"Authenticity" Eroding Effort

You will never do anything of significance with your life that won't require you to engage in activities that feel insignificant while you are doing them.

If you are only willing to do that which 'feels' significant, which 'feels' valuable, or which naturally flows out of the core of your being, you will never go anywhere, much less to those places you dream about.  The feelings you have when dreaming are not the same feelings you will have when working to accomplish your dreams.  Fantasizing about a faraway land is not the same thing as journeying there.  If you are not willing to labor in the journey, you will not accomplish the dream.

Failure

Fear of failure leads to an inability to learn and grow.  A prerequisite for discipleship, on the other hand, is the acknowledgement that we are in need of help from Jesus to become fully functioning human beings.  Even more so, when we step into ministry leadership, we must be willing to embrace failure as a necessary part of the process.

As Christians and as leaders we should be constantly seeking to grow and improve, not out of some sick sense of God's displeasure, but quite the opposite, out of the knowledge that God is completely for us.  In our society there are certain people we allow to see our weaknesses, foibles, and failures.  They are our coaches, our doctors, our psychologists, our lawyers, our accountants, our personal trainers, or our beauticians.  We let them see our failures because we know that they have a vested interest in our success, they only succeed as our coach, if we succeed in the athletic arena.

For some reason, however, we balk at bringing that same level of vulnerability into the church.  I believe that God wants us to know His deep and abiding pleasure and affirmation, precisely so that we can then enter into the process of receiving and responding to His discipline and training!

This is practical for us!  Will we respond to our present efforts with an ever watchful posture of growth and improvement?  Or will we respond to our present efforts by defensively maintaining the status quo?

I believe that God has a future for us as a church that is much more glorious than anything we have ever seen!  We must be willing to embrace failure, however, if we are going to see that glorious future.  Below is a TED talk and a short article that I found encouraging on this topic:

Forbes Article on the Importance of Failure in the Marketplace

What is Kingdom Ministry?

Basic Kingdom Definition:

Allegiance to Jesus: the Rule of Heaven: Discipleship

Kingdom Ministry Defined:

Doing, and teaching others to do, the following:

1) Communion with God

2) Communion with God's People

3) Inviting Outsiders into the Kingdom

4) Liberating People from the Satanic Kingdom

5) Confronting Systems of Injustice

6) Kingdom Purpose versus Organizational Purpose

7) Collaboration with other Kingdom Ministries

Chili Recipe

Sometimes this works out well, and sometimes not so much.  I think I made my best batch ever, and my worst batch ever, in the last month.  So I finally decided that it was time to start doing something I hate…

…using measuring cups and following directions!

This is the recipe I used, but there are a few changes I would make to it.  It was a little too sweet, so less molasses next time, and I will probably add a bit more chili powder and cumin, and cut back a little on paprika, carrots, and celery…  I would also like it just a little thicker, so maybe a little more tomato paste, or some cornstarch.

Soak the following in water for 24 hours:

8 oz pinto beans (dry)
8 oz black beans (dry)
8 oz kidney beans (dry)
8 oz red beans (dry)

Then bring to a boil and then simmer til soft (this took a good chunk of the day).  Make sure to check all of the different beans, some cook more quickly than others.

Next add the following, in this order:

5 large carrots (food processor)
6 large celery stalks (food processor)
3 medium green bell peppers (food processor)
2 large onions (chopped)
5 large bay leaves

Then add 3 lbs. of ground beef, stirring it up into small chunks until browned.

Add the following:

28 oz tomato sauce (can)
28 oz diced tomatoes (can)
32 oz corn (can)
12 oz tomato paste (can)

3/4 oz chili powder
3/8 oz cumin
3/8 oz paprika
3/8 oz oregano
1/4 oz black pepper
1/2 oz salt
6 oz molasses
5 large garlic cloves (pressed)