2011 Could Be Our Best So Far!

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Great Day Snow Tubing at Perfect North

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Long Range Weather Forecasting that may actually be on target ...

Too early to tell if I'm ready to fully endorse Piers Corbyn and the weatheraction.com folks for their long range weather forecasting based on the Solar action of the Sun, but it sure is interesting to study a bit more.  I think these guys make a lot more sense than the Global Warming Tribe.

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Indoor Training today...

Finally had to get over pouting about moving indoor for most of my winter training and hit it hard this morning.

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Kaleb gets a double visit tonight...

The Tooth Fairy AND Santa on Christmas Eve! Merry Christmas from Kaleb! [and the rest of us, too ! ]

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'twas the nite before the nite before Christmas!

Merry Christmas

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What would 3 Wise Women have done?

Saw this on a T Shirt today. Julie thought it was true!

I'm in the middle of preparing the message for this Sunday about The Magi so this shirt caught my attention!

Merry Christmas

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It won't cost a dime to read 'The Case for Christmas' this Christmas!

In preparing for the message this week I just read 'The Case for Christmas' by Lee Strobel.  

For those of us who have ever wondered who that baby in the manger on that first Christmas really was this would be a great Christmas read.  It's a short book loaded with lots of insights.  I was able to download an electronic version of the book onto my free 'Kindle' App on the IPhone and also onto the free Kindle reader app on my Mac.  So, free software and a free download of a great book that will grow your faith and challenge your 'unbelief' make a pretty good Christmas present.

Merry Christmas!

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Who was the 3rd man in history to walk on water?

Do you really know your theology?  Who was the 3rd man in history to walk on water? The 1st was Jesus..  The 2nd was the apostle, Peter.  *  *  *  Then there was this  Spanish guy, Alfredo..

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Words to wonder about today....

Sometimes I read articles that cause me to re-think where we are and what's happening in the world and what may be next -- good and bad stuff just like there was on the very first Christmas.  

Just read an article in today's New York times titled, "Hackers Attack Sites Considered Wikileaks Foes -- Calls for a Cyber War" and it was loaded with new-er words that that make me wonder.  Here are a few:  cyber war, Internet activists, cyber anarchists, Anonymous (a loosely associated group of activist computer hackers who wishes to remain 'anonymous' I suppose...).  

One quote from an avowed Cyber Anarchist is worth thinking about:  "The war is on.  And everyone ought to spend some time thinking about it, discussing it with others, preparing yourselves so you know how to act is something compells you to make a decision. Be very careful not to err on the side of inaction."

hmmmmmmmmmmmm

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The God I Want!

There was a book written some years ago with the title The God I Want.  If ever there were a recipe for idolatry, that is it.  The God of the Bible is not necessarily the God I want:  my confused desires almost certainly don't fit in with who he actually is, and just as well.  What matters much more is the God who actually made me, the God with whom (whether I want to or not) I have to do business.  And he is so much bigger and greater than anything that I could imagine that I must never imagine I have got him tied down and pigeonholed.  We need to be constantly looking harder at the God of the Bible.  Otherwise we shall discover that gradually the picture we have of him gets domesticated, whittled down to something we can live with.  And gods that we live with comfortably are idols.

From N.T. Wright's book 'Small Faith-Great God' page 28

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Hoping my buddy Worth is gonna be okay...

Watching UK whoop up on UNC and I sure hope that Worth Watson doesn't
harbor any bad feelings after the game today!

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Pray if you want to!

Pray if you want to! Andy Rooney and  Prayer Andy Rooney says: I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not going to sue somebody for singing a Ho-Ho-Ho song in December.  I don't agree with Darwin , but I didn't go out and hire a lawyer when my high school  teacher taught his Theory of Evolution. Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness will not be endangered because someone says a  30-second prayer before a football game. So what's the big deal?  It's not like somebody is up there reading the entire Book of Acts.  They're just talking to a God they believe in and asking him to grant safety to the players on the field and the fans going home from the game. But it's a Christian prayer,  some will argue. Yes, and this is the United States of America and Canada , countries founded on Christian principles.  According to our very own phone book, Christian churches outnumber all others better than 200-to-1.  So what would you expect -- somebody chanting Hare Krishna? If I went to a football game in Jerusalem , I would expect to hear a Jewish prayer. If I went to a soccer game in  Baghdad , I would expect to hear a Muslim prayer. If I went to a ping pong match in China ,  I would expect to hear someone pray to Buddha. And I wouldn't be offended. It wouldn't bother me one bit.  When in Rome    ...... But what about the atheists? Is another argument. What about them? Nobody is asking them to be baptized.  We're not going to pass the collection plate. Just humour us for 30 seconds.   If that's asking too much, bring a Walkman or a pair of ear plugs.  Go to the bathroom.  Visit the concession stand.  Call your lawyer! Unfortunately, one or two will make that call.  One or two will tell thousands what they can and cannot do I don't think a short prayer at a football game is going to shake the world's  foundations. Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other cheek while our courts strip us of  all our rights.  Our parents and grandparents taught us to pray before eating, to pray before we go to sleep. Our Bible tells us to pray without ceasing.  Now a handful of people and their lawyers are telling us to cease praying. God, help us.  And if that last sentence offends you, well, just sue me. The silent majority has been silent too long.  It's time we tell that one or two who scream loud enough to be heard that the vast majority doesn't care what they want.  It is time that the majority rules!   It's time we tell them, "You don't have to pray; you don't have to say the Pledge of Allegiance; you don't have to believe in God or attend services that honour Him.  That is your right, and we will honour your right; but by golly, you are no longer going to take our rights away.  We are fighting back, and we WILL WIN!" God bless us one and all...Especially those who denounce Him, God bless America and Canada , despite all our faults, We are still the greatest nation of all. God bless our service men who are fighting to protect our right to pray and worship God.

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Art as Spiritual Technology

Just had an interesting conversation with a chance acquaintance who'se overall theme was that art, especially, film is meant to be a channel for the divine.  I agree that Art Should Point us God-ward.  The question is, which 'god'?  The challenge of 2010 and beyond is how Christ followers can bring art to life that points people to THE One True God -- Father, Son, Holy Spirit.  Maybe this challenge has your name on it....

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Voyage of the Dawn Treader is COMING December 10 ....

The 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader' sets sail from a theater near you on the weekend of December 10.

I saw a preview showing of 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader' , based on the C.S. Lewis fantasy book of the same name, a few weeks back and it's truly fantastic.  Opening weekend is the most important time to 'cast your vote' for this sort of family friendly film so I hope you'll give your family a real Christmas treat and take them to see Voyage of the Dawn Treader when it comes out in just a few days.  

By the way, anything by C.S. Lewis would be great reading this Christmas season, but especially, the Chronicles of Narnia which Lifeway Christian Bookstores had on sale for $1.99 this past weekend.  (maybe it's still on sale?)

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Where Good Ideas Come From

I just watched this video by Steve Johnson and not only do I love the 'drawing/video' but the content is spot on.  Enjoy.

Jeff Fuson -Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky -Leadership Keynote Speaker -Husband / Daddy -Missional Church Planter

Joshua at LaCrosse Practice

He Will Reign Forever and Ever ... Even in Macy's !!

WOW, what a reminder that God is on the move everywhere.although a church didn't organize this spectacular reminder  of God's presence it's one more example that God IS -- everywhere, all the time -- and that HE IS ON THE MOVE calling all people to a relationship through the powerful work of His Son, Jesus Christ. Who, by the way, is the one who will reign forever and ever.

This will get you ready for the upcoming Advent Season for sure.

Read this and enjoy this video. Made me smile all the way to the core!

Jeff Fuson

________ Begin Forwarded Message________________

The largest functioning pipe organ in the world is located (of all places!) in the Macy's department store in downtown Philadelphia.  

The organ is played daily at noon while shoppers visit the store, as well as for many after-hours special events and concerts.

Just last Saturday, 10/30/2010, one such special event "happened."  While the store was filled with ordinary shoppers, more than 600 "shoppers" burst into a full chorus of the "Hallelujah Chorus" from  Handel's "Messiah." The "happening" event was staged by the  Philadelphia Opera Company and engaged volunteers from just about  every school, church and singing group in the city. This little 5-minute clip really deserves a look and listen, in my opinion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU

The organ is known around the world as the "Wanamaker Organ" because John Wanamaker installed this 28,500+ pipe instrument in the "Grand Hall" at the center of his 7-story department store.  

The cross-shaped store opened in 1909 and fills a city block. The entire top floor is set up as a pipe organ maintenance and repair shop and once engaged 40 employees to expand and maintain the instrument.  Obviously, my own enthusiasm for pipe organs pales incomparison to that of John Wanamaker!

Why doesn't this make the news?

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the places and moments that take our breath away."

______________ end of forwarded message_____________

Jeff Fuson

Phos Church [it means 'light']
The Church for People who Don't Go to Church
http://www.phoschurch.com

twitter @ jefffuson

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A Case of Miller High Life and Working 12 Hour Days then get up and do it all over again!

Just dropped off something to be worked on at a local business and got to hear the 'behind the scenes life' of the owner in these tough economic times. 

Not so long ago he was paying monthyly sales tax of $25,000, currently just $2,500 -- that's off pace by 90%!  He told about so many that owe him lots of dollars and the squeeze play he's in between the bank and his suppliers and keeping the doors open to supply the needs of the general public. 

His coping mechanism is do drink from 4:30 ('beer-thirty' he quipped in the store to another customer) until he passes out at 9:30 and then get up and try to have a good attitude and tackle it all again.  This is the story of so many of our friends and family these days. 

So, here's the question I'm rolling around in my head .... What 'Good News' and hope can I offer this friend.   How can I encourage him and help him through.  Where does this 'Good News' that I carry in my heart impact this situation?  How would you respond?  How would you bring hope to this seeminly hopeless businessman about to go under for the last time barring a HUGE miracle?

Let me know what you think.

Jeff Fuson -Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky -Leadership Keynote Speaker -Husband / Daddy -Missional Church Planter

How to 'HEAR God' -- it's possible and it's vital!

I just posted this same info on our Church Blog at PhosNews and wanted to have it over here as well.  Enjoy.

___________

How do you REALLY 'HEAR' God?

Since you're reading this chances are you are interested in knowing how to really know what God wants you to do.  More specifically you'd like to know how to tune into what God is saying.  Even more specific than that you'd like to be certain that it really is God speaking and not the Ghost of Too Much Pizza Past Creating Blurry Visions.  


The question came up in our Group this evening, "how do I know it's God's voice and it's not just me talking to myself?"  An honest, hard-hitting question that we long to have an answer for because we long to know what God wants and we long to do it!  


The answer is that we must cultivate an ongoing conversational relationship with God where we practice hearing from Him in the Bible, in the experiences of life, in the remarks of a friend, etc.  Without a vibrant relationship we'll struggle to know anything with enough clarity to take action.  But, how do we develop that sort of conversational relationship?


I pulled a book from my personal library this evening to be reminded of how to cultivate this ongoing conversational relationship and how to hear God in hopes that I could pass along a nugget or two to you.  But, as I reopened this book I realized the best thing I could do for you is to encourage you to grab a copy and read it!  


"Hearing God" by Dallas Willard is a fantastic, comprehensive work on how to know God better and it zeroes in on 'developing a conversational relationship with God'.  


I believe that's possible to grow in our ongoing conversational ability with God because it's happening in my life.  No, I don't hear an audible voice, but I do have an ongoing expanding awareness of God and His general & specific will for my life and for the team that I lead.   I hope the same for you.  "Hearing God" was one of the pivotal reads in helping me cultivate my relationship with God and strengthen my understanding of how He communicates with us.  


Here's to more of us 'Hearing God'!  


Are you cultivating time & space in your life to shut out the 'noise' of life and just sit and listen for the voice of God?  How could you pull that off for a few minutes today?  


I hope you'll grab this book if you're ready to go further in your conversation with God.


peace,

Jeff

Jeff Fuson -Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky -Leadership Keynote Speaker -Husband / Daddy -Missional Church Planter

KDKA Does the First Ever Commercial Radio Broadcast 90 Years Ago Today!

So what?

Read this and then just imagine how far communication has come since 1920.

Then try to imagine how the world will advance and change over the rest of your lifetime!

Let's Sail with the Holy Spirit in our Sails, with Jesus as our Skipper and God as our Provider into an incredible future loaded with all kinds of new possibilities.

Go VOTE today!

Jeff

Jeff Fuson -Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky -Leadership Keynote Speaker -Husband / Daddy -Missional Church Planter

Welcome to Miami!

We made it!

TRAFFIC stopped just outside Chattanooga !

Sometimes you gotta pick up the snake ...

Clinging to what you know (security, knownness, family, place) and following God into the adventure He has designed for you are opposing life missions..you simply cannot do God’s will if security is your primary concern.  It wasn’t true for Moses and it won’t be true for you. Sometimes you gotta pick up the snake... 

(see Exodus 4)

Jeff Fuson -Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky -Leadership Keynote Speaker -Husband / Daddy -Missional Church Planter

Celebrating my daughter's 21st Birthday this weekend!

I've had an incredibly rich life and there's so much that I'm grateful for.

But my favorite title is 'daddy'.

21 years ago our daughter Evelyn Day Fuson arrived on the scene and it's been an incredible joy filled venture to be the father of a Christ following world-changing red-headed wonder.

If you know Evelyn be sure to wish her a happy 21st Birthday on Sunday, October 10, 2010 -- 10/10/10 !

Just sayin...

Jeff Fuson -Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky -Leadership Keynote Speaker -Husband / Daddy -Missional Church Planter

Jesus in the Locker-Room ...

Tomorrow at Phos I'll be talking about how God prepared and called Moses.  The key idea is that to do what God asks of us we have to throw down our past, our security, and even our personal preferred dreams and pick up His dream for the world. 

Here's some of what I'll be talking about tomorrow.... 
(The Biblical Background for this story of Moses is found in Exodus 1 to 4)

When God is ready to get something done in the world He chooses to use people to get 'er done most of the time.

Think of Moses being given an early passion to help the Hebrew people and actually killing an oppressive Egyptian taskmaster before running for his life.  That passion was a predictor of Mose’s purpose on this planet.  It would take a long season of refining in Moses’ life where he would learn the ways of the wilderness working as a shepherd. 

He was saved for a purpose to be breast fed by his own Hebrew mother and yet raised in the splendor of Pharoah’s house.  He would have the heart of a Hebrew and the Brain training of an Egyptian and then he would run to the wilderness where he would be trained as a Shepherd -- one skilled in the ways of wilderness survival. 

All these places were boot-camps that God would use to prepare Moses. the people connections along the way where positioning him and preparing him for God’s purpose.

God would use his Hebrew heritage and passion to rescue his fellow Israelites.
God would use his Palatial Pharoic training and connections to open the doors of Pharoah to him when the show-down became imminent.
God would use his wilderness time to prepare him to lead over a million people on a journey that would last for over 40 years in a harsh dessert where only a shepherd could survive. 

God was uniquely preparing Moses to lead.

When you look back on your past, where have you been, who have you spent time with, what training have you received, what really fires you up and makes you feel passionate beyond reason?  Mix that background with a radical willingness to say YES to God when he shows up and the world will be changed in a powerful way.

The story of Moses is really a story about how God gets His work done in the world most of the time.

He takes a passionate purpose with a questionable past and provides boot camps of all sorts to prepare him/her for the position He has in mind for them and then He calls them to see if they’re ready to pass the biggest test of all... The ‘Will you trust me to do whatever I ask you to do?’ Test. 

Moses tried to fail the test by showing God all of his, ‘buts’ ...
...but, they’ll try to kill me
...but, they won’t believe you sent me
...but, I stutter

In each case God redirected Moses and reminded him that the key player in this drama would be God himself and not Moses.  When God says, I will be with you...He means, I’m gonna do the heavy lifting and you just play your part.  Just have the courage to go and do what I tell you to do and I’ll be on the move to make things go the way that I intend.  It’s gonna look like it’s you, but it’s really ME.  So, get going, and I will be with you.

When we see the story of Moses as powerful as it is to see what God did with him, somehow it’s easy to pass the story off as being an ‘Old Testament God doing Old Testament Style’ work. 

If you think that God was demanding with Moses just wait til you see how demanding Jesus was on his followers.

Check out what Jesus says to His followers in these passages:

Matthew 16:24-25 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will find it.

Matthew 8:22 (GOD’S WORD Translation)
 22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Matthew 19:21 (The Message)
 21"If you want to give it all you've got," Jesus replied, "go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me."

Luke 14:33
“Simply put, if you're not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can't be my disciple.”

Someway in the church in America we’ve cast Jesus like he’s the lead in the cast on the ‘Good-Ship Lollypop’ and he sings with a limp wrist and a lisp.  ‘On the goo-oo- od ssship LollyPop, it’s a sssswee-eet trip to the candy-ssshop...’ and we imagine that Jesus just came to sing us sweet little songs as He takes our lists of preferred candies and fills little polka-dotted candy bags for us joyfully singing all the while. 

Would you please show me that in the nearest Bible that you can find?  It’s not in mine.

But, what is in mine, is a Jesus, Son of God, who is demanding and manly and who does exactly what God says to do it when God says to do in the manner that God says to do it.  Jesus says that ‘The Father and I are one and I do whatever I see Him doing’.  So, Jesus is God in the flesh and He operates with His followers and would-be followers just as God acted with Moses. 

We’d do well to replace our Good-ship lollypop Jesus image with a Super-Bowl Winning NFL Coach in the locker room of a championship game at half-time.  A coach who expects that these players are 100% committed to earning and wearing that Super-Bowl championship ring.  A coach who expects that the plays will be ran that He calls when he calls them in the fashion that he calls them.  A coach that expects to win! (not some triumph that hurts and maims people but the triumph of the King Jesus and His Kingdom that comes to set prisoners free, that cares for widows and orphans, that has dinner with rich sinners and calls them into His Kingdom, that sort of thing...)

If you’re gonna win a Championship then you’re gonna give up some things to get there.  You’re gonna be willing to subject your life to a level of discipline and rigor and sacrifice that people wearing jerseys in the stands and watching you play on television with a bag of popcorn can scarcely imagine. 
But, someday when you hold up that trophy and you wear that ring and all the associated bling -- you’ll know one thing -- you did what others would not do so that you can live like others cannot even imagine. 

Jesus reminds us in the locker room here today... eye hasn’t seen and you’ve not even begun to imagine what it’s gonna be like when we win the prize that God has in front of us.  And, it’s okay to trade whatever you have to today to be on this team and to win the game that God has in front of us. 
Weenies, wimps, and good-ship lollypoppers don’t get in on what God is up to in the world.

When God calls you into the game, will you say yes? Will you step up?  Will you suit up and get out there and play with your whole heart?  Will you?

Jesus is the most demanding head coach of all time.

And, just in case you wonder if the calling of Jesus was just reserved for his physical followers back in the day, consider his final challenges in Matthew 28 when He is commissioning us, His future followers to suit up, get into the game and give it all we’ve got! 

Just like Moses we’ll have to let go of our ‘buts’ and get over our busted past and allow God to be ‘THE MAN’ in the places He calls us into, and He will.

But, we’ll have to throw down our past successes & failures and our present security and pick up the uncertainty of following God.  Will you do that?





Jeff Fuson -Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky -Leadership Keynote Speaker -Husband / Daddy -Missional Church Planter

THE MOST POWERFUL THING A CHRIST FOLLOWER CAN DO....

I learned a powerful principle over the past few days that I wanted to pass on to you.  This is absolutely a golden nugget for those who want to be full-on Christ followers!

In studying the life of Joseph (Genesis 37-50) it seems that even though he was betrayed, sold as slave, falsely accused and imprisoned that he always served well wherever he was whatever the circumstance.  His leadership gifts just kept bubbling to the surface and he was always put in charge of everything possible.  The big idea is that Joseph kept giving it 100% wherever he was, even though it didn't seem to align with the dreams he had back as a teen of 17. 

At the end of the story in Genesis 50:20 he encourages his brothers this way, 'What you meant for evil God meant for good.'  His perspective is 20/20 since he's looking back over his life and all the circumstances he'd endured. 

Here's the golden nugget principle, 'The Position of Submission is the Most Powerful Position for a Christ follower of all." 

Joseph seemed to live with a posture of submission throughout his life that allowed God to move him along and 'have favor on him even when he was in prison'.  Joseph must have had questions along the way about what God was up to in all the weird circumstances of his life, but the Bible doesn't give us any hint that he ever wavered in his confidence in God or the dreams he'd had earlier.  He just kept doing the best he could with what he had where he was.  He was submitted to God in the middle of his circumstance.  

Joseph's position of submission reminded of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsamane asking God if there was any other way to accomplish the mission.  In what seemed like the weakest moment of His life, Jesus shows us the most powerful way to live when He says, 'Not my will, but yours be done.'  The position of submission led to the greatest breakthrough miracle of all time.

We can only be fully used by God when we assume a position of submission and allow God to do His work in us, for us, and through us.  It's the most powerful way to live.

Once again, the way of following Christ is the path of paradox.

May our prayers always  be, 'Not my will, but Yours be done.'  

Have a great day,
Jeff

Jeff Fuson -Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky -Leadership Keynote Speaker -Husband / Daddy -Missional Church Planter

Hoe Your Own Row !

Today I had the honor of speaking & training with a team of business owners around the ideas of 'Success' and 'Winning' built around ideas from Coach John Wooden's Success Pyramid and the famous business book, Good to Great by Jim Collins.

I had asked the crew to discuss the elements of success that John Wooden loads into his 'Pyramid of Success' when I overheard Larry say, "I just hoe my own row."  And, I gotta tell you that idea struck me as one of the most profound success principles of all time.  Larry has been in business for over 45 years and does some farming on the side and obviously his metaphor comes from tending a crop in a garden or on a farm.  It throws back to a day when farmers weeded and prepped the garden plot with hand tools like a hoe.

What Larry was sharing that is that he could never control the competition and he couldn't make anyone else succeed or fail.  But, what he could do was do his very best every day and tend to the work that was in front of him effectively.  That's a principle that we can all pack around and live by, 'Just hoe your own row.'

Another Larryism from the day that's equally powerful, "everyday is a school day" referencing that everyday he learns from others and gets better at what he's doing.

Now, that's good stuff!

Have a great day,
Jeff

Jeff Fuson -Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky -Leadership Keynote Speaker -Husband / Daddy -Missional Church Planter

If you're in the middle of waiting for your dreams to come true....

I know what it's like to have huge dreams, to work my tail off to bring them to pass and then to have it all fade to black just when I thought it was all coming together. 

I know what disappointment is.  Think about that word and break it in half like this -- 'dis' 'appointment' as if God has DISSED the appointment you were sure that He had promised to you.  If you've ever been disappointed with God or felt like He was 'dis-appointing' you then you've been forced to do something internally about that.  You've most likely 'quit believing in God' (even though you may still show up at church for political correctness) or you've wondered what you've done wrong to cause God to be so mad that He'd let you down.  Or, you learn to trust Him in the midst of a story that you wish wasn't being written. What we must all learn is that 'control' is an illusion that we're never really in 'control' of the stuff that matters most in life.  It's when we realize that only God is in control and we willingly let Him write His-story through our lives that we find the peace, joy, contentment and power that Christ brings to those who surrender the pen to Him. 

Two books that I've read recently will help you learn to give the pen up faster and enjoy the story that God is writing more...even when He's writing painful chapters that cause us to suffer, to wait, and to long for a happy ending.

Here they are:

Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson and Plan B by Pete Wilson

 Both of these will build your faith in God and restore you to place of peace while you live through 'Plan B's that we all face.

No easy path, no formulas.  Just learning to abide, to trust, to wait, to surrender faster, to hand over the pen to the Author of all life.

Have a great day,
Jeff



Jeff Fuson -Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky -Leadership Keynote Speaker -Husband / Daddy -Missional Church Planter

What do you do when your dream goes bust?

We'll all face a moment when all that we've hoped for and believed in and just 'knew' that God would do falls apart.  What do you do then?


Pete Wilson asks it well on page 9 of his new book, "Plan B".  He asks, "What do you do when God doesn't show up for you in the way you thought God was going to show up?"

On pages 21 he reminds us that, "this is no time to give up on God....

Your dreams may not be happening, and things

are not turning out the way you expected, but that

doesn't mean your life is spinning out of control.

It just means that YOU'RE NOT IN CONTROL.  It's

in those moments you can learn to trust the only one

who has ever had control in the first place."


I can't tell you how many times I've pouted, been upset, gotten mad, ran from God, tried to maniupulate the world to give me what I thought I had to have when I felt let down by God.  It happens when God's time table doesn't match my calendar. It happens when all the 'stuff' that I've been trying to orchestrate to help God do the plan I have in mind crumbles into dust and blows away.  It happens when the dream is still-born after months of preparation, planning, and hard work.  It happens to me all the time.


It doesn't happen as much as it used to, because I've learned that His plan always trumps mine and that even when He's doing things in ways that make no sense to me that He's still on His throne and He's still in control AND, He still loves me and promises to work all things in my favor in the long game -- way out in the future where I have no clue of what's going to happen.  I'm learning to have a deep confidence in the goodness of God and to wait on His provision in the way that He deems best .  More to the point, I'm learning to quit trying to manipulate the world into following my plan for the universe and to simply trust that God is on the move even when it makes no sense to me.  It's a much more peaceful way to live and a whole lot more fun to live with expectation that God is on the move and that He'll take care of me and He'll do the heavy lifting on His timefrrame.  Mostly, it's cool to just walk with God and watch Him do His thing!  


So, what about you?  What are you experiencing that's causing you to want to run or control or manipulate to regain control?  What are you learning about God?  Does your circumstance tempt you to give up on God?


We'll be tackling this whole arena of 'Plan B Living' at Phos Church this Sunday, October 3 at 10 AM over at Oldham County High School.


Jeff Fuson -Point Leader of Phos Church near Louisville Kentucky -Leadership Keynote Speaker -Husband / Daddy -Missional Church Planter

Message JPGs for Sunday 09 12 10

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Jeff Fuson

AVOCA Bike Trail near Millford, Ohio

Did my Great Aunt's funeral up here then visited Jeff and Val Arrington's brand new SonRise Church campus which is so warm and inviting!! Then I discovered a magnificent bike trail just across the road. Hour ride before the drive back to Buckner and loving it!
Got to ride fast to get back to the car before dark!

On the go with my IPhone. Follow me on Twitter at JeffFuson

Posted via email from Jeff Fuson

AVOCA Bike Trail near Millford, Ohio

Did my Great Aunt's funeral up here then visited Jeff and Val Arrington's brand new SonRise Church campus which is so warm and inviting!! Then I discovered a magnificent bike trail just across the road. Hour ride before the drive back to Buckner and loving it!
Got to ride fast to get back to the car before dark!

1,000 Mile Goal Done

What a blast. Just hit my summer riding goal. Gonna reset for more this fall...

On the go with my IPhone. Follow me on Twitter at JeffFuson

Posted via email from Jeff Fuson

Kayla Stewart Prayer request

Hey Kayla has a friend who was going to be a senior at EKU this fall
who was killed today by being hit by a train. Her name is Hillary
Hadley. Please keep Hillary's family and Kayla and the rest of her
friends in prayer.   Thanks Theresa

Posted via email from Phos News

Phos ... Kids Singin' , Cans, Baptism, Tucker & Curry Prayer Requests and more....

Weekly 

PHOS "Need to Know" 

1. This Sunday.... OCHS  - 10:00 am - Great Stories of the Bible - Genesis 6-10 - NOAH.  More 

2. SERVE WITH THE KIDS in the new school year!  More

3. Kids: SING THIS SUNDAY... practice before church at 9:30! More

4. Bring CAN GOODS to church for the Health Clinic - Food Pantry.  More

5. Sign-up NOW for our big weekend of Service - HEALTH CLINIC AND IRONMAN - August 28 & 29. More

6. BAPTISM August 22nd - Interested?  Email Jeff

7. TEEN groups kick-off. - August 22nd  More

Prayer Requests for Cole Tucker, Jean Curry and more on the Phos News Blog.

Click Below to find out more about:

  WORSHIP             GO         GROUPS  

        

See you this Sunday

Posted via email from Phos News