Change: Opportunity

The second principle is opportunity. Your ability to see the opportunity created by change is controlled by two things: 1) your availability and 2) your perspective

Your availability is controlled by the discipline with which you have lived your life. One of the reasons Laurina and I are able to embrace this move to Raleigh, is because we have been disciplined financially. We are not wallowing in a cesspool of poor financial decisions that have left us grasping for straws and searching for two ends just long enough to reach so we can tie them together. The way you live your life, emotionally, spiritually, relationally, and financially can propel you to high ground putting you in a position to take advantage of the change or it can sink you into a valley so deep you cannot see a way out. Living a life guided by biblical principles helps you be available to see and seize your opportunity.

Your perspective is controlled by your attitude. When change happens, do you think "why did this happen to me" or do you think "how can God use this for His Glory"? If you can see God's purpose in the change, it can take a lot of the anxiety out and replace it with anticipation about the new and exciting way God is going to move in your life.

A quick recap thus far. To succeed with Change.
1) Be generous and invest in those around you, so you can be satisfied with the impact you have made
2) Be prepared for opportunities by living in a disciplined manner and look for what God wants to do through your situation.

Change: Give what you got

We in the Sigmon family are currently undergoing a lot of change. My job has been moved from Charlotte to Cary, NC and we are in the process of making the transition from firmly rooted family in Mount Holly with established friends and a church we love to a situation ripe with uncertainty and opportunity. I want to share the principles that have kept us grounded and moving forward with great anticipation and not fear during this period of change.

The first foundational building block is generosity. Generosity in this sense, means investing in the people God has placed in your life for you to influence. Investing as a financial term is a way to take current assets and turn them into future gains. Financially, investing your money and letting it work for you has replaced the old images of stuffing your money under your mattress or digging a hole in your backyard. Investing in people is taking your current assets (time, talent, etc) and turning them into exponential future impact. The only way for your gifts and talents to have impact beyond your sphere of influence is for you to give them away. Generosity of yourself is the key to enduring change initiated by powers outside of your control without any regrets. If your current situation forcibly changes: loss of job, death of a loved one, job location change, whatever, being able to focus forward rest in the knowledge that you gave everything you had in that past situation. The supreme example of generosity in your current situation is Jesus. Jesus was a healer, a teacher, a friend, and a savior. He had time for individuals and groups and seen by his interactions, be it with a woman at a well, his disciples, or feeding 5000 people, he always gave everything he had in those situations. The key to generosity is overcoming the desire to fulfill our own needs and seeing the needs of others. It is difficult in our current over scheduled, over stimulated society. We always feel like we are way too busy to invest in others. The truth is we choose what our impact and legacy will be by how we use the gifts we have been given. Will we invest them for exponential impact, or will we stuff them under our proverbial mattress by hoarding them all for ourselves? It is a lot less painful to deal with change if you have invested rather than living with the regret of the impact you could have made.

Sitting through church, Part 2

Wow, it took me a long time to get back to the blog. Big happenings as John Deere is closing my office in Charlotte and moving us to the Raleigh area. Needless to say, we've been busy, but here is the blog I've have planned for about 2 months!

Last time I tackled kids "sitting through church". This time I want to talk about why we as Christians value that. Here are the top reasons I could come up with:

• Its the "right thing" for our kids to do
• If we make them go now, they'll want to go later
• If we have to sit through this, they should too (yes I did just say that)
• If our kids can sit through church, it will make us look better and more holy
• Maybe they'll catch some Jesus or the Holy Spirit by just being in the sanctuary

Lets see what the bible says about Jesus and children. Mark 10:13-14 says:

¹³People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.¹⁴When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

So when these people brought their children to Jesus, did they make them sit in the temple courts and listen to the teaching Jesus did among the adults? No, they were brought into close proximity with Jesus and let him touch them, right where they were. Give me that for my children, give me an environment where they can be in close proximity to Jesus and be excited about it and want to come back.

Sitting through church, Part 1

Laurina and I attended a more traditional church service last week as we supported her little sister's confirmation. The whole Sigmon family clan packed into the worship service and were quickly given our own pew (smart move on everyone else's part!) About 1/4 of the way through, Laurina had to take Allie and Daniel to the "sound proof" room at the back of the sanctuary. After Elizabeth's confirmation portion of the service, she took them down to the nursery. Jeremy and I "made it through" the whole service. Jeremy raced pens up and down the pews, bumped into unsuspecting people in neighboring pews, and talked at the most inopportune times (usually during prayers or the sermon portion of the service). After we left, Laurina said, "That's one thing our kids have missed, is learning how to sit through a church service." That statement hit me like a ton bricks. I knew what she meant. It would be nice if our kids had practice sitting through things they don't necessary want to sit through and being quiet when everything in them wants to talk and play. That would make it easier for more sophisticated gatherings that we occasionally get invited to, but are not entirely appropriate for a family of our volume and age. However, do we really want our kids "sitting through" church? I am thankful for the passion our four year-old has for church and Jesus because his church classes are fast, loud, and engaging for a child his age. Please hear my heart on this, I'm not trying to knock any particular style of church, worship, or anything like that, just debating an idea that has been around a long time in the south; that your kids should learn to sit through church. Would I really trade Jeremy's zeal for the risen Savior for the convenience of him being more used to sitting still and quiet? I pray everyday for the salvation of each of my three kids and I believe that them being excited about Jesus at an early age is the best way for them to find Him. Sitting through church.... No thanks, I'll take a genuine love for church and an excitement about Jesus every time. Stay tuned for part 2

Live like no one else

Our family recently listened to Dave Ramsey's tapes on financial peace. What he says makes so much sense. Two verses of scripture he connected really resonated with me. Proverbs 22:7 says "The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender". Matthew 6:24 says, "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." In other words when you are in debt you have a master that is not God. How can you serve God in every way, when you are committed and obligated to serve something or someone else with your money. Dave's motto is that you have to "live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else." I would strongly encourage anyone to listen to or take his class. All it takes is a choice to be different.

I promise

Allie,

You made your grand entrance on February 10, 2010. You are our first daughter, and I have some promises for you.

• I promise to demonstrate my faith in Jesus to you in all the decisions that I make.
• I promise to always put God and our family ahead of my career aspirations
• I promise to do everything I can to keep myself healthy so I can provide for our family.
• I promise to always love your mother and help you understand the kind of love you will look for one day.
• I promise to do my best to make you feel beautiful, inside and out, so you won't have to seek that affirmation from anyone else.
• I promise to pray over you and God's plan for your life consistently.
• I promise to draw out your natural gifts and abilities and help you become the great woman of God you were created to be.
• I promise that you will never have to wonder if you have my approval, you will always know that you do.
• I promise to love you unconditionally.

I love you Allie and always will. I can't wait to see the great things you will accomplish in your life, but first things first, I can't wait to enjoy you as a baby.

Love,

Your Dad

Walking with God, Step 1: Read the Book!

The first step to walking with God (once you have given your life to Christ), is reading your bible. How can you walk with God, if you have no clue where He's going, how He plans to get there, or what His values are for executing His plans. It always makes me chuckle a little, when people say they can't hear from God, yet do not read their Bible regularly. Think about this for a minute. God sent his son to die for all our sins: past, present, and future so that we could dwell forever in His presence blameless and pure. He sent us a "helper" called the Holy Spirit to help us discern His will. Lastly, but certainly not least, He has given us the full and complete word of God containing: 66 Books, 1189 Chapters, 31,173 Verses, and 774,746 Words. There are so many things God has already revealed to us, why not start there when you want to hear from God or know His will? I rarely feel God communicate to me as clearly as I do when I am reading the bible. Jesus himself refers to the scriptures when debating the Pharisees (Matt 21:42, 22:29, etc). New Testament writers time and again refer to the "scriptures" or the "word" as a basis for their belief that Jesus was the Christ, the savoir of the world. If the word of God was important to those who acutally spent time with Jesus in the flesh, should it not be important to us as well?

What are you building on?

In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 Paul is speaking on divisions within the church. People within the church are claiming to be disciples of Apollos, Paul, or whoever shared the Gospel with them. Paul is very clear on what name and who's power you should claim. Check out 1 Corinthians 3:10-15:

¹⁰By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. ¹¹For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹²If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, ¹³his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. ¹⁴If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. ¹⁵If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

As you assemble your life, your legacy, what are you basing it on? Are you basing it on the material things you can provide your loved ones? Are you basing it on the status that you will achieve? Are you leaning on your parent's accomplishments? Are you using your children as an excuse to not reach out to those with whom you have influence? The only legacy you leave that matters is the one that can't be touched by fire. The relationships you build, the lives you change, the souls you touch. The things you build on the foundation of Jesus pass the test of eternity. When is the last time you made an eternal difference in someone else's life?

Proclaiming Jesus

I read Acts 4:29 recently, “29Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.” The statement itself did not surprise me, just its location in the story. Just beforehand in chapter 3 (Acts 3:1-10), Peter had healed a man crippled for over 40 years. The people were astonished and this gave Peter the platform to proclaim the good news that is Jesus, crucified, dead, and resurrected (Acts 3:11-26). Now, this is where I would be praying, God give me boldness to proclaim your Word. Look at all Peter has done in your name! He has healed a crippled man and preached powerfully on your behalf. I want that! Help me be bold for you! However more transpires before the believers pray this. The Sadducees seized Peter and John in Chapter 4 and threw them in jail. They threatened Peter and John and told them to no longer teach in this name (Jesus). And Peter responds with some of my favorite scripture: Acts 4:19-20, “19But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. 20For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." Because they had experienced Jesus and the power of his freedom they could not back down from proclaiming the good news. After being released from jail and telling the followers the whole story, this is when they praised God and prayed for boldness in 4:29. They asked for boldness with the knowledge that preaching Jesus would mean jail time, threats, probable physical abuse, maybe even death. We so many times shy away from bringing Jesus into conversations or giving God the praise when it is uncomfortable for us. I wonder what those early believers would think about that. Better yet, I wonder what Jesus thinks about that? When will you ask for the boldness to proclaim Christ? Only when things are going great and you are in comfortable company, or will you proclaim Jesus when things are tough and the people around you scoff at and persecute you? Jesus, the apostles, and the early church all spoke of the salvation that Jesus brings through intense persecution, I think I can relinquish my comfort.

Five Loaves Two Fish, you know the story

You know the story. Jesus feeds 5,000 men not counting women and children with five loaves and two fish. You can find it in all four gospels (Matt 14:13-21, Mark 6:32-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-13). John adds the detail that it’s a young boy who contributes the food which makes it an even better Sunday school story. You know how the story is told in Sunday school or bible study. Jesus can multiply what you have to meet needs.

We have to be careful to not miss the point though. God only multiplies what we have when we are willing to give it up to Him. So a boy gives the disciples five loaves and two fish, which in all reality does not changes the boy’s situation. If a boy has five loaves and two fish, he’s not going hungry. The point here is that the boy (and most likely the family with him) had enough to meet their needs, because they are the ones who thought ahead or by chance are the ones prepared for the long and winding journey that started out as hearing Jesus speak. The decision then facing this boy or family is this: I prepared and brought enough for us to eat, and now because no one else did, you want to take what is mine and give it to everyone else? I am guilty of this particular line of thought myself, very often. On top of that, there is not nearly enough to go around! Faced with the dilemma of providing for himself and looking out for his own interest or trust Jesus and sacrifice what he asks, the boy gives what is asked and God’s power is shown through his generosity. Two things happened here: (1) God multiplied his gift and fed thousands of people, but (2) the boy received no more food than he would have received if he had chosen to keep the five loaves and two fish. The boy did get to experience God’s miraculous power in his life and for him that was enough. God only increases your contribution when you invest in His initiatives. Need further proof; check out the story of Elijah and the woman with only a handful of flour and a little oil (1 Kings 17:7-16) during a time of drought and famine in her country. Elijah asks for some bread. However, it is only after she has given the bread, what she thought was the last of her provisions, to God’s servant that God supernaturally prolonged her provision.

Five Loaves, Two Fish. Will we hold on to ours with all we have or release the potential it carries in the hands of Jesus?