Shortness of Breath

There are moments that I force myself to stop and look back at what God has done, things that I see as bench marks, or in Biblical times we might have called them altars...One of those moments for me was the amazing 6 weeks we spent in Profile//PC. Truth is there are defining moments in the history of movements...in the Civil Rights movement it was the 'I have a dream speech.' For the American Revolutionary war it was the 'Ride of Paul Revere' and the list goes on.

Last night I had a chance to catch up on the amazing 30 for 30 series on ESPN. The series is dedicated to highlighting overlooked yet pivotal occurrences in sports history from different perspectives and in a very creative docudrama. The episode "The Band that Wouldn't Die' was a snapshot of the lives of the Baltimore (now Indianapolis) Colts marching band who was left behind in 1984 when the team overnight moved to Indy. The story itself is quite sad and heart wrenching with a tinge of redemption the day the Ravens came to town and the band that was left behind for nearly 20 years took the field ahead of the Ravens, proud as the had ever been. When they interviewed the team there was nothing but sadness and regret in the hearts of people who lost their team...then I started thinking...(which is always a dangerous thing)

My thought 'If these people will go on national television and weep over a football team that bailed on them 25 years ago, do they really have anything to live for?' And while that sounds judgmental and harsh its totally not my heart. My heart is this, if this band is willing to remain committed to a cause, community, and belief that they have a purpose to be a band, and someday they're gonna prove it, how much more should we as believers be committed to a movement, cause, and community that is founded on the person, power and promise of our HUGE God?

In some regards I know that I undersold what I personally felt about the moments spent in Profile//PC. Radical honesty would require me to tell you that most leaders have an innate fear, one I am not immune to, of people not following if we take things 'Too Far.' If we push the limits of their comfort zone most leaders, if we are honest, are fearful that we will just be labeled uncool and religious weirdos, or seminary sell outs. Either way I gave into that fear, not intentionally, and to be honest I wasn't even aware that I had done this until this week.

Some of you know my passion, some of you think that I have moments that I am moved, but this week someone very close to me shared some insightful thoughts. Their insight 'Pastor, I know your passion, I feel it, but those who sit on Wed dont have the luxury of hearing your heart everyday like I do...make sure they know what I know, that you are committed to seeing this Gen passionate about Jesus, radical grace, radical honesty, and leaving nothing to regret.'

From day one I promised PURE transparency...so first let me ask your forgiveness for not showing you how passionate I am about what happened during Profile//PC. For a moment we pushed the envelope of doing what Jesus called us to...being passionately moved by the Holy Spirit about prayer, worship, the word, tithing, and service.

My only purpose in sharing this...our face will be redefined by passionate worship unlike we have known, passionate exploration of Gods will for us through the word, and passionate community that moves us to radical prayer, tithing, and service.

James 4:14 is a compelling reminder that we only have 5 seconds in the spectrum of eternity on this ball of dirt...what are you gonna do with it? Let your breath be shortened by the reality of our brief existence here and the implications of eternity...let leave nothing to regret...

See ya tonight...take a risk everyday, start by invite someone who needs Hope, come ready to change our Generation...

live//pc