What does your day look like?

Let's see...I have four, fourteen year old girls asleep in my living room right now...remnants of a birthday party.

• I have to make sure three they get home today. Really my wife Michelle does, but I may have to take one of them home.
• Write a devotion.
• The worship folder for Sunday needs to be finished, printed, and folded.
• I'm having lunch with a couple of guys today. One of them could be a potential part of The Journey as a staff guy down the road.
• Start draft work on the Batman Begins message.
• I need to go see either Batman Begins or Fantastic Four to keep up with the whole movie series thing.
• Mowing the lawn would be a good thing but hey, I can blow that off until tomorrow.
  

Since the devotions this week focus on the purpose of life, I thought it would be a good idea to show you what I'm thinking about my day. I'm sitting here thinking, "How I can live the purpose of life in each of these situations today?" Let's see, that means living redemptively. That means acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God. How about I just go through each of the tasks individually?

Teenage girls in the house. Let them sleep in. If that isn't loving mercy and showing God's grace, I don't know what is. When I was a kid I had to get up and feed the cows and do chores and blah, blah, blah. Oh yea, I can also invite the two girls that are unchurched to come to The Journey.

Write a devotion. Self explanatory. I hope it adds value to your day.

The worship folder for Sunday. I'll have a an admin someday. It's really not that big of a deal. That might fit into the walking humbly category.

Lunch with a couple of guys. Our worship arts guy and someone he knows to be exact. That 'someone' is a young guy that's taken his fair share of lumps in the ministry. The goal is to eat, listen, pray, dream, and help that 'someone' on his journey of ministry. If nothing else we can let him know that there's life beyond the traditional church. This is definitely a loving mercy and walking humbly with God thing.

Start draft work on the Batman Begins message. Another self explanatory task, with a goal of helping people better understand God and his redemptive purpose for our life.

I need to go see either Batman Begins or Fantastic Four to keep up with the whole movie series thing. If you think this is a veiled attempt at an excuse to see a movie, get over it. This is cutting edge ministry, in the trenches, connecting with culture. Really. OK, it's not exactly work in some respects but it is essential that we Christians interpret culture through the filter of God's redemptive work.

Mowing the lawn would be a good thing but hey, I can blow that off until tomorrow. This is a lesson in redemption. I would not have to mow grass and cut weeds if Adam and Eve would have just kept their pride in check. Having a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and the assurance of being a part of a new heaven and new earth (with grass that I'm thinking won't need to be cut) is motivation to mow the lawn by tomorrow afternoon.

More stuff will come up. I'll need to be close enough to God to know how to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God when it does. Think through your day right now. Try running what you have to do today through justice, mercy, and humility filter.

Ask yourself the question, "Will the other human beings I come into contact to day be better off for being around me?"

Have a great day.