Here and Now

Yeah, those are dreaded words on Christmas Eve/Day.  I get it.  When Rachel was like 4 I refurbished and decorated a homemade dollhouse that she still talks about today - AFTER the 11:00 PM worship service... Yep.  I'm a procrastinator.  I get it.  My fault. Baby Blues Sunday summed it up for a lot of us: (click to see the whole thing) But... Is it really that bad?  And they LOVE it.  And isn't love for your kids about sacrifice?  That "some assembly required" sacrifice is really pretty small, isn't it?  We act like it's such a big deal.  But the day comes when they just get iPads or whatever that completely disconnects them from the family Christmas day and instead of "Dad, look how cool this is - come put it together with/for me" it's "Thanks...see ya later..."  Or... "Thnx c u" or whatever... I'm trying to be less like Darryl in Baby Blues these days.  Savor the moment.  They're still little.  I want to s...

Success.  How do you define it? That's the big question in the digital world.  In epublishing, in the new music world, in painting or photography or whatever: how do you know when you've "made it"?  When you can retire on the residuals?  Maybe, if that's your goal.  But, if you don't have a definition for success, you don't know when you've achieved it. For some it's recognition.  Getting the most hits on a blog post, a YouTube video, retweet, whatever - that's success.  Being at the top.  There's no gain other than having achieved the top spot.  It's beating the video game. It's a public recognition of who you are and what you've done.  But for art, it's deeper.  It's a validation that whatever the artist feels/experiences when creating the art connects with another person.  Appreciation might be a better word.  Enough appreciation leads to sales.  Always.  'Cause that's how we show our appreciation.  W...

So if the digital world is flat, or nearly so, then how do we stand out? Interestingly, Seth Godin just talked about that  yesterday  - the importance of not wasting people's time, their attention, their contact.  The cliche is you only get one chance to make a first impression, right?  Make sure you don't blow it. A couple days ago Godin also talked something similar - the  erosion in the paid media pyramid  - the point being that in the old model, almost everybody "in the media" was part of the machine of "mass media" production.  The future, he posits, is more like a patronage model.  You pay more for what you like - but you only buy what YOU like, you don't just choose from the limited array of what's available.  Sounds a bit like what  Derek Webb  was saying, doesn't it? But...how do you stand out?  How do you make it?  It's no magic formula.  It's vision, creativity and hard work. For every one artist who ...

Saw this at  Bonkers World  and thought it apropos of what I was talking about yesterday: This is probably true whether you're famous or not - I have the occasional drop in here on the blog because of content*, but almost everybody who comes here knows me well.  And that's the only reason they come back.   I read Aaron's blog and Michael's blog all the time because I know them.   Anyway, the point is that's how things work in the new digital economy, if you will.  It's all relationship and word of mouth - it's all circles and who you know, or, maybe it's who you know who they know (no, wait, is that right?  I need a flowchart or something...).  Anyway, it's not "trickle down" anymore, it's...seep out?   * Like the day the Priest called from Alabama

A long time ago (5 years ago*), I posted a series here about grace, and in  one post  I mentioned a guy by the name of Greg Adkins who tried a creative experiment that just blew me away: write & record a song a week for a year.  He called it, creatively enough, "52 songs in 52 weeks."  He pulled it off (Ended up with 60 songs - check it out  here **)  As near as I can recall, he was the first on my radar to do it (probably not the first, but I do remember searching back in the day - like '03 - when he was doing this and not finding anybody else trying such an ambitious stunt) though if you Google 52 songs in 52 weeks, you'll find others who have done it or are doing it like  Amy Raasch ,  Power ,  Donewaiting ,  David Ritter , and it looks like some guy named  James Hersch  has pulled it off in a marketable sort of way.*** So I happen on this post from  Dork Tower  about a guy who is  writing twelve books i...

I tried to talk about this a while ago  here : giving music away is actually beneficial to artists today. But  Derek Webb  who started  NoiseTrade  (which is an awesome site for trying out new music for free*, by the way - go there, grab new stuff - you won't regret it) says it way more eloquently - and from the "insiders" perspective.  Check it out. *Okay, it costs you your email address - but you can opt out as soon as you get that first "spam" from the artist - and, really, I get like one email a month or every six weeks or so from each artist - sometimes not even that often...

You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion. -L. Ron Hubbard ( 7 November 1948 ) Who, later, did just that...interesting...

from peloquin3.buzznet.com/user/photos/waiting-line/star-wars Seth Godin asked  the other day  "Who Comes On Opening Night?"  In other words, who stands in line for the opening of that play/ movie/ band whatever event?  Who gets the hardback of that new novel?  Why gets the actual CD anymore - on the release date no less?  Or the "limited edition"?  Who buys the video game at midnight:01 when it's released, waiting outside Gamestop in the snow? True fans.  True believers.  Followers.   Those who say, "You made it, I'll buy it." I don't need to wait to hear it's good.  You wrote the book.  You directed the movie.  The game is the third installment in this franchise and I'm in. I was thinking about the few things that's true for me anymore.  Terry Pratchet's books I still buy in hardback and the late Robert Jordan*.  But I'll take a chance on a paperback if I've got the money.  I'll buy U2 on CD...but I...

Wow - I just did a Wayback Machine search on an old website I used to update (not very well or very frequently) for the band we used to be in: El-Roi.  What a trip down memory lane.  Turns out, almost everything on the internet really is forever... So, to my own amusement...and potential embarrassment: El-Roi.net

We've probably all said it - or at least felt it... "God never gives us more than we can handle." But...see...that's not in the Bible.  In fact, I think that's actually counter to what the Bible really says, isn't it?  Don't we all the time really get a whole lot more than we can handle?  I know I sure do.  How does a 13 year old hear that his father has leukemia?  How is that not too much to handle?  A text from a friend who was watching someone he loved getting chemo...and it was overwhelming.  Sitting in a pew with a young lady who is just destroyed over messy relationships and deeply hurt by how people who are supposed to love each other treat each other. How is any of that not too much to handle? Here's what we miss in that idea.  God allows all kinds of stuff that's too much for us to handle...on our own.  You remember what He said to Paul?  " My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness ." ...

Saw this on another blog and felt great :) Being the dad of two girls...  I'm one of the beautiful people.  Heh. Of course, the book is probably junk :) :)

And let this be an opportunity for me to direct you to a favorite site of mine: Crummy Church Signs Blog

I saw on Facebook (thanks Aaron) - perfect for today:

This is , I'm told, an amazing book.  But I'm living into the principle that  Michael Hyatt  who runs Thomas Nelson Publishing (the biggest Christian book publisher in the world) that "most books could be cut in half and you wouldn't miss a thing."  In fact, I believe that you could tweet most books and not miss all that much. So here's the executive executive summary of The Five Most Important Questions: What is our mission? Who is our customer? What does the customer value? What are our results? What is our plan? There, not so hard, was it?  That's what the whole book is about?  I get it.  You could have mailed that to me in a postcard.  I hope there's a WHOLE lot more to explain how to live INTO those questions and how to answer them in positive and successful ways. Of course, I bet it's with the caveat - you mileage may vary - because, you know, you live/work/whatever in a while 'nother context... But... They are REALLY IMPO...

from morguefile Did you ever read an excerpt from a book and realize you've probably just gotten the core of the whole book? I caught an excerpt from the book  Pursuing Christ Creating Art   here  wherein Gary Molander says three things repeatedly. We are all creative. Christians donʼt need to create art for God - He doesnʼt need it. Christians need to create art in response to God - Because the world needs it. We're making visible the invisible God. Now, I don't know if I buy all of that, but I'm pretty sure those are the main points of his book - or at least the core message.  Creativity is our response to the creativity of God - it is one that I've  blogged about before   a time   or two . Creativity is, in my opinion, that "image of God" in us.  Or at least it's a part of if.  How can it not be? And it's not just the artists who are creative.  That's the problem.  That's the myth - the stereotype. It's like spi...

Kowalski, Status Report!! THESE are the guys who are going to be under your car, I swear:

Oh yeah, I AM the king. Two and a half YEARS ago I wrote  this post  in which I said, I have a project that is 95% done - and I'm avoiding finishing it by writing about...um...not finishing it... And here we are, two and a half years later...and the project is now 97% done...and holding...  It was just a little nothing project - a writing project that wouldn't get me any money or attention...just a personal thing.  But I just never finished it.  I had too many other good ideas.  So I went with them.  Or, rather, I started  them, instead of finishing what I started before. Allegedly Leonardo Da Vinici* once said, "Art is never finished, only abandoned."**  George Lucas*** allegedly riffed on this saying, "Movies are never finished, only abandoned."**** I get that - whoever said it first, last or whatever.  Everything I do is unfinished. A looooooooooong time ago I wrote a quick post, the summary of which was a quote I heard onc...

Managers vs. Leaders Here's Seth Godin's take on it: The difference between management and leadership I've talked about it  before  too. Godin is right in this: we need both - managers and leaders.  But we ALSO need to know the difference between the two, and we need to know when and where we need the two... And we need to know who we are in the church - leaders or managers. Some other links on the topic: Future Vision Changing Minds A Couple Steven Covey Quotes on the Subject Leadership Tools

I found this image on  Morguefile * and, though I changed the background (it's a "sandcastle" and there was an out of focus kid in the background), when I saw it I thought: "That's a world I wish I could explore." And I write...so, yeah, I actually can. That can be the Melted Mountains of Arias where Princess Emily and Umpleby and Fluffy have to go to escape from the Wood Witch in the stories that I tell the girls at night. Or the Dragon Mountains where, as the name implies, the dragons live in the world of Daen Ral. Or they are the Mountains of the Gerian Monks  who live in utter silence, for whom speaking is a sin and to whom the sound of wind carries the sounds of prophecies. Or the Halls of the Grey Watchers who wait for the return of the True King... Images inspire all kinds of ideas, don't they?  I love just surfing the 'net for pictures and artwork and inspiration... What is this place?

Pre-Pork Rind... on the hoof morgufile We just saw a commercial for...was it really?... batter dipped pork rinds?  Anyway, Rachel asked, "What are pork rinds?" "Deep fried pig skin," says I, wise in the ways of junk food. "Yuk.  Who would eat that?" "Um...  Apparently, a lot of people.  Not me, though..." And so I did  Extensive Research * and found out I was pretty much right...and convinced that I will, in fact, not ever eat pork rinds in the future** (not that I've ever eaten them in the past, though, either). * Does anybody even use encyclopedias anymore? ** Not that I'm opposed to deep fried animal skin, 'cause deep fried turkey skin is mmmmmm... but pork rind just sounds so...gross for some reason...bleah....

So, yeah, I think maybe the "Good Luck" was photoshopped in (funny the verbs we've added to the language these days - like this on facebook, if you've friended me, that is...and if you don't know what that means, just google it...) - but even so...  If this is real street sign... sheesh... And the reason I think there's some possibility that it might be is that there ARE stupid street signs around.  Check this one out: Um...MOVE THE TREE!!! or cut it down.  Or ... well, just, wow...

Seth Godin the other day posted the  The Math of Favors  where he talks about the transactions we enter into regularly thusly: 1.  I'm doing you a favor 2.  You're doing me a favor 3.  Business as usual (he says, "favorless transaction" but later calls it B A U) Here's another example of "the rest of the world" catching up to Jesus.  Godin ends his post with this: The shortcut to success is this: why not always act as if the other guy is doing the favor? Of course a few thousand years ago, Jesus said it like this  "Do to others as you would have them do to you." Do you think it could work?

from Morguefile For Posting, that is.  Probably be a pretty busy day here at Otterbein and Tidioute churches, though. I was remembering the girls playing soccer as I was getting ready for my message the other day.  I used a brief story in the sermon (which will soon be available  here  - the October 16th sermon from that page, probably toward the bottom once it's posted) of Elie playing soccer.  Anyway, I considered using the video of that event, and I tried to find it.  Maybe I didn't catch it on video, that's possible.  But it's just as likely that's it's somewhere on one of the five different format video tapes that I have laying around...argh.  What I searched through was some avi files that I had dumped from Lori's digital camera.  Not the greatest quality...but...it was 5 year olds playing soccer... All we wanted to capture was the moment, the memory...  That's all we wanted. I've been on an endless quest for better quality ...

So over on the right you see some great links (some are so-so, I keep them because...well, I keep them) that I read often.  One is  Home Studio Corner , which is all about recording.  Now, maybe you don't care about recording, I get that.  No biggie.  But his latest post was  Stop Reading This Website  which, in addition to being a provocative title, makes a lot of sense. To summarize: If all you're going to do is read about something, stop it.  It's all about putting it into practice. I know a lot of pastors and leaders who don't even read about leadership or church growth or evangelism or frankly anything that could remotely bring a new idea into their worlds.  But those that DO read, most read voraciously.  Lots of books. And too many of us stop there.  We read about it, it sounds great.  And then we read the next book.  And so it goes.  Nothing changes. We do that with the Bible too, don't we? ...

My co-pastor and I were working with a church recently, talking about church growth, plateaus, difficulties in growth, etc.  We said, "We often ask the wrong question, which is: What can we do to grow the church? We need to ask the right question: What is preventing the church from growing?"* You see, we often focus on doing things to grow the church - strategies, gimmicks, programs, whatever - things that other churches have done, books have said will work, ideas we've dreamed up or something else that we think  might grow the church numbers.  Some things work, some things don't.  The core thing that is guaranteed to grow the church is the movement of the Spirit of God, but we don't control that.  What we DO control is how we act. And that is the question we were asking.  What do we do that prevents people from coming to church?  And there's a lot.  We act...badly.  I read a book called  Lord, Save Us From Your Followers  ...

Both? Neither? Um... I'm on the Fringe, I guess... True?  False?  You?

From Morguefile Did you ever do something stupid and not realize it?  Trample somebody's feelings and have no idea?  Say something insensitive or do something unkind without a second thought? Of course you have.  Me too.  Dealing with it right now. Just heard about it this afternoon, in fact.  Happened several days ago, I had no idea that what I said and did hurt someone's feelings, but it did.  Immediately, I tried to make contact, I wanted to reconcile with this person, I wanted to make sure that the relationship remains intact ( as Jesus tells us to do ) but I couldn't - person won't be available until tomorrow... And this hurts me. And it should.  I should hurt when I have hurt someone else.  I should ache to make this right.  When I am wrong* I need to confess to God, I need to confess to the person I have hurt. Here's the thing about broken communities (churches, neighborhoods, families, etc): there's rarely compassionate ...

I was over in Tidioute the other day for office hours and did some visiting and some work around the church.  When it was time to come home, though, I flew  down the road to get home.  I knew that I was going to get home about the same time as the girls were going to get off the bus, and I knew that Lori was going to be at the house and I just couldn't wait to get there and see the three people I love more than anybody in the world.  So, yes, I pushed the car a bit above the speed limit a time or two (or three of four) but I was so excited to see my family - I just couldn't wait.  I hadn't seen them for HOURS.  It was important - urgent - I HAD to get home. Yeah, you probably know where this is going, right? That night I had a meeting at church. Was I as excited to get there?  Did I break any speed limits to get to the meeting?  Was I as excited to see those people - who are also my family - who I also love (sorry, not quite the same way or ...

from morguefile So last Sunday we hit a wall at church - one we've hit before, but we keep forgetting about it... The parking lot was full.  The sanctuary wasn't full, so it would be easy to not ever think about the parking lot, but somebody mentioned it and I had a facepalm moment...  We've talked about it before, why do we keep back-burner-ing this? Because things are going okay...  But have we missed anybody because they pull up, see no spaces, and drove away?  Church growth people say if the pews are more than 80% full (which ours aren't) then that's where you stop growing...but what about parking spaces?  What if you're at 105% full?  I mean, not every Sunday, or we'd think about it all the time.  But we can't only think about it when it happens, right? So this made me remember working at another church where we had some parking issues - again, not all the time, but just on occasion.  So, during a staff meeting we were encouraged to pa...

Found this last week online (click it to see the whole thing). So, which one am I?  I'll post who I THINK I am on Friday...

We are usually convinced more easily by reasons we have found ourselves than by those which have occurred to others . -Blaise Pascal, philosopher and mathematician (1623-1662)  I have been hit by the truth of this time and again the past couple weeks - as people keep saying the most obvious things...that OTHER people should be doing... but it's only when a person finds the truth within themselves that true change occurs.  That's why we can't be Holy Spirit for other people, why husbands and wives can't change their spouses, why family members can't force addicts to quit...  Even when it's obvious to everyone else in the world, until it's true for me, it's not true for me... And that's why the Christian faith can't be second hand faith, either...

Not my picture, not really relevant... But, awww :) This morning I hung out in the car with the girls at the end of the driveway, waiting for the bus ('cause it was a bit chilly out this morning).  Well, I hung out in the car with A  girl, Rachel, because Elie was bouncing around the outside of the car alternately making faces at Rachel or just laughing and dancing in the wet grass.  At one point Rachel was play-teasing Elie through the window by looking at the wrong side of a homework page which, for whatever reason, really bugged Elie.  She kept trying to open the door (which Rachel had, of course, locked) and kind of poking the window and saying turn it over... I finally rolled down a window a bit and said, "You know, you can fight a lot easier if you get in the car."  And Elie's face lit up and she got a big smile on her face and ran around the car.  Rachel giggle-shrieked, "Dad!" as I unlocked all the doors and Elie jumped in the car...  And...

I know I've just scratched the surface with this idea of Living Bridges.  The images, when I first saw them, captured my imagination, and I wanted to begin processing the ideas here.  This is a place for ideas - for the temporary and the transient - to brainstorm and think out loud and welcome others into the thought process.  So...it's like a living bridge, too, kind of... The realization that there's more to this life than me occurs to everyone at some point, right? Wikipedia's Questionable List of Philathopists Nobel Prize Bill & Melinda Gates Warren Buffett Oprah Yeah, I could go on and on.  But that's been the point of faith...well, from the beginning, right?  God said of Adam, " It is not good for the man to be alone. " Jesus said, " Whatever you do unto the least of these, you do to Me. " Among other things like, " Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yours...

We're here to put a dent in the universe.  -Steve Jobs, entrepreneur and inventor (1955-2011) 10 Ways Steve Jobs Changed The World  as long as it stays at CNN.com...

...I'm saddened by the news that Steve Jobs has died.  There is no question that he was one of the great visionaries and geniuses of my generation and I can't imagine what has been lost - or what won't be created - with his passing.

So let's move on here.  Living bridges are those living, breathing connections we make, right?  Okay, it's a metaphor, but I think it works. Mission is the big thing in the church right now.  Rick Warren's post Purpose Driven Life  have been outreach oriented , there's a  Missional Church Network  and  Ed Stetzer is plugged in .  It's a huge focus of  Ginghamsburg Church ,  Willow Creek , you name it.  Now, don't hear this as critical.  It's a good thing.  It's a God thing.  Really it is. But, alone, it  fails.  Like Failblog fails... "No, no, no," you may say (you may not, but it's my blog...), "Good John Wesley was ALL about the outreach stuff.  Talk about Mr. Missional.  Mr. 'The World Is My Parrish.'  What about Jesus?  What about 'Go and make disciples?'  Huh?  What do you have to say to that?" Well... They didn't fail. Because they didn't do Missional alone. ...

Hmmm, thought I had talked about this whole me to we stuff before... I know I've preached about it...twice, even... but my blog-search-fu fails me... So, our society has caught on to this idea of living bridges.  The idea that it's not institutions that connect us, but it's in real, live, face to face ways that we are truly connected.  Those are living bridges.  I'm told (meh, you can do the research I suppose, you've probably read the books too) that the, say, under 35 generations are more and more committed to what we in the church would call mission - what society at large would call "social justice" - and what I think is more aptly called Living Bridges - than nearly any generation previous.  People want to live FOR something - to have purpose and meaning - people want to connect - not just virtually (though that is HUGE important - as  this commercial * mocks...but has a point nonetheless).  Connecting matters. Creating Living Bridges - making rea...

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.  -Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910) It is sad that 100+ years later this must still be true...

So again this morning my 8 year old, Elie, was waiting for the bus (normal) and she said, "I really like going to back to school on Mondays."  Really?  I don't remember feeling that way. Wise, like Yoda, I say, "Why is that?" "Because it's not too much work, today.  And we get to do science.  I really like science."  Oh yeah, I remember, they studied butterflies again this year* and I figure that's what she's excited about... "Butterflies, right?" "No.  We're done with that.  We released our butterflies last week.  We're learning about insects.  Did you know that ants have a queen?" "Yep." "And she has wings." And so the excitement for school goes.  It's partly about learning, partly about socializing.  I know I've  said this already recently  but it bears repeating.   She loves school - not just because second grade is easy (because it isn't) or because she's bri...