Even Season

Have you ever seen someone having success at something and it made you angry...I mean mad? The right word is angry but real word is mad. You saw them doing something that you could do or should do and they were succeeding. It might have even been that they were doing the same thing as you and you were struggling and they were soaring!

And if you are like someone else I know you started picking apart what they were doing or how they were doing it. You started listing out in your mind about how shallow they were or how ineffective they were. Or even how the people with whom they were being successful were probably fake shallow or just pretending. No? Me either. Just asking for a friend...

Well, I had one of those moments recently and I was reminded of two things. The first, everything and everyone has a season. Everyone of us goes through seasons of up and seasons of down. Seasons when what we like to do or are paid to do goes really well and we feel great! And then there are those times when our old game is exactly that, our old game. And know body seems to want to play with us anymore. 

One quick observation about that. We usually over-estimate our role in our season of up and we over-estimate our role when we are down. The truth is we all have seasons when we are up and seasons when we are down. Just ask any professional athlete.  

But that is true for all of us. No matter what we do or how big or small our field might be we all go through seasons.

The second thing my little mad-moment did was remind me, God is not fair. God is not being fair when we are up and God is not being fair when we are down. God is not being fair when someone else is up and we are down. Just so I am clear let me say it again. God is not fair. God is never fair.

He is always right. He is always merciful and gracious and patient. He is never fair! He never gives us what we deserve, what we've earned, or what is fair. And seeing that and understanding that is so crucial.

So the next time you see someone enjoying a different season than you. Try not to get ma... angry. Try not to start dismantling them or their season of success. Remember that God shows us favor when we need it, where we need it and how we need it. Remember the other person has been down and they will be down again and you may or may not be around to see it. But you can at least know that in the end God is always good, even in the season we are in. 

How's your serve?

What an interesting word. If you are in a restaurant the word serve or service means how well the staff takes care of you. Are they prompt, courteous, attentive? Often a restaurant will succeed or fail as much upon the service they provide as the food they “serve.” Mediocre food that is served well can be very satisfying while a great meal can be ruined by bad service.

Take the word serve into tennis or volleyball and you have a whole new meaning. When one tennis player rears back and hits the ball as hard as they can at the other player, it’s called serving. However they do so with every intention of causing the opponent to either miss the ball completely or otherwise fail to return the ball properly. In this instance the word serve really means self-serving. I doubt very seriously that Venus Williams’ opponent was all that pleased to be served a tennis ball at 127 mph, a new record at Wimbledon for a woman. I don’t even want to think about how silly I would look trying to return a serve like that.

But what does the word serve look like in ministry. Is it the effort and intention to provide something for someone else? For many it is truly about putting others above and better than themselves. That is what Jesus did and that is what He calls us to. But sometimes like out of date milk, service can go bad. Really bad!

In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul had to call a few folks out because as they served the Lord’s Supper it became all about their appetites and their indulgences and bore no resemblance to actually serving others…which is the clearest reminder in the experience…Jesus sacrificed everything to serve his body and blood to us!

Serving can become a guise for control and selfishness. Someone can say they want to serve in a certain area or position but the service has nothing to do with what they provide to others, but rather it is all about what they gain, feel, or can influence.

However, make no mistake. It is just about impossible to serve and not get something out of it. Every time you try to lift someone else up or seek to be a blessing to another you will get blessed. Short of experiencing extreme physical pain or personal loss, it is often difficult to not be more blessed by your own act of service than the one you were intending to bless. Which brings us to the crucial word in all of our acts of service, our intentions. It is the heart.

If a person has the heart of a true servant then their service will be selfless and deeply satisfying. If they are seeking to serve their own agenda and aggression, then it will be quite likely they will end up serving in a way that is not really meant for the good of the recipient.

Isn’t it odd that in tennis a powerful serve results in love for the opponent? And only in tennis does the word serve not mean servant hood but love really means zero.  How’s your serve?

More About Jesus

The other day I was listening to a really amazing album. The band is crazy talented, lead vocal is so good! And the songs are all christian hits and sure to be worship standards... wait for it... But. 

It seemed that while the name of Jesus was sung... it could have been sung more. And so as I listened I got this buzz in my head and heart to write a song that said the name Jesus more times than any song I had heard in a while. 

In fact it make me think of an old hymn entitled "More About Jesus." And so below find my version of More About Jesus. 

If you are a musician and you hear a tune while you read the words... go for it! There is a tune "bumping like a fly on a window pain" in my head but I'm not ready to let it out.

And so in keeping with my #TwoOvrTen challenge. And instead of being too scared to share... here it is warts and all.

Scriptural Bases: 

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11 ESV)

Chorus

Jesus we lift your name

To heaven above

Jesus we will tell the world

Of your great love

Jesus we’ll  sing your praise

Till every knee bows down

Jesus we  lift your name

We come to bring you crowns

Verse

O Jesus more and more

We want to honor you

O Jesus more and more

To your word be true

O Jesus more and more

We want to live our lives

O Jesus more and more

Till the world sees You!

 Chorus

Verse

O Jesus we confess

That you are Lord

O Jesus we confess

That You’re our King

O Jesus we confess

We want your will be done

O Jesus we confess

And nothing less

Chorus

Bridge (old hymn version)

More More about Jesus

More More about Jesus

More of His saving fullness see

More of His love who died for me

Chorus

Jesus we want to lift your name

To heaven above

Jesus we want to tell the world

Of your great love

Jesus we want to sing your praise

Till every knee bows down

Jesus we want to lift your name

We want bring you crowns

What’s up with this TwoOvrTen?

#TwoOvrTen is the result of an inspiring couple of days at Catalyst in Atlanta, October of 2015.

During those two days I heard three of the most inspiring talks I have ever heard! One was from a man who in spite of incredible challenges has achieved great success and significance. The second was how God has created us to dream and create and share all of our gifts for God and with others. The third message came from Numbers 13. This is the story of the 12 spies who went into Canaan the first time and 10 of the spies overruled the two who had faith.The result was 40 years of wandering in the

And as I reflected on that story I thought about how it would have changed history if it had not been the Ten over the two. But what if it had been the two over the ten!

What if all the doubt and fear and discouragement of the ten had been overcome by the faith and hope and courage of the two? What if that could happen in all of our lives? What if we could live #TwoOvrTen lives every day of our life?

And so I decided that I wanted to be the kind of person who lives #TwoOvrTen! I decided I want to help other people live #TwoOvrTen lives. I want the story of my life to be about how I chose to believe God and see what God wants to do in my life.  I want the same thing for you!

I want you to join me in this. I want you to dream big and risk something.

So as often as I possibly can I’m going to share thoughts of encouragement and inspiration with you in every way I can. Follow me on twitter and Instagram @kennhucks.

I want you to share your dreams and desires using the hashtag #TwoOvrTen . I want you let go and let God take you places you never thought you would have the courage to go!
Beginning now you are not going to listen to the ten.
You are not going to listen to the naysayers and critics.
You are not going to listen to that old voice inside of your head that says you can’t or what if…

But beginning right you’re gonna claim #TwoOvrTen and become all that God has created you to be!

Blind Awareness

This is not exactly an oxymoron. But it is a pretty much how I would describe a condition all of us can suffer from. 

I will illustrate. ( I confess that I am severely directionally challenged.) Recently I found myself confidently and speedily going in the wrong direction. Of course I did not think I was aimed erroneously but I was. I knew what road I was on, I was not going the wrong way on the outer-loop of 485. But while I was completely aware of the facts, I was blind to the fact that I was getting farther and farther away from my destination.

And the same thing can happen in our lives. In fact in our areas of expertise or enthusiasm is where we can most often make some of our greatest mistakes. On the other hand when I am unsure or unfamiliar with something I am so much more likely to take my time, pay attention to details and really focus on making sure I get the desired result. But let me operate in my wheelhouse and I am full speed ahead. 

Let me illustrate this. Imagine you are a driving instructor. And you find yourself in a car with a student and you begin to notice the student is driving erratically. They are preoccupied with the rearview mirror. They are speeding, and weaving in and out of traffic… they are breaking every rule! And so you do what a good driving instructor should do, you stomp on that “second” brake. You start correcting them on all the things they are doing wrong. You force them to focus on every technical point and process. You quickly critique any and everything they do wrong! You are so aware of what when where and how they should be doing everything! In fact you are at your best when you are pointing out everyone’s weakness.

But you are blind to the fact that in the back seat of that car is the driver’s very sick child. You are blind to the fact they are desperately trying to get to the hospital. You are blind to the panic and pain that is written all over their face. You are blind to the faint sounds coming from the child in the rear facing seat who is struggling so hard to breathe they cannot cry. You are consumed with blind awareness.

How often are we the same way in life, in relationships, in our career? We think everything is supposed to serve our goals and expectations instead of the needs of others. We are so busy trying to fix what we think is wrong that we never notice the desperation in the lives of others. 

Life is like a game of charades. Everything we do should be to convey the message, the message that we love people more than anything else. 

If not, we are just going through the motions and sending the wrong message.

making sense of death

over the last 84 months i've taken part in about 60 funerals. roughly 7 years. and i can easily say a rough 7 years. there have been expected and unexpected. young and old. some who appeared to be healthy and of course those under hospice care. It’s been hard. some of them have been brutally hard. they have taken me to moments that were hard to push through. at times i have been wounded deeply. sometimes they have left me doubting.

the doubting moments did not really last all that long, i was mostly just left hurting and angry and confused. i wanted them to make sense. i wanted them to fit my theology and my expectation.

i think one of the biggest challenges we face is the deep need to understand. to be able to make sense of it. to see the plan, the purpose, or the hand of God in it somehow.

here's where i am on death so far. i don't understand it at all. it is as unreasonable as birth. how can one couple not have a baby when they want to so desperately and a teenager or crack addict pops babies out like a pez dispenser? in the words of pete in "o brother where art thou," "that don't make no sense."

and I am pretty sure that if you are waiting on death to make sense you will be disappointed.

the reason death does not make sense is because making sense is not the point. the truth is death is not a thing. the bible and science talk about death as a thing because it helps us navigate the conversations of life. but death is sort of like darkness. darkness is not a thing. darkness is simply the absence of light. death is simply the absence of life. for a million different reasons life ceases. the laws of physics, the laws of gravity, disease, murder, the list goes on. but the point is not understanding why and how it ended. the point is why it mattered. the thing that death does to me is makes me deal with how i have lived, how i claimed the opportunities of life.

two deaths really did a number on me this past year. the still-birth of a granddaughter and the death of a dear but neglected friend. my granddaughter’s death taught me a lot of things but mostly that death doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t fit in my head. i will never be able to explain it or make it reasonable. the truth is all life ends and there is no other explanation.

the death of my neglected friend taught me that death makes us deal with the time we have wasted. my friend meant so much more to me than i ever told him. i squandered dozens of times to connect, catchup and hangout. I blew them off, put them off and made up some really good excuses. and when he died i was angry at me more than anyone else because i was the one who had wasted the time.

so i’m still coping with the death of people who meant a lot to me. but I’m not trying to hold God hostage to make it reasonable for me. i’m just asking God to help me make sense of life. to help me make sure that i don’t allow there to be too much time since i made sense of living. that i make sure that i’m living and loving as much as i can so i am content with life and not filled with contempt when it’s over.

kh