Mowing Life

Today I had to mow. It had been about two weeks and we have had plenty of rain, so if I didn’t mow today I would have to use a sickle or a machetti the grass was so tall! I pulled out the weedeater to trim around the tree, fence and metal stuff that keeps the rocks out if the grass. About half way through my electric weedeater started smoking, and not jus a little either. I looked at the eater end and didn’t see anythig (like I would know what to look for anyway!). So I started it again trying to figure out if something was just stuck or if it was a catastrophic failure. At which point it literally burst into flames! I guess I had my answer.

So I pulled ou the mower and began the long and tedious process of cutting foot long wet grass. I hate that because I have to mow a foot at a time, the mowery stalls, and the grass just bends over so it looks like a really bad hair cut with little tufts sticking up all over! I have to go over each row twice and it is painstakingly slow! Not good for someone with my patience level.

But as I reflect on my yard work, I am reminded of how much like life it is. When you life starts to smoke it is a pretty good indication that if you keep going you may experience a catastrophic failure… And sometimes to make progress we have to go over and over thi gs u tip we get them right no matter how much of a hurry we are in. In the end, you may have a tuft or two out of place, but that is what makes us human.

*I typed this on my iPhone using the WordPress app. that apparently doesn’t check spelling, so if there are gross spelling errors, I apologize!

Push and Pull Marketing And The Church

In an interesting podcast I was listening to while running this morning, Seth Godin was talking about the new way marketers need to think about getting their message out.  He was talking about how most people don’t want to be spam marketed or targeted by groups in a mass approach.  It got me thinking about push verses pull.  My iPhone can fetch (pull) my email messages when I tell it to; it goes out to my email server and picks up the messages on demand  Some phones push the info to the phone, so whether you want them or not at that time,  you are getting your messages.  Either way you get the messages, one way you only get them when you want them, the other way they end up on your phone right when they are sent.  For me, it is better if I pull the messages because they come when I want them, on my schedule not the senders…

The reason this is important is because for generations marketers have had the push approach.  That is why it is called “Mass Media,” because they are sending a message to many people.  I believe that the church has had a push approach.  You need this now, we have it and we pound you with messages about how to get it.  But in the new marketplace of ideas this is no longer valid.  People will search out things that they find value in, want more information about, and are ready for…

So what if we created a church that was so interesting, real, and relevant to where people are today they “pulled” information instead of had it “pushed” on them?  What if as Christ followers we lived lives that were attractive to others because we loved others, served others and had helpful information that people not only needed, but WANTED!!!  They would seek it out willingly, instead of avoiding it because they don’t want it stuffed down their throats…  If people really began to see your faith changing you for the better, my money says they would be likely to pull info from you…

Blank

I know these pages have been blank the past couple days, and it drives me crazy.  I am in one of those phases that my morning routine has gotten me off track.  I started a post yesterday, made it about a third of the way through and had to run off to another meeting.  And now too, I have to go!  someone walked in that I need to catch up with…  so I will try again tomorrow!

Prayer Stakes

Yesterday we talked about prayer.  It was a powerful discussion and I am very thankful.  At the end of the service people wrote down prayers on large tree stakes that we are going to pound into the four corners of the property here to claim this territory for God.  I also compared some prayers to twittering to God.  It seems that got a lot of people’s attention.  We looked at the Lord’s Prayer, and when you think about it, it is only about two twitters long!

Prayer Revisited

Thank you to all of you that posted your thoughts about prayer here and on facebook, I really do appreciate it!  I am leaving this post open for more comments, so if you haven’t responded yet please do!  Read and respond here…. or here…

Prayer

I am talking about Prayer this week as part of our series called “Deep” that is designed to encourage us to cultivate good practices of Bible study, prayer, community, and serving, and I need your help…

if you could take a minute or two and answer one or more of these questions I would really appreciate it…

What does prayer mean to you?

How do you pray?

What was the greatest thing that happened because you prayed?

I struggle with prayer because…

I don’t feel comfortable praying because…

You Gotta Do It Again

I never played baseball, it just wasn’t something I was ever that interested in.  Lately though, I have been gaining a new understanding of what it must feel like to be a baseball player.  Every Sunday I have to get up in front of a bunch of people and deliver the best message possible.  Sometimes I feel like it is a strikeout, sometimes a base hit.  I am always hoping that it turns into a home run, but those only come around once in a while, and from what I understand performance enhancing drugs do not work for pastors!  The hard part is to go into the next Sunday after you feel you haven’t done your best on the last Sunday!  Like a baseball player has to go back to the plate even though he may have struck out the previous at bat, I have to get back up there next time and try to get back on base.

A friend of me recently told me that great baseball players know that the best way to make a difference on the score board is to keep hitting one to two base hits.  If they can be consistent, then that is most of the battle.  I feel like I am pretty consistent at speaking, but it really de-rails me when I feel like I haven’t delivered my best.  At times like these I am always reminded by God that I do it for Him, He loves me regardless of how I think it went, and He can use anything!  But the frustration of not getting on base will sure make me practice harder this week – because I know this for sure; I gotta do it again!

How do you deal with the frustration of not doing your best at something and know that you are going to have to do it again soon?

Drudgery, Character & Mud Slides

My favorite moments in life are the ones when I get to be a witness to God moving in someones life.  The times when people see God’s principles, or His love in new ways.  The times when their lives are changed for the better through an encounter with God.  Those are the things that keep me going in ministry.  Those are the things that got me into ministry to begin with.  Those are the “mountain top” experiences, and I remember when God moved like that in my life.

The problem is that once you have experienced these kinds of things you expect them again and again.  You want to stay on the mountain, and life just isn’t like that…  Life is lived in the valleys.  The valleys are the things that create character in us, build our perseverance, and teach us to trust and rely on God more.  This to me is drudgery; but if I can learn to love God as much in the valley as I do on the mountain top, that is a good thing.

So this morning I came across this passage from Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest;

Drudgery is the touchstone of character. The great hindrance in spiritual life is that we will look for big things to do. “Jesus took a towel . . ., and began to wash the disciples’ feet.” … …Routine is God’s way of saving us between our times of inspiration. Do not expect God always to give you His thrilling minutes, but learn to live in the domain of drudgery by the power of God.

All this and recently God has been teaching me about drudgery.  Our building is complete and we have been in it for a while, but we have not completed the landscaping yet.  It has been incredibly rainy lately and several times there have been torrential down-pours.  When that happens all the dirt gets washed out into the street at the bottom of our property, and the city has been out to warn us that if we don’t fix the problem they will fine us heavily…

The first time there was probably about 12″ of mud.  We cleaned and cleaned, but it is like pushing gravy around with shovels.  We put up hay bails, payed an erosion specialist to install silt fence, and thought it was good.  We spend $3K to clean it all up with a professional company.

The second time there was 6-8″ of mud… my wife and kids and I spend 4 hours shoveling it up, adding more hay bails, and  then we had the same company come out and take care of the stuff we couldn’t.  (Haven’t seen the bill from that one yet.)

The third time I cried, complained, stomped, might have even swore out loud…  then I called for help.  The rain and mud overtook the silt fence and another 6-8″ of mud was in the street…  Great people came and spent 4 hours cleaning it all up.  (Thank you, thank you, thank you)  Now we have rows and rows of hail bails, reinforced retention walls, diverted water paths, and so far (Saturday night and Sunday) no mud in the street…

Drudgery creates character, and mud is drudgery….

Running on iPhone

I have been making a concerted effort to be in better shape lately.  Occasionally you may see a post here or on Twitter or Facebook about my progress as well.  Up until this week I have been inside on a treadmill.  That way I would know for sure how far, how long, how many calories burned, AND watch a TV show or movie on Hulu while I did it.  recently though several people encouraged me to get back to running outside, and so, reluctantly, I did.  I charted our my course using Google Maps and found a great trail nearby.  Then something happened that revolutionized the way I will be running from now on…

…Now my iPhone has an app called Runkeeper that tracks my run via GPS.  It tells me my real time speed, distance, average speed, AND will chart my course via a map with mileage markers and everything!  I used it for the first time today and am really excited to take my running back outside!  The iPhone is a little bulky for running, but having this kind of technology to help me improve is very exciting!  (for those of you that hate running it also tracks other sports as well, like skiing, bicycling, hiking, etc…)  Best of all it has a free lite version so you can try it out before you buy the full version that offers even more stuff!

I love my iPhone, and I love technology, but not more than I love my wife and kids ~ even if they tell you otherwise!

Production Team

I am thrilled to have a group of great volunteers partnering with our church on this journey, and today I am really excited as we begin a new meeting that will help with our overall experience on Sunday mornings.  With all the information that needs to be made available to people in clear and concise ways to do their jobs better, having them all together in one place will make a world of difference!  I hope that out of these meetings we will have better slides, announcements, flyers, pamphlets, sermon themes and staging, and clarity around roles and responsibilities.  This is an exciting time to be a part of the movement God is creating in this place, and I cannot wait to see how much better we get at joining him through this process!

If you are in an organization where these kinds of meetings happen, let me know how it has worked for you!