Time keeps on slippin...

(j foster kids first day of '07)

Schools back in session. We’ve got an 8th, 5th and 1st grader this year. It doesn’t seem possible that time has moved so swiftly. It’s a little disconcerting.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the inevitability of time… to worry about what tomorrow may bring. Recently our 1st grader, Evan, told me he didn’t want to learn how to drive when he was 16. I asked him why and he said it was because “he didn’t know where to go.” Well, it’s true. He doesn’t know where to go. But my response was that it didn’t matter because by the time he was 16 he’d know some places to go which, of course, made our whole discussion pointless.

He didn’t buy it. He still doesn’t want to learn to drive.

Well, it’s understandable because he is only 6.

He hasn’t learned yet that most of the things we worry about in life actually never happen.

He hasn’t learned yet to “cast all his anxiety” on one who cares.
Or that if he does what is right then “he’ll yield fruit in the proper season.”
That there is someone out there who “opens his hands and satisfies every living thing.”
If he trusts with all his heart, someone will “direct his path.”
That if he’ll seek first the Kingdom “then all these other things will be added unto him.”

He hasn’t learned all that yet. But he will. Then he’ll be like you… without any worries.

Renovare, J

Overboard

Recently my friend, Hans, was sharing with me some scripture from Acts 27 about Paul and the ship he was sailing on as it hit some very rough seas. All week, I’ve been thinking both about that story where the men in desperation began throwing stuff overboard in order to lighten their load… and something I read from Anne Dilliard’s essay, An Arctic Expedition, where she describes how 19th century explorers from England took so much unnecessary stuff with them on their exploration of the Arctic that it actually cost them their lives. Among other things they took a 1,200 volume library, sterling silver place settings, wine goblets, crystal, hand organs and many other things on an Arctic expedition! There were some notable things they didn’t bring… like protective gear such as gloves, coats, hats, etc… Their clothing consisted of Navy uniforms. The story doesn’t have a happy ending. Months later Eskimo’s found the men frozen dragging a lifeboat full of place settings, books, chocolate and other items that proved worthless to save. If the men would have had a choice they would have thrown all the beautiful place settings out in order to make room for something that could have saved them.

I would guess that many a person has gotten to the end of their life only to regret that they had held on to things that were unable to save them. For example, I saw a beautiful brand new jaguar the other day and an elderly lady driving it. Her license plate said, “For my 80th”. (I can only hope she has bigger aspirations than that.)

It’s a simple thought… what are you holding on to that’s really a determent to your soul? Throw it overboard. Hurry, it’s killing you.

What do you really need…? Truly…? My best advice is to figure out what that is and never, ever let go.

Bank Fraud and Negativity

Someone, somewhere got a hold of my debit card number and had an early Christmas this past week. We discovered the anomalies a couple of days ago underneath the ‘pending’ section of our bank account. The bank couldn’t actually do anything until the transaction’s posted even though the account was officially closed. So, each morning this week I’ve awakened, gone to the computer in order to check to see how much money I lost the night before. After three days it totaled $948.62. It was downer.

Ever had a week where the first minutes every day were spent finding out what bad thing happened while you were sleeping? Some of you probably have even though it may have nothing to do with bank fraud. There are people that I’ve known who are convinced that something bad happened or is getting ready to happen just about every morning. It’s not a positive way of living. Now there are times when the reality is such (like in my case this week) when you know something did happen but most of the time it’s defeating to spend your life that way. I guarantee you that if you try to find bad… you will. Don’t be that kind of person. A guy named Paul said a long time ago, “Look for the best not the worst. The beautiful not the ugly. Things to praise, not things to curse.” Positive people apply that kind of scriptural thinking to their life.

Research shows that positive people have the same amount of problems as negative people. (did you get that?) Their problems aren’t any different but their response is. I heard Dr Henry Cloud speak this week and he said this, “Pessimistic people usually respond to problems in three ways: A. They personalize it (“Oh, I’m such a loser!”) B. They make it pervasive (“I’m a loser in all areas of my life.”) and C. They make it permanent. (“I’ll never be anything but a loser.”)” Positive people, on the hand, respond to problems in an opposite fashion.

Do you go looking for problems?
How do you respond to problems?
Are you positive or pessimistic?
Can you count the number of times I’ve used words that start with the letter ‘p’ in this blog?

leadership conference

(For conference photos check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/10853847@N05/show/)

So I’m at the Leadership Summit at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago this week with my friends, Andy and Kevin. Oh, and about 60,000 people who are either here or at satellite locations around the country. (Willow is a bit bigger than discover church.) I first became aware of this church when I came here in 1990 right around the time that Willow built a service upon the theme ‘Show Me the Way’ in which they performed the song of the same name by the band Styx. I’ll never forget that moment. It changed the way I viewed church. That was the first time I really seriously thought about using the arts on that level to bridge the gap between the church and the world. And now that I think about it, that’s pretty much what I’ve been trying to do for the last 17 years… be a bridge. Of course, the only bad thing about bridges is that people walk on you. But that’s a price I’m willing to pay. What about you? What prices are you currently paying to be the bridge for someone?