I Lost My Mojo.

I should probably start this post with a disclaimer. The word "mojo" has several meanings. It references witchcraft, voodoo, and drug use.  It is most commonly used to refer to sexual prowess thanks to Austin Powers. Since it would be incredibly awkward for all of you to read a post about that,  I'm going to use it to mean confidence for this post. Now that I think about it I could have just said that I lost my confidence...but that doesn't sound as good. 

Boy this post isn't starting out well. That won't help get my mojo back. Let's keep going.

The truth is that the past two months have been a little rough for me. I've had a number of things happen that have really shaken my confidence for whatever reason. They've shaken my confidence in my job, in my writing, and in life in general. And to be completely honest, it sucks.

It sucks to write something and think..."this isn't really that good" (i'm doing that right now)
It sucks to plan something and think..."i bet no one will like this"
It sucks to have to make a decision and think..."I bet someone will complain about this."


I don't write all of this to complain,or to look for sympathy. I write it for a couple of reasons. First, to be honest and clear about the life of pastors. I think in America people, expect pastors to be super humans who never struggle and can do every aspect of ministry perfectly. My hope is to be honest and human about being a pastor. But that's only a small part of why I write this.

The main reason is that I'm writing in an attempt to identify with you and offer a bit of hope. The thing about losing your mojo is that at some point it happens to everyone. Depending on where you are in life you might be experiencing it right now. Everyone goes through it. That's the good news.


I'm reminded of Moses at times like these.  Moses had the good life. He was raised in the house of Pharaoh. It would be adequate to say he was the son of a king. Given how Pharaohs were seen in Egyptian culture, it would be more correct that He was viewed as the son of a god (although adopted of course) He had it made. Then he made a mistake. He got emotional when he saw an Egyptian guard beating an Israelite. So He kills the guard. This didn't make Pharaoh happy and he tried to kill Moses. Moses had to go on the run and settle for a life of being a shepherd.

Son of a King to a shepherd. Talk about losing your mojo. Moses had to be in rough shape.

That's when God steps in to do something big with Moses. He talks to him through the burning bush. I think that's funny. Why a burning bush? If God does that with me, I hope He uses a bear that talks kind of like Yogi Bear.  "Hiyah Jon, You should feed the homeless with some pic-i-nic baskets." haha. I'm just thinking about that. Anyways I digress..

God tells Moses to go toe to toe with the most powerful man in the world.  The man who was trying to kill Moses. The best part of this story is that Moses gives God all kinds of excuses as to why he shouldn't be the one to do the job.

Moses didn't have any confidence in himself and much less confidence in God. Moses at one point complained that he wasn't a very good public speaker to which God responded, "who made your mouth?" I can see God getting impatient and just saying, "TRUST ME! I'M GOD!"

That's what it comes down to isn't it? trusting God? When we get past how shaky our confidence is and just trust in God, He shows up and does some crazy awesome stuff.  

God made me.
God made me a youth pastor and he'll tell me what to do next.
God made me a husband and father and he'll tell me how to lead my family next.
God made me a writer and He'll tell me what to write next.
All I have to do is trust Him.

That's where I'll find my mojo.


Have you lost your mojo?  Where do you need to trust God?

What? Me Worry?

There's a lot going on in life isn't there?  I'm preparing for a week long trip with middle schoolers and high schoolers. Mollie can tell you that the day before a retreat is always a terrible day. I'm so completely stressed that I make life miserable for everyone. 

Do you ever get that way? Do you ever become so stressed that people don't like being around you?

I do. That's why I'm sitting by myself at a local coffee shop with a large coffee writing my thoughts out. Alone. I brought a book too. It's called "The Christian Atheist: Believing in God, but Living as If He Doesn't Exist".  You can see the cover of the book right here. 

It's a very good book. (I'm looking to teach a series on it in the fall) I'd recommend getting it. 

But today I was sitting here reading and the chapter was about Worry. I'm a worrier. It's weird. When something is on my mind it will overwhelm me to the point that I can't handle it anymore. I sit and worry. I stand and worry. I pace and worry. When my kids are teenagers I'm in trouble. 

But today's chapter talked about worrying. In a sense it said the following

Worrying is when you don't trust in God. 

Excess of Worry means lack of Faith.

Ouch. That's me. Is it you? 

Do you find yourself consumed with worry when something goes wrong. Perhaps you have a deadline. Perhaps someone you love has cancer? Maybe you don't have enough money to pay the bills. There's a lot we can worry about. But what good does that do?

Jesus asks in the Bible, "How can worrying add time to your life?" Good point Jesus. But worrying is ingrained in my life. It's my nature to worry. 

Phil 4:6-7 says the following:

 ⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

In other words EVERY time you think about something and begin to worry. Take it to God and pray about it. Pray about the issue. Pray about how you are worried. Ask God for that peace. Do this OVER AND OVER AND OVER, every time you worry. See what God does. See how God works. 

When we can take things to God, we can begin to let them go. 

I pray that worry will not overwhelm your lives. I pray that you will be able to let go and let God deal with it. I pray that you can lead a changed life that trusts God in everything. That's my prayer for you today.