Jonathan Herron

No, the World is NOT going to END this weekend!

* begin rant *

I commented on this this past Sunday,
but as a quick recap...

I'm not a prophet,
I'm not the son of a prophet,
and I work for a non-profit organization,
but believe me when I say,

 

NO,

the World is NOT going to END this Saturday!

 

YES,

this is a CRAZY prediction not based on Scripture!

In fact, I can't wait to see the press release that will have to put out on Sunday... when the predicted worldwide earthquake and impending apocalypse fail to materialize!

Listen, I'm not a rock-thrower by any means, but you can sniff out a false prophet pretty easily. 

The leader of this group is eating too many Fruit Loops and
has gone coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs. 

He is already known for predicting a date for the end of the world back in the 1980's... and, um, it didn't happen.

Deuteronomy 18 is clear on this one:

You may say to yourselves, 'How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?'  If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD DOES NOT take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken.

I'm sure this group is sincere in their beliefs... but they are sincerely wrong.

Just as every family has a wacky black sheep uncle that you don't understand yet love anyway, we want to love these folks... without stockpiling waterbottles, canned goods, and AK-47's!

And by the way, just for the record, you're going to be just fine in 2012 too.

Seriously, am I to worry about a bunch of old school Mayans who "predicted" the end of all civilization yet TOTALLY MISSED THE BOAT on predicting their own civilization's end?!  Really?!

* sigh *

end rant.

Josiah:  Mom, I need to go to work.
Me:  Oh, where do you work?
Josiah:  The breakfast church.
Me:  What do you do there?
Josiah:  Not hit!  Oh man, I want to stay home, but I gotta go to work.  See ya later Mama.

Fail Harder

As Facebook use exploded, founder Mark Zuckerberg realized he had to release more and more of the work to web programmer and developers. 
He couldn't do it all by himself.

Sometimes details fell through the cracks.
Mistakes happened.
And that's ok.

Because Zuckerberg knew that
effective leaders cannot micro-manage people. 
You must give them freedom and margin to hit the wall and learn.

"Fail Harder."  That's his mantra.

The same is true for you:

Your effectiveness as a leader will INCREASE
as the load on your plate DECREASES.

For church leaders, this means enabling more and more people.

I believe in the saying, "Saved People Serve People!"

But remember, as you release ministry, you unleash mistakes.

And that's ok.

We cannot microwave leaders. 
You have to give your workers time to make mistakes.

Crock-pots develop s-l-o-w-l-y.

And that's ok.

Thomas Edison famously said,
"I have not failed.  I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

Failure is the incubator of leadership.

Failure says that we get to try another direction in solving this problem.

Fail fast.  Fail small.  Fail harder.

C.H. Spurgeon on Heaven

A little stay on earth will make heaven more heavenly.

Nothing makes rest as sweet as work does;

nothing renders security as pleasant as exposure to danger does.

We would not wish to enter heaven until our work is done,

and it may be that we are yet ordained to minister light

to souls trapped in the darkness of sin.

Our prolonged stay here is doubtless for God's glory.

It is for the honor of Jesus that we endure

the trials of our faith with sacred joy.

If to live on earth forever would make my Lord more glorious,

it would be my heaven to be shut out of heaven.

How I'm Reacting to the Death of Osama Bin Laden as a Christ-Follower

* UPDATE: Apparently this post has gained traction - - in the past 10 hours, it has been viewed by over 700 and "Liked" via Facebook 112 times.  We'll go ahead and open up the Comments section - - would love to hear your thoughts!

I work like a horse on Sundays, so I tend to go to bed early.  Sometimes I'll read a book, but last night I opened up my MacBook to catch up on blogs. 

And then I saw the Breaking News banner:
"Pres. Obama to make statement at 10:30pm, subject unknown." 

I shared the headline with my wife.  She knows I'm a news junky.  "Let's go!"

As the delay in an announcement stretched for an hour, I had fun tweeting with friends about the newscasters frantically vamping live on national tv.

Then the news.  Osama Bin Laden dead.

 
I'll be honest - my first reaction was as an American - "We got him!"  As the grandson of proud immigrants, I was ready to bust out some Lee Greenwood.

Then I felt guilty for feeling that way. 
I'm a pastor... a follower of Christ... and I'm celebrating death?

I came across this great post from Josh Howerton.  Rather than reinvent the wheel, I'm reposting two of his thoughts which sum up my own on how to react to today's news:

• We should rejoice that justice has been done.
  It is not wrong to desire justice – in fact, it’s one of the most prominent commands in Scripture – and justice includes the proportionate punishment of the wicked.  One of the specific roles that the Bible outlines for human governments is to “bear the sword” (Romans 13:1-7).  Even the most quick, cursory reading of the prophets shows that justice is central to the character of God.  Rejoicing in justice is not wrong.

• We should mourn that a sinner Jesus died to save perished and dropped into the eternal wrath of God.
  Proverbs 24:17 instructs us not to “rejoice over the death of our enemies” and not to “let your heart be glad when he stumbles.” 
  Ezekiel 33:11 shows us God’s heart for the death of the wicked: “As I live, declares the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” 
  The unified heart of all the New Testament authors was one of brokenness and mourning for the lost to know Christ and be saved from God’s wrath. 
  We should feel this too.  For Osama Bin Laden.

An unmitigated embrace of either of these feelings to the exclusion of the other misses the heart of God today. We should feel both of these things.  
We shouldn’t be verbally dancing on Osama Bin Laden’s grave, hatefully laughing at the fact that he’s in judgment.  But we also shouldn’t be regretting that justice was done with unmixed sadness. This is important because we’re also instructed to guard our hearts (emotions) “above all else.” 

Examine your heart today and ask, “Am I feeling what God is feeling?” 
Repent if necessary.

 

50 THOUSAND EGGS