What did you do, yesterday? I took the day off and enjoyed it with family.

There is plenty to do today, but yesterday, I stretched out the last unofficial day of summer, hung out with some of my favorite people, ate some of my favorite food…and spent the day just truly chilling!

But now I get back to work, and I love it. Work is not the curse; working hard with little to show for it is (Genesis 3:17-19) Humans were created for real work…good work…work that reflects God’s creative image. We were put on this earth to work in partnership with God—to create, and cultivate, and even be in control of certain aspects of our environment: All under God’s loving oversight.

Work was a blessing of our existence, something we were meant to enjoy in interconnected and intimate relationship with God. Sin brought all kinds of brokenness, including the painful toil of work that otherwise would have been enjoyable. But Jesus came to redeem us from the curse, and we can get back to the joy of work.

So, when you go back to work today, whether it is work you get paid for, work you volunteer for, or just work that you must do to get by, don’t see it as cursed and dreaded. Look for the creative God-reflecting assignment you can do that uncovers the human being that you are, and not just the human doing!

If you know Jesus, enjoy the work you have been given, no matter how insignificant it may seem, as something that you get to do in partnership with God because His presence lives in you!

A critical spirit will destroy you and others. It manifests in the kind of person who is petty, judgmental, and often bitter. It wants to tear other people down, regardless of their motivation. A person who is overly critical is frequently insecure, pessimistic and spiritually immature. They have a very hard time seeing the good in others, and think of themselves more highly than those they habitually criticize, which is the exact opposite of the attitude that God, in Scripture, calls us to have

Actually, people with a critical spirit are in partnership with the Devil, as he is called “the accuser of Christians” (Rev 12:10) and seeks to “kill, steal, and destroy” people (John 10:10). We are not to give the Devil any place in our lives; I think that goes for people who act as his agents.

On the other hand, I think engaging in critical thinking is really important. This is not in an effort to tear someone down; properly communicated critical thinking can have the opposite impact and actually build someone else up in love. Critical thinking is reflective regarding what is right and wrong, what is good and bad, what to do and not do. In it’s best sense, critical thinking is discernment, which is a mark of wisdom (Proverbs 10:13).

So can you be a critical thinker without having a critical spirit? Yes. But you have to be careful, because the more discerning you are about the ‘rightness’ or ‘wrongness’ of a situation or action, the easier it can be to judge the person performing that action. What allows for critical judgement without a judgmental and critical spirit is love—if you love someone you want to help them grow and mature; if you don’t love them you want to tear them down (or tear down their reputation behind their backs). True love helps us to understand when and how correction is beneficial and when and how it is hurtful and destructive.

“You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother?…let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.” Romans 14:10 & 13

But as much as I’m thankful for the adjunct position (that will just about keep my Starbucks habit funded), I have a question for all those going to college this fall.

Why?

Why are you spending tens of thousands of dollars, and hundreds of hours, on school? Is it because you think that a degree is going to qualify you for your dream job? (Hint: it probably isn’t) Maybe it’s that you are convinced that the College experience is a non-negotiable part of your social and emotional development. (Then maybe you’ve been watching too many movies). Do you feel that College is the best way to learn what you need to know for your life? How do you know that?

I’m not trying to discourage you from College (I have a Masters degree and am on track to start pursuing my Doctorate), but I want you to really determine why you want to fork over $60k, $80k, or even well-over $100,000 at this point in your life for four years of study at the particular institution you want to attend. Some of my most successful friends are well-educated; others of my most successful friends didn’t even finish College (and, some of the latter ones are—gulp—making much more money than the former).

Before you head back to those hallowed halls, ask yourself why you are going, and then don’t let yourself off the hook but force yourself to come up with answers that make sense. Maybe attending that elite school is just the ticket for your future—but maybe throwing yourself into a life experience, a couple of jobs, an internship, a missions encounter or a year or two at community college will help you discover your life path before you make a house-sized investment.  And if you haven’t already, you need to pray about it (and if you have, you need to keep praying).

Ultimately, if you have the capacity for education, I really think you should get it. And I’m certainly not suggesting embracing slacker-hood and waiting around until you figure out the meaning of life. But your educational path may be different than “everybody else”. And from what I’ve seen, some of the more unique pathways (as long as they are also disciplined pathways) produce some of the best and brightest students who go on to really impact the world.

I used to read this passage and think that Shammah, one of David’s 3 mighty men, was also a lentil farmer; that it was his field, and everyone else could run away but he wasn’t going to let the Philistines get his land. Sounds like the Great American Western to me.

But lately, I’ve changed my mind. I don’t think this was Shammah’s field at all. In fact (if he was anything like me) he may not have even known the difference between a lentil and a lima-bean. All we know is that the enemy was on the attack and this beanfield is where he happened to be when it went down. And we know that everyone else ran away, but that Shammah didn’t budge.

I wonder if, when he was fighting the Philistines (quite possibly hundreds of them), Shammah thought to himself, “This certainly isn’t where I planned to go out in a blaze of glory…I’m not even sure who owns this field”. Maybe not, but whatever he did think, whatever questions he might have had about how he got there, he was prepared to go down fighting for the place he discovered himself when the action got underway.

Perhaps you have found yourself in a place that isn’t of your own choosing. You thought (hoped?) you were going to have your defining moment somewhere very different than where you happen to be. And instead of a fortified city with plenty of weapons and your buddies supporting you, you are standing ankle-deep in mud…with a rusty sword…all alone.

Of course, you always have a choice. You can run away. That is exactly what plenty of people did that day. It’s probably even the smart thing to do. Nobody is going to blame you for living to fight another day. After all, it’s just a beanfield, right?

Or you can stand your ground. Who cares if the conditions aren’t perfect? Who cares if it isn’t your beanfield? Who cares if it’s un-glamourous? You’ve found yourself in the middle of something that needs to be done—so do it.

Sometimes, making that choice is the difference between the mighty and everybody else!

One more question: Was Shammah already one of David’s mighty men when he took his stand, or did he become known because he faithfully defended a beanfield that nobody else cared about? I think it’s the latter.

You don’t do mighty things when you become a mighty person, you become known as a mighty person because you do mighty things.

Even mighty things that nobody else (but God) may notice or care about!

When I think about Ezekiel’s time in Israel’s history, it reminds me of our Western culture today. In countless ways, we have become largely post-Christian, with the trappings of our historically dominant religious expression still around (church buildings, organizations, etc…) but with much of the life snuffed out. Here Israel (Judah more specifically) still had the Temple, the Priests and the Elders, but they were fully embracing all kinds of obscene images and wholly giving their lives to man-made things that took the place of God.

But there were a few people who still grieved. Those who were heartbroken at the state of their culture and the shattered lives that surrounded them.

Notice that the people who were marked for God did not self-righteously stand aloof from the sinners, but they were struck with godly sorrow for the devastation they knew this sin would bring. Godly sorrow, we find in 2 Corinthians 7:10 brings repentance that leads to salvation.

I want to sorrow and repent for my own sins first and remember that my sin is as vile and detestable as any sin can be; it’s all a rejection of a loving God and offense to a Holy God. And as I sufficiently understand the depth of my own God-rejection, I also want to have true sorrow and pain over the sin and brokenness around me.

The more I understand what my own sin does to me, the less I want to participate in the sin so evident in my culture—and the more pain I feel for those who are sucked-in and bound by that sin.

I think to be marked by God as someone who can influence culture for Him, I need to more fully understand and deeply feel how the sin in my culture drives people away from Him. And that will drive me to prayer for people in my culture as well as cause me to care enough that I will do all I can to allow God to use me to bring about rescue and release from bondage.

Scandalous? Not really. You see there is this Twitter user who goes by the name “Jesus” and posts messages as if He were the Son of God. It was funny to follow him for a while, but I quickly realized that this Jesus had little to do with the One I’ve been worshiping for almost 40 years.

He was clearly a fake, so I un-followed him.

But how many people think they are really following Jesus when all they are actually doing is  ‘Twitter-following’ Him? They are content to check out (and sometimes re-tweet) pithy, epic, profound or fun statements from or about Jesus. They’re happy to be His followers, as long as they can choose turn Him on or off when they want.

A true follower, however, is someone who listens to everything—all of the time. Jesus even went a step further: He said that whoever wanted to follow Him had to give up everything else in their life. Following Jesus is an all or nothing proposition.

To follow Jesus, you die to yourself and live only for Him. I think if that was the requirement for following someone on Twitter I’d have a lot less followers…and I’d be following a lot less people.

We should stop “following” Jesus and start FOLLOWING Him, instead!

Sending someone across country to pastor a church (like we did 3 weeks ago) can be a clear cause for a real celebration, but what about when someone is feeling led to transition across town to serve another congregation? I think if it is a healthy move, it should be celebrated just as passionately and often just as publicly.

One time we were doing this—publicly praying for and giving a gift to a faithful family that had felt called to transition to another church—and a guy who was new to our church pulled one of our elders aside. “I can’t believe what I just saw”, he said, “we just blessed that family that is going to a church down the street—I’ve never seen that before”.

Sometimes I’ve even wondered if we should throw a combined party every month for the new folks at the church as well as for the ones who are leaving. We could say hello and goodbye (that kind of reminds me of the Hebrew greeting Shalom…and the Hawaiian Aloha!)

I want to always remember that our local church does not exist to build OUR kingdom, but we live to operate in GOD’S Kingdom. It is the Holy Spirit’s job—not mine—to assign people to different parts of the Family. People may seek, and I will give, pastoral wisdom and advice as they consider why, and whether, to go, but in the end, I can’t hold on tightly but should celebrate what the Lord may be doing in them as they look towards a new season of service.

I think it helps our church culture that we rarely talk about people leaving our church; we say we are sending them to serve another congregation. When we talk about godly transition publicly we model what it can look like to go somewhere else for a good purpose, instead of sneaking out the back door for a bad reason. That helps us all keep proper perspective. And it models for others why and how healthy moves can take place.

“You will do well to send them on their way I a manner worthy of God…we ought to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.” (3 John 6 & 8)

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In this place, desolate and without men or animals—in all its towns there will again be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks…flocks will again pass under the hand of the one who counts them, says the Lord.”

…and I started thinking about churches. God’s people have long been called sheep and human leaders of God’s people called shepherds. Jesus called his followers sheep (John 10) and when He assigned Peter to a pastoral role, He told him to “feed my sheep” (John 21). Later, Peter repeated the challenge to local elders: “be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers…being examples to the flock” and he reminds them that the Chief Shepherd (Jesus) will come again soon.

So, we have flocks of sheep—we call them churches. And the argument rages on regarding what size and kind of church is best. Should we have mega-churches, micro-churches or something in between? Maybe we should just have small organic gatherings with loosely based leadership. Video venues. Simple Church. Networked Congregations. There is no shortage of passion or opinion about what is best and what is Biblical.

I’ve either been leading or on staff at churches that literally range from about 10 people to about 10,000. I’ve had a front row seat to the good, the bad, and the ugly. You’d think I’d be cynical after 20 years of this. I’m anything but cynical. In fact, I’m very hopeful.

Big flocks are great. While some people deride the problems of mega-farms (and there is much to be fixed) the reality is that a lot of sheep are raised and fed through ranching systems that keep track and take care of each of many, many sheep. Little flocks are great, too. Small, single-shepherd flocks where every sheep is named and personally cared for by a single shepherd seems like an idyllic reality.

But to say big ranches shouldn’t exist or that little flocks are inherently irrelevant is ludicrous. I’ve heard both sides of the debate: That huge churches are corporate evil or that small house churches are inconsequential. Well, I’d like to suggest that we stop judging flocks in terms of size and start looking at flocks in light of health.

A small, healthy, reproducing flock is an excellent thing that can provide certain benefits that a huge ranch could never touch. On the other hand, a huge, healthy, reproducing flock can also be an excellent thing and as long as the system is never more important than the sheep (or the Chief Shepherd), then it can be a joy to participate in multiple layers of pastoral care and discipleship and worship and fellowship and, yes, outreach.

In other words, I’d like to stop judging our value by size or growth. Our impact is always a direct result of obedience to the Chief Shepherd who primarily cares if His under-shepherds are taking care of and equipping His sheep like He would.

What started out two years ago as a way to kill time during a Thanksgiving break has become a great tool to discipline my thoughts and work on my writing; it’s an outlet for this extroverted introvert to share what I’m learning and thinking with whoever might be interested.

I used to post once every couple of weeks, then it became about once a week, and now my wife and my best friend have challenged me to write a few times a week. So, now, every ‘work’ day, I sit down and search my soul to discover what it might have to say. Sometimes I’m happy with what I write; other times I think what I write is dangerously close to drivel or I question if I’m being too bold or too timid—there are times when I figure nobody but me cares.

Regardless, it has been a healthy practice for me to continue.

However, I do wonder who might also feel that me writing is a good thing. Besides my wife and best friend, and the occasional person who comments on the blog or tells me they read it (oh, and my mom), I have no idea who looks at this blog. I know, I know, there are tech tools out there to track how many clicks you are getting and where they are coming from. But I have a confession: I am technically illiterate. The fact that I figured out how to “design” (and I use that word loosely) and publish this blog is a miracle. I’ve often wondered what I would do if the system crashed or I had to re-do everything. Honestly, I’d have no idea.

So, in a moment of scary personal transparency, I’m going to ask a favor. If you read this blog (yes, that would be you reading this blog right now), could you chime in? All I’m asking for is a quick comment on this post that let’s me know you are looking at this.

Even if there are only a few people I’ll be encouraged to hear from you. Even if there is nobody, I’ll keep writing because it’s good for me…I just want to know if it’s good for you, too.

Oh, and hi, Mom.

However, I have to take exception to his understanding of how corporate culture should simultaneously be defined as both a team and a family: Hsieh clearly states that his company is “both a team and a family.”

As I see it, family and team are two different things. A good team is working hard to get the win, and as part of the very definition of a successful team, anyone who can’t contribute to that win needs to be cut.

On the other hand, you are stuck with family; in a healthy family even the non-contributing members must be unconditionally accepted as a part of the tribe.

A great team will certainly have characteristics of a family, but ultimately the rules that govern the team cannot be the same reality that sustains a family.

At work, we really shouldn’t confuse the two. I may have an authentic family bond with my teammates, but that close relational connection can have nothing to do with my continuing place on the team. Family is about unconditional embrace; team is about the win. When we get those mixed up we end up with either weak teams that lack success or dysfunctional families that require contribution as a condition for ongoing relationship—I don’t want to be a part of either of those.

However, the church exists in an interesting vortex of organizational culture and family dynamics. You may argue that it’s all about family, but if your church consists of more than a couple of dozen people and/or has any staff or leadership, make no mistake: there is organization happening.

Now, as members of the Body of Christ, we all are family. We love each other, and even the person with little organizational purpose or limited potential carries intrinsic value as an integral member of the body (see 1 Corinthians 12).

Still, church leaders must contribute to forward motion. According to what we read in 1 Timothy 3, Overseers are given a task, and they must function in it well. If they can’t handle the requirements of the job, they can’t keep being allowed to do it. That doesn’t mean a leader stops becoming a vital part of the family, but it does mean that they need to step out of their particular role on the team.