Happy Saturday, friends!
It’s hard to believe that 2 years ago tomorrow, we put our Azle home of 32 years on the market, Mrs. Sweetie moved to our new home in Amarillo, and I moved into our motor home to live for my final month as Executive Director of Harvest Baptist Association.
It’s been an amazing 2 years! Some great things, some pretty good, some tolerable, some challenging, some dadgum hard.
In other words—life, normal life.
And that, my friends, is still amazing.
How?
Because we’re amazing.
That sounds incredibly arrogant, doesn’t it?
Let me explain.
Several years ago, I started a podcast called “Your Church Matters” and released a little over 100 episodes during its run (January 2015-August 2017).
Though I put that podcast to bed almost 8 years ago, some of the thinking that has significantly shaped my approach to life was developed during that time.
(I really appreciate those of you that have been along for the entire ride and will recognize some of this).
When I close this post today with “Be amazing today, my friend,” it is a direct result of a spontaneous phrase I tossed out at the end of the introductory episode.
“Go and be amazing.”
Those words became my sign off for every episode of the podcast, as well as the “Be Amazing” video series I’m still releasing (albeit infrequently) on my YouTube channel.
Early in the podcast run I determined that “be amazing” needed a clearer definition. Otherwise, it risks becoming unrealistic, frustrating, shallow, and self-absorbed.
So here’s what became a part of the intro of each episode:
“We are amazing when we are amazed by God and join Him in His amazing activity in the world.”
His amazing activity is not defined by the spectacle of the circumstance, but by the fact that our amazing God is always at work and—to my amazement—He invites us ordinary folk to notice and join in.
So that’s what I mean when I say that we’re amazing.
Two nights ago, we went to the Amarillo Sod Poodles game (our local AA affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks) with our Sunday School class.
That would be the class we rarely attend because Sweetie has started teaching a different class and I’ve been interim pastor at another church for the past 11 months.
But these folks that welcomed us to the class over a year ago—when we were still praying about joining the church—have stayed connected and included us.
At one point during the game, Ruckus the mascot came and took my seat next to Sweetie.
We got a good laugh at the time, but as I looked at the picture this morning I noticed, with fresh eyes, his pointing at the camera.
So, maybe I have a logo for what I’m trying to communicate today ….
Ruckus wants YOU to be amazing today, my friend!
[Virtual Assistant sigh in Panhandlese: “Sod Poodles” are somebody’s idea of a nickname for Prairie Dogs.]
