"I am drawn to Jesus, irresistibly, because he positioned himself as the dividing point of life -- my life. According to Jesus, what I think about him and how I respond will determine my destiny for all eternity"--Philip Yancy, The Jesus I Never Knew
Don't miss a thing. Subscribe to my feed.
Labels: Church, Daily Detox
Another dream shattered. I give you... the pot at the end of the rainbow.
Don't miss a thing. Subscribe to my feed.
Labels: Daily Detox, Straight Up Funny, Students Only, Youth Pastors
“Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.”--Babe RuthBabe Ruth, of his batting outs, 24% of them were strikeouts. Who knew? The average batter of his time made a strikeout in 12% of their outs. Ruth’s rate was twice that of the league average.
Confession: Sometimes I hesitate to take a risk because of the fear of failure.
If you are honest, you might agree that you struggle with this too. Babe Ruth had a wonderful career... but he is remembered most for his homerun record not his strikeouts. You and I are going to strikeout - guaranteed. We'll have some incredible ideas and hit homeruns... but we will also strikeout occasionally. In the words of Ruth, "never let the fear of striking out get in your way."
Can you relate? Feel free to share about your latest strikeout or homerun.
Labels: Church, Daily Detox, Leadership, Students Only, Youth Pastors
SOLITUDE.
I was asked a few weeks ago by a Presbyterian pastor to take a "pilgrimage." I've never taken a "pilgrimage" so to speak. I've heard stories about Emmaus walks, pilgrimages and such... but I've never taken one. This one is a little different than it was originally designed. It's actually a 24-hour retreat. A mini-pilgrimage I guess you'd say. I honestly don't know anything about it, other than when this pastor asked me if I would enjoy some "solitude" I immediately said "yes."
The only other thing I know about this getaway is that it begins at a Catholic retreat center. I'm loving the unity. A Baptist guy attends a Presbyterian pilgrimage at a Catholic retreat center. Oh yea, its on.
Me, my bible and some SOLITUDE. That will be 24 hours of my life this weekend... and I'm excited.
(quote part of a great post over on Anne Jackson's site)
I was asked a few weeks ago by a Presbyterian pastor to take a "pilgrimage." I've never taken a "pilgrimage" so to speak. I've heard stories about Emmaus walks, pilgrimages and such... but I've never taken one. This one is a little different than it was originally designed. It's actually a 24-hour retreat. A mini-pilgrimage I guess you'd say. I honestly don't know anything about it, other than when this pastor asked me if I would enjoy some "solitude" I immediately said "yes."
The only other thing I know about this getaway is that it begins at a Catholic retreat center. I'm loving the unity. A Baptist guy attends a Presbyterian pilgrimage at a Catholic retreat center. Oh yea, its on.
Me, my bible and some SOLITUDE. That will be 24 hours of my life this weekend... and I'm excited.
“In solitude I get rid of my scaffolding: no friends to talk with, no telephones calls to make, no meetings to attend, no music to entertain, no books to distract, just me - naked, vulnerable, weak, sinful, deprived, broken-nothing. It is this nothingness that I have to face in my solitude, a nothingness so dreadful that everything in me want to run to my friends, my work, and my distractions so that I can forget my nothingness and make myself believe that I am worth something.”--Henri Nouwen, The Way of the Heart
(quote part of a great post over on Anne Jackson's site)
Don't miss a thing. Subscribe to my feed.
Labels: Daily Detox, Personal
I think about this all the time. What kind of legacy will I leave? Am I the only one?
(graphic, asbojesus)
You like this post? Subscribe here for more goodness.
Labels: Daily Detox
"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."--CS Lewis
What an incredible quote. How is God speaking to you lately?
You like this post? Subscribe here for more goodness.
Labels: Daily Detox
LIFE IS BUT A VAPOR.
(produced by Muddy River Media)
(produced by Muddy River Media)
Don't miss a thing. Subscribe to my feed.
Labels: Creative, Daily Detox, Videos
FUSION.
"When the worlds of poverty and wealth collide, the resulting powerful fusion can change the world. But that collision rarely happens. I could feel it happening inside of me.One of my punk-rock friends asked me why so many rich people like talking to me, and I said because I'm nice to them. He asked why I was nice to them. I said because I can see myself in them. That gives me a little patience and grace. I long for the Calcutta slums to meet the Chicago suburbs, for lepers to meet landowners and for each to see God's image in the other. It's no wonder that the footsteps of Jesus lead from the tax collectors to the lepers. I truly believe that when the poor meet the rich, riches will have no meaning. And when the rich meet the poor, we will see poverty come to an end."--Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution
Don't miss a thing. Subscribe to my feed.
Labels: Daily Detox, Leadership
This moved me.
The message: "Carry on singing..."
The message: "Carry on singing..."
You like this post? Subscribe here for more goodness.
Labels: Daily Detox, Videos
God wants to come down here. That was the central idea of Rob Bell's message at Willow Creek in November 2002."For many people, entire theological systems are built around us getting out of here. And so many presentations of the gospel are, “Do you wanna know how you can get outta here?” And yet the Scripture is the story not of people going up, the Bible is the story of God coming down. God wants to come down and he wants to take up residence in the midst of his people.
See, we have whole theological systems built around scaring the hell out of people so they won’t be left behind.
Maybe you could say it this way (and this is not like either/or): Is the question, “How do I get into heaven” or “How do I get heaven here?” See, you have whole theological systems that are built on, “Some glad morning when this life is o’r, I’ll fly away.” Now what happens - and if that’s your favorite hymn, I’m sorry…kind of - what happens? And obviously we believe that when we die we go into God’s presence in heaven, this is obviously not some sort of denial of heaven, but nevertheless, if your theology is getting out of here, what subtly happens over the years?
And we need to just be brutally frank about this. What happens over time is this life becomes irrelevant, correct? If our message is “Hey, do you want to join us in getting out of here?” then what happens subtly over time is our message is really about some other places and we really have less & less to say about life now. And we have less & less the kind of eyes to see a whole world right here within this one, right here, right now.
And so we have to understand that the Bible is the story of a God who wants to come down and wants to inhabit this place, and take up residence in the midst of his people.
(from Rob Bell's message at Willow Creek)
You like this post? Subscribe here for more goodness.
Labels: Church, Culture, Daily Detox, Leadership
"God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house.
God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives.
God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war.
God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them."--Bono,U2
(ht to Scott Harris)
You like this post? Subscribe here for more goodness.
Labels: Daily Detox
“If you wait for God to do big stuff in your life, you may be waiting until Jesus comes. He simply does not operate like that. He wants you to be willing to be hidden and unknown, unappreciated, unheralded, and unthanked--if necessary--in order to do what He wants you to do."--Charles Stanley
You like this post? Subscribe here for more goodness.
Labels: Daily Detox
“THE PEROSN WHO DOESN'T MAKE MISTAKES IS UNLIKELY TO MAKE ANYTHING." --Paul Arden, It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be."Benjamin Franklin said 'I haven't failed, I've had 10,000 ideas that didn't work.' Thomas Edison said, 'Of the 200 light bulbs that didn't work, every failure told me something that I was able to incorporate into the next attempt.'So what did you learn from your latest mistake?
Theatre director Joan Littlewood said 'If we don't get lost, we'll never find a new route.' All of them understood that failures and false starts are a precondition of success. At the last company I worked for you would not be fired for being wrong, but you would be fired for not having intiative. It had a positive attitude to mistakes. It was a great company. Failure was a major contributor to its success.
(from the book INHGYAIHGYWTB)
You like this post? Subscribe here for more goodness.
Labels: Daily Detox, Leadership
I saw this on a marquee today...
“Everyone has a photographic memory, some just don't have film."
You like this post? Subscribe here for more goodness.
Labels: Daily Detox, Marquees, Straight Up Funny
“If you carry around mess it may prevent you from carrying the message." --Vernon MurrayI heard Pastor Murray make this statement this morning, which ironically was followed-up by this devotion in my email box from Ed Young. So... what mess are you carrying?
Labels: Communicating, Daily Detox, Leadership
“Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." --Ralph Waldo Emerson
You like this post? Subscribe here for more goodness.
Labels: Creative, Daily Detox, Leadership, Marketing
Well, thats one way to do it...
You like this post? Subscribe here for more goodness.
Labels: Daily Detox, Straight Up Funny
“People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war, before an election (or on April Fool's Day (added by TC))." --Otto Von BismarkSo how many lies did you tell today? Let the tallying begin!
Two of the best I saw today on the blogs:
Brad Ruggles, who revamped his site to proclaim his love for Microsoft.
Carlos Whittaker, who shut down his blog stating "I've offended too many people."
Labels: Daily Detox
I realize I may totally tune my blog audience out with this one but I must get this out. However, if you stick with me you may get a nugget or two out of this.
I am a pro-wrestling fan as many of you know and have been for years. Last night I watched the career of "The Nature Boy" (Ric Flair) come to an end at Wrestlemania.
I was stunned.
I guess I did not see it happening. I mean, Ric Flair retire? He is like many of us leaders who will probably never say die. We'll be in this thing called ministry until we draw our last breath.
On Saturday evening he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Ok, that could have been my first clue. However, I still did not see it coming.
He was to wrestle Shawn Michaels (my personal favorite, who I actually met two years ago!) in a career-threatening match. (The Chairman, Vince, made a stipulation that if Ric lost, his career would end.) Ok, that should have been my second clue. There were about 35.7 more clues along the way but again... never saw it coming.
The match was incredible. Shawn and Ric both delivered the best matches of their careers... and thats how Ric wanted it.
In the very last moment of the match Shawn was to deliver his finishing move and he said to Ric "I'm sorry. I love you" dropped Ric with a super-kick (aka "sweet chin music") and pinned him.
In reflection I thought "There is no better way to go. He entered the Hall of Fame and wrestled one of his best friends on the biggest stage of them all." Wow.
This actually made me think about how I want to finish my career. What legacy do I want to leave? If I were to write my own E-True Hollywood Story how would it conclude? I know some of you reading this blog post may be decades away from finishing, but thinking about the end is certainly in order here.
I definitely want to be still working for the Lord in my final years. I want to be serving Christ in some capacity (who knows what that'll look like at the time) and it would be incredible to be serving alongside my best friends.
How do you want to finish?
You like this post? Subscribe here for more goodness.
Labels: Celebrities, Daily Detox, Sports, Television
“Why love if losing hurts so much? We love to know that we are not alone." --C.S. LewisI thought of this song when I read this.
Labels: Daily Detox
