Pete Wilson's Blog, page 18

A Range Of Emotion

The big day is finally here: What Keeps You Up At Night  releases today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you’ve ever taken a risk and created something for public consumption, then you know there’s always a range of emotions you feel when that story or message or blog post or book or sermon or presentation is finally shared publicly.

You feel…

excited

nervous

expectant

and often scared to death.

I felt prompted to start writing years before I actually did, but I didn’t write for one reason. I had a huge fear of failure. Honestly, the idea of failing isn’t as painful to me as you seeing me fail. So to be specific my fear is public failure.

One day while praying about it I felt as if God was saying, “Pete, I’ve given you some thoughts and ideas that could really help people grow in their relationship with Me and the only reason you won’t step out is because you’re afraid of a little failure?”

When put like that, I really didn’t have much of a choice. It was time for a step of faith.

I wrote What Keeps You Up At Night for one specific reason: I WANT TO SEE PEOPLE DEVELOP THE COURAGE TO TRUST GOD IN AT LEAST ONE AREA OF THEIR LIFE THAT ABSOLUTELY SCARES THEM TO DEATH. I believe that the reason God tells humans to “fear not” more than anything else He ever said is because fear is the number one thing that keeps us from doing what He’s asked. And I’ve seen in my own life, and in the lives of countless others, that one simple step of courageous obedience can change everything.

I can’t tell you how much I’ve appreciated the prayers and support of this community. You mean the world to me!!!

Go out to your local bookstore today or purchase a copy online for yourself and maybe for a friend you think could use a little hope right now.

Also if you’re in the area I’d love for you to join me tonight for a “night of courage” to celebrate the release of the book and to more importantly continue to encourage you to “fear less” and “trust more”.  I’ve got a couple friends joining me. Not only will Lee Brice be performing a few of his hit songs but in addition I’ll interview Lee about some of the fears he’s faced as he’s chased after his dreams. And I’ll also be joined by Olympic Gold medalist and Dancing with the Stars winner Shawn Johnson. She pushed through fear so many times in her life and I think it will be interesting to hear how her faith has helped her weather some unbelievably pressure-packed moments even at such a young age. It’s going to be such a fun night!

If you’re not in the area, you’re still in luck. We’re going to broadcast the whole thing for you live at 6:30pm CST. Just go to upatnightbook.com/live to tune in

 

One Of The Biggest Relationship Myths

I think one of the biggest myths of relationships these days is: If I just find the right person, it doesn’t take any work.

But Jesus says in Matthew 19:5, “Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” He has joined you together as a team, to work as one, and he never promised that it would be easy. Even when you’ve found the perfect person, it’s still going to be work.

 

For All Of You Water Walkers

Growing up I remember always being intrigued by the story of Peter walking on water. It’s probably one of my top 5 favorite stories in all of Scritpure. I’ve heard dozens of messages on this text over the years and the majority of them have always focused on Peter’s failure. It always seemed that the moral of the story was “don’t take your eyes off Jesus or it will all come crumbling down”.

Did Peter fail? Technically, he did. His faith wasn’t as strong as it should have been, his doubts overwhelmed him and he sank. He failed. But I believe he failed forward.

What if the point of this story isn’t that Peter failed, but that there were actually 11 bigger failures who stayed in the boat that night? They failed quietly and without 2000 years of criticism, but they failed.  They were absolutely paralyzed on the side of the boat and didn’t even attempt water walking.

The other 11 understood the cost of getting out of the boat.  They had thought through all of the potential failure and criticism.  But what they were not aware of was another price, the cost of staying in the boat.

Was Peter the only one that night to sink? Yes. But he was also the only one to experience two other life defining lessons:

1. Only Peter knew the thrill of walking on the water.

Can you imagine how amazing that was? There’s nothing more exhilarating than stepping out to try something you know good and well you’re not capable of doing on your own and then being empowered by God to actually do it. Are you kidding me? There’s nothing like it. While I was in the process of writing “What Keeps You Up At Night” (I can’t believe it releases next week) I encountered and interviewed countless people who had trusted God in some area of their life that absolutely scared them to death. Despite the high waves and strong winds they trusted God and pursued the dreams He had put on their hearts.  Once you walk on the water, you never forget it—not for the rest of your life.

2. Only Peter knew the joy of being rescued by Jesus.

Peter would never have to doubt that Jesus had the ability to save him when he needed it the most. He would never forget the love and grace he saw in Jesus’s eyes as he was being pulled up out of that water.

You know there are worse things than failure. Sinking in the waves isn’t failure anyway. Never getting out of the boat is the ultimate failure. So for all of you future water walkers I’m praying for courage. Your faith probably won’t be perfect and you might sink. Just know that Jesus will be right there to pull you up. And who knows, maybe, just maybe, every once in a while you might just walk on water.

 

Social Media Is The New Lunchroom

The past few weeks  I’ve started blogging and doing interviews on “fear”, which is the topic of my next book “What Keeps You Up at Night” which comes out in a few weeks. One of the unexpected joys of the past few weeks is meeting people who struggle with so many of the same fears I do. It’s a great reminder that fear is no respecter of persons. It’s victims are old and young, rich and poor, and even those who seem to have it all together. It’s also a great reminder that we’re all on a similar journey and despite how we might feel at any particular moment, we’re not alone! Today, I’m excited to share this space with our Cross Point Nashville Kid’s Pastor, Rebekah Bullard. She has given us some incredible insight on the fear of rejection and how we can move past that into a confidence in Christ. I hope you enjoy this post as much as I did!

When I was in 7th grade, there was this group of girls that I wanted so badly to sit with at lunch. I just wanted to be accepted. I wanted to fit in. I wanted to be loved. There were days when I would get rejected. My lunch spot would get taken or I would be pushed to the side. On those days, I had to sit in my second choice spot. I felt like my world was over right there in that middle school cafeteria.

Today, I am 30 years old (+2) and my middle school lunchroom is now encapsulated in a shiny click of a button known as social media. I want to be loved or ‘liked’ more than others. I want to have the most friends. I want to post the best pictures. I want to be validated. There are days though, when I still find myself rejected. Days when I realize someone cleaned their followers list and I did not make the cut. Times when my status or picture didn’t get quite as much attention as I thought it worthy. There are even days when I experience the really dark moments in the worst type of rejection. The rejection of myself hidden deep in the cloak of comparison.

These are the moments when I must choose. I must remember the girl who sat in the cafeteria smiling with my “2nd choice friends.” I would eventually look around to see they were actually much nicer and funnier than my original target of worth just a few tables over. I would always end those lunches with a moment of clarity in my 13 year old brain.

Those who love me consistently without an agenda or prerequisite are the ones I will choose to focus my whole self towards. I will not look back. I do not need to compare myself…ever. I have no idea the shoes someone else may be truly walking in, underneath all the filters and perfection. It’s often the most unlikely people who will emerge into the most beautiful, loyal and undeserved friendships. Those who you least expect will stay by your side in every season. Real friends understand we don’t always have to agree on everything, but we will choose to give love anyway without expectation. And finally, those who are always a little kinder than necessary, stick with them…always.

Today, in every fiber of my thirty-something brain, I can move on from the fear of rejection; both in real life and in the onscreen highlight reel. I can be all God has called me to be with His love as a constant drink for my wandering, needy and parched soul. He will never leave me alone at the lunch table, behind a screen or anywhere else for that matter. He will always supply wonderful friendships and community for me; I may just need to look in new places every once in awhile. And on those days I will: walk confidently, glance a few tables over, smile and simply say, “Hello.”

Click here to read more posts from Rebekah!

Because God Said So

Are you feeling like God might be prompting you to…

do something

say something

create something

write something.

Do you need the power of God in your life right now?

My encouragement to you today is don’t do “roughly” or “generally” what God is prompting you to do. Do “exactly” what God is instructing you. 

Click here to watch the full message.

What’s the Point?

The Sermon on the Mount changes everything for followers of Jesus. The message leaves everyone wondering, what’s the point? It made everything seem impossible to live up to. But the point of the message was not DO THIS. The point of the message was you CAN’T DO THIS. The point of the message  is that we need Jesus.

 

Where Do You Hide?

Growing up I got picked on quite a bit. Bullies loved to take advantage of my size. As a kid this led to me struggling with all kinds of fears. This was a real part of my motivation for writing my latest book “What Keeps You Up At Night“.

There was a place in the house I grew up in where I would hide when I got scared. I still can picture that corner. I can feel my body wrapped up in that little ball behind the end table. In that spot I felt like I could breathe again. I felt safe, if even for a moment.

Where did you run when you encountered fear as a kid?

Maybe for you it was the arms of one of your parents when you were so scared you couldn’t bear to open your eyes.

Maybe you had a tree house or some other kind of hideout you ran to when your friends were making fun of you.

Maybe it was a blanket you hid under when your heard your dad yelling at your mom. You’d close your eyes and hope the fighting would stop.

As we got older so many of the fears that we had as kids slowly faded away. But fear itself didn’t go away. We just exchanged old fears for new fears.

Maybe these days what you fear is….

public failure,

unemployment,

or a poor health diagnosis?

You might have the fear that you’ll never find the right spouse or be completely healthy again? It could be the fear of being forgotten or abandoned.

And you know what? Not only do you still have fears. I bet you still have hiding places as well.

Maybe your hiding place is a couple glasses of liquor you have to have every night to take off the edge.

Maybe it’s the 80 hour work week that you pour yourself into so that you’re so busy you don’t have to even think about the fear and the worry that’s coming your way.

Maybe it’s the relationships that you’re constantly jumping in and out of to preoccupy yourself.

I don’t know what it is but what I know is that at best those hiding places give you temporary relief. What I know is that your greatest purposes, your deepest calling and your brightest dreams are not achieved while we’re hiding from our fears. We might be surviving while we’re hiding but we’re never thriving while we’re hiding.

There’s actually only one safe place to hide when the fears of life are relentlessly pounding on us.

Psalm 32:7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

He will protect you.

He will surround you.

He will breathe life and courage into you.

He will give you everything you need to fight the current battle.

He alone can forgive our sins.

He alone can give you courage.

He alone can give you life.

Find him. He’s not far.

Hide in Him. He’s always there.

Clarity vs. Trust

How many times have you said to yourself, “If I only had clarity… then I would move forward.”  “Is this the right thing to do?”  “Am I in God’s will?”

There’s a scene in the movie Bruce Almighty where Bruce is driving down the road, begging God for a sign. As he prays, we see physical road signs like, “Caution Ahead,” “Wrong Way,” “Stop,” and “Dead End.” I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve wished God would send me a physical road sign to tell me which way I should go. Should I stop? Should I take a right? Maybe a left?

Typically, though, God doesn’t work that way. That type of clear vision only comes when trusting God. And honestly, we usually don’t have clarity until we’re looking back at a decision already made or a move already taken.

There’s a great story related by Brennan Manning concerning Mother Theresa. He tells how the renowned ethicist, Jack Kavanaugh, journeyed to Calcutta to work with Mother Teresa in her ministry to the dying. When he got there, he asked her to pray for him.

She asked what he wanted her to pray for, and he said, “Clarity.” But Mother Teresa refused. She made the wise observation that Kavanaugh was clinging to clarity and that he must release it. He questioned her, saying that she always seemed to have tremendous clarity.

She laughed. “I’ve never had clarity. What I’ve had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God.”

Interesting, isn’t it? I’d be willing to bet that some of you are praying for clarity these days, too.

God, how much longer will this go on?

God, will things get better?

God, give me a sign of what we should do!

Maybe what you need isn’t more clarity. Maybe what you need is more trust.

 

When You Just Feel Stuck

Have you ever taken the time to observe people standing in line. One day I was in a curious mood and just watched four or five people in front of me as we stood in this unusually slow line. Their body language and facial expressions said it all. There were hands on the hips expressing disgust at the current inconvenience, some were rolling their eyes as they glanced up momentarily from texting on their cell phone, and there was the predictable looking at the watch and then looking at the line and then looking back at the watch.

Most of us do not like waiting for anything.  We live in a day of fast everything and waiting for anything seems like a major inconvenience.  I must confess I don’t like waiting either.  I don’t like standing in line for my favorite cup of coffee, flipping though magazines in the waiting room of the doctor’s office and I sure don’t like waiting in traffic.  And if I can just be honest with you, I don’t like waiting on God either.

Lewis Smedes described waiting like this: “Waiting is our destiny. As creatures who cannot by themselves bring about what they hope for, we wait in the darkness for a flame we cannot light.  We wait in fear for a happy ending that we cannot write. We wait for a ‘not yet’ that feels like a ‘not ever.’”

There is an event that takes place that sucks the life out of you.   Something goes horribly wrong:

A dream dies.

A relationship ends.

A job dissipates.

A desire is crushed.

You’re left there standing, waiting, paralyzed by hopelessness.    You start to wonder…

Did God forget his promises?

Does God know?

Does God care?

Luke 23:44-49 44 It was about noon, and the whole land became dark until three o’clock in the afternoon, 45 because the sun did not shine. The curtain in the Temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father, I give you my life.” After Jesus said this, he died.

47 When the army officer there saw what happened, he praised God, saying, “Surely this was a good man!”

48 When all the people who had gathered there to watch saw what happened, they returned home, beating their chests because they were so sad. 49 But those who were close friends of Jesus, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance and watched.

Notice how Jesus’ closest followers react.  The gospel account says they “stood at a distance and watched.”

Have you ever been so hopeless you couldn’t do a thing?  You couldn’t get mad or fight or even cry?  Have you ever felt so hopeless you didn’t have the energy or passion to even get ticked off?

I believe this is the emotional state of Jesus’ followers.  Nothing seems to be happening.  They feel hopeless, as if they’re completely alone.

Now, we know the end of this story.  We know that God was in fact doing his best work yet.  But there would be a waiting period.

It was Friday, remember, when Jesus was crucified.  But the paralyzing hopelessness the disciples experienced continued to intensify as they moved into Saturday.

I think it’s interesting that we don’t talk a lot about Saturday in the church.  We spend a lot of time talking about Good Friday, which of course we should.  This is the day redemption happened through the shedding of Christ’s blood.  It’s a very important day.

Nobody would argue that Easter Sunday is a day of celebration.  We celebrate that Jesus conquered death so that we can have life.  It doesn’t get any better than Easter Sunday.

But we don’t hear a lot about Saturday do we?   Saturday seems like a day when nothing is happening.  In reality, it’s a day of a whole lot questioning, doubting, wondering, and definitely waiting— a day of helplessness and hopelessness.  It’s a day when we begin to wonder if God is asleep at the wheel or simply powerless to do anything our about our current problems.

While we don’t spend a lot of time talking about Saturday, I think so much of our life here on this earth is lived out feeling somewhat trapped in “Saturday.”  I’m trying to get to a place in my life where I can embrace “Saturday.”  I’m trying to get to a place where I can view it as a type of preparation for what I believe God might be doing in my life.

You may currently be in the midst of a horrible, out-of-control situation.  You feel as if God is not there, that there’s nothing that can be done.

But here is the message of the gospel for you while you’re stuck in your helpless, hopeless Saturday life: God does his best work in hopeless situations.

We worship a God who specializes in resurrections.  He specializes in hopeless situations.  After all, at Easter, we celebrate the fact that he conquered death— the ultimate hopeless situation— so you could have life.

His followers were dejected and dismal and hopeless— and then Jesus rose from the dead.  God did the impossible and in a matter of hours the disciples journeyed from hopeless to hope-filled; from powerless to powerful.  They saw him risen and everything changed.  The story of our salvation was born out of extraordinary uncertainty.  But that’s the way hope works.

And no, that doesn’t take away your cancer.

That doesn’t erase the bankruptcy you’re in the midst of.

That doesn’t heal your broken relationship.

That doesn’t replace your shattered dream.

But it can remind you that while life is uncertain, God is not. While our power is limited, God is limitless.  While our hope is fragile, God himself is hope.

Your world may feel chaotic, especially when you’re stuck in a Saturday struggling hopelessly and waiting desperately.

But no doubt about it, God is still in control. And one way or another, Sunday will dawn.

Who Do You Need To Believe In?

Who in your life needs you to believe in them right now?

We have all had moments in our lives where we desperately needed just one person to believe that with God’s help, we can change.

As we head into Easter weekend, I would encourage you to think of at least one person in your life that you know needs the gift of a second chance  and invite them to join you at Cross Point this Saturday or Sunday.