Today I choose:
I choose to see my frustrations as my motivations.
I choose to be content with what I have been given in this season.
I choose to challenge myself to not just go through the motions.
I choose to lead those who don’t want to be led.
I choose to believe the best of my assumed enemies.
I choose to measure my success by spiritual standards and not mans.
I choose to get better at something I’m not good at.
I choose to invest in somebody that others won’t.
I choose to love the person that doesn’t deserve it.
I choose to pray for God to help me make the right choices, and I choose to pray that the Holy Spirit convicts my hearts, actions, and motivations to be holy.
What are you making the choice to do today?
As I prepare to head out of town for a conference this week, my kids have asked me the question, “Dad, what is a conference?” I’ve tried to give them an answer that I thought would make it easy for them to understand and my response was,
“A conference is where people that want to learn and grow to be better at their job go to learn and get better at their job. But really, it’s place that I go to talk to people.”
Then began a conversation about talking to people at conferences; and meeting people I don’t know; and hearing from people I’ve never heard from; and all the other benefits of getting out of town and seeing what’s out there. If I had to explain why you’ve heard me talking about so many conferences on the blog this year here it is:
I go for the conversations. I go for the dinners with friends sharing my own struggles. I go for the one-way conversations I have with the people teaching as I’m listening. I go for the one-way conversations I have with people listening to me as I’m teaching. I go to meet people different than me. I go to meet people similar to me. I go to every conference for different conversations.
The Orange Conference // I go for the life long friends I’ve met through Orange. I also go because it’s a rare conference that combines denominations, ministry leaders, youth leaders, volunteers, children’s leaders, and senior pastors into one space that creates fireworks of collaboration. It’s unique.
The D6 Conference // I go for the new people I get to meet and see. This next week I’ll be at D6 for the first time. It looks to be a great environment for learning the best from marriage, parenting, and church leadership leaders. I’m real excited to also not have to travel far to this one!
The KIDMIN Conference // I’m going to Kidmin because I love kids and those that minister to them! Kidmin is trying really, really hard to reach those that minister to children in a community settings. No green rooms, no hideaway meals, and relationship encouraged at every turn. Not to mention Gina McClain laying down some awesome sauce in the main sessions!
Illuminate Conference // I love Illuminate because it’s all about volunteers. Illuminate encourages me to learn from others, yet allows me the place to teach into those that are going where I’ve been. I love the opportunity that Illuminate presents to church leaders in Birmingham, AL; Austin, TX; and Nashville, TN to bring their key volunteers together for a ministry investment!
Children’s Pastor Conference // I’ll be at both CPC conferences this year for a new reason. I’m believing for a change in the way INCM meets and connects Kidmin leaders throughout the world. CPC is a place that is changing, and I’m excited for the direction my friend Michael Chanley is taking INCM and CPC.
I’m not nieve and I understand that on some level all these conferences compete for the same attenders. However, I am not an employee of any one conference. I am just a conversationalist looking for more conversation. Sure I have my favorites, and I could rank them in some arbitrary order. But why? Conversations are what I’m looking for. Not arguments.
Simple as that, kids. :-)
After a few weeks of looking, I’ve finally found that blog that I had misplaced. Seems it got thrown out with the garbage, and there I was in the alley with a flashlight at 10pm looking for jonathancliff.com. Or maybe I lost it somewhere in a couch cushion, or maybe my toddler hid it in a pair of shoes that I never wear, or maybe my wife had left it in one of the suitcases from vacation and it was in the attic, or maybe my kids loaned it to a neighbor kid that never brought it back, or maybe I just got super busy and took a blog vacation with no formal announcement. You know, let’s go with that last one.
As I get ready to post thoughts and teachings from my life over the past few weeks (and I promise it’s coming), I wanted to kick things off with an official “Friday Bag” of goodies:
As my family and I have fully entered the world of Foster Care, and celebrate the 6 month time passage that we’ve had the same kid; we’re hit with the reality that certainty is highly overrated. When the kid first came to us, it was hinted that we wouldn’t have him past Easter. Then we were told it would be before school was out, then it was late July, then we were told maybe before school started in August, then now we’ve been told anywhere between October and January he will return to his mother.
The returning to his mother part is a blessing for both him and his mother; even if it brings severe heartache to my family. For that we prepare our hearts, and guard our emotions. But the part of the experience that has changed us the most is the state of uncertainty that we constantly live with. There is nothing “for sure” in the world of foster care.
The reality is though, that there is very little certainty in life apart from being a foster parent. Is this news to you? Really?
When I read Philippians 4:6-7, 1 Peter 5:7, and Psalm 55:22; I am confronted with how I should react to Anxiety, Stress, and Fear. But nothing is noted about what brings that about in my life. Why? Because it doesn’t matter what it is, it’s my reaction to the uncertainty that defines me as a follower of Christ.
James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
