Tag Archive - family

Making Fridays Work

November 4, 2011 in Personal with 0 Comments

Fridays are my day off.  I get occasional Saturdays, but for the most part Fridays are my day away.  I’m not a workaholic guy, and find it pretty easy to delegate important things to other days of my week.  However, I do follow these simple keys to getting away from the normal:

  1. Sleep it off.  There are just times that we have to allow ourselves to sleep more.  For me, Fridays can be it.  If not in the morning, then an afternoon nap will have to suffice.
  2. Read.  And by read, I mean fiction.  I’m learning that I am more creatively inspired by fiction than most anything else I put my eyes to.  I’m often surprised by the amount of leaders that don’t make time to read fiction.  It’s full of story, conflict, emotion, and intrique.  Take the time to rest your brain, by enjoying all the great literary works out there.
  3. Be Married.  (This one is for those of you married, if not married then please don’t run out and buy a Craigslist wife.) My day of rest is not a day away from my wife.  I often find myself resting by knocking out those things my wife needs from me.  Everything from Oil Changes, to cleaning the garage, to vaccuuming the carpet can help me keep the health between my woman and I!  I’ll also add that Friday nights make a great time to get away to the Drive-In with the lady and watch a late night movie and share popcorn!
  4. Be a Father.  My day of rest is not a day away from my kids.  In fact, I try and spend time with my kids in new ways on my day off.  It could be getting a Redbox movie for the boys, taking a walk with my daughter, enjoying cheap Ice Cream with all three of them, or  just making it a day that I give myself to my family completely.
  5. Create.  On many of my days of rest, I like to write.  For instance, this post here was written on a Friday.  I find that when my emails, phone calls, and calendar duties are put off; I can finally find the place to express myself creatively.

The Lie of Consensus

October 4, 2011 in Ministry with 5 Comments

Consensus is defined as “general agreement among a group.”  You know where consensus comes into play in your life, right?  You want to start moving ahead with your ideas, but you feel you need some consensus from your leaders to do it.  You know what needs to be done, but you want consensus from others before moving forward.  You are burdened with a need that needs met quickly, but you want to build consensus so you won’t feel all alone meeting the need.

The danger with consensus is that oftentimes it stagnates our progress and delays our successes.  In and of itself, consensus is a great thing to have.  There are times when it is absolutely necessary to get others on your side before moving forward on something.  But there are those other times that we use the lack of consensus as an excuse to not obey what we know God has told us to do.

So how do you know when to gain consensus, and when to act quickly without it?  How should I know.  You’re the one working in your church, leading your family, and daily seeking God’s Will for your life and situation, right?  You’re already the expert.

Just refuse to buy into the lie that you NEED consensus to do anything.  Pray and act, pray and act, pray and act, and I believe you will go in the direction that you and your group need to go.

Orange Day

September 19, 2011 in Links, Ministry with 0 Comments

This week there will be a plethora of web writings and blog postings extolling the virtues of The Orange Conference.  I’m sure that you’ve heard my take a few dozen times over the years, but the Orange Conference is (IMHO) simply the greatest combination of family ministry minds gathered together each year.  There are some great conferences out there, and we are living in a Church Ministry golden age of some great gatherings for leaders.

To me The Orange Conference is the premier place to get to know children’s pastors, youth pastors, family ministry pastors, and senior pastors; because they are all in the same room.  The Orange Conference is NOT a family conference.  The Orange Conference is NOT a children’s ministry conference.  The Orange Conference is NOT a youth ministry conference.  But what it is NOT, is what makes it so great.  Those that gather each April in Atlanta are gathering so that they can step outside their own ministry comforts, and join the conversation within a greater team of leaders leading the entire family.

I’ll be there this April in Atlanta, and I hope that if you are a church ministry leader you will pray about joining me with the others in attendance.  Let’s work to be game changers in our churches and communities!

Check out the NEW Orange Conference website today, and don’t forget to mark your calendars right now!  Registration begins on September 22nd, and you will want to register on this day to get the cheapest rates to the Orange Conference!

Hello. It’s me again.

September 2, 2011 in Personal with 2 Comments

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:

  • I got to spend an entire week with good friend Sam Luce and discovered that New York has it’s own special blend of rednecks.  And they use the word, “wicked” way more than a person should.  Seriously it was a highlight of my summer to spend time with Sam, and speak to his middle schoolers.  I left more impressed with Sam than I was before, and excited for the great team he has working with him there at Reedemer Church.  (I also can attest to the existence of his family, and the greatness of his wife’s Italian cooking.)
  • Speaking of New York, I felt like I was in an episode of Candid Camera as I travelled back home to Lubbock last week.  I took the strange route of Albany, NY to Detroit, MI to Pittsburgh,PA to Memphis,TN to Lubbock.  One word to describe that day of flights: KILLER.
  • I also got to spend a weekend with Kenny, Matt, and Sam at the Illuminate Conference in Birmingham, AL.  It was so encouraging to spend time with leaders and volunteers that work in Children’s Ministry.  There are some great leaders in the Birmingham area, and was so impressed with the team from Gateway Church in Austin and Westwood Church in Alabama.  Great, great leaders!
  • The kids started school last week, and for the first time in my life all three of my kids are at school at the same time.  I’ll no longer have a kid home with me on my day off work.  Except for the fact that we currently have an 18-month old fostering with us.  There is that one thing.
  • We are beginning to get seriously amped up for the Forever Remember 9/11 event that Trinity Church is hosting at the United Spirit Arena on September 11th.  It’s going to be a great city-wide memorial service and a great chance to honor first responders.  With all that the morning service will be, it’s going to be a fun family event afterwards on our church campus.  Trinity Church is a church that loves it’s city!

 

Certainty is Overrated

August 24, 2011 in Personal with 5 Comments

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.

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