by Andy Wood on January 30, 2010
A rewrite of an old (and probably true, since I heard a preacher tell it) story…
What do you do when you know God’s call on your life is vocational evangelism, and your wife dies, leaving you with two sons, ages 8 and 10? Will Martin decided to seek out a way jto be both Dad and faithful evangelist. He rearranged his schedule to make sure he was never gone more than four days at a time, and made arrangements for a highly-trusted caretaker. And he made himself a promise: whenever he’d been away overnight, he would always bring his sons a special gift.
Then came the day that Will was wheels-up on the plane and it dawned on him: he’d forgotten to pick up something for his boys. So Will conceived a plan.
The boys were so ready to see their dad, and so excited to get inside his suitcase.
“Don’t even bother, guys,” Dad said. “There’s nothing in there. This one’s special. [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on August 12, 2009
(Reconciling Your Dreams with God’s Plan)
Once upon a time, a young man had a dream – a prophetic dream. He dreamed that he had two homes, his own boat, and would travel internationally and be a blessing to many people. This could only mean one thing! Obviously God was calling him into the business world, where he would make a lot of money and use his wealth to make the world a better place.
After seeking some counsel and getting confirmation that he was headed in the right direction, he changed his college major to business and prepared for a life of benevolent wealth management.
Then he met her. [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on August 7, 2009
Seven or eight years ago, I was taking a shuttle from the Founders Inn Hotel on the edge of Regent University down to the shoreline in Virginia Beach. It was just the driver and me, and to make conversation, I asked him, “Do you know where London Bridge Baptist Church is?”
“Sure,” he said. It’s not far from here. You know somebody there?
“No. But I went there on my very first mission trip.”
“Why would anybody,” he wanted to know, “come to Virginia Beach on a mission trip?”
That night I didn’t know how to answer him – this man who lives in the shadow of Pat Robertson and CBN, Rock Church, and a host of other citadels of Evangelicalism. Today I think I do. It was the Perfect Form.
The Proposition
“Mission ‘73” it was called. I caught a glimpse of an announcement in our church bulletin. A youth choir mission trip to Virginia Beach, VA, for students who had completed the ninth grade or older. Hey, I loved to travel and barely made the age cutoff, so I was sold! I was still a spiritual newbie, and didn’t really know very many people. But I was undeterred.
Mark Stone, the pastor of London Bridge at the time, was an old friend of my pastor. We would go to this crossroads of vacationers, military personnel, and growing suburbanites and conduct Backyard Bible Clubs, help lead out in a church revival, and witness along the Boardwalk and beach along the Atlantic.
The Cast
I was among the youngest – and spiritually greenest –of the 64 or so to go on this adventure. I was surrounded by people who were older, more established, and way more sure of themselves. I certainly can’t remember them all, but the list included: [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on May 14, 2009
(The Four Faces of Disappointment – Part 2)
I’m not asking for much. I just want all my expectations fulfilled, and a complete removal of all limitations.
Of course… then I wouldn’t need God. Then I’d BE God.
Disappointments are a startling, sometimes rude reminder that the job of God of the Universe has already been filled.
Yesterday I mentioned that in my own experiences of painful disappointment, like the experience of the children of Israel, four “faces” of disappointment have emerged. The first two were delays and distressing people. But I have found two other ways that God deliberately allows us to “feel the burn.”
3. Dead Ends
These have to do with measurable limitations – things like life expectancy, dollars, and distance. Dead ends often lead us to question God’s integrity, because He seems to be contradicting Himself.
It’s like one man said, “I thought becoming a Christian was the end of all my troubles.” It is – the front end!
Examples of dead ends are everywhere: [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on May 13, 2009
So have you had any disappointments?
That’s what an old friend asked me last week.
We hadn’t talked much in the last five years, and were in catch-up mode over lunch. Because of the really good things happening at our church lately, I had gushed a lot about how great things are. Then he caught me flat-footed with that question, and I gave him my best deer-in-the headlights gaze.
The answer was obvious, but I had to think a bit before I could actually name any. I finally regained my wits and offered a random list of times when Church World had punched me in the gut. But they were nothing, I hastened to say, compared to the joy and gratitude we were experiencing these days.
In thinking a bit more about the experiences I’d shared, I realized with stunning 20/20 hindsight that my disappointments weren’t all that random after all. [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on May 7, 2009
Years ago I led a high-school junior to Christ with the promise that He would make her life easier and her circumstances better.
He didn’t.
A few months later she wrote something to this effect in a letter to me: “Why is it that all this trouble started after I became a Christian? Before I was saved, I never had this kind of trouble.” How would you respond?
Following the tragic and untimely death of his son, a grieving father looked directly at me and said, “God is punishing me for not taking my boy to church.” What would you tell him?
Ever since Cain killed Abel, and Job lost nearly everything dear to him, the universal question of the race has been, “Why?” [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on September 22, 2008
(How to Restore Your Losses, Part 2)
Ground Zero Construction Site, New York
In the previous post I talked about the fact that at the end of Job’s saga, the Lord restored his losses. For most of this righteous man’s painful episode, the end of the story was yet to be told about him… an important thing to remember when we encounter seasons of great loss.
One thing I left hanging was that Job was required to participate the process. Make no mistake about it: this was a man who was intimate enough with God to be honest with Him about his feelings and pain. But something changed between the ranting and the receiving. I have a feeling the same may be true of you and me, too, if we want to see our losses restored.
1. Recognize God as a God of purpose.
“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted,” Job said (Job 42:2, ESV). Job acknowledged not just that God had a plan, but that His intentions and purposes are good. He also submitted to that purpose – even when he didn’t have answers. [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on September 19, 2008
(Note: I make no claims to be a prophet, so I write this with a bit of fear and trembling. But I believe a day of restoration and change is coming to a significant number people worldwide. Pardon the timing, but it has little-to-nothing to do with the upcoming elections. I haven’t had a stirring in my spirit on this level in more than 10 years. For reasons I’ll explain next week, all I know to call it is the day of the Second House. Make no mistake about it – these are heady, often stressful times. Things that can be shaken will be, so that the things that can’t be shaken will remain. But those who hear God’s call, trust God’s heart, and courageously obey God’s direction will enter into a season, like Israel, when their latter glory will be greater than the former. This post and the next one will serve as an introduction to that.)
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It was January 3, 1993 – more than 15 years ago – and it remains the greatest comeback in NFL history. At halftime the Buffalo Bills, their starting quarterback injured, trailed the Houston Oilers with mighty quarterback Warren Moon by a score of 35-3 in an American Conference playoff game. Backup Frank Reich led the team to a stunning upset. The score: 41-38.
Most of us aren’t football players, professional or otherwise. But we all experience adversity when, like the Bills, our backs are pressed against the wall. Sometimes we’re beyond distress; we’re beaten. These times of adversity almost always involve losses of some kind:
- money (how ‘bout them markets?)
- friendships
- joy
- health
- dreams
- family
LifeVesting? Designing your future? Ha! To quote the pained psalmist in slavery, “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” (Psalm 137:4). [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on September 5, 2008
The LifeVesting Cycle
1. Allocate your resources.
2. Explore the possibilities.
3. Follow your passion
4. Execute your plan.
5. Protect your investment.
6. Enlarge your capacity
When I was still a kid, my dad built a flower box for my mom. We got some nice, rich soil from a place behind our house where we had a lot of mulch and trees. She planted some flowers in the box, and we were excited to see what would come out.
What came out was something that at first looked like a weed. But this was no weed. It was a tree. A popcorn tree, my dad said.
I was entranced. It was my first sense of fatherhood and stewardship, all rolled into one.
If you aren’t familiar with them, popcorn trees, or Chinese tallows, grow in moist climates. They grow rapidly, and can get pretty big. They make great shade and ornamental trees, and in the fall, their seeds split open to appear like popcorn.
I watched this little tree take off, and soon we transplanted it from the flower box to the front yard. We got more and more into trees, and soon found four more popcorn trees – then some redbuds and dogwoods. I had this sense of pride and ownership in all of them, but none more than the original – the queen of the yard – as she quickly grew taller than the eaves of our house.
Then one day the unthinkable happened. I came up the street to my house, and found the most horrific sight. Someone (my dad) had taken shears and whacked my tree off at about six feet. The queen of the yard now had a crew cut.
It was ugly.
Shameful.
Hideous.
“Pruning,” he called it.
“Disaster” was what I called it.
Of course, my dad knew a whole lot more about trees and all things agricultural than I ever will. (I once asked him, “How’d you get so smart?” He said, “I keep my ears open and my mouth shut.”)
Anyway, the queen began to reshape. To spread. To grow, not just taller, but shapelier, even more beautiful.
This life lesson became even more applicable to me as I grew spiritually. [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on July 23, 2008
Tense Truth: Because every human has a great need for guidance and care, God promises to personally meet the need of every Christ follower, as a shepherd would his sheep. Yet as our Shepherd, He will lead us directly to hostile or dangerous places, into the very presence of our enemies and death. Nevertheless, my safety and peace are not found in where I lie down, but in Who stays awake when I’m resting.
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Give your heart to Jesus, and it will be the end of all your trouble.
The front end.
Just remember as you’re bumping along the road to eternal bliss, you have a Shepherd, and He has committed Himself to meet all your needs. Of course, if He’s the Shepherd, what does that make you and me?
Sheep. The stupidest, most defenseless animal in the world.
But we’re sheep with a Shepherd, and we can rest in that. It never ceases to amaze me how those inspired words of David, so comforting for centuries, continue to work their magic today. I witnessed it again last week, as a grieving family said good-bye to their mother/grandmother.
I love how practical the Lord is when He meets our needs. When God finds you hungry, He gives you food. When God finds you with a broken heart, He’s not going to come and ask you if you’ve read the Four Spiritual Laws. He’s going to attend to your broken heart. Whether the need is for strength to keep going, direction for decision making, encouragement along the way, or something more tangible, our Shepherd delights in solutions to the real problems in your life.
[click to continue…]
