This is Us (30th Anniversary Edition)

We’re celebrating our church’s 30th throughout the month of November, so we’re focusing the “This is Us” posts on folks that have been around a good part of that time.

This is from Hector Dalton: “Our family has attended Five Oaks Church since 1989. Boy, does time fly! I have always felt blessed by the strong missions and outreach focus. Over many years I have seen the impact of short-term mission trips on our children, my wife Beth, and many friends. I did not have a chance to do this until three years ago. For the past three years Beth and I have been able to use our passion for leadership to join a group that goes to universities in areas around the world that are not fully open to His Word. We not only share in the classroom about leadership, but also share about our faith stories in coffee shop settings. This experience has built my faith, as well as given me the tools, boldness and urgency in sharing my faith here in Minnesota in my everyday life.”

Just OK Can Sometimes Be OK

Have you seen any of the “JUST OK IS NOT OK” commercials for AT&T? Here one:

Many of the others spoof more serious situations like the mechanic working on your breaks and a surgeon prepping for surgery.

Just okay is not okay in those situations and many others in life.

So, with our brand new series launching this weekend called “Learning Contentment in a Discontented World,” based on scriptural commands to be content, are we promoting being just okay?

Contentment can sound to some like lacking in any drive or being a slacker at work.

It’s not, but it could look that way to some.

The reality is that there is a lot we do in life where we ought to be okay with just okay.

Let’s take something uncontroversial for most people—a lawn. And let’s say you like your lawn to look as nice as the public golf course. Not the private one, that would be crazy. The public one.

But you have four kids—two in elementary school, one in preschool, one in diapers. And you have a very demanding job where 50+-hour weeks are becoming the norm. And you volunteer with the youth group at church. And you’re seeking to be missionally engaged in your neighborhood.

Now back to the lawn. Need I say more?

But this applies to a lot of things. To be more than okay at some things that are really important like raising kids at home or your core responsibilities at work, you have to be just okay at most other things.

For a highly driven perfectionistic type, that can be hard. Contentment for them is being okay with just okay where just okay really is okay.

But contentment is so much more. It’s the antidote to the envy and greed that can ruin our lives and keep us in a permanent state of unhappiness. Contentment is necessary for experiencing joy, especially when we are experiencing a hard time in life. Contentment is about a deep soul satisfaction we all crave.

Paul said he had learned to be content while in prison. He had a sense of deep soul satisfaction even though his freedom had been taken away because of his faith.

Learning contentment really has nothing to do with lacking drive or being a slacker.

It’s harder to achieve than being the best at anything.

But it’s something we can learn.

I hope you are able to make it for the series. And seriously consider and pray about who you might invite.