Have you ever called a friend and just wanted to share some good news? It’s so great when someone listens wells and is just excited with you. It’s a drag when the person hardly hears you or one ups you with what’s been even more amazing in his/her life.

Have you ever called a friend to dump your rotten day and vent? One person simply listens empathetically and you’re deeply helped by sharing your heart and processing. Another tries to fix the situation, and you hang up frustrated.

There’s a time for problem solving or even having a tough conversation. Just don’t start there.

The Bible gives us this practical insight on being a good friend: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” (Rom 12:15)

Take the great advice and practice it on others. Slow down. Tune in. You’ll be a true friend by simply rejoicing with those who rejoice, and weeping with those who weep.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Amelia prays the Lord’s Prayer from Kendrick Vinar on Vimeo.

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)

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.

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.

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.

You want to learn a ton about photography in 20 minutes, just read the following two articles: 

How to Make Great Photographs

Why Your Camera Does Not Matter

Have fun taking pictures – happy “seeing”

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)

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)

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.

It’s a great book on how to cultivate a passionate spiritual life (which God commands us to have as John Piper points out). The book understands how we struggle, meets us there, and gives practical help.