My son Taylor

The last 6 months has been, by far, the most challenging time in our family.  For a number of reasons we have simply had to trust God with our finances, our home, my “career”, and so much more.  It’s been a faith building journey, for sure, and it’s not done yet!

Today I realized I also have to trust God with my priorities.  A number of years ago I created my own personal core values. You can see them here.  My relationship with God, Michele & my boys, Taylor & Garret, occupy my top three priorities.

Which presents an interesting situation over the next couple of weeks.  You see, I’ve been working hard on what is “next” for me, namely Kidmin360. I’m excited about what God seems to be doing, the collaboration that has been involved, and the potential impact I see in the lives of young – and hopefully “seasoned” –  Children’s Ministry leaders.

So what’s the problem?  Well, we’re about to announce an exciting new opportunity for Kidmin leaders, something that I think will be valuable for those who really want to learn how to lead in the complex and challenging world of Children’s Ministry.  Frankly, I’m hoping it will help establish Kidmin360 as a place to go for Children’s Ministry leadership development.  So with that announcement, any marketing or PR person would tell you to make as many connections as possible to get the word out, right?  How about at one of the biggest Children’s Ministry gatherings in the world – like next week at Children’s Pastors Conference right here in San Diego?  That would be great, wouldn’t it?

Except that I committed long ago to being a chaperone for my son’s 8th grade trip to Washington DC.  Originally it was planned for this week, then it got changed to next – right during the Children’s Pastors Conference!

So what do I do?  I trust God with my priorities.  There’s really no question about what I will do…in fact I can’t wait to spend an entire week with my son!  Yes, I wish I could have that connection time at Children’s Pastors Conference to make connections and share what God is doing at Kidmin360…but that’s not my priority next week – my son is.

I don’t know what Kidmin360 will look like in the future – it may be something that, with collaboration, will end up impacting many Children’s Ministry leaders.  Or it may not.  I do know that, for the rest of our lives, I want to be making an impact on my son’s life…so I trust God with my priorities and look forward to a great time in Washington DC!

As I move forward, I will be doing this – equipping leaders – through a new avenue:  Kidmin360.  I’m excited about what lies ahead, and about helping churches grow their Kidmin by growing their leaders.

Check out the site for more information and contact me if I can help you or your church.  You can also find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Thanks for your prayers as we start this new adventure!

Then I realized again…I do.

Not literally like Jacob did.  But I do wrestle.  And recently I’ve been doing a lot of it.

This short, unique passage provides a lot to think about, and perhaps some insight into the why’s an how’s of wrestling with God.

1. Often the wrestling begins unexpectedly. Jacob found himself alone in the camp and suddenly he was wrestling with someone he’d never seen before.  The times we wrestle with God can come out of the blue.  Not for Him, but for us.
2. The wrestling can last a long time. I can’t imagine literally wrestling with anyone for hours, let alone God.  But Jacob wrestled all night.  I like to have answers.  I want to know NOW.  I want resolution.  Sometimes God would prefer that I fight a little longer.
3. Wrestling can be painful. God finally “touched” Jacob’s hip out of socket.  That must’ve hurt!  And he lived with it the rest of his life, I’m sure reminding him of this night whenever the pain grabbed him.  Sometimes wrestling with God leads to painful experiences.  I have learned that pain can be a good thing – it teaches & reminds…though it is never welcome.
4. We need to hang on until we get what God has for us. Now this is a part that I don’t get, but it says that God asked Jacob to let Him go but Jake wouldn’t do that.  I’ll leave it at that & ask God when I get to heaven.  The point is Jacob wanted something.  Notice he didn’t ask WHY they were wrestling.  No, he wanted God’s blessing in his life, and he wouldn’t let go until he got it!  There’s something to be said of a tenacious pursuit of God.
5. God might leave some things unanswered. Jacob got his blessing, but he also wanted to know the name of the guy he was wrestling.  ”Nope, not gonna tell you” is basically what God said.  That had to be ok with Jacob, and sometimes not having all the answers has to be ok with us, too.  God lets us know everything we need to know, and apparently Jake understood enough in the end to know that he just came face to face with God Himself!
6. It’s OK to wrestle with God. Understanding this, perhaps more than anything else, can be life-changing.  At one time I felt it unacceptable to wrestle with God.  You can’t be mad at God, or fight with Him, or even question Him…can you?  You want to be careful with what is & is not acceptable, and I won’t even pretend to fully understand the dynamics, but when I read of Moses arguing with God over His people, or Jacob wrestling with God, or any number of other stories that tell of similar incidents, I begin to think that maybe God WANTS me to wrestle a little.  In the end, painful as it may be, perhaps He wants to teach me something that I will not otherwise discover.  As I’ve gone through the last several months, I’ve once again discovered that it’s OK to wrestle with God sometimes.

How about you?  Have you wrestled with God?  What have you learned in your experience?

This “tweet” from Michael Chanley got me to thinking about teachability.  True leaders are teachable.  But what does that really mean?  And what does it mean to be “unteachable”?  I jotted down some thoughts about each and thought I’d share them here – the difference is the difference between cats and dogs!

OK, there’s just a few thoughts comparing those who are teachable vs. those who are not. 

What else can we add to the list? And, more importantly, how are we doing in the area of teachability?