What If?

A couple of Summers ago Mary and I got to take a 4600 mile trip around our country. We got the chance to visit a bunch of very interesting places along the way, and gave our Chevy’s AC a good work out. Some of the more interesting places were, the Devils slide, Dodge City’s Boot Hill, Old town Albuquerque, the “Painted Desert & Petrified Forest”, and the Gloss mountains of Oklahoma. As we traveled across this country we saw lots of what looked as if it had been an atomic bomb test site, but we also saw some farms that were producing everything from Apples to Zucchini

These farms gave me pause to wonder about God’s family the church and how much like a farm it really is. You think about a lot of weird things when you’re driving 500 miles in a day. But what would happen if a farm was run like many modern day churches?

¨ Farming would be more about barns than fields.

¨ Farmers would stay around the barn and do almost all their work there.

¨ The best farmers would be the ones with the biggest barns

¨ Farmers would only plow and plant inside the barn

¨ Farmers could be voted off the farm just like the TV show Survivor.

¨ Wandering farmers would look for barns with no farmer in them.

¨ Because all activity is inside the barn they’d start to stink.

¨ Due to the barn focus the fields would grow wild

¨ Activity outside the barn would be more like hunting.

¨ Success would be measured by what the farmers knew about farming, not by the crops they have produced.

Ok maybe it’s a good thing farming isn’t like the church, but I think there are a number of things that we can learn from farming that will help us all be more like God’s vision of His Church:

¨ People are God’s fields

¨ God only uses good seed

¨ Our job it to plant, water, and cultivate, God causes the growth

¨ Workers are in short supply for God’s fields

¨ God prunes us to help us be productive A question we must each answer is what kind of crop are we allowing God to produce in our lives, our ministries, and on His farm? The prophet Isaiah describes God’s work this way… 2 He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with choice vines. In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were wild and sour. Isa 5:2 (NLT). God has done is doing and will continue to do a great deal of work to produce good fruit in each of us! What would happen if we let Him?

Is there something in your life that’s keeping you from becoming what you might be? What if you let it go and let God work within you to produce something good?

What if…

Pressing On:

Dale Phipps

We All have a made by… tag on us

In John Ortberg’s book, “Love beyond Reason” he tells the following story about a Fortune 500 company CEO and his wife out on a date…

The couple pulled into a gas station after their dinner and night on the town. The CEO went into the station to pay for their gas, and when he came out he noticed that his wife was engaged in a very deep conversation with the service station attendant. It turns out that she had gone to High School with him. In fact during those years she had actually dated him before she ever met her eventual husband.

The CEO got into the car, and the two drove off in silence. He was feeling pretty good about himself when he finally spoke: “I bet I know what you are thinking. I bet you are thinking you are glad you married me, a Fortune 500 CEO, and not him, a service station attendant.”

His wife responded, “No, I was thinking if I had married him, he would be a Fortune 500 CEO and you would be a service station attendant.”

Funny how many times we, like the CEO of the story, fall into the delusion that we are self made. That somehow we have arrived at our current position in life on our own. Maybe it’s pride, or self-protection, or just plain failure to recognize how many people have helped us get to where we are today. Here is a short list of the kind of people who I’m grateful for in helping me get to where I’m at today…

 My parents: who brought me into this world, supplied me with all my needs, and many of my wants. Who taught me, sheltered me, and freed me to live life.

 My Wife: who makes me better than I am by loving me, holding me accountable, and challenging me to never stop trying to improving..

 My Kids: who have given me unconditional love, and been a source of laughter in my life, and shown me why a warm plate of cookies is always better when shared with those you love.

 My Teachers: who have poured their wealth of experience and knowledge into my life. They have helped me to see life from many different vantage points without having to live so long in order to make the same discoveries on my own.

 My Mentors: who have had the wisdom to show me how to take the knowledge I’ve been given and apply it to the life I’m living.

 My Accountability partners: who have shown me grace, mercy, and forgiveness. They have helped me weather many storms in my life, and shown me that failure doesn’t have to be fatal or final if you’re willing to change and grow

 My Lord and Savior Jesus: who is really responsible for giving me the chance to make the most of all that He has provided. After all He is the one who created life that I might learn to live. He is the one who created all the different temperaments that I might live as I was designed to live. He is the one who designed all the different skills and gifts that I might fill a specific need in this world. He is the one who designed the mind that I might have the ability to use it. He is the one who came up with the idea of community that I might be a part of one. And He is the one who paid the ultimate price that I might truly live!.

When you stop and think about it, really think about it, we are all a combination of input from a wide verity of sources. There are lots of people who lay claim to the person we are or are becoming. My question is, are you willing to give credit, thanks, and even appreciation to those who’ve helped you along life’s journey to this point? Or are you really a self-made individual?


14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous-- and how well I know it. 15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. 16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. 17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable!
Ps 139:14-17(NLT)

Pressing On
Dale Phipps

The Truth About Cats and Dogs

Most of you reading this have probably at one time or another had some experience with a dog or a cat, and I’ll bet you have an opinion about them. Your opinion may be based on found memories of a loved family pet, a not so pleasant memory of stepping in something you had to clean off your shoe, or even the kinda weird memory of waking up from a nap to find your four legged friend asleep right next to you (or on you if they are small enough). You may, like me, have more than just a past experience; you may have a cat looking over your shoulder right now as you’re reading this, or a dog that is laying beside you hoping you’ll give it a moments attention before you go off to do something else. Regardless of your past or present experience with dogs and cats I’d like to ask you to think about them in terms of a spiritual gauge with me.

In his book “Everybody’s Normal Until You Get to Know Them”, John Ortberg Makes the distinction between approaching God and others as a dog or a cat. In a nut shell here’s the difference.

Cats: A cat looks down on you with an air of superiority, somewhere between mild to total disinterest, and as if you exist to meet it’s every need. When you feed it, clean up after it, buy it toys, do nice things for it I wonder if a cat thinks to itself, “Why wouldn’t you want to do all those things for me after all I am a cat and you are just my master. You’re so lucky to have me around, I deserve all you’ve done and more. I deserve your love and respect.”

Dogs: a dog looks up at you with love in its eyes, total devotion in its heart, and a willingness to follow you wherever you go. When you feed a dog, play with a dog, clean up after a dog, or buy a dog a toy all it wants to do is be with you. When the dog sees all these things that you have done for it I wonder if it thinks to itself, “Why would my master do all these things for me, I’m just a dog. I love my master and would do anything for them. I’m so lucky to be loved by such a wonderful master.”

Here’s an awesome truth. God loves you and me more than we know, and more than we will ever deserve. God’s love for us is nothing short of amazing. Look what the writer of Hebrews says about God and what He thinks of us.

6 For somewhere in the Scriptures it says, "What is man that you should think of him, and the son of man that you should care for him? 7 For a little while you made him lower than the angels, and you crowned him with glory and honor. 8 You gave him authority over all things." Now when it says "all things," it means nothing is left out. But we have not yet seen all of this happen. Heb 2:6-8 (NLT)

Now here’s the tough part…When you approach God, are you more like a cat or a dog?

Pressing On:
Dale Phipps