COURT HOLLOWAY

Loser talk- I can’t

Winner talk- I haven’t YET

Ephesians 3:20 & Matthew 17:20

I had a commitment last night, that I was unable to keep, because I ran out of gas.

Literally, on the side of the highway.  Sitting there, kicking myself for not stopping to fill up.

You’ve got to take time to fill up otherwise you won’t be able to keep your commitments.  I have a lot of commitments.  Jesus, my wife, my kids, our church, and the list goes on.

If I don’t take time to fill up now, I will be of no use to God or anyone else later.

I was sweeping the back steps this morning, something that I rarely do.  I swept about six steps and realized that there was dirt trapped in the back left corner of each step.

I went back and swept the corner.

It looked good before, but it looked great after I swept out the corner.

I talk about it a lot, but that last 10% really matters.  

I think I rant on it, because I get so ticked that there are so many areas of my life where I settle.  

Sweep the corner.  When you do a job, don’t do it good, do it great.

This past Sunday, Pastor Chris Goeppner shared Matthew 14 (full text here).  If you are familiar with this, you know that Jesus walks out into the lake in the middle of the night, during a storm, and calls out to His disciples.

Only one disciple heard the voice in the darkness and asked to join Jesus: Peter.

Peter got out of the boat, walked on water, and started sinking when he saw the waves.  He reached out to Jesus and was pulled out of the water.  Jesus said that Peter had little faith.

When they both got back into the boat, the Bible says that the other disciples worshiped Jesus and exclaimed that He was the Son of God.

Peter walked on water with Jesus and experienced what no other person has experienced.  

The others sat “safe” and worshiped Jesus from the “safety” of a tiny little wooden boat.  (Safe right?  It was a boat in the storm.  How “safe” is anything really?)

The other 11 disciples missed out on understanding and trusting the Son of God that day.  Their worship was incomplete because they didn’t act on it and get out of the boat.

This morning I tried to make a list of things that I need to be passionate and obsessed with.  Every list seemed slanted because if I really “Obsessed” about something, which means to eat, sleep, live, breathe it, then I would become out of whack and out of balance.  

So the list is limited to 1.  I will be completely and utterly absorbed with Jesus, because if I am obsessed with and absorbed with knowing Jesus then I think all the other categories will fall into place.  

It will elevate the things that matter and the rest will slide off the radar.

It’s not about balancing healthy obsessions… its about pursuing ONE obsession.

Philippians 3:12-14 I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.