Origination, Destination and Maturation

Just finished preaching a series of messages for a local church recently and one of the underlying, recurring themes that I kept emphasizing was this:

Where you came FROM is important...

Where you are GOING is more important...
WHO you are BECOMING is most important

Many pastors and Christians spend a large part of their time trying to convince others that the place of their origination is the primary value of who they are. For example, I had a high-school buddy that was convinced that since he was from the northeast, he was superior in many ways. Whether it was related to sports, social skills or just life in general, he was going to be better.
I also have met Christ-followers that spend a lot of their time talking about where they came from - whether it was the streets or the pews, you could be sure that their originating place was what was first in their conversation or their sermons. Their origination defined their identity...then there are those that allow their destination to define their identity...

Recently, I read a book by Andy Stanley that can be summarized in just one sentence (the book was The Principle of the Path) - that sentence...
"Direction, not intention, determines destination" - so, save yourself some money, that's the book.

And, it's true! Because truthfully, there are many people (and I've been one at times) that have GREAT intentions, but their direction is totally mismatched against their intentions. The end result...their destination is usually static or going in reverse.

So, origination and destination are important, but maturation is the MOST important.

In other words, WHO are you BECOMING in life...you're becoming someone. Of course, my goal in the series was to compel them to become more like Christ...to realize that in the process of life, we don't need to short-circuit the plan of God by rushing through a season...even a difficult one!

That's where I've been...evaluating my own maturation as it relates to: family, ministry, friendships, responsibilities, and responses.

How about you?
I'm sure you know where you came from, do you know where you are going?
More importantly, do you know WHO you are BECOMING?

Let's talk about it...please, leave a comment!

Life in 3D

This being my first blog post of the New Year and New Decade, I thought I'd take a moment and define some things about both the new year and decade that I hope will become a reality.



I had the idea last year from this blog post to use 3 keywords as compass points or guiding thoughts rather than establishing New Year's Resolutions. I didn't act on it, and no regret it. So, for 2010, I plan to use the following keywords as defining thoughts and guides in life: Discover, Discipline and Develop. I've included a little more definition below:


Life in 3D


The three words that follow are compass points that I will use to guide my life in 2010. These words will affect all aspects of my life: finance, time, actions, thoughts, relationships, etc. They are not resolutions – resolutions typically fail and are bound to the calendar/clock. The choice is not to live by the clock, but, rather, the compass. Life by the clock is limited – life by the compass is unlimited, open to new things and constantly exploring. The goal is to use these three words to give direction to my efforts.

Discover

Obvious Result: Learning to live again with a sense of awe and wonder at life around me

* New things in the Bible
* New interests
* New Relationships


Discipline

Obvious Result: Better stewardship in my life

* My time
* My energy
* My mind
* My spirit

Develop

Obvious Result: Intentional depth added in key areas of my life

* Deeper relationships
* Consistency:

1. In my walk with Christ
2. In my diet
3. In my reading
4. In my blogging

Life in the "Fast" Lane

Every year, during the month of January, many Christians, churches and ministries call their supporters and followers to observe an extended 

I'm choosing to participate in the 21 day fast that many Christians participate in during the month of January. However, rather than the Daniel Fast related to food, I'm doing an extended fast of just water and juice for several days, coupled with a 21 day social media fast.

Here are the measures I'm putting in place:

• No communicate via Facebook or Twitter for 21 days
• No blog reading via Google Reader feed for 21 days 
• Removing Facebook and Twitter apps from my iPhone
• Replacing social media time spent with time spent in reading the Bible
  

During this time I will:

• Replace social media with reading the Scriptures. I plan to read the New Testament during the 21 days
• Have others that can update facebook pages and twitter feeds if needed (this would be related to work/ministry)
  
• Begin a journey through the Bible in 2010 that I believe will nourish me spiritually and strengthen the ministry God has entrusted me with
• Journal, daily, the things God shows me through prayer and Scripture
• Have my accountability partner and others hold me accountable to this fast - the primary purpose of this is not a "check up" so much as to reflect to them what God is showing me
  

Benefits:

• Separation from non-essential media to focus intensely on essential disciplines (reading Scripture, prayer, journaling)
• Establishing a pace of spiritual disciplines that will set in motion the priorities and focus of my life for 2010
  
• Clarity in hearing the voice of God as I reduce the "noise" of social media

Blog Recap for 2009

Here's a quick overview of my blog activity for 2009:

• Before I get to stats, let me say that I've struggled to maintain a purpose for keeping this blog going - I still do somewhat. My numbers and activity were almost a third of what they were the year before. I hope to reverse that and have set some measures in place to help with it - I hope that regular, consistent blogging will help me develop a better understanding of WHY I should keep blogging.
• Here's my look back at 2008 if you're interested.

In 2009:

• I wrote 53 blog posts (down from 160 in 2008). I wrote several others and rescinded them before publishing because of content or ambiguity
• As of 12/20/09 I had 2,594 visits to rickwomack.com
• They came from 69 different countries (up from 55)
• There were 1,712 absolute unique visitors, spending an average of 6 seconds less on my site, but viewing .01% more pages
• 29 people used dial-up as opposed to 72 in '08 - come on you 29, you have to give in and upgrade to high-speed internet!
• Fewer people use IE, more people use Firefox and Safari double. Chrome went from virtually nothing to almost 4% of viewers.
  
• The top referrers: Google, Facebook, then fellow bloggers (thanks Rachel & Debbie)
  

Here are 7 of my favorite blog posts from 2009:

1. http://www.rickwomack.com/2009/10/progress-demands-that-we-challenge.html
2. http://www.rickwomack.com/2009/09/we-need-r-evol-ution.html 
3. http://www.rickwomack.com/2009/09/in-light-of-eternity.html 
4. http://www.rickwomack.com/2009/08/whats-first-thing-id-do.html 
5. http://www.rickwomack.com/2009/08/intersecting-life-and-church-at-ruths.html
6. http://www.rickwomack.com/2009/06/americas-newest-race-are-you-ready.html
7. http://www.rickwomack.com/2009/05/hearhear.html 

Looking Back - 7 Great Questions

The following questions come from Michael Hyatt - great content to use as an annual life review:

1. If the last year were a movie of your life, what would the genre be? Drama, romance, adventure, comedy, tragedy, or a combination?
2. What were the two or three major themes that kept recurring? These can be single words or phrases. 
3. What did you accomplish this past year that you are the most proud of? These can be in any area of your life—spiritual, relational, vocational physical, etc. Be as specific as possible. 
4. What do you feel you should have been acknowledged for but weren’t? Okay, this is a little too personal for me to respond to directly. 
5. What disappointments or regrets did you experience this past year? As leaders, we naturally have high expectations of ourselves and others. Where did you let yourself down? Where did you let others down? 
6. What was missing from last year as you look back? Again, look at each major area of your life. Don’t focus now on having to do anything about it. For now, just list each item. 
7. What were the major life-lessons you learned this past year? Boil this down to a few short, pithy statements. 

Here are my answers:
#1 - Adventure
#2 - Relationships, Process
#3 - Deepening relationships
#4 - Not sure...not sure I'd tell if I were.
#5 - Discipline in reading & health
#6 - More time with family on vacation
#7 - In view of eternity...

Looking Back '09

I want to look back in this post at two questions that I heard posed this year from Bob Roberts...

• What is the right way to do church? (For me, it's easy to slip into this mindset and begin to opine on what I think the "right" way to do church is) - but, it's the wrong question
• What does it mean to fulfill God's purposes? This is the right question!

I'm working through to make sure that question #2 is the first question I ask when I consider God's plan for: my life, my family, my ministry, my future, His Church, my role in our denomination, etc.

Don't miss it, it's subtle...
What does it mean...

to fulfill...

God's purposes?

All of them!

It may NOT be what you are presently doing, thinking, planning...

My Most Meaningful Post All Year

The Birth of Jesus 

The birth of Jesus took place like this. 

His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. 

Before they came to the marriage bed, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. 

(It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn’t know that.) 

Joseph, chagrined but noble, 

determined to take care of things quietly 

so Mary would not be disgraced. 

While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. 

God’s angel spoke in the dream: 

“Joseph, son of David, don’t hesitate to get married. 

Mary’s pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God’s Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. 

 She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus—

‘God saves’

—because he will save his people from their sins.”  

This would bring the prophet’s embryonic sermon to full term:

Watch for this—a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son;
They will name him Emmanuel 

(Hebrew for “God is with us”).  

Then Joseph woke up. 

He did exactly 

what God’s angel commanded in the dream: 

He married Mary.

Merry Christmas All! This story, more than a story, a reality, brings hope-fulfilled, life-eternal, and joy never-ending.

Thank you for reading & Merry Christmas!