Cause to Pause

Well, it appears that the children of Wisconsin will not be getting any presents from Santa this year.
It turns out, someone sabotaged the list. Sent the pages right into the shredder.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhBXP-UmNhY&hl=en&fs=1]

If only Santa had a good back-up all those children would not be disappointed this  year.

I wonder if we will see Santa or one of his elves at the Florida Church IT Roundtable? Yes, the FAQs say you have to be a church or ministry in Florida, but there might be an exception for mythical creatures….

But as for the rest of you, if you live in Florida and run a ministry this will certainly be an event you will want to attend. You may find out how to sneak a video like the one above-but without the jerkiness

Plus, among other things, you wouldn’t want any upset elves.

In John 12 Mary anoints Jesus with oil and Judas gets all wigged out about it. This made me think. In the church world right now, budgets are tight. There is a lot of fear involved. When this happens, unfortunately folks oftentimes take their eyes off God and arrange a firing squad. Usually in a circle.
As the economy continues to shrink, we may hear a lot of second guessing of past spending decisions from leadership. Or from the congregation. Or from ourselves. “If we hadn’t spent “x” on “y” back then, we would have it now.” True, but the ministry you did then wouldn’t have happened.
We may hear questions about why we spend so much on this or that. These are natural discussions to have. Especially when it comes time to make tough decisions. We all care deeply about the work we are doing. However, an argument or accusation about the past has no business in the church (or anywhere else). Discussions about past decisions with a direct focus on the future MAY have value, but fear can come in rather quickly and fear is where Satan lives.
I think we can take a big lesson from John on this one. He tells us that Judas was not upset because he wanted to take care of the poor. Judas was concerned about Judas. Don’t let your teams or leaders get caught in the fear trap. This only leads to pointing fingers at what may be perceived as another’s waste. Check your motives. Encourage others to check theirs. Ask everyone where their “Fear Factor” is. Ministry is bigger than “MY ministry”. Ministry is about the bigger vision God has for all.