Holy Spirit? Who dat?

      If you've ever read the book of Acts, been to church a few times, known a preacher or strong man or woman of God, or if you've caught a preacher on TV once or twice for kicks (very common among the kids these days...), then you've probably heard about the Holy Spirit. You may have heard it called Holy Ghost or just The Spirit, but no matter what you call it, I assume that most people don't really understand this third piece of the Trinity. I'm not going to attempt to use the next few lines to define the Holy Spirit because that may take more words than you're wiling to read. What I want to say to you today is that if you're among that large group of people who call themselves believers or Christians and you don't know much about the Holy Spirit, then you're missing out on 1/3 of who God really is. I'm not specifically talking about speaking in tongues, healing, prophecy, or other gifts given by the Holy Spirit. I'm talking about getting to know a very important part of who God really is. Here are a few simple tips to help:

1. When you pray, don't be afraid to speak directly to the Holy Spirit. Call upon it for help, power, strength, discipline, love for the unlovable, words when you have none, knowledge you've not gained, etc.
2. Seek the scriptures. Don't just look in the New Testament either. Go to Biblegateway.com and type in Holy Spirit as a search. Or just try spirit and see what you get, then read around those verses.
3. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal itself to you. Never underestimate the power of simple requests to God. "Help me." "I'm tired. Give me strength." "Reveal the meaning of this scripture to me."

When Christ left this world, He left the Holy Spirit here on Earth. There is power in this gift that if you aren't tapped into, you're missing out. Don't miss out. Seek it out.

Two Kinds of People

There are two kinds of people on this Earth: beach people and mountain people. If you had to pick between one of those two places to spend the rest of your life, where would it be? For me, I'm a beach person. I love mountains. I've stood in the middle of the Alps and stared in awe at the amazing peaks and snow-covered beauty provided by God's awesome creation, but put me on a beach and I'm home. No matter what season it is, I could sit on a beach and just watch the ocean breathe in and out all day. Because I'm a Christian, I get an added bonus. As I gawk at this awesome beauty, I feel closer to my creator. It's like if you brought a friend to an art exhibit where your work was being shown, and that friend just loved your work and wanted to sit and gaze at your work for hours on end. Wouldn't you feel much closer to that friend? That's how I think God reacts when we are taken aback by His beautiful creation. But if that same friend fell in love with your work, but gave you no credit or didn't acknowledge that it was even you who made it, then we have a problem. When you see something beautiful in God's creation, let Him know. Tell Him how beautiful it is. Thank Him. Praise Him for it. Don't praise creation; praise the creator. He'll appreciate it.

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A Challenge

I've been reading a lot lately. For one of my classes I'm taking, I have to read a bunch of books on leadership and apply the knowledge to church leadership and growth. Boring! Right? Maybe to some, but I am getting really excited about this stuff. The stories of great companies like Walgreens and Gilette accompanied by the stories of great leaders like Billy Graham and Teddy Roosevelt have enormous potential for modern-church application. Words like humility, sacrifice, uncompromising excellence, and passion jump out of the pages and smack me in the face. God's mark is on all truly great things. Where there is truth, you have found God also.  I see the love and work of Christ in the story of the billionaire CEO and Co-Founder of Hewlett-Packard. Though the astounding success of his business afforded him great wealth and opportunity, he never moved out of the house he and his wife built together in 1957. Upon meeting this man, you would have no idea of the billions of dollars that were at his disposal. And after his death, he gave it all away to a charitable foundation. He did not allow his money or success to define him. How many of us follow that model? How many of us let our passion, our sacrifice, our uncompromising excellence, or, above all, our humility define us? My guess would be very few. My message for you today is to, with the help of the Holy Spirit in your life, seek after these qualities. Seek after them as if this is your last chance to leave a positive mark on this Earth. PASSION. SACRIFICE. UNCOMPROMISING EXCELLENCE. HUMILITY.