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I enjoy good character stories wherever I find them, and here is a story about a solid work ethic and frugality in Bronco fullback Andy Janovich. The headline in the ESPN article involves his beat-up blue, used pickup truck that he’s had since college.

He’s relatively low paid at $600,000/year (by contrast, Peyton Manning took a $4 million pay cut to earn “only” $15 million his last year with the Broncos), but Janovich could afford a new truck if he wanted one, couldn’t he?

But the truck he has suits him, and when it goes (it has 138,000 miles on it), he’ll look for another used one. In the meantime, he just does his largely-under-the-radar job. The ESPN article observes:

Open the hood on Janovich, and the Nebraska native is a story in perseverance, hard work and vocational selflessness — and there is even some corn. “He’s what you think about as a Nebraska guy,” Broncos running back Phillip Lindsay said. “He works, does his job, doesn’t ask for anybody to cheer him on or anything. He just does it.”

In a league (and a world!) where everyone is screaming, “Look at me!” Janovich summarizes his perspective:

I’m not at a position where I’m going to score a bunch of touchdowns or have a million catches or rushing yards. For the most part, I just block people and make small plays here and there, help other people make big plays. I’ve never been the playmaker. And do I like my job? Absolutely. It works for me.

“And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. (Jeremiah 45.5, ESV)

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It’s Pentecost Sunday, June 9, the commemoration of the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. So here’s today’s question: Who was the first person in the Bible said to be filled with the Spirit? And for what?

The Lord said to Moses, “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft. (Exodus 31.1 – 5, ESV, emphasis mine)

Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills…And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. (Exodus 35.30 – 34, NIV, emphasis mine)

The first person in the BIble filled with the Spirit of God was an artist, called to work on building the tabernacle and teach others to do the same. 

Artist, worker, teacher. Are those what come to mind when you think “filled with the Spirit?” Me neither, but there it is.

My friend Kathleen, who reads this blog, just retired so she could devote more time to her art of making jewelry. But she was an artist before that, writing computer code for FEDEX.

The three men who installed my sliding glass doors were artists, as was the brother God sent to paint the moldings.

God considers artful work so important that he filled people with his Spirit to do it. That’s worth thinking about as we work!

He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers. (Exodus 35.35, NIV)

Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. (Genesis 4.20 – 22, NIV)

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. (1 Peter 4.10, ESV)

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Here’s another “You have not because you ask not,” story, or, to put it positively:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4.6, 7, NIV)

We just had some new sliding glass doors installed, and they do everything EXCEPT paint the new molding. No problem, I thought, forgetting that I had sworn off painting projects! There were four sets of openings, and after I attempted one, I said to myself, “This isn’t going to work, but who can I call? Not the 17-year old who did my spindles. This is more complicated than that.”

After praying about it, seriously(!), Mark came to mind. Mark, my oldest son, who sells for St Aubyn Homes. He texted back a painter’s coordinates immediately. Adrian was:

• Available
• A believer
• Already on my end of town

He came within the hour and was finished in 2.5 hours, even allowing for extended conversation with June and me about music. His buddy is world class pianist Aldan Cruz, both from Puerto Rico.

Adrian wasn’t in the house two minutes before he said, looking at our grand piano, “Who plays?” “We both do.” “Let me show you this.” And he showed me this stunning video of his friend and two other pianists playing in Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. A performance that Adrian the house painter arranged. It’s worth the 4:20. Click here.

Another reminder of God’s gifts. Instead of an arduous painting project, we were blessed with music!

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1.17, NIV)

Play his praises on instruments with the anointing and skill he gives you. (Psalm 33.3, Passion Translation)

My word for the year has been “enlarge,” as in, “Lord, enlarge my heart to care about what you care about,” and, “Enlarge my influence.” Paul prayed for an enlarged influence:

We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others, but our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged. (2 Corinthians 10.15, ESV)

You may notice that I use The Passion Translation from time to time. It’s a new translation for me, and I have gotten increased insights both from the text and from some of the notes. Recently, I found another “enlarge” verse!

God, you are my righteousness, my champion defender. Answer me when I cry for help! Whenever I was in distress, you enlarged me. I’m being squeezed again—I need your kindness right away! (Psalm 4.1, The Passion Translation, emphasis mine)

“Whenever I was in distress, you enlarged me.” I like this: God increases my capacity to handle whatever comes my way. I’m reminded of some of the lyrics of “Day by Day” (not the one from Godspell):

Day by day and with each passing moment, strength I find to meet my trials here.

And

As your days, your strength will be in measure, this the pledge to me he made.

Paul experienced this:

I find that the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer every difficulty. (Philippians 4.13, The Passion Translation)

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“People are a good use of time.” June has shared this with me often since she read it in Laura Vanderkam’s book Off the Clock.

We had a chance to put that into practice a few days ago. A friend came over to pick up a book around 5:00p and stayed to visit for at least half an hour. I was antsy to make a run to Home Depot to pick up some paint for a home project I needed to do the next morning, but it was a good visit. After he left, June wanted to put the furniture back onto our recently painted deck (a worthy project since the kids are coming to visit shortly!). While we were working on that, our next door neighbors, whom we hardly see, were out walking their dog, which they had just acquired. So they came up on the deck, and we visited for nearly an hour. By then it was past time to eat. Fortunately, Home Depot is open late this time of year, and I finally made my run around 8:00p.

All that to say, the late trip to Home Depot allowed me to see a spectacular sunset when I came out. 

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19.1, ESV)

O God, to the farthest corners of the planet people will stand in awe, startled and stunned by your signs and wonders. Sunrise brilliance and sunset beauty both take turns singing their songs of joy to you. (Psalm 65.8, Passion Translation)

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I’ve been meditating in the first three verses of Psalm 1 (NIV):

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.

Very simply, it breaks down into:

• What blessed people don’t do (verse 1)
• What blessed people do (verse 2)
• The result (verse 3)

Today, let’s consider the result of Abiding NOT and Abiding IN: fruit!

What is fruit? I like what Mark Greene, a colleague of Neil Hudson, author of Imagine Church, that I refer to occasionally, has done. In Fruitfulness on the Frontlines, he defined six types of fruitfulness. And before I list them, let me hasten to say, these are not six things to add to an already long list of things we think we’re supposed to do! They are better looked at as “How is God using me today?” Here’s the list:

• Modeling godly character
• Making good work
• Ministering grace and love
• Molding culture
• Mouthpiece for truth and justice
• Messenger of the gospel

Normally, when we think “fruit,” we think of the first and last items on the list: modeling godly character is God’s developing in us the fruit of the Spirit as defined best in Galatians 5:

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. (Galatians 5.22, 23, NIV)

The last one, Messenger of the Gospel, is the fruit of people following Jesus because of our influence as seen in John 15.16:

You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain…

If this were just fruit of the Spirit, we wouldn’t have to go anywhere to do it!
I’ve written briefly about these six characteristics of fruit-bearing before, but a review is always good!

In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. (Colossians 1.6, NIV)

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I’ve been meditating in the first three verses of Psalm 1 (NIV):

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.

Very simply, it breaks down into:

• What blessed people don’t do (verse 1)
• What blessed people do (verse 2)
• The result (verse 3)

Yesterday, we looked at verse 1–Abide NOT—Today, let’s consider what blessed people do (verse 2):

• Their delight is in the law of the Lord
• They meditate on his law day and night

That is, instead of abiding in distractions as I wrote yesterday, they are abiding IN the Word, reminding us of John 15, which talks both of abiding (compare Psalm 1.2) and fruit (compare Psalm 1.3). 

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15.4, 5, NKJV, emphasis mine)

How do we abide in the Word? Kickstarting our day with intentional time with God as I’ve written about often helps as does scripture memory. The purpose of scripture memory is to facilitate “day and night” meditation and deepen our relationship with God. 

I’m reminded of my friend Jim Downing, who passed away last year at age 104! He often spoke of meditation, and he developed a unique way of going through the psalms once/month. There are 150 psalms and 30 days in most months. That’s five psalms/day. But instead of reading psalms 1 – 5 on day 1, psalms 6 – 10 on day 2, and so on, he advised the following:

• On the first day, read psalms 1, 31, 61, 91, and 121
• On the second day, read psalms 2, 32, 62, 92, and 122
• And so on
• EXCEPT on the first 22 days, add one stanza of Psalm 119. That prevents you from trying to read all 176 verses of Psalm 199 when you get there!

It works. Try it! 

¹   Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD!
2  Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,
3  who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! (Psalm 119.1 – 3, ESV)

Tomorrow, we’ll think about fruit.

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I’ve been meditating in the first three verses of Psalm 1 (NIV):

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.

Very simply, it breaks down into:

• What blessed people don’t do (verse 1)
• What blessed people do (verse 2)
• The result (verse 3)

Today, let’s consider what blessed people don’t do:

• Walk in step with the wicked
• Stand in the way that sinners take
• Sit in the company of mockers

I looked up the three verbs—walk, stand, sit—and landed on “sit.” One of the meanings is “abide,” the same idea that occurs often in John 15:

• Abide in me and I in you (verse 4)
• Abide in my love (verse 9)

“Abide” carries the idea of resting in, staying, hanging around. As I write this, I’m abiding in my recliner—easy to get into, hard to get out of!
If we’re not abiding in Christ, in what are we abiding?

• News?
• Sports?
• Talk shows?
• Social media?
• Self-talk?

None of those things is bad for an occasional visit. We take two newspapers. You know I like sports! We’re on Facebook to keep up with the kids. But in what do we abide? I once listened to two men go through the entire Auburn football roster, by number, reviewing each player’s position, height, weight, hometown, etc., all without anything in front of them. Impressive. They clearly abide in Auburn football! 

June suggested that some of us abide in our self-talk. When we could turn our minds to the constant presence of Jesus, instead we’re busy rehearsing the latest negative conversation or hurtful thing that someone did to us or some other disappointment in our lives. 

Let’s pay attention to where we abide, and tomorrow I’ll write about the alternative: abiding in Christ through the Word.

You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. (John 15.3, 4, NKJV)

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Last time we visited the deck on May 21, it had been prepped for paint, but it was under 12 inches of snow! Now it’s done, and it’s a story worth telling.

First, I had hired a handyman to do the whole thing. The paint for the deck floor is heavy, and the last time, about 6 years ago, I put it down myself and couldn’t use my hand for a week! The handyman wrote a proposal and even met me at Home Depot to pick out the paint. Then, a few days later, he abruptly pulled out. Now what? 

I called my friend Thomas, a physician’s assistant and part-time handyman, and asked if he would do it…and I will pay you! He considered the work a blessing since he could use the extra money. So there was the first answer to prayer and a win-win.

Then, as I wrote earlier, the snow intervened, and we had to wait for it to dry and find a window in between rain storms. The afternoon he planned to paint the deck floor rain was originally forecast. I asked the Lord to please hold the rain. The day dawned with the rain forecast removed. He started. Then, partway in, there were severe weather warnings for our area! He switched to a smaller deck under cover, and I continued to pray. To make a long story short, we got only a few drops of rain, and he finished the floors of all three decks. Praise the Lord!

That left the spindles: three decks, 275(!) spindles. After I worked two hours (one hour on each of two days), I realized I needed help. I had neither the time nor the stamina to do it. So I prayed again. 

While I was walking the dog on Wednesday, 17-year-old Sam, who lives across the street, drove into his driveway. I asked him if he wanted a painting job. Turns out he had just left his job at Papa John’s and wanted the work. He did 3 hours that afternoon, showed up at 8:15 a.m. the next morning and did 4 hours before leaving for a prior engagement. We worked 7 hours the third day and finished. I did some of the work on the outside of the decks, but he did ALL the spindles. The work was hard. “I have a lot more respect for painters now,” he said. But he was proud of a finished job well done. “I’m going to take some pictures to show my mother!” 

And, on the third day, over pizza, he and I had a serious conversation about spiritual things. That part of the story isn’t over!

You do not have because you do not ask. (James 4.2, NKJV)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3.5, 6, NKJV)

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8.28, NKVJ)

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We’ve been talking about what Pastor Bobby Warrenburg defined as four culture shifts that need to occur if churches are to be intentionally disciple-making:

• Attendance culture to transformational culture
• Collection culture to mobilization culture
• Competition culture to collaboration culture
• Addition culture to multiplication culture

Today let’s finish it out with the one I skipped: moving from a competition culture to a collaboration culture.

The opposite of collaboration could be competition; it also could be independence. For whatever reason, churches don’t like to collaborate. “If we collaborate on Vacation Bible School, the neighborhood kids might end up in his church rather than mine! Plus, how do I know that all of “their” teachers have their theology right?”

Maybe we don’t trust the Lord of the Church to send people to the churches he wants them in. And maybe we’re overly concerned with the “map” instead of the “compass,” as I wrote recently.

I don’t know the answers, but I suspect there should be more collaboration than independence and competition. Maybe this little video could be instructive. It’s only 30 seconds: please take a look with the sound up!

Five men forming a human pile driving machine. Here are a few things that I saw:

• Collaboration is absolutely required. The task would be impossible by one person in their setting.
• They collaborated with joy! Singing synchronized their efforts and also lightened the burden of what looks like a dreary task.
• They chose not to worry about a lot of things we (or at least OSHA!) would be concerned about: no hard hats, no steel-toed work boots, no safety supervisors. Just guys doing the job. 

We need more workers! When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9.36 – 38, NIV)

We need more workers working together! A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13.34, 35, NIV)