Defining Moments III - Pink Post-Its

Twenty-five years ago, I heard the late Ron Dunn, make a simple but unforgettable statement: A man will only trust God when he has to.

Jesus predicted a spiritual train wreck for Peter. His prediction was correct. Jesus loved Peter through the wreck. Brokenness followed. Pain. Embarrassment. Peter grew deeper.

Failure. Inability to control outcomes. Disappointment. Predictions that blow up in our faces. We find God at that place. God defines us. We define God.

I will never forget the experience on that cold day in Ohio (Defining Moments I). We put every notable event in our lives on individual, yellow, Post-It notes. We put them in chronological order. Every event that represented pain, we transferred to pink Post-Its. I was amazed at the number of pinks. I was even more amazed at how God defined me through those pain experiences. I understood His desires for me more clearly. My passions made sense. I also learned I only trusted God when I had to. Another pink Post-It.

Newsong said it better in their song, Defining Moment. Singers get to the point faster than preachers:

When you believe He's all you need
that will be your defining moment
as you live your life walking in His light
trusting Him completely that will be,
that will be, your defining moment

Uneventful last day in Florence. If I mentioned all the movement makers I have been with the past few days you would get bored. World headquarters has trucked our operation back to Columbia. Enjoyed a stop at my new favorite place (besides Red Robin) in Camden, Carolina Cafe. Roger was a great waiter. He loves the Gamecocks. He is giddy about the upcoming basketball season. Bryan Plyler and Robbie Shivar met me there. Great conversation about being good neighbors and making friends. I need to work on both.

Defining Moments II - Making Predictions (100th Post)

Wow. I stumbled on to something. When I talk about God's desire, when I say He wants me to do this, go here, respond this way, I have become a spiritual weather man. I wonder if I take it seriously? I am predicting how things are supposed to work and adding God's name in the equation. Ouch.

I have been around Kingdom folks who are very smug about their predictions. They scare me. I scare myself when I am smug about my ability to prognosticate http://www.dictionary.com/.

Where does this leave us? Well, as I heard the old preacher say a long time ago, It is God's will to know His will. Makes sense. I believe that. But I wonder if, when God's will is too easy:

>Will I question 'God's Will' when the obedience part gets difficult?

>Will I use 'God's Will' as a defense mechanism that actually means, 'don't hold me accountable, I am on a mission from God'?

Bottom line, I should take my predictions for God seriously. I should always include, at least in my heart, and in my prayer life, If the Lord permits . . . or as the old folks used to say, If the Lord says the same. And the thing that should scare, no terrify me like a Friday The 13th movie, should be . . . to make a wrong prediction (Heb. 4:1).

UPDATE on Florence - Annual meeting of Southern Baptists from South Carolina. Old news to say the crowds are getting smaller and the participants are getting older, so I won't. I wonder if the smaller crowd has some potential. Less buzz, less politics.

Last night was as encouraging a session as I have ever attended anywhere. Mike Moody, our president, has the chance of a lifetime. Many of us dream of the opportunity to rant in front of the whole group. Instead he humbly defered to four movement makers. Three I did not know, one I did. From a motorcycle preacher, to a pastor determined to change his community, to a young pastor who is touching West Africa, it was awesome. D.J. Horton of Anderson Mill Road Church http://www.amrbc.org/ in Spartanburg (write that name down sports fans) hit cleanup and flat hit a tape measure shot for the Kingdom of God. I don't know if I was more impressed with Moody's humility or the replacements he chose, but, as long as guys like these are around there is hope for Southern Baptists' impact on the Kingdom.

BTW, milestone for me today. 100th post. Thanks for reading.

Defining Moments I

What value do they have? In Vineland, New Jersey, on Nov. 10, years ago, Newcomb Hospital, 10:53 p.m., I had one of those. On the big picture it was the first.

Are you in a fog about your future? Another defining moment for me was at a cold, snowy, northern Ohio retreat center in 1999. I was, as usual, being trained to help others, when God broke through. My journey made a new level of sense. God showed me what He had been doing in my life through history. I was led through a process of discovering defining moments. There were many more than I thought, some not so obvious at a glance. Some were happy moments, relationships, experiences. Others were deep, hurtful, and profound.

Often, when I am in a fog, my tendency is to want to look forward, at opportunities, obstacles, and people. Then, I try and predict what God wants me to do or how He wants me to respond. When you think about it, nothing could be tougher. Talk about the pressure of a psychic, prophet, circus freak, and stock broker rolled all in one!

Don't go Pharisee on me, now. I am not limiting the ability of God to speak to a person and say walk this way, respond that way, etc. I will say God is doing that barely 5% of the time that we actually try and invoke that Christian bullet proof vest.

When God reveals His will, both large and small, what will He use? There again, the powerful QBQ (Question behind the Question). For me on a snowy day in Ohio, I was liberated. I cried. I felt loved. The future became clear. Why? Because God put His arm around me and showed me what a lot of the stones in my past really meant. The fog lifted. A defining moment.

Florence yesterday. Great people. I really have moments, not all the time, I don't want to scare those who know me well. I call them big league moments . . . when I say, I get paid to do this? Normally it is when I spend the day on cell phones, in cars, and in restaurants with people who are passionate about God's Kingdom. Carl Martin, Art Fulks, Rob and Sandy White, Kermit Morris, Debbie McDowell, Gloria Shull, Chris and Susanne Reeder, and Frankie Melton were just a few. More today as World Headquarters moves operations to Florence for our annual meeting. Live reports are coming. I will suspend thinking totally out loud. Could be dangerous.