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Overboard Blog

Living the extraordinary life of faith!

Filtering by Tag: obedience

Road Signs

joeacast

Views from the road. This one is from the beautiful downtown of Seattle. My family and I just finished up a road trip that took us over 2,800 miles, traveling from Michigan to Oregon. It was a great adventure, and Traci and I, and our three amazing kids, had a lot of fun and made a ton of memories. Good thing, too, because thanks to three of my nephews and nieces getting married this summer, we’ll be repeating that trip in two months!

I have the privilege of guest-posting for a friend. Check out the rest of this week's post on her site, A Wasted Life. While you're there, be sure to check out Hannah's other blogs, I think you'll enjoy what you find!

Lessons I don't always like.

joeacast

Over the past three weeks, Traci and I have been riding a roller coaster of emotions and feelings following the loss of my job, and the reality of facing a very uncertain future. God threw out a big stop sign, and we’ve been in the process of trusting Him while figuring out what’s next for our family. During this process, I’ve come across Psalm 143, and in particular, verses 7-10. Read them as written in The Message translation:

“Hurry with your answer, God!

I’m nearly at the end of my rope.

Don’t turn away; don’t ignore me!

That would be certain death.

If you awake me each morning with the sound of your loving voice,

I’ll go to sleep each night trusting you.

Point out the road I must travel;

I’m all ears, all eyes before you.

Save me from my enemies, God --

You’re my only hope!

Teach me how to live to please you,

because you’re my God.

Lead me by your blessed Spirit

into cleared and level pastureland.”

Those four verses have been powerful reminders in my journey the past few weeks. And here are five lessons God has been teaching me through this time:

  1. God is never in a hurry, He is never rushed. You and I feel the pinch of time, and we experience the anxiety of watching the sand fall through the hour glass. That’s why David exclaims, “Hurry with your answer...I’m nearly at the end of my rope!” God, however, is never pinched by time. God is never caught off guard by our experiences or sudden changes of direction; instead, He is able to keep a perfect perspective on our lives and circumstances. His timing is always precisely right, because He sees the big picture you and I are unable to see. I can’t remember who said it, but the quote goes something like this: “God is rarely early. He is never late, but He loves to make a grand entrance at ‘just the right moment!’” Indeed. I’m feeling the pinch as we are getting closer and closer to the time we have to decide what’s next about my job, our housing, the kids’ schooling etc... and I’m learning to trust God’s timing, even more, as the clock gets closer to zero.
  2. reflection of GodGod’s love can be found every single day. Each day you and I wake up, is a new day for you and I to experience another facet of God’s love. David said, “If you awake me each morning with the sound of your loving voice...” It really is more of a statement of certainty than it is a statement of possibility. In other words, David is really saying, “Since you wake me up each morning with the sound of your loving voice...” In the mire of daily life, we can sometimes lose sight of the love of God actively playing out in our lives. Trust the Word -- when you don’t feel the love of God it’s not because God has suddenly vacated His commitment to love you! During this time I’ve discovered the love of God in so many details of my life; this hardship has enabled me to see His love more, not less.
  3. God knows the best path. 23 months ago, when Traci and I packed up our family and took this job in northern Michigan, God already knew that our plans and dreams for this chapter in our life were going to be cut short less than two years after arriving. We were thinking long term, but God knew it was going to be a short-lived experience. Despite the current situation, we both remain confident this was the right move for our family, this was the right path for us to start traveling. If it’s true that God laid this out for us in March of 2013, that means the uncertainty of the path before us in February of 2015, remains the best place for us to be! David can say, “Point out the road I must travel...” because He knows that God knows the best path for this life. I’m truly learning to trust the Lord for the best path, believing that whatever happens on that path is best for me, my wife and my children.
  4. Obedience is always right. At the end of the day, I’ve learned that obedience is always right no matter what it costs. While I can’t control the words and actions of others, with God’s help, I am able to work on controlling my own words and actions. As I wait for God to reveal the next step in our lives, I must choose to remain obedient to what I know He wants me to do. God delights in the obedience and righteousness of His children, and no matter what circumstances are before me, I can always choose the path of obedience.
  5. God is leading. I love David’s thoughts in verse 10: “Lead me by your Spirit into cleared and level pastureland.” God is leading me somewhere, even when I don’t know where that somewhere, is. And He is leading me to a place that is cleared and ready for me to be nourished. “Pastureland” is the place where the sheep were fed, and were given rest from their travels. God is leading me somewhere, and when we get there, there will be rest and there will be nourishment. Over the past three weeks I have been reminded that The Good Shepherd hasn’t abandoned His duties as the leader of the flock.

The Overboard Life will constantly challenge you to grow in the expression of your faith. I know I’m being stretched more now than ever before, but I’m also confident that this is precisely where God wants me to be. Are you experiencing the pinch of time or struggling to see God’s love in a particular circumstance? Are you searching for the best path or struggling with obedience? In the busyness of life, have you lost sight of the Shepherd? If any of that describes you, let me encourage you to make Psalm 143:7-10 a part of your life today. Embrace God’s truth and hold fast to the course He has given you.

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water.

How to remember a day

joeacast

Take a moment to think back yesterday. What happened yesterday that really sticks out in your mind? Go back two days, and try to compile your memories from two days ago. How about a week ago? What do you remember about the details of your life from one week ago? A month? A year? Usually when we step back into our memories we see key events; we remember the big moments that changed the course of our lives. When I think back to 2012 I remember a couple of big events right off the block -- our decision to move to Lake Ann Camp, and Traci’s kidney donation surgery -- but there’s a lot of haziness over the rest of that year. Overboard published a couple of books (can’t remember the exact dates), my family took a three week cross-country road trip and AJ’s baseball team won the championship that year in Little League. After that, 2012 is pretty much a blur.

aged journalThis year I’ve picked up my journal again, and I’ve been recording the events of each day. I’m trying to see each day through the context of my relationship with Traci, and I’m amazed at how challenging that process can be. Sitting down at the end of the day and trying to record the events as they affected me and Traci has been very difficult at times, even though I’m only looking back at one 24-hour-day!

A couple of times I have missed a day or two and I’ve taken the time to go back and fill in each missing day. One time I missed 10 days of writing, so I carefully went back through the calendar and filled in the missing days. There were several times I took 10-15 minutes to try and recall the specific details of a single day and found it almost impossible. On one hand, so much happens in a day that it’s almost like data overload; on the other hand, when trying to see it only using the lens of my relationship with Traci, the data can be sparse (at least my recall of the data is sparse).

The question that keeps popping up, as I continue to journal my life on a daily basis, is this: am I facing each day with the intention to make my life count? In Project Nehemiah I spent some time exploring the idea that a remarkable life isn’t doing the “big things” that so often get labeled as extraordinary or special, but it’s in living in obedience, every day, to God and His Word. When I live in obedience, the other details take care of themselves. The opportunities to impact the lives of others will flow from my daily walk. From there, God may give my the opportunity to impact the President of the United States, or He might give me the chance to alter the day of an elderly person in a nursing home. Neither task is more important than the other, but both require a commitment to obedience.

This morning, as my wife and I went out on a morning run, we were both struck by the challenges of running early, on a warm and muggy day. At one point my wife said, “I feel like I’ve got nothing today” to which I echoed a similar sentiment. But you know what we did have going for us? We were running even when we didn’t feel like it. We were out there fighting the humidity and the early morning stiffness that, in the past, would have sidelined us. The run itself wasn’t that special but the choice to be faithful to running will net results in October when we both attempt our first half marathon.

In the same way, our simple obedience to God’s Word is preparing us for something in the future. Whether it’s to impact your own children or 3,000 campers, or whether you get to be the person that introduces a neighbor to Christ or shares Jesus with a world leader isn’t yours to choose. You get the chance to be obedient, each day, and to trust God to provide opportunities that flow from your obedience. And just like it takes intention to get up and go running on a warm and muggy Northern Michigan morning, it takes focused attention to your walk with God to choose the paths of obedience, faith and love in the decisions you face each day.

After my shower, a refreshing Rev3 drink and a healthy snack I realized this morning’s run was extraordinary. Three miles of jogging, walking and gasping for air is extraordinary? You bet! Because today I got up did what I was supposed to do in order to be ready for what’s next. I want each day to count like that (and not just for running!), and that means I need to be who God wants me to be in obedience, so I’ll be ready for whatever God wants me to do down the road. And that kind of faithful living, every day,  is indeed, extraordinary, and worth journaling!

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!

Love and Legalism

joeacast

I worked on my sarcastic face...I think I had it down pretty good! It’s interesting as a parent of a 7th grade boy, to be navigating the Jr. High years from the other side of the table. More than once, during the past two years, I’ve thought, “Oh my word...what did I put my parents through?!?!” I remember, in particular, Jr. high was when I learned that sarcasm could be a primary form of speech and that I should definitely pursue a career as a stand-up comic -- I was certain that everything I said was absolutely hilarious!

 

Jr. High is an age where most of us are figuring out some key aspects of life, and like it or not, it’s the time when many of our values for living are set. Choices are made to do -- or not do -- certain things, to be around or to avoid particular people, and these choices set a pattern for our lives. I know a lot of people who’ve looked back at the decisions they’ve made in life, good or bad, who can trace the origins of those choices back to Jr. High. I think that’s one of the reasons why I’ve always loved youth ministry, and in particular, why I’ve always enjoyed the challenges of working with Jr. High students.

 

Bob Smith was my Jr. High youth pastor and he was used by God to influence me for good. Bob made it cool to be a Christian and taught us that living for God by making good life choices was not just wise, but fun. He taught us early on that if we would evaluate our lives by God’s standards we would end up living with fewer regrets while experiencing more joy. Bob was the reason I started aiming my life toward youth ministry.

 

One of the things about Bob was that you wanted to be around him. He had his own pressure washing business at the time and worked 60+ hours a week, yet he ran the youth group like it was his only job. He was high energy, he was funny, he wasn’t afraid to challenge the norms and most of all, he loved people. I invited friends to church, to youth camp and to activities all the time, because I knew they would have a great time and that Bob would love them unconditionally regardless of where they came from. In fact, I remember the time we drove up for a weekend youth camp and on the day of the event, I brought 12 mostly unsaved, mostly unchurched, friends with me. Even though Bob had a mild heart attack (we were a church with 2, 15-passenger vans for transportation, and I had given Bob no warning about my friends!) he welcomed them and made them all feel welcomed for our weekend away.

 

I also remember that Bob used to get in “trouble” with some of our church leadership because he valued people so much more than rules. We had a few leaders who tended to focus on the rules, especially the unwritten rules, of church life instead of the relationships of people in the church or community. One particular event that’s etched in my mind involved my friend Joe.

 

Joe had come to youth group a time or two before (I think) but also attended his own church. I really wanted him to start making our youth group his new home so on a Wednesday night during the summer, I invited him to come out again and be with Bob. Joe and I talked during the day and He assured me he was coming. So you can imagine that I was a little irked that as youth group came and went, Joe never showed up. I railed on him over the phone the next day.

 

Well, it turns out Joe did show up. He rode his bike the 3 or 4 miles from his house to the church, and when he walked in the front doors of our building he had been greeted by one of our older “saints”. The older gentleman asked Joe, “Can I help you find something?” Joe told him he was here for youth group. The older gentleman looked Joe over and was a little bothered that he was wearing shorts in church (keep in mind, it was summer, and Joe had just ridden his bike to be at church), and knowing nothing about Joe, his family or his spiritual condition he said, “Well, not dressed like that you’re not. Why don’t you go home and change, and then come back in pants...” (Of course, there were 25 of us hanging out with Bob in the back of the church, and 1/2 of us were in shorts.) Joe went home, but he never came back to our church.

 

That event has never left me, and in fact, has often guided decisions that I made in youth ministry. I know I made some mistakes, I know I hurt feelings, said the wrong thing and broke rules I shouldn’t have over nearly 17 years of being a full-time youth pastor, but I always tried to err on the side of love. I didn’t want anyone to ever turn away from God because I emphasize religion about God, instead of having a relationship with God. (Thankfully my friend Joe found another youth group that apparently hadn’t read the Bible verse, “Thou shalt not wear thine shorts on a hot summer day whilst riding thing bicycle” and he went on to love and serve God with his life.) But I’ve met far too many people that were treated so poorly by those enforcing the rules, that they never turned back to see the love of God that’s supposed to be behind those rules.

 

Don’t get me wrong, rules are important. Anyone who thinks they can please God without following the commands and truths of His Word, is sadly mistaken. But God demands that we follow His Word in love. Just listen to these few verses that describe the priority of love:

 

“ABOVE ALL, love each other deeply...” (1 Peter 4:7)

 

“And over all these virtues, put on love...” (Colossians 3:14)

 

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

 

There are many others but the point is clear: love for God is to guide our actions and our lives, not a love for rules. In fact, when Jesus was asked about the most important rule in the Bible He said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength” and then He threw in a freebie: “and the second most important command is like it: love your neighbor as yourself.” You see, when we love God with all of our being, and when we love others the way we want to be loved, we will obey God’s Word. John 15 teach us that if we love God, we will do what He has commanded us -- obedience follows love, not the other way around!

 

And if we truly love someone, we will show it by following the commands of God’s Word. If you love someone, will you steal from them? If you love someone, would you sleep with their spouse in a scandalous affair? If you love someone, would you invite them to do evil things with you? If you truly loved someone, would you intentionally want to bring any harm to them? Of course not! And guess what, those are all things in the Bible that we are commanded to avoid! So love leads us to obedience!

 

I was blessed to see love lived out in my family and in my Jr. High youth group. I know my life has been shaped by how Bob Smith lived out God’s love in my life and in our youth group. But most of all, I have grown, through many mistakes and missteps, to teach and preach the love of God more than ever. I know that the Overboard Life demands a commitment, not to the rules of God, but to the love of God; to loving God, and to loving others the way God loves us. When we get our love for God and others in the right place, the rules become a whole lot easier to follow.

 

What about you? Are you loving God with all of your heart, mind, body and soul? Are you loving others the way you want to be loved? Put on God’s love first, and then I think you’ll see His commands in a whole new light.

 

11 down, 29 to go!

 

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!

Obedience when it hurts...

joeacast

A few weeks ago our pastor was preaching through the Old Testament book of Judges and he came across the peculiar story of Jeptha’s daughter in Judges 11. If you don’t know this Bible story (and not many people, do!), let me summarize:

  1. Israel was in trouble again. That’s the story of the whole book of Judges, and the saga that unfolds in these pages (definitely a strong PG-13 rating throughout the whole book). Israel kept rejecting God, and God allowed them to experience the consequence of their disobedience.
  2. So Israel finally repents and asks God for help, and God raised up a man named Jeptha for a great victory. Jeptha was an unloved step-brother who should have been killed as a young man, but barely escaped with his life. Many years later, ironically, God brings him back to save the very people who tried to kill him.
  3. After God assures him that he will have a victory in battle, Jeptha promises to give to God the first thing that comes out of his house when he returns from victory. This seems odd to you and me, but in his day, Jeptha most likely kept his animals with him in the house. I’m sure he was thinking that a little goat would wander out after battle, and that little guy would find himself as a sweet offering to God later in the day.
  4. God follows through, Jeptha conquers the enemy, but on his return home his sweet victory was turned bitter when his daughter came out of the house first! Now what would Jeptha do?

And that’s where the story gets particularly interesting. Jeptha’s daughter realizes that she somehow ruined her dad’s victory celebration, and when she inquires as to what has happened, her dad tells her about the vow. Then look what comes out of this sweet girl’s mouth:

“My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth…” (Judges 11:36)

Jephthah daughter

What?!?!?

Now I don’t believe Jeptha physically sacrificed his daughter to God; God is appalled when children are murdered, and this would have been no exception. Instead, I feel fairly convinced that Jeptha’s daughter entered the service of God -- maybe in the temple -- in a capacity where she would never be allowed to marry (a heartbreak for a Jewish girl of that day).

Whether or not that’s the right action, and setting aside societal norms etc… I’m blown away by the obedience of his daughter! She followed through on her dad’s commitment, even though it was at a great cost to herself. And as I read that story I had to ask myself, “How much will I obey God, if the cost of my obedience is deep personal pain?”

It’s easy to obey God, or the law, or our boss, or our parents when there is no personal pain at risk. Living in northern Michigan, I’m in big-time hunting country. There are very strict laws about when and where you can hunt, and steep penalties for disobeying those laws. I’m not tempted to break any of them. I don’t even know them. I’m not a hunter, and obeying these laws costs me nothing.

But what if my family depended on hunted meat for our food source? What if it had been a really bad year for hunting and suddenly a trophy Elk walked into my yard, one day after hunting season had ended? What if shooting him was going to be the difference between having meat this winter or not? Suddenly my obedience to the law takes on a whole new meaning.

The point is that it’s easy to obey when the law doesn’t personally impact me. But to hold on to my integrity when it hurts -- that takes true character. And that character isn’t forged in the moment that it’s required, instead, it’s forged in the day-by-day moments as we live out our character and conviction in the small stuff. The moments when no one is looking. The hours that we work on our own, faithful to the tasks even when the boss isn’t check up on us. The weeks or months (or years!) of faithfully honoring our marriage, even when it feels one-sided.

I want to have the kind of character Jeptha’s daughter had when the moment of obedience will cause great personal pain. In order for that to be true, I have to be willing to grind it out today, intentionally living with integrity in my work, thoughts, conversations and interactions. Every opportunity to display true character matters -- and overlooking any of them will most certainly prepare me for failure and not future success.

What about you? Is your obedience costing you today? Are you feeling the pinch to cut corners, to cheat, to take the past of least resistance in order to lessen the personal cost of your obedience? Let me encourage you to stay the course, and to hold true to what God wants! Obedience may be costly, but it is always worth it. And whatever you may lose in this life, will be restored fully in the next.

Living the Overboard Life isn’t easy. In fact, I can almost guarantee that getting out of the boat will require some painful obedience. But I know that obeying God is always the best life I could live, so no matter how much it hurts now, I’m willing to pay the price for what it’s in store for the obedient life. How about you?

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is always better on the water!

How many body parts can you donate?

joeacast

Do you know how many body parts you can donate to others? You can donate your eyes, parts of your skin, your heart, your kidneys, your liver, your lungs, your blood, your hair and even your bone marrow. It’s kind of amazing. However, while you’re alive, you can only donate a few of those -- so don't overdo it!

My wife has always been an inspiration to me and her actions this week tell you why. She has just recently finished an extensive surgery to donate one of her kidneys to a dear friend. As I have watched her walk through this process the past eight months, my love and admiration for her has only grown.

A lot of people have asked why Traci was willing to do this for Rhonda. Rhonda is an amazing woman and of course, her own double-kidney failure is a serious issue. Without Traci’s kidney (and please pray that Rhonda’s body will accept the new body part!), Rhonda is destined for dialysis, 2-3 times a week for the rest of her life. And while dialysis is an amazing breakthrough in science and technology, it is a procedure that often diminishes ones quality of life substantially. But Rhonda wasn’t the reason my wife donated her kidney yesterday.

Hearing of Rhonda’s condition, my wife felt moved by God to do something. She walked through the doors of pre-screening, and when she passed each stage of the process, she continued to follow God’s leading. Throughout the whole process we both knew that God could shut down the opportunity at any time, but He seemed to do just the opposite. Instead of turning away my wife’s desire to help, He made it more and more a reality. A deeply personal and passionate relationship with God is why my wife has endured a kidney donation for a dear friend.

You see, my wife is a living, breathing example of what it means to live the Overboard life. Unlike many of us, Traci is ready to jump out of the comfort of the boat in a moment’s notice, when Jesus calls her, just like Peter in Matthew 14. In that story, when the storm was raging and everyone around was terrified, Peter obeyed Jesus’ call and he jumped out of the boat to walk toward Jesus. There are a million reasons to keep both of your kidneys, but when Jesus asks for one of them -- that’s all the reason my wife needed to part with it.

Following Christ is serious business. It is not for the faint of heart. More than once, Jesus saw his “followers” turn away when they realized the high cost of being called one of His disciples. It’s not that everyone will have to cough up a kidney -- but each of us must be willing, when Jesus calls, to jump out of the boat and follow Him anywhere He chooses.

Today is the 50th Overboard blog. And while we’re right in the middle of a 5-part series on remarkable living, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity this milestone (50 is a big blog number) gave me to brag on my wife. More importantly, I hope the story of my wife gives you a visible illustration of what Overboard living looks like.

If all goes well, our 100th blog will occur around April 18th. What are you doing right now, to live the Overboard life? Will we be able to tell your story of remarkable living when that day rolls around?

Go ahead and take the plunge, life is better on the water!

 

Friday Morning Fights

joeacast

I just read an interesting study about self-destructive behavior. One of the items that caught my attention was this statement: “Humans have more self-destructive behaviors than any other creature.” It’s not that animals don’t have some behaviors that ultimately do more damage than good, to themselves, it’s just that they aren’t aware of the damage being done. A dog may not realize the long-term impact of chewing on his rear-end because of a battle with fleas, so even though it’s considered “self-destructive” (the dog is doing the damage to himself), it’s explainable.  

Humans, however, unlike animals, have a capacity to grasp the severity (or potential severity) of a behavior, yet continue to self-destruct. We’ve seen the long-term impact of drug use and abuse on others, yet hundreds of thousands of people hit the streets every day looking for another fix. They choose to destroy themselves, knowing that they are destroying themselves, unlike the dog who doesn’t know the negative impact of his actions.

 

Here is a top-list ten from the online article (not necessarily listed in any order):

 

  1. Lying
  2. Craving violence
  3. Stealing
  4. Cheating
  5. Clinging to bad habits
  6. Bullying
  7. Body abuse (nip, tuck, tattoos, piercings etc...)
  8. Stressing out
  9. Gambling
  10. Gossip

 

If you’re going to live the Overboard Life, you’ve got to call sin, “sin” -- not just “destructive behavior.” When we look at that top-10 list we see a huge list of sins. What jumps off this list to me is how subtle some of these sins are. Gossip is one of those behaviors we tend to accept because it’s has become a part of all of our conversations. Lying is ok as long as we only tell, “little white lies” and it’s only cheating if you get caught, right?

 

The article wasn’t written from a biblical stand point, so the author isn’t trying to bring a spiritual tone to the issue. However, he still points out that there is a scientific connection between self-destructive behavior and happiness. Those who make the top-10 bad-behaviors (sins!) habits, are less happy people.

 

This shouldn’t be a surprise to those wishing to please God by living the Overboard Life. It is impossible to please God while willfully choosing to live in sin. My daughter gave me a perfect example of my own shortcomings a few weeks ago. We had one of those mornings in getting ready for school for one day. My middle child was experiencing frustration with everything I said that morning. Then when I reminded it her to empty the dishwasher (her chore for the week), she told me “No!” When I asked her to pick up her room, she said, “No!” We battled, she experienced some consequences to her behavior and when we left, she was mad, I was made, and there wasn’t a whole lot of conversation between us on the way to school.

 

But it was Friday, and on Fridays, Traci and I volunteer in the kids’ classrooms to grade all the homework from the week. My first stop is BJ’s classroom, so I popped in to grab the big homework pile and jump into my work. What happened? As soon as I walked into class, BJ jumps up, runs to the door, says, “Daaaaaaaaaddddeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyy!” and proceeds to give me a big hug and several kisses. It was like the last 75 minutes hadn’t happened.

 

When I left, she gave me two more kisses and another hug, and was suddenly as sweet as sunshine. I was actually ticked, and when she came home that day, we had a little chit-chat about what happened. I was trying to be genuinely thankful for her display of affection at school, but that’s hard to do when we had the tough morning we had. You see, in regards to her relationship to me, she had been living in disobedience all morning , then suddenly she wants to cover me with hugs and kisses at school. We had yet to resolve the issues pertaining to her morning actions, so her affection seems shallow and empty. And it was.

 

But how often do we do the same thing with God? We stay up late Saturday night, maybe watching something full of moral filth, or hanging out with friends in a context that is less-than-pleasing to God, or like me and Traci before we were married, spending time with a boyfriend or girlfriend in a way that dishonors God’s plans for relationships -- but then go to church on Sunday and want to worship God! We sing the right words, we greet the right people, we listen to the sermon and we even talk about it on the way home from church. But the problem is  -- we haven’t taken care of the behavior(s) before Sunday to make Sunday a true worship experience.

 

When you and I intentionally choose a path of sin, living out the the top-10, self-destructive habits (or creating our own top-10!) we have no business going back to God to engage in conversation or worship, or to claim we are living the Overboard life. We must regularly clean the slate with God before we try to worship Him in our living. And it’s not that God demands perfection, but when we are aware of our sin, we must confess it to Him and receive His forgiveness. This will make our worship, worthwhile.

 

I love my kids, and am so thankful for the days I see a behavior in them that is a reflection of my own relationship to God. Often it’s a humbling, but necessary, part of my own growth as I keep trying to grab the sides of the boat, to leave the comfort of the boat, and live out on the water where Jesus is building His Kingdom.

 

Go ahead and take the plunge -- life is better on the water!