smoking survey

Earlier this week I had a friend who was working on a survey of people around him that did not smoke.

The survey was for a class he is taking, and I say that because I think it’s important that you know I don’t have friends who superfluously survey those around them. Anyway, he had to find something about himself that was different than the people he was surveying.

He smokes a lot, I have only smoked experimentally, and even that was back when I was in high school.

After completing his questions, I wanted to attach a little caveat about my views on smoking. Here is what I said:

One more thought – as a follower of Jesus, I’m generally careful with anything that can become an addiction. This is one of the reasons I gave up espresso during lent. It had progressed from an enjoyable, every once in a while drink, to an every day need. And that’s not healthy. So for me, I don’t see anything socially or Biblically wrong with smoking. But when I see someone addicted to anything, I hurt for them because I believe that God created us to live free from all addictions.

I guess you could say it’s the thing behind the thing. I grew up in churches where smoking was bad… just ’cause. Of course the people telling me smoking was bad were addicted to coffee, sugar, overeating, sarcasm and a host of other things. But smoking was bad.

Maybe it goes into the story Jesus told about taking the log out of your own eye before you worry about the speck in another person’s eye. Maybe it ties in to not judging. But people who smoke socially or enjoy a cigar every now and then aren’t mine to judge. And as far as I can tell the espresso addiction I struggled with for two years was just as bad, if not worse.

Addiction to cigarettes hurts your lungs. Addiction to caffeine (espresso, soda, energy drinks) hurts your bones. Addiction to technology hurts your relationships. Addiction is addiction. It’s all bad, it’s all destructive.

So maybe what we need is grace.

free book winners

Congratulations to our Twitter winner:
19. Brandon Buchannan

And our Facebook winner:
1. Joshua Maddin

And one extra copy, because her story in yesterday’s comments was so powerful:
Faye Bryant

*Twitter and Facebook winners were numbered off in order of their comments and chosen by the random number generator at random.org.

collaborate

About two years ago I was totally and completely burned out as a pastor.

It’s a horrible place to find yourself, because you have one of the greatest jobs on the planet, and you basically work for God, so you’re not supposed to be able to burnout. But I found myself physically, emotionally and (worst of all) spiritually empty.

After a week of decompression, I worked with some people around me to craft a year-long recovery plan. And launched on a journey that ultimately lead me back into deeper relationship with Jesus and healthier rhythms of living here in this world.

When my friend Michael Chanley emailed a few months ago and asked me to write a chapter in a book on how the church can reach families, I immediately thought of my journey.

Because as I’ve talked to pastors around the country, I’ve realized that I’m not alone when it comes to working myself into a spiritual and emotional deficit. And my theory is that if the church wants to reach families, then it’s going to need pastors who aren’t burnt out.

So, i joined with over 30 other pastors to write a book called Collaborate. It’s a multi-faceted view of how we, as the church, can work together to reach the families in our communities. My story of recovery is just one of the many practical chapters on how to design your life and ministry to connect with this generation.

Our prayer is that this book would unite churches together and that our crowd-sourced ideas would lead to life change in the next generation.

Collaborate is available today and to celebrate, I am giving away two free copies – one on Twitter and one on Facebook.

Tweet this to win on Twitter: Excited to check out #CollaborateBook. @ardentvox joined 34 others to write it! Win a copy & find out more here: http://bit.ly/aD9CCH

Post the link to the Collaborate FB Page with this text to win on Facebook: Excited to check out this new book. My friend, Steven Dilla, joined 34 others to write it! Win a copy & find out more here: http://bit.ly/aD9CCH