by David Docusen | February 17, 2014 | Uncategorized
After months of prayer (and copious amounts of frustration), our search for a home had finally come to a close.
It was the summer of 2010 and the desire of our family was to have a home in the same community that our church was located. It just so happened that our church was located a half mile from the heart of Uptown Charlotte in the historic Elizabeth community. With a median price tag of a half million dollars, purchasing was out of the question. Renting was our only option, but even then most homes were double the amount that our family of six could afford.
We found a 1,300 square foot home that was located on a beautiful street that piqued our interest. It was in need of some TLC, but it turned out that the owner, Betty, was willing to work with us. The neighbors were amazing and we felt at home almost immediately. I remember thinking to myself, “My dad had six siblings and he grew up in a three bedroom home. I’m sure we can make a three bedroom, one bathroom house work for our family, as well.” This turned out to be one of the best decisions we ever made. Getting ready in the morning has proved to be a chaotic symphony with only one bathroom, but this home has been filled with amazing memories over the last four years.
As we toured the home, I noticed a digital box positioned by the back door. I called Betty over and asked, “What’s this?” She replied, “That’s a carbon monoxide detector. You’ll probably never need it, but I like to have it in each home I own. Carbon monoxide is odorless and tasteless, but it can kill you if there’s too much in your home. If you hear the alarm, get out.” I was equally comforted and terrified by this thought.
I was thinking about this conversation as I read the Proverbs this morning…
All who fear the Lord will hate evil. Therefore, I hate pride
and arrogance, corruption and perverse speech.
– Proverbs 8:13
One of my favorite authors, Tim Keller, says that “Pride and arrogance are like the carbon monoxide of sin. It’s hard to recognize, but it can kill you.” I am fully aware that I am only one perspective shift away from taking credit for the blessings of God in my life, family and ministry. And this Proverb is a reminder that God places price and arrogance in the same category as more detectable sins such as corruption and perverse speech. That shows the seriousness of these sins.
Jesus gives us a beautiful contrast in the Sermon on the Mount by teaching that God blesses those that are humble (Matthew 5:5). I am praying that you and I would be reminded today to check our hearts for impure motives. May we be quick to recognize pride and arrogance, and quick to repent when the carbon monoxide detector starts to ring the alarm in our lives.
by David Docusen | February 11, 2014 | Uncategorized
Staring down the barrel of a machine gun was not quite the way I had imagined our romantic drive to Lover’s Beach. But that’s exactly where my new bride, Dara, and I found ourselves lost as a ball in high weeds on the fourth day of our marriage.
Twenty minutes earlier, the concierge at our honeymoon resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico had given us detailed instructions to this intimate locale that we had heard about from some locals. The only problem was that these instructions were given in Spanish. This story is for another day, but I famously (infamously?) scored an 18% on my final exam during my sophomore year at Lake Brantley High School in Altamonte Springs, FL.
We hopped in our rented Jeep Wrangler (my dream car), took the top down and began to explore. We held hands, laughed and drank deep of the blue skies and bright sunshine that created the perfect landscape for this memorable moment. This was our day to experience all that the mainstream tourists would never see due to their lack of adventure.
We came to a crossroad in the middle of town. It looked nothing like our limited Spanish vocabulary had interpreted. Dara was convinced we were to turn left. I was convinced we were to turn right. Like any good husband trying to figure out how to be a good husband, I decided that we would turn right.
The asphalt turned to gravel and then the gravel turned to dirt. We were well on our way to making memories that would cement my win for husband of the week the first week on the job. Our all-terrain dream vehicle was made for this tree-lined dirt path. Everything was perfectly falling into place.
An unexpected addition to our secluded moment was the multi-million dollar leer jets that kept flying in overhead, landing just over the tree line. In the distance, we could see on opening that looked like our parking area. As we approached, to our surprise, two men dressed in camouflage were pointing machine guns directly at our foreheads while screaming at the top of their lungs.
With visions of losing husband of the week racing through my head, I pulled the emergency brake and turned the wheel hard left. A cloud of dust acted as our cover as I pulled off the best one hundred eighty degree turns of my life. I slammed on the gas, never looking back to ever figure out why Lover’s Beach was actually a machine-gun-protected, luxury jet airstrip.
We never found Lover’s Beach. But we did rack up an unforgettable memory as both of us made it out of that day alive. I learned that day that everything I say may not always be right. Over the course of my eleven years of marriage, turns out I have had to learn that lesson over and again.
These memories came flooding back today as I was reading Proverbs 8. Wisdom is personified in this book of the Bible, and she spends her time calling out to anyone that will listen. She calls out from the rooftops, at the entrance to the gates of a city and positions herself conspicuously at the crossroads of well traveled roads. She wants to be heard. She longs for us to listen. Verse six struck me with such simplicity and direct challenge:
Listen to me! For I have important things to tell you. Everything I say is right…
(Proverbs 6:6 NLT)
As I proved on the fourth day of my marriage (and many days following), I need wisdom. And Wisdom calls out in this passage from anywhere that may get my attention. Turns out that I need to pay careful attention to the first words of this verse to ever hear the perfect direction of God: LISTEN TO ME!
My prayer is that you and I would find the courage to listen and respond to the voice of Wisdom as she calls out. Break away. Find stillness and silence. Find rest. And allow the voice of wisdom to lead and guide you.
You may not like the answers you get, but the promise is that Wisdom only leads to life and health. Instead of staring down the barrel of a machine gun, you will successfully find the moments of intimacy that you were aiming for in the first place.
My advice is wholesome. There is nothing devious or crooked in it.
My words are plain to anyone with understanding,
clear to those with knowledge.
(Proverbs 6:8-9)
by David Docusen | December 23, 2013 | Uncategorized
We’re huge fans of Christmas in the Docusen home. We do our best to make sure we creatively teach the kids the story of Jesus – and why it matters – every year. This year we also started to incorporate fun and creative ways to teach them about generosity – that when God blesses and provides for our family, it gives incredible joy to be able to give to others. It’s been a fun week around the Docusen house.
Tonight, we incorporate a family tradition that we’ve started with the kiddos. On December 23rd every year, we do Family Movie Night (A Muppet Christmas Carol this year) and open a “family gift.” It’s one gift with six gifts in it. It’s the same every year – pajamas for everybody. Super fun to see the kiddos get all bundled up and then all cuddle up on the couch as a family and watch a movie together.
On Christmas Eve morning we do the same thing every year, as well. Tomorrow will be our 4th annual Cracker Barrel brunch. We’ll sleep in a bit (which probably means 8:30am around our house) and then head to Cracker Barrel. We line the kids up, youngest to oldest, on the rocking chairs and take the same picture every year. It’s crazy to see how much they grow each year. Either the chairs are getting smaller or my babies are getting bigger.
These are just a few of our fun traditions that we’ll enjoy in the next 24 hours. What are some ways that you celebrate the Christmas season with your family?
by David Docusen | December 18, 2013 | Uncategorized
The generosity of our church family and friends in Charlotte and around the world is what keeps us moving forward as a church family. And for that, I’m incredibly grateful.
I’m asking that our friends and family would consider giving a one time, year-end gift to help us continue to fulfill our vision of making disciples at home and across the world. Your generosity at the end of 2013 is the financial foundation for our church to move into 2014.
Any gift is greatly appreciated and every dollar given to Center City Church is put toward continuing to fulfill our vision of making disciples at home and across the world. Thanks for your consideration!.
Click here to give online via PayPal or refer to the graphic below for more options.
by David Docusen | December 3, 2013 | Uncategorized
Our church family is a community of hopeless, helpless and depraved sinners. I’m not sure what I expected when I got into pastoral ministry, but I’m realizing more and more that a community of faith, simply put, is a community of sinners. Liars and cheaters are two accurate descriptors of all of us. And here’s what I’m realizing even more: I’m the leader of the pack.
Without Jesus as the sole focus of our attention, we can easily move toward the desires of our own flesh. The enticement of the world is incredibly appealing. The Kingdom of God teaches us to consider others before ourselves, but that’s not nearly as satisfying to the flesh as going after what satisfies the desires of our hearts quickly and temporarily. Instant gratification is a lot more convenient than patiently waiting for the promise of perfect satisfaction from God.
Sunday afternoons can sure be a striking transition. After being led in a time of focused worship, we can quickly move toward selfish motives, desires and actions. All it takes is fixing our eyes on ourselves instead of the One that saves, rescues and restores our hearts.
If we are so easily swayed, what is the remedy?
I think part of it is just coming to the conclusion that a community of faith is a community of sinners. The common bond that holds the Kingdom of God together, however, is the unexpected, unreasonable grace that is shown to such a community by the love, power and forgiveness of Jesus.
My heart has been rescued by Jesus. But that doesn’t mean I can’t move back into my old ways. If I remember that I am a sinner, it helps me to remember that I need the continued grace of Jesus to move forward with my days. I mess up. So do you. And if we realize that we’re a community, flawed by our human nature, we’ll be quick to forgive others and find patience with our community of friends and acquaintances when we realize how patient God has been with us.
In his treatise on pastoral ministry, The Contemplative Pastor, Eugene Peterson encourages pastors to simply embrace themselves (and their congregation) as sinners:
“The happy result of a theological understanding of people
as sinners is that the pastor is saved from continual surprise
that they are in fact sinners…
So ‘sinner’ becomes not a weapon in an arsenal of
condemnation, but the expectation of grace.”
For all that call Center City Church your community, look around. We gather as a community of sinners on equal footing. All of us hopelessly dependent upon Jesus to unite our hearts in our shared need to give and receive undeserved grace.
We are a community of sinners, found completely free from sin when we gather around the only one that frees us from our plight: Jesus Christ.
