97 Days

At our RightNow Conference last year there was a huge theme to dig deep into the word of God and apply what we read. Matt Chandler even said that if he stuck you with a needle he would want you to bleed Bible! I remember going away with a renewed passion to read my Bible more. That passion stuck as the months went by and about 100 days ago I decided I would read the entire Bible before this year's conference. I figured out that if I read for 30 minutes a day I could get it done. And to add some accountability I decided to take on a Nazarite vow and not cut my hair. I hate long hair - so this was some serious incentive to get in the word!

Ninety-seven days later I finished! Reading the Bible for 30 minutes each day was a wonderful experience. Here are a few of my big takeaways:

• The Old Testament is all about our faith in God expressed through obedience and marked by being set apart for God. Almighty God asked Israel to do things that demonstrated their faith and obedience in Him.
• The New Testament is all about our faith in God expressed by loving one another. Jesus came and changed everything by establishing a kingdom built on love.
• The whole Bible is an amazing story where God chooses His people and His people have the wonderful opportunity to glorify Him through faith and obedience expressed in love.
• Jesus Christ is the savior of the world! And I love Him deeply - more than words can express!
  
• And... I'm convinced that all good mafia movies were inspired by the Old Testament - those are some seriously epic stories - and even though I knew the outcome there were nights where I simply couldn't put it down. Cain & Abel, Abraham, Jacob & Esau, Joseph (love me some Joseph), David and the list goes on...

What a great 97 days!
And Robin is very happy that I got my hair cut on day 98!

The Champs

LSU won the National Championship in baseball tonight defeating the Texas Longhorns. This was the Tigers 6th National Championship in the last 19 years - they are clearly the most dominant baseball team in my lifetime! I was actually at their first championship in 1991. My high school team won the state championship two weeks earlier and was invited to play in the College World Series High School Tournament. We finished third in the tourney and got to go the the National Championship game with LSU beating Wichita State.

I was able to go to one LSU game this season at their new stadium and it was a blast! LSU baseball is known for their amazing fans and their unique style of play coined Geaux-rilla Ball because they absolutely smash the ball aruond the ball park. Tonight was no different as football player Jared Mitchell began the rout in the first inning with a 3 run homer. Way to Geaux Tigers!

Mitchell celebrating his first inning HR

Stop the Madness

I was walking by Lonnie's office today and it looks like he has taken his affection for Matt Chandler to an uncomfortable level...

Marraige Advice

A group of guys at church have been working at being more intentional with our marriages. One of the lessons we have learned early on is that the point of being intentional in our marriages isn't to change our spouses hearts – it’s to change our hearts.

God wants to get you to a place where He can use you. So let me ask you a few questions about your relationship with God before we get into your relationship with your spouse.

• What kind of encouragement do you have from being united with Christ?
• In what ways do you experience comfort from his love?
• What does it mean to you to have fellowship with the Spirit?
• Do you ever feel compassion? How?
  

Our marriages depend on our relationship to God. If we truly believe that our relationship to God is a good thing in our lives, then we will strive to:

• be like-minded
• have the same love
• be one in spirit and purpose
• do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit
• in humility consider others better than yourselves
• look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others
  

Think about Christ Jesus himself. He was God, but He didn’t use that to His advantage! He made himself worth nothing – He even acted as a servant. He was a mere man and obeyed Father God even to the point of death. And what did the Father God do to Christ Jesus?

He exalted Him above all else! And one day every single person on this planet will bow their knees and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!

So imagine what Father God will do for your marriage when you stop trying to change your spouse, but instead – by faith – start to love your spouse. What would God do with someone who did nothing out of selfish ambition or vein conceit? How would God use the man or women who decided to consider others better than themselves?

Stop trying to change your spouse… change yourself. Stop talking bad about your spouse, build him or her up. Love God… and watch Him work!

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Phil 2:1-11

This Day in History

On this day in history my high school won a state championship in baseball, defeating our league rival Smoky Hill 8-0.

Can you guess what year this was?

Can you find me in the pic?

Fast of Self

A friend of mine told me about a fast that he was doing with a bunch of people. He said that when you think about it we all give ourselves to one of three things each day: Ourselves, Others or God. So he decided to go on a 21 day fast of himself! He said for 21 days he is going to make decisions based on what God wants and what others need.

I met him for lunch on day 4 and he was totally psyched up about it, plus - he bought my lunch! So the moral of the story is... find people who are fasting from themselves and go to lunch with them. Kidding. The truth is that I am challenged by this big time. I know that fasting of myself would be great for me and everyone around me.

I'm praying for the courage to start this fast.

Victory

A great friend of mine just came into my office with his college diploma in hand. This is a big deal because he has been working on his degree for several years. The reason why it took him so long to get his diploma has nothing to do with his work ethic or intelligence.

My friend had a problem with credit card debt. In his words, "while most men struggle with porn addictions, my addiction has been credit card debt." Several years ago he discovered that his vice was actually an addiction and he began the road to recovery and freedom from the bondage of credit card debt.

His diploma is more than monumental. It's true that it took a ton of discipline for him to pay for school while raising a family, working a job, and living in a culture that always tells you to buy the next new thing. But this is victory - because his testimony is that the grace of Christ gave him the strength to say no to his fleshly desires and yes to what he knew was right. Victory!

Robyn Mac on the News!

Robyn, Macy & Mallory's school was featured on our Dallas news station as "Hometown Heroes." Robyn is in charge of Rachel's Challenge at her school where the students are carrying on the legacy of Rachel Scott - the first student killed at Columbine High School during the shootings. Rachel was a Christian who believed that she could personally start a chain reaction of kindness and compassion to spread the love of Christ. Robyn and her students have had more than 100,000 documented actions of kindness and compassion this year and will hold a rally with more than 10,000 people on Thursday.

You can watch the story here.

I am very proud of Robyn for being such an awesome example of someone on mission for Christ and using their faith with whatever platform God gives them!

Mother's Day E Cards

Mother's Day E Cards from DaySpring starring Robyn Mac & Mallory Mac!

Follow this link and then click on the video entitled: Mom's Little Helper

Learning About Love

Let me make a bold statement: God is love, and anyone who doesn’t love others has never known him.

Do you believe that God is love? How do you know? Do you think that anyone who doesn’t love others has never known God? … Ouch! What does it mean to love others?

What if I were to tell you that God showed you his love went he sent his only Son into the world to give you life? Would that answer your question about God being love? He exchanged his son for you. Sounds like he loves you, but maybe not his Son? I think our problem is that we don’t understand what real love is. We think that we can get love apart from God. Real love isn’t our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven.

I think the point here is that God loved us this much - so we must love each other. And if we do love each other, then we will actually be demonstrating real love – the kind that our world is longing to see. But don’t take my word for it…

“God is love, and anyone who doesn’t love others has never known him. God showed his love for us when he sent his only Son into the world to give us life. Real love isn’t our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven. Dear friends, since God loved us this much, we must love each other.”

1 John 4:8-11

It is because of your faith that you are healed – Jesus

It is because of your faith that you are healed – Jesus

That’s the subject of an email I received from a great friend yesterday morning. His brother-in-law, Bubba, had a freak accident on Thursday night where his Father accidentally hit him with his truck while they were working on installing a basketball goal at their house. Thank God that his 3 year old son – who was standing next Bubba was unharmed. Bubba got pinned against the house by the truck and had to be care-flighted to the nearest hospital. The Doctors quickly diagnosed that Bubba was fighting for his life and was likely to lose his leg.

After a surgical procedure in the middle of the night the Doctors determined that there was a small pulse in Bubba’s foot, but that his muscle tissue was dead. They would operate on Sunday morning – the chances of survival were growing, but losing his leg was a definite.

I had my phone with my while I listened to the message at church on Sunday morning. I saw an incoming call from my friend and then a text message that simply read: “check your email.” I looked at the email and read the following:

It is because of your faith that you are healed - Jesus

The doctors were stunned this morning during surgery that the "dead" tissue was in fact ALIVE this morning!!!!! And attached to the bones! This is huge news.

My sister broke down at the news. The Doctor is trying to find a clinical reason - there is no reason!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, praise the Lord!

I showed Robin the email and I couldn’t help but start crying as I read this news. Which was kind of funny because our message was on fasting and I’m sure the people around me were wondering why I would be losing it over a message on fasting!

I love my friends response to Jesus healing his brother-in-law: Thank you, thank you, thank you, praise the Lord! My friend understands that just because we pray for God’s healing, doesn’t mean we will see it. I think that’s why his response is so precious to me – because it’s so genuine.

Miracles do happen. God is at work. Rejoice and give Him glory!

Coming Out of the Closet

It has been a long time since I have blogged because I have been going through a traumatic experience. This has really been a life long issue for me, but I have been trying to ignore it for the last few years. But the tension in my soul over the last few months has been unbearable. This will come as a shock to many, but to those who know me best I suppose you have always known. And I feel like this is the time for me to let the whole world know, because of the urgency of the matter...

I am a Detroit Lions fan

Billy Simms... Anthony Carter... Rodney Peete... Barry Sanders - these were my heroes growing up. I love the Lions! I even like the stupid teeth they just added to the logo. But it is time for me to speak my mind because tomorrow my beloved Lions may draft Matthew Stafford with the number one pick of the draft. Now Mr Stafford is indeed a fine young man, but it is my belief that drafting him will set the Lions organization back another 5 years... and put me back in the closet! So I'm hoping my drastic announcement will catch the attention of the Lions front office and cause them to do the right thing... draft the Baylor Bear!