What’s Got Your Attention?

Great question! I have been reading Andy Stanley’s book Principle of the Path. In the book he talks about how our direction leads to our destination. Pretty sound advice…pretty basic truth. However, in the latter chapters, Andy talks about distractions…what things get our attention which cause us to change direction and ultimately miss our destination. This happens in our careers, relationships, marriages, raising our children and our spiritual life.

Think about this for a little while…what seems to grab our attention and get us off our life path? Financially speaking…it may be that new car we had to have, a new wardrobe, a new house, new furniture and the list goes on and on. Before you know it, our finances are upside down because we made a decision based on emotion (a distraction) not sound reasoning and evaluation. Today we are bombarded with slick advertising and sales techniques that compete for our attention. Just watch one of those 30 minute infomercials that comes on at 3:00 in the morning. Oh…and who came up with the word “infomercial” anyways? Yup, you guessed it…those wanting to get our attention.

Spiritually speaking, too many times in our lives, things or people get our attention. It causes us to take our eyes off the Lord, when quite honestly, it should cause us to turn our eyes towards the Lord. It happened to Adam and Eve…what got their attention? The apple…the desire for something greater.  It happened to King David…Bathsheba got this attention…he took his eyes off the Lord. In both cases, what seemed like a great idea at the time, got their attention, changed their direction and caused much pain for them and eventually for their families.

Scripture gives us direction in Proverbs 3:5&6 …

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

You see…those things or people that grab our attention…they cloud our understanding…that why the writer told us to “Trust in the Lord with ALL our heart.” Let’s try to resist the things of this world from taking our attention away from our Lord.

“Principle of the Path” is available here: http://www.amazon.com/Principle-Path-How-Where-Want/dp/0849920604/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264941113&sr=1-3

A Pebble in a Pond…back to the men’s retreat that I attended quite a number of years ago. As we were spending “man” time together, our leader challenged us to make a difference for God’s Kingdom. Boy, those words hit us like a ton of bricks…how in the world could God use this unusual cast of characters to grow His Kingdom. I was thinking…there is no way that I could be used by God in that way. After all, I thought that I was in God’s will by operating a small business in Greenwood…we were employing about 30 people…and we were making a difference in their lives. The lens that I was looking through was that of the world…my perception was that all our employees needed was a good stable job with good benefits. I was not looking through God’s eyes…eternal eyes.

Our leader continued to challenge us…this time to rise up and lead our church. It was a time that, as he put it, North Side needed Godly men to rise up and lead. I thought, oh sure I could do that…I could be an usher on Sunday mornings. But, that was not what our leader had in mind neither was it God’s plan for Ken. You see, I did not think that I could be used for God’s plan and purposes…I just felt that I had too much baggage and felt that I was too busy…after all, I had a business to run with my partner.

It was at this time, that our leader suggested that we take break. he instructed us to pick up a stone or a pebble on the way to the cafeteria and just put it in our pocket. I thought…kinda corny…but did it any way as I went to fill my coffee cup. As we gathered back together, our leader asked each of us to get the pebble out of our pocket and look at it. He asked us to think about what kind of difference these pebbles could make. Then, we all walked down to the large pond on site and walked out on a 40 foot pier that extended about half across the pond. The pier was actually about 20 feet or so above the water because of the hilly terrain. Our leader then showed us what a big impact a small pebble could have on a big pond. As he dropped his pebble in the pond, it took some time to drop the 20 feet, the splash ensued, then the ripple effect began and continued until the ripples extended to the banks on all sides. Wow, what an illustration! A small pebble…a big impact.

We all saw ourselves as insignificant pebbles in God’s big plan…now we could begin see that each of us could have an impact. We went back to the cabin and began to pray…pray that God could use us for His purposes. As we prayed, we asked God to use us…to mold us…to refine us…to grow us. That simple illustration (and significant prayer) put me on a new path. I could be used of God…with some adjustments…with some refinements. All I had to do was make myself available to Him…something that I was not willing to do prior to this time, but now felt like I need to do.

Sometimes God uses the simplest of illustrations can get our attention. We can have a Godly impact wherever we are…God wants to use us…he wants to equip us…He wants to use our life experiences…for His purposes, not ours. I may be as insignificant as a pebble, but that is all God needs. He just asks us to be available for Him.

Beginning the 4th Quarter…

Our Leadership Team spent the last couple of days in retreat seeking God’s direction for our church. We spent time evaluating, collaborating,  clarifying, celebrating and defining the process of making disciples here at North Side.

After beginning with a time of prayer, seeking God’s direction and leadership, Jeff asked each of us where our head was?…what are we thinking these days? It was a pretty interesting question…it was piercing, it was real and got us right to the point. How can we seek God’s direction without first knowing where each of us are?

As I pondered his question, I shared with the guys that I for some reason have been thinking about planning for retirement a lot lately…for whatever reason, the retirement word has come up a lot in conversations recently…with friends and acquaintances. My 40th year high school reunion was last year. My younger sister is retiring this spring. It seems like more people are asking me…when do I think that I will retire?

As I look at where I am and where the Lord has me…I see that I have many good years left in ministry. I, at 58 (soon to be 59) have a lot of life experiences and gifts that can be used for Kingdom work. I believe that God has me right here at North Side for “a time such as this”.

I hear the phrase “I want to finish strong” a lot in church life and I do want to finish strong…at the point that I am ready to finish…if that makes any sense. However, God has shown me, through much prayer that there still is much for me to do in His Kingdom work here at North Side.

Jeff affirmed that for me as he summarized my babbling about retirement in this phrase…”Ken, you are beginning the 4th quarter”. That is so true and sums up exactly where I am in life…the game is not over…I still have a lot of time left…but know I have  just started the 4th quarter. Have you ever thought about where you are in Kingdom life? Let me ask you, what quarter are you in?

Men and transparency…or should I say the lack thereof? I am like most other guys that I know…we have tendencies to be very private…self sustaining…self sufficient…and the list goes on and on.

A number of years ago…on that retreat that I didn’t want to go on…I found something out that was pretty revealing. Actually, God opened my eyes to the fact that I was not in this boat called life alone. It was Friday night and the 12 of us men had arrived at Lookup Lodge. We ate ourselves a healthy meal and our leader decided it was time for us to “share” a little bit in order to get to know each other. I thought it was a little silly for grown men to be having a “sharing” time…but, I followed our leader. The sharing time got a little deeper with each question…a little more piercing…a little more into our private lives. Then the big question came…What is the Lord doing in your life?

Boy, to be honest with you, I my first response was “None of you doggone business. After all, isn’t that a pretty private thing between a man and the Lord?” However, as I sat there and listed to those other 11 guys share their heart and share what the Lord was doing in their lives…I was overwhelmed. I could not believe these guys were sharing this stuff with the group. They shared life struggles, victories, disappointments, family, children, jobs, church and how the Lord was working in all these areas. I was blown away. I could not believe these guys were talking about this stuff in front of everyone. We were just guys…guys from church…guys that I had worked with, guys that I had served with…just guys and they were sharing some pretty intimate stuff.

As I listened to these guys…the Lord was working on me. I began to understand that these guys were like me, but they had a remarkable confidence of sharing what the Lord was doing in their life. That was something that I did not have…but wanted. I began to see why God wanted me to go on this retreat. He wanted me to see real men…not just men like me. Then it was my time to share…there I sat…totally overwhelmed…totally unprepared…totally real…totally from the heart.

As I began to speak…I must admit that I rambled for some time, as I now see that the Lord was working in me. I became transparent for the first time in my life. I shared my life struggles, successes, failures and for the first time gave verbal, audible credit to the Lord openly and honestly to someone other than to my wife or my very close friends. It was an incredible feeling of release…but, more so that that…I saw how my sharing what the Lord was doing in my life…blesses and ministers to those with which we share it. I saw fist hand how my life experiences could help someone else.

Transparency…hmmm…something that I thought I would never do.  It was a great lesson for me. The opportunity that I had that weekend with those guys…forever changed my life. I came to realize that our life is not just about our relationship with the Lord,  it is about our relationship with others as well.