Retune the Body with a Partial Fast

Here's an interesting article the demonstrates the benefits of short periods of fasting on health.  This is contrary to some contemporary "scientific" reports that I have heard say that there are no physical benefits to fasting.

Take that pseudo-science.

To read the article on NPR's site, click here.

A John Wooden Quote

I heard this quote recently on one of John Maxwell's Maximum Impact audio club lessons. A little searching yielded it quoted in The Essential Wooden.

I decided that as a family we would commit this little verse to memory and talk about how little choices along the way is what makes a character. People frequently make the mistake of believing that it is the big decisions in life that are important, but the truth is a life is made up of the little choices. All the little choices are important.


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.

Things for Which I Am Thankful

It is not often enough that I go into detail about the things that I am thankful for. I generally try to always open my prayer times with a time when I just say "thanks" to God for all that He has done for me. But if I'm not careful, this can easily become a rote part of my prayer time where I end up repeating the same types of things over and over again.

When I begin to think of all the things that I have in my life — none of which I can claim the credit for because as the book of James reminds us, "all good things come down from the Father of Lights in whom there is no variation or shifting shadow" — I am overwhelmed. I have so much. It is hard not to feel guilty as I think about the incredible wealth, both spiritual and material, that I have in comparison to most of the world.

In case you are an American/European/Canadian/Japanese reading this and think that you are poor, try plugging in your income at the Global Rich List for a reality check. When I plug mine in, I have to pause, not just to marvel on the incredible blessing of living in such an economy that makes this possible, but to consider the implications on responsibility that such wealth has.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more. — Luke 12:48b

I read that text and consider that material riches I have — plenty of food to eat, two cars in the garage, a garage, a house (or am working towards owning a house as the bank owns most of it), loads of furniture, multiple TV sets (and we only use one...how did that happen?), and bunch of other stuff that is an embarrassment to list.

Put the material stuff aside and I'm so blessed with a healthy nuclear family with four little ones, healthy parents and siblings on both sides of the family, a wealth of friends, healthy relationships (many of them anyway), peace in my home, peace at work, and most important, a relationship with the Father through Jesus.

I just want to remember these things when something really innocuous like standing in line at the grocery store or at Starbucks starts to get me steamed. What a luxury! To stand in line to spend money on something that I want.

Thank you God.

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Jesus Waits

A Fasting Diary

Volunteer Conference in Manteca

Pictures from the KCF Team Currently in Brazil

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For those of you not intimately familiar with the Portguese language, you'll want to navigate through the menu and select Conf. Internatcional - Feira BA 2007

Forgive and Release

Last night was session five of our Basic Training small group on the discipline of Forgiveness.  As always, these times together are a real encouragement.  Now five weeks into the series, everyone is relaxed and at ease in the group and this lends to a lot more authenticity, which is wonderful.

One of our discussion questions centered on the reasons why we don't forgive others.  Among the myriad of reasons, I think one of the main reasons we aren't more quick to forgive others is that we are power hungry.  

When we feel we have been offended by someone and decide that we are going to take up the offense (an idiom that is so appropriate becuase it is indicative of the active role the offended plays -- we actually make a decision to be offended most of the time), we then hold a kind of power over that person.  When we refuse to release them of the offense, we are saying to them, you owe me something.  

When we owe money to someone, they hold a power over us.  They can demand payment and even make our lives miserable until the debt is cleared.  

With unforgiveness this power is much less tangible — and a lot more corrosive.  We believe we are holding someone accountable because "they have to pay for what they have done" but in actuality we are only making ourselves miserable.

But because we like power, even if it is mostly intangible, we are reticent to release offenses.  How incredible that the most powerful Being in the whole universe, the One who actually has all the right to hold an offense, forgives totally and unequivocally.

May we learn to mirror His forgiveness. 

Get Ready for our Celebration Weekend

We are getting ready to conclude our Basic Training series on Sunday, Nov. 18 with a fun service that will look back on what we have learned in the series and remind us to continue to be committed to these things.

Here's a hint of what's coming that day:

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The Life of Joseph

Joseph's life is so fascinating.  In it we see the progressive revelation of God's dream being actualized in a person's life. 

For a very long time it seems that Joseph believes that it is his dream that is being pursued, but as time goes on he discovers that it is actually God's dream.

For those of us that frequently experience the tension between doing for God and resting in Him, Joseph presents this paradox in all its glory.  

At the end of the day, he is given the leadership of Egypt, he does not work up to it.  Every other accomplishment in his life, he had worked for.  But this one was simply handed to him becuase of God's work.

At the same time, the lessons he learned in both Potiphar's house and in prison were what prepared him to be able to effectively excerise the leadership given to him by Pharaoh.  

His training happened along the way, but at the end of the day he earned nothing.  Wow!  The sovereignty of God is so apparent here, and I can barely have enough patience to figure out what lesson God is trying to teach me right now!

Basic Training, Part 5 Small Group Video

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Basic Training, Part 4 Small Group Video

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Basic Training, Part 3 Small Group Video

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Basic Training, Part 2 Small Group Video

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The Necessity of Faith

Mark 6:5
And He could do no miracle there except that He laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.

This text of Scripture never ceases to amaze me. The Son of God, who was able to do all things, was limited in His ability to perform miraculous signs and wonders because of the lack of faith of those in Nazareth. It's not clear whether He chose not to do miracles because of the lack of faith or whether the lack of faith somehow mystically stayed His hand -- and it doesn't really matter, what does matter is that our faith is important in the equation.

Our faith can limit God's hand. Our faith can keep Him from doing what He desires to do.

Why did the people of Nazareth have a lack of faith? It seems that it was because they were so familiar with Jesus as the son of Joseph and Mary that it blinded them to His true nature. Somehow their familiarity bred contempt...and disbelief.

Lord, increase my faith!