On the 4th of July, our family enjoyed an evening on the riverfront and a front row seat to a phenomenal display of fireworks.  Last year we viewed fireworks at Mt Rushmore on the 4th and to my surprise, little ol’ Peoria may very well have matched if not exceeded Mt Rushmore.  There was one firework in particular that was fired off several times that literally filled the sky.  It set off golden sparkle trails that looked like a giant weeping willow tree.  It was literally breathtaking.  And those in combination with many others provided a sense of wonderment and gratitude.  As I set there I couldn’t help but think that all of this was totally unnecessary.  We don’t really NEED fireworks displays.  But what a joy to have them.  In some regards it was a total waste of money, but how much joy and satisfaction did it provide for those who were there?  For 30 minutes or so, I suspended my “practical” brain thinking and just enjoyed the moment along with the rest of my family and many others from church.

As I set there with these thoughts passing through my mind, I was reminded of a phrase that I once read several years ago in a book written by John Eldredge, “The Journey of Desire“.   The phrase is the title of this post…   GLORIOUSLY WASTEFUL!

I remember the first time I read the term, I was struck by the depth of it.  It would seem that Eldredge is not the first to use the phrase.  It may have originated with the poem, Diary of an Old Soul, by George MacDonald.  But regardless of where the term originated, I am captivated by it.  What a compelling picture of God.  God loves us so much, that he is willing to lavish on us in a gloriously wasteful way.  What does that mean?  Let’s think about some of the ways God lavishes on us unnecessarily…

• Beautiful sunset after beautiful sunset
• An explosion of a rainbow of colors and a 1000 shades of green every spring
• The breathtaking beauty of fall
• Thousands of varieties of birds, fish and animals of every imagination
• Smells that arouse and delight your senses

None of these things are “necessary”, and yet God loves us so much he gives them to us to enjoy and be reminded of his goodness.  In Eldredge’s book, he shares an email from a friend that sums this up beautifully:

“We’ve had a couple of inspiring sunsets this week.  It was as if the seams of our atmosphere split for a bit of heaven to plunge into the sea.  I stood and applauded…simultaneously I wanted to kneel and weep.”

Ever had those moments?  You have if you’ve ever stopped to pay attention to how God lavishes on us.  And it’s all designed to bring us joy while moving us closer to him.  I am thankful beyond the ability of words to convey that God is such a God.  In closing, I thought I would share some pictures that go far beyond my words to describe all of this… Enjoy!

Why not take a moment to share when you’ve been struck by God being “Gloriously Wasteful”.

I can’t wait for Sunday at The Grove. Here are a few reasons:

• We had a great crowd for Easter, and will have many of our travelers back home this week. Add in those who are recovering from illness, we may have our largest Sunday of the year this Sunday. That would be great.
• The music rocks….and it means something. Which is the perfect combo for me.
• Plus………..this is where we’re going -

This series picks up after the Rescue and answers the question “What Now?”

• If you have wondered about what happens after you become a Christian….
• If you have wondered about what happens next (or if you’re just curious)…..

Then this series is for you.

We’ll explore subjects such as:

• If you’ve become a Christian, why does God leave you here?
• What’s the strategy that God uses to accomplish the “rescue” of other lost survivors
• What are these things called “spiritual gifts” and what does that mean?
  • IMPORTANT - You will have an opportunity to plug into a small group of people to explore the question of spiritual gifts and discover your own.

A busy day comes to an end and it’s time to reflect back on what transpired. Let’s start at The Grove.

We continued our series on LOST this morning. It’s built around the TV show by the same name. This week we walked into elements of the crash scattered all around the building. We had suitcases, books, articles of clothing hanging from trees and a “lean-to shelter” on the stage. It was all to create the idea of the crash that created a new set of realities of the characters of the show. The “crash” of humanity in Genesis 3 created new realities for mankind that we must also face. Here are some of the similarities and lessons learned from LOST:

• The crash resulted in injury and death
  • Our reality is that we live in a broken world. Nothing is what it should be. There are many that will look around and blame God for bad things that we experience in this life. But ever since the “crash”, nothing has been as it was intended. Sickness, pain, suffering, death are all parts of the curse of sin. And although God isn’t the cause of the brokenness of our condition, the good news is that he will show up and walk with us through the damage.
  • Romans 8:18-25
• There are many things about their circumstances that are mysterious and they don’t understand
  • Our reality is that much of what we experience in life is pretty mysterious to us. Often when we think we have it figured out, we realize all the questions have changed. Life can be very random and mysterious. And if we’re not careful, it can become very frustrating as we try to interpret life from our own point of view. I am reminded of a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that said “God is God and I am Not”. That’s a powerful truth. We need to make peace with the knowledge that if we don’t understand the circumstances, we can at least trust the Creator. I don’t understand everything about my computer, but I trust that Bill Gates knows how to make it work in ways that absolutely baffle me, and yet arrive at the desired outcome.
  • Proverbs 3:5-6 / 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:4

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We began our new message series today at The Grove that is built around themes found in the TV show “LOST”. Our tech team (you ‘da man Todd….you ‘da man too Jim) did an amazing job this morning pulling together a large number of elements into a pretty seamless whole. We had additional dramatic contributions of our flight attendant “Kiki” (you missed your calling Janet) and our Captain “Please fasten your seat belts” Proud. And that’s not to mention some creative script writing from Paula. My son, Zach, even contributed some great sound effects. It was a monumental effort this morning to create an environment that was conducive to crashing a plane. And so many people this morning made great contributions. Here are some highlights from the message: Read the full story

How many times have we all prayed that God would do…(fill in the blank)? I know I have uttered such prayers on numerous occasions. Well, I had an interesting observation on that prayer this afternoon.

I stopped by our church building at The Grove to take care of a few tasks in preparation for tomorrow’s service (which is going to be OFF THE HOOK AWESOME!). As I was wrapping up, Marvin came in (with a very large cup of aromatic coffee…which was making me highly covetous). I walked over to talk to him about some of the projects that he’s working on. As we were standing there, Marvin sprung a leak (NO…not him….the coffee!!). Several ounces of black gold fell to the floor before we could get him a new cup to salvage what was left. Then Marvin went off to get a mop in order to clean up the leak. This would be a tragic story if it weren’t for what Marvin shared with me a few minutes later.

Here’s the deal. Marvin said, “You may have just witnessed a miracle.” He said he had been noticing the floor needed to be mopped and that he was praying that God would send someone to mop the floor. And now, here he was with a mop in hand….mopping the floor (all due to a hole in a coffee cup).

Now you may think that this story may be a bit of a reach. But I think it’s a great reminder, that sometimes God doesn’t want us to pray for something to get done…..He wants US to JUST DO IT!

Maybe Nike isn’t quite as original as we thought!

Fire is fascinating. Fire is consuming. Fire is attractional. Fire is mesmerizing.

And it is absolutely marvelous to see when when it is contained in a person that is on fire for Jesus Christ. Last week, Lesley and I had a chance to meet such a man. His name is Nathan Giffin and he is the creative and entrepreneurial force behind Vertical Artisans, one of the most incredible crafts that I have ever seen. Nathan turns ordinary concrete into works of art that look like massive stacks of stones. You literally cannot tell the difference. We went to meet with him because we are attempting to coordinate an opportunity for him to come and work his craft at The Grove. In the meantime, his business is growing off the hook. And I think there are two primary reasons.

1. Nathan does exceptional work. During our meeting, he affirmed his tireless commitment to excellence. There are many days that he is on a job completely alone. There are few people who can currently do what he does (although he is beginning an extensive online training course that will help anyone learn. Click here for info). And as such, if he were to cut corners, who would really know? Who’s going to come behind him and critique his work since almost no one else can do it? But day after day, he lives out a dying character trait - integrity. See, Nathan knows what he is capable of. Even if no one else knows or sees…… he does. And that is enough to drive him to never give less than his best. What an incredible business testimony to build. One job done with excellence may get you another one, but if you don’t carry that trait forward, it will catch up with you. But the opposite is also true. When you never give anything less than your best, people come to know that they can trust you implicitly. And Nathan earns business simply because his reputation is flawless. Take a look at a few of these pics from the jobsite we visited:

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I am totally amped about the next few weeks leading up to Easter. Last summer, during the days of crummy, non-interesting reality shows that litter TV during that timespan, we discovered LOST. I picked up the first disc of Season One at the rental store just to check it out (I know…we’re WAY uncool since we just started watching). Anyway, by the time we got to the end of the first episode we were hooked. Our whole family was staying up late at night to watch as much as we could cram in. If you haven’t seen it yet (which would make you more UN-cool than me), you have really missed out on one of the rare pleasures of really good TV entertainment.

LOST has really captured my attention and curiosity. AND….Beginning next Sunday (3/9), The Grove Church will use LOST, one of the most popular, intriguing programs on TV to explore our own story.

Our story is everyone’s story!

• It’s my story….
• It’s your story….
• It’s your neighbor’s story…
• It’s your best friend’s story…
• It is the story of all of mankind!

Don’t miss a week of this exciting Easter series. But more importantly, don’t come alone. Invite your friends and family. Invite fans of LOST. Invite the neighbors. Invite the neighbor’s cats and dogs if necessary. Do whatever you have to do to get them here.

We don’t want to leave anyone…. LOST!

Services begin at 10:00 am with our good friends from Trefzgers Bakery (the finest bakery in Peoria) providing goodies and coffee served between 9:30-9:55. Child care is provided. Click here for directions.

The energizer bunny….on steroids! That’s probably a fairly accurate description of Bill Perkins. We were blessed to have Bill spend the night with us on Saturday night. After 10 minutes, I knew we were in for a great day today since he was our guest speaker. And we got one. He did a great job on encouraging us as men to fight for our marriages. Quite frankly, marriage is in as much trouble in Christian circles as it is in the rest of the population. There doesn’t seem to be much difference. But there should be. And Bill gave us some real wisdom and biblical tools for strengthening the most important relationship in our lives other than the one we have with Jesus Christ - our marriages. Here are a few tips: Read the full story

Next Sunday - Bill Perkins will be the guest speaker at The Grove. Who is Bill Perkins? Here are some highlights:

• Bill Perkins is an entertaining speaker and insightful author. He has written numerous books, appeared on nationally broadcast television and radio shows and addressed audiences across the United States and Canada.
• For six years Bill wrote an inspirational guide that was distributed to almost 200,000 people a month and aired daily on 200 radio stations.
• He has appeared on the Bill O’Reilly Show on Fox News, partnered with Man in the Mirror, Promise Keepers, and numerous other leading Christian ministries.
• His seminars and training events have won consistent high praise
• Click on any of the pictures below for more info.

Bill has also been a catalyst in the men’s movement and has spearheaded a great website called Million Mighty Men. Click on the banner to visit the site.

He will be speaking at 10:00 am during the main service. It should be a very challenging, very entertaining, very helpful time of worship for us all. If you’re anywhere near Peoria, I hope you’ll drop in for a great service on March 2. For directions to The Grove, click here.

My oldest son, Zach, has played in a basketball league throughout the winter sponsored by the Christian Center in Peoria. Those guys do a great service to the community by the way. Anyway, their team has limped through the season going 3-7. But in this league, everyone makes the tournament at the end of the season (kind of like the NBA).

Although I am not the coach, I filled in for one of their three wins earlier and have been assisting since. We pulled the team aside before the start of the game and talked about second chances. This is one of those rare opportunities in life where everything that happened before doesn’t matter or count. They came out absolutely on fire against a team that beat them by 20+ points a few weeks earlier. This time it was all Blazers (our team) as they won it going away by 16 points.

As cool as that is, it reminds me that when we come to Jesus Christ, no matter what our past or present looks like, he will wipe the slate clean if we ask him too. Our past is irrelevant with him. What matters is our future and where we are headed. And with him as Lord and Savior, the future is much better than the past.

As for the b-ball team, well….our future is still cloudy…but we are still playing….and I’ll take it!