We have been working on this stretch of jungle for three and a half years now and though we have seen God do incredible things, we are still swinging like we just began. I never want that to stop. I hope and pray that no matter how long God tarries that we will still think and work with the fresh intensity and raw zeal of a start-up work. We are still planting this church and always will be.

The moment you begin to sit around talking about how far you have come and maintaining the status quo, not only do you stop moving forward but the jungle actually begins to close in on you. You have to fight to maintain the hunger and drive that comes from just starting out. There is a slowness and a deadness that comes from thinking like an institution. No matter how long you have been at it, grab your machete and start hacking like you just started!

As crazy as that seems, do you realize that your entire life is a lot like that brief period of lunacy between the warning light coming on and my friends car coming sputtering to a stop. James says that “life is a vapor,” and he means that it will be over before you know it. No matter how old or young you are, the gas light is on and you are riding on fumes. It could go on for a long time or you could be dead by the end of the week. The harsh truth is, none of us are guaranteed anything beyond today.

The goal then should be to make this brief life count, but how do you do that?

Robert Murray McCheyne, an awesome Scottish preacher, used to regularly say “Live so as to be missed.” He died before his thirtieth birthday in 1843 and yet because of his laser-like focus on eternity and his infectious passion for lost people, he is still impacting people today, myself included, through his writings and his example. He lived so as to be missed.

2 Chronicles 21:20 describes someone who did just the opposite. It says, “Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. No one was sorry when he died. They buried him in the City of David, but not in the royal cemetery.”

When you read about Jehoram you find out that he became king in Judah during the days of the divided kingdom, to wipe out the competition he murdered his own brothers. He married a daughter of the phenomenally wicked King Ahab, who ruled in Israel, and Jehoram led his people into the worship of idols. Finally, the prophet Elijah wrote him a letter letting him know that he was going to get an intestinal disease that would cause his bowels to fall out of his body. He died in agony. No one cared.

What a vivid contrast. I think that we all want our lives to count, to be missed and we’d definitely rather not have our bowels fall out! But what are you doing about that today? You must remember that you are writing your epitaph each day as you live your life. If the fumes ran out today and you died, would you be missed? Are you making your brief life count for eternity? It’s been well said, ‘Only one life, will soon be past, and only what’s done for Christ will last.’ May God fill you with His Spirit and give you the tenacity and the power to focus on Him, like a heat-seeking missile, that you might live to make Jesus famous in this world while you still have time.

Daniel 12:3 Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever.

When he arrives at the prophet’s home he is surprised and disgusted that the man of God doesn’t treat him like a VIP, he doesn’t even talk to him at all! He simply sends a message telling Naaman that if he were to dip 7x in the muddy Jordan river he would be healed. In the same way that “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing” (1 Cor 1:18) Naaman thinks this plan is the stupidest thing he has ever heard, and he almost leaves. In the end he humbles himself and does what he was told. As a result, Naaman’s leprosy was healed and his heart was transformed. He became a God-fearer and we can look forward to meeting him in heaven.

As riveting as the entire story is, to me the most exciting detail is the part played by the servant who referred him to Elisha in the first place. We don’t know her name or anything about her except that she was an Israelite that had been kidnapped and forced to live as a slave in Naaman’s house. Only two verses are given to her in the entire Bible (II Kings 5:2,3) and yet she was used powerfully by God in the healing and conversion of her influential master. How differently Naaman’s story would have gone had she not piped up. She certainly had every reason to NOT tell him about what God could do if he would make the trip to Israel. When raiding bands took slaves they often killed the men. She potentially saw her father murdered before being dragged off to live as a slave. In spite of this, she was filled with compassion and spoke spoke up in love.

We all need to realize the important role we have in the work of evangelism as we do something as simple as inviting people to a church service, an outreach or telling them about an online webcast they can watch where they will hear the gospel presented. Evangelist Greg Laurie, who has preached to over 4 million people in crusades says that says 85 percent of those who come forward at the invitation to follow Christ were brought by a friend. Opportunities to speak up are all around us and we never know what ginormous things God could do through our smallest act of faith.

History might remember the healing of Naaman as one of the miracles that God did through Elisha’s ministry, but in the Lord’s eyes this young chick was an equally important part of the process. In the end, both the one who sets and the one who spikes will receive equal spiritual rewards (1 Cor. 3:6). So look for an opportunity to be used by God today!

I believe that one of the greatest things you can do to protect your vision is to employ strategic silence until the opportune time. You see this in scripture. When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem with a vision to rebuild the walls he said nothing for three days. He didn’t even tell the people who were going to do the work until the time was right. (Nehemiah 2:11,16) It would have been easy to let it slip, but he didn’t want any neigh-sayers to put their own spin on it as they broadcasted the news. He wouldn’t forfeit the right to be the one to impart the vision to the people himself.

When God revealed to Mary that she was raising the Messiah it would have been easy to respond to that annoying mom who had a “my kid is on the honor roll at Nazareth elementary” bumper sticker with a nonchalant, that’s nice. Oh and did I mention that my kid is ‘destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel?’ But she didn’t. Luke 2:51 specifically says she, “kept all these things in her heart.” She protected the vision of what God was going to do with strategic silence for a period of time.

If you want to know what can happen when you share your dreams too early, look no further than Joseph. Over a bowl of fruit-loops one morning he casually mentioned to his family that they were all going to bow down and worship him one day. Joseph was sharing exactly what God had revealed to him, and it would come to pass exactly as he saw it, but his family wasn’t too keen on the idea at the time. Sharing the dream so early on lead to some rocky days for young Joseph as his brothers took steps to keep it from coming to pass and that is what can happen when you don’t protect the vision with silence early on.

Looking back on my life, I can think of times where I let dreams out of my heart too early or with the wrong people and got discouraged as a result. It’s easy to do. You want affirmation. In fear you desire to hear from others that you aren’t crazy, that they think it will work, that you should ‘totally go for it.’ And because “in the multitude of counselors there is safety” you seek out feedback. Be careful. To all but the eye of faith a God-sized vision looks impossible. The eye of the flesh will see the problems, the reasons why it won’t work, those who have tried it before. And you can easily end up bailing on your calling because some hater told you that there is no way you can kill a goliath with a sling-shot. It just can’t be done. And they are right, you can’t. But God can.

Check this out, Psalm 115:3 says, “Our god is in Heaven, He does as He wishes.” If God wants to do the impossible in your life–that’s exactly what He will do. Nothing is too hard for him. I’m not saying you shouldn’t seek out godly counsel, before you take action, you should. But when you do make sure it’s from those with gutsy faith who won’t just see all the reasons why it won’t work. Seek out advice from people who have taken risks that God has blessed.

To use a coffee illustration, there might be a season where you need to just keep things brewing before you push the plunger down and pour it out. There are dreams in my heart, I believe God is going to do in my life and ministry one day, that only a select group of individuals are privy to and there are other ones that no one knows about but my wife. If I said them out loud in public I would probably scare myself right now. I am protecting them with silence until the time is right. Protect the vision God has given you!

“There was once a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish… it was so fragile. And I fear that it will not survive the winter.

In God’s great providence, He allowed me to come speak again on a night when, unbeknownst to me, her husband had agreed to come and I got to be there as He answered her prayers and her husband gave his life to Christ. It was wonderful to celebrate and have the chance to pray with them together, thanking God for His grace and committing them to the Lord as a brand new couple in Christ. I don’t always get to see such a nice bow put on people I pray for, especially when I am speaking for a night and then gone the next day–I have to trust God and wait until heaven most times–so this was very special and encouraging.

In short, prayer works! It is powerful. Don’t stop praying!

James 5:16 “…The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”

My wife has this habit of taking the Psalm for her age and making it the anthem of her prayer life that year. I tried it last year and really liked it. One year ago today I woke up and immediately read and latched onto Psalm 27:1 which says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?” Last night at 11:50pm I read the psalm again in the closing moments of my 27th year and reflected on the last 365 days. Here are some of the highlights:

Launching Skull Church
Skull Church is special to me. God gave me the idea for it several years ago and it has been a thrill to see it come to life. In the same way that when I am road-biking and draft behind another rider and it gets easier, Skull Church feels like a sort of spiritual slipstream, it fits the way I feel God has called & equipped me to minister like a hand in a glove.

The 20th anniversary Harvest Crusade at Angels Stadium
I have had the chance to be a part of a lot of Harvest Crusades but nothing can really compare to this weekend–a capacity crowd, thousands responded to the invitation, Chris Tomlin singing during a fireworks show, and Greg reached the amazing milestone of getting to share the gospel with 4 million people at crusades that weekend. Off the charts cool.

Fresh Life Radio
We went on the air this past year and it has been killer to have a nonstop source of killer Bible teaching and epic music 24/7 in the Flathead Valley and everywhere else streaming on the web. Plus, listening to Fresh Life Radio is 67 percent more fun than high-fiving a goat.

Hosting Rock the River in St. Louis with Franklin Graham
65,000 screaming humanoids under the historic Arch with Skillet, Flyleaf, Lecrae, Red and the gospel being preached–hard to go wrong.

The Liberty Theatre
The sister theater to the Strand, which was our first 100 year old movie theater, and God opened the doors for us to buy it and renovate it this year. Plus as a bonus it filled out our mission statement–That those who are stranded in sin might find life and liberty in Christ.

Baby #3
The unexpected news that we are going to have a third daughter was a delight.

In short–it was a thrill to walk with the LORD, my light and my salvation this past year. And in this 28th year of my life I can’t wait to see what He has planned. Though we measure our lives by years, in the Bible we are told to count our days–so I commit every day God gives me this year to Him, starting with today.

Psalm 28:9 “Save Your people, And bless Your inheritance; Shepherd them also, and bear them up forever.”

He was a lot more like the Apostle Paul than a leprechaun. He was a pastor/missionary with a passion to make Jesus famous. One historian wrote, “He found Ireland heathen and left it Christian.” In his lifetime He planted hundreds of churches, and baptized over a hundred thousand people. He loved God’s Word and quoted it extensively in his writings.

Legend has it that he used the iconic three-leaf clover to explain the mystery of the trinity to those he ministered to. And even though the whole banishing snakes off the island thing probably isn’t true I am comforted by the idea of it. I am with Indiana Jones–I hate snakes!

A much better celebration of his life would be to share your faith with someone who doesn’t know Christ! And I am stoked to preach a gospel message at Skull Church on St. Patrick’s day because his life was all about the gospel. (And as an added bonus I won’t smell like beer puke at the end of the night!) And don’t get sideways with the whole “saint” thing, in God’s eyes all his kids are saints! (Ephesians 2:19)

For more reading on the life of this killer guy–check out this article.

In John 15:8 Jesus said, “When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”

God is glorified to the max through our fruit production. He is a vinedresser, and so the more fruit we bear the more His fame spreads. But we can’t grow anything on our own, we must abide in Christ and enjoy Him to grow good fruit.

So today the focus should be to remain in Christ so we can bear much fruit and bring glory to God. Everything else is secondary.

Living green and doing philanthropic relief work today is mainstream (as it should be) even trendy, but it was extremely countercultural at the time when Paul fired off this old school e-mail to the Christians in Colossae. Commenting on this verse R. Kent Hughes said, “The ancient world, apart from Biblical revelation, was merciless. The maimed and sickly and aged were discarded: the mentally ill were subjected to inhumanities. But Christianity brought compassion, and it still does. The gospel brings with it sympathy and tenderness of heart. That is one of its great glories!”

This truth came to life this past week as the earthquake that devastated Haiti made us sick to our stomachs with God-given compassion. It has been so heartbreaking to see the pictures and stories coming from what is already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. There is no way I can even fathom what they are experiencing. And yet I have been so inspired to see God’s people mobilize and respond to the pain. The next day after the earthquake I felt lead to take up an offering at Skull Church to support the BGEA rapid response teams that were already en route with relief materials and chaplains who would bring the gospel and I was blown away by the generosity that was shown that night.

I have also been super blessed by the way James McDonald and Mark Driscoll have been trying to rally the church in America to specifically help the church in Haiti rebuild. They launched a website called, churcheshelpingchurches.com and the Lord opened doors for them to go down there personally this week (I have been following their trip on twitter here and here and they are on their way home now)  Mark described it as being in hell. They took a film and photography team with them so that they can show us how critical it is that we help our brothers and sisters in Haiti out.  I love what they are doing and encourage you to check it out and pray about supporting this ministry.

Now when Paul tells us that, he isn’t saying we need to always be happy (that’s not realistic) or that we need go around singing songs from Mary Poppins all the time (that would be super annoying.) But what he is saying is that we should never stop being full of joy. Joy is a supernatural fruit of the Spirit that enables us to delight in God’s goodness no matter what we are going through. Joy operates independently from circumstances. It doesn’t require us to be ordering happy meals in order to for it to function. Joy goes deeper than that. In fact, even when we are suffering we can rejoice, remembering that God uses trials to make us more like Him. Paul’s life attests to this fact, and his great book on joy, the epistle to the Philippians, was written from a Roman jail cell. So whether you are a Tigger or an Eeyore by nature you can rejoice. Psalm 68:19 says, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation!”

To hear a whole message on this click here.