The TerraNova BlogThe TerraNova Bloghttp://www.ourterranova.com/blog/2012-05-25T15:12:03ZSquarespaceLiving Everyday Heroichttp://www.ourterranova.com/blog/2012/5/25/living-everyday-heroic.htmlTerraNova Church2012-05-25T15:10:41Z2012-05-25T15:10:41ZThis weekend we're wrapping up our series "Everyday Heroic!"

Here's what I'm REALLY HOPING you've gotten out of the series so far ...
(1) You are created and called by God to be a HERO! To be the light of the world, the salt of the earth ... and to step up and STAND OUT. God did not light a fire in you so it would be hidden and subdued. He wants it to shine. He wants YOU to shine. Let your good deeds shine today!

(2) You have SUPER POWER. Rid your life of the words "I can't." Seriously. Replace them with "I don't want to." (That's more honest anyway.) And repeatedly tell yourself, "There is super-abundant power available for me in Christ. I can do all things through the one empowering me."

(3) Heroic action really boils down to (1) seeing clearly; and (2) acting on what I see (rather than hesitating until it becomes a fog).

(4) Everyday God is giving up opportunities to step up and stand out. Moments when he's speaking to us to be heroes. We will either seize those moments, or we'll hesitate and begin to tell ourselves stories that totally rationalize our inaction. Don't deceive yourself! Act on what you see!

BUT ... and this is where we're going this weekend ...

There's a fine line between acting heroic and just being crazy!

So join us this weekend as Everyday Heroic winds down with a fantastic story from the Old Testament that powerfully illustrates this important caveat in our heroic journeys!

]]>TerraNova Turns 5http://www.ourterranova.com/blog/2012/4/20/terranova-turns-5.htmlTerraNova Church2012-04-20T14:06:42Z2012-04-20T14:06:42ZTerraNova turns 5 this month. It was actually on an Easter morning in 2007 that two churches in south OC first came together to form a new community. And it's been a wild ride ever since.

To say that merging two church communities into one is "disruptive" would be an understatement. It was challenging, fun, stressful, exciting, hard work, fulfilling, new, challenging ... did I say that already? I was out of my comfort zone, and so were lots of other people.

But that actually was a significant part of the experience in and of itself, for me. One of the things I was learning was that the thing God calls us to very often pulls us out of our comfort zone. Or to put it more directly -- scares the bejeezuz out of us! (Why do you think it is that so often people in the Bible are told not to be afraid?! Take Joshua, for instance ...)

I once heard someone put it this way: "If the thing that you think God is calling you to doesn't make you feel like you're in over your head, you might be playing it too safe. God rarely calls us to do things that we can easily do without Him." Hmmmm ...

So we jumped into the deep end (or depend). And I'm SOOoooo glad we did. And though those intitially challenging and disrputive days seem so far in the past, and TerraNova has become such an amazing place filled with such wonderful people with such a great passion to make God's love famous, I'm hoping we never lose that adventurous, courageous sense that God calls us into the wild blue with Him, calls us to take risks in order to make Him famous.

Happy birthday TerraNova.

]]>The Lame Shame Cyclehttp://www.ourterranova.com/blog/2012/1/13/the-lame-shame-cycle.htmlTerraNova Church2012-01-13T16:32:35Z2012-01-13T16:32:35ZYou know how it goes: You feel lame about something in your life -- your debt, your weight, your diet, your habit. You want to be more well-read, more well-rounded (or ... er ... less rounded ...). You want to be less stressed out, budget your money better, stop yelling at your kids.

So you vow to stop. Or start. Or do better. You're going to change. You vow, you resolve, you promise yourself (and others). And you try. You really do. Maybe for a week. (Studies show that's about how long 30% of New Years resolutions last! Ha!) Or longer. But then you fail.

And when you fail, you feel lame. Bad, guilty.

So you vow again. You double vow. You're going to try harder. But then you fail again, even worse! And you feel worse.

Round and round we go with that -- vowing, trying, trying harder, failing, failing farther, feeling lame. Until we begin to give up. "Lame" turns into "shame." "What a loser. I'm so weak. Failure. Why can't I get this? Other people can ... what's wrong with me? I just can't ..."

Believe it or not, the Bible actually taps into this cycle in Romans 7.

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing!

Can you relate? (You're thinking, "That's in the Bible?! Man, that's the story of my life!") Join us at TerraNova this weekend to discover how to get out of that vow/try/fail/lame cycle.

]]>Revolutionhttp://www.ourterranova.com/blog/2012/1/10/revolution.htmlTerraNova Church2012-01-10T16:46:53Z2012-01-10T16:46:53ZJesus' message was not a message of resolutions -- vowing more, trying harder, failing (again), feeling lame. It was a message of REVOLUTION. A revolution of kingdoms. A revolution of wills.

"The time has come! The kingdom of God is near," he would say. "Repent and believe the good news."

Jesus once actually used the phrase "among you." Like it's all around me. An alternative reality.

What will I believe to be true today? How will I think and see the world?

I want to live as if the most powerful, attentive, faithful being in the universe is my Father. That he is surrounding me like the air I breathe. Guiding me moment-by-moment into my best possible life. A life that brings healing to myself, my family and community, and to the world he loves.

]]>New Year, New Youhttp://www.ourterranova.com/blog/2012/1/5/new-year-new-you.htmlTerraNova Church2012-01-05T17:20:00Z2012-01-05T17:20:00ZThere's something that's great about a new year. It gives us the excuse to do 2 really important things:

(1) Look back, remember and learn.

(2) Look forward, change some stuff, start fresh.

And that's really what all the hubbub's about at New Year's. Well, that and football. Last year's 10 best of this or 10 worst of that (the looking back part), and this year's new goals, new hopes and dreams.

So as you look back on 2011, what did you learn? How did you grow? What did you see God do that you couldn't have done for yourself?

And as you look forward to 2012, what would you love to see happen? How would you like to grow?

I want to invite you to join us this January for a great new series: (RE)NEW. Check out the link to it here.

It's not your normal "Try harder! Double down! Resolve!" kinda' message that you'll hear plenty of in January (especially from your own inner voices). Instead, we're going to look at some really unbelieveable things God has to say about the life He really created for you to have, the life that Jesus died so that you could have, a life that He can give you and create in you. A life that's totally  ... NEW!

See you this weekend at TerraNova.

]]>Tell Us About Your 60-60 Experience!http://www.ourterranova.com/blog/2011/10/11/tell-us-about-your-60-60-experience.htmlTerraNova Church2011-10-11T18:14:27Z2011-10-11T18:14:27ZThe 60-60 Experiment is simple. It's all about staying connected and staying responsive in this moment. Here's how it works:

(1) Get something to beep, chime, vibrate, ring or otherwise interrupt you at least once every 60 minutes for the next 60 days. Stick post-it notes or reminders in places. Prompt your awareness to turn toward God.

(2) When you're interrupted:

• Acknowledge that God is right here and tell Him you want to be connected to him like a branch to the vine right now, in this moment, whatever you're doing.

• Turn whatever you're doing God-ward. Just talk to Him about whatever you're doing, whatever you're feeling. Ask Him to bless the person you're with right now ... whatever it is.

• Ask Him to lead you into the next moment. Is there anything He wants you to be doing, saying, learning; any person he wants you to maybe engage or help out.

• Listen, look around, and if something comes to you -- DO it! (I know, crazy, huh?) See what happens!

3) Tell us how it's going. We want to hear all about your 60-60 experience -- the good, the bad, the lame. Hit "Comment" right now and pass it on!

]]>The 60-60 Experiment (Again)http://www.ourterranova.com/blog/2011/10/11/the-60-60-experiment-again.htmlTerraNova Church2011-10-11T18:05:08Z2011-10-11T18:05:08ZA couple of years ago, TerraNova did a series called Soul Revolution, based on the book by John Burke. At the heart of that series was an "experiment" in moment-by-moment connectedness and responsiveness to God, called "The 60-60 Experiment." A couple hundred of us did it, and it was ... revolutionary. Probably the single most impactful thing I've done in my spiritual journey. This idea of connecting over and over again with God throughout the day, expressing my desire to be connected to him like a branch to a vine, simply asking if there's anything he wants done / said / learned / etc in this moment, and then ... watching, listening ... and responding.

This year I had been planning a series for the fall on the Fruit of the Spirit. The passage from Galatians 5 that describes this "fruit" is such a foundational place to turn to reflect on the kind of people God wants to shape us to become. And as I read and meditated on that passage through the spring and summer I really kept landing on that simple phrase that starts the whole ball rolling: "Walk by (or even "in") the Spirit." This is where character and growth and ethics and transformation always begins for Paul. Do that, he says, and fruit happens.

And that's when we decided to bring the 60-60 Experiment back. To make this posture of "walking by the Spirit,"" staying connected to the vine," living in moment-by-moment connectedness and responsiveness to God the beginning point for our discussion of what God wants to do in our lives as that happens. So we hope you'll join us for this series, and especially join us for this experiment.

]]>What Goes In Firsthttp://www.ourterranova.com/blog/2011/9/13/what-goes-in-first.htmlTerraNova Church2011-09-13T15:15:06Z2011-09-13T15:15:06ZYou've seen (or heard of) the thing with the jars and the rocks? How if you fill the jar with sand and gravel, you'll never get the big rocks in? It's all about what you put in first.

Here's a principle worth remembering: Priority determines capacity. In other words, the first thing(s) you put into your "jar" determines the capacity of the jar. The things you prioritize in your day (week / season of life / life) -- the things you decide have to be done even if other things don't get done -- determine what and how much you can fit into your life.

It's like we saw with the rocks and pebbles last weekend at TerraNova. With those pebbles in the jar first, there was just no way those rocks were going to fit in. No matter how much I cram, compress, economize, skim. No way. But put the rocks in first? It all "fits."

Priority determines capacity.

Which brings us to something the Bible talks about. A lot. "Put God first," it says. Over and over again, we're given this advice (/instruction/ command): Put God in first. And if you do that, the "God rock" will affect the capacity of everything else in the jar. Putting God first becomes the "organizing principle" around which everything else in the jar "fits."

Jesus put it this way: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well." In other words, as men and women who believe in God, we're called to "seek first" God's will for our lives. To prioritize / put in the jar first God's will for our lives and our world every day.

One of the most straight-forward and best ways to do that is to spend the first few moments of every day with God. Talk to Him. Talk to Him about your day, about what you've got coming up, about what you're excited about and worried about. And ask Him to guide you. Express your desire to know His will and obey His will in every one of your "big rocks."

My experience is that when I do that consistently (not just in the morning but again and again throughout the day) it positively affects the capacity of my day in many ways. Anxiety diminishes. Focus is clarified. My ability to "go with the flow" increases. And I'm more likely to end the day feeling as though I got the important things done, even if a few things on my to-do list were left incomplete.

Have you ever had that experience? I'd love to hear from you.

]]>Balancehttp://www.ourterranova.com/blog/2011/9/6/balance.htmlTerraNova Church2011-09-06T23:30:06Z2011-09-06T23:30:06ZIt sounds good, doesn't it? Like something we should want. Something we should strive to attain.

"Balance."

But what does that even mean?

Our lives are filled with responsibilities, obligations, expectations, demands, desires ... in dozens of different areas of life. Health, love, school, friends, work, home, money, family, God. And sometimes we think, "If I really had it together, all of these areas would be stellar. I'd have 6-pack abs, a great love life, energy and focus, good grades in school. My home would be together; I'd finally fix that cabinet door. My kids will be well-loved, well-guided, well-behaved. My golf handicap would be low. My spiritual life would be alive and meaningful. If I had my act together ... If I could finally get it all balanced."

And many of those desires and expectations are good. Some are even necessary. But often we get the feeling like we're not really fulfilling those responsibilities. Not meeting those expectations. In fact, we're scrambling to meet the most basic demands in each category of life ... and failing at all of them! It's like we're not doing anything well. But you know you're working hard because at the end of every day you're just exhausted.

Is balance even attainable? Or is it a pipe dream? Is there maybe a different way to be looking at this?

I hope you'll join us this September as we start this new 4-part teaching series on one of the most important issues in many of our lives.

]]>Finding God in the Deserthttp://www.ourterranova.com/blog/2011/7/20/finding-god-in-the-desert.htmlTerraNova Church2011-07-20T19:17:59Z2011-07-20T19:17:59ZThis weekend we're looking at a powerful story from the life of David, the great king. It's a story that comes near the end. The bottom of a long, sad, downward spiral. And David finds himself once again in the desert, now running not from the crazed king Saul, but from his own son. Completely defeated and downcast, he writes one of the greatest Psalms of them all, Psalm 63.

The lines that are really grabbing me today are lines that set his physical circumstances and his inner reality side-by-side in contrast: "I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a cry and parched land where there is no water" (verse 1). "I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; and with singing lips my mouth will praise you."

David is saying that, in the midst of this desert experience, when everything in his life has fallen apart (again), God is enough. No ... MORE than enough. "God, with you -- because your love is better than life itself -- I am fully satisfied, like having just eaten this huge, gourmet, 4-course feast. God, you satisfy me more than anything else."

It makes me wonder ... is God enough? I mean, in the desert? When you're having a hard time paying your bills? When your son has betrayed you and run you out of town with an army? When your failures and mistakes come flying back in your face to remind you of how bad you blown it? David says, Yes. David found God in the desert, and it made all the difference.

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