Sequoia sits by my feet and chews a squeaky toy, Linnea is talking on the phone…I just made eye contact with her and she took the conversation out into the hall. Good now I can focus on what I want to type here, somehow between this sentence and the end of this blog I want to get to PRIORITIES (you know, like loving my wife over anything else I am doing, such as typing. I am such a hypocrite). I guess I will see how my fingers get there.
I am sitting here drinking a beer by the Dogfish Head Brewing Company, a peach beer, tastes pretty interesting and I am thinking that it has been a great 3 days since my last blog. The Patriots went to 17-0 Saturday night. I played some ‘football’ and ran with the dog before the game. Watched the game with good friends.
On Sunday we ‘had church’. The name of the ‘sermon’ was “What’s in a name?”. This was a prelude to discussion about our church changing its name from “First Baptist Church, Wilmington” to “Abundant Life Christian Center”. I personally love the name change, for a number of reasons.
Reason number one: the old name was…OLD. Change for the sake of change was good here. We are no longer what the old name represented, the organ and dour stuff went out years ago. It has been a tough transition, especially for the leadership of our church, really tough on the long term pastor, Ron Grimley, who baptized me when I was 16.
Reason number two: the new name represents who we are and where we are going. I am excited about being a part of this and a part of the vision of our pastors, even though I am always wanting stuff to go faster, they have been wise about the pace of change.
Abundant Life Christian Center. The name says it, we have a church, a learning center and a school and in the community the church is the least known.
Abundant Life. That is what Jesus came to bring, to show us, to teach us. Jesus did not come to make us Baptists or any other denomination…we are all co heirs with him, we all have the same Father, and Jesus came to show us the way, to include everyone that had been excluded. Jesus came for the ones that were rejected by the religious and powerful of that time, of all times. Jesus had an inclusive message, not an exclusive one.
What is Abundant Life? I have heard it said, “where is this abundant life I was promised?”. Jesus came to change our focus, Jesus changes our PARADIGM. The abundant life is not about huge plasma TV’s or huge SUV’s. Jesus didn’t come to enlarge our personal kingdoms, the kingdoms of our egos. Jesus came to show a new way.
The abundant life is what I have right now as I type, even though Linnea and I are waiting until I am done with this to start ‘date night’. I have a great dog laying at my feet. I have a wonderful wife. I have a loving family and so many great friends. That is the beginning of the abundant life.
The abundant life is evident when we open our eyes and choose life. We choose joy, we choose to be greatful, to count our blessings. We choose to love others and sacrifice our time and energy for others. When we are full of the Holy Spirit and love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control are our focus…this is the abundant life.
I have seen people with great careers who are miserable, depressed, bored…losing sleep at night and cheating on their wives. I have seen people living the high life and it all comes crashing down (see Alpha and Omega jewelry stores, I know one of the owners personally…or did know him).
I asked Linnea what her level of happiness was on a scale of 1-10. She answered “7”. I feel like I am at an 8 or 8.5. But we are unemployed, we live in a bedroom at my parent’s house, it isn’t easy on the ego. We are happy because this year we learned what it meant to choose our attitude. To trust God. To hope. To honestly find joy in any situation. It is true that things could always be better, and that will never change, but it is also true that things could be much worse. And we have seen people in much worse situations choose joy. We have seen people praising God while their baby is close to death, while they haven’t eaten in days.
Well, I am not going to make Linnea wait any longer…I have made my point, I think. The abundant life exists where Jesus said it does. In him and in having the same priorities he did (and his priorities seemed to really upset some of the religious around him, huh?)
