While sittin' on the stage waiting for church to start I'm typing this. Lot of thoughts running through my head right now. I fully understand that just because something can be said doesn't mean something should!
We just got done with a quick run through of the songs and there's a lull while we wait for the time to start. I started playing and like what usually happens, I thought, "Geez I sound terrible. Is there a way I can stop sounding so bad?"
I'm thinking about how I got home from work at 2 a.m. And how I can feel it in my bones. That I was out that late. I've started exercising regularly again and I have a pretty good feeling that once I get in better shape I'll be able to not hurt so bad when I work so late.
I'm thinking about how I gave my wife a hard time last night before work because she asked me again what time I get off because she didn't remember. Then came God's loving discipline as I got to work and realized that I had forgotten yet again the names of all the staff that I work with which is something that I committed to remembering the last time I worked.
I'm thinking about hell house starting this week. I led my first person to Christ at hell house last year. When he'll house starts I get so focused and Great-Commission-oriented. Why does it have to stop when hell house is over?
Well I think we'll be starting soon. Didn't proofread this!
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
I wanna talk about me, wanna talk about "I"...
I'm writing this post for pretty much one reason: To see what I sound like at 3 a.m. in the morning. (I love obvious redundancy in writing. It's one of the lost arts in my opinion.)
I wish so bad I could remember where I heard this, or read this, or what; but, I learned that someone does not read past the first sentence of a blog post, magazine article, etc. if it contains the pronoun "I" at all. Well, I guess that person--if he stumbled on my blog--didn't make it this far and has moved on to something else since I made sure to totally put that resolve to the test. Obviously, he shared that with a message to what he was saying. Anything produced where "I" is at the forefront, is likely to lose the audience immediately, because the audience doesn't want to know that "I," the author, is the more important thing to me. Instead it's "you," the audience, that the audience wants to know is the most important thing to me. At least that's what I feel this individual's point was that he was trying to get across.
On the one hand it seems a little narrow-mindedly self-centered, but in the big picture, it actually makes more sense that it is that way.
And to kinda point the finger at myself, I have always noticed that I talk about me a LOT in my blog posts. Most of my posts are centered around me instead of telling about the cool stuff that other people have done that just totally blew me away. I kinda waste a lot of time and energy talking about the cool things that I've experienced, I've accomplished, I've observed, I've learned...hey!...See, there I go doing it again!
I really, really, want to target my weaknesses just as if I'm back at the range like I used to do in the army--looking down the barrel of a rifle through the sights at the paper target 30m away. And the one that I wanna kill so badly first: This being wrapped up with...me! This silent preoccupation with my well-being that is even admittedly masked with false modesty and a false preference of others over myself; I just want it go away for good never again to come back and intrude on my efforts of truly making my life about everyone else in it.
But how do I do that? Mmm. Going back to my original evidence of this effort--and possibly one of the lesser-significant evidences--trying to minimize the "I" in my blog posts. How do I do it? Or is it even really that important? Do I have too much "I" in my blog posts? How about in my life?
Oop! Well it's just about to be 4:00 and I specifically wanted to know what I sounded like at 3 a.m. in the morning.
I wish so bad I could remember where I heard this, or read this, or what; but, I learned that someone does not read past the first sentence of a blog post, magazine article, etc. if it contains the pronoun "I" at all. Well, I guess that person--if he stumbled on my blog--didn't make it this far and has moved on to something else since I made sure to totally put that resolve to the test. Obviously, he shared that with a message to what he was saying. Anything produced where "I" is at the forefront, is likely to lose the audience immediately, because the audience doesn't want to know that "I," the author, is the more important thing to me. Instead it's "you," the audience, that the audience wants to know is the most important thing to me. At least that's what I feel this individual's point was that he was trying to get across.
On the one hand it seems a little narrow-mindedly self-centered, but in the big picture, it actually makes more sense that it is that way.
And to kinda point the finger at myself, I have always noticed that I talk about me a LOT in my blog posts. Most of my posts are centered around me instead of telling about the cool stuff that other people have done that just totally blew me away. I kinda waste a lot of time and energy talking about the cool things that I've experienced, I've accomplished, I've observed, I've learned...hey!...See, there I go doing it again!
I really, really, want to target my weaknesses just as if I'm back at the range like I used to do in the army--looking down the barrel of a rifle through the sights at the paper target 30m away. And the one that I wanna kill so badly first: This being wrapped up with...me! This silent preoccupation with my well-being that is even admittedly masked with false modesty and a false preference of others over myself; I just want it go away for good never again to come back and intrude on my efforts of truly making my life about everyone else in it.
But how do I do that? Mmm. Going back to my original evidence of this effort--and possibly one of the lesser-significant evidences--trying to minimize the "I" in my blog posts. How do I do it? Or is it even really that important? Do I have too much "I" in my blog posts? How about in my life?
Oop! Well it's just about to be 4:00 and I specifically wanted to know what I sounded like at 3 a.m. in the morning.
Monday, October 8, 2012
An instant replay
Sometimes the coolest part of an experience would have totally escaped you if you had not given yourself the gift of the instant replay. While I was in California I got to see a sunset on the water for the first time since, well, the last time I was in California; which--by my mom's and mine calculatorations--was over 10 years ago.
As all the fam were in the house talking, next to the big floor-to-ceiling windows, the color of the sky started to transition from one to the next, seemingly by the second. And as it got closer to disappearing over the horizon, (where the Greeks are waiting with little fish attached to their helmets--cheers, Eddie Izzard fans), literally everyone stopped dead in their tracks and watched the sun go down. It was awesome. I was taking pictures on my phone and eventually switched over to video for the final moments; and this is what I captured:
Did you see what happened to the sky at the very end? I'm not sure what caused that to take place, but I do know that I would have never bothered to find out about it from a science book, and I really don't care what the process or terminology behind it is. At least, not when I compare it to the feeling I got when I watched the recording of it and witnessed it consciously for the first time.
Now, of course, I can't resist the urge to bring this back around to you. I don't know what your big plan is. I don't know what your big project is. The one you've been working on unnoticed while the world just goes on about its merry business. But I do know that your stuff is being recorded. By somebody. Maybe it's a child. Maybe it's a parent. I don't know who, but your stuff is being recorded and logged. And it's being recorded so that when the time is right, they can hit the replay. And the most captivating aspect, the real soul of all of the sweat of right now will be on display and showcased. And you're going to realize that it was all for a reason and for a beauty that was totally lost on everyone up to and including yourself until that moment.
Keep working and get ready.
As all the fam were in the house talking, next to the big floor-to-ceiling windows, the color of the sky started to transition from one to the next, seemingly by the second. And as it got closer to disappearing over the horizon, (where the Greeks are waiting with little fish attached to their helmets--cheers, Eddie Izzard fans), literally everyone stopped dead in their tracks and watched the sun go down. It was awesome. I was taking pictures on my phone and eventually switched over to video for the final moments; and this is what I captured:
Did you see what happened to the sky at the very end? I'm not sure what caused that to take place, but I do know that I would have never bothered to find out about it from a science book, and I really don't care what the process or terminology behind it is. At least, not when I compare it to the feeling I got when I watched the recording of it and witnessed it consciously for the first time.
Now, of course, I can't resist the urge to bring this back around to you. I don't know what your big plan is. I don't know what your big project is. The one you've been working on unnoticed while the world just goes on about its merry business. But I do know that your stuff is being recorded. By somebody. Maybe it's a child. Maybe it's a parent. I don't know who, but your stuff is being recorded and logged. And it's being recorded so that when the time is right, they can hit the replay. And the most captivating aspect, the real soul of all of the sweat of right now will be on display and showcased. And you're going to realize that it was all for a reason and for a beauty that was totally lost on everyone up to and including yourself until that moment.
Keep working and get ready.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Hope to the hopeless.
"You have the chance to make a difference." You've probably heard that a lot throughout your life. I wanna take a couple minutes and tell about one of those times that I heard it and truly felt my heart being pulled to take action.
Beth and I have a couple of very good friends that recently went into the mission field with an organization called "go to NATIONS." (I typed it like the letterhead says it. It adds human interest. Is that the right phrase? Human interest? Mm...why not.) This missions organization, I am convinced, has got it goin' on. From the standpoint of making their focus the most tactical way to get the Gospel to the four corners of the world, I was quite wow'd. I think of this organization as the Navy SEALs of the mission field.
Anyhoo, we got something in the mail straight from the headquarters that talked about something called "Slave Girl" Rescue. At first I honestly didn't think much of it. I'm not sure why. Maybe it had something to do with that phrase I heard in my head, "You have the chance to make a difference" and to me that phrase has a tendency to be little overplayed. But then I read the letter. What I read cut me to the quick. I don't have the words to summarize so I'd like to try to attach images of the letter and give you the opportunity to read exactly what we read. It'll be a little small but I'm hoping you can click on it and somehow magnify the size.
It's amazing what little bit will go a long way.
I don't have the most polished of organization skills, but maybe, just maybe we can put something together that can truly make a difference. I'm open to suggestions. VERY open. Tell me what you think.
Beth and I have a couple of very good friends that recently went into the mission field with an organization called "go to NATIONS." (I typed it like the letterhead says it. It adds human interest. Is that the right phrase? Human interest? Mm...why not.) This missions organization, I am convinced, has got it goin' on. From the standpoint of making their focus the most tactical way to get the Gospel to the four corners of the world, I was quite wow'd. I think of this organization as the Navy SEALs of the mission field.
Anyhoo, we got something in the mail straight from the headquarters that talked about something called "Slave Girl" Rescue. At first I honestly didn't think much of it. I'm not sure why. Maybe it had something to do with that phrase I heard in my head, "You have the chance to make a difference" and to me that phrase has a tendency to be little overplayed. But then I read the letter. What I read cut me to the quick. I don't have the words to summarize so I'd like to try to attach images of the letter and give you the opportunity to read exactly what we read. It'll be a little small but I'm hoping you can click on it and somehow magnify the size.
It's amazing what little bit will go a long way.
I don't have the most polished of organization skills, but maybe, just maybe we can put something together that can truly make a difference. I'm open to suggestions. VERY open. Tell me what you think.
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