It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday...

Boyz II Men's remake recording of "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" was one of my favorite songs in high school. I would sing it constantly, and I even sang it in a quartet for choir. It was originally written in 1975, and it has great lyrics (minus one).

This song and these lyrics seem appropriate today as I say goodbye to my Uncle Bud. However, there is one lyric that I don't agree with in this song. "I thought we'd get to see forever but forever's gone away" is not true. I will see my Uncle Bud in heaven because he and I have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ's work on the Cross. Jesus died for this world's sins. Jesus was buried. Jesus rose again on the third day. Jesus conquered sin and death, and anyone who believes in Him as Savior and Lord will never be separated from God. Their inheritance is heaven.

I will see Uncle Bud in "forever" along with my pap, gram and other uncles. So, yes...it is hard to say goodbye, but it's only for a short while in light of eternity!

It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday (YouTube)
How do I say goodbye to what we had?
The good times that made us laugh
Outweigh the bad.
I thought we'd get to see forever
But forever's gone away
It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.

I don't know where this road
Is going to lead
All I know is where we've been
And what we've been through.
If we get to see tomorrow
I hope it's worth all the wait
It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.

And I'll take with me the memories
To be my sunshine after the rain
It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.
And I'll take with me the memories
To be my sunshine after the rain
It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.

words of lasting impact

There was a huge storm in Pittsburgh last night.  The lightning was impressive.  Our power went out.  It was hailing.  The wind was charging.  The thunder was near and loud!  

I tweeted last night, "As a little boy, I remember my dad telling me that thunder was God bowling."  It was crazy that I remembered that after 30+ years, and something jumped out at me.  I continued in my tweet by saying, "Hey parents, stuff we say to our kids sticks with them for life!"  It is crazy that I was able to recall a fun thought from the deep recesses of my mind when I heard sound of thunder.  It was a conversation my dad had with me over 30 years ago.  I laid there awake last night thinking about what I'm saying and passing on to my kids.

What I say and how I say it has (and will have) a life-lasting impact on the #pinklife (my three daughters).    I can only hope that what they remember (along with the fun and funny stuff) will have an eternal impact.  I pray that God would give me teachable moments with my kids that lead to life-long memories of God's path on certain matters.  As a dad, I have the high calling, responsibility and opportunity to open my girls up to God's thoughts at crucial moments of life.  

This thunder thought has me thinking this morning that I should be more intentional and strategic about what I share with my daughters and how I share it.  I need to leverage the teachable moments of life for discipling my kids in the ways of God.  

room to improve...

I don't care what you do for a paycheck, there's always room to improve.  There is always room to grow.  This is why I'm spending 4 hours with several others to become a better preacher.  I'm attending this conference: http://www.preachbettersermons.com/

It's important to me that I don't become stale with my communication of God's Word.  It's important that I don't get in a stylistic rut.  I know that I have a certain comfortable style, but I don't want to be limited.  I don't want to ever bore people with the Bible.

It's been great hearing from guys like Jeff Henderson, Andy Stanley, Dr. Charles Stanley, Louie Giglio, Perry Noble, Jud Wilhite and more.  This has been very good.  Thanks to Preaching Rocket for making this Internet Conference free!

Uncle Bud

Yesterday, the world lost an amazing follower of Jesus Christ, husband, father, brother and uncle.  My Uncle Bud went home to be with Jesus, and he went out doing what he loved.  He was on a short-term mission trip to Nicaragua, and he was serving Jesus until the end.  I was told he wasn't feeling well, and he stayed back yesterday to rest and never woke up from his nap.

While I'm sad today with the rest of my extended family, it makes me very proud to be a part of such a profound legacy of following Jesus.  Uncle Bud was a great husband.  He was a great father.  He was pillar in his local church.  I remember growing up with him in the community of Beaver Christian and Missionary Alliance Church.  It seemed like my whole family was a part of this church, and Uncle Bud was always there with an incredible smile and infectious laugh.  He also had a combination of right and left hooks and uppercuts waiting for the Chevalier nephews and gigantic hugs for the Chevalier nieces.  Faithfully serving his family and church, he was an incredible example of how God can use people to be an inspiration of grace to others.

Uncle Bud had his unique way of making an impact on people.  My extended family is huge, and there isn't a month that goes past when I introduce myself by using my last name, and the person says something like, "Which Chevalier's boy are you? I know your Uncle ____."  Often times Uncle Bud would be that guy, and people had nothing but great things to say about him (along with crazy stories).  This is the kind of impact I want to have on the world around me.

As memories flood my mind this morning, I recount so many great times with my Uncle Bud.  I remember: serving days at Suncrest Camp, him greeting me at the back door of Beaver C&MA, the hunting cabin in Tionesta, listening to the Steelers game on the radio and many more.  One of the most profound memories was at one of our recent family reunions when he gave me a big hug, and he said, "I'm proud of you for the fine job you're doing with your family and your ministry."

I honor you, Uncle Bud!  Thank you for giving me and the next generations an example of what a godly man can look like in today's world.  Thank you for serving Jesus by serving your family, friends and people you didn't even know!  May I (along with the rest of the Chevalier family) carry this Gospel legacy on to the next generations.  I can't wait to see you again...

High Stress Needs High Sabbath

As a pastor, today is my Sabbath. I haven't had a day like this in three weeks. It's my fault, and I'm feeling the effects.

I switched my day off from Mondays to Fridays a few weeks ago, so this meant I worked two full weeks to switch those days, but then my new day off landed on a day when I had a wedding rehearsal and then a weekend retreat in the city (it was good, but it was an obligation). Fast forward to another good but hard work week full of strategic planning meetings, budget conversations and memorial service preparations. I could literally feel the stress mounting.

Today, I finally stopped! I'm beginning to experience the rhythm I'm designed for...it's a much desired tempo called Sabbath. Without it, I am highly stressed. With it, I find rest. I experience peace at a slower pace in God's presence and perspective.

God designed me (and you) for Sabbath rest. I rest differently than you, and you rest differently than me. God even modeled this rest for us in the creation account of Genesis 2:2. "On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work."

If God rested, then I (we) should too! It feels good, and it's right to be back into this unforced rhythm of grace (Matthew 11:28-30).

David's bold prayer...

For Lent, I'm reading through a series of Devotions and Scriptures assembled by Holy Bible: Mosaic through YouVersion (the most downloaded Bible App).  This plan has me reading through the New Living Translation of the Scriptures, and I came across something that is sticking with me, so I thought I'd share why it's sticking.

In the NLT, Psalm 51:12 is translated as follows:  "Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you."  David's prayer is bold!  David's prayer has jostled my attention.  "Make me willing" is an interesting phrase, and I haven't done the study of the original language yet, but this translation has done enough to stop and make me think for a few days now.  Would I pray this?  Do I pray this?  Can you force someone into being willing?  Can God make someone willingly obedient?  Would God make us obey?  If He makes us, do we have a choice to be willing?  Why does David pray this way?

I won't have the time this morning to even scratch the surface of this one verse, but I'll offer this one thought for now.  There's so much depth to David's relationship with God that he chooses to pray this.  There's so much context to this prayer that we have to understand before we can pick only this verse to chew on.  David is desperate before God because of his recent past, and He's opening himself up before God.  He realizes he can't continue in life without God's forgiveness and God's guidance.

I could say so much more, but I don't have the time.  There are probably 15-20 sermons in just Psalm 51 alone!  I'll come back with some more thoughts after studying the full context of this passage and the original language of this text.

I don't want to be a poser!

Dr. Jay Passavant preached this weekend at North Way. He said two lines that jumped out at me this morning. He said, "I don't want to be a poser! I don't want to have an integrity gap."

He explained that the place where what you say and what you do meets is called integrity. Often there is a gap called hypocrisy between what we say and what we actually do. This is why North Way's teaching team decided to teach this series, The Christian Atheist. We wanted to close the gap of hypocrisy in our church and in our own lives. We want to be a church with integrity, and I want to be a man of integrity!

The problem is, each of us is a hypocrite! We say we follow Jesus, but our actions often tell otherwise. Our thoughts say different.

The first step in finding freedom in this area is to admit that we are all hypocrites, but we don't have to stay that way! We can all take steps towards integrity to close the gap of hypocrisy. We have to make the conscious choice to not be a poser. Once we choose that, we also have to commit to living that choice of integrity every day. The great thing about being the Church is that we are not alone...we have the Holy Spirit to guide us and other Christians to walk alongside us.

I'll be praying for you, and you can pray for me because I don't want to be a poser! Neither do you!