I hate the word “discipline.”  I shutter when that word is coupled with “church.”

Is there a better phrase for the process of sitting someone down that you love and care for and pointing out the areas in their life that are possible pitfalls or mistakes?  If you know of the phrase, let me know.

Last night I was involved with sitting down with someone I think very dear of and someone I really want to see succeed in life, and letting them know that I saw some obvious mis-steps that they were taking.  As a pastor, these meetings really are not rare..but last night it made me think of this phrase “church discipline.”

I spoke on Matthew 18 a few weeks ago at Elevation and we had such a great time of discussing how we handle each other and our faults, but honestly…does a church really handle missteps correctly?

The thought I had pop into my head was the image of the baby being thrown out of with the bathwater.  We start focusing on the actions and the mistakes instead of the individuals we are talking to.  We get all upset about the process, who is involved, who said what; instead of the person.

That person is worth dying for, thus Jesus on the cross.  That person is important.  That person matters.

This last Sunday was awesome.

We talked about Luke 12 and the difference between soul wealth/spiritual wealth and PHYSICAL wealth.

Here in the U.S. we just don’t understand being poor.  We are so comfortable here, our lives are easy, our lives are full of options, and STUFF.

STUFF.

STUFF can get in the way of living the live that Jesus has called us to.

STUFF can get us distracted from being who Jesus created us to be.

STUFF can cause us to trip and miss going where Jesus has called us to go.

Spiritual wealth comes from seeking first the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus’ teachings, Jesus’ lead, Jesus in our hearts and life.  This has nothing to do with what we physically have, but everything to do with what we have inside of us and really what we GIVE.  What we give to God, our lives, and what we give to those around us, our lives.

Maybe it is hard for us to GIVE to God and others cause we have conditioned ourselves to acquire.  To store.  To keep.  To build.  I mean, no buddy is making plans to get smaller and smaller houses or drive cheaper and crappier cars or make less and less money or have junkier furniture…

Maybe BIGGIE was right, the more money we come across the more problems we see…

We got back from our vacation late last night. We had a great time on the cruise. I got a little sea sick the first night we were out in the ocean…but things got better. I’m still trying to get my “land legs” back. It feels like I am still on the boat. I’m behind on my sermon prep…exhausted…taking care of a sick baby, my youngest had to go to the hospital at 3am last night…excited to be back in the swing of things…want it to snow around here…need to go skiing…need to spend alone time with my wife…excited to see my family & friends at elevation…

We just finished our staff meeting tonight.  Yep, a Saturday night staff meeting.  We held the meeting tonight cause I am leaving for vacation tomorrow as soon as our Sunday gathering is over.  So, I though I would share a few thoughts I had tonight.

• I love our staff.  Even if most of them are volunteer and I don’t get to hang with them in the office, I love these guys.  I am so glad God put us together.
• I am not looking forward to vacation.  Doesn’t that seem like such an oxymoron?  I am doing so many things on vacation that do everything opposite of “calm me down.”  1-driving two 10 hour trips 2-spending the week with my in-laws (sorry family if you read this…but it is hard to be with all of them at once) 3-being on a schedule for vacation…not the way I like vacations.
• Tonight I got to talk to one of my best friends, Ryan Lind, yes the guy that started Elevation with me two years ago, on the phone for about an hour or so after my staff meeting.  I miss that guy so very much.  It was so awesome to talk to him and laugh over new & old stories.  His new church in Ohio is doing awesome and I am so proud of that guy.
• I had to go to the doctor today…might have Lyme Disease…please pray.
• I can’t wait until tomorrow morning when I get to the theater for our church service.  I love pastoring and love the people at Elevation. 

Well, I’m off to bed…see you in the movies.

Welcome to my new blog and design.  Our web guys are amazing, seriously, the best!  They have done a great job of working to get this new blog up and going.  I’m still trying to decide if I want to post my past blogs from the old blog here or just start all over….hmmmm…. Well…would love for you to link to me, trinityjordan.org or trinityjordan.net