Leave Something Nice Behind

May 17, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I walked into a coffee shop for a meeting this morning and someone who had been in Biggby before me was wearing the same perfume that Betsy wears. It made me think of her throughout my meeting. Without even realizing it, some anonymous woman left something nice behind for me.

Here’s a thought…

…how about if we find a way to leave something nice behind everywhere we go?

A few thoughts on how we could do this:

  • Pick up a piece of trash blowing across the parking lot (even if it’s not your trash).
  • Wipe the water off the restroom counter (even if you didn’t splash it there).
  • Smile at the over-worked, under-paid server who is serving you (maybe even leave a larger tip).
  • Straighten up the magazines in the waiting room (even if you didn’t mess them up).
  • Put the toys back in the toy box (even if your kids didn’t play with them).
  • Restack the fallen cups (even if you didn’t knock them over).

Do something unexpected.

Leave everything a little better than you found it.

Leave something nice behind.

C’mon, let’s make a difference.

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The Blessing

May 6, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

Just some personal musings on a well-known blessing.

The Lord bless you…

  • May you find nothing missing, nothing lacking.
  • May you be full and complete.
  • Then you will be better able to bless others.

…and keep you;

  • Safe and secure.
  • As a priceless heirloom.
  • As the apple of His eye.

…the Lord make His face to shine upon you,

  • So you are basking in His presence.
  • Reflecting His glory.
  • Distinguished from all others.

…and be gracious to you;

  • As He renews His mercies to you every morning.
  • Lavishing you with His blessings.
  • Not treating you as your sins deserve.

…the Lord turn His face toward you,

  • Knowing that you have His full notice.
  • Enjoying His full approval.
  • Living in His abundant favor.

…and give you peace 

  • All your anxieties banished.
  • Your confidence renewed.
  • Your direction assured.

When you say, “May God bless you” to someone, you are saying one of the most powerful, loving things that you could ever utter. There is nothing like God’s blessing: nothing compares to it, and nothing can detract from it.

May I encourage you to more regularly ask for God’s blessing to be on your life, and may you be lavish with your request for God’s blessings on others’ lives too.

GOD BLESS YOU!

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Synergy

May 3, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

The dictionary defines synergy as the combined action of two items, where their output is greater than the sum of their individual efforts. I like the Bible’s definition better:

Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you (Leviticus 26:8).

God’s synergy has an “if” attached to it. A few verses earlier God says, “If you follow Me and obey My principles, then this is what you can expect from Me.”

So God’s synergistic math looks like this:

5 = 102 = 104

Five people motivated by their devotion to God and trusting Him for victory = 100 enemies defeated.

One hundred people doing the exact same thing = 10,000 enemies defeated.

The first synergy is a 20-fold increase, while the second synergy is a 100-fold increase! The more people that buy into this truth, the greater the synergy.

Imagine if you could get just four other people to join you in prayer and in seeking God for…

  • …the lost in your city
  • …the healing of an “incurable” diseases
  • …the alleviation of poverty
  • …the strengthening of marriages
  • …the end of abortion

Imagine!

God’s synergy is an amazing thing! Be a part of it!

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A Barrel Or A Pipeline

April 30, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I don’t own a house, a car, land, food, or money. God owns them and I’m merely His manager of those things. If I try to treat things like possessions, then things will begin to possess me because those items will become my focus instead of God.

I am a blessed man, but I am blessed to be a blessing.

The more I bless others with the blessings that have been placed under my management, two things happen: (1) God is exalted, and (2) I’m available to receive more blessings.

God doesn’t want to fill my barrel.

  • Barrels run out of room.
  • Things stored in barrels for too long spoil.
  • It’s hard to see everything stored up in a barrel.

God does want to fill my pipeline.

  • Pipelines—if they are free-flowing—never get full.
  • Everything flowing through the pipeline stays fresh.
  • Pipelines can deliver faster than barrels can.

I can LIMIT God’s blessings by HOARDING them in my barrel.

I can INCREASE God’s blessings by SHARING them through my pipeline.

How can you make your life God’s pipeline of blessing to others?

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Stopping More Than Enough

April 27, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

There’s a well-known line from the movie Wall Street in which the up-and-coming Bud Fox asks his rich mentor Gordon Gekko, “How much is enough?” By his words and actions, Gordon answers, “It’s never enough, pal!”

The pursuit of More Than Enough is beyond greed. It’s what both the Bible and the Greeks called Mammon: the relentless pursuit of More. It’s an easy trap in which anyone—young or old, rich or poor—can get caught. But God gave us a way out:

When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.

God wants us to acknowledge that He is Provider by deliberately leaving something behind.

Let me state that another way: God provides our daily bread, if I have anything that is More Than Enough, it’s not for me—it’s for others.

This is yet another work-in-progress for my life: I am thinking about how I can deliberately leave the More Than Enough behind for someone else? I have a couple of thoughts, but would love you to expand on this list:

  • Leave a larger tip for my server at the restaurant.
  • Pay for the people in the car behind me in line at the drive-thru.
  • Continue to be a proud member of the Junky Car Club, so I can use my car payment money to help others.
  • Find out what one day of work really earns me, and then give up just one day a month to help others (see One Day’s Wages).
  • Order less food at McDonald’s and giving a donation to The Ronald McDonald House.
  • When I have a buy-one-get-one-free coupon, give the free one away to someone in need.

That’s just the start of my list.

I want to honor God and I want to defeat the More Than Enough monster. I can do both by deliberately leaving something behind. Will you join me?

(And feel free to continue to add to the list of ways we can all deliberately leave something behind.)

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Helping

April 25, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

A friend once told me that the greatest thing a church can do is find a need in the community and then help address it. I agree wholeheartedly.

Our church is helping address two needs in our community. We are hosting a benefit show called Rockin’ For Smiles to raise money for neuroblastoma cancer research. We became involved in this through our participation in PROJECT:Smile! (I wrote about this earlier, and you can read more here and here). I’m so proud of all of the people at Calvary who have rolled up their sleeves to help with this one. And it’s been amazing to see all of these bands that are willing to waive their appearance fee to help us.

We’re also collecting donations of diapers for our Bottom Blessing day on Mother’s Day. Alpha Family Center is a crisis pregnancy resource center. Much of the state aid that single Moms receive doesn’t cover the purchase of diapers, so we want to help Alpha help these young Moms.

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You Can’t Lose

April 15, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

I was really challenged by the message Andy Lapins brought to our youth group.

Andy opened with a simple question, “Have you ever been afraid to tell someone about your relationship with Jesus.” My hand went up, along with just about every other hand in the room.

Andy followed up: “Why? Why are you afraid to share this good news?” The number one answer: Fear of rejection.

Andy then asked us, “If you share the good news of Jesus with someone and they accept what you have to say, is that a good thing or a bad thing?” We all answered, “Good!”

Then he asked, “If you share the good news of Jesus with someone and they neither accept it nor reject it, but you know you have planted or watered a seed, is that a good thing or bad thing?” Again, we all answered, “Good!”

Then he asked, “If you share the good news of Jesus with someone and they completely reject it—they curse you out or tell you you’re a weirdo—is that a good thing or a bad thing?” We all answered, “Bad!”

To which Andy said, “Really?!?” Then he dropped these two Bible passages on us:

  • So be happy when you are insulted for being a Christian, for then the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. (1 Peter 4:14)
  • Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. (Luke 6:22-23).

Andy followed up, “So what do you think now? If someone rejects you for sharing Jesus with them, is it a good thing or a bad thing?” Now we all answered, “Good!”

You can’t lose when you share Jesus with others!

There are only three possible outcomes:

  1. They accept Jesus = good thing
  2. You plant or water a seed = good thing
  3. You earn rewards in heaven = good thing (cha-ching!!)

I challenged our youth group to write “Cha-ching!” on their status line on Facebook whenever they shared the good news of Jesus with a friend.

Regardless of the outcome, you can’t lose! So go tell more people about Jesus today!

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Generosity

April 14, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Everyone loves a generous friend. A friend who is not stingy with their time or other resources, but someone who freely gives. Generous gifts build buildings, support ministries, and enrich our lives.

When the Israelites were building the tabernacle, they brought freewill offerings to pay for the construction project. Check out how much they gave:

  • 28,000 pounds of gold
  • 96,000 pounds of silver
  • 67,000 pounds of bronze

Whoa!

Paul may have had this in mind when he wrote to the church in Corinth about giving. He used phrases like:

  • Rich generosity
  • Earnestness
  • Eager willingness
  • Eagerness to help
  • Enthusiasm
  • Generous gifts
  • Generous on every occasion

Where does this sort of generosity come from? The key is in Paul’s opening statement about the Macedonians: “Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity…but they gave themselves first to the Lord.”

They gave themselves first to the Lord.

The ultimate source of generosity is the realization that everything I have is God’s. He owns it all; I’m just a steward.

The more I keep this in mind, the more generous I can be. The more generous I am, the more God can bless me. I am blessed to be a blessing.

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God’s Favor

April 12, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

It’s a well-known story: Moses is on the mountaintop with God while all the Israelites back at camp think he’s dead. They then convince Aaron to make a golden calf to be their god. The True God is ready to bring down His punishment on these idol worshipers when two incredible words stop God’s judgment dead in its tracks…

But Moses.

God was ready to wipe them out and start all over with Moses. Think about it: God offered Moses the opportunity to be on the same level of remembrance with Abraham. Years later people would be saying, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, Israel, and Moses.” What an incredible honor for Moses!

But Moses.

Instead, Moses interceded for his people. Moses sought God’s favor. He knew God to be the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. He could have had it all for himself.

But Moses.

He asked God to forgive the people’s idolatry and betrayal. God replied, “I know you by name and you have found favor with Me.” If you had God’s favor, what would you do with it? Would you ask for great things for yourself? Your family? Your friends?

But Moses.

Moses used this favor to ask God to help him stay in His favor. “If You are pleased with me, teach me Your ways so I may know You and continue to find favor with You.” Moses knew that it was God’s favor that distinguishes one man from the crowd, that sets a man apart as a leader.

But Moses…

just wanted God to be glorified. And God responded: “My Presence will go with you.”

I want to be a “But Craig” leader… one that stands apart as God’s leader; one who only seeks to bring glory to God.

How about you? Do you want to be that “But ____________” leader too?

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A Day In The ER

March 25, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

Betsy had been experiencing a lower back pain for a couple of days, but yesterday morning it really intensified. She made an appointment to see her doctor, and after just a few minutes of being examined her doctor announced, “I need to send you to the ER. I think you might have a kidney stone.”

So I swooped in, picked up my bride, and off to the ER we went. After the tests there, the doctors believe that it is not a kidney stone but a severe muscle spasm.

I’m grateful for…

  • …the fact that ER trips for our family are few and far between.
  • …relatively easy access to medical care.
  • …the wisdom of doctors.
  • …the kindnesses of nurses.
  • …the genius of scientists who design medicines.
  • …health insurance.
  • …technology that allowed me to communicate with family during this time.
  • …friends who pitched in to help.

I’m not anxious to make another ER trip anytime soon, but it was a good time to look around and recognize how much I have to be grateful for every single day.

What are you grateful for today?

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