I think Jesus must have felt on the day that He approached the temple in the story of the money changers.                                                 "And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves," ~ Matthew 21:12                                                                                                                                                                Do you remember that story? He walked into the temple and saw this group of business men had set up shop and were selling sacrifices in order to make things convenient for the people.                                          There was a problem with this because the people were supposed to bring their sacrifice TO the temple not have God or the reason for the sacrifice as an afterthought. I imagine it was sadness at first slowly building to a frustrated anger. Religion was again attempting to hijack God's work.
 
                                                    
I was reading the story this time and noticed  after Jesus had drove out the money changers with a custom built whip, the scripture makes a point to say the cages holding the doves were broken open and the doves flew away.

This is very interesting to me because out of all of the sacrifices these men were selling that day, why mention just the doves?

The doves were used as a sacrifice for the poor people who could not afford the more costly sacrifices.  (see Leviticus 12:6; Leviticus 14:22; Luke 2:24).

There were people who had set up shop and essentially were prepared to take your money and make change so you could conveniently purchase a pre-packaged act of worship. They would even convert what foreign currency that you came into the temple with and find a way to make every thing work out for the best. Although we no longer need the animal sacrifices today, the practice of conveniently pre-packaging God and His work still goes on today.


I like this story because it truly reveals Jesus' heart to what matters the most to God. He wants nothing different now then He did back in this event.

He wants the heart.

He wants you. He wants ALL of you.


As I was drawing and bringing this picture to life on this chalkboard I had this thought I wanted to share.

Our life is very much like a blank chalk board. Some people will look at their chalkboard and see it as a place where problems and equations will be written to forever keep them frustrated. Others will see it as a place to write important solutions and quotes to inspire others who pause to read them, and still others will see their chalkboard as a place to create.

The thing that excites me about life with Christ is something He said when He walked this earth.

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."~John 10:10


The chalk is everything about you that makes you unique and special. It's your voice. It's your message. It's your anthem, and your very life song.

The chalk is a representation of your talents and abilities. Art, poetry, and song;  it is the skill that you have. It has been given to you for the express purpose of making your mark on the board. Your chalk differs in color from everyone else and what you are able to create is indeed without limitations.

He gave you the ability to choose what you do with the chalk.

Take the Chalk today and choose to express Father!

Create and show Him off to everyone that passes by your chalkboard.


The warehouse now displays a really awesome reminder that life is short and it is completely up to you what you choose to do with it. Choose to "CHALK IT UP" for Him!!!


Chalking with you,
~Dan




Wednesday, June 25, 2014

What Shape is Your Problem?


Do you remember the first time that you discovered Play-Doh?

I do and what I remember the most about that first experience was how salty that it tasted when I tried to eat the "Hamburger" that I made, and how it got stuck in these painful clumps in my hair when I tried to give myself green hair like The Incredible Hulk, or how it took my mom forever to get it out of my nasal cavities.

After I figured out what you were not supposed to do with it, I discovered all of the things that you could do with it and that is when my little world opened up to something far greater!

I discovered that you could take that soft material and shape it into the most fantastic things and that you could make animals, monsters, aliens, buildings and whatever else your imagination could conceive.

My kids love playing with this stuff and unlike me, they seemed to be born with the knowledge that you do not eat it, stick it in your hair or up your nose. They must have gotten that from their mom's side and they are lucky for that.

I was reading a passage of scripture in preparation for an upcoming opportunity to teach when I saw something that took me right back to when I was a kid looking at all of those little yellow open plastic cups filled with color and possibility.

"Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men.
The Lord is at hand.Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." ~ Phillipians 4:4-7

 
I love this passage because truly we all have problems and Just like those little yellow jars, our problems come in every color that you can think of. The bright colored problems stand out larger than life and the dull color problems almost seem to dare us to reach our hand in the jar and deal with them. We sometimes find our self sitting at the table of life, like a child looking with an overwhelming feeling of despair, and sometimes we don't even know where to start.


I have found myself looking at the jars that God allowed to be set in front of me and even at the jars that contained colors of my own making and just like the kid I was years ago I hesitantly reach out unsure what to do with the contents of those jars when they spill out on my table.

Most of us don't so most of us do all the things with our problems that don't work. We treat those problems like I treated Play-Doh on my first introduction. We avoid them. We try to do something with those problems that they were not intended to be used for. We make excuses. We try to digest them and "Just get tougher" from them. We often wear the problems all over us and then get frustrated when they are painful to deal with later.

Paul had a problem.

He was in prison and this was not what Paul would prefer. His jars at the table of his life contained the color of abuse. He looked at the color of "Misunderstanding", "Hurt" , "Rejection", "Loneliness", "Despair", "Shipwreck", "Fear" and even "Death" and he came to a fantastic conclusion!

He saw these little jars as tools to create something truly fantastic. He found that he could shape these problems, hurts and pains into and expression of Love!


In the passage that I read earlier look at what Paul was saying!

"Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!"

Before you take on any problem stop to realize that it is not little God and BIG PROBLEM but rather it is BIG GOD little problem!

When was the last time that you just focused on how BIG your God truly is?

When you find your perspective of Father and His abilities changes you will begin to discover that the jar of color in front of you was not meant to be a hurt to you but for you to do something far greater than digest or wear or throw away. It was meant for you to shape something incredible with it! Paul goes on to say, "Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.

Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

The worry and the problem now becomes the very tools necessary for you to make something phenomenal!!!














You and I stop in our tracks as we read Philippians because we see something amazing that has been created out of what we mistook to be difficult circumstances, hurt or pain.

Your praise to God during the circumstance is what shapes your problem into prayer!

Prayer changes EVERYTHING!!!

Prayer shapes a problem into something that will bring attention to just how awesome God is and what He can do through a life filled with hurts and pains!

What has hurt you?

What "Color" have you yelled at God for allowing to be on your table?

What little yellow jar have you avoided at sever costs because you don't want to mess with it?

The jars are yours and you can shove them off the table but they are not going away! You can find a name to blame them on or find ways to help you forget that they are there but they will remain where they are until you do something with them.

Think of your heavenly Father and tell Him He knows best. Give Him that. As you begin to praise Him for His strength and His knowledge, like Paul, you will begin to see things taking shape!

Father is AWESOME!!!

Let Him show you how to make something truly spectacular out of an ordinary jar of clay!




Climbing with you,
~Dan


Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Inverse Paranoia

 
King Saul.
 
Like it or not, we all know people who explosively exhibit the traits that made this first king of Israel so infamous.
 
He was loud. He was a bully. He had an agenda to hold and what started out to be a tender heart with the best of intentions ended up being a cruel and bitter shell with a well paved road to the place where good intentions alone can take a man.
 
I read about Saul and I see so much potential and yet I also see a man who is so very skillful at undoing all that he holds dear.
 
Saul was paranoid.
 
He viewed everything as an attack on himself and upon the work he was trying to do. Everyone that God had placed in his life to say, "Hey, have you thought about this?" was in all actuality God saying , "Saul, you are placing your own agenda above mine".
Every difference of opinion was a threat and when a person reaches this place in life, a Gilboah is on its way. The place of death will always find these people. Be it a death to a dream, a goal, a plan, or it will produce a legacy of trampled bodies in their conquest to make a name for themselves.
 
"Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds; That all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that sheweth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or sheweth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day? "
                                                                                                  ~ 1 Samuel 22:7-8

"And Saul said unto him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast enquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?" ~ 1 Samuel 22:13
 
Saul was paranoid.
 
King Saul was not the only person who has ever lived that way. People live this way all the time.  We all know them. You may live with them, you may work for them or have worked for them, or perhaps you are "Them".
 
You may live this way and this very blog is something that you view as a threat. There are times when I have lived in the Paranoid and jumped at the shadows, but may I just say that I choose not to live that way anymore.
 
I was walking into the workplace this very morning when I looked down and saw this little guy.
 
He (Or she because I really cant tell the gender of a plant) was barely noticeable to the naked eye, and it was really odd that I saw it when I did.
 
 
I just had to take it in for a minute, and then I needed to zoom in and show you what I saw, because it was absolutely incredible!!!
 
Saul was truly a paranoid person, who lived out a miserable life desperately fighting to control and hold onto things that were not his to control or hold on to.
 
Paranoid people will live their lives always thinking that everything and everyone is out to get them, to hurt them, or to take advantage of them. Paranoid people will always miss out enjoying the life that they have been given because ultimately it comes down to the desire to be in control.
 
They desire to control every event in life even down to the level of pain that they will experience, and if we determine the amount of pain or the events that we feel will shape us the best, then our God becomes as big as our own mind. Puny god.
 
I saw this plant struggling for life in the middle of the pavement and I thought of the Apostle Paul in the book of Philippians. I posted a few weeks back "Bloom Where you are planted" (Click Here) about this idea of God arranging our flowerbed and planting us exactly where we have been planted for a direct reason and a specific season.
 
"But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.  Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need." ~Phillipians 4:10-12
 
Paul was in a situation where he had ZERO control and yet somehow, the fractures in the framework of what he thought should be right served a different purpose than what most of us could see even from the outside looking in.
 
God used this  little plant in the asphalt, and the Apostle Paul to issue a challenge to me that I wish to issue to you today!
 

 
 
The apostle Paul was an "Inverse Paranoid".
 
If paranoid people operate out of fear and suspicion and in a constant state of expectant hurt and pain, the inverse of that would be to live your life in expectation of blessings and your ultimate good to be the end result of any circumstance that comes your way.

Paul was not self-centered in any way, rather he was confident that God was going to finish any work that had been started in his life.

Imagine how much easier it would be to succeed and be happy in life if you were constantly expecting the Father to support you and bring you every opportunity to become who He made you to become. 

"And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." ~Romans 8:27-29
 
 I want to challenge you today to think like an "Inverse Paranoid".
 
Believe and operate from the belief system that everyone and that everything you face today has been allowed by the Father to bless you and to help you grow into the person that you were born to be.
 
Step out of your old way of processing things and understand that God has uniquely designed every circumstance  as a way to help you grow! 
 


 
 
Every "Fracture" that you have in the solid framework of your plans and in the "What I think it should turn out like" circumstances of life are meant to help you.
 
"MANY TIMES WE FIND OUR WORLD BEING SHAKEN TO ITS CORE AND WE RUN TO GOD ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT IT IS GOD WHO HAS BEEN DOING THE SHAKING"

 
The "Cracks" in life that we struggle to hold together, were given by God so that you, the plant, can push through into the sun. Everything that happens in your life is God conspiring with His creation and the universe to bring the ultimate good to your life.
 
It is the Romans 8:28 reasoning that can help you go through the Philippians of your life and be content
 
Jesus came to give us LIFE and LIFE more abundantly. The Life that He gives us because of the act of His redemption of us will always find a way and the struggles are worth it in order to feel the sun, taste the rain and to breathe the air in deep.
 
Keep climbing because the very cracks that God allows in the solid structures and frameworks of your life , world view and belief systems are the very "Breaks" in life that He is giving you so that you can grow into what and who you were meant to be!
 
Climbing with you,
~Dan
 
 

Monday, June 2, 2014

Excuse Me, but Your Ice Cream Is Melting!


 
 
There is a special bond that occurs between a young child and an ice cream cone.
 
It is love, true love, and from the moment that first taste occurs, that child is forever changed. They become a new person and they will forever associate Ice Cream with good feelings.
 
Do you remember your first Ice Cream experience?
 
Most of us don't but without a doubt we KNOW that it was a good one because we love it today.
 
We took a small family getaway this past weekend to spend some time with some other family who lived in a nearby state. The kids had a blast with their Uncle Matt and Aunt Sarah and as we were preparing to wind the trip down we stopped at one of our favorite family stops.
 
Dairy Queen.
 
We don't have these where we live, so this is always a "Must stop" and like the airport in Atlanta, every flight has to route through this terminal even if the trip is miles out of the way.
 
We ordered the Ice Cream that the kids picked out and my youngest son wanted to share a table with his Uncle Matt and Aunt Sarah. His little eyes lit up to maximum capacity when he laid eyes on his very own "Sprinkle" laden cone. (Sprinkles are his favorite)
 
He clutched it in his two little hands and began devouring his cone and from the look on his face he was in a place of true Nirvana with this thing and you could see the dopamine levels spiking out of his brain with each taste.
 
Then the universe rocking question was posed to him by his uncle Matt.
"Hey man, can I have a bite of your ice cream cone?"
 
My attention was grabbed as his father, and I waited to see everything about him respond as I knew he would.
 
Before I tell you what happened, please let me draw an analogy.
 
There was a passage of scripture that stood out in a way that had not before and I want to share it with you today.
 
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." ~John 15:13
 
I had always thought that this verse was meaning the literal exchange of my life for someone else as in dying for them and that makes sense because Jesus did that for us on the cross, but then I have to ask the question, "Is it really a difficult thing to decide to die for someone that you love?"
 
Would I hesitate to take a bullet for my wife or any of my kids? The answer would be "No". That would be a obvious course of action for me to do so because dying for someone is easier than living for another person.
The question is "Am I willing to lay aside my life, my Plans, goals, dreams, or agendas for the plans, dreams , agendas, or goals of someone that I love?"
 
Living for someone else is a really, really tough thing to do isn't it?
 
What are you willing to give up for someone that you love?
 
 
 
 
The picture at the top of this post is really a very good capture of life in relation to this passage.
 
The Ice Cream cone is a picture of everything about you that makes you phenomenal. This would be your unique style, perspective, worldview, talents and abilities. The things about you that make you the one of a kind that you are.
It is not going to last and as time passes it melts. When the cone is gone, so are you so you live your life happy to enjoy the treat that you have been given. Life is a treat, but it is one that is melting as the moments tick by.
 
The table is a picture of your life. There are times when different people will share your table. Some people will sit down at the table for just as long as it will take them to get what they want or need from your cone and then they move on to other tables, and some people will want to just sit and enjoy Ice Cream together with you because out of every table in the place, they wanted to be at yours.
 
With everyone that makes their way to the table you will have a choice to make.
 
Do I share or not?
 
Some people will ask, and others will demand and the choice is yours, because the cone was given to you.
 
Sharing involves risk.
 
What if I share this treat only to have someone tell me that they hate the flavor or what if they won't share back? What if they love the flavor and when they share theirs it is an awesome new creation of flavor? What if they leave or what if they stay?
 
So we have the choice.
 
Can I reccomend that you share?
 
Take the risk because the possabilities of what you have been given making an impact far beyond you is so much greater than the safety of just enjoying your treat. It's melting, so take the risk.
 
The bigger thing about this choice is who it is that is asking us to make it.
 


It comes from the one who laid aside Himself to make us the priority.
 
Is my wife worth laying aside my personal plans for? Are my kids worth laying aside what i wanted to do with my time for their little games and sillyness? Don't I deserve time for me?
 
I give and I give and I am asking for my own times right? What if this person asking of me does not give back? What if I am just being used?
 
The answer to this question is found in the statement in John. Regardless of circumstances, personalities or intention on the part of those who join us at the table and regardless of their worth at out table, the statement stands out as the answer.
 



"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." ~John 15:13

You have the love within you and you have the strength to express it, so my advice is this. "Take the risk".
 
I watched the eyes of my son and could see the wheels in his head processing this request, just as I have processed this request so many times at the table of my life.
 



"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." ~John 15:13

 
 

He looked up at this person he loved and then carefully back down at his melting cone of goodness, and then while looking back at his uncle Matt, he very carefully raised the cone in both hands upwards and said, "Here you go Uncle Matt".
I knew what his response would be because i know my son, but i could not help but be a bit overwhelmed to see this simple action take place between two friends.
 


I have not always shared, but I have always been glad that I did once the transaction took place.

Take a look at your table today, and take a good look at those who are sitting there asking to partake of what you have to offer and decide to "Take the risk".

We were not worth the risk Jesus took when He offered Himself for us, knowing that we would not want Him, but He commended Himself toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

He gave us all of Himself so that we could "Take the risk".



Climbing with you,
~Dan