On My Office Wall

I love Levenger products.  They are a company that specializes in reading, writing, and office productivity tools.  I could easily spend hundreds of dollars on their products if I could afford it – they are expensive! One of the things they promote is a note card system that helps you keep notes, improve productivity, and organize ideas in a simple way.  Usually ideas and notes worth collecting are short, so to use a whole sheet of paper is a waste and hard to organize and store.  I have a shelf on my office wall that holds about 10 of these cards.

On the cards are notes and ideas I like to look at frequently to remind myself of certain things.  Here are the notes that I have had up for a while now:

Things Volunteers Battle: The Velocity of Life, The Mobility of Life, The Complexity of Life – Mark Brewer

Ministry is anything we do to meed another’s needs with the resources God has given us – Unknown

Preparation is not something suddenly accomplished, but a process steadily maintained - Oswald Chambers

“Can these bones live?” I said, “O, Sovereign Lord, you alone know” – Ezekiel 37:1 (if God can make bones come alive He can rescue anyone from anything!)

a post it with this; Nursery 5, Grade School 5, Worship 17, Giving $110.00 I keep this up to remind me how far we have come as a church – that post it was a count done about a year ago on a Sunday.  Remember 6 of those were my family!

If you want to donate it, Don’t expect to run it - me (sometimes people get very attached to the stuff they donate!)

Patience is the companion of wisdom, it is the weapon that forces deception to reveal itself - Dr. Murdoch as quoted by Rev Run

We don’t serve to convert, we serve because we have been converted – I don’t remember who said that but I liked it

God can never make me wine if I object to the fingers He uses to crush me with, if He used His own I might tolerate it better - Oswald Chambers

Life is too short to be a part of a church you do not believe in - not sure who said that either, but it is another good one!

These are little reminders to me of what I am here for, what I am doing, and why I am doing it…

Have you collected any quotes, ideas, or wisdom you love and can share?

Mac: My Choice

I made the switch to Mac computers a long time ago because I was sick and tired of the PC problems I encountered.  I had a PC notebook computer and had to reload it 5 times in 5 months!  That means start from scratch, reset all my preference settings, hope that the latest back up of my contacts was right, and spend the day shuffling 5-7 CD-Roms in and out of the drive.  I will admit, the switch to the new to me Mac operating system took about two weeks to get familiar with, but 7 years later I am still a satisfied Mac customer.  (Don’t let the price fool you, many of the additional software programs you need with a PC comes standard on a mac or are not necessary like Norton’s)

(kinda like this only mine is black)

In those 7 years I have NEVER had to re-load my Macs.  We have had one at home that the kids use and it is running as good as the day we bought it 5 years ago!  I have had 3 or 4 MacBooks over the years because of job changes or upgrades with no problems.  All this to say, I finally have to take this MacBook in.  It has a problem with the charging system and when it isn’t plugged in it shuts off.  If it isn’t plugged in it won’t turn on.  If it is running on power then there are no problems.  So today I will take it in to my friend Phil at Mac SuperStore and they will probably have it back to me today!

One issue in 7 years is pretty darn good!  Next time you consider buying a new computer please contact Phil BEFORE you go PC!!!

Football And Leadership

I enjoyed watching football yesterday afternoon before I went on my Sunday afternoon head clearing run.  Of course part of why I enjoyed it was because the Broncos were actually winning, and looking pretty good too.  It is a year of transitions for them as a team, and it feels like we are in a few transitions of our own here at the church, and for sure in my personal life.  I feel once again that I am being stretched and grown in ways that can be painful, but also beneficial.  Personally God is working on my heart in ways that I can’t explain yet, but I know will make me a better Christ follower.

One of the things that watching football reminded me of was how important it is to get the right people in the right places on the team.  I was thinking about how I have a couple wide receivers that I can send out on patterns and know they will do whatever they can to get open and catch the ball.  I thought about how I have a couple of running backs, people that will take the ball in the backfield and gain yardage by putting every ounce of their being into getting ahead.  But the ones that really stuck out to me this time were the lineman.  Those guys fight heart and soul to protect the quarterback.  They are in the trenches pushing and grunting on every single offensive play.  They protect the quarter back at all costs, knowing that if they do their jobs right, he won’t get sacked and the ball will go down the field.  Lately I have begun to understand in a new way how important it is to have those people that care about making sure nothing gets through that can interfere with the play.  I know that with these kinds of people close by, all working together, we are not just going to get through the challenges we face in our personal lives and in the life of this church, but that we will win!  We have the best coach in the league!  We have great players!  We have a great purpose! Lets do this together!

Get in the game!

Happy Blog Birthday

Today my blog turns two!  Wow time flies.  Celebrate with me by eating a Suzy-Q and watching the season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy tonight!

Be sure to tell me what your favorite post is too!

Quick Post

Sorry things have been so sporadic here…  other things have crowded out my time to post.  I came accross this post from a great leader’s blog and though I should share it with you and encourage you to take the challenge like he did …  here it is: sometime in the next 24 hours, ask your spouse these questions and have them ask you back.

1) Have you ever had sex with someone other than me since we have been married?
2) Where have I become slack in my efforts to make you feel important?
3) Men ask your wife to complete this sentence: I think its romantic
when you_____.
4) Women ask your husband to complete this sentence:I feel the most
appreciated and respected when you________.
5)Are you engaging in anything online that you be ashamed of if I found out?

These kinds of honest conversations help keep us focused on our spouses, especially when life seems to pull us apart.  Open dialogue is an important way to keep everyone on the same page!

Can’t Go Barefoot

When we moved to Texas one of the deals I made with Trish was that she could get a new puppy.  She wanted a “purse dog” and did a bunch of research on all kinds of smaller breeds.  She eventually decided she wanted a shih-tzu and began looking for a breeder.  She found one out in the sticks someplace and one Friday we drove out to what I can only describe once we got there as a puppy mill.  The dog we were there to see was the last of his litter, he was probably 4 months old, and the breeder  had another litter of younger puppies that weren’t old enough for homes yet.  We couldn’t leave him there, so we took him.  He was really shy and bigger than Trish wanted, but our hearts couldn’t bear to consider his future surrounded by all breeds of dogs that had taken over this breeder’s home and didn’t look like they were getting the care they needed.

Three years later Sampson is definitely part of our family and we love him.  He is not a purse dog by any means, but he is loving and friendly unless you are a stranger and then you probably won’t get to see him up close.  But I have one major complaint; even as I type this, he is doing it and it drives me crazy!  He loves to lick my feet.  If I don’t have shoes on, (socks don’t seem to matter) he is right there licking…  He doesn’t seem to bother anyone else’s feet, just mine.  Again and again I have to tell him to stop.  I am not sure why he does this, my feet are not appealing at all, yet every day he attempts to taste my toes…  I like walking around barefoot in my house, so this seems to be a problem that we will continue to deal with as long as he is around.

probably more than you wanted to know, but there it is…

Busy Day Blog

Good morning!

Today I have meetings all day!  It starts off with meeting a great local pastor of a large church for coffee.  This is a great time for me to learn from someone that has been there and I so appreciate his willingness to take time out of his week to talk!

After that my friend and Board member is coming by the church to talk.  He leads small groups for us too, and I always enjoy spending time with him.

For lunch I get to be a part of a joint team meeting sponsered by the Pikes Peak Baptist Association (our church is part of this association).  I serve on the Impact Team, a team designed to help churches when and if they experience problems.  The Impact Team is joining the Missions Team today to discuss possible joint strategy to help churches make a difference in the community.

From there I need to hurry back to the church for our Production Team meeting.  This meeting is designed to help process all the details of the weekend, making sure everyone knows what they need to know and the service pieces are all put together…  it is so helpful and we are blessed to have some hard working, detail oriented people willing to do some of the tasks necessary for the presentation slides, flyers, and announcements.

It is great to have this kind of stuff going on, it means good things are happening, and it proves the point that the best things that happen involve many people!  Even though I will be meeting-ed out by the end of the day, I know it is all worth it!

A Million Pieces

Do you love action movies?  If so, you have probably seen the scene a few times – the one where a character goes flying backwards out a window.  Ususally it is in slow motion; the guy’s arms are kinda flailing around, there are a million pieces of glass floating around him, and the background is darker so the glass stands out a little more.

I feel a little bit like that guy right now.  I am floating, arms flailing and watching all these pieces spin and turn and glisten in the light.  The pieces are all the things that need to get done; building teams, sending emails, finding the right person for a task or role, defining the tasks and roles, thinking about the future, all the things that could be improved upon to make for a better experience THIS Sunday, connecting dots between things that depend on each other!  Not to mention all the stuff in my personal life!!!  All this has me off balance and overwhelmed.  There is an urgency to this for me because I know how good it will be, and part of my personality naturally looks at how to make things better, so it is a ton of internal pressure that I place on myself I know…  but non-the-less pressure is pressure.

Rev Run’s Words of Wisdom today:

Good morning. Patience is the weapon that forces deception to reveal itself!  Patience will reveal any flaw in your most carefully laid plan – Dr Murdoch (Remember) Patience is the companion of wisdom.

I am working on patience, perspective, and priorities this week…

Reconciliation

After last week’s post on conflict, I received a question about being on the receiving end of conflict.  Maybe you have done something, knowingly or inadvertently that offends someone, what then?

I read a lot of Oswald Chambers writings, and he says at one point,

Have an attitude of mind and temper of spirit to the one who has something against you that makes reconciliation as natural and as easy as breathing.

I believe this is really good advise.  Reconciliation usually begins with three things:

1.  To be easy to reconcile with we must be good listeners.  When someone comes to you with a complaint, are you immediately defensive?  Do you discount what they are saying?  Or can you graciously and easily listen to their perspective?  What if we all stopped all the rebuttals going through our mind and just listened to the person before we did anything else?

2.  Not everything they accuse us of or think may be true, so the second step involves being able to filter what they have said.  Ask yourself these questions; What about this could be true?  What part have I played in their frustration or misunderstanding?  What can I learn from this?  We need to own what is our part in the situation, even if it is a small part.

3.  When our heart is right towards the other person, and we have had time to digest the part we played in the situation, then we need to realize it takes time to rebuild relationships.  Usually the relationship will not return to the previous state overnight or through one or two discussions.  In sever cases of conflict and deeply hurt people, it will require a period of time before things improve.  Make sure your expectations aren’t overestimated by your impatience at the process!

I realize this is an extremely simplified approach, (1. Listen, 2. Filter, 3. Time,) and that in all conflict I believe prayer plays an important part, but if you work these steps and the conflict resolution steps from last week, your difficult encounters with other people will be managed in a way that shows character, integrity and learning that will be admired by many.

Conflict Resolution

Because conflict and hurt feelings are a regular part of life, I feel like I need to take a minute to go over the best ways to handle conflict resolution, something we all can learn from.

when you find yourself frustrated, angry or mistreated by someone please follow these steps:

1.  Approach the person with a gracious and humble attitude explaining how you feel about the situation.  THIS SHOULD NOT BE DONE ON email or FaceBook, it is best done person to person, and only person to person.  Do not drag a bunch of other people into the process at this point, deal with it one on one.  Strive to find mutual understanding and value the other person.  Most of the time you can work through the misunderstanding or frustration in this manner.

2.  If for some reason you cannot resolve the matter, ask another person to join you in the discussion.  There is a small gap between asking someone to join you in the process and spilling your guts and dragging out the conflict  in an unhealthy way.  In all matters try to stay gracious and positive, but schedule the time you can sit down with the person involved in the conflict and someone both of you trust.

3. If the above two steps don’t work, then it is time to ask yourself this question, “am I making too big a deal of this, or is this a serious problem that will impact many others?”  If it is just a pride issue on your part, you have been wronged and cannot let it go, that may be an issue you need to deal with internally.  Life is not fair, not everyone has your best interest in mind, that is just how it is.  Everyone won’t always get along, no matter how badly we want that.  If the behavior you are dealing with is potentially problematic for a lot of others, then you need to go to the leadership in place over you and the other person.  Realize that by taking this step you have amplified the situation to the point there is no turning back, so be sure that you really believe the problem is big enough to warrant this step.

In most of my experience step 1 solves the problems.  Make sure you put your best effort into it at that point and watch how things get resolved there!