In the Gospel according to Matthew we observe, “He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: ‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven’” (Mt 18:2-4).

If you study the passage in context, you will notice that the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” While Jesus was thinking about the week leading up to His crucifixion, the disciples were concerned about being the greatest.

Isn’t it typical of the disciples?

But the sad fact is that it is also very typical of us.

As we get older, we lose a lot of the traits that make children special. Maybe this is why we get more cynical about things as we get older. We start to calculate more and play everything safe. We get bogged down with things and we forget to enjoy the moment. We worry about things that we cannot change or control. We lose the sense of wonder and awe in the simple things.

Is it possible that the struggles that we are having now are related to our “old” hearts? What would it take for us to regain the child-like heart?

Jim Rohn, an author and speaker gave four ways to be more like a child no matter how old we get; he writes:
 

 
 
Let’s pray more for this child-like heart and then see what happens. I’m wondering if we will see the world with a whole new perspective.

As I was doing the calculations, I had to pause for a second. It is a bit striking to realize that a big chunk of my life has been dedicated to preparing and preaching sermons.

It is easy to think that after doing ministry for some time now, a person has finally “arrived.” But in many ways, I realized that I still have a long way to go. I am thankful for people who are further in the journey than me. As I look at their lives, I continue to be inspired to remain faithful in my calling.

Also, when I look back to my younger years in the ministry, I recognize that I do not have the same level of ability to pull several all-nighters in a row. My physical body is slowly telling me to pace myself for the long marathon of life.

I don’t know.

Maybe as I am slowly getting older, some wisdom is kicking in, and now, I am learning how to do ministry more effectively and reflectively. In my younger years, a lot of what I did was out of just pure passion and adrenaline. Even though I was able to get a lot of things done, I could have done things better.

This is a good reminder for me to keep on growing and to keep on learning as I get older. The generations are constantly changing and different aspects of ministry are expanding. If I stay stagnant or too satisfied in my comfort-zone then I will slowly deteriorate and become ineffective for Christ. I want to always stay hungry.

This is why when I saw this video, it made me think about the years of ministry that I was privileged to experience. The video is a Gatorade commercial where it depicts a 23 year old Michael Jordan playing against the 39 year old Michael Jordan in a game of 1-on-1.

Oh, what it would have been like if the 23 year old Jordan had the wisdom and the experience of the 39 year old Jordan.
 
 

It is humbling to know that M’Cheyne only lived until the age of 29 due to an illness.

But within his short, yet full life, M’Cheyne became a catalyst to challenge the Church of Scotland to engage in missions to the Jews. He was also well-known for his life of prayer, as well as his life of holiness. With his love for God’s Word, M’Cheyne contributed to the Body of Christ by creating a method of reading through the Bible in one year.

Andrew A. Bonar, a friend of M’Cheyne decided to write a biography of M’Cheyne. Some of the materials came from M’Cheyne’s original manuscripts and it was titled, “The Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray M’Cheyne.” Even to this day, this book has influenced many people in their spiritual growth.

Bonar in his book, shares something that M’Cheyne said when he was alive. M’Cheyne wrote about the importance and the advantages of having a broken heart. He writes,
 

 
I have always been an advocate about the offense of the Gospel. In fact, I have made it clear on many Sundays that if I don’t offend people through the preaching of the Gospel, then I have failed to really preach the Gospel.

The Gospel is offensive to the proud, arrogant and self-sufficient person.

The more we understand the Gospel, we will realize that it is a complete antithesis to our human nature. We always want to be right. We think we are better than we really are. We try very hard to earn our worth and affirmation. We don’t like to admit that we are weak.

It is interesting that M’Cheyne mentions that there have been people who have left the church because they were enraged with the preaching of the Gospel. The incredible part is that he anticipated that more people will leave due to the preaching of the Gospel.

But his delineation of a broken heart was inspiring and insightful. When a person is broken, they will have no reason to be offended. They are already in pain. They are struggling with shame and guilt. They realize that they cannot save themselves through righteous acts.

It is at this point, when Christ’s righteousness and not our works is preached, it will bring healing to us rather than offense.

This is also a good remember for us the next time we get offended, not only from the Gospel but when someone does something to us. If our hearts are broken, then we will realize that we have been saved by grace and that person needs the same grace and forgiveness.

David Damberger, who is the founder of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) which is stationed in Calgary was the speaker. In the video, Damberger shares the experience about his previous work in Africa. But the clincher of this video was the lesson on publicly admitting failure in the development aid sector. He believed that this sector of society (the various non-profit organizations) lacks accountability, creativity and transparency.

As the old adage states, “failure is our friend.” We can learn so much from failure. We can learn things about ourselves, about God and even about the world around us. This is why failure is helpful in our growth process.

I was able put the lessons that Damberger was sharing in the context of how we do missions and community development. In our generation, there are so many people who are passionate about non-profit work and community development, which is an awesome thing; but I don’t think we have given serious consideration to the ramifications of our actions.

This is why, it is important to think through some of the ripple effects of our actions, both good and bad. Therefore, before the church or Christian workers build another water well or some kind of agricultural system, in is important to think through some long-term solutions.

It is one thing to get excited about helping people and developing a city or a country, but it is an entirely different thing when it comes to sustainability and accountability.
 
 
 

Now with several days to process everything that God was doing at the revival meeting, here are some lessons that God reminded me of through the revival experience:

In this fast and throughout the whole year of 2012, we are going to focus in on 3 specific goals:

With God help and His leading, we believe that we will hear some great testimonies in the near future. God is passionate about His glory and as we align our hearts with His, we are going to experience some awesome things.

If you haven’t signed up for a prayer slot, please do so here (don’t forget to make sure that you sign up from your specific site).

You can check out all the various people from the different HMCC sites who have signed up so far. It is exciting to see that even though we are hundreds and thousands of miles away, we are joined together under a common vision and mission.

Throughout this week, we will have pastors and leaders from each of the HMCC sites share some of their thoughts and expectations for this One Desire Fast. Come check it out every day throughout this week.
 
 
 

After doing college ministry for many years, there have been some trends which started to disturb me. The four that stick out for me are: 1) lack of bible literacy; 2) lack of holiness; 3) lack of strong convictions; 4) lack of tenacious resolve.

While doing college ministry, it is easy to get focused on behavior modification. We assume that people are getting transformed because they exhibit all the “right” Christian behavior. But our HMCC history tells us that having all the right behavior is not the best indicator of how they will do once they graduate.

When the focus is placed too much on behavior, then we either produce spiritual Pharisees or discouraged followers of Christ. Correct behavior is always produced by correct feelings; and correct feelings are produced by correct thinking. To put it in another way, how we think affects how we feel and how we feel affects how we behave.

This is why the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Roman Christians wrote, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Ro 12:2).

I believe this series, “Blueprint” will help in the process of transformation for our college students as they renew their minds with the Word of God. We are going to give them a framework that will help them in reading and understanding God’s heart through His Word. Ultimately, we can provide the treadmill and dumbbells for working out, but the person has to do the exercise to see the results.

As the 2012 is fully underway, we are expecting God to do great things as we do our part!

Here are some things that I try to keep in mind as I look back and then look ahead:

 
 
Let’s dream great dreams in 2012 and achieve extraordinary things because we have an extraordinary God who is always for us!

Tim Keller did a great job of giving a tribute to John R.W. Stott during the memorial in Wheaton, IL. It is sad to see many people in this younger generation who do not know the life of John Stott and all the things that he accomplished for the evangelical movement.

John Stott’s balance of great biblical scholarship and his expository preaching enabled the Word of God to illuminate truth to many people around the world. His humility and his willingness to learn from others helped pioneer a greater understanding of the global Church. Even his vision for the Kingdom had a way of inspiring many people to get involved in world evangelization, not just in word but also in deed.

You can read up on Stott’s biography on Wikipedia and on Langham Partnership International. Younger generation, it will do your soul good to read up on this man of God.

Here is the Tim Keller’s tribute to John Stott. It is definitely worth the time.
 
 

In the midst of all the celebration and congratulations, one scene caught my attention. The coach who held the previous record, Bobby Knight was broadcasting the game. Right after the win, Coach K went over to Knight and the two of the greatest coaches embraced and exchanged some words with one another.

For those of you who are not familiar with the history of their relationship, it was a mentoring relationship that had a lot of ups and downs. Coach K was a player for West Point as Knight was the head coach. Coach K then went on to be an assistant coach for Knight. In essence, it was a mentoring relationship. This is why the surpassing of Knight’s record of 902 wins was very special. The best part was watching them embrace one another in light of everything they went through in the past.

Here are some lessons we can learn:

1) The importance of RELATIONSHIPS. According to Sports Illustrated (SI) columnist, Seth Davis, the relationship between Coach K and Knight was a complicated one. Not only did Coach K play for Knight at Army, but Knight became like a father figure for Coach K when his father passed away from a brain hemorrhage. Knight even gave Coach K a great recommendation to Duke’s athletic director when they were looking for a new coach. After getting the head coach job at Duke, Coach K would often times contact Knight for advice and they continued to build their friendship. Things got a bit sticky when they began to face each other in the NCAA tournaments. It all came down to the 1992 Final Four, when Knight’s team (Indiana) was playing Coach K’s (Duke). Whether it was their pride or jealousy or the need to prove themselves to each other, the relationship ended badly. It is interesting how a mentoring relationship can turn sour very quickly. This is why we always have to keep our pride in check. A great mentor and leader should always want their children and their spiritual children to do better than them. This is the heart of the father. The children or the younger leaders need to always honor and respect those above them who have invested in their lives. Another thing to keep in mind is that relationships change over time. This is why there needs to be continual investment. It takes time and effort. Whatever is important to you, you will make the time.
 
 

Photo by U.S. Military Academy
 
 
2) The importance of RESTORATION. It is noted that sometime in 1993 steps were taken to restore the broken relationship. Both men were proud men; therefore the relationship was not an easy thing to restore. Even though things seemed friendly, there were still some scars from the past. But the critical moment occurred in 2001. Coach K was voted into the basketball Hall of Fame and he needed to find someone to introduce him during the ceremony. After some thought, Coach K asked Knight to participate and he accepted. It was during that speech that Knight honored and lifted up Coach K for all his accomplishments; and as Coach K came up to the stage, Knight said that Coach K was “the best coach that I’ve had a team play against.” Coach K hugged Knight and cried. It was a completion to the healing process and the relationship was restored. It is amazing how many people go through life without having important relationships restored. We live with the pain and the bitterness rather than reconciling and living in freedom and joy. Sometimes the breach of the relationship might have been caused by a misunderstanding or even words that should not have been spoken. It just takes a person to humble themselves and take the first step towards repairing the bridge that was broken.
 
 

Photo by Bettmann/CORBIS
 
 
3) The importance of RECOGNITION. Honor is something that is lost in our generation. But there was a glimpse of it after Duke’s win, which gave Coach K the record of being the winningest coach in NCAA Men’s Basketball history. After the final buzzer went off, Coach K went over to the broadcast table and embraced Knight, who was an ESPN analyst for the game. It was later discovered that Coach K said to Knight in their embrace, “I know a lot of people don’t tell you this, Coach, but I love you.” Then Knight responded in a way that only Knight could respond, he said, “Boy, you’ve done pretty good for a kid who couldn’t shoot.” In the post-game interview, Coach K responding to what Knight said to him, he said to the media, “I think that meant he loved me, too. I’m going to take it as that.” I don’t know why but it reminded so much of the relationship that many children have with their parents, who are from the old school. The parent thinks that giving a compliment or showing weakness is a bad thing, therefore they end up saying nothing or something that might be inappropriate. But the crazy thing is that the child understands and they just want their parents to keep their dignity. This is when we come to understand that honor is a two-way street.
 
 

Photo on nbcsports.msnbc.com