Home

Today is my thirtieth birthday. Wow. A whole new decade. I am a rather introspective person and have been spending some time thinking back on my roaring twenties today, and they were packed! In the last ten years: I got married, had four kids, planted fresh life church, snapped my femur in half, launched both the O2 Experience & Skull Church and experienced Christ’s love in major ways. God is good.

I am genuinely thrilled to enter this new season of life. As I read the Bible this morning I saw a thread of major events that took place when people reached this pivotal age.

At 30 Joseph was appointed Prime Minister of Egypt.

And finally Jesus Christ, According to Luke, about age 30 was baptized and began His public ministry.

Seems like a pretty significant age to reach. I have been in pastoral ministry now for over eleven and a half years but I am invigorated to approach this next chapter of life and my calling as though it were day one. I have never been more committed, with my whole soul, to Jesus, to His Word, and to the preaching of the gospel as I am today. I love my family fiercely. And both the team of people I get to serve the Lord with, and the church I have the pleasure of leading are absolutely stellar. I believe the best is yet to come and I will approach each day He gives me as though it were my last.

In awe of Him,

LL

Your commanding officer has an assignment for you today. He has carefully set things up for you to bring Him glory, grow more into His image and show His love to others. I have no idea what He has planned. There could be someone you will talk to that has recently asked God if He is real and you will get to be a tangible expression of His presence. A walking, talking answer to their prayer. Who knows, maybe you’ll be around someone who is lonely and taking the time to give a smile or just one kind sentence could change their whole day. You might get some bad news today or find out that something you’ve had your heart set on is not going to happen and you’ll have the opportunity to flex your faith and move forward anyway.

Whatever it is that awaits you today, in the midst of it all there will be a still small voice in your heart telling you what to do. It might not be an audible voice either. More of a faint impression. A slight tug on the reins of your soul. Perhaps a verse you have read recently or something you heard at church will come to mind. If you sense you are being told to do something that puts someone else’s needs ahead of your own or urges you to worship God even in the midst of a funk, it’s probably not the devil that’s speaking to you. Chances are, that still small voice belongs to God and it’s His way of giving you your marching orders. Do as you’re told!

2 Timothy 2:4 Soldiers don’t get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them.

In order to see your dreams become a reality there are going to be times where you are going to have to flat-out sprint. Burn the candle a little bit more than you should. Strain your muscles and your mind. Run yourself ragged. Come right to the edge of delirium.

I know, I know. This goes against all wise counsel. Every sermon you have ever heard about the sabbath; and all the leadership blogs you have read about how if you don’t guard your day off you don’t love Jesus are probably coming to your mind about now.

I totally agree with all of that, as a rule. There is nothing spiritual or profitable about being a workaholic. Psalm 127:2 straight up says we should not run in the red but should rest. I get it. None of us keep the world spinning, or the sun rising. We don’t need to stay up all-night-every-night working.

But I have met people who are so dogmatic and almost Pharisaical (you know I get 6 points for dropping that word) about their day off not being disrupted…not ever, and are rigid about the rule. They will walk out the door at 5pm and not one minute afterwards, whether the job is done or not. Their day off is sacred and their schedule is set in stone, no matter what is going on; they will only expend the agreed-upon amount of energy and no more. That’s fine and the desire to not burnout is a good one. But it’s not realistic to think that greatness can be achieved without extraordinary effort being called for at times.

Nothing sweet is ever achieved without sweat. Occasionally exceptional times will come along where you have to go above and beyond the call of duty. There will be short seasons that require extra effort to punch through to a next level God is calling you to, to complete a project, or go through a door that has been opened. And you will need to kick it into high gear and give it all you’ve got.

The good news is that a rule is still a rule even if there are exceptions. The trick is not allowing that to become the new normal. If it does, it’s not an exception anymore, it’s the rule and if you keep it up for long something will inevitably suffer–your marriage, your kids, or your sanity.

What I have learned (through trial and error) is to see these seasons coming before I’m in the midst of them and to prayerfully accept them, with my wife’s blessing. If you do that, no one is blindsided and you can plan a recovery as a part of the process. So if a unique project is going to have you pulling 13 hour work days for a week and a half you can take three days off at the end and not just plunge back into reality and grind it out.

It helps me to think of these unique times as interval training. Yes, it might be crazy right now but this is a sprint, it’s supposed to be above the normal craziness. It’s time to go all out. Soon I will be drinking a gatorade, catching my breath and getting back into the usual flow. The secret isn’t living a life that’s never crazy, it’s making sure that when things do get crazy you make time for recovery.

I want to tell you something that’s beautiful, and redemptive. I specifically feel called to say this to someone who has given something away that God wanted you to keep. And unless you see this you are going to miss out on an opportunity to feel the freshness and the newness that God has for you going into the new year.

Here it is: Haircuts don’t last forever.

It’s true. No matter how bad it made you look, or how horrible of a job the stylist did or how much it cost you. It may feel like it will be that way for all eternity when you look in the mirror, but it won’t. If you have a bad haircut right now, even though it’s growth isn’t perceptible to the naked eye, your hair is growing slowly right now and soon it will be back to where it was.

Doesn’t that make you feel better?

Now, before you delete my feed from your RSS reader or stop listening to my podcast because you think I’m crazy let me show you, from God’s Word, why you should be encouraged by this.

Judges 16:22 But before long, Samson’s hair began to grow back.

I think this might be one of the most beautiful and redemptive verses in the Bible.

There is no doubt that Samson got the most expensive haircut in history. It cost him his job, his freedom, and his strength. He had his eyes gouged out, was thrown into a prison where he worked as a slave for the rest of his life and never got to see his family again. All for one lousy buzz cut. He was one of the most gifted and talented men who ever lived, but he would die in disgrace and shame. He freely gave away what no one could have ever taken from him.

But the instant the shears had left his head, and with it the strength from his muscles, and the shackles were being placed on his wrists, the tiny follicles began their slow journey back to their former glory. And as they did they sang an unheard song of God’s forgiveness and willingness to forgive. He probably couldn’t tell it was happening, as he ground grain while wrapped up in bronze chains in the Philistine prison, but grace and restoration were at work in his scalp.

He would never get his eyes back, and he would die a prisoner; but he would die with hair. And before that happened he would be used by God in a greater way than he ever had in his entire life.

Haircuts don’t last forever.

Psalm 30:5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.

Mark 7:24 Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t keep it a secret.

Jesus had just had a super gnarly clash with his enemies who were constantly following him around and nitpicking his every move. They never did anything to help people but they had a lot to say about how he was doing it all wrong. That is usually how it goes. Those who do the least complain the most. And it gets draining after a while.

So he decided to get out of town for a little bit. He left Galilee, where he was well known, and crossed the border into Gentile territory. There is no way the messiah-police would be willing to follow him there…they would for sure get cooties from all the wicked sinners if they did. So he and his disciples would be able to get some rest and recharge their batteries.

That was the plan. But it didn’t turn out that way. He didn’t blend in very well. The text says, “he couldn’t keep his presence a secret.” Even though he was trying to keep a low profile he ended up attracting a bunch of attention when he healed a woman’s daughter after being there for a short time. He couldn’t help himself. It’s what he does. News quickly spread that Jesus had come into the home as the shockwaves of healing and change reverberated through the community.

Morale of the story: if Jesus has come into your house you won’t be able to keep it a secret. It will get out. You won’t be able to help it. That’s because he will never come into a home and leave things the same. He’s an applecart kicker over. A sin forgiver. A life-changer. A destiny re-router. Once inside your life his healing touch and out of control blessings will creep into every crevice of who you are and it will soon be visible on the outside. The kind of change he brings can’t be hidden for long. People will notice.

Take some time today to ask Christ to invade every nook and cranny of your being. Make sure he knows that your heart is his home and he can do whatever he wants in your life. Is there some area of your schedule or a relationship where you have been holding back? Give him an all access pass to your soul–no holds barred. But be prepared for others to notice, because word is going to get out.

Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.