The Phil Files

“They” say that I’m ADD. That’s more than a little frustrating. What “they” mean is that I don’t go from point A to point B in a straight line, doing things in the way and in the order that “they” want me to do them.

Sure, I don’t read one book at a time, but 3 or 4 or 6 or 7 — except on vacation when I read novels in a day. Yes, I have three computers on, all with 3 or 4 programs open, and I’m using all of them, instead of just one. When I clean or straighten up, I don’t check things off neatly in order, but I do everything all at once. Sometimes, OK most of the time, I take quite a bit longer to get finished, but I always get more things done and more thoroughly … when I finally get around to them.

And on those other things I’m supposed to get done, well at the end of the day, or the end of the week, or at the end of the time allotted, I nearly always get more done, more read, and a whole lot more experienced along the way than the average point A to point B person that I drive crazy while I’m doing it!

I’m not sure how it is in your world, but life doesn’t happen in neat little columns and rows in my world. Stuff happens unexpectedly and lists get blown up or made irrelevant by more important things that happen along the way. Sure, lists are necessary. I live by them. If I lose my Droid and can’t get to my Google Calender, I’m hopelessly lost on what to do next and what to do when. Lists are necessary to help me know when I’m finished and to help me to not forget and to help me to have a sense of going somewhere. But lists can’t be straight jackets or detailed maps. They’re more like general itineraries to help me know the main stops along the way, but I get to choose the places I enter, the sites I see, the flowers I smell, and the vendors I share a laugh with. The list, my itinerary, is no more the journey than the snapshot is the experience.

Now I’m sure you may not agree, and if you do not agree, you are in the majority who think people like me are warped, weird, and need to be straightened out — at least when going from point A to point B. And that’s cool if it works for you, but it sure doesn’t ADD up in my world.

Enjoy the journey!

Today (Wednesday, March 3), I am traveling back to Austin where I will help with the funeral of Jackson Bradley, famous golf teaching pro and devoted follower of Jesus. Jackson passed away after a rich full life of playing on the PGA tour, being a famous golf instructor, being club pro at some of the most cherished golf courses in the country, and using the last two decades of his life to share Jesus with people he loved. One of his greatest joys was in helping begin Bible studies at a halfway house that eventually became Freedom Church, a church plant made up predominantly of ex-offenders who were turning their lives around with the help of Christ.

After the post on Lynn Anderson yesterday and while preparing for the funeral message for today, I came across this powerful insight written by Miles Alpern Levin, about a month after he was diagnosed with cancer. His blog on carepages.com inspired many and I couldn’t think of a more appropriate message to share for all of us!

I went to the driving range the other day and I was thinking … I was thinking how you start out with a big bucket full of golf balls, and you just start hitting away carelessly. You have dozens of them, each individual ball means nothing to you so just hit, hit, hit. One ball gone is practically inconsequential when subtracted from the your bottomless bucket. There are no practice swings or technique re-evaluations after a bad shot, because so many more tries remain. Yet eventually you start to have to reach down towards the bottom of the bucket to scavenge for another shot and you realize that tries are running out. Now with just a handful left, each swing becomes more meaningful. The right technique becomes more crucial, so between each shot you take a couple practice swings and a few deep breaths. There is a very strong need to end on a good note, even if every preceding shot was terrible, getting it right at the end means a lot. You know as you tee up your last ball, “This is my final shot, I want to crush this with perfection: I must make this count.” Limited quantities or limited time brings a new, precious value and significance to anything you do. Live every day shooting as if it’s your last shot, I know I have to.”  — Miles Alpern Levin, July 7, 2005.

I know Jackson would have quibbled with Miles — well actually, he would have been much firmer than quibbling — about wasting all those practice shots early in the bucket of balls. “Don’t want to groove that bad swing and ingrain those bad habits!”

Jackson wanted you to loosen up with some short shots, then he wanted you to waste nothing — not one ball in the bucket. But, we all do, don’t we. We all mess up, goober up, stumble, sin, flub up, hit a shank or two, and then we notice the bucket of balls is getting thin on balls. I know Jackson had regrets — times and people he wished he could go back and do better with. But I am most thankful that the years I knew Jackson, he lived life recognizing the preciousness of grace and the opportunity to make a difference.

And yes, Jackson, I still shank one from time-to-time because of that square to square curl the three fingers on the back swing thing that you despised and tried so hard to help me get out of my swing. Blessings, dear brother, I’ll catch you on the back the nine, where our swings will be natural, the iced tea will be sweet, and nobody will ever need to improve their lie.

What a blessing!

Don’t you hope that’s something folks say about you? There are certain people that enter our world and they are blessing every moment we are around them. They find ways to be helpful. They offer encouraging words at just the right moment. When something needs to be done, they do it — they don’t wait to be asked. When someone needs assistance, they step up and do it cheerfully. Some people are blessings.

But aren’t we all supposed to be? Isn’t this the heart of our spiritual DNA? In my Heartlight.org article this week on blessing, I talk about the principle of being a blessing as part of our spiritual DNA going all the way back to Abraham. One of the most important ways we can be generous with others is to share our blessings in Jesus. Peter puts it this way:

Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy (1 Peter 3:15 MSG).

This is called (in other translations) sharing our hope.

Why do you think it is so hard for us to be generous?

• Who is someone you know that is generous?
• What do you most appreciate about them?
• How can you be more like them?

Why do we not perceive sharing Jesus as a work of generosity?

• Why not send them a note and thank them for being generous?
• What blessings do you have in your life because of Jesus?
• Who is in your life because of your shared faith in Jesus?
• When is the last time you shared these blessings you have in Jesus with others?

Read 1 Peter 3:15 and notice how sharing good news is about sharing with others the reason we have hope in Jesus.

• Take a few minutes and write a paragraph giving the reason for your hope in Jesus.
• Pray that the Lord will give you an opportunity to share it with someone this week as an act of generosity!

Finally, I’m working with something new that I’d like to incorporate into my blog. I’d love to get you to share in the poll below. Thanks!

The early followers of Jesus proclaimed this boldly (Acts 4:31), yet with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15), in the face of persecution and the loss of their lives (Acts 8:1-4). Why? Because without Jesus, there is not a cure to our deepest wound and religion rests only on our own power to be good, not upon grace.

Sometimes you goof up and don’t learn about it till much later! I messed up on a PowerPoint background years ago. The image wasn’t very good and I had made a typo. For over a decade, churches have used it, even though the word agape was misspelled — this probably went unnoticed and uncorrected because the word was written in Greek. A few weeks ago, someone kindly pointed this out and I began to try to figure out how in the world I was going to change the image. I finally decided it was just too ugly and below current standards, so I started over and replaced the image.

I don’t know about you, but when I’ve tried to go deal with my mistakes in the past, or deal with the mistakes of others that have impacted me in the past, I’ve always found the process messy and painful. I think that is part of Satan’s way of discouraging us from the right thing. In this case, however, I found an image that I felt was much better to work with for the idea and when I was finished, I was moved by the image and the message.

To think that Jesus calls me his friend (John 15:15) and then demonstrates his friendship so powerfully and sacrificially (John 15:13) is almost beyond my comprehension. Jesus is willing to die for me! I know me. I’m pretty sure I’m not worth it. But that’s not the point: Jesus believes I’m worth it. How do you understand that … not just in your head, but also in your heart?

So here’s the image — or at least a smaller version of it, the real images are 1024 x 768. I hope it’s a blessing to you. You can use this, or one of the other related images in the set, for your personal use, on your blog, in church or small group presentations. Just don’t place it on a commercial website or in print. Links to the full size images are below the image. I hope this gets you thinking about how treasured you are by Jesus!

Free Download of Full Size Set from heartlight.org

Image Above |  Title Plus |  Title Only |  Text

Over the last several years, I have found myself focusing on several areas of prayer that have blessed me powerfully each morning. Three years, frustrated with my own impatience and impertinence, I began to pray each morning for God’s Spirit to be at work in my life producing the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). About two years ago, I began to pray for God to minister to me — to my heart and my spirit — during the night. This was based on a time of trial and a fresh reading of the Psalms which talk about God ministering to us in the night. (See the Heartlight.org article I wrote entitled While I Sleep for more details.) Last year, I began praying the Lord’s prayer several times during the day and found all sorts of ways this prayer directly intersected my daily life. In this week’s Heartlight.org article, Life to Our Bones, I talk about praying for God to release His Holy Spirit into the life of those we love and those who serve God’s people — something I’m convicted we need to more often.

This year, as I try to emphasize the work of the Holy Spirit each day through the SpiritFire devotionals, I am praying a combination of many of these prayers each morning. Sometimes I do it before my feet hit the floor, sometimes while I’m taking my morning shower, other times as I’m driving to work, and sometimes at different times in the day. I thought I would share this with you, not so much so that you would pray the same prayer, but that you would put together one of your own to pray each day. This one is rooted in Scripture — in fact, much of it is actually praying Scripture. I hope it is a blessing!

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. (Matthew 6:9-13)

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love; according to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. (Psalm 51:1-2)

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. (Psalm 51:10-12)

Please fill me this day with the Holy Spirit so that I can live before others and declare in word and deed the grace of Jesus, with all boldness. (Luke 11:13; Acts 4:31)

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer (Psalm 19:14-15).

And bless me with the fruit of Your Holy Spirit as the Spirit conforms me to the character and compassion of Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18). Please form in me love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control as I pledge to walk in step with Your Spirit (Galatians 5:22-27).

Dear Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, please bless those I love and all who belong to Jesus with an abiding sense of Your presence and power. I pray that your Spirit in their inner being will strengthen them with might. I pray that they will know your glorious riches of mercy and grace and be able to understand the incredible love Jesus has for them. I pray that they may be filled with all of Your fullness, O God. (Ephesians 3:14-19)

Now to You, O God, Who alone is able to do immeasurably more than all that we can ask or imagine by your power at work within us, to You be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Now here are some questions for thought and I’d love to get your reaction to them, to the Heartlight.org article, or to the ideas of today’s blog post!

Have you noticed how narrow our prayer focus so often seems to be?

• Do you find yourself praying for your needs more than others?
• Do you find yourself asking God for more than you thank him for what you have received?

Who that you know needs to know the presence of God in his or her life and needs to have the Holy Spirit fill them with God’s power?

• Why not pray — alone or with a group of others — for these folks?

What ministries need the power of the Holy Spirit released into them to bless their service to Jesus?

When is the last time you prayed for God’s blessings through the Holy Spirit to come upon your church family … your physical family … your small group … missionaries you know … church leaders you know?

• Why not pray for them by name right now?

How can you incorporate a regular time of prayer each day for God to release and bless your family, your church family, your friends, and those in need with the Holy Spirit?