I love my day off on Monday!  For many years I have had a hard time taking days off.  I would always feel stressed, knowing I was going to be off because I felt like I had too much to do.  Then I realized how important it is to have a time of disconnect, a time of refreshing, and now I get more done because I am more rested.

Yesterday, we took a road trip.  First to Huntsville, Arkansas for lunch and to check out Withrow Springs State Park.  We found this little cafe called Granny’s and it was incredible.  They had great burgers and homemade pie.  It was heaven on earth!

We left there and drove up to Roaring River Sate Park, which has become one of my favorite places.  Roaring River is in Southern Missouri not too far from the Arkansas border.  It is a place of beauty and rest.  We enjoyed the fish hatchery again and spent some time at the park.  But the best part of the day was spent on the banks of the river.  We found a place down the bank where we could put our chairs and find solitude.

It was quiet except for the roaring of the river.  To me, there is nothing as peaceful in nature as the rolling of water.  You could sense and feel the peace of God.

Everywhere we have lived, I have always had a place of solitude.  In Jacksonville, there was a stream behind the church that I would walk down to and find solitude.  In Nederland, there was a park bench alongside the ship channel that I would frequent and watch the ships go by while I contemplated.  Now, it is this little place in Southern Missouri that I find refuge. 

In the world we live today, there is few places to disconnect.  We are always connected to the internet, or cell phones, the hustle and bustle of life.  There is a need for solitude, aloneness in the quietness of God’s presence.  Jesus found a place to pray and talk to His Father, we must do the same. 

Where is your place of solitude?  Where can you go to disconnect for a while and find refreshing?

I guess I ought to let it be known now so it will be less painful tomorrow; the youth won.  The youth challenged the adults to a softball game and they won.  We had a great time playing even though it was 98 degrees outside.  It made think of my native Texas weather.  It was hot!

We had a good game, good fellowship and good food!  It made for a wonderful day. 

I do know, that the older I get the harder it is to play sports.  I am more out of shape than I used to be, 15 years ago, and I am not nearly as sharp as I used to be.  Yes, that is my excuse for making two costly errors for my team.  (I thought about saying the sun was in my eyes, but people might think I was making excuses.)  When I get out and play with the youth, I begin to feel my age. 

All in all, it was a great time with the church family.  It is awesome that we can all get out and have a good time together.  That is how we build closer relationships and that helps make a great church.

In my years of preaching I have developed files for my different sermons.  They are labeled by topics or series and I file them accordingly.  There is, however, a special file that no one else would ever notice.  It is the sermon dud file. 

As with any public speaker, I am sure they can testify that sometimes, you can tell the crowd connects, and that you connect with the crowd.  Other times you know you are getting across to people even though their response doesn’t show it.  Then there is the dud.  The dud is when you can’t wait until the sermon is over.  If the preacher can’t wait until it is over, the congregation must be even more anxious.  This is the dud sermon.  The one that I file in the dud file.  Another name for that file is “never preach this one again”.

Through the years, the file has grown but not too rapidly.  There may be some of the congregation who would like to suggest some for the dud file:)  But as a communicator it is important to connect with the crowd.  That means preaching something that people can use and learn from.  Furthermore, there is another thing that makes the sermon able to connect.  It has to connect with the preacher first.  If the message hasn’t impacted the preacher during preparation, it won’t impact the crowd.  Sermons shouldn’t just be written, but rather birthed within the heart of the preacher.

On the same line, I read a great story today of a preacher who had a dud.  this is from Mikey’s Funnies:

“They say that a preacher’s wife is always his number one assistant.

An example of this comes one Sunday morning after the preacher had just finished his sermon. He went and sat down with his wife and she asked him how he thought the church service went.

The Preacher shrugged and said, "The worship was excellent, and I think the prayer and communion times went quite well, but," he continued, "I just don’t think the sermon ever got off the ground."

The wife looked over at him, and before she could stop herself, she said, "Well, it sure did taxi long enough!"

“A typical Goldfish is less than five inches and often three inches or less. Here is what I learned recently; A goldfish will grow to size of it’s environment. If you put it in a small bowl, it will be a small goldfish…if you put it a river it will grow and grow.

It’s the same principle in your organization…small vision and small environment equals small results. I am learning most people are content with a small everything except a small paycheck. Expand your vision and environment so that your organization can grow.

Just a few questions of examination:

1) What projects are you working on right now? How big are you planning for?
2) Does your environment allow for small goldfish or large?
3) How big is your personal aquarium?
4) What will it take to increase your personal and professional fish tank?

Don’t settle…increase your everything for growth, expansion, development, escalation and progression.”            HT: Shannon O’Dell

How are we doing as a church and in our ministries?  Are we content with the small fishbowl or are we willing to swim in the river?  We must be minded for the pursuit of a larger purpose.  Our goal is to reach more people for Christ and impact Northwest Arkansas for Jesus.  We must get outside of our fishbowl and reach those around us.

Father’s Day is one of those holidays that has its good side and bad side.  It is a day that we honor fathers and their role in the life of the family.  The father’s role cannot be overestimated.  It is important!

There is however, a downside to Father’s day.  Memories.  This is one of those holidays that pulls up the emotions of the past.  Many people miss their dads, who have passed away.  They wish they could be here to celebrate another Father’s day.  Others have memories of a harsh childhood, mingled with abuse or a lack of fatherly love.  While there are others who did not know their father or remembering that he had little part of their lives.  Like I said, Father’s day is not always an easy day!

To be honest, Father’s day is the hardest sermon for me to decide what I preach.  Should I talk about the role of dads?  What should I say?  There are many times that I almost decide not to even discuss this topic on Father’s day because of the hard memories others have.  We talk about how to be a good dad, but there are so many in the pew that have some pain associated with Father’s day.  I am mindful of the men, who sit on the pew of the church who have tried to be dads only to find their kids turn their back on them or to have little to do with them.  Many have children but have had little chance to rear them because of circumstances.  There are dads who desire to build a relationship with their kids only to be pushed away. 

My prayer today is that these men will find the strength of God and His abundant peace.  I also pray that God will soften the heart of the children and that relationships will be restored.  May God help everyone who has a difficult time on Father’s day to find peace, restoration and love.

“If we begin to get a glimpse of the vast glory of God, we will realize that many of our conflicts are like two ants arguing about which is taller while standing in front of Mount Everest.

“We quibble over some infinitesimal difference of opinion while the vastness of Almighty God soars into the heavens.

“We need to stop looking at one another relative to ourselves, or, better yet, stop looking in the mirror. And we need to turn our eyes to the loveliness of Christ in his Word.”     –Chris Brauns-

HT: Trevin Wax

There is alot of talk these days about absent fathers, homes wrecked by divorce and dads who do not care.  Certainly those are issues that are problems today, however, I believe there are alot of us dads who are doing our best to be “good” dads. 

The good thing is there is a great deal of resources to help us become successful fathers.  There are an endless amount of books, cd’s, podcasts, radio shows and internet helps to get us to become better dads.  But even with all of that, dads often feel helpless when it comes to “successful” parenting.

We are told to be patient, but we still blow it from time to time.  We are taught to be firm, but often we are too soft. (Which I am the failing more at this now that I have a beautiful little girl)  We are instructed to spend more time with our kids, but our work demands more and more from us.  We know we are to be loving, but for some reason we feel like we fall short in that area.

Within the heart of man is the desire to achieve, the desire to be the best we can be.  At home, at work, at church and everywhere else we go.  Our desire is to be the best, BUT at the end of the day we often feel like we don’t cut it.  I know how often a dad feels a sense of guilt when he believes he has let his kids down. 

As I have been preparing for a Father’s day message, I have wondered how many dads wish they could attain all the things they are taught.  I wonder how many dads feel like failures even though they would never admit it.  Fatherhood is challenging to say the least.  Dad, do your best!  When you make mistakes, move on.  Try your hardest, but always remember you are only human.  Love your family, spend time with them, provide for them but don’t be too hard on yourself.  Kids are often very forgiving, even when we blow it.

It is Father’s Day week so I decided to post an interesting assessment of the different types of dads.  I have been thinking more lately about how I can be more effective as a father as well as more intentional in shaping the lives of Josh and Hannah.  Dads must play a major part in the spiritual development of their kids.

“Three Types of Dads by Robert Lewis:

ABSENT dads are invisible and are only shadows in a boy’s life.

INVOLVED dads participate in their son’s lives but without a plan. This kind of dad is often vision-less or shapeless. He has overlooked investing a core of clear, masculine directives into his son’s life which are vital to his success.

STRATEGIC dads have a well thought out plan and vision. They understand the true sense of masculinity and know how to deposit it in their son’s life.

Which one are you?”     HT: Braxton Brady (Strategic Dad blog)