The Treasure Hunt

I’ve always been a treasure hunter at heart. When I was a young boy, I would often draw up treasure maps of our yard complete with drawings of the trees, rocks and other landmarks that we would find along the familiar path to the creek that ran behind our house. Somewhere on the map, I’d place a big X where I was sure that we would find hidden treasure. I had an excellent track record of pinpointing exactly where the treasure would be, and I chalked it up to a “gift” that God must have given me. In my young mind, I had loft notions of becoming the next “Indiana Jones”…my Explorer Name would have been “Kentucky Dave”…you get the idea.
Once the map was complete, I would round up my two younger brothers and my Dad and we would head off into the wild wilderness of our subdivision in hunt of the treasure. By the time we reached the rocky banks of the tiny creek behind our home, my heart would be racing with anticipation. I could almost taste the treasure! We would search the entire vicinity around the X on our map and then finally my Dad would say,
“Why don’t you boys go look in those rocks?”
“We’ve already looked over there, Dad.”
“I know, but I’ll bet if you look again, you’ll find the treasure.”
Sure enough, every time Dad pointed us someplace, we found treasure. It was typically a Ziplock baggie filled with candy or pennies and nickels. We would dance in celebration and run all the way home to pour our booty out on the kitchen table and proudly show Mom what her brave treasure hunters had found. We then divided it up into thirds and marveled at how the treasure always seemed to divide exactly evenly between the three of us. Ah…those were the days.
I guess you could say that I was a slow learner, because it was literally years after we outgrew the treasure hunting that I finally realized the obvious-it was my Dad who was putting the treasure there all along. My own map had nothing at all to do with the location of the treasure or the treasure itself. I thought all along that it was all about my skills and my instincts, but it wasn’t about me at all. It was all about my Father, and the only reason the treasure hunt had any significance at all is because I had taken the journey with him.
Recently, I’ve re-examined this magical season from my childhood and been humbled by the obvious parallels this treasure hunt has to our own walk with our Heavenly Father. Most of us are tempted to go through life and set our own course and then take full credit for whatever spoils we earn or find along the way, but in truth, the only reason why our lives have any significance at all is that we can choose to take the journey with our Heavenly Father. He is the one who can set the perfect course for our lives and He is the one who will guide along the path and He is the one who is the treasure that we find. Sure, we think the treasures are the trinkets of wealth and comfort that we may find along the way, but those tiny blessings are completely insignificant when compared to the treasure of knowing and finding God.

My Journey of Faith

In my own spiritual journey, countless people, events, churches, songs, books, sermons and ideas have shaped my beliefs. The path that has led me to my present state has been quite an adventure. I’m still a work in progress (and always will be on this side of heaven), so I’ll use this paper as a means to outline where I’ve been, where I am and where I’m going by the grace of God.
I grew up as what I refer to as an “accidental spiritual anthropologist”. I know that seems like a strange, self-imposed title, so let me explain. My family moved around quite a bit during my formative years and each time we landed in a new location, we would start the process of finding a new church. My parents always gravitated to the places where they connected most with the people, so they never seemed overly concerned about “brand loyalty” towards a particular denomination. As a result, I grew up as a charismatic Assemblies of God, Nazarene, Baptist, Non-denominational Christian.
I suppose that this type of bouncing around should have caused a spiritual schizophrenia in my young mind, but on the contrary, I believe that God ordained this eclectic path to bring me a more holistic picture of His Kingdom and His purposes. I didn’t realize how I was being shaped by these vast and varied experiences at the time, but now I find that I am able to have natural and comfortable conversations about spiritual matters with nearly anyone. I believe that my journey has given me a very unique perspective and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
While my church background has been a huge aspect of my own spiritual formation, it pales in comparison to the impact my faith has had as a result of growing up with two very Godly parents. My Mom and Dad gave roots to my faith in many ways. They modeled the Christian walk and they lived (and continue to live) with integrity and purpose in all aspects of their lives. They gave me a solid foundation and I’m so thankful to have been raised and discipled by such sincere Christians.

My Church Rocks!

I'm so blessed to be a part of a church with a heart for reaching our world for Christ. I believe we're standing on the edge of some incredible and life-changing times here at "the Creek" and I can't wait to see what God has in store for us! I'm honored to be a small part of the adventure.

Things to say before you die

Two nights ago I was ordained in a very touching ceremony at NorthEast Christian Church in Lexington, KY. My wife (and best friend) Ashley organized most of the service and I sat on the front row in a kind of "awe and wonder"at what was happening around me. I realized just how blessed I am to be surrounded by such loving and supportive friends and family members and how blessed I was to hear their kind words. I also realized that most the time, we tend to reserve our kindest words for a person to be used at their funeral to memorialize them. I don't don't want to do that. I don't want anyone close to me to go into eternity not knowing how I feel about them. I don't want to speak my most loving words to a casket. I challenge you to do the same. If you have something encouraging to say to someone you love...say it!!! Don't wait for tomorrow and definitely don't wait to use it in a eulogy. Life is short enough as it is and when you speak life to someone whom you love, you'll never know the positive impact you're having.

I give my heartfelt thanks to everyone who attended this ceremony and shared this moment with my family and me. I will always treasure your friendship and your encouraging words. I'm a blessed man!

Stillness

This is a funny video that illustrates a profound spiritual truth. We live in a fast-paced world where the temptation is to run ourselves to death and never pausing long enough for any type of reflection. Basically, we don't give God a chance to speak to us.

I've been waking up with our baby boy Connor around 5:00 am for his early morning feeding. At first, I would stomp out of bed and begrudgingly carry out this chore, but I've recently recognized this daily ritual for what it really is-a gift from God. These brief moments of solitute with only my son, my heavenly father and the chirping crickets on the other side of my window in the stillness of the dark morning have become sacred to me. I'm so thankful for the gift of stillness and for powerful ways that God can move when we slow down enough to give him the opportunity to do so.

In the chaos of your hectic life today, take the town to slow down to be with God. You'll be amazed at how much you can learn from silence. I'll probably revert back to my lazy ways of sleeping in once the boys are older, but for now, I'm cherishing this beautiful window of time with by son and my God.