Category: What I’ve Been Learning

Lessons from Teddy


Tuesday and Wednesday after work this week, I went and visited my friend Teddy in the hospital. Teddy was a regular customer at the cigar shop I work at for years before I started working there. He had MS and was confined to a wheelchair. He would come in like clockwork from noon to 2:00pm.

His MS progressed to the point where he was having trouble holding his cigars. So the guys all got together and made a gizmo which attached to his wheelchair that held his cigar and caught the ash. You should have seen his face when they presented him with it. It was amazing. He loved his cigars!

When I saw him Wednesday night, in spite of his family’s attempts to rouse him, Teddy was unresponsive. They assured me he was just sleeping, that it just took some doing to wake him up. Then I had an idea. I took a cigar from my jacket pocket, removed it from the cellophane, and held it just under Teddy’s nose. “You smell that, Teddy?” I asked, smiling.

He did, and his eyes popped wide open, and this little smile came across his face. I tell you that cigar worked better than smelling salts, only with a much more pleasant after effect!

We had a good talk after that, though he dosed in and out. I think my favorite part was when he asked me to lift his left hand up to his face so he could scratch his nose. I enjoyed serving him in that way. I prayed with him and for him. In the end I told him that I loved him, that all of us at the shop missed him. And then I whispered in his ear, “But I will see you again.”

I don’t think I will ever forget the look on his face. He knew exactly what I was talking about. His smile said it all. Yes we would see each other again. And then he would no longer be hindered by this dreadful disease. His body would no longer be fighting against him. All the pain, heartaches, and suffering that he endured here would fade away in the healing that heaven brings and in joy of seeing His Master, Jesus. He knew that moment was coming, and he was longing for it. And though it hurt, I longed for it for him.

Teddy knew that there is not a single disease that Jesus cannot cure. And he also knew that He does it one of two ways: He heals you here, or He bestows on you the “Ultimate Healing,” and brings you to that place where He will wipe every tear from your eyes. Where there is no more death or mourning or crying or pain (Revelation 21:4 NIV). When the Father chooses to bring a son or daughter home, it does not mean that He failed to keep His promise. Heaven is the ultimate fulfillment of that promise.

Jesus said in John 14:1-3:

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

This morning, Jesus Made good on that promise, came into his bedside, took Teddy by the hand, and led him Home.

I am now filled with a heavy happiness. I am glad his suffering is over, but I am not glad that he is gone. The hard part is that we are not always ready to go, or see people go, when Jesus comes to bring us home. Even though we could see this one coming from a mile away, when it happened, you find that you are not nearly ready for it, and that is hard.

Yet, my sadness is not one without hope. This hope is not some desperate wish that something might come about. No, this hope is an assurance of something that will come about. Jesus came to give us hope. He came to free us from hopes that don’t live up to the hype so we could be set free to live and run and dream with a hope that cannot be stolen, that cannot be broken, that cannot be lost, and that cannot fail.

God wants you to know, you can put your hope in Him because He has not held back anything from you, and has committed all that He is to insure that his promises of help, healing, and hope will come to pass.

This is the hope that allows us to press on, to go through the hard times. Jesus is totally in love with and committed to His family and He was willing to sacrifice everything He had, even His life, so that He could guarantee every person who comes to His Father through Him has everything they need in this life and the next.

Because of that hope, because of Jesus, I know that Teddy is whole and healthy again; and that with each breath of heaven’s air he realizes he is more alive and full of joy than he ever thought possible. And I am willing to bet he has already enjoyed a few heavenly cigars with Jesus (yes I am serious). One day, perhaps sooner than I would like to think, Jesus will take me Home too, I will have the joy and privilege of sitting and smoking with him again.

Lessons from Repeats


Exodus 4:12 (NIV), I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.

About a week or so ago I was invited to give the Sunday sermon at a local church. That is not so unusual. What was a bit unusual was who asked, or rather who didn’t ask. It want the pastor, it was someone who my wife knew from a childbirth class she taught (he and his wife were her students). So years after this class was over, he reaches out to Mandi who reaches out to me to reach out to her friend (also named Dan by the way). Anyway, Dan tells me that their pastor has been out of town taking a summer course at a seminary and needed to be gone a week longer than planned, hence the request for me to come.

I had no relationship with the pastor or the church for that matter. What to do. I mean, I said yes, but what would I give as a message?

One came to my mind right away, Cornered for Grace. As I read over it, I realized that I needed to hear it myself, so I decided to run with it.

This church begins their Sunday service by asking for concerns, joys, and needs to pray for.

The first said, “I just lost my job, I don’t know what to do.”

The second said, “My friend is dying and is so upset she won’t talk to me.”

Those are two I remember, but there were a number that were basically: I feel lost. God is quiet. I’m confused. I am anxious.

Mandi leaned over and whispered, “They need to hear your message today.”

My message was based on Psalm 13 and the point is that God is not interested in making me feel capable, He is interested in showing me that He is capable.

It was very clear that God had put the right one on my heart. These people were going to hear it for the first time. I was hearing it for my fifth. But I needed to hear it as much as anyone.

Some things bear repeating. We need reminded, redirected, and corrected. Especially, I find when it comes to grace. We seem naturally pulled to focus so much on the wind and the waves that Jesus seems to have disappeared (see Matthew 14:30).

I posted this sermon a bit over a year ago. If you are feeling like you are wondering what God is doing with your life, where He has gone, why you are where you are, or feel like God has been silent in your life, then you might want to give it a listen. Even if you have heard it before.

Odd Transitions


Yesterday morning I officiated a funeral. That is something that most people would expect a pastor to do. After I was done with that, I spent the rest of the day working at a cigar bar. That is something most people would not think a pastor would do. The change in mindset from one job to the next today is certainly odd to me.

I think Jesus knows how I felt. After all, He often had weird transitions too. For instance, John 2 starts with Jesus attending a wedding and ends with Jesus clearing the Temple courts. In Chapter 3 Jesus teaches the Pharisee Nicodemus. In Chapter 4 He is teaching a Samaritan woman at a well in Samaria, a person and place no self-respecting Pharisee would go and talk to. John 7:35-50 shows both these worlds colliding, being at a Pharisee’s house for dinner, and then having a “sinful woman” make a scene crying at Jesus’ feet.

Do you see what I mean? Jesus hung out with some very godly people and He spent significant time with and investing in people who were nothing like that.

I suspect many people know what I am talking about. For most of us, our work looks very different from church. But I have been learning that the main thing stays the same. The goal—be we at home or at church or at work or out with friends—is to be learning to love God and love our neighbors better and better and to help the people we are with (in big and small ways) to love God and love others better.

So, while I may feel transitions like today are anything but complimentary, I am learning that they are not at all unlike what Jesus experienced. And if I am to be growing to be more and more like Jesus, I should expect that these seemingly opposite circumstances will continue.

Lessons from Spiderman (Special Graces in Common Places, part 3).


But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers (Matthew 23:8, NIV).

In my last two posts, I shared that common and every day experiences were often what served as the springboards for Jesus’ lessons. Scripture was His textbook, life was His classroom. Over and over again we see that Jesus took advantage of “everyday life” to teach His disciples.

It is my contention that Jesus has not changed His methods, and that through the Holy Spirit, He is doing the same for us; giving us special graces in common places, lessons that He wants us learning to help us work out the grace that He is constantly working into us (Philippians 2:12-13).

As Jesus is constantly discipling us through our everyday life so that we can be learning to love Him and love others better (Matthew 22:36-40), we need to be learning to listen to Him so that we can join Him in helping others do the same (Matthew 28:19-20).

You see, love is not a concept to be understood but a relational commitment to be lived out with everyone you meet. And while you certainly have plenty of opportunities to be learning that here, most of the opportunities to do so are out there in the everyday.

What I want to do today and tomorrow is to share a little bit with you about what that looks like. After all, it is one thing to agree we are no less the church when we are “scattered” than when we are “gathered;” but it is another thing to be learning it. So much of the Christian life is just as much caught as it is taught.

I’m going to do a little “Pastor Dan: Unplugged” for you. I’m going to share a little about what God has been teaching me lately and some of the special graces that I found in some very unexpected common places.

I’ve been learning that the work that God wants me doing is not always the work I want to be doing, or thought I’d be doing.

I have felt a bit like Peter Parker in Spiderman: Homecoming.

Peter was recruited by Tony Stark to join the Avengers (of course that actually happened in Capitan America: Civil War, but they recap it—ha! Re-CAP, like Capitan America’s nick name! hahahaha!—in Homecoming).

Tony outfits him with a supped-up-super-suit and he holds his own against some powerful opponents.

When he gets back home, which is where Homecoming picks up, he is so pumped! He anxiously awaits the next call, the next mission. And he waits. And he waits. And he waits. But the call never comes. Even when he stumbles on a real legitimate bad guy, he doesn’t get the call. He has to stay in school, do homework, and trust that Stark knows what he is doing.

He’s got great gifts. He’s got the heart, the smarts, the courage, and the creativity to do great things. He’s got crazy potential to be a super superhero. But the call never comes. He’s going crazy just waiting. Have any of you ever felt like that?

After earning three degrees in biblical and theological studies and getting well under way on a fourth I thought I’d always be working in the church or teaching or writing and speaking. But for the last two years, God has had way different plans. I’m working in a cigar shop. I’m a co-host on a weekly cigar podcast.

I’ve been waiting for answers. How long is this season going to be? What’s the reason for this season? When am I going to get back to pastoring? When is the next call coming?

I have been asking questions like those a lot. I have been praying over them, asking God what, when, and why? I have been reading the Bible with an ear to those answers.

Psalm 37:7, Be still and wait for the Lord.

Proverbs 3:5 (NIV), Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

Have faith. Trust. Wait. Yeah, I get that. It is easy to understand. But how do you live that out in the everyday stuff? It is not always so easy is it? The way to live out God’s commands is not always clear.

Having knowledge of the truth is important. But that is not the same as knowing how to apply it, how to live it out in any given situation. That is the difference between knowledge and wisdom. That is why we need Jesus to give us special graces in common places. We need to have the Spirit’s leading to live out the truth we know.

I want to share with you how I have been discerning Jesus’ answers to these questions of mine over the last few months.

Now, the point of sharing these things with you is to give you an example of the special graces I have found in the common places of my everyday life. My hope is not so much that you take to heart anything I say. No, my hope is that the Spirit starts working in your mind and heart while I am speaking to make you realize that He has been no less active in the common places of your life.

Sunday night of this past Memorial Day weekend, I found myself at the hospital with Anna again. Her feelings of depression, anxiety, and anger had been uncontrollable. I was there with her all that night through Monday evening. It took that long to find an open placement for her. What a way to spend Memorial Day weekend right?

One of the things that God was teaching me that night was that right now I can’t be in formal pastoral ministry. In fact, a weird providential twist of irony, twenty years ago on that very day, I had graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando. I was set to go from there into a lifetime of pastoral ministry.

Now on the 20th anniversary of that graduation, God was clearly saying: “Stop interviewing with churches. I don’t want you leading a church right now.” And as that thought sank in, so did reality. God had been saying that through a bunch of different ways for a long time. I had sort of surrendered to that, but had not submitted to it.

There is a difference you know, between surrendering and submitting. Never once in the Bible is the word surrender used in a positive light. Never once are we told to surrender to God’s authority. We are, however, a number of times told we are to submit to His authority. God doesn’t want you to surrender. You can surrender without agreeing to or liking His authority!

Now, it was unavoidable. It was clear to me I hadn’t done that. I needed to submit to His will for me. And now I was seeing the wisdom of it. I can’t give the kind of time and energy to Anna and the rest of my family and also look after a congregation. I need to focus on them right now, and for the foreseeable future. Family needs me too much.

Now, fast forward to two weeks ago, I was sitting in my home church listening to Pastor Chris’s sermon, and all the sudden “Bam!” Spiderman Homecoming popped back into my head. Not because I was distracted, but because something Chris said started a conversation between Jesus and I.

Now in order to share this conversation, I have to tell you a little bit about the movie. But don’t worry, I’m not going to tell you any more than what they showed in the previews.

At one point Iron Man has to come and rescue Spiderman. He had got tired of waiting. He was feeling ignored. So he decided to take matters into his own hand and things quickly spun out of control. He had made quite a mess of things you understand. And Tony Stark steps out of his suit and has a frank sit down with Peter.

Tony: I’m gonna need the suit back.

Peter: For how long?

Tony: Forever.

Peter: But I’m nothing without this suit!

Tony: If you’re nothing without the suit then you shouldn’t have it.

Then that passage from Matthew came into my mind:

But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted (Matthew 23:8-12, NIV).

Now this passage isn’t against having formal titles like Rabbi, teacher, father, or pastor, or professor. It isn’t against calling people by titles either. Remember, Jesus gave twelve of His disciples the title “apostle.” The context of this passage is about the misuse and abuse of the Pharisees because of their titles. They were using the authority of their title and position to set themselves up over the people.

Leadership in the church—pastor, elder, deacons—is not based on having an office or title but on having influence though loving relationships with people.

The people who have titled positions in the church (pastor, elder, deacon), were the people who were incarnating God’s love in how they live life together. Leaders are not put into formal positions where they take leadership, so much as they are people where the people with whom they share life together affirm the leadership they already have, by virtue of their life, example, and reputation by giving a title.

It is relational, not hierarchical. I’m not saying that there is no authority or accountability structure, what I am saying is that the authority of the leaders and the accountability between the leaders and the congregations is founded and focused on love and submitting in love to one another, not primarily because of a person’s title or position.

And so, I really believe the Spirit started to speak to me saying, “Don’t get wrapped up in titles, Dan. You don’t need to have a pastor’s title to do what I have called you to do. If you need the title, then you’re doing it wrong. I have not removed My call by putting you where you are, I have put you where I need you to live out My call.” Leadership in God’s kingdom is not about doing things for God, it is about being obedient in doing the things God gives us to do.

Then I remembered, when I decided to go to seminary, I went with the attitude that there was no downside to it. At best, I would have the necessary academic credentials to pursue my calling into pastoral ministry. At worst (if you can say worst) I would be well educated in my faith and that would set me up to excel in my practice as a husband, father, and worker in Christ’s kingdom.

You see, there is no not being a worker in His kingdom. I don’t see myself as having been demoted or benched. In some ways I feel promoted! Or at least I think I should feel that way.

We sometimes are guilty of thinking that pastors and missionaries are the ultimate Christians. That, my friends, is not at all the case.

In truth the most influential Christian leader, mentor, and spiritual father I have ever met was an insurance salesman! Charlie “Tremendous” Jones. I have never met anyone who was more wise, more fun, or more thankful than him.

Some examples:

You will be the same person you are today five years from now except for two things: the people you meet and the books you read! Hang around thinkers and you’ll be a better thinker, hang around workers and you’ll be a better worker, hang around givers and you’ll be a better giver, hang around a bunch of thumb-sucking-complaining-griping-boneheads and you’ll be a better thumb-sucking-complaining-griping-bonehead!

You don’t give to get something, you give because you have something. If you give something to get something, you’re not giving you’re trading. What you get when you give is a greater capacity to give.

I hear people say I put God first. Don’t talk to me like that you thumb-sucker! Who are you to put God first? He is first whether you like it or not! You don’t put God first, you realize He is first and you quit putting Him way down the list when you realize He is first no matter where you put him.

…and I have never met anyone who loved God as well as he. I really can’t express how much influence he had on me (and Mandi too) over the 6 years I was his spiritual son. He held no titles, but he did more for the kingdom than most people with titles.

Never confuse a degree or a title or a position as necessary things to possess in order to do “real” work in the Father’s kingdom. Most kingdom work happens in the everyday, common, and normal places of life where none of those things really come into play… like spending 21 hours in an ER with your anxious and hurting daughter.

Do you see what I mean? Are you picking up what I am laying down?

Jesus is always discipling us, giving us special graces in common places. The question is: are we listening?

Personal Confessions (Special Graces in Common Places, part 2)


In light of these things I have been learning in my last post, I have some confessions to make:

While I have had some great insights, discussions, and breakthroughs in church, my most meaningful insights, discussions, and breakthroughs have happened outside the church. God is speaking to us and teaching us all the time. The question is: are we listening?

I need to confess that we Christians can get so wrapped up in wanting to learn about Jesus that we spend precious little time actually listening to Jesus. You are not going to be able to discern His voice and direction in your life if you don’t know about Him, but the whole point of knowing about Him is to recognize His voice so you can follow Him. The point of knowing your Bible well is so you can love God and love others well. But you don’t learn to love God and love others well by reading your Bible, listening to sermons, coming to church every Sunday, and going to seminars.

If it was all about what we hear, we’d all be a whole lot better than we are because we have all heard a lot of good stuff right? But it isn’t about what you hear. It’s about what you think and do as a result of what you hear isn’t it! Listening to the greatest preacher in the world week after week won’t transform you into a person who loves God and loves others well any more than spending your life in a chicken coup will transform you into a chicken!

The magic doesn’t happen in the church building. It happens outside the church. You don’t get good at golf by reading about golf; you get good at golf by playing golf! The magic happens in your kitchen, your bathroom, at the grocery store, and the place where you get your coffee. You learn to love God and love others by learning what it means to incarnate Jesus’ love wherever you are at, to whomever you are with, in everything you do.

Let me give you an example.

On Father’s Day 2 years ago, I was in the hospital with my daughter Anna. It was about 1:00am. I was sitting on one of those plastic-leather couches in the emergency room. You know the kind of couches I am talking about, the ones where the comfortableness wears off after an hour or so. The ER was busy that evening. From what I gathered from the staff, Father’s Day is usually an eventful day. The room we were in was a waiting room in the ER itself, not the waiting room outside. It was a small room just big enough for the little two-seater couch I was sitting on, and a couple of matching chairs.

My daughter Anna was sitting in a chair across from me fidgeting. Understandable. We had been there since about 7:00pm. I was there for her. She had made it clear that she was not feeling safe, that she was feeling like she would not be able to control the thoughts to hurt herself if we did not go to the hospital. We had been seen by the medical and psych staff, and all of us came to the conclusion that she needed that help. We were just waiting for all the arrangements to be made at this point, and had been told that we would most likely be waiting here till morning.

After I took the last sip of my iced-coffee, Anna looked up at me with sad, anxious, blue eyes and exclaimed, “I’m sorry I ruined your Father’s Day daddy.” Now, we had had company over that afternoon, and that ended up having to be cut short to focus on her. She was sure that I was not happy about that or having to spend all night with her at the hospital when I should have been enjoying Father’s Day, even though I had not said so.

I straightened up, shook my head, smiled at her and said, “No honey. You have not wrecked my Father’s Day. You have given me another opportunity to show you that I love being your dad, and what better day for that to be than Father’s Day? It is not possible for you to wreck it. I suppose I could wreck it if I had a bad attitude about it, but I don’t. I love you because God made you and gave you to me. Being here does not change those things. You can’t change those things. The way I look at it, God must really love me a lot to entrust me with being the dad to someone as special and awesome as you. I am not mad, or angry, or upset. I am glad to be here with you when you need me. You did not wreck my Father’s Day, by asking for my help you made my Father’s Day. Do you believe me?”

She nodded. Her eyes were not so anxious any more.

“I’m serious, now. I mean what I said. You did not wreck my Father’s Day. Do you believe me?”

She smiled back, “Yes daddy, I believe you.”

“Good,” I said. “Want to see if we can watch an episode of Flash on my tablet?” She nodded, and came over and sat with me.

Now, what’s the point? The point is that I have been learning how important it is to reinforce the fact that the love I have for her and my other two daughters is not based on what they do or on how they perform, but is based solely in who they are. That is the kind of love that God wants us to have for everyone.

But that is not often how people understand love is it? We seem hardwired for believing that we are loved, or are worthy of love, or are able to love, based on what other people think of us and on our own performance.

Let me tell you, if God’s love for me was based on my performance or on what other people think of me, He would have kicked me to the curb a long time ago! My heavenly Father loves me because He wants to, not because I earned it. We need to mirror that love to one another. We need to love people because God made them, because we see His fingerprints on their hearts and souls. The more we love like that, the more we understand the love God has for us in Jesus. The more we understand that, the better we love God. The better we love God, the better we are able to love other people.

Now that is not to say I did not have a hard time with that. It was painful to be there. It is painful to see your kid hurt so much in her soul. It hurts to not be enough. It hurt to know that for the time being she needed to be away to get the help she needed. It is very hard, and my heart is very heavy. But she did make my day by trusting her mom and me enough to let us know she needed help. I was glad for the opportunity to tell her that sitting with her that night was just what I wanted to do for her on Father’s Day.

Hi all….


Alright… I am coming up to breathe. Things have been such that I have not taken the time to post for a while. Anna has been in the hospital again since my last post and Mandi, my epic wife, has undergone knee replacement surgery. As she will be out of work for the next few months I have taken a second job. I have continued to be called to preach at local churches, do funerals, and the occasional wedding. That has been good. God has been good. But that doesn’t mean it has been easy.

Learning that you are not enough and that Jesus is enough is a challenging lesson. I say “learning” because one of the things I have been learning is that I have not “learned” much! In fact, I have come to the point where I am very suspicious of someone who says, “You know what I’ve learned?” Show me some one who will say that and I’ll show you an idiot! I’ve been learning is that the minute I think I’ve learned something God teaches me that I haven’t really learned it yet. I haven’t learned much, but I’ve been learning a whole lot!

I have been learning that…


1 Peter 1:6-9 (NIV)

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.