Showing posts with label Dreams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dreams. Show all posts

Monday, July 1, 2013

Pray. Plan. Prioritize. Prepare.

Most good things in life come because of planning. Not all, but most. Praying and planning help us prioritize and prepare. I have seen people obsessively plan for things like vacations and weddings. And the results were amazing. A near perfect week or a night they will never forget. 

Life is a lot like a vacation or a wedding. Better planning usually means better results. Some of life’s most important questions are questions like this:
  • What do I want my relationship with God to look like one year from today and how am I going to get to that place? 
  • What do we want our marriage to be like in five years and what steps are we going to take to make this vision a reality? 
  • What can I do to invest in my children today so that they will have a better future tomorrow? 
  • What is a dream or a goal I have that hasn’t come to fruition yet and how can I accomplish this goal or make this dream come true?


1. Pray. Listen. Discern. Dream. Vision. 

I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. 
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
 Your old men will dream dreams,
 and your young men will see visions. -Joel 2:28 

2. Make a plan

A goal without a plan is just a wish. -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

3. Prepare to work the plan

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. -Abraham Lincoln

4. Work the plan 

Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity,
 but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty. -Proverbs 21:5 

5. Keep working the plan 

The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare. –Juma Ikangaa 

Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince
 or governor or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. -Proverbs 6:6-8

Dream. Pray. Plan. Pray some more. Prepare. Work. Pray some more. Keep working. Succeed. 

The best is yet to come… 

Craig

Friday, January 6, 2012

Launch Sunday

I remember the evening. Amber and I drove to the family’s house. We were the first people to arrive, which is rare for us. We chatted for a few moments with the host family. We then went to the basement. She organized the snacks and desserts. I arranged the chairs. I invited dozens of people to come to that first small group meeting. Most didn’t. Sixteen people did. I led a few corny games to help everybody get to know each other. We had a Bible study, took a break, ate the food Amber recently organized, and got to know each other a little more. We concluded the evening with a discussion and prayer. Everybody came back the next week and eventually started bringing their friends.


A month or two later, The Water’s Edge leadership team started. This team contained a few people from the small group, a few people from Faith-Westwood, and a few people from the community. This group worked so hard and gave so much for The Water’s Edge to become a reality. We started off with no name, a dream, a few resources, and God’s power. We took a retreat to a monastery, handed out thousands of bottles of water at a parade, walked around neighborhoods and prayed, invited friends, collected food for hungry people, created ministry teams, and strategized for the future. 

Less than a year later, The Water’s Edge launched our first worship service at Russell Middle School. It rained hard that morning. About 200 people worshipped with us. We were so excited. The next week it was clear and sunny. Less than 100 people came back. AJ was a one-man band. We had plenty of leftover donuts. Humble beginnings. 

Since then we have worshipped in two other schools. Most of my pastor friends don’t believe me when I tell them we worshipped in a Catholic High School. We have fed thousands of people, baptized hundreds of people, started dozens of small groups and ministry teams, run marathons and half marathons together, and taken mission trips to places like Omaha and Joplin and Belize.

A few weeks ago on Christmas Eve we had over 1,000 people worship at The Water’s Edge. We sang familiar songs, prayed together, listened to God’s Word, shared communion, and lit glow sticks – promising each other and promising God we will be light to the world.



This morning is a new day that I will be writing about five or ten years from now. Our first day as our own church. I’m so grateful for the people at Faith-Westwood. Their support and vision has made The Water’s Edge possible. I’m more excited today about the future than I was five years ago and I was pretty excited back then. I can’t wait to see what the next five years will bring. More than anything, I hope The Water’s Edge helps you grow, serve, heal, relate better, give, forgive, laugh, love, cry, care, develop, make friends, and connect more closely with God. I’m glad we are on this journey together. 

The best is yet to come… 

Craig

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Sun Stand Still

On Sunday, October 23rd, we are starting a new sermon series at The Water's Edge: Sun Stand Still. I invite you to join us!

It never happened before. It hasn’t happened since. Apologists use science and history to prove it. Skeptics say it’s silly. Some scholars argue it’s a metaphor with incredible meaning. It was the day the sun stood still.

Moses led his people to Mount Pisgah. He could see the land promised to his ancestors: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But he could take them no further. His tired muscles and broken bones died on the mountain looking at the finish line of a race he had been running for forty years. He smelled, tasted, and saw victory. But he never experienced it.


Moses was a tough act to follow. Andrew Johnson, Roger Moore, Frank Solich all know what it must have been like for Joshua. One followed Abraham Lincoln as President; one followed Sean Connery as James Bond; and one followed Tom Osborne as football coach. All of them were more than capable. But none of them could be the one thing they were expected to be: their predecessor. The only thing Joshua had going for him was God selected him. And that was more than enough.

Joshua was unsure of himself. Even if he could lead the people across the river to the land flowing with milk and honey, the current residents weren’t going to give up their landlord status and become tenants without a fight. Joshua had just finished an ultramarathon and he had five mixed martial arts fighters standing in line waiting for a piece of him. God sounded like a broken record when told Joshua to be strong and courageous. And Joshua listened. Joshua prayed to the Lord in front of all the people of Israel.

He said, “Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still and the moon stayed in place until the nation of Israel had defeated its enemies. –Joshua 10:12-13

It was a day that changed Joshua’s world. Joshua’s back was against the wall. Hope was a mere flicker of light through a dense fog in a distance. He had come so far but had so far to go. But then he remembered the words of God: be strong and courageous. He prayed a prayer the size of his faith. A prayer that only God could answer: “Let the sun stand still.” And the minute he spoke those words the sun stopped dead in its tracks. The enemy didn’t have a chance. 

And it was a day that can your world as well. Our mistakes become regrets. The debris of life gathers like rainwater in a puddle. We have hurt others and ourselves. Or maybe we are tired of average or adequate and our dreams are bigger than are available resources. It’s time to pray a prayer that only God can answer. A prayer like Joshua’s. Sun stand still. Save me I’m lost. Get me out of this mess. Help me forgive. Use me to change lives. Make my dreams come true. 

The best is yet to come… 

Craig