This past weekend I traveled to Auburn, AL for my bachelor party.  It wasn’t your typical bachelor party as it didn’t include some of the more common shenanigans, but it worked just fine for me.  It was great to be with friends and play some golf and go to a football game.  The game was unbelievable.  Auburn fell behind 17 points and then furiously rallied to win 27-24 in overtime.

The crowd was going crazy when the game ended, but the mood was quite different at halftime.  At halftime there as anger.  I can’t quote a single thing I heard on here as that would probably set off the accountability software on my computer, but let’s just say it wasn’t nice.  If what I heard actually happened, coaches would have been fired on the spot and their moms and families would have suffered some terrible terrible things.

There as such an intense passion from these fans.  It felt like their life was at stake. Like a need wasn’t being met. I knew exactly what they were feeling.  I’ve been there many many times.  I remember one year after a loss, I found myself depressed and laying in bed the next day.  I didn’t know why then, but I remember asking myself why I was letting a football game effect my life so much?

My good friend and mentor, Pete Wilson, said this one time when talking about idols:

My fear for you isn’t that you will chase after the ridiculously evil, but what is deceptively good.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with following a football team, especially an institution that you spent a lot of money getting an education from.  But a lot of times we fall into the trap of letting that experience define who we are.  The outcomes of games that we have no part in preparing for or playing in sets our mood, attitude and also the way we treat other people.  That’s why I found myself depressed.  I was letting the result of an idol in my life define who I was.

I’ve written about this before, but I can’t help but revisit it after this weekend and especially after reading the book, Radical. (which I do NOT recommend unless you are absolutely serious about following Christ.)

What are we chasing after?  What happens when what you are chasing after actually happens?  You get the girl, you get the job, your team wins it all.  What then? When an idol in your life is realized it will always result in emptiness.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon writes that everything in life that we chase after is meaningless.  This is coming from a king.  The richest man in the world.  He had it all.  And it was all meaningless apart from a relationship with God.

Once again, it is an everyday decision.  One check that I do is continually ask myself, “Would I be willing to sin in order to get it?”

Would I sin so Auburn could win?  Would I sin to get that job?  Would I sin to make that girl like me?  If so, it’s an idol and it will always end in emptiness.

“I am so scared God.”  That was my exact words to God in a recent prayer.

It’s funny how you can be in completely different situations, yet have the same conversation with God.  It’s a great reminder that we are never too far or too close to God to be humbled before Him.  About a year ago I was praying the exact same thing.

My recent prayer wasn’t because things in my life were bad, in fact they are really good.  I am engaged and I absolutely love going to work everyday and I’m leading an incredible group of about 130 people called Stretch.  My life is amazing.

My prayer came because the next season of my career was happening and I was about to embark on a completely new journey.  My life was too good to suddenly change.

But I decided a while back that what I wanted for me wasn’t going to cut it.  My life story only has one author on the cover and it’s not Wes Howard.

So I found myself in the middle of my room crying my eyes out once again and telling God that I was scared.  The next morning I went running to clear my head.  I wanted to spend some time talking with God to sort it all out and at about mile 4 I was gently reminded that it was OK to be scared.

As of today, (August 26th) I have accepted the position of Middle School pastor at LifePoint Church in Smyrna, TN.  I’m excited for this next step in my ministry.  I’m excited to be able to pour into these kids lives and teach them Biblical truths that have become evident in my life. I’m excited that the love of my life gets to stay in the church that changed her life. I’m pumped to get started.

But I am also sad.  Cross Point gave me a chance when no one else would.  Pete Wilson saw something in me and mentored me for a year.  I have never been around more genuine, passionate people who live out what they preach.  I learned so much by just watching the way they love their families, strangers and most importantly, God.  I am leaving a family.

You know what’s cool about kingdom of God though?  We are all family and there’s another family in Smyrna ready to welcome me in.

So that’s my big news.  New job, new church, getting married and buying a house all within 1 month of each other.  Throw one up for me!

This month marks the 1 year anniversary of my personal “Plan B.” I won’t bore you with the details as I have already done that. (If you want to read it- it’s here Part 3)If you haven’t guessed the reference yet (and let’s be honest, 85% of you are here because of a @pwilson retweet that happened at some point) this post is my review of the book “Plan B” by Pete Wilson. [..]