Sabbatical

I must apologize to everyone who has taken time to follow me here. I have recently jumped into an impromptu sabbatical and will be back posting on a regular basis very soon. Over the last month and a half I have moved, traveled, and taken some time for rest. Though this was not what I preferred to do when my internship ended, I am starting to realize that it is something I needed to do. For the first time in a few years I've had the chance to actually sit, rest, reflect, and begin to enjoy some of the little things. Oh, and I've gotten the chance to spend time with family, which for me is good.

So, please check back after Christmas and I be reassured that I will be back.

God Bless,

S.

Parting is such sweet sorrow

As I logged into blog today I realized something, this is the last time I will be doing that from this computer, tomorrow is my last day as a Catalyst intern.

This whole last week has gotten me thinking about when things end. Somethings end abruptly and something are quite planned. An extra innings baseball game can come to an end with the swing of a bat, while sitting in a class at school ends at the pre-determined time. But no matter what type of end it is, the really meaningful things in life always end bittersweet.

I know the direction I am ment to head in next. I believe I know how I was made and what that means for the future, yet leaving Catalyst is bitter. I love these people and this place, but it is not my future (at least not my immediate future). Throughout this week I have started to think how hard it is going to be for me next week as I get up and have nowhere to go in the mornings. I am trying to plan things to do to keep my mind off the fact that I am no longer at the place that I have grown so attached to over the last several months. And I am not going to even mention anything about what exactly is next, because frankly I just don't know.

I guess what I really want to know is how people deal with things ending. I am rushing off to some other commitments right away, but about Wed. of next week it will hit me hard and I will slip into a brief morning for the life that I no longer have. No more than a few days. Is that healthy? I'm not sure what other possibilities are out there. I know that by the last week of Oct. I'll have picked up and moved on (literally and figuratively), but part of my heart will always be with those people and that place.

A few brief Catalyst reflections

Now that my Catalyst hangover has begun to wear off I have started to reflect a little bit on what happened last Thursday and Friday at the Gwinnett Arena in Duluth, GA. I did not get to see everything because I was working during the midst of the conference, but what I did see was absolutely amazing. So here are a few brief things from those two days of God's movement;

• Francis Chan is amazing. All he did was talk about Jesus and the Resurrection and I cried. God used that time to mend some brokenness in my own heart from the previous week or so.
• All the music was quality. When you go to North Point and here Steve Fee and Eddie Kirkland and then have Aaron Keyes lead worship at your office, it can be easy to forget the amazingly gifted God has made them. I am very appreciative of their time and talent.
• The widowed and orphaned really are on my heart. A few years ago I'm not sure this was true, but Christ has changed me to be closer to His purposes. It hit home this year as Catalyst had focused on the orphaned and dispossessed children of the world and my heart began to cry out for those things.
• People leave the craziest stuff behind. Since I'm a Catalyst intern I have been tasked with tracking some of this stuff (at least for the next week). Besides Bibles, journals and note books, I found: reading glasses, clothing, makeup kits, and keys. I mean honestly who leaves their keys!?!
• God really has a hand of blessing on this movement. Seeing all the things that could have gone wrong. Seeing all the things that had to align just right for the Catalyst experience to be what it was, I am certain of two things. 1-satan is trying to ruin what is happening here and 2- God IS protecting this for His greater purpose. I know no other way to say it, but God is doing something through Catalyst right now, and I want to thank Him for that because it is wonderful.

I will probably being doing more Catalyst reflections in the coming weeks as I re-listen to talks and gain very specific content from the amazing speakers. But I hope for now this shows a little bit of my own experience of this incredible week.

Update as of now

Ok, so next week is the Catalyst conference. I am an intern at Catalyst right now and things have been absolutely crazy. As I sit here right now I have some of the first free moments I've had all week. But there a couple sweet things happening with all that this week and next.

First, we are completely sold out. No more tickets available. We have hit the absolute ceiling of seats available and then some. (the vendors don't need seats, but they have to have tickets to get passes into the arena) This is absolutely amazing and things around the office have been full of celebration and astonishment as we start realize how many people that actually is.

Second, as an intern, and the only intern 25 or older, I have been tasked with a lot of random stuff this week. Things that needed to get done for the event to happen, but were not the top priority for some of the other people here. So I've spent a lot of time in vehicles recently, both my own and rentals, as I drive errands, load trucks, and pretty much do anything not at my desk or even at our offices. This is good and bad. Good because being at a desk all day can tire me out. Bad because I miss a lot by not being at my desk. Luckily I have some great co-workers who have picked up a bit of the slack by me being gone.

Third, I am super excited and a little terrified about next week. We'll have nearly 13,000 people we will be hosting next week and I am a part of the crew that leads all of that. No sleep. Lots of coffee. Tons of lifting/moving (literally). Physical and mental exhaustion. I'm ready for it, but I'm nervous about it too.

And in the middle of all this I'm still looking for what God has next for me. I pray I know sooner rather than later. But for right now, I go back to work to finish my day and then go sleep.

Two blogs

Recently I started a second blog, thelifeofapastor.blogspot.com, and have been hit by a unique reality. Writing in two different mind sets is hard.

Where here I get to be fun, discuss thigns that matter to me, and overall gush about my own life thinking that others mind find it interesting, that is not so with the other one. On my other blog I flip back and forth between first and third person because sometimes I talk about myself, others I talk about pastors in general, and again others I talk to everyone else. That in itself is tough, but trying doing that after you've just been talking about yourself and useless stuff that you find interesting.

I also noticed something else. Having two blogs has forced me to schedule blogging. I need to stay on top of both or I'll get behind with both. It has also made me a better writter and reader. My brain is forced to expand what it already knows and does.

But oh well, these are just random musings from a man who needs to think about something other than work for a few minutes. Blogging is a great way to get rid of that nasty phone call who yelled at you eventhough you aren't the person responsible or that can help. You know who you are mean phone caller guy/gal. Don't pretend you don't hear me!!!

Complete irrelevance

Ok, so with the start of the NFL season has come the swamp of football crazed sporting news. Since I am a huge fan of sports in general and pretty much watch ESPN exclusively (its a whole heck of a lot to pay for a couple of sports channels on cable, but well worth it), I have become immersed in all of it. And the thing that has struck me the most is the amount of NFL and NCAA football players with absolutely outrageous first names.

I'm not trying to dis the players or pick on their parents, but can someone explain to me the silent Q's and X's that somehow slip into a players first name. Did someone not learn spelling in school? Or is it something more? Is weird spellings and pronunciations that we've never heard before the key to football success these days? I had to find out.

So I randomly scanned the rosters of 10 NFL teams and 10 NCCA teams to see what I could find out.

NFL: Of the 10 NFL teams I found 35 distinct names - anything from Andra to J'Vonne to Ruvell. Yet the name phenomenon does not seem to discriminate for winners. Of the 10 teams I chose (some winners, some losers) I found that each had their share of unique first names; about 3-4 per team. And this is not counting the number of names I found with unique spellings. If that were factored in then the number per team would be closer to 10.

NCAA: Of the 10 NCAA teams I found 84 distinct names - from Averin to Kaither to Zarrell. But unlike the NFL, there is a disparity between good and bad. Good teams have closer to 10-12 unique first names while bad teams had 3-5. And if I were to account for all the unique spellings of traditional And this where I think I'm on to something.
1) younger parents are coming up with funkier names
2) if you want your college team to succeed just watch for a recruiting class with a bunch of names you can't pronounce
3) i wasted a ton of time looking at 20 football rosters and i'm not going to mention what time of day this was posted ;)

So the moral of the story is, if you want your kid to get a free education on a football scholarship figure out a new way to spell Andy (preferably with a silent Z) or just throw a bunch of scrabble letters on a table take whatever it spells, and come up with the pronunciation later. And who knows, they do stand a .066 % chance of making the NFL (which is better than normal football players). Thanks for wasting your afternoon with me!!!

False Educational Superiority round 2

In light of my last post, I thought about this a little more and realized that the overarching idea extends beyond the religiously educated. It goes to all people with degrees and advanced degrees.

My motto during college and seminary was that a PhD did not necessarily mean that my professors were smarter than me, only more educated. And education is not the best indicator of intelligence. Though getting a bachelors, masters, and doctorate does require some sort of intelligence to keep getting accepted at different schools and work your way up the learning ladder, it does not mean that they are the smartest person in the room.

I am not saying that professors do not deserve the honor and respect of a Doctor, because they have worked hard to get there and if they desire to be called doctor and have proper etiquette classroom for a doctor to their students, so be it they've earned it.

What I am saying is that just because a doctor said it does not mean that it is true. How often do we hear of people getting second opinions from an MD, only to get a different diagnosis or prognosis? This happens and we need to acknowledge that advance degrees don't mean you are always right.

All of this is to say, challenge the process. Challenge the answers you get. Challenge, challenge, challenge ... and when all else fails challenge. Make those in authority prove things to you, especially when they don't sound quite right. If people never challenged anything we'd live on a flat planet with all the cosmos revolving around us. Instead we have a round planet that orbits a sun that sustains life on this planet (not that there was a time that this wasn't true, just a time when it wasn't believed to be true).

So challenge them and work to get your own PhD so that some day they have to listen to you. Oh, and when I say that I'm right because I "have a masters in this stuff" just believe me, because I am right. :) :) :)

False Educational Superiority

I have been stuck at various times when I read the Gospels with a sense that the Pharisees and Sadducees (the religious leaders and elite) opperated from an view of superiority. They often appear to believe that they are better than others because they had been educated under a certain Rabbi or knew all 613 Laws.

And it hit me, this is part of what kept them from believeing in Jesus. They were so stuck in the law, their knowledge, their prestige, and their sinful obession to obey only those things that when God stared them in the face their eyes were too clouded to see.

Having recently finished seminary, this is something I fear running into and something I see all the time. Too often pastors and people in paid ministry positions believe themselves superior to everyone else. They believe they should be reveared, that certain things are beneath them, and that they are the only harbors of truth - that everyone who does or say something different from them is wrong.

Let me ask this question though, was it not this false sense of superioity gained from education what made the Pharisees/Sadducees so detestable that Jesus pronounced 7 woes on them and warned against their teachings? If Jesus, the basis of our faith, did not believe it beneath him to get down on his hands and knees to do the feet washing that was a servants job, then there is absolutely nothing that is beneath any Christian - seminary educated or not.

I know now that I will struggle with this at least for my immediate future, if not for the remainder of my life. I believe that it is sinful.

Lord please save me, and others that are in ministry/seminary educated, from falling into this human trap. This is a satan based human standard, but You have called us to Your standard. Please continually remind us of this truth and the reality of the life you've called pastors to.

Politics

So as I lay in my bed, trying to sleep, my mind kept racing and eventually it landed on the very (un)popular topic of politics. Really, it came to the issue of government, which as it turns out is totally separate from politics (who knew?). I was hit with a sudden reality; we have the SEC to monitor the finances of the stock market and large corporations, we also have the IRS to monitor the finances of individual Americans, and a myriad of other institutions to keep us all in line. But who actually monitors the the US Government, at least who does so with any effective consequences? Leave it to the voters simply doesn't work any more, there's too much information and voters have become too apathetic to the whole system.

Why do we, the people - the basis for which this government derives its power, - not insist on an independent, non-partisan audit of the US Government, both money and resources/procedure?

I think there are some distinct advantages from having an actual account as to how the US Government spends our money and resources; it is ours by the way, we worked for it, we earned it, and we entrust it to them to do things to make our country run properly. I'm okay with and think taxes are necessary, but I hate the fact that president after president and congress after congress continually misuses our money. It's not theirs it's our and we need to demand to know how our money is really being used. And the idea that making a law is compared to making sausage (you don't want to watch either one, unless you're CNN ;-)) is completely insane.

Things that should happen from actually making the government be accountable:

1) Tort reform - without this its all useless. Let's clean up the legal system that has pushed us into an extremely overly litigious society. Come on people, our civil system is a freaking joke and has forced many of the problems we have today (when did American's begin to think they were so entitled to wealth and power?).

2) Health insurance reform - costs are skyrocketing, people are loosing benefits, medicare/medicaid are a mess and its really getting ridiculous.

3) Cap corporate profits - we are greedy. I am a Christian and believe that every person is made good, but unfortunately we live in a fallen world and often times do bad because we don't know how to distinguish the difference or simply don't care. A completely laissez-faire economy does not work. We need to impose sections to stop greed from destroying honest workers.

4) Tax law reform - we need to tax everyone appropriately to their income. It is appalling the loop holes that people with enough money can find to pay less taxes than people making a quarter of what they make. Don't hide your eyes from this one, it happens a lot. And unlike the NFL who's cap regulations allowed the 49ers and Cowboys to win a few SB's in the 90's and then suffer the consequences at the turn of the century, these people will work the system their entire lives and pay more dollars (because they make more), but less percentage over the long-haul.

5) Campaign finance reform - Not sure how to do this one, but it needs to get done. Its outrageous how much money is spent to win an election and if you win your first, its a lot easier to win later. Senate incumbency usually means a job (and benefits) for life, even if you became useless 20 years ago.

6) Reform of legislative procedure - allocation of money and resources should be figured out after a bill is passed, not before. Too often crappy bills get passed because $3 million gets pork bellied into an important Congressman's constituent area and good bills get dumped because not enough money went to the right people in the right places. Get rid of this and Congress might actually get something worthwhile done each term (maybe more than one thing).

7) Eliminate lobbyist - these are the worst kind of people, at least the "good" ones are. Some lobby's are good, some bad. Unfortunately, we can't just get rid of the bad ones. So the only way to rectify this problem is to eliminate all lobbyist from Capital Hill and require 100% accuracy and accountability from the lobby's and Congressmen about their dealings with the lobby's.

Possible benefits:

1) A more streamlined government actually working for the people, not for their jobs.

2) Avoidance of possible massive recessions (i.e. right now).

3) Social systems that actually work. (Don't get me started on the problems in welfare - good idea, horrendous execution, and they're not the only one).

4) A government that takes care of its people and acts as good stewards of the resources given them by the hard working Americans that this nation thrives on.

5) No more national debt, novel concept I know, but I believe the current system - writing checks that we don't really have the money to back - might be illegal. I'm not a lawyer, so I'll have to get back to you on that one ;-).

6) Better prepared for the future and the problems that might arise, thus turning our country into a proactive world leader instead of a reactive world bully that throws money and military at everything.

7) Regained international standing. Once the land of the free and the home of the brave, America use to stand for something and people wanted to come here. Now all we stand for is massively abused opulence. People only want to come here to make enough money to live comfortably in their home land when they return. Whatever happened to: "Give my your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free"?

Taking a break

So recently I've been learning the importance and need for breaks. And I don't mean just having a Saturday with only a little cleaning to do. I mean a real break. Get away from the house, people depending on you and all form of work for 1-2 days. Wow, how amazing it is to even be alone for a few hours with no cares or worries.

For me, I'm glad I get to have a form of a break by going home. A long weekend with family, though exhausting at times, can still be very restful. But I'm not ending there, I'm thinking about taking a few days (3 max) between jobs in October to go somewhere, possibly with a beach, and just sit. It'll be the first real break I've had since Christmas. And I have to stress how important it is to take a few days each year for this. Just hope you have some understanding people around you who will allow you to do this without complaint (though you have to be willing to allow them the same luxury).

What will you loose...

Have you ever prayed to loose your job ... your health ... your life? What are you willing to give up? Do you serve a cause bigger than yourself? Really, ... whom do you serve?

I serve a King. Fortunately my King is not like the kings of today (how few there are left) or the kings of Medieval Europe that are told about in fables or studied in history. No. My King is a Creator, a Father, a Ruler. He Created the World. He is Father to everything that is in it. And He Rules perfectly over all of it. He is sovereign, above all, in all, sustainer of all.

Because I serve this King, I am called to something higher, ... something bigger than me, this life, this world. I am called to the purposes of the King. This means that all I have is actually His and I get to use it because He has allowed me to. That means that nothing I ever do, nothing I have or will have, nothing in this life He has so blessed me with is of any value, except for my relationship with the King.

My King is good. He knows what is best for me and though I may not see it now or understand it, His goodness given to me will always be better than any other shiny imitation that might draw my attention for awhile, but ultimately not deliver the goodness that is only His to give.

So the real question is, whom do you serve? We are all tied to something; money, food, power, sex, etc. But whom will you serve?

If you serve the same King that I serve, then what are you willing to loose for the sake of His greater purposes? From my experience, and that of some fellow servants of this King, I am confident is saying that there is no way to know what will happen. Sometimes the King will ask you to loose that thing you cherish, sometimes He won't and just wants to know that you are willing to loose it. There is no way to know which time this is, but I can be assured of one thing. My King, the King that is calling out to you and I to loose something, He is good and He is sovereign and He loving. He will take care of you whether or not you actual loose that thing He asks of you. Trust and offer, that is all we can do. The King does the rest.

What will you loose to His greater purpose?

He knows your thoughts

I was reading the Gospel of Matthew today and was astounded by something. Matthew mentions, almost as if in passing, "He knew their thoughts." Wait a second, WHAT? He (Jesus) knew their thoughts!?! He knew what they were thinking. A quick search of www.biblegateway.com shows that this happened a couple of times throughout Jesus' ministry. So how do you doubt someone when they turn to you and say, "why are you thinking that" and then proceed to teach against the evil thoughts that you just had. How do you deny that that person is God?

Or better yet, what are you thinking about that you wouldn't want God to catch you thinking about. He knows your thoughts: past, present and future, He knows. He delights in the good ones and forgives you for the bad ones. But no matter, what He knows. Shouldn't we all strive to cultivate a thought life that brings more pleasure to God than forgiveness from Him?

Brother Yun

I'm reading "Heavenly Man" about Brother Yun and the Chinese Home Church movement. All I can say is WOW!!!! If anyone ever questions if God still works in teh way He does in Scripture, the answer is YES. just check out Brother Yun's life.

Material things

I have come to realize that are some things that I love in life. Clothes, hats, DVD's, cool electronic toys, books, etc. Yet, I have also come to realize two important facts about these thigns. 1) there is such a thing as too much of these things; 2) others can use your access for their lack. this is not a one man's junk ... sort of thing, but rather a truth. and i am not calling for people to get rid of all their worldly possessions. i ask for an honest estimation of what you NEED.

in the spirit of this, i plan to start reviewing all the material things that i have in excess. my goal is to find out what i need and what i use. from that i want to start to "trim the fat" as finance experts would say. get rid of the excess and give it to those that need those things. This will be a long, hard process to undertake, but i know that it is necessary to free me of material desires and because God has not called any of us to lives of rampant materialism. take what you need, give away what is left.

to do

Stop. Breathe.
Not mine, His.
Worry about nothing. Pray about Everything.
In His time.

dream big

I don't know why, but God has put this in front of me twice this morning. Dream BIG Dreams!!!! Don't let anyone stop you, even yourself. It doesn't matter how outrageous, unrealistic, or fanciful they are, dream big.

Everyday life

The mystery of the common and everyday occurances really astonishes me sometimes. The perfectness and perciseness that it takes for the sun to come up, water to come out the tap, or the tempurature drop at night to keep me cool with windows open and no A/C, all of that amazes me.

Look at the world around, ponder what all it takes to get exactly what you see and then tell me that God doesn't exist and that He didn't create this thing we call life. ... Me say you are wrong.

(And living in Atlanta now makes me appreciate the Rockies a lot more than when I lived there)

Simplicity

Reading a book by Chuck Swindoll last night and I was hit with some honesty truth; when did simplicity become a bad thing? Christ himself said, "whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Mt. 18:4).

Sometimes our lives are too complicated, too cluttered, too wired, and too task oriented. We don't just be anymore. We don't sit in silence and simplicity, marveling at the wonders of God's creation. So that is my challenge, take time to just be. I'm going to start tonight with a little along time on my porch: just me, God, and the world out my back door.

July 4, 1776

This weekend we remember the day that a small group of men, fed up with the poor governing of an empire on the other side of an ocean, got together and declared to that government that we no longer will stay submitted to their improper, authoritarian rule. No matter your political view, please remember this day; remember the freedoms they declared for us all; remember the freedoms we all share today; and most of all, remember the men and women who have died to uphold those freedoms.

Happy Independence Day everyone!!!!!

Discussion

So it became obvious to me that some people are just completely out of touch with society. I saw a boycott of a song sponsored by a Christian recently. And though I agree that the song is bad and does not deserve to be played, I would never call for its boycott. All that does is put a bad name on Christians. It makes all of us sound like fundamentalist wackos.

Instead, I say we talk about it. Christ did not call for people to boycott the rule of the Sadducees because they were corrupt. And these are people who were from their own background. Like Jesus we should talk with the makers of this song and those that like and support it. Lovingly sharing our opinions and ACTUALLY listening to theirs does a lot more for the Truth of the Gospel then seperating "us" from "them". Please people it is a song, not a complete abominiation of humanity (somethings are and those are the things that deserve action, ie. genecide). Stop, talk, and listen to these people with love.

patience

Life boggles the mind sometimes. The ebs and flows of the world around me often defies all reason. For instance, how a bad attitude and a busy morning turns into a slow afternoon longing for some action. Yet, patience is the key. The Lord blesses and controls things in His way, not mine. Sometimes my down is someone elses up. Sometimes the Lord is teaching through those instances that frustrate. Patience is the key. The Lord does reward those that are faithful and patient in Him.

first game back

Last night I had my first hockey game in a couple of years. Just rec rollar hockey, but a few things never change. I felt like it was deja vu in the locker room. I guess those things are always the same. And it became painfully evident that I gotta get my legs under me to really play at the level I know I'm capable. Gotta love picking up old sports.

No hands but yours ...

You are the Body of Christ. He is physically gone, but you are not. Teresa of Avila was quoted:

"Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours; yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion looks out on the world, yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good, and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now."

Live as the Body of Christ today. Do as Christ would and leads you to.

A word of encouragement to remember

A word of encouragement to remember:

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entagles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." (Heb. 12:1-3)

When our hearts are weary and our bodies are faint, remember that Jesus Christ left heaven, came to earth, and died a horrible criminals death (though He was innocent) all for you. He was resurrected, defeating death, all for you. He loves you. He cares for you. And you must focus on Him, for He will carry you through anything and all things.

Books

Can I just say that I love books. I grew up in a world that is overwhelmed with motion media, where "veging out" is meant in front of a TV, and here video have come to replace actual activity. And in the midst of this I also grew up with a learning disability in reading that forced me to learn a whole new way to read because my brain doesn't function like most other people's. And in spite of all these things, I love reading. There is nothing that can replace it. I believe God is in books and I love what he tells me there. So, please put down the remote and pick up your library card.

A blast from the past

George MacDonald once said:

"No man can order his life, for it comes flowing over him from behind ... The one secret of life and development is not to devise and plan but to fall in with the forces at work - to do every moment's duty aright - that being the part in the process allotted to us; and let come - not what will, for there is no such thing - but what the eternal thought wills for each of us, has intended in each of us from the first." (thanks to CS Lewis' anthology)

Thus to say, for those planners like me, forget it. Life is not planned. Life is life. It happens and we need not to plan everything, because those plans will always fail. And we need not to resign ourselves to always having our plans fail. We need to step into life, live it for its worth in the moment, play our role, and then move on to what is next. Or, as John Lennon is quoted as saying, "Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans." So stop making plans and start living life.

Experiencing God

It hit me recently how I experience God. Broken down to its most basic levels, people experience God in four ways: 1) scripture, 2) experience 3) tradition 4) reason. Each one of these has much deeper nuances then it seems, but for the most part this is how things can be broken down. But we all a different order of these things. My order is scripture, reason, experience, tradition. What is your order?

Proper stewards

Gen. 2:15 states, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." Thus begins one of the minor themes of scripture, the stewardship of God's world. We are not just called, not just commanded, not just compelled, but it is our duty, our responsibility to take care of the earth and all the things in it. 

God created all things, good and bad, He created them. As the pinnacle of that creation, He created man and placed man in a position to rule over it, cultivate it, and be stewards of what God has created. It has come to my attention how terrible of a job we do of this.

So please, please, please, I beg you please, consider this each day. Carpool, recycle, put your gum in the trash not in the grass. Please remember that you are a steward of God's creation and you should take care of it as best you can because it is not yours. And at the very least, be sure that some day you will have to give account to the master for what you have done with His property.

Kill Fear

So I was reading Seth Godin's Tribes last night and was hit with some truth. Too often we are affraid of being leaders. That's why the good leaders are so popular, they have overcome that fear. Whether that is daily or once-for-all is something that each one of us has to figure out for ourselves, but the first step is stepping into the fear to overcome it.

This reminds me of a Andy Stanley's talk from CatalystWest this year where he discussed venturing into the unknown. If we are to lead, and Godin would say that the world needs leaders right now, then we must jump into things without knowing where we are going. We need to be willing to step out with a new idea, not knowing if it will succeed or fail or how we will even do it. We need to be inivators and be willing to live beyond the fear and actually promote the inovation that we have been blessed with.

Seed and harvest

Based off of some of the things we heard from Louie this afternoon, my brain started processing. He specifically brought up the BIBLICAL idea of seeding and harvesting. Not the prosperty gospel form of giving money and watching the harvest of the church you gave to. No, this is the actual process in the Bible about the cyclical planting, harvesting, planting more, harvest, etc....

This brought to my mind much of what the Lord has taken me through in the last several months. Too many of my peers, and I am included in this group, have been brought up with a sense of entitlement. We believe that a college degree, or even more a master's degree, entitles us to something great. We forget that we do not get to be a VP of a company on our first day. As Louie talked about we must sow the initial seeds of this phase of life and eventuall harvest them. Then we sow more seed and harvest more crop from that. This is a continual process that we all go through during our entire lives. We must work and build the bridges, get the experiences, and sow the seed in our youth so that some day we actually can do all those things that God is calling us to do. Live faithfully to your calling and God will reward you at the harvest or the next cycle. You are entitled to very little, so stop expecting a whole lot.

Louie Giglio

Ok, so I just sat in on the recording of a new Catalyst podcast with Louie Giglio and I all I have to say is EPIC. It was quite amazing. That guy was spittin' gold at us for an hour and a half. I trully recommend that everyone watch www.catalystspace.com or iTunes for the next podcast.

To Start ...

This is my first post of my new blog. It has come to my attention that I have two major areas where a blog could be helpful.

1) It is very hard for me to keep up to date with many of my friends and family... sorry folks but there are too many of you for me to stay in touch with everyone and I hate recapping six months in five minutes. But in reverse it is hard for me to keep up to date on all of you, so please feel free to comment on any post and give me updates on what you are doing now.

2) I often get hit with ideas that seem to be epiphanies to me and I need to hash them out. I know the people around me can get sick of hearing "Do you think ..." all day and since I'm in an office now I will quickly drive people away from there desks and my boss won't like that and then I'll be looking for new employment. So this will be the place where I get those things out and not only welcome, but encourage comments on those things.

So with all of that, here it is my blog. A new venture and I hope you all enjoy