How to Make Good Choices

When you come to a crossroads and you have to make a choice, please consider these instructions:

1. Trust God. Often we get into trouble because we think we know better than God how to run our lives. Trust your life and your choices to Him and He will guide you. (see Proverbs 3:5-6)

2. Be Wise. Wisdom is more than intelligence, education or even common sense. Wisdom comes from God. Seek it and you will find it. Godly wisdom can and should become the basis for all of your decisions. (see Proverbs 8:33-36)

3. Listen to Godly People. One of the main differences between wisdom and foolishness is that a wise person will consistently seek out and listen to wise counsel while a fool will do his (or her) own thing and resent anyone who tries to tell him what to do. Seek out wise people who can help you make the best decision possible. Once you’ve found some wise friends and advisors, listen to them. (see Proverbs 15:22)

4. Be Patient. In every major decision, realize that good discernment usually comes with time, thought, prayer and patience. In big decisions, your first instinct isn’t always the best option. (see Proverbs 16:32)

5. Check your Motives. Any choice made from an authentic heart to please God will ultimately lead to success. (see Proverbs 16:3)

6. Calm down. Never make a decision in anger. It will almost always be the wrong choice. (see Proverbs 29:11)

7. Be Courageous. The most consistent command in all the Bible is “Be not afraid”. As God’s child, fear should never be your motivation to make any decision. (see Proverbs 29:25)

8. Think it Through. Every wise choice will create future opportunities and every poor choice will limit future opportunities. With every choice, ask yourself how will I feel about this decision I’m making ten days or ten years down the road? Your choices today will either build or destroy your life tomorrow. (see Proverbs 19:3)

9. Listen to your Wife. All the other Proverbs have been for all people in all walks of life, but this one is just for the blessed men who have a Godly wife. Guys, when it comes to big decisions, listen to your wife! Trust me on this one. (see Proverbs 31:10-31)

10. Don’t second guess. Once you’ve gone through the process and made your decision, follow through and don’t look back. “What might have been” is a waste of time! (see Proverbs 4:25)

Christian Ambition

When did "ambition" become a dirty word? On the surface, the term "Christian Ambition" might sound like an oxymoron, because somewhere along the line we adopt the notion that ambition is ungodly and prideful. The truth is that we are called to be boldly ambitious for God. Jesus said that "forceful" (ambitious) people lay hold of the Gospel. The trick is to not let wordly, self-focused ambition come in and choke out the Kindgom-minded drive that God has put inside the heart of every Believer. It's not about making our names great, but His Name great. The distinction is that we must remain always content, but never satisfied. We must always be thankful for what we have while also looking ahead to the even Greater Things God desires to do in and through us for His Glory. We must also realize that sometimes just being still in God's presence is the most productive thing we can be doing. Go ahead...be ambitious for Jesus.

Stevens Creek Grovetown

I'm so proud to be a part of a church that continues to break outside the box to reach people for Jesus. This Fall, we're launching a new campus in Grovetown, GA which will allow us to reach thousands of people that we're not currently reaching. Every community in America needs life-giving churches, and I'm thrilled to know that one is coming to Grovetown! It's an exciting time @ The Creek.

Biggest Surprises from Parenthood

In April of 2005, I became a father and life has been dramatically different ever since. I now have two little boys, and I haven't had one "dull" moment since I became their Daddy. It's been more than four years of constant adventure that's nothing at all like I would have expected, so I thought I'd share my "Top Ten" biggest surprises from parenthood:

10. The Chaos. I guess I imagined that "good genes" (from their mom) would make my kids behave perfectly and I would naturally know how to deal with any issues that arose. I was wrong on both counts. It has been beautiful chaos since day one.

9. The Demons. I wasn't sure how I felt about demonic possession in the modern era until I became the father of toddlers. Now I'm quite sure it still exists, because I've seen them both druel and scream scarier than any exorcism on tv.

8. The Smells. I had no idea, but small children are capable of creating foul and putrid scents so disgusting and repugnant that I've often felt like I'm trapped in a gas chamber dying a slow death.

7. The Volume. Bose Stereos used to advertise the amount of volume their tiny speakers could produce. I now know that their research must have been based on small children, because my kids can scream so loudly that my ears hurt for hours afterwards.

6. The Cuteness. I think God made kids so cute just so their parents wouldn't kill them. My kids could burn the house down, but then give me one of their cute looks and I wouldn't be able to stay mad.

5. The Diapers. I still can figure out how it is scientifically possible for a small child to consume 10 ounces of food and liquid and then produce 30 ounces of foul-smelling waste.

4. The Fighting. Kids who grow up without siblings aren't as tough because they never have to get into a fist fight over a teddy bear. Humans' selfish nature starts young, because our boys came out of the womb ready to fight for their toys.

3. The Grandparents. The day that I became a parent was the day that my parents became alien life-forms who are incapable of showing restraint when it comes to their grandbabies. I think my folks might actually go bankrupt buying Thomas the Tank Engine toys, Disney Movies and ice cream for the boys. So much for my inheritance.

2. The Sleep Deprivation. When my single friends tell me that they sleep ten hours a night and still need Starbucks to wake them up, I have to restrain myself from punching them in the face. Actually, I lack the strength to punch anyways because as the parent of small children, I don't sleep. I don't fantasize about sex or money or anything like that, but I fantasize all the time about sprawling out on a big comfy bed and sleeping. Oh, yeah.

1. The Love. I had no idea I was capable of loving anybody the way I love my boys and their hot mom. It has given me a beautiful insight into the immeasurable love that God has for each of His kids. I'm a lucky man.

Annoying Christians

Jeff Foxworthy says that he can only joke about rednecks because he is a redneck and loves rednecks. I feel the same way about Christians. As a follower of Jesus, I love my fellow Christians, but sometimes they do stuff that just seems annoying to me, so out of love and honesty, I've posted a Top Ten list of some of my biggest pet peeves in all the Christian world.

10. Christians who pray loudly before their meal and then treat their waitress rudely and leave a cheap tip. If you can't afford to tip well, then you can't afford to eat out. If you can't treat your server with respect, you probably shouldn't leave your house much. You're the reason why servers hate working the Sunday lunch shift.

9. Christians who have poor personal hygiene. Just because you're "washed in the blood" it doesn't mean you get a pass on bathing daily.

8. Christians who say that Jesus' first miracle was turning water into grape juice. Saying that Jesus made "great wine" at a Jewish wedding with no alcohol would be like saying he made "great tea" at a South Carolina wedding with no sugar.

7. Christians who say they care deeply for "lost people" but they don't have one meaningful relationship with anybody outside the church.

6. Christians who make their political affiliation more sacred than their affiliation to Jesus.

5. Christians who like cats and/or dislike dogs. God made some animals superior to others.

4. Christians who use words like "fornication" in regular sentences. Just say sex, weirdo.

3. Christians who fall asleep during the service but then tell the pastor the sermon was good afterwards. I can see you from the stage and I know who you are.

2. Christians who refer to each other as Brother so and so or Sister so and so. I guess it's sweet and respectful on some level, but overall, it makes me feel like I'm in cult, so I'd much prefer to just be called Dave.

1. Hypocrites. This one annoys me the most because I fall into this category most days which makes me as annoying as anybody. Luckily, we serve a grace-filled and loving God.

Lazy Revolution

It's remarkable to me just how lazy we have become as a society. When I hear about drive-by shootings on the news, I think, "wow...I remember a time when criminals had the courtesy to get out of their cars to shoot you." This new "Lazy Revolution" isn't confined to criminals; it has infected people from all walks of life and pastors as well. I don't have to spend time looking through my Bible for a passage, because my computer does it for me. I text in partial words, because "whole words" take way too long to write out, and I rarely write a "whole blog" because twitter has empowered me to record my thoughts in one sentence which makes writing a whole paragraph seem daunting. I have much more to say on this issue, but my fingers are getting very tired from all this typing so I'm going to have to take a break.

99 Balloons

This is a very touching story that reminds me of the power of life. Life is always a precious gift from our good and faithful God. Take a few minutes to watch this video...it will be the most powerful thing you see all day.