Mark's Journey

30-day money challenge

Take a 30-day challenge of saving a few bucks and then be generous and give some money away to someone in need.

• Make coffee at home instead of buying it at a coffee shop
• Don't eat out
• Sell something you never use
• Play games instead of renting or going to a movie
• Turn down your furnace, take quick showers, turn off more lights.
• Cancel a service you can live with out...cell phone feature, cable, internet, etc.
• Drive less or share rides
• Eat up all of the food in your house before you go shopping

Any other ideas?

Enough

Sunday, Matt talked about money.  There are lots of angles and ways to come at it.  But here is something I am thinking about...

When do I say "enough"?  Is there a certain about of stuff or things or money that I can get and then say "I have enough"?  Whatever that amount is, enough is still probably too much.  Think of it like this...An "Enough Bar Graph".  If I have a graph that shows an increase in money and amount of stuff I have and eventually it hits a line that says, "OK stop...you have enough"...I think that bar it too high.  I need to lower the Enough Bar...the amount that we think we have enough.  Because the problem is that I keep raising that bar or I feel like I never get there.  And when we say, "I will give when I have more, or I have enough" we will never give.

Generousity is not something we do when we have enough or are in plenty.

So how can we lower our Enough Bar?  Maybe we could think...less and less is enough.  Living with less so others can have more.  In other words, maybe we constantly ask, "how can we live with less and less for ourselves."  How can we lower our Enough Bar?

Ezekiel

I have been reading the book of Ezekiel in the Bible.  Today I read chapter 5 and the one thing I came away with was that God hates sin more than me.  He won't tolerate it, he avoids it, he says there is punishment for it, and he rejects it as a way for living.

Even though I'd say that I hate sin, I don't think I hate it as much as God does.  At times, I will be willing to tolerate it, compromise, or let occasional sin find its way in and around me.  God will deal with sin in a serious way, but I won't always do that.

So the question...what sin do you (and I) say is OK, or we justify.  What do we say "well, we're just not as bad as ___________ "  What are will willing to tolerate?

I hate it that I don't hate sin enough, or as much as God.

Sunday Stuff

• I thought Matt did a great job speaking today.
• My Bears finally won again.
• Sorry Lions
• I had a great time with my parents this weekend.  They go home back to Illinois tomorrow.
• My son, Jacob, starts drivers ed tomorrow!  Yikes!
• Can we set our clocks back one hour every Saturday?
• I am looking at some ways to help people connect and how we continue to be a church that is about relationships even when we continue to grow and get larger.
• I thought the band did pretty well today.
• It was good to see Virginia back at church.

Great Night

Last night our neighborhood had a cul-de-sac party before trick-or-treating.  Everyone gathered in someone's driveway/garage around a fire to keep warm.  They had some grilled hotdogs and each family brought food to share.  I love my neighborhood.  We have great neighbors and people help each other out when needed.  Since we moved here about 18 months ago, it has been fun getting to know people and their stories.  It seems a pretty unique neighborhood in that aspect.  You don't hear about many other neighborhood like this.  Anyone else have a neighborhood like that?

Friday

Stuff I'm thinking about...

• I had a good week of learning.  I have talked to a few people and attended a conference.  Mostly about how to help people connect and take next steps.  There are some good ideas out there and some bad ones.  My next step...sort it all out and implement some good stuff at The Journey.
• My parents are here visiting this weekend.
• Leaves everywhere!
• Jen & I had dinner with some friends at The Station on Tuesday.  The food was so good!  And we are enjoying getting to know these new friends and having fun.
• So when does it stop raining?
• I'm enjoying watching some of the World Series
• Looking forward to the new Skeptic series in November
• And I'm looking forward to hanging out with the neighbors for a block party before trick-or-treating tomorrow night.
• BOO!

Faithfulness

There are all kinds of ways we could be faithful and who we need to be faithful to.  But where does that come from?  When we don't always feel like being faithful, where can we draw strength from to continue in faithfulness?  As Galations 5 says, we get it from Jesus himself.  Why?  Because he was faithful to us.  He modeled faithfulness perfectly.  He obviously experienced and dealt with things that were not always easy, comfortable, enjoyable, and fun.  There were difficult, annoying, tiring, and even painful things that he could have bailed on.  But He remained faithful, relying on His relationship with God the Father.

Kindness & Goodness

This is short and to the point...when we are following Jesus, kindness and goodness goes with it.  Be kind:

• when speaking to others
• when spending time with your kids
• when people around you aren't
• when you are at work and people drive you crazy
• when the person ahead of you is slow (remember patience?)
• when kids come to your house to get candy on Saturday
• in the morning when you are tired

Show goodness:

• by helping someone in need rake leaves
• buying a gas card for someone who is out of work and give it without them knowing
• doing the right thing, every day, over and over
• be a little less selfish today than yesterday
• practice goodness, not to earn God's love, but to show God's love to others

Patience

Ever stand in front of the microwave and yell... "HURRY UP!"?   Ever scream at a slow car in front of you, yell at your kids for being too slow, rush out the door because you are late, borrow money for something because you just can't wait to save money to get it, get mad because you can't lose weight fast enough, think the drive thru is too slow?

Yep!  I have.  We live in a culture that breeds speed and impatience.  We want what we want and we want in now.  We don't want to wait.  So it brings the question, "Is impatience controlling us?  Is is causing us to stress out and miss out on a peaceful, content life?"

So today, pick a challenge to practice patience:

• At the store, find the longest line and go stand in that one
• Allow extra time and walk slowly to something important
• Chew your food
• Drive somewhere 10 mph below the speed limit
• Don't use the microwave for 1 week
• Take 24 hours to reply to an email

You may have other ideas too...so leave them here.  I'd like to hear what you did to practice patience and see how it went...or if you freaked out!

Taking time to learn

Today, I am taking time to do some learning.  I feel that since September 1, I have been going 100 mph and doing a lot of stuff.  Fall is a time to implement a lot of things...especially getting groups going again and helping people think through the serving compenent of groups.  I have spent a lot of time meeting with people, training, and building relationships. But I need to step back and take some time to read and learn to refocus.  I read some blogs today.  Tomorrow I will attend a conference. Next week I have 2 phone conversation/meetings with people from other churches to hear what they are doing and how they are reaching people.

I don't ever want to stop learning.  We have to keep growing, stretching, and learning new ideas and ways to help people take steps with Jesus.