Friday, May 29, 2009

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

I keep saying that these thoughts I share are simple and it won’t get much more simple than this one...

I can’t help but feel that part of our current journey started with a little spark.
And that spark was someone praying for us.

What happened was this…
Every 6 months or so I meet with someone that I can share with. This someone isn’t another staff member.
They are someone I can be open with.
To talk about where I am at...that sort of thing.

We met again recently and as part of our conversation we talked about my dreams for the future.
One of those dreams was to one day Pastor my own church. Now I must point out that when I was talking about that, I was thinking quite a few more years away.
It was only a part of the discussion we shared together.

After the conversation ended, he asked if he could pray.
What was I going to say?
No!
Of course not, I love it when people pray for me!
...so he began to pray.

He started by praying that God would open a door so that I could Pastor a church.
I opened my eyes to look at him, thinking dude, why are you praying that?…

The next day, yes the next day I got a call from a member of the elim national leadership team asking if we would consider pastoring the Taupo Church.
The rest is now history!

Simple thought for this week…
God answers prayer!

Something to think about...

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Another word that we use a lot is faith.
We say things like…
“I am on a journey of faith”
“I walk by faith”

Recently I was reading about faith.
I began to wonder how much of it I really did have.
I wondered if it was growing or whether my growth had stopped in some way.

You see it is easy for me to be really busy.
But being busy doesn’t always mean I am living in faith or relying on it.
I just may be really busy.

So here I am thinking and praying that maybe my faith needs stretching and then something happened.
In fact a lot of things happened.
They happened very quickly.
So quickly in fact, we feel our faith stretched already.
And while we are stretching there is this underlying peace that can only come from God himself, because the circumstances don’t naturally lend themselves to feeling that way.

So here it is…
In a few short weeks Suze and I will be the new Pastors of the Taupo Elim Church.
This is huge thing for us and we are feeling a mixture of feelings at this time. We are feeling stretched (in a good way), but excited to be given this huge honour and responsibility.

Obviously this will come to most of you as a shock, and I apologise for that. It is something that has caught us a little by surprise as well. But we are confident this is the next step for us in ministry.

Because this has happened quite quickly we have many details still to work out.
I will say this now, and probably many times before we officially finish at Elim here in Auckland…you guys are fantastic.
You have helped make our lives as young adult pastors an absolute pleasure.
We are going to miss you a lot!

Neena will begin to take more responsibility for the young adults ministry as we transition. I am sure you will join with me supporting her as she takes on more responsibility. She is an awesome lady with the call of God on her life.

I am available to answer questions you may have.
Thanks again for your support.

Locky, Suze, Jack & Alex

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

There was once a job I thought I might like to have…
To be a food critic.

It seems so exciting.
You get to go around eating lots of cool things.
Sometimes you don’t even have to pay.
People fear you even, if you are respected enough.

Obviously that is not the career path I went down…

An pastor/author I follow sometimes said this recently:
“I'd rather be a film maker than a film critic”
Mark Batterson

He actually brings up a really good point!

Anyone can be a critic.
Anyone can have an opinion and find someone to share it with. And anyone can find fault with someone else’s efforts.
But it seems to me that the person who has the most fun is the person who takes a chance. Who puts something out there. The person who offers the world something.

It is easy for all of us to sit on the sidelines and critique the world around us. Even the church.
It takes a different sort of person to get out there and make a difference.
And guess what?
You can be that sort of person!

If you know Jesus...
If you have the Spirit of God resting on your life…
You can do amazing things, even if you don’t think you can right now.

Part of Gods plan for your life is to have you on the field.
To be the one making the movie.
Making that masterpiece of a meal.
Where ever you find yourself, and with whatever you find in your hand.

God refers to our lives as like salt.
And just like our lives, they don’t have as much impact sitting there looking pretty.
You are designed to be in the world and flavor it as much as possible.
That is who God designed you to be.

Something to think about….

Thursday, May 07, 2009

I wonder if you are like me?

If you are like me then you want to be healthy in life, even if you sometimes lack the will power to follow through with the goal.

But something has occurred to me recently, that maybe being healthy in my body is only one part of the whole equation.
I have met plenty of physically fit people struggling with issues. Struggling with depression. Struggling to make a relationship work.

I read some research recently.
It talked about how not only diet can effect our health, but that your relationships can as well.

The University of Utah did a study on 150 couples and found some crazy results…
Women who buried anger rather than speaking out were more likely to succumb to heart disease than wives who were vocal, the study found.
And when women became domineering and controlling, rather than seeking consensus, damage was done to husbands' coronary health.*

In another country some similar research was done…
Researchers found that those with hostile intimate relationships were 34 percent more likely to experience chest pains, heart attacks, and other heart trouble.
Even after typical contributing factors such as obesity, smoking, and drinking were eliminated from the equation, those in troubled relationships were still at 23 percent greater risk for a heart attack.

"If you have good people around, it's good for your health," said lead researcher Roberto De Vogli. "If you have bad people around you, it is much worse for your health."*

When Jesus said that he wanted us to have life and have it in its fullness, he wasn’t just talking about weight loss or having fun fuzzy feelings each morning.
When you look at your life…
...remember that all of it is important.
Your relationships will effect your life!
Let’s try and make sure we have good ones...

Something to think about….

Locky

* Source Ted DeHass, Bedford, Iowa, and Brandon O'Brien, assistant editor, PreachingToday.com