A Really Good Hand

It’s been a while since I have done any blogging, but I think something is going on in my world that is worth starting up again. Curious? I hope so! I am putting a lot of chips down on the table for this one, cause I think I have been dealt an awesome hand.

Sometimes the opportunities in life can be looked at like a poker hand. You look at the situation, you calculate the odds, and decide “Do I fold, or do I play?” Of course this is poker simplified. But with what has been going on at our church here in the Milwaukee area, I feel like I am ready to put a lot of my chips into play.

On leap day 2012, just over a week ago, I was able to walk into what is known as the Paradise Theater in West Allis. An old, rundown theater building of about 31,000+ square feet, with an 1,100 seat auditorium, is the new site of what I believe is something no short of an amazing act of the Lord.

While I won’t go into all the details (unless you’d like to know, which then I would love to share more), I will say that when I first arrived at the building my reaction was “This place is a dump!” You to probably would say the same as you saw the dust, the plaster that needs repair, the lack of bathrooms, chipping paint, etc. etc. But as Paul (our new Campus Pastor) and I walked around, and talked about the future of the building: which is to be the second site of Epikos Church in a few short months, a reality or two started to seep in.

First, the reality that God doesn’t need a clean, pristine building to work in. He can work just fine through a building that not to long ago had flooded basements, a leaking roof, not even close to fire code, was about to be torn down by the city, and that is in the neighborhood of bars and strip clubs. Sounds similar to how we often falsely think we need to be cleaned up and well-rounded on our apologetics to be on mission.

Second, this building in all reality is probably where my children will first go to Sunday school, hear some stories from the Bible from a very early age, and be able to see their father and mother serving the local body of Christian believers. There is a lot at stake here, much more than meets the eye at first, especially for a man who wants to lead his home well towards Christ.

Third (but, I don’t know that I only realized three things), that I want to be all in on this one! Like I said about poker, we have to make a decision “Am I in, or do I fold?” In all that I saw, have heard, and am in discussion about as Susanna (my wonderful bride) and I have started to take on some leadership roles, is that the Lord has dealt Epikos, and I fully believe myself, a GOOD HAND. As I told our small group the other night: This is one of the most exciting things I have ever been a part of, I don’t want to miss out, I WANT TO PUT ALL THE CHIPS ON THE TABLE.

You may not be in Milwaukee, you may never visit Epikos, but I pray that you don’t back down from the good hands. Be bold, be daring, trust that the Lord knows best the plans ahead for you, and lay the chips on the line!

The Drip Before the Flood?

“Forget about the flood for now; focus on the drip!” What does that mean? Hang with me on this one…

I just today got a email from a blog I read, about how to blog (totally nerdy, and I say as I write about it on my blog!). The email discussed how bloggers can get in a rut if they try to drag ideas out to complete thought with long paragraphs and stuff (a many of my posts have been). Instead, the article talks about writing short posts over time. It adds the quote…

“It is almost always about the accrued power of a thousand drips, drips that accrue, drop by drop until they overwhelm the status quo and break through, starting a flood.” – Seth Godin, marketing expert.

So why post this to anyone who is reading this, the majority of which could care less about writing their own blog? Well, as I read the two quotes I have mentioned, I thought about how this seems to transcends into other areas I am wrestling with in my life. So many times I want the flood of change in an area of my life, but by thinking about the flood, I often get overwhelmed and change never happens. But what if I focused on a “drip” of today, a “drip” tomorrow, a “drip” the day after, etc. How would this affect? Like an IV drip, would change and healing come? Maybe I need to be asking the Lord to walk with me through the drips each day.

What areas of your life would you like to see a flood of change? What is the drip that the Lord has put before you today?