Our newest ornament

We have a new ornament on our tree now. It is a picture of my friend Brian. Why exactly you might ask? Well let's just say it seems like it was my 25th choice. Not that I don't love Brian and am thrilled to have his picture (in a stylish suit coat and all), it is just that it wasn't my first choice (or second or third or...). We had an ornament exchange for our Sunday school class this weekend with dirty Santa rules. For those of you who might not know what that means, it means that when it is your turn to pick you can open a new gift bag or steal from someone else if you like theirs better. After a couple of times being stolen the ornament is then frozen and can no longer be taken. Well it turns out that whatever ornament I picked tended to be the one everyone else wanted. So I got to open way more gifts than everyone else, but also ended up with the picture of Brian on the second to last pick. Amazingly the last person to pick didn't want it or as a matter of fact neither did his wife. (Some lame excuse on her part about already having the picture available on her computer to begin with. Weak excuse if you ask me.) The party was fun and more importantly it is a good reminder that we are part of an awesome community of friends (strange definitely, but also awesome. Matter of fact, I am now waiting on a picture of Lane to balance out the tree. I figure it they can give me such strange and unusual gifts for my birthday then they deserve a prominent place on our tree as well.) A huge part of community and doing life together is having fun. I love the fun we have with our core friends. I also know that if I needed one of them at 4 a.m. that they would be there as well. That is doing life together for me. The incredibly fun times as well as those moments on the other end of the spectrum. I feel so incredibly fortunate to have that type of community with our friends. The thing is that it doesn't happen by accident. It takes reaching out and investing in other people's lives - the good parts and the hard parts. If you don't have that community with some people right now, start the process and find some people to start living it out with. Trust me you won't regret it. You may end up with some strange ornaments, but also some incredible friendships.

Experience or do?

"There's a lot I want to exprerience, but not a lot I want to actually do." What do you think about that quote in regards to the church? I read this quote this morning on Seth Godin's blog and it got me thinking about us as the church. It often seems to me that we are about the experience of church, but not really living it out. The doing part is the risky part. The part where you may fail or people may criticize you for doing things differently. The experience part to me is a lot of times about me. I want to feel good. I want to feel like I belong. Me, me, me.... We can experience things and not really accomplish much. I think that experiencing something can mean being there but not really investing in it. I can experience a football game. Go and watch, cheer for my team to win, but I haven't really done much to impact the game itself. Now if I am out there playing, even if in a small role, I affect the outcome. I may miss a tackle or catch the winning touchdown, but at least I am in the game. Success or failure, I am doing something. What if the church became more about doing? We are known by the fruit we bear, not by the number of experiences we have. I know our faith isn't based on our works alone, but I think it is based on more than some talk and warm fuzzy feelings. What are you experiencing that you should be doing? An experience may be the launching pad to doing something, but at some point we actually have to do something. Invest somewhere today.

One word

I love spontaneity and randomness. I often ask questions that ask people to describe something in one word. When I ask how would you describe me in one word, as long as the answer isn't "predictable" we are going to get along fine. Predictable to me means boring. I know some people like predictable and that is okay as long as you allow room for things to shake up that predictability. I love the feeling of wondering what is coming around the corner in my life. What is the next big adventure that I get to be a part of? I don't have it figured out how to be reliable and dependable and still maintain that randomness that I desire, but I am willing to venture out and try to make it happen. I was recently described as challenging. Not sure that I like to be described that way either but at least it wasn't predictable. Okay, this is the interactive part of this blog. Some of you who read this consistently (or more than once) time for your participation. Based on reading this blog or if you know me well, what word would you use to describe me? (And it can't be "predictable" because I know some of you would do that just because. Also there is always an understood "and why?" when I ask a question.) (Bonus points for those overachievers - what word would describe you and what word don't you like used to describe you?) Participate today. Don't wait for the long lines to form. Make a move to take some action now. Don't make me call you out by name. Have fun and be creative!

Spring cleaning in December

I am in a mood to get rid of junk. This last week I was up in the attic getting down our Christmas decorations (We probably have enough stuff to decorate every room in our house and two trees at a minimum. Have to say my wife loves Christmas decorations, music and basically anything related to this time of the year.) when I came across some boxes with various stuff in them. Looking through these boxes I wondered why I had kept some of the things in there. Things that I am sure 5 years ago meant enough for me to save it, but looking at it today I couldn't tell you what significance it had. So out it is going. Some going in the trash, other stuff going to others who can hopefully get some use out of it. I found 3 coats of mine that I don't wear anymore and probably never will. Couldn't somebody living out on the streets, or somebody whose house got burned down, etc. get a lot more use out of those than letting them sit in our attic? I don't want more things to replace those either. I want to simplify. That doesn't mean we get rid of everything and live with the bare necessities (huge sigh of relief from our boys I am sure), but it does mean that I don't acquire more things just to have things.

I have also decided there is some other junk I need to get rid of. Things from my past that I have been carry around for too long, hurts, insecurities, doubts - you name it, we all have stuff we hold onto that really needs be thrown out. The hard part is that I know that this type of cleaning isn't a one time process. It will need to be done again and again as I start collecting more junk that I don't need. This is the area I really want to simplify my life in. Learning to live in the moment and not hold too tightly to the past or worry about what is coming around the corner. To live fully in the moment. Get a head start on your January resolutions and spring cleaning. What do you need to clean out?

Experiencing life to the fullest

I am learning to live life closer to the edge and not be so timid. Having the desire to shake things up and want to experience a more radical life. Learning to follow through and explore my dreams and not settle for thinking "maybe some day." Over the last six months or so, I feel the perfect storm has happened in my life. I feel I have drastically changed or probably a better definition is that I am becoming more of who I was created to be. Lots of who I am has always been there - the questions asked to better understand and challenge, the desire to have real relationships, the desire to challenge the status quo, wanting to be a better husband, dad and friend, the love of learning new things. All things that been a part of me for a long time, but the change is the way they are displayed in my life. What created this perfect storm? Hard to say what all has influenced it but a few things definitely stand out - the start of it was my changes in jobs. It seems my creativity (which is limited especially compared to the creative people I am surrounded with in my life) was freed up tremendously once the stress of my old job was removed. I want to do things in ways they have never been done before. I want to meet new people and challenge those who say things can't been done a certain way. Another huge factor was the influence of certain people in my life. I am challenged, humbled, motivated and extremely blessed by the impact of those friends. I know what transparency looks like, I know what humility looks life, I know the fun that can be had, I know what patience looks like, I know what "doing life together" means. Another part is the desire to expand my view of the world. This has been shaped by the books I read, the blogs that challenge and inspire me, the friends who are constantly refining my perspective. I see the homeless differently, I want to make a difference in our community and foreign places, I want to write, I want the Church to be what it was created to be, I want to lead even though I don't feel qualified, I want to be labeled a radical, the main thing is I don't want to settle. I don't want to settle for mediocre friendships, I don't want to settle for "that is the way we have always done things", I don't want to settle for it can't be done, I don't want to settle for the American dream, I don't want to settle for being an average husband or dad, I want to challenge, push, and love differently than the norm. I still have doubts, I question what impact one person can make, I don't feel qualified or even have a clue what I am doing a lot of the time, but I want to live this one shot at life passionately and with purpose. I want God to say that is what I created you to be all along.