Live :: Learn :: Lead

This past weekend I had the amazing privilege to preach at our main weekend services.  If you are interested in hearing it, or want to hear it again, you can find it here.  I have received a couple of requests for the quotes from Eugene Peterson that I used.  Here are the quotes and a portion of my message notes for some context:

Have you ever wondered why God is silent?  Why he doesn’t speak or act when we need him to, or when the world needs him to?  For some it is a big question that can cause a major hang-up about God.  In some ways we can say Justin Timberlake right; silence is awkward.  Silence can almost become paralyzing when we experience it in our life. What can we learn from Israel’s silent years about living about God’s silence ourselves?

In Eugene Peterson’s book, Christ Plays In Ten Thousand Places, Peterson talks about two things that can be helpful to us.  First, Peterson talks about the “presence of God”.  God had a definitive presence in history and in the people of Israel.  Everything that happened over the course of history happened in a world with God in it.  In the ancient world, there was no secular history, or history without God. God was alive, he was everywhere, he was at work in the world, and in the community of Israel.  History fit around the reality of God.

Peterson writes: History is the medium in which God works salvation, just as paint and canvas is the medium in which Rembrandt made works of art.”

God works through historical events for a greater purpose and plan.  God is not just creating a work of art about Israel, God is creating a redemptive work of art of all humanity.

But Peterson also talks about the “Absence of God”.  We find many instances in the Bible of people who experienced the absence of God.  In fact, when we read the first two chapters in Exodus, while Israel was in slavery in Egypt, we find another period of over 400 years where it seemed like God was silent. The book of Psalms was written by people who wrote and sang about their longing for God to return after a significant period of silence.  Jesus felt God was silent when he hung on a cross, and cried out, “why have you forsaken me?”

Peterson does not mince words about the absence of God.  Here is what he writes:

“Belief in God does not exempt us from feelings of abandonment by God.  Praising God does not inoculate us from doubts about God.  Meditating devoutly on God’s word does not establish us securely in the “arms of Jesus,” does not insulate us from all feelings of abandonment, darkness and aridity.”

In other words, the absence of God is a normal part of walking with God.  But why? Why does this have to be?  Sometimes life is hard, and while it may be hard to see at the time, growth comes through the silent times.  Just like a body builder grows through lifting a significant amount of weight, a runner grows through running extended distances, a great education grows out of hours of study, a deeper faith comes through trusting God through the times he seems silent.  We learn to be dependent on Him.  We long for him.

God does not give up his control or presence even when it feels like He is absence.  God’s absence means he is preparing us for what is to come.    And that brings us to this week’s storyline:  “When it seems like nothing is happening, God is preparing the next Chapter of His story and ours.”  God does not give up, walk out or become passive aggressive towards us, God is with us!

Great post by Seth Godin today about the value and importance of admitting mistakes and failures in leadership.  Check out the full post here.  Here is the main idea:

“Two elements of successful leadership: a willingness to be wrong and an eagerness to admit it.”

On Monday our family went to see “We Bought A Zoo“….ok, Jayme and the girls dragged me along with them to see “We Bought a Zoo” is probably more fitting.  In all honesty, I had no desire on a day off to go see something so dumb.  I mean. really, I thought Matt Damon really lost his “Jason Bourne” coolness factor by choosing to do this film.  How does an actor go from kicking everyone’s butt around the world in 2 hours to saving a zoo!?!?  In humility, I must admit that Matt Damon did it very well.  I left inspired, encouraged and in need of some tissues (all but the the third one is true).  If you have not seen the movie, I would encourage you to do so.

There were some great leadership moments in the movie.  I was hoping the clips would be online already, however the movie is still playing in theaters.  This post may not make sense if you have not seen the film, but definitely keep these thoughts in the back of your mind for when you do see the movie.  For those who have seen it, here are four inspiration leadership moments that I wanted to highlight:

Benjamin Takes a Gamble on a Vision:  Benjamin and his family were hurting over the loss of his wife who had died from cancer.  He felt he needed to fight for his kids.  His son was depressed and in a dark place and his daughter showed signs of happiness when they looked at the property.  He had no idea clue about running a Zoo, but had a vision to help his family to give them an experience and challenge.  So, Benjamin bet the farm: he sold his house, put up everything he had and went for it.  Benjamin had a mental image of what could be, and took a step in faith.  I was reminded of the proverb: “Without a vision, the people perish”.

Benjamin Re-inspires The Troops:  About mid-way through the film, Benjamin is running out of money, and his finance director calls a meeting of the Zoo staff to let them know that Benjamin is broke.  She screams at the top of her lungs, “Benjamin is a fraud”, and essentially deflates the energy of the staff.  Benjamin comes in and and announces that the money had come through, and promised that he would work himself to the bone if they stuck with him.  In a moment the staff lights up and rallies around Benjamin and says “we’re with you”.  I was reminded of Nehemiah going around the city as Israel rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem encouraging, inspiring and reigniting the vision of a new day.

Benjamin Tells His Son about 20 Seconds of Courage:  I don’t even need to explain it.  Here is a clip.  I was reminded of David taking on Goliath .

Benjamin Sees His Vision Become Reality:  Remember, the Zoo was a great idea, but Benjamin’s vision was to save his family.  There is a scene at the end of the movie where Benjamin and his kids were in the restaurant where Benjamin and his wife first met.  Benjamin was telling stories about their mom, how he asked her out, and in the last scene, the Benjamin and his kids saw an image of their mom and said “Hi Mom”.  In that moment, after all they went through, there was a sense of peace and hope that the family was OK, and they were going to make it.  Benjaim helped his family through a traumatic experience.  Benjamin’s vision for his family became reality.  I was reminded of the disciples seeing Jesus at the resurrection.

If you have favorite moments in the film, feel free to share below.  I’m giving away an iTunes gift card to someone who posts a comment this week!

Over the weekend I upgraded the comment feature of my blog, as I hope to provide more interaction in my posts this year.  So to get the ball rolling, I’m offering a chance for you to win an iTunes gift card!  Simply go to the comment section of this link, enter your name and email address (email will not be published), share what your favorite blog post at Live Learn Lead has been, and I will pick one winner to receive the gift card.  One entry per person.  Winner will be announced on Friday, and contacted via email. READY? SET?  GO!

Like everyone else in the world, the new year always brings about a desire to be more organized and productive than the previous year.  Here are some cool Apps and Programs I found that I have been messing around with for a little while now, and will be using more frequently in 2012.  Some are for iphone/ipad, others are great web apps:

Spark People:  I’ve been using this web app for about seven weeks, and it is great if you are looking for a health management program.  Track nutrition, fitness, goals, weight, etc.  It has a social network feel to it, giving you access to others who are similar to you and your goals.  It also has iPhone/iPad apps as well.

Shoeboxed:  Shoeboxed has been around for a while, and I’ve used it on occasion, but I’m resurrecting for the new year to do a better job at tracking receipts for my taxes.  Basically you can scan, mail, upload or send a picture of a receipt to Shoeboxed, and it will store it for you.  You can then go online to your account, assign a category, and export a nice looking file when you need it.  After spending all morning sorting three months of receipts, I’m ready to give this a shot.  It’s also good for tracking reimbursements, expense accounts, etc.  Shoeboxed also has iPhone/iPad apps.

Blinq Photo:  Blinq gives you secure access to photos stored on your PC anywhere.  Instead of filling up my iPhone with all my pics, I leave them on an external hard drive connected to my PC, access the drive via an iPhone app, and I have instant access to over 10k pics!  People want to see the kids?  No problem!

Moleskine:  I have had a Moleskine for a few years now, and just recently found the App for iPad.  I love using this for neideas, thoughts, and things I need to flush out a little more.  I also use it to track devotional thoughts during my Quiet Times.  I added a few new categories, and can easily organize new entries.  The best part is I done have to carry around an actual book any more.

If you have an idea for an App, I would love to learn from you.  Feel free to post your favorite in the comment section below.

I have been asked by a few people what apps we used for the Christmas Eve opener.   Here is a list of what we used for instruments.  Everything is available on iTunes.  Some are free, some have a cost.

• Melody Bell
• iShred (I would recommend iShred Live)
• Garage Band
• Music Studio
• Drums!

A few notable apps that are awesome that we are going to explore a little more together:

• Soundgrid Live (this is awesome!)
• iGog
• Bassist
• Guitarist

There you go.  Grab  a few Apps and beef up your New Year’s celebration with an iBand!

While we had a blast working together on this project, the truth is it was even a greater opportunity to be part of a larger team of all the elements that went into our Christmas eve service, which is primarily made up of amazing volunteers and staff to create a great expression of worship to celebrate the birth of Christ.

Merry Christmas, again, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Sinead O’Connor is the latest celebrity to end a marriage just as quickly as it started.  This news seems to have less of a “buzz-effect” as the Kardashian wedding, but both have been shocking to me.  Truthfully, I’m sad about the news.  As I read the letter Sinead wrote on her website, my takeaway was that the couple really didn’t know each other very well, and they really have a broken image of what marriage is really supposed to be; she didn’t want to “trap” him, and ultimately he deserved to be “free” in the name of love.

I’m not doubting that Sinead and Barry didn’t want to be together, and I’m not doubting their intent that their marriage would last more than 16 days.  We were created for community, and we inherently know that being alone is not good (Gen 2:18), and it is obvious they believed in marriage enough to know that they could fulfill their need of companionship and togetherness.

While the circumstances of their problems at the onset of their marriage might have been unique, the fact that there are problems at the beginning (and later on) in marriage is very common.  Here are two people, with different backgrounds, traditions, experiences, and desires uniting together to become one.  If they truly loved each other, and desired to be together, they would need to mutually submit to one another and leave some of the things that bothered the other, and cleave to the hope of what each of them had the potential to become both together and as individuals in their marriage over time.

I’ve been doing more marriage counseling in my ministry lately, and one of the themes that I’m hearing is that real love shouldn’t be hard.  It should be a natural flow, without any challenges, and that true love between each other shouldn’t cause the other to have to change or be unhappy.  Essentially that is what Sinead wrote  when she said she “loved her husband enough to set him free to be happy”.  So, does that mean that she didn’t love him enough to invest into their marriage?  To change the things about herself that bothered him?  To not let someone else break apart their marriage?  All relationships, all marriage and most of all, all love requires mutual submission and sacrifice.  Love is not about getting, it is about giving.  Love is the process in which two people become more like the image of Christ in their marriage.  Love doesn’t end a marriage, love keeps a marriage together.

“Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one another.  Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise submit to their husbands.  Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They’re really doing themselves a favor—since they’re already “one” in marriage.

No one abuses his own body, does he? No, he feeds and pampers it. That’s how Christ treats us, the church, since we are part of his body. And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become “one flesh.” This is a huge mystery, and I don’t pretend to understand it all. What is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church. And this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife, loving himself in loving her, and how each wife is to honor her husband…” Ephesians 5:21-33

I’m not writing to judge or condemn here.  I write these words to be honest, encouraging and in support of the institution of marriage.  I hope that there is a change of heart in both parties here, and they are able to get back together.  Most importantly, I hope that we can learn from this scenario about what love and marriage is and could be, rather than going further into a confused and distorted view of marriage.  I celebrated my fourteenth wedding anniversary this week, and I believe that marriage is one of greatest institutions that God has created for us to enjoy.  I’m a better person because of marriage, and I have learned to love because of it.

Just finished up an amazing week of services celebrating Christmas.  I got to be part of our service opener this year by performing in an iBand with a couple of my buddies on staff. We played a rendition of “Carol of the Bells”, and it was a huge hit.  To be fair, the idea did originate from our friends at Northpoint Community Church in Atlanta, GA, and we arranged it for our context.  We had a great time working on this, and are already thinking about how to arrange something for another service soon.

And yes, we are actually playing!

Grace Chapel iBand – Christmas Eve 2011 Services prelude from Grace Chapel on Vimeo.

Wherever I look it seems like the world is constantly shouting “Be Significant”, “Do Something Significant”, “Create Something Significant”.  I’m not suggesting those are things not to aspire to, but what does significance often translate to in our culture?  Significance is often equated with:

• Success
• Intelligence
• Looks/Appearance
• Productivity
• Profitability
• Popularity

These are not bad things themselves, but over time, often in a very subtle way, it is easy for these significant things to become our identity.  When that happens, we become driven to significance.  If we are not significantly successful, we potentially view ourselves as mediocre.  If we are not significantly attractive, we potentially view ourselves as plain. If we are not significantly wealthy, we potentially view ourselves as poor.  If we are not significantly popular, we potentially view ourselves as unpopular.  If we are not producing significant results, we potentially view ourselves as under performing.

Some thoughts to give us some perspective on our significance:

Our significance comes from God’s  love and grace.

Godsaw all that he had made, and it was verygood…Genesis 1:31

Just our being created reveals significance in His eyes.

“When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be…” Psalm 139:15-16

When we are more focused on what others think of us,  we become conformed to their will, not thy will.

“What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beingsand crowned him with glory and honor…”Psalm 8:4-5

Be blessed in knowing that you are significant in God’s eyes not by what you have done, but by who you are.

If you have been following my blog this week, I have been counting down my top five favorite TV commercials of 2011. Here is a quick recap:

#5- Chevy Cruze “Guys Night”

#4- E-trade’s “Solitary Confinement”

#3- Allstate’s “12 Days of Mayhem”

#2- Windows Phone 7, “Really?”

And here it is friends, my #1 favorite TV commercial for 2011. For all you former (and current) hairband, metal-head lovers, and for the one rocker who never seems to ever go away, even after four decades, here you go: