Making Choices

November 30, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

The unusual or out-of-the-ordinary always seems to grab my attention. So when I was reading through a long, long (long!) list of names in 1 Chronicles, I stopped when I read, “Their sister was named Hazzelelponi.”

My first thought: What parent names their little girl Hazzelelponi?!?

My second thought: Why does the biblical writer mention her? First off, there are scarcely any other women mentioned in these genealogies. And then to mention such an unusual name without any other commentary seems weird.

Her name is a compound of two words: to turn toward + shadows.

The Hebrew word for shadows can have two meanings: (1) The cool, protected place; or (2) Something which is transitory or short-lived. One positive definition, and one negative definition. Since all the other times this word is used in the Bible the second definition is used, we can assume that the negative usage is meant here too.

Since I doubt that anyone makes a decision to turn to the shadowy “dark side” all at once, Hazzelelponi made small choices day after day after day.

Small choices every day to rely in things that would not last. And now her history is nothing but a single line: “Their sister was named Hazzelelponi.” No descendants, no heritage, no legacy; just a footnote because of the small choices she made.

“There is a choice you have to make in everything you do. So keep in mind that in the end, the choice you make, makes you.” – John Wooden

What choices are you making today?

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Thankful For Difficult People

November 29, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Yesterday we wrapped up our Season Of Thanks series by looking at how God sometimes sends difficult people in our lives to make us better. It’s when difficult people rattle us that we find out what’s really inside of us, so we should be thankful for their involvement in our lives.

With that thought still in my mind, I stumbled across a couple of tweets this morning which are good reminders of this thought—

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Get In Their Way

November 29, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

It’s true that you should not get in their way when your friends are pursuing their dreams.

But if you are a true friend, you will get in their way when they are heading for danger. Setup roadblocks, wave flags, intervene, tackle them (if you have to) to keep them from hurting themselves.

As my good friend Josh Schram said, “People who speak truth into my life care more about me than about my feelings.”

If you don’t get in their way when they are headed for danger, you’re not really a friend at all, you are their enemy.

Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy (Proverbs 27:6).

Are you a true friend? Cheer on their pursuit of their dreams, and get in their way if they are headed for danger.

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A Name Change

November 24, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I was reading the biography of Jabez this morning. His whole life is told in just two verses, but what an insightful snapshot we get.

Here’s the part that stood out to me today: Jabez means one who causes pain or causes others to grieve. How would you like to go through life with a name like that? The Bible doesn’t give us the details as to why his mother gave him this name, but he seemed stuck with it. Everywhere he went throughout his life, people said,

“Hey, here comes Pain-In-The-Neck!” or

“You remind me of something bad!” or even

“Why don’t you do us all a favor and leave!”

Jabez wanted a name change, and God granted his request.

I wonder…

You can try to run from your reputation, you can try to change the way you think, you can try to act differently to see if people will treat you differently, or you can ask God to change your name.

God is in the name-changing business. And when He changes your name, it’s so much more powerful than when you try to do it.

When the Bible says, “Jabez cried out to God,” the root word means to encounter. Jabez encountered God. Jabez went face-to-face with God, and God granted his request.

If you want a new name, a new reputation, a new outlook, get face-to-face with God and He WILL grant your request.

(For some other significant name changes recorded in the Bible, check out this list.)

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The Gratitude Cycle

November 23, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

There are only two ways to take people: You can take people for granted or you can take people with gratitude.

If you take people for granted, you will probably end up losing that relationship, or at the very least that relationship won’t be very fulfilling.

But when you take people with gratitude, you can bring out the best in them, in you, and in your relationship.

Paul wrote to the Colossian church that every time he thought of them, he was grateful for them and he prayed for them. This is The Gratitude Cycle: being thankful for someone prompts prayers for them, and those prayers make us even more grateful for them, which fires up the Gratitude Cycle all over again.

In case you need help knowing what to pray for the people for whom you are thankful, check out Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1:9-12. He prayed…

…for knowledge, wisdom & understanding of God’s will for their lives, and the power to live out that new knowledge of Him.

…for endurance—a virtue that never loses patience with, belief in, or hope for others.

…for patience—the ability to turn tough things into glorious things.

…with gratitude for them—especially with gratitude for who they were: God’s holy people.

Any time is a good time for us to be full of thanks, so make sure you are full of thanks for the people God has placed in your life. And when you feel thankful for them, be sure you are prayerful for them too.

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Courage

November 18, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Love this quote from C.S. Lewis—

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty, or mercy, which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky.

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Thursdays With Oswald—The Master’s Standard

November 18, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

The Master’s Standard

     Jesus Christ’s standard for the worker is Himself. Am I allowing His standard to obsess me? Am I measuring my life by His all the time? The one standard put before us is Our Lord Himself; we have to be saturated in this ideal in thinking and in praying, and allow nothing to blur the standard. We must lift up Jesus Christ not only in the preaching of the Gospel but to our own souls. If my mind and heart and spirit is getting fixed with one Figure only, the Lord Jesus Christ, and other people and other ideas are fading, then I am growing in grace. The one dominant characteristic in the life of the worker is that Jesus Christ is coming more into the ascendant. The motive is not a sentiment but a passion, the blazing passion of the Holy Ghost in the soul of the worker; not—“because Jesus has done so much for me,” that is a sickening, unscriptural statement. The one attitude of the life is Jesus Christ first, second, and third, and nothing apart from Him. The thing that hinders God’s work is not sin, but other claims which are right, but which at a certain point of their rightness conflict with the claims of Jesus Christ. If the conflict should come, remember it is to be Jesus first.

From Approved Unto God

Am I measuring my life by His all the time? Great question!

Am I?

Are you?

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Thinking About Thanksgiving

November 17, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

What do you think of when you think Thanksgiving? Family? Football? Turkey dinner? Pumpkin pie?

For many people in Cedar Springs, their situation may leave them only thinking about these things, but never experiencing them. That’s why I was so excited to hear that two local restaurants—The Cedar Pub and Sue’s Kitchen—are teaming up to provide a full Thanksgiving meal for families in need. The meals will be served at Sue’s Kitchen.

Want to help? Here are four things you can do:

(1) Bake some homemade pumpkin pies.

(2) Join me and my family in volunteering at the restaurant on Thanksgiving. Meals will be served from noon until 5pm, so helpers are needed from 11am until 6pm.

(3) Tell needy families in Cedar Springs that a big Thanksgiving meal is waiting for them.

(4) Support The Cedar Pub and Sue’s Kitchen by making a donation for this meal, or by eating at their restaurants often.

If you want to help, or have more questions, please leave a comment below and I’ll get back in touch with you.

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Little By Little

November 17, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I’ve found a great group of guys to play basketball with in Cedar Springs. I love early morning basketball because I feel like it gets my day started right.

I have been playing with this group for a little over two months. Prior to this, I hadn’t played full-court basketball in quite a while, so when I started up again, it was amazing how quickly I was out of breath … and how many turnovers I had … and how off my shot was. Just a few months of not playing, and everything deteriorated.

But I hung in there. And yesterday it dawned on me, “Hey, I can run a little longer before I get winded. And my shot is getting a little better too.”

I didn’t see a dramatic overnight improvement. In fact, I only see real improvement if I compare my game in mid-November with my game in mid-September.

This is an important concept to remember in anything we do: little by little keeps you moving forward. The little steps you take every day add up.

  • Start with just 5 minutes of exercise, and slowly increase it.
  • Read a book for just a few minutes each day, then a few minutes more.
  • Pray for a couple of minutes before you go to bed tonight, then a couple minutes more.
  • Quit smoking for just an afternoon, then try an hour or two more.

Little by little you are increasing your capacity to do greater things. Don’t try for cold turkey or overnight success or immediate results. Little by little will help you get there.

Ready? What little thing can you do today?

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Elevate

November 16, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

On Sunday we kicked off a new series A Season Of Thanks looking at this verse:

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.

Here’s the deal: If you elevate your thinking to positive things, your life will be more positive. The best place to start is thank-fullness = being full of thanks. Make it a habit in your life to find more things for which you can give thanks.

I searched the Twitterverse for some thoughts about elevated thinking…

Feel free to add your own in the comments below. Oh yeah, and come join us next Sunday for A Season Of Thanks part 2.

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