Happy Courage Day

August 1 is Courage Day. At least in my house it is. Two years ago on August 1, 2008 I climbed into a truck with all my earthly belongings and drove away from a comfortable life in southern CA to plant a church in Durham, NC. Yesterday morning I was busy setting up preparing for the weekly services of that church when my daughter came running in with a card yelling "Happy Courage Day." Apparently my wife has turned this day into a family holiday - a day to celebrate a step of courage that our family took together. How awesome is that? So yesterday was a day of celebration in our house. And every year now on August 1 we will celebrate together.

Do you know what is strange about courage though? When you take one step of courage, you want to take another. It's as if the first one is the hardest. When we are finally willing to take the "risk" to do something different, to do something extraordinary, it's as if a switch is flipped mentally and we are suddenly freed to pursue all kinds of dreams. What seemed to me to be a HUGE step two years ago seems tiny compared to the dreams I have for our church now.

So Story Church - we celebrate with you on Courage Day. God has been so good to us. Your willingness to take a risk and join us on this adventure is such a blessing to us. But - are you ready for what's next? I believe the greatest need for courage is still ahead of us. God is birthing some huge dreams in us right now and I can't wait to go there with you. The best is yet to come!

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Radical Generosity - Part 3

The third and final reality I see in Luke 16 is this:

Money promises what only God can deliver.

Luke 16:13 says "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

I know that no one sets out to literally worship money, but the fact is that if you organize your whole life around acquiring it and pursuing it - you are serving it! The truth is that it owns you, not the other way around.

Somewhere along the line we begin believing that if we just have enough of it, we'll be not only happy, but we'll have peace, contentment, fulfillment, joy, stability, security, and hope. All things that we should be finding in our relationship with God. This is why some of the happiest, most satisfied people you've ever met don't have much money. It's because they have found their true worth in something other than their bank account.

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Radical Generosity - Part 2

There's a lesson I learned several years ago that was game changing for how I think about my finances. That is this: I'm a manager, not an owner. Everything I have belongs to God. Everything. My money, my house, my car, and all of my stuff. It's all His.

Luke 16:12 says "If you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?"

Psalm 24:1 says "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it."

Imagine what it would be like if you and I lived as if this were true. We would spend money differently. We would treat stuff differently.

And if we are serious about having a radical impact on those around us, then suddenly radical generosity becomes much easier. After all, it's not ours. It belongs to God. So giving it away, using it to bless someone else, sharing out of my excess with those that have none - all of this begins to make perfect sense.

Live as though you were the manager of what you have, rather than the owner. My guess is that your grip on "your" money and "your" stuff will start to loosen, and those around you will begin to feel blessed. And I wouldn't be surprised if God lets you manage even more.

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