I’m what many would say “middle-aged”…

Of course, mid-life is a relative term, and based on average ages of life-expectancy, I’m past that point, but where I am is in between raising my family and becoming a grandparent. I’m concentrating on the next half of my career. I’m “mid-life”.

I previously wrote 10 Benefits of Being Middle-Aged.

It’s a subject I think a lot about, because of the changes that come as I’ve entered this season of life.

Here are 10 current thoughts on mid-life:

You start missing things, people, places you’ve experienced and known even more…

You increase your consideration of “down the road”…

You reflect even more on “days gone by”…

You become more intentional about “what’s next?”…

You are expected to be fully “grown up” but you have more days of wanting to be a kid again…

You think high school wasn’t so bad after all…

Your parents impression on you becomes even more realized…

You forget more than you remember…until the memory hits you again…

You can still push yourself physically, but you pay for it afterwards…

You love bumping into someone you haven’t seen in 20 plus years…

Any mid-life stagers out there? What have you learned?

Parenting looked easy…until I became one.

Leading looked easy…until I became one.

Pastoring looked easy…until I became one.

Husbandry looked easy…until I became one.

Blogging looked easy…until I became one.

Church planting looked easy…until I became one.

Writing looked easy…until I became one.

Go ahead: Add to my list!

According to an article in one of my favorite magazines, (Spirit Magazine):

A penny costs 1.8 cents to produce…

A nickel cost 9.2 cents to produce…

Please help me…

What am I missing here?

• Should we figure out a cheaper way to make pennies and nickels?
• Should we remove them from our economy?
• Should we get them produced in China? (I’m joking about that one.)

(I’ll never forget making a friend in Brazil during one of my many mission trips there. He worked in a factory that employed hundreds of people. Their product? They manufactured credit cards to be used in the United States.)

More difficult question:

Is this representative of things we sometimes do in churches?

See the complete article in Southwest’s Spirit Magazine HERE.

“Money is the root of all evil”

Have you ever heard that phrase?

I hear it often. The problem is that it’s not in the Bible. It’s from a commonly misquoted verse from the Bible.

The actual verse says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” 1 Timothy 6:10 (emphasis mine)

And, you’d have to admit that verse is true. You’ve seen people fall in love with their money and it causes all kinds of grief.

But, money isn’t bad in itself. I happen to like money. It provides for the necessities of life and some of life’s pleasures. It pays the church bills too. We can use our money to bless others.

God uses our system of commerce (money) to further His Kingdom. Sure, He could do without our money…He could do anything He wants with no money at all…but God does choose to use money. You’ve most likely seen Him do so.

Where we get in trouble isn’t with money. It’s with the love of money. Jesus said we can’t love both God and money. He was referring to that sold out, fully committed, do whatever it takes to get kind of love. That love isn’t to be towards our money, but towards our Savior.

Be honest, which do you love more: Your money or Your Jesus?

The best way to tell is to have to give one of them up for the other. Hope you never have to choose that way, but it would at least determine the truth of your heart.

How can you tell when someone is loving their money in an unhealthy way?

Steve Jobs was without question a brilliant man and an incredible marketer. Jobs had a brilliance as an innovator and presenter and could wow an audience or inspire a team. I’ve read that he was difficult (extremely) to work for, but turnover was minimal at Apple because people wanted to follow him.

I do not know anything about Jobs’ spiritual life or his relationship to Christ. I know, however, that Steve Jobs made an incredible contribution to the field of Christianity. God has used his efforts for good.

As I type this post on my MacBook Air, I’m reminded that today I used my iPhone and my iPad to communicate with people around the world. I read the YouVersion by application and kept up with the world through at least a dozen apps I used today.

As a pastor, I am directly benefiting in my ministry from the work of Steve Jobs. May God continue to bring good from the products his company created.

How is your life different because of Steve Jobs and Apple products?

I’m at Catalyst Atlanta this week and will be trying to get my notes live as soon as I can.

David Kinnaman, President of the Barna Group, shared his latest research and the basis of his newest book “You Lost Me” at a Catalyst Lab today. The information was timely for me in some of the thought processes God has been shaping in me. I’m passionate about reaching the next generation and would love to see revival come from them.

This information is a must have for all pastors desiring to reach people under 30 years of age for Christ. As the father of a 23 and 20 year old boys, I found the information dead-on with who they are and the desires they have for life.

In summary, Kinnaman says this generation needs:

Intergenerational relationships – They need adult mentors. They need to be personally discipled; not by large groups but by individuals who care for them and want them to succeed. My boys go looiing for these type relationships. I love it, but realize the church needs to get better in this area. The intergenerational discussion is desperately needed in the church today.

Vocational input – They need help discovering their calling in life. What should they do with the skills and talents God has given them? I see this question resonating with my sons.

Purpose – They need wisdom for life. Who is God calling them to be? What’s the overall purpose of their life? Why did God create them?

I’m glad we have a generation asking these questions. Kinnaman closed by saying, “We have a great opportunity to guide this next generation in a positive way.” In my opinion, the churches who meet these needs will see their efforts in Kingdom-building explode.

What do you think? Do you see Kinnaman’s observations in your world? Do you agree?

In the day of health and fitness awareness, when restaurants seem more intent on offering healthy alternatives, and gyms are on every corner; when organic is the buzz word…

Are we healthier than we once were?

I don’t know…but I found an article I read recently in Delta Sky Magazine interesting.

Comparing numbers then and now, here’s what our diet looks like:

Then:

Pounds of cheese eaten per capita in 1909… 4

Now:

Pounds of cheese eaten per capita in 2000… 32

Then:

Food items at the supermarket in 1978… 10,425

Now:

Food items at the supermarket in 2008… 46,852

Then:

Percentage of obese adolescent children in 1970… 5%

Now:

Percentage of obese adolescent children in 2010… 17%

Then:

Carbohydrates consumed by the average person per day in 1970… 389 grams

Now:

Carbohydrates consumed by the average person per day in 2000… 490 grams

Then:

Fats and oils consumed per capita in 1909… 41 lbs.

Now:

Fats and oils consumed per capita in 2000… 79 lbs.

Then:

Percent of calories eaten away from home in 1977… 18%

Now:

Percent of calories eaten away from home in 1996… 32%

What does this mean? What do you make of these numbers? In the age of diets and health kicks, are we any healthier? What do you think?

Answer this: Are you more conscious about what you eat now than you were 10 years ago? Be honest!

This is a guest post by author and pastor Drew Snider. Drew is an online friend. He’s an evangelist and assistant pastor at Gospel Mission on Vancouver’s Downtown East Side…and a self-proclaimed recovering broadcaster. 

New on Amazon Kindle: A Very Convenient Truth

Former Vice-President Al Gore recently held a 24-hour TV event about the current state of global warming/climate change, and his former boss, Bill Clinton, told a gathering in New York City in September that “green” industries need billions of dollars of investment in order to succeed and, presumably, save the planet.

News about global warming/climate change is invariably bad, whether it’s coming from the scientists warning us that things keep getting worse and governments aren’t doing or spending enough to fight it, or from those who deny there’s a problem, who say the economy will tank if the measures the environmentalists demand are adopted. A Very Convenient Truth – now available on Amazon Kindle — sets out to break us out of the cycle of Doomspeak, personal attacks and confusion.

A Very Convenient Truth takes the position that Christians – in fact, anyone who believes in the One True God of Israel – hold a significant trump card, which makes all that Doomspeak and the worry and fear that goes with it an absolute non-starter. The Word of God, after all, is nothing but good news: you just have to look for it. The book neither denies the issue nor takes the position of the True Believer, but as you consider God’s promise about “the land” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14), you realize that God has already given us the answers. Anyone can pursue them, they don’t cost a cent and they don’t involve serving the creature rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25).

Part of this “very convenient truth” is that there is an original environmental sin that a lot of us have a hard time recognizing, largely for the same reason that people have a hard time recognizing any sin as their own; also because the world has made the effects of that sin appear to be insurmountable. But for someone who’s in Christ, there is also another Truth: that Jesus’ sacrifice allows us to repent and get on the right track.

A Very Convenient Truth also reminds us that things that are attributed to “global warming” have actually been foretold for thousands of years and that trying to fight against these signs puts us in opposition to God’s Will – very dangerous territory, indeed.

For Christians, the book contains a challenge; God’s promises are always yea and Amen: do you believe that when it comes to the environment, too?  For environmentalists, the challenge is, are you broad-minded enough to consider a different approach?

I was thinking the other day about how many things have come along since I’ve been in the world. I’m 47 years old, so I guess that’s plenty of time to do some inventing, but the list really is amazing when I started to write them down…

I lived in a world before…

• Microwaves
• Cell phones
• Color television
• iPod/iPad/iPhone
• $10 movies
• Red Box
• CD’s
• DVD’s
• Blue Ray
• DVR
• Amazon.com
• Google
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Internet
• WWW.
• Cassettes
• Mp3
• Personal computers
• Men on the moon
• Kindle

What else? (Add to my list…)

There’s been a lot of changes in my life… How about yours? 

I’ve always been considered a fairly disciplined person. There are certain disciplines that have made me who I am today. Lately, however, I’ve not felt as disciplined in each area of my life. I would excel in one area, but not in another. I’ve shared some of this here previously, but I went through a couple stressful years. That, coupled with an extremely busy period, distracted me from some of the disciplines I had done for so many years.

The only solution I know to remedy a lack of discipline is to add discipline. I also know that if I repeat a discipline long enough, it becomes a habit…part of the DNA of my daily life. With that in mind, I’m adding some discipline to my life. For the next 90 days, I’m attempting to improve in seven areas of discipline.

For the next 90 days, I plan to add these 7 personal disciplines:

Eat – I am what I eat many times. When I over-eat or eat the wrong foods I gain unnecessary weight and don’t feel as well as I should. My goal here is to average eating between 2,000 and 2,200 calories per day and to monitor the type foods I eat. (The LoseIt app helps with that. Read about it HERE.)

Pray – I know prayer is a life source. I’ve seen the results of prayer. Prayer doesn’t always change things the way I’d want them to bs, but prayer always changes me. It gives me strength, comfort and confidence. Why don’t I pray more? My goal is to pray throughout my day, recognizing God is with me always.

Read – I need to be regularly reading my Bible and supplementing it with Christian and leadership books. I can be legalistic about Bible reading, but the discipline I need is to read it for relationship (with God), not just for education. Part of being discipled by others happens as I read other work. My goal here is to always be reading through a Bible book I’m not preaching about, journal about my Bible reading and to read at least one chapter of another book every day.

Write – I’m introverted, so I process information many times by writing. I’m fairly disciplined with my blog, but I have some larger projects I should be working on. My goal here is to average one hour extra writing time per weekday. I may do that in a couple days per week, but want to maintain that as a total hours each week to write.

Exercise – I’ve written about this before HERE. I know well this is a secret to my productivity. My goal here is to run 4 days per week minimum and exercise with weights 2 or 3 days per week.

Sleep – I don’t need much sleep. If I’m not careful I’ll stay up too late at night working on projects. I never sleep late, so I end up getting too little sleep. My goal here is lights out by 10:30 and to take short power naps as needed…and not feel guilty about them.

Pause – Anyone who knows me well knows I have a hard time staying still long. I do take a “Sabbath” and believe everyone “rests” in their own way, but this is a discipline to have some time during the week where I do absolutely nothing. My goal here is to have a 2 to 3 hour time each week when I pause from all activities. (I can assure you this will be the hardest discipline to complete.)

I’m excited about living a more disciplined life.

Do you want to join me? Would you commit to disciplining yourself in each of these areas over the next 90 days? (You’ll be finished before Christmas.) You can change the details of each discipline…you may need more calories or less…you may choose a different exercise…etc… The key is to be disciplined in 7 critical areas of your life.

Who is with me?

Which of this will be hardest for you to do?