Creating Memories, Creating Moments

Mark Batterson says, “Life is not measured in minutes, it is measured in moments.”  Mark goes on to talk about how we really need to take these moments captive(read 2 Cor. 10:5).  We need to solidify these moments in our memory.  Keeping a journal or taking photographs are two great ways to capture these memorable moments.

Here are a few moments from my life in 2010:

#12 Serving the homeless of Indianapolis with Tear Down the Walls Ministry.

#11 Seeing how God has used my mom’s battle with cancer for good.

#10 Snuggling with Harrison and Ryan at bed time when I tuck them in bed.  There are few things better than being a dad.

#9  Running my first marathon in Nashville, TN.

#8  Camping with Harrison and Ryan in the Great Smokey Mountains.

#7  Being at Disney on New Year’s Eve.  The 360 degree firework show was off the chain!

#6 Seeing Married Life Live launched this year at Stones Crossing Church.

#5 Watching Stones Crossing Church grow 25% in one year.

#4 My 40th Birthday!

#3 Seeing the Alabama Crimson Tide win their 13th National Championship against Texas.

#2 Hearing Harrison pray, “Jesus, please help me, please help me,” when he broke his arm playing football.

#1  Preaching my dad’s funeral.

Now it is your turn.  Share with me one of your best moments of the 2010.

Tearing Down the Walls to Help the Homeless

Last Wednesday night, I took the Luck family downtown Indy to participate in an a ministry to the homeless called, Tearing Down the Walls. After a  quick orientation, we gathered supplies(bottled water, sack lunches, fresh hot spaghetti) and headed out to the various homeless camps around the city.  The goal of the outreach was simple:  to develop friendships with people who are homeless and to show them the love of Christ.

As we were loading up our vehicles to begin the outreach, Harrison asks, “Dad, why do they call the ministry, ‘Tearing Down the Walls’?  I don’t understand what walls have to do with helping the homeless.”  It was a good question.  My wife, Luann, explained to him that invisible walls exist between the homeless and the average person.  She said sometimes those of us who have been blessed with much cannot see the needs of those who have little.

She was spot on.  And little did I know, she was actually describing me.

Our first stop was under an overpass, just a Peyton Manning touchdown pass away from Lucas Oil Stadium, where I met Ron.  He was laying underneath a stack of tarps, covers and blankets.  In the 18 degree weather, we took some time to hear his story, we prayed with him and gave him something to eat.  Judging from the amount of stuff he had collected around his bed, Ron has been living underneath that bridge for a long time.  As many times as I go downtown, I should have noticed that someone was living under that bridge, but I never did.   It was like an invisible wall had kept me from noticing him. But on this night, we tore down that wall.

Our next stop was to visit a man named Mark.  Mark was living in a tent on a wooden platform in the woods overlooking the White River.  Mark was so cold, he just stayed inside the tent and poked his head out the door while laying down in order to talk with us.  I knelt down beside him and asked him to tell us his story.  He told us how he used to be a manager at Radio Shack as well as a radio station DJ.  He explained how he had been disabled by a tragic accident that injured his back severely and that God had used it to “humble him.”  As we listened to Mark, I could not believe how intelligent he was.  I did not think a homeless person could be so smart.  I was wrong.  We tore down another invisible wall.

One of our last stops was across the street from The Spaghetti Factory.  As Harrison and I began serving plates of hot spaghetti, a short line of homeless men quickly formed behind our vehicle.  While we passed out hot chocolate, bottled water, hand warmers to our newest homeless friends, I could not help but notice the plethora of people walking by us on the street that did not even notice what we were doing.  It was as if a wall existed that kept people from seeing how hungry these guys really were.

Truthfully, I was the one who walked downtown and never really noticed people in need.  I never knew a significant number of men are living in camps along the White River.  I never noticed a man named Ron who lived under an overpass so close to where the Colts play.  I had been living behind a wall.  A wall of my own stereotypes and prejudices, a wall of preoccupation with my own plans as well as a wall of busyness that has kept me from seeing the need of people for what it really is and then doing something about it.

All I know is this.  The skyline of Indianapolis has forever changed for me because now, so many walls are down.

Gratitude Not Expressed Is Not Gratitude

This weekend, many of us will be gathering with our families and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving.  If your family is like ours, you will probably take a moment before you eat the big meal and have everyone in your family share one thing they are thankful for.  It usually does not take long to find something to be grateful for and because of that, we all consider ourselves to be grateful people.  But are we really? Just because you feel gratitude does not mean you are a grateful person.  And just because you can list all of the things you are grateful for, does not mean you have an attitude of gratitude.

 

There is a story in Luke 17 that powerfully illustrates this principle.  One day Jesus was walking into a village when ten lepers spotted him and cried out, “Jesus, have mercy on us.”  Jesus told them, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”  The lepers go to the priests.  The Bible tells us that as they went, they were healed of their leprosy.  All of them had to be ecstatic that they had just received their lives back.  Now, they could publicly worship at the temple.  They could live with their families. They could get their jobs back.  Their deliverance from leprosy was a game changer for each of them.  But only one out of the ten who were healed came back to Jesus to thank Him.  Just one.

 

There is a huge lesson here.  Were these guys grateful?  Undoubtedly, they felt very grateful.  They had to be thrilled beyond measure.  They probably did not even bother going to the priest.  They jumped up and down and embraced their kids and hugged their wives and shook hands with their friends.  And they said, “I am healed, I am healed, I am cleansed.”  And if the people asked how is it that you no longer have leprosy, what do you think they said?  They said, “Jesus healed me.  Jesus set me free, the miracle worker, Jesus, the one you have heard about healed us!”  Certainly they spent the rest of their life telling their story.  They were as grateful as they could possible be.  Someone does not give you your life back and you not feel grateful.

 

Their problem was not that they did not feel grateful.  The problem was that they never returned to express their gratitude. The issue here is unexpressed gratitude always sends the message of ingratitude. None of us consider ourselves ungrateful people because at times, we feel very grateful.  And because we feel grateful, we deceive ourselves into thinking we are grateful people.  But the problem is, unexpressed(not unfelt) gratitude communicates to others ingratitude.  Unexpressed gratitude communicates to other people the very opposite of what we are feeling.  Jesus asked, “Where are the other nine?”   Jesus knew gratitude not expressed feels very much like ingratitude.

 

Can you think of one person that you need to thank today?  Take a minute and return to the person and express your gratitude.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!