Reading now and in the near future

I am excited that I have several books lined up to read. I had taken a break from reading for a while and am looking forward to jumping back in and being challenged. The books next on my reading list are the following:

• Forgotten God - Francis Chan
• Scouting the Divine - Margaret Feinberg
• A Million Miles in a Thousand Years - Donald Miller
• Jesus Loves You This I Know - Craig Gross
• The Gutter - Craig Gross

Mixed in with these are a couple of fiction books that I am trying to read also. I am sure that my thoughts from these books will find there way into my thoughts I share here in the near future. I am not sure how much reading I will get done though until I finish the B90X challenge (reading the bible in 90 days). I have been thrown off that schedule some as my trip to Catalyst slowed down how much I was reading. The combination of information overload and lots of driving time took its toll on my reading.

Speaking of that. The following verse just stood out to me the other day when I was reading. "my people - broken, shattered, and yet they put on band-aids, saying, 'It's not so bad. You'll be just fine.' But things are not 'just fine'!" (Jeremiah 8:10) Broken and hurting people putting on a good face. Sounds a lot like what still exists today. We treat the symptoms but rarely are willing to do the hard work of dealing with the real hurts. We want to give out band-aids instead of investing the time, energy and emotions that may be required to really do life with others. We each have been broken in our own ways, but simply saying it is fine doesn't really help out in the long-term. We have to be willing to go deeper and not shy away from shattered places in our lives. Restoration only comes when we realize we are broken and shattered. Are you applying a band-aid when surgery may be needed? Are you offering a quick fix when someone may need you to give even more than that? My ideal of community looks more like a hospital or doctors office that works to heal rather than the local drugstore where we self-diagnosis and then apply a band-aid and proclaim that we are fine.

A little glimpse into my thoughts

I had the opportunity to hear some incredible speakers at Catalyst last week. Speakers such as Andy Stanley, Malcolm Gladwell, Rob Bell, Chuck Swindoll, Dave Ramsey, Francis Chan, Matt Chandler and few other names you might recognize. All of them brought something to the table that I am sure I will still be processing over the next several weeks. But for me, it was during the times of worship and during some conversations with new friends that the tough questions hit me. Here are a few of the thoughts I wrote down and have been trying to work through since then.

• Does your heart break for what breaks God's heart? Show me what you are going to do because of that broken heart. Talk isn't enough.
• Are you open for what is next? (This was woven in as part of theme this year.) So what are going to do?
• God, what is the one thing that I need to hear? Why have you lead me here for this moment? Who am I suppose to serve? What conversations am I suppose to have?
• Am I dating my wife well? Why do we usually become less creative in our dating when we get married?
• Who am I suppose to encourage? Whose path has purposefully crossed mine, whether for a brief period or for the long-term, that I am suppose to invest in?

I've continued to reflect on these and where God is leading with these. Questions that I will probably come back to several times over the next couple of months. These along with a few other thoughts and things I learned this week will continue to shape my current view of life and the people around me. A lot to soak in from the speakers, worship and incredible people I got to spend a little time with last week. What are you learning in your life that you can share? What questions are you wrestling with? Who is impacting your life and whose life are you investing in?

Hesitation

"Every hitch in obedience is God beckoning us to deeper waters." - Matt Chandler

We hesitate in obeying. We consider whether we want to or not. Does that moment we question what God has asked us to do (that hitch in obedience) show our lack of faith? Do we delay because like children we are strong-willed and want to do things our way? Does it show the immaturity of my heart?

We have two choices when we hesitate in following God. We can dig deeper and see why we don't trust. Find the root of our disobedience. It may require us to repent, confess and hopefully mature. The other option is to deceive ourselves. We convince ourselves that our disobedience is okay. We convince ourselves that God wasn't really calling us to do that hard task. We don't need to have that tough conversation, confront the problem, radically change our lives, have compassion on that person, or love that person we have trouble even liking. We hesitate in obeying because we want to stay where we are comfortable.

What would your life look like if you completely trusted God's call? What if I eliminated that hitch in my obedience? Where are you hesitating? Are you going to dig deeper? Let's take that hard look at our lives. Let's remove the rose colored glass we use to look at our obedience. Do we need to repent? Do we need to confess to someone? We see the problem, what are we going to do about it?

Changing the equation

"In a time of crisis, we don't need daring and bold, we need humility." - Malcolm Gladwell

How many times do we look to the person who has it all figured out? The confident person who speaks with authority. How many times are we sure we are right and the other person has no clue? The answer is obvious. Any fool can see it. We value those who are bold and confident. But does that over-confidence blind us to other possibilities? Does that same confidence make us even more vulnerable to mistakes?

Humility changes the equation. To me, humility is the one strength I look for in a leader. The attitude that says I don't have this all figured out. I am capable of being wrong. Maybe someone else has the answer that we need. If anyone could have spoken with over-confidence it was Jesus, but still he was marked by his humility. We can be bold and confident, but if we leave humility out of the mix, we may be heading for a disaster and not even recognize it.

Do you display humility? If not, why not? Think about those leaders around you. Do the ones you see as leading well display humility? In a time of crisis, who do you want leading you?

A break in the action

Random thoughts as the weekend approaches:

• Had to talk to several people in customer service today. Glad that I don't have that job as nobody calls to compliment them, but rather because something is wrong. Have to say that 3 or the 4 I talked to were pleasant, even if they couldn't help me resolve the problems. The other one... I will refrain from sharing my thoughts about her. Let's just say she won't be making my Christmas list.
• Ever feel like you are at your breaking point? How do you deal with it? Within the last 2 hours I've gone from worrying about everything going on to the other extreme of "who cares". Pretty sure that neither of those is the right answer in the end. Hopefully the pendulum will settle somewhere in the best area before the day is over.
• Just gave into the peer pressure and will be playing in our company golf tournament. Someone had to drop out and I decided a day out in the 75 degree temperatures versus being in the office outweighs the fact that I suck at golf. I have always fought the stereotype of the typical accountant who plays golf. The visual image of the balding, overweight, non-athletic CPA playing golf. I argued for many years that golf wasn't even really a sport because it didn't require any running or athletic effort like soccer. I have softened that view (may have something to do with soccer being a little more difficult to play these days since I am over 40), but still haven't learned to enjoy the game. Probably some correlation to the fact that what seems like it should be easy (hitting a little golf ball) is in reality a lot more difficult... thus why golf can be so frustrating.
• I am going to go dark on here for the next week. I will be out of town for part of the week, but also think it might be healthy for me to unplug from here for a little while. A chance to focus on some things and let some thoughts settle. I am sure I will have lots of things to share after I get back from Catalyst. It usually spurs lots of ideas and challenges for me.

Hope you have an incredible weekend! Take advantage of these amazing fall days. See you back here in a week.

Random questions and a unique sight

As I was talking with Lane today, he pointed out how ironic it is that our money says "In God We Trust" when it appears that most people trust in the money more than God. Is this a case of mislabeling? I wonder how things would look in my life if God visibly labeled them according to what my motives and actions said versus what I verbally say. What would wear the label of "what I treasure most", "what I am passionate about", "where I place my trust", and "who I care about"? Would all of those labels be on me? Does my life reflect my desire to serve others selflessly while I pursue being like Jesus? Or does it reflect that I care about myself more than any other thing or person? What or who would wear your labels?

Another question that I have been thinking about is how do I want my life to impact the people I am investing in? I think bottom line it boils down to forward movement. It doesn't have to be what I think it could be or even what I want it to be, but I want to see something for my investment of time. If they are in the same place as before, then have I really added anything to their life? We are called to love and make a difference. Are we doing that? Do we help others move forward? What do you want people to have after spending time with you?

Great sight last night to see 25 people playing putt-putt in their pajamas. It was suppose to be bowling, but who knew the bowling alley would go out of business just a couple of days before. Flexibility has to be the number one requirement of working with students. Things never go as planned. Kind of like life most of the time. Our high school students rolled with the change and still had a blast. So if you saw some strangely dressed people playing mini-golf off of Hwy 169 last night, that was probably us.