Welcome to Nolan's World

Freedom in Christ

Where do you find your identity?  For so many of us, we define who we are by what we have done and what we plan to do.  This is faulty thinking that will always us bring us back to an "incentive-based" perversion of grace (i.e., "if I do enough good things for God, I can earn this love He extends to me").

Who we are must be defined by Whose we are.

Jesus Christ has chosen to extend His love to me.  I can to do nothing to earn it.  I only need to embrace it and have by identity defined by my being "in Christ."

And if we are in Christ, we are free.

How free do you feel today?  Are you enslaved by misconceptions of your identity that you have placed on yourself or are you put in a prison made by the hands and hearts and words of others?

"If the Son has set you free, you are free indeed."

This idea of freedom rang true to me this afternoon in my Bible reading time: 

"We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.  For one who has died has been set free from sin.  Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that will also live with him.  We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.  For the death he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.  So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ."--Romans 6:6-11

How alive do you feel in this moment?  Do you feel more dead than alive?

There is a huge difference between living and existing. 

Which one are you good at?

I don't know about you, but I want to LIVE!  I want to live in a way that brings honor to Christ but also brings purpose to my soul.  That starts in experiencing the freedom in truly being HIS!

How free do you feel right now?

Recurring Theme of My Life

I have been thinking and drafting some future posts that should be here soon on the subject, "Six Life Lessons from the Last Six Weeks," but even as I think about the events of recent days, I can't get away the common thread of what God has been teaching me over the last 6 years:

Be faithful with the gift of today!

We often wish away the vast majority of our lives.  Dreaming of our next home, next job, next car.  Missing the opportunity to make a difference that God has placed right in front of us today.  We are robbed of the joy in this moment.

We forget that moves of God are dependent on the strength of God and in the timing of God.  The same God that sent Joseph into slavery and prison for 15+ years, and Moses on mid-life crisis to tend sheep in Midian for 40 years...yet we gripe when God doesn't completely change our circumstances after we read our Bibles and pray for 15-40 minutes!

God has a reason for our present circumstances, whether we choose to recognize that fact or not. 

The miracle isn't that God makes us wait so long, but that He chooses to use us at all!!!

Enjoy today.  Whatever chance you have to add value to the life of another, seize it.  Embrace the wonder of the moment.  Love on your family and friends.  Work hard.  Be faithful.  Show Jesus in your attitude and work ethic.

Don't worry about tomorrow.  Its problems will still be there when you get there!

So What Is Missional?

One of the more recent buzzwords of the church these days is "missional."  I have had a handful of church leaders ask me exactly what missional looks like.  Eric King, one of my new favorite bloggers, had this explanation:

"The mission is clearly spelled out for us- go and disciple all peoples.  Acts 1:8 shows us God’s intent- that the message of Jesus would be proclaimed while crossing all geographical and cultural barriers, from where the Truth is most available to where it is least available.  So if the mission is to go and disciple all peoples, “missional”  defines the activities we as the followers do to intentionally carry out that mission. If the activities do not have a clear intention of fulfilling the mission, it is not missional."

Read the entire post here.

The Way I See It

One of my favorite things in working for Starbucks is seeing "The Way I See It" on our cups.  I had been missing this over the last several months with the use of our red Christmas cups.  I have listed my two favorites that are in my store right now below:

The Way I See It #17--"The world bursts at the seams with people ready to tell you you're not good enough. On occasion, some may be correct. But do not do their work for them. Seek any job; ask anyone out; pursue any goal. Don't take it personally when they say "no" - they may not be smart enough to say "yes."-- Keith Olbermann (broadcast journalist and one of my favorite former SportsCenter anchors)

The Way I See It # 272--"Be the example; spread hope."-- Cat Cora | Iron Chef, executive chef at Bon Appétit magazine, and president/founder of Chefs for Humanity

Feel free to list your favorite or one you might want to submit in a comment!

Cyber-Silence Soon to End

Friends of the blog:

Just wanted to touch base with you and let you know that I am still alive and well.  I had to focus a lot of time and energy in the real world and just was not able to blog over the last week. It's also the first time since I became a member of the Facebook Nation that I didn't update my status at all!
Lots of exciting things are ahead for the blog in the weeks to come.  I hope to offer some new features and possibly a new design, but won't be able to elaborate until I meet with one of my tech friends later this week to work out the details.
Hope you have a great day and check back later this week for some new entries.  Thanks for you continued prayers and patience!

Books, Sports, and TV Update

Books--

• My five favorite personal growth books of 2008 were Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson, Wide Awake by Erwin McManus, Crazy Love by Francis Chan, Leadership Gold by John C. Maxwell, and The Sacred Echo by Margaret Feinberg.
• I probably read another 35-40 books over the course of the year and many had some good thoughts, but the books I listed above are great reads for everyone.
• My two favorite books of 2008 were actually the last two books that I read in the year: It by Craig Groeschel and Tribes by Seth Godin.
• If you are a church leader of any caliber, you NEED to read these two books!!!
• I like both of these books so much that I will share thoughts from both in the days to come!!!

Sports--

• Wow, it hurt watching Alabama's lack of effort in the Sugar Bowl.
• I am going to watch the BCS Championship tonight--I refuse to call it the National Championship--that will ONLY happen when we have a minimum of a four team playoff--I grew up rooting for Oklahoma, but now pull for BAMA and the SEC, so I am leaning toward pulling for Florida, but I am really hoping for a high-scoring free for all!!!
• Don't believe the ESPN hype--pull for the Titans this week--with essentially two weeks off, the Titans will be healthy and will have an excellent game plan going into Saturday afternoon!
• I am wearing Titans blue until game day...today is dark blue, tomorrow will be powder blue, Saturday will be the game day jersey!!!
• Too early to talk hoops...will wait until after the All-Star Break to do that!!!

TV--

• I would love to watch Heroes Seasons 1 and 2--If you have them on DVD and would lend them to me, please let me know!
• I am stoked that 24 is back this Sunday after a year off!!!
• Lost is right around the corner!  Can't hardly wait!!!
• Top Chef is my favorite reality tv show, although I still love Survivor!
• I am ready for another new season of "The Deadliest Catch" and "The Next Food Network Star"
• The other drama that I really enjoy the most is CSI...sad to see Grissom leave but think that Laurence Fishburne's character will be very interesting...

Back and Better Than Ever...

• Okay, that is probably an overstatement, but at least I am attempting to get back in my blogging saddle on a regular basis starting today.
• I am incredibly grateful for a new year and am hopeful for some amazing things to happen through our lives in 2009
• If I could sum up 2008 in one word, I think I would pick the word "sidelined."  Most of my leadership, especially in the church world, was from the sidelines.  Those of you who know me well know how uncomfortable a place the sideline is for me--and yes, it was uncomfortable, but I firmly believe that God wanted me on that sideline listening, learning, yielding, praying, and waiting.  I have done my best to be faithful with those leadership opportunities that I have been given in the last 18 months.  I have also done my best to wait patiently and expectantly on the Lord and to further grow as His child and servant in this season of "seasoning" for me.
• One of my greatest seasons of learning and being stretched has come over the last month of my life...I am not at liberty to blog about it all right now, but God has definitely been at work in my life in a huge way, and for that I am truly thankful.
• When trying times come to us, we are often so distracted by the trial itself that we lose focus on how that trial is refining us.  Even though I have so far to grow in my walk with Jesus, I can look back and see how critical it was for me to go through a significant "refining fire" over the last several weeks.
• On very positive notes, Alison and Maddie are both doing great.  They are daily reminders of God's love for me.  Maddie is really enjoying playing more adult board and card games.  She is loving her Nintendo DS and loves the game called "Pet Vet" the best.  Alison is the greatest mom and wife ever and is busy working as a sub at Maddie's school most days.  These two loves of my life definitely keep me going.
• I sat down and did a little inventory of my blogging future yesterday.  I really enjoy writing 3-5 days a week, but have been challenged to make that happen regularly, especially over the last few weeks.  I am considering doing a few multiple part series that I can write in one sitting but then spread over of week, with a sprinkling of personal updates along the way.  We'll see how that works.
• Tomorrow, I plan on doing a book, tv, and sports update...
• Have a great day!!!