Monday, April 16, 2018

GOT FAMILY

It's about more than just going to church, it's about being part of a family!

Why did God create human beings?  Because He wanted a family!

Jesus taught his disciples and us to pray like this:  Our "Father" in heaven.."

Therefore God desires for us to communicate with him as family!  He's our Father and we're his children!

Wow, you never have to be lonely again!  

"Father to the fatherless, defender of widows-this is God,  whose dwelling is holy.  God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy..."   (Psalm 68:5,6)

God is all about family!

That's why it's about more than just going to church.  God, the Father, wants you and me to be connected in his family!

"God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.  This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure."   (Ephesians 1:5)

GOD WANTED A FAMILY!

Being included in God's family is one of the highest honors and greatest privileges you and I will ever receive!

Relationships are what life is all about.  Our relationship with God and our relationships with one another!

In fact you can't be connected to God and NOT be connected to His family!

"Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ's body.  We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other."  (Romans 12:4,5)

Following Jesus Christ involves belonging and not just believing!

I'm not going to ask you if you're going to church, but I am going to ask you if you're connected to a family, God's family?  

We read in Ephesians 5 that it gave God great pleasure to give his son Jesus Christ so that he could have a family.

It should give us great pleasure to be part of God's family!   Loving one another and serving one another should bring us great pleasure and be a priority in our life!

Through a selfless act Jesus Christ gave himself so that we can be part of his family,  and through living a selfless life we can discover who God created us to be when we're connected and involved and serving in God's family!

You and I will find God's best for us when we're connected to his family!

I've discovered that the dreams of God for my life are cultivated in an atmosphere of being involved in the family of God!

In fact I started DREAMING.......AGAIN when I simply started serving God's family!

Running to Win,

Ken Woolf




Thursday, April 5, 2018

ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING (Part 2)

The summer of 2011 and the following year was gut wrenching to say the least! I'll spare you all the details but let me just say my family suffered great loss after stepping out to plant a church.

In the aftermath,  all that was left standing was our family relationships which I'm thankful for.

So the question was at the time,  what's next and what's going to be my attitude toward God, life and ministry?

Fast forward about six and half years and my family and I are once again leading a great church and we'll be here 2 years September 2018.

But what about those 5 years between the two churches?  And what about my attitude during those years?

Before I sound like some super human that has everything together please understand those were some difficult days.  I struggled, my wife struggled, my whole family struggled. I lost count of the times I wanted to quit!

There were times my attitude was like riding a roller coaster but in time the joy of the Lord returned and with it our ability to DREAM.......AGAIN.

I laugh now but I don't know how many times I asked my wife Jeanie if she thought I was still a pastor.  Finally I had a "light bulb" moment when she STRONGLY replied, "I believe you're a pastor but YOU have to believe you're a pastor!"

So let me share a few practical yet spiritual steps that I believe helped us get where we're at today and helped my attitude stay positive about the future.

1.  Stay connected to God and don't blame Him.

God is a good God and He loves to give good gifts to His children!  Get the picture?

So stay connected with God!

2.  Stay connected with God's family and don't blame people!  I'm not trying to boast, only trying to  help people, but we never missed connecting with the family of God (going to church) because we were mad at God or mad at people.

In fact we ended up serving in a church as associate pastors for four years.  I think it really helped my attitude having to humble myself and serve under another  leader.  Cleaning those toilets and mopping the floors probably help as well but that's for another blog.

3.  Stay connected with reality.  Be real!  Or in other words, do what you know to do when you don't know what to do.

And sometimes you have to do what you don't want to do to get to the place you're doing what you want to do.

I'm sure Joseph didn't want to be thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, wrongfully accused and then thrown into prison.  But this is what led to the fulfillment of the dream God had given him!

For me it was starting a lawn service, substitute teaching, serving another pastor, and painting houses and businesses.  I was just doing what I knew was my responsibility to do when I didn't know what to do.

And having a good attitude about it even after we'd lost everything taking a step of faith in obedience to God! 

In those days of mowing grass, teaching students, painting houses and serving another pastor, there was one Bible verse that kept me going with the right attitude.

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."  (Romans 8:28)

And today, well, we're DREAMING.......AGAIN!  And the cool thing is that you can as well!  

Running to Win,

Ken