Away....

Being away is always bittersweet. We desperately miss being with the Emmanuel family. But, it was incredible to spend a weekend with St. Mark UMC in the mountains of Alabama. (Yeah, the above pic was our weekend spot!) It was an incredible retreat. Fun things that happened... a surprise visit from the Beatles (oh yeah, a Beatles 'cover' band played Friday night and they were excellent).... good food. If you've never been to camp, 'good food' is a huge plus statement.... being with Susan's 'growing up' church. She has been a part of St Mark since she was 3 years old.... the American Idol 'spin-off' with good family fun and talent to show as well..... incredible conversations.... a hike to the top of the mountain with all the kids (sans Julia - she is doing well to walk, much less climb a mountain).... the view from the top.....the top of the mountain has two pretty magnificent areas - the cathedral, which is an amazing lookout with a very simple area to sit and reflect and the cross, which is perched atop the mountain overlooking Camp Sumatanga........ and being loved by St Mark! That was good!!..... the ongoing exchange of UA vs. AU jokes that can only be appreciated in the great state of Alabama.... going back to the camp where I experienced the "Walk to Emmaus"..... having the privilege of speaking to this wonderful group of people! It was humbling to stand before so many people that I deeply admire and open the Scripture with them and feast on His Word and His life. It was a good weekend!

It's also fresh to roll back into Crestview. You know, I love this church for many reasons. Here's one.... We were due to arrive in Crestview between 6:30 and 7 PM last night (Sunday). My 11 year old, Cynthia, is just pumped because she can grab 30 minutes on campus if we 'hurry'! I love that she wants to hurry back to her 'home'. I love that she loves this place! I love that so many of you are pouring your life into her to foster that love for this place. I love returning to the church today and just being with the people that I love. I love that it's 75 degrees and just "Florida" amazing!

I am looking forward to our weekend together. We will celebrate communion... celebrate Christ.... celebrate that we expect Him to use us to reach more for His fame.... and we will celebrate giving! This is a good week. I am so anticipatory about this weekend. The giving. The gathering. The readiness to stake new territory on this property for the glory of God.

I love you guys. I am glad to no longer be 'away'! It's good to be home.

Feel free to comment.

For the Glory,
Mark

Scattering...

Right now, as you read this and as I type these words, Jesus is scattering seed. He's scattering seeds of grace... of life... of hope... of passion... of purpose... of promise. Jesus, without discrimination, is scattering seed. That's what He does. He extends life. He extends Himself. He gives Himself to hardened hearts, who may not respond to Him. He keeps scattering seed anyway! He gives Himself to shallow hearts, who worship Him with unfettered abandon in one moment. Then, in the next, abandon Him. He keeps scattering seed. That's what He does. He scatters seed of life... of meaning... He scatters into the person who will worship multiple things. He keeps extending ultimate life to the person who gives affections away to so many small gods. Affections given away, lead to the choking away of life. Yet, Jesus keeps scattering seed. That's what He does. He gives life.

What I love about Jesus...Why I am blown away by Jesus. Jesus isn't about a beauty contest. He didn't scatter seed only into the beautiful ones who have it all together. His grace is audacious! He reached... He reaches, today, into His bag and scatters seed around every person on this planet. His seed reflects His love. His seed reflects His desire for consummate life for every person that was created by His Hand. He keeps throwing seed, because that's what He does. In Mark 4, Jesus tells the "Genesis" parable. If we don't get this parable, nothing else makes sense. Jesus is scattering life, hope, purpose on every soil. Every one. He watches to see what is happening. What fruit results. But, He scatters seed.. life!

The question for me is, 'what do I do?' Romans 12.1-2 answers it for me. If Jesus is scattering seed (He is, because that's what He does), then my role is to become.... I am becoming more and more like Him. I am constantly pursuing Him... disciplined in my passion for Him.. studying Him, His purposes, and His ways. I am dying to self daily and coming alive in Him constantly. I am becoming.... That's what I do. I am not conforming any longer to the pattern of this world, but I am being transformed by the renewing of my mind. I am discovering God's perfect, good, pleasing will as I become. I am becoming, because that's what I do. That's the desire of my soul!! He loves for me to become, that's why He scatters seed. He scatters, hoping to find becoming hearts. But, he scatters everywhere, all the time. That's what He does! What do you do?

Jesus is scattering seed. May our lives be lives that reap all of His life! May we become.....Feel free to comment below.

For the Glory,

Mark

Right....

Ian has introduced me to a statement. Actually, I am not sure if its a statement as much as a feeling. "This is right." That's our profound statement. Hey, if you know Ian and me very well, that's about as profound as we get. We throw that statement out rarely because it really is a pretty sacred statement. Do you have those moment when everything is gelling... everything is just coming together.... you are sitting in a beautiful moment... you didn't really see it coming.... it just happened... and you look at one another and say, 'this is right!' All is well with our soul... all is good.... all is from God, for God, and to God and 'wow' does it taste good. That's what it means when we say, "This is right." Okay, so it is a bit profound.

This weekend was 'right.' There was a sense of holy visitation. God felt free to be Himself and pull up a chair in our midst and sit down with us. We had so many chances to park and bow down to Him.... to worship... to remember why we exist... to love Him more deeply... and to come together as a group to do some things that we just cannot do alone. It was right! There were several moments in the service(s) that were just so electric, that I felt a bit like Isaiah... just undone. Not sure what to do with myself. Wanting to love God more deeply. Broken. Loving Him. Begging of Him to make me...to make us, as a movement called Emmanuel, incredibly useful instruments of His grace. It was right!

I am so thankful for this place. I am so thankful that we have staked our lives, our reputations, our hearts and our greatest passions to the cross of Jesus Christ. I am so amazed by His grace. I am so enamored with the fact that we have stepped into this wild, alive story called the Word of God.

The "Genesis" of this whole deal is that we are wild olive shoots (Rom 11.17). We are a people who have been grafted into the kingdom of God with the purpose of wrestling with God. As we wrestle we discover a whole new walk in life... a whole new world view.... a whole new journey found in Him alone. We find, as we wrestle, that we don't really need anything other than Him. We find enough in Christ. As we wrestle we find that we only want to share the 'more than enough' that we have found in Him.

Perhaps the most sacred thing that we, as His people, can do with His sacred text is to wrestle. Perhaps Mark 4.14 is about the logos.. the Word. Perhaps its about the Word coming alive in us. Perhaps its about us wrestling with the Word - the easy, the difficult, the challenging... the living, active, impassioned, untamed, beautiful word of God. May we be known as a people who wrestle with the Word. May we be known as a people who limp... who walk in a new way through this deal called life. May we live madly in love with Christ.

Hey, wild olive shoot, enjoy this week in the Word. Feel free to comment. Beyond that, live wildly!

For the Glory,

Mark

Genesis...

In Mark 4, Jesus is standing in a boat on the banks of a river and He speaks the Genesis - The Tale of where it all begins. He actually explains to the disciples that the 'Word' of God will open eyes that cannot see.... allow the spiritually deaf to hear..... and explode lives by the grace of the living God. Jesus invites a group of people down the 'rabbit hole' of the faith and dares them to plumb the height and depth of the love and grace of Jesus Christ! He whispers to a group of disciples, "do you want in? Do you want to this movement called the Kingdom of God? It's mammoth.... it's life altering.... it's mind blowing... and the seed for this whole colossal deal is the Word of the living God!"

I am driven by a desire that I just cannot resist. I share an insatiable curiosity and a holy dissatisfaction with the norm and it presses me to abandon restraint. I am not sure that I even have an option to stay in a 'normal faith' or a 'safe life'. I want to constantly awaken to the Kingdom of God.... I want to see the unseen... to hear the anthem of the King of Glory... I want to plumb the depths of His grace.... I want Jesus Christ!

So, if there are a few of us who long for something this radical, Jesus paves the way to gain a deeper passion for His Kingdom. He says, in Mark 4, that the Truth is the beginning. The Kingdom of God is conceived by the planting of seed. The seed is the Word (Mk 4.14). If you or I get the start wrong, all that follows is wrong as well. Concerning the Kingdom of God... the mysterious, unseen, unheard - our expectations, hope, and faith are directly linked to our passion for, study of, and eyes wide open to God's Word. If I don't begin with the Word, then I am blown around by the best that I have to offer... my best thoughts or considerations in the moment. I want more than my best thought! Jesus is pretty passionate about the idea of being saturated by His Word!

To plant the Kingdom of God and see it grow and bear fruit, two things are absolute; the good soil of our lives and the good seed of God's Word. This simple necessity is from God and its true. Unchanging. To see the life of the Kingdom of God germinate, grow, and bear fruit, then God's Word must abound and it must penetrate deeply into our core. If I do not plant the seed, I will not grow and I will not see the fruit of God's harvest. It's that simple.

I want to change the world! I want to hear, see, comprehend, and bask in God's grace. I must devour His truth..... His Word. I must rest in Him... Read large chunks of His truth... Put His truth into practice... Memorize massive sections..... I must fall in love with Him. It seems that loving Him and allowing Him to roam freely is directly correlated to His Word.

May the Word of Christ dwell in us richly! May we be well-known as lovers of the Word!!

Enjoy today. Enjoy Him. Enjoy His Word! Feel free to click on comment below and enter the conversation.

For the Glory,

Mark