What was God Thinking?

One minute he's declaring a revelation given him by God the Father and the next minute Jesus is turning and saying to Peter, and I quote, "Get behind me, Satan!"  

On another occasion he's stepping out of a boat walking on the water and then instantly the stormy sea that once held him up is now swallowing his body as he sinks. 

You have to give him credit for his zeal to open his mouth and his willingness to do something impossible, such as walking on water.  But Peter really couldn't get anything right and God had no problem recording Peter's blunders in the pages of His inspired Word called the Bible. 

I chuckle as I write this but in another encounter between Jesus and Peter,  Jesus is telling Peter "before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times."  What does Peter reply?  "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you."  Or in other words Peter is telling Jesus that He's wrong.  Well, we all know how that turned out!  Peter just couldn't get it right and again God let's us know. 

 As Jesus is being betrayed by Judas and then arrested by a mob of people,  Peter comes to the rescue and pulls his sword and cuts off a guys ear.  Jesus rebukes Peter and then picks up the ear and reattaches it,  healing the servant. Peter just couldn't get it right,  and yes, again God let's us know. 

So the following verse  just blows my mind and initially generates the following question.  What was God thinking? 

"Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd....."  (Acts 2:14)

 One of the most important events in the history of Christianity,  next to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ,  has just taken place!   I'm speaking of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.  And Peter, the one who couldn't get anything right, stands and explains to the crowd what had just taken place and then preaches the first gospel message since the ascension of Jesus and thousands are born again! 

Now if it's me choosing the one who's going to fulfill this monumental task of trying to make plain why those in the upper room are speaking in other tongues and then on top of that preaching the very first message of the Good News,  Peter probably wouldn't be my first pick for obvious reasons.  After all, he couldn't get anything right! 

And now that I think about it, I probably wouldn't choose me!    I can't help but think of the verse that records a conversation that Jesus is having with His disciples.

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you."  (Matthew 15:16) 

So what was God thinking?  Oh,  who can fully know God's thoughts and ways, they're much higher than ours.  But one thing is apparent.  God wasn't  as concerned about Peter's failures as Peter probably was or even the others around him.
  
 And God's probably not as concerned about your failures as you are.  I really believe that Peter just kept showing up.  He just kept following Jesus, failures and all.  And on the Day of Pentecost Peter showed up and God used him in a powerful way and thousands were born again and the early church was birthed. 

Now here's the cool thing!  God had no problem letting us know that He chose Peter, the guy who couldn't get anything right! 

So maybe it's time for you to start showing up, mistakes and all.  It's time for you to Dream.......Again!  

I just have this impression that if you'll keep SHOWING UP,  a day will come that you STAND UP and God uses you in a powerful way! 

Oh yes, and He'll have no problem letting others know that HE CHOSE YOU! 

Showing up and Standing up!
Ken Woolf

I seriously doubt  Mary and Joseph had a prayer meeting and asked God if Mary could become pregnant before they were married!  It's also not likely  Mary prayed to conceive the baby in the power of the Holy Spirit and for it to be a virgin birth.  On top of all this I really can't see Mary praying and asking God if she can give birth to His Son! 

If you really think about it giving birth to Jesus wasn't something God was doing for Mary and Joseph but it was something they were doing for God.  They surrendered their lives to the plan of God instead of God fulfilling what they probably desired for a  happy marriage and family. 

In other words, God messed up their plans!  But when God messes up your plans it's because He's got a better plan!  We just have to be willing to say as Mary did, "I am your servant, may it be to me as you have said." 

This has really been a paradigm shift for me during this season of Advent.  My journal is full of prayer request, full of my plans I've been praying and asking God to fulfill in 2014.   Things I've been asking God to do for me. 

But here's the shift.  In 2015 instead of asking God for things He can do for me,  why not  ask God what I can do for Him!  Did you catch that?  As I looked back and evaluated 2014 I realized how consumed I was with asking God for things He can do for me.  Now that's not necessarily a bad thing.  After all I really believe God is concerned about every detail of our lives and the Bible is clear that we need to ask, seek, knock and our Heavenly Father loves to give good gifts to His children.

But what's my motivation?  What can God do for me or what can I do for God on this earth?  Is my attitude the same as Mary's?  Am I willing to say, "I am your servant, may it be to me as you have said?" 

It's time to Dream.......Again!  But may those dreams be dreams that are birthed by the power of the Holy Spirit as I surrender my plans, my goals, my desires to the plans, goals and desires of God. 

Heavenly Father what can I do for You today and in 2015! 

Merry Christmas,
Ken Woolf

"I absolutely love the fact when I have something good or bad going on, the first person I want to call and tell is my husband.  And he does the same with me.  More than spouses we are best friends.  It's the everyday things in life I love experiencing with you.  I love you Ken Woolf!"

I love those precise points in time that I call "God Moments!"  A particular time when God opens your heart and says "this is Me!"  It's a monumental moment of life transformation you'll never forget!

Such was the case not long after I read the above Facebook post from my wife Jeanie.   At first I thought "Oh how sweet, she's so kind."  I commented on her post saying "we are best friends forever."  You know,  BFF!  That mushy stuff that causes people to go "aw, they're such a sweet couple."

Then it hits me and I'm totally blindsided by the following thought.  "Wait a minute, she still calls me her best friend and wants to experience life with me!"  This thought caught me off guard but God used this moment to once again peel back a layer of my heart and reveal Himself to me in a new and fresh way. 

Why would my wife's kind words cause me to vacate the place of a mushy romantic state of mind and just be eternally grateful to my Heavenly Father for my wife and my relationship with Him?  Why would her expression of the feelings about her husband bring about a "God Moment" that is forever etched in my heart?

It's been over 20 years ago but I shattered her heart!  While serving in law enforcement I violated our marriage covenant.  We had a real crisis in our marriage!  She had every right to leave but chose to forgive me and we've experienced the awesome restoring power of God in our relationship!  

Even after I shattered her heart she still calls me her best friend and wants to experience life with me! 

It's been over three years ago that again I shattered her heart. No it wasn't a moral failure but it was a decision I made in regards to our ministry.   I totally disregarded her desires (which turns out were right) and listened to others who had a personal agenda.  I dishonored her and later regretted it! Many nights she lay in the bed next to me and cried herself to sleep.  We had a real crisis in our ministry.  But she chose to forgive me and we've experienced the awesome restoring power of God in our ministry.

Even after I shattered her heart again,  she still calls me her best friend and wants to experience  life with me!

This is it, God's perfect picture of forgiveness and love!  God saying through my wife "you failed but you're not a failure!  I still love you son and want to experience life with you.  We're still family and I still have a great plan for your life.  In fact, I want to call you my best friend!"

There's nothing more powerful and nothing will bring healing to your heart like God saying "You're My BFF!"  Especially when you've blown it in your marriage and ministry.  Wow, what a "God Moment!"

"May you experience the love of Christ, though it is to great to understand fully.  Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God."  (Ephesians 3:19 NLT)

That's my prayer for each person reading this blog! I pray that somehow through the words I've shared the Holy Spirit will speak to you and reveal the love of Jesus Christ!  No matter your failures it's not over!  Let me say that again.  No matter your failures it's not over.  Trust in the love, forgiveness and restoring power of God.  His grace is abundant and He's just waiting to pour it out on you as you look to Him!  Daily He wants to experience life with you and call you His best friend!  

My friend when you experience the love of Christ in this manner it thrust you to a place of DREAMING.......AGAIN!  Get ready, open your heart, He's about to pour His love all over you and in you! 

Encouraging you,

Ken Woolf

 "F" words that move us beyond "F"ailing!

"F"aith will move you "F"orward!  Go ahead, hear the Word of God, step out of the boat!  Do what God is calling you to do and do it with all your heart.  "F"ear not!  Be strong and courageous!

"F"ear will paralyze you!  God has not given us a spirit of "F"ear but of power, love and a sound mind! 

Have "F"aith in God!  The Bible tells us that nothing is impossible with God! It also tells us that nothing is impossible to those who believe!  It's time, move "F"orward!

So as you're moving "F"orward you experience "F"ailure! What, I took a step of "F"aith and experienced "F"ailure!  I stepped out of the boat and sank like a bucket "F"ull of concrete! 

Now instead of being "F"ull of "F"aith my life is "F"ull of "F"ear!  I spend more time looking back than looking "F"orward.

Will I ever move "F"orward again or will "F"ear paralyze me for the rest of my life?

Wait a minute, now I hear God saying "get close to Me."  Right now life isn't about moving "F"orward it's about more "F"ruit.  And for there to be more "F"ruit in your life there's got to be pruning.

During the pruning season I learn that I still must have "F"aith in God!  "F"aith that what God started in me He will complete!

Pruning can hurt but don't "F"ear because your Heavenly "F"ather is handling you with love.

That's right, during this pruning season the closer I get to God the more I know Him as my "F"ather!

I am His son and He is my "F"ather! 

This is awesome because no longer do I feel like a "Failure" because I now know God as my "F"ather!  I no longer identify myself as a "F"ailure but I'm a son, a son of my Heavenly "F"ather!  That's my identity, a child of God!

Is that the voice of my "F"ather speaking?  Yes it is!  Now He's saying it's time to move "F"orward!

Yes, it's time to "F"orget!  "F"orget the past, you're not a "F"ailure!  It's time to look to the "F"uture!  It's now clear,  my "F"ather has a "F"uture and a hope for me.

Life is more about my "F"uture than it is my past!  Have "F"aith in God!

Don't let it happen.  Don't allow the "F"ear of "F"ailure to control your life.  You're a child of God, you're not a "F"ailure!

Hear the voice of your "F"ather and move "F"orward!  "F"orget the past. 

"F"ear not!  Be strong and courageous! 

With one step "F"orward you realize that much "F"ruit is in your "F"uture!  You've taken the step of "Faith" and no longer is your bucket "F"ull of concrete but it's "F"ull of "F"ruit!  "F"ruit that will remain and bring glory to your Heavenly "F"ather!

Here it is, this is what you discover.  Through the "F"aith, "F"ailure and "F"orgetting the past you realize, it's now set in stone, your Heavenly "F"ather is "F"aithful!

Yes, you can move "F"orward in the face of "F"ear because you have "F"aith in a "F"aithful God!

Dreaming.......Again

Ken Woolf

"God is going to give you the ability to pull people from the trash heap of life...."  These were words spoken to my wife Jeanie and I around 10 years ago and for some reason I've been thinking about what was said for several days,  several times a day! I just can't get it out of my mind! 

What is the "trash heap of life" anyway?  "Life" is basically the experience of being alive.  "Heap" is a large, disordered collection of things thrown one on another.  "Trash" is things that are no longer useful or wanted and that have been thrown away.

Finally I start getting the picture.  Can you see it?  The "trash heap of life" is simply the experiences of life that pile one on top of the other that make us feel useless.  We feel as though we're no longer wanted and have been "thrown away" by life!  We're of no use to anyone or anything!  Life is now a meaningless experience in which our only goal is to survive.  Why?  Because we're useless, life has proved that.

I've opened the door and walked into the room of useless before.  First in our marriage and then in our ministry with the most recent being our ministry.  You know....stepping out of the boat to walk on water and live the dreams you've been dreaming only to sink like a bucket filled with concrete.

Straight to the bottom with our dreams, our ministry, our finances, our relationships.  It's amazing the number of friends that just drop off the face of the earth when you've sank to the bottom.  There must be something wrong with this guy, probably some sin in his life or something.  Obviously he doesn't have what it takes. 

It's that feeling you get when you've failed your wife, your kids, your friends and most importantly God.  After all the dream started with me.  Talk about feeling useless, just a piece of trash.  Even after we left Colorado and returned to Texas the trash just kept piling up!  Nothing but one big pile of useless!   

But here's the good news, news that will rock your world!  When I walked into the room of useless I didn't enter alone.  God invited Himself in and He didn't even knock.  And I quickly realized that my pile of trash was no match for God! 

Why was God in the room with me?  Because He wanted me to get close to Him.  That's right, trash heap and all God wanted me close.  And this is when the following Bible verse became more real to me than ever before.  "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

Wait a minute, my "trash heap" is going to become something good?  Yes it is because God has the ability to turn your trash heap into His treasure!  He does this because He still has a purpose for your life and when you are a person living with purpose, God's purpose, you're certainly not useless but my friend you are useful!  

And here's the cool thing about it all.  You never left the room of useless!  God took the room of useless and turned into the room of useful!  That's just what He does and He's good at it!  Useless things never stay useless in God presence!  God has the power and the desire to turn your pain into His purpose!  Just get close to Him!

I love the following quote from Dave Ramsey.  I've used it before.  "The difference between the successful and the troubled is not error-free living;  it is that by discovering and implementing a life calling, the successful stand on their pile of trash while the troubled sit under theirs."

Several years ago when God told us He was going to give us the ability to pull people from the trash heap of life and make them men and women of God little did we know that this ability would come from experiencing our own trash heap.  But I'm so thankful that God's not intimidated by the trash heap.  In fact He welcomes it because He delights in turning it into His treasure!

I don't know what "trash heap" you might be looking at today but can I tell you from experience, no trash heap is to big for God.  Just get close to Him and let Him remind you of who He created you to be.  No longer will you feel useless but you'll know you're useful to a loving God!

It's time to DREAM.......AGAIN!

Ken 

 Below is a  short but powerful blog by my daughter Staci Woolf who just today (Wednesday August 20) arrived in New Zealand to begin a new chapter of her life.  I know she's my daughter but this is one  of the best and most challenging blogs I've ever read.  It will ruin you from the ordinary! 

"Risky things sure are risky. For example: quitting your job and selling your stuff and buying a plane ticket to a country you've never been before is RISKY and I took the risk. I cannot count the amount of people who have said "you're so fearless!" BAH. Fearless? No. I will say..... that about a year ago I decided to stop letting fear paralyze me and keep me from living life. Joyce Meyer says it this way.. " Feel the fear and do it anyway." Well I am "doing it anyway". I know God had orchestrated this whole ordeal. Even from the moment I realized He wanted me to do this (which will be 1 year ago the first weekend of September) I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this had GOD written all over it. Were there tons of signs pointing towards it? No. But there was something inside of me that erupted at the thought. You can wait your whole life looking for "signs". Please do not misunderstand me.  l absolutely love it when God gives us signs that point to the direction we should go but I think there will be moments in your life when you are just going to have to trust that God won't lead you where He doesn't go. Trust His voice! I knew God wanted this and I wanted this. There are a lot of things I want to write about. All the way back to a year ago when I had no clue what next step was in my life to this moment right now... me sitting here in the airport waiting on my flight to New Zealand. For now I just want to write about one thing. The things you want....The things your heart desires so much you sometimes wonder if you are going to explode..... those things are more than likely on the other side of risk. They are on the other side of fear. Feeling fear isn't wrong. Bowing to it is. Whatever it is that you are wanting. Whatever it is that you long for.... Keep praying. Keep believing for it and don't be surprised when the time comes for you to walk into that promise and it requires a risk and may look a little scary. God things tend to be bigger than we are and if you want to walk in those things fear cannot be in control. To hell with fear. It's dumb. God is a good Father. Lean into Him. Trust him and don't be afraid to dream big!"  

Staci Woolf

Nobody likes a back seat driver but everybody needs one.  I can't count the number of times I've been driving down the road lost in the world of my own thoughts or distracted by something outside or inside the vehicle only to be shocked back into focus by the loud, firm voice of my wife saying "KENNETH"! 

When Jeanie says my name with this tone of voice I know she's not just seeking my attention but she's wanting me to get my attention back on the road I'm driving on because if I don't I'm about to have an accident.

It's funny because my first reaction is always "why are you saying my name that way, with that tone of voice?"  Or in other words I'm telling her, "hey I got this what's the problem!  I'm in control here, I have my hands on the steering wheel and everything is okay!" When in reality everything wasn't okay.  I was distracted and about to run off the road or head on into another vehicle and my wife (my back seat driver) saved my life and possibly many others. 

Because of my pride and male ego I'm ashamed to say there are times I'd even get angry with Jeanie for correcting my driving.  Now how crazy is that! My back seat driver just saved our lives and I'm getting angry because she brought attention to my distraction that was about to cause an accident!  Can somebody say "foolish!" 

Then when I finally humble myself I have to admit that I needed my "back seat driver."  I had lost focus and wasn't paying attention to the direction I was going but she could see what I couldn't see because I was distracted!  And I'm thankful that she had the courage to speak up and speak firm and loud because it probably saved both of our lives! 

The truth is we all need a few "back seat drivers" in our lives.  Not just when I'm driving down the road in a car but in every aspect of life.  I need a few people close to me who can see what I can't see and are willing to speak loud and firm to keep me from running off in the "ditch" or "head on" into another vehicle.  When these tragedies happen it harms not only me but those connected to me as well. 

Just in the last month I've heard reports of two mega church pastors who've  had "head on collisions" in their ministries.  They both had to resign due to moral failures.  My earnest prayer is that their families and ministries be healed and restored but I have to wonder if either of these men had "back seat drivers" in their lives?  People in their inner circle they were accountable to and that could speak loudly and firmly to them. 

I think you can get the message  without me going in any other details.  So I just have to ask you, who are your "back seat drivers?"  Are they in the vehicle with you and do they have the authority to speak loud and firm to you? 

In this season that Jeanie and I are dreaming.......again I can tell you that I've been far more focused on our "back seat drivers" (inner circle) than I ever have in the history of our ministry.  I have friends close to me that love me and want to see God's best for our family and ministry that have permission to speak into our lives and bring correction if needed.  And please don't get me wrong, they're not just in the vehicle to correct my driving.  These are people I'm in relationship with.  We enjoy doing life together.  Let me say it this way. We enjoy just going for a ride in the vehicle.

In fact most of the time we can just go for a drive and enjoy the ride.  I love sharing life with my family and friends.  But I'm so thankful for the family and friends that I've designated as "back seat drivers!"  They sure have kept me from a lot of accidents! 

 "Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.  Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone?  A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken." (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

Enjoying the ride,

Ken Woolf