Who the Smack Am I?

Today I am sharing a note I sent out to our leaders at Life at the Ridge. I felt the need to be honest about one of my struggles as well as the work Jesus has been doing in me. I hope you are encouraged and find it useful.

JOSH

Good morning leaders! I have to be honest, I am loving this brisk and beautiful November morning. I hope that I grab enough vitamin d today to last for the upcoming 8-10 days of rain.

Now for the meat and potatoes.

This week I want to address the issue of identity and value. This is something that I have struggled with for some time. This year, within the context of deep friendship with high accountability, has brought this to the surface in my life. I am thankful for the close friends who have challenged me. So I would ask you to follow me as I follow Christ in this area.

The enemy has a pretty decent two stage plan that he uses on most of us in order to throw off our identity and value system.

#1 - He will get you to re-define the source of identity and value.
#2 - He will do his best to get you to measure yourself against these alternative standards.

First, we don't have to think very long about how this plays out. If I believe that my identity and value are found in my career, my possessions and relationships then I will give my heart fully to these things in order to be identified with success, wealth and popularity. The very talents, gifts and relationships that Jesus intended for his mission get redirected for selfish gain. Our culture has a pretty ridiculous standard in each of these areas as well and, at least in our culture, we identify people who excel in those three areas as having more value.

Secondly, the big problem with this value system substitution is that with success in these areas we become proud (the self-made person) and when we fail we becoming discouraged and devalued (a failure and worthless).

Maybe you don't struggle with money, success or people issues. Maybe your struggle is trying to find value by being in a role of leadership. In your mind, leaders are more valuable than followers. Maybe your struggle isn't with leadership, but with service. The more you serve, the more valuable you feel and so you serve yourself to death.

Whatever it may be that has clouded your value system, when we substitute Jesus' opinion of us with ANYTHING else, we get jacked up and our sense of value goes out the window. Our value/identity compass loses its true north and leads us further and further from our intended destination of intimacy with Jesus and effectiveness in His mission.

If you go back to the very beginning of scripture we get our first sense of identity and value.

In Genesis one we see God create man. From this text we learn a very important lesson. Above all else, you are God's creation. Scripture goes on to say things like this;
"For we are God's handiwork..." Ephesians 2:10
"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved..." Colossians 3:12
"to all who believed in His name, he gave the right to become children of God..." John 1:12

He created you, hand crafted you, adopted you and deeply loves you. MAN!!!!

This is the very top of the tip of the iceberg as far as God's love and opinion of you go.

I have a attached a document which was given to me by my friend Rick. It is a list of thoughts from scripture about who we are in Jesus. I encourage you to print this out or keep it on your computer desktop and look over it daily. Choose a few that deeply resonate with you and commit them to memory. If there is a lie you have been believing about yourself then choose a few points that counter that lie with truth and commit them to memory. In the armor of God found in Ephesians we see scripture as our offensive weapon. Put your faith in Jesus, which sheilds you from the lies and then get aggressive, go William Wallace on the enemy with your sword. Memorize those scriptures and use them against the lies. Positive self talk can pep me up, but nothing delivers crushing blows to the enemy like scripture. Get serious and get tough.

We all look to Jesus as the source of our hope for salvation. But do we all look to Jesus as the source of our identity and value? I pray that the work you do, the people that are in your life and every other thing you invest yourself in will be enriched greatly as you rest in Jesus love and plan for you.

And never forget, JESUS IS LORD!

Love serving with you!
Josh

The Document from Rick

Lessons From the Summit - Trust

I learned a lot on my trek to the highest point in this corner of the U.S.  I am going to take a few posts to share some of those thoughts and hopefully inspire you to take some new steps.

The alarm goes off at 10:30 PM. Our goal was to be leaving camp and starting our push to the summit somewhere around 11.  We went to bed close to 6pm and after hours of restless and sporadic sleep I had finally fallen hard only to be jolted awake by my watch alarm.  Once out of bed and dressed I found my place on the rope, strapped on my crampons and started fixing my prussic lines to the rope. 

Everything I had worked toward was right now.   

Just before starting out of base camp Del turned to me and said, "If at any point you feel uncomfortable or unsafe doing something just let me know."

Before I even had a chance to stop myself I said back to him, "Del, I trust you and trust that you will not lead me into something you don't believe I can do.  I have already told myself I will try anything you lead me too."

 

I don't know if you are aware of the dangers of glacier travel but there are some big holes and in the middle of the night they become more ominous and ambiguous.  I don't think I realized what I was saying.  But with every ounce of me, I meant it. 

Later as I was sitting on the summit I remembered that short conversation and realized how significant it was. 

TRUST is HUGE. 

People follow when they trust those who lead. 

As church planters, pastors, entrepreneurs, friends and family members we ask people to trust us with a great deal.  We ask for their money.  We ask for their support.  We ask for some of their flock.  We ask for time, which is the measurement of life.  I have a finite measurement of time on this planet and you do as well.   And the people we lead only have so much.  Of all the resources we have at our disposal, time may be the most valuable. 

And we ask for a lot of it.

 

The question is...

Can people trust us with what is most valuable?

Can they trust our motives?  Can they trust that we have our eyes fixed on Jesus just as we teach them to fix their eyes on Jesus?  Can they trust our authenticity?  Can they trust that when we make mistakes, which we do, that we will be honest with them?

Trust is the foundation of true relationship.

 

On that mountain, at that moment I was not only telling Del that I think he has good judgement, I was telling him that I trust that he will do his best to get me back to my wife and daughter alive.  I was literally saying, "I trust you with my life."  To be honest, I have not yet fully unpacked all of this, but you get what I was hit with as I laid on my pack, breathing hard and waiting to descend back into thick air.

 

When people trust you, they will follow you.

Plan to Plan

I have to plan to plan.  

I blocked out this afternoon solely to plan. 

I am excited to see plans move to execution.  

New Team

So I get a text from a buddy of mine the other morning something like this, "lunch today?". It is not totally unlike him to shoot me a message like this, but it still got my wheels turning, wondering what was up.

Turns out he is leading a team in our church planting department which will meet with potential church planters, and based on their assessment results, interviews and other information will either give them a green light (proceed with training and planning), a yellow light (possibly not ready yet or proceed with planning under conditions) or a red light (you are not church planter material).

Well, you guessed it, he invited me to join this team.

I am looking forward to serving in this capacity, although I know there are some who desire to plant churches who should be told no. I will let you know how that goes when we get there.