Changed

This past Sunday, we ended our series called "changed" on Sunday nights at [lit], our youth worship experience for grades 6th - 12th. This was our last message series for 2013 and by coincidence  tied in many of the the other series we did this past year, like Greater Things and Extraordinary from January and February, Rich from March, Collide from our summer Beach Retreat and Who Do You Say That I Am from September.

When I was sitting in the funeral service for a good friend of mine in October, I knew that many hearts were stirred to change. Many would want to make a difference in the lives of others as my friend Ken had done, just about every day of his life. But a thought hit me as I sat there, fighting back the tears and emotions; would any of us really change? I knew his wife and children would, how could their lives not change. But for the rest of us, those of us who think about doing good and helpful things, but ted to get busy...would we start to act upon these thoughts as Ken lived out before each of us that knew him.

I wanted to believe so, but.....2 or 3 days later, I had already missed a few opportunities and 2 or 3 weeks later, I had missed 50-60 opportunities. This is where the "changed" idea hit me. Is it the big moment that brings change in our lives or is it really the small, everyday steps along the way that bring change?

What else brings change? That was a question I started asking and I came up with some props on the stage to represent a visual of change....

 

Each of these represent change in some way. Like the picture from the very top, lights need to be changed when one blows out...The creepy stryrofoam head represent the changing of hair styles, when we grow tired or bored of the one we have now....the art picture represent change because it's an original. Anything added to it would change the original work and alter it from it's original state....the tire, should be self explanatory, but for those who have never changed a tire, it represents the idea that we change these when they are worn out or when they blow....the changed shirt represents that we change clothes (some of us often and some not often enough, ha!).

I wanted to create a visual that left the students thinking about change in their own lives. I also started 'lesson card," not just for the sake of the student but for me in my preparation as well. They really helped me prepare throughout the week as I created these to hand out. Each student who attended, walked away with a decorative card with a bible passage and the 3-4 main points of the lesson.

 

Lesson 1 dealt with sanctification and how change is a process, not just a one time thing...even though the one time, big moment created the change...it's the process that moves the change forward. In this change, our hearts and minds and changed more towards what God loves, how God see's and less of what we want to love and see. Basically, it's more of God and less of me...day by day. We often leave the day by day part out but that's literally what it is, the successes and failures, each moment, drawing us closer to His heart.

Lesson 2 dealt with transformation and what it meant to be changed by the renewing of our minds...an internal change. Often, we have learned behavior modification, how to behave depending on the surroundings we are in, and that type of change is shallow and ultimately dangerous because it creates in us the theory of being a mile wide and only an inch deep. The analogy I used was from a TV show I happened to catch on the Velocity channel...I never watch TV and this was the perfect show for me to watch, 3 days before this lesson. The objective was to restore a Model A 1931 Ford and the guy didn't have enough money to fix what truly needed fixing on it, so he just wanted the exterior to look good and for it to be in driving condition when he came to pick it up. All was going well until they reached the frame of the car. it was the original frame and it looked awful. There was a fear that if they allowed him to drive off in this condition, it could fall apart after the first turn and the whole car would fall apart. After refusing to test it, they finally gave it a shot with a sledgehammer and after hitting all 4 corners, the frame busted apart and fell to the floor in pieces. What they learned was this, "you can't put lipstick on a pig." Even if the exterior looks great, if the interior is busted up, the whole thing would fall apart. If the frame is damaged, the whole vehicle is damaged, even if no one can see it. That's exactly what is dangerous about behavior modification....the outer actions might look ok, but the inner desires of the heart and beliefs will destroy the whole thing when we try to turn a corner because it can't hold up under the problems we have created.

Lesson 3 dealt with follow and this was simply based around the life of Peter. When Jesus met Peter, Jesus was a Rabbi and Peter, a fisherman. Jesus pursued Peter in a few ways and then after He was done teaching and after Peter was finished emptying his nets, there was an offer to follow. Do you think Peter fully understood what he was doing when he decided to leave the family business behind and follow Jesus. the scriptures don't tell us exactly but you can gather from a few stories along the way that Peter was struggling to put it all together, until there was that one moment when Jesus asked Peter, who do others say I am, and after answering Jesus made it more personal...""what about you? Who do you say I am?" Peter respond, "The Messiah, the son of God!" Wow, what happened in the life of Peter for him to realize this; he was changed? Not in a once and for all moment, but gradually, along the way....step by step. We ended with this idea, the calling of Nathaniel. Nathaniel was a non believer until Jesus kinda did a cool trick and blew Nathaniel's mind, then he was a believer and Jesus said, "if you think that was something cool, I will show you much greater things than this." The journey has purpose. This changed life is moment by moment, step by step, with a greater purpose than us at the center....it's God centered and our lives are being changed into His image more and more everyday, if we are stepping with purpose.

God gets the glory in this change! It's God, at the center of it all, step by step, day by day, moment by moment. Praise God for the journey, the ups and downs, the failures and successes because it all of these that when added up, over time, looking back, we can see...as Peter did, wow, I have changed!

Collector of People

I heard something the other day at the funeral for my good friend, Ken Moore, that has echoed in my head for the last 3 days now! I can not get this out of my head and I had to turn to my online journal to try and make sense of this analogy! 

As many of you know, I am an analogy person! I love a good, relatable situation or story, when explaining something that is, well....unexplainable. I have had a few people ask me, who was this guy Ken? I posted a journal thought a few days ago about who Ken Moore was to me, but this analogy was the greatest explaination of who he was and who anyone like this is.

I'll start it off this way, I used to be an avid collector of baseball cards, basketball cards and football cards! Avid might be an understatement...I have a closet in my office that won't hold them all...it's quite ridiculous, looking at a closet, jam packed with notebooks and boxes of cards and then sitting outside of the closet are 7 more boxes of cards! 

I have some valuable cards in the mix, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Walter Payton, Michael Jordan, Kobe, Peyton Manning, etc...and then I also have my autograph collection in those boxes as well....over 500 autographs and memorabilia....with no where to go. 

At one point, back around 8-13 years old, I could tell you everything about each one of those players, based upon the information given on the backs of those cards. Where they were born, what they weighed and what their batting and slugging percentages were in any given year. The statistics were memorized, because they were fascinating to me. I no longer hold that kinda info on these players, but at one time, it had become more than a hobby, it was a lifestyle! I loved everything about the hobby!

Fast forward to Wednesday afternoon, while sitting in the service for Ken Moore, I was heartbroken, red eyed from crying and emotionally, a wreck! Story after story, had me laughing and crying again, all in the same moment. I was reflecting on what an amazing friend I had lost and what a amazing person this world just lost! 

When it was time for Ken's sister to speak, she filled in all of the old details that he had talked about, many times. The stories he had told me, were all true. And then, as she was explaining her brother, she said this, "you know how people collect things....stamps, cards, etc....Ken was a collector of people." And my heart became flooded with emotion because I had never heard a more truthful, fitting analogy of a person, in my entire life! Ken Moore was a collector of people, completely! It wasn't just a hobby, it was how he lived...his lifestyle! 

Collecting people? Doesn't that sound weird or morbid, kinda? Not if you know someone like Ken! This guy never forgot a detail, a name, a face, nothing!!!! He had memorized the backs of each persons card that he met! I once stole his phone, to see if he had some sort of note system in his database somewhere, and of coarse he didn't! It didn't need to be written down, because it was not a hobby to Ken! It was how he truly lived! 

I knew him to be that way with me and the people around him that I knew as mutual friends, but his wife shared a few stories with me after the funeral that just astounded me and made this "people collector" analogy even more concrete in my head...

As they were trying to contact people to let them know about his passing, they started to comb through his phone and call the people that didn't live nearby. What they found was an extensive phone book of contacts, people that his wife had no idea he was keeping up with...like the people in their old neighborhood in Virginia and most interestingly, the couple that they had gone out with on a double date, 30 years ago, before being married...Ken was still in active communication with them over the years!

This is not learned y'all, this is a way of living, truly caring about each person you ever come in contact with and making them feel important because you hold their friendship or acquaintance in high value to keep in contact with them. Ken, knew the details of each person he met. It's like the back of a baseball card....not just the team they were on, but where they were born, what they liked and didn't like, where they had lived, what their struggles and joys were about. 

That's as real as real can get! That's genuine friendship....listening, not just talking....which is mind blowing to me because Ken was a talker! He carried every conversation and told story after story! An active listener and talker! That is rare my friends! I can only think of one person in history, who was like that....His name was Jesus! Jesus made people feel welcome, he made them feel like they all mattered equally, he listened and spoke! Attentive ears and powerful words that followed!!

Christ embodied for us, who we are to be to the world around us, His image, to a world in need of mattering to someone! I wish I possessed this gift! I have seen first hand, the life change that comes with treating people in this manner and it is beautiful to watch! 

So, as you and I become more like the image of Christ as we follow Jesus, may it be our prayer that every person that we meet, feels important, connected and loved! Instead of looking at people as projects, let's begin to move away from the hobby of friendship and become more deeply connected to genuine friendship, by collecting people, knowing each with purpose! Not to fulfill anything in us, but to pour ourselves out and fill others! Yes please!