Day Twenty Three: How We Grow

What did you find helpful in the readings today?

An encouraging idea that came to me after I finished reading the chapter: anybody can grow up! I know people who have all sorts of backgrounds when it comes to education, career opportunities, family situations, health issues, and financial stability. Everything can be an excuse for immaturity, and everything can be a prompt to grow up. Nobody had a perfect life growing up, and yet everybody needs to do what it takes to grow up. And Jesus is the way.

We become what we are committed to.

Christlikeness is the result of making Christlike choices and depending on his Spirit to help you fulfill those choices.

To change your life, you must change the way you think. The Bible says, "Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel influences the way you act. Paul said, "There must be spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes."

To be like Christ you must develop the mind of Christ. We are commanded to "think the same way that Christ Jesus thought."

This is where reading the Scriptures and stories of Jesus are so crucial: we learn what Jesus did so that we can know what Jesus wants us to do. And this is why the same Spirit that was in Jesus is available to us today: so we can think and do what Jesus did.

The Spirit of Jesus gives us power and energy to do the next right thing. The Spirit gives us direction and instruction about how to do the next right thing. The Spirit pricks our conscience and convicts our heart about what is right and wrong.

When we make it our goal to be like Christ, and we put in the effort as we rely on the Spirit, things will begin to change.

Day Twenty Two: Created to Become Like Christ

What helpful insights did you find in the reading today?

What would it look like if God became like one of us? It's a great question, and there's already a great answer out there for us to explore: Jesus. When we wonder what it's like to be made in the image of God, we look at Jesus. When we wonder what it means to be godly and good, we look at Jesus. The Bible says, "You were... created to be like God, truly righteous and holy." And Jesus helps us understand what that looks like in real life on this beautiful, frightening planet.

Here's some quotes from the chapter that were helpful to me:

God's ultimate goal for your life on earth is not comfort, but character development.

Christlikeness is all about transforming your character, not your personality.

Every time you forget that character is one of God's purposes for your life, you will become frustrated by your circumstances. ...life is supposed to be difficult! It's what enables us to grow.

God [is not] a genie who simply exists to serve you in your selfish pursuit of personal fulfillment. ...God is not your servant, and if you fall for the idea that life is supposed to be easy, either you will become severely disillusioned or you will live in denial of reality.

Mention "the power of the Holy Spirit," and many people think of miraculous demonstrations and intense emotions. But most of the time the Holy Spirit's power is released in your life in quiet, unassuming ways that you aren't even aware of or can't feel. He often nudges us with "a gentle whisper."

Christlikeness is not produced by imitation, but by inhabitation. We allow Christ to live through us. "For this is the secret: Christ lives in you." How does this happen in real life? Through the choices we make. We choose to do the right thing in situations and then trust God's Spirit to give us his power, love, faith, and wisdom to do it. Since God's Spirit lives inside of us, these things are always available for the asking.

Obedience unlocks God's power.

God waits for you to act first. Don't wait to feel powerful or confident. Move ahead in your weakness, doing the right thing in spite of your fears and feelings. This is how you cooperate with the Holy Spirit, and it is how your character develops.

God uses people. He usually prefers to work through people rather than perform miracles, so that we will depend on each other for fellowship. He wants us to grow together.

Spiritual maturity is neither instant nor automatic; it is a gradual, progressive development that will take the rest of your life.

Much confusion in the Christian life comes from ignoring the simple truth that God is far more interested in building your character than anything else.

God is far more interested in what you are than in what you do. We are human beings, not human doings.

...many [Christians] have abandoned living for God's great purposes and settled for personal fulfillment and emotional stability. That is narcissism, not discipleship. Jesus did not die on the cross just so we could live comfortable, well-adjusted lives.

Day Twenty One: Protecting Your Church

What helpful insights did you find in the reading today?

I think everybody will agree that no church is perfect, and that everybody that goes to a church still sins. The problem seems to stem from those Christians and churches who act like they are "holier-than-thou" and look down on others who are different in their beliefs and behaviours. Or, there is a real problem with churches and Christians who can never admit when they are wrong, they never confess when they sin, and thus never see a need to apologize or ask for forgiveness.

So I suppose one way to protect your church is to become the kind of person who is able to admit when they are wrong, apologize, seek to make amends, and not be judgmental towards others who are different. When unacceptable behavior is unleashed within a church, there is a harsh way to deal with it, and a gentle way. Looking down on others who sin doesn't help change the situation; coming along side others who make mistakes and loving them is a better form of life-change.

I really liked these phrases from the chapter:

Focus on what we have in common, not our differences. Paul tells us, "Let us concentrate on the things which make for harmony, and on the growth of one another's character."

Be realistic in your expectations. Once you discover what God intends real fellowship to be, it is easy to become discouraged by the gap between the ideal and the real in your church. Yet we must passionately love the church in spite of its imperfections. Longing for the ideal while criticizing the real is evidence of immaturity. On the other hand, settling for the real without striving for the ideal is complacency. Maturity is living with the tension.

Bonhoeffer said, "He who loves his dream of community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter... If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even when there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary we keep complaining that everything is paltry and petty, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow."

Choose to encourage rather than criticize. It's the Devil's job to blame, complain, and criticize members of God's family. Anytime we do the same, we're being duped into doing Satan's work for him. The Bible says, "Let's agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help others with encouraging words; don't drag them down by finding fault."

Refuse to listen to gossip. If you listen to gossip, God says you are a troublemaker. "Troublemakers listen to troublemakers."

Practice God's method of conflict resolution. Jesus gave the church a simple three-step process: "If a believer hurts you, go and tell him - work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you've made a friend. If he won't listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won't listen, tell the church."

Support your pastor and leaders. The Bible is clear about how we are to relate to those who serve us: "Be responsive to your pastoral leaders. Listen to their counsel. They are alert to the condition of your lives and work under the strict supervision of God. Contribute to the joy of their leadership, not its drudgery. Why would you want to make things harder for them?" Pastors will one day stand before God and give an account of how well they watched over you.

What have you been doing to build up the unity and peace of the church? What do you need to start doing or stop doing to help our church become even more inviting to our friends, family, and neigbors?

Day Twenty: Restoring Broken Fellowship

What hit home for you in the reading today?

This was a very important chapter. Everybody has people in their life that they need to restore a relationship, or they have a friend that needs help restoring a relationship. It's always a great joy to help two people restore their relationship. Whether it is a husband and a wife, parents and their children, brothers and sisters, neighbors or coworkers, there is plenty that ruins relationships - and there is always a need to restore relationships.

Relationships are always worth restoring. Because life is all about learning how to love, God wants us to value relationships and make the effort to maintain them instead of discarding them whenever there is a rift, a hurt, or a conflict.

Peacemakers are rare because peacemaking is hard work.

So how do you help restore a relationship? Here are some very wise ideas on how to help your relationship move from strained to restored.

Talk to God before talking to the person.  All your relationships would go smoother if you would just pray more about them. Most conflict is rooted in unmet needs. Some of these can only be met by God. When you expect anyone - a friend, a spouse, a boss, or family member - to meet a need that only God can fulfill, you are setting yourself up for disappointment and bitterness. No one can meet all your needs except God.

Always take the initiative. It doesn't matter whether you are the offender or the offended: God expects you to make the first move.

Sympathize with their feelings. Use your ears more than your mouth. Before attempting to solve any disagreement you must first listen to people's feelings. Don't try to talk people out of how they feel at first. Just listen and let them unload emotionally without being defensive. It is a sacrifice to patiently absorb the anger of others, especially if it's unfounded.

Confess your part of the conflict. If you are serious about restoring a relationship, you should begin with admitting your own mistakes or sin. Jesus said it's the way to see things more clearly: "First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye." Since we all have blind spots, you may need to ask a third party to help you evacuate your own actions before meeting with the person with whom you have a conflict. Also, ask God to show you how much of the problem is your fault.

Attack the problem, not the person. You cannot fix the problem if you're consumed with fixing the blame. You must choose between the two. The Bible says, "A gentle response defuses anger, but a sharp tongue kindles a temper-fire."

Cooperate as much as possible. Peace always has a price tag. Sometimes it costs us our pride; it often costs us our self-centeredness.

Emphasize reconciliation, not resolution. It is unrealistic to expect everyone to agree about everything. Reconciliation focuses on the relationship, while resolution focuses on the problem. When we focus on reconciliation, the problem loses significance and often becomes irrelevant.

"Work hard at living in peace with others."

Day Nineteen: Cultivating Community

What hit home for you in the reading today?

With all the different types of people who are becoming part of Anchor, the thought comes to me: what can I do to help everyone contribute to the vitality of our community. With all the differences comes many opportunities for others to get annoyed, offended, misunderstood, irritated, etc. But with all the differences comes a great opportunity to dig deep and learn how to love and make a real contribution to community.

This whole chapter was very good, so much to quote, and so much for me to chew on and live out.

"You are joined together with peace through the Spirit, so make every effort to continue together in this way." It takes both God's power and our effort to produce a loving Christian community.

Most people have no one in their lives who loves them enough to tell them the truth (even when it's painful), so they continue in self-destructive ways.

The Bible tells us to "speak the truth in love" because we can't have community without candor.

Real fellowship, whether in a marriage, a friendship, or your church, depends on frankness. In fact, the tunnel of conflict is the passageway to intimacy in any relationship. Until you care enough to confront and resolve the underlying barriers, you will never grow close to each other.

Pride blocks God's grace in our lives, which we must have in order to grow, change, heal, and help others. We receive grace by humbly admitting that we need it. The Bible says anytime we are prideful, we are living in opposition to God!

You can develop humility in very practical ways: by admitting your weaknesses, by being patient with others' weaknesses, by being open to correction, and by pointing the spotlight on others. Paul advised, "Live in harmony with each other. Don't try to act important, but enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don't think you know it all!"

Courtesy is respecting our differences, being considerate of each other's feelings, and being patient with people who irritate us.

In [your life] and in every church there is always at least one "difficult" person, usually more than one. These difficult people may have special emotional needs, deep insecurities, irritating mannerisms, or poor social skills. You might call them EGR people - "Extra Grace Required." God put these people in our midst for both their benefit and ours.

One key to courtesy is understanding where people come from. Discover their history. When you know what they've been through, you will be more understanding. Instead of thinking about how far they still have to go, think about how far they have come in spite of their hurts.

Another part of courtesy is not downplaying other people's doubts. Just because you don't fear something doesn't make it an invalid feeling.

Life is about relationships - become successful in relationships and you are considered successful in life. Success with relationships is based on the many different kinds of people you can relate to, and how well you can be humble and courteous to them. What good is a church if it is able to attract lots of people, but all those people aren't any better at becoming successful in relationships with a wide variety of people? What good is a church if it stays small and gets real close to each other, but they never succeed in relating to all the different people in their neighborhood?

How about for you? How much more humility and more courtesy do you need to infuse into your relationships with more people? 

Day Eighteen: Experiencing Life Together

What hit home for you in the reading today?

Lots of great stuff in this chapter. I really liked this description about fellowship: experiencing authenticity, mutuality, sympathy, and mercy. As more and more people become part of a local congregation, it's important that more and more people take the initiative to build at least one or two friendships with others. A church ought to work hard to make it easy for people to meet each other, get to know each other, to build fellowship with a few other people.

Fellowship doesn't mean cliques. Cliques exist to protect you from undesirable people, they exist to fuel your false-sense of superiority. Fellowship is about love, about acceptance, about life together. But, the reality is that a small group of people can only have a limited amount of people in it, otherwise it isn't small anymore. It's really about the attitude going into it: is it about me and what I can get out of it, or what can I give to it?

There are lots of ways that fellowship can happen in a church: small groups is the most famous way, although it's not always the most practical way. Fellowship happens best when a few people make a point to get together on their own. Whether it's a once a week thing, once a month thing, or however they set it up. But for members of a church, there is the fellowship that happens on a Sunday morning, and then that helps fuel the kind of fellowship you can have later on in the week. Worship is where you meet people, Fellowship is where you get to really know people. 

I can't stress this enough: people must take the initiative to get to know other people. If you want to have a friend, be a friend. Don't wait for others to "let you in" to their group. Begin the looking for ways to be a friend, and allow the Spirit to guide that search along. If you want fellowship, you have to be willing to give fellowship, to make time and energy for fellowship. Don't wait for a church to start a fellowship program.

Fellowship doesn't always have to be deep, intense times of sharing the secrets of your life. Those moments can be important, but to get there, there has to be plenty of moments of fun, of serving together, of playing together, of working together on projects. So, when a church offers a work day, or a potluck dinner, or a movie night, or neighborhood clean-up day, or Lenten services with other churches, or ministry opportunities on a Sunday morning, or a Bible study, or softball games, or mission trips, or fundraiser events, or etc: these are all opportunities for building fellowship, for getting to know others, for building friendships.

"Share each other's troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2 (NLT)

What have been some fellowship events that have been a good experience for you?

Day Seventeen: A Place to Belong

What hit home for you in the reading today?

Being a pastor, I get to hear both sides of the story, of why some Christians do want to be part of a church and why other Christians don't. Obviously I'm delighted to see more people become part of a local church. It's also intriguing to learn why other Christians stay away. When I have conversations with them, they usually put the burden on me to explain why the OUGHT to be involved in a church. Fair enough, although I think the burden on proof is also on them.

How can someone think of themselves as a Christian and yet refuse to be part of a local congregation? Plenty of Christians have made intentional choices not to return to a church for worship. Why?

I suppose the consumer mentality of our culture helps fuel the attitude of some Christians: they value a church like they value a good bargain. They end up being "satisfaction guaranteed" oriented instead of servant-hearted oriented.  Or something better to do on Sunday mornings appeared on their radar: sleeping in and having a relaxing morning, a long walk or a round of golf, family breakfasts and bike rides, etc. Or they were part of a congregation that was boring, irrelevant, petty, small-minded, judgmental, cliquish, and stingy.

Local congregations can make it harder for people to stay involved if they assume that people ought to stick around no matter what. A church is made of real people, a church is made up of a myriad of relationships. Relationships take a lot of work, especially when dealing with real, normal people who aren't your family or your first round of friends. If a church doesn't make love its first priority when it comes to attitude and actions, the relationship side of  it will become burdensome and unrewarding.

Every local congregation is a little different, not everyone will feel like they fit in. But churches ought to make it a point to be diverse in their community - if everyone looks like each other, you'll undermine the vibrancy of the relationships. This is true for suburban churches and urban churches, for small churches and large churches, for mainline churches and evangelical churches, for old churches and new churches.

Why become part of a church? 
1) learn to love God and others amongst real people with a similar heart.

2) become part of a community that is accepting - not based on your resume, your appearance, your skills/talents, your background, your health, your wealth, your interests, your accomplishments, your sins, your failures, your mistakes, your addictions, your past; but accepting of you because of love, because of God's love for you, because of God's love for us expressed in hospitality and welcome to you.

3) become part of a community of people who can accomplish more good together than on their own - the love of many is more powerful than the love of one. By caring for each other and our neighbors, we get to benefit from the many helping hands of a church instead of struggling forward all by yourself.

4) As a Christian, you didn't become one all by yourself, and you can't stay one all by yourself. Christ used many people to help you trust him, and you need people to help you keep trusting and following him. In fact, you can't follow him alone, you are to follow him with others.

Those are my four best reasons. What would yours be?

Day Sixteen: What Matters Most

What hit home for you in the reading today?

Here's some of the thoughts that I needed to re-read:

Life is all about love.

Life without love is really worthless. Paul makes this point: "No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love." Often we act as if relationships are something to be squeezed into our schedule. We talk about finding time for our children or making time for people in our lives. That gives the impression that relationships are just a part of our lives along with many other tasks. But God says relationships are what life is all about.

Relationships, not achievements or the acquisition of things, are what matters most in life. So why do we allow our relationships to get the short end of the stick? When our schedules become overloaded, we start skimming relationally, cutting back on giving the time, energy, and attention that loving relationships require. What's most important to God is displaced by what's urgent.

Busyness is a great enemy of relationships. We become preoccupied with making a living, doing our work, paying bills, and accomplishing goals as if these tasks are the point of life. They are not. The point of life is learning to love - God and people. Life minus love equals zero.

Love will last forever. Another reason God tells us to make love our top priority is that it is eternal: "These three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love." Love leaves a legacy. 

It is not enough just to say relationships are important; we must prove it by investing in them. Words alone are worthless. "My children, our love should not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action." Relationships take time and effort, and the best way to spell love is T-I-M-E.

The essence of love is not what we think or do or provide for others, but how much we give of ourselves. Men, in particular, often don't understand this. Many have said to me, "I don't understand my wife and kids. I provide everything they need. What more could they want?" They want you! Your eyes, your ears, your time, your attention, your presence, your focus - your time. Nothing can take the place of that.

Why is now the best time to express love? Because you don't know how long you will have the opportunity. Circumstances change. People die. Children grow up. You have no guarantee of tomorrow. If you want to express love, you had better do it now.

The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time. The best time to love is now.

What about you? What did you read that was convicting or inspiring to you?

Day Fifteen: Formed for God's Family

What hit home for you in the reading today?

I needed the reminder that God is love and he treasures relationships. This also prompts to consider what kind of father God is to me. This then causes me to re-evaluate what kind of father I am to my children. Am I a father of love, do I treasure my relationships with my children? What would I point to as proof? Fortunately I think there is plenty of proof that I'm a good dad, and there's plenty of proof that God is a good Father.

There is a difference though: I'm a seen and present dad to my four kids running around my house; God is an unseen yet present father to children milling about the earth. Because we can't see God, it can be easy for us to discount the kind of fatherly influence he can have on us. God as our father can influence us in many ways, if we let him. The yearning is there to see God, and that day will come - in the meantime, we let him be a father to us, teaching us how to grow up and love.

It's vital to know and understand the role of Jesus Christ when it comes to our relationship to God. In order for us to enjoy God as our Father, we must hear the words of Jesus - he is our only way of knowing what God is like and what god wants from us. To know God as our father, we must accept what Jesus reveals to us as truth, as reality, as the best way forward. If you want to know what God our Father is really like, absorb the story of Jesus and his relationship with God as his Father.

Every human being was created by God, but not everyone is a child of God. The only way to get into God's family is by being born again into it. You became part of the human family by your first birth, but you become a member of God's family by your second birth. God "has given us the privilege of being born again, so that we are now members of God's own family."

The invitation to be part of God's family is universal, but there is one condition: faith in Jesus. The Bible says, "You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus."

Whatever your relationship on earth is like with your dad, we must "start over" with our relationship with God as our Father. Every dad on earth wounds his children, no dad is perfect. But God our Father always gets it right, and Jesus helps us to begin to understand what this new relationship can be like on earth and for eternity. Let Jesus teach you how to enjoy your relationship as a son or daughter of God. And then let God our Father help you forgive and love your dad, let God as your Father teach you how to love and lead others, let God the Father be with and influence you even when you can't see him.

Day Fourteen: When God Seems Distant

What hit home for you in the reading today?

This is probably the most common sentiment people have towards God: He seems to be far away. Most people admit that they've never heard God speak to them, they can count on one hand how many times they've "felt" God, and they're not sure if God's ever answered any of their prayers (especially the really important ones...). For a lot of us, God always seems distant. How do you worship a God that feels so far away?

St. John of the Cross referred to these days of spiritual dryness, doubt, and estrangement from God as "the dark night of the soul."

Several times I've had my "dark night of the soul". Times when not only does God not seem close, he seems to have purposefully withdrawn himself completely. Have you ever had that? What did you do?

Mother Teresa confessed in her diaries (which were published after her death) that for most of her ministry to the poor and dying of Calcutta, she NEVER felt God's presence, that God felt very far away. Yet she loved, inspired by God's love for her and others through the life of Jesus. She kept trusting God, though she didn't feel his presence. She kept faith in a God who felt far away. Her work amongst the rejected of Calcutta is amazing, and so is her faith. I think of Mother Teresa often...

The heart of worship is trust, and trust is not a feeling, but a choice. Do I trust when I feel like it? Do I trust because I choose it, no matter how I feel? Will I believe God even when I don't feel like it? I suppose you could say that our worship of God is more genuine when we trust him even though we don't feel like it. I'm sure God smiles big when we worship when we want to, but I'm also sure that God is honored when we worship even though we don't feel like it.

This feeling thing is a big deal - many of us only make decisions based on how we feel. We "choose" based on how we feel about a situation. Choosing always factors in feelings, but choosing wisely is not dependent on feelings. Wisdom and worship do the next right thing no matter how you feel about it. How about you - how much do your feelings direct your decisions? Really?

It's fine to want to feel close to God, nothing wrong with that desire. But don't make that desire more important than maturity. Wise, mature women and men choose to trust God and follow Jesus based on their understanding of reality, of truth, of life, of love - not based on how they feel about God and Jesus. Does that make sense?

"For God has said, 'I will never leave you; I will never abandon you.'"  Some things have to be believed before they can be seen.

What about you? What was helpful to you in the readings today?

Day Thirteen: Worship That Pleases God

What hit home for you in the reading today?

Worship can get pretty stale. Boring worship, lifeless worship, meaningless worship is what keeps people away from church on Sundays. Worship becomes an entertainment commodity - we judge based on the value it adds to our life. We like it based on how it makes us feel. But that's not really the point of worship, is it?

When Christians gather on a Sunday to worship God, all that really matters is the attitude of the heart of those believers. When they come together to sing and pray and listen and share and connect and serve and love, are they doing it for what they can get out of it, or as an expression of their worship to God? God is pleased when we worship him - not for what we can get out of it, but for what we can give him.

If you're at a stage in life where you're turned off by churches and their worship, you may want to check your motives: is worship about you or about God? You may also want to find a church where their worship is pleasing to God. Some churches just go through the motions on a Sunday. That's not good either. The Bible says, "Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please him." This is what you want to do, and this is the kind of church you want to join - men, women, and children who love God and worship him with a smile.

A fascinating insight was on the different ways people are wired and how this shapes the way they worship God. "...Christians have used many different paths for 2,000 years to [worship] God: being outdoors, studying, singing, reading, dancing, creating art, serving others, having solitude, enjoying fellowship, and participating in dozens of others activities."

I'm going to list the nine most common pathways of worship as described in the reading for today, as well as from Sacred Pathways by Gary Thomas. Read through the descriptions and take note of which two, three or four seem to be most like you. Let that inform you about how and where you "best" connect with God. I find the list to be very helpful.

Naturalists are most inspired to love God out-of-doors, in natural settings.

Sensates love God with their senses and appreciate beautiful worship services that involve their sight, taste, smell, and touch, not just their ears.

Traditionalists draw closer to God through rituals, liturgies, symbols, and unchanging structures.

Ascetics prefer to love God in solitude and simplicity.

Activists love God through confronting evil, battling injustice, and working to make the world a better place.

Caregivers love God by loving others and meeting their needs.

Enthusiasts love God through celebration.

Contemplatives love God through [mediation].

Intellectuals love God by studying with their minds.

Which ones best describe you? 

Which ones does Anchor help you do? Meaning: as you participate in the life of Anchor - not just on Sundays - are there some pathways that Anchor tends to "offer" more than others?

Is this list helpful? Does it give you permission to explore some refreshing ways of worshipping God? 

Day Twelve: Developing Your Friendship with God

What hit home for you in the reading today?

It's often too easy to forget or underestimate the power of our choices. We make a choice, and fail to appreciate what the resulting consequences could be. We waffle on making choices and miss opportunities that may not come back...for awhile. We also sometimes don't realize that we have the ability to choose in more situations than we do. So it is with our relationship with God: You are as close to God as you choose to be.

Are you mad at God? That's a choice you made. Are you disappointed with God? Again, that's a choice. Are you apathetic towards God? Are you uninterested in God? Are you frustrated by God? All choices you make on a regular basis. Wait wait, you tell me: those aren't choices! That's how you feel because of what has happened to you. No, no, I tell you: things happened and you chose to feel a certain way about it. 

Just because you feel a certain way towards something doesn't justify your choice. Things happen in life, and you can either choose to blame God because of how you feel, or you can choose to get more knowledge and understanding despite your feelings of doubt and frustration. Feeling angry or resentful or bitter towards God doesn't have to be the ultimate driver of your choices. When you let your feelings be the most powerful force in making choices, you have surrendered your freewill. 

God wants a friendship with you based on your choices, not just on your feelings. God wants us to talk with him, listen to him, work with him, enjoy his Creation with him, and so on. God wants you to trust him, have faith in his capabilities, believe in his promises, and love him back. God wants you to care about what he cares about, to get angry about what angers him, to delight in what delights him.

God is very interested in you, and he wants you to be interested in him. That's how friendships work. And those are all choices that we can make - not just because of how we feel, but more so because of what we know to be good and right.

What can you do to enjoy your friendship with God? What feelings do you have towards God that are souring your relationship with God? What are some good choices you know God wants you to make even though you don't feel like it?

Day Eleven: Becoming Best Friends with God

What hit home for you in the reading today?

The basics of a friendship are this: someone you enjoy talking to and listening to, and they enjoy talking to you, and listening to you. I suppose a best friend is that person whom you enjoy talking to and listening to more than anyone else.

To be close to God, then, means that he's someone we really enjoy talking to and listening to. To be close also includes having shared experiences together, the memories of which continue to fuel the close relationship. Talking and listening are an experience that helps bring a relationships closer, but going through celebrations and trials, through tasks and assignments together playing and planning together are also key experiences.

Jesus said, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."

To become best friends with God, we need to start on the conversational piece. If we approach God without any desire to build a relationship with him, we'll miss out on much of the conversation. We'll reveal that we just want God to do stuff for us, not really be a friend to him.

Granted, it's a little harder to be friends with someone you can't see, you can't punch in the arm, you can't hear on the phone, you can't sip coffee with. But then God isn't quite like all our other friends. If we just start with talking AND listening with God, we'll make good progress in our friendship.

There were some good reminders for me in this chapter about friendship with God:

You can carry on a continuous, open-ended conversation with him throughout the day, talking with him about whatever you are doing or thinking at that moment. "Praying without ceasing" means conversing with God while shopping, driving, working, or performing any other everyday tasks.

The key to friendship with God, [Brother Lawrence] said, is not changing what you do, but changing your attitude toward what you do. What you normally do for yourself you begin doing for God, whether it is eating, bathing, working, relaxing, or taking out the trash.

It's helpful to keep the idea of friendship in your mind when talking with God - keep the prayers short, make them to the point, be direct. Some of you don't pray more because you just don't know what to say.  A good place to start is to pray a short piece of Scripture that captures the essence of what you want God to know or do.

For example, you could repeat in your mind (or out loud): "Lord, have mercy"; or "Lord, help me believe"; or "Lord, your will be done"; or "Lord, give us today our daily bread"; or "Lord, thank you" or you can come up with many, many other short prayers.

Here's one of the best suggestions of the chapter - especially for those of you who worry a lot, who are burdened with anxiety and fear:

When you think about a problem over and over in your mind, that's called worry. When you think about God's Word over and over in your mind, that's meditation. If you know how to worry, you already know how to meditate! You just need to switch your attention from your problems to Bible verses. The more you meditate on God's Word, the less you will have to worry about.

Day Ten: The Heart of Worship

What hit home for you in the reading today?

The whole chapter hit home for me today. It's stuff that I already know, stuff I've been doing, but stuff I need to be reminded of, stuff that I need to recommit to. Again. Surrender IS such an unpopular word. I cringe at the thought of surrendering. Yet... when it comes to God, it IS the heart of worship. I needed to remember that to surrender to God is not about turning off my mind, or abandoning the need to choose, or passively awaiting whatever happens next.

Surrender is what opens up my heart to God, to his love, his direction, his plans, his tasks for me. Without surrender I'm guessing at what he's up to, guessing as to what I ought to do next, and guessing as to how best help others. I don't want to guess at how to make the most of my life here on Earth.

C.S. Lewis observed, "The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become - because he made us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be.... It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own."

How do I know when I'm drawing back from a surrendered attitude? Here's some paragraph's that were revealing for me:

A.W. Tozer said, "The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven't yet come to the end of themselves. We're still trying to give orders, and interfering with God's work within us."

We aren't God and never will be. We are humans. It is when we try to be God that we end up most like Satan, who desired the same thing.

We accept our humanity intellectually, but not emotionally. When faced with our own limitations, we react with irritation, anger, and resentment. We want to be taller (or shorter), smarter, stronger, more talented, more beautiful, and wealthier. We want to have it all and do it all, and we become upset when it doesn't happen. Then when we notice that God gave others characteristics we don't have, we respond with envy, jealousy, and self-pity. 

This stuff is very convicting for me.

Here's a couple of more quotes that I found to be inspiring:

Surrendered to God, you don't have to fear or surrender to anything else. William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, said, "The greatness of a man's power is in the measure of his surrender." Surrendered people are the ones God uses." 

Everybody eventually surrenders to something or someone. If not to God, you will surrender to the opinions or expectations of others, to money, to resentment, to fear, or to your own pride, lusts, or ego. You were designed to worship God - and if you fail to worship him, you will create other things (idols) to give your life to. You are free to choose what you surrender to, but you are not free from the consequences of that choice.

Sometimes it takes years, but eventually you discover that the greatest hindrance to God's blessing in your life is not others, it is yourself - your self-will, stubborn pride, and personal ambition. You cannot fulfill God's purposes for your life while focusing on your own plans. Jesus said, "If people want to follow me, they must give up the things they want. They must be willing to give up their lives daily to follow me."

What about you? What did you find to be convicting or inspiring in the reading today?

Day Nine: What Makes God Smile?

What hit home for you in the reading today?

The Bible says, "Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it." This runs against the grain of our usual tendencies. Yet when we make it a regular habit of trying to make God smile, we end up making a lot of other people smile to. Including us. At the core of this effort to God make smile is love and trust, which ought to seem kind of obvious - this is at the core of what makes the other people in our life smile.

Trusting is an act of worship. Just as parents are pleased when children trust their love and wisdom, your faith makes God happy. The Bible says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God."

As a parent, I know how pleasing it is when my children obey my requests without whining or ignoring me. I suppose the same thing goes for God, we make him smile when we do what he asks of us.

God doesn't owe you an explanation or reason for everything he asks you to do. Understanding can wait, but obedience can't. Instant obedience will teach you more about God than a lifetime of Bible discussions. In fact, you will never understand some commands until you obey them first. Obedience unlocks understanding.

Maybe we underestimate the power of gratitude, but its encouraging to remember that God smiles when we are thankful towards Him. The more we notice the good that God does in us and through us and around us, the more our respect and awe will go up for Him, as well as our words of appreciation and approval. This is the kind of worship that makes God smile and us as well. It's win-win kind of worship!

It's also really cool to think that God smiles when we use our skills and abilities for Him. We often assume that the only things that really make God smile is doing spiritual stuff, but everything we do can be an opportunity to make God smile.

Right now my boys are laying on the kitchen floor coloring with markers. Levi and Isaac are filling in some Toy Story pages, and Eli is coloring his fingernails. It makes me smile, and it makes God smile!

More than just the little things that make God smile, he smiles when we accept who we are and live out of that.

You don't bring glory or pleasure to God by hiding your abilities or by trying to be someone else. You only bring him enjoyment by being you. There are no unspiritual abilities, just misused ones. Start using yours for God's pleasure. 

God even smiles when we enjoy his creation - our smiling at a sunrise or racing clouds or swaying trees or the licks of a puppy - this all is pleasing to Him. It doesn't take much to make God smile in terms of knowledge. It's really mostly about attitude: do we even want to make God smile?

Once we make that choice to please God, we'll find Him giving us even more reasons to clap our hands in glee. Not that this eliminates hardships and trials - but rather the strength and the determination to keep looking up, to keep getting up, to keep trusting and loving God with our hearts opened up.

What about you? What was challenging or encouraging to you in the reading today?

Day Eight: Planned for God's Pleasure

What hit home for you in the reading today?

Isn't it nice to know that God was smiling at your birth? That's probably not an image we consider very often, but maybe we should. We also probably don't dwell on the idea that "we exist for his benefit, his glory, his purpose, and his delight." Our tendency is to stay very very focused on our own existence and our own efforts to be happier. Interestingly, our best shot at happiness may come from seeking to make God happy. What do you think?

Worship has all sorts of boring connotations. There are plenty of places where "worship" is the scheduled event, and it's common for there to not be much "life" there either.  But I'll bet those places don't connect the idea of "worship" with the idea of "pleasure." The Bible says, "The LORD is pleased only with those who worship him and trust his love." I'll bet you know plenty of people who "worship" God but  lack in the love and trust category. This is what gives worship a bad name. God wants us to enjoy life with him, and thus worship is a response of gratitude. Worship out of duty is dull.

And is it even worth discussing the subject of worship and music? By now everybody knows that worship is far more than music. Right?

I think these days the really big issue we ought to deal with is this: Worship is NOT for your benefit! In our consumer culture, we go to church for what we can get out of it. And if we don't get out of it what we think we ought to be getting out of it, then we shop around. But if going to church is mostly about worship of God, then it's not about what you get out of it, but what you put into it. A lot of church-goers are lazy gluttons seeking to gorge themselves on live music that fits their taste, and soak in a sermon that either makes them laugh or feel good about their life. Oh, and don't get me started about programming in the church for kids and youth - talk about competition to attract the most customers!

What would a church have to do to remind its members that they come to worship - so they had better do their own prep work so that they are ready? We don't go to church really even to learn more about the Bible - not as an end in itself. The learning is connected to our lifestyle of worship - what else can we do that fuels gratitude, trust and love with God and others? Learning more interesting Bible facts is what lazy glutton Christians enjoy! A Bible fact is useless if it's not absorbed in an attitude of worship. The Bible says, "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are from from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men." 

What is God looking for from people who want to worship him? "Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering." When this is your lifestyle, worship on Sunday is an overflow of the rest of the week. When your everyday life is placed before God as a gift to him, then what makes Sunday unique is not worship, but worship with lots of other worshippers. Sunday is not a day of worship, Everyday is. Sunday, though, is a day of worship with friends and neighbors and family and people who are not like you.

Worship on Sundays has gotten a lot of bad press. Maybe we should just focus on how to help people worship God on all the other days of the week, and then Sunday will take care of itself. If people aren't ever thankful or open to God during the week, forcing it on Sunday will get stale. If we can work to offer up our everyday life to God, and fuel an attitude of thankfulness towards him, and point to him as the giver of good gifts at work and school and home and church, then Sunday worship will have a whole new energy. That would be fun! God would enjoy it, and so would your friends and neighbors and family.

What about you? How has your concept of worship changed? 

Day Seven: The Reason for Everything

What hit home for you in the reading today?

The chapter opens up with this verse:

Everything comes from God alone.
Everything lives by his power,
and everything is for his glory.
Romans 11v36 (LB)

It's a very radical verse to write and believe. Whether you are inclined to believe some form of creationism or some form of evolution, do we believe everything - material stuff and humans - come from God? Do we believe that God sustains the world, that his energy is what breathed life into our existence? And do we believe that everything is to bring glory to God? All three are outrageous beliefs and have their own difficulties and rewards. The last one is what this chapter is about - and it has it's own unique problems.

Some people are suspicious of a God who wants so much glory. They wonder if maybe this God is insecure, that he needs validation, he needs to be praised a lot. Is that what is going on here? Is it wrong for a Creator to desire recognition and appreciation for the created art? What should a Creator feel if what was lovingly and skillfully created gets trashed, maimed, and mocked?

What we believe about God shapes what we do with our life. When we believe that God is the source of our Universe and Humanity - (we have no idea how He did it though...), we begin to better understand where we stand with God. We don't stand as equals with Him. But we do stay thankful for the good gifts he gives us. Even then, is it about what God can do for us, or is it about the One who got everything going? Or is it mutual - a give and take relationship where it's a win-win for both?

It's pretty obvious that in this relationship with God, he's got a better perspective on reality, on what is going on amongst us. We are the ones who have a very difficult time remembering where we stand with God, or remembering that we belong to God, and that the whole Earth is a gift to us. It's a sin to disregard God the way we often do. And the more we disregard God, the more we bring corrosion into our life. If God is the one with the power to make life work for us, and we belittle his contribution, we're cutting ourselves off from some very helpful help.

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him."
It's worth spending some time reflecting on this thought, this belief. The idea of God's glory can be kind of abstract, despite this chapter's noble attempt to explain it in practical ways. But God's glory is best experienced in relationship, though it is beautifully displayed in nature. I struggle to understand what it means to give God glory. I struggle to understand what it means to be satisfied in him.

Here's my best understanding of it so far:
When we trust God, when we go along with His prompts and directions, when we are used by Him to accomplish something good, when we are an available instrument for His rescue and restoration work, when we are open to what He wants us to become, and when we accept Him on His terms with peace, we are bringing great delight to Him and affirmation. We are telling God through our actions that he is trustworthy, that he is capable, that he is enjoyable, that he is helpful, that he is brilliant, that he is mercy-full, that he is just, that he is always present.

This is called praise. Or glory. Too many of us give too little praise/glory to people in our life. We crave it for ourselves, but rarely give enough of it out. We flatter too often, but rarely do we make the effort to give authentic praise or appreciation. There is much benefit in giving praise or glory, I always feel better when I do it, and so does the one who received it. Doing so doesn't make all the bad stuff in my life go away, but it does help me refocus.

Wherever you are at in our knowledge of God, or in your attitude towards God, or in your confusion or anger with God, I'd encourage you to at least open yourself up to acknowledge the good that has come your way from God. And thank him for at least that stuff. It's a start.

What about you? What convicted you or inspired you in the reading today?

Day Six: Life Is a Temporary Assignment

What hit home for you in the reading today?

I'm going to be very honest here: I don't think about heaven that much. I don't dwell on eternal life that much. I don't spend much time pondering the temporary nature of life on earth. My friend Don Gentry does, and he has encouraged me to consider the life to come more than I do. So I've been trying. It's not that I don't ever think about heaven, it's just that it's not often a source of motivation for me. Maybe it should be. Is it for you? In what way? I'd be interested to read your answer, to learn from you.

This was a thought-provoking paragraph for me:

In order to keep us from becoming too attached to earth, God allows us to feel a significant amount of discontent and dissatisfaction in life - longings that will never be fulfilled on this side of eternity. We're not completely happy here because we're not supposed to be! Earth is not our final home; we were created for something much better. 

And this one:

The Bible says, "We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." It is a fatal mistake to assume that God's goal for your life is material prosperity or popular success, as the world defines it. The abundant life has nothing to do with material abundance, and faithfulness to God does not guarantee success in a career or even in ministry. 

When we think of the ancient story of Adam and Eve, they were given work to do in the Garden of Eden. It may have been a beautiful and verdant region, but there were still plenty of assignments for each day. We live many years removed from that story, yet it is still the same earth - just with a lot more gashes and bruises. There is still plenty of work to do, and God is still handing out assignments to those that are willing. The temporary nature of the assignments are due to the life-span of you and me. Our work, upon our death, will be picked up by someone else. But what kind of work will we have done with the few years we have here on earth?

What about you? What convicted you or inspired you in the reading today?

Day Five: Seeing Life from God's Point of View

What hit home for you in the reading today?

The initial sentence of the chapter was very helpful: The way you see your life shapes your life. Very true. As complicated as life can be, I suppose there are many life metaphors that fit at different points, but some are probably more helpful than others. Seeing our life as a test and a trust are very helpful, more so than seeing life as a roller-coaster, or seeing life as a series of repeating, ascending circles.

I really liked this paragraph:

Character is both developed and revealed by tests, and all of life is a test. You are always being tested. God constantly watches your response to people, problems, success, conflict, illness, disappointment, and even the weather! He even watches the simplest actions such as when you open the door for others, when you pick up a piece of trash, or when you're polite toward a clerk or waitress.

And this one:

When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life. Even the smallest incident has significance for your character development. Every day is an important day, and every second is a growth opportunity to deepen your character, to demonstrate love, or to depend on God. 

And another:

The good news is that God wants you to pass the tests of life, so he never allows the tests you face to be greater than the grace he gives you to handle them. The Bible says, "God keeps his promise, and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, he will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out."

It was helpful to see life as a test, but also as a trust, that we are stewards of what God has given us.

Our time on earth and our energy, intelligence, opportunities, relationships, and resources are all gifts from God that he has entrusted to our care and management. We are stewards of whatever God gives us. This concept of stewardship begins with the recognition that God is the owner of everything and everyone on earth. The Bible says, "The world and all that is in it belong to the LORD; the earth and all who live on it are his"

Looking back over the past ten years, it is so clear how the decade was full of test after test after test. On this end of it, God has helped me pass those tests. Many of the tests were grueling, excruciatingly difficult, covering long-stretches of time and uncertainty. But here I am, on this end of them, and I've passed. Not that the tests are done, but rather, they set me up for even more difficult tests. Not because God is a irritable task-master, but because through these tests I've become stronger, wiser, gentler, and loyaler.

And the tests have helped refine the my usage of the gifts God has stewarded to me. The tests and the trusts go hand in hand. My wife is a gift. My daughter is a gift. My sons are a gift. The best gifts. They are often the primary source of my tests, but they are also my most important trust. My life with them is the arena where Jesus brings out the best in me, as well as give out the best through me.

What about you? What convicted or inspired you in the reading today?

Day Four: Made to Last Forever

What hit home for you in the reading today?

This can be an easy chapter to gloss over, since it seem so theological and religious and not very practical. The topic, though, is pretty important to the whole goal of this project. Here's some ideas in the chapter that I found to be helpful reminders or insights:

This life is not all there is.

Your relationship to God on earth will determine your relationship to him in eternity.

C.S. Lewis said, "There are two kinds of people: those who say to God 'Thy will be done' and those to whom God says, "All right then, have it your way.'"

The closer you live to God, the smaller everything else appears.

To make the most of your life, you must keep the vision of eternity continually in your mind and the value of it in your heart.

"For us this is the end of all the stories... But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All of their life in this world... had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever and in which every chapter is better than the one before."

...God offers you an opportunity beyond your lifetime. The Bible says, "[God's] plans endure forever; his purposes last eternally."

You may feel it's morbid to think about death, but actually it's unhealthy to live in denial of death and not consider what is inevitable.

Just as the nine months you spent in your mother's womb were not an end in themselves but preparation for life, so this life is preparation for the next.

From my point of view, describing life on earth as a dress rehearsal for life in eternity is not very helpful, well not to me. Life on earth is very important, and so is life in eternity. Both are crucial to life with God.  Life on earth is more than a dress rehearsal. But I get the point being made.

Also, I disagree that if our time on earth is all there is to our life, that we should encourage everyone to start living it up immediately. The Way of Jesus, or even a good and ethical secular life, has much advantage over hedonism and rampant narcism for this life. A party life becomes unsustainable pretty quick. The hope of eternity is beautiful and essential, but it is not the only compulsion we have for being good and loving while alive on earth.

What is heaven like? It's probably fair to reason that Jesus' resurrected body is what our resurrected body will be like. So imagine yourself existing for eternity... kind of scary, isn't it? Except that our resurrected body is "like" the original, recognizable, yet renewed, restored. And our personality, our "essence" is like the original, recognizable, yet renewed, restored. So what will we do for eternity? Probably a lot of what we are doing now, except in a universe void of death and sin. Those two factors profoundly shape life on earth. Imagine if there is no death or sin... it's easy if you try.

What about you? What convicted or inspired you in the reading today?

Day Three: What Drives Your Life?

What hit home for you in the reading today?

There was much in this chapter that made me think. For example, I'm one of those people that is driven by the need for approval. It's a very annoying situation, and I'm trying to work on it, but it's still there. I'd like to think that the drive isn't as strong as it used to be, since I've been trying to seek God's approval more.

There was also much to think about with the five benefits of living a purpose-driven life. I definitely feel like my life has meaning, and I think my life is simplified, though I can sense the need for even more of it. I'm focused and motivated, yet there is something in me that keeps pushing for more focus and less dabbling, something that desires more passion and less weariness.

The last two questions of the chapter are pretty important. What did you do with Jesus?, and What did you do with my gifts? 

When I say that I believe in Jesus, I'm obviously confessing that I think he is real and exists; but I'm also say that I have confidence in him, I think he's brilliant, capable, reliable, and persistent.

When I reflect on what I'm doing with God's gifts to me, there are moments of paranoia that I'm not doing enough, but most of the time there is a relaxed intentionality - God is always at work, he's the one that bears responsibility for accomplishing his Will and Way on Earth, I just need to be willing to join in on what he started and sustains and will finish.

"God... is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of - infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes."

What about you? What convicted or inspired you in the reading today? 

Day Two: You Are Not an Accident

What hit home for you in the reading today?

Here was the most helpful part of the chapter for me:

"God formed the earth... He did not create it to be empty but formed it to be inhabited." Why did God do all this? Why did he bother to go to all the trouble of creating a universe for us? Because he is a God of love. This kind of love is difficult to fathom, but it's fundamentally reliable. You were created as a special object of God's love! God made you so he could love you. This is a truth to build your life on.

It's not uncommon for me to beat myself up due to my failures, my weaknesses, my shortcomings. I've got my own list of sins that stir up shame and guilt. Sometimes I pay too much attention to what isn't right in my life. And then I feel powerless to change. Which only makes the despair more heavy. But... if I let myself remember God's perspective on my situation and me... I don't have to stay so glum.

God knows me, he knows everything that has ever happened to me, he knows why it happened, he knows what is going on in my life now because of everything that has shaped me. He knows where this stuff is taking me in the future. But he doesn't just sit there with a knowing smirk. God has got his sleeves rolled up, working in me and with me and through me to bring good out of everything that has ever happened to me and by me. Why does he do this? This is what love does. This is what God does.

God loves me just the way I am, but he loves me too much to leave me this way. I am not an accident in God's eyes, I am someone he can use to fulfill his redemptive and renewing purposes in our world.

What about you? What convicted or inspired you in the reading today?

Day One: It All Starts with God

What hit home for you in the reading today?

I could feel myself resisting the truth of this statement:

You were made for God, not vice-versa, and life is about letting God use you for his purposes, not your using him for your own purpose. The Bible says, "Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life." 

It can be almost too easy for me to stay focused on what I wish God would do for me or my friends. While there is nothing wrong with dwelling on what I want God to do, if I dwell too long I will miss what God is actually already going for me and my friends.

When I pay too much attention to all the things I'm curious about, all the things I'm interested in, I tend to get very overwhelmed, and then do nothing, or at least I procrastinate. And it's very annoying when I do that. I'm feeling convicted to relax about all the things I want to do in life, and instead of getting anxious become aware of what opportunities God is presenting to me.

If the desires in me come from God, then he'll help me find ways to fulfill them - His way, His time. But the fulfilling of those desires is not about me and my happiness, but about letting God bring out the best in me for what he wants to accomplish in our world. If I insist on always being happy and fulfilled, I'll make a lot of people miserable. If I relax and focus on what God is doing in and through me, the smiles will last longer and mean so much more.

What about you? What convicted or inspired you in the reading today?

A 40 Day Journey with a Purpose

By being part of Anchor, Lent & 40 Days of Purpose, you are giving yourself a daily opportunity to move forward in your life, forward in a bit different direction, with a bit more intention, maybe a bit more hope.


As you walk this journey, make some time in the early morning or early evening, or even on your noon lunchbreak, to do some reading and thinking. Working your way through the Purpose Driven Life won't be hard, but it will be helpful when you work at it, when you chew on the material, focus on what convicts you, and open yourself up to some change. You get out of it what you put into it.


So, for 40 days you get permission to have fifteen or thirty minutes all to yourself. You, a book, a pen, a mug of hot chocolate, and a curious heart. Reflect as you read, no need to race through it. Write as you reflect, it'll help you remember what you read. And pray as you write, make the writing your prayer, your questions to God, or let them be questions from God. Does that make sense?


You may not agree with or understand everything written in this book, but it should prompt some inspired ideas, some thinking that leads you in a renewed direction.

Let God transform you 
into a new person 

by changing the way you think. 

Then you will know 

what God wants you to do.  

(Romans 12v2 TEV)

40 Days of Lent & Desire

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the 40 Days of Lent. Not only is it a season of reflection and repentance, but also of desire.

Maybe you don't feel like you have permission to pursue what you desire, or you feel guilty about it. Maybe you keep your desires secret, for fear of being smirked at. Or because your desires are selfish. Or your just shy.

But reflection and repentance is not about the suppression or rejection of desire, but about renewing desires about what is good and noble and beautiful and true and freeing. It's about unleashing the desire to truly love and be loved, imitating the way God loves us.

What do you desire? Is it good? Is it a win-win-win for you, others, and God? Or is it just about you?

Some of you have such high expectations for everything and everyone that you're usually disappointed most of the time. What if you focused less on all those expectations you cling to, and followed your God-given desires to be more loving, more patient, more kind, more forgiving, more reliable, more humble, more loyal, more generous, more strong?

40 Days of Desire. Interested?

40 Days of Lent & The Purpose Driven Life

The 40 Days of Lent are as good as time as any to make some changes in your life. In order to make lasting change, you need to do it for about forty days. And you need to do something different, something good again and again. Reading through The Purpose Driven Life (again, for some of you...) may be what you need - a helpful book that reorients your perspective onto the Way of Jesus in this world. If you're getting frustrated or bogged down in life, you may need some good reminders on what the Way of Jesus can be like for you.

Starting Ash Wednesday there will be a posting everyday on the reading from The Purpose Driven Life. For forty days, as you read and reflect your way through the book, you can come here for more insights, as well as a place to leave your thoughts and comments.

I encourage you to start making some good changes in your life. One way is to start reading with other Anchor friends The Purpose Driven Life. Do it! Many of you from Anchor have a book already. Find it, pull it out, dust it off and jump in again. If you don't have a book, let me know and I'll get you one.

Cookbooks for a Cause!

Friends,

Anchor is getting creative in how we can increase the support of our favorite causes. We want to partner with you to further these great causes we care about.

Last year Anchor collaborated...
with Habitat for Humanity - helped a family build a new home;

with Wings of Hope - provided kitchen supplies for women transitioning out of prison;

with Grace Presbyterian Church - provided tons of school supplies for their back to school event;

with A Hope Center - raising funds through their walk-a-thon

with Community Harvest Food Bank - giving away many, many, many food vouchers

with NeighborLink - cleaned up an alley, the backyard of a neighbor along with a front window and an oven

with Literacy Alliance - hosting their GED and literacy classes

Our current project to increase our support to our favorite causes is to create a cookbook; if we can sell three-hundred of them we raise $2,100 - which would almost double what we were able to give away last year.

How can you help? First, submit a recipe. By doing this you will also place a pre-order. We'll be selling each cookbook for $10; when you submit your recipe(s) you also put down $5.

Second, come up with one or two or even three friends or family members that you know would enjoy an Anchor Cookbook. Our goal is to have it published and available by Easter. Which means you'll have it in plenty of time for Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Independence Day! :)

Since you are on Facebook, send a message to Cliff Richards or Heidi Richards (search them if you're not a "friend" with them) or hit reply to this message if you are interested.

We need your recipe submitted by Sunday January 24th! Cliff and Heidi will have instructions for you on how to submit it and be able to answer any questions you may have.

This is an exciting project - it's great to have so many people already working to get their recipes in and sharing with us who they'll be giving cookbooks to.

Thanks,

Tim