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Tonight marked the third straight Christmas season that we have taken the student ministry from Journey Church to what has become a very special place for myself, our adult volunteers, and our students. The place is Brookside Extended Care in Mason, Ohio. Brookside is an AMAZING long term care and learning center for the severely mentally and/or physically handicapped. Many of the residents at Brookside are teenagers or young children… all of them are wheelchair bound, and only a couple can audibly communicate.

For the third year in a row the group of teenagers that we brought to Brookside absolutely blew me away. Here are a bunch of cookie cutter suburban teenagers walking into a room full of kids, teens, and adults in wheelchairs, and unable to physically function at a high level… I can’t imagine the mindset of our teens walking into that moment. Each time we’ve gone, our students have stepped out of their comfort zone, and into the lives that they can hardly imagine. They color with (for) the residents, they make crafts to hang in their rooms and on their wheelchairs, they talk to them, they joke about cute boys and pretty girls, they talk about sports and TV shows, most of the time with the only response being a moan, or a stare from a drooped head. It’s sobering to witness and participate in.

Tonight when we left, on the drive back to the high school, I asked my car full of junior high boys what they thought of the experience, and if it reminded them of anything from Scripture. Here are some responses:

• It was really cool for us to visit them since they don’t get many visitors.
• It’s hard to believe that’s how/where they live their lives everyday.
• It’s tough to think about the fact that they are just teenagers like us.
• On Scripture: It reminded each of them about the stories they had heard about the lepers. Specifically how in our society, we often outcast the handicapped, and avoid them when we encounter them in public.

The most amazing thing about our trips to Brookside is how each time we intend on “blessing” those residents, and each time we leave feeling so much more “blessed” by them. (I put those words in quotes because I’m not even sure what that means… it’s a churchy way of saying that we feel fuzzy inside I think.) Our teams from Journey Church that go to Guatemala each year end up telling a similar story. We go to show love to those people, and end up feeling as much or even more love in return.

What’s up with that? I think the answer lies somewhere in Jesus’ words at the end of Matthew 25. When we serve the “least of these”… we are serving Jesus Himself. Jesus is pleased when we serve the downtrodden, the forgotten, the handicapped, the unloved, the ostracized, etc… When we do this, we make Jesus happy, and we make our own hearts happy… it “blesses” us. It makes me wonder whey we don’t do it more often…

I had this thought a couple of weeks ago. I meant to blog it then. I went to Southern California and forgot about it (SoCal has a way of doing that to you). I saw something today that reminded me about this thought.

What does it mean to be a leader? I’m not even sure that’s the right question… maybe it’s: “What does it mean to be a servant?” or “What does it mean to live?” I dunno… in the context of my faith community, the question would be: “What does it mean to live big?” We have this thing… we talk about living, giving, loving, serving BIG. We believe a big life is the reason Jesus left heaven, came to earth, and did what he did.

Anyway… let’s just roll with the idea of leading. My theory is that leadership means discovering whatever it is that you do best in life (the things that God has most wired and gifted you to do), and figuring out a way to leverage that for the forward motion of others. Leadership at its core is about moving others (individually or organizationally) forward right?

Well, I think living is just as simple. If you aren’t leveraging what you do best in life to move someone else forward to a better place, then you simply aren’t living. You’re dying…selfishly.

This is what I saw today that reminded me of this. It’s a simple concept, just a guy who recognizes that God has given him a unique set of skills and passions, and has decided to use those things to help others. He is living, leading, serving, whatever he’s doing… I like it, and I want to do similar things.

Click here to read all about Help Portrait. Watch the two videos below to understand it fully.

Forgive the delay in my series of “Live Big” posts. I’ve been out of town quite a bit the past two weeks. Nonetheless, I’m jumping back in with some thoughts on what it really means to “Live Big”. See previous posts for details on the concept of Living Big.

*Warning, there is a good chance this post will make you uncomfortable. You’ll likely squirm in your seat and feel like you need to do more…. like you are called to do more. At least that’s what I’m hoping you feel. It’s how I feel….*

In this post, I want to present a simple idea. Something that seems obvious, but we often fail to realize. Something that should be second nature for any Christ Follower, but something that is often ignored and overlooked. Those who carry the banner of Jesus are called to be radical, extreme, over the top givers. There is no way around this truth that God expects, requires, commands us to give. Give our time, money, effort, resources, etc… to those around us. To those less fortunate. To those who have need. To those far away from us. To our neighbor’s. To our enemies. We are called to give. Look no further than some of the following scripture:

• Luke 12:33 – Sell your possessions and GIVE to the poor.
• John 3:16 –  God love the world so much that he GAVE….
• Deut. 15:10 – GIVE liberally and ungrudging when you do so….
• Matt. 25:40 – … Whatever you did for the least of one of these, you did for me.
• Isaiah 58:7 – Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you se the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh & blood?

If one hundred people represented the world’s population, fifty-three of those would live on less than $2 a day. Do you realize that if you make $4,000 a month, you automatically make one hundred times more than the average person on this planet? Simply by purchasing this book, you spent what a majority of people in the world will make in a week’s time.

As promised, I’m going to be devoting some space on this blog over the next few days regarding the phrase: Live Big.

For those unaware, first let me give some context for the phrase “Live Big”.

Way back in the spring of 2005 the lead pastor of Journey Church, along with some key leaders set out to define through words what a new church in West Chester might look like. Like any good church or business for that matter, they set out to create a meaningful, inspirational, life changing set of mission, vision & values. What they ended up with was quite good… it was also a lot for the run of the mill new church visitor to retain. They decided that they needed one good phrase that spoke to the heart of this new church, and summed up all of their core values. The outcome was: “Inspiring People to Live Big”. As if this wasn’t short enough, it didn’t take long for the phrase “Live Big” to rise out up and become the motto for Journey Church.

The phrase and the thought behind “Live Big” comes from a couple of places in scripture. The first is found in 2 Corinthians 6:11-13 which in The Message paraphrase simply says this: 

Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!

The second, and the more oft repeated passage from which Live Big was comprised is found in John 10:10. In this passage, Jesus is talking to a crowd of people that includes a group of Pharisees, Jesus’ disciples, and a man who was just healed from a life of blindness. Jesus shares a truth that is a must for each of us to hear if we are going to grasp what God desires for us in terms of our lives:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

So if this is the background of the phrase: “Live Big”, then what does it mean? Check back here over the next few days and I’ll do my best to put into words my understanding of what Living Big looks like in our daily lives.

Our motto at Journey Church is: “Inspiring People to Live Big”. While simple, it is still rather vague in the sense that people can often find themselves asking: ‘What does it mean to Live Big?’

Over the week or so, I’d like to devote some digital ink to defining what it means to LIVE BIG!

To kick things off, I must share the following video with you. When I saw the text on this link, I couldn’t believe it… the video is awesome. The actions displayed by the person in this video are a quintessential example of living big!