After three steps into Dan and Stella’s house, I abruptly stopped, “Almost forgot!”
Last week, I flew into Boston one day after midnight. The time was not by design; it was the result of snow and ice. My connecting flight had been delayed six hours and I arrived thoroughly exhausted. Once my bags were in hand, I quickly secured a cab and headed northwest to Dan and Stella’s. We got to their house after thirty minutes and I was more than ready for some rest.
As I entered their side door, I set my coat, gloves and briefcase in a nearby chair and quickly headed toward the stairs with my overnight bag. I’d stayed at Dan and Stella’s many times and knew exactly where to go.
One step. A second step. And on my third step, I remembered. Dan and Stella have a clear guideline in their home: Take off your outside shoes and leave them at the door as you can see via this blog’s pic!
What a great illustration for my HouseofJesus.net readers!
How easy it is to enter Jesus’ House and forget to honor His ways. Instead of sacrificially loving others like Jesus (humility, gentleness, patience etc.), we sometimes exemplify the world’s bad habits (arrogance, abuse, impatience etc.). And instead of always empowering others through equipping like Jesus (clarity, fit, apprenticing etc.), we sometimes gravitate towards the world’s patterns (urgency, expediency, controlling etc.).
This ongoing tension and battle catalyze my book and website’s mission: To help Jesus’ disciples more fully follow His ways.
My hope and prayer is that these resources are making a real difference. And to that end, you can expect more new blogs and tools in 2020. I will begin the year with a multi-month series on “Five-Fold” ministry. What is it? Why is it important? What are the preconditions for it? What does it look and feel like? And what best practices can help a team walk it out?
Merry Christmas to all! The reason for the season is the Head of the House!
