one more reason why i love mckinney fellowship

folks - this is awesome. this is yet another reason why i love worshiping at mckinney fellowship. bruce doesn’t want some title or ‘honor’. he just wants to serve God, just like the rest of us: in the role God has designed him to serve.

i love that bruce gets the fact that just because God has called him to a different role than others, doesn’t mean he deserves special honors or distinction. and i love that he just wants to be like Jesus. and Jesus was a great non-conformist, wasn’t he? he shucked titles and taught a radical thing called: LOVE!

seriously. i love that i get to worship with people who just wanna be like Jesus.

On 4/29/09 3:23 PM, "Bruce Miller" wrote:

Lowly servants of God,
 
It was come to my attention that some have stopped referring to me as Reverend Bishop Miller. This is greatly concerning a man of my stature, status and accomplishment. Certainly my titles should befit my office.
 
Seriously . . . .  biblically we are ALL priests, ministers and missionaries. Please do not call me or refer to me as Pastor Bruce or Pastor Miller. I despise it. It does not honor me; it upsets me. It sends the wrong message, an unbiblical one. This is a creeping trend in our church once again. I do not know why people are attracted to titles, but let’s resist the trend to honor the truth that we are all members of one body with no member of more honor than another. Let’s resist the desire for a priesthood, to clergy. Jesus did away with that.
 
Thanks for enduring my rant.
 
Just, Bruce

all about me

i introduced rubber chicken nuggets in my last post and threatened - er.. promised! - that more nuggets were coming. i feel it is important to mention as i had previously that these are born out of personal convictions and challenges. any similarities to anyone whether real or imagined are not intended nor sought. however, if you happen to see yourself mirrored in these, perhaps Someone is trying to tell you something.

rubber chicken nugget #2
i, eye, aye

stop bragging, for goodness' sake. sometimes we brag and we don't even know it because we are so conditioned to make a name for ourselves. i got convicted over this when i realized that populating my conversation with things that i knew or did or accomplished didn't increase the value of that conversation one iota. it simply served to increase my value.

that's not what i want to be about. i want to be about making Jesus' name great. not my own.

since i've been working on it internally, my eyes have opened to it externally, and it is everywhere.

i get quizzed on the title, artist and release date of each song that plays on the radio in order to show how little i know and how much others know. that is neither fun for me, nor is it appealing of the other person.

feeling like i have value and that i have intelligence has been a life-long struggle for me. and while i continue to struggle, i am delighted to say that God is doing a work in me over this and stays my tongue on many an occasion when it would really like to wag about in honor of me.

did someone mistakenly think you did something (or failed to do something)? does it really matter in the long run whether or not you set them straight? let it go. (if it does, by all means, make it right!!)

does someone have an opinion about you, your work, or your hobby that may portray you in a light you feel isn't representative of "you"? will it change your status with the Lord Almighty? it doesn't require a response.

are you mentioning something in order to display what you know? is that what you want to propel your mouth into action? it doesn't need to be said.

and one may feel that it is limiting to hold your tongue, but on the contrary it is really quite freeing! i find that i am fretting less over what people think of me and am letting God be my judge. through His son i know i am set right before Him. i can't make that same claim with anyone else.

Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin. Proverbs 13:3

btw - i did this just today and was immediately so painfully aware that i once again tried to aim the spotlight at me. sigh. will i ever learn? my only consolation is the awareness in and of itself and a desire to eliminate this need within myself. thank God i have Him to rely upon as i prove to be inadequate when handling it on my own.

rubber chicken nuggets

my boss gets punchy in the early afternoon. i try to have a white board marker in hand because i know he's bound to say something that will send us into fits of laughter and i'm going to want to capture it.

and while it's always funny, sometimes it is also very wise. which led me to call them nuggets (you know, like 'nuggets of wisdom'). and then i called them chicken nuggets because i'm a dorkina and i do things like that. he has a rubber chicken on his desk (seriously, people, don't ask) and so the title grew to rubber chicken nuggets during one of those early afternoon moments.

one of his greater rubber chicken nuggets was when he was talking about becoming second in your life, so that God can be first, and he said,

"your life can be become more about..
not you."

dang it - i love that. think about that. chew on it. roll it over in your mouth and experience it.

(we also say about rubber chicken nuggets that you can chew on 'em forever. i admit we have a lot of fun at work).

i've been thinking about some other nuggets. mostly ones i have been working at in my own life. and maybe none of you need this information in front of you like i do, if so then consider these posts me capturing them on my 'white board'.

rubber chicken nugget #1
should - NOT!

try not to say "you should have..." to people. it sends a message that you think they are inadequate, incapable, have done/said/decided something wrong or bad, and that you know more than they. even if any of these reasons are true, there is no value in reminding someone or holding it over their head.

and since you're saying "should have..." it is probably after the fact, and isn't it a bit late to be saying something now?

if you have neat information to share that you hope someone benefits from, then use a kinder, gentler approach. if you are saying it for other reasons, maybe it's best not to say it all, huh?

i've been working on saying things like "hey i found a cool way to do that, wanna hear it?" or "oh yes, i struggle with that, too, and a wise friend told me..." or "that happened to me, too. then i found this website [or book or other resource] that helped"... it puts us on the same level (where we belong) and tells my friend they are not alone, they are not the only ones that have thought/acted like that, and that i don't judge them for what they did/said.

people are so much more receptive to things i have to say when i don't shame them or act superior, but rather share it simply from one friend to another.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; Romans 114:10

stay tuned for more rubber chicken nuggets