Expectations

For the last few months the concept of expectations has made itself apparent to me time and again. Expectations? Yea, you know. What you expect... Expectations like someone writing something would done know how to use good grammer.  Or expectations of how well your car works.

When I was in high school my dad bought a 1981 V6 Chevrolet Caprice. It was really pretty. It smelled really nice. It had a great ride. But it absolutely never worked. Something was always broken. And if you drove it on the highway for more than 30 minutes it got really tired and would barely go. It was in reality a pathetic car.


For the last couple of years I have driven a GMC Yukon after completely wearing out 3 minivans. 38,000 miles into my GMC it has had only 1 problem of any kind- the dashboard cracked at one side and was replaced under warranty. Other than that it has been an absolutely flawless vehicle.


What is really funny is that in 1981 and 1982 if you asked anyone about the Chevrolet Caprice they would have said it was a great car. But today if you ask anyone about a Yukon they will tell you it's ok. How does that work? An awesome car is o.k. and a pathetic car is good.


Somewhere along the way our expectations have gone through the roof. Maybe it is symptomatic of our times- more, more, more... better, better, better.


But as things have improved our expectations also seem to have increased. We live in a time where we are having trouble finding people who will serve as an elected official because there is an expectation that only people who have no flaws need apply. The problem being that we all have flaws and quirks.


Heightened expectations have also produced an odd byproduct. Christian traits such as patience, mercy, and forgiveness are overrun with expectations of perfection. We expect perfection of our children, our schools, our spouses, our family, our employers, our government, and even our churches.


Perhaps we are demonstrating a type of idolatry because we are expecting god-like perfection of everything but God himself. Placing our expectations of perfection in anything other than God is going to bring frustration and a desire to be critical of everything. Misplaced expectations also encourage us to live by our own ability instead of through faith in God.


What is the solution? Maybe we just need to chill out and lower our expectations!


Seriously!


Maybe we need to offer mercy, grace, peace, patience, kindness, and gentleness to everyone around us. Maybe we need to expect less of others (and ourselves) and be excited when we get more. Maybe we need to raise our expectations for God. Maybe we need to tell others about God instead of about our GMC.

Seeing With God's Eyes

The challenge this week for the Summer of Blessing is to begin each day in prayer asking God to help you you see what he needs you to see. I just received a note from someone expanding on this prayer:

"...we need to pray unceasingly for the "vision" of the heavenly host in order to see with our transformed minds and not our eyes when we look upon the cloudy images right in front of us."

Seeing with God's eyes? We don't naturally see with God's eyes. We often see what we want to see. It takes practice and focus to learn how to put God first and what we want second because usually it is the other way around.

Imagine how incredible it would be if all of Sugar Grove's 950 people spent every day wherever they are seeking to see what God needs them to see.

Try it out. Start your day asking God to help you to see what he needs you to see. And know that I realize none of us will do this perfectly. In fact my day yesterday started kind of crazy and I realized this morning that yesterday I had never asked God to help me to see what he needed me to see... I did today!

Summer of Blessing Stories

I am having so much fun hearing some of the Summer of Blessing stories! But even more than just fun it is neat to realize all the tons of ways God is working and active and leading people.

In the last post I mentioned about the group of people setting up a canopy in their front yard and inviting their neighbors to get together and pray and their neighbors came. I have heard stories about people writing notes to all of their neighbors and beginning a chain reaction of neat events on their street. I have heard stories about people greeting neighbors who moved onto their street.

But I know there are lots more stories out there. When those stories are shared with other people it is encouraging and exciting to hear all the ways God is working and leading. We want to hear the stories. Post your story on the church facebook page , shoot a note to me, or grab a pen and paper at the Grand Central cart in the back of the church auditorium, write it down, and pin it up so others can be encouraged.

Fun Stuff About Sugar Grove

There are a bunch of fun things about Sugar Grove... like the youth minister coming home from camp with huge chops, or the ability of an undisclosed person who works in Live Wires to put on a tacky chartreuse colored jacket and become a totally new person. However what is even more fun about Sugar Grove than some of the characters that inhabit its hallways is the expectation and atmosphere that God will move and work in each and every person.

Somewhere along the way in the church world an expectation developed that God only worked and moved in the leadership of churches and the rest of the members simply did whatever it is that members are supposed to do. However this goes against some basic foundations of the church such as the reality that every person is filled with and gifted by the Holy Spirit.

I was attracted to Sugar Grove 9 years ago by the desire of the leadership to let God be in charge. This passion to let God be in charge is what continues to drive Sugar Grove and at the core of the Summer of Blessing. The goal of the Summer of Blessing is to encourage everyone at The Grove to open their eyes to what God desires to do with them in their daily walk. There have been some neat stories that have come out already this summer. Here is one:

• A few of our members in Meadows Place got together and set up a canopy in their front yard and spread the word on their street that they were going to get the neighbors together and pray about anything that might be a need. Eight of the people who showed up had no connections to Sugar Grove and 4 of them had no connections to any type of church. They had planned to end this time of prayer at 7:30 PM and the neighbors did not leave until 8:30 PM.

These types of things cannot be planned by church leadership. They are things that occur because God directs specific people in a specific place to do a specific thing to reach specific people.

The fun thing about Sugar Grove is the expectant atmosphere that God will work and lead every person in unique ways.

How is God leading you?

The Body of Christ..

^{1 Corinthians12:12} Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free —and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 


My family and I just returned from Colorado where we were able to spend a couple of weeks on vacation in the mountains. One of the things I like to do every morning while in the mountains is get on my bicycle and ride. Cyclemeter Log

Riding in the mountains is both torture and awesome. No humidity. No Oxygen. But the beautiful views and wonderful smells compensate for chapped lips and burning lungs.

One thing I do when I ride my bike is spend a lot of time communing with God. Sometimes I talk. Sometimes I listen. One day while riding God helped me to notice how interesting the mountains are. Any part of the mountain environment taken on its own is not that remarkable- a dusty rock, a plant with a few flowers... But combined together in just the right way and all of the unremarkable individual pieces form together into an environment that bears the powerful fingerprints of God.

God reminded me that this is like the church. Each of us on our own is impressive as a human being created in the image of God but, like all of humanity, we are flawed and fallen. However when God places us together in just the right way as the body of Christ we become a collection of unremarkable individual pieces that are formed into a remarkable whole that bears the powerful fingerprints of God.


That's pretty incredible!

Don't forget who we are and why God has put us together!

Seeing With God's Eyes

Have you ever noticed the way you look at something can transform your attitudes and actions toward a particular situation or person?

Quiet often we view situations and people around us in a way that benefits us the most. That is a kind way to say we view things in a selfish way. We tend to look at situations and people in ways that would benefit us.

But what would happen if we viewed situations and people through God's eyes? What would happen if instead of thinking about our own needs or wants when interacting with other people we simply attempted to see people the way God sees them.

I'm sure that perhaps there are a few scriptures that affirm the viewpoint of seeing people the way God wants us to see them.

For Summer of Blessing we are supposed to be meeting our neighbors? Why? That seems so ridiculously simple. Wouldn't it be better to develop some elaborate plan with detailed follow up for connecting with people around us?

Well...

Perhaps learning to simply view the people around us with God's eyes is where we all need to start. How amazing would it be if every time we interacted with anyone around us our first response was to quickly pray and ask God to help us see this person with his eyes. The results might amaze us. We might discover ourselves generously showing patience, mercy, and kindness to some. We may discover ourselves taking a few moments to interact with others not because we have the time but because God needs us to take the time. We might begin to recognize people who are seeking God and need someone to talk to. We might encounter someone who simply needs a word encouragement. And we might even be surprised to discover that God has brought someone into our lives tnot so we can bless them but so that they can bless us.

Have you been a blessing to someone this week?

Summer of Blessing

This summer Sugar Grove is doing the Summer of Blessing which is a week by week challenge to help us be a light for Jesus Christ where we live.

Earlier this week I was reading through a couple of Paul's letters with someone and it really struck me how wildly different his attitude and lifestyle were from our typical American Christian lifestyle.

We tend to put our 'Christian' effort into church related things and then work somewhere, go to school somewhere, live somewhere, go to eat somewhere etc...We give very high value to being happy. We want to be happy and we don't want to do anything that would cause anyone around us to be unhappy. Our happiness is typically determined by how much things are going our way in life. Our attitude is typically dependant upon how happy we are.

Paul lived out his walk with Christ wherever he was. His focus in life was to make sure everyone around him heard the news of Jesus Christ- no matter where he was. He was more concerned about Jesus Christ than he was about happiness. However his attitude was not determined by how much things were going his way. His attitude was determined by the incredible hope of life in Christ. It did not matter what was going on in life, whether shipwrecked or in prison, because his attitude was shaped by Christ. He was not concerned about making sure his life was happy or about making sure those around him were happy. Instead he showed love and peace to those around him, even his guards in prison, and made sure everyone around him knew of the incredible news of Jesus Christ- even if learning about Jesus Christ would make others unhappy.

As I thought through Paul's life as compared to my life I realize I am just about a 180 opposite from Paul. How did that happen?! I love God and I want to live for him and I want others to know about Jesus Christ but somewhere along the way I have devised my own plan for what it means to live as a Christian and that plan sure does look different than Paul's plan.

So tomorrow I will change and start living just like Paul! Great. Except changing in one day just doesn't work very well. It takes weeks and weeks and months and months to change. So how do I change to be more like Paul.

One step at a time.

I have to learn that letting my light shine isn't something I do at 11600 West Airport Blvd and no place else. I have to learn to listen to God's Holy Spirit every step of my day. I have to change what I am doing which means spending a little less time doing my Christianity at the church building and a little more time living for God where I am. I need to learn to see the people around me with God's eyes and not with my eyes.

Summer of Blessing is an incremental challenge to pay attention and act with the people who I am around every day.