I woke up early this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. My mind was running. Same thing happened the night before. Ahhh… When I get going too fast internally I find that it shows up in different ways. That’s one. I kick it in gear all day, and I have a hard time slowing down when I get home. I don’t sleep as well.
Steve Sjogren mentioned to me once the phrase the “speed of soul” - I love it. Our bodies can run at a pace faster than our souls. We have the ability to produce adrenalin and kick it up a notch when it’s necessary. Living at that pace, day after day, isn’t healthy. It’s also not productive in the long-run.
Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz wrote the book, The Power of Full Engagement. The authors help professional athletes train. Many athletes actually over train. They don’t allow their body sufficient time to recover and gain full strength. By training so hard without rest, they are actually losing efficiency and effectiveness. They can maximize their output by getting into a healthy rhythm of stress (workout) and rest.
So here’s to the SPEED OF SOUL - living with a healthy rhythm of work, rest, family, and fun. Three things that help me.
1. Starting the day with a big drink of God - reading His Word and prayer stills the heart, refreshes the soul, and feeds the spirit.
2. Take some breaks during the day - allow yourself to experience a valley between peaks of work. Don’t schedule meetings back to back (I’m speaking to myself now).
3. Unplug at least an hour or two before bed. Read, relax, and put the laptop down. Don’t put it on twitter that you’re relaxing.
“Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psa 46:10[show]<div class="esv"><h2>Psalm 46:10 <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F19046010" width="40" height="12" class="audio"><param name="movie" value="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F19046010" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /></object></h2>
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<p class="line-group" id="p19046010.01-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v19046010-1">10 </span>“Be still, and know that I am God.<br />
<span class="indent"></span>I will be exalted among the nations,<br />
<span class="indent"></span>I will be exalted in the earth!” (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p>
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Leadership is influence. Your influence with people is all about your connection with them. Sometimes we overwhelm ourselves and think we need a deep long discussion to talk with people. Actually a quick “ping” (check in) is a powerful tool to stay connected.
A computer guru at Grace Church, Ray Hooker, sent me the following thoughts on “pinging” people. Pretty cool application.
Ray:
I thought I would give you an extended explanation of “ping” and some
interesting analogies for human “pinging”.
The developers of the Internet knew that it would be important to be
able to test the ability to connect between two points in the
Internet. So they developed a special format to send a small bit of
data between two points to verify connectivity. They called this bit
of data an ICMP packet. They also built into the software that talks
across the network the feature that it will automatically return an
ICMP packet if it receives one. It is automatic. They developed a
simple program name “ping” which will send an ICMP packet to whereever
you specify give you messages about what happens. In windows the
results are fairly technical though the original ping would simply say
“xyz is alive”. Sometimes people disable this feature for security
reasons, so that they can essentially hide their presence to some
degree.
One interesting analogy is that most people respond when you touch
base with them. It is built by God into the human to respond since we
desire relationship. Of course there are some people who try to shut
that down and hide, but not most people.
Grace Church is partnering with charity: water to raise funds for the one billion people on the planet who do not have access to clean safe drinking water.
Twestival is a global meeting of the Twitter community on Feb. 12 in 185+ cities around the world to raise support for those without clean water.
Check out the video below as found of charity: water Scott Harrison shares the vision.
If you’re concerned about what movies your kids watch (and the ones you watch too) and wish you had a way to know what was coming without ruining the movie, then voila… Plugged In.
Plugged In reviews all the latest movies in the theaters - as well as you can search their pretty extensive movie database. They give a brief overview of the movie and then look at the following: positive elements, spiritual content, sexual content, violent content, crude or profane language, drug and alcohol content, other negative elements, and conclusion.
They give a pretty balanced overview while sniffing out all the negative elements. You can easily determine what is appropriate for your standards.
I love movies. Nonetheless, we shouldn’t mindlessly drink in all that Hollywood puts out. Paul said in Philippians, ” whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Enjoy the movies. Love the Scriptures. Drink in God.
I just had the privilege of going to the ACTS 29 church planter’s bootcamp” in Raleigh. The highlight was hearing Mark Driscoll teach on the history of church planting movements. The Bible talks about the sons of Issachar who understood the times that they were in. Mark has a good understanding of God is doing while He’s doing it. The perspective can help avoid some of the pitfalls others have fallen into.
Mark pastors Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA. His passionate commitment to truth and his relevance to culture are very refreshing.
Here’s a recent interview (about a week ago) with Mark by Nightline.
Ken Rockwell is my favorite resource for learning about photography. He has a website loaded with great information, articles, and reviews for cameras and lenses.
You want to learn a ton about photography in 20 minutes, just read the following two articles:
This is an incredibly insightful and honest article. Jesus said that you’ll know a tree by its fruit. There is undeniable good fruit that is produced as people walk in the example left by Jesus: meeting practical needs (fighting for social justice) and meeting spiritual needs (preaching the gospel - that salvation is from and through Jesus Christ).
This is the best tips and tricks that I’ve seen for the iPhone. Know how to take a screenshot of your iPhone? How about saving a photo while browsing in Safari? Instantly scroll to top of any screen? I think you’ll find something useful.
I just finished three days of meetings with a group called Interlink. Interlink is six networks of churches that are endeavoring to cooperate in church planting, missions, and reaching the next generation. They are diverse in theology and style, but unified in heart and vision. The theme of the gathering was Courageous Leadership.
The most impressive thing to me was the character of the leaders. It’s amazing to see the humility and grace expressed by these type-A “change the world” leaders. They really prefer and honor one another. I couldn’t imagine a group of more down-to-earth yet passionate visionaries.
My favorite part of the three days was listening to Jeff Toomer, the Director of Operations from Manna Church in Fayetteville, NC, share about courage in leading troops into battle. Jeff served four tours in Iraq – from Dessert Storm to our current occupation. Forget politics for a minute… the honor and integrity of these men risking their lives to serve our country is humbling and very impressive. They train hard and prepare themselves. They put the mission first, then take care of one another and lastly put self.
Whiling serving in Iraq, Jeff listened by phone as his wife gave birth to his daughter half way across the world. I never missed a birth of one of my kids. I wonder what I was doing that evening? Sacrifice of self is needed to accomplish a great goal.
Michael Fletcher ended the session with a compelling challenge to himself (and all of us). He said, “As I lay my head down on the pillow tonight, I will determine that no other organization on the planet will be more prepared, more committed or more passionate to accomplish their mission than the church. We have greatest cause and mission.”
I received an email a couple days ago from someone who asked me, “What happens when Revolutionary Love goes bad?” The person went out on to describe how she had reached out with kindness and love to some in need. Her experience was not good. The person was not grateful and pressured her (with tears) into doing more. Her joy in giving turned into resentment and angry. On top of that she felt bad for feeling so “un-Christian”.
As I wrote her a response, I realized that her experience is quite common. Here is part of my email to her:
You have really reached out with love and kindness. Unfortunately, our acts of kindness of love are not always received with gratitude and a joyful spirit. One comforting thought is that the same thing happened to Jesus. In fact, Jesus tells us to expect it to happen and to not take it personally.
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.” (John 15:18-21[show]<div class="esv"><h2>John 15:18-21 <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F43015018-43015021" width="40" height="12" class="audio"><param name="movie" value="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F43015018-43015021" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /></object></h2>
<div class="esv-text"><h3 id="p43015018.01-1">The Hatred of the World</h3>
<p id="p43015018.06-1"><span class="verse-num woc" id="v43015018-1">18 </span><span class="woc">“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v43015019-1">19 </span><span class="woc">If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v43015020-1">20 </span><span class="woc">Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v43015021-1">21 </span><span class="woc">But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.</span> (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p>
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The reason the person didn’t respond well to Revolutionary Love is because they don’t know Him who sent Jesus. It’s not personal! Interestingly Jesus tells us that we’re not supposed to give and give and give and give and get taken advantage of by that person. It’s okay to say “no”.
“And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.” (Matt 10:14[show]<div class="esv"><h2>Matthew 10:14 <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F40010014" width="40" height="12" class="audio"><param name="movie" value="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F40010014" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /></object></h2>
<div class="esv-text"><p id="p40010014.01-1"><span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010014-1">14 </span><span class="woc">And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.</span> (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p>
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The question is when do you “shake the dust off your feet”? For me it’s when I don’t feel joy in giving. I feel that my gift is like pearls being trampled upon. I don’t want to be generous anymore, and I’m tempted to do it only out of obligation or pressure. I don’t write that person off forever, but I realize that I’ve done my part. I trust that God will send someone else across their path or maybe I could do something for them at a later time, but for now… the healthiest and best thing I could do for them (and me) is to say “no”. It takes faith to trust God to be give, and it takes faith to trust God to not - to realize that God can reach that person other ways besides me.
Much grace to you. My heart and prayers are with you.
Keep spreading revolutionary love - as God leads and gives grace.
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