My family and I have been trying to get to church about twice a month recently.  Some new clients and friends go to the Shoreline Christian Center here in Austin, Texas and have invited us to go the past couple of times.

It is a massive … *ahem* MASSIVE church – tons of people so if you were inclined you could easily feel as if you would get lost in there, but for the most part it still has a tight knit feel.  For the last couple of weeks the regular pastor and his family have been on vacation, so there was a guest speaker, Keith Craft from Celebration Covenant Church in Frisco Texas.

This fellow was unique, hilarious and had a genuine spirit about him that I really enjoyed.  He had some tough words but also some really great and uplifting ideas and messages that he passed to me and that I needed to hear.

He combined audience participation with a wonderful sense of humor to allow folks to hear what he was trying to tell them – and in the end this is a great gift.   Again, because Randy Pausch is, of course, on my mind a lot recently – I remember his dissertation on Confessions of a Recovering Jerk and notice that Keith does not have to worry about whether or not he will impact people because he has mastered the ability to help people to listen by being genuine and vulnerable when he speaks.

What I took from his message on Sunday was that our relationship with God is not dependant on whether or not we will fall, but on the fact that we will fall and that one of the Secrets of Gods Kingdom is that when we choose to “push up” and get up we become stronger.  This is a simple and obvious message, but one worth repeating – when we choose to get up we become stronger…

What will you choose today?

Pastor Keith Craft ends his sermons this way with a blessing and I hope this blesses you today!

May the Lord Bless you and the Lord keep you;
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you;
May you know that if God is for you, who can be against you?
If God is on your side, whom shall you fear?
May you be like a tree that is planted by rivers of living water;
that your leaf will not wither, and
whatsoever you do, it shall prosper!