Mobile Donkey Librarian . . .
I was watching HEROES on CNN and they were doing a story on Yohannes Gebregiorgis and how he “Got Off His Donkey” . . . check out this video.
Let’s Get It On . . .
Perry Noble is such a challenging Pastor and speaks such with power as he isn’t afraid to get off his Donkey and calls others to do the same. What is God calling you to do. For months God was calling me to step out of the comfortable environment of the church I was serving and “GO” . . . Now the message he has been birthing in me throughout my life is becoming really clear. We can’t just “stay and pray” . . . we have to “get it on”! To move forward with action on the promises and call of the Lord.
Donkey shirts are in . . .
Do I have your order? I only have 24 shirts – 6 of each size from small to x-large, so get your order in NOW!
Here are the orders I have:
Kyle, Sebren, Nikki, Ken, DW, Rebecca Davis, Haley, Laura, PK, & Queen
These are the sizes taken:
s-3
m-2
l-3
xl-2
Add a comment with your size and let me know you want a shirt. Cost is $10. This is a deal for an American Apparel shirt.
Get off your Donkey (pt. 2) . . . “you don’t care”
So what does this “Donkey” look like?
Actually – NO . . . most of us don’t ride really donkeys so the “Donkey” is speaking of something different here. Let me share a story I heard this past Sunday of a guy name Jamie getting off of his “Donkey”. You can listen to the podcast here (11 a.m. service – story starts @ 3:15). He was sharing how God has taken him on a journey into a life lived on mission and challenging everyone else to join the same . . . by the way – it is the “CALL OF GOD ON EACH OF US!”
So the story Jamie tells goes this way – he was traveling with his family and needed to go through a toll road. As it becomes his turn he does what lots of us do . . . he says, “how are you today?” The guy takes his $1 and replies, “you don’t care.” Well, Jamie says, “thank you” and drives off. Then about a mile or so down the road it hit him what the guy had said and he was just broken over the fact the man was right – “I don’t care!” So, he “Got off his Donkey” and turned his car around. He paid the toll to go the wrong way . . . he did a U-turn, got in the man’s lane and pulled back up to the guys booth again. The guy at the toll booth asked, “didn’t I just see you?” ”Yes, but you said you were doing bad and I didn’t care – well you were right and I don’t want it to be that way. So, I am back. What’s wrong?” The guy in the toll booth says, “man my feet hurt” . . . Jamie tells this guy, “I don’t really know what I can do about your feet – is there anything more going on, something I can pray for?” The guy from the toll booth begins to talk about marriage problems as cars behind are starting to honk their horns and are beginning to give Jamie directions – not directions to his next stop. Things like, “Go to H_ _ L” . . . So Jamie gives him the number to the church in the area where the toll booth is and say’s, “I got to get out of here.” The guy actually called Jamie a few months later and said thanks for stopping and that he had called the church. He also said that things with him and his wife were getting better.
That is “Getting off your Donkey”! It is Loving God through Loving Others as you Love yourself . . .
My sweet friend Wanda
This is one of the sweetest woman I know . . . She serves God with her life at the Garden as the house mother. She lives out “Loving God through Loving Others as much as self.”
Get off your Donkey (pt. 1) . . .
“Get off your Donkey” is more than a fun thing for me to say or a cool shirt at this point, it is a reminder of how Jesus lived and calls everyone of his followers to live. If you read the account of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:25-37 you will see just what I am referring to. After Jesus is asked by an expert in the law “what it takes to inherit eternal life?”, they end up with two Great truths . . . these are know to Christians as the Greatest Commandment. Love God and Love Others as much as you Love yourself! Jesus follows this up with a story to help this “so called” expert understand who the “others” are that deserve to be loved. He tells about a man being beat up and left naked and 1/2 dead on the side of the road. Two preacher like guys come along and pass by on the other side of the road . . . then a Samaritan comes along and sees the man, cares for him, and puts the hurt man on his (the Samaritan’s) donkey before taking him to a local motel. Pays for a few nights stay and promises to pay whatever is needed when he returns if the guy working the desk will takes care of the guy who is hurt. Jesus tells us to, “Go and do likewise.” That is a command!
We are to GET OFF OUR DONKEY . . . so we can let a hurt and dying world ride. You never know when that hurt and dying person just might represent your Savior. (Mt. 25:35-40)
Dance Party (kid’s only) . . .
This is our latest dance party . . . Weatherly has been rocking this song out from the movie Madagascar. This dance party was for kid’s only.
This is just one of the ways we stay connected as a family . . . what do you do to keep your family connected?
GET OFF YOUR DONKEY t-shirt . . .
Get your shirt orders in . . . these shirt are being printed this weekend and shipped by the end of next week. For $10 you too can ROCK OUT in a “GET OFF OF YOUR DONKEY” shirt.
The idea for this shirt grew out of a message I preached last week in Mississippi and a follow up conversation I was having with Tony Staires. We were talking about the Good Samaritan and how he was willing to have his life interrupted to be used by God. Thing is, in order for him to put the beaten up guy on his donkey . . . he first, had to GET OFF OF HIS DONKEY! In that moment we both said, “I’d wear that t-shirt”. So, not only are we going to wear it – you get the chance to have one too. If you notice, under the EY in DONKEY – it says 42.10.25 . . . that is the 42nd book of the bible (Luke) the 10th chapter and the 25th verse. 42.10.25 is the starting point for the conversation where Jesus begins the Good Samaritan story.
Leave a comment to let me know what size you want . . . we only printed 48 shirts in various sizes, so your size may go fast. Tony has 1/2 of the shirts and I have the other 1/2.
the NOW, the NEXT, and the FOREVER! . . .
My NEXT step is coming together. One of the reasons for the lack of action on my blog of late has been the way God has been messing me up and speaking into me. I have been convicted and challenged in many ways lately. Some things are beginning to become very clear and I am can see the NEXT in it . . . As I go through this process I have written a few statements that I stand for and I see these as the guiding statements for the NEXT step for where God is taking me.
I stand for:
- LOVING God
- LOVING Others as I LOVE Myself
- Expressing LOVE in tangible ways
- The Church (God’s people) being the Church and knowing what that feels like
- Faith that works and not faith that is earned through works
- People who don’t know God experiencing God through His people LOVING them where they are – this love is not because of them, but because of HIM (Jesus)
- NAKEDNESS (yes that is right – NAKEDNESS) – no need to hide . . . lay it all out and let the truth be known – for that is where we are truly free.
- People getting off of their donkey so they can allow the hurting and dying to ride it . . . You never know when that hurt and dying person could be your Savior
These are the NEXT . . . actually these are the NOW, the NEXT, and the FOREVER!
