Sabbath Saturday ((created on Friday))

If it’s a Saturday, you will not find me here.  

Saturdays are my Sabbath.

You can read more about the Sabbath HERE.  

Or about how I celebrate the Sabbath on this blog HERE.  

Until then, a reflection From the book How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household….

Six days shall you be a workaholic;
  on the seventh day, shall you join the serene company of human beings.
Six days shall you take orders from your boss;
  on the seventh day, shall you be master/mistress of your own life.
Six days shall you toil in the market;
  on the seventh day, shall you detach from money matters.
Six days shall you create, drive, create, invent, push;
  on the seventh day, shall you reflect.
Six days shall you be the perfect success;
  on the seventh day, shall you remember that not everything is in your power.
Six days shall you be a miserable failure;
  on the seventh day, shall you be on top of the world.
Six days shall you enjoy the blessings of work;
  on the seventh day, shall you understand that being is as important as doing.

Your Turn :: REST…..

Where it’s AT-AT

THIS is the perfect mash-up of all that mattered to me in the 4th Grade.  It is my inspiration for the day.

Enjoy.

Your Turn :: If you could combine any Old School Toy with any Modern Day Gadget – What would it be?

Yesterday with Andy and Craig (part.three)

Here are some thoughts from Craig Groeschel’s second talk on Personal Spiritual Momentum.

Craig shared this phenominal quote from Hybels that wrecked his life years ago,

The way I was doing the work of God was destroying the work of God in me. – Bill Hybels

Craig asked the question :: What can I do TODAY to create a heart open to God that allows me to live with Sustained Spiritual Momentum?

1) I will do Today, what I CAN do to enable me to do Tomorrow what I can’t do Today

:: Do something to defeat your darkside (what is your darkside?)

2) Create ARTIFICIAL ministry deadlines

:: Prioritize your Ministries around YOUR Priorities

3) Delegate what someone else can do

:: Don’t delegate responsibilities. Delegate AUTHORITY
 - Delegating Responsibilities creates followers and dependency // Delegating AUTHORITY creates Leaders

4) Do something that only YOU can do

:: I’m the only one who can take time off and Sabbath
:: I’m the only one who can be a Husband to Jeanne and Father to our Kids
:: I’m the only one who can GET Broken and STAY broken

I definitely resonate with the idea of doing what ONLY I can do.  No one else is going to tell me to stop.  No one else is going to tell me to go home.  No one else is going to tell me to put my family first.  Only I can do that.

Your Turn :: Which of these is most challenging for your Spiritual Momentum?

Spending the day with Andy and Craig (part.two)

Spending the day at Catalyst One Day.

This morning Craig Groeschel shared some great thoughts on thinking differently about Church and Leadership.  Here are a few of his thoughts.  I’d love to hear yours in the comments.

:: Think Differently about why people aren’t doing what you want them to do // Are you you asking or expecting people to do what YOU are unwilling to do yourself

:: Think differently about What you DO // True Spiritual Impact tends to DECREASE as programs INCREASE // What do you need to STOP doing (that probably died 5 years ago anyway)

:: Think differently about the MISSION // We can’t allow SOMEONE to hold back the mission of the church

:: Think differently about people LEAVING the Church // The church becomes INSECURE, and when it is INSECURE it has no AUTHORITY

:: Think differently about LIMITATIONS // Limitations are often the breeding ground for Innovation

((HOWEWORK on this one)) Find someone 2 or 3 steps ahead and find out what they are THINKING

YOUR TURN :: Which one of these is most challenging with YOU // WHY?

Spending the day with Andy and Craig (part.one)

I’m spending the day at Catalyst One Day in Atlanta (which is where I live…which is convenient).

Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel and the communicators.  I’m the listener.

The event costs $4,500 to attend.  I’m going to be giving you the best thoughts throughout the day for FREE!  I’m cutting out the crap and giving you Cream of the Crop.

Your Turn :: What’s one Leadership Lesson you’re chewing on lately.

((by the way…you can’t win the Kindle from me.  But I bet Andy will give you his if you ask.)

Don’t forget to die today

In case you missed it, Lent has officially begun.  For the next 40 days, those of us who follow Jesus, follow him through his suffering and ultimately to his death.  We do this to truly have something to celebrate this Easter.

We are typically clumbsy if not awful at 2 things: Remembering / Grieving.  Lent gives us the opportunity to do both.

As always, Henri Nouwen gives great context to what this season and my life is to be about.  Few voices have shaped me as much as his.  Enjoy.

A Prayer for Lent, by Henri Nouwen

How often have I lived through these weeks without paying much attention to penance, fasting, and prayer? How often have I missed the spiritual fruits of the season without even being aware of it?
But how can I ever really celebrate Easter without observing Lent? How can I rejoice fully in your Resurrection when I have avoided participating in your death?

Yes, Lord, I have to die-with you, through you, and in you-and thus become ready to recognize you when you appear to me in your Resurrection.

There is so much in me that needs to die: false attachments, greed and anger,impatience and stinginess…. I see clearly now how little I have died with you, really gone your way and been faithful to it.

O Lord, make this Lenten season different from the other ones. Let me find you again. Amen.

A Cry for Mercy: Prayers from the Genesee; Image Books, 2002

Your Turn :: What are you doing to remember and even celebrate the Death of Jesus this Lenten season?

Compassionism :: The New aWEARness (part.three)

(read / comment on THIS, then read / comment on THAT, to better understand this)

An Open Invitation to all the New / Hip Non-Profits desiring to do Good in the world ::  

We like what you’re trying to do.  We see where you are going.  We give you permission to appeal to our deep desire to belong. You can play off of our obsession with fashion all you want. We want you to feel the freedom to keep it cool.

Just make it mean something more to us than another t-shirt. We have enough t-shirts. Give us the opportunity to move from aWEARness to ENGAGEMENT. Lead us past ourselves into a world that is more broken and beautiful than we could ever see from where we stand.  Give us a vision bigger than our wallets and beyond our closets.  

We will keep giving you our money.

You need to start asking for our time.

You need to start expecting our hearts.

You need to start affecting our lives.

And if you do, I promise you that together…

…we will see God bring change to our hearts and change to our world.

Your Turn :: What are some Great Organizations doing some really Good Work in the world that you are personally connected to?

Compassionism :: The New aWEARness (part.two)

(read THIS first to better get this)

In an age of Compassionism, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to belong, to fit in.  There’s nothing wrong with Shirts, Shoes, and Bags.  What I’m suggesting is that maybe instead of settling for Compassionism, we can raise the stakes for what it means to wear one of these Shirts, Shoes, or Bags.  In so doing, we raise the value of what those goods mean.  

Here are a few thoughts on how ::

• Only give away shirts to people who GO to wherever it is the shirt is supposed to draw our attention to.  Seriously.  Have the best designers in the world make a limited run of 100 shirts, or hats, or fanny packs that you get for FREE when you GO.  Whether it means going to Uganda or to volunteer at suicide prevention center.  Turn my $10 into 10 hours or even better, 10 days and that shirt will mean a world of difference more to me.

• To get a Bag or Earings or a Bracelet, you have to GO and spend a day MAKING them.  Go and give that rescued sex slave a day off and YOU make the conflict free jewelry that day.  Then you would REALLY have a story!  “Merry Christmas, Mom.  I worked for four days with former sex slaves to make your Gift.  Enjoy” Priceless.

• Make Micro Lending sexy.  Make it hip.  Something that all the kids are into.  Kiva has been killing it here.  They raised 4 x more money than the United Way last year without spending a single dollar on Traditional Marketing or Advertising.  Heifer International have been plugging away at this for years at this.  But my hunch is that you don’t have a Heifer T-Shirt.  I’m pretty sure they make t-shirts.  But if they did, they would be made out of Yak Hair.

• To get a pair of shoes, you have to give a pair (at least one pair…and not your crappy old pumas) not just buy a pair.  Double and Triple my Return on Investment by getting me to give more than I get.

These are just a few thoughts.  Not cynical nay saying but sincere and heart felt desire to see my Compassion transcend my Consumerism.  To actually join with what God is actually doing in the world, beyond of my closet.

Your Turn :: What are some NEW ideas to help us move from COMPASSIONISM to Transformational Engagement?

Compassionism :: The New aWEARness (part.one)

There’s no doubt that people are waking up to the idea of Justice and Compassion.  The more Globally Connected we get, the more Globally Aware we become.  In response to that, Compassion Based Organizations are popping up at an accelerated rate.  People are wanting to get “involved” more than they have in a long time.  It’s officially COOL to CARE.  

Kids don’t start bands anymore, they start 501C3’s.  

While the cynics sit in the corner and throw rocks, I stand up and put my rally cap on.  I think more people becoming more “involved” is only a good thing, and has the potential to lead to something truly great for the world and for the individual.

The part of this New Awareness that’s most interesting to me, however, is the way that Compassion 2.0 is mashing up with Consumerism 1.0.  As more and more younger cats get these non-for-profits off the ground, the more smart, savvy, and saturated they are with the power and magnetism of Marketing and Consumerism.  

We are stumbling into a new age of activism.  We’ll call it – COMPASSIONISM.  It’s a way of Doing Good while still Consuming Goods.  It’s a brilliant strategy (whether conscious or otherwise).  An absolute contexualization of the best and worst of Globalization.

The organizations that have drawn the most attention as of late are invariably the ones that have the best design.  They have the coolest shirts, hippest shoes, dopest hats, flyest bracelets, freshest buttons, and conscious easing conflict free bags.  

These are the shirts, shoes, and bags that everyone wants to wear.  The ones that everyone wants to be seen wearing.  Suddenly, your Acceptance is now directly contingent on your Awareness.  Those rules apply to me just as much as they do to anyone else.  For as much as I want to Care, sadly, I Care more that you KNOW I Care (or at least that I am aware).  I still fundamentally want to belong.

Your Turn :: Where you have you seen / participaed in COMPASSIONISM / aWEARness recently?

We may have elected the Wrong President

First off, hello to all my conservative friends who are checking this blog out for the first time.

I found this clip a while back and thought that given our current Armegedon-esque National Chaos, maybe we missed the boat all together in this last election.  Forget the Republican Party.  Forget the Democratic Party.  What our nation really needs is a House Partayyyy!!!!

Beside being one of my top 10 MC’s of all time, President Elect Mos Def has some brilliant ideas for what our country needs to get back on our feet and get fly.

Enjoy.

Your Turn :: If we could have any NON-POLITICIAN as President right now, Who would you want and Why?