You're a Manager, Not An Owner

stew·ard·ship: the conducting, supervising, or managing of something;especially : the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care

When you work for a pro soccer team, game days are what you live for.

I was an intern not long ago for Miami FC (now known as the Fort Lauderdale Strikers) and one of my responsibilities was to assist the Media Relations director (my boss) in running the press box. Getting stats to reporters. Tweeting/Facebooking goals and other in-game updates. Posting up pre-game photos. All that stuff. 

Usually, my boss was there. But at one game, he had to go down and take care of some stuff on the field and he left me in charge of running the press box for a little while. I'm not gonna lie. I was pretty nervous. But I was also encouraged that my boss would trust me enough with that responsibility. To hand it off to me.

God does the same with us. If we take an inventory of our lives, we will see that we have been entrusted with a lot of stuff. Maybe it's that job you recently landed. Or that education you are receiving. It could be a certain relationship you have been praying for. Maybe you have a certain skill, gift or ability. 

Whether those things in our possession are tangible or intangible, everything we own has been given to us by God. And in the end, we have to realize that we are not owners of anything, but simply managers of God's resources. And each one of us has a unique set of resources that God has given to us. Some more than others, some with different gifts and different abilities. But each is designed with the purpose of bringing glory to God.

When we adapt that perspective, that nothing is really ours to begin with, it demands that we approach everything differently. It demands that we be more responsible, that we treat everything we have with care and discernment. That's what stewardship is all about. And we will be held accountable for how we managed everything in our own lives.    

If a close friend left you the keys to their house to take care of for an extended period of time, are you going to trash the place? I would hope not. That friend trusted you enough to leave you responsible. When they return, they are going to see how trustworthy you really are.

Over the next few weeks, I want to take a closer look at some of the different aspects of stewardship. But first, we need to take an inventory of what God has entrusted us in our lives right now.

What has God trusted you with? How can you become a better steward and honor God with those things?

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SCRIPTURE REFERENCE: 1 Chronicles 29:12-14, Romans 14:12, Matthew 25:14-30, Galatians 6:4-5

Overcome Fear With Faith

Yesterday was probably the final "first day of school" for me.

It was a scary thought, thinking that in a few months everything that I considered routine will have to change. No more class schedules. No more textbooks. No more final exams. I'll be exchanging those responsibilities and assignments for new ones. I'm already getting a little taste of that and I felt a bit of a wave of panic and doubt rush over me.

Am I going the right way? What if I'm stuck and going nowhere 10 years down the line? Is this really the right path?

Sometimes it feels like life is just coming at you at 100 miles per hour and you feel powerless to stop. Things are starting to change so rapidly that you wonder whether or not you can make the proper adjustments.

I've been reading Steven Furtick's Sun Stand Still this month and it has definitely ignited something in my mind. One of the things that he talks about, something that is essential for any Christian, is to have audacious faith. "Biblical audacity is a mind-set that approaches God with confidence and believes him for the impossible," Furtick writes. He goes on to say that audacity is not an activity, but an approach. "It's all about how we do what we do." Audacious faith comes down to "trusting Jesus completely in every area of your life and setting out to devote your life wholly to revealing his glory in this world."

That's the key.

There is nothing that God has entrusted us with that we cannot handle. We just need to constantly

We are always going to be battling with doubts. With fears. With insecurities. We need to combat them with audacity. With a knowledge of who God is and what his promises are for our lives. With a faith that helps us push through those doubts and questions. If we only took action when we were 100% certain of something, I can guarantee you we would never accomplish anything in our lives.

So take that first step of faith with the knowledge that God will be there with every step if we just follow his lead.

The "In Between Time"

One of the pastors at my church, Pace Hartfield, delivered a message a little over a year ago that changed my life.

I didn't leave the worship center the same way I came in. I was forced to reevaluate my perspective on everything and how I looked at everything. And with the new year finally here, I began to think back on that message.

He talked about waiting. About how we are always waiting for something in our lives. About taking our waiting, our "In Between Time", and making it active instead of passive. (CLICK HERE to purchase the message if you are interested.)

Instead of just asking myself "What are the things I'm waiting for?", now I was thinking about "How was I waiting for those things?" I had to be honest with myself and begin evaluating how I was using my time. 

It's like King Solomon says in Ecclesiastes. There is a time and a season for everything. But in our culture today, we want everything now. I have been guilty of that method of thinking. Sometimes I find myself looking at others and wondering why they had those things and I didn't. Or why that person got that opportunity and I didn't. That's a downright foolish way to think. It is not productive and it's certainly not biblical. 

Instead of looking to the left or to the right, and in some cases looking back, I realized I needed to keep my eyes forward. God's timing is much greater than my own timing. Sometimes I forget that I'm just 21 years old. 

I realized that I have focus on what God is working on in my today in order to prepare me for what God has prepared for me tomorrow.  That I'm running a marathon and not a sprint.

With the New Year finally here, I'm sort of pivoting into a new direction and a new perspective on things. I feel like 2011 was a launchpad into 2012, where I am about to close one chapter of my life and open another. It is a critical time and I realize what I do here and now will have implications in the future.

The habits we develop now, the attitudes we foster now, and the actions and decisions we make now will determine where we stand six months from now. A year from now. Ten years from now. Don't wait a second longer. It starts with obedience; walking in step with God. A lot of times we want the payoff. The success. The end result. But if we are not going to put in the hard work and be obedient to God's plan and will, then all you're really doing is spinning the wheels and wasting time.

"In Between Time" is a lot like training camp. If a team expects to develop itself into a championship contender, it better be welling to put in those long hours in the offseason, often times months in advance, in order to win. That means physically getting in shape. Studying the opponents. Mentally preparing for the demands of the coming season. If a player decides to skip this part of the process, they are in for a rude awakening come gameday.

Let's start making the best of the time we have right now. Set up your goals. Make a plan. And execute.

What are you going to do to transform your "In Between Time"?

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SCRIPTURE REFERENCE: Ecclesiastes 3:1-12, Hebrews 10:36, Psalm 84:5-7, James 1:2-4