“Risk your life and get more than you ever dreamed of. Play it safe and end up holding the bag” (Matthew 19:26, Message).

I think Americans are becoming too safety conscious.

We’ve become the most risk-adverse generation in history. We’ve made everything so safe, that the only danger we’re in is of taking all the fun out of life! I mean, I can’t even take a Tylenol without getting a worse headache trying to get the bottle open!

I’m not sure that we would even have an America if today’s generation had to pioneer it. Can you imagine Columbus asking for trip insurance? Or Lewis and Clark not willing to travel without their GPS. What if Davy Crockett had refused to fight at the Alamo without insisting they have commercial fire insurance? Do you think Daniel Boone would have killed a bear if his parents had insisted he not play with knives?

Christians have carried this desire to play it safe into the church. We’ve diminished Christ’s call of sacrifice to a syrupy sentimentality and safety. We’re in danger of boring ourselves and our children to death with this watered-down version of the gospel.

But Jesus didn’t call us to a safe life. He called us to follow Him. He didn’t say, “Look, these Romans and Jewish leaders are probably going to kill me, but maybe they won’t give you much trouble.”

No, Jesus told them that He was headed to the cross and that they needed to be ready to take up theirs too.

The call of Christ isn’t to safety. It’s to significance.

… Now, would you mind helping me open this cap?

“Your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God” (2 Corinthians 9:11).

Have you noticed how gratitude and generosity are connected? People who see their possessions as a gift from God show gratitude. They are full of thanks. Since they recognize God as their source, they worship Him as Owner and Provider. They see themselves as stewards and managers of God’s stuff.

This attitude of gratitude makes them more generous. Their gratitude overflows into gracious giving.

My next door neighbor recently illustrated this to me. He knew a landowner that had some downed hardwood trees that he was willing to give to anyone that would get them off of his property. My neighbor asked if I wanted to go with him to get some of the wood.

“Man, I wish I could. With this cold winter, I could really use the firewood. I’m going through that oak I bought really fast. But I’m so busy, I just don’t have time to cut it, haul it, and split it.” I said, shaking my head.

“Well, if you change your mind let me know. We’re going out this Saturday to get some.” He answered.

“Thanks.” I replied, while heading back to my yard.

A couple of weeks later, imagine my surprise when I answered the door to my neighbor standing there with a big smile on his face and a load of freshly cut wood.

“Hey neighbor! I brought you some firewood.” He said, gesturing towards the stack. “Open up your garage and let me load you up.” He continued.

“What?” I finally managed. “You don’t need to do this.” I insisted. “You’ve worked so hard.” I said, shaking my head. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because you’re a good neighbor and I’m being neighborly.” He said through a big grin. “Besides, I got the wood for free and I want to share it with you. Now, let’s get this wood in your garage, it’s cold outside.”

That evening, the fire in our fireplace seemed to put off more warmth than usual as we combined my neighbor’s freshly split poplar with our remaining oak. Every pop and crack of the fire inspired gratitude in my heart.

People who have a hard time being generous also have trouble with gratitude. I guess that’s why we say “thanksgiving,” because “thanks” and “giving” go together.

Now, pardon me while I put another log on the fire… hmm… nice.

“Jesus stopped and called them. ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ he asked” (Matthew 20:32 NIV).

Jesus was always “stopping.” His ministry was marked as much by its singular focus on the cross as it was on its willingness to accommodate interruptions along the way. Jesus accomplished His mission as Savior without overlooking the people He came to save.

Many leaders fail in being able to balance the tension between the target and the team. Most leaders have been promoted to their level of responsibility because they knew how to get things done. They produced results.

However the skill set that got them promoted to leadership often isn’t adequate. The very focus and personal talent that got them results in the past doesn’t serve them well as leaders. They must learn to accomplish the mission with and through others. Otherwise, they will make what Hans Finzel calls one of “The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make.”

Finzel describes this mistake in a chapter entitled, “Putting Paperwork Before Peoplework: Confessions of a Type A Leader.” He says that leadership tends to attract Type A personalities, people who are very driven and focused on future goals. These are the kind of people who often ask the question, “Are we there yet?” They tend to be impatient and perfectionistic. They also tend to have trouble with people-interruptions. If these Type A leaders want to succeed, they will have to learn how to become winners at “peoplework.”

I have a Type A personality. But God is working on me and I hope I am growing. I want to become more like Jesus in this. He knew how to balance the call to mission with the needs of people.

Leaders must still do their “paperwork.” Organizations demand results. But Jesus modeled a mode of leadership that made the people around Him feel valued even while He accomplished the mission. He never made people feel like an interruption. Even while hanging on the cross, He ministered to the thief who had questions about eternity, saying, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.”

I want to be more like Jesus. As a husband, a father, a grandfather and a pastor, this Type A leader really needs Christ’s help to put peoplework ahead of paperwork.

Are you making room for peoplework in your life?

“Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the LORD, and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the LORD your God” (Zechariah 6:15 NIV).

Back in early 2002, I was going through a difficult season of personal doubt. My mother had recently passed away, the church was experiencing some disunity, and I was feeling uncertain about where I was in life.

I didn’t doubt God. I doubted myself. I decided to take a three-day fast and pray, asking God for direction.

The first 24 hours were miserable. I was hungry. I had a caffeine withdrawal headache. And I wasn’t hearing anything from God.

God never seems to work according to my schedule.

Late that night, I finally sensed God speaking to me. I knew it must be Him because I was feeling led to read from Zechariah (Not a book I would have chosen on my own).

In the book of Zechariah, God spoke to the people who were rebuilding the temple. They had started the work, but had been unable to complete it. They were discouraged and filled with doubt. Through the prophet Zechariah, God told them to keep working and not to “despise the day of small beginnings.” He told their leader, Zerubbabel, that he had laid the foundation and that he would be there to set the capstone. In other words, God told him that he would finish what he had started.

Those words were like food to my soul. God sent me back to Wilson from this three-day fast, filled with encouragement and calling. He reaffirmed my call to continue in this work that He had called me to start.

Recently, the experience I had with God while fasting and reading Zechariah came back to me. I was at breakfast with my family, describing the exciting things going on with our new property. I was explaining how miraculous it was that we had people coming all the way from Canada to help take out the old theatre seats, screens and curtains.

“So, we were going to have to do the demolition anyway, but this theatre owner in Canada responded to our Ebay ad for the seats. Not only was he willing to buy them, he was willing to come down, remove them and transport them back to Canada!” I explained.

My daughter-in-law, Caroline, responded, “Wow. That’s amazing… that they would come from so far away.”

“What did you just say?” I blurted out, nearly choking on my toast.

It was then I remembered something else I had read in Zechariah, that “those who are far away would come” to help us build.

“God sent these guys all the way from Canada to help us!” I jumped up from the table shouting (To the surprised looks of my family). “God is doing it. He is doing everything He told me!”

I had forgotten some of the details from that time back in 2002, but now I’m re-reading Zechariah. The same God that encouraged the Jewish exiles to return to the work of rebuilding the temple, still lives. He sent them help from far away.

And I believe He sent us help from Canada.

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19 NIV).

Are your hands too full to enjoy life? Do you ever feel overwhelmed and almost dizzy with the busyness and urgency of the day?

You’re not alone. Americans are suffering from a modern malady known as “burnout.” We’re over-scheduled, over-committed, and scatter-brained from information overload. There must be a better way to live!

There is, but it will require a radical step. We need to let go. That’s right. We need to drop everything for a moment and reevaluate our lives. I think it was Socrates who said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Far too many of us are living “unexamined lives.”

I’m not proposing that we all become hermits and escape from this crooked, crazy world (although tempting sometimes). I’m suggesting that we need to look and see where all this busyness is taking us. We need to empty our hands of all the burdensome stones that we’re carrying and carefully put only the important ones back.

How? I believe there is only one way. Follow Jesus. His is a simple call. He says, “Come, follow me.” He also says, “Come unto Me you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

We’ve made life too complicated, too full of rules and duties and responsibilities that we can’t shoulder. Why not answer Christ’s simple call to simply “Come and follow.”

When we release our burdens and exchange them for the “easy yoke” that Christ offers, I’ve noticed that He calls us to three simple commitments:

1. A commitment to celebrate God’s Son – to worship God first and to make Him our first priority, not allowing anything in life to crowd Him out of first place.

2. A commitment to connect to God’s family – to recognize our need for fellowship with other believers, carving out room in our lives to live in encouraging, accountable, sharpening relationship with others.

3. A commitment to contribute to God’s Kingdom – to focus our time, talent and treasure on investing in the only Kingdom that will last. Following Christ, He “makes us fishers of men.”

Let’s empty our hands for a moment and, following Christ’s leadership, let’s carefully put back only those commitments that He deems worthy.

Living the simple life means continually saying “No” to the world’s urgent cry for our busyness and ordering our lives around simply following Jesus.

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV).

I started taking an annual study break at the end of the year over 10 years ago. I have found it to be one of the wisest practices in my life. It gives me time to reflect on the past year and to reset my sights on God’s calling in my life.

It also gives me time to study the Bible and listen for the Lord’s voice for myself, my family (of which I am father and grandfather), and our church (of which I am pastor).

I don’t want to lead an unexamined and haphazard life. Neither do I want to have those under my care following an aimless leader/shepherd. Since I’m not wise enough to bear the weight of this responsibility (Have you figured that out yet?), I “retreat” from the world’s influence in order to “advance” in the Lord’s power.

I am thankful for a wife that understands this necessity for spiritual renewal. She fully supports me in my desire to spend an extended time alone with God (She takes this time to be with God too). I am also thankful for a church like WCC that encourages me to take these “study breaks.”

Speaking of our church… as I was walking on the beach yesterday… I found this message written in the sand. I think it’s for you.

For to us a child is born,to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6 NIV).

“Daddy, where does the sun go at night?” I asked my dad as he leaned over tucking me into bed.

“Why it’s busy waking up the little boys in China, son.” He answered, knowing this would only lead to more questions from his curious and bedtime-stalling son.

I loved these bedtime question and answer sessions with my father. And he seemed to enjoy them too. I especially liked the way he didn’t talk down to me, but gave me real answers. He encouraged my inquisitive nature and told me that I was the “smartest 7 year old he knew.”

I wouldn’t take anything for those memories with my dad. Those were wonderful times together, made especially sweet because we lost him to cancer the following year, when I was only eight years old.

In the years following I used to long for someone to answer my bedtime questions. You know, the kind of questions that keep you up at night. That’s when I started calling out to the Lord. I would ask the Lord Jesus my questions and seek His counsel on upcoming decisions. Emptying my mind of every concern I would find blessed sleep in knowing that He was my counselor. And oh, what a wonderful counselor Christ is!

His counsel is wonderful because…

Christ’s counsel is personal. Jesus calls us to a personal relationship. He knows us and our situation. He is not distant, but close. He leans in and answers us.

Christ’s counsel is powerful. Following the words and commands of Christ, we receive power to live them out. His words are not just wise advice, they contain wonder-working power. His words are life.

Christ’s counsel is perfect. His counsel is wonderful because it accomplishes its goal. His word is like a seed growing within us, making us like Him. His word is flawless and pure. It never fails.

I’m thankful this Christmas season for the Son that was given “unto us.” He is a Wonderful Counselor and more than able to answer my “bedtime questions.”